Starring:
Maikeru, Yuri, Hisakawa, Yuuka, Noab, Fuyu, Daisuke, Hinotori
Date: March 4, 2011
Summary:
Seeking revenge for some of their ninja, soldiers, and officers being captured, a team of skilled Kirigakure ninja attempt to acquire some captives of their own.
"The Legion March - Retaliation Reversed"
Forest Basecamp - Land of Fire
Alright, so the Farmer and Fatass managed to get the best of them the other night, BUT he was rather outnumbered at the time. Two Jounin versus him and a few lower level shinobi… Turnabout is fair play. It's time to strike back once more. When he went back to check on Yuuka, he called in a couple favors from a couple friends, two lovely Swordswomen of the Bloody Mist. The others were brought along for backup, or perhaps just to help them more with knowing what it's like in real combat.
Night has set upon the Land of Fire, and Maikeru leads a small strikeforce of Kirigakure shinobi through the shadows of the forest secretly. He would've asked to be hidden by mist, but that tactic is one to use at certain points, and, if it's used too much, the Leaf Ninja will know to look for them inside it. His possessed arm is wrapped totally in black cloth to conceal the glow of it as he pushes a bit of chakra into it to it, preparing for the assult. Continuing to move silently through the shadows with the team, he searches for Konohagakure shinobi, intending to rebalance things to being once more in Kirigakure's favor.
The masked woman was already on the field. She was assigned to keep an eye on things during this invasion by someone higher-up. No favors required. She is also >quite< experienced at combat, so helping her know what 'real combat' is like is equally unnecessary. The woman is wearing a white porcelain mask, with a darker-coloured triangle over the mouth-section. It has slits for eye holes and Kirigakure's symbol carved into the forehead. She is currently crouched on the side of a tree, only a kunai in hand, and even that tucked against her wrist in a reverse grip. The darkness is her friend.
Okay, no. Suzaku Yuri has no friends, but the darkness is the closest thing to an ally she really has. She'll make use of this ally to the fullest extent.
Hisakawa stood on tree limb nearby. She stood still in the dark and leafy cover, but even being in hiding she has not lost her stately bearring. Her every move careful and precise. She has not yet drawn her sword, but it is but a moment from her grasp. She takes a deep and careful breath. Letting others plan this mission was part of their testing, and so far she has not seen flaws, even if she finds it… inelegant. She concentrates her chakra, her tempereture lowering gradually.
Being fully healed, Yuuka has been sent back into battle once more, holding her breath while she slips through the shadows in Maikeru's wake. Dressed in a darker cloak to blend in with the shadows of the night, the hood is pulled up over her snow white hair, covering her head so that she isn't seen by the offchance. Her deep eyes beneath the hood glances to those in front of her, absently biting on her bottom lip as she does as her fingers lightly tighten on the grip of her Epigaea Dagger, hidden within the long sleeves of her kimono.
Stealth. Stealth is an interesting tactical concept. It tends to be the friend of the attacker rather than the defender. After all, the defender is usually defending something that can't be easily moved or hidden, thus the attacker generally has a good idea of at least the general vicinity which the defender will be in. It's possible for stealth to be bent to the defender's advantage somewhat too, what with traps and ambushes and the like. On the whole, though, defenders are usually better off using strategies designed to foil the attackers' stealth and take advantage of prepared positioning.
Noab is not a big fan of stealth. He respects its potential will make use of it when he deems it the best option, but he's personally not very good at it. Especially these days, with his bum leg and his missing eye and his senses dulled with age. :P So it's no huge surprise that Noab's been put in charge of fortifying defensive positions. His subordinates work feverishly under the lashing of his tongue, building up barricades and laying out tags. "Set those logs deeper! They have to be able to slow down a walking boulder! You there, stop wasting time trying to find clever spots to hide those tags! We're not using those on ninja, just lay 'em out thick and fast! Move it, your homes and families are being threatened!"
