Starring:
Date: February 3, 2012
Summary:
Issei is sent on a mission again, to act secretly in saving some kidnapped villagers. He brings Naru and Ryo along.
Poster's note: Profanity filtered in obvious places.
"Deserts and Scorched Scorpions"
Desert of Knives
The mission was more or less simple. Issei read the letter, and even though he was so far away from home, it was also because his proximity to the mission area that he receives the letter, with the secret ink and instructions.
The instructions:
A group of bandits, possibly lead by a rogue shinobi, have been succesfully smuggling illegal items. They were mostly ignored, until they have begun kidnapping villagers, among them some villagers from the land of Fire, who were present in the Land of Wind, during the exam time.
Mission: Rescue villagers and scatter the bandits via any method deemed applicable. The most likely place to find them is in the Desert of Knives. They have clothing marked with a scorpion and scorpion tattoos.
Note: You may bring with you a Genin or two if necessary.
Whether necessary or not, Issei didn't want to go the Desert of Knives alone and spend all that time boiling all on his own without anyone to complain to. So this time again, the first person he asks is Ryo to come along, saying it will be 'worth the practice'.
Upon first thought, Ryo jumped at being asked to accompany Issei on a mission. Though as he is dragged out into the seemingly endless desert the boy becomes less enthusiastic. His bald little nogging looks like a homing beacon for a runway. Though he is using the hood on his new cloak, the sun has done his skin no favors. "The elders hate me. They send me on missions in this god forsaken land. No one should live out here. This should be like a prison. The middle of no where, in which people are exiled and left to bake." Seems the boy was not so happy.
Naru had been doing a little bit of digging, trying to find something to do in the mean time while she had some free time until the final part of the exam, and what better way than to test her abilities as a shinobi constantly and hope that her strength rises up by some sort of increment. After recieving note of a possible mission she found herself moving along the desert lands, body cloaked in a heavy garb that she was very uncomfortable with, yet it still managed to some how protect her from the burning sun which bloomed from above.
After noticing two familiar figures up ahead she walked her way through the sands, a little annoyed that they were already so far off, they could have waited or something right? she sighed and kept her hands under her cloak, while her pumpkin hue'd eyes watched them carefully and finally deciding to raise her voice. " Sooo…decided to run this one without me huh?" She spoke outloud, hopefully to speak them, or at least jerk their head in her direction. " You guys are going to need some help shifting through all this sand…"
"Aren't you forgetting something, Ryo." Issei asked as he looked towards him, "The backpack?" He asked and looked serious for a moment, before chuckling and shaking his head. "Just kidding. No backpack this time."
He turned to continue on his path when he heard Naru's voice. Issei had also sent Naru a note of invitation for the mission, but didn't really think she would come along. Suppose he'd call the gesture… actually, he had no idea why he sent it. But he was surprised to see Naru came after all.
"Oh, so you came? I thought you were too busy sleeping after our little match, or at least, preparing for the final exams." Issei says as he smiles faintly and gestures to the spot next to him, "Feel free to come along then."
Finally, Issei turned towards the north-west direction and said, "I suppose we'll go towards there. There should be a few villages along the way, we can ask around about these fellows."
Ryo glanced over towards Naru at the sound of her voice. He then looked back at Issei. It was the first time he had seen her since the exams started. "Almost need Etsu here to make it a team thing." the boy states. "So what are we trying to do?"
"You're not getting any taller, Ryo-kun," Naru teased the boy with a sly grin, catching up completely with the group, she kept a light smile on her face. " Did you come here without knowing whats going on? I took me a second read through that scroll to see if i wanted to actually come out here in the sun," Naru spoke softly, turning her eyes back on Issei as they began to change paths. " It took a little bit of time but some rest was definitely needed after this fight," She states honestly, while keeping up her step. " So how far are we anyways?"
"We're about to arrive at a stop where we can ask someone about our marks." Issei says as he points to the silhouette of a village in the distance, the village itself like a mirrage from the super-heated desert sand.
