Starring:
Hanako, Nariko, Hiroyasu, Yuko
Date: September 10, 2013
Summary:
The team goes on a mission to capture a criminal from the Land of Tea
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Capturing Asakaze Zaku"
Border of the Land of Fire
In the middle of the Chuunin Exams a mission request had reached Kumogakure Administration back in Kumogakure. With many of the village's ninjas either still recovering from the civil war or in Konohagakure for the exams, the mission had been sent to a Chuunin accompanying her team in Konoha. Utatori Hanako received the mission request with glee - it'd been so long since she'd been on a real mission, and it was exciting to get to lead it! Straight away the Chuunin had sent out messages to Nariko, Hiroyasu and the probationary Genin Yuko. The message had the basic brief on the mission:
Dear Kumo-nin,
Your presence is requested on a C-rank mission on the border of the Land of Fire. The mission is the apprehension of a man by the name of Asakaze Zaku. Zaku himself has no ninja training, but he has hired bodyguards of unknown origin, so prepare for the potential of ninja-based resistance. Zaku is wanted for crimes commited in the Land of Tea, and after his apprehension he will be sent there for sentencing. Meet the mission co-ordinator, Utatori Hanako, at the gates to Konohagakure at 0900 hours.
Hanako arrives at the gates early, a habit for the Chuunin, and leans against the large gates as she looks off into the distance. The early morning bustle in the area is a little distracting, but the prospect of a mission was too exciting to the girl for anything to real peel her mind away from it.
Hiroyasu as a habit made an attempt to always be as early as possible at least 15-20 minutes, then again many times after arriving early he finds himself doing something else which ends up derailing him, today was no different as his things were laid against the wall like he was here but in reality he was in a nearby tree where several children are gathered round. "I'll get it" he says down to them before cooing "Here ~kitty kitty..~" before you hear a loud hiss, a light yelp and then he leaps out of the tree with the ball of fluff in his hands handing it to a little girl whose red puffy eyes brighten slightly "Bye~" he says with a wave before looking at the small scratch on the back of his hand, the green glow of his other hand caressing the wound as it slowly fades as he approaches, probably late again.. sigh.
Yuko is showing up if only to tag along with his Sensei, Hanako. He hasn't been on a mission before and probably wouldn't be going on this one if it weren't for Hanako's presence on it. But instead he ends up following her around like a puppy or something. In any case while Hanako beat him to the gates, he does arrive, with a well prepared backpack over his shoulders, careful not to overpack too much. He looks like a kid on his way to his first day of work or something. His outfit has been cleaned carefully and pressed, his hair is all carefully cleaned, even his teeth have been gone over extra well, as if he is hoping to make great first impression on this mission.
As he approaches he waves, "Hanako-Sensei! Good morning!" He calls out. He moves towards her side with a bit of a speed in his step. He glances around, with a silly grin on his face, as he moves to Hanako's side.
Walking in from her hotel, just barely gotten out of bed, wad the the young Yotsuki female known as Nariko. She had gotten the message and hurried on her way, realizing she was a bit late. He would get to the gates and lean over, catching her breath. "Good..Morning..Sen..sei." She looks up and then notices Yuko. "Hi..Yuko." She needed to do more running it seems, or get up earlier.
Hanako straightens up and stands off the gates as all of her Genin arrive. "Good morning Nari-kun, Yukio-kun and Hiro-san!" she greets them all, smiling widely, "Are you all ready for the mission? It sounds like it could be an interesting one." Without waiting for a response from anyone, Hanako begins running out the gates in the direction that she expected to intercept Zaku, explaining along the way. "Asakaze Zaku is currently in a small caravan heading into the Land of Fire. There are three wagons that are a part of this caravan, and we expect that they're filled with illegal goods, most likely to be sold here in the Land of Fire on the black market. The man, Zaku, will likely be in one of the caravans as well, keeping a low profile since there's an arrest warrant out for him. These kinds of missions are usually two to three man jobs, but for the sake of certainty we've brought along an extra. As mentioned in the briefing he has hired security, and we don't know if they are ninja trained, or simply ordinary mercenaries. We'll have to assess that when we get closer," she explains, glancing over to Hiro at the last comment. She knew the man would be able to tell once they were within range of his sensor capabilities. "I'm going to suggest a plan of attack, but if any of you are uncomfortable with it or have other suggestions, I'd love to hear them. Alright, plan of attack. We need two people to draw attention to the front of the caravan. This is to draw away the guards and stop the caravan. A third person moves through the caravan, searching each wagon until they find Zaku, who they then extract. The fourth team member will then secure the target by bringing in our own wagon and leaving with Zaku and team member #3. I think Nariko and myself will make the best distraction team, while Hiro, with his sensor capabilities, is the best suited to finding and extracting Zaku. That leaves Yukio for securing Hiro and Zaku's exit. Suggestions?"
