Starring:
Date: May 24, 2013
Summary:
A solo plot scene during the current Konoha Plot with Hinotori as ANBU trying to stop public execution at the Fire Daimyos that ends in failure, and Hinotori suffering injuries but managing to escape
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Struggle with no reward - Infiltration into the Fire Daimyo's palace"
Land of Fire
Hinotori was tasked with a simple yet important mission. He was to case the location of the upcoming executions (+bbread 12/12) near the imperial palace. And devise a possible strategy of rescuing the people from upcoming execution. Issue is, the location is heavily guarded. And the roads are littered with patrols and small battles, making travel, let alone information gathering a pain!
Having been ordered to gather as much intel he could, knowing the only way to do that was to have him go as his official title of ANBU. Dressed in all black, Hinotori places the last piece of his uniform in place, his mask which is that of a Phoenix. With all the information that is coming, back the Hokage needs more information to be able to better formulate battle stratigies. Knowing this is dangerous, Hinotori had opted for this mission on his own and to be the only one out there. Having giving his aunt a big hug and having her give her words of confidence, he kisses the Hokage on the cheek and smiles though as he turns to leave there is a bit of worry on the Hokages face.
Quickly leaving and flowing out the village, though making one last stop to overlook a few friends as they slept, then out of the village he goes. His steps are silent and he is fast, keeping off the roads but with this being his home, HInotori knows the area very damn well and is able to navigate.
He was lucky, the roads were relatively uninhabited during this time. And occasion loud and mostly blind group of patrols march by, but nothing Hinotori can't handle by just walking around. And thus he nears the imperial palace rather quickly. Issue is, it's now fortified with large encampments around it. There's no way he can sneak past those encampments. He needs to go straight through them!
There is another route he knows of. Ancient tunnels used to sneak the Daimyo out during wartime can be used to sneak into the castle! It would mean avoiding the camps, and if he's lucky… any guards at all. It would put him in the middle of the castle though, which means he needs to sneak out of there before he can observe the plaza the executions will be done upon!
Allowing a breath to escape him, Hinotori crouches down and watches the area from where he is. Fighting would only give away him being there, so it's the tunnels. Which means he needs to be fast and quiet, he needs to be able to move and get a ley of the area. Taking out a scroll, he begins mapping out the way he's come. A skill he's learned from Fuyu-sama some time ago, funny how things you thought you would not use, now comes in handy. He makes notes of each of the encampments around the area as well. Hoping that the tunnels are empty, Hinotori begins making his way there, though only going as far as he can , if there are guards he will stop and see about taking them out quietly in one fast swoop.
Hinotori is in luck, it seems the guards are scared to be out at night, and hence most of them are at the camps, near the fires. Which means he has an easy route to the tunnels. The entrance is blocked by a heavy rock. Which has a paper seal on it as well. Slap, and it's one written for one of the twelve ninja guardians. Luckily for Hinotori it's rather simple to deceipher, and likely within his abilities to do so. He would just need a little time.
Time he doesn't seem to have, he can hear a loud patrol talking about 'taking a whap' and coming his way rapidly through the bushes.
With there not being any guards around, HInotori takes notice of the boulder and seal thats on it. Moving so that he doesn't disturb any of the local fuana as well as the dirt. Hearing a patrol, Hinotori moves towards the barrier, looking at the seal. Taking a moment to read then quickly decoding the seal. He knows rushing will only make him mess up, and trying to hide would be easy but would delay him. If he can get in ebfore the patrol gets tehre and replacing the seal, the patrol will not notice anything. With that in mind, Hinotori moves swiftly decoding the seal then making another to replace the one he just decode. He would then quickly get past the barrier then replace teh seal and place the barrier back in place.
Hinotori made the right decision there, the moment the rock is rolled back in place the guard arrives, not noticing a thing.
The road through the tunnel is long and cold. Though unoccupied. There's tons of spiderwebs which Hinotori would need to make his way through. But otherwise, a straight walk, until he reaches a wall. It's the wall of the Daimyo's war chamber! There's bound to be guards there! Or worse, one of the twelve! The wall can be opened by a handle, but with a bit of bad luck, that would make noise!
Keeping quiet as best he can, with it being cold, that does help him move along. Hinotori keeps vigilent, his sharingan on full right now and as he moves, he knows that the center of the tunnel has water and splashing right now would be very bad due to the noise carrying through the tunnels. It doesn't take him long to get to the end of the tunnel. Checking the walls for any sort of traps, which honestly he feels there wouldn't be would there? He goes and opens the door, but it does open and well there is no alarm, but there is a bit of loud scrapping as the doors open. Well seems like no one actually cleans and checks the door.
