Breakthrough

The rhino gang were the first ones into the new block. The rest of the prison assault force were starting to make their way through the opening. Most of them weren't as fast as the rhino. And those that were made sure not to get in its way. That rhino had done all kinds of nasty things to a lot of guards and criminals alike on the way there.

The enemy took notice of the rhino gang and started to close in. Several clones from one of the main people rushed on ahead with insane speed. Izumi thought of her as one of the main people because she was up towards the front with all the other leaders of this whole thing. She still didn't know who did what or led who or really anything about these people. It's lucky for her that a prison break isn't any super complicated thing. She didn't need to be an experienced criminal to give it her best.

The guards paid more attention to the rhino and its riders than they did the speedy clones or the rest of the criminal group. It was obviously a large and dangerous animal. That meant it could cause a lot of casualties. So the smart move would be to take it out first, if at all possible. The guards wielding spears came to the front and pointed them at the rhino. The rhino roared and started to rear back. The lieutenant tried to swing out with his weapon and knock the enemy spears aside, but the rhino made it impossible. The beast kept moving about and kicking its head back, which put its rider just out of reach to do any good.

Frustrated, the lieutenant forced the rhino into a charge, hoping it would straighten the rhino out long enough to get rid of those pesky spears. That's when a guard threw a spear at the rhino's shoulder. The rhino yelled out super loud. Izumi squinted. She was instantly mad when she heard the rhino in pain. She jumped off of it and went after the guards herself. This was the moment she really implicated herself in all of this, but she had a disguise. More importantly, she wasn't going to just sit there while a poor defenseless animal got butchered.

Izumi ran as fast as she could towards the first guard. It was the one that threw the spear from the rhino's right. She went to throw a punch, but he moved first. She swatted his fist to the side and at the same time bopped him in the nose. The guard coughed and haphazardly lumbered back, gripping his nose. He was probably going to make some snide comment at Izumi, but she didn't let him. She went ahead and swept out his footing and jumped on his chest. Her heel pushed into that soft spot between the stomach and chest cage. The guard grunted when all of the air left his body. Then, Izumi leaped off of him.

The rest of the criminals were catching up by then. Some of them would probably finish that guard off. Izumi wouldn't like that if she knew, but she was too caught up in fighting to think about any of that. She jumped right into another guard, leading with her fist. She caught the guy unaware and knocked him flat on his side. Then she moved on to the next one.

After those first two, Izumi got into a rhythm. She ran through the spear wielding guards at a blitz pace. Every swing they took she countered. Every dodge she thwarted. Every single one of those spear guys met her fists and were on the ground afterwards. It was too late already. She looked back and saw the rhino all poked up with spears. The poor thing was about to die. That only made Izumi madder.

Criminals started to work their way past her as the guards continued to fall. There was an opening in their rush that started at the back end of the rhino. It continued all the way past Izumi and in a big circle around her, where a bunch of guards were looking to team up on her. They saw that she was kinda tough, so more numbers made their chances more likely. The criminals saw a bunch of guards that weren't getting in their way. So they let them be, thinking it all the problem of the unfortunate person in the middle of that circle.

The first one rushed and Izumi knocked him out so fast that nobody else tried that. Instead, they all charged in at once. Izumi took a deep breath and got to work. She sparred against a lot of people in one-on-one matches ever since she was in the academy. Then she had a mission with Hiroshi, where he used some shadow clones to try and overwhelm her Taijutsu. Izumi managed to make it out of that, but just barely. Because of that, she went to her older brother and asked to train with clones. He agreed, of course, and she got her butt handed to her over and over again. She never did win. But she did get a whole lot of practice with fighting more than one person.

The huge difference with her brother's clones and these guys is that the clones were in perfect harmony, since they were the same person. These guys weren't even playing the right notes. Izumi fought off everyone to her front and sides, but she didn't have to do much. She'd dodge and jump to make sure nobody caught her from behind. That led to most of the guards just punching each other instead of her. She found it easy to turn just about all of their own fighting against themselves. They were just super uncoordinated as a team. By the end of it, there was a bunch of guys on the ground in different spots around her. Most of them had broken and bloody noses, as well as fists covered in nose blood. Izumi had none, because they basically beat each other up.

The little girl from Konoha ran along in her disguise into the criminal horde. Once again, she was way behind the front. All that fighting took too long. The other guys made a whole lot of progress while she was there. She was too short to see how far, but she was going a bit faster than most so that she could catch up and see. They might've had the next wall down by the time she got there.

Balerion flew over the gates and landed right by the entrance. Raijin got up off the dragon and slid off of his back onto the ground. The Sage clone had gone ahead and was with front of the forces. The Sage clone could see a prison guard running up to interrupt his charge. The clone sped up going full speed, to fast for the guard to see. He stuck an arm out and clotheslined the guard in the neck, crushing his throat. He flipped in mid-air and landed on the ground, knocked cleanly out. Sage clone continued without missing a beat, they had to get through the walls fast. No one here besides Nozomi could even hope to breech these walls in a timely manner.

And as Raijin proved he was going to be the Society and Merryweather's Juggernaut. The real Bayushi was behind the army, he gave Balerion a respectful nod, and the summon disappeared. In a puff of smoke the great and battered dragon had returned to his lands. The real Raijin was able to gather himself when the last stragglers came through the entrance. He opened his bag and took out some cheap liquor. He took a mighty swig of the drink in one go, and put the empty bottle back in his bag. Shaking his head he'd smack his face and readied himself. Then would follow along, letting his clone do most of the work as he went to catch up.

The Sage clone sped past the fighting, the guards could hardly keep up with him. Just as he did with Wall B. Wall C would suffer the same fate. Running up to the closed gates the rest of the criminals were already pushing their way there. There were four guards there in front, and they noticed the clone stopping about ten meters away. The gate was another ten meters behind them. They were startled at first but began to regain their senses and their face filled with rage. The clone would began the second state transformation again.

Forming many appendages on his body. The body began to turn grey and scaly as well. Like before, Raijin focused the booster appendages towards the guards and the gates. Summoning a great amount of nature chakra in his blast, it skyrocketed forward. The guards would have no idea the blast was coming even with the slight pause to gather the energy, they were not quick enough to realize. There was another blast of pure nature energy that shot forward and widely. It completely incinerated the four guards as it was wide enough to consume them. The blast would slam into Wall C's gates and crash straight through it. The entire front gate was blown backwards with the force his power. Sending large pieces of debris backwards into Block C's area. The clone would jump backwards a few meters to retreat. His form began to change to normal.

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

Sage Clone: -10 NCP =  55 CP | 20/30 NCP (UA)
Jutsu used:

Spoiler:

Raijin: 55 CP | 30/30 NCP
Cheap Liquor countdown: 1

[Exit-to Block C]

"Do we know what breached Wall Rose's gates? Over."

"Our squads are busy trying to contain and eliminate the maximum number of enemies before they cross through Wall Maria to Block B, but earlier reports seemed to indicate it was some sort of massive chakra blast. They were completely unprepared and are now trying to contain damage, over."

"Have them retreat if they must, there's no need to throw their lives away there. If the wall is breached, it's breached. We weren't hired to guard walls. Also, make sure you're prepared for the same kind of attack this time. There's a chance it might be different...but I'm willing to bet it won't. Over."

"I'll take that bet boss, equipment maintenance responsabilities for a week? "

Akihiro smirked as he approached the wall and began running upwards using chakra on the bottom of his feet to stick to the enormous stones which composed the last line of defense besides the actual castle. "You got it Raven." The black haired woman also smirked behind her raven mask. The unit wasn't standing on the actual gate but rather about 10 meters to the left side of the gate depending on which individual we refer to. Raven, like Akihiro, was also using chakra to stand on the interior side of the wall. She was about 12 meters away from the gate, following the wall. Akihiro would pass about 20 meters nerxt to her, 32 meters away from the gates on his way up towards the top of the wall.

Owl was a tall man, actually standing on top of the wall many meters above Raven. "You see them already Owl?" Akihiro would whisper through the radio towards the man on top while he himself ran up. "Aye, they're coming. You're early." That was to be expected. The distance separating the castle from Wall Sina was much smaller than the 6,000 meters which separated Wall Maria from Wall Rose. Of course Akihiro had the advantage of time.- Not to mention most of his opponent's major players were approaching with the rear of their forces rather than the vanguard. That added to the difference in distances made it only natural they got here after the Sparrow. He quickly joined the top of the wall with Owl, but as soon as he got there he made a single hand-seal and activated the Sparrow's Mirror technique.

Compared to the size of that wall they were already two minuscule things which one would need to look for carefully on top of the wall. But now they were literally invisible to the world around them as a barrier with a 5 meters radius changed the way light reflected when it hit it, making the two ninjas inside the barrier invisible to the outside world while everything else looked the same. Only after activating the Sparrow's mirror and his Sharingan did Akihiro's clone and Owl step a couple of meters forward to take a better look down there. Before they had been protected by the huge thickness of the wall, which made it so that if one was standing roughly in the middle of the walkway it became impossible to see or be seen by those who were within 1km of the wall. This was due to the wall's sheer height and thickness, and nothing more. As he stepped forward, Akihiro made a single handseal and also activated his sensing technique.

