Arrival [Yomi, Nozomi]

After what seemed to be very much dreadful waiting, at least for Kotsubo the crew of the boat that the unit were on started to see the Land of Lightning on sight. Kotsubo is currently near the bow of the ship, resting his arms on the wooden bar that's extended from the front on the ship to the side of it which stops around the rear of the ship. The plan is to touch down near the valley that was reported to be seen from earlier reports, which at closer inspection also had a number of temples but they seemed to be old, which might suggest they're abandoned but Kotsubo isn't sure about that. Kotsubo called over a nearby member of the ship's crew and ordered him "Get the two members of my squad over here, I don't care if they're asleep, eating or whatever, tell them were going to anchor soon." the man then quickly ran off to gather wherever the other two are on the ship.

Kotsubo is pretty much prepared to touch down on the island, he still retained his baldric along with his sword, his flak jacket and forehead protector on his neck but wore different colored-clothing over the course of two days as they were traveling by boat to the Land of Lightning, his tools were all accounted for as well so he's ready.

Back at Ota, when they were back in the Land of Water, Kotsubo's unit could've gotten onto a more official ship to the Land of Lightning, but given the nature of this mission he thought it'd be best to use his favor with a certain somebody that owns a crew and a ship so their mission can still be kept quiet. The Captain of the crew expressed his reluctance more than once over the course of two days about landing at the Land of Lightning, but after a reminder of the favor that he owed Kotsubo and a bit of threatening from Kotsubo himself he got on board with it more cooperatively.

The ship got pretty close to land near the Valley and the anchor was finally dropped, while the crew were getting busy, Kotsubo merely stood there and waited for the other two to arrive before he would jump down on land.

[Searching for Kumogakure no Sato - Day 1/42]

It seemed that a boat had been prepared alongside a crew to aid the trio in getting to the borders of the Land of Lightning, not much of a surprise given the Land of Water's own location at the center of the south sea. It was still quite surprising to find out there was so much accounted for when it came to this mission, after all...Yomi actually thought they'd be getting some dingy without a crew to ride the waves, but here they were on a relatively large ship heading towards their destination.

They had been going on for quite a while now, having taken nearly a day just to pass the waters of the south sea to reach the borders of the land of lightning. They only reached those borders so quickly because they were lucky of having a rather calm sea to contend with and not the rough state the south sea was known for during the summer periods.

"Hey, we're here...uh!?!" One of the crew had gone down to the cabins to go check on the other members of the team as per Kotsubo's orders, who explicitely said he did not care what they were doing. Sadly for the poor sailor, he barged in on Yomi right as she had rinsed off her hair and was getting ready to get dressed. It did not take long for the crewmember to be tossed out of the lower deck entrance and fall face first onto the upper deck. "One tiny bit of advice, Captain... next time you really need to think about what your teammembers are doing before sending some horny brat down deck, okay?" With that Yomi wanted to turn back around and go down, but as her head turned, she walked up to the railing of the boat, standing there nearly naked save for the surprisingly basic black spats she was wearing and the blue-gray towel wrapped around her neck and hanging loosely over her chest, just barely containing and veiling her nudity. "So we're almost where we're supposed to be. Good job so far, Kotsubo...so...what's the plan?"

Without a care in the world, she remained standing next to the jounin leader of the team, hoping he'd at the very least divulge some new info on their mission, before actually getting on land, after all...the chuunin just wasn't comfortable with not knowing even the slightest bit about the goal of their mission. "If you got anything to say, say it now ... it's friggin freezing..."

gear:

Nozomi spent most of her time on the boat already on the deck, near the bow, choosing to use the travel time and open space as an opportunity to practice and learn new techniques while staying out of the way of the crew. The deck provided the best area for Raiton training as well, something that she enjoyed learning, as it gave her new variety in things that she didn't have to generate. Her petals were nice and lethal, but chakra intensive when created in mass, as constructs were always harder to maintain. In a way, she was lucky to have a virtually unlimited amount of water with which to practice her suiton techniques, some of which gave the ship members pause as they saw her practicing, as they kept the chakra expenditure low .

