Clearing the Roads

Mission:

Ren would be standing at the gate to the village, waiting for his mission partner. His hands folded in front of him, the long sleeves of his black Haori hiding his hands, something he prefer so he could make hand seals unseen. The symbol of the Uchiha clan would cover most of the back of his Haori, his hakama matching the black of his Haori, though it would be bound to his ankles with black coord. This kept them from causing problems later if they needed to stealth, his black shoes would be just as clean as the rest of the males clothes showing that they were either new, never been in mud, or were kept to a high standard of cleanliness. His Haori would not be tied, allowing it to hang open down the front, where the front of his midnight blue kisode as well as the top of his black undershirt could be seen. His Konoha Hitai-ate tied to his obi and dangling from his hip, which could only be seen when looking at the right angle. His short black hair a mess as always due to the lack of interest in combing it, his cross earrings dangling from his ears, he had no ninja gear on him. In fact he never had any gear, he found the need of it pointless, believing all he really needed was his Sharingan and his Katon Techniques.

His Three Tomoe Sharingan, scanning the crowd as he waited. He didn't know who his mission partner was supposed to be, but he prayed to the Sage that it wasn't the annoying Senju again. Ren had his fill of the arrogant Genin, considering their last mission together nearly resulted in a failure because of his recklessness and unwillingness to formulate a plan. They would be going to find and deal with a group of bandits, they didn't know where they were or how many there were, just that they were causing problems. That meant they needed to formulate a plan and work together, something he didn't believe that the simple Senju was capable of such things. Whoever his partner was going to be though they couldn't be worst then that man, at least he hoped they wouldn't be. Ren would suddenly shake his head as the thought entered his head, he couldn't think like that surely they would at least be smarter than Taco Senju.

---

Chakra 209.8/210
-0.2 Three Tomoe

As Ren scanned the faces in the crowd, the first thing that caught his attention as she approached was her hair. Standing at six feet tall and scanning faces at his eye level, that was all he saw at first. Just a small amount of red headed in his direction out of the peripherals of his eye sight. Instantly drawing his attention to her, his eyes locking on her face for a moment before scanning the rest of her. He recognized her from the training facility, of course at the time he hadn't bothered to remember her name. He had been far too busy trying to figure out Peragus' schick, but if he remembered correctly she seemed to know the Senju pretty well. Seeing hold out the mission directive, Ren felt a sudden relief wash over him. 'thank the sage,' he would think to himself, not particularly for the woman being his partner, moreso the thanks was that Taco wasn't.

His Sharingan taking in every slight twitch of her muscles as he watched her taking in deep breaths and introduce herself followed by her calling him sir. He wasn't one to really complain about such, but usually those titles came after a few dates. Though he would smirk as he watched her step back, seemingly standing at attention as she said she was under his command and hoped to learn a lot. Calling him sir again as she did so, her cheeks still brightly blushing. Ren couldn't tell if she was blushing from running and being out of breath, excitement for the mission, or what it was exactly. He wouldn't draw attention to it, the last thing he wanted was to embarrass himself in front of such an attractive woman.

"Ren Uchiha, it's nice to meet you Airi." Ren stated in his typical tone with a hint of disinterest and self-importance, though his facial expressions would say that he wasn't being rude, or at least not trying to be rude. "There is no need to call me Sir, we are equals on this and I am sure I will learn a lot on this mission as well." As he said this he would move to stand next to her so they could begin, pausing but for a second to get a look at her backside. If anything else at least he would have something to look at on the mission, or should he say someone to look at. She wasn't bad on the eyes in his opinion, of course it was likely her red hair that caused him to think this. Ren has always been a fan of red heads, he was not sure why but it was something he couldn't really control. He just had to hope that he wouldn't get distracted by her on the mission, considering he would need to focus on the task.

His hands wouldn't leave their position in front of him, hidden by the long sleeves of his Haori as he walked next to Airi. "While we are traveling, I would like to get to know about you and what you can do. That way we can formulate a plan of what to do once we find these bandits, for instance I prefer range combat as I use fire getting close isn't a good option for me. Not that I can't handle myself if they get in close, of course." Ren stated with a slight chuckle as he waited for Airi's answer.

