Starring:
Date: June 7, 2014
Summary:
When Akane spots a Missing Nin from Sunagakure in a forest in the Land of Water, she is approached by one from Konohagakure with ill intentions, none other than Uchiha Tao who has been slaughtering citizens of Kirigakure.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Blood Ties - Malcontent"
Land of Water - Forest on Island South of Kirigakure
The day was cool and overcast, threatening rain. Akane had come out past her usual haunts in search of a specific moss that was best harvested in the fall and out of the heat of the day. She had been fully aware that there was a rogue Uchiha running around Kiri attacking citizens and shinobi alike and had tucked her hitai-ate into her pack, leaving her with no hint as to which village she belonged. It was suprisingly simple to fall back into her old ways when it came to walking around with no village indicator. Unless people would recognise the Okumo crest on her crystal pendant, she would not be recognised as a Kiri-nin. Though it was plain she was shinobi…
She had been in her current place in the trees for the last half hour, her feet stuck to the side of a large tree with chakra as she carefully cut away the moss with a clean blade. She was being careful and tried to stay alert, but she was no sensor and since she had her eyes she had started using her sonar less and less. Besides, what were the chances that the one maniac Uchiha gunning for Kiri would be /there/ at that time… She should have known better… She had terrible luck with Uchiha…
The one maniac Uchiha gunning for Kiri may have an unexpected issue… in another maniac Uchiha playing a game of hide in plain sight and wait. Though adorned in his normal attire, Yuuto does not bear any shinobi crests or Uchiha clan symbols. He actually looks fairly normal, seated on a fallen tree as he glances between the area ahead and the scroll in his hand. A brush in his other hand dips in a tin of ink once in a while before making skillful dashes across the page. The trees, flowers, moss, and other plants in front of him provide the scenery for the piece he is working on today. Compared to most of the things he draws, this is kind of normal… except, as he goes along, horrific-looking monsters seem to be appearing amongst the plantlife. Some habits die hard. His habit of including the things he sees in his drawings may never die at all. Still, if one's not looking directly at the page, he would seem to be just an artist out here creating a painting to make a buck or two when he heads back to town.
Akane tucked the bit of moss into a bag then put that into her satchel before making her way back to the ground. She was close to done here. Just a little more.. It would be that little more that caused all her problems today. She paused as she spotted the man on the log, narrowing her eyes and thinking back. He looked familiar… Oh right he was from Konoha. Uchiha Yuuto if she was correct. Another one… She took a breath and tried to quiet the glare in her new eyes The last time she'd seen Yuuto she had been nearly blind. But she couldn't forget that he had fought the Hitokage for Konoha or so she'd heard. She slipped back behind the large tree and pondered a moment. On one hand it would not do for her to press fate by walking up to a shinobi from Konoha. On the other hand, she couldn't just let him run around the Land of Water either…. She finally sighed and headed in his direction.
"That's a fascinating crest you have there," a voice out from nearby before a black-haired man adorned in a green flak jacket with a blue high-collared shirt under it and black pants steps out from the shadows. "It reminds me of the man that killed my little sister." A highly mallicious feeling of chakra begins to fill the area as the man steps into stances, bringing his hands into a seal. "And even more interesting that someone from Konoha is wearing it… Or should I say pathetic? Turning your back on one nation just to align yourself with this place. I think that qualifies you as deserving the death I'm about to hand you."
