Starring:
Junpei, Kenishida, Ryouji, Hiroyasu, Hiei
Date: April 11, 2014
Summary:
While out of patrol, some Kumo nin come across a small band of pirates as they are ambushed in a canyon.
"The Coalition Cleansing - Canyon Ambush"
Canyon in the Land of Lightning
Hiei is currently waiting at the front gate with Hiroyasu, waiting for the rest of the patrol party to show up. As Jinx and Snake Eyes are brought around for the two Chuunin, Hiei replies to Hiroyasu. "Man, that had to be a tough decision for you. So that red haired chick that got away managed to get the Captain back, huh?" He shakes his head. "I probably would have made the same call that you did. Can't believe they threatened to blow up the Lightning Docks." After the stable-hand brings his warhorse, Hiei launches himself up into the saddle. "We can head out as soon as the Genin get here. There were reports of some stragglers from that fight the other day holed up in the mountains somewhere. That's where we're going." He leans over and pets the coal black horse. The only other color was the white around it's eyes and nose.
- Hiroyasu looks over at Hiei "Yeah.. the have very powerful people in their ranks.. a Shadow clone as a triggerman.. I guess when you have money and fame to offer.. everyone has a price eventually" he frowns being reminded of how he had to accept defeat and then pay everyone out of own pocket to cover the lost pay.. "All because she slipped away when she should have been subdued along with him.." he says rubbing the back of his head before removing him from the ground and rising into the saddle of his warhorse Jinx "I do so enjoy being reminded of the words I wrote.. thanks for the reminder.." he says pulling the hood of his cloak up. -
Yelling is what woke Kenishida up from his slumber, stumbling to his feet he could make out very little of the words. But what did stick out were the description of the woman and the name of the people who suppose to be in the mission as well. Sighing he would place his armor on piece by piece before grabbing his Odachi from the rack of many and heading out to meet the others at the gate. He quickly notice the horse which means that guy from before would be there as well. As he would come into view he spoke "sup," is all that is given as he posted himself up waiting for the rest of them to appear.
Junpei was later than usual to these sort of things. He could only move so fast with the weights and while pulling a nice sized boulder. It took him a while to actually find one that he could manage. Junpei's face is red as almost every muscle struggles to move him forward. He finally reaches the gates and he's nearly crawling. He comes to a full stand and thought about bowing to Hiei and Hiroyasu but that might not turn out so well. He decides to salute. "H-hey."
Ryouji appears out from around a corner with travel clothes and pack. He looks fresh faced and ready to start the mission. He spots Hiei and Hiro and bows to both before looking over at Junpei and Kenishida, nodding to him and saying to his fellow Reizei, "Hey, Junpei-san. We're on this mission together? Excellent, we don't get to work together, so let's make the best of it." He grins and gives a small thumbs up.
Hiei holds up a hand towards Hiroyasu. "Hey. I was just trying to get my facts straight. Try not to hold it against them though. They're still young and prone to making mistakes. Let's just hope they've learned a lesson from all this." Speaking of which, Kenishida and Junpei arrive first. Hiei frowns slightly at the lack-luster greeting from each of them and then inclines his head in return to Ryouji when he bows. "Everyone is here, then? Good. Let's move out. I expect you to be able to keep up with the horses." He eyes Junpei. "Especially you. You wanted to be trained the same way I was…that's fine. You know what I expect." He looks over at Hiro and smirks before spurring Snake Eyes forwards and heading down the trail.
- Hiroyasu says "Its not their fault when they fail, its ours. And this failure happened twice; both times on my watch and I have felt the burden that comes with leadership because of it." before bowing his head to the new arrivals always making note of their behavior for their permanent record. "Oh… another one who wants to train like we did.." he glances at Junpei before looking at Hiei "Does he really know what that means? If he does and still chooses it.. you uh… want me to a schedule a mental evaluation" he asks with a little bit of levity to his words. His horse taking off after Snake-eyes which almost no issue other than a light nudge. "I thought you had the next few days off.. I know I put you in the queue" he says as he rides beside his fellow Chuunin. -
After the sudden arrival of everyone the young man notice the new face Ryouji and with a nod of the head that's all he would exchange at the moment, once that got the order to move out Kenishida wasted no time. "Time to clean up my mistake…" Is stated softly to himself as he crossed his arm, however when they started moving out he would allow his body to move free to reduce the amount of stamina that traveling put on the body. Kenishida wasn't in his normal talkative mood and thus he would just be focusing everything on making sure he kept up.
