Starring:
Kei (emitter), Yuri, Ryuutai, Takeshi, Youko, Fuyu, Moriko, Hinotori, Noab, Taji, Sekisetsu
Date: March 17, 2011
Summary:
Konoha shinobi and the Land of Fire forces stage a final assault to drive out the Kirigakure invaders. Unfortunately, they face their biggest challenge yet!
"The Legion March - The Jade Golem"
Land of Fire, Southeastern Provinces
The battle was already underway. The Land of Fire forces had attacked shortly after dawn, the day before the Land of Water was to do their own push further into the prosperous country. All along the massive frontlines were the sounds and effects of battle, men and women clashing against animated stone in a fierce struggle. The entire valley was resounding with the concussive sounds of jutsu igniting and colliding, men and women screaming, and the clash of weapons both metal and stone.
The Land of Fire forces were being led by the Hokage herself, and sudden eruptions of densely-interwoven woodlands were severly retarding the progress of the clay golem legions. Simple pits and judicious deployment of jutsu were also taking a toll on the Land of Water's overwhelming numbers, destroying golems that could no longer be easily replaced. The entire world seemed to be going insane, and the fighting all along the front lines was degenerating from well-ordered forces into a chaotic, deadly hide-and-seek. The battle was quickly being cordoned off into separate areas as trees, earth, water, and flame scarred and altered the terrain to become a checkerboard of destruction.
The Land of Fire and Konoha forces were being favored thus far in the confrontation. They weren't making any ground, but for perhaps the first time in this war, they were absolutely halting the Land of Water's advance. Neither golem nor man, nor shinobi for that matter, was thus far able to break through their lines, and word was filtering out to the Konoha-nin from Hashiramako to press the advance and try to carve a path through their ranks which the soldiers could follow.
Samominoryuu Kei wasn't present on the battlefield. Instead, she was in a large, roughly oval room, watching through a pair of huge circular monitors the state of the battle. She stands next to a pedestal, on this pedestal being a large, attached silver orb. Several adjutants in the underwater chamber monitored other control panels, some related to the two enormous cables that connected this chamber with the land. The woman had a distasteful scowl on her face as she watches events begin to unfold, as if she were watching insects scurrying instead of people dying.
Perhaps to her, she that's exactly what she was seeing. Others were in the room with her, though very few shinobi were in the structure itself. Most of them were needed outside to try to break through those damnable walls of earth and wood in order to allow their soldiers and golems through.
"Nngh, how very vexsome."
A few days ago, Suzaku Yuri expressed to her fellow Swordswoman the importance of being well-rested, well-fed, clean, and motivated in the upcoming battle. Whether standard Land of Water soldiers, or ninja of the Hidden Mist Village, believing they would win before the battle actually begins could well be the key to making that belief a reality. Though the Land of Fire's forces, and even some allies from Sunagakure, as well as a division of 'Combat Engineers' from Kumogakure, have all launched their own attack… The battle is far from lost.
Confusion may be rampant among the ranks right now, but it requires only a show of leadership to grab the attention of Kirigakure's men and women, and direct them to the enemy's weak points. That is what Yuri has set about doing. Wearing her Hunter-Nin mask, the Swordswoman starts off just providing orders from well behind the front lines. She is not in the habit of leaping into the path of a Kage's jutsu when there are so many others already in the process of doing so. But eventually it is made clear… Some more >direct< action is required. Turning over her command to the others on-site, Yuri fights to make her way to where she can make a difference, even leaping and running on the backs and shoulders of other people if such becomes necessary.
Eventually, she enters one of the 'cordoned off' combat zones, and with the withdrawal of a scroll from her belt, Yuri produces her very own ninja squad. The three men are dressed in fully-concealing outfits with Hunter-Nin masks. They move in a perfectly synchronized manner with their leader, as they begin to take the fight to the Leaf and its allies…
'Break through those damnable walls of earth and wood'. If such is what is necessary… Then Yotsuki Ryuutai has PLENTY of experience at doing what is necessary. Leaping and moving swiftly and silently (especially amongst all the explosions, screams, sounds of wood creaking and growing at an accelerated rate, tidal waves, and so forth), the dark-skinned man has both of his electrically-charged blades in his hands and is proceeding to a position near the front of the battle, but not necessarily in the thick of the fighting. From there, he gathers his Chakra and begins using Lightning Release to shatter the barriers formed by Earth Release. Earth is WEAK against Lightning, after all. The Wood Release, however… Despite what is used to create the massive trees and walls of wood, it is surprisingly RESILIENT… And still, Ryuutai fights on. Where Lightning has no effect, he resorts to trying to simply cut through the wood directly.
This is war. Despite his personal convictions of late, he has enough experience at war that falling back into it is easy. Habits formed regarding massive battles re-emerge. He has yet to slay anyone… But it is only a matter of time.
Takeshi was not in the least unprepared for returning to war. What he was unprepared for, was the new allies and changes in village structure and leadership that resulted during his two year absence. Such is life some would say, but Takeshi thinks not. However, he was old, old enough to use it as an excuse for not rushing straight at the front lines and instead taking his time on an overlook near the base camp for the Kirigakuan forces.
Behind him, four more people stood. The oldest wearing a kind of combat robe that reminds one of ancient mages who would wear long, flowing robes to protect themselves during combat with others with their talents. The second oldest was more practical, wearing a suit of light armor, but that isn't important, what /is/ important is the veritable armory on her person. The third oldest, a boy, was dressed in a gi, some kind of martial artist from the look of him and the fourth was another girl, this one dressed much the same as the oldest. Their jobs are oddly easily ascertained just by their looks alone.
This was the Odori clan in its entirity and as the eldest rises, the rest move to stand next to him. "Aoi and Sumiya, you're with me. Akiko and Yuuji, get to the base camp and provide whatever support they need, even if it is only meanial labor." All of them nod, the two youngest moving to the base camp to provide support. The three oldest remain. Finally, the elder kaguya opens his eyes, "Well, I've been back for two days and I've been dragged into clan politics and thrust into a war. This is just about par for the course for us wouldn't you say?"
Aoi laughs, "It oculd be worse. They could have looted our home."
Sumiya blinks, "I thought they did."
Takeshi shrugs, "Nothing that was of importance at least. Now, let's move on. Break off and cause your own chaos, take a different lane. I'll take the center, Aoi can take the left and Sumiya the right. Support our troops."
A nod is given by all three before they move out to fufill their variou missions. Takeshi shot straight up the center of the battlelines and that's what he would do until he met resistance. His goal was further back in the Konohagakure lines. It was time to repay Konoha for their 'hospitality.'
One Kunoichi is running over and around the battlefield. Her name is Youko, and her pale skin and hair are complemented by the color of blood on her skin. Other people's blood. She is making her way towards the enemies on the battlefield, the soldiers and ninja of Konoha. She doesn't have any fancy words, nor any special moves—yet, but she has the grin of someone who is loving the taste of blood.
Regardless of whatever animosity may or may not exist between Uchiha and Senju, the former are here and fighting alongside the latter in full-force this day. Leading them is Uchiha Fuyu. For several days now, she has had to deal with a recurring issue of her Sharingan activating seemingly on its own, and remaining active until she notices the Chakra drain or someone points it out. It's like something is changing inside of her… She doesn't know what it is, but it's making her feel stronger and stronger. She thinks she knows what — or rather WHO — is responsible as well.
But the Earth-Child is not present for this battle. She is back in the Leaf Village, where she can not be witness to this carnage. So regardless of if it is her who has made Fuyu begin to change or not, right now Fuyu can only rely on her own strength… And the strength of her allies. At the moment, Fuyu stays back, analyzing the movements of the enemies from afar and then directing the troops as-needed. She cannot risk herself on the frontlines, where a stray attack or kunai in the back could end her. Too many people are fighting to keep track of them all at the same time as she fights herself. So, at least for now, she simply observes and waits for an opportunity.
