There's No More Time For Peace

Shihouin had been in the village streets, overlooking the entire village with a set of careful eyes and and worrisome heart. Konoha, the Fire Country, and several other villages and countries had gone completely silent in the past years, and the activity between the two had been remarkably low. He was one of the few people who recognized the signs of peace as a potential threat for war. But what was it? What was going to happen? Some sort of plot against Konoha itself or many others within the village could aspire. Would they be prepared to handle any type of situation even if it caused some bodily harm?

He flicked off a gadget he'd constructed, one built within his ANBU gear. He wore a different set up that marked him as a higher up, but different entirely in that it was constructed for more civilian situations while keeping him safe. Thick soled boots that looked too heavy for agile movements, but weren't were laced about his feet, tied snugly around the legs of two long black pants, and an black undershirt. An old style black ANBU shoulder strap flak jacket in conjunction with miscellaneous tool items adorned his side, back normal nin pockets, with a few open shuriken and kunai strapped to his chest. He wore a mask that covered his entire face and head, as if it was too cold to show face.

He wanted to remain hidden for the most part and patrol the village even though he had been doing that for quiet sometime. An odd familiar feeling worked its way up through his spine and tricked over his body, some uncertain feeling that he couldn't shake too well. With a small raido piece in his ear, he signaled out for any other Konoha shinobi to meet at his point.

Maybe someone else felt the same way as he did. He waited atop a large corporate building, standing near the top waiting int he wind.



*My posts sucks and I know it. For his uniform think a ninja wearing an ANBU jacket but its black. He pretty much looks like a cloaked ninja.*

Retsu had heard the call. It had been very lucky he had caught the message at all. The only reason he had been wearing an earpiece is that he had been out training at the time the voice crackled over the radio. The young bug tamer liked to make his training exercises as realistic as possible, which included wearing the earpiece. He never really liked having the radio in his ear. It made everyone's voice sound like they were right behind him, talking to him with their mouths inches from his ear.

When he heard the summons, Retsu changed his direction and headed towards the co-ordinates the voice had given him, goggled eyes watching invisibly behind the dark lenses. While he travelled, the Aburame pondered on what this could be about. It had not sounded particularly urgent, but then again he was not exactly good at reading peoples emotions from their voices. Or body movements. Or at all for that matter. They were in a time of peace right now, as far as he was aware. So why call on any shinobi to meet up like this?

As he approached the given destination, Retsu sent his insects out ahead of him. He wanted to scout the area first, to see if it was some kind of trap. Even in peacetime, one could never be too careful. When he got the information back however, he was surprised that there was only one one person at the location. It would appear that he was the first one here. If there were anyone else even coming.

Landing some distance behind the person, Retsu gave the figure a few seconds to acknowledge his presence before speaking, casually straightening his thick garments and the high collar that hid most of his features.

"Why have you sent out a call?", said Retsu to the unknown person, getting straight to the point with his scratchy whisper of a voice that seemed to claw its way out of his throat.

The coolness of winter bite the flesh of all which was left bare. It wasn't abnormal to hear through the hospital the sad tale of someone having to lose their ear or even a finger or two during these months. Nasamea personally hated winter and its entirety. As a child she would occasionally enjoy the snow; her giddy thoughts oblivious to the horrors of this white powder. It seemed docile, calm, and partially attractive due to its glowing nature. But any whom were careless enough to step outside without careful planning wear easily swept away in the current of ignorance.

With everything on except for the gray flak jacket and a heavy surrounding cloak to cover her; Nasa appeared to the two men as a shadow in near true form. Her hair, which used to glisten with an odd radiance of an unnatural color, had even been altered. It met its demise through the usage of hair dye; the color converted to a more natural tone of black that only aided in the shadow appearance all the more. Some could say she was a representation of darkness now, her heart mostly devoid of all it used to entail after the long nights of mental suffering. She wasn't entirely changed though. Despite her facial features lacking much emotion she was nearly the same Nasa. This would become apparent more so through witnessing her actions and segments of talking more so than anything.

When the call came in Nasa was on her daily, but near useless, patrol - her position being near the far east wall and not to far from the desired meeting location. She had a feeling this sort of call would ring in eventually. Her eyes were as watchful as ever and although she had let go of a failed emotion she continued to keep an eye out on those whom were close to her; especially the captain. This wasn't due to a presence of hidden emotion and truthfully it lacked care but she wasn't going to leave herself open for potential betrayal and felt the need to always be careful for who she called her 'leader'.

