Final Harvest Guard [Mission]

After many hours the team finally made their way to the grouping of farms out in the rolling hills of the Takagamahara region. Lush grass spanned for miles and all around the rice patty farms nestled in here and there. Wherever prosperity swelled came an accompanying shadow of crime and villainy, this time manifesting in the form of roaming bandits who took what the could from the defenseless villagers. Akashi greeted some farmers daring to work on the outskirts of town, one only eleven and the other couldn't be more than eighteen. Finding directions to the one who request the mission the squad walked through the town and into a modest town hall where several elders sat around a fire discussing various things. "Jounin of the Leaf, reporting in for the request made about your final harvest." Taking several steps forward he watched as the elders moved in closer to one another, quickly squabbling before standing up to address their hired guards.

Dressed in tattered brown robes there was one who stood forward, his hands raising to grasp his hood to lower it and reveal his face in kind. A sea of wrinkles greeted them with a soft smile upon his lips, slowly opening his ancient mouth before creating an audible sound. "Ahhh, yes. The Crescent Moon Harvest is upon us. Our workers are just finishing preparations for an evening harvest, all the necessary precautions have been taken. We've clad them in a black garb, not too shabby for a bunch of farmers, eh?" His old frame shuck as he chuckled at himself, quite pleased with their work put in. "It should only be a few more hours, if you meet with Jin at the east side of town he'll be able to let you know they're route." Bowing to the old man he turned around, motioning with his head for them to follow him.

"Were to wait several hours before accompanying a group of farmers set to harvest this night. I suppose they mean to outwit the bandits, we'll have to move alongside the farmers and keep our eyes out for any incoming movement." Not the sort of plan he would make, but this mission was far more for the three genin them himself. If anything these set of criterea should make for a very interesting learning experience in true shinobi guile. "I have to meet with the leader of the harvesting farmers, I'll be right back before we head out." Leaving the three genin to their own preparations he'd meet back in a little while.

As they made their way towards the small rural community Ryuko waved to the famers as she passed. It was admirable how despite being so young they where working so hard to earn a living. Despite being peasants she had infinitely more respect for them then some nobles she knew who had never experienced a day of honest work in their life.

She’d never really been out on the countryside like this before so everything she saw felt fresh and wonderful, that was until they met with the village elders and she saw the state they where in. Robes tattered and dirty as if they hardly had a cent to their name. They had to be truly desperate to be hiring ninja now if they where that poor.

Suddenly her thinking froze as her Sensai introduced himself in a strange manner. She had to stop in disbelief and wonder if she actually heard him correctly. Why in blue blazes was he introducing himself as a Jounin of the leaf? Was this some sort of convert mission and nobody had bothered to tell her?

All those thoughts where quickly pushed aside as she heard the elder talk, his words making bringing her blood to a boil, nearly to the point it her fury was made manifest around her. How dare these…these cretins prey upon these people’s hard work, forcing them to go to such absurd lengths just to scrape by.

Until now she’d been toying with the idea of giving the bandits once chance to repent their sins. If they where willing to stop their thieving ways she would have been merciful and sparred their lives, though they would still have to serve time in jail for their crimes. Now though, she just flat out wanted them dead.

“Ladies, I foresee two possibilities.” Ryuko said addressing the other girls once they had been left alone to figure out a plan of action. “The first would be to set traps around the crops. Once accomplished, we don farmers attire and lurk openly in the field. This should lure the knaves in. Once ensnared tis should make easy prey.”


“Second would be to strike preemptively. If they are upon us then it stands to reason that they must be lurking somewhere nearby . If we could locate the fiends we can eliminate them without having to put villagers in harms way.” Thus explained she awaited input from her friends who could only refine her ideas and improve upon them.

Time passed to the afternoon until they came across their village of interest. It was a small town, barely large enough to make up one of the districts in Kumogakure. Although she was no city girl, this town was uncomfortably small. Natsuru dresses similar to most Kumogakure shinobi as she prefers the simplicity and darkness their uniform provides. Black sandals cover both feet secured tightly providing comfort and protection. This is paired by a set of steel shin guards which start at base of her shin and up just below her knees. The steel is dyed white with three red lines running down the front face, a common feature done by Kumogakure-forged armor. She wears black pants with a black lapel on the left side. Strapped to her right thigh is a tanto crafted with red and black scabbard. Along with a mesh, sleeveless undershirt she wears a sleeveless black top with a zipper running down the middle. On both arms she wears leather forearm guards made with blackened leather with reinforced padding. Her outfit is completed by wearing her forehead protector around her forehead. Being made with black cloth she has the steel plated emblem facing the front in clear view. Her quiver is secured on her belt on her backside, her recurve bow worn across her body with the bow running down her cleavage while the string ran across her back. Natsuru has very fair skin with an almost ink-like navy blue hair, which matches her eyes in the same regards. Standing at 5'10 she has a very slender frame which maximizes her role as an archer.

She followed her team around almost idol, having not much to say except take in the sights. Her start attention made her somewhat valuable when scouting, but it allowed her to pick up the smaller details most people do not bother acknowledging like a sly fox darting along the surrounding forest's grounds. It certainly made the wild feel more lively. The three were left alone as Akashi went off to take care of business he had with the elder. The three were alone in town hall standing with not much to do. Whatever Akashi needed to do it was a real mood killer. Ryuko began to speak of the possibilities of the event, though Natsuru could easily pick apart the flaws in her plan. "The laborers are here to harvest. The last thing they need is to worry about running into traps. Our best bet is to play defensively and attack long range. Most importantly we must be aggressive and steer their attention away from the farmers. We need them to dedicate their aggression on us and not our objective. I have a couple smoke bombs on me. Worst case scenario is they're overwhelming and I smoke the area allowing us to take our as many bandits as we can within the smoke's presence. With my sensory is shouldn't be too difficult to pull off. Just know we can only do this a total of two times. That's as much smoke I have."

The Jounin worried about the three left behind, with nothing to do it was possible their differences could rub each other the wrong way and cause a bit of a tussle. It was really just Shimiko and Natsuru, those two really seemed to have it out for one another. Finally reaching the man he was looking for he tapped Jin on the shoulder coming up behind him. Turning around the young man looked at the shinobi with disdain, quickly turning back around to his work. Furrowing his brow Akashi cleared his throat before speaking to the clearly anti-shinobi individual. "We're here to guard over your harvest. When wi-" Before he was able to finish the man threw his arm up in protest, turning back around to address a point of worry. "We? Don't tell me there's more of you." All Akashi offered back was a menacing 'don't fuck with me' face that shut him up quick. "Alright, alright. Everything about ready to go, follow me an-" This time taking the pleasure of interrupting the rude man the red flash moved with almost inhuman speed towards him to close their small gap, placing a single finger on his lips. "And, we'll pick my genin up before meeting with your group. Unless you want to be the one to tell your elders the money you scrapped together was for naught. Hmm?" Grumbling to himself the man begrudgingly agreed by following Akashi back towards his group of three.

Finding them all in one piece and without the slightest hint of a fight breaking out between he addressed them all. "Time to move, the farmers are gathering together and Jin is taking us to their gathering site. Let's move." After the quick catch up the team would move out, Jin still muttering to himself Akashi paid no mind to the troubled young adult. The sun had almost completely disappeared, riding the horizon until only a sliver was left once they met with the group. He knew the farmer town was small but was surprised to only see about a dozen or so workers gathered together. Highly perceptive Jin seemed to read Akashi's mind and before the shinobi could comment on the low numbers he threw his hands up and addressed it first. "There weren't many how approved of this plan, most deeming it too dangerous. That's why we were only able to round up this many, but enough of wasting time. Let's move out!" The black clad farmers moved out with the discipline of a young shinobi academy class, most of the volunteers seemed to be teenagers and young adults with plenty of other things on their minds.

"I hope you made use of your time earlier to come up with a plan. I may be the leader of this mission, but this is your time to grow as shinobi. Show me that you have the skills to execute this mission and I'll have something special cooked up for our next training session."

Shimiko was uncharacteristically silent during the whole exchange. She had taken an opportunity earlier to put on Ryuko's chain mail in relative privacy but Natsuru's comment still bothered her. The Chinoike's normally friendly demeanor was thus spoiled. She said nothing with respect to either of the plans put forth by Ryuko or Natsuru and instead analyzed the area. The farmers were dirt poor and clearly quite desperate. Akashi insisted that they come up with a plan and Shimiko was partial to Ryuko's plan of seek and destroy. She could use a good outlet for her pent up anger and Janshin was overdue for his sacrifice. The faster they engaged their opponents the faster she could make good on her religious obligations. Shimiko didn't believe in blindly rushing in however and she figured a distraction may serve the larger purpose of keeping the bandits away from the farmers. For the first time since they had departed from the gates, Shimiko spoke up.

"I say we go with Ryuko's second plan. A preemptive strike. Let's get this over with"

The response was unusually curt and standoffish showing that the Raikage's sister was not all smiles and giggles.

Ryuko heard what Natsuru had to say and titled her head to the site slightly in confusion.  When she’d suggested they place some traps she had meant around the outside between where the fields ended and the outside world began, not putting them in a place where the famers were in danger of running into them.  

