Starring:
Kayaru, Hiei, Hiroyaru, Odin (emitter)
Date: June 29, 2013
Summary:
A small group of ninja ambush others in an attempt to beat them into joining them, believing they can decide Kumogakure's future with might alone.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Kumo Daimyo Plot - Steps Taken, Ground Lost"
Amagumo Bridge — Kumogakure
A cool day this Kumogakure winter, the sun high overhead only seen through the occassional lightening og the dark cloud overhead where they still prove to be somewhat thin. The breeze running through the land lifts the crashing waters of the falls into the air, hitting people with a thin, chilling spray. It is a beautiful way to mark the beginning of a mission's journey. The group is to go off to the a farm in the fields where wolves have begun harassing their animals, taking them away. There is a horse birthing soon to happen, and the shinobi are wanted to keep the colt and mare safe long enough for the birthing to go through. The assembled shinobi weren't the usual team, but it's not so odd considering Ogosokamaru's business and Kayaru's relationship to him and his squad.
Kayaru would watch his surroundings with the others. He studied the gorge for a moment, before his attention swung over the bridge itself. Eyes narrowed with a frown, he'd finally shake his head slightly. "Well.. Who else sees them? Seems we have company early.." Kayaru would glance to the other two. "Here's your first chance to show how strong you are. I'm going to hang back. Take them down, do not damage the bridge.. If you know they're there." Kayaru smiles slightly, then walks over to lean up against a tree, one hand casually resting on the hilt of his katana. "I will step in, if needed. With only four of them.. I don't think I'll be needed."
Hiei had been silent for the trip out to the farm. Once they arrive, he finally speaks. "Wolves. Again. Why did we listen to Saito-san? We should have just gone with my idea of slaughtering them all the first time, so we wouldn't have to be out here again. I swear you bleeding heart naturists dirt me off to no end with your so-called love of 'nature'. If you love animals that much, why don't you try to talk them out of killing the livestock." Yeah, Hiei was in a mood. Mostly it stemmed from continuing to get these loam assignments when what he wanted to be doing was out hunting the assassins that kept trying to kills his Daimyo. That, and he knew that his father's mission had something to do with that, and he's always looking for ways to impress the man. He sighs heavily. "But a mission is a mission, I suppose. Hiro, you got eyes on this thing..or rather I should say 'zen senses'?" He tried to look with his own eyes but was coming up with nothing. He does comment to Kayaru. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, Sempai. Cause I don't see a thing.."
Hiroyasu responds to Hiei "the word is Naturalist, Yotsuki-sama, and like Shinobi there is a varying degree of beliefs. Whatever you did with Saito-san is his, so quit projecting your ignorance in my direction. I'm trying to focus" frowns "Reizei-san, seems like you have been hanging out with Sensei. Cause your methods are starting to overlap." that was a truth as much as an insult, "Yotsuki-san, 4 Shinobi on underside of the bridge, line formation. adequate Ambush position." he looks at Hiei "Eyes is adequate, and shorter" not that he could explain with anything resembling words Hiei could understand. "We could draw them out with a ploy?" he says.
As Kayaru had spoken of and Hiroyasu had pointed out, there were four shinobi crouching at the bottom of the bridge. Or rather, on the bottom of the bridged, plessed closed to the planks of foods, the violent waters far, far below their heads. It did indeed seem that they were lying in wait for one reason or another, the group all unmoving.
Hiei hmms while looking at bridge. "Hiroyasu, remind me to punch you in the face when we're done here." He's only half-serious, though. But he never doubts Hiro's information. Ever. "Hmm. Point me in a general direction. I got an idea to flush them out." Kayaru told him not to damage the bridge. Pfft. Always putting on the restrictions, that one, but Hiei, unlike Misaki, is always one to follow orders, even if he thinks they're stupid and uncalled for. After Hiro points out a spot, he would run and then leap into the air, slamming down on a portion of the bridge that one of the shinobi underneath might be standing on. He would slam down on it palm side out, bypassing the bridge itself, to cause damage to anything behind, or in this case, below it.
