Starring:
Date: March 7, 2011
Summary:
A team of Leaf nin and an ally from Kumo are sent to sabotage a bridge to head off Kiri's movements.
"The Legion March - Bridge Over Troubled Water"
A bridge over a chasm in a mountainous region in the Land of Fire
With the marauding Kiri army causing danger all over the Land of Fire, it's fallen to the ninja of the Leaf to keep the country's people safe, be it by protecting civilians, doing battle with the hated Mist nin, or otherwise foiling their foul plans. And tonight, a small team of Leaf nin, plus a jounin ally from Kumogakure, might just do all three.
Nobu and his team have come to a mountainous region of the Land of Fire. To the east of here, a contingent of Kiri forces has been spotted coming this way, and in their path are three small villages, quite unprepared to defend themselves against the invaders. Konoha has responded swiftly, however, and several teams of ninja are already standing by to evacuate the villages… should this team fail, that is.
The team has just arrived at their objective, and they are now crouched down in a small thicket of bushes on a hill overlooking a wooden bridge. It's not a large bridge, perhaps four meters wide and spanning around thirty meters. The bridge crosses over a deep, rocky gorge, and represents the only route into the region from the east. And if the Leaf nin succeed, it's going to be demolished by morning.
"Allow me to go over this one more time," Nobu whispers to his team, pulling a scroll out of his vest and spreading it open for the team to see. On the scroll is the blueprints for the bridge. "The bridge's main support runs down the center," he explains in a low monotone, pointing out a thick beam spanning the entire underside of the bridge, "We're going to blow it up." He reaches into his equipment pouch and pulls out a handful of explosive tags. "Then at either end there are two additional supports that brace the bridge against the rocks. According to the engineers, these can be dismantled by hand. And kunai. As for getting onto the underside, there's a small footpath leading to a ledge below the bridge. Or it might be easier to just climb over the railing. Once you're there, it should be simple enough to get around; there's a narrow scaffolding that you can walk around on. The other teams are going to start the evacuation if they don't hear from us within two hours. Any questions?"
Lucky for the group, they managed to score an Engineer, a Jounin level one at that in case the original plans went south. Though, Raili did not have lead, she'd more or less leave that to Nobu unless he attempted to send them on a suicide mission. All her role was, to assist whatever the Konohagakure ninja already planned. So, she would be relatively quiet as he explains, simply scanning the area.
The refresher would click in with the background noise, refreshing her subconscious. "Hmm, wonder why I never got sweet missions like this back at Kumogakure. Speaking of which." Raili would rest her thumb on her temple and index on her forehead, tapping her head a few times as she thinks. "I need a lot more explosives in my aresenal." The hand would pull away when she was done thinking out loud and begins to lean forward.
Her fingertips would lightly press against the ground and she would slowly push her weight onto it as she peeks through the bushes. Her eyes catching a flash in the distance. Tapping her backpack, a small scope would be produced and she'd stretch it out before her right eye. "Hmm, what do we have here?"
Raili would scope him out a bit more before handing the scope to Nobu, pointing out to Konohagakure ninja on where to look. "Lucky us, we have a slcaker guarding the bridge." An enthusiastic grin would show on Raili's face. "If anything, I know that things don't ever go according to plan but… this should be hard to mess up." She would then hold out her hand… expecting her scope back.
It's been a busy week for Eremi, what with the war between Kiri and Konoha going on. Lately he's been on more missions then he would have expected and he is loving every minute of it. The first couple missions were with a team he was familiar with. What he lacked, they made up for and he lacked a lot. Now he is with a new team, one he will have to try and figure out. He wouldn't open up to them at first and probably not at all. Eremi is here for one thing and one thing only. To be a useful asset.
Crouched low in the bush with the rest of his team, Eremi would pay close attention to his team leader. Watching his every move and trying not to miss a single word said, he doesn't want to be a bother and ask something that was already mentioned. As Nobu speaks, he listens. His eyes would look down on the scroll and study it, to be prepared for what is expected of him.
