Starring:
Kuoroke, Tsuchi, Kiji
Date: June 8, 2014
Summary:
A staged performance turns into a more real situation in Suna
"Suki Saki Gear and More!"
Sunagakure marketplace
A show is to be performed, showing off the weaponry of one of Sunagakure's weaponsmiths, and the Council has assigned a visiting ninja to do this mission: Kiji. Tsuchi is to be her partner, both performing the mission and very carefully studying this visitor's ability. The stage for this performance is on the roof: the Kirigakuran is to wear a flashy outfit and stage an attack on the shop, only to be fended off by Sasaki Tsuchi wearing the equipment of the shop owner. For maximum visibility, it's preferably to keep the fight on the roof: with the buildings of Sunagakura semi-spherical, it's easy to see people on top of them.
Kiji had accepted the mission as it was given to her though she frowned at the requirement that she lose the fight. She hated the possibility of allowing Kirigakure's reputation to falter after her last mission here. Still, the mission was a mission and that was that. End of story. She did not, however, understand 'flashy'. She'd come to the /desert/ wearing nothing but black. So she'd had to get some help with the outfit. She ended up wearing bright red, a skimpy costume similar to a dancer's costume with loose pants and a bikini-style top. Not that she had much on top to cover, but the costume was dusted with mirroring fragments and her hair was pulled up in a ponytail with various flashy accents. She appeared unarmed. Standing on the next building over where the crowd couldn't see her yet she prepared for battle, gathering chakra and taking a deeeeeep breath….
Unlike Kiji, they couldn't convince her to not wear what she would normally wear except she is wearing the gear of the man's shop and then looks at Kiji as she steps out in her usual outfit. She's a rebel and she won't be changed by this. She did remove her jacket though for this so she has on the gear in obvious amounts, but she kept her headband on. After all, this is kind of advertising for Sunagakure shinobi so it works for the scene. She chuckles as she steps out on to the roof, only focusing a bit of chakra and generally shaking her head, "Well, this looks amusing." She laughs a little to herself and then rolls her shoulders before grinning across to Kiji. What an outfit on the girl.
Kiji's eyes slowly shift until that orange ring appears in her eyes. A smoke bomb — just a small one — explodes on the other roof, giving Kiji the cover to leap over and onto the 'stage'. She waited until the smoke cleared to loudly proclaim she was here to take the shop's money. She was speaking loudly and in a staged manner, but she was doing her best to make this a 'show'. Once the smoke had settled she took a pose she'd seen Kaguya take, balancing on one foot, the other leg bent, left arm above her head and the right hand forming half a seal in front of her face.
"Ha!" She declares once the smoke has cleared. Tsuchi chuckles and shakes her head, "Not hardly bandit! With Suki Saki's Super Shinobi Suna Supply giving me my gear, how could I possibly lose to one such as you?!" She then pulls out a kunai and smiles as she turns and throws it and a throwing star right at Kiji with a simple manuver, nothing highly damaging but it looks good as she throws it and then grins, "What could a loser bandit like you, using every day gear possibly do against me?!"
The smoke bomb draws people's attention alright most bstanders stop and stare, and several people fron surrounding buildings run out in a panic - only to be, mostly, calmed by Tsuchi's exclamation: it's just obvious and forced enough to shed some suspicion on the situation. Some people remain apprhensive, though, and eye the unfolding battle quite warily.
Kiji's hands flew through the hand seals to throw out clones before her, poor attempts at that. The kunai bounced off her arm without really doing any damage and for a split moment Kiji looked confused. Were they made of rubber? Deep purple lit her eyes as confusion washed over her. But there was no time for that. she came down into another stage pose, those Kaguya were useful now and then. "I will show you! Your gear is nothing to one such as me!" It was a good thing that this was happening on a roof. if the crowd had seen the expressionless look in her pearlescent eyes the illusion would be completely removed. Fake combat made no sense to her. Then she had picked up the kunai from the ground and with a spin that sent out her costume biillowing in the wind, she threw the kunai back at Tsuchi.
A look at Kiji and she laughs as she easily dodges the attacks and shakes her head, "You have not trained with the kunai that Suki Saki makes!" She declares and then pulls out a pair of throwing stars and flings them toward Kiji with more force this time before saying, "Simple clones can not save you from Suki Saki's high end gear!" She then flips again and throws another one at Kiji before pointing, "A useless bandit like you can not possibly stand up to such weaponry!"
Tsuchi's performance seems to alleviate people's worries: a few of them chuckle, and in general their worry begins to disappear. More people start to gather: apparently, this is stunt is going to pay off!
