Starring:
Katsurou, Atsuro
Date: June 2, 2013
Summary:
Katsurou is jumped by a missing nin group. Atsuro evens the odds by joining Katsurou to form a temporary alliance.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Unwanted Ally"
Neutral Zone Mountains
This mountain range doesn't really belong to the Land of Fire, or any country, really. It's on the border between the Land of Fire and several other countries, and none of them have ever really asserted a claim to it. It has no major resources or other strategic value, but there are a few rarely-travelled, narrow mountain paths for anyone who needs to pass through the mountain range.
Despite the lack of anything in particular here, it's still patrolled by Leaf nin occasionally. And today, Atsuro is one of those Leaf nin. He and his nin-dog partner, Taizen, walk along the trails, up and down mountainsides, occasionally passing by some peak or plateau. Just now, they've come to a plateau and figured it's a good spot to rest. There's some grass and scrubby trees growing here, so there're good spots to sit down, and a small mountain stream flows through, in case either of them wants a drink. Other than that, there isn't a whole lot here. Just the path they came along and a great view of the land stretched out below for miles. It's afternoon and the air is cool, though the sun is out and keeps things relatively warm.
Crouched down next to the stream on top of this plateau, is the Shirayuki known as Katsurou. From his attire and the way he carries himself he would seem like just another countryman. Then again, that was the inward struggle he was battling with ever since his older sister had found him in the mountains located in the Land of Snow. His reason for being this far from Kirigakure? Just needing a break from the village to clear his head. For now, even these mountains feel more like home than his Shirayuki home.
Whether he had not noticed Atsuro or he just didn't care for socializing, Katsurou keeps to himself with his back facing the Konoha nin. Suddenly a trail of three kunai stick into the ground leading up to him. The Shirayuki immediately looks at the kunai then something catches his eyes from a nearby mountain side. Three men leap from tree to boulder to tree closing the distance between them and Katsurou. The teenager stood up and began to turn in the opposite direction, but then something stopped him. His facial expression twisted into one of determination. Turning back around he clenched his fists and awaited their next move. Katsurou was tired of running. Now its time for the rest of the world to fear /him/.
The presence of this other traveller doesn't escape Atsuro and Taizen's notice for long, of course. They're Inuzuka, after all. And with the air this clean, they'd /better/ be able to smell anything else in the area. By now, the two of them are sitting down in the grass. Atsuro has pulled out some dry biscuits (part of their rations) and they're eating them while they rest. Atsuro just stares idly off into the distance. He might say hi to the other person and ask if they've seen anything, but he's not going anywhere and he's got him back to him, which isn't exactly an invitation to talk.
That changes when the other man comes under attack. Atsuro looks over as the kunai sink into the ground near Katsurou. He's not sure what's going on here, and while the safety of travellers isn't really the main purpose of his patrol, he's not the type to simply leave someone to die. He quickly scarfs the last of his biscuit, grabs a ninjato from Taizen, and gets to his feet. He and Taizen walk quickly over to Katsurou. "You need help?" he offers, brushing some crumbs from his mouth. "You know those guys, or are they just some undesirables looking for someone to rob?"
Katsurou turns in the direction of Atsuro. The teenager's face tightens even more so just as he spots the leaf symbol on the Inzuka's forehead protector. Flash backs of the scene where him and his dad came under attack by Konoha flood his mind. All the emotions he went through as a kid watching his father die in front of him hit Katsuoru like a tidal wave.
"Don't run! We just want to talk!" One of the three assaliants call out with the other two laughing mockingly.
This snaps Katsurou back into reality. He knew his odds were better with two against three verses one against four. For now he would have to align with this Konoha trash if it meant he could see another sun rise. "Do as you wish." He says through gritted teeth. His attention turns back to the trio. He noticed that even though they were wearing different attire they all hand one thing in common. A red and yellow armband was worn around their right biceps with a symbol he could not yet make out yet. "But your death is not my responsibility." Again another barrage of kunai come flying at the Shirayuki. This time he was ready for it. Quickly throwing his hands together he weaves together a series of hand seals. The wind suddenly picks up around him and just as the kunai reach him a barrier of wind forms around the teenager which deflects the projectiles away from him.
