Starring:
Canis (emitter), Kenta, Shinobu, Rangiku
Date: July 19, 2015
Summary:
A village requests healers and help in defenses around their village from some horrible killer bandits. The Konoha and Kumo nin arrive just in time to help and, in the end, save many of the villagers.
"Bandit Raid Gone Wrong"
Land of Fire
It's a rather horrible day in the Land of Fire. Snow falls in great amounts and the wind whips through the air making it seem just short of a blizzard at the moment. Yet the weather holds no real sway over whether or not missions need to be completed. The call had gone out to Konoha and Kumo both since the village that asked was situated between the two Lands. They had just been attacked by some bandits and people were badly injured. They needed a medic to assist while at the same time requiring some assistance in setting up defensible areas around the village in case the brigands came back! Since it was a joint venture the groups from either village were to meet near the village itself before heading in.
Injured villagers is a serious business, so Kenta is sent on the mission to handle that part of the problem. He has one of his students with him to provide an extra set of hands and plenty of medical supplies on his person. Hopefully, that'll be enough to make sure that all the injured are handled. The bandits will become the bigger problem after that, but a joint team from both Great Villages should be able to handle that too.
As Kenta trudges through the snow, his cape whip behind him in the heavy winds. He has the hood up to protect his face against the stinging bit of snow, but the stuff gets everywhere anyway. A whole bunch of it has already found it's way into the crevices of his modified Chuunin vest, pouches and backpacks. It's hard to see in these conditions, so he makes sure that Shinobu and Kame stay within sight of him. Getting separated inside an option. "We're almost there! You see those lights ahead? The snow makes it look further away, but we're actually only a few minutes away, judging by the glow," he calls out. Probably show have used telepathy.
One of the genin from Kumogakure had responded rather quickly, mostly because she was usually faster than she let on. Rangiku waved her sword up to the positions where the Shinobi were building them, but otherwise looked a little TOO casual for her own good. "Huh. Heard things were bad, but I didn't think it was this bad." She says as she walks her way in, looking over her shoulder to see if anyone else was coming.
Considering it's a rather terrible day, not many people want to go on a mission. Admittedly, that included Shinobu. The girl really just didn't want to go outside when she was nice and comfy. But the mission folks told her to go on this, so now she's traveling with Kenta to this mysterious village. She seems to keep going farther and farther away as she keeps going on missions! Kame is with her, of course, the pup tucked away safely atop the girl's head in her hoodie. The pair travel next to Kenta as best they can, but sometimes they end up falling behind thanks to the snow. A genjutsu, should Kenta allow such, would allow him to hear a small 'Hai' from Shinobu.
Upon arriving in the village the shinobi would be met by two people armed with pitchforks, both of them looking quite frightened and the shaking likely coming more from their fear then the cold. "W-who goes there?" One of them shouts into the snow as they start making out figures, the pitchforks lowered against the shadows that the snow storm allows them to see. "W-we won't be caught off g-guard again! Go away!" A few more villagers show up at the shouting armed with similar farming type weapons. Dat hoe. The beginnings of some very rudimentary barricades can be seen as well.
Kenta approaches shortly after Rangiku does. He doesn't walk right in, but straightens from his hunched-against-the-wind posture and lifts his hood, so that his Konoha forehead protector would be visible. "Ummm… we're the shinobi sent by Konoha to set up defenses for your village. I'm also a medic-nin, so I'm to treat your injured while we're here. Here's further proof if you're skeptical," he says to the village guards. The young man holds out a rolled up scroll in a gloved hand. It's the request for aid that the village sent out, along with some documents detailing who he, Shinobu and Kame are.
Rangiku is holding up a scroll too. "Strange that I'm the only one from the Kumo village here though. I think I outran the others." She says kinda….staring down one of the pitchforks. Rangiku also opens up her cloak a bit so her Kuno 'shield' is showing. "Snow's a bit of a pain." she says before she turns and smiles to SHinobu. "hey Shinobu. How're ya doing?" She doesn't recognize Kenta, but she does shrug. "Reizei Rangiku, I've worked with Shinobu twice before."
Kame peeks out of Shinobu's hood, her muzzle immediately getting flecked with snow when she does. Yip! ~I'm Kame! This is Shinobu!~ she says, though this time without the genjutsu. Shinobu just stands there looking uncertain and cold. At least she was bundled up, so it could have been worse. When Rangiku appears, she sort of recognizes her scent. They haven't met too often, though, so it took a second. She gives a tiny wave to Rangiku when she sees her.
"O-oh, it's the shinobi!" One of the men shouts, "Go get Jacon!" The weapons are lowered and the rest of the men return to their 'posts' while the two with the pitchforks wave the shinobi in. "Apologies for the welcome, but after the last attack we're being overly cautious." It's less than a minute before a large man appears in the snow before the shinobi and gives them a once over. "Come with me," he says after a few moments, voice a bit gruff as it travels through the snow.
