Starring:
Date: February 1, 2014
Summary:
A group of mercenaries within the Land of Water have been kidnapping women for an immoral, abusive event. Two are sent to put a stop to it and punish those who had set it up.
"The Punishment of Sin"
Forested Area in the Land of Water
Two of Kirigakure's shinobi who have managed to impress Meruin in one way or another will have received a recent missive. The contents? Off the books mission specs. It seems that the Okumo had found out about an issue that had cropped up recently that needed to be taken care of with a swiftness, and with the current state of the village, he'd thought that going through the proper channels for an official mission status would take too long, though there was note that after he was made Mizukage, it would be made official after the fact and payment granted post success.
The missive stated that females between the reported ages of 9 and 57 have been kidnapped throughout the land of water and that a single group has been behind all of them. It seems that a rape rally is being held within one of the more lawless sections of the forest glade to southeast of the Koumorite village. The event is precisely what it sounds like. A large group of men kidnapping women to abuse until they are satiated and then killing them. Over 50 girls and women have been reported missing, the exact number unknown by the Okumo.
But it is set to begin today, at 4 pm. The locale has been mapped out. The mission is obviously to rescue the women as well as to kill all of those participating in the rally with the exception of any Kirigakure shinobi that may be taking part. They must be captured. The only thing left within the missive is the requirement that they send notice if they refuse to see the duty performed.
A black operation where the mission is to kill everything that's not an ally or innocent, not a bad mission to receive from who may soon be the next Kage. One might wonder how much that soldier mentality of his may've cared actually cared before, but, now being able to experience emotion that he'd locked away before through Yuuka and Yuriko, he doesn't have much of a choice. Still, the mission will be pretty simple, unless there's some twist of a high level shinobi or two involved. Then it could get interesting.
In his newer form that he seems to be using to practice his skill with Hydrification, standing over seven feet, the Yoichi walks with purpose toward their destination, not wanting to be late since being late could mean lives lost if a few of the… participants can't hold out for more than a few seconds. "Shall we take opposite sides or just carve our way through quickly enough that no one gets away?" he asks with a glance down and over at his partner for this mission.
The suggestion was an intriguing one, eliciting a thoughtful arch of a pale brow as Yuuka keeps her vivid aquamarine eyes up ahead of them, on their surroundings. "That would cut down a bit of time I think, though if we're concerned with them escaping…" her words trail. "We should moves around the perimeter first. I should be able to circle around them without being detected, and I can drop pieces of bone as I do this so that I could form a dome netting over the site. Once we're inside of course. It would prevent anyone from escaping and allot of unnecessary chasing. This prey is hardly worth the hunt to even bother." Under the hood of her kimono, Yuuka turns her head slightly to glance back at Yoichi. "Any other suggestions?"
The destination was not very far ahead.
And neither was the scheduled start to the 'event.' The place that they were looking to strike was a large camp, the grounds made very similar to a military fashion, with a good deal of individual tents around and what might be officers' and command tents. At the center, in small cages, are where the women are supposed to be held and where the event is supposed to take place. In 30 minutes, things should be scheduled to begin. In perhaps four more, at current pace, the pair will reach the camp itself.
Yoichi listens to Yuuka's idea as they walk along, giving a nod. "That should work easily enough. I can create a small 'light show' in the center of the area to distract them long enough for you to make your wall. After that, all we have to do is aim and watch each other's backs, which should actually be pretty easy for us since we can just communicate without speech or even having to be close. We should kill them before they have the opportunity to do any harm to their prisoners once they realize what's going on."
Yuuka faintly nods, though rolls a slender shoulder. "If you want to do a distraction, that's fine. I see how much faith you have in my abilities." she smirks. Her hands reach up to lightly brush the hood from her head, releasing a waterfall of silken tresses. As they approach, the Kaguya woman slows her steps as she reaches for the collar of her kimono, sliding the dark fabric away from her pale skin, revealing one slender shoulder, then the other as the arms of her kimono hang from the curves of her hips. Her ample chest rises with calm breaths beneath what appears to be her rib cage having formed wrappings or a corset of some sort over her slender form. Both providing modesty and protecting vital organs.
A cheer courses through the forest.
The sound came from the direction of the camp and remained at the same level of volume. Something was happening. Festivities may be beginning early, people unable to restrain themselves. Or maybe there was something else to serve as an answer to the sudden noise.
"I have plenty of faith in you, but we were sent as a team, so I may as well help you rather than lazing around," Yoichi replies, smirking back at her. As she prepares for battle, he does as well, though it's not quite as visible on him, as he merely prepares his liquid state rather than using his lightning armor… yet. It's probable that he may not need to touch that higher level of combining the two, though. When the cheer comes, his eyes narrow a bit. "Let's move." With that, he'd vanish with a crackle of lightning to get closer to observe what's going on so he can prepare to distract the crowd so they can be easily trapped.