The throwing stars seem to embed deeply in the girl's chest and she stumbles and… ~POOF~! When the smoke settled she was twirling like a dancer on one foot, hair flying about her. her eyes had shifted so that she looked now to have blue surrounded by that orange ring. She was starting to get into this. "Huh-ha! I am too fast for you! All the gear in the world will only slow you down!" She was both taunting Tsuchi and giving her another opening, to show the people that the shop's gear /didn't/ slow anyone down. Kiji dropped to her feet again, sprinting across the rooftop andsliding past where the shuriken lay, picking them up and throwing them back at Tsuchi. She was waiting for the Suna nin to draw first blood. Kiji had basic shinobi training as well but the people below would have thier 'show' after the Kiri-nin had been cut.
Simply spinning out of the way of the attacks, Tsuchi laughs and puts her hands on her hips, "Ha! Suki Saki uses the strongest of metals while keeping light weight in mind!" She nods her head, "You are the only one with gear that is slowing you down!" She states, "Behold Suki Saki's Super Sized Slinging Star!" She then whips out the bigger throwing star and turns to throw it at full speed at Kiji before flinging in a couple of kunai behind it, "And two of these! Ha! No one can take a Suna-nin in Suki Saki gear!"
Kiji watched the large shuriken come at her and pirouetted, her arm trailing behind her, perfectly aligned for the shuriken to slice into her left arm… And yet the blood did not fall. The cut bled, but the blood pooled about her wrist like a living thing. She showed no sign of pain from the cut. Her eyes shifted deeper. She twirled and like a scarf behind her the blood ringed the girl, comming from teh cut in an arc and hovering in the air there, glittering in the stark light of the desert sun. "And now the test begins, Suna!" She concentrated and droplets of blood liofted from the 'scarf' surrounding her, lifting higher and forming hard needles in the air before they went straight for Tsuchi.
"Your foriegn powers are of no use to you here!" She declares and Tsuchi pulls up a kunai and blocks every single needle with impressive amounts of skill and strength. It's obvious that no attack can break through her defense. She then nods her head, "Suki Saki creates only the highest quality kunai!" She declares and then laughs out loud with her hands on her hips, "Your odd abilities can't get past the steel of Suki Saki. No matter how exotic, Suki Saki's simple yet sturdy design is all that is needed to deal with your abilities." She then pulls forth a few senbon and throws them at Kiji before rushing forward to end this and aims a kunai at close range for Kiji's throat but isn't trying to do damage, just get in close and get it to her throat, "Surrender or die!"
The crowd continues to go 'oooh' and 'aah' at the thrown threats and kunai alike, when the girl suddenly realise that attention to them is slowly drifting away, to something further down the street that's occluded from their view. It's gotta be important, if the heated -if obviously fake- battle on the rooftops isn''t enough t keep thei attention.
Kiji's eyes were on Tsuchi as she deflected the lesser blood rain. She knew she was not fighting at full strength and tsuchi probably wasn't either, but she still hated losing. Still, the crowd drifting away was a hint that she should end this. At least that's her first thought. So she threw out a clone at the first attack and failed at the second try, ending still on her feet but her throat was a mere centimeter from Tsuchi's blade. From the ground it looked like she'd surrendered, but Tsuchi might be aware of a single hardened blade near her own throat. Kiji grinned at her playfully, her eyes shaded into a faintly golden color surrounded by that flaming orange ring. Up close it was a striking combination. But then something clicked in Kiji's mind. They hadn't gotten to where it should have been boring… Why were the people leaving? She didn't move, only spoke. "Should we go check that out?"
A smile as she got Kiji and kinda notices the blade at her own throat. She chuckles and then nods her head, "I think maybe." She states and then steps away as people seem to be moving on whatever it is that is happening further away. She shifts her footing and then bows to the people, "And that concludes the show of Suki Saki gear! Remember, if it isn't Suki Saki, it isn't shinobi!" She then idly puts away her gear and simply seems to vanish in a burst of wind. There's a feeling of odd pressure as the girl simply seems to step away but is already on the opposite edge of the roof to watch in the direction of teh commotion before looking back and smiling, "Come on then, lets go see."
Kiji followed as best she could. She was still a genin and did not have all the tricks Tsuchi probably had but she did fairly well considering she wasn't very good at Taijutsu. As she moved she brought the 'scarf' of blood down in two different locations, forming fluid bracelets around her wrists as she leapt from roof to roof after tsuchi. Kiji was prepared for a real fight if there was one.
