Starring:
Date: October 13, 2016
Summary:
A routine mission to clear some bandits turns into a deadly game of traps and dangerous surprises. A bandit leader comes to hunt down all in his path, whether it’s criminals or shinobi.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Deadly Treasure"
Land of Lightning mountain passage
A countryside monk came to Kumo with an urgent message. The ancient heirloom of their village was stolen. Supposedly it was a treasure weapon, and it came with the usual legend. Divinity, great power, sacred relic, and so on. But the monk assured them that it was just a normal weapon, handed down from generations, and now worthless in all but sentimental value. It was by bandits, who'd wrecked half the village to get it. The villagers wanted it back, but more than that they wanted to be rid of the bandits who had stolen it. The bandits now resided nearby in a mountain hideout.
The bandits might stay there, increasing their power, or leave with the heirloom. Either way the situation called for urgency. So Kasuya was tasked with heading down there. It wasn't too far, which was why they were assigned for this. And on the day they went out, like so many days this season, it was raining. She'd sent the summons to select shinobi, who now had the great duty of trying to bundle up against the downpour. Once they arrive at the front gate, Kasuya would explain the situation. Then she'd say, "State your name, rank, and specialty. I'm Kasuya, a Jounin, and my specialty is ninjutsu and genjutsu. I'll be mission leader, and our first priority is to get there at all speed.."
Yume pulls her cloak around her tighter as she follows Kasuya and Sakuya both to the gate where they are gathering. She was honored to be given the opportunity to assist in the artifact's retrieval, and an assignment beyond the village was just what she needed to help her pull her mind out of a bad place. By the time Kasuya gives her order, Yume does her best to straighten up and recite in turn, "Yume, Genin, and specialized in ninjutsu and sensor training." She bows her head respectfully to Kasuya and tells her, "Understood, Kasuya. Your word will be as good as law. You will not have to worry about me trailing behind."
Sakuya arrived as the non-chakra tracker. As the 'pet clan' of Kumogakure, the Hebisuuhai have a few skills that are more visceral when it comes to tracking people who do not have chakra signatures, like unskilled bandits who have never molded chakra in their life. That was her role, primarily. Sakuya arrived in her usual chuunin outfit. Black pants, shirt, boots, Kumogakure vest. Long since she had actually worn anything 'cute', sadly. Duty first. She herself was draped in a tan cloak, meant to help blend in with rocks. "Hebisuuhai Sakuya." The girl said as she snapped into a Kumogakure salute. "Tracking specialist, Genjutsu, and Taijutsu." Upon her back was a rather unweildy looking bow, and a rather large quiver with huge arrows. Quarter-staff in size, almost.
"To refresh the mission parameters, this is locating and scattering a group of bandits whom have been accused of stealing a village's heirloom artifact, correct?" She asked as she dropped the salute and crouched, pushing herself back onto her feet as a quick way to warm her legs up inpreparation for running in the rain. Zuzu, a white serpent with purple eyes just like his master's would remain coiled upon Sakuya's hips, hiding from the cold, cold rain as he keeps his mouth shut this time!
Kasuya nods. "Good," she says. "I've heard about both your clans, and read a little on your files. I think both of you have exceptional potential." She listens closely to what Sakuya has to say and nods. "Five eyewitnesses have confirmed they saw a group of the bandits at the same time the heirloom disappeared. During the theft, three of the villagers were injured, and one was killed. The bandits know of this and haven't bothered to deny it, so they're definitely the suspects."
She rubs her hands together. She too is wearing a cloak and the raindrops drip loudly against the thick material. "Our mission is to scatter the bandits permanently. The heirloom may be valuable but it's only secondary to ensuring no more of the villagers are harmed. If we can't capture these bandits or drive them out, lethal force /is/ authorized. Let's go."
And they'd go. Kasuya would set a hard pace. Not an exhausting one, but not one that'd give them time to amble along leisurely either. They'd make it there in five hours, and Kasuya would allow a reprieve to catch their breath. They're on a hill overlooking the village. "It was said they went through that mountain passage. It's narrow and very defensible, very hard to sneak up on an enemy. Which is exactly what we could do. We'll sense them before they sense us, and pick them off quietly." She pauses. "Or we can storm them. Create a commotion so huge they'll have to come and check, and take over by force. It wouldn't be impossible, with me. And both of you to back me up or help me retreat. Which shall we do?" Sneaking or storming.
