Starring:
Date: November 9, 2011
Summary:
A jutsu of a near extinct clan pits three shinobi vs. an army of undead shinobi. Will they figure the jutsu out in time to save Sunagakure?
WARNING: Contains foul language.
"What If? Dead Rising - Resident Ninja"
Ayaash Battle Cove
*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*/
The Ayaash Battle Cove is a very desolate place. To the south lies the grassy plains of the Land of wind, a masive expanse almost as far as the eye can see, with distant mountains. To the east and north, the desert. Death and only death lies in that direction. To the west is the opening to a large cave, how deep is impossible to tell.
The Cove itself is a place of much trials. There is a path that goes around a deep pit in the ground, and that pit is surrounded by large plateaus and rock faces. The pit itself is barely visible, but it is wide, and deep, and houses all sorts of hidden dangers.
*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*//*/
Though the sun is barely visible through the sand swirling in the air, one would be able to guess the time was close to nightfall. The light of the sky was starting to retreat back towards the horizon. This left only the shades of purple, crimson, red and orange to fill the vacant void left. Of course from the ground one only see glimpses of these colors if they looked up. For the most part this desolate place was not often visited. Such was not the case today…
Two figures emerge from the swirling sand. They are both wearing brownish cloaks and hoods. The one has a symbol across his cloak. It is a version of a skull, perhaps a tribal dragon skull painted in white. The other figure seems to be leading the way. They enter the cove. The first one to enter lowers his hood down over his shoulders. He is a young man, barely over the age of seventeen. He has blonde hair and blue eyes. The expression upon his face is one vacant of most emotion. His eyes are cold.
As the young man kneels to the ground he says, "This is it father. I can feel them beneath me. This was the site of a massive battle. There are hundreds… no thousands. Will this suffice for your plan?"
The figure wearing the skull emblem then lowers his hood to reveal a much older man. His skin is wrinkled and more of a husk over a skeleton than anything else. He must be around seventy years old if not over a hundred. His eyes are pure white. His face as well shows no emotion. The man's long hair has long lost it's color as well.
He places his hand out towards the younger man. "You are certain? We must not fail. Our clan will be avenged. We will destroy them. Please, point me towards the east."
"Yes father. I am sure. The bodies are here. I understand. The village will pay for what their clans did." the younger man replies. His hands move towards his father's shoulders. He redirects him so that his face points the east. "It is done father."
The elder man raises his arms outwards before bringing them back towards his body. He then begins to form seal signs. He is forming them on both hands, though each one different from the one the other hand makes. Finally he drops to his knees and places his hands on the ground. A summoning seal forms in the sand. From the circular lines rises something. It appears to be a bone-like spine of a very large animal. Perhaps a giant man or maybe even a bear. At the end of the staff is a skull. It seems to mimic the dragon skull emblem on the cloak the old man wears. "Summoning jutsu! Pillar of the Rising Dead!" he yells out across the vacant desert.
As the staff rises roughly ten feet into the air, it remains firmly planted in the sand. The eyes of the skull turn red. "I see them now. Yes. You have done excellent in tracking them down. A force of this size will cover this nation in chaos. Forgive me son. There is one more thing that I did not tell you. As the eyes are the cost of using this pillar, there is one more cost to using the power within it." The elder man places his hands on the back of the pillar as he speaks. "No life can be given without taking it from somewhere. I am only twenty years older than you son. I have used this jutsu twice before. This shall be my last time. There is one last thing… in my pocket is a journal. The secrets I carry are in it. Ensure that the village is destroyed at all costs. I know you will." With that the elder man's body begins to age significantly. His limbs turn to dust beneath the cloak. Then the rest of his body follows.
