Squad 4 IC

Ganryu

Ganryu

Your Lovable Jackass GM
Supporter
Roleplay Type(s)
For all shenanigans for posts interaction of Squad 4.

Jonin - Nobushige Toyotomi
Chunnin - Yuuki Uchiha
Chunnin - Katsumi Nonoba
Chunnin - Nagisa Kanazawa
 
Nobushige Toyotomi​

Each of Nobushige's genin would find a note on their respective bed, individualized for them. His handwriting was far from pretty, but it was the thought that counted... he would hope if he cared.

Oi, Uchiha brat. Surprise mission, tonight, clocktower, 12:00 midnight. Remember that last one where I got in tons of trouble? Let's not do that. Officially I've grabbed a quick mission of securing some trade routes. Unofficially, pack for 2 weeks. I'm dragging your sister along as a scout. Seems like your personal training's going pretty good lately. Some advice on seals, they aren't straight applications of chakra, which makes them hard to use. Think of your katana. It's not made by hammering steel straight on either. Its folded several times. Seals are the same. Instead of becoming sharper, they tend to become more efficient and faster the better you get at folding chakra. You're alot more like your old man than you are me, thank goodness, but I have to say a bit worried you've been slipping lately. Only you get to decide what sort of ninja you are. If you are angry, you end up like me. If you are strong, you end up like the old fart. Sorry I've been so busy lately. Bright side, you'll see alot of me for the next 2 weeks for the "trade routes".

See you later,
Nobushige Toyotomi

Katsumi,
Well, if it isn't the richest genin in the village. Good job on saving those med nin. Heh, and you think I owe you something. You realize soon you'll be the most proficient, right? I'm sure all the work you've done lately has taught you more than training will, and I'm sure they're running you ragged. Sorry I haven't been able to sneak you out any. Well, I'm fairly horrible at advice on Taijutsu and medical jutsu, so you are on your own there. What I can say as a sensei is don't worry so much. It doesn't matter what kind of nin you are, a relaxed on is a good one. You'll make a damn good ninja yet.

Oh, was getting too sentimental. Old age I guess. Midnight, clocktower, get your ass there tonight. We're going on a 2 week mission. It's 'securing a trade route' (Yeah, these quotes means that's not the actual mission)

See you there,
Nobushige Toyotomi

Nagisa,
Meh, had wittier openers to the other two. Midnight, clocktower, we're going on a 2 week mission. Unlike the other two, you aren't a dumbass so might as well give you more details. The cover mission is protecting a trade route for a little while. I bribed some people to actually do that. What we're doing is visiting the Hidden Whirlpool village, we're hunting for records on the man who attacked the Hokage. ANBU hasn't found anything, but having been in ANBU, well... it's a lot of me's. Not a lot of confidence. I'll be needing that brain of yours.
The other two I gave as much advice as I could as apology for being pretty MIA for these last few weeks. One training session doesn't teaching make. I'll just take you to a meal or something. You're probably the most intelligent genin of your class, I don't think I have anything to add you haven't already figured out.

Good luck,
Nobushige Toyotomi
 
Katsumi Nonoba

Gently, Katsumi lightly unwrapped the old blood stained bandages from a woman’s leg. Carefully placing the bandages off to the side, Katsumi inspected the freed skin, finding that the woman’s wound was fully closed.

“Looks like you’re doing a lot better, Miss. I-It’s gonna be as good as new in no time! Just d-don’t so much walking, and no heavy lifting!” Katsumi advised, giving the woman a nervous smile.

The medical area that had been set up was pretty basic. Patients were placed on anything soft beneath cloth held up by a helpful earth release ninja’s Jutsu. Soon, they’d be moving some patients into the buildings that were being reconstructed.

Having less and less patients needing her care, Katsumi took part in the reconstruction of the village. Her chakra enhanced strength cane in handy.

Each day, Katsumi would push her self to the limit, sometimes running out of chakra. She’d stumble her way to a temporary living space for those who lost their homes, only because her own home was lost in the enormous explosion that left a crater in the village.

The woman thanked Katsumi, leaving the young medical Nin to move on to check on another patient, before the more specialized medical Nin moved through. Another woman, the one that Katsumi has pulled out of a mess of corpses was lying down with a blank stare. The woman gazed upwards at the cloth above her, occasionally taking a deep breath.

Katsumi approached quietly, and spoke in a whisper. “H-hello? I’m just checking to make sure you’re doing ok...” Katsumi spoke carefully, an odd feeling coming about her while she was near the woman.

The woman turned her head, her gaze fixating on Katsumi.

“Come closer...” the woman rasped. Her voice sounded as if it hadn’t been used in decades.

Katsumi hesitated for a moment, before shuffling next to the woman, then kneeling down. “Y-y-yes?” Katsumi asked with worry.

The woman didn’t speak, as she lifted her hand and brushed Katsumi’s cheek. The woman’s hands were soft, yet were home to a few faint scars. Katsumi could feel a slight sensation on her cheek. She recognized the feeling, it was chakra!

But before Katsumi could respond with any thanks, a sudden sharp pain cut off the transfer of chakra. Katsumi brought her hand to her stinging cheek. The woman felt it too, her hand recoiling back.

“You have it! Get away from me! Get away! Get away get away get away!” The woman screamed, thrashing around on her makeshift bed as she fought off the imaginary assailant.

Katsumi squeaked, and fell backwards. Scooting away from the woman. What had she done wrong? Was this woman ok?

Several other medical Nin rushed over to take care of the situation. One went over to Katsumi. “Don’t worry, this woman’s insane. You didn’t do anything wrong. Go ahead and head home for the evening. You’ve earned yourself some rest,” the medic explained.

Katsumi nodded and hurried off, gathering her equipment before setting off to her home in shock.

The walk home gave Katsumi time to think about the odd woman. The woman had a familiar face, but very vaguely. Katsumi made up her mind to get more information about her when she had the time. Having finally reached her bed, Katsumi flopped down onto it, hardly noticing the letter until it poked the back of her head. Katsumi reached behind her head and grabbed the letter. She lifted it arms length above her face and opened it. She read the letter a couple of times, before setting it to the side. Katsumi was happy to able to get back to being a ninja, but she was nervous that the mission might be pretty dangerous. Sensei didn’t seem like he would take an easy mission at this point.

Katsumi yawned, and covered herself with her blanket. If she had to be somewhere at midnight, she’d may as well get her rest now. Hopefully the mission wouldn’t include any fighting...
 
Nagisa Kanazawa
-Squad 4-

​
Nagisa slipped out of her apartment, enjoying the balmy night air. She closed and locked the door behind her with one hand, usng the other to secure a flask of coffee. If she was getting up at 11pm to meet at a freaking clocktower of all places she was at least going to take something hot with her. The Old Man had introduce the dark, bitter drink to her. As a kid she'd only been able to barely stomach it when it was mostly milk and sugar but it must have made some kind of impression on her. Now that she lived alone Nagisa still bought the stuff and lately she'd been making it darker.

The teenager took a sip form her flask as she walked down an empty street, turning the contents of the letter over in her mind. Nagisa had supposedly gotten more information than the other two but if that was true it hadn't achieved anything except giving her more to worry about. A two week mission to a village she'd never heard of, for information on the man who had attacked the Hokage. It sounded important, how understaffed were the village that they were willing to give such a task to three chunin and their Sensei? Come to think of it wouldn't this technically be their first formal mission? On top of all that, their target was a very personal one for Yuuki. If things went South would he stay in the most rational frame of mind? It was unlikely that they would run into the man himself but it would be overly optimistic not expect he would take some kind of actions to cover his trail.

