Starring:
Date: May 18, 2013
Summary:
A group of Suna nin go out to capture some dissidents, and wind up facing some of the reasons why there are dissidents.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Struggle with No Reward - Caravan Cave-In"
Desert Near Sunagakure [Land of Wind]
*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*/
The deserts of the Land of Wind appear to be a barren, waterless, plantless, lifeless wasteland to most people. There actually IS life here, and water can be found as well if one knows where to look and how to gather it. However, the fact remains that the desert is an inhospitable place to be without protection. This stretch of desert lies just east of the mountains cliffs that surround the Hidden Sand Village. East from here is a lot more desert to cross before the border between the Land of Wind and Land of Rivers is reached. North also heads into the desert, but the wall of Sunagakure's natural cliff-side defenses can serve as a wall to navigate by. South is a direction that crosses desert as well, but with the promise of the ocean and the beaches to be reached eventually.
*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*/
-=^=-=^=-=^=-=^=-=^=-=^=-=^=-=^=-=^=-=^=-=^=-=^=-=^=-=^=-=^=-=^=-=^=-=^=-=^=-
NarutoMUSH Rivalry Bulletin Boards IC Events
Message: 12/8 Posted Author
Suna: Struggle with no reward May 15 2013 Satomi
Suna her more scary and covert demeanour have made an effective deterrent
against the uprising of the people. There are however small groups who
found the courage to stand up and denounce the ninja villages. These small
guerilla organisations carry out attacks against anyone who even considers
trading with or hiring Sunagakure. And hence, trade has died down
significantly.
Due to the secretive nature these guerilla networks are hard to find
and root out. They also operate internationally and seem to pest all ninja
villages. Suna however is taking the brunt of the force. The Daimyo of the
land of wind however demands that Suna puts a stop to these attacks. The
teasury is dwindling and trade has decreased by a good 50 percent. Any
longer and the land of wind will find itself in an economic recession. The
first clues are surfacing. These organisations use couriers and
underground tunnels to communicate together. They are good at hiding and
striking where people are unprepared. Their leadership, organisational
structure, numbers and strengths… remain a mystery.
-=^=-=^=-=^=-=^=-=^=-=^=-=^=-=^=-=^=-=^=-=^=-=^=-=^=-=^=-=^=-=^=-=^=-=^=-=^=-
One of the big points in Shemri's ninja dossier is her skill in hunting. It's not a skill which overlaps too often with the requirements of ninja missions, but it does come in handy every so often. Tracking down rare beasts, dealing with dangerous predators that hunt too close to settlements, observing wildlife movements…and then you have manhunts. They're not totally the same as animal hunts, certainly, but the same could be said of hunting rabbits versus hunting lions, for example, and the general principles are similar. So when the need arises to hunt down certain groups of dissidents who are making trouble for the Land of Wind, Shemri is one of those called on to lead a mission. Or at any rate, orchestrate things up until the point that the prey is actually encountered. She doesn't happen to be the highest-ranking shinobi involved.
Once given this assignment, Shemri had gone about planning it with that huntress mindset. First challenge of hunting, encounter the prey. Two basic options: go to where the prey is, or give the prey a reason to come to you. If you don't know where the prey is, you have to go with the second option. That decided, what reason could you give the prey to come to you? You could make all other places unacceptable to the prey, but that generally requires a lot of manpower, like methods where a large group of hunters beat through the brush to scare prey into a particular area. The hunting area they have to deal with here is far too vast for that sort of thing. :P So rather, it was best to lure the prey with something it wants. In this case, the prey wants to harry trade routes in the Land of Wind, so the best bait is a trade caravan!
And that's why Shemri, Suterusu, and Chitose are riding with such a caravan, doing their best to remain inconspicuous until trouble comes up. Despite all that analysis, protecting a trade caravan is something of a no-brainer move, probably even one the dissidents are expecting to some degree; hopefully they'll be reckless enough to attack without perceiving the guard. Shiikaa hides beneath Shemri's cloak, a bit hot and miserable, but it's a situation he's been in plenty of times before. ^-.-^; "How are you faring?" Shemri calls to the others.
For Chitose, she doesn't even have to hide. She has been on caravans like this many many times. She still rides with them from time to time. Seeing a genin on a caravan wouldn't even startle most attackers. It's a genin, on par with a normal fighter. Nothing scary at all.
When Shemri calls out, she looks up and smiles, "Seems like a normal day to me." She nods, as she is normally the type to ride along with caravans. Sometimes she doesn't even do that, she just goes out to run deliveries around. She is sitting passenger on one of the wagons, not really looking to the other two, just looking casual and watching the area around casually.
That figure would simply give a nod in response. One of him was sitting on the back of one of the wagons, watching where they had been going. He was relatively quiet as he did search mentally. Both having 3 clones out in the surrounding sands, spread out to avoid giving away they were there. Each of them, plus the figure himself, was reaching out with that sensory ability. Even if it was nothing more than simple people, a group of them should register in that 'other' sense, giving at least a direction they'd be coming from, if the bait would be taken. He wasn't really hidden on the wagon, but he wasn't in sight either, simply at that ready, much as he often did.