Mo is of course moving along the front lines, the Kunoichi pulling nin and soldiers alike out of harms way and stabilizing them with jutsu before passing the injured off to a proper corpsman and moving on, sometimes she's fighting sometimes not. Still the Kirryu is putting her versatility to good use, fighting as need be long enough to get her fellow countrymen to safety. Mo would glance up after getting a person to safety then she looks back at the lines, the Kunoichi's eyes darting as she studies. "Just throwing more'n more into the frey, where's the strategy." She mutters, and then moves off again to the forefront, attempting to assist a group as best she can. "Oy, thought that formin' the villages would slow this down, not just make it worse." She mutters, then waves to a nearby genin "Back, back, help pull these guys to safety!" She calls out, the woman turning to bar further attack on the group as she focusses and readies for more pitched combat.
War, it isn't fun, and those who have fought in the Clan Wars know of this, those who just been in wars know of this. Hinotori isn't a fan, and the emotions that are running through him right now. But focusing and clearing his mind of all things except the mission at hand. Dressed in blacks and deep crimson, the Uchiha Tokujo is already moving with a squad of Konoha forces along the mid-range lines, helping with moving injured off the fronts and getting them to medical teams who are moving about stabilizing the injured and getting them out of the combat zone. His skills do come into play as he moves in to fill in the spots until reinforcements come in. His Sharingan ablaze and watching to make sure there is no penetration in the area he's guarding by the Kirigakuran enemies.
"~WE WILL CRUSH YOU INTO DUST~!" *RRRRUMBLE-CRUNCH!* "~MAKE YOUR WEAPONS CRACK LIKE RUST~!" *BANG-CLANG!* "~BURN YOU DOWN RIGHT TO THE CORE~!" *FWOOOOSH-CRACKLE!* "~DON'T INVADE OUR LAND NO MORE~!" *KABOOOOM!
Most of the troops Noab has worked with for any significant period of time have come to hate his singing. Yes it is that bad, but more importantly it's associated with the gruelling training exercises he puts them through. To make it even worse, failing to sing along at the top of one's lungs resulted in said training becoming even harder. But now, as Noab smashes a slow path through enemy forces, there isn't a soldier in his command that isn't hollering with him with all their heart. "~SOUND OFF~!" "GONNA ROUT!" "~SOUND OFF~!" "MIST OUT!"
Taji is here, despite the intensity of the battle and his dislike of violence. He is staying back, for the moment, near Fuyu, his team leader. He keeps back, a frown etched on his face as he watches the carinage. Staying near Fuyu helps in a few ways, in that occasionally Taji tries to point out anything Fuyu might miss, not due to skill, but due to only having two eyes. Also, it means Taji is right there in case anything goes wrong, to carry a message or what not. For the moment this role may not be as glamerous as front line combat but it is useful and Taji is willing to be an overblown messanger boy if it means helping the cause in this fight. He's focused and ready to go, if anything gets too close that is, on full alert as it was.
Samominoryuu Kei, the mastermind behind the golems and this entire invasion, scowls at the two viewing monitors as the Leaf begin to turn the tide of combat against the Water-nin. The Land of Fire forces are inflicting unnacceptable losses and holding their line across the several-miles long battlefront. HOLDING THEIR DAMNED LINE! Unacceptable.
"UNACCEPTABLE!" The swordswoman shouts, as if her thoughts needed violent verbalization. Several in the spacious, dimly-lit metal room with her jump at the sound of her echoing voice, but quickly turn their eyes back onto their equipment. Kei turns to the silverish orb sitting on a pedestal in the middle of the room. She reaches over, towards the crystal-ball-looking device, and touches it. Immediately, like some kind of gloworb, it comes to life under her hands, turning a dull orange. "It's time to play."
All across the battlefront, like an invisible shockwave rolling through them, golems halt, jerk in odd, spasming motions, and then their orange-eyed glows turn to a pale, muted pink. Golem divisions which had been rendered inert due to their controllers death suddenly animate! They seem STRONGER now, FASTER, they are now able to RUN and swing their weapons with speed and ferocity. The first few lines of Land of Fire soldiers never knew what hit them as the previously robotic, slow-moving monsters begin smashing down with their swords with the same speed and proportionate strength as any human that was twelve feet in height. The line begins to falter in places, though the brave soldiers, backed by shinobi struggle to reclaim their advantage.
A maelstrom begins to appear over the water, likely unnoticeable at first until geysers begin to spew and a small tsunami hits the deserted beaches. Something is rising, a veritable mountain coming out of the waves several miles off-shore. Yet it is clearly visible even from the location of the fighting several miles INLAND, particularly for those who are elevated. An enormous, dull green helmet lifts out of the waves. And then a pair of armored shoulders, a plated chest, arms. It's a golem, but made of some green material and MUCH TALLER THAN ANYTHING ELSE ON THE BATTLEFIELD.
It's like the Empire State Building just stood up, the enormous Jade Golem up to it's waist in the water. Each of its movements creates twelve-foot waves as it begins sloshing towards the shore, each movement exaggerated in its hugeness. It will take a bit of time before it reaches the land and begins its attack, but the damage that lone sentinal could do to the entire Land of Fire army will be catastrophic.
And from the head of the animated beast comes a booming voice, the voice of Swordswoman Kei, rolling across the distance like thunder. "LAND OF FIRE! I'VE GOT A LITTLE SURPRISE FOR YOUUUUUUUUU~ HAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!"
Yuri and her squad of oddly well-coordinated ninja cut their way through the enemy ranks until a somewhat familiar face appears. The Akimichi Clan Head again! Oh, joy! Not quite the one Yuri was hoping to kill today, but he'll do for now. Better yet, maybe if she makes him scream loud enough it will draw out her >real< target! <3
Out of nowhere, a longsword shaped like a giant sewing needle comes flying at Noab's upper body, aimed right at his heart. It trails a line of wire that is almost imperceptible amidst all the chaos. A few seconds prior, at Yuri's side, one of her squad members opens a scroll and aims it at both Noab and his troops. A barrage of senbon needles comes pouring out in the hundreds, pelting everyone and everything in the way.
That's one way to get someone's attention!
Taking down the source of all these Earth and Wood Ninjutsu would be nice… But Ryuutai sees no sign of the Hokage herself. Further, she is not someone he would want to attack alone. Even if it was solely him striking at her, he would want at LEAST some distractionary forces available to hold her attention. But that is all hypothetical at this point, and he doubts he could kill her in a single blow anyway.
If at all.
The Jounin notices a more opportune target though. It seems someone is acting as both medic/combat-support AND combatant. Ryuutai regrets taking action against a healer… But no one said he had to kill her in the process of making sure she cannot fight. To that end, the dark-skinned man suddenly blurs into existence at Moriko's side. He does not use a Ninjutsu to do this, just pure speed. He slashes twice with each of his pike-like blades, the Lightning Chakra infused into the metal allowing him to slice through even the thickest of armor.
'Nothing personal,' he thinks silently as he completes his rapid series of blows.
Takeshi slides to a stop inside one of the cordoned off areas as the massive golem rises from the sea, a voice booming out across the battlefield to inform the entire konoha front of its intention. The old man can't find any strength to stop himself from staring at it slack jawed. But not because it's a huge golem, oh no, he's seen humans turn into dragons, this is nothing. No, because of the lack of subtlety and then the slow lumbering climb to the frontlines. "…No…subtlety, none at all."