"Present"

She arrived within minutes, her cloak reaching out from the wind as she landed on the concrete to Shi's right. It was a crouch landing but she quickly stood to face him. Her eyes searched to peer into his without a mark of fear; a way of showing her respect. She had obviously got over their past as stated before and in the relationship subject she had become a more independent female amongst her peers. She felt no need for a "mate" in her life.

While the sun slowly made its way across the partially clouded blue sky Nasa sat patiently waiting for Shihouin to continue and for the other ninja to arrive. Not once did she truly greet any of them aside from a partial glance but this was just a sign of her care. An emotion which should never be confused with devotion.

Oh, how the years have passed. Mitsu had thought to himself. Indeed they had, and they had been good. Mitsu quickly ranked up to chuunin level, then soon again to jounin, now he was a S rank ninja, top class. The journey to get there though was tough, especially since the missions started dying down quickly as the reign of peace was spreading like a plague. Peace was in fact good, but not for a shinobi. Without war, they are nothing. Trained to kill from childhood, that is all they really know. War is their income, and ninjas always have to be ready, even in peace, which can cause stress.

Mitsu was near paranoid that something was going to happen again when he became a special jounin, so he left to the very edges of Konoha with the hokage's permission to even roam around to different neighboring countries, provided he stayed under the radar. At those places he roamed to train, mostly on his own, but he found some sparring partners who would keep his presence a secret while he stayed. Time passed and Mitsu stopped keeping track of the days eventually. 'Wasn't really worth the time' he would always say. He even lost track of his own age sort of.

He was never good at guessing ages, even his own. He guessed he was about 23-25 years old now. He had grown considerably, now standing at 6'3". He wore the same clothing as he used to, but the materials had changed. The elastic materials had been integrated still, but there was something different still. The material would react to when he protruded bones, stretching from the smallest hole to very large as the bone came out, instead of ripping every time. This meant he would not have to buy another expensive suit nearly as often. It was slightly conductive to his ration chakra, but nothing really special. The jumpsuit was still a tight kind, clinging to his defined muscles, which were even more visible and larger, now that he had gotten stronger. But the way the materials were, it all looked like it was just one single piece. Well, it sort of is, but it links together easily, yet is strong and stays that way. During his travels he kept his hair the same style and the same shape as well. Nowadays when traveling around, he would wear his cloak, with the same old symbol of his bloodline on the back, but this was a larger one. He also wore a black cloth around his neck and face, especially now in the winter. With everything on, all but his eyes were hidden, and even then they could be hard to see. All of his garb was reversable, all the colors flipped on the other side. Basically, white and blacks were switched. In the current case, he was all in white, able to blend with the snow if he wanted to, and with little effort. Through his travels he did do a bit of travel, which got a name to spread around, the white devil. Mainly because of his hair, but the clothes helped. A small group of thugs gave him the name for some reason after he shooed them off from attack helpless people. He ended up helping people as he traveled around with each deed he did. If rumors of the 'white devil' ever reached Konoha, he was unsure, but from what he heard there was never a description. But he was never found out.

He had only returned to Konoha from his travels only recently, and after demonstrating to the hokage, he was officially made an S rank jounin. Mitsu asked to keep it quiet, wanting to surprise people who would remember him. Yes, he was much stronger than he was before. He had been walking about, the new radio ear piece in his ear. He was never issued one until he came back, something he assumed was added when he left. That, or he just never got one. Either way, he heard the call and recognized the voice just slightly, but unable to put his finger on it by a long shot. It had been so long there was no way he could recognize Shi by his voice, especially how it sounded on the radio. Mitsu, wanting action, set out right away. By the time he had arrived, there were three people standing there. A boy, a man, and a woman with black hair. She looked familiar to him, but couldn't pin it down, so he pushed the thought out. His clothes would make him unrecognizable, and his voice had deepened in tone, so it would also be hard to know it was him by sound. "Reporting." His response was short, yes, but it was all that was needed. He learned that giving your name out left and right had consequences. If he was going to give out a name at all, it would be that alias of his, The White Devil. He looked over at the woman again, trying to figure it out, but gave up after about 2 seconds. He didn't want to be caught staring. He then stood there and waited for the man to give the reason to his madness.