Starring:
Date: April 20, 2014
Summary:
As the Hitokage begin to attack, a trio of shinobi take on a group at the Golden Crossroads.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Overwhelming Darkness - Outbreak At Golden Crossroads "
Konoha - Golden Crossroads
The day has been fairly normal around Konoha and the Land of Fire, at least for the way things have been…. at least until now. Corpses of those from the Land of Tea have begun to wake up, a dark aura surrounding them, paired with white glowing eyes as they announce their haunting message. Not only that, but it seems they're doing more than talking. Screams ring out as corpses of all ages and types begin to fight as the armor of the monsters the Land of Tea is at war with. This outbreak becomes very real as sounds of combat start to ring out around the village. People are seen running from a crowd at the Golden Crossroads. The area around the hospital will not be spared from this, it seems, as corpses attack anyone around them.
Kazuo had her priorities in place. She arrived later then most reinforcements. First ensuring the Sarutobi district was hermitically closed and her father was properly protected. Her swords flashes bright red, before she sweeps to keep a bunch of corpses at bay. Her rapier is easy to recognice. "Let's go people, follow ANBU to the bunkers." She says. Fire in her eyes… She's out here to fight for her village. "Let's push this darkness back!" She says, getting into a proper combat stance.
Having come to Konoha for other reasons, Hiei was not the type of man to just stand by when an ally is in trouble. So he's out on the streets, helping the civilians get out of the way while the undead swarm in. He's already prepared his body for battle, but the Kumo nin hasn't engaged the enemy just yet, except for when they get in the way of the villagers. "Follow ANBU, folks." Seeing that the evacuation is well under way, he steps up next to Kazuo as he draws his swords from the sheathes on his back. There is a fire in his eyes and a faint smile on his face. This was going to be fun.
"The living dead?" Nobunaga questions as he gathers his equipment in the hospital. A fellow leaf shinobi is briefing him on the situation as he does so. "Well thankfully my treatment is complete." Nobunaga says with a light chuckle. After winding his scarf around his neck Nobunaga gathers a bit of chakra. "Let's go." He says moving out.
"Ensure that all villagers are escorted to predesignated safe points. Afterwards man your positions." Nobunaga had been charged with keeping the hospital safe from these living corpses. "Defend the area. The medical center can not be overrun." Nobunaga can see the ghastly bodies approaching from a distance. Casually he begins stretching and loosening himself up. "Relax it's just like combat exercise. The dummies are just a bit more ugly…and smelly." He pounding his fist into his hand. The Amaro was ready for the fight of his life.
Despite the higher caliber of shinobi in this location compared to some, the dark creatures possessing these corpses do not appear to be intimidated. In fact, they seem to go right after these people. What's worse is, any person that's killed by these creatures seems to actually JOIN their side, taking on the same black aura and glowing eyes and being used to fight their comrades and friends. The darkness hanging over the village seems to only get stronger by the moment.
As Kazuo shouts of pushing the darkness back, a squadron consisting of about a dozen of these creatures surround her and Hiei, charging with swords, kunai, and even some with claws of black chakra being used in the lack of a weapon. Nobunaga's self-pep talk better work fast, as several are charging him as well.
Kazuo looks over to Nobunaga when she hears him speak. And then Hiei. "I'm glad 'ally' isn't just a word to you." She says while flashing a brief smile. Her sword flying up with the broad side to keep one of the undead from running past her. Turning her blade and uppercutting to slice him in two.
"Barrier team says they're not living dead. Rather the corpses are used as a sort of puppet for something else." They're not sure yet. She grunts, getting overwhelmed for a moment, several cuts getting through while she focussed on explaining, causing her to wound up. "That's it.." She says, rushing up to the core of the group, she turns and swings her blade around rapidly, causing a few lines of ash to litter the undead, before she weaves a single seal. Causing her sword to light up and the ash to explode!
Hiei bends his knees slightly as the undead come in on him and Kazuo. He spins around as the sound of metal ringing on metal fills the air from him parrying the attack. However, the next one causes a gash along his left arm, but the Yotsuki continues to fight, ignoring the pain for now. "We Kumo nin always keep our word." His arm holding the wakazashi swings in an upward arc, causing a slight shockwave to come from his blade. In the meantime, the blade of his katana glows a neon blue before he strikes out with it. "That's good to know. That means I can kill them without remorse." He then spins, so that he's standing back to back with Kazuo. Trusting her to watch his back like he's watching hers. "We still have a spar date, Sarutobi-sama. Don't you dare die on me."
