Starring:
Meruin (as himself and emitter), Kurohana, Onimitsu, Sekisetsu, Takeshi
Date: December 10, 2010
Summary:
A group of Kirigakure ninja were assembled for a mission to bring retribution from those who'd attempted to steal valuables from Kirigakure's research department. This one is simple, wholesale slaughter.
"A Tribute To Thievery"
Blood Marshes
Here in the blood marshes, the bloodied mists wind through the foliage, further dampening the senses already brought to a lower level by the sheer lack of light that reached the forest floor through the canopy. What was obviously an Okumo chuunin stood here in uniform, a large spider spread across the whole of his back. He looked pale and gaunt, fangs peeking just slightly from his mouth. More vampyric than anything else. When he spoke, though, he sounded nothing if not robust. Heedless, even.
"All assembled, take heed. There were thieves that invaded Kirigakure's research and development building, attempting to get away with certain valuable biohazards. We've recently hemmed them in to a circular area a half mile further in this direction. Other than Meruin, I have no idea why any of you were chosen, so don't ask. Consider it politics. The objective is, simply, to go to them and kill the offenders. One, though, should be kept alive, if at all possible. And it is. So do it."
Meruin stood by his side, silently watching the others, his dim form wraithlike.
Spiders. Kurohana seemed mildly preoccupied with staring at the large one on the chuunin's back, her nose crinkling slightly. Ew. Chills run down her back. The jounin smiles, wondering why she was called as well. It's not likely for someone incredibly powerful to be involved in something like this, but eh.. She needs the exercise.
Hearing the speech, Sekisetsu would say, "Yeah, yeah.. People stoll stuff, so we kill them.. Blahblahblah.. Can I burn something now?" She would look to everyone else, and sigh.. "Hope I even get the chance.. All these damn ninja.. Its like a freaking festivale around here." She would mutter this, along with some curses about what Kurohana was wearing, and how Onimitsu smelled today, before she would wait on Takeshi to take the lead. She'd follow him.
The brave… The bold… And the Blunt… These three things in Onimitsu eyes summed up just about everyone assembled in the blood marshes, but himself. What in the world made him think such of the motley crew assembled is anyone's guess. All that is understood was that he would keep such thoughts to himself until pushed to the edge. One could only hope that wouldn't be the case though.. "Sekisetsu", The armored genin warns "lightly" before stepping forward. "Any last coordinates, or do you expect us to trudge through these marshes with reckless abandon?"
"Follow Okumo Meruin. He's tethered to the enemy to locate them without a problem. And don't die," is all the chuunin offered. The spider along his back spread it's limbs, flaring them in all directions, and the man vanished into the blood-tinted mists.
Meruin then turned around. "They'll be ready for us," he warned, before dashing off into the darkness of the forest. He wove through the forests, taking his time, to make sure that the others behind him could follow along with as little trouble as possible. It was around six minutes of travel before the half mile was traversed and a clearing was entered.
There was just as little sunlight and just as much mist as there had been outside of the clearing, but here a phosphorous slime of some sorts seemed to adorn the trees around the empty space, and the floor glowed yellow with the stuff. On it stood a group of somewhere around 50 people, all spread out.
"They're here!" called one of them, needlessly, as all had turned at the Okumo genin's entrance.
"If you must use your flames, attempt to avoid creating an explosion that kills us all or burning the forest down around us," was said by the eight year old Meruin as the crowd of people rushed towards him and the group with enough speed to denote a likelihood of some manner of ninja training.
Kurohana follows Meruin quietly, her eyes shifting between them all as they traverse the swamp. Once they arrive, she pauses, lingering back in a tree and focusing. She waits to see what the others will do first. This isn't her mission to direct. She is merely a participant.
Sekisetsu would turn and see Meruin running, and say, "Hey!! Wait for me!!". Guess that mean't she wasn't waiting on Teshi. Meanwhile, Sekisetsu would see Kurohana moving in and then stopping. She'd fume. "Lazy old witch.", would be said under her breathe as she would then handseal, looking to the first three uglies she would see at the gate. All they would see soon after, is her, stopping, and moving her arms straight out at them. Within moments, Kikaichu, would come swarming out, and at them, disguising there vision for a while.
