Starring:
Shuuren (as Tadashi), Taro (as Sanzoku)
Date: October 20, 2016
Summary:
Tadashi and Sanzoku head to an island that has been taken over by members of the Vagrant Uprising to liberate it.
"Vagrant Uprising - Island of the Dead"
An island south of the Land of Tea
The Daimyo of the Land of Tea is a suave and elegant man, almost always calm and usually surrounded by attractive women for one reason or another. Today, however, those he is going to see have earned the attention of his less patient side with the accompaniment of one of his guards whose purpose in coming along is not to be a powerful beauty at his side but rather a serious threat staring them in the face.
Standing aboard a ship headed to an island west of the Land of the Sea, Shuuren steers the ship along through the blackness of night. The ship itself matches the sky, every board, rope, and sail black to help obscure its presence at night. It would seem their visit is going to be a surprise to those they are here for, which is most definitely not a good sign for them. Most likely he simply wants to be certain they don't try to run before he gets to them.
"… We'll be there soon," he calls to his traveling companion for this mission, wherever he happens to be on the ship. The Daimyo's eyes remain fixed ahead as they move, lights of torches and lanterns that keep the island lit beginning to come into view as they approach.
Taro looked at the ship as they sailed along. It was interesting to say the least. The color of the ship blending with the night sky to make their assault a better one. It was a good idea considering the job they were here to do. Anyways Taro wouldn't be here under that name. The name he was using was Sanzoku. The outfit he wore now was a dark blue and black color overall. It actually was made to have two sides. One meant for the night and the other for the day. An easy switch when he was out and about. It was a cloak with a hood really with clothing fit for a traveler. What wasn't seen was the binding that was a bit focused as to provide a layer of 'armor'. He also wore a mask around the lower part of his face like normal but this one made for the outfit.
"Alright. I might as well get ready then." Which simply meant getting up and stretching a bit. He had been sitting for a good bit by now. Enough to make stretching needed. "Hmmm. Where do you plan to have us take port? Off the coast a bit and have us walk across the water?" He asked as he was trying to be sure of the plan. Better safe than sorry.
"This is a civilian island, so we should be careful in how we handle it, depending on their situation," Shuuren says with a glance Taro's way before looking back ahead at the island. He then brings his hands into a seal, creating a Shadow Clone henged into a black wolf that leaps off the edge of the boat and swims toward the island. While the wolf swims, Shuuren slows the ship down to allow it to go and inspect the island to see the situation.
As the wolf arrives at the island, it begins to move silently around the island to observe. What it finds is gruesome, to say the least. What was obviously once a small farming and fishing community has been utterly obliterated and replaced by the presence of foul types from bandits and yakuza to pirates and other types of gangs.
The fields have been ransacked for their produce without care. Homes and businesses have been burned, broken, or simply taken over. In the center of the island is a giant firepit that has been dug out, but what is inside is not just wood and kindling but piles of bodies as well and cages nearby containing women and children that the men decided to keep around for training to take up their unclean way of life or other reasons. The only civilians outside the cages are women that have been put to work bartending, cleaning, and so on… A miserable existence created from their once pleasant lives.
Having observed all of this, the wolf vanishes to dispel the jutsu and transfer the knowledge of what it has seen back to Shuuren. As he absorbs the information, the Daimyo closes his eyes briefly. In the time he does so, his calm demeanor becomes accompanied by an incredibly dark chairs signature that grows as he reaches into his coat to grab a scroll and activate it. A puff of smoke goes up around, fading away then to reveal the much darker side of Shuuren there, the masked man known as Tadashi, whose appearance means that the option of mercy has gone out the window. "Spare the civilians working and those in the cages by the fire. Everyone else dies. We water walk from here and destroy all their ships first. No one escapes."
There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in a storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.
