Eastern Gate

This combat is PAUSED while it is in conflict.

The conflict is RESOLVED and posting may resume. The 48 hour timer begins now.

(Given the circumstances, I will be connecting lethal hits on Hana with Xurious and Sayuri's permission)


Kit watched as her arrow struck home. The Princess's aim was as true as her sense of justice. The impact had knocked Chigetsu out. If it hadn't been for the immense demonic energy protecting him he might have been killed. Fortunately, the attack was just strong enough to knock him unconscious without doing any permanent damage. Arisu took care of the rest. Kit was glad to see that underneath all of that monstrous chakra, her friend was still there. He had not been totally consumed and although this revelation would put a strain on their friendship, she was committed to helping rehabilitate him. While Chi had survived through the Battle of the Gates, the Kaguya was not so lucky. Kit had aimed several arrows at her. She had gotten to a total four and their connection, along with the initial blast, had sent Hana hurtling into the sky. Kitsuki knew her own strength and she knew Hana's. The woman was probably Kiri's strongest ninja and so she saw no use in holding back. She had given Hana multiple chances to do the right thing.

To turn away from the path of conquest and murder.

To lead Kiri and keep it safe despite her crimes.

To surrender peacefully after she had been caught abandoning those whom she had endangered.

Hana had rejected each option. The resulting fight left Kit no choice but to go all out. The power of the explosions had killed her and that much could be plainly seen. Blood and flesh sloughed off her lifeless body as it flew into the air. The image was horrifying and if it weren't for her indomitable sense of justice, Kit would have looked away. She had never killed anyone before. She had never even been indirectly responsible for another's death and yet here she was slinging the fifth arrow and aiming it. Kit's eyes flashed a bright gold as any twinge of mercy or fear was converted into righteous fury. She hesitated. Headmaster Sukimori had warned her about this moment. He told her that there was no turning back from it once it was done. As the thought ran through her head, she saw the cash falling from the corpse. The sheer ryo that Hana had stolen from Kiri's treasury was more money than Kit had ever seen in her entire life and she came from a rather wealthy family. The priceless artifacts and exclusives likewise fell from the body and in that split second, it all became clear.

Kitsuki knew what she had to do.

The arrow was released. It flew through the air and struck Hana in the chest. The projectile pierced her heart with sufficient force as to skewer her heart. If the prior blasts hadn't killed her, this surely would. The arrow was detonated and the body would explode into a multitude of pieces sending her head, arms, legs, and chest cavity flying in different directions. All organs were obliterated and rendered unusable. The heat of battle didn't give Kituski time to reflect on her actions. She continued her previous act of flying through the air even as she killed Hana. As mentioned previously, Kitsuki would fly to a height of 80 meters before stopping. She was now directly underneath the towering presence of the Gedo statute which would block any chakra eating rain or Mokuton fists. She had notched and aimed her arrow at Kyoji as previously described. The giant Hotei hand would be blocked by the Gedo statute but if for some reason it wasn't, Kitsuki would acrobatically switch positions mid-air. She'd hover upside down while delivering a punishing kick to the incoming giant wooden hand whose presence could not be missed. The hand would shatter given her superior strength and she'd suppress any deleterious effects via Open Carry. None of this would affect her aim given her splendid coordination. Fortunately, she had faith in Arisu to get the job done and so regardless of the former Mizukage's attack, Kit would fire an arrow at his position. The arrow was blessed with two techniques. The first was Se-Phir which like it did for the chains, bent time around the arrow allowing it to move faster through space. The second was the Blinding Arrow of Justice which disrupted Kyoji's sense of temporality thereby making the arrow harder to track. The arrow was aimed at Kyoji's chest, more specifically his heart, and it would necessarily interrupt any handseals for Kirisame. It was followed by two more, one to his immediate right and the other to the immediate left. Should the initial arrow fail, the other two would hit the space around him and explode. The three explosions was more than enough to kill him and thus his clone before the full scope of its jutsu could be unleashed. Kit's mercy was deep as it was wide but it did have its limit. Kyoji was that limit. Kit's kindness ended where the shark man's murderous appetite began.

__________________________________


Ninjutsu Affinity: Time Release Techniques -1 Rank in Cost

Chronokinetic Kunoichi UA: Time Release techniques require no handseals.

Active: Tenshijutsu (5 GP)

Used:
Blinding Arrow of Justice: 1.5 GP | 1.5 CP
Armed: Open Carry - .5 GP | .5 CP
Se-Phir: 3 GP | 3 CP

Focus: After the Chuunin Exams, Kitsuki has learned how to focus her perceptive capabilities when she needs it the most. In doing so, she gains a +1 Tier to Perception but then loses a tier in Constitution.

