Starring:
Date: November 1, 2016
Summary:
Goh and Mushi take some time to discuss what they face in a low key setting.
"The Twelve Hunt - part 1b: Discussions on poisons and senjutsu"
Unknown location
Goh and Mushi had been working hard in the deserts of Sunagakure, with nary a break to refocus or refuel. The attack on their lives had come much more suddenly than either of them had expected, and in a way, had kickstarted their efforts to find out how to bring the Twelve down. But first, they needed to know exactly what they were dealing with. What were the Phantoms? What were they made from? How did they operate?
The pair currently reside in their rented room on the second floor. Goh is seated cross legged, surrounded by open scrolls. Their contents range from simple seal techniques, to more complicated techniques surrounding senjutsu. They had been at it for hours, with little result.
With a groan in frustrating, Goh slaps his hands to his face and leans back, falling onto the floor so he stares up at the ceiling. "So we're agreed, right?" He mutters, brain feeling fried. "We think that these Twelve pump people full of senjutsu chakra, or something like it. It kills them, but… doesn't kill them. Maybe something in the senjutsu nature keeps their body operating. And it's what gives them the incredible strength." His face wrinkles, before tilting to look outside. The sun was beginning to set over to the west. It had been a long day.
Mushi has spent most of her time looking at the ten scrolls she had collected. Her technique had pulled the phantom apart, and sealed it in ten different seals. Now they were transferred to the scrolls, but the entire time Mushi has been wary of studying them. If they did have senjutsu chakra someone handling it might suffer from terrible effects. She traces a line of the seal symbol with one finger. But it’s more out of curiosity. “This is our clue,” she says. “This is an echo of what they’re made of. A shadow. But still something to go on. I have a few techniques I can use to study them but..hmm.”
She looks up to Goh. “I agree with you. It has something to do with senjutsu chakra certainly, and you were a target because of it. Perhaps if that is their power source then starving them of that source will weaken them. But that’s a thin thread to go on. What makes you think it’d work?” She turns to look to Goh, honestly waiting for his answer.
Goh rolls around in frustration, hands still clasping his head. "Aargghhh, I don't knowwwww!" He whines, trying to get his brain to kick it in. "Senjutsu is a weird and complicated thing. My understanding of how it works is… uh, not very good. I could barely even get to Sage Mode most of the time." He considers then, stopping his rolling so he remains staring up at the ceiling once more. "Senjutsu is a state that is meant to be temporary though, right?" He asks. "Once you absorb chakra from nature, it starts leaving you naturally. That's just the way it is. At least, I think that's how it is. Somehow, they must have figured a way to keep it in their systems. Maybe they absorb it naturally?" He suggests.
"Either way, I think we need to figure out a way to get it out of their systems." He sits up at this point. "We aren't going to be sure on anything, so we just need to try something. Some sort of chakra absorption technique, like the one they used on me in that dungeon." He writhes a bit uncomfortably. "Do you know anything that could do the trick? If so, maybe we can try and… I don't know. Lure one out. But just one. See if it works." He swallows, seeming unsure.
Then his stomach gurgles and rumbles.
Mushi chews on her lip. “To siphon out senjutsu chakra is a dangerous thing,” she says. “It’s highly incompatible with most people. That’s why those who master it are called “sages.” That technique I used is probably powerful enough to hold a large amount of senjutsu chakra, but I can only use it a finite number of times. Not enough to subdue all twelve of them.” She considers the numbers for a moment before she holds up five fingers. “That many..safely. Seven if they were using normal chakra, rather than senjutsu chakra.” She sighs. “Troublesome.”
When his stomach gurgles, Mushi says, “Food. Now.” She’d start gathering some of the food she’d brought for just such a purpose. A pile of them, plenty to last a meal. Rice balls of all different kinds. She takes one with a pickled plum. ”I have something else. Poison. Do you know if that’s effective against those things?”
