Chapter 11 - Local Adventure

E - All of the above. Don't concentrate on just one, you could have fun and keep an eye out for Guy too if you see him. (New Trait: Multitasker)

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Chapter 11 - Local Adventure

…

Shinji thought about what to do today, and he had all day to himself. He decided to stroll through his village, trying to memorize the markets and ninja shops, which were quite abundant in a ninja village. Still, this sense of having nothing to do felt weird, not necessarily bad, just weird.

But he dismissed such thoughts for now and went towards a dango shop, getting three sticks of dango and enjoying the sweets in the shop as the warm sun heat gently touched his skin. With a smile on his face, he enjoyed the sweets and as he was about to get up he saw someone looking at him. They wore a Konoha headband as a bandana, with a dark mask covering their face.

Shinji took back his empty plate of dango towards the counter, something that normally would be done by the waiters. But he decided to do this as a sign of politeness. An old man stood at the counter and looked at him weirdly. "Can I help you with something young man?"

Shinji only smiled politely, handing him the plate and some money. "Keep the change. But I have a question. Don't look too intently, but that man, the one with the mask and Konoha headband, is he a regular?"

The old man's eyes sharpened, and he smiled, knowing how to play along. Shaking his head, he whispered. "Do you need to call for help?"

Contemplating what to do next, Shinji shook his head slightly. "No, this is just something I was curious about. As he might be one of my teammates under transformation jutsu. But don't tell him."

Hearing that it wasn't anything serious, the old man breathed a sigh of relief. The adults in Konoha knew the rules regarding any potential suspicious individuals or spies. But Shinji knew that if anything happened, and the village got involved right now it would be just he said guesswork. For all he knew, this man might have been here coincidentally or had been sent by the Hokage. But in this case, he assumed the worst, as his cautious nature wouldn't allow him to be careless here.

Still, Shinji acted casual, putting his hands in his pockets and acting nonchalant, as if he hadn't noticed anything, and walked out. Situations like this, if handled carelessly could blow out of proportion.

He went around and tried some more food stalls, and stayed in the public eye and places that ninjas frequented. This way his tracker, which was still keeping an eye on him, couldn't do anything and this gave Shinji enough time to come up with a plan.

…

In the end, Shinji decided to go atop the Hokage Mountain, with the strange man following. To most people, this might seem like an empty place, but Shinji remembered from a certain book in the Academy which described how the civilians would escape to the shelters in this mountain in case of a disaster. If there was one sure place that ninjas would stand guard, it would be this mountain, the gate, and the Hokage tower. The latter two were too obvious and his plan would be figured out.

Though he couldn't sense anything, Shinji knew that some Anbu were likely already observing him. After all, the village wouldn't want any spies to sabotage the place where the shelters were. Though he didn't have concrete proof of this, it was a logical thing that anyone would do.

Shinji stood atop the mountain, the Hokage heads carved on the mountain he was standing on. Looking down, he could see people moving about their day, from up here they were small as ants, every now and then he would catch a glimpse of ninjas jumping atop roofs.

"If you had noticed me, then say something, bastard," the person who had been following had an annoyed look on his face and got closer. He was taller than Shinji by quite a bit, showing their differing ages.

"Why are you following me?" asked Shinji, turning towards the man, a calm gaze in his eyes. Though he was a little low on chakra, he had prepared everything, and taking care of this man wasn't the end goal.

'Someone sent him, he doesn't seem like the kind of guy who is a leader of anything. Even his competence to follow orders is questionable. Someone has an interest in me, and I don't know who. Maybe this guy could help me figure it out after some… persuading.'

"Heh, the chunin exam is coming soon. So I decided to scout my competition a little."

'That is a lie. He doesn't seem like the kind of person to do that, and his hand twitched as if he wanted to grab a kunai. Also, the look in his eyes isn't of someone afraid of competition. This guy was likely very confident in his abilities.'

