Starring:
Date: April 24, 2016
Summary:
The struggle against the bombers continues upon the waters of a Land of Fire river, with dire results.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Fire Starters - Two Teams Enter"
Land of Fire
Last time on Naruto MUSH: Rivalry…
Pretty Boy-san had just been blinded by Nonon's Lightning Release as she leapt to attack the one who had assaulted Suzu from behind. Suzu had just been elbowed in the face hard enough to hurl her off of the river's surface where she'd been standing and directly into a tree on the shore. Aru had fallen off into the river and has yet to surface. One of the men who could apparently fill metal marbles with Explosive Chakra has been electrocuted and dealt severe burns by Rinoko, but has had his attack belayed presumably because Nonon has their leader at a disadvantage what with her kunai pressed to the other woman's throat…
Except, to everyone except Nonon, that woman has already slipped behind the Namikaze kunoichi, using Genjutsu, and just rammed a sword through the younger ninja. And then the fake enemy ninja fades out of existence, leaving Nonon to deal with the fact that she has been impaled and no one on this team is a Medical Ninja.
…And now this leader wants to take Suzu's eyes, and interrogate Rinoko, based on what she has just said. The situation is looking pretty grim. Who even on this team aside from Rinoko is even still capable of fighting?
Even Pretty Boy-san is rubbing his eyes and regain his vision! Sure, Nonon took down the one piloting the river boat, but that still leaves this situation at 3 to 1, unless one of Rinoko's allies backs her up!
Is this how Rinoko's first mission as team leader is going to end!?
This… is not good. Rinoko has to think quickly on how to deal with this situation, else it could be deadly… Suzu's down. Nonon's been run through… Her only hope right now is to have faith in Aru that she is biding her time in the river rather than actually seriously injured so they can use a bit of a variation on one of the battle formations they came up with. No way half the team is dying and her interrogated on her first mission as leader. There's a sudden new determination in her eyes as she brings her hands into a seal.
Rinoko's vest itself seems to begin to unravel as sheets of paper, apparently made of them. This is the first time the team will get to see her versatility with Ninjutsu at work as sheet after sheet flies toward the boat. First a trio of sheets of paper with exteme aim go directly for the woman's face to try and separate her from Nonon. As this happens, another set hit the engine of the boat, these bearing as seal that lights up and ignites to create a burst of flame with the intention of causing the engine to explode while the rest of the paper forms a shield around Nonon's body to protect her from further harm, whether it be enemy or friendly fire. Assuming her faith in Aru is well-placed, this should create an opening for the Hyuga to show off her own skills.
Nonon is something of a genius, though she doesn't like to call herself such. There's always 'prodigies', and that title is thrown around a lot. It often leads to arrogance on the part of the recipient. She's been called such a thing many times before, but she tried not to give it much thought. To assign the title of 'genius' or 'prodigy' to one's self jut breeds overconfidence. Yet, even so, though she thought perhaps she was unaffected by the praise, she seems to have overestimated her abilities. After all, it seems that taking down one guy easily, just as so many other things have come easily to her in the past, lured her into making a hasty attack on an enemy, and now she's here, like this.
If she'd just headed for the guy on the deck, she could have taken him down and left this woman currently stabbing her for Rinoko or someone to deal with. Or even Suzu if the Uchiha could get be revived. After all, she has the Sharingan. That's a great counter to enemy Genjutsu! And, now that she thinks about it, that's probably also the exact reason why Suzu was taken down first.
All of these thoughts and concerns flash through her 'genius' mind that was apparently too dumb to recognize a set-up like this. No matter how fast she learns or how smart others say she is, her conflict with Kirigakure shinobi was not the full depth of experience she needs to be successful as a shinobi. Rinoko has more experience than she does, as does Tsugumi. She should have let them lead the way instead of constantly trying to insert her advice and 'help'.
The pain in her chest and the difficulty she's having breathing are practically side concerns next to the whirling self-doubt and regret. But she eventually focuses on it, and tries to piece together SOME kind of plan. So start thinking instead of just reacting. Blood is staining the front of her top, and dribbling from the side of her mouth… And there's this sword sticking out of her…
…When did Nonon's attacker cast Genjutsu on her? She tries to remember if there was any sign of a gesture, of hand seals being woven, of some unusual effect or visual cue. And she's coming up empty. Then, paper blades are coming flying in at Nonon's attacker, and tries to pull herself off the blade, having been feigning being out of the fight up to that point.