Onimitsu snorted briefly at the chuunin's words of "encouragement" before being forced to rapidly dash after Meruin. Along the way he slited he unsheathed Yoshimitsu, slit his thumb along the blade, then drew the bleeding appendage across the kirigakure symbol along one of the pauldrons. Within moments the hidden seal beneath them activate and increased his strength ten-fold; making it all the more easier for his first wave of attacks meant to not to simply cut, but cleave them in half should the strikes hidden admist basic clones be effective enough. Inbetween moving between his targets he calls out, "Hang further back! Ensure no escapes!!"
Two of the three thieves Sekisetsu threw her arms at suddenly stumbled, drawing themselves up short with shouts of confusion as a horde of Kikaichu flew at them, the flying insects swarming them and obstructing their view. They shouted in alarm and started swinging to disperse the insects.
One of the men's arms hit one of their allies, sending him into a sideways stagger. He shook his head and looked up to find himself in a tumultuous covering of Onimitsu copies. He looked this way and that in alarm before, trying to defend himself from each clone's attacks. Suddenly, one of the blades proved to be true, and he fell to the ground, his stomach seperating from his legs. A scream sounded, ringing as Onimitsu's blade found another victim.
The screams seemed to rouse the thieves, sending up a roar of their own, this one filled with ddesperation and battle lust. It was still almost fifty on five, afterall. With these thoughts in mind, they attacked. Those who ran fastest reached the group first. A thin man, quick in movement, raised his cutlass, standing before Kurohana. He raised it in a feint, the blade glinting in the dull light, before be dropped it and spun, slicing across the woman's stomach.
A teenager, no more than fifteen, reached Sekisetsu, who was half his age, and attempted to smash her face in with spike knuckles of iron. A bear of a man with a maul, rose before Onimitsu, waving the giant hamemr side to side, crashing through the swarm of clone Onimitsu created. One swing happened to find the real one in it's flight path.
As for Takeshi, a trio of Kunai were thrown from the masses — from the same direction. A single man. Standing nearby Takeshi, another man reached him. He seemed to be a pugilist, throwing a swfit to punches to the eight year old's face before spinning to send a heel to his temple.
Meruin's head slipped from side to side, evading the swift combo of punches with ease, seeming to watch them pass by. The kick, though, took him completely off-balance, and clipped him in the head, sending him spinning. He spun little, though, soon planting himself and throwing himself forward. He leapt and spun, his talons sent towards the pugilist's throat and he continued past, running towards the others. His arm lashed forward and a shuriken whirred forward, largely unaimed. Long and pale, dripping with a caustic poison, he began a dance of death, letting the acidic silk fly at all of those he passed.
Kurohana glances upward at the man with the cutlass, the murky water jerking upward in ribbons to defend her. She smiles liftly as the weapon repels off her defense and lifts her hands to form a set of seals.
Lifting one, water forms around the appendage in the shape of a large lance. Kurohana throws it at the thin man, intending to knock him back into the trees and likely break his ribs.
He looks important enough, however, to keep. The kunoichi tugs the ribbon from her pack and winds it briefly around her fingers. "This one will do, yes?" With a flick of her wrist, she attempts to bind his body, pretty sure that her water jutsu hasn't killed him yet.
Just when Seki would see her own attack working, she would be bitter that she missed one.. She was going for three for three. Fuming, hand seals would blaze as she would try and make good on getting them all. Interruption from that damn kid and his frying pan, would save the day though. "Eeeeeee!!!!", would proceed KABONGGGGG!!!, metal from pan would hit an iron flavored scroll. Mmm… metally. "What are you?? The cook??", would be shouted as the girl would body flicker to another angle, and go for an attack from the air. She wanted all four in one swoop it seemed. Weapons would assault from the air, as they would release from the girls scroll, and seek to stab, maim, bruise, break, or otherwise, all four targets. Whether the weapons assault failed or not, the game had only begun. From each weapon, hung explosive tags. All were good for a nice sized boom.
