Starring:
Date: December 7, 2011
Summary:
Team Hinotori is sent out on a mission to investigate a foul smell off the edge of Konoha, with the help of the exlusive Taiki the group goes to investigate uncovering something much more deplorable than spoiled milk.
"Investigation of the Corpse Cult."
Outskirts of Konoha
A mission had erupted, and though it wasn't the most dangerous of missions it could prove to be crucial in the long run. It was today that team Hinotori would be on their way on an investigation based mission. The strong scent of burning flesh and bones was smelt along the far edge of Konoha, though the source itself was unknown, the account was taken and the team was summoned to investigate, also featuring a special guest Inuzuka to help lead them in the right direction… According to the mission statement it was unknown if it was foul play, dead animals, or simple just a crazy account, nevertheless there was no harm in checking.
Naru herself followed along with the group, hands slipped down in her pockets with more or less her guard down, after all they were exploring their own forestry… There was no need to worry about enemy shinobi right? "I can't tell if we are getting closer to the location or not… So many trees everywhere…" Naru groaned out loud… The group would be following Taiki for the most part, hopefully utilizing his sensing skills to pick up some sort of scent, everyone else would be on the look out, Hinotori giving orders….
The sun above wasn't any help in the search, the day was quickly nearing dusk, making eye sight less effective in this search, after all with no natural light other than the crack of the moon above, it was definitely going to be difficult…
This mission was one that Hinotori knew would be one the last for a while with Naru and Ryo, but never the less it was good to have the team together with him leading. With the parameters of the mission given, for now it was recon, and thats what this team was capable of doing, though Etsu wasn't with them, they managed to have Taiki with them helping. Hinotoris eyes for a change wasn't using the abilities of his kekki genkai or possibly not now anways. "Keep your guard up, even though we are in our own territory, doesn't mean that someone could've infiltrated." he says, reminding Naru of his first lesson he taught her before forming his team.
Glancing to Ryo, the young genin who is also apart of Team Hino has been improving at a rapid rate and was actually getting close in strength as Naru and Etsu, this is a very good sign, he flicks his gaze forward searching as best he can for anything out of the ordinary, possible fire burns on other trees or grass, hoping to assist Taiki.
Ryo followed along behind the group. He was pleased to have a mission with Taiki along though he had not really talked to the Inuzuka much as of late. The smell could have been better though. Not that he minded the smell of the Inuzuka or his ninken, but burning bodies was kind of sick. A mission was a mission though and this counted towards his future.
Taiki was happy to be out of the village for a bit, though he was surprised when he was ordered to go on a mission with Team Hinotori. But when he heard the mission parameters it was easy to see why. He really didn't need that much, since this was not supposed to be a long mission, so he was ready to go almost instantly. In fact, the only thing he stopped for was to glance at a dark furred Inuzuka malamute that was located on a nearby rooftop. He gave the dog a couple of clan-specific signs, then nodded, and was ready to go.
As the group left the village, Taiki took point with Shinobu, his ninken. The dog had just finished his growth spurt, and now his back reached about mid-thigh on Taiki, with his head easily reaching the hip. There was a brief pause as the dynamic duo took to sniffing the air and getting their bearings before motioning the team to follow. With a leap they took off, remaining on the ground but still moving at somewhat decent clip. Taiki pretty much grimaces at the smell, but otherwise continues to use his tracking senses to locate their objective. "Uch…" is all he says, in a low volume. He'll be tasting this for weeks!
"Hmm… well at lease the smell hasn't be washed up or anything," Naru commented out loud, she grinned a little bit, it was interesting to see Taiki at work, he was surpisingly resourceful, making her curious on just what else the Inuzuka could do, though for now she merely followed along with his lead, eyes scanning the area, surpisingly without much like Naru was able to check things out around her… from Hintori-sensei's light scolding it caused Naru to look away from things however, placing her hands together to take time and build up her chakra reserves. " Hows that?" Naru grinned to her sensei while following along, she seemed to forget about the very thing she had witnessed. "It looks like you are doing quite well, huh, Ta-kun?" She questioned Taiki, she herself being perhaps the closest person tailing him.