The young girl's mastery of suiton was somewhat awe-inspiring. They knew she was young, especially in comparison to her travel companions, and yet she was all forms of dangerous. Whether it was in her training of suiton, her routine Taijutsu practices against mock opponents, and the sheer speed and grace at which she demonstrated her ability, it was a wonder that people like her could exist. And by sheer scaling and notice of respect, it was obvious that Nozomi was not the superior on this mission. They saw the way she looked and listened to Yomi, and Kotsubo was the jounin in charge, giving orders that were expected to be followed by the two women. To them, shinobi were terrifyingly powerful.

She'd moved closer to the middle of the ship in order to practice some of her petal techniques, namely the most powerful of her clan's jutsu, that allowed for a control of a mass amount of petals, much like Water-Heaven's Convergence did with normal suiton. Flipping through the handsigns Bird, Snake, and Dragon like she had been shown, Nozomi started to gather the familiar petals around her hands, and slowly project them outwards, maintaining control of them as they moved away from her. Slowly, she managed to keep the speed to a small little amount, only making enough petals to practice the technique, not enough to waste her chakra by doing so.

She was about to start ramping it up a bit when one of the deckhands passed by her and told her to go to Kotsubo. Ending her training, Nozomi glared at him in passing. "Don't ever interrupt my training again, or I'll kill you where you stand." she said irritably. Being cooped up on a boat wasn't fun. It limited her training space, and allowed people to watch her. The constant motions of the boat weren't fun either, and she wasn't in a good mood, especially to be interrupted in the middle of the one thing keeping her sane.

That said, she moved over to Kotsubo, still in the same gear she had been loaded up on, minus her bag, which was stashed in her sleeping quarters. "What do you want?" she spat out, a glare shot his direction. Her sulking would be interrupted by the sound of a person hitting the deck as Yomi strode out, wearing nothing but spanks and a towel. Nozomi's demeanor brightened slightly, but it was still many shades of dark and cross.

A slight chuckle could be heard from Kotsubo when he saw Yomi come out with what she's wearing that is just barely containing her parts, it didn't really catch Kotsubo's attention that much but it seems a few of the crew members are looking. "It seems you have some admirers." he jokingly said, but he got the message that it wasn't a good idea to send some guy to just interrupt what they're doing, and when Nozomi finally came along he also got the same passive-aggressiveness from her and got the message. "I get the message you two, you don't have to make it any more obvious then it is." he sighed. "I'm sorry, but I thought you'd want to hear this since I'm going to reveal a few details about the mission."

He started to look around, and saw that one of the crew members were working by, Kotsubo sent him off however on the off-chance that he was ears dropping. Kotsubo stood back on the wooden bar of the deck as he thought about how to tell them the mission without revealing too much. "This is meant to be all hush hush which is why were on this crew's ship who aren't... exactly legal, all of them have committed crimes one way or another but the captain of the crew owed me a favor, which is how I managed to set up a ride." he thought he might give some closure since some of the crew members of the ship were a bit... questionable.

"Enough about that, I'm sure you don't give a shit how I got us a ride, I'll tell you about the mission now... I can tell you the primary mission were doing is A-Rank, or if threatening enough... even S-Rank, but it may be a while until that mission itself starts but as a secondary objective, were to highlight landmarks or essential information about the Land of Lightning or to find Kumogakure itself." Kotsubo looked around one last time, hoping that nobody else is around to hear this. He wasn't sure if he should've told them that much about the mission, but he believes it might've backfired on him if he kept dancing around the details of the mission with them.

Before he would send them off, he would say one last thing. "I'd suggest packing up your gear and getting dressed to go soon, we've already anchored but I might scout around a bit, just to make sure there are no surprises waiting for us when we touch land." he still stood around however to hear any questions or statements they wanted to put out, otherwise he'll do what he said and jump off the boat to dive into the water and start swimming towards the valley.

"It's never wrong to point out when you're doing something wrong," The chuunin chuckled and glared at the crew, her eyes showing that she did not care for their wellbeing at all and if she had any issues with them again, she'd have no qualms with dishing out some...questionable disciplinary actions. "It's about time we got to know a bit more." Yomi grinned at Nozomi when noticing that the kid had managed to pop up as well, no doubt she'd spend her time training or meditating, given her usual work it wouldn't have surprised Yomi at all. "Pay attention, Nozomi...and I mean to what he's saying, not me..."

