Starring:
Date: June 21, 2012
Summary:
Aoitsuki and Onimitsu Kitaru go out in a mass of shark infested waters, this time these sharks are even more potent, controlled by a shinobi within the depths of the ocean… Together the Three Kiri shinboi take care of business, against an army of sharks and a powerful shark controlling shinobi.
Poster's note: Profanity filtered in obvious places.
"The Deadly Reef"
The Deadly Reef
Something odd was happening out in the land of water lately, especially near the Deadly Reef…. While the name itself was quite obvious that this reef was dangerous, it had become more deadly than ever before, and courageous fisher men who had the will to fish out the sharks at the Deadly Reef had actually fell short of the challenge. Entire boats dismantled, so many lives lost it turned the tropical azure blue water into an oil spill of blood. Fatality rates this high was unheard for for the Deadly Reefs, and it was time for some stronger muscle to come about and take care of it.
A group of highly qualified Kiri shinobi was sent out to deal with this problem, for now moving along the land path which undoubtly lead to the local fishery/dock, There weren't many people around, the water looked murky, blood starting to wash ashore due to the attacks far out into the sea.
"It looks… Quite empty here," Aoi spoke aloud, perhaps the first thing she said to the group since they all got scroll on the basics of the mission, they it was wise to speak with the dock keep just to make sure that was all… Though with the amount of money thy were paying, it was definitely a priority mission. Aoi herself was adorned in a beautiful sky blue short skirted kimono, a pair of black spandex and a red sash along her waist, it seemed like she knew very well that for once, she might be getting a little messy.
Onimitsu growled lowly in irritation but otherwise remained silent as he followed along with the others assigned to 'pesk control' kiri style. A mission he relunctantly found himself thrown into on short notice just for returning just a few days to early. Still, if only a few man-eating sharks, a tainted ocean, and (as far as he was aware) the unknown abilities of his comerades were the only thing he had to worry about then the mission -should- be easy enough to handle given its rank.
"… We're doomed." He muttered darkly as he stopped short to peer directly at the ocean instead of merely the path. A hand placed over the abdomen portion of the torso armor as his stomach churned from the sight. "…. A humble request Shirayuki-san from this lowly one… What exactly is the plan or are shall things be left to fate once we tread upon their territory?", He asked, glancing warily towards Aoi from the corner of his eye; only to turn his eye right back to the ocean with thoughts even more troubled over the 'other' reason for giving in and returning officially to the fold.
Kitaru was silent while he went with the others for that mission. Even while he was lost from his path, he still needed to work for the village. While in the presence of the other ninja, he had put those spheres away to help with travel speed to that edge of the ocean. Now that they were there, Kitaru looked around intently, his own issues set aside to be able to focus on the mission.
"We find what is causing the shark infestation, we remove the cause of the shark infestation, we clean up any potential extra sharks that refuse to leave. Recover the materials, return to the village." Kitaru glanced towards Onimitsu, studying the other shinobi for a moment before shaking his head and looking to Aoi. "Shall we start the search? I think first we should check with those who have dealt with the sharks, to see if they've noticed anything specific, hai?"
"I have no plan as of yet, But Kitaru is right in his assumption, the general idea is to find out why these sharks are here and remove them…. "thin out" the population," Aoi replied back to Onimitsu, she was familiar with the man, the last time she had spoken to him, he was looking for a young girl, a sister if she remembered right? "It looks like the fishery is just up ahead so we can see what they have to say about it before we proceed," Aoi went on to speak, she kept her eyes forward, the scene of the sea was quite…. demotivational, these sharks definitely seemed to be on a killer spree, there was debris of broke boats washed up a shore, and some other deranged guts looming about, the smell in the air was fishy…and a little on the digusting side. As the moved closer towards the fishery dock an older gentleman steps out, waving his hands and calling out for the trio.
" Hey! Over here! You are the shinobi that we hired right? Look at this mess!!!" The man exclaims, pointing out into the shore, he rushes towards the group letting out a slight pant. "The Shark hunting games is all but over, business is down the drain now thinks to…whatever the fin this is!" The man was genuienly upset about the recent happenings, though Aoi on the other hand paused the conversation briefly and bowed her head to the man. " Yes we are the shinobi sent here to help you… Its quite obvious you are having some harsh times at the moment…" Aoi replied back, though turned her attention to Kitaru. "Kitaru-san, didn't you have some questions?" She asked him now curiously, the floor was now open to get as much information as possible…
Onimitsu listened without turning to regard Kitaru for the time being because of the urge to examine the teen was becoming teen for any instability was becoming increasingly harder to do. Besides the view the ocean was just so lovely.
