Chapter
Twelve
Legendary
Games
Spandam:
"Shoot her! Shoot her to death without killing her!!"
Marines:
"HUH??!!"
Water
7/Enies Lobby Arc; One Piece
Grey eyes stared up the darkened sky above, counting tiny pin pricks of twinkling silver that winked back at an unblinking stare. It was an attempt to try and count the endless expanse of millions upon billions of stars far far out of reach to mere mortal hands; an attempt that lasted only a few seconds before grey eyes blinked back into focus down upon the plane of earthbound reality to stare across a sea of uneven roof heights and the extending protrusions that collaborated together in the formation of a makeshift urban training-ground.
Sara surveyed the darkened playground before her with unblinking eyes as she had been trained to do for the past ten years. Evenly paced breaths escaped through her nose only as she sat crouched behind a stub of a brick chimney top, back pressed up against the chill brick and mortar as she had stowed herself away within the shadows. Concealment was part of the basics that had been grounded into her under the tutelage of her sensei, and her grandfather; thusly it had become utter instinct for the young ninja... even if it was because she was playing an odd sort of tag/hide-and-go-seek combination game with four turtles brothers.
Scanning from left to right, Sara's gaze doubled back immediately as she caught sight of possible movement near the faint outline of an AC unit. Did one of them just duck back behind it? Her brows creased as she narrowed her eyes on the spot in question, squinting into the dark. Mentally, Sara growled out of impatience while quietly adjusting her position. Pushing her back off the brick chimney, Sara crept out from her hiding place, keeping low to the smooth surface of the flat apartment building roof.
The objective that night, after having dealt with the torment of taking Casey Jones birthday present shopping and being deeply disturbed by the words of some small feeble shopkeeper, was to have a little fun while taking the time to incorporate the concept of training; as was instructed by Master Splinter through Leonardo. When the boys were at a loss as to how they should train or even where to start with a new sparring partner in Sara, it was Sara who suggested the idea of an old "ninja-game" she played back home in Japan with her fellow Genin. A distant spot was chosen at random and marked as 'base'and each participating ninja was given a colored cord (or whatever was handy at the moment; in this case ribbons that Sara had bought at the antique store). The goal of the game was to reach'base' first before everyone else with at least one other cord that wasn't yours.
While the game was indeed liked by the four brothers, Leonardo suggested an augmentation to one part of the game. Since all five were going to be training with one another from now on, as was the request of Splinter, the idea of having Sara the only one with a cord in possession and attempting to outsmart and outdo himself and his brothers, was proposed.
"Think of it as a way for us to see your abilities and you seeing ours in actual movement rather than routine."
The idea was accepted, and for the passed twenty minutes Sara had managed to out maneuver the four brothers thus far and of course still held in her possession the two pale yellow ribbons (also Leonardo's idea). The distance between her and the large blank backside of some billboard Michelangelo had picked nearly eight blocks away, had closed to about three and a half blocks covered by the Haruno ninja.
Smirking briefly to herself, Sara edged forward towards the lip of the roof, eyes peeled for the slightest change in the shadows. Hesitating a few seconds just a foot from the roof edge, she cast a quick glance about before springing forward with full force to cover the four foot gap that separated her from the next building across the way. Landing on the other roof edge with a soft step and pushing forward again all in the same motion, Sara caught the darting movement of another form from the corner of her right eye. Gritting her teeth in response to the obvious miscalculation she had taken, misjudging what was possibly false movement further ahead of the roof edge and not seeing what had been right in front of her.
The first step forward had the brakes slammed down hard as Sara used her own momentum in a badly forced back pedal that sent pieces of tarred down gravel popping up from under her sneaker. Cursing under her breath in Japanese as she felt the heel of her foot catch the edge behind her, a hand automatically shot backwards to brace for the fall and even attempt to redirect misfortune in her favor.
Donatello watched with a mixed look of sudden panic and even annoyance to the fact that he had been spotted and dodged, but the sudden panic in his look was not without reason as Sara toppled backwards over the six-story roof edge. Giving a startled cry as he lunged forward to catch her by the wrist or even her hand, Donatello felt his blood run cold as all he snatched back was empty air.
