Starring:
Naoya, Hibiki, Kasai and Chiru, Okochi
Date: September 22, 2016
Summary:
A team of Kirigakure's youth is sent out to secure a section of forest that are near the defensive outer walls. Using the chance to teach a lesson, Naoya has the team track prey and trap the forest to ward off wildlife though there are complications.
"Trapping the Homeland"
Land of Water, Outside Kirigakure
While the weather was fair at the end of May, several Chuunin and Jounin were tasked with taking both students and the more unexperienced Genin to inspect and fortify the defensive walls of the village. The walls that usually were left unquestioned in prowess were damaged heavily the season before when the Storm Bridge assaulted the village itself. Naoya was assigned four, two students, two genin though he only had true experience with three of the four, it wouldn't be seen as a liability.
Waiting outside the village's gate, Naoya still with four large mountain camping packs while the Jounin himself didn't appear to be wearing additional equipment, hands were filled with a series of charts, reviewing over them as he waited. Those that would manage to glance at them before he shifted positions or spoke would see they were schematics at times, others were sketches of the village as a whole. "Team seven and thirteen already moved through the area good.. we'll be working on section eleven then. It shouldn't be too much for these ones to work on."
Kasai and Chiru would be marching in a line, either behind Okochi or leading the way for her. Seeing as she was tasked as their sitter of sorts, they were likely going to be spending time with one another today anyway, so Naoya summoning them to let them help with the walls was just going to be another fun opportunity to spend time with Okochi! "What do you think that we're gonna do first?" Kasai asks Chiru curiously before she shrugs, "Well, we probably gotta build stuff to help make sure that it's all tough and strong. I think you gotta put some umm…" She trails off uncertainly and tries and fails to find the right word to describe it. "Goop down. And they you put the bricks down and then you scratch away the goop to make it look all neat and clean…" Kasai giggles and nods to herself, "I can do that! That sounds easy. We should be wall builders when we aren't busy at the academy or being shinobi someday." When they arrive, they run up and do a lap around Naoya, "Naoya-sensei! We're here and ready to help! What're we gonna do first." When they spot the other Jounin, they definitely try to snoop into the papers he was holding. "Ohh, neat! It's like what the buildings look like before they're buildings. And a picture of the village! I wonder if we can find our house on these."
It mattered not what order she was in. It mattered not what the mission was. Okochi took order without question. That included the order she had received from the Mizukage not a few days ago. The order to watch the twins and scold them if they were to step out of line. Scold them as her instructors scolded her. As a result, she seems transfixed on them. Transfixed with a certain sadness. Her hood, today, was not pulled over her eyes as she waits for them to make a traitorous statement and hoping heavily it does not come to that.
Upon their eventual arrival was Naoya, and in his presence was equipment. She would speak no words, she would only stare.
Hibiki was included obviously but he didn't seem to do much. He stretched some as he continued onwards and seemed to stay to himself even though he was with the others. ~Oooooooo. What are we doing out here?~ Saiken spoke up and Hibiki just pointed at Naoya for seemingly no reason at all to them. 'He will surely explain to us.' ~OHHHHHH!!!! That one? Speak to him for me. I can't speak to him right now.~ 'I suppose.' He walked up and ignored the two running around so he could speak to Naoya. "So section eleven you say? Any particular plan for what we are doing or should we just… Go at it?"
Hibiki and Saiken would wait for an answer here. While he did so he took a closer look at the others here. Okochi and these twins. The twins he didn't know and for that reason he sorta took a bigger interest in them. ~Oh you should put acid on the ground! See them slip and slide as their shoes melt!~ 'Nah. Naoya wouldn't like that.' ~SO!?!? It would be funny!~ 'No! Not doing it.' Then he just shook his head some before waving towards Okochi.
Bringing the papers down, the Jounin thumps the papers against Kasai's head only for the being to pass through her, breaking down and fading into a haze of mist. 'Still not solid enough..' is murmured but he shakes his head lightly. Pointing downwards, Naoya points to the packs at his feet, "Kasai, Chiru return and put these packs on now" is said with a raised voice. The packs themselves were about as large as the twins and weighing easily a third of their weight. Shifting his attention towards Okochi, his head would dip slightly, nodding towards her before pointing down towards the ground. Leaning forward, he picks up one of the pack's straps and offers it towards Okochi, likewise not yet speaking to her.
"You.." is said softly as his gaze settled onto Hibiki in the end before motioning to the last pack that was gathered. "Each of you will strap these on, we'll be observing the wall and this section, including the forest that wraps around it. Any questions?" Even though he asked for questions, Naoya turned his back towards the group of youths, already starting his walk to the side, making his way around the village at a casual pace. "If you are injured I will treat you. If you injure a comrade, I will punish you. You will be dismissed after sundown."