As Akane starts to approach him, Yuuto glances back over his shoulder at her. He worries for a moment that she's going to give away his position… until luckily Tao is enraged enough to step out himself. Yuuto's eyes look over at the man, as he is now standing between Akane and himself. This might be a little inconvenient now that it seems a Kiri Nin is already on the scene too now and may want a shot at getting this man's eyes as well…. but the main focus right now is taking care of a Missing Nin from his clan. For now, he waits, seeing if the man will strike at Akane first or even look at him. If he goes after her, Yuuto may yet be able to maintain his strategy…
Akane stopped moving the second Tao revealed himself. She had no luck at all today. Two Uchiha in one area. Great. She doubted she could count on Yuuto to help her. Despite fighting together in the land of Tea, they weren't comrades and he might consider her a traitor. tao, obviously considered her such. Ironicly since according to the briefing he's a nuke-nin as well. She refused tro fall back a step and her eyes darkened a shade. She faced him down the same way she'd faced Meruin when they'd first met. Showing no fear, but wary and watchful. "You don't know what you're talking about, Uchiha. Perhaps if you had stayed in Konoha you would have known why I was sent here." She snarled. Yes she recognised him, she'd recognised his name. Agitator she'd dated his cousin, Fudo. "You always were hot tempered." She could not ignore the promise of death, though and gathered her chakra about her as she watched him closely. "I'm supposed to be with Kiri now which means I'm supposed to kill you. Leave quickly and we'll both forget we saw eachother." There was no falter in her voice, no hint that she knew Yuuto was listening, no suggestion that she was lying. There was an irritation in her tone that would have been there if what she said was indeed true. Now the ball was in Tao's court…
Tao's eyes remain locked on Akane as she speaks, the man obviously not caring too much to listen to reason now. He doesn't care why she's in Kiri. He hates the way Konoha is doing business with the village that is responsible for so much death in their land. "Ohhh, YOU'RE supposed to kill ME? That's brilliant," Tao says, chuckling venomously as his eyes take on the crimson glow of Sharingan with a trio of tomoe spinning out of them. "Tell you what, you can explain it to me in the next life." Taking in a breath, he breathes out a massive fireball at her, intending on frying her to a crisp along with destroying whatever it is she's come to gather in this area just to pour salt in the wound.
As the two argue away, Yuuto would almost seem to be going back to what he was doing. He looks back at his scroll and ahead… until Tao makes his move. With the man intent on breathing fire at Akane, the other Uchiha flips his scroll around and brings his hands into a seal, sending a massive tree at the man's back with intent to slam into him and knock him forward while snakes of ink that follow the tree attempt to latch onto the man and bind him down. "You know, it's this sort of attitude that makes our clan look so igorant to the rest of the world. We're so willing to drown in our sorrows and make other burn for it," Yuuto's voice rings out, apparently having no fear of bringing Tao's attention to him.
Akane had managed to buy herself /some/ time at least with her words. She had braced and accelerated her muscles. But she was simply too close to the source of the fire. She kept silent, however as she reappeared to the side, shedding her smoking jacket. The piece was ruined but at least her skin had been mostly protected. The flames had scorched her stomach and chest but the leather had protected her arms.
She had dropped her jacket just in time to watch the tree head for Tao's back. And for good measure she flashed her hands through seals andused the metal on her wristlets to direct the lightning at Tao's back.
She glanced in Yuuto's direction, knowing that was going to be a problem in itself. If he'd heard what she'd said to Tao it coudl cause problems. Belly-ache if he figured out that she was a former Konoha nin /that/ would be another problem altogether. But Yuuto was her most likely source of survival at the moment. She used her Brevity to flicker toward Yuuto, but not too close, just in case he turned on her too. If he did she'd be dead, no question. "Hello again."
Tao doesn't notice the ink creations coming his way in time, it seems, as, though he tries to flicker out of the way, he winds up knocked over and bound down by some sort of ink snakes. He blinks as he looks up at Yuuto, growling out, "Keep talking! You're no better than any of the rest of them! If anyone in the clan had a set of balls, we'd be running the village and Kirigakure would be a pile of rubb-!" His words are cut short by a groan of pain as lightning strikes at his back and scorches his flack jacket. However, this series does anger him enough that he creates a surge of chakra within himself and bursts out of the ink bindings to move through a set of handseals and fire a bolt of lightning at both Yuuto and Akane. Seems this one is quite proficient in Sharingan Copying.
As the woman appears by him, Yuuto glances over at her and smirks slightly. "Hi there," he says with a nod. "Good to see you made it through the chaos in the Land of Tea. Do you plan on following me around through every potential disaster?" he asks, seeming to ignore the incoming lightning strike until it hits him, causing him to splatter into a puddle of ink. From behind where the clone splattered, Yuuto charges forward with his gunbai in hand, swiping the sharp edge of it down at the man's chest, swinging it around again to make an X across Tao's torso. "I think I'd call not moving forward more cowardly than choosing not to constantly kill each other for the sake of perpetual vengeance."