When Mushi busts out the food, Goh licks his lips. With a look to the healer, he simply admits: "I love you." Not many could get a good angle on Goh like Mushi could! She knew exactly what he needed at the right times. So with a few handfuls, he begins to scoff the rice balls down post haste. "That's not enough." The pickler says somewhat obviously. "Is this a chakra stamina related issue? If so, maybe I could channel some of my chakra into you while you're doing it to give you extra." Pause. "Or if I'm not enough, we could get help from Itami. She probably has enough chakra to lend a hand!" Omnomnomnom.
The idea of poison causes the pickler to think. "Let's break it down." He begins. "These guys look like monsters. Whether they are monsters or humans doesn't really matter when it comes to poison, right? They've still got to be /living/. Which means they should be able to be disabled." Pursing his lips together, he scratches his head. "During my assault with them, one of my Salamander brothers used a poison breath attack on them. A B-Rank level jutsu, I'd say." He pauses. "It didn't slow them down. But," He starts, "Maybe that's because they held their breath? We need to make sure we get high level toxins into their actual systems. Oh! And maybe not a /normal/ poison. Maybe a poison that causes the body to reject itself. THEN they will lose their nature chakra!" The pickler beams at such an outlandish idea, some rice visible in between his teeth.
"What's the strongest poison you have?"
Mushi chews on her lip. “I don’t know,” she says. “I made that technique to bind one immensely powerful being. Supposedly it could bind multiple beings at the same time. But it wouldn’t be hard to test that out. I can ask some Suna shinobi to allow me to try it on them. It actually mostly drains and seals, it doesn’t damage.” She rubs her chin. She’d have to work on that technique to see if she can get it up to snuff. Her rice balls sit forgotten for the time being. Her head is bowed in thought, as she tries to work through this.
“I have some good poison,” she says. She pulls out a few pills of different colors. “I made them myself. Poison Mist Pill and Chakra Vapor Pill. It releases clouds of..spores, I suppose you’d call them. It’s a contact poison which means it can seep through the skin. Inhalation speeds up the effects, but if it comes into contact with someone’s body the outcome is still inevitable. This one destroys a person’s energy. Breaks down their constitution.”
As he munches away on the lunch provided, Goh's eyes remain fixed on Mushi as she explains what her poisons can do. And how her technique was originally designed. "We have time if you need to develop your jutsu." He clarifies, hoping that would help. "At the very worst? More Phantoms will be sent. And we've shown… Well, YOU have shown that you can handle those." He smiles. "Only if they continue to fail will they leave their sanctum." Goh thinks a bit. "Your Hummingbirds can fly super fast, right? Would it be worth having a small one keep watch over the area? I mean, I don't want to put your summons at risk." He trails off a bit there, finishing off his rice ball.
"How quick do they work?" The pickler asks in regards to the hard hitting spores. "These guys are big. Eleven feet tall, hundreds of pounds. Is it possible that their sheer size will mean that they're resistant to the poison? And still pose a threat until it finally kicks in?" Goh chews on his lip in thought. "Like some sort of wounded animal." He shrugs a little. "I don't have any doubt it will work eventually though. You probably know the best ways to poison someone, huh? Since you know the best ways to repair someone, you must know the opposite." The pickler grins.
"So. Did you want to take a break? My head feels like it's melted a little bit. Speaking of poison."
Mushi blinks and looks at Goh in surprise. “You’re right,” she says. “I should’ve done that right away!” In a few moments Ara is summoned. Mushi explains the whole thing to the little hummingbird. “Go relay this to the other hummingbirds. Have Kirameki-chan ready to wing us out. I’ll summon you again in a few hours.” With that Ara would disappear, to relay her words. Mushi takes a big bite of a rice ball, and turns to Goh.
“I’ll have to think of their physical size, but I don’t think it’ll matter,” she says. “I made this to attack anything, including excessively large creatures. It’s not so much the amount of body mass as the amount of chakra they have that will determine how resistant they are to the poison. It’s extremely fast acting, and it works internally. And yes I do.” She smiles. “As a medic, I know the best way to poison someone.”