"Well, we are probably walking in the right direction." He scratched the side of his cheek as he said that and looked to Ryo, "You doing alright?" He first asked before saying, "Well, we are looking for some bandits. They kidnapped some people, so we want to rescue them and break up their little boy band they got going."
It was quite rare to see Issei actually any ammount of serious. Ryo already knows serious Issei. And Naru? Naru less so.
"Watch where you step. I know that they use tactics to dig into the sand and wait for travellers to make the wrong step."
For a moment Ryo eyed Naru. He had seen that she had passed the second round of the exams. He himself pondered if he would have been able to. "I may not be getting any taller, but your not getting any… younger." is finally blurted out. Ryo was not trying to be mean, he just had not thought of any come back, except the one he had used on the Inuzuka princess in a combination of Naru and the clan's defense. That would have been mean. He sort of raises his hands with a shrug of the shoulders. Then again so many things he could have said could have been seen as mean. Like your not getting any balder…
Ryo then turns his attention back towards Issei. "Bandits huh? They really think bandits live out here? Isnt this enough punishment for any crime they commit? It's like self imposed." The boy glances around the desert. If they lived out here, they must be tough as hell, the boy thought to himself. "How are we going to draw them out? If one of us ends up trapped, it could be a while before they show up and check out the trap."
"Lets not force ourselves in a trap of their design, this place is already as weird as it gets…" Naru states finally, a soft yawn escaping her lips as she moved along, her eyes loooking around carefully to make sure she didnt step into anything, though it all looked like sand to her.
"We've played the bandit game afew times already, track them down, beat them up and get a nice stamp for our mission tally," Naru spoke up, a little excited to see what would be in store for them. She kept the smile on her face, every now and then exchanging a look at Issei, she had been a little impressed with him as of late, he had a lot to live up for at the moment. " I didn't think I'd meet you out here of all places, Ryo-kun… I hope the trip from Konoha wasn't too bad,"
Issei replied to Ryo, "No, not traps. They themselves wait underground. Or so I heard. Back in the Clan Wars. Some of these bandits are rogue shinobi— deserters from the war— well, not sure if any of these guys actually are. But there are those around. Just saying, be careful."
Issei then reaches for his forehead protector and goes as if to take it off, but then stops suddenly, and shrugs. "Eh, there aren't Sunagakure shinobi around here, I guess." He lowers his hand and after a few steps looks back to Naru. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but then chuckled and shrugged again, looking forwards, but not before muttering, "If we're equals, suppose I don't have to remind you about anything…"
As the group continued onwards, soon, smoke would become visible on the horizon, rising from the village— the black plumes having started to rise, coilingly, from some buildings only a few moments ago.
"The trip was not bad at all. It is the visit that is doing a number on me. Sand, sand and more sand. At the end of the day I find sand in places I never knew existed. The only good part about the sand is when the wind picks up and it blocks out the sun. After your finished in the exams, I am heading home and going to rethink any travels after that." Ryo replied to Naru.
The boy then nodded to Issei. "It seems there is some activity in the village. I do not think those black plumes of smoke are normal."
Naru carefully looked forward, watching as the black plumes of smoke began to collect in the air above, using this moment Naru applied her hands along one another, focusing a burst of chakra keeping step with the others. " There are plenty of nice places by the way Ryo, maybe we can travel for a little bit when we get back to Konoha… Long distance missions?" She questioned, almost to break the seriousness for just a few moments. With enough chakra pulsating through her body she also nodded to Issei. " Lead the way chuunin boy, it looks like we have some investigating to do, ne?"
an counter all forms of Jutsu, at this level it
"Aa." Issei said in reply to Naru as he put his hands together focusing just enough chakra in case something happened, he wanted to stay on the safe side like that. "Let's hurry up and see what's happening." He looked back to Naru for a moment, pondered something for a moment but then shrugged and said as he turned forwards and began running.
"Let's try eyes on site, instead of using Sharingan from here. It's a waste of chakra." He explained as he ran towards the village.
