Starring:
Oda, Feari, Kazumi, Hotaru, Amata
Date: November 1, 2014
Summary:
Bandits are still a threat in the Land of Water, but thanks to Oda being assigned as leader to a random group of shinobi, a little less bandits now exist.
"Bandit Culling: Knock Knock"
Land of Water
The dead of night, that's the set time for this mission. Oda was requested for the first time since his oaths were given to lead. Normally, he'd just be tagging along as an attache. Now, he's stuck in the front. As he walks as quietly as he can along the cut path, he's keeping a slow, slow pace. The reason he was is obvious.
He's waiting for the rest to catch up so he can brief them.
It wasn't long before Feari was right next to Oda, one of the many that were selected to join Oda while running his first mission. The man wasn't sure if he was to be grading the individual, making sure they were capable enough as a Chuunin or not, but as it currently stood, the Swordsmans mind was else where. Several thoughts racing about the group before them and how he could better enhance their appearance.
Idly along she walks, her hands working string between her fingers as she moves. Amata looks at the leader of this group, idly pondering him as she walks along. Her fingers press together again and she forms a cat's cradle between her fingers before she goes for another manuver and then states, "Well, hello." SHe nods her head to Oda, "Is this then your first leadership position?" She hmms and then blinks as she spots Feari. SHe sighs as she spots him before idly looking back at her hands and the wire she is playing with…the end of which seems to slide up her arm into the eye of the needle like blade.
Kazumi was perfectly fine with the time of day, though he wished he had taken a nap earlier on. As it was, he made his way to stand just behind the others. Well, walk… The group was… interesting.
'Look at you, teaming up with Swordsmen. Better be careful,' he heard in his head, causing a trickle of sweat to run down the side of his face regardless of the cool air. Gulping a bit, the boy raises a hand and makes his presence known, "G-good ev-evening. S-S-Suzuki… rep-porting in…"
Hotaru comes along, last of the pack. He's carrying his coffin behind him on his back with his coat tucked around his front and buttoned in a few places. He grips the chains a bit tighter, not looking too happy, but stops as he reaches Feari, Amata and Oda. He lifts a hand and says, "Genin medic in training, Hotaru. Ready to serve."
Oda was looking calm, frankly that's because he's always much more comfortable at night. He clinks quietly along a moment as Feari joins him. He knows only that Feari is a Swordsman…And that gives them something in common. He only has issues with Ishino, personally. As he hears the others catching up and introducing themselves as they arrive…he motions for them to keep following.
"Keep pace, keep quiet."
Oda's stern, and it's just how he was raised. Anyone who knows him in the village knows he's not mean.
"It's my first time running a team, but I'm not leading it due to how strong I am supposed to be."
As Oda keeps going, he clicks his fingers twice against the side of his sheath. He gives a friendly wave back though to Kazumi and Hotaru still.
"You two are going to be valuable, just remember to keep your heads down."
"We are hunting…We are to track down the last few remnants of the bandits. Earlier teams have done excellent work in wearing them down, but we have word that a few escaped to a nearby farming town. They are keeping discreet, but we have a heading on them and know they stand out pretty obviously…They also expect to be hunted. That's why we are doing this in the dark, and that's why I'm here."
Oda clicks his fingers twice again on his sheath.
"From here on, our mission details are deemed secret in terms of ability. The Mizukage is looking forward to the outcome."
It not only was a hunt, but a proper assassination mission of the bandits.
With the group assembling, Feari's eyes would scan those gathered and a smile would cross his face. He'd want to say something, speak up to those, but decides to remain quiet. Following along Oda's orders. He didn't know the current mission leaders abilities and level of strength, but could tell Oda was a fellow swordsman and that was something he could respect.
Keeping pace, but slowing back to walk along with the others, a smile and nod would be given to Amata and Kazumi before catching up to Hotaru. Seeing the teens unruly hair, in desperate need of a cut…Feari would give a signal between the kids hair and a kunai that appeared within the Swordsman hand to see if Hotaru would be ok for a impromptu haircut.
"Oh my." Amata states as Oda speaks up and she idly keeps working with the wire between her fingers, running along with them before she glances over to the other sand nodding to Kazumi specifically before she keeps mvoing along. She listens to the briefing before nodding idly and finally she seems to release the wire idly into the air and pulls forth the blade. Even as she does so, she is idly spinning it around her person by the wire, flicking it this way and that with ease before it slides into her hand and she chuckles as she moves along, she seems to have nothing ot add.