Kasai flinches instinctively to prepare for the thump but links when the man disappears before her, looking around to try to find him. "was that you?" Kasai asks over to Naoya, reaching up to rub her head, "I thought it was funny that they were trying to bump our heads." When they're told what to do, they trot over to the packs and take a moment to inspect them curiously. "These are huge." Kasai huffs out, pouting a little as she tries to work on putting it on. "Couldn't you have gotten one and let us merge together? Then we'd be double strong and it'd be half the work…" Chiru nudges Kasai in an attempt to snap her out of her complaining, "Naoya-sensei's just trying to teach us, besides, it'll make us extra strong! Can't always go the easy way." Chiru still blinks and strains as she tries to heft the pack onto her back the same as Kasai. They look over at Hibiki when they realize he's joining them and they both wave at him before attempting to jog to keep up with Naoya, if not stray a little ahead of him out of excitement, "No questions! Let's go, let's go!" Kasai cheers, before Chiru looks over her shoulder and asks, "But…what are we gonna be looking for?"
Okochi would nod her head, moving over to bring the pack into her own grasp before slipping it upon her shoulders slowly. "Are we initiating repairs upon the wall?" Okochi would ask. "Or are we observing structural deficiencies and recording them for proper craftsman…?" Okochi would ask as her head turns towards Hibiki. The one whom remains silent, and speaks not. How loud is the beast that speaks to him. The beast he has revealed lived within? "Hibiki…"
Okochi stared at the children, mouth curled in a frown. Before the Mizukage's order, they were one of the individuals able to spark any emotion at all from within. Now they started to cause her adverse emotion. "You are both… Stepping out of line. Please refrain from doing so." She would slip her hands together, one hand rubbing a thumb around a scar upon the palm of the other… As if reminding them. "Try… Try to focus… This is a rare opportunity for a student…"
Hibiki started to frown some and started to just walk over to where the pack was. ~What? We just doing this really? Being pack mules! I should be tearing down walls by now! Hibiki attack the spider!!!!~ 'No. Would you shut up now?' ~But… But….. The spider! We could surprise em!~ 'Yeah.. No.' He shrugged lightly again seemingly to himself. Him unable to hide his frustrations. Anyways he would pick up the pack and put it over his back before silently following Naoya. As he was walking he heard Okochi from behind him and turned to face her. "Hmm? Did you say something Okochi?" He took note of her speaking to the twins and just shrugged. Probably was the whole time. Seems she was babysitting.
"Exactly, you often cheat and rely on that unique trait, that's why you two will work on becoming stronger each as Chiru said." Even though the packs were heavy and walking was slowed, the twins would find that the pace Naoya maintained was steady and slow enough for them to keep up. Glancing to the side to Okochi, Naoya shakes his head at first when repairs were in question, "Fortification. Repairs were done within weeks of the damage, we are issuing counter measures and checking for external worries."
Walking along the way, while Chiru was busy, distracted by Okochi, Kasai would notice the edge line of a seal along the route, one Naoya had stepped over though what the seal was couldn't be seen. Hibiki would manage not to be on route to step onto the seal, he would also be able to take note of very fine trip wires. Okochi on the other hand would realize that was beginning to happen.. the walls of Kirigakure were booby-trapped not just along the walls to stop simple climbing animals.. foot traps, clothesline razor wire wrapped around ivy explosive seals, containment seals, it would echo a location prepared for a war zone rather than just a defensive line.
"It's not cheating." Kasai mumbles to herself in a minute rebuttal, but nods her head and keeps focused. When Okochi speaks up to try to scold them for trying to run ahead, Kasai and Chiru look over their shoulder at her. "Aww…but we just wanna get started." Kasai mumbles, slowing down her pace. Chiru then lightly nudges Kasai along to circle back to the group to let Naoya have his definite lead again. When Kasai looks back down, she tugs on Chiru's sleeve and points out the seal mentioned. "Ohh, neat…" Chiru mumbles quietly before asking Naoya, "What would happen if somebody stepped on that seal, Naoya-sensei?" They try to pay a lot more attention to his lead now, trusting Naoya to know how to avoid any other potential booby-traps that they might have missed.
Okochi found that Hibiki was someone who valued limited interaction, even so her greeting appeared to fall on deaf ears. Though, the fact that she was missing the ability to feel insulted helped immeasurably to ignore it. That was the end goal of her past procedure. "Question to yourself… Why is it a bad idea to leave your comrades behind? That is all I will say…" Best to let the children think about it amongst themselves, as she was required to do… No feeling of satisfaction came when she scolded them. No measure of feeling at all. Okochi would slip her hands up to her head and draw her hood down over her eyes. As she reached out with her other senses, and the last moments of sight she allowed herself, she could see and even feel a few of the traps that lined the area.
If there was any reason that it was important to remain with the Jounin, it was to navigate the various traps. "… I was not aware that Kirigakure was prepared like this." Okochi noted, but was not able to feel impressed. "This is a last line of detection if the sensory brigades do not pick up enemy encroachment, isn't it?"
