Starring:
Yoichi, Hiei, Hiroyasu, Rise, Miyo
Date: April 28, 2014
Summary:
A team of Kumogakure shinobi along with two from other lands move into Tea Country for a second attempt at getting the Hitokage out of the Fishing Village.
"Overwhelming Darkness - Gaining Ground"
Land of Tea - Fishing Village
Evening has begun to set in on the Land of Tea, and once again a team of shinobi is attempting free one of the villages here from the monsters that have overrun it. A dark feeling has overcast the entire country and most of the area surrounding it, growing fuller the further once gets into the country. One can imagine the capital village is likely akin to a Hell on Earth at this point. Still, the Daimyo's instructions were to liberate it from the outside in to thin the herds and keep them from scattering further into other countries along with slowly hemming them in by gaining ground around them. Flashes of chakra would be felt once in a while by Sensor Nin along for the ride, a good sign that the monsters already know the shinobi are here. Still, there have been no hordes or even single attacks on them yet, which could be a good sign that their efforts at least whittled some of the numbers down or a really bad one that the creatures are banding together inside that village for a massive ambush or both.
Having met up with the Kumogakure shinobi and others traveling with them along the way since he was on his way to do a bit of investigation into this incident and do what he can to help, one of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist, Kaguya-Hozuki Yoichi sits atop a horse. His face is as stoic as always, though he did show his respect for the Kumo shinobi he knows of these by joining up with their team. If he didn't believe in their strength, he'd have moved forward on his own, after all, since caring about people's feelings is definitely not on the list of things people generally assume about him. "… I believe something's watching," his flat voice rings out as he rides along toward the destination. "There's likely a massive welcoming party waiting for us when we approach the gates."
Hiei could feel it right as he passed the border into the Land of Tea. It felt like a buzzing in the back of his mind. He shivers a little from the sensation. The darkness was out there and it was waiting for them. Though the ether he could feel the flux of chakra in the area. As he rides atop his warhorse Snake Eyes, he eventually comes to a stop about a mile away from the village that they were unable to penetrate the last time. He slides off the horse's back, transferring his swords from the saddle to the harness on his back. He turns to look at the group, nodding to Yoichi. "I sense it, too. The moment we get within range, the attack will come. It will start with shadow like creatures that will attack in mass. After that, stone golems will come in wielding powerful genjutsu. This is the real deal. Anyone who feels like they can't handle it can stay here with the horses."
Riding next to the Yotsuki, Hiroyasu on his trained warmare Jinx sighs. "That uneasy feeling.. it feels so.. piercing.. the gaze of death from beyond midnight veil" he says before looking at Hiei as he explains the situation, he chimes in with the occasional voice of affirmation of key details. "Remember well our faces, and those with us. You will see the husk of people as well as the Shadows, The statues also wield immense command over flame and fire with great destruction." he adds dismounting his horse pulling things from his saddle and placing it into cloak, his robe, his pouches. He glances around and sighs "They already know we have arrived." he adds.
It was terror plain and simple. Rise was in luck that the horse felt more from her presence than it did from what emanated from the village the duo were approach. Granted, its complaince did not make up for the trouble it gave her just trying to catch-up to the team originally dispatched, but it was a start in anycase. It wasn't as if she could expect more out of a beast trained for less hostile situations. "Hmm… Their starting to remind me of Naru-chan now." Rise states before sliding off her own horse as well. The skittish thing nearly bolted the moment she's off the creature, but she manages to glare some complaince back into it. With that issue out of the way, Rise could return her focus back to checking over her supplies. "They'll still break under fist and blades just as well though, right?" She asks as she looks towards Hiroyasu.
Miyo had a horse, and it was evident that neither of them liked each other and both were incredibly stubborn, both blatantly attempting to be better at putting up with the other. When Hiroyasu mentions that there were genjutsu-wielding enemies, the Uzumaki girl frowns slightly. "I'm not very good with genjutsu… I've never really fought against anyone who uses it." She lets out a little sigh. "If I liked horses, I'd maybe stay and guard them, but I do-" Before she can finish, her horse gives a light buck and the girl flops onto the ground in a heap of scrawny limbs and robes.
