Starring:
Nai (emitting as Emu), Itami, Kazuhito, Keiji, Berii, Naru
Date: March 6, 2012
Summary:
One of the most hated and most vile murderers, wanted across multiple countries, finally makes a public appearance in Sunagakure. Genjitsu Emu goes after one of his most challenging targets yet… Councilwoman Watanabe Itami — and every single ninja who comes along to help her.
"Blood Red Sandman - Depths of Depravity"
The Catacombs - Sunagakure
The International Promotion Exams did not end as peacefully as might have been hoped. However, some types of creatures thrive amidst chaos and bloodshed. One of these creatures is a very cunning monster — a thing that, for all his human appearance, is as abominable as humans can become. He has lead law enforcement, justice-seekers, bounty-hunters, ninja, and all manner of others back and forth across a variety of countries for years with a very long trail of corpses. Genjitsu Emu was last seen in Sunagakure in August of last year. He was chased to San-Sara Daruta, a now-demolished den of wickedness and corruption, and has since been hunted all over the Land of Wind thanks to the efforts of the Chief of the relatively new 'Puppet Brigade', Uudo Kara. With sensory ninja, trackers, and the dedication of and cooperation between men and women across all branches of Sunagakure's various forces, Emu is running out of places to hide.
That's when the trail went cold, around the time the Promotional Exams began. He somehow used the increased activity and travel back and forth across the borders of the Land of Wind to slip away. That's what everyone thought. He could be anywhere!
Then he made an appearance. Curly, blonde-hair… Handsome features… An easy smile that instills trust in others… And a little Genin girl from the Village Hidden Among Rocks held in one hand, and a long, wicked-looking knife to her throat in the other. He simply stepped out into the middle of the street, in front of everyone, illuminated by the full moon in the sky above, squinted his eyes nearly-shut, and called out cheerfully, "Catch me if you want this morsel to live!" Then he bared his teeth, filed sharp, and began running through the streets with the pre-teen girl still held as his hostage.
Word would have gotten to those in charge rather swiftly, as well as anyone else in the area who might be of use in catching this fiend. If they need to be informed who they're dealing with, there's plenty of time for that along the way. But the Big Bad Wolf has come back to the Hidden Sand, seemingly intent on causing as much misery as he can with his wanton cruelty and sadistic behavior…
The chase has begun!
The call has gone out and people are frightened to say the least. They scramble to find whoever might be available to stop this man. Of course, there are some that are more than readily available, including Itami herself. At this time of night, she should be resting, but her duty hasn't exactly allowed her to sleep well as of late and this just takes the cake…
Without wasting time, she sets herself after Emu with the intent of capturing him. She remembers him and has an extreme hate for him, much on the level she did with San Sara. Following after those that have already gone after him, she closes the distance quickly enough between her and the group. No one else can die on her watch…
Kazuhito is bent over a candle, at a open window a story up from the street in question, writing something or other with furrowed burrow and scratching pen. At the sound of a commotion from outside, however, he looks up- and his eyes swiftly widens with what they see. He drops his pen in shock, and for a moment, does nothing in stunned shock. And then, as the man delivers his challenge, he stands. He starts to take a quick step towards the door, stops, dashing around, and manages to climb through the window, his feet catching against the side of the building once outside. He dashes down, the looks around, his breath at once ragged from the uncertainty. He looks this way and that at the crowd.
Then he stops. He closes his eyes for a moment, trying to gather his thoughts. They snap open, and he looks over at a random villager in the crowd. "G-go. Find the nearest on duty guard. Ch-check the village center if you aren't sure where to look. Make sure they know- what you've s-seen." And then, as if uncertain that his stammering instructions will be taken seriously, he adds in a louder, more urgent voice, "Go!"
With that, Kazuhito sets off at full sprint, down the street where he thinks he saw the man last, trying desperately to keep his eyes and ears open for any sign of him.
