Starring:
Date: October 17, 2014
Summary:
Michiko and Naruko are escorting caravan when their journey is interrupted by members of the Silence.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"The Silence - Darkness Returns"
Land of Lightning - Mountain Trail
Apparently Michiko is a very busy shining nowadays… She's been on several missions of late, and this is the most recent one. It /sounded/ simple, so she decided to invite Naruko, though the Uzumaki was Hiei's student. She didn't think it'd be much of an issue, though. She had switched around the different Kumo-nin all the time as a Genin… On the caravan, Michiko is keeping a close eye out for anything suspicious. She notices how nervous the cart driver seems, and isn't quite sure how to handle it. Not because she wouldn't be able to calm him, but because she senses something is wrong too…
"Are you okay Guy? You look just a little bit off putting," Naruko states outloud as she keeps up along side of the Caravan. Despite the situation Naruko was always in a pretty cocky and jubilant mood. Especially with Michiko around. "You know you have a duo of the very beast from Kumogakure right? Michiko-chan and I are a really awesome team. Don't let our size fool you!" A few and hopefully comforting words as Naruko folded her hands behind her neck and tipped her nose to the air to give it a little sniff. She was hopeful that nothing too odd would show itself.
"I-I… I'm okay!" the driver tries to huff, though his nervousness is still quite apparent. "I'm sure we'll be okay." He seems to keep muttering that to himself as they ride along, perhaps trying to convince himself of that… right up until a stave jabs into each wheel of the caravan on the opposite side of the wagon from Naruko, putting it to a halt along with the horses. "Oh umbra! They're here!" the driver shouts nervously, unable to contain himself now as black figures start to pop out on the trail in front of and around them. This one just couldn't go easy…
Michiko nods to Naruko's words. "Yes, we'll be fine. Nothing will happen," she says, hoping that she's right. The quiet ride so far doesn't put her at ease, and when the caravan jerks to a halt, she automatically starts to focus her chakra, eyeing the path warily. She doesn't recognize the black figures that appear, but she's not sure she wants to attack them either. Not without a brief check to see how strong they could possibly be. "I suppose you aren't going to let us continue…" she says, expecting her words to fall on deaf ears. "But we would appreciate it if you moved along to some other caravan."
Naruko frowns the Silence members reveal themselves impeding their movement. Of course Naruko takes a few steps forward, channeling chakra throughout her body and clenching her fists tightly. "You all can just step aside and let us continue. We don't want any trouble, but if you are looking for it we might not have a choice," Naruko states, though she turns her attention to Michiko, curious on what her actions might bring.
Though one generally doesn't expect much of an answer back from the goons of the Silence, this time Michiko and Naruko actually hear a voice ring out from the black-adorned men. A simple answer. "Sorry, ladies. Our orders are final. We'd rather die fighting you than the bosses." With that kunai and shuriken would begin to come at them like rain, leaving a slim opportunity to actually save the driver from dying here if they don't act quickly.
Michiko is unable to avoid the storm of kunai and shuriken, taking a lot of damage from it. Cuts appear on her arms, legs, and midsection, though she at least blocks her face so she'll still be able to see. Once that rain of death is over with, she lowers her hands to start making handsigns. "And here I thought this could end peacefully…" Why would she think that? Well, a girl can hope… On the last handsign, the ground beneath a section of the silence members begins to swirl, moving faster and faster until it's a literal whirlpool of earth below them. Hopefully it sucks them all in, making them unable to move. Then she makes another set of seals and breathes a sea of fire at the members she had just trapped.
A shred of shuriken and kunai managed to pierce her flesh, cutting along the side of her arm until finally she disappears in a puff of smoke. She had reappeared, directly along side Michiko with a flaking aura of flaming. "So many of them…" Naruko whispers quietly under he breath, though is surprised to see Michiko single handled pull most of them in a whirlpool of earth. This gave Naruko the necessary push to form bolts of fire along her palms and toss them the Silence members direction. Michiko and Naruko's assault combined would leave room for a fairly massive explosion.