A fall from six-stories would have been awfully painful of course, resulting more than likely with many a broken bone and horrible pain all around in both physical and metaphorical senses. But luckily enough for Sara, a fall from six-stories was something she wouldn't experience just yet. The start of the plummet over the roof edge, her head had immediately snapped back to survey what options and uses of the terrain were open to her. Somehow luck just seemed to be on her side that night as the alleyway she was currently descending through was the sort with the haphazard crossing clotheslines strung out from one fire escape to the next across the way.
Forcing her body into into a flip that brought her body in a righted position; a smart pop to the front of her head as she skimmed the metal handrail of a fire escape she would of struck anyways in a far more horrid manner, and Sara's entire body weight landed upon the third clothesline down, coming to settle in a shaky crouch with arms out stretched to either side and held level with her shoulders. The already taunt cord that was used, squealed as it was forced down beneath more weight than what it was used to. Finding her balance as her fall ended with quite possibly the quickest and maybe even dumbest save, Sara exhaled a relieved breath before glancing down at the rest of the fall she missed out on.
"Damn... that would have really been bad." Her eyes lifted as she could only imagine just how bad it would have been. Shivering at the thought, Sara turned her gaze upwards towards the roof top she had fallen from and noticed the green face staring down at her with an utterly dumbfounded and exasperated look slapped upon it. Lifting a hand to wave at the turtle she had probably given a heart-attack to, Sara called up at him. "I'm okay Don!"
"Geez!" Donatello released the sharply sucked breath he had penned up, and slumped forward while rubbing the back of his head. "I swear my own life flashed before my eyes!"
Chuckling in a sheepish manner, Sara of course felt incredibly foolish in the fact that she had almost gotten herself mangled all on her own. Oh, sensei would be letting me have it right now if he was here. God, I would never hear the end of it for a good three months straight from that man. Sara felt her brow twitch at the distant echo of her sensei's laughter that had been (unfortunately) etched permanently into her memory. Exhaling a sigh, she stood up from the strained crouch she had come to rest within after landing on her very scarce platform. The clothesline squealed again in response to the shift in weight, the very sound causing Sara to wince while begging through mental thought for the line not to snap on her.
Pausing a moment to make sure things were secure while also reasoning if she didn't take the chance now, she would more than likely be monkey climbing her way back up the side of the building to return to the top. "Here goes nothing then." Came a murmured shrug from the teen girl as she pushed all of her weight down as she crouched one more time and forced her leg muscles to tighten in a tense bunch of stored power that was ready to be sprung as soon as she moved an inch forward. Swinging her right arm behind her back while the left crossed in front of her, Sara took a deep breath and prepared herself mentally within the next two seconds.
Donatello watched Sara with rather perked interest, cringing at the strained sound of the wire clothesline bending dipping further under the human girl's weight. Lifting a brow, Donatello leaned a bit further over the edge of the building to get a better view as Sara crouched again. Two seconds later Donatello's face pulled into a taken back sort of startled grimace as he pedaled backwards away from the roof edge as Sara's small frame shot up towards him like some rocketed projectile.
The young ninja of the Haruno Clan passed the roof edge and continued another several feet into the dark night sky overhead. Another passing second and the light feeling that appeared with the transition of going up and coming down sent a flutter through her stomach briefly before she saw that Donatello looked rather pleased with the fact that she was about to land with little to no room to actually dodge and keep the cords in her possession out of his reach. Without so much as a second thought, Sara brought her two hands together and formed the several seals necessary to activate one her favorite jutsu --- "Kage Bunshin!" With several bursts of smoke, two identical dopplegangers appeared, one on either side of Sara.
"Why didn't I see that coming?!" Donatello hissed under his breath while yanking the bo staff out from the leather harness strapped across his shell. With a long time practiced twirl of the wooden weapon, Donatello prepared himself for whatever scuffle was about to ensue with three of the same girl coming down at him.
However, the moment before all three touched ground, the two dopplegangers clutched their hands together in a cupped manner as Sara tucked her legs and feet up as if she were jumping. As soon as her feet and their hands met, Sara held her low crouch and waited for the next second to come. The feet of the dopplegangers came down on the tarred gravel rooftop, their upper bodies coming down in a manner that caused them to crouch low before standing up straight quickly and tossing their arms up and out at an angle as they slung their creator and support system forward.