Yume listens to Sakuya, then looks back to Kasuya to listen to the clarification too. A quiet frown crosses over her lips when she hears the damage that the bandits have caused. She shakes her head to herself and mutters, "All of this for an aged weapon of sentiment. Saddening." She nods her head once after Kasuya's decision, "If that is what it takes, then so it'll be." Yume would then put the entirety of her focus onto keeping up with Kasuya. While her endurance was not too much of a problem, the fact that she constantly had to listen out for where they were going would make Yume far less talkative than usual. By the time they've come to a stop, Yume pants quietly and turns her head to look around her and get a better idea of their surroundings. "I will leave the decision up to the both of you…If we choose to try to sneak closer to them, I could try to use my jutsu to eliminate the noise we make to cut out the chance of echoes being created while in the passage…but once we close in, my techniques could draw awareness to us quite rapidly."
Sakuya would make it known that while she is best fighting close range, that she has options. She would reach back and grasp the handle of the large bow she wielded. "I'm not sure my long-ranged option is considered… stealthy, however… My bow has the capacity to strike from upwards to a half mile away. However, I cannot muffle the sound it makes when traveling through the air." A rather loud whistling. "Yume might be able to dampen it's sound, but it would take a sustained bombardment to actually cause noticeable casualties…" Otherwise, Sakuya is prepared to move in to fight with close combat methods. "If I may. We could set up an ambush. Traps, to thin their numbers. Force them out of their hide-out as Kasuya suggested."
Kasuya regards the both of them. So the decision is up to her, since they pointed out the merits of both stealth and storming. She rubs her chin. "Traps aren't a bad idea," she says. "Okay. We'll find them as quickly as possible and set up a choke point with plenty of traps outside of their base. Lure them in. But we'll also set traps along the way. That way we can do a tactical retreat, avoiding our traps back the way we came, while it slows them down." She'd then tell them to hide any marks to identify them as shinobi, though their cloaks would do most of the work.
And they'd start. Kasuya would instruct Yume to go and instruct the villagers to not come into the mountain passage. Then they'd proceed through the mountain passage. The first traps would be harmless, just to tie someone up, but progress to become steadily more lethal. If they see any of the bandits they're to subdue not kill, since there's no way to be certain it might not be an innocent traveler. Still it's unlikely; the bandits have made this their territory, and everyone knows to steer clear of it. Right before they round a corner, It's under an overhang that offers them a few blissful moments of dryness. Half an hour in and they hadn't spotted anyone. Kasuya is setting up a wire trap that will send rocks crashing down if it's triggered. "Make sure to memorize every trap and avoid it," Kasuya says, for the millionth time.
Yume considers Sakuya's suggestion and nods her head slowly in a cautious sort of confirmation, "Perhaps I could, but I could only guarantee that its initial launch would be at its most quiet. It would escape the area I can keep a control over fairly quickly after that." Her attention returns to Kasuya and she nods soundly with that decision. "A wise decision to me. I will return shortly after it is done." She would leave as she was told, and make sure that the villagers knew to avoid the mountain passage until they were told otherwise. When she returns, she would track down Kasuya and Sakuya once again and follow them along, doing what she could to remember the precise shape and location of the traps they were leaving. She had little knowledge of laying them herself, but she would do what she was told when it comes to assembling them. In the midst of their trap setting, she'd straighten up and frowns deeply to herself before she informs Kasuya and Sakuya quietly as she points outs the direction of the fleeing individual she noticed, "There is someone with a chakra signature running away fast. If I were to guess, a potential bandit going to inform the other suspects of our approach, what are the orders?" In the meantime, she would focus on making her eyes and brain more aware through one of the early stages of Nejigan. It would be more difficult to do such in the middle of a pursuit.
It was clear that wrongs had been done here. The smell of blood. Something that unsettled Sakuya. Something that bothered Sakuya to no end. It appears villagers might have died here. There was also a heat signature running away. Although he was behind shrubbery, she could feel his heat amongst the cold backdrop of rain. He was a runner. Zuzu… Catchpole." She whispered softly. Zuzu would unwind from Sakuya's waist, before straightening out and henging into the form of a unique arrow. The arrow had a large crescent shaped blunt head, great for guiding snakes along during Hebisuuhai training, but also useful when it comes to catching people's necks and pinning them against trees. She nocked staff-form Zuzu upon her bow and drew said bow back. She was quick enough to fire at half-draw, launching the powerful arrow through the air, and managing to do what she had set out to do.
