Starring:
Rockpath (emitter), Hanpa, Yashuu, Kaede
Date: February 7, 2015
Summary:
Hanpa attempts to tackle a Bingo book target… Are they ready for the challenge? (Take two, as the first was more of a test run).
"The First Target (Take Two)"
Land of Tea
Juyu Hido. A man who has stolen time and time again from the merchants within the Land of Tea. He has been mostly inconspicuous about it, but eventually people came to realize what was happening. And now they've sent a small team to chase after him… Great. Hanpa's organization would have seen the signs up in the Land of Rivers, as it was believed that perhaps those in the land knew some things and would be willing to give up information. Tracking Juyu down took some time, but eventually they would find him after taking on the request.
It is in the Land of Tea's outskirts that Juyu stays. A small cave that is rigged with traps, explosives, pitfalls, you name it. His hoard resides here, and he's been using his jutsu to store it while traveling underground to avoid triggering his own traps. And now he lies in wait, knowing people are on his trail and hoping to get them off him by letting them think they finished him here…
Having tracked down their target, the contingent of Hanpa that was dispatched to take him down would arrive near the cavern, but did not yet enter. Hanpa would signal a stop in movement before they would get too close. "The target is an earth jutsuist, as we know. That means a cavern like this is territory that he controls and is not impeded by. We will need to draw him out then take him down." Hanpa would state as he shifted his visage between Kaede and Yashuu. "Of course he is not the only one with earth jutsu…" Moving to collect a rock from the ground, Hanpa would toss it against the wall of the cavern, allowing it to richoet and paying close attention to how it reacts and what he hears. "Yashuu, try to keep him in melee range. Barrage him, and pay attention to the flow of combat. Kaede… do your thing." Hanpa would smirk behind his mask.
Giving a salute as she hears her orders, the girl than looks at the area before her and then squats down, looking over the area before her before hopping up to her feet and then shrugging, "We know how strong this guy is?" She asks and looks at Hanpa before looking back at the cave and stepping forward a little, "And if he is really in there?" She then shrugs before starting forward a few steps, looking for her target and then back at Hanpa, "Should I call him out?"
A figure in a brown camouflaged cloak follows after Hanpa in a calm and rather slow-like manner. They weren't rushing to get themselves killed. The figure, Kaede, though he still refers to himself as Onryou Ruki until such a time comes that it's time to reveal himself to the outside world, leaves the perception things to Hanpa. His job is to simply deal with any unexpected situations. He may not have his jutsu, but he still retains the experience of combat from a time long long ago.
"A ninjutsu specialist, then?" The figure would ask in a whispery voice, as a hand reaches for the scar over his left eye.
"As far as we have been able to discern yes. Based on their MO and the seeming nature of the target." Hanpa would confirm. "If we can, let's try to slip past his defenses before he is fully aware we are here." Hanpa would suggest before attempting to slip in to the underbrush and shadows cast by the near by foliage en route to the cavern entrance. Hanpa signaled for them to spread out their approach to help minimize detection as well. Even if some got caught, maybe one would get lucky.
Kaede nods his head as he continues onward. Kaede is not the stealthiest either. In fact, in times long past, the way he'd create stealth is by doing things extremely /loudly/ as a distraction. So yeah, he wasn't stealthy at all. There were merits to that.
"I think we should just make our presence known. Flush him out and overwhelm him. As long as he believes he can't win, he won't. Might surrender and make it easier for us."
Footsteps… Ones that are easy to detect. Juyu makes a few handseals, and the ground around the group Hanpa brought with him get mini explosions near all their feet, sending dirt and debris into their eyes. Then the spikes come. A whole lot of earthen spikes that comes raining down on the group from all directions, though they are most concentrated from the front, where Juyu is currently hiding. The man seems inclined to keep these people away and slightly injured so he'll get an advantage should he run away.
COMBAT: Hanpa defends against DIRT-BOMB(43) attack from Rockpath with a HESITANCE…33
COMBAT: Kaede successfully interrupts attack number 1: EARTHEN-SHOWER from Rockpath against Hanpa with a roll of 42 vs 36.
It seemed that Hanpa was correct. This was enemy territory, and their stepping in to it has caused the one hiding in the hole to lash out. Perfect. Even though he has his sense of balance and hearing disrupted momentarily, They have in fact drawn out their prey. "Don't lose track of him." Hanpa would be sure to reinforce now that he was revealed.