Nagisa sighed quietly as she came up to the base of the tower. In the end all she could really do was be as a prepared as possible. She'd polished her skills, refined and prepared her equipment. Now it was time to put them into practice again
 
Yuuki Uchiha: Squad 4
Sitting in the light of dying embers, Yuuki thumbed through a stack of tags covered in seals. They weren't anything particularly special, tags he'd made before getting a better grasp on Summoning: Star-Crossed Degree, but it didn't hurt to double check them before leaving. He glanced over at the note Nobushige had left for him while putting the tags back into the belt.

Only you get to decide what sort of ninja you are. If you are angry, you end up like me. If you are strong, you end up like the old fart.

The newly named Chuunin frowned, so what did Nobushige expect? Him to just forget everything that happened?

Putting out the remnants of the small cooking fire, Yuuki left for the clocktower. Whatever the actual mission was, sensei seemed keen on not letting the Hokage find out. It wasn't too difficult considering he'd only seen his father for a few minutes since he'd finally regained consciousness. But why the hell is Tsubaki coming with us? Yuuki stopped, looking up at the battered clocktower. Seemed Nagisa had beaten him there.

Why were they meeting so late anyway? They already had a mission for a cover story...
 
Waiting at the base of the clocktower, Nobushige was entranced by the moon. He always did love night time. Why he trained during the day every bloody time was something he constantly questioned. Besides, most assassinations were in the evening, and it was his specialty. Looking up at the clocktower, he smiled. His former teammate, Tsubaki, called it 'the usual place', but the story behind how it got that way was long and very entertaining. It may have involved him pelting her for being a bitch with a kunai and hiding in the bloody thing for over 4 hours while she hunted him like a blood hound. Forget Daisuke, THAT was the closest he'd ever come to death. Maybe he should get his act together and actually ask her hand?

Nobushige shook his head. Too much on his plate right now. Like for instance, the brats who he could see approaching. He was fairly sure the extra person he was bringing was around too, but, much as he hated to admit it, finding her was more a pain than it was worth.

"Alright, good to see you all. I'd say 'hope its not too late', but then again, its payback for all the bloody times I had to get up early as a sensei. As a proper ninja, you have to be prepared to sleep whenever you get the chance. Or not sleep when you don't have one. Also the fact I'd rather get out the gate without questions. So.... let's get going. I'll tell you everything when we're out the gate. I'll never lie to you, but it can wait a minute."

Nobushige quickly made his way out he gate with the three students. He waited til they were actually on the road to start.

"Alright. Should be far enough out. The mission I signed us up for I paid some mercenaries I know to do it. That leaves us free to do actual ninja work. I'm not going to lie to you one what a ninja is. As far as I'm concerned, you lot are all chunnin from now on out. It might take a while on the paperwork, but I'm not going to waste your talents walking dogs when there's a war going on. Also, I've brought an old squadmate. No clue where she is, but sure she's around here somewhere. Her stealth's on a different level than mine.

The ninja who attacked and defeated our Hokage was called Kurou Akechi. He belonged to the Hidden Whirlpool village. That village was destroyed 20 years ago during the war with the Mist ironically enough. Officially they were destroyed for aggression against us. Honestly it was due to their neutrality. We don't know which side struck first, but it became a battleground. I think you've all seen why no one wants their village as a battleground.

We're their to dig up information on Kurou. This means we'll find the village leader's office, and search it for any documents that survived. Supposedly it was destroyed, but I don't believe it.

Assignments:

Nagisa, you're incharge of checking for traps.
Katsumi, I'm going to need your strength to dig through rubble. The whirlpool village's office is kinda buried.
Yuuki, I'm going to need your help to find where in the rubble the office is under the rubble. I'll hand you a map in a minute.
Tsubaki, wherever the hell you are, go and scout.

Oh, by the way. I've got a bit of a puzzle for you lot. Why would I bring someone to scout? If I trust you half as much as I say I do, what's it mean? What could a jonin be scouting for? They tend to be a higher pay grade, I wouldn't bring one if I didn't think we absolutely needed one."

Nobushige stroked his chin.

"Also, I normally pick one of you as leaders for missions. Its good experience. Hmm... I suppose its a little late seeing as I've already outlined the basic orders, but what the hell. Yuuki's still on his period apparently... Katsumi led you guys during chunnin exam... Nagisa, this seems up your alley. Everyone listen to her orders this mission."
 
Katsumi Nonoba​

Katsumi has arrived at the meeting place swiftly after she exited her home. The weight of her Fuma shuriken becoming a part of her now. She felt refreshed after her rest, but she couldn’t help but let out a quiet yawn.

As she listened to Nobu-Sensei’s description of their actual mission, Katsumi made a variety of different expressions. The first, was interest. If Sensei bright along another Jounin, then surely this mission was very important, or at least very dangerous.

The next expression was concern. Katsumi had seen the Hokage herself a couple of times while he was still unconscious. She hadn’t ever seen injuries like his before. It only reinforced the fact that this mission to find information about the Kurou guy was important.

Then, there was shock. The Hidden Leaf wouldn’t destroy a village because they were neutral, would they? That couldn’t be true. Katsumi knee that it was true however. It just made sense. It was hard to believe that her now crippled village would do something so despicable.

What really scared Katsumi, however, was Nobu’s little puzzle. The fact that she’s hadn’t fully processed everything he said yet didn’t help either.

“W-w-w-wait! Are we not supposed to be there? What if someone finds us there? What if the Mist or some of the people that destroyed our village show up?” Katsumi was upset, and quite frightened. She didn’t want to have to fight anyone again. Last time was too stressful...
 
Nagisa Kanazawa
-Squad 4-
​
"Sensei, you wouldn't be thinking of using your beloved students as bait would you?" Nagisa asked in a cynical deadpan. To Nagisa at least a bunch of moldy documents that may or may not even exist sounded like a questionable lead. But if somebody happened to take exception to anyone looking around for said documents then there was a good chance they were connected in some way. And if your sneaky Anbu friend was able to sneak up on and subdue this hypothetical person then you might be able to ask them some pretty interesting question.

And you get to be head bait! Isn't that exciting?

Nagisa sighed and made an effort to ignore the cynical voice in her head. "Fine, for the time being I think we should move in pairs. Yuuki and I will go ahead, Katsumi you stay with Nobushige. We'll stay in visual range the whole time, close enough to support each other if necessary but far enough apart that if something happens we won't all get caught in it and the free team can link back up and help out."

Maybe this kind of formation wasn't really necessary with Tsubaki tailing them, but Nagisa wasn't about to rely too much on someone she couldn't even see. Besides it was valuable to keep Katsumi in the rear, if something happened to Nagisa and Yuuki her and Nobushige could move up to back them up and then heal them, the party would have a tougher time recovering if anything happened to their healer though. Nagisa was also hoping Katsumi's nerves would settle down if she was right alongside someone more experienced. It also made sense to keep Nobushige in reserve to some extent, if the enemy ran into herself and Yuuki they might not necessarily assume there was someone more experienced lurking around. Better to exceed your enemy's expectations than disappoint them.

"Whistle if you need to communicate, I'll check back regularly though so hand gestures would be preferable if we're making eye contact. Questions?"
 
Yuuki Uchiha
Almost as soon as they'd arrived, the team set off towards... whatever it was Nobushige seemed to have in mind. If Tsubaki was supposed to be joining them, he didn't see any sign of her. Why even bother laying low if she was supposed to be working with them? Or was she meeting up with them later?

Why did it even matter...?

"Destroying an entire village just because it was neutral?" Yuuki frowned, "There has to be more to it than just that. What'd they have that other villages wanted so badly?" Not that the Chuunin was overly fond of the thought that the Leaf would destroy a neutral village. He really didn't have anything to say on his assignment, though finding the ruins of something like that in a pile of rubble was easier said than done.