"Hm? Ah, our contact." He mumured before dragging all attention away from the sea itself to focus more intently on putting more energy by his step to catch up with the others. Upon arrival he immediatly opened his mouth to speak again… but closed it following a heavy sigh in the wake Aoitsuki's reply. "Why is this one even here?", He emitted quietly, eye averted to the ocean once more in some mild hope to find an answer there.
The juggler listened quietly while Aoi talked to the contact. Two of the spheres were palmed from the belt across his chest to idly start juggling over one hand. He watched the fisherman for a long moment, before speaking at Aoi's prompt. "Hai. Has anyone noticed before everyone returned to shore and stopped going out, a reason why the sharks had swarmed to this location? Unless controlled by an outside source, most animals won't just arbitrarly attack non-flesh items like boats." Kitaru gave a sidelong glance towards Oni as he looked to want to speak, then stopped when Aoi directed attention to Kitaru first. A small nod was given in the other shinobi's direction. "He may also have follow up questions as well. We should all pool our resources to get to the bottom of this mystery, afterall."
Pulling resoruces was one thing, but for now Aoi just wanted to think, she took a step back and crossed her arms along one another, her pericing gaze started directly into the man, almost looking passed him, it startled the contact for a moment but he gulped down, slightly intimidatd by standing infront of such strong shinobi, was he slipping up on his words, he felt a little embarassed. "Ah! Well you see…" The man paused briefly, rubbing the side of his chin with his thumb, carefully massaging his beard as he began to recollect his thoughts. " This place is known for having shark attacks, its what makes this sport so popular and the meat of these sharks so rare, however… A few weeks ago these sharks seemed to have gotten better at pulling people into the water, and soon enough they had become more destructive in nature, it seems like they are jacked up for the blood of humans, or at least thats my take on things," The man explained, honest and true… There didn't seem to be hidden movtive behind him he was just a mere concerned citizen.
Kitaru would give a slow nod, studying the man as he continued that juggling of the two spheres. It reversed after a moment, without using his other hand to have them circle the other way, all without a pause. "So, people were attacking them, as the sharks are normally agressive here. Something made them stronger, which made people start losing against the sharks." Kitaru would give a slow nod, musing about that for a moment before glancing to Aoi. "Seems we have a source. Something that has effected them. So either new food source, or outside manipulation." Kitaru looked back to the contact with a nod of his head. "Do you have a sports boat we can use to get out there?"
"The only one we have left, People won't even go out there for repairs thanks to these sharks," The man explained, and pointed to a loan boat near the foot of the shore, it was a small, creaky looking boat, barely able to fit three people, he slowly began to lead them over to it, and also began to hand out a few oars, mostly to Kitaru since he seemed to look like the strong and well handed shinobi. " You won't find much of them near shore at this hour, but if you go deeper into ocean you will find he reef… its the darkest spot for where all the blood is," The main responded and clapsed his fingers.
"Good luck!" And with that he was off to mind his own business, leaving the shinobi to their affair. " This boat doesn't look very safe…" Aoi spoke up, she placed a barefoot against it, tapping at the wood and attempting to push it slightly into the water. "Obviously we will have to becareful… We will need to swim with these sharks and see just what exactly is driving them mad…There isn't much too it other than that. You do know how to row? Correct?" She asked him, there was a sly smile on her face, obviously she wasn't going to be doing that part…
Kitaru eyed the boat, frowning as the contact left and Aoi tested it. That.. and they wonder why people died? Shaking his head slightly, he'd look from the boat to Aoi. "We could always walk." Probably be safer too. The spheres were put away once again, a slow breath taken then released. "Hai. I'll row." He'd go to climb into the boat, giving room for the other two as he prepared himself for the task ahead. Do what is needed to be done to resolve a mission. Even if that meant rowing out in a death trap. Once the passengers were settled, he'd push them off with the oar, making sure that the rope is not attached to the dock and head them off for the reef that was mentioned. "It's going to be hard to use mirrors under water."
