Dark Days May Lie Ahead...

[Munashii Hissori]

Henshin was out of Kumo for the time being. He needed a walk, especially after the attack on Kumo that had recently occured. Out of the letters he had sent out to the other Villages, only one had so far been replied to. With the Mizukage about to pay a visit, he needed to make sure all was well along the Village boarders. True, it was dangerous times for a Kage to be walking alone in forest, but it wasn't like he really was alone. He had instructed his clansmen to come looking for him should he not return at the time he specified.

He hated having to wear this disguse everyday. He hated that he had this position shoved upon him. But things needed to be done. And it appeared he was the only one who could do them. Unfortunately.

Just then, he heard something. Walking casualy into a large clearing, he turned to the exact location of his follower.

"Show yourself. I have no time for these games, and my temper is thin of late"

He watched for any movement that betrayed an attack.

[Uchiha Kumori]

A strange sound filled the air, signaling the arrival of a monster. It was something like a demon alarm clock, but anybody who has had experience in battling, and anybody who was alive during the Konoha-Suna war long, long ago should know just what was coming. Of course, not many people are still alive, and witnessed that war, but this man was alive at the time. He was once regarded as the greatest puppet master in history, and even today, his prowess in Poison making and puppet using is unmatched. Today, Sasori was going to make an attempt on a life. This was not the first time Sasori would have gone after a Kage. Sasori was the man who killed the Third Kazekage, the greatest Kazekage who ever lived. Sasori had taken him down, and now he wanted to repeat this, and take down the current Raikage of Hidden Cloud. Sasori had heard about his abilities, and his prowess with a sword. However, his metal armor was more than enough to block a sword strike.

Six, stomping legs crushed the ground, moving in perfect sync, heading towards the battle of his life. Sasori looked out of the puppet, smiling, he knew this would definitely be a performance to remember. Sasori had heard a lot about the Raikage, but the Raikage probably had no idea what Sasori was capable of. That was something Sasori could use to his advantage.

When he entered the area, he looked the Raikage with his puppet, making sure his enemy could not see Sasori inside of the puppet. His enemy would probably think that Sasori is hiding somewhere else, as this was a forested area., though a clearing was where the battle would take place.

“Sorry, but I'm not here to play games...” A monstrous voice said, coming from the puppet. “Rather, this is my idea of an ambition.”

“And, when you are dead, I will take what is left. This is my art.”

[Munashii Hissori]

Henshin raised an eyebrow as a monster strode into the clearing. It had six legs and a voice that sounded strangely hollow. He didn't know quite what to make of it. It looked very strange. The way it spoke made it obvious that it was an intelligent creature, so it wasn't just some wild beast. In fact, from the sound of it, it sounded somewhat empty. As odd as that sounded, that's what it was. His ears did not miss much. His soon to be attacker was right in front of him, but he had yet to lay his eyes on him.

Drawing his sword, he stood ready before it.

"What is it that you want from my dead body, beast? My secrets? I assure you, they will die with me should I perish", he uttered, readying his sword for the inevitable attack.

OOC: Sorry for the shortness.

[Uchiha Kumori]

Sasori moved a little in his seat as he saw his enemy draw their sword, their most used weapon. Sasori looked at him, and moved his fingers accordingly, readying his puppet to spring into action. Sasori prepared his puppet to jump into action, and knew that he may have to use himself in this battle. However, he was perfectly capable of using both himself and this puppet and the same time. That was something that he kept hidden. He no longer had as much as power as he once held as a Shinobi. He had not killed in a rather long time, so he was aching to try and fight this one. Sasori knew how he was going to bring this one down, and he prepared himself to spring into action.

The scorpion tail on the puppet's back extended, and waved in the air with the breeze. This weapon, like all of the others in his arsenal, was poisoned, making even a small scratch fatal. This was going to be the end of his enemy.

"No, I am not interested in your secrets. I. WANT. YOU." The beast grumbled.

OOC: You get the first move ^^

[Munashii Hissori]

The tail waved mencingly in the air. Henshin could smell the poison from where he stood. Of course he could have smelled it if it had been a mile away if he so wished, but that wasn't the point. He knew that even a scratch could end this for him, and possibly for the entire Village if a replacement was not found fast enough. This creature could not kill him yet. He still had work he needed to do, at least until someone better was found. Damn you, Yoshimo!

