Starring:
Hae, Katsurou, Kazuo (emitter), Isra, Tsiro
Date: May 4, 2014
Summary:
The shinobi from Kirigakure are sent to the Land of Whirlpools to protect a farm and possibly destroy a neighboring farm, who hired shinobi from Shinegakure, if peace cannot be worked out.
"What Makes Us Human - Betting the Farms"
In the Land of Whirlpools
The mission given is crystal clear. Just over the border two rivalling businesses (farms) have gotten their disagreement so far that one of the farmers hired Shinegakure to take care of his competition. While the other farmer, one that loyally supplied Kirigakure for years spent a considerable amount of money to have himself protected. And if need be, his competitor his attempts to destroy him stopped. The mission consists out of multiple parts. Destroy the Shine-nin just across the border in the land of whirpools. And try to first peacefully, but if need be forcibly get a peace between the two businessmen. This mission is labled B-rank. But can escalate to A rank depending on what Shinegakure sends to do their mission.
A boat is ready to pick Isra, Hae, Katsurou and Tsiro up. And b-line them in the direction of the farms. Considering they're placed near the sea as it's the land of whirpools, the boat can be moored right outside the farm they're supposed to protect. And for now it seems they beat the Shine-nin. Which makes sense since they have to travel a lot more and by land.
"Alright! We're off to go take care of some…really…terrible people," Isra wasn't even sure of the words to designate to these guys. They seemed like they just popped up out of nowhere and then made a name for themselves in the worst way possible! She was confused and concerned by this whole ordeal and the Zashinist hires weren't even the worst of it. The idea that they were hired by somebody else just screams bloody murder, almost literally! "So, we're up against these Zashinist types, yeah? They're wicked and need to be disposed of…mercilessly much like they do people, unfortunately. Also, we have the added purpose of smacking the…manure out of these farmers for even considering one of 'em. But! But, we have to try and go about this peacefully. All else fails, then…well, we do somethin' else," she rubbed her neck. She really didn't want to go stupid, but warring farmers could be troublesome. Stubborn bunch working the land. She had respect for them, but grief.
She steps into the boat and takes a seat, keeping a smile on her face and a cool demeanor about all of this.
Katsurou was in the middle of a training regime when he had gotten word of the mission. The message came from the hands of his mentor who was overseeing his "reborn" process. After handing Katsurou the note he also mentioned that this would be a good way to get back into the mix of things and test his abilities. The Shirayuki took the note without hesitation and after reading it himself he put his clothes back on without saying a word and left straight for the boat that would pick him up. That is where he met up with the rest of the team that would be participating in this mission as well. For now he kept to himself. Watching and studying everyone else around him but never speaking up himself.
The mission seemed simple enough. Two farmers in a disagreement and each hiring a different side to protect them. This was the first time that Tsiro had to deal with Shinegakure though. He had heard rumors from Kiku's little event. Then again the new Mizukage had alo asked for corpses to study. Maybe this could be two birds with one stone.
Tsiro listens to Isra speak before stepping onto the boat. "Peace first, death last. Got it." He looks towards the others. It seemed the mission had quite the forces assigned to it. A seven swordsman, a Shirayuki, a Kaguya and a mystery shinobi Tsiro had never met before. At least they did not have to walk for and had the advantage of arriving before the enemy.
Hae was trailing, as would be the want of surely all those gathered. Such firepower amongst their ranks, and he… was included, too. He watches behind Isra; best keep close to the one of the Seven. Something unique, indeed. Whereas Katsurou's training was interrupted, Hae's nap was, his hair pushed to one side, pressed against his head, his eyes a little droopy, hands in pockets. He settles into the boat as his place, and awaits the boat to take way, so far silent amongst the crowd.
The farmer could be seen working his rice fields. "Oh thank goodness you have arrived. I feared my message wouldn't make it to kiri in time." He says, seeming very much relieved his money seemed well spent. Everybody knew of the seven. And the others guys looked quite tough too. "The other farms are about ten miles that'a'way.." He says, pointing across a river in the direction of a treeline. "Behind Samuchi forest." He nods and goes back to work. "If you need anything let me know. I set up sleeping accomodations in the house." The man states calmly, while heading back into the large farm estate.
The rest of the day the Shinobi had time to set up traps, as long as they didn't interupt the farmer's work and patrol. By nightfall there was a slight disturbance at the north side of the estate. An out of place sound, but nothing can be seen just yet. The Shinobi did have a chance to mobilize, and any form of traps or early warnings they have set-up seem to have been avoided. Katsurou is the unlucky one, as when he passes the house on the north side for inspection, he comes face to face with a set of paperbombs….