By this time, his sharingan noticed a familiar figured blasting through the poor guards with taijutsu skills. It wasn't too hard to spot him even amongst the confusion because he was giving out one hell of a show blitzing through the guards like they were made out of paper. "I would not like to be caught in that..." was a thought which crossed the young Sparrow's mind.. Akihiro's tomoes twirled as he zoomed in on the man (or rather the man's clone). He quickly whispered to his team. "Target of interest approaching, 100 meters. Name Bayushi Sojima 5th place at the World Tournament. Be ready, over."

"Roger that. " Nigghtingale, the 3rd member of the squad was also "glued" to the interior side of the wall, 40 meters above the gates and ready to fall on anyone who came through.

The clone would blitz through a few more guards with the real Bayushi following behind, Akihiro zoomed out again as he approached. He quickly noticed there were two- not only did they chakra signatures feel exactly the same but they also looked quite similar to his sharingan. The clone kept rushing ahead towards the gate, until it suddenly stopped about twenty meters away from the gates. His skin began to change. Akihiro had seen this before. "Oh shit, brace yourselves for impact!" Akihiro radioed in the warning, he hadn't seen this particular technique, but it wasn't a long shot to assume something was about to happen.

That warning was probably what kept Raven and Nightingale from falling as the blast completely decimated the four guards and the gates. But Mockingbird was prepared. Since the blast only affected the gates and didn't bring down the wall above them, they were both relatively safe from the schrapnel. If only the same could be said about those guards... "Poor bastards..." another thought crossed his mind. But his mind worked very fast and many thoughts crossed it. Right now, he didn't have time for pity. "Raven, go! 13 meters towards the gate, eleven o'clock."

Before the dust had even settled and as soon as the shcrapnel blasted out of the way, Raven jumped towards the gate making a single hand-seal and firing a Katon technique at Raijin's clone (and Raijin who was behind him). It was the Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire technique and it came blasting through the hole which was once occupied by the gates. "Nightningale you're up."

"Yeah I know." And with a set of hand-seals he would lay the first foundations for the Sly Mind Affect technique around the gate area.

By all means Akihiro seemed to have the upper hand here. He was hidden, could perfectly see his target, could sense his chakra and thus his intentions and he was well equipped to warn his team of dangers via radio. Mockingbird had come prepared.

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

NOTE: I mentioned "Akihiro" a bunch of times referring to his Kage Bunshin. This was to avoid writting "Akihiro's clone" all the time. But keep in mind that the Akihiro here is only a Kage Bunshin

Used: Sensory 150m range -0.5
Sharingan 3rd tomoe -0.2
Sparrow's Mirror- E-rank cost at this range -1

70 CP - 1.7 = 68.3 left

Kage Bunshin stats:
Strength: D
Constitution: C
Stamina: B-rank
Speed: C
Coordination: C
Intelligence: S
Perception: B+ >>> S+ (Sharingan)

Raven, Nightingale and Owl Stats:
Strength: C
Constitution: B
Stamina: C
Speed: B
Coordination: B
Intelligence: C
Perception: B

Raven Stamina:
110 -10 (Great Dragon Fire) = 100

Nightingale:
110-5 (Sly mind) = 105

Owl:
110

The gates exploded just like the last wall did. Izumi was surprised that things were going so easy, but she felt like that was about to change. A giant bird flew over the walls. It came from the main castle, which meant it was part of the defense. Izumi reasoned that it must be a summon. If they had people powerful enough to use that kind of stuff, why hadn't they been out already? They could have been waiting for the horde to get this far, but then why would the bird fly past them? It would've been here at block B, instead of going to block A. Izumi didn't like it. They had to have been doing something important enough to them to not come out when the lightning struck. It's not like everybody didn't hear it or something.

She looked back towards the gates, then towards the bird passing over the wall behind her. She didn't like the idea of having enemies to the rear of the force. That might lead to trouble later on, especially when they needed to escape. But if she turned back to fight the big bird thing, then their progress might get halted up front. That would split their forces. They couldn't afford to do that. Not with how dangerous this whole thing already was.

Izumi kept on going towards the gates. She got ahead of a lot of the criminals, but plenty were already starting to rush through the open hole. But then a big ball of fire burst through. A bunch of them caught on fire and probably were gonna die. Most of them were able to jump out of the way. Luckily, there was a whole lot more where they came from. And Izumi wasn't entirely sure how she felt about it. She wanted to be upset with the guards for killing people like that, but the criminals had done some similar things to guards all the way here. It's like she didn't really care for either side. But since she found herself on this end of the battle, she had to keep pressing on. That meant rooting for the criminals to succeed and allowing herself to feel angry at their turmoil.

The fireball had faded away by the time Izumi got there. Criminals were all around her and Bayushi. Most of them kept fighting the remaining guard presence in the block. Others were waiting to see what would happen next, so as not to get caught in another blazing death. Still, a few rushed in anyway. They figured that, with everyone else scared, they'd be the first ones to free the prisoner. Izumi kinda figured how that was gonna go. So she was one of the ones waiting, blending in with the crowd so that no attention was drawn to her. She didn't wanna make a scene just yet and get targeted by whoever else was back there. She did have to admit to getting excited at the first sign of real resistance.

New enemies were upon them. After the Sage clone destroyed Wall C, there was jubilation from the destruction of gates among the criminals. They began to pour in ahead of the clone, and he retreated back some ways. It was a good idea as there was a fireball shaped like a dragon, that came crashing through the smoke.

It collided with the criminals and incinerated them but kept going at Raijin. The Sage clone to safely dash sideways fifteen meters avoiding the blast radius completely. The smoke cleared by the gate and he was able to see someone standing there. The Sage clone looked around as it skidded into a halt. But saw no one else. There was a fight among them. The Sage clone readied himself as the army continued charging in past the man.

The real Raijin was about a thousand meters away behind the army as he had stated before. And continued to move with tail of the army.

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

Sage Clone: 55 CP/55 CP | 30/30 NCP



Raijin: 55 CP/55 | 30/30 NCP

Cheap Liquor countdown: 2

Not everything had gone quite accordingly to Akihiro's plan. He had been hoping for their target to rush right through the gates just like he had rushed through the distance separating the two walls before, and into the fireball. But alas they wouldn't be so lucky.  Not everything was bad news tho- the assault on the gate had been completely stopped. And even tho Raijin had managed to dodge the fire dragon technique, it had went on and decimated quite a few bandits. Not just the ones it touched but also those foolish enough to allow the technique to pass nearby. The Great Dragon Fire was incredibly hot and it took less than the lick of its flames to burn skin and cloth. The technique eventually dissipated, having eaten away a bunch of targets.

Upon examing it, Akihiro wondered if it would be possible to create a fire jutsu that would grow stronger upon being fed bodies with chakra. He entertained that possibility for a second before his mind was back in the fight. It was an idea with potential but one he would need to pursue later. His sharingan eyes focused on the clone which had managed to dash sideways and avoid the fire.

Meanwhile, Raven was completely obliterating everyone who dared step into the gates. She was standing "under" the wall, on the hole which had once been occupied by the gates. With swift movements, she disarmed the first two men who rushed in after the fireball and had been using their wakizashi to completely decimate whoever tried to pass through. She wasn't particularly trained in Kenjutsu, but she had received formal training by the Mockingbird and that made her infinitely superior to the cannon fodder the attackers were throwing at her. Piles of bodies were beginning to form around her, and with each step she would mark the floor with bloody footsteps originated from the pools of blood she was drawing. After about 20 men had died, they began to hesitate. "Should I pursue the earlier target?" She'd whisper through the radio.

"Don't bother. It's a clone. As long as we hold the gate here their number will dwindle." Akihiro replied. The Shadow Clone technique could not fool his Sharingan eyes. The attackers had made two breaches, a single one on each wall. This made their attacking pattern quite easy to read and as they charged towards this new breach the prison army moved in response. Yes, it was naive to think that a building funded by several nations and which housed plenty of major crminals was guarded by anything less than a professional army.

From east, and west of the attacking rogue army, two battalions would now approach and hit them. The army led by Raijin had been charging at the gate, and had its flanks exposed. The initial impact was brutal bloodshed for the attacking side which only got worse when the archers on top of the wall above the gate began raining fire down upon them. They couldn't retreat to either side because they were being pushed there, but they couldn't go back either since the rest of the army was still charging. It was a reckless and dangerous tactic, that of the attackers, and that was now coming back to bite them. After they had broken through the first breach they had done nothing but charge forward and that had turned the army into a sort of disorganized column which was frankly a mess. Not to mention they had been running full on ahead for over 6 Kilometers to reach this gate, while the defending army had been biding its time and waiting for the right moment to strike. They had conceded the first wall and even the ground between it and the second. But now was the time to strike. And strike they did, with brutal efficiency. The difference in the remaining stamina of the men being quite obvious. The prison army was fresh, while the attacking army was winded. Additionally, the army which had once been tasked with defending huge portions of land and wall as now converging on the enemy from all sides, while the enemy had to face one choke point at the first breach and now another one at the gate. The rogue army was at a massive disadvantage. Meanwhile, Izumi had also entered Akihiro's sensory range, and he took note of her presence. Although he did not recognize her, her chakra pool was considerably superior to that of those around her and that made her stand out.