Seeing that the creature was obviously waiting for him to make a move, he brought his sword up and charged it with chakra. In a split second, it was ready. Swinging the sword several times in an upwards cut, several balls of fire burst towards his foe. He wanted to see this guys potential first before he got serious. The fireballs sped towards the thing. He doubted that a creature that size could dodge effectively. But perhaps it could take the hits?

OOC: Thank you kindly!

[Uchiha Kumori]

The puppet once again made the same noise that it did at the beginning, only at a higher frequency, and it immediately took it's action. Seeing his enemy use a jutsu, Sasori moved one of his fingers inside of the monster, and then, the puppet acted accordingly, and the three legs on it's right side acted accordingly as well, and they sprung, and it rolled across the ground extremely quickly, fast enough to dodge the enemies fireballs sent at it to destroy the puppet. The fireballs hit the trees, knocking them down and burning some of them, and dissipating once they hit a few trees. Sasori looked at his enemy. The jutsu was most likely just to test the puppet's capabilities, and now he knew that this puppet was a speedy one, despite it's cumbersome body build, it was built for combat. However, because the man before him was a Sword wielder, chances are he was going to be engaging the puppet in close combat soon enough.

Sasori looked at the Raikage, and the monster puppet bellowed in anger, the trees shaking as it roared, the puppet then looked at the Raikage, and shuffled sligtly, getting ready to dodge another attack. This puppet had very, very strong armor, and an unbreakable framework. The strength of a person like Tsunade would not even be enough to break this one down. His opponent would need to break through this puppet's perfect defenses. There was only one way to beat this puppet, but if it could be performed correctly, Sasori could be in big trouble.

"Is that all the Raikage has up his sleeve? Cmon, show me your power!" The monster roared.

[Munashii Hissori]

Henshin watched as the puppet swiftly moved out of the way of his attack. So, it was quick on it's feet, despite it's size. Good to know. He wouldn't make that mistake again. Eyeing up his opponent, he reckoned it had other weapons, other than that tail. However, it seemed that maybe if he struck hard enough at the base of the tail, maybe he could detatch it and disarm the puppets main weapon. He knew in additon that most creatures like this had a common weakness. They usually had a weak underbelly.

Acting on that, he made several handsigns. He plunged his sword into the ground and a small rumble could be heard for a split second before the ground beneath the creature began to rupture. In the next moment, it would explode and topple the thing with massive force, more than enough to topple even the oldest and strongest tree. When it was on it's back, Henshin would attack with his Katon Ken, his fire sword that had the heat of a furnace. He wondered if it would melt through the tail. He made sure that he would strike at the base of the tail.

He would have to also avoid the hole in the floor that had been made with his Doton Ken.

[Uchiha Kumori]

Sasori had to act quickly to avoid this next attack. He watched as his enemy opened a hole in the ground, using his jutsu, to try and attack Sasori's puppet. Luckily, he had a special way of dealing with being thrown on his underbelly. Even if he was on his back, he still had a manner of getting out of that kind of situation. When the ground opened beneath him, Sasori used the spring ability the puppet had to immediately jump out of the hole in the ground, and when he saw his enemy come at him with a sword, Sasori sent the tail to block the attack. Chiyo knew that this tail was one of the hardest things, able to block many weapons easily, effortlessly blocking kunai knives, it would not be melted by this sword. Even if it did have contact with furnace-hot sword, it was only for a second, and that was not nearly enough time to do any damage.

The tail slammed into the sword, which knocked his enemy away, and sent them across the ground in mid air. The puppet landed on the ground, perfectly fine and without any damage. Sasori looked at his enemy. Now that he had to recover from an attack, he was going to be left vulnerable to an attack. Sasori beckoned the puppet to open it's mouth, and then he moved the same finger, and then, with a snap, senbon was shot out of it's mouth. Not alot, but just enough so that if it hit, he wouldn't waste anymore. Sasori did not need to fire any more than that. The mouth stayed open, just in case he needed to fire anymore.

[Munashii Hissori]

Henshin landed on his feet, counting himself lucky that he hadn't been scratched. The tail, it appeared, was too strong for a glancing blow of his sword to melt it. He would need prolonged contact for that to work, and he wouldn't have near enough time. The spring it had pretty much confirmed that it's underbelly was a weakness, but a well protected one.

