Rise of the Wood

**Rise of the Wood** (also known as **The Big Debut**) Is the first story arc of The Big Wood series and is the first in terms of chronology. The arc is a series of different stories of important characters who will be important in the future.

## History

### Deep In The Dark: A Ninja Prodigy

Somewhere in a forest, the sounds of kunai's colliding and punches being exchanged could be heard throughout. There were 10 men, all wearing ninja outfits, surrounding a teenage boy. As the smoked cleared, the boy's disappointed facial expression turned into a mischievous smile. All 10 men charged at him but before they could react, the boy who was previously there had disappeared. The boy swiftly climbed up a tree nearby. All of the men looked at nothing confused before a voice drew their attention. It was the boy who was now sitting atop a tree branch.

He states his name, and Ashty with a cold voice, states his father wouldn’t be very impressed if he lost here. He slowly looks down on all of them, planning his movements before taking out a kunai throwing it at the men. The kunai lands in the middle, startling the men and making them lose sight of him once again. Out of nowhere Ashty appears behind one of them knocking the man out. Some of the men decide to run away in fear of suffering the same fate. The rest instantly charge at him with their kunai, but Ashty was just too much for them to handle. He disposes of them easily with only his bare knuckles. He notices that it’s getting dark and if he chases the ones that ran then he’d get lost in the forest. Seeing as he had no choice, Ashty decides to go back to his clan to report to his father about what he just did.

Back at the clan leader’s office, Ashty reports to the man looking out of the window with his back turned. That was his father. He reports on what he's done, expecting a good reaction. This was not the case however, his father shows a disappointed face and asks why he didn't catch all the men. Ashty explains that it was getting dark, but that only made his father furious for making excuses. In the heat of the moment, his father hit his desk, knocking over a photo frame of Ashty and his father celebrating one of Ashty’s first victories as a child. Ashty sees the photo falling, as if time just slowed down for him. He had always used this photo as hope that his father could still be proud of him. But, as soon as the glass shattered, Ashty snapped. His rage overtook him and immediately ran close to his father. Ashty clenched his fist and without a second thought, punched his dad.

His father had mixed emotions, he didn't know whether to feel angry or sad. Maybe both, but he decided that it was best to exile Ashty, he knew that keeping him in the clan would only harm him. He told Ashty that he was getting exiled, Ashty was not surprised. His father notified the guards about the situation and told them to confiscate his items and make sure he doesn’t come back. The guards followed him on the way out and made sure he wasn't near the village.

### A Fight of Wits And Speed: The Speed Demon Meets The Trickster

At a local tavern in a small town, a boy could be seen sitting in the corner. He was taking a break before heading into the forest to find a clan to recruit him since wanted to use his speed for something. Due to his lack of communication skills, the only thing he could do was eavesdrop on the people in the tavern. Suddenly, three men barge into the door of the tavern, looking exhausted. The men state they’ve been running since yesterday and demand the bartender for a drink immediately. The bartender asks them what happened to them and they tell him about a ninja in the forest taking out their entire squad. The boy hears of this and immediately stands up to leave and head into the forest, hoping to encounter this mysterious ninja. He saw this as an opportunity to use his superhuman speed and if he defeated and captured the ninja; he could find a clan.

This boy scouted for the next few minutes with no one in the forest. It was getting dark, so he decides to retreat for now. But, just as he turns back, he finds himself on the outskirts of a base. The base had the banner of the clan’s name on it. The Uchicha Clan. He had heard of this clan before, it was a powerful clan with a leader so strong he was considered as one of The Gods of War. If he took down this base, it could make him famous. The idea of this excited him and without hesitation he put on his mask and walked towards the base. He shows himself at the entrance and the guards immediately spot him. Seeing as how he wasn’t from the clan, they all alert everyone and he prepares to fight everyone in the base. There were approximately 50 of them, excluding their leader who was nowhere to be found. The boy took out two kunai’s and assumed a fighting stance. 3 men charged at him and Zero looks at them. In the first second they are all standing, in the next second they were falling to the ground.