But enough of that, it wasn't important right now. It just means that they know who to attack first and will hopefully leave the old man alone, yes, that would be best. After all, he's just an old man, he doesn't want to have to lift a finger unnecessarily, that would hurt, what with all that arthritis going on. Apparently he rambles now too.
Regardless, he had reached a good stopping point. Now it was time to rest and see what would come to pass. "Let's see, where did I end up."
Trying to decide on a target to attack, Youko eventually settles on a big target. The idea is that bigger means easier to kill… whether that is true remains to be seen. Nonetheless, she hops over and between the people to get closer to Noab, drawing water along with her hands as she shapes the water with chakra. "Hey bigger'un!" She calls out with a bloodthirsty grin. "Come and get me!" That said, she launches both of the fistfulls of water in rapid succession. Both forming sharp points that are hard enough to pierce skin.
Fuyu sees a few large sources of Chakra in the area… Two of them seem very familiar… And they appear to be on the enemy side of things. One is clearly that Swordswoman. The other, however… Frowning, Fuyu determines that there is enough different about this man with his electrified blades that she must just be mistaken. The coloration is very similar… But no. She saw this Chakra before, at the factory attack. She is misremembering.
Almost about to move to engage them directly, Fuyu instead holds herself back. Looking towards Taji for a moment, the ebony-tressed woman considers her options. Then she turns and orders aid sent to both Noab and Moriko. Hinotori should soon be given the message to travel to Noab's location and assist him, unless he finds another target to engage.
And then the water surges and rises. The change in the golems preceding this shift in the water is noted with a frown. 'This increase is fighting power…' she thinks. Then that enormous jade golem emerges fully. Gritting her teeth, Fuyu decides it is time to stop standing back. She doesn't recognize the voice, especially with the distortions of the speakers being used, but she can guess who it is anyway. First, time to buy some breathing room for the Land of Fire forces. After THAT she can work on shutting the golem down in the only way that is truly feasible. The vast amount of Chakra flowing through the golem makes Fuyu more than a little bit tense. But first thing's first.
Forming a series of handseals, Fuyu releases a small ball of fire from her mouth. It flies forward and as soon as it lands amidst the Kirigakure and Land of Water forces… It erupts into a massive firestorm that sweeps through the enemy ranks! That should buy the 'breathing room', that Fuyu wanted to obtain. After giving a few more orders, so that people are not left without leadership while she is gone, she takes to the field and begins trying to fight her way close enough to potentially weaken this new weapon of mass destruction… Attacking it directly would be pointless and stupid. But maybe there is some other way…
As Moriko takes up a defensive position for the genin to pull the latest injured to safety she's engaged! A charged sword comes flying at her, and the girl reacts! Quickly she bends out of the way of the first one, the sword passing by her, with only a few scant inches to spare. THe next attack misses the Jounin by a similar margin, the girl re-gaining her balance shortly before slipping underneath the next attack without giving up more ground than necessary. Moriko takes a few steps back, the girl distancing her self enough to form seals. Next the girl reaches into a pocket and a couple steel ball bearings are flipped into her right hand, her arm allready arcing with electricity before she points her finger at her attacker much like one would do in cops and robbers. THough instead of her making the bang, there's pair of dull reports as a pair of now red-hot steel marbles are shot at Ryuutai at high speed.
Having the reinforcements come to relive Hinotori, the Uchiha Tokujo now free to continue giving backup to those Konoha forces that he's near. Begining to travel westward, Hinotori sees a concentration of chakra near where he is travelling. But as he gives a glance back towards where he was just leaving, he skids as the large amount of chakra coming from the lake area. He isn't close enough to get there, but his experience with the golomns is very limited. Hearing the distorted voice calling to tell them it had a surprise for them. Hinotori sighs and is about to head off in that direction when a skirmish close to him catches his attention. Not wanting to leave a comrade to fight alone especially if members of the Seven Swordsman is here, he didn't want anyone taking their chances alone.
Rushing to the assist for Noab, Hinotori is able to find Youko who is attacking Noab, the man who led their last mission in which Hinotori himself was badly injured by the woman with the large sewing needle like sword. Focusing himself, Hinotori coming from Youkos right, leaps in towards her and as he does he channels his chakra through his body producing a chakra field as he performs a split kick which flames erupts from his legs as he aims to strike towards her chest and head. Upon landing he skids and spins about changing his direction and channels chakra through his legs to leap up and over Youko to position her between him and Noab but as Hinotori leaps up and over, his hands flashes through hand seals and brings his right hand to his mouth and fires a large fireball down towards Youko aiming to engulf the woman in the inferno he just launch towards her.
Well THAT'S certainly not something you see every dynasty. o.U; Where do those Kiri nin get the resources to build something that big anyway? Probably could've fed a largeish city for a year with the funds that took. :P Is that their excuse for attacking other lands? 'We have to fill our coffers through conquest, we spent all our grocery money on weapons'?
Well, no time to get socio-economical about it now, Noab realizes. Instead, time to think strategically. The golems switched modes somehow and just got faster and stronger. Why? Or rather, why not before? Either they couldn't use this mode before for some reason, or there is some disadvantage that makes it worthwhile only under certain circumstances. How are the circumstances now different from before? The source of their production has been cut off, and the tide of battle has turned to pushing the Land of Water forces back. Could it be that this 'overdrive' mode is only good for a final push? Noab can't know for sure, but he reasons that going on the defensive will likely be a good thing either way. If the golems can't keep up their current pace, Noab would rather they burn up their energy against inanimate defenses, and if he's wrong, at least buying time to figure out what's going on would be good.
"Retreat!" Noab bellows. "Fall back!" While his subordinates scramble to get back without being cut down in the back by the rampaging golems, Noab calls up his chakra and goes through some seals. The earth trembles, then cracks and RIIIISES in a wide cliff, blocking the approach of most of the Land of Water forces in the immediate area, though Noab couldn't help taking their frontlines with him. It also handily absorbs the attacks fired off by Yuri and her squad, as well as Youko. The newly-created bluff shouldn't present a great deal of difficulty to trained ninja, but the regular forces will probably have to take a few minutes to get around it. Noab sets about clearing off the few enemies that were caught up on the ramp with his forces, using broad sweeps of his axe. "Form ranks, push 'em off!"
Taji is standing right near Fuyu and when the giant Jade Golem rises up from the water he looks more than a tad worried. He glances around then calls over to Fuyu, "Fuyu-Sama? Do you know where the control for the big one is coming from? Can you see a link back of any kind to something or is it being controlled from inside that beast? We have to find a way to stop it!" He moves to the side a tad, trying to keep out of the line of fire or out of any nasty blast attacks that might head back towards Fuyu. Taji knows that Fuyu will be a big target and doesn't want to be right in the kill zone for any large area attacks aimed at his team leader. He's confident she can handle herself, but not so much on his own skills. He moves away, awaiting some answer from her, scanning the field of battle himself both for incoming attacks and for any sign of a source of control for the larger golem. Removing it from the field of battle just became priority number one, but going at it head on head is suicidal, so frowning he tries to figure out how it is controled on his own, while waiting for some answer from Fuyu, if it is coming.
The towering metal behemoth continues to slosh its way towards the shore, a giant hand reaching up, grabbing a pair of cables connected to its chest. It rips the cables from its body, never slowing its forward walk, allowing the enormous rope-like things to fall into the water. It moves closer, covering a few hundred feet with each monstrous step, rocking the ocean as if it were an over-sized pond. It is now less than a mile offshore, up to its knees in its water, miniature waterfalls pouring off it as it continues to march inexorably forward.