They all land on top of a nearby tree and peer down at Katsurou. "Look Han, he's a ninjutsu user." Said one of the slender looking nin.
Han nods. "And it looks like he has a friend too. We'll make you a deal. You can either keep your life and join our ranks or you can die and we take yer stuff from yer cold dead corpses. Its just a matter of time before the Blood Legion take control of these mountains anyways so think carefully."
Of course unaware of Katsurou's past, Atsuro simply looks him over when he looks back. He doesn't seem like anything out of the ordinary, really. Just a traveller. He glances at the attackers as they pipe up, then to Katsurou again as he answers. "That isn't much of an answer," says Atsuro, "But it's /almost/ a yes. Sorta strange to say that to somebody who's just made preventing /your/ death their responsibility, though." He shrugs and unsheaths the ninjato.
He raises his eyebrow slightly as Katsurou defends himself using wind ninjutsu. He's capable of defending himself, but it's not yet clear just how dangerous these other guys are. "The Blood Legion?" he asks the men, "That sounds cute. So what are you all about? What happens if we join?"
Katsurou stands firm as Atsuro converses with the hostile nin.
Han folds his arms across his chest as he leans back against the trunk of the tree while standing on top of a large branch that juts out of it. "Well for starters we don't kill ya." This comment makes the other two of his comrads laugh. "The Legion is lead by a strong and skillful man by the name of Gaiju. His vision is that all hidden villages will come together under one banner. His banner. If you're on the right team and prove yourself, you could have a little taste of power once all these lands are under his rule. He /will/ need a few leaders to govern each of these villages. He can't be every where at once, ya know? So. What do ya say?"
"You won't kill me either way," Atsuro says, "So I won't include that in my pro and con list. I've kinda got obligations to Konoha already, so that's a con. I have no idea how you expect to go from living in these mountains to ruling every village, so that's another con." Obviously he's not taking this too seriously. Or maybe he is and he's just really mouthy. He looks at Katsurou, "I dunno about you, but I'm not really convinced." He points to the three men. "So, this Gaiju's really something, eh? What's his deal? Aside from his vision and all. What's he doing out here in the mountains?"
"Its all about location." Han smirks.
"I've heard enough." Katsurou says. The Shirayuki hunches over and performs a series of hand seals. The water that makes of the stream beside him begins to flow up and around his body. A few moments later it breaks off into three equal globes that continues flowing clockwise within itself. The rotations of each orb of water speeds up and soon it takes form of discs.
Unfortunately for Katsurou, the jutsu was taking longer than he anticipated. For this technique he would need to focus a lot of chakra. "Fools. Your corpses will be the Legion's practice dummies!" Han calls out. "Get em boys!" The other two leap down from the their respective branches and charge for the Kiri and Konoha nin.
"Come oooon." Katsurou curses under his breath as he watched his jutsu slowly take form. The spinning discs of water were now beginning to free in the air. They were freezing in the form of shuriken.
The conversation was amusing in its own weird way, but Atsuro was pretty sure there would be a fight sooner or later. So Katsurou's ending the conversation this way doesn't upset him too much. "That works," he says, shrugging. He shares a glance with Taizen, and the nin-dog moves off to the side of the area, staying out of the fight for the time being. "Water /and/ wind," Atsuro notes. This guy might be pretty good. For the moment, though, it looks like Atsuro will have to protect him. He's never fought alongside Katsurou before, but if Atsuro can keep them busy while Katsurou shoots off jutsu at them, they might be able to take care of these guys — not that they seem particularly dangerous anyway.
Atsuro dashes in front of the three men as they approach, attempting to get between them and Katsurou. "/Your/ corpses won't even be useable, bud," he tells the leader. Then he runs forward at the missing-nin, striking at them with quick, practiced slashes from his ninjato. While he can lay the hurt on, right now he's just trying to keep them distracted so that Katsurou can work his magic.
Beads of sweat were forming on Katsurou's forehead as he concentrated his charka into his jutsu. It wasnt that this was a hard jutsu to perform. The Shirayuki was just five years out of practice and he is taking a small scale jutsu onto a much larger scale.
