Starring:
Maia, Reza, Hoiishime, Yasushi
Date: June 25th, 2010
Summary:
N/A
"Kiri vs Kumo - The Deathand Strikes"
Kumogakure
The steps moved forward slowly, unhindered by the body that was being dragged along by a razor wire and gore the makes up what remains of the nearly removed arm. The border patrol was primarily made up of Kumogakurean reserves as the shinobi handled the situation of Kirigakure's internal attacks with Shinobi. The figure was dressed primarily in black, cloaked as well, but the mask was a strange and very dull orange and seemed to be almost like a deformed animal skull, shattered antlerlike appendages and all. Flickering from sight, he would continue inland past the border without hesitation, his mission clear to him.
It's time for a change of shifts! Still being a bit tender after her last run in with one of the Death Hand, Maia has made sure she's brought along a bit of firepower with her. Or in this case, laserpower as it were. In lieu of the standard Kumogakure Team 01, she's asked Reza and Hoiishime to come along. with their impressive talents in ninjutsu and healing, this should be a relatively simple patrol considering.
"So, you guys know anything more about that Kuroji guy from Konoha?" she asks curiously, her pupils dilated and in the form of a spiral as she's activated her bloodline limit. It's time for her to do her thing as she purses her lips and forms a bird seal with her hands before letting out a subvocal ping throughout the area as she waits for the chakra enhanced soundwave to bounce back with information as to who is in the area…
"Who?" Reza says as he picks his ear from various items. Reza had recently come back from a certain mission which involved a far off country and hot chicks. Stroking his gotee once his finger was out of his ear he'd keep his eyes and ears open. Having had to be retrieved from his previous mission instead of returning on his own as he was supposed to simple patrols was his punishment.
And with the evening seeming to press forward, Hoiishime, had been preparing for this patrol as the shift change would come. The monk had been not so surprised that Maia, who had been order by himself, personally, to bed rest, had now been active, and seeking to start patroling as second in command. He was a bit irritated, even now, for the sake of her health, considering taking jurisdiction and having her reprimanded, but Hoiishime knew well, that the busy bodied woman, would just undermind him again. Stubborn.
Instead, however, he would concentrate on not being the week link in the chain fence, his own mind being on the fact that he had been the genin, in this three man cell, only to be superceded totally by higher rankings, of a Chuunin Yamayuki, and a Top Tiered Jounin, Reza whose talents, Hoiishime had no idea of. "I don't be knowin much beyond me first meetin wit him… however, he be seemin to know a hellva lot bout you, Maia no kimi…", a sweatdrop and a facescrunch being all that would be used to end this statement. What had Hoiishime actually known of that he wasn't saying?
The "ping" as it were could be felt down to the Death Hand's bones, literally ashe swiftly traversed the terrain. Yet another patrol to destroy. Such was the nature of espionage. A decision had to be made in order to fulfill the mission, and it was. Attack first. The agent would be able to roughly estimate the location of the patrol by the ping, after all, a ping that does not return to a location where it can be inturpretted is useless. As the evening grew in to night rapidly, the Death Hand would be standing in a clearing, awaiting his soon to be pursuers.
Her eyes widen as one of the ping returns with a figure moving towards them quickly. Maia pauses as she purses her lips and looks towards Reza. "We have incoming. Moving quickly due to the Doppler Shift of the ping." she says rather worried before glancing towards Hoiishime. "Stay behind us. Focus on healing us if we get hurt, and if we tell you to get reinforcements, you do it."
Reza spins a kunai on his figure. "How many can you pick up on?" He asks as he listens carefully for any sound of another presence. "Regardless, triangle formation, surround them before we encounter them."
Hearing the incoming orders and status message of his sensei, Hoiishime would sigh, and say, "A little early, for da bad joojoo, dontcha be tinkin?" He would nod to the order, and when the group would proceed, he would follow behind them, keeping all in focus, his hands ready to seal, and his chakra seeming to fluctuate, just from tension alone. Though Hoiishime, had been usually clear headed, to have Maia seem this worried, specifically, from just one of her echo sweeps, would be alittle disconcerting. Prayer beads would be wrapped around his left hand, and when the team would proceed, Hoiishime would be right behind them. But before he would even move, Hoiishime would say, "Could I mistin' da area? Might be keepin us off the tail end of an ambush.." His idea, had been part of his thinking ahead. At least, it would probably keep them alive longer.
