After a hard day as a shinobi, nothing is more relieving than turning in for the night except he or she was required for night duties. Life as a chunin was no little joke. It was a stage of advancement. A stage that determined what kind of shinobi a person was or would be. The academy was the base, the very beginning but for dray, he had began his destiny even before he entered the shinobi academy. Doing well in the academy and passing the required exams meant progressing to genin level. Having a headband of the village. Portraying one self as a shinobi of that very village. Going on missions of saving cats, crossing old men and old women, baby sitting children, bathing dog and whatever god forsaken wants there was on this solid earth. Dray was not cut for this crap of missions as he focused and worked his way up to chunin... Dray made his way home as he smiled about his advancement to chunin level as the whole event replayed itself in his head like it was a recorded tape that was saved somewhere in his head.
The date for the chunin exams were announced. Dray had already moved to kumogakure from kirigakure after his mother's mysterious death and his father's department. Dray had strived to become a genin. It could not really be called a strive as he was near perfect in every single thing he did so saying that he strived to become a genin was not the right sentence. Rather, he earned his genin status. This excellent behaviour of his gave his team leader the confidence to recommend him for the chunin exams that were forth coming in kumogakure. His team consisted of him- dray, a male named ryu- rising dragon and another female named meth and together with their team leader, Rigo sensei. All genin teams in kumogakure no sato of course practiced for the exams aiming to become a chunin at the end of the exams.
As dray practiced with his team members, he also made sure to study some scrolls and train on his own too as he did not like revealing his skills in front of other people. What was the point of fighting when all your tactics were already known by the enemy. Being from the yuki clan, he had mastered his suiton element from a very young age. A nature release that was taught to him by his father. The basics of the other clan element which was futon- wind was taught to him by his mother before her death and he himself had done well enough to go on with training to finally develop the wind release but no matter how he tried, he just did not seem to unlock his clan's advanced release which was Hyouton- Ice even if the concept was as simple as mixing suiton and futon chakra together. It was actually harder to practice than to read. Dray put aside this practice for now and focused on strategies and skills for the chunin exams. He was not going to fail. There was no doubt about that.. He spent quality time eating good food, studying books, training with him team and training alone too..
Finally, the day came. The first stage was the written test. Dray wasted no time in completing this aspect of the exams. Most of the questions asked had to do with logic. The main reason why dray did not only focus on training. He studied too. A body full of muscles and no knowledge what so ever was just an empty barrel.
This year, it happened that the chunin exams had only three stages. The second stage happened in an enclosed area. It was one on one with just the participants, their senseis, the kage and few elders. No villagers witnessed this aspect of the exams. Whoever passed this stage would then proceed to the last stage which would hold in a spacious arena where big people, kages of other villagers, memorable shinobies and other villagers would spectate. Luckily for dray, his opponent in this stage was a taijutsu user. For this reason, dray avoided close ranged battles and he was more on the defensive than the offensive. Once his opponent left an opening due to dray distracting him with a clone, dray used the water puddle technique to appear behind him and place him in a genjutsu that brought him down to his knees....
Dray was declared winner of this round as his opponent was taken away for treatment. Dray's team mates too passed the stage well enough and they all advanced to the last stage. The stage of fear. The stage where even death was possible. Dray had gone home to rest his body. Unlike other ninjas who kept on training for the next day, dray simple ate and slept. His body was recovering torn tissues and closing up little scratches...
Dray woke up full of live on the last day of the chunin exam. He dressed quickly and moderately of course. He ate a very light breakfast that would digest on time so as not to hinder him in battle after which he proceeded to arm himself. He had a series of basic projectiles consisting of kunais, shurikens, senbons, smoke bombs, explosive tags, metsubishi and a fuuma shuriken.
On his wrist, dray placed five senbons around it in a band that held them in place. Another five senbons were placed on his right wrist as he had done to the left. This senbons were positioned in such a way that dray was able to flick his wrist swiftly so as to withdraw them easily and in a way that he would not be harmed by them. He went on to place fifteen kunais around his waist that were held by his belt. This gave the belt a sort of design and only very perceptive people would realize that kunais were hidden there. He attached about ten shurikens to his jacket. Five on the right and another five on the left. A beautiful design it gave the blue black jacket. The rest basic weapons such as explosive tags, smoke bombs, metsubishis were held in ninja pouch as his large fuuma shuriken was folded on his back. He exited his home with confidence. Whoever he was going to face had better prepared properly...