12 more men came charging at him. This time, with swords. He dropped the two of his kunai and before they even hit the ground the boy had already taken out six of the men. He took one of their swords and swung mindlessly, taking out the remaining six men. He went further into the base, effortlessly slashing through the men. He pins one of the men to a wall, about to slash him with his sword, but he senses a kunai coming from the left and he catches it before it makes contact. He looks at who threw it and throws it back at a faster speed. But, this time, no one falls to the ground. The man who threw it barely dodges the re-thrown kunai, grazing his cheek. He looks back to the wall and see the man he was pinning has disappeared. The remaining men cheer because their base leader had arrived. He looks back at the man who threw the kunai and gets a better look at him. He was wearing a typical ninja outfit but this one had a cap on with the Uchicha clan’s symbol on it and glasses that hid his eyes. They both look at each-other from a distance and the man introduces himself as James. He asks for Zero’s name and Zero writes his with a pen and paper. He throws the paper at James and reads it before looking back at Zero. James states that Zero better be ready for slaughtering his men. Zero then throws another kunai at the man with an even faster speed than last time.

The man dodges again, this time, nothing was grazed. Zero is impressed by his reflexes for a split-second before lunging at him with a kick. The man blocks with his arm, knocking him slightly back. Without hesitation, Zero lunges at him once again. This time, with a sword. James blocks with his kunai. Zero blindly swung, hoping his speed would overwhelm James but James, using his heightened senses, manages to read Zero’s movements and block every one of Zero’s attacks. Zero tries to get behind James and go for a wide swing, but this gives James the opportunity to kick his hand and launch the sword up into the air, making Zero trip backwards. Zero regains his balance and goes for the sword in the air, but he loses sight of James. When he reaches the ground, sword in hand, Zero couldn’t find anyone. Not even the remaining men. Zero realizes that he was dealing with a much bigger threat than he had anticipated. Although his opponent’s speed was far inferior to his, he could still keep up with Zero’s attacks. Zero looked around and saw James’s silhouette behind a cloth, or that’s what he thought it was. Zero goes toward the silhouette at full speed, aiming his sword directly towards its heart but the only thing he hit was a practice dummy with a cap and fake glasses. Not even a second later, he was surrounded by swords.

The remaining men had him in a circle of swords. Zero finally realizes his blunder. James had bested him. Zero couldn’t jump far out enough to escape the men’s grasp. In other words, he was trapped. James shows himself, coming from atop a tree branch. He jumps down and states to Zero that compared to a certain partner he has, his sword skills were nothing and that this is where he dies. James orders the men to impale him by closing the circle of swords. The men instantly do the moment they hear the order. Zero closes his eyes, James sees this as him giving up but Zero had a different intention in mind. Zero uses all the speed he had in his body. To him, it was almost like time itself had stopped. As the swords got closer, Zero kept his eyes closed and instinctively moved. To the men, Zero disappeared into thin air, but Zero appeare right behind all of them. He takes all of them down in the blink of an eye. Zero temporarily unlocked a speed he’s never reached before. To James, the only thing he saw was a blurry streak and in the next second his men had been knocked out. Zero had done all of that in less than two seconds. James looks at Zero again, his stern gaze now turned into a fearful look. Zero’s incredibly quick speed gradually goes down as the fatigue catches up to him. The newfound speed he'd just experienced was a bit too much for him to handle. James calms himself down, reminding himself he’s in battle. As James was distracted, Zero suddenly appears in-front of him, aiming for his chest. Zero lunges at James with two kunai's in his hand and James barely blocks again and again. Zero slowly regained his speed and started to graze James. James could feel small wounds on his arm as Zero slashed at his body at a fast speed. He was only grazing his body now, but if Zero got any faster, James would suffer injuries far worse than a shallow cut. James was gonna lose at this rate, he didn't have the speed to counter Zero but James knew that Zero was reckless and would just blindly attack using his speed to his advantage.

