Starring:
Date: November 4, 2016
Summary:
An alert has been sent out and it's up to Hige and his entourage to track down the missing student. With no signs of a struggle and little evidence of a forced entry, can Hige track down the child or will it be too late?
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"The hunt for the missing colony"
The area around Konoha
Kidnappings were on the rise again. If this rate kept up the great nations would most likely run out of civilians within the year, but this mission was something of a special mission. The mission that had Hige and anyone else who he could gather didn't deal with a kidnapping in anywhere within the Land of fire, it was to do with a kidnapping in Konoha. Rather than the kage or anyone official sitting in the debriefing however, it was the same dispatcher from the mission involving the scroll that sat a bit nervously at the desk with a scroll and a stack of intel that had just been delivered. The news that Hige would be the one heading off the mission had him a little nervous after his game last time and the cold sweat would make that fairly obvious for even the most untrained eye.
The door opens and Hige strolls into the room with his entourage of ninken and Shugo, figuring he might as well bring him along since they were being assigned a mission and, well, his team. When he sees who's sitting there waiting his feral eyes light up and he gives a big, fang toothed grin. "Well hello there friend," he says, hands in his pockets as he strolls forward towards the desk. "Do you have something for me today? Or would you prefer to try and give it to a team member of mine again?"
Shugo wasn't happy about being dragged along but he was willing enough as it was a mission and not just more training after his teasing of the Inuzuka the day before. When they reached the debriefing room and he saw who it was, the half-bored expression Shugo wore turned into a deeply annoyed glare. Hige beat him to the comment about passing off missions however which left Shugo with little more to do than remain silent and listen to the annoying person as they explained why he was trying to drag them off on another mission.
That cold sweat iced over as Hige made such a 'friendly' greeting and the chuunin could only smile before shaking his head. "Of course not.." He answered with a weak chuckle before commenting further," Only a fool would do that. I did have you called here personally after all." The mission dispatcher commented before reaching out to motion to a chair. "You are one of the best trackers we have on hand and currently we need someone strong enough to deal with whatever they might come across during this mission." With that comment, he glanced toward Shugo, a little unsure of the choice to bring the genin along on this kind of mission. A slight clear of his throat, and he continued. "A member of the Aburame clan has been kidnapped in the night. We aren't sure how the person managed it but they bypassed all of the barriers and even the Aburame clan's tracking bugs while successfully making off with the boy. We don't know their intents but the Hokage wants the child returned quickly and unharmed if possible."
"Oh he does, does he?" Hige asks, quirking a brow as he remains standing and not sitting. "He was just too grumpy to tell me himself?" Hige pauses, then his grin widens slightly. "Or perhaps he just wanted to make you squirm. I'll vote for the latter." He moves forward and holds out his hand. "I suppose you have the mission details and something for me to use for tracking purposes?"
While Hige wasn't going to take it, Shugo had little problem in tugging the chair back and spinning it around so he could sit down on it and rest his arms atop the back of the chair. Closing his eyes, Shugo would mutter something about agreeing with Hige's latter comment as well as something about it being well deserved but who knows? The sooner they got that scroll, the sooner they could set off on their mission.
The Chuunin would nod a bit and press forward the scroll as well as a metal case with a glass lid. The scroll held the basics of the mission they'd been briefed on in greater detail while the case held a bottled beetle, no doubt one of the boy's kikaichu, as well as a folded scrap of cloth taken form the boy's bed so that the scent was as strong as possible. "This should be all that you need, once you've equipped yourself with anything you need to carry with you, you should begin the mission. The Hokage wishes this mission to be a priority."
Hige takes the offered items from the Chuunin, overextending just a tad to let one of his claws prick a finger. He looks at the jar, then at the scroll and nods. "Well, that seems simple enough. Unless you have some other words of wisdom we'll be on our way then." Hige doesn't even wait to hear an answer as he turns and walks towards the door, flinging it open before walking out, followed by the two ninken.
Shugo would follow off after Hige, descending into his shadows and whisking along with a tendril of shadows to close the door before the Nara climbed from his shadows behind Hige and fell into step along with the Inuzuka and his pair of ninken partners. "Maybe we should suggest they bolster the patrols of the village if people are going missing this often? Around the nation is one thing but from Konoha itself is a bit extreme, don't you think?" Shugo inquired as he tilted his head to one side with a raised brow of curiosity.