A lot of them actually….! *KABOOM* …. There's a large fireball, as part of the estate is blown to bits! And if Katsurou doesn't manage to defend himself, he too would be envelopped in the torrent of flames and the rampant flying shrapnell. Another *splotch* resounds of a boot hitting some mud, this time on the Eastern side of the house!
"Nope, your message arrived right when it needed to and thankfully. Looks like everything is quiet around here and…not bloody," Isra grinned, though it faltered a bit when he mentioned the distance to the other farms. Ten miles, what? "That's…pretty far," she mentioned. Not that they couldn't cover that distance, but shoot. Time to get to work.
Once the traps and stealth were all set up, their patrol later on was met with some explosions. Some she knows she didn't create.
She raised her arms to shield them from the result and lowered them to look around and assess damages. What she managed to do was spot some figures running around in the dark tagging up a wall. "That way! On the eastern side of the house, there are more of these being set. We have to move out and get the ones responsible!"
Things seem to be uneventful through out the day. After being told to walk about the perimeter to inspect the surrounding area, Katsurou turns the corner only to be met with a string of explosive tags. His eyes widen and suddenly he is met with a large explosion. As the smoke clears the force of the explosion had thrown the Shirayuki a few feet back but it looks like he had not taken any real damage other than his clothes being ripped and burned, mostly around his chest area. Looks like it was game on.
Katsurou got to his feet and immediately started to channel the chakra flow through his body. He then took this time to meet up with the rest of the team to see if the explosions triggered anything else.
Tsiro made note of the direction of the other farm. That was a long walk. It seemed for now they were going to remain on this farm though. So he spent most of the day on patrol around the farm. He did not have much use for traps or building them so that was out. Things were quiet. That is until he heard the paper bombs go off on the other side of the farm. The sounds were not too far from his location. Instead of rush in, Tsiro climbs a nearby tree and scans the area. The nice things about paperbombs were that they could be placed somewhere and when someone ran into them, the blast would draw everyone's attention. Tsiro knew this as well as everyone else should.
Isra's shouting could be heard. Tsiro spotted the shinobi moving. He opens his mouth and spits three bone needles out. There was one for each of the shinobi from Shinegakure. He wanted to stop them from moving for the moment. Then the rest of the shinobi could converge on them.
Once the boat arrives, and the squad is landed, Hae remains, still, latent in his pursuit, his mind cruising through wonders of why he's here, and if this is going to be more real than anything he's done before. Unbeknownst to others, a bead of sweat trails down the corner of his hair, and his eyes - before lost still to the timbre-filled sands of sleep - are now alert, might even jumpy. It is this which seems to be his saving grace, the boy a distance back when the explosions curl fiery claws around Katsurou, the other coming away… unscathed.
Amidst the wonder, Hae too listens as Isra shouts, the boy's hands coming together deftly, a clone appearing in a muted puff of smoke. Hae remains slowly behind, but his other self leaps forward, to catch bait if any other sides are tagged.
The nin were spotted by three of the four nin on the team. But as the attacks began flying Hae should be able to quickly respond and head their way. Considering Hae didn't get a good look however he misses a trap the shine-nin had set up. As Hae moves suddenly a dead arm and hand shoot up from the dirt. Ignoring his clone but going for the real one. Trying to grab him by the anckle to make him trip. It was a simple device, thing is, if he does, he would notice he's heading face-first towards a kunai stuck into the ground with the blade up!
Katsurou keeping his distance gives him a chance to breath and not get attacked. Tsiro and Isra are definetly spotted however. One of the Shine-nin is pushed back, bleeding slightly with all the bones sticking out of his skin. "Katon: Great deathfire grasp!" Shouts one of the nin as Tsiro can hear hands slapping together. Before a torrent of green flames head his and Isra's way! It seems they were in time to avert the nin from sticking on any more explosive tags. As the wall Hae's clone scouts seems clean!
Isra, upon seeing the flames, reached for her belt of scrolls and quickly whipped it out. It unfurled before her and the formula on it activated to secure the green flame that was headed straight for her. She could feel the heat of it and its quick change to cool as the scroll sucked it up and sealed it inside. It's only irony that this same formula captured green flames a while ago, perhaps much more dangerous than this kind.
She responded by rolling it up and reattaching it to her belt and drawing out her weapon and flinging it forwar to send the ream out to explode at the attackers. "Follow up, quickly!" She called. "The attackers are headed this way!"
