Starring:
Amuro, Kirin, Kuoroke, Kuki, Hibari, Itami
Date: May 29th, 2010
Summary:
Jounin from Konohagakure and Sunagakure take the lead in trying to reach the Second Tower. Little do they realize that it's not only a race against the other Villages to reach the top, but also against the mysterious "Amuro", who is already climbing the tower!
"Broken Memories Pt. 1 - Ascending The Tower"
Canyon of God's Tears - Land of Waterfalls
A week has passed since the tower arose in the Land of the Waterfall. While initially stunned, Takigakure was quick to investigate, and have since begun setting up barricades and camps and so forth surrounding the structure. The Hokage may have full control over the tower in the Land of Fire, but this one will remain the rightful property of the Waterfall. This they have determined. Thus they will fight for.
They have had days to enforce their positions, and they have been sending out patrol after patrol into the wilderness of the country. The dense forests of the land were not disrupted by the tower's emergence from beneath the earth. Instead, it came tearing up from a water-filled canyon, fed by countless waterfalls that stream from the many cliffs of the Waterfall Country. The tower, even with part of it submerged, stands high in the sky, protruding up out of the misty canyon. And that's just the bedrock pillar that the tower stands atop of. The tower then continues on for at least 800 feet before terminating. A steady, stiff wind streams from the tower's giant windows — the only openings in the structure — as though there were something inside that was generating this turbulence.
The mist of the waterfalls shrouds the forests surrounding the canyon in a thick haze. A short while ago, Kirigakure approached the Takigakure camps in an attempt at trickery of some kind. The Mizukage himself was among them, and confronted the commanding Jounin of this operation: Kakuzu. When a nearby cart exploded, killing two Taki-nin, and the Mizukage chose wrongly to act when told to stay still… The Takigakure ninja now believe they are under attack. They swarm like a disturbed bee hive, running everywhere, searching for the Kiri-nin who have retreated and any others who may be hiding in the vicinity. Kakuzu stood and watched for awhile, before returning to his command tent.
Meanwhile, Konohagakure ninja have arrived. Not a lot of them, but they are among the more skilled ninja available for this mission. The Hokage herself ordered them to come here. A Council Member of Sunagakure has also arrived, though likely from a different location than the Konoha ninja. The Chuunin who accompanied Kirin and Kuki have different orders than actually entering the tower. They have to secure escape routes, and make sure no one other than Konoha reaches the base of the massive stone pillar that supports the Second Tower. But the Jounin… The Jounin, regardless of Village, all have the same goal: Enter the Tower, scout it out, and take anything within that appears to be dangerous, valuable, or both. They have not been informed what was in the First Tower that has worried the Hokage so, and Kuoroke has likely not been told by Sousa what he discussed with Goh. Jayde would have no idea what is waiting for her. But the Mizukage wants what's inside. When she finishes escaping from the Takigakure search forces, she should probably begin making her way to the canyon the tower arose from.
Kirin raises his right hand into a focusing seal, releasing his shadow clone. Within moments, the experiences of his technique flood his mind. He tilts his head ever so slightly to the left to regard Kuki, his partner in this assignment.. with all of the shinobi involved in this endeavor, it seems he and Kuki were the closest to respond - maybe they were a tryandfail contingent..either way, Kirin is determined to perform at the best of his abilities..which were needless to say, not to be taken too lightly. Having approached the tower from the southwest, Kuki and Kirin split off from escorting the chuunin to the start of their objective..and now they, finally stop after nearly constant high speed movement.. well within the proximity of Takigakure's outlying shinobi patrols - Kirin wears an ANBU mask, armor and cloak.. though his outfit seems to be distinctly different from Kuki's.. an allusion to their different departments. "Once you locate them I'll advance. Judging by what I've seen, they have checkin times- they'll know something is amiss, and not after very long. The checkin points are unique to the patrols, they aren't sloppy. The smallest window of opportunity." Kirin doesn't wait for Kuki to continue, instead he turns and quickly scales the tallest tree..situating himself among the branches so he can look out torwards the tower, though regular eyesight does little to gather any truly inspective information - atleast, he can detect a scent and movement if they were to be caught unawares in the moment.
