A Thousand Years

The Assasination

After a few minutes of profusely thanking Kushina, the owner went on to give a description of the two men who threatened her.

"They wore wide straw hats so it was difficult to see their faces, but one had a mask covering most of his face, and his eyes were bright green. The other man looked pretty normal but he carried a large weapon on his back, I don't know what it was but it had three blades and was red and black. Both of them wore odd looking cloaks, black and red, though I'm afraid I cannot remember exactly what they looked like. Please, you must get rid of them!" The woman begged.

Kushina had sympathy for the woman, not just as a shinobi, but also as a mother.

"Master, a letter from Konoha has arrived." A dark figure kneeled in front of a large throne-like chair.

"Who is it this time?" The figure seated in the chair waved for the letter to be brought up. Glancing over the scroll with the minimal light that leaked into the dark room, the figure smirked. "Same old task. And it's one of their own again."

Both figured chuckled deeply.

"Should I retrieve your weapons, master?" The servant asked.

"Go."

He quickly stood and scrambled away, disappearing into the darkness of the room.

The master did not move from the throne for a long while, only standing up to take the weapons that had been brought.

As the battle-ready man stepped out of the dark room and into the light of the sun, a thought briefly crossed his mind.

'Must be important for that large of a reward...'

That night, Kushina stayed in a room at the spa which had been offered by the owner, she insisted that it was best that Kushina stay close until the men returned again.

The redhead sat in her bed, some papers spread out before her, all of then containing information on recent crime reports near that area of the Sound village. She was looking for any other indication on the existence of these two strange men, though it was futile. There wasn't a single trace of them anywhere else. Though it was possible that they had been involved in a crime that was not reported, this still gave Kushina nothing to go on. She didn't know anything about their abilities, not even how generally powerful they were, this meant she would have to keep on guard when facing them.

Night fell and the spa was silent, everyone was fast asleep. A lone figure slid out from behind the building and quickly jumped onto the roof, landing soundlessly. Bending down, the person skillfully cut a hole into the dull tiles and dropped down into the building.

Nina saw the man from her vantage point atop a tall tree, she stood from her spot and followed the figure, slipping down into the same hole.

Nina found herself in a hallway, the main hall, she assumed. She couldn't feel the intruder's chakra but she could feel Kushina's. Quickly finding the room she was asleep in, Nina saw the figure had found her as well.

The person approached the resting woman silently, kunai in hand, intending to keep this quick and simple. He soon realized that there was going to be a change of plans.

A woman suddenly appeared before him, blocking his view of the redhead. She didn't need to speak for him to know that he would have to get past her in order to complete his task. Without wasting any time, he lunged forwards and aimed at her heart. She shifted towards the left just enough to avoid the blade and took the opportunity to slip a kunai out of the man's weapon pouch, it was soon sent flying at him, though it was only able to graze his collar.

He jumped backwards and landed in a crouch. He stared at her with unblinking eyes, as if assessing her strength. In a flash, he pulled out a dagger and leapt towards her, she mirrored him and their weapons clashed, sparks flew as the two blades met.