Noticing that Kotsubo was sending any crewmember that came too close away, meant that he'd finally divulge at the very least the mission's broad strokes and that was all Yomi needed, if the higher ups wanted to keep the minute details secret, she couldn't care less, but at the very least she did demand to know at the very least the main goal of the mission and what was to be expected from her during said international forray they were undertaking. "A rank, possible S rank... reconnaisance of the Land of Lightning and perhaps locating Kumogakure. I can find myself in that,
figuring out a neighbour's strengths and weaknesses is important for our nation after all."

Even if the jounin perhaps witheld some other more important information, she didn't care as she had heard what she wanted to hear. If anything, this was a mission right up her alley and was now actually feeling a hint of excitement for it. "Allright, I'll go suit up...you guys do what you have to do," The chuunin almost missed the part where Kotsubo mentioned he'd possibly go already to scout ahead, so when she did hear that... she turned around and grinned. "You do that, Nozomi and I will join you shortly." When having said that, she motioned the genin to follow her down to the cabins, since she had a certain thing that had to be taken care of.

If the genin would follow her, she'd simply wait until they were in the cabins so she could calmly put on the rest of her attire while letting out a deep sigh. "Sadly on a mission like this,
it is best to remove all loose ends...this means that the crew of this ship is a liability...if you know what I mean."

Nozomi wasn't particularly concerned with the details of the mission, but she figured she should listen to him anyhow. Folding her arms, she listened to him while she tapped her toe at a fast and irritated pace. He was dragging it out actually telling them anything, even after he said she was going to. She didn't really care that these people were criminals, they weren't any sort of danger to her, and she wasn't really scared of the criminal element.

Additionally, Nozomi was doing her best to subvert her gaze from Yomi, who drew attention to herself a little more, at least to Nozomi.

After a moment of thought, Nozomi shook her head. "Why the hell didn't you tell us earlier? It wouldn't have been hard to do so." she frowned and uncrossed her arms. "Whatever though. Sounds easy enough. We'll be here long enough to gather all the information we need. As I said before we left, ninja here, ninja there, doesn't matter. They get in my way, I'll fight them."

Still, Yomi seemed to have an idea, and as Kotsubo departed, she beckoned for Nozomi to follow. Curiosity struck the young girl, as she ignored the fishman who jumped off the side of the boat. She didn't give him a second thought as she followed Yomi down to the cabins, grabbing her bag as she passed where she'd stashed it.

Entering Yomi's space, she found the older girl getting dressed. It was then with a sort of begrudging sigh that Yomi mentioned that the ship's crew were loose ends that couldn't be left around. Nozomi nodded, as it made sense to her. They might not be a normal crew, but they could still be traced back to them. And since they were only doing Kotsubo a favor that he was owed, that meant that there wasn't a sense of loyalty.

Besides, now that the favor was paid, these guys were just normal criminals and Nozomi had no clue what sort of crimes they were guilty of. "I understand. So, individually to ensure nothing goes wrong, or just sink it all in one go?" she spoke in a low tone. This was a part of being a ninja, she figured, and so she would kill because she had to. There wasn't any reason to be sad, it would just get in the way.

Day 2/42

Kotsubo eventually managed to reach the coast of the valley, getting there relatively quick through the water because of his Hoshigaki blood. He started to step out of the water and stepping through the coast, even though his clothes are pretty wet he didn't really mind it that much. Before he started to venture forth into the Valley however, he looked back at the crew and a thought came into his mind. "I wonder... will they be a liability?" after his little scouting mission, he might return back to the ship in order to kill the crew, unless the other two members of his squad come to the same conclusion and do it for him.

He decided to think more on that later as he started to go through the coast and travel through the valley, with the visibility becoming much clearer as he could see a large flow of water going through the valley, along with large rocks in the water with buildings and temples alike on each rock. "If we were to battle any ninja here, it's good we have a reliable source of water..." however, what still concerned him is if there were any form of population in this valley at all, from the outside the temples look old but they aren't ancient looking for him to consider them abandoned.

