Starring:
Date: February 15, 2015
Summary:
More news of kidnappings are coming into Suna and this time they may be able to get some real information. But there's a hitch - one of the students, Jiro, has taken it upon himself to find out what's going on and left without a group. The others give chase and investigate the mysterious 'village' they were sent to. A militaristic place disguised as something normal. It's here that they discover the children that are being kidnapped across the land are being forced to train to fight, but for what reason? How far does this go? The Land of Wind? Surely not since the Land of Lightning and Land of Fire have both had similar incidents, though without finding such a treasure trove of information as this. Just how far does this go and what is the purpose?
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Youth Kidnapped Army - The Reason Discovered?"
'Village' in Land of Wind
The notice goes out, only limited to those few who had already had some involvement with what was going on and were also listed as free in the mission logs. A new development had finally arisen from the men who had captured the Students and some information had been retrieved from the man brought back that they needed to act on immediately. An administrative type is waiting at the gates for the two chosen for the mission to arrive, tapping her foot impatiently as she stares out into the sands beyond the Village.
The day itself is a decent one. Early afternoon, fair temperatures as far as the desert goes and only the slightest hint of a breeze. It would almost be a nice day to relax if there weren't some nasty kidnappers to be taken care of.
Appearing at the gates, Kaidan looks back to Arika as he arrives at the gates, skidding to a stop just before the tiny wonder known as Arika. He grins back at her, just barely having won and chuckles, "Almost!" He declares as he looks over to the administrative woman who is waiting for them and hten he gives a nod, "Kaidan reporting for duty. Along with Short Stack." He gestures to Arika as he grins at her.
Arika huffs unhappily when Kaidan beats her, just a bit slower. If only she was a bit faster. The girl waves to the persona bit to the admin and promptly climbs onto Kaidan's back. "Ready and waiting!" she says, waiting for the report. She had left a clone back at home to occupy Jiro's time with, should he actually be staying behind this time around…
Jiro staying home? You could only wish you were so lucky. In fact that clone is currently scouring the city trying to find the boy. Too bad the information won't get back to the real Arika until it poofs. The lady nods as the two arrive though she seems displeased that they were making a game out of it. "Thank you both for coming so quickly." She pushes her glasses further up on her nose. Arika would recognize this lady as the same one who sent her and Jiro out on that very first mission to act as bait oh so long ago. How far things have come.
"We have obtained information showing that there is the possibility of another village housing kidnapped children two hours north east of our location. IT is uncertain whether or not this information is completely accurate which is why we're sending a small team to check it out and report back. You are not to engage unless you have no other option. You are to simply determine whether or not this location houses those children and anyone involved in their kidnapping and report back immediately, understood?" The lady looks between the two of them for a moment before she asks. "Any questions?"
A hmm as he looks to the woman before looking to Arika questioningly and then back at the woman, "I think it seems pretty straight forward. Just looking, getting the information, and getting back." He ruffles Arika's hair before saying, "You got it, Short Stack?" He hmms and chuckles before he looks over to the woman.
Arika frowns a bit when she hears about this and nods lightly. "So… What if we find out that they really are evil kidnappers? Can we try to destroy them then?" she asks. The girl leans on Kaidan a bit, nodding her head at the question, though her own still stands.
The lady looks between the two again as she waits to hear their questions. When Arika asks hers she shakes her head. "Reconnaissance only. You are not to engage in combat unless they attack you and you need to defend yourselves. Once we have the information we can form a team to take care of them." When she finishes speaking a man drops down next to her. She seems angry at the interruption but the man leans over to whisper something to her and she frowns deeply. "It appears that Student somehow found out the details of what we knew and has disappeared." She informs the two as the man bows quickly and vanishes again. "You are to keep an eye out for him while we continue to search the Village. If you find him I leave it to you to decide how to continue your mission, but bring back the intel and the boy. Understood?"