As they compiled theirplans and strategy and what ever other resources, the Death Hand began to wonder if he should bother waiting for them. There was no real point in doing such, but it would give him the advantage incase there was something of significance to face. Patience was not an issue, but he had other things that were far more important. Thus, he would simply sling atleast a dozen senbon in to various locations, tucked in rather solidly into the surface of the ground.
With her hands still in the bird seal, Maia would try to continually track the movement of the incoming Deathhand with her sensory abilities. "There's one, and that's all. It could be like that last person I faced, Reza. If it's one person, then you know he or she has got to be strong." she opines, sounding slightly worried considering she was still slightly tender and had just gotten out of the hospital from the beating she took before.
"Stay on your guard and be prepared for something bad." Reza's hand would grasp the kunai as he followed after Maia with enough distance to which they would be closing in on whoever they were after from another angle. It was times like this where he wished he'd taken the time to load up on some tracking skills. He very much prefered to lead himself into these sort of situations, but going off a trusted member of his village wasn't so bad. As he moved he prepared for an engagement by focusing on filling his chakra reserve just in case.
Obviously not being heard, by either of his cell, Hoiishime, would become even more nervous. Being commanded to 'stay on ones guard' doesn't quite scream plan. And with both ninja seeming to prepare for something bad, Hoiishime, kept getting that bad feeling. He would think about what had happened to Maia. It had taken a period of hours, in intensive care, just to get her back to fighting shape, and even now, Hoiishime, could tell that she had not been back up to speed. Just what could have made that type of damage to her body? And if that could happen to her, then what was instore for the rest of the party? Hoiishime would muster up some of his faith, and when Reza had given the order not to prepare his mist technique, Hoiishime would nod and stand down. However, chakra would be readied, as he would watch and wait.
Standing silently, the Death Hand would scan the area for the vibrations of movement to guage the size of the force incoming. The senbon helped to amplify his range in clarity of such vibrations and thus he would be able to tell how many and what directions they would be coming from. Three appeared to be the number. Not a large number, but a small number generally indicated there was something akin to a leader. Thus, Yasushi would focus his chakra slightly as a precaution, there was no time to waste on them.
It's then that Maia stops, pointing in the general direction of the Death Hand. She looks towards Reza, letting him lead the rest of the way as she scrunches her nose, her expression one of worry and trepidation. "There's still only one person." she whispers softly as she changes the way her fingers are hooked together as the blue flames of chakra start to become focused over her body, ready for anything..
Reza nods towards Maia as he explains the set up using familiar hand signals. In short the formation involves one approaching first but keeping quiet and observing this would be Reza. The other two would circle around and keep out of sight until things had been confirmed as safe or an ambush was to be called, (yes Kumo is that thurough with hand signals). Reza would wait to ensure that his team understood this before moving on.
They were still trying to getin to ambush position, given the fact that he should be unaware, that was not truly a fault of their own. Unfortunately, he was aware of them. Removing his gloves, the Death Hand would suddenly leap from his position, the dust having trouble following up after him. Reaching exceptional heights, he would rapidly spin around as a torrent of bone shards were loosed from his hands and fingers, filling the area with a near storm of miniature blades. Nearly stopping his rotation, he would flip forward and sling first one arm and then the other as specially prepared bone bullets would smash into and through the trees, bushes, even some of the boulders that may be around towards their targets.
Oh snappeth! Seeing the Death Hand rise out from well, whereever he was, Maia forms yet another seal as she covers herself in the protective barrier of her jutsu. Fortunately for her, the bone shards harmlessly bounce off the protective shell of her barrier, but the continued barrage of the drilling bullets shatters through her shield. She winces in pain as the bullets rip through her flesh and clothing, causing her to step back for a few moments. She chews on her bottom lip once more, trying to keep her distance as she glares at the Death Hand and mutters yet another little ping from her lips, hoping to get a genjutsu link going on… hopefully…
As the attacks came Reza quickly called. "BAD MOJO!" Before going into a list of rapid seals before spitting a large amount of water in front of Hoiishime having seen Maia defend herself. From this water a clone would take the initial attack and a wall of water would defend against the later. However now Reza would have been hit hard by the suprise strike. Dropping the blades stuck in his body after removing them Reza would spit blood as he'd closely prepare his chakra. "Not good…" He'd say as he quickly tried to analyze the best motion for this situation. "Careful.." He'd say regardless of him being the main one bleeding at the moment.