She used them to springboard herself over me! Donatello's gaze widened for a brief moment as he turned his head up to watch as Sara performed a forward flip over him, and for a moment felt a rather odd sense of annoyance as he caught sight of a smirk on his friend's face. The attempt to take the cords she had in her possession was obviously not going to happen as Donatello was forced to turn his attention towards the two dopplegangers coming at him in a full speed dead run.
With long time practiced moves Donatello pulled the bo staff out of the leather harness strapped across his chest and around his shell; with one single skilled twirl of the bo staff, Donatello held the wooden weapon out before him in a horizontal position in order to push back the dopplegangers that were now two steps from him. One doppleganger swung up their right foot in a sideways kick, while the other jumped forward with left foot being lifted up high overhead for a downward heel drop. Both physical attacks were caught and held by the bo staff, but Donatello was finding that the power behind both blows was a bit more than he had expected.
Sara landed in an expert crouch a few feet behind Donatello, the gravel of the rooftop crunched deafly under the soles of her sneakers before grinding as the teen pushed off in a way a runner would from a starting block. In her sprint forward she took a chance to glance back over her shoulder for all but four seconds to see how well her dopplegangers were holding up against the bo staff wielding turtle. The smirk on her face grew a bit more as she watched the dopplegangers stave off Donatello's chase after her that would have come had she not acted as she had.
Turning her attention forward, Sara continued to run towards the building edge on her way towards the billboard that still sat some five and a half blocks ahead still. Once her foot hit the edge, she shot forward and seemingly vanished as though she were a mere mirage in the parched air of the desert. Half way across the next building rooftop she reappeared on the very top of a small water silo before vanishing again in the same manner as before. Again she appeared on another rooftop, feet touching ground for not even a second before she was gone within the blink of an eye once more.
The young ninja was moving fast, faster than she had originally intended at the start of the exercise and was covering ground much quicker and closed down another three blocks before she paused long enough to stow herself off within the shadows alongside a small utility shed on the top of an apartment building. Sara was panting now, forcing herself to slow her breathing switch over to controlled deep breaths to quiet her pounding heart down and gain some sort of control of her slightly shaking body. Damn, I forgot how much that the Shunpo no Jutsu takes out of you. I probably wouldn't be this out of the breath if I hadn't used it right after using the Kage Bunshin. The back of Sara's head met the old wood of the utility shed with a dull thud as she slid down into a sitting position as her legs were beginning to quiver from the strenuous use they had been put through.
Her breathing started to slow, the shaking in her body having all but disappeared as something in her system seemed to kick in and take over control. The muscles in her legs relaxed, the bunched tight feeling from all the jumping and running that had stressed out the trained limbs was gone and Sara was pushing herself back up to her feet. The left corner of her mouth pulled down in a sort of unhappy grimace as she knew why she had recovered so quickly. I don't know whether or not I should be thankful or annoyed by it. The Kyuubi being locked away inside of me is what accelerates my rate of healing ad recovery from fatigue, but it also makes me wonder... if it wasn't for the Kyuubi, would I be anywhere near the same strength I am now on my own?
Both hands hung at her sides, fingers curling in towards the palm and forming a fist as she attempted to clamp down on her own self-doubts and annoyance at the moment towards that one single thought. Shaking her head, Sara unclenched her fists and peeked out from behind the utility shed to quickly scan the area for either of the other three brothers she had yet to encounter. "Well, I can't stand here all night just watching shadows." The self murmur escaped from her as she pulled back and set her back up against the aged wood yet again. Several ideas filtered through her mind at that moment before she took a deep breath and ran out from her hiding place to continue across the rooftop.
Not even half way across the rooftop, Sara was blindsided by another bigger body that slammed sideways into her from the left, tossing her from her feet and sent her on a rolling tumble towards a cluster of water pipes banded down by thick metal straps bolting them to the concrete building. Her roll ended with her slamming into the pipes with her left shoulder taking the brunt of the impact. Choking back a bitter cry from the intense pain that darted up her arm at that moment, Sara pushed herself up into a sitting position while trying to clear the spinning sensation from her head.