Natsuru wanted to stick to primarily long distance attacks which could prove to be a problem since Ryuko herself was a primarily a close fighter herself.  While her ability to throw and hit a target had improved a little after the last training session she had a limited stocked stock of ammunition to work with.

They absolutely won’t have the numerical advantage in this engagement which meant she’d have to make sure that she made every shot she took with a kunai or shuriken count for maximum effectiveness. Even more so because she’d like to actually be able to retrieve the weapons she threw after the battle was over if possible.

Natsuru emphasized the importance of being aggressive and drawing attention away from the farmers onto themselves made Ryuko wonder why her idea to dress up as farmers and be loud and obvious had been shot down. Wasn’t that doing exactly what Natsuru had just suggested?

But rather then focus on that it was the talk Natsuru’s limited supply of smoke bombs that got really got her mind going.  Didn’t a good chunk of the jutsu she knew produce smoke when activated.  Transforming, making a clone, replacing yourself that was the one thing they all had in common.  If she could invent a jutsu to simply produce that smoke directly instead of just being an unintended side effect they’d never have to worry about running out of smoke bombs again.

It was so simple of an idea she was shocked it wasn’t widely used already but she’d never heard of anyone trying before.  If she could succeed it possible she’d stumbled across a relatively unexplored frontier. The sheer impossibles where staggering and made her head hurt just trying to imagine them.

Ryuko quickly shook herself to get her head out of the clouds and focus on the plans they where trying to make.  Natsuru had alot to say so far but Shimiko the person she was expecting to take the reigns was being strangely quite and offering no input. Before she could ask the other girl what was wrong their sensai had come to collect them.

“Seriously? We’re just going to go in half baked?” Ryuko thought wondering what they where rushing things for.  Sure sometimes you didn’t have a choice but in this case they should have had plenty of time left to work with.  Her point was driven further home when Jin told them how most of the farmers considered the idea of trying to harvest quietly like ghosts was too dangerous.

Their was no need for this elaborate production the farmers where trying to put on. The crops wouldn’t wither overnight.  It wasn’t like the where facing down a large crime syndicate or anything so all they needed to do was give the girls a night to work with and the bandit problem would be solved and they could pick the fruit of their labor in peace.

Akashi asked the girls if they had used the time to come up with a plan. Going so far to say if they did good enough he’d had a special reward for them in their next training session to which Shimiko replied that she liked Ryuko’s second plan the best.  

It seemed a preemptive strike was in order after all.  It was only common sense to nip a problem in the bud if you knew it was coming.   The best way to counter an attack was to stop it before it even began.

“Very well. We strike hard and fast, the less time they have to realize they are under siege the better.  Though they are but vermin do not under any circumstances underestimate them, even a rat can become dangerous when cornered.” she quoted a famous idiom.  She was still speaking fancy, but a little less fancy then normal because this was a serious matter.

“If possible leave the leader alive, I wish to…..question him.” she added cracking her knuckles after a slight and very leading pause. It was clear that she wouldn’t be asking the bandit leader question anywhere near as nicely as she did with her squad.  

“As for the rest….” She made a swiping motion across her throat with her thumb, universally known as a gesture signaling the words ‘kill them’.  Morally speaking she had no problem with this. The sentence for banditry was usually execution anyway. They where simply providing a service to their  country by not placing an unnecessarily burden on the court system.  Besides leaving a bunch of them alive would just be a huge liability.

Ordinarily speaking she would have liked to do some surveillance to get a better idea of what they where up against, but if they waited to long to attack the sort window of opportunity they had would close and they would have no choice but to fight with the villagers uncomfortable close to the line of fire.

The only problem now was they needed a fail safe to leave behind, just in case they somehow missed a few bandits during their assault.  Ryuko had read enough horror stories to know that diving their forces would be a bad idea.  

They where only gennin after all so it would be too dangerous to go in alone or even as a pair and their was no way their sensai would leave them behind when this was only their first mission…. But what if he didn’t have to leave them behind she though as she snapped her fingers in response to a brilliant idea.

“Sensai, a shadow clone to watch over us if you could please.” She requested politely. “You stay here and protect the farmers. We’ll take care of the rest.” she stated with absolute assurance in her voice that they could get the job done.

“Natsuru-chan I believe you are the best equipped out of the three of us to discern the whereabouts of our opposition. I’m counting on you to lead us to them.  Shimiko-chan if you could please watch her back so she can focus on scouting, it would be very much appreciated.” having issued her orders Ryuko pointed forwards away from the village “Tally-ho!”  

Shimiko's response was sweet music to her ears. It caressed her, covering her body with goosebumps, as the high and mighty sister of the Raikage was broken. A mild smirk from Natsuru was her only response to Shimiko's frustration. I guess the little squirt has a melting point after all. Despite relishing in her reaction it did get her mind jogging again. Perhaps a preemptive strike would be the most efficient instead of playing on the defense. Intelligence already suggests oncoming aggression. It would be most effective to shut down the raid before it even happens and they are forced to play on the defense. She remained silence, her initial thought already being outweighed by popular demand. Akashi arrived by then telling the squad to get ready to move. Somewhere at heart she was a bit nervous. Joining the academy at such a late age the idea of killing someone was not rooted in her mind just yet. This second-guessing would be quickly wiped by realizing the subhumans who participated in the raid well deserved their death, being nothing but a trouble to society.

Natsuru had the same philosophy when dealing with homeless or even an intoxicated person. They were human scum and were to be avoided whenever. Interactions were dealt with swift rejection, and if progressed, violence. But even then, Natsuru would not want to waste her valuable time waiting for a dispatchment to arrive to question her about the death of a pathetic waste of space. These bandits were no different. They made nothing of their lives and pursued simple pleasures, taking instead of working. This bit motivated her as anger consumed her body. It was almost a war cry that got brutes ready for battle. Natsuru instead thrived off the hatred of those lesser than her, finding her giving them a swift death was justice at its finest.

Natsuru dazed off, though she found herself "auto-walking" along side Shimiko, oddly enough. She had not realized it until now, though kept her body language close to not encourage any awkwardness. Normally Natsuru would tease or provoke the girl, but now it was time to get serious and save the games for later. She did not want to risk her teammate getting hurt. Even Shimiko. Although she teased her a lot she did not wish death upon the girl, and she certainly did not deserve death by a low-life bandit. Ryuko took lead out of nowhere as she began demanding orders. She was wise enough to mention her skillfulness of the Sensory technique. It would come incredibly handy in situations like this where situational awareness was key. Natsuru nodded as a response to Ryuko's order. Holding the Ram seal together she activated her own chakra system as the environment became even more alive being able to pick up the chakra signatures of everyone in the environment.

Akashi clearly had the most powerful presence. Shimiko and Ryuko were about equal, the farmers varied. Most of them had sufficient physical energy, though lacked a honed spirit that many Shinobi had. It was what put even a low-ranking Shinobi such as Shimiko on greater terms to a life-long laborer. As they strayed further away from town Natsuru pulled the bow from her cleavage and held it firmly in her right hand as her other hand grabbed an iron arrow from her quiver. The arrow was simple with black fletchings, a solid oak shaft, and a blackened iron broadhead. Its shabbiness in quality was elegant in its own design. Despite being a bulk quantity item it could very much pierce through leather or even the copper mail they all worn as closer range despite being a fine, riveted piece. She did not draw the arrow, as it would put unnecessary strain on the bow's body itself. She instead kept it ready in place, having her bow in a low-ready position while keeping her sensory ability active.

Ryuko seemed to take charge of the squad which was fine with Shimiko for the time being. She had always fancied herself as the leader of whatever squad she would be put on. Given that she was the Raikage's sister she didn't expect to have any problems earning the respect of her peers but apparently the title impressed some more than others. Shimiko listened as the group agreed to go with the plan of a preemptive strike. Ryuko had ordered them to venture towards the point of engagement. Shimiko's role would be to protect Natsuru while she used her sensory abilities to mark their enemies. Ryuko shared her revulsion for the criminals and had sanctioned their execution. The Chinoike gave a simple nod in agreement but said nothing, opting instead to draw her kunai. It was a mystery as to how they would identify and capture the leader but Shimiko figured it would be best to go with the flow for now. It was likely that the leader would make himself known one way or another. Shimiko walked near Natsuru keeping her eyes and ears for any suspicious activity although she was certain that her squad mate would pickup activity long before it got near them. Shimiko gripped her kunai and would eye Natsuru warily a few times. She had delivered an olive branch and it had been cast aside. Why would Natsuru do this? Perhaps the girl just enjoyed getting a rise out of her. It didn't matter why she did it but the fact that she thought she could do it with impunity bothered Shimiko. She wanted to stab her right then and there in the field but the importance of the mission weighed on her. She would protect her for now but the girl's insolence would be addressed with the abject cruelty that only a devout Jashinist was capable of.

Natsuru drew her bow and prepared for contact. The girl seemed focused and actively sensing the area around them. Shimiko said nothing but kept her kunai up and her eyes peeled. If anything came near her charge she would kill it.

I'm ready for anything...

When Ryuko requested that Akashi provide them with a clone and then barked out a bunch of other orders it seemed he didn’t really have anything to say. She didn’t really know him all that well yet but it was becoming apparent that he didn’t seem to talk much. She was beginning to wonder what it was going to take to get him to open up to them a bit more.