"What?!?" the younger man nearly yells before regaining his composure. He bites his lip hard before nodding his head. He was obviously unaware of the sacrifice. He watches the body disinigrate into near dust. Then his eyes grow wide as he feels something. The pupils move directly towards the ground. The dead begin to rise. Some still have decaying flesh on their bodies, while other have decomposed enough that they are simply skeletons. As they rise, the boy flips over the cloak. He reaches into the pocket and opens the journal. He scans the pages and appears to read. "There we are. Your will shall be done father. I will not fail you." The words are nearly whispered. He then places the journal in his own cloak. Afterwards he presses a single hand to the pillar. "Go forth! I command you to destroy the Village Hidden in the sand. Do not stop until every life has been taken!" The eyes of the pillar grew to a vibrant red before fading. Now the hoarde of undead zombies and skeletons marched directly towards the village…
There's something off about this evening and Itami doesn't know what it is. Since the sun has begun to set, she's had the feeling that something is wrong. She decided to call it a night and leave the office, finding the village a bit more empty than usual. She proceeded down the steps, inhaling deeply and sighing the breath back out. Her hands shook lightly, though she attributed it to the cool of the night and not the idea that this night was just…
Shaking her head, she tried to clear her thoughts, but had trouble doing so. She looked at the sky once more and then towards the entrance of the village down Sentou Valley. As an eerie wind blew into the village, following it was a guard who looked as if he had seen an apparition. Out of breath, he tried to report what he saw. Something was going on in the desert and all he remembers seeing was a red light until 'shadows' began rising from the sand and shambling around. They were on their way here.
Without much hesitation, Itami told him to find his way home and lock his door tight. The trouble she sensed was confirmed and she was going to put a stop to it. Jumping into the air, she bounded across the roof tops to clear the distance quickly and make her way out of the village.
Mika was out in the desert. She's practicing her new technique. The Blue-ish white flame like aura surrounds her. Then something pokes at her. The aura quickly forms into a cat, arched up, as if warning all those to stay back. But Mika drops the ki as her own back arches, and she crouches down. Her instincts just went from serene to…SOMEBODY IS MESSING WITH THE NATURAL ORDER OF NATURAL ORDER! The girl lets out a feral growl, and moves towards the scene. She spots another figure in the distance, but can't make it out. The girl stops at a fair distance from the area, and then sniffs the air. That much undead is bound to have a scent. The girl pauses, and sniffs again before vomitting heavily. She starts to backpeddle, cover her nose. "Sick! Rotten! Thats disgusting!", she says before gagging again. The girl starts to run back towards figure heading towards her. Its hopefully an Itami, coming to see whats going on!
Keiji had been leaving the village for the night. As darkness began to fall, the fun usually began. The boy did not sense anything really off about the night, though he would wander the desert and perhaps train tonight. That is until his dark eyes saw a large mob off in the distance. "Wow…" is all he states as he moves off behind a rock. While the hoarde did not seem to carry torches, it was moving and alive. Something seemed slightly off to the boy. For now he would watch and get more information before making a move.
The hoarde of zombies and skeletons was moving at a pretty good pace for having been resting so long. While some skeletal structures were not exactly up to the challenge, those that could not walk would crawl. There were some grunts, groans and other noises but there was no real communication between the mob. These were not your super intelligent creatures. They were more barbarian cannon fodder that would take down the village through sheer numbers alone. The mob spread as far as the eye can see. They were easily upwards of thousands if not hundreds of thousands.
As they moved, a few of the better corpses would make a break towards the village. They were naturally faster than the others and formed a non-intentional preattack force. Although these were not intelligent creatures, there was one among them that seemed to be leading somewhere. He held a badly rusted katana and was leading the way for the others.
Itami couldn't tell who it was ahead of her, but she prepared herself by growing claws and gaining a boost in power. When the dust in the air cleared enough for her to perceive who it was, she sighed in relief as she came to a stop shouting, "Mika!" to get her to stop. "You're running from something. What is it?" She inquires with some urgency. "What am I working with, here?" She wanted to know as much as possible about the threat she was about to face.
"I don't know. My instincts are screaming that something unnatural has occurred, and all I can smell is rotten flesh, bones, maggot filled organs, and dieseased flesh.", Mika says. The girl takes a few deep breathes before heaving again. Itami would notice that whatever it is that has Mika's instincts on edge, its enough that she doesn't have her normal robe on that she always wears in the village. Its something that she never takes off in the village unless she has to fight, and definitely not something she would just abandon just out of the blue.
"Something is heading towards the village, and that something is huge and disgusting. To be a bit more honest, its actually freaking me out quite a bit….", Mika admits to.
As Keiji scans around, he spots Mika and Itami. The boy made a quick break for it. He would kick one of the zombies he crossed in the leg breaking it before moving to their location. "You two might want to form a plan here. They extent back as far as my eyes can see. There is no end to them. They do not move naturally either." The boy turns towards the zombies and the skeletons. He closes his eyes and begins to transform. His muscules seem slightly larger and a scorpion tail forms from his backside. "We Shippodoku are not made to handle large forces like this. You two got any bright ideas?"
