Hunt: Dockyard Murders

[Ejiki]

Blood.
Definitely.

Ejiki crouched, staring intently at the splatter of black on the wooden planks. It had seeped through to the ice below, a huge, thick mess. Someone had died here, a large someone by the amount of blood. That and the enormously fat corpse propped up behind some spare crates, of course.

The body had been unnoticed for hours, probably dead since first thing this morning. Ejiki looked up, shading his eyes against the noon sun peeking between the thick clouds, and grimaced.

Could be anywhere by now.
Could be. Might not be.

Remaining in his familiar crouching position, Ejiki ran a hand under the thick hood of his coat and frowned, casting a look down the length of the dock. The man had been killed right at the far end of the pier, in an open spot visible from all over the place. These docks always bustled, especially first thing in the morning, yet nobody had seen anything. No one had spotted a dead man easily as wide as Ejiki was tall, his throat torn open with a huge gash that had seen him pump his life's blood all across the end of the pier and into the water.

"Third one this month," muttered a dock worker. "Good man, too, and all they send us to investigate is a kid."
"Hunt," corrected Ejiki. "You want an investigation, find a policeman. I hunt, then kill. No more."

The man looked perturbed by this, and stepped away, leaving Ejiki to his searching. He formed his handseals, sending chakra outwards into the air around him, tasting it for signs of chakra use.

Had to be a jutsu.
Definitely. Range attack, not precise, not clean.

He continued checking while he waited for his partner. This sounded more like Wolf's avenue than his own, hopefully he'd have finished finding out about the first two killings and have an idea.

[Shiro]

[Hunt: Dockyard Murders]

Shiro and Ejiki

Shiro didn't leave Ejiki hanging around for long. Like a phantom from the frigid mists that surrounded the pier Ejiki crouched on, Shiro manifested himself just beside him. "I hope I didn't keep you waiting." Shiro's eyes darted rapidly between his squad member and the gruesome scene just a few steps away from him. The victim had definitely had his jugular vein cut, the darkness of the blood and the amount meant that something important had been sliced and it bled the man like a slaughtered hog. This was gruesome business indeed but without any sort of preliminary investigation there would be no way of knowing if it was savagery or surgical precision that ended this mans life. Shiro's curosity had been peaked and departing from the side of Ejiki he approached the corpse. Producing a kunai from the holster on his thigh, he held it by the blade whilst taking a kneel next to the corpse. Using the handle, he'd prop and prod the head in order to reposition it so he could get a clean view of the cut. This was far form surgical precision. This was amateur hour judging by how messy the laceration was. Though who was he to judge, the would-be assassin was successful and his terrible attempt at a clean kill had been successful and it had bled the landwhale dry. Shiro clicked his teeth, they'd been dispatched to this hunt with little information other than where to report. Gesturing to the man with whom Ejiki had spoken to, he hoped to find out more.

"Dock hand, I'm going to need you to cooperate with me. As I was arriving I heard you mention that this was third one this month... Were they all of similar circumstances? One, unclean laceration or was there variance between the kills?" The Dock hand stumbled with his words, before giving him the answer he needed. They had all been similar, horribly executed butcherings of what might have been innocent people. Who knew, thought Shiro: he wasn't here to be the jury he was here to be the executioners executioner. "Hare, we are looking at a repeat offender and judging by the lacerations we aren't dealing with someone who utilizes close quarters weapons. This man probably met his fate at the ass end of a wind release technique."

The fact that someone utilized jutsu added a degree of ease to the hunt - unless they were a master level shinobi they'd no doubt left a trace or semblance of a trace of their chakra on the corpse. They'd given the wolf a taste and that taste was all that the wolf would need to find the trail. Shiro closed his eyes and focused on the corpse, though his tenketsu had long since released whatever chakras the victim had while among the living, the residue of his assassin was left in plain sight. The wound was rich in residual chakra, the way it appeared and even moved confirmed that it'd been a wind release technique. Cataloging the appearance of the chakra, it was time for the hunt to begin.