Fuyu is on her way back from her own mission, completed yesterday. She needs to report on what she found out directly to the Hokage. These golems are what she thought they were. But some other aspects of their deployment… She is flickering through the shadows of the tree tops, with her long, ebony hair trailing out behind her like a cape of midnight. She has no intention of stopping before she reaches Konohagakure, but there's a fortification up ahead that looks to be friendly. Indeed, the bellowing voice of Akimichi Noab indicates quite clearly those at this choke-point are her allies. She has no intention of stopping.
But when she realizes her Sharingan is active again without her consciously choosing to make it so, she realizes she NEEDS to stop. And so, after announcing her presence to the defenders by virtue of holding a Konohagakure flag above her head and making hand signals for anyone who spots her, she will most likely land in the fortification without incident and report immediately to Noab. She keeps her eyes averted for the moment until she can change them back. They seem to be… 'Stuck'. "Everything proceeding well, Noab-san?" she asks politely while surveying everything.
Daisuke had been out on the 2nd line helping in the invasion, not being allowed to take part in the offensive push the first time. This time the young teen wanted to try to make a difference and help out a bit other than cleaning up spare golems and others that had snuck through the lines. As he made his way out to a fortification that was apparently still under Konohagakure's control, the young redheaded Senju retreated to his thoughts.
Arriving at the fortification both Fuyu and Noab were at, Daisuke approaches a nearby ninja asking who was in charge. Being told that Noab was the one to talk to, Daisuke was pointed in the right direction and heads towards Noab. Appearing before Noab and Fuyu, Daisuke is kneeling, "Senju Daisuke reporting as support, requesting something to do."
Having been moved to keep close of Konohagakure, being apart of the boarder patrol. During a change in the guards, new orders came in for Hinotori to be dispatched on the front lines to assist in operations there. With only the gear he has with him Uchiha Hinotori quickly travels towards where his orders wanted him to be. The Uchiha teen has many feelings of whats going on right now, but he knows that by allowing his feelings to cloud his judgement would only make him a liability.
Arriving some time after getting his orders, Hinotori looks about until he spots Daisuke walking over to where Noab and Fuyu were. He walks over there as well, bowing his head, "Uchiha Hinotori reporting as ordered."
Coming to a point where he hears the goings on of Noab's crew, Maikeru comes to a stop and brings up a hand as a sign to halt. He moves quietly through the trees closer to the point where the traps are being laid out. A smirk comes to his face as he watches the progress. Nice way to take out the stone giants… He looks up to the old shinobi who seems to be missing quite a few body parts as he bosses the men around. As he reaches for a handful of tags, he spots a woman walking up to him, and then a young man and another. Well, this might be harder than originally thought, but no use backing down now.
Deciding on a better plan, he moves closer in the trees, placing the tags away again. He points the demonic hand out at the group, and suddenly an enormous open hand lunges out of the tree line at them, opening up an enormous funnel intended to sap away massive amounts of chakra from all of them into him.
Unlike Maikeru, the Swordswoman named Yuri does not make herself known immediately. Instead she attempts to use the cover of the huge attack launched by her Jounin companion to dart rapidly from tree to tree — so quickly it >almost< resembles Body Flicker, but is not quite that level and is, infact, actually just physical speed. Yuri is not the fastest there is, but she is still at the height of a Chuunin's capabilities for sure. And she is very, very good at sneaking around.
She thus attempts to infiltrate the fortification, leaping from the forest floor, straight up dozens of feet, doing a forward somersault, and then landing within the walls in a crouch. Will she be spotted? Or is her position behind some crates sufficient to keep her hidden?
With the exertion of the high leveled attack, however, Maikeru suddenly begins to pour sweat. He apparently has internal injuries suffered from the wrath of the titan of fat during the attack the other night. He holds the attack as long as he can before passing out and falling to the ground unconscious.
Hisakawa notices the flitting departure of her fellow swordswoman. Flanking maneuver. Much more elegant than Maikeru's fronatl assault, but with Maikeru down from his previous injuries, it would be up to her to perform the roll of the front. She makes a seal and calls upon the moist cool air to obscure the battle field. She exhales softly, her breath cold enough freeze the mist closest to her.
