Starring:
Date: August 1, 2015
Summary:
Kyu is called out on a strange mission that turns out to be not-very official.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"A Mighty Sword - Kyuketsuki Down!"
Land of Fire
A mission! A mission! Yay~! And guess what, Kyu is in charge! The young Uchiha would get the orders to head to the main gates to meet up with his team, which are Nara Tatsuo and Inuzuka Shinobu. Obviously, this is gonna be an easy mission, right? They wouldn't send all these Genin just because Konoha is a bit short-staffed, right? Never! The day proves to be a nice and sunny one, too! Excellent. Perfect day to di- fall into a coma, right?
Kyu got word he was in charge of a team and was a bit surprised, but happy the Hokage was putting trust in him to make sure that this mission, whatever it is, goes smoothly! He gathers supplies, dons his usual cloak, and heads straight to the main gates. Once there he looks around, for the two he was familiar with. Whether they were there or not. If they weren't he waits patiently for them to arrive.
Tatsuo had heard he was going on a mission and had reported as instructed, arriving right after Kyu himself does. The young Nara looks around uncertainly. "Um…am I in the right place?" He asks uncertainly, apparently looking for someone else to be leading. Because, Kyu? C'mon!
Shinobu makes her way to the meeting place nervously, not sure if she's ready for a mission. Sure, the last one had been enjoyable, but she's never confident on these things. Kame is excited for her, at least, the pup leaping at Kyu to try and tackle him with a happy bark. Shinobu waves quietly to both, wondering what they all plan to do for the time being…
Kyu looks at Tatsuo and Shinobu when they both arrive, Kame's tackle connects, thrrowing him off balance, but Kyu holds the pup, petting her gently. "Uhm, yes Tatsuo-san. I'm in charge of this mission. We're all four going to be going to be going to a village to the northeast. We're supposed to investigate a recent string of murders. Why we're being sent is beyond me but, hey. This puts me one step closer to being a Chuunin. So I don't mind. But uhm, if you're both ready we can leave now."
Tatsuo blinks and then his mouth forms an 'o' as he understands. "Oh, okay…" he says finally before giving a little nod and hitching up his small backpack behind him. "I'm ready Kyu-senpai." He says, giving a little wave of greeting to Shinobu and Kame in return.
Shinobu nods a bit, definitely ready. Just not willing. Kame is both, though, even charging ahead despite not knowing where they're all going. Yip! ~Hurry up slow-pokes! We got a murder to investigate!~ she barks, Genjutsu allowing for the pair to hear her and understand her. Shinobu takes the rear for now, willing to keep an eye out (or rather, keep a nose in the air?) for any danger on the journey
The team, as they make their way to this village, would go forth, traveling at a hopefully steady pace. The village was about twenty miles from Konoha, so they probably should have gotten a cart if Kyu hadn't thought of such! Regardless, off they go! And there doesn't seem to be many issues as they travel down the road. Good weather, no incidents… Things are looking up!
Kyu nods when everyone says they are ready, and looks when Kame starts leading the way, at least he said northwest, therefore she should have a general idea of which way to go. Either way Kyu takes back the lead, unless Kame tries to keep the lead, and looks back at the others. He waits a moment to make absolutely sure the others are following before beginning to run, starting out as fast as he can without exhausting himself, but most likely adjusting his pace to be comfortable for the whole group as well. As the way there goes good, with no incidents, Kyu feels more confident! Today's mission is gonna be easy if things keep going like this. But they aren't there yet. Kyu would of course listen to any requests to take a break, unless they became too frequent and started slowing down the group. But the chances of that are slim, as is the chance of taking a break at all. They /are/ shinobi after all.
Tatsuo nods to Kyu at the question on whether or not they're ready. "Hai senpai." He offers again before following after Kyu when he starts running, keeping pace as best as he can though it's likely not quite as fast as Kyu can go. He doesn't request a break, he just keeps going, following along and trying to keep an eye on their surroundings as they head northsomething.