Hiroyasu says "Oh, I'll be sure too.." scarcasm, "I could have just given you…" he trails off yelling at Hiei who just runs off like is so typical for his barbarian behavior "Sudden surge, they know we are here and are prepared!" it didn't matter Hiei was already in the middle of it. There is an audible sigh before he reaches into multiple pouches on rakusu pulling out a wide array of seals. "Support standing by." let his partner spring the trap, then deal with the aftermath, typical team Ogosokamaru. "4 vs 2, Odds are this will be interesting" he says to himself.
"…Incoming."
"We've been compromised?" asked a dark skinned shinobi.
"Seems so," replied the first. "Two hang back, one approaches. Some are gathering chakra." He shifts, loosening his shoulders with a shrug. "Guess we're going head on then."
The dark skinned shinobi flashed white teeth in a grin, nodding his head. "Good. Maybe this way the kids can give us a little exercise before we beat them down." He begins rising out of his crouch only for the rope bridge to suddenly lower and shake. Reflexively, his hands move to protect him, taking the invisible force in his arms. "Move out," he growled even as he's extended fully by the force, only staying on the bridge through the force of his treewalking ability.
He throws himself to the side and towards his feet, gripping the rope of the bridge to vault over it even as the other four shinobi do the same. The closest to him, the Yotsuki grins a little wider at the Hiei surrounded on two sides, saying, "Saying hi with your fist? How unfriendly." And lashes out with a sudden kick to the boy's chest. "Take him down quick. Then his friends."
Hiei smirks when he sees that he's facing off against one of his own clan. When the kick comes for his chest, he swats it away with his hand. "Ah. You're one of us. A traitor, but one of us. Grandpa Raiza would be disappointed. You should never have betrayed the clan." He calls over his shoulder. "Four vs two. This is totally not fair. They should have brought more guys. Hiro, I'll create an opportunity. Do your thing!" Then he attempts to drive an elbow towards his chest, before slamming another open palmed strike for his upper thigh.
Hiroyasu can now see the actual size and make up of their group, "Alright! Closed Area Combat.." he slides the seals to be pinched on the back side of his hand, while he makes a few handseals, and stops the ground, tears of gravel and stone begin to leaks upwards swirling around his hands before he extends two fingers on each hand and begins to send out a slow and calculated barrage of bullets at non-yotsuki, that one had his hands full already.
"Traitor huh?" sneered the Yotsuki as he hand come out, catching the elbow coming to his chest and stopping it squarely in his palm. "And just — " his other leg lashes out as the open palm streaks towards him. " — who exactly — " he continues speaking without an issue as his shin catches Hiei's arm, pushing it off to the side. "Am I betraying?" But the swift limb wasn't used to block so much as to counter, his leg swinging up and around in that one motion, moving to guide the other Yotsuki's arm in a circle before he brings his heel crashing down on his shoulder. "I'm just looking to have a choice in who saves the village." His foot barely hits the bridge once more before he pushes forward, knee streaking to Hiei's face. Immediately after, that leg would extend, sending a kick at the boy.
"Incoming!" shouted the young shinobi who seemed so adept at warning the crew of danger. "Earth ninjutsu coming our way." Those not fighting Hiei take heed immediately despite him being the youngest of the group, looking in the direction of those who'd yet to cross. The earth ninjutsu came in. From the distance it was thrown and with the warning given, the two who weren't the sensor found themselves able to avoid the stone sent flying their way. The boy of warning found himself pelted with stones, though, one hitting him in the nose, bloodying it. He cursed.
Rather than listening to the Yotsuki who'd been giving the orders, the chakra sensitive boy and the other shinobi on Hiroyasu's side of the bridge began making handseals. Soon enough, a tumult of cutting wind left the sensor towards the young seal user, accompanied by a shifting, weaving arc of lightning from the other. The shinobi who hadn't attacked Hiroyasu sent out a few well placed shuriken, the metal barely avoiding his leader in it's path to strike at Hiei's legs.