Yuuka rolls both of her shoulders, bones creaking beneath the surface of pale flesh that shifts visibly. Much like Yoichi, as she hears the cheer so close by, she narrows her vivid aquamarine eyes. Firming her jaw, she dips her chin, "Right." He flickers and disappears a fraction of an instant before she does, her body dipping close to the soft ground with the sudden burst of speed. Yuuka skirts along the outside of the camp, a few yards away and out of sight as she runs. Rubbing her fingers together, the Kaguya scatters minute pieces of bones from her fingertips to scatter them in her wake.
The passage of the pair goes about almost entirely unnoticed, the main event taking everyone from the outskirts of the camp towards the center where all of the action would be. Everyone except the one person who'd slipped away from the camp to take a leak really quickly, and all he did was shiver slightly at the random breeze caused by the Kirigakure shinobi's movements.
Within the camp itself, it seemed that things had already started. There was a screaming match between one man and another that held a kicking woman by her long hair. Beyond them, some men had already found or were finding 'delicacies' of their own, dragging them to towards the center of a circle of nearly 100 men. One man dropped the leg of his woman, looking down at her as he began taking off his shirt. He walked towards her as she began to crawl hurriedly away as best she could with her arms tied behind her back. It seemed the assaults were to happen before the cheering masses.
Within the center of the camp, amongst the chaotic sounds, a giant crackle of lightning lights forth an enormous thunder. Suddenly Yoichi would appear there, except now well over twelve feet tall rather than just seven with his blades wielded in each hand. "I am the Kami of this land," a thunderously deep voice rings out from him as he swings the blades, a whip of lightning coming out from each one to skillfully strike at the men while avoiding injuring their captives, intent on frying their nervous systems if not killing them. "Your intent here will earn you naught but death. Step away from your prisoners that your end may come swiftly, lest you prefer to die slowly and painfully."
Yuuka circles around the other half of the camp, dropping bone fragments in her wake, even detecting the man that is just beyond the perimeter doing his business. She waits long enough for him to begin making his way back towards the camp itself before focusing her energy deep in her gut, extending her reach to the bone she's connected with. Under her influence, the ivory stretches and grows, vines climbing into the sky and steadily curling inwards, forming a large, inescapable dome of bone netting. After it's fully formed, the corner of her lips tugs with a slight smirk.
At the sudden crackle of lightning, far more than half of the crowd abruptly reach for weapons at their sides, beginning to draw them right up until the point that they actually register what appeared in the center of their camp. A 12 foot man wielding two wicked blades. There was nothing but shock born stillness from the giant's booming, even with his lashing lightning killed the men who'd already chosen women.
That lasted right up until the completion of the bone net surrounding their camp. Once it came into sight, it stole the attention from Yoichi, faces paling as shadows spread across the area. And then it was complete and the each of them were trapped. Panic rose to the sound of fearful screams, most people beginning to flee towards the wall of bone.
His distraction having its desired effect, Yoichi grins slightly and shakes his head. "It's too late for you now," his voice booms once again as he swings the swords back, each growing eight more tails before he whips them at the fleeing men. The arc of the tails is precise, quite practiced and controlled as it dances to dodge hitting the captive women in favor of annihilating the cowards that took them. "I suggest you say whatever prays you may have now because you've only seconds of life left," he says, thunderous voice taunting as he fries any man under the lashing of the eighteen tailed Lightning Scourge.
Yuuka could feel her dark smirk growing as the men run straight towards the walls, out of sheer terror. And straight in her direction. Reaching up over her shoulder, her slender fingers dig into her flesh to pull at her spine, the chain lengthening as she does this until it finally pulls free. "Mmm, I think… that was a mistake…" she purrs. "But, foolish men. What are you going to do." Her chuckle is just as dark. And without warning, she begins dashing through the group of men, aiming for those that aren't visibly noted to be from Kirigakure. The spine chain capturing individuals, the large bone drill forming over her forearm actually drills into its targets.
The fleeing, panicked men have nothing near a chance of escape from the eighteen lightning lashes wielded by the 12 ft giant or the vision defying spine whip and goring drill of the perfect taijutsuist of a Kaguya. The deaths were many in those first vital moments, and not all of them swift.
"THE GIANT IS A HOZUKI! THESE ARE JUST MEN! SHINOBI! BAND TOGETHER AND THEY CAN BE KILLED!"
It seems someone had recognized the Swordsmen. After these words, the reason began flooding back into the minds of those mindlessly running for freedom. Reality was not kind but it was better than running around until they were torn through by Yuuka or left burnt, convulsing heaps by Yoichi. And so men began banding together, drawing blades of various kinds and rushing them.