"I'd thought of that. I'll bring it up with Atsuro and Daisuke when we get back. First let's get this done while the trail is as fresh as can be." With that Hige led them to the last location the missing Aburame had been seen, unrolling the scroll to read it along the way. Once they're there he starts sniffing around some to get the scents of the area while Konsho and Kizoku split off to do the same.
Shugo gave a light nod of his head in understanding while following Hige toward their destination. Once the ninken split up and headed off on their own for a wider sweep of the area, Shugo stuck with Hige to see if perhaps he could learn something about investigation that wasn't sniffing.. He just didn't have the nose for trying to become a bloodhound. "What kind of techniques could be used to make yourself not have a noticeable scent?" Shugo questioned while scratching at his hair and examining the location for signs of a forced entry.
The trail started at the boy's home which placed the investigation within the Aburame clan's village and inside of one of the more modest homes where it seemed only the boy and his mother lived. The house was vacated and blocked off to make sure that the investigation wouldn't be interrupted and so Hige would have an easy time getting to the bedroom and beginning to sniff out what had happened in the room. There was the faint scent of the boy as well as the slight scent of ash. Hige's nose would be able to sniff out the burned remains of some form of explosive tag or compound that was used to break the lock of the bedroom window. The only other scent was that of a small amount of blood.
"It's not easy. You'd have to have your entire body covered in something like a hazmat suit," Hige says, checking the window for a moment before he motions for Shugo to check out the tag, see if there's anything about it that might help. He knows the seals better, after all. "If you're wading through water that helps, but a good nose can still find the trail if it's not too old."
The Nara would give a nod of his head before moving to inspect the remains of the used tag, looking the item over closely before pulling out a slip of paper and beginning to inscribe on it the basic explosive tag, and then frown a bit. "There's no way he'd have gotten in with a normal explosive tag. The seal would be something more intricate." Shugo stated while continuing to work the brush carefully along the surface of that tag. With a lick of his lips and a few more stroke, Shugo held up a tag inscribed with the words 'Slow' and 'burn' around the usual 'explosion'. "It would be something like this… the heat of the explosion but not the actual boom. I don't know how they'd devise it properly though." Shugo explained with a bit of a frown on his face. But if the person was a seal master.. maybe he could interrogate them to learn it himself later on..?
Hige wasn't far off on the manner of how one could cloak themselves from scent but it wasn't a very mobile option.. The truth was somewhat different and Shugo was also close to the truth, but not quite. The scent of the boy at the least was not covered. The boy carried a very faint odor to follow and already heavily mixed with the smell of the insects infesting the body of an Aburame. They would need to hurry however, the kidnapper already had a head start on the Inuzuka's team and might even manage to get away if they didn't get to hunting them down before it was too late.
Hige nods slowly, then takes in the various scents just so he has them, then singles out the one of the boy. "Alright, let's go." The two ninken already have it as well and so they leave the house out that same window to follow the scent directly from the source. Hige looks back to make sure Shugo is following before they take off at a rather high speed. How they're able to follow the scent moving so quickly is beyond anyone's guess, but the trio seems to not have any problems as they begin.
Shugo wasn't keeping pace at the start, not quite as fast as the Inuzuka right out of the gate but his running was showing some form of progress as he began catching up by the time Hige had looked back to see where he was at behind them. "Don't worry about me, I can keep up with this pace." Shugo announced to Hige while working to keep his breathing evened out. The speed was a bit hard to match but he wouldn't try telling Hige that when they were trying to complete an objective. Who says to slow down when pursuing a kidnapper?!
The trail lead off into the forests of Konoha and deep into the thicker territories where they could try losing their pursuers. Knowing the village as he did, Hige might know very well where the scent was leading them. An area of dense, massive trees encircled by fencing covered in warnings and seals. The forest of death was directly in the path and from the scent, the person responsible had taken the young child into the forest with them. The flora and fauna inside would be dangerous enough for a genin and ensure that only higher ranks would have a somewhat easy time getting past the natural defenses of the forest. Those without a good sense of direction would be rubbed out of the equation as well. The worst of it however, was the myriad of animal cries telling that what lived in that section of forest was in an uproar and no doubt, would not be passive to intruders today.