"Come now, Hare. The hunt can begin, I've got my trail now it's time we follow it. Amateur hour is about to come to an end, hopefully there are enough beds open at the coroner's." Speaking while leaving, Shiro gestured for Ejiki to follow. The assassin no doubt struck from a distance and then fled. But Shiro could sense the chakra he'd just found on the corpse still in the area. A little bit more investigation would no doubt lead to a crack in the case, and that crack was no doubt still in the docks.

The docks were deceptively large, for their location anyway. Endless ice cavern after cavern created a heaven for undesirables that without proper tracking methods, would go undetected and undisturbed in the Hidden Glaciers underbelly. However, Shiro was very proficient at what he did and the wolf was always able to scent out his prey. Their walk would lead them to a crudely crafted hideout, carved out of the ice face in one of the docks many icy tunnels. "I believe here, Ejiki we will find what, or atleast something related to whom we are looking for. An amateur wind release using would-be assassin who has decided to take it upon himself to kill not just one but three of our fellow villages. Let's go and introduce ourselves, shall we?" Shiro signaled for Ejiki to take the honor of barging in, as the rabbit had a tendency of liking to kick things.

NOTES: HERE

[/quote]

[Ejiki]

You should've traced this down yourself.
Wolf is good.

His sister's voice could be silent as far as Ejiki was concerned. Having worked with Wolf for a while now he was content that they each had their strengths, and there was no doubting who was the superior tracker. They had surely been chosen for this hunt because of Wolf rather than himself, but that didn't bother Ejiki in the slightest. He had his own skills, and now it was time for one of those.

The hideout they had found was covered by a rough wooden door, casually placed over a gap in the wall. The ice had been cut in the same rough, ragged manner as the victim's throat. Good enough evidence for Ejiki. Charging his own wind chakra into his feet, he leapt forwards, smashing through the door and showering the room beyond with splinters a she burst inside.

Showy.
Pointless.

Behind the door was little more than a hole, high enough to stand in and a few feet deep. Ejiki turned around and looked across the quay. From here they had a perfect view of the pier where the man had died, as well as the warehouse where the first victim had been killed and where the second victim's boat had been.

"Wolf," he said, drawing his companion's attention to what he had spotted and pointing out how easily they had a view of the three killing spots. "Launched his jutsu from here."

Stepping over the shattered door, Ejiki ducked inside to see if there was anything worth considering a lead. He was back a few moments later, holding up a torn scrap of paper. On it was written a number of ideas, such as 'curving', 'inviisble' and 'rapid-fire', each of which was crossed out.

"Experimenting," he surmised. "First death was messy, found quickly. Second had multiple wounds. He's trying to find the right way. These three were practice, nothing more. Trying to find the right way for real target."

Ejiki stared down at the paper, and handed it to Shiro on the chance that his senses would get something from it. In the meantime he looked across the docks, thinking. If the killer had chosen this spot for convenience then it's usefulness might be over.

Unless he also planned to hit his real target from here.
Exactly. But where?

Ejiki narrowed his eyes, looking across the waters. A heavy mist had covered the sea leading towards the docks, perilous for sailors unless they knew exactly how to get through the ice flows.

As he was about to turn away, however, the maidenhead of an enormous ship suddenly became visible through the mist. Golden, shaped like a mermaid and attached to the biggest, most ornate ship Ejiki had ever seen.

"Target," he said, pointing. It just had to be, didn't it?

[Shiro]

[Hunt: Dockyard Murders]

Shiro and Ejiki

Ejiki never failed to impress, a small smile forming beneath his mask as the piss-poor quality door went exploding inwards. The remnants of the door acted like shrapnel from an explosive and each piece let out a satisfying and resounding thud as they penetrated the icy walls. Shiro was already making his way into the hideout as Ejiki began uncovering more clues to the mystery. Their quarry was demented. Shiro wasn't new to violence and killing but this was just unprovoked violence against innocents. It made Shiro's blood boil and the small smile he'd been wearing early was replaced with a pronounced and obvious frown. "So those three innocent people were nothing more than living and breathing practice dummies for a psychopath on a mission. Disgusting, this murderous bastard is going to pay for his transgressions with his life." Shiro never really had problems with his tempers but occasionally something would light his fuse and in this instance it was the thought of such necessary violence.