Silently and secretively, in traditional Sunagakure fashion, Kuroki Kuoroke approaches the titanic stone spire, with fine tattoo lines on his entire body upright like the hair on an angry animal. He has left the other members of the team behind, relying on his own abilities to scout out the situation for now. Not the best choice possible, he realizes, but there were reasons why it was the best one available. As he has approached the canyon and its roaring water more closely, he has needed to stop a few times to clean the moisture off his glasses, of which this place has plenty.
This time, again, crouched and staying low, he is holding his glasses with one gloveless hand, and gently rubs the glasses with the other's gloveclad fingers, thoughtfully peering towards the encircled structure to his north, and biding his time to see what's happening and what he can expect around here. Information first, actions second… and Sousa not having bestowed too much of it on him, information right now is rather scarce.
Kukiko would come to a sudden stop below the tree Kirin had decided to settle in, the woman down in a crouch and in a much different set of clothing, running around with a bell attached and smelling all prettied up wouldn't do much in the way of stealth. Instead she is found in a more traditional Konohagakure Jounin get up, a loose fitted set of black pants and shirt with a green flak jacket over it. Speaking of the flak jacket, Kukiko would flick open a slot on it, sliding out a scroll and dabbing her finger into the dirt. Quickly she'd trail her finger across the scroll, apparently using mud to take notes and leaving Kirin high and dry for a moment.
When her first set of notes are done she brings her hands together in a seal, eyes squinting as veins erupt along the sides of her face. "I'll need a moment." With that, she'd go silent. Taking her sweet time observing the routes, chakra levels, and personalities of the ninja. The commotion was just about a godsend as it was much easier to read the hearts of the ninja now, she was looking for those whose heartbeats were a bit more rapid, ones that were actually afraid of the current situation of course this may mean that they may have a slight edge in alertness with paranoia in play though nothing a ninja cannot get over.
"There are two…" Kukiko would use the dirt finger to draw it out, "It is possible that one of us can take both out but, I'd rather it be you. Use Kage Bunshin so both of you can focus directly on taking one down. Go now, while they're chatting." Kukiko would wait for Kirin to take off before going after a third, one of the patrols that was within the field of vision of the other two… when they were actually patrolling. Though now they were too caught up in something one saw, 'moving through the ground.' Which wasn't exactly anything at all, beyond a bit of wind and a paranoid mind.
The man calling himself 'Amuro' is climbing the tower. There is a hurricane-force wind raging around the structure atop the pillar. Amuro has managed to scale the pillar, but the winds around the tower are giving him a hard time. They scour the surface of the tower like the breath of a Storm God, almost intelligently attempting to tear him from the tower's surface and fling him to his death, after a long, long, long fall. But he is not plucked from the tower and hurled through the air. Though his strength is great, greater still is his Chakra control. So though it probably pains him to do so, he clings with his Chakra to the stone surface, focusing entirely on continuing to move a few feet at a time. The deafening winds are ignored as best as he can.
The masked man gets closer and closer to the nearest window cut out of the stone. He is relying on his agents to keep anyone else from getting too near. He has already absorbed the memories of the Shadow Clone he left at the base of the pillar to find Kanami, and thus know what the actress-turned-assassin had discovered in that secret passage in the pillar itself. It is not immediately necessary to investigate in person, but Amuro will certainly be returning to the Land of Waterfalls in the future, regardless of what comes of this particular mission.
For those with particularly sharp vision, they may even be able to make out the fact that there is someone climbing the tower. But with everything else going on, letting one's gaze linger instead of watching one's surroundings may be a bit too hazardous.
The patrol that Kirin is directed towards by Kuki are not chatting idly. They are speaking of important matters. But they also aren't focused entirely on their surroundings. Paranoia is running rampant, and so they may jump at everything and be ready to fight, but they are also distracted. So if Kirin attempts to take out the two Genin swiftly, he may be able to do so without much effort. They would, of course, be missed eventually — perhaps sooner than later — but they wouldn't be in the way either.