The wave of undead had overwhelming numbers. Nobunaga couldn't evade all of them but he was able to keep himself from being overrun. He overhears Kazuo's brief explanation. "Puppets? What sort of sick jutsu are these guys using?" still he the time for questions would have to come at a later date. Nobunaga sprung into action using his special chakra cloth scarf to hack away at the enemy. The seamless flow from cloth to metal let him coordinate his attacks. Having to put down fallen allies was unsettling but the thought of the village being overrun by this foul darkness was even more so.
BOOM! Some of the corpses around Kazuo and Hiei are caught up in the ash, stunning them with the explosion and allowing Hiei to strike a couple of them down. This, however, doesn't seem to slow those still standing down much. In fact, it makes them pick up their game a bit. Each of them would be targeted by a jutsu that attempts to force them to feel as if they've experienced debilitating wounds that temporarily make them unable to move while another corpse drives a blade at their guts. Meanwhile, Nobunaga's opponents dodge his attacks, continuing their onslaught in striking at him over and over.
"For the love of god call me Kazuo.." Kazuo says while linking up with Hiei. Trusting him to do the same. "And I wasn't planning on it. Lets toast us some rags shall we?" She says, running her thumb past her blade. Especially since her ash opened up things for Hiei to land his attacks. "Nice synergy." She says while grinning. Pressing up to Hiei a little closer while her blade flashes and sparks by the constant engagement. Her eyes lock with the white eyes of one of the undead, which freezes her up for a moment, causing one to cut her along her side. She grunts while she snaps back to reality. "Careful, that's genjutsu.." She hisses. Not expecting genjutsu! Now properly roughed up, she's a little more worried about being assaulted by these undead! She looks over her shoulder.
Hiei grunts. "Freaking genjutsu." He goes still before one of the zombies cut him along the side of his face, near his hairline. "Alright, Kazuo. Let show these freaking things why attacking a shinobi village is a very bad idea." He sheathes his short sword and takes a two handed grip on his katana before his body blurs from view as he attacks one of them. He then leans backwards, flowing around Kazuo to send a lightning infused elbow towards one of them. "Never seen puppets like these before. Definitely never seen puppets that do genjutsu."
"Genjutsu too now?" Nobunaga remarks as he evades the next wave. Though these things were just puppets they are quite capable fighters. Swiftly he shifts his stances and goes on the offensive. Taking his scarf in hand Nobunaga dashes around the marionette corpses wrapping them in the cloth before hardening it to both immobilize and cut into them. A silver ribbon would dance in the air before becoming edged. Nobunaga would bring the edged scarf down upon his ensnared victims sealing their fate.
The corpses appear to be keen to Kazuo's attack this time, leaping back out of its range. As they do so, one would attempt to strike the woman with the same Genjutsu and increase the amount of wounds she feels while another dashes with claws at her and attempts to slash claws of chakra across her shoulder and collar. Meanwhile, Hiei strikes one down then sends another flying into a building, yet another comes, this time leaping down from a building over them while a sword aimed directly down at his shoulder. Nobunaga gets a taste of Genjutsu as well, one of the monsters attempting to force him to his knees with Genjutsu while another tries to stab him in the side.
Kazuo grunts, again frozen by something she couldn't see. Coughing and needing to hold herself up on her sword. The occasional blow coming through by the wave of undead being enough to make her buckle… "You're holding up a lot better than I am on this side. Let's hope reinforcements come in soon!" She says. Adjusting the grip on her blade. "Ikuzo!" She says, flaming swords beginning to slide through the streets, really going at it to nail as many of those undead spurts as she can! Really nailing a large amount of the undead with the outgoing lashes of flames. Creating a firestorm… When she's done she sighs…
Hiei sees the sword coming for his shoulder and rotates out of the way with a horizontal corkscrew flip. Once landing on his feet, he performs a handseal. "Lightning Release: Lightning Aura!" An aura of lightning infused chakra appears around his body. The lightning flows into the armor he wears causing it to glow. The armor pieces cover his torso, his arms, and his legs. Hiei opens his mouth and spews forth searing hot air that covers his opponents, causing them to falter. He then holds up two fingers with lightning sparking around them and fires a zig-zagging bolt of lightning for one of the undead, before swinging his blade outwards, catching another zombie with a neon blue glowing blade. "We're going to have to end this quickly. This technique takes a toll on my body. I won't be able to keep it up forever." He asides to both Kazuo and Nobunaga as he grabs Kazuo's arm with his free hand and hauls her up to her feet. "Don't you dare quit on me Kazuo."