… Of course…. Arika sighs and makes a seal, dispelling her clone and gaining any information it might have: including where it went to look and when Jiro disappeared. "We'll watch out for him," she says, hopping off Kaidan's back. "Let's hurry up, Kai-kun!" she says, determined to do this well, apparently. Slash get it done as soon as possible so that Jiro can't interfere or anything like that. He can only travel so fast, can't he?
A blink as he hears that second part and Kaidan squints before taking ina deep breath and letting it out. He puts his hand to his face, rubbing his face slowly before looking over to Arika and then at the woman, "Let me guess?" He frowns, "Is it Jiro?" He then looks to Arika and then licks his lips and then gestures, "Alright, lets get going, the sooner we get moving, the better."
The lady hands Kaidan the map depicting where the village they are travelling to is located before stepping back again and nodding. "Yes, Amaro Jiro. We don't know if the man he was exchanged for is at this location so it's imperative that you find him before he does anything to jeopardize himself or the Village." Another glance between the pair before she nods and steps back, motioning with a hand in the direction to travel before giving them the go ahead.
Rushing off along, Kaidan puts a hand to Arika lightly to make sure she is good. He starts rushing off along in the direction given to him. He frowns as he runs along and then he looks back at Arika, "Priority one is looking for that little brat. We need to find him fast or else we may end up rescuing him." He looks forward and frowns deeply.
"Jiro-kun probably didn't get to the village unless it's that close. We should just go to the village and keep an eye out for him from there. Not on the main paths, though. He'll try to sneak into the village," Arika replies, following easily after Kaidan despite her small size. "… I think I can find Jiro-kun if you look for the house and stuff," she suggests.
The journey to the village itself is uneventful, discounting some yelling between people on the path who bumped into eachother. Surely nothing to cause concern. The village itself is small with a population of barely over a hundred. Upon a first look nothing would seem out of the ordinary, but Kaidan would quickly notice that the way the 'villagers' move is very strict and militaristic, almost martial. If they are just villagers they weren't always. Arika's winds would tell her of someone in the woods much further off of the main path, hiding behind some tree branches at the edge of the village.
LOoking at how the people move in the village, Kaidan hmms before looking to Arika, "Be careful." He states simply and then he quickly gestures before they get too far into town and a poof of smoke goes up till, now standing in his place, is a man in a traveling outfit. Complete with dirt from the road, he looks to Arika, "Find Jiro." He then starts into the village.
Arika makes a handseal, and a clone appears and dashes off to investigate the person who seems to be hiding off to the side while she tells Kaidan what she senses. The girl herself hedges into a lizard for the time being, climbing up onto a wall to look at the village from afar. It's a really tiny lizard of no real consequence.
Oh you'll find Jiro alright! In fact it's not too hard since as soon as Kaidan henge's and starts towards the village the boy starts running towards it himself, leaving Arika's clone behind before it can even reach him. If nothing else he appears to be in a blind spot where no one can see him as he nears!
When Kaidan appears on the pathway a few of the villagers stop to look out at him before hurrying along as if they have someone else important to be. That could either be a good or bad sign, but regardless things are just ever so slightly off from a normal village.
A sigh escapes Kaidan as he walks along, adjusting the sack on his back. He looks genuniely tired, a state he doesn't have to work too hard to fight given how quickly they got here. He yawns a moment later as he walks into the village. He doesn't really look to anyone, paying attention out of the corner of his eyes but he doesn't appear to want to talk to anyone. If anything he looks more eager to keep away from people as he walks into the village, stopping if someone gets too near and stepping away from them to go around them. Just a typical transient trying his best to be ignored while he passes through.
Arika-lizard is able to see a lot of things from her perch, and that includes Jiro coming over! The lizard skitters over to where the boy is heading after dispersing her clone, using a bit o wind to speed her up so she can make it to her friend in time. "Jiro-kun!" she hisses angrily. "You shouldn't be here…" whether he hears her or not is a whole other matter, but she /is/ aiming to perch on him.
