Starring:
Michiko, Hiei, Ryouji, Naruko, Kaido
Date: December 14, 2014
Summary:
A small team made up of Hiei, Naruko, Michiko (as Fox), Ryouji, and Kaido (with Bandit) is sent out on a B-rank turned S-rank mission to kill former KRD (Kumo's version of ANBU) Agent Crow.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Killing Crow"
Land of Lightning
On the last encounter with former KRD Agent Crow, he was able to overpower the team and escape capture. This time, he was sighted again in the Land of Lightning. Messenger Hawks got sent to Hiei, Ryouji, and Michiko for the mission, basically describing the overall mission, some minor details about Crow's skills, and a bit about how they can choose how they want to proceed given Hiei is in charge. Naruko and Kaido were also sent Hawks, these ones describing where to meet the team as well as the description of the target.
The assigned meeting place was about an hour away from the Village Entrance, and the time was shortly after noon. The skies are dark with clouds today, which implies a storm might be coming around sometime soon… Michiko is currently hiding underground at the meeting place, still pondering whether or not she should show up to the mission as she is currently or as a KRD agent. Eventually she pops up with her mask on and in her KRD clothes. The mask is white except for the red 'Flames' that cover the right half of her mask.
Hiei had stared for several minutes at the hawk that had showed up to his house. He was being tapped for a mission? Not willing to look a gift horse in the mouth, so to speak, he had dressed himself in his usual shinobi garb, with the exception of a pin on the lapel of his duster that identified him as Raikage. Because there was no way in nest he was going to wear that dopey looking hat that he'd seen on some of the other Kage. Having given the order for Snake Eyes to be saddled and waiting for him, he rides out to the meeting place after placing his swords in the sheathes on his saddle. He briefly thought of bringing Sasuke along, but decided against it. The goat had been down right mad at him for giving him a bath and Hiei figured that he needed some time to cool off. You didn't want a goat the size of a horse to stay mad at you, no matter who you were. After arriving, he spots Michiko in her mask and inclines his head to her. "Agent Fox." He says by the way of greeting. He doesn't bother to dismount just yet as he leans over to pat his warhorse on the neck.
Ryouji appears on a gray horse at the meeting place. He's got on a thick traveling cloak and has the hood up tight in case it does storm. The gray horse trots along, snorting slightly at the possible storm. But the rider edges the horse along towards the meeting place. The rider, slightly bent over the horse, pats its neck to ease its fears, and looks around but is otherwise calm and collected. He spots the pair and turns the horse towards them. "Raikage." he says, inclining his head. He looks over at agent fox and nods to her as well, "I hear you need some help. Glad to oblige."
Everyone was on horseback! But Naruko was on one which was a loaner. The long trekt out to the meeting location didn't take a long, and while she was concerned about the recent turn of events, her experience with the silence had embolded her. She felt more than capable on dealing with the threats, especially with the others. Her hands clutch the reins loosely as she eases into a stop among the others, her form grabed in a dark orange cloak to protect against the cold, not very much else was visible of her attire. "Um, hi. I'm here to help," Naruko says pretty simply, waving a hand to Ryouji and the bowing her head to the Raikage. "Raikage-sama…? This… must be pretty serious,"
Kaido and Bandit sure weren't expecting a messenger hawk summoning them to help out with a mission. Kaido and Bandit immediately found a mount (well at least Kaido did, poor Bandit had only his four paws) and made for the rendevous site. When they arrived, Bandit did a double take and said, "The Raikage's part of this? Oh <BEEP>, this is bad, this is very very bad…" Kaido just shushes Bandit and turns to Michiko, "Agent… Fox was it? Bandit and I are at your disposal, what's the situation?" Bandit just shakes his head and mutters to himself, "We're gonna die… we're gonna die… when the Kages go on a mission it's never a good thing…" Kaido just LOOKS at Bandit who subsides immediately.
