Starring:
Date: May 19, 2013
Summary:
With the Daimyo's troops out looking for 16 year olds for the draft, a checkpoint at a very pivitol crossroads outside of Konohagakure Village has been setup. Trying to pass through the checkpoint without getting caught is half the mission. The first half was finding out about the Konoha-Kumo alliance, Misaki's troubles, and why they needed to get back home in the first place. Needless to say, they don't quite make it through the checkpoint perfectly and hijinks ensue.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Struggle with No Reward - Passing a Checkpoint"
Crossroads outside of Konohagakure Village
Skirmishes have been going on here and there all over the Land
of Fire. If it isn't the Daimyo trying to find 16 year olds for the
draft…or traitors at any rate…then it is the True Fire Movement
looking to strike fear into the hearts of the shinobi and Daimyo. It's
actually all very chaotic, and in a sense for the shinobi…both
terrifying and fascinating all at the same time.
Unfortunately for the Kumogakure shinobi, they had been sent
out on an official Kumogakure mission along a clear path, only to have
that clear path come under control of the Daimyo's troops. Nori had
already been dispatched outside of the village because the TFM has
been shooting all hawk traffic they see with bows. Nori, and the other
younger Genin, are the new messengers. Nori's telepathy, even though
it is only good for a small distance, is proving useful. He is
sticking around one of the Konohagakure outposts and getting new
assignments. One of them is to ferry Hiei and Hiroyasu from the
outpost back to Konoha…so he is there waiting for them.
As Hiro and Hiei walks towards the outpost, Hiei is shuffing
his feet as he goes. Usually, he's always in a hurry to get to where
he's going, but today he's dragging his feet. There is a scroll in his
hands that he reads silently as he walks. He had gotten the message
earlier in the week and Hiro would notice that it's got the seal of
Clan Yotsuki on it, too. Whatever the contents are, Hiei doesn't seem
too happy about it. He's been very quiet during their journey.
Hiroyasu walks with his hands resting behind his head in a
carefree stride, the boulder in tow. "News from home, Yotsuki-sama?"
it didn't take much to notice the seal. "I don't think my letters have
been arriving, Mother has not sent me a single reply" he says with a
frown before continuing his stride now less happy as before.
Nori looks up to see his two favorite Kumonin heading his way,
"Oh, so it was the two of you that I'm to babysit." He winks after
that last word, but then he notes that they don't exactly seem too
happy. "You two okay? Looks like the state of things has got you
down?" Nori himself doesn't seem all that phased by it. This is really
the first 'action' he's seen. Sure, he's been on missions before, but
this is different. Nori looks around, "No Misaki-san? You two didn't
leave her to die out there did you?" Apparently he's picked up on
their reluctance to cover her car when she goes all crazy from
previous experiences with the team.
Hiei spots Nori and offers him a small smile, and he still
greets him in his customary manner. A high-five. "Hey, hey Nori-san."
He rolls the scroll up and puts it into one of his pouches on his
belt. He asides to Hiroyasu. "Letter from my parents. Due to the
things with the Daimyo back home, they've both been called to active
duty." Both of Hiei's parents were Jounin, but he was worried more
about his mother. She had been withdrawn before he left and she had
closed down her store. If she had been called to go back into active
duty, then things were serious in Kumo. He rolls his shoulders.
"They'll be fine, though. Father is the one that trained me,
afterall." When he asks about Misaki, Hiei shakes his head. "She
wasn't assigned with us." He cuts his eyes towards Hiro. "I'm sure it
has nothing to do with how she treated the Hokage."
Hiroyasu says "Nothing to do with it at all, I'm sure" with a
faux shrug before looking about "Babysit, really? Can't you leafies
find a better word if you want insult us. Despite that we keep pulling
your hams out of the oven, again and again." he strikes a pose "Maybe
you should call us heroes" in classic Hiroyasuian flavored humor.
Nori hi-fives Hiei back. The young boy sits back and listens
though when Hiei and Hiro speak amongst eachother. He does pipe up to
say, "If they are Jounin then I'm sure they can handle some villagers
just fine. I didn't realize though that the other villages are having
this same issue. That seems…too organized." He herms for a moment,
but then his mind wanders back to the conversation, "Misaki-san did
what?" He blanches lightly. He's never even talked to the Hokage, let
alone mistreat her.
