Starring:
Date: February 26, 2016
Summary:
A terrorist bomber escapes custody. A makeshift team must recapture him before he kills again!
"Out With A Bang"
Forest, Land of Fire
It's not exactly a formal mission. More like 'something important that needs doing, and the ones closest need to act'. Some recently captured bandits suspected of conducting more than mere banditry (specifically, sabotage and bombings of towns and facilities throughout the Land of Fire) were due to be interrogated. However, a short distance from Konohagakure's front gates, under armed escort, one of the bandits revealed that he still had a trick up his sleeve. And he used it to kill his companions and his guards alike, by making the very ground beneath them explode. The only one spared was Ryouga, the ninja bomber.
He is now fleeing, and who should be closest to the explosion when it occurs but Zankuro, Toshio, Tatsuo, and Suzu! The gate guards are still a bit stunned, though some other ninja have also gone off in pursuit ahead of this impromptu team. They need to catch up with the fugitive though, and quickly! Taking him down alive is no longer necessary, but being the Hidden Leaf Village, if it proves feasible thay may do so. If not, he's a terrorist bomber and a murderer. They should do what they MUST to neutralize the threat.
Suzu has never seen anything like that charred bodies, some of them missing limbs, or outright in pieces. She almost got sick at first as she charged out of the Village to see what the problem was, only to come across the smoking crater, and the grisly remains. But now, in pursuit, she has pushed her nausea aside. She isn't going to let someone like this get away.
Leaping through the forest at high-speed is the name of the game, while also trying to catch up the ninja already chasing after Ryouga.
Toshio wasnt used to the charred corpses himself but he was aware of the damage fire did. He takes to the tree tops behind Suzu. "Cousin, I am here, how do I assist?" He asks curiously of the woman as he leaps from branch to branch, studying the woman and looking back to his comrades who came with them, blue eyes turning red with Sharingan.
Tatsuo is there and not pleased. As a medic it's a rather difficult thing to see people dead like that. Even if he'd gotten there sooner there was no chance to help them. Instead he would have to be satisfied with catching up to whoever did it. His face grim, Tatsuo moves through the trees after the others, remaining near the middle of the group for practical purposes.
Faster than the average eye can see, Zankuro flits past the gates and through the forest in hot pursuit of another. Worry, fear, anger — None of it never truly cross his mind. The only thing that mattered after seeing the charred corpses was to put down the source. It is only after joining the tail end of the group did he allow his thoughts to wonder for a moment. A moment later, the Sarutobi is gritting his teeth behind closed lips, willing away selfish concerns and doubts before taking the time to /really/ take note of the others.
'Two Uchiha, and…' Zankuro's eyes widen at the sight of Tatsuo; a reminder of a past misdeed. Unable to formulate even the simpliest of questions or plans due to shock, Zankuro simply follows mutely. For now.
Suzu looks over to Toshio. She blinks at the 'cousin' thing. Well, time to worry about that later. Right now, she looks to whichever person organized them to chase after the bad guy in the first place. It's not like she decided to chase him herself. She's a Genin. "What we were told when we left is what's going on. We're chasing after an escaped prisoner who just bombed a bunch of people. That's what was said anyway." She looks to the two Chuunin as she continues leaping through the tree branches.
Have the mission instructions changed since they left Konoha like 60 seconds ago?
"Same thing I was told. I can lead if no one else wants to take point." He offers before looking back to the various people then back to Suzu. "I have some experience on fire and fire based damage. If it was me I would keep something on hand incase I get caught by reinforcements." He says as he looks about the area, trying to find signs of where the man left.
Wait, someone is in charge? Oh right, that would be Zan most likely. If he wanted to hand off the lead to Toshio though that would be his call. Tatsuo just continues onwards, not saying anything for now as he just hopes to find the man before more damage can be done. He doesn't want to find any more bodies.
Zankuro winced from a self-inflicted mental kick to the head. Somehow in a matter of a few seconds the Sarutobi had lost track of his own actions. Did he ascertain the source of the explosion? Maybe. Might he have chosen Toshio, Suzu, and Tatsuo at a spur of the moment? Possibly! But regardless of what did or did not happen, Zankuro could not simply ignore his duty to the makeshift team; especially when there didn't seem to be no obvious replacement. c.c
Or wait, didn't he recieve word about… Zankuro shook his head. He would ask around later about 'that'. "*ahem*… While its nice seeing some iniative, it might be best if I take care of that… uhm… Uchiha-kun." He said, dancing around another failing on his part. It wasn't that important he memorized every shinobi's name… right? "The rest of you. Diamond formation. Uchiha to the left and right, and Tatsuo-san to the.. well, you get the idea." He said before shifting into position, and keeping a sharp eye out for any further clues of the escapee. Hopefully, he needed not remind the others to do the same.