Hiei goes into a series of acrobatic flips to dodge the counter attack from the other Yotsuki. He falls to his knees and leans backwards so the attack just flies over him. When the other guy attacks with the attack to his shoulder, it looks like it may have actually hit. However what it actually does is hit the faint afterimage as Hiei was fast enough to move out of the way just before impact. A standing backflip dodges the shruiken thrown at his legs. Hiei stares at his counterpart. "The Yotsuki are the power of Kumogakure. You know the Elders are running the place into the ground. Nothing is as it should be. It's mass chaos. We need a Raikage back in power. If you would work with us, then we can put back together our village, the way it's supposed to be…" He begins making handseals before narrowing his gaze. "Release: Lightning Movement." A light blue aura infused with lightning surrounds his body as he activates the nintaijustu technique taught to him by his own father. He reaches above his right shoulder, retrieving Fukushu and Saiai from their respective sheathes. "Just like anyone else from our clan, I'm going to have to beat some sense into you. The difference between you and me, I'm a Yotsuki that's been trained by a Reizei." He takes a few steps back, trying to draw him in moving away from the bridge itself. He holds the katana and wakazashi out to the side as his feet shift into a kenjutsu stance similar to that of the Reizei style. He props the katana on his shoulder as he makes the 'come hither' gesture with the other sword. "Come prove me wrong."
Hiroyasu is under barrage, it would figure this attempts to draw them closer would fail because they are range fighters..his luck sometimes.. A gale of razor wind slams into him sending him rolling into a large rock with a thud before ~boomfph~ a wisp of smoke reveals the truth, the lightning user on the other hand saw through his ploy, he throws up a seal a sudden swirl of chakra setups up into a small towershield but the lightning is undetered by the barrier and zips around it erratically like it wasn't there slamming into Hiroyasu with snicker-snap sending smoke and ash spiraling from the wound, he places a hand over it patting out of the embers.
"Is that all you have? No wonder you won't leave the stronger one.. without him to do your lifting you'd be dead weight!" he leaps backward trying to increase the distance between them, a lure to come hither. "Have it your way!" he shouts sending another barrage of rocky projectiles.. don't hurt the bridge hiro, kayaru was getting ground pepper in his next cup of tea..
The Yotsuki's brows turn down as Hiei speaks, his muscles flexing and tensing as he listens to the boy speak. By the end of things, he shakes his head at the lightning auraed boy. "We'll get a Raikage alright," he growled. "But it'll be one of our choosing. We'll beat the village into submission if we have to. Take the reigns by force and get back some of that order you're pining over." His body abruptly tenses, a shockwave coursing through it along with a smull rush of chakra as he augments his own speed. "The plan was to do the same to you. Beat you down, tell you fall in line or get trampled. But you don't deserve the chance, kid. If you aren't worth being trained by our own people, you aren't worth the honor of fighting to save them." He roughly loosens his shoulders, smirking at Hiei. "So you'll just have to settle for the beating." The words out of his lips, he thrusts out with a knee. The force of the attack sends him gliding across the bridge towards Hiei, that knee bursting with lightning.
As Hiroyasu's pellets of stone streak in once more, the sensor shinobi goes through a streak of hand seals. Immediately, the winds kick up, lifting the stone pellets and sending them above both him and the shinobi by his side, protecting the pair. Though the jutsu wasn't of any more difficulty than the first, this was far more effective, far more powerful. He was clearly much more adept with this maneuver. "Maybe!" shouts the sensor. "But he's not the only one with dead weight!" The boy holds out an arm, barring his fellow shinobi from leaving the bridge to follow Hiroyasu's goad. "Don't," is all he said to him before shouting out to Hiroyasu. "You come to us!" he shouted, "Or your dead weight gets a little heavier!" He jerks his head towards Hiei, making his message clear. Come in or they all gang up on the boy. The other shinobi looked towards Hiei, raising hands that paused at the sight of the boss using his strongest technique.