Akihiro's eyes watched the slaughter but he wasn't looking at it for fun. He was looking for a target, which he suspected was... "Found ya..." Akihiro smirked behind the mask. Their target hadn't even gone through the effort of disguising himself while following behind the tail of the army. There were a lot of people there but Akihiro's insane perception and the information gathering ability of the Sharingan combined with the information processing ability of his mind allowed him to quickly spot the real Raijin which was now 700 meters away from the gates and right in the middle of the prison army's pincer attack mess. Now that his eyes had him, be wouldn't be escaping anytime soon. "Target acquired, roughly 700 meters of Raven's 12. Take note of a second target of interest, 30 meters of Raven's 12. Over."

So now Raijin's clone was 12 meters away from the gate, having dashed sideways to Raven's right side. Izumi was 30 meters away from Raven but she hadn't dashed sideways and thus was right in front of Raven and the gates. Meanwhile, the real Raijin was 700 meters behind all that mess.

To the army defending the gates or the Mockingbird's squad, Izumi was one amongst many. She looked like perhaps the poorest of bandits and nothing like a professional soldier. This meant there was no outstanding traits which Akihiro could immediately use to identify her to the rest of the squad. "Smart..." Akihiro would have probably used a similar tactic. But the description of "30 meters of Raven's 12" was enough to limit the search for Izumi to her and the other 3 targets which also fit that description. "Owl."

A single word was enough, the man standing next to Akihiro made a set of hand-seals in rapid succession and created 30 fireballs above him, which rained with the arrows down on the opponents. They would swarm the area where Izumi was and a large chunk of the area around her position as well. Each one of the fireballs covered a 5 meters range once they impacted the ground and exploded.

The fact that there were thirty of them meant the jutsu could cover 150 meters in burning fire explosions. This made it more effective than any arrow and completely decimated the attacking army. From 5 meters in front of Raven and beyond that, the area was swarmed in a massive rain of fireballs which exploded on impact putting the clone, Izumi and many others in danger while they were being pincered by the prison's army. Owl was skilled enough to focus his fire and avoid causing any major damage to the prison army while decimating the enemy.

Of course they could try to outrun the fireballs. But when Owl fired the technique and as soon as it was aimed, Nightingale's Genjutsu kicked in. It would affect everyone's sense of direction which meant that they would not be able to run where they intended and this left them in serious risk of injury and with a very high chance of being hit by the fireballs. The Sly Mind Affect technique had an 80 meters range and even some rogues at the edge of this area could now be seen running towards the prison army's spearmen in panic and impaling themselves on their spears.

Of course, this also affected the prison army. But they knew better by now than to rush the area so as they saw the fireballs raining down they stood their ground and held their position instead of trying to move.
Akihiro couldn't help but watch with satisfaction as they were obliterating the vanguard of the army with a simple jutsu. The Genjutsu didn't affect him, as it could be easily broken by the Sharingan. Owl kai'd out quietly while Raven held her ground.


OOC stuff:

Used: Sensory 150m range -0.5
Sharingan 3rd tomoe -0.2
Sparrow's Mirror- E-rank cost at this range -1
Discernment Sharingan Ability - 0.2

68.3 CP - 1.9 = 66,4 left

Kage Bunshin stats:
Strength: D
Constitution: C
Stamina: B-rank
Speed: C
Coordination: C
Intelligence: S
Perception: B+ >>> S+ (Sharingan)

Raven, Nightingale and Owl Stats:
Strength: C
Constitution: B
Stamina: C
Speed: B
Coordination: B
Intelligence: C
Perception: B

Raven Stamina:
100

Nightingale:
105-5 (Sly mind) = 100

Owl:
110 - 15 (Fire Release: Demon Lantern and Kai) = 95

Something changed in the air. Izumi couldn't put her finger on it until she heard a bunch of screams coming from the East. They were being attacked from the side! Then more screams! They were being attacked from the other side, too! It looked like the whole thing was just a giant trap. But how many of their own people did they intend to sacrifice for the sake of this trap? They could've sprung it back in the first block and saved many of their own lives. Maybe they just didn't care.

With no escape to the left or the right, Izumi was left with the front and the rear. She had seen a gigantic bird flying to the back, where the first block was. Come to think of it, she hadn't seen the clones of that one girl around. Those two must still be fighting back there, she figured. They were probably stronger than her. So while it was still an option for retreat, she didn't think it was a very good one. That really only left the front. But in the front there was this girl beating up everybody. She was taking down the entire army all by herself! She was super tough. Izumi probably couldn't beat her. She kind of liked her chances with the side armies better.

But she couldn't just stand there and do nothing. She'd spent this entire mission just following along and doing what little she was forced into. But now the prison guards had shown themselves as the true bad guys. They had killed so many of the criminals and caused the deaths of even more of their own just because they wanted to set traps. What little doubt this left in Izumi's mind was squashed when she heard the start of flames and saw the flickering of lights. She looked up and saw a bunch of fireballs shooting up from the top of the wall. Those were gonna incinerate everyone! How evil could these people be? She thought the people locked up in prison were supposed to be the bad guys, but here it was obviously the other way around.

Izumi shook her head and started forward. Now she fully believed in what the 'criminals' were doing. They were saving a girl, probably an innocent girl, from people that are clearly deranged. Now that she morally could, it was time for her to get fully involved. The girl from Konoha, dressed in rags, bolted into a run. She zipped through, between, and over every person in front of her to get to Raven. Raven, the girl hellbent on keeping every person in the blast radius of a killing technique. Raven, one of humanity's true enemies. Raven, standing in opposition to life.

Izumi had recognized the Genjutsu in an instant. It was basic, practical, and useless against her. It wasn't the genjutsu itself, really. It was the person who put it together so sloppily. She thought that maybe she should use one of her own. But that wouldn't show these people anything. They were monsters and needed to be treated like monsters. She wanted to break them with her hands.

Dashing too close to the wall for the fireball's range, Izumi was upon Raven before the flames had managed to fall halfway to the ground. She wanted to be engaged in battle when they hit. That way, she wouldn't have to think about how many people died and suffered until this was over. If she was in combat, the screams of those people would fuel her to push harder.

With the genjutsu released as she'd started along her way, she made it to Raven unimpeded by the masses running too far left or right to ever actually reach the gate. She made it before the fireballs hit. Now she had but to oppose the demoness blocking the blasted gate. Izumi opened with a basic front kick. She didn't want to start with anything airborne that might jeopardize her reactions. She also didn't want to get so close to Raven with a punch only to find out that her enemy was way way faster than her. With the kick, Izumi would have ample time to judge her opponent beyond what she'd seen with the others. Then, she could initiate a proper response without putting herself in harm's way. Raven's reaction to the kick aimed for her gut would determine the next series of moves. It would have no bearing on how harshly Izumi would attack in the moments to come.



Genjutsu: Kai (105/110)

With the Sage clones in a 20 meter distance away from the gates now. He was able to notice that they were besieged by attackers from many angles. There was a conjuring of thirty fireballs above the the gates out of nowhere. However Raijin could not see who had performed the jutsu. Which meant that there were hidden enemies on top of the gates. Made sense for them to attack from the top as well. He also noticed that there was a Genjutsu placed upon him, as his sense of direction was being messed with. The clone would have to act quickly. He held a single seal up as he broke into a run, and concentrated his chakra into his head. Using Kai he released the Genjutsu.

The clone also began to turn into its Second State transformation again, putting his strength in his legs this time. There he would make a made dash towards where the fireballs were fired from. There was another criminal brave enough to fight as they charged past the fire blast and went to attack Raven directly. He would be fast enough to outrun the fireballs before the landed as they only would have max range of 100 meters including the decent from the top of the gates. He reached the walls within a few moments as his speed had increased tremendously. He took a running jump a few meters away and his feet connected to the wall. There he was able to hear the pounding of the many fireballs raining on the ground. Rajiin did not stop and ran up the wall with a fierce determination. He would only get within the 5 meters before he breached the dome conjured by the Sparrows mirror. Breaking that Genjutsu immediately. Raijin would see two people standing there. He wasn't shocked as they he suspected some type of trickery.

Raijin ignored the criminals who were also wandering aimlessly into the raging blast of the Demon Lantern attack. He had more pressing matters. His eyes settled on the man called 'Owl' standing there, he was taller and seemed more of threat first. Upon reaching the top Raijin would run immediately to strike the man using his Taijutsu skills. He would reach over to punch the man in his chest. A propelled fist with boosters, but devastating if it where to hit. To the naked eye it would seem that Raijin ignored the clone of Akihiro. But he certainly didn't, his back turned slightly to him, his left shoulder would be pointed towards him. He would have to deal with him after this man was put down.

The real Raijin would be well in range now, only 150m away from the gate. He was able notice that there was a fight going down with the magnificent explosion. He stopped suddenly, noticing that they would be hindered by this battle. He started to look around for another way in. And of course there wasn't but there was a way to get across. He too began to change his form to the Second State. Putting his strength within the lower half of his body. Booster appendages began to form around his leg and feet. And he blasted off into the air reaching about 100 meters in the sky. He kept the pace up as he raced through the air and headed to the far west side of the walls.