Meanwhile, the appearance of the Jade Golem has unsettled the entire Land of Fire army! How could they stand against such a thing!? Demoralization coupled with the reinvigorated onslaught of the golems is causing the Fire Country's battle lines to rapidly crumble. Its now more the erupting walls of fire, water, earth, and wood that are keeping the enemy from completely overwhelming them than their own battle prowess! But the ability and energies of the Konoha shinobi were not infinite, and those walls and barriers would prove to be like paper when the NEW threat finally arrived.
All along the battle lines men scream and die, and golem hordes, which had been cut down by nearly a third since the battle began, were now returning the favor with a vengeance. Kei, the madwoman responsible for the carnage below, watches it unfold through the two large monitors with glee, occasionally changing 'channels' in order to get a new perspective. Men were dying at the hands of her playthings, which suited her just fine. Even the behemoth they were in, fueled by the lives of so many captives they had taken since the war began, was her toy, a toy meant to bring about the death of any who got in her way.
Her hand on the control device tightens, directing the golem with her will, linked to it by chakra. It was just like driving the world's biggest Tonka toy, she notes as the beast begins to take its first steps onto the beach. It wasn't at the combat site yet, but with its distance-eating strides, it wouldn't be long before that massive sword was put to use against the men and women of the Land of Fire.
"Die, die, DIE, Leaf scum! Now you see what TRUE power is!"
As Noab calls for reinforcements and withdraws his soldiers, Yuri's own squad likewise withdraws in perfect formation, moving as a single unit via some invisible communication method. No hand-signals are being used, and it's happening much too fast to be verbal, even if words could be heard over all the other noise… Perhaps a short-range radio? But radios tend to be rather bulky at this point in time, and the Swordswoman has nowhere on her person that seems like it could house such a device—Okay, maybe between >those<, but otherwise no.
Her thrown blade has already been recovered by yanking it back into her hand via the wire attached to it, so she is re-armed and ready to find a new target… When Fuyu appears, leaping down from some base camp in the rear of the Land of Fire forces, and unleashes that massive fire storm on the Land of Water troops… Well, it would not take a genius to figure out that she needs to be stopped if they want to have any chance of success. Fuyu may have just taken out >hundreds< of soldiers with a single jutsu due to how close together they were!
But Yuri is not thinking about the good of Kirigakure when she makes the decision to attack the Uchiha woman. She is thinking about how nice Fuyu's face will look once it has been cleaned, preserved, and hung on her wall. She begins moving across the battle field, her three ninja allies moving in concert with her. The four close in quickly on Fuyu's position…
Then Yuri draws and throws a kunai with an explosive tag attached to it. Simultaneously, one of her companions draws out a scroll and releases a hail of senbon similar to what was used against Noab and his troops moments prior. Yuri makes a hand seal and the tag ignites. A half-second later… >boom<! That should get the other woman's attention, if nothing else!
The two red-hot steel balls fired at Ryuutai are avoided. Even though it may LOOK like he's standing there and hoping to block the attacks with his swords, he has already moved before the projectiles even arrive. Having relocated to behind his opponent, the dark-skinned man produces a spinning 'wheel' of electricity along one of his blades and attempts to 'saw' through Moriko's right upper-right back and right shoulder. An attack at the head or spine would have been more effective for killing her, but perhaps the warrior simply missed… Or maybe he doesn't want her dead?
So far he has yet to say anything other than whatever internal musings he may be having. It seems bantering during battle is not part of his modis operandi.
"So this is war, huh? Hmph… Not as weird as I thought it'd be?" "AAAAACKK!!! *gurglegurglegurgle*" "Hah! He said 'gurgle'. Hilarious!! Hahaha!" One would have thought that Seki was walking through some random tour of the battle field, the way she seemed to just stroll about, not having really a care in the world. Not even the the death around seemed to phase her, a man's throat litterally /rip/ from his neck by the new and improved golems produced by Kei. A Leaf ninja's body would fall limp, bleeding in a spray of red, before the girl would even blink at it all. Meanwhile, as the large battle raged on, the small Kurenko girl, dull to it all and deserting of her platoon, peered at it as nothing more than a cartoon show on Saturday morning.
So far, in her little… adventure, she hadn't seem to do a thing beyond simply walking about, her dumb luck, and small size seeming just enough to help her stay safe, and free of /any/ attack. It was like she had been a ghost, wandering, and looking at this whole thing from the outside completely. People were /dying/ and yet child like eyes viewed this all as something lesser than a game. Re-mark-a-ble… Had Kirigakure's training been enough to literally de-sensitive a child /this/ much? Or had Sekisetsu simply been that dumb, lacking any survival instinct, or, better yet, /fear/?! Perhaps so. They say even gods tend to pity a fool, but where indeed does that pity stop? Is it at the moment they actually /try/ to be this dumb? Or is it when suddenly the 'Fates' have suddenly grabbed a hold of that same fool's lifeline, and deemed it's snipping nescessary?
Such a small and innocent seeming girl. Such a terrible and unforgiving scene. What was this war even for?? Sekisetsu couldn't probably answer that question even if the reason was put right in her face. The only thing understood by the small Genin, was that /alot/ of ninja had to die for it. Take your pick. There were lots of them!! And in addition to all these, plenty more of those lifeless and now powerful golems were around to make the body count rise even /further/ on the side of the Leafers. Probably retribution for breaking the lines. "Eeeee… I wonder where Niyami-ojii-chan is?? Better yet… Dreamy-o-sensei?! Hehe… The moldy bastards are probably like two kids in a candy store right no-Holy S***!! What the hell is that thing??!!!" Looks like she just noticed the Jade Golem that entered the field. How… interesting. Sekisetsu would literally have to jump out the way of the large deposits of salt water and trapped fish that were seeping from this thing's every nook and cranny, as it stomped over head. Even its very steps cracked the earth around her, scattering dust, dirt, and even large rocks about the field. With its every step, screams were heard, along with the audible and unnatural squishes of human bodie's beneath the large abomination's feet. In Sekisetsu's words…
"Whhhhhooooaaa… hehe.. Awesome. Thats right you Leafers!!!! You going dowwwwwnnnn, booooiiiii!!!" And from there, a random Break Dancer pose.
Taji was running along beside Fuyu — or as close as the Genin could, given how swiftly the Jounin is moving and the general situation of weapons and Ninjutsu flying everywhere — and then suddenly he is no longer there. Fuyu turns her head briefly to see what happened to him, only to have her attention grabbed by the feeling of Killing Intent directed at her from her left. She reacts the way her training and experience has taught her to.
She draws her brand-new, customized War Fan and holds it up in an attempt to block any attacks coming her way. She is also trying to dodge, but thankfully she did not rely solely on evasion or that kunai would have struck her. Instead it strikes one of the reinforced cross-bars beneath the high-durability paper covering. Uchiha Fuyu can see her enemies now. Four of them, and one of them is launching a barrage of senbon needles from a scroll. The needles would be hard to spot in all this chaos, but the Chakra involved in their release is all the warning that Fuyu needs. She is already several feet away before the scroll has even finished firing its payload. She has also moved away from where the kunai fell to the ground after deflecting off of her fan.
Fuyu recognizes the Chakra being emitted by her attacker. Further, she can see it flowing into the three ninja allies… And none of those three have Chakra of their own. The yellow of Lightning Chakra betrays some of how the Swordswoman is manipulating these dead men, but Fuyu does not truly understand it or the jutsu involved. Three battles so far, and each one has pitted Fuyu against the same opponent. What an odd coincidence. There is no time to worry, however. Fuyu looks directly into the eye-hole slits in Yuri's mask. Whether she can see Yuri's eyes or not, Yuri can probably see Fuyu's own. That should be enough for now. Holding up one hand in a Tiger seal, Fuyu breathes out a Great Fireball at Yuri and her reanimated allies, and then follows up with a compact ball of Wind Chakra-formed air, aimed just above the fireball. Hopefully the latter will nail the enemy even if she tries to dodge.