As Airi asks about the Sharingan, Ren would actually tilt his head down further to give her a better view of all three tomoes of his eyes. "Well, this is one of its forms. The Sharingan has multiple stages, though the Three tomoes are referred as the mature eye of the Uchiha." Ren would speak as though he enjoyed talking about his clan, because in truth he did. When it came to his clan there were few that could say they held the clan with as much respect as he did, and he liked being able to share facts about how great they were.

Ren's face would turn as red as Airi's dress as she caught him looking at her, and her words more than caught him off guard. He would be in a stunned silence for a few seconds as he followed behind her, before finally catching back up to her so he was walking next to her. "Um, yes well I was simply seeing if you had strong legs is all." he stated with a small chuckle, this was of course a complete and obvious lie, but he wasn't trying to be a pervert or anything, he just enjoyed the female form and liked to take time to appreciate it now and again. "How about if we make it back in one piece you allow me to buy you dinner instead?" he added, trying to steer away from her offer of letting him see and touch her chest. As much as he knew he would enjoy that, there were somethings that a night of fun didn't tell you about someone like a nice dinner did, of course if after the mission she was still serious about that he would be more than glad to oblige her.

Listening to her as she explained what it was that she was capable of doing, Ren would be more staring at her long red hair than looking at her as she talked. Though he did listen to her, noting that if she was a close-range fighter a large-scale fire attack might not be a good idea, after all the last thing he wanted to do was burn her hair or hurt her. It would take him a minute to realize she had asked him a question, or rather two questions, far to mesmerized by her to react until the second question. "Oh, well um. I guess it depends on how much of a fight they put up really. We are tasked with eliminating the problem, so however we handle it as long as the problem doesn't come back, then I think we will be good. Of course, it is quicker to go for the kill, we do not have to. As long as we handle the situation properly, and the problem is dealt with then I would say the mission was a success, wouldn't you?" After answering her second question as well as noticing how much she seemed uncomfortable by her own question. He would begin to wonder if he should say something to comfort her about the situation when he would realize he didn't answer her first question, hoping him answering it would help take her mind off of what she was thinking about. "As far as the Uchiha stuff," Ren would throw up air quotes mockingly at the words Uchiha stuff, "I guess it depends on your definition of said stuff." Ren would look to Airi's face with a smile, "you see many of my clan are extremely good at Genjutsu, able to put you in one with mere eye contact. I on the other hand, hold no such skill. My ability to manipulate Genjutsu is one of the worst in the clan." At this point Ren would look up towards the trees that surrounded them as he let out a sigh, "but when it comes to Katon techniques no one in the clan is my equal. despite the fact that we are all highly skilled with the element, I have found very few that could hold their flame like myself." Ren would fall silent as he realized just how boastful he was being as well as the fact that no one really liked hearing someone talk about themselves so much. "That's not to say they don't best me in everything else, of course," he would add with a small chuckle.

Ren couldn't really be sure on the answer to him asking her out would be a yes or a no, as he watched her go from smiling to blushing to murmuring and making strange noises. She would finish this with a whimper, which while Ren found her reaction to be both adorable and attractive. He didn't really constitute a whimper as an answer, but he would not push the issue. Considering he didn't want to be rude, and she had just caught him trying to look at her bottom. All things considered, the fact that he did not get slapped by her was a mild surprise.

As the conversation shifted to the dealing of the bandits, Ren would pick up on the small visual cues of Airi's discomfort with the subject thanks to his sharingan. "If it will make you feel better, I will handle the actual dispatching of the bandits if needed. You need not worry about doing it yourself, if you are uncomfortable with it." His tone would be the same as it had been, he would not think less of her if she did not want to take a life. It was something not everyone had the stomach for, as it would cause a change within a person. There were plenty of people that did not kill, he was not one of those people, but if she was he would not hold it against her.

"It's best to avoid eye contact when it comes to most Genjutsu, that said not all in my clan are skilled in it, some are like me and find it too complex." He would add seeing the now pale complexion she had as he mentioned Genjutsu. As he finished his comments about the Uchiha stuff, he couldn't help but be slightly distracted by her red hair. His mind losing track of what he had been saying, as well as what Airi was saying, as he began thinking other thoughts, interrupted only as she mentioned the dinner date after. A smile forming on his face at the fact that she had accepted his offer, but he would still be in a stunned silence for a few seconds. "Oh, um. Yes, of course." He would finally stutter out as his brain slowly processed what she had said, clearly trying to get his head back in the moment.