Hige could tell where it was leading but he didn't have time to slow down and watch over anyone. Not with the kid being in here somewhere. Without a word Hige conveys his message to Konsho who rather skillfully half turns and, with an apologetic look, trips Shugo up just so that he can come back and be under him before he fell. Now Shugo is riding Konsho and Kizoku is grumpily attached to one of Hige's shoulder as they continue further into the forest.
Shugo had a question about the place they were going but before he could manage it, Konsho had the Nara stumbling over his feet and falling onto the massive dog's back with a bit of a cough. "Ugh… You could have just asked.." Shugo half complained while patting Konsho's back to let the large dog know he wasn't actually upset. Konsho was too much of a sweetheart which left only one option, for Shugo to leer at the evil Hige that caused this. Complaints could wait however as Shugo had more pressing questions. "What's with this place? It feels almost as creepy as some chakras I've felt…" It had clearly been Shugo's first time visiting this stretch of forest.
Deep within the forests where the sun barely reached and the trees had grown to near-unbelievable sizes, a trio of people were standing on a massive branch and seemed to be arguing over the child laying at the center of their gathering. Two were dressed strangely, surely not from the Land of fire while the third was different. Dressed in a flackjacket with his hitai-ate strapped around his right bicep, a long-time chuunin was arguing with the others over something hard to hear. The boy was seated between all of them lost in a daze, his head bowed and arms bound behind his back to ensure if he could try moving, he wouldn't manage to make it very far.
"It's a dark part of the forest," Konsho says without slowing down. "There's many bad plants and creatures here. You have to be careful or something you don't expect might kill you!" The wolf ninken is being overly observant as well, keeping an even closer eye than normal on their surroundings. Once they near the group Hige has them stop a distance away and crouches on a branch while Konsho lands on a branch hidden by the stump. Hige narrows his eyes and extends his senses, trying to find out what it is they're talking about. Saving the kid is all well and good, but if these guys are just part of a larger group…well, then that's an issue. And he's dealt with kidnapping groups in the past.
"This is more than just dark…" Shugo commented in a hushed tone while scanning the area as well as he could at such breakneck speeds. It was a good thing that the Inuzuka and Ninken had such sharp senses because Shugo wasn't going to be able to see a thing and they were passing too much ground for him to establish a proper warded zone. The abrupt stop of the ride rocked Shugo to the point he nearly fell off, but managed to hold onto the monster of a ninken and step off onto the tree to watch the group before them closely from his position.
The argument would be able to easily be heard by Hige's sharpened hearing and the exchange was anything but pleasant. "Look, I brought the kid like I promised, now can we go? The Aburame aren't a clueless lot, they're going to notice and start sounding alarms all over the village when they discover one of their own is missing." The chuunin explained in a somewhat nervous tone while scanning the area. His blank blue eyes and golden colored hair pulled back into a high tail gave away a little bit of who the man was though there wasn't enough of his face shown to identify him due to the scarf bound up over the lower half of his face. The only clear thing of note was that he was dressed as a member of Konoha's ninja force, and that set him apart from the other two. Both dressed in tones of blue and white and wearing a single shouldered vest, the pair of dark skinned figured were in less of a rush than the other. It seemed Hige's quick pace had caught him up with the kidnapper more than anyone would have suspected.
"Relax, you said you had the mother do all the work for you so they won't even notice that something's wrong until she's woken up, righ'? Chill out, man." Said the male of the strangely dressed pair, the female at his side letting out a huff and shaking her head.
"I don't see no bugs on the kid… how da we know you didn' just bring up any kid off the streets and claim he's an Aburame?" Complained the female before she poked a finger at the child and glared at the chuunin that had brought him. "They've gotta let the bugs out from somewhere, so show us them holes an' bugs, then we'll see if you're worth bringin' back home."
Hige listens while Kizoku hops off of his shoulder, the teen frowning in annoyance. "Shugo, do you think you can wrap your shadows around the kid and bring him here safely?" he asks quietly. "I'm going to distract them but I don't want them trying to use him as a hostage." Hige's feral eyes never leave the trio up ahead even as he speaks in quiet tones. Should Shugo be unable to hear him the message would be passed along via Konsho.
