Starring:
Date: January 14, 2013
Summary:
Everything seemed normal in Kumogakure, but little did they know there were rumors of an ex member of the Explosion Corps and wanted member in the Bingo Book that had plans on showing some 'demonstrations' in the village. The rumors were enough to send out extra shinobi guards in case fireworks blew up early.
"Kumo Bomb Squad"
Kumogakure Village Center
Calamity had reared its ugly head this day in Kumogakure. The bustling village center was infected with a bomber from the Bingo Books. His rank was C but that was only because of the minor offenses he's committed. If what was rumored were to be pulled off today he'd sore up in bounty. The Bomber was formally an explosive corps member from Iwagakure but had long gone rouge and elluded capture. He grew mentally unstable after undergoing a few 'procedures' and runs wild with twisted form of fun. A psychopath and a maniac had come into Kumo today and rumor has it the village center area would be his target. The size of his explosions ranged but his target was always obliterated. Kumo dispatched many shinobi but one in particular would prove to be the most….fortuitous. Who better to catch a psychopath than…another psychopath?
Leaning against a wall with his mask worn and his hood raised Jin chuckles. Seeing the villagers move about unaware of the danger that is upon them amused Jin. He almost wanted to see their panic and chaos as they scattered and trampled about in an effort to cling to their lives. But alas such an event could cause more problems than fun for Jin. Jin was, like all the other shinobi, were given information about this bomber. His name was Kitoken. His condition was unstable at best and after his explosions he'd often appear to marvel at his own destruction. His method of attack involved trigger explosives. His motive was unknown. The man was unstable after all. But there was more to his past than that.
ACTIVATE STEALTH MODE!
The thought screamed through Sanado's mind as he tip toed from one darkened alleyway of Kumogakure before racing toward the next, trying to avoid detection. It wasn't the simplest of tasks, staying quiet and unseen, but it was definitely the most exciting of all the homework assignments he'd been assigned so far, though he wasn't entirely sure how the instructors would know if he did this homework or not. They be watching him…they were always watching him. -.-
Regardless, Sanado was going to have fun with this as he approached the Village Center that was filled with waves of people going about their business. Naturally, he was already doing exactly what he was instructed to do so in the Academy. Remain undetected and simply observe…but what's the fun in that? Well, none. So the boy decided to up the ante and challenge himself a little more.
Spotting a target moving close by, Sanado waited until they moved past before running out behind them and following ever so carefully in their shadow.
Success!
Accept for the part where the boy instantly brought a hand up to cover his mouth to avoid laughing hysterically for being eye level with the tall man's…butt. Oh! The man would turn around and Sanado rolled away into the crowd before the trailed man knew what happened.
A bomber? In these parts? Amani received the information and as such, was tasked to be on hand. She couldn't afford to look like she knew something or else it would cause a panic. Instead, she carried on as she usually does, a few shortbread cookies grasped in her hand to munch on with vigor. She was around the center for obvious reasons that only she and other shinobi know thus far. She just hopes that they'll be able to identify with the target and prevent the attack from happening.
Jin's gaze moves towards the fountain and he leans up off the wall. Steadily he makes his way over toward it. At the fountain was a vendor with a heavenly sweet smell and steam flowing from his cart. "You don't look to well young lady. Are you from outta town? You look like you've had a long trip." The man had an honest face as he questioned a village female. A face touched by time but good times. Memorabilia held dear to him in the essences of his gaze. The man reaches into his cart and pulls out a cup. "Here drink this. It's free. Take it as a welcoming token on behalf of the village of Kumogakure." he smiles and insists his drink upon the woman. The man would begin to take his leave.