He couldn't let his emotions get the best of him though. He had an image to uphold and if the Shimokage trusted Ejiki and himself to complete this task, be damned if they weren't going to. Shaking his head to clear his mind of negative though; Shiro began to peruse every nook and cranny within the compound. There had to be something more than torn pieces of paper. This assassin was an amateur hastily trying to perfect this art before the grand prize made itself available. Going down onto his hands and knees, his eyes scanned beneath a poorly assembled bed. There, he found what he'd been looking for. In a poor attempt to hide his orders, the red tip of a tightly bound scroll protruded from between two pieces of the box spring. A quick double check confirmed that the scroll hadn't been booby trapped with explosive tags or seals of some sort; why not, this was amateur hour wasn't it.

With the scroll in his hands, he hastily began to read it contents when the bells of an approaching ship began to ring out through the thick mists that plagued the docks. This was a dossier on a single person - a very influential person. The target was the right hand man of the Land of Frosts Damiyo, on his way to discuss the future of a trade agreement with the Shimokage that would bring fortunes untold to the country and to the village. Why though? Shiro though to himself. Who would seek to gain from causing the collapse of a lucrative trade agreement. He couldn't bother to linger too long, as the more the read the more details of the plan he would divulge. Ejiki's gut senses were right, according to the scroll - that ship was infact what was carrying the assassin's target. "We need to beat him to that ship. We've got to warn the target, the consequences if botch this are going to be long lasting. Pretty sure we'd never rise past the rank of Genin if we goof this one up, Ejiki." Shiro hardly ever called Ejiki by his given name, usually preferring to call him by his alias unless the situation was particularly dire.

Not even waiting for Ejiki's response, he bounded out of the hideout. Shiro hastily tucked the scroll into the pouch at the small of his back before launching himself into the air. His feet would contact with the sides of the icy walls and utilizing his ice release, he'd go sliding across the ice at break neck speeds. They had to act, and they could not afford to fail.

NOTES: HERE

[Ejiki]

Move.

Not even bothering to answer the voice, which was now one of his brothers, Ejiki burst forward into action. He concentrated energy into his legs, fuelling his muscles with power while sending short spurts of wind energy from behind him, widening his steps so that his run was more a rhythmic series of short jumps.

This movement was something he'd been working on since his academy days, and probably part of the reason he'd been assigned the 'Hare' moniker. That had never bothered him, even though prey assignments were often viewed as unimpressive, Ejiki had made the name his own. Cautious and informed, quick to decision and quicker to action, those were not traits he was ashamed of, and they served him well here. He darted forwards, sliding down a small slope, leaping a series of crates, bounding up from a small boat's prow and up onto the roof of a long warehouse. That ship had to be the target, and whatever Wolf had read had evidently convinced him of the same. If that was the case, their prey must already be set up, which meant he wasn't going to fire from the hideout they'd just crashed. In that case he could be anywhere, given his range of attack from the first killings the huge ship was already in range. If the prey fired his attack Ejiki needed to see where it came from or-

A huge jolt rocked the ship as splinters went flying! Something invisible to Ejiki had struck it hard, right by the maidenhead, the force of the blow turning the ship slightly and nearly causing that huge golden mermaid to break away.

"Can't see it!" he called to Shiro. By the angle the ship had moved, however, he could make a guess at where the shot had come from. It looked as though their target had abandoned precision for a more powerful shot to just try and destroy the ship and whoever was on it.

What use are you if you can't see the shot?
One choice.

"You hunt, I'll distract!" he called to Shiro, and changed his course. He ducked left, under a beam, through an alleyway, broke past three workers carrying a heavy crate, dodged their shouts of abuse as the crate fell and spilled its contents, leapt into a shop, through a window and was out!