She didn’t really know alot about clones of course. At the monestary they had told her their where generally two different kinds. The ones she could make which where nothing more then a simple illusion. The type Akashi could make however was different since it had actual physical substance which mean it could actually touch things and be touched.

One clone had been more then enough to trounce her entire squad so she figured it’d be more then enough backup in case they ran into a bit of trouble with the bandits. She didn’t even know of the strategic possibility the clone presented since being a gennin she was uninformed of the finer details of how such a high ranking jutsu operated.

She’d taken command partly because that was just her natural impulse, but also because she was trying hard to prove herself as a Vestal candidate. A Vestal was a leader, not a follower so this was a invaluable chance for her to get actual first hand experience.

Ryuko had no idea that Shimiko also fancied herself a leader. Of course being from out of town she also had no idea that Shimiko was the Raikage’s sister. Even if she didn’t she wouldn’t have likely handed over the reigns just because of that though. To her Shimiko was Shimko and the Raikage was the Raikage which meant that she wouldn’t be giving Shimiko any specail treatment just because of who her brother was.

It would have been hypocrtical of her if she did since she hated being given such treatment herself. She couldn’t even begin to count the number of times people have bent over backwards for hers simply because she was a member of the nobility. It was transparent they where doing so to curry her favor, if only they knew how little authority she actually had maybe they’d stop wasting their time.

She was merely an extra. A mascot of sorts to make the family look good. Someone so far down the ladder that she had little if any say in clan affairs. But if she actually voiced this people would simply write it off as her being modest. This was a big reason why she’d become attached to Natsuru and Shimiko so quickly since they had heard the presitaged name of Von Rose and hadn’t even batted an eye, simply treating her as another one of the girls.

Scouting to find the bandits seemed to be going well, and she felt proud of herself for incorporating a plan to help the other girls get along better into the larger overall mission. It was working so well that with Natsuru on the lookout and Shimiko guarding her Ryuko herself had very little to do. Natsuru would find any of the bandits before she could and any further protection would have been redundant.

Deciding now was a good time to get an attack ready so she’d be able to launch it as soon as they found their mark she toyed with the idea of trying to implement her new smoke idea only to settle for something more conventional since experimenting in the middle of an attack run like that seems a bit silly even to her.

There was a simple jutsu she’d read about at the monastery to generate light she’d never had a reason to try before now. If she could cast it then it’d be perfect for an ambush situation they where trying for. The fact that it was only E-rank meant it would be child’s play to take the theory she knew and implement it.

Flowing chakra into the index fingers on her right hand she slowly shaped it into the form of a small glass-like orb, about the size of your average marble. A marble that radiant with a bright white light that could put a flashlight to shame. Holding a bright light in her hands seemed hardly stealthy but in this situation she didn’t really care since it it drew the bandits to them it would save them the trouble of having to find the flarking jerks.

(Learning Fusee 797/100 words)

The group moved along like a convoy. Natsuru and the others lead as the black cloaked figures followed. Natsuru could feel fifty meters out in her environment using her chakra sensing technique which allowed the group to safely follow behind her. If anything was near a threat in their environment she could easily pick it up. When the occasional suspicious were had Natsuru would kneel down onto the earth and place her two fingers on the top soil channeling her chakra through the ground and giving a greater range of her sensory. So far, nothing has been encountered. Of course this was expected. A preemptive ambush would have been too risky for the bandits to pull of. It would require great intelligence of the surrounding land knowing all reasonable path ways the farmers would take. Such intelligence is out of the bandit's league. They were simple-minded savages that only had one goal in mind and almost zero organization. Mentally they were predictable, however physically they served a threat being on par with the Genin unlike Akashi who could very likely wipe out the bandits in one fell swoop. As the group spent more time out in the field the more thankful Natsuru was for having the copper mail underneath her shirt.

A little over a half hour and the group was about two miles outside the small settlement. They neared the crops field. Although she knew little about harvest she could tell they were teeming with vitality. The plants were fully grown with buds and roots offering sweet potatoes, grains, squashes, onions, and many more. She was not a cook herself, though she could at least think of a couple favorite recipes with the crops present. "Well, this looks like the place. Let me get a feel for the environment before you guys start harvesting." Natsuru took a handful of bold steps further out as she stood on a dirt road separating two different crop patches. Taking a kneel she placed her two fingers on the earth. As her "vision" enhanced she detected no signs of extra presences. "It looks like these two patches are clear. You may start if you'd like." From beneath their cloaks the farmers revealed sickles and other tools of harvest, each seemingly having their own particular role in the harvest.

Natsuru turned the other way approach her team while resting her guard. On her way over she gazed at the horizon, her eyes well adjusted for the night and finding no sign of movement off along the hills. "If we are going to go with the preemptive strike idea I'll need a hand. We should split up.
Ryuko, if you stay with Akashi and the farmers as they work on these fields you can keep an eye out of any suspicious activity, as well as act as a threat so the farmers are not left entirely alone. Shimiko and I will check out the other two patches down this dip here to see if we have company waiting on that end." Natsuru leaned forwards to stoop down to Shimiko's level, Shimiko being a short five inches shorter than Natsuru as she placed her bow and arrow hands on her own knees letting the weapons cross each other naturally. "You can handle that, riiighht, Shi-chan?" Natsuru said with a cherry grin, one a mother would give to her daughter. She was almost encouraged to pinch her cheeks, though even Natsuru knew Shimiko was not in her greatest moods.

Standing upright and resuming her guard position she turned the other way before heading back closer to the fields. She would turn her head over her shoulder back at the group one last time before calling out for Shimiko. "Let's get going." She said in a regular call-out as she focused back on the mission. Natsuru was eager to stick an arrow in the gut of a bandit. It was her intention to do something practical by getting rid of human garbage before they plague society with their ill intentions.

Apparently the area around them was clear. Shimiko was a bit disappointed as she was hoping for some action while her anger was still hot. The girl feared that they would only be able to fight once she had an opportunity to cool off. Natsuru suggested that Ryuko wait with Akashi in case anything jumped off. Shimiko noticed that Akashi-sensei was more quiet than usual perhaps he was also in a bad move for some reason or another. Natsuru said that they ought check the two patches down the dip and followed the suggestion with another patronizing jape. She bent down to meet Shimiko's level and asked if she could handle that to which Shimiko furrowed her brow and replied with a simple: "Yes". It took a great deal of will not to assault Natsuru with the butt of her weapon. Instead she rolled her eyes and gave an annoyed huff. Natsuru led the way with her bow and arrow with Shimiko trailed a few feet behind with her kunai armed and ready. Natsuru was insufferable for the moment but she was the sensor of the team and her skills were not easily replaceable. Shimiko wondered if she could pick up the skill, if she could then maybe taking out Natsuru wouldn't be that much of a loss after all. She pushed the thought out of her head and focused on the mission. There would be time to deal with Natsuru's incessant taunting later for now she needed to think about killing these bandits.

Ryuko was more then a little irritated about how long it was taking just to escort the villages to their fields.  They should have been out hunting the bandits right now to eliminate the threat as soon as possible not playing babysitter.  What kind of moron had decided to plant so far away from the main settlement in the first place? Anyone with a lick of common sense would know to have them right next to each other.

Most villages naturally couldn’t afford to build defense walls around their entire fields but fortifying the settlement itself was easy enough if you took the time.  Even a few simple log walls should have been more then enough to retreat behind and keep bandits out long enough for help to arrive and yet they had nothing.   Either the noble in charge of these lands was incompetent, or he didn’t care to provide for his citizens.  

The system they lived under was simple enough. The Daimyo ruled the country and gave out parcels of land to nobles to manage. The nobles in turn would allow pesents to live off such land in return for taxes.  Each noble family had their own way of doing things, but the good ones would look after the people under their territory.  If not for altruistic reasons then as a way of protecting their investment.  

Her own family had a bit of an agricultural background. With the knowledge they had brought with them from overseas they had introduced a crop rotation method, bringing an end to a famine that had been plaguing the country. These days they didn’t do any agrarian work first hand but her father had always told her to be respectful of those who farmed for them.

As they finally got to the fields she gave a small smile at the sight of abundant crops. Even if the placement of the fields still seemed a bit off to her at least the villagers seemed to know their stuff in the vegetable growing department.  Once they got the bandits off their back maybe they’d actually be able to earn some money for a change.

Once Natsuru gave the villagers the go ahead to start harvesting Ryuko feel a surge of excitement that they could finally start the hunt, only to feel a mix of disappointment and confusion as Natsuru told them they where splitting up so that she and Shimiko could check to make sure the rest of the fields where clear.

It didn’t make any sense to Ryuko for her to stay behind since Akashi would be more then enough to guard the villages. But the was Natsuru phrased her request made it not so much a suggestion then as an order.  An order Ryuko begrudging obeyed at least for now, even as she childishly stomped her foot to show her annoyance.

She hadn’t been expecting any of the other girls to challenger her for the leadership roll she’d been trying to assume herself and wasn’t quite sure how to deal with it.  While ultimately Akashi sensai was the overall leader of the group, he wouldn’t always be around so they would need to establish a chain of command of sorts.  But if two or all three of the girls each wanted to be second in command after their sensai things could get…. messy.