He didn't like scolding Naru, but there are some things she had to learn, a breif chuckle escapes him as she asks him hows that. "Good Naru-chan." he says in a low voice keeping his voice low. The smell of burning bodies and animals didn't bother him, it was something he was already used to, for now though he scans the area not really seeing a whole lot except for dried up leaves which could easily burn, "No fire jutsus." he calls out to everyone, "Look at your surruoundings, the leaves and trees are pretty dry, you which could easily catch the whole area and trap us." he explains.
Ryo was still content just to follow around. He was looking around but not really trying to spot danger. He trusted Taiki's nose, plus… Taiki did not know about his sharingan to his knowledge. So the boy would keep it a secret for the moment. He does take note of the captain's words. No fire jutsu in the area with burnable stuff.
Taiki turns his head back long enough to give Naru a warm smile. "I'm doing fine, Naru'chan," he replies quietly, but just loud enough for the group to hear. It seems he's picked a few things up from being on Team 10, among which is to keep voices low while tracking. Still, at least to Ryo the difference in how he's talking to Naru, with more warmth than he had before, should be fairly obvious. As he turns back around though he seems to sniff something. He holds his right fist up and pumps it down once, then comes to a stop. Chakra seems to build within him before he starts sniffing the the air, and a signal toward Shinobu orders the dog to do the same. He points to his nose, then to the west, and then says in a low voice, "Stronger. Also live odors…"
Taiki takes another sniff, then looks down at Shinobu who looks up and him and gives a low growl. The two seem to work together almost flawlessly as Shinobu starts taking a couple of steps westward to sniff the ground. The dog barks quietly once, more like a "muff" which seems to confirm what Taiki sensed. "Blood, same path, as if dragged on the ground." His glance then goes back to Hinotori, as he is the mission leader. The look is clear, the genin is asking for orders.
Was she really talking that much? perhaps it was just the excitment of the mission. She was a little thrown off by not being able to utilize her fire jutsu…after all that was her ket element… That meant she had to focus on taijutsu for the most part… Not saying much of anything else she nodded to them and became more serious once Taiki spoke about blood, it kept her on her toes and for now quickly began to take a kunai from her side, she too awaiting orders from Hinotori-sensei… It seemed like they were nearing their location, though it was still difficult to make things out in the darkness… especially the stench seemed to be getting stronger now..
Hinotori didn't mind talking just as long as it was low, recon missions demanded that the party only really use talking when it was nessecary and with him he was still trying to decind on which way he wanted to go with his team. Ryo hasn't spoken much, which is a little odd, but he then again silence is never a bad thing. Allowing Taiki to explore a bit ahead of the team seeing as he does have the nessecarry tracking skills for a mission like this, Hinotori was content with allowing him to lead for now. As they come to slow and words are exchanged between Taiki and Naru, Hinotori slows a bit.
As Taiki seems to catch scent of something, he looks to his team and mimics his motion for them to stop, landing near Taiki, he waits for him to report, "I see." he says once the information is relayed, "Lead on, move in flanking positions, Naru-chan and Ryo-san pair off, I will keep back Taiki-san and Shinobu-san lead us in. Everyone keep silent. Go!"
As they start getting closer, Hinotori leaps forward, landing on a tree holding his hand in and pumps down once. Calling for the team to stop, gestruing with both his hands to hold, he points to his eyes, then points three fingers forwards. Indicating he sees three figures ahead, gesturing for them to come in closer, and once everyone is close, "There are three chakra signatures ahead with one stronger chakra signature building up between them." he says. Not liking this at all, he looks around at the leaves and trees, this area is bad for a fire chakra user. "Alright, keep close formation, Taiki-san when we are close enough but not on top of them flank off left, Ryo-san and Naru-chan right. I will keep above everyone. Watch and observe, if it's something we need to take out, we strike as one."