She was right he needed to focus on the task, but it was hard for him to focus on things when red heads were involved. Still he would shake his head and look down the road ahead of them, he doubted the bandits would set up anywhere close to the village itself. Though it could be a while before they actually encounter the bandits, they could stumble upon them at any point now. "So how do you want to handle the situation when we reach this toll area that they have set up?" Ren would ask, wanting to get her opinion on how she wanted to handle things first. Considering his way of dealing with things usually involved throwing fire at it, getting someone else's view on how to deal with it might be helpful.

Even as Ren asked his question about what he plan was, his eyes would be drawn towards her chest as she stretched. As she spoke her words seemed almost muffled to him, as once again found himself lost in thought. He wasn't ignoring her, infact he heard everything she said. He simply was lost in his own thoughts as she spoke, with a slightly dumbfounded look on his face as his eyes watched her. He was was lucky they were walking next to each other, because if they were actually facing each other it would be much more noticeable. As it were, he was merely stealing glances as he walked beside her, so it might go unnoticed.

When she started speaking of them waiting till night, Ren would nearly scream the word no, but was able to stop himself before it came out. He was hoping to be done and back to the village by night fall so that he could have his date with her, but of course if the mission did take that long there would not be much he could do to prevent it. When she asked what he had planned he almost did not want to tell her, out of fear that she would think he wasn't as good as he was acting like he was, but after a few seconds he would finally tell her what his idea of a plan was. "To be honest I was simply going to walk up to the toll and burn the whole thing down and then deal with whoever wasn't inside. But we would have to get close to the building or whatever it is without drawing too much attention." Ren would pause for a second before turning his head to look at Airi more, "We could just hide the fact that we are Shinobi, walk up acting as though we are just citizens out on a stroll or something?"

Ren would stop walking as he saw something up ahead in the distance, he couldn't make out what it was from where they were currently at and it was too far for him to see if there was anyone outside of whatever that is. Ren would look to Airi, waiting on her answer to his suggestion, as it was now or never. If they got any closer before deciding on a plan they would run the risk of the bandits over hearing them or worse interrupting their plan. At least from here if he couldn't see the bandits there was a good chance they couldn't see them.

When Airi made the suggestion of them pretending to be newlyweds, Ren felt the heat rushing to his face again causing him to turn away from Airi so that she did not see him turn red again. "That's not exactly what I meant," Ren would reply back once he calmed himself down a little bit. Clearing his throat, and straightening his Haori, Ren would look in the direction of what he assumed was the toll the bandits had set up. "Maybe you're right, the direct approach would probably be best for us. No sense in going through all that extra work just to get a little closer." He would then take in a breath before forming the tiger hand sign producing two of his ember clones.

Ren would not be taking chances, just in case something unforseen happened he wanted to be ready. Sending one clone to the right and one to the left, Ren would look back to Airi with a smile, "just stay close to me, please." These words were not said so much because he was worried about one of the bandits hurting her, he was sure she could handle herself in a fight. He said it more for his sake, as he had a tendance to go a little overboard when it came to his Katon and the last thing he wanted was to hurt her. If she stayed near him there was less chance of him losing sight and running the risk of hurting her. His clones would only move out around twenty meters of the Genin pair, though not much distance, they would be able to sneak through the wooded area while him and Airi remained on the path.

As long as Airi did not object to Ren's plan, he would resume walking towards the construct. As they got closer, Ren would be able to make out more of what they were walking into. The construct seemed to be some kind of tower they had created from wagons and other things, while not tall, it would be enough to give at least some of them an advantage. Of course, with that height advantage, it was possible the pair had already been seen yet Ren would not break stride. He could see at least seven men around the tower, two in the Tower itself, and of course there was the chance that there were more in the forest around them. Ren would walk towards them as though he did not see them, at least until they tried to tell him to stop.

---

-42 for 2 Ember Clones.

