Starring:
Date: February 24, 2014
Summary:
Kin, Hiei, Miyo, and Ryouji tracked the group that attacked the prison and attempted to apprehend them dead or alive.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Chain Gang - Breaking The Link"
The Land of Lightning
Kin and Hiei, along with the rest of their group, had managed to turn in the leaders of the chan gang. Of course, the gang was rather displeased with this and had attempted an attack on the prison. While repelled, one of the guards had managed to get a tracker on one of the gang members. Thus, Kin, Hiei, Ryouji and Miyo were sent out to track them down and reclaim more of the gang for their misdeeds. Kin would look at the mission, the four of them already on the road for where the tracker was last seen. "They know how to dig. They know how to avoid Dred. They also have a decent control of that chain. I think if we break the chain, we can break their power."
Hiei walks along beside Kin as he listens to him talk. "I can't believe they managed to get a tracker on one of them. You know how much I hate it when they get away, but at least their leaders are behind bars. Of course, breaking the chain is easier said than done." He idly rubs the back of his head where one of the boulders had hit him the last time. "But we can definitely give it a shot. Does headquarters want these guys brought in alive or what?"
Miyo, the cutest of the group (obviously), was trudging along behind Kin and Hiei, keeping to herself in an oddly uncharacteristic manner. She had her fancy robes on, hood up, and face mostly obscured - also making an oddly snore-like noise, as if she was sleeping and walking! "Alive, I hope…" She mumbles, hardly audible. "I'm not sure what I'd do otherwise."
Ryouji follows along with the group as he takes in the details on the mission. He nods, "Same here, killing them isn't something I'd want to do. BUT, if orders called for it, orders are orders. It would be easier than try to drag them back kicking and screaming." He's forgoing the traveling cloak or gear this time around, prefering to go light carrying just his sword and ninja equipment.
Kin shakes his head. "They prefer alive. However, they aren't going to hold it against us if they're all dead. Resisting capture or something." He'd shrug slightly, continue to move with the others. He'd glance back at Ryouji and Miyo, contemplating them before his attention turned to Hiei. "You remember what it was like. They're ranged types. They also know how to get away. We may not have to break the chain, but if we can bind it." Dred would give a call from above, causing Kin to look up. "He says there's movement at the spot the tracker was said to be at."
The Uzumaki lets out a sigh of relief when she learns that she doesn't have to kill anyone today. "If you can get them subdued or pinned, I can use some of my sealing techniques to bind them. Should make them easier to transport if they can't do anything about it." At the mention of movement ahead, Miyo frowns slightly. "Do we have a plan?"
Hiei has disconnected.
Ryouji gives a shrug but looks at Kin for the plan. Better to let the older ones handle that. He does add, "I have a technique that'll stun them, assuming I can hit them. Should we just head there then or can one of us scout it out first?"
Kin points up. A hawk, way up in the sky as to be more of a dot than bird to anyone who can't see that far, was flying overhead. "We've been scouting. Dred told me they're there. As for the plan.. Most likely attempt capture as much as possible. Destroy the chain if you can. It's their source of strength." Kin nods to Hiei who runs wide to see about circling around them, Kin would press on, leading the others to what Dred found. An opening in a thin forest with a few people, all in cloaks with hoods, sitting there.
A minor flash of concern passes over Miyo's face as she pushes her hood back and shakes her hair out. "So, just run in, beat them up, drag them back to wherever? No fancy plan?" She shrugs and nods at the same time, an awkward gesture in the least. "Might as well get to it, then."
Ryouji isn't so sure about what chain he has to break, but he'll play it by ear. As he notices the people with cloaks he rests his hand on the hilt of his weapon, ready to draw it out at a moments notice. "Looks, rather cut and dry. Ok, should we focus on one at a time then? I stun, you seal?" he asks Miyo pointing out one of the bigger ones as his first target.
Kin raises a brow at Miyo. "You'd rather it be some convoluted plan that is more likely to fail?" He'd shake his head and look back to the group. Tapping a seal on his belt, his bow would get summoned into his hand. His other hand reached back to tap the bottom of his quiver, having the arrows show up there. Eyes narrowed in focus, he'd point, keeping his voice quiet. "There. That glint of metal. it's between all of them. The chain. They manipulate it, like a living thing. I'd expect.. they know we're here. So go ahead. I'll cover, we'll see what we can do."
Miyo glances to Kin. "Maybe…" She smirks a little before reaching over her shoulder to grip the hilt of her sword. In a single, swift motion she draws the blade in complete silence. "Alright, then…" When she notes Kin's weapon of choice she begins to circle to the right side a bit, going for a minor flanking menevuer, or at least to stay out of the Kumo-nin's line of fire.
Ryouji sees the chain as well and heads to the left to stay out of any stray arrows. Best to keep his head down. He takes off running for the group, one arm trailing behind him and the other firmly resting on his sword but unlike Miyo he hasn't drawn it yet. He doesn't need to.
Ryouji and Miyo, splitting from where Kin was at, would circle away. One holding back, the other would charge in. 5 steps, 10. All of the sudden the whole area rattled loudly, a ring of chains before and behind Ryouji would jump up, shaking as it surrounded him. Kin hissed in frustration, how could this gang be so organized?? Arrows drawn and fired, he'd attempt to pin that chain now. Even with the expert shots he did do, he unfortunately was not able to stop them from attempting to wrap about Ryouji.
