Starring:
Fuuta, Sakuryu
Date: September 23, 2012
Summary:
Bandits have been terrorizing the area and making merchants rather uncomfortable. Fuuta is sent along with Sakuryu to escort one merchant to safety.
"Merchant and the Smoky Bandit"
Down the Valley. Land of Water
Well Fuuta had been randomly selected to take a genin on a little assignment and 'supervise' the assignment. It was a simple assignment and nothing too dangerous. With the recent increase in bandits merchants have been requesting ninja escorts between countries. Fuuta was to go with the relatively new genin Shirayuki Sakuryuu and make sure things went smoothly for her since she wasn't with a team yet. Fuuta and Sakuryuu would be near the valley after having lead the merchant from the docks. They'd almost made it back so far and only a few bandits have crossed their paths. Sakuryu did well considering Fuuta didn't lift a finger to help her.
The young chuunin took his orders strictly this time around. He would 'supervise' and only do just that. As they come to an area where the mist thickens and the ground becomes a road Fuuta lets out a mighty yawn "Maaaaan that was boring. Those bandits were totally shaking in their pants. And I didn't even do anything it was all this little raindrop right here." Fuuta motions to Sakuryu. The merchant gave Fuuta a sly look. "Yes…you didn't do A THING. I have to wonder why 'm paying to be escorted by TWO shinobi when ONE is about as helpful as a dung flavored pocky stick." Fuuta shrugs "I'm like insurance my friend. Plus when you're with the GREAT Yoko Fuutama there is a comforting amount of security to take you." Fuuta strokes his chin rather arrogantly. He looked to Sakuryu to see how she was holding up. After all she did all of the fighting. "How fairs the raindrop?" he asks.
Sakuryu had been ecstatic today, she was finally being assigned a mission, her time to shine, her time to prove her worth and maybe get on a team without killing all the other students as some had suggested to her. She had packed a spare coat, some extra kunai, a few healing kits, and of course a book though there was one stop she wanted to make on this trip before she went. She had recently been told that medical Nin will provide supplements to higher ranking Ninja that need an extra booth or need to heal faster, she had a note written up stating she needed to get some medicine for an older jounin that she knew was too sick to actually do anything about it. Plus she was a noble, who wanted to mess with her? Rejected Heir or not she was still a Shirayuki.
With medicine and tools in hand she met up with Fuuta, a wide grin on her face as she walked along the road and out of the gate with him, idly chatting about her studies, her quest for a fox companion, many many MANY stories she had read, and random quotes from various ninja scrolls new and old lost and not published. The girl was like a walking archive of annoying knowledge!
When the bandits did attack it must have been a relief to Fuuta Sakuryu of course pouting when she had to stop talking to take on the bandits. They were nothing but a few down on their luck people no doubt survivors from raids that were doing what they could to survive, but a job was a job and Sakuryu needed to prove herself!
Sakuryu just blinked in surprise as she saw the chuunin sitting back. Was he really not going to help at all? The first few were a little rough for her to fight, with her own exhaustion and weakness problems and the lack of taijutsu practice the jumping ambushes got her a little scuffed though nothing really breaking the skin. The last few were a little hard but all it took was a trusty icy breath and they were on their way with the Merchant.
The young white haired girl grins "Well sir~ If you want Yoko Sensei and I can sit off to the side while you fight the next few bandits." There was a smile on her face and she was trying to look relaxed, probably looking almost as cocky as Fuuta to the Merchant. To any person with even the slightest Medical knowledge she was obviously fatiguing, a few droplets of sweat were being held back by her headband and her breathing was uneven. She gripped the vial in her pocket…She could probably take the medication and no one would ask her otherwise….. and she might even be able to walk home without passing out or collapsing…but the risk… as far as she could tell he didn't even know she had this medicine but how would her report look if she took it…
Fuuta looked Sakuryu over as she spoke. She seemed rather sickly and slim to be a shinobi but she held her own in battle, even though just barely. The fatigue is clear when Fuuta observes her and though he wasn't supposed to do anything but supervise Fuuta didn't want her passing out on him. Fuuta chuckles and looks back to the merchant after Sakuryu's comment. The merchant just turns around and pouts "You shinobi are scammers and monsters." He remarks. Fuuta pats him on the back "Alright enough whining. We're almost there but still look sharp. Anything could happen." He glances back to Sakuryu "That goes double for you raindrop."