As they got closer and closer, something was obviously happening, more collumns of smoke joining the first billowing clouds as if more fires are started.
Ryo's attention is focused on the village. He had not activated his sharingan at all. As he gets closer, he states, "It looks like someone is burning it down? Think someone else is beating us to it?" the boy asks, almost assuming the village to be the base of the bandits. "Or could it be the bandits?" Despite the answer the boy was still moving pretty quickly.
"Maybe we should spread out and cover some ground," Naru spoke softly, continuing to run along in their directions, she sighed softly and kept her eyes on the smoke plumes ahead, not even bother to really to await much input from Issei, she slips off to the side and follows along from a distance, if three ninjja was going to plow head first into the village it was going to setup the stage for a very direct trap or whatever else might be in store for them… She was settling for the later, someone was attack the small village…
It's not so much an attack as it is apparently an ambush. But not for the three Uchiha. It seems the villagers themselves have ambushed some gloomy looking people in cloaks.
"Drive the snake out! Send their boss a message!" The villagers shout, but the bandits in their resistance have set fire to a house, and burning oil seems to be spreading the fire.
Issei is, least to say dumbfounded. He looked towards Ryo and Naru, and went to signal something, but then just realized he had no freakin' idea what to do.
This wasn't really the Land of Fire in which he had a right to do something. He was simply here to find some captives but… these bandits… what if they are the ones he is looking for?
He ponders this for a moment while the villagers still have the upper hand and waits to see what the others will do.
As Ryo hears the villagers yell, he reaches up and takes off the Konohagakure forehead protector from around his arm. "I do not act as a shinobi of Konohagakure. I act as a shinobi with the will of fire." He then rushes towards the village. He was off to attack the bandits. Once he removed his forehead protector, Konohagakure was no longer liable for his actions. The only question now was would the others follow?
"Issei-san, what are you doing?!" Naru shouted out at the one who was dumb founded, she was curious as to why he was simply watching the spectacle go on, she had no idea what was going on in that heart of his or what he wanted to do, but neverheless, Naru too though not really thinking about the will of fire. " We have a mission to finish, lets get to it," she kept her head band on and rushes in, leaping forward into the village while pulling the cloak hood down to reveal her long midnight locks of hair. " Hey! Everyone, hold it!" She shouts out to the villagers, mostly attempting to get in the way between herself and the cloaked figures, for now it probably seemed like she was protecting them, but it was best for now, especially if it was possible for them to die soon.
Seeing Ryo do his thing and Naru doing her thing, Issei can conclude only one thing.
He is royally screwed.
As the Chuunin of this operation, and the one in charge of things— well, all the blame's gonna fall on him probably. On the other hand, Ryo and Naru aren't doing themselves a favor either. Well, lying is part of a shinobi's job.
"Attack the bandits! Don't kill them!" Issei yelled out as he too joined the battle and as he had ordered, attacked the bandits himself- conserving his chakra as he tried to use his fuuma shuriken to the best of his ability, and with simple kicks and punches at those he cought in his vicinity.
As Ryo ran towards the group his hand went into some firestyle seals. He then opened his mouth and breathed out a breath of extremely hot air towards a group of bandits. Combined with the desert heat it must have been close to unbearable. The boy then rushed towards the first one, aiming a knee into his gut. He then added to the combo by smashing the hilt of his blade into the next bandit. He was paying little attention to Issei or Naru at this point.
Naru didn't really appear to even been fighting, she kicked back and dodged a few attacks and simply looked at her targets, of course those who knew here well wouldbe quite aware of what was going on. Some of the bandits would begin to choke and fall before her grasping their necks, in her wake, she managed to stick away from most of the hands on combat for now, maintaining her chakra instead to subdue the bandits, Issei didn't have to worry about her actually "hurting" them.
This goes on until most of the bandits are either defeated or fleeing. But the villagers themselves don't seem very convinced about the reason why they were 'helped', considering Ryo isn't quite exactly helping in containing the fire.
Issei was immediately on the issue, delving into his awesome PR skills (Ha ha. No.) he lies shamelessly.