Having been really just sitting and waiting, again, Hoiishime, would be looking to his beads, once, before the humming once of a mantra, would have been his best way to keeping cool. The intensity of this all, had been in short, mounting high, as the three would press on. Meanwhile, leadership, had been dictating 'the wait, and watch', method of stalking. The enemy hadn't been confirmed true, but with only one person being the target, something had to speak volumes about a single person, being sent out into enemy territory. Sitting and waiting just didn't seem to cut it to Hoiishime.
But then Reza would give the signal… finally. And with that, Hoiishime, obviously begining to loosen up, would began moving with Maia. Surround, and take on, seeming the plan, Hoiishime. Then all Hell would break loose.. Hoiishime would watch, and seem to stand still, his speed not being at all enough, to counter act with a defense against the bones. But it would seem not to be needed, for clones, of Reza's doing, would seem to be well sent, to aid in a defense for the nin. With that, things would not seem as hopeless. But it had also seemed that both her superior had been hurt in the attack! Hoiishime, would look toward the most injured of the two, in the presence of Reza, and with handseals, push hard against the man's body, enough to at least hear some nerve tissue, and end bleeding. Both arms would glow gold, as Reza, would feel his own chakra, move to the spots of injury, as they would began to steam, and close semi half way. "Bad Mojo indeed.. it be a spray, of….bones?" With this healing, Hoiishime, would try his hardest to stay out the line of fire.
The dark cloaked figure would land easily on to his feet, his eyes oriented where ever they were, obscured by the mask. He would begin to form his strategy. 'They are protectingone member, a medical nin. One of them is a Yamayuki, i have seen her before. The other is Reza, i have encountered him multiple times. They will be his weakness." and it was done, strategy and tactics in a mere moment of consideration of the variables. His cloak would violently shake and shiver for a moment as he reached a hand in before he would draw a blade made of bone as he took a few steps towards all of them. Gripping the blade, he would streak forward with palpable killing intent towards Maia, swirling in to a swipe of the blade as his other hand would form a releasing seal and lightning bolts would began to be fired from the hidden senbon in the area at the others.
This is all so gross! Why does Maia get the lucky of having to fight every time she goes out on patrol. Harumph. Still, she doesn't even have that much time to think as the Death Hand before her starts rushing towards her. She squints a little as she raises her arms, bracing herself for the impact as she covers herself in that invisible sound barrier once more. And it connects, of course, though just inches from her actual skin. Still, there's her student, Hoiishime to worry about! Her eyes widen as she lets out a meep, kanji starting to form at her finger tips. There were still things up her sleeve and seeing that her opponent used elemental ninjutsu is a good thing.
"Reza! You better be able to handle that. Don't let me surpass you!" she calls out teasingly as she thrusts out her palm, her fingers each glowing with a blue flame of chakra. Just as the lightning bolt starts to shoot out towards her student, she activates the seal and flips out a sheet of paper as it starts sucking in the lightning jutsu like some reverse force lightning, crackling about her fingertips and the piece of paper.
A coy grin curls onto her lips as she jumps back afterwards, the piece of paper still crackling with energy before she tosses it to the side. Staring down at her opponent, she opens her mouth and starts… singing? It's a joyful melody as she opens her mouth and tries to keep him still, as the world around him starts to change into more pleasant times, as she delves into his happy memories. Hopefully…
Reza would thank Hoiishime for the healing. "Dodge!" He'd say before lightning bolts strike "Prepare for retreat" He'd say quietly. Reza is hit but replaced by a puddle of water. He was hoping Hoiishime could handle evading that himself. For now, he needed to draw the invader's attention to himself. Kunai in hand, he'd swoop in on the death hand with his own lightning attack, aiming to slash with the lightning charged blade before shanking with it.