Another mission they could really benefit from having the Byakugan.

Yuuki glanced back at the Jounin when he voiced his little puzzle. "You're expecting the Mist to get the same idea, aren't you?" He sighed as Katsumi proceeded to freak out once again, "Run, probably. Fight if cornered. Not looking for a battle." With a shrug, the Uchiha moved up alongside Nagisa. It likely wouldn't be long before they moved further ahead.
 
~Nobushige Toyotomi~

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​

Nobushige stayed silent to their responses, but under his bandages was a smile. It seemed like they were catching on... mostly. Wasn't exactly like Nobushige NEEDED bait, he could make his own. Still, they were thinking. Whether or not he was the worst sensei in the village, if Nobushige could teach them to do that, they'd be wonderful ninja. Afterall, the strongest jutsu in the world didn't matter if one didn't have half a brain. Sure, Nagisa was paranoid with her answer, but she was free to think that. He'd prefer them to be paranoid over overly trusting. And her formation was well thought out. Katsumi had instantly gotten the biggest threat in the mission, and in turn, Yuuki had understood why.

The journey to the village itself was mostly uneventful. The route had just been forest, forest, and more forest. That was until the temperature around them started to rise, steam obscuring the trees. Nobushige sighed, as if he'd been expecting this. He called Nagisa and Yuuki back.

"Well, I've got good news, and I've got bad news. The good news is, we're in Hotspring Country. The bad news is, we're in Hotspring Country. I'd rather not goof off until after the missions done, its my modus operandi, buuut, we have a small problem. The ferry to the nearest island to Hidden Whirlpool won't take us all the way, and its on the other side of these springs. I said two week because I didn't how good your skills are, we might have to train here before moving on. I have one more question that should let you figure out our problem. Why is the Hidden Leaf called such? First person to figure the problem out gets a cookie. They then get to pick the spring we start off in."

Nobushige groaned He hated using elemental jutsu, but he wasn't bad at it. In his opinion, they were too flashy. He'd have to up the current of whatever spring they chose. Maybe he could have Tsubaki up the temperature? That'd make it more interesting.
 
Nagisa Kanazawa
-Squad 4-
​
"Wouldn't it have been safer to train before we left and then travel directly to where we want to go? Is there really a kind of training we can only do here?" Nagisa asked skeptically. The whole thing sounded like a pain, it was unlikely but couldn't they be attacked while they were exhausted from training? On top of that Nagisa didn't care much for hotsprings in general, she preferred to do her bathing in private where there weren't any idiots to gawk at her arm.

Then there was Nobushige's 'problem' The obvious answer was to be literal, the Hidden Leaf village was called that because it was hidden in leaves, or trees at least, it was certainly surrounded by them. Nagisa suspected there was a bit more to it.

"The terrain around the village is its first line of defense," Nagisa said slowly. "The leaves and the trees, they make it a pain to move large bodies of troops or supplies around and if you know them well then you can launch defensive raids or set up ambushes. The forests also support some of the village's most famous techniques, they can amplify the destructiveness of simple fire release techniques, those weird bug people get their little pets from the forest, there's a wood release or something right? It's easy to see how that would be more useful when your surrounded by wood. The clans that originally came together to form the where all local to the region, so their fighting style was heavily informed by the local terrain, humans use what they have at hand. You can expand that idea out to the other villages as well, the sea and mist around the Kirigakure, or the desert around Sunagakure, if you try to go against any of them you have to fight the terrain as well."

That seemed like the most logical answer to Nagisa, hopefully Nobushige didn't have some kind of hidden meaning or weird moral in mind with the question. Nagisa's patience was always limited for that sort of thing, why did some people act like they were allergic to just saying what they meant? Instead they had to waste everyone's time with a freakin riddle or metaphor.
 
Katsumi Nonoba​

Katsumi didn’t understand Nobusbige’s puzzle in the slightest, but she pretended to think about it anyway. She didn’t know why villages got their names, she just assumed it was because of what was surrounding them. Nagisa’s explanation of her thinking only help reinforce that Katsumi’s mind. Where were they going again? The Hidden Whirlpool? What even was a whirlpool?

————————————————————

With practiced precision, Katsumi focused her chakra into her feet. She felt the hot water beneath her begin to pick up speed, and move up and down as well. Her vision was clouded by the hotspring’s steam. Soon, Katsumi found herself focusing her entire mind on keep her balance with how fast the water was now spinning. Now she knew what a whirlpool was. However, as the spinning continued, Katsumi found herself capable of maintaining her balance with relative ease as long as she’s focused. It wasnt any different from chakra enhanced strength, where you have to concentrate chakra into parts of yourself while moving. Hopefully her other squad mates were doing alright. They probably weren’t as adept with their chakra as she, and they could hurt themselves in such fast moving water. Maybe they should have worn something that they wouldn’t mind getting wet...
 
Yuuki Uchiha
Yuuki lightly clicked his tongue at Nagisa's remark, "Someone probably wanted out of the village before anyone caught on." Or maybe the training was an afterthought? It was always so hard to tell with Nobushige. Regardless, it sounded like they just might have to literally walk from whatever island the ferry dumped them at to the Land of Whirpool.

Hands tucked in his pockets, the Chuunin shrugged. "So you want to see if we can handle a battle on the water then?" Sounded like it was a good thing chakra-infused ink didn't run. Keeping tags from tearing might be an issue though...


Staying above the water's surface came easier than he thought. Yuuki suspected it had something to do with dealing with that paper doll over the past few months. Now, while he could stay dry and upright, staying in one place seemed to be an issue. The Uchiha often found himself riding the current, whipping around until he'd be forced to return to solid ground and wait for the world to stop spinning.
 
That Night
____​

Silently, Katsumi rose to her feet. She stood in place for a few moments, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness. Casting a few nervous glances at the sleeping bodies of her teammates, Katsumi tip-toed her way towards the hot spring they had been training on over the last few days. During said training, Katsumi had lost the precious bracelet her mother once wore. Of course, Katsumi never knew her mother, but it was still extremely important to her. She hadn’t wanted to interrupt the training to retrieve the bracelet, meaning to retrieve it afterwards. She never got the chance, as Nobu-Sensei had plenty of things for them to do while they weren’t standing on the rushing waters. As Katsumi approached the hot spring, she realized she had made a slight miscalculation. The bracelet could be anywhere in the spring. If she wanted to retrieve it, she’d have to go swimming.

“Too bad I can’t do any water jutsu… that would’ve made this a lot easier…”

Katsumi knelt down on the spring’s edge, peering down into the water, hoping to catch sight of the bracelet.

A stiff object poked her in the back.

“Leaf ninja, are you looking for this?”

Behind her, a mist ninja, her own age, stood, holding the bracelet in one hand, and a staff in the other. It had been the same one who had yelled at Squad 4 for hurting her sensei during the invasion.

Katsumi squeaked, nearly falling into the water. She turned around slowly, seeing the bracelet in the girl’s hand. Not realizing the girl was wearing a mist headband, Katsumi gave her a nervous smile. “Oh, th-thanks!”

“I wouldn’t thank me. We’re taking you with us. Master Han’yo’s already dampened the sound around this area. Please come quietly, I really don’t want to hurt you.”

The girl herself didn’t seem exactly the most confident either, her hands quivered against her staff, which she then grasped with both hands. It was, in truth, her first attempt at trying to capture another ninja. She’d seen Katsumi tending to the wounded rather than fight, and had at least a little respect.

