Side Story: Darkness Falls - Complete

[KageYuuki]

Ganryu AtlannianSpy

A cult devoted to a god named Angra Mainyu has plagued the Land of Fire for years now, kidnapping members of small villages to either sacrifice or indoctrinate into their ranks. What may very well be their primary hideout has been discovered. You are to travel to the marked location on Miyou Island and eliminate all inside.​

 

[KageYuuki]

Takara Himura
Takara sighed, sitting near the village gate. It seemed so strange, for a cobbled together squad to be given an A-Ranked mission out of the blue. Well... a squad of mostly chuunin anyway. They'd all received the most barebones of briefings, that they were to head to an island to the north and wipe out all cult members they came across. It seemed far more something befitting a C-Ranked mission than an A-Ranked one. But who was she to disobey a mission from the village itself?

Hopefully, the other three would arrive before long.

Hopefully, Mai would behave herself during this mission.

 

[Ganryu]

Mai was a bit troubled as she approached. She hoped Takara KNEW her well enough to already know what Mai would and wouldn't do. She'd promised better obedience, and she would follow most orders, but she at least expected Takara as her sensei and squad leader to know her well enough to know where her nindo started. As she approached the gate, she stopped remembering the first time she'd met squad six. With a devilish grin, she walked away from the gate, and towards the village wall. A familiar voice would call down to the Jonin.

"Hey, sensei! Bet'cha I can make it down!"

Before she could be told no, Mai held her hands forward, and tipped forward, laughing like a madwoman as she fell.

The ground came fast! It was exhilarating, her heart beat fast, and the world slowed down. Mai wished she could live in time like this. Everything seemed so clear! And man, the ground was getting there fast. Mai finally kicked off the wall, reaching out for a tree branch near by. Her fingers grasped it hard, and she flipped forward, landing infront of Takara giving a graceful ending. She grinned as her mind inwardly screamed.

"Morning Sensei!"

Mai walked to the nearest tree, and took of the medicine called regret as she put her hand to her stomache. She gave off the maddest grin, though it was actually her gritting her teeth.

Note to self, change bandages. Also note to self, jumping off gate bad... try not to push myself too hard this time. Really don't want too many questions, afterall, what would Takara say to me spending my 'vacation' being a shishkabob. 'sides, I think this is my first mission with Takara without Hideki and Aiko. Wonder why this squad? Don't know Nagisa, but gunna have a helluva alot of fun with Yukari.

Tapping her finger to her chin, Mai realized it was a bigger and bigger question. What the hell was the point of the Squad? She had heard HIdeki had been on alot of missions lately, maybe he was out. Aiko too? But why this squad? Mai didn't want to be told why.

"Hey, Takara-sensei. Think I could look at the squad profiles? I know there's a dossier, I got to hold one when they sent me on a mission north. I'm curious why the three of us with you, I'd like to see if I could figure it out myself."

 

[AtlannianSpy]

Nagisa Kanazawa
​

"I'd rather have as few people as possible snooping through my file if it's all the same to you," said Nagisa, her arms over her chest.

After the ordeal that had been her last team Nagisa had really been hoping to get back to the reliability of her squad. She would never in the past have imagined thinking wistfully of working with Katsumi and Nobushige but at least their weirdness was predictable.

With this scraped together group that was not the case, the one who was already here seemed crazy and the other was some Hyuuga princess who sounded like a drag. At least this time there was a jonin around, it was kind of a relief to just do her job and let someone else worry about the rest of the group.

"I would like to know more about what we're getting into though," said Nagisa, walking over to join the over two. The jonin, Himura? looked serious enough although wasn't she the one Hideki was living with? It was hard to know what to make of that.

 

[KageYuuki]

Takara Himura and Yukari Hyuuga
At Mai's shout from the village wall, Takara looked up with a sigh. "Do you have to do this every time we meet at the gates?" Long gone was the shock at her antics, it was just expected at this point. At least Mai was able to actually stick the landing this time around. Even if her faceplanting was secretly far more satisfying to see.

"Morning," the jounin closed her book but didn't put it away just yet. She hesitated, noting the tension in Mai's body. It was strange, she was normally rather relaxed after pulling such a stunt. "I'm sorry," Takara sighed and looked down at the worn cover of her book. "I tried to get someone else for this mission but you were the only one available."

Frankly, she'd much rather be carrying this out with another jounin. But, those were still in short supply.

Takara shook her head at her student's question, "Don't have them on me." She finally put her book away, having spotted the last two chuunin headed their way. She gave a short nod to Nagisa as she approached. "I'll go over what I know in just a moment, though it isn't much."

"I'm surprised Koma-Sensei wasn't picked for this mission. Dealing with a cult seems like the kind of thing he'd get roped into." Yukari said, having gotten close enough to be heard. Of course, that was probably why she ended up on this assignment. She had gotten rather... well versed in dealing with weird shit.

"Good morning, Takara-Sensei, Nagisa." Yukari offered a slight bow to each of them, trying to get a feel for their personalities. Granted, it probably only furthered 'always formal noble' assumption at least one of them was bound to have. "Hey Mai," She offered the Sanada a bright smile. Getting to work together was going to be fun.

Takara stood, "Since you're all here, let's get going. I'll explain what I know on the way." She waited until they were on the road before continuing. "These guys worship a god named Angra Mainyu, a god of darkness and destruction."

"What a thing to worship..." Yukari muttered.

"Right. We don't have a ton of information on the specifics, but it seems the highest ranking members can use a primitive form of ninjutsu. We'll have to be careful dealing with them."

 

[Ganryu]

"You'd better not apologize or regret bringing me, I AM your student, remember? "

Mai then turned a little embarrassed to notice Nagisa. How had Mai not heard her? The gate was busy, but Mai would have to admit, she was naturally quiet.

"Uh... sorry. Was more curious on stats of what we got going on than meaning to pry. Uh... I'm a sensor and taijutsu expert? I don't actually know any jutsu outside taijutsu and academy basics to be honest. Uh... just forget it. Let's just do the mission. You're Nagisa? I'm Mai, of the Sanada."

