Starring:
Date: June 12, 2015
Summary:
Atorei, Hige, Hikaru, and Shinobu are on a simple patrol when things start going crazy…
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Bad Nature - When Trees Attack"
Land of Fire
It was suppose to be a simple task. A routine patrol of the land of Rice with the Land of Fire. Hige was told to lead point for that group, the mix of genin with him showing that there wasn't any trouble suspected for that patrol. They were on day 3 of 5, walking along that boarder when both of the Inuzuka kin would perk up, then immediately start growling. Something was close, something with a really bad scent to it. It didn't stink.. no.. it was more just.. bad. They wouldn't be able to describe it much beyond that as it was just a sensing. Atorei held his pace with the others. They were acting odd, but Atorei didn't know that this was really different than normal anyways.
A simple patrol is still something not to be taken lightly. Hige learned that a long time ago. And even if nothing happens it's still good to always be prepared and to make sure that the others with him get the experience from the trip. However things change when that strange scent arrives. Hige and Konsho exchange glances before raising a hand to stop the others. "Something's…not quite right," he says, eyes narrowing slightly as he looks and sniffs around. No growling here though. Hige only growls when he's mad and Konsho…well he's like the happiest puppy in the world.
Hikaru was glad to be on a simple patrol and not another dangerous recon… Until Hige stopped them. He had a sinking feeling in his gut, followed by a spike of adrenaline. 'You've got to be kidding me,' he thought as he raised his guard, staying very still and using all his powers of perception to try and sense what was going on. Not that his senses could in any way compare to those of the Inuzuka pair which accompanied him. Glancing to Shinobu, he nods slowly. They both remembered what had happened when they went looking for Recluse. He hoped today wouldn't be another close call.
Oh, a mission! Likely one of the first since she became a Genin, though it wasn't the first she's been on. Shinobu keeps relatively close to Hige on the mission unless ordered otherwise. Her senses, whether intentional or not, are on high alert while out and about. The only thing she does when she catches the scent is narrow her eyes and give a glance to Hige. Kame's reaction is similar, and she gives a yip to everyone as a sort of warning right with Hige. The only reason the group could understand Kame is if they allowed a genjutsu from Shinobu.
Atorei would stop at Hige's motion, blinking, he'd focus himself and gather that chakra, the two tomoe whirling into existance in his eyes as he'd sweep the area intently. For those without special senses (Hikaru), it was finally sensed. A dark energy, it could be chakra, but yet not related to that, was coming towards the group. Finally breaking into the clearing ahead of them, a rather large.. well.. tree.. was walking their way. It was easily towering at 30' tall and each movement of the tree stirred those around it, they seemed to be.. glaring at the group as it'd trod onward. It'd probably step on someone if people didn't move away.
Atorei would freak out a little, staring up at the tree thing. The dark presence, that dark energy that had tripped the nin-kin up first, was almost palataple to everyone now. Atorei backed into a tree away from the one approaching them, only to have that tree try to grab him. He'd squeak and stumble back towards the others. "we-we-we-we're.. surrounded?"
Hige and Konsho remain unmoving as the giant tree comes into view and others start following after it, surrounding the group. Now this is…interesting. "There's something rather evil about all of this," Hige muses, semi-feral eyes moving down to look around them to try and find out the who or what is making this happen. "Everyone be on guard. If these things decide to attack then we'll fight back. Watch each other's backs." He glances back towards Shinobu, Kame and Hikaru, "I want you three to stick together, got it?" He looks back towards the trees then and seems to consider the things, sniffing around to try and catch a whiff of anything a little more…human.
Hikaru couldn't believe what he was seeing - a walking /tree/? 'What the conifer kind of magic /is/ this?' he found himself thinking, no longer immune to the wave of sick-feeling energy which emanated from the forest. At Hige's order to stick together, Hikaru nods firmly. That seemed like the best idea he'd heard all day. He shifted one step towards Shinobu and glanced at Kame. It was clear things were not looking so good. "I've got you," he whispered, staying alert. It seemed that even the trees behind them were reacting to the presence, as one of them moved to try and snag Atorei. Things were getting crazier every day, around Konoha.