Turning back to Hiroyasu, Nori says, "I could say that they
wanted me to get the two black sheep back into the pen…or that they
wanted me to bring the two loving rams to slaughter (because 10% of
rams are gay, not that they'd realize that)…or that they wanted me
to bring the two trophy shinobi to the show case…or," he pauses, "I
can keep going all night, but we're running out of time." He grins
brilliantly and readies himself to get hit by bringing his arms up.
Nori uses those arms to wave them along, "Come on, let's go. The Land
is crawling with enemies."
Hiei shakes his head to Nori. "Different issue in Kumo.
There's a faction out to assassinate the Lightning Daimyo and his
family. It's taking a lot of manpower to make sure he and his family
is well protected. That's why Mother and Father have been placed on
active duty again." He smirks. "Well, we were called into the Hokage's
office the other day and Misaki-chan made some demands of her. But
anyways, Konoha and Kumo are offical allies now. Hiro and I take our
orders from the Hokage like we would our Raikage back home. I've even
been patrolling the Land with the other leaf ninja." He winces at all
the examples Nori gives about babysitting them. "None of those sound
appealing to me." He chuckles as he walks along. "So, Nori-san. Is
there a reason why they sent you out to escourt us back?"
Hiroyasu nods to Hiei's expose "I'm sure Father has been
shipped out, I doubt Mother would be." rubbing his chin as too why his
letters have not been returned. "Yes, we sort of are under direct
control of your Hokage, while in your village. She is a very
accommodating leader, I can see why your village prospers" He looks
around "Enemy? Fire or Fire?" as both are of the fire variety one
terrorist, one ruling terrorist. Going on to the full guard, even
pulling out several seals that he rests between his fingers.
Nori herms, "I had not heard that we are officially allies
now…and more than that even, that you are basically no different
from me now either." He chuckles. "The real reason they asked me to
escort you guys is just that I've been through the gauntlet and told
the commanding officer here that there are a few checkpoints that the
Daimyo set up. We will have to go around them…but they also have
random patrols…and my sensor skills should come in somewhat handy
for that." Somewhat handy is true. It is harder to note non-shinobis
with chakra sensing.
Nori watches as Hiro goes into fight or flight mode already.
"Let's hope we can just sneak, ne?" He also herms about Misaki, "Did
Hashiramako-sempai kick her straightaway out or did Misaki-san get away with it
as usual?" Nori shrugs.
As Hiei listens as Nori lays out the situation he frowns. "You
know stealth isn't my thing, right?" He tosses up his hands. "I
learned the basics at the academy, but I figured I wouldn't need it
much. I was focusing on bashing heads and learning the best way to
take apart my opponent." He places his hands behind his head as they
keep walking. He grumbles. "They're just obstacles. We should just
remove them." He leaves Hiro to answer the question about Misaki. Hiei
loves her, but she gets on his nerves sometimes. The stunt she pulled
in their meeting…he was very surprised that the Hokage didn't kill
all three of them.
Hiroyasu erms "No, Niisan stormed out immediately afterwards,
the Hokage was mostly kind to us about it, but still threw us out. I
went back the next day and repaired our standing. Mostly.." rubbing
the back of his head. "Stealth is not my forte either Hiei, but you
don't see me avoiding it when it's needed" he looks over at Hiei
before back to nori "you have a plan B right.. just in case" he nods
his head at Hiei before looking the other direction "Hmm that cloud
looks like a goat" putting his hand over his eyes to block the sun.
Nori smiles at Hiei, "Which is why they sent me. I'll help
navigate you through. Still, that means you have to do everything that
I say okay? For example, if I tell you to bark like a dog, what would
you do?" He waits a moment to see if Hiei barks, but looks over to
Hiroyasu and winks. He's such a smart tire.
