Starring:
Meruin, Hinotori, Satomi, Yuzuna, Fudo, Soren
Date: March 16, 2013
Summary:
Master Shogi players from all of the five great countries gather at a private venue run by a mysterious benefactor to hold an annual tournament upon a small fleet of boats. Shinobi act as escorts during this tournament, only for there to be a pirate raid upon the the floating tourny, however the profits are not the only thing they are after. The greatest strategic minds of each nation are under threat of kidnapping, as well as the benefactor himself.
Poster's note: the use of a pistol and cannons in this scene was decided to by staff to be out-of-theme; please do not use such technology in other scenes.
"Your Move…"
Upon the sea
It's the time of the year again. The largest Shogi tournament is about to commence. Shogi masters from all lands gather to play, watch and join the spectacle. The mysterious host from far away lands always holds it on his royal ships. A fleet of near ten ships arrive just in time. Nine smaller ships hold small tournaments, most of them require a reputation to sign in, though the largest ship only hosts one shogi master from each country.
And just like every year tensions rise as each land sends their shogi master escorted by one or more nin from their village. Not only to protect the elder players from harm during play, but mostly to protect the trophy on its way home. The ships are in neutral waters, so conflicts on the ships aren't expected.
Recent rumours about pirate activity cause the amount of nin escorting their masters to be even greaters. As most villages realize that knowledge is power, and these players are most definetly not to be disregarded. A reason why Satomi, a Nara clan member has requested to go there with her squad, despite the medical corps recommendation to wait another few days before even training, let alone go on a mission.
The festival commences with fireworks while the masters arrive in their carriages, winged by nin from their own countries. Nobody expects any trouble, though tensions are always there with these sort of high profile situations. The lord of these ships, a mysterious rich man named Ominogaru holds out his hands while welcoming his guests. "Welcome to the Shogi tournament!" He says, bowing deeply at each master entering the ship, followed by a select group of nin and supporters.
Meanwhile on a nearby island a set of notorious pirates have gathered. They to have heard about the tournament, and recruited a whole lot of manpower to get this job done. Which caused rumours to quickly spread and effectively, the present nin are informed to keep their eyes peeled for pirates.
"The first match will be the land of wind versus the land of earth! The man announces, while the small fleet sets out for neutral waters. The crowd going nuts while the first move is played.
Luck having more to do with his presence than actually being assigned to a detail, Fudo would be tagging along with the others from the Land of Fire primarily to observe as while he was part of a team he was not quite qualified for high profile escorts. However, a floating fleet of Shogi players was going to be an interesting occurance, and he was glad to be able to come. Hearing rumors of pirates, the first thing that Fudo began to wonder was what they would be after. Assumedly, there is money stored somewhere, and perhaps entrance fees or donations spread about if not in a centralized location. This would mean that any priate attacks would be less about damage and more about boarding. So securing the perimeter from unknown ships, aerial anomalies, or perhaps even under water approaches would be the best security protocols to have. Redundant guards within the area of the wealth, should that be what is being protected…. Fudo would sigh to himself… there was no need for him to think about this so much at all.
Bodyguard duty, huh? Yup, that's right up Soren's alley. And since Satomi was a friend, he was only happy to accept when she asked him to come. Especially in her current state.
Soren's been keeping an eye on the perimiter, circling around slowly, and taking in every detail of the surrounding area, remembering every line, and every contour as he makes his passes around the perimeter, keeping a keen watch for anything suspicious. He stretched, as he came around to the same point as Fudo. "Spot anything yet?" he asked, idly wondering where Satomi was. He wanted to try and keep an eye on her during the mission aswell.
A Shogi tournament, neutral marine territory, a host who divulges little about themselves, and a known outlaw presence. Okumo Meruin found that he had little love for any of them. Yet and still, the jounin was a part of the detail sent to accompany and protect Kirigakure's own Shogi Master. The man hadn't taken out a contract for protection with the village — it'd sent it's guards of it's own volition. He supposed that it was part of an attempt to help Kirigakure look like something more than mist, blood, and bone. An intelligence. It would be especially important with the unrest brewing in the civilian populace. So he was indifferent about being utilized in such a fashion, rather than privately displeased.
The second aspect of his mission, however, was approved of to a certain extent. Kirigakure not only wanted their Shogi Master to survive, they also wanted him to win. Okumo Meruin was here to help nudge things in that direction, largely through the subtle undermining of the man's opponents. Without being caught, of course, at a minimum. Even being suspected was tantamount to failure. It gave him something to ponder on as he watches the first match begin between Wind and Earth, standing next to his employer with no attempt at hiding himself or his giant spiders, using simple presence as deterrent.