Jin ran into a fleeing Sanado as he made his way towards the fountain. Jin smirks at Sanado behind his mask and pulls his head back letting his crimson tresses cascade freely. Jin reveals his face and shows his grin to Sanado. "What are you up to?" he asked oh so curiously. As Jin spoke to Sanado the same vendor from the fountain rolled by with his cart. The sweet smell of chocolate traveled with him. Jin sets a hand on the man's cart halting him. "Excuse me." he asks. The man looks to Jin in confusion. Jin smiles "May I have one?" The man smiles and reaches down into his cart before handing Jin a cup of hot chocolate. "On the house." Jin nods "How generous of you." The man bows his head and continues to be on his way. Jin looks back to Sanado. "Wanna know a secret?" Jin asks before kneeling down to Sanado. He whispers in the young boy's ear. "There's a psycho bomber on the loose. And he's here somewhere in the Village Center Area." Jin pulls and chuckles "Isn't that exciting?"
Running away to avoid the giggles, it came to quite a surprise when Sanado almost went careening into Jin. The man was actually adorning the mask over his face this time, which was sure to mean serious business for someone, but hopefully not him. "Well the instructors at the academy taught us about stealth today and said the best way to learn is to apply it in real life. So you'll probably see little tiny children eyes spying all about the village. A little creepy if you think about it, so don't think about it."
The vendor would walk buy, the intoxicating smells easily overpowering the mindset of Sanado, but as the man gives Jin some free hot chocolate, he's quickly annoyed that he wasn't offered some as well. Clearly he's standing here and thirsty or hungry. In a bit of anger and frustration the boy crosses his arms over his chest. "Wait what…"
He thought he had heard Jin wrong, but without a doubt the masked man said there was a psycho bomber on the loose. Maybe it was a euphemism for Jin, but who knows. "It's a little exciting I guess, so long as I don't get blown up. If you ask me though it's probably that vendor man. I mean, no one around here just gives things away for free. I normally have to beg or offer a trade or something AND THEN THE MAN DOESN"T EVEN GIVE ME ONE!"
Amani was ignoring the majority of the goings on of the public while keeping an eye out for this suspected bomber. She quietly activated her nejigan and saw as everything resonated sound waves, even the most subtle of objects. Just about everything was emitting something around here, though. It was the village center after all. The chocolate smelled fantastic, but she could do without it for now. She already had a snack on hand.
She tried to look for anything out of the ordinary as far as objects were concerned. What she saw and heard, picking up and differentiating between all the sounds among hundreds of people gathered here. Sanado's yelling picks up in her senses quite easily. In fact, it was almost as if he was standing nearby. She maintained some vigilance in order to ensure that this attack didn't take off.
With Amani's eyes she'd be able note several things. The first would be a strange frequency from four vendors. With further inspection she could see that these carts were all 'giving out' hot chocolate. And with her nejigan she could see that the contents of this chocolate were not only contaminated but unstable. Now if Amani were to turn her attention to the vendors themselves she'd see that all but one of them are VERY nervous. Their heart races at a rather unhealthy pace. The one vendor who seemed to be calm was the one who just gave Jin a cup of hot chocolate. Several citizens have received this strange hot chocolate. Something was definitely amiss. But what was truly horrifying is once the chocolate was ingested the material inside began to grow more unstable. IE somehow there are bombs in the chocolate and seeing as our bomber uses trigger explosives, he has a considerable number of hostages.
Jin looks to Sanado seeing that he's clearly upset. Jin gives Sanado a smile before handing him the hot chocolate. "Here you go…." Jin nods he then looks back to see the vendor but the man has disappeared. Jin blinks twice distinctly before looking back to Sanado and then the hot chocolate. "Free….free indeed." Jin would then recall a little tidbit of the bomber's skill set. He and Amani would both know that besides being an ex Explosion Corps member he also had the unique style of 'Candy Manipulation'. "Hmm could it be…" Suddenly someone behind Sanado starts to groan and moan in pain. It's just a little girl no older than Sanado. If Amani would look to her she'd see that inside her violent explosions were going off. Before long the girl spit up a torrent of blood and fell dead on the ground. A made wicked laughter is then heard.
"Oh, wow." Completely not expecting Jin to just hand over the hot chocolate like that, Sanado happily took it in a hand and took a big whiff of the brew. "It smells delicious." He'd comment as he watched Jin act a bit suspicious, looking this way and that before staring back at the hot chocolate he gave him. "Uh-uh, no way. You gave it to me and you don't get to take it back." Wanting to make sure of this, Sanado would take a few steps back out of Jin's reach before bringing the cup to his mouth to start drinking it.