Hiroyasu waves to everyone "Yo~" before picking up the boulder resting right where he put it.. it never seems to get pilfered, odd. "I should be able to know within a km or two if there are Jounin or Chuunin present.. Genin or below is about half that.. depending" yeah after the forest of death, his mind's eye received quite the eye opener. "That plan suits me alright.." he says flipping the hood up on his cloak over his head as they move along, his hands gently resting in his rakusu as he kept the gentle* pace set by Hanako.
Yuko listens to the plan and runs along to keep up. He's not the fastest in the world and he's not going to be leaping from tree to tree but he's actually not that bad. Better than a student at least. He tries to follow along with the plan, frowning slightly as he mentally tries to go through it himself. "Ah, so… bring in our own wagon? Or I guess that's my part? Right? Where are we going to get a wagon?" He asks unsure, as he glances around then looks back to Hanako as he hurries along, maybe a tad out of breath as he does his best to keep pace.
Nariko nods when Hanako speaks her plan. "Sounds good to me." She smiles and finally catches her breath. She pulls her backpack off her back and rifles through it. She nods as she counts her snacks and whether or not she has everything. "What kind of distraction did you have in mind Sensei?"
Hanako continues talking about the plan, discussing details and such. "Well, actually there's a village not far from the interception point. We can probably acquire a wagon from there without too much of a hassle," she says to Yuko, then looks over to Nariko and thinks about the question.
"Nari-kun, do you remember that raid on the… facility where we captured Faceless #10? Maybe we could start off with something similar to that… pull the damsels in distress routine," she suggests with a grin, "And if it goes sour, I start blasting stuff with sonic spears." She laughs and turns her attention back ahead.
The trip passes rather quickly despite the distance being travelled. A quick detour to the village, and a short negotiation get them a wagon to use for the mission, and Hanako leaves Yuko in charge of it. "The best idea would be to bring it down once the distraction has begun. We don't know how long it'll be before the guards decide to look towards the back of the caravan," she explains to him, patting the boy on the head condescendingly. It doesn't take the group long to reach the interception point after that. Hanako sits in a group of bushes atop a hill. There's a fifteen foot cliff face leading down to the road on which the caravan is planned to pass. Trees line the top of the cliff, making it easy to hide the caravan there. On the other side of the road the terrain descends slowly in a shallow hill, the landscape dotted by the occasional tree.
"Ok, everyone ready for when they arrive?" Hanako asks, placing her hands together and using the transformation technique to artificially change her outfit into something a little more… enticing.
Hiroyasu looks to them "Alright i'm going to circle around" and using the fleet of a goats foot scales hill, cliff, and tree as he gets into a decent hiding place, his robe covering his body becomes partially translucent as he activates a seal on the inside of the sleeve with two fingers feeding it a small amount of chakra. This was the first use of his research into advanced barriers and chakra peculiarities.
Yuko stays back with the wagon after agreeing with Hanako's plan. He will do his best to stay back and away until the distraction is in full swing so that Hiro has a chance to make the initial attack before he heads in. If anything he'll be overly cautious, so… for now he just calms the horses and keeps the wagon ready to go. Fortunately driving a wagon is something he knows. You don't grow up in a construction family without learning some basic skills after all. He's left waiting and trying to watch from a distance.
Nariko nods as she remembers what happened on the faceless mission. "Alright, sounds good to me." She puts her hands together and does henge on herself. When she is through she has on a very basic villager's dress, that exposes the tophalf of her chest. "Oh no, what are we to do with no ride!" She attempts to get into character. "Does that work?"
Hanako giggles and nods to Nariko. "That should work perfectly," she says, and then bounds down the cliff. Thankfully the caravan isn't in sight yet, or that could've given away their position. Oh wait, maybe spoke too soon. A caravan comes along the road, rounding a hill as it comes into view. There are three wagons and a classy looking carriage in the caravan, all tied together and being pulled by a team of six horses. There's still a bit of distance to go before they reach the group of ninja. "Get ready everyone," Hanako says, using her Sound Manipulation to direct the sound towards each of her team members and away from the caravan. And then she stands in the middle of the road, waving her arms at the caravan to make sure that someone catches sight of her.
