The rain fell hard over the Land of Water today. Shun's hair plastered against his face as he walked through the downpour. Draped in his black cloak to fend off the rain, he made his way to an unusual house far off the beaten path. This was no ordinary house, it was no other than the Black Market's Bounty Office from the Land of Water Sect of the shady organization.
Shun pushed the front door open, a bell signaling his entry. A short bald man walked out of the shadows and greeted him.
"Well then, it's been some time, Shun-Kun. I thought you'd have forgotten about me after all these weeks."
Shun Narrowed his eyes at the man before walking up to him slowly, pushing him aside and moving past to take a seat in an old armchair in the corner.
"What do you have for me, Shizo, better be something good. Remember what happened the last time you gave me crap work."
Shizo cleared his throat and wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead, smiling in his usual suspicious way. "On the contrary, my scary friend, it just so happens that something truly interesting happened upon our doorstep just the other day. I was about to give it to someone else."
"Just shut up and tell me already before I kill you instead." Shun growled in an annoyed tone.
"Aha, Hai, well if you'll just give me one moment." The little man ran off beyond a curtained doorway and after several moments he returned holding a tan folder. "This is it, some big shot in Tea Country put a pretty large Bounty on this punk from Amegakure. Guess he killed the clients son or something. Pretty big sum though, totaled to 550,000 Ryo. If you bring the punk back to the Client."
"The Client wants the body?" Shun raised a brow as he looked to Shizo.
"Apparently he wants it as a trophy. I don't know the specifics, but it doesn't say he wants him alive so feel free to kill him."
Shun stood up and walked over to Shizo, grabbing the folder from his stubby hands. He opened it and looked at the picture inside. The target looked to be in his early twenties. Short black hair and a stupid look on his face. An easy kill no doubt. It hardly mattered though, if they pay was good enough, Shun would do it.
Shun took the picture and stuffed it into his pocket, glancing over the target information briefly before destroying the folder and its contents. He gave Shizo a curt nod and walked through the front door out into the rain.
***Three Days Later***
Shun disembarked from the ship that had carried him from the Land of Water to a port in the Land of Earth. He had not been this way since his mother had destroyed Iwagakure no Sato during the Chuunin Selection Exams. The Port was busy with people transporting various supplies, was clearly meant for refugees who fled the destruction. It was truly a pitiful sight, but Shun paid no attention, he just continued on his way, pushing past the crowd until he found himself out of the small port town and out in the wilderness.
Shun had always hated this country, to rocky and barren, though he felt the same about the Land of Win as well. He hated those desolate places more than anything. His destination though, was a place he loved the most. The Land of Ran was Shun's favorite place to go, the near constant rain was perfect, in his opinion.
It took Shun almost a week to walk through the land of Earth, before he finally entered the Rain. He welcomed the downpour gladly, enjoying the feeling of the water falling on him as he continued on his way. He took the picture of the target out of his pocket for a moment, taking in all the details, he would arrive at Amegakure shortly, and he wanted to find him quickly. Shun hated waiting above all else.
Everything happened in a flash, a tagged Kunai shot past Shun's face and he just barely avoided the blast as he jumped out of the path. That was too close. Too sloppy. Shun glared in the direction that the Kunai had come and three Shinobi baring the forehead protectors of Amegakure no Sato. Three dead men standing in the path of Shun's pay. A fourth man stepped out from the surrounding trees. It was the punk from the picture. Fortune truly smiled upon Shun this day.
"We've been expecting you, Shun, Otherwise known as the Threaded Hunter. Ever since I caught wind that there was a price on my head I knew you would be the one to pick up the scent."
"So I was expected. It seems I've gained a reputation among the damned. Unfortunate. I prefer having the element of surprise but it changes nothing. You're worth a lot of Ryo so if you could just give up and die I would greatly appreciate it. If not though that's perfectly fine. I will kill you either way." Shun took another step closer and one of the three Ame Shinobi threw a Kunai just in front of his left foot. Those three had overstayed their welcome.
Shun launched his left hand into the tree's gripping the throat of one of the three above. Whipping him through the air and slamming the man into the other three, a horrified look on their faces as they fell from the branches. The one in Shun's grasp thrashed his legs and gripped at the arm currently crushing his throat. The arm retracted back to Shun and he continued to hold the shinobi several inches above the ground until he stopped moving once and for all.
Shun threw the corpse aside and looked at the three now standing before him. One down. The look of fear and anger on their faces was almost enough to make Shun grin as he rushed forth, sending a powerful punch to one of the men's gut, sliding behind him then slamming his knee into his back, causing the man to fly forward and crash into a tree with a dull crunch. These fools were weak. They should have stayed behind and abandoned their comrade. They might have lived longer. The man he had kicked into a tree vanished with a 'poof'. A Clone. Interesting.
"Did you really think it would be that easy? You may have taken poor Koga off guard, and he paid the price for not paying attention."
One of the others stepped forward and grabbed a hold of the targets shoulder. "Hisao-San, we should retreat, Koga's dead and this Hunter is dangerous. We should get reinforcements before we doing anything brash."
"You really think I'm going to let you get away? I don't like keeping clients waiting so I'm going to end this now if it's alright with you." Shun pulled the clothes covering his upper body off and tossed it all to the side. With a loud monstrous cry Shun began to push his threads from his back, the four masks launching off with them. The four of them slowly began to take shape into large evil forms, like demons made of the black threads of Shun's body. The four masked creatures leaped off and surrounded the three men from Amegakure, a terrified look on their faces.
"Your first mistake was thinking to Ambush me. Your second mistake was making your presence known, and your final mistake, was taking the time to talk instead of directly attacking me." Shun weaved through several handseals and each of the threaded monsters opened their mouth's the one that held his Suiton heart was taking control of the water from a stream it had taken position of. Then shun had completed the massive string of seals. All four masks released their techniques. Each had launched a massive dragon of Fire, Water, Earth and Wind ad the three, creating a massive explosion the shook the area and sent debris flying in all directions.
Hisao, miraculously though it was, was still alive, taking heavy, labored breaths, multiple spots on his body was bleeding profusely. He was going to die on his own soon enough. But Shun hated waiting. The Threaded Monsters converged around Hisao, his comrades no longer breathing as they lay spread out and lifeless.
"You're a monster..." Hisao said, spitting blood onto the ruined ground.
"No, I'm just a man, one that needs to keep his wallet filled." The threads of the four masked constructs erupted from their bodies, impaling Hisao throughout most of his body. He took one last ragged breath and his heart stopped for good.
The four hearts then returned to Shun's body, flowing in through his back once more. And he stood, glancing around at the corpses. He had to dispose of them. He set to work, using his teachings from when he was a Hunter Nin, destroying the bodies entirely leaving no further trace of them. and he grabbed a hold of Hisao by the collar of his vest, tossing him onto his shoulder and walking off. It was a long way to the Land of Tea.
***To be Continued***