However, as the hot chocolate filled the boys mouth he's frozen still from swallowing it down from the sounds of someone in pain behind him. Spinning about, he'd see the girl just as she fell over and spit up the mass amount of blood. Shocked, the cup would fall from his hands and shatter upon the ground and his mouth would loosen up, allowing the hot chocolate to simply pour out as well. Splattering against the ground.
"Med…Medic! Doctor Lady….AMANI!!!" Sanado had no clue if Amani was nearby, but she was the only medic-nin he knew of and it was the only think he could think of as he rushed over toward the downed girl and kneeled before her, checking to see if she was alive. He wasn't trained in first-aid and cpr, so didn't know where to begin besides just giving her a good shake on the shoulder and making sure she didn't swallow any of that blood. "Hey. Hey. Are you alright? Come on, wake up. Medics are on the way." The only death Sanado had experienced was a bunny, so this was a bit traumatic for the boy
Amani watched the vendors and the frequencies that resonated from them. Her mind immdiately went to the bomber that was spoken of and threatening the village in secret. She winced, seeing that the way the hot chocolate sloshed around produced a different 'sound' than was normal for a drink like that. It's almost as if it's weighed down by something.
Watching as the chocolate seemed to upset stomachs, she tilted her head somewhat at what was taking place within these people and it finally culminated when a girl began to spew up blood after having ingested the hot chocolate. That is not a normal reaction for that sort of drink. She was already on the job as she's called by Sanado, moving quickly toward the girl to now have a better look at her.
"I saw what happened. That person that you said was nervous, someone should get to that individual that or whoever began to laugh. I could try to target the person, but it'd take me too long to do that since I have to tend to this girl," she remarked.
She began to remove her lab coat and tear it apart to try and clean the girl's mouth free of blood as well as reaching back far enough to clear any blood out of her mouth. "Water, I need water over here!" She was going to need to flush out the rest of the blood for her to continue to work on her. She may even have to cut her open considering what happened to her stomach. Whatever that was in her body couldn't continue through her system.
Jin looks away from the dying girl and Sanado back in the direction of the laughter. Amani would be able to pinpoint it to a building near the center of the village area. However she'd be busy working with the dying girl. She was bleeding internally and needed immediate medical attention. Jin looks back to Sanado "Is this your first time seeing someone die Sanado-kun?" Jin asked sounding rather interested. "The first time always takes the longest to forget. Most never forget though." Jin turns his attention towards Amani. "It's the chocolate correct? Crafty…that means that Sanado-kun as well as anyone else who delighted in the chocolate could share the same fate." Citizens nearby panic but a few try to assist Amani in gathering what she asked for. One steps forward to take Sanado away so that Amani has more room to work.
"So Kitoken is indeed here." Jin smirks heading back towards the laughter. "He's outdone himself. Rather than bombing structurees he's bombing people. Hahaha wonderful." Now a few other people would begin to moan and groan crumbling to their knees and spitting up blood. It seems Kitoken has started. The count wasn't dangerously high yet but with the inclusion of the little girl 5 others lie either dead or dying. Fortunately Sanado isn't one of them. As Jin comes to the base of the building where the laughter was heard there'd be a panic of villagers running about. Some were trying to aid the fallen. Some were trying to escape. Some were staggering as they suffer from the bomber's attack. But the four vendors remained calm. The elderly man who gave Jin the hot chocolate stood behind him. He wore a grin before ripping off his face which seemed to be a very life like mask. "Wonderful isn't it? I wonder how many are at my mercy right now?" Jin turns to face the man and smiles right back. "I'd say you have well over several dozen, perhaps even hundreds." Jin starts to snicker "Any last words? This is my favorite part of the job." Kitoken shakes his head. "I have a few. Make a move against me and I'll detonate EVERYTHING." The vendors, if anyone had noticed were positioned at the streets leaving and entering the Center Village Area. They had the greatest accumulation of the explosive chocolate which promised a more glorious explosion. "Oho?" Jin says adjusting his mask.