The pale hand of the pink-haired teen laid over his own mouth when Oda mentioned keeping quiet. He was a sensitive kid, so he did sort of look chastised, but his eyes gave a tentative smile once the wave was returned. Kazumi did his best to keep quiet, even if he wasn't particularly stealthy. His hand dropped and he gave an awkward smile in return to Feari as he followed after and listened to Oda. More of these bandits… ugh. Hopefully he wouldn't get beat up like last time… Just thinking about it made him reach up to scratch his chest and then arm, two places he'd gotten sliced up last time he dealt with these guys. Seeing Amata's nod, he tentatively, uncertainly nods back.
'If I didn't know better, sometimes I'd swear she touched you wrong…'
The words in his head elicit reddening cheeks, causing the teen's head to fall in an attempt to let his hair cover his face.
'That's certainly helping,' came the sarcastic thought.
Hotaru tilts his head, watching Feari pull the kuani and only shakes his head. He runs a hand through his hair and grins before listening to Oda and the mission. He could use a hair cut but instead of asking, he was told to keep quiet after all, he waves a hand, indicating later.
"Have any of you fought them before, if so please…speak up so we can know what to expect?"
Oda glances back a bit. He is already pointing ahead in the distance. Just barely through the trees, a single lit window is visible in a small hovel town. The pitch blackness of the new moon night was making it all but impossible to see, but that was also on their side. Oda does something he doesn't characteristically does…he leaps up and slams into a tree, grabbing on with a gauntlet and digs in to hang there so he can see further away.
"We wait here for a moment…Just keep voices down low and we are fine. There aren't scouts, I don't feel."
Feari would squeal with delight, hands clenched into fists and shaking before as Hotaru signaled for a haircut at a later time. Something the man would not forget. For now though, the kunai would disappear once again as he moved closer to Oda to respond to his question.
"I fought them." He'd reply gingerly. "Or I should say more correctly, I was there. Kazumi on the other hand fought a whole camp of them and their leader as well. He has your answers." Kazumi will love Feari for that glowing reference…
The signal to wait, Feari would do so, while gathering a bit of chakra as well. Unlike usual, Feari was already dressed for battle. Open trenchcoat exposing his torso while Samehada was wrapped in bandages and strapped to his back. He may even use the blade this fight, but it was unlikely.
MOving to halt beside the rest, Amata would smile slightly, looking in the distance before she would look at the others. Amata looks to Oda as he speaks, nodding lightly to herself at his assessment before she'd stop spinning her blade. She would look at the blade, idly pulling it up to her hand and hmming as she looks at it before she would then glance forward and look at the distant sight. Feari's words about Kazumi would have Amata smiling ever so slightly as she would turn to look at Kazumi before chuckling and looking forward. SHe'd idly spin the blade twice more before pulling it to a hand and idly throwing directly through a tree, piercing all the way through it before yanking it back to her hand.
The pink-haired teen's head rose up a bit, face still tinged a little with color when Oda questioned whether anyone had fought them. He barely even gets a chance to hesitate before he's offered up as an example, so to speak. "U-um… w-well, it w-wasn't just m-m-me," he starts.
'That's probably fairly obvious…'
Kazumi's shoulders sag slightly before he adds, "Er, m-most of them w-were… k-kind of push… pushovers, honestl-ly. I m-mean… in comp-parison t-to… Y-Yuriko-" There's an awkward pause in which he fumbles with what honorific to use before blurting, "chan a-and N-Naoya-k-kun…" He looks fidgety about that honorific too. "Th-they… a-aren't sh-shinobi — the b-bandits. J-just… p-people. S-swords and, um… w-well, the… the m-main guy w-was huge. H-had a club, but… I th-think we got rid of h-him." Dear kami, he hopes they did…
Hotaru gives a small smirk as Feari likes the idea. Hotaru does need a cut and usually lets his sister do it. But she's not around at the moment. He shakes his head at the question, "I haven't fought them before." Or anyone else for that matter. As he travels, he adjusts the coffin on his back, making sure it's secure. Then he stops, looking up ahead he waits for something to happen. Before Amata puts the blade through a tree and smiles at such power. He nods his approval before watching Kazumi try to get out the information. Hotaru keeps quiet however, having nothing important to give to the conversation for the moment.