The way is clear, the caravan encounters no opposition, and the journey reaches its end without incident.
.
.
.
Yeah right, we wouldn't be having a scene about it if it went that way. ;)
Suterusu first starts picking up faint chakra signals from the direction the caravan is headed. There's nothing to be seen that way, though, just the flat baked landscape for miles. Of course, it could be that the shimmering heat waves are obscuring objects as small as humans, and they could also be hiding against the ground with blankets and such to make it even harder to spot them. For that matter, didn't the intel on these groups say something about getting around using tunnels undergr —
*BOOMF!*
The muffled explosion can be felt more than heard, popping the entire caravan up slightly, then dropping them into the earth. There is a cacophony of splitting sandstone and splintering wood, and the caravan finds itself several meters below ground. A whooping chorus of battle cries comes from further down the tunnel, indicating the approach of the dissidents. Shemri and Shiika extract themselves from the wreckage and quickly look toward the others. "Hoi, are you injured or trapped?!" She'd like to make sure the traders are okay too, but with combat descending on them, getting the fighters on their feet takes first priority. c.c;
In all reality, Chitose really was just kinda sitting there waiting for the other shoe to drop and was somewhat excited when they 'Boomf' went off. She was up quickly, the wreckage not being a real problem for a girl who was already hopping free when the thing started falling. She lands near to the caravan with a glance to Shemri before looking around, "Well, this should be fun." She nods her head even as she keeps her eyes open, "Come on out! I want to play a game. I'll play the person killing you and your role? Can you guess which part you play?" She nods her head softly.
The figure was alerted, but.. not quite to being dropped into a cave. He landed heavy, a barrel promptly rolling onto him, getting him pinned down. Gritting his teeth, that harsh whisper of the tenor wasn't quite it's normal crooning tone. "This barrel is a bit much." His clones would come down, they'd come down via sliding down the hole's edge that was made by the attackers, while the figure himself might be trapped, if at least temporarily, his clones would already be working with Chitose to create a ring of defense against those in the tunnel. They already had an in to find out where the people were coming from, best to use it. One clone would go to help the figure himself, giving his own self a hand out of being trapped. The fight was about to begin, time to see how many were good enough to claim the eyes of.
Shemri loosens the twin bows of her sashes, extending them out to full length. "We need them alive," she chides Chitose as she works, "at least some of them." :P Shemri's sashes reach out to the walls of the pit and swing her up over the wreckage. She lands between the caravan and its assailants and is almost immediately embroiled in a wave of aggression. The attackers are individually nothing that would make an experienced shinobi break a sweat, as evidenced by the fact that Shemri is so far holding her own without even drawing a weapon, but it'll be nice to have some backup. There is one aberration to that, though. A silent figure clings closely to the ceiling of the tunnel, like a lizard. Observing the potential combatants, he decides that Suterusu looks like the most important target to neutralize, and suddenly flicks out a looooong tongue to ensnare him!
As the attackers come in, Chitose races forward suddenly and her finger slip into a fist as she punches into the first person she reaches. As her other fist slips past and between the arms of the person she is attacking, her elbow bending backwards as sh e sends it into the face of another attacker. She then retracts her arms while spinning around into another slamming backfist, "Lets do this."
Interesting. Chitose has definitely grown some in her connection with the beast it seems. Both from rage and from ability. Those two other clones would engage in the melee, each of them pulling up a daiklave right from the ground to start laying about them. Leave some alive. Yeah, some. The rest however? Well, it was who was going to kill them it seems.
As the figure and clone got the figure free, they'd both stand up, nodding to each other. Only for that tongue to suddenly wrap about the middle of his body and pull him back towards the beast! Of course, he happen to grab on to the clone, so that both were dragged upward. Twisting slightly, that one arm the only leverage, besides the wrap about his middle, he'd launch the clone further upward, that would have a sudden burst of rock come flying in to meet him, the fire chakra in his hands forging it into that Daiklave as well as weapon, clone, then figure would all meet in pretty close to that order with the creature that had pulled him out of the caravan. The two clones glanced up to where this was going on, preparing to withdraw from the melee so they could assist with.. whatever that was.
Some anti-ninja movement, using ninja to further their ends. :P 'Course, they'd probably say it's not all ninja they're against, just the super-powerful and organized Great Ninja Villages. Or whoever hired this guy would say that. Anyway, given his reptilian abilities, he's probably a rogue Watanabe. Seeing multiple danger sources coming at him, he drops from the ceiling, dragging Suterusu down towards the main fighting. Shemri continues swatting mooks down with pure taijutsu skill, dodging and redirecting any weapons thrust her way. Ha, it's like dealing with gangs of bullies from her childhood. >) Shiikaa contributes from the sidelines with a massive ROAR that shouldn't ordinarily come from such a small frame, stunning a bunch of the dissidents. @.@ A few of the mooks decide that Chitose is their best bet for contributing without getting hurt too much, and attempt to dogpile her.