"Raikage-san," Fox greets, offering a small bow in greeting. Still her boss… "And Reizei-san." The girl doesn't have any horse with her, apparently, but a light whistle from her proves that assumption wrong. A horse, small enough for her to ride on, appears, its coat completely brown while the mane and tail are black. "Hmm… I think you all got the information from the notice… Raikage-san, you're heading the mission, so we'll follow your lead," she says once Naruko and Kaido finally appear. "To reiterate, a former KRD Agent has been running around. And we're supposed to stop him somehow. Death or capture, it doesn't quite matter, honestly. I believe Naruko-San is semi-familiar with him, after a run-in on an earlier mission…" She shrugs and hops onto her horse. "That being said, the target is heading towards the Land of Earth. So we should get moving, right, Raikage-San?"
Hiei looks to see who his team is comprised of and nods faintly, apparently satisfied with them. He's been in the trenches with all of them, and knew them all to be capable shinobi. He clears his throat. "While I would prefer to capture Crow alive so that he may face his crimes in Kumogakure, let's be realistic here. He's former Kamen Rai Da. For those of you who don't know what that is, that's Kumo's special forces. Which means he's probably already aware that we're coming. Be aware of your surroundings, and remember that your greatest strength is in trusting the shinobi next to you. You keep these things in mind as we move forward, and remember that as long as you work together as a team, nothing and no one can defeat you. No one." He inclines his head. "Let's Ride!" He spurs Snake Eyes forwards and gallops towards their destination.
Ryouji nods and kicks his horse into gear. It protests a bit but kicks up dirt none the less. It's a lazy horse and not the usual one he rides. It gallops with the group and listens to Hiei's words of wisdom. "I can't wait to use my new wind jutsu on this guy." he says mostly to himself. "Hopefully we can catch him before he makes the boarder. We wouldn't be able to chase him past the border would we?"
"Hopefully there won't be any problems…" Naruko mentions in return, a sweat drop trickling down her cheek as she takes note of Hiei and Fox. "I do have some experience. Will it help I can only hope so," She shrugs her shoulders and then nudges her horse to follow suit, noting Bandit and Kaido she smiles at them. "Don't worry, Kaido-san and Bandit-chan. I will protect you," She gleams at that comment, feeling increasingly confident in her abilities.
As both Fox and Hiei speaks Bandit continues to mutter, "See… I knew it… we're doomed… we're so <BEEPING> doomed…" Kaido just sighs and ignores his partner, knowing that once they get on with the mission, he'll be good to go. Kaido simply listens to what Hiei says and calls out, "Since I'm not familiar with Kumo, mind filling me in on this Crow and what his abilities are? It would help me to come up with a plan to potentially trap him at least." Kaido then shrugs as Hiei gallops away and looks down at his partner and his mount and says, "Ok then… so be it, we go in blind…" He clicks his heels and sends his mount on it's way and says to Naruko, "Just ignore him, we'll be fine, Bandit's just upset because he got swatted by one of the villagers for trying to steal some meat." Bandit starts to run to keep up whinning, "This is bad… this is very very bad… up against a monster that knows we're coming… why me…?" Kaido just shakes his head again as Bandit quiets and starts to get his game face on.
Fox kicks her own horse into gear, the smaller animal able to keep up with Snake Eyes, surprisingly. Especially given that its name is Roadblock… After getting used to the pounding of hooves, Fox sends a wave of chakra through the ground to try and detect people about. Her senses tell her there are three people, but quite a distance ahead. And they were moving quickly. Ryouji would notice the chakra ahead belongs to three people with quite a lot of energy each. Hiei would simply see that the team was traveling on the right path as there are a few broken twigs and such about.
"Three men ahead. If we keep riding hard, we should be able to catch up to them eventually, Raikage-san," Fox reports, glancing back to make sure the other members of the team were still around. It seemed like it, fortunately. She idly wonders how difficult it might be to fight Crow. Naruko and Kaido both notice talking and the smell of lightning. Not the kind of lightning from the air, though. The type of lightning that stems from chakra being used.