Nori shrugs, "I think we have the ability to remove them, but
the Daimyo's force is following orders. I'd rather not kill them if we
can help it. The True Fire Movement are also just villagers. They are
upset, and rightfully so, but they are villagers that we are here to
protect. If they get in our way, fine. Do what needs to be done to get
home." He shrugs and starts walking.
Nori talks as he walks, "She threw you out? Ouch." Nori rubs
at the back of his head, "I need to talk to the Hokage. How exactly
did you guys do that? We need to get the villagers representation in
the Hokage-sempai's advisor's cabinet. That might not stop everything,
but I think it would help. Also, having them be free to investigate
shinobi using excessive force when it isn't necessary…and then
having the power to punish those shinobi…might be a good idea too."
Nori eyes Hiroyasu for a moment, but he doesn't eye Hiei. Uh-oh.
"I like you a lot, Nori-san, but I am not barking like a
dog…if I can help it." Hiei replies. When Nori talks about them just
doing what they think is necessary, Hiei nods in agreement. "I
understand that. But at the same time we have orders, too. And
anything that jeapordize the mission must be removed. Sometimes, that
includes people." He shrugs. "But we don't have to kill them…I
wasn't really suggesting that. But sending them home with a few
bruises won't hurt too terribly much." He pauses and frowns slightly.
"There may be some merit in that, but anytime you involve normal
people with the ninja world, it never goes well. Inviting someone to
punish shinobi is just…them signing their own death warrants. Unless
you intend for them to hire mercenaries, and then you'll have people
abusing even that. Putting a kill order on a ninja just because they
may not like them. I think the way it is now, is the way it should
stay."
Hiroyasu says "It's easy Nori-san, you walk up to her office
and ask to see her!" before thinking about it "I thought you had a
division that handles and meters out justice to shinobi found in the
wrong. We do in Kumo, they are feared, it's said if you see them its
because your life is no longer worth your bunk. Which is most cases
might be made of dirt or stone depending on rank." he kinda loses
focus on the conversation and rambles some before coming back "Being a
less than fortunate son of the land myself, I can understand the want
to sit at the table. But like Hiei said, if you don't have the right
manners you are just barking in the dark." before going silent.
Nori looks butt-hurt (yes, just went there) that Hiei won't
bark like a dog for him. He starts chuckling though and shakes his
head, "I didn't think you'd actually do it either, but I figured I'd
try for /some/ entertainment in this bleak world." He snickers. "Oh,
yeah, sending them home is fine if we need to." The young Yamanaka
hmms and adds, "Oh, I didn't mean that the villagers would be the only
ones in control. The advisor's cabinet should be in charge of an
inquisition of sorts. Right now I'm not sure there is open
communication between the villagers and the Hokage-sempai. If one
shinobi constantly uses excessive force, then there is no way for them
to really tell the Hokage. If there is a team that can investigate
such events…and maybe the Uchiha police should be in charge of just
that…then maybe the excessive force would be minimized. Accidents
happen, but if it happens over and over, is it still an accident?"
Nori shrugs, as often does. "And I'm not sure. I haven't heard of such
a division here. I'll have to walk in and talk to the Hokage."
As they move, Nori grows quiet. "We are moving close to the
first check-point. There are probably several patrols around. Let's
stop and wait and watch for a bit." Nori puts out his chakra senses
and goes silent and still.
Hiei has been around Nori long enough to know that when he
says that they should stop and wait for a little while, he does just
that. He squats down so that he isn't easily seen and remains quiet
for awhile before asking. "Any idea how many there are?" He does
whisper at least, he glances over at Hiroyasu and then back over at
Nori. He didn't like this hiding stuff, but the difference between him
and Misaki is that Hiei is a team player. If someone comes up with the
plan, he'll follow it.
Hiroyasu nods "Ahh you want to establish a venue for
communication. I figure she would be amenable to that, as it would
allow for the Kage to send information to them like evacuations or
advanced warnings as well a funnel up information from the outlaying
lands." when they are told to stop, he does immediately and crouches
down leaning back on his boulder as a backrest.
