Down by the sea [open]

Not again…

Hiromasa was a child of the forest - he wandered it’s depths on a daily basis, trailing his fingers along the rough bark of the woodlands. Gaia sang to him; blessed him with earthly gifts unlike any other, imbuing him with the spirit of terrene. And, once every blue moon, his travels carried him across the path of separate entities… in this instance, his leisurely stroll was interrupted by a female figure - she seemed a bit familiar…

Hadn’t he just seen her in the village?

“Hn.” He grunted, announcing his presence. He’d approached from the south, and as such, he only had a view of her rear.

“Who goes there! Say your name or die!”

Are you kidding…

Hiromasa’s mouth opened wide… only to release a bellowing laugh filled with intense mirth. Who was this dame? He laughed till tears spilled from the sides of his eyes; his hands fell to cup his stomach - in truth, he was only sliding his fist closer to Suijin who lie strapped to his waist. The azure tinted Ninjaken was an instrument of death and only death - for her sake, he hoped he wouldn’t have to fiddle a tune…

“That was funny.” Hiromasa lamented, his laugh finally tapering off to a light chuckle. His face melted into his usual stoic mask of indifference, apathy bleeding from his eyes. “You are a shinobi of Kirigakure, no?” His hands still rested idly against his stomach. He tilted his head to the side, regarding the kunoichi with an in increasingly hostile gaze. “You would try to kill a comrade? Tch…” he trailed off, shaking his head. “I won’t be telling you my name, so I guess I have to die.” Even an idiot could recognize the humor in his tone.

Burning fists…

“… interesting.” So… she really wanted to go through with this, eh?

All pretenses of humor were abandoned - his right hand moved sideward to grip Suijin, the other sliding to the shuriken pouch strapped to the opposing side of his waist. Chakra poured through his palm into a single shuriken, imbuing it with purely explosive energy…

“Fast, or slow? Your death, that is…”

He wasn’t worried at all about being labeled a criminal; to the victor go the spoils. His "exemplary" record served in his favor.

“Hn… very well.”

The innocuous little shuriken left his grasp first; it’s trajectory would have it land at her feet, enabling the second string to his two-pronged assault. He passed off the initial attack as a mistake, releasing a curse to mask his intentions.

“Damn!”

In the aftermath of his toss, his hands clasped in a swift tango, eliciting the end of the shuriken - as it fell to the earth, the projectile exploded in a blaze of fire and shrapnel, releasing the hazardous fires of Hephaestus to ravage the earth. Her actions before the eruption would spell her survival; otherwise, death was inevitable. Sand and smoke and fire wafted about the atmosphere, blocking both of their vision - no matter; his unique disposition allowed for preternatural senses; his nose and ears would serve him where sight couldn’t. The fifteen meters that separated the two kept him from the range of the blast - it was the shrapnel that posed an issue. His own safety was insured by two separate flickers - one to take him backward away from the explosion, and the other to bring him back to his original station once the moment of danger had passed.

His reemergence spelled certain death for his adversary; her survival would be met with relentless force, if such was needed…

“Interesting defense…”

His attack hadn’t done much; however, so long as she bled, he would forever be able to find her.

“I suppose I should end this, yes?”

He grinned, and a single vein bulged on his forehead, granting him truly divine might - his speed exceeded that of a shunshin, and as such, with heat marring her gaze, the swiftness of his attack would leave very little time for reaction.

Suijin slipped from its sheath - she sang a sad tune of death and decay, raining pestilence down upon her wielder’s single adversary. His approach was blinding, as was the following nine fatal attacks against the woman, the entirety of the combo occurring in a time so infinitesimally small it was near immeasurable. The fire shield would provide no protection from his assault, and due to its small size, it wouldn’t harm him either. Suijin’s length was enough to save him from any wayward flame.