Oda hangs in the tree for quite some time, staring hard at the distant dark village. As he squints his eyes, the window light still remains. He nods some, that would make sense to where they most likely would be. He doesn't confirm that though. He's listening to Kazumi at first, thankful Feari pointed him out and that Kazumi was willing. He's fortunate he has two who knows them. He has the information he needed, these were fighters but not trained in any way past being brutes then? They would be easier to spot within villagers then.
Oda lets go of the tree, falling down to the ground…and rolls. If he would have hit the ground with his feet, the sound of his armor hitting together would have been too much. He keeps on one knee after the roll, pulling out four pieces of paper and begins to draw identically on them. He's drawing a map of the village, roughly, from what he was able to see from above.
It's only five buildings, and they are definitely not to scale, he could barely make it out.
"For this mission, we have to avoid harming innocents…and we must try to preserve the building structure too. I don't like wasting time rebuilding what could be protected."
Oda would finish his drawings, and then put away his quill and pull out another, red-tipped. He would clap his hands together once, then putting them back down at his sides, closing his eyes he goes silent for a moment. After a single, long breath he re-opens them.
"We are very fortunate to have you two, Feari, Amata. I want the Genin to lead the initial movement…This is going to be an exact operation, a single kill by each of you at the exact same moment of possible."
Oda was even including Hotaru!?
He keeps sitting like that, seeming to just stay as still as possible before he moves his hand down to the paper.
On the first paper, he draws an X inside the building that was designated as the one with the light in the window…right beside the window actually. Oda hands that paper directly up towards Amata.
On the second paper, he draws an X just to the inside of the 'wall' of the building. "I am assuming this man is guarding an entrance…he's awake too, like Amata's target." He hands that paper to Feari, assuming the man at the door would be the stronger of the bunch.
"Hotaru, Kazumi…do you have any techniques that can pierce walls or be exact?"
Oda looks towards the two, not familiar with what they can do…He can only study missions so much without knowing exactly who he's dealing with. It would be clear that by this time, he's using what he was acquired for—he's not hiding it either. He's waiting for Hotaru and Kazumi's answers before handing them the other two papers, but he's already drawing on them. One has an X in the far corner away from the window watcher, and the final one has an X on the exterior of the walls some distance away from the building.
Kazumi's response was exactly the amount of information Feari expected out of the timid kid. Luckily, it was just enough, if not more so. Bandits are bandits after all. Still, the Swordsman was going to have to work more with Kazumi to get him over that apprenhisive disposition. Later. Much like the hair cut for Hotaru ^^.
Turning his attention to Oda as he explains the details. A strike for each of them, it was quite precise and would take care of things perfectly, but what was Oda going to do? Was he going to watch the group and grade them like Feari had done to Yuriko, Naoya and Kazumi during his own Bandit Culling mission? Maybe he should summon a chair for the mission leader to sit upon. "Sounds like a good plan."
Flicking her blade about her, Amata places it to her shoulder and peers at the others before looking to Oda. SHe listens idly before nodding and idly nodding her head, "Ok." She states softly and then looks toward the village aand then at the X. She ponders lightly before moving toward the village a few steps and then saying in a quiet voice, "I will simply kill him through the wall, if I can." SHe nods her head, "I doubt it'll be too necessary for me to go too far further." SHe nods her head even as she focuses her chakra.
Kazumi licked his lips when asked if he had any particularly accurate moves. "W-well… yes, but, um… I use… acid," he remarks. That is probably the least helpful specialty when it came to leaving things intact. His hand rises to scratch the back of his head. "S-sorry…" Of course, if Amata is going to attack through the wall, surely he can manage it through the window… and hope the glass doesn't ruin the sill or even floor when it melts… Amata's attacks are almost certainly not going to cause much damage, though… Even so, he focuses a bit of chakra to prepare.
Hotaru looks nervous about having to take out someone with one hit. He's lucky to hit a target, let alone a guard in one hit. But, it never hurts to try. There are many here more skilled than he is. So he's sure to have his covered at some point. He speaks softly, "Depending on the thickness of the wall, my puppet's blades might. I do not carry anything bigger than a kuani though." He makes a hand sign and begins to surge his chakra since he'll be needing it.
