Fandom &nbsp; Song of Rage

Ganryu

The head pat took her by surprise. Tsubame had tensed up in the moment before when she saw Ichiro-sensei's eyes, expecting a counterattack. Instead she felt embarrassed as he pointed out the flaws in her taijutsu. She took a step back and bowed. "Thank you for the advice, Ichiro-sensei. I'll do better from now on," she murmured.

Tsubame looked up when she heard a roar and saw the thing ahead of them. The minor Akuma. She raised a hand to the glare as lightning struck the beast. This was what happened when an animal was corrupted by an Akuma? Her initial impression of Okimi was quickly proven wrong when she took charge and directed them around with more seriousness than Tsubame would've expected.

Long range attacks would be the best strategy if Tsubame had any. Her entire arsenal made useless just by the thing being covered in lightning. She bit back her frustration and followed Okimi anyway, pulling out a smoke bomb. She could at least play defense while her teammates attacked. She didn't need to aim to drop a smoke bomb at their feet.

KageYuuki · May 25, 2020

Team Hayate
As Shibata's shuriken tore through the wire web, an innumerable number of small darts went flying. Some bounced off the shuriken itself, others off nearby pillars, and others still narrowly missing the nearby genin. Aya would notice a few had managed to stick in the loose, hanging fabric of her sleeves. A pinkish liquid coated the darts and seeped into the fabric, though she'd find it did nothing if touched. The liquid likely needed broken skin to do anything.

But the path was clear, allowing the trio to continue onwards. Past the collection of pillars, the grass rose in height until it reached the genin's knees. Occasional game trails could be seen weaving across their path and the sky continued rumbling its displeasure. If the genin were to glance back, they'd see almost consistent lightning strikes off in the distance. All localized in the same place oddly enough.

The grass nearby rustled, something moving towards them out of sight before stopping. The rustling picked up against after a moment, steadily moving closer before bursting from the grass into view. A little brown bunny saw the genin and froze in place on the trail. After a moment, assuming no one threw a weapon at it, the rabbit rocketed off back into the grass and vanished.

A few more minutes of uneventful travel passed before a new scent cut through the pervading scent of rain and ozone. Sweet jasmine wafted thickly in the air, like someone wearing entirely too much perfume had run by. The scent dissipated shortly after appearing, with no owner in sight. For a moment, nothing happened. Until one of the three took a step.

The ground shook heavily, rocks breaking away and falling out of the corner of their vision before the earth opened beneath their feet. The sudden opening too wide for them to jump out of the way. Fortunately, the drop wasn't so far they'd be injured, but a jarring thud awaited them all the same. Small orbs of chakra awaited them at the bottom, providing some light. Something that quickly became necessary as the hole above them sealed shut, though it did little to muffle the near-constant rumble of thunder above.

The ground rumbled again. If the genin were to look up, they'd notice the layer of stone that sealed the entrance was slowly inching its way towards them. It rippled slightly as it encountered any stone or root that jutted out in its path, but continued unabated.

Ace Cream

Kurio Shimizu
Kurio couldn't help but blink as Tsubame's blow made Ichiro double over for a moment. Her attack had actually gotten a reaction of the jounin. A feat he still couldn't manage despite the near-constant work on his chakra scalpels. But he wasn't jealous of her feat. Not in the slightest. Trying to brush away the annoyance, he instead tried to focus on Ichiro's impromptu lesson. Taijutsu may not have been his strong suit, but he could likely apply the advice to his own way of fighting. Even if a gentle tap could cause considerable damage to an unguarded opponent.

A loud roar drew him out of his thoughts, Kurio spinning around to see the massive bear make its entrance and dark eyes widening at the sight. As a Shimizu, the study of Akuma was required of him. He'd seen numerous drawings of them in books, but... Those hardly do it justice. And this was a Minor Akuma, the weakest among them. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end as his heart started to beat harder.

Okimi said:
"Stick to ranged attacks until we can figure out a suitable way to defeat the beast. I cannot have one of you getting zapped to death while I'm the squad leader."

Then perhaps you should've given your teammate's abilities more thought? Kurio couldn't help the snide thought at his frustration. Shaking his head, he turned towards the Akuma barreling towards them. Tsubame threw a smoke bomb at their feet, trying to provide cover as they scattered. True to form, Okimi and her little dragon opened by pelting the creature with fire. "We need to slow it down somehow." Dark eyes quickly scanned their surroundings, spaying an outcropping of rocks looming nearby. "Maybe I can drop those on it?"

Kurio didn't wait for anyone to say anything before forming a handsign and vanishing in a bodyflicker. He reappeared a short ways away, clinging to the cliff face near the outcropping with chakra. Slapping an explosive tag on the rocks, he climbed higher up before detonating it. Kurio remained on his perch, watching to see what happened.

AtlannianSpy · May 25, 2020

Miho Shimamura
"Yeah there's been a change of plans," Miho said shortly, producing some towels she had purchased cheaply and tossing them at her water logged genin. "One of our's got attacked carrying a message, they made it through but they aren't in a condition to keep going and we're the closest team nearby so we're going to take it the rest of the way." Miho squatted down to out herself at eye level with the genin: her expression was deadly serious, without any of the usual tiredness or apathy. "I hope you can all put two on two together here: if the first messenger was attacked then there's a non zero chance we will be attacked as well. So that means no more fucking around: I can keep you alive through just about anything if you work with me but if you screw around and put yourselves or worse: each other in danger then you go all the way down the bottom of my priorities list," Miho paused to give a meaningful look to each of the genin in turn. "If you can't handle that than you'd better head back to the village right now. If you think you can handle it then let's get going; on the way you can tell me what you know about our destination: the prisong village of Kabegakure,"

AtlannianSpy · May 26, 2020

Ryuuka Tagamatsu
"Gah, nobody tell Gramps I fell into an actual pitfall trap, I'll never hear the end of it," Ryuuka muttered as she stood back up at the bottom of the hole the team had found themselves in. With a wince Ryuuka rubbed her sore rump and then looked up at the stone covering the entrance as it slowly, inexorably ground its way through the earth towards them. Ryuuka's face scrunched up inscrutably. "That's uh. not good. Mmmkay," Ryuuka rolled the sleeves of her jacket up to her elbows and cracked her knuckles.

"So I don't really have any ideas, you guys have all the fancy jutsu and stuff I dunno, but I kinda haven't done anything yet so I guess I'll try and buy us some time?" Ryuuka said with a carefree shrug, then she began walking up the side of the of the hole with the tree climbing jutsu. When she reached the stone bearing down on the party Ryuuka intended to simply put her hands against it and brace herself against the walls of the hole to see if her strength would be sufficient to slow the descent of the stone.

Orikanyo · May 26, 2020

Wakanaka

The young man clears his throat, puffing up abit. "Kabehakure, it is a stone walled city that is more akin to a prison than a true city. Most if not all villages have sent miscreants and criminals to it's walls as their own means of containment were either unsatisfactory or simply did not reach the means of containing the truly heinous criminals." Wakanaka rattled off what he knew, feeling abit proud to know at least something. "...Though.. I do worry about heading there, there should be no trouble... Espeacially if I am no longer kept alone with these two...

troublemakers..." a deep stern glare threatened to carve it's way into his partner's skulls. "...We shouldn't be in any danger..."

Ganryu · May 27, 2020

-Team Ichiro-

The bear gave a slight annoyed bawl, and batted the fire away. Smoke rose from its hair, which sparked, revealing it was more like wire than natural hair. Some burn marks were left, evident from from how it flinched as it set its paws down, but it batted at Fuerey only for it to scamper away. It bawled again, and began to chase, before Okimi hit it with a larger fireball. This time, hair fell out and melted against the ground, removing a large patch from its chest, and turning its skin charcoal underneath. Still smoking, it began to spark more and more, before opening its mouth, and firing an array of sparks at Okimi, scattered charges buzzing around the area, before bursting with power.

It still continued to where she had been when, turning from a slight canter to a gallop, befoer a boom caught its attention. It looked up at Kurio looking confused.

"Grrrahuur?"

A sudden avalance of rocks started to fall towards it. Mostly a few small rocks, and one very very large one. With a crunch, the pile fell around the bear, holding it place.

It lay under the rock, electricity shaking around it, but the bear unable to get out.

"41...42...43...44... 4-"

CRACK!

A large bolt of lightning fell, blinding the area, and hitting the bear directly. The rock ontop of it seemed to explode, and the bear rose up to its hinds legs, letting out an angry

"GRRRRRRRAAAA!"

The roar echoed nearly louder than the thunder from the lightning bolt.

Slight blood fell from its eye, clearly unable to see out of its left side. One of the rods on its back was cracked, and buzzed eratically. The amount of lightning coming from the bears sparks was much less, and definitely less powerful. The bear swayed before getting back to 4 legs, eyes around, only seeing rocks hiding Okimi, a smoke cloud hiding Tsubame...and a snack on a perch above it.

"1...2...3...4...."

The bear began to saunter towards Kurio, slow at first, but picking up more and more speed.

Hanarei · May 27, 2020

Shioreta Koino

Shioreta didn't seem to mind at all being doused in water. She had stumbled a bit in the process nearly being knocked off her feet though she fortunately managed to escape such a rather clumsy fall just barely even if her legs shook a bit from the struggle of remaining standing. It was better water soaked her then... whatever it was before. She had to admit she was a little surprised to see Sachiko's hair seemed completely dyed... and the fact she had worn some makeup. Perhaps the latter was a bit less unexpected. She fortunately didn't have that to worry about. There was not much sense in bothering to put on makeup or worry about looks when you were probably going to die soon enough anyways. Sachiko's puns might do the trick possibly how out of left field the cringe could be. Waka seemed to try to shift onto the topic of the mission but Shio simply shifted it back as if in some way to get at Waka for some reason... hard to tell why.

"You could of probably dropped the o in my name since you already mentioned Waka while directing it to the two of us. It would of rolled off the tongue better and would of been caught simply enough with enough context clues to cue in on the pun." She spoke as a bit of a suggestion while drying herself off a bit more not wanting to accidentally risk getting her scroll wet. Her puppet was missing from her back now though given what happened it made her somewhat regret it wasn't there being less prone to other hazards. Then again it also had got her swooped up into the air before on that one mission.

"The prison seems far more likely that you would be prone to slipping up. The Prisoners would see us as young gullible children that they could take advantage of to steal from or use potentially as a way of getting out. I mean seeing as how you start fighting people over the sign earlier, a savy criminal could easily exploit your anger and use it to get you to do something... um... ill advised that could get us in trouble." She spoke being quite matter of fact though seeming to pull back a little near the end as if being 'considerate' despite clearly pointing at Waka as being the weakest link for the mission. I mean she tried to be a bit less matter of fact right?

"Just expect they always have an ulterior motive else you might Waka up in a bad situation. Ah...I guess that wasn't really as good as I thought in my head either." She spoke seeming to find her own attempt at a pun lacking despite her earlier suggestion for Sachiko.

Mentioned:

Ganryu · May 27, 2020

Team Miho

Shio would find herself instantly glomped by Sachiko for the pun, with Sachiko's smile back for a moment and a "♪Tehehe♪" Giggle approving of it.

She let go, and bent forward leaning in at Sensei as they received their instructions.

"But sensei, I'm serious about my fooling around!" She looked back to the village for a moment, as if seriously considering it, before looking back to Shioreta and Wakanaka. And remembering Shioreta's point. She sighed, and wiped off her face with the towel. Maybe she should have dried off BEFORE glomping Shio? ... Nah. A good pun was a good pun.

"Alright. I'm coming. And, Miho-sensei, you have my word for this mission only at least, I'll treat it with the dignity and respect it deserves. Then I'm going back to screwing around! Can't get to my nindo being all serious like, that just ain't me! My goal's for Shio and Waka to get all the recognition while I get to siiiiit back and reee- "

She pulled out a kunai, and a slight 'X' cut across the back of her glove. "My oath to be good. I'll behave on the mission and treat it seriously." She then looked frustrated. "Course, whole blood oaths generally work better when I actually draw blood... but think ya get the point. Yeah, I'll be serious. But before we go..."

An arm then wrapped around Wakanaka. The arm with the kunai in hand.

"Troublemaker? I thought I was a demon. Now I feel like you're looking down on me! But we're going to jail, Waka! Wouldn't you rather a troublemaking demon on your side!? Well, wouldn't you? Hey, Waka, does this eye look a bit blackened to you? The eye of an innocent maiden, who in the depth of being held hostage got a TRASHBAG FULL OF CANS THROWN AT HER!?"

She withdrew the arm.

"Good throw. I'd rate it a solid 8/10. You ever own a fuma shuriken? I think I should get you one. In return, you're helping me test out something after this! Anyways, Seeeeensei, want to take the lead? Poor me, always thought I'd go to jail, but I figured it'd be aaaafter you figured out what I did to your apartment."

Sachiko had infact, done nothing to Miho's apartment, and that was the best prank of all.

"Oh. Right. Serious. I'll take lead after sensei starts us out then. I actually have decent eyesight. Ol' Sachiko's not good at much, but she's lucky, and she's got good eyes."

AtlannianSpy · Jun 1, 2020

Miho Shimamura
The journey to Kabegakure was only a couple of days and uneventful, although Miho seemed alert and on edge the whole way.It was Midday on the third day of travelling when Miho held up a hand to bring the genin to a halt in a seemingly unremarkable patch of forest. "We're here," she said to the genin. "Try to look sharp and don't make any sudden movements...or slow, stupid ones. These people are all super twitchy and have massive stocks lodged up their-"

"IDENTIFY YOURSELVES" The voice that cut off Miho was distorted mechanically, as if coming through a speaker or a mask and it was difficult to pin down where it was coming from, certainly there was no obvious speaker anywhere in sight.

"Miho Shimamura, Tsumigakure." Miho said, seemingly to no one. "These are my genin students. We're here to pass on some intelligence regarding a class S prisoner,"

"You are not the appointed messenger. Provide authentication or be terminated immediately,"

Miho sighed shortly and rolled her eyes. "fuckin drama queens hate coming here," she muttered under her breath before continuing more loudly. "Our messenger was attacked en route, her survived but was injured so he made contact with us and we took over the job. The authentication code he gave me was Crow, Echo 42 - A - 63- B,"

There was a tension laden silence of a few seconds and then the distorted voice replied. "This code is authentic but your story is still being verified. For now you may proceed. Surrender your weapons and proceed to the sensor room for scanning of infiltration jutsu or genjutsu."

When the voice was finished speaking the ground underneath the party began shaking and an opening formed in front of them, revealing a set of rugged looking, steel stairs.

"Well you heard the disembodied, creepy voice," Miho said,unbuckling the straps carrying her various weapons. "Dump anything dangerous or even slightly pointy or they will kill the shit out of you. And for fuck's sake don't wander off anywhere while we're down there. It's dangerous," with that warning dispensed Miho finished divesting herself of her equipment, waited for the genin to do the same and then lead the way into the subterranean maw of the prison that had opened before them.

Inside the prison was not all that impressive, at least from what the Tsumigakure party could see. Some twenty minutes into their tour and so far they had mostly only scene identical steel corridors broken up by the occasional checkpoint manned by a stern Kabegakure ninja. The kabegakure ninja wore a bulkier kind of flak vest than was common for shinobi, with extra armour for their limbs and distinctive, round helmets with transparent face guards. Some of the guards asked them pointed questions about the nature of their visit, or seemingly unrelated questions about their village that were seemingly intended to catch up impostors, some of them performed strange jutsu on them that seemed to be for detecting weapons or suspicious chakra. Some of the kabegakure ninja did nothing except stare at them for seemingly random amounts of time before waving the group on to the next corridor. Rregardless of their actual function they all seemed to succeed in aggravating Miho, who seemed to grow more exasperated with every gate they passed.

"Oh for- I think they've added even more of these things since the last time I was here," she muttered, adding distractedly. "they change the layout every so often, the whole prison can be manipulated by some kind of jutsu and they even move the whole damn thing from time to time." Eventually the team reached what seemed to be the final checkpoint as behind it the corridor widened out into a vast hall with several storeys of barred cells.

"You're the team from Tsumigakure?" asked the shinobi manning the checkpoint, waving them over. "Looks like intel was able to verify your story, you're being alloowed to proceed through,"

Miho frowned and her expression became calculating for a second before her eye twitched. "Wait a fucking minute! Did you motherfuckers have us walking around in circles through meaningless checkpoints while you looked into us!?"

the guard shrugged in a manner that might generously been called apologetic. "Standard procedure m'aam. Anyway if you have intel on an S class prisoner than you'll need to relay that directly to the relevant section commander, we keep intel regarding them as self contained as possible. Who is this message in relation to?"

"Nobuyuki Hanamoto," Miho said flatly, savoring the look of discomfort that flashed over the guard's face.

"Well that's- that's ridiculous," said the guard, quickly forcing a smile. "We keep... Him under particularly high security with specially designed protocols, there's no chance of any kind of incident concerning him."

"All the same," MIho said coldly. "I schlepped all the way out here and, fucking walked in circles for twenty minutes, so I'd like to go ahead and deliver this thing just to be safe,"

"R-right," said the guard nervously. "A-anyway as I said right through here. Prisoner S3248 is being held in cell block 724, proceed through to reception and we'll have someone there escort you."

"Finally," said Miho with relief. "C'mon you three," she said the genin distractedly, leading them past the guard and a number of other doorways towards the reception area.

Orikanyo · Jun 3, 2020

Wakanaka
Team Miho

The prison did not disappoint, in truth, he expected the constant low bar that everything had set to follow through in regards to this place. But hell it was almost admirable. he damn well near felt HE was the one being incarcerated at this place the moment he stepped in here. Which he beyond all odds hoped he never would be, occasional street fight aside he was a pure soul with not a single guilty thought in his mind. he shall never see the inside of a shell if he keeps up his good behavior.

Those men deserved to be beaten up for their transgressions, innocent? not a chance. Therefore he cannot be locked up for it.

Despite the protests of his gaggle of fools, whom are growing more and more of an annoyance each day he has to deal with them. he thought Shio would be fine, but it turns out she is long winds and accusatory, feigning sweet thoughtfulness.

Revolting, he prefers Sachiko, if he had to choose dealing with one or the other, since shes at least open about her backstabbery.

Still he has to be the adult here, he cannot allow this VEHEMENT hatred get in the way of teamwork, he only needs to pull more than his fair share of weight to prove himself.

...Wait did that guard look similar to the last one?

No he was different right..?

Yes he must be...

The uniform makes it hard to tell them apart at times.

But... why did it feel like he was walking around in circles...?

Were they!?

Was this a security thing?

Was he going insane? Was he under genjutsu!?

... Calm down... Calm down... See? sensei figured it out. No need to get stressed. Being stressed can only cause you trouble here, the guards will know you are, stay calm, but not to calm, be sensei's shadow and stay close... yes right here, very close, but out of the way, just need to- ...Oh... Well.. she dosen't have much up front but she dose have abit in the back it seems... If one prefers that sort of thing thats okay, Waka has different tastes but... Well, either way, best he keep his mind busy...

And ignore the other two.

@ team Miho

InsaneAsylum · Jun 4, 2020

Okimi Bajirisuku

It was working! The quick barrage of flames had managed to injure the bear. Okimi couldn't help but grin when she saw the scorched flesh of the bear. "Ha! You see that guys? This might not be as difficult as we-" Okimi's voice suddenly cut off as she spotted a barrage of electricity surge towards her. Out of reaction, she brought up her arms to defend herself, peeking between her forearms when nothing happened right away. What she saw was an array of electricity scatted across the ground around her. Did it miss?

The spark grew brighter for a brief moment, giving Okimi just enough time to realize what was about to happen. In a flash of lightning, Okimi was sent tumbling in a jittering fit. She rolled a ways down the hill, scraping a bouncing off the dirt before landing with a thud against a boulder. Okimi could barely open her eyes as the searing pain lingered throughout her body. Okimi clenched her fists, confirming that she could still move at least. Not that she wanted to. She groaned, before bringing her hand up to wipe the wetness from her eyes.

As she lie beside the boulder, she heard a familiar snort next to her. "Huh? W-why ain't you helping the others, Feurey?" Okimi asked. "I'm fine, don't worry. As long as that bear stays away that is... I'll get back up to help soon.

The little green dragon circled Okimi a couple more time, grunting in disapproval before bounding back towards the fight.

Meanwhile, Okimi brought herself up enough to sit up straight. She leaned back against the boulder, and started running her fingers through her hair at a snail's pace. She'd have to get up eventually. No way she could let herself get blasted away when she was the squad leader of the mission. She just needed a couple more moments. Just a couple...

S n o w · Jun 4, 2020

Tsubame Mochizuki

Ganryu

To call the situation bad was an understatement.

Regardless of the damage Kurio and Okimi did to the beast, it was still standing. The smoke was beginning to clear but Tsubame still lingered in it, watching the bear, waiting for Okimi to tell her what she should do. The lightning didn't strike the bear at random or controlled by it. If the latter was true, she doubted it would have allowed itself to be trapped at all. Or Kurio was just lucky. Still, the others must've figured out that something was off too-

Tsubame flinched when she heard a too close crack of thunder. "Okimi!"

Okimi was injured. The bear was after Kurio. Tsubame bit her lip. She didn't want to, but it was time to make an executive decision. She couldn't let her brother's name be tarnished by her inaction. She darted towards the bear, lightning be dammed, resisting the urge to launch herself into the air. She dropped low behind the bear, both hands against the ground as she twisted her body, kicking out at the back of the bear's left foot. Bones grew from her heels like knives. If she couldn't cripple it, she at least hoped to heavily hinder its speed.

Ace Cream · Jun 5, 2020

Aya

Aya felts a deja vu. They were just strolling through the path when suddenly the ground beneath them crumbled and make them fell. Not only that but the exit was soon sealed shut with a slowly descending stone. It's like that time with the scientist's house. What's with them and pitfall trap anyway?

"I can... detonate the stone? Buy me some time." Aya nodded at Ryuuka. She set two explosive tags on one of the corner of the descending stone. Before she explode the tags, she transformed her kimono into a giant ball of silk and swallowed Shibata and Ryuuka inside so they would be protected from the sharpnels.

"Feel like we have done this..." She chuckled at the thought, then detonated the tags.

IG42 · Jun 5, 2020

Shibata Yamamoto
While Shibata had been unperturbed by the random bunny he paused at the unusual scent in the air, looking around he couldn't see any patches of flowers that could be making it. "Where's that coming fr-." He was interrupted mid-sentence as the ground opened up below them. Seeing the floor below he braced to land but an unexpected feeling of disorientation made him stumble awkwardly, getting to his feet with an annoyed grunt he surveyed the pit. "We should hurry and get out before something else happens." As if to prove his point the entrance slammed shut above them.

Watching Ryuuka try to push back the descending stone Shibata tilted his head trying to look at it from a different angle, he could feel that something wasn't quite right but the way the thunder echoed off the walls of the cavern wasn't helping him think at all. "Wait...the thunder..." Before he could think on his theory any further Aya helped confirm it by planting tags and shielding them within her threads muffling the rumbling thunder. "That's it! ~~I've come up with a new recipe~~" Half clawing his way out of the cocoon he saw that the approaching stone appeared entirely undamaged by the explosives. "Kai!" Gathering up chakra he made the tiger seal and sent a pulse through his body making the crushing trap disappear from his sight. "Heh genjutsu, probably applied by that weird smell earlier." He looked smugly at his teammates and saw that Ryuuka seemed to still be very much enthralled. "Oh, really not your field is it?" Placing a hand on her shoulder he purged the foreign influence from her system.

Ganryu · Jun 7, 2020

Sachiko, surprisingly, had kept to her word throughout the multiday journey. She didn't prank anyone, and kept to the front, scanning the area. At one point, Miho would catch her with an odd plant and Waka's waterbottle, but she restrained herself.

At the prison entrance, they weren't exactly let in with friendly terms. Miho gave the code to enter, and it was confirmed, with some back and forth.

"CE42A63B" Sachiko repeated under her breath. It was a good idea to memorize it. She repeated a few times before glancing over to Shio, and sighing. Shio would have already have it caught with just a glance, and probably not known what she'd just done. Sachiko liked to play the fool yes, but she had to admit, even if she was trying 100% she wasn't sure she COULD keep up with Shio's brains. It was respectable.

Sachiko looked over to Waka, and started giggling. Well... at least he was dependable. And probably about as good as tools as Sachiko honestly was. She had too good teammates at the very least.

They were brought inside. And frankly told to take away all their equipment.

"Crapbaskets..."

Sachiko began to remove away her ninja pouch. The guard over her looked at her harshly, and Sachiko groaned, and pulled hidden knife away in her shoe. He gave her more smoldering intensity.

"W-what, that's all my equipment, I swear! Standard pouch and extra!"

"The book."

"M-my brother gave it to me, it's sentimental! Side's, what's prisoner going to do with a book? Read it? See, that's the problem here, it leads to recidivis- ah!"

The guard took her book, and began to open, Sachiko hurriedly closed it against his fingers. "T-take it! Just don't look inside! Its a terrible terrible curse."

Gouda Cheesey Jokes: They Don't Get Cheddar Than This!

The guard swatted her hand away, and pulled out hidden bo shurikens from inside it, his hand drooping slightly from their weight.

"If we find anything else on you. You're getting tackles. We take our security very seriously here."

Sachiko tilted her head and gave fake tears. "Can't a girl get any protection..."

"No."

She pouted all the way out and til they were half way down the hallway. It was about halfway through when a bunch of guards could be heard running at the group. Sachiko backed up.

"Uh-oh."

"2319!"

A crash could be heard as one of them tackled Sachiko into a hallway, with high pitches screams and complaints heard. Sachiko came back to the group disheveled and without her hat.

"They took my hat!"

In the distance, one of the guards could be seen searching the lining, and pulling out 3 explosive tags, and shaking his head. Sachiko just sulked, and crossed her arms, before noticing the X cut across her glove. Right. No messing around. She did curl the corner of her mouth, and spoke under her breathe.

"They are waaay better than I am. Got a long way to go..."

Meanwhile, more codes were given.

"Prisoner S3248 - Nobuyuki Hanamoto - cell block 724." Another sigh. "You got that Shio? Course you do. Stupid genius's. I wish I were a savant like you! Meh, least I know who I'm having do my taxes later."

Hanarei · Jun 12, 2020

Shioreta Koino

Shioreta kept rather quiet being much more observant. It was best to just follow their sensei's lead to avoid getting into trouble... primarily from Miho. She could tell the woman was in a very grouchy mood where any sort of comment she might give even if in an attempt to be helpful or supportive would likely be met at best with grumbling. In the case of Wakanaka it was more so as a way of avoiding conflict. He was far more predictable to her. Perhaps it was a bit unfair but she felt like he might be the type who probably much like he was quick to temper, was equally to brush things off. Keep as minimal of a presence to him as possible and she assumed he would put aside the tossing under the bus she had done. Perhaps not fully though he seemed rash enough that in the heat of the moment he would likely forget it. The ideal opportunity to toss him under the bus again before he might be quickly formulate her intentions again. Though... only if it was absolutely necessary of course.

It didn't take Shioreta too long to realize they were going in circles. The very fact they let them through despite claiming they needed to still verify them after how 'devoted' they seemed to be to security had risen a red flag in her mind from the start. If anything it just made her a bit over analytical about the situation. She almost wondered if they were purposely just leading them about to give them a false sense of progression to buy time for something else without just suspiciously keeping them held up in one place. All her little conspiracy theories were generally laid to rest though when they 'arrived' only to hear they were verified and Miho quickly pointing out the fact they were going in loops. It was easy to overthink things when there was a far simpler solution in front of you.

Shioreta looked over glancing at Sachiko blinking at what she said in a much more... drained tone. Was the prison getting to her? Perhaps the fact she couldn't bring any of her weapons? The hat? It seemed more likely the hat with her. Then again it was a bit mean spirited on her part if she seriously would try and pin it down to that. Sachiko seemed to be all about putting on a facade. As it was peeled away it really showed a much more vulnerable side to her that she seemed to have. She looked up tapping in chin in thought.

"Nobuyuki Hanamoto... Prisoner S3246... cell block 724." She spoke out as if recalling it though clearly getting the prisoner number wrong. It was completely intentional on her part combined with the pause in order to downplay any sense Sachiko had that she might be as 'great' as she oddly seemed to think she was. More so getting the number wrong on purpose seemed to also have its own benefits. While it seemed like Nobuyuki was kept somewhere secure by himself it was best to have some contingency plan in place. Should they find someone else who might try and pose as him slipping the wrong number might cause a faker to accidentally miss the mistake and fail to correct it. Not something that was complete fool proof but it was a very simple way of catching a potential fraud or at the very least raising suspicions. She scratched the back of her head a little awkwardly.

"Sorry I was zoning out a little perhaps. Wakanaka I'm sure kept track of the number himself. He might not have the best vision but when one of your senses are dulled, the others make up for it and I'm sure his sharp sense of hearing likely picked it up clearly." Perhaps it was a bit much to try and throw a compliment towards Waka. She had avoided saying much at all or even giving him any sort of compliment before since she expected he would likely view it with a great amount of suspicion after what was dubbed in her mind 'the trash can incident'. Still it didn't seem to hurt to throw a compliment if it was tossed more off handed towards Sachiko rather then saying it directly to Waka.

Mentioned:

KageYuuki · Jun 13, 2020

Kurio Shimizu

Kurio sucked in a sharp breath as Okimi was sent rolling back down the steep hill in return for the burns she'd left the Akuma. "I didn't think it'd be able to do something like that..." He could see her moving, but it was too hard to tell if it was from her own volition or remnants of the shock. Her strikes weren't in vain though, as they managed to keep the Akuma in place long enough for his little rockslide to hit home. He hadn't actually expected the plan to work, his ability with tools being questionable at best.

"Tsubame! Now's your--!"

A blinding flash from the lightning. Kurio felt the near-instant clap of thunder and roar of the freed Akuma in his bones. A freed Akuma that was now barreling his way.

"A-ah... crap." A moment of panic and Kurio a few feet down the cliff. His heart was already pounding in his chest, bringing an almost welcome rush of adrenaline with it. His body tensed as Tsubame rushed the bear, he flickered away from the cliff as she dropped and spun in a kick. Kurio touched down briefly on the Akuma's blind side before flickering again towards Okimi.

"Can you stand?" He asked, kneeling in front of her.

InsaneAsylum

Team Hayate
Ryuuka would quickly find her attempt at holding the massive stone up to be futile as it steadily continued its descent. The blast from Aya's tags could be felt through her silken cocoon, close enough to leave their ears ringing for a moment. It'd likely remind them of when they blew up the massive spider back in the mines. Thankfully there weren't any spider guts to worry about this time around.

As chakra surged through the genins' systems, they'd find themselves standing back in the open field, thunder still rumbling ominously above. All that remained of the massive pit that had swallowed them was a memory. The entire thing had been an illusion. Had it been another test set by the proctors? The trio didn't have much time to consider it as the grass rustled behind them.

"Kiiro-o-o, you said it'd hold them!" A feminine voice whined. The voice belonged to a diminutive kunoichi - smaller than Aya - with silver hair. The headband dangling around her neck had a simple lilly etched into it. Inochigakure's emblem.

Kiiro shrugged, "Guess one of them's a genjutsu user. Better than I was expecting from Tsumi." His flowing robes gave off an air of nobility, as did the look of mild disinterest.

"Soooo we doing this the old fashioned way then?" The third Inochi genin cracked his neck, "So which one of you's got the scroll?" His sleeveless shirt exposed the tattoos on his shoulders that resembled pale blue scales.

"Surrender it and we'll be on our way."

The kunoichi huffed, "Can't we just play already?" She asked the small dog perched on her shoulder.

Ganryu · Jun 14, 2020

Team Ichiro

S n o w

The bear's run picked up more and more speed until something flickered behind it, bone slicing into its ankles. Not too deeply, as the muscle felt like rock. But the bear instantly crumpled over mid gait, landing with a heavy crash. It turned to see Tsubame, and let loose another intimidating roar as it stared down the genin. Standing on its its hind two legs, it tried to tower over her, the full 12 feet putting in perspective how small the girl was. Before the weight on its injured ankle was too much and it shrieked in pain, falling over like a bear rug less than a foot in front of her. Its massive head next to her body, the head nearly as large as she was. On its back, cracked gems could be seen, sparking electricity, and discharging randomly, like several broken capacitors that couldn't conduct electricity anymore. Dangeous to touch, but not that useful.

It flung itself from the floor at Tsubame. It was an angry bear as that massive maw tried to snap at her body.

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

In the distance, Ichiro's hand splayed as he watched the genin's struggle, his fingers cracking and spreading wide, looking more like claws than fingers. Calf muscles began to tense, and his form lowered, and his eyes turned intense. Then he stopped and cocked his head, blood splattering on the rock as Tsubame landed a hit despite the desperate situation. His snarl turned to a sick amused smile. His muscles began to relax, and he turned back to looking at Okimi. Kurio was already by her, ready to treat.

"Not half bad."

How will she deal with an opponent that outclasses her physically, how will he treat burn wounds... Hmm... wonder if they've figured out its pattern yet. The bears already dead. It just doesn't know it. Oh, and how'll Okimi do when she's down? See her pet lizard's rash as ever. I'll give them one minute more.

His eyes followed back to Tsubame.

"40... 41....42...43....44..."

IG42 · Jun 15, 2020

Shibata Yamamoto
Getting his bearings as reality reasserted itself Shibata turned to face the whiny voice with a feigned calm expression. "Ah the troglodytes are here, I should've suspected as much from that illusion being of a dim hole in the ground, just like home for you." Sizing up the trio he tried to gauge their abilities, by the sound of it Kiiro was the one responsible for the genjutsu, the other boy had the look of a taijutsu bruiser and the assuming the girl wasn't simply unwilling to leave her pet at home that dog was a ninken.

When asked about the scroll he kept his eyes on the other team and faked having his hand stray to his own pouch as if by accident. "Lose yours in a trap did you? Or did your little friend eat it?" He gave them his most infuriating smirk and waved a hand towards the girl deliberately leaving some doubt as to whether he meant her or the dog. "Besides you know these scrolls are marked with the symbol of the village it's from right? You can't just wander in and say it's yours. I think I'll just be hanging onto ours, you'd best head back the way you came and hope you can still find wherever you dropped yours."

AtlannianSpy · Jun 16, 2020

Ryuuka Tagamatsu
Ryuuka blinked in the sudden sunlight, shaking her head to keep clear the ringing in her ears. "Whoa I just had the craziest dream," she said to Shibata and Aya. "There was this pit, and you were there and you were there!... They weren't though," Ryuuka tilted her head in confusion as she regarded the other team of genin.

Inochigakure... this could be a whole thing...

"I think my teammate is right, even if he's being a little uhh blunt about it. Fighting between the messenger teams is supposed to be forbidden so if you push it your village is gonna lose face I think," Ryuuka said holding her hands in a gesture of peace and taking the more placating good cop approach. Even though her words were disarming Ryuuka was still preparing for a fight. Her leg muscles were subtly tensed, ready to spring forward and chakra was building up in them as well. It was harder to serpeartely control the chakra in each leg but it was necessary for the trick Ryuuka had been working on recently.

"Between us six I was really hoping to finish this up early and do some sightseeing so if we could skip the whole rvillage rivalry-battle to the death part and get on with our lives that'd be swell. C'mon Shibata'll even buy you guys a snack when we get there~"

AtlannianSpy · Jun 18, 2020

Jailhouse Rock

With the exception of Sachiko’s forceful dehatting, Miho was slightly relieved to note that her team was mostly capable of quietly following along and not setting anything on fire, but their good behaviour didn’t completely settle the growing unease in the pit of Miho’s stomach.

Maybe it was just the prison. The route the team’s guide took them along was mostly through staff corridors so they didn’t see many prisoners directly, but the narrow, steel corridors gave everything a steile, merciless air and every so often the group would pass by a windowed door letting them snatch a glance at wall to ceiling cells with emaciated hands reaching out toward them.

More than likely though what was really eating at Miho was how on the back foot she had felt this whole mission. Right from the start Rin had been ambushed and ever since taking over from him Miho had felt like something or someone had stayed one step ahead of her ever since. Miho hated this kind of mission the most, if she had to be involved in something troublesome she at least wanted to be the one in control of the pace.

“This is cell block 724,” said the guard escorting them, a tired looking woman with short, blonde hair. “Ordinarily you’d meet the section commander here but he’s currently escorting a visitor so you might as well head in and meet him at S3248’s cell, it’s straight through this door at the end of the corridor?”

“What!? What visitor?” Miho snapped, suddenly suspicious. The guard merely shrugged. “Someone from Sangogakure I think, I don’t know much more than that, now are you going in or-”

The guard’s last question was cut off as Miho brushed past her to storm down the corridor towards Hanamoto’s cell. Maybe it was just a gut feeling but something felt very wrong.

Meanwhile in cell S3248…

“Ahhhh...Boooring,” A brittle, aged voice rang out through the darkness. Oh right that was his voice, he spoke so little he forgot the sound of it sometimes. He preferred to keep his thoughts to himself for the most part, although he doubted the guards would bother listening to the ramblings of an old man he didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of listening to his mind slowly unravel. Besides if he kept silent for long enough he could occasionally spook them like he had with the food cart kid. Heh that had been a laugh.

But the occasional prank like that wasn’t enough to sustain him, he could feel his mind slowly wasting away at the same rate as his brain.

“Where...is it?” He wondered aloud to no one. “The death I’ve been waiting for...Where is it?”

“You’re not going to find it fucking around here. What are you doing anyways?”

A kunoichi stood over the bars. Blue haired with a tattoo under her right eye, with a serious look in her eyes. She had her ears pierced, but security had left no potential weapons of any kind. She had bandages over several burn wounds, and three guards behind her watching carefully, a little perturbed by her words.

She waved them off.

“And Sangogakure has a question. What happened to your sword?”

“Hoho, it’s not too often I have young ladies come to visit me and to speak about swords no less.” Nobuyuki let out a low chuckle and his chains rattled as he shifted slightly to turn his masked face towards the sound of the voice speaking to him. “But to answer your question young lady I have no idea, ‘tis a foolish victor who lets the vanquished keep their weapon. Especially if it’s a weapon as fine as my Juuchi Fuyu,”

“Describe it to me. How fine is it?” She said simply with her arms crossed. “I come on two businesses. Sangogakure wishes to know about the blade’s details.” She smiled. “Bishamonten wishes to know what you could do with it.”

Her hands flew to her sides as she began a quick series of handsigns. The guard’s moved instantly, drawing kunai to stab at her. Two bubbles appeared behind her back. Both guard’s hands disappeared into the bubbles, reappearing through the other and stabbing each other. The woman sighed as the bubbles popped, leaving their arms severed. The third guard ran.

“I keep telling them I’m not a combat specialist… Can’t catch him fleeing if I tried.” A third bubble appeared in Nobuyuki’s cell, and the handle of a blade began to form from it, sliding into the jail cell.

The woman curtsied. “Mizuki Himura of Bishomonten, at your service.”

Hanamoto stood up and pulled the bag over his face off with some difficulty and revealed a wizened face lit with reverent awe as his trembling, chained hand approached the sword. Nobyuki’s hair and beard were long, wild and matted and his frame emaciated and frail looking, but he had bright blue eyes lit with a fanatical fire and when his hand gripped the hilt of his sword and pulled it from the bubble his hand stopped trembling and his movements became smooth and graceful.
“Well then Ms Himura,” Nobuyuki murmured as he revealed the full length of a shining, subtly curved katana from within the bubble. “Nobuyuki Hanamoto and Juuchi Fuyu are likewise at yours. With that in mind, I advise you to duck for a moment.”

With a swing of Juuchi Fuyu Hanamoto cleared the chains from his body and fell in piles around him, neatly bisected. Then the old man took a single, deep breath and brought the sword to his side.

Amenomihashirakiri

There was A blur of movement then a tremendous bang and the sound of howling wind as a circle of compressed air razor thin emanated out from the where Hanamoto had stood and slashed his sword. The circle, angled to pass just over Himura’s head cut through steel, bars, concrete, dirt and the stomach of the fleeing guard without heed and it continued to expand long out of visual sight such that the howling sound it made took several seconds to fade entirely.

A second after that came the aching groan of metal from all around them and then anyone still standing stumbled slightly as the floor tilted several degrees underneath them.

“Whoopsy might have overdone it a bit,” said Hanamoto, his beard splitting open to reveal a mischievous grin with surprisingly white, even teeth. He held up his hands to Himura, showing off arms that were clearly broken in several places and bleeding heavily. “I always forget how heavy the recoil is on that one,” With a grunt of pain the old man lifted his shattered arms high enough to transfer his sword to his mouth, biting down on the grip to keep it in place.

“Thall thee get goingth then?”

Mizuki gulped from the ground, watching the cut rend what seemed like the entire prison. She shook her head. “First I have to fight a damn kage… then free this monster. I make bubbles. I don’t even fight!” She rose with a grunt, then motioned for him to follow her. A bubble began to form around them, causing their forms to disappear and no long be opaque.

“Stop!” The still attached half of the door at the end of the corridor was flung open, revealing a dishevelled, panting Miho. Miho’s hand flicked forwards and a kunai flew towards the fugitives, but before it reached them the bubbles finished their work and the two disappeared completely.

Miho pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed loudly. “Fuck.”

The prison’s metal walls groaned again and the floor’s angle slipped downwards a few more degrees. Somewhere nearby a siren began wailing.

“FUUUCK!”

Miho turned back towards Sachiko, Wakanaka and Shioreta standing behind here. “We’re getting the hell out of here before the whole place collapses on us or we get murdered by escaping inmates. Waka, Shioreta, your job is to keep us moving, look ahead for any rubble or blockages and figure out how we’re going to get around or through it. Sachiko, you’re on lookout duty, make sure nobody sneaks up on us and nothing falls on us. Now let’s get moving.”

Ace Cream · Jun 18, 2020

Aya

Aya blinked off when everything suddenly returned to normal. No pitfall, no bomb, no crushing trap, only three other genins whose supposedly want their scroll. Ah, genjutsu, nobody likes tricked by it. Aya was no exception, she might ask ask Kokoro-neesan for a genjutsu counter later.

While Shibata and Ryuuka was bickering with the trio, Aya stay silent and crept toward the back of her group, hiding behind Ryuuka's figure. She didn't like conflict, but she wasn't so naive to think that they would end up sinply walking away after pulling that kind of trick so she prepared herself, hiding both of her hands inside her sleeves and watched the other trio for any suspicious movements.

InsaneAsylum · Jun 22, 2020

Okimi Bajirisuku

"Yea... I think so."

Okimi placed her hand against the boulder pushing her self upwards as she pulled her feet beneath her. With a grunt of effort, Okimi was on her feet. "Is the bear down yet? I can still fight if you need," Okimi said to Kurio. She glared at him for a long moment before yelling, "You can fix me up after the mission is over, so get out of my face."

With that said, Okimi spit a glob of blood and saliva onto the ground beside her before beginning her climb back up the slope she had tumbled down. She didn't move incredibly fast, and looked a little stiff, but she could at least move. The burns were mainly on her arms, and a bit on her torso. Her hands weren't spared either, so forming handsigns wouldn't be easy either. perhaps it was just her stubbornness pushing her to ignore the injuries.

Meanwhile, Feurey was running towards Tsubame. The little green dragon hopped into the air, landing right on the bear's head when it tried to snap at tsubame. Feurey pressed all of his weight onto it's head before bouncing off, and running behind Tsubame. Feurey knew better than to stay close to the bear without something in between them. Peeking between tsubame's legs, Feurey let out a dull hissing sound.