The advanced group of skeletons and zombies are not converging on the three shinobi. They growl and scrape at them . They are not extremely deadly, but an annoyance to the planning phase. The larger hoarde is still advancing… Among the advanced unit, the leader begins to place his fingers together. Despite the sounds of his fingers breaking, the thing utters some gutteral noises before cupping his hand over his mouth. A large fireball attacks the three while setting his hand on fire. Despite this, the zombie moves forward swinging his katana at Itami. "Garrrrrrrr…."
Itami hummed. "I see…" She remarked. "If it's too much, then don't try to fight. I don't want your senses getting the better of you again." She explains. "Somehow, I get the feeling this one is worse than my prior experience." This one feels much more darker. She looks over the path and sees the zombies are moving much more quickly than she anticipated. Among all the moaning and groaning, another voice was identifiable. "Keiji!" She called and looked towards the one that blew a fireball at them, "Disperse!" She called out, though she decided to take the fire head on with an earth armor as she was being attacked with the rusty katana. She lashed out at the zombie with a punch to knock him back, but he was more solid than she made him out to be. Just because he was all bone didn't mean he'd be a pushover. She began to shake her fist in response.
Mika blinks, and then takes to the air, smashing into a few of the zombies, and then pushing back. The girl blinks a few times. "The dead? Dead things don't typically move, do they?", she asks, shaking her head a bit. The woman focuses a little bit, and jumps into the air, spinning around, and kicking two zombies in the head, using her speed and power. She lands, and does a few quick acrobatics to get out range, and resets her stance. She looks around. "Three against an army is usually very bad odds! Especially an unnatural army such as this.", she says. Mika looks from which the army is coming from. "Is there a graveyard or something nearby?"
The young Shippodoku moves to the side and places a pincered finger through the eye socket of a zombie. "Ewwww.. it splattered…" he states as the eye gushes around his finger. He dodges back before the thing can grab him. "Figure out the jutsu!. If we can do that, we can counter the jutsu and end this. If these things are above ground, we might be able to move below ground!" the boy yelled towards the two. While he knew Itami was able to move below ground, he was unsure of Mika. "The real question is can we do it before they reach the village?!?". Then the boy rushed towards a group of zombies and swung his body around to smack them with his tail. "Clone jutsu require a caster to be in the near vicinity. Can either of you detect anything human?!?"
As the zombies and skeletons are knocked down, they get back up. They are simply just not re-dying. Then as the main hoarde moves forward a tornado begins to form at the center of the hoarde. Zombies are starting to fly every which way. Even towards the group. Things are starting to get chaotic and complicated. Zombies at ground level and airborne…
"No, they don't typically move!" itami thinks to answer Mika's question as she makes the necessary handseals to perform macroburst. It's been a trustworthy attack in keeping things down and unable to move for a time. She initiates it, both as a barrier and as a means to keep the zombies down. "We need to head to the source. Wherever the concentration of these things are strongest at. The village will be well protected by the shinobi that remain and the gates are to be closed. Come with me. We're heading to the graveyard!"
"Alright. I'll claim the sky.", she says. The woman uses a zombie as a springboard, and leaps into the air. Since many of them are airbourne now, Mika can finally use her full offense. The woman starts using Zombies as little platforms as her air offense goes to work. Grace and raw power mix together, as she creates a dance in the air thats just as deadly as it is beautiful. She smiles a bit as she moves along landing only long enough to leap into the next group of airbourne enemies. Doesn't mean that there's a random swipe, or a small rip in clothing as Zomteeth /BARELY/ miss their purchase of kitten flesh!
Keiji shrugged his shoulders a little bit. "I guess a source is just as good as a caster." he states as he looks towards Itami. "See you there?" Surely Itami was not going to try to keep the barrier between the zombies up and move towards the graveyard. Then the boy glanced towards Mika. That was a new way to do things. Not that he was going to try it. The boy then sunk into the ground.
With the exception of Mika, the zombies pass right by and head towards the gates of the village. That was their main target. Those that had attempted to move towards Mika would end up blocked off by the rest of the hoarde. Resistance to the movement of the hoarde was futile. Eventually they would form up with the rest of the hoarde and move back towards the village.