Hibiki looked at the wires on the ground as he walked and seemed to frown some. "Naoya-san. Should we do something about these or ust mark them down?" He asked simply enough before just looking around in his spot. "If they are ours shouldn't we have been told about them already? And if not shouldn't we….. Attempt to remove them?" He asked. His gaze shifted towards Kasai for a moment and he blinked some. Seemed she was the active one of the two. ANd Okochi well… she was handling the twins. Well also asking Naoya things, but Hibiki was being sure that they weren't to be told things about where they were
"If you stepped on.. that?" Turning around after pausing for a moment, Naoya looks at the ground for a few second but then begins walking again. Whipping his wrist out and to the side, webbing is extended and attached to a stone little more than two meters away before he tugs onto it. The stone slips through the air and lands, soon rolling onto one of the seals off to the side of the ground, instantly causing it to explode. "You would loose a foot or at least a few toes depending on how large of a cluster is being set off. That was a single decoy tag."
Lifting two fingers, Naoya raised his tone while a soft smile appears on his lips, "We didn't before, this is something new. A first since the Shinobi Wars came to a cease fire. We are weaponizing the wall in case the sensors don't notice all of the enemies or worse, if the force is large and we need to mobilize quickly." Motioning to an area before them, the traps began to thin into nothingness, a void sections of the wall where Naoya began to walk more freely. "This is where we will begin working though, any of you, can you tell me a deficit such defenses outside of the walls might be?"
Turning towards Hibiki, he would motion towards the boy to draw closer to him before motioning towards the pack he carried. "I'll show you. Take off your pack and start to show the other three what's inside, slowly." The 'pack mule' would discover what each of them had been carrying, bricks of explosive seals that were almost finished, easily over a hundred of them, blades, chemicals, razor wire, caltrops, barbed wire.. a small arsenal. "Knowing what you carried, theorize why we are truly here."
"Yeah, guess so…but we weren't gonna go too far ahead!" Kasai tries to explain, before looking back over her shoulder to watch Naoya pull down the rock onto the seal. She and Chiru wince before she grins to herself, "Woah! I wanna learn how to make those. Are we gonna talk about it in class, Naoya-sensei?" Kasai asks Naoya, and when they reach where they are supposed to be, she looks around and notes the apparently barren space. "Deficit…outside of the walls." Kasai and Chiru both say, still trying to understand the question itself. "Like what these things will stop or why they might not work so well if they were anywhere but the walls? Or what they won't work so good on in general?" They take some time looking over the traps, "Well…" Chiru sheepishly muses after whispering amongst Kasai to debate possible answers. "Away from the wall, unless you were tracking people specifically, you wouldn't be able to know where they were coming from…so they could just go different ways to get around it and not run into them at all. You'd need to set up a lot more…unless they're birds or moles, they kind of have to bump into the wall to get near the village…" They would both perk up curiously and watch attentively as Hibiki is told to empty it and show what all they're carrying. As weapon after weapon is brought out, they muse quietly, "Umm…to put down more traps?" Kasai asks Naoya.
It is as Okochi thought. It was… A logical action to have secondary and even tertiary warning systems. The ocean provides a sound barrier, but Kirigakure has not always had naval superiority. During one of the first wars with Kumogakure, Kirigakure lost extensive territory in the Land of Waves because of this. This applies here, because the enemy can attack Kirigakure from any direction, and do so with great mobility. That requires as many early detection systems as possible. Okochi would walk over to the wall, careful of the traps she had seen, and would slip her pack off and root around it for the traps that had been provided.
"There are many traps surrounding the wall, but I do not see any -on- the wall. This explains why there are bricks that appear to have a trap mechanism upon them." Okochi would hold one of the traps carefully in hand, observing it and attempting to see how it would be placed upon the wall…
Then she realized the mechanism. It came as a stroke of genius. "I see… Naoya-san. Even though you know that some of us had the ability to use chakra to walk upon vertical surfaces, you still gave us equipment that could be used to scale the wall… I believe I know why." Okochi would turn towards the Jounin as she raised the trapped brick. "This brick, settled into the wall, cannot be activated without chakra being presented to it in some way. Most explosive tags require chakra to activate. Proximity tags seem to be impossible, unless… Most shinobi sent to war are of the 'Chuunin' rank, which require a certain set of skills including the ability to use chakra to adhere to vertical surfaces. Thus, the reason that we are provided climbing gear for this exercise is because when someone applies chakra to their feet upon this wall, the chakra applied will set off these trap bricks, causing an explosion. These are mine traps designed to prevent advanced shinobi from scaling the walls using techniques that we know absolutely, without a doubt, that they will use."
Hibiki silently watched for the most part. Letting the others handle things like talking. He didn't favor it when there was nothing he saw to gain yet from speaking. As everything was shown to him he nods somewhat. "Yeah interesting to me. Seems like an okay plan I suppose." He shrugged lightly. "A deficit. Well obviously just an easy way in. FIgure out where the open spot is and take that. Seems obvious." He shrugged again before nodding and taking the pack off. Inside as he pulled things out he nods slowly. "Interesting I suppose." He looked around the others as they spoke on the traps. "Yeah I think it is obvious what we are to do." He stated quickly right before Okochi went on a monologue of sorts about traps. He didn't comment on it, but she was fairly.. Smart in her statement. Everything made sense to him.