Jacon leads the shinobi into a house, opening the door to let them in and shutting it against the outside weather behind him. A fire roars in the fireplace in the main room where a number of chairs had been set up. "I was expecting there to be more of you," the man grunts as he moves to sit in one of the chairs and motions for the others to do the same. "But we'll take what we can get at this point. I'll give you a chance to thaw out from your travels first though." A petite woman arrives then with mugs and a steaming tea kettle that she sets down on a small table amongst the chairs. She begins pouring the tea and passing them out to the shinobi. "One of you's a medic?" Jacon asks finally.
"Thank you," Kenta says when he accepts the hot tea from the woman. He takes a small sip, but simply cradles the cup in his hands after that to warm up his fingers. With his hood off, it's easy to see bits of snow melt into sparkling dew on Kenta's messy hair. "Ummm… I thought that Kumo would actually have more shinobi here already. But don't worry, Jacon-san. We're all highly professional and one of my specialties is in barrier techniques. Shinobu-chan and Kame-chan are also from the illustrious Inuzuka clan." Obviously, he doesn't speak for Rangiku's abilities, because he has no idea what they are.
Kenta takes another tiny sip of tea. "How many bandits are in this group anyway? Winter is a pretty bad time for this type of thing, since it's hard to travel and even harder to carry away things. They're either very desperate and very bold. Also, how many people are hurt? I'm the medic, so I can look them over."
Shinobu trails after Kenta and… Everyone else. When they step inside, she's more than happy about the warmth. A small hand is held over the steaming cup of tea, then she other. Finally, once she deemed it cool enough, she would pick it up to sip at the tea carefully while Kame hops out of her hood to shake herself off. Good thing she kept Shinobu's head warm and vice versa.
Jacon looks from Kenta to Shinobu when the older medic mentions her. Hard, dark eyes stare at Shinobu, then at Kame before returning to Kenta once more. "I trust that with what we were able to send in payment they will have sent their best and brightest," the man rumbles, apparently not seeming too impressed at the moment. "There's only ten bandits, but they are better trained at fighting than any of my farmers are. I don't know why they're attacking during the winter either but so far it hasn't stopped them from taking much of our money and our food. I have everyone on rations just to make it through winter. If they come back for more we won't survive." The man runs a hand through his hair as he leans back in his chair, looking exhausted. "Look, we'll take whatever help we can get at this point. We have six injured in the inn, two of them are too far gone for any of us to do anything. Maybe you can help them. The other four we're our best fighters but they each failed."
Kenta nods his head somberly. "I had some very good teachers and I'll try to help all the injured as best as I can. I'll start with the most serious cases once we finish up here. Ummm… but the defenses are important too. Shinobu-chan can help with some of the lesser wounded, but I think splitting the focus a little might help, just in case those bandits attack early."
Kenta glances over at Shinobu. "Ummm… how good is your nose and vision in this type of weather? It's going to be hard for most people to see out there, so your Inuzuka senses are pretty important. I think we should have at least you or Kame with the guards to help detect attacks." The young man shrugs off his pack to pull up a large stack of tags that he had prepared when he herd that part of the mission is to set up defenses. "These should also be stuck around the edges of the villages. They're seal wall tags, which can repel some jutsu when activated."
Shinobu nods to Kenta, sipping the rest of her tea. Kame yips a bit indignantly as this Bacon dude. Jacon… But she'd rather have bacon. Yip! ~We're super awesome! If you doubt us, then maybe we won't do anything at all!~ A bluff, and one that Jacon hopefully can't understand so Shinobu can pick up her lively partner. "… Wh… Where?" she asks, glancing at the doorway.
Jacon finishes his tea and stands. "I'll take you to the inn so you can check our injured. Anything you can do to help would make us very grateful." A soft knock sounds on the door and Jacon goes to open it, nodding to the figure outside. "Good timing." He says, motioning the figure in. Once in the firelit house the figure dissolves into a young woman, about Kenta's age. "This is my daughter, Lacy. She will be escorting whoever you decide around the perimeter of the village. She has a wealth of knowledge about our little place here. She can answer whatever other questions you might have." Lacy offers a small bow before Jacon turns to Kenta. "We'll wait outside while you discuss with your group what you want to do. Just come on out when you're ready." Likely father and daughter are going to talk as well. The door closes behind them, leaving the shinobi alone.
Kenta nods his head again. "Umm… Shinobu-chan and Kame-chan, so I'm going to send these tags with you," he starts off. The medic-nin offers the stack of tags to the Konoha Genin. "Kame-chan doesn't have any hands, so she should stay with the guards at the gates while you stick them around the perimeter of the village. If there's any left, create a second circle deeper inside the village, in case the bandits makes it through the outer sections. Umm… this is if you don't think that splitting up will lower both your efficiency too much. I'll keep all of us connected telepathically." He starts to make some hand seals, but pauses before he finishes the last one.
Kenta looks over at Rangiku. "Ummm… we're not from the same village, so I can't really tell you what to do. I don't know anything about your abilities anyway, or how you're best deployed. If you don't mind, I'll include you in the link. That way, we can all communicate about anything important that's happening."
