cold embraces

[sanjūro]

"We suffered no casualties, Nidaime-sama." A young man called out across the plains to the Sanjūro who sheathed his sword in the distance. Laid out at his feet were a number of men from a battle battalion belonging to Yamagakure. Sanjūro looked to the young man in his brown robes, the morning sun hid his eyes away as they cast a glare off of the lenses of his glasses.

"Loot these bastards, we move out in five minutes." Sanjūro gave the command to the six other men that were traveling with him. They were men he'd hand picked himself. The blue-haired young man clenched his teeth as the order was given. They'd been pushing into enemy territory for the past twenty four hours straight since the war started, and while they were surrounded by a number of corpses of their enemies, word was that Iwa wasn't faring well on other fronts.

"Nidaime-sama..." His blue haired subordinate spoke up, fixing his glasses. "I think we should take a break, slow down. The rest of the unit is tired and pushing any further into enemy territory isn't strategically advantageous."

There was a silence that swept over the plains, combing through the green blades of grass that waved back and forth. The Tsuchikage combed his finger through his trimmed green hair before turning to his subordinate who stood across the carved up field, his forearm shifted against the hilt of his weapons, causing the scabbards to click against each other.

"Are you tired, Aoishi-chan?" The Tsuchikage asked. Aoishi's head lowered, revealing the blue hue behind the lens of his spectacles.

"No, Tsuchikage-sama."

"Then you and I will continue forth." Sanjūro dictated. "May anyone who's tired fall behind. If you're succumbing to fatigue so soon then you don't belong in this unit." He spoke scoldingly to the men who were gathered around, clearly winded and tired from the non-stop fighting they'd been subjected to in the past day.

"But..." Aoishi sighed. He'd come this far into enemy territory, and pushing any further would be suicide, for him at least. For Sanjūro, this seemed like nothing but a light workout, but he was a man with no peer, he was inexhaustible, there was no stopping him once he'd started. Over everything, Aoishi wanted to get home safe to his family, and more than anything he wanted to hear word of his brother who Sanjūro had sent on a mission to deliver the Daimyō a message.

"Nidaime-sama, Aoishi-san poses a good point. Further penetration behind enemy lines is a risk with no reward. I implore we hold for a day or so before adjusting our stratagem." One of the ninja spoke, this one was wearing a heavy cloak draped over his body. Much like Aoishi, he had blue hair, but his was much darker in color. He pointed to the bamboo forest about a quarter kilometer away. "When I was scouting ahead, I noticed a river that cuts through the middle of the thicket. We can set up camp in there, it'll make nice cover and the river will be advantageous to us while we recuperate."

"I'll take point. Aoishi will be behind me. Deiyara will scout from above. The rest of you are to keep pace behind us and ambush if we come into trouble." Sanjūro commanded, motioning to his men to prepare to roll out. Deiyara smirked to Aoishi and gave him a thumbs up, they'd known one another since they were kids and came up together in the Academy's first class. They were always lumped together due to their similar hair colors, even though their personalities couldn't have been more different.

He knew that Aoishi was worried about his little brother, the least he could do for an old friend was to ease his mind a bit with some rest. Aoishi nodded to Deiyara who waved to him before taking off after the Tsuchikage who darted across the open field and toward the bamboo forest.

Deiyara wasted no time slamming his hands on the ground, and in a puff of smoke, he'd summoned a large swallow that opened it's massive wingspan before the remaining Iwa troops. He hopped onto the bird's back and before anyone knew what was going on, they were in the air, darting over the heads of Sanjūro and Aoishi.

The bamboo towered high enough to touch the sky, it wasn't until they'd ventured deep into the forest and bounced from one stalk to the next that they noticed that there were even some of these bamboo shoots were hollowed out and occupied by civilians. All light that became trapped in the leaves cast an eerie green glow down onto the forest's floor they were soaring high above.

Everything was calm.

The ambush happened suddenly.

Darts whizzed across the air.

Sanjūro said nothing to Aoishi who was trailing behind him, he merely drew one of his swords.

The speed of his strokes were unmatched and unseen by the naked eye.

The darts that he didn't directly deflect with his sword were caught in the backlash of chakra that he'd exerted, pushing the wall of darts that threatened to impale and pin them to the massive stalks with a wave.

"Stick close." Sanjūro commanded Aoishi before diving down toward the forest floor. Aoishi followed suit, kunai and shuriken came at them from all sides, narrowly missing them as they navigated the forest to a clearing where the river ran into a large pond. Their wet footsteps splashed across the calm water's surface until they were standing back to back in the middle.

Sanjūro began drawing his other swords, placing one in his teeth and clutching the third in his free hand. Aoishi's heart beat, threatening to punch through his chest, but he didn't show it, he was calm and collected, the wind that came off of the bamboo tossed his long blue ponytail.

"Is this it?" A voice asked from the thicket, it was a voice that sounded like wood scraping against gravel, one that put Aoishi on edge. "Is this the famed Ao Butai_{[blue/green force]}?" Stepping from the shadows of the monolithic bamboo was a man with red skin, whether it was how he was born or if it was tattooed or changed was beyond the two ninja that stood atop of the water watching him. His septum was pierced, there were a number of earrings lining his ear and two large protrusions from his skull that looked like horns but were buried underneath his skin.

Besides his freakish appearance, he was a large man by normal standards, towering at a good seven feet. Sanjūro watched the man saunter forth with a number of other ninja who appeared to be ogres, or more accurately, oni. The one at the forefront licked his sharpened fangs before lifting the spiked steel club from his shoulder and allowing it to fall at his side.

"Ao Butai?" Aoishi's eyes narrowed.

"It seems that we've gained some notoriety from the enemy. They've given us a nickname." Sanjūro explained, twirling one of his katana casually as they prepared for battle. "I don't understand why..."

"Maybe our hair?" Aoishi grumbled, annoyed by the blatant ignorance of the Tsuchikage to the obvious. Their name had really spread in such a short time? The two young men with blue hair that accompanied the green haired Tsuchikage as they penetrated Yamagakure's defenses. Aoishi thought about what was possibly said, how he was now infamous to the enemy for being selected to help the Tsuchikage.

"The rest of your team is dead. Iwa is faring badly. The war'll be over in a day or so once Yama fully mobilizes. Surrender and I promise that I'll let you live if you survive the torture."

"For a man of the Ushio clan, you sure do talk a lot of shit." Sighed Sanjūro, taking his stance as their enemies began emerging from all around them. "My name is Sanjūro. I've killed enough of you freaks to fill a graveyard twice over."

"My name is Ushio Kuwabara. It's going to be a pleasure killing you."

"Enough talk. Come feel death's cold embrace."