Hiroyasu quickly finds that this technique has a small quirk, it blinds the person inside equally as much as it does those outside the barrier, luckily for him his recently adept sensor makes up for the loss without much loss.. the world around him seem foggy, swirled and gnarled by the barrier which is surrounding him, as he stands almost like a shadow against the shade of the tree, the barrier always had a hard texture making it incapable of being moved once activated.. he would need to research a way to soft or curve this effect if possible. He can however sense the oncoming horses and people with two of them in the ninja category. He however had no way to signal them to this with giving his cover away.
Yuko can only keep the horses calm and watch from his distant spot. He eyes the caravan then… spotting something he frowns. ~This could work, but… oh boy, if I screw this up Hanako will never let me live it down.~ He thinks as he takes a deep breath then attempts his only earth manipulation jutsu he knows, to create a small disturbance in the far bushes away from Yuko and Hiroyasu's side of the road, trying to get the rear guard he just spotted to look in the other direction rather than this way, to give his team more cover. At least if he fails he hopes it won't be /too/ bad. After all? A failure should probably mean just nothing happens. He… thinks? He focuses his chakra and tries to twist the earth at some distance, further than he's done in the past, hoping it will work to just make some brush rustle enough to get the rear guard's attention in the other direction.
Nariko runs down the cliff behind Hanako. "Coming!" She softly yells to Hanako. She notices the caravan and starts waving her arms. She hoped the caravan would notice both Hanako and herself instead of running over them. She leans over to Hanako. "What if they run us over?" She whispers before continuing her arm flailing dance in the air. She takes a moment to focus within herself before returning to the job at hand.
Hanako bites her lip for a moment when Nariko suggests they might run them over, and then says, "They won't. And if they try, we'll just take them the old fashioned way - by force." But she continues to jump up and down on the spot, waving her arms and calling out to the approaching caravan. "Hey, help us!" she yells, making sure that she's very noticeable.
The caravan comes to a halt not far from the two girls, a couple of men jumping out of the first wagon and walking past the driver with questioning expressions. A head pokes out of the carriage halfway along, looking up the road and then grinning as he watches the two girls. The two men approach and look Hanako and Nariko up and down, obviously trying to assess any threat they might present, and then dismissing it within moments. "Well, what've we got here?" one of them asks, putting his hands on his hips and smirking. Just their luck - they managed to find a pair of easily exploitable damsels in the middle of the road.
At the rear of the caravan the woman with the crossbow tries to peer around the side to work out why they've stopped, and then her attention is caught by something in the nearby bushes. She raises the crossbow, pulling the pin to ready it for action and pointing it towards Yuko's distraction. She looks a bit skittish, and jumps off the back of the caravan to get a little closer, wanting a better look before she returns to her post.
Hiroyasu pauses a moment, when the two approach the damsels.. then the unforeseen rear gear is caught by a rabbit or something in the nearby bush. It was boon for him to do what he needed to which is search the carts for the mark, as well maybe determine their contents, it was possible it was the wrong caravan altogether. He creeps up to the rear cart first peeking in with his minds eye before following with his regular sight.. there had to be a better way to see without seeing.. research for later.. He tries to be as sneaky as possible.
Yuko keeps himself back, glad it appears his distraction may have worked as he simply holds his place, waiting for Hiroyasu to signal him. For the moment Yuko has little to do, but wait, and see how the others manage things. At least he can keep an eye on things from his spot some distance away.
Nariko drops her arms and phews, thank the gods they stopped. She gives a very helpless look. "Well, you see, we seemed to have broken down just a ways up and have been waiting for someone to pass by to give us a lift." She gives a little wiggle of her body. "Would you be sweet enough to give us a lift into town? Please." She gives a begging look to the men, putting her best damsel in distress face on.
The men laugh, and one of them says, "Oh, we can be sweet alright." The other nods slowly, then takes a good look at Hanako. After a moment his eyes go wide, and he exclaims, "Utatori Hanako! Or is it Haineko? I'm sorry Ha-sama, I have difficulty telling you two apart. Oh my gosh, what a surprise! Hey, we can give you a lift, no worries. Would you sign something for me on the way?" The guy seems suddenly starstruck, and for a moment Hanako is elated at their good luck.
The elation only lasts a moment. A frown covers the other man's face as he thinks, and mutters, "Utatori Hanako? I'd heard she went back to the Kumogakure Corps… Its a trap!" He starts calling out loudly, and Hanako winces. ~Uh oh~ she thinks to herself, looking over at Nariko, ~Busted!~ The man doing the yelling starts forming handseals while the other draws a pair of knives. Before either of them can get an attack off, Hanako sings a loud note, channeling the chakra first into an intense blast at the ninja, then sending a spray of sound blades at the pair.
