Tencho awoke with a quick jolt to the small sound of clacking against the frame of the railings on his balcony. Tencho grabbed the bag of ninja tools that was neatly placed on the cupboard at his bedside and immediately armed himself with a jagged dagger. He spotted his enemy comfortable perched, preening it's feathers with its large beak and holding a parcel between the talons on it's right foot. Tencho sighed and rolled his eyes. Despite being sent messages through this method, Tencho still made sure to remain diligent at all times; always making sure to arm himself against anything (albeit falcons as of late) invading his range. If the average citizen were to see him, they would call him paranoid. But Hyougagakure casts a darker shadow than most care to think. He couldn't help but remain at arms. Tencho tightened his hand around the rubber grip on the blade and slowly approached the double-paned sliding door to his balcony.

He quickly opened it, and stuck his weapon out slightly. The smooth blade reflected the balcony's blindspot. It revealed no enemies. With the coast now clear, Tencho stepped out onto his balcony, sword still in hand. He approached the falcon, placed the blade in the elastic of his undergarments, and extended out his right hand and opened it. The falcon lazily looked up at Tencho and went back to grooming its feathers. Tencho prodded the falcon's chest with his finger, causing it to nearly lose its balance. The falcon let out a sudden squawk as it hurriedly regained it's footing. "Oy, falcon. Don't you have something for me?". Tencho pointed at his still open hand and raised an eyebrow. The falcon glared at him and turned his beak away. Tencho smirked and scratched the falcon's head. "Yeah, yeah. It's an early day for the both of us, bud." Tencho offered it his left arm as a new perching ground to make amends. The falcon warmly welcomed Tencho's friendly gesture, and stepped onto his forearm. Tencho cleared his throat and opened his right hand again to receive the letter. The falcon obediently dropped it this time, then nestled comfortably on his arm.

Tencho pulled the black ribbon and the letter unfolded. It was written in a sequence of neatly arranged letters and coding. To a novice, this would take some to decipher. But Tencho has been in the Shadow Men long enough to be able to read it as though it were something casual. The letter read as follows:


"#46 to meet at Shichiyou's Monarch. You will be handed a cart of supplies to deliver to the squad that is positioned at the port approximately eight miles north of there. It is imperative that the contents of this cart remain undamaged. If anything is to appear differently than what was entrusted to you, you will be eliminated without hesitation."





A seal was cast at the bottom of the letter. Tencho bit the tip of his thumb, drawing a small amount of blood. He then smeared the droplet across the seal. The letter suddenly caught fire, and Tencho dropped it to the floor. The flame quickly swallowed it up, and the ashes were picked up and carried by the soft morning breeze. Tencho looked up at the sky. The dawn barely pierced through the clouds, illuminating them with a golden color. Tencho looked back down at the falcon, and to its chagrin, the breeze had ruffled the feathers it worked so hard to groom. Tencho chuckled and gestured for the falcon to take its leave. Although it seemed disappointed, the falcon spread it's wings and soared to the sky, swiftly becoming a black dot against the backdrop of the morning sky. Tencho walked back into his apartment, shutting the door behind him. He tapped the floor on the right side of his mattress with his heel, causing a secret compartment filled with various shinobi tools and weapons to open. Tencho grabbed just the basics - a few smokebombs, kunai, shurikens, and of course, the jagged dagger that was still in sitting in the elastic of his undergarments.

He closed the compartment with another tap of his heel, and then made his way to closet. It wasn't an impressive size, but the wooden paneling on the sliding door was kept clean and polished. Tencho noticed a small smudge on the handle, but a quick rub down with a secret homemade remedy should do the trick. But it wasn't so much of a secret then Tencho just licking the tip of his thumb and buffing it out. There was still a bit of residue left over from the stain, but he just shrugged it off with the intention of dealing with it later. He flung the door open and looked inside. His closet wasn't anything to gasp in amazement at. Rather, if one didn't turn the light inside on, they wouldn't even be able to tell it was a closet. Reflexively, Tencho tugged at the little string that was dangling from the light switch. It dimly lit up the closet, revealing a few outfits. It was divided in accordance to use: recreational clothes to the left, "work" clothes to the right. Each set was already prepared to allow for quick exits. Despite his best efforts at organizing, however, the closet was still a tight squeeze. Tencho inched his way in and grabbed the outfit to the far right of the closet. The gear consisted of typical Shadow Men garb: black, skin-tight under armor (which covered his entire body) that acted like chain-mail; a padded chest piece that covered his collar bone down to his waist that was able to withstand piercing damage from basic weaponry such as senbon, shuriken, and kunai; a pair of thick socks, along with his custom made shoes that had insulated soles and grip that made traveling harsh terrain practically effortless; and finally, his purple jacket, which was also customized to his liking, to keep him warm from the bitter weather that swallowed even the bravest of travelers that dared to trek through Hyougagakure's vicious tundra. The jacket was also capable of changing shades to match and camouflage with the terrain. Tencho, of course, was very accustomed to such harsh living conditions. But the weather, much like the village itself, could be very unpredictable at times. It was better to be safe than sorry.