Neither Shinobu nor Kame scent much of anything. At least, nothing of note. Bears, deer, squirrels that Kame had the urge to chase… After traveling a good long distance, the team would find… Nothing. No sign of civilization anywhere. No village. Forest, certainly, and a small stream. But there was no clearing, and definitely not many signs of humans passing this way except to travel. Odd…
Kyu looks around a bit confusedly as he notes no signs of a village. It should be about here if the distance they told him was correct. Hmm, /was/ this even the right way? Kyu considers it for a bit, and sighs, "maybe it's farther ahead?" He comments out loud. He internally begins to panic. 'What if I went the wrong way? What if I misjudged the distance we've travelled? What if I'm leading everyone into a trap? What if this entire mission WAS a trap? What if there is no village?' Kyu considers these things as he keeps his eyes open, searching for ANY signs of a village, or even people passing by. If he manages to find someone travelling, regardless of who they are, he would apologize for bothering them but "I need to ask if there is a village nearby? Farther down the road maybe?"
Tatsuo just follows along and doesn't seem to notice anything is wrong as he goes along. When Kyu starts looking for people to talk to the boy just blinks uncertainly, tilting his head slightly as he watches. He turns his attention to their surroundings, just in case…
Shinobu focuses her chakra for now, sniffing around… Nope, she doesn't smell anything. She isn't sure what Kyu is looking for, but the girl is definitely not sure what they're supposed to be seeing, if they should be. There aren't any people nearby, though, so Kyu is a bit out of luck if he's looking for someone to ask directions of…. Kame barks everyone's worry. Yip! ~Are you sure we're going the right way?~
Well, it looks like Kyu's fears were correct in some way. There really was no village. This whole mission was a sham! Well, the plea was real, and it certainly seemed such. There was a genjutsu woven on whoever came out to check on the 'village', too, if the Hokage did such a thing. Regardless, now there are some shinobi out here… And they're gonna get rekt. Maybe. Someone from the trees throws three kunai at the trio!
Kyu's attention snaps up as kunai fly out at the group. "Watch out!" Kyu says as he shoves both out of the way, before reaching back to grab his kunai to attempt to deflect the one coming at him, but due to shoving the two out of the way, he is too slow, and the kunai sinks into his chest. He had used a subtle Genjutsu that makes… Whoever is throwing the kunai believe the two that were shoved aside were still there and about to be hit by the kunai, but when the kunai hits 'them', 'they' poof into smoke. Kyu wastes no time, activating his Sharingan and then focusing his chakra, something he should've done earlier. "Who are you?!" Kyu calls out to the trees as he watches them.
Tatsuo gets shoved and trips up a bit before he looks back to Kyu, a fearful expression on his face at seeing him hit by the kunai. "Senpai…" he says softly before looking to where the kunai had come from. He may not be able to see them right now but he saw where they came from at least. He makes a hand seal and water needles shoot out in a wide array in the same direction.
Shinobu ends up falling down completely, landing on her butt and watching Kyu get stabbed for saving her. The girl immediately feels guilty for not having reacted, and she gets up to watch Tatsuo send needles of water at the hidden enemy. Her nose is working a bit better now, it seems, especially now that the bad guys are moving. 'Three people…' she reports. 'Two o'clock and five o'clock…' she says through the communication genjutsu, dropping down to all-fours. Then she and Kame jump with a surge of chakra, turning into a mini-tornado as they spin at the enemy.
These men don't seem to get hit by the water needles, though when Shinobu and Kame run through, there are several cries of pain since the two drill through the earthen barriers that were put up. The pair come away muddy… And bloody. Good thing it isn't their own. One man springs out, the man who was just clawed up by Shinobu and Kame, even, and he makes a few handseals before launching a huge fireball at the Inuzuka pair and Tatsuo.
Kyuketsuki has problems of his own, as some rather tall guy wearing a wooden mask appears and slashes with a sword, his movements quick and accurate as he tries to strike Kyu down.