COMBAT: Yashuu defends against DIRT-BOMB(39) attack from Rockpath with a CHAKRA-DODGE…42
COMBAT: Yashuu defends against EARTHEN-SHOWER(29) attack from Rockpath with a CHAKRA-DODGE…38
Slipping to the side of the attacks with a burst of chakra, Yashuu shakes her head as she watches the crazy amounts of flying dirt. Immediately she rushes back to where Hanpa is and with a quick spin she sends a burst of water from her waterskin right into Hanpa's face that'll probably clear out hte blinding dirt…and get him wet. She then rushes forward and flips in mid air to do a baseball slide feet first right at his legs and try to take them out from under him. Even as she slides she'll try to curl and roll up to her feet, jump up and do an elbow drop right into the downed foe if her leg sweep succeeds.
COMBAT: Kaede defends against EARTHEN-SHOWER(29) attack from Rockpath with a CRYSTAL-WALL…46
COMBAT: Kaede defends against EARTHEN-SHOWER(29) attack from Rockpath with a CRYSTAL-WALL…46
COMBAT: Kaede counters against a EARTHEN-SHOWER(36) attack from Rockpath with a HEAVENLY-JEWELED-SPEAR…40
As they advance further into the cave, Kaede can sense the intent in the air. No, not the intent, it's just pure experience. A sixth sense, you could call it.
It is because of this that Kaede reacts so swiftly when the bombs detonate; He cannot help the others with that; But the spears and debris? Handseals are formed by the time Kaede explodes from the dust cloud on a dragon made of crystal- which quickly shatters and pieces of it fall to the ground. It lasted just long enough to give him the perception he needs to create a wall of crystal and deflect the spears headed for Hanpa.
"Shouton: Amenonuhoko." He whispered, and the dirt that headed for him suddenly crystallized, turned, and headed for Juyu in the shape of a spear— or well, where Kaede thought he was.
"It seems we found him." He says, as he focuses his stamina into usable chakra.
COMBAT: Rockpath defends against LEG-SWEEP(22) attack from Yashuu with a CLONE-TECHNIQUE…35
COMBAT: Rockpath defends against POWER-PHYSICAL(30) attack from Yashuu with a CLONE-TECHNIQUE…26
COMBAT: Rockpath loses the roll and sustains 406 damage.
COMBAT: Rockpath defends against HEAVENLY-JEWELED-SPEAR(40) attack from Kaede with a CLONE-TECHNIQUE…38
COMBAT: Rockpath loses the roll and sustains 434 damage.
Juyu avoids the sweeping leg aimed at I'm, but not enough to avoid the flying elbow coming down at his head. He flinches enough to only get knocked on the shoulder, but it's still painful enough to put him out of commission. The spear itself was unexpected, and his eyes narrow slightly. That thing was made of crystal! What the heck?? He takes a moment to focus his chakra, already bruised and battered.
Calmly wiping his helmet of the now mud that covered it, a splash of the former hinderance would be flung from his gauntlet before he would begin to create his seals. One hand begin to form one seal while the other concentrated on yet another. Multiple balls of lightning would be launched from the finger tips of his left hand towards Juyu as the other hand would first unleash the power of pain upon Juyu, emphasizing the pain in his shoulder before being pulled up towards his helmet as the sign is concentrated upon once more in an attempt to draw Juyu to the ground in submision. "Crush him." was the next thing Hanpa would state, hoping to hold the man down for Yashuu's next blow.
Looking at the situation, Yashuu circles around as the other two attack and watches as Hanpa attacks. When he uses the ranged stuff, Yashuu rushes around to the side and then waits till the attacks pass before rushing in. She flips in air to send both legs smashing into the man's chest if she can before using the possible rebound (or fly past) to roll to her feet, rush back at the guy's legs and try to plow them out from under him before doing another flip and spinning in air to plant both feet right into his chest again, "Lets just finish this guy."
Kaede, after the exchange with the mark, walks forwards, as if he had no regard for his safety. It was dangerous, but if Kaede could present himself as a target larger than the other two, that too will be fine. But in the end, it all came down to experience. His supposedly suicidal move of taking a ninjutsu fight to close range was a tactical one, if he could find the proper positioning.
And even as he walks forward, his hands are not idle. They weave seal after seal, and earthen spires continue to lunge up from the ground and towards Juyu- trying to limit not just his movement, but also weaken and tire him.