"Hmm.. Good answers, but poorly thought at times as well." Lifting a hand Naoya motions towards the forested area twice, "Okochi, Hibiki.. both of you will be forward moving Chiru, Kasai you will be the rear, ranged guard along with issuing first aid if they become wounded." A light smirk appears on his lips as he walks over towards the exposed wall, stroking a hand over the barrier, gently stroking it from side to side. "The inner core is unknown at times, it may be Kaguya bone, may be Shirayuki perma ice at other sections but that isn't what is most damning to this defensive line. Life, life is the danger."
Turning around, Naoya looks towards the stretch of forest and it was normal, nothing special about it. "What good is a defensive line, a set of warnings that sounds every other day because wildlife is taking nest?!" is asked loudly as he began to walk forward and a meter into the brush. "For this reason, extermination of most life along with making it incompatible for life larger than an insect. After this has been completed, we will work as one trapping this region."
Turning to Kasai and Chiru, Naoya points to the ground beside his foot. "Both of you will stay back, you are not allowed to engage in close range conflict at all, that is an order. Is this under stood?" Looking back towards Hibiki and Okochi he nods faintly towards them, "Do not hold back. I will be evaluating your worth, and your status here and now. Your value will depict how much of this mission's payment will be issued and if I will supplement it myself."
Kasai and Chiru both look over at the forested area curiously after listening to Okochi and Hibiki hazard their own guesses as to why they were out here too. "Aw, we aren't good at either of those things…" Kasai mumbles aside to Chiru, who shrugs a little at her sister and whispers back, "Um…more time to practice, maybe?" They looks down at their fee when Naoya talks about the inner structure of wall. "Ohhh, neat. I didn't know there was ice that can't melt." Kasai ooo's quietly, to which Chiru bobs her head in confirmation without explaining. They do perk up though and return their attention out to the forest, "Ohh…I guess that's true…but do we have to kill all of it?" Chiru asks over to Naoya, "What if it's a baby and we can bring it back to the village?" She and Kasai both fall silent when Naoya points to the ground and then wander over to stand on the spot pointed to. "Okay Naoya-sensei.." They both chime together, before looking around to try to find some kunai to lob from afar if necessary.
Okochi looked through the other materials, looking through the many traps that she may one day utilize. Yet, the name of the game had changed suddenly. Okochi and Hibiki were now tasked with. Find and eliminate all wildlife that is encroaching onto the trap network. As soon as the order had been issued, Okochi turned to Hibiki. Her eyes covered by the hood, she would attempt to find a minimal understanding with him. "Keep watch for traps, and I will find the wildlife. Your cooperation is necessary for mission completion." Okochi would slip her hands into a seal, before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath… Moments later, her serpents would drop out of her hair and begin to move silently across the ground, leaving her without the golden twintails for the time being. "Work efficiently…" She told herself.
Hibiki looked over a Naoya and frowns a bit but nods in the end. "Simple enough I suppose." He shrugged lightly and started walking and turned back as he spoke of perma ice. "DO you think Acid could tear into the ice they use? Would be interesting to see wouldn't it?" His face stayed neutral but there was a slight gleam to his eye for a split second. "Should test it out some day. But for now I will continue with the mission at hand." He stretched some before turning to face Okochi. "Now. Okochi is this you asking me to only look for traps while you handle wildlife? Surely the both of us working together at both and sticking together would be more efficient. Go at it in a grid of sorts?" He asked of her. "That is true cooperation since the harder job of the two would be the one you had assigned yourself." He said before simply walking beside her and looking about. Only with his own eyes obviously. Saiken tends to let him do his own thing for the most part at the present.
Glancing at Hibiki, Naoya waves a hand dismissively for the time being. "Acid may.. Your acid or the acid the 'last' could produce wouldn't damage the ice made and shaped into walls. You will need to grow more to become that strong." Looking briefly towards Okochi, a soft smirk appears on his lips as he watches her hair' shift away while she prepared for the new task at hand without a moment's notice. "Very good Okochi, I doubt you will disappoint me. If they hunger they have permission to consume what they kill if it will not inhibit the task at hand.
Looking down to Chiru, he shakes his head gently. "One they are feral, and two.. you will take life. Not just those of warriors, but the old, the young, the unborn as a shinobi." Looking away, he pats the twins lightly on the head before walking forward, following the forward pair. "When you question yourself say this.. 'Do not blame me, I am but a blade. The one to blame, to curse is the one who signed the contract. They killed you with a pen and coin. I am not at fault.' It helped me in the beginning."
While Hibiki would find it difficult to gain many leads, he would be able to tell the more obvious signs of bird nests. Okochi on the other hand would be able through her serpents to smell lesser serpents, rodents as large as rabbits but also some things that ate them wolves. The scent was from a fair distance away though with the wind shifting the scent of a pair of them was close by, along with the scent of a fresh set of kills.