As the team gets ready, that darkness suddenly begins to creep further and further upon them. Seems whatever's been tailing them has lost its patience. "Ahahaha… The lost sheep return to the flock… No one ever escapes the darkness." With that, the chakra around them would begin to increase dramatically, and dark creatures would begin to step out of the shadows by the dozens. At least forty have been summoned by the one who was trailing them, their razor-like claws striking at the shinobi as rapidly as they appear in the swarm. "The lightbringers have come, but this is the kingdom of unlife now. This is the kindgom of death!"
Yoichi is silent as the creature begins its taunt, merely reaching back for his swords and stepping into stance. At first, it would look like he's not defending himself at all to anyone not paying attention. However, as the attacks pass right through his body only for it to reform unscathed, it's apparent he's fully prepared for an all-around assault. Without a word, he swings his swords back, lightning crackling around them and extending into a long whip on the end of each one that strikes down at the creatures around them in an attempt to scorch and temporarily stun them.
Hiei didn't have time to warn anyone when the attack came all of a sudden. He begins to rock back and forth, spinning around, as if he is doing some type of dance. He leans backwards as one of the attacks misses his head by inches. No movement is wasted as he gracefully moves about, however he spun when he should have ducked and ends up getting a slash across his upper arm for his trouble. He moves to his left, closer to the group, flinging his arm out in an attempt to knock them off their feet. He then draws his katana as the blade glows neon blue as he slashes out at another.
Hiroyasu nods his head in agreement with Rise "They do, most certainly." hearing the complaint from the Uzumaki "It didn't seem to matter how well you were or were not prepared to combat genjutsu. Just steel your" he pauses when she is bucked from horse.. "resolve…" he sighs moving over to the Uzumaki holding out his hand to help her up.. When the usual taunting voice in the dark goes on its alittle siloquy about darkness and all that.. "Yes we heard that last time!" he snarls as a wall of chakra spirals forth rebounding tooth, and claw with relative ease but it was already at great cost. Holding out a hand his two extended fingers begin to glow as he attempts to slice through the shades which just his bare… totally chakra-enhanced, strikes. [36m- [0m
There's a glimmer in Rise's eyes as a result of Hiroyasu's words… though that is quickly extinguished as a result of Miyo's action. Despite her hang ups with the Uzumaki, she meant to still help her friend up. The voice taunting them all gives her pause, and force her to raise her guard on instinct. In doing so, she fairs better against the charging horde of darkness compared to their leader, but ends up cut off from Miyo. "Get out of my way!" She yells after deflecting a strike, then leaps, intending on knock away as many as she could with a spinning back kick. Even those not quite within range of her short legs would end up knocked away by the force of the swing alone if their not careful.
Miyo attempts to scramble to her feet in order to scold the horse, but before she can do so, the voice speaks up. She looks around, before turning her focus to Hiroyasu. "What's that?" She inquires, suspicious about the nature of their enemy, at least until they are attacked.
Before the attacks can strike the poor Uzumaki girl, she forms a set of handseals, creating a barrier between her and the shadows, but to her obvious surpise, it breaks through her shield. Her eyes go wide and she is struck hard in the chest, hard enough to knock the wind out of her but not to pierce her armor, but also sends her stumbling backwards a step before she falls onto her rear - an act that causes the horse she had rode to whinny in a laughing-fashion. The second blow is intercepted by another shield which happens to stop it this time.
Miyo then uses both hands to form individual seals and plant them on the ground before pushing up, vaulting backwards and off the ground. She flips over, lands on her feet and the hops back, preparing to defend herself against the unfamiliar enemy. "This isn't good…"
With a strike of lightning whips, some of the Hitokage are momentarily stunned, allowing a second strike to rain down on them. One is struck down by HIei's Lariat, but the rest deftly avoid attacks headed their way. "Did the doctor not warn you? Did he not tell you we were coming?" that madenning voice rings out again, attempting to sew discord amongst the shinobi and strike fear into them momentarily to make them all pause to freeze them up for an incoming flurry of slashes from the monsters.
Having prepared himself for the possibility of Genjutsu just by holding his blades, Yoichi smirks a bit as the lightning crackles around his hands. A low grunt is heard as he avoids the Genjutsu through his own means. He whips his swords back again, a huge chakra surge picking up through him as nine tails of lightning spring out from the blades and are swung down to strike at all the Hitokage around the team to try to roast them with electricity and pin them down for the others to strike back just as harshly as they were struck.