The man's neck was caught, and with a grunt muffled by the sounds of the rain, his body would be carried to the nearest tree along the firing path, before the prongs of the crescent arrow dug into the bark and wood, pinning the man helplessly against the tree. His neck being pressed upon enough that he could only chortle. Sakuya turned her head towards her comrades and nodded. Time to move forward. Sakuya had left simple poison-needle tripwire traps to use for their retreat, so all that was left was to trap the mouth of the bandit's hideout, and then stir them out!
Kasuya finishes off the trap when her teammates warn her about the fleeing guy. She knew it was a good idea to bring these two dogs…er, shinobi…along with her. They could sniff stuff out a mile away, or rather a few feet away. They'd been so preoccupied with traps they almost missed them and now she watches as Yume gives the first warning and Sakuya follows up on it. Kasuya gasps when the bandit is literally pinned to the tree, like a bug. At first she thinks he was impaled, but the unusual shape of the arrow means he's only trapped and silenced. "Well done," she says, and this time takes her time to try and sense any other bandits in the immediate area.
"How many of you are there?" she asks. "Tell me and I'll let you live."
The man looks terrified. "Twenty," he says. "No! Only us left. Only four! Kanra is killing all of us. We need to hide, we need to get away, or we'll all die!" He starts sobbing. He's scared, but not of Kasuya or her team. Something has driven him crazy with terror and she can't get any more coherent words out from him. She restrains and gags him, and goes over to her team.
"According to him there's only four left," she says dryly. "And another person out there…killing them. I believe him in saying there's at least three out there, but there may be twenty. Look for the truth of this, but in the meantime our plan remains the same. We progress, find their hideout, and lure them into traps. They must be close up ahead, so we'll go to that depression over there and start heavily rigging it."
Yume looks down at the ground and gathers up a rock to toss it a short distance on the ground. Not enough to draw too much attention, but enough so that she may have a useful sound to rely on and carry farther. She remains absolutely still as she tries to get a proper feel for the subtle vibrations that return to her and she eventually nods her head at Kasuya and Sakuya. "Not lieing entirely, so far as I can tell." Yume whispers quietly, "I can sense a cave with three others apart from him huddling in a nearby cave. No one else, however…" With that relayed, she'd go to the depression that was mentioned and start to work on setting up some small, simple pitfalls tactically scattered about. They were easy enough for the three of them to keep track of, but once covered, the holes just large enough to catch an unsuspecting foot off guard midstep would take some closer inspection to even notice.
"Five." Sakuya would say, as she seemed to be looking towards a clockwise direction from the cave. "What in the name of the hoardes is that!?" Sakuya said with surprise, as the movement of this distant individual was far quicker, and her more instinctual senses are picking up something very ruthless. Her entire body is almost convinced it was time to go. "Kasuya, Yume, we have something hostile moving at the three o'clock direction. I'm going to train an arrow on it. I don't think it's going for us." However, their order was to attack the bandits inside and retreive the blade. Deadly force permitted. Thus, she would slip one of her more deadly arrows.
The standard 'Manslayer' class. She would slam the bow into the ground, a spike on the bottom stabilizing the weapon before nocking the large to her bow, she would focus chakra into the metal string. This not only loosened the string by slacked the arms of the bow that were laced with chakra metal. Drawing this terribly large bow took time, but it would shatter rock once fired. Zuzu would return to Sakuya, coiling around her leg as he openly spoke in plain english. "Your choice of kenjutsu is repulsive, and launching me as an arrow is a violation of my rights." - "Shhh. Aiming…"
Kasuya watches rather than participates as Yume sets up the traps. She gives a nod of approval at one point. "You have a good eye for strategy," she says, "and you operate with logic. While many Kumo nin feel more fighting spirit than common sense, that's not what will eventually get them promoted to Chuunin." Actually, that might not be true. Look who got promoted to the position of Raikage. She might laugh if the weeping wasn't distracting her. Even through the gag the man is sobbing like a baby. She looks at him with disgust. He might have been involved in the attack on those villagers after all. But some tiny part of her says it might be true, and that humans (even if they were bandits) are being slaughtered like dogs.