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

Sage Clone: -5,-3 = 47 CP/55 CP | -3 = 27/30 NCP
Jutsus used: Genjutsu Kai -5, Spring chant -3, Piston Fist -1

Strength: C -> B+ (Piston Fist)
Constitution: C
Stamina: C
Speed: B -> A (Tier 1)
Coordination: B -> A (Spring Chant)
Intelligence: C
Perception: B


Raijin: 55 CP/55 | -5 = 25/30 NCP
Jutsus used: Jet Booster Jump -5

Strength: C
Constitution: C
Stamina: C
Speed: B -> A (Tier 1)
Coordination: B
Intelligence: C
Perception: B

Cheap Liquor countdown: 3

[Real Raijin exit]

"Humm, interesting..." was Akihiro's thought as he noticed two of the people under his sensory radius were no longer affected by Nightingale's chakra which had placed everyone else under the Sly Mind Affect Genjutsu. This was a rather interesting aspect indeed, because while Nightingale wasn't the brightest or most capable Genjutsu user out there it took a certain kind of Intelligence- above average really, to break out of his technique so fast. The cannon fodder had already been mostly executed by the flames earlier on but the two targets Akihiro had identified remained. He was glad to see his sensory ability and competence in guessing which targets were the most dangerous ones were still working properly. One of the two hadn0t gone through the effort of disguising himself and he obviously stood out, but the second one had been smarter and was wearing a type of disguise which made her look very similar to the cannon fodder. This led Akihiro to conclude that while the first one was more confident in his abilities and being recognized on the battlefield, the second one could be far more dangerous precisely due to how intelligently she was playing the game.

Alas, both Raijin's clone and Izumi acted and they did so very differently. Akihiro and Owl were standing on the edge of the wall and while Akihiro had been eyeing the real Raijin, his eyes suddenly turned back to the clone as soon as he sensed him breaking out of the Genjutsu so quickly. As stated earlier, Akihiro had been surprised. Akihiro's Sharingan immediately noticed the clone running towards the wall.

"Ready up Owl."
"Aye aye captain."

The man was standing right next to him, so there was little else to do in order to get ready other than prepare the necessary hand-seals for the next technique. You see, Akihiro had been the one to create the Sparrow's Mirror. It was his own technique and as such he naturally knew its strengths and weaknesses. The Sparrow's mirror did not cover chakra signatures, and that meant it had a fundamental weakness. A weakness Akihiro was well aware of and one which made it naive to think Akihiro had never considered the possibility of anyone charging him within his illusionary dome. But anyone charging them while they were inside the barrier would also find one of the technique's greatest strengths.

Akihiro examined the path the clone was taking. It was quite simple, pretty straightforward. Additionally he seemed to be running at a maximum speed- which made his speeda regular constant. That allied to the straightforward single-line movement his target had chosen to take, allowed Akihiro's mind to easily predict where and most importantly *when* his target would be in the ideal position to strike. in He smirked. This was the ideal scenario. Both Akihiro and Owl bid their time, Owl having taken a few steps forward to be about three meters away from the edge of the barrier and two meters away from Akihiro. Owl was now also standing on the outer side of the wall and right in Raijin's predicted path. Of course, Raijin would have no way to know this because Owl was still covered by the effects of Akihiro's mirror. Despite holding the Tiger hand-seal and being faced towards the incoming Raijin, Owl was glancing back at Akihiro, waiting for his signal. By now Akihiro had his right arm slightly raised.

"Hold it....hoold it....NOW!" Akihiro's thoughts crossed his mind as he quickly lowered his right arm. This was the signal, and Owl knew it. He immediately turned his head towards the incoming Raijin, and released a fire technique. The Great Dragon Fire jutsu had been perfectly timed. Akihiro had taken into account the time it would take for Owl to complete the hand-seals and the time it would take for the jutsu to be cast, the travel time required for the jutsu to go through the three-ish meters which separated Owl from the edge of Sparrow's Mirror, and finally Raijin's speed. These were all really simple calculations in the mind of a young genius.

The end result would be that as Raijin's clone was approaching the dome, and only roughly three meters separated him from it, a huge fire dragon materialized in front of him. The Fire dragon would be coming out of the Sparrow Mirror's dome and thus becoming visible. It would be moving on the opposite direction of Raijin's movement: as Raijin went up, the fire dragon went down. Raijin was moving at maximum speed against the dragon, a speed level at which his perception simply could not keep up with. Imagine running so fast that your eyes begin to show signs of tunnel vision and then, suddenly as you moved, a fire dragon appeared right in front of you. By the time Raijin saw the dragon, he would be 3 meters away from it. This was because the Sparrow's Mirror technique would hide the dragon until the very last moment, until it exited the dome. At the speed he was going, Akihiro calculated that Raijin would cover this distance in 0.024 seconds. But the real bad news comes when one realizes that Raijin would have even less time to react to that because the fire dragon wasn't still, it was actually moving *towards* Raijin which meant that in order for the two of them to collide, Raijin actually needed to cover much less than 3 meters.

Should the two collide, the Fire Dragon would consume the clone and immediately end its life there, then proceeding towards the ground. This would eliminate the clone well before he could break into the Mirror's dome. The dragon would push the unprepared Raijin clone down with B-ranked strength, in addition to potentially turning him into ashes.

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

Meanwhile, Raven was busy fighting Izumi down at the gates. Very much like Akihiro, the woman had been surprised to see someone escaping from Nightingale's Genjutsu so easily. It wasn't every day that this happened. But unlike Akihiro, Raven was now forced to fight this girl.

She couldn't quite figure out of Izumi was holding back or not. She passed through the cannon fodder fairly quickly, but it wasn't anything out of this world. Her current speed was nothing Raven couldn't keep up with.

As Izumi charged towards her, she entered the gate zone and was now actually standing beneath the wall. The wall was about 15 meters thick which meant the gate zone was also 15 meters thick. Now Raven had been 5 meters away from the gates, which meant she was 5 meters deep within the gate zone. The gate zone was similar to a tunnel in the shape of the gate which served as a passage towards the inner side of the wall. As she saw Izumi charging at her, Raven made a quick set of hand-seals and immediately released an already well-known fire jutsu before Izumi could reach her. The Fire Release: Demon Lantern unleashed yet another thirty fireballs which would take the shape of ghosts and chase Izumi with B-rank speed. The fact that this technique only required 3 hand-seals allied to Raven's coordination to execute the technique and her perception to detect Izumi moving against her made it quite easy to utilize the jutsu defensively. The first four fireballs would be aimed at Izumi's legs and arms- Raven sort of respected the girl's effort and would avoid killing her if possible. But should these fail to put Izumi out of commission for this mission, Raven would send 20 fire ghosts chasing Izumi anywhere she went within 100 meters until four of them finally connected. The last 10 would float around Raven, 5 meters away from her. This was to prevent Izumi from rushing her and harming Raven with her own technique. Should Izumi get within 8 meters of Raven, these fireballs would immediately swarm her and explode at a safe range (for Raven). Not all fireballs would hit Izumi, however. Only enough to knock her out, leaving her unconscious but wounded instead of dead. Once this happened, the rest of the fireballs would decimate whatever was left of the disoriented army.

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

Meanwhile, Akihiro would notice the real Raijin flying away. It mattered little, wherever he tried to breach the wall he would soon be met with opposition from either his squads, or the army. "Be aware everyone, we got an airborn target breaching the wall to the west, keep it under watch over." Raijin was not something Akihiro considered problematic he if was alone, merely to how he had set up the five seals barrier. But he still needed to be defeated.

OOC Stuff:
Used: Sensory 150m range -0.5
Sharingan 3rd tomoe -0.2
Sparrow's Mirror- E-rank cost at this range -1

68.3 CP - 1.7 = 64,7 left

Kage Bunshin stats:
Strength: D
Constitution: C
Stamina: B
Speed: C
Coordination: C
Intelligence: S
Perception: B+ >>> A+ (Sharingan)

Raven, Nightingale and Owl Stats:
Strength: C
Constitution: B
Stamina: C
Speed: B
Coordination: B
Intelligence: C
Perception: B

Raven Stamina:
100- 10(Fire Release: Demon Lantern) = 90

Nightingale:
100

Owl:
95-15 (Great Dragon Fire) = 80

It sounded like stuff was starting to go crazy everywhere. She could hear the criminals all running at full speed behind her, but she didn't see anyone coming towards the gates in her peripheral vision. They must have been stuck in the Genjutsu. It was kinda surprising to Izumi. She figured that if she could get out of it pretty easy, then all these super tough guys should be able to too. She was only a Genin, after all. It's not like she'd been hardened by years of adventures and fights. Most of her fights had been spars. That's why she was kind of nervous going into this one, but she was also super excited at the same time.

Unfortunately for Izumi, nothing was gonna go like she thought it was. That's what she really should have expected, but all those spars against people in Konoha had spoiled her. Basically everything she did back there was Taijutsu. People thought she was pretty okay with it, so they kept their fighting methods to Taijutsu so that they could see how they measured up to her. The results were very mixed. When Izumi saw Raven start to make some hand seals, she realized just how silly she was being. The guy up on top of the wall had shot a bunch of fireballs. Why didn't she expect this gal to do the same thing?

For a brief moment, Izumi thought back to her Genjutsu stuff. She could break that out for the first time in a real fight, give it a chance. But there really wasn't much time for all that. She needed some setup for the good stuff. So instead, she decided to lean into her initial choice. It may have been a bad idea, but there was only one way to find out!