Taro nods towards Shuuren and stretched a bit. "Yeah. I understand that. I worry though. I know how the bandit types can be. Even a civilian land could be turned on its head." He stretched a little bit before nodding towards him though. "I shall wait for your clone then." And he did wait. Patiently and quietly. Once Shuuren got the info and Tadashi was revealed instead, Taro simply blinked a few times before raising a brow. "Hmm. Well that sounds simple enough. Now lets hope they only put up a little bit of a fight." He said as he walked towards the edge and hopped off to start heading that way. He doubted there were any as strong as Tadashi at least. But he himself. Well he wasn't fully there yet in power.
Tadashi nods Sanzoku as he speaks then reaches into a pocket and withdraws a scroll that definitely shouldn't fit in that pocket. He opens it and lays it out on the deck, causing a puff of smoke to let out of it that reveals the entire deck of the ship and even the area around it covered in scores of whag appear to be clones of Tadashi. Something is a bit off with them, however, as not all of them match his height or build, ranging from a bit smaller even to towering size. Some even appear to be female. Whatever this is, it is most likely not a normal clone jutsu.
Once all the 'clones' have been released, they all dive into the water and begin to move under it toward the docks. Tadashi himself moves onto the water's surface and begins to move alongside Sanzoku toward the docks. By the time they arrive, however, the work is already begin done as the ships would begin to sink due to begin beaten and torn apart the surface of the water. The few members on board them would begin to panic and attempt to call out, only to be silenced as some of these beings that look like clones appear on the decks and quickly snap their necks.
As they arrive at the docks, in a rather eerily calm state despite the dark deeds to come, Tadashi simply steps onto the pier and begins to walk inward toward the village almost as if nothing were going on at all as his chakra controls a horde ripping the ships to pieces to keep their prey for the evening from having any hope of escape. Luckily by this time most of the men around the edge of the town are too drunk to really notice the slow sinking of the ships just yet. Proper guards would refrain from drinking when on duty, but these are ruffians. They have a rather hard time finding disciplined help.
Sanzoku looked at the scroll and then all the… clones? What in the world were they. And then they dived into the water. He was failry distracted as they kept moving and what in the world…. The ships… And the people. That was insane, but well that is another thing to add to the list of reasons to never cross Tadashi. "Interesting trick. Proves I got plenty of work to do." He chuckled quietly before going completely quiet as they arrived on the docks. Now…. A bunch of drunks. Hopefully they aren't all that stupid right? Well hopefully they are, but he just felt that was a bit.. Dumb. "Where do we begin?"
"That is not a technique you want to be in position to be struck by," Tadashi comments with a shrug of his shoulders as he peers over at Sanzoku before looking ahead again. "My clones will fan out and surround the village to drive the mongrels toward the cliff face on the other side of the island to keep them from running to safer waters to try and swim away."
About that time the drunks near the entrance of the village finally notice that their ships are sinking and start to call out to alarm their friends. A bell starts to ring in the town, causing waves of men to begin flooding out of the village toward them with blades drawn. Seems they're not aware just yet that they should probably be running. Then again they've probably all got enough liquid courage going to last for days or at least until they've been decimated.
Tadashi doesn't even seem fazed as the horde begins to pour out of the village toward them. In fact he almost doesn't even seem to acknowledge their existence. The reason for this becomes quite obvious as his own horde comes out of the drink and charges right for the mixed ruffians in return to attack. They fan out wide to start surrounding the village to keep people from escaping.
Sanzoku nods slowly. "Yeah. I assume as much." He stated before shrugging lightly and just looking onwards. "Well I guess I should prepare for some action." He stretched some more before pulling both his swords up slightly. About now he noticed the numbers coming at them and as a counter to their horde, Tadashi's horde walked around as well. Sanzoku simply moved up a bit and any that got close to him would swiftly find themselves attacked. Though he wouldn't move extremely far from Tadashi yet. Even if he could reach him in the blink of an eye. Tadashi was quick like that. "Hmmm.." Because of curiosity calling and because of him needing to test it anyways he decided to search the chakra of anyone nearby. See if anyone was pretty strong or had any ninjutsu skill as well as what was expected tai wise. Plus it would show how many there were or what exactly these clones were.