Hiei answers Kaido while they ride. "Crow? He's a taijutsuist. Let me put it this way. It would be like fightning me, with none of my restraint. Though keep in mind, I don't think he's Yotsuki." And even if he was, odds are he wasn't in possession of his clan's hidden jutsu. That technique isn't taught to just anyone. Most of the clan, except a select few have no idea of it's existence. When they see it, they just figure it to be another nintaijutsu technique. When Fox reports, Hiei nods slowly at her. "I agree. I can see the trail. They aren't far off." He slows Snake Eyes down. "We can try to go in with stealth, but if one of them is a sensor, they might now we're here already. However, Kaido, go ahead and set up your traps. Naruko, stick close to him in case he's discovered." When they get closer, Hiei comes to a complete stop and dismounts his horse. He slides the swords from the saddle sheath and places them on the sheathes on his back. He takes a moment to make sure his armor is in place. "Now we don't have a long time to debate on this. So..once Kaido is done, everyone pick a target and go." He turns back towards where Crow and his team is. "It goes without saying that Crow is mine."
Ryouji shrugs, "Doesn't matter to me, I'll take on one of the other guys." He slows his horse down and slides off, making sure it won't go wondering off. Ryouji makes sure his gear is in place before looking in the direction of Crow and his group. He says, "Let's all make sure we come back alive."
"I can smell them…and lightning. Something has happened but I won't know for sure until we get abit closer… Maybe we can get the jump on him. "Naruko speaks softly as she slips off her horse, wanting to go ahead and keep next to Kaido and bandit for backup. "Let's get those traps setup shall we?" Naruko goes ahead and suggests, keeping close to his flank, her senses remained opened just to make sure no one got the jump on them.
Bandit cowers a bit as Kaido gets off his mount, one he's bought while in Kumo that he named, 'Homefinder' and says, "Taijutsuist that's as strong as Hiei! We're so doomed… and there's 3 of them?" Bandit puts his paws over his head and Kaido grits his teeth and says, "BANDIT! FRONT AND CENTER!" Not loud enough to be heard beyond where they are, but enough for Bandit to know that Kaido isn't screwing around anymore. Bandit looks up, "Yes Kaido?" Kaido says, "The Raikage already SAID he'd take Crow… We have a job to do, now start acting like a nin-dog instead of an 'nin-comptent' or 'nin-becile'."
As Bandit mulls all this over and tries to get his head in the game, Kaido looks over to Naruko and says, "We're going to have to be very stealthy for this…" He hands out to the group each a of vial of a amber-colored liquid and says, "Take this, it'll give you temporary immunity to the poison I'm going to be using on my traps… since we're up against someone as strong as the Raikage I'm going to be taking no chances. The poison I'll be using can be ingested via the lungs or via blood-borne transmission and is a neural toxin, meaning it'll paralyze you and if you aren't immune or get the antidote to it quick, it'll kill you in a slow and painful way." Bandit blinks as Kaido makes him drink the vial and says, "We're using THAT?" Kaido just nods.
With that done, and assuming everyone ingests their antidotes, Kaido ducks behind some rocks and with Bandit's help, surveys the area where the 3 are and then starts to use cover as he plants as many traps as possible, coating them with a liquid that oozes black upon black mecurial liquid on the needles and other such things.
Fox nods slowly, getting off her horse to travel by foot. The vial that Kaido gives her is taken as she waits for some sort of signal that Bandit and Kaido and Naruko were done setting things up. She makes sure she has enough chakra stored for the time being. Up ahead, Kaido and Co. would see three men, just as they had heard. One is wearing a mask painted blue in some spots and has a long beak to symbolize just why he's called Crow. The man has two swords on his back and one at his side. The other two rogues are unmasked, and only one of them has something that resembles a weapon. In fact, one could describe it better if they called it a hammer.
Hiei takes a moment to prepare his body for combat. Lightning sparks along his skin and falls harmlessly to the ground, but in greater degree than he's ever done in a spar with any of the people gathered. Today would be the day that some of them would find out just exactly how strong their Raikage/sensei is. "I'll get their attention since I'm not really the stealthy type. The rest of you fan out and prepare to take them on my signal." He would figure that Fox and Ryouji would partner up, since they were used to working together. Kaido and Naruko would probably take the other guy. Hiei downs the vial without even thinking that it could have been a trap to kill him. It shows the level of trust that he has in a shinobi from Konoha. He squares his shoulders and moves to walk directly into the camp where the three men are waiting.