Into open air he flew, hurtling downwards towards the icy waters below. Surging his chakra, he fired bursts of air to slow his fall and lined his feet with chakra, allowing him to leap from the surface of the water. Not falling into those freezing depths was day one in this village, and he powered onwards, charging directly at the ship and making handseals as he ran. He didn't really have a plan here just had to make himself as obvious as possible that he was in the area to help, and hopefully -

The water beside him exploded, the force of it sending his next jump far wide of where he'd intended and spinning him in midair, lines of pain slicing his arms from just the backwash of the attack. Ejiki whirled round in midair, righting himself with tiny bursts of wind, and resumed running. His erratic jumps had saved him there, surely, as while his speed was constant his height was not, and it felt like that shot had passed just below him.

Third shot had to be coming, but was that long pause between the first two because the shooter had been distracted by spotting him, or was that just how long it took to prepare each attack? And how had he seen Ejiki so quickly at this distance? He should've been a speck to the attacker, he'd just been preparing some flashy whirlwinds to make himself noticed and already the shot had come for him. This target had more to him than just a disregard for who he practiced on.

Keep moving, third shot is coming.
Keep moving.

Ejiki kept running, lungs burning and muscles pounding as he sprinted across the water, still heading for the giant ship. He had to make it obvious that he wouldn't stop, to force the next shot to still be aimed at himself.

Timing third shot... Now!
You counted?

The third shot struck.

[Shiro]

[Hunt: Dockyard Murders]

Shiro and Ejiki

Shiro grimaced, his glare hardening as he watched a massive blast forcibly change the heading of a ship. Their target was no longer in the business of stealthy assassination and had promptly moved to the business of wholesale destruction. Unfortunately for this would-be butcher however was that his exaggerated attacks would be his undoing. Though he hadn't managed to locate the position the original blast had been fired from, Shiro was now alert and knew what he was looking for. With Ejiki offering himself up as a distraction, the two of them could perhaps bait another attack that would allow Shiro to isolate the source of the chakra and what would happen next didn't need to be explained. All Shiro could do now was wait, ceasing his sliding on the wall he'd turn himself completely stationary. Closing his eyes, he turned all of his focus towards following the next blast, if there was one.

Shiro didn't have to wait long. Through his sensory he detected the moulding of a massive amount of wind chakra originating in the direction of the first blast. The assailant fired off the blast, the primal ball of wind chakras screaming through the air like a massive bullet. However, Shiro noticed the trajectory was different. The fool bought the bait, and for gods knows what reason, he was after Ejiki now. "Good job, Hare. Now the wolf goes to work," Shiro thought to himself before physically propelling himhself off the wall. He had a lock on his prey and unless said prey had the means to teleport - he wasn't going to get away. However, Shiro himself would need to move fast if he had any intention to prevent any further collateral damage. Ejiki was fast and tough but these attacks were no joke and a direct hit would be devastating to either of them. The clock was ticking, and Shiro was determined to finish what this mysterious attacker had started.

He dashed as fast as he could through the crowded docks, now full of panicked citizens and visitors alike. The streets were packed, movement was limited so the only way to go was up. Shiro leapt from ground level, landing on the canopy of a fish monger's stall before recreating the action by jumping from stall to stall. He was closing ground fast and was but a few feet away from where he determined the attacks to be coming from before he felt the presence of a third blast being created. Shiro clicked his teeth, almost confused. The attacker was operating on a schedule, each blast having the exact same time of preparation. Even more outlandish was that the attacker didn't displace and find a new vantage point after the first attack. Almost as if he wanted to be found, thoughts of this being a trap for himself racing through Shiro's mind. He didn't have time to second guess though, for that third blast was about to be barreling down on Ejiki.

