The Hunt For Rahn Uktubar

Mission Name: Analysis Anarchy
Mission Rank: S
Theater of War: The Epsilon Eventuality
Relevant Plot NPCs Rahn
Mission Goal: Capture Rahn alive.
Description: Rumors have been going around that an A-rank missing-nin named Rhan has been hired to assist in another splinter faction's hunt for the scrolls, and is making a lot more progress then anticipated. You're job is to capture him, preferably alive. Know however that you won't be the only one hunting him down. But beware, the man is a skilled user of Kyujutsu and Taijutsu, and his arrows are particularly nasty. Victory is declared when all but 1 side is incapacitated. If all teams are incapacitated, the point will be given to the victor of the final mission.
NOTE: The genjutsu this area of the range gives off has a permanent afterimage effect, similar to the Clone Technique.
Payment: 100,000 | Unique A-Rank Bow & Arrows
Maximum Number of Participants: 2 or 3 (1 for each faction)

Contrary to what his former sensei had promised him, the Wars were in fact consuming Ashitaka. In fact, of all the lies the man could have fed the boy, that particular one was perhaps the most absurd. Granted, the trouble at the hospital wasn't helping matters either. Now feeling a seemingly endless surge of power welling up within him and bereft of the ability to sustain personal attachments, he had nothing left but to throw himself into mission after mission in the hopes of finding... something. He wasn't even sure what he wanted. But at the very least, this specific mission was one where he could test his mettle against what he'd heard was an archer of some credible capability. So it was that he found himself standing in the upper branches of a tree that he hoped no one knew wasn't there before this morning, using his enhanced Perception to scan the area for his quarry: a local Missing-Nin who had allegedly made some considerable headway in pursuit of the scrolls that this whole kerfuffle was apparently about. Of course, it was actually one of a pair of trees that previously weren't there, since for whatever reason everything that existed in this place instantly manifested an illusory duplicate.

Despite being in the warmer part of the region, Ashitaka still felt cold, miserable and alone. He suspected that the foremost of the three had little to do with the ambient temperature of the area. His eyes scoured every last shrub, stone, and shadow for signs of his prey as he hoped to bring as swift an end to his participation in this fiasco as he could manage. The cloth of the forest green bandanna he wore as a lower-face mask absorbed the blood streaming from his chakra-flooded eyes as he pushed them to their absolute limit using the Sensory jutsu he'd invented to navigate the Hyuuga District in his failed effort to warn his... to warn Chikamatsu away from the ill-fated but nominally successful mission to invade Meijing. With no one to talk to, he couldn't silence the thoughts in his own head wondering if the elder teen had been planning the treachery he'd been executed for even since back then. In his effort to smother his grief over how horribly wrong everything had gone between the two of them, he ended up doing the same to all of his emotions, although the resulting internal numbness left him unable to notice.

There was only the mission, and the prey it had assigned to him. He might have been required to keep the Person of Interest alive, but that didn't mean intact. And there were no such demands for anyone who decided to make an obstacle of themselves.


_____________________

Stuff:

It had been a while since he was last in the Tundra itself. Technically this area was a part of the range, but it was the sort of thing that qualifies in that annoying way no one really remembered why it was the way it was. Mort had tried to figure it out once, digging through old documents and asking the elders, but like the Sage of Six Paths himself all he had to go on were half-remembered truths, a bunch of misremembered stories, and legends that couldn't possibly be true but were told because they imparted a lesson. It was actually a little annoying that his query was located in the Tundra, as it was the least well known to the Kurama, not that it stopped him.

Mort, for his part was in his normal combat wear; nothing too fancy, with the weather only requiring him to wear some fancier boots over his preferred battle-sandals. Hyperthermia was no joke, and while Kurama were built to survive harsher conditions in addition to chakra heat regulation, that could only go so far when advanced elements existed in the world. Sure he knew of Dark and Storm, but when he found out about the massive variety, it was a bit to take in. Still, he couldn't focus on that, he needed to keep his eyes out for both Rahn Uktubar, someone he had heard about as well, but found little info on, which really was a pain.