The realization set in quickly. Katsumi’s muscles tensed up, her eyes wide. Her eyes darted around, for a few seconds, before she relaxed. Well, as much as the panicking girl could relax. Knowing that trying to fight her way past what was not only another mist ninja, but one accompanied by a Jonin would be a death sentence, Katsumi gave in.

“Ok… I-I’ll do it…”

Katsumi was scared out of her mind, and could barely hold back the overflow of tears. Hopefully the rest of her squad would be ok, because Katsumi had no idea what would be in store for her next.

“Uh… sh, sh, it’ll be alright? We aren’t going to hurt you, we just need that info in the Hidden Whirlpool, and don’t want your squad poking around. We’re just trading you for time. Crap… Han’yo sensei! How do I deal with a crying hostage!?”

“I told you, this was your idea, you deal with it!”

“Uh… shoot… Anyways, we’re just going to take you with us, and let you go at the end. There, there?”

She nervously patted Katsumi’s shoulder, looking very much confused.

“So… we just have to have you sign a letter, and, uh, going to tie you up for just a day or two?”

Her enemies minds words helped ease Katsumi’s heart, for a few moments. However, Katsumi hadn’t forgotten how they had taken part in the attack on her village. All the blood, bodies, and destruction wasn’t something she could so easily forget. Katsumi nodded, deciding to go along with their plan for now.

-----
In the morning, a clone of one of the Mist ninja approached the camp, throwing the letter like a shuriken at the group of Leaf Ninja

Dear Leaf ninja,

We’ve captured one of your own. Don’t follow us to the Hidden Whirlpool, and she’ll be returned safely. The information in the Whirlpool village belongs to us. To prove she is with us, we’ve allowed her to write below:


Don't worry about me. Whether or not you continue on with the mission should have nothing to do with my safety. I assure you all, I will be just fine. Don’t get hurt while I’m gone. ~ Katsumi
 
Nagisa Kanazawa
​
Nagisa was the first to read the note, after sending a shuriken spinning futilely after the clone. The rest of the party must have gotten some idea of what its contents were from her expression rapidly changing from confusion to seething anger.

"Fuck! Of course she would go and get herself freaking kidnapped!" Nagisa snapped, thrusting the balled up note at Yuuki for him to read.

It's a pity no one thought to post watches, who was supposedly in charge of this mission?

It's not like we could have predicted this, the Mist had to either detour around or go straight through their actual target to fuck with us.

Oh wait that was you! Wow poor Katsumi, that decision turned out pretty badly for her huh?

Shut up! I- We can stull fix this, I just need to think!

"We... Well first of all we can't let them get too far away," Nagisa said, lowering herself to to the ground to sit and plan. "Once they're too far away for us to retaliate Katsumi no longer has any value as a hostage. Even if they really do intend on letting her go all it would take is one of them saying the wrong thing in front of her and that would be dangerous for them,"

With one finger Nagisa began sketching in the dust, mapping out the relative positions of the two teams with groups of dots.

"Ideally we could get out ahead of them, find whatever information we're looking for or at least be in a position to bluff that we had, then we'd have leverage of our own to work with. I guess they'd think of that so we'd need to make sure they don't catch on. Sensei, can you make more of those weird clones?
 
Yuuki Uchiha
Nagisa wasn't the only one to hurl shuriken at their uninvited guest, a crimson glare watching the clone to return to a puddle of water. Even with his sharingan, he still didn't catch on it was a clone. His attention was brought back to the issue at hand by Nagisa yelling and her throwing the note back at him. Yuuki growled, passing the note to Nobushige. "They really expect us to just... Those lousy bastards!"

Stuffing his hands in his pockets, the Uchiha paced slightly. "Well they've already got a headstart on us if we really want to get there first... Sensei, how much further are we from the Whirlpool ruins?" He ran his fingers through his hair, walking to retrieve the thrown weapons. "I mean, even if Sensei sent clones of us ahead, would they even be able to catch up or pass them?" It wasn't like their sensei was all that fast.
 
Nobushige Toyotomi​

Nobushige stood silent over the letter. Unlike the other two, he made his emotions unreadable. He didn't fidget as normal, he didn't actuate the situation with sarcastic remarks, he tapped his chin in thought silently. Nobushige-doesn't-give-a-shit had left in favor of the ninja known as Izanami's assassin.

He listened to both Yuuki and Nagisa. He pulled out the maps, along with a schedule, and placed them over a tree stump.

"Nagisa, you are still in charge. If Katsumi had to deal with a freakin' invasion on her turn, seems about right on yours. I'll present some information, and create a few clones. They take me about a minute to make, and they'll only last a day. Their realism comes with a price, time and chakra. I'll get started with facts. Now, to get the Hidden Whirlpool, the general method is to take a ferry from Koseki to Shibuya island, then crossing the whirlpools. The ferry leaves in an hour, and that's about how far away Koseki is from here. The ferry is slow as it makes its routes. Ninja's like to use it though, because eventually even the best ninja will drown over a sea. Apparently even the Hidden Mist gets lazy. They'll be looking for us, and will probably set up a barrier when they make it there to detect if we enter.

One suggestion would be to simply beat them there, and hide ourselves on the island, I can make their barrier fail if I have some time to hide.The downside? Well, why would a ninja take a slowass ferry? Even the best ninja will eventually drown long distances over water. We could say screw it, and run straight there. You WILL nearly drop dead from exhaustion getting there, but its an option. Or we could try sneaking aboard the ferry, and avoid Lord Han'yo Moto, former ANBU black ops commander of the Mist. If you think you're stealth's so good, its an option. Or we could take a third route, whatever you two come up with. Like I said, Nagisa's in command. Also my first clone is ready. "

Another asshole joined the discussion tree stump, pointing out the ferry's route.

"Well? We've got less than 5 minutes to get moving."
---------------

Squad 4 - Team Moto ​

At the next town over, Koseki, the squad took a formation with Katsumi at the center. The girl with a staff constantly held it close, and breathed heavily.

"So, the plan is to take the ferry to the last point, and run to the Hidden Whirlpool. You just have to stay with us, for like, a day? Maybe? We'll let you run free after that."

"Don't sound hesitant in front of the hostage, Miyu, they can smell fear. At least act tough. I swear, be grateful the first one you have is this... willing. Anyways, Taro, handle the fair tickets. Kouta.... don't mess anything up for the love of... You know what, how about this as practice, hide our headbands."

"R-right. Anyways. Leaf nin, know this day we show you mercy. We're still at war! We won't forgive you for what you did to our village! You struck first. I have to know, though, why'd you kill the Mizukage's son? I still can't figure it out."

The staff user, Miyu wafted her staff behind Katsumi in what would be threatening if it wasn't shaking as well. The squad broke up in their task, but the jonin kept a stern gaze on the Leaf ninja. He looked tired, but hadn't stopped since last night.
 
Katsumi Nonoba​

Despite being a hostage, Kataumi wasn’t too worried. Her captors weren’t hurting her at all, and didn’t seem to have any real intention to as long as she cooperated. The ropes tying her hands together were starting to get itchy though. The girl with the staff seemed to be pretty nice. Her sensei on the other hand, hadn’t stopped glaring at her all day! Katsumi didn’t blame him, but he didn’t need to make it so obvious. He was scary! The staff girl started asking her questions.

“W-wha? I don’t think anyone from my village would do that... w-we didn’t know what happened...” Katsumi trailed off, feeling her stomach growl.

“I’m hungry,” she stated nervously, looking down at her feet. She hadn’t eaten since they day she was captured, but she had been too nervous to realize she was hungry. Hopefully she’d get to eat before they left her out in the middle of nowhere.
 