She staggers forwards, and then turns to look back at her attacker. Genjutsu specialists this skilled usually aren't also Taijutsu experts, but she was able to instantly take out Suzu. It's not out of the realm of possibility, she imagines, as she draws a kunai herself, as blood continues to gurgle out of her sucking chest wound.
Nonon tries to recall if the attacker always had a sword. Aru reported that she was armed. So from the start, the enemy had a blade… But when did she ever draw it or make the slightest sign of casting a jutsu?
Nonon is trying to put it all together, to actually prove her 'title' means something, but in her condition… If this wound is even real… She'll have to rely on her team leader and her allies, not try to take it all on by herself. That's what being part of Team 13 means.
Also, the paper armor that shrouds Nonon thanks to Rinoko helps protect her from further attacks, and could possible even be used to staunch the flow of blood by applying pressure to her wounds on back and front. They're chakra-infused paper, that probably means they're about as good as bandages, right!?
Aru waits until she sees the woman behind Nonon get attacked, her Byakugan active and tracking where everyone is. Then she reaches up and tries to grab the enemy kunoichi's ankles, and using Juuken to disrupt her Chakra and inflict internal damage. That combined with paper as sharp as shuriken directly to the face should be enough to get Nonon a chance to break free. Then Aru comes up for air and starts swimming towards shore, because with the element of surprise gone, she's basically just a sitting duck (or fish in a barrel might be a more appropriate analogy since she can't float on water like a duck).
She has no idea what Nonon's thinking, or how she's working through all this. The Hyuga girl has even less experience than Nonon does, especially with Genjutsu. Maybe if she knew more about it, she'd have spotted something to warn everyone about. Instead, she just tries to swim towards Rinoko's position as the boat gets blown up on the opposite side of the river, and hopes those other two ninja aren't going to shuriken her in the back while she's vulnerable.
Maybe if she can get to Suzu she can wake her up or something!
The enemy kunoichi jolts and cries out in pain as her ankles are grabbed and she feels tendons in them tear. Then she gets slashed in the face pretty severely, carving out one of her eyes in a gruesome spray of blood. She screams out in pain but manages to leap backwards afterwards, away from Nonon, just as the paper-armored blonde turns to face her. The enemy's sword got pulled free, but she's having trouble standing now, or even remaining afloat. Her Chakra has been heavily destabilized. "You scum…! Now I'm DEFINITELY going to take your eyes… One Byakugan and one Sharingan. I'll make it painful!" She then lunges back into combat with Nonon, displaying sword skill rather than Genjutsu prowess. Which is, as Nonon noted, odd. A Genjutsu specialist or someone with the degree of skill needed to brainwash someone doesn't ordinarily also invest the time needed to master the sword.
Not unless they're an Uchiha, able to cast Genjutsu with the Sharingan. And this woman appears to be no Uchiha. She has yet to make a single hand seal, a single sign of casting a jutsu. What's her deal?
Meanwhile, the two men on deck, turn to look in surprise as flames erupt all over the river boat's engine. Then they share a look at each other than says, 'Oh dome' before the stolen vessel explodes. The two of them managed to leap off on in time to avoid getting blown up, but neither of them is happy, and explosive marble guy can't really do anything. He raises a marble as though to throw it towards Rinoko, but then remembers he's supposed to keep her alive. He then moves as though to throw it at Nonon, but his ally is too close! Then he goes to throw it at Aru, but Aru is too close to Suzu!
ARGH! #bomberproblems
"Aoiko-sama, what am I supposed to do now!?" Togoro whines. Well, looks like the enemy kunoichi finally has a name! Splendid!
Suzu is not a genius, and it shows. Even as a member of the 'Clan of geniuses' known as the Uchiha, her progress has been heavily slowed and unimpressive compared to the feats of others. Her MOTHER is a genius. Rinoko with her amazing paper skills is a genius. Nonon is a genius. Even Aru is smarter than she is. But as she slowly comes to, blood streaming down her face from her nose and mouth, one of the first things she does upon seeing Aru swimming towards her is try to activate her Sharingan. At this point, it's instinctive. Not quite reflex, but a survival mechanism. She realizes she's in bad condition. One of her eyes won't open all the way, limiting its usefulness, but her other Sharingan sees—
A blinding flash as the boat explodes!