Despite talking big, some of these men are likely going to wish they'd taken the girls up on their offer to move on peacefully! The earth swallows the majority of the targeted men up, making them rather easy pickings to roast with the exploding flames. As per usual with these men, they don't even hesitate to keep coming. About half continue to throw objects while the others that still remain charge ahead, striking at the Genin with intent to hack and maim for the cause of their mission.
Michiko raises a wall of earth to stop any sharp things that might be aimed at her. This includes thrown Kunai, shuriken, and whatever slashing attack that might come her way. She glances to Naruko, calling out, "Naruko-san, are you holding out okay?" Almost right as the words leave her mouth, so does a giant flaming bullet, the Iwata intent on taking out as many as she can in a single hit. Then she turns a bit to send a similar flame bullet to another side of the battle.
Surcumbing to a few more assaults but still standing, Naruko began to shrug off the attacks, countering one of them with an explosive fire clone to set them in their place. "I'm….fine…" Naruko responds back to Michiko in a feverish growl. A hand of chakra than explodes out from her cloak, attempting to grasp one of them and fling them out towards an explosive fire clone.
Through a round of flame and screams, the remaining Silence goons are at last toppled, leaving a score of over thirty bodies lying in the dirt around the wagon and trail. Finally popping out from his hiding spot, the driver walks over and struggles a bit, but finally yanks the staves from each wheel so they can move forward. "Whew! Thought we were done for," he says with a sigh before hopping back up onto his seat. After taking a drink from a canteen on his side, he'd get the horses back into motion, starting on their journey again to head toward the Land of Fire.
Behind them, however, amidst the bodies and flames, a figure flickers into existence… The leader of the Silence, Fuzen Yuuma, yet something is different about him, darker than before if that is at all possible. "Who gave you permission to die?" he asks as he lifts a bottle of sake to his lips to take a sip. As he pulls it back down, he says, "Well, to be honest, that was your whole purpose here. Sorry, boys. There's something I need to test out." Corking the bottle and casually tucking it into a pouch on his side, he looks over his shoulder at the shinobi and the shipment before making a set of what appear to be some kind of foreign handseals and slamming his hands on the ground. "What was that he loves to say to creep everyone out?… Oh yeah… The Children… are here to play." Suddenly black chakra begins to pour from the spot on the ground where his hand rests, engulfing all the bodies of the mercenaries that were just killed and pouring into them as it lifts them up off the ground into a standing position. When their eyes open, they each now have an aura of black chakra, their eyes glowing a pure eerie white as a feeling of pure darkness overshadows the area. "Now get back to work," he commands simply before vanshing as quickly as he came.
Michiko considers Naruko for a second, her thoughts a bit of a whirlwind as she tries to take in all the information and analyze it. It looks like the Jinchuuriki has control still, so she's not going to worry about that until it's an issue. It seems that the duo have managed to take down the crowd of Silence, so she relaxes slightly and makes sure most of the cuts from earlier aren't bleeding so much to be a problem. "Well… I suppose that was one thing out of the way…" she comments, though something is still bothering her… Of course, she's looking around in all directions, so she ends up seeing something out of the corner of her eye.
"Looks like it might not be over yet…" she mutters under her breath. She barely recognized Yuuma, but it's hard to forget the face of someone who came and attacked your home. Sadly, he disappears before she can even do anything about his presence. Probably for the best, though, since she is definitely not strong enough to take him on. "Naruko-san, keep on your toes. And driver, please do your best not to get killed," she says, preparing for even more fighting.
Control was quickly begining to slip away, especially at the battle seemed to revive itself. The presence of that evil chakra countered acted wit her own. A deep growl escapes her lips as she buckles down on all fours, her fingers become more clawed and overall features feral and feline. She didn't respond to Michiko, instead she simply slammed her hand down into the ground beneath her, summoning up a hand of blue chakra which erupted under the earth beneath them, attempting to snatch and grab at the individuals and launch them into an explosive clone.. For now she was going to be on the pure offensive.