Akane watched as the man argued with Yuuto as well and narrowed her eyes. He was one angry man…. Yuuto's words to her made her snicker. "Who's following whom? I live here." Unfortunately for her, watching Yuuto explode into a cloud of ink was distracting enough to cost her in the battle. She caught the lightning in her shoulder, which sent her backwards. A hand managed to snag a tree and keep her from falling to the ground, but her burns were getting worse and more painful.
Glancing at Yuuto as he used his war fan, she watched the two for a moment. Eyes darkening even more she circled, trying to catch Tao when he was distracted with the wind attacks. Gaze sharp she observed the way tao moved, the way he tried to defend. And made an educated guess. She seemed to disappear completely, or at lest to a normal person she would have appeared so. She didn't have any illusions about the Sharingan's abilities to destroy her. But hopefully she'd guessed right and she would reappear to one side of Tao, a syringe in her hand and aiming for his throat. If this succeeded he'd be beset by an onslaught of hallucinations as well as feel like his veins were aflame. And when it reached hisstomach he wouldn't be able to keep his lunch down.. if she could do it. There might be other side effects too, she hadn't tested this set yet…
With a flicker, Tao vanishes before either shinobi can land a strike on him. Reappearing behind Akane, he'd spin into a vicious roundhouse at the back of her head, using that same momentum to leap over and swing a vicious punch directly at his face. It seems they weren't joking about this man being able to use every kind of jutsu, though he hasn't shown his Genjutsu prowess just yet. "This whole world can burn for all I care as long as I get them back for what they've done!"
SMACK! Yuuto is sent tumbling back with the impact of Tao's fist on his face, unable to move quickly enough to get out of its way. After skidding on the ground a bit, he'd torque his torso and legs to leap back up and stare right at Tao. Attempting to lock eyes with the man, he sternly utters a simple command, "Fear."
Akane saw Tao flicker out of sight and her arm caught itself before the syringe hit a tree, keeping it in the fight. Though she had others of course. It didn't take a genius to tell her he was coming for her first. She was closest to him at the moment. She hadn't expected him to come at her with a physical attack, though, she was able to enhance her muscles and fueled her adrenal glands into producing a shock of adrenaline. Together she was simply not there to strike.
Inside her head Kyoujin spoke. /You should just run, Bakane. He's beyond you./ Yes yes, she knew that but she also knew that this was a chance to prove herself to the village. If she could just get the Uchiha down then she could … maybe.. accomplish something the village could actually use… /You're going to get us BOTH killed at least let me help!/ Well that she could do… Her eyes deepened in tone yet again and her movements shifted into a more agressive stance….
She saw Tao's punch land on Yuuto, sending his fellow Uchiha backwards. She didn't watch him land, rather she used her enhanced muscles to disappear and reappear directly behind the tall Uchiha rogue, once more aiming to inject him with her serum of hallucinations. She hoped that he was still off balance from striking Yuuto so hard that he wouldn't be able to move faster than her…. She would worry about Yuuto if she came out of this one whole…
This just isn't Tao's day… He brings his hands into a seal to try to fend off Yuuto's Genjutsu, yet he is still overtaken and locked up long enough that Akane jabs that needle into his neck. Unable to use jutsu to overcome this one, he falls to his knees in pain. He growls out, writhing a bit as he tries to fight through this. "… I… will… not… die… here…. Kiri… gakure… will… fall…" The problem with being a cocky generalist is that somewhere, there's always one better than you, or at least one with a bit better luck of the straw at times.
Once the man is down from the syringe, Yuuto casts a glance at Akane, smirking slightly as he figures she is keeping an eye on him just as much as he is her. Reaching back to the gunbai on his back, he twists the hilt to withdraw a sword from the fan, two weapons in one ala Kumogakure. He lunges forward, wind racing around his form and driving him forward as he goes to drive the blade directly into Tao's gut with intent on damaging as many organs as possible. Not done there, however, he withdraws the blade and turns to spin it in a slash aimed right across his throat.
