Tsubaki slowly opened her eyes, becoming aware of the all-encompassing darkness that surrounded her. There was a strong smell of earth, that musty organic smell that was neither pleasant nor distasteful. The air was warm and humid and verging on stale. How long had she been down here anyway? And why? Her head suddenly hurt something awful, reminding her as to the why. So now the question was why had she awoken so suddenly? She was alone, that much was certain. So whatever it was must have been above her. She reached out her hand blindly into the pitch blackness and concentrated. There was a commotion above, presences moving in an aggressive fashion. An attack perhaps? She was no sensor type so she could not be more accurate than that. She allowed her arm to fall back to her side. Tsubaki sighed. Time to earn her keep.

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The principle advantage of subterranean jutsu was their ability to mask a ninja’s presence even from sensor types, never mind normal ninja no matter how observant and there were very few exceptions to that rule. Which was why the Konohagakure ninja did not perceive her approach as he readied his blade to strike down a defeated enemy sentry. Ideally Tsubaki would have used [i]Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique[/i] to disable him at once, however that technique required direct contact and the sentry didn't have that kind of time. So Tsubaki opted for a less direct approach. Instead of a direct attack the enemy ninja felt the earth directly beneath his feet start to give way, stone cracking and mud turning to fine sand. He had no choice but to leap away to avoid being sucked to his death beneath the earth.

[i]Earth Release: Antlion Technique[/i], a jutsu that creates a sinking pit of earth reminiscent of the trap created by the insect that shares its name. Tsubaki didn't need much chakra for such a small pit. Any larger and she would have drawn the sentry in as well. However she was not done yet, the sentry was still in danger and the invader was still active. Active and aware that someone was beneath him. Before he could react further she burst out of the ground in front of him, his vision obscured momentarily by a hail of dust, stone and sand. He expected an attack and prepared to meet it. But nothing happened. The dust cleared a moment later to reveal that not only was there no one attacking him but that the injured sentry was gone. He was alone, slightly confused and covered in dirt. Elsewhere an equally confused ninja came back to his senses in the relative safety of an alley, covered in a fine layer of dirt.