Starring:
Odin (emitter), Kiji, Naoya
Date: March 18, 2015
Summary:
With the continuation of the Chuunin exams, death, trauma, and betrayal find the Aspirants
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"First Kiri Exams - Visions of Failure"
Kirigakure
The Aspirants are startled out of sleep by a loud explosion and a quake that set the walls humming.
The 27 genin rose out of their cots in the darkness, torchlight bursting in as the door to the makeshift barracks is thrown open by the guard outside. "Everyone evacuate to the arena for roll call now!" he commanded. "Something's happening!"
The doors to the arena slammed open, the guard on the other side of it shouting "EVERYBODY GET OUT OF H-"
Another explosion of sound cut him off as half of the barracks abruptly disappeared, revealing the open night sky, the arena beyond and the giant flaming meteor bouncing across it towards the dam. It continued on, hitting the dam of bone and rushing through it.
In that moment, the Aspirants lost one of the guards and 18 of their peers and competitors. This left only 9 of them, one more guard, half of a burning barracks and… the distant sound of tortured bone.
The dam shattered, releasing a deluge of water to rush towards the Aspirants with hungry, frothing speed.
Kiji slept lightly so when the boom hit and the door flew open she was already on her feet, chakra charging. She glanced around at those about her, opening her senses and checking each of them, marking thier signatures. She burst from the barracks on the heels of the guard, crimson vines already coiling up her arms. She glanced around, trying to assess what was happening.
Another explosion and she turned to look at the dam. The water rushing at them made Kiji leap into the air, blood whips bursting from her body, arms, shoulders, hips. Her eyes were golden and ringed in orange as she leapt into the air, her whips reaching out to snatch the other entrants in danger, lifting them on top of the roof. "NAOYA-SAN!"
She did not turn away from the dam, taking in the fact that there was no dam anymore, just a world of flame and soot and water. She shook her head before turning to continue trying to pull people to their feet and to the roof. Naoya managed to pull her back and snap her mind back to the present. "Thanks, Naoya-san." It occurred to her to possibly check for a genjutsu, But she turned instead, if this was reality it came first. She followed her senses to help more people out of the water and up to a safe height, working in tandem with Naoya. Screw competition, this was an emergency.
The young Okumo has been perched along a wall, held as such in his sleep through his own silk and stayed there for a time when chaos began to ensue. Looking around, his eyes snap to the door as the voices of panic began to ripple through the area. 'No.. stay..' was grumbled softly as the doors were forced open.
Pose to bolt, Naoya stops when the explosion ripped through the door way and most of the building, causing the bare skies to begin shining through. Without much of a pause, he kicks off upwards, jumping from his perch up and into the air, landing on part of the exposed roofing. Moving a hand up to his face, the young Okumo's eyes dim into a darker amber '..spotted Tsiro.' Looking back, his hand clinches at the air and whips it downwards towards the gaping hole.
"Winning like this is pointless, those who can't jump, climb!" As he spoke, silk rapidly is spun from the whipped arm, forming a thick column of stronger than steel fibers to slow into the room. As he worked, several spiders inform him of the dangers as well as something he has over looked, a tasty Shimizu. With a snarl, he extends his other hand and whips it forward, though this time trying to snare Kiji within his webbing. "Forget it! Everyone out, now! Explain later."
Jerking his head, he falls silent but his eyes begin to dim slightly more. The Okumo's brood began to flee from within their host sending out several groups of five as scouting parties, attempting to assess the damages outside.
Everything was happening so swiftly.
There was only one other who'd had the reaction time of Kiji and Naoya, a Hozuki Rin launching herself onto the damaged roof next to the Okumo. The rest looked around in stunned surprise, some with their eyes on the incoming floodwaters, others looking at the scorched remains of the barracks where many once breathed, and some looking to the pillar of silk created by the Okumo.
"MOVE," bellowed the guard, leaping onto the pillar.
The command snapped them from the hold of shock, training taking over as they all rushed towards the rooftop, many opting to stay on the silk rather than test the damaged stone. Most had their eyes turned towards the tide marauding from the destroyed dam, but quickly turned away from it and towards the village, soon realizing what the chuunin would speak. "We're not safe; The waters will sweep everything away!"
"Wait!"
From below, back within the barracks, shouted a corpse. Or rather, what should be one. Kaguya Genma, a favorite of the exams and currently crawling towards the white bridge reaching skywards, his legs nowhere to be found to be put to use. "Help me…!" he called on tortured, vibrating breath.
But there was no time to help a dead man. Not with the wave rushing in and certainly not what the rest of the Aspirants saw now that their perch atop the building provided the proper view.
The village was revealed in a light the group had never seen before. Fire. Both in the sky and on the ground, fire streaked and lent its illumination to their home. The meteor that crashed into the barracks had just been one of many…
Kirigakure was under attack.
Kiji stood on the webbing much like others, her whips coiled about her as she took stock of what was going on. This was so strange, the whole thing was strange. She decided it was best to test the theory now as she made her way to the webbing columns where Naoya was she reversed her chakra, causing a feedback and.. nothing changed. Not a genjutsu. Very well.