Oda nods a bit, listening to Hotaru actually closer. Kazumi's information clearly led Oda to make the choice for him immediately. He holds out the paper of the X on the outside to Kazumi. He then holds the one of the X in the corner to Hotaru. He then does something off, he pulls his Omoide off of his hip and holds it up towards Hotaru.
"I have two. Use this one with your puppet to penetrate the wall. You know how to use blades, therefore you may can improvise with my Omoide no Taishoku. You will be able to get a deeper shot…Take a moment to attach it if you can."
Oda would stand after that, nodding at Kazumi.
"Acid straight into the mouth and throat, so there isn't a chance to scream…"
How brutal, but then he looks at Feari and Amata. He just gives them both a nod, he knows he doesn't have to tell them how to kill silently.
He would take a couple of steps, talking as he gives Hotaru time to think and do what he needs.
"These positions are not static…when we get closer, before we strike, I will take one more reading. I will point to each of you, and then signal if I sense them in the same spot or if they have moved…if they move, we will adjust accordingly. I want each death to fall within a 5 second interval…and avoid being spotted by anyone. I don't want to wake anyone."
Oda's mentality is simple. Get in, get out, don't get in anyone's way and make sure no one gets in their way. What he's doing is simple, providing intel and support.
For a first time mission runner, Oda was a natural, at least when it came to gathering intelligence and explaining it to those in the group. If the mission goes well, the Kuroyari would be charged with running several more after this.
Receiving a nod, Feari would do the same to let Oda know he was ready, even though the Swordsman wasn't exactly sure how he was going to achieve what was expected of him. Most of his current abilities required face to face confrontation. So this was going to be an interesting first time for the Swordsman as well.
A nod to the leader and Amata lets out a soft sigh before moving forward a step. Slowly, she pulls chakra into her limbs, strengthening their coordination and speed before she flicks her blade around. SHe then looks in the direction of her target, she looks over to Oda and then simply states, with an idle smile, "You're the boss, just say when to go." She nods her head with a soft smile even as she starts to run chakra through the blade and wire that she holds on to idly with her hand almost as if she were holding two seperate blades.
The teen gulps when the leader of the mission explained what he wanted done. Funny… when Kazumi killed rats by using acid to burn into their heads, he was questioned on why he did it and now he was being told to do much the same thing… to people. Oh well. He nods his head to Oda, indicating that he understood what his task was and how to go about it. He was ready.
Hotaru takes the wakizashi gingerly and the paper with the x on it for him. He looks at the weapon a moment, then sets down the coffin. He lifts a hand, twitching his fingers. Chakra lines run out to the chain and enter the lock. A second later it clicks and the chains fall away from the coffin. Hotaru whispers out, "Rokurokubi, rise and come out to play." A chittering sound comes from the coffin as the door swings open and a geisha with cat like deamon eyes and a fanged maw emerges. Hotaru twitches a few fingers and the puppet reaches out a pale skin hand to her master. Hotaru sets the wakizashi in her hand and says, "Use it well, Rokurokubi." The puppet flics the blade, testing it out before reverses it. Hotaru attaches his other chakra lines to the puppet for full control and then moves off quietly towards his position. He gives a signal that he's ready as Rokurokubi readies to stab through the wall marked with an x on his map.
"In three minutes, initiate no matter the situation. I will approach the door…Then make the move when it is the most opportune."
Oda would nod as he sees everyone taking their positions. Good, they were ready. Oda reaches up…and undoes his armor around his neck. It falls free, and soon does his greaves and even his extra blade. Oda puts his armor against a tree, leaving him in a grey tunic and slacks. He looks like a normal villager…and even reaches up to pull off his eyepatch. He doesn't open that eye yet.
"Feari, be ready, I'm relying on you for this…"
Oda would move closer himself towards the hut…and again freeze and breathe slow. He's focusing…His eye shuts again and then re-opens the other one. His covered eye looks completely normal, but he smiles slightly when it opens. It's an old trick his father taught him, a way to help with seeing at night. From here…he can see Kazumi's target. He stares hard at the bandit, a squat man holding a club…leaning against a tree. He looks asleep. Oda would bring his hand up and signal to Kazumi his target was there. Soon, he signals to Amata too that her target is still watching from the window he can now see. He cannot see the door, but Oda senses Feari's target is pacing back and forth in the room now…he's assuming impatience is kicking in. The one in the corner though now has shifted, moving instead to the opposite corner from where it previously was…the puppet would have to sneak under the window to avoid detection.