"Well…babies aren't that wild…they can be trained to not be feral. Always wanted a pet rabbit…" Chiru mumbles, quietly, looking between the two ahead of them before both of the twins' attention return up to Naoya as they try to take in the lesson and advice he has to pass down. Their heads lean into the pats affectionately until Naoya starts to walk away, then look at each other with some concern. They don't talk much more on the somber subject and let the trio get a length ahead of them before walking carefully to maintain the spacing. Afterall, they weren't to be in close quarters, but if they stay rooted to the same spot then the team would soon be out of sight. They look around, noting all of the birds nests they could see as well as the scurrying of other animals out of their sight. "I think maybe I can hit that one from here…" Kasai tells Chiru quietly, who notes the nest she means and watches as she tries to hurl a kunai to knock it down from the tree.
"My deepest gratitude." She responds, when Naoya allows her serpents the pleasure of consuming their prey. Though Okochi's morale is no greater as a result, her serpents would be glad to consume all they found. "Chiru… Kasai…" Okochi called out. "You needn't worry. I will not harm the babies. I will merely lead them away from the perimeter." Okochi says this, but her gaze drops. Drops as her body attempts to feel 'guilt' for lying to the children. Yet, only an empty feeling remains.
Okochi would walk into the forest alongside her serpents, stepping over the traps she has seen so far. She would keep within communication distance of her serpents, making sure they were following her expressed order. Each serpent would slip up alongside a small animal, lunge and bite. Their venom would bring the prey down, and the snakes would attempt to devour them if their strike was true. Okochi was focusing on larger prey, however… The scent of wolves was on the tip of her tongue.
"That is correct, Hibiki. Your senses are not entirely tailored to finding prey. Your eyes will be good as far as watching my back. is this acceptable?" She would ask. "It is unclear how far out our parameters are, Hibiki. We will cover a square mile, radiating outwards from the wall. In a grid, like you said." That was what she was asking for. Cooperation. "It isn't that I am shouldering the burden. That would be inefficient. What I am doing is adopting the tasks I am specialized in. That is all."
Hibiki glanced at Naoya. "Interesting. I will have to fix that then. Can't leave any weaknesses. No matter what they are. Never know when one might be used by an enemy yes? As recent events have shown." He then turned with a shrug as Naoya went on to congratulate Okochi on using her skills. He moved onwards and paid little attention to the others now. Was none of his business really and they weren't addressing him. The nest one of them attacked would have something else curving up there. A ball of acid that would finish the job if the others didn't before he turned to look at Okochi again. "No see. Your skills are adept at finding things. I can spot traps. And animals if I try hard enough. But I know for fact I can kill said animals. Burn a hole right in their side if I have to. If you are to take the mission he sent both of us on for yourself then what am I doing here right? I wasn't sent to find traps. I was sent to help you kill the pests within." He said before pointing to a specific trap on the ground that he had no doubt she also saw anyways.
"Destroying what was indestructible, discovering what was unthinkable, slaughter those that rejected death.. If the village so ordered it, we would sink the mainland." While the words were almost impossible to explain, Naoya didn't waver in tone, maintaining a deathly serious tone. "The assault is always easier than the defense. Which is why we now defend by attacking.. in a way." When he falls silent, he glances to the side and smirks faintly when the kunai rattles a nest from the tree before gashing the side of a racoon, the beast was wounded and quickly began to try retreating, scrambling to get away leaving a clear blood trail in its wake. "If you two manage to keep close to their progress I'll have to find you a reward. Won't I?"
Shifting his gaze to Okochi rather than her serpents even though each collected prizes, the first being a snake notably smaller than her own, the second being a squirrel that attempted to hide rather than flee. The wolves at the edge of her sense of smell were closing in but slowly, possibly being wary after the explosion previously. The serpents would discover the forest was thin on truly small prey on the ground, several had taken to burrowing under the surface, though from the size of some of the holes, a creature much wider than the snakes lived in at least some of them.
The sphere wavered in the air before splashing on top of the nest Chiru and Kasai managed to knock from the tree. There was no sounds offered from the nest, a dead silence and upon closer inspection it would be difficult to tell if the nest was active or if it was empty. The spot where the nest once was was only a few feathers that fluttered away as it fell. The issue Hibiki might notice is that his acid would remain for a time, nothing was treated nor hardened in the forest to resist the odd ninjutsu he used.
"Thanks Okochi-chan, but it's okay if you don't wanna…don't want you or Naoya-sensei to get in trouble. We'll just try to get the eggs and anything that's big and grumpy enough that might make you guys need some more help." Kasai winces a bit after watching the bloodied raccoon scurry away, "Didn't mean to hit that little guy…but okay. Still did good." She mumbles, rubbing the back of her neck she does peek over at Naoya and grins at him, "Really? I mean, yeah! We'll do great." Chiru frowns at the blood trail left, but she smiles after Kasai pats her shoulder comfortingly and tries to find something else to throw her kunai at. Kasai tries to point out a shadow to Chiru and gives her the opportunity to throw the kunai before giving her sister an appreciative pat on the back. "That was a good one, I think. Just remember, we're doing good. If they're smart and don't die, then they'll run far away like the raccoon did and they'll grow up and have families somewhere safer." Kasai's story does bring Chiru some more comfort than Naoya's earlier statement before did and she nods her head. "Yeah…yeah, they'll probably find somewhere much safer to live."