The woman at the back, hearing the calls from the front, suspects that someone is about to jump out of the bushes from where she'd heard the noise. She drops down to one knee, bringing the crossbow up to the ready just in case. The curtains on the carriage all roll down simultaneously, protecting the people inside from view.
Hiroyasu sighs for moment before forming several seals, this was going to hurt them.. and they probably didn't deserve it.. from the ground juts up a single quiet stone column aiming for the candid torso blow.. if he calculated the force right maybe it could be enough to knock them out without crushing their lungs into paste. He then rolls under the carriage activating his seal in his cloak and becoming one with the shadow of the cart.
Yuko watches all this and… seeing combat start he starts to move the wagon, not a full speed race yet , but trying to be in proper position when he's needed and getting closer now that attacks are under way. He doesn't want Hiro to have to wait long once the man is isolated and located. That might… complicate things.
Nariko pouts when their cover is blown. "Well, we tried." She shrugs and then when every guy and gal there gets ready to attack, she brings up her defenses and looks at the guy holding the knives. She mentally makes him think that there is metal chains holding his arms to his body, his legs unable to move. Then she raises her hands towards the man and sends bolts of lightning towards him.
Hiroyasu's attack on the crossbow-woman yields fantastic results - the woman is hit hard, probably hard enough to crack a few ribs, and she tumbles to the ground groaning in pain. It certainly doesn't look like she'll be getting back up any time soon. At the front of the caravan, the man forming the handseals manages to finish his technique at the same time Hanako launches her attack. The sonic spear and the all of her sound blades slam into a wall of earth that rises up between her and her targets. She growls nastily, then looks over to Nariko.
The other man's arms suddenly snap towards his body, the knives he's holding digging into his legs panifully and drawing blood. Then he's suddenly struck by lightning and knocked clean over. "Well done, Nari-kun," Hanako applauds the girl as she jumps up atop the wall of earth. She's intent on distracting this ninja until Hiro and Yuko can extract the target. Spotting the dark haired ninja again, she starts to sing a song, injecting her chakra into it in an attempt to bring the man to his knees.
Over by Hiroyasu, a pair of feet hit the ground next to the carriage. The chakra concentration from the man announces that this must be the Chuunin level ninja he'd sensed earlier. The man starts walking coolly and calmly towards the front of the caravan, gathering chakra as he prepares a counter-attack against the girls. Extending his hands, the man unleashes a huge ball of swirling air at Hanako and Nariko, attempting to trap them within its vortex.
Hiroyasu rolls out from under the carriage as the barrier fading his presence dissolves unceremoniously. He needed to find the target he ducks low for a moment gathering his wits, and activating the R&D eyes embedded in his skull.. the miasma of black engulfs his eyes before the seals slowly burn into the infinite midnight with a light pale glow, the seals swirl for a moment as he regains the focus and clarity that comes with the sudden deluge of visual data… He then quickly searches the other carriage which have remaining 2 people, holding several seals firmly between his fingers just in case he would need to defend himself against their attempted assault.
Yuko is now moving his cart around, towards the stalled caravan. He's not there yet but will be soon, hoping he can time this right for Hiro's catpure of the target."
Nariko tries to get out of the way of the Wind Ball vortex thing, but isn't quick enough and is trapped within it. The next thing she knows she is up in the air, her chest heaving up and down. "Sensei, they're going to fall out!" She kicks her legs back and forth trying to get herself down, even her arms are flailing around as she tries to get down.
Hanako grits her teeth as the Chuunin comes into view around the caravan. Suddenly she's being attacked, and she throws up a barrier of sound that is just fast enough to protect her, but poor Nariko is thrown violently into the air. Hanako continues singing, bending the sound this way and that as she sends a splinter through the vortex of air, breaking Nariko free and then focusing another two blasts, one each at the Chuunin and the Genin. The Genin returns fire, stomping on the ground and sending a pillar of earth upwards at Hanako, and then the Chuunin forms several handseals before causing the air around Hanako to tist together, trying to tear her apart in the vortex of a tornado.
When Hiro opens the door to the carriage there are two people inside, a man and a woman. Clearly the man must be Zaku, although the woman is an unknown quantity. She screams and backs up against the wall of the carriage, but Zaku stays put, staring into Hiro's black eyes menacingly. "If you take me, my people will hunt you down," he threatens without moving from his seat, "They'll hunt you down and end you." The woman opens the door on the opposite side of the carriage and jumps out, landing harshly on the ground. Clearly she's used to be assisted out of the carriage. Moments later, Zaku follows her, trying to escape from Hiro.