"Haaaa… good thing we were just passing by." He says to the villagers. "Ah, …" He considers for a moment and then walks over to one of the semi conscious bandits, who was at least a bit tougher than the other ones. "We'll just grab this one and uhh, ask him some questions. See ya!"
He grabs the bandit by the collar and starts dragging him out of the village before the villagers decide to go nuts on the Uchihas as well. Of course, Issei also signals to Ryo and Naru to follow.
Ryo follows behind Issei. He had not been adding to the fire, he just burned the eyes of some of the bandits. It was a tactic used to save lives! Oh well. The boy had done what he set out to achieve when he rushed into combat. The next time though he would have to take a little more time and plan it out a bit more. He flashes a small grin at Naru as they leave the village. Yeah, just passing by and kidnapping one of the bad guys. Gotta love Issei's ability to bs the crowd.
"So how long until we question this guy?" Ryo asked. He knew they had to get further from the village, but the day was hot and he was sort of impatient for a nine year old shinobi.
Naru for the most part simply shrugged her shoulders, the idea seemed to look right for the most part, she smirked as Issei seemed to simply plucked out the badest looking bandit and slipped him off with a kidnapping that hopefully would put them in the right path, even if this wasn't a bandit, getting information from the underworld was something naru was getting the hold of. " Hmmm…" Naru whispers quietly under her breath, scratching her chin as she peers over the bandit. "If you want me to work so magic let me know.. Im not sure how willingly he will give up any information though, they put up quite the fight…"
Issei looks to Ryo and then Naru considering before sighing, "You are right actually, Ryo." He drops the bandit. They were far enough, Issei figured. "I ain't walking in this sun a moment longer." To Naru's suggestion, Issei simply shrugged and pointed at the bandit's upper palm. It was no wonder why the others didn't see it, because Issei was the only one in the position to see the tattoo. It was a snake. Not a scorpion.
"These guys weren't from the bandits we are looking for." Issei explained and then nodded to Naru, "Feel free to do your thing. Let him know that we are looking for the Scorpions."
However, at this point, the bandit apparently stops pretending to be unconsciouss. "The scorpions?" He asks, opening his eyes and finally putting his fingers under his nostrils to stop his nose from bleeding. "You are after the /scorpions/? Crap, I'll take you right freakin' to their place— they be messin' with our turf since they came 'ere!"
Ryo looked at the palm and grinned a little bit. To him a bandit was a bandit, but indeed they were after a different group. The snakes were just a bonus on the day. "I like it when they choose the easy way. The last guy we did this too really did not like being covered in the oil as we questioned him." It was semi true, but semi false. They were not questioning that guy. It was simply an assassination mission.
A sweat drop trickled down Naru cheek at Ryo's comment, despite her being a little bit happy that she wouldn't have to pressure the guy anymore, letting out a quiet yawn she shook her head to Ryo, even though she didnt know the exact rules of engagement they had in their previous mission. " Covering them in Oil? Thats not very effective…" Naru complained though leaned down to take a look at the burly man. " Can you walk? You should take us to this place right away, and if you screw up we're going to kill you," Naru spoke boldly to him, there wasn't a hint of remorse in her voice despite her shy cute expression. " We're from the Uchiha clan you know, maybe you heard of us…"
Issei laughed at Ryo's comment as he looked down to the bandit, "Yeah, well, except, the oil was already on fire." He seemed satisfied with a general map, but if the bandit was gonna take them there, it was even better.
Everything was nice. Until, of course, someone had to screw it up.
"Why the hell did you tell him that, Naru? 'Shinobi from Konoha operated in the Land of Wind' is hardly believable. 'Uchiha from Konoha blah blah' on the other hand is." Issei rubbed his forehead.
"Well, I am not solving this. It's your problem now." He said, and it was obvious he meant the both of them. Well, among the Uchiha it should be obvious that he means 'I am not getting my hands dirty with murder'.