Oda, himself…brings his hands up now, and whispers silently.
"Transformation Technique…"
With a soft poof, he's transformed into a copy of the bandit that is Kazumi's target. With that, he looks over at Feari. And then he drops down to the ground and begins to walk towards the hut…He's moving slow, giving the others enough time.
In the back of his head, he's counting down the seconds…
Feari watched Oda undress, not even bothering to glance away for a moment. Fashion was his hobby after all and though the intent was to look less like a ninja, there are other more extravagent ways to do such, but Feari wasn't going to comment on the others choice on how to change between wardrobes. Not until after the mission, at least. Later…Lot's of laters to remember.
Oda would start forward and Feari would do the same, except moving along the outskirts of their location. Wanting to get a better vantage point for whatever Oda has planned.
For her part, Amata simply nods to the assessment that things would need to take place for her to act. She is already flicking her blade around idly, looking at it as it moves and then looking toward her target. She can't quite seem him the whole time, only when he steps near to the window, peering out but not able to see her behind the tree she is leaning against, only an eye peering out as she idly ponders how this man will die…it won't likely be pleasant, for him or the person ordered to clean it up.
Kazumi nods and heads off in the direction of the guard he was tasked with getting rid of. He did his best to be quiet, watching his step, ignoring any stray thoughts, careful… Three minutes… In three minutes, he would be prepared to attack this man with acid. The guy wouldn't know what hit him. Probably wouldn't… /want/ to know, anyway. The teen just stays out of sight, prepared and waiting.
Hotaru frowns, having to deal with a complication. His fingers give a twitch as the geisha puppet slides around close to the wall, moving to follow the target. Slowly, Rokurokubi slides along without a sound as Hotaru controls her from the shadows and large plants at the boarder of the small village. He's ready when the signal is given, he just hopes he won't be found out before everyone is ready.
Oda now is taking a risk. He's moving along the building itself now opposite of the exterior bandit. He's in plain view of Feari, and he can bet Amata knows his location too. He pauses for a second around the corner from where the door is.
"15…14…13…"
On the mental count of 12, he steps around the building. By the count of 8, he's at the door. By 5, he's knocked on it and then stepped away and faces towards where the exterior bandit is. This is the risk…
By 3, the door opens and the door guard has stepped out…a much larger man with a sword ready steps out quickly. He initially looks in confusion at Oda in his transformed form, but Oda was moving too quickly. He points directly at the real bandit that Kazumi is targeting, his own face looking alerted in a way of saying 'Look!'
Oda has moved far enough away from the man to give room…he knows just what he's doing as he can sense Feari's location.
The man by the window has stood up and turned away from the window, facing away from Amata as the knock drew his attention too.
Kazumi's target hadn't even noticed the sound…was he napping against the tree like a slacker?
Only Hotaru's target, the one unseen, no one can see. That risk is one that may need to be taken when it comes to location. The boy may have to improvise or simply go with his gut on the strike.
"2….1…"
Initiate.
As Oda continued closer toward the building, Feari drifted behind while never allowing Oda out of his sight. When Oda moves around the building and approaches the door, Feari is waiting to strike, not too far away. Though no blade finds the swordsman's hands and Samehada remains affixed to his back.
When the door opens and the bandit appears on the other side, Feari is already there. The bandit barely gets out an alerted shout before finding himself having to defend against a quick palm thrust to the mans nose followed by a kunai swiping across the bandit's neck.
A look at her target, idly counting down in her mind, she loves the fact that he appears right near the window so she can at least partially see him. WIth a simply spin and then a flick, she sends her blade right through the wall and directly through his neck. The sound he makes is something like a gurgling gasp as the needle pierces through his spinal cord and then out his throat as he leaned against the wall. Nuibari stuck lightly into the wall on the opposite side of the room even as the man twitched and began to die but then Amata simply grabbed the wire in both hands and she flicked her arms downward and down the wire went…right through the man making quite the terrible mess.