Again Moriko moves, feet shifting subtly as she bends at a nigh improbable angle to avoid the incoming flurry. As the weapon passes over, she then tumbles forward and hops up, hands again coming up in a relaxed defensive position as she puts a little more distance between her self and her attacker. She then forms a single seal and seems to focus. Suddenly she goes through a rather quick, if violent transformation, the girl taking on fox-like features as she transforms. Her feet take on a digitigrade stance and she sprouds a tail and fur over her body as her ears cup and turn triangular whilst moving to the top of her head. Also her face pushes out into a slight muzzle whilst her canines become slightly more pronounced.
After changing, Moriko's stance shifts just slightly to allow her to better balance her self as she gain adopts a ready fighting stance, the girl's ears swiveling as they pick up combat sounds all around her.
Having covered Noab as his forces retreated and reinforcements came to replace them. Hinotori took a moment to steady himself, the opponents who were attacking Noab and the same ones he attacked in turn flee. The disturbance from the shoreline was starting to get more attention now and with the new surge of power that the golems recieved is a bit dishearten. But steeling himself, the Tokubetsu Uchiha only frowned slightly. He hated war and he hated even more the Kirigakure for invading his home.
Pushing off from a tree, Hinotori leaps high into the air, stealth now becoming his ally as he flits through the tree tops. As he moves through the tree tops, the Uchiha Tokujo scans the area for any persons of note, and as he starts to move closer to where the Jade Golem is, he notices a girl who is pretty much walking as if she is having a day at the park and laughing when members of his village die at her comrades hands or golems. To think a person could do such a thing like that was…welll…creepy. But the fact that she is now striking a B-Boy Stance in the middle of the field as another member of Konoha goes down, Hinotori shakes his head. Using the trees to his advantage, he attempts to strike the kid from a distance and possibly end her before her life becomes more tainted then it possibly is already.
Diving to another tree, Hinotori looks like he will not make it, but at the same time he goes through seals rapidly. His left foot catches the tree trunk, inhaling air through his lungs and mixing it with chakra. He launches a large fireball down towards Sekisetsu, hoping to have caught her unaware as well as toasting her so that he could finish her off.
Each step of the colossal golem is now shaking the ground. It has arrived on the fringes of the combat, towering over man and golem alike like a gargantuan, disapproving sentinel. Slowly it starts to lean back, its arm lifting up and behind, the arm carrying that great green-metal sword. It raises higher and higher, its tip nearly two thousand feet up in the air. Then, in seeming slow motion due to sheer size, it begins to come down. Men scream and scatter, but few can get out of the way in time.
A wide swath of earthen and wooden barrier crumbles, crushing friends and foe alike beneath the massive blade. Several tons of dirt and wood are displaced, kicking up like a small explosion, causing a few further injuries and burying at least one woman alive beneath the sheer amount of debris. The sword is lifting again before the dust has a chance to settle, and already the ravenous golem hordes are moving to pour through the breach, in pursuit of others to destroy.
Inside, the madwoman orchestrating the chaos cackles, throwing back her head as she screeches her pleasure at the monitors. It's a rather grating sound, but those around her try to ignore it, instead continuing to monitor the machinery that kept the Jade Golem functioning.
"HAAAAHAHAHAAAAA~ Run, little ants! RUN!"
The Land of Fire shinobi and army artillery opens up at the enormous construct. Ballista bolts and catapult rocks plink harmlessly off of its armor. Explosive jutsu and concussive blasts of fire, wind, earth, lightning, and water sound off, each leaving the impossibly-thick armored plating intact, not even making the creature so much as stumble.
The sword begins to rise again as the golem braces itself for another swing.
Yuri stares right on back into Fuyu's Sharingan, unaware of anything amiss. When the two Ninjutsu are levelled against her, however, though she only sees the first one she manages to avoid the second by virtue of dodging to the >side<, rather than leaping straight up. The corpses that make up her squad likewise dodge to the sides simultaneously, thus allowing the Great Fireball to torch the ground where they were standing a moment ago, but no other ill-effect.
Two of Yuri's minions charge right at Fuyu, moving rather swiftly for dead men. This is primarily due to the mechanical augmentations they have been given, but either way they close the distance quickly and begin to attack with blades! One wields a pair of tanto, and the other wields a katana, and they both seem to be quite proficient with their tools — though really, it's Yuri controlling them.
Speaking of which, Yuri is not content to stand back and let her corpse-allies do the fighting. So she draws Nuibari and hurls it at Fuyu as well, hoping to nail her while the dead men distract her. She >will< have Fuyu's blood spilled this day! She is determined to have >that< much at least!
Ryuutai realizes this is not an average Medic-Nin… Infact, he is not entirely certain she is a Medic-Nin at all. He saw her helping the wounded, but Healing Techniques were NOT observed. Furrowing his brow and frowning thoughtfully, the Yotsuki male decides that it is time to try a bit harder. He still cannot use the vast majority of his techniques without revealing information about himself he wishes to remain hidden… So though it remains fairly untested, it is time to use >that< jutsu!
Relaxing from his swift and silent fighting method, Ryuutai proceeds to form a field of Chakra around himself, hugging close to his skin. He then begins to make the Chakra >vibrate< at the high-frequencies associated with Lightning Chakra. And gradually… A steady hum begins fill the air around the warrior, and small bolts of visible electricity crawl across his skin — or rather the Chakra field that clings to him.
Then he lunges into the fray and slashes with Kiba once with each hand, the paired 'thunder swords' producing a high-pitched noise as they pass through the air… And possibly through Moriko as well.
Fuyu does not stick around when her attacks fail to land. The Jade Golem is more of a threat. The massive sword that smashes into the ground, sending tremors throughout the area, the devastation left behind, and the strangely-mobile 'lesser' golems running amuck are all too great to ignore for the sake of a single enemy. Fuyu should just have the Uchiha Clan fall back to safety and form a battle plan. But though it may be fool-hardy, she knows she has to try to take down that golem somehow… Probably from within. Many lives depend on her. She is the only one close enough and strong enough to do anything about it. Maybe the other lives are not Uchiha… But for some strange reason that distinction has slipped from her mind.
So she Flickers out of the way of the two corpse-ninja, and then as Nuibari is hurled at Fuyu she just… Fades away even as she keeps running. The sword passes through the illusionary Fuyu. The Uchiha woman, however, takes the time to turn her crimson gaze on her attacker and tries to slam her with the most powerful Genjutsu in her arsenal. If it succeeds — and there is no reason to think it will not — Yuri would first see Fuyu swinging her arm as though throwing something. A moment later, the Swordswoman's arms and legs would be torn right off. Just ripped out of the sockets and thrown off in all different directions, along with shredded muscle, spraying blood, and splintered bone fragments. It's like a massive shockwave just hit her that only impacts her appendages, leaving her torso to fall to the ground and lie helpless. This is the kind of thing that hurts a LOT.
Regardless of the results, Fuyu then faces forward and resumes fighting her way through to the beach, intent on reaching the monstrous construct and stopping it before it can do much more harm. That mostly will involve climbing it and dragging its pilot out by her hair, probably.
