Chapter 10: Head Hunter

Thick bushes covered her entire body, Sana held her right arm as blood trickled down her shoulder. This was not an outcome she had foreseen, she was split up from her team and forced to hide. The tree she leaned against smelled of cinnamon and iron, she left a bloody hand print on the face of the tree. Sana peeled back her shirt and inspected the injury on her shoulder. The wound was surface level at best, just a few scratches here and there.

Thanks to her quick thinking the impact of her fall was minimal, but now her back was soaking wet. The water prison she aimed at the ground perfectly cushioned her fall, unfortunately there were no jutsu to dry her clothing, and the sun slept soundly, only the chilling gaze of the moon greeted her skin with every breath she took.

Her attacker could be nearby, there was no time to wish for the luxury of dry clothes. Sana reached into the pouch she carried on her hips. Her mother had given it to her, it made for an excellent triage kit, and inside were medical supplies. One partially cut bandage, some disinfectants, a pair of scissors and three ninja scrolls suited for healing purposes.

[ Medical Art : Triage Jutsu]

[ Medical Art : Bone repair Jutsu]

[Summoning Art : Emergency Care Slug]

Sana placed the Triage scroll into her ninja tool. After just a few seconds her hands began to glow green and with a slight whimper she tended to her wounds. The sound of her ninja tool was faint, she spent a great deal of time learning to control the humm of her tool, but what good would the silence amount to if she could not control her breathing? The Triage scroll was great for healing surface levels wounds: scratches , scrapes , even some stab wounds, but what it could not do was fix the crippling fear that overtook her body. Her eyes shifted all around as she healed herself, her ears fixated on every little sound that kissed it's lips.

She could sense her attacker nearby, but could not see him, could not hear him, but knew deep down he was watching her. Sana was not the strongest shinobi, she was not the fastest, but what she prided herself in was the depth of knowledge she had accumulated over the years. One of her favorite subjects revolved around the 44th training ground. This was mainly due to the compulsory education each Haruno underwent. The Haruno empire collected much of it's needed medical supplies, from forest rich in chakra. Each unique scroll bore a history that spanned across the terrain of many forest such as this.

Her favorite aspect of the 44th training ground was the unique nature of the willow trees. The bark of the willow trees had texture that resembled the scales of lizard, perfectly random in their assortment, not an inch of the tree's surface was smooth. It was why the tree in front of her gave her pause. The surface had been warped beyond comprehension, and the critters that once inhabited the tree were no where to be found.

Without warning a chain shot out from the tree and headed directly towards her. Sana jumped out of the way as the chain hit nothing but air. Her suspicions were correct. Out from the tree a man dressed in all black arose. He was perfectly fused with the tree as his body slowly became separated by it. The top of his head was covered by a circular hat, his eyes were bound by thick pieces of black tape, the same tape wrapped around his arms and exposed ankles.

The man also wore flip flops, but his feet were not exposed. From head to toe he looked like a shadow had just come alive, a shadow that had been hunting her relentlessly for the past hour. This was Mar-Key.

"Nice moves little one, but next time you wont get away."

"I don't plan on getting caught anytime soon, sorry to disappoint you."

Sana understood the danger she was in, there was no way she could defeat a member of the Black Mamba Troupe. Especially this guy, his senses were abnormally precise, and he could camouflage himself into the nearby terrain. Her best option was to run, and force him to pursue her, as she closed the distance with the academy, hopefully someone would come to her aide. With that thought she quickly deployed her ninja tool.

[ Water style: Water prison Jutsu] A mass of water fired from her hand and spun as it approached Mar-key. With just one kick the man of shadows stopped the ball of water in it's place. However the jutsu snuggly wrapped itself around his ankle.

"What is this?" Mark-Key shook his ankle around as the watery mass changed from an ocean blue ,to a sluggish green color. As he placed his foot on the ground to wipe away the mass, the green ball of goop stuck to the dirt and debris beneath his feet. It would not let go.

"It's a Haruno specialty , see-ya loser." Sana sprinted in the opposite direction.

Sana was accustomed to manipulating the elements of the scrolls she used. Not everyone was familiar with the inner workings of the scrolls, like how they were built, what made them function, how the chakra networks were formed, and the manner in which they stored jutsu. Altering the scrolls took deep understanding, and immense chakra control. Her family did not approve of this behavior of altering their work, in-fact there were several laws in place that prohibited the unauthorized manipulation of ninja scrolls and of course ninja tools.

"Silly girl I don't have time for anymore of your games" shouted Mar-key.