James had one last trick up his sleeve. James puts some distance between him and Zero by repeatedly throwing kunai’s at Zero forcing him to move backwards. James knew he had to risk everything on this one move if he wanted a chance to win. Once there was a distance between them, James looks for an opportunity. As soon as Zero lunges at James, James does the same, or that's what Zero saw. James throws a kunai in-front of Zero and changes his direction as quickly as he can to get out of Zero's peripheral vision. Zero easily deflects the kunai but when he looks in-front of him, James was no longer there. A second later, James appears to the side of Zero with laser-like focus in his eyes, catching Zero off guard. James used Zero’s speed against him by getting close enough to use this technique. James slashes at Zero, taking advantage of his distracted vision. Zero notices what he was doing just in the nick of time and barely dodges, disappearing in front of James. James stabs the ground below him instead, making him frustrated. Zero re-appears on a tree and James immediately looks at Zero’s direction. The first thing James could see was a stab wound in Zero’s abdominal region. James looks at his kunai again and he sees a bit of blood on it. James realizes that his strategy somewhat worked, making him feel glad he had a chance. Zero was impressed, he’s never fought anyone who could keep up with his speed. He respected James’s intellect and his ability to see his movements despite having inferior speed. Zero coughed up blood, he was getting dizzy and was out of breath as well. Feeling the side effects of the attack, Zero decides to run away and retreat. He kept running for miles on end until he stumbled upon a small clan with a decent amount of people. He looks at it for awhile from above, and notices a banner with the name of the clan. But before he could read it someone puts a hand on his shoulder, startling Zero. He didn’t have the energy to attack, but this man clearly didn’t show any bad intentions. Zero turns around to see the man and the man introduces himself as Nardo; saying he was the leader of this clan and that he’s still trying to grow it. Zero takes out a pen and paper and writes down his name on it.

Nardo notices that Zero was bleeding, and offers Zero some help. There was no reason for Zero not to accept the hospitality in his state, but before he could even write anything he loses consciousness. Zero felt hot all over his body. He panted heavily and slowly opened his eyes and finds himself inside an unfamiliar place, lying down on a bed. By the looks of it, he was inside of a hut of some sort. Zero sits up from his bed, feeling a pain by his abdomen region. He looks at the area where It hurts. Zero sees himself bandaged up with dried blood beneath the bandages. He remembers the fight he had and slowly recalls what happened after. He looks to his left and sees a man sitting down on a chair. He moves, making a noise. The man turns around and sees Zero, awake. Zero remembers his face as the one that saved him. Nardo goes closer to him and tells Zero not to move too much. Zero nods and he pats his body, trying to look for something. He starts panicking as he can’t find something. Nardo notices this and heads over to the table and hands Zero his pen and notepad. He states that he finds Zero intriguing and that they should re-do their introductions. Nardo introduces himself once again. He is the leader of a small but rapidly growing clan DBS and that he is looking for members to recruit. Nardo asks Zero about what happened and Zero writes everything down. He writes that he tried to take down a base from The Uchicha Clan. Nardo glances at Zero with an intrigued pair of eyes. He asks Zero if it was the Southwest, North or East base. Zero writes that he doesn’t know and the only thing he remembers is the base leader was wearing glasses and a cap. Nardo states that he’s impressed Zero managed to escape a base from one of the strongest clans in the world and Zero says it was easy until the leader showed up. Nardo gets even more impressed by the fact that it took the clan leader just to stop him.

Nardo asks how he was able to do this and Zero writes down that he has superhuman speed. Nardo is a little bit confused by this but he decides to ask Zero for a demonstration. Zero disappears and comes back in a few seconds with food in his hand for both of them. Nardo was stunned to see someone with such speed. Knowing this, he asks Zero if he would like to join his clan. Without a second thought, Zero agrees to join not even letting Nardo finish what he was saying. Nardo was taken aback by how easily Zero agreed to join, but continues speaking and explains the situation he’s in. He states that he’s at war with the Sakuratards and is trying to stop them from spreading a disease known as Retardation. He says that it’d be a huge help for them if Zero would be willing to help out in the war, and Zero agrees to help. Nardo asks why he was so quick to agree to his offers. Zero writes down that he always wanted to be in a clan and use his abilities for good. Nardo also asks about why he would write on paper instead of just talking, to which Zero writes down that he has a communication disorder. Nardo laughs it off and welcomes Zero to the DBS clan before both of them get out of the hut.

### A Samurai’s Duty: Suha The Swordmaster

Somewhere in the East Base of The Uchicha Clan, a man with a samurai outfit could be seen talking to his base leader and partner, James. He asks if he could go to the tavern and James nods his head while looking at paperwork. The man walks out the door and walks towards the village with the tavern. Once he arrives, he grabs a few drinks and converses with some of the bystanders there. He talks for about half an hour until 3 men come barging in looking like they've just seen a ghost. They go towards the bartender and they tell him about a man taking out their entire squad and that they were the only lucky ones who were able to escape. This catches the man’s attention, not knowing they were talking about James. The men order drinks to replenish themselves and rushes the bartender. The man notices a boy walking out of the tavern, the only thing he could see was his black hair and red mask. Not even a clear look at his face. He follows him outside but when he stepped foot out however, the boy was already gone. He dismisses it as him seeing things and goes on to find this mysterious man that caught his attention. After an hour of searching and going in circles, he still couldn’t find the man. He was about to give up the search and leave it to someone else until he stumbles upon a small village. The village was not too far from his own base. Maybe a 20 minute walk. The man heard the cheering voices of the people in the village. But, something felt off. Their voices had a hint of desperation and bad intentions. He takes a closer look and once there, he notices broken windows, and men wearing armor too well-made to be from this village.