'Satisfactory' Yoshimitsu seemed to hummed in Onimitsu mind, but is paid little head in the wake of the sound of mini-explosions going off behind him. Reacting purely by instinct, he spun around and tried to deflect the sweeping blow in a display of skill and silver glow; giving him the appearance of a hero! Sadly, this hero was not as powerful as he expected, and was swept aside just as easily as his copies and landed in a crumbled heap against a tree. That is after cutting through three other ones first that toppled soon after he passed forcefully through them. "uuuuugh…what was the name, of that, wagon…that hit me?"
Three minutes later, Onimitsu manages to stagger back to the battlefield with ribs barely mended thanks to little light healing. Excess energy is built up if given the chances too.."
The pugilist in front of Meruin stiffened as the boy slit his throat, creating a sanguine river down his chest. He fell and the shuriken thrown by the Okumo also sunk into an enemy, though it struck his thigh, bringing him to a knee. He soon staggered back to his feet but was severely hampered. As for the whipping silk, Meruin's blows seemed to fall just inches short as any he tried to attack jerked away from the blows. A woman with a long ponytail swerved to meet him, Moving in with swift slices of her twin daggers
Kurohana's man grimaced as his attack was deflected, and the thing that'd protected his foe quickly turning into a lance and heading his way. He threw himself to the side in an attempt to avoid the attack, but it clipped him. He was sent to the ground, Kurohana's bindings finding him and holding him still. He growled in frustration as a pair of men leapt over him, running straight towards Kurohana. One flashed through handseals and water of the swamps lifted, shaping itself into a whip and striking at the woman. The other dived into a sliding tackle, aiming to take her feet out from under her.
The spray of tools sent off by Sekisetsu never happened. Either a mistake was made somewhere or there was a problem with the scroll, as the attack never took place, the explosions after them therefor unable to take place.
As Onimitsu reentered the tumult, a couple of thieves noticed. These seemed competent and resigned to their fate. The two flew through handseals and compressed balls of wind darted towards Onimitsu.
The Okumo jerked his form to the side, the first dagger's swipe flying wide. Meruin's body immediately moved the other way, and a thin cut opened up on his hip — insignificant besides a slight sting, perhaps. He pivots and twirls, the caustic whips flying at her to brush her a few times in his rotation. A crowd of spiders flies from him, then, rushing towards the thieves to swarm and bite indiscriminately.
Kurohana jerks on the wires, pulling them taunt around her prisoner's body. As the other two attack, she's slowed, having to quickly cast the wires off to one hand. A single hand lifts up, forming a series of one-handed seals and the water belatedly rises up in the form of a sturdy wall. The first attack gets her though, causing the kunoichi to stumble back a step or two.
The jounin growls softly, standing upright and tightening her grip on the prisoner, pulling his body closer to her own. She swats a hand through the air, black petals lifting upward to attempt creating a genjutsu link between herself and them. Then, she would quickly form another one-handed seal, intending to invade their minds and send both to the ground in screaming, imagined agony.
Another life lesson is learned in the scant seconds it takes for Onimitsu to turn towards the ninjutsuist: To exceed the limits of human capabilities ALWAYS requires a sacrifice. In the case of the armored genin that would mean having pieces of armor and flesh of his arm rended as he lept to the side away from the cojoined attacks. Yoshimitsu of course was not pleased by this, and thus flooded his minded with such barbaric thoughts that Onimitsu could not resist. Not fully at least, nor enough to stop himself from taking hold of the blade speeding forward with the intent to rend them in half with each pass he makes.
"Huh??", would be the Sekisetsu reply to numerous jabs to her scroll, and nothing happening. She'd practically jab a hole into the paper before realizing two things.. One… She was still falling from the air, from a really high altitude. And Two… The activation seal for the release, was on the /other/ side of the scroll. She was trying to activate it from the /wrong/ side.. "Wwwwwwaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!", would be said, as she would freefall, only to land on the only guy that was still alert. Of course before she landed, Sekisetsu would realize that he was there, he was no longer just the dude that would cover her fall.. He was still a target.