It was then the puppets' mouth opened and senbon flew out. Unconcerned with the senbon, he casually deflected them back at the creature, where it would doubtessly stick harmlessly into it's hide. It was a suprisingly simple move for this opponent, but that is what described this creatures attacks and defences. Simple. The did their function, and that was all. A plan started to form in Henshin's mind.

Slipping out a scroll, he summoned five explosive tagged kunai descreatly into his hand. Then, behind a show of desperation, he slammed his sword into the ground once more. Once again, the ground exploded up and left a hole.

The puppet creature had two choices. One, it could jump away to escape the hole, or two, use the spring on it back to jump back out of the hole again. Either way, it would leave it exposed in the air for a moment. And when it was, the kunai would be thrown and exploded right when it cannot manouver out of the way.

Henshin watched as the hole beckoned the creature.

[Uchiha Kumori]

Sasori watched as his enemy once again used the same jutsu to try and trap Sasori. Sasori knew he was going to try and do something different this time, as the Raikage would not repeat a failed attack attempt unless it was dodged by pure chance. Sasori allowed the hole to open up beneath him, and the puppet fell in. Once he hit the floor, he immediately bounced. However, instead of bouncing out, he bounced onto the wall in order to change his trajectory. When he bounced out of the hole, he was already rolling across the ground. Then, he got right side up once again, and looked at his foe with glaring eyes, which were wobbling about. Sasori knew he must be thinking Sasori is hidden somewhere else, so he kept it that way, and continued using Onitama.

"Your attacks are well thought out, but you're not going to get me. Not at your skill level. I have been alive far longer than you have. In fact, I should be dead right now. But I'm not, and aging only gives me more benefits. It gives me experience, skill, and time. What do you have that can compare to me?" The monster rumbled.

It extended it's tail outwards, waiting for his opponent to make a move.

[Munashii Hissori]

Well, that didn't work, thought Henshin as he saw the puppet tumble across the ground. Again it spoke, or rather, the thing inside that was controlling it spoke. It stood there, waiting for him to make a move. Honestly, Henshin had always marvelled at why enemies wasted time talking when they could be attacking and, as it seemed was it's goal, killing him.

Fine.

If he liked to gas on, let him. Henshin was already tired of this guys speeches. Let's see what he has too say about this...

Henshin seathed his sword and made a handsign, closing his eyes. To any experienced ninja, it would appear that he was losing chakra, getting weaker. Doubtless that was what was going through this creatures mind right now. But when he started to fade away, it seemed like he had not even been their to begin with. Suddenly, the puppet-creature was alone in clearing.

But a voice echoed through the trees.

"You talk too much. It is your turn to be silent, and attack", the echo said. Henshin watched for his opponents reaction. When an opening came, he would use it. He made a clone, and it too was instantly invisible. It circled around to the things back, and jumped. At the same time, the real Henshin slammed his sword into the ground again. But instead of it collapsing under the creature, it came up around it forming a dome, covering it completely. And just before it closed off completely, the invisible clone landed, several explosive tags in it's hand.

The dome could not be breached from the outside, and the same went for the inside. It only lowered when Henshin wanted it too.

He would break that damn shell, and see what lay beneath. He made the sign for the tags to explode...

[Uchiha Kumori]

Sasori looked around as the dome closed in on him. He seemd to have been trapped, but that was okay. He would easily be able to get out of this one. Sasori let the explosive tags burst off, only blowing up part of the wood layer of the puppet, but exposing the near indestructible metal armor part. As the explosive tags exploded, Sasori then realized there was somebody inside, so he immediately allowed the puppet to spaz out for a little bit, smashing anything inside, which would kill the enemy clone, as they had nowhere to go inside of the dome. Once he was sure he killed the clone, he then went on to the next part of the plan. Even though it was a jutsu, it was still earth. And facing it was the power of steel. There was a way to destroy this dome obviously.

Sasori made the puppet spring up again, seperating the top and lower parts of the puppet, connecting them with the framework and the springs, the puppet busted the dome open like a cap on a bottle. Sasori looked at Rei, and had the puppet sigh. He looked at his enemy, and then opened his mouth. After opening the mouth, he opened the second hole in the puppet, the throat opening. This allowed his enemy to get a peek inside of the puppet. However, when it opened, there was nobody in sight. The puppet laughed monstrously.