Apparently, one of the people who hurried out of their home made a mistake: one of the houses down the street is ablaze, the flames inside the semispherical structure creating a dancing light, which shine through the narrow window like fiery eyes placed around a huge, off-white skull. Around it, the owners -two middle-aged people- are panicing, and their panic is infectious, spreading to the onlookers as they hurry to find something to put the fire out, preferably sand, as water is too precious a resource in this village.
Rushing forward, Tsuchi would stop upon seeing the fire and then look back to Kiji, "Got any way to put out fire?" She hmms and then tilts her head, "I am not exactly super talented at this, I'll try to organize the crowd." She nods, "Everyone! Line up, someone get us a bucket!" She nods her head and starts to move, "We need to form a bucket brigade to get buckets of sand to the fire!"
Kiji landed beside Tsuchi and saw the fire, but wasn't as phased by it as the Suna citizens and Tsuchi seemed to be. Of course she was from a place where water was everywhere. "Oh where's Yoichi-sensei when he's needed?" She seemed to lament but perhaps tsuchi would detect the faint sarcasm in her voice. She watched as tsuchi went to organize people then turned to the building and simply walked in the door, looking to be sure a beam wasn't going to land on her head and trying to judge the size of the fire. Light glinted all around her and off the mirror pieces of her costume as she entered but she wasn't doing anything quite yet except searching for others in danger. people first, building next.
The building looks like the owners lived above their place of business: it's hard to say what it used to be, but the walls are lined with displays of some sort of folders. A few file cabinets stand in the ba- more accurately, stood in the back of the room before being set entirely aflame. All of this paperwork burns quite brightly, and what's worse, Sunagakure's typical heat-proof architecture now functions as an oven, heating the air inside to blistering temperatures.
Kiji narrowed her eyes and her face pinched facing the heat inside the structure. Her eyes were golden inside orange when she stepped back out and yelled "I need some water. Just some!"
A look in the direction of Kiji calling out and she rushes off while the people try ot organize. She rushes off to get a bucket of water. She isn't very long before she returns and then offers it off to Kiji, "Kiji!" She calls out as she arrives, "Here!" She nods her head, "You a water manipulator?" She hmms as she offers the water over to Kiji and looks to her carefully before looking inside, "This is getting bad fast."
Kiji shook her head as the bucket was set down. She was no water manipulator… Once Kiji had the water she took a breath and stuck both hands in it, both 'bracelets' of blood dissolving in the liquid quickly. As her blood mixed her chakra mixed as well. She licked her lips. She'd never actually done this before…. Her hold was shakey at first but then she focused a bit more and the pink water floated out of the bucket seemingly on it's own. /Was/ she a water manipulator? It didn't matter. She drew her hand across her arm again, using hte ring on her right fist to cut a second cut in her arm from which she drew a thin layer of blood that formed before her as a shield.. and then she waded into the heat.
Stepping forward, Kiji winced once at the oven effect but despite the tightening of her skin she moved forward. Too much time in here would burn her and possibly dehydrate her. She stepped into the center of the room, her hair and costume blowing about her in the winds made from the flames, light reflecting off the mirrors on her costume and combined with the floating blood and water it made quite the sight for those who could see into the structure. But then she was in the center of the room, her face was hot and she set her jaw, gathering the water about her as the blood shield flaked away to nothingness from the inferno. And then she exploded the water like she would have her blood needle attack, but she did not try to harden the water. The effect would be a bloody soft rain that should coat everything in pink water.. She hoped the structure was worth the mess….
The heat crushes down on Kiji as she wades into the bright flames, her cover evaporating around her and covering her with a haze, which makes her entrance all the more impressive to look at. Then, there is a splash, and a sizzling. The serpentine hissing sound changes into a more aggressive crackling as the sudden cooldown causes visible cracks in the remains of the furniture and many of the items in the room begin cracking. Apart from some property damage, however, the fire seems to be contained. The room, now filled with a thick mist and more akin to a sauna than an oven, seems safe enough for people to hurry in with the buckets of sand -far better-organised now, with Tsuchi's instruction- and coat what embers remain.
Blinking as she looks inside, Tsuchi stares for a moment before saying, "That…was impressive." She chuckles and then nods her head, "I'd only really have a good strong gust of wind on most days." She nods her head and then chuckles more as she moves to help Kiji out if she needs it while the people finish things off.
Kiji accepted the aid despite her pride. The steam had gotten in her eyes and she wasn't used to heat like that. So Tsuchi's help getting her out of the room was appreciated. Once outside Kiji rubbed her eyes like a kid then looked up with a faint blush. "I..er.. I'm from Kiri of course it was."