Keiji was walking down the street as he heard the man shout about the morsel. He turned to look just in time to see the man take off. The young Shippodoku's face contorted in horror as he considered what was at stake here. It was obvious the man was leading whomever into a trap, but then he spots Itami. The boy takes off running after her.
Keiji did not care about the last conversation that he had with the council-lady. He was willing to get stuck in the trap with her. Soon the boy sprouts a tail and his dark pupils become wide. He wanted every advantage he could have in the night. The tail would also help his balance as he ran after the lunatic and his hostage.
Berii was kept within Sunagakure not simply because she was a Konohagakure ninja that was to be questioned, no, Berii was to be a star! —or something of that manner. Still unsure on how she got into that play and why she was even going through with it, she just sucked it up and reminded herself that the pay was a bit better than some of the dumb lower level missions so, she might as well have fun with it!
Moments before the commotion began Berii would be wandering the streets with a a drink in hand, the child all tarted up from a dress rehearsal she just got out of. The whitish pink hair was let loose and was not too well accented by an even more obnoxious dark pink blush blotches placed on each cheek. The girl had no care on her looks really, old jeans were on along with an old shirt that she quickly changed into after practice. If anything, Berii just looked like any other lame citizen of Sunagakure… with too much make up on.
So, when things go down, people do not really look on to Berii with the hopes that she can help the girl trapped by the Crazy Blonde Dude. Instead they tell her to run away.
Honestly, Berii was so caught up in her drink it took her a moment to process what just happened. It wasn't until the group of people she recognized as Sand Ninja ran by, that she actually decided to follow suit out of sheer nosiness.
With a swat of her hand, she easily knocks away the grabbing hand of a man that was trying to drag the 'poor, frightened pink haired girl who was obviously too scared to run' before simply rushing off in a flash to chase after ninja chasing after the man.
Naru herself was admist the night when a cry for help had been called out, and even some odd figure claiming to be wanting to take the girls life, it was interesting enough for Naru to watch, as she made her way about the village, honestly about to make way to go home finally. The situation however had peaked Naru's interest, causing her to tilt her head slightly and perk a brow. " Is this serious? Right in the open…?" She questioned out loud, watching as the man ran off in the other direction naturally Naru's first reaction was to follow. She didnt notice any of the others following after him at the moment, especially this darkn night. She leaps up onto one of the sandy houses running on along top of them in order to close in on this guy and more or less help put him down if worse came to worse…
The child in Emu's grasp didn't seem to be conscious, but from her palor appeared to still be alive. There are no signs of struggling as the cloaked man runs, his hood having fallen back long ago, so that his hair is clearly visible in the moonlight and any lanterns he passes by. But he's so damn FAST and AGILE! Ninja and guards both try to close off the roads and other possible escape routes ahead of him, coordinating their efforts to apprehend this beast in human's clothing. Emu ducks down alleyways, leaps up ledges onto rooftops, simultaneously making it almost impossible for normal people to follow him, but leaving himself all too much a spectacle for properly-trained ninja to chase down.
Eventually, Emu slows to a stop on a two-story building's roof. Right in the middle of the roof is a tarp with some boards laid out on top of it to hold it down in the event of strong winds. Emu and his unconscious captive remain in plain sight for several moments as he bends over to grab the tarp and pull on it, tossing the boards away in the process. There's a hole in the roof that leads down into the building! The man turns his blue eyes on his pursuers, seeing that there are three females amongst them, then smirks a bit before leaping nimbly feet-first into the hole and dropping out of sight.
Those who follow will discover, probably rather unpleasantly, that the hole goes further than just into the building. Both floors of the building interior have been removed or destroyed, and the hole continues all the way down into a much LARGER hole that seems to open up into a tunnel beneath the streets of Sunagakure itself!
Further, it's dark in the tunnel. No light falls inside from the night sky. Yes, this is clearly a trap of some kind. But right now it's still a chase, with a girl a potential victim if they fail to catch Emu. Can they afford to stop, wait, and risk losing him?