Mai's hi to Yukari was much less formal as she just glomped the girl.

"Finally! Been hoping for a mission with you forever!" She turned to the other two, letting go of Yukari.

"What? We're both clan heirs. Granted, Sanada are a bunch of violent artisans and the Hyuuga are a bunch of stuck ups, but, eh, family."

Mai cracked her neck.

"So, breaking up a cult? Sounds fun. Whatever your orders, Takara-sensei. Are we scouting them? Or just going in there? I mean, my thoughts, if they learned ninjutsu, but no one taught them, probably means its very strong, but not really refined. Or if someone did teach them, we gotta go find the missing nin among them, probably the only strong one. Either way, a good punch oughta put'em down. So, uh, Takara-sensei, seeing as you already know what I ain't doing, want me to break their arms so they can't use ninjutsu? Or, anyone got ideas?"

 

[AtlannianSpy]

Nagisa Kanazawa
​

"My thing is mostly stealth and tools then," Nagisa said to Mai, keeping her expression carefully blank as she hugged the Hyuuga girl. "And I can keep up in taijutsu," It was slightly reassuring to hear Mai was a sensor, though a little surprising. Nagisa had sort of pegged her as a muscle head.

The Inuzuka girl was a sensor as well... are they all like this?

Still, if they were walking into some kind of stronghold it would be priceless to know what was waiting for them, the byakugan would come in handy as well.

"I just want to be clear before we get there," Nagisa said to Takara, glancing over at the other two chunin with a hard to read expression as they started moving. "The briefing mentioned kidnapping victims, people being indoctrinated. But our mission isn't to rescue those people? I think the phrase was something like 'eliminate everyone inside' "

Nagisa didn't have a problem killing people, even people who couldn't fight back if it came down to it. But the details, or lack thereof were making her uneasy. "Can I ask who paid for this mission? Ordinarily if people are going missing you'd expect the reward would be put up by their friends and family, who would want to emphasize their safe return. That doesn't seem to be the case here though,"

 

[KageYuuki]

Takara Himura and Yukari Hyuuga
"I don't regret bringing you," Takara sighed, "I just know this mission doesn't... mesh well with you."

At nearly being tackled, Yukari just laughed and returned the hug. "It's definitely about time." She chuckled, turning to the others. "Not surprising, but I specialize in scouting and close range combat."

"I'd prefer to try and scout them out before making a move," The jounin said in response to Mai's questions. "All known instances of them using jutsu were about on par with the average genin. A single technique is really all we've seen used. It's similar to the Nara clan's Shadow Binding. Unlike the Nara's techniques, theirs seem to be weaker during the day."

As they continued on, Takara was quiet for a long moment at Nagisa's questions. "The mission details say nothing about rescuing hostages... Perhaps their indoctrination methods are too difficult to break through, I'm not sure." Violet hues moved over towards the chuunin, "That said, there wasn't a client named for this mission. More often than not it means this came from the village itself."

 

[Ganryu]

Mai nodded at Takara not regretting her, actually a bit grateful THAT was the reason. She definitely couldn't screw up now. Listening to the rest, Mai thought about what would be best for the mission. She HATED to admit it, but at the moment, Mai didn't have the ability to play around. She probably couldn't move full speed, and probably couldn't do a full prolonged battle.

"Your life is worth more than that sword."

"And my pride..." She whispered under her breath. It meant Mai had to be smart... for once. Ugh, Mai hated even more to admit she had to learn something other than brute force. Life had recently been beating into her being the strongest and getting people to bow wasn't worth anything if you couldn't GET there.

"So, I know we'll get orders in the end, but if they are confident at night, seems best time to scout them. And if they weaken in the day, dawn seems like best time to actually attack. Just my two cents."

Putting her hands behind her head, Mai started the walk. She turned her head towards Nagisa.

"So, Nagisa, I got a question for you. What's ya dream? I mean, everyone's aiming for something. Yukari there wants to be the bane of her clan. I mean, be acknowledged so she can make things better. Eh, same thing. Huh. Hey, Takara-sensei, never asked you either. What'cha aiming for?"

Mai gave a smirk to Yukari with the comment. Partly to annoy her, and partly to test if Yukari knew hers.

 

[AtlannianSpy]

Nagisa Kanazawa
​

Nagisa sighed sharply. Great, she's one of those types... "I want get to get through this mission without any screwups and get paid. Right now that's all I care about, after that, I'll pick up another mission and get through that without any screw ups and get paid. And so on and so forth it'll go until I die or have enough to retire and then die. But it's really only the first part you should worry about,"

Nagisa put her hands in her pocket and increased her pace slightly. Why did some people have to overcomplicate their lives? Why did people have to overcomplicate her life? What was wrong with just getting the job done and going home?

"Scouting should be the minimum," Nagisa said after a brief silence. "If we have time it would be worth staking them out for a few days, get a sense of their movements, when they tend to be active, if they put out patrols... We don't have much to go on yet so anything we can gather before move in is a plus."

The more Nagisa was finding out about this mission the less good she felt? Primitive ninjutsu? What did that mean exactly? More importantly where did it come from and what was it capable of? The average goon might be at genin level but someone had to have taught them. What kind of tricks did someone like that have up their sleeves?

 

[KageYuuki]

Takara Himura and Yukari Hyuuga
"Miyou Island is a fairly small location, only a few kilometers across." Takara started once Nagisa and Mai offered suggestions on going about the mission itself. "We should be more than capable to scout the entire island fairly quickly, see how many outposts there are. Yukari, your byakugan will be invaluable in getting an estimate of their numbers."

"Right," Aside from the whole cult thing, it was likely the reason she was even chosen to begin with.

"With the information we have, striking during the day will likely be the best course of action." Takara glanced back as the conversation shifted topics, Mai asking her for her dream in life. "Well... can't say I really ever had one." She shrugged, "Don't really have one now, either."

Yukari shook her head slightly at Mai's little 'slip' on recalling her goal, "Close enough, I guess." She didn't find it overly surprising the others didn't seem to really have one. Neither had come off as the type for such things anyway.

Though Mai was likely going to react differently...