She's finally hit, Moriko trying to slip the attack again by a narrow margin and push the blade out of her way doesn't yield much as the woman's connected with. STill quick reactions are there and she's able to spin out of the way of the brunt of the attack without suffering a debilitating injury. As she puts distance between her self and Ryuutai, the girl's hands flow smoothly through a quick series of seals then at the end she holds her hands back, a small black sphere appearing above her palm. Quickly the sphere grows, arcs of purple electricity flowing over its surface before she puts her hands out in front of her, hands held so that thumb and index fingers on each hand touch, her palms are out and now electricity arcs along her arms shortly before the ball suddenly swells to large size and there's a dull crack as the ball is suddenly shot at Ryuu, the sheer force of the attack making Moriko slide backward as the ball blasts in a straight line at her opponent, sucking small debris along with it and into the air.
The Great Fireball Technique misses it's mark, but Hinotori isn't discouraged by the missed attack. Kicking off the tree, Hinotori leaps to another tree, landing and launching himself towards the girl who was able to dodge away from his previous attack. Spinning rapidly, Hinotori gathers chakra through his body, he then expels the fire nature of his chakra towards his legs, as he kicks out towards Sekisetsu, he aims the split kick towards her chest and head. Upon landing he jumps up at her, his right arm and shoulder low, as he goes into a uppercut, which the chakra that is still built up blossoms outwards as it appears that fire is erupting from his fist as he goes for his firey uppercut.
The sword rises and smashes into the ground once more, breaking through barriers and ending the lives of the brave men and women fighting for the Land of Fire. Shinobi and soldier alike are crushed beneath the onslaught, and Samomnioryuu Kei's mocking laughter echoes from the steel behemoth. Climbing it will be dangerous, almost prohibitively so, but then Fuyu is also likely small enough to not be noticed, as long as she doesn't attract attention to herself!
Upon spotting Fuyu fade away like that… The Swordswoman yanks Nuibari back into her hand via its wire line, and tries to stab clear through the left side of her body! She succeeds… But does not stop the immensely powerful Genjutsu that strikes her a moment later.
Yuri has experienced some rather intense pain in the past. Having two kids kind of does that. She has also experienced >other< forms of pain, such as her recent adventure in being set on fire! …Twice! But having her arms and legs torn out is a new one on her. She falls to the ground, unaware that the injuries she is suffering are merely illusionary. To her, this feels completely real.
She would scream if she wasn't wavering in and out of conciousness. Her brain wants to shut down from the pain overload, but her fear of being finished off by an enemy keeps making her fight her way back to awareness. She feels blood pouring out of her sockets, and she wonders, vaguely, if her husband loves her enough to take care of her for the rest of her life when he sees what has happened to his beautiful wife.
Then she blacks out.
As the black sphere of electricity is formed, Ryuutai narrows his eyes and lowers himself in preparation. It enlarges suddenly and then tears towards him, trailing destruction across the ground that it flies over! Once again, when Moriko's attack finally reaches him, he is no longer there. Not that she would know that immediately, because that sphere APPEARS to hit him and obscures view of the fact that the target has relocated. It is not until after the sphere has passed through without contacting anything that it becomes obvious Moriko missed.
And by then it is too late. Trailing blue after-images, the wielder of the twin swords called 'Kiba' seemingly teleports to the other side of his enemy the fox-woman's left. Her transformation was worrisome at first, as he suspected she might be a Jinchuuriki… But it seems not. That sphere vaguely resembled a Tailed-Beast Ball, but the overall capabilities being exhibited are far too weak to be those of a host to a Bijuu — let alone THAT Bijuu.
Ryuutai puts away his musings for now. He has already delivered two blows with his lightning-infused blades before he reached his current position. But were they defended against? Or is his opponent now in tatters? He turns to face her and find out.
Fascination was something short lived in this fight. The tour of everything, was cut off the moment the girl felt the raise of heat and the sound of the wind being cut through by the large fireball of a Uchiha who just couldn't see help but want to bother her. Strange enough, she had been finally heard and seen, through all this mess. The freaky thing was how quick this all had happened, without here even knowing she was being approached from behind. On instinct, a seal was raised, along with an eyebrow in shock that she, the wonderful and pretty Sekisetsu was being attacked!!
"Huh??? Who the he- Oh my…. You're gorgeous!!" Themselves were launched soon after the girl had turned all fuzzy and pink with blush, at the hunk of man that now stood before her. "…Say… You wouldn't be the one who launched that Fireball, would you??" The girl's shouting obviously over the whole sounds of battle. "Because, if you were…. I'd have to really, really, /really/ find away to make sure you die!!!" With that, the girls form was consumed by an inferno produced from her own body. It would seem from another point of view, that she had been caught with an attack. However, this was not such.. The inferno had been a cocoon for this little busy body, and as it dissipated into an aura of sparks, a black inky kanji for the number 'one' now floated about a small red imp. Her hair remained the only thing unchanged of this girl. Otherwise, skin had changed red, and veined black, causing the resemblance scales. Eyes disappeared, and what replaced them had been pools of black smoke, as if the very inside of Sekisetsu's head had been burning. And the finality of it all? Uneven horns upon her forehead, and a tail with a devils arrow to point, all made of fire. Her chakra rose exponentially, causing the area within a 30 foot radius of her, to become like an sanua time three.
And through out this change into a threatening facade, Hinotori, still keeps attacking! What may not have resulted in wide spread burns, would be still quite painful. She wouldn't even see him move!! But Sekisetsu wasn't incapable of learning, and a better offensive had to be countered with a good defensive. A portion of scroll seemed to wander from her real of its on accord, even whil Sekisetsu sealed. "Iyahh!!! Hurry up!!", was said nervously as both hands pressed against it, causing a large octagonal shield to appear of a poof of smoke!! But alas, the force of Hino's kick was too strong, and the shield ended up as more of a tool for pain, rather than a proper defense!! "Ack!!!", was said, as the shield was plowwed into her being, flipping her backward, and busting up a lip or two!! Landing on all fours, it seemed Hino was still able to capitalize, the uppercut moving in low, and going high, straight into her chin!! Sekisetsu was done for!!! Well… not really. Poof!! A clone.
"Haha! Another weak ninja… Well… perhaps you may be at least a challenge!!!" From there, heat and fire chakra bursted from Sekisetsu's being, smashing into Hino with enough burning to otherwise consider the Uchiha well done. Meanwhile, the poor nice guy's Tenketsu was taking a hit soon after, as a result of Sekisetsu's efforts to capitalize.
Fuyu reaches the Jade Golem in record time, in no small part due to her ability to dodge and leap and dash right through the enemy ranks without having to stop to fight or defend properly. When she makes it to the water she just keeps running, right on across the surface. The massive construct is heading towards her even as she heads towards it. During its next sword strike on the assembled Land of Fire forces, Fuyu leaps into the air, makes a hand seal to create a Shadow Clone in mid-air, and then has the Shadow Clone grab and THROW her upwards and at an angle that will carry her towards the base of the massive blade. She lands successfully… And after taking only a half-second to switch her Chakra-emission from Water Walking technique to Tree Walking technique, she begins running up the blade, and onto the arm that wields it.
Her Shadow Clone has already poofed out of existence. Fuyu is fully aware of how big this thing is, and how powerful it is. The Chakra flowing through it is enormous in quantity… But the overall potency is not necessarily great. Most of those who died to power this monster were probably NOT ninja. But with enough Chakra, even a weak ninja can be dangerous. And this towering weapon has MORE than enough for that.
She has to stop it. One woman against a walking, weaponized skyscraper? 'Pfft,' she thinks dismissively. Then she begins making her way towards the head of the thing. That IS where Kei's voice seems to be coming from, whether her Chakra is distinguishable from the golem's Chakra that surrounds her or not.
The man dissapears after she launches the dark star. Moriko frowns then bends away from the direction of the attack, her body twisting as she bends backward and flips away from him, her foot coming up, trailing an odd howling wind as she launches a flip-kick at her opponent's jaw. As she comes back to her feet she spins, hands forming seals before launching a spiraling 'blade' of mercury color flame that seems to flow and ripple like a ribon as it shoots toward Ryuu.