Fired 1 Arrow moving at X-Tier Speed/Force at Hana's corpse.

Fired 1 Arrows moving at X++ Tier Speed and X-Tier Force. Kyoji's Perception is reduced by -1 Tier for the purpose of tracking this arrow.

Fired two more Arrows at X-Tier Speed/Force at the ground to the immediate right and left of Kyoji.

Each Arrow will inflict S-Rank blast damage upon impact on or close proximity.

Stamina & Grace Pool
Grace Pool: 60.5
Chakra Pool: 168

Stats
Strength: S+ -> (Tenshijutsu) X+
Constitution: A -> (Tenshijutsu) S -> (Flaw) A
Stamina: B
Speed: C -> (Evanescence) B
Coordination: C -> (Quantum Meruit) B  -> (Tenshijutsu) S
Intelligence: D
Perception: B (Focus) -> A

Armed:

Cupid Style:

Se-Phir:

The chains did a fantastic job of stopping the giant Hotei's crushing hand. At first glanced it seemed the hand would be destroyed. From Kyoji's distance 150 meters into the air, he was still behind the fingers of his Hotei hand which tried to closed. But it wouldn't matter. An arrow from Kitsuki flew with blinding speed and blew up next to him. Although it wouldn't penetrate his skin. The resulting explosion would be enough to damage him. Sending him flying backwards on to the hands with grievous wounds. There was no need to continue attacking the Kiri Jounin. It seemed his escape attempt was thwarted. Everything he had been controlling at that point was also halted.

-----------

With the arrow strike landing on Kyoji and the halting of all of his jutsu, Arisu was left holding Chigetsu as she'd freed him. Her chains and the shield and platform from the Tool Creation were plenty enough for her. With the rain no longer around, Arisu nodded to the Gedo statue, placing a hand on its head and the creature disappeared as she released the summons. From her back, the chains reattached, all 10 back on her.

Lowering down to the ground, and still holding onto Chigetsu with one of her chains, Arisu lashed out several of her chains to wrap up Kyoji, one on each arm, leg, and torso. The platform and shield that were floating near her began to shift back into an almost liquid state, changing back into a chakram at her back. Without Kirisame keeping the Chakram from existing, she was able to once again freeform shift her tools.

The chains tightened around Kyoji's body, squeezing him with their full force as she reached out a hand. A beam of red light formed from the chakram, launching towards her hand and shifting into a spear. She made to throw the spear, and it launched forward far faster than it looked like she was able to throw it, and with much greater force. The spear pierced through Kyoji's heart, which had been damaged by the arrow and explosions already. She needed to make sure this man was dead for sure, more so than anyone else who had been present.

Summoning the spear back to her hand, Arisu watched as his blood gushed from the hole in him, pooling onto the ground as he began to fall limp. "That man should not have had Wood Release." she muttered to herself, flashing her eyes at him for a moment and seeing whether or not he was an Otsutsuki of some sort of not. She was correct in that he wasn't, but he obviously had some sort of Kekkai Genkai. With the hole in him and the force that he'd withstood, in addition to the difficulty the spear had going on (it wasn't too hard, but more resistance than she'd expected) she could see his bones were incredibly dense, more so like a Kaguya than anything else. "Nor those bones. I thought he was a Hoshigaki. Why does he have so many Bloodlines?"

She turned to Kitsuki, chains retracting from Kyoji's body, dropping him limp on the ground, and Naitome walked up to Arisu, the remainder of the paths standing eerily still at the moment. The chain holding Chigetsu released him into the arms of the muscular and buff path body. It was unfortunate that he'd gotten caught up in all this, Chigetsu wasn't really in control of his emotions very well. "And what should we do with her?" she asked, pointing to Chigetsu. She didn't understand the nuances of Chi's gender enough and just assumed Chigetsu was a girl. "I won't always be able to stop her Bijuu rampage. I could store the Bijuu in the Gedo Statue, but removing Bijuu is dangerous to most people."

Naitome picked up the Chokuto that Chigetsu had been using, examining the blade. It was a phenomenally crafted weapon and Arisu immediately spun to look at it. "That was my sensei, Ann's. Why did Chigetsu have it?"

-
Mostly ignoring stats and chakra atm unless someone else jumps in. I've got plenty.

Kitsuki watched without satisfaction as the arrow and its sisters struck home. Kyoji's body was blown up. Any and all hearts that he possessed were annihilated as were any implantable organs residing in his body. Arisu did her part in piercing his heart ensuring that the Mizukage turned Nuke-Nin was no more. All that was left was a smoking disfigured husk of a trunk with a head hanging off the top by a bit of skin. Kit wanted to look away but she knew it wouldn't be right. She had done this. It was her choice. Looking away would only make her a coward. This was what justice looked like and someone needed to deliver it. The Princess had taken on this burden so that future generations would not have to.