Sanado was starting to panic as he was sure the girl was dead if not very close to being so. He'd look this way and that, wondering where help was, having no clue what to do. He was moments away from shouting for help again until Amani had showed up and began working on the girl. "She…she just started making noises and then fell over, throwing up blood. I didn't do it.." Watching Amani work, he didn't say much afterwards, not wanting to distract her too much then what was already going on.
When Jin began speaking to him, he didn't respond, at least not right away. This was his first time seeing death and he could only give a nod as an answer, but when Jin mentions the chocolate being the problem and Sanado might die as well, he couldn't hold back anymore. "But I didn't swallow! I spit it out I swear!" He was more nervous now as he started to rub his belly, worried that he might die as well. He didn't even get to graduate yet, it wasn't fair.
"Don't touch me!" The boy would shout and jerk from whomever it was that was trying to touch him before standing up on his own and spinning about. Doing so leaving him to once again see many more people groaning before falling over toward their deaths and with Sanado unable to do anything at all to help. The only thing he could think of was never accepting free chocolate from anyone again after this. It would be a struggle and a challenge, but one he would have to stick by if he wants to survive to make genin.
Looking around once again, the streets were scattering with people running around in a panic. Some were heading straight toward the exits to get away from the village center only to be blocked by the other hot chocolate vendors. "What's going on?!" He'd shout while turning to see where Jin had went, only to see the man talking to another individual that looked almost as twisted and insane as Jin himself. "Did you do this?! Why would you do such a thing!?"
Amani knew that there wasn't much of a chance at healing this girl at the rate she lost so much blood. That damage was far beyond anything she could do and so were the rest of them. She was still determined to get them to the hospital for better treatment. It wasn't far from here and time was of the essence. Shew knew some wouldn't survive, but others might. She had to keep sight of that glimmer of hope in what appeared to be absolute darkness in this moment. She started giving directions to people before shinobi came in and began to clear the streets of the bodies that were dropping to take them to the hospital as fast as they could. Medics were arriving and began to tend to any wounded that were still in need of being picked up.
After the girl she was taking care of was carried away, the girl turned her attention to the one who was having a conversation with Jin. She wanted to destroy him, but she knew she had better things to focus on. The vendors were still parked around here with their hot chocolate and could bring harm to someone at any moment. There's only one clan that she knows of that specializes in explosive abilities. She remembers this from the attack someone attempted on the village a while back. If it's a type of earth jutsu, then lightning can nullify it. Then again, she can manipulate frequencies and in turn change the outcome of the chocolate. If she can shake up the chocolate enough, she could potentially create enough heat to dissolve it and hopefully the solution. On the same plane, however, she can also affect people and if given the chance, could possibly turn their brain matter to liquid.
She isn't that strong yet, unfortunately, so she'll have to work with what she has. Sound blast ought to do the trick. She sets off, the vendors her targets. In order to prevent any chance of them picking her up in the animosity, she decides to approach from behind and cloak the sound of her movements by utilizing a frequency that will dampen the sound of her steps upon approach.
After his mask is positioned Jin performs hand seals to summon the black goo. Kitoken grins and laughs at Jin. "You're still going to attack!?" Jin smiles at Kitoken and nods. Kitoken raises his fingers as if he's about to snap. "You don't care about the villagers?" he asks almost hoping Jin gave him a certain answer. Jin chuckles "You're my only target." Kitoken nods to Jin apparently liking this answer. "Looks like you didn't drink any. But I won't die alone here." Kitoken states. Jin then summons three tendrils with sharp ends from the ground. "You're death will be the swiftest though I'm sure." Then just as Jin was about to attack Sanado steps in. Jin looks to Sanado and his tendrils are halted. Jin looks to Kitoken who has a disatisfied look on his face. "What? Why'd you stop?" Kitoken looks to Sanado "Him?! Its that the reason!? I thought I was your only target? Or weere you just bluffing?"