After getting a much closer look but still retaining his distance to not alert any lookouts, he actually started to see a very small population of people, not enough to warrant the fact that people live in these temples or buildings but they just seemed to be visitors. Aside from that, he couldn't really see any guards or ninjas in the population. He then started to make his way back to the shore, at the specific spot that he touched land, to then he'll either head back to the ship to see what he'll do about the crew members or meet the two members of his squad on the coast.

When she was fully dressed, the Chuunin looked at Nozomi with a cruel grin appearing on her face, the corners of her lips curling slightly upwards when the genin asked wether to take them all out one by one in careful fashion or by simply using something big to sink them all in one go. "An individual take down has more risks, but getting a new crew is easier than getting a new boat. So I reckon the first option is our best path to a succesful realization on our end," The young woman put on her rebreather and walked up to the deck, suddenly making a few handseals and holding one of her hands upwards to envelop the entire deck with a thick fog. "Go ahead, Nozomi...have some fun."

When having relaid the request to Nozomi to go all out to her own desires, Yomi decided to go for the captain's cabin to retrieve the man's logbook in order to prevent anyone from finding the ship to know what the purpose of the vessel was. After all it wouldn't be smart to anounce one's arrival accidentily by making dumb decisions.

If the captain was still in his cabin, she'd waste no time in trying to immobilize him via the use of her soft body modification, attempting to wrap her arms around his neck in a chokehold and just squeeze until unconsciousness would settle in, after which disposing of the man would be easy.

Jutsu:
Hiding in Mist 1/x

Chakra: 117/120

Nozomi grinned, finally ready for some action, having been quite bored as it were with the lack of fighting she'd had available. Not that this crew of people would suffice as a decent battle, but they would serve as a nice warmup for the young blonde. Yomi flooded the ship with a mist, and Nozomi slung her bag over her shoulders, tightening it so it fit snug on her back. Now the decisions on how to deal with these people.

She didn't think they necessarily warranted her using jutsu, but it would be a quicker and more efficient way of taking them out. Holding her hands close together but not touching, with a space between the two of them of only a few centimeters separating them, Nozomi began to channel her chakra, shaping it into hundreds of tiny petal blades. The blades started spinning individually immediately upon creation, a small buzz sound emanating from her hands as they twirled through the air, forming into almost a sawblade of death. Separating her hands, the blade moved over to her right hand, whirling around it, and she began her crusade of the ship.

The attack was completely unexpected. Cutting down and cutting through many unsuspecting ship mates, Nozomi left a trail of bodies wherever she found any of them. It was almost disappointing, in a way, that shed cut through so many without a single act of defense mattering. These weren't people like Yomi, who could actually push her. These were fodder, and couldnt challenge her if they tried. But it was only almost disappointing. She had fun, for the first time in her life, utilizing her skills for something other than training. A real mission. She could cut loose. And she did.

OOC: Feel free to make it interesting Kotsubo, I enjoy challenges.

Stamina: 75/80

Jutsu used:
Cherry Blossom Shuriken

Day: 4/42

Kotsubo reached the coast and saw the ship in clear sight, but what made him stop was the smell of blood... a lot of it, he easily put two and two together to realize that it seems Nozomi and Yomi are wrapping up business on the ship. Kotsubo would jump along to help, but he thought it'd be best to leave all the fun to them. He just sat down and decided to wait patiently until they finished their purge of the crew.

Dealing with the captain seemed to be rather easy, as the man simply didn't seem to be aware of what was happening and when he finally did, it was already too late. Though slightly urprised by what the captain was trying to say, Yomi swiftly retracted her arms when confronted with the two new additions she had to deal with.

"Not really smart to be interrupting me while I'm doing my job," The chuunin laughed, making the rat, dog and ox handseals to cover one of her arms with a long whip-like water-based appendage, lashing out with it towards the legs of the crewmember carrying the katana, aiming to pull his legs from underneath him, all the while aiming to simply push the spear of the other crewmember aside and redirect it away from her towards the cabin walls. "Never use a large weapon in such a cramped space, it won't work properly."

Yomi didn't really know wether she had to laugh or just remain silent, but this was undoubtedly a whole lot of fun.

