Starring:
Jiro (emitter), Arika, Kaidan, Rikuto, Ayumu
Date: January 26, 2015
Summary:
Kidnappers in the Land of Wind are caught red handed and defeated by a group of skilled shinobi.
"Youth Kidnapped Army - Death of a Kidnapper"
Land of Wind
It had been a little over a week since kidnappers in a town a few hours outside of Suna had been taken captive. In that town children, mostly street kids, had been slowly going missing and at the request of the elders the village had sent some nin to assist in the capture and destruction of said people. After that mission had been completed it was found out that the location was only a waypoint and not the main area where the kidnapped kids were being kept. A few of the kidnappers were wrangled and brought back to Suna and after some rather intense interrogation they finally started leaking information. Which leads to today's mission.
A few messages were sent out to the available nin in the village who weren't currently otherwise completely busy to meet up at the gates and prepare for a day, possibly two, of finding the location given up by their captives. The information also said that there were hints of possible shinobi involved in the higher parts of the kidnappers ranks and to be prepared. More information was going to be available with the Jounin who would be overseeing the mission which is who they were set to meet up.
And now it's morning and the sun is in the sky, though hiding behind some clouds to make it a nice overcast day. It's not obliteratingly hot thanks to the season and the hiding of the sun. It's certainly not cool either! At the gates stands a Jounin, one Shiroshi Mano by name, who stands leaning against one of the gates with his arms crossed as he waits. He's ever early and doesn't seem to mind the waiting in the least.
Arika shows up to the gates, looking more than a little disappointed that Jiro wasn't allowed to come. Not even if she tried to sneak him in! Boo… The girl seems determined to drag him everywhere, if she can help it. Ping is keeping watch over the boy back at home, but that doesn't mean anything. After all, /she/ was able to get away from her guard(ian), and Jiro is way better at slipping away from people who want to find her. Arika waits at the gate for people to show up, and eventually people do. Those that do get a wave and a smile.
Arriving at the location that was pre-determined, Kaidan seems annoyed by something as he holds his head and then states, "I was supposed to be off today." He states to the jounin before looking to Arika and reaching out and ruffling her hair before walking over to a wall and leaning on it, "I wasn't supposed to have to do anything today, as a note. I was supposed to be sleeping." He nods again before pulling up a drink from his hip and taking a sip of it before letting out a slow sigh.
From his name being on the initial reports, Rikuto was ordered once again to help see through the following operation. There wasn't an argument or a counter proposal, he simply bowed his head faintly in understanding before leaving to the gates of the village. Wrapped in his sun bleached cloak, the young Miira would instantly rake his knuckles against the top of Arika's head, punishing her mildly. "Stop thinking about getting into trouble. I've been picking up mind reading jutsu. I'll be listening" was said some what teasingly before bowing faintly to the jounin before them.
The red-haired wonder wanted nothing more than to kick back and relax after a stressful few days of near constant travel/harrassment from a certain petite individual. Sadly, he was to be kept away from genuine rest, or so the message sent to him hinted at. Ayumu arrives at the gate with his head bowed and hands stuffed into his pocket, looking just about as worn out as he felt. "Such a thing would make a man wonder of ye origins, Shiro-san… though then again, even the Yamanaka aren't without there black… sheeps." He says non-chalanty, though his last word comes out distorted by a yawn.
Mano nods in greeting to each person as they come through the gates as he mentally takes inventory of who's supposed to be there. He seems to be waiting until everyone arrives before he speaks, probably because he doesn't want to repeat himself. Pretty smart. Once everyone is there he pushes off of the gate and raises a hand to motion for the gathered shinobi to come closer. "I apologize for the Administration if you were expecting the day off or were pulled off of a different mission temporarily," he begins speaking and gives Kaidan a nod of apology, "but apparently this is important since it involves the lives of children from the Land of Wind."
With that he pulls out a scroll and kneels, unravelling it so that all can see - even the short one. "This is a map of where we're going. We're at the Village here," he points to a symbol on the map, "and we're going to a small farming community here." This time the location seems to be nearly four hours away. "I have heard that not all of you were involved in the last mission, so let me make this brief. Someone is kidnapping children and we now know there are multiple towns being affected. A mission was ran last week that recovered a number of captors and they've finally spoken of the main location. However when we tried to find out information on what to expect they didn't know any information. They'd never been inside the location before, only driven a cart to it."
Mano rolls up the scroll and stands, "Our mission now is to recover as many of the children as we can. Their captors are all expendable as the ones we have also know the locations of the other waypoints as well. Once we've freed the kids we're to take them to a nearby town which is expecting their arrival. "Are there any questions before we depart?"