"Dude, Raph, was that really necessary?" Michelangelo frowned as he joined his smirking older brother who stood with arms crossed over his chest as if he was rather proud of himself. There was a look that twisted across Michelangelo's face that looked like both annoyance for his brother's overkill actions and remorse for the fact that his friend looked like a kicked puppy at that moment with a hand to her head and a hand to her hurting shoulder.
Raphael glanced over at his brother with a rather sharp look as he prepared to defend himself, knowing Leonardo was about shoot him down any second. "Hey! This was her and Leo's idea remember!? Besides, she's a ninja remember? She'll get over it." While speaking, Raphael made it a point not to even say Sara's name while casting a lifted look towards her, smirking yet again at the gritted look on her face as she pushed herself up to her feet.
"Mikey's right Raph." Leonardo cut in as he appeared next with a disapproving look on his face. This in turn caused Raphael to shoot his older brother a scowl right back in return before muttering something under his breath as he turned away. Shaking his head, Leonardo was about to turn his attention to Sara, but from the corner of his eye he caught sight of a rather confused look on Michelangelo's face. "Mikey?" Leonardo turned his attention to his youngest brother, but was cut off as Michelangelo pointed quickly towards the spot where Sara had tumbled to. Following the gesture, Leonardo choked back a startled sense of surprise as his amber gaze fell on an empty spot that was completely void of a teen girl's more than likely scowling presence. "Where'd she - ?"
"Took off while we were talking, eh?" Raphael lifted an amused brow while casting his gaze on the same empty spot his two brothers stared at. "Gotta give the girl her props for taking advantage of that, but I expected more out of her since she's supposed to be her clan leader's granddaughter." He shook his head as though he were truly disappointed that Sara had taken off, but at the same time he smirked at that fact as well.
Leonardo shot his rather arrogant acting brother a warning glare, which seconds later fell to a look of confused surprise as the glint of something metal flickered about Raphael. What the...? Why does that look familiar?! His question was immediately answered as that something metal snapped taunt and trapped Raphael's arms in their place across his chest. "Wire!"
"What the he-?" The sentence never saw a verbal finish as Raphael was jerked backwards by a pull of the wires that ensnared him. His two brothers watched as he managed to keep himself from hitting the ground by kicking with his right foot and twisted his body sideways in order to reclaim ground instead of being dragged across the rough and unforgiving concrete rooftop.
What happened next shocked not only Leonardo and Michelangelo, but sent a startled snap back to reality through Raphael as a fist collided with the side of his jaw and toppled the bigger turtle right off his feet, which in turn sent him rolling across and right into the same pipes Sara had collided with after being ambushed.
Michelangelo stared with wide eyes. At that moment, he couldn't quite recall the last time he had seen someone take Raphael down like that with one punch, especially a girl; to which he quickly summarized to mean that Raphael had successfully succeeded in pissing Sara off with his manner of take-down he utilized on her. Glancing away from Raphael, who was in the middle of groaning out his displeasure to being hit and thrown into pipes; Michelangelo looked back over his shoulder at the narrow-eyed stare that radiated from his friend in a visible warning to his older brother.
Raphael grunted his annoyance while freeing himself from the wire he had been entrapped within, and while standing to his feet, yanked the twin Sais hanging within the leather belt about his waist. "Princess, that was a big mistake."
"My only mistake was not hitting you harder." Sara growled while falling back into an awaiting offensive stance. "Or even following up immediately after getting you on the ground."
There almost seemed to be a fire burning in Raphael's gaze as he locked eyes with the smaller teenager. "Not much of a ninja then are you?" He sneered while twirling his hand-held weapons once before dashing forward. In response, Sara darted forward as well with the same amount of intent that Raphael displayed of physical harm on the other.
Sensing the possible horrible outcome that was about to ensue, Leonardo swiftly nodded at Michelangelo, who nodded back and both darted in opposite directions towards the angered charges. Catching Raphael's right wrist and twisting it around and back behind his back, Leonardo promptly kicked his brother in the back of the knee with enough force to get him on the ground. Michelangelo slid up in front of Sara and stretched out his arms, locking his elbows as his open palms met the front of her shoulders; putting all his weight on his feet, Michelangelo acted more as a barricade rather than using a take-down on her.
