Before Xero could transte his wonderfully colorful threats into actual, you knounches, Kuro just smoothly glided in and intervened. He raised a hand – just a simple gesture, but somehow imbued with this air of quiet, plete authority. “Hold it, Xero,” Kuro’s voice cut right through the esg tension, perfectly calm but undeniably… firm. Like that velvet-gloved iron fist thing, except audibly. It was a tohat just did not invite debate. “Easy there, tiger,” he added, in a tohat could probably soothe a grumpy badger, or, in this case, a hyper-caffeinated Xero. You could almost see Kuro mentally picturing Xero as an overexcited puppy needing to be reigned in before he chewed all the furniture.
“Xero, Reika,” Kuro tinued, widening his stance slightly to subtly create a buffer. “Personal space, people, personal space.” It was a mastercss in passive-aggressive ninja trol. “Step back a few feet. Just… admire the sery for a moment, shall we?” It hrased like a polite suggestion, but everyone present – Xero, Reika, and even probably the clueless Cloud ninjas – uood perfectly that it was, in fact, an order. And surprisingly, both Xero and Reika, despite being por opposites on the personality spectrum, both instinctively knew better than tue with Kuro in that tohey might have their moments of chaos, but they were also acutely aware of when it was time to listen to the guy clearly in charge.
As Xero grumbled areated a step, Reika just subtly shifted her position, a silent question in her eyes. Kuro turned his full attention to the Cloud ninjas, a slow, almost predatory smirk curving his lips. It wasn’t pyful anymore, the humor had sharpened, bee edged with steel. “I’ve got this,” he stated, the words quiet but resonating with vi. "Gentlemen," he addressed the Cloud ninjas, his tone dripping with mock politeness, "are... mine. sider this a little… team building exercise for me.”
Reika, despite her usual posure, couldn't help but betray a flicker of . “Are you absolutely positive about this, Kuro?”
Kuro exhaled softly, a small puff of air that seemed to dismiss her s as easily as blowing away dandelion seeds. He subtly rolled his shoulders, feeling the f readiness of his own power, the tent strength coiled within him.
“Rex, Reika,” he reassured her, his crimson gaze never leaving the Cloud ninjas. “Positive. It's past time I stopped being a spectator, wouldn't you agree? Besides,” a hint of genuine amusement flickered in his eyes, “it’s been a while since I properly stretched my legs. These guys look… wonderfully stretchable.”
The Cloud leader, clearly not impressed by Kuro’s whole 'spectator' and 'stretchable' routine aing increasingly ticked off by this casual put-dow out another scoff – this one louder, rougher around the edges. “Spectator? Stretchable? What is this, amateur night at the ninja edy club?” he sneered, his carefully crafted air of superiority starting to fray like cheap fabric. “Look, Tsukigakure trash, enough with the stand-up routine, alright? You’re just making this whole thing take lohan it o. All the big words just make your iable beatdown that much more satisfying to watch. You're looking at trained Cloud ninjas here. We operate in a different league. You're basically volunteering to bee a cautionary tale, runt.” He punctuated his little speech with a crack of his knuckles – the kind you see in bad movies to signify 'tough guy' – whi the tense quiet of the forest mostly just sounded… a bit cliché, really.
But then that smirk of Kuro's? Oh, it ged. It didn’t just get wider, nah, it kinda… morphed. Into something else entirely. Something genuinely uling. It was like a smile stretched across his face, but the life just… hadn't shown up for the party behind his eyes. Cold. Almost cruel, the way his lips curved. You could practically feel a chill snake down your spine just watg it happen."A death wish?" Kuro echoed, almost like the Cloud leader had just offered him a rather iing fvor of ice cream. He tilted his head, just a tiny bit, sidering the notion like it was brand new and fasating. "Hmm, no. Not really a death wish, no." More like… "a wish fulfillment situation," he corrected, almost casually. His gaze then just kinda slid betweehree Cloud ninjas, assessing. Not angry, ed. More… ical. Like they were bugs under a microscope, waiting to be cssified. "And ‘different league,’ was it?" Kuro tinued, his voice suddenly dipping lower, almost to a whisper, but somehow, it felt louder, more menag than any shout. "Oh, I sincerely hope so. Genuinely." Because, and now his voice was barely a murmur, ced with something sharp, "because frankly? I'm getting a little bored pying in the same old sandbox." Poof. Just like that, the pyful teasing? Gone. Vanished. Leaving behind this heavy, serious air, thick with unspoken, very real, threat. "So, about bag up all that talk," Kuro fihe challenge just hanging there in the air between them, all prickly edges and the promise of a proper beatdown ing right up.
The Hidden Cloud leader’s bravado evaporated quicker than m mist in the desert sun. He barely had time to process Kuro’s final, ominous words before BAM! Kuro was on him, a blur of motion a-up aggression finally unleashed. It was less like fighting and more like being struck by a rogue bolt of lightning that had somehow learned martial arts. Kuro's palm ected with the leader's chest in a thundercp, and the forest itself seemed to wihe air crackled, a miniature thundercp echoed around them, and the leader’s eyes wideo saucers as if he'd been punched by an actual thunder god.
“Wha- gurk – the—?" The Cloud leader choked, doubling over as if someone had just informed him his favorite ramen shop was closed permaly. He stumbled backwards, clutg his chest, his face a mask of bewildered pain and utter disbelief. He’d clearly expected… something else. Maybe a polite bow? A reasoned discussion about scroll ownership? Certainly not a point-bnk thunder explosion to the sternum. "Did... did you just... push me?" he wheezed, as if the very cept was beyond his prehension.