Ryuko was torn. She needed leadership experience if she was going to become a good vestal but they had only just become friends so if she pushed the issue to much the other girls might begin to resent her.  This wasn’t really an ideal time to push the issue anyhow, so for now she’d go along with it and they could resolve things once they got back home.

“Fine, tis seems boring to be left behind though so please do not tarry.” She asked almost plaintively as she tossed the Fusee orb she was holding over to Natsuru to use as a makeshift lamp before quickly forming a second one for herself.  Not that they really needed them, but it never hurt to squeeze in a little light training when she could.

Left alone with Akashi she keep her gaze outwards away from the fields trying to spot an incoming bandits while wondering what she could do to get the man to finally break his silence.  Maybe if she had brought her Mandolin along she could have played him a song, but it had seemed silly at the time to time to drag it with her considering it wouldn’t help in a fight.  Maybe if she could pick up some genjutsu she’d have an excuse to carry it around more.

“Sensai do you happen to have a Ninjabo figure?” She asked out of curiosity. All the really famous ninja had one and she loved to collect them.  The prize of her collection was a rare first edition figure of the current Raikage.

Before Natsuru could leave Akashi and Ryuko be she was given an odd ball of light which was tossed from Ryuko's direction. Not expecting the object and her hands being relatively full the light orb hit the girl's forearm as it fell to the ground. The toss was followed by the girl's odd dialect which made it even more confusing. Despite that Natsuru was bright enough to put two and two together. "Uhh...yeah, I don't think light is necessary. I actually believe it's something we should avoid. There's a reason why the gatherers are donning black cloaks. Plus our eyes adjust naturally to the dark. Having a light source will prohibit us by making the horizon darker than normal." Natsuru turned her back and began heading towards the far end of the patch. Before she got too far she almost forgot her manners. "But thank you, Ryuko." Being mentally crossed between tormenting Shimiko and treating almost everyone else with great respect and mannerism was exhausting for the girl.

It was a short walk which seemed like forever having Shimiko besides her. Natsuru had her speculations about the girl in general. As she revealed herself to the team, exposing her blood obsession and whatnot made Natsuru even more wary. She's probably apart of some Satanic cult or something... Natsuru thought in disgust while passing a glance back to Shimiko on her way to the other crop fields. She regretted having Shimiko accompany her to the other end where Ryuko was just as capable. Following the short dip in the hill the two would stand between two other crop fields similar to size than those before without the presence of harvesters. Without a word Natsuru would kneel on the her knee placing her two fingers on the ground. Sending her chakra through the material she felt nothing out of the ordinary. The farmers were harvesting, there were no erratic movements, and chakra was steady.

Natsuru would stand upright patting the dirt off her knees. "So far so good. You know, having the figure of an ice pick really pays off when trying to stay concealed. Shooting an apple off the top of your head will be no problem, seeing as it's the only bulging thing on your body. We should try it out sometime. I'll even let you hold my bow!" Natsuru broke into hysterical laughter at her own roast session. It was her dream to break Shimiko's willpower. Knowing her soft spot made everything so much easier. Between gasps of her laughter her ears picked up an odd sound. A feint whistle similar to the wind. In an instant the sound exponentially increased in volume as Natsuru flinched. A small volley of arrows would hail their position. Natsuru was the larger target attracting most of the dozen. Given their distance and lack of training the arrows were mostly a miss, though Natsuru was stricken with three. Her forearm caught one, which the leather absorbed most of the impact leaving a shallow flesh wound in her muscle. Another grazed the outside of her upper arm leaving a minor laceration. But the last arrow stuck Natsuru good piercing her soft, supple abdomen towards the bottom left.

Natsuru fell back on her behind with arms crossed in front of her face. Her eyes welled up with tears as her face winced with immense pain. "You fucking bastard!" She cracked foul-mouthed between a gasp of air. The two minor hits were nothing compared to the arrow in her abdomen. She could feel the cold iron broadhead digging between her intestines as the arrow sat in her gut. The burning, aching feeling of being stabbed for the first time. Shutting her eyes tightly she cleared them of her tears getting a less foggy vision. She could see off in the distance, a mere one-hundred and twenty meters away were a small band of black cloaked figures wielding bows. Just outside my sensory range, too! With a quick retaliation of her own she reached into her waistband revealing a small beige orb. Written in black ink on the face of it was kanji for "Flash."

Spiking the flash bomb on the point of her arrow she drew her bow back in full strength. Firing a single arrow she pinned one of the brigands in the sternum. The arrow's force drove through the flash bomb fully doing two things. The arrow itself pierce the man's body forcing him on his back. The arrow splitting the flash bomb in the process triggered the bomb to set off. In a blinding flash the white light illuminated the distant hill. If one was quick they could pick off the sixteen, now fifteen standing figures on the hill. The light gave away their position and greatly blinded them due to their adjustment to the dark. Natsuru utilized this to reel back another arrow and firing one precision missile to stick another brigand. This time it went straight into his throat as the audible sound of choking could be heard from said distance.

Natsuru yanked the arrow from her forearm. It was an easy feat as only three quarters of the head actually pierced her flesh. With a small grunt she tossed the arrow aside. After firing the two arrows she exerted herself due to her wound as she began to feel nauseous and almost feverish. She was breathing through her mouth as she tried to make the best of her condition.

Ryuko will be greeted with a similar unpleasant surprise during the time of the assault. The moment Natsuru and Shimiko were met with a volley of arrows she would be done with the same in a tighter configuration due to the given light source from the double fusee ball. The initial volley and presence of the flash bomb gave a change in momentum. Those still paying attention to the bandits would find their switch in weaponry. They armed themselves with a variety of scavenged tools. Staves, studded clubs, axes, and even a couple had a decent katana. Although they did lack training they were just as dangerous as an armed man would be. The band of brigands would begin their charge, which was followed by an uproar. Then intended to slaughter whatever stood in their path starting with the farmers.

The brigands came in a horde covering both fields meaning Natsuru and Shimiko still had an equal threat to deal with. "Go...help Ryuko and Akashi back up the hill." Natsuru reached into her arm guard revealing a small purple orb which she smashed on the ground beneath her. This released a large cloud of purple smoke which concealed her presence. Natsuru would use this opportunity to drag herself to a safe space just a little down the hill behind them out of direct eyesight giving her time to recover. In the meantime she needed Shimiko to aid the others in protecting the farmers as best as they could.

Natsuru had sensed nothing judging by her lack of warning. Shimiko said nothing hoping that they could perhaps spend some time doing anything other than bickering. Natsuru had other plans apparently. In the same breath the girl began to mock Shimiko's appearance once more with increased malice than previously. Shimiko furrowed her brows and bit her lip as a boiling rage came over her. It wasn't her fault that she didn't have the same bust as Natsuru. Shimiko took the insults quite personally and found them hurtful instinctively she put her hands up as if to fend off the venom spewed by the archer. Years ago she would have cried but she had learned to convert her sorrow into rage. Once the hands went up, she remembered who she was and who she served. Natsuru began to laugh at her expense and Shimiko's shame turned to vengeance and then to resolve. There were no enemies around. They were far from the prying eyes of their sensei and their comrade. If Natsuru couldn't restrain herself for a moment then she was useless as a squad mate. Now was as good a time as any to get rid of her. Shimiko's hurt expression turned cold and she gripped her kunai and took a step forward.

"I'm goi-"

Revenge would be cut short as a feint whistle converged on their location. A volley of arrows peppered their location. A single arrow had struck Shimiko but was largely blocked by the chainmail provided by Ryuko leaving only a minor bruise and laceration. Natsuru was clearly not so fortunate and though she was alive the girl was seriously injured. Shimiko spun around and raised her kunai and scanned the immediate area. Natsuru replied with attack of her own, a flash bomb that illuminated the area and a volley of her own arrows.

"Go...help Ryuko and Akashi back up the hill."

Shimiko looked back and nodded at her before taking off in the direction of Ryuko and Akashi. The peasants had to be protected at all costs. She didn't look back but a part of her hoped that Natsuru survived. If anyone was going to take her life it was going to be Shimiko. The Jashinist raced through the field and placed her kunai in her mouth. While she gripped it between her teeth she made several seals and executed the Body Flicker Technique dramatically increasing her speed to intercept the group that was to set upon her comrade. She raced though the field with enhanced speed coming across a pair of stragglers with clubs. She struck from behind slashing both of their legs. She hit an artery on the first and he collapsed under his own fat weight while bleeding profusely. The second was lucky in that she had narrow missed her intended vein but his fortune reversed as she circled around in front of him and threw the same kunai into his neck at point blank range. They gurgled painfully and died with a bit of a fuss. Shimiko drew another kunai and was about to take off again when she noticed something.

A faint foul but unmistakable smell. It reminded her of the pyres they would build on the holy days.

Gas!

A flaming arrow streaked across her vision and struck the ground. The arrow ignited the gas and created a raging inferno cutting her off from Ryuko and their sensei. The fiery boundary was too far to vault and to wide to simply circle around. Shimiko turned and looked at the dying bandits. They were wiry and thin. The sort to be quick and quiet. They weren't stragglers, they were quick footed saboteurs.