She looked up at Naoya and then down at Rin and the unfortunate Genma. She would pray for him later if it was appropriate. There was no saving him. But others could be saved. Her senses reached out and she narrowed her eyes as they turned crimson and her blood rushed in her veins. People… chakra.. Inside? She shook her head and looked around. She did not know much about Rin but Naoya she could trust in the swamps. "Naoya-san! There is a group of people fleeing into the swamps, go there! Your spiders can save them in the trees for now." She looked down then to the Hozuki, no ounce of pride in her expression, simply grim control and certainty. "Rin-san. There are people fleeing toward the gates! You can help them there. Get them to higher ground." Then she looked at both of them. "I'm going to the Administration center. Be aware and be careful!"
Kiji turned then and propelled herself forward heading straight for the administration building and Meruin. She would be more use there where things would be coordinated despite her combat ability. She'd proven that in the past in any case. And if placing the sensor by the administrator got her expelled so be it. For the moment she had to trust the other took her info and went with it as she tried to out run what was behind her….
'Peh.. I know.. I know..' A snarl crosses the young Okumo's lips as he looks back down into the hole before his arm whips forward again, producing another tendril of silken cabling but this time he focuses it on landing at the ground in front of Kaguya Genma. Not a word is said openly as the Naoya lowers down and anchors it to the other columns.
"Don't linger, the building's going to keep falling.. Head up someone else is coming, might be aid but don't rely on it!" were his final words before he himself takes off under Kiji's advice, heading northwest, deeper into the village trying to cross the distance to make it to the gate of the blood marshes. The silk around the young Okumo begin to tense as chakra flows around him, likely making him easier to notice for sensors but also it bolstered his speed notably.
As he ran, he would prepare clutches of spiders before hand, groups of five once again. Each time the young Okumo would land, he would deposit another group, group after group would relay back and forth with their host, attempting to give a larger over view of the full village, not just what was going on around the host body.
Hozuki Rin's liquid eyes glowed in the light of the meteors.
The image was disturbed as Kiji spoke her name, causing her to blink and look to the Shimizu. A group of people fleeing to the gates? She knew the Shimizu to be a sensor — apparently of some caliber.
"Hai!" she said with a nod, determination entering her face before she leapt from the building to the southwest.
"Wait!" The voice raised this time was the guard's.
But Kiji, Naoya, and Rin had already left, dashing towards their respective destinations. Quickly, he addressed the others, saying, "We've got to get to the Mizukage fast. The administration center. But we might not be able to outrun the waves. Don't fight them; Use them. Ride them." And with that, he leapt upwards as high as he could, the others looking back at the frothing surge before doing the same…
Down below, Kaguya Genma coughed a splatter of crimson on the ground beneath him as he pulled himself to the tether Okumo Naoya, a once rival, created for him. He was only half, his legs gone, replaced by a glinting trail of his lifeblood but he was determined to survive. He reached the silk, grabbed it in an unyielding grip and pulled himself up. Another reach, another grab, his gritted teeth and a few more struggling feet. He was reaching for his next handhold when the undammed waters hit the barracks and crushed them, sweeping the 14 year old up in its unmerciful maw and pushing past to swallow up passerby, including the shinobi that'd been sent to summon them to the Mizukage.
The torrent pushed on, allowing nothing to deny its might as it began leveling buildings and consuming people as it rushed from its confines, so far only tamed by the chuunin guard and the Aspirants who'd stayed. A meteor crashed into a pavilion just before it and was soon sent back into the sky from the impact with the waters, smashing into another meteor and raining down satellites. One of those swept up was Hozuki Rin, the girl crushed to the ground and pulled into the current when she could no longer outpace the tsunami.
The guard atop the surf caught sight of Kiji, letting out a vehement swear and shouting to her in warning, his voice drowned out by the bellow of the tides.
Naoya, however, had displayed enough speed to escape the reach of the released tsunami, training and transformation serving him very well. His travels made him bear brief but grim witness to pandemonium, people running through the streets in panic screaming of the end. There were some who simply sobbed. Others who robbed and assaulted, men who tore at the clothing of women and children who screamed for parents that did not appear. Here and there were signs of shinobi, some singular and others in small groups, some seeming lost and others attempting organization.
Soon, though, he would reach the gate to the blood marshes, seeing a group of Kirigakure shinobi already in combat with something Naoya may find fully familiar. An Abomination. A giant 'spider' of far, far too many eyes and upwards of 18 serrated legs on its form. It is known to have blood of acid and to be encased in durable chitin, terribly swift and uncontrollably violent. It is known to be a beast of war within the Okumo Clan, and the only foes around wear Mist Headbands, one of them leaping away from one of its legs and releasing a fireball at its head. There are already two shinobi down, one alive but too injured to do anything but leave the other twelve to continue the battle.
Kiji did not need to hear the guard in order to hear the water. She reached out with her whips and snared them on a building, swinging herself up and onto the waves that she would not outrun any longer, surfing and staying above the current with her chakra. But Kiji had exceptional chakra control. She forced more chakra into her feet than she needed to stay atopit, and kept her forward of the wave, using it to propel her ahead. Skating this way and that she avoided buildings and trees, avoiding a collision. In her mind's eye she felt Rin go down and frowned but kept on her path. Casualties were not a good thing but there was other reasons to do as she was doing. Ignoring the guards, ignoring the casualties for the moment, she headed for Meruin.
