I think I'm adding getting stabbed to my ever expanding hate list. As when I had learned that my plan needed to go faster, I immediately went to a box holding dozens of sharp looking kunai and promptly teleported above them. My physical body only had less than a second to realize that it was still bound, gagged, and drugged as it collided into the bed of dangerous metal. It was not the most comfortable thing that happened to me. Well, if one disregarded the various cuts, bruises and puncture wounds then it was actually a wonderful bed. Still, beggars can't be choosers, and I couldn't just transition myself out of my bondage. No, my knife's ability has the wonderful second trait of bringing along anything non-living that I'm currently touching. Fairly great and all when I want to stay clothed, but when you're bound and gagged then you're kind of out of luck. Luckily, my improvised landing was softened by the bed of kunai. Though, getting stabbed was a much better alternative than watching a kid get their eyes ripped out. And, as my hands found a kunai and started sawing away at my restraints, I realized what I just did. Am I really that crazy? I took the time to see that I was absolutely covered in bleeding wounds, and it was probably one of the least painful things I've felt. Hell, staring at the amount of blood I'd lost I wouldn't be surprised if I keeled over right then and there. I had done that without any hesitation at all, and that thought terrified me for a second. Had I already acclimatized to this crazy world? Looking over myself again, my wounds were indeed closing up. Slowly, I could feel them twitching and itching, but they were closing faster than anything that should be humanly possible. Wow, I really do have a healing factor… Now that I think of it, this does make quite a bit of sense. If I didn't have something healing me through all the caretakers 'accidentally' dropping me on my head, then I probably would've been brain dead. Shoving my appreciation for accelerated healing aside, I got back to work on freeing my hands. It was a couple minutes of frantic sawing before I finally got them free. They were covered with angry red cuts that looked almost healed. My wrists were even worse, with deep purple bruises as my restraints had been so tight. Those too were beginning to disappear. Huh, awesome. No wonder why Naruto was so stupid sometimes; he can totally afford to get hit. Or is this just me? Questions for later, free self first. Knowing that I could heal it, I yanked the needle from my arm, and yelped out in pain through my gag. Blood began to splurt everywhere in the small knife filled container. I feel like someone is going to have quite a fright when they open this later… Note to self, watch out for needles inserted straight into veins and arteries. On a not very separate note, trying not to die of blood loss was quite hard when there's only knives around you. Doing it while you're trying to stop your forearm from draining you is like not accepting hard mode, so you made it harder. Point is, I had to make a quick tourniquet and compress from strips of my clothes to stop the blood flow. When my arm stopped bleeding severely, I let out a shaky sigh of relief. I had panicked a little when my vision started to blur, but now that I had calmed down everything was much better. Now to get to work on my legs. I was truly free quite a bit later. I knew a couple minutes had passed, but I couldn't be too sure. Sending a scouting phantasmal body out was rather easy. When I found no one nearby my previous prison, I let out a shaky breath. I didn't transport myself back to the box, as I didn't want to take the chance of the girl being held hostage in case of my failure. Now, I was running on a clock, and I had to work even faster. My specter body easily found the largest congregation of samurai. I transported there a second later, not caring for my looks as I suddenly appeared amidst them. Idly, I noted that I had accidentally carried the kunai I had been sitting on, as well. My sudden arrival brought about shouts and startled yells. A few clambered back, startled by me taking up space all of a sudden. Some stared at me, long and hard like they were waiting for some shoe to drop. "Are you alright?" Despite all the confusion, the first one to react with any meaning was the samurai who I had been listening in on earlier. The one called Gensei. Now that I could have a look at him, I noticed that his armor was more rugged and stained. Chips and scratches littered it like scars, and I don't even know why he still wore it when it looked like it would break at any point of contact. The brown leathers he wore underneath it was more pristine, almost new in its look. He had a scraggly beard that fit his face, almost as rugged as his armor I would say. Sharp green eyes peered over a greying fringe of nestled brown hairs, and I felt like he wouldn't be seen out of place in any bar. There was also a lone scar that traveled from one side of his forehead to just above his left eye. If rugged, old, experienced had a look Gensei would be what it was. "I… I'm," my throat burned as I tried to speak through scratchy tones. I hadn't talked in four whole days from what I heard, and the knife bed really hadn't helped. "It's alright, kid." Gensei spoke softly. He leaned in, holding out a blanket and some stale looking bread. "No need to speak." "No," I said through a hoarse breath. Gensei was nice, but I needed warriors right now. "I'm being... kidnapped." Gensei paused, he looked around, and set off the other samurai to do the same. When everyone found nothing he looked back at me with a raised eyebrow. "I don't see anyone, kid. Are you sure you're okay?" "They're… the carriage who just… joined. I escaped… with Jutsu" I finished, forcing my words through pained chokes while adding drugs to my hate list. Speaking was literally the only thing I looked forwards to after a year and a half of baby babbling. Well, I also looked forwards to ninja magic, but that's besides the point! "I see." Gensei