Ryouji gives a salute to Hiei and says, "Hai." Then looks at Junpei, "It's worked for me. The training, not the mental evaluation." He grins at Hiroyasu before running after the horses remembering he was going to learn to ride of them. Oh well, this is better anyway. He runs along with the horses, keeping up fairly easily.
Hiei grins at Hiro. "He assured me it was what he wanted. So I decided to train him exactly how sensei trained us." They ride for several hours. This was afterall patrol, and it wasn't promised that the group they're looking for would be found. However as they ride into a small canyon knives fly out towards both the mounted shinobi and the ones following up in the rear.
When the attack comes for Hiei, he heard the whistle of the knife in the air and thanks to muscle memory, his body reacted accordingly. He hops up so that his feet are in the saddle as Snake Eyes continues to trot forwards. He backflips off the saddle, performs a corkscrew flip in mid-air, and lands in a crouch, hand already moving to draw the katana from his back. "Ambush!" He calls out to his fellow shinobi. He leaves the wakazashi in it's sheath for now.
- Hiroyasu raises an eyebrow "k.. I'll schedule that evaluation" he chortles when he got the answer that it was actually on purpose. "I don't think its a very effective way to train. The fact only 2 of 3 students who endured it actually became much of anything is more a testament to the many others who took it upon themselves to fill in the gaps.. and our own stubbornness to never concede defeat.." as they are talking, the unique sound, that shrill screech of danger which raises the ire of many a focile appears followed by the actual sound of weapons in the air.. Holding out a hand a swirl of white appears which explodes into a shower of blue as a barrier swirls out of his hand the knives bouncing off the barrier and embedded in the nearby rockface. The warhorse beneath him steady and true to form, Hiro slides off the side as it charges off to join his comrade at a safe distance. "You ready?" he asks slowly backing up to meet backs with Hiei.. his hands outstretched in defensive style. -
Kenishida would just act, pulling his Odachi from his back he swatted away all the attacks heading for him and with the same quick actions he took his stance and sighed. "How dishonorable to attack someone from behind…tsk I'll make you pay for that…" Kenishida flicked his blade before speaking, "nice to see you have moves after all Twinkle Toes, now let's see if you can keep up." Kenishida slightly mocked Junpei before reflecting the sun off his blade back at the eyes of the enemy forces. "Everyone okay though right?"
Junpei was trying to save all his strength and therefore spoke very little. He basically responded with nods and grunts except when Hiei states that Junpei must keep up with him. He asked for it so he couldn't complain not even once. He might consider taking Hiroyasu up on that mental evaluation. He did his best to keep up at times he fell behind but not for long.
As they continue on Junpei finally finds a pace that doesn't let him fall too far behind or kill him. The pain has come full circle but also somewhere along the lines it became something much more complicated than training. He even had enough energy to talk now. Suddenly he's on the defensive. Turning around Junpei manages to parry all the knives in an instant but it winded him. "Gah…wait I have boulder on my back." he realizes belatedly. Junpei groans and gestures towards Kenishida. "Go-go get'em. I….I got…whew hang on a sec. Lemme catch my breath."
Ryouji hears the whistle of the incoming blades and calls out, "Incoming!" about the same time as Hiei. With Junpei, he draws his sword as well for a rapid parry, but just half a second too soon and a kunai hits him digging into his leg. He grunts and pulls it out. He pushes his body to churn out the chakra until he gets a good starting level of it. Then activates his blur before whipping out a pair of kunai in the direction of where the attack was. "I'm really hating pirates."
