The takedown had taken mere seconds. Booted ninja swarmed in--how could only three men seem like so many?--before Genma could pull himself together. He'd called up chakra, forcing aching, bloodless fingers into seals. He'd seen Raidou doing the same, when the greasy-haired ninja landed on him with a hiss.

For a wild moment Genma's eyes connected with Raidou's, as they both struggled to put chakra into play. Then the weasel-faced ninja knocked Raidou senseless, and the big man in the doorway--Sago--flicked his fingers almost causally. Genma fell convulsing as the jutsu hit him, thrashing limbs against cement, soaking bandages with fresh blood.

When the jutsu-induced seizure passed, he found himself gasping for breath again, at the mercy of Sago's boot, which ground relentlessly against his neck. Unable to move.

Raidou's eyes were wide, his bloodied lips parted as he dragged in air. He'd stopped fighting.

Don't give up! Genma wanted to scream. The pressure on his windpipe kept the words from forming.

"Maybe your handsome friend here will be more cooperative that you were, plum blossom," Weasel said. He and Greasy-hair hauled Raidou up onto his knees and snapped the former ankle restraints around his wrists.

The fourth rogue Mist ninja appeared in the doorway with a collapsing table. He set it up as if preparing for tea.

Sago nodded at him, then stepped behind Genma, wrenching him up and throwing him across the small table. "You can't move, can you? I designed that jutsu. It's a good one."

Genma shivered.

Sago bent over his chest, picking through his tools.