As they continue to trek on Fuuta would spark some conversation, even if it was one-sided, to keep Sakuryu from going on about a plethora of things. One of his topics matched Sakuryu's as Fuuta comments on his clan and how they have a special bound with fox spirits. He doesn't go into great detail but he does mention the two tribes; Myo an Nogi. Fuuta however goes silent suddenly and his arms fold as his eyes narrow. He looks back to Sakuryu and grins. They've been walking for a while and the mist has remained very thick. Fuuta notices something in the mist however. He waited to see if Sakuryu caught on. "Hey raindrop. This mist is something else right?"
Despite her sick nature Sakuryu was keeping it together, when the others weren't noticing she would find herself trembling a little or trying to catch an idle breath, all together putting on at least a good enough facade for the merchant. "I'm not a monster! I'm a snow spirit." She grins and uses the mist to blow a few snowflakes at the merchant, placing her hands behind her head as she walked. When the conversation hit onto foxes Sakuryu would pump him for everything he had, talking about summoning scrolls, a seal master she knew, all the research on foxes both normal and mystical that she could, even citing a few books *normal* genin shouldn't be able to get too, and some that weren't even in museums anymore, seems the sneaky girl is as fox like as she says….and being from a noble family probably doesn't hurt!
After a moment she nods, she had been noticing the stagnation of the mist and was just observing….things were strange here but she didn't want to make fool of herself. "Yeah…..some weather right?" She chuckles a little bit before checking her pockets for the medicine, if they were up against other ninja she would have to risk it, she would black out in any kind of intense fight right now. With a breath she thinks. "If this is an illusion jutsu the mist would still be moving and we could probably have seen something to show control of the mist….Since everything was stationary and thick the surrounding area was cut off by fog, enough so that if a moderate ninja had even a little Genjutsu skill he could use the natural conditions to throw off the mind even more with an eternal mist walk while they did what they wanted.” She takes a moment and tries to remember her training, getting her hands ready to perform kai, looking up at Fuuta to see if it was okay. After all she hadn't had too much experience with genjutsu just yet.
Fuuta blinks as Sakuryu does a rather impressive breakdown of what's going on with the mist. He's shocked to see she'd arrived at the same conclusion. "You are something else raindrop. On a scale of one to me you're about a 7. Not bad. Go ahead if you know the technique. I've released myself and the merchant." He motions to the guy whose scared stiff right now. "What's happening? What's going on? I don't recognize this place at all." Fuuta nods "Yes it seems like we've been lead into a trap." Fuuta says looking around.
Fuuta looked to Sakuryu and his eyes flicker across her form. He sighs and places his hand on her shoulder "If things look bad or you need help don't hesitate. I know I haven't done much but that's because I believed you could handle it. Communication is vital." As he explained so he used the kai technique so she wouldn't have to expend her strength. "Now then it looks like we got led to a deeper part of the valley." Fuuta sighs and cracks his neck. The merchant looks to him "Oh you're actually going to do something now?" Fuuta chuckles "Well raindrop here has worked pretty hard. I leave you in her capable hands while I deal with the guy or guys behind this." Fuuta explains. "Awww how lovely." A voice called out to the group. Fuuta looks to Sakuryu indicating that she needed to take her position and stay close to the merchant. In a cloud of smoke a man appears. He has a large scar on his forehead. "Such comradery, it's heartwarming." Fuuta faces the man now standing between him and Sakuryu. "Raindrop…do you know the way to the D-zone?"
Sakuryu smiles a little bit, one advantage about being weak and in bed while other kiri children are out learning to massacre and build muscle? You build brain and lots of it, already at age 11 her memory held more facts and knowledge then most Genin had ever forgotten! She focuses to do Kai before she feels Fuuta release her just biting her lip.
Sakuryu nods as she looks around listening carefully to the older ninja, she pulls out a kunai defensively her fingers curling tight around the shaft as she looks at him. The knowledge he knew she was weakened was a little stab to her, here’s another older ninja that thought she wasn’t good enough and now he was pushing her back and holding her off. She takes a breath "Yes sir!" is the response she gives for his talk of communication. As the mist clears and they look around Sakuryu tenses. Before she can act the man is in front of her, with a gasp she tenses up a little bit looking at the new man with a look of confusion, a hundred different scenarios moving through her brain "No I don't why?" she asks getting ready to use a clone to distract him so she could flit away with the merchant, it would pull hard on her already low energy but she could push herself.