Nagisa Kanazawa
​
"Then... the ferry is key to all this." Said Nagisa slowly, squatting down next to the stump to study Nobushige's maps. "I don't think they'll risk trying to carry Katsumi over the water on foot, which gives us a chance to get ahead of them,"

But will we be ahead enough to find what we're looking for before they catch up? Nagisa wondered silently, leaning back into a more comfortable sitting position.

"I think we should split up," Nagisa said after a few moments. "You guys go ahead to the Whirlpool, my chakra control's not as good so I'll likely slow you down and I won't be as essential to the search anyway. While you're searching the village I'll shadow the ferry and try to slow it down. We'll leave the clones here in case they send someone back to check up on us.

Nagisa stood up and stretched out her good arm. "If Katsumi tries something I can back her up as well, I won't take any unnecessary risks though."
 
Tsubaki Uchiha
Yuuki Uchiha

“Welcome...to… the Hidden whirlpool.”

Nobushige sat panting on the shores of the Hidden Whirlpool, struggling to catch his breath. The fact the ocean there was strange, Nobushige could have sworn he’d just coughed up the entire thing onto the shore. He had been warning his students how hard the run straight from the shore was, but for him, endurance wasn’t exactly a strong point either. Still, they had beaten the ferry by about half a day. He started a series of hand signs to hide their chakra signatures.

“Uchiha-brat… Younger Uchiha brat. This part is going to be your time to shine. If we can find information here about the Yoake leader, Kurou, we’ll be able to negotiate for Katsumi. So, your job is simple. Find what months worth of ANBU searches and Jonin excavations have missed in about… six hours? Unfair? Welcome to the ninja world. Start down by the center of the village, try to find the village leader’s office, it’ll look like your Dad’s. Tsubaki, older Uchiha brat, keep other ninja off him, I don’t care if they are on our side or not.”

Tsubaki nodded, tossing a small bottle back towards Nobushige. “Try and recoup some chakra in the meanwhile.” Yuuki stood by her studying the map he’d been given, they couldn’t see the village ruins from where they were but it seemed they were close. It was good the village wasn’t nearly as big as the Leaf, not that it made the task any less daunting. His sister turned and walked past him, “Let’s go.”

The village was in shambles, broken towers, rotting wood, and disturbingly, scorch marks marred the earth. It FELT like a graveyard. No Whirlpool nin had even wanted to rebuild such as the damage, it was best left in reverence. However, despite the morbid look, many ninjas from various villages could be scouted disappearing and reappearing in the distance. All were looking for something, but no one had found it yet. In the center of the village, the leader’s tower was left untouched. It had been well searched, and no one had found anything around it. Well, half a tower. It was exposed to the air, blown away in a blast.

The top level, the office itself, had the floor collapsed. A bookshelf lay empty to the side, torched by a fire, and the desk was precariously placed, groaning against the slope of what was left of the floor. The bottom level was covered in debris.

Ever since setting foot in the village ruins, a frown tugged at Yuuki’s expression. The state the Leaf had been left in was a sorry one, but they’d at least been working to rebuild. But aside from all the searches, none of the actual villagers had ever returned. “Why was this place even destroyed…?”

Tsubaki seemed more focused on something in the distance, “They refused to take sides in the last Great War, their techniques were… powerful. So were many of its members.”

He was silent for a long while, working his way to the top of the tower. “Did the Leaf help do it?”

It was his sister’s turn to be quiet a moment, “Yes.”

“Why?” Yuuki stopped and turned towards her. “Weren’t they our allies?”

“It was long before I became a shinobi, so I don’t have the full story.” Yuuki hated that he could never tell when she was telling the truth or not but fell silent as he went back to searching.

As the two continued to search, the office really did seem barren. It was easy to see why the other ninja in the village weren’t even bothering to check it. However, as they continued their search, an odd almost mirage could be faintly seen from the floor of the first floor from above. At first, it just appeared as a transparent flicker. However, coming closer with the sharingan would reveal its nature. The panels on the floor had chakra, it was just well hidden by seals. The seals themselves were interesting in that they were complex, spiraling inward spelling a medley of words.

“Is all that we see or seem
But a dream ?”​

The end cut off abruptly in an awkward place, leaving plenty of place between the ending mark and the last words of the poem. Even with the sharingan, it was only visible up close, making it extremely easy for even the best of sensors to miss. That section of the floor itself also seemed different from the rest, with a few more marks than the rest, and of a tougher material.

Yuuki found himself hovering just inches from the seals. The chakra in them had either faded over the last few decades or was just that faint, to begin with. “This sentence isn’t finished…” He murmured, brushing more dirt and debris away from the floor panels. Some kind of password system?

“Is all that we see or seem, but a dream… I’ve read that somewhere before…” But where? It had been a long time since he’d last actually had a chance to sit and read something that didn’t amount to a textbook.

“From one of those old poem books of yours maybe?” While she wasn’t entirely keen on messing with a seal she didn’t know, this was the first real lead that had been found in these ruins in years.

“Maybe…” Yuuki’s brow furrowed, that was easily where he could have been it before, but what was the rest of the passage…? “Is all that we see or seem but a dream… within a dream…” That was it, that had to be it. If it wasn’t…

Maybe the resulting trap would be quick enough no one felt it.

Reaching towards the seal, the tip of the Uchiha’s finger seemed to be alight with chakra. There was pretty much only one way to find out.

His chakra as it entered seemed different colored than the code, just off by a shade or two. As it finished, for a moment, it simply stayed in the air, not moving. About a minute later, a click sound was heard, and the seal dissolved, the complex lines that created it seemed to crack and chip away. As it did so, the chakra on the floor became more and more visible. It seemed to start flooding the room, though the truth was it had always been, simply hidden. The floorboards in front of Yuuki then sunk into the ground, then slid away, revealing a shaft into the rock below the office. The rock was well weathered, where it had withstood dozens upon dozens jutsu to move it. Now, however, the seal that had maintained it was gone.

Yuuki peered down into the shaft that had been revealed, it was far too dark to guess just how long of a drop it was. Reaching into a pouch, he pulled out a kunai and dropped it. It wasn’t long before he heard the metal weapon clatter to the floor. A short drop. At least, short enough for them to take without much of a problem. Tsubaki jumped down first, with him following close behind.

The room, once lit by Tsubaki, was filled with powerful artifacts of the Hidden Whirlpool. Scrolls, fans, weapons all lay in racks around the room. The very fact this room hadn’t been looted proved that no one yet had discovered the puzzle Yuuki had solved. Or if they had, they weren’t well versed in poetry. Or if they had tried, who was to say what the trap had done if it was unsuccessful. The room had two exits, the above entrance they had come down, which had a blinding light, and a tunnel that continued further down. It seemed almost like a labyrinth under the office. A few writings on the tunnel included:

Rapids exit
Records
Anbu training
Current: Village Treasury.​

The two wouldn’t have long, however, to make heads or tales of the room. On the wall, a single white mask reacted violently to the light from Tsubaki. It seemed to be drawn towards it, turning from a lantern to a flashlight. Eyes filled the mask, and red horns filled the wall behind it. A tanto. Curtains of white streamed from the wall as well, and slowly the entirety of the arrangement pulled itself off the wall. The Shinigami stood before the two. It removed the tanto from its mouth, and licked the air sharply, a sound that was both quiet, and yet filled the entire room. The fear of the Hidden Whirlpool.

The eyes of the younger Uchiha widened as he took a step back. “What the hell is that?”

Grabbing his shoulder, Tsubaki pulled her brother back behind her. She knew there was bound to be another trap, but to summon… Mistake or not, perhaps it really was for the best the village was destroyed. “Yuuki… run.”