Yuuka slows her pace and comes to an eventual stop in the shadows, just as Maikeru does in front of her, narrowing her dark eyes as he lifts a hand to signal to stop. The Kaguya kunoichi watches him for a brief moment before glancing through the trees. He seems to change his mind as the enormous hand lunges out straight towards the Konoha shinobi. Yuuka blinks once, though narrows her eyes again as keep keeps herself low and hidden, Yuri moving on her own while also in stealth mode, Hisakway moving as well just as Maikeru collapses. Making a face, Yuuka flicks her eyes to the Konoha group as she attempts to move into a better position.
Noab snorts. "As well as preparations for a full-scale invasion of giant stone soldiers can, I suppose. Got any new intel on them? I'd like to think they're chakra-powered, so that we could stop them with draining tags, but it's hard to imagine gathering and distributing enough chakra to move that many things that are that big." :P Noab turns his head as a couple of other ninja show up for orders. Hmmm, a Senju and an Uchiha…they're probably professional enough to put aside any personal differences they might have at a time like this, but might as well try to keep them separate. "Uchiha-san, join the lookout roster. There could be advance troops getting close to us by now. Senju-san, see if you can — "
Whatever Noab's order to Daisuke was going to be, it's going to have to wait, and probably Hinotori's order too. "AMBUSH!" Noab barks out as the strange arm reaches out toward the group. Noab does a few quick seals, and a slab of earth shoots up to block the attack. Noab tried to make it wide enough to shield the genin kneeling there, but he doesn't have too much chakra ready. Looks like Daisuke will have to fend for himself. >.U; After fending off the initial attack, Noab…turns his back on the foe? o.o Yeah, Noab knows that the first attack in an ambush is often cover for something else, and he trusts the slab of earth at his back to defend him from further assault for a moment.
Despite his quick thinking, Noab's old eyes don't manage to catch Yuri slipping into cover, so he keeps scanning the treeline and does spot Yuuka. The glinting of ice crystals in Hisakawa's mist cloud also gives him a good idea where within said cloud its user is. "Foes at the northeast and southeast quadrants!" Noab shouts. "Take defensive positions!" Noab takes in a deep breath and gathers his chakra. He's likely going to need it for what's coming. >/
Fuyu is not expecting anything. Really. Sharingan or not, she is more focused on what Noab is saying, the arrival of Daisuke and Hinotori, and getting her damn eyes to turn back to normal to notice the incoming attack. When she does, she makes a futile attempt at a defensive illusion. She is nailed hard by it and… Feels weaker. Her Chakra flows away from her and her Sharingan deactivates. How nice. Now when she NEEDS it, it turns off. With all the distractions going on, she fails to notice either the masked figure hopping over the wall, or to penetrate the sudden mist with only normal eyes. But as she leaps away and starts making herself a mobile target she catches sight of a head of silvery hair in the area.
She pauses to take aim, but then decides that such clumsy stealth as this is the mark of an amateur. The one controlling the mist and the one who attacked — if they are not, infact, the same person — are more of a priority. So she finds herself some cover, and the Uchiha woman then focuses her Chakra as she reactivates her Sharingan… At full power this time. This is a dangerous situation. Noab was right. She DOES have intelligence on the enemy, and it needs to be brought back to Konoha.
Daisuke listens to Noabs words and is only slightly distracted by the arrival of Hinotori, his best friend whom he hadn't seen for a long while. Offering a smile to his friend, his attention returns to Noab. Listening close, the red-head is preparing himself to get siked up for some potential combat when the call is made for an ambush attack.. On instinct the chuunin's reaction is to defend, his hands clasped in a seal as he sinks into the earth before the attack strikes the ground he was residing on. The boy stays within the earth for a few moments, making sure that things were getting organized above. After a few minutes a nearby rockface takes on the look of the chuunin's face as Daisuke pokes his head out to get a picture of what was going on and spotting Noab barking orders as to where the enemies were. He would stay in the rocks and dirt for now until he was a little more informed of the situation, for now focusing on preparing for battle by moulding some of the chakra he had before slipping back into the rock.