Katsurou makes it to Isra's side just a few moments before she swallows the large burst of green flame. His eyes scans the darkness. He was unable to make out the position of his enemies. He figures it was due to the large flash at point blank that had him seeing stars for the moment. The only other option for him to go with is to prepare for a counter-attack in the event of the enemies just testing the strength of his team.
Katsurou takes his moment to close his eyes and establish the mental link between him and the ancestors that share the Shirayuki blood. A moment later a bright blue symbols seem to appear around him along with a flowing blue aura that hugs his form. He then opens his eyes and one would note that his eyes are now of a bright blue and now as he breathes from his mouth a stream of steam can be seen escaping from him which would give the hint that his core temperature had dramastically dropped. For now he stands and waits for further instructions.
The needles alerted the shinobi to where Tsiro was. Now he was faced with a green flame. Dropping from his spot in the tree, Tsiro twists his body out of the way of the flame. "Someone secure the farmer!" Tsiro yells out in an order. This mission was going to fail if the purchaser died. The rest of them would be able to take out the shinobi.
Bones start to protrude from all over Tsiro's body as he enters the dance of the Larch. He grabs a single bone from out of his own ribcage then vanishes. He appears on the other side of the group of Shinegakure shinobi. One of them would have felt the bone slash go through his body. It was simply too quick for them to see. "Leaving already? We're just getting started." he states.
Hae's eyes - darting, rapid, flinging from explosions to fires to enemy shinobi to his own comrades - fail to grasp the grasping maw of a hand, the undead limb clawing around his ankle, squeezing squeezing, crushing nearly, the boy letting out a wayward "Gggah!" before being dragged to the earth, the buried kunai rising as surprisingly as Hae's eyes.
"AHH!"
The blade buries itself deep in the boy's shoulder, sharp and bleeding but thankfully missing any connective tissue. If sleepy Hae had been before, there was no mistake about the certainty of his bleeding existence. The boy's heart beats faster, red spilling along his bandages, dying them its own favorite hue; his chakra flurries itself awake, as the youth pushes himself of the kunai, stumbling to turn to look for an assailant, but the hand is gone already. His clone - once running from house to house - disappeared when Hae fell upon the blade.
The boy looks for the roaming ninja and the Kiri combatants. They are close, but not nearly close enough. Though bleeding, Hae's feet push him towards to fleeing shinobi.
Tsiro nearly cut one of the three nin in half. In his dying breaths however it's one of his allies that slit his throat. Causing the dagger used to glow a bright green, as the tallest of the three, now two man squad suddenly explodes in renewed strength. Suddenly, he disappears, aiming to jam a kunai into Tsiro's stomach. Before using his body to launch himself at Isra. In mid flight throwing a chakra enhanced kunai at Katsurou. As that happends, the leftover nin rushes off, firing two fireballs, one at the house, the next at Hae. The fast tall shinobi, now holding two lifes rushes right back at Tsiro, aiming to lock himself in taijutsu with the Kaguya. Not planning on giving him a chance to use that blade again!
"Shoot. Missed…"
Isra was still in hot pursuit of the shinobi along with the others on her team, but that fire didn't leave her focus. At Tsiro's order, she knew that she wasn't the only one to take notice. "I'll handle the fire!," she stated and immediately broke off from the group. "I'll catch up with you all later!" She intended to seal the fire away in the same manner she handled the fireball that was launched at her.
Thinking that she'll need an extra hand in this fire and by extension the battle, she dediced to give her energy a bit of a crash together and ultimately take advantage of what that excess could do for her. She hopes she wouldn't be long and maybe she gets her wish, but not in the way she intended. She was greeted with a body coming straight for her and her quick thinking allowed her to slip a tag out and form a barrier wall thick enough to stop his advances. She returned his attack by drawing out her weapon and taking aim to surround him in ground shaking explosions.
That being done, she used her free hand to take out another fire sealing scroll and tossed it at the home to take care of the fire.
Katsurou was having a hard time making out what was going on with all the chaos around him. He was about to retreat back to the farm to take care of the fires until he heard Isra's voice calling out that she will take care of it. At that moment that left only him and Tsiro to handle the attacking squad. A chakra infused projectile bounced off of his form that brought his attention to Tsiro's attacker. Forming a set of hand seals, a copy of the Shirayuki's image leaps out of his body and races toward the one currently attacking Tsiro. Once the clone gets close enough, it leaps out at the enemy in an attempt to tackle him to the ground. Just moments before the clone makes contact, another clone leaps out of the primary clone and comes down at the enemy with fists together in order to deliver a hammer blow to him whether or not the initial clone connects with the tackle to the ground.