Though a little ways away from the actual graveyard, the young man guarding the pillar remained there. He was now wearing his father's cloak. Standing next to him are six skeletons or zombies. The man placed his hand on the pillar. "You six will guard this pillar. Let nothing touch it. Stay vigilant." These six skeletons and zombies were obviously the creme of the dead.
Itami offers a thumbs up to Keiji as she sinks into the ground to evade the zombie threat. She wouldn't be sticking around to hold the wind in place. It'd do that itself until it dispersed. For now, she'd travel beneath the ground and towards the graveyard to face off against the actual threat. Once she was within the vicinity, she rose from the ground carefully, watching the rest of the straggler zombies make their way off to the village. She found a place to hide herself behind and watch the proceedings.
Mika lands on the ground, bringing a skull down with an heavy thud, crack, splat! Mika gives a ewwwwww response as she shakes her heand. "Rotten brain goo! I'll never get the smell off my hands!", she cries! The girl looks around a little bit…"Huh? Oh, I'm here already?", she asks, looking at the six zombies/skeletons in front of her….Ummm, crap! Mika makes a quick dash behind some tombstones!
Keiji rises from the ground. He did not spot anything major in the graveyard. "You two got anything? We need to be quick. I doubt the gate will hold long against those mass numbers." He then clicks his pincers together. The boy looked down around the ground. It was all tore up.
"By now the hoarde should be breaching the walls of the village. It will not be long." The cloaked man states. He remained very close to the pillar. It was not apparent if he had actually been speaking out loud to himself or if he had been talking to the undead soldiers he had next to him. Each of them would move slightly and scan the terrain. They were prepared for anything.
Itami, now that she's closer to the source, doesn't like the way this all feels. Dark chakra? She'd never seen it before. She isn't sure of what it's capable of, but it certainly feels twisted and corrupt. This isn't her senitivity talking more so than natural sense. "We need to take out the leader, but given the way these skeletons stand around here, I'm guessing it'll be difficult to get to him. Maybe we can distract them in some kind of way…" She creates a fire clone to send out into the midst of the group. Luckily, it's capable of doing damage whether it's destroyed or attacks.
Mika nods her head a little bit as she sits there. "Don't look at me. I'm still practicing a projectile move…and using is, is still heavily on the no no list for me.", she says. The woman leans back, watching th fire clone get to work. For now, she's gathering her ki into herself. Not a lot, but still, a bit more then normal.
Given Itami was able to point out the right place, the least Keiji could do was provide the distraction. "Screw the fire clone. Just take the guy out… quickly." With that the boy rushed forward towards the undead shinobi. As he rushed forward he was able to smash one of them in the head causing the head to roll off on the ground. He moved his other pincered hand, but barely scratched the second skeleton. His tail then swung forward and nailed a skeleton through the center, breaking several bones and causing it to collapse. That was two down… four to go…
The fire clone drew the attention of one of the shinobi before Keiji came busting in and smashing two of them successfully. While that did not kill them, it would keep them busy for a while. The other three that were left over began to converge on Keiji. Among the three left, one of them began to shift and change the skeletal structure. Soon the form was more that of a scorpion than humanoid. This one whom had died here was one of the Shippodoku elders who had mastered the Sasoriendai jutsu.
The Shippodoku skeleton charged forward aiming to sting Keiji with his tail before trying to squish him with his clawed hand. There was absolutely zero recognition of the boy or that he was from the same clan. This was a mindless zombie with the skills of an elder.
From behind the Shippodoku scorpion, one of the corpses started earth style hand signs. A carpet of spikes started to rise, attempting to pierce Keiji.
The third skeleton moved his hands in that of the firestyle. He would blow fireballs at the boy as he attempted to dodge the spikes.
The cloaked man watched as the boy and the skeletons began to fight. He placed a hand on the pillar. "Do not be fooled. This is a distraction!" he yelled. "Nevermind. I need more corpses!" With that the man pressed a second hand to the pillar. Soon more bodies would rise from the ground. "Kill him." is all the man states.
"Keiji!!" Itami shouted to him as he ran out into the gathering. While he was successful in bashing two skeletons, there were more that were out to get him. She wasted no time in entering the fray herself, running out from behind her hiding place. She made a number of handseals and upon finishing she inhaled deeply and from her mouth, she expelled from within a large dragon of fire to cover the field and take out whatever forces were to be summoned by the necromancer here. It was to be taxing on her chakra, but she'd be alright. She had more than enough physical prowess to make up for it.
