Shadows of the Shinobi War

[Paragon Badger]

It was a quiet night in the village between the Land of Birds and Grass, where Akane and her team were sent in to covertly 'assess the situation.' Those were the orders, so who were they to question them. The local guards went about patrolling the streets, carrying lanterns and spears as they went about guarding against the many threats that lingered in these times of war.

A soft rain began to trickle down onto the streets below. Droplets of condensation slid down the glass window of a particularly large old-world style building... A crow cawed noisily as it shuffled ontop of the building.

Then a kage shinobi burst forth from the interior, sending shards of glass spiraling down onto the alley below as she landed on the roof of a nearby building. The bird flew away in fright, eager to inform the master, but that would hardly be neccesary. Instantly, whistles and gongs ran out through the town. Tokudaiji Akane knew clearly what she saw; an unknown 'monk', apparantly the leader of the mercenary army that's been travelling through these parts... meeting with the leader of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, Kurokawa Hisao.

Akane didn't get far, running full-speed halfway across the next building's roof before Hisao stepped out of the window and floated effortlessly across the air onto the adjacent house. He wore black circular glasses, criss-crossed and bound in string to secure them against his ears. He looked closer to his fifties than his forties, and had a hairline receding almost to the point of obscurity when one viewed him from the front. The swordsman wore a large coat over his robes, but Akane could distinctly make out one shape in particular as he moved underneath his airy clothing- that of a giant katana; Onikaigara.

Ordinary soldiers, mere peons to the monk's army, stumbled to climb up onto the building that the shinobi so effortlessly hopped onto. Hisao stood silent, cold and calculating as Akane had heard. He was the leader of Kirigakure's most elite band of ninjas, and by all accounts; a strategist to match Kagekure's own Mibu Mitsuo. Despite his appearance resembling more of an accountant than a warrior, any jounin that was properly informed would know the order he shared with Konoha's fourth Hokage; flee-on-sight.

...

For this mission, the rest of the team pulled support. Nara Taro removed the guards around the infiltration and exfiltration site and made sure they remained that way, and although a few soldiers had come to inspect the security gap- it was nothing he coulden't handle. Then the alarms ran out throughout the village, like a beacon to one another that eventually made sure every single soldier in the mercenary army was awake and hot in the pursuit of Akane. Yet there he was, at the front gate... where soon every soldier in the army would be moving to in order to cut Akane off.

Kioshi was the intelligence network, protecting Akane with instantaneous reporting about the various soldiers she snuck around in order to sneak into the militia leader's hotel room...but his now-dispersed swarm of crows were hastily making their way back towards him. Things would get real ugly, real fast. Kioshi could already here soldiers arming themselves as gongs and whistles rang through the air. They rushed by right next to him, apparantly oblivious to the fact that he was party to the plot.

Lani was the QRF, quick reaction force. It was for precisely this situation that she was assigned for this duty, as it was her job to basically kick the crap out of anyone who was giving, or was capable of giving, her jounin leader any trouble. If the chaos around town wasn't an indication of that, Akane running full-speed along the rooftops next to Lani was. Hisao was not too far behind, as he dragged that massive katana, still sheathed, along the rooftops.

[Rogue 7]

Nara Taro

Oh man, we're in trouble here. I'm gonna have to move really fast if I want to keep this exit clear for Akane-sensei. No time to freak out now, Taro. Come on, get your game together!

Taro reached into his pouch, pulling out several tags as he dashed forwards into the opening of the front gate, laying them down in a pattern to cover the entrance as much as he could with the 10 explosive tags and 5 sunburst tags he had in his pouch. He hoped he could get as many of them as he could down before the enemies came. He knew he didn't have a chance in a one-on-one fight, and he didn't have the strength to use Kage Mane on a group as large as the one he expected to be coming.


So, I need a bit more tactical info before I make more specific plans. Size of the gate, time I've got to set the tags, etc.

[Paragon Badger]

Nara Taro

The gate wasn't quite as large as the main gate of Kagekure, but it was small enough that with enough time, Taro could cover just about every square inch with an intersecting blast radius. The nearby buildings were clustered close enough that they could also be used, but they were all private property.

Yet with all the guards mysteriously gone around Taro and the main gate, he would be quick to arouse suspicion. The village was quickly entering full-blown panic mode. Civillians either peered curiously out of their doors and windows or just shut them to avoid the onslaught, while soldiers rushed around to arm themselves or figure out just what exactly was going on.

Hmmm... I'll roll a die to see how many rounds you have until someone comes along. :smallwink:

[Rogue 7]

Taro

Calmly, calmly. Stop and analyze the scenario. The people coming after Akane-sensei are going to be good. Too good for me to hold them with Kage Mane, and probably too good to be stopped by a few explosions. But if I blind them, that should give Akane-sensei a chance to run through them, or a chance for me to snare them with Kage Mane. So they go down first. Problem is, I have to be fairly close to set them off. Which means I can only cover one side of the gate. I hope that'll be enough to catch them.

He ran out into the open, laying down two tags at 15- foot intervals from the edge of the gate, tagging them for activation. He then pulled out all 10 exploding tags and started laying them down. At the first sign of someone noticing him, he would bolt for cover against the gate, listening to determine if there was one man after him, or many. He couldn't risk setting off his traps too early.


Alright, so 1st move action is to pull out 2 Sunburst tags and tag them with my chakra signature. That's 2 chakra expended, and I'm unclear on how many actions that takes. My next actions are to place them at 15 and 30 feet away from the edge of the gate. Then pulling out 10 explosive tags and placing them at 5-foot intervals starting 50 feet from the edge of the gate and going until 20 feet away. If I'm not detected then, I'll place them at 55, 60, and 65 feet away. Total 12 chakra expended if all tags are placed. Spot and Listen checks for spotting those spotting me-
Spot- [roll0]
Listen- [roll1]

If I am spotted, rabbiting to behind the gate and hiding-
[roll2].

Listen check to determine if I'm spotted and how many are coming after me.
[roll3]. Will have more once I know more about the scenario.

[Fanatic-Templar]

"Look at them all, running to answer their leader's call. All hunting after the same quarry, but no idea what they're doing or what they're after. They don't even have a scent. Yes, I think so too, Quick."

The boy looked like a beggar, an orphaned child abandoned in the streets, sitting on the side of a structure and drawing in the grime with a stick. Gaunt and sickly looking, covered in grime and dressed in what could only generously be called rags, it's unsurprising that nobody paid attention to him. Two small crows, black with a purplish sheen to their feathers, hopped around nearby, searching for insects or seeds to feed on, while a third cocked its head this way and that, apparently fascinated by the boy's drawing. Quick, Call and Twig they were called, though none of the soldiers would know that. Nobody paid attention to the beggar child, because if they had, they might have noticed that what he had been drawing in the dirt was a sketched map of the city.

Crystal flapped down to the kid's side, with a small white pebble in it's beak. Without further warning, he dropped the stone on the dirt map, stared at it a bit, then pushed it into a position more to its liking with a judge of its beak. The rest of their murder would be arriving soon.

The child stared at the white stone, between two streets near the old hotel. Then he nodded, and began talking to the nearby crows. "Well done, Crystal. That's where she'll be, and where we don't want these hunters going." Then the kid laughed. It sounded very much like the cawing of his crows, and for once some of the nearby people looked at him, disturbed. "Maybe we should give them a scent, Quick?"


*
* *

When the soldiers reached the next intersection, there stood a woman in their path. A wide-brimmed sakkat decorated with black feathers obscured her pale face, her long hair tied back, dressed in an abbreviated jounin vest and armoured mesh with baggy green pantaloons. She leaned casually on saw-bladed naginata, and grinned at the oncoming soldiers.

There were a number of things wrong with the image - had Tokudaiji Akane really been this short? - but it was unlikely the soldiers knew her enough to notice. With a thrown shuriken to catch their attention, she chuckled and mocked her pursuers. "So you dogs have been sent to catch me? You wouldn't be able to hunt down a crippled hare."

Suddenly crows were flying all around her, a whirlwind of black shapes engulfing the ninja and then scattering, leaving no trace of the woman behind. The murder split up into three groups, each taking one of the roads out of the intersection.

From a nearby roof, the beggar child watched.

Performing Henge no Jutsu: Auto-success
Converting 1 Chakra into stamina damage: Auto-success
Performing Kinobori: Auto-success
Converting 1 Chakra into stamina damage: Auto-success
Shuriken attack: [roll0], damage [roll1]
Hide check: [roll2] (-5 penalty for moving at normal speed)

Performing the techniques before appearing in the intersection, hiding afterward and climbing up to the roof using Kinobori.

Not sure what I was expected to do, hope this goes well.

[Paragon Badger]

The light tapping of sandals on the roof fluttered through the air as Akane and Kurokawa Hisao engaged in their game of cat and mouse.

Lani, staring at the scene from the ground, lept up into the air with her fist pulled back at Hisao. His eyes darted to the side, and a honeycombed wall appeared out of nowhere in the instant Lani collided with it. The shock sent her reeling back, falling back down to the ground... only to be caught in the arms of Sato Isamu, another swordsman of the mist. He was a giant, closer to seven feet than six, and with a sword to match, Kubikiri.

Lani clawed him across the face like a frantic cat before leaping free from his clutches. Isamu towered over her, smiling as he wiped the blood from his cheek. "Ah, the spy brought with her a little girl..." He said, "I haven't had one so fiesty in awhile. Heh heh heh."

Akane looked back, seeing her subordinate's plight as she cursed under her breath. Whilst running, the jounin took out a scroll and penned out a quick message. She rolled it back up and placed it in a case, eying the front gate as she ran towards it. With a sudden halt, she leaned back, and gave the case one great throw.

Without a moment's delay, she went back towards Hisao with her Naganita in hand. Isamu would be behind him a few blocks, and hopefully Lani could hold out against him long enough... Akane's veins bulged as the celestial gates began to open.

Hisao stopped, his skelatal hand resting upon the hilt of Onikaigara. Honeycombed walls built up from behind Akane, seperating her from the front gate as the swordsman stared at her, forming no handseals or anything. The walls dissapeared, more than likely turning invisible than dissipating.

"...Interesti-" Without delay, the jounin began her assault, each lightning fast swipe of her blade matched by Hisao and the still sheathed Onikaigara.

---------

Kioshi's ruse seems to have worked, as the soldiers all looked sufficiently frightened to leave 'Akane' alone for the time being, despite her wayward shuriken. One even said that they were fortunate that she let them live, but his comrades were not so cowardly... They waited for reinforcements before even approaching any of the three avenues of escape she could have used.

For the time being, they weren't even bothering to look up. Still, from his new vantage point on the roof, Kioshi could see the fight between Akane and Hisao... Still, a plan was a plan... and the front gate was the pre-determined rendezvous point.

----------

It looks like Nara Taro had some luck on his side, the soldiers take their time arriving. Some were holding gongs and torches, shouting at one enough to start closing the two giant doors.

Taro spots at least 9 soldiers, in what looks like two organized squads. Both have what appears to be a leader barking orders, with one guy ordering them around.

This mercenary band seems to comprise of normal individuals, but the structure and leadership over it indicates something different.

So far, it looks like nobody has spotted him yet. From the distance, a few buildings away, the sounds of battle raged. Akane was clearly going all out for one of the most feared members of Kirigakure's military...

A cased scroll came fluttering through the air, landing past the soldiers and somewhat near Taro, though to pick it up- he would have to abandon his hiding place.

Hint, hint, hint: Zero and Callos have expressed an inability (or lack of desire) to play their characters at this time... While I won't kill them off, it will be difficult to put them to the side-lines if Kioshi and Taro try to get involved in their current situations... :-/ Hey, I tried my best to make it all flow-y.

[Fanatic-Templar]

Sitting atop his roof, the boy stared at the upcoming confrontation between the swordsmen and his teammates. The soldiers below were wary of advancing, and even when they did, the crows would lead them astray, away from the battle or the front gate, either one. Still, things looked grim for Akane and Lani.

A crow, smaller than most and with a greenish sheen to his black feathers, landed atop the kid's straw hat. Well, the front gate was where he was supposed to go, though it seemed unlikely that Akane or Lani would be at the rallying. Part of him was unwilling to go, he hated leaving friends behind, and when he did he tried to keep something of theirs as a souvenir - every feather that decorated his hat was a memento from one of the crows who'd fallen at his side, and he still treasured Azuma's kunai - but he understood that when a pack ran, the old or the infirm were left behind for the predators. It was strange to think of either of the women as old - that old - or infirm, but the principle was the same.

"Right, let's go, Whisper! To the front gate!" And he ran, dashing atop the rooftops, in a fairly straight line for his destination.

If the gate is not clear by the time he arrives, he'll use Kinobori to run up the wall and down the other side, a slight distance away from the gate.

[Rogue 7]

Taro

Taro remained crouched in the shadows, taking in the scenario. It didn't look good.

Gonna have to time this right...I really don't think Akane-sensei is going to make it over here, and there's nothing I can do to help her...that sounds like a battle where I'd just get myself killed right off...and Ican'tdie here, my village still needs me to expose the spy. But I need to get that scroll- I owe Akane-sensei that much. OK, planning time. These groups are here to cover her escape. Which means that if I run, hopefully I can bait them into following, and lure them into the range of my explosive tags. But there's probably a better way...and then I can...and if that works...otherwise...but...and I could do that......alright, let's go with that.


Still crouched, he pulled out his last explosive kunai and placed it carefully on the ground next to him. He then gathered chakra in his feet, allowing himself to have the option of climbing the wall if need be. Next, his hands formed the seal for Bunshin no jutsu and a single clone popped out, sprinting hard for the gates and apparent freedom. Taro waited to see the response from the group, priming his kunai to throw and getting ready to raise hell.


HP- 41/41
CP- 26/28

Activating Kinobori for free thanks to Harmony.

Bunshin no Jutsu-
1d20+14=21 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2215073/)

Initiative- 1d20+1=6 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2215078/)

[Paragon Badger]

Isamu was a bestial man, with spikey hair like a porcupine's quills, and a wide smile to match. He had no eyebrows, and what looked like makeup around his blood frenzied eyes, trails of it stained down his cheeks as if he had been crying... "You look like a tough little runt." He said, narrowing his gaze upon Lani, "To have lived in this world of war... and to have dared to lay your tiny hands upon me like that."

The giant ran his finger across the scratch marks on his cheek, drawing some blood upon it.

The genin took a step back, muttering to herself, "This guy's a weirdo!" before she readied herself into a fighting stance.

Hisao fell backwards from the impact of Akane's roundhouse into his face. The old ninja smiled as he regained his bearings, "I merely have to wait you out, shadow ninja." He said, calm as ever.

Another honeycombed wall appeared, this time in the shape of a sphere surrounding him. The swordsman looked down at his sheathed katana and began to gently stroke the hilt.

"She won't hurt us, Onikaigara." He whispered, "So there's no need to exert yourself."

From behind, the kagekure kunoichi came down upon the shield, her naganita pointed downwards like a thunderbolt from the heavens. It deflected off of the circular surface harmlessly, leaving only a large scratch upon the sphere. It, along with the rest of the structure, went invisible a moment later.

Akane looked back, towards where Lani fell off the roof, but another sphere manifested (or perhaps, it just became visible) around the whole area surrounding the two combatants. She was trapped in there with him.

The soldiers around the gate spotted the shadow clone running towards the exit, and hastily moved to chase and intercept him. Some even beat the fake Taro to the front gate, waiting for him with their naganitas and spears at the ready to take his legs out from under him. "Halt or we'll strike you down!" They shouted, unwilling to attack a child outright.

The clone, not being a thing known for cunning, ran straight into them, taking a swipe to the shins and tumbling over into the gate's interior. The rest of them ran up towards the 'body', all curious as to the boy's intentions. A moment later, and he dissapeared in a puff of smoke.

"Nin Bunshin!" shouted their leader, though educated in Taro's arts, not well enough to know the technique's true name.

"It's a trap!" shouted one of his subordinates as he suddenly saw all the tags surrounding the militia's position, "Get down!"

Kioshi came upon the scene at this moment, and the troopers were all too preoccupied with their own problems to notice him.

[Rogue 7]

Taro

It worked! I can't believe it worked!

Forming his hand into a seal, Taro set off a sunburst tag beneath the feet of the foes clustered in the gate- it might draw less attention than an explosion, and a single explosive tag- which was all he had time to set off- was fairly unlikely to kill anyone in good shape, as these men appeared to be. As he averted his eyes from the flash of light, he released the restraints he kept on his body for a small burst of speed, and sprinted out to grab the scroll, then turned and made a quick 180, dashing up the wall as fast as he could, his hands flashing to form another seal and set off a tag beneath the feet of his foes as soon as he could. He still kept his exploding kunai in his teeth, keeping it ready even as his hands were occupied.

Dashing up the wall as his chakra-enhanced feet adhered him to it, he spotted his teammate, and motioned for him to keep running.


HP- 41/41
CP 26/28

Ongoing effect- Shodan Kosoku round 1/5
Kinobori Round 2/quite a bit.

Instant action to set off tag- Chakra Control is +13, so I autopass the check.

Reflex Save DC 15 or be blinded for 4 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2225782/) rounds.

First move action is to dash out and grab the scroll, and then the rest of my move action and my second action are spent running up and over the wall.

[Fanatic-Templar]

"Twitch!" the boy shouted happily as he saw his teammate motion him forward near the gate. 'Twitch' was the name the wild kid had given Taro. He seemed to not care at all for given names, which probably explained why it was so difficult to get him to give up a name that referred to himself. He seemed to expect others to find his name for him.

Following the blast and bright light that shot from the gate, Kioshi leaped down from the rooftops and ran towards his friend, forming hand seals as he did so. The poor soldiers at the gate, only just getting over the damage wrought by Taro's exploding tag, were suddenly flung in the air by a violent wind, the rag-clad ninja passing beneath them before they fell back to the ground.

I'm really sorry for not posting sooner. I admit I'd forgotten about this game :smalleek:. I don't know if it's still going or not, but either way, I felt the need to try anyway.

Tengukaze: Auto-success
Quickened Converting 2 Chakra into stamina damage: Auto-success
Damage: [roll0] (10-ft. radius)
Height thrown: [roll1]x5 (Fortitude save DC 16 negate)

Probably something else for passing underneath, but I'm not sure what.

[Paragon Badger]

All of the soldiers hit the dirt, fully expecting a bomb to go off or a lethal explosion as they had known ninjas to produce... Instead, there was the sunburst tag. One member of the militia had the misfortune of going prone right over it, staring into the burning paper with a dawning sense of horror.

His companions looked over at their frightened comrade, only to share in his misery, and all but two of them had avoided being blinded by the tag, with the one soldier having suffered its' effects doubly.

They all grumbled and writhed about on the ground as Nara Taro made off with Akane's message over the wall.

It was not long before Kioshi's jutsu propelled all but one soldier high up into the air, and the one unfortunate militia man being sent up twice as high, enough to fly up into the roof of the gate.

There was more than enough room for Kioshi to dart underneath before their bodies catapaulted back down into the earth. The only soldier unblinded and still on his feet merely put his back to the wall and stared wide-eyed at the raven nin as he passed.

Both of the genin were outside now, and with their effective pursuers narrowed down to one terrified soldier... they could probably make their way at least over the border into the green zone...

----------------

Isamu Sato swung his behemoth sword around and around with reckless abandon. He narrowly missed when Lani ducked underneath and rolled out to the side, but his blade caught an onlooking guard in the process. The giant only laughed as he held onto the blade, still hewn in the man's flesh.

His giant fingers went loose and the weapon fell to the earth as Isamu began to make handsigns. Blood gouted out from the dying soldier's grevious wound, appearing... like Suiton Jutsu. It snaked and coiled, forming what appeared to be a dragon poised before the tora nin. "Blood... Heh... I've always noticed that blood makes for the best lubr-"

"Enough!" cried a feminine voice, that of another seven swordsman... a shapely young woman who covered her mouth and nose in a ninja mask, and had short cropped black hair. She wore tight-fitting black clothes; a real stealth expert... not like some amateur who would wear orange. "If you get off on killing little girls, Isamu... Then make it quick. But I won't stand for another one of your indulgences in torture."

The indignant tone of her voice indicated that this was not a new quarrel, and not one unimportant... This would be Lani's opportunity to escape.

"I think you're just jealous!" The sadist retorted as he relaxed his jutsu and the blood dragon sploshed gruesomely on the earth. "But you're just far too old for me, Kia."

----------------

Hisao and Akane stood on the top of the building, staring eachother down. With a flash, the special jounin bound towards him, but was rebuffed by another wall. She tried again, from another angle... and another... and another. Hisao's defense seemed absolute when he wanted it to be. But at the same time, it looked inpenetrable to him as well, and the aged shinobi was unable to offer any counterattack.

"Onikaigara wants your blood." He stated coldly, "But killing you would... complicate things."

Hisao drew back, putting his hand on the scabbard of his giant katana and slowly unsheathing it with his thumb. The blade was bright blood red with black burning kanji hewn into the steel. At its' sight, Akane felt a terrible vision come upon her... like all the demons of hell were beckoning. This piece of steel, she realized, was even more dangerous than the veteran shinobi wielding it. And then all thought ceased; Onikaigara's all-consuming visage overloaded the jounin's senses, and she felt herself leaving the world of reality...

Wow. Terrible rolls on the soldiers' part. The average roll was 7.7 the first time and 6.8 the second... and one guy got two 1s in a row.

I was going to have at least a few of the generic NPCs offer up a fight as an encounter... but with 7 of them blinded. <_<

[Rogue 7]

Nara Taro

Taro look surprised at the havoc that the single explosive tag had wreaked on the guards at the front gate. Usually more people would turn their heads away from it, particularly if they knew they were facing shinobi. Given how pathetic the guards' showing had been, he had little doubt that the guards would not be anything more than a nuisance to Akane-sensei and Lani, which made him feel a bit better about the fact that he was running like a dog with its tail between its legs. With Kioshi in with the guards, he couldn't risk setting off more tags, so he transferred the kunai from his mouth to his hand and continued to sprint for cover, bearing the message his sensei may have given up her life to send. As he ran, he motioned for Kioshi to follow- he could make a plan much more easily with two people.


Full run as far as I can away into whatever cover is available.

And I for some reason feel the need to justify my running. It's nighttime now, which means that the only possible way I could affect the battle, Kage Mane, has a range somewhere between "hell" and "no", and any other contributions are going to be something like pitiful, easily dodgeable raiton jutsus. So I be running.

[Fanatic-Templar]

"Alpha and Stripes are fighting some nasty looking men," the crow kid tells Taro when he finally catches up, referring to Akane and Lani. "What do you think'll happen to them?" His movement alternate between straightforward running and short, excited jumps, but there's no doubt that he's running as hard and fast as he can. It is quite clear that he considers what might be following them a grave threat.

[Rogue 7]

Nara Taro

"Yeah, I saw. I feel like crap for doing it, but we should run. It's night out, which means that my Kage Mane no Jutsu's ineffective. I won't be able to do anything to help, so there's no sense in running in there and getting killed. Could you unroll the scroll and read it? There's a jutsu I need to do."

Taro came to a halt quickly, his hands flicking up into a seal as he concentrated chakra into his eyes. They glowed faintly in the dark, the pupils becoming slitted as he glanced around with greatly improved clarity.


HP 39/41 (2 stamina), CP 26/28
Speed Rank 1 Round 3/5
Kinobori Round 3/lots
Nekonome Round 1/60

Activating Nekonome no Jutsu- Converting Chakra 1-to-1 autosuccess.
Chakra Control Perform check- [roll0]

[Fanatic-Templar]

"There's no sense in risking the entire group for the sake of the individual," said the boy. "But I hope they'll be able to escape. They're strong, so there's a chance."

With that, following Taro's request, he unfurled the scroll and squinted to decipher what was drawn inside. "There's just a bunch of little squiggles," he exclaims with disappointment. Suddenly, he brightens up, struck by dawning realisation. "Oh, this is written language, right? Sister Azuma taught my about that. It says... it says..." The child's face contorts in concentration as he slowly and haltingly reads the contents of the scroll aloud.

[Paragon Badger]

Hisao pushed the blade of Onikaigara down into its' sheath with his thumb, smirking as he let the poisonous genjutsu of the demon's chakra subside.

Akane lay flat on her back, overwhelmed by the sheer evil of the Oni's underworld. Few ventured here, even in spirit. Even fewer of them willfully entered into this dark domain. Hisao was an exception to these rules.

"Yes, Onikaigara. She was stronger than expected. But no match for you..." He whispered with a fond smile on his face as the honeycombed chakra shields around them flickered visibly and then disintegrated.

...

...

...

"How dare you interfere with this!?" Isamu roared, his fearsome visage contorting in anger. Bands of the mercenary's blood flew forth from his corpse and whirled around the giant swordsman's form, bathing him in the liquid until only his face was still of its' natural color.

Kia seemed far less concerned with Lani at that particular moment, her eyes widening in horror as she realized that Isamu, when angered, was no easy foe to dispatch, much less to him keep alive while doing so.

The blood slithering around Isamu's body burst forth towards Kia, who now resigned to her fate as his puppet. In a fight, she might be able to kill him... but the seven swordsmen could not afford to fight amongst themselves.

Coils of the red liquid bound around her form, constricting her in the ghastly jutsu that Isamu had mastered so well. She did not struggle, nor even attempt to evade his assault... He would have his fun, but Isamu knew some measure of restraint, especcially when Hisao or Kisame was around to stop him from getting too out of hand. Yet Lani made her escape long before either of them had shown themselves.

...

Kioshi could make out the simple and inelegant words that Akane had scribed amid her escape. They were terse and to the point, being such things made from neccesity;


Kurokawa Hisao
Hiring Mercenaries
From False Monks

This was a name that both of the genin could recognize if they had paid any attention to the standard operating procedures of Kagekure... Yet this was quite a long way for the seven swordsman of the mist to travel just to be buying up mercenary fodder.

[Fanatic-Templar]

"Ah, I thought I understood how to do this, but it doesn't mean anything! What's a Kurokawa Hisao? Am I doing this right?" he asked, a bit disappointed. Then, noticing that Taro wasn't really paying too much attention and concentrating on his jutsu, he adds "Hey, what're you doing, Twitch?"

[Rogue 7]

Nara Taro

Taro's eyes flickered around, his improved night vision giving him a strong edge in the darkness encompassing the village. He kept up a quick pace as he and Kioshi ran for the hills. He needed to get back to Kagekure, both for the protection it offered and so that he could deliver Akane-sensei's message. He hoped against hope that it wouldn't be her last.

Oh man oh man oh man this is not going to be good. Half the village already distrusts me because I'm a traitor- never mind that I was a traitor on their side!- and now this entire mission goes pear-shaped and we lose Akane-sensei and Lani...Akane-sensei's one of the village's strongest assets, and I have to explain what happened...

Kioshi's questions managed to pierce through Taro's worrying.

"He's the one Akane-sensei was fighting, the one with the flee-on-sight order out on him. Why he'd be hiring mercenaries I don't know, but we need to get this intel back to the village."

[Fanatic-Templar]

"Ooooh.... that's a Kurokawa Hisao. He's really a predator, he is. We don't want [i]Kurokawa Hisao to catch our scent, do we?" And with that, the boy suddenly slowed down, getting quickly outpaced by Taro. The kid falls to the ground, and looks around, searching for traces of their passage, and erasing those he found.

After he was finished here, he continued on ahead, following behind his teammate and removing the evidence of their presence. He was still set on this task when his crows caught up with him.

Survival check to hide our trail: [roll0].

Gah.

[Rogue 7]

Nara Taro

"Really, our only hope is that he doesn't pay enough attention to his guards to find out that we were there before we can get far enough away. I doubt even a guy like him would attack an entire village on his own, especially when he doesn't know what we know, know what I mean?"

Taro's brain was doing what it always did in times of crisis- spinning overtime. He recalled that night, the night that set him on a course towards Kagekure. That had been a much worse situation- he had been on his own, with the trauma fresh in his mind. Now, he was more experienced, had a teammate with him, and safety in front of him. True, previously, he hadn't had Mist's equivalent to the Fourth Hokage on his tail, but still, he'd rather be here than back there.