"Face it, you're not going to be able to beat me. Your attacks, they're all attacks that have the highest chance of hitting, sacrificing power and effectiveness for speed. This vessel, its underbelly is just as protected as the rest of me. Now, I'm going to give you one chance to give up, and turn yourself in. It will make things much easier for both of us. It saves me the trouble of hitting you, and it saves you the pain that you will experience. I don't like to wait, and I'm getting impatient with you already. You're nothing special. Now...Come to me, and let me releive you of your duty as Raikage." The monster said in a dark, angering voice.

Sasori got the springs ready, without letting his opponent know he was. He hoped his speech motivated his enemy to try and go all out on Sasori.

[Munashii Hissori]

Henshin sighed in his mind. He was still invisible and had lessened chakra emissions so low that even a Hissori could't find him. He was safe for the time being to contemplate his moves. Earth didn't work. Fire didn't work. He doubted his sword play would work against that thing. It's hide was too damn enforced. Even with the things innards exposed, he doubted any move he had would reach it in time.

He let the wind blow the creatures taunts away, and let the silent wind give his answer.

While he knew he had not the powers of a real Raikage, he still had something. He had the responsibility of a Raikage. And he would not just give that up.

Using his Keiji, he pumped his system up. Moving with speed that would have blurred the eyes of any onlooker, (not that they could see him anyway, considering he was still invisible) he got a fistful of explosive tags from his nin-pouch and planted them inside the puppet. Rushing back to his post and deactivating the Keiji, he raised his sword and sent more fireballs after the puppet. The thing would either jump, close up, or do nothing. Any was fine. As soon as the firballs did their job, he would set off the explosives, blowing up the thing from the inside out, seperating the two halfs of the puppet.

He formed the seal to blow the tags, yet again, as the fireballs got closer...

[Uchiha Kumori]

Something went wrong with his enemies plan. Sasori had been watching everything, and know knew what he had to do. As his enemy paced inside the puppet, and planted some explosive tags, Sasori jumped out of his hiding place, and grabbed them, and put them all on one kunai immediately. Sasori had closed up the mouth by now, but just enough to keep his enemy from seeing him. Sasori put the kunai in the gun that shot out the senbon, and then, the same Senbon were shot out, the kunai was launched. It was detonated in mid air, while the puppet, with it's mouth closed, was able to avoid being damaged, and not only that, but by watching the dust that was picked up by his enemies running, and where it stopped, he now had a pinpoint on his enemies location. Sasori looked out, and got the puppet ready.

Sasori, once the fireballs had hit, stood there, and cackled. Sasori got ready to attack once again, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. It seemed that his enemy had just been given access to a massive speed burst, and planted the explosives then. Sasori had been hiding inside the puppet, using the area where he got in and out of the puppet from the top. He had stowed away there, fooling his enemy, Sasori still managed to avoid getting seen alltogether. That was good. However, there may have been a way that Sasori could've let on his identity.

"You're not bad, but I am better. You're fast, I know that. Now that you've accessed a speed burst, I should probably be a little more cautious. What attack will damage me? Hmm? Yet, as you continue to try and find that weakness, you continue to use chakra, while I have been fighting with my puppets, and still at full strength." Sasori said, in his monster's voice. "How do you expect to beat me, when you cannot damage me?"

[Munashii Hissori]

Henshin saw his own explosive tags fly towards him. This was getting tiresome. He dodged out the way of the tags and went some distance into the woods. He couldn't seem to lay a finger on this guy. He'd pulled his best tatics, and he just bust straight through them. Henshin was fast, faster than the eye could follow, nevermind the fact he was invisible, and this thing still found him. As a Raikage, he had many responibilties to attend to, to many people. If he was dead, he couldn't meet up with the Mizukage and give her the information he had gathered from the attacks of the so-called 'Ataksuki'.

Still, he couldn't just withdraw. Not until he was exhausted and could barely move to flee. At least this creature wasn't after the Village, it only wanted him. His death or retreat would not spell the end of Kumogakure.

Henshin retreated further back into the forests. He needed a bigger space. He had no fear that the creature would not follow him. It wants his body, after all. He perched on the branch of a tree and waited for his opponent to draw near. As soon as he was close he would begin his move.

[Uchiha Kumori]

"I'm not going to let you go that easily."