She hovered in the air for a few moments as she surveyed the battlefield. Giant wooden hands, puddles of water, smoky craters, and the ruins of the once proud Eastern Gates were all that was left. They had defeated three impossibly strong enemies and they had done so in short order. With the cessation of hostilities, Kitsuki transfigured her bow back into a cane. She flew down to the ground where Arisu was and sighed. The young woman's face was neutral but inside she was a storm of emotions: guilt, bravery, determination, fear, and sadness. Zizz hovered over her shoulder with a similarly weary expression. The Angel was pulsating strangely and at a frequency that Kit had never experienced before. The light surrounding her radiated, dimmed, and radiated again but brighter each time.

Zizz....are you okay?

The Angel looked at the spot where the Gedo Mazou had once been. She stared at it for a long time before turning back to Kitsuki.

ⵏo....ⴱⵓⵜ ⵉ'ⵍⵍ ⵎⴰⵏⴰⴳⴻ...ⵡⴻ ⵏⴻⴻⴷ ⵜo ⵜⴰⵍⴽ ⵙooⵏ ⴰⴱoⵓⵜ ⴰⵔⵉⵙⵓ...ⴰⴱoⵓⵜ ⴻⵠⴻⵔⵢⵜⵀⵉⵏⴳ.

Kit nodded and replied to Arisu.

"I don't know" she replied truthfully.

Kyoji was a Hoshigaki and thus belonged to a race of shark sapiens. Kit wasn't aware of any connection that the clan had to Wood Release so she could only guess that he had either taken the ability from someone or unlocked it as part of some secret technique. Kit turned to examine Chi's unconscious body. He was alive and appeared to be resting peacefully with not much of a scratch on him. Probably due to the dense cloak that had protected him moments prior. Kit looked at Chigetsu and then saw the armada of Paths standing at attention. Kit's blood ran cold when she put two and two together.

The people at the gates had been killed by Kyoji's attacks yet they were being operated by Arisu remotely. They had the same rods that she had seen thrust into Naitome. That could only mean one thing. Kitsuki stepped in front of Chigetsu's lifeless form and raised her cane.

"You'll leave him in my care...." she said. "Thank you...I appreciate your help but..." she eyed the Paths. "I don't know who to trust anymore. I want to trust you Arisu but...I know what those things are and what you really did to Naitome"

Kitsuki had put two and two together. Before Hana had told her the truth about Moonspire, she had hinted at the possibility that Arisu had actually killed Naitome and was now reanimating his corpse. The distinction between this theory and what Arisu had told her was subtle but there was in fact a distinction. At first, Kit had thought it was just another mind game that the Mizukage was playing. A trick to drive her from the only high ranking Kiri-Nin she had seen do good. But seeing the reanimated bodies of the guards made Kitsuki realize that there was truth in the late Kaguya's words. The investigation was now complete.

"I don't want you touching Chigetsu....I think your intentions are good but you can't help yourself. The power you have...the power your people have...its all too much. Power...its tempting but it also corrupts. If you really care about him and this village, please find someone who can suppress his power. Until then, he'll be under my care. I can trap him in a time-coma so that he won't pose a risk to Kirigakure. Find someone who can remove the Bijuu from him without killing him and we'll...." Kitsuki stopped herself. She was going to say 'we'll decide what to do next with it' but she wasn't sure she and Arisu had the authority to make such a decision. They had just killed two Mizukage and now the nation was leaderless in a time of war. Worse yet, the Emperor was likely to be wroth when he found out what had transpired here. Kitsuki was totally lost and unsure of what tomorrow's government would look like. She qualified her statement: ".....the Princess's Council will decide what to do with it but making sure Chi is safe is priority number one. Hana used him, I'm not sure what she told him or how she got to him but she used him. It wasn't his fault..."

Kitsuki desperately wanted to believe what she was saying but she couldn't know for sure. She had expressed confidence in his innocence because she couldn't handle the possibility that her friend would be in league with such villains.

Maybe Chi was playing me the whole time? Maybe I'm really the naive fool here and not him....


When Arisu picked up the Chokuto he had been wielding and asked how Chigetsu had gotten it, Kit shrugged. She honestly didn't know. It served as evidence for the Chi-as-dark triad theory which unsettled her. Either it had been given to him or he had stolen it. She opted to believe the latter.