Ryo stopped where the group did. He placed a hand on his shin gunto but did not reveal his eyes. Hinotori reveals that there are three chakra signatures and directs them on how to go about doing it. The boy glances towards Naru and nods his head. He was ready.
Taiki nods once to acknowledge the order, and then looks to Shinobu. The dog looks up and "muff"'s almost inperceptively quiet as they both start channeling chakra. If people thought the two worked together well before, that was nothing to what they were doing now. They move forward, almost stalking but at a faster speed, as they seem to both track and move stealthfully at the same time. The pair take turns, one would move ahead to gain a sense of what was ahead, the other hanging back to watch and smell. Then they would switch, the one behind coming forward and the one ahead watching as they were overtaken. Less chance of things going unnoticed, at the same time offering cover for both of them, one for the other.
Taiki comes to a stop when Hinotori leaps in front of them and orders a stop. He listens to Hinotori speak and nods. He hopes that Naru has at least given Hinotori a rundown of Taiki's abilities, but even if not, the genin still has a couple of things he can do to help out. With another nod he and Shinobu continue the leapfrog forward and, when close enough, follows through with the orders, breaking off left with Shinobu, now circling side-by-side without so much as a sign or word between them.
Hintori seemed to be on the right track, he quickly managed to see the figures up ahead with the depth of his sharingan, and after orders she fled back to observe from the far, seeming to put a great amount of trust in the battle readyness of the trio of genin. Was this a test? Who knew, but one thing was certain was these genin would have to try their best in order to captialize on this mission. Though the group was urgency something seemed to be overlooked, and that was their stealth…. The three beings upahead, mere shadows to the naked eye began to rotate, still focusing on the center peice of chakra they seemed to be focusing on… It was then blades of wind begin to zip out at them, attempting to throw the genin off their course while they finished whatever they were trying to do (23)…
Naru herself blinked as she seemed to be the first one to witness this, her eyes quickly burning into that of the sharingan, single tomoe's appearing in each eye as she shouted out of cover. " Look out!" Naru called out to the group, her body was sweeped off until finally it exploded into a puff smoke, reappearing along the other side of the forest… It seemed like they were trying to seperate the group… And for the starters it was working.
Ryo had watched Naru activate her sharingan. He figured it was time to activate his own. As he turns forward he spots the blades of wind come forth. The blades hit him and in a puff of smoke a wooden log is revealed. The boy ends up in a bush off to the side. He glances outwards to see how Taiki faired against the attack before looking back towards the others. It was time to form a counter attack of some form. The boy places his fingers together and performs the clone jutsu. Now with three illusions of the boy, he begins to move towards the three. Of course the real him tries to remain stealthy as he moves.
Taiki is moving off to the left, as Hinotori had ordered, with Shinobu right along side. The two seem to be making a very well-honed team, likely from years of being around each other and training with each other. In fact, they seem to be focusing on that for the moment, and are seemingly caught by surprise by the wind blades, but only for a second before both Shinobi and ninken turn into a large log. The pair appear above the blades, chakra running to both nose and ears to determine who is attacking them. Either way, they're alert now…
Taiki could then smell out what was really going on… Naturally as Hinotori had spoke about, there were three live signatures of humans, both seemed rather eager to maintain their space, they wouldn't budge or move… No something more menacing seemed to be taking place. A grunt could be heard in the distance, one of the members disatisfied with their progress… Since the team dodged about though they would find themselves split up… And also running into traps…(25) Ryo was safe due to his clone, but it soon explodes into a mass of fire as he seemed to trip an explosive tag, engulfing the clone but leaving him intact, Taiki and Naru however werent out of the clear, and would find themselves having to act quickly before denotation…
Naru herself didnt see it coming, feeling her bod sheer into a tense heat causing her to cry out briefly, caught within the smoking explosion she was slamed to the ground hitting her back along the tree, dazed briefly but still much fight within her she began to press off… They had to fight those three people before they released another deadly jutsu.. " We need to fight them…quick!" Naru shouted out, chucking two kunai at the group… She decided not to use her fire jutsu…but the sudden explosion and fire that already began to build up in the forest was becoming enough for her to forfiet that idea…
Ryo watched as his clone was taken out and Naru was also downed. The is a grumble from the boy. He hated having to go out in the open and draw their attacks. The fire explosions would threaten to turn the entire area into a blaze. Ryo stands up and tosses out three kunai. One towards each of the shadows before running towards Naru to at least back her up. Not that the boy was not thinking of Taiki, but he figured he would understand. "You got a plan of attack Naru? Maybe one of those genjutsu?"