COMBAT: Rockpath defends against RAIKOUHIRA(36) attack from Hanpa with a CHAKRA-DODGE-II…44
COMBAT: Rockpath defends against BLOODLETTING(29) attack from Hanpa with a WILL-BREAK…35
COMBAT: Rockpath defends against KUPPUKU(28) attack from Hanpa with a WILL-BREAK…44
COMBAT: Rockpath counters against a POWER-PHYSICAL(15) attack from Yashuu with a PHYSICAL…21
COMBAT: Rockpath defends against LEG-SWEEP(32) attack from Yashuu with a EARTH-BARRIER…47
COMBAT: Rockpath defends against POWER-PHYSICAL(15) attack from Yashuu with a CLONE-TECHNIQUE…44
COMBAT: Rockpath defends against EARTH-SPIRE(29) attack from Kaede with a CLONE-TECHNIQUE…32
COMBAT: Rockpath defends against EARTH-SPIRE(29) attack from Kaede with a CLONE-TECHNIQUE…26
COMBAT: Rockpath loses the roll and sustains 474 damage.
COMBAT: Rockpath defends against EARTH-SPIRE(38) attack from Kaede with a EARTH-DOME…67
Crush him?? Hey, doesn't /he/ get a say in this? Juyu scrambles to avoid the lightning, using a bit of chakra to avoid the hit. With pure will, he's able to keep the genjutsu's effects at bay. The man continues to dominate the field, countering one of Yashuu's strikes with a punch before blocking and avoiding further limbs. Once that's over, he has to contend with Kaede. The man is able to avoid one with a clone, but the other sees through his defense. To make sure the last is blocked for sure, he forms a dome of earth around himself. Using it to hide for a bit, he uses his senses to form whirlpools of earth below all three attackers.
COMBAT: Hanpa defends against EARTH-WHIRLPOOL(57) attack from Rockpath with a HESITANCE…48
COMBAT: Hanpa defends against EARTH-DRAGON-BULLET(42) attack from Rockpath with a HESITANCE…30
It seemed the opponent was able to step up their abilities in a crunch. Normally and even to a degree now Hanpa would be satisfied by this. But his weakened state and the lives of his team being o nthe line didn't make him feel so generous of thought. Being unable to disuade the initial pulling of earth beneath his feet, Hanpa is then struck just after by antoher earth jutsu bowling him over.
COMBAT: Yashuu defends against PHYSICAL(21) attack from Rockpath with a BLOCK…23
COMBAT: Yashuu defends against EARTH-WHIRLPOOL(57) attack from Rockpath with a CHAKRA-DODGE…40
COMBAT: Yashuu defends against EARTH-DRAGON-BULLET(52) attack from Rockpath with a TENSE…5
COMBAT: Yashuu loses the roll and sustains 1057 damage.
Blinking as the man was able to fully stop her attacks, his counter meets simply with a foot to stop the attack and she falls back to the ground, rolling up to her feet and staring. Even before she can truly figure out what is going she ends up sinking into the ground and blinking several times only to be slammed harder by more earth and pretty much buried by Earth, smashing her away and leaving her basically done for the moment.
COMBAT: Kaede defends against EARTH-WHIRLPOOL(45) attack from Rockpath with a CRYSTAL-HEAVENLY-DRAGON…45
COMBAT: Kaede defends against EARTH-DRAGON-BULLET(67) attack from Rockpath with a CRYSTAL-WALL…44
COMBAT: Kaede loses the roll and sustains 675 damage.
It was just enough for Kaede to transport himself to safety from the Whirlpool- he couldn't help the others. But even so, Kaede leaps into action, continuing to walk forwards as he creates handseals and fixes his eyes on the earth dome.
"You can't hide in there." Kaede intones as he points a finger at the dome, and sends out his chakra.
There's a hissing sound, and Juyu might be able to see the exact effect if he is paying attention- but the top of the dome crystallizes, and suddenly becomes a spear that lashes out with amazing speed. A second one appears on the side of the dome, and perforates through the earth, accumulating the earth in the process for it's crystal structure.
But the second attack from Juyu came faster than expected, and he can do nothing for Hanpa and Yashuu. Even himself, as the bullets come charging in; He still raises a crystal wall in front of himself to deflect as much as he possibly could. And it's a valiant effort, earth and dirt splatter everywhere off the crystal wall- but when it's all said and done, the wall is degraded and there's a hole in it; Kaede himself appears wounded.
"Kah." He coughs out, and then sniffs. "He's tough."