 

[Ganryu]

Mai scowled a bit as they walked. What the hell? No dreams? And worse, they were her equals and superior? It didn't make much sense. If they didn't have anything to live for, there was no way they could become strong. Everyone had SOME reason. Was it possible for people not to know their own dreams? Why else would people get up in the morning. Well... Mai had alot farther to go if she wasn't stronger than these people. She looked to Yukari and gave a forlorn shrug.

At the mention of the byakugan, Mai sighed. She knew she said she was going to work harder for Takara sensei, but a tinge of annoyance came. Mai recalled the moment in Uncle Koko's shop. Mai took a moment thinking about why the hell was sensei forgetting about her hearing for scouting? She almost felt shorted until about 30 minutes of simmering later she suddenly realized something. She body flickered some way infront. She then sat down in a meditative stance, closing her eyes.

"I'm more of person who learns from experience. Tch, annoyed took me this long. Yukari, how many birds are in that tree? Use your Byakugan. Hell, I'm curious, Nagisa, how many? And sensei, how many?"

Mai waited a moment.

"Answer's seven. Also, my footsteps are loud, extremely loud. Probably the Kabutowari on my back combined with my style. I don't really care, but the rest of you have really quiet footsteps naturally. At least be blunt in that Yukari can scout AND is quieter than me. Nagisa's the quietest of us, but I got the best sensing. Means I'm best at whatever our homebase is, Yukari's best when we want a layout of the enemy, and Nagisa's best when we decide to DO something about."

Mai faded to black, and reappeared standing next to the group at the back. She still scowled and was pretty quiet for the next little bit as they traveled towards the train station. Mai briefly wandered if she could keep up with the train, but remembered her side.

 

[AtlannianSpy]

Nagisa Kanazawa
​

Nagisa was quiet during the early stages of the train ride, snagging a window seat so that she could quietly watch the scenery whizz by, her chin supported with her elbow. As a kid her parents would sometimes take her to the next town over, which had a train station, to help them pickpockets among the throngs of unwary travelers.

At first Nagisa had been the distraction, playing the beggar or lost child separated from their parents while hands slipped into the sympathetic adult's pockets. Later, when her small hands became more nimble, the roles were reversed and Nagisa did most of the lifting.

Jostled and deafened by the crowd around her, Nagisa had often thought about sneaking onto one of the trains and just seeing how far it would take her, to a child who had never traveled further than a few towns over those rails had seemed to go on to the ends of the earth.

She'd never tried it. The ticket inspectors were eagle eyed and were always throwing street kids off, there just wasn't anywhere to hide on a train carriage if you didn't fit in there. These days Nagisa had taken a few trains for missions and didn't really care for it. it was pleasant to watch the landscape pass by so effortlessly for a while but she always found herself feeling restless and bored after a while. Something to do with the structure of it bothered her, you couldn't get a train to turn around, or stop, you were pretty much stuck in it until the system decided it was time to let you off and in the meantime you had nothing to do except twiddle your thumbs.

"Your footsteps aren't 'naturally' loud," she said suddenly, without turning around from the window. "And it has nothing to do with that hunk of metal on your back either, I could carry that thing around right under your nose and you'd never know. Your footsteps are loud because you shift your weight forward too early, it gives you more striking power but commits you to the move earlier. You don't have time to adjust your footfalls to the ground underneath you. I'm guessing you don't feint all that often when you fight either?"

Nagisa raised a hand to jab lazily in Yukari's direction. "Hers aren't as bad because her footwork is way more deliberate. I guess that Hyuuga gentle fist stuff doesn't need momentum or weight behind it to deal damage so they can keep their weight back and not commit as strongly to a particular strike, it makes them more responsive and fluid when they fight, but it also makes it easier to move quietly."

Nagisa stifled a yawn. "Anyway stuff like that isn't natural, it's learned. You learned how to move one way over time, probably without really thinking about it and you could just as easily learn the other way if you bothered to try,"

 

[KageYuuki]

Watching Mai take off ahead of them, Takara quirked an eyebrow. Though when they caught up and she launched into her short rant, the jounin just took a slow breath and closed her eyes for a moment. She waited until Mai had finished before speaking up. “No one’s saying your senses aren’t keen, Mai. They’ll be invaluable in helping protect Yukari while she scouts. Incredible as the byakugan may be, even it has its limitations.” A fact she always enjoyed reminding Ryosei when they were teammates. “But we need more information than we can gather with sound alone. For what it’s worth, there are five birds in that tree and two chipmunks.”

Yukari shifted slightly but remained silent for the rest of the trip to the train station. It wasn’t until Nagisa said something that she finally spoke up, “footwork’s always been an important part of gentle fist. We need to remain mobile and like she said, we really don’t have a reason to put as much force into a strike as an average taijitsu user.” Though sparring a gentle fist user still left its fair share of bruises and welts.

 

[Ganryu]

Mai took a aisle seat in the cabin as she listened to Nagisa's explanation.

"Huh. That might be it. I never really try feints. I just try to hit the opponent really, really hard. I think the first one I did was against my cousin a few months back... I hope he gets better... Oh well. I, uh... gotta do a thing real quick."

Mai scurried off as the train started, making her way to the loo at the front of the train. She remembered she had to change her bandages. The hard part was fitting Kabutowari in the small stall to pull out the surplus of bandages she'd hidden in its cloth. Being quick as she could, she checked and groaned as she found the landing at the gate hadn't been as kind to her as she'd hoped. Oh well. She finished quickly.

Heading back to the group, she took a deep breath and crossed her legs, assuming a meditative stance. Oddly, it wasn't as hard for Mai these days. Sitting still was still boring as hell, but the sounds were getting more interesting. Mai truthfully was just as active, just in different ways. Like she could snicker at hearing a old man's dentures fall and his wife laughing. The train was full of interesting people as she listened.

The trainride seemed to take forever though. Several days to find a small boat to take them to Miyou Island. Mai wasn't sure why they didn't just walk. Why bother with the train either? Her side was grateful for it, but seemed like a waste of time to her. Still, Mai did take the chance to rest, meditating a long part of it. She did enjoy harassing Yukari the entire trip, but wasn't sure what to make of Nagisa. But the few days took their toll, and by the end she had an extremely dull look on her face by the end. The fact it was just now daybreak didn't help either. Mai was an early riser, sure, but being before the rooster was annoying.