Suzu stares at Toshio's offer to take the lead, but doesn't get to say anything before their leader handles it. She nods and silently moves into the designated position. She has her hands loose at her sides, incase she needs them, and has an eye out for any trouble ahead of them.
It turns out subtle threats are not what they are going to be dealing with here, as indicated by the sound of an explosion, and the flash of light and heat that accompany such, along with the shocked cries of pain as people are caught in it. In moments, the four ninja catch up to the pursuers. Two or three are down, injured, though unless someone here is a medic there's little that can be done right now. A responsible Chuunin would probably recommend that the remaining ninja of the initial pursuit time take the wounded back to the Village, while this makeshift team handles the prisoner.
The prisoner is a man in a rough brown outfit, black pants and boots, with a bandanna on his forehead. Shortish black hair, big black eyebrows… And no sign of whatever weapon he's been using to make things explode. Hmmm.
He is standing beyond a series of small craters scattered across the terrain in a newly-formed clearing. Fallen tries lie around, shattered by the blasts.
Ryouga curses to himself as he sees more ninja arriving. He looks pretty worn out already. He'd probably prefer to escape rather than fight at this point.
Suzu stays near in her position, unsure how skilled this guy is. Her Sharingan isn't active yet, but she is molding Chakra in preparation to awaken her 'light'. What course of action is taken will depend on what Zankuro decides. This isn't something the kunoichi should rush into carelessly.
Toshio nods, accepting the order and moving to the side opposite of Suzu. He moves almost instinctively to the people but stops to maintain formation. When the man is seen, his gaze shows his anger for the man and he begins to channel chakra to use against this man. "Target Identified, Chuunin-san." He says with a cold tone, awaiting orders by the man on what to do.
Tatsuo moves into position as told, moving along with the others. But then there's the explosion. There's no hesitation from Tatsuo. Water forms all around him in a vortex before it flies off, moving to wash over each of the injured. Healing chakra is infused within the water which immediately absorbs into their skin, leaving them dry despite the water. It wasn't the best, but it should keep everyone alive. Even while doing it Tatsuo's eyes don't move off the man who'd caused the problems. He doesn't move any further, doesn't even speak, as he waits for Zan's orders. Dead? Or alive?
Zankuro doesn't curse underbreath at the sound of another explosion, though the temptation certainly nags at him as the team adjusts their pursuit course. When the team finally does arrive at the scene of Ryouga's latest crimes, the Sarutobi can scarcely take a moment to analyze the situation when Tatsuo springs into action. While his actions were certainly commendable, openly displaying his talents before an order can even be given might not have been for the best.
If he isn't overwhelmed by some crazy surprise tactic from Ryouga during the brief slip up on his part, Zankuro's eyes are soon enough focused on their target and his immediate surroundings. "If your able to move help the rest of your team fall back. We'll handle things here." He states confidently without breaking his focus. "Uchiha. Surround him, but keep your distance for now. If he tries to break past you, use whatever jutsu you have to cut him off, but do /not/ directly engage him… Tatsuo-san, make sure he doesn't get close to the injuried as they leave." He said just loudly enough for the others. Assuming he is given no reason to stop and answer further questions, Zankuro risks hoping down on the ground and carefully striding within ten meters of their target.
"You have a choice to make my friend. You can surrender peacefully now. Or you can die. Know however it will be alone, and probably extremely painful… Now.. what do you say?"
"Hai!" Suzu confirms as she moves around to flank the ninja bomber, but takes no action other than to move a hand around behind her as she stands at an angle, holding the hand over the open tool poch but not drawing nay weapon.
Ryouga hears the ultimatum from Zankuro, looks towards the two Sharingan-bearing ninja, sees how the wounded have received emergency treatment and are now being withdrawn. He has one more jutsu he can he try to use. But his Chakra and Stamina are both low. If he uses this, he might not have the energy to run very far. He'll have to find somewhere to hide… And that could be difficult with all the sensor-nin of Konohagakure.
Well, better than being locked up.
He turns his attention back on Zankuro, and then grins tiredly, slowly raising both hands above his head. He says, "I think I'll pass on dying…" Then he swiftly brings both hands down on the ground, palms flat, as he yells out, "…But you can! Explosion Release: Collapsing Crater!"
The ground all around then explodes violently in an eruption of rock, dirt, sand, and flame. Suzu, only on the edge of the explosion, is thrown right off her feet and into a tree behind her after letting out only a brief cry of surprise. The air is knocked out of her as she is nearly folded backwards against the tree trunk, before falling to the ground. Her back feels like it's on fire, and her ribs might be broken. She doesn't move for awhile.
In the wake of the explosion, there's a large hole surrounding a narrow pillar of charred rock and dirt, with Ryouga standing on it. He wobbles for a few seconds then falls to his knees, sweating and panting, heavily drained.