Shugo examined the area and frowned a bit before nodding. "It's a lot of shadow to claim but I think I can manage.." Shugo explained as he formed a series of hand seals and let his chakra begin flowing into his shadow and then out and along the forest. The darkness and shadows naturally surrounding them would make it much easier to expand though the Nara had to focus on where he claimed the shadows from. No need to draw attention to the fact that things were getting dark, right? Crouching down, Shugo would narrow his eyes as his shadow stretched along the tree and down to the ground, then toward the area where the people were gathered. "This is about as far as I can manage without them noticing. It's on the underside of the branch.." Shugo explained to Hige while already beginning to sink down into his shadows slightly in preparation.
The Chuunin would mutter about their paranoia as he lowered down and reached for the boy's shirt to tug it up and expose the child's arm. Along the boy's arm were the small, almost unnoticeable holes that the Kikaichuu used to enter and leave from their host. There were even a few marching along the child's skin which made the boy squirm slightly but other than that, he was unresponsive to the attention. "There? Is that good enough of a display? Can we go now?" The Chuunin questioned again while shoving the sleeve down and looking at his compatriots with a curious if not impatient gaze. What he saw however, wasn't the friendly expressions that he'd been expecting.
With a smirk on his lips, the male of the foreign pair had a hand raised and crackling with lightning at his fingertips while he looked down on the chuunin. "Yeah, got all the proof we need. Now all we need is to bring you in wit' us and we're golden. No need for 'dem legs o yers though.." He spelled out in a colder tone than before while strongly swinging his arm down as though it were a blade, from the way the lightning chakra had been wrapped around his fingertips, it might as well be too.
"Wouldn't want ya chickening out, ya know?" The female commented casually as though what was about to happen to that chuunin was nothing personal. Just business.
Hige nods to Shugo…then he and Konsho are gone. Kizoku is there however and he's moved to stand next to Shugo and wait, looking grumpy. Hige could care less if the Chuunin lost his legs. In fact he might prefer it in place of what Hige will likely do once this is over. For now, though, the other issue. On the side opposite the tree trunk from the men there's a large cracking sound followed by the sound of a number of trees falling. It's not within viewing distance, but it's not far either. Could be a creature out there after all.
Shugo would wait for Hige's distraction, forming the tiniest of lines from his shadow to reach around the branch and meet the shadow beneath the captive boy. When Hige left and that sound began cracking so clearly, Shugo focused closely on the group to wait for them to become distracted. "Well Kizoku, I guess it's finally time for you and I to start our bonding, huh? He'd waste no time if they took the bait, reaching into the depths of his shadow and grasping the boy so he could pull the boy down into his shadows as quickly as possible. If they didn't take the bait however, well… Shugo wouldn't be able to do much of anything beyond waiting.
The chuunin was halfway cowering along the massive branch when the sound of those trees falling sent a chill up his spine and had him staring off to the direction of the noise in a panic. The two foreigners hadn't overlooked it either, the man even stopping short of his strike and recoiling to begin looking around somewhat cautiously. While they scanned for the distractions, the Nara would be able to silently drag the boy away into the shadows before the foreigners turned about to look down at the chuunin, and then at where the boy was. "What'd ya do?!" The man barked out as the chakra crackled at his fingertips once more and he raised that hand threateningly once more. "Where is the kid?! What are ya playin' at, eh?!" The man questioned, lashing his arm toward the chuunin's legs to leave a deep gash in his calves. Shugo's antics went unnoticed, for now.
When the man lashed out at the Chuunin Hige was there, his arm coursing with lightning and keeping him from being injured by the other mans elemental attack. Oh the Chuunin certainly had it coming, but he'd be facing Hige's wrath rather then these thugs. "You signed your death warrants the minute you started plotting this," he growls in a low voice before kicking out at the man to try and knock him out of the tree. "But before that, you're going to tell me who you're working for."
Shugo set the boy down on the branch at his feet once he'd climbed from within the shadows once more and rested his Haori over the boy to ensure there was a source of shadow near the child if needed. With the boy safely secured, Shugo would crouch down onto the branch once more and observe the group that Hige was fighting. As Hige dealt with the attack and lashed out an attack of his own, Shugo flicked through a few hand seals and sent his shadow lashing out after the woman to try slicing through her limbs so he could stitch her to the branch.