Techniques used:

Water Whip  1/X
Soft Body Manipulation  ENDED

[b]Chakra:111/120 [/b

Search for Kumogakure: 5/42

As she was getting bored with the lack of a defensive set against her, she allowed some of them to arm up and get prepared to fight her. There was no danger to her, so she waited. It didn't take long, and the best defense they could muster was a group of 12. An assortment of weapons in their hands left Nozomi wholly underwhelmed. Still, this would probably be the most fun they could offer her, and as she'd thought, might prove to be a decent warm up.

Her stance shifted as the 12 men started to circle around her. Her techniques were designed to work around and with different Taijutsu stances. Of the Taijutsu styles she knew, Spring Chant was the best one to deal with multiple adversaries, as it allowed her to fine tune her movements very conservatively. Facing the three that lurched towards her, she noted the two bulky mace wielder and the spearman.

A wide, toothy grin came from the girl in response as they approached her, before her face drew into one of a serious countenance. The spear came in for a pierce, and Nozomi's body drew to the side with a blur of movement, so fast that she wasn't even seen moving over a step, and the spear was met with nothing. Still, the mace users moved forward, bringing down their maces towards Nozomi, who ducked, once again a blur of movement as she shifted forward and under the spear, stopping behind the group by about a single step.

Her arm twisted around as she spun, the head of the spearman falling off with a spurt of blood launching upward as his body began to fall, the sawblade relieving the man of his life. She burst forward, the sawblade now slashing downward along the spine of one of the mace wielders, while the other turned, his eyes wide with shock and confusion, but still bringing down his mace to try and hit the young blonde. Even still, her body movements and small twisting movements were far beyond him, as she twisted around the path of the mace without so much as one of the flanges even touching her, and the sawblade tore his throat open.

She continued her twist, and ceased her maintenance of the shuriken sawblade, launching the shuriken at half of the remaining men, the sawblade breaking up and the petals expanding outwards and shredding towards them.

Stamina: 71/80

Jutsu used:
Spring Chant (-1)
Cherry Blossom Shuriken (-3)

UA's:
Effecient Taijutsu Mastery: Having had such extensive training in Taijutsu as to consider it as natural as breathing, Nozomi has managed to bring out peak efficiency in her Taijutsu, expending as little stamina as possible when using Taijutsu techniques. Nozomi's Taijutsu techniques cost 1 rank less chakra.

Stats:
Strength: D
Constitution: D
Stamina: C
Speed: C
Coordination: C -> B (Spring Chant)
Intelligence: D
Perception: C

OOC: Sorry for the lateness, got the cold IRL

it seems much force wasn't needed to end this squabble with the two sudden arrivals. All it took was some logical thinking and typical shinobi ingenuity to take care of the two, with one of the running to what was most likely their doom on the upper deck and one caught still in a watery whip. "Well, that was...somewhat underwhelming," Yomi almost chuckled, yet managed to maintain just a slight grin on her face, looking at the snivelling man who had crawled to the wall seemingly begging for his life. "I can't grant you that request, but I guess I CAN make it go quick."

Maintaining her eyes on the kid and the water whip around his feet, the chuunin took a step back to grab the blade the kid had dropped with her free hand and tried to stab the kid in the throat with the intention of silencing him and letting him choke on his own blood before thowing the sword away; the captain still had to be checked and the log still had to be found, so she had no time to reason or give quarter anyway. "This shouldn't take too long, got to grab the log and go to the deck to help Nozomi...if she didn't already take care of those others." A chuckle escaped her lips as she checked the captain for the keys of his desk and started checking the cabin for the logbook. When she found it, she'd simply go back upstairs and watch the show."need a hand, Nozomi?"

Jutsu used:

Water whip ENDED

Chakra: 110/120

Search for Kumogakure: 6/42

As Nozomi spun around to face the newcomers, she realized quickly that they had no intention of fighting her, having viewed their dead comrades, and began to jump ship rather than stand and fight. Growling, Nozomi ran to the edge of the ship, forming hand signs as she yelled out in annoyance. "Stand and fight you fucking cowards!" she finished her weave of hand signs, and a large blob of water that the men found themselves in started to float up into the air, as she controlled it and them inside it using the Water Heavens Convergence technique.