But Hiroyasu wasn't entirely out of luck. Without a shout of warning from the sensor, his speeding stones managed to catch the last man unaware, the one that'd been aiding his Yotsuki leader. He caught the motion of the stones when they were nearly upon him. He attempted to evade them, but his reflexes were slow. He was pelted a few times in the torso, but one… one caught him in the eye. Blood flew, a shout raised, and the man fell to his knees, holding the wound, bent over.
When the other Yotsuki comes at him with a lightning knee, it seems to strike Hiei before it's realized that it's another after image as he dodges it just before impact. Hiei chuckles. "Reizei Ogosokamaru is my sensei. But don't be mistaken. My father, Yotsuki Kenshin taught me just about everything I know. Perhaps you've heard of him, he was once the right hand man of the original Raikage. The Daimyo chooses the next Raikage. That's the way it's always been, that's the way it always will be. Someone who has the good of the entire village at heart." He points a sword at him as it begins to crackle with lightning. "When we are finished here, only one of us will remain." Hiei temporarily sticks his swords in the ground. "Excuse me a moment." He says to the Yotsuki before his fingers fly in handseals. He brings his closed fist down beside his waist. "Ninja Art: Lightning Shotgun!" He shoots his arm forwards, towards the mouthy guy on the other side of the bridge. The sensor nin. "Hiro, please shut that guy up." Picking up his swords again, he smiles. "Let's dance, kinsman." The katana crackles with lighting as he strikes out at him, but he continues moving past him. Planting his foot, he rockets back towards him, but his body warps from sight briefly just as he makes his attack with the shorter of the two blades.
It wouldn't work would it, they chose that spot for a reason have scouted it's defensive and offensive advantages and disadvantages. And Because our team lead can't stand a little damage, "he might as well just have tied my hands together".. he mutters before making a sign, two of him appear and charge towards the bridge criss-crossing each other. They aren't really acting on their own they are just mirroring him, pulling out seals, he moves out from over of the shoulder of one of the clone throwing a two seals before ramming his hand through the stomach of the clone and it ~Boomfps!- into smoke and a barrage of bullets lash out at the sensor, his focus. "How about you shut up with the I want to talk my enemy to death with my feelings speech and fight Yotsuki-sama!" he snarls.
The Yotsuki's face darkens as the face his knee tears through proves to be an insubstantial afterimage. The bridge shakes from the impact of his foot coming back down, the motion still rocking as he turns to face Hiei. He starts walking towards the boy, stride deliberate. The words of the loyal Yotsuki's mentor and father strike him, but he only shows it with a narrowing of the eyes. "Good of the village at heart, huh? Yeah. Sure." He completely ignores the topic of those who've trained Hiei. The attack on his sensor only makes him scowl and start dashing towards him. Hiei gets in the first strike and the Yotsuki blurs with a jolt of chakra, avoiding the initial thrust. When the Reizei trained Yotsuki comes in a second time, he seems ready. But the vanishing from sight caught him off guard, and he was a little too slow to recover, a light cut opening up on his shoulder as Hiei rocketed past.
Immediately, he's giving chase with a huff. "That's why there hasn't been a Raikage for the past eternity," he growled, already on the boy. He lashes out with a leg, looking to hook an ankle around Hiei's legs and lift them up, sweeping him off of his feet. "Because he has our best interests at heart." An anger driven punch lashes out, form lacking and brutal, looking to simpy drive Hiei into the ground. "Not because he's greedy for power." The man's blood seems to be running hot.
As the other shinobi saw Hiei setting down his weapon just long enough to start hand seals, the man moved to step in front of the sensor. The sensory boy himself looked towards Hiei, sensing the rise in chakra and the different usage. Pure ninjutsu. Hand seals flashed and blades of wind swirled through the air before him in defense. But the electricity pierced that defense, striking him and sending him stumbling back. The pain and distraction were too profound, and by the time he turned around to meet Hiroyasu's assault, he found a pair of seals in his face. And with that, a barrier rose around him, the damnable thing allowing the raised earth to enter without breaking it, the stone pelleting him and sending him against the back of the barrier wall. He sagged to the ground, apparently having a low constitution.