Watching Noab as he begins to explain where he wanted himself and Daisuke to go for patrols, Hinotori is about to turn and leave but before Daisukes orders could be given, the area becomes a blur of motion. As the enemy attacks, and able to sense where the first immediate attack was coming from. Hinotori is quickly able to channel his chakra through his body and expel it in front of him to forcebly propel him backwards out of the way of the initial attack. Landing and skidding to a stop a short distance away from the submerged Daisuke, Hinotori doesn't see Yuri as she quickly flits through the area and the trees. But as another of the enemy attempts to sneak by, Hinotori spots her.
His training taking over, his eyes glaze over and his sharingan activates to it's fullest power. Focusing more chakra, Hinotori takes up a defensive position near the front where the initial attack came from. Knowing the others would be doing the same.
Yuri fails to notice where the one kid disappeared to. All that mist in the way… Oh, well. There are many more targets that are far more visible. She starts off by taking a bundle of explosive tags and flitting about the area, setting them all up in various strategic locations. Then she makes sure she is standing behind some cover and…
*BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM* all over the place! Explosions go off, sending balls of flame and smoke roiling outwards! Then Yuri notices a very large man that was out of range of the blasts. He looks old. And strong. But mostly old. She smiles cheerfully behind her mask and then leaps out at him from a smoke cloud rising from a wooden tower, attempting to slash at him from above with a kunai she holds in hand. Nothing fancy. Just see how strong he is exactly.
Hisakawa learned much from the way their targets scattered below them. . The younger Uchiha and the younger earth user are noted even before the one disappears into the earth. The Akimichi was obviously in charge of this fortification. Experience cannot be ignored in an opponent but the famous.. or infamous.. Fuyu might be even more of a problem. But chess games are not won by attacking the king first. No. The castle.. the rook shall be the target. Using her superior terrain, the heighth of the trees, She launches her attacks over the walls of the fort and the earthen shield to the largest target. She draws a silver flask from her sleeve and opens the top drawing the water from within with her water manipulation. With a flash of her hand, the water solidifies into needles and fly to their target.
Yuuka doesn't sense Daisuke, let alone noticed where he had disappeared to. She has bigger fish to fry. Keeping to the shadows as much as she can, she doesn't realize that she's already seen. Once Hisakawa attacks Noab, the Kaguya kunoichi doesn't hesitate to push off in sudden speed, her wrist flicking a she holds out her blade as she prepares to strike at Noab as well.
Noab seems to have become the focus of the enemies' attention. Makes sense, him being the commander of the fortification. And, y'know, such a big target. :P But that's fine with Noab, he's used to taking the brunt of an assault so that others can do their jobs. Noab lifts his axe to block the kunai attack from Yuri, then makes a quick stomp on the ground. Another small sheet of rock pops up and deflects the venomous rainstorm from Hisakawa. Then Noab feels a cut across his prodigious flank. Hmm, that other one must've come in on his blindside. e.U Before a second slash can connect, Noab gives Yuuka a backhanded smack with an inflated hand. "Can't remember the last time I've had this much female attention," Noab mutters, turning and swinging his axe at Yuri.
Fuyu sees the Chakra flowing through the tags being placed around the area. She did not manage to spot the culprit, but she knows where the tags are and thus how to evade them when they go off. She leaps aside, backflips, leaps to the side again, and so forth to avoid each explosion. When she sees Noab being accosted by three opponents at once she decides to make it very clear that ignoring her was a mistake. Focusing on a single opponent may be a good idea if one has back-up to distract the target's allies, or if the target is alone… But neither is the case here.
She Body Flickers into position, facing Yuuka. Her glowing Sharingan eyes stare into the younger woman's face as time seems to stand still for a moment. Then she lashes out with a backhanded strike with her custom-made War Fan, trying to smash Yuuka in the side of the head with the blunt portion of the weapon. She leaves the masked one for Noab, and instead focuses her Chakra as she breathes deeply and then lets out an oil-laden fireball in the direction that the water-based assault came from.
Whether the fireballs hit or not, they'll burn up whatever they touch reeeeally nice. 'They wouldn't be stupid enough to attack with only these few…' she tells herself silently. 'This has to be a feint.'