"Ugh... travel sucks. So... I'm assuming that's the island. How do you want scouting to work Sensei? Yukari's got most of it, got that, what do you want me and Nagisa to do? Its a small island, can't be that many people here... Transformation jutsu fit in, and find the leader? Wander around and scan with Byakugan? Light up the whole island, and burn any boats coming out?"

 

[AtlannianSpy]

Nagisa Kanazawa
​

"If we're going to try and infiltrate them it would be better to do it after we've scouted," said Nagisa firmly, stifling a light yawn as she stretched her arms over her head. "Otherwise we won't be doing much more than politely turning ourselves in. And it'll be difficult to surround the entire island with just the three of us. Where would we even find find enough fuel for a fire that size? If we really wanted to go down that route it would be more effective to start the fire inside thier setup then pick them off as they come out. But we'd wanna know where all the exits are. So either way we should scout before we do anything else,"

 

[KageYuuki]

Takara Himura
"Transformation jutsu tends to be poor for espionage on anything but civilians. Given we don't know the extent of their jutsu, it's a poor decision." Violet hues scanned the estuary they'd landed on. The setting sun reflected off the slow-moving river, the water would be easy enough to walk along. The plains ahead were barren, leaving the team with little cover. "Tch, must have cleared out any trees for building." Off in the distance, a few thin plumes of smoke crept into the sky.

"Nagisa's right though, we need to scope out the situation before making any moves. Mai, Yukari, the two of you will take point. Let's try and get an idea of just what we're dealing with."

 

[Ganryu]

As the group crept closer to the small settlement, Yukari scanned the area ahead of them. The buildings themselves weren’t all that special, ramshackle houses of stone and wood. Gardens and livestock seemed to take up most of the space. At the heart of their little hamlet was a stone building, the byakugan catching sight of a chamber beneath it.

“Why the hell is it so dark here?” The Hyuuga murmured loud enough only Mai could hear her. The sun had already set, yet not even the glow of a single candle could be seen.

Mai shrugged.

“Maybe training? I dunno. If you want to enhance a sense, you can’t depend on your others. Or maybe that jutsu of theirs works well in the dark. Bright side”

She turned to Takara and Nagisa in the darkness. While Mai had trouble knowing much of where she was, she had no trouble telling where everyone was. The grasslands were easier to move through than forests anyways. She called back to the other two.

“And I ain’t an idiot. Cover’s a good fuel, as is grass, infiltration depends on if anyone had confidence in it, and if they could tell a transformation jutsu, they could sense us scouting anyways. Geez. I just wanted to explore options.”

Mai was really resisting the urge to punch Nagisa honestly. No dreams, nothing positive to add. How DID ninja live like that? Every day depressing? Still, Mai followed instructions, being in front with Yukari.

Nagisa turned to Mai and slowly raised a finger to her lips before turning back around to continue scouting. Addressing the other girl’s footsteps might have been a waste of time honestly, if she couldn’t even keep her mouth shut it was putting the cart before the horse. Mai’s attitude was starting to grate on Nagisa, no discipline, no common sense. How did someone stay alive like that?

“See anyone around?” Nagisa asked Yuukari in a low whisper, after closing the distance between them. Nagisa didn’t think it was that unusual for a remote village like this not to have any candles lit, they weren’t cheap for a lot of people and a cult probably didn’t want to make it easier for its members to stay up all night having independant thoughts. That being said, it was still a little too quiet for Nagisa’s taste. Even with no lights you would expect to hear some people around, eating dinner or making their beds for the night. This place was like a graveyard.

Yukari nodded, “Seven.” She pointed to a barely held together shack near a shelter with cattle. “The four in there may be sleeping… the other three seem to be patrolling guards.” The whole place had her on edge, a feeling that only seemed to grow worse the closer they drew. It felt almost like they were near a Gate.

Mai sat down, and put her hands in her lap, and listened. She listened for rhythmic sleep patterns, for the locations of the patrols, and for anything else she could find in the area.

Meditation

Slowing her own breathing, her hearing started to sharpen immensely. The downside was Mai forgot completely about her surroundings, about Yukari, Nagisa, and Takara.

“One’s awake…. Two more downstairs coming up… Don’t see the patrol, only listening over there though, but my hearings not perfect and they could be far… aaaand can’t focus anymore.”

Mai stood up.

“What’s the plan? If I hear ‘scout’ one more time I’m checking myself into a psych ward. We have people right there.”

“We could follow one of the patrols around until they switch shifts,’ suggested Nagisa quietly. “Then pick them off, that way we’d know how long we have until someone misses them and we could keep ambushing whoever came to look for them until their check in time. Or would that be too much for your attention span to handle?” Nagisa asked, the last comment clearly directed at Mai.

“Or… and call me crazy, we could break into the house, take out 6 people instead, interrogate them and save people time. Unless of course you want to pick out a patrol in particular you want to follow. Which one was your favorite again?” Mai snarked back.

‘So you’re going to break into that house without alerting the one who’s still awake, subdue all of them without making any noise and then hope to the gods none of the patrols pass close enough by to overhear you ‘interrogating’ one of them or even decide to check in on their people. Great. Plan.” Nagisa hissed, plainly starting to lose patience. “Now maybe I could do all that without bringing this entire pack of lunatics down on our heads but I’d rather not take my chances unless I have to,”

“I’m sorry you forgot basements exist. And sorry if taking 6 people by surprise isn’t a big enough advantage for you, guess you don’t work out that arm enough.. We hit them, who cares if they make noise, drag them downstairs, and get info of the patrols that way, wait for the patrols to check in, beat them up, repeat. Steal their clothes seeing as heaven forbid transformation jutsu be discovered. If I wasn’t living up to a promise, I could have damn well done all of that by now. If anything’s amiss, we have a genjutsu expert who could easily cover it up even if we messed up, which FYI, we won’t. My speed is my best attribute, not my hearing. And Yukari there has summons as well that could have gotten in there and distract the people below. You are quiet enough you could be in there first. Teamwork means thinking about more than just yourself.”

