Starring:
Date: August 20, 2012
Summary:
A team was dispatched from Kirigakure to deal with pirates that claim to be involved with the Way of Peace.
"Way of Peace - Kiri Pirates"
Waters outside the small village on the edge of the Land of Water
With Keisuke indisposed, the people of team K were being reorganized to have a temporary leader until they could find where Keisuke went to. As such, Maikeru was given the mission folder and told to obtain use of Kiku and Kitaru, as well as another since the others of team K were already occupied. That mission was to an island on the edge of Land of Water. There was talk about some group harassing merchants there, setting up temporary blockades of ships so they couldn't fish and generally pushing people around until they were given resources to cause them to stop for a week. During one of the breaks, a messanger was sent to Kirigakure for assistance in resolving this issue and it was deemed to be a b-rank mission. There was enough hostiles seen there as well as some actual water jutsus used on those who tried to cross the blockade to make it a rather high priority for the team. While it was a seek and destroy, they were told to keep it low key, as this group was going to need to be looked into and find out who is causing problems for Kiri merchants.
Well, given the use of one Kaguya that hates his guts for dropping a tower on her and a guy who seems to be fairly reasonable, today should be quite interesting for Maikeru. The newly reinstated Jounin rides on a small fishing vessel with the assigned team, steering at the helm and henged to be adorned in attire more like one would expect a fisherman to wear. He's actually pretty good at sailing, though that's probably from having to spend so much time moving around when he was being hunted. They are moving with a pretty big load of fish toward the island, not that they fished fairly. Not wanting to take the time it would take to do that, Maikeru used a variation on Jigoku Web to scoop up a massive school of fish and set them inside the net then strap it down so it looks like they were caught fairly. With his hair having not been dyed in a while, Maikeru actually looks kind of old, as his hair is a mixture of silver and black. He's also grown out a small beard to make the disguise more formidable. So long as sleeves and gloves cover that glowing arm, he's likely unrecognizable to anyone who doesn't personally know him.
"Keep an eye out," the 'captain' says as he steers the ship toward the island, scanning the area with his eyes. "We don't want these idiots sinking our ship with a badly aimed water jutsu."
The 'cabin boy' of the group was Fuhiro. Dressed in very mangey clothing and doing a lot of the heavy lifting (which is quite a workout even for he as a shinobi with above average human being strength, he ends up pulling lines and tieing and re-tieing things down. He knew how to sail, or at least he could fake it. Can't fake the sweat though.
And booy was he sweating! He even sat down for half a second, thinking to himself 'man, i'm totally gonna die out here from dehydration'. And he even glanced up to Maikeru to make sure he didn't see him 'sitting down on the job'. Who knows how powerful and cruel-hearted of a leader this guy is.
Kitaru himself was just sitting up in the crow's nest. While he wasn't henged into something special, he also didn't have any immediate shinobi items on him either. Indeed, his gear was stashed in a bag at his feet within the nest itself. A confirming signal was given to Mai as he'd continue to keep that look out.
About a half hour into them having the island in sight, they'd also see the boats. Large vessels that had the sails currently furled up. There were obviously men on board all three of the boats and as their fishing ship got closer, one of the large boats would start to set sail, coming in their direction. If anyone could sense it, that ship had a definite charge of chakra to it, it was almost as if the ship itself had the ability to pass chakra along it's hull, although if this was just for defense or offense, who would know?
As the vessels come into view, Maikeru smirks slightly and looks up to Kitaru. When he feels the surge of chakra form the ship, he blinks and lifts an eyebrow. That may not be good. If these guys have some kind of chakra cannon built into the ship, things could get rather interesting. He's going to have to be prepared to put up a shield if needed… He seems to not be looking at Fuhiro scoldingly so far, but he's obviously focused on other things at the moment. "Remember, we need to try to trace them back to their leader. Don't attack until we've gotten ahold of him unless absolutely necessary," he says as he steers the ship a bit to keep it from being on a collision course with that of the bandits. And the fun begins…
Fuhiro looks over the side of the ship and squints to see the other ships without getting water in his eyes. A splash on the side of the ship and he's back to tending to ropes even without Maikeru yelling at him to get back to work. He eyes the corner where he stowed his scrolls, and great, they are covered in water, but not soaking it up. At least they are that special paper that doesn't sop up water every chance it gets. "Cap'm! Need anything from me right now?" Other than the obvious. Please don't beat me up..
Don't attack until they see a leader. Joy. Kitaru would signal he got the command, then call out the distance between ships. The big one was of course, closing quickly on their smaller fishing vessel. It wasn't like it took much to catch up considering the size differences. Kitaru would eye the people on the hostile ship with a neutral look. There was a total of 30 crew on deck, 20 of them with bows that were drawn, while the rest tended to the needs of getting the vessel where they wanted to go. The captain was by the wheel, staring down at them with just shy of open venom as what seemed to be a tallish brute would hollar over to them. "Prepare to be boarded! You must pay tithe to the Way of Peace!!" With that said, they started a gangplank set up, to allow easy access between the boats. Guess Maikeru's baiting paid off, eh?
As Fuhiro speaks, Maikeru glances over to him and lifts an eyebrow. "… Just keep an eye out, don't act rashly, and don't get in my way," he says, his voice smooth, but low-toned and rather dark. To add to this, his eyes flash an eerie yellow for a moment as he looks at the boy before looking back up to the oncoming vessel. When their vessels meet, he looks around at all the men, counting the numbers in his head before finally looking to the captain. He waves as if to hold his crew members off to allow the planking to be setup. "I want to talk to your leader. I've heard about this kind of thing going on. I'd like to set up a business deal with him so we can get this done peacefully without having to have any hostility," he calls back to the captain, remaining at the helm and waiting for the ship to be boarded, as well as for an answer from the captain.