Being accompanied by a nin from kumagakure made Eremi on edge the most. He had a hard enough time trusting Fire nin, let alone outsiders of the village. As Raili makes the wise choice of using a scope, to scout out the area. He is at least glad to see she has experience in missions. Far moreso then he does. For now, Eremi says nothing. Waiting until told what to do. He would hate to step from his boundaries of being a genin and cross the team leaders line.
Taiki nods as he listens to the over-view again. He, being probably the greenest member of the team wondered for the first time just why he was along on this to begin with. Heck, he didn't even /have/ a team unless you counted the ninken at his side. But then again, he and Shinobu were a package deal, so that was to be expected. After taking a look at Shinobu to ensure his partner was doing okay, he turns his attention to Raili and waits while the leader checks things out.
"A guard…?" Nobu repeats in a low voice. He accepts the scope from Raili and looks where she's pointing, now spotting the guard fairly easily by the light of his cigarette, apparently the source of the flash that caught Raili's attention. "They got here a lot faster than we'd anticipated," he says. Up until now, his voice has been more or less monotone, but now his tone is a bit grave. He hands the scope back to Raili once he's gotten a good look at the sentry.
"You're right. He's not paying attention, but he'll probably notice us if we aren't careful… might be best to just try and take him down silently so he can't alert the camp." He pauses for a second. "We have four jobs and four people, then. I need someone who can take out that guard without making any noise. Then I need one person to get the supports on this side of the bridge, one person for the supports on the other side, and someone to put the tags on the main support. I can do any of those, so everyone should pick whatever they feel most comfortable with, and I'll take whatever remains. Or if you'd prefer, I'll assign you a job."
"Hmm… I suppose I can take care of the support the furthest away. I don't really think I'd be good for taking someone out silently." Raili's eyes dart between the grouping, frowning, "Unless… none of you feel optimal for that position." She then adjusts her backpack, "I do have my ways." Winking, she'd continue on "I suppose I'll just have to avoid using my gadgets if it's up to me."
Raili would then stay silent for a moment as things are sorted out and she'd eventually be handed the tags
Raili did not look as athletic as some Jounin would though her natural speed would be quite high as she quickly clears a good chunk of the distance on foot before simply disappearing into the distance. The woman would be on the side of the bridge, clinging via Tree-Walking, she would bring the tags up to her mouth.
Biting down with her lips, she'd hold the tags between them where the adhesive was NOT located as she scopes out the area. "Hmm…" She'd slowly raise her head over the edge to get a clearer look of what they were handling before moving on.
Eremi would list the jobs off in his head, crossing off the ones that seem like too much of a challenge for the genin to handle. He was glad Raili took the explosives, since he had no skill with them and he could cross that one off. Looking to Nobu, "I can take the closest supports." He would say with an uncertainty while he reached behind his sleeveless cloak for a kunai he had tucked away. The genin would then stay crouched low as he slowly moved through the trees and the bushes, using the shadows as his choice of conveyance. His black clothing only helping while he made his way to the bridge
Taiki shakes his head to Raili and says, "You're probably better with the explosive tags than I am. I'll take the far side support. Sounds right up my alley," he whispers so he's only heard by the people with him. He then looks at Shinobu and makes a couple of hand signs as he starts to make his way toward the bridge. Genin and ninken seem to work together quite well as they sneak along toward their objective. So far, so good.
Having been given the job of dispatching the guard by default, Nobu hangs behind for a moment as the rest of the team moves out towards the bridge. In the meantime, he grabs a few twigs and leaves and such from the ground and stuffs them into his vest and pockets, keeping an eye on the sentry, ready to act in case anyone is spotted. Thankfully, everyone makes it through okay, and now it's his turn. Lying flat on his stomach, he carefully crawls his way over to the bridge and stops behind a bush nearby.