Nobunaga keeps an eye on his comrades during this battle. If they fell then they'd become part of this dark legion. It seems the Sarutobi was being relentlessly assaulted by genjutsu once again. Nobunaga was about to rush to her aid until he fell under genjutsu as well. He was able to release himself by digging his finger into one of his wounds. A sharp pain shot through his body but he was able to move again and move he did, just in time. He'd try to make his way towards Kazuo now fighting through hordes of the dead. He locks down a few again with his steel cloth technique and rips them apart after doing so. A glow of lightning catches his eye leading him to Hiei. "Who's that?" he wondered briefly in awe. Seeing him take Kazuo's arm puts Nobunaga at ease though. "Stand together." Hiei was correct. A prolonged battle would not bode well for them.
With the flash of fire, a lot of the corpses in the area are downed, allowing Hiei and Nobunaga to clean up. Things would almost seem to be calming down, except now the auras of black actually begin to stand up from the corpses, revealing creatures of pure blackness with the same glowing white eyes and black wings. "There is no hope," their dark voices begin to ring out in unison. "We will sweep across this world, and all that is flesh and light shall die… All that you see, all that love will become darkness and death." With that, the landscape would seem to change before their eyes, the sky turning black as the streets would be littered with the bodies of villager and shinobi alike. This is meant to be a distraction apparently as the monsters charge, slashing their claws at the shinobi in tandem.
Kazuo nods and gets back up on her feet. Exhaling and looking at Hiei. "Let's finish it now. My will wants to go, my body falters.." She squints: "Where did they go?" She asks, falling back and only staying up right when taking the hit, being kept on her feet by Hiei. "Surge.." She grunts. Bouncing back and aiming to punch with her free hand, adding in the shock effect from the chakra stud, before giving one solid wide sweep with her sword. "Now!" She says, hoping the rest of the team picks up on it, because she really needs a mednin!
Hiei sees the sky dark and then dead bodies littering the streets, and with Nariko as his cousin, he knows a genjutsu when he sees one. He digs his fingers deep into the cut on his arm, causing even more blood to flow than there was, but it cleared things up for him so he saw the attack coming. He simply shifts his body to the side. In his current state, his battlefield perception was heightened as well. "Yeah. I am so not impressed." He says back to the voice as his body disappears. Hiei is literally all over the place almost at the same time, feinting attacks with his sword from every direction before he finally strikes. He quick draws his second blade and then strikes out with them both. "As long as there are people willing to oppose you, the light will not die." He spins his sword on his hand as his eyes narrow. "My name is Yotsuki Hiei of the Yotsuki clan. I fight for this village. If you want it..you'll have to go through me."
When the dark aura around the corpses manifests into something demonic Nobunaga is frozen in a mix of terror and bewilderment. Their taunting threat of impending darkness snapped Nobunaga out of his frozen state. Sudden change of terrain catches Nobunaga off guard. He has the same question as Kazuo. The chuunin catches a glimpse of a claw and evades narrow on pure instinct. He sighs in relief. Hiei's incredible will and strength was inspiring. Ever the competitive one Nobunaga wouldn't let himself falter before him. "He's right." Nobunaga smiles. He covers Kazuo and tries to fend off the encroaching dead. "The leaf burns brightest in the dark my ghostly adversaries. You will not prevail easily."