Due to Atsuro cutting off the hostile nin's path to Katsurou, they both decide to gang up on the Inuzuka. The slender looking nin jumped at him first with a fist aiming for his head. The other came up from underneath with an uppercut coming up right for Atsuro's chin. It seemed the two missing nin were very used to working together as they coordinated their attacks well.
Oops, Atsuro might have underestimated these guys just a little bit. Atsuro still doesn't think he's in any serious danger, but their coordination is unexpected. He's forced to pause in his flurry of quick strikes to bring up the sword and block the first strike. That leaves him open for the second and he takes it on the chin — quite literally. It hurts and he staggers back for a moment, but Atsuro is made of pretty stern stuff. "Hey," he says, "Not bad. Definitely better than I was expecting from your little two-bit gang." He grins and goes back at them once more, though this time his strikes are leaning a little more towards drawing blood. He seems to be able to keep them distracted, but he also wants to put the hurt on them.
He glances briefly back at Katsurou, wondering when that jutsu will be ready.
As Atsuro would look back he would see three icey shurikens spinning in mid air in front of Katsurou's body. "Ha!" He yells out as he pushes both his hands forward and sends three icey shuriken heading right for Atsuro. "Duck." The Shirayuki says not really caring whether or not if the Konoha nin actually does. The one shuriken meant for the one coward still in the trees slices through the air right toward him. Unfortunately, the missing nin had plenty of time to jump down from the tree and out of harms way as the shuriken cuts into the trunk but is stopped mid way.
Atsuro ducks in time to avoid the ice projectiles, but he cuts it close. After all, the longer he waits and keeps on fighting, the longer the two enemies have to do the same. And Atsuro's pretty sure he's quicker than them, so he waits until the last second, then throws himself to the ground and rolls away a short distance just to make sure he hasn't left himself vulnerable to any attacks.
Once the ice has done its thing, Atsuro looks up to see the third guy still alive and well, and apparently unharmed by the ice. He's not sure if he really needs to reach him, but Atsuro reaches down and grabs a few kunai to whip at him. If nothing else, they'll encourage him to get out of here quicker.
Katsurou watches as the two ice shuriken whiz above Atsuro and hit their marks. Catching the two missing nin completely off guard, they shurikens's force collects them up off the ground and continues traveling through the air in the direction they were original flying. However, the rotations of the shuriken have not ceased. With both nin riding along with the shuriken's the icey blades saw into cloth, flesh, meat, then bone. As this was happening both men screamed and shouted out of pain and agony until each shuriken had completely sawed through each body and stick into the ground once they had lost momentum. Blood and meat could be seen sliding down the slippery projectile weapons.
Witnessing what had just happened, Han's expression twists in horror. He looks up to take one last look at the Kiri and Konoha nin then took off in a dead sprint back the other way he came. "Think we should follow?" Katsurou asks a little out of breath yet still able to uphold his usual calm yet stern tone.
Atsuro gets to his feet just in time to see the rather horrific deaths of the two men. He looks away, then watches Han run off. He glances briefly back to the mangled bodies of the two men he was just fighting, then turns to Katsurou. "Oof," he says, "Mean. Not that I'm /too/ concerned about their suffering." As Katsuro asks about follow, Atsuro glances back in the direction Han fled. "No," he decides after a second of thought, "I'll just report back to Konoha. If the higher-ups say they're trouble, I can track them by smell anyway." He shrugs. "And they /might/ actually have some capable ninja with them. I say we just get a move on and we can deal with it later if he have to. You going in my direction?" He points in the direction he and Taizen were going before their rest stop. "You're a bit surly," he teases playfully, "but there's no sense in splitting up if we don't have to."
Katsurou's face seems to twist into a new anger when Atsuro mentions Konoha. Unfortunately for him, he had used up a lot of chakra just for that last attack. He knew better than to press his luck and try to get into another bout with the Inuzuka. "We'll see just how much of a threat they will be." The Shirayuki looks in the direction Atsuro was motioning toward. "No." He simply says for a moment then follows it up with, "I will never go your way." With that said, the teenager turns and begins making his way back to the trail that leads him back to Kirigakure.