"He might have gotten it as a gift...I'm not sure but we can look it that" Kitsuki shook her head and tried to get rid of the cobweb of thoughts. This was all irrelevant. The number one priority was making sure Kiri stayed safe and that meant:

"The Gates....We have to repair the gates. Immediately. And the artifacts too" Kitsuki looked Arisu in the eye. She owed the alien a lot. She didn't have to back her up, in fact, it wasn't even the most politically savvy move. She could have betrayed her and if she had then Kit would have likely died during this fight. She needed to show Arisu that there was still trust between them, it was just that that trust did not extend to Chigetsu's Bijuu.

"Organize a work brigade to gather up all of the ryo, artifacts, and exclusives that Hana stole. We need to secure them. Take for yourself whatever you need to ensure that you can help protect Kiri including Chi's Chokuto....I have a feeling that if we don't broker a peace soon, we might have more trouble on the way and the two of us might not be able to hold them back"

Kit knew that the Konoha might not take kindly to the execution of the Mizukage. There was no telling how they'd react. The new Princess led government was in just as much danger from the Leaf as it was from the Cloud. Kitsuki didn't want to boss Arisu around but she found the outworlder receptive to taking orders. This struck Kit as rather ironic given her penchant for controlling others. If Arisu had no complaints, Kitsuki would carry Chigetsu bridal style back into the village. There was no way she could leave Kiri now. The people of the Isles needed her. On top of it, Arisu had asked her a lot of important questions. Questions that she did not know the answer to but would soon find out.

EXIT back into Kirgakure.

Arisu frowned as Kitsuki insulted her. Started to call her untrustworthy and with no self control. "I told you the truth. Naitome and I did a different process than I did with the bodies from the gates. He's more alive than they are. You think I'm untrustworthy? I've never lied to you." Arisu scowled, dismissing her Tool Creation jutsu and chains. "I'm getting real tired of your holier than thou attitude Kitsuki. You're not the best person who has ever existed, and I don't appreciate you acting like you're any better than me. I only care about protecting this world and its inhabitants from those who would harm it."

She shook her head. "And if I was so unable to help myself, I'd have ripped the Bijuu from Chigetsu already and taken it. I don't need to ask you for your opinion, I don't need to ask you for your permission. You're not better than me, and to act so high and mighty is ridiculous." It wasn't like her to be so insulted, but she actually liked Kitsuki a lot, and the girl had been incredibly rude. After all they'd done together, after what Arisu had been through at the hands of Menza, after the evacuation of Iwa, and after fighting two traitor Ex-Mizukage, she had the audacity to not trust Arisu and to think that all of her people were power hungry maniacs that couldn't resist any temptations.

"And what the hell do you mean, my people? The Otsutsuki? You know nothing about me or my people. Some of us are good, some of us aren't. The Sage of Six Paths was an Otsutsuki. His brother was an Otsutsuki. They're the ones who gave you humans chakra in the first place. Their mother, also an Otsutsuki, was the one who drew the chakra from the planet for use. Without my people, there wouldn't even be any chakra here. Some of us choose to horde power, some of us share it."

Arisu's paths were already getting started with cleaning up. They were removing some bodies and lining them up near the gates, the fallen that had been crushed by the destruction of the gate. "But fine, take her... or him and go then. Leave me alone. I've got work to do. I don't need your trust, and I don't need you."

Arisu turned away, her eyes watery. She wouldn't cry in front of Kitsuki. Vulnerability was for friends.

The Paths started to work on using several wall building strategies to patch the gates up. It was mostly using earth jutsu to build a temporary wall, which meant that it was sealed, but would require someone to man it that could drop the gates down as well. Since she was still on gate duty at the moment, she'd be the one to lower and raise any earth that was required.

In the meantime, she directed the paths to collect everything that was scattered around, checking all the scrolls and counting up the ryo. The artifacts that were left weren't anything too exciting, but that was just because she didn't care too much about most of them. She never cared that much for any of the seven swords, so the Chokuto that was Ann's would be fine enough for her. Others would be armed with the swords when it was time.

She kept the bell with her, unsure what it did necessarily, but it felt like it was comforting to her. With the Chokuto and the Bell in her possession, she leaned the Executioner Blade and Samehada against the wall. Whenever someone else arrived to relieve her, she'd take them all back to the Mizukage's Complex herself.

Naitome kept a watchful eye over Arisu, while the rest of the paths manned the gates during her stay as the guard. When the new guard shift came in, they all left, following behind.
-
[Exit over time]

[Claiming: Ersatz Blade of Kusanagi, Demon Bell Artifact, Seven Swords Of The Mist Scroll
Kirigakure Exclusive Scroll
Nagi Exclusive Scroll
O'uzu Exclusive Scroll
Demons Exclusive Scroll
Demon Bell Artifact
Whirlpools Exclusives,
Also picking up all the Ryo from Kyoji and Hana, the remainder of the Exclusives and artifacts that they were carrying]
[Now have: 6/6 bodies for the Paths of Pain]