Meruin was what mattered here. She had once sworn to defend his life with hers and even that of her fellows if need be. Tonight that resolve was being tested in her mind's eye and she went for her Master.
The fragments raining down around her were defended against by her whips, two of which came out of her back shoulders to cover her blindspot there, dashing aside the various pieces of debris. Then the adrenaline struck. She felt more alive, more awake, more alert… And she felt the surge push her past her current level of control and into the next. Her eyes reflected this, losing all color and ending as black as death. With the added power boost Kiji gathered her chakra into her feet and launched herself forward with a burst of added speed like a bullet aimed straight for the administration building.
She landed on the outside of the building itself with a crash, her hands and feet sinking into the wall of stone an inch or so as it absorbed her speed. Next she located Meruin with her senses. wait… Three? She narrowed her eyes and found that one remained behind as the other two headed for where she sent Naoya and Rin. Very well. Good even. Quickly She moved to enter that window where the solitary Meruin was, pushing it open until she got inside and then closing it though it would probably not provide much against that water if it reached that high.
She turned then. "Mizukage-dono!" If Meruin was near the window and in any danger she would actually attempt to shove him to the side of the window itself as glass shattered before stone….
The sight of pillaging now of all times began to eat at the young Okumo. The silks wrapping around him continues to tighten, poising to strike but then his eyes become distant, almost blind to a point as he lands once again. 'Yes.. Follow them.. this one will turn it away.' Landing once again, another batch of the brood is released to scout, several of the spider group scatter, moving toward to watch but not interfere with any crimes and savagery going on, they were tasked with watching and hiding, nothing more.
For his part, the young Okumo wasted no time and whips his left arm forward without waiting to assess much of the scene, he knew roughly what the creature was but it was the first time seeing it up close. The whipping of his arms causes several kunai to hurl forward, each one tethered with thin strands of silk, allowing him to manipulate them mid flight, their target was the large creature's eyes.
Wise enough to not land onto the ground, Naoya stays up in the tree line, elevated while he begins to assess to see if the group had managed to actual wound the be creature rather than just annoy it. Using his right hand, he slips a hand to grip onto an ivory hilt, drawing it out carefully. Rather than tusk or animal bone, the hilt was wrapped in his own silk but the blade was one piece of shaped Kaguya bone with a honed edge.
From within his office, the Mizukage stands behind his desk, hand sifting through seals. The sound of his hands clapping together resounds throughout the room before his slams his hand through the wood of his desk… leaving it entirely unharmed. Indeed, it seemed almost as though the desk were illusory, posing no resistance to his body. Slowly, brows drawn, the man pulled his arm back out of the desk, revealing an ornate scroll held between his fingertips.
It quickly vanishes within his robes and the man moves towards the window, pausing at the loud crash moving through his building. His eyes narrowed the slightest margin and he looked out of the window to see the oncoming wave and Kiji swiftly appearing and pushing through it, garnished in deadly crimson tendrils. As she pushed her weight into him, he moved a foot backwards, cushioning the momentum and remaining unmoved — indeed, he brought his foot back forward, pushing her from him.
"Shimizu Kiji," he said, surprised.
It is then that the sound of a patter of thumps on stone reaches their ears, the chuunin guard and the 6 other Aspirants landing on the outside wall before the wave strikes… breaking against the administration building, below his window. Too much of its momentum had been spent in the journey; the only damage done was a cold spray on those nearby.
With that threat passed, the group from the barracks entered the room along with ten shinobi who'd been in the hall outside of his office while Meruin did his business.
"It is well that you are here," spoke Meruin to Kiji's peers, not addressing her directly. "The village is under attack. There are forces approaching from the Blood Marshes but the majority audaciously attack the gates directly. There is a group already there defending our village; We go to lend them our aid now. Prepare yourselves for combat. There will be screams in our night and blood in our mists — we will be sure of it. Come!"
He started towards the window but paused, looking back to Kiji. "But for you, Shimizu Kiji. Go to the Medical Center and take shelter. We do not require your hindrance." And with that, he leapt from the window, path taking him towards the gates, the others swift on his heels, the situation too critical to spare Kiji any more time.
At the gates of the Blood Marshes, Naoya's blades would streak forward towards the Abomination. Each of them would connect, but of the each of them only one would hit an eye, the rest only bouncing off of the creature's chitin. And the eye that it /did/ hit was not on the mutant's head but on one of the many legs on its back. It popped under the kunai, leaking a viscous blood that made its armor sizzle, beginning to eat at it.
"Okumo Naoya."
Meruin's shadow clone landed near the boy within the same tree, saying, "It is fitting you are here; This battle is very much yours. How will you act?"
Below, a Kiri-nin brought broad blade into hand from his back, bellowing as he dashed towards and alongside the abomination, weapon cutting through a trio of legs. It got him sprayed with the caustic blood, leaving him screaming as his flesh burned but it also unbalanced the creature enough to make it fall into its own pool of acid with a piercing whistle. It was a moment of weakness that could swiftly be taken advantage of.