"We might have to bring them to the surface then," Aoi replied back, she was quite serious about the matter, andit wasn't before long their boat snuck out ino the open seas, perhaps an half an hour to an hour of rowing had brought them back into the middle of sea, their boat was covered in blood red, tainted by the many lives that was lost at sea at this point… Aoi carefully look around, there wasn't anything out there that she could see not even sharks…But with the water so murky it was going to be difficult to do anything.. " Just blood," Aoi responded out loud, nothing seemed out of the ordinary rather than the stillness in the air, and the potency of blood around them, she focused just a little bit of chakra into her form though.
Kitaru just grunted in response. It was hard work rowing!! Once they got a little closer to the reef, he'd dock the oars along the boat and lock them down. That done, one of the spheres was palmed as he'd focus himself. Reaching out as far as he could to try and gather as many as he could in that genjutsu illusion, minus the other shinobi of course, he'd charge the sphere with that dark blue chakra. Focused at that moment, he'd nod towards the water. "Watch for movement." Launching it upward, he'd make a hand sign and set off that hidden flash. While it was illusionary, he did try to catch as many as he could in the link to start with, so that they would see it. Hopefully it would cause some sort of reaction from the sharks below to get this going.
The flash of light had sparked it… Compelled by the sudden boom and soon enough Kitaru's flash was the beackon for summoning these sharks… There were many of them, dozens turned into double dozens as the head fin of the sharks exposed along the surface of the water, they came at the trio quickly, speeding through the water, the flash worked as a link, they didnt even see it coming not like they needed to, sharks were oblivous to the effects of genjutsu but they could still pack a bid and break with their thrist for blood, they swarmed and attacked, leaping like dolphins over the head of the boat, attacking and attempting to rip the flesh from their bodies, Aoi skillfully evaded the attacks, the sharks biting into a series of clones instead but now she had leaped out, right onto the water before her, she attacked back, focusing the water beneath her into a series of needles, sending it soaring through the water with hopes of cutting into their bodies…
In the blink of an eye Onimitsu found himself rapidly scanning their surroundings. Minutes had passed him by that left him disoriented above everything else, and left with only his instincts to guide whatever action was necessary. Even so they were not to keep him alive. At first seemingly by coincendes by the way he staggered away at just the right time to avoid being tackled off the boat then consciously after watching one of Aoitsuki's ice clones being torn apart in the former chuunin's place.
By the time Onimitsu finally started to piece together in part what had happened he standing more firmly atop the ocean itself on the opposing side of the boat from Aoitsuki. The Yoshimitsu — Onimitsu's sole weapon of choice above all other — drawing blood and rending flesh in a flash whenever the sharks foolishly decided to leap out of the surf to try and drag him down.
'Focus. Need to track where they are springing the most from.."
While Kitaru had left that image behind, he moved as soon as the flash went off. It seems that he got the attention he was seeking. While the others defended the sharks on the surface, Kitaru quickly went over his gear, making sure everything was sealed against the water that he could, before diving into the water and pushing deep. Hopefully the frenzy and distraction above would let him see what was going on below. He did his best to head towards whatever source he might see under the water for what was causing the sharks to frenzy as they did. He had a good head of air, so he would be able to stay under for a little while at least.
Everyone was on the mark, sharks were dodged easily, an with most of them caught in a genjutsu link Kitaru was able to literally fade out of existence without a trace, and more or less shark free while Aoi and Onimitsu dealt with the sharks above. They continued to raid the boat, Oni's slashes amaimed and instantly sliced sharks into bits of sushi, Aoi's senbon streamed through the water, turning some of the violent beasts into swiss cheese… Kitaru on the other hand, there was a source…Deep down within the waters and not just any source…
A main with long lavender hair his chakra pooling around him until he shouted something, inaudible but the bubbles erupting from her lips proved to be some sort of curse, It was then the man began to strike, directly at Kitaru, the water underneath was turned into a series of condensed water balls flowing towards Kitaru underwater, attempting to strike and knock the air out of him so he could drown under sea, as far as above, the sharks finally began to detract their attention from the boat, instead they swam for Kitaru, after all the secret needed to be kept…
Aoi herself began to take a few steps back, leaping back along the boat as the sharks submerged themselves into the water. " I think Kitaru-san found something," Aoi spoke out to Onimitsu, she began to summon her chakra yet again, raining down spikes through the murky water of blood, hopefull to snag of few of the sharks underneath….