Dray smiled at his preparation for the chunin exams. Little wonder why he won. He had just completed a mission and he was heading home. Of course, tomorrow was another good day to serve the village so he needed good rest. He got home and undressed himself. Practicing good hygiene as always, he had a cool bath before changing into his sleeping cloths. This consisted of just a small short. He loved the cool wind blowing against his bare skin thus why he often slept almost naked.
The night was a short one though it was enough for dray's stressed up body system to quickly recover. The first thing he did was to make cofee. He wondered why he did that. That was one of the things he rarely did. Cofee was hot, he preferred his sytem cold. He often wondered how he would do with the katon chakra nature if he ever learnt it.
Dray dressed up in his regular chunin clothes. Consisting of an inner vest first. It was a long sleeve that was met by bandages at the end. Black shinobi pants, also met by bandages at the end that travelled into his black shinobi sandals. After that was his blue black jacket sleeveless short jacket and of course, his mouth mask that never left his face. He picked up his weapons as he left home for the administration office. He was pumped on for missions. He wanted to serve kumogakure no sato to it's fullest.
Dray walked into the office and went straight to the secretary but today, she directed him to the raikage. He had a special mission for dray the secretary told him. Dray climed the stairs and walked up to the raikage's office. He knocked on the door with couraged... "Come in", the voice said from inside the office. Dray turned the door knob and opened the door.
"Welcome", the raikage said.... He was writing something when dray came in as he seemed to quickly finish up with it and put it aside. "What do you think of my offer" he said.... Hearing that statement, dray put his left hand to his temples and rubbed it gently... After what happened at the chunin exams and an event that happened after it, a few week back that was, the raikage had asked dray to join the anbu force of kumogakure no sato but he had not given his reply well..
"I can very well see the power you possess deep within you and I also see a little darkness" the raikage spoke... "You are probably thinking that the darkness would consume you but that is for you to decide. The chunin exams very well showed that you gain strength from anger but joining the anbu would help you develop power not only from anger but other sources too.."
As the raikage finished his statement, dray's mind flashed back to the chunin exams. His own battle made every one present there gasp. It was true that he deprived the strength he used from anger..
As dray headed to the chunin exam arena, he walked calmly as he was not even close to late. He liked observing punctuality and for that reason, he had left his home quite early. On his way to the exams, he met his team mate. The only female in the team. She greeted dray as they both talked and walked to the exam arena. At the entrance, their sensei was already waiting for them. A punctual man he was too and of course, ryu could be seen in the distance running towards them. Their sensei briefed them a bit about what and what not. Of course, dray knew what to do and what not to do but he still listened to a man of experience. No knowledge was lost.
The exams began and dray watched from his spot every one's tactics and strategies. Such interesting shinobis they would make if they qualified.
Finally, dray left his spot and walked to the entrance of the arena. It was a little tunnel and there, he met his sensei. Rigo- sama said nothing except nodding at dray. Dray waited at the dark entrance for his name to be called. The first name called, dray did not bother to keep it in his head. The fella was an obstacle that needed to be overcomed. The person walked into the arena. He was of course a genin but much more taller than dray. "........Dray Yuki." The announcer finished as dray walked into the arena. There was silence and then cheers that were started by his team mates and follwed by every one.
He was probably the least popular person in the village now but things were soon to change. Dray tilted his head upward and in the distance was the raikage and definetly two other kages due to their attires. There were hundreds and thousands of spectators. None of them mattered to dray except the opponent standing about twenty metres away from him. Dray did a rough calculation of the arena and he saw it as a eighty by eighty square shaped arena. He was glad that he did well in arithmetics while he was still in the shinobi academy.
Dray looked at the opponent clearly. The distinct thing about him was the bandaged object on his back. Whaterver it was. This opponent was an eager one as he charged at dray while throwing two kunais. Dray flipped backwards as the kunais soared below him. He lengthened his gap from the opponent to fifteen metres. He wanted to know what this person was made of as he quickly tagged some kunais and shurikens as flung them into the air. The projectiles got to inches of the opponent as they exploded. There was silence for a few seconds as gasps followed the scene. The affected opponent's clothes fell to the floor as wooden parts could be seen. Dray was taken aback by this but he did not show any signs of fear. Behing the wooden being was another person who coughed to draw attention.. "Let's play".. He said allowed as he lifted up his hands to show visible strings. A pupeeteer eh.. Such a brilliant move, dray had to commend him.