Mika bites her lip, and sighs a little bit. She watches the two go to work. The woman picks up a small stone. "I hate playing trump cards.", she says. Mika rushes out from behind the tombstone. She then hops on one of the tombstones, and leaps into the air. She comes around, heading towards the Piller. With Keiji and Itami being the distraction, Mika hopes her speed and the height of her leap will give her enough speed. She spins around in the air, and then flips over, trying to drop a fairly strong kick down on top of the piller, or whatever gets in its way. After that, she spins around, trying to catch and throw the piller with the force of the kick into a wall…Her hands come up in a ninjutsu sign…Wait…but Mika doesn't have Chakra…And Ki is too volitile to use for ninjutsu, isn't it?
Keiji locks his feet and weaves in and out of the elder Shippodoku's strikes. He then dodges past the spikes, one of which actually grazed him. The boy was moving fast. His eyes scanned towards Itami. "Just kill that fucker and end the jutsu!" The boy really was greatful she had prevented the reinforcements. Unable to let the Shippodoku elder go, Keiji lunges towards him and smashed a pincered fist through his skull before moving to the earth style user and repeating the attack. Then the boy moved towards the firestyle zombie and dropped him. Figuring he had a few free moments, he walked back towards the elder. "Forgive me elder. Soon you will continue your slumber uninterupted."
As the fires of the dragon set a majority of the rising corpses of fire, the man wearing the cloak begins to age. Soon his body has done twenty years easily. He is unable to step in front of Mika who has clawed at the pillar. The pillar cracks slightly beneath the weight of her attacks but it does not shatter. The man's eyes stare at Mika. "Leave that alone!" He then tries to summon more corpses. Again he starts to age another twenty years. Things are starting to look futile.
Itami wasn't sure of what to make of taking orders from Keiji. It's not like she waas being specifically commanded. His idea was sensible. "Alright, I'm going for it! Mika, I'm joining you!" She shouts as she takes on her larger form to make the task more easier to perform. Her tail goes to work whipping and slamming away any corpses that may come to rise out of the ground as she sets to work striking the pillar with all her strength. "Keep up with that agility!"
Mika takes a deep breath, and looks at the guy a long moment. She rushes at him, and then runs up him. She flips over him, and tries to kick the piller with everything she's got before spinning around, and extending her fingers into claws. "Be grateful that there are others around. I can't use that technique with them here.", she says before swiping at the piller with both claws, one after the other one…
Keiji watches as the pillar finally breaks under the weight of the attacks. It shatters into a million pieces, each piece absorbing into the sand. His eyes watch as the Shippodoku Elder rises up once more only to fall lifelessly back to the ground like the rest of the corpses. "I bet clean up at the village is going to suck… By the way… Itami.. since I was part of this, I get a pass out of cleaning up right?" he asks. He then looks towards the cloaked man. He was unsure as to what his fate was to be.
As the forces move to attack the pillar, the cloaked man places his hands against it. As it sucks the chakra out of him, it is shattered. "Damn… no grand finale for all of you. I guess the only thing left is for me to protect my clan's secrets. I will see you all on the other side." The man lowers his hood, revealing he is now just as elderly as his father. He places his hands together. "Ultimate explosion jutsu!" With that the man unleashes his final attack. He turns himself into a rather large bomb.
Itami shrank back down to size and managed to grab Mika in the change, having performed the seals necessary for her to drop down into the ground to avoid the oncoming explosion. Besides, she couldn't have her attacking the guy. x.x; "Get down below!!" She cried out to Keiji before she sank down below with Mika in tow. She was confident he'd be underground with them soon enough. She just didn't like being the one to leave the field before the others were all accounted for and safe.
Mika was looking at the man, and was slowly approaching him. Her hand turned into a claw. The next thing she knew, Mika was being dragged underground. Its dark. Her instincts are telling her that she should panic! She's underground! And then another thing comes to mind. This time, she makes a face…."Itami…I know you were in a hurry, but hands up, or hands down! Hands don't go center on a girl!", she says. Of course, given that she said something, there's likely a grope grope part, and a embrassing blush soon!
Keiji shakes his head as the man goes to blow himself up. "That's rude. I was talking." With that the boy sinks into the ground. It seems he was safe from the explosion. Now that there was no longer a threat, it was time to head back to the village.