"Take us to the Scorpion whatever hideout or whatever it is. Go." Issei said, as he nudged the bandit with his foot, who began leading them eastwards.
Ryo simply raised an eyebrow as Naru questioned the oil method. He thought it made sense since they were both fire style users. Then Naru dropped the bomb. In her defense, she had been in the exams while Issei and Ryo had been working kind of unofficially due to the foreign land. He simply watches as the bandit moves forward. He knew what had to happen and he was going to end up doing it. The guy was a bandit, nothing more at this point. He did not want to think of why he became one. That would only to seem to humanize him and make the job harder.
"There is nothing a very strong blow to the head won't fix," Naru simply concluded, noting the Issei had seemed ot not b e to happy about her response, she yawned though, apparently not very alarmed about the whole issue. " Yep, lets go now," She simply goes on to say, she had a intent to maybe beat the bandits head in until he woke up out of a coma, or something to make him forget the events of today, drugs pot.. .Whatever the situation called for when the time came.
With a sighing Issei deciding that blows to the head are too unreliable, the bandit led the group further eastwards; Of course, the bandit perhaps sensing that something was amiss, was trying to convince everyone that he won't tell anyone, and in fact that he doesn't even know anything about the Konoha, the Land of Fire, Uchiha and such.
The trek lasted for a while, but pretty soon in the distance, what can only be described as a sort of makeshift camp/stronghold rests against the side of a large natural rock formation. It is surrounded by a wooden pallisade.
"This is their hideout." The bandit said. "C-can I go now?"
Ryo was not buying the hit to the head either. The boy takes a step behind the bandit and moves the hilt of his blade out just slightly. He was waiting for a nod. This was simply buisiness. He glanced towards Issei for that nod. Though he did figure there might be some arguement from Naru.
"What the heck is you're guys problem? There is no reason to kill him," Naru states rather firmly, she mostly narrowed her eyes upon Ryo whom already seemed content in doing what he wanted to do, " You're going to kill him because just because of what he knows, the situation doesn't call for it… First of all we are after "bandits" not shinobi from Sunagakure," Naru stated firmly, apparently intent on protecting this guy from harms way. " Its a waste of energy and time to kill him, besides we are here for the scorpions…"
Issei rubs his forehead and looks to Naru, "We are not supposed to BE here. This is not our area of operations. Not by a long shot."
But there was still no nod from Issei as he considered the bandit's fate who was slowly coming to grasp the bleak situation in revealed to him. It was true he was a bandit. A bad career choice. But.
"Get out of my sight." Issei finally tells the bandit, after a long moment in thought. There was no point in telling the man to not speak of this to anyone. Their hands were tied already. If he did speak of this to anyone, rumors would fly. And if he died afterwards— well, rumors would easily become reality. Who is gonna believe a bandit that got his butt handed to him by a teenager, a girl and a kid?
As the bandit begins to flee Issei stares in front of him somewhere as he sighs. "The hands of the wicked shall never know rest. Heh. Heard that once." That 'heh' sounded very bleak and kind of sad. "Who knew there was truth to that— and I be further damned if I let your hands be the same." Issei turned around, towards that bandit, flickered out of sight for what seemed like a mere moment, before returning to the same spot. The bandit fell in the sand, motionless. A quick eye might have caught Issei's powerful elbow thrust at the bandit's neck area, visible for but the shortest of moments.
And then Issei was even further different, colder than before- his words even lacked the heat of emphasis. "Ryo, you will go search for the villages. Naru, you will go in the village and cause a diversion. No sharingan unless you are planning on killing everyone- including the villagers. If you use it, either make sure your life is in danger, or you know when to turn it off. Once the villagers are found, I want you to lead them out, Ryo. Naru, at that time you will make your escape, and I will torch the hideout from here."
Ryo gritted his teeth as Naru began to defend the bandit's life. He was shocked that she would look upon a bandit like that and show compassion though the man himself would probably not show that compassion to any of his victims. "The man chose to be a bandit. To steal from people. He and his friends were setting a small village of FIRE. Why? Cause they want to make people victims." The boy's tone was harsh. "What if you were not born to a shinobi village? What if that was your village back there. Do you know what happens to little girls around here? The bottom line is money. You get sold off to someone as a slave. If your lucky, you wash a man's dishes and cook his meals. That again is if your lucky."
