Viridian Dreams Forum

(That's fine. Sorry for dumping this on you two, but I had an idea and changed it from a character-building stakeout to action. If you two wouldn't mind, though, I can tell you the metaplot that I have planned.)

(Not at all)

(So... you want the gist?)

(Ayup)

(All right. In order to make sure you don't subconsciously or otherwise take advantage of the knowledge, info will be sparse in points.)

(Point one: This is a test. This is more-or-less part of the test that evaluates Jonin-potentials on behalf of a village, where a controlled mission 'goes awry' and the candidates/victims are forced to figure out a course of action while stranded from higher authority and aware of their objectives. Whether they retreat, carry on with their mission or decide to rescue their comrade will be taken into account, as are their ability and decision-making skills. Kojira was the one who decided to set up the grounds with help from a few other nin.)

(Point two: If Itsuki and Aoshi pass, they are not automatically considered Jonin. Should they apply for or be sponsered for a promotion in the ranks, this mission will be one of the main considering points. Consider this as a fight in the final Chunin exam as far as selection goes, while the mission itself is the forest of Death. They will not know about the test until they are made Jonin, where they will be informed how to conduct their own.)

(Point three: Kojira is pulling the strings, not his punches. Mess up, and you die. The village proper is still a kilometre north. The explosions were heard a kilometre and a half Northwestwest. Good luck.)

As soon as Urgit and Silk melt into the shadows, I take out a blank scroll and begin to sketch out the map I'd memorized, noting the position of the village, the position of the possible explosion, and the position of Konoha, along with timelines to get to varous places, potential blockades, and alternate routes. As I sketch, I keep a steady stream of chakra going to my ears, on alert for the slightest hint of Aoshi's return, or the approach of an enemy. In the margines of the map I make notes of the radio message I'd heard.

[-tiles = ? reptiles? Projectiles?]
[at least five. Five what?]
[Sent for renforcements?]
[Ordered to maintain perimiter? Disregard?]
[Stay there? Disregard order, face board afterwards?]

Pausing after the last two notations, I scowl fiercely, and then write, in bold kanji: HELL YES DISREGARD, with a split line connecting the two notations to the decision.

Aoshi receives Takuma's half yelled message just as he begins the final piece of perimeter security. He takes half a second to fight down the irritation of having someone effectively yell directly in his ear. That momentous task complete, he calmly and nigh instantaneously molds modicum of chakra and flexes it through the stone keeps close to his chest.There is no rushing sound, no pop. There is no sensation at all except for the mild disorientation of going from looking at the start of a security nest to looking at an obviously agitated special jounin send some ferrety looking animals out into the dark.

'Damn swapping is awesome' he thinks for the thousandth time.

Aoshi had planned to scold Takuma for yelling, but he is stopped by the sight before him. Takuma is wildly scribbling on a piece of paper, his eyes more than a little wild. Not sure how to process the spectacle, Aoshi looks on open mouthed for a brief while.

Eventually, a light blinked in Aoshi's awkward new eye piece, alerting him that the perimeter had been fully secured. Good. The clone had finished, and had no doubt dissipated. It was time to move.

"What's the situation?"

(OK, sorry this took so long. A lot of reasons I had writer's block. In the future, though, please don't effectively double post. It was only one reason, but the time and energy I had to spend shifting gears due to all the new circumstances gave other issues time to develop. I'd rather that didn't happen again. And again, I do apologize.)

Takuma freezes as soon as he hears Aoshi's voice. He looks up, and waits a few beats, before relaxing. "I'm going to assume that you didn't hear the transmission as few moments ago then?"

Aoshi shrugs. "Yeah, sorry. I had to turn off Kuroda's radio set while I was setting up the perimeter. Incompatible frequencies and sensitive chakra detectors don't mix. I figured you'd relay any message." A vague hand gesture tries but doesn't quite succeed at conveying "which is exactly what happened."

Finally realizing that Takuma's body language still screamed that he was at the ready for something serious, Aoshi slipped into full ninja mode. As all good ninja do, he killed his heart, and his eyes did not harden so much as hollow out; all thoughts extraneous to accomplishing the mission slowly drained from his mind.

It might have been impressive if it weren't for the ridiculous contraption of black metal and crystal taking up the upper left quarter of his face. And let's not even mention the counter weight on the right side. He looked like a clown. A robotic, ninja clown.