Hiroyasu lets fly two barrier seals which speed through the air passing the running targets before lines of racing chakra form two tight pyramids trapping the two fleeing targets as he charges at them, reaching into the barrier with a quick looping of ninja wire to secure their hands by the wrist before binding them properly around the chest and arms, after doing this to both and leaving them in like hogs tied in the dirt, he raises his hand to signal the cart to extricate them both, it was easier than sort it out in the field. She was likely a poor rube or mark he has swindled with promises of love or riches but she could also be a client or buyer. He waits for the cart to the arrive to drop off the two and then send the cart off zooming back to the town while they deal with the hired help?
And here comes the wagon! Right no time as Yuko guides it down the road to pass the wagon Hiroyasu was in, going the other way. The wagon slowing just enough to hopefully allow the target and Hiroyasu into the wagon as he goes by, if he can time it right that is. He's doing a pretty good at wagon guiding, so… with luck this will go off like a well planned transfer even as the fight goes on at the front of the cart.
Nariko catches her heaving chest in her arms before she is pulled down the ground. She regains herself and looks towards her attackers. "Alright, lets try this again." She brushes herself off, making sure she didn't get any dirt on her, but who cares, she's a Yotsuki. She looks at the genin and attempts to make him think leather strapping are tightening around him, pulling his hands to his body and his feet together. She then raises her hand up and sends bolts of lightning towards him as well.
As the pillar of earth extends toward her, Hanako focuses her song into a barrier again, the earth pounding against it an exploding futilely. She then turns the barrier, bending it around herself to protect against the powerful wind. Moments later, the Genin is immobilised, his hands and feet pinning together, and then he's blasted with a bolt of lightning. Snapping out of the Genjutsu, the dark haired boy says, "Brewit, I'm getting out of here!" And he leaps away, avoiding a second bolt of lightning but getting slammed by Hanako's Vocal Spear, then charging off down the hill, looking back over his shoulder to make sure he isn't being followed. The Chuunin however stands his ground, forming handseals and creating a massive wall of wind that blocks Hanako's attack. He glances back however, and sees that Zaku is being taken.
"Steep you interfering Kumo-nin," he mutters as he jumps atop one of the caravans and unleashes two bolts of Wind chakra, one each at Hiroyasu and Yuko. Seeing that he's now too outnumbered to be able to win, he sighs and twirls his cloak around himself. The cloak drops to the roof of the wagon, any trace of the Chuunin gone.
As the Chuunin goes to make his grand exit, Hiroyasu leaps forward ready with seal which he lets loose the swirl shakes violently as the swirl of blue chakra forms a solid dome around the cart, the genin driver Yukio, the target, his wench and himself.. The vortex of wind slams into the barrier the impact cracking it slightly and before he can pump any chakra to reinforce the barrier the second bullet strikes the same general spot, the barrier bows inward from the sudden force and it's weakened state before slingshots back tearing the violent wind into a gentle breeze before bursting into fine blue dust and fading.. He moves over to the target and his plug one and chunks them into the back of the card before hopping in "Lets go, get the girls!" he says tapping the side of the cart.
Yuko does have to stop the cart unfortunately, to let Hiroyasu get in. But he does so, his timing not perfect but hopefully good enough. As soon as the pair are in the back, he cracks the reins and starts the cart going towards the girls at the front, so as to pick them up along the way, if he can, wanting to get out of here as fast as he can with their target. No sense in hanging around now that they have him!!
As Yuko brings the cart up Nariko doesn't hesitate for a moment and starts to run. The slow motion camera starts in on her, the run perfectly timed as she catches the art, grabs hold of the side and twists around so as to jump into the cart. Her foot catches onto the back, her second foot making its way in as well. She pulls herself in and sits down, taking a moment to catch her breath. "Home Chauffeur!" She raises an arm into the air, exclaiming with pride her order. "Better than possibly giving Hiro leeches." She winks at Hiro.
Hanako's jump on to the cart is significantly less dramatic than Nariko's. She simply jogs up as it comes past and makes a tiny jump to land in the front seat next to Yuko. "Well, that was interesting. Mission complete! In a couple of hours we'll have Zaku on his way to the Land of Tea for sentencing, and then we'll receive our pay packets. Nice job everyone," she says, turning around to peer into the back and check on Zaku and the woman who had been with him, "So, drinks are on me tonight. A celebration for Yukio-kun's first ever mission completed!"