The drunks don't do so well against Taro and definitely not well at all against the 'clones'. Cries of pan ring out as many after man is cut down, leaving a trail of bodies that leads inward toward the village. It's almost nonchalant how many of them are obliterated in such fashion. Still, the drunks are far from done. Those that have yet to be cut down continue to pile in with blades drown, going after every clone as well as Taro and even Tadashi if they can manage to get past the clones to him.
Tadashi himself, meanwhile, continues to walk calmly, simply observing the fight while controlling the flow of battle with his chakra. A couple pirates actually make it around to try and strike him down, yet he dodges around their strikes with subtle movements as if he's not even trying to dodge so much as continuing to walk forward while his clones come around to strike the men down mercilessly.
Sanzoku was not as good at being so cool about avoiding attacks. Him getting closer meant he was more easily surrounded and two blades can't stop attacks from two sides at once. Two stabs and blood began to leak out of his wounds. "Fun.. But.. Won't be for you." He didn't carry his Shuriken with him for this but an idea came to mind to make it easy to carry. Something he could ask about later. For now he would focus on just stabbing and slicing as many of these fools as he can. "Where are we heading to exactly? Just the center of town? Or just keep moving until they are all dead?" He asked in between slicing at guys.
The trail of bodies continues inward toward the island, having been a pretty easy path thus far, but eventually the two and the clones are bound to run into something a lot more fretful…. Well, at least to give Sanzoku more of a challenge. One would be rather hard-pressed to find any kind of challenge for Tadashi among rabble. Sanzoku was likely brought along more to help progress his combat experience than out of actual need. After all, since Banshi was killed in Konoha, the Chitsujyo needs a new right hand that can handle himself in combat and use tactical advantages. Grooming one out of someone in the village is a lot more likely than just happening upon one like last time.
As they begin to enter the village, more men begin pouring out of the remaining homes and buildings, all with blades drawn. These seem a bit more skilled than the others, likely having had the lesser of the men out doing the dirty work while they relaxed inside. While the men charge and begin to try and eviscerate Tadashi and Sanzoku along with the clones, one can hear over the jeers of the men and the clashing of blades that the women and children in the cages have begun to cry out for help as they realize someone is here fighting these men.
"Push ahead. Do not get distracted," Tadashi instructs Sanzoku as they continue to push ahead, beginning to strike down men that come his way along with his clones with strikes that seem simple but pack his incredible strength behind them. "We can't save them if we're dead, after all."
The trail of bodies continues inward toward the island, having been a pretty easy path thus far, but eventually the two and the clones are bound to run into something a lot more fretful…. Well, at least to give Sanzoku more of a challenge. One would be rather hard-pressed to find any kind of challenge for Tadashi among rabble. Sanzoku was likely brought along more to help progress his combat experience than out of actual need. After all, since Banshi was killed in Konoha, the Chitsujyo needs a new right hand that can handle himself in combat and use tactical advantages. Grooming one out of someone in the village is a lot more likely than just happening upon one like last time.
As they begin to enter the village, more men begin pouring out of the remaining homes and buildings, all with blades drawn. These seem a bit more skilled than the others, likely having had the lesser of the men out doing the dirty work while they relaxed inside. While the men charge and begin to try and eviscerate Tadashi and Sanzoku along with the clones, one can hear over the jeers of the men and the clashing of blades that the women and children in the cages have begun to cry out for help as they realize someone is here fighting these men.
"Push ahead. Do not get distracted," Tadashi instructs Sanzoku as they continue to push ahead, beginning to strike down men that come his way along with his clones with strikes that seem simple but pack his incredible strength behind them. "We can't save them if we're dead, after all."
Sanzoku was still in the midst of fighting. He didn't seem to have… any idea of self preservation. As he fought he would deflect blows in the focus of striking his opponent first and with a more fatal strike. But in doing so his own body takes a beating. It was good for getting a kill, but it was no where near good enough when you are focusing on purely winning a fight rather than simply killing someone. "You don't have to worry about that. The cries of others doesn't distract me. The first goal is killing every single one of these men. And I will be doing just that." And he did continue striking as many as he could at the risk of his own body. He should probably learn to take better care of himself.
