Chapter 12

"That's everything, does anyone have any questions?" Ashidon eyed his scouts but none spoke up. Nodding his head in approval he continued.

"Good, we move out immediately." After giving his command, Ashidon and his scouts made their way to the outskirts of the camp. Once there ten of the teams immediately went out. Ashidon made sure to provide each team with one crow so as to know their location and provide support as needed.

The last team stood waiting for Ashidon to move. He turned around and eyed the camp one last time before looking to his new team. They were hand-picked by Ashidon himself, they consisted entirely of ninjas whose primary skill-set revolved around assassination.

"Let's go," Ashidon said before they went into the forest.

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It was the dead of night and Ashidon and his team lay hidden in the canopy of trees. They were currently scoping out a possible hideout of stone ninja. Ashidon used what he now refers to as soul sight to inspect the area.

After a thorough examination, he identified six souls hiding within a large hill underground.

"I spotted six unknowns in that hill over there. The layout is unknown but they are in the area. I'll send out my crows to search for an entrance, until then we wait and see." Ashidon informed his team while also issuing orders. They nodded in understanding and went in full alert.

Ashidon summoned ten crows and sent them to search the area for a hidden entrance. As he summoned them he noted their slight change in appearance. They had shrunk to five feet tall and appeared more densely wrapped in the IBM. This extra density had the effect of making them near invisible to even a byakugan, since less chakra was exposed.

As his crows dispersed, Ashidon created his void smoke to enshroud himself and his team. Now all they had to do was wait for the crows to find an opening. This was the downside to his sight. While he could see the souls of living beings, he could not see the details of structures like a cave network. Or even the layout of a building.

'At least I'm able to control the sensory deprivation effects of my void smoke, otherwise my team would be out of commission until I dropped the smoke.' Ashidon thought as they waited for results.

After an hour Ashidon felt a tugging on one of his connections to a crow. Closing his eyes Ashidon tapped into that connection and in the next moment he could now see through the eyes of his crow. A feat he'd recently developed.

'Once I have the time, I'd love to incorporate the substitution jutsu with the crows. Hell, if I could convince him, I could get Minato to teach me the flying raijin. That coupled with my crows would be a serious combination. But I need to focus on the task at hand.'

Ashidon was looking at a well hidden cave entrance. Scanning the rest of the area, he mentally ordered the other crows to converge. In short order all ten crows stood just outside the cave entrance. Ashidon mentally ordered all ten to enter the cave and eliminate those within.

The crows moved silently into the cave in search of their prey. Ashidon was still visually linked with one of the crows intending to witness the killing personally.

After a minute of walking on silent feet, the crows came upon a large room. They spotted the six stone nin sitting around in various stages of relaxation. Having identified the six targets the crows moved forward.

They ignored the banter going on between the six. They just moved into position behind or to the side of their targets. After a moment's pause, they lashed out and slit the throat of each stone nin with blackened claws.

The stone nin, completely caught off guard, reached for their slit throats. Their efforts were futile as the fresh blood continued to pump and they watched wide eyed as their life force spilled out on the ground before them. As an act of mercy, Ashidon revealed the presence of the crows to the dying stone nin. They stared wide eyed at the creatures standing in their midsts before dying.

'Why did I do that? That was completely unnecessary. I still have these ridiculous childish tendencies. What's the point in trying to look cool? This is real life, not some game. I need to control such dangerous habits. They could lead to my death.' Ashidon thought while chastising himself repeatedly for some time.

After composing himself he ordered the crows to dissipate and opened his eyes. "Enemies eliminated, we move in to search for any useful information. Crows two and three remain out here with me. Crows four through seven enter the cave to collect data. Move out."

With his words his team took action. Ashidon being the leader of the team was designated as crow one. Each team had their own call sign and he felt the crow suited him well. They quickly gathered any information they could and moved on.

Events like this went on throughout the teams. They would locate an enemy encampment and swiftly take them out. With the help of Ashidon's assigned crow they made easy work of unsuspecting stone nin. They weren't perfect however, there were some slip ups here and there but they were few and far between. Only Ashidon's group had a hundred percent lethality.

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Ashidon and his team are chasing a group of stone nin, they had been chasing this group for an entire day now. They had first encountered them while they were on patrol. Ashidon and his team managed to attack them while they were unaware, but one of them proved to be very perceptive as he somehow managed to detect the crows at the last moment.

His warning saved his and two others' lives. The rest were unable to react quick enough. This led to the prolonged chase they find themselves in now. Ashidon desperately wanted to capture this troubling stone nin to figure out how he managed to identify the threat of the crows.

They followed the stone nin to a small village. Ashidon was able to track their souls and knew they were here. They seemed to be hiding in some cellar of one of the homes. Ashidon and his team approached the village and were greeted by what appeared to be the village head.

"Good evening, um, how can I help you?" The man asked the group.

"I'm here looking for three stone nin, have you seen them?" Ashidon asked while stepping forward. The man seemed surprised that such a young man was the one in charge.

"Sorry, we haven't seen the like around here. Perhaps they went around this little village,"the man replied. At this point some of the other villagers had left their homes to watch the event.

Ashidon's eyes glowed a bright green in the darkness and it made the villagers take a step back. "Sir, I will only ask you once more, have a group of three stone nin passed through here?"

The man gulped audibly, and before he could speak one of the villagers spoke up. "We just told you we don't know anything! Why can't you just leave us alone?!"

"Yeah, we haven't done anything to you, why don't you just leave us alone?!"

"These damn hidden villages and their damn wars! It's alway people like us that suffer!"

"Are you crazy? Shut the hell up before they kill us."

Soon all the villagers were out and they yelled at Ashidon and his team. He tried to reason with them but they just wouldn't listen. One of his teammates whispered into Ashidon's ear during the uproar. "Captain, perhaps we should just eliminate them and search the place after?"

"No, killing them is pointless and unnecessary." Ashidon harshly replied.

"But captain, you must have reason to believe they are indeed here, otherwise we would have moved on. That means that these people are lying and are willingly harboring the enemy." The jonin continued.

"They are innocent people." Ashidon replied.

"Captain, this is war and by them choosing to provide shelter to our enemies makes them our enemies. And they aren't people of the land of fire, they aren't our people." The jonin countered.

"I can flush them out without hurting these people." Ashidon hissed.

"And what of the next team that passes through? These people seem to hold a resentment towards the leaf, they are a threat best removed." The jonin said.

"I will not kill innocents." Was Ashidon's reply.

"Then at least kill the ones hiding them as a warning to the others." The jonin added.

Ashidon thought on that for a moment before coming to a decision. He spoke aloud, catching the attention of everyone. With finger pointed at one of the homes he asked, "whose home does that belong to?"

There was silence for a long moment as the villagers seemed to hold in their collective breaths. The house Ashidon pointed to was the one that housed the three stone nin. By the reaction and the silence Ashidon surmised that the villagers did in fact know of the three stone nin.

Ashidon having lost his patience, made his eyes glow and released a shroud of void smoke around his person. The smoke nearly covered his body, but his eyes remained clear and bright in their ominous glow. At that moment, Ashidon appeared as a vengeful wraith to the villagers.

In the next moment, the same village head that spoke earlier stepped forward. His body trembled violently before he replied. "They're in my home."