Throwing a quick splash of water on Reza, healing chakra laced within every molecule of it, Hoiishime would say, "Righto, mon!", and after a second of closing his eyes, gold lines, would began to move up his form, down his arms to his hands, down his legs to his feet, and up his chest, face, back and neck, glowing gold even through the facets of his clothing, his muscles and his body seeming tone exponentially, as Hoiishime would ready himself for a quick withdrawal, though before he would even consider leaving, he would need to throw in a distraction of his own, in the form of an attack, any Kiri nin would recognize, as the available water in the area, from Reza's previous jutsu, would be summoned with handseals, and swirled around the Hand of Death, inorder to trap him in a orbed sphere of the same.
The singing began to pentrate his psyche almost immediately, but as he was able to detect frequency, he was not fooled by the genjutsu attempt. While he was certainly unaware of the link being established, his body reacted to the…"emotional" responses that began to well up. The Death Hand had very few happy memories to work off of in the first place, and the one that would come actually made him even more suspicious. The grinding was painful enough to draw him out of the illusion. As Reza called the retreat and moved in to melee, he moved right in to the agents ploy. First, his initail attack would be over taken by a bladed elbow sent back towards Reza. The second slash from Reza was parried successfully, but the lightning element went through the bone blade to harm him slightly.
It was at this time that the blade would grow longer, rapidly, and sprout a few more smaller blades, launching towards Reza at this close proximity. The sword hand itself had no need to move, the sword did most of the work before a powerful slash would move to rend Reza and blast him back off of his feet, or atleast out of the Death Hand's way.
Oh crap. Oh crap. Oh crap! Maia's eyes widen as she sees the blade grow longer and longer as she watches the Death Hand work over the older and more experienced Jounin. Fear coursed through her veins but she tried to hold her resolve, but as the powerful slash started heading towards Reza, there'd be a scream from the young kunoichi.
"NO!" she cries out as she starts performing seals at a rapid pace. Oh yeah, Hoiishime's going to be mad but she knew that the man had to be stopped somehow or she and Hoiishime would be dead meat. And she definitely live with herself if she didn't try her best and let one of the Jounin get killed! She continued singing, but this time, her tone and timbre took a different slant. Even with the genjutsu link being broken, there were still techniques she had up her sleeve.
A seal around her throat started to appear once more, glowing as she funneled her chakra in through it. She continued to sing, her voice getting louder as she focused her chakra into the technique, wanting to stop the Death Hand before her. And so she'd sing. Sing, maia, Sing! Too bad, there's no Ursula here to steal her voice…
Secret Technique: Melody of Destruction! It was that technique which she had used against the other Death Hand. Hopefully, it would be as effective as soon the tone of her voice would have an extra frequency to it in the ultrasonic range. As the concussive force spread out from her mouth, the sound waves would start attacking each individual cell of the Death Hand's body, trying to paralyze him from the inside out…
Reza is cut…nice and good across the chest…AGAIN..he'd definately put two and two together by now. "So that's who you are.." He'd say. "Bastard that's twice you've scarred my chest." Looking towards his team he'd quickly begin a long list of handseals as Maia likely had his attention with her technique. "Time to Go!" with that 54 handseals were formed in only a few short moments. Reza would suddenly create water from thin air as the water formed into a great dragon. "Water Dragon Bullet." With that the massive body of the dragon, all consisting of water would rush for the invader. It was at this time that Reza coughed up a bit of blood before lagging behind just enough to make sure his team was on their way out, if they weren't he wasn't going anywhere.
With Maia sound attack, Hoiishime would have hope, even in the mist of having to cover up his ears in lew of the deadly sonic scream, chuncks of earth and debris, being kicked up with extreme prejudice, heading toward the skulled phantasm. This attack, had only been one that would sum up the drastic nature of this battle. Hoiishime, frankly, had been to confused. This patrol, had literally, turn into a battle that was complete, unpredicatable. His job had been to heal but the more he did so, the more everyone around him seemed to get hurt. Hoiishime had been trying to keep hope alive in the face of the impossible, but it would only seem to level out with thoughts on doing one thing.. surviving.