Hiei is struck by the paralyzing fear from the disembodied voice. Blood spray flies up into the air as Hiei is struck by the creatures. A cry of pain issues forth from him as he falls to his knees from both the fear and the pain of the attack. He attempts to rally his comrades. "On your feet, Kumo shinobi! We're better than this. We won't be driven from this land like last time. Stand up and kick this creep's butt!" He forces himself to his feet and performs a handseal. "Release: Lightning Dynamic!" An aura of lightning appears around his body, his muscles bulk up and increase to twice their size. Part of the lightning is absorbed into his armor, increasing his combat effectiveness. He forms handseals rapidly, as he finishes one, he begins another. "Lightning Release: Inspiration Wave!" A shockwave of lightning energy spews forth from his hands followed by a large bolt of lightning from the tip of his sword. "Press your attack and power through these guys. We have to get to the village!" He moves forwards, no longer content to stay on the defensive. It was now time for some good old offense.
It wasn't his first time feeling the discord of the devilspawn as they sang their swansong. Forming a quick seal as he attempt to purge the vile chakra from his system.. it feels almost like it will be purged before he caught in the fear and discord only to find a claw embedding into his chest, first tearing his robe, then rending the chaimail underneath with a shower of sparks and hot embers as the torn rings as set aflame from the friction all followed by the warm spray of blood.. as he grasps at his wounds, he slides back his eyes being overtook by its own form of inky darkness, the seals on his eyes blazing into existence seeming to pulse with his guttural hatred. Holding out his hand, the palms glowing white as the will of the wisp escapes from his palm darting through the air like a white spectre before splitting into three parts landing on the bodies, the ground, exploding in a giant explosion of chakra. Hiroyasu huffs clutching at his wound with the swirl of white light escaping from his palm.. "I am not.. done yet.." he huffs.
Rise practically shredded her bottom lip to pieces and tore her muscles trying to resist the overwhelming feeling of fear seeping into her very bones. The most she manages is to lock them in place, preventing her from falling. Nevertheless, she's vulnerable to attack. A fact the darkness' minions capatilize on. Blood would be spilled, clothes torn, and rage mixed with fear driven up to new heights. In her rage, Rise manages to pull together the strength to unhinge her chakra gates to the fourth stage, knocking or forcing what remains of the horde to back away. She doesn't hesitate to for a second. She wanted them to fear the fear. She forms a seal and turns some of the escaping chakra from the unsealed gate into a crippling wave of chakra, crippling the shadowspawn and hopefully leaving a good set of them vulnerable to the spinning double kick.
Genjutsu? Miyo attempts to look around, focus in on what is going on before working to break the genjutsu apart. She felt like she was making progress, at least until she is battered to the ground by a mighty blow, sending the poor girl bouncing and rolling across the earth before coming to a step. She groans and looks towards where she had been before, the genjutsu having been broken by the blow, and flips her ponytail out of her face before slamming a hand into the ground, activating her pre-placed seals in a vain attempt to ambush the shadowy enemy that had stepped into range.
Knowing it was not a good idea to remain on the ground, the girl pushes herself to her feet. Her robes had been scuffed a bit, but not broken - mending would be required for them and for her.
Despite not being a Kumo-nin, the Ame-nin who was quite friendly with many of those she was currently assisting, felt pumped up and a renewed sense of vigor after Hiroyasu's speech. Once on her feet, she begins prepping some more seals of some sort, her fingers dancing through a flurry of patterns. Preparation is key!
The mass of lightning, strikes from the shinobi, and explosions from the seal masters work well enough that this wave of Hitokage is mostly annihilated, those remaining vanishing back into the shadows to regroup. "Accept death now… It is so much easier than what is to come," that dark voice rings out again as the creatures vanish.
With the dark creatures beaten back for now, Yoichi glances around at the group, seeming to pretty much just ignore that taunting voice. "Take a few moments to gather yourselves. It only gets harder from here… I wouldn't blame anyone if you wanted to turn back." With that, he resheaths his swords and folds his arms over his chest, closing his eyes and going silent for a bit as the amount of chakra flowing through his liquid body begins to rise to the next level.
Hiei takes bandages from the pouches in his belt and wraps them around his mangled left arm. He applies a salve given to him originally by Hiroyasu and spends a moment flexing his fingers. They didn't need to work perfectly, they just needed to be able to hold a sword. He glances over at Yoichi. "Are you kidding? We didn't come all this way to fail. Besides..I'm having fun." He offers the Kiri-nin a smirk before he begins to walk towards the village, the lightning aura still visible around his body. He pulls his second sword as he walks..time to get down to business.