With Hiei making up where the other two are getting trashed, a number of the monster have now fallen and dissipated, yet they appear to be replaced by new ones. Do these things actually die? Again, their voices ring out as a sense of absolute fear and darkness begins to press over the area, "The Dark Guardian shall come and protect us… and all that is flesh and light shall die." As that Dread attempts to lock them up, the ground cracks up to reveal a giant winged statue at least twenty feet tall with a glowing staff stepping out of it. It strikes the ground, sending that glow of chakra through the ground and causing a huge burst of chakra to light up the entire area around them.
Kazuo sheaths her blade for a moment, flexing her fingers. She does the same as Hiei, digging a finger into a wound to see through the genjutsu this time. She the lashes out her sword while she draws, followed by one hand shooting out to deliver a chakra blast from the stud in her glove. "You're right. This is my village, and you'll need to bring more than a few rags to take us!" She grins, finding her battle spirit again. "No worries Hiei, I got this one." She lifts up both her hands, her gloves literally absorbing the fire dragon coming her way. Kazuo stumbles back a bit when it's done. She then rushes out, cutting her way through the undead while slashing at the statue, followed by her glove pressing into it's base, grunting while she sends her chakra flowing through there! "Shine!"
When the terrain begins to change again, and the dread comes, Hiei takes his sword and slashes himself across the thigh. The pain clears up the genjutsu as he growls under his throat. "No, you eruption. We don't need to be afraid of you. You need to be afraid of us." He forms another handseal. "Release: Lightning Dynamic!" Hiei's lighting aura disappears. Small bolts of lightning play across his skin, but the glow of the armor intensifies. And Hiei's muscles expand underneath his skin, making him twice as large as he was before. He points his blade as a large bolt of lightning lances from the tip. "Stop hiding you coward. Come out and meet your fate." Hiei's voice is cold and heartless. "You're just like any other genjutsu user. You use illusions to confuse people and to do your dirty work for you. Coward. Step out of the darkness and into the light. Your genjutsu is useless. YOU are useless. If you want to impress me, defeat me in open combat."
Nobunaga can feel something forcing him to the ground. "Genjutsu again?" he muses before trying to sting himself free once again. He fails and starts to submit. One last command that his body is able to carry out is the command to move at least far enough so that he can avoid harm, for now. It seemed Kazuo was ok and Hiei was cutting loose. He curses himself before being unable to do more. "Go! Finish it!"
The explosion and lightning strike at the new monstrous creature, yet it seems to be standing quite well. Rather than it speaking itself, the smaller creatures around it speak. "Your words are meaningless. We are darkness… Darkness will swallow you whole." With that, it would seem that may happen sooner than later, as, if Hiei does not pull himself out of it, he would seem to begin to plummet through unending darkness while the statue lifts its staff, sending a wave of dark chakra flying through the area in attempt to strike all of them at once.
Kazuo grits her teeth, unable to stop most of the flames from engulving her. Her glove stomps out for yet another punch. She could heal up later. She had a feeling this was over soon.
Hiei felt the genjutsu come for him again, and he stabs his fingers into the cut he made across his leg earlier. The falling sensations stops and Hiei smirks faintly. "As I told you earlier. You are useless." When he sees Kazuo and Nobunaga get hit again. He states. "Hang tough. We can't give in to this." He flicks his wrist, sending lightning coursing down the blade with a high pitched sound. Then he disappears again, his swords flashing as he attacks at high speed. Those around him catch glimpses of his white duster as Hiei moves. He finally ends up striking towards the statue. "Leave this village." He states as he appears in high gust of wind…standing between Kazuo and Nobunaga. Then he strikes a defensive stance, waiting for the counter attack.
Nobunaga can do nothing but watch as the dark wave of chakra destroys all it washes over. He grits his teeth and meets the dark chakra with a smile as it washed over him. Agony enveloped him but shortly after that he felt nothing. Nobunaga lies in darkness certain he was all but dead. His eyes creep open breaking the darkness. He groans before chuckling softly. "That wasn't so bad." he rises slowly. He sees Hiei and Kazuo still trying. "Hang tough? Psssh that barely got the kink out my neck." Nobunaga assures the Cloud Shinobi. Determined not to fall without giving everything he head Nobunaga leap at the statue. His cloth would wrap around its arm and dig in. Next he attempt to cut it down with his edged chakra cloth.