As Izumi started her charge, Raven created a bunch of head-shaped fireballs around her. Four of them took off immediately towards Izumi while the rest stayed behind. Izumi made the hare hand seal and held it in place while going through the motions of one of her specific taijutsu techniques. She ran towards the fireballs with intent to weave around them. She did just that, but they exploded suddenly and caught her and Raven in the flames. Izumi was shocked and shield her body as best she could in a split second jump, but she was still burned by it. The clothes on her side and back were black and she could feel the burns on her skin. That wasn't very nice!

Izumi had kept the hare seal in place so that once her jump and the explosion were done, she could continue running. That was the first and last time that she would underestimate that technique. So once Raven sent the next wave of twenty, Izumi darted immediately to the side. This time, she had a little more oomph to her step. That's because she was using a specific technique in her taijutsu arsenal designed to close distances. Normally, she'd use it for getting right up on her opponent. But this time, she had to close the distance between her and the wall's edge super quick. She darted past the wall, leaving the range of that technique while she ran along the outer part of the giant wall.

Still holding the hand seal, Izumi managed to outrun the fireballs and their explosion, but she had to put a huge distance between Raven and herself. She kept going, but now was deep in thought. Her ability had now become clear that she was above the rest of the rabble. Plus, she was now marked by the light burns she'd received from Raven. No matter where she went, she was gonna stand out. That meant that she had to get inside the castle as quick as possible, but she wasn't sure how. There was Raven blocking the gate, and she had insane techniques that Izumi couldn't match in a million years. If she went back there, she'd just get burned up and killed. There was the other fire user on top of the wall. As long as he knew the demon lantern technique, Izumi wouldn't stand a chance against him either. It had way too much range to ever dream of using Taijutsu. It seemed like Izumi's only option was to leave the area.

So Izumi stuck to the lower part of the wall and kept on running to close the distance now between herself and a less active portion of the block. She ran past the illusioned criminals and the prison army, dodging everything that came at her pretty easy. Then she made her way to a part of the block, beyond the armies, where there was nobody, and then ran up the wall to get over it. She was very well out of range of all the combatants. The only problem is that she would be on her own.


(Exit)
Flicker Style
Way of the Dragon
Water Dragon
Water Dragon's Thrashing Thrust

Strength: C
Constitution: C
Stamina: C (97/110)
Speed: C (A)
Coordination: C (B)
Intelligence: B
Perception: C (B)

As the Sage ran up the walls, there was something off about the area where the fireballs had been summoned. Raijin kept up with his regular running speed without the Sage boost. He'd be able to gas it when it was needed. His eyes narrowed and he was now able to notice a strange distortion there. It was small, covering only a short distance from the top. A Genjutsu? How was he able to make himself invisible with manipulating my senses? Whomever had performed the Genjutsu had done something even the Sharingan could not do. This Genjutsu was able to be performed without manipulating one of the five senses of body, making it impossible to break with Kai. This was no ordinary fighter.

He had not figured the wall was this large but its vast size was noticeable. Raijin's clone had guessed that the Genjutsu was used topossibly keep attacks hidden. Time to get ride of it. He couldn't break the Genjutsu, he would have to break them. The clone keeping its pace got within 30 meters from the top. Then two holes began to appear in the middle of the clones palms as he began to concentrate Nature energy there. He pointed them booth at the area he could see the Genjutsu.

Now only 30 meters away two beams of pure nature energy would be aimed at Owl. It moved at speeds that only the clone Akihiro could perceive, but would be hard pressed to dodge as it was in danger as well. If it were to hit the wallls would blow off the top half of the walls with its concentrated power. He continued his run.

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

Sage Clone: 50CP/55 CP | -10 = 25/30 NCP
Jutsus used:  Lotus Blast -10

Strength: C
Constitution: C
Stamina: C
Speed: B -> A (Tier 1)
Coordination: B
Intelligence: C
Perception: B

"Split!" Was Akihiro's immediate response upon noticing the jutsu Raijin was about to unleash. His sharingan predicted the technique and his sensory detected Raijin's chakra being molded even before the fire was shot, so he had quite a bit of time to warn Owl. Fortunately, Akihiro knew a lot about the technique Raijin was about to use. While it was certainly powerful and has a long range, each beam itself was only one meter wide. Akihiro knew this of course, and that was why he ordered Owl to split with a single word. The command was simple but effective. Owl was a bit forward but to his right. At Akihiro's command the man immediately jumped to his right while Akihiro jumped to his left. The beam would pass between them.

The jutsu used by Raijin, while fast, still needed to travel about 30 meters. While Akihiro and Owl only needed to travel a single meter, two at most in order to dodge it. This added to Akihiro's forewarning made it quite simple for the two ninjas to dodge the jutsu. Raijin's beam would hit the wall and raise a bit of dust and damage the wall quite a bit. But because of its poor wide range the damage caused to the wall was minimal in comparison to the 100 meters tall beast of a building which was obviously still left standing.

Akihiro's sharingan peeked through the dust to see...nothing? His chakra sensory technique didn't pick up on Raijin's chakra signature either. "He must have cancelled the clone technique." Akihiro would say towards Owl, who merely nodded. So that was one less issue to worry about right now.

The other issue which concerned Akihiro was the second capable member of this group of criminals. His sensory picked up on Izumi retreating from the gate area and now running along the outer wall perhaps trying to escape. That was unacceptable, such a nasty target could not be let unchecked otherwise they could easily end up in a sea of trouble later on. The Sparrow did not hesitate in issuing his commands. "Owl, target of interest down below, retreating. Follow it. Nightingale, give support."

Nightingale was still on the side of the wall which was turned towards block C. He had been laying in wait 40 meters above the gate just in case someone was able to make it past Raven- Mockingbird rarely ever took unnecessary risks. He would not go up the wall diagonally to follow Owl. At the top, Owl would run along the outer wall, while Izumi ran along at the bottom. Owl was at a height of 99 meters. The wall he was running on was turned towards the B block and he used body flicker while keeping an eye on Izumi down below. He noticed she was far faster than she had been before, and was forced to make a hand-seal and use the Body Flicker technique just to keep up with her. But since he managed to match her speed with this jutsu, keeping up was no problem at all.

Obviously since the castle and general prison had been set up with proper defense in mind, there were no obstructions which prevented Owl from seeing his running target who was running so close to the wall. Nightingale would eventually reach the top of the wall as well, while holding a handseal and reactivating the body flicker, and follow Owl's path from behind at a distance of approximately 40 meters. Of course, since Owl could see Izumi it was likely that she would eventually notice him as well. Should she still choose to climb the wall, Owl would meet her with the same tactic as Raven. He would release the Fire Release: Demon Lantern jutsu down the wall towards the incoming Izumi. But Owl was a careful man. He would trade accuracy for making sure his target didn't make it past the wall.

The jutsu would be released if she didn't stop before reaching a distance of 30 meters from Owl and the top of the wall. This meant that even if she somehow made it past the jutsu, by the time she actually got to the top of the wall Owl would be prepared to react and prevent her from getting past it.

"Raven, keep the gate under control until the prison forces manage to completely wipe out the enemy soldiers." This order was immediately issued after the first one. "Aye sir." was the only answer Akihiro got from her, and truthfully the only one he needed. Raven was more than capable of handling the cannon fodder that was being thrown at her down below. After witnessing her Fire Release techniques not once but twice, the criminals were finally hesitating and afraid of rushing her. If they had they probably would be able to force her to retreat and concede some space but never without the loss of some lives. Since they weren't really fighting for a cause but rather for themselves, none were willing to give up their lives like that.

Since Izumi was being chased by the squad he trusted and there was still the matter of Raijin being on the loose within Block C, Akihiro (who had been a clone this whole time), dispersed.


Aki clone poofed
NPCs Interrupting Izumi's exit

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

OOC:
OOC Stuff:
Used: Sensory 150m range -0.5
Sharingan 3rd tomoe -0.2

Adding the chakra of Shadow Clone, I paid 10 CP per use and used it twice. Since it has no cost, this was wrongfully paid.
+20 CP

84CP left

Clone dispersed.

Real Akihiro(Not here, just for reference):
Had 70 CP
Now has 70+84 = 154CP left


Kage Bunshin stats:
Strength: D
Constitution: C
Stamina: B
Speed: C
Coordination: C
Intelligence: S
Perception: B+ >>> A+ (Sharingan)

Raven, Nightingale and Owl Stats:
Strength: C
Constitution: B
Stamina: C
Speed: B --> A (For Owl and Nightingale, using Body Flicker)
Coordination: B
Intelligence: C
Perception: B

Raven Stamina:
90

Nightingale:
100-5x2 (Body Flicker) = 90

Owl:
80 - 5 (Body Flicker) - 10 (POSSIBLY used Fire Release: Demon Lantern) = 65 CP

Izumi got the feeling that someone was watching her. There were a lot of people watching her, so that made sense. But she had to keep her eyes out on everything so that she didn't get caught with something bad. She didn't wanna get burned again. Down at the bottom of the wall, there were a lot of bad guys all over the place. She was quickly moving past the area where the criminals were, which meant that everybody near her were guards. Some of them tried to throw things at her, but they had terrible aim. They weren't much of a problem.