The battle went on for so long that both parties were now bleeding. Dray was so focused on the battle that his injuries did not cause him pain until he looked down to see blood dropping from his body. He was filled with rage. His eyes turned bright blue as he looked at the opponent that was ten metres away and exhausted tooo.....
With a mad shout, he held it in for a few second while everybody watched as ice spikes shot from him and swiftly stuck theirselves in the opponent. The ice scales pierced the already fragile puppet and hit the pupeeteer in so many spots. An attack that he was not likely to survive.. Everybody stood up and gasped. The mighty had fallen as dray was declared winner......
Dray's mind came back to the raikage's office. "You're back" the raikage said seeing that dray had being in thought... "Now, let's prepare you for being anbu. This list contains the names of those who have refused to pay their dues to kumogakure. Be strict when you have to and be soft if you think you have to be but what so ever way, make sure you bring back their taxes. You may leave".... the raikage concluded.
Dray collected the list and bowed as he left the room. He was finally going to join the anbu of kumogakure. There was saying no. A part of him seemed to want it. He just had to get done with this mission first.
Dray walked through the streets of kumogakure as he checked house numbers of those who were owing on the list. The first house he saw, he did not bother going in as the occupants of the house were merrying outside. They were all males and they were drinking in broad daylight. Such a stupid thing to do.. Dray cleared his throat and spoke... "Are you portraying yourselves as good citizens of kumogakure no sato in this manner?" the men laughed as one of them spoke.. "And who are you little brat to ask us that. Get out of here if you have no reasonable thing to do before we...." Before he could finished his statement, dray flickered to his back gave him two hits to his ribs that brought him to his knees as dray placed a kunai to his throat.... "Do you have anything else to say" dray asked as all three men began to pleade... "Your tax is what I have come to collect on behalf of the raikage".. Dray said. Just then, a shadow flickered past the alley.
The raikage sent someone to access me, he smiled.
The begging men pointed to their house saying the the money was their. They were three and he was just one. He needed to do something and then the idea struck him. He removed three sticky tags from his neck and quickly attached them unto the three men while releasing his grip on the one he was holding. Now, what you all have on your bodies are explosive tags. If you do not co- operate, I activate them and you go boom, high into the sky with your pieces falling to the ground. The men began to cry as one of them rushed into the house and brought out the money. Dray counted it. Five thousand ryo. It was one thousand ryo more than the price. He removed the one thousand ryo and threw it at the men as he took his leave. The men shouted and cried after him. "What of the explosives. Please".. Dray turned his head backwards and smirked.. "They are ordinary customized sticky tags.." He said as he saw one of the man remove it.. They hugged each other and laughed as they thanked dray in the distance...
Dray continued walking. He collected about five more taxes from various locations as he got to another location. He looked very well and it was a shop. The woman who owns the shop happened to be a food seller. Already cooked food that was but the shop was not big enough. Dray asked for her task as she simply handed two thousand ryo to him. "Your tax is two thousand and five hundred ryo" dray told her.. "Am sorry but that is all I have, my customers have not paid their debt" she told dray... "What would happen if this shop was to be demolished so as to help in the building of kumogakure" dray replied.... As he said that, one of the person eating came out of the shop and paid his money before leaving... "Thank you for your patience" she smiled as she handed dray five hundred ryo to complete her tax... She sighed. The thought of having her shop demolished probably increased her heart beat.
Dray moved on as he came to a bigger shop. The shop had various fishing equipments for sale... "Such a big shop and no tax eh".. Dray said as he entered the shop.. "Welcome" said a man sitting comfortably in a chair. "I was just about sending one of my workers to go and pay my tax in the administration office" he concluded as he handed dray seven thousand ryo.. "Here, another thousand ryo for you coming all the way down here." Dray turned and said.. "Thank you but give that to some charity organizations"..
It was afternoon already and dray had collected as much as fifteen taxes so far but he was not done with the list yet. He continued on his mission as he got to the next location. Such a beautiful arena it was. It was a sparring center. The place was very wide, about a fifty by fifty. Pretty large for a sparring center. This place took quite a space of kumogakure no sato. There were two people in the ring. Dray enjoyed the view for but a moment as he then negan asking for the owner of this place. He was directed to his office. Walking down the basement, dray saw the office and two guards standing by the door. He was pretty sure that these butt holes would stop him from entering that office. He had spotted them but they had not seen him yet. He made two water clones of himself using the mizu bushin no jutsu and used the henge no jutsu to transform. The water clones transformed into two muscular men as the clones held both of dray's arms and dragged him on the floor towards the office.