Fuuta points backwards. "Just head that way then. Get out of the valley and head towards the village. I'll be behind you after I deal with our guest." Fuuta explains. The man chuckles at Fuuta "You think I'm going to let her escape?" Fuuta shrugs "You can choose to try and hinder her but…. By then I'll have killed you." Fuuta states letting a low amount of chakra course though his finger tips. The young chuunin motions for Sakuryu to get going. "Ok get out of here raindrop. Keep him safe." Fuuta approaches the man with the scar now. The merchant looks to Sakuryu "L-let' do as he says….I don't want to die."
Fuuta would attack the man by tossing a volley of kunai at him. He evades them rather easily but that's as Fuuta expected. He slipped a few explosion tags in and when they went off it would provided the window Sakuryu needed to escape. "Now raindrop! Get the guy to safety." He advised. The man's head appears but his body is made of smoke. "You arrogant twerp don't think I'll let you escape." His body separates and a clone is formed from the smoke. The clone would chase after Sakuryu but its target was the merchant.
Sakuryu wasn't stupid, she was pooling chakra slowly as she waited on their conversation, at the opening that was provided Sakuryu bounded forward almost dragging the merchant away dashing away before soon putting him against a big tree. With a grin she pants. "I know I won't be able to outrun you but I can still fight you." She seems to be panting hard, as the man gets close she would collapse placing her hands to her stomach as if she were out of air. "N…not now…"
As the bandit closed in Sakuryu would give a grin, taking a large breath in she finished the hand seals she had been hiding with the fake collapse soon splitting into 2 then three and then four clones each holding their breath, the barage focused and let fly their held breath, icy cold wind shears forth towards the bandit at four times the strength and intensity. As she breathes out she rasps. "I may not know about smoke but I know about wind, and if it gets cold enough it freezes anything." She says as she lets her clones let the rest of the breath out in a little burst, the chilling wind technique not very strong on its own but when multiplied it could do some damage.
"Hey eyes on me!" Fuuta snaps at the man. He finds himself under the assault of a barrage of smoke bombs. Fuuta is occupied with defending himself and can't rush to Sakuryu's aid. The clone on the other hand was having difficulties with Sakuryu's technique. He evaded the majority of her wind but his foot got caught in the cold blast. IT causes his leg to freeze and destabilized the entire clone. It began to vanish. The smoke shinobi's eyes narrow as his clone was dispelled by a mere genin. "Well it seems you've got a hazard with you." Fuuta smiles at the man. "I'm a walking hazard buddy, or haven't you noticed." Fuuta remarks before manipulating string to ensnare the man. Fuuta's attempt was wasted as the man moved right through his wires. He then attacked Fuuta using large waves of smoke to smoother and crashes him into the ground. The damage wasn't great but he found himself surrounded by explosive tags. The explosion is what wounded Fuuta. He moves from the cloud of debris with a few burns. He moved from the explosion right into a trap however. Smoke surrounded Fuuta and the young chuunin found that his vision was blurring and it was growing more difficult to breathe. Then his body locks up and he falls to the ground. The man reforms from the smoke standing over Fuuta. "Smoke Release: Toxic Swarm." He looks to Sakuryu now. "Ello sweetie." The merchant is tucked into a ball where Sakuryu left him just wishing all of this would be over.
The man refrains from using smoke manipulation knowing Sakuryu's jutsu was effective against him. He uses the body flicker technique to rapidly close the distance and stands a few feet before Sakuryu armed with a kunai. "I don't like killin kids. But I'll make so quick I won't even notice." He grins. He takes a step forward and prepares to strike Sakuryu down "That defenseless sickly tactic isn't going to work on me."
Sakuryu pants a little bit, trembling after she watches the clone fade and dissolve. "G…got it." She chuckles a little bit recomposing herself as she watches the other two. She silently watches and crosses her fingers hoping that his attack would land, soon moving to brace herself knowing the next target would be herself, she soon looks at her clones letting them all get ready a kunai in her own hand.