But the Mizukage only stood, watching Naoya.
Kiji could see the displeased look on Meruin's face as she burst into his office and tried to bodily shove him aside. But she'd tried anyway. His physical strength far outmatched her own and she had hoped to use surprise of the assault to get him to safety should the wave reach his office window. But he pushed back and she gave way, wincing ever so slightly as the building trembled around and under her. For a moment she had prepared to block the window with her own body should the wave reach them, but it broke harmlessly enough below and she let out a sigh of relief as the others followed her in.
Meruin's words were stirring and at first she lifted her head, black eyes locked on Meruin as he spoke, informing them of the situation. A group approaching from the blood marshes?! That wasn't good. And one at the gates. Rin was already dead, killed by the wave, but Naoya? She took a moment as Meruin spoke rousingly to open her mind again and reach out far to the corners of the village, searching for Naoya's signature specifically and making note of those around him.^T^Y And then Meruin looked down at her. His words left her in shock for several seconds. She was being told to hide? She was worth nothing to him in this fight? Even as a sensor? She blinked several times as he turned his back on her, a numbness creeping over her heart and through her veins. It made her feel the blood pulsing in he, through her heart, and as he disappeared from sight a single tear slid down her cheek.
And then she turned to face the window, to look at the destruction below her… Whips crashed through the glass of the window… Her jaw set.
She had sent Naoya to the blood marshes. She would go there as well. She could sense the large chakra signature there as well as Naoya. She could tell he was fighting. She set her jaw and through the broken out window she flew, heading straight for Naoya's signature. The whips wrapped around branches and attached to buildings, acting like rubber bands to propel her forward as fast as she could move, the wind whistling in her ears, her white braid floating in the wind behind her. Held within that braid was three secrets she carried with her. And as she moved, a crimson ring slowly showed in her eyes, the stage beyond Blood Rage, the stage she had yet to master, but her expression was dead, not angry. Something within her had snapped and changed.
As she got closer she spotted 'Meruin' simply watching Naoya , was he goading the boy on? She circled around watching the shadow clone warily for a moment and tried to get behind the spider. She could sense Naoya's brood 'seeds' spread out through the area and paused by one, still in the shelter of the trees. Speaking to the grouping she whispered, "Do you want my aid Naoya-san? Or shall I go to the gates?" His answer would decide her location.
Clucking his tongue, Naoya watches as only one of his blades makes its mark while the other pair of blades only strike chitin deflects off harmlessly. 'Least one made the mark though.. peh.. no.. not like us at all.. no control over it.' Shaking his head lightly he watches until he tenses as the Mizukage appears behind him. Not turning around, several of the spiders loose from his neck turn and focus onto the clone.
"Patience.. Killing it isn't necessary. Attacking it out right will be a bother, it only needs to leave the village, we have other issues currently. Moving forward slightly, Naoya stays still for a time, watching as one of the larger shinobi down below strike at the spider, severing several of it's legs onto to suffer from the toxicity of it's blood. 'Interesting.. we will try.' With out a word towards the Mizukage, Naoya would only bow slightly before flicker stepping around rapidly, trying to have his movement left unnoticed while he raises a hand to the side of his head.
The spider within Kiji's line of sight, simply stares are her for a time before the set move at once but then each one comes to a pause, turning inward evaluating before half of the group point towards the village gate, the other half towards the gates with the Okumo monstrosity, no clear answer. From his perch a distance behind the creature and towards the blood marshed, the young Okumo closes his eyes, relaxing his body though his chakra would spike. It was a low chance, mixed with insanity though which causes his own brood to largely seem disconnected with him, he began to focus onto the creature, forcing his senses to connect to it, opening a line of communications. 'You are just a larger one.. you /will/ listen.. you /will/ yield..'
"I do not believe you understand," Meruin spoke as Naoya vanished.
The chuunin Aspirant's motion, meant to deceive and veil only seemed to attract the creature's attention as the first move it made as it pulled itself out of its own ichor was towards the Okumo. And towards him again as he brought himself to a new location — again, upon the boy with a blurring speed and pausing as it found its mind touched by the insect communicator.
The Abomination's mind was all jagged edge, made of chaos and movement and hunger and pain. There was nothing to its consciousness for Naoya to latch onto to exert his dominion, no law to its intellect. But the effort and the foreign touch was enough to press a confused pause to the creature.
Naoya had served as a distraction more than longer enough for another shinobi to finish proper hand seals and clap their hands together, shouting, "Suiton: Pure Water Spear!" A jet of water shot from their mouth, rending the ground before traveling towards the Abomination, cutting through its body and taking down a multitude of foliage in the distance.
The broken creature released a gush of its caustic blood, still living despite being cut in half, releasing airy screeches as it's many serrated legs flailed, all of this a danger to Naoya.
And yet, Meruin spoke calmly as he appeared nearby but out of range, saying, "This battle is not about the Abomination. It is about our clan. The Okumo have joined our enemy, whomever they are." The Mizukage's brows lowered further, darkness seething within his expression. "And they have done so without their failed experiments. That means you, boy who cannot separate his mind from that which he is supposed to have mastery over." He looks deeper into the blood marshes.
"That means I."