As attack after attack comes its way, the statue swings its staff to defend, though Hiei's attacks send it reeling in a serious way to the point it falls back into a building. "Such pitiful creatures… You think this actually makes a difference," the haunting unified voice rings out as the glowing staff is swing again, this time aiming its strike directly at Hiei as an incredibly dense wave of dark chakra flies at the Kumo shinobi.
kazuo sticks her sword in the ground and leans on it. Giving the final bit of the fight to Hiei. She had to be careful, so she backs away to check with ANBU if everyone got out. And to ask if one of them could double check on the Sarutobi village. She gets asked if they need to call in the Sarutobi Jonin squad. She decides to check out if Hiei can finish it. If not, she makes sure they get their reinforcements.
It looks like the chakra wave hit Hiei, except that it goes right through him. He had waited until the last moment to dodge and it had gone through the afterimage that he left behind. He appears on top of a nearby crumbling building. "You'll have to do better." Hiei states before he holds out his hand, palm side up. A ball of lightning forms there before it flattens itself out into a disc shape with buzzsaw blades. "Chew on this." He says before launching it.
Nobunaga just gives his body commands now. He's not sure what he can do but anything can help. "Won't know unless we try." Nobunaga retorts to the statue. His strikes seem to be ineffective but that didn't mean he was. "This thing is tough." he says with a weak chuckle. He gives it another go with his chakra cloth slashing about trying to exploit some weakness.
"As will you," the voices ring out against as Hiei's attack bounces off the statue while it swats Nobunaga's away. "You fight for these people, but what are you doing for your own?.. We are coming, and this is only the beginning… What are you doing while your loves ones scream in agony?" With that, another wave of chakra fires out from the staff, encompassing both attacking shinobi now instead of just Hiei. "They would do anything for you, but they scream alone."
Kazuo looks at Nobunaga. She wanted to step in but knew she couldn't. Not in this state. She nodded at the ANBU squad to get a few Sarutobi's on overwatch just in case. It looked like Hiei had it covered. So she rather had clan members close but still able to switch between here and the Sarutobi village.
Hiei is blasted by the chakra fire and sails through the air to impact a building. He sees another attack come towards Nobunaga and he tries to move towards him. But even with his considerable speed, he won't make it.
A shadow covered Satomi suddenly rushes in front a building. She couldn't stop all the flames from reaching her, searing her as well. But Nobunaga finds himself, albeit hurt. She skids to a stop with a burning wound on her back. She was already roughed up from fighting elsewhere. "I got Nobunaga. I'm getting him to a hospital…" She says. Looking at Hiei. "Finish this.." She says, before rushing onwards to a hospital to drop him off and return to continue the fight.
Nobunaga is swatted away he does what he can to catch himself but by the time he recovers the blast is already upon. Nobunaga can see others are trying to save him but he doesn't want them to die for his sake. "If darkness takes root anywhere then no one is safe. However, united under one cause…one goal no one is alone." Nobunaga looks to Hiei. "Kick his smug ass please." He grins wide before the blast hits. Nobunaga blacks out after the blast hits. He's unaware that he's been saved.
Hiei stands up, his clothing smoking from that last fire attack. He sticks his swords into the ground before reaching up and ripping away his smouldering clothes, revealing his bare chest. He picks up his swords before looking over and nodding at Satomi and then he says to Nobunaga. "Consider it done, my friend." Hiei then places his attention back on the statue His eyes narrow as the lightning field around his body intensifies. "How can you even think you can swallow us all in darkness. The light that shines upon us comes from within. And as long as we remember who we are, what we're fighting for, and that we can get through anything together. Nothing can defeat us. Nothing." He takes a step forwards. "There are two things you need to know about Kumogakure. One, there are a hundred shinobi just like me…a lot of them even more powerful than I am. And two, we are among the greatest shinobi on this planet or any other. I feel nothing but pity for you when you come for them." His body disappears rapidly as he strikes out from all directions, finally attempting to sever the thing is two with his last attack. He appears with his back to the statue, a grim expression on his face as he sheathes his swords with an audible click. "Go back to obvlivion."
Unable to block the blow from Hiei, the statue falls to pieces amongst the tattered corpses, and the darkness seems to fall back in this area. The day will be done, it seems, but the threat is obviously still substantial by the monsters' words.
