Another One Bites the Dust

An inky blackness had stormed the skies. It was very late at night, leaving the path beyond Iwa deserted. There wasn’t a soul in sight lingering outside at this hour of the day.

As he flew overhead, Shimizu glanced down towards the ground and the trees beneath him every now and then. He had been sent on a mission best suited for his skill set. After all he was the best in Iwa when it came to espionage.

Not long ago, a ship manufacturing company had requested the services of Iwa, hiring shinobi from the Hidden Rock Village to guard them as they transported one of their newly constructed ships to a client over seas. Many weeks had passed since the vessel was safely escorted. But even to this day, Iwa had yet to be paid.

That is why Shimizu was deployed. To infiltrate the company’s parameters and see for himself whether or not the company’s owners had any intention of repaying their debt.

It was a day’s trip, even for a Jounin such as himself to arrive upon the designated destination. The ship manufacturing company was located on the outskirts of the Land of Earth, beside a large body of water where the many ships could be docked. When he got close to the company’s headquarters, Shimizu stayed hidden behind a tree and weaved a number of hand signs together, activating the *Hiding With a Camouflage* jutsu. Using this technique he would be able to remain undetected, as his physical likeness was rendered invisible. He ensured the just was in complete effect before emerging from behind the tree; levitating himself in the sky once again —so as to keep his footsteps from being heard— he slowly soared over the large fencing and into the territory of the ship manufacturing company.

Before anything else, Shimizu made for the docks, where the newer ships were being stowed. He was surprised to see that there were tens of new ships docked in the waters beside the company’s establishment, held in place by large anchors. Shimizu silently submerged himself underwater when the coast was clear, and upon examining the clean metallic surface of the anchors deduced that they were likely recently purchased. The quality of the anchors was superb; there wasn’t a hint of rust yet on them. This told him that the company was still actively spending money. So why hadn’t they paid Iwa yet, even in smaller installments?

For days Shimizu remained invisible through the *Hiding With a Camouflage* jutsu. He lived among the people of the ship manufacturing company in silence. As the days went by, he was exposed to another ninja who did not belong to any hidden villages. Mercenaries. The company had gone elsewhere to hire help this time. It made Shimizu even more suspicious.

Eventually in the coming days he made his way into the chairman’s office. He left the company’s parameters on a few occasions to consume food and gain rest, but overall his mind was clouded by considerable doubt.

When the chairman had left his quarters, Shimizu took a chalk and reprioritized a list that had been written on the board. He jotted down 'repay Iwagakure' at the top of the list. When the chairman returned to his office later that night, Shimizu hid himself away into the corner of the room, watching the chairman read his to-do list with a pointed look on his face.

The chairman approached the board, erasing what Shimizu had written on it. The rest of the things on the list he merely crossed off with the chalk, likely to indicate that the task had already been completed. It was clear now that the chairman had no intention of repaying his debt to Iwa.

While the chairman still had his back facing him, Shimizu deactivated his camouflage and held a kunai along his throat. "You who has failed in his payment to Iwa shall be coming with me to the village to explain yourself."

Suddenly, Shimizu felt a throbbing pain in his thigh. Without grimacing he pulled away from the chairman, only to realize that it had been one of the mercenaries in disguise. He pulled the knife from his thigh and faced the mercenary with a limp in his form.

There were no need for words. Shinobi fought to kill, and there was little point in getting to know someone who was to die in the next few seconds. The shinobi was more adept in shurikenjutsu than Shimizu was fast; another knife was flung through the air and struck Shimizu’s shoulder. Rather than pulling it, he instead activated his camouflage once again, obscuring himself from the enemy’s view.

Shimizu thought himself to be well hidden, underestimating his opponent once again. He may have been invisible, but the open wounds on his body were still leaking with blood. The mercenary predicted where Shimizu was by the trail of blood left behind in his stead; he lunged forward with a Tanto, lunging towards Shimizu, who split the blade apart with his earthen fist. Materializing in the flesh, Shimizu rammed his other arm into the mercenary’s throat, increasing the weight of his punch several times over so that the mercenary went flying through numerous walls until he was blasted out into the waters outside of the office.