Pulling out some binoculars he'd pier through the frost-tinted glass. The Frozen Tundra, while technically the warmest, still didn't offer much in terms of places to hide. Sure there were hills and the occasional plant, but looking through his twin scopes he could see something that very much didn't fit the landscape; two, no one giant sequoia in the middle of the a frozen tundra. It was...very odd to see, but it was very clear it shouldn't exist.

Probably a Senju, definitely not Rahn. We best stay on our guard. Id, for their part, was also focused, wondering who could have made the tree. The Senju didn't have many people that were famous as of late, the two coming to mind being Ashitaka Senju who fought Seid, and Jingo Senju, who he didn't know as much about but being a Senju could still be a danger given the clan's abilities. Putting away the binoculars and drawing his twin swords, he'd float a few inches above the ground and slowly make his way over to the tree. If it was somehow Rhan, it would be a great place to snipe from, and if not, well a Senju was bound to be there that may know. Shame it was clear out though, he'd just have to hope staying low would be enough.

---

210/210 CP
Fly Speed D

It took Ashitaka much longer than he'd like to admit to realize that planting a tree in the middle of the tundra was a stupid mistake that called attention to himself by virtue of the sheer lack of anything resembling one within sight. The damn thing could be seen from a mile away. Literally. And due to his hypervigilance, he failed to notice the person-sized object(s) slowly approaching him until it got within half that distance. It was bearing what appeared to be swords, and since his intended quarry was ostensibly a tai/kyu user, he doubted that's what he was looking for. Still, he'd learned from the catastrophic Black Site mission that securing the target wasn't nearly as important as removing the opposition, so he moved to handle that instead.

A clone was summoned, which in turn formed hand seals as four ebony arrows were notched and aimed at the one of the two flying objects which cast a shadow since the duplicate, being a noncorporeal illusion, didn't absorb enough light to do that. After a swift adjustment for the faint breeze and his target's speed and angle of approach, he fired. The clone's jutsu activated as the arrows were loosed, turning the volley of arrows into an outright barrage. He remembered using a more powerful version of his technique against the Seraph of Lightning before giving up, but he'd also deliberately missed with it. But this was not a situation where defeat was an acceptable outcome. All forty of Ashitaka's arrows and their clones (making 80, counting the terrain-induced illusions) would strike within a 5m radius of their target, with no less than ten physical arrows being dead-on.

Internally, he hoped this attack wouldn't kill the other ninja, who was probably just doing his job. But he also wanted to succeed at this mission, and quickly. A drawn-out battle would give the target a window of opportunity to escape, which would result in his failing even if he won the fight, which would grate his nerves to no end. And he felt that he was approaching the limits of the frustrations he could put up with.

Just go down... please... don't make this harder on either of us than it needs to be. He silently begged his foe as he readied another barrage.


________________________

Stuff:

As Mort slowly made his way over to the tree, keeping his eyes on the large conifer, he'd see that a small cloud of dark...something was quickly launched from the tree towards his direction. Internally he could feel Id smile a little, as while he could barely make out the attack, it wasn't any jutsu he recognized, leaving it the area of a physical attack, which meant it was most likely an archer and their arrows. He never could get into the art of the bow, partially due to his lack of strength, but also because of the pain of having to balance both it and his sword training was functionally impossible. He knew of warriors who fought with a bow, but not everyone took it up. He had jutsu, and with some skill he could use that at range instead.

He didn't need long to guess where the attack was heading if his assumption was that the attack was targeting him, so he'd keep moving forward, expecting his target to have accounted for his movements, and charged up chakra to his swords. He'd been waiting for an opportunity to use this technique, and with it in his grasp he'd smile as he'd swing both of his swords before the arrows struck. The first blade would launch a wide blade of wind, slowing down the projectiles that wound have directly hit him, while the second one stopped the arrows in their tracks completely. The stopped arrows would fall down, and he'd catch one of them, nothing but the tips harmless to him as he'd look one over.

"Hm, not bad quality."