The now, obviously upset nine year old takes a deep breath before he speaks again, "Now, lets say your a little girl in that village. Three shinobi come in and because this guy is not their target, they let him go. He can go and get more men and burn down the rest of their village. Maybe kill her mother or father by accident or maybe on purpose. Whatever it takes to get the money. Whatever it takes to be the bully." Ryo then spits on the desert sand. "Besides, what did you think we were taking off our forehead protectors for? If he ends up going and trying to sell this info off to Sunagakure, they will know who we are. Everyone has seen us. That goes as a mark against us because you felt soft on some guy who'd kick in someone's teeth for a shiny coin. Our mission is not to be detected. So you announced us and pretty much screwed the guy over. I have no problems ending him for the choices in life he's made. I sincerely doubt he was a good bandit or is now reformed."
After the bandit is released and Issei kills him, the boy goes back into mission mode. He nods his head as he is given an assignement. The boy nods his head and begins to walk off. He was going to make his way towards the place where the rocks met the start of the pallisades.
"You can jump to the conclusion all you want Ryo-kun, but some people don't have a choice to make, I thought you might be able to understand that, if everyone who has done wrong deserve such treatment then we need to kill everyone in our village, founders, family, and friends; You can't even turn him into Sunagakure?" She states honestly, she cringed and narrowed her eyes down on Issei as he smacked the guy in the neck with lots of grace and speed, "Whatever," She simply states and moves along, she was detesting them both at this point, and she definitely needed to blow off some steam… Moving up towards the walling to create the distraction they needed she would give them just that, "Murder is murder…" Naru whispers quietly under her breath, formulating a few hand seals she begins to summon up a burning blaze of chakra. " Katon! Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" She shouts out, sending a massive orb of fire in the direction of the gate, hopefully to plow through it and awash it in flames.
Issei looked like he had a lot to reply to Naru— and to Ryo, giving them both sharp looks, but soon, even those are replaced by his gloomy mood as he simply shrugs and walks somewhere more out of sight, trying to not let the heat of the sun also influence his decisions.
Ryo is met with no resistance what so ever, on the way to the corner of the pallisade, where the rock meets the wood, but should he choose to leap over the pallisade, he would very little active enemies about, only but a few at few corners of the roads between the makeshift headquarters with three seperate buildings, and one by the entrance of what seems the most likely place where prisoners are held: A cave.
On the other hand, Naru's fireball draws immediate attention, and the bandits inside begin pouring out from two of the buildings making up the headquarters, and soon the street towards the gate is filled by no less than a couple of dozen of bandits. And had Ryo decided to jump over the pallisade, he would be right in the path of said bandits.
Ryo had been moving slowly. As the bandits come running out, he is still not across the fence. It is only after they have passed, that the bvoy decides to hop the fence and enter the cave.
Ryo pondered if Naru had lacked a natural grace or if she just quirked that she could not protect a bandit. The boy did not care for the actual answer, but it seemed likely that she felt for bandits in general. Soon his attention would turn back to the mission at hand.
Taking on a flooding of bandits probably would of been a rather difficult task, however rather than rushing in to confront them she hopefully would allow them to come to her, standing a little bit away from the entry into the compound, if they were to come rushing in her direction she could take them out bit by bit instead of forcing herself to be surrounded, with the few bandits that may be clos eto her, she decides to try once more at relieving them of much needed oxygen, even going as far as to force some others to their knees with her gen jutsu, hopefully to even the odds of battle without needing to waste too much energy…
Some of the bandits fall to Naru's genjutsu, but not many in fact- among them, one of them leaps to the front of the group and replies with a pair of blades of wind, directed straight at Naru- and who else, considering that Issei is not in the vicinity and staying out of sight for whatever reasons.
