Starring:
Date: January 27, 2016
Summary:
A joint Konoha and Kumo mission leads three ninja to a spooky forest… To investigate rumors of ghosts!
"Thunder On Water Pt. 2"
Foggy Forest, Land of Fire/Lightning Border
A joint mission between Konohagakure and Kumogakure is underway. They met up at a predesignated location on or near the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning. The purpose? To investigate the sudden appearance of what are described as 'strange creatures' wandering the forests of both countries. Other descriptions depict them as 'ghosts' and 'monsters'. No one is really sure what the deal is, but it's apparently more than just a rumor, as many people across an extensive area are all reporting the same things. Whether the reports are actually what people SAY they are or not is another matter. But ninja have been sent to investigate.
A Chuunin from both Konohagakure and Kumogakure have been sent, along with Uchiha Suzu. The area they are coming up on is a misty, foggy forest, every bit as creepy as one might expect a 'haunted' forest to be. Though maybe that in itself is what is making people think there are ghosts out here, and it's really all just nonsense. But that's what the ninja are out here to figure ut.
Arashi showed up and waved to both Tatsuo and Suzu. "How are you both?" He just stretched a bit and looked around. It didn't take long for them to make it to this misty sort of area and he paused. "Interesting place." His eyes wandered, and he pondered using some hidden mist jutsu to look around, but he didn't need to yet. Not until he was in the are at least. "Suzu can you see through the mist? Or is it like our hidden mist technique and is full of chakra?" He asked before they entered the thick mist.
Tatsuo was quite curious as to what these creatures might be. The healer in him couldn't help but wonder. He arrived with Suzu and gave a small smile of greeting to the familiar face of Arashi. "Arashi-san, it's good to see you. I'm well thank you. Yourself?" With that out of the way they were off to the forest. And a spooky forest it was. "What were the reports saying about the creatures again?"
Suzu hmmms thoughtfully as she squints into the murky, creepy woods ahead of them. At Arashi's suggestion, she says, "I'll try." Then she puts her hands together in a focusing seal, molding Chakra. Her eyes then gain their two-tomoe Sharingan. It may not have the perception capabilities of the Byakugan, but Suzu is able to see the coloration and flow of Chakra at the very least. And what she sees is… Nothing in particular. "This looks like normal fog as far as I can tell. Or at least it doesn't seem to be imbued with Chakra." Then she blinks and looks to Arashi. "What do you mean 'our' hidden mist technique? Isn't that a technique of Kirigakure?"
Some weird, distant, hollow moaning noise from deeper in the woods, disturbing the general quietness otherwise has Suzu focusing more on that, however. Sure she's creeped out, but she wants to be ready for action as well. She draws a kunai from her tool pouch, gripping it and holding it ready. "Tatsuo-san, the reports were of 'ghosts' and 'strange creatures'. We don't know much more than that. They're roaming across a wide area, whatever they are, which includes both the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning. And… Sorry. I can't see through this fog at all with it this thick. If we're going in there, we'll all have to be on alert at all times. What should we do, guys?"
Arashi nods to Suzu and waits to hear what she has to say about the fog. When she gets that answer he nods again and rubs at his chin for a moment. "Well…I guess this isn't caused by a shinobi. Unless they are forming this mist some other way." His eyes shift to Suzu. "Oh umm. I just copied it from Tatsuo using it. I watched what seals he made and did the same. Focused chakra and I understood the general idea of what he did. From there I just…recreated it."
Next thing he knew there was a moaning sound from nearby. "Uhhh… I could try to use the mist to see in the area at least. But yeah we need to be ready. THis mist is thick and if they can hide their presence well it might be sudden when they finally do attack. Uhhh. Be careful you two."
Oh sure way to throw Tatsuo under the bus about knowing techniques from another Hidden Village. He doesn't respond at first but then he hears the strange sounds and he frowns faintly, focusing chakra inwardly as he makes a single hand seal to add to the mist. It's his own mist this time, the kind that will tell him if there's anything in the vacinity. "Isobu taught me," he ends up saying, almost a bit distracted while he does so.
Suzu blinks. "Oh, okay." She stands by, watching and waiting. At least if something lunges out of the woods at them she'll be able to spot it and react. She doesn't know what Tatsuo is doing or what Arashi is talking about with using the fog to see, but the kunoichi just assumes they have capabilities and knowledge far beyond hers and that they can handle whatever they plan to do.