As for the captives, most of them were still caged and those who'd been dragged out still had their arms bound. They sat there in a state near catatonia at the massacre.
Yoichi smirks slightly as he watches Yuuka's tactic. Of course, as the men figure out who they are, he can't help but shake his head. "Oh, you found us out," his stoic voice rings out as he whips the swords back again, actually seeming quite amused as their blades pierce straight through his form, water splattering off and reforming into unharmed flesh time and again as their attacks are rendered entirely useful. "As if that'll actually make a difference." With another swipe of the blades, the eighteen tails of lightning are aimed down at the men, intending to annihilate as many of them as possible at once.
After the drill actually drills through one particularly unlucky individual, Yuuka spots the shinobi that were in near hysteria just a moment before beginning to mass together. She smirks at this, the drill swiftly transforming into the length of a blade while her other hand holds onto the spine chain still. "You're just making this easier." she murmurs. The masses attack, her sword flicking up to block any weapon that dares strike at her. Yuuka doesn't hesitate to turn the blade back onto them, arching it so that as she throws it, the Camellia Sword spins through the air to mow down these masses.
Those that had first rushed their attackers found their assaults to be in vain, easily defended against and the retribution for it both immediate and merciless. But reality continued to push its way into the heads of all of the men that were left. There wasn't escape for them. They would either have to fight or they would have to die. So now, despite almost half of them already being killed or incapacitated and twitching, almost every one of the rest wielded their weapons and surrounded the two shinobi.
Their assault was unpolished and uncoordinated but their sheer numbers made them a credible threat as the simply rushed in and attempted to hack away, paying no mind to their neighbors. With Yoichi at the very center of the camp, he took on more people than Yuuka did, but the each of them had a large number of foes to deal with, many of those who couldn't get in close to land a blow using weapons as projectiles instead.
Yoichi almost seems to not notice the projectiles and strikes coming his way, his body reforming due to its liquid state from each one almost effortlessly as he draws his blades back and swings them down to scorch the flesh and nervous systems of more and more of his victims. This time, however, one blade is stabbed into the ground, a light grin touching his lips as he points his finger in a gun-like fashion to a spot on the side of the barrier opposite Yuuka, a thunderous pop ringing out as a droplet of water fires off from his finger, piercing flesh and stone alike that are in the way as he heads directly toward the heart of an Earth jutsuist attempting to escape. "Fool… The moisture in the earth makes this entire land a home hunting ground for me."
Yuuka uses the blade to defend herself against the horde, smirking darkly as she deflects every attack aimed at her. She senses the earth user, not even a few feet away trying to faze his way through the bone, to escape. Tightening the grip on her sword, she throws the blade at the shinobi trying to escape, just after using the spine to make another wide-spread, arcing attack.
There was a single shinobi at the edge of the bone vine net that Yuuka had erected, having managed to keep his wits about him despite the sudden appearance of the deadly pair. He knew that now was time to get out and a few handseals saw him sinking into the earth to do so, body taking on the hue of the ground beneath him. His plan was to get under and beyond the ivory barrier and escape, but it seemed that those who'd assaulted the camp had sensed him somehow.
Randomly, a droplet of water shot through the earth and his body like a bullet, swiftly followed by a long blade of bone. His body shook… But he was dead and he knew it. And soon, it was true. The man would remain there, just he and his Kirigakure headband buried with the only grave marker being the camellia sword that had finished him off. And he was by no means the only one that would salt this land with his blood. It seemed that Yuuka had spoke the truth. That them stepping forward to attack had only made the Swordsmen's jobs simpler, the brigand's attacks deflected seemingly without effort. And then they simply fell like wheat to the sickle.
Soon, there were only eight or nine left. This was a clean up job.
With the attempted escapee dealt with, Yoichi grabs his sword once more, swinging it in a final arc to deal with the last remaining of the targets. That done on his end and likely hers just as quickly, he would resheathe his swords and look around the… Well, this was too easy to be a battlefield. More like a sight of a massacre really. He then looks to the prisoners for a moment and pondering on how much these women and girls are probably shaken up right after being kidnapped then beholding a massacre. With a shrug of his shoulders, he looks over to Yuuka, saying, "I suppose I should scorch this area once we've finished up here. No need to give them a proper burial versus just not leaving any evidence behind."
The numbers dwindle, and Yuuka makes sure to keep an eye out for headbands, though the one that had tried to escape won't be missed. They'll just bring his body with him back to the village. It wasn't long though before the rest of them are taken care of as well. Coated with blood, she finally takes a deeper breath as she straightens, rolling her shoulders back. "Hm, probably." Yuuka murmurs. "We'll take that one body back with us. Release the girls and women."