They were of course stopped by the two guards at the door. "What business do you have here" they asked..... "This little shit spoke trash about the boss and spat on his name and for this reason, the boss would punish him himself. Do not forget what the boss would do if he found out that such a brat escaped"... The guards looked confused. They were probably afraid of their boss. The first guard looked at the second as the second spoke up.. "What do hawks do.." he asked.. It was some sort of riddle. "they fly in the air of course" one of the clones replied as the first guard frowned his face and got ready to punch the clone... "they prey on chicks" the second clone replied as he saved dray's plan from being destroyed. The black door was opened as the clones dragged dray in. Dray had expected to get into the office directly but the passage was a long one after which they finally got to the office. The boss seemed to have being looking at everything from a camera as he got up from his seat and spoke with anger in his voice...."So you're the little shit speaking trash about me...." The clones released dray as dray spoke up. "I have come here in place of the raikage to collect your tax as it is due..."
The man laughed...."A brilliant plan you had for getting in here. Tell your raikage that I will pay no tax"... he roared as he slammed his fist on the table...
"Perhaps, you would.." Dray said as he utilized a new technique he had just learnt. He stretched his hands forward as both clones flickered over to the man and held him down in the chair as dray released ice from his hand right on the man's head. It was the ice affinity technique which created liquid ice that solidified on contact.
Dray did this non- stop as the man finally broke. He started yelling as the cold temperature flowing from his head into his body was now becoming unbearable. Dray stopped as asked again. "Are you ready to pay your task".... The man looked angrily at dray as he pressed a button and the drawer of the table opened. He counted twenty thousand ryo and handed it over to dray... "You won't get out of here alive" he said.... "Of course, I will" dray replied as he once again tagged the man all over with the sticky customized tags. He pointed to the screen through which the man had been watching. He could see everything happening from the basement to the arena. "Make a move and you'll go ka- boom!".. Dray said as he walked out of the office leaving the water clones with kunais that were placed at the man's throat. Before walking out the big black door, dray transformed into the boss himself as he opened the door and walked to. The guards bowed as one of them said... "Yyyou ne..ver come out in tthe.. Morr-nn-ing or aff-terrnoo-n.."
"And who are you to question me.." Dray roared.. The two guards quickly went on their knees as dray snickered in his mind..
"Go in there and dispose of that little piece of shit" dray said as he watched the two guards run into the passage way through the big black door. Once they were in, dray locked the door from outside and dismissed the clones with the man as they returned back to water. Dray exited the sparring arena with a sigh. Just a few more taxes and he was done. Dray went round the village collecting taxes. He checked at the sky and the time was about three o' clock. The hour of the monkey. Dray looked at his list and all together, twenty four taxes had been collected from different people. Just this last one and he was done making it twenty five taxes collected all together.
Dray moved to the location of the last tax to be collected. Upon getting to the building, he gasped as he looked at the list again. This time, checking the name correctly. It was Rigo- sama. His sensei while he was a genin. Dray braced up and knocked on the door of the medium sized bungalow. The door opened slowly as dray walked in. Nobody was behind the door. Dray took careful footsteps as he got to the center of the room.. "Hello" he said as his greeting was replied by someone in the corner... "Hi"..... Dray looked to the direction but the person was gone.. The voice came from another angle and quickly dray turned but it was gone.. "Hhh.." and before the voice could complete the hi greeting, a kunai was stuck in the wall right beside his face due to the fact that he managed to shift his head to the side or he would have died for pissing dray off.... "Wow.. Nice shot" the person said as he came out of the darkness.. "You have gotten better, Dray".
"Rigo- sama" ? Dray was puzzled. He had not seen him for a while and for his name to suddenly be on a tax list was baffling.
"Yes, you are not just here to collect my tax. What you are here for, you'll know when the time comes.." He said as he threw a wad of cash on the center table. As dray looked at the falling motion of the money, his sensei was gone.. Dray picked up the money and counted it.. A thousand ryo and it was complete.
Dray left the house and headed for the raikage's office....