"Ryuko!" Shimiko would shout from across the flames. "Protect the peasants! I'll find a way around this!". The heat and smoke were rising and she could see a group of the bandits making their way towards her. They had split up with the intention of dividing and conquering them. Clearly these were not the anti-intellectual band of savages that they expected. Shimiko gripped her weapon and backed away from the flames so as not to put herself in the corner. She counted five in all. Scum. Each and every one of them. The sort that considered a productive day to consist of looting and killing them. Shimiko had not the time to dedicate her early kills to Janshin in the heat of battle. This lot would get the honor of being her first set of sacrifices in some time. It was a shame she didn't have the opportunity to savor it the way she envisioned, but alas her teammate needed help. She would dispose of this group and run to Ryuko's side as soon as she could.

Ryuko didn’t mind that Natsuru refused to take the Fusee orb that had been tossed at her, as it bounced off her arm and rolled to the ground before Akashi’s feet.  She could understand where the other girl was coming from, even as she was trying to user her own light to draw attention to herself and away from the villagers.  

But what really clinched things was the thank you, followed by Natsuru using her name without any suffix attached at all. If they had been back in Hidden cloud that would have been more the enough for her to be tripping over herself to fawn all over Natsuru, probably starting with a glomp.  But she was too professional to start acting like that in the middle of a mission.

After the other girls where gone once again Akashi seemed to flat out ignore her attempts to talk to him.  Ryuko tried to see what he was focusing so intently on but it couldn’t see anything other then a random stretch of ground so she simply shrugged and went back to keeping a look out for the bandits.

“Tis fine if you wish to keep your peace, but in exchange henceforward I will call you Slientshi” she said jokingly. She was about to follow up with another joke when she felt something was off, though she couldn’t quite put her finger on what that was. Then suddenly she detected movement out of the corner of her eye followed the sound of projectiles flying thought the air.

Before she could even react an arrow pierced straight thought the orb in her hands causing it to shatter into stardust.  Thankfully the bandits weren’t quite discipline enough to synchronize their assault otherwise she’d already be dead since they seemed to have been concentrated fire on her due to the light she’d just been holding.

She didn’t know if it was the loss of the light or they where just lousy shots but the next couple rounds narrowly missed actually hitting her flesh as they tore gashes through the sleeves of her kimono and stockings even as she preformed a series of hand-seals.  She knew this sequence of five well but she didn’t think she’d ever got them finished quite as fast as she had now.

Just in time as she completed the snake seal her body seemed to become riddled with arrows before vanishing in a poof of smoke revealing that she’d used the body replacement technique to substitute herself with her own cape which was designed to slip off quickly for moments exactly like this one.   It was now reduced to tatters utterly and completely ruined.

She hadn’t been quite quick enough however as an arrow had landed in her right shoulder. It wasn’t a serious wound as the chain mail she had been wearing underneath her kimmono had prevented it from doing much damage, but it still hurt like a bitch.

“Das’t, flarking, SHIT!” exclaimed the girl who had been too pious to use proper swearwords until now.  By Hakkin’s fang she vowed that she was going to take the arrow in her shoulder and shove it up the ass of whomever had hit her with it.  

She’d been far enough away from the bandits that they wouldn’t notice the switch and think she was dead when in reality she was hiding a couple feet away inside the crops using her new vantage point to try and backtrack the trajectory of the barrage.  She wasn’t smart enough to do the math to figure it out so instead she was relying on her experience as a weapon user to get a general idea of where the arrows had originated from.

It was further away then she’d first suspected, but then nothing about this mission had gone the way she thought it would. In the stories the bandits would always stop to make demands first before attacking. Usually in the form of “Give us the goods and nobody gets hurt.”  Reality it seemed was far harsher then any of the books she had read had lead her to believe.

They where too far away for her shuriken to reach and if she tried to dash at them they might fire another barrage at her.  She felt like she was good enough that she could block one, maybe even two arrows with her batons if she knew ahead of time they where coming instead of being taken by surprise, but that wouldn’t be nearly enough to save her from over a dozen like what had struck her mantle and neither would her chain-mail for the matter.

She had only one jutsu that could cover that kind of range, and coincidenlty it would also help her get closer to the bandits in the process. This is if she could actually use it correctly which was hard to say since it was another one she’d only read about before and not actually performed.  She was the type that learned best by doing however so it would be worth a shot.

Not wanting to waste any chakra from her limited supply, she glanced over to where her original  Fusee was lying on the ground she felt her blood freeze as her sensai stood there with an arrow sticking out of his knee. Or at least that’s how it looked to her anyway.  Her entire squad put together hadn’t been enough to so much as scratch the man, the very idea he had taken a hit from some bandits seemed comically absurd.

Maybe it was just bad luck, but she had a sinking feeling it was because the light from the orb sitting at her sensai’s feat had given away his position and that it was her fault he was injured. It seemed even a Jounin could be taken by surprise given the right circumstances. In any case it didn’t seem like he’d be running over to counter attack the bandits any time soon.

Dashing out from her cover Ryuko scooped up the orb sending a surge of chakra into it causing it to overload as she trust it in towards the bandits. Then with a soundless cry the orb blacked out as it went flying from her hands like a missile as it flared across over one hundred meters at a speed good enough to be on display at the Olympics.

Then just as it was in the bandits faces it exploded with a loud bang releasing a brilliant flash of light that would be visible for miles around them.  “Arg” screamed some of the bandits in pain as they drooped their weapons to use their hands to cover their eyes.  Sadly her flash bang wasn’t nearly potent enough to effect all of them, and unlike a real flare it didn’t even burn the ones it had hit since it contained no heat.

But it was enough for what Ryuko needed as she formed a tiger seal to body flicker her way toward the bandits.  One use only lasted one hundred meters so she wouldn’t quite reach them with it to start hand to hand combat which was her forte but that was fine since she’d still be in range to launch shrunken at them, Which is exactly what she plained to do the second he enhanced speed ran out even as she reached into her hip pouch to pull out a handful of the weapons so that she’d be ready.  

Swish, swish, swish repeated the sound of throwing stars leaving her hands as she struck out before the bandits could recover from her Flare gun jutsu.  Normally a single shuriken wouldn’t be that deadly but the brigands where too busy covering their eyes to defend making their throats an easy target as she took out three of them before the rest could even realize that she had arrived.

“You bitch, I’ll gut you like a fish for that.” groused one particularly rough looking man holding a bow with a flaming arrow notched in it. He was a little smarter then the rest and had been wearing some kind of viewfinder over one eye that had protected it from the flare’s light.  

Ignoring him for a second she flicking out another shuriken, killing her forth bandit for the evening, she would have liked to have gone for a fifth but that was all that she had manged to effect. The rest where on their guard now and wouldn’t be such easy prey.  Their where still dozens of bandits left but at least she wasn’t in danger of being surrounded for the moment since the bulk of them where further away.

She’d been expecting the man to attack her with his bow and had a hand on her baton ready to counter his arrow but to her surprise he shot past her causing a wall of flame to spring up cutting her off from some of bandits who had been making their way towards her.  She was puzzled why the man would be helping her like this. Surely he hadn’t had a change of heart but everything became clear when she heard Shimiko’s voice calling out for her to protect the villagers.

It wasn’t so much that he’d been trying to cut off the other bandits but that he’d been trying to cut off her backup from arriving.  Dropping his bow the man pulled out a long serrated knife then licked it suggestively before waving another group of bandits that where behind him away.

“It’s just you and me now pretty bird. I don’t know what a priestess is doing in a backwater hole like this one, but I think I’ll take my time with you. Be a shame if you never got to experience the pleasure of being a woman before I send you to meet with your god after all. ” He said leering at her disgustingly all the while.

Ryuko felt a shiver run down her spine from the words the man was saying. As a priestess and Vestal candidate she had been kept mostly ignorant of sex in order to remain pure. As such she didn’t quite fully understand what the man was saying, but enough to find it creepy just the same. Enough so that she now wanted to shove his arrow into an entirely different place then where she’d original been planning.  

She didn’t want to let the other bandits get past her, but she could sense from the intent that the man was giving off that if she tired to stop them he would make her pay dearly for it. He didn’t seem so strong that he outclassed her, but strong enough that she’d have to focus on him if she wanted to win.

“Fowl beast.” She said drawing her right baton she gestured to the man to bring it. “Thou shalt pay for thy sins.”

(Learning Flare gun 1930/150)

With slow, heavy breaths Natsuru stayed conscious as she crawled herself to cover. The smoke was a great enough diversion to let her slip away further down the hill as the others entertained the bandits as they raided the crops field. Natsuru was unaware of the action unfolding, only able to track their movements through her sensory technique. Natsuru leaned with her back against the hill as combat unfolded. She started to apply basic first-aid measures. For starters, she had to remove the arrows. It was the least satisfying thing to do to oneself though she had little choice. Calling for help to remove arrows would simply be a waste of resources and thin out their defenses. Natsuru started with the easiest out of the two. The arrow lodged into her right forearm was moderately painful, the leather arm guard doing a fine job at making the arrow shallow. The actual broadhead only dug half an inch into her arm.

Although it was still a sore wound it would at least be tolerate with a few painful grunts. Using her free hand she grabbed the shaft of the arrow pulling violently as the arrow came out like a band-aid. A small moan as blood squirted from the arm was all that was happened. Tossing the arrow aside she clenched her fist forcing her forearm to flex feeling the damaged muscle in her arm react. It was an awful feeling, though tolerable for the heat of the moment. She knew the next day her arm would be super sore.