Daisuke uses the fact that Noab is getting attacked to locate multiple enemies, selecting the crazy one that was trying to blow the whole place up. Destruction being his speciality, the genin rises behind the Swordswoman. Crossing his hands into an odd shaped seal, another Daisuke pops out from beside him before both of them begin to hand seal differently. Suddenly a giant dragon begins to rise from the ground in front of the red-head on the left, his mouth opening wide and beginning to glow. As massive projectiles of earth begin to spit from its mouth towards Yuri, the Daisuke on the left finishes his hand seals, spitting out a massive jet of fire that ignites the projectiles.
Eyes having adjusted, his Sharingan is able to pick up on the chakra flow that was coming from the tags as they were being placed. Knowing he didn't have a lot of time, Hinotori reacts quickly by jumping backwards, the using his fire natured chakra, he channels his chakra to expell beneath him propelling him away from the blast which obscures him from view as the explosions go off adding to his escape from the blast.
As he lands, the attack on Noab was well underway, skidding to a stop as he lands. Hinotori stretches his neck and as the Kiri Kunoichis move in to attack, Hinotori scans the attacks, and figures with Daisuke going against the swordswoman, he would need assistance. Rushing in as the dragon that Daisuke has created fires, Hinotori jumps into the air and throws a rapid spin split kick that erupts in flames aiming to engulf Yuri. Upon landing, he crouches and throws a powerful uppercut, which as he throws the punch, he employs a chakra body field, which as he throws the punch, fire seem to flare out from his right fist. "Katon: Shoryuken!" he calls as he leaps into air after the strike, hit or miss, he spins and attempts to land away from Yuri.
Oh, how the tables have turned! Three kunoichi against one man, and now the man and his two buddies against one woman! How unfair! Except for the part where she just sort of dodges aside from basically everything they throw at her. She ducks under and away from the slashing attack from Noab, and then continues the movement to put Noab between herself and the two Daisuke as the flaming rocks go smashing into the general area! How violent!
Then, from behind her comes yet another individual who is attempting to kick her with some sort of flaming foot attack! And then a punch that is also on fire! How unusual!
How amazing their teamwork is! How fierce these Leaf Ninja are!
And how utterly pointless their resistance is.
Yuri dashes backwards and sheathes her kunai with one hand while her other reaches behind her back and draws out a longsword that greatly resembles a giant sewing needle. She deftly throws it right at Hinotori, propelling it with both muscle and Chakra to essentially become a needle sharp >rocket<! Whether it succeeds in impaling Hinotori or not, Yuri appears directly in the path of her blade as it continues through to potentially impale Fuyu as well. She catches the weapon and then throws it at one of the Daisuke (she doesn't know which is which), with the intention of it passing through to then stab into and through Noab!
If it can make it through all that fat, anyway. That's why it's aimed high, in the heart-area, though! And in the end, Yuri just blurs into existence in the path of her blade once again. Then she tugs on the blade. Any people successfully impaled will discover there is a metal wire threaded through them, attached to a spool built-into Yuri's sword. And she just tried to basically yank on vital organs and pull them all together in a bundle.
Not fun.
Hisakawa draws her sword in preparation for the upcoming battle. She pauses, watching the battle unfold. Noab seemed to be a tougher target than she anticipated, but he was quite busy. She could not allow the others to attack unchecked. Suddenly the flame bullet streaked her way. This decided her next target. She sweeps her sword, producing a burst of snowflakes. When the fire hits, she is no longer there. She reappears behind Fuyu in another burst of snow and attacks with a precise sword strike. She follows this by inhaling and breathing out a blast of frigid cold at the legendary kunoichi.
Yuuka is easily backhanded after the first attack connects, a short cry escaping her lips as the Kaguya kunoichi is tossed back several feet, skidding just slightly before she sets her heels into the soft eart. Gritting her teeth in some irritance, she murmurs, "Maybe you should see a matchmaker then…" She tightens the grip on her Epigaea Blade. Though she readies herself for another round, Yuuka is instantly hit by the war fan blurring with speed, knocking her back several feet as well, struggling to keep to her feet. Growling faintly, the Kaguya snaps her head up, the dark hood of her robes long having been tossed back from her snow white hair. "Annoying…" Yuuka boldly locks her gaze with Fuyu the instant before she pushes off with speed again, her wrist flicking as she dances with the blade in hand.