Having seen the projectiles up close now, he was pretty sure of his opponent being the Senju clan head, Ashitaka. Ashitaka...he wasn't sure of what to make of the teen. On one hand, the kid had been through a lot, having fought several powerhouses of Kumogakure and survived, though the toll they had put on his body when he read the reports were...more excessive then needed. Really he shouldn't have felt too surprised, having teens fight in a war was efficient, it let them adapt to war faster because of their growing bodies, leaving them in a prime others who didn't know war all their life couldn't regularly achieve.  It still was odd feeling though, as the Kurama preferred not to do that unless needed, only sending in younger folk who were properly trained.

He'd tilt his hat back slightly and bring a hand up to help carry his voice, hoping it'd carry as he was upwind, though it was more of an upbreeze as he kept floating forward. "Ashitaka Senju I presume? I've heard great things about you, shame we had to have our first meeting here!"

Could it possibly scare of their quarry? Oh most definitely possible, but it could also give him an edge in that Rhan would have more info on both of their opponents. He didn't doubt that if Ashi wanted to, he could easily call back revealing his own identity, but was putting a small bet that the knowledge of him not only being the Main Clan head if the Kurama was enough to deter him, but that he had defeated a Hozuki/Kaguya hybrid, a proper nasty foe (but a fun fight).

Mort's Stuff:

As his target stopped the arrows, Ashitaka's clone made another clone. While the man was inspecting the one he'd picked up, the second clone made a couple hand seals and conjured twenty more, which were stuck into the tree where the boy was able to grab and load a handful at a time. Four at a time, he shot them, with each volley being met with the first clone's use of the Shuriken Giant Body Technique as they departed the bow, after which it brandished its own bow and started firing its own arrows. The fusillade of huge projectiles (and their terrain-induced clones), now much more akin to small trees, formed a haphazard wall starting about a meter in front of the flying swordsman with the last set impacting at about the same time as his target was about to call out to him. The smaller arrows (and their duplicates) were directed more accurately at him.

Try knocking these down, wise guy.

Once that barrier was completed, he would begin firing regular four-shot volleys into any path the man took that wasn't forward. Even without his chakra enhancements, they were still formidable weapons and one hundred arrows was a lot. The clone watched intently for the moment when the man was successfully herded into the grove of alternately illusory and real giant arrows, ready to form the Ram seal and make the territory vastly more unfriendly than it already was. Likewise, the second clone drew its own bow and began sending volleys (and their clones) Mort's way.

If you like my arrows so much, by all means help yourself! I brought plenty!

While he was firing, his mind was working. People with flight were fairly rare. Dual-wielder. Swordsman. Wind Release. Ashitaka started to suspect that he was up against the other of Ryuko's Seraphim: Mort Kurama of the Swords. It was odd for a clan to share a name with the Kyuubi, and he wondered at the significance of that. But it was a matter for another time. This mission was one of those he'd undertaken to redeem himself, and he was due for a lot of redeeming after essentially handing access to the shrines back to Kumogakure. The shame and loss of the front lines were dumped entirely on his shoulders by most of Konoha's residents and ninja, as were the vast numbers of casualties. It was only by the Hokage's grace that he was spared, at least for now, the consequences of the treason which they'd decided he'd committed that day. His fledgling empathy was overwhelmed and killed by the hate of people who he'd already feared had it out for his blood even before then.


__________________________

Ashi's stuff:

Mort was glad he was moving at the speed he was flying at, as he was surprised by the wall of would note that the wall was...leaning away from him, and while the arrows were bigger from a size altering jutsu he knew well, their thin width of now 50ish cm made them closer to being like a poor baby trees that were blown over in the wind, and he could feel a comparison of a fence or jail cell in the back of his mind. he almost wanted to laugh. But now was no laughing matter as he continued to try and speak to the boy as he casually walked forward through the gaps in the wall while firing air bullets to intercept the clone's cloned arrows. The afterimage illusions wouldn't cause him any trouble as they were behind the real projectiles, an odd quirk, but welcome. The wooden arrows looked similar enough to the Wood Cutting Technique projectiles the Senju were known to make he was willing to risk it, as if they were in fact based on the technique they've have the same limitation of only being able to explode with a Ram seal at 50 meters, not the half a mile range they were at right now.