Still, it was with an all business ninja voice that Aoshi said, "So what's the situation?"

Takuma straightens and hands the completed map over to Aoshi. "While you were gone there was a message over the radio. Most of it was static, but I was able to make out some parts. I've written down possible interpretations alongside the parts I was able to make out." He waits a few moments for Aoshi to read the notes and look at the map. "Now, the way I see it we have five options. Option one, we try and rescue Kojira, then get the hell out of here. Option two, we keep on with the mission, and write Kojira off as a loss. Option three is a combination of both one and two. Option four is we sit on our laurels and wait for reinforcements that may or may not be on the way. Option five is we scrub the mission. I don't like four or five."

Aoshi gives a nod, his eyes still scanning and memorizing the papers. "Agreed. I don't like one or two either. It's too soon to give up on either the mission or Kuroda." His mental work done, Aoshi looks up and hands the map and notes back to Takuma.

"Luckily, our primary objective is recon anyway. How about we recon over by those explosions and see if we can't find out commander at the same time?"

I give Aoshi a tight, feral grin, and nods. "S'what I was thinkin' too. Urgit, Kheldar, new plan." The brothers materialize out of the shadows of the underbrush. "We're moving out, I need you two on point, you know what to do." As I speak I'm packing up everything that I'd set out earlier, sealing the bowl, coals and all, back into the scroll I'd gotten it from earlier.

Aoshi takes the contraption off his head an carefully hides it at the center of camp. "I'll program this to beep our radios if something big breaches the perimeter. It won't be perfect, but at least I won't be hobbled." The task only takes a a dozen seconds or so, and then Aoshi stands at the ready.

"Mongeese at point, you ready to explode in the center, me covering the rear?"

I give a tight nod as I finish sealing the last of our supplies, letting a small trickle of elemental chakra cross my hands for a second in a nervous habit, the effect akin to dancing sparks. "Sounds like a plan to me. And Urgit and Kheldar are pretty tough customers on their lonesome, together I think they'll give anything that gets between us and our objective one hell of a reception."

Kojira checked the improvised stage, tilting his head to survey the shredded bark on the surrounding trees, the impacted craters, the solemn holes in the ground from hastily thrown kunai. But there was still something missing...

Katafuin, kai.

Udafuin, kai.

Tefuin, zetsushi.

A drawn senbon, a slice, an opened vein, a splattering of blood against a tree. To finish his work, Kojira tore off a piece of his vest, stabbing himself to coat the needle in blood and thrusting them both into the tree. To a casual observer, he had been slammed with a sharp objest, pinned to the wood with enough force to splash his lifefluid over the bark. He pocketed the needle and reactivated his seals, wincing as the more subtle aspects of his augments coaxed his skin, muscle and vessels to replicate at an accelerated rate. The burning as the chakra leaked was never, ever pleasant.

More seals, now, to complete the scene.

Doton: Mugoikeiro

A human-sized mound of dirt rose up and charged in the direction of the village, snapping branches and shifting foliage. A flick of the wrist and Kojira's still-bleeding wound tossed a few drops of blood onto the mound. Hopefully the scent would be enough if they relied on smell, and the mound would carry the stink and destruction all the way to the ghost town. If his partners were too hasty, then his other partners would release the full number of wanderers into the buildings.

Wandering dead... Kojira sniffed, forced chakra into his legs, and leapt forward into the moving mound. The others from his home village would hopefully stick to the plan, it was their job to test his teammates.

Kojira had done all he could. Now that the stage was set, he began thinking of ways to pass the time.

...

...

...

Pattycake, pattycake, baker's man, bake me a cake...

--

In the middle of the scene, a shambling form of shadows rose from beneath the earth, damp clods still sticking to its frame. A quick shake and they were mostly removed, but it detected movement and instinct almost forced it into the ground again. It stopped, deciding to slither up a tree and wait for an ambush. Its legs grew to an enormous size, swelling and gorging on the night around it, before setting foot again on a handy branch six metres above.

Sempai said we're not allowed to hide and kill. We're supposed to wait and show ourselves, Sempai said. We're supposed to wait and hold still, Sempai said, but Sempai didn't say that our wanderers couldn't...