Jiro doesn't seem to care that the lizard climbs up him and starts talking. He probably just knows all to well as he puts his back to a building and peeks around. "Yer no' suppose' ta be here." The boy mutters softly to the lizard without looking at her. "Yoppa migh' be here. Yer suppose' ta be in the Village where it's safe." Apparently that whole thing on letting Arika go with him in his fights wasn't true. He's still trying to protect her from it all. "Go back Ari."
The villagers don't bother Kaidan at first though their eyes are more piercing than they should be for a village full of non-combatants. It's not until he's about halfway through the village that a pair of 'guards' stop in front of him and hold out a hand to stop the man. "Halt! Identify yourself and your purpose here." Whether they believe he's a transient or not…well, they don't have any weapons out and are just asking questions, so at least there's that.
Something that would be pretty well noticeable at this point is the complete lack of children in the village, of any age, all the way up until the late teens. These teens seem to be the most militaristic of all and watch Kaidan the closest.
Grabbing his Sack up closer to his shoulder, the Transient Man takes a step back from the guards and eyes them warily. He stares at them with great suspicion and his tongue softly touches his lips, "I am Ping." He nods his head, "Just passing through. I need a place to stay for the night." He then looks from one to the other and then shifts back a step, "And I have money. I can pay my own way for a place to stay." He nods his head, "I'm not some vagrant." He nods again curtly before giving both another suspicious look each.
Arika shakes her head a bit. "I was assigned. Doesn't matter. And Kai-kun is here. Anyway, you shouldn't be here either. There are … weird things… Something's off about this village. Even Gyuki's quiet, and I can tell he's awake…" She prods at Jiro's neck. "Let's go… We should leave. We only came here to investigate and not cause trouble, so let's go back.
"Strangers are not welcome here." One of the guards replies as he eyes the vagrant suspiciously, whether he says he is or not. "You are to return the way you came immediately. Whether by your own two feet or not." He doesn't seem to be overly nice about it either as a sword slides out of it's sheath at his words.
Jiro shakes his head at Arika before he slips around the corner of the building and hides behind some low boxes. "I've been watchin'. They're gonna do somethin', I can tell. An' i's no' good." At least he doesn't flick the lizard off of his shoulder like he kind of wants to. From here they can see Kaidan in the middle of the village and Jiro watches silently.
Looking annoyed, growling even a little at the words of the man, 'Ping' grumbles and then raises a hand, "Fine…fine." He then backs away from the man with the sword several steps before turning to start back the way he came. As he goes, he continues to grumble, "Motivated *grumble gruble* intents." And he is still moving back the way he came, eyes skimming the area ahead of him for signs of the pair, knowing they are around here somewhere.
Arika sighs and nods, staying quiet for the time being. She, even while being a lizard, frowns at the scene unfolding. "let's go explore a bit, then. Can you henge? We could explore easier if we don't look like ourselves. Animals draw less suspicion, too."
"Ya noticed there are no' any animals 'round?" Jiro mutters softly. And it's true. The place is surprisingly, shockingly, almost impossibly clear of any pets or vermin of any kind. Something only a powerful jutsu could accomplish…and an hour or so of watching the village would uncover. "Go bac' ta Kaidan an' go back ta the Village. Let 'em know."
As for 'Ping', the guards follow at a distance but he's left mostly alone for the time being. He's just watchined carefully by all the villagers as he goes.
Heading away from the guards, Kaidan in his Ping guise looks annoyed and gruff as he walks toward the village exit. Even as he approaches the exit, he watches for Jiro and Arika. As he exits the village though, he is already moving off trail, moving right out of the village and then around a building. Even as he slips away, he simply calls upon his enhancing armor and attempts to slip into hiding. Looking back in the direction of the guards, he frowns deeply and goes high for the moment.