"I see," Shinji acted as if he believed him. "Then what're you going to do now that you've been found out?"

"Well," he smirked, taking out a kunai. "I will have to figure out how strong you are by myself!"

Shinji wasn't surprised by the turn of events. But he also realized something else, someone wanted to know how strong he was. Even if he wanted to show others what he got, due to the low chakra he wouldn't be able to.

Taking out a kunai of his own, Shinji waited for his opponent to come close, and as soon as he did, he slashed at him. Liquid sorted out of the attacker, but it wasn't blood, but water. Shinji's eyes widened in surprise as he felt someone behind him, slither around his limbs like a snake, grabbing onto the. The man's arms and legs had become soft, almost rubber-like. "H -How? Who are you?!"

"Heh, I guess you aren't anything special after all," the man chuckled, clenching his hold on Shinji tighter, making the younger man wince. "I am Misumi Tsurugi, and have your life in the palm of my hand brat."

"W -Why are you doing this?" Shinji's breath became haggard as the man tightened his grip.

"Trust me brat, you don't wanna know."

"Is that so?" Shinji's voice came from behind Misumi, and the latter gaped as something in his shoulder.

*Poof*

The 'Shinji' he had been strangling showed that he had been a log all along. Misumi glanced at his shoulder and saw a kunai had dug deep into it. He attempted to turn around and grasp his opponent.

Crack!

A loud, bone-breaking sound rang out, as the hand he had extended to grasp into Shinji was broken like a twig. A small piece of bone had punctured the skin and made itself visible to the outside.

"Ahhhhh!!" Misumi yelled out in pain, grasping into his arm, falling to his knees.

"You seemed quite sadistic when you thought you were strangling me," Shinji remarked, crouching to his opponent's point of view. Misumi saw this and played his screams to a higher level, waiting for a chance to attack. "Anyway, tell me who sent you."

"I -I…" Misumi tried to act pitifully, and as soon as he saw Shinji get closer, he used his un-broken hand to try and grasp into his opponent, but he was surprised when his hand slipped right through and his opponent's figure flickered and dimmed into the air.

A sharp pain sprung into Misumi's extended hand. "AHHHHHH!!!"

"That was a clone," stated Shinji, who was revealed to be standing to the side and had thrown a kunai. "No one is stupid enough to get close to an enemy whose abilities are suited to strangle someone. Or maybe your rubber-like body was made that way so it could fit into closed spaces?"

Though Misumi didn't say anything. The nervous, and fearful look on his face was a clear enough answer for Shinji. But now he had to choose what to do with this guy. He kept in mind that there were likely some ninjas observing him.

Still, Shinji knew that since he was within the village boundaries he couldn't act recklessly and kill a fellow Konoha ninja in broad daylight. So with that in mind.

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[Pick one, and put your choice in a comment down below]

A - Torture, light torture. Mostly genjutsu, and try to make him talk. After that, call out to the ninja nearby, if there are any. If no one answers, then take Misumi as a prisoner and try to find a Chunin or higher ranked Ninja and report what happened.

B - Go hard on the torture. Use Genjutsu and physical. You need to know who is after you and what is happening. After that, you will call out to the ninja, and if there aren't any, find some to hand over your downed opponent.

C - No torture. Just call out the ninja, if there are any around. If there aren't then go and find them, with your downed opponent in tow.

D - Just walk off. You don't want to get involved in this any more than you already have. Shinji thinks this might have Misumi grow to become someone who will be a thorn to his side.

E - Just torture him for information, and leave him there for any ninja to find. If they don't then, that's all there is to it.

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NOTICE: In your answers write if you want to cripple Misumi:

Example:

None at all, you have done enough. You don't want to possibly destroy his Ninja career.

A little (break his legs),

Medium (break all limbs and fingers),

High (shatter as many bones as possible, just try to keep him alive, there is a chance of death), he won't ever be a problem anymore, Shinji will make sure of that.