The bones of Tsiro's stomach come out to block the kunai before it can enter his body. "Even with your buddies power, your still no match for me." he whispers in the ear of his opponent before the guy seems to launch himself at Isra. After a moment the shinobi seems to come back for Tsiro. He easily dodges the attacks.
"Would you make up your mind? Forget it, I'll make it up for you. HEY ISRA!" Tsiro yells as he reaches back to the base of his neck. With a sickening squishing sound, he reaches past the skin and gives a good yank. His spine comes free, being pulled out by his hand. It is quickly regenerated by another one. With a crack of the now spinal whip, Tsiro tries to entangle the shinobi. "He's all yours Isra!" he yells, letting her know the guy would be open to her attack.
Hae presses his fingers into the wound, his eyes wincing by the sliced nerves and perforated flesh. His progress towards the other shinobi is halted quickly, one of the assailants arriving before him, blowing a torch of fire right at the boy. Hae's fists grip together as seals along his body curl and shine to life, pouring extra force into his chakra. The youth's foot stomps the earth, rising a form of stone around him, but the fireball tears through inferior material, scorching a fair portion of Hae's side (unluckily, the same side as the kunai pierced). Ragged now, burnt, bleeding, staring hollow but chakra boiling beneath, a slow formation of hands comes together, and two clones erupt in a puff of smoke. Hae grabs a kunai from his pouch with his good, and hands it to one of the clones. The earthen ones then depart, driving towards the fire-blowing nin, one a fist of stone ready to bury itself in the victim's face; the other driving a kunai towards her belly, though were it to get close enough, it would explode right on contact.
As the group of three nin get pushed back further and further in their engagement, it's pretty clear that they weren't geared to deal with this larger threat. Being pushed around and in general being overhelmed by numbers due to all the clones, the nin really didn't have much choice but taking the attacks. Several kunai and shuriken fly out, laced in chakra, trying to catch their direct opponent's while the clones are being dealt with. Tsiro's spine hurt… A lot, but the nin it grabbed managed to break through with sheer strength. Drawing his sword from his back and starting to lash out with it, each attack shooting a green flame sword out in Tsiro's direction. Katsurou is faced with the smaller nin's fire clone. Isra managed to contain the flames, she could hear coughing coming from the master bedroom though. Finally, Hae is faced with another arm from the dirt, trying to punch him in the face quite straight-forwardly.
Isra was ready to take in the shinobi that was tossed her way, gift wrapped in a bone bow, but he managed to break free and attack her, much to her chagrin. She threw up another seal wall to protect herself from the incoming attack and kept the dance up by launching another strike against her opponent with the numerous shells from her weapon. Though, she didn't stick around to see the fireworks, instead deciding to retreat while they went off to go and tend to the farmer in the master bedroom. She can only hope everyone else is doing alright against these guys.
Katsurou sets his focus on the nearest foe to him after dealing with a projectile stuck in his thigh. For what he had in mind, this was going to take some concentration. With a hand seal at his chest, a clone rushes out of him in a dead sprint toward the enemy in his cross hairs. Midway another clone branches off of the original and now have two clones running in the same direction. One clone leaps off to the side and seems to disappear for the time being. Once the original clone reaches his target it lurches out and attempts to send a round house kick to the side of its face. Whether it hit or missed the second clone was close enough to it to try and capture the target in a Water Prison technique. It turns out the original clone was just the decoy to help in his enemies capture. If successful, Katsurou WILL NOT follow up with another attack on this target considering the purpose of this technique was to CAPTURE and BRING BACK the enemy for QUESTIONING.
Tsiro had underestimated these shinobi. At least the tall one. No one had ever been able to break one of his bones. Now the guy had taken the offensive and trapped him by hitting him with green flames. The amount of damage taken was minimal at best, but it did manage to trap him. All Tsiro can do is growl as he looks for a route to let him back into the combat.
Hae's body has been badly harmed, the fatigue of combat wearing thin on his shallow frame. A fair quarter of his skin is burnt, the white bandages gnarled with black corners, revealing some of the flesh beneath. Blood has ceased flowing with virility, but there is a clear gush of dried brown having run from the shoulder. When the arm comes lurching from the earth, it is all Hae can do to throw up two fingers, a blue barrier fixing into existence around his body, the dead hand ricocheting off it. A sliver of paper unwinds itself from Hae's finger, dropping to the ground. With his good hand still, and with alacrity, the boy reaches back and draws two shuriken from his pouch, rubbing them between his hands before flinging them into the earth where the dead hand erupted, his intent to blow it limb from ground.