The mention of 'Isobu' has Suzu a bit perplexed, but she assumes that's some teacher of Tatsuo's.
Tatsuo's jutsu reveals there is movement within the mist, but it's… Odd. Distorted. Scattered. Like partial bodies in motion, based on their silhouettes and how the fog interacts with such. It probably feels kind of concerning. Are they dealing with… Zombies or something!? Partially devoured and partially rotten bodies wandering around in the woods!? No wai! It has to be something less weird than that! …Right?
Arashi would move to use the same mist technique to sense which pretty much just meant two mist filled with chakra moving together through the area. He probably noticed what Tatsuo did as well, and looked right at Tatsuo with a small frown. Also Isobu for him instantly meant the three tails, so his mind drifted there but Arashi simply shrugged. It was easy as a Pirate to find the names of these tailed beasts. Old tails of how they destroyed kingdoms, and how shinobi tried to control them. THat is supposedly why some pirates sailed because they were sure the beast didn't come out on water. Though maybe Isobu did. "So uhhh…. this….seems interesting. Either of you have any way to remove mist? So we can clear the natural fog away?"
Tatsuo frowns as he senses the creatures within the forest. "There's…something up ahead. It's not a ghost, I can tell that much. But there seems to be something unnatural about it." He considers, head tilting to the side before he starts forward. "Let's go check one of them out. Stay alert." Did he just take control? Apparently. "We'd need someone with wind ninjutsu to move the mist Arashi-san. It would take me too long to draw out all the water."
Suzu can't do either of those things, so she just shrugs helplessly and moves with the others as they head deeper into the woods. Dense fog has an unusual effect of both muffling sound and amplifying it. Maybe it's just the fact that vision is obscured, so those within it have to move more cautiously to avoid running into anything, resulting in less noise. And then, any sounds that one DOES hear, seem to be louder as a result. As they creep through the forest, Suzu's Sharingan trying to see anything out of place, they eventually almost literally run into a horrible monster.
It looks like a gorilla with half of its head missing, and other holes scattered throughout its body. Oddly, as it turns to face them, one of its legs is also missing but it appears to be moving as though the leg were still there.
"Hmmm?" the gorilla lets out as he peers at the three ninja. "Human children? Are you responsible for this all this?"
A dark shape lowers down from above behind them, on a slender thread… And before Suzu can even think of a response to the gorilla, a high-pitched voice chitters at them, "If they are, they'd better fix this. I can feel something tickling me and I can't do anything about it!"
Suzu spins around to face the dangling shape and finds a cocoon comprised of just the head, and the bottom of the silk bundle, with its middle section gone. "U-umm… We're not responsible for this, we're just investigating it." Whatever 'this' is. Though… Talking animals… Why does this seem familiar?
Arashi blinked a bit when they finally saw the gorilla and then this cocoon thing. "What is going on even? We just arrived here." He frowned a moment, and looked between them once more before looking at Tatsuo and Suzu. Did either of them know what was going on. "And yeah we didn't do anything here. We probably know less than you at least." He sighed and tried to focus a bit into this mist that he has surrounding them. There had to be something else. Had to be.
Tatsuo leads the way to the strange…gorilla? He stops when the creature comes into sight and he frowns faintly at the state it's in, turning when the head spings and staring at it for a moment. How…very odd. "Um, no, we didn't cause anything. We only just arrived here to investigate what was going on. What is it that happened?" He manages to keep from saying 'to you' after seeing him in pieces, but he manages to not voice those words.
Mr. Gorilla says, "I assume this is some sort of summoning attempt gone wrong. Parts of my body are detached, and yet still living, and behaving as though they were still attached. I am not the only one suffering from this condition, and we appear to be unable to return home until our condition is resolved."
Summoning gone wrong…?
Suzu turns to Tatsuo and says, "Guys… A Konoha team went on a mission like this before. Remember, Tatsuo-san? With the flood and the beavers? I'm not sure why… But it appears someone is messing around with a 'summoning technique', and it's doing bad stuff to various animals. I think if we're going to stop this for good, we're going to need to track down the culprit."
Miss Cocoon says, "That sounds like a productive use of time."
"This is an ongoing problem? How dreadful! You have my aid in this matter!" Mr. Gorilla announces.
And so three ninja, a gorilla, and a cocoon set out to solve the mystery… Of who is doing all this summoning stuff anyway!
TO BE CONTINUED…