With a gasp she looks up at him with a grimace. "I'm glad you don't like killing kids, I can keep you happy." She says as she looks up at him balefully, she waits and braces herself for an attack, looking very weak and on the verge of collapse. As the man attacks her with the Kunai she would gasp and arch her back, skin melting away to reveal a body of solid ice, the now evident clone using it's icicle sharp nails to grip his hand while another possible clone slides behind him and lets loose another blast of air right where his face would be when he turned letting it be a deep harsh breath absolutely dumping chakra into the icy wind trying to make it stronger.
The smoke user curses as he's only managed to kill her clone. When he finds himself under the assault of her second and the chilling wind he has to depend on his regular ninja prowess. He was too susceptible to her ice manipulation. The clone's icy nails dug into his skin and held him in place while Sakuryu blew frozen wind into his face. He braced himself against the chilling winds. It fatigued his muscles but he was still able to draw forth power. He rips away from the clone and kicks at Sakuryu before leaping back into the air. He focuses his chakra and blows out a huge cloud of smoke. He then sparks a flame by shutting his mouth and emitting a spark with fire manipulation. An eruption would be what Sakuryu would have to avoid.
Sakuryu grins as she sees her clone take a hit, degrading to it's basic form before she freezes his face, cursing at her lack of power by herself, as she is exhaling she's open for a moment the kick knocking what little air she has out of her. With a gasping breath she moves over to try and quickly pull the merchant out of the way, managing to only get half behind a tree with him. As she hunkers down she braces herself over the merchant, making her clones guard her from the blast, using her woven mask to cover the merchants face as she awaits the burst.
With a scream and a loud thump the fire ignites and sends the blast at her, the ice clones absorb much of the blow that would have likely done near fatal damage to her and possibly killed the merchant. The shockwave and burst from the blast sends the slender girl through the air, her body twisting and writhing in the air as she struggles to keep conscious, giving hard grunts as she impacts the ground with the force of a large rock watching the merchant tumble much less far.
With a struggling breath Saku grips the ground, she wasn't going to fail…no way…..she HAD to prove she was worth it and prove that she was a kunoichi and not some useless sick patient. Using sheer will she forces her blast fatigued muscles to push her up, panting in earnest as she gets to her knees, slowly ratcheting up to her feet throwing a volley of senbon at the Smoke man her accuracy would be down but hopefully a few would hit or maybe she' get lucky and one would hit home. As she throws the senbon she works her muscles to move her forward harder, almost kicking the ground to move as she holds her Kunai.
As she walks she gets an idea, with a little focus she pulls a few more kunai out, using another breath one of no doubt few left in her to pour her freezing breath over it being used to the cold her hands didn't mind much though if she could get the metal cold enough it would sting that much more and maybe even burn a little. As she finishes she throws the kunai, taking her time but quickly volleying them trying to aim where he would be instead of where he was at the time. Maybe the icy kunai would work like her breath…
The smoke user was able to phase through Sakuryu's projectile attacks. The chilled metal did seem to affect him but overall he avoided serious injury. His shoulder started to bleed however. One of Sakuryu's shuriken had managed to inflict some damage. He winces then glares at her. "I've had enough of you." He says flowing through handseals. His arms turn into giant balls of smoke and he would sling them towards Sakuryu. The speed and sheer accumulation of smoke would've overwhelmed her. "Smoke Release: Suffocating Storm!" he grins noticing Sakuryu's weakness. "You're not too healthy are you kid? Smoke's bad for you."
"Ore Sanjou!" Fuuta had been watching for some time now. He'd managed to fool the smoke user into believing he's taken him down. When he sees Sakuryu tossed into the air by the explosion he figured she was finished. Fuuta was shocked to see her power through and even launch counter attacks after having taken so much damage trying to defend the client. Fuuta nods "You've got heart raindrop. And dedication. Rest easy…" Fuuta says appearing by her side. He pulls a finger back towards himself and as the two arms of smoke closed in. From behind the smoke user was one of Sakuryu's shuriken. It was being brought back at the man from behind. He had no choice but to fully dematerialize into smoke to evade it while in mid attack. His attack dispersed, however the smoke still lingered. Fuuta covered his mouth and nose. "Don't breathe that in raindrop."