"Brilliant work" the raikage said as dray submitted all of the taxes to him and reports too.. "You need not tell me about the sparring center neither do you need to tell me about Rigo- sama cause I know it all after all, I sent you on this mission. Go home now, you'll be called for later.. As of now, all you did is complete a tax collection mission..."
Little did dray know that he was going to have to hunt his sensei soon after he joined the anbu....
Dray turned and left for home with unstable thought randomly moving in his head, mind, body and soul...
WC:4227
The date for the chunin exams were announced. Dray had already moved to kumogakure from kirigakure after his mother's mysterious death and his father's department. Dray had strived to become a genin. It could not really be called a strive as he was near perfect in every single thing he did so saying that he strived to become a genin was not the right sentence. Rather, he earned his genin status. This excellent behaviour of his gave his team leader the confidence to recommend him for the chunin exams that were forth coming in kumogakure. His team consisted of him- dray, a male named ryu- rising dragon and another female named meth and together with their team leader, Rigo sensei. All genin teams in kumogakure no sato of course practiced for the exams aiming to become a chunin at the end of the exams.
As dray practiced with his team members, he also made sure to study some scrolls and train on his own too as he did not like revealing his skills in front of other people. What was the point of fighting when all your tactics were already known by the enemy. Being from the yuki clan, he had mastered his suiton element from a very young age. A nature release that was taught to him by his father. The basics of the other clan element which was futon- wind was taught to him by his mother before her death and he himself had done well enough to go on with training to finally develop the wind release but no matter how he tried, he just did not seem to unlock his clan's advanced release which was Hyouton- Ice even if the concept was as simple as mixing suiton and futon chakra together. It was actually harder to practice than to read. Dray put aside this practice for now and focused on strategies and skills for the chunin exams. He was not going to fail. There was no doubt about that.. He spent quality time eating good food, studying books, training with him team and training alone too..
Finally, the day came. The first stage was the written test. Dray wasted no time in completing this aspect of the exams. Most of the questions asked had to do with logic. The main reason why dray did not only focus on training. He studied too. A body full of muscles and no knowledge what so ever was just an empty barrel.
This year, it happened that the chunin exams had only three stages. The second stage happened in an enclosed area. It was one on one with just the participants, their senseis, the kage and few elders. No villagers witnessed this aspect of the exams. Whoever passed this stage would then proceed to the last stage which would hold in a spacious arena where big people, kages of other villagers, memorable shinobies and other villagers would spectate. Luckily for dray, his opponent in this stage was a taijutsu user. For this reason, dray avoided close ranged battles and he was more on the defensive than the offensive. Once his opponent left an opening due to dray distracting him with a clone, dray used the water puddle technique to appear behind him and place him in a genjutsu that brought him down to his knees....
Dray was declared winner of this round as his opponent was taken away for treatment. Dray's team mates too passed the stage well enough and they all advanced to the last stage. The stage of fear. The stage where even death was possible. Dray had gone home to rest his body. Unlike other ninjas who kept on training for the next day, dray simple ate and slept. His body was recovering torn tissues and closing up little scratches...
Dray woke up full of live on the last day of the chunin exam. He dressed quickly and moderately of course. He ate a very light breakfast that would digest on time so as not to hinder him in battle after which he proceeded to arm himself. He had a series of basic projectiles consisting of kunais, shurikens, senbons, smoke bombs, explosive tags, metsubishi and a fuuma shuriken.
On his wrist, dray placed five senbons around it in a band that held them in place. Another five senbons were placed on his right wrist as he had done to the left. This senbons were positioned in such a way that dray was able to flick his wrist swiftly so as to withdraw them easily and in a way that he would not be harmed by them. He went on to place fifteen kunais around his waist that were held by his belt. This gave the belt a sort of design and only very perceptive people would realize that kunais were hidden there. He attached about ten shurikens to his jacket. Five on the right and another five on the left. A beautiful design it gave the blue black jacket. The rest basic weapons such as explosive tags, smoke bombs, metsubishis were held in ninja pouch as his large fuuma shuriken was folded on his back. He exited his home with confidence. Whoever he was going to face had better prepared properly...
Dray smiled at his preparation for the chunin exams. Little wonder why he won. He had just completed a mission and he was heading home. Of course, tomorrow was another good day to serve the village so he needed good rest. He got home and undressed himself. Practicing good hygiene as always, he had a cool bath before changing into his sleeping cloths. This consisted of just a small short. He loved the cool wind blowing against his bare skin thus why he often slept almost naked.
