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Ralph
Chapter 18 The Thief's Battle

Chapter 18 The Thief's Battle

It didn’t take him long to find the series of documents he wanted, but he didn’t expect them to be under a seal. He sighed. He wished it had been easier, but where would be the fun in that, he questioned. He studied the seal. It was a basic locking seal. He blinked. He couldn’t believe a simple locking seal was protecting the series of documents leading to the Isuma Clan’s destruction. He wanted to laugh. He would find out the truth behind that night and see if he was related to the Isuma Clan. He knew he was. His Master had informed him of his blood relation. However, it didn’t stop that feeling in his gut telling something was wrong. He would figure it out.

He wanted to open the seal and start reading the documents, but he didn’t know how much longer he would have before his jutsu wore off on Madam Luna and her loyal pack. He knew Madam Luna would inform the Ninja of what he did to them. The Black Hands would be on him within minutes after they get word of what happened. He was a decent fighter, but he was no where skilled enough to take on the Black Hands. He shoved the scrolls involving the Isuma Clan into a storage scroll he had brought with him, just in case.

It took him longer then he would have liked to put every scroll he managed to find about the Isuma Clan into the storage scroll. He had to keep searching through the various boxes for the 2013 year. Somebody had been kind enough to label some of the boxes with the month, but there were several boxes with the same month. He had assumed they were in order from the way the person who had organized the boxes had them numbered as well. He kept glancing toward the front of the room to the secret Library door. He strained his ears to hear if anyone was approaching.

‘So far, so good,’ he thought as he rolled up the scroll and placed it in his pack. He put everything back, trying to make it look like it wasn’t mess with. Secrecy was important right now. The longer it took for someone to realized someone had been in the Secret Library, the more time he had to get away from the Hidden Bark Village. He wanted to be as far as from the Village when that happened.

He didn’t know if there had been any break-in to the Secret Library before. There was a chance Lord Jackson wouldn’t have announced it because it was the Lord of the Hidden Bark’s personal library filled to the brim of dark dealings of the Village. When he was younger, he had heard rumors of it, but nothing with hard evidence of such a library existing until he had a deal with his Master.

His mysterious master knew a lot of the Hidden Bark Village and even acted like he had been to the Hidden Village in the past when there was another lording over the Hidden Village. When the thief had tried to questioned him about it, he had been punished. It was a lesson he didn’t forget. However, it didn’t lesson the urge to know who his mysterious master was and how he came by his knowledge of the Bark Village. He allowed his mysterious master to vent about certain things over the Bark Village. His master had once complained it was a strong village with no master lording over it, the last time he had been living there or the village clans had a weak alliance with each other and often fought or raided the other clans for food, water, and wives. His master had claimed it had been a wonderful time to be a ninja, but he would change the subject soon afterwards. The thief had spent many sleepless nights, pouring through his memory of the various History classes he had been forced to attend for an answer. It didn’t help. He didn’t know who his mysterious master could be. He shook his head. There was no use in reflecting right now. He had to get out of the village before he was discovered.

He stood up and walked to the front of the room. He knew taking the same route he had used to get into the Secret Library was risky, but using the other route involved going through the Lord of the Hidden Bark’s Office held more risk, despite the fact, it was probably faster.

He paused at the end of every bookcase and peered around to check the aisle way was clear before he moved on. He didn’t dare move fast through the library right now. He worried if he did, there would be some sort of alarm set off due to his movement speed. However, the moment he reached the end of the aisle way he had been working, he felt a strange prickling sensation on his back. He glanced over his shoulder to see if he had been spotted. He frowned when he didn’t see anything in the shadows of the library. He took a breath and grabbed one of his special kunai. He half turned and threw down the aisle way, aiming it high. He watched it arched down after a bit and landed in the wooden floor with a thud.

He turned, grabbing another kunai. This one wasn’t special. He didn’t have many special kunai left. His master had the ability to make more and it would be something he would have to bring up the next time he saw his master in person. He tightened his grip on the handle and slowly peered around the edge of the bookcase. He frowned when he didn’t see anyone there.

The prickling sensation didn’t faded. He turned to look behind him. There wasn’t anyone there. He looked deadpan when he thought about looking up. Didn’t he just argue a hour or two ago that no body looks up when they were searching for someone? He slowly raised his head to look at the top of the bookcases.

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A pair of floating golden eyes watched him from on top of a bookcase.

He blinked as he stared at the floating eyes. A chill went up his spine. That was the most eeriy thing he had ever seen in his life. He wanted to use some sort of light to figure out what those eyes belong to, but it could possible give away his position or alert someone that there was a person in the secret library that shouldn’t be there. He took a step and hoped, extending his right arm up. His hand cupped the edge of the bookcase and he placed a foot on a shelf, hoping it would support his weight. He pulled himself upward and spotted a black cat. He gasped.

