Fandom Naruto: Last of the Fallen Blossoms

[Ganryu]

KageYuuki
The Takahashi Residence - Cloud Invasion

Ash and soot rained down across the Takahashi's springs, though, no springs seemed to actually left. Instead, the steam swirls in a thick, burning fog, and the ground literally hissed everyone. A few clumps of ground were merely hot instead of literally bubbling, and the vents to the springs themselves had melted away in a combination of cooled lava and obsidian glass. There was no resort. The wood has burned away so thoroughly there was no skeleton left standing, and the foundation of the house had turned to magma.

In the middle of of the literal hellscape, two shadows could be seen. A man with one hand in a pocket, and the other gripping a woman by the neck as steam sizzled aggressively at point of contact: The once great ninja, Yumiko Takahashi. Ice release struggling against the one hand, and failing.

"Man, yo ice release is ridiculous. I bet'chu you ain't never had a fire user even once melt it. Ain't'chu out of luck that I ain't just a fire user? Sees cuz, kekkei genkai are the mixing of two elements. Ice is wind and water. It makes a vaccuum to flash freeze the water, then the water release fills that vaccuum before the wind slams back into it with a protective shell. Ain't no fire gunna be able to transfer into that.

Buuuuut, yous sees, you don't got to mix things how others do. Lava just normally earth chakra pressed with shit ton of fire and flung with a ton of pressure. It's like a volcano going off! But, I don't like doing that, sees? Against someone likes you, it just gunna be a contest of strength. So, what I like to do is to burst through things with earth release in a shockwave to crack it, and rock it with heat, baby! Straight up shatter that bitch!

Yous listening, girl?"

The man tossed the kunoichi as she went limp, burn marks across her neck as her chakra ran out, letting her crumble onto the hellscape, behind a cloud of dark smoke. His gaze settled on Izumi, slowly striding towards her, stepping over her father, Kenta's, crumbled body as the sheer heat from his body ignited the man's robes.

He squatted infront of Izumi. The leaf he had been chewing on had burned down to a smoldering stem. "What I'm saying is, yo ice ain't shit. You ain't creative cuz, ain't trying out different ways to make it. What if you lets that ice be chilled water, then my lava ain't gunna shatter and melt it. Those two cripples put up better fight. Get creative! We Kekkei genkai bruds gotta stick together. It's in our literal blood to fight! Hate me! Find me. Make it a little bit better next time. Cause ain't no one on earth gunna stop the right of the strong, and we? We wuz born strong. Imma take this little souvenir til you ask nicely for it back."

He reached down, picking up 'Icicle', Izumi's dagger, and stowing it in his pouch. Smiling menacing, his mouth and eyes glowing like a literal devil as his blood glowed, he slowly began to reach forward with a single burning finger towards, tapping Izumi in the forehead, heat rocking across her entire body as a shockwave of chakra shook her and burned her.

"Think I dun caused 'nuff of a 'distraction'. Now, remember me, don't really care if it's fantasizing of killing me, or in your nightmares, you gunna see me every night from now on juuuust the same. Bye, girlie."

And, he was gone. Like a bad nightmare. With him, the unyeilding heat, though the ground continued to smolder. However, with him, her house, her hotsprings, and two badly burnt bodies, barely moaning on the ground with charred skin. The Takahashi hotsprings was now merely a crater of obsidian glass and igneous rock.

 

[Ganryu]

An Idiot's Guide to Espionage
Team Nadeshiko​

Spoiler

The bouncer Akari had collided with stumbled backwards, flailing his thick arms to try and maintain his balance. It might have worked if the man’s heel hadn’t caught on the edge of the step in front of the sake den’s door, as it was he pitched backwards into building. The sake den’s cheap construction wasn’t up to the challenge of withstanding the bouncer’s bulk and he tore through the wood and paper screen on his way to the floor.

Inside the den wary sets of eyes looked up from card or dice games, some of them blinking from the sudden influx of light. Most of the patrons soon returned to their own affairs, this being the kind of establishment where it wasn’t all that uncommon for someone to be thrown through a wall. Usually of course the bouncer was the one doing the throwing and the direction was typically reversed but there was a trend.