Kiji's eyes narrowed as she watched the spiders give her not a clear answer to anything. Figured. She looked up again, watching Naoya as he moved, tracking him with her mind when he went out of view. He was .. trying /something/ with the spider, but all she could sense was a similar signature between them. She did not understand what exactly he was up to. But she knew her energies were low and she took the moment to focus more chakra into her core, likely flaring her existence to the Meruin clone but it was necessary. She watched Naoya prove useful as a distraction against the great Abomination and the Shadow Clone's reaction to it.
Kiji stopped cold. The Okumo were attacking Kirigakkure? Her eyes narrowed and she opened her senses again…. There. From the North. She leaned down and spoke to the spiders again. "From the North. a whole group. Large spiders, shinobi as well. I'm heading there."
And she shifted through the trees, staying out of visual sight (technicly) and heaading for the approaching force. She was still as cold as she had been and she wasn't exactly sure if she went to join the attacking force or stop it.. But she was heading that way with her whips aiding her speed through the canopy…
'Test test.. always testing tests… We'll pass.' So focused on his plan little else would come into focus, not even the creature's movements that hinted it noticed him still. Once his mind began to seek out the creature, he winces as the only response he gained brought him pain and almost cost him his footing. Opening his mind, the once almost faded blind amber eyes were bright and vibrant, yet filled with anger.
"Useless piece of trash.." was growled out as he turns to move from his vantage point but he pauses, just in time to watch as the creature was sundered by the water pressure of one of the water manipulators from below. Tossing his ivory blade from one hand to the next, Naoya frees his right hand as the creature continues to try and move in its state.. This time he lingers when he could hear the Mizukage again, it causes him to become still for a time especially when his own short coming are brought to light.
It would only be for a moment, but the young Okumo spoke again, "The clan did not leave, several fools left. The fools that would earn the ire of those left behind and ire of the Hidden in Mist village. Their 'failed' experiment will cull the deserters. We will continue. We will improve. We will perfect.." With his words shared, the young Okumo began to blur with speed again but towards the creature in a way. Naoya slaps at the ground when he lands, weaving his way between the remaining legs, using them and the ground at anchor points before moving to the trees again, all the while leaving cords of silk to act as bindings, attempting to ensnare the creature and hasten it's fall into helplessness. "If you won't kneel.. die."
Naoya's words brought the ghost of a smile to Meruin's face, the expression subtle and fleeting as he watched the boy traverse the Abomination's whirring blades. "You can share your opinion with our Clan Head, should you meet him in the coming battle," he says, the comment not truly one to be replied to.
The young Okumo's silk found its hold over the flailing form of the enemy, his initial efforts rebuffed by serrated chitin and liquefying blood. But soon enough, the webbing caught on and its movements grew restricted, the acid beginning to pool and eat through its own carapace. The Abomination's writhing became occasional tremors that descended into stillness.
But by this time, Meruin had already turned his attention northward, the other shinobi gathering behind him and doing the same, preparing for whatever his vision revealed to him. He knew of Kiji and her chakra-enriched state, but…
The pulse of an extremely potent chakra suddenly revealing itself coursed through the area, traveling abreast a quake in the ground. The enemy was approaching and its power was staggering. The sky was hit by an abrupt sunrise, yellow and red light brightening its midnight. Brief time soon revealed it to be lava, falling from the skies upon the Kirigakure shinobi and their surroundings.
Kiji was ahead of Meruin's clone and Naoya and she had her senses open and ready, but what she sensed ahead nearly dropped her to the floor of the swamps. No.. could it be? Gaze. She swore again and turned back, intending on heading straight for Meruin's Shadow Clone. But from the sky rained fire and pain, slamming her into the trunk of a tree with enough force to crush a rib or two. She coughed and spit a mouthful of blood at the tree, annoyed. She turned back and came along side Meruin and made sure he could hear her, even if he wouldn't listen. "That "Tsuneo" is ahead, Mizukage." Her tone was flat, not excited, not hot blooded, cold, detached. And she did not wait for an answer before she utilized her ships again to move faster through the trees, heading straight for the spiders. She was no match for Tsuneo, but she could fight the Okumo and she was watched if she did not want some form of revenge against the Okumo…
Large spiders in sight, she narrowed her eyes. Should she attack a spider she would take Naoya's strategy to heart. She trusted his instincts as a spider user… But the spiders would possibly leave or die if their users were killed… This she knew from Sei. So she aimed for the shinobi… She gathered her whips into tails, barbing the ends of each with a thick 'thorn' and swung, a tail for a shinobi's chest, looking to crucify them to the surrounding trees….
'Yes.. move. Use the supplies we brought.. a quarter at most' was softly said as Naoya begins to make his way over towards the Shinobi that had arrived before. His movements were swift but not blindingly so, ending with him kneeling down towards the first man that had been slashed by the acidic blood. Bringing his hands together, he uses water that has begun to pool around them to flush out the wounds. The water was far from clean but it would be better than the unflushed corrosive chemicals.
With the wound flushed, the brood began to bind around the man's injuries, covering them from the air and further infection. Turning his attention from one to the next, Naoya himself began to treat the first man, using a mix of his own salves, chakra and silk to treat the wounds to at least get the man into a standing condition to help others to at least flee himself from the area. "The rest of you, the Candidates are still in the move, some of them are near terminal if not terminal where the Barracks /were/. There are several still in the streets moving.."