Nori sends a communication to Hiei and then to Hiroyasu one
after the other…~There's a little bit of an issue. Last time Fudo-
san and I came through here, there were four people at the checkpoint
and one patrolling the woods around it. Fudo couldn't get past the
checkpoint as easily as I could, so he stunned one of the guards. It,
eh, looks like they've gotten backup. There's six guards at the
checkpoint and another six patrolling the woods in groups of two.
Either that, or we suddenly got a lot of deer in the area. Kinda hard
to tell with non-shinobi types. What should we do?~ He waits to hear a
response before going to the next person.
Hiei tilts his head forwards as he suddenly hears Nori's voice
inside of his head. He's not alarmed, because he used this form of
communication in previous missions. Hiei smiles. ~Actually, I have a
plan. Nori, you and I could become one of the soldiers using the Henge
technique. We could pretend to be escorting Hiroyasu through the area
as our prisoner. As long as they don't question us too closely, it may
work. It would beat trying to defeat twelve guards between us. Not
even I like those odds. Relay this to Hiro…see what he thinks?~
Hiroyasu hears more voices in his head than usual, but it's at
least nori's voice. He attempts a response ~I suppose we can do it, I
have my Seal materials, so I can forge something if we want. It won't
hold up under high scrunity but I could trap it as a capture barrier.~
he adds, sometimes he should really go back and learn how to use the
impersonation jutsu.
Nori hears and sees all. Well, sorta. Nori sends out one last
message to Hiroyasu and Hiei…his energy already starting to drain
somewhat as it takes a little effort to switch between minds, ~I can
also make up a fake document if needed with Genjutsu.~ Nori then
henges into a bigger, older version of himself. Yeah, he's done this
older version before it looks like. Maybe to try and pretend to look
older and bigger. He nods to the others and keeps his mind on Hiei for
ease, ~I'll stay in your mind since we need to work together. It
doesn't matter if Hiroyasu hears us…might be more realistic reaction
if he doesn't. Oh, and go hard on him.~ Nori grins broadly and then
whinks at Hiroyasu. Uh-oh.
Hiei nods towards Nori. "Transformation Justu!" He transforms
into an older version of himself, only his skin tone is a few shades
lighter. He's dressed like the soldiers are and carries a spear
instead of his sword. He looks over at Hiro and whispers. "Okay. We
have to make this look good, so I'm going to have to rough you up a
little. Just a couple of bruises that are easily seen to help sell the
story. I take no pleasure in this." He knew that Hiro would say not to
hit him in the face, so he punches him in the side of the neck, just
hard enough to create a bruise and then punches him again on the
shoulders before tearing off his sleeves, if he's wearing any. Only
thing is, if he's not taking any pleasure in what he's doing, why is
he smiling so much?
Hiroyasu feels like a sheep in the wolves den, why do they do
look at me like I am a piece of meat, then Hiei drops the classic
phrase. "Not the face!" before taking a shot in the neck "Owww!" then
another to shoulder before ripping his sleeve off "Mother gave me
this!" his lip quivers, "give me the sleeve, I want to sew my heart
back together later.." snatching the sleeve and putting it a pouch. He
leans over and picks up some dirt and slaps it on his face, neck, and
clothes. "I hate you both.." he whines.
Nori punches Hiroyasu in the ear. Yes, the ear. It isn't in
the face, and it'll swell quite a bit, and it'll take Hiroyasu by
surprise. Nori doesn't smile though during or after he's done the
deed. He's got a pretty good poker place. The young Yamanaka, err, or
older Yamanaka rather, bows and then grabs Hiroyasu and starts tieing
him up with his rope. He makes one hand in front and one hand in back
whispering, "You are a ninjutsuist…we're making it so you can't make
handseals is all." Nori, for being fairly slow, is actually quick with
the rope tieing. He's done this before several times. "Let's go," and
he pushes Hiroyasu forward.
Up ahead two patrolmen find them first. They say, "Halt, who
goes there?" Hiei hears, ~You speak.~
Hiei shoves Hiroyasu in the back pretty roughly before looking
at the patrolmen. "Found a shinobi helping some traitors. Taking him
in for questioning." His voice is a little lower than normal, though
he does look the man in the eye when he speaks to him. He knew that in
order for this to work, he needed to act like he belonged here. -
Please let this work..please let this work- He thinks to himself.