Seeing Ryouji draw the attention of the goons, Miyo attacks. She dashes forth from her hiding spot, leaps into the air, twirls and releases her sword, Benisakura, from her hand. The blade flies through the air like an arrow towards the ground in a central location to the enemies where it would dig into the earth. As the blade dances back and forth, a single seal tag hanging from the hilt would activate, releasing an incredible burst of light and chakra. Miyo would land and roll in towards her sword once the attack cleared, plucking the weapon from the ground and entering a defensive position, several sealtags already prepared in her free hand.
Ryouji isn't as flashy as the other two, his attacks are much more straight forward. As he rushes forward, he sees the chain slipping around him like a snare about to strike. He leaps up, not even breaking a beat over the chain and plants a foot on the ground and spins around. He snaps his sword out and slices in rapid succession one two three. Each one hoping for the cut that would break the chain.
The chain, much like against Kin's arrows, didn't even seem to knick from Ryouji's strikes. Miyo however, did force the people to move, scattering back, they'd all grab a set of chains that had been moving about in the air. As they did, the larger one in a robe was revealed to be a massive boulder. Four chains attached to it, it'd promptly swing at Miyo as she was right there, to try and knock her over. Kin grunts and redirects his next shot. Aiming for one of the four. "Knew it. Ryouji, go for a person!" Miyo seemed to know what she was doing fairly well, so Kin made sure to give some extra coverage for Ryouji.
Fortunate for the Uzumaki, the boulder and chain contraption was slower than the seals she held in her fingers. With a swift motion, the girl releases them into the air to form a wall of light blue chakra to intercept the bould, which it does quite nicely. Using her moment of protection, she assails a single target with a series of strikes from her sword, the first, a horizontal slash intended to break any guard he might put up while the second was a spinning bash to the jaw with her pommel followed by two incredibly swift disabling strikes with her sword. Not lethal - but they could put someone out of commission for a while.
Ryouji mumbles, "Go for the chain, attack the people, one or the other." Though he makes a mental note to get skills to attack multiple targets later on. Maybe with his blur as soon as he unlocks it. He skips the chain and spins back around while resheathing his sword. He rushes the nearest guy and draws his weapon again, but only half way leaving the hilt to aim for the chin of the guy. It won't kill someone, but it will give them stars and slow them down for a short time. He won't allow him to have the chance as he draws his sword again and gives a double slice, hoping one of the hits.
Kin's arrow knocked down one of the four, the scream of pain as the arrow slams into the shoulder, then the spikes jutted out through the flesh was enough to unsettle the others. The boulder wobbled. Ryouji wasn't quite able to get past that weaving of the chain, the shots deflected there, however it did distract the others. Miyo managing to drop the second person with her strike/stun follow up. The boulder dropped then. Cursing, one of the two still standing would flash through some seals. A chain attached to his back suddenly went taunt and while the boulder fell away from the chain, the four of them were pulled off into the woods. "Blast it, not again. Stop them!!" Kin would draw another arrow, seeking to strike that chain as it pulled, but once more it wasn't quite at the right spot, deflected instead of hitting.
Having eliminated one of the enemies, Miyo felt proud of herself, at least until the enemies were dragged off into the forest by a chain, or were in the processes of such at least. The Uzumaki knew she was fast, but she didn't know if she could catch them, even if she did, she didn't quite know what to do about it. She had to try!
She dashed forward, disappearing in a blur as she body flickered forward, attempting to intercept the chain gang. As Miyo returns her sword to its scabbard on her back, her other hand draws a set of kunai from her robes, each bearing a seal tag similar to the first she used. Even if she was unable to hit them, the explosive force from the tags could cause a problem in their flight, so she leaps into the air, twirls, and uses every bit of force she can must to fling the kunai at her targets. Hopefully they could do something.
Ryouji grunts in frustration. He's been trying to land a hit, but so far he's not fast or strong enough. Ryouji leaps to carry him over to the chain dragging them into the forest and hacks and slashes at it over and over again. "Cut connect you, cut!" he says, not having a good time at it at all. If he could cut the chain, the gang wouldn't be dragged off and thusly, he would have stopped them.
Kin chased after them, but he wasn't fast enough to keep up either. The chain rang with Ryouji's cutting at it, however it didn't break. As the twin kunai slammed into the ground near the gang members, they'd whip down a hole in the ground, suddenly vanishing from sight. The twin cascades of chakra was mirrored by a deeper rumble. When the area cleared it'd show that the hole they had been dragged into collapsed behind them. Kin slowed to a stop, standing next to the hole. "They did this last time. Hiei and I couldn't take them. Don't feel bad." He'd glance to the other two, before pointing down. "There's blood. We are crippling them, if not capturing them."
Miyo stops and lets out a sigh as Kin approaches. "Well, that sucks. I don't really have any good ways to stop people from running away from me. Hehe…" She grins sheepishly. "Maybe I'll have to do something about that." She turns around to look at where the hole had been. "Such an odd group…"
Ryouji sighs and sheathes his sword. "Tsuka-tsuppari works well, quick draw your sword but use the hilt to strike at someone's chest or chin. It stuns them for a few seconds." He shrugs does smile at the blood, "Every little bit will help, at least we know we can hurt them. Until you can find another hint of them again, we're done here?" he asks Kin.
Kin nods in reply. "The tracker was on the boulder. Dred just retrieved it. So they were trying to trap us. You both did a good job. Let's go report in." He'd shrug slightly and turn away from the hole, starting the treck back to Kumogakure.