One eye is squinted shut, as the other peers around. "Darn it… The crater should have been twice this size…" he mutters to himself. He doesn't take the time to check who lived or died, knowing that escape his a priority, but he's just having so much trouble getting the strength to climb back to his feet. In the attempt, he tumbles off his pillar and falls to the bottom of the crater with an 'OOF!' He'll try to roll back onto his hands and knees and gather the strength to leap up the sloped sides of the charred, smoking hole that was once a forest clearing.
Surely none of the other ninja survived that… Right?
Toshio nods as he moves to the other side opposite of the man. He remains ready and when the explosion comes, he tries to raise his hands to block the explosion's blast only to be thrown hard into a tree, falling to the ground himself. His own ribs were broken and his front is burned from the blast but he will survive. He can barely move so when the man goes to try and crawl away, he raises a hand, grunting as if trying to reach for the man, but he is obviously too far.
What happens next is Toshio grunts, before raising his palm. A thin blade shoots out of the armband and flies straight for the man's leg, to try and stop him from trying to escape.
As the dust from the explosion settles, those within a few hundred feet might realize there's a rather strange, unsettling feeling upon them. A sickening feeling. The reason for that is evident as more of the dust settles around Tatsuo and his blue cloak becomes visible. Two tails flick behind the Nara as a layer of water keeps him in the same spot he'd been in from the explosion. He'd also brought up a thin yet surprisingly strong layer of water between those he'd been protecting at the explosion. This is one unhappy Nara. He has a lot of healing to do when this is over. Thin chains of water appear above the man and reach down to try and tie him up.
No sigh of relief is forthcoming from the elder chuunin. If history has taught him anything, it is that members of the Sarutobi clan weren't the only stubborn people in the world. So, Zankuro maintained an air of both calm and readiness for the worse. A step, or perhaps even several are taken to close the distance between himself and Ryouga when the rogue makes his move.
"Back!" A wholly inadequate order in its clarity, but the only one reflexively thrown out before his whole world his engulfed in light. That moment should've been the end of Zankuro, or at the very least a defeat so crippling that any hopes of remaining a shinobi after today should've been cast aside. Instead, settling dust and smoke in time would eventually reveal a scorched orb of steel atop the collapsed remains of a number of trees.
*POOF!*
In a secondary and non-lethal explosion, the battered orb explodes into a cloud of smoke that quickly seeps into a scroll on the ground. A muttered curse slips out after seated Zankuro falls back against the wreckage, further injuring himself. He doesn't even bother trying to get back to his feet immediatly. That only comes about after a somewhat questionable mental assessment reveals the only injuries suffered was a bit of head trauma, a few bits of sharpnel buried deeply enough in his vest to be /felt/, and a number of other lesser injuries. "Note to self… install… *winces* cushions…" Zankuro murmurs, rubbing the back of his head. What blood is discovered on it afterwards is only given a passing thought, because soon enough the mind races to the far more important. "Sound off!" He calls out as desperation fuels his efforts to get back properly to his feet. However, the division between staying stable and searching for the others after being practically pinballed away inevitably leads to a fall. Twice. A third time is all but eminent when a familiar sickly feeling overcomes him. Confirming his suspicion after a closer look does little to alleviate the symptoms.
If only they had left him the statue, then — Zankuro grimaces at the train of thought before burying it. He would get closer first, investigate the situation, and then… decided what the next course of action should be. 'No more, no less' He thought, expression twisting until complete neutrality is all that can be read from it.
The rogue Toujitakumi might have ordinarily been able to notice the thrown blade in time (though whether he could have evaded it is another matter), but in his weakened state, all he detects is the whistling of the weapon through the air. He turns his head towards it in surprise, only for the glint of its movement as it streaks through the dust cloud to be caught too late to even try to defend. It impales his leg, drawing a yell of pain from him.
Gritting his teeth, he grabs for the blade, trying to pull it out. But then chains of water streak down from above and wrap him up, binding his limbs and his movements. He doesn't recognize the Chakra in the air, and isn't a sensor so his attention is mainly focused on the pain he's in and his exhaustion.
But it's probably there in the back of his awareness somewhere. For now, however, he's just struggling for a little bit before, realizing the battle is over, and slumping in the liquid bindings.
Suzu coughs in her attempts to call out to the others how 'fine' she is, and coughing sends new wages of agony through her. She just settles for trying to move as well as she can to get onto her feet, and then stagger towards the others with her hands wrapped around her sides. "I-I'm… Here…" she gets out weakly.
Her Sharingan is still active despite her condition, and she is able to discern both the Chakra coloring the air, a Chakra she has felt and seen before, as well as the bound criminal at the bottom of the crater. "I think… We won… Kind of…" she wheezes out.
Mission complete!?
"Still alive…" Toshio calls as he tries to get to his feet, grunting. "Did I get the guy?" He asks before doing another hand gesture which causes the blade to pull out and retract via wire back to the armband. "Did I mention I dislike Explosives?" He asks softly before beginning to follow them out, tired, burned and cranky.