Bringing the blob of water back over the ship, Nozomi held them in the water, watching as they drowned, unable to escape her crushingly dense water, manipulating the current inside it so that they were forced back towards the center anytime one of them would come close to the edge of the water blob. "No help necessary Yomi. If they had fought me, they would have died a quick death, but instead they chose to run like cowards. Now I don't get the fun I wanted, so they don't get the death they want."

It took a few minutes for them all to pass out from lack of air, and as she released the jutsu, the water splashed back down onto the deck of the ship, the sounds of the bodies and the water colliding with the wood making a sickening thud. Pulling out her tanto, Nozomi went to each of them, slicing their throats to make sure that they were actually dead, and not just unconcious. It wouldn't due to leave any of them alive, now that they had witnessed a betrayal. There would no longer be any reason to stay silent, even if they would have before that. "Ready to join the fish guy?" Nozomi asked Yomi non-chalantly, wiping the blood from her tanto off on the shirt of one of the crew.

Stamina: 60/80

Jutsu used:
Spring Chant (-1 Maintenance)
Water Heavens Convergence (-10 Activation)

UA's:
Effecient Taijutsu Mastery: Having had such extensive training in Taijutsu as to consider it as natural as breathing, Nozomi has managed to bring out peak efficiency in her Taijutsu, expending as little stamina as possible when using Taijutsu techniques. Nozomi's Taijutsu techniques cost 1 rank less chakra.

3 Tail's Jinchuuriki: All Suiton tech have their cost reduced by a rank.

Stats:
Strength: D
Constitution: D
Stamina: C
Speed: C
Coordination: C -> B (Spring Chant)
Intelligence: D
Perception: C

DAY: 7/42

Kotsubo jumped towards where the guy is in the water and started to weave handseals with one hand, and simply touched the man, a water sphere formed around with the man in the center, water drawing towards him, putting him in a water prison. Kotsubo has one arm in contact with the sphere to keep the man locked in. "I wonder when they'll get here, and what they'll do with him knowing he escaped..." Kotsubo wouldn't kill the guy, he would leave that to Nozomi and Yomi since they took it upon themselves to wipe out the crew.

Stamina: 133/146

Jutsu used:
Secret Sword: Moonlight (-10 Activation)
Water Prison Technique (-3 Activation)

Stats:
Strength: C
Constitution: B
Stamina: B++
Speed: B -> A++ (Secret Sword: Moonlight, just before the attack)
Coordination: B
Intelligence: C
Perception: B

Hearing Nozomi yell at the crewmembers, Yomi could simply grin, though as she noticed the technique the genin used, she was slightly cautious, taking refuge behind the mast when the water came crashing down upon the deck and simply washed away all who hadn't taken refuge like she had. The chuunin remembered that technique well enough to know it was dangerous to just stand near Nozomi when she used it, so obviously she waited until the coast was clear...literally. "I always wonder why when it comes to fight or flight responses...most people tend to go for flight, no matter how pointless it is," Yomi chuckled after saying that, remembering that unlike those idiots of sailors, her dad had not chosen flight, but had valiantly chosen fight. It was his most valuable thread, the deterination to face his demons, even till the end. "Hmm? Oh sure, let's see what our leader's doing."

Jumping down onto the water, Yomi instantly used her supernatural walking practice and dropped the captain's log into the water, certain that they were far enough from the shores of the land of lightning to have it be swept into the see rather than towards land. If anything, it was a good choice from Kotsubo to halt the ship there to set for anchor rather than at the coast itself.

"Would you be so kind to dispose of that vermin, Kotsubo," Yomi laughed when arriving at the coast and when she noticed that the jounin had already found himself a wayward crewmember in his proverbial net, which in this case was the water prison technique. "Or do you have a soft spot for these people? You must've seen this coming, they are loose ends and we can't have those on this mission. So either you kill this one or I'll have to report to the mizukage that in the end... you were a loose end."

After saying that, the chuunin simply crossed her arms and grinned, knowing fully well that Nozomi no doubt had heard that exclamation as well.

day 8/42

The job taken care of on the ship, Nozomi dropped off the side of the anchored boat, landing on the water with her supernatural walking practice and followed along behind Yomi. She was a bit annoyed at how much chakra she'd spent making sure none of them escaped, but as long as they didn't encounter any powerful shinobi before she recovered it, there wasn't too much of an issue. Besides, she still had quite a bit of hidden reserves left to tap into should she need it. "Whatever crew ends up replacing these needs to be more willing to fight. These guys would have been useless if our ship was attacked by any competent pirate crew, and I don't know how to sail a ship."