Kyu glances back at the others, that fireball… The Uchiha signature jutsu, Kyu's mind doesn't linger on that long, as a man appears in front of him. Kyu makes the clone seal and hops back, popping in an unstable clone of fire in his place. The clone ready to explode suddenly, and try to engulf the man if flames, but the second slash comes in, and Kyu's Genjutsu fails him, as a slash comes in Kyu had leaned back. But the sword strike was aimed a little farther back than Kyu had expected, and he gets cut anyways, to the man he appears to be in two places at once for a brief moment, both injured from the cut, before the Genjutsu ends and one of the two Kyu's fade out of existance. Kyu hops a ways back, "their chakra… There's so much." Kyu does handseals and takes a deep breath before spitting out two large fireballs, both aimed at the man with a wooden mask exactly what the other guy did.
Tatsuo blinks as the fireball comes at him and he makes a quick handseal before the fireball smacks into him. The clone explodes into water, some of it evaporating from the heat before Tatsuo is a little off to the side. His eyes narrowed, he makes another hand seal to quickly shoot off something a little more severe towards where the nastiness is coming from.
Shinobu ducks down and out of the fireball's way when she sees its flames aiming for her, and the girl flinches from the heat, but moves back close to Tatsuo so she's back-to-back with him. Better have some sort of protection, right? She needs to focus her chakra so she can illusion these guys out!
The man facing off against Kyu just dodges out of the way with ease, as does the man who had attacked Tatsuo and Shinobu. "Hmph… Die…" comes a voice that Kyu might recognize… And then the sword he holds in his hand turns into a blur, the attacks mixing with true ones and feints. Kyu would end up with a number of cuts on his body, just all over. Oh boy… Things might not be looking up for Tatsuo and Shinobu if this guy sets his sights on them.
Speaking of those two, they are both assaulted. One man on each. There's a fire-jutsuist that sends another ball of fire at Tatsuo after using his flames to avoid the water lances. Surprisingly, it worked well. Shinobu has an earth user on her own hands, and he starts sending a bunch of muddy bullets at the girl and her ninken.
Kyu hears the voice, and narrows his eyes. A voice he recognizes… He tries to distract the man with his best Genjutsu but that quickly gets taken from him as the first cut appears, the light of his Dream Feather jutsu flicking on then right back off. Kyu can't do anything against this guy! Slashes and cuts keep appearing, and Kyu can't tell the difference between the feints and real slashes! By the end of the barrage Kyu is bleeding, badly injured. Kyu says nothing, just grunts in pain. Kyu hops back as far as he can manage and does two seals, followed by four more. He doesn't really expect this to work, but he would not only use it on /the man/, but he'd try to use it on everyone there besides Tatsuo and Shinobu. If they succumb to it they'd feel a tingly tiredness flooding through their bodies, followed by it shooting into their heads, and causing them to black out briefly. Kyu, whether it works or not, calls out to the others. "Run! I'll try to keep their attention." Kyu quickly tries to put himself in the best position to try and block everyone from stopping the other two from fleeing. "Don't argue please, this will give me what I wanted, a way to be remembered! For giving up my life to defend others."
Tatsuo sees more fluff flying towards he and Shinobu and steps between the girl and the attacks, trying to use water to blast it all away. Too bad he's only partially successful. The mud bullets hit and it hurts, heck he might even have a few bruises or broken ribs! When Kyu gets hurt that just, well, it makes him angry. Really angry. And he never gets angry! "I'm not leaving you to die," Tatsuo says as he steps away from Shinobu towards the others and the cloak of Isobu starts to surround him. Still, it might be good if one of them gets home alive…"Shinobu-chan, Kame-chan, you should go…" because at this rate Isobu might just get loose.