For Nobu, Eremi and Taiki, the obvious way down to the underside of the bridge is a small side trail leading down to the near support, as well as onto the scaffolding. Alternatively, they might take their chances sneaking some more across the top of the bridge, then try going over the side. For Raili, hanging off the bridge side, it's possible to jump down to the scaffolding. The scaffolding is not much more than some boards, however, and it looks as if it hasn't seen much in the way of maintenance in a while. She could continue along the side of the bridge and cut down on her time spent on the scaffolding, though there's always the risk of alerting the guard.
Problematic! The bridge was still indeed quite under watch. Though that shouldn't cause too much of an issue, she'd just adjust her positioning. The straps of her backpack would be tightened as she moves about to get under the bridge. The scaffolding would be given a quick glance but, such shoddy craftsmanship! That or… terrible maintenance. Either way, she was not going to risk that at all and she would simply move to the bottom of the bridge, still holding on with chakra.
The girl would silently scurry across, finding it was a lot easier to see things when her hair wasn't in her face. She would close in on the goal and hope that no one was watching the bottom of the bridge that she possibly missed. She wouldn't want to be the one caught after saying it was difficult to mess this up.
Eremi would continue to make his way toward the bridge, but is unsure how much longer he could keep up being stealthy. As he continues, he sees his two options, the side trail leading down or trying his luck with getting across the bridge then jumping over the side. The latter relying on his speed, he goes for it. The genin would begin to sprint across the bridge, praying that his legs don't trip themselves up. Running for training is different then running with adrenaline and pressure, something he can clearly tell now. Running across the bridge, he sees the spot where he can jump over the side and does so.
Taiki and Shinobu take one look at each other and then scurry down the path, making use of whatever cover they can. The shimmy down to the underside of the bridge, then use the bridge's scaffolding and support beams to make their way across as fast as they can. Really, this is the better plan for them than trying to sneek across the top of a wide open bridge while out in the open. Eventually they make their way to the far side of the bridge and wait for the signal to start pulling it apart.
With the other ninja already well on their way to their objectives, Nobu knows he's going to have to hurry if he wants to get rid of the sentry before things get risky. Not able to go about this slowly, he realizes that it's probably best that he doesn't try to sneak up on the ninja at all. That would take much to long. Instead, a little patience and cleverness might make this a simple problem. He simply waits in the bushes for now, counting and watching the man puff on his cigarette.
On the underside of the bridge, Raili finds the main beam, still in good condition despite the disrepair of the scaffolding below. The scaffolding actually looks even worse in this area, and probably couldn't hold much weight. Trying to stand on it is a risky prospect, at least until Raili's back at the main branch of the scaffolding that runs along the side of the bridge. In any case, the explosive tags provided are probably enough to destroy the beam once set off.
Eremi proves quick enough to get onto the bridge and over the side without catching the guard's eye. He lands on a small platform cut out of the rock, the same spot where the side trail leads. And right there is Eremi's objective, the near support.
For both Taiki and Eremi, the wooden beams criss-cross in a complex pattern, though, as promised, the beam actually supporting could probably be taken apart without any special tools. The bridge is kept in place with a hook on its end that rests in a loop on the bridge. Some basic brute force might be enough to pull the hook out of the loop, though a clever mind might be able to find a way to remove the hook itself from the beam, or the loop from the bridge. Both of them are attached to plates which are screwed into the wood.
Great success. Raili would attempt to pat herself on the back, only to realize that there was a backpack preventing that from really happening. 'Oh right.' Reaching for the tags, Raili would pull them from her mouth and make her way down the beam, calculating in her head where would be the optimal placement of the tags since the beam actually appeared to be in decent condition. "Hmm maybe one here…"
Raili smacks on a tag and continue making her way down placing the seals in what she believed would be proper locations before heading back up. Now, she had not one once of experience with tags so she would leave it to one of them to do the detonating part. Her only objective now was to get the heck off the bridge before the tags accidentally(or purposefully) went off with her still on the bridge.