For the rest of the walk back to the shore, Nozomi was in silence, although at the sight of Kotsubo, she frowned, eyebrows furrowing. One of them had managed to escape? "When did that happen?" she whined a little, mostly to herself but loud enough for Yomi to hear it, annoyed that she'd let someone slip past her.

Her gaze shifted over to Kotsubo as Yomi spoke, her tone shifting back into a more serious one, as she marked Kotsubo as a potential target. She wasn't the brightest girl around, but she knew what Yomi's underlying message was. Either Kotsubo kill the man, or the two of them would kill him. She moved into her default combat stance, ready to engage him at a moment's notice, circling around him until he was flanked between the two of them.

The message was rather clear, and Nozomi wasn't really subtle. She was a terrific fighter, but she lacked the subtlety for a Chuunin or Jounin.

Day 9/42

Kotsubo had eyed upon the two women coming across the water with the supernatural walking practice, and lightly laughed after what they told him, misunderstanding what he was trying to do. "I'm afraid you two got me all wrong, I saved the last one because from what my nose picked up from the blood, you were having a blast... but if you don't want this last kill, I'll gladly do it." Kotsubo was currently standing on the water, also using the supernatural walking practice and he let go of the water prison, the sphere-like water just falling back into the coast's water and the man dropping down into the water as well. Kotsubo had thought the man had ran out of breath from nearly being drowned but he started to swim underwater, trying to get away. "Oh, that's just precious." 

Kotsubo still had the sword in his hand and jumped in the air, then resulting in a dive straight into the water. Kotsubo started to weave some handsigns and a water shark had formed from the surrounding water, Kotsubo then collided himself with the water shark and started to swim at a very fast speed towards the man swimming away underwater, the shark easily caught up and collided with the man's back, creating a powerful impact and a slight shockwave that made a few mini-waves around the surrounding water where Nozomi and Yomi is. The man's body then appeared to be lifeless and falling down into the depths of the ocean, but Kotsubo didn't take any chances. He swimmed down to the man and used his blade to slowly slit his throat, with blood spilling out.

After that was done, Kotsubo started to swim his way back up to the surface of the water, jumping out of the water and landing on the surface with the walking practice. "See? he's dead, no need to kill me yet." he jested, he then started to walk across the surface of the water to the coast, expecting the two to follow along.

Stamina: 128/146

Jutsu Used:
Water Release: Water Shark Bullet Technique (-5 activation)

Stats:
Strength: C
Constitution: B
Stamina: B++
Speed: B -> B+ (Water Shark Bullet)
Coordination: B
Intelligence: C
Perception: B

"Spare the excuses and finish the job already," Yomi wasn't going to play nice just because the jounin had a higher rank or had been named captain of the mission. He still had to prove himself and by yapping he didn't exactly make a case for himself. However, she did have to admit that he seemed to be a fan of ending someone's life in a much more flashy and exhuberant way than she did. When the job was done and he had managed to take down the last of the crewmembers, the chuunin simply motioned towards Nozomi that the genin could relax and stand down for now.

"So you have captured someone, knowing fully well what we were doing," The chuunin let out a chuckle and came closer to the jounin as he walked back to the shore. When he had arrived though, she walked up to him, pressed her right index finger against his chest and leaned towards him with a grin on her face. "It can happen that someone escapes a slaughter, but here you were, up to speed...yet not killing him and even letting him escape. Good thing you managed to kill him now."

With that she let out a scoff, turned around and moved on, with the intent to fulfill the mission as she thought it was: locating Kumogakure.

Yomi told her she could stand down, and Nozomi immediately relaxed, stepping away from Kotsubo. It was clear that he was going to be someone that was going to hold them back, doing unexpected things, and keeping their opponents alive when they didn't need to be kept alive. He almost let that man get away, and went way overkill for just one person. Still, he was better than Makahshi, so she couldn't really complain.