said with closed eyes. I watched as several other samurai bristled at my words. They had believed me so easily that I felt a little like partying. Suddenly, another samurai walked up to me with a couple rolls of medicinal tape, and I realized that I was still covered in blood from literally rolling around on knives. The perceived damage probably helped. Still, despite my wounds not being too big of a deal, I took the tape with a small thank you, and began to wrap some of my larger gashes. "Are there others?" Gensei asked. I nodded meekly, hoping to spur some other righteous cord this man had. He had seemed so laid back when I first heard him talk, but now he looked like he was ready for war. The change was rather jarring when I looked back at it. "Damn Shinobi…" I heard his mutter as he turned to the crowd of gather warriors. "Oi you lot, get up and gear up. Anyone who hasn't fought Shinobi, leave; you'd be just extra corpses. Everyone else, be ready." "Wait, Gensei-san! This is Shinobi business. Let them handl- Gak!" The samurai who spoke didn't get a chance to speak as Gensei had slammed the sheath of his katana into the man's throat. I stared wide-eyed as the other man coughed and gagged while rolling on the ground. "Leave." Gensei announced, his voice cold and hard. "You can never hold the title of samurai if you even think of abandoning kids after seeing one so injured. Become a ronin or bandit; that would suit you better." I continued watching as some samurai looked at the man, and then at Gensei. Shit, I didn't even think of an internal dispute! My time was being eaten up by all of them, and I hadn't sent out my spectral self to scout yet. "Hurry… danger, they said… they'll take her eyes… soon." I parsed together my words, and they had a very visible effect. A couple samurai cursed, some just hurried faster to their weapons, and others looked about ready to charge over to my previous carriage and demand blood. Gensei stood there, and took it all in. Then he looked at me, hard eyes boring into mine. "You a Shinobi?" He asked. I flinched. "No... I just… used something taught." He didn't really react other than give a curt nod before looking at the kunai at my feet. He pointed to a couple men who had been sitting out, presumably because they hadn't fought Shinobi before. "You guys, get the kid armor; he's joining us." Gensei's orders were immediately followed as I was then bombarded by samurai seeing which pieces of armor fit me best. Soon, they settled on just a pair of vambraces and greaves that fit snugly on my arms and shins. I stopped them from giving me a segmented cuirass as well, complaining that I needed mobility. I idly wondered if they knew I was three. I probably seemed older than I looked. Would they even think a three year old could do what I did? "Can you use those?" I paused my thoughts to see Gensei pointing at the kunai at my feet. I nodded, wanting to find the time to send out my spectral self. "Just stab things, right?" Gensei, for his part, only gave a slight grin, but didn't laugh. "Good enough, sneak attacks in whenever you can. If we're being outmatched, run." I paused, wondering if I had heard the man correctly. I had already planned to do just that, but to hear it coming from the people who had no place in another's business it was rather startling. He seemed to see my small confusion, and finally sported a laugh. "Don't worry about it, kid. I know Shinobi types; they either have too many plans, or will ditch you on a dime." Gensei said as he grasped the handle of his sword. "Why? Why do you... help?" I asked when he never explained why he was helping me. He had also accurately pinned me as a Shinobi that was plotting to leave him if need be. I could clearly see how he detested Shinobi for some reason, but I didn't think that would sway his decision by that much. The old samurai just gave me another rougish grin and a playful shrug. "I'm not really too sure, kid. I guess I'm just a sucker for being a hero." A gave a smile of my own, but internally, I thought of him as rather stupid. I was definitely grateful for his help, however, the idea to risk your life just out of some moral quandary was idiotic to me. Still, a small part of me respected the man for it. However, as much as I liked the man, I had other things to prepare. Stealthily, I sumoned my my knife into my hand and motioned over to Gensei. "I have… a plan." I said, continually cursing my throat. Why can I heal minor wounds so fast, but my voice is too much to ask for? Is the damage actually that heavy? Gensei, unknowing of my inner conversation, gave a noncommittal shrug. "Do what you gotta do, kid. Be careful with that knife, too, but finish it up fast." I stilled at his words, but managed to give a nod. Deciding to figure out how he knew about my knife later, I split into my spectral self, and sent it to my bloodied box of kunai. "On my… signal." "Oh, you definitely are a Shinobi." Gensei said, and I think I heard some form of compliment in his words. "So, what's the signal, Shinobi-chan?" I disregarded his verbal jab, and grinned widely instead. It probably wasn't a nice one either as Gensei visbly flinched before I answered him. "Screaming." To add to the effect, I immediately disappeared, reappearing right next to a wooden crate. Was my dramatic exit needed? No, definitely not, but I wasn't going to sit there and be teased like a child. Even if I was currently a child… On a different note, the carriage I was currently in wasn't very well kept. There were stains of various kinds dotting the cabin, and the smell was even worse. It was like someone had opened up a rotting bag of wet and used sock then left them out to ferment. The copious amount of blood that was leaking out of my chosen crate didn't help. Still, I had a very dangerous idea that I just thought of. With my purpose in mind, I summoned my knife into my hand and jabbed it into a crack in the crate's lid. One of the things I had noticed with my knife was that it was absurdly durable. It couldn't cut anything at