Arika squeaks at Rikuto, batting at the hand that came towards her head. "I'm not! Honest!" she complains. The girl scrambles onto Kaidan's back, then, perching comfortably on him. "Umm… Ready whenever! Let's go!" she says, pointing in the direction they were supposed to head in. … "Umm… No questions from me!" She nods a bit, idly hoping that Jiro's doing okay and also curious if she'll get to play bait again…
'Nobody knows the trouble I've seen~ Nobody knows my—' The idle mental distraction is shunted out of the original's mind as he paused for a moment to focuses his senses on the search. Any sign of the children being around no matter how minute was welcome. Without such, Ayumu would have no choice but to continue slink on down towards the farm more directly….
The tunnels that have been dug under the sand are surprisingly massive and span not only around the farmland itself, but also out beyond. It's hard to tell just how far it goes with all the twists and turns blocking the view. The tunnels under the farmland seem to have no rhyme or reason to them either and some are just dead ends while others circle back on themselves. It's almost like a gigantic maze of sorts. Nothing is out in the farmlands itself but once closer things do start appearing. Eventually one of the various traveling organs would find a heavy wooden door locked from the other side. The door is, should one be keeping track, almost directly under the barn. And should one tunnel dweller roll a high enough perception he would probably also see/sense some paper bombs hidden around the door frame.
As the battle rages on there's a lot of death that quickly comes to most of the farmers. Except Arika's foe apparently. The man pulls some fancy footwork and neatly dances around the wind sharpened kunai before returning to attack the girl again with his own, giving in two slices this time.
The Axe Man raises up his axe to block Kaidan's rage foot with the handle but the puppet armor shatters the heavy wood and then the mans arms. It probably would've smashed his skull as well but a kunai comes from the Ayumu clone and sticks in his hand to cause him to crumple first. Aww.
The Ninjutsuist is not so keep on noticing the genjutsu that wraps itself around him and he finds himself tangled up by his own clothing! He lets out a loud scream of surprise and dismay before he gets stabbed by fireyness and keels over still burning inside.
Ayumu Clones target of Fancy Sword does try to bring up his sword to block the kunai but he's just too slow for such a high roll and it sinks right into his eyeball, jerking his head back before he falls to the ground in a twitchy display of death.
While the last of the farmers are dying the men who had been staying back are preparing themselves. These men look like they're not quite the pushovers the others were and, in fact, one of them begins making hand seals despite the fact that one of their own is still fighting Arika. Once done the earth beneath the ground starts to turn into a whirlpool of sorts large enough to try and such each of them into the ground.
Mano finishes off his man with a kunai to the throat just at about the same time as the others clean up their own. As the Jounin turns to check on the rest of the group the ground beneath him unsolidifies and before he can escape his foot is stuck, then his leg, then the rest of him gets dragged in until he's being spun around like a washing machine.
Arika is able to avoid the kunai that the farmer slashes at her, though just barely. It was such a close call that some of her hair got cut off! Specifically, most of the braids that her hair is done up in. She frowns, but there are more pressing issues to deal with. Like the whirlpool under her feet… She sprints away, using wind to help speed her along. With a light sigh of relief, Arika turns in her spot to peer at the farmer, throwing three kunai right at the one who was attacking her. That'll show him! … right?
As he steps aside from the whirlpool used on him, Kaidan looks toward the five who haven't involved themselves. He then looks at the others, "Finish the farmers." He adjusts his jacket, flipping up the collar and then turning his gaze back to the five in the back, "I'm sick of playing with a bunch of people who harm children." He then rolls his shoulders, "Kugutsu Taijutsu: Step of the Dancing Puppet." And with that he almost diappears wth speed as he rushes the five in the back, appearing right before each one right after the other in five quick successive strikes, an uppercut palm strike toward the jaw before he spins to the right to send a spinning backfist toward the second's gut. The spin doesn't stop as his right leg bends at an impossible ankle and strikes in an almost donkey like upward kick toward the third's jaw before he continues ot spin on his other foot to turn it all the way around and bring it back down toward the fourth's head. Using that attack as a spring board, he flips up into the air before attempting to bring both feet down on top of the last one in a brutal doublefooted vertical drop kick.
Once the ground began to shift and churn, Rikuto begins to move rapidly but soon grows still as he sinks further into the muck before.. Poof! Yet another clone. The true Miira was standing on the side of one of the farming building looking around. Bringing his hands together with a chain of seals, he snaps his fingers causing a massive flare. Within the minds of the men that Kaidan attacked, they would watch the man strike out again but in sets of three, the first managing to lunge poisoned blades at their throats. Rather than being able to fight back, the others who were once allies grab their arms and lock their legs, making it easy for the puppeteer to eviscerate them, methodically.