Yuzuna lifts a brow as she turns her head, giving Fudo a sideways glance when she hears him sigh audibly. The corner of her soft lips turn upwards just slightly for a moment with muted amusement before turning her pale eyes forward once more, observing the boats and the activity of each. "It has been awhile since I have been on a boat." she murmurs lightly. "It looks like everyone is enjoying themselves to some extent." The Hyuuga kunoichi's pale opal eyes blink slowly as she lifts her gaze to Soren while he neared, asking for an update.
Yawning a bit loudly as he walks along with the others, stretching his arms out as he looks around a bit bored. He's just started to learn to play this game adn nwo here he is accompanying the Master Shogi player to this tournament. Looking around at the others here, "Well at least we are out of the village." he grins as he brings his right hand back behind his head and rubs at his neck. Yup, Hinotori is awake now and as he looks around at the boats in the surrouding area, he grins a bit. "When was the last time we travelled on a boat together Yuzu-chan?" he asks looking a bit concerned as to if he's sea sick or not. But then again he doesn't feel sick at all.
The game progresses with relative ease. It isn't hard for all nin to spot that each ship is well guarded by the rich host his own guards. Men wearing the same garbs, loose clothing with bright colors, curved sabres which are great for combat on a ship. Each ship hosts six of these men, looking outwards on all sides of the ships. Only the main frigate has double that amount, half of them stationed in the belly of the ship near the treasury.
The other half on the main deck looking at the game. Since the main frigate is right in the middle of the formation. The ships don't seem armed with any battle equipment though, the host is quite naive; not regarding pirates as a real threat.
The land of wind loses their first match, after which the master of the land of fire sits down, bowing to the opponent of the land of water. "The only type of war where generals still respect eachother these days right?" The master from the land of water remarks. He's known for his wisdom and philosophy on war. Often reframing it as a game that has been watered down to a menace due to dishonor by other countries. The master of the land of fire nods while making the first move. "Sometimes, silence is gold." He just says, while tapping the clock.
Satomi is seated on the main ship at the elevated area, right in front of the bow. Looking out over the water while just listening to the game-master calling out the moves out loud, drawing the shogi board in her mind. She doesn't have the lead on this mission, instead it was left to Hinotori and Yuzuna on this one, due to the high profile and Satomi her inability to physically keep up.
Small cash prices and bets go out continuously on players and even moves. A lot of cash switches between hands. Satomi spots Soren while waving him over, eyes closed while she gazes into the sun. "I have been thinking, why would pirates raid this ship? I mean sure there's some cash on it, but look at the amount of nin here.
It's way to dangerous for such a small price." She explains, sighing. "Now, what's more valuable than money?" She asks him, before gazing into his eyes, her own mind working on overdrive while she hears a move by the shogi-master of the land of fire. She thought of it as a mistake, though by retracing his moves, she smiles at the utter genious. He's a master for a reason… "They're not after the money, they're after the masters!"
She whispers to herself low enough for Soren not to hear. It's merely a theory, but she's pretty certain. There's nothing more valuable than knowledge and reputation. Losing both would be devastating to a country… and worth quite the ransom. Or worse…
While drinks get passed around by attractive waitresses everyone would probably notice a large ship in the horizon. It's not moving, probably laid anchor. "Ship spotted at starboard!" Yells a guard in the crownsnest, pointing at the ship which is quite far off. It just lays there for a tense ten minutes, nothing really seemed to happend. And nobody seems to recognice the large ship. Which is visibly armed, but outside the distance to do any real damage. Suddenly Satomi widens her eyes. "To get to us they need to break through the three ships there..!"
She says to herself, looking around at the other ships. "The other smaller ships won't pose a threat nor an obstacle, Yuzuna!" She yells, while getting up, turning pale as her feet his the ground and a the shock hits her injured back, yet she moves. "Yuzuna!" She yells again, pointing at the small ship closest to the foreign ship. "Do your eyes see underwater?" She asks panting while pointing at the boats near the edge. "I have got a bad feeling about this!" She whispers, as suddenly the other ship gets winged by another six similar, yet slightly smaller ships, and it suddenly turns towards the fleet the nin are on.
Once she uses her eyes she would immidiatly notice the devices attached to the bellies of the small ships, spiked metal balls… with bodies swimming off in the distance.
"I think those aren't trade ships.." Satomi says to herself, completely forgetting to keep tabs of the game, throwing them a glare.
"BOOM" Is the first thing they hear in the distance, a large cannonball passing overhead, a puff of smoke present in the largest ships front, while a black flag is raised. The ships are about three minutes of sailing away, with the winds in their backs.