One set of eyes however, belonging to a heavy set man in a bandana, kept a close, calculating watch on the unfolding events.

Akari paled at the man flying through the bar.

Please ensure before you two do anything rash that that is in fact a cloud shinobi,"

Well… that was already rash. Could she go one mission without freezing up, or screwing up in a panick!?

Calm down, calm down, calmdowncalmdowncalmdown…

Thankfully, it seemed a regular enough occurrence that no one seemed to care. No one but one man staring at them. Even Akari could notice him. Unthankfully, Yoshi had one direction: forward. Headed straight towards the man… Akari needed to stop him, they needed info before they could strike. How to stop someone indestructible though? She could match his strength, but, not his endurance…

Eyes flickering back and forth, desperate for something, she noticed in the back of the bar as small kitchen. She gulped, the only thing her and Yoshi seemed to agree on was food. She went up, and whispered to his ear.

“Hey, Yoshi, are they using the same peanut oil to fry both the fish and meat?”

It was the best she had! Her eyes scanned to the nearest lonely drunk she could find by himself in a corner, and quickly began to slink towards him, hoping Yoshi would make a fuss. She flashed him a handful of Ryo… all the money she’d saved from the mansion mission…

“Hey, mister, if you pretend we’re related and I’m here to pick you up, and to give you a few minutes, all of this is yours. I… uh, don’t want to get in trouble for bouncer…”

Her eyes darted towards the heavy bandana man, and the probable Cloud nin Yoshi had been chasing. Akari swore she smelled smoke. Was this what a stroke felt like? Why could she taste copper?

“What?” Yoshi’s attention was now sharpened, attentive, the scent in the airs were intermixed… peanut oil… An acceptable drying oil, but… to fry both fish and meat!?!?! UNACCEPTABLE!! THE TASTES WOULD BE TAINTED!!

…

He had to taste this to be certain.

He went up to the counter, with abit of a climb, he eyed the menu… then ignored it, as it was less of a menu and a rules board.

“Surf and turf stirfry.” He ordered, with all the demanding strength of a nobleman… And the slap of 2000 ryo on the counter.

The bartender stared at Yoshi for a good long while, blinked slowly then looked down at the coins the youth had put down in front of him. The bartender seemed to deflate slowly and he sighed and turned towards the kitchen behind him.

“ONE MIXED STIRFRY!” the bartender bellowed through the thin walls, receiving a muffled curse in return. With that done the bartender turned back to Yoshi, snatched up the coins and began counting them.

Meanwhile, the drunk Akari had approached stared at her with bleary, reddened eyes. It seemed to take a few seconds longer than it should have for him to process her offer, but when he did he shrugged, drained his drink and then said loudly.

“AHHH YESSHH, MY BELOVED NIECE, WHO HAS BEEN SENT TO ESHCORT HER FRAIL UNCLE HOME. COME- WARM YOURSELF AT MY TABLE FOR A TIME BEFORE WE BRAVE THE COLD JOURNEY HOME,”

THe sharp eyed, heavy man watching the proceedings looked baffled by everything, but eventually he seemed to decide everything happening was too ridiculous to constitute a threat and he returned to sipping his drink.

Yoshi awaited the food, his focus solely upon the counter before him. Sure, he was on a mission, but surely Akari was… doing.. Something. She was a capable sort when she wanted to be… Right?

Ah yes she has cover already perfect, how expected from a coward who specializes in ranged combat. What did father say again about bows..?

REAL SAMURAI DIE WITH SWORD IN HAND! Yes that was it. It was when he was drunk and complaining about how archers kept running away and peppering him with arrows.

When the food came out, Yoshi took one look at it and…

“..This is.. Barely cooked… Mostly fat and grisel and… weeds from outside for garnish…” he looked at the mess with the same disdain one might have if they saw a dog shitting on the carpet, locking eyes with you all the while. He did, however, utilized the fork given to take a bite which elicited a look of disbelief from the room.