Shimizu took a moment to catch his breath and undo the kunai in his shoulder. But by the time, his opponent had used the water of the lake to send a Water Dragon in his direction, which Shimizu blocked off at the last moment by slamming his hands to the ground and erecting a wall made of mud. Shimizu was feeling unreasonably numb, causing him to fall down to his knees behind the wall. He assumed that the enemy must have poisoned his weapons.

Closing his eyes, Shimizu started to sense around his surroundings for chakra. He could see that there were two other mercenaries present, one of which was directly operating beside the real chairman. If these two were on the same level as the one he was locked in combat with, then it was unlikely that Shimizu, especially with his injuries, would be able to leave here with his life.

He began to plot an escape when suddenly he was flanked from behind by another one of the mercenaries. This one had somehow managed to remain undetected by Shimizu’s sensory prowess. Based on this, Shimizu assumed that he must have been the one to detect him earlier.

With no choice but to act quickly, Shimizu split himself into two parts using the *Fission Technique*, just as the mercenary had lunged at him with a Fuma Shuriken. While the mercenary was caught in his linear movement, another half of Shimizu stepped to the side and cut off his head with a loose kunai, dropping him dead immediately. Merging back into one body, Shimizu activated his camouflage and leapt out from the office and towards where he sensed the chakra of the chairman to be.

Thank to his invisibility, this time Shimizu was able to remain undetected by the other mercenaries. He was fortunate enough to have eliminated their sensor with the opportunity that he had been given. The chairman was located in a warehouse to the back of the company’s territory. Shimizu knew through his usage of the *Sensing Technique* that he had another capable ninja at his side. Knowing it would be unwise to engage in combat given his current circumstances, Shimizu remained invisible. He stormed into the warehouse using shadow clones and then made them explode as soon as they were inside. This failed to claim his enemy, however it did force the mercenary inside to be momentarily separated from the chairman. That split second of separation was all Shimizu needed.

Remaining invisible, he grabbed ahold of the chairman and took off into the sky. The chairman screamed, kicking and flailing his arms from side to side as he was taken away. As Shimizu flew off with the chairman in his invisible arms, he was met by the first mercenary’s water serpent jutsu once more. But this time, because he had the mercenary in tow, the mercenary was focused on retrieval and so could not approach Shimizu with the intent to kill. Shimizu gained the upper hand through the advantage of taking a hostage, making it to the other side of the fence and out from the company’s territory. Still, there was a lot to be done to fully escape from shinobi of this level.

"Let go of me! I already paid Iwa!!" The chairman beamed. The chairman had already shown that he could not be trusted. Finding his constant chirping to be bothersome, Shimizu slammed the back of the chairman’s head against a nearby rock to render him unconscious. With him asleep, escape would be a little more easy.

Shimizu could sense the two other mercenaries coming towards their location, fast. He dropped the chairman to free up both hands; forming hand signs he stamped them to the ground. Quickly the earth around them rose up, encasing the sleeping chairman and Shimizu within a dome. The moment the dome went up, several shrunken and kunai crashed against its sturdy exterior.

Without anytime to lose, Shimizu used the last of his chakra supply to soften the earth underneath. The shinobi had already caught up to them and were withering the dome away with every second. With no other route other than below, Shimizu softened the earth and submerged himself beneath the surface, taking the chairman along with him. He closed the earth just in time; for the mercenaries it was as though Shimizu had simply vanished when they broke open the earth dome and looked inside.

Shimizu was forced to remain underground for more than a day. He had run low on chakra and needed to make sure that the coast was clear before he resurfaced anywhere else. He also had to prime himself for the possibility of being found by the enemy whenever he did choose to come up, and in case they spotted him he was going to need his chakra.

Fortunately, Shimizu traveled far enough underground to arrive at a location his pursuers could not detect without their sensor. His espionage had ended up in a failure, seeing as how he was detected by the enemy forces. But his abduction of the chairman who refused to pay his debts to the village was a complete success. He would turn the man in to the higher-ups of the village and let them do with him as they pleased.