Chapter 16

"You damn leaf bastard! You won't dare face me like a man!" A stone nin growled with clenched teeth. He was bloody with lacerations across his back, his left arm hanging at his side useless.

Sweat permitted his body and soaked his clothes, he'd been on edge for a long time now. His team were making their routine patrol when suddenly they were attacked. His men dropped like flies in the most brutal way imaginable.

Some were decapitated, others were disemboweled and a few were bisected from hip to shoulder. But what made it worse was the fact that they could not see their enemy. It was as if the hand of death was passing through them.

Now all that remains is the second in command of this unfortunate group of stone nin. He was exhausted and despite his bravado he couldn't put up much if any resistance if he wanted to. So he resorted to cursing the cowardly leaf shinobi.

And a leaf shinobi he knew it to be. Over the last couple weeks the hidden stone forces have been receiving ever increasing reports of a mysterious foe. A leaf shinobi that would appear after wiping out a good chunk of a unit's numbers. The reports always went the same way, men would be killed by an unseen enemy until one or two were left standing. Then the leaf shinobi would appear shrouded in a black smoke with eyes of death and kill one while allowing the other to escape. It was like some vengeful wraith had been set loose upon the stone shinobi.

"Damn, just my luck, of course I had to be the one to be targeted by the wraith." The stone nin cursed his horrible luck with a bitter smile. As he leaned against a tree for support while lamenting his circumstances, he caught sight of a pair of deathly glowing green eyes. He sucked in a breath of air and stared into those soul draining eyes. All at once his limbs failed him and he dropped to the floor, still staring into those cold haunting eyes.

"The wraith." He whispered, all earlier righteous indignation all but forgotten. He stared into those eyes that haunted his every waking moment. After a long moment of silence it spoke.

"You call me a coward, you are the ones who are on land not your own. You seek to harm the land which I call home and you expect to be treated with respect, with dignity? It doesn't matter how, death comes to us all." With that the wraith raised a hand and produced the head of the stone shinobi's Captain.

"I've claimed my prize, go now little man, tell your people that the wraith has claimed another, tell them that the Wraith of Konoha is always watching, ready to pass death unto the enemies of the leaf." With those parting words the figure vanished in a cloud of black smoke. The stone nin starred in the same place for a moment longer before passing out.

Some distance away, Ashidon appeared head in hand. "That was a bit dramatic but we do what we must. God, I sounded like some wannabe villain, at least these scare tactics have been working."

Ashidon pulled out a scroll from his person and opened it. He placed the head of his latest target on it before sealing it away. "Not bad, I've taken out a decent number thus far."

Storing the scroll away he moved on, after a few miles of travel he entered a cave to feast while the sun was coming up. Lately, Ashidon had taken to being active at night while resting during the day. Not that he had to, he just felt it served his purpose of taking on the persona of a wraith like figure.

Before entering the cave he covered the entrance as best he could before making his way to the rear while sitting down in a meditative position. He linked himself with every crow in each of his scout teams. While unable to speak through the crows, he routinely checked on his scout teams through the eyes of his crows. After ensuring everything was okay he disconnected from them and summoned twenty crows and had them stand guard. Once that was done he closed his eyes and slept.

Ashidon awoke a few hours before nightfall, after checking his surroundings for any enemies he dismissed his crows only leaving his two black ghosts as his protection. "If only I could speak through my crows, then I could be far more efficient. Maybe I should focus on improving my connection with my crows instead of going out tonight. I've absorbed a large number of souls over the past few weeks. I think I could take a night off to deepen my connection. Sadly, this will further delay the unlocking of my final ability, though I do think it's worth the wait."

Closing his eyes, Ashidon focused on the connection he had with each of his crows. He imagined the connection as a string of energy connecting him with each crow. He examined the string in great detail.

'I wonder what would happen if I poured soul energy into the connection?" With that thought in mind Ashidon began channeling soul energy into one of his connections. He did it slowly at first, but as time passed he noticed the string became thicker and brighter.

He pushed more power into the connection until he could feel a change. Stopping, he re-examined the connection, then he tried to connect to the crow. When he did he could instantly feel a difference. Normally he'd only be able to see through the eyes of the crow. Now however he could hear what the crow could hear.

Smiling at his success he disconnected from the crow and poured soul energy into all his connections to each crow of each team. Ashidon didn't open his eyes until nightfall the next day.

"That took more energy than I expected, and much much longer. Let's see what's changed."

Ashidon mentally tapped into his connection with each crow, deciding to check in on Nakko he connected with that particular crow. Once he was connected he was bombarded with sounds of battle. Nakko and his team were under assault by a group of stone nin and while they had yet to sustain any casualties, they were in a very tight situation.

Ashidon was inhabiting the body of his crow who stood at Nakko's side. Taking an unnecessary breath, Ashidon spoke. "This is Ashidon speaking, report everything to me."

"What?" Nakko asked as he turned to the now visible crow that for the first time spoke, and in a chilling airy voice.