Sana could hear the whistling of a ninja tool behind her. The sound was soon smothered by the clacking of metal that sent shivers down her spine. She turned around for a brief moment as she ran. A pair of chains greeted her as they pressed against each other. She tried to dodge, but the chains wrapped around her feet, then flung her against a tree with a heavy thud. Her back hit the tree as the chains released its grip. She quickly recovered her posture and landed on her feet, a thick layer of water oozed from underneath her shirt and flopped to the floor. It was covered in wooden splinters, and other small insects that covered the tree.

"Clever girl" Mark- key stood a few feet from her. His right ankle was free of the green slime as chains circulated around.

Mark-key placed his palm out in front him. Large chains appeared out from the blackness of his clothes. They slowly wrapped around his arms as they made their way to the center of his palms ,forming a sphere made of shifting metal.

"Do you understand now, there is no escaping me?"

"It doesn't hurt to try." Sana reached into her medical pouch. With a swift motion she chucked a kunai aimed at his throat. The chains on his palm reacted immediately and grappled the kunai returning it back to her with greater speed. Sana dodged, then threw several more kunai, but this time each one had different talismans attached their hilt. With the same response the chains attempted to intercept the kunai , but were met with several elemental explosions.

One explosion was of fire, that did little to effect the chains, but alter their course slightly. Another explosion caused several water droplets to explode into the air wetting the ground beneath. The last explosion caused bounds of electricity to dance partly through the chains locking them in place for a brief moment.

"Such futile efforts, why die struggling child?" Mark-Key raised his ninja tool, the sound of whistling filled the air once again. [ Fuinjutsu : Serpents chain release].

Several more chains appeared as they rotated around different parts of his body. It would be difficult for her to win in a ranged battle, nor could she run. Looking at Mark-Key a second time, she noticed his thin body, his eye's although covered did not leave much room for visual clarity, perhaps a few well placed Haruno punches could provide her the opening she needed to beat this guy. Thinking back, he did appear to be the thinnest amongst his troupe.

Sana did not have many avenues of approach, her only ninja scrolls consisted of basic medical ninjutsu scrolls and the trainee scrolls that Braun had given them. Her thoughts were immediately interrupted by the striking of several chains. She jumped around the area dodging each one as they came. With each miss the chains lifted the dirt from the ground and muddied the air. The ground was still soft from the outpour of rain earlier, most of the chains that speared towards her, also flung bits and pieces of mud around as she retreated.

Her only option was to press forward and force him to defend himself. Mark-Key did not move from the spot he stood. He looked like pied-piper orchestrating black snakes from afar. Sana wanted to give him something to sing about. She stopped her retreat and began pressing forward as dozens of chains continued to assault her. Each chain became entangled with the next, as Sana performed a series of acrobatics, often jumping over one attack, to dodge the other.

She activated her ninja tool. [ Water style: Water Prison Jutsu]. She proceeded to fire dozens of water masses at Mark-key as she twirled and spun around each chain, getting closer with every release of her jutsu. Some chains were covered in green ooze as they struggled to move around, while others were drenched in water, the area around Sana quickly became a swamp as water slushed around beneath her feet.

She was inches away from Mar-Key and pulled her fist back for a fatal blow. However, when she made contact with his chest, her punch was blocked by a thick layer of chains that coated his torso. Sana didn't stop there , a feint green diamond appeared on her forehead as the veins around her arms became more visible. With another punch she aimed directly for his head. The chains reacted the same and shielded their masters face, but this time the punch pushed Mark-key back.

Sana activated her ninja tool again as she dodged an incoming chain from behind.

[Medical Art: Bone repair Jutsu]

Her hands became covered in a thick green aura, that filled the air with the smell of iron. With a series of punches she attacked the man of shadows again, but this time the chains disintegrated as they rapidly rusted into dust.

"Oh, that's pretty dangerous young lady." Markey dodged an attack aimed at his head. "I don't need these chains to crush you little girl."

She remained silent, as her eyes shifted around, her stance resembled a boxers as she pressed forward with the attack. Her legs only ever leaving the ground to dodge the occasional attack from behind, her movements were fluid as her eyes bounced around looking for openings. No matter how many times she swung her fist, she could not hit him. Mark-key jumped away and created considerable distance between them two.

"Where you running off to?" shouted Sana as she wiped the mud from her face.

"I admire your tenacity girl, but your form is all over the place, let me show you how it's done."

Mar-key activated his ninja tool

[ Fuinjutsu: Brawlers glove]

[Fuinjutsu: Serpents Embrace]

The chains that once danced in the air retracted to his location, then began wrapping around his entire body, forming a thin layer of dark clouds that covered him, only his head and neck were exposed. Then the chains around his hands grew in size as the metal shifted around his body, producing sound that mimicked the hissing of several hundred snakes. Within one of Sana's breaths Mark-key had closed the distance between them two.