COMBAT: Rockpath defends against HEAVENLY-JEWELED-SPEAR(45) attack from Kaede with a EARTH-CLONE…50
COMBAT: Rockpath defends against HEAVENLY-JEWELED-SPEAR(38) attack from Kaede with a EARTH-CLONE…40
His eyes widen a bit at the crystalline spear forming from Kaede. He makes the seals, moving quickly to attempt to avoid getting speared. It seems he's a bit late, though, and it pierces through his middle… Only for the man to crumble, revealing he was merely an earthen clone. Juyu takes the moment they're all down for the count and sends a large dragon at them all to pepper them with earthen bullets that would /really/ hurt. It would, hopefully, succeed even though Kaede didn't get caught by his whirlpool of earth. With that done, he takes a moment to regain his posture and think out his next move… Should he run? That would be a good idea, certainly… The man gathers his chakra, planning to make a run for it.
It seemed that holding back wasn't an option against this particular opponent. That was unfortunate, as Hanpa truly didn't want to reveal himself simply for this, but he had no remaining options other than risking failure or possible death of one or all of his team. Unclasping the mask upon his face, he'd toss it aside as he raised the blind fold from his eyes. "Cover me." he'd say to them both as he'd spring to his feet in to a bit of a crouch, Sharingan blazing from his occular orbs as he focuses his chakra.
After getting smashed by the next rock attack, Yashuu is bleeding viciously as she looks up and spots the man before her. She watches the man and then rushes forward toward the enemy with a growl. She moves at high speed in an attempt to do a rather vicious combo move on him. She flips in the air, landing with one hand before the man, spinning on it to try to kick the side of ihs knees before she will keep spinning to land in the path of his fall if he does fall and pushes upward toward him to try to bring her knee right up into his head and at the same time bring her arm up and slam her elbow into the opposite side of his head in a nasty pincer manuver. Success or not, she'll push him off and roll backward and away to give the others a chance to strike.
Kaede narrows his eyes, and looks towards Hanpa. The Sharingan. "Heh." Is intoned as Kaede straightens his back, as if relaxing. That hit from the Dragon Bullet sure was something else. "Welcome back, My Lord." He would say to Hanpa as he returned his focus on Juyu.
"Can you tell how much chakra he still has? He should be running out, right?"
But even more than that, Kaede performed a string of handseals again, and smiled. He was getting the hang of the opponent's defenses. Earth style. He wondered idly how long it would take Juyu to realize his fatal flaw.
"Amenonuhoko." Kaede intones, as he makes a motion with his hand, as if directing something downwards, with an open palm.
In answer are two spears made of crystal.
COMBAT: Rockpath defends against LEG-SWEEP(26) attack from Yashuu with a CLONE-TECHNIQUE…26
COMBAT: Rockpath defends against POWER-PHYSICAL(21) attack from Yashuu with a CLONE-TECHNIQUE…31
COMBAT: Rockpath defends against PHYSICAL-II(21) attack from Yashuu with a CLONE-TECHNIQUE…27
COMBAT: Rockpath defends against HEAVENLY-JEWELED-SPEAR(48) attack from Kaede with a EARTH-STYLE-WALL…70
COMBAT: Rockpath defends against HEAVENLY-JEWELED-SPEAR(49) attack from Kaede with a EARTH-STYLE-WALL…74
Juyu avoids the physical attacks from Yashuu using clones, avoiding damage completely, thanks to … well, whatever god ruled the earth. Then his attention was on Kaede and those deadly spears. An earthen wall rose, layering itself twice over to halt any attack while also providing a bit of cover for him to flee, hopefully, the man sinking into the ground to avoid further confrontation.
COMBAT: Hanpa defends against BELOW-EYE-LEVEL(43) attack from Rockpath with a DEDUCTIVE-LOCATION…51
"These are the eyes of a child… I am embarrassed to even see the lgiht of day with them." Hanpa would grumble and slightly groan from the damage he just took. His chakra however was already molded. "He is weakening yes. His chakra is dimming due to his focus on it… and something else. He is molding more earth chakra…" Hanpa would warn as he kept his gaze focused upon the earth jutsuist. "…trying to slip away." He'd then state confidently as he simply wouldn't allow it. His arms spread wide then, lightning crackling between the fingers of his hand before he brought his hands together, the lightnnig between both hands mingling before two distinct bolts of lightning traveled out from them, erratically shifting all over the place, around, beside, above as micro bolts would diffuse from the dual bolts, creating a chaotic double sphere of lightning chakra around Juyu, trying to surround him before grounding thmeselves through the ground and hopefully him as well.