“I’m not gonna rely on people to cover for my mistakes if I don’t have to make them in the first place,” Nagisa said, folding her arms. “That’s what it means to be a professional, there’s six people in that building who could do literally anything in the world once we open the door. We don’t need to introduce more variables by being sloppy,”

“Sh!” Takara hissed, the air temperature around the group was dropping. Rapidly.

“The fuck?” Yukari barely managed to keep her voice a whisper as it began growing darker around them. For both her and Mai, it felt like they’d suddenly stepped into a corrupted yokai realm.

Mai boiled as the argument was cut short. Great, now she was looking bad on the ONE mission she’d promised she’d be good on. Shouldn’t Takara sensei just pick a plan and go forward? Tch, if stealth was the answer, there was no way they should have brung Mai along. Then again… where were Mai’s missions going anyways. She noticed the sudden cold air, and cursed the island’s temperature. Everything about this mission sucked. She ignored any creepier feeling with it, it was just a chilly wind after all. She felt sick though. Probably just nerves.

Nagisa dropped silently into a crouch, assuming Takara was warning them because an enemy was approaching. Nagisa couldn’t see anything herself, no matter how hard she peered into the inky blackness, the only thing she could detect was the sudden drop in temperature and a faintly nauseous feeling, as though the sense of unease that had been doggedly following her since the start of this mission had suddenly ramped up to eleven.

Nagisa tapped the seal on her palm and summoned a kunai into her hand, almost without being conscious of the action. With her arm’s hidden weapons Nagisa already had a blade at the ready but the familiar weight in her hand felt reassuring.

“All three guards are headed this way,” Yukari growled as they were plunged into darkness, a sharp chill cutting through the air now.

“Must be the work of that jutsu of theirs…” Takara mused. “Doesn’t seem to be an illusion.” At least, it wasn’t one she could break.

Mai simply started to unravel Kabutowari from its bandages. She made a quick pass at her stomach to make sure it was fine, and cracked her neck. Takara hadn’t given any instructions, so she must be trusting them to deal with this however they wanted. If it wasn’t a genjutsu, who cared what it was. Mai would at least trust her sensei to tell them if they were danger. Not that she respected her too much, but it was a formal mission, and Mai was supposed to trust those she was with.

“Do we win stealth awards yet? Bright side is we are blind and helpless!”

Mai herself faded to blackness. In the distance, she would reappear in-front of the nearest guard, aiming a thrusting blow at his chest with the blunt head of her ax.

With a crack and a pained shout the guard hit the ground. It wasn’t as dark around him, if Mai looked she’d see his eyes were completely black.

“Wai-urggh,” Nagisa sighed and an instant after Mai she body flickered ahead to catch up, appearing next to a second guard just as he was turning to investigate his partner’s misfortune. Nagisa put her artificial hand on the back of his neck and her blade sprung out, slicing through any flesh in its way.

Crystalline blades shot up from the earth, cutting down the third guard in a spray of crimson. The unnatural darkness faded as he struck the ground with a dull thud. “Tch, so much for element of surprise…”

“The four over there haven’t even budged,” Yukari kept her voice low as she approached. “Looks like the pair that were headed outside ran back downstairs…”

“Seems they have some sort of sensing jutsu, we weren’t that loud. So, the entire island might know if we don’t take care of them soon. Same time, we do have this guy who can help explain things. That’s nice. Huh, if the whole island is that easy, I might go home bored.”

Mai nudged the one she’d dropped with the ax, though not hard enough to cause damage.

“So, want us to take care the people inside the house while you get info from this guy? I’m sure he’s very friendly.”

“That sounds like a waste of time,” said Nagisa bluntly, advancing on Mai’s hapless prisoner with her blade still drawn. “I doubt some indoctrinated cultist is going to be easy to crack under these circumstances, better to take care of him now and stick together,”

Mai simply glared.

“Another step and I will break you. In two.”

Nagisa inhaled sharply, returning Mai's glare with pure venom before releasing her breath and forcing herself to calm down. "You're welcome to try, as soon as we get back to the village. Right now we don't time for this cra-"

Nagisa broke off as the cultist on the ground near Mai shrugged off his injury long enough to grab her ankle with one hand, the other hand thrusting a small dagger towards her thigh. There was a snap and then a metal bolt embedded itself in the man's throat. The cultist relinquished his grip, falling to the ground and gurgling as blood ran down the front of his robe.

"This is what happens when you leave loose ends lying around," Nagisa said, calmly reloading her crossbow.

Mai grabbed the dagger, and jabbed it as hard as she could into her thigh. It likely left a bruise, but would not pierce. Mai did not break vision for more than a few seconds to grab the bolt. The air was silent. There was nothing but darkness. Lightning, however, seemed to crackle all the same. Mai finally bent down to see where in the man’s throat the crossbow bolt was.

Mai removed the crossbow bolt, and looked to see how much blood there was. Piercing the throat itself was hardly fatal. Her face tinged. He probably would live, but couldn’t talk. There was no use for him for the rest of the squad even if he could. Would just leaving him be breaking her oath if she didn’t kill him herself?

Mai looked at Yukari, not sure what to do for once. The Hyuuga shifted slightly. While their mission orders were clear, it was one thing to say it and another to actually wipe out all of the inhabitants of an island.

Takara ran a hand over her face, why hadn’t they just sent the Mummy’s squad on this? Mai was far from able to carry out this sort of mission. “Yukari, have the four in the shack reacted any?”

“Not… really.”

The Jounin nodded, “Mai, why don’t you look into it? They may be inductees that haven’t been converted.”

Mai didn’t say anything, but left all the same. Three consecutive ‘thuds’ could be heard simultaneously from the shack, with a single strained breathing. A knee strike, two swings with the handles of the ax and hammer, and the rope strangling the last all had gone off at once. She then went beyond, towards the two guards she’d heard below in the basement. She was just glad for the order to be away from the squad.