The Chuunin out investigating what he thought was a strange noise of some kind is actually somewhat close to Kukiko's location, but not really in danger of spotting her. He is probably more skillful than the Genin, but he too can be silenced… Just with a bit more effort involved.
Kuoroke would know at least this much from Sousa: The treasure to be had from the tower in the form of knowledge is not to be underestimated. It could potentially save Sunagakure from disaster… Or spell the doom of a different Village. Flitting through the trees, a patrol passes right behind Kuoroke, not spotting him crouched in the underbrush. But it's still a pretty close call. Just ahead, the huge canyon is filled with the mist of the waterfalls, and an abrupt termination of flat ground indicates that there is a drop-off of some kind.
Better not trip.
Kirin glances out around at the surroundings, everything seems fine. As Kuki begins to activate her Byakugan, Kirin turns and lands with catlike grace infront of Kuki..drawing into a stand as she speaks. He glances down at the diagram on ground, easily able to tell just from the design how far away the patrol is, their facing position and if they are stationary or moving in a certain direction.. the Hyuuga, especially ones so well trained, have become pretty good at coordination with other shinobi. Kirin doesn't say a word, he reaches up to the neck of the cloak and tears it away..revealing his light ANBU armor, black instead of gray. His hands simply clasp together into the tiger seal and he flickers out of view using shunshin no jutsu. Having become familiar with the direction of the wind, Kirin purposefully approaches from a direction where his scent won't be detected as easily, even by the most skilled ninja. Kirin slinks into a vantage behind one of the genin as the two face eachother in conversation, terribly close..he can hear them speaking, but not every single word can be made out. He sighs ever so silently to himself, closing his eyes behind the conceal of his mask. Amid the conversation, Kirin waits for the right moment.. he listens, doing his best to judge who is speaking, and who is expected to speak next. The genin facing him is asked a question, and he begins to explain - halfway through talking, Kirin acts..and the genin with his back turned would suddenly look a little out of it..his eyes glazing out of focus as if he just lost consciousness. Now, Kirin springs into silent action before what's going on is -too- obvious.
Kirin flickers into view behind the shinboi that was facing him, immedietly reaching around with his gloved right hand and covering the Genins mouth, in the moment his left hand forms a seal - a bunshin appears as Kirin clutches the Genins belt from behind with his free left hand and twirls him around to trip over his own extended left foot..bringing the ninja swiftly to the ground. As soon as he drops, Kirin's shadow clone produces a kunai and sinks it into the Genin's neck from behind with both hands..Kirin himself draws into a stand..his clone immedietly begins to undress the fallen shinobi.
Kirin turns to face the remaining ninja, his face still blank. "Hnf." A very soft clink can be heard as Kirin brings his kunai up to the ninjas throat, slicing it effortlessly with no resistance. He gushes blood which Kirin quickly sidesteps, pushing the ninja down onto his face as he moves around behind him, he kneels and begins the same process of stripping the shinobi..idly wondering of Kukiko's progress - though there is little doubt she is successful..and noone can sneak up on her either!
As he hears -or rather, senses- the patrols behind him with his fine tattoos, Kuoroke stops moving almost entirely: his muscles tense up, and he sits as still at the rock next to him, save for one hand, which raises his now clean glasses to his eyes and in the same motion pulls the glove off the other. By the time he resumes breath, his second hand isn't wearing a glove any more, either. With the glasses allowing him to see perfectly again, he slithers towards the edge and examines the situation, looking for a less dangerous way down. Once he has found such a way down, he sneaks back, and, following the patrol's route as well as he can track it (after all, if they can safely move there, so he can he), and moves towards the other tunnel, staying alert and out of confrontations. Where that's possible, of course.