Meanwhile Amani, clever gal, seems to have come to the correct conclusion. While she couldn't remove the violatile chocolate she could neutralize it via a sonic burst. It would be wise to take out the vendors first. She would have to work fast however. Kitoken wasn't patient in these situations.
Now bback to the matter of Kitoken, Jin and Sanado. "Sanado-kun….you said you spit it all out. You didn't swallow even one drop correct?" Jin asked. Kitoken is quick to intercept however. "Don't believe it. I can feel them. My explosives are linked via chakra to me. I can tell who's got them and who doesn't." Was Kitoken lying or not? What about Sanado? What decision would Jin make here? Kitoken's head jerks in the direction of one of the vendors. Jin stands straight up and lets his tendrils fall to the ground dissipating back into the soil. "Sanado-kun, you asked once how I created this black substance if I'm not mistaken?" Jin glances to Sanado "Pay attention." Jin performs more handseals and large mass of the black goo accumulates. "Kurozuka tells the tale of some monks who stay the night at a mysterious old woman's home. The woman leaves to retrieve something. She asks that the monks do not look around. But one does and discovers a mound of corpses." Jin holds his hand out towards Kitoken who then snaps his finger attempting to detonate all the vendors at once. "Enraged the old woman transforms into an Ogre and chases the monks. From the ground a black mound arises spewing from the mound are hundreds of demons…." the black mass crashes onto Kitoken who smiles as he goes under "Hehehe…" Jin smiles back "Careless, did you forget what you first asked me?" Jin shakes his head while Kitoken is crushed to death. "And that's enough of the story for now."
As Sanado approached the man and Jin, he quickly noticed the black tendrils forming from the ground and knows exactly what happens next, but he didn't stop his approach and kept walking right up toward the two. "Don't ignore me mister or I'll kick you right in the shin!" It was the most he could offer, as the Academy only teaches so much and they don't exactly let him walk around with Kunai or anything useful. Regardless, the man still ignored him, choosing only to talk to Jin who had halted his attack for some reason.
"Umm, yeah. I was going to drink it, because it didn't taste bad, but my throat closed up when I saw…" Not able to finish the sentence as the images of just a few moments ago of the girls death fills his mind and freezes him in place and he would have stayed like that for a time had Jin not called his name once again.
Nodding, "Yeah, I wanted to learn it, but I'm probably not able to." The boy shrugged it off as he listened to what Jin had to say. It was a story and not just a description of how it worked, so Sanado made sure to pay extra attention to the details. Stories always managed to catch his attention more than just an explanation. The snap from the man did catch his focus momentarily, but he returned back to Jin, catching sight of the black mass being formed that encompassed the man. "So that's why you wear the Ogre mask? That's amazing."
Amani wasn't exactly fast, but she had been trying to improve that over the course of time. Where her speed wasn't a factor, she could make up with jutsu which traveled much more quickly than she did. In order to make effective use of her attack, she needed to have a focus that could send it out all over the place in some kind of way. It didn't take long before she set her sights on the tower. She tries to gather up her chakra and up the volume of her attack so that the spire in the village center would reflect it back to upset the vendors and their stalls.
The sound blast should be able to kill two birds with one stone. It's enough to stun those that hear it, but strong enough to affect the hot chocolate within the containers as well as the explosive liquid within it.
Jin looks at Sanado finding it odd how he reacted to the story. "Amazing?" Jin rubs his head before moving the mask off to the side. "I suppose so." Jin peers upward as a noise is heard. He blinks wondering what this is but he soon remembers that Amani was on the job too. Nothing seems to have detonated so whatever Amani did it was effective. Amani's burst neutralized the chocolate before Kitoken could detonate it. Though there are a numerous amount of casualties the greater majority of the citizens were saved. The vendors would find themselves under arrest very shortly by other Kumogakure Shinobi who showed up to relieve the situation. Medics hit the scene and just like that the threat of Kitoken is over. Jin starts to move off to who-knows-where. "It's gotten boring again. My work here is done." As he departs he passes Sanado by. "You should read up on Kurozuka and the Onibaba. It might help with any lingering questions. That is, if you dare. Death doesn't seem to ease your mind as it does mine."