Though a number of the men are struck down, the arrival of stronger foes is apparent as some of them manage to fend off and evade some of Sanzoku's strikes and stab at him with their own blades in return. They also come at Tadashi and the clones as well, even managing to make a cut or two on him since he has been using his most effortless dodging methods. "We can do this, men!" a voice shouts from the rooftop of a bar, appearing to be the leader of this bunch, at least the leader on this island. "This island is ours! Obliterate them!"
Rather than showing any signs of pain, Tadashi actually laughs a bit at the slashes to his arms as well as the leader's words and brings his hands in front of him. Those guys are probably going to wish they hadn't done that… Invisible blades of chakra cover his hands, shaping out as he begins to stretch out and swing his arms to strike all the enemies within distance and even those that SHOULDN'T be within his reach as his arm stretches out past normal human length to cut down man after man.
Sanzoku was once again cut pretty sharply, but he didn't seem to care too much by the wounds. "Hmm.. They are pretty confident aren't they?" He asked of Tadashi before shaking his head a bit. Anytime a swing came his way he would deflect it a little bit. Though each one continued catching him some. "How many are there…" He spoke before trying to turn one of them into a kebab! Though in the middle of doing so and cutting even another one he noticed Tadashi and he just paused for a moment to watch. "Good shore how much palm can you do? Every single day I see something new." He chuckled lightly. Though the stretching is what would be rather new for him. That weird thing…
Blood and body parts fly in all directions from Tadashi's flurry with the invisible blades that cut through bodies like hot butter. Sanzoku's luck continues to be about as well as it has been for a while, cutting down a number of the men he goes after while other manage to evade his attacks. They continue to charge, however, not quite scared off yet, though some of them are beginning to lose confidence even as the man on the rooftop continues to shout catchphrases to try and keep them riled up.
Seeing the condition Taro is in, while his 'clones' continue to fight, Tadashi nonchalantly walks past the attacks coming his way and right over to him. Rather than bothering to attack, he puts his hands over the Fuma's back, creating a wave of chakra particles around his hands that then flows into the boy's body and literally fixes him from the inside out, repairing all the wounds he has suffered in this battle amidst the chaos and bloodshed around them. Even some old nagging injuries from a warrior's life he's had may have vanished.
Sanzoku felt another cut as he kept fighting through them. "This is annoying." He sighed and just put his hand on the wound for a moment. "Hmmm…" He was about to charge another one before feeling the hand on his back and the wave of healing rushing over him. Always neat to have an amazing medic on your side. "Thank you." He said to Tadashi before doing what he planned to do in the first place. He charged forward with new found energy and aimed to pierce his blades right through the first two people he found. "I figure you plan to make the ones up top shut up yeah?" He asked Tadashi while he continued fighting. "I……. Well I should be fine here but thinking about it I don't doubt you will know whether I am or not and be here quick if I need it." He smirked a bit before looking around as he seemed to survey the field to see how many were still fighting nearby.
Sanzoku's luck is still about 50/50 it would seem. He strikes down some of the men again while others avoid his attacks. While their leader continues to shout from the rooftop as they die, they seem encouraged enough to at least keep going since they still outnumber their enemies by at least double… though that number seems to be rapidly declining. Still, the blades coming at them over and through the ever-increasing trail of bodies does not stop.
Tadashi nods simply to Sanzoku's words then reaches his hand into a pocket on his jacket. Rather than attack or speak, he does something else to give himself another tactical advantage. A seal tag is withdrawn from the pocket that glows before seeming to erase him from existence so that he may move unseen through the crowd while Sanzoku and the clones continue to do battle with the ruffians.
Sanzoku stared at the guys coming at him and he waited before blocking and trying to stirke the one down that came at him. But he was focused on the front and that allowed another to get a good shank into his back/side. "You friggin'…" He turned around and would knock the guy in the head if he hit before trying to slide the second blade across his throat. "Too many of these guys. And so many already dead. When will they learn…" He frowned and just kept moving forward.
