Starring:
Date: July 6, 2012
Summary:
The first portion of a campaign to the Land of Snow in the attempts of preventing a rouge shinobi from leading an all-out assault against the Village Hidden in the Snow.
"Summit - Pt 1"
Land of Snow
Before the sun rose a team had been assembled in the haze of night. The team was composed of three shinobi, two from Konoha and one outsourced mercenary. Their assignment was simple in theory but arduous nonetheless. A campaign to the Land of Snow in the attempt to prevent a rouge shinobi by the name of Kosuke from attacking the Village Hidden in the Snow was the main objective of their assignment. As soon as everyone was assembled they'd leave out to the Land of Snow.
It was a two and a half day trip but finally the team would set foot into the Land of Snow, and a vicious blizzard at that. They are to rendezvous with a couple Snow Shinobi to receive further information about what it is exactly they needed to do in order to stop Kosuke. Kosuke has the skill level of a Jounin and to make matters worse he's hired three infamous mercenaries to partake in his army. It would not be an easy task to defeat all three of them, nevertheless…the team could not fail.
Due to the intensity of the blizzard visibility was reduced to zero just about. The cold winds were harsh and fierce. Yuya had suggested that to remain from getting lost the three of them secure and connect rope around each other. They travel uphill; they've been told that when they reach the summit they will find a gorge to the east. The rendezvous point is just past the gorge. Spear heading the campaign Yuya navigates threw the blizzard. His eyes can barely distinguish what's before him. In the torrent of snow watching the trio though were feral yellow eyes the glimmered slightly. A predator had found the group already.
The Land of Snow was a place Naru hadn't expected to be missioned off towards, but yet there she was, adorned in her traditional battle wear, crimson armored yet mobile, her long locks of jet black hair flowed behind her as the crazy winds pushed against her as they made their way towards their destination. There wasn't a word from Naru but she did end up tying some cloth along her mouth and forehead, protecting her self from the annoying bursts of frost wind which attempted to move them from their path.
"Hmm…? What is that?" Naru whispered quietly under her breath, a little confused at the sudden sight of a pair of gleaming yellow eyes in their direction… it was still hard to point out though, and perhaps she was seeing things… Nevertheless she kept herself steady, a soft burst of chakra pulsing through her veins as she continued to move along, she was fully prepared if things were to go sour now…
It might not have been the best idea to have left Ei's side once more on what he deemed fit to call a 'minor errand' but it was the only idea to speed up Ryoji's more ambitious plans. Reliable funds were after all severly lacking at the moment. This did not make it anymore acceptable — especially once he realized that Naru would be involved — but nevertheless the Iga stuck to the plan, arrived pointedly on time; sweltering under the snow gear (Bear hide coat, pants, and shoes plus thick leather straps to cover everything except lips, nose, and a few strips of hair) placed on preemptively in order to mask his identity. Of course should it become known that Uchiha was for whatever reason keeping her Sharingan active well before the mission well… the gear is quickly replaced by the usual revealing a sour expression. One that is maintained up until the trio, er, technically given Ryoji's affliction, were given pause by a set of feral yellow eyes.
"Hm, only one solution for this!", Ryoji exclaimed despite knowing full well that noone could hear him over the blizzard. Then into piece a tiny sack kept hanging at his side a trio of organs sensory buds are spat into before being held ahead. Thermal sensors to be exact that so long as the beast ahead was no illusion, would dispell its true form for the Iga to better warn the others. "… Ah, right… hm, le sigh." He mumbled while his mind considered either telling them what he 'sensed' or cutting the rope and fleeing. The Iga did, for the most part, have all the time in the world thanks to opting to cover the rear.
Vicious growling can be heard by the trio and Ryoji's efforts would pick up a heap of life forms at least 10. Yuya comes to a stop and glances around. He himself is in his heavy winter attire which consists of muffs for the ears a heavy insulated hooded cloak and the usual attire underneath only equipped with sleeves. He can feel the wind begin to intensify meaning that they're rather close to the summit. But that would have to wait as the growling grows louder. Soon two beast lung at the group, aiming for the rope that binds them together. Thankfully the group moved in unison managing to evade the assault. Yuya glances to Naru then Ryoji. The trio soon would find themselves surrounding by 10+ wolves. Their fur was as pallid as the snow and in the blizzard they were barely visible. Their eyes are what gave away their position.
Yuya arms himself and glances towards the summit. "We're about 100 meters away from the summit. And we're completely surrounded." Some of the wolves are chewing on Ryoji's flesh wads seeming to like the taste of it. "I don't suppose either of you know how to tame such beasts?" Yuya asks as the wolves draw in closer.
So they were surrounded, and things were becoming quietly annoying as she noticed a large number of wolves eyeing them, surrounding them completely. A look of irritation etched along Naru's eyebrow as Yuya continued to spear head them forward. " Keep going…" We can knock them off as they come…We need to reach that summit as quick as possible and then we can easily take them down…" Naru spoke softly, explosions wasn't going to work at their angle at the moment, not with the risk of dropping a load of snow ontop of them, instead she just kept herself handy, fully prepared to beat them with her fire release if they got close enough… She did have fire jutsu that wasn't entirely explosive…. Once they reached the summit she could bring out the pain…
Timing his leap to match what he felt the others intended to do. Not easy. Doing that while cringing from the feeling of a few sensory buds being chewed on after her dropped the bag. Difficult. Landing without upchucking while disoriented by a ridiculous amount of red-spots now being picked up from the wolves innards… "Hur-oh no, no, no—blleeeech-*cough* *cough" Obviously impossible. BUT at the very least Ryoji could finally add the taste of breakfast to his special chart of "The most interesting tastes of the world!".