Keeping up with Emu /is/ a chore and Itami does find it difficult despite her skill level. She isn't dealing with the average person here and would be stupid to underestimate him, especially with what he's capable of. Seeing that hair was enough to make her blood boil, a girl wrapped up in hands as his victim. She absolutely loathes that he's been able to slip by her this many times and secure these young girls. She's mostly mad at herself, but she wants to spread this anger to the forces that should be on his case and actively searching for him. How could they let this happen again?!
The anger she feels is focused to every part of her body and she increases her speed by sheer will to get to him atop the roof of the two story building. She's fast approaching, but not fast enough, taunted by that smirk of his before he leaps down into it. A bitter taste fills her mouth. Dashing up the building quickly and bounding when she has the chance, she flies through the air and right down into the hole. She… wasn't expecting there to be more holes, so her stomach sinks a bit and fear comes over her for dropping that far. To reduce the blow, she focuses wind to her feet to cushion them from hitting the ground to hard, so what she endures when she lands is a midlevel shock if anything.
She's crouched to the ground up until she's able to lift herself and shake it all off. She's landed right in the middle of more problems, it seems. "Where are you?!" She called out.
Kazuhito jumps around, trying to scale the walls as fast as he can. He seems somewhat comforted at the sight of the others now running with him, Itami especially, and tucks his head down, trying to keep speed.
Kazuhito pauses at the rooftop, staring down into the darkness and swallowing. He shudders briefly, and then… Glances over at the tarp. And the planks. He rushes over, grabbing a single plank and then a corner of the tarp of one hand, then jumps down, the tarp fluttering behind him. As he lands, he shouts over at Itami. "Watanabe-sama- I know we're in a hurry but-" he shakes his head. "A torch. If we wrap the linen around the plank and someone has fire-style jutsu to light it- going in blind seems to be- his plan, I mean." He bites his lip uncertainly and holds out the items hoping someone will think it's worth trying.
Keiji followed behind Itami as best he could. He even had to avoid some pedestrians in the street as they began to run away from the lunatic that just passed them. He dashes to the side of them and uses the tree walking jutsu to latch onto the side of a building. His tail allows him to keep his balance by counteracting some of the weight. The run itself was pretty intense for the boy.
After a while he comes upon the building just in time to see Itami and then Kazuhito drop. The boy approaches the hole quickly and peers down into it. He leaps down and dashes off the side of the second hole to prevent it from being a straight fall. Once behind his fellow Sunagakureans he asks, "What now?"
This rapidly became more and more of a pain for Berii, taking a slipping leap toward another building she'd find that she wasn't going to make the jump. Quick thinking left her to discarding the drink mid-air before clinging to the edge of the rooftop. A light thud rings out as she slams into the side of the building. "Owwww." Berii slowly climbs up and she momentarily slips her grip only to belatedly remember that she had the ability to cling to surfaces with chakra.
She lets out a groan, disappointed in forgetting such an important detail. Though this moment led her to believe things were much more serious. He wasn't some psycho looking for attention, he did this act in a ninja village with the knowledge that he could easily evade ninja.
"Hup!"
Berii pulls herself onto the rooftop, thoughts racing as she pushes herself to catch up. Not really putting together the idea that this was a trap for everyone in general including herself but, he was probably trying to draw out a specific person with that girl. Nosiness shifted into foolish heroism, believing that she would have to help save that girl and whoever he was trying to draw in.
Another logical gap, there were plenty of people chasing after him as is. Berii did not really think on the idea of EVERYONE being led into a trap. With a flourish a scroll would be whipped out and with a twisting and twirling flip within the moonlight the scroll would be let loose and somewhat obscure the vision of Berii from all directions.