Ayumu-clone winces at the sound of its target, but the guilty feeling doesn't last long. The heat of the battle wouldn't allow it, and it wasn't as if any of the farmers deserved any mercy. Right?
Instinctively, the clone leaps at the first sign of the sand shifting, wind gathered about it mid-flight to alter and extend its jump. By the time it lands it is a considerable distance away from the sink hole and closer to Arika, wordlessly joining her in the race towards the last remaining enemies.
Ayumu hastens towards the door with as much haste as his technique would allow. He delved deep for a better focus, clarity, and control. Several of his sensory organs are called away from their dead ends or other route to thoroughly investigate the door, seeing as how it held the most promise. Before he has even arrived the organs were hard at work looking it over without approaching too close. "Of course.." He curses underbreath having sensed the tags. Grudgingly, Ayumu formed a single seal, and sent tendrils of hair snaking forward, seeking even the most smallest of cracks to exploit to get themselves closer to the tags. The Iga sought to drain the seals of energy if possible of chakra before they had a chance to detonate. Failing that, he'd smother the explosive notes before stepping in himself.
Ayumu has success as the tags were not very well or wisely placed. It was obvious someone quite unskilled put them there as an afterthought. With the tags drained of chakra they become useless strips of paper and, once he steps beyond the door, he will find a large room full of wide-eyed hungry looking children.
Well it doesn't matter whether or not that last farmer near the shinobi would've got sucked up or not since Arika pretty neatly slices him to the dead side of things. With that last man taken care of there is little left between the Suna nin and finding out whatever is so important about this place that they'd be attacked. Hopefully it's the kids they're trying to locate. All that remains are about four farmers who almost seem to be trying to hide behind five men who appear to have some power and ability. They don't seem in the least bit frightened by the Suna nin and in fact the one who'd made the whirlpool is smiling quite evilly.
Kaidan's attack is fast and though the five seem skilled apparently some of them are not skilled enough. The man who previously used the earth techniques brings up an earthen dome in time to block Kaidan's advance, though the next two in the line aren't so lucky. The spinning backfist knocks the second man far an into one of the other 'farmers' and together they smash through the house. The third man gets kicked in the jaw and his head snaps back with easily enough force to break his neck and he crumples to the ground. The fourth just barely manages to duck under the kick and jumps away before a second attack can come. The last man sinks a good foot into the ground with the verocity of the kick and he is most definitely dead as well.
The two remaining men and three remaining farmers sense the incoming genjutsu and the bosses snap out of it with some quick hand movements before it can truly take hold. Two of the others stab themselves in the leg and side to break out but the third becomes a victim and he crumples to the ground.
The earth man seems a bit ticked that all of his people are dying, including the others that were in charge with him. The man makes a variety of handseals before he slaps the ground with his hands, then grips it. A great rending sound can be heard as he lifts and tears up a large chunk of the earth the size of a small building. Apparently he's not playing around. He turns to Kaidan and flings the rock at him.
The other boss man makes his own hand seals before extending his arm out towards Rikuto. Lightning dances from his fingertips before it arms out towards the genjutsuist in a dancing display of electricity.
It's all or nothing for the last two farmers and they charge Arika and Ayumu Clone, wildly swinging around swords in very unskilled maneuvers. They're just asking to die.
Poor Mano is still stuck in the ground, good thing the others all made it out okay. He's working on freeing himself but it's probably going to be a while…
Arika flails a bit, wondering why the farmers keep attacking her. It's not like she's tiny and weak or anything… The girl tries to avoid the slashing sword, but gets another scratch on her, this time her arm. Though by now, the wounds have started to heal, and the blood that's been trickling down is no longer a problem. That is to say, there's nothing /new/ traveling. There's still a drop of blood, though. Arika pulls out two kunai, then, throwing one, then going in for a quick slash before throwing the second from the opposite direction.
For the moment, Kaidan glances to the side at the lightning user but then takes a breath. He has to believe the others can handle themselves. Especially as that Earth User seems ticked. He stands up straight, looking to the man as he lifts up a boulder and flings it at Kaidan. Even as it comes at him, Kaidan doesn't move. He simply raises up his arm and with a brutal sound, the boulder smashes into Kaidan's right arm and breaks to pieces around him. Kaidan shakes his head and rushes the man, blades coming out of the palms of both of Kaidan's hands as he ducks low and attempts to drive both blades up into the man's gut, looking to cut into both of his lungs, "You kidnap children." He shakes his head as he tries to drive the blades home, "Die slowly…but do die." He then lets the blades slip away, and as if he believes it is a forgone conclusion, he turns and starts back toward the group to check on the others.