He threw a combination of several punches while mimicking Sana's stance. With each punch she blocked, a chain would protrude from his body and strike her across the face, then he would follow up with a punch across the other cheek. She wiped the blood from her mouth and attempted to land a punch to his open torso, but her jutsu could not burn through the chains quick enough to reach his flesh.

They both shifted around the swampy terrain as punches flew past the other. Sana's face was covered in bruises as blood dripped from Mar-key's fist. But she didn't stop fighting. Her vision became blurry as water slushed around with each repositioning of their feet. Mar-Key began to laugh as he landed a series of blows to Sana's side, she cried out in pain as the force of the blows lifted her off her feet. Her face was black and blue, and she could barely see in front of her.

Mark-Key was barely injured, with one hand he gripped her by the throat and lifted her off her feet.

"Struggling until the end, how admirable, I'm sure you would make great company amongst the dead."

Tears rolled down Sana's cheeks as she struggled to laugh. Her ninja tool activated as the water around Mar-Key turned a light glowing green. From her ninja tool she released

[Paralysis Gun Jutsu]

A ball of yellow light discharged from her finger and entered the water beneath Mar-Key's feet. The electricity bounced all around the water, but the man of shadows, could not escape as both of his legs were glued perfectly to the ground. With a mighty scream, the electricity traveled through his chains as his voice racked Sana's eardrums. His head veered up towards the sky as he released his hold on her neck.

Sana landed in the water in front of her, completely unharmed by the electric discharge. Most training scrolls were configured to never harm the chakra signature of the user, it was a fail safe against most accident prone academy students.

The screams of Mar-Key lasted for over a minute as sparks flew all around his body, when the electric current faded, he stopped and his body fell face first into the water Infront of him. She did it, she actually beat him. Sana spit out blood as she walked to a dryer location. She was sure she had broken several bones and her face was bleeding all over. Her gloves she wore were torn and almost unrecognizable. She want sure if she had the energy or chakra to fix her wounds.

Suddenly the sound of water rising met her ears. She turned around and saw Mar-Key standing on both feet. He placed his hand on his neck and began cracking it in the opposite direction. Immediately he began laughing as Sana dropped to both of her knees and began sobbing.

"I admit you got me good little girl, but attacks of that caliber could only kill a lesser man."

Mar-Key began slowly walking towards her. "I will make sure to give you a slow death."

A splashing sound appeared behind him. Sana started to laugh as if she was slowly going insane.

Rekka stood just a few inches from Mar-key.

"How, ... how did you get here , what happened to - ?"

Rekka interrupted him.

"These idiots?" Rekka reached behind her and revealed three heads, each attached to separate strings dangling as they bumped into each other. Half of Barren Strikers face looked as if it had been pressed against a hot iron. Rollo's mouth was jarred open revealing a missing tongue.

"What did the annoying one say? oh that's right, a little off the top?"

"That's impossible, all three of them" Mar-key took a step back.

"Believe it or not I didn't kill the big guy, he was like this when I showed up."

Rekka tossed the heads at his feet, they sunk into the water as his chest bounced up and down. With one look he immediately tried to activate his ninja tool. But before he could do anything Rekka dashed forward and ripped the head from his body. She tossed it into the water behind her.

"That will be their final resting place."

Sana laid on a warm patch of grass as Rekka tended to her wounds and fed her medicine.

"This will get your chakra reserves up, they come in handy for after battle triage."

"Thank you." Sana swallowed the pill and washed it down with water.

"You have a few broken bones, I cant do much about that, but you should have enough strength to use these." Rekka tossed the medical scrolls Sana had brought with her.

"How did you know I was here?" Asked Sana as she prepped her Bone repair scroll. A green light emanated from her hands as she placed it over her body. She could feel the pain slowly leave her as bones began to quickly heal.

"I went looking for you after I finished up, I couldn't help but notice the light show and the screaming." Rekka grabbed a cloth from Sana's triage kit. She wet it before wiping the wounds on Sana's face.

"He really did a number on you."

Sana quickly looked around.

" Where's Kenji, Tatsuke?"

"Calm down, Kenji is fine, I trust Tatsuke to hold his own, you three seem to be full of surprises."

Rekka pointed over Sana's shoulder. "Kenji is resting nearby, with the face your both sporting you could be twins right now."

Sana grabbed her face with both hands, as she traced over her skin.

"How bad is it?" She flailed her arms and demanded a mirror to see her face. Rekka grabbed her by the collar and hoisted her over her shoulders as if she was carrying a sack of potatoes completely ignoring Sana's demands.

"Hold on tight." Within one step she launched herself forward and entered the forest. The wind pressed against Sana's face as she attempted to speak. But the only sound that came from her mouth were muffling noises.