But up towards the top of the wall, there was a guy running in the same direction as her. He was just as fast as she was! That wasn't good. It meant that he was one of the powerful enemies. And she got a bad feeling that he could probably do the same fire technique that the girl at the gate could. If that was true, she wouldn't be able to get near him. Izumi pouted her lips. This really sucked. She had trained super hard with Taijutsu, but the bad guys had just that one technique and she couldn't do anything about it! She was trying to get better in ninjutsu and genjutsu, but she still had a super long way to go.

Maybe if she was super duper fast, she could dodge the fireballs and get in close enough to put her taijutsu to use. That's how she usually beat ninjutsu people back in the village and the academy. But that technique these guys were using was way too fast for her. Maybe if she had enough distance between her and the bad guy, she could predict the paths of the fireballs enough to avoid them. But that was super risky! Izumi needed to do something else to avoid that. She slowed her pace and eventually stopped. Then, she made her hand seal with the crissy crossy fingers. A big thing of smoke poofed up all over her. Nobody could see anything inside of it. And then suddenly three of her ran out of it. One of the Izumis ran straight up the wall, towards where the bad guy was (unless he kept running). The second Izumi kept running straight along the wall, just like she was doing before. And then, the third Izumi ran down the wall a few meters behind Izumi number two.

They were all a bit slower than Izumi had been in the last round. She didn't see any need in increasing her speed a whole bunch when the bad guys could move just as fast as she could and probably with much less effort. So they were all pretty slow, relative to how everyone was moving before.

Izumi number one started to run straight up the 100 meter wall. She was pretty close to the bottom, so she had about 95 meters to run before she reached the top. Izumi number two ran 200 meters along the wall and then started running up the wall, so she had about 295 meters before she reached the top. And then there's Izumi number three. She actually kept on running past where Izumi number two started to go up.

She was gonna get to the top! Maybe! Possibly. Hopefully...



Shadow Clone Jutsu (97/110)

"Shadow clones!" Owl radioed in that information to Nightingale who was following him 40 meters behind. Because the walls were so high, they had more than enough time to prepare against Izumi's strategy. The catch was, that they'd need to be smart about it.

The Shadow Clone technique created a lot of smoke which prevented them from seeing which one was the real Izumi. Had Akihiro's sharingan been present here, this problem would be trivial to solve. But the Mockingbird could not always count on the abilities of its leader and as such they were forced to resort to other methods. Because they couldn't know which Izumi was real, the duo had been checked into a position on which they'd have to follow every single Izumi running around the battlefield.

Because Izumi number one still had 95 meters to run up the wall before she managed to reach the top, Owl let that one for Nightingale to deal with and kept running along the wall to keep up with the other Izumis.

They were now running at about the same speed, and because Nightingale had received radio information about what Izumi had done, he too created a single shadow clone. By the time he and his clone had reached the position Izumi number 1 was aiming for, she still had 50 meters to go up the wall. This gave Nightingale's clone more than enough time to make a set of hand-seals and once again prepare the Demon Lantern jutsu to shoot just in case she got within decent range.

The real Nightingale kept running, following Izumi number 2. Once again, despite the 200 meters run, by the time Nightingale reached the position Izumi number 2 was aiming for, she still had 50 meters to go. His move was pretty much the same as his clone's, making hand-seals to prepare the Demon Lantern.

Finally, Owl followed the last Izumi. He was running lower on chakra and could not afford to create clones without thinking of the possible consequences. It was imperative that this target remained here and did not go any further. He kept following Izumi number 3 from the top of the wall while she ran at the bottom.

OOC:

Raven, Nightingale and Owl Stats:
Strength: C
Constitution: B
Stamina: C
Speed: B
Coordination: B
Intelligence: C
Perception: B

Raven Stamina:
90

Nightingale & clone:
90 / 2 = 45 for both him and the clone, for using Shadow Clone technique. Prepared Demon Lantern Technique

Owl:
75 (never used Demon lantern on last post)

Izumi pouted her lips. There were now three of them on top of the wall and they were all lined up perfectly to prevent her from reaching them. They were moving their hands in preparation and stayed in one place. That, and the way that at least the one guy seemed to think and act just like the girl at the gates, gave Izumi the impression that she'd get hit with that demon lantern thing if she got close enough. They were all hyper intelligent, too. They knew the exact range of their jutsu and were waiting for the exact moment when they could release that jutsu and she'd have little to no chance of dodging it. There was no way she could risk a direct confrontation without some way of dealing with that jutsu. Unfortunately, she didn't really have one. Range was her big weakness and there were four people there that could exploit that with a precision nothing less than flawless.

When they hit the 50 meter mark, when the bad guys appeared over the edge of the wall, the two Izumi darted to the side. The one closest to the gate ran towards the gate. Because she had traveled a good distance up the wall, she'd be able to run right over it by staying on the wall. She knew that the girl inside the gate had no way of seeing her do this, so if that bad girl popped up all of a sudden, that meant that all of the bad guys had some way to communicate with each other. That would be important later on.

The Izumi in the middle ran in the direction that her far clone was going. The far clone is the one that never went up the wall, but kept on along the bottom of the wall. There really wasn't much to that Izumi except to keep running and observe stuff happening. The first thing she noticed was that the criminals down below weren't running in the wrong direction anymore. The genjutsu must have worn off somehow. Some of them were still trying the gate, but were being obliterated. But a lot of them were running in the other directions and engaging the enemy armies. They were about the same skill level, but there were just a lot more criminals than there were guards, so the guards were starting to get overwhelmed. Izumi might be able to take advantage of that later on.

The furthest Izumi continued on down the wall. She kept an eye on the guy running along the top of the wall, just in case he tried anything. But eventually she reached another gate. There were a few of the prison guards standing around and some more that were running in to join the fight. Izumi pouted and jumped down in front of them. It would have been so much easier if she could have just gotten up over the wall. But now she had to fight all these guys to get through. At least they didn't shoot crazy fire stuff out of their mouths. The guards entering to fight charged her first. Izumi ran through them pretty quick. A couple of hits here and there, nothing bad enough to damage them much, but enough to knock them out of her way and counter their attacks while she moved through. It took only a couple of seconds to do the same to the rest of them. Then she moved through the gate just before it closed. She had to beat up the guards on the other side that were operating the gate, but that was super quick too. This left the door open so that when the criminals finished dealing with the guards on that side, they could just walk through the gate. Unless somebody closed it. Then, Izumi ran on to the next block.

It was gonna get super hard from there. Even though there was a ton of space between her and the guy running on the wall after her, she had a feeling that there were a bunch more guys like him deeper inside. As far as she knew, she didn't have any help going in here. The criminals were still a while out. And they weren't all that helpful anyway. Any one of the bad guys could probably kill thousands of them super quick, as crazy as that sounds.


(One Izumi Exit)
The Izumi in the middle is the real Izumi.

While one of her clones went on towards the next section, the real Izumi took off towards the ground. She'd let the clone press inward while she planned to work her way there later on. The criminal group were reaching a standstill compared to how fast they had gotten to this point. She didn't want to rush on ahead of everybody and end up in trouble. It was already obvious that she didn't have the power to combat the higher level enemies. For now, she would have to settle with the rabble.

Izumi ran into the crowd. The criminals had finally started to catch up to her position during their winning fight against the guards. In just a little bit of time, she blended in with them. She fought the guards just as the rest of her group did, but she did nothing to stand out. That's what got her in trouble the last time and she didn't want that to happen again. Eventually, the criminals would work their way into the next block. Probably by using the partially open gate that Izumi's clone had left.

Meanwhile, Izumi's other clone rushed past the gate. The girl that was inside of the gate didn't come out to intercept her. Izumi took that to mean that either the bad guys didn't have some way of talking to each other over long distances, or the bad girl was just too busy with the criminals that were still charging into her. Either way, it left the clone open to pursue another way of infiltrating the castle. She kept running along the wall and looked out to the crowd. There were bunches of criminals everywhere, but none of the main players anymore. Izumi knew that the one guy had made it over the wall a while back, but she hadn't seen that one girl or her clones in a long time. She thought back to that big bird flying over everybody and wondered if maybe that thing had intercepted her. It would be really bad if that one girl turned out to be as much of a powerhouse as that one guy and wasn't able to help in the mission.

The clone jumped from the wall and into the crowd. She ran through all the criminals that kept rushing up towards the gates and to the sides of the block so that she could get through them. What she wanted to do was get back to the front of the prison where that big bird was flying to. She might could find that one girl there. If so, then she very much doubted that she'd be much help. If just the little guys up here were enough to stop her, she'd be no match for anything that held back one of the main people of the criminal gathering. She hoped that she could at least be enough of a distraction to let that one girl rejoin the front lines with that one guy.


(Exit)

Nozomi was wearing her usual battle gear, which was more or less just a grey and black ensemble of pouches and the usual jumpsuit and flak jacket that you would see on a career shinobi. It was just one of those generic flak jackets, with no real identifiers on it, but hers was one of incredibly high quality. She also had on the rest of her outfit, which was her old set of Military Combat gear, given to her by Yomi from when they had come to Kumo the first time. A pair of gloves to help protect her hands, if even minimally. Her pants had an iron plating woven into the shins, covered by another layer of cloth, with the knees and upper thighs protected by a layer of plastic, also covered by another layer of cloth. Her boots were basically just normal boots, but they had a layer of iron at the tips to help protect her toes and give her more solid kicks.