A smile would form on Ren's face as he felt Airi grab onto his Haori, though he would move his arm and adjust her hold to where his arm was wrapped around her hand. With her hand in the crook of his right elbow as they walked, it would be a little less suspicious than her holding onto the Haori itself. Even with her Hitai-Ate on her forehead, the bandits might be stupid enough to believe them being a simple couple walking through the forest. As he listened to her assessment of the situation, he was surprised that she picked up two more people than he had. He had heard rumors about her clan and the dojutsu they possessed, but he had never seen it used outside of his combat with Peragus. Of course, after he had discovered Peragus had the Byakugan, he figured out how the man had been able to see while wearing a blindfold. Still, he did not know the full scope of the abilities that her clan possessed with it, but apparently, he can add a larger range of sight to the mental list he had been keeping since his encounter with Peragus. As she whispered that it was his call on how they approached, he was about to reply when he heard the bandits in the tower calling down to the one's on the ground. They were around four hundred feet away from where the tower was, so it was no surprise to him that they had seen the pair. Ren would stop walking his left hand would travel over to Airi's hand that was resting on his arm, resting it softly onto the top of her hand. "On the count of three, we will attack. Just don't go too far." With that his left hand would lift off of her hand, though his elbow would remain how it was. It would be up to Airi, if she moved her hand from there, but if she didn't it would not hinder him any.

Ren would form three half seals with his left hand, before looking to Airi with a wink. "1... 2... 3!" as he said three his left hand would rise to his mouth, quickly producing eight soccer ball sized balls of fire. The eight fireballs would each rise into the air above them, though Ren kept great care in ensuring that none would hit the trees around them. Once all eight were formed circling above Ren and Airi, Ren would send one of the fireballs streaking through the air towards the makeshift tower. The people on the tower as well as anyone or anything caught within ten meters of it, would soon be burning. This would no doubt alert the others that were in the forest, but as long as Airi could see them, Ren had a good guess she would tell him if they were coming, and they would both be prepared. The sound of the fireball hitting the tower would be quickly followed by the explosion of the fireball erupting on the impact, flames going out in all directions for a good thirty feet. The flames would catch one or two of the ones on the ground, not nearly as many as he would have liked to have gotten, but they would be less for the two of them to deal with. The remaining seven fireballs would continue to hover above the pair, shining light down upon them like a spotlight to draw the attention of the other men.

If the other men moved to try to approach them, Airi could attack them unless she had already moved closer to them. Unfortunately, Ren had attacked too early, and he was still a hundred and twenty-five meters away from the toll tower. If they did get closer and Airi did not attack them. Then when the bandits fell within the range of his clones', they would both unleash a Dragon fire technique. With the ember clones being under twenty-five meters away from the genin pair, it wouldn't be until the bandits were around thirty meters away from them. The clone's attacks would arc, crossing each other, and creating an almost wall of fire in front of the pair. Despite the fact that they were within a forest the trees would all be safe from this fire, Ren was not careless when it came to them. The trees were far enough away from where the fire was that there would be no danger of a stray flame igniting one of them. If only the bandits were so lucky.

---

Chakra: 209.8/210
Sharingan: -1.2 (This post and the five others that i forgot to mark it.)
Ember clones: -42 (Last post)
Great Flame Flower: -20

Current Chakra: 146.6

Ember Clone 1 & 2: 21/21
Dragon Fire Tech: -5 (Possible, only if Airi doesn't attack the bandits)

Technique used:

If Used:

Feeling her hand on him, Ren's attention would turn to Airi as she jumped off of him. His eyes following her movement as she formed a string of hand seals, impressed by the skill behind her technique even though he didn't know what it was. A smile formed on his face when she landed and went after the second guy, the smile quickly fading seeing the look on the other man's face from her kick. Ren made a mental note to himself to not piss her off, and his smile returned as she came back to his side. She looked pretty hot during her whole attack, one of the reasons why he could not take his eyes off of her, the minor aggression she had during the attack a slight turn on for the male, having always been attracted to powerful women. Pushing his attraction to Airi, to the side to try to bring his mind back to the mission, Ren would look towards the burning tower. The wall of fire from his clones having subsided now and the seven fireballs still floating above them like stars, Ren would look to Airi.

"Well, I would say that's a job well done," the humor of his words next to burned bodies escaped him however, otherwise he might have chuckled at his words. "However, let's be thorough first and make sure we got everybody. Last thing we need is to miss someone and then them come back to do this again." Ren considered tossing one of the fireballs at the man Airi had stomped but decided against it, at least for now. He would offer his arm to her, to walk how they had before, but if she did not take it that was fine. Either way, Ren would begin walking towards the still burning makeshift tower, looking for any that might have survived considering there were only three burnt bodies near where they were, either four were hit by his first attack or some of them were in hiding. Ren would look to Airi to see if maybe her sight had picked up on anything, before he moved closer towards the tower.