“This is why I wanted to be clear about what we were doing before we got here,” Nagisa muttered, looking down dispassionately at the fallen cultist. “To avoid shit like this happening,”

“We were also supposed to just be scouting for the time being,” A crystal blade put the man out of his misery. “Formulate an actual plan once we had an idea of their numbers.”

“Well I think it’s safe to say that option’s out the window,” Nagisa replied testily. “Even if the alarm hasn’t been sounded it’ll be impossible for us to stay undetected for much longer if your student keeps complicating things. At this point we’re probably better off going in loud and fast, try to take down as many as possible before they can get any kind of organised response,” Nagisa took a moment to clean off her blade and then stood back up. “Oh and no offense, but the next time you need someone to round off a team please ask literally anybody else first,”

“To be fair, I didn’t have any say in the team.”

Nagisa sighed. “We should probably catch up before she does something stupid,”

Yukari’s gaze was focused on the largest of the buildings, “Too late…”

--------

Mai made her way down the stairs, and sat down halfway through. She couldn’t see anymore, and wanted an idea where people were at least, or how many. The answer wasn’t one she liked 10, and Mai sighed.

The house wasn’t that big though. Mai made her way up the steps again, away from the basement. She felt across the wall, until she felt part of the wall a bit thicker than the rest. She noted it. Making it upstairs, she threw all the defeated enemies out the door, then walked back down to the basement. Along the way, she smashed her hammer through the thicker parts of the wood, the supports for the basement. She still didn’t say anything, even to herself as she went a’hammering. Her strikes were broad, and took out most of the wall anyways. Quiet? No. But hey, who cared. If they came running to her, they’d have a fun surprise. Mai would just have to unbury people afterwards. If the walls started to shake, Mai would body flicker back up the stairs.

She’d only managed to smash a single beam when an icy tendril coiled around her neck.

Mai made a quick Kai symbol, then threw Kabutowari’s hammer at a pillar farther down, pulling it back via the rope connecting it with the ax. The kai seemed to have no effect on whatever had a grip on her, only tightening. Another snaked around the wrist of the arm holding the ax of Kabutowari.

Mai crouched at the tendrils, breathing was getting hard with them, and she couldn’t seem to pull Kabutowari back. She listened for a second, trying to find the source of the tendrils. Mai took a deep of a breath as she could being strangled, and leapt upwards, bicycle kicking the wall of the stairs, tearing through it, and sending a small tornado of debris upwards into the ceiling.

Tenrin: Heavenly Wheel Kick

A bitter curse from the shadows as debris rained down on her attackers. The grip on her neck tightened until the Chuunin finally passed out. With a snarl, the pair stole away with their captive further into the basement.

At the entrance to the large building, Yukari frowned at the heap of unconscious cultists. “You idiot…”

“See anything down there?” Nagisa asked, bending down to finish off Mai’s victims. “Either Sanada or the enemy? It’s certainly quieter than it was before…”

“Some damage at the bottom of the stairs… Shit, Kabutowari too. Just four people further inside, Mai’s one of them.”

“Damn that girl…” Takara quietly growled, stalking forward. “Once we get to the bottom of the stairs, I’ll move underground to ambush them. Nagisa, strike from the distance with your bow, Yukari should be able to help you aim without light.”

“Right,” Nagisa nodded, tapping the seal on her palm to switch out her arm. “If things get dicey my flash arrows will be pretty effective in such a dark, confined area but you guys will need to close your eyes before I set them off so I’ll hold off until you give me some kind of signal. Yukari, what I’d like to do is have you help me attach chakra threads to them somewhere where they, won’t notice like their shoes or their belts, then when we’re ready to engage I’ll be able to aim by feel,”

With that Nagisa lowered herself into a familiar crouch and started working her way down the stairs, into the darkness below. Despite knowing Yukari was right behind her to scout, Nagisa couldn’t help but strain her eyes trying to peer into the inky blackness.

 

[KageYuuki]

Yukari crouched behind Nagisa so her line of sight matched the kunoichi’s. With a gentle touch, she lined her arm so Nagisa’s chakra threads could cling to the man furthest off. “This one’s clothes are more elaborate than anyone else we’ve seen.” Her voice was barely a whisper, “Must be the leader, your threads should be able to cling to his boots from here.”

Carefully suppressed threads extended from Nagisa’s hand in the direction Yukari had pointed, snaking blindly across the floor until they gently bumped into something solid and attached to it.

“Got him,” Nagisa whispered back “let me know when to shoot,”

Yukari waited, watching the three as Takara moved beneath the earth to get into striking position. It wasn’t long before the lackies spotted them even in the pitch black basement, but by then the jounin was already finishing a series of handsigns. “Now.”

Nagisa fired for her target’s center of mass, the arrow slamming powerfully into his chest as Nagisa was already reloading and following up with a flash arrow meant to stun the remaining enemies. The arrow hissed through the darkness and then suddenly lit up the room with a blinding flash of light, Nagisa had her eyes closed but still felt her eyes tingle painfully underneath her lids.

The younger cultists screamed at the sudden light, covering their eyes and staggering away. Their heightened vision made anything above moonlight seem painfully bright. These flash arrows? It’d be several hours before their sight would recover. Not that it mattered as a crystalline blade was quickly drawn across their throats.

Yukari sighed, “It’s clear,” She murmured, standing, “I should have a light somewhere in my bag…”

“That went well,” Nagisa said mildly, turning away as Yukari pulled out her light to prevent completely spoiling her limited night vision, she was more interested in the man she had taken down anyway, the apparent leader. His features meant nothing to her, especially in the dark so Nagisa patted down his pockets quickly for anything identifiable.

Takara knelt beside Mai not far from Nagisa and the slain leader, lightly checking her for injuries with help from her own flashlight. Aside from bruising along her neck where she’d been choked out, nothing stood out to her.

As Nagisa searched the cultist, she wouldn’t find much of note aside from a sword hanging from his belt. The figure shifted only slightly before striking her, the blow easily knocking her across the room.

“Nagisa!” Yukari ran towards where she’d been thrown, Takara snatching Mai and leaping to the back of the room.