Now it was time for the big one. Natsuru looked down at her abdomen in disgust as she saw the arrow sticking out from her body. ”I never thought I would find myself in this position…” Natsuru was afraid to touch the arrow as it seemed like the most painful, deepest wound. It was a broadhead, much like the others fired, meaning it had a mean flaring towards the bottom of the arrow head making removal much more painful. Natsuru reached down towards the tanto strapped on her right thigh grabbing it by the handle revealing the fine steel blade. She used this time to cut her top around the midline area creating a sort of crop top. Before she could continue to modify her mesh undershirt she remembered the copper mail she wore beneath. Natsuru was surprised and at the same time incredibly thankful.

Though her discomfort she could feel the arrow resting between her small intestine. If it were not for the mail the arrow might have gone straight through. At that point she would be in critical condition. Giving a shuddered sigh she grabbed the arrow and pulled. She winced painfully as it moved around her insides, though as the head of the arrow came closer to surface it was more tolerable similar to the arrow in her arm. With a solid tug she pulled the arrow from her abdomen yielding a similar reaction to her arm. She felt cold as she laid back a bit relieved after removing both arrows from her body. The audible sound of combat was uproaring, and Natsuru knew she still had a job to aid her teammate.

Natsuru was worried about the fate of Shimiko and Ryuko. Natsuru knew it was easy to be caught off guard like she was. With their untrained bodies it was much more difficult to avoid something like a volley of arrows without total cover. With a few breaths she was ready to ease back into combat. The warm liquid from her wound ran down her belly, though she tried her best to ignore her bodily damage for now. With her sensory running she was able to see the significant decrease in bandits as their chakra faded. Natsuru retrieved another arrow from her quiver, charging her bow back with a bit of effort as she was prone. Her body reacted poorly to her wounds as she felt both her arm and belly increase sharply with pain. Though, through the clearing smoke, she spotted the remaining bandits.

Enhancing her arrow with a blueish glow she fired releasing a chakra-enhanced arrow. It raced through the wind and pierced two of the remaining four bandits through their torso forcing them to fall. As they were impaled by a blue streak it forced the remaining to attempt to flee. Natsuru was not having it. Not after the damage they done to her. From the group’s vision a thin black streak followed through the air as one more bandit was stuck in the back. The smoke from the smoke bomb fizzled away for the most part leaving nothing but a thin haze in the air. Natsuru forced herself back on her feet. She was able to walk without her wounds hurting too much, but exerting herself would further her damage. She knew that much. Still, it seemed the three girls were enough to drive off the bandit while suffering injuries in the process.

Natsuru slung her bow across her body as usual holding her tanto in a reverse grip in her right hand as she shuffled from the haze and towards the ground. Her face was a bit dingy from her tears and dirt, clothes torn slightly, armor damaged, and blood staining various parts of her body. She wanted to go home above all else, though she knew they had to hike back to Kumogakure before they could wrap anything up. Long story short, they were a long ways from home. ”They should be gone now.” Natsuru said briefly not being able to add much more. She wanted the mission to be over. Her body was cold and it hurt. She was unsure if she could survive another wave due to her condition. Natsuru lumbered towards the two girls as she glanced back into the horizon before the farmers ensuring their head count was still correct.

Five of them. Five bandits. The largest number of people she had fought at once was three and she hadn't won. They weren't talkers apparently but were decently well armed. Shimiko raised her kunai and calculated how to approach. They didn't give her long as the first brute lurched forward wildly swinging a battleaxe. Shimiko strafed left and right to avoid his blows before quickly seeing an opening and striking. There! He had exposed his forearm for a hair of a moment, long enough for her to strike. She enfused the kunai with Chakra Flow and swung with all her might. The cut was deep but not fatal, it left a massive gash that sprayed blood everywhere. It would be clear to the man's subordinates that their leader was in trouble and they surged forward to overwhelm her. Shimiko backpedaled and loosed the kunai into the man's throat. The blade was elongated with a stream of blue chakra, it traveled a short range before silencing his cry with a bloody gurgle. Two rushed at her sides another to her front and the fourth had circled around trying to get behind her. If she didn't take them out fast, they'd surround and overwhelm her.

She threw a smoke bomb in front of her and made a few handseals. A large warhammer barreled down on her position from the left only to strike a log. Shimiko lay behind a small gathering of crops, she needed another distraction. More handseals were made and she sprang from her hiding place not more than 6 meters from where the group of bandits stood confused as to why their prey had poofed into a log. The smoke from the bomb and fire created enough confusion for her tactic to work. Shimiko created four haze clones that rushed towards them. It was a simple academy level tactic but when pulled off perfectly it was effective against non-shinobi. The clones zig zagged and weaved in and out of formation with herself amongst them. The intention was to confuse and befuddle them so as to maximize her chances of a lethal strike. Shimiko went for the one with the warhamer first, strafing from a haze clone at the last moment and drawing a kunai sharpened with Chakra Flow. The blow was savage taking off his leg from the knee. Shimiko drew a second kunai to parry a few blows from another bandit, this one wielding a katana. The girl blocked them in rapid succession. The bandit was skilled and focused. He wasted no words but judging from his heavy breathing and coughing the smoke was getting to him. The Chinoike didn't have the luxury of waiting for him to tire though as a fierce kick reminded her that she still had another bandit to worry about it. The force of the blow sent her careening to the side but rather than falling she shifted her momentum into a roll, righting herself just in time to cross the kunai to block a slash. Her arms were feeling numb from parrying and blocking the blows. Even with chakra flow, the man was stronger and working with quality steel so she couldn't maintain a perpetual defense.

Keep moving!

Shimiko sprang to her feet and backpedaled to avoid a slash from the second bandit. It was a difficult position to be in but she had to finish them and get to Ryuko. The moved forward towards her again. She didn't have the strength to survive another offensive onslaught so she had to try something unique. Shimiko threw both kunai at the men. They were deflected with ease but in the time it took them to do that she hurled a series of flash bombs to blind them. Shimiko made a handseal and flickered through the explosive haze attaching an explosive tag to each of them as she zipped past. There was no time for prayer, dedication, or even a final remark. She detonated the tags and the two men were no more. Blood and flesh splattered the fields and covered her. Shimiko heard ringing in her ears from the explosion and she began to cough from the flames. She scanned the area around her in a daze. It was one thing to fight in the confines of a village, it was another entirely to face your enemy on the field of battle. Shimiko caught a glimpse of several arrows finding their mark. Natsuru.... It appeared that the archer was useful after all. Shimiko saw one of the bandits crawling towards his warhammer. He had lost part of his leg but was taking a while to bleed out. Shimiko looked at the raging fire and then back at the crawling bandit.

Ryuko will be fine.....I just need to....

She draw a kunai and walked towards the bandit. He had been crawling on his stomach cursing all the while. She stomped on his stump forcing him to yell in pain.

"YOU BITCH!"

With a forceful shove of the foot she forced him onto his back and crouched next to him. He would be staring at a young girl in a trench coat and tie smiling at him.

"What are yo-"

She'd place her right hand over his mouth. She removed the hand and made a shushing motion.

"Be still."

The free hand armed with the kunai would bring the blade across his neck in a quick swipe. The man's last words were lost as his mouth filled with blood.

"Lord Jashin accept this sacrifice as consideration for the promise you have bestowed upon your disciples. A promise sealed and honored by blood. The blood of the new and everlasting covenant"

Shimiko would raise the blood soaked kunai and lick it. She had read the scriptures but still did not quite understand the meaning behind the ritual. It wasn't her place to question doctrine however and she did as she was told. She had already offended Jashin by going so long without performing it so he felt no guilt in doing it in plain sight right in the midst of a battle. Shimiko stood and looked at the line of fire separating her from Ryuko. It would take too long to go around. She needed to go through it, or rather over it. The girl eyed the corpse of one of her victims. A large man, large enough to provide a boost over the flames. She walked a bit of a distance and then started towards the fire in a brisk run. She made the Ram seal and body flickered towards the fire. At the last moment she used the man's body as a boost to vault over the flames and land on the other side. Shimiko's trench coat had trailed behind her and caught aflame. She immediately took it off not even bothering to stamp out the flames. At that moment she must have been quite a sight. A blonde girl with a plain white dress shirt and tie stained red with blood and bits of blown up bandit. She drew a kunai and scanned the area for her comrade. Hopefully she was not too late...

Ryuko blinked in surprise as instead of advancing on the villagers the remaining bandits began to run for the hills instead. It seemed the combined efforts of the girls had been enough to dissuade them from pressing their attack.  Her plan to kill them indiscriminately had the intended effect she’d been looking for.  

If they only killed one or two by accident while trying to knock the rest out it wouldn’t be enough to chase off the bandits since the immediate risk to them would be fairly low. But each of the girls had killed several off without so much as blinking an eye which was enough for even an idiot to realize they would get the same treatment if they stuck around.

The only one left was the leader Ryuko had been facing off with, and weither he was an idoit or not was up for debate as he took advantage of her surprise to launch a surprise attack, lunging forward with his knife aimed straight at her eye.  Startled, she was barely able to block with her baton at the last second only a millimeter away from being scratched.

From that range she could see the purple ooze coating the blade and cursed under her breath as she realized the substance was likely poison.  If that was true then the man didn’t even need a critical strike to beat her, a simple nick could finish the job. Seeing the look on her face the man grinned savagely.