Rangiku shrugs a bit. "You can still order me about, since you're a Chuunin. I'm still just a genin." Humble, this one. "Speed. I'm a lot faster than I let on." She then holds up a fairly intricate sword. Ivory handle, symbols of wind and lightning on the scabbard. No one carries a sword THAT well made unless she intends to use it. "Swordswoman too."
Shinobu takes some of the tags, letting Rangiku take the remainder. Kame huffs a bit at Kenta, genjutsu affecting only the medic as she yips, ~I can carry stuff!~ The pup hops to try and get a mouthful of tags, but there aren't any left. Grump! Shinobu glances at Rangiku and suggests softly, also using genjutsu and perhaps some of Kenta's telepathy if he activated it, 'You… take tags… We can put them up faster…"
"Speed and mobility is pretty important here. Ummm… so it makes sense for you to help put up the tags, Rangiku-san. Afterwards, I want you to walk the perimeter to watch for oddities. I want Shinobu-chan to return to Kame-chan after she finishes instead, to keep the Inuzuka duo together and strong." Since no one objected, Kenta finishes the last few hand seals in the series that he was making. A moment later, everyone that doesn't resist feel a gentle mental touch. <"Link established"> Kenta sends through the connection. He drains the last of his tea and sets the cup down. Then, he straightens to his feet. "Ummm… if we're all set, let's head out to talk to Jacon-san. I want to start as soon as possible. Who knows when these bandits will attack again."
"Right." Rangiku says as she gets the seals and starts to stand up after downing her tea, smiling towards Shinobu. "Yeah, I'll take the tags and we can put them up faster, Shinobu." She says putting her sword at her belt. "The sooner the better I say. If the bandits have any sort of coordination, they'll be back before long."
Shinobu uses the telepathy link to ask, quietly, '… Go… with Kame?' She wanted to stick with her partner, and she was better in combat with the pup at her side. Sure, the two apart were decent, but together was far better. The girl waits for a yes or no before following Kenta outside, keeping behind Rangiku, too, for the time being. She didn't feel very confident. Kame looked cheerful enough, though. Missions are missions!
When the shinobi exit from the house Jacon turns to look at them and nods, "Alright. If you'll follow me medic, I'll take you to the inn. The rest of you go with Lacy here and she'll get you started."
Jacon leads Kenta to the inn which has been turned into a temporary hospital with the number of injured. Cots had been moved to the main room and the tables had been pushed against the wall. Lying on the cots are the injured and, while most of them seem to only be suffering from minor cuts and bruises, the two more heavily injured are obvious with the bloody bandaging around their heads and torso's. The two men breath raggidly and worried wives hover over them, using a wet cloth to try and cool their fevers.
Outside in the snow Lacy leads the other three to the front area. There's isn't much of a wall around the village and in fact it looks more like something to make sure no chickens try to run away or something since it's only a few feet high. The small 'entrance' is where the 'guards' are that they met earlier. Lacy turns to the others once they reach this point, the snow still circling 'round heavily. "This is the edge of the village. This wall goes all the way around it."
"Take some of the tags, just enough to plaster them around the areas closes to the gate. I don't want you to separate from Kame-chan too long, but since you two are going to be mainly staying in that area, it'll be more efficient for you to take care of that part. I want Rangiku-san to be freed to start setting things a little further away," Kenta instructs Shinobu before the group of shinobi splits up. He gives everyone an encouraging smile.
When Kenta arrives at where the injured are kept, he instantly starts setting up. His backpack contains a good assortment of medical equipment, including foldable microscopes and other items that he need for medical tests. Unless someone's poisoned, he'd probably just rely more on medical ninjutsu. Kenta moves directly to the two most injured individuals. "Please step back a little," he tells the worried wives. "I'm a medic from Konoha and I'm here to help, but I need room to work." The Chuunin pauses to focus some chakra before he begins to make a diagnosis on the men.
Rangiku chuckles a little bit. "Just let me know where you want the seals set and I'll get on it." She says as she flips through the tags. "Hmmm…." She says as she gets to the gate, before looking to Shinobu, pondering. "Mark where the fence around the village is and see if you can find high branches or whatever. If there are some hanging over the village, should put a tag there, so they don't try to get over the fence." Rangiku says before she gets to work with her own tags….and….she's VERY quick for a genin.
Shinobu nods and isn't as fast as Rangiku, but she's fast. The girl doesn't move very quickly, though, as she sets up the tags. Probably because it's cold and she doesn't like being separated from Kame. The tags she has are set up near the entrance and are spread to the sides about two or three yards in each direction. She would cluster a few more nearer the entrance once she met up with Rangiku's tags.
The women do step away when Kenta says who he is, and the first wife practically cries all over Kenta. "Oh thank you for coming. Your kindness iswonderful. Please help my husband." As for the man himself he is in very bad shape. Though there is no poison in his body infection has already begun spreading from the man wounds he'd received to the head and back. The bandages are bloody as the wounds refuse to completely heal thanks to the infection.