Two soft 'poof' sounds are heard and by the time she landed Berii was now in her appropriate ninja gear. Within each eye rested two tomoe as she put her chase into full throttle. Nothing would slow her until she had actually gotten to the hole. A moment of hesitation as sense almost overrode adrenaline… but, it was short lived and Berii dives into the hole.
Eventually she'd land, she doesn't attempt to make her presence obvious. She instead silently watches those who made it in before her from within the darkness, working mostly off of her chakra-vision for now.
Keiji followed behind Itami as best he could. He even had to avoid some pedestrians in the street as they began to run away from the lunatic that just passed them. He dashes to the side of them and uses the tree walking jutsu to latch onto the side of a building. His tail allows him to keep his balance by counteracting some of the weight. The run itself was pretty intense for the boy.
After a while he comes upon the building just in time to see Itami and then Kazuhito call down to her. The boy approaches the hole quickly and peers down into it. "Early bird gets the worm, or say they say." The comment is directed at Kazu. Keiji then jumps into the hole feet first. He uses his hands to grab the hole as he drops and swing to the side. He then presses off the side of the building and down to the floor. He lands on his bended legs and places his hands down as he hits the ground. Once behind his fellow Sunagakurean he asks, "What now?"
Naru managed to scale the roof tops just as well as probably this mad man had predicted; Most of the people following along was left behind, leaving only a few actual shinobi able to keep up. Naru had followed along quickly, easily being able to keep up with them as she had finally arrived near the hole in the building that people had disappeared into, "Your not going to waste any time are you?" Naru spoke up, noticably finally taking in Kazuhito's features, he would notice her eyes begining to swirl a blood scarlet red with slight illumination. Suddenly she peers forth and just jumps into the building, thinking that she would be on whatever floor it would lead to instead to her surprise she was literally going into free fall.
"What the hec…" Suddenly she finds herself spiraling in mid air, though naturally began to move into her ninja training, her eyes could see a signature below, Berii though she didnt know who just yet. As she slams into the floor, though she throws tucks and rolls her body at the last moment to catch herself from a very dangerous fall. For now she ppers around, her eyes picking up various signatures as everyone else had made it here… Berii had already moved ahead, and the sight of Keiji had instantly put Naru on edge. "Hmph.." She utters quietly to herself sticking to her silence for now as she tried to examine the area, perhaps catch a quick lead on where this guy had ran off to.
Itami calls out in the tunnel, and her voice echoes up and down it for quite a distance, her own voice calling back to her over and over until it fades into the distance. Then, weirdly, a deeper voice eventually starts repeating those words as it echoes back UP the tunnel. Like a distorted parody of Itami's voice, the words repeat mockingly, and then are followed by a man's laughter. It's not insane laughter. It's not wicked or malicious. It's pleasant, like someone enjoying a good joke. But it's his voice. Emu's. He sounds normal, looks normal, even acts normal most of the time. But he's not normal. He's not a person. He's a monster. And he's LAUGHING BACK UP THE TUNNEL AT ITAMI.
Keiji lands below, followed by Kazuhito with torch-making materials in-hand and ready to be lit. Three Fire Ninjutsu-users are present to light them. Berii and then Naru also descend through the unexpectedly large amount of empty air where floors would normally have been, and land safely. Two Sharingan looking around make seeing the others in the area easy enough for now, until the torches are lit so that the other three can see too.
But one disturbing fact is immediately evident to the two Uchiha: the girl he has as a hostage is visible with fading Chakra in the distance, at some lower level than they are already on, but Emu's Chakra is nowhere to be seen. There's just the girl, gradually fading… Weakening… Dying! She needs help! But… Where is the culprit? How could he have gotten away so quickly!?
Why does he insist on MOCKING everyone by leaving his victims to be found!?