He hesitated a moment before obeying. Though running down the dark hall without running into anything was going to be easier said than done.

The creature remained where it was as Yuuki left. Instead of going after him, it stared down the one who had summoned it, albeit by accident. Down the hallway, Yuuki could hear an unearthly screech.

The hallway was still dark down a bit. Torches littered the wall, but time had an effect of turning a burning fire into smolders. There were signs, but couldn’t be read in the current light, even to the sharingan. Perhaps as a good sign, the shrieking continued, along with several crashes, but didn’t come any closer.

Yuuki kept a hand pressed against a wall as he fumbled down the path. Whatever that thing was, it was enough to apparently scare Tsubaki. He stopped when his hand brushed against one of the numerous torches along the hall. Light may have been what got that thing’s attention, but running literally blind wasn’t really a great alternative.

Fire Release: Scattered Embers

Throughout the hallway the torches relit, again showcasing the directions down the hallways.

Rapids exit
Records
Current: Anbu training
Village Treasury.​

To the right, a tunnel branched out, filled with shurikens, training dummies, and few sets of garbs on the ground. It seemed the records room was just up ahead. In it was file cabinet after file cabinet, arranged in alphabetical order in a rock cave alcove, each record sealed in a plastic packet. Disturbingly, the cave became quiet again.

Records… that was what they were looking for. He just had to dig through thousands of documents in only a few moments… He’d barely set to work when everything became deathly silent once more. He shuddered, wanting to turn back and run for Tsubaki. Yuuki had to keep telling himself she was a jounin, an ANBU even, he had to trust her with this. If it was beyond her… what good would he be alone anyway?

The room remained silent, and the torches started to dim outside. What sounded like a sword sheathing echoed down the hallway, though on a much larger scale. It then became silent again.

In the records, eventually, Yuuki found a packet: Squad 1. Four names were contained within, including one certain Kurou Akechi. On the packet was written a single word:

Congratulations​

It was the same handwriting as the seal on the floorboards down here. One of the torches died outside, making it hard again to read.

“Son of a…” Yuuki’s voice was barely above a whisper. Was this all a setup then? Was Kurou the one that set that trap back there? The Uchiha gritted his teeth when the room grew too dark to see once again. The jutsu of his was never meant to last long, but at least he’d found something before it faded. It would have to do for now.

As Yuuki left, the further signs pointed to an emergency exit, and down that path, the sound of rushing water could be heard. The cave ended at a river, with the water flowing through one hole in the cave, and leaving through another...quickly, very quickly. The wall itself held instructions:

Emergency exit only:
No wounded permitted.
Hold breath.
Brace self for high currents.
Good luck.​

It pointed to the left tunnel.

“You’ve gotta be kidding…” Yuuki muttered, pulling out a tag and weaving several hand signs. A few moments later the packet he’d found was sealed inside, the tag back in its pouch. They were waterproof and had survived whatever idea of training Nobushige had put them through earlier. He could only hope they’d handle the rapids as he took the jump.

The water hit him like a canon. It quickly showed why the instructions were left on the wall, even if you were chased by enemy nin, only the desperate would take this escape. The flow of water itself was likely to leave a bruise...or a dozen, but Yuuki could likely tell he was moving fast. In no time at all, he’d find himself on the outside. Unfortunately, being underwater, no time at all would seem like an eternity, a half minute being blasted around by the current like a ragdoll. It finally shot out of a rock cliff, allowing Yuuki to breathe. The next cruel mistress was gravity, the flow of water shot out of a cliff, so there was a large fall with the flow. The cruel mistress after that? A whirlpool that seemed to go on forever. The immortal words of his sensei might ring through his head. “Good luck, kid, good luck.”

The hapless Uchiha was barely able to begin drawing in a precious breath or start coughing up water before he saw the whirlpool waiting for him. Fuck this mission… He didn’t even have a chance to reorient himself before landing with a painful splash. From one powerful current to another. Yuuki gathered chakra in his hands and feet, trying to claw his way to the surface, to air.

Everything hurt. His lungs felt like they were on fire. The cold water was doing little to help matters. It wasn’t long before everything went dark.

A splash was heard next to him as another man jumped in after him. And then exploded. Several knives then followed up to pin him against the rocks in the distance. A familiar voice called out.

“Told you I could fish him out in under 30 seconds without any elemental jutsu. You owe me 500 Ryo.”

“Mmm do I really? In the end, you still had to help them.”

“Shit, what was the wager on that one? It was 1500, wasn’t it? I can dunk him back in and let him make it back. We both know he could do it. I was just saving time. Wait, if he got the packet, mission accomplished without us having to really save him at all. So that’s what it breaks down to. After he got the packet, it would be post-mission saving. And let’s be honest, we BOTH knew he’d need saving there. Yuuki! Did you get the info!? Shake your head if you didn’t!”

All the pair got in response was a sputtering cough and a very dazed look. Tsubaki rolled her eyes, “Think someone inhaled a little more water than they should have…”
 
Meanwhile...



Well you sure talked a big game, do you actually have any idea how you're going to pull this off?

Nagisa grimaced as she watched the ferry lazily wind its way down the river. On the brightside she had found a pretty decent perch to scope out the situation from, a tiny sandbar jutting out of the water, just big and permanent enough to support a patch of river weeds and a tree, Nagisa was lying on her belly among the weeds with her new chakra cloak matching their color, she was reasonably confident she was impossible to spot from the deck and she could make out the recognizable figures of the mist ninja, although they’d ditched their headbands they’d been nice enough to let her get a good look at their faces during the exam. If they were all together here then Katsumi would have to be close by them.

On the other hand it was true she didn't know exactly how to proceed from here. It would be simple enough to just start firing on the boat from here, a few explosive tagged bolts would probably be enough to cripple it. But if Nagisa did that it would be obvious to the Mist what was happening and then they'd just use Katsumi to force a standoff. What she needed was something that would rattle the Mist and maybe give Katsumi a chance to break out without alerting them to her presence. As she mulled over her options Nagisa's eyes drifted over to the ferry's smokestack.

The boiler would be right underneath that then, hmm…

Nagisa ran some quick calculations in her head. It was probably possible to make that shot, the angle would have to be very steep to cover the distance and fall neatly down the smokestack. Nagisa opened a panel on her puppet arm and took out the first of the neatly stacked crossbow bolts within, affixing an explosive tag and then replacing it, making sure it would be the first one fired. Next she stuck a finger in her mouth and held it up to test the wind.

It’s blowing my way, like this I can make the shot!

Nagisa’s arm split open to reveal her crossbow and she raised it up to a sharp angle, settling into a stable sitting position. Sometimes it was nice to have an artificial arm, Nagisa was able to hold her aim completely steady and make precise adjustments as she tracked the slow movement of the ferry. Quickly Nagisa scanned the deck, picking out the few figures that looked like crew. There shouldn’t be too large a crew on a boat like this so with any luck nobody would be down in the boiler room.

Nagisa inhaled softly, then held her breath.

She took the shot.

There was a familiar, loud snap as the bolt whizzed out of her arm, arcing up into the sky over the ferry, before turning gracefully in midair to plunge straight down, piercing through the dark plume wafting out of the ferry’s smokestack.

A mere second later, the tag detonated.


The Mist walked themselves onto the boat, covering the ropes over Katsumi with a robe. While it gave her space under them, it was better that than people asking if they were bondage enthusiasts. Miyu, the girl with a staff still walked behind Katsumi, her staff used as a walking stick, thought it was mostly still there as a message. Their sensei still burned holes through Katsumi with his gaze, but so far he hadn’t lifted a finger to help. It was a learning exercise afterall.