Blinking as the man disappears into the ground, Yashuu is about to sigh as she has no way to follow that when Hanpa's eyes go all weird. SHe squints at him before looking to where he attacks and nods, "Got it!" She then rushes to the spot in the ground that he is supposedly at, flips into the sky and then lands to slam her feet into the ground and repeatedly stomp to try to give a few hard stomps into the man who thought he could get away using her feet and the earth below them.
Kaede looks towards Hanpa, as he can no longer see Juyu. He follows his gaze, as he listens to Hanpa's analysis and slowly nods his head. He has a pretty good idea where Juyu is based on direction and Hanpa's attacks.
He was turning into a one trick pony though, that's for sure; Once again, the crystal spears will use the earth Juyu creates as material, and then strike out, extending from the base of the spear to the tip. Even the old crystals have by now crumbled and turned back to Earth. But to keep Juyu on his toes, one of the crystal spears materializes from one of the earth spires Kaede created earlier.
COMBAT: Rockpath defends against GROUNDING-BOLT(56) attack from Hanpa with a CHAKRA-DODGE-II…35
COMBAT: Rockpath loses the roll and sustains 533 damage.
COMBAT: Hanpa drains stamina from Rockpath
COMBAT: Rockpath defends against GROUNDING-BOLT(52) attack from Hanpa with a CHAKRA-DODGE-II…54
COMBAT: Rockpath defends against PHYSICAL-II(24) attack from Yashuu with a CLONE-TECHNIQUE…25
COMBAT: Rockpath defends against PHYSICAL-II(26) attack from Yashuu with a CLONE-TECHNIQUE…44
COMBAT: Rockpath defends against PHYSICAL-II(34) attack from Yashuu with a CLONE-TECHNIQUE…29
COMBAT: Rockpath loses the roll and sustains 314 damage.
COMBAT: Rockpath defends against HEAVENLY-JEWELED-SPEAR(54) attack from Kaede with a EARTH-STYLE-WALL…60
COMBAT: Rockpath defends against HEAVENLY-JEWELED-SPEAR(58) attack from Kaede with a EARTH-STYLE-WALL…65
Juyu wasn't expecting to be found… When he was, he got struck hard by the bolt of lightning, which was very painful. Fortunately, he was ready and able to avoid the next attack. He makes a bit of a face, though, uncertain how much more he could take. Clones meet most of Yashuu's attack, but the woman manages to get a lucky shot in. Ow, his stomach! He has fast enough reflexes, though, to put up two walls of earth that intercept the crystal spears. Then the walls turn to mud, flowing and shaping themselves into bullets that launch towards his enemies.
COMBAT: Hanpa defends against EARTH-DRAGON-BULLET(53) attack from Rockpath with a HESITANCE…41
It was obvious their prey was weakening, but that also meant desperation would set in. He would pull out al lthe stops to survive, as he should. So as the Earth Dragon Bullet comes at Hanpa, the compulsion to hesitate is ignored and Hanpa is blasted with the strange muddy bullet, his left arm knocked out of socket as he is also largely pinned to the ground in a very uncomfortable position. "He will do everything he can to escape!" Hanpa makes sure the others realize how things would go from here on.
COMBAT: Yashuu defends against EARTH-DRAGON-BULLET(41) attack from Rockpath with a CHAKRA-DODGE…24
COMBAT: Yashuu loses the roll and sustains 920 damage.
And he can speak all the words he want about how things go from here on but it isn't enough. Yashuu is smashed by the mud shaped into bullets and falls backward, getting temporarily buried again and she screams in frustration, not pain, "This is stupid!" SHe declares and starts struggling to get free of that mud…again…
COMBAT: Kaede defends against EARTH-DRAGON-BULLET(49) attack from Rockpath with a CRYSTAL-HEAVENLY-DRAGON…38
COMBAT: Kaede loses the roll and sustains 639 damage.
Seeing the bullets come in once again, Kaede knew exactly what was gonna happen. He leaps into the air, as a dragon materializes under him, and takes him up and towards Hanpa— but it is not enough. He gets caught in the earth dragon bullet and smashed against the floor, cursing his lack of quickness, and temporary paralysis. If he could've just reached Hanpa…
And with all his opponents basically down and out for the time being, Juyu revels in his freedom by making a handseal. It didn't matter if Hanpa could still see him with that ability of his. He was stuck! Juyu travels via the underground to make his escape, not leaving a trace as to where he is going or what he's planning to do next. And who knows… Maybe he's done stealing from people! … Or not.