Ryouji takes the vial and downs it, wincing, expecting something nasty. Tasting nothing, he licks his lips. He travels with Fox, letting Kaido and company do their thing while Hiei takes the tip of the spear. He moves off with her, glancing at her mask every once in a while. Ryouji has a confused look on his face for a moment before he shakes his head and just focuses on the mission. He crouches in some folage, looking nice and hidden before Hiei gives him the word to move out and attack. He readies himself for the fight, flexing and unflexing a hand right over the hilt of one of his swords.
Naruko looks over the potion a little suspiciously, this was one of the things that struck Naruko most about Kaido. "See, deep down in that slimey muddled brain of yours is a stroke of genius," Naruko compliments, mostly in regards to some previous conversation that had with one another. She downs the antidote also and begins to pain out her stealth network… What better way to do so than to have two Narukos on the job. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruko quietly hisses, poof! Another Naruko forms, panning out away from the group, it made things a little easier to stay out of sight. "I'll keep an eye out, we can catch them in a trap and then go all out…"
Kaido and Bandit just start their descent to where the group are. Bandit however isn't quite stealthy enough, making some rocks and pebbles fall down the hill, probably alerting the ninja who are their targets. Kaido however can't worry about that now, what he's doing is dangerous enough, not only to the 3 ninja, but to himself as well. Pricking himself with a needle or mishandling the smoke bombs he is planting and even his own antidote might not save him.
Something about Bandit and Kaido make the stealthy approach impossible. Those rocks that the dog shuffled around alert the shinobi to someone's presence. While they are going in blind, they don't hesitate to try and strike first. The one with no weapons, who is apparently a ninjutsuist, sends a blast of lightning stars in Kaido's direction while Crow and the other Crowling seem to get ready for a battle, drawing their weapons and preparing a bit of chakra for them to use.
And so the first attack comes. Fox watches the lightning stars head towards Kaido and Naruko, but there's not much she can do from her position. Instead she focuses on attacking the one with the hammer. Three bolts of fire speed towards the Crowling in rapid succession, the girl hoping to end the battle before it even begins. "Reizei-san, try not to get hit by the hammer. It looks rather painful…" she says before moving from her spot.
Hiei runs into the middle of their camp, leaping and flipping over the one with the hammer. Crow was his intended target. He draws his katana from his back. "You're under arrest." He states before his body warps slightly as he strikes out with his enhanced speed. Sliding to a stop behind him, he forms handseals before blowing out a large fireball out of his mouth towards the former Kamen member.
Ryouji leaps out of the bushes and as everyone rushes out, he takes the chance to hit all of them without fear of hitting any of his comrads. He makes several hand signs and sucks in a breath. Out fires a huge blast of air that goes wide, kicking up dirt and sending everything flying before the blast of air narrows onto the one with the huge weapon. Ryouji takes a shuddering sigh as the jutsu stops, "Whew…"
The lighting stars found their way, directly into Naruko's form, causing some stinging pains about her flesh. "Painful…This guy is pretty skilled. Kaido-san! Bandit-chan! Becareful!" Naruko calls out as she stands herself up, performing a single hand seal. A Duo of Naruko's branched off from her side, rushing in the ninjutsuists direction. They both threw a punch and a kick before spontaneously exploding… Naruko on the other hand was examining her wounds… she needed more information on how this person fought before she did anything more. "Kaido…?" She turned back to look at him, hopeful that maybe a trap could get them.
Kaido hears the whistling of the lightning stars and quickly backflips out of the way as Bandit yelps and jumps out of the way himself. Kaido simply gives Naruko the thumbs up and Bandit presses the pressure plate to send one of his neurotoxin bombs towards the Crowling as Kaido reaches for one of chakram and infuses it with wind chakra and throws it at his target.