Fuck! The blow took her by surprise and Nagisa only managed to get her puppet arm out behind her to absorb most of the force as she landed heavily on the floor. She scrabbled to her feet, wasting a few precious seconds as Yukari crossed the room towards her.

Mai groaned in Takara’s arm.

“Ugh...not...strong… enough…”

Her eyes slowly opened to see blackness in the dark room. However, the sound of the footsteps gave away who was carrying her. Mai pushed herself out of Takara’s grasp. She didn’t say anything to her sensei. Mai’d already failed the mission personally as far as she was concerned. She simply listened in around her, her body still feeling woozy.

The cultist slowly pushed himself to his feet, a sputtering cough sending ebony drops to the floor. “I was wondering if the Leaf would ever show up.” He tore the embedded arrows from his torso, “Finally tying up loose ends, hm?”

Nagisa’s response was to hurl a generous fan of shurikens at the cultist, about halfway to their destination the shurikens ignited and sped up, changing direction more accurately target the man as well. As flashy as they were the firewheel shurikens were merely a distraction, a regular shuriken with an explosive tag was traveling behind them, traveling just far enough behind the first volley that after the man reacted Nagisa could redirect it with a tug on its attached chakra thread.

“The hell is he?” The sickening feeling from earlier had returned, several times stronger from before. It left Yukari on edge, it was worse than any corrupted realm or being she’d encountered before.

The air temperature around them dropped sharply, like the biting cold in heart of winter. Groans, hisses, and chittering emanated from every corner of the room. Darkness smothered what little light their flashlights provided. Shadowy tendrils swatted the shuriken away, lodging them into the stone walls and dirt floor.

Detonating an explosive tag in an enclosed space was never a good idea, the loud bang was strangely muffled, though still enough to leave their ears ringing for a few moments. The ceiling above them groaned.

“Urggh,” Between the deafening ringing in her ears and the sickly feeling in her stomach Nagisa was about ready to vomit and it was so dark now, unnaturally dark, suffocatingly dark. Still, even if she couldn’t see that freak she could at least bring the roof down on him, Nagisa threw a few more tagged shuriken, backing towards the exit as she did so. Takara had Earth release so she’d be able to protect herself during a cave in, as long as Yukari and she made it to the exit it’d work out.

Mai shook her head and cried out.

“Nagisa, you won’t be able to take him by yourself!”

She looked back at Takara even if she couldn’t see, almost like she was asking permission. Mai could feel the ceiling start to shake, but that monster probably could as well.

“Fall back!” The jounin called, a chunk of debris glanced off her crystal armor. “Get outside, now!” She pushed past the team to stand between them and… whatever this was. Even a few seconds would be enough for them to escape.

“Fuck!” Nagisa flung another shuriken over Takara’s shoulder, more out of spite than anything else, and then ran for the stairs, holding tightly onto Yukari’s forearm, she knew roughly where the exit was but it would be faster to follow someone who could actually see to some extent, although Nagisa wondered if even the Hyuuga was having trouble with this unnatural darkness.

Mai’s answer to the collapsing place was a simple body flicker. The danger made everything seem to fall so slow. And her to move slowly too. While annoying, it certainly meant there wasn’t a chance in hell a falling rock would hit her. She grabbed Kabutowari at the stairway as she passed.

Finding her way topside, Mai was glad for some light. She staggered a bit, however.

“The hell? A few bodyflickers shouldn’t take that much out of me…”

It went to emphasis to Mai how badly she’d screwed up. Still, if Mai could help with the fight, maybe the others would let her live it down… It was just unfair. Mai worked her ass off and this guy below was jonin level for no reason. What did her hard work mean if literally anyone could be stronger than her? She was already sure of the lecture Takara-sensei would give her, again.

Yukari and Nagisa made it outside not long after, the Hyuuga wincing slightly and holding one of her ears. It wasn’t the first time a mission had left at least one of her ears bleeding. But dammit, this better be the last…

Nagisa coughed and cursed as they cleared the rubble and dust, looking warily over her shoulder as her crossbow reloaded itself with a series of metallic clicks.

“What the fuck was?- Is that guy?” she asked, fighting to restore her breathing to normal. “Nailed him right in the chest…”

“Not human. At least, not anymore.” Yukari finished a short series of handsigns, her nails becoming long claws. Of all the missions not to have Koma on… “Fire or cutting off his head are likely the only ways to kill him now.”

Mai bit her lip.

“Breaking his limbs should do it too, right? What does not human even mean?”

Yukari shook her head, “I don’t know just what he is… Demon might be a good way of putting it.”

“We are not fucking around with breaking limbs,” Nagisa snapped without turning around from scanning the nearby ground. “I underestimated him once and got burned for it, I’m not making the same mistake again. I’ll cut the head off and burn the rest down to ashes if I have to,”

“Could you just once not talk to me like I’m a @#$@’ing idiot!? There’s informa- Oh, @#$ it.”

Mai shut up to turn towards whatever threat was coming up, keeping an eye out for what was coming next. She could beat Nagisa senseless later. She was sure though that this guy was at least worse than anything her, Nagisa, or Yukari could take on by themselves. She muttered to herself.

“First mission with Yukari too...tch…”

Her cheeks were a bit reddened.

Yukari didn’t seem to be paying attention as she cut into her thumb with one of her claws. “I can’t even tell what’s going on down there…” Another series of handsigns before she pressed her hand to the ground, a white cat pouncing out of the cloud of smoke.

Hikari scowled, “and what do you think you’re doing, interrupting my hu-“ The yokai spun towards the collapsed building with a growl and hiss.

The ground shifted slightly as Takara emerged into view. Her armor had been cracked in a few places, likely from the building’s collapse, but she seemed altogether unharmed.

Mai held her weapon steady.

“Well, sensei seems fine. Do you want us to leave the rest to you, or what are our orders?”

Before the jounin could respond, Hikari lunged at her with a growl and swipe of her claws. Yukari frowned and shifted into a stance, watching Takara dodge the enraged Yokai. “Something’s in your sensei’s chakra system…” she said after a moment.