"… Whatever you wish, Hibiki." Okochi wished he simply followed her plan of action. After all, her senses weren't attuned for trap finding. Yet, it seemed as if he was going to do what she has observed when people do not wish to be outclassed by another. "I defer to your judgement. We will split the task into two." At that moment, Okochi would separate from Hibiki. He'll search high, and she'll search low. That said, she came across the burrow of an animal her serpents couldn't breach. She would arrive with both serpents looking within. Both serpents. Both with bellies full of prey. "… I have a solution." She would tell her pets as she slipped her hands into her jacket, pulling out standard issue smoke bombs.
"It is necessary that animals breathe oxygen. This will force the oxygen out of the hole, and the animal will follow." It is called 'smoking them out'. She would light the fuse on the smoke producing ball and throw it in. All the while she placed her hands into three seals. When the animal skittered out, escaping the smoke, Okochi would attempt to reach out and touch it. Electricity would humanely kill the animal that was far too big for her serpents to devour. She was out of earshot of the students when she narrowed her eyes, holding the dead animal in her hands. "Those two are naive… I… I do not know if they are ready. How can they embrace the unshakeable spirit of Kirigakure with such frail hearts…"
Hibiki was away from Naoya by now and continued onwards with Okochi. "Okochi. I wish for us to try to work evenly on both things. It will be for the better of both of us. Just because one is better at one thing and the other at something else doesn't mean we should focus just on that task. I should be able to find living things and you to find traps. Otherwise if you ever have a mission alone and stumble upon a field full of them what are you to do?" He asked. "This is for the better of us both just as well to prove the skills we already have." He stated. "Mostly I want the practice of finding things that are living since Saiken doesn't help much right now with such things. I think he is judging me just as much as Naoya is." He shrugged lightly. "Now. Lets continue onwards yes?" He said as he looked at the area above. Any squirrels or other similar animals would have a ball of acid charging at them. Curving around trees and the focus would be on the animals rather than the environment. The nature of the attack would be useful in avoiding unwanted damage at least.
The difference for the identical twins is almost shocking, the lack of effort in Chiru's throw causes it to sail through the air well enough but she doesn't manage to even strike a following nest. Naoya only clucks his tongue, not commenting any words of encouragement. "If a beast is territorial it will be dumb and return. If one is smart they will relocate.. We do not have time to examine the mindset of each creature." Lifting a hand, he motions towards the twins, "That nest there.. remove it quickly, along with others from the upper branches."
The hunt and the smoke drew attention, not necessarily the attention Okochi may have desire desired. Rather than just smelling the wolves, they were now close at hand, shifting with shadows of the lower branches and between the larger sections of brush. Scenting the air, the smell the charred flesh was faint but enough for them to detect. The twin snakes would have to endure smelling of fresh prey and slightly cooked prey along with the sense of other prey no longer fleeing but hiding outright, terrified of being between two different hunting packs.
At his higher position, Hibiki can see many things though always just out of his line of sight. After a few moments all of the creatures around him disappear, the reason was only a few meters away though he would only notice once it was too late. Rather than Okochi and her smoke, the first of the wolves choose to turn the boy into a fine meal, aiming to go for his throat.
Chiru blinks and frowns to herself when the kunai doesn't strike the nest she was aiming for and Naoya distracts her by attempting to remove some of the sentimentality in Kasai's words from before. Kasai grins and scratches the back of her neck, "Come on, just try again Chiru. You just gotta aim and put a little more oomph in it! I'll get a couple at the upper branches like Naoya said, and we'll be getting our treats in no time." Chiru looks over at Kasai and smiles in appreciation before she nods her head and tries to get another kunai to throw at the nest she missed before. Meanwhile, Kasai throws two more kunai at the nesting ground higher in the trees. They look over in the woods where Hibiki and Okochi are and frown to themselves, "They're getting awful far away, Naoya-sensei. Are you sure we shouldn't be trying to follow them better to make sure that they're okay?" Chiru asks Naoya in concern.
"… Hibiki… That is the essence of 'specialization'. That one should have tasks more fit to their skillset… My skillset is currently specialized due to the sole fact that I have Umihe blood. Your skillset is different from mine. Generalizing takes many years, and thus the reason why teams are created are to combine different specialization to make a team highly efficient for their intended purposes." Okochi would whisper orders to her pets, and send them on their way. "You are the living embodiment of specialization. You have a unique technique that is applicable to some situations, but useless in many. Do you understand? You can melt fortifications, and dissolve people. Yet, your acid cannot help you find burrowing creatures as mine do." Hibiki and Okochi appear as ideological rivals at this moment it seems. "It is an issue that I have observed. You act as an atlas that shoulders the world, but you must rely on your tea-."