A black cat had been sitting on the bookcase. That had to be a bad sign.

The cat arched its back and hissed. Anger flashing in its eyes. It turned and pushed off the edge of the bookcase and landed on the next one before the feline repeated the motion, heading to a spiral staircase on the far side of the room.

His jaw dropped as he watched the cat. That was bad. If the cat managed to alert someone to the fact he was in the secret library, he would have more trouble on his hands then he would know what to do with. He sat on the bookcase and threw a leg over the other side so he was straddling the bookcase. He grappled with a pouch and pulled out kunai. He didn’t bother looking at the kunai before he threw. A second later he wished he had took the time to glance at it.

The kunai had a paper bomb attached to it. The paper bomb was special designed to have enough fire power to destroy a wall.

He swung his leg back over and jumped down from the bookcase. He landed in a crunch and turned to face the doorway. He ran. He was inches away from the door when the paper bomb exploded with ear-ringing boom.

The room shook. A series of loud bangs echoed through the room. He lost his footing and fell forward. The bookcase fell away from the paper bomb. He groaned as he curled up into a ball. He hoped that fucking cat died. The room stopped shaking. He lifted his head and peered toward the spiral staircase.

He shook his head in amazement as he saw the damage the paper bomb made. A gapping hole in the floor of the Lead’s office allowed light to flood the room. The bookcases closest to the paper bomb were blown back and tipped over on their sides. He heard voices ringing down from the Head Office as he took noticed some of the bookcase were on fire. That added some more danger to leaving the Government Tower alive and free.

“What the hell happened?”

“Is it an attack?”

“It is the Madam Luna Pack?”

The thief watched a figure drop into the room. The robe he wore floated out behind him as he fell. He landed on one of the tipped over bookcases and turned his head back and forth.

The thief didn’t dare move. He knew that was. Lord Jackson, the Leader of the Hidden Bark Village and the most powerful ninja the Village had to offer. The thief resisted the urge to whimper. He had grew up, hearing how powerful Lord Jackson became during the last war the Village had to fight in. An ice like feeling spread through his torso. How the hell would he be able to escape the Village if the Lord of the Bark Village on his tail?! He shook his head, trying to clear it. He took a deep breath and tried to calm his nerves.

He watched as the Lord of the Hidden Bark peered through the Secret Library as several of the Black Hands dropped down to join Lord Jackson and started to put out the fires with their water jutsus. His ears picked up the sound of running footsteps, coming from the hallway leading to the Secret Library. He felt the color draining from his face and he slowly turned his head to stare at the closed doorway. He slowly moved to the nearest tipped bookcase and wiggled into the space created by the bookcase landing on its neighbor. He rolled onto his stomach and slipped under the bookcase, silently thanking whichever god watching over him as he found himself in a shelf area. He controlled his breathing and saw the door swung inward to reveal several pairs of feet stepping into the room.

“What the hell?”

“The library wasn’t like this when we left it a hour ago.”

“That sounded like an overpowered paper bomb.”

“Yeah.”

The feet approached before they stopped.

“Lord Bark!” they snapped. The thief knew they had saluted once they had spotted Lord Jackson.

“At ease,” Lord Jackson said. The thief squeezed his eyes shut as the bookcase groaned and pressed down on him as there was a heavy weight land on the other side of the bookcase. “Have you seen the person who did this?”

“No, sir,” they replied. Their voices were strong as they spoke.

“We were patrolling hallways. We already check the library nearly an hour ago, sir,” one of the guards explained. One of them continued to talk, but the thief tuned them out.

He rose an eyebrow, looking at the feet in surprise. He had been inside the government tower for nearly a hour. He frowned and thought about it. He bobbed his head up and down. It made sense. He had traveled through a secret back door to the tower to the library before he had even started his search for the Isuma Clan papers. He blinked and he narrowed his eyes as he spotted a set of paws walking around the edge of the book case.

The black cat had survived that explosion. The thief wanted to reach and struggled the hairball. The cat crunch down and peered at him. It meowed before the accursed creature started to paw at the thief, hiding under the bookcase.

The thief noticed the voices had stopped talking. The weight on the bookcase shifted and the footsteps moved over the bookcase. The thief saw a third set of feet appear before the colors representing the Hidden Bark Villages on the robe of the Lord Bark settled around his ankles. The thief wanted to curse.

“What is it, Sirius?” Lord Jackson asked. His hand reached and stretched the black cat’s head. The cat looked up at Lord Jackson before he peered under the bookcase, meowed, and extended a paw, trying to swipe at the thief.

The thief silently cursed as a knee appeared and placed against the wooden floor and fingers curled around the edge.