Chewed.

Swallowed.

And sighed.

It was a good solid few seconds of incredible silence from the room before Yoshi drew his god damned sword.

“Your mockery of the culinary arts demand your deaths.”

Akari sighed. Being like a ninja had to be stressful. She hated subterfuge. Why was she on a mission for that?! Akari froze at the drunk screaming next to her... only, he was helping her? Wait, something going right?

So all the money she'd saved up hadn't been for waste, though, that one was going to hurt. She smiled slightly, wondering, briefly, if her Dad had to have been stealthy before. Then again, her mother was unnaturally graceful. A thought Akari did not like crossed her mind, Akari's brow furrowing.

She firmly put THAT thought in the 'Later' bin of her head, sitting down next to the drunk, his breath rolling over her. She still hated drunks though.

"Thank you." She whispered. If she was acting, it would have been proper to act scared. Nope, Akari was, in fact, terrified.

Then Yoshi started a fight.

Akari was impressed at her mental vocabulary, before realizing she could use this. Was this this 'brain' thing other people were talking about? Well... if Yoshi had everyone's attention...

Akari slowly slinked off, using her stolen technique from Izanami to reduce friction from each step, halfway sliding towards the suspected Cloud nin.

Beigoma

Her hand slipped into her pouch to try and pick pocket him. For some reason, she swore she could hear a hud like ping, and imagined 'Pickpocket 20-> 21' above her head. Now, as for saving Yoshi? Eh, some problems could sort themselves out.

“No refunds!” said the bartender behind the counter in response to Yoshi’s tirade, folding his arms over his chest in a commendable display of nerve. “Now put that away before I have the bouncer…” the bartender trailed of as he glanced over at the bouncer, he was still lying on the floor on his back, groaning pathetically. “...Huh. You know what? Now that I think about it I guess we do do refunds,”

Meanwhile Akari’s efforts bore fruits, as her fingertips closed in on a rough scrap of paper folded in half. The target appeared not to have noticed the theft, as he was busy watching Yoshi’s antics with befuddlement.

-Thwip-

Akari rushed back to the table in an instant, counting on the Cloud nin not seeing her, and hoping no one else was there. Actually… hoping inferred thought, she’d just acted on instinct. Gulping, she looked at the drunks receipts. He wasn’t going to pay them anyways. She tried to swipe one and write on the back of it “Meet with Nadeshiko after. I’m hungry.”

Which, Akari could pretend it was the most direct thing to get Yoshi to go, but… her stomach did, in fact, growl. Her seals across her body kept her metabolism somewhere between ‘high’, and ‘insane’. She nodded to the friendly drunk, and slid him the bills before walking by Yoshi, and slipping him the note. If he got a refund, great. At least one of them wouldn’t be broke….

Having regained his cash for his meal, he supposed he could call the matter settled… These men were smarter than they looked, he would have done all he could to destroy this place and remove it from the culinary world all together. Salting the earth with sea salt and a spray of squeezed lemon.

Not that they’d keep either of these things here no doubt.

The young man quickly sheathed his sword, and placed his money away, not so much as counting it as he.. Really didn’t care. He would then quit this place, all but ignoring the rest of anyone who may stop him…

It was when he was outside he remembered Akari, in fact, was here. “If you were successful, let us return.”

The two young samurai were able to travel about a block away before Nadeshiko rejoined them by dropping down lightly from a rooftop. “You’ve returned and nothing is on fire!” said Nadeshiko, looking surprised and delighted as she clapped her hands together gently. “Well done! Were you successful?”

Wordlessly, Akari pulled out the slip of paper, handing it to Nadeshiko, before hovering behind her shoulder, showing she hadn’t read it either yet. She did mumble “I’m broke now…” But it was so quiet that it was near inaudible.

Yoshi, in this moment, considered why Nadeshiko assumed he would set fire to something. He merely threatened the heads of the cook and the barkeep, which would have been honorable cullings.

He would let Akari’s findings do the talking instead.