The last unwounded shinobi of the ambush crew pales as the sensor is electrocuted, captured and stoned, cursing at his failure to protect the boy. "Kirizu!" he said, moving through handseals. "This isn't working out. We've got to get out and recruit elsewhere." His handseals made, he sends an arcing blast of electricity towards Hiei, just looking to clear the way to escape from he, Hiroyasu, and the Reizei watching it all.
Hiei smirks as he back pedals a little when a raging Yotsuki came after him. He's familiar with that rage, in fact he knows how to harness it and make it his weapon. He dances just out of reach of the other Yotsuki's attacks via a dazzling display of acrobatic movements. He then side steps the jutsu of the guy that tossed it at him. "Listen to your man. You won't find any sympathizes here. Our clan is known for it's loyalty to Kumo. The /real/ Kumo. So get that junk you're talking out of here." He asks without looking over. "How you holding up Hiro?" Hiei has had enough of this guy. As lightning crackles around his form again, Hiei infuses lightning into Fukushu, his katana. At the same time, he flips Saiai, his wakazashi over so that the serrated side is facing outwards. As he rushes in once again, he attacks with Saiai first, aiming for the base of the Yotsuki's skull. Spinning his place, he strikes out with the lightning infused blade. "Just shut up and die."
Hiroyasu looks at the two men still /standing/, "Doing just fine, quit waxing philosophy.. You could have already beat him with all the useless sword-handling pillow-talk.." before making several hand seals but without the usual stomp, he reaches backward rock slowly leaking from his boulder circling around his hands before he brings both hands forward in a quick-draw dual finger the spray of rock goes outward ruthlessly.
Yotsuki Kirizu's jaw ticced, eyes flashing as Hiei came in. The attacks came in with speed and skill, but they avoided with an even greater amount of the same, the man's chakra enhanced body dipping under the reaching grasp of Saiai before simply flowing out of the way of the electricity-wracked blade. "Talk too big for such a small bo—" A swift pair of steps to the side had a stream of earth pellets flying by. His eyes skipped over to Hiroyasu. "You… are swiftly heading towards death." Hiroyasu had caused more issues with the split in his forces than he'd expected.
But his gaze soon settled onto the other gang member. The man had turned around at hearing Hiroyasu's voice, able to see as he drew stone from the boulder at his back. The man moved to avoid the attacks but for every he avoided, another struck firmly, and each of those he did avoid literally cut through clothing and left his skin unmarked. By the end, he was left holding his ribs, sneering at Hiroyasu and glancing at Hiei, trying to figure out what to do.
Kirizu knew. Wordlessly, he vanished, leaving the man to stare at the empty space he left.
Hiei growls as Kirizu vanishes. He's not able to sense chakra, so he has no idea where he went to. But his murderous gaze does fall on the man that was left behind. With clenched teeth, Hiei kicks away from the ground, blazing across the bridge, narrowing the gap between the two of them. His body fades from view briefly as he attacks at high speed. "I will find you, Yotsuki Kirizu." He says, voice angry.
Hiroyasu says "He's out of my sight" they said it call it eyes, so use eye based words right, He backpedals a little when Hiei charges at the last man standing left holding the bag, he really just didn't want any blood on his Koromo "You need to stop spouting off these ridiculous soliloquies, this isn't a trashy novel or comic book. And you are not some star crossed hero. You slice, you punch, you end it without telling them your history.. It's embarrassing!" he chides Hiei. His hand however is resting on the rakusu, with a seal pinched between his fingers just in case.
The final shinobi is too stunned at his abandonment to properly react to the Reizei trained Yotsuki's assault, the blade slicing cleanly through it's unmoving target. His throat tears open, spraying his crimson ichor into the air, panicking heart killing itself as it pumps all the harder. Soon enough, he hits his knees and then he falls to the side, body silent in it's descent into the gorge.
The ambush was stopped. But the Yotsuki is still at large.