With their sudden rejuvenation, these men are suddenly are lot more agile and powerful. They aptly leap out of the way of the incoming attacks, their demeanor now completely dark and emotionless as they charge the shinobi. Some wield blades, others actually seeming to grow long claws of chakra thta they attempt to rip and tear at Michiko and Naruko with. "This world is ours. We will spread across it like fire and erase your kingdoms to build a new era… The era of Silence and darkness."
Maybe Michiko had thought too soon. Of course, battle can turn on a dime, so it's not entirely on her! The Iwata makes sure to keep an eye Naruko, but most of her attention is on the revived enemy. "I wish the dead would stay dead…" she mutters, going through hand signs quickly to attempt to block the attacks. A few of he initial, faster attacks slice her, but she gets a strong barrier up in time. As she moves, a faint flickering aura of chakra, comparable to a flame, surrounds her. "I beg to differ. The world is not yours anymore. You should be gone from it, along with the Silence and whatever darkness you're following." With a few handseals, she sends a surge of chakra into the ground so the earth springs into action. It whirls again, this time the movement more intense so that these guys will at least /stay/ trapped for a bit. A few more handseals and a large bullet of fire is released at the ones who were hopefully trapped by her earlier attack.
Each attack aimed for the tailed jinchuuriki was met with a counter explosive clone, though not entirely strong in their own right it was enough to provide a distraction, and buy enough time to build up even more chakra than before. Naruko could be seen flickering her tail, the manifestation of the flaming chakra about her body became a bit more pronounced as her chakra continued to rage. SHe bares her fangs and lets out another deep growl. Getting a little more huffy and puffy before she was willing to continue her assault.
Weirdly enough, the possessed men hardly bother at all to dodge the incoming attacks, almost as trying to prove a point. The earth yanks them under, and wave after wave of fire decimates their bodies, leaving them a blazed and bloodied mess in the ground, yet something starts to stand up without the bodies, figures of pure darkness with black wings and glowing eyes. "This makes no difference… Tell the world the children have returned… Tell them their false peace and customs will burn at the feet of the Silence and the Darkness…" With that they'd fade from existence, seeming to have not really been at the full strength they once were. Something may be wrong. Perhaps they are not yet back at full strength from their defeat, but there is no doubt that the Hitokage are back and for some reason now obey the Silence.
Michiko just stares at the dark beings that rise up. It isn't until they disappear without a trace that she relaxes, letting that fiery aura around her die off. She glances off to the side to make sure Naruko is getting under control. Whether or not the Uzumaki is fine, Michiko has to treat herself first before dealing with the Jinchuuriki if she has to. A quick bandage job and she looks around the area. "Hmm… I suppose it'd be a good idea to clean up this mess…" she says a bit too casually in spite of what just happened. The shock of it all will probably come later… Right now, her mind's just trying to get a grasp of what happened.
Naruko was also trying to guess just what was happening. Once the bodies merely dropped she beast sniffed at the air, allowing it's chakra to radiate about it's body and heal up some of her open wounds. Naruko wasn't quite under control, but matters at the moment wasn't pressing enough to warrant any further attacks. Instead she appeared to be more curious. Curious of those bodies would once again rise to their feet and fight once more.
Michiko notices that everything seems to be quite fine now. She makes a seal with her hands, causing the earth to swallow up all the dead bodies. Well, she leaves one out so that she can take it back with her. It's one of the less injured ones that she drags onto the cart, though the driver doesn't really appreciate this. At least he's willing to put up with it. In regards to Naruko, she decides to wait for a bit and see if she's calmed down. If the Uzumaki is still in tailed beast form, then Michiko would just knock her out somehow. Either way, she's determined to get the caravan's contents to the Land of Fire's Daimyo with everyone still alive.
Naruko eventually calms down. The wash of her cloak simply became picked up in the breeze, evaporating from her form as she gasps for air and wobbles to keep her balance. "Ha…." Naruko muses under her breath, her control seemed to be a little more apparent. For a moment she gazes about their battle field, seeing nothing else alarming to which she then offers Michiko a brief thumbs up. "Good work Michiko-chan. I have no idea how things would have turned out without you being here…"
