Akazo

A Cracked Stone

   "There's one.. two.. three... and four," a brown-haired shinobi whispered. His long bangs almost covered his eyes, and the rest of hair was tied into a short ponytail. A headband of the Hidden Stone Village was tightly wrapped around his bare, left shoulder. His attire was standard for Iwagakure shinobi - a red outfit with one sleeve and mesh armour around his legs.

   In the outskirts of the village, a pair of shinobi was on lookout duty. The brown-haired man was looking through a pair of binoculars while his female partner laid besides him, nestled in a patch of grass.

   "Are you sure? Let me see," she said, using a hand to brush her orange locks behind her ear. The brown haired ninja handed the binoculars to the woman, who switched spots with him right after.

   The woman looked into the binoculars, eyeing several figures with torn, black cloaks walking in their general direction. She gritted her teeth, a few beads of sweat now glistening off her forehead as she looked at their faces. It was the Osore, with Gyatsō walking ahead of them.

   "That's them, without a doubt. Hey, Daisuke, the white-haired guy in the front is their leader, right?" she asked.

   "Yeah, and neither one of us are strong enough to kill him," Daisuke replied.

   "Damnit. We can't allow the Osore to get closer to the village, Lord Tsuchikage hasn't returned yet!" she exclaimed.

   "Calm down, Madako. Lady Kaori's going to ambush them with that blood jutsu of hers. We'll back her up as much as we can, got it?" Daisuke asked.

   "If it's Lady Kaori who's with us, then of course," she replied.

   Daisuke gave her a light smile before standing up, performing multiple hand seals.

   "Reiji just went to alert the higher-ups that these bastards are finally here. Come on Madako, we're getting into position."

   "Right behind you."

   Sebbech let out a light yawn as he bounded forwards, jumping on top of a large rock to gain more high ground. Squinting a bit, he finally saw the Hidden Stone Village in the distance.

   "Sebbech!"

   Suddenly, a line of blood wrapped around Sebbech's body and quickly hardened to such an extent that he couldn't move anything below his neck.  Frantically looking over to the side, the green haired male's eyes widened as he was kicked off of the rock and crashed onto the ground. The blood then expanded until it engulfed his entire body.

   A red-haired woman wearing a pink kimono then revealed herself. Her arms rested on her hips as she glared at Gyatsō, who seemed uninterested in her even after rendering one of his strongest subordinates immobile.

   "Hmm, so you're the Gyatsō Mataba everyone's so afraid of. You better not take me lightly as you did my father," she said. Sebbech's eyes widened at her words.

   "Father?! Wait, this bitch is Ketsueki's daughter?! Makes sense," the livid man growled, struggling greatly to move his body. After a few more moments, the blood had hardened to the point of where the green-haired Osore member was being constricted.

   "She looks proficient with Reddokarīngu, just like Ketsueki himself," said Hikari. He looked at Kaori and gave her a weak smile. She flashed him an angry glare back.

   "Tell me, woman. Are you here to avenge your father?" he asked.

   "Not at all. Ketseuki abandoned us after I was born," Kaori replied, spitting out her father's name as if it was the name of a terminal illness.