Starring:
Ishino, Akane, Odin
Date: February 25, 2014
Summary:
Ishino, a seven sword, and Akane, a wandering shinobi of outside affiliation are sent by the Mizukage to perform a massacre.
"Small Slaughter"
West Mist Forest
Kirigakure has been invaded.
The intrusion is a small one at this stage of things, a simple group of unaffiliated shinobi that have set camp just east of the largest swamp in the West Mist Forest. Investigation has shown that they have begun attracting new members, largely from unaffiliated clans in the surrounding area, and have been training them to become a unified force. Intel states that their purposes seem to be to take advantage of the land's current beseigement by foreign entities. Meruin wants them dead and he wants a statement made. No matter the size of the encampment, he will not abide by infringements on their territory.
Invasion. Yeah, that's wasn't going to happen. Hey.. good chance to test out HARPS too. Win win, right? Looking to Akane as Ishino lead the way there, he'd shake his head. "It's really simple. They broke the rules. They're trying to use Kirigakure resources. That gets ended. Pretty straight forward, kill them and make sure it's known that a Seven did it." He'd muse for a moment. "shouldn't be that hard to do. You ready to do such?"
Akane follows Ishino silently, Dressed in a typical fashion. She had been surprised that Ishino had asked her to help him with this mission, but then, she'd had a chance to back out. Even from the start it was obvious that it was going to be a bloody affair. To Ishino's orders she would simply nod. "Osu." She had fallen into a slightly militaristic movement and if Ishino looked closely her eyes had slowly begin to darken. She drew both blades as they got closer.
The chosen time for the assault was one allowing broad daylight, the only thing darkening the day being the thin cloud cover in the sky that lets a loose rain down onto all that sits below. They are approaching the location the enemy is supposed to be encamped, no more than five minutes out. The ground beneath the feet has grown moist — rain, perhaps. Or the proximity to the swamps. But there is more than just the trees and the animals that watch the two pass through the mists…
They were being watched. Well, guess it wasn't that much of a surprise, considering. Ishino didn't really break stride. One hand holding that umbrella, the other would form a seal to focus his chakra. Gathering energy, he'd pull out his watch. Seems he wouldn't get to use HARPS just yet. "We're being watched. Can you see them?" Ishino would pitch his voice low to Akane, preparing to take out what may be watching them first.
Akane did not seem to react to Ishino's words that they were being watched, but he answered in a low tone. "No, I do not." She couldn't sense them either, her techniques for sensing chakra around her were still being worked on and weren't prudent to use in this situation. She followed his lead, though and gathered chakra about her, straining her eye sand her ears to try and catch a glimpse or a sound from the watching enemies.
Three shinobi. Very likely from the invading force that they had been dispatched to eradicate. Wearing thin clothing the clothing of the mist and faded greens to blend in with their surroundings, they watched the pair move ahead, unaware that they had been spotted by Ishino. But they didn't move to engage. No, they actually decided to… run, heading swiftly in the direction that the pair was heading.
"No." Time Keeper would suddenly appear before them, the wooden puppet ticking steadily as it barred the way. For them, reality would slow int hat moment, the ticking getting slower and slower, to finally settle into a solemn moment of pure silence. Shaking his head, Ishino walked over to where they were at, drawing a small dagger from his back, to have it expand into his Blade. "Kill that one. I have this one." As long as they were captured, he'd simply slit the throat and prepare to move on.
Akane nodded silently to Ishino's orders, her eyes deepening further as she moved up to the indicated shinobi caught in Time Keeper's web. She'd been under something similar once… She shook her head and brought her kodachi up to the man's throat, slicing deeply with a sure hand to give him a quick but not kind death. The arterial spray came back at her and she idly wiped some blood from her cheek as she moved to follow Ishino
The shinobi drew up short as Time Keeper suddenly appeared before them, blocking their way forward. After that first moment of surprise, they rushed to bash the puppet out of the way only to find their movements… their reality slowing down… They tried to disrupt their chakra flow in defense of what was obviously a genjutsu, but time…
Ishino and Akane would find no further issues with their approach as they left behind the bodies of those two shinobi to rot. The trees would be free of eyes, the mists free of ears, leaving them free to travel without any issue until they were just 100 yards outside of the actual encampment where on this side two guards kept watch.