The night was a short one though it was enough for dray's stressed up body system to quickly recover. The first thing he did was to make cofee. He wondered why he did that. That was one of the things he rarely did. Cofee was hot, he preferred his sytem cold. He often wondered how he would do with the katon chakra nature if he ever learnt it.
Dray dressed up in his regular chunin clothes. Consisting of an inner vest first. It was a long sleeve that was met by bandages at the end. Black shinobi pants, also met by bandages at the end that travelled into his black shinobi sandals. After that was his blue black jacket sleeveless short jacket and of course, his mouth mask that never left his face. He picked up his weapons as he left home for the administration office. He was pumped on for missions. He wanted to serve kumogakure no sato to it's fullest.
Dray walked into the office and went straight to the secretary but today, she directed him to the raikage. He had a special mission for dray the secretary told him. Dray climed the stairs and walked up to the raikage's office. He knocked on the door with couraged... "Come in", the voice said from inside the office. Dray turned the door knob and opened the door.
"Welcome", the raikage said.... He was writing something when dray came in as he seemed to quickly finish up with it and put it aside. "What do you think of my offer" he said.... Hearing that statement, dray put his left hand to his temples and rubbed it gently... After what happened at the chunin exams and an event that happened after it, a few week back that was, the raikage had asked dray to join the anbu force of kumogakure no sato but he had not given his reply well..
"I can very well see the power you possess deep within you and I also see a little darkness" the raikage spoke... "You are probably thinking that the darkness would consume you but that is for you to decide. The chunin exams very well showed that you gain strength from anger but joining the anbu would help you develop power not only from anger but other sources too.."
As the raikage finished his statement, dray's mind flashed back to the chunin exams. His own battle made every one present there gasp. It was true that he deprived the strength he used from anger..
As dray headed to the chunin exam arena, he walked calmly as he was not even close to late. He liked observing punctuality and for that reason, he had left his home quite early. On his way to the exams, he met his team mate. The only female in the team. She greeted dray as they both talked and walked to the exam arena. At the entrance, their sensei was already waiting for them. A punctual man he was too and of course, ryu could be seen in the distance running towards them. Their sensei briefed them a bit about what and what not. Of course, dray knew what to do and what not to do but he still listened to a man of experience. No knowledge was lost.
The exams began and dray watched from his spot every one's tactics and strategies. Such interesting shinobis they would make if they qualified.
Finally, dray left his spot and walked to the entrance of the arena. It was a little tunnel and there, he met his sensei. Rigo- sama said nothing except nodding at dray. Dray waited at the dark entrance for his name to be called. The first name called, dray did not bother to keep it in his head. The fella was an obstacle that needed to be overcomed. The person walked into the arena. He was of course a genin but much more taller than dray. "........Dray Yuki." The announcer finished as dray walked into the arena. There was silence and then cheers that were started by his team mates and follwed by every one.
He was probably the least popular person in the village now but things were soon to change. Dray tilted his head upward and in the distance was the raikage and definetly two other kages due to their attires. There were hundreds and thousands of spectators. None of them mattered to dray except the opponent standing about twenty metres away from him. Dray did a rough calculation of the arena and he saw it as a eighty by eighty square shaped arena. He was glad that he did well in arithmetics while he was still in the shinobi academy.
Dray looked at the opponent clearly. The distinct thing about him was the bandaged object on his back. Whaterver it was. This opponent was an eager one as he charged at dray while throwing two kunais. Dray flipped backwards as the kunais soared below him. He lengthened his gap from the opponent to fifteen metres. He wanted to know what this person was made of as he quickly tagged some kunais and shurikens as flung them into the air. The projectiles got to inches of the opponent as they exploded. There was silence for a few seconds as gasps followed the scene. The affected opponent's clothes fell to the floor as wooden parts could be seen. Dray was taken aback by this but he did not show any signs of fear. Behing the wooden being was another person who coughed to draw attention.. "Let's play".. He said allowed as he lifted up his hands to show visible strings. A pupeeteer eh.. Such a brilliant move, dray had to commend him.
The battle went on for so long that both parties were now bleeding. Dray was so focused on the battle that his injuries did not cause him pain until he looked down to see blood dropping from his body. He was filled with rage. His eyes turned bright blue as he looked at the opponent that was ten metres away and exhausted tooo.....
