Erza Koyama tightened her grip on the mission scroll, her gaze hardened with determination. The task was straightforward: assassinate a bandit who had stolen weapons from the Hidden Leaf Village. Her brows furrowed as she pondered the circumstances.
When Erza had questioned Itachi on why the village had allowed such an incident to occur, he had merely shrugged. "It was… overlooked. They needed a reason to assign a mission to someone, and that someone happened to be you."
"And that particular person turned out to be me…" Erza muttered under her breath, irritation flaring briefly before fading. She understood the logic behind the assignment. Her skills were most effective in eliminating rogue elements quickly and cleanly. In reality, this mission was already completed in her mind—it was just a matter of executing it.
Erza moved silently through the dense forest, her senses heightened as she tracked the faint traces of chakra left behind by her target. Occasionally, she glanced behind her, aware of the shadow trailing her—Itachi Uchiha. He followed at a distance, close enough to intervene should the mission go awry but far enough to avoid being noticed by anyone less perceptive.
'I wonder if he knows I can sense him… Probably, but he doesn't seem to care,' she mused.
Truth be told, Erza avoided activating her Seigan unless absolutely necessary. Its power was overwhelming and dangerous, even for her. The few times she had used it, she'd reduced skilled enemies—Genin to Jonin alike—to helpless prey. Perhaps this was why the clan chose to conceal the Seigan's true abilities from the world.
'Maybe this is why Father kept the Seigan's potential a secret. It's too destructive…'
Suddenly, she halted. The chakra trail she had been following vanished abruptly. Erza narrowed her eyes, scanning the area with heightened senses. There was no trace of her target.
"This doesn't make sense… unless—"
A kunai shot out from the darkness, aimed directly at her. Reacting instantly, Erza sidestepped, the blade embedding itself into a tree trunk. As she pulled the kunai free, shurikens whizzed through the air, converging on her position. She deflected them with the stolen kunai in a swift, fluid motion, her eyes sharpening.
'Impressive… This bandit's no ordinary thief,' she thought, her lips curving into a smile. The opponent had moved with precision, repositioning himself the moment he launched his attack. But against someone with senses as sharp as hers, it was a futile attempt.
"What a shame… If only your enemy wasn't someone with heightened senses," Erza murmured softly. "If only your enemy wasn't… me."
In a blur, she vanished from sight, reappearing behind the bandit before he could even react. Yet, instead of landing a clean hit, her kunai clashed against his own blade as he spun around to block her strike.
"Tch… Better than I expected," Erza muttered, stepping back to reassess. The two now stood in an open clearing, facing each other.
"You're not bad, but they seriously sent a kid after me?!" The bandit scoffed, his laughter grating. "Give up now, little girl, or your future ends right here."
"A talking corpse, huh?" Erza taunted, her voice laced with icy disdain. "Should I exorcise you when you become a wandering spirit?"
"Why, you—!" Enraged, the bandit drew a long, serrated blade from behind his back and stalked toward her. His murderous intent filled the air, thick and oppressive. Yet Erza stood unmoving, unfazed by his threatening aura.
As the bandit closed in, Erza relaxed, releasing her chakra in a controlled flow, allowing it to spread throughout her body. The power radiating from her was subtle yet potent—an undercurrent of icy menace. With her chakra reserves, emitting this much was like breathing. The effort was negligible.
"Such a shame you had to meet me on the battlefield," she murmured.
The bandit hesitated. His instincts screamed at him to stop, to flee. The girl before him was too calm, too composed. There was no fear in her eyes, no hesitation. She exuded no killing intent, yet the chilling pressure she emitted made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.
'What… What is this kid?'
"Damn it!" the bandit spat, raising his blade high. "I'm ending you right now!"
He charged, sword gleaming in the moonlight. Erza moved like a shadow, flinging the kunai straight at him. The bandit swiped it aside, sneering—only to feel a sudden presence behind him. Erza's fist shot toward his spine, but he managed to twist just in time, bringing his blade around to counter.
"Ha! I expected this! You're dead now!" he roared, thrusting the sword forward, the tip aimed at her heart.
The blade pierced her chest.
For a split second, triumph shone in the bandit's eyes. Then, to his horror, the girl's figure dissolved into smoke. It was a clone.
"Wha—?! Then where—"
"Here."
Erza's voice came from behind him. He turned just as she swung the hilt of her kunai into his temple, knocking him out cold. The bandit crumpled to the ground, unconscious before he even knew what hit him.
"Goodbye," she whispered, her tone devoid of emotion.
She stared down at the fallen bandit, a sense of anticlimactic relief washing over her. It had ended quickly, almost too easily. Then, multiple chakra signatures flared up around her, each one brimming with hostility.
"Did you really think I'd come alone?" the bandit rasped, regaining consciousness. "My comrades are here. You're dead, kid."
"We'll see about that," Erza replied coldly, picking up the bandit's blade. "You should have stayed down."
With a swift motion, she beheaded the bandit, his severed head rolling across the sandy trail. Itachi had always told her: never leave a loose end.
"You dare! Get her now!" one of the surrounding men shouted.
"Ice Release: Mirror Domain."
The ground beneath Erza glowed faintly as a dome of ice erupted around her enemies, reflecting their terrified faces in crystalline walls. When they turned back toward where Erza had stood, she was gone.
"Ice Release: Freeze."
From outside the dome, Erza channeled her chakra into the ice, dropping the temperature within to subzero levels. The bandits panicked, launching fire jutsu in a desperate attempt to melt the encroaching ice, but it was futile. Her control over ice was absolute.
"Damn it! Break it! Break it!"
Their screams grew faint as frost spread across their bodies. One by one, they froze solid, transformed into grotesque ice sculptures. Erza released her hold on the technique, allowing the dome to shatter, revealing the frozen corpses inside.
Stepping forward, she raised the blade she had taken and severed each of their heads in turn. The only sound was the dull thud of ice-encased skulls hitting the ground.
"Mission accomplished," she murmured, wiping the blade clean.
From the shadows, Itachi emerged, his expression unreadable. "Impressive. No wasted movements, no hesitation."
"It was just a mission," Erza replied flatly. "What's next?"
A small smile tugged at Itachi's lips. "For now? Rest. But be prepared, Erza. The real challenges are yet to come."
As Erza turned away from the carnage, she couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding. This was just the beginning. But no matter what came next, she would face it head-on, the chilling strength of the Koyama Clan behind her.
Because in the world of assassins, hesitation meant death—and Erza Koyama would not falter.