Fox's target ends up getting burnt twice before swinging his hammer around to take the flames for him. That storm doesn't do much damage, if any, as the large man avoids it. He's surprisingly agile. With that finished, he hefty it up over his shoulder and strikes down on the ground to send a powerful shockwave through the ground to try and unbalance the two Chuunin attacking him. With them knocked over, the hammer comes around in an arcing blow, aiming to crush both Kumo-Nin.
Crow, behind his mask, raises an eyebrow. "Oh my… They sent the Raikage after me… How unpleasant. I hope they don't mind losing him." Crow's blade flicks out of its sheathe, though not fast enough to block the sword strike. It does lessen the damage, though, as it's only a scratch. The firebolt is quite literally sliced through, though, and he doesn't stop to see what else Hiei has in store. The two swords are pulled from his back as he spins, slashing twice at Hiei before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
The Ninjutsuist simply avoids the fire clones Naruko sends his way, raising a dome of earth around himself to block the attacks from Kaido. He didn't know where the traps were, so it was best to cover all sides. The chakram doesn't slice through either, fortunately (?) for him. In retaliation, a river of mud is sent at Naruko and the Inuzuka pair before more lightning is sent their way.
Fox avoids the shockwaves with a burst of fire to send her into the air, using that fire as a dummy so that the hammer misses her by a decent distance. With another handseal, Fox readies her chakra and sends even more fire to rain down on her opponent. "They could have made this a bit easier and not noticed Bandit-san…" she mutters mostly to herself.
Hiei withdraws his second sword from his back, using both to block the dual strike. When he throws the smoke bomb, Hiei briefly turns away his head. "You're so arrogant that not even the Raikage coming after gives you pause? Do you even know who the beak I am?" He attempts to find Crow through his chakra, but he can't get a read on him at the moment. Hiei slams the hilt of his swords together and twists, there is a click as they lock in place, creating a sword staff that he shifts to one hand. He lowers his head slightly as lightning swirls around his body and is channeled into his armor, causing it to glow around his chest, forearms and his knees. "You're so great, why are you the one running, eh?"
Crow's goons were relentless…and a bit stronger than the one's they had encountered not too long ago. Naruko managed to get flooded back by a sea of mud, managing to avoid the start of the trail but once again those lucky stars of lightning managed to zip along her body, deeper lacerations along her arms and sides. ~You are going to look weak if you continue to hold me back, Naruko-kun~ "I don't need you… I almost didn't… not before," ~Raikage-sama is here also. Your fear is what makes you lose control. Let me help you, Naruko-kun~
From Naruko there was a brief silence before her chakra began to wisp about her body, her aura picking becoming a wieldable weapon. She then reaches out in a grasping motion, a hand of chakra thrashs out from her aura, attempting to catch the ninjutsuist in a gripe of powerful chakra, it was just enough time for Naruko to form a clone right after, rushing forward to slam a fist into the individual igniting upon contact.
Kaido motions with his head to Bandit who immediately rushes to another trap and sets it off, sending a poisoned dart towards the Ninjutsuist Crowling as Kaido takes his other chakram and infuses it with wind chakra and throws it in an eliptical towards him as his other chakram returns to him via the boomerang effect.
Using his hammer, the man is able to avoid most of Fox's attacks, he still ends up getting hit by a stray bolt of fire. It burned quite a bit… The man squints at Fox, throwing his hammer like a boomerang as he tries to strike the girl down. Crow travels silently, not making a sound as he seeks for a weak spot in Hiei's armor. But it seems there is none. The man frowns behind his mask, wondering if he'll have to tap into his powers. At this point, most likely. It's like a flip is switched once he taps into his clan's abilities, and he sheathes the two swords onto his back in preference for the one at his side. Quickly, almost too fast to see, he strikes, sword whipping out and then it's not there when he pulls back, switching again to the dual sword style. "Who said I'm running?" he asks lightly, his expression unreadable behind the mask. "I'm simply biding my time."