Sitting up sharply, the young Okumo snaps his attention to the side, his own eyes dimming again suddenly as he is informed of Kiji's most recent engagement as well as.. 'molten orange stone'. Furling his brows, he turns his head back and to the side to shout, "Multiple fronts! Clans not of Kirigakure are attacking with strange earth techniques! We've begun engaging them." With his report given, he would work to finish what he started before moving to assist Kiji and his over watch
The force that Kiji went up against was one of Okumo rushing towards the entrance of the village, spiders ranging from the sizes of dogs to horses intermingled with the shinobi themselves. And at their very rear was one Yuzen Tsuneo, approaching at a more relaxed pace, a smirk gracing his features.
As he caught view of Kiji, he shook his head. The blood wielder sent barbed spears of blood through the chest of two shinobi, sending them thudding into the trunks of trees. The other three caught view of her, however, in time to leap out of the way of harm. "What is it with you Kirigakure shinobi and running headfirst into death?" he asked.
"You never learn," he says as a great fireball, a shotgun burst of water and a whirring Fuuma shuriken are all sent towards the girl.
Meanwhile, back with the main group, Meruin says, "Tsuneo. The Silence is not yet dead, but now marks our opportunity to finally put it to rest. The battle will not be the easiest but it will be done. Let us show these man that they have already been broken." The Okumo looked to Naoya and the man who'd been bandaged up, turning his gaze then to the wounded but stable man. "To the medical center," he ordered.
And then he turned towards the north, saying only, "Come. Let us see this done," and rushing forward. "We've one in need of aid."
There would be very little travel necessary to bring the enemy forces at the Blood Marsh into view as well as their assault on Kiji. The Mizukage sent out a flurry of shuriken whirring into the crowd, speeding forward to meet them.
Kiji felt the satisfying thud as she impaled two Okumo on her blood spikes. The others dodges but she had announced that Kiri knew they were here… Her black eyes focused on Tsuneo and she dug her heels into the dirt, crouching a little, something she never did. She never crouched or posed in a fight, but now her black and crimson eyes flared coldly, threatening to enter a kind of purple haze but she held still… Tracking always tracking…. Tracking those she had aimed for and missed before.
She zeroed in on one such man and sent her whips out to try and wrap around him, trying to pin him, following it up with a whip crack aimed at his throat, trying to lay op en his jugular in one smooth stroke…
But her eyes were on Tsuneo the entire time. "You should have stayed in the shadows…." Her tone is strange, kind of like she was his friend and simply pointing out a fact… But those eyes showed she was not there to flirt…
With the men taken care of, Naoya recovered and moves to his feet though the comment about the brothers is met with a bit of confusion, the name 'Tsuneo' almost a distant memory of a year ago though 'Silence' was well known. "They were slaughtered before.. we'll slaughter them again. Their pet is dead.. they'll die when I cut them this time." Anger wasn't what was painted onto the young Okumo's face, but possibly a degree of lust.
Licking his lips, the young Okumo's state shifts again as does his poise. Charging forward, he quickly begins to make his way towards Kiji and the brood that has been with her but he doesn't waste his energy fruitlessly or in a display. Focusing his sights onto the Okumo that had let loose the fireball, he would attempt to use his speed to leave the group unknown to his presence until thrusting the bone blade out and towards the target's side to mix its blood with the venom dribbling from the grooved along the edge. "Kneel and you'll be allowed to live, one chance is given," is growled through clenched teeth.
The two forces meet and clash, Okumo and arachnids meeting with those of Kirigakure. Jutsu fly back and forth, glinting metal flitting among the shinobi like silver shooting stars. Blood snares wrap up an Okumo shinobi, following tendrils of the crimson fluid cutting into the man's neck and declaring his death. An ivory blade finds the side of a Silence Okumo to the sound of a pained grunt, the chaos of battle shielding the approach of the failed experiment that pushed it into him.
A sudden spray of strong webbing assaults Kiji from above, an Okumo looking to trap her within it, suspending her above the ground long enough for a spider the same size as the girl to pounce on her, injecting her with its venom.
The Okumo Naoya stabbed growled at the boy, the rough words, "Kneel to a /failure?/ I wouldn't kneel to give you a grave marker." Spider webbing burst from their pores, many tendrils, acid lined, streaking towards Naoya to lash out at him, caustic and toxic in their touch. "Nobody will remember you anyway."
Meruin rushed forward, sifting through the battle to approach Tsuneo as the man scoffed at Kiji. "I thought the shadows belonged to shinobi. Wouldn't want to be rude, would I?" He flashed through handseals as Meruin let loose a stream of black shrapnel at the Dark Manipulation User. Tsuneo responded with a ball of lava that pushed through it, streaking towards the Mizukage.
Kiji looked up as Naoya entered the scene, blinking a few times before turning back to Tsuneo. But death tried to come from above instead. She could sense them and their webbing… In a show of tight control she wove a pattern with her whips above her head, shredding the webs to pieces before catching the pincers aimed at her with her whips as well, spinning them to send the beast spinning off and away.