—Ow! She also sees the two men on the deck leap off of it before the river boat explodes, abandoning the corpse of their comrade to its firey fate. They didn't seem all that concerned in the first place, to be honest. A sign of being TRUE VILLAINS!? She doesn't know. Her head is still woozy and ringing, which is why she can't do much more than track movement right now. But she does see Aru swimming towards her, the soaked Hyuga girl trying valiantly to make it to shore. And she sees Pretty Boy-san throw a kunai at Aru's back as she swims. Suzu pushes herself to react, only her Sharingan letting her see the attack in the first place and respond in time to it. She raises a foot from where she's still slumped against the tree, emits Chakra from it, and just as Aru reaches her, she draws the thrown weapon to the bottom of her sandal, diverting its course from her comrade.
She has never been so glad for all the Chakra control training she did to make up for her extremely sucky Chakra molding. She then struggles to hurl herself to the side, adding sufficient movement to her leg sweep to kick the kunai right back at Pretty Boy-san with some added Chakra to increase its speed!
He seems shocked by the maneuver, but not too shocked to just barely dodge aside, some blur hairs being clipped off in the process. His eyes track the thrown weapon for a moment, instead of the enemy. But he soon looks back at Suzu again! "Pretty good for scum. But I, Ikken Hissatsu, can not be defeated by such parlor tricks!" He then starts making hand seals of his own.
Just in time for Suzu to finish a series of hand seals and breathe out a stream of flame that forms into a clone of herself. The Fire Clone is mainly a distraction, to keep the blue-haired goon off of Aru's back, but it's something at least, as he's forced to defend against the close instead of completing his jutsu. Now if only Suzu could see a bit better…
It's up to Rinoko to guide everyone to victory!
These folks are really quick to start spouting each other's and their own names, so Rinoko assumes either they're using fake names or they're just not too bright… and she's leaning toward the latter. With the ship taken care of as a mean of escape, she can now turn her attention to the water and the shore, three locations instead of one. As she takes note of the kunoichi' valiance in battle despite having tendons in her legs torn and her lack of handseals, she frowns slightly… This could be a pretty bad trap… and it could be one being used to distract them. In the back of her mind, she probably wishes Tsugumi were here to decipher some things, but it's up to her and she can't let them down. "Don't kill them. They may have information we need… But feel free to make sure they're disabled," she instructs as she shifts her handseals and flings a pair of tags, one at each of the boys. There's no need for them to get hit by the tag itself, though, as the tags sends out jolts of electricity that attempt to latch onto them and bind them so they are shocked and stunned for the others to be able to follow her attacks up. Maybe they have some kind disabling juuken or other skills, but Rinoko's not against breaking or amputating hands if necessary to get what they need out of them. It may seem a bit odd that she's going after them first rather than the woman, but there's probably some thought or plan in the back of her mind.
Gruesome injuries indeed! But Nonon doesn't feel too bad about it, given what this woman just did to her, and what Aoiko's buddies are trying to do to them. It's possible they are using fake names. But that wouldn't matter if they don't intend to take most of them alive. They could also just be dumb about offering their names. Or they could, again, not be intending to leave most of them alive. Who's to say that even Rinoko will be spared after they've extracted information from her? And they don't need either Aru or Suzu alive to get their eyes, do they?
It's probably more a matter of ego than anything else. But one thing stands out. No one, not a single person so far, has woven hand seals… Unless we count Ikken Hissatsu who was interrupted by Suzu's Fire Clone. Nonon is looking around for some reason, while still keeping her kunai ready. When Aoiko lunges at her, the Namikaze ninja desperately tries to defend against the skill of an expert swordswoman. Nonon would like to say that between Aoiko only having one eye, and Nonon being injured, the scales are even now, but she's honestly just not on the same level.