Kuki would move quickly, as she closes in on silent feet. Flicking out a kunai a split second before she closed in on him, intended to drop into the ground near his foot unless he was unfortunate enough to move his foot exactly in the position of it. As the kunai nears the ground, Kukiko would launch forwards and pounce on him. One palm destined for his back, prepared to shoot out a painful and disturbing feeling within his torso while her other hand forcefully pushes on the back of his head, a sharp juuken blast firing out of her tenketsu. The Juuken Strike had no intention of cutting off any pathways, the focus of it was to blend his brain before she took him down to the ground.
If the pounce was successful she'd land with a knee deep in his back, a few more organ slicing chakra waves being shot into his head as she keeps his face burrowed into the ground until it was safe to assume he was dead. While keeping a lookout for others in the distance with Byakugan, she quickly removes the outer layer of the Chuunin's clothing. Removing her vest, she'd cut through her own clothing with a kunai to simply pull it off before rapid changing into the Chuunin's clothes. Kirin should've seen the upper part of the scroll she was writing earlier where it told him the rendezvous back at the tree.
There she would hand him her vest to hide away in a scroll while she brought the bodies up into the tree, leaving them to hang around up there for now, now for the next step.
Hibari was next to arrive in the area of the rising of the second tower, the Land of Waterfalls was a bit more pleasant place to traverse compared to the harsh deserts of Sunagakure. Not following the first to arrive which was Kuoroke, she had extended her trip to approach from another direction to conceal Suna's movement. Afterall, a group is easier to detect than a single person moving without having to worry about others.
Having stationed herself near the edge of one of the canyons that overlooked the staggeringly tall tower(by modern building construction standards), the other Council Member was taking in the surrounding while keeping herself alert for any potential enemy movements. She didn't have any idea where Kuoroke might be stalking about, but they'd eventually meet up if they made it to the tower. Perhaps forgetting that she wasn't indeed alone.. she remembers she had Itami along with her. Nothing like having your own personal meat shield when things turn bad!
There was plenty of cover for any shinobi in the area… trees, the haze that the waterfalls filled the air with. This certainly made things easier for Hibari to keep hidden. Hopefully Itami didn't lose track of where she was and end up in another spot, seprating them all. Sadly, from this vantage point, she could only make out so much due to the haze. Seeing things moving might prove futile from her location. For now she'd wait for Itami to catch up and see what sort of strategy they'd come up with for their approach. So far, there was no signs of any patrol movement around her location.
Leaving Sunagakure, let alone the Land of Wind itself wasn't much of a problem for Itami as she always wanted to scope around places that were outside of her home, but the trip was long enough for her to be a bit agitated, however in the end it would be well worth it, right? She thought that much until she came to be another Council Member's bodyguard of some sort.
She wasn't quite up to that task, but she wasn't beyond being a shield for someone, but there were some parts of her that couldn't quite accept this, especially coming into unfamiliar territory. "Ah well…" She whispers softly to herself.
When she finally arrives in the designated area, she felt very uncomfortable. All these trees and this mist. She wasn't sure to do in all of this, but this prompted her to keep up with Hibari all the more. Couldn't be much of a meatshield being separated. She might have been a small ways off from Hibari's location, but she was sure that she was close enough to be of some assistance.
As Amuro continues to ascend the tower, it changes from a few feet at a time, to a few inches. He is in danger of his arms being torn out from the violence of the wind, which curves erratically and impossibly to hit the side of the tower, where it should have passed over due to the angle of the windows the wind is emitting from. Finally, the masked man has had enough of climbing the hard way. So he instead just sinks into the stone wall he is climbing, as though it were made of mud. When he emerges, it is inside of the tower. The bottom-most floor, but still inside. The wind currents continue to shriek and swirl in the air, but Amuro is now free of their grasp, and can now see that there is a huge mechanical fan set in the center of the huge, circular room. There are also stairs winding up to the next floor. The ceiling/floor above is just a ring of stone, surrounding a large hole. The same for every other floor, all the way to the top.
Just like the First Tower's construction… Though that one had a different machine at the bottom, not a giant fan. Looking up at the route he must traverse, Amuro sighs. Then, even with his deep voice almost lost in the roaring wind, he says, "…What a bother."