She takes a sniff. It reeks of blood. And she'd smelled it beforehand even without heightened senses. /Someone/ had died here, be it bandits or villagers. She blinks. "Corpses," she says. "Why are there no corpses?" She goes and tears off the bandit's gag. "If so many people died where are the bodies?" She doesn't have time to question him further when Sakuya gives them an update. On some monster approaching? She's about to shove the gag back in when their prisoners says.
"Wait! Please! Save my friends. Yes, we're bandits. But we're still humans. He's coming to kill us all, and probably kill you guys before you leave. To keep that weapon's power secret."
Kasuya bites her lip. If what he says it's true they ought to hold back and let the bandits finish off one another. Then they'd beat the last man, and take the heirloom. Even if they saved the bandits here, their lives would be forfeit. She takes a deep breath, and makes her choice.
"Yume-san you stay here and guard the prisoner. Be prepared for us to fall back to you. Start setting up as many traps /right here./ Sakuya-san come with me. We'll take this guy down."
She'd start forward, and Sakuya could start attacking from afar as she pleased. Once he came into sight, which would be a mere few minutes. A man entirely in a red cloak. Behind them the prisoner would sit passively. He doesn't struggle against his bonds, and even without the gag he doesn't shout out. Eventually he says, "Girl, untie me. I can help you. And I'll tell you what that guy is." It's up to her to believe him or not.
"Five?" Yume questions Sakuya curiously, frowning to herself in concern at the thought that there was something out there that she missed. Her 'sight' had extended further than she was used to at that point, so the thought that something still slipped under her nose somewhat unsettled her. She doesn't have time to really think about it, because she has to focus on the order Kasuya had given. She nods her head once at her and tells her, "I will do my best." While she does her best to finish up the section of pitfalls, she would then try to fix up some rope traps to tangle up potential intruders. The man speaking to her would have her glancing over to him. "You are asking that I place a lot of trust in you, stranger. Tell me who or what he is, and if it is an answer that I can believe, then I will untie you and accept your help. Otherwise, I believe that we are capable enough to handle it. As it stands, you are in safe hands either way…we are only to kill any of you if we have to." Yume proposes to the man, pressing for more information while retaining the safety of him being bound just in case it was a trap of some sort.
Fear made Sakuya want to retaliate against something that may or may not be a threat. Logic made her want to determine whether the individual was a threat to her group. If it wants to kill bandits, let it do so with her best wishes. Therefore, she holds her fire. "Five. It's not a bandit. It can't be. Not at that speed." It was enough to spook the serpentine Chuunin.
Her serpent had other thoughts. "Logic would dictate that this individual's life is forefeit for entering a shinobi operational area. The villagers were warned not to enter the valley due to our presence. Therefore, this individual is not a member of the village." Being a Chuunin is making a decision, however, and Sakuya decidedly refrains from loosing the arrow without further information.
The bandit nods. "My name is Okito. We stole the…no, forget the story. Our ex-leader has the weapon. In the hands in a powerful shinobi anything it cuts will explode. Rock, wood, flesh, it makes no difference. He hit a man and I watched as the guy just blew up into a million tiny pieces. That's why there's no bodies here. Whether we tried to fight or run it didn't matter. Everyone died. We're the last and…and I said I'd be a lookout. But really I was running away, and leaving my friends as bait!" He starts sobbing. "If he catches up to your friends, they're dead. One solid hit and they'll just be blood on the wall. I can't go forward. I can't face him. But I can help you back here, where it's safer. Maybe enough traps can kill him!" What a brave guy. By now even from behind Yume would be able to feel that bloodlust drawing nearer.
In the meantime Kasuya glances back at Sakuya. "I can feel that guy's bloodlust from a league away. Kill him. This is my decision." They'd continue to make their way to the cave where the bandits hide, a race now against this foe. Kasuya would rely on Sakuya to attack from afar, but as she gets nearer she…vanishes! "Keep moving," a voice says beside Sakuya.
"Really now? So much for being only for ceremony…" Yume muses, frowning quietly to herself as she considers this. The fact that he was prepared to leave his allies behind did not bode well for whether or not he will actually stay true to his word about helping with the traps. Still, there was something about the way he snivelled and sobbed that made Yume sigh and step up to start undoing his binds. "Very well, assist with making more traps. But just so you know, there are others made that you are unaware of, and any attempt to run could do you more harm than good…When this is handled, you may still be turned in but at least you will have the chance at redemption through the law and making up for your actions." Once she's done, she looks back in the direction of the others and immediately starts to run to try to catch up with Kasuya and Sakuya. By the time she reaches them, she tries to call over to them both in brief pants, "Be careful! The weapon in his hands, it is more powerful than we were told. It…forces things to explode, anything cut." She knew that she was given the order to stay behind, but the information seemed too important to keep it between her and their prisoner.