The village definitely didn’t look like it had the resources to be able to put out such fine armor so it seemed odd to him. His suspicions about the village were confirmed after he sees some women tied up, presumably from this village. His suspicions were confirmed even more when he sees the invaders groping them. The man couldn't just leave now. He was a samurai and it would be honor-less for a samurai to leave people who are clearly desperate for help. This was a samurai's duty and the man accepted it with open arms. He goes to the front gate of the village and calls everyone out to face him. Everyone comes out, some paranoid and some with the desire to kill. The man shouts out to the invaders who were still coming out to see the commotion, He introduces himself as Suha, the master of swords and that he’ll slaughter every last one of them for invading such defenseless people. The invaders, thinking they’ve got him outnumbered and saw no chance of losing, charge at Suha all at once. This would be their greatest mistake. The one furthest forward came charging at him first and the rest follow. As soon as the first man came into distance Suha unsheathes his sword and attacks him in the same stroke and immediately repositions himself. Suha focuses on the rest of the charging invaders. He notices one coming from each side, and kicks back the other and slices through the other one who didn’t care to defend his opening. Suha made sure to wait patiently for their next move and maintain his distance. Suha was underwhelmed to see such mediocre sword skills. The invaders look at Suha’s display of skill and their cocky glares slowly fade. He looked at the men with cold lifeless eyes, waiting for their next move. There were still quite a number of them. Suha assumes another stance. This was the Seigan-no-kamae. Suha stared down the men, causing one of them to lose their patience and thrust at Suha. Suha dodges by taking one step to the side and pierces his opponent’s chest and cut through their body. Suha crept closer, but moved slow enough to keep himself distanced from the men.

Two men charge at Suha at the same time, thrusting both of their swords toward him. Suha takes advantage of their uncoordinated attack and sweeps one of the men’s legs, making them land on their backs. Suha immediately follows this up by piercing the other man approaching in the chest, and immediately stabbing the one on the ground making him cough out blood and killing him. The remaining men look horrified about what monster they are facing. Some continue charging hesitantly but Suha looks towards their direction, dodging and slicing them with ease. One man tried to sneak up behind Suha during all the commotion, but the man stopped moving. The men wonder what happened but in the next second a head rolls over to them. Suha had sliced through the man’s neck seamlessly. The men gave a frightened look, as Suha crept towards the men again. There were about 3 of them left, but none of them even dared to get near him. Suha sees all 3 of the men trying to surround him and one of them charges at him. In response, Suha dodges to the side once again and slashes at the mans shoulder. But, his blade stops midway in the man’s shoulder blade, not going all the way through. The man screams in pain which gives the other two men the signal to attack while Suha was distracted. Suha is quick to notice and he lets go of his sword and barely dodges the blades coming at him. He was being forced to take one step back every swing. Suha felt a sting by his shoulder, one of the men successfully graze him which surprises Suha. Suha didn’t have enough time to grab another sword so he gets an idea. In the next swing, Suha moves right, ducks and takes out his Tanto, and drives it into the man’s heart with all of the force he could muster up.