The guards are grateful for the shinobi's presence, even as they separate and begin putting up the tags. Much of the path around the village isn't cleared as well as the area around the gate. It would definitely slow the shinobi down as they try to find a place to put the tags.
And then there's some strange scents that Kame might detect. The scent of unbathed people slowly approaching the village.
Before long, Kenta finds himself consumed by the work that he's been handled. Infections aren't trivial things to fight, even for an experienced medic. The infected areas need to be drained. The wounds themselves cleaned, repaired and sealed up. The injured's biological systems, especially the immune system need to be boostered. Kenta immediate starts working on the worst-off of the two men. Once the guy's in stable condition, he'll work on the second one. The lesser injured will have to wait for their turn.
Rangiku is true to her clan all right. But she makes it a point to NOT clear the debris around the village, but hanging tags on the debris, so if it's moved, they go off. All around the village she puts them, but saves the tags for the gate for last, so when the return, she sets up the tags, outer ones first, then the inner ones. It's a sound strategy, except for one problem. They're now sealed in.
Shinobu finishes up by the gates and sits near Kame, who barks a small report. They both look concerned now, and the telepathy link is poked at for a second. ~There are these bad-smelling people heading this way!~ Kame's voice comes through the link. ~I dunno who they are though!~ Shinobu glances around as if to try and seek people out, but she isn't sure what she's looking for…
While Kenta works on the worser of the two men something bad happens. The second man starts to convulse as a seizure overtakes his body. Some of the women nearby shout in terror before Jacon and some of the other men try to hold the man down to keep him from falling off of the cot while one of the women had enough sense to stick a bit of cloth covered wood in his mouth so he doesn't crack his teeth.
The scent continues to close in on their location, the only bit of luck at the moment coming from the fact that the wind is blowing the scent towards the village so Kame gets a whiff of it before they can even be seen through the heavy snowfall. It's obvious they're getting closer though, whoever they might be.
Kenta's head jerks up when Kame's voice travels through the mental link. Unfortunately, that's when the second man starts convulsing, so he has to bite down a complaint on the bad timing. The medic-nin pulls away from his first patient to hurry to the second. <"I can't join you guys out there without losing one of my patients! If it looks like those scents are from the bandits, I want you to activate the tags. Just run your chakra through them. I also modified the tags a bit, so that if one's activated near another, all the nearby ones will activate. You can still shut down one or two to move through the barrier if needed without affected everything, but be very careful not to leave too big an opening!">
Kenta couldn't do more than to give out his instructions before he's deep at work on the second patient too. He lets the villagers hold down the man, since he doesn't have enough strength to do that -and- perform healing techniques. The medic-nin drops some fluids out of a small vial into the convulsing man's mouth. Then, he makes some hand seals, which causes medical chakra to extend from each of his fingers to form various surgical tools. He sinks this shaped chakra directly -through- flesh and bone to begin emergency surgery.
Rangiku stands inside of the gate and blinks once. <Right. Where is the scent coming….> She then stops as she feels the breeze. <Nevermind. I can hazard a guess as to where they're coming from. I'm going to guess it's showtime then.> Rangiku doesn't mince words it seems. She's a little worried abotu Shinobu though…..
Shinobu isn't sure where the scent is coming from. a Away from the village… That's all she knew. The girl and the pup scramble up a tree, trying to hide in the branches while also keeping lookout. Kame's voice echoes through the telepathy link. ~Rangiku, activate the inner, the outer tags! Try to keep guard just at the gate. Act all inexperienced and we can take them by surprise with our mad skills!~
As Kenta gets to work on the convulsing man he finally stops seizing, much to the relief of everyone present since it was not an easy task to hold down someone like that. His wife is crying not far off as she watches and continuously thanks Kenta over and over again, probably getting on just the annoying side of things. But she's quite grateful from the sounds of things!
Outside figures do finally appear, first as shadows in the snow, then more visible as they near. "It's them…" one of the guards says in a soft, yet frightened tone, his hands shaking as he holds the pitch fork in their direction. The bandits are covered in furs to keep warm and most of them carry some sort of weapon. The man that is ahead of the others has a large two-headed axe that currently rests over his shoulder.
"Well lookie here, they put up some guards didn't they. Did they really think you pathetic people would stop us? Well we're here for the rest of the food you promised us. We spared your lives last time because of it, so I hope you have it ready." This all comes from the lead man who stops just outside of wall of the city, sneering through the snow at the pitchfork wielding farmers.
Kenta keeps working on the man. The convulsions might have stopped, but that doesn't mean he's in any less danger. His fingers move in intricate patterns, causing the chakra tools extending from them to move inside the man to continue the repair work. The cause of the convulsions was quickly discovered as a blood clot that reached the brain, so the medic-nin works to clear out any that he finds traveling through his patient's blood stream. While he does that with one hand, the other is busy draining pooled blood away from inappropriate areas, stitching internal tears shut and sending burses of healing chakra to kickstart the body's ability to repair itself.