She's solely on the defensive, relying more on Body Flicker than any sort of clash of blades. Then as Rinoko flings electro seals at two of the bad guys, Nonon takes a cue from the team leader's book and whips out some lightning as well. Unfortunately, her repetoire is rather small right now, so she just uses Lightning Release: Flash of Lightning again, trying to blind her one-eyed opponent by Body Flickering around to her blind side and concealing the fact she's making hand seals until it's too late.
Then she turns to the shore and calls out, "Rinoko, there's a fifth enemy somewhere nearby! They're casting Genjutsu from hiding!" And if she's right, the real Genjutsu user here is not as adept at physical combat, which is why they've been letting their allies do all the fighting while they cowered among the trees… And why they suddenly stopped casting Genjutsu when they saw the gruesome injury caused to their team mate. And if they can see their team mate from here, then that means they're nearby!
Aru is barely aware of what's going on, with the short range of her Byakugan. She detects the kunai coming at her, but can't turn in time to stop it. Thankfully, Suzu intervenes. So Aru turns around to face the kunai, thinking maybe she can take it to something less vulnerable than her back, only to find the throwing blade sucked to Suzu's foot, so Aru turns around again to see what's going on, but by THEN, Suzu has blasted the kunai back at the one who threw it, so Aru turns to face THAT way…! It would be comical under other circumstances. But ultimately, frustrated, she just sees that whatever is going on, the others are taking care of it.
After Nonon blasts bright light into her enemy's face, the same enemy who just threatened to take one of Aru's eyes, she is plenty eager to NOT be out there facing that Aoiko psycho. Instead she starts scanning the area nearby. Unlike the others, her abilities are much more limited, so she has to do her part on this squad. She scans, scans… And finds them! Another source of Chakra! "There, Rinoko-sensei! About 50 meters from your 2 o'clock!" This is why Aru's Byakugan needs work. When she was focusing it on the boat, that person over there, even though they were so close, was totally out of her perception range. Now that she's searching the shore, she can see them clearly!
And Rinoko is probably the best suited to defeating the bad guy, but Aru is the only one without an opponent. Rinoko is pulling double-duty on the bad guys. Even with the pilot of the boat dead, that still leaves the three on the river, AND the Genjutsu caster.
So Aru just starts running, leaping through the trees, trying to close in on the sneaky illusion master, and if possible, to simply come barreling out of nowhere like Aoiko did to Suzu, and Juuken the jerk's brains out!
Suzu is slowly regaining her senses and staggers to her feet with some effort, using the tree that 'broke her fall' (and nearly broke her head) as a brace with one hand, while trying to use her Fire Clone to fight Ikken Hissatsu.
Rinoko manages to electroshock the two male enemies, Togoro looking enraged that this has happened to him for the second time in one fight as he tries to fight against the lightning bindings to no avail, while Ikken's hair frizzes out from static electricity.
Aru's charge towards the enemy, honing in on his exact position, works out just fine. Because Nameless Genjutsu user is stuttering in terror as he forms hand seals, muttering to himself, "O-okay! Okay! I can transplant an e-eye from the Uchiha wo-woman into Aoiko-sama, and it'll be j-just fine! N-next though, I'll make them all th-think that their own allies are the e-enemy, and—!"
But then Aru just comes surging up out of the leaves right in front of him like a pale-eyed agent of doom, and he freezes. "E-eh?" Then she pulls back her hands in preparation to use Juuken. He freaks out. "EHHHHHHHH!?!"
There are a series of thumps and bludgeoning sounds and then the buck-toothed badgermole-looking tree-hiding JERK comes tumbling down out of the trees to land on the ground with his Chakra disrupted and his head severely rattled. There won't be any more Genjutsu for the other guys.
With Nonon aiding in locking down Aioko with a blinding flash of lightning, Suzu takes that opportunity to have her Fire Clone get out of the way, and then she finishes forming hand seals. Then she inhales deeply, straining that fishnet undershirt of hers to its limits as her torso swells…. «Hiton: Goukakyuu no Jutsu! (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!)» and then she breathes out a huge sphere of flame that completely engulfs Aoiko, Ikken, and Togoro.
The smoking figures stand there for a few moments afterwards. Then a second Great Fireball immolates them AGAIN as Suzu's Fire Clone expends itself repeating the original Suzu's jutsu.