The ninjutsuist ends up getting hit hard, unable to escape from the chakra claw that Naruko suddenly shot out at him. The damage from the fire clone is intensified by the chakra grip alone. Kaido also gets a hit in, though the poisonous dart simply hits one of the lightning clones that was nearby. The Chakram cuts his arm, and he grits his teeth in pain. With a surge of chakra, he makes two more clones of pure lightning, intent on damaging both Kaido and Naruko quite badly by the end of things.
Fox avoids the hammer-rang with another burst of fire, letting out a relieved sigh before gathering her chakra again. A few handseals and more fire comes down on the hammer user, and hopefully without his hammer he's a bit easier to take down. The bullet of flame is larger than the last two by quite a bit, but it's slightly less accurate, as well.
Hiei is no longer there when that sword whips out at high speed. He had waited until the last moment to dodge, leaving an afterimage in his wake. He lifts his sword staff to block the second strike, but it slashes down his arm instead. He smirks. "Your time is up." Without warning, Hiei lunges forwards, his fist glowing with chakra as he fires it towards the gut of Crow. If successful, upon impact he would inject his chakra violently into the man's body, causing his nervous system to temporarily seize up. "Your moves stink of the Reizei. Actually no, you don't give them a good name. Your moves just stink."
It wasn't enough…. at least not to defend against them completely. Naruko managed to summon a pair of clones to take in the damage for Kaido, though the last one was actually herself, the lightning clones buzzing away through her cloak with sharp stings of lightning. The sensation caused her to his and growl loudly. 'I'm pressed… I need more please… I'm not going to fail anyonlf…' ~Very well Naruko-kun…~ A single tail of chakra began to wisp at Naruko's back side hanging high in the air while her chakra levels continued to boost signifcantly. With tingling senses she was preparing for a much larger attack than previously.
Kaido knows he's about to get hit hard by those lightning clones, and Bandit tenses to jump in front of it to take it for Kaido until a clone of Naruko's jumps in front and takes the damage instead. Kaido yells, "Naruko!" and both Kaido and Bandit wear the same expression, bared teeth and hatred in their eyes at the Crowling and Kaido growls to Bandit, "Bandit… let's <BEEP> this <Female Dog> up so that even his own MOTHER won't recognize him!" Bandit smirks slightly and says, "Suits me just fine partner, let's show them that you don't mess with our friends without getting a bite taken out of your feather!" With that, Kaido tosses Bandit a small gas grenade that he catches in his jaws and then runs and leaps over top of the Crowling, dropping it at his feet, which promptly explodes and sends yellow and black colored gas at him as Kaido throws the chakram that he just caught infused again with wind chakra at the man, moving quickly to catch the other returning to him as he heads over to Naruko's side.
Without his hammer, the Crowling is a bit worse for wear. He attempts to move out of the way, but the flaming bullet descends right on tops of him, and he ends up with a number of bad burns. The hammer, though, really does act like a boomerang. He watches it expectantly as it comes back towards Fox from behind the girl.
Crow watches Hiei disappear and kicks his skills to the maximum he's achieved. His body blurs into two, and a lightning clone is in his place, taking the lightning Attack for him. He stares evenly at the Raikage before making another handseal, sending a wave of lightning clones at the Yotsuki. "Well, it's quite obvious you're a Yotsuki, Raikage. Even if it wasn't announced the moment you were 'crowned'. How does it feel to be behind a desk?" he taunts. He's likely a bit more confident than he ought to be, considering his opponent.
The ninjutsuist is a bit unlucky as he finds his lungs filled with that poisonous gas, and he ends up coughing too much to even try and fight back. He's doubled over enough, though, that the chakram zooms past him and just barely misses.
Still in the air, Fox sees Naruko start to transform. She hesitates just a bit, but it's too long in the heat of battle. She gets struck in the body, making her land hard on the ground. But now that she's on the ground, she can use it. With a quick handseal, she channels chakra through the ground to try and grab at the Crowling with an earthen hand. If successful, he would be stuffed into a grave.