Hiroyasu spits and snarls in contempt, he could not hear
anything in his head so this was going to improvisation time. So He
struggles against his bonds before rocking back and forth on his feet,
he seems generally in discomfort.
The younger man stares at Nori while the older man talks to
Hiei. Nori, for his part, just struggles to hold Hiroyasu. Nori isn't
that strong, so it really does make for a good struggle. As the older
patrolman man talks, the younger patrolman starts to inspect Hiroyasu.
The older one says, "Where are your transportation papers?" Nori
pushes Hiroyasu into the younger patrolman saying, "Hold this." He
pulls the papers out and hands them to the older man. The paper is
blank, but it is Nori's stare that causes the man to see what he wants
to see via the Distortion Genjutsu technique. Genjutsu can be useful.
It seems like things are going alright, but after a moment,
the older man waves Nori and Hiei forward. They are being brought to
the six other men at the checkpoint. Hopefully, it is just for
processing. Nori says to Hiei, ~Be on your guard.~ Sure enough, the
six men look up when the five of them come into view. The two
patrolmen say something, a password it seems, and then the older one
talks, "We have a transportation of an enemy shinobi. They came to us,
so it looks legit. They even have papers. We figured you could process
them first though before sending them on their way." One of the six
looks at Hiroyasu and then cocks his fist back to hit him as he says,
"Scumbag!" Nori calls to Hiei, ~Stop him.~ That is all the time he
has, no other details. Hiei better have a good reason for why he's
stopping the man.
Hiei quickly raises his arm, catching the soldier's fist in
the palm of his hand. "It'll have to wait. We have reason to believe
that there are more where he came from. His friends will definitely
try to rescue him. Send us on before the others get here so we don't
have to deal with his buddies. In the meantime, he needs to be in good
condition." He releases the soldier's fist after squeezing it just a
little. "Better condition he's in, the more we can torture him later."
Hiroyasu stares defiantly at the fist, "Come on beat me real
good. Lets stay a while, I bet you punch like my mother anyways" when
Hiei stops the fist, he was trying to play the angle that if they
wasted time his friends would arrive. "Just a few more minutes.." he
rocks back and forth in his restrains while smiling, "Just a few more
minutes.." he repeats with a perverted grin and devious eyes his in
head, he's picturing locking hiei and nori in a barrier for several
hours in the hot sun, of yes any minute now they will get what is
coming.
The soldier makes contact! Or not. He blinks when his fist is
suddenly in Hiei's. "For someone to move that quickly, you've got to
be a shinobi too. Double check their papers." Nori points to the
papers saying, "They're there and all in order." He isn't a friggin
Jedi, but sometimes the power of suggestion helps. The man in charge
takes a look at the papers. He does feel the pressure of the shinobi's
friends coming, so only glances at them. The leader says, "Perhaps we
should push them along and prepare for his friends. Start laying the
traps." Nori says to Hiei, ~Just a little further.~ The patrolmen both
nod and then push Hiroyasu back into Hiei's hands. "Shut him up would
you at least?" Another man says, "Put a gag in his mouth," while
another says, "How about a dirty sock." He proceeds to take off a wet,
stinky sock and throws it at Hiroyasu. Hiei will probably catch
it…maybe. Nori doesn't.
As they move out of the main area, the two patrolmen tag
along. They are almost free. In fact, they're well out of yelling
range of the six at the checkpoint, when Nori trips and falls.
Momentarily, his henge flickers. Uh-oh. A quick kunai is thrown out
from Nori on the ground…and it moves to cut Hiroyasu. With any luck,
it will take out the ropes holding him and not cut him…maybe.
Hiei does not catch the sock. However he does comment. "I've
had some shinobi training..how do you think I caught this one?" He
looks at the dirty sock and says plainly. "I'm not touching that."
Shoving Hiro in the back again, they move on. Only two patrolmen
decide to tag along. Hiei was quietly trying to devise a way to get
them away from here when Nori suddenly falls and his henge flickers.