The scent of wolves cut Okochi off in the middle of her friendly advice, masked by a rather monotonous voice. "… Hibiki…" She would look to the brush as the wolves arrived. Perhaps the smoke masked her scent, allowing them to focus upon him? She would have to use this distraction as an opportunity. She would once more use three seals to focus electrical energy to her hands… She would then touch Yimaru, stroking the snake affectionately as she whispered in serpent's tongue her order. Take this energy, and distribute it to one of the wolves. It was then that as the wolves circled Hibiki, one striking at him, that Okochi could prevent the next one striking. Yimaru slithered along the ground, not hesitating to open her mouth and strike the ankle of one of the wolves. Distributing both poison and electricity in a single bite. Okochi then loosed a Kunai upon the one that had attacked Hibiki. It was far too late to interrupt the bite, but it wasn't too late to deal vital damage to it.
Hibiki shakes his head some at Okochi. "But does it seem like I am the type of person for a team. Even those I felt like I could work with end up disappearing in the end. I have to look out for myself." He shook his head again and continued onwards. "I can do more than that unique skill. I can help grow as well as destroy. You just haven't seen it." He eyed her for a moment. "And again I do not have a team!" He said as she cut herself off, but he could understand what she was saying anyways. Just as he finished though the other one spoke up. ~Kid move NOW!~ 'Wha-' He formed a quick hand seal and acid seemed to form at where his feet/shoes were and on the ground as if he was tree walking but it was something different. He slid along acid and away from the attack coming at him by this wolf. "This…." He frowned. "I bet the smoke drew it. Better for us to clear it out now." He said before forming more seals. Two balls of acid curved around trees and would aim at a wolf from the side hopefully catching them off guard. Then any that got close would get acid spit right into their face to show them that this is not the place they want to mess with or the people they want to mess with.
The first of the pair of spheres grazes the fur of the feral canine after it lands, having missed a key surprise strike upon Hibiki. The second sphere would make its mark, striking at a forward shoulder, but it wasn't enough to eat all of the fur, leaving a balding spot that wouldn't protect against another strike like that. The splash of acid would be even more troubling, while it wasn't enough to melt the beast's face, flecks of acid seer its eyes, its nose and the sides of it's muzzle, sizzling them and driving the beast into a frenzy.
"They are shinobi. They lack experience though.. they will learn when to fall back and if they don't, they will suffer. They do not have permission to die, I won't allow them to.." A soft smile remains on Naoya's lips though his sullen tone since the mission began didn't waver, leaving him sounding somewhat different than while inside the village. "They will live and learn, even if they curse my name for not allowing them to die." The first two strikes barely make their mark, causing the kunai to bury into the bottom of the nest, startling the bird within and causing yoke to drip down and fall from the kunai though the final strike was more ideal. The other nest would fall from the tree, its guardian skewered though the nest itself lands safe in a large bush. "Hmm, slaughtered some eggs, while saved some. I'm not sure which one is on purpose any more" is softly admitted.
Okochi's scent was masked well but the cost was that her own sense of smell was dulled due to the smoke. The venom laced bite would seemingly almost fail to pierce through the thick hide of the blinded wolf but the lightning charge flowing through it quickly humbles the beast from it's fury into that of a fading whimper. The action would cause a reaction, the other wolf takes a focus, attempting to bite into the snake tormenting it's hunting partner.
Kasai and Chiru listen to Naoya carefully, and they both nod their heads slowly. "Okay…" Chiru says, looking into the forest with the same worried expression. "Naoya probably knows everything that's happening over there." Kasai tells Chiru as she gestures over to where the other two went. "Like he said, he'll swoop in and save the day then fuss at them, even if they don't wanna run away if they have to. We just gotta listen and keep doing what we're supposed to." Chiru nods and both of the twins have to squint off into the distance to gauge whether or not they hit or miss. "That one's missing its mama and it fell down…I don't think we gotta worry about the eggs there even if it landed into the bush." Chiru tells Kasai, before they both toss a couple of more kunai to try to get the eggs that they missed. "I dunno…" Chiru mumbles after Naoya's observation, "They are just eggs, so they aren't really baby birds yet, but still feel bad about the bird…they sound nice in the morning." Kasai glances aside and frowns quietly in sympathy despite not looking as hung up anymore as she once was. "Hey, they'll still be there to sing in the morning. They're allowed to live inside of the village if they want to."
"I am your team. At this moment, we are linked in combat." Okochi moved in to assist both Hibiki and Yimaru. "In this moment, we are fighting as a unit. Do you not understand? Is my presence unknown to you? Behold. A figment of your imagination cannot do this." From out of her sleeves, a Kunai drops. A kunai attached to razor wire. She began to rev up the spinning of the Kunai as quickly as she could, and in one sweeping throw she would launch the wire-guided Kunai towards the nearest canine. Once it struck, if it struck, she would hold the wire between her hands as it made a seal. A steady stream of impressive lightning power would channel down the wire before shocking the beast…
Meanwhile the wolf who took a shot at Yimaru would find the snake launch itself into the air in a frenzy. It would land and coil upon Hibiki's shoulder, flicking it's tongue as she uses him as a temporary refuge.
