The Incident | HISTORY

[Kairai Masuna]

SUNAGAKURE NO SATO
Kazekage's Office

Masuna, ANBU Captain, had a meeting.

The day seemed to be normal thus far. Masuna was wearing a freshly laundered ANBU cloak and his black-and-red mask affixed to conceal his face. He approached the Kazekage's building with a light step and a small smile concealed by the mask, Masuna had just completed an important mission and was heading up for the debrief. He felt so good, he'd even left his combat puppets in his quarters. His ANBU ninjato even felt like an unnecessary burden sitting as it did on his belt, but one couldn't be too carefree.

The ANBU stepped within the walls of the building, stopping briefly to speak with the initial receptionist to inform her who he was and what he was here for. He then proceeded to ascend to the office of the Kazekage. His debriefing was to be handled personally by the Kage because the mission - an S rank - had been requested by the man himself.

When Masuna reached the Kazekage's personal receptionist, he said nothing and stood silently. The receptionist looked at him and recognized the mask before moving to stick her head in the door, speaking silently behind it. Turning around, she motioned wordlessly towards the door - Masuna's cue to enter.

The door opened silently, and the shinobi walked in. He noticed the Kage was busy writing and as such said nothing at first, waiting to be addressed.

He then was.

"Masuna, please, inform me of your work."

Masuna debriefed the Kage. He was succinct and used only the barest of details, but his message was clear - the mission had been performed as specified with no errors. The Kage before him provided him a short applause.

"Impressive work."

Masuna bowed his head in humility, at which point he heard a commotion outside the doors. He spun around, with the intention of going to look when the doors suddenly burst open, a masked shinobi with no identifying markers pushing through - his arm swirling with some unidentified Futon technique. Silent as death, the shinobi lunged for the Kage.

Masuna worked quickly, leaping to his Kage and drawing his blade in the same motion. He pushed the Kazekage out of the way and spun around, placing his blade for full effect on the opponent. He was not, however, braced enough to prevent the impact he then received from carrying him away. The razor-sharp winds of the jutsu sliced into Masuna's arms, viciously ripping his flesh and bone, even as Masuna's blade sunk deep into the chest of his attacker.

The two of them burst out through the Kage's office wall, flying into the open air of Sunagakure. The sunlight revealed the face of his attacker, stoic and staring intently at Masuna - a stare the ANBU would never forget. The winds of the technique died off, and the two plummeted down.

With his blade pierced through the chest of his enemy, Masuna attempted to disentangle himself but was held fast by the shinobi's arms and legs. Falling too quickly to hope for a rescue, Masuna used the blade as a lever and reoriented the two of them so that the enemy combatant would land first.

And then they hit the ground.

The impact broke the blade, the pieces of which shattered with such force that they ricocheted back upwards, tearing through the enemy and embedding into Masuna's forearms and thighs. In addition to that, the fall broke several of Masuna's ribs and he could tell that his arms were basically nonfunctional from the initial attack and damage from the fall.

He groaned in pain, rolling off the broken body he'd landed on and staring weakly up at the Kazekage's office, where he beheld the man he'd just saved staring down at him. The stare was intense, but he could make out few details as blackness enveloped his gaze, and consciousness faded.

A crowd had gathered, and shortly thereafter the Kazekage and several shinobi surrounded the fallen ANBU to recover his body and disperse the crowd.