"Alright you two, that's enough!" Leonardo snapped, the serious command in his tone taking over. "This is supposed to be a simple evasion and ambush exercise, not some all out brawl that ends up with both of you being carried back home!" He met Raphael's accusing glare with his own burning amber star that dared him to even say a word in argument at this point before switching his stare to the agitated stare peeking out from over Michelangelo's shoulder. "Now both you need to cool your jets before we even think about continuing with this exercise." Leonardo looked between the two as he spoke, holding the authoritative stare he was known for well in place upon his face.
Michelangelo watched Sara's jaw clench from a sideways glance, a near morose look on his face as he could only begin to think what Raphael would have done to her, and she to him. "Sara you okay?" Michelangelo's brow furrowed as he kept his voice low as he wanted the conversation to be between them only at this point.
"No I'm not okay Mikey." She hissed through her teeth while keeping her grey-eyed stare on the red masked turtle who was still attempting to shoot daggers at her through his own burning gaze. Her eyes now darted towards her friend. "What's Raphael's problem anyways; sideswiping me like that?!"
Glancing back over his shoulder, Michelangelo sighed as he watched Leonardo reprimand Raphael for a brief moment before returning his gaze to Sara. "I don't know." He exhaled a heavy sigh while dropping his hands from her shoulders. "I don't get it either, and I'm his brother." Michelangelo attempted to offer a joking smile as he spoke, but instead of it coming naturally it appeared forced.
A furrow creased over Sara's brow as she lifted one brow and scrunched the other down. She hadn't known Michelangelo for very long, but she had gotten to know the youngest of the four brothers well enough to notice the difference in how he tried to joke with her just now versus other times before hand. Her eyes shifted slightly from Michelangelo to his brothers behind him; Leonardo had finally let Raphael up and was continuing to lecture him. The words of the lecture never reached Sara's ears as Leonardo made it a point to keep his voice low, but she had a relatively good idea as to what was being said, more or less.
A gruff exhale escaped through her nose as she directed her sight down off to her left. There was something about what had just happened that brought up an unsettled feeling in Sara that hobbled around the terrain of a past memory. Her brow furrowed deeper as she stared at the rooftop concrete, memories from her training with the three-man cell she had been set up with upon becoming a Genin bubbling to the forefront of her thoughts. Hadn't the first time they all trained together turned out like this as well?
Kiriu had done almost the exact same thing to her, blindsiding her in an unnecessarily rough manner that had her rolling head long into the trunk of some huge tree where she landed upside down, but not before whacking her head a few times along the way and catching several scraps here and there. Kiriu's excuse had been near word for word with Raphael's --- "She's a ninja isn't she? She'll get over it. Besides, enemy ninja won't play nice just because she's a girl. She's gotta toughen up sooner or later!"
Their sensei popped Kiriu in the head for that remark and labeled him 'the thoughtless loudmouth of the group'. Leonardo had taken Raphael down and then lectured him right after. The right corner of Sara's mouth twisted up in the start of a bitter smile. It's almost exactly like before; except I'm dealing with a mutated turtle who has his shell all up in a twist over something. Sara glanced up momentarily at Raphael, who looked less than interested in Leonardo's still ongoing lecture. Exactly like before.
"Don't worry about it Mikey." Sara muttered while running a hand through the front of her hair, rubbing at her forehead for a moment before exhaling again as she met the blue-eyed gaze of her friend. A small smile curled over her mouth, the bitterness clinging only in the slightest to the left corner. "I'm used to personalities like Raphael's. It's the initial introduction to it that aggravates me more than anything." She shrugged in an almost nonchalant sort of way. "I'm sure I'll get used to it fairly quickly."
Michelangelo chuckled nervously while rubbing the back of his head. "Here's hoping."
A soft thump muttered out from near the roof edge followed quickly after by the hurried and almost panicked voice of Donatello, "What are you guys doing just standing around here for?" The usually calm and mild speaking genius looked to be a bit out of breath with sweat beading his brow and bo staff clutched tightly in hand as he padded over to where his brothers and friend stood staring at him with lifted looks. Shaking his head at whatever questions were possibly forming in the thoughts of the others, Donatello held a hand up to keep them silent as his brown-eyed gaze fell immediately upon Sara. "Your dopplegangers... they're fighting The Foot."