“When we get back I’ll show you to file a reimbursement request for mission expenses,” Nadeshiko said, gently patting Akari on the head as she took the paper and unfolded it.

“...These look to be patrol routes, with this point at the epicentre being our target,” Nadeshiko said after a moment. “Some of these annotations make note of who can be bribed with cigarettes or liquor and who is best avoided,” she wrinkled her nose in distaste. “I think this fellow has been sneaking away from his post to indulge in vice for some time. I suspect the enemy’s most reliable troops have all been dispatched to the front lines while the dregs have been sent here to hold supply points like this one.” Nadeshiko said primly. “Let this example be a lesson to you children. Such vices are like chinks in your armor through which the enemy may drive their blades through at their leisure,”

Nadeshiko studied the patrol routes Akari had retrieved for a few more seconds and then nodded decisively. “Alright. You two will utilize this information to slip through the Cloud’s patrols while I conduct a frontal assault to draw their attention. Once the bulk of the enemy forces are focused on me you two will enter their base and destroy as much of their supplies as possible. Do either of you have those funny little pieces of paper shinobi use to blow things up?”

Akari grimaced at the ‘vices’ comment, though the possibility of being paid back did spark interest. Attacking a Cloud Supply depot? That gave Akari the first honest smile she’d had yet. She felt like she was finally a samurai! The fact this was the most ‘ninja’ like she’d ever been could be forgiven for that chance.

As far as the paper bombs went, Akari instantly went into her satchel, pulling out three such tags. She looked a bit guilty at how quickly she’d replaced them after ‘the incident’. Bright side, that beating heart thingy was definitely, utterly, dead. She could think of some Cloud nin she’d like to add to that list. But, there was one thing bugging her. The reliable troops being dispatched to the front lines… Akari gulped.

“Where… are the front lines?”

“Wherever these scoundrels are being cut down.” Yoshi states matter of factly, though he wasn’t sure…. If he had explosives. But surely he could just smash things. Yea that’ll work.

“I wonder what they have there…”

“We can only fight the battle in front of us Akari,” Nadeshiko said gently, with a knowing expression. “Trust our friends and family to do the same wherever they are and give them the best chance for success by accomplishing our objectives here.” she said. “The cloud will likely be storing a variety of important supplies here. Rations, medicine and a lot of those throwing weapons shinobi tend to favor. They go through the latter in astounding quantities during extended warfare because they don’t usually have the latitude to retrieve the ones they’ve thrown and they rely on them to conserve their chakra reserves. We can degrade their capability to fight protracted, wide scale battles significantly by denying them access to such tools. Their supplies will likely be sealed away in scrolls for storage so they’ll be smaller than you might be expecting and they might be concealed somewhere but that shouldn’t prove an obstacle to their destruction. The cheaper seals they use on a mass scale are usually flammable and don’t protect their contents from any of the backlash when they are destroyed, they’d be too expensive otherwise,”

Yoshi nodded understanding very little and noted in his mind to look for paper slips. Maybe?

Why didn’t they just use a bow or sword? Why waste so much material with throwing weapons? It made no sense and the fact they make him confused only made him want to break their toys further.

“Okay, we shall go there and put it to the torch…

…” he started to wonder, if the seals were broken, do the tools go flying out?

Or do they just appear? Do they appear on fire? Do… they have passwords to open…?

…

Maybe they should find a good pack of stuff and take it? Medical stuff is always in short supply.

He should keep an eye out, or ask Akari to do it.

Akari seemed oddly distant at Nadeshiko’s reply, staring off into the sky. The quality of a seal was something she’d been lectured a dozen times about as Nadeshiko taught her the basics of sealing her bow, and she’d listened to at least half those lectures, so, percentage wise, way up!

She finally came back to reality with a sudden nod of her head. There was something else bothering her about this mission. It was a role of a saboteur, a spy, and yet… she was, in truth, enjoying it so far more than she wished to admit. She didn’t have to hurt anyone, and her skills were proving useful so far. She should feel disgusted, but… A small smile crept up.

“Let’s do this.”