"I want to fight him." Nozomi said to Yomi as they walked behind the fish man. "At least to test his full capabilities at some point. In case we do actually end up needing to kill him."

It was annoying that he was still acting like he was in charge despite the fact that they obviously didn't care to listen to him. He walked off, expecting them to follow him, leading as if he held any actual power. He should have known that he only held the power that he could show off on them, but he hadn't earned the leadership spot in Nozomi's eyes, so she didn't give him her loyalty. She didn't give anyone her respect until they could show that they've earned it. In that manner, even the Mizukage didn't have it from her.

It seems that the two of them were rather critical of how Kotsubo acted and did, but so far they had only seen the calm side of him, if they were to see the blood thristy side of him their opinions might be changed altogether. "I think I'll have to explain myself more clearly, I left him for you two believing you two wanted the last kill, not because I had any affection for him or the crew, while it may be seen as a mundane thing to do to you two, the thrill of the kill can be rather... enticing to some people I know, and I know better then to kill their prey." he believed even with that explanation, they wouldn't get it and he didn't care too much. He would only start to worry if they were plotting something malicious to disturb the mission.

He remained where he was with the two, continuing what he had to say. "Anyway, enough about that, up ahead is a large flow of water going through a river with peculiar large rock formations placed in certain spots of the river, with buildings and temple built upon them. There seems to be a bit of a population visiting said temples but aside from that, I haven't seen any guards or lookouts so far." normally he would've just continued with the mission and make their way across the valley, but decided to ask for their opinions.

"Since you two don't seem to trust how I lead things, tell me... what should we do next, exterminate the population? since you two seem pretty fussy about killing people." he was joking of course, but he's having his own poke at their attitude earlier. "I'm thinking it's a waste of time to interact with any of the locals, just pass through the valley and continue on our way to find Kumogakure, but that's just my plan. What do you two think?" he's open to their suggestions, should they have any.

Day 14/42

"Hmm, what a 'nice' perception you have, not to mention such courtesy," Yomi simply grinned, while making sure her words had a rather mocking tone to them. She practically waved away his explanation simply by starting to check herself for any unseen cuts or bruises she might've gotten, looking at Nozomi as well just to make sure she was okay as well. "In truth, you need not think about wether or not someone might be hurt by your actions. Kirigakure policy dictates that the mission comes first and in this case, the specified course of action was to remove any and all loose ends that would or could jeapordize the mission. You might've thought your actions to be chivalrous and kind, but kindness would get you killed... it always does."

With that, Yomi provided her own thoughts on the matter and at the very least agreed with Kotsubo to put the matter to rest, he had in the end taken care of the issue and though he had not truly shown any aptitude for leadership, he had at least been smart enough to avoid any needless provocation or discontent, not to mention he did show that he wasn't weak physically speaking.

"Our mission is to find the hidden village of Kumogakure, is it not?" The chuunin calmly spoke up when during their trek, the jounin mentioned something about a temple. Though truthfully, she was keen on trying to infiltrate this place and perhaps gain more knowledge on the surrounding land, problem was that Kotsubo was easily spotted as a foreigner, Yomi was too brutish for such a task and Nozomi simply was not exactly a performer outside of combat. "Given the make up of this team...perhaps the only thing that could be done is either ignore the temple and move on or to scout it from a safe distance and perhaps find something out in that fashion..."

18/42

Nozomi shrugged, gesturing to Yomi.  "I'm cool with whatever. I just want to fight something eventually. Something more than those crew members anyhow. That was hardly a challenge." She was obviously not impressed with what was supposed to be a subtantial crew according to the fish.

From there, she fell silent, letting the two of them deliberate. She wasn't a planner, she just did as she was asked and fought whatever needed fighting. She knew she was brought along for her martial talent, not for her superior intellect. Even she could tell that much.

Her eyes scanned the horizon, keeping watch for anything that might be out of the ordinary, hoping that maybe she'd have a good fight before she relaxed again, her adrenaline still wanting a release in the form of some excitement, any excitement.
Day 21/42

A single, blue egg with pink zigzags appears in Yomi's possession.

A single, pink egg with green stripes appears in Nozomi's possession.

A single, green egg with blue zigzags appears in Kotsubo's possession.