Just as the 'smelly men' get to the gate, and she leans down to touch the tag that closest to her, focusing a bit of chakra into it and activating just about all of the seals around the town. <They're at the gate, Shinobu, Kame. I've activated the seals too, so be careful.> Rangiku stands back up and looses her sword and scabbard from her belt. She chuckles a bit at the leader, but doesn't say anything. To talk him out of beating people up was a waste of time…..
Shinobu nods a bit, not that the Reizei can see her, and slowly starts to form seals. She couldn't do much from afar except prepare, so she simply waited where she was for the time being. Kame crouched next to her in the tree, tail still despite her desire to wag it all excited-like. If the men attacked or anything, the Inuzuka duo would be quick to attack.
Kenta obviously knows what he's doing since the man is starting to slowly look more like the living than the dead. It's not at all a quick process, but then a body healing never is. The wife begins to cry harder as she sees her husband is doing better.
"No reponse huh? Fine, we'll just come take it ourselves. And we'll kill ya'll this time." The man with the axe steps forward - and smacks face first into a barrier. What the heck? "I don't know what the heck you think you're doing, but if you know what's good for ya you'll stop being so stupid and let us in. You don't want me to have to force my way in." He takes the axe and swings it towards the barrier with all his might. Apparently no one has noticed Shinobu up in the tree, but then with it just being a shadow to them they likely think it's just a part of the tree itself.
<"My patient is stabilizing here, but I still can't leave yet. What's the situation out there?"> Kenta sends through the telepathic link when he has a chance to breath. The young man moves a hand away from his patient's chest to accept a cup of water. The chakra tools that extend from his fingers retract to a mere blue glow while he drinks, but extends again as soon as he finishes handing the cup back. Kenta resumes working for a little longer until more of the important repair work is done. Then, he looks around to check whether anyone else requires immediate attention, trying to decide if he's needed as a medic more or as part of the defense squad.
<We have a moron leading idiots at the gate. And he's trying to break through the barrier.> Rangiku is quite blunt in her assesment before she looks to the bandit leader. "Did you happen to actually think…." She then stops herself. "Oh wait, I doubt you've been doing much of that in your life, hence why you're a bandit." She then smiles at the bandit leader……a smile that could melt hearts….or torment oppressors.
Shinobu sends a bit of chakra out, and the goons that were near Rangiku would hear howling. They likely would be panicked by the sound as the dogs came closer and closer to them, at least in their minds, and perhaps they'd end up running and exhausting themselves? Which meant they were perfect prey for the wolves. Each man would see his companion get his throat torn out before his own was by the sharp teeth of the wolves. Of course, that all hinges on if these bandits get caught by the illusions.
Kenta has, by now, a little trove of helpers at his side that are willing to do whatever he needs them to, whether it's get water, food, mend him clothes, whatever! They're just grateful he's there and helping make people better!
On the outside it seems that some get trapped by the genjutsu while some don't. There's some screaming and shouting and random swinging trying to knock dogs off of companions. They end up just hitting some of their companions instead however and a couple fall to the blows of unexpected attacks. The leader is one who doesn't succumb and he growls as he realizes what's happening. "That's it girly. You and this whole village are dead!" Shouts from the other side of the village erupt as one of the seals comes down and the leader sneers, "You think we would just have one group? Stupid girl." Indeed of the estimated ten there were only six here to start.
Kenta's head jerks up again when he hears shouting. That doesn't sound good at all. In fact, it sounds like it's coming from the other side of the village, -not- the direction of the gate. <"What's going on out there?!"> the young man asks. He looks to the people around him with a somber expression on his face. "I need one of you to go outside to check what the commotion is about. The two worst injured are stabilized now. I'm still not done with them, but they should be fine without attention for a little while. I might be needed for the defense of the village more urgently. Please hurry."
<There's a second group. Attacking the other side of the village, Kenta-sama. I can get there if you wish to take on the leader of this bunch.> Rangiku turns her head a bit, but smiles as she doesn't move. "On the contrary….you are dead, unless you wish to surrender now." She's a BIT too confident in her words…a bit too relaxed. "They are definitely dead." She jerks a thumb over her shoulder. "But you? No. You'll suffer….as much as these villagers have suffer….perhaps more….before you beg for death. Leave now, and we'll spare you. Don't and your little 'kingdom' will come crumbling down like the house of cards it is….in the middle of a tornado."
Shinobu hears that there are people getting attacked. A second group. Kame's voice comes through the Genjutsu. ~I'll go check them out! Shinobu can stay back and help Rangiku.~ The pup proceeds to dash off, sneaking carefully to get away and go see what this other group was doing while Shinobu attacks some of the people that Rangiku is dealing with. A bit of chakra flows through her body, and she comes down in a sudden whirl of claws upon these goons.