Not really breaking stride, Ishino gave a small shake of his head. "Too easy to scatter with HARPS. Same as before." Time Keeper would once more show up, appearing behind where the two guards were at. That Solemn moment reaching out to ensnare them, slow them, silence them. Walking up, Ishino planted the blade and with that precise cut, would slash the artery. Such precision in what he did, that he didn't get any blood on him as he'd walk past, continuing on into the camp itself. Let's see how fast they respond, as to how much he's going to have to do to them.
Akane followed Ishino's instructions, not seeming to notice the lack of blood on him where as she was definitely showing some stains that would have to be dealt with later. It made her appear more wild, though. She ended the life of the guard the same as she'd ended the life of the last, with a brutal slash across his throat. She glanced toward Ishino, wondering if this kind of efficient killing would make a strong enough statement or if perhaps they should be more brutal. She waited, though, watching and listening to Ishino closely. She might not be a Kiri nin but she was there on their good graces. She would aid them.
Once more, the two sides noticed eachother.
A breath was taken in by one of the guards. "INTRU—" his shout degraded into the verbal equivalent of a mudslide as the genjutsu hit, the contents indecipherable but torrential, coming to a swift halt. The guards fell prey just as easily as the others had, standing their without a mind until they were put to the slaughter.
And for a small while, there'd be no sign that the shout had been heard. But that was shortlived. The camp now in view, a small grouping of wooden buildings too small to even be called a village, those within it presented themselves. Through one of the building's roof leapt five shinobi side by side, each launching shuriken and kunai at the pair.
Ishino watched the camp as it came into sight, he'd glance to Akane. "Make sure to stay close to Time Keeper." As the first blade came in, the puppet would be there, swapping positions with Ishino for the attack to be worthless. As the cloud came in, Ishino would blur, time warping to include his present, past, future, the line leading on those attacks to always hit that past moment. Ishino charged the middle of the camp. As the ripple came back into reality, the phasing leaving Ishino, he'd focus himself. A few hand signs and the entire area would be flooded with that Time's Thread. Throwing them into their own reality, leaving just Ishino and Akane to see the truth.
Akane's eyes were deep emerald by the time the five shinobi presented themselves on the roof. She twisted and bent, backflipping and turning as the thrown weapons come at her and she seemed successful at first. But she couldn't really see the attackers well at that range and so several of the blades cut into her skin, slashing her arms and she took one shuriken in the thigh. She moved closer to Timekeeper as the Time's Thread went out around her. She would wait for some of the shinobi to get too close to her and the puppet, then she would attack, raising her blade at the unfortunate men, aiming her lightning right at their hearts.
And that's how the world ended. As their reality went still, Ishino would twist it, times blurring together, crashing, falling apart. They would spend portions of that other thread in a nothingness. An all consuming empty that belies even the soft comfort of death. As ishino hammered them all with that, blade and TK would travel about, guiding Akane if she needed it in simply slaughtering them where they stood, collapsed from the drain or not. Ishino was ruthless and this was going to be final.
Akane caught on quickly that TK was leading her to her victims when she could not see them straight on. By the time she'd dropped the 6th man to the ground there was a dark smirk on her face. She continued to cut throats and stopping hearts, even to the point of placing her blade against one man's chest before she struck with her lightning. It was a little too simple to kill defenseless men, so when one man managed to fight back and punished her in the face she spun and slashed heavily with a short laugh. nearly taking his head off.
And in those brief moments, just like that, the shinobi within the camp were dead. Whatever success they had managed was very short lived, marked only by a few strikes on a woman who had been recently semi-blinded. They were soon swept up by the genjutsu of the swordsman, their minds taken to places their bodies could not follow, leaving them sheep to Akane's gleeful slaughter as Ishino continued breaking their minds.
None of them survived.