"Katsu!"
The larger nin stared at the smaller one and nods. Both were injured pretty badly.. "Time to make the sacrifice kid.." He says like a proper cultist. "I have to defend the other farm from these goons. Ensure at least one of them won't make it.." He pats the last Shinobi on the shoulder before trying to disappear back into the treeline. The last Shinobi left however sees that Tsiro was left harmed and in place, stunned for what was to follow. He gathers the last of his chakra, before a huge dragon made of fire starts to crash down, going for Tsiro first, followed by Isra and then Katsurou! Hae is spared, too far away to get hit. He did by the way succesfully blow up the limb that was tunnling and assaulting him, rendering it harmless! If Isra and Tsiro fail to hold the fire dragon, it would also go past the house to try and burn the rest down! Before continuing towards Katsurou.
The fire is contained and that's good news for Isra! But, bad news, the enemy is really trying to work up a storm of something fierce here. The glow of flames alert her to the home being attacked and she tosses a seal on the ceiling of the home, causing a barrier to rase up and block the flaming dragon from causing any further harm.
She collects the farmer and guides him out of the home to safety and fresh air. Once she had done that, she shifted her focus to attacking the retreating shinobi. She didn't want them to get away with this. Not after all they did. Her pursuit resembled the flames they attempted to leave behind as her aura flared while she released another round of shells at them.
Katsurou forms a series of hand seals then slams his palm onto the ground. Suddenly a gate raises up in front of him with intense speed. One would notice that on the giant gate's doors is the Shirayuki clan symbol. The fiery attack is deflected by gates and now Katsurou can be seen standing on top of it with his arms crossed looking down all badass like as the rest of the fight continues on.
Tsiro's dark eyes watch as the dragon forms and comes for him. A grin forms on his face as the flames engulf him. They do a bit more than burn him. Parts of his skin turn crispy. No, he does not scream. He emerges with his uniform on fire and the smell of burning flesh. H does not bother to put the flames out. They will go out on their own. His head tilts to the side as his crimson eyes stare at the opponent. His arm turns into a bone like a drill. "Eat this." Tsiro states as he smashes the drill like appendage forward towards the shinobi's face. He was no longer playing around. Someone was going to die.
Hae drops to one knee, his eyes closing in pain, the right side of his body throbbing with each twitch of cut muscle and burnt nerve. The youth only watches as a giant fire dragon soars to engulf Tsiro, Isra, and Katsurou, the enflamed beast bouncing from one wall to another before alighting upon Tsiro, scorching the last. Hae shakily regains his footing, staring down before him at the exploded, severed arm, then up at Katsurou standing arms crossed atop his gate, Isra blasting away at fleeing shinobi, and Tsiro sending blade of bone to ravage a foe. Hae turns, looks back at the enervated farmer, himself half burned as well. He makes his way to the man, offering protection from any wayward villains.
And yet, why? Why is here, half burnt, deranged in blood, fiery dragons lashing into his friends while they in turn wail upon their foes — why must he be so engaged, for these are not his people. These are not his allies, not his friends. Why care for the sacrifice?
The man running off into the tree-line manages to escape, the explosions following him shortly but falling just short. It's Tsiro's opponent, the one making a sacrifice that's more than dead. Being drilled until there's not much left of his face. In fact, it's one huge mess…. He's definely dead though!
If the group think to look around then however it might be questionable if they could call this mission a success. The farm is burning, half the estate is rubble and ashes. The farmer has to go to a hospital and the crops are ruined… Not to mention the gigantic gate of ice in the middle of a rice-paddy! The farmer is just crying, the devastation and fear for his life overtook him!
Tsiro looks around at all the devastation. It was quite the battlefield. "Katsurou, take Hae back to the boat and get him medical attention. Isra, we rest here tonight. Tomorrow we move out to take out the last shinobi. We're also going to go comandeer a farm. That other guys farm. One farm was going to be destroyed one way or another. This one is in ash, so we'll just give the owner of this one both lands." Tsiro then looked over the dead body. "We will take the bodies back after." He then looks for a place to go rest.
Isra looked about at the devastation. Guess it was inevitable. She sheathed her blade and began her return to the remains of the farm along with Tsiro. She observes Katsurou and Hae, feeling regret that she wasn't able to get to him. She had heard his cry, but was kept on her feet constantly with those shinobi. It made her sick to think about it and the remarks only add to her anger that she intends to return to their enemies. "Sounds like a plan to me," she offered as she sought out a means to rest for herself.