Shiro sealed his hands together, releasing his potent kekkei genkai on hopefully unsuspecting target. Just as the assassin was to release his third air blast, twenty-one ice mirrors erupted out thin air. Shiro commanded these mirrors with an iron-fisted determination, the mirrors floating through the air and forming an array in the shape of a semi-circle. This formation completely removed any line of sight the attacker had and when his blast fired, it would dampen the blow enough to dissipate it or outright turn the explosive energies back on the attacker. Then, BOOM. Wind met Ice as the attacker failed to stop the launch of his technique. The force of the explosion sent shards of icy mirrors screaming through the air like shrapnel but the job had been done. Shiro released his technique, icy shards turning to small amounts of water before they could do any harm to the innocents around him.

The same sort of damage mitigation could not be done for their target however. Where the attack hit the mirrors, the vantage point he'd be utilizing for his attacks was decimated. Shiro however could still sense their presence, and he couldn't let the advantage of surprise go to waste. Once more he leapt, landing squarely in ground zero of a botched assassination attempt. The backblast threw up all sorts of dust and debris harshly dampening Shiro's ability to see and smell. Damn, he said to himself cautiously moving towards the source of the chakra. Then, he was taken by surprise. Shiro had barely seen the familiar metal glint of a bladed weapon slicing through the dust at him. In fact, he'd barely had enough time to coat his hands with ice in order to block the attack at all. This aggressor was far better with weapons than he was with jutsu, and the flurry attacks was keeping Shiro backpedaling. Shiro found himself pressed to the edge he'd just jumped up to: his face, hands, and arms covered in a variety of cuts ranging from a minor nicks to worrisome lacerations. Things weren't looking good, and Shiro hoped Ejiki was headed over to help.

NOTES:

SPOILER: Click to show

echnique Name: [魔鏡氷晶] Makyō Hyōshō (Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystal)

Technique Type: Hijutsu (Fubuki Clan Technique)

Technique Rank: D+ (Power scales with rank)

Technique Action Cost: Initial cost of 15 action points, last for 6 posts. After 6 posts it is an additional 3 action points.



Technique Effect: An abominable and tremendous ability, it was passed down only within the Fubuki clan. It is a technique wrapped up in many mysteries. It was said that no method in existence can defeat this technique. In an instant, multiple mirrors of ice are created around the enemy, reflecting nothing but the Fubuki shinobi using the technique. The opponent is trapped in a dome of twenty-one floating mirrors made out of ice. Twelve remain at ground level, eight float above the first twelve and angled towards the ground, and the final mirror is above the rest and facing the ground. Once the user has entered the mirrors, it's possible for them to move between the mirrors at exceedingly high speed levels. It's near impossible to follow attacks sent out from this incredible movement. As every mirror shows their reflection, one could say it's impossible to see all of the user's attacks. Even if the opponent tries to attack the real body, the Fubuki will have already moved to another mirror.

Rank Required: Genin +

Other Information: This technique is a Fubuki clan technique that has been passed down among inheritors of the Kekkei Genkai since their arrival in the Land of Frost. This technique is considered one of their signature techniques, and is incredibly powerful.

[Ejiki]

In the distance an explosion sounded, smoke billowing upwards from the blast. Something had stopped the third shot.

Ejiki flew. His jump had been made in an emergency and he'd used far more power on it than he'd meant to. Soaring through the air, he adjusted the angle of his approach, hurtling towards the deck of the ship. He landed with a skid, sliding along the polished floor past a crowd of shocked onlookers. Several official-looking people in gaudy clothing were being pulled away by a horde of armoured guards.

Stupid, they'll drown if they fall.
Not now. Got to move.

"Under control," he told the guards, who were bewildered by his sudden appearance. They'd moved to attack him at once but caught themselves on noticing his local clothing, hesitating a moment as they decided if he was a threat or a defender. That moment was long enough for him and with a sharp push of wind he was off, leaping and bounding across the water right for where that smoke had risen.

Ejiki's senses were sharp. He might not have been able to see chakra the way Shiro could, but he could hold an image perfectly. The smoke had gone after a few seconds but he could remember exactly where it had come from, and in barely a minute he was there, charging full-pace up the hill, leaping a small shop, darting down an alleyway, and there!