Shinobu watches with a wide eye when the tree was … moving?! Trees aren't supposed to move! The girl backs over towards Hikaru, nervously grabbing at Kame for a bit of comfort. She can move like this, honest! Her own voice goes through the genjutsu quietly. 'Scary… And it smells weird…' Kame, able to look around while her partner focuses on the tree, yips, ~Why're they all moving? I don't like this!~
Atorei was seperate from the others, so he was what the large tree targeted. That massive top creaking with the scream of wood bending like it never actually would, as it'd come down towards the Uchiha. Atorei squeaked and pulled a scroll, suddenly having a rather large boulder appear with a *POOF* between him and the tree. The tree's top bounced off the rock, the branches thrashing towards the others with that crushing motion of the massive limbs, before it'd straighten back up. Atorei scrambled up on top of his rock. "H-h-hige-san.. We-we-we can't.. use fire. It'll.. b-b-b-b-burn the forest down.. H-h-how do we take down a tree??" Atorei was barely keeping it together it seems. Much like the others this was something crazy wrong going on.
As a note, right now the whole forest seemed focused on them.. there was no scent of humans around, other than the group.
Hige and Konsho shift to the side, letting the tree limbs smash the ground between them. The teen frowns thoughtfully as he regards the tree, then the surrounding trees as well. "Focus on this walking creature. The other trees didn't start moving until it came, so if we take it down it might just stop affecting the others." He drops to all fours next to Konsho then, considering carefully. What he wouldn't give for a water user right now. "If you can use controlled bursts of fire at the walking tree do it. We'll deal with a larger fire later if it comes to it." With that the Inuzuka duo are on the move, running and launching themselves at the tall tree before spinning and coming at it from either side, ready to drill through the thing.
Hikaru gasps as the tree branches come after him, and he scrambles to try and dodge them - but he just isn't quick enough. Just when he feels like all hope is lost, he feels a sudden strong push collide with his side, and he is shoved further away. When he looked up, he saw Shinobu, and though he was grateful for them help, now he was concerned about /her/. And what sort of shinobi was he anyway if he had to be rescued by a 9-year-old girl?! Clenching his jaw, he stood up, determined to make /some/ sort of difference, and charged at the walking tree, making his hand seals and quickly shooting off a lesser fireball in its direction. Screw burning the forest down - if he was quick, the fire would never even reach the forest.
Well, it wasn't so much that Shinobu had saved Hikaru as… She had jumped in the wrong direction… Her powerful dodge out of the way knocked Hikaru away from his attack, but it meant she took the brunt of the damage from the attack that the trees launched. Owwie! The girl rubbed her leg that happened to get crushed by the tree, not moving to attack right now. She wasn't even sure if her attacks would be useful! And Hikaru is spitting out fire, so she needs to be careful of that… Kame, uninjured since she was in Shinobu's grip, hops out of her partner's arms and crouches down, performing a Tsuga on the nearest tree that dared hurt Shinobu!
The Tsuga and Gatsuga slam into the tree, shaking the branches, but where most wood would give way to such impact this.. did nothing. Then the fire hit. The tree groaned darkly, a low sound that was akin to a keening wail emitted from the center of the tree as it'd start to flail about. That fire was spread to all of the other trees, each one affected by the fire would take up the same wail, the sound increasing in volume quickly. Atorei had almost added to the flame, then paused, at seeing what's happening. "Uh.. oh.." Atorei glanced to the others, pulled a scroll and hopped down off the boulder while unfurling it. That scroll would have a good portion of a cave *POOF* into existance above them, stopping the tree from being able to hit the shinobi and the stone resistant to the fire! "We-we-we n-need to get that fire.. out.. Any ideas..?"