“Well, at least as soon as we’re off we can be sure you won’t try anything funny. I-I can finally relax… See, Leaf-nin? We’ve kept our word so far.”

Their sensei finally broke his gaze glancing about, and scratched his chin, or rather the mask over it. It was a habit, masks were itchy.

“So, Miyu, you have the hostage under control, what are your thoughts about what her team will do? Also, Leaf-nin, how reckless would you say your teammates are?”

“The other two could stop them attacking us. Genjutsu and Earth... oh… Well, you guys go this, right?”

Katsumi shrugged, and stared at the floor. “T-they aren’t reckless.” She kept accidentally glancing up at the jonin that had been staring at her. She desperately wanted to escape, but she needed a distraction. A really loud distraction.

Just then a loud BOOM emanated from lower in the ship, making the ferry jolt. The sounds of screams and yells echoed throughout the ship. A loud CREAK added to the confusion.

Katsumi fell on her back and squealed in alarm. She looked to her captors for an explanation.

The masked man facepalmed.

“You were saying? I’ll go check it out. You three, guard the captive. Don’t be flashy, LIKE BLOWING UP A FERRY! I swear, back in my day, it was simpler times, you didn’t blow up public transportation, you fought like men, and stabbed eachother when no one was looking.”

He continued his rant as he walked towards the boiler room. The three genin formed a circle around Katsumi. The staff user, a large boy without a ninja pouch, and a cheeky troublemaker, still smiling.

Well that kinda worked… Nagisa thought, watching as the Mist jonin wandered off. However Katsumi was still surrounded by three enemies and their boss wouldn’t stay away for long once he realised Nagisa wasn’t actually on the ferry.

Katsumi knew that this would probably be her only good chance to flee, but her hands were tied, and she was on her back. All of the Mist genin were standing over her and looking at her. The one boy that harassed back at the exams made her extra uncomfortable…

She wanted to burst into tears, but instead, she bit down on her lip making her bleed, and lifted a foot into the air. She brought it down with chakra enhanced strength, smashing through the ferry floor, and sending herself and all the genin tumbling down to the next floor. Mid fall, she snapped her way out of the ropes with another burst of chakra, before hitting the floor hard. Katsumi slowly stood up, and began pulling thin pieces of broken wood out of her arm, cursing quietly.

The three genin gasped as they fell. The cheeky one mumbled.

“Not again…”

They didn’t have time to brace unlike Katsumi as they weren’t expecting the fall. They collectively groaned before getting back up to fight Katsumi. The first up was the staff user.

“What do you think you’re doing?! If you do this, we have to quiet you!”

All three gathered around her, one with his hands together, one with his hands in his pouch, and one with a staff at Katsumi.

“Shit!” Nagisa snarled as the four of them disappeared from view. What am I supposed to do from over here if I can’t even see you?

Nagisa paused. There was one thing she could try, something new, Katsumi would likely get caught up in it as well but with the number advantage on the mist side blinding everyone would be a plus for Katsumi.

Nagisa loaded a different kind of bolt into her crossbow, one packed with explosive material and dotted with small holes. Rather than inflict raw damage this ‘flash bolt’ was intended to temporarily disorient targets with a blinding flash of light and concussive force.

Nagisa already had the range from her previous shot and the hole Katsumi had made was actually bigger than the smokestack so it was relatively simple to arc a flashbolt into the the hole where it would detonate as soon as it hit something.

I just hope Katsumi can actually take advantage of this instead of being even more disorientated then they are…

Katsumi turned and looked at all three of the genin with angry eyes as she tugged the last sliver of wood from her forearm. Before she could strike, she something drop down into the hole. Before she knew it, Katsumi was blinded. She assumed one of the genin did this, and charged with dangerous speed towards where she guessed one of the mist genin were standing. Her should was lowered, ready to level anything or anyone in her path.

“The hell?”

The last words by the genin who then became one with the wall, the one who had been doing the handsigns. The other two also reacted quickly. The staff user blindly stabbed at the sound of Katsumi, and the other grabbed a smokebomb and threw it at the ground.

Alright next, open up an escape route.

Nagisa reloaded her crossbow but instead of a bolt this time when the device snapped it launched her artificial hand towards the ferry, invisible chakra strings trailing behind it. The disembodied, wooden hand slammed into the side of the ferry, sticking in place with its retractable claws.

Controlling the hand remotely, Nagisa forced it to withdraw its pinky and tap the lightning flash blade creation seal on its palm, summoning an explosive tag and then pressing the palm down to affix it to the side of the boat.

The hand then scuttled away, spider like, to repeat the process in three more locations forming a long rectangle between them that was centered on the area where Katsumi had fallen, so that she would be a safe distance from the actual explosions.

I’m starting to feel bad for whoever owns this ferry Nagisa mused, detonating the tags. From outside the ferry the tags would have a lot less force, they just needed to damage the hull itself enough to open up an exit point for Katsumi.

Katsumi’s vision still hadn’t cleared up as she took as she took a few steps back from the poor genin she just flattened. Smoke filled the room, and a staff managed to find her ribcage. Katsumi stumbled, and flattened herself against a wall. She was just about to charge blindly into the smoke again when the wall blew out from behind her! Katsumi fell out of the ferry and crashed into the water, making a big splash.

Nagisa cheered silently as she watched her squadmate break out of the ferry, albeit looking a bit worse for wear. To cover Katsumi’s retreat Nagisa reloaded and fired another flash bolt into the hole Katsumi had just fallen out of, lighting up the inside of the ship with another blinding flash.

At the same time Nagisa’s artificial hand pushed itself off the side of the ferry and landed in the water net to Katsumi. The hand grabbed her shoulder and then Nagisa turned her chakra strings visible, leaving a trail over to her location. It was a bit of a risk to give away her position like this but it was more of a risk for Katsumi to spend too much more time out in the open.

Normally, Katsumi wouldn’t have landed in the water so ungracefully, but with all the blood coming out of her arms, and the anger building up in her chest, she couldn’t care less. She felt something grasp her shoulder underwater. A wooden hand! Katsumi instantly recognized her teammates prosthetic limb, and rose to the water’s surface, where she adeptly stood up on the water, took note of the trail of chakra strings and flash stepped next to Nagisa. “Thanks,” Katsumi said flatly as she looked back at the ferry. She wanted to rush back in there and crush the other two genin, but fortunately she still had the sense not to.

The two finally stumbled out the hole in the boat, their sight still hazy from the two consecutive flashbangs.

“You do know Sensei is going to flip his shit, right? You think his lectures on being effective are bad now….”

“Yes, yes, I know! This is my mission! I’m not letting them go past!”

Miyu held her hands together, and an aura of chakra started to flow quickly around her. She opened her eyes and pointed at Katsumi.

“There she is! Kouta, I’m going on ahead!”

Her eyes seemed much better, and she leaped onto the water after Katsumi.

“Persistent aren’t they?” Nagisa said with a sigh as one of the mist pointed out their position and then started to close on them. “If you’re okay to fight it might be easier to escape if we knock her out,” WIth that Nagisa summoned a handful of shuriken and flung them fan like at the approaching enemy.

Katsumi didn’t answer right away, as she calculated the risk of encountering the jounin if she prolonged a fight with the genin. She didn't think it would be too long of a fight, and her blood was calling for theirs, but Katsumi knew better. “I can fight just fine,” Katsumi replied coldly, as she began to scratch at the wounds on her arms, making them bleed more than before. She didn't seem to pay much attention to the pain.

Miyu slammed her staff down into the water, causing a surge of water to meet the shurikens, disrupting their path. She then jumped over the surge leaping at the two, coming down with a downward strike at Nagisa, oddly aimed slightly to strike her prosthetic arm.