Kirin and Kukiko are successful in their dispatching of the patrol. They do it quietly, efficiently, and there's not another patrol due to arrive here for at least sixty seconds! Kirin probably knows the schedule better. They would have a more or less clear path to the canyon. For now.
Kuoroke following the patrol would turn out to lead him towards the camp to the east, rather than down the canyon on any secret path. Probably not a healthy place to go. The patrol stops abruptly as they notice something off to the side. Did they spot the Council Member? No. They saw something else.
Hibari and Itami would be able to get fairly close to the canyon's edge without being noticed. Infact, they get close enough to see what Kuoroke's targetted patrol have noticed, and what the Konoha ninja probably will notice too. Down in the canyon, there is a thick, almost impenetrable cloud of mist gathered in one location. And up from the mist a tall column of water has surged upwards, heading high into the sky. It does nothing except stand there and look extremely noticeable, before collapsing. It was probably a 'visual alarm', meant to get the attention of Takigakure ninja.
If so, it succeeds. A number of patrols that weren't even noticed previously begin gathering in order to better see what's going on. Plus a number of Takigakure ninja from the base camps set up to the east of the canyon are converging on where the pillar of water appeared. Someone is in serious doo-doo.
Their new cover provided and dealt with, Kirin nods to Kuki, and off they go! They begin a rapid approach of the tower, using Kuki's Byakugan as a guide to avoid the majority of enemies where possible. The goal of their approach now is two-fold, get closer to the tower..and use any insight Kuki might find to plot a real path into it, it's half of Kirin's hope Kukiko will be able to guide them into the frying pan with minimal danger, and once the tower is in range.. maybe an entrance can be seen. Kirin moves swiftly, they're heading for the canyon in which the tower is located..if all is going as it should, Kirin and Kukiko look like a Takigakure patrol moving at high speed..Kirin on either side disguised as either Genin he took down, leaving Kukiko to take the lead by a few feet in the middle. Keeping an eye on the surroundings, Kirin keeps his eyes ahead while speaking to Kuki as they move, "We're getting close," Kirin says, just as he speaks he spots the column of water making it's way into the sky..not quite as high as the tower, but it can be seen. 'Nani?' he thinks to himself, "Kukiko-san.. guide us in." Kirin says, his brows creasing..though his face is not his own.
After having looked for a more comfortable descent for a bit and not having found one, except if going through the enemy camp is considered comfortable, Kuoroke decides to descend over the cliff. After all, there will be much climbing soon. Once he is hurrying down, his tattoo sensors lie down onto his skin and become conventional-looking etchings in his skin. Moving from crevice to crevice and from shadow to shadow, trying to stay in the thicker parts of the mist, he hurries down the cliff. From there, he goes towards his objective, sliding over the water using Water Walking, towards the base of the tower.
Henging into the Waterfall Ninja she took the clothes of, she'd lightly adjust her headband. 'I should've planned this out a bit better.' She'd realize she didn't time entirely well, though if they move fast enough it should work out "Stick close." Kukiko would stay henged, using her Byakugan to stay out of range, for Kirin the path may seem completely random. As opposed to running straight to the tower, she'd go this way and that, quickly adjusting routes when she notices one starting to turn their way so they could get out of the field of vision. Dropping into bushes and diving behind trees. All the while holding the henge, just in case they get caught.
The run would suddenly become much easier as all the patrols in the nearby area had ran to inspect what was going on. Eventually they'd get to a clear area near the edge of the canyon where they would begin directly for the goal, the rising water all the while neglected… somewhat, when you can see everywhere at once /with/ zoom, there's no need to stop and stare at something. "I don't know what's up with that but, I don't like it, let's hurry up."
Hopping down to parts of the cliff jutting down for a bit until she felt she was low enough to dive, cutting through the water silently. Quickly dragging herself back to the surface before starting to run to the tower once more. For now she'd begin looking for an entry way into the tower, doors, a weak spot in the wall, something, the Byakugan hopefully saving some time.