Hige watches as the fire starts to spread. Can't say it was entirely unexpected, but considering the controlled blast that fire sure did spread fast. "If anyone has some kind of water technique now would be the time," Hige shouts to the group as he looks around, taking in where the fire is and how it's moving thus far. If they can't find some way to put it out then it would simply become damage control. Regardless he needed to make sure the large tree went down, and quickly now. Hige and Konsho go at it again, trying to drill some holes through the thing while leaving the others to figure out what kind of water they might have handy.
Hikaru watched in horror as the tree purposefully stretched itself out to spread his fire /everywhere/. Well, that was just great. Now he would be responsible for burning down the forest. Growling with frustration, he watched as Hige and his nin-ken took care of smashing up the evil tree… But how the deciduous were they going to put out this fire?! The only kind of jutsu he had was - well - more fire. And in this situation, fighting fire with fire probably wasn't the best idea… Or was it? If he burned them enough, they would just reduce to ash - and ash was non-combustible. That was it! Mustering up all the chakra he could manage, Hikaru quickly weaved his seals and let loose his fireballs, intent on burning all of the affected trees to the ground - Hige and Shinobu could take care of smashing them when they were good and ready.
Shinobu isn't quite sure what to do. She tries to think, but she doesn't really know any ninjutsu. She can only cut things up. And using genjutsu on a tree probably wouldn't work, either… Or on fire, for that matter. So she just ends up sitting there and thinking. Kame works on destroying the tree with Hige, so that's something the pup can do. To Atorei, she wonders through the Genjutsu, 'Could you… get more walls? … to block the fire..?'
"Walls? Uh.. y-y-yeah.. I.. can do that.." Atorei would blink at Shinobu, before reaching into a pack. He'd pull out three scrolls, handing them to her. "Walls. They.. sh-sh-should work.. for.. that.." He'd pull out another scroll, putting it on top. "That is w-w-water. It has 20 gallons.. s-s-s-so use it carefully.. ok..?" Atorei would head outside of the cavern with Shinobu and Hikaru. The dogs and Hige were able to finally topple the tree, it crashed to the ground with a heavy THUD, the fire having burned through it like it was filled with fuel, instead of wood. Atorei would take a side and throw up a wall. From there he pulled another water scroll and tried to start putting out the fire that way. Hikaru was able to focus the flame in such a way to create that needed gap, ending the fire from spreading that direction as well. It looks like they may actually contain the fire, without doing too much damage to the forest!
Well so far Hige hasn't been much help, but then he's getting used to that. With the large tree burnt out and without any skill with water /or/ fire there's not all that much he can do to help at this point. He goes to monitor how the progression of the fire is going however and will topple down any new trees that start to catch fire so that they'll fall inwards and avoid burning anything else.
Hikaru grinned when the trees he targeted burnt until the flames completely died out, nearly jumping with excitement. He had done something! And with Atorei and Shinobu working together on the other side, Hikaru continues the work on his end, blowing his fireballs at the trees which were already on fire in an attempt to burn them all up. When the path on his side was clear, he looks over to Hige and then to the others with a grin. This was actually working!
Shinobu took the offered scrolls, moving off to opposite sides to start putting up walls with these scrolls. Except she didn't quite know how they worked… So in the end, the girl just put the scrolls down on the ground all open and send a bit of chakra through them to try and get them to POOF out a giant wall or something. Whether or not that activated them, she would do the same with the other three while Kame sniffed at the now-dead and burnt up evil bad-tree.
Working together, they finally managed to put out the fire without destroying the forest. bonus! Hige managed to kill the crippled tree, when it landed the rest of the woods immediately returned to normal. Burning. But normal. The three genin worked out a way to stop the fire, either by blasting it out with flame, or the walls and water to put it out. Hige and Shinobu would find that the bad odor that was around the tree is now basically gone. Shinobu is able to find a small part left behind that still has that scent, a bit of wood that didn't quite get charred out. It seemed innert, nothing to it. But that scent said it was still active. Atorei would join the others, his sharingan dropping with a blink of his eyes. "T-that.. was odd.. w-w-what.. do you think caused it?" Wouldn't that be the question to ask? They could head on their patrol to finish it, before heading back to turn in the report.