Sasori, once he saw his enemy make a run for it, immediately jumped into the air, and formed the wheel. Spikes stuck out of him like a porcupine, and a rotating wheel of blades erupted, and once he hit the ground, he began spinning. Trees and forest were no match for Sasori's puppet. The trees were effortlessly knocked away, literally flung into the air as Sasori moved, anybody could see that Sasori was making an attempt to find his hidden enemy. However, he would not allow himself to waddle right into a trap. He was going to allow his enemy to find Sasori instead, and spoil whatever scheme he had in mind. Since his enemy was the Raikage, his job was to protect the village Hidden in the Clouds. Well, now he was going to have to choose between saving people in the village, or stopping Sasori.

He was heading straight for Kumo, full speed.

He made sure to get ready for his enemies next attack, as since he probably could hear the rampart, he probably knew he was heading straight for Kumo...

[Munashii Hissori]

Henshin saw the tress part as his foe headed in the opposite direction, towards Kumogakure. So much for his theory. It knew that he would have to stop it from going near the Village, thus he would have to approach it, and not the other way around. It meant he'd have to sacrifice the element of suprise, but that was okay. Drawing it away wasn't an option then. Fair enough.

He'd have to make do.

While chasing his foe, he bit his thumb and summoned a crow. It flew off in the direction of Kumogakure. At least the ninja there would get the villagers out of harms way and prepare for battle should he fail to stop it.

He caught up with it soon after, and jumped to the ground, slamming his sword into the dirt as he landed. Just in front of the creature, the hole gaped and would swollow him whole... again. With hole appearing only a split-second forward of his path, there was not enough grip for the thing to jump. It wasn't a matter of skill or reaction time, there just wasn't enough grip. The moment it fell down the hole, Henshin would once more encase it with the earth dome, only this time he couldn't help but give it more room. He would cover the entire hole, and that would give the thing more than enough run up to break through. But Henshin wasn't finished.

Forming the handseals, his blade would burst into flame, and it spread throughout the forest. No-one was there, this part of the forest was abandoned, and it was still a fair distance from Kumo. Soon the whole area would be a-blaze in a fire so hot it could melt a person in moments. The moment he unleashed the jutsu, Henshin would use the Tunneling Jutsu to escape the fire himself, and head for the walls of Kumo. He needed to make sure all the villagers were evacuated from there, just in case.

[Uchiha Kumori]

Spoiler:

"Heh, nice try."

Once he saw the hole open up right to the puppet, Sasori made the legs bounce, and bounce over the hole. However, then he saw it. Fire. And lots of it spread across the forest. Sasori knew what he needed to do. With his strongest will and power, the puppet used the springs once again, sending it more than a hundred feet into the air. The puppet then stopped rolling and pulled itself together, getting ready to hit the ground. Using the framework, the puppet was unharmed, but the hill it landed on wasn't. In fact, it crumbled, and fell apart a little, with some rocks tumbling into a clearing. Sasori counted himself lucky he didn't do anything further, but he still needed to take down the Raikage.

He sat on the ground, and waited for the Raikage to show his face...

[Kyo]

As Keen looked up, he saw a large black crow flying towards the village. Keen was sitting on one of the building of Kumogakure that overlooked the surrounding landscape. As the bird grew nearer, Keen reached out as several black tentacles sprouted from his sleeve and attacked the bird. They wrapped around the bird and stabbed into it's feathered body and pulled it down to him. Making a small snack out of it's body, he sank his teeth into it's flesh and quickly devoured it while watching the forest. He saw some of the trees move in the distance which he assumed was Sasori.

Keen's job was to make sure that they went undisturbed by any other shinobi and especially any from Kumo. He decided that if the Raikage decided to send any sort of message, it would be in the form of an animal like most messenger summons. He kicked his feet as they hung off the edge of the building. Keen sighed deeply as his boredom began to reach it's max.

"Ugghhh..... hurry up..."

[Kenshi]

Zero Tolerance.

Just because Yoshimo was gone didn't mean that he would just give up on everything. He held Kumogakure close to his heart and would alwys protect it. Whoever this dude thought he was would be in a rude awakening for Yoshimo. Yoshimo was already pissed off at the fact of Sanmaru, and had left so he could go back to Kumogakure to relax, but coming back to this wasn't the type of "warm welcome" that Yoshimo thought he'd get. He'd come back to the Fourth Raikage fighting some stranger, and now that stranger would surely die. Yoshimo held Kumogakure close to his heart as much as he did his Grandfather. He wouldn't let Lelia and Munashii fall into danger, and he surely wouldn't let the Raikage fall to this straner.