Taiki and Shinobu both somehow sense the explosive tags and leap to clear them. He looks over toward where the other two are and swears softly. "Shinobu, we need to head into that area… Can you sense a target?" He readies himself for an attack by concentrating chakra for an attack as soon as a target presents itself.
Surpisingly, only Ryo seemed to be able to penetrate through the area, cutting through one of the men who was focusing his chakra, it caused anger rather quickly, yet still they didn't move… No they had something else planned… The Corpses began to shift and move, each dead rising to their feet, sluggish at first but soon quick, each would begin to lunge and lash at out the genin with increasing speed, rapid rabbits, human corpses, wild coyotes… Many things coming all in at once, slashing, clawing… (23) (28) and it seemed like the men were the centerpeice of it all… Was it a cult? " What kind of crazy Jutsu is this?" Naru questioned Ryo quickly, however as they honed in on them she was slashed and lashed out, only to disappear in a swish of firery flames, jumping away from the action, placing her intent on the group from afar. " We need to take those three down… Now.." Naru spoke, without the use of fire she attempted to create links for the three of them, hopefully being more useful in her next
One version of Ryo was replaced by fire, starting a corpse on fire, though he was unable to perform the jutsu again in time. He ends up with a gash on his arm. He moves out of the way of the corpse and runs directly towards the three men. He whips a kunai forward with one hand before drawing his shin gunto and aiming to slashes towards the first two men he encounters. Hopefully the genjutsu of Naru was able to slow them down in order for him to be able to do some damage. Then he remembers he completely forgot to answer the girl's question. His eyes glance towards Taiki waiting for him to hammer these guys along with him.
Taiki and Shinobu growl as the wave of undead things start to close in. They quickly start to attempt to dodge, and manage to get past the first part, only to get nailed by the second part. The duo leap toward each other as they start to take damage, with Shinobu landing on Taiki's back. Taiki then forms a couple of hand signs before calling out, "Juujin Bunshin!" With this there is a thick burst of smoke, and out of that leaps two Taiki's! But they are different than before. Both are very much feral looking now, like a cross between dog and human. And both seem to be lashing out at their opponents, moving fast, strong, and with savage ferocity combined with perfect teamwork. They both throw kunai as they draw closer to their targets. They are obviously preparing for something…
Needless to say, it seemed like the insane barrages of kunai and shuriken was enough to subdue the enemy before there was any sort of genjutsu needed to be made… Each of the kunai slammed into their targets, giving the group of cultist a pair of life threatening wounds which would cause them to slump over the small shrine they focused their chakra on… The flesh eating corposes dropped to the ground at the same time, the jutsu itself being lifted due to their deaths… "Looks like they were practicing forbidden jutsu.." Naru explains to the group, brushing her hands off along her pants. "Disgusting…. We should report back to the village as soon as possible…"
Ryo looked towards the area where the fire tags had exploded. "Lets make sure the fires are all out first. We do not want to start a huge blaze. It might destroy any evidence incase the village does an investigation." the boy states before smiling at the others. It seemed like the mission was successul.
Both Taiki's slide to a stop, and with a much less dense puff of smoke one turns back into Shinobu while the other becomes much less feral. "Yeah… They need to know of this back home," he says, looking toward Shinobu. He pulls out some scrolls and opens them up, revealing empty sealing scrolls. "Do we want to pack all this up?" He seems ready to break it down as best he can forensically, if needs be.
