A stain begins to spread across the pants of the man I had appeared directly in front of. My eyes are dead and I speak in a monotone, ignoring the piss that was soiling the man. "They are with me," I murmur.

"I... I, uh, of course! I apologize!" he mutters quickly. He tosses the wallet back towards Kento. "Here you are, young man! I... I apologize again, Claw." And with that the man takes off.

I watch him go, pretending not to notice as people slinked back inside, closing doors and shutters and leaving the street abandoned. I then turn to the three genin. A sharp glare shuts them all up, though Aisa seemed to understand that their were far too many listening ears here to say anything.

"Come," I order, sweeping down the street with the genin in tow.

I stride right into the mayor's mansion. I had made my presence known in this village; might as well get the most out of it. As soon as the guards see me they turn around and leave the area. Striding through the doors, I enter the study where the mayor resided. He spots me almost immediately, and doesn't mention my small entourage.

"Claw," I detect the nervous tremor in his voice and internally smirk sadistically at it. "What can I do for you?"

"I have been informed that you are currently serving a band of bandits who happen to have a rather valuable artifact on them," I reply.

The man swallows audibly. He was dangerous, crafty, and cunning, but he knew when he was outmatched. "Yes."

"Where are they now?"

"Upper rooms."

"And the artifact?"

"With them."

I nod and turn away. "What could the Rising Phoenix want with an old artifact?" the mayor wondered.

I turn and glare. "The whims of the Rising Phoenix are for me to carry out, not question. The same applies to you, considering the chest of gold hidden in your floorboards that the Rising Phoenix was kind enough to gift you."

The mayor nods once. "Right. I'll leave you to it, then."

"Keep your men from wandering upstairs for at least twenty minutes," I order. "Lest they be caught in the crossfire."

"Of course," the man murmurs. "Very kind of you, Claw."

We make our way upstairs.

I don't give the genin an orders, hoping that they would be able to pick up on, "When I attack, you do" without any prompting. And so without any warning, I slam the door open and step inside.

"What the hell!" A man immediately shouts, springing up. "Who the hell are you?"

I don't answer, opting to scan the room instead. "One of your men is injured badly," I note. "That is why you took shelter here."

"What of it?" Another man growled. Ten men, one injured, four of us. A fair fight, then.

I allow a purposefully bloodthirsty smile to flash across my face. "It was the mistake that got you all killed."

The man looks confused, and grasps his thick blade tighter. "Got us ki--aghh!"

The man makes a gurgling noise as I tear through his throat with one of my blades.

The entire room freezes for half a moment before bursting into action. I'm running and slicing and doing my best to protect the genin as they fight with me and all too soon its over and with a start I realize a part of me missed being the Claw.

All that power that came with the image, that came with being a part of something bigger than yourself...

And then the fighting was over and I returned to myself.

I'm panting slightly and I know that my hands are stained with blood. I straighten and survey the room. Despite my best efforts to protect them, all three genin had minor scratches and bruises.

"Um," Michiko spoke up as I pick my way across the body strewn room. "I thought we were trying our hand at an infiltration mission?"

I turn and glare at Kento. "Yeah, well the local ego filled idiot couldn't follow a simple order and nearly got himself killed," I snap. "That plan sorta went out the window."

"Why did the villagers know you? Who's Claw? What's the Rising Phoenix?" Aisa asks.

I rummage through the men's belongings, smirking in triumph when I pull out an old teapot. "Save your questions for later," I respond. "Just follow my lead. We need to get out of here as soon as possible."

All three genin groan slightly. "We've been traveling nonstop for two days and just got here," Aisa complains.

"Yeah, can't we rest for a bit before heading back?" Kento mutters.

I raise and eyebrow. "You want to stay longer in this "shithole"?" I question.

Kento blushes slightly. "Well, everyone here seems to respect you so I thought we would get a good bed for a night instead of hard ground."

I have to hide my incredulity at these genin. Was I this soft straight from the academy? I know in some way I was, but like this? Traveling nonstop? We didn't run through the night! Two days? Come on! They had to be able to last longer than that! And above all, how the hell could they mistake the villagers' and mayor's clear terror of me as respect?