Without having her own sort of doujutsu to be able to pierce the thick haze that filled the canyon, Hibari had to rely on her own two regular eyes… however imperfect they were since she had to wear glasses to even see! Or maybe it was just a ruse and she could see just fine? She did think that glasses made her look cuter. Along with her eyes, she strained her ears for any sign of unfamiliar noise. The only thing she was waiting for was her partner to catch up. Maybe Hibari was moving a little to fast for the godzilla girl to keep up with. Either way, she soon would be on her heels again and she could then give out further instructions.
Edging closer to the ledge that overlooked the base of the tower that rose out from the waters of the canyon floor.. The sudden pillar of water that rises up into the air like a signal flare piercing through the dense mist definately catches Hibari's attention as she watches it, and then notices what sort of signal that'd send to anyone else with a pair of functioning eyes. - OVER HERE!! - is basically what that meant. Luckily for Hibari and her other half, they wouldn't have to pass directly through that impending mess.
Once Itami gets close enough, the older woman would close the distance between the two so she could instruct the girl as to what they'd be doing. It'd have been easier if she had instructed Itami beforehand on some basic non-verbal communication. For now she'd have to settle for near inaudible whispers. Cupping a hand over her mouth as if someone was going to read her lips, Hibari would whisper carefully into Itami's ear for a few moments before leaning back.
Not exactly use to being so covert! Hibari signals to begin with a hand gesture that points towards the tower. With her gear in tow, Hibari scans around to make sure no other Takigakure ninja would burst out of the foliage moments after she did and spot them. When it was all clear, she would hop off the canyon ledge and plummet downwards. The haze and the wind from her falling causing her hair to flare up along with the lower half of her black coat. Once she's covered enough ground, she carefully begins the process of anchoring herself to the rock face with her feet. The speed at which she fell was making it difficult to properly grip and slow herself down!
Straining with concentration to slow herself, she gives up on the idea of compensating for the velocity she gained while falling and uses stringy plant vines that burst out of the rock in tethery tendrils to latch onto her and snap almost immediately to act as a speed breaker! This allows her to slow down enough to get a proper grip and run the remainder of the way down to the water's surface that would bring her to the base of the tower.. that immense platform the actual tower was perched upon.
Rifling through one of her pockets, the woman picked out a small hyperdermic field injector with a liquid in the dispenser capsule.. tugging down her coat collar, she pressed it against her neck and the faint hiss of it being dispensed is heard.. and Hibari's eyes go wide almost instantly for a moment as her eyes are working double time.. and the left eye twitches periodically before she begins to make a beeline to the base, avoiding the incomming Taki ninja as best she could. Hopefully she'd not take to long to get there.
Itami grumbled softly to herself. This looked like it was going to be more difficult than she initially thought. She was hoping to be greeted with waterfalls upon coming here, which was the case and the good part, but the bad part is that there's so much mist around here it's ridiculous. That and her clothes are slowly growing damp. She'd creep over the ledge a bit more only to be greeted with a column of water shooting out of the thick mists that surround the base just a ways away. Grief.
She looked around for Hibari and saw her silhouette first before she managed to come within eyeshot to speak. Now that they were close once more, she should be able to follow her more effectively. She began to open her mouth to speak, but closed it once Hibari leaned in and whispered into her ear what she wanted to do. Nodding at this instruction she watched Hibari's signal and soon her leap from the cliff and soon followed behind her closely so that she could keep up. The plummet made her stomach feel hollow and maybe even a bit fearful, but the closer she drew to the walls, the more confident she came to be to land on the surface and recover.
She'd slide for a while as she tried to focus the chakra to her feet to stop, but it wasn't quite working, so she gripped the wall with her hands and waited until she slowed down enough to be able to proceed with more ease, at the expense of her bandages and hands being scratched up. Stopping close by Hibari, she waited until she administered her drug or whatever to go and chase after her to make it to the base. Of course, she'd try to avoid enemy parties in this as well, hoping that the mist would provide enough cover.