"Tell me Ashitaka, why do you interfere with the Kurama's self-made war? Konoha has no stake in the clan, and yet, here you are, fueling the machine. Is it pride? Honor? A sense of righteousness?"

None of the arrows that Ashi would fire would hit him as he hadn't moved left, right, or backwards, while the arrows that were fired by his clones would still take several seconds to hit him, and this time he'd have some fun. Pointing a sword so that it was in the middle of their flight path, run the numbers in his head, and would fire off 60 Air Bullets to intercept them, delaying parts of his shots so that the new arrows would be countered by his bullets. As the only arrows he had to hit were cloned arrows, he didn't need to worry about dodging as he made a fake leaning position on one of the gigantic wood arrows for his opponent's next move.

Mort's Stuff:

As Mort crossed the threshold into the domain of the field of Wood-Cutting arrows, the second clone paused in its firing to form the Ram seal... and nothing happened. Ashitaka mentally cursed himself for neglecting to refine the secondary effect of the technique, mostly because its general application was too gruesome for his tastes, and quickly adjusted his plan.

"Keep him busy." he ordered his clones as he flipped out a few hand seals and his Transformation bracers grew out into a complete set of armor, including a helmet that obstructed his face. "But don't go wasting any more of my chakra." The clones nodded and each of them tried to summon another clone, but couldn't because they didn't have the chakra to spare.

Ashitaka sighed when he figured out the problem, and transformed the second clone into a Transmission Seed which was stuck to the head of an ordinary arrow with an instruction to the remaining clone to fire that one at Mort among its other arrows. Then the clone fired a complete fusillade to mask the seeded arrow's presence among the others, launching it with the second volley to give him time to start moving. Even if his target knocked the arrow down, it would still fall within easy range of his Sensing Technique. The clone fired its arrows and the terrain dutifully duplicated the barrage. Then, Ashitaka did some quick triangulation to calculate which angle of the tree he could leap off of without either the action or its duplication revealing his doing so to his opponent, performed a backflip, and dived into the earth as though it were water. Luckily, there was no layer of ice between the snow and the dirt, so he had no trouble liquefying the latter to sink into it.

Snake. Ram. Hare. Dog. Snake. He formed the hand seals while underground and conjured a wooden dragon about the same size as the tree he was just in, which was just shy of 75m tall and 10m wide, with a 12m wide head and teeth that formed a seamless barrier when closed, as they currently were. Although his Subterranean Voyage technique could only liquefy the earth immediately surrounding himself, the sheer force of the dragon's traveling would punch through it like water anyway, albeit much more noisily than he would have preferred. He just hoped that diving roughly 150m below the surface as he dropped Harsh Reality for the more conventional Sensing Technique would sufficiently muffle the dragon's movements that Mort wouldn't be able to pick up on them in a timely manner. The clone had already fired the tracking arrow and Ashi directed his dragon to follow it at top speed, which started out a bit behind the arrow but gradually caught up to it as its flight slowed. They would pass it in midflight even if its intended target didn't deflect it.

From underneath Mort, Ashi and the dragon shot straight up, with the former of the two forming the Ram seal as he crossed within 50m, transforming the Giant Wood-Cutting Arrows which had been surrounding Mort into a huge wooden cage that also protected him from the hail of smaller clone arrows. The dragon would open its mouth as it erupted through the surface of the earth, intent on swallowing the Seraph of Swords as it crashed through the wooden cage. As soon as any part of the man crossed the threshold of its teeth, he would feel his chakra being drained away. If he fell only partly in, its tongue would wrap around him and pull him further in until at most he had an arm partially free, but it closed its mouth to the point that if he tried to move it, he would cut his own arm off. The Senju grabbed the exposed limb and joined his dragon in draining the man's chakra.