Hibiki looked over at Okochi and shook his head. He didn't do anything else for now though as he was dealing with the wolf in front of him. "Oh did that acid hurt you? You know I don't really want to kill you right? But you are where you don't belong and we can't risk you setting off our traps. Plus you did attack me first little wolf." He formed more hand seals. "So I hate to do this but I think I have to finish the job." ~Aww the poor wolf. I could've had a friend that wasn't as annoying as you are!~ 'If I know you then I know that they wouldn't want to be your friend. You are the annoying one.' ~What!?!?! I am hurt! Me? Annoying!? You are blessed to be in my presence!~ 'Blessed. Yeah right. That is why you try to convince me to attack people who could kill me in the blink of an eye?' ~Exactly!~ And Hibiki was so dumbfounded that he just didn't react. Instead he focused all his frustrations into three balls of acid aimed at the wolf.
Nodding his head lightly, "I said purge everything here.. not everything on the island. Just like you weed a garden, you control what should live, for your sake and others. As for the eggs.. they will make good target practice." Walking over to the nest, not seeming worried about either of them missing and stabbing him, he points at one of the broken eggs. "If the parent is forced away for good, the children will die from the cold, or if they hatch, starve. Killing the young ones isn't always torture." Looking away, a soft smile appears on his lips and Naoya nods towards nothingness. "They are done.. Start setting up traps now.. Focus on what would make birds not want to return."
Once again even the hunting partner wasn't able to sink its fangs into the children nor the serpents and for it's trouble.. it was to experience hell. The multiple charges of lightning chakra after a mild cut left the wolf weakened, somewhat limp. The wounded wolf would not know pain any more, the first sphere makes short work reducing its skull into a bowl for a time before the acid ate through the bottom section. The second wolf on the other hand would still be significantly alive to attempt to endure the the shifting nature of the barrage. The acid burned through the wolf's fur and left it's left side raw, the organs exposed, and now dying.
Chiru nods her head slowly and smiles a little, "Okay…that's good." When Naoya walks over and starts to explain things, Chiru does frown to herself. "Wait…eggs can die too?" She asks, sounding confused. "Or do they not feel it cause they aren't hatched yet? I guess…if they did hatch, starving wouldn't be very good…" She trails off as she tries to contemplate it, but she doesn't seem to make much headway with the moral dilemma by the time Naoya calls for them to set up traps. "Yes Naoya-sensei!" The twins chime together, before taking off their packs and rummaging around through it. "What don't birds like?.." Chiru asks Kasai in confusion, and she tries to think about it. "Well…papa says they don't like anything sticky on their feet. So if you wanted them not to perch somewhere, all you have to really do is make it sticky." She looks over to see if Naoya has any thoughts on the matter, before she tries to find something such as a seal that could act as an adhesive. If there is such, they'd go about carefully laying them out in places where birds might want to land.
With the wolves gone, Okochi would turn and head back to Naoya. Her words reached empty ears once more. Yet, that is fine. She is not sad. She is incapable of feeling such emotion normally. The wolves are dead or dying, and so she would eventually return to Naoya to confirm the removal of the wildlife within the area. Her arms would slip behind her back as she looked towards the ground, bowing lightly. "The parameters have been achieved, Naoya-sensei."
Hibiki looked at the injured wolf and frowned a bit as it was slowly dying. Might take a minute even with its organs out like they were. ~You should end it. We may be killing it, but we aren't sadist who want its last moments to be torture.~ 'Yeah… I feel the same.' So he walked over to the dying wolf as he formed hand seals and then formed acid in both of his hands and aimed it at the wolf's head to try and instantly kill it. It would make it quicker than what was already happening. Once that was done he would head back to Naoya and the others. "I guess we are finished. I am sure you can check our work and finish anything we missed quickly enough."
"If the work was not done properly, I'll find out in a short while." Turning his head from where they had paused, Naoya points to the discarded packs before looking back towards Hibiki and Okochi. "Collect the supplies, this is a job but also a lesson. I'll be assisting you in arranging advanced traps and seals for warding purposes. So far, both of you are serving the village respectfully. I hope this isn't a performance just for me."
Shifting his attention to the twins, he would help them find the various types of seals from gel capture, to explosive, to seals.. but also what happens when each is used. For the time being the twins wouldn't get a taste for live combat beyond using some smaller creatures as targets for shuriken practice. Naoya began to relax when all four were close to him, even though the process became more tedious.
The team would work together, laying traps, warding the region off with controlled burns, barbed wires and of course.. signs. Each step was accounted for and backtracked so the teams wouldn't trip over their comrade's traps. It would be nearing dusk, almost nine hours later before all were free from the Okumo's watchful eye.