“Ah don’t worry love, it’s just a simple paralysis drug. After all I can’t have me fun with you if you’re dead.” he replied his voice thick with laughter as he lashed out with a foot from close range forcing Ryuko to jump back rather then take a debilitating kick to the gut.  Before she could press forward the man was almost on top of her forcing her to block yet again.  

The man might be a bandit but he wasn’t the leader for nothing. Unlike the other he was actually strong enough that a close combat specialist like her was having trouble with him on her own as it was all she could do to keep him off her.  Maybe if her right shoulder hadn’t been injured she could have managed a bit better, but as it was she was going to lose at the rate if backup didn’t arrive soon.

“I bet you’re wondering how a mere bandit like me be giving you so much trouble.” The man taunted as he pushed Ryuko back. “You see, I used to be a ninja just like you. I even graduated the academy and everything.” He explained as he placed his knife handle into his mouth to hold it for a moment before preforming the Ram, snake and tiger handsigns for the clone jutsu.

Now instead of facing one bandit, Ryuko was facing off with three.  Sure two of them where fake but knowing that wouldn’t help much when she couldn’t tell them apart at a glance.  She desperately racked her mind trying to come up with a counter.  Should she form her own clones or throw kunai at all three of them at once?

“Problem is we didn’t have enough jounin to go around so they only took the most promising students and put the rest of us on reserve. I waited years, YEARS to be placed on active duty, but my chance never came.  Eventually I got tried of waiting and left and here I am living off the land.” The man explained blabbling on and on with a smirk as he knew he was winning and reveling in the feeling.

This excahnge however gave Ryuko a chance to calm down and catch her breath. Remembering what Akashi had taught her she began flowing chakra into her baton, even while she drew her second one out of it’s sheath. Until now she’d been keeping one hand free so that she could form handseals if necessarily but now she needed to focus on what she was best at if she was going to have any chance at making a comeback.

It was at that moment when as if by divine providence a certain blond pig-tailed girl burst onto the scene, her trench coat ablaze in the evening dusk combined with the copious amounts of blood and bits of human flesh sticking to her made it seem like she had walked in straight from the depts of hell itself.

But from Ryukou’s perspective Shiminko was an angle decending from heaven as her sudden appearance did two crucial things to change the flow of the fight and turn the tide. First and most importantly only the real man reacted swiveling on the spot towards her and giving away his position. The second was that it had draw his attention away from Ryuko even if only for an instant.  

An instant she seized upon ruthlessly thrusting out with her right baton. Using the arhat fist to concentrate all of it’s power into the tip as it connected with the man’s right knee shattering it with one decivise strike.  The man howled out in pain biting his teeth hard enough to draw blood but impressively remained standing.   It seemed he was one hardy son of a bitch.

“That was for Akashi-sensai. This is for me!” Ryoko declared as she threw her left baton which whizzed by the bandits head missing him by several meteres making it look like her aim was completely off.    

“You must be more tired then I though missing like that. Well you won’t be getting any sleep tonight I can promise you that.” said the man as he brandished his knife and prepaired to lunge at Shimiko to try and finish her off quickly so he could get back to his main course when Ryuko’s next words caused his blood to freeze.

“Who said I missed?” she asked casually as the baton came from behind and wacked the man in the back of the head knocking his lights out. Dropping his knife, he fell onto the ground face first.  It was simple really, all she had done was use the boomerang throw technique to make it look like she had missed so he’d get hit when her baton came back to her. Why? Because if she’d made a straight forward attack while he was paying attention, he might have dodged it even with his shattered knee slowing him down.

“A thousand thanks Shimiko-chan. You saved me.”exclaimed Ryuko as she ran over to her friend and attempted to give her a quick hug.  After that she walked foward and picked up the man’s knife and used it to cut him so that he’d be temporarily paralyzed by his own poison before casually tossing his knife aside.  For such a skilled fighter his equipment was garbage worse then a standard store bought kunai.

“Tis seems the rest of the rats have scurried away to their nests. With their leader gone it is unlikely they shell return to infest these parts again.  Shall we check to see how Natsuru-chan is doing?” she suggested.  The mission more or less successful and with a captive in toe it was time to return home.


(learning Boomerang throw 1200+/150)

Natsuru found herself sitting at the empty lot before the crops fields. Akashi had disappeared on them, Natsuru not remembering the last time she saw him. It was right before she left Ryuko alone with him to oversee the bandits as Shimiko and herself went to clear the other fields right before the ambush. With Akashi gone she began speculating his presence. Was he apart of the brigands? It would make sense for them to know to wait right outside my sensory range....plus he was awfully quiet since we left. For him to disappear like this as a Jounin of Kumogakure...I can't believe it. Natsuru sat on the ground with her legs spread apart, holding her abdomen where she was wounded. She was getting used to the pain. At the moment, Natsuru was becoming more confident that she could "make it." The feint sound of light skirmishing could still be heard beyond the dying flames. Voices were heard too, male and female. They were vulgar to say the least according to the dialect she could hear. She wanted to reach for her bow and support even more, but she was at her limit for the day. With the hole in her belly, drawing an arrow took a lot of pain tolerance.

She did pick up a odd set of dialogue coming from what could only be Shimiko. The first part fell on deaf ears due to the unfamiliarity with the name, but the rest followed as:

"accept this sacrifice as consideration for the promise you have bestowed upon your disciples. A promise sealed and honored by blood. The blood of the new and everlasting covenant"

Natsuru raised an eyebrow as the strange choice of words, which was different from the usual bickering and vulgar language people would shout at each other when fighting. Only one word would slip from her mouth, which described her feelings to the T. "Weirdo." Though, with Shimiko as distant as she was, it was highly unlikely she would hear Natsuru's response. And for once, Natsuru did not want to. She was too tired and hurt to want to tease Shimiko, nor did she have the will to fight her. With a steady breath she waited on the outside of the flames for the others to regroup. The farmers were very attentive with their work not being distracted by the fighting. They were almost done with their harvest. Natsuru just couldn't wait to get back to the small village. It would take roughly eight hours to hike back to Kumogakure. Neither of them could make that travel in their current condition. She was a bit curious to see what the rural town had to offer for comfort.

When Shimiko arrived on the scene in style she saw three bandits all in position to attack Ryuko. Fortunately, he stylish entrance had distracted him long enough for her comrade to deliver a finishing blow with an impressive boomerang technique. The man was knocked out and cut with his own blade. Still somewhat dazed from her previous fight, Shimiko breathed a sigh of relief and allowed Ryuko to hug her. The girl expressed thanks as Shimiko's distraction was of significant help. "No problem" she replied with a half hearted smile. She was not upset that she had killed but the fight was tiring and even demoralizing. If there had been just one more bandit or if they had been a tad bit stronger things could have easily gone the other way. She had to get stronger, no matter what. Shimiko scanned the area to find many of the farmers putting out the fiery boundary that separated them from Natsuru. The others were gathering the harvest and heading back to their village. The bandits had been scared off and the mission was a success but if that was true then why was she so angry?

Akashi-sensei...He didn't lift a finger to help us....Why was Ryuko-chan fighting that bandit by herself?

It could have been an elaborate test. A trial by fire. But if that was the case why had he been so silent the whole time. It almost seemed like he wasn't there at all. Shimiko shook her head and pushed the thought aside.

Seigi will hear about this... she promised.

Shimiko Chinoike did not even bother looking for him. They'd walk to the village by themselves. Ryuko said they ought to check for Natsuru and the girl nodded in response.

"Yeah let's find her and go home"

Shimiko would cross the field now that the fire had been put out and the villages were apparently safe. She'd walk around looking for Natsuru but not having the strength or the inclination to actually call her name aloud. She hoped that Senou wasn't dead but if they did come across her corpse Shimiko would not be all that broken up about it.

As Ryuko wrapped Shimkio within her warm embrace she didn’t seem to care that the blond girl was covered in gore and that she too would now be covered as well. There where worse things then being drenched in the blood of their enemies  Heck for a follower of Hakkin like herself it was it was like a sacrament showing that she had preformed her duty protecting the people of this land.  

Upon close inspection Shimkio seemed mostly unharmed, at least physically but it was hard to say how she felt after having to kill someone, especially in such a messy manner. This was her first mission as a gennin as well which meant these where likely her first kills too which would could make it all the more traumatizing.

Ryuko knew that part of the standard academy education was in a way preparing them to become killers but in her opinion those classes didn’t go far enough if her extra priestess training on the subject was anything to go by.  This was Ryuko’s first time killing as well and it was surprisingly easy to do when you where thinking of the target as something less then human.

While Shimkio seemed like she was alright on the surface, as someone who wasn’t all together herself Ryuko knew quite well that appearances could be quite deceiving. The rare time a family memeber would ask how she was doing she would simply smile at them warmly not even giving a hint at just how crushingly lonely she was.

“Shimko-chan are you well? It looks like you had a pretty rough go of things.” asked Ryuko breaching the subject tentatively. She’d have to step lightly here or risk her friend shutting down on her and becoming as quite as their sensai had been.   Speaking of the devil she glanced over to where she had left him only to find that he had vanished causing her to frown deeply.