Tags, with flicks of both hands, would reveal long, and slim sheets of paper. With a charge of chakra, the sheets would harden, and soon have the sharpness of freshly made kunai. With her landing, a slight of hand would seem to leave one in the man's neck, and abdomen. All the while, her body would have landed into this guy pretty hard. As she would stand, the now perturbed Sekisetsu, would have been much pissed.. Flame would envelop the girl, even as she stood paused on top of the guy she landed on, revealing she was now in her Oni Netsugan form.
Takeshi was actually asleep just outside of the battle area, typical old man stuff. Of course, leave it to the old man to show up just as he sensed someone needed it. With a yawn, he stands up on the area just outside of this battlefield and yawns loudly, "You all are too damn loud." He stumbles a bit, almost falling backwards before regaining his balance and starting to stumble forward. "Bah, you're all crazy. You still fighting these thugs?"
There's another loud yawn as he lazily surveys the battlefield, scratching his butt in the meantime. Eyes jaunt to each person in turn and he identifies the one in most need. A final yawn, louder than the rest, and he lowers his arms. A flash of speed and the guy underneath sekisetsu gets a palm full of PWNZ. If that wasn't enough, assuming it hits him at all, or moves him which was Takeshi's real purpose, he'd do a little twist and bull rush the guy with his punch, enough force to send him flying if it hit.
Then he'd stand, right underneath his niece and she'd land on his shoulders without any fuss. "Tha's right, leave my niece alone ya bast'rds. Else'n'imma'jus'av'ta kick sum butt." A massive thumbs up towards his favorite niece.
The dagger-wielding woman was swifting, ducking under and around Meruin's lashings, avoiding them entirely, and not appearing too taxed with the effort. All around ran from the spiders, their fleet feet taking them just out of reach of the small creatures.
The man beneath Sekisetsu was blindsided by Takeshi's pwning palm to the stomach, knocking the wind from his body and the wits from his mind. The fist that followed slammed into his face, literally caving it from the force of it, leaving blood on the Kaguya's knuckles. He went flying backwards into the crowd of thieves around them.
As Onimitsu rushed in to strike at the two ninjutsuists who'd taken his attention, the wind stirred at the beck of their handseals, and it whipped around, the air guiding Onimitsu's strikes away from their bodies. It might be noticed, by the end of the assault, that only one was defending for the two and the other was going through hand seals for an offensive maneuver.
Suddenly, though, nearly the whole group of thieves sent of bloodcurdling screams and fell to their knees, holding various body parts as their minds told them that their body was rotting and sloughing off of their forms. Kurohana had much success from her genjutsu. Five, however, stood unhindered by the assault, all of their eyes turned on the genjutsuist. Two of them were the ninjutsuists that Onimitsu faced, another was the giant with the maul. The other two were women, one whipcord lean and nearly primal in appearance, the other holding herself with a stately air.
Five on five, now, the match was even. Immediately, the regal appearing woman sought to change this, silently whipping through hand seals. Blades of wind flew outwards from her, swift and harsh, aimed at every opponent. There was an obvious focus on Takeshi and Kurohana, however, as though she perceived them to be her greatest threats.
Meruin arched a brow as the woman in front of him suddenly dropped to her knees with a shout after avoiding his attacks. As so many others did the same, he looked around in wariness. It was with a suddenness that the blades of wind shot out at him and the others. His arms lifted to protect his face and covered themselves with a black chitin, the hard shell helping t protect him some as he was bombarded and sent to his back from the attack.
Immediately, he moved to escape such a vulnerable position. He rolled backwards, and platinum silk shaped like spider legs shot out of his back — four of them, lifting him high. He vanished, and he reappeared next to the woman who looked nearly animalistic in her posture, one of his spider-leg shaped constructs being sent her way.
Kurohana seems to fades from existence, her body seeming to halt a few feet away, still clutching her captive and groaning from the pain that seeps into her limbs. She grits her teeth and focuses on the one who attacked her, the water lifting from the murky swamp. It forms into one of those lances again, directed to the one that hurt her. Meanwhile, the others would feel her chakra twisting into their systems again, attempting to inflict their minds to the point of immobility.