As Sekisetsu changed into a evil looking imp demon, Hinotori isn't going to stop. Granted the appearance is a bit disturbing, and for a child to look like that wasn't natural or right. He's heard that the Kirigakure nins were trained vastly different then other villages, but damn to have a skill that makes you look like that was just wrong. And the fact that she was trying to hit on him and want to destroy all in one go was just….he couldn't fathom it. But right now wasn't the time to put any more thought into this as the imp girl sends a burst of heat and fire towards him. A smirk appears on his face, as he channels his chakra through his body and pushes it to his feet. Jumping up and away from Sekisetsu and avoiding her burst of flames, looking towards her as he lands his sharingan is able to pierce through the genjutsu that was trying to be placed upon him. Though as he pierces it, his eyes start to itch, but used to having eye problems, Hinotori blinks a few times to focus.
As he clears his eye sight, Hinotori finds that his opponent used his moment of hesitation to escape. Turning around and looking for more enemies, he notices that the golem has gotten closer. "Shit." he says as he begins running towards where a group of Leaf Ninja are falling back due to injuries by the many golems and Kirigakure forces.
Unfortunately, the golem's weapon and weapon-arm are not the most stable of platforms! Even if Fuyu manages to avoid detection, she still must fight not to be thrown clear by the mountainous ambient movements of the thing, nor to be crushed by the sheer volume of its joints or those very same movements.
The Jade Golem doesn't even apparently notice the Fuyu-insect crawling across it, or, if those inside did, it didn't give any sign of it. The arm sweeps out to the side, and then comes rushing across the battle field as it takes another step forward, inadvertently crushing move of their own men. But the horizontal swipe of the sword clears nearly two thousand feet of the jutsu barriers, crushing the live out of over a thousand men in a matter of seconds! With nothing left standing in their way, the pink-eyed clay golems rush forward with speed they shouldn't have, crashing into and through the lines of the attackers-turned-defenders.
Commanders on the Water side were calling for a general advance, whilst the Fire were retreating! RETREATING! Without some sort of divine intervention, there was apparently nothing they could do in the face of this terrible new weapon. No weapon, no artillery, no jutsu seemed to do more than put tiny dents or sheer off a small section of plate here and there. Most seemed to have no effect at all, and each swing of the monster's weapon cost them precious lives.
"FORWARD! These pathetic insects are of no consequence to the might of our armies!"
Within, Samominoryuu Kei was likely having the time of her life! Unbeknowst to her, a flaming boulder of earth smacks unheeded into the golem's right side, near the upper chest closest to the sword arm. A piece of armor is crushed and damaged, falling off. To the golem, it was tiny, but to a person… might just make a hole big enough to fit in.
The Kirigakure Jounin remains untouched by his opponent's attacks, though that blade of glowing wind came close. In the end, however, he relocates before he can be struck once more. Standing at a distance for now, Ryuutai considers his options. Even with his physical conditioning he is growing tired… His breathing is no longer even, his muscles burn from the effort he has been putting into this fight, and his opponent does not appear to be near defeat. To waste this much time and resources on a single opponent… If it comes down to it, he feels he can probably beat her. But the rest of the Land of Water forces are advancing. The thunderous impacts of the Jade Golem's blade into the ground and into the enemy's barriers shake the ground and air alike.
A smart ninja does not fight until the point of exhaustion while a war is being fought around him. There are others that could use his help more, in other places. He already will need a while to catch his breath if he intends to fight any more powerful opponents during this battle. Wasting more time here is simply unwise…
Making a few quick handseals, Ryuutai causes the moisture in the air from the nearby ocean to gather and grow denser, turning into a thick mist… And then he tries to simply slip away and look for areas that need shoring up. 'Not worth it,' he thinks silently.
While being crushed is a danger, sticking to the golem is not. Fuyu began applying the techniques involved in the Tree Walking practice as soon as she landed on the golem's blade, and she keeps them active any time she is not dodging something that may inadvertently smash her like a bug. Eventually, she spots a hole in the chest of the golem, formed by a flaming boulder… It is not very big compared to the rest of the monster, but it is big enough. She makes her way towards it, and, unless she is prevented, she enters the mechanical behemoth. While eliminating the pilot is still an objective, if she sees anything at all that looks like it's important and will not kill her instantly just by damaging it, she will do her best to cause some chaos internally while searching for a way up to the pilot's compartment. If she can ruin this weapon without reaching Kei herself… So much the better.
As the mist rolls in, Mo quickly forms a seal and sends her chakra spreading out from her, it spiralling away fromt he Nin as the air and now mist start swirling around the nin. She's not able to catch a bit of Ryuu's movement nor can she detect anything coming in after her. She frowns and looks around before moving backward slightly. "Ok he's withdrawing." Mutters the fox woman. She then moves in a direction away from the huge monstrosity bouncing her feet, trying to get out of the mist to further figure out the situation. As she makes her way out of the mist, the woman hops up in a tree, standing at its top and now glancing toward the advancing giant before frowning. THen she's nearly toppled out of the tree by the movement of the wind caused by the swinging sword, the woman again frowning. She then glances around and tries to catch up with some of her own forces before calling out to another nin. "See if we can't get some concealing attacks in on the thing's eyes. Maybe we can blind it!" she calls out, the woman distancing her self slightly again before glancing upward and contemplating how best to attack this thing. SHe then adds. "Try attacking its joints on its legs too, slow its advance!"
Hinotori is able to see Fuyu moving along the surface of the giant golem, from his distance, he could see something that looked like damage to teh golem but it wasn't sever enough to stop it. Thinking on how to bring this damn golem down, Hinotori heard orders being given, flitting through the trees and landing down near a group of Konoha nin. Finding Moriko here calling orders, he nods his head to her figuring that Konoha couldn't afford to go down, not like this.
Reaching up and rubbing his eyes which was now starting to get worse. "Let's move it, we can't afford to let this damn thing get past us." he calls out. "I know your tired and hurt, but we aren't going to let these Kiri-assholes get any further!" he hollars out getting the attention of the Konoha forces. "Let's do this, we can't let our village down nor our country and the Lady Hokage!" he states as he and a few of Konoha nins begin moving towards the Jade Golem. Pointing out the joints where he thinks may be a bit lightly less armored then the rest of the golem.
Entering the chest proves easy enough, or as easy as sticking to an enormous behemoth of metal can be while it moves around, causing small seismic events. Chakra-suction techniques or not, that kind of movement requires concentration to cling through! Once inside, it becomes… much quieter, the shaking much less immense here in the chest where the center of gravity was far better. Fuyu soon finds herself in a large, mobile chamber.
Completely surrounded by metal and filled with machinery, the entire room is rather hot, and there are no shinobi present in this chamber. There ARE lifeforms, however! The walls are covered in tubes, wires, lines, and complicated electronics devices. But what would likely draw the most attention were the PODS. Rows and rows of them lined up end-to-end and side-to-side all along a central pillar set slightly back into the room, enormously thick, the creature's 'spine'. Thicker than the thickest tree, likely requireing twenty or more grown people to spread their arms to reach around it, the huge metal column extends upwards, disappearing into the cieling, and vanishing into the floor below, stretching through this room from neck to groin.
There are no platforms or any other way to move around, simply a spiral staircase that leads from a locked hatch at the bottom to the locked hatch upwards, leading to the lower pelvis and the head respectively. Closer inspection of the pods through a small viewing window would reveal the emaciated forms of PEOPLE in there, most of them so drained of life by the various tubes and such sticking out of them that their own family would be hard pressed to recognize them, hair loss, excessive bruising, skin stretched across bones like thin parchment.