Ryouji's attack is parried by a pirate with a sword. There were only two with actual swords, the others look like they're fighting with daggers. With a roar the five of them rush the small band of ninja. The two most experienced make a beeline for Hiei and Hiroyasu, while the other three pair off with Kenishida, Junpei, and Ryouji. Hiei finds himself under assault by a swordsman, and a good one too given the way he slashes at him. Hiroyasu finds a martial artist in front of him who aims a flurry of kicks and punches his way. Ryouji faces down a younger pirate with daggers who slashes at him, while Junpei and Kenishida face the same.
Hiei turns back to back with Hiroyasu. "As ready as I'm going to be. Here they come." When the swordsman attacks, Hiei moves his blade to block causing the sound of metal against metal to ring out in the canyon. "Junpei, drop the boulder. Genin, form up, back to back. Time to go to work!" His body disappears from sight as Hiei moves like a Reizei as he rakes his sword towards the abdomen of his opponent. He appears back in his original spot. His fighting style mirrors that of Ogo, from his stance down to the way he holds his sword. "Watch each other's backs.." He states.
- Hiroyasu snorts "I fought with the boulder…on" at Hiei in jests as he orders Junpei to drop his.. As a punch sails over his head, and another one nearly strikes him square… a quick bit of footwork and he charges a hand forward which lights up first solid white before a quick explosion of blue chakra forms into a small buckler which catches the spinning kick square sending the young monk sliding but unharmed as the barrier shatters into shard of blue dust and fade away.. "Why do the martial artists always pick me?! Oh look a monk.. he must be strong.. lets battle.. hiya!" he shouts raising his hands extending two fingers and charges at the martial artist sending several jabs with his fingers forcing openings to appear when he then attempts to slam a palmstrike or glance a knuckle or two across something important.. The two duck and weave around each other sending a swirl of dust as their footwork kicks it up.. At the last second he forms a seal and jabs at his opponents temple the meeting of the eyes during the defense set up the connection.. -
The sword guy fought with no skill it was clear to the perception of Kenishida what he was dealing with, he dropped his head and spoke "you have no right gripping a sword, you're nothing more then a thug with a sharp knife." Since the sword guy was so close as smirk could be seen on his face before he gripped the blade with two hands and brought it down with such force trying to slice straight through him like a training dummy. A slightly pause is given to rest before striking again with swift and graceful slash he would flick the blood from his blade before shifting around "tsk, you will never dishonor the blade again."
Junpei grins and starts removes the boulder at Hiei's command "Right." Junpei can see Ryouji has unlocked their clan's kekkei genkai and was eager to see how he compared. Then Hiroyasu opened his mouth and Junpei was livid. "Oh yeah goat man!? You're on!" Junpei decides to keep the boulder on but unfortunately the pirate wasn't very considerate of that. Junpei barely evaded the dagger. A strange mix of spite and determination empowered him. After evading he moves to the offensive and followed up after evading with a drawing slash.
Ryouji tries to let go of conclusions to this fight. Making assumptions of winning or losing is the first step to losing any fight. As the young pirate with the daggers comes in slashing at him. He mumbles, "What will happen, will happen. Let's do this." He grips the hilt of his sword and moves disappearing and not disappointing Junpei. He does a flash strike before the pirate can react and ends up behind him. Spinning on his heal, he is now behind and his sword is still in its saya. He pulls it out, trying to smash the hilt at the back of the head of the pirate for a stunning blow before pulling the sword out all the way to give two quick slashes using his speed over his power which are both about equal at this point.
The swordsman matched up with Hiei manages to parry his speed strike much to the dismay of the Chuunin swordsman. He smirks faintly as he spins in place and slashes at him with a degree of speed that Hiei has only seen come from fully trained swordsmen. Hiroyasu's strikes are blocked and dodged for the most part, but after getting struck in the head the martial artist staggers backwards a little and shakes his head. Why was everything moving in slow motion? Kenishida's opponent, the second swordsman, sneers at the young genin's words as he manages to solidly block both strikes from the young samurai. "Pride will get you killed, boy." The man states before thrusting his blade at him. Junpei's opponent uses his dagger to block the draw strike from the Reizei. "Gonna be impossible to beat me with that rock on yer back, little man." Ryouji counters the strike against him with one of his own, but the dagger wielding pirate manages to parry it and the rest of the genin's attack save the last one. Ryouji moved in a blur and his own dagger wasn't fast enough to stop it. Blood splatters against the ground, but he attacks again in a weaving pattern as the fight rolls on.