With a mad shout, he held it in for a few second while everybody watched as ice spikes shot from him and swiftly stuck theirselves in the opponent. The ice scales pierced the already fragile puppet and hit the pupeeteer in so many spots. An attack that he was not likely to survive.. Everybody stood up and gasped. The mighty had fallen as dray was declared winner......
Dray's mind came back to the raikage's office. "You're back" the raikage said seeing that dray had being in thought... "Now, let's prepare you for being anbu. This list contains the names of those who have refused to pay their dues to kumogakure. Be strict when you have to and be soft if you think you have to be but what so ever way, make sure you bring back their taxes. You may leave".... the raikage concluded.
Dray collected the list and bowed as he left the room. He was finally going to join the anbu of kumogakure. There was saying no. A part of him seemed to want it. He just had to get done with this mission first.
Dray walked through the streets of kumogakure as he checked house numbers of those who were owing on the list. The first house he saw, he did not bother going in as the occupants of the house were merrying outside. They were all males and they were drinking in broad daylight. Such a stupid thing to do.. Dray cleared his throat and spoke... "Are you portraying yourselves as good citizens of kumogakure no sato in this manner?" the men laughed as one of them spoke.. "And who are you little brat to ask us that. Get out of here if you have no reasonable thing to do before we...." Before he could finished his statement, dray flickered to his back gave him two hits to his ribs that brought him to his knees as dray placed a kunai to his throat.... "Do you have anything else to say" dray asked as all three men began to pleade... "Your tax is what I have come to collect on behalf of the raikage".. Dray said. Just then, a shadow flickered past the alley.
The raikage sent someone to access me, he smiled.
The begging men pointed to their house saying the the money was their. They were three and he was just one. He needed to do something and then the idea struck him. He removed three sticky tags from his neck and quickly attached them unto the three men while releasing his grip on the one he was holding. Now, what you all have on your bodies are explosive tags. If you do not co- operate, I activate them and you go boom, high into the sky with your pieces falling to the ground. The men began to cry as one of them rushed into the house and brought out the money. Dray counted it. Five thousand ryo. It was one thousand ryo more than the price. He removed the one thousand ryo and threw it at the men as he took his leave. The men shouted and cried after him. "What of the explosives. Please".. Dray turned his head backwards and smirked.. "They are ordinary customized sticky tags.." He said as he saw one of the man remove it.. They hugged each other and laughed as they thanked dray in the distance...
Dray continued walking. He collected about five more taxes from various locations as he got to another location. He looked very well and it was a shop. The woman who owns the shop happened to be a food seller. Already cooked food that was but the shop was not big enough. Dray asked for her task as she simply handed two thousand ryo to him. "Your tax is two thousand and five hundred ryo" dray told her.. "Am sorry but that is all I have, my customers have not paid their debt" she told dray... "What would happen if this shop was to be demolished so as to help in the building of kumogakure" dray replied.... As he said that, one of the person eating came out of the shop and paid his money before leaving... "Thank you for your patience" she smiled as she handed dray five hundred ryo to complete her tax... She sighed. The thought of having her shop demolished probably increased her heart beat.
Dray moved on as he came to a bigger shop. The shop had various fishing equipments for sale... "Such a big shop and no tax eh".. Dray said as he entered the shop.. "Welcome" said a man sitting comfortably in a chair. "I was just about sending one of my workers to go and pay my tax in the administration office" he concluded as he handed dray seven thousand ryo.. "Here, another thousand ryo for you coming all the way down here." Dray turned and said.. "Thank you but give that to some charity organizations"..
It was afternoon already and dray had collected as much as fifteen taxes so far but he was not done with the list yet. He continued on his mission as he got to the next location. Such a beautiful arena it was. It was a sparring center. The place was very wide, about a fifty by fifty. Pretty large for a sparring center. This place took quite a space of kumogakure no sato. There were two people in the ring. Dray enjoyed the view for but a moment as he then negan asking for the owner of this place. He was directed to his office. Walking down the basement, dray saw the office and two guards standing by the door. He was pretty sure that these butt holes would stop him from entering that office. He had spotted them but they had not seen him yet. He made two water clones of himself using the mizu bushin no jutsu and used the henge no jutsu to transform. The water clones transformed into two muscular men as the clones held both of dray's arms and dragged him on the floor towards the office.