Hiroyasu looks down at his own wounds, shrugs before moving over and running a glowing green hand over the wounds of the Uzumaki. It was his duty to make sure they stood for as long as he could allow. "Are you kidding? This is half as hard as 1 training session with our Sensei?!" he jokes giving Hiei a thumbs up, keeping up the morale.. in earnest he was feeling the pain and it felt like it really hurt. After rendering aid, he moves with the other two shinobi holding on their flank.. figuratively.. not literally.
Rise lets out a guttural growl, and is just moments away from tearing off towards the village itself when her conscious pipes up. She needed to wait for the others. The very notion does little to assuage her hunger for action (and totally not for vengeance), but it does keep her from rushing off. Instead she turns to the others, and belatedly recalls the trouble with Miyo. She's over in the Uzumaki's side in seconds, though restrains herself from interfering with Hiro. Sort of. "Is she.. I mean, are both alright?" She asks, blissfully ignorant of the fact her words came out as more of a growl and the fact she looked like a red oni at the moment.
With the retreat of the Hitokages, Miyo lets out a little sigh. "I imagine this isn't done yet? I feel like I have a uhm… bad bruise." She prods at her chest, testing her ribs for damage. Aside from a couple winces, nothing seems to be too bad. "Don't think anything is broken." She comments to Hiroyasu when he begins trying to heal her with her jutsus. "Your Sensei must be nuts…" She scoffs.
Rise's pressence at her side causes the Uzumaki girl to smile pleasantly. "Rise-chan, I am doing well. Yotsuki-san will have me patched up and ready to kick butt in no time!" She makes a fist and strikes a bit of a pose. Damaged, banged up, and a bit delerious (perhaps), but definitely energetic as always.
At Hiei's words, Yoichi grins just slightly and nods before turning to walk toward the overrun village as well. "Well, since you're all in, I'm going to move on ahead and create a diversion. It'll bring a big number of them down on me, so your promptness in ambushing the targets would be appreciated." With that, he'd splatter into a puddle, swords and all, which would then move rapidly toward the village. A few moments later, one would see a bolt of lightning strike up, and the clouds would begin to rumble and light up the area as Yoichi below in the middle of the village links the Kiba blades together and begins to spin them rapidly, which draws the rage of a bigger bolt down upon him. It strikes directly on him, yet the blades distribute its power rather than allowing it to damage him, his eyes glowing as lightning crackles around his body continuosly in an aura with massive levels of chakra spiking around him.
Quite a show the Swordsman is putting one. One might wonder if these creatures can actually be impressed. There'll likely never be an answer to that as they seem much more worried about ripping him limb from limb. With the sound of clomping stone, wingless bird shaped statues with talons on their arms charge the Hozuki while at a few of the much larger statues wieldig giant stone staves appear and begin to fire orbs of dark chakra at him. Not a good moment to be the target. Still, the Swordsman doesn't back down, whipping his blades back to create a mass of lightning whips to fly out at the monsters to try to freeze them up to the Kumo shinobi can attack uninhibited.
Hiei watches the swordsman go in and do his thing, calling down lightning. He smirks. "Like I'm going to be outdone by a Kiri nin." Hiei's swords crackle with lightning as well as he runs towards the stone statue. He uses treewalking to run up it's back while it's focused on the Kiri nin. Lightning crackles down the blades of both swords as the Kumogakurian Chuunin swings both swords at once before reaching the back of it's neck and leaping, striking out with the lightning infused katana.
Hiroyasu bops Miyo on the head playfully, "Not a Yotsuki.." he corrects her before looking at Rise "She's fine, a little worse for wear.. but nothing immediately pressing. I just don't recommend her taking too many more hits like that.. if at all possible.." he glances over his shoulder at Miyo "He's the Raikage, so he must be nuts" in respond to her quip. Before glancing at Hiei and Yoichi, then to Rise. "May the ancestors guide you.." he says as the Kiri shinobi does to the himself what Hiroyasu has considered doing in his shorts.. "Use brains Yotsuki-sama.. not balls" he says chasing after the Yotsuki before holding out his hand and the will of the wisp escapes from his hand again flying like a flowing firefly before breaking off into three smaller wisps which slam into ground and around the -same- golem as the Yotsuki, the imparted seals begin to explode as is nature to do so.