The man falls to the ground, breathing faintly. Suha immediately takes the man’s sword out of his dying hands and slices through the other man, instantly killing him. He sees the other man on the ground struggling to stay alive and puts him out of his misery. Suha swings his sword, removing some blood off it. As Suha does this, he could sense something behind him. He looks behind him and sees a tall man. Suha sees the man examining the dead bodies around him and he looks at Suha again with an annoyed glare. He clicks his tongue and unsheathes his sword. Suha looks at the man closer and sees he has a different coloured armor than the rest of the red-armored men. Suha examines his golden-colored armor and assumes he is their leader before facing the man. The man speaks in a frustrated manner and states his name. Hitori, he says. Suha states his name back before shuffling his feet backwards, creating distance between them. He isn’t getting too close, but he isn’t staying too far away from him in order to make an effective attack on Hitori, not wasting any opportunities. Hitori assumes the seigan-no-kamae stance, making no clear openings. Suha couldn’t help but crack a smile to finally see someone atleast had some knowledge on handling swords. They both look at each other as their swords clash before they both retreat by dashing backwards. Suha circles around Hitori slowly while assuming the Seigan-no-kamae. Hitori followed his movements, keeping his eyes locked on Suha’s sword. Hitori proceeds to charge at Suha from the side. Both of their swords collided multiple times, hoping one would make a mistake. But, Suha blocks all of Hitori’s hits skillfully, making Hitori grow even more frustrated. Once both retreat again, Hitori grabs one of the swords from ground. He was now dual wielding, making Suha intrigued by his fighting style. Hitori runs toward Suha and swings alternately with his swords.

Suha dodges by taking one step back to avoid the first sword and blocking the second with his own. Suha dodged and blocked Hitori’s attack, waiting for an opening. But, even after so many strikes, Hitori showed no openings. Suha’s sword was showing signs of breaking but one of Hitori’s swords also was about to break. Suha had a plan to break Hitori’s sword in order for him to buy himself some time to grab another sword. Suha observes the sword on Hitori’s left hand which was about to break and Suha swings his sword as hardly as he can towards Hitori’s sword. The collision broke both of their swords at the same time, but as Suha reaches out to another sword, Hitori catches him. Suha fails to grab a sword and he gets caught by Hitori. He hits Hitori as hard as he can with his fists, jumps out of his grasp and retreats, finally giving distance between him and Hitori. Suha tries to unsheathes his Tanto but sees it’s no longer in his scabbard. Suha remembers it was in the man’s corpse behind him but Hitori wouldn’t let him get near it. Hitori grabs another sword off the ground and thrusts towards Suha. The only thing Suha could do was dodge. He had no swords while his opponent had two. Hitori gave no chance for Suha to get even remotely close to the swords on the ground. Due to Suha having no swords, Hitori thinks he has won and swings at Suha with no care to defend his openings in order to put out attacks faster. Suha takes notices of this and once again tries to look for an opening. The more Suha dodged, the more careless Hitori’s attacks got as he gets blinded by his own frustration.

Suha was on the verge of losing. If he didn’t get a sword now, he would be defeated. Suha looks closely at Hitori’s attacking pattern and notices Hitori swings horizontally every time Suha took a step back to dodge. Suha gets an idea. It was very risky but just enough of a time window for him to grab a sword. Suha dodges Hitori’s first blade and on Hitori’s next horizontal swing, Suha dashes forward. Hitori notices this immediately but was too slow to attack in time. Due to Suha’s lack of armor, he was much more mobile than Hitori. Hitori slashes downward but only manages to graze Suha’s own shoulder in the process. Suha finally maintains a distance and grabs a sword but Hitori catches up to him and swings his sword towards him. Suha barely dodges, his momentum barely there. Hitori swings at Suha again, Suha barely able to maintain his balance. Suha slashes at Hitori’s armor, but he is barely able to pierce his golden armor with the sloppy momentum and footwork he had. Suha is backed into a corner by Hitori and Suha can’t do anything but block both of Hitori’s blades with his singular sword. As Hitori overwhelmed Suha, Suha relaxed himself. Suha’s eyes that were filled with worry turned into an empty and relaxed glare. Suha pushes his sword as hard he can, and Hitori gets knocked back. Hitori quickly regains his balance, but as Hitori draws back both of his swords for another barrage of swings, Suha tightens the handle of his sword. As Hitori swings his sword downwards again, Suha swiftly slashes horizontally on Hitori’s golden armor, successfully slicing it in one quick movement. Hitori coughs out blood before dropping both of his swords and falling back on the ground. Suha catches his breath, panting heavily. He looks at his enemy on the ground and bows to him for giving him a good fight before tending to the captured villagers inside of the main building of the village. The villagers were startled at first but Suha told them about the situation; all while running out of breath. Suha unties them and almost passes out, but the villagers tend to him. He stays at the village for a while to get some rest.