Yoshimo didn't waste time in attacking and quickly found his first opening. He was completely silent, and since Sasori didn't know he would show up, Yoshimo would should by all means succeed in hitting him. He ran behind his back, his footsetps were completely light and soft, but his speed was steadily increasing. Yoshimo withdrew his sword and pointed it at his spine, in between his shoulder blades. Sasori would have no time to react and would surely be hit. No way he'd let some stranger run up into his village killing people. That type of cowardess wouldn't run past Yoshimo any day.

[Uchiha Kumori]

Sasori looked down, to see a sword had gone through his spine. It had gotten, dead center, through his body. It went straight through a normally vital part of his body, and with a strike like this, it is expected that you would not survive. Sasori attempted to turn his head behind him, and looked, to see the face of an unknown ninja, standing right behind him, holding in his hand, the sword that pierced Sasori. He looked behind him, seeing a ninja, with a katana right inside of him. Sasori had made an attempt to dodge the attack, once he heard the ninja sneak in, but since he had been pre-occupied with workign the puppet, and watching his ever fast opponent, there was no time to dodge the attack. Sasori got a little angry on the inside, but he still kept his cool outside, even though life would once again end. Only, this time it might be the real deal. Sasori was unsure of what to do now, other than a last ditch effort to survive.

"So, you snuck behind me, and got me while I was busy working my giant puppet? Well, I must give you credit for managing to sneak in here, and stab me, but now that you're in here, I can't let you escape." Sasori said.

Sasori was right. All exits were sealed. The mouth of the puppet would not budge unless Sasori made it open using his chakra strings, and since he was in a tight spot, that was not going to happen. The hatch on top had already closed shut. And with that burst of speed and stealth, his foe must likely was forced to hold their breath, even a little, to keep a low profile. By now, they must've still been breathing. Perfect for Sasori's next act. Because Sasori had a hood on his head, he would not be able to be identified. As he was stabbed, Sasori extended the arm cannons on his hands, and spewed out poisonous gas, filling the entire puppet with the deadly gas. If yoshimo inhaled, even a little, he would begin to numb almost immediately.

Inside of the poison gas, a noise sounded outside. The gas would not allow anybody to see around, so they would not hear the mouth of the puppet opening, and then closing silently. It was all done silently. The attacking ninja would not be able to see it, or hear it happening. The same thud hit the puppet itself, signaling somebody must've been outside. Maybe it was Keen, and maybe it wasn't. Sasori would begin to think of him differently if it was Keen. The worst place to be right now was inside of that puppet, for several reasons. Sasori was relatively helpless right now, no longer being able to use his prized body, but he would find another, hopefully.

The body of Sasori felt limp, and then was dropped to the ground. Had Yoshimo beaten him? Any other ninja would believe they did. The heart was somewhere, but using the poison gas as a smokescreen, Sasori would be able to get away safely. The plan was perfect. As his body fell to the ground, the gas inside of the puppet cleared, and whatever was inside might as well be dead right now. His enemy had no defense against the poison. Sasori was angry that his attempt on the Raikage's life had failed, but he would be more cautious next time. He needed to be.

A crack was heard, as the body hit the ground.

[Kenshi]

He'd jumped head first into a battle and now Yoshimo would have to suffer the consequences of that. He cursed himself silently, not watching and thinking of a plan to attack the ninja better. It seemed that Yoshimo thought that he was just a regular person, but that turned out to be wrong. The first sign of that was the fact that there was no blood leaking down his sword. Yoshimo's aim was perfect and dangerous. He'd aimed right at the spine, in between the shoulder blades. He knew anatomy well, and knew that the aorta lies there. The aorta is a massive artery that leads away from the heart, and into an arch down into the body. It is one of the biggest vessels in the body, and you could stick three fingers in it due to its massive size. If Yoshimo would have hit a real body in that spot, there would have been blood instantly everywhere, and the fact that nothing happened, revealed that it was a puppet or something hollow and not human.

With no time to react, the opponent kept attacking, shooting poison everywhere, as if Yoshimo would really be dumb enough to fall for that. Yoshimo created poisons in his spare time, and his mind instantly took over from there. From inside Yoshimo began to think about what type of poison this was. Since it was a puppet, the master wouldn't use a jutsu that would effect an opponent on skin contact, due to the fact that the best attacks were manipulated close to the puppet, so a puppet master wouldn't make any type of poison that might harm himself. That left Yoshimo with the option that the poison would have to inhaled to take effect. Solving that problem, Yoshimo quickly stopped breathing, holding his breath in before any of the fumes could harm him.