Soldiers and shinobi alike follow orders, flinging their strongest attacks and artillery towards the knee and ankle joints of the stone monolith… to no avail. It is simply to well-armored to bring down quickly through firepower! Not before the huge sword lifts again and comes *CRUSHING* down right into the midst of those attacking it's legs. Hinotori and Moriko better react quickly, or join the fate of many of those who had been attacking with them as hundreds of cubic yards of earth are churned up, creating a new, enormous trench in its wake.
"Nice try, losers! You can never brake my baby! Never, never, NEVER!"
The only brightside for the Uchiha within the creature's cavity is that she can no longer hear Kei's voice.
Yuri wakes up long enough to wonder why she hasn't bled to dead yet. The pain is still there, and her limbs still appear to be ripped out, but… She's still alive. In her paranoid, crazy little mind, she wonders if maybe this is a Genjutsu. So she bites her lip, >really< hard. Nope. Still in horrible agony. And now her mouth hurts.
She passes out again.
Ryuutai manages to withdraw from personal combat only to come across… Yuri. She is lying face-down on the ground and appears to be unmoving. Three other ninja wearing Kirigakure outfits and gear lie around her. He moves to check Yuri for injuries and finds that she is rather untouched… Except for a wound in her side. Her mask conceals her bleeding lip. 'That wound…' Ryuutai thinks. 'It matches her blade.' He can not think of why Yuri would stab herself except…
Well, it's times like this that Ryuutai wishes he was at least SOMEWHAT skilled in Genjutsu. Then he could try to break his ally free. Instead he tries to haul her up and onto his shoulder and start retreating to safety with her. If there's a Genjutsuist in the field powerful enough to immobilize Yuri long-term, then it is likely unsafe to remain in plain sight. In the chaos of battle, he could be next!
Fuyu stares at the twisted vision before her. She had heard reports that people were used as power sources, but this is… Well, it is horrible, but she has seen many horrible things. That does not diminish the disgust and fear she feels as she looks inside the pods, nor does it mean she will not have nightmares at some point. But it does mean she can keep on going with her mission, regardless of how she feels.
She is no engineer, and she is not even sure an engineer would know how to dismantle this thing would a careful investigation. She has no time to search for what to unplug or dismantle or turn off that will end the slaughter outside. Further, she has no time to try to unhook each individual person, nor is she confident that they can be saved if she did. "Casualties of war," she mutters in the overly-warm air. Then she runs back to the hole she came in through, stands with her back to the opening, and forms only two hand seals. Horse and Tiger. 'Katon: Gouenkyuu! <Fire Release: Roaring Flame Sphere!>' she recites in her head. Then she launches a massive sphere of fire directly at the 'spine' that all the pods are attached to. The backblast should be sufficient to throw her free, even if she doesn't leap far enough backwards immediately afterwards. But she tries anyway, because being relocated by means of explosions is a painful experience.
Mo glances up and then barely is able to get out from away from the massive attack. After rolling to her feet, she frowns and shouts out. "Have troops spread out in front of the behemoth, nobody directly in front of it. Stay out of its swing path and attack the troops and the smaller golems on either side, don't take it on directly!" She shouts out, the as the woman dusts her legs after. "Give that thing some room, fire and retreat and stay out of reach of the thing. Also focus on altering the terrain at the thing's feet, try and trip it maybe, but again, don't stay in one place, hit and then scoot. However, keep most of your firepower concentrated on their smaller units, again, I repeat stay out from in front of that thing, avoid its sword and feet, don't sit still and pound on it!"
With that, the Kunoichi moves out of range of the thing's sword and begins lobbing larger techniques into Kiri's main force, the woman blasting away with various lightning techniques in hopes to start whittling down the smaller golems and standard ground troops whilst still staying mindful of the Jade Golem.
With the attacks they managed to fire at the Jade Golem, none of them worked. There was no use in attacking it directly or the joints. Looking at the troops who started to fall back. Hinotori quickly dodges as the golem came his way, he isn't dying today if he could help it. Falling back with th erest of the Konoha forces, Hinotori manages to help a few of the other ninja get out of reach of the golem. As Moriko begins giving orders as to what they should do, Hinotori just nods his head. Ordering a group of shinobi to form up on him and begin moving to take on the remaining Kiri forces, as well as keeping out of range of the jade golem. Moving back to form a line, Hinotori orders his group to wait for the Kiri forces to approach closer.
The firestorm within the golem takes out quite a number of the pods it was using, even as Fuyu half-hurls, is half-thrown out of the very hole she had come in… though it's a very, very, very long way down. Not even shinobi can readily stand such a fall without some sort of aid or jutsu. Hopefully she kept the presence of mind to anchor herself and run down the side of the thing. But she's already started a chain reaction.
As much as the outside seemed all but impervious to attack, its innerworkings were full of vulnerable and defenseless electrical and mechanical machines. A minor chain-explosion goes off, and then another, followed by more as pressurized lines begin to blow. Electricity arcs as fire eats through insulation and causes dangerous shorts, adding to the heat and further feeding the fire. In a matter of minutes, the inside is of the chest cavity is being consumed by flames and metal is quickly becoming red-hot to the touch!
Outside, there is no order to be had. Few outside of the highly-trained shinobi will heed Moriko's orders to stand and fight. The retreat has become a route, and clay golems are relentlessly pursuing those that try to run. Further, there is no escaping the enormous Jade Golem as it walks about like a giant swatting men like they were flies. It's reach was too large, it's strides covered too much distance. Normal men, much less an army, could not outdistance it.
The sword rises yet again, even as smoke begins to seep out of the seams in it's chest. Suddenly, the Jade Golem shudders, a great groaning of metal reverberating across the land. It jerks, then stumbles, the sword falling from it's fingers, crashing into the ground and sticking out like the marked grave of an unbelievably huge warrior. An explosion pierces the armor on the side of it's neck, followed by the piercing scream of its controller.
"NO! NOOOOOOOOOOO- *KZZZZZZT*"
The speakers apparently give out as the entire body shudders, pieces of plating falling off with each interior explosion. Flames lick out of the ruptures in its armor and smoke billows into the sky. It falls to its knee, each movement becoming torturously slow until… it finally stills, only the flames and smoke coming out of it. There's no sign of anyone who may have been inside of it escaping.
The pink-eyed clay golems stumble and fall mid-run, becoming inert, many simply standing there, others simply falling to the ground as the Jade Golem is destroyed. They simply cease attacking, though a few regain their orange-eyed glow and return to their ponderously slow, unthinking shambling as their original handlers manage to regain control. The vast number however, become quite useless in short order.
The Land of Fire soldiers, Land of Water troops, Kiri-nin, and Konoha-nin alike all watch the golem's fall with wide-disbelieving eyes. A voracious, cheering battlecry goes up from those defending their homeland. And then, they charge.
… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …
The next day the land is scarred and bitter. It was a victory for the Land of Fire, but the cost was so high that no one felt much cheer. The brief, fierce war was over once the Water Daimyo's forces had been driven back into the ocean. Many wanted to pursue and press the advantage, but most of the Land of Water's forces remained intact and untouched back upon their homeland, while the Land of Fire's had been tested sorely and was hurting.
Samominoryuu Kei's body was not recovered from the remnants of the Jade Golem, and she was presumed to have escaped the carnage. A few days later positive identifications of her within the walls of Kirigakure confirmed this theory, putting her beyond reach of retribution for now. People were free to return to what was left of their homes, though with so many gone missing and killed, many lives were shattered. This area of the province would take a century or more to fully bury all traces of the destruction that had been wrought here.
But for now, at too high a cost, an uneasy, somber peace had settled once more.