Jacon listens to what Kenta says and nods before moving out the door to see what's going on. Shouts come from the man once he's outside, calling for people to head towards the back of the village to protect the people there. He comes back in quickly and grabs a wooden club. "Four men came in through the back area, killed the guards I had watching. One of them seems to know ninjutsu because he keeps throwing out pieces of paper that are paralyzing people." He leaves it at that before he himself goes out to help with the defenses.
Of the men that remain standing one ducks down next to where the closest seal is and starts channeling chakra while the other three that are still standing shake off the effects of the genjutsu. Oops, well, they killed two of their companions. The leader just shakes his head at the girl on the other side of the barrier. "Think you're so tough just 'cause I can't get to you. Just wait." There's a shout of pain from behind the man as Shinobu comes down on him. Despite his try to get his sword up to block the claws her fails and falls under the attack. The leader curses and turns, swinging his axe towards Shinobu.
As for Kame? She's being sneaky, ayup.
<"I'm coming to back you up, Kame-chan! I don't want you trying to take on ninjutsu users alone!"> Kenta sends out through the link after he hears the situation from both the other shinobu and from Jacon. He stands quickly to strip off the latex gloves that he's wearing and move through the small crowd to grab his outerwear. "I'll be back as soon as we take care of the bandits," Kenta promises everyone in the room before he slips outside. The young man activates a cloaking tag as soon as he's through the door. It wraps him in a barrier that masks light, scent, sound and chakra… basically making him the next best thing to undetectable to those without strong perception abilities.
"Nah. I have something to protect. You don't. you're just an overgrown bully." Rangiku says JUST as Shinobu attacks. "and now….you die." She says as she reaches down and touches the seal to deactivate the barrier for a moment….and the moment is all she needs. <reactivate the barrier, Kenta-sama> Rangiku sens through the link before she literally ZIPS up to the leader and makes three quick sword slashes to the leader's back before she resheathes her sword….and touches the seal again….reactivating the barrir. <never mind, I got it, but I'm outside of the barrier now, as is Shinobu.>
Shinobu's eye widens a bit when the man comes at her with an ace. The girl draws a kunai and blocks the strike, even as she moves towards the leader to slash at him with her fingernails, which are sharper than they usually are thanks to the chakra coursing through them. Then she turns to let Rangiku handle the man, throwing a kunai at one person off to the side before she ducks and goes into a raging tornado at the other two. Kame continues to creep along, saying, ~Got it!~ to Kenta.
Kenta would find himself coming into quite a mess. Two men are actively going around burning houses with torches, another is cutting down any villagers that happen to get too close. And then there's the man with the seals who is occasionally tossing them out to explode, caving in whole sections of some buildings.
The man with the axe is mid-swing when Rangiku attacks, making it too hard for him to get himself back in a position to defend and earning him some cuts. He finally gets there with the last blow however and raises his axe to block the strike before pushing the girl back and taking a heavy swing at her. One more of the men fall to Shinobu as well, leaving just one left with a sword that he swings wildly at Shinobu, the man seeming almost scared.
<"Umm… Kame-chan and I will head to your positions once we finish dealing with the problem on this end,"> Kenta sends to Shinobu and Rangiku. With his cloaking seal up, there's less need for him to move cautiously, so he hurries towards where the second source of commotion is as quickly as he can. The main problem is the snow, since his barrier doesn't actually eliminate foot prints. It just conceals them until they get out of range from the short area of effect. Due to that, Kenta mostly runs along the walls of the houses and anything that's not too soft.
As soon as he's within range, Kenta charges at the man who's throwing explosive tags. He turns visible again just as he reaches the guy. The Chuunin doesn't make directly contact, but he holds a palm out towards the bandit from about three feet away to send a blast of medical chakra at him. Then, he immediate keeps going to send another blast at one of the other bandits.
The slash from the larger man barely catches Rangiku's upper arm and she smirks at the larger man. "I thought you were going to kill me. My uncle hits harder than you." Well, she's not lying, considering who her uncle is. Despite the blood on her left arm, she still lashes out with three more strikes as she tries to stay away from the semi-powerful strikes of the man with the axe, letting Shinobu take care of the rest of his 'gang'. Rangiku's a good distraction.
Shinobu scrambles a bit, jumping back and ducking under the sword slashes before she tackles into the man, headfirst, to try and knock him over. The hit would be to the gut so that he would also lose his breath if it was successful. Then Shinobu lashed out with her claws, raking a hand down the man's arm to force him to drop his weapon. Hopefully Shizuka can take care of herself for now.
Kame, in the meantime, is able to sniff out Kenta. The pup scampers over to help the medic out, launching herself in a Tsuga at one of the men that /isn't/ wielding ninjutsu-stuffs. She'll leave him for Kenta.
The seal man doesn't seem to be as much of a slouch as the others are. It takes him only a fraction of a second once Kenta is visible to unleash a seal he'd had prepared in order to defend himself, putting a barrier in between them so that the attack is absorbed. The man smiles at Kenta, an evil, demented smile. "Oh they did hire shinobi, hmm? This should be fun." The other man wasn't so luck however and fell with a cry of pain before he started twitching on the ground.