Finally it seems like Sanzoku's luck is turning for the better as he manages to strike down each of the henchmen he aims his blade's wrath at. More and more bodies litter the place. Still, they have a purpose and at least think they can defend their fort as they continue to come after Sanzoku as the clones with all their might. Some of them do start to look worried, however, as they stab at these clones and they don't show any sign of injury affecting them at all. Even some that receive strikes to vital organs don't seem ready to slow down, much less stop.
Completing the knowledge that these men should be quite afraid of what they've brought down upon themselves, Tadashi finally makes it known where he disappeared to as a spray of blood and body parts blasts outward from the area of the cages from the men that were guarding them and men surrounding them in the fray.
All at once, it seems these men have at last grasped how ringed they are. Knowing there is no hope for the boats, they take off toward the opposite side of the island, hoping to find some sort of asylum their from the slaughter coming their way.
Sanzoku stared down at the two bodies of those he just killed before noticing that two others are now charging him. He spun around and used his dual blades to deflect both of their blades right into the ground at his feet before driving a single blade into each of them and then pulling them back and slicing a blade across their chests. Once he noticed them finally deciding they have had enough he just shook his head and moved quickly to cut them off. This meant simply trying to head towards one of the paths on the opposite side of town and blocking that one. Anyone nearby that path won't make it much further.
By this time the ruffians have basically given up on attacking in return as they race toward the coast. As more of their bodies fall while the clones continue to make their path of escape more and more narrow by closing in upon them in a circular formation, they are driven exactly toward a place they don't want to be… a cliff face with a long drop and numerous sharp rocks at the bottom. Those that aren't struck down by fist or by blade will likely be obliterated upon those very rocks.
As the town begins to clear of those left alive still, Tadashi turns to the cages and nods to the people inside. "Try to calm yourselves and move to the docks. I will retrieve my ship and pick you up there shortly to take you somewhere safe to have your wounds treated." With that he literally rips the doors of the cages off in turn to set the women and children free, who all begin to race toward the docks as
Sanzoku watched the clones lead the bad dudes towards these cliffs and he just watched for a moment. It was interesting to say the least. Was like an evil army of the dead. Though the evil ones here were by the far the people they were here to kill. "I suppose I am not needed anymore am I…" He frowned a tiny bit. He didn't know whether to wait for them to be finished or to head back to Tadashi. Though he likely didn't need to go back with Tadashi since it wouldn't be tough for him to handle things. "Alrighty then." He put his blades were put away now and he just stepped closer to the cliff but stayed behind the weird clones. He would let them finish things rather than take anymore hits himself.
About the time the last of the criminals have been eviscerated by blade, fist, or sharp rock, Tadashi would appear beside Sanzoku with that giant scroll. He lays it out behind the clones, letting out a puff of smoke that fades away to show that all the clones have vanished into it. Closing the scroll then, he tucks it back into his jacket and turns to face the village. "… Make sure they're all dead. I'm going to go bring the ship around so we can head back." With that he flickers out of sight again to go do just that.
Sanzoku of course just pull a single blade out and would pierce the blade through each dead body he saw. Even the ones down at the rocks would get checked on as he walked over the side and used tree walking to walk down the side. Once back up and sure the ones here were dead he started walking and checking the ones from before and in every building. Each were eventually guranteed dead so he moved onwards to meet up with Tadashi. Hopefully he didn't miss any, but he was pretty thorough.
Tadashi would be back shortly anyway to collect the bodies. They can be of use in his 'clone' jutsu, after all… Within moment the ship would pull up to the docks to transport the women and children to the Land of Tea. A large holding of the Vagrant Uprising has been obliterated along with a large number of their forces. All in all, this was a quite successful mission for Tadashi and Sanzoku, even if they didn't get here in time to save the majority of the villagers as the Daimyo would have hoped. The island will have to be cleaned of bodies and built anew. Perhaps it will be repurposed since the people that lived on it likely won't want to go back and relive this horror.