As something seemed to catch Airi's attention, she took off towards the smoldering tower. Watching her as she disappeared near the tower, Ren was beginning to think that he should have gone with her when he heard the shouts of the woman. He wasn't sure what exactly was going on, until he saw her coming back practically dragging a man as he furiously tried to hobble to keep up. Though seeing the lightning wrapped around his throat, Ren could see why, it made him curious as to what other skills the woman had. For now he would push those questions to the side, as Airi 'delivered' the man in front of him before returning to his side, the lighting that seemed to have been pulling the man still connected her hand to the man's neck.

As she explained he was the last one in the area, a smirk formed on Ren's face. Having a Hyuga around sure did make things a little easier, the fact that she was able to scan the area that would have taken him several minutes if not longer to search everywhere, she did in a few seconds. Her question of killing followed quickly by breaking something instead, Ren's glare would fall upon the man. As the man tried to speak and Airi told him to shut it or she would kill him, not only did the man fall silent but a small wet spot on the road formed where he sat on his knees. Ren would just lean down putting a hand on the man's shoulder, moving his mouth next to the man's ear as he spoke. "Not so fun when the shoe is on the other foot, now is it mate?" Ren would say softly to the man, clearly referring to what he and his friends had been doing to the citizens of the Land of Fire, before standing back up straight and speaking in his normal tone. "You have been marked a problem by Konohagakure, and you see the village. They send me and her to deal with problems like you and your friends. You're friends were met with a quick and clean death, you could to at my hands, or my friend here can make a mess on her nice clothes." Ren would pause and look to Airi, "or we could take him back to the village and let them deal with him. We handled the rest, they could handle this ONE." Ren would give Airi a wink from the eye the man wouldn't be able to see, throwing his arms up in the air a little. "Ah, but then we would have to drag him all the way back to the village not to mention listening to him whining." He would look back to the man, "maybe you're right. We should just break his legs and arms," as he said this he would look to Airi. He would let her decide what she wanted to do to the man, after all it was her collar. He couldn't help but find it slightly hot the way she had been bossing the man around, as well as the threats whether she mentioned them or not it was the sternness of her voice. Still he knew she had spoke with discomfort about the killing before, so he would follow her lead on what to do with the man.

Ren would be so enthralled by Airi that he wouldn't be paying attention to the man, even giving Airi a small clap at the end of her imitation of the broken man. He smiled when she agreed to breaking the man's arms and legs, though as she suddenly dropped the tether his eyes would dart to the man to see him looking behind them. Before he could even turn around, he felt Airi pushed up against his back, the sound of blood splatter filling his ears, followed quickly by Airi dropping to her knees. Ren would quickly turn to her out of concern that she had been hurt, finding blood splattered across the forest floor with some arms and legs. He had not dealt with so much blood before, his jutsu left clean bloodless ashes usually, but he was no stranger to the sight of it, or the fact that the top of his back half including his hair had it as well. Airi would throw up and the man would begin speaking to which Ren would quickly turn to and proceed to kick the ever-living shit out of him. His eyes quickly darting towards the body of the other man she had taken down earlier, no longer taking chances one of the seven fireballs above their heads would quickly descend upon the still unmoved body engulfing it in flames. The man now silent from Ren's kicks would lay still upon the road, Ren would remove his Haori and place it around Airi as he knelt beside her.

Ren would reach a hand towards her and unless she stopped him lift her head slight as he wiped off the blood from her face with the long sleeves of his Haori that was wrapped around her. He did not care about the blood staining his clothes or anything else, he just lightly wiped the blood off the best that he could making sure that around her eyes were clean. If Airi were to look at Ren, she would simply see his smiling face as he looked at her. He would wait until she looked at him before he spoke, "Thank you, Airi. You saved my life." His words were soft and short but held a strong meaning behind them. Once he was done cleaning her face the best he could, he would look to the man on the ground that she had collared, still unmoved from where Ren had kicked him, before looking back to Airi. "Let's get out of here, we are done, and we could both probably use a nice warm bath." Ren would offer to help Airi to her feet, even as far as offering to carry her back to the village, though if she did not want his help that was fine as well. As they began walking away from the broken man, once they were a safe distance away the third fireball would come crashing down upon the man's body behind them. Above them the five remaining fireballs would slowly begin to shrink until they disappeared into nothingness, the light that they had been providing slowly diminishing as they shrunk until it returned to the normal light of the forest once more as they made their way back to the village.

{Exit Thread attempt}