The one last man Shinobu was facing falls victim to her claws after she threw him off balance and he falls to the snow, then starts trying to crawl away out of fear. Meanwhile the man with the axe manages to block the blade strikes with the axe without too much trouble and when he spots an opening he attacks quickly, slicing back and forth.
"Ummm… actually, it's not going to be so fun for you. I -really- hate people that injure helpless villagers like you," Kenta retorts with a glare at the seal user. <"Watch my back, Kame-chan"> he sends to the ninken with him before he whirls into an attack. Since the seal using bandit was able to deflect the blasts of medical chakra, Kenta goes for something stronger. He molds chakra around both hands to form chakra scalpels. Then, he's on the bandit with fury, lashing out with fingers and palms in an effort to touch his target long enough to severe muscles and tendons beneath the skin.
<I'm gonna need help against this guy, Shinobu. I'm a good distraction but I don't hit that hard.> Rangiku says as she's literally swatted by the second hit of the axe. She's knocked backwards, but it was in the same arm as before. "You like hurting people. That's really a shame. You'd have made a decent shinobi yourself. Maybe." She says as she moves so the leader's attention is focused upon her, and his back is towards Shinobu, before she attacks again. Three more strikes.
Shinobu glances at the man who's scrambling away from her, and she makes a few simple seals so that he would notice a puppy out of the corner of his eye. A really cute one that's just begging to be pet. Hopefully that keeps him in place so that her attention can be on the leader. He would not get to experience something so nice. Wolves would begin to howl, and then a few would jump out and try to tear out his throat. Kame would dart this way and that as she tried to bite and claw the different bandits that were aiming to help their own leader with Kenta.
Upon seeing the best of them being hit by Kenta the rest of the men with the seal user take off and flee, leaving the man to fend for himself. He curses at Kenta as the medic manages to cut some of his muscles in one of his arm, making it useless. "That's it boy, now you've made me mad!" The man pulls out a number of seals and flings them at Kenta before activating them, trying to drain Kenta.
The man that was trying to escape is now just sitting in the snow with a happy little smile on his face. Aww, it's a cute puppy! The leader meanwhile managed to block the sword blows but the evil genjutsu took hold of him and he found himself trying to fend off invisable wolves as they attacked him, swinging at the air.
Kenta staggers backwards when he's struck by a barrage of seals. They stick to him for a second and drains his chakra away, but immediately flings him back when they detonate upon reaching full capacity. "Ugh!" Kenta exclaims as he throws himself into a controlled roll. He comes back up with smoke trailing off his clothing. <"There's a very strong guy here! Are you two alright on your end, Rangiku-san and Shinobu-chan?"> If this guy's strong, the leader -must- be even stronger, right?
Kenta winces slightly, he luckily hadn't suffered to much damage. The young man circles around his opponent to look for a weak spot. He takes a few pills from a pouch to pop into his mouth. At the same time, he begins gathering chakra from all over his body to replenish what was drained from his reserves.
<IF this guy's the leader. Doesn't matter either way.> Rangiku says as it seems Shinobu's genjutsu has taken hold. She smirks at the guy who seems to be swinging at air, and she waits for his axe to be completely out of position. That's when she strikes, quick slashes that…..put an 'R' on the guy's back. Yeah. she's not letting him off easily.
Shinobu nods a bit and performs a Tsuga on the leader, likely killing him thanks to her and Rangiku's combined attack efforts. Kame is doing her best on her own end, too, the pup performing several Tsuga on the enemies that aren't the one that Kenta is facing off against.
The seal user smirks at Kenta when he falls under the seals and he pulls out more to throw at the medic. "You should've just left this one alone shinobi. Now you'll die." The tags he throws this time are all connected and as he activates them they not only move together to try and drain chakra, but also to tie up Kenta to keep him from moving.
The leader is stuck in the genjutsu and falls to the attacks of the others, the tsuga pushing him back and skewering him on Rangiku's sword during one of her strikes. The man falls limp at that point, buried to the hilt of the blade. That had to hurt for as long as he was alive which…wasn't long.
Time for deadly force. It's rare for Kenta to consider such a thing, but the bandit facing him has pretty much blown up part of a peaceful village and killed several people. Kenta takes a few steps backwards, as if he's about to retreat. But then, he suddenly slaps his hands together. The invisible seal inked to his chest turns black and starts pumping up large amounts of chakra, released to the second highest level that he's able to access it. Chains of seal characters flow around his torso under his clothing and a very faint aura emanates from him. He drops to slam a hand into the ground, which causes a barrier to spring up around him and repel the attack.
"I don't think so! You shouldn't have attacked this village and injured all these innocent people. They were doing fine before your people came along. I'm not going to let you do this type of thing ever again!" Kenta cries out. He makes another set of hand seals and jumps high into the air. The medic-nin purses his lips to release a shower of deadly poison encased in chakra needles at the bandit.