The Chuunin shook his head wildly and started backing away from the attacking pair while shouting out his answers. "I don't know anything! I was just doing what you said. I wanted to become a Jounin, that's all!" The chuunin pleaded, reaching for The male raised a brow and stared at Hige as he tried forcing his arm to continue in its path. "Get outta my way you run—" That kick knocked the male away before he could finish calling Hige the runt that he is, but left the woman a chance to draw a short sword and course wind natured chakra around it.
Lashing the blade out at Hige, the woman screamed in a mix of pain and frustration as the shadows were driven through her arms and legs, sewing her into a frozen position where only her head could lash about and look around. "The ant is this?!" She shouted out before glaring at the Chuunin and beginning to bark orders at him. "You had best prove yer on our side or I swear I'll rip your precious little eyes out!"
Hige was ready to move but Shugo struck first and he smirked at the woman. "That is your home for the moment. As for you," Hige says, rounding on the Chuunin, "you can decide to live, or die painfully. You'll still have to answer for what you did if you live, but at least you /will/ live." With that he turns back and drops out of the tree to land in a crouch, glaring up at the man as he straightens and Konsho appears next to him. "Surrender and tell us who you work for. Or don't and I'll extract the information painfully from you." The Inuzuka gives a fang toothed grin at those words as he stares at the man with feral eyes. "Which will it be?"
Shugo would shift his hand seals, extending his shadow along the branch and up around the woman's form until the tip of the shadow formed into a hand. The shadow split as it traveled, winding around the woman's arms to close around her hands, and then Shugo would focus his chakra to have the hands clench tightly on the woman's hands in an attempt to crush them. There would be no need for hands in an interrogation and it would prevent the woman from forming hand seals as well. "I'm trusting you to keep an eye out in case there's more of these people somewhere.." Shugo told Kizoku while concentrating on his shadows that were being used on the woman. Now that she was disabled he could pay more mind on the Chuunin if they tried escaping as well.
The Chuunin hadn't met Hige personally, but there were few people that looked like the wild Inuzuka and it made the chuunin fear for his life even more than when facing the two people that had been intent on stabbing him in the back. When the woman was bound and with the man kicked away, the chuunin had the freedom of a decision that could be made. And that decision… was to run! Scrambling along the branch, the chuunin kicked off and start to make a break for it as quickly as he could. Living a life in hiding was better than either fate that would await him after such a horrible fallout as this!
The foreign man had landed on his back but recovered quickly and had tumbled to his feet to face off against the Inuzuka. "Ya stupid punk… that spineless twit said no kids would be gettin' in the way here out 'ere." He complained while wiping at his mouth with the back of one hand and channeling chakra through his other as he stared down at Hige. The arrival of Konsho had the man stepping back into a more defensive position while looking between the little Jounin and the gigantic dog at his side. "Inuzuka, eh? I've played with you puppy lovers before. Got meself a nice rug of one back home.."
It's a good thing that Shugo captured the female, because any chance that this man would survive this fight was gone at his words on the Inuzuka. Hige's grin fades at the words and his eyes harden. Even Konsho looks almost angry. "Oh I'm going to enjoy killing you," Hige growls deeply, eyes narrowing. "Shugo, Kizoku, fetch that Chuunin will you?" Then he drops to all fours, chakra causing his appearance to turn even more feral and his fangs and claws elongate. Then he launches forward, leaving a poof of dust behind as he tries to slam his shoulder into the man. He apparently planned to take this slow.
Shugo would pick the child up and use the Haori to tie the boy into place on his back before turning and beginning to race after the Chuunin. He felt fine leaving the woman to tend to her hands, not worried about her being able to get in Hige's way unless she was an expert with fighting using her feet.. The Nara wasn't taking things easily today and with a few hand seals, he sent his shadowy tendrils lashing out toward the Chuunin to work at trying to coil about the fleeing person's legs and bind them to the ground. "If you'd just stand still I wouldn't need to hurt you, Hige's going to do a lot of that already~" Shugo called out to either tease, or perhaps convince the person to stop. The sing-song tone leaned the reasoning more toward the former than the latter.