... Sempai might get angry, Sempai is always angry, but Sempai is strange. Sempai's new village is strange. Why does Matriarch ask this of us? Why do I question Matriarch?! I am not meant to question matriarch! MUST KILL SELF. But cannot kill self, that will make Sempai angry. Angry Sempai is Angry.

... I don't like waiting.

Urgit and Keldar darted through the bushes and underbrush, sleek gray wraiths in the night. As they approached the scene their summoner had indicated on his map, they froze. <You smell that brother?> Urgit trilled nervously. Kheldar nodded his head <Yeah, old death. Something's not right, the scent shouldn't be this old if their ally was attacked less than an hour ago. There's advanced decay on the wind, and it's not naturally occurring. C'mon bro, back to Takuma, he and Aoshi need to know this.> With that the two mongoose began to backtrack, letting out a sound like a dying mouse as they retraced their steps.

---

Takuma stopped on a dime as soon as he picked up the dying squeal of a mouse, holding up one fist in the battlefield sign for "stop". He waited for Aoshi to close with him.

A second later, a heavily breathing Aoshi landed on a branch a few feet behind Takuma. Waiting for his teammate's next signal, Aoshi couldn't help but the think that it had been way too long of day. He'd probably have to use a soldier's pill.

Aoshi hates soldiers pills.

In the trees, a clump of shadow twitched. As if in response, a root tore itself from under the ground and swiped at the larger of the mongeese. A voice sounded in its head.

You stink of Sapience. Come closer.

Urgit yelped, all pretense of stealth abandoned. "AMBUSH!" he screamed in human tongue, before disappearing in a puff of smoke right as the root caught him in the side. Kheldar immediately bolted for the relative safety of his summoner's coat, and the firepower contained therein. His brother appearing from a clump of bushes that had provided the broken branch he'd swapped with and keeping pace as they shot through the underbryush like arrows from a bow.

Takuma cursed under his breath. "They found something, and apparently something found them. Get ready, whatever this is could be what got Kojira."

A heartbeat later, Kheldar tore out of the underbrush, followed closely by Urgit. "Report!" Takuma barked in a low voice.

Kheldar sat up on its haunches. "We'd traced a scent coming from the clearing you'd indicated. Decay, strong too. Far too strong to be a result of the fight. We were backtracking to report when a tree root ripped itself out of the ground and attempeted to skewer Urgit." Urgit nodded.

"I heard a voice in my head as well, said I "stank of sapience" and ordered me to come closer." Takuma cursed under his breath again, and looked at Aoshi. "I say we circle around the clearing to determine if Kojira's been taken from the area. if he has, we level the clearing and then follow the trail at an angle. If he hasn't we get in, get him, and then level the clearing and proceed with the mission. Those explosions earlier blew any chance of real stealth, whatever is out here is going to be looking to make sure Kojira wasn't alone."

Aoshi looks at Takuma skeptically. "How are we supposed to figure out what happened to Kuroda or track where he went if we level the clearing? Maybe we should try a little subtlety first." Aoshi downed a disgustingly fishy soldier pill and waited for Takuma's reply.

"You weren't listening, I said that we'd circle the clearing first, find out if he'd been removed, and if he had we'd destroy the clearing and follow the trail. If not, we enter and attempt to retrieve him. As for how we'd know if he'd been taken, these two know his scent, we've worked together before."

Aoshi rolls his eyes and gathers his patience. "I was listening. Scent trails are fine, but they won't tell us what happened to Kuroda. Also, they can be faked."

Aoshi's mouth puckers as the second aftertaste of the pill hits him. Composing himself, he continues, "Listen, I understand the urge to blast and chase with all due haste, but think about it. Kuroda was, is a very competent jounin. If we're lucky, there's somebody or something very powerful out there that took him down. We'll need all the information we can get, so I say we investigate the site before torching it. If possible."

Takuma backs down, looking mollified. "Okay, sorry. So how do you want to do this? You go in, me covering you with the brothers flanking you close?"

The trees surrounding the clearing began to shiver, shadow beginning to melt over the leaves to cover any reflection of moonlight. There was a whiff of burnt hair, and of old sweat, and of unwashed bodies. But more than that, it smelt of decay and rotten pus.

Present yourselves before Ayashi~sha.

The voice was strained, gurgling as the darkness deepened and began to creep towards the posse.

Takuma takes a stance, and begins to gather chakra in one hand. "I don't know about you, but I think our time just ran out." He begins to mutter under his breath.