all, but it didn't even scratch no matter what I did to it. That being said, it meant I was using my knife as a crowbar to pry open this crate of kunai. Let me tell you, it was a shitty knife, but a wonderful crowbar. Barely took me a couple of minutes to snap open the lid. When that was completed, I immediately sent out my spectral self to search out where my capturs were. My physical body took the time to calmly place a hand on one side of the now opened crate. I found my targets a second later. They were a little spread out, but not far enough to really make a large difference. Both of them looked like they were asleep, too. However, I wanted to be completely sure, and got up right beside them and looked for signs that they weren't. When I found nothing, I triple checked them just to be sure. I had no idea if there was a fake sleeping jutsu of something, but I wasn't in the mood to find out. Everything seemed to be going too well. However, I couldn't back out now. Silently, my spectral body floated above them till their figures were a tad blurry. Then I paused in my actions. Was I really ready to take someone else's life even if they were both horrible human beings? Did I really think I could do this? No, it didn't matter now. The army of samurai were at my back, and Gensei was probably waiting for my signal. This wasn't about me anymore; it was about saving that kidnapped girl. After all, the road to hell was paved with good intentions. With my resolve in place, I flipped myself upside down before my physical body transported over, or tried to transport over. Instead it felt like I was trying to pull something that I just couldn't get a grasp of, and when I did it felt like some invisible muscle was screaming out in pain. Gritting my teeth, I quietly persevered through the pain until suddenly something snapped. I found myself looking down at the ground as it rose up to meet me. I felt like my plan had failed up until something rushed past me in a blast of displaced air. A rain of sharpened steel pelted the my unfortunate kidnappers in a sudden downpour of destruction. I hadn't quite expected my improvised plan to work, or the crate to even be transported with me, but luckily everything worked out. The kunai were thundering into the ground like small spears of death. There were even screams! Well, my screams really. It seemed that after my forced teleportation with that giant crate full of kunai that I had unknowingly pulled some type of metaphorical muscle. Now, I have no clue on metaphysical biology, but all I knew was that I could no longer split my body into its spectral state. With the ground approaching at a speed I wasn't too comfortable with, I was reasonably panicking. So yeah, I was screaming quite a bit. The wooden crate landed with a thunderous boom before me, breaking apart into splinters of wood of all sizes. The kunai that had fell before me had all already delivered their damage, and based on the amount of blood I saw, I could assume my plan worked. I tried flipping in the air to get the most drag out of my fall, but I didn't really have much time before I collided with a flat piece of broken crate. I slammed through it, a sickening crack announced itself before my wail of absolute pain followed. Pure agony traveled up my right arm as I was sure it had snapped. My ribs burned and ached like no tomorrow, and I think I had several splinters jammed into my flesh. One particularly large one was stabbed into my right shoulder, dribbling warm blood over me again. I wasn't moving my right arm anytime soon. In the most pain I'd ever felt in both my lives, I wanted nothing more than to sit down and call it a day. Sadly, I was given no comfort in killing only two kidnappers, even if the realization that I had sent my stomach into a different sort of freefall. Then the ground began to vibrate. Stomping footfalls alerted me of my recently appropiated army, and I forced myself to stand through gritted teeth and muffled groans. "What the hell?!" I heard a voice nearby, but I couldn't zero in on it. My ears were still ringing, and the constant thrum of blood was pulsing back and forth in my eardrum. In the back of my mind, I realized that I had only taken out two enemies while I hadn't yet found the third. With that thought, I felt that the ground was still vibrating with movement. I just needed to stall for as long as possible. "You little shit! Was this all your doing?!" My head was finally clearing up I found a very familiar set of brown eyes glaring at me. Huh, he was definitely the one who had knocked me out first. My body tensed, getting ready to move at any sign. I wasn't going to just dumbly stand there and take it like last time. Though, I didn't really feel up to dealing with a Shinobi right now. Especially with the headache that was receding from my skull. As if to spite me even further, various nearby bloodied debris were being shifted as someone moved underneath. When my mind cleared further, I found myself facing three whole Shinobi. Albeit, two of them had enough wounds that I was fairly certain were lethal, but that didn't matter. Litterally a ton of sharpened steel hadn't killed them outright! Shinobi were bullshit, I decided. "Where is he?! Who did this?!" One of the enraged pincushions warbled through a multitude of broken teeth, and I caught that both of his eyes were gone as well. He was awfully lively, all things considered. "You made a mistake, brat. When I get my hands on you I'll make you wish you were nothing but a bloodline bank." The other bloodied trash spat, and while I had no idea what to think of his threat, it certainly sounded not very pleasant. The odds really weren't looking too great, but I could now twitch the fingers of my right hand without there being hot lances of pain shooting up my arm now. And most importantly, my knife finally answered to me calling on it. I placed it in my mouth and the familiar split let me focus on a body without crippling pain. My army was on its way, and I had decided that I was going to kill bullshit.