Kame whines a bit, then yips, ~We're not leaving behind a friend!~ Shinobu nods, echoing both her partner's and her teammate's sentiments. The girl looks at Tatsuo when he suddenly has blue chakra around him. Or is it red? One or the other. Either way, he has a tail now. They don't really know what that means, though. Instead, they burst into action, seeking to kill the guys who had tried to take her friends down!
Genjutsu… is the bane of all people. Especially for the folks that are facing off against Kyu. They all fall victim to Kyu's genjutsu, which means they all end up getting clawed by Shinobu and Kame in one way or another. Perhaps it's a good thing they're under Kyu's genjutsu, though, as they aren't feeling any pain for now. Just wonderful oblivion.
Kyu looks at the other three… They won't run? He didn't want them to die… He didn't care if he did, but them…. 'I'll kill them first!' Kyu says in his mind, and does the same seals, and once again exhales two huge balls of fire, trying to position himself to get all of them in the flames, but most importantly, he's trying to incinerate the one with the sword. After firing both, he lands, and watches them, waiting for his Genjutsu to come to an end if they're still alive. Kyu's blood is dripping onto the ground, and he's shaking a bit from pain alone.
The single tail lashes angrily behind Tatsuo and, for once, he seems in full control. Apparently Isobu either doesn't disagree or doesn't want to bother for now. The water lances appear once more, shooting at whoever's closest in all their angry glory!
Spinning tornado of death! That's what Shinobu and Kame turn into when they attempt to take down the three men alongside their teammates. The girl and pup are almost hard to tell apart, as they had launched themselves off at the same time, /and/ they both seemed to be weaving between each other. Epic moves.
The trio succumb to the flames of he- I mean Uchiha. It's a shame… When the return to their bodies, they'll probably wish to be dead. It is, of course, a good thing when Tatsuo spears the fire-user through the guy. Then the neck. He ain't waking up… Shinobu is also to deal some good damage, taking down the earth user. And now she's all bloody and gross looking, and the same can be said of Kame. But hey, the team just took down the easy-kills! Sadly for the group, the masked man is able to break free from the Genjutsu thanks to that burning pain, and he avoids getting attacked more. The man's right hand is useless after those attacks, but he has his sword in his leg
The trio succumb to the flames of he- I mean Uchiha. It's a shame… When the return to their bodies, they'll probably wish to be dead. It is, of course, a good thing when Tatsuo spears the fire-user through the guy. Then the neck. He ain't waking up… Shinobu is also to deal some good damage, taking down the earth user. And now she's all bloody and gross looking, and the same can be said of Kame. But hey, the team just took down the easy-kills! Sadly for the group, the masked man is able to break free from the Genjutsu thanks to that burning pain, and he avoids getting attacked more. The man's right hand is useless after those attacks, but he has his sword in his left and is now striking out at Kyu. The sword is a bit awkward in his left, though, and he ends up smashing the flat of the blade against Kyu's head not once, but twice. Good thing he attacks properly when striking at Tatsuo and Shinobu! Otherwise he couldn't call himself a swordsman.
Kyu's Genjutsu kicks in just in time, and a glowing feather appears beside Masa, showering him in a warm light that relaxes him, and pulls his head to turn and look at it. The muscle relaxation causes the blade to pat Kyu on the face, more then slam into him. But the feather fades away, releasing Masa to hit him again. This hit feels solid, and should knock Kyu off balance but… It doesn't. Kyu seems unaffected by it. Suddenly the feather reappears, and does it all again, forcing him to look at it, unable to see where he's swinging. He finds his first swing meeting nothing but air, but the second swing… Hits something fleshy. And as soon as it hits the feather abrupty snaps out of existance, rather than fade. Kyu holds his stomach and drops to a knee. His vision is blurry, he's panting… And his bleeding is severe. The new cut right across the gut doesn't help, Kyu tries to make sure his insides stay in, and tries to focus on creating healing chakra, but just can't focus at all… Too much blood loss. Too much pain… His hand glows weakly, before flickering out again and again. He ignores what's going on around him, mostly because he can't focus on anything right now.
