Kuro took a tiny step forward – just one, a subtle shift of weight, more to say "I'm here, I'm listening" than to start a brawl. He met the Cloud leader's best desding gre with a pletely level stare of his own. There was even this little ghost of a smile pying at the er of his lips, like he'd just remembered a particurly silly joke.
"Lambs?" Kuro repeated, his voice steady and calm, a deliberate chill breeze pared to the Cloud leader's booming pronous. "Lost? In this forest?" He let that hang in the air for a moment, like it was the most ludicrous idea he'd heard all day. "Oh, please. We were just taking the sic route, you see. Really enjoying the foliage. And then we just… stumbled upon you." He let that "you" lihick with all the unspoken things he wasn’t actually saying.
"And this Heaven Scroll you're so excited about?" Kuro tinued, still maintaining that air of casual boredom. "Well, funny you should ask. We actually went to quite a bit of trouble to protect this thing. You know, a little scuffle here, a little trashing of a rather… persistehere. All in a day's work. So, the idea of just… handing it over to, what did you call yourselves? ht, 'sic route bandits'? Just doesn't really add up in my book, does it?"
The Cloud leader’s sightehe edges of his mouth going white with suppressed annoyance. He hadn’t expected… this. He’d anticipated fear, maybe trembling pliance, definitely not this calm, almost mog, posure. “Bandits?” he scoffed, trying tain the upper hand, his voice rising slightly. “We are ninjas of the Hidden Cloud! We are taking what is rightfully—"
Kuro didn’t evehe Cloud leader finish whatever booming pronou he was gearing up for. He just smoothly raised a hand, palm out, a ‘hold up’ gesture so effortless it was almost dismissive. "’Rightfully yours’?" he echoed, one eyebrow tig upwards in a subtle arusement. "Last I checked, these Heaven Scrolls werely hot off the Kumogakure press, stamped with your vilge insignia and all."
He paused, letting that little jab nd. "But hey," Kuro tinued, voice still even and versational, "it is an exam, isn't it? So by all means, be uest. You’re wele to try and ‘take’ it from us, of course." He let that word, "try," hang in the air, light as a feather but carrying the distinct weight of implied challenge. "Go ahead," he enced, a ghost of a smile now genuinely pying on his lips. "sider this a… practical demonstratioion. For you. See just how ‘malevolent’ you be in engaging a fight you're definitely going to… loose in."
Before the Cloud brat could even start to untangle Kuro’s predictably over-the-top, slightly theatrical threat – let’s be ho, Kuro did lean into the dramatietimes – Xero just… detonated. Holy, it was like watg a cartoon. Imagiightly coiled spring suddenly snapping free, all untrolled movement and pure, unfiltered joy at the prospect of a good old-fashioned brawl. That was Xero.His gri from ‘happy’ to ‘absolutely terrifying’ in about half a sed, stretg way too wide, showing off a fsh of teeth that were… well, let's just say 'feral' was the first word that came to mind. "Oh, you want our Heaven Scroll?" Xero basically screeched, his voice boung off the trees like a pinball and sending a flock of pletely i birds scrambling for the exit strategy. “Well, guess what, oh-so-smarty-pants geniuses?” he tinued, practically vibrating with excitement. “You guys being so obsessed with ‘heaven’ and all… bet you anything you’re pathetically ging to some dinky little Earth Scroll, right?”
He didn't even wait around for a 'yes' or 'no' or even a fused blink from the Cloud dudes. Politeness? In Xero's world, that was a vaguely fn cept reserved for… well, probably no one. Xero ure force of nature at this point, all wound-up and ready to release maximum chaotiergy upon the world (or at least upowo unsuspeg Cloud ninjas)."Cha-g! Jackpot for Team Tsukigakure!" he bellowed, momentarily fetting that these guys were supposed to be a threat, pletely ed by the delicious prospect of… loot. Yes, loot. Apparently, Earth Scrolls were ninja treasure now. He pumped his fist in the air like he’d just won the ninja lottery. "Hey, you oh-so-mighty Cloud ninjas!" he tinued, his voiow practically eg through the forest. "Tell you what! Instead of being all polite and 'pretty please' about it, how about we just… persuade you to dohat Earth Scroll to the cause? You wanna maybe test out our persuasive teiques? Because spoiler alert: they are extremely face-pung-tric! You guys ready to experiene… brutal generosity?!" His challenge ripped through the trees – loud, unapologetid just a tiny, tiny bit unhinged. You had to almost admire his itment to maximum dramatic impact.
Predictably, the Cloud ninjas’ rea to Xero's… let’s call it spirited challenge was exactly what Kuro had mentally predicted: a whole lot of very fident, very dismissive ughter. It was that booming, chest-puffing kind of guffaw, the sort reserved for people who genuinely, deep down, believe they’re operating on a pletely different level of existence from everyone else. Think hyenas who’ve just spotted a particurly slow gazelle – pure, unadulterated arrogance."Ooooh, scary!" the wiry Cloud ninja actually wheezed, reag up to dab a fake tear from the er of his eye. “Did you hear that, boss?” he choked out between giggles, “ ‘Face-pung!’ Wow. Groundbreaking tactical genius right there. We are just trembling with intimidation.” He then proceeded to double over in what was clearly inteo be a dispy of side-splitting mirth, though it mostly came across as slightly strained and possibly caused by his own internal ans being rearranged by his overly dramatients.“Seriously though,” he mao gasp out, struggling tain a sembnce of posure and failing miserably, "are those... threats even supposed to make us… worried? About you?” He snickered again, sharing this incredibly smug, ' you believe these s?' look with his leader. It ractically radiating off them, this thick, shimmering aura of self-satisfa. Clearly, they weren't used to a immediately bowing down to their obviously superior ninja awesomeness. It was almost endearing in its cluelessness. Almost.