That's probably not really the truth. They don't know that though, which is a real problem for them. At first she is overwhelmed and goes down in amongst a bunch of kicks and punches…that is till the area is shaken by another roar that shouldn't be coming from the center of that pile of people beating on one girl. It sounds like a scream mixed with the roar of a bull. Then suddenly half the guys attacking Chitose go flying away from her with enough force to put two of them into the wall. She then raises up from the group knocking away several more as a cloak of pure chakra surrounds her body as a tentacle like tail flicks back and forth behind her, a pair of horns raised up from her head as her face is covered in pure shimmering chakra all around her body. Her arms? They appear to be like massive fists that she now is withdrawing as she looks toward the remaining men with pure ire.
The reason to be anti-shinobi? Because of that. Of course, because of that, the world wasn't burning. The figure wouldn't even sigh as Chitose got overwhelmed and the jinchuu pushed back. He had a rogue nin to deal with. Focusing chakra as the three dropped to the ground, he'd land in a crouch, watching the reptilian.. whathaveyou. That soft tenor would croon then, sweetly reaching out to the Watanabe. "You.. you have good eyes. I will take them now." There'd be a hiss, the tongue wrapped about the figure suddenly getting very hot as he did a replacement with a metal clone. Those other two shadow clones would close in from the sides, both of them kneeling down to plant a hand to the ground as razor wire would claw free of the ground to wrap about the lizard man more akin to living vines, then metal with steel chunks in it. They'd seek to wrap and cling as the figure approached from behind the metal clone that was attempting to grab the tongue, keeping it latched on to the clone so it'd continue to burn. If the lizard man was caught, he'd pull a kunai and step up close, using it to insert just behind the eyeball in the eye socket, careful in the slit on both sides of the head to not nick the eyeball as he'd cleanly cut optical cords and capture the eyeballs, putting them into a chemical storage bag in the folds of his clothing. If it all goes as planned, the lizard man, sans eyes, would then be beheaded by a daiklave from one of the clones. With that done, they, 4 as one, would turn to see what they had to clean up with Chitose going bull down here.
Nothing like a monster to scare the fight out of mooks. X) The vast majority of the attackers run screaming back into the tunnel to escape the awakened jinchuuriki. Shemri rotates her shoulder in a satisfied that-was-a-nice-workout way…then realizes there's some screaming still going on here at the battle scene, and not quite of the terrified kind. c.c She looks to see what the cause is and is treated to the horrific sight of the Watanabe's empty-socketed face, just before decapitation ends his suffering. O.O; "Th-that's why you ninja have to die!" stammers one of the few remaining brave attackers, and makes a lunge at Suterusu with a sword. >.<; Shemri isn't much less disgusted. "Hoi, what are you doing!?!? What do you need his eyes for?! Could you not at least have waited until he was dead?!" >O
A roar of victory comes out of the creature as it finishes with a guy who was stupid enough to stay near to the creature before it turns its gaze toward Shemri and Suterusu. Upon spotting Suterusu it roars out in rage…it remembers him and could give one fat wagon whether there was a man being decapitated nearby or otherwise. It wants Suterusu's blood for last time and races toward him roaring…of course it likely won't get very far this time around either.
Nope, those four had already spread out, figuring very well that it might attack him upon spying him. As the beast rushed that figure, it hit that middle mark, each of the four planting a hand to the ground to have that mass of wires once again launch out of the ground around it, a massive wire trap that would quickly attempt to latch onto the beast, tail and all, to latch it down into a small package. Yes, razor wire, the whole nine yards. Just like last time, he wasn't going to let it go at all. "If he died first, it wouldn't have the same look in the eye." That soft tenor would croon, watching to make sure that the beast was detained as needed, before a shuriken, attached to that wire, was thrown, whistling out to wrap a wire around one of the guys who commented about him taking the eyes to get dragged back in. "You.. I think I want your eyes next.. or.. are you going to talk, so we have information and I don't need your eyes?"
Same look? LOOK!? >.<# Shemri's seen her share of awful injuries and deaths, and she'd be able to stomach taking a dead enemy's body parts if it served some legitimate purpose, but Suterusu made a man's final moments a living nightmare AND jeopardized the mission's success for his idea of PRETTY BAUBLES!?!? D< That's — Shemri is momentarily distracted by the bijuu's interrupted rampage. c.c Whoa…Shemri did have a team-mate who was a jinchuuriki, but she was already pretty well in control of her bijuu by that time. Didn't occur to her it might not be so easy keeping the monster in check. >.>
When Shemri looks back to Suterusu, he's already preparing to amputate another guy's eyes! D< But the terrified man immediately makes it clear he'll spill whatever beans he has, so Shemri warily allows Suterusu to continue playing bad cop. >:/ Still, this is definitely something she'll have to report to somebody…