Hiei shrugs towards Hiroyasu. "Maybe because you carry yourself like a martial artist? Quit complaining man, you can take that guy in your sleep." Meanwhile Hiei has had enough of the swordsman in front of him. He manages to parry all of the strikes against him and then spins outwards, drawing his second blade in the process, he swings out with both swords at once, one towards the base of the neck and the other towards the center of the back. "Block this.." He growls under his breath.
- Hiroyasu leaps backwards while his opponent deals with the after-effects of the Genjutsu, taking in a deep breath while his hands form a prayer steeple in front of his chest then the exhale escapes and he is gathered his wits, his senses and generous amount of chakra. "Never claim victory before a battle is even fought…Yotsuki-sama" he says to Hiei before taking a moment to examine the situation of each of the Genin making sure that they were within tolerance of acceptable operational parameters.. -
Once again blocked the strike he would frown as it appears his strike missed their marks, he would sigh before dashing back before sighing to himself. "Relax, allow the blade of fate to take control of this battle." Dashing forward he would strike with a speed with gracefulness as he spun around on his left foot he would toss all his weight onto his back foot and swing with full force downward slash with pure power this time it was more controlled then chaotic. Kenishida would be displaying great swordmenship.
"Keep talking." Junpei encouraged the pirate. He had to focus even more now than every. Under all the weight it was becoming increasing difficult to defend himself properly but he wouldn't let that suffice as an excuse. Junpei ignored the pain and just called on his body to give him everything it had. Ryouji had found the secret to unlocking the Reizei speed and Junpei vowed to do the same. His draw slash is quick almost instant. He then follows up with a low stab at the pirates foot. It was an attempt to level the playing field.
Ryouji brings his sword around weaving in the same pattern as the pirate's daggers. Sparks fly across his vision as his katana goes faster and faster. It took a bit, but Ryouji might be getting used to his speed finally. About time. The blade slips back into its saya and he taps into his speed disappearing for an instant. He does three quick side steps to bring his sword out and the momentum to carry out the attacks. To the unskilled eye there's only a ring of dirt kicked up around Ryouji as he ends up back where he started. He clicks the sword back into its saya and hopes that'll do it. He's breathing hard and his leg is looking bloody from that nasty kunai blade hit early on.
The swordsman that Hiei was facing attempted to turn when the Yotsuki flowed around his back, but both strikes find their mark with a gash along the back of his neck and his lower back. The swordsman falls forwards with blood oozing on the ground. Meanwhile, the swordsman that Kenishida was facing now probably wishes that he hadn't egged the samurai on as two quick strikes from the genin removes his arm and almost splits him down the middle. Junpei's opponent realizes the end is near when the young Reizei genin draws and strikes in the same move causing a deep wound across his abdomen. He's not dead, but he falls on his side, mortally wounded unless he gets medical attention. Ryouji finishes his opponent in classic style, moving as a blur. His opponent is unable to follow the Reizei's movements as his body rocks back, then forth, and then spins around from the series of strikes he receives. He is dead before he even hits the ground. The only person left, the martial artist that Hiroyasu was facing, looks at the fate of his comrades and falls to his knees, placing his hands behind his head. "Please. Have mercy. I give up."
Hiei flicks blood from his swords and then smoothly sheathes his swords. He briefly looks to see how the younger shinobi are faring and watches them dispatch their respective opponents with professional precision. He nods to himself. "Keep telling these guys not to screw with the best shinobi on the planet." He flashes the genin a pleased smile before looking at Hiroyasu. "A little confidence is never a bad thing, though Hiro. I suppose we should tie this one up and haul him back." He walks over to Ryouji and wordlessly takes bandages out of one of the pouches on his belt and wraps up his leg while waiting to see what Hiro wanted to do.