Later of course.. much later..
As for now, well, after sorta limping behind the others following the minor bout of nausea, Ryoji forced out a few more thermal buds; only this time, he made certain to coat what few were necessary to leave behind with explosive notes before letting them roll away behind him. The rest on the other-hand were buried once the amongst the tangled folds of a barely maintained forest atop of his head, exposed now to the element. "So-so-so… cold… *cough*.. *sniff*.." Bitterly Ryoji pressed on with the technique by focusing chakra to his hair and manipulating the braided tail of it to slip out from the comfort of his hood and hover a good meter or so above him before having it drift further up above the line of shinobi. Once there it simply patiently hovered for the wolves not distracted by the meal left behind to get close enough to lunge if they wish. The price for their efforts comes at the cost an eye, belly, and/or even an arm lacerated or impaled by thick tendrils of steel hard hair with spear like tips and guided by thermal buds the moment they would try to carry out their wish. Be it in unison or alone.
Ryoji for his part remained silent to focus simply on walking, maintaining the jutsu, and frightening whatever wolf is dumb enough to devour the flesh and tags with dud explosive notes. He's not that stupid after all..
Yuya glances to Naru "Are they going to let me though?" he says taking a step. As soon as he made a move one of the wolves lunged at him. Thanks to Ryoji's defensive tactics the wolf would find itself impaled by the hair of the red haired mercenary. As soon as the first wolf meets it's end the others strike, in unison. Ryoji's main wouldn't be able to catch them all. There were far more than ten. Yuya uses his prowess to slice a few but more just took their place. To make matters worse the wolves seem to have found out the trick to Ryoji's duds. They looked as if they were about to eat them but had a sudden change of heart.
Yuya noted this and found these wolves to be odd. He doesn't have time to think however. But the worse has just begun. If anyone got the chance to notice they'd see a lone figure at the summit. This figure was then joined by another. Both were basically outlines in the blizzard storm but one was armed with a large blade or similar object. As the wolves pressed on the group he swung his sword once and the ground begins to shake.
Naru was to busy fighting off the beasts around her, it was irritating, and severly limiting her combat prowess to the point that even one of the wolves managed to snag her arm and pulling off her flesh… the Darn beast wouldn't let go either. "Get off!" Naru exclaims, keeping her arm tensed as her eyes flickered into that of the sharingan, burning into the full fledged three tomoe, she leaned in closely to the beast and brought both of her hands together to motion into a seal. " Endan!" She ignites a single powerful bullet right into the wolves face, perhaps enough to completely decimate it and release its grip from her… her eyes also looked around carefully…taking in the situation before her… "We need to move quickly!"
Hack and Slash was the name of the game and Ryoji was by far no elite at. Still, quick work was made of those that got within range dampening his weapon of choice as well as weighing them down with each passing. To make matters worse now it seemed that another potential foe looked ready to pick off the winners of this small bout. A man clad in armor from the 'looks' of things and a compan—-"OH MOTHER OF GRAVY!", Ryoji exclaimed, breaking off his guardian duties and even sneak attack (already failed unfortunately) to try as best as he could to glare daggers at the beast latched onto his leg.
"Only one — *winces* — That's it!" Without warning except the fact that the Iga gave up on trying to shake the wolf of his leg, Ryoji's coat, pants, and face wrap began to bulge out before bursting in places to let a ridiculous tide of red hair consume every inch of his form.
The Yeti was unleashed and its first simple unspoken command is this: Entangle and Strangle. In mere minutes tendrils began to mummify the wolf at Ryoji's feet first from neck on down before spreading along both above and below snow level to do the same to the surviving wolves. Barbed as they were, no wolf caught suffer thanks to their thick fur. Dissatisfied with the results and annoyed at one of his thermal sensors being flooded by 'light' thanks to Naru, Ryoji lowered himself to try and pry the wolf off manually with only a halfhearted warning being called out about the people on the ledge just before the quake is felt by all.
Naru's attack seared the wolf beyond recognition. Not only did it simply ignite the wolf's face it decimated it and continues on down the hill. Her attack went on down the hill melting snow forming a nice trench in the snow/ground as it burned through the blizzard. Yuya was able to slay a lunging wolf and glance up the summit to notice two figures. He and Ryoji would see that after the large one swung his blade the two disappeared over the other side of the summit. The ground trembled powerfully and then crumbled beneath the trio. Naru and Ryoji were impaired by the wolves so they couldn't move in response which means that neither could Yuya. He was however able to knock the three of them downward into the trench Naru's fire bullet burned. The entire trio would be buried under a mass of snow after first being hurled down the hill a ways by an avalanche. Naru would note an odd circulation of chakra in the wolves as they were swept up in the falling snow as well.
Yuya was out cold underneath a ton of snow. Naru and Riji might have lost consciousness short upon being struck but now they're awake and most likely sore and cold. The rope still binds and connects them all so escape from this snowy prison will be difficult. As luck would have it though upon surfacing Naru and Ryoji would find two Snow Shinobi who've come to their aid. Naru's fire jutsu had alerted them and they swept the area for survivors. However if Naru or Riji don't surface in time…well they'll miss them and Snow Shinobi will go on about their merry way.
TO BE CONTINUED…..(so cliche right?)