Hiei's fist comes into contact with a lightning clone instead. Seems this guy was fond of the technique, but he was used to fighting clones thanks to his numerous training sessions with Kasuya. When he's attacked by them, they would go straight through his body just before the afterimage poofs out of existence. He had managed to dodge one of his higher tiered attacks and that made him cocky. "Cheeky talon…" Hiei murmurs before his eyes glow neon blue and a lightning infused aura explodes from his body. The ground underneath his feet cracks from the force of the explosion of chakra. "Yeah. Let's see you dodge this." He takes a single step forwards before his body blinks from sight. For anyone watching it would seem that Hiei is in several places at once, yet nowhere at all as he attacks so rapidly and so much that it just might disorient his opponent.
Simple attacks would no longer work against Naruko. Her tail flickered and merely batted away the incoming attacks, her cloak, while flowing and odd looking was potent with chakra, incredibly dense. As her tail swayed side to side with an out reached hand she began to form a large sphere of fire, suddenly condensed with a bijuu base around it. Naruko was begining to lose sight, her focus slightly wavered as instincts began to creep upon her. Suddenly she springs forward, Fire Orb in place and attempting to bring it down upon the ninjutist covered in the fog, the explosion of chakra enough to wreck the entire area and her along with it.
Kaido this time is just unable to dodge the clone attack, shocking him and sending him to stumble back a bit as Bandit snarls and forces Kaido to duck as a dart shoots out from another trap by the dog. Kaido in desperation throws a wind chakram at the ninjutsuist as he tries to backflip and get out of range and pick up the chakram that cut the other's arm and recover.
With the Hammer Wielder, he ends up getting quite stuck in an earthen coffin. He has nowhere to go, and it means that Fox can unleash a torrent of powerful fire at the man, incinerating his body so that nothing but ash and maybe a few remnants of bone remains. The coffin crumbles, but she looks back to watch the others' battle.
Naruko and Kaido were able to take down their opponent, finally. Roughly around the same time as she just did, too. The man was stumbling by the time he got hit by the orb of fire that Naruko sent at him, and he ends up dead with both poison in his system and the wind-sharpened chakram through his throat. Hiei's Attacks, now that the Raikage was going all out, prove successful against Crow. They don't knock him out completely, though, as the Reizei had used a series of lightning clones to avoid running into the false strikes. He's far from down, even, as he readies another supercharged lightning attack against Hiei. The element crackles along his sword as he moves to slice the Yotsuki with the lightning imbued blade.
Hiei blinks from existence, creating multiple afterimage versions of himself while approaching Crow from behind. He attempts to drive his knee into the small of his back, once again attempting to violently inject his chakra into the man. He had one of his combinations in mind, one that was truly devastating if he could only just trick this guy into getting hit with the lead in attack.
And just like that the ninjutist was no longer able to survive against their attacks. Kaido Naruko and Bandit made such a good team. But with nothing else to wrestle and fight with Naruko became restless… she could hardly contain that chakra she had let loose… After all it had been such a long time since she had last trained with it. A hissing roar escapes her lips at the downed enemy before she quickly looks through the cloud of dust and smoke, eyes set directly for Kaido. The same chakra hand which reached out for the ninjutist before had suddenly done the same for Kaido, outreaching with a mass of terrible chakra, she tries to snatch him up and throw him in the direction of crow, thus begining her rampage as she attempts to wrestle with the bloat of chakra flowing throughout her body.
Kaido grabs the chakram that finished off the ninjutsuist, saying a quick prayer for the dead for the man. There's no reason not to be respectful of a worthy opponent, it's probably why he was distracted enough and even Bandit's wide eyes and shouted, "KAIDO! LOOK OUT!" that he couldn't move in time to avoid the chakra arm coming to try and throw him at Crow like a big missile. It's only an earth wall springing up in front of him that stops this from happening. Kaido takes the opportunity then to get out of Naruko's vision as he tosses another gas grenade at the Crow to try and stop him as Bandit sets out another poison dart trap
Fox watches as Crow ends up getting stunned by Hiei's Attack and is quick to send the inferno she used earlier at him. "Good…" she murmurs before sensing Naruko Attack Kaido. Without thinking, she channels chakra through the earth, creating that wall between Kaido and the chakra limb. The chakra around her condenses, then, and she sends it through the earth so metal cords wrap around Naruko to try and stop her from attacking more allies. "Uzumaki-san, you need to calm down and take control back," she says evenly.