Rise shook her head and lets out a sigh in exasperation at Miyo. If she wasn't so sure she'd knock her out in the state she's in she would've bopped her upside the head for being… well, for being such an Uzumaki! Hiroyasu beating her to the punch saves her the trouble, which earned him a 'favor' saved for later in her book.
"What?!" Rise does an about face to regard the swordsman, only to see him melt into a puddle and slink away. Moments later, hell breaks loose in the very village they were sent to free from darkness. Despite the astonishing and painful show lighting up the place, Rise does not consider the idea of running now for a second. Instead, she's racing right along with Hiei in seconds, though she broke away takedown her own Giant Statue at the earliest opportunity, elbow primed to take off its skull from behind if it didn't refocus on her fast enough!
Miyo lets out a squeak when she is bonked on the head by Hiroyasu. "Sorry, Katayama-san!" She snickers a little and flexes. "I am feeling much better, better enough to start smacking people around! Hehe!" She watches as Yoichi, a stranger to her, ran off to create a diversion before looking to Hiroyasu. "We should probably help him. If I can plant some seals on some of them, I can seal them away and it might help us out a lot." She then prepares to follow the others into combat again.
With flashes of lightning striking down on them, the statue-possessing monsters are briefly halted in their tracks by the very shinobi they were ganging up on. This opens the up for a world of damage from the other shinobi coming up behind them. The statues receive heavy damage and stumble… but they are apparently much more resilient than normal stone, as they do not shatter. Instead, the monsters fight right back, the lightning breaking from around them as that dark voice rings out again, another Genjutsu carried through the monsters in an attempt to slow the shinobi down. "Are you thinking of your loved ones now, how you will never see them again?… The light you bring is only a funeral torch. You came here to die." As that attempts to overtake them, the giant statues point their staves at each other, sending a wave of chakra to the center to crashes together and waves out over all the village around them.
Yoichi's preparation doesn't win out on the Genjutsu this time, but his physical preparation is hard to beat. With the wave of chakra burning out, he splatters and reforms again, still wielding his blades. "… This isn't all of them," the Swordsman says as he goes to stab his blades into the ground. "… I hope the Daimyo here doesn't mind if half this village winds up fried." With that, he points his hands into the air, a bolt of lightning shooting between his blades and firing up. The clouds up above begin to glow with electrictiy, thundering again and again until a massive bolt fires down upon them, branching out into several large bolts that scorch anything in their path… which hopefully do at least put a dent in these monsters.
Hiei feels the pressure of the genjutsu on him again. The fear threatens to take him over. However, this time he grips his already injured left arm, squeezing it to the point that his bandages leak blood. His mind clears and his body goes into action. "Not that easy to kill a Kumo nin." He says in reply before his body blurs in movement as he begins a series of high speed feints with both swords. For the casual observer, it would seem that Hiei is in several places at once as he utilizes his speed while attempting to confuse the statues as to where the real strike is going to come from.
Hiroyasu attempts to overcome the genjutsu but is struck with a moment of doubt as he is unable to purge the negative feelings.. he really thought he had trained harder than this to purify his inner calm. He attempts to move out of the way of the flaming bullet his body only being caught partially by the flames, the explosion, and the utter searing pain that accompanies them both.. he slides in a circle grabbing on a chunk of rubble. "If your holding back because of the collateral damage.. forget it everyone, and everything of value was evacuated.. Level it! if you have too!" he says holding out his hand which glows for a moment and the wisp zooms out at breakneck speed darting randomly before splitting into two smaller wisps one slamming into the ground, the other on the wall next to the statue.. a vortex like portal opens up and attempts to forcefully suck the chakra from it, while the other begins to send out crimson rays.
It doesn't shatter as she originally thought it would, so she kicks off from the statue to put some distance between them. She lands unsteadily on a roof, and nearly collapses then and there. The crawlers do what her wailing muscles cannot. Despite the weight of both, Rise springs high, evading the wave of chakra with a high flying leap. During the aerial spin she catches sight of Miyo, and without hesitation, she spring boards from building to building the moment her feet touch the ground. Walls are destroyed in her wake without concern for its past occupants. Before Miyo knew it, Rise's in front of her, tossing her out of the path of the wave while she took the brunt of it.
