Starring:
Abiku, Nobu, Ryuk, Shisei (NPC)
Date: November 27, 2010
Summary:
The group of ninjas go out to find the ninja that put down all the traps.
"Rosemary Shakedown - Finale, a Bittersweet Recipe"
Toshiba Forest - Clearing [Konohagakure]
Toshiba Forest - Clearing [Konohagakure]
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A circular opening at where when the moon is full perfectly shines and lights up this clearing. Surrounding this clearing are thick and tall trees with branches extending outwards. Further inside towards the center there are long patches of grass and several flat rocks one can sit on when resting. There is one single rock formations extending towards the west and back into the forest.
Animal life here are snakes slithering in the grass looking for squirrels or birds as prey while spiders can be seen within the tall grass and rocks. In the sky it is often that one or two eagles might be seen circling the area looking for rabbits. Finally, the rare deer comes here to feast on the grass while rumors of a predator lurking in this area is also known.
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The field ahead looks innocent enough, with the midday sun of Autumn making it sparkle happily. A cool breeze was blowing in from the distant sea, blowing the brown and gold leaves decorating the ground all around. A previous examination of this area had shown just how deadly it could be though. Lined with traps, the old training ground could pose a serious threat to anyone entering unaware of just how dangerous it was. And somewhere far to the back, a pair of eyes watched closely as the Konoha-nin approached, a slight smile spreading across her face in the expectation of seeing her creations in action.
Abiku cautiously enters the training field. Having been here before he kept a wary eye on his surroundings, "This was the area. We've already disabled and sprung some of the traps, but if they were recently placed there could be new ones so keep an eye out." he states, inching into the open field from the treeline.
As the one who been to the trapped field before, Nobu comes in at the rear of the party, behind Abiku and Ryuk. He's been given a brief explanation of exactly what's going on here, so he's keeping an eye out for traps (or anything else suspicious), but aside from that he doesn't know exactly what to expect. "New ones," he repeats in a low voice, though it should be loud enough for Ryuk and/or Abiku to hear it, "That would confirm that someone is actively using this area then. If we find them, I mean." He takes a glance around as he steps carefully into the field after Abiku.
And it's lucky that he does. "Stop," he calls out, "Abiku-san, there's a wire right in front of you." Taking care to limit his movements (there might be a trap near /him/ after all), he reaches for Abiku and tries to pull him back, hopefully enough to keep him from walking into the trap.
This was the place where Ryuk and Abiku found the rosemary bush. A small forest clearing off the beaten path. Of course they had come back to the place they said they would to track the scent of whoever set those traps. He could not do something like that with his byakugan, so the Inuzuka duo would be a big help. He knew Nobu-san had many skills to help them too. This was a good squad for a task such as this but Ryuk thought they might have some trouble soon. He nods in response to Abiku "Yes…" then raising a hand seal to his brow he says "Byakugan!" Under his breath and takes a look around the area. He concentrated, yet a slight fraction of that had to go to saying something to Abiku "Have you caught the scent of anything?" He reads both his team mates and the area around him.
Watching from her far-off hiding place, the watcher purses her lips as she sees that one of the Konoha-nin has narrowly avoided walking into one of the traps. "Well, at least they have more brains than the other ones that wandered in," she mutters to herself, and for now she contents herself with sitting back and waiting to see what their next move will be. Back down on the field a little furry critter runs out on to the field and sits up on its hind legs to chitter. An instant later it disappears into a large explosion that tears up the ground. The hiding woman groans and slaps her forehead into a hand, and moans about the stupidity of small animals.
Abiku nods at Nobu, carefully stepping over the tripwire and moving a little farther in before pausing. There was another tripwire running about ankle height infront of him, "Carefull… I can't be 100% sure yet, but it feels like some traps were added…" he states, trailing off as the explosion catches his attention and causes him to drop slightly into a defensive stance, "Definitely a dangerous place." he says, looking at the others and nodding before he and Tohime sniff at the air trying to catch a scent.
"Was that a new trap?" Nobu asks, glancing between Ryuk and Abiku. "If it was— " Whatever he's going to say is cut off by the explosion. He immediately whips his head around to see where the noise came from. "We'll have to proceed very carefully," he says, narrowing his eyes. He glances down at the next tripwire. "We'll have to assume that whoever's doing this is an expert. Don't just watch out for traps, watch out for traps concealing other traps." He pauses and looks around. "I wonder if there's some way we could set off the traps without putting ourselves in danger. I could create wind clones, perhaps? I'm not sure I'd have enough chakra to get us very far though."
As Ryuk walked along with the team, and searching for the traps with his byakugan, it was dangerously so. In fact, he couldn't pick up any of the traps. It was as if the size and chakra of the tags were like small animals themselves as they blended in so well with the surroundings, and he couldn't tell. When he takes another step he sets off a trap, that fires three shuriken at him that cut his limbs. It was proof that what they were up against was nothing to handle lightly. "Let us continue." He says in a neutral tone of voice. "It is a minor laceration, but keep your eye out."