Shiro was fighting, being pushed back and back by a barrage of sword attacks. Charging chakra into his feet, Ejiki leapt into the fray. Their foe seemed bizarre, having some superb skills but some completely amateurish mistakes. He was driving Shiro back, the Genin bleeding from a number of minor wounds, but hadn't even noticed Ejiki charging, hadn't noticed him leaping, and only noticed his presence at all a single heartbeat before Ejiki's boot crunched into his nose.

The force of his strike threw the assassin backwards, his sword skittering across the floor as his head cracked nastily against the firm ice wall behind him. Blood streamed from his nose and a tiny patch was left on the ice behind him where his head had collided. Ejiki didn't give him a moment to pause however, darting forwards and sweeping low with his leg to kick the target's feet from under him, then popping up with a heavy knee right into the man's falling torso. The crunch was satisfying, but in his ferocity to attack Ejiki had neglected to watch his opponent's hands. Both clamped firmly around his head and he felt warmth from the man's palms.

He was about to activate his attacking technique directly into Ejiki's skull.

Speak soon.
Of all the times not now!

[Shiro]

[Hunt: Dockyard Murders]

Shiro and Ejiki

Shiro let out a sigh of relief when his backup arrived. The cuts stung but the bleeding was minor and it were these types of wounds that built character. The assassin was now on the receiving end of an ass-whooping and Shiro took the moment to regain his composure. It finally appeared to be going in their favor, relentless strike after relentless strike drove their target into a corner. However, as both wolf and rabbit knew well - an animal cornered is an animal to be feared. The assassin had no way out, he was in a legitimate corner and the only way out was to continue to strike back. And strike he did.

Shiro's eyes widened when he realized what was happening. Ejiki was in a bind, the assassin was preparing to use that devastating wind attack point-blank on him. A thousand thoughts ran through Shiro's mind - Was this man mad? Was he attempting to take atleast one of them with him on his trip to the underworld? He had no choice but to brush those thoughts away. If he didn't act soon, Ejiki's head would be blown apart like a melon and there'd be hell to pay when he'd have to explain what happened to the Shimokage and his council. It was a messy situation on the brink of getting even messier. It was now or never, and Shiro rapidly devised the first few steps of his budding new master plan.

The target was too focused on Ejiki, far too focused to realized that Shiro was closing in on him fast. Shiro's hands were glowing with a pale blue aura, ice relase chakra at the ready as Shiro reached an arms-length distance. Shiro gripped the assassin's hands on Ejiki's head, mindful not come into contact with Ejiki himself. The pale-blue chakra vanished immediately after contact was made, transferring Shiro's potent plan into the flesh of the man he was seeking to stop. It wouldn't take long for the plan to take effect either, this was one of Shiro's "fast acting solutions to a short term problem."

The assassins hands immediately began to develop and thick and frigid layer of ice from the tips of his fingers to his elbows. The ice served the function of completely cutting off circulation to his hands, with the assassin surely losing the ability to manipulate his appendages. Step One of the process was complete, and the time for step two was quickly arriving. Shiro drove his right elbow into the now frozen left wrist of the distraught assassin. The impact resulted in a stomach-turning shattering sound, that then gave-way to the same left hand falling limply from Ejiki's head. Shiro however, was not done there.

He wouldn't give the assassin time to counter attack. Shiro spun his body around Ejiki's, and just as he was pivoting around to the right side of Ejiki's body he unleashed another elbow strike. This time his left elbow met right wrist, causing that same gut-wrenching crack. In a flurry of motion coming out of the elbow strike, Shiro's hands would pull Ejiki back while Shiro would simultaneously deliver a ferocious kick to the assassin's stomach. The hit took the wind out of him and now that Ejiki was safely removed from a terrible situation - the time had come to end it.