"What?!" Sara's jaw nearly unhinged as it dropped as shock registered through her system. "Donny are you okay?! How many were there?!" The teen crossed what small three foot gap was between her and the other turtle who had just joined the group. She looked to be on the verge of grabbing the taller teenage turtle by the shoulders, but the fact that he out stood her by a foot made it a bit impossible to do so, and thusly she merely stood before him with what looked like both an infuriated and worried look that formed a deep crease across her brow and knit her eyebrows towards the middle.
"Yeah, I'm okay." Donatello returned while offering her a very small but assuring smile. "They just showed up out of nowhere while I was scuffling with your dopplegangers. If I had to guess, I'd say there were at least thirty of them or more."
"Dude, that's overkill!" Michelangelo quipped while shooting Leonardo and Raphael a worried look.
A grim frown pulled across Leonardo's mouth, his hands twitching just a bit as though he were hesitating in drawing his swords from their sheaths strapped to the back of his shell. "It's sounds like an ambush party. Were any of them wearing masks like the one Sara showed us last week?" Leonardo's gaze drifted from his brother to their friend and back. Donatello shook his head in response, which prompted Leonardo to another train of thought, and once again his amber eyes turned to Sara. "The Faceless Ones; how long would they wait before coming after you again?"
Sara's shoulders shrugged in response. "I'm not sure, but what I've heard about them is that if they're first attempt to take their target fails in some manner or other, they'll wait until they believe a new opportunity arises to attack once more and take their target. It could be days, weeks, even a year if they didn't feel the time and place haven't presented themselves. In a sense they're opportunists, but at the same time their incredible tacticians." There was a look on Sara's face that seemed a bit too mature, almost hard as she listed what she knew about The Faceless Ones.
"Then there's a good possibility that their using The Foot to test whether or not it's safe to make another go for her." Raphael grunted, arms crossing over his chest as he was taking the thought of an approaching fight rather seriously while his gaze glinted with something akin to that of excitement. "Pretty smart if you ask me."
Everyone nodded in agreement to this statement. Sara pursed her lips for a moment as she folded her arms, the thought of The Faceless Ones using The Foot as testers seemed a bit strange, but then again... What the hell?! Something seemed to suddenly reverberate through her at that moment; a deep rumbling pulse that she had felt a few times before, but never really understood. The pulse slowly faded, almost nonexistent before it thrummed through her once more and startled the teen to the point she snapped to attention and managed to even cause the four brothers to jump slightly.
"Yo, you okay there Sara?" Michelangelo cast a sideways glance as her sudden movements.
Sara shook her head slowly, unsure of what she had just felt and why. "I guess... but I think... I think my dopplegangers just fell." Her gaze slowly shifted up to Michelangelo, and in the same moment it narrowed as she grabbed a hold of his left shoulder with her left hand and suddenly shoved him aside with as much force as she could muster.
This of course startled not only the blue-eyed brother, but had his brothers choking at such a sudden violent action on Sara's part. As Michelangelo fell away to the side, hitting the ground and sliding another two feet or so, several bo-shuriken struck the ground about Sara as anchors to thin wire that glinted under the sickly glow of the half moon overhead. Timed with the lastbo-shurkien that bit into the ground, a burst of flame ripped down the wires towards the teen who only managed to get her arms up in a crossed defense position before being engulfed in a torrent of hot flame.
All four pairs of eyes went wide as they watched the ball of fire burn with a terrible roar; the wavering silhouette in the midst of the fireball disappearing in mere seconds.
"SARA!" Michelangelo stared in terror as the fireball died, leaving behind a charred black spot where it had been burning. The thought that his new friend had just been killed in a self-sacrifice to an attack she saw coming, buckled the youngest turtle's train of thought and almost immediately stung his eyes with the onset of utter grief.
The weapons of Leonardo, Donatello, and Raphael slipped from their backs and waist as they fell into a defensive stance as soon as the fireball exploded, their own feelings of panic and even fear that they had just watched a friend fall before their very eyes taking over and wrenching across their faces. The simultaneous thought of "The Foot" being responsible erupted to the forethought of their minds as all eyes were glued to the dying fireball.