Akane watched Tao drop with narrowed eyes. She wanted to watch, to see exactly what this combination did to a human, but she had another Uchiha to worry about. She watched Tao fall and could imagine the pain he was going through. After all, she'd tested that component on ehrself to be sure it was severrre enough of an effect. A cruel little smirk played along her lips as she watched him suffer. Served the apostate right. She lifted her dark green eyes to watch Yuuto pull a blade from his warfan and slice Tao's throat after stabbing him in the gut. It was almost too quick of a death for Kyoujin to put up with. She almost moved to intercept… Akane stopped her.. barely. When Yuutop was done Akane was watching him closely, the empty syringe had already been discarded and another full one was in her left hand, a kunai in her right. The look on her face said she did not want to fight but that she would if she had to. The question now was.. who would walk away with a trophy.
As Tao drops dead as his feet, Yuuto looks down at him solemnlly for a moment before looking up to Akane. He notes the syringe in her hand and smirks slightly. "Honestly… Is that really necessary?" he asks with a chuckle before uttering that simply command as he locks eyes with her. "… Fear." As he locks that jutsu in, he says, "Now, here's the story. You managed to sneak up on this man while he slept and stick him with a few of those syringes. You put so many of them into him that the only jutsu he could muster was an emergency jutsu he cast to ignite both his eyes and his brain. In reality, you will be removing those and storing them in an ice chest I have with my things in exchange for my not killing you and not letting it be known that you encountered an enemy of Kirigakure's strongest ally and fought alongside him rather than immediately reporting his presence so he could be taken down with the other mark.. Or I can just neutraize you here and take the whole body myself to turn in for the bounty and wish you luck in patching yourself up enough to crawl back to Kirigakure.
Akane kept still, waiting for Yuuto to move…. And then he did the predictable thing. The bane of her existance.. Dread, a stronger version of the submission aura and she knew both quite well. She felt her heart nearly stop and her knees seemed to give out under her. It elicited a gasp as she fell to her hands and knees, her mind in turmoil as Kyoujin's inability to fear fought with the effect of Yuuto's genjutsu. Akane's normal personality was forced to surface and she felt the paralyzing emotion engulf her. The syringe with the poison rolled away and she grit her teeth, manageing a defiant glare for a moment.
She kept eyecontact with Yuuto as he spoke, spelling out a good cover story for her report, adding in the fact he was going to take the eyes for himself. He wanted her to remove them… She lowered her head, struggling with the genjutsu, fighting it, even trying to stab herself to loosen it. Nothing yielded results. Finally her shoulders slumped and shelowered her head. She nodded, she had to nod. Something made her almost want to do as he said. She trembled lightly then sat back up, digging in her satchel for a small medical kit. She crawled, cheeks burning the entire time, to the body's side and she got to work. It took her a good hour to properly remove the eyes and put them in the ice chest he'd brought along for that purpose. By then the genjutsu had worn off and she grit her teeth against the fact that she'd not resisted unto death. She knelt in the grass, head down beside the body, still wary of Yuuto's movements, her eyes a faded green. She felt the exhaustion accutely and the pain of her wounds made the whole thing worse. She finally lifted her eyes to Yuuto. "Are you satisfied?"
With his commands obeyed, Yuuto merely stands with his arms folded over his chest as he watches to be sure she doesn't attempt to destroy the eyes or otherwise damage them. Once the eyes are in the chest, he'd pick i up and look down at the woman. "Almost," he says with a smirk to reply to her question. He then turns to the body, moving through a quick series of handseals and leaning down to breathe out an incrediby controlled burst of flame into Tao's eyesockets. The flames burn hot for a brief moment before finally dissipating. "That should do it to cover your story and keep any information he may had from being recovered…. And I did hear your exchange with Tao earlier, so I expect you to be good about not reporting my presence to Kirigakure." With that, he'd turn to begin walking out of the area. "Be cheerful. You're he hero that killed a dangerous Uchiha that was attacking your fellow Kirigakure shinobi and villagers."