But instead of voicing all this I simply say, "No, you idiots. We need to put some distance between this village and us."

I didn't expect my presence here to go unnoticed. I was out of konoha. Out from its protective walls. And while there was one team of ANBU watching, there were far too many variables to predict and prepare for. It was dangerous out here.

And the Rising Phoenix definitely would realize I was here.

How long has it been since I'd appeared in front of that man and my presence had been discovered? Approximately thirty minutes, I muse. I turn to the team and snap a sharp, "Come on!" Before jumping out of a window onto the wall surrounding the mayor's mansion.

They follow without hesitation, though I can feel the questions building up and burning in their mind.

We ran for an hour before I stopped and spun on my heels, facing the genin.

"You're lagging," I spoke sharply. "we don't have time for you to be lagging. We need to get out of here--and fast."

"Sensei, where even are we?" Michiko asked breathlessly, hunched over and resting her hands on her knees.

"About 50 kilometers from the sand village," I said, and tilted my face upward to sniff the windy air. "Be prepared for a sand storm once we hit the sand village. We may need to take refuge in the village until it passes. I would say camp out in these woods until I sense the storm has disappeared, but..."

They didn't need to know about the Rising Phoenix. Not yet, at least. They would be terrified, and fear makes people stupid.

"Sensei, why--" Kento started.

"No questions," I snapped. These genin were absolutely insufferable. What with all their questions and whatnot. "Break time is over, let's start up again. We'll be at Sunagakure in less than an hour," I said.

They all took one last sip of water from their packs before setting into an easy run behind me.

Okay. It would take about an hour to reach the sand village. We could make it an hour. But that was the soft, team leader of three genin speaking, hoping. A useless mentality.

The Claw part of me, what had taken over 80% of my mind during this mission, knew what was coming. The Claw of the Rising Phoenix accepted nothing but success. The Claw was practically inhuman. It would catch up.

The Claw would be on our tail at any moment. And when it came, I had to be prepared.

I was prepared.

The only issue was what to do with the genin. If I could--

I stopped in my tracks, resting a hand on the tree whose branch I was currently standing on. The genin stopped behind me without asking any questions, all too grateful for the rest.

I sensed the sinister presence of the Claw, yes. But what was more disturbing was that I sensed two individuals. Two Claws. No. It couldn't. They wouldn't. It wasn't possible. They always worked alone. There was only ever one Claw. One Claw of the Phoenix.

But it was true. There were two Claws.

The Rising Phoenix figured out that I as stronger than any of their Claws. So they decided to pit two Claws, who had no doubt worked together and polished their teamwork, against me. I smirk. But I had a team of ANBU to help split up that no doubt impeccable teamwork.

I looked at the situation rationally. I had four ANBU, but at least two would end up dead. I had no positive way of protecting the genin.

And the Claws. Normally Claws leave everyone in the scene alone but the target. But If the Rising Phoenix adapted to their own situation—targeting me—then I wasn't one hundred percent sure they wouldn't pursue the genin.

"Be careful," I warned. Even if I wouldn't let them be involved in the fight, they needed to be on their toes.

"Cashile-sensei, what—"

They couldn't have sensed their presence. It was too concealed.

But what cut off Aisa's sentence were the two figures clad in black, and the two white, painted masks staring emotionlessly back at the four of us.

They were here. They had revealed themselves, which clarified their intent.

To kill.

__________________________

Updates!

Comments are kinda lacking and so inspiration is too :/ please comment long beautiful thoughtful comments for inspiration!

So yes please please comment it means the world to us!

Hellooooo,

She said it! Comments are lacking which doesn't necessarily kill our inspiration we're just not motivated enoughDx so.. What I'm trying to say is that.. It doesn't create inspiration. Yea that was the phrase I was looking for. ANYWAYS! What do you think?

Will anyone from her team DIEEEE??? Duh duhn duuuhhhhnnnnnnn

Find out in the next chapter.

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