Hotaru waits for the right moment, then at the right time, he curls his hands out in front of him, turning palms up as he does. He's reaching out, using any senses he could use to detect where the person is. At least he's trying. Rokurokubi takes the command and stabs with the weapon at the wall Hotaru picked. Hopefully, it works.
Kazumi was, for once, focused on something and was not distracted. At exactly the right time, he formed the necessary seals and an orb of acid was thrown from his hand, the thing curling in just the right way to hit the man's face. To be sure, though, he sprayed another gout of acid right after it, this one not so much damaging as it is sticky… and it splashes right over the guard's nose and mouth to make absolutely sure there isn't even the slightest noise.
Blood splattering, a slight yelp, the sounds of wood barely being split…And two sounds of bodies hitting a floor. Oda stood there completely quiet for a second, he was sensing again. His brow furrowed…he could sense the life leaving them.
He would turn towards the door, patting Feari on the shoulder as if to say 'Nice work.' As he stepped into the hut, he could see Amata's gory work. This caused him to actually close his normally hidden eye. Too much detail…
What he was looking for was the life that wasn't slipping away fast enough. He turned to the man in the corner. A younger bandit, barely even touched by scars or battle yet. Still, he was a target…
Hotaru had gotten lucky, the blade had shot straight through the wall and into the side of the neck of the bandit. Oda wanted to see Omoide's work first hand, that's why he made himself the bait so he could go right in himself. The man was still gasping breath though…And Oda walks over towards where he remains standing due to the blade sticking into the side of his throat. The thought runs through his mind, and then he turns his head towards the wall where he knows the puppet is standing.
He at first was going to tell Hotaru to push through harder to finish the kill, but the Kuroyari just shakes his head. That yell would wake someone. He just grabs the bandit's face and pushes…finishing him with a half-decapitation.
Oda then would just walk out the front door, wiping blood off on his grey tunic.
He motions for Kazumi and Feari to follow once they are finished in their silent kills…starting to dash around the corner back towards where his armor was.
He'd expect they'd know that's where he would want them to reconvene, since his equipment was left behind there.
Feari was quick in his strikes, but quicker still in making sure no blood sullied or soiled his outfit. "Icky" The swordsman would comment as the kunai disappeared, pulled back into one of the many scrolls that line the inside of his trench coat. The pat on the shoulder would be felt and the man squinted his eyes and furrowed his brows for a brief moment before a smile replaced it all as he glanced about the room. The rest had been dealt with. The bandit 'threat' had been stomped out? At least these for sure, Feari thought as he turned away and followed after Oda.
Pulling her blade back through the wall, she leaves only a hole at the top and a thin line going down. SHe smiles as she looks at it, hmming as she does. The line and the hole at the top kinda look like a needle. She hmms softly to herself before spinning her blade and wire around a couple of times to let the blood flick away before she slides the blade away and starts back to the return point and lets out a soft breath, seeming somewhat pleased with herself.
Hotaru slips out from his cover, looking at Rokurobuki, her jaw half open in an almost expression of a smile. He smiles at her and says, "Yeah, you did good. Common, time for a rest." He gives a hand a twitch and the puppet pulls the blade out of the wall a shunk sound. She hands the weapon back to Hotaru who gives it a flick to clear it of blood and even wiping it on his sleeve. Rokurokubi hovers with Hotaru back to the coffin which she slides into and scrunches down. The chains slide back into place and Hotaru lifts the coffin onto his back again. He waits for everyone to start heading off as well.
"Well done…Flawless."
Oda was still dressing at this point, finishing pulling on his eyepatch as Hotaru arrived. He clasps the rest of his armor on before looking over at Hotaru, then down at Omoide in the puppet's hand. He nods a moment at a thought before he extends a hand to ask back for his blade. Oda looks pretty happy, but let's face it. He had some of the most skilled with him, all he did was talk and be bait.
"I'll report to the Kage at sunrise. Let's head back quickly before the discovery."
Oda looked at Amata, nodding at her in thanks. He does this as well to Feari. He's still showing them respect as he knows they deserve. For the Genin, he claps Kazumi on the back with a heavy metal hand to snap him out of the trance he was in. He recognized it…
"You did fine, you saved lives by taking one."
Oda would look over at Hotaru, grinning in thanks to the medic as soon as his blade is given back.
"You should look into getting one for yourself, a longer blade saves you trouble…"