Ryo on the other hand isn't met with a lot of resistance, save for the fact that where one guarded the entrance previously to the cave, now there are four, one of them apparently a swordsman.
Four bandits was not a huge issue for Ryo. The boy started off with some hands signs as he hit the ground. The guards would feel intense heat on their eyes. As they moved to cover them, Ryo then unsheathed his blade and began to slice into the bandits trying to cut each of them down. His goal was to make this as quick as possible.
A wind of blades? it was no match for Naru as she found her body quickly becoming replaced with the raging fire that was about, and even more so helped her get a new perspective on the battle field. For now she sticks on top of the walls for now, keeping her distance from anyone not really capable of jumping up that high, she rains terror on them once again though, sending waves after waves of bullets to keep them in a form of suppressing fire.
The bandits against Ryo take him too lightly obviously as one even refuses to draw his own chain weapon; Ending in him being the first one to be cut down, immediately next, the one next to Ryo is cut down as well. The other however retaliate quickly, apparently having some experience.
On the other hand, Naru was having a tougher time with so many bandits, but as intended many of them are pinned down, simply by the huge ammount of fire thrown at them. Some of the throw kunai and shuriken at Naru, and the apparently rogue shinobi summons a huge torrent of wind to batter Naru, a technique no less than a B rank sent her way.
Ryo dashes backwards as the left over two guards start their attack. He uses his natural speed to evade their blows before retailiating with his own sword strike towards the first guard before moving to impale the second one with his blade. The boy then turns around and attempts to set the first guard on fire with his fireball jutsu.
It seems as though naru finally losses her ground, her body completely pulled up into a massive barrage of wind tornado that tears through her, slices along her body until finally she drops into the compound, her body already badily blooded at this point, " Shit…" Naru curses herself quietly under her breath, bringing herself up to one knee, her eyes were burning with the sharingan at this point, but she wasn't going to allow them to keep a close look at her, " Katon! Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" naru shouts out, sending another massive fire ball in their direction, hopefully blocking vision and eating up any wind jutsu that was bound to happen.
The guards protecting the cave entrance are rather quickly dispatched, one of them even set on fire— there are of course more bandits inside the hideout- but many are not yet fully equipped to deal with this problem, a few run out towards Naru and the others fighting, not noticing the fight at the cave entrance.
Naru's fireball kicks up a lot of sand and turns some of the sand into glass, showering the area with poor visibility; They try to retaliate throwing their ranged weapons at a spot where Naru is not, the enemy shinobi lost somewhere in the small crowd, indistinguishable from the others.
Not wasting a moment, Ryo moved into the cave. He was moving as quickly as he could without trying to draw any attention. The boy's main target is the villagers. He needed to find them and lead them out. Especially while the battle was going on. "Hold on just a little bit longer." Ryo says as he moves down into the cave.
With this in turn, Naru began to attempt to utilize her genjuts uagain, while most of them were chucking away with their kunai, even with all the dust it was easy for her to see what was going on, reacting switfly to their movements, more particularly though she attempted to use her fade genjutsu on the higher level shinobi, fading out of existence visually in order to take a hidden position else where, out of sight behind one of the buildings, she couldn't afford to stay out in the open anymore, she hoped Ryo got in there…
Several of the bandits scream and fall to their knees as Naru assaults them with her genjutsu. It seems that there is very little they can do against such attacks. They continue their pointless assault until the leader of the group banishes the debris and ends the poor visibility period with a blast of wind; Noticing Naru, they again attack, and the leader causes a updraft of wind to try to knock Naru off her feet.
Inside the cave things are different, the walls are lined with torches and they lead inside towards a small closed off area where the villagers are held— they are from various villages. Some from Kusagakure, others from Konohagakure, and some from Sunagakure, but many of them are not at all affiliated with the hidden villages at all, simple villagers from other places.