While the man remained in smoke form Fuuta had a clone leap at him and it exploded spraying acid everywhere. The smoke whirled and then reformed into the man who stood before Fuuta and Sakuryu again. "You can't touch me without her icy wind jutsu. I'm curious though. Didn't I kill you with my toxic smoke technique?" Fuuta points to his previous location where a deflated dummy lies. "You killed my tool clone. Although it wasn't really alive to begin with…." he grins. The man grins back and starts to prepare for a jutsu "I'll just kill you all this time then." Suddenly he starts cough and writhing a down to his knees. "Argh what….is going…." Fuuta smirks "That acid clone was infused with a corrosive acid and gas. It mixed with you in smoke form and now that you've solidified….well hehe you see the results." Fuuta turns to Sakuryu and inspects her "Are you ok? You did a nice job there. I'm sorry I waited so long." he chuckles. Behind them the smoke user cripples down to his knees coughing up blood. He'd be finished soon. Fuuta looks to the merchant. "Still alive sir~" the merchant just yells "You shinobi are crazy bad luck!" Fuuta nods "He's fine."
Sakuryu grinned as she watches the kunai cut him at least a little, her body trembling as it tries to stay up, her entirety shuddering with every breath she exhales. As she watches the man turn she looks around, she can't think of anything to do to counter attack, and her mask was on the client to keep him from suffering. "Even if you try…I'll survive somehow…" She grins stupidly, trying to make the man at least a little uncomfortable with her madness at this point.
As she sees Fuuta come to her side she nods. "T…thanks." She hits a knee but quickly forces herself back up, better not fall now while he as still trying to attack them. She watches as the man fades and Fuuta uses her kunai and poison to effectively put the man into a dying state. As she pants a little bit she watches them both carefully before looking over at the merchant. "Hehe….I gotta remember to ask for my mask back…dying for a man that doesn't even appreciate you…how shinobi of me. She grins before looking over at the Smoke ninja once more.
Sakuryu pulls out another kunai and narrows her eyes "S….should we finish him? W….what if he uses his smoke to purge himself…or to heal and come back." She says struggling to keep a dignified pose as she tries to look attack ready. "I might be able to pull out another chilling wind… I just need one good breath." She smiles and looks to Fuuta, there was still poison lingering in the air and the girls weak body had already had heavy damage done but she might be able to force one more, it was hard to tell at this point with how she had already survived.
Fuuta chuckles at Sakuryu. "You did good. Whether he's grateful or not." He pats her on the shoulder. "Now then what to do with you?" Fuuta looks over to the smoke shinobi. "You can try and purge yourself but then I'll just poison you again. Then you will most surely die." Fuuta grins. "It's time you answer Fuutama-sama's questions." The smoke user coughs violently before laughing. His laugh is menacing and stifled by his dying state. "I don't know what's funnier. You two think you've won? Hehe it's not over, not while the Chain Brothers are in command. You may have gotten past me but you'll never catch them." He coughs one more time before standing up. "Failure isn't an option so even if you do let me go…they'll kill me when I return empty handed." The man takes out a kunai and places it at his throat. "SO! I'll leave you with some advice. Watch your back. Once word gets out of my demise….they'll come looking for you hehe." Fuuta's eyes narrow at the man. The merchant cowers at the smoke user's crazed gaze. Fuuta moves over to cover Sakuryu's eyes with his hand. In a brief moment a soft slitting noise is heard followed by a splatter of something wet onto the ground. Then a thud is heard. When Fuuta removes his hand from Sakuryu's eyes there'd be a lifeless body before them. Fuuta sighs "Let's get this guy to the drop off zone then report back. Can you continue on Raindrop?" he asks noticing she's having a difficult time breathing.
Sakuryu nods a little bit "I didn't do too good…I mean loook at me." She says with a heavy shuddering sigh, taking a gulp before listening to the dying words and threat of the smoke ninja. As Fuuta puts his hand over her eyes she cringes…this is her first death experience…she knew it was going to happen but at this point…
Sakuryu stares at the lifeless body. "I….is he…?" She asks looking at him before looking to the merchant. "Y…yeah I'm the picture of health…” She says with a goofy grin, she was bleeding, bruised and her outfit was cut in places. "Hehe I need to change from this jacket too…I'll look stupid walking around in ripped clothes." She says before collapsing a moment, taking a few deep breaths, even the poisoned air was good for her to relax for at least a moment. "Let’s just get this guy back.' She smiles and forces herself back to her feet, she disregards the medication, she made it this far, why taint what she has now…if the others came before she hit the village maybe but at this point she thinks she's done okay…not great and held back by her body but at least the merchant was alive.