Like the fragile flame of a candle, the fireball whipped out of existence and in its wake a pitch black lopsided circle and a clattering log charred just as black as the roof concrete were left behind. The log itself in its mere presence seemed to suck the breath straight out of the turtles as it finally came a still rest after rolling back and forth a few times once it hit the ground.
"A replacement?" Donatello would have scratched the back of his head had they still been playing their training game, but with the new set of circumstances, his grip only tightened upon the wooden bo staff in hand with the reaffirmation to the fact that he and his brothers had not lost their friend.
Pushing himself back to his feet, Michelangelo stared slack jawed at the log that in its now brittle state dropped a bit of the natural charcoal pieces that it had become. She used a replacement...? She used a replacement!! Relief washed in like a tsunami wave, engulfing Michelangelo as he twisted and craned his neck in order to catch sight of his friend, wherever she had hidden herself.
The heavy thump of multiple pairs of feet meeting the rooftop snapped the brothers back to attention and reminding them that they still had a fight on their hands to attend to. The black clad members of The Foot clan numbered at around twenty or so; Sara's dopplegangers having been a far greater point of damage than the enemy ninja had not accounted for. A few of the ninja appeared to have their garments ripped here and there, one looking even as though he had been possibly hit with something other than fists and feet.
"Hmph, looks like the little kaibutsu managed to pull off a Kawarimi Jutsu." A muffled male voice bearing an accent of some sort of Asian decent, rippled out from somewhere amidst the gathered Foot Ninja, causing those standing in the way to move aside like a parted wave. The soft tap of scraping soles gave the approach of whomever had spoken a far greater sense of eerie presence before he actually stepped into view and paused at the front of the group. Dressed head to toe in shades of deep purple and scarlet, the single black cloak tossed back over the left shoulder while the right engulfed that single side of the body, a tight near second-skin like mask covered the lower half of the face from the bridge of the nose down.
"Kaibutsu?" Michelangelo murmured while whipping out his twin nunchaku from their places on either side of his waist. The word was obviously foreign, Japanese by the way the man in the odd garments that held no affiliation to that of The Foot.
Donatello's brow furrowed as a frown pulled down his mouth as far as it could go at that moment. "That word didn't sound like it was friendly." He muttered while turning his bo-staff towards the unknown speaker.
Leonardo's gaze narrowed with a hard look upon the half-masked ninja. "You're not apart of The Foot, are you." There was no sense of question in Leonardo's voice as he more or less stated what he knew to be incredibly obvious. The thought of The Faceless Ones came to mind like a thunderbolt, which in turn caused the eldest brother to tighten his own grip on the hilts of his twin ninjatō. His amber gaze darted over a rather nasty looking bruise hovering over the man's left eye, and for a brief moment, a smirk twitched at the left corner of his mouth. "Nice shiner; guess you're looking to pay Sara back for that." The tone of his voice almost sounded close to a growl as he spoke.
The half-masked ninja didn't even so much as flinch in response to the statement handed over to him like a slap in the face. The only movement that came from the ninja was a mere narrowing of dark eyes. "Haruno Tsunade? That kaibutsu missed her real target. I admit, being punched like that by her was not something I look forward to again any time soon. But to answer your question, Aoi-san,yes I look forward to paying her back in full." A rather flat tone encompassed his words as though he were almost bored with the conversation. "I'll especially enjoy watching her die as the Kyuubi is ripped from its sealed state within her. From what I understand, it's supposed to be an agonizing death with the removal of the bijuu inside of the unfortunate jinchuriki."
A growl erupted from Raphael's throat in response to the nonchalance of the unnamed ninja who spoke so bluntly. The grip on his sais almost burned as the leather wrapping rubbed against the bare palm of his hand. The crude description of Sara being killed... Raphael was pissed. However, the second eldest of the four brothers found a small sense of satisfaction a few seconds later as the heavy sinking thud of a clenched fist striking the side of a half hidden face echoed deafly across the murmured air of the city.
Whatever plan Sara had suddenly devised in the moment she had narrowly escaped being burned to death, was either being played out in its forethought entirety, or was had been executed in a forced rush that was brought about by a sudden build up of rage in response to the ill-will of the unnamed ninja. All sense of rage and blind fury had been put into the right-handed blow that sent the unmasked (but identity concealed) ninja shooting off to his own right with the basic momentum of a professional baseball pitch. The body collided with the sheet metal of a rather large cooling/heating unit, spearing straight through with the groaning pop and hissing screech of twisted metal and broken electrical lines.