Arika frowns. "No, I mostly was looking for you. So let's just get back or stay off the ground or something… C'mon, Jiro-kun," she says, trying to get her friend to leave and follow Kaidan or something. "Let's go."
"Yea' yea'." Jiro mutters as he back around behind the building again carefully to avoid being seen, then jumps up on the building and makes his way silent and low towards Kaidan. There's no way he's leaving yet but at least he'll listen to Arika enough to find the older shinobi. As much of a pain in the rationale as he is.
As he moves up on top of the buildings, Kaidan peers about at the various areas around until he notes the incoming pair of short shinobi. He peers at Jiro specifically, staring at him intently before he points to his side and then points at Jiro before pointing at the spot to his side again. He then starts to look around, trying to see what he can see, hoping ot keep his stealth despite Jiro.
Arika continues to stay perched on Jiro's shoulder for the time being, looking backwards behind them to make sure no one's following them or caught sight of them yet. "If I see something, I'll poke you with my tail," she whispers to Jiro, trying to let him know her plans before-hand so that he doesn't grumble about being unprepared like the last time she was like this.
From this vantage point the overall 'wrongness' of the village is even more profound. People in the village don't seem to talk to eachother besides the occasional brief greeting or other word. Other than that they move from one place to another with a purpose and don't dawdle. A few buildings seem to have more people coming and going than the others but besides the rigid way of the villagers, the lack of children, and the lack of animals or even critters, nothing overly stands out to say what is going on.
Jiro makes a face at Kaidan as he slides into place next to the puppeteer, crouched low to remain hidden. So far it seems like no one in the village has noticed the intruders. Or if they have they aren't doing anything about it.
Leaning down once Jiro is nearby, Kaidan's eyes look angry as he looks to the boy. The mask hides any other facial expressions. THe harsh whisper follows, "You aren't to be here. We are going back and now." He points back toward the way they came, "And no, this is non-negotiable." He then will squint at the lizard on Jiro's shoulder, tilting his head. He then looks frustrated and nods, "Arika, we are going. This is definitely our place."
Arika squeaks a bit at Kaidan and nods lightly. She clings tightly to Jiro's shoulders in case he gets any idea of flicking her over to Kaidan or off him, mostly because she doesn't want him to start running off without her. "Okie, Kai-kun…." she says quietly, taking another look behind them all so that she can keep being on watch. Another Arika appears next to her, also in lizard form, and takes its place on Jiro's other should. Yay, lizards!
Jiro is not happy with what Kaidan has to say and he shakes his head quickly. "I saw 'em take some kids into one'a the buildin's earlier. They didn' look goo'. 'm not gonna leave 'em." He whispers back to Kaidan as he stares defiantly up at the man. Arika is ignored for the moment…both of them…though he is tempted to flick her off again.
"And our job is to gather information and get you out of here. That is it." Kaidan glares right back at the boy. He then looks around quickly to make sure of their location before saying, "Now where is this place where the kids are? I'll check it out and you get."
Arika, both of them, listen to the two talk while she just watches the town and keeps an eye on things. She seems to perk up a bit when she hears that Kaidan would help Jiro investigate something. Maybe that means Jiro will listen and get himself out of danger! It might not, too, but there's a chance!
The chances of Jiro 'get'ing aren't that high, but for the moment he doesn't argue. "Right off'a the town center. Bigges' buildin'. They were herdin' em all in." His voice sounds a little strained as he recalls the situation. He'd barely kept himself from getting involved then. Something that would have ended badly assuredly. The boy doesn't move as he stares at Kaidan unflinchingly, waiting to see what the man does.
"Go." He states it as he points to the door and then he is off toward the building's edge. He looks back and shakes his head before he starts away as stealth fully as he can as he heads for the building.