### A New Plan: The Uchicha Clan Make Their Move

Suha rests in the village for awhile until he notices that the sun was beginning to set. Suha thanks the villagers and he puts on his kimono and grabs a sword. He leaves, walking towards the direction of his base. Suha runs back to base. Once there, the first thing he sees are the dead bodies of their men. Suha takes a closer look at one of the men’s bodies and sees the slash wounds on their bodies. A man calls out to Suha to hurry and Suha goes toward him. He goes to the training grounds and sees James lying down against a tree trunk. Suha rushes over to him and helps him up. He sees his ripped clothes and grazes and asks James what happened while he puts James hand around his shoulder. James explains the situation to Suha and how he just fought the toughest opponent he’s ever fought named Zero. James lets go of Suha’s shoulder, now being able to walk again. James’s eyes light up and tells Suha that he has an idea. James tells Suha to report back to base. Suha exclaims and asks James why him and why he won’t do it himself. James takes out the kunai with Zero’s blood and asks Suha if he knows how to analyze blood in a sarcastic tone. Suha drops his eyes in defeat and hesitantly agrees. Since it was a two and a half hour walk from the East Base to headquarters, Suha got some rest for about 30 minutes before getting ready to head out. James tells him the description of Zero, his ability and how he thinks he ran somewhere by the North base. Suha nods.

James enters the main building of the base and he starts analyzing the blood. It was gonna be a lonely 5 hours. Suha walked in the vast forest and after walking for about 2 hours he finally arrives at the main headquarters. Suha walked towards the base and the guards at the main gate look at him. They recognize his kimono and they ask for the password. Suha tells them the password and they open the gate with a salute. Suha walks in and heads towards the clan leader’s office. He opens the door and sees the leader with both of his feet on the table. Once the leader sees Suha he immediately repositions himself once he sees Suha enter. The Leader tells Suha to pretend he didn’t see that and Suha reponds by staring at him confused. The Leader’s desk had his name on it “Giovanni”. He breaks the silence by asking why he was here. Suha sits down and he reports everything to Giovanni. He tells Giovanni about the attack on the East Base and about the mysterious person named Zero. He says that it was a massacre and before he could even finish Giovanni’s eyes widen and he stands up with a panicked expression. He exclaims and asks about James’s whereabouts in a concerned and horrified tone and Suha tells him not to worry and that James was still alive and tells him that James fended off the enemy successfully.

Suha apologizes for making Giovanni panic but Giovanni sighs in relief, sits down and says it’s fine. Suha continues and he explains that James thinks the enemy ran somewhere North and that they are asking for some spies from The Spy Division to go look for Zero. Giovanni stops and thinks about their report and he calls Suha’s attention again. Suha says he can just call him Nick and Giovanni nods before continuing. Giovanni asks what their plan is and Suha responds that it was up to James. Giovanni rests his cheek on his hand before nodding. Giovanni says he trusts his son’s intuition and he orders one of his guards to get three of the best spies from The Spy Division. The guard quickly runs out the door and both of them wait. Shortly after, the guard returns with three spies. The spies line up on the side and Giovanni introduces them by their code names. In order; the spies are Levy Six, Sin Three and Alpha Eight. Giovanni rustles through The Spy Division files and finds them. Giovanni shows Suha their info and asks if it’s enough. Suha nods and thanks Giovanni. Giovanni tells the spies that they are now under James’s command until he relieves them of their duties. Giovanni looks at Suha. Giovanni tells him that he’ll send some men for the East Base in a week as Suha takes his leave along with the three spies. By the time Suha and the three spies got back to the Eastern Base it was already 3 AM. Suha enters the main building where he sees James compressing a small white pill. Suha calls out to James and James looks at them. He rubs his eyes and walks toward them.

James asks Suha on what happened and Suha points to the three spies behind him. He tells James that they are some of the best and he introduces them in their codenames again. James thanks Suha before taking the small white pill on the table. Suha asks James what that was and James tells Suha that it was a pill that would disable a part of someone’s DNA temporarily. He continues that he used Zero’s blood to create a drug for his speed and that this pill would infiltrate his blood-flow and temporarily immobilizing the DNA that gives him his speed. Suha and the three spies all look surprised at James. James tells the spies about their plan of action. He explains to the spies that Zero went North, and since he was bleeding considerably they could follow his dried blood. James tells the spies of their objectives; Find Zero’s affiliation and get as much info from them. James expresses that he wishes he could disable Zero’s speed. But, since the pill was only halfway finished, he couldn’t. James tells Levy Six he’s in charge of gathering information about Zero; while Alpha Eight was responsible of gathering information about their leader. James looks at Sin Three and tells them that If things go right he has a special mission for them. James also adds one piece of information. James states that Zero uses a pen and notepad to talk to other people.