"You're droning insane! He's going to kill me if he catches me!" The chuunin cried out as he continued trying to flee from the area. He didn't have time to play with someone and Shugo was well known as the only student to nearly-flunk out of the academy. He was no threat, or at least he shouldn't have been. Those shadows wound around the Chuunin's legs and the chuunin couldn't flee any further. Though soon that proved to be a joke as a pair of short logs were what his form poofed into and the Chuunin's form stood several meters away from Shugo with their hands brought up and held together. "If you want to get in my way that much I'm going to have to mess with your head a bit, flunkie." The chuunin stated before projecting his chakra forward in the form of the Yamanaka clan's hidenjutsu. He didn't need to take over Shugo's mind, that would be too inconvenient for his escape plan but the sight of the boy strapped to Shugo's back had him smirking slightly. He could have Shugo hand the kid over and then kill himself off if he could capture the genin's mind.
The foreigner grinned at Hige's less than pleased expression and snapped his fingers, a mental cue for himself it seemed. In an instant, his form was wrapped in crackling lightning chakra and no doubt, being bolstered by the chakra cloak. "Aww, givin' in already, puppy-boy?" He questioned teasingly to Hige while bringing up both hands to prepare for the fight against the Inuzuka. The result however, was subpar. That shoulder found its mark in the man's gut and launched him backward into a tree hard enough to shatter some of the bark. A hoarse coughing sounded out while the foreigner pushed from the tree with one arm, the other lashing toward Hige and Konsho to send a barrage of lightning needles in the direction of the Jounin.
Konsho moves away while Hige simply raises an arm in front of his face almost in a nonchalant manner, letting some of the needles stick into it. "Is that all you've got?" he asks, lowering his arm and not even seeming to notice what is likely at least a little painful. Instead he lets it drop back to his side while he stares the man down. "I'll give you one more chance to get in a good hit. Make it count."
Luckily for Shugo he isn't alone. Kizoku barks loudly and very much puppily from another branch, the only warning the Chuunin gets before wind stats flowing around him and then shoots out sharp invisible pockets of wind at the Chuunin.
Kizoku's barking was a bit of a surprise for Shugo along with that strange feeling of losing control of his body. The Nara was reaching back for the boy to begin releasing him from his back when Kizoku's attacks assaulted the chuunin and that loss of control was gone from his form. Growling a bit in annoyance at the Yamanaka's tricks, Shugo flicked from one hand seal to the next as he watched the Chuunin and then smirked as nothing seemed to happen. The shadow was below the branch and it was from there that Shugo drove the shadowy tendril up through the wood to try piercing the chuunin's legs so he could stitch the chuunin into place and bring him to his knees. "I'm gonna have to make you pay for that…" Shugo muttered while slowly parting his hands and letting his shadows begin crawling along his skin once more.
The attack was a success and it had the Chuunin grinning to himself. He could still make this a success. If one village would try stabbing him in the back, he'd have to look for a separate organization that would be willing to take in someone bringing such a unique offering as an aburame child. The barking had the Chuunin glaring at the dog, however all too late he noticed the wind's strange nature and before he could try dispelling his technique and getting away, the wind had begun striking at him from all sides viciously. Then there were the shadows that were driven through his legs and painfully pulling him down to his knees before he could resist. The feeling of panic was coming back again like some horrible insect crawling along his spine.
The foreigner was surprised when Hige let those needles pierce into his arm but smirked a bit as the other needles littered the ground around Hige and his ninken. "Nah man.. that ain't all I got. This is." The man announced before he flickered forward to close the distance between them in an instant while lashing an elbow forward at Hige's face. The needles in the ground in front of Hige would crackle slightly as a result of being used to anchor the person's movements.
Hige doesn't even appear to move at first while the man comes at him. It's not until he's close that Hige moves, and that movement is simply leaning to the side slightly so that the elbow goes right past his head. He gives the man an evil fanged grin before his hand lashes out, using the man's closeness to his own advantage. Lightning courses through his claws as they come up to slash at the man, the lightning even extending out past his his claws to rend deeper.
Shugo would smirk a bit as his shadows managed to drive through the chuunin and without a moment to waste, he'd send out a pair of shadowy hands coiling around the Yamanaka. Those shadows were aiming for the Chuunin's throat but stopped short while Shugo watched the Chuunin. "Let's try this again… you move, and I choke you until you pass out. Then I'll let Hige torture you until you wake up." Shugo offered in a calm, almost sweet tone of voice while looking at that Chuunin.