All of these personal guards, all of these ships moving from them ainland and little worry over the possible pirate threat. We shall see how this all goes down, was the only thing Fudo could consider as he stood on the boat. While normally he would be very interested in the Shogi matches, the fact was they simply were too exposed for any particular defense. Away from any back up but naval essentialy and with civilians at that. It was a defensive nightmare. Fudo had to hope that there were only pirates to worry about.
Glancing at Yuzuna a moment, then Hinotori, then finally Satomi, he was about to say something before the blast of a canon would be heard going over head. Satomi had already been asking for Yuzuna to see what she could see, and Fudo would simply close his eyes and lean back a bit against a railing. "These pirates… are imbeciles. Someone stop the Shogi tournament, and have the master's advice the fleet while the shinobi assist in informing and defending them and the ships. The Pirates are going to have to outwit the worlds best minds with the world's best military guards and perhaps… loyal body guards of the host. Perhaps…" Fudo's eyes would open as he wondered about that. In all honesty, the only real threat to the Master's right now, were the private body guards.
Soren, when motioned to join Satomi, dash stepped up next to her, following the game intently, confident that with both Hinotori, and Yuzuna watching the waters, they would have no problems whatsoever. Soren glances over towards her when he's asked the question. "Huh… I've been thinking the same thing, honestly. More likely they're after the masters, but I can't say for sure. So far there's been no evidence to support the thought…" he said with a small shrug.
But when the yelling starts, Soren whirls around, his eyes cast out onto the coast, quickly Identifying the subject of the worries. He shakes his head. "Yuzu-chan! Hino-san! I'll secure the Masters, if one of our fearless leaders would opt to join me?" he says, not waiting for a response. Yuzu would likely be more help on the side, her Byakugan better for idenitying potential threats. Hino-san would likely be more apt for the combat potential, just based on his sharingan. But then again, that was basing purely on bloodline abilities. He knew very little of their capabilities himself. He made his way down towards the masters. "Stop the match. We're under attack." he says, ignoring the personal guards if they attempt to stop him.
Okumo Meruin had the distinct feeling that the nature of his mission was going to change swiftly. One of the guards from the Konohagakure detail was already shouting to her comrades, drawing his attention to a ship idled in the distance, too far to launch an immediate attack, but by no means too far to be a threat. Ah. So the pirates — he assumed — had actually decided to attend the games. That was… an unexpected development. Fallacy in the Okumo's eyes, but thteir choice, and thus something he'd have to react to — the appearance of other ships and the sound of canon fire punctuating the thought. His long platinum hair begins a slow writhe, undulating in the air behind him as he forces his body to convert some of it's energy into a less physical nature.
And then he vanishes, reappearing next to the Shogi master that was his ward for the duration of his mission. "Excuse this, Toshiyuki Habu. We are under attack." That said, he simply, flashed through a few swift seals, grabbed hold of the man, and launched himself into an arcing leap. Wrapped in wind chakra, he sailed into the sky away from the ship, holding tightly to the Shogi master and leaving the rest to deal with the assault as they would. The people who'd begun the assault were still a distance away. It was his estimation, and hope, that the distance was great enough that they wouldn't be able to see him and Toshiyuki Habu abandon the ship. The water could hide approaching enemies. So he opted to watch from above, the pair now simply watching as they descended slowly. Very slowly.
Before Yuzuna has a chance to comment to Hinotori and reminisce about the 'good ol' days' (and really, she isn't even twenty yet) someone shouts and alerts everyone to the visible ship on the horizon. Straightening, the kunoichi sharply narrows her pale gaze before snapping her eyes up at Satomi when she's yelled at. "That should not be a problem." Water manipulation is also a plus. Six more ships appear and Yuzuna can feel her shoulders tense subtly. The cannonball boomed not even a moment after.
With a small, short breath, she releases the chakra in the core of her gut and feels it spreading upwards at lightning speeds. The veins at the corners of her eyes bulges with power and spiderwebs towards her temples with the sheer intensity of the Byakugan. Taking a few long steps towards the bow of the ship, she points out ahead of them, "There. In front of the three front-most ships are mines under the water. Tell them to come to a full halt!"
Hinotori having already about to get ready to sit down falls over onto his butt when he hears the scream of alarms, "Who, what, where!" he calls out as he manages to get to his feet and look around. Already there is motion all around him as he tries to figure out whats going on, those who know him knows not to let his antics get the best of him. Looking out at the water, he sees teh ship thats far out to port, so it couldn't be much of a threat but then again the ship possibly may have cannons that are able to reach some of the closer ships and keep the other ships that may be armed back where they are. Pretty smart, the Uchiha thinks and muses to himself.
"Alright keep calm, stop shouting and get your game faces on." he says calmly. "Satomi, and Fudo, get to the master and get him to safety." he says as he scans the area close around the ship that they are on right now. Hearing Yuzuna state that there are mines nearby he nods his head. "Alright I will go inform the crews to come to a full halt. Are you able to use your water skills to push the mines back out further from us without setting them off and possibly catching the ships closing in on us?" he asks her, but he's speaking as he is starting to move away from her hoping she is capable of doing just that. "Soren-san, form up with Satomi-san. Satomi-san lead your team." he tells her.
Fudo's advice gets picked up by the host who nods. "Masters, lets pause the game while you figure out what the plan is!" He says, nervously tapping his hands together. The five masters take their time, looking at eachother. Though Fudo completely forgot to keep one thing into account. "I think we need to put all ships in front of us, focus our defenses while we retreat!" Says one master, as the other interupts:
"No, we need to be the lead ship to break through their formation!" The next master just yells jibberish over the fighting nobody could really pick up on. "No, we need to charge them head on to get the advantage, have them play on our terms!" One says, all five masters turning towards eachother while quite viciously debating what the boats are supposed to do, meanwhile….nothing really seems to happend. All while the attacking boats are on their way with impressive speeds due to the winds being so utterly in their favor.
Satomi turns pale again while she turns, clenching her teeth and sitting down. She'll need to sit this one out and hope for the best. She sits down in a covered corner, praying she won't get hit by a stray cannonball.
The six guards who were guarding the locked treasury show up from the belly of the ship, all running up with swords drawn: "We heard an explosion!" The man in the front yells, while suddenly spinning and grabbing the host by the collar, the curved blade sliding over his throat. "Order your men to stand down and sail for the ships with the black flag!" He yells, nodding at the general direction of the approaching ships, after which the host nods while whimpering: "Everyone, stand down and sail towards the ships!" He utters, after which the captain begins turning the bow and picking up anchor. Others repeating his order after which the guards all drop their weapons… The masters already huddled at their own nin at the other side of the ship, the nin of the land of wind, lightning and earth all make formations around their escorts.
Meanwhile the six smaller and faster pirate ships are about to pick-up, the sound of a good fifty pirates per ship picking up with the wind. "Wait for the boom and then board boys!" The largest pirate ship stops about a minute sailing away.
Meruin probably forgot about one thing, they're above open sea. Wind speeds are far fiercer around here, unobstructed by mountains and other things, the winds dangerously jerking at him, especially with the extra weight on him.
The boats don't stop even though Yuzuna told them to, the three lead ships now directly above the mines, while she can see the chakra in the mines flare, they're about to blow! Realizing that she needs to warn Hinotori to jump ship with the players, pushing the mines away would minimize damage, but can probably not protect them from being blown to pieces should they remain on the ship.
Meanwhile three ships that have worked on flanking them have pirates standing on the side, each of them have a set of twenty pirates throwing boarding hooks on the large frigate, them begining to swing over with weapons drawn while yelling, swinging at everything that moves, though clearly avoiding the shogi-masters. Most of them carry basic weapons and aren't much stronger than your average soldier, let alone a nin. Though there are sixty of them, and only about five nin per country.
A full on assault of twenty pirates rushing Fudo and Soren specifically. While the other fourty make their way to the other countries, ending in s skirmish with heavy losses on the pirate side.
The groups slowly get pushed back towards the group of six guards who commit mutiny, holding the host hostage. Anyone keen enough to sense it can see one of them has his chakra flaring. This isn't a normal pirate, that's a trained ninja!
Satomi draws a Kunai while huddling in front of the shogi-master of the land of fire, but ends up on one knee while her pain gets the better of her, though she manages to block two thrown knifes coming her way. Th
The pirates getting dangerously close. She's helpless and without intervention is sure to be cut down.
Fudo just stared at the men squabbling as all of the events unfolded around them before he'd take a seat in the Land of Water Shogi master's chair. "I forgot… geniuses…" Fudo stated with an exasperated sigh. "Listen up, gentleman. This is a situation where all of your lives are in danger, and you have relatively minimal protection and there appears to be a mutany of the host, given the orders to stand down that has passed through the guards throughout this ship. We do not have time for you all to posture your strategies at each other as master strokes. It is time to get practical. Organize based on your strengths. I assume the Land of Earth Master knows about troop movement and tactics over terrain and being cut off. I assume the Land of Fire Master is capable of making due with ambush tactics and predicting counters for such events. Wind would have the best idea of raiders and asset protection while traveling I must assume. To be honest… I don't really know nor care. What I /do/ know… is that the only forces you have will be far too busy saving your lives to keep an over all strategic view on the ships, crews, and enemy movements. Use those gifts of yours and get your acts together, Now!."
Fudo would furrow his brows as he'd suddenly leap up and land before all of them, noting that Satomi had moved to a defensive position, but she seemed… off. Reluctant.. perhaps hindered. He did not know who Soren was, but it seemed that Satomi would have to tell them how to proceed from her location. They had a force to deal with. Hinotori and Yuzuna has split off, and the Water Shogi Master had been… removed… by the Kiri protection that came along. Things were getting chaotic quickly.
Drawing a kunai, Fudo kept his eyes forward and focused as the men would come rushing in. He wanted them to get bottle necked, so that they only had to fight a few at a time. Jutsu had to be limited or the ship may be damaged after all. "Hello." Fudo would state to Soren without looking at him. Fudo chose to wait those few moments before he would utilize his makibishi and smoke bombs to disorient and impede the movements of the now grouped up rush of pirates coming to board the ship. The host being captured, it was not his concern, though he did begin to consider how they were going to resolve that. One thing at a time however.
Soren blinked as he heard the masters begin to argue. Gritting his teeth, he was about to tear into them verbally, but fudo beats him to it. He blinks, looking taken aback for a moment, grinning towards Fudo. He gives a small clap. "Well said." But Satomi herself held more concern for him at the moment. He took a few steps back towards her, focusing chakra, as he waited for the rush. As fudo acted, that would give him time to focus his own energies just a bit more. He should've already done this. But he had neglected it, like a first year pup.
He glanced towards the mutinous individuals. He snickers towards them, focusing on the one holding the blade. Darn it. The pirates didn't seem to be more than grunts. Fudo would be allright for the exact moment. "Satomi-chan. Please tell me you can pull a strategy out of the shadows, here?" he says, hoping she'd get the hint, and would be able to do something, readying himself to summon his blade, and his claw at the drop of a hat.
The Kirigakure jounin watches from above as chaos ensues on the ships off to the side. The silk of his robes seem to take the Shogi Master into their confines, anchoring the man to his protector so that Meruin could keep his hands free. The wind sheer was disruptive, battering, but this defense had been made to partially to evade attacks, but also to reduce their effect — especially with the wind itself. As such, he judged that it would be far safer for him and Toshiyuki Habu to remain in the air rather than descend to the sea or attempt to make the ships again. As such, he simply kept up his defenses, focusing on the wind chakra to maintain their's levels of wind resistance and weight — to reduce them, even, if he could.
Yuzuna extends her hands out in front of her, in front of the boats as she watches the underwater mines light up within the sight of her Byakugan. "Already ahead of you…" she murmurs, mostly to herself. While everyone is rushing about around her within the range of the Byakugan her attention is mainly focused forward, at the mines and the ships. If the underwater mines had to go off, might as well use them against the pirate ships. Narrowing her gaze, the Hyuuga kunoichi lifts her small hands and forms a quick series of hand seals. Focusing her chakra, the corner of her lips tugs with a slight smirk as she feels the ocean ahead of her churn with sudden movement, under her influence. The large waves form and grow as they aim for the mines to push them at the pirate ships.
One nin for lightning wind and earth country seem to have gone down, while some of them sustained moderate wounds fending off the large hoard of pirates, and without remorse sixty more pirate board, again attacking with the same split, keeping up the pressure.
Meruin is in for a suprise while he looks down, one of the captors draws a single- shot flinklock from his belt. They're extremely rare, but some are found amongst pirates. He aims it up slowly, allining his sight with meruin, before pulling the trigger, the small metal ball flying towards the Jounin at tremendous speed.
The group of twenty pirates attacking the Konoha nin are slowed down significantly by Fudo, Satomi nodding at Soren while making a set of seals. Her shadows expanding out to two pirates in front of her, shadow binding them, while she waits for Soren to cut them down. "I can bind the hostage takers behind us, but they're not ordinairy pirates." She says, looking over her shoulders. "You'll need to be careful, I'm afraid they might have something up their sleave… And I'll need a distraction, my shadows are slow." She explains, while ducking out of the way of a sabre coming down at her from above, groaning loudly as another shot of pain goes through her back.
Meanwile Hinotori managed to jump ship with most of the people there, guiding them to the safety of another boat, while the mines explode between the three ships and the pirate ship. Sending wood flying all over, the pirate ship is barely damaged. Their three small ships however, are sinking rapidly. Luckily, no one seems injured.
New problem however, as three more pirate ships approach, especially the larger one, they're getting circled slowly.
Fudo would be confronted with three well armed pirates, each of them slashing out at him, two with sabres, one with a whip, cracking it in the air before trying to wrap it around Fudo's anckle.
Yuzuna is also in trouble, five pirates quickly circle her, each of them having a go at her, most of them with sabres, two with brass knuckles.
The rest of the pirates all focus on Soren and Satomi, who are the only things standing between them and the Shogi master. All while they're slowly forced to back up towards the more trained hostage takers behind them, who all suddenly make hand seals: "Barrier style, cargo jutsu." They all say at the same time, while the event host suddenly gets surrounded by a tight purple box made of pure chakra, weightlessly floating up, one of the six men quickly attaching weights to it so he floats about a few yards above the ship, before kicking him in the direction of the large, waiting ship.
Vision obscured and movement hindered, Fudo took a quick look around before refocusing on the enemies before him. A few would slip from the snare after some time was bought and come at him, sabers crossing as the would move to impale him, only to find a poof of smoke the only thing that they made contact with. A third would swipe at Fudo as he flanked them from the side, cutting in to him heavily, only to find another poof of smoke as the chair he borrowed was cut nearly in half. Clenching tightly at about half the height of the crows nest, Fudo would Have a kunai between his teeth and shuriken in his free hand. Kicking off from the watch tower structure, he'd glide over the confused enemies, raining down metal upon them as he'd land with a low roll. Only being able to take one of them down with the ambush. He'd tumbled and spin around quickly, glancing at the other two as he now under handed the kunai, rushing towards the man whose sword was still half lodged in to the chair and moving to try to overwhelm him before he could recover.
Having moved to help some of the people get down to some of the escape ships, Hinotori notices four ships within range of him. Knowing by taking away some of their support it would help those on the ship better and keeping anymore of the pirates from being able to board or rush back to their own ship. Once the passengers are settling down and guards helping with getting people on the escape boats, Hinotori quickly leaps along the side of the main ship rushing back up and along the side. As he runs he brings up one hand and begins going through seals rapidly, while bringing up one hand to his mouth. Leaping high into the air. "Katon - Gouryuuka no Jutsu (Great Dragon Fire)"
As Hinotori expells his breath and chakra large Dragon shaped fireballs roar to life shaking the area and raining down upon the pirate ships, punching through them even though they are on water, the power from this jutsu is easily able to take out the three smaller ones and majorly damage the larger ship that the pirates came in on. Upon completion of the jutsu, HInotori lands along the side of the ship the tournament is being held on and quickly is over teh railing and moving towards his team to help assist Satomi and the others.
Meruin hadn't even noticed the lone pirate who'd stopped and taken aim at him, as a matter of fact. His attention was lended towards a broader spectrum, analyzing the battle as a whole rather than the specific pieces within it. This hadn't turned out anything like he'd hoped it would. This moment showed him that the shinobi world, as a whole, could use further training. Mere pirates had put each of their forces in what appeared to be near entire disarray. The leadership of his professional comrades was lacking. The only ones that'd displayed any sort of chakra usage — and thus, training beyond the average fighter — were those who'd kidnapped the host. And they'd done nothing but that, as of yet. He was hoping that they would pull out something destructive and clear out the enemy ships as best as possible. And soon, he decided, would be better as the sound of a loud pop — alien to the din of hand to hand combat — caught his ear. A moment of searching had him finding the pirate who'd shot at him, and continued to aim at him. Of course, this was when Hinotori began what would no doubt be a deluge of crippling ninjutsu.
And luckily, he was far too far away to be shot by that bullet. If not just because of the distance but because of the haphazard winds that shifted both himself and the bullet's trajectory. He didn't know if it was one factor or the other that had him free from harm from the bullet, but he did get off without an issue. "We've been spotted."
The spider silk covering Toshiyuki Habu abruptly spread further along him, covering more of him and bundling the elderly man up. "He has a pistol. It poses little danger itself. But he could draw attention to us. And that would be dangerous. With any luck, he'll die soon, being the kind of person to look at the skies during a boarding." Abruptly, their descent began speeding, their weight returning as the Okumo Jounin relaxed the wind chakra held around him. "But we cannot rely on fortune. It kills more often than it saves." A dark, sheenless chitin spreads along his form, covering even the strands of his platinum hair. Three more pairs of eyes open and fangs sprout from his upper and lower jaw.
He spoke through them saying, "Our defense was our unobtrusiveness. Found out, we're in a weaker position away from the others who would protect you. So we flee." He lands lightly on the water, the elderly Shogi Master shifted to his back, a bundle of webbing with just his near dazed head sticking out. "A little less than a day's travel west is land," he says, immediately dashing in that direction. "You will spend the majority of it bundled entirely to prevent you from getting too wet and to prevent the sun from bearing down on you. It will also provide insulation during the night. Should you feel yourself taking sick, I've my own brand of medical abilities to help ensure your survival. Food, I can procure en route. Fish. Raw. Water, you'll have to survive without. But the journey is not overly long. You'll get come through this with your life and, perhaps, the opportunity to challenge the new generation of shogi masters. Are they any questions, sir?"
With the mines taken care of, more important manners are at hand. Like the five pirates that have surrounded Yuzuna, though she doesn't appear to terribly worried. The intensity of her pale eyes under the influence of the Byakugan gives her a clear look at all of them before she gently rolls her slender shoulders, her soft lips parting with a small breath. "Your mistake… You are in range of my divination." she murmurs lightly, softly. That same small, intimidating smile barely tugs at the corner of her soft lips as Yuzuna bends her knees with a sharp and precise spin, disappearing behind the sphere of chakra that both defends against attacks and also lashes out at the pirates attempting to strike her in return.
Fruitlessly Meruin speaks to the man on his back who passed out quite a while ago. He manages to get far but a sound erupts from behind him. A small wooden boat carrying a large muscles pirate, along with two other pirates who seem to know water manipulation, as they hold their hands out behind the boat which causes water to shift, pushing them ahead as if on a wooden speedboat, quickly gaining speed.
The larger pirate, with chakra of his own flaring smirks, while reaching for a big, thick crossbow which seems heavily modified, housing a large box which Meruin surely recognices, which allows the weapon to be semi-automatic. He aims it, and sends out a first "cold" shot, the first shot always misses, anyone who handles ranged weapons know that. It's the second one that counts, which is seconds away from firing while the men gain on Meruin rapidly.
Fudo manages to take out two of his three assailants, the third one, hosting a whip cracks it at him repeatedly, trying to swipe off pieces of flesh entirely with each go.
Soren is beating off more and more pirates with his sword while Satomi does her best to keep up, using her shadow bind to cover Soren's blind spots, while also looking out behind her.
"Yuzuna!" Satomi says, while noticing she quickly took care of her five assailants. "Those behind us just cast a Jutsu, I'm afraid that's not their only jutsu!" She says, while looking over her shoulder again. The men seem to patiently wait, letting the ninja exaust themselves. "If I hold them down, do you think you can shut a few down?" She asks, realizing they did a joint jutsu before.
Though Yuzuna has other things to worry about, her Byakugan notices the man who shot Meruin previously reloaded calmly, and the moment she stops spinning, he fires a bullet right at her, calmly, before beginning to reload again.
The flaming dragon simply wipes out the three flanking boats. Incinerating hundreds of pirates while those boats are immidiatly rendered useless. The large boat however still hosts quite a few pirates, they patiently wait with doing anything untill the dust settles. The captain is rumoured to be a ninja, or at least… he's rumoured to know some really high-end jutsu's… a secret behind his succes.
The last boarding party enters, though this time they aren't so forthcoming, most of them carrying halberds and spears. "These guys aren't joking…" Satomi says while sighing, focussing on the group, before looking over her shoulder. "Fudo, throw your spikes down in front of them now, I have a plan!" She says, while making a set of seals, curling her shadows along the mast of their ship. "This better work." She says while groaning in pain as he's physically strained, her shadow pulling at the mast, which cracks and complains heavily before suddenly twitching, heaving from its base. "There!" She says, letting it tip over to the invading pirates who all begin to scream while they try to scurry back, Satomi her shadow quickly reaching the front few, blocking them from moving, also blocking the rest before most of them get crushed with a loud bang. Satomi pants and looks over her shoulder afterwards, ready to continue her plan with Yuzuna.
The man with the whip attacking Fudo seems a bit more experienced than most of the pirates. He finds it easy dodging Fudo's attacks, and the range of the whips makes basic clones useless.
As Fudo closed in on his target, he had to duck the chair as it was kicked off towards him. While the view was blocked by the object, Fudo quickly shifted his grip as well as his hand on his kunai. The Pirate was smart enough to know how to defend agaisnt the attack he saw coming, an under handed swipe would have to be done while moving past him. However, a forward lunge? That was an entirely different attack altogether, and before he could draw his wide slash inward to defend, Fudo was inside of his guard, ramming the triangular blade up under his ribs. As his vitae spilled the ground and Fudo's right hand, the teen had little time to consider any of it before the cracking of a whip would snap above his head. Instead of retracting his kunai, Fudo instead too kthe sword from the man he just killed and swiftly turned around, only to start having to dodge and weave around obstacles and objects in order not to be stung by the lashing whip.
While Fudo tried to keep the man away from the Shogi Masters, his back had been hit and he was huddled behind a crate that was opposite of the masters. Satomi's orders were heard, and he'd dig in to his pouch with a sharp grunt as he'd gather the majority of his remaining makibishi reserves. He took an extra moment to consider his options before he'd jam the sword in to the deck a momentand close his eyes lightly. Suddenly, Fudo would flip sharply, , one hand still on the sword as he would nearly one handed stand upon it it and toss the sharp little iron spike clusters as directly, letting fly free from his other hand as he'd grip the sword tightly. His body arced and curling to land his feet upon the crates as the sword was drawn up harshly behind him.
Fudo seemed to fumble however, rolling forward too much and falling from the crates before the man with the whip. His smoke bombs would fall out before him, and he appeared to land on top of them roughly, causing them all to go off around him as the whip began to rapidly lash where he fell. The whip would suddenly be snagged on something however as the rather powerful man would try to pull the whip back for another harsh lashing at the boy who was obviously over whelmed. Seizing the moment, having crouched beside the crate after rolling away from where he "fell", Fudo watched the sword he'd rammed right back in to the deck, waiting for the blind flailing of the whip master to curl about it and snag the weapon. As soon as it did, Fudo rushed forward with all of his speed, crimson glint surging forward from his gaze as he would roar out in effort, sending curled fingers as a tiger- knuckled strike up under the man's chin and neck. At the very least, he wanted him to let go of that damn whip.
The ballast shot by the musclar man plops into the water ahead and to the side of Meruin, and his eyes flicker towards it. Abruptly, his course is reversed and he's heading back towards his pursuers. So it seems that there were others around with the capability of ninjutsu. These would have to be dealt with swiftly. A deluge of platinum tendrils burst from his front as he leapts towards the crewmen, as though a kraken was spreading it's silken limbs to ensare the pirates in pursuit of the Okumo Jounin. But these held a poison so caustic, that the touch of it would begin eating away at their skin, leaving open wounds and sores where it enters to continue it's damage upon the body. That, combined with the draining effects of his smothering webbing should keep them in too poor form to assault him any further. His leap would have taken him over them. He would now move to simply pass them up again as he continued his journey to land and safety.
With the five pirates taken out, Yuzuna is quick to snap her pale eyes up at Satomi when she calls out her name. Narrowing her gaze, a hint of a smirk tugs at her lips, "There is no 'think' about it." she murmurs lightly. As the man that was firing upon Meruin begins to reload and start firing at her instead. The Hyuuga takes a quick side step to avoid the frozen shots as she in turn takes a hard inhale. Then, with powerful speed she shoots out several dozen water needles at the man in retaliation. It lasts long enough that when Yuzuna glances back to Satomi as she pulls at the mast of the boat itself, blocking the pirates between that and her shadow. "I suppose it is my turn…" she murmurs under her breath. Shifting her weight, the Hyuuga kunoichi crouches low with her legs and arms extended in the stance of her clan, focusing on the chakra inside of her core. "Eight Trigrams… Mountain Crusher!" A leg stomps as Yuzuna thrusts her hands out forward, releasing a powerful blast of chakra.
Hinotori who has just taken out the three smaller ship and having landed back on the Masters Boat, looks around with Satomi and her team fighting off the pirates on their end and more pirates coming. The Uchiha begins to weigh options as he quickly seems to be processing the situation as quickly as he figures out each srategy in his head. Yuzuna has taken on the group on her Meruin protecting his Shogi master, but the bright spike of chakra coming from the captain draws Hintoris attention. Smirking, he quickly forms seals with both his hands and embuing more charka into the seal, two Hinotoris appear from him and both quickly move to help Satomi and her team flanking the entrance her and her team are focusing on, "Let us know what you need us to do." one of the HIno's say to her as they both begin moving their hands through seals.
Hinotori on the other hand moves to assist Yuzuna, and as she is moving to take the fight to the captain, he grins a bit love seeing Yuzuna fight, but knowing that he may have to help, he begins charging chakra through his limbs and slowly adding his fire nature element to each point of his body then to his fist and feet.
Noticing the devastation, the captain makes a quick call. The large pirate ship turns around, and is on the run. The three remaining captors all nod at eachother before popping a set of smoke bombs. The other four were blown off the boat several yards by Yuzuna her strong attack. The remaining few can be found rushing towards the water, using their water walking to catch up with the large ship before it's fully turned.
Meruin succeeded in destroying his persuants, giving him a clean run at the mainland.
Fudo's punch causes his opponent's skull to crack while he's launched up, ending up inside the unsettling waters with a loud splash, still holding his whip though!
With a deep sigh Satomi sits down in the boat, rubbing her face. closing her eyes before dozing off, left at the mercy of her comrades. The ship slowly sets sail back to dry land with the threat now gone. At a very slow speed since… you know Satomi wrecked it.