The assassin cautiously stepped backwards, his hands made useless and left frozen at unnatural angles that to his recently shattered wrists. There was no way for this poor bastard to know that he was walking into step three of Shiro's plan. He was but a few feet from the icy walls when Shiro weaved both of his hands into a flurry of handseals. The icy walls answered Shiro's summons, what was once solid ice face began to shatter and crack into dozens of icy needles. Simultaneously, the shot free from the ice wall with a collision course directly for the assassins back. The assassin likely hadn't even realized what had happened before it was too late. Shiro saw one last flicker of emotion shoot through his target's eyes before they rolled into the back of his head. Shiro turned his attention back to Ejiki as the assassin's body fell lifelessly to the floor. "Well well little rabbit, the wolf has come to save the day. How are you feeling?" Shiro couldn't help but tease him, regardless that the situation had just escalated to life and death. If a shinobi can't laugh in the face of death, could they truly call themselves shinobi?

NOTES:

SPOILER: Click to show

Technique Name: [氷遁・ツバメ吹雪] Hyōton: Tsubame Fubuki (Ice Release: Swallow Snow Storm)

Technique Type: Ninjutsu

Technique Rank: D - Ranked

Technique Action Cost: D-Rank:10 actions



Technique Effect: This technique creates a cluster of ice needles in the shape of miniature swallows by freezing the air surrounding them (or existing sources of ice), which the user then launches at the opponent. These needles can change direction in midair and will maim the opponent with their sharp wings. This technique can be countered by Fire Release techniques, which in turn melts the ice.

Rank Required: Genin

Technique Name: Hyōton: Jisarenhyō (Ice Release: Earthen Consecutive Chains of Ice)

Technique Type: Ninjutsu

Technique Rank: D - Ranked+

Technique Action Cost: 10 action points



Technique Effect: The user, through physical contact, causes ice particles to form on a target. If used on a living creature, the target will freeze to death unless they are able to mould chakra. By coating themselves with chakra and dedicating all their energy to keeping themselves warm, they can avoid death; if they use their chakra to perform a technique, they will start to rapidly freeze again. Targets who have a chakra level higher than the user are easily capable of dispelling this technique by overpowering it with their chakra.

Rank Required: Genin+

[Ejiki]

The man's grip on Ejiki's head was so tight that as ice crept up over his skin, it had no space to get between his fingers and Ejiki's skull. So it made some. He channeled character into his hands in a furious frenzy and hurled wind at the target's chest, ripping himself away with the frozen fingers. The tearing of his skin against the rough ice slashed both sides of his head, and Ejiki slumped backwards with blood trickling down past his ears as he watched their assailant's grim final moments. As Shiro offered him a hand to his feet he took it, hauling himself up and brushing down his coat.

"Deserved it. Careless," he said briskly, presuming Shiro to instantly stare at the wounds he'd caused on his companion's head. A joy of their cold climate was that wounds always stopped quickly, and these shallow gashes had already ceased.

'Little rabbit?'
Deserved that, too. Stupid, careless.

Moving forward to examine the body, Ejiki frowned. He was a tall man, but hardly a man at all. Late teens, early twenties at most. His clothing was local, heavily-worn, carefully repaired in places using local methods and fitted him just right. No way these were a disguise conveniently stolen for him, this man was of the Glacier. Ejiki looked back at the gaudy ship, which had now reached berth and was being surrounded by security forces. Why would one of their own have sought to do this?

"Ours," he said, gesturing to the man to point out this finding. "Why, then?"

Rummaging through the corpse's pockets, he pulled out another slim scroll just like the one Shiro had found in the hideout. He offered it across while he kept searching the body. An enormous amount of cuts covered the man's hands and arms, perhaps early experiments for his long range technique before he started practicing on people?

The most curious clue was just under his collarbone, a bizarrely complex tattoo, incredibly intricate for being barely a palm's width across. Reaching out towards it Ejiki felt some kind of residual chakra resist him, like the small unwillingness of a magnet to go near a matching pole. Pulling a combat knife from his waist he carefully cut away the piece of skin containing the tattoo, and held it up for Shiro to inspect.

"Doesn't look a normal mark. Show it to an expert?" he suggested.