“Why do you two even care so much about some stupid papers in an office in a village not yours? We would have let her go, but the whirlpool BLEW UP OUR VILLAGE! My house!”

Instead of making a hard target Nagisa’s arm split into separate pieces joined by a length of dark chain, lurching around Miyu’s staff to coil up her arm like a snake, attempting to hold her in place. At the same time Nagisa kicked downwards at Miyu’s foot, extending the blade concealed there to try and pin the other girl’s foot in place.

“Don’t get it twisted, this is just work for me,” Nagisa said, allowing herself a slightly cruel smirk. “‘Course, I think my team mate might have stronger feelings on the matter. You did kidnap her and all,”

“Will you both just shut the hell up?!” Katsumi screamed as she stepped towards Miyu and threw a wide chakra enhanced punch at the girl’s stomach. In her head, Katsumi just wanted to kill this damn girl so she could move onto that other boy who she hadn’t hit yet. Hell, the damn jonin could eat one too if he wanted! Katsumi’s face was twisted with rage. Not a hint of pain crossed the girl’s expressions despite all the deepened scratches in her arms.

Miyu could see the kick coming, but she also saw an image that scared her from the side of her eye. It looked like a demon, raging towards her. She bit her lip and took a deep breath, it was about to hurt. She took the stab to the foot, flinching in pain, and immediately struggling for balance. However, Nagisa’s would be based on hers, and be even worse, and Miyu had several feet of leverage against the… what WAS that wrapped around her pole? IT didn’t look like an arm. This person might be just a puppet, they could surely survive the demon raging at them both. Miyu didn’t want to take the punch.

Miyu twisted her staff, pulling with it Nagisa’s arm, and yanked her foot with Nagisa’s blade attached, attempting to throw her off balance, and shove her into Katsumi’s punch. Miyu fought against pain every step as a blade in the foot was more than a little painful.

Nagisa simply allowed the chain coil in her arm to extend out further, so that the twist of Miyu’s staff left her unphased and instead leaned backwards to counter the movement of her foot as much as possible. Nagisa could feel her balance was off but she only needed the two of them to be in place for the split second it would take for Katsumi to make contact.

Katsumi didn’t hesitate, as her fist slammed up into Miyu’s stomach, sending the poor girl flying up into the air and back towards the ferry. She’d probably have plenty of internal bleeding, if she wasn’t dead already. Katsumi let out a mischievous giggle as she gazed at the fist she had just punched with.

“Where’s the other one?” She asked herself quietly as she turned her eyes to the ferry again.

Nagisa watched the mist genin go flying, her chain trailing after the girl like the string on a kite. Suddenly Nagisa’s eyes widened as she realised she had forgotten one detail. At that precise moment Nagisa’s chain reached its full extent and she was yanked brutally off her feet after Miyu.

Almost lifelessly, Miyu splashed into the far distance, blood definitely coming from her mouth. She laid still in the water, the calm tide allowing her to just float there. She was luckily the right way round, and her chest did move to breath. Nagisa flew through the air behind Miyu, although her momentum petered out sooner and she plunged into the water some distance behind the other girl. Emerging to the surface coughing and spluttering, Nagisa felt that her chain was still wrapped tightly around Miyu and, getting to ehr feet on the surface of the water, reeled her in. After checking that Miyu was still breathing Nagisa slung the other genin other her shoulder and started making her way back to Katsumi.

“I figure the least she can do after all this trouble is be our hostage for a change.” Nagisa explained. “Let’s get the hell out of here,”

Katsumi shot Nagisa an angry look. “What about the other one?” She asked roughly before turning away. She didn’t want to leave this other boy alive to ambush them later. Killing him now would make thing far easier!

Unlike her usual self, Katsumi didn’t even think about any wounds Nagisa may have acquired from flying so far into the water. All that mattered was taking down the Mist genin.

Nagisa tilted her head. “What about him? It’s not like he’s gonna try anything while we’ve got her, she’s going to be out cold for a while so we don’t have to worry about any escape attempts.”

Nagisa squatted down to start drawing a message for the mist in the sand.


You guys probably know how this goes by now, but don’t come after us and you’re buddy will be fine.


-Love. The real Squad Four


“Are you… okay, by the way?” Nagisa asked while she was writing. “You’ve been acting weird this whole time,”


=====


From the ship, the two mist nin from earlier hadn’t managed to leave. One of them, Kouta, blinded, called out.

“What’s happening? Is Miyu doing alright?”

The other coughed blood and shook his head.

“It looks like she lost. That girl we took hostage, she hits like a truck. Crap, if only I could move, or were near earth…”

“Shit. Miyu better not lose. We gotta help her!”

A third voice joined in behind them.

“No you don’t. I told you, this is her idea, she takes responsibility. Just trust in her.”

“But, she could be dead! Han’yo Sensei, shouldn’t you do anything? I mean, with all due respect, what are we supposed to trust? She doesn’t have a single technique!”

Han’yo smiled.

“And that’s why she ‘gets it’ more than the rest of you. She understands the basics, and applies them. You haven’t noticed what she’s been training in lately, but I think it’ll surprise the Leaf nin more than it will surprise you.”


=========


As Nagisa would go to carry their new hostage once again, Miyu’s hand suddenly slipped forward, a kunai in it, plunging straight under her ribcage. She moved with the same grace she’d shown at the beginning of the battle, and it didn’t seem like she had a single broken rib. The blood on her mouth was dry already. As she took in a deep breath, her mouth was glowing green.

Nagisa hissed as she felt a spear of pain lance into her side and she dropped to a knee as her hand went to a side.

Fuuuuck

The chain securing Miyu slackened as Nagisa’s control weakened but she had just enough movement left for her puppet hand, which was still grasping Miyu’s shoulder, to slip a finger into its palm and summon an explosive tag which it pushed onto Miyu’s shoulder, sticking it in place.

Nagisa rolled on her side to face Miyu and held up her hand in the right seal to detonate the tag.

“Feel that?” Nagisa hissed, with a venomous expression then she coughed, spraying the sand in front of her with red blood. “I have no idea how you are still moving but I’m pretty interested to see if you’ll shrug off a point blank explosion,”

Seeing the hand sign, Miyu did the only sensible thing she could think of, and tackled Nagisa with that shoulder. She closed her eyes, knowing she was already going on past her limit with natural chakra, her lip starting to discolor.

Katsumi barely held herself back from punching the girl while Nagisa still held her, but as soon as Nagisa was on the ground, and the girl planted the shoulder into her friend, Katsumi brought her foot back, and swung it forward with bone shattering speed. A chakra enhanced kick aimed right up at the same place Katsumi had punched earlier. She didn’t know how the girl managed to move after a punch, but Katsumi appreciated the opportunity to hurt her again.

And all the planning in the world went out the day Miyu became an astronaut, flying off into the distance. As she flew, her skin started to turn greyer and greyer, becoming as stone. Her little ‘secret’ had been senjutsu. While Miyu had no techniques, she’d noticed senjutsu’s healing properties and had been using it as she lay faking death in the waves. This time, however, its hazardous effects became apparent.

Nagisa watched their enemy go flying with a drowsy smile as her vision started to darken at the corners. “Eat that, bitch,” she whispered and then lapsed into unconsciousness, muttering. “Swear to God, Yuuki better have found something good after all this…”

With an unsatisfied grumble, Katsumi looked down at her unconscious teammate. “One stab wound and you’re already asleep? Should’ve just killed her while you had the chance,” Katsumi ranted under breath as she knelt down to inspect the wound. The kunai was still stuck in her lung, but Katsumi didn’t give much thought to it as she swiftly but deftly slid the kunