Cross Roads

Since a previous thread was voided before Akari could post, a discussion behind screens concerning the voiding was done without including myself, and we have still not come to a tangible solution, our mission thread is being rewritten. Below is solid foundation for the discovery of a large shinobi army passing through the area, as well as the mission we are doing.

OOC Mandatory Info:

Mission:

It should not be that far now. Or so Akari hoped. The road to the trading camp in Takigakure had been too long to her liking, the caravan having suffered delay due to a broken wheel and a sick kid being dumb enough to eat a random mushroom found along the road. Though the assigned medic of the team, Akari was not responsible for the observation of parents upon their kids. She was already annoyed at the prolonged human disguise, but that had ran into the absurd. She was a genin, not a baby-sitter.

Crisis averted somehow, the caravan had since then continued its slow pace across the lands. Carts laden with goods, oxes pulling it forward. The caravan counted a dozen of people, a cart or three. A 'small' caravan, they called it, but to the oni even twelve people sounded difficult to watch over with just two shinobi. It'd be safe, they said, until the mushroom incident and the broken wheel made them think differently. The two shinobi of Kumogakure walking in front of and behind the caravan were keeping an eye open. Shino's bees were his eyes and ears, Akari wondering how exactly he could be so sure about himself it'd suffice to watch over the caravan, whereas Akari's years of survival allowed her to recognise a lot about the surrounding 'innocent' dangers others may not be aware of. Knowledge on flora and fauna was a welcome sort in a situation as this, even if all they intended to do was stay on the road.

But well before they even reached the trading camp of Takigakure, the oni spotted something that felt... off. To her left and her right, a trail of subtle destruction had been left. Snapped branches, broken toadstools, footmarks resting in the earth here... then strangely another set meters further. As if someone had deliberately jumped over the dirt road they were travelling to avoid detection. Not only that, but the area of impact was too large to denote a single animal, whereas the impact was too small to talk about a stampede. Halting the caravan for a moment, Akari moved to inspect the couple of foot marks in the dirt. Human tracks. The distance between the two impossible for a civilian. The work of a trained man. Bandit? Ranger? Shinobi? Too many options just yet to confirm its identity.

"Wait here for a moment. There's something odd about this place."

Fearing a possible preparation for an ambush on the cart, Akari jumped into the nearby trees, then moved from one to another. Finding more broken branches, small open patches within the canopy where leaves had tumbled down as humans jumped in and out. She couldn't find anyone at first sight, the sound of nature not instantly betraying impending danger. But one thing was sure, there were few humans she knew about that jumped in and out of trees. Shinobi had been here. Not just one, but a rather large amount of them. The question was only... why? Squads generally counted four members, this movement hinted at more than one squad. Leaving her assumptions for what they were, she'd return to the caravan and move to Shino.

"There's been excessive activity here. It hints at shinobi movement but they could be trained bandits or rangers too. I don't see anything that looks like an ambush, but do you think you could use your bees to double-check?"

Leaving Shino with a task he was better equipped for, Akari would then walk over to the leader of the caravan who had been eyeing her with a hint of worry. The question burned in his eyes with every step she came closer, until he could finally ask her what was going on.

"We suspect a possible ambush. Since we are too far still from the trade camp it's better to hold up and be prepared."

He nodded in understanding despite the worry, and so did Akari. They were far from home. She could survive on her own just fine but watching over a caravan and making sure a dozen of civilians survived was a total different story.

Supporting information:

ooc: entering thread with Reaction over ration for -1 intel in exchange for +1 perception giving me B rating Perception, easily beating satomi's C rating coordination and matching the B rating coordination of the 30+ npc's.

IC:
Shinoskay wasnt much for talking, as he dutifully followed with the caravan and maintained his assigned task, like a bee assigned to go find honey, it was his task to watch for threats and so even as internal issues occurred with the caravan the boy maintained having 2 of his puppet eyes floating around the area. roughly 10 meters high as stated in our kumo thread, they had a great view of the terrain as the group passed through, in fact he had noticed the discrepancies moments before Akari did.... however, given that Shinoskay was more focused on watching for movement even though he was hyper focusing in a state of reaction over ration, he did not think too much of it since it was just strange tracks.

When Akari drew attention to it, Shinoskay stopped hyper focusing on scouting to look over the tracks. Furrowing his brow, he would glance to the right and left almost half haphazardly. Much like Akari had noticed, he too would see in that he could tell nature was active several meters beyond them, keeping a clear distance from them since they were moving rather loudly and the wild like to avoid things that make a lot of noise on account that it often meant something very, very, big and scary was passing through... which usually meant a predator. With the Caravan stopped, he was able to hear the distance a little better. Here and there, spread out through the area, was his bee's as well... the real reason for his sweep. Not a single one indicated anything out of place beyond the established perimeter, they indicated there was the smell of fire in the air but it was far off.

The boy would lower his head, drawing his chin down while rubbing his lips and still glancing around, indicative of uncertainty and contemplation but his bee's and his own ability to perceive, as well as when he was focused on scanning the area, no one without any skill were waiting or hiding in the area. The boy also did not sense anyone, either there was one or two very skilled shonobi hiding here for some unknown reason or no one was here... in the case of a shinobi, their was nothing they could do about it anyways so he decided it was best to assume no one was here.

Moving to the war path, Shinoskay knelt down and looked across where it started from and where it went towards, from his puppet eye he could see the trail from a birds eye view to see where the ground was smoothed unnaturally from a great many steps and where the grass and reeds had been flattened over. If this was wild life then they would have grazed too rather then just brush through but he saw no signs of grazing. It was possible some beasts were trying to run away from something but like akari he could see the spacing was too unnatural, it looked like something he was only able to do with his jutsu to leap across distances. When his bee's informed him of damage in the trees where the bark was smoothed on the branches and where weapons brushed against the bark... it was clear a group of people traveled through here and they were making a point to stay together.... as well as to get somewhere in a hurry.

Making another glance around, this time looking for a different reason, shinoskay willed his bee's to find a good food source and within seconds they relayed to him a decent spot of wild flowers just off this make shift trail. While talking to the bee's, he would focus more in on his critical thinking over the situation rather then his readiness to move... trading speed for intelligence to give him 1 tier higher int.

Moving over to it, the boy quickly found what he was looking for in the form of local bee's. The kamizuru use to be famous in this region and so there had been a large effort to cultivate bee's, this has diminished over the past generation or so but there was still a strong population where there was food. After spending a moment with these bee's, he was able to confirm some 30+ people had passed through. The bee's were not the best at descriptions but he could at least get that they smelled like they came from the southern part of the continent and had the sent of a rival colony on them from down that way.

Based on the direction of the trail, and the indication of south, it was clear the origin was the land of fire.

The descriptions of the uchiha emblems, as has been clearly detailed in satomi's posts numerous times for at least on himself, made it clear that these where konoha shinobi as the Uchiha was a legendary and exclusive clan to konoha. It was possible they were just pretending to be Uchiha but the bee's only clearly saw the emblem on one of the shinobi, if you wanted to make it look like someone else was doing something then you needed more of a presence then that... this seemed more like one uchiha leading a large group of shinobi. The smell of fire coming downwind from that direction was troubling, the smoke wasnt thick but it was enough that the bee's could catch it in the air... wildlife needed to catch these early signs or else they'd get caught in wild fires and die.

Dismissing the local bee(s) he would then turn back to akari, "No ambush, not from whoever made this trail. It seems a group went that way lead by a man with a red topped, white bottomed, and handled circle, emblem on them. There is the smell of fire in the air and they came from the direction of the land of fire. Roughly 30, probably more, passed through. There is subtle damage and signs of movement through the trees.... it was strange that they were so sloppy but based on how light they moved and how little a sign of their passage we have it is clear they were skilled."

While Shino did his part, Akari waited on the top of the middle cart. Eyes and ears open just in case. Shino would look entranced or pensive, it was rather hard to say, the bees moving as he shared his commands and will. Time would trickle by, the possibility of an ambush subsiding as it felt like whoever hidden person was taking their time. Though it was not impossible for an ambusher to wait until alertness faltered again, years of survival instinct didn't quite register a sense of hostility either. Nature itself was acting as if there was nothing wrong, the chirp of birds continuing leisurely and the oxes seemed too calm to hint at the presence of a predator.

Shino would eventually confirm this as he returned, describing a symbol of sorts that sounded like that of the illustrious Uchiha. The smell of fire along with the trail leading back to the Land of Fire enforced the idea that an Uchiha could be involved. Their clan was native to Konohagakure. What didn't sit well with her was the large amount. Thirty or so Uchiha, or shinobi, was too much for a simple mission or a patrolling squad. This was something of a greater scale, leaving the oni to wonder why such a force would move so far from Konoha. They were in the Land of Waterfalls here. A land neither part of the Land of Fire, nor that of the Land of Earth.

Looking in the direction where the footprints lead to, it was easily assumed they moved towards the Land of Earth, where another great Hidden Village lurked. Thirty people going in that direction bordered towards the crazy idea that the Konohagakure was searching to invade Iwagakure. Though shinobi politics were not quite her thing, the oni was smart enough to understand the impact of such an act of war. If such were the actions of Konohagakure even the possibility of such an insane reality warranted filing a report to Kumo's Administration. However, basing it merely on a carved path across the Land of Waterfalls was poor proof if anything.

"That's a lot of people for a patrol...", Akari said musing. "But whatever Konoha's doing is not our business, right? If there's no danger for the caravan, we should move on. Get our mission over and done with before we poke our noses in affairs above our heads."

Not that she wasn't curious but she didn't survive the wilds for years by meddling in the affairs of mountain lions when she looked like an appetiser to them. Thirty or so warmongers, even if they were genin rank, was far too much for them to deal with. Only once the caravan was at destination, the two unburdened by slowly advancing carts, they would stand a chance to confirm their assumptions. Not that Akari personally cared much about the intel Kumo had or didn't have. She was fine as it was, living in an area protected by secrets, doing some tasks for pay and enjoying her life on the rough streets. 'Home' was where she slept, loyalty only to her own life.

"Shall we move on?"

---

Shinoskay kept his eye trained towards the direction the strange trail moved towards as he listened to akari, "I cannot reconcile with the idea that this is just some patrol, the path is too off and determined... never mined the smoke in the direction they went towards. Something got hit... " He could see a great deal of smoke rising from one section of mountains but with how spread it was he couldn't determine its origin. While his propensity strongly leaned towards investigating he would concede to the Oni, as he was not the only one here and if they got into trouble he wasn't sure he would be able to keep her out of harms way.

So, thus, they would finish out the escort.

Akari nodded at the statement made.

"I don't believe it is a patrol either but that raise the danger we may be facing if we investigate. Whatever happened, thirty people is beyond us, no matter how we put it."

As Shino lingered some longer to watch the smoke in the distance, Akari moved to nudge the caravan back into action. With a confirmation there would no ambush, there was no longer a need to defend and so the caravan marched on again. Three carts, six oxes and a dozen of people moved forward again. For a while, Akari would take the front guard, but turning her head she caught a glimpse of determination within the eyes of her team member. The oni would sigh, recognising a stubbornness inherent to herself in certain times. Moving to the back, she'd tug on his sleeve rather irritated.

"Come on. Move, or I'm leaving you behind. No point in checking it out while we got a caravan on our shoulders."

Whether he moved at that point or not, Akari ran back to the front to check for further signals of possible danger. The road was still long but she believed she could see something in the distance that looked like flag poles and a couple of buildings. Hopefully that was the trading camp...

---

60 XP + 15 XP (mission)
[EXIT], travel as following Takigakure -> Barren -> Otogakure.
-50 chakra fast travel through two minor countries, D-rank speed (16 hr travel)

It eased the boys mind to hear her confirmation that she too felt it was more then a patrol, and she was right in expressing the concern of trying to investigate such numbers. He tried to scan the mountain range for any activity and to spot where the smoke was coming from but it just wasn't showing itself to him. He knew she was right, he pushed the idea into his mind, the best move was to move on.

As the caravan began to move once again, his mind returned to his sense of duty and as she took a hold of his cloth and nudged him he reluctantly began to move again, another glance around showed that his bee's had spotted any change in the area, with one last glance off at the mountain range he would continue on with the task.

They would drop off the caravan, no incidents involved, it was good that the journey went uneventful and shinoskay didnt here anyone talk about his interactions with bee's so he managed to disguise that well enough. The Kamizuru are thought to long since be gone and he was a mikiri so it gave him an edge for most to think of him as just a skill shinobi with an odd quirk or two.

Shortly after dropping off the caravan they would then take to making some distance from the land, if Konoha had made a war path through to the land of earth then the two did not want to be anywhere in between that conflict.

[EXIT], travel as following Takigakure -> Barren -> Otogakure.
Dropping con down 1 tier for 1 tier of stamina, putting his stamina at C, shino pushes his body to keep up with
-50 chakra fast travel through two minor countries. 50-90 =40

[Interruption voided/failed. More than 8 hours passed between our and your post, we are no longer in Takigakure]

Since this hasnt been mass voided yet, to prevent further interruptions or attempts to 48 hour us... I will post now to cover this thread and to attempt to ultimately prevent the efforts against us.

Since akari has posted that she is out, gone, done... yet because I do not want to leave her to anyones will but hers on how her char ends (same with me and mine), I am going to carry her char out with mine.

The chang mounts that houses iwa is in the south east of the land of earth, Konoha is south-south east of land of waterfall. Any and all people entering this thread would have to do so from the south west or the south south east.
Since I traded con for stam after exit, and the exit was interrupted the stat trade is voided.
Shinoskay had been using his bee's as a scouting network both while traveling and while they where stationary anywhere, for kanna to approach she would either need to stop more then 500 meters away to stay out of his bee's range or she would have to have been noticed the moment she entered that range. Since she made not effort of stealth, in fact making a 'power walk' job the moment she noticed them, she would either be seen just outside of 500 meters away or just inside... I am find with whichever she wants to choose but at best she would only be able to get 350 meters close to me before my bee's notice and alert me. Since she made no indication of dealing with the bee's, they would be able to alert me without her stopping me. I recognize that these bee's were established as a player agree'd element between me and akari though so they wiil only be there to scout and will not be available to me for any conflicts.

The moment shinoskay was alerted to the approach of another, coming through the forest from the direction of konoha, from the south of his posiiton, as Kanna was at least semi following the path of the anbu even if not directly (a path dictated by gin to be from the south part of taki as the steppes are in the southern part), Shinoskay would not waste any time allowing her to approach. besides, they were genin outside of their village and kanna was a shinobi from another village and kumo had no allies, nothing good could come from such an exchange, for the genin, no matter the circumstances and so... with no one else within 500 meters but kanna... Shinoskay would immediately focus all of his efforts on getting the two out of there. Kanna was heading north west ward since thats the path the anbu took but her path would take her close enough to see them so stealth was entirely pointless at this time, He already had his chakra threads attached to his puppet as he had been using it, He would immediately focus all his efforts towards moving the puppet that was right next to him, with akari on the other side of it, spending power point for S tier coordination and spending chakra into nimble fingers for S plus plus to direct the puppet to grab Shinoskay and akari, placing shinoskay on the puppets thorax saddle and akari in the abdomen space, while immediately turning to fly north east ward and upward as S plus plus speed. Anyone trying to enter would come from the south, whether south south east or south west, and so the escape route would be clear. As the puppet was directed to grab shinoskay, he would also form 50 bee's and direct them to move into the area he was leaving and his puppet eyes would trail 40 meters behind him, using his sensory he would be able to use the puppet eyes and the bee's to block any incoming attacks as well as to block anyone from approaching him and he would use sensory only to direct these defenses. He would not stop for anything, he would not respond to conversation, unless he was killed he was solely determined to leave and if anything would manage to kill him then fate would intervene and a power point would prevent any of that. His sole determination was to leave and nothing else. 5 bee's would break off from the 50, per threat, to attack any threats that moved to pursue Shinoskay and akari from anywhere closer then 150m. As a final contingency, two of the wings of shinoskays puppet will actively move to block anything from hitting shinoskay and one of his puppet eyes would be in his hand so if he is somehow taken from the sky then he will continue, alone as he will be unable to save akari at that point, at the same coordination to speed, using the puppet eye, to pull him from the thread and out. Shinoskay is using tree climbing to keep from falling off his puppet. the priority, though, was to dodge attacks and to only block when unable to dodge.

~Exiting taking Akari with me ----> 3.5 miles high over Barrens 12 hours - (coordination/puppet speed)C/8 = 4 or - (speed)D/4 = 8 ---> 3.5 miles high over land of lightning/kumo half maybe half major? 0 (if no travel time needed) or 24 hours(if half major country time needed)~
-25 chakra fast travel through one minor country. 25-50 =25
Spent 2 on nimble fingers
spent .5 on Apis Cerana
spent 1 for Puppet Technique
spent .5 for sensory