Her gear was fairly standard for her: she had her tanto, which was normally sheathed in the baldric behind her left shoulder, but was currently in her hand at Gin's neck. She had several pouches on her belt and person that held her various ninja tools, although she rarely resorted to using them anymore. Two holsters, one on either side of her hip, each held a single kunai in them. Her headband hung near her neck, the line she had etched into it to declare herself a missing-nin prominent. She had recently cut her hair down to shoulder length, while riding over on Thorn from Kumo.

As Nozomi moved through the wall to finally enter Block B, she carried the unconscious Gin by the back of his neck, her grip on his neck secure enough that she wouldn't drop him, but not so tight that he wasn't able to get in air. Still, she could snap his neck with ease at this moment, and had her tanto to his neck with the other hand. She was using Water Heaven's Convergence to turn a lot of the water she had created earlier into thousands of needles, many of them mere centimeters from Gin's face, eyes, neck, temples, and other such areas. She knew he was out of the fight, but she wanted everyone to be sure she could kill him in a moment.

She moved several of the needles up and they formed into an arm of water, floating in front of her to hold her tanto while she rifled through Gin's pouches and unequipped his armor with a free hand and another arm made of water. She wasn't moving super fast while she did so, maintaining a normal walking pace right from the entrance. She would have used both hands to do so, but she was draining his chakra to restore hers back up, so she needed to sustain contact with him for the time being.

For the most part, she didn't care about his armor, leaving the breast plate, gauntlets, pauldrons, and faulds on the ground. She knew they were quite sturdy, the breast plate having taken a large shot from her, and holding up, but she couldn't be bothered to use them. Maybe she'd pick them up on the way out if she had time. His Chokuto and Club had been washed away in the initial wave, and she didn't care to try and look for them either. She wasn't big on weapons. She left his Titanium Mail on him, since she wasn't going to completely strip him down, she was mostly just removing tools from him and resupplying herself.

She let the cloak and mask he had been wearing fall away as well, the trail of his gear behind her for several meters. Nozomi additionally unclasped his utility belt, setting him down for a moment so that she could wrap it around her like a bandoleer, given he was larger than she was. Taking the time to unclasp his hip pouches, she added them to her own, and pulled out the kunai from his holster and disabled the kunai launcher, taking the kunai and adding it and the one from the holster to one of his pouches. She'd go through them later, to determine what she wanted to keep and what she could do without.

Her final note was that he was wearing a radio head set, so she took it off him and hooked it up to herself. She'd never used one before, but she knew what they were. It would give her some form of information on the enemy troop's movements. Beyond that, she could contact them if she really wanted to, as it was probably already set to a frequency that they used, and if it wasn't, they were probably monitoring other frequencies anyhow.

Nozomi grabbed her tanto from the water arm, and slashed the back of Gin's knees to cut the tendons there. She moved and slashed the Achille's Tendon on his right foot as well, making sure he wasn't going to wake up and try and rejoin the battle. One final thing to 100% guarantee he would be out, Nozomi handed the tanto back to the water arm and grabbed each of Gin's fingers, breaking them all individually so he wouldn't be able to form handseals until healed.

Then she would move the tanto back to his throat while she picked Gin back up, resuming the full consistent draining of Gin's chakra. She hadn't really stopped, as anytime she'd made contact with him using her hands, she had been doing so. She kept one of her hands free so that she could use it to form handseals if she needed to, but hopefully the hostage of Gin and his obviously bad situation would allow her through.

Then she continued through, passing to the other side of the wall, and peered out towards the other wall in the distance, beginning her trek to the other wall so she could enter Block C. Raijin had gone on ahead of her and she could see the fighting and smell fire from the distance, and knew that it was entirely likely that he'd already busted through to the next wall. It was only 6 kilometers from where she was to the wall to Block C, and her top movement speed was faster than the speed of her needles, so she had to tone down her speed so they could keep pace with her.

As she moved through the block, her thousands of needles swarmed through any remaining guards that tried to get in her way, but she didn't care too much about saving any of the criminals who weren't crossing her path. She killed any guards who she saw mainly for convenience. That freed up the criminals to go and fight more guards, so they could clear out other sectors of the Block themselves.

Interestingly enough though, she noticed many of the guards she killed had larger than normal slugs with them, something she found odd. After a bit, when she killed one of the guards, she stopped and approached the slug, taking a moment to examine it, water needles moving towards it slowly but not piercing it unless it did something. "I assume you have a purpose?" she asked the slug. Nozomi wasn't certain she'd get a response, but it wouldn't hurt to ask.

----
-3 Water Heaven's Convergence
+15 Chakra drain on Gin
Stamina: 204/210
UA Chakra Drain cap: 30/105

Isobu: Lower's Suiton tech costs by 1 rank.

UA- Body Like Steel: Nozomi has been training and fighting for years, and her body has been well conditioned to pain. Unless caught off guard via sneak attack, whenever Nozomi is in a fight, her constitution is raised by 1. Freebie UA.

Chakra Drain: Nozomi is one of the precious few people who can drain chakra from people. This UA allows her to app techniques that can drain chakra, although those techniques leave her more open to receiving damage from chakra as well.
Without using techniques, she can choose to drain 5 chakra from someone by making physical contact with a them using her forearms or hands, although she has to consciously do so. This is able to be used through gloves and clothes, but does not extend to other tools or weapons.
Every time she makes contact, she can draw out chakra from a person (capped at 15 per person per post) or 15 chakra per person if she sustains contact the entire post. However, doing so opens Nozomi up to increased damage (+1 rank of damage) from tangible chakra techniques for the rest of the post round. This is all elemental jutsu, and all attacks with tangible chakra, such as Chakra Flow and other such techniques. The amount that this UA allows for non technique absorption in a thread is capped at half of Nozomi's base stamina cap, even if taken from multiple different people. This can not set her over her maximum pool of chakra either.

Strength: B
Constitution: B -> A (w/FUA)
Stamina: B+
Speed: A -> Not exceeding B currently so the water can keep up
Coordination: A
Intelligence: C
Perception: A

The slug on Gin's person had long poofed. It had sustained a fair amount of damage as a result of Nozomi's attacks and thus its time on the battlefield had proven nasty, brutish, and short. Fortunately, the slug had hundreds if not thousands of brothers and sisters that were diligently working to coordinate the defense of the Blood Prison. The slugs were all iterations of the legendary Katsuyu. The Warden was using them as a means of communication and also healing instruments when necessary. Nozomi had picked up one of these slugs from a fallen guard. The girl asked (or rather assumed) its purpose to which the slug did not reply. The creature remained motionless as though it was just an ordinary slug. An awkward silence would follow as the Jinchurikki might come to believe that she was wasting precious time talking to an overgrown gastropod. After a painful and lingering lack of response, the slug would speak up. It spoke in a voice that could not possibly have originated from the creature itself and as the words came out it would be clear as to why.

"The slug will not answer your questions....it knows the value of loyalty and honor, criminal. Something you have forgotten."

The Warden of the Blood Prison was watching Nozomi through a series of sophisticated live-feed cameras. The primitive CCTV system was damaged in various locations as a result of the fighting, but it was still functional enough to get an accurate view of the scene. The fighting in Block B had been intense and several criminal groups had worked to undo the fuuninjutsu that had depowered the inmates. The chaos and violence spread throughout the circular block as waves of prisoners found themselves capable of utilizing Ninja Techniques. Akihiro had done a good job thinning the army's numbers but with this additional groundswell of reinforcements, the battle for the Prison had not been won yet. The Warden watched carefully through a series of systems as the former Kiri ninja held Gin within her grasp. For all his promise and pretensions, the ANBU had failed. Nozomi had made short work of him and was now holding him as a hostage, looting and leeching from him as she marched closer to her objective. The man stood in his private Quarters at the top floor of the Command Castle. He used the slug on his shoulder to speak to Nozomi, but he could see her displayed on a large monitor in front of him. The picture was a bit fuzzy, owing to the criminals that had wrought havoc on the prison's infrastructure, but he could get a good glimpse of the woman whom the world called Champion. He narrowed his eyes and continued speaking in a calm, cold, yet somehow remarkably vicious tone of voice.

"This is Tenma Kiyoto, Warden of the Blood Prison and Lord Paramount of Hozuki Castle speaking. You are close to the point of no return little girl. Drop the shinobi and turn back while you still can"

Tenma was not feeling particularly merciful today, but he knew that he needed to pick and choose his battles. The criminals in Block B were strong but he could defeat all of them in short order with his remaining Deputy Wardens and COs. If Nozomi got involved then that would naturally complicate things. She was currently the only one capable of making it into the Castle proper, and so he was willing to let her walk away. Of course, there were multiple other pressure points that he could press. Some of which Gin had already set up for him.

Nozomi didn't receive a response right away, something she had anticipated. Enemies held secrets, and she knew that, and there was no real reason to reveal those to your enemies. She was about to leave when a voice came from the slug. It spoke as if it wasn't the slug, referring to 'the slug' in the 3rd person, something that Nozomi instantly noticed. It launched an immediate insult towards her loyalty and honor, something Nozomi saw no need to correct. She didn't really care what some voice thought about her.