Rangiku slide her sword out of the guy's chest and she steps back to let the leader fall to the ground. "Well look at that. House of cards in a tornado." She says to the corpse that WAS the leader of the bandits. <Thanks Shinobu.> Rangiku's grateful voice goes through the link before she speaks to Kenta through it. <Leader and the frontal assault was neutralized. Do you need help on your end, Kenta-san?> Rangik smiles in Shinobu's direction, but waits for Kenta's response.
Shinobu ties up the man that's still stuck in her puppy petting genjutsu. Then, without waiting for Kenta's reply, she starts heading to where she knows Kame is. The girl doesn't like being without her ninken for too long, and she really wants to get back to Kame. Kame isn't going to do much good against this big baddie, either. So the pup starts scampering back towards her partner with the same thoughts in mind.
The seal user seems surprised by the sudden power emanating from the other man and when he senses the attack coming he tries to throw up a stronger barrier, but the needles shred through it before he can get it completed and pound into him, the sheer number and force knocking him backwards into an already burnt out building. It throws a cloud of smoke and ask into the air as the house falls apart and collapses on the man. Surely he's dead, right? Apparently not quite! Pushing aside some wood he manages to stagger out, bleeding from various orifices as he glares at Kenta. "You…I'm going…to kill… these people…" He makes a seal with one hand before he collapses, but that's enough as a hidden trap they'd previously set up springs into action. From the sky starts floating down dozens upon dozens of explosive tags. While the wind will surely blow some of them away from the village, it won't get rid of them all.
Kenta's eyes widen when he sees the explosive tags begin to fall all over the village. He quickly runs out one of the intact buildings. The young man has another stack of seals in his hands before he reaches the top. He starts flinging those into the air and activating them as soon as they leave his hand. As a result, barrier after barrier flash into existence above his part of the village. The tags explode against them and rain fiery bits of ash over the village, but every spark has extinguished by the time the ash reaches the buildings.
Nevertheless, these barriers don't cover -everything-. Kenta's heart thud when he sees tags descend down over the parts that he can reach with flung tags. "No! I can't let that happen!" he cries out. There's no time to focus more chakra and his reserves has gotten low again, but he has enough for -one- large jutsu before he's forced to focus more. The young man slams a hand onto the rooftop supporting him. His chakra pours out in a wave of black seal characters that ripple across every surface of the village to paint streets and walls with strange symbols. An enormous barrier spring up to block the remaining explosive tags, but the effort leaves Kenta panting for a second.
Walking her way back into the village, holding her arm, Rangiku sees the flurry of barriers and the black letter fly into the air. She whistles. "Damn. I actually wish I could do something like that." She says rubbing her arm and heading for where Kenta is. Not paying attention to the soot that is now fluttering down to the ground.
Shinobu snatches up Kame just in time to see explosive tags raining down on … everyone. But then these weird seal marks appear in front of her feet. She stumbles back a bit, falling onto her butt and watching as the seals act as a huge barrier. WOOOOOOW!!! Shinobu's eye grows a bit wide as she watches the explosive tags like one would fireworks, each one of them exploding and not harming the village at all. That was cool.
The villagers were quite certain they were going to be dead. When the tags fall against some type of barrier instead loud cheers ring from every home. The villagers rush out to thank Kenta and the others for all their help and for saving them, offering to let them stay to recover for the night and all that. Jacon appears to try and help Kenta if he needs it as well, "Thanks for your help shinobi. Guess I was wrong to worry about so few of you."
Kenta lets out a sigh of relief and releases the seal on his chest. It's a powerful jutsu, but it also makes him tired to maintain it for long. The young man jumps off the building to speak with Jacon and the others. "Ummm… Konoha and Kumo are very strong villages. We also value the people that live in our nations. It's only right that both send good shinobi to help. Ummm… I'm just sorry that we weren't able to help more quickly. Let's move all the people that were hurt from the backdoor attack to hospital. I'll give them medical treatment." The young man glances over at the Genin. "Thanks for all your help. You three did great."
"Thank you." Rangiku says wiping the blood off of her sword. "Told the guy he should've surrendered. And he called me stupid." She says taking a deep breath. "and he hit my non-sword arm too." She says gesturing to the gash that's on her arm. "I think you can add me to the wounded, Kenta. Though I'm less serious than the rest." She then chuckles. "Have any ramen?"
Shinobu looks at the ground when she's praised, embarrassed, though Kame seems cheerful and yips, ~We should get a reward! Get us treats!~ to Kenta. Because spoiled puppy is spoiled, apparently. Shinobu gently bops Kame on the head for that comment, and the girl bows quietly to Jacon, the villagers around her, and her teammates.
"Let's get you all inside and get you something to eat and drink. That's the least we can do." Well that and the money they paid the villages already but, hey, things are a little different when they just saved your butt! It's going to be a lot of rebuilding when winter is over and some hard times through winter itself, but they'll be able to make it. Thanks to the shinobi.