Finally Ryo moved far enough down the cave to find the closed off area. After glancing inside the area, he nods his head. "Alright. Listen up. I am only going to say this once. I have come to get you all out of here. Please stand up and move single file towards the entrance of the cave. If the person next to you is injured, please help them along. Do not exit the cave until I say so." He expected them to believe he was sincere, though he was only a nine year old boy. He glances over the condition of the people. He was hoping they had been fed and watered. Otherwise they might not be in good enough condition to make the desert trek.
The regular attacks wasn't hitting their marks, but the massive wind attack from the shinobi was once again enough to uplift naru and begin tearing away at her flesh, after this attack she felt her body become slammed up against the wall as an after effect. Once again she cringes, taking a bit more damage than she realized. "Where the heck are you Issei..?" She questioned, curious on when the heck she would have some sort of back up, she was fighting too many people, and with the shinobi as backup it was becoming even more difficult to handle them all…
The villagers are well fed and kept not thirsty, in fact, nothing apparently was stopping them from trying to leave. Except perhaps the punishment of death should they be caught; but by the looks of Ryo it was possible to assume that he wasn't riff raff like the rest of the bandits, and that he may be sencere in fact. Either that or this was another 'joke' that they have suffered already. Nevertheless, they do as they're told.
The rogue shinobi steps forwards looking at Naru, "Haha little girl. Is that all you got? You know, this is the first time we're gonna capture little girls like you, and it won't be fun for you at all! And feisty ones like you, we are gonna have to hurt a lot first." The Shinobi cracked his knuckles as the others laughed loudly, attempting their terror tactic on Naru.
"WHO IS!?" Suddenly shouts someone, voice roaring. "WHO IS GOING TO HURT, NARU!?" It was Issei, becoming visible as he half undigs himself from the sand, his cloak perfectly having been camouflaging him in the background. He crosses the distance between himself and the lead shinobi in an instant, flickering out of view, to come down upon him a mighty kick that is dodged.
After making sure the villagers were capable of being moved, Ryo moves to the front of the line. He moves just outside the cave and sets the pallisade fence on fire. After letting it burn for a few moments, the boy kickes out a couple of pieces to make an exit. He then turns around and waves the first couple of villagers through. "Stay together and move in that direction. Stop after the second sand dune. I will be along shortly after."
Ryo then moves forward outside the cave, into the camp. He places himself directly between any bandits that might notice the escaping villagers and the escaping villagers. His shin gunto is drawn and ready for use.
Naru herself, though surrounded by bandits, a wide smirk came along her lips as Issei came to, yet failed in his attempt to save her, however she turned stern and began to rise to a stand, carefully making sure her link was still in place as she stared down this shinobi leader. " Only one more person has to die today, watch closely scorpions…As your most strongest banishes in a sea of flames; Take this as a message from the snakes, tiptoe off of our territory or else," Naru states boldly with a grin, finally utilizing her genjutsu hopefully the big baddy would be weak enough to drop to his knees. " Try it again!" Naru shouts out to Issei, she wanted to finish this in one blow, so he had better ben prepared to work with her in unison. " Katon! Goukakyuu No Jutsu!" … There wasn't much else to say, either this guy was 'Crisp' and dead or somehow managed to survive…
The villagers do, again as they're told, but with a lot more enthusiasm now as it seems they will be in fact leaving the hideout- something that has never happened before. At least, if Ryo turned trait and became a slayer instead of a saviour, as many of them anticipated, they had a chance to run away. And so they did, they ran.
The leader falls to a knee under Naru's genjutsu and Issei himself has to smirk, "Aa. It's a bad day to be you, scorpions." He inhaled deeply, "Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"
The combined fireball blasted away the leader and washed away many of the other bandits who were clinging on to dear life with their horrible burns.
Issei turned towards the village, as he promised, and unleashed another Jutsu, to slow down pursuit, or make such non-existant.
"Katon. Endan." And then a huge stream of burning oil lanced at the hideout, and the pallisades, burning through and some falling on the buildings there in as Issei noticed the escaping villagers, knowing that they're safe from this approach.
It was the signal for Ryo as well, the Flame Bullet.
Retreat. Mission accomplished.