The Chuunin grumbled as he tried ignoring the pain of those shadows in his legs and the pressure of the shadows threatening to choke him. Still, he didn't like the idea of Hige torturing him at all. "Just kill me, you'd be doing me a favor that way.. I could have gotten away with this if it weren't for you meddling twerps… and your little dog to.." The Chuunin, or rather, ex-chuunin complained while looking at Shugo and Kizoku with an expression of deep annoyance.
The foreigner glared at Hige when he moved out of the line of danger but was quick to lean back from Hige's own attack. He wasn't far enough to escape those extended claws however, recoiling back several meters as he tried cover the bleeding gashes that Hige had ripped out of him. "Yer not as pathetic as you look. I'm gonna have fun telling tale of my new rug when I get home.."
Kizoku stared pompously at the Chuunin, his head raised high as he regarded the foolish shinobi that dared challenge someone near him. Hmph! The nerve of such people. Don't they know who he /is/? As for Hige, he simply straightens once again as he watches the man step back and try to cover his wounds. And then he starts talking about rugs again and Hige quirks a brow at the man before pointing a finger upward in a rather nonchalant fashion. "That rug?" Indeed while Hige kept him distracted Konsho had gone upwards and was now bearing down on the man in a flurry of furry lightning spinny vengence.
Shugo smiled a bit but reached into his pouch before tossing out a length of rope for his shadows to begin winding around the captive Chuunin's arms so they couldn't be used to make any seals before the traitor got any funny ideas about trying to escape. "Nicely done, Kizoku. I'll have to give you plenty of those treats Kenta made for you when we get back home… let's get this guy back over to Hige and see how he's doing." Shugo commented while walking toward their prisoner to begin checking the ropes.
The Chuunin hung his head as those ropes bound his hands apart and struggled against the ropes before he'd sigh and hang his head. The foreigner wasn't fairing much better either as he followed Hige's finger only to cry out briefly. His cry was brief as the deadly force of that attack being delivered by Konsho drilled down into him and slammed the foreigner into the ground, the cratered earth housing the badly injured body of the foreigner twitching slightly in the ground but moving enough to barely prove that he was alive. It would make for a good sign that the foreigner wasn't going to be managing to go anywhere.
As if by magic Konsho has no blood on him despite the powerful attack. Apparently that's all just part of Hige's specialty. The teen walks forward with his hands in his pockets, approaching the man and looking down at him in a mixture of pity and anger. "You might have lived, if you'd not spoken so stupidly. Now, though, we have your friends and I see no reason to allow you to keep breathing. And as much as I wish to torture some information out of you, you being alive at all makes me sick." He crouches next to the man, feral eyes looking into his. Then he lashes forward with a claw to open his throat.
Kizoku looks Shugo over as if judging whether or not he's worthy to give him treats or not. In the end, however, he gives a regal nod of agreement. And you can bet he'll hold Shugo to that as well.
With a Chuunin bound and lifted on a mass of shadows, Shugo started off through the forests back toward where Hige had been left behind. It wouldn't be hard to find him considering the sound of Konsho's attack not long ago. The only surprising matter was the lack of blood and gore that usually marked where Hige was when they were out on a mission. No doubt this was Konsho's work.
The boy strapped to Shugo's back would begin waking from whatever had him in such a state, a slight whine of unhappiness sounding out in the forest as the child adjusted his blackened glasses but proved that he was alive and unhappy, which for a child, meant they were fine. The woman had tried to get away however she found herself surrounded by much larger, much angrier versions of the boy. She would have tried to continue on her path to escape if it were not for the massive centipede that coiled around her and snapped its mandibles in her direction warningly. There would be no escape for her, nor the chuunin. A live of interrogation and punishment were now waiting for them.
Hige wiped his claw on the dead man's shirt to clear it of blood before standing and looking around, just to be super sure there was nothing else. And everything seemed to be okay. With a small nod Hige looks to Konsho and gives the pup some head scratches to help him not be so sad. "He won't be hurting anyone again, don't worry." With that he'd go to check on Shugo and Kizoku, then tie up the female for Konsho to carry back. They'd take it slow, that way they could all stay together and safe on the way out of the forest.