For a moment, Sara stood in a half bent position with hands still tightly clenched into fists; her breathing a bit jagged as anger coursed through her body as though it were apart of her blood. A shadow played across the upper portion of her face beneath the curtain of her bangs, hiding what twisted scowl seethed across her expression. The gritted snarl her mouth had contorted was clearly visible to all sides; The Foot taking a timid pause as though they considered attacking the Haruno ninja at all now.
Before a conclusion could be reached in the span of ten seconds, what had been grey eyes now swallowed by a brilliant dark blue turned upon them with an inner malice that seemed completely inhuman as it dared for them to even move in for an attack. What given orders had been issued down to the ninja overrode whatever fear they seemed to have automatically accumulated, as they unsheathed the single ninjatō strapped to their backs with the clean singing scrap of metal against hard leather.
The grinding clench of tooth enamel against tooth enamel cracked audibly in response to the weapons being drawn; Sara's gaze remained within its changed color state while the pupil seemed to contort to a much more oval shape than a round circle. The first Foot Ninja that moved with ninjatō coming down in a swinging motion cleaved nothing but air as Sara's form moved far faster than the Foot could catch up to. The auburn haired teen appeared within the midst of her friends, standing between the four brothers in a far straighter position than prior to when she reappeared after dodging the wire-line fireball.
"You okay Mikey?" Contorted eyes shifted over to the orange mask wearing turtle who had been shoved out of the way of the ambush. Sara's tone seemed to hold a reverberation to it in a soft underlying almost nonexistent presence, however, her words were still sincere and that alone could be heard more than anything else at the moment.
Michelangelo nodded in affirmation while cracking a rather large grin. "I'm as cool as the other side of the pillow! Although I have to admit, that sort of scared me for a second or two." He stated while twirling his nunchaku expertly into a readied offensive hold as he turned his attention entirely upon the Foot.
"Smooth moves there princess." Raphael grunted while falling in line with his brothers alongside her. "You knocked that guy clear off his feet. So much for being a feared rouge." He smirked while flashing a gleaming smirk at the handful of opponents to take on for a bit of muscle flexing.
"Sorry to disappoint you Raphael, but that wasn't the real ninja I took out." As she spoke, Sara lifted up her right hand that was now unflexed from its fisted curl. A dark liquid covered her knuckles and the top of her hand in a spatter-like pattern. "It was a doppleganger like the ones I use; except this one was made from ink." Her lips curled downward in a frown as her hand dropped to her side and curled tightly once more. "He's from an artisan ninja clan."
"And what does that mean?" Leonardo chanced a momentary glance from the corner of his eye as the Foot started forward in an advance.
A rather dark look flickered across Sara's face. "I'll tell you later." Sara pulled from her back pocket a small scroll of some sort that was about two inches long and tied with a red string. Clasping the scroll in her left hand, Sara quickly formed a serious of seals before slamming her hand down on the ground before her. A small pop and a puff of smoke later, and a dark cream colored pouch appeared where the scroll had been between her hand and the ground. The pouch was fastened to the back of her hip via the black belt she wore about her waist, and before her hands came back up in front of her, Sara pulled a dark steel colored kunai out from within the pouch confines. "Let's just take care of these guys first."
"Agreed!" All four brothers chorused together before rushing forward at their sworn enemies.
Kawarimi no Jutsu - Change of Body Stance Technique: Kawarimi no Jutsu is a basic Ninjutsu technique. When in danger the ninja will quickly substitute themself with another nearby object. This can be a block of wood or even another person. This allows the ninja to quickly flee and hide while the original object takes the brunt of their opponents attack.
Kaibutsu: Translated it literally means "monster". Sara takes high offense to being called this.
Aoi: Translated it literally means "blue". The unnamed ninja with The Foot called Leonardo "Aoi-san" as he does not his proper name as of yet. It is of course inspired by the blue mask Leo wears.
Ninjatō (忍者刀) Also known as Ninjaken (忍者剣,Ninjaken) or shinobi gatana (忍刀,shinobi gatana), is the most common name for the reputed sword a ninja carried.