Hiei hops back to allow Fox's attack to strike home before he darts fowards. His attack is slower than normal, but he sacrificed speed in favor for power. He aims his blade at the point on Crow's body where his head is connected to his neck. This technique he has used to cleave boulders in half and sunder other weapons. And it wasn't even chakra enhanced. It was pure, raw, unadulterated power.
Fox was now the enemy…. The metal bindings began to swiftly wrap and bind the poor jinchuuriki, only to disappear in a poof of smoke. A Shadow clone. Naruko eventually did come into view, with not just one but over a dozen Narukos, all of then captivated in the potent aura of the bijuu. On all fours all of them ran in Fox's direction, unable to hear her… Claws kicks and punches alike followed by multiple eruptions of explosions. Fox could slay a clone but could she destroy all of them?
Well this flies… Kaido watches as Naruko attacks Fox this time and as it looks like Hiei has Crow handled, he turns his attention to Naruko. He looks at Bandit and says, "Ok Bandit… We need to switch to non-lethal methods…" Bandit looks up and says, "Glitterstim?" Kaido nods and confirms, "Glitterstim". With that, he hands Bandit a package full of power and grabs one of his own and the two drop a smoke bomb and circle towards Naruko, tossing the packets at her face, which explode with a fine powder that if inhaled, will make Naruko sneeze uncontrollably for precious minutes.
Fox is able to defend against some, but not all of the fire clones that barrage her. She doesn't let up, though, and the girl doesn't seem too injured. With a few handseals, she sends chakra through the earth, and a hand comes out from the ground seeking to trap Naruko in a coffin-like structure until she calms down. "Inuzuka-San, I suggest you stay back for the time being…" she suggests, not wanting the Konoha-Nin to take on something over his head.
Hiei detaches his swords and sheathes them on his back. He looks around to see that Naruko has lost control. "Dammit, Naruko. You really have to stop listening to Matatabi when he offers you more power. It always comes with a price." Hiei raises his voice. "The more people that attack her the more riled up she'll get. Let Kamen do their jobs. Everyone else back off." Still holding his transformation, his body blinks out of existence to behind Naruko. He attempts to grab her from behind, electing to go into the grave with her if need be. He ejects his own chakra into her, to short out her nervous system as the bijuu chakra burns his arms and torso. He frowns faintly at the discomfort.
Perhaps the bombs were useful for something. The distracted Jinchuuriki began strong wisps in the air with her tail, gusting the smog of smoke away just in time for the earth to open beneath her, thus dragging her down into the depth of the earth. Hiei also manages to surge his chakra into her body, literally the final straw to help subdue the beast within. A screeching hiss escapes her lips until suddenly her body jerks and goes quiet… The shroud of dark chakra looming about her form and licking against Hiei's flesh began to evaporate like mist. "Ah..I…" Naruko attempts to word, only to pass out into Hiei's arms. Problem adverted.
Kaido and Bandit rush towards Naruko as Bandit barks, "Oi! Naruko! Snap out of it!" Kaido puts a hand on Bandit's back, "Relax, she'll be ok, the Raikage's got her…" He turns to Hiei and says, "Shall we take the bodies with us or leave them for wildlife to devour?" With that, he'd carefully move to disarm what is left of his traps and make sure to get rid of any of the poison left so that it won't harm said wildlife before heading back to Homefinder with Bandit.
Fox lets out a small breath as things finally come to a halt. Crow is as good as dead, but his skill level was much higher than expected. It seems his time away from the village were not without heavy training. If anything, this mission should have been classified as S rank instead of the B rank that it was reported to be. And then with Naruko's small issue as well… Fox looks around at everyone, glad that Hiei managed to catch the Uzumaki before she went down completely. "Alright… if anyone needs healing, let me know. It's light patchwork, but it'll hold until we get back to the village." Once everyone is 'healed' and ready to go, the horses are called back and they all return to Kumogakure with the bodies. Mission complete!