Yep, the door made noise. And the guard woke up. "H-hello?" He asks, spear lifted, slowly walking up towards the door and the shadows. There's a brief opprotunity to take him out. He tries stabbing and screaming at the same time as soon as he spots Hinotori. If Hinotori is faster, he would silence the scream, if not… Well then he's in for more trouble!
Hinotori ducks back as the door opens, and as the guard looks in and starts poking his spear about. Once he sees an opprotunity, Hinotori strikes only to have the man scream out before silencing suddenly. Inwardly he cusses, more at himself, Hinotori quickly moves the body into the tunnel and closes the door. He quickly scans the area and looking up mainly for an access point and if he finds it, Hinotori quickly jumps up towards the access and disappears into the tunnels.
"What's that?" A voice says down the hallway. "I don't know, go check it out!" Two guards, wearing heavy chain armor make their way to the war room. Storming into the door with a torch in one hand, and a katana inside the other. Scanning the room closely. for a moment. There's a table in the middle of the room, with enough room to sit underneath. It's however not a good place to sit down, since anyone who would remotely look could immediately see. There's hiding oppertunities with the table however. The rest of the room is plain, just a regular war room. Maps on the walls and a fairly high ceiling. The guards walk in, looking around them. And if they spot Hinotori, they engage right away! Unfortunatly there's no access point on the roof, so he would either need to cut his losses and go back through the tunnels, or try to hide somehow in this room.
Hinotori quickly looks to the table, but what he does think of is quickly using his chakra and positioning himself above teh door. Looking below, HInotori watches as the guards rush inside. He needed to be able to get further inside and find where the executions are being held. Even if seen there is no identifying marks on him to regard him of being from Konoha which is a good thing, but still if he fails those people die and he isn't willing to allow them to die.
"INTRUDER!" Yells one of the guards, pointing up at Hinotori after spotting him. Seems like Hinotori is not on the top of his game. Loud bells begin souding through the entire complex. Loud sirens follow, along with voices and loud steps coming his way. Yep, a small army is on its way to intercept. Hinotori had more pressing things to worry about, each Katana being stabbed at him. They're not that good, yet still elite guards. Practiced with a sword and still a real threat!
Masked knowing that he can't perform any of his typical attacks, so keeping basic but going with more precise strikes. Hinotori flips over the first attack and is glances along his side. He can't allow any more of himself to be cut, he quickly throws a kick to the first mans head, then throwing a spinning back fist strike to the second guards neck. GOing for quick take doens, Hinotori knows that he will need to get out, with the number of guards coming, there is no way he can make it through. Hinotori quickly makes his way back to the tunnel and placing explosive tags along teh door, they are low yeild, he quickly makes his way down teh tunnel.
A small group of ten soldiers are following him. Rushing through the tunnels while trying to catch up, to capture the intruder!
The guards, a good hundred begin following, the tag blows however, cutting off thirty guards from the main army. Still a significant amount, who are running after Hinotori. What's more, they're faster as well! At least at first, one guard reaches him, trying to cut Hinotori up with a sideward slash using his katana. Then a second guard shows up, aiming a tackle from behind, trying to grab Hinotori's legs to throw him to the ground.
Hinotori is caught, as he is tackled, he rolls and is able to avoid more of the guards. Hinotori knows he can't be found out, he henges his eyes to keep them from being noticed. Just normal brown eyes, bringing his hands around and slamming them hard on the guard who has him, hoping to knock the guy out. If he succeedes he will roll backwards away from the guards, at the same time sending out two flame clones as a buffer as he attempts to flee again.
Hinotori his first strike is blocked by the chain armor on the first guy. And worse, his clones are cut clean through, several guards break line, three to be exact. Sending a flurry of attacks towards Hinotori. A spear stabbing at his stomach, a sword coming down at his shoulder and the last one uses a whip, trying to literally beat a chunk of flesh off of Hinotori's arm with a hellcracking crack of his whip. Due to the mob breaking through his attack so quickly he can't manage to escape this round!
Hinotori isn't lost when it comes to defending himself and as each of the guards attacking him. Channeling his chakra through his body, Hinotori is able to dodge out of teh way of each strike thus distancing himself from the guards. Still a good distance to go, Hinotori doesn't slow at all, quickly distancing himself from the mob.
Hinotori manages to dodge the onslaught, and by that, make a break for it. Managing to shake the posse, though not entirely unwounded. Having to report to the Hokage with the tail between his legs that his mission was a failure. Satomi and Kasumi will be there to give him a peptalk though!