The Shimizu panted, breathing shallow and hard, She had spent too much energy riding that tsunami and could feel it starting to take it's toll on her. Still, despite the cold expression on her face when that lava made it's way toward Meruin he would find a wall of blood between it and the lava, protecting him even as Kiji leapt backwards, ending on a knee beside Meruin.
When he could see through the cracking and flaking of her blood, burned to ashes by the lava, he might notice that she was bleeding from her eyes and the corner of her mouth, still panting, she prepared to act in a final struggle, by gathering energy to her again, slowing he breathing.. focusing her blood's rage….
The wise thought would be to avoid and return again to strike, but the blood and adrenaline was flowing too freely within Naoya. A crazed grin appears on his lips as he begins to shift in front of his attacker, moving low to slip past then, one of his webbed arms stays extended in the sudden movement, striking at the Okumo's diaphragm before he pivots on his feel, flanking his target. Only two words are forced from his lips afterwards."..Die failure."
Using his spare arms to grasp at his attacker's arms and shoulders, Naoya lurches forward his mouth opened wide. Unless his quarry manages to shake free it was easy to see just what the boy was attempting to do, blackened venom drips from his elongated fangs moments before he bites at the side of the Okumo's throat. Naoya would try not to become lost within the moment, his body tensing, preparing to run after than lose his head over the move.
Meruin's shadow clone grew enveloped in a layer of black chitin, body completely covered by it as the lava fireball shot towards him. His armor was never put to the test, however, as a wall of blood appeared before he and it, the lava blocked by the Shimizu's defense, Kiji soon appearing by his side. He turned to look at her, the mists within his eyes pale and slowly swirling…
And then the real him appeared behind Tsuneo, a black dagger held high above his head, already streaking downwards with the intent of plunging it through the deathless man's skull. Before the strike could land, however, Tsuneo whipped around and grabbed Meruin's wrist in a hand, his other hand streaking out to grab the Okumo by a throat with a bloodthirsty, "Got you…"
And then, with a pulse of cold and energy, the false immortal drew the very chakra from the man's body. With his chakra already split into thirds, there was far less than normal within him and very shortly there was none.
Very Shortly…
Meru's shadow clone's eyes widened. "I'm… dead."
And then it was gone, the Mizukage's corpse tossed to the side as Tsuneo turned his attention back to those before him with a haughty shrug. He looked back to Kiji, "See what I mean?"
The Dark God flashed through more handseals before drawing on the wind affinity of the Mizukage, the final seal bringing a great wind throughout the area. It swept through the trees, lifted the hair from the face of the man Naoya injected with life ending poison, and carried out the cries of the Kiri shinobi who just witnessed the murder of their leader. Sharp blades of wind began cutting through friend and foe alike, Tsuneo no longer caring who was harmed now that the Mizukage was out of the picture. Kirigakure was lost.
Kiji saw the pale tone of the clone's eyes and for a split second she thought she saw a hint of approval.. or was that just her wishing it was there? He had called her a hindrance before and now? Suddenly she sensed another Meruin come up behind Tsuneo. She blinked as she watched… Time slowed to a crawl as if she'd been caught in one of Ishino's time threads. Tsuneo caught Meruin's strike… turned his special draining jutsu on him… Kiji was on her feet just as the clone uttered it's death.
A cry split the night. Kiji wondered who called for Meruin's passing, the cry a screaam and a crying shout all in one… Until she felt her own throat grow raw from the effort. The sound ended as the winds picked up and her eyes bled even more, streams of blood down her cheeks where tears should be if that howl said anything. And then she was flying, caught up int he cutting wind, her small body lifted… and yet.. she was more focused than ever on Tsuneo. Her blood formed something akin to sails and sings, directing her toward Tsuneo rather than away and when she was within range, her tails formed spikes and those spikes sought to impale Tsuneo — with great prejudice — from every possible angle all at once….
'No.. I said no..' Shuttering faintly, the young Okumo draws away from the corpse in his arm, tossing it to the side with a spit of the man's blood that had flowed into his mouth. Looking to the side when he heard the visage of the Mizukage call himself dead, and simply stared at the being before turning towards where the frail image of the Mizukage would be left. Before the young Okumo could investigate such himself, he begins to rotate in the air, forcing his webbing out to intercept the strike but he was far too slow for the sheer force of the bladed wind that rushed force, which shred his webbing and cut into his main body causing his blood to splatter.
Even then, Naoya would continue on his route making his way over towards the corpse of the Mizukage as a focused goal. Extending a hand out by the time he makes it to the corpse, he quickly begins to try to pulse his chakra into the body, trying to confirm what lift was still left within it. 'Quickly.. prepare to start working with me.. even if he sleep deeply.. we can't lose him for now.. he still has uses.. many..' The young Okumo's eyes at this point were far from passionate, a contrast to Kiji, his own were nearly blind.
Tsuneo's laugh rises above the tumult at the sound of his enemies' despair, blue chakra forming a seal array beneath him. Swiftly, a box of energy became his protection, denying the retaliation of Kiji's bloodborne assault and the retaliation of those who launched their own jutsu in response, a pure water spear sending a fine mist into the air.