Yoshimo's mind hadn't stopped there. He was an S Rank shinobi after all, and if he did breathe a bit of the poision in, the medical chakra that was running through his body would surely numb the effects, if not stopping it. Yoshimo took the time to pull out his sword, and listen to what was going on inside of the smokescreen. He didn't have his eyes, but Yoshimo surely had his ears and his ability to listen. He wasn't dumb and throwing up a poison smokescreen was smart on the ninja's part. Any shinobi that threw up a smokescreen had some intent to get away from whatever the damage was, but Yoshimo couldn't tell where anything was. He only knew that he'd heard some noises and suddenly something had made the puppet that he'd stabbed get light. So that meant that something was in there and that it was trying to escape.

For now, that was enough information. He'd come up with a few things that he could go off of, and Yoshimo would have to take advantage of that untill he learned more from the Raikage who was currently along in the battle with Yoshimo. Yoshimo grabbed his sword and jumped back, gulping fresh air from the sky. He knew the poison would linger on, and since he didn't know the users nature, he would have to get rid of the posion quickly. Yoshimo withdrew a tagged kunai in mid air and quickly thought about where he would throw. But as soon as that happened the smokescreen started to disappate, but Yoshimo still couldn't see from moving so much.

'Since I heard what was going on, I know that something came out of the puppet, and what ever it was is still in the smokescreen trying to hide from me. So that means that it's in front of the puppet but still in the smokescreen. So if I aim there, I might be able to hit it...'

Yoshimo took out three notes, and strapped them to the already tagged kunai. He landed on the ground, and quickly shifted his poisition, so when he threw the kunai he wouldn't hit the dud puppet. Yoshimo threw right to where he thought the thing was, which had to be right inbetween the dud puppet, and the edge of the smokescreen. Not wasting anytime, Yoshimo quickly sent a small burst of chakra, leaving all three tagged notes sparkling in fire.

[Uchiha Kumori]

Sadly, Yoshimo had thrown the kunai in the wrong areas. Sasori had not stowed his puppet outside. Rather, he made his heart come out, onto the floor. It was, a rather stupid feign, but there was a terrible mishap, so Sasori was forced to do things. Things were goign from bad to worse with Sasori, so he decided to abandon this attempt. The kunais exploded outside of the puppet, not harming anybody. Since the thud was only the bi-product of the puppet stomping, Sasori had managed to evade death, and got back into his puppet. He got angry that his battle had been interrupted, as he had assumed that his foe was alone, but it looked like that was not the case. Sasori had no time right now, and needed to leave. The puppet, with a quick move, bounced into the air spontaneously, and turned into the same wheel it used to approach Kumo in the first place.

Sasori knew Keen was following him either way, so he kept on moving through the forest, hitting the ground, and barreling through the trees. Sasori knew he had failed, and got a little angry, but he did not let it get to him, and he kept on moving.

Spoiler:

[Munashii Hissori]

Henshin saw a blurred figure smash into the puppet-creature. After a struggle, the puppet was defeated, and it appeared that it had fled. Henshin turned to the man who had intervined, recognising his face immediatly.

"Yoshimo Izoto. Thank you for the aid. I was hard pressed there for a moment. I'm afraid my fighting skills are not as... powerful as any of my predecessors"

Sheathing his sword, Henshin walked over to the preivious Raikage. "Would you like to come back to Kumo with me? I am meeting with the Mizukage soon, and we could use your input on certain events that have occured recently", Henshin said, his words fading off as he began the walk back to Kumogakure.

[Kenshi]

So this was the Raikage. He seemed like a person that could watch over the country, some one that seemed like he could do a better job than Yoshimo. Though Yoshimo was no longer in the country and had left it, he'd always be its silent protector, and watch over it as long as he could. The Akatsuki wouldn't be allowed to touch this country, and if they did Yoshimo would surely split from them and fight against them if he had to. Kumogakure was is old home, the only place that his clan had found peace in. It was his job to bring back the Izoto clan, and with Kenshi, he would have to give him a safe place to settle.

"Well, I guess I can visit my old home and help out a bit. What seems to be the problem?"

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