Arika looks to Jiro to make sure he's 'go'ing back to safety. She knows very well that he isn't, but it's worth hoping for, right? The girl sighs a bit and closes her eyes, focusing on the world inside her mind, going down to the cage that held the tailed beast. 'You'll help me if I need it, right Hachi-jii?' she asks the creature. ~Tch… I wouldn't break my word. Just remember the chakra is only to borrow.~
Jiro grumbles and drops out of sight…but he doesn't go. Instead he sneaks back around the building to watch Kaidan from the spot he was at before. He wasn't going to leave kids behind to be tortured, not after what he himself had been through in that regard. It was below him to leave someone to suffer such a fate.
As Kaidan nears the building in question he would hear shouts coming from inside. Loud shouting, some of pain, some of anger, some just tired. There's only two windows into the building, set high only to let air flow through while limiting the view. So far he appears to remain hidden from view.
Moving up the side of the building, Kaidan looks at that window before climbing up to the window. He, for now checks to see if he can slip through it and if he can, he will.
Arika keeps a good hold on Jiro for the time being, the girl focused on wanting to keep an eye out for her friend. The clone-lizard scrambles off Jiro's shoulder and goes to help Kaidan investigate, using wind chakra to float herself over because she's just that tiny in lizard form. Once the clone-lizard finally reaches where Kaidan is investigating, it sticks close to the wall (like it can't already) and hopes no one notices a lizard climbing up at the window.
The window is too small for Kaidan to slip through but a lizard could. Kaidan would be able to see the edge of the room which pretty much explains it all. Kids being forced to fight each other, but not only that, they are being forced to train. Should they slack they get whipped, should they be injured they're ignored and expected to continue anyways. Unfortunately for Kaidan and the clone lizard there seems to be somewhat observant inside and they look up towards the window and give a shout of warning to the others. Caught.
And it is at that point that there's no other choice, at least in Kaidan's mind. He looks to the lizard and then scoots back down the wall, "Distract them! I'm coming in through the front." And through the front he intends to go. Unless stopped, Kaidan will be coming around the corner and going for the front door. Even as he goes, he intends to hammer fist at high speed any and all that intend to get in his way before he fully intends to splinter open whatever door is on this warehouse.
Once through the opening, the lizard-Arika turns back into her usual form, attacking some of the guards with a gust of wind to try and knock them away from the kids that are being held inside. "Let everyone go!" she shouts, offering a good distraction, hopefully. The girl glares at anyone incoming, seeming intent to murder those who try anything further.
The shout from inside the building has alerted those outside as well and people go in different directions. Some pull out hidden weapons and charge the puppeteer while others return to their homes to get larger weapons. Still other actually flee the village, perhaps meant to inform someone of what's happened if they are ever attacked.
Once the action starts Jiro grumbles before he jumps into the fray as well, sash coming off as he slashes two of the nearby guards who were unaware of his arrival. "Ari, go an 'elp Kaidan." He tells the lizard on his shoulder as he prepares to try and defend the puppeteer while he frees the kids.
A look to the guys at the door who come at him with hidden weapons, Kaidan approaches them fast and his own hidden weapons come out, each blade covered in poison as he cuts into his enemies. He then finishes with a vicious slice into the chest of another guy who was foolish enough to come at him. He then kicks in the door to the warehouse and states, "Everyone in here, give up now and leave the children alone." He then eyes anyone who is in there with Arika, a blade coming out of the back of each arm.
The real Arika removes her henge, hopping off Jiro's shoulder to fight with him back-to-back. Let her clone handle the guards inside with Kaidan. Should any of those inside try to move, the clone would send a wind-sharpened kunai at them. Arika herself would draw a kunai, but her main attack was breathing out a cloud of poisonous smoke that would drain people of their will to continue fighting. She controls it with the wind, the girl aiming to make the bad guys breathe in most of it.
The guards don't stand much of a chance against the shinobi, especially since they are just hired goons with limited training. They go down fairly easily in the face of everything that's there. Well, most of them do at least. Kaidan's problem will become painfully apparent when he bursts in. Standing between him and the younger kids are some only a few years older, ready to face off against the puppeteer. They look frightened but determined.