Tenco swiftly got dressed, brushed his teeth, and made his way to the kitchen. The kitchen, although unimpressive in size, sported an illustrious shine due to Tencho's diligent scrubbing. There were no guests to be expected, of course, but to him, it was still no excuse to have a filthy kitchen. There was the refrigerator nuzzled near the entrance, the gas stove to the far right corner, and nestled comfortably between them was a small, heated tatami mat. Tencho opened the freezer and grabbed a chunk of salmon that was wrapped in aluminum foil. He had caught quite the haul fishing the other day, so leftovers were to be expected. Tencho fried up the salmon, boiled a small side of brown rice to go with it, and situated himself on the floor in the tatami mat. It was atypical for a tatami mat to be in the middle of the kitchen. But it was just how Tencho preferred his meals to be - quiet and comfortable. There was already so much noise going on around him on the regular. The time spent away from it was one of the few small pleasures he had. Tencho exhaled deeply as he took in these blissful minutes of silence. But, just like every other day, it was quickly over and he was out the door.


Tencho arrived at Shichyou's Monarch with a few minutes to spare. It was never good to arrive too early as standing stationary for too long would arouse suspicion and blow his cover. He remained low, crouched against a harsh wind chill. The jacket changed shades, blending him in with the environment. A few minutes had passed, and Tencho heard the sound of snow being crunched. He immediately spotted his comrades lugging the cart with a thick rope. Tencho sucked his teeth at their conspicuousness, but nonetheless, silently took his place beside them and revealed himself. The men, unfazed by Tencho's sudden appearance stared at him with deadpan expressions. Tencho flashed the hand signals signifying his identity as the courier. "I believe you gentlemen have something for me?" Tencho jested. Again, unfazed, the men handed him the cart and faded off into the winter morning. Tencho sighed coolly at his rejection and grabbed a hold of the rope. Tencho calculated the distance in his head and the amount of time it would take to get there. "If I move at so and so...and do this...hmm." He continued to mutter to himself while pulling at the cart. "Aha!" He suddenly exclaimed, "I should get there in exactly 45 minutes. Better time myself just to be sure." Tencho tied the rope around his waist, set the timer in his head, and surely enough, he was off.

Tencho briskly jogged through the thick snow, which allowed him to maintain a good and steady pace without exhausting his energy. The cart was fairly light; 300lbs at the most. About twenty uninterrupted minutes had passed, and by that time Tencho had already grown more suspicious of his surroundings. Well, at the risk of sounding cliche, it's too quiet around here.

Before he could finish pondering on the subject, he reflexively moved his head to the right. Just as he did that, a kunai sharply zipped past his ear. Tencho sighed, quickly untied the rope at his waist, and dodged the sudden onslaught of kunais and shuriken. Tencho removed the dagger from the pouch that slung at his side and began parrying the weapons, knocking them into the snow with a soft thud. He caught sight of the assailants as they readied themselves for a full frontal assault. It was a squadron of five rogue ninja; four of them encompassed Tencho and the supply cart, while the other (whom Tencho assumed was their leader) stood back performing hand seals. The four ninja drew out katanas, sharpening the edges with chakra. Tencho smirked, put the hilt of his dagger in his mouth, and raised his guard. The ninja rushed him in formation; two from the air performing downward vertical slashes, and the other two at his back and front performing a vicious thrust. Tencho quickly grabbed hold of the rope and flung it at the enemy to his front. The rope caught hold of his wrist and Tencho pulled downward, doing a split in the process. The captured ninja was immediately disarmed and he fell forward. The katana pierced the snow near Tencho's thigh. He dropped the dagger from his mouth into his hand and stabbed it into the top of the opponent's skull, leaving it there. He then grabbed the katana, thrust it backwards into the other ninja's abdomen, and rolled to the right; avoiding the aerial attack and twisting and removing the blade in one fell swoop. Tencho swiftly rolled over into a back stance, allowing him to respond to a corresponding attack from either side.

Surely enough, the leader charged at Tencho with an open palm that seemed to be emanating wind chakra, while the other two performed a horizontal and vertical slash respectively. The swordsman, of course, struck at Tencho first. Tencho pivoted his stance and leaned slightly backward. He slashed upward, parrying one blade into the other, then thrust forward, knocking the swordsman several feet back. Their leader shortly followed suit and thrust with his open palm at Tencho's side.

"Fuuton: Hageshii Kazepaamu (Wind style: Violent Wind Palm)!" Tencho countered with an open palm strike to his wrist, derailing the attack towards his subordinates. A violent gale of wind suddenly burst from his hand, sending them into a bloodied spiral. Tencho capitalized on the situation by driving the blade into his side. His opponent let out a gnarled cry and collapsed into a pool of his blood. Tencho cast the blade to the side and tended to his fallen enemies. He lined their bodies up together, ripped a piece of cloth off of each of their shirt sleeves and placed it on their eyes. He gave a quick bow, and continued along with his mission.

Tencho arrived at the port 10 minutes earlier, finding his comrades already waiting for him. They silently exchanged hand gestures and Tencho delivered the supplies. The Shadow Men disappeared into the frozen haze shortly after. Tencho sighed at the success of another mission. He liked missions like that weren't too noisy. It makes the moments he spends alone at home much more peaceful. But what was waiting for him back along on the path to Shichyou's Monarch would soon spell the end of his peaceful days...

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