'Feel…nothing..ness' Over the screams of complete agony, Onimitsu registers another voice. Expansive as oblivion itself, yet filled to the brim with a prescence he hasn't truly felt since first yanking free Yoshimitsu from the lifeless corpse of it's predecessor. '…Enough…' He needed no further prompting from the semi-sentient katana. Only luck and the focus necessary to carry out pushing his body, neh, his heart past it's limits by pumping up the dosage in all parameters of adrenal before breaking ahead of the group. Of course there was that small regret in the back of his mind that he would be leaving behind sekisetsu in the process, but with Take-kuma-san finally getting off his lazy butt to help. Well. Things should be getting a little easier.
Unfortunatly rushing ahead as he did put him between a rock and hard place thanks to the need to avoid Kurohana's swamp lance and the blades of wind from their leader; leading to the latter bitting deep into his other armor. Yoshimitsu glowed crimson…
Between a blur of clones and the armored human tornado the hammer guy followed by the one who hit him (should he manage to take down the hammer guy) both would suffer at his hands. His placement between them near the end made it also nigh impossible for them to hit him without risking injuring eachother.
"Man.. I still can't believe you were sleeping through this, ya old buzzard..", would be said under muttered breath, as she would smile and wave back appreciatively to Takeshi. She'd look down at the poor guy that took his menacing blows of PWN, and wince. Did this guy honestly deserve this much? "Che! When I see fist.. I run! You should have moved ya bastard." Apparently, Seki thought so. Anyway.. Kiri seemed to be on the winning side, and up until now, the thieves they fought, seemed to stand little chance. However, it would come to an impasse. The 'leaders of this thing were really deciding that they just could not take any more of the bull, and the biggest attack thus far, would be launched.
Seki would feel wind, and thus, would seem to get that bad feeling something dangerous would come. The lost faith in her scroll techniques, would seem to not stop her, as a large portion of it would laid across it with the quickest of reactions.. Her hand would touch down onto the seal, only after hand seals would have been moved through, just moments before the attacks initial release. The blast would seem to make contact, only due to a cloud of dust and debris that would be carried up. But when all had cleared, a small little blond imp, would be seen surrounded by dozens of 5 foot tall shield, octagonal, and bronzed, linked in formation almost like a Roman Legion!!
From within, Sekisetsu, was still sealing, and before long, a nice distraction would be launched at this group, who unlikely, would not expect the descent of a large, fiery tornado, from the air above them, coupled with a single command from this devil child.. "BURN!!!!!!"
The animalistic woman whipped around just before Meruin appeared there, her senses telling her of his presence qith a swiftness. She shifted to the side, avoiding the strike that was sent her way in a single supple motion. Sidestep completed, she lifted a leg in an almost lazy manner, sending a kick towards Meruin's raised chin, foot stretching high despite her staying nearly upright.
The woman of apparently regal origin, her attack just finished, whipped her arm out, a longsword coming into her hand. She brought it in front of her between herself and the water lance. The liquid attack struck the blade and was diverted by it, but only partially. It struck her in the shoulder, dislocating it, and she gave a pained grunt, stumbling to one knee. Suddenly, a column of fire struck from the sky, landing directly on the woman, lighting this dark place. Any screams she might have made were drowned out by the shriek of flames.
The giant of a man turned towards Onimitsu as he was approached by the samurai and his horde of clone. He frowned slightly and his eyes flickered downwards, scanning the masses. 'Where….? There.' With the real Onimitsu's feet being the only one that made depressions into the yellowed, elastic slime that covered the ground. He brought his hammer before him, deflecting Onimitsu's attack and keeping him from going after the woman.
It was as though the flame around the woman of high standing and her possible screams had been a message between them all. The ninjutsuists that Onimitsu left behind went through hand seals. The giant of a man lifted his maul and sent it crashing down, lifting a huge wave of the phosphorous slime and accompanying debris. It was immediately picked up by the winds the pair of wind-ninjutsuists had conjured, and it created a maelstrom that blinded the eyes and assaulted the senses for a time, the force of the gale blowing out the flames of Sekisetsu's attack like a candle.
The movement ended abruptly, and the five were gone, leaving the strewn bodies of dead and dying bodies of comrades around them. And, of course, the prisoner that Kurohana had seen fit to take at the start.