That tail flicks wildly as Tatsuo turns to see Kyu take the various cuts and he lets out a scream! No, it comes out as a roar of anger as water swirls around Masa in thing lines that then seek to lash out and bind the man before he can do anymore damage. "Shinobu! Kame! Get Kyu and go!" At least get them out of the way. If he can get this fool taken care of at least that would be…done.
Shinobu grabs Kyu and tries to escape with him, the girl actually following Tatsuo's command now. Because Kyu was injured and Tatsuo seemed like he was in charge. Of course, moving might not be a good idea… She and Kame tug Kyu away, and hopefully they aren't causing too much pain!
Masa just dodges out of the way before he realizes… They're getting away! He can't let that happen. He grips his sword a bit more secure, then pretty much blurs out of sight. He's a lot weaker than he should be after taking all those hits, but the man retains his speed. With the sword, he avoids the water coming at him and slashes at Kyu's legs, then at one of Shinobu's before slicing Tatsuo's arm. Enough to distract before he flees.
Kyu doesn't stop Shinobu from leading him, and keeps trying to heal himself as she pulls him. When Masa begins going fast, his enhanced perception allows him follow Masa, but barely. His eyes track his movements, and Kyu, despite the pain, despite the blood loss, despite his wavering chakra, tries to use a Genjutsu on him to make him miss, but he's too fast, and Kyu… Isn't exactly accurate with his chakra right now. He sees Masa come at him and make a quick slash… But it's so fast Kyu doesn't even feel it at first, he just notes he can't stand anymore and begins to fall. Just before his face connects with the ground, the pain registers, and then the thud of him hitting the ground. He stops moving entirely. His eyes close… He could be mistaken for dead right now… But his heart still beats faintly, and he continues to quietly breath, but his breaths are weak. His consciousness is clearly completely gone.
Tatsuo takes the hit as well, letting out another angry roar after Masa. But the man is fleeing, Tatsuo is hurt, and Kyu is even worse. He'll have to deal with the other problem later. For now…he has to help get Kyu back. Some of his wounds start to fade as the cloak does and the boy turns to run over to Kyu and Shinobu once the tail is gone. "Senpai!"
Shinobu panics when Masa's scent is suddenly close to her… And then gone. There's a searing pain in one of her legs, and it felt like it was just chopped off again even though she tried to dodge. Instead, her leg just buckled under her. No good! The girl stumbles where she is and lands on her rear, fear apparent in her face. She also looks pretty close to tears, especially upon seeing that both Tatsuo and Kyu were badly injured. Fortunately, the swordsman didn't attack Kame. Otherwise Shinobu would be really upset. The girl trembles a bit as she stands, her breathing already starting to get uneven as tears start to fall. Shinobu fumbles with a pouch of medical supplies, wishing she knew more about medicine while she got some bandages to try and help her friends.
Kyu remains unresponsive. He's gone completely and unquestionably unconscious. Shinobu's medical supplies do help lessen Kyu's bleeding, as well as he does have his pack of medical supplies, and enough bandages to cover his entire body twice over. Despite this, Kyu's blood quickly soaks any bandages placed on the wounds. It's clear he needs as close to immediate medical attention as he can get. He may last the trip back to the village, but barely… The bandages and any other first aid are helping lengthen the time he has before he'll bleed out though. Also of note, the worst wound is on his stomach, and the next worst is a deep slash across his calves, deep enough that it had cut through both the gastrocnemius, and the soleus. Even if Kyu did wake up, he couldn't walk. Not without surgery and Medical Ninjutsu, as well as a decently long recovery time… Though… He might not wake up any time soon.
Tatsuo's teeth grind as he sees the shape Kyu is in. Once Shinobu has him at least partially wrapped up the boy would have Shinobu help to put Kyu onto Tatsuo's back so he could carry him. He might get more blood on his clothes during the trip but his own wounds continued to close. He had to take care of senpai! He starts going as fast as he possibly can with the added weight.