“You mean like a genjutsu?” Nagisa asked warily, flickering away to gain some distance. She drew a kunai but simply held it at the ready. If they had to fight Himura things could get messy.

Mai simply faded to black. Infront of Takara, Mai reappeared, dropping the Kabutowari and again fading to black, letting the weapons continue forward, the ribbon connecting them threatening to grab and launch Takara like a slingshot. Well, probably not Takara, but someone who wasn’t a jonin maybe? It at least made Mai look like she wasn’t doing what she was about to, appearing behind Takara, and pressing the release sign.

If anyone accuses me of doing anything, I will deny it to hell and back.

Takara jumped, looking to dodge the incoming weapon. She lacked any of her usual finesse, snagging her leg on the rope and staggering. It seemed the kai did little more than draw her attention back to Mai, Takara spinning to deliver a kick at the chuunin’s head. Her crystal armor shimmered in the moonlight.

Mai was surprised by the kick, flying back by Nagisa, the stars spinning above her. Her side suddenly hurt from the impact, she’d definitely reopened it by now. It’d be a few minutes before that became an issue in combat though.

“Takara don’t move like that…. She’s stationary and didn’t yell at me. Yeah… was checking out her fighting style… definitely doing that… Ugh…”

She was about to ask for directions of what to do, but then realized Nagisa was there, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to ask.

“Circle around to the back,” Nagisa suggested, interpreting the brief look to mean that Mai was looking for direction. “If it’s not a genjutsu we can break we’re probably going to have to knock her out and you’re the best candidate to do it.”

“Even if we just immobilized her for a few seconds, I might be able to purge whatever that is from her chakra network.” Yukari added before lunging and slashing forward, sending arcs of chakra at the jounin.

Bird Killer

Mai stood back up.

“D-did you just pay me a compliment. Hit my head harder than I thought. Tch, got it.”

Mai also ran towards Takara back into the fray, trying to circle around.

Running through a series of handsigns, Takara threw a barrage of crystal shuriken at the pair. A majority of them shattered against the incoming waves of chakra.

Nagisa dove to the side to avoid the shurikens and after getting her feet under her tensed and body flickered forwards, landing to the side of Takara and extending her puppet arm to entangle the jonin.

Mai reached behind her for her wheels, blocking those sent at her with a Cross Slash. When was the last time Mai had used her wheels? Well, Takara could take it. Takara could take everything. Suddenly Mai’s eyes widened in excitement. Everything?

Mai literally COULDN’T kill Takara. A mad laughter happened as Mai body flickered at Takara leading with a straight punch to her back. Time slowed.

Takara moved to evade the puppet hand but was sent tumbling by Mai’s punch, cracks spider webbing along the back of her armor. She managed to dodge Nagisa’s attack, but got the wind knocked out of her in the process. A low growl, she glared at the blonde chuunin and wove another series of handsigns. A pool of water would form beneath Nagisa before she fell in.

Demonic Illusion: Watery Grave

Nagisa felt the ground beneath her dissolve into water and all of a sudden she was drowning, her lungs full of water despite having had nearly a full breath of air in them moments ago. Then there was a searing jolt as a pulse of chakra shuddered through her body from the seal tag on her back and the water disappeared instantly. It had been a genjutsu, better still, her automatic tag had actually worked, even if it had hurt like a bitch.

Taking advantage of the slight opening her newly won freedom might provide, Nagisa lunged forwards, tapping the summoning seal on her palm to produce an explosive tag that she slapped onto Takara’s chest, where her crystal armor seemed strongest. At the same time she aimed a straight kick at the jonin, intended to push her away more than damage her, Nagisa then rolled back onto the ground to insulate herself even more and detonated the tag.

With Mai more or less being ignored, she growled slightly. She attempted to swing a wheel over Takara’s head, and then punch her straight in the back in the other. It’d normally crush a normal person’s windpipe, but hey, Takara had her armor on. It might just strangle her instead. Or do nothing. It was a jonin.

Memory after memory flooded over Mai of the words “Mai, no.” The first word being said slowly and deliberately each time with great emphasis.

Yukari frowned as Mai rushed at Takara, she’d seen that expression on her before… Lunging forward, she sent a blast of chakra at her teammate.

Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Palm

Between the kick and the explosive tag, Takara was sent tumbling away. Her armor shattered from the blast, most of her flak jacket destroyed too. The jounin struggled to try and stand before collapsing back to her knees, vomiting a thick, black sludge.

Mai was sent flying away before her violent assault could hit. The blow hit her straight in her injury, so Mai just lay there as Nagisa’s much less violent explosive tag went off. Made Takara vomit something black. Mai had seen enough horror movies to know where this was going. Laying on the ground with her head propped up against her arm, she barked at Nagisa.

“Oi, flashbang that stuff. ”

Mai closed her eyes and put her fingers in her ears.

Nagisa shrugged and fired a bolt into the puddle of goo, using her extended hand to drag Takara away from the blast before detonating it with a blinding flash of light and a loud bang.

“Is that...did we do it?” she asked warily, she had closed her eyes but still needed to blink away the colors in her vision. “I still say we should burn it just to be safe,”

“I’ll take care of it,” Hikari growled, stalking forward.

“You and Mai get Takara-Sensei back to the boat,” Yukari’s gaze was focused on the writhing cultist where Nagisa had fired the bolt. “We’ll… catch up soon.”

Mai was grateful for the darkness for a moment.

“Sure, I trust you. Worst that happens is I have to kick your ass and make you vomit that crap. I’ll be a second.”

Mai rose up, and limped towards the foliage, opening up her bandages in her side kit. That guy was the leader, and was as tough as they were getting, so that was good.

Nagisa wrapped Takara’s arm around her shoulders and stood, lifting the jonin with a small grunt. “Don’t let your guard down yet,” she said to Yukari. “I don’t wanna have to fight this loser a third time,”

“Not the first demon I’ve put down.”

The walk back to the boat wasn’t far, but Takara was heavy and Nagisa couldn’t be sure of her footing in the dark. Even if that weren’t true, Nagisa would have preferred to move deliberately, keeping her crossbow up and ready to fire at anything that suddenly lurched out of the darkness around them.