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Stuff:

Despite his intelligence, Mort was not a smart person. Most of his intelligence was relegated to Id as a safety precaution, often didn't reveal information to him, and in fact enjoyed reveling in his inability to know things. But they would still share if his life depended on it, it just happened that this time they slipped up, nothing more. The realization that he may have stepped into a trap came, but as nothing went off immediately he wasn't worried.

As he watched the next volley of arrows begin, noting that the volleys were less then before, a thought occurred to him. It was clear that his opponent knew stronger jutsu then himself, and most likely would have stronger defenses as well. combine that with his impressive aim he would also have incredible dexterity to normally avoid his attacks if they got in melee combat, and with how precise he was a heightened sight. Overall, he'd been on the back foot the entire time and would need to get creative. He'd quickly make a seal on his left glove, the tip of his finger being the middle of the seal as he sealed one of his left Soaring Sword inside the seal, as well as a large amount of chakra so that when it activated it came out point-first. While he hadn't completed the genjutsu version of the idea he had, it would be a good test run of his sealing capabilities, and he had more swords just in case. The benefit of the artifact was the same whether it was 1 or 2 swords in hand, it was just comforting for him to have both swords on him.

He'd begin to prepare another attack to knock the arrows out of the sky when, the ground began to rumble. With him currently floating, he didn't have enough speed to outrun either the wood dragon nor the wooden cage that formed around him. With the cage forming first, it let him know either his target was right near him, or that a clone was, with both options not being a...mixed sign. The arrows were indeed deflected by both the cage and Ashi's dragon, secretly grateful that one attack canceled out another. But there was a bigger problem at hand; specifically his hand. As he was swallowed up by the dragon his lower arm was caught inside the dragon's mouth when it closed, both his kimono's sleeve and genji glove pulling double duty to not let him lose his appendage or to feel the pain. But it gave him an opportunity.

He could see through the dragons mouth as it couldn't fully close while his arm was in it's teeth. And he could see both an armored hand grabbing his own as well as a wooden faceplate. A clone wouldn't normally bother to cover themselves up without plenty of prep, so it was a high chance this was Ashitaka himself. A plan came to mind, one he hadn't thought of using in years.

'Are we sure you want to do this?'

'Yes. Take it away Id.'

His eyes would turn purple and Id's influence leaked out, the concentrated desire to take down his opponent focused solely on Ashitaka. The mental pain was already starting as he aimed his left pointer finger as Ashitaka, while also moving his right hand to strike through the dragon's open mouth with his remaining Soaring Sword. Right as he began to strike with his right hand, a single word escaped his lips.

"Bang."

Mort's Stuff:

Ashitaka thought that the dragon would have taken most of the fight out of Mort, but he was mistaken. Neither it nor the hail of arrows leading up to it were enough to deter the man from whatever his goal was in this frozen area. Worse, the Senju had failed to account for the durability of the Kurama's equipment. Contrary to his intentions, the Wood Dragon's teeth failed to sever the trapped arm with its awesome power and in fact didn't even seem to sufficiently restrict the man's ability to use it. He had thought himself safe from retaliation and that was a terrible mistake.

"Bang."

The young Prince of the Forest didn't even have time to register the word before he felt a faint pressure against the side of his head, a chill indicating the sudden absence of his helmet, and the impact of the launched sword's hilt against his forehead. The dragon disappeared and his armor retreated back into his bracers as consciousness was banished from him like a light switch. His body was whipped around by the torque generated by the grazing impact of the blade across the side of his head, which itself spun some distance away. He hit the ground a fraction of a second before Mort would unless the latter caught himself. The slight drag of his body as it quickly skidded to a halt would clear some of the snow from the ground beneath him. Though the wound on his head closed quickly, he'd still lost a significant amount of blood through it, which spurred the local plant life to break through the ice where it was exposed to the fluid.

Ashitaka was out cold, but gave the general impression that he could regain consciousness shortly.



________________________


All jutsu used by Ashitaka are inactive this round. His Chakra Drain was disrupted and does not transfer any chakra from Mort to himself.