Hardening her stance helps… but only by so much. "Tch! You think that's gonna be enough to stop me!" She cries out as she dashed forward to the nearest statue with the intent to knocking it down to her level, stone by stone in a hail of kicks and rage fueled fists!
+ Miyo, never much of a fan of being genjutsud, rushed forward and is struck by the genjutsu mid-stride. The technique causes her enough of an inconvenience that she loses track of where she is going, fails to run like a normal being, and trips all over herself. After sliding several feet across the ground on her belly, Miyo manages to roll over and continue her charge, brushing dust off of herself with one hand and preparing seals with the other.
Upon arriving at the evil statues of doom and gloom, Miyo delivers a series of quick blows, aiming to land them in any place possible. It was clear she was not trying to strike for vulnerable locations, or even for locations that would allow her to inflict a significant amount of damage.
The lightning and Hiei's strikes carve through the statues like… Well, not like butter, but some of the statues are blasted to pieces while some are still able to defend themselves and move out of the way of incoming strikes. Miyo manages to get some strikes in, applying her seal to statue she is targeting. Meanwhile, more of the smaller statues pop up from the ground and charge the shinoi.
While his attack seems to be working, Yoichi decides to keep what is working going. Fueling the lightning with more chakra, he aims to fry as many of these monsters as he can around him as he can. "I guess the village still counts as liberated even if they have to rebuild most of it."
Hiei hits the ground in a crouch after his last attack. "Hiroyasu!" He yells and then takes two fingers and strikes them across his chest three times. The other Kumo nin, being his former teammate, should know what that means as Hiei goes into a series of acrobatic movement, doding and flowing around the incoming attacks. He leaps high into the air, spinning like a top with a horizontal corkscrew flip as he strikes out once, flipping his sword over to the blunt side just before he strikes.
- Hiroyasu twirls out of the way of the first attack without even a scratch.. but when the follow up comes hurtling at him, he holds up his hands which spiral outwards a wall of chakra which is just completely blow through and he goes tumbling across the ground skipping like a pebble across a pond.. he lands back into the wall with a cough of blood.. "Yeah.. not.. doing.. so good.." he coughs and chokes for a moment before glancing over at the Yotsuki.. "Yeah yeah.. okay.." he wheezes before bursting out of the rubble and charging at the statue his hands glowing a solid with chakra as he attempts to make a surgical strike. -
Instead of the stone, Rise's fist hits the ground. She mutters a curse, then almost outright yells another upon seeing a horde of mini-statue start to surround her. This time she's not for dancing around the bothersome things. Instead, she stands her ground, forcing the first to strike at her into a standstill with well placed strikes, then outright knocking the other attempts at breaking through her solid defense. Without missing a bit, she leaps into the thick of them, unleashing a powerful back spin kick with a battle cry that all could hear.
What's that they say about a battle becoming too easy, especially in this kind of setting? As the new wave of monsters is put down by the massive attacks and skilled teamwork of the shinobi, a huge feeling of chakra comes up, and the rest of the dozen giant statues pop up from the ground around the town. Most of the few remaining buildings are shattered as the staves of the giant creatures glow the fire dark chakra into the center of the village that fires out in a massive destructive wave across its entire circumference.
For once, Yoichi actually takes a massive blow and is sent flying back into some rubble. "… Son of a," he grumbles as he picks himself up, water reforming his body but wounds actually still showing. From his spot on the ground, he swings one of his swords, sending a lightning whip at one of the giant statues in an attempt to lock it up while he points his other hand at it in the shape of a gun. This looks a little odd, a little more odd when a drop of water fires from his fingertip with the sound of a cannon to attempt to blast its head off with incredibly force.
Hiei blinks out of sight as the fireball comes for him, but he keeps right on moving. To the naked eye it looks like Hiroyasu is enveloped in the attack as well, but the fire only hits his afterimage. Because Hiei was moving so fast that he yanked Hiro out of the way at the last minute, leaving an image in his place. "Heal yourself, I'll watch your back." He forms a handseal and then extends his sword towards the stone statue as a large bolt of lightning lances out at the tip.