“Tis appears that Sensai has vanished. He was wounded so I hope he didn’t go after the bandits.” She remarked dryly.  The fight had not gone nearly as well as she’d been expecting. She’d been expecting them to steam roll the bandits with ease and instead they won the confrontation by the narrowest of margins.  She was going to have to demand more training for them once they got back to the village.

As the famers where kind enough to put the flames blocking them off from the fields out the girls found their third comrade standing just outside the perimeter waiting for them looking extremely weary after the entire ordeal.  Ryuko started to run towards her to give her a hug as well only to skid to a halt as she saw the condition her friend was in.

“Das’t. Natsuru-chan you’re wounded!” She exclaimed. Taking a closer look at the hole in the indigo haired girls abdomen her frown deepened.  Ryuko was versed in basic first aid and had even gone to the trouble of bringing an emergence medkit with her.  But it wasn’t good enough.  While not immediately life threatening the wound her friend had taken way beyond her ability to patch up.

Glancing at the villagers she wondered for a quick second if any of them could help but quickly dismissed the idea. Oh sure they could likely deal with a mild illness but being dirt poor anyone that was smart enough to become an actual doctor would have left ages ago.  She was simply going to have to do the best she could for the moment.

“Please hold still this might sting a bit.” She said while cleaning as much of the blood off as she could before pouring a bit of alcohol on the wound to sterilize it.  Then she wrapping bandages over it to contain the bleeding, at least for the moment.  

“Tis quite a serious hit that you took. We must hasten back to Kumogakure at once, so you can get proper treatment.  If we stay, I fear you might not last the night.” Ryuko explained. She’d been pretty claim about things until now but was starting to panic and exaggerate a tad.    

Taking a C-rank mission had seemed so exciting at first but perhaps they weren’t quite ready for this level of action just yet. Their was a reason E and D rank missions existed after all and skipping over those like they had had almost resulted in dire consequences.  If Natsuru had actually had died she didn’t think she would have been able to forgive Akashi for rushing things the way he had.[/b]

Natsuru waited for the others to arrive, which they finally did after a short while. Ryuko immediately charged at her, but halted as she got close enough to see her condition. Deep down Natsuru felt glad to have the presence of those two. Normally she liked her "me time" however given her most recent events it was comforting to know they were with her, and unscathed. "Yeah...I let my guard down." She said distastefully, recalling it was her taunting of Shimiko that distracted her from the horizon. Her injuries could have been avoided. But now, she had to take her medicine. Ryuko was being frantic as she pulled her first aide kit. She pulled a small flask of clear liquid, which Natsuru could only assume was grain alcohol. Before she could say anything, Ryuko told her to brace herself as she dumped the liquid on her wound. It could the wound to feel like it was dried out and it stung like all hell. "I don't think you're supposed to pour that on open wounds..." Natsuru said bitterly as she bit her lip to the point it bled slightly.

She vaguely recalled the directions on the grain alcohol, but could at least remember that open wounds were advised against without doctor's permission. She did not have the energy to argue, though. Ryuko was at least trying her best. After all, the wound was somewhat shallow. She thought she would be alright. Ryuko continued to wrap her body with bandage and a pad to absorb anymore blood loss. For the time being, Natsuru felt quite alright.

The bandage held the pad against her wound tightly, which was comforting. "I feel alright, thanks to you. If we take it easy on our way back to the village I should be fine. It's just that...." She paused for a moment, before admitting herself to them. "I need someone to help carry me back. Shimiko...you are quite strong. I trust in your strength..." Natsuru said, still partially out of breath. She had practically climbed up her leg from below, using her body as a ladder as she readied herself planting her large bosom on her back, Natsuru leaning her head over Shimiko's shoulder as her cheek rested against hers. "This is more like it...Let's head back to Kumogakure..." With that she would walk from behind Shimiko being in control of her direction as she would carry essentially both of their weight. Natsuru would lead the group back to Kumogakure, not giving a second guess on Akashi's whereabouts.


[Exit -> Kumogakure Gates]

When Natsuru admitted that she had let her guard down Ryuko simply grinned at her and pointed at the arrow still lodged lightly in her right shoulder as if to say that her friend hadn’t been the only one to let their guard down.

“You’re not?” replied Ryuko tilting her head to the side in confusion as she applied the alcohol. Natsuru was absolutely right. You really weren’t supposed to use alcohol on an open wound to clean it. The problem in this case was Ryuko only had basic first aid training and didn’t really know any better, having fallen for the same common myth that the average person believed.

When Natsuru asked Shimiko to help carry her home Ryuko couldn’t help but feel a slight stab of jealousy but quickly pushed aside as she remembered she had a prisoner to drag back. Besides which it would do the two of them good to spend some time with each other. If this was what it took for them to bury the hatched they seemed to have then she was all for it.

“Please go on ahead. I’ll tidy up for us and catch up shortly.” said Ryuko. With Natsuru wounded they won’t be able to move that fast which meant it she would be able to catch up with them without much trouble, even with the package she had to carry. Tying up the bandit leader so that he wouldn’t be able to escape once the poison she had used on him wore out she went to work retrieving the shuriken she had thrown earlier as well as a kunai that Shimkio had left behind.

Now came the hard part. What was she going to do with the bodies? For a brief moment she was tempted to string them up to serve as a warning to other brigands but even these poor bastards didn’t deserve that. Biting her lip she cursed herself that it had to have come to this in the first place. She’d kill if she had to but that didn’t mean she had to like it. If she been more powerful then none of these deaths would have been necessary.

In an idea world she would have rounded up the bandits and worked to reform them into upstanding citizens. But this wasn’t an idea world. She wasn’t strong enough to save people like them, heck she was barely strong enough to save herself. At least she’d managed to take one alive so thank Hakkin for small miracles.

As a fully licensed priestess she could preform several different ceremonies and blessings. Her favorite was preforming marriages and the one she disliked the most where funerals which was what she was going to have to do now. The last thing she wanted was to be called back her in a few months to deal with purifying some ghosts if she left them to rot out in the open.

She didn’t have time to bury them but luckily the last season had been fairly dry. It was a simple matter, all she had to do was places the copses in a pile then put some fallen tree branches around them. One match later and she had a raging bong fire going. Normally she’d play a bangle at this point for the fallen but she didn’t have one with her so they would have to settle for her praying that would find a better way in their next life. Not to most luxurious funeral, but frankly it was still better then they deserved.

Stopping to check on the villagers one last time before she left Ryuko was relieved that with all the arrows that had been flying about none of them had gotten hurt. They insisted on rewarding her which Ryuko addimately refused telling them she had only done her duty but they wouldn’t let her leave until finally she gave in and allowed them to replenish her med-kit.

“Well you got me kid. Might as well finish me off now.” goused the bandit as Ryuko returned to his side and threw him over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He was a bit heavy but nothing she couldn’t handle and it was better then literally dragging him.

“Ah thou art awake. Apologies for the knee.” Ryuko said to him sounding genuinely sorry about the whole thing. She’d been trying to sprain it, not shatter it into pieces and now it was unlikely the man would ever been the same again. Only a top medic could fix a wound like that and it was unlikely he could afford such a service.

“As for finishing thou off I’m afraid I can do no such thing. As a former academy student I’m sure the Raikage will have some questions for thee. Mayhap thou could give us some Intel. If thou tellith us all thou knows of the underworld, he might even be nice about it” Ryuko said smoothly speaking as elegantly as possible once again.

The man’s face turned pale as he realized that as a tratior she was taking him to a fate worse then death. A fate she herself was ignorant of. The interrogate she had wanted to do paled in comparison to what was going to happen to this man once he was in Seigi’s tender hands. The man tried to scream and bite his tongue only to be gagged as Ryuko ran along the road to catch up to the others.

[exit]

“Shimko-chan are you well? It looks like you had a pretty rough go of things.”
"I'm fine Ryuko-chan just a bit tired is all"

Shimiko didn't regret killing anyone but she was a bit disappointed in how difficult the endeavor was. If she wanted to be a better shinobi, she'd need to hone her skills some more. Akashi appeared to have taken off which confirmed her suspicions that he had to be some kind of coward or traitor. They walked across the field and found Natsuru who was alive but quite injured. Shimiko felt a bit bad for her but she knew nothing of first aid. Ryuko with all of the childlike innocence and ignorance of a girl her age attempted to pour alcohol on the wound to which Natsuru informed her was not proper procedure. The girl winced at the pain but she seemed to take it like a champ. Shimiko was pleased that she acknowledged that it was her preoccupation with teasing that caused her wounds. She had half expected Natsuru to find a way to blame her for what happened. Even more surprising she said she trusted in her strength to carry her back home. Natsuru didn't wait for her to even reply and clambered onto her back. The Chinoike grunted under the extra weight but did not complain.

Her breasts are like half her body weight....

Shimiko was astounded that a girl roughly her own age was so fulsome. It made her remember the comments that were directed towards her own appearance and caused her to pout briefly. She ignored the seeds of jealousy and straightened up a bit. She shifted her posture so as to fully support her comrade. It would be a long trek back to Kumogakure and since Natsuru needed medical attention relatively quickly, they would need to get to where they were going fast. Ryuko said that she would catch up with them soon.

"Alright, don't dally Ryuko-chan"

Shimiko would then head off to the Kumo Gates.

Exit -> Kumo Gates :p