His humor abruptly morphed into something darker, rage-edged, "I have no idea how any of you impotent idiots ever managed to lay a PEERING /BREATH/ on my brother!"
He raised his hand, saying only "Everyone will die for it."
"Retreat!" called one of the Kiri Shinobi, voice booming with command. He was a Jounin. More, for any who would know enough to recognize him, he was the ANBU Commander. "Retreat to regroup!"
Tsuneo released a pulse of black chakra, unleashing his inhaling maw ability to drain the life force from all those surrounding him, having no allies in this world, Okumo or otherwise.
Kiji sensed the chakra before he seal array was implemented and she swore, that cold expression telling her it was futile to try and follow that attack through… She hoped Naoya would get Meruin's body the eyeball out of there while she could. She was on her way out when she felt the draining effect strike, drawing her energy, her chakra from deep inside her. She tripped as the strength drained from her body and legs, sinking to the street even as she heard the call to retreaat. She watched the Jounin thenturned her gaze to Meruin's body, unable to move, unable to think… Her eyes drained of black, of all color… leaving them pink with disuse, blood still streaaming down her face as she felt Tsuneo pull her life from her.. And then all she saw was Blackness. The whips sprouting from her body fell allabout her, drained of energy as well, staining everything with her blood.
At her neck the hair of her braid moved all on it's own. Three purple spiders slipped out and spun a black web around the girl's body, encasing her while still leaving a way for her to breathe if she was still alive, but left her encased in a protective shell otherwise, still in the night, downed by a superior opponent. As soon as the spiders had encased her in the silk they created a kind of perimeter, gathering her blood where it pooled and carrying it back to the silk, effectively surrounding her with her own blood as well.
The effect of the darkness wouldn't be the first time the young Okumo felt it but the third time. Even as he could feel nothing from the Mizukage he jumps away from the body and begins to try to flood the area with his silk, but the feeling seeped through and quickly began to eat away him him. Shuttering from the effect he manages to stay on his feet, though he couldn't feel the brood screaming in his mind..
Looking around on his own, he begins to call out for Kiji to attempt anything for the mizukage but only to watch her become cocooned herself in a protected space. Tensing his right arm he lashes forward and uses his silk to attach onto Kiji's cocoon with is own silk and tug, rapidly using it to drag her closer towards him as he begins to withdraw while not forcing him to have to deal with a brood that was not only not his, but something he's never seen before. Lashing out his other arm, webbing would encase the Mizukage and attempt to bring them both with him but carrying not one but two near corpses slows him down and using his silk in such a way was leaving him exhausted.
Tsuneo paid no real mind to whether anyone escaped or not. "Run all you would like," he declared, his arrogance as clear in him as it was in his brother. "There is nowhere to hide. The world is mine now and so, you'll see, are your lives…" The dark haired shinobi of millenia past continued striding towards the village hidden in the mist, a low chuckle leaving his throat.
"Run… Run… little Shinobi. What shall you do now?"
The young Okumo fled deeper into the village but then.. past it largely. Naoya didn't linger within the warzone of the Okumo clan it went somewhere likely more dangerous in just a few moment, the Kaguya District south of where they were. While moving, the young Okumo stays low to the ground but when he began to slow down, he would not touch Kiji's shell but would begin to carry the Mizukage's body over his shoulder. His destination would be clear if a Kaguya noticed him, the manor of one of the seven swordsman of the village that would be within a forest of reinforced bone, likely one of the few people that would be highly protective still. "This.. is the last place the invasion will surge.. now.. all of you STAY STILL." Even though he spoke out loud, the boy's skin literally crawled, his brood was in a panic, specially knowing where he was going.
And then.. her eyes opened. It was simple and yet.. What had just… Kiji blinked several times, her hand tingling where she had been branded. The Seal of Judgement…. Slowly she sat up on the cot, dazed and groggy. Looking around at the intact barracks her mind snapped with images of death and battle.. She immediately opened her mind, searching for Meruin, Sei, Kiyoshi and Naoya… Finding them each alive and apparently well. She falls back to the cot for a long moment…. Then she stood up and walked out the door into the arena. If no guard stopped her she was headed for the pits if not the swamps…. Her eyes already turning crimson, her chakra raw and on edge…..
'How.. explain this to yu-cha..' A low growl vibrates low in his throat as his arms begin to bleed slowly from both at he begins to come around, only now seemingly to wake from the nightmareish dream. The mix of the seal seering at his flesh and the brood beginning to panic under his skin at how deeply he was sleeping. Cracking his eyes open, the young Okumo's first reaction to seeing the room was to rapidly crawl backwards and up to the ceiling, and staring at the ground.
'Yes.. YES! I'm awake this time.. that was just a dream? That doesn't make any sense..' Looking around, he shivers faintly but his body was still sore.. 'Tired.. Just.. how much were you biting me?' Almost without thinking, the boy's body began to cloak with silk though his arms more than anywhere as the brood began to repair what they were ruining most of the night. 'Search..' While he was still tired, the brood followed without question and began to extend out to seek out and make a personal head count of each candidate including a certain Kaguya but stayed on the ceiling, not risking losing another loss.