"She gave you the order, Ssssakuya!~ Kill, Kill, Kill!" Zuzu seemed ecstatic! It's great when he's not being launched as a projectile. "He's quick, but I've compensated." She looses the arrow. "Godspeed." The arrow left the bow with an audible twang. One that sounded like a guitar's string being plucked, and rather disorienting. The arrow itself whistled through the air as the force carried it swiftly and devastatingly forward. Sakuya lowered the large bow, letting her arms rest as her senses gauged what was going to happen.
The arrow didn't strike anything critical. Nothing that would outright end the bloodlusting man's life. Yet it did strike his shoulder. An arrow of that size, travelling at that mass, would likely puncture through the shoulder and out the other end. "Did it hit? I can't tell. My senses aren't as keen as yours, Zuzu…" - "It was a terrible shot. You didn't kill him, you failure." - "… But I hit him?"
The attack is so unexpected the man only sees it when it's too late. He manages to make it miss any vital organs, but it impales him deeply in his right shoulder. Lodged too deep to comfortable tear out, which he does with a howl of pain. Instead of retreating he seems even more maddened, and now switches his direction to come at Sakuya! Away from the bandits hiding under a rock. When Yume catches up she's in time to warn Sakuya, though Kasuya is nowhere in sight and the man is closing fast. They can now see him in detail. A bloodstained cloak and hair tied back into a ponytail. His face is gaunt as a cliff, but his eyes burn with madness. And then he's within range. His sword has switched to his left hand, and he wields it unfamiliarly, a bit slower. However he doesn't wait to reach them. He stabs the sword into the ground and a ring of rock around him explodes into pebbles. This destruction ripples outwards, and anyone hit would be hit with bursts of rocks. Yume who is the furthest back would have to face the lesser impact.
Kasuya dodges above it, but it forces her to reveal herself. Which is within a few feet of the guy, about to impale him. She manages to get in a good slash, and another. Then he'd slash back. She'd block easily and her sword explodes. Shards of metal slice into both of them, and Kasuya covers her hand with her face. "Jeez. Ouch!"
Yume grits her teeth and with a couple of hand seals formed she lets out a shout that dispels some of the force and pebbles sent flying her way. Now that she is safe, she looks back to the man to try to consider a course of action. She does wince momentarily when she hears the explosion of Kasuya's sword and the cry of pain. "That blade is dangerous! It will tear anything apart." Yume tries to warn again so that Kasuya may hear it, and despite trying to run around and remain on the edge of the conflict, she lets out a screaming shout after forming some more handseals to send at the man. She highly doubted the fact that she could keep up with him, but if nothing else, the waves of sound were sent in the direction they'd need to go to push him towards where they've set up most of their traps. It might also be enough of a distraction to allow more openings for Kasuya and Sakuya both to strike and cause more damage.
Sakuya hadn't the opportunity to dodge this incoming ability and still managed to dodge what was, quite interestingly, a shockwave explosion. Casting her bow aside, she leaped backwards, cartwheeling back onto her feet as she drew one of her quarter-staff sized arrows and charged towards the individual. Though Kasuya's blade broke as a result of the explosion, and Yume's soundwave was meant to push the individual towards the traps. Clever. Yet Sakuya wanted to make sure that Yume's gambit was successful.
Her charge, then, was directed on making the individual dance backwards that last few feet it would take to put him in Yume's trap. Suspectedly, they were the pitfalls. His feet were inches from being pushed into said pit-fall. Sakuya would help him the last bit of the way. Her pole-arm arrow would sweep behind the man's feet to trip him back wards a few feet, getting him tangled up in some of the rope traps that Yume had the foresight of making as Sakuya raised the polearm over head and stabbed it against him. He was good at blocking, however. He raised his blade to intercept the blunt end of her iron staff. It, too exploded on impact. Knocking both Sakuya away, and the man himself right into one of the pits. Sakuya skidded across the ground, the staff in her hand shattered in half, and the sleeve of the arm it was holding had been shredded. "Nnhhhh… Darn it. All the punch of an explosive tag without any explosive tags…"
The man seems more used to slaughtering a group of scared bandits, not a trained squad. He's getting attacked from every side. And if there's a defensive side to his sword, he has yet to unlock it. Maybe the fact none of them are hand to hand combatants helps them in this fight. In the meantime the bandit actually stands outside the immediate conflict, cheering them on. The scene is fairly surreal. And even more surreal when the epic fight ends in the bandit leader tripping back, wind milling, and then toppling into the pit. That won't trap him long. But it doesn't need to.