And though Hoiishime, during the time, had been readying handseals for the Water Prison technique, Reza's close contact fighting, would seem to make things quit hard when it came to actually targeting the Kiri Operative.. and then it would happen. When the blade of the Kiri nin, would began to grow, a sinking feeling would come over Hoiishime in a way he had never felt before. This was a real high level battle. Hoiishime eyes, as the glowed gold with his own chakra, would widen, as more chunks would be taken out of Reza with almost no compassion at all. None. Kumo had been fighting for its life in a 3 on 1 battle, that seem too lopsided to even be considered on fair. In truth? This battle was a lost one.
But hope had been in the form, of Reza's next attack, which, in Hoiishime's opinion, had bordered between, fantastic hope, and freakishly insane power. No wonder the monks at the shrine though ninjutsu was evil. Things like this had been being created with merely chakra alone. Hoiishime would brace for a wild ride, and cross his fingers hoping well that the Dragon would hit. Meanwhile, Maia, would be splashed with some healing water as well, just to keep own wounds from becoming to dangerous.
The Death Hand didn't seem to be overly impressed, or maybe he was frozen in fear. What ever the case was, he didn't move as the attacks came at him. His entire body was intune with the atmosphere around him, thus even something invisible to the visual spectrum like sound was able to be detected by him. The water dragon ferociously came to attack him, and it struck him fully… but only knocked him back a few yards, skidding along the earth. The sound wave came then, practically unavoidable given the large area it could take up like a moving wall. A hand seal was made again, firing off the rest of the latent lightning bolts straight in to the tamed, but still ferocious dragon.
The many blasts of electricity were amplified by the water and blasted a relatively small hole into the closing shock wave of sound. The water basically being destroyed by the discharge, the Death Hand would lightly leap and roll to almost lay out on to the air as the wave passed over and beneath him where it's wave had been countered and a couple of hand seals were made before he'd even hit the ground before he was consumed by a bolt of lightning… that struck right in between Hoiishime and Maia. Not even giving them a moment of surprise, he would rapidly almost dance around their bodies as hidden blades and his chaotic sword laid in to them both.
This was definitely not going to be good. He actually was able to somehow get past her attack. Maia's eyes widened as she watched in shock and awe as the Death Hand before her was starting to crackle with electricity. She didn't even have time to run as he suddenly appeared between her and Hoiishime. Her eyes widen as she forms a seal, trying to absorb the brunt of the slashes and hits, her clothes being torn, her flesh being rendered by the brutality of their opponent.
Eventually, she let out a scream as she landed on the ground, a bloody heap, trembling the entire time…
Reza now wounded was unable to defend his comrads. With so much water in the air Reza would quickly form a set of seals as he moved. Noone left behind in his group. He'd move right for the attacker as his hands ignited with lightning before he sent a lightning wave through the air towards a wet target as he narrowed the wave into a bolt.
Its funny how the body, can only respond so quickly. Hoiishime, has saw nothing…. The blades moved so fast that he hardly felt anything enter his body. It was as if it all had been a dream.. But his body in reality, had been going through absolute hell. The hits were so hard, and so damaging, unconsciousness would be the only thing that would save Hoii from the feeling of going into absolute shock. His life flashed before his eye from the point he had first saw his father, in the presence of Yuujiro Hanma, as a baby, up until this point. Hoiishime body would collapse, face first into the muddied ground this evening, limp, as tendon, artery, and and nerve struck, would paralyze movement, almost instantly.. The only thing keeping Hoiishime from death at this point? Some one, some where, praying for him. But with him prone, the only thing separating Hoiishime, from death? A final blow from the The Hand itself.
Silence continued to roar from the Death Hand that stood over the defeated opponents and facing the one that remained. His eyes remains on the man, presumedly before he would swiftly close the distance, tilting and side stepping and ducking the attack that streamed towards him. Almost sliding under his opponent with a sudden burst of speed, he would spring up and back flip in to a crecent kick that was preceeded by an uppercut. The Death Hand would follow up with a sharp twisting of his body that transitioned in to a shooting out of both of his fists.
Maia could not do much anymore except watch. She just yelled and screamed, letting out a high pitched resounding songbird's cry. It wasn't to attack though. It was to let others know that they were needed. Hopefully, it wasn't too late.