- Hiroyasu.. was about to take a massive beating only to be pull from the fire but only back into the pan. Pulling out a roll of bandages he starts chanting as the bandages snakes around his body, the seals etched into them glowing and imparting the little bit of energy he can muster to give.. several of his wounds reverse course.. but in the grand scheme of things, it really just acts as fancy bandage with some minor surgery thrown in.. "I'm… okay.. " he wheezes grasping at his torso. -
Hiei would not be the only one fading in and out of existence to the naked eye to evade harm. As a consequence she can't adjust her course fast enough to pick up Miyo in the process. Granted, she could hardly reason beyond the pain her muscles and bones from maintaining the gates for so long. The only thing she can 'think' to do is to keep on hammering away at any visible source possible; namely, the first living statue she sees in sight. The ground is dug up in the wake of her charge towards it, delivering in seconds an elbow thrust capable of leveling boulders… should it make contact.
+ While things did look like they were getting very heated… namely because there was a lot of fire floating around, Miyo seemed slightly more calm than she maybe could have. Even as the massive fireball floated towards her, the Uzumaki raised a powerful barrier of Chakra to intercept it - which she does. The Fireball is dispersed and then Rise dashes past her like a bullet, drawing her attention for a moment before she goes on the offensive, attacking the statues with her acrobatic martial artsy stuff. Not really effective, but that's just how it goes some times.
With a sound of electrical shock then an explosive strike, one of the giant statues takes a fall. Another is sent reeling back by Hiei to fall, another taking a single strike from Miyo but continuing to move. With another point of their staves, a second wave of energy fires off from each one, exploding outward at almost atomic force as they collide. These monsters still have a bit of fight left in them.
Actually prepared for the massive blast this time, Yoichi splatters into water then reforms at the center of where the statues are. "… We've gotta get rid of these things or retreat," he says as he swings both swords back, a multiple of lightning whips growing form each one and spiraling around viciously at the monsters in an attempt to scorch them and lock them up so the others can unload on them and hopefully finish at least a number of them off.
As the fire bullet comes, Hiei goes into a dance in an attempt to dodge it, but it was too much for the Kumo Chuunin. He is hit and hit hard. His body rolls along the ground while on fire. His screams pierce the air as his body burns. But the rolling at least puts the flames out. He pushes himself back up to his feet, albeit slower than before. He says through gritted teeth. "We are not retreating! As a shinobi we sometimes have to put ourselves in harm's way. That time is now. If I die here, at least I believed in what I was fighting for." He reaches up to strip off the tatters of his clothing, revealing a burned torso. Taking a grip on his swords, he rushes the statues with a war cry. His body moves rapidly, as he executes feint after feint, attempting to create confusion until he attacks for real with a powerful series of slashes.
- The flaming attack that he has seen.. one too many times is upon him again. Holding up a hand Hiroyasu attempts to rebuff the attack with a barrier which didn't even seem to slow it down as it slams into him sending him soaring backwards once again.. the medic landing as softly as you can into heap when you have no control over your landing.. "Urrk.." is the sound that he makes.. "I.. can.. *heave* not.. keep.. this.. *huff* up.. I have to retreat.." he says loud-enough for hopefully someone to hear.. its really hard to shout when one of your lungs is most likely collapsed. The air around the medic justs begin to shimmer for just a moment as his body fades out of material existence.. at least visually. On foot he is doing what is best describe as a crab-walk stumble.. trying to get away as fast as he can to avoid the radius of another attack.. he can always heal them.. if he survives.. -
Rise tries, truly, she does. Alas, she's too caught up with attack to evade the statue's retaliation. What follows next is a series of the girl lots of tumbling, crashing, and ultimately digging her hands and feet into the ground just to keep from rag dolling further. Just how she's managed to stay councious after all that, mangled beyond recognition, AND conscious is a holy miracle. She should retreat. Some part of her is screaming at the back of her mind to do just that. And yet… she can't move to do so.
She can only glare at the statues and… snap. The next thing she knows, she's sailing through the air, blind to pain and all else except the simple desire to crush the possessed giant's skull in.
+ Things were going… poorly… for Miyo, at best. An inability to power up a barrier causes the defense to shatter beneath the powerful attack of the statue and send her reeling. The Uzumaki slams into the ground, rolls along the earth, and comes to a stop, smoking somewhat and definitely unresponsive.
With another massive of strike of lightning and the attacks from the Kumogakure shinobi and Miyo, the remaining Hitokage finally fall, the statues they were animating breaking to pieces as they fall to the ground. "It doesn't matter if you leave. We are inside you. Your heart, your lungs, your thoughts will all be blackened… No one ever leaves the darkness behind."