In sensing their retreat Onimitsu finally began to visibly relax once more as he started to slow step back closer to the boat. "Kitaru-san?", He parroted, then mentally chasitied himself for letting the genjutsuist leave his sight. Upon seeing none except both Aoitsuki and the boat, along with the remains of the dead floating about. Speaking of which — "If he's under then this one will be of no use further except to collect remains… all perhaps." He stated dryly, flicking Yoshimitsu form about to clear most of the blood about its form before sheathing it as he set to work on gathering their catch into the boat. That is, all that were closest to the surface, but at a moments notice a kunai is whipped out to dispatch any of the merely wounded creatures with fight in them.
"IF you sense him in trouble, let this one know however!", Onimitsu called out fully intent on abandoning the catch and even Aoi (if not given pause to hesitate) to dive down and assist Kitaru to the best of his ability.
Kitaru was ready for an attack, so the man was way too slow. After the mass linking that he had done to gather the sharks before, he already knew what was going to happen almost before the man did. Those attacks went clean through the images, each one a fake before the next. Kitaru was working on his own offense. Using a set of illusion mirrors that his genjutsu style provided, a hand mirror was held up before him. The man below apon seeing the mirror would be forced to be just as still as the image caught within that mirror's sheen. While he was forced to be still, he couldn't attack or even swim. That follow up of the two orbs that would circle around him to have those mirror images latch on to him then drag him towards the surface should help with the resolution of this combat.
Kitaru didn't need much help, his defenses were absolutely flawless, even with the black cloak to guide him, the attacks ran straight through him, only for his existence to fade away and the man who was channeling his chakra barked something and began to move away in a mad fit, it was hard though, suddenly he spots a mirror, deep within the ocean and feels himself compelled to sit still, and suddenly his body is dragged, dragged down in the depths of the ocean. "What the tooth!" He shouted out, but it was more or less muffled, his lungs filled up with water and soon enough he began to flaot to the surface… The sharks had calmed down, or at least what was left of them, and began to spread out from the area, after all to them all they could see was predators now… Oni and Aoi would be able to see this clearly, though unknown to them was the man rising to the surface of the water, he was knocked out cold…Genjutsu + deep sea didn't work well at all.
The appearance of the man had caused aoi to arch an eyebrow, whil tapping her foot on the bloody water for a Kitaru to pop up at any time. Many of the dead carcasses was rising above water als ofor easy picking. " Is this the culprit?" Aoi her voic e was but a whisper for now, she just blinked and nodded to Oni. " Looks like things are fine now… Lets get this boat loaded up and perhaps we can call this one in…"
"Huh?…. Ah—" In seconds Onimitsu's form distorts then solidifies once again kneeling next to the drifting man. After a quick glance followed by a more time consuming diagnostic technique being implemented to check the downed man over, Onimitsu dragged the sorry soggy sod out and tossed him over his shoulder. "So, it seems Shirayuki-san, but this once this being is secure and Kitaru-san returns… this one shall remain." He emitted, chucking the man uncermoinessly ontop the remains of their catch before setting to work to bind him.
"A shinobi must never take such things on face value alone, but this one will report in. Unless, -you- command otherwise for this one to leave along with everything and one else?", He asked, casting a wary glance back at Aoi one last time.
Kitaru would break surface a little bit later. After rowing out there, swimming sucked even more! Panting, he'd climb onto the water's surface, looking around for his target. Seeing the guy bagged and tagged, he'd finally relax, walking over to the boat. A nod was given each to Onimitsu and Aoi, before Kitaru climbed into the row boat. "I need a bath." He'd purposely sit not in the rowing position, probably on shark blubber as he'd look towards shore. "He was manipulating the sharks under the water. He'll need to be questioned appropriately, but we resolved at least this part of the mission." Kitaru would shook a look between Aoi and Onimitsu then. "I am not going to row back, hai?"
"I would like for us all to go as one…. And this man included…" Aoi reponded back to Oni, who did quick work binding up the carcas as well as pulling the drowned man over his shoulder, they both seemed to have their hands full and Aoi for now just placed her hands together, chakra emitting from her body she began to slightly push the waves from the rear of the boat, molding it into little waves that would move the boat. " You've done well today, Kitaru-san, I'll take care of things from here," And with that she mintained her silence, pushing the boat with her own chakra… The attacks had stopped… and the caught some sort of culprit… With enough luck it would lead to more leads on what was really going on here…