They were of course stopped by the two guards at the door. "What business do you have here" they asked..... "This little shit spoke trash about the boss and spat on his name and for this reason, the boss would punish him himself. Do not forget what the boss would do if he found out that such a brat escaped"... The guards looked confused. They were probably afraid of their boss. The first guard looked at the second as the second spoke up.. "What do hawks do.." he asked.. It was some sort of riddle. "they fly in the air of course" one of the clones replied as the first guard frowned his face and got ready to punch the clone... "they prey on chicks" the second clone replied as he saved dray's plan from being destroyed. The black door was opened as the clones dragged dray in. Dray had expected to get into the office directly but the passage was a long one after which they finally got to the office. The boss seemed to have being looking at everything from a camera as he got up from his seat and spoke with anger in his voice...."So you're the little shit speaking trash about me...." The clones released dray as dray spoke up. "I have come here in place of the raikage to collect your tax as it is due..."
The man laughed...."A brilliant plan you had for getting in here. Tell your raikage that I will pay no tax"... he roared as he slammed his fist on the table...
"Perhaps, you would.." Dray said as he utilized a new technique he had just learnt. He stretched his hands forward as both clones flickered over to the man and held him down in the chair as dray released ice from his hand right on the man's head. It was the ice affinity technique which created liquid ice that solidified on contact.
Dray did this non- stop as the man finally broke. He started yelling as the cold temperature flowing from his head into his body was now becoming unbearable. Dray stopped as asked again. "Are you ready to pay your task".... The man looked angrily at dray as he pressed a button and the drawer of the table opened. He counted twenty thousand ryo and handed it over to dray... "You won't get out of here alive" he said.... "Of course, I will" dray replied as he once again tagged the man all over with the sticky customized tags. He pointed to the screen through which the man had been watching. He could see everything happening from the basement to the arena. "Make a move and you'll go ka- boom!".. Dray said as he walked out of the office leaving the water clones with kunais that were placed at the man's throat. Before walking out the big black door, dray transformed into the boss himself as he opened the door and walked to. The guards bowed as one of them said... "Yyyou ne..ver come out in tthe.. Morr-nn-ing or aff-terrnoo-n.."
"And who are you to question me.." Dray roared.. The two guards quickly went on their knees as dray snickered in his mind..
"Go in there and dispose of that little piece of shit" dray said as he watched the two guards run into the passage way through the big black door. Once they were in, dray locked the door from outside and dismissed the clones with the man as they returned back to water. Dray exited the sparring arena with a sigh. Just a few more taxes and he was done. Dray went round the village collecting taxes. He checked at the sky and the time was about three o' clock. The hour of the monkey. Dray looked at his list and all together, twenty four taxes had been collected from different people. Just this last one and he was done making it twenty five taxes collected all together.
Dray moved to the location of the last tax to be collected. Upon getting to the building, he gasped as he looked at the list again. This time, checking the name correctly. It was Rigo- sama. His sensei while he was a genin. Dray braced up and knocked on the door of the medium sized bungalow. The door opened slowly as dray walked in. Nobody was behind the door. Dray took careful footsteps as he got to the center of the room.. "Hello" he said as his greeting was replied by someone in the corner... "Hi"..... Dray looked to the direction but the person was gone.. The voice came from another angle and quickly dray turned but it was gone.. "Hhh.." and before the voice could complete the hi greeting, a kunai was stuck in the wall right beside his face due to the fact that he managed to shift his head to the side or he would have died for pissing dray off.... "Wow.. Nice shot" the person said as he came out of the darkness.. "You have gotten better, Dray".
"Rigo- sama" ? Dray was puzzled. He had not seen him for a while and for his name to suddenly be on a tax list was baffling.
"Yes, you are not just here to collect my tax. What you are here for, you'll know when the time comes.." He said as he threw a wad of cash on the center table. As dray looked at the falling motion of the money, his sensei was gone.. Dray picked up the money and counted it.. A thousand ryo and it was complete.
Dray left the house and headed for the raikage's office....
"Brilliant work" the raikage said as dray submitted all of the taxes to him and reports too.. "You need not tell me about the sparring center neither do you need to tell me about Rigo- sama cause I know it all after all, I sent you on this mission. Go home now, you'll be called for later.. As of now, all you did is complete a tax collection mission..."
Little did dray know that he was going to have to hunt his sensei soon after he joined the anbu....
Dray turned and left for home with unstable thought randomly moving in his head, mind, body and soul...
WC:4227