On closer inspection it seems that a Ryuk had stepped on a pressure plate that caused the shuriken to launch. There's still an entire field up ahead though, and the potential for many more traps. And starting to move a little closer, the enigmatic watcher grins as she sees the damage inflicted on Ryuk. "Good, good," she mumbles as she slowly and stealthily approaches the group.
Abiku continues to slowly move into the field, careful to not trip anything, before pausing to sniff and survey the area, "I've got something… A woman? I can't pinpoint her though… Also it smells like freshly dug earth nearby ahead. Watch your step…" he adds, reaching back into his pouch to take out three shuriken which he flings in a spaced arc infront of him in hopes of getting lucky.
Nobu glances over to Ryuk, but at with the other man's remarks on the injury (and what he can see himself), he decides it's not worth worrying about too much. "Someone else is here?" He glances around. He can't smell women from as far as Abiku, however, so he'll just have to use his vision. "It's a pit," Nobu says, pointing ahead. "You can see the one of the edges there… but I'm not sure where the others are. We probably shouldn't proceed until we know where it is."
Ryuk was trying to keep a better eye out after he got hit, but it sure was difficult, when he didn't know exactly what to look for, although his team mates seem to pick up something helpfull. The dirt, well that could mean a number of things, but the drop was dualy noted, and the scent of someone in the area could only mean one thing. He takes a look to the side and notices something in the shadows, a figure of some sort, and he couldn't tell, but was it them or…something else?
The figure in the bushes rises up, showing herself clearly to the three ninja. The woman is wearing a denim jacket with a long sleeved, tight, black undershirt, and tight black jeans. Her hair is brown and tied back in a ponytail. She's completely silent though, and a grin spreads across her face as she slowly walks backward with a clear expression of concentration on her face.
Suddenly in a blur of motion a woman comes flying in launching an impressively fast quick at Abiku. In fact, the woman appears to be very similar in appearance to the other one…
As the woman comes in Abiku crouches and spins swiftly out of the way, landing on all fours and locking his gaze on the figure with a low growl, "Who are you." he demands, cutting his eyes briefly to the others and his nin-dog who has taken up a similarly aggressive posture.
"You there—" Nobu calls over to the woman. But he's cut off once again as her twin attacks them. Still, he figures the first woman is probably the real target here, and since Abiku seems to be able to handle the double, he's not about to pass up on an opportunity to apprehend her. The slow backwards walk is probably helpful in avoiding traps, but it's helpful for Nobu too. He pulls a senbon from one of the pouches on his belt, loads it into his senbon launcher, then (with plenty of time afforded to him by the woman's slow movement) takes careful aim and fires.
His two ninja team mates were doing quite well at avoiding traps, and now that the woman had shown herself, Ryuk could not help but analyze the situation. When he noticed the second form of her come in he wondered which was the real one, so he focuses a hand seal to get better control of his byakugan, and finds that the real one was the one Abiku was going for, yet Nobu had found the clone!? Was it…it seemed like it had the same abilities as all those dummies they fought, but he couldn't tell. His move is to close in on the real one with a swift juuken strike ready.
As Ryuk approaches the woman, there's a flurry of motion. Another pair of the same woman come flying out of nearby trees, one aiming to attack Abiku with a huge kick while the other tries for Nobu with a barging attack. Strangely they ignore Ryuk in favour of attacking the other two Konoha-nin that are present.
Abiku is caught squarely in spite of his attempt to spin out of the way and is sent flaying back to land where the pit is. The ground crumbles and he is dropped some ten feet down onto the soft dirt with a slight thud. After a brief second he stands and looks up, gauging how to get out of this and back into the fight.
Without even enough time to see whether or not his senbon hit, Nobu is rammed into the pit. "Unh!" He grunts as he lands at the bottom on his shoulder, bruising it. He quickly gets to his feet, but the ground is strangely… unstable. He looks down at his feet to see that he's standing on… Abiku? He quickly steps off of him. "Sorry about that," he says, "This pit isn't too deep, but I think we're going to need a moment to get out…"
Ryuk steps back after his feint juuken strike. He puts his hands together to rest in the sleeves of his kimono, and watches Nobu, and Abiku, get pushed into the pit with a straight face. Then, turning to the woman in denim, he draws a sum of money from his sleeve and hands it to her. "Thank you." He says to her in a soft tone. "Good work. The hokage gave me the mission to give you a training session, so I hired her." He says to them explaining what had happened "My mother's need for rosemary was true, and it was greatly appreciated, yet it was used as a ploy to lure you into the training. Again, thank you and good work."
A loud groan can be heard from the pit as Abiku slowly claws his way out of it to Tohime licking his face, "That didn't go too well." he says with a sigh, offering a hand down to Nobu, "Sorry for dragging you into this too." he says with a smirk.
The woman bows to Ryuk and thanks him, "Thank you for the work. You know how to contact me if you need my services again." With a chuckle she blows a little kiss down the pit to the other two and farewells them, "See you later boys. Hope I didn't bruise you too badly. Maybe next time I'll show you what I can really do." With that her clones turn to dirt and crumple, and she jumps off into the trees in a blur.