Kasuya is already making a few hand seals, and then she goes over and without a hint of sportsmanship blasts explosive currents of lightning into it. Frying the guy like a roast in a pot. He's dead. All is well. Kasuya glances at the two. "That wasn't…a C-rank mission. Not when the 'useless' heirloom is…" She gestures to the destruction around them.
And that's when Okito snatches up the sword. It had been dropped on the ground before his ex-leader fell in, and now he aims it at all of them. "Stay back," he says. "I'm leaving with the sword." Then he turns, runs, and immediately gets caught up in another of Yume's traps. A snare that yanks him by his ankle ten feet into the air with a yelp of surprise. The sword clatters to the ground. Fortunately it doesn't explode. Kasuya glances up from staring down into what's left of the corpse, and looks at Okito with faint amusement. "Who told you that you could untie him, Yume-san?" she asks, with a hint of a smirk. "I thought you followed orders."
Yume hesitantly starts to relax the moment after the real threat has fallen and been properly executed. She sighs softly in relief, "Yes, I wonder if it was so that they might have to pay less for it to be handled or if the monks and the villagers were truly ignorant to what it could do…perhaps it could not hurt to make sure that they are aware of…" She pauses when Okito attempts to make a traiterous move but it doesn't last for long by the time he's stopped. She scratches the back of her neck and confesses to Kasuya, "Yes, that was my mistake. He offered information on the true nature of the sword and the identity of the bandit. It was a definite struggle with the decision as he did mention some flighty tendencies…but I had figured that he would behave knowing that if he did so that the local authorities might go easier on him with our recommendations. It seems I underestimated him…" She smiles weakly and admits, "The smell of urine on him and the sounds of his tears did not help my judgement of him." She goes to head over to the sword, knowing what traps to avoid. Yume carefully picks it up to transport it before she tells Okito, "I did warn you, Okito. It's a shame, I had higher hopes for you. Hopefully your companions are less of a handful."
"Something as dangerous as that 'useless' heirloom ought to be locked away a bit more safely." Sakuya says as she gets to her feet, grunting as her right arm hurts slightly. What better object to put in said right arm than the weapon that wounded it. She would cast aside her broken staff and pick it up, eyes narrowing as she wondered what worth this truly was. "Will we be giving this blade back to the village, Kasuya?" She wondered. "Or will we…" Keep it for ourselves? *Gasp* Has she fallen under it's control!? "… lock it away in Kumogakure?" Sakuya would head over to Kasuya, raising the blade up, presenting the hilt. Anything that touches the blade risks being destroyed…
"Something as dangerous as that 'useless' heirloom ought to be locked away a bit more safely." Sakuya says as she gets to her feet, grunting as her right arm hurts slightly. "Will we be giving this blade back to the village, Kasuya?" She wondered. "Or will we… lock it away in Kumogakure?" It belonged in a place where it cannot harm the common person, or cause reckless death through the covetous actions of estranged people…
Kasuya gives Yume a congratulatory pat on the back, one hard enough to sting. "Those traps you set up were great," she says, entirely ignoring the dangling bandit. "And Sakuya…you kept your head in such a situation, even used the terrain to your advantage. You both did excellent. And thank you, bandit-san. You just proved that grabbing that weapon won't make my arm burst into a thousand pieces." She goes over to the sword, and reaches out to grab it. Then she throws a scarf to Yume, and tells her to wrap it in that when she carries it. Kasuya shakes her head to Sakuya. "They won't be getting it back. Even if they wished to keep it, they'd be putting themselves in danger. I'll discuss it with the village leader, but I imagine I can convince him this thing is too much of a liability. We'll take it to Kumogakure."
And after that they'd detain the other bandits. Rounding up a group of scared men in a cave was much easier than their other opponent. They'd all be escorted by some special forces of Kumo and put on trial. The team returned with the sword to Kumogakure. During that time it seemed to have stopped raining. The sun had come out.