It's a shame pose order isn't reflecting the IC order of things this round. c.c The last thing which happens in Yuri's fancy attack combo is that her sword pings off of the broad blade of Noab's axe. Before that, well, who knows? At any rate, Noab takes another swing at Yuri with the axe, then almost literally fires off an enlarged fist at her. "If somebody told you womenfolk oughta know how to sew, I don't think this is what they had in mind!"
Too many attackers at once. She recognizes the swords being used even as she moves to evade them. Nuibari… The other one she has heard of, but does not recall the name of. Either way, it is clear: two of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist are here. With Noab and herself, she thinks they could probably take them. But the base is on fire and rapidly falling apart. Personnel are scattered all over. There are no reinforcements on the way…
She considers trying to take the white-haired woman hostage, but that would be an unnecessary complication at this point. They would be pursued. So she makes sure there is no chance for the allies of her target to pursue. The thrown sword, the icy blade, the slashes with a melee weapon that she deflects with her War Fan… She moves fluidly, seeming to know where each attack is going to be before it is even launched.
Then she slams Yuuka with a Genjutsu that makes her believe she has just been stabbed in the stomach. It feels completely real in every way, including pain. And then Fuyu tries to grab Yuuka and pull her backwards into a column of dense smoke while she is stunned. Leaping away from the column of smoke is Fuyu, holding a human-shaped form. But the direction that Fuyu goes is not where Yuuka is being taken. Fuyu runs along the ground as her Shadow Clone makes a big show of leaping and flipping over the walls with the Kirigakure kunoichi in her arms.
Noab forms handseals and then calls out, "Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld!" It is time to get out of here. Through some unspoken signal between the two, a retreat has been called. The earth becomes mucky and mirey, trying to hold the two Swordswomen in place while the Konoha ninja retreat… Assuming that Hinotori and Daisuke are not impaled by Yuri's weapon.
As Daisuke is struck he gasps for air before poofing into smoke, the Daisuke beside him wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead. These were advanced ninja and he was out of his league. Perhaps it was time to… That train of thought was abruptly ended with the order to retreat and Daisuke gladly acknowledges the order. With a goofy salute to the older women, Daisuke sinks into the earth, heading through it for the closest fortification of Konoha forces that he had previously come from, expecting a lecture when he got there for leaving.
Keeping his wits about him, the Tokubetsu Jounin, tries to anticipate the attack that Yuri does, but unfortnately for him as he channels his chakra and forms the seals needed for his escape technique, him and his jumping replace is hit. The needle like longsword pierces and tears through his side, taking a nice chunk from his body as he lands, falling backwards. Shock and sharp pain races through Hinotori as he tries to get his wits about him. He hasn't taken a hit like that since the tournament, but this was worse. Grunting as he tries to slowly rise to his feet, the signal is given and he falls and as Noab creates his Swamp Technique. Coming in quickly, Hinotori only could stumble and fall around as he makes his escape as he holds his side to keep anything from coming out, outside of the blood. But he does make his escape, slowly and with aide from a chuunin who lagged behind to help those he could.
The world erupts with sudden pain as Yuuka sees the blade slamming into her gut, eyes widening with a sudden gasp of air as she could hear her heart beating hard in her ears. Looking downward, thick blood coated her front, pooling from the blade and spilling over her in rivers. She tries to gasp for another breath of air, but it seems impossible, her body fighting against her as she feels her weight fall forward onto her knees. In reality, Fuyu grips her as the Uchiha takes off with percise speed, retreating while carrying the prisoner of war, hearing the Kaguya's cries of pain as she clutches her stomach at the invisible force, while wet tears stream from her eyes and mat her snow white hair. Its only within minutes that Yuuka passes out completely from the shock, carried off into the unknown.