- Hiroyasu watches Junpei with some disdain "You should know when to listen, He ordered you to remove it.. and you thought otherwise.. There is no place in a team or squad for a shinobi who cannot be trusted to follow when given a task or likewise trust in the judgement of their teammates.. Your lucky you didn't experience the negative repercussions of this decisions this time.." he says before holding out a hand and a white glow appears before a small orb of bluish white zig-zags out and slams into the ground below the surrendering pirate… a seal etches into the earth and the Crimson rings followed by bright light lock down the suspect sapping any remaining will to fight.. "If they aren't dead but dying.. look them in the eyes before you end them. If they are alive then tie them up and prepare to cart them to prison" he says looking at them.. before shrugging at Hiei "Not my style" he answers. -
Kenishida killed the man before flicking his blade off and sheathing the sword, as respect to the man however he browed to him before joining the rest of the group. "You need me to carry Ryouji?" I asked as he stood there it appears that this time he done right, he made up for pervious mistake. This time he made sure that it didn't get away. He would look to Junpei and frown, "you seem to have made it alright, pretty good with the weight on your back…TToes."
Junpei goes ahead and ties the pirate up. He was injured but he should live. Long enough to become a prisoner at least. "Last time you'll mock a Reizei." He then looks to Hiroyasu and can't fight a scowl. "Thanks for the the advice." Junpei looks to Kenishida and shakes his head "No. That's not a thing. We're not doing that." He pokes Kenishida. "Junpei…just call me Junpei."
Ryouji shakes his head at Kenishida as he shuts down his kekkei genkei, "Hey, I got all ten fingers and toes. It's just a little kunai stab wound, just needs a bandage." He looks down at Hiei as he finishes, "Thank you, sensei." Then waves to Junpei and even gets between him and Kenishida with his hands behind his back and a big smile on. Looks like he's trying to defuse a possible fight. "You did good, Junpei-san. At least you kept yours alive." He points to the dead body of Ryouji's opponent, "I guess one less we have to bring back though. Say, how did you do that draw slash attack? It's different than my flash strike."
Hiei idly watches the genin interact with each other. The blood was still pumping through them and they were still high on adrenaline. He smirks a little as the argument starts, and he doesn't make a move to diffuse the situation. Can't babysit them forever. Instead he watches as Hiroyasu does his crimson lockdown seal and his eyes get all sparkly. "Oooh. I haven't seen you do that before. What does that jutsu do, Hiro?" He looks down at the man he fought. He was alive but his wounds were definitely fatal. He forms a handseal and points two fingers at him as lightning pools at the tips. He murmurs, "May the Ancestors forgive your sins." There is a flash of lightning and the body is blackened and burned. Hiei had been spending a lot of time at the shrine lately. Thinking about his life and what he might want out of it. It's not usually like him to be spiritual, but a change had come over the Yotsuki over the past few months. It's been a very gradual thing though. He gives a shrill whistle and Snake Eyes returns to his rider. Hiei swings up into the saddle. "The animals will take care of the bodies. Let's load up and take the ones still alive back for the KRD to question."
- Hiroyasu shrugs "Honestly, our actions are always based on results.. So if you can survive doing it that way.. then you haven't done anything wrong. All too often shinobi think of themselves a one-man armies.. charging off into the fray with little consideration to how that effects their team.. We are Kumogakure Shinobi; The most disciplined, the best trained, the best outfitted, and the best prepared shinobi in the world. That isn't patriotism, or pride; its fact and its because we are strict, we push our bodies, we push our mind, and we push the limits.. Our village looks not to the sky only to be blocked by the clouds.. but we stare directly into the Heavens because we don't stand on the ground.. We stand on the Mountain Peak, above the clouds, there are none who stand higher than we.. but we do not stand alone.."there is a long pause before he whistle with his fingers and in the distance a whinny.. then looking at Hiei "I've used it before.. you uh just haven't seen it awhile.. It saps the strength of anyone in the seal.. while holding them still. Its difficult to execute in battle so I don't use it much" before making a handseals and the earth opens up to swallow the bodies of those slain "Even they're bodies deserve respect.. the sinful souls have long shed them.." a difference in philosophy but not a hostile one. The mounts up as well taking back into the padded seat of his horse "You all did well, a Mission Completed.. " he says giving each a thumbs up before rubbing the sweat from his head.. -
Misson complete