They all nod in unison to James’s orders and they instantly disappear in front of James. James looks confused but he remembers it’s A Spy Division secret technique and doesn’t pry any further. He looks at Suha and asks for his help on the pill, as much help as he could be. James and Suha work on the pill and James asks what happened to Suha. Suha explains that he was looking for a mysterious ninja because three men barged in and told the bartender that the ninja had taken out their entire squad. Suha follows it up by explaining his fight with Hitori. James nods in response and he suddenly loses himself in his own train of thought. James looks at Suha again and asks Suha if the men were wearing grey outfits with zig-zag like patterns on the back. Suha nods instantly before realizing who the mysterious ninja was. Suha puts his palm on his face for not realizing sooner, making James laugh, jokingly calling Suha an Idiot. The three spies hop from tree branch to tree branch and search for a couple hours. The men finally find a small base after two hours of heading North. Levy Six takes a closer look and he sees a blurry streak go in and out of a hut. Levy Six is startled and asks Sin Three and Alpha Eight if they just saw what he saw and they both nod. He looks through the door and sees a man sitting on a chair talking to someone. After a few minutes of waiting the man sitting stands up and comes outside with a man wearing a mask and holding up a notepad. They all recall the information James gave them and the man with the mask matches the description perfectly. Now that they had all this information, Levy Six gives Alpha Eight the signal and Alpha Eight proceeds to retreat into the forest. Levy Six and Sin Three follow. It was already 4:00 AM once they got back. The three spies go back into the base, James still focused on the pill. Levy Six clears his throat to catch James’s attention, startling him. James looks at the three spies and is surprised they’re back already. He asks them what they found and Levy Six relays the info to James. They mention that they found Zero at a small village, but this village had a banner. James asks them if the banner said anything, and Sin Three mentions that they remembered seeing DBS on it. James had recognized this name cause he heard rumors about a rapidly growing clan somewhere. James is ecstatic that they found Zero.

But, he calms himself down. James tells Levy Six and Alpha Eight to go back to base and report to The Leader and ask him if he has files on DBS. James says that they should get some rest before heading back to the East Base and they both nod. James tells Sin Three to stay because he might need another spy. They all nod and Levy Three and Alpha Eight go back to base while Sin Three stayed behind. A day goes by, and the next morning James calls out to Suha and Sin Three and he tells Suha about what the spies found. James tells them about the plan he had made up last night. James saw Zero as a potential threat, and seeing as he was affiliated with DBS, he decides he would take him while he would let Suha handle the rest knowing what he was capable of. As for Nardo, none of them knew how strong he was, so James tells Sin Three to watch them in the shadows and save them If something goes wrong. They stay at base for awhile, and as soon as the sun starts going down, James, Sin Three and Suha leave for their trip towards DBS. They walk in the forest, still on their way to DBS; about an hour had passed. James and his team reach a small town. It wasn't too far from DBS but they decide to get some water. James orders Sin Three to survey the town from the rooftops and Sin Three nods before disappearing instantly. James and Suha buy some water and they prepare to exit town. As they walk toward the direction of the exit, Sin Three signals to them. They run toward Sin Three immediately and Sin Three reports that they had found Nardo along with a mysterious boy. James and Suha look at each other before putting on their cloaks and follow Sin Three from the rooftops.

They see what exactly Sin Three reported. An unidentified boy was beside Nardo. James creeps in the corners, barely being able to be seen. James planned their method of attack. They had planned on taking out Zero but instead they encountered their leader. James didn't want to throw away this window of opportunity and he tells Suha to prepare for an attack. Suha nods quickly in response. James signals to Sin Three to reposition in order to initiate the attack. James looks at the boy walk. He was so fixated on him that he forgets to keep himself hidden for a quick second. In this quick second, Ashty looks toward their direction; making James panic and signaling Sin Three to start the attack. A kunai is thrown towards the boy’s eye at a quick speed. But, the kunai was deflected by Nardo just milliseconds from it hitting his eye. There was definitely no hiding at this point so James charges towards the boy and Suha follows.