Introducing itself as the voice of Tenma Kiyoto, the warden of the prison, he informed Nozomi that she had the option to turn around now and leave without any further repercussions. "This man already offered me that same offer." Nozomi said, referring to Gin. "You both fail to realize that as soon as I was tasked with freeing Chiheisen, that was already my point of no return. I will not fail, and I will destroy this entire prison if I have to. My counter offer is that you can release Chiheisen and hand her over to me, I'll hand over this shinobi without further injury to him, and I will leave with no further damage to the prison. I'll even leave you the rest of these criminals to replenish your prison. I'll even help you round them up if you really want, after I get Chiheisen to safety."

She pulled some water from the ground and made it into a platform, placing the slug on it so she could advance without having to carry it herself.  Moving forward, she continued speaking. "If not, I will tear through this prison. Your men will be killed. Your prisoners will be freed. Your walls will be torn down. The Blood Prison will be nothing more than a blip in the history of the world. You'll lose every single prisoner this place was designed to hold. And as this shinobi already told me, I know that Chiheisen is being threatened to be killed. If she is killed, nothing will save this place. You can contain the damage that has already happened, but you already know that I speak true. We've got men who have broken through all the walls, it's only a matter of time before we reach the command center. You will lose everything. You can save the rest. Your choice."

Nozomi was willing to compromise. She'd been tasked with freeing Chiheisen, not everyone else. She didn't care about the other prisoners, she didn't care about the other criminals that were assaulting the prison. In fact, she'd even help round them up if it came down to it. Her loyalty was to Honiko, and Honiko had accepted Merryweather's mission, so she'd complete it however she needed to. As long as she and Raijin and Chiheisen left this place, she had completed her task. Her tone was very matter of fact. She didn't hold any ill will towards the Warden, the same as she had held none towards Gin. However, she would kill him just the same if needed to. She'd kill anyone as long as she completed the mission. Nozomi refused failure.

----
-3 Water Heaven's Convergence
+9 Chakra drain on Gin
Stamina: 210/210
UA Chakra Drain cap: 39/105

Isobu: Lower's Suiton tech costs by 1 rank.

UA- Body Like Steel: Nozomi has been training and fighting for years, and her body has been well conditioned to pain. Unless caught off guard via sneak attack, whenever Nozomi is in a fight, her constitution is raised by 1. Freebie UA.

Chakra Drain: Nozomi is one of the precious few people who can drain chakra from people. This UA allows her to app techniques that can drain chakra, although those techniques leave her more open to receiving damage from chakra as well.
Without using techniques, she can choose to drain 5 chakra from someone by making physical contact with a them using her forearms or hands, although she has to consciously do so. This is able to be used through gloves and clothes, but does not extend to other tools or weapons.
Every time she makes contact, she can draw out chakra from a person (capped at 15 per person per post) or 15 chakra per person if she sustains contact the entire post. However, doing so opens Nozomi up to increased damage (+1 rank of damage) from tangible chakra techniques for the rest of the post round. This is all elemental jutsu, and all attacks with tangible chakra, such as Chakra Flow and other such techniques. The amount that this UA allows for non technique absorption in a thread is capped at half of Nozomi's base stamina cap, even if taken from multiple different people. This can not set her over her maximum pool of chakra either.

Strength: B
Constitution: B -> A (w/FUA)
Stamina: B+
Speed: A -> Not exceeding B currently so the water can keep up
Coordination: A
Intelligence: C
Perception: A

Tenma listened patiently as Nozomi rejected his offer and made one of her own. She wanted him to release Chiheisein and in exchange, she vowed to spare the prison's structural integrity, she even said she'd help round up the rest of the prisoners. She made reference to Gin's warning that the prison was willing to kill Chiheisen if it meant preventing her release. However, the threat failed to deter her. Nozomi was deadset on releasing Chiheisen even if it meant that  The Warden knew that this was not a hollow threat. Nozomi was a Jinchurikki and depending on her development with her Bijuu, she was more than capable of causing lasting harm to the Blood Prison. The walls were mighty and they contained numerous buildings, however, with enough time and help it could all come down.

He would not let that happen.

Prisons are easier to rebuild than reputations. If allowed Chiheisen to leave this prison in exchange for lessening the damage, then the Blood Prison would have fallen. His backers would lose confidence in him and his institution. The Lords would cease funding the prison and slowly but surely nations around the world would refuse to send their convicts to such an unsecured facility. People and beings from this world and beyond would be free to wreak havoc. No prison had done as fine a job as his own when it came to containing, suppressing, and understanding these threats. He believed in the system and he'd die to protect it. He'd sacrifice every single one of his men's lives, his own, and even the structure of the prison if it meant keeping the prisoners in Block C locked up. Everything could be replaced, but the trust that the world had placed in him could not. Tey had told him to keep these demons incarcerated and that's what he would do.

The Warden would allow the young woman to finish speaking before giving his response.

"No. You don't understand what it means to stand for something more than money and glory. Chiheisen is a threat to world security. Both her and her fellow prisoners within this Castle cannot be permitted to escape. If you're lucky I'm going to kill you, if not you'll join her in bondage. There are many secrets in this place. Secrets that if given to the right people, could destroy you and everything you love twice over. On the off chance that you kill me or the Konoha-Nin, I will ensure that Konoha possesses those secrets and they will not be as generous as I have been. Consider this your final warning. Do not advance further."  

From there, Tenma would "hang up" as he disconnected his own slug's line of communication with the one carried by Nozomi. He doubted that she would heed his warning and flee the battle. It was no matter, he had no intention of allowing her to free Chiheisen. Their wills would collide and he was confident that the one fueled by true justice would always prevail.

Nozomi more or less tuned out Tenma when he declined to hand over Chiheisen. If he wasn't going to help her, then there was no longer any benefit in listening to him. The only thing that could concern Nozomi being destroyed would be Honiko, and to a lesser extent, because of Honiko's involvement of it. If the Society was destroyed, it wasn't a particular loss to Nozomi, as groups could be rebuilt. As far as Honiko, Nozomi could absolutely lose her, but Nozomi would speak to Honiko about certain things later anyhow. If anyone knew how to stop someone from ever dying, or bring them back after death, it would be Honiko and the Society's vast knowledge.

Dropping the slug, Nozomi continued onwards towards the wall, although she veered away from the gates and holes that had been created by anyone else. Those were kill zones designed to keep the majority of the enemy forces concentrated in one area. They wouldn't be monitoring the rest of the walls nearly as much. Nozomi was fairly certain she could bust through them with no problem, but she didn't want to waste any more time on it.

Of course, with Gin no longer being a useful hostage, as Tenma had all but said that he wasn't going to budge for anything, even the safety of his prison, Nozomi had to decide whether to keep him, leave him, or kill him. She had crippled him, so if she let him go, he wouldn't be an issue unless someone healed him. But she didn't know whether he could heal or not, and letting him go might come to bite her in the end. She decided that he might still be useful later though, since she figured the Warden wouldn't care about a hostage. If he didn't, perhaps his allies would. She'd kill him if he didn't prove useful anymore past that.

As she made her way to a wall, killing anyone who got in her way along the trail, Nozomi finally made it to where Block B met Block C. A platform of water formed under her and Gin, and she lifted herself up in the air. Nobody was around or near to see her, so it was a pretty easy sneak. As she rose up the wall, Nozomi's water flattened itself along it, pulling up like a sheet that would blend in to the wall. The same thing as she dropped down to the other side, lowering herself along the platform as carefully as possible, still maintaining the needle trap and tanto set up on Gin to be ready to end him at any point.

-exit to Block C

----
-3 Water Heaven's Convergence
+3 Chakra drain on Gin
Stamina: 210/210
UA Chakra Drain cap: 42/105

Isobu: Lower's Suiton tech costs by 1 rank.

UA- Body Like Steel: Nozomi has been training and fighting for years, and her body has been well conditioned to pain. Unless caught off guard via sneak attack, whenever Nozomi is in a fight, her constitution is raised by 1. Freebie UA.

Chakra Drain: Nozomi is one of the precious few people who can drain chakra from people. This UA allows her to app techniques that can drain chakra, although those techniques leave her more open to receiving damage from chakra as well.
Without using techniques, she can choose to drain 5 chakra from someone by making physical contact with a them using her forearms or hands, although she has to consciously do so. This is able to be used through gloves and clothes, but does not extend to other tools or weapons.
Every time she makes contact, she can draw out chakra from a person (capped at 15 per person per post) or 15 chakra per person if she sustains contact the entire post. However, doing so opens Nozomi up to increased damage (+1 rank of damage) from tangible chakra techniques for the rest of the post round. This is all elemental jutsu, and all attacks with tangible chakra, such as Chakra Flow and other such techniques. The amount that this UA allows for non technique absorption in a thread is capped at half of Nozomi's base stamina cap, even if taken from multiple different people. This can not set her over her maximum pool of chakra either.

Strength: B
Constitution: B -> A (w/FUA)
Stamina: B+
Speed: A -> Not exceeding B currently so the water can keep up
Coordination: A
Intelligence: C
Perception: A