Senju Regeneration -2 CP

CP remaining 142.5/235

Timer is paused while this combat is in conflict moderation.

The conflict is resolved and edits made. Combat is unpaused and the 48 hour timer begins now.

The plan worked, not quite how he expected but it worked. He'd watch as the senju's helmet and head get launched, with a brief sight of his sword on impact letting him know the attack worked. The dragon quickly was crumbling around him, the grip on his gauntlet loosening as he began to freefall. Using the Soaring Sword's ability he'd slow his decent at the end of his fall so that he wouldn't break his knees or some other ridiculous way to lose this battle. but it wasn't over quite yet, as he knew some Senju could heal wounds faster then normal due to the abnormal amount of Yin in their body. He wasn't sure if that was only physical or if it also applied to mental wounds, but he wasn't ready to find out as he sprinted across the ground towards Ashitaka.

Immediately once he made it to the senju, he quickly slammed his hand down onto the boy's face, the Five Elements Seal making sure he would stay down as it'd take hold. And then he raised his sword up, the tip of the blade pointed towards Ashitaka's forehead as he held it in a reverse grip, ready to repeatedly stab him and remove a potential future enemy. For a brief moment, Mort didn't register why he was doing this, but then he remembered. Despite Id dropping their threatening presence as soon as they say the boy go limp, he still left Id in control. The need to kill, to survive, to make sure that none could stand against you; that need was about to let him kill a kid.

He'd hold the position, his sword threatening to make sure the boy wouldn't have to face any more of the waking world, but...he wouldn't. He couldn't. Not after Tamwyn. He would not bring that pain he felt onto others. His eyes returning back to their normal shade of green, he's relax his grip for a moment before sheathing his sword. Enough blood was shed today, and while he still needed to hunt down Rahn and capture him, he could wait. The boy needed to be neutralized first, but not die either. Pulling out a small scroll, he'd imprint a chakra draining seal onto the scroll, the set it down and move Ashitaka on top of it, activating the seal as he kept his own left hand on the boy's shoulder to manually drain chakra as well. With his right, he drew out one of his spare notebooks and began writing in one of the pages.

Mortimer's Note:

Once he finished up, he'd take out the arrow he had inspected during the fight, debated keeping the arrow before figuring it could have another use. Attaching the note to the ebony arrow and putting it inside of Ashi's belongings, he'd wait until Ashitaka's chakra was fully drained, reapplying a second Five Elements seal when the seal's secondary effect of keeping the target unconscious was about to run out. He'd then gather up his belongings, call in a squad to pick up Ashitaka, and quickly go capture Rahn himself.

(Declaring Victory for the Black Hand)

Mort's Stuff:

Given that he was already unconscious, there was literally nothing Ashi could do about Mort's swords or seals, and even with the man's meager mortal strength, he was still capable of moving the boy's limp body as he desired, with some difficulty. With no resistance from their target, all of Mort's seals went off without a hitch. Luckily, the Five Elements Seal didn't restrict Ashitaka's chakra from working within his body, so his healing was able to continue working for a bit. However, it also succeeded in retaining his unconsciousness while it drained away his already half-burned out chakra and made sure he stayed on the ground.

The recovery team arrived some time after Mort left the area and engaged in a brief but intense debate over whether or not they should seize the opportunity to kill Ashitaka where he lay. After all, the boy's cowardice and incompetence had all but cost Konoha the war and in this instance had failed yet again to secure victory against one of its shinobi. And while he was under the protection of the Hokage within the village's walls, they were far away from home at the moment and it would take no effort at all to pin his death on the enemy he'd just fought and lost to. However, there was the looming threat of the Sparrow and his apparent ability to just know things about events he had no part in. Also, they would be granting him the appearance of a warrior's death, a dignity that he did not deserve. He was only spared from being outright dragged home by the difficulty his gear would have presented to such an effort. Due to the fact that every time he was brought to the building, there was some kind of catastrophe at the hospital, he was instead dumped at the gates to his Clan District.





[Exit thread, accepting defeat.]