Jiro moves to the door with Arika, nailing anyone that comes too close and blocking the projectiles that come his way. The problem is going to be that there are far too many people for three shinobi to handle, especially with one being a student.
A frown and the man known as Kaidan will stand up straight and point at the kids before pointing at the others, "You might be able to take me if you all come at me at once." He states and then raises up his hand and several blades pop out, "But many of you will die." He looks at them, "Die trying to make kids do something they don't wanna do." He chuckles and looks at the lot of them slowly, "Do you wanna do this? I mean, like I said, not /all/ of you will die. Just tell me who wants to be the first to die and step forward. I'll keep going till you stop me…or you can just stop. Give up and not die." He looks at his blade, it is blatantly dripping with something kind of viscous fluid before his head whips to glare at the kids first, "Well?! Are you ready to die or are you done?!"
Arika continues to attack and avoid whatever attacks come her way. She does get a few cuts and bruises, but nothing too bad, and nothing that wasn't getting healed quickly thanks to regenerative abilities that Gyuki has to offer. She starts to draw on the beast's power as the battle continues, but no cloak forms around her quite yet. A lot of her attacks are simply those that try to knock over and exhaust her enemies.
Those inside the room look at eachother, the first row of kids in their mid teens facing off against the puppeteer with shoddy weapons while behind them are the younger ones. What few real guards there were are dead thanks to Arika's clone. The kids seem unsettled by Kaidan's words but none of them actually move from where they are. "If we don't kill you, they'll kill us." One of the kids whispers to Kaidan before being silenced by the others. Apparently things were very strict about how they would kill the kids.
Jiro grumbles to himself as he uses kunai and cloth to keep most of the attackers at bay. But some attacks start getting through. A cut here, a knick there, it's only going to get worse. "Kaidan! Get 'em ou', hurry, we gotta go!" Even the boy can see that they're going to be overrun here soon.
"I don't kill people just because they don't follow orders." Kaidan states and then steps to the side, gesturing to the door, "There's the exit. I'll be glad to take anyone wiht me back to Sunagakure. So, that's your choice. You leave with me and survive or stay with people who threaten your life while forcing you to fight people who can kill you." He looks at the door and then at them, "Make your choice." He then twists his arm and his elbow pops open for a blade to go shooting out toward any guard who attempts to move against him or the kids. The blade is nasty. Covered in a nastier poison than he normally uses.
Arika continues to fight, her clone disappearing and reforming beside her so that the ones outside the building have to deal with three little kids instead of two. It was better and evened things out, but not by much and not for long. The two Arika used kunai and wind to keep their enemies back.
The kids look at eachother and seem uncertain, but it's obvious they aren't totally devoted to whatever this cause is and they start to go past Kaidan before they see the battle going on outside. "We can't leave THEY will kill us." One of them says worriedly, looking to Kaidan as if expecting the man to have some diabolical scheme to get them past the battlefield.
Jiro mutters to himself as Kaidan takes /forever/ with the kids and he gets a few more cuts as he simply starts to get overwhelemed. "KAIDAN!" The boy practically growls towards the open door.
A look to the kids and he walks to the door, "Will they?" Kaidan then steps outside with a single step and for only a few brief seconds he is gone from the spot at the door only to return there. In his movement, he is moving at high speed. He zips to an opponent and plants a fist into his gut before vanishing from that spot to kick toward one's face, then he is gone again to elbow one in the back only to vanish again to put a sidekick into one's floating rib. As he finishes up with two more, he kicks to one's face before bouncing to another to plant two legs right into hsi face and ride him to the ground only to reappear at the door. He looks back to the kids, "Do you want free or not?"