With the group thinning further and further, bodies scatter across the landscape. Looking towards where everyone else was almost distracts Rikuto and he is wrapped in smoke as the bolt struck around him. Moving through the smoke was the young Miira, uncharred by a fraction of a second. Bringing his fingers to pinch close to his lips, he breaths out a scattering of flames which seem to miss their mark of the two remaining notable fighters. The attack was actually a trigger, lighting the fuel laced air around the pair.
The Ayumu-clone doesn't slow down for even a second. Instead, it leaps forward, stabbing the open chested farmer with a sharpened iron rod before the man could adjust his stroke in time. Both go down sliding a short ways along the sand. As the momentum of the slide draws to an end, the clone rolls forward off the corpse using the rest of its momentum and keeps on forward with the intent to assist Kaidan directly. It is a winded thing that all but stops as the puppeteer's victory seems assured. It too looks towards the other to see how their target faired, then focused its intention to the farmers. If any of them were still breathing after everything that has happened so far, the clean up job would be left to it…
The original Ayumu did not have the benefit of an adrenaline rush from battle. Still, some of his fatigue is relieved after the tags are dryed out and left to flutter to the ground. A somewhat embarrassed smile graces the blind man's features upon finally reading the children. After an awkward moment of silent staring, the Iga starts to crack a joke about who wanted to leave, only to stop himself short. Getting stampeded was not a good thing. Though by what he sensed, few of them were probably of a sound enough mind to rush for it, so he summoned another pair of clone to help sort them out and escort them to surface. Once self-assured the group would be well taken care of, it was time for the true "hero" of the day to ninja magic himself up to the surface and deliver the good news. Unless there were still guards up there. Then, things might get a little awkward.
Arika must be mad or something because she got some moves! The wild and crazy swordsman who doesn't really know how to use a sword raises the blade but completely misses blocking the first thrown kunai, then the second slash, then the other thrown kunai. He's so full of holes now he's turned into swiss cheese and he topples over, accidently impaling himself on his sword just to top it off.
The earth ninjutsuist seems to be in utter shock that his giant boulder was, what, destroyed by someone simply raising their arm up? How the hell does that work? Was this some kind of sorcer-apparently he should've been paying attention instead of thinking about how his attack failed as the pain of two blades slide cleanly beneath his ribs and up into his lungs. Eyes wide, he starts gasping for air that doesn't want to come as his lungs fill with liquid. He drops to his knees, then after another few seconds falls to his side, gasping like a gutted fish.
The lightning man saw his attack hit and the smoke rise, not realizing that it was actually a clone, and turned when he heard his partner get sliced up and go down like a guppy. The man starts making handseals to attack Kaidan when he's suddenly enveloped in flames. A surprised and pained shout echoes from him as he drops to try and put it out but to no avail. The lovely smell of burning flesh permeates that air as he eventually stops moving.
The last farmer dies to the clone, sputtering out some blood as it's chest gets so neatly carved through by the iron rod. With that the last of the kidnappers is dead and Ayumu has nothing to fear upon his return to the surface.
So it was that the great battle of the desert farm came to a conclusion. With assistance an embarrassed Mano got free of the earth trap he was buried in and gave his congratulations to the rest of the group on a superb job taking care of the last of the kidnappers. As for the kids themselves, they were now freed thanks to Ayumu getting rid of the tags and opening the door. Not to mention that when they peeked out of one of the escape hatches with the help of the clones they saw all the kidnappers who tormented them were dead. They were so relieved that they all let out cheers and they all thanked the rescuers over and over and over again. Time was taken to look over the kids as well as their rescuers and some basic first aid was given to those who needed it, either from Mano or one of the other Suna-nin. The loud thanks would continue as the children, all of them in apparent decent health despite their captivity, were escorted to the town only thirty minutes from the farm.
Once the group arrived at the town the elders and other adults swooped down on the children and immediately took them in to feed them and get them a change of clothesand a bath. The elders thanked the Suna-nin and promised to get all of the children safely back to their homes, wherever they might be. A job well done. Time to return home!
And just as an added note, for those that are curious why Jiro didn't follow them when he most likely would have: Arika will find out when she returns home that Ping has him well sealed and basically tied up in his room so that he couldn't possibly escape. Only upon the groups return would he be released.