Amuro has managed to ascend the stairs and get all the way to the second-to-top floor. Now on floor eleven, the constant roaring of the wind machine below, and the wind it produces, has nearly deafened him — even if temporarily. He'll recover when he gets out of here, he hopes. For now, though, the winds continue to try to push or pull him off the stairs, and hurl him to his death. Amuro is tired of it.
Having sent mental messages to his Tao Shih companions as warning, he now sticks his right hand out of the protection of the stair well, and a kunai bomb appears in his grasp. He then infuses it with Chakra to make it much heavier than it actually is… And drops it. When it hits the giant fan, the explosive tag goes off. Flames erupt from the super-charged tag and kunai, tearing the machine to pieces, and abruptly cancelling out the wind. The loud *BOOOOOOOM* and the flaming shrapnel that come flying out the tower's windows would probably be quite noticeable. If nothing else, it would make it plain that something is happening in the tower itself.
Amuro doesn't even stop to watch. He just retracts his hand before the column of fire can reach him and ascends the last stair well, into the room underneath the bell-shaped metal roof of the tower.
The various Jounin are now making a mad dash for the pillar that supports the tower. Those who reach it do so quickly, and presumably begin to ascend the bedrock column. Though there are a large number of Takigakure ninja, and they continue to canvass the canyon… It's a big canyon. None of them are close enough to interfere with the various enemy Jounin as they climb with their Chakra or anything else they have available to them to use.
But that isn't going to stop them from rushing to investigate anyway!
Diving into the water at the canyons base along with Kuki using what some could say was expert diving ability, Kirin quickly finds his feet atop the water again along with his clone after a few brief shakes of his head to be free of excess water. Not much can be seen in the mist down here, but he shadows Kukiko like his, or their life, depended on it. (Which, it kindof does!) As they approach the bedrock of the tower heralding its base, the sound of chakra being amplified can be heard before Kirin slams his feet into a high jump..soaring through the air before he lands on the wall vertically, continuing in a run up the wall. "We've gotten this far, we can't be sure how much more smooth this will be. The first opening you spot, lets go in there." Kirin glances over at Kuki, and then past her to his clone which runs on her other side. He nods briefly to it, and the clone picks up even more speed then Kuki and Kirin..seemingly intent on getting somewhere faster, or heading somewhere else different entirely.
Kuoroke looks up the huge structure, and presses his hands against the surface. For a little bit, he relies on traditional Tree Walking, since he doesn't want to leave traces too low on the wall. Only those who know what they're looking for should be able to find it. After having climbed a measily half meter, however, he suddenly changes tactics. The flames on the back of his hands light up just a little, and the next time his hand comes down onto the rock, a hissing sound announces the first handhold has been installed. From there on, every time his fingers are lowered onto the rock, it leaves a small dent. While these handholds are not large, obvious gaps, they are quite comfortable, if you know they're there, and should aid his teammates.
On the wall, he feels wondefully exposed for anyone with a nice long-range attack, and it shows: the Kuroki's head is pulled back into his shoulders, and he hesitates to stretch his limbs out too far. Of course, that could be because he doesn't want others to have trouble reaching the steps of the 'ladder' he's burning all the way up to the nearest window.
Kukiko would just keep running, tilting this way and that to avoid bumping into people. Though with the explosion going off and what not, it seems like she might have to put a bit more effort into it all. Someone was already in there. "Kirin." Kukiko would take a light hop into the air, tilting her head to the side as a piece of glass zooms by, nearly driving into her face. Kicking off the head of a Takigakure ninja, she'd drive him into the water while giving herself a bit of a boost up into the air. Clinging to the tower wall with chakra she would take this moment to finish what she was saying. "Well the outcome is only negative, there's no use…" She'd evade a few flying weapons, letting them bounce off the wall behind her. Assuming Kirin was on the wall next to her now she'd start running and talking, "We will at least figure out which party managed to grab it, unless we can still somehow get our hands on it." Going back and waiting probably wont be much of an option, probably the only reason they made it so far was because just about everyone was running in the same direction. "I'm seeing an opening, get ready." Chakra would start to build up as she continues to scale the building.