Looks like the jig was up. Reaching behind him, he produces two
shruiken held between the fingers of his hand. With a flick of his
wrist, he sends them towards the patrolmen. "What's that over there?!"
He pretends to point off in the distance after launching the attack.
Hiroyasu leans forward, his hands raising up making them
better targets and nori's kunai slices completely through a rope, and
his sleeve, and maybe first couple layers of skin sending a twinge of
pain. "why I am the whipping boy today.." before going quickdraw
gunslinger with two seals, "Double Capture Barrier!" he says hurling
the blue glowing seals at the two guards attempting to trap them in a
reverse barrier giving his /friends/ the time they need, then slaps
his hands together into a prayer steeple, fingers extended.
The whole shinobi training thing doesn't exactly catch high
remarks. That's probably why the two patrolmen were following them.
Still, the Daimyo does have shinobi in his draft, so it isn't out of
the question either.
As Nori falls and his henge flickers, and then the kunai go
flying into the woods, the two patrolmen look back and forth between
the forest and eachother and then back to Hiei and Nori. "What's going
on?" they ask, quickly drawing their own weapons. One has a short
sword while the other has a whip. They don't have time to react though
to much more, because Hiroyasu traps them in the capture barrier. The
whip can barrely be lashed inside the barrier, and the short sword
pokes at it. Nori gets up, anime sweat-drops while making a peace
sign, and then starts to run for it. He calls out to Hiei and
Hiroyasu, "Run!" And so he makes a break for it. Hopefully that
barrier will last a moment and Hiei and Hiroyasu will move it too.
Hiei drops his disguise with a *poof*. He smiles at the two
patrolmen now that they're in the barrier and offers them a finger
wave just before he leans forwards and rockets off in the direction
that Nori is going. He kicks up dirt and debris as he goes and a wind
accompanies him as he goes. "Better pick up the pace, they could be
loose at any moment!"
Hiroyasu kicks up dust as he zooms trailing behind Hiei but
catching up to nori then keeping pace "You lack the Stamina for any
kind of extended jaunt don't you? Should be scout out potential hiding
spots?" knowing that in the past nori winded himself quickly. "And
Hiei, pray to the ancestors that I don't catch you!" he wasn't running
full-bore, he was running quickly but in a marathon like manner, long
run stride.
Nori has a great deal of stamina oddly enough…the problem is
actually more that he is using things like henge and telepathy, which
drain his natural chakra and make him have to focus between things.
That and he plays it up for the sake of having an ace in his pocket.
Nori also just doesn't have speed. That one is true. Nori says as they
run, "I can hide better than you two if needed. Still, I think setting
up a trap, maybe explosive tags, or some sort of diversion would be
better for you two rather than hiding. The last thing we need is for
all of them to come and find us and actually find you two. You're
terrible at hiding." He grins as he says this jokingly…although his
grin moves in and out with each huff.
Hiei turns around and runs backwards while he talks to
Hiroyasu. "Bah. Whatcha gonna do? Put me in a barrier? That's if you
can hold me down long enough for it to work." However, he does slow
down so that Nori and Hiro can catch up to him. Now running regularly
again, he comments. "We've got a clear path back to Konoha, right? Why
not just dust these guys and run all the way back to the village at
high speed?"
Hiroyasu says "Cause they can track it, what we need to do is
find somewhere to hide until the trail is cold." He thinks for a
moment, "I've seen you create a dome of earth, to snuff out a fire.
Can you make it bigger? Like enough to hide us in the side of a hill?
After we do some misdirection tracks wise?" before looking to nori and
Hiei before looking back to his running path.
Nori listens to both and finally says, "While they will
probably just make us as Konohagakure shinobi, Hiroyasu is probably
right…better to not confirm the point. Yes, let's move into the
trees, harder to track us that way…and then we can jump down before
the mountains to the north. I can easily setup a bunch of earthen
walls and domes that will mask our presence. Let's just hope they
don't have another sensor with them."
Luckily for them, the plan works. The shinobi are tracked for
a little while, but between the tree-walking and the earthen tomb, the
Daimyo's troops give up. Some time passes before Nori releases the
earthen protection…and they high-tail it back to Konohagakure
without further incident.
