Preface
The wind ruffed the back of his neck as he ran through the trees. He was on a mission from the leader of the fire region, the most powerful person in power of the region and probably the most powerful of the great five regions. They were looking for someone, yet no one in his squad knew who they were looking for. He was in a group of four, the traditional number for a ninja searching squad and although he was not in charge and he was also the youngest, he still had a lot of influence on the group. The leader was Wolf, a kind yet fierce warrior who was not known for his smarts but was one of the best and most loyal warriors in battle. The people of his rank were not allowed to use their names because it made spying hard when your enemy knows your name so that they could access the friends of your past and use them against you. He was part of the rank called the Wakaranai. They perform missions that are harder for the mediocre ranks of ninjas and they spy on potential threats to the main village of the region of fire, the Village Lost in the Misty Acer. That is what they were investigating now, a potential threat. They were to bring the person back to the main village and bring them before the leader of the village, the sarpanch.
Stripe turned to face him as the trees whipped past his face. Despite the white mask with red circles around the eyes, mouth, and edge of the mask, he could still see the fullness of her eyes; she was immensely bored. They all were. Who could blame them? They had been searching for three days straight and had found nothing. The only instruction that had been given about the person they were looking for was that they would know it was the right person when they saw him or her. All this trouble because Noroi was dead.
He still could not believe that she was gone. No one had ever believed that she could die, no one thought it possible. Although she had a nasty and short temper and was vicious in battle, she was kindhearted and passionate about protecting those close to her, even to the point of sacrificing herself for them. He would be lying if he said that he was not entire upset that she was gone though. She terrified him; she terrified everyone. He could not blame her though, especially if the rumors about her were true.
They said that her soul was sold to the evil spirits before she was even born and that she was possessed by powers greater than her ability to control. Nothing is known of her clan and people whisper that she is the reason why no one has ever heard of her clan. That she killed them all. The worst part was that he believed it. He remembered the first and only time he had ever seen her and without even trying she had brought him to his knees because he was trembling so hard with fear. People say that her death was even more terrible but only Wolf and another saw the death. The other person was unknown. That was the reason why Wolf was leading.
The one time he had seen her, all the Wakaranai had been summoned because a neighboring village had joined forces with the dark savages of the north and they were to attack the village. He was standing on the roof of one of the buildings and he could hear the thundering cries of the savage enemy as they raced towards the village. He could imagine the ferocious wildness that gleamed in their eyes and the white foam spilling from their lips from the force of their savage cries. The wind whipped throughout and between the buildings and the sky was black and night. Although it was dark, it was still easy to see, but it was eerie. Green light spilled from hanging green lanterns at the edges of buildings causing the brightness that was seen. The only other light came from the bright moon that was nearly completely full. Despite the dark, storm clouds above them, their voices did not cry out as though it was waiting to crackle it's thunderous laughter through the valley. It sent shivers down his spine as he anticipated the sound but it never came. Out of the chaos of the enemies voices and the deadly silence of the village and sky, he heard a voice, an annoyed and irritated voice shouting from below him, talking with the sarpanch. He was confused why she would be so angry at a time like this when she should be preparing for the attack.
It all seemed to soon when the enemy came over the ridge that led into the village. Their numbers spilling out into the valley like a dam had broken loose and was rushing downhill. We were so outnumbered and even from this distance he could see some of the best ninja that were not a part of the Acer village and some of the traitors that had joined their fight because they didn't want to dirty their hands fighting a futile battle, but they had no qualms about watching the blood of their own village drip from the blade of their own knife. It infuriated him. He was so focused on the enemy that he nearly stumbled off the building when a figure passed him so fast that it looked almost like she was flying; it was the same figure that he had heard had been arguing with the Sarpanch. She was heading straight for the enemy, racing without a glimmer of fear or despair that she would lose against the masses.
She stopped just short of the enemy on a hill that overlooked the village and she shouted out a long string of insults at the enemy as though this fight was just with a bunch of new ninjas that could be knocked over with a single push. Then came the part that terrified everyone. Lightning, larger and more blinding than ever seen before struck from the sky without a sound and struck the woman on the hill. When his eyes had adjusted after the blinding light, he could not believe what he was seeing. The woman was floating in the air over a hundred feet straight up and she was not moving. Her hair just barely touched the bottom of the clouds and her eyes burned with light of lightning, no they were filled with lightning. The lightning cracked around her in burst light that could still be seen without being blinded, yet it was silent as though everything in the world was mute.
Suddenly, all silence was broken when she screamed. It sounded like a massive roll of thunder, the sound of a thousand lions roaring in harmony to hear their voices united in a war cry, and it appeared to come more from the beast that had metastasized over her head. It looked almost like a massive wolf but with more fangs and eyes as black as coal. It was formed from lightning but could be seen without being blinded as lightning arced from its body and from all around the woman. Lightning beasts, in the form of wolves, left from the sky and ran along the ground, disintegrating everything in its path. They destroyed the enemies before they could even scream, an unbeatable army defeated in seconds by one person. The power she possessed was terrifying and vicious, it still haunted his dreams especially when it was a thunderstorm outside.
If this person they were looking for was connected to Norio, the storm spirit and vanquisher of a thousand enemies, then he was afraid to find this person. In fear, that they might be just as powerful and deadly.