This time, when the steaming, BOILING river finally clears enough to be visible, two bodies like charcoal are drifting down stream. Though barely identifiable, they match the same general shape as Togoro and Ikken, and Suzu doesn't see their Chakra around anymore. She was supposed to take them alive, but… You know. She isn't sure if that's even viable.
Unfortunately, Aoiko is apparently tougher than her companions. Or more insane. Because her first act is to come blasting up out of the water in a manner similar to Aru, trying to nail Nonon in the chin hard enough to daze her, before then slashing at Rinoko with her sword and sending a wave of slicing Chakra flying her way. Aoiko's condition is… Pretty gruesome. Blackened and burnt from head to toe, most of her hair gone, the hole where her left eye used to be is a blackened hole.
"I told you I'd take that eye and I would!" she hisses vehemently. Enemy or not, this is one hardcore chick.
"I could've sworn I just said NOT to kill them," Rinoko says as she watches the scene unfold. She had planned on sneaking up on the Genjutsuist and binding them, but that's out the window, and now two of the people they could've question were just obliterated by Suzu. Now she just has to hope the two stronger shinobi can be taken, but that's going to be a lot more difficult. She lets out a heavy sigh as she brings her hands into a seal to activate a tag on her vest that creates a giant wall of chakra in front of her temporarily. As it fades she flicks a pair of tags out again with intent to use that same electrical binding on the remaining extra crispy enemy, at least attempting to monitor the amount of damage done so these two can live long enough to give up any valid information they may have.
Nonon just SAW Aru use this move! This time, she's ready! When she doesn't notice one of the enemies present among the others, she immediately leaps up into the air, and turns to face downwards, right as Aoiko comes surging up out of the river at her. She catches the attack meant to stun on her on her forearm, and then kicks down at the back of the enemy's neck while she's sending chakra slice waves at Rinoko.
This fixation on stealing eyes… Nonon doesn't much care for it to be honest! "I admire your determination," she gasps out wetly, things still bleeding internally that haven't magically stopped just because she stuck paper over the exterior puncture wounds. "But I must insist you stop hurting my friends." Then she blurs out of sight, and attempts to ram her arm at super speed through charcoal lady's shoulder, attempting to sever one of her arms.
If she can handle being nearly burned to death, she can handle losing an arm.
It's logic.
Hopefully Rinoko doesn't electrocute Nonon in her rush to keep using that move while an ally is in range.
Aru finishes with Genjutsu jerk, and takes the time to tie him up so he doesn't just escape whenever he regains his senses. In that brief period, she hears two enormous FWOOOOSHes of fire and sees the forest lit up crimson, radiating from the river. Something big is going down over there! She also sees a huge wall of Chakra with her Byakugan, and starts heading back towards the others. But probably not quickly enough to make a difference.
The fierce chakra projectile hurled by Aoiko seems to have not penetrated Rinoko's own Chakra barrier. She is prepared to correct that by using a stronger technique when Nonon kicks her in the back of the neck, distracting her. The next thing she knows, she's electrocuted by that same nasty attack that kept impairing her allies, unable to attack. And right after that, her arm gets punched off at the shoulder. She shrieks more in rage than in pain at this point, because her whole body is pain, and spins around to slash at Nonon with a Chakra-infused kick that cuts through trees on the opposite shore from where she stands upon the river. She continues her turn, slicing that Chakra wave towards Rinoko. Any normal opponent would have given up, fallen unconscious, or simply died by now.
She should have succumbed to shock at least! Instead she's still fighting. Insanity? Desperation? Determination? All of them? Whatever motivates her, that Chakra wave slice kick is simply a highly-lethal distraction.
Because as Suzu herself tries to focus enough Chakra to assist in taking down this lunatic enemy after everything she's thrown at her has failed to do the job, Aoiko surges forwards and rams Suzu's head into that tree again, this time using her open palm against Suzu's already bloody face. Suzu's attempts to fight back result in getting the back of her head plowed into the tree trunk twice more, each time splintering the wood from the force of it.
When Suzu's arms go limp and flops to her sides, from where they were trying to wrestle with the charred, smoke-scented limb of her enemy, Aoiko prepares to dig her fingers into the socket and claim her prize.
But with one side blind to Rinoko and her back to Nonon, she seems to be vulnerable to attempts to rescue the Uchiha ninja!
Though she flings up another wall, this time Rinoko actually suffers a bit of damage as the arc of chakra slices her and sends her back into a tree with blood dripping down her abdomen.. Still not down… At this point Rinoko figures whatever this lady hopped up on isn't going to let her go unconscious until she's dead, and it's not worth letting her bash Suzu's brains in to have two captives instead of one. With that decision made, Rinoko stands and flings another pair of tags in the woman's direction, the first yet anoter lightning trap tag intending to bring her attack to a halt by locking her body up. The second… is not nearly as kind as it bursts into a powerful jet of flame directly at her face with intent to blow her head clean off her shoulders to stop her attack once and for all. As the techniques go off, she calls out, "Nonon, get Suzu out of there!"
Unfortunately, Nonon is in no position to rescue anyone, because in addition to the hole through her torso that is making her quite woozy and unable to breathe properly, she seemingly just got slashed across her belly with that Chakra slice kick. Thankfully, if Rinoko's paper armor is still covering her, the cut doesn't go deep enough to cut her in half as it did to those trees so easily. However, she's still in very bad shape, barely sustaining the concentration necessary to kneel on the river's surface as she slumps, one hand to her stomach to do what she can to keep her insides on her insides.
When this Aoiko slams Suzu into the tree repeatedly and Rinoko makes her attempt to rescue her, Nonon gets up, lurches, and has to stop due to the sheer pain of moving.
She is unable to get to Suzu in time.
It looks like Suzu is doomed. The enemy has her, Nonon is unable to act, and what happens if Aoiko dodges Rinoko's attacks or something? The Uchiha kunoichi seems pretty unable to defend herself. This whole mission has been a series of crisis points, seeming changes in who is going to come out on top, and unpredictable circumstances. But for the second time in one battle, Aru pops up right when she's needed most, and tries to Juuken Aoiko in the spine, poke-poke-poking her, using a technique that she saw Reime use once before. She has already damaged the tendons in this enemy's legs once, and it still didn't kep her from acting, from moving, from fighting, or using her Chakra in such a highly lethal way… Even with the pathways in her legs damaged. This is either a very high-level Chuunin they're facing, a Jounin, or just some who is WAY more determined to succeed than any of them are.
Aru is pretty sure if she had suffered half the damage their enemy had, she'd be crying on the ground, not still fighting to steal someone's eyeball. At BEST she'd be trying to escape or find someplace to hide.
But with their opponent distracted, and in this condition, maybe even Aru can make a difference. She certainly hopes so. She doesn't want her first major mission beyond that map retrieval thing to result in the loss of her comrades.
Rinoko throws her electrocution tag. One of the problems with using the same technique over and over is that it gives an enemy a chance to observe it and develop counters to it. While it may not be the most eloquent of counters, the Lightning Seal is defeated… By Aoiko turning to face Rinoko with Suzu still in-hand, and using her as a human shield against it. Suzu gets shocked on top of the head trauma she has already suffered. Grand!
Making as though she intended to steal Suzu's eye right then and there might simply have been a feint. She appears to even have been expecting Nonon to come at her, because there's more Chakra gathered around her foot, prepared to pierce the Namikaze kunoichi once again.
She only has one hand, so her combat options are limited, but even so, she is making the most of everything she has. Truly, it is highly unlikely anyone here has ever seen an enemy more determined, more resilient, more adaptable, than this stranger they don't even know the country of origin for. Unlike Togoro, she has exhibited no Explosion Release, so she might not even be a Toujitakumi.
But she was working with them, and all for what purpose? To steal a Sharingan? Or was Suzu just a target of convenience when what they'd meant to do is lure and kill Konoha ninja?
Questions that might never be answered, because right as Aoiko sneers at Rinoko and plans to leap backwards out of the path of that flame seal, she feels fingers stab into her like senbon needles, the digits themselves not doing much damage, but the Chakra extended from them tearing apart the things that let her spine works, the connections between cells in her Chakra pathways.
"Y-you…!" she begins, but never finishes.
As her arm goes limp and drops the electrocuted Suzu to the ground, the flame seal detonates against her head, burning it clean off her neck.
The decapitated body remains standing for a few seconds. Then it begins to stagger forward, a few steps, no brain to transmit signals to do so, and a spine incapable of transmitting them if there was one. The body raises its arm again… And then falls forward, landing on the ground alongside Suzu, finally, truly dead for good.
Rinoko winces slightly as the tag's attack hits Suzu rather than Aoiko, but the next tag serves its purpose just as it was intended to thanks to Aru's attack. Rinoko lets out a sigh of relief as the headless body slump and fall, though an eyebrow is lifted as it acts for a few moments without its head. "That… was an ordeal," she says, almost a bit too nonchalant for what they just went through. She steps over to the others, reaching into her coat to grab some bandages, which she tosses over to Nonon and Aru. "Patch yourselves up as best you can then you can just drag our presents for the ANBU back to a rendezvous point. I'll carry Suzu." With that she steps over to the Uchiha girl, leaning down to wrap her arms around her and pull her up then shift around so she can pull her up on her back before she stands. It's a little diffcult to do so since she's not the strongest, but she is the least injured of them all. She takes a few moments to adjust Suzu and herself so she can carry her more comfortably then looks to the other two to see if they are ready yet.
Nonon manages to retain her Chakra control long enough to get off of the river and onto to dry land, by which point Suzu has been saved (kind of), and the enemy has been taken down. Aru really pulled through, and it seems like Rinoko did most of the damage. Well, Suzu did a lot of damage too with her fireballs… And Aru presumably took down the Genjutsuist who could have made their lives miserable during this fight and DID get Nonon stabbed. And who knows if they could have taken down that Aoiko if she hadn't been in such poor condition, missing an arm AND an eye…
Okay, so they all contributed. But Nonon still feels like she could have done better. But right now, she is putting aside her personal feelings to analyze the condition logically. As she catches the bandages thrown to her, Nonon wheezes out woozily, "I don't… Think bandages… Work on… Internal… Organs." Then she tries peeling up her thoroughly blood-soaked kimono and stuffing the bandages in the hole as though to demonstrate. Doesn't quite work. She honestly shouldn't even be walking around right now. One thing is apparent. If Nonon survives to make it to a Medic-Nin, they need someone capable of healing on at least one of these squads. Maybe both.
Nonon slumps onto Aru, no longer able to retain consciousness due to all the blood loss. Her breathing is weak and she looks very pale.
Aru is okay. She isn't really injured. So after watching somewhat horrified as the headless charcoal woman staggers forwards like she intends to go after Rinoko from beyond the grave, and the declaration that the mission is over is made, she catches the bandages and tries to help wrap them around Nonon's slashed belly. Suzu probably needs medical treatment too, but right now she at least isn't bleeding internally.
Aru can see inside of Nonon, and what kind of damage there is, and echoes the Chuunin's statements. "She needs help immediately, or I can't be sure she'll survive the trip back to the Hidden Leaf." As Nonon falls on her, Aru yelps a bit but quickly moves to support her. Forget about prisoners and corpses. They have to get their comrades help!
The Hyuga starts scanning around, desperately, trying to find something… ANYTHING that can help them…!
Then a miracle happens. As Suzu is strapped to Rinoko's back to make her easier to carry, and as Nonon seems doomed to die, and the prisoner and corpse may need to be left behind, Aru may spot what appears to be a trio of human-shaped figures with strong Chakra in the area, headed their way. Possibly drawn by the sounds of battle. And once they arrive…
Team 13B, plus Suzu, are greeted with the welcome news that there's a skilled Medic-Nin on this patrol team. She'll treat Nonon and Suzu, and help get them back to the Village. And the other two will make doubly-sure to get the prisoner and this source of intel back to Konoha as well, through a very sneaky method.
The corpse, being just inanimated matter now, gets put in a scroll. Even the two that floated down stream will be retrieved and get the same treatment. The Genjutsu using prisoner will be blindfolded and gagged, being already bound by Aru, and that will leave the medic and the remaining member of the rescuing team to get the injured Nonon back to the Village, with any additional assistance that Rinoko and Aru need with Suzu or with themselves.
This mission almost ended in tragedy multiple times. But the perseverence and ingenuity of the team saw them through… And with no little amount of luck.