Maikeru was given a hard once over by the brute of a man, before that nod was given. Orders barked by the man had the rest of the set up done so that there was a total of 2 gangplanks between the ships. One for people to go across, get part of the fish and walk across the other to store on the bigger ship. Kitaru just watched from above, kneeling down within the crows nest as he'd study the situation closely. Maikeru was tough, so he knew something was going on with how careful this was being handled by the big guy. The captain of the other ship looked to the first mate brute as he was told Maikeru wanted to talk to him. A wave was motioned and one of the sailors from the other ship pointed at Mai. "Cap'n said you can come. Rest of yer crew stays. We'll start loadin now." With that, 5 men would ease the draw on their bows to start that transfer of the cargo. Yeah, seems they had a really set routine and was fast at it.
Maikeru gives a glance to Fuhiro and then to Kitaru before walking across the plank onto the enemy ship. No words about worrying about him or anything else. Once he is across, he walks up to where the captain is and gives a nod. "I want to talk to /your/ boss," he says as he looks up to the man. "If I'm going to be making a long-term deal to give part of my spoils up, I want to deal with the head honcho directly about it or the deal's off." He seems stern, though not threatening as he normally is. That part will have to wait until he actually meets the real leader of this organization so it can be toppled completely.
With Fuhiro hiding below deck just in case any of the pirates got away, Kitaru would just give a small nod in response to Maikeru. He himself didn't really sense anything of major power on that ship, other than the vague idea that it was radiating chakra. Then again, Maikeru was now on that ship. Kitaru was ready to support the beast if needed, however he did not worry too much about Mai. Instead, he was keeping an eye out for anyone else that might come to assist if the firworks did start on the other ship.
The captain of the ship would eye Maikeru coldly. A vague motion with one hand had 4 of the guards that was nearby immediately start making signs, that low murmur of doing seals for jutsu easily noted as they rapidly shifted through the seals. "We don't work that way. You see, our leader is on the main land. We're here to support the noble cause of the Way of Peace. If you wish to join the Way, you are more than welcome to. However, we do not welcome hostile confrontations like this." At the man's last word, the 4 guards would finish their seal, a set of chakra wall barriers formed about Maikeru, four sides and a roof on top, it was only 2 inches bigger than he was in his henge. "You however, will provide a perfect chakra battery. That chakra level you have is quite impressive." The captain would make a motion to dismiss them and they would try to push Maikeru towards the cargo hole of the main deck. Nothing they did was really on Jigoku's level, so Mai could break it at will, however someone on the ship was obviously a chakra sensative type.
"Is that right?" Maikeru asks, glancing around the bandits. When the barrier comes up around him, he tilts his head slightly and looks it over. "Oh dear, you figured me out," he says in mock-fear as he glances around at them. With a flash of red, he is now in his normal attire, the hood over his head as normal as he chuckles a bit. "On the main land, huh?" he asks. "Thanks for the information. Now, if you'll kindly deliver this message to him for me…" With a burst of chakra, the barrier around him shatters like a paper cup. His eyes take on that eerie yellow color, almost glowing as he looks around at the bandits. Pointing his right hand at the captain of the ship, the Jounin grins as an orb of chakra forms on his hand, surging with power as it flies at the man, exploding as soon as it hits while a blood red aura kicks up around Maikeru, his dark presence beginning to overtake the entire area around them as a dark laugh rings out amongst the smoke from the explosion.
Kitaru raised a brow as Maikeru basically wrecked the captain and went about levelling the ship. The members of the crew that were offloading fish stopped in stunned disbelief. Kitaru would weave his own seals, that Dark Cloak reaching out to sweep over any who didn't immediately get caught by Maikeru to fall into his genjutsu mirrors. Making most go comotose, Kitaru would call out with a point at the other two ships as they started to gear up and come charging at the smoking hulk of the one that Maikeru was leveling. "Want me to get them, Maikeru-san? Or will you be tending to them as well?" Hey, if the beast likes doing the heavy lifting, why not? Kitaru was indeed there for support, mass destruction wasn't exactly his forte.
As Kitaru calls out, Maikeru looks over to him and smirks as strikes from bandits around him literally just bounce off of him. "What, you mean those?" he asks, pointing a finger at the ships in the distance. If Kitaru looks, there are clones of Jigoku coming up out of the water and attaching to the side of each of the oncoming ships. Just as they come up onto the sides, the clones begin to glow blood red, their entire bodies beginning to surge violently with power until they explode just as massively as a Jigoku Supernova on the ships to literally make a huge blowout in their sides. "Huh, almost there," Maikeru says, grabbing a notepad out of his jacket and pulling it out to make a few notes while the bandits strike at him, not even bothering to look at them while their hits bounce off of his aura. "Think I'm gonna call that one Supernova Clone or something when I perfect it."
Kitaru chuckled to himself, a nod given. With all three ships going down, he'd weave his last genjutsu. Those who were attacking Maikeru would suddenly stiffen up, the genjutsu capturing them before their screams of agony as the void mirror sucked them dry would fade off into their collapsed comotose state. A nod given, he'd wave to Maikeru. "Shall we head into the village to let them know it's done for now, Maikeru-san?" Kit would put his gear on and hop over the side of the crow's nest to land on the deck lightly.