All that came back was her voice, just her and the darkness between. Of course the group was around, but they were invisible for the moment. When the mock voice returns, she growled, sneering even at what she can't see. She stands quietly while trying to search for some form of reasoning inside of her to calm down and approach this from another perspective. She looks over her shoulder to Keiji and then to the rest of the group, taking note of the fait glowing of the eyes of the Uchiha. "What do you see?" She asks them before turning around and approaching Kazuhito. "Let's get some torches made with the materials you've gathered and make some haste to get her," her voice is shaken as she's still trying to come down from anger. "Be quick about this, we don't have time…" She grabs up some pieces of wood, tears the tarp and wraps it around and finally blows some fire on them to get them going. "I need a couple more and we should be good enough to proceed," she looks around and gets a better idea of this place. "Tunnels…" She muttered to herself. Not just any tunnels, of course. These were the ones beneath the village. "You all should be mindful of where you are and keep your senses extremely sharp. He may know this place better than most of us." The newly created torches are picked up to the ground and handed to anyone that may take them.
Kazuhito examines the glowing Uchiha eyes with something like amazement. He nods, however, as Itami constructs the torches, helping tear the fabric and aseemble the torches as best he can while still moving quickly. He picks one of the newly constructed objects up and squints, his eyes attempting to adjust and scan the area.
Kazuhito takes some particular time to try and observe any recently disturbed dust, as if hoping for some clue as to exactly which direction the kidnapper has run.
Keiji looks towards the fires. They do not help his eyes any. "I am going to find a way out of here and bring back others so that we can scour the tunnels. There has to be hundreds down here. To divide our forces now is suicide. My eyes are the sharpest in the dark. I will be back." The boy states. His eyes focusing on Itami. He then takes off down the tunnel. He was not looking for approval. It was simply what needed to be done.
Berii had no choice but to endure the echoing voices bouncing within this strange area.
That is eerie. Berii's eyes squint as if that would help her figure out what was going on with that fading chakra signal. She could only assume it was the girl's, not having her Sharingan active when the captivce girl was initially in obvious sight.
"Neh, wait… is he dy-" Berii pauses her thoughtful mumbling as her attention shifts to someone coming in behind her. "Nawu-chan?" Berii blinks a few times, it was odd enough Berii herself was here but, now another Uchiha kunoichi was in the mix. The girl does mentally question the odds of this happening and she begins to check for signs of Genjutsu.
Wait, if she were in a Genjutsu, wouldn't the Genjutsu make her think that she was not in a Genjutsu or does a Genjutsuist even have the ability to prevent you to read your own chakra. Berii's face visibly tenses as she begins to overthink this, the only option to find out if she were truly in a Genjutsu or not was to stab herself or something drastic. Which is… quickly ruled out as not worth it.
Eventually Itami would make it obvious she was aware of the two Uchiha, leaving the pink haired kunoichi to push heer confusion aside for a moment. Berii just clears her throat and smiles at Naru, a faint nod is sent Itami's way as Berii speaks up putting no effort in hiding her lisp as she was too busy putting on a brave face, "Thewe's fading chakwa. Awww the way down, might be hew, hnn."
A torch is picked up and she glances to Naru wondering if the older girl possibly had a better scope of the area.
Naru also was surprised to see Berii, her eyes quickly lightening up for the moment as she blinked and squinted her eyes. Even if it was a genjutsu their eyes would be able to tell them so, she didnt see anything unusual and as Itami brought up the flames, within moments Naru's sharingan had faded into its usual pumpkin hue gaze. She nods her head to Berii also, pointing out that she was acknowledging her at this point, still a part of Naru was very confused about this hot haired girl… It was almost a little irritating. "Their chakra signatures have faded, so we have to assume they made it far into the tunnel already, how wide is this place? I didn' think there would be an underground maze under this place… But then again…" She stops her speaking and lets out a tired sigh picking one of the flame torches. "We do need to move quickly… Or else things will get worse… It might be a trap."
Naru says the word 'trap' and a few seconds later the hallway explodes. The air is filled with dust and stone. It WAS a trap. And every last one of them fell for it.