Flying over the side of the bridge and landing on the small platform, Eremi sees his support that he is supposed to deal with. Now the problem is how? He begins to wonder if dealing with the guard would have been the easier choice, but then realizes there is no time for distractions like that. Focusing on the task at hand he would have his choice to remove the hook or the loop. With kunai in hand he decides to focus on the hook attached to the plate and begins to try and work loose the screws
Taiki is faced with a similar situation on the far end. Boy, if only he had gotten Tsuga down, he could make short work of that wood and really bring the support down. But since he doesn't, he looks at the contraption carefully and then decides to undermine the hook's support by loosening the plates. At the same time he comes up with an idea. "Shinobu…" he mutters quietly, "dig around the base, loosen the ground the beam. Let's see if we can't let gravity do most of the work for us." The ninken, knowing silence is the order of the day, simply starts to dig.
Now that he's got the guard figured out, Nobu reaches down to one of the pouches on his belt and pulls out a senbon. He pulls up his left sleeve, exposing his senbon launcher attached to it and loads the senbon. Raising him arm up, he takes careful aim at the sentry, then waits… Finally, the man takes a puff of the cigarette, then exhales the smoke in a nice visible cloud. That's Nobu's cue to fire. Nobu flicks his thumb, then a soft 'twang!' sounds out and the senbon sails through the air, hitting the guard in the knee. Having used all his breath to blow out the smoke, he isn't able to let out much more than a stifled choke as his leg suddenly gives out and he topples into the chasm.
With the screws removed, Eremi's hook comes loose pretty easily and the support beam falls away. The bridge sags slightly towards that side and gives a creaky groan, though it's not quite ready to fall apart yet. Taiki and Shinobu meet with similar success and the beam simply falls away from the bridge without its plates firmly attached and its base dug away. Like with Eremi's support, the bridge gives another groan and sags even more. It's still safe to cross, but it wouldn't be after a couple months more use. But that's not going to happen.
With nobody watching, it's a pretty simple matter to make it back across the bridge. Once everyone is safely back on Konoha's side, the team moves to a safe distance, then Nobu sets off the explosive tags. The tags explode with an almighty roar, sending nails and bits of wood flying through the air. The bridge gives a final groan of protest, then falls to pieces, most of it falling into the chasm to be dashed apart on the rocks below. As for the few planks and beams still attached to the sides of the cliff, they're not much use for anything but firewood now. Knowing better than to stick around for the Kiri nin who are certainly on the alert now (even if they can't get across the chasm!) the team hightails it into the night to go call off the evacuation efforts. Mission accomplished!
Looks like Raili may of lucked out with the easy task, she was all set to go. Yes… lucked out, that's what we'll call what happened there this wasn't her plan all along at all. The problem was, she'd feel completely terrible if the others didn't manage to succeed.
So she would halt under the bridge, making sure the two were set to go and she'd wait to escort them back to the safe zone. "Good job guys! I'd give out congratulatory high fives and all but, let's, make sure we're good!" Wheels would then pop out of the bottom of Raili's boots as she goes skating back to the Konohagakure heading side of the bridge. Skidding to a stop she'd turn about to watch the end result of the mission.
All in all this was one of the more relaxing missions she was assigned to. The way the enemy ninja fell to his death troubled her a bit but, there was no simple way of going about it she supposed…. regardless Raili would be around fo congratulatory high fives if anyone really was looking forward to them!
Eremi would tuck the kunai away behind his back after the screws were loosened up and the weight of the bridge could no longer be held up on his side of the support. Satisfied with another mission success, he would make his way to the others. His trust for this team going up, even though he would still choose to keep to himself. The high five being offered, would be replied with a smile from the boy as close contact, unless in combat makes him nervous.
Taiki ran back as fast as he and Shinobu could, and stood by as the bridge exploded. He cheered as it went down, satisfied that the Kiri Shinobi would not be using that bridge to attack his homeland. He simply jumped in the air, throwing his fist in the air. "Alright! Chalk up another one for the home team!" He accepts the high five, then scoops shinobu up and prepares to walk back.