By some sort of miracle that was bestowed upon the kunoichi botanist, they managed to reach the massive column that the tower was resting upon without even being harassed by the Takigakure shinobi. Why was this one might ask? Well it was because they were to busy scouring the area around the signal zone and since the canyon was so wide and open.. and shrouded in a dense haze. It made it hard to do much of anything resembling spotting stuff out in the distance.
Hopefully Itami was still hot on her heels as she had rushed through the mist. The injection she had given herself was starting to metabolize in her blood as the sensation of her eyes working overtime was slowly subsiding back to normal. Once within range of the column, she'd launch herself into the direction of the side of the column wall and affix herself with chakra to it so she could ascend now instead of plummet down!
The sudden explosion that shook the tower, sending debris and fire.. and belching smoke out of any of the window did startle the kunoichi, and now she had to dodge shrapnel as well as keep an eye out for anything. She turns slightly to look back, but not enough to make her run blind. "Itami. When we reach the actual tower, you know what to do." she says in an out of character tone of seriousness. Things were about to get nasty if there was already people INSIDE of the thing. At some point up the wall, Hibari comes across indentations in the rock face. This helps a little as she uses them to propel herself up the side a bit more hastily. Preparing herself for the worst, Hibari starts to convert some of her stamina into chakra in case she needs to retaliate quickly. Especially with the Takigakure now alerted to people being around the tower.
Itami was still keeping up like an eager puppy wanting to play with the ball its owner had. Yes, she felt this way to a degree, but at the same time, she couldn't do much about it. Sigh. Once Hibari jumped off so did she jump off as well and towards the column in order to latch on with chakra so that she could scale it as well. She landed just barely after the explosion had gone off, but that still didn't keep her from having to watch for debris to evade. This was just getting better and better. Anyhow.
"Right…" She would have called to Hibari in response to her statement. She had to prepare for what was inside. All the more fantastic. Utilizing the same indentations, she trails the other Council Member while also focusing chakra for whatever was ahead for them to look out for. Although, this does feed her curiosity of what else is inside except for enemies.
Everyone is racing for the top of the pillar. The tower is so close, that it is almost possible to taste it. Two people reach the tower at the exact same time. Kirin's Shadow Clone, and Kuoroke. And from within the tower a series of blinding flashes of golden light pulse through the windows, from top to bottom, in rapid succession. The tower *CRACKS*.
Kuoroke, if he gets close enough to one of the windows to look inside would see a light-shrouded figure darting out the opposite window. Kirin's Shadow Clone would see only something rushing towards it, and then it would be destroyed by the force of that something impacting it. A black and red blur shoots down the side of the pillar, trailing green flames of energy and sending up fragments of stone from the quite solid column that supports the now-damaged tower. But by the time the trail and fragments are noticed, that blur has already reached the bottom, and then charged across the watery bottom of the canyon. The mist is sucked after it, showing quite clearly where it has travelled. The mist cloud then spirals inwards, turning into a horizontal tornado that follows this impossibly fast entity as it reaches the south canyon wall, where the Konoha ninja and Kuoroke just descended from!
And then the person — whoever it is — has run right up the cliff face, and begun tearing through the forest at the exact same speed. And this happens in about six seconds. Miles covered in that much time… Many Takigakure ninja were thrown out of the way or pulverized by that person — if it even was a person — which has in turn distracted them sufficiently with all the chaos for the Jounin to either reach the tower and investigate… Or realize that whatever was inside has likely already been claimed, and get the heck out of the area. Fighting off an army is possible, but it's also possible that all five might die.
Meanwhile, as he runs at multiples of the speed of sound, Amuro's black mask with red question mark on its surface fails to reveal his expression. But the glowing green stone in his right hand shines brightly, almost merrily… With the energy it is feeding on as long as it is being used. The Stone of Body whispers to Amuro. Trying to convince him he is right in using it. That he deserves this strength. That he has sacrificed so much to achieve it. Amuro crushes the voices, forcing them out of his head with his will alone. "None of that," he says, though his voice will not be heard until long after he is gone.