Reza would be hit before bursting into another puddle of water, needles of light would fly towards the enemy ninja from behind. Still on the move Reza would launch another lightning wave in Yasushi's direction. "Get out now, Don't worry about me." He'd call prepare for the consequences but dreading the ones for if Maia and Hoiishime remained with him.
Though Hoiishime, in all honesty, had been in dream land, something about Maia scream, had just enough shock, to actually wake him up. He would find himself still on the battlefield, bleeding, but not dead. Hardly able to move, Hoiishime would try his damndest, to stand himself up. His chakra for some reason, hadn't quite dissepated, his form, being enough to lift him to his feet. Something said run. But something else said that this guy, probably had been just as tired, from fighting three people. Hoiishime could hardly think straight. But one thing was certain, something had to happen, and he not give up without a fight. Handseals, would be made slowly, as water, which had managed to soak the battle field head to toe, would be formed to make clones, two to be exact. Both would make a desperate run for the Death Hands, however, just before the first would even tough, it would seem to fall apart, and instead, ensnare it within an orb of water, before the second would simple smash into the phantom.
It seemed that the leader truly wanted his team to survive, even risking himself to make it happen. Admirable, even shinobi like depending on the circumstances, but this was not Reza's battle to survive easily. The Death Hand would rather casually avoid the first strange method of attacking, but the beam he seemed to be more careful of, constantly approaching as he evaded. As he fluidly transitioned into a stance in motion for slashing with his bone blade, a sphere of water would suddenly attempt to engulf him. He would side step out of the way, past and around the controlled ball of water, and a shadow would remain in his wake as the ball of water meant to smash him would pursue him. That ball of water would seemingly explode for no reason, but Hoiishme may see a very narrow blurr of movement coming towards him before the pommel of the legendary Zenmai no Tsunami, planting itself like an overly firm stamp into his skull. The blade would remain hovering over his body as the Death Hand would slice pristinely, without any hinderance in movement or lack of accuracy, towards Reza's form. His cloak would billow wildly with the sheer force of his blow disturbing the atmosphere of the area.
Maia would just helplessly watch as the Deathhand continued to pummel her comrades. But she needed to hide for now and so she did, trying to go into the bushes. She felt awful, but all she could do was wait. Hopefully he would simply disappear so she can at least bring back her companions alive, but even she knew she could do nothing against Yasushi's power. It was truly a humbling experience.
A jet of water is shot from Reza's mouth after several seals. Yasushi is met with this yet before a wall of water forms blocking his attack attempt even further. Forming several seals Reza would continue on the run focusing his chakra. His team apparently somewhat incapacitated and himself on the same route. He knew what was needed to alert another team. That was now his only option.
And as for Hoiishime… he was stamped….and down for the count. Unconsciousness was bliss by far, and for a while, he won't be waking up. Just hoping that someone comes around for him soon. Dying right now.. would really suck.
The Death Hand was amazed that the attack was defended, even if barely, by the Kumo Jounin. That was… incredibly hard to do for almost any shinobi. However, it had happened, and he had no time to consider it. Holding his bone sword out to his side, the Death Hand would gather chakra and it would already be flowing from his arm to his blade. He regarded Reza with a slow nod, apprently atleast recognzing his talent even as he plotted his demise.
And Maia just continues to watch, terrified the entire time. Her spirit was broken, and she just waited for the other team to arrive.
With the period of time after his defense Reza quickly slams his hands together forming a special seal. "LASER CIRCUS!" With that a dozens of bright shining beams of light would burst forward spreading before rushing for Yasushi, however some would simply curve straight upward and burst in the air creating a VERY loud explosion, the others would aim to slam into Yasushi from various directions.
Kumogakurean back up was certainly on the way by now, the Death Hand had taken far too much time to handle this situation, had expended far too many resources, and would have to leave them all alive to boot. It also seemed that his opponent still had something left to fight with, to the end. The agent would accept the challenge, taking it on with his own blade, but the constant stream of energy would over power him completely any how and send him flying backwards with it. Still, no noise came from the Death Hand as he was at the mercy of the laser attack, atleast until he formed a hand seal and would disappear in a bolt of red lightning at the end of the laser that assaulted him.
Reza keeps his guard up as the Kiri nin has fled. He intended to stay on guard until their backup arrived kunai drawn, prepared to defend his comrades even in his own condition…..