Arika, at this point, is just aiming to help defense Jiro while she fights off most of the people who are trying to take her and Jiro down. She doesn't bother calling out for Kaidan, as that would just distract her. Whatever attacks are aimed at her friend, she tries to take. Her clone eventually disappears thanks to all the attacks, and she doesn't have enough energy to make a new one. If this goes for much longer, she probably will end up using the cloak…
Kaidan neatly cleans out a nice little area surrounding the exit of the building the kids are stuck in. Once they see what the man can do the kids all run out, going in one of the few directions where there aren't more guards. The guards themselves are shouting at them to come back and are starting to give chase.
Jiro intercepts a number of the guards before they can get far, blood covering his face and body from all the attacks and hits thus far. He looks kind of scary actually, but then he really doesn't like what they were forcing these kids to do.
"Arika! Take the lead!" He points to the way the kids are going and then points to Jiro, "Get in the middle, help them leave. Block any who try to hurt the kids. I'll pull up the rear." He then ducks under a swing of an enemy only to drive a heavily poisoned blade into him. He then looks back to the pair, "Go, now!" He then looks at all the kids and takes a few hits directly, but he doesn't appear to hurt. At least not yet. He then points at the guards, "Anyone who harms a child today will die slowly!" He declares as he points at the guards and any who he can catch going after the kids will learn he isn't lying.
Arika nods to Kaidan's orders and a bit of Gyuki's chakra bubbles up along her arm, the girl using it to knock away any bad guys who try and come near. The girl dashes forward to knock away those who are planning to take back the kids, but is mostly just threatening (hopefully).
The guards don't seem to much care what Kaidan has to say at the moment as they converge on the man, a good half dozen of them coming at once. The kids continue to run, following Arika as best as they can and some of the older ones even helping to defend the younger kids. Jiro is in the mix as well, sprinting back and forth a few times to drill his steel cloth into anyone that gets too close. At least the way Arika goes ends up being mostly clear.
Noting that they seem to be focusing on him and Kaidan then nods, "Come on then!" He declares and starts fighting htem back and forth, countering where he can and taking hits for it. He seems to be taking the hits just to act as a distraction, even as he gets hit he gives as good as he takes, fighting back and forth. He seems eager to have their attention, fighting them, and taunting them as he does.
Arika keeps leading the way, using her arm to attack and sweep many away while the other takes kunai and shuriken and throws them at various guards who try to stop them. The girl glances back every once in a while to make sure everyone is following behind, but there's not too much need to worry, fortunately. And Kaidan and Jiro seem to be working as hard as her to keep the kids safe.
As the group manages to escape the outskirts of the village the guards begin falling back. Many of their numbers are dead and the remaining have no intention of going the same way against such an advanced foe. They retreat back into the village, some going beyond to report while the kids are essentially set free.
Jiro watches the guards retreat and sighs softly to himself as he looks over all the rescuees. He feels much better now that they are free, but what exactly are they supposed to do with them now? The boy looks to Kaidan questioningly.
Coming out of this, Kaidan's left arm isn't moving. That puppeted arm is limp at his side, obviously broken in various spots and he is bleeding. It looks like Kaidan may have been caught in various spots. Even as he approaches the kids and the pair, he is back up as he moves, watching the way they came. He nearly bumps into a kid as he whips around to stare down at one of the kids, blood falling from his lip before he nods to Jiro. His eyes are dark, animalistic in a way. He then points, "Back to Sunagakure." He nods his head, "Now." There's no feeling his voice. His wooden mask is broken half off. His revealed lip bleeding as he points.
Arika nods at Kaidan's words, chakra fading along her arm as she relaxes a bit. "Jiro-kun, let's go." She looks back to the kids and wishes she knew some sort of magical healing stuff for her friends, but she is still learning. A slow process… The girl grumbles a bit at her inability, but says, "we should hurry, too."
The return trip is uneventful though a lot slower as they corral all the kids back to the village. The mission was a success of sorts, since they got the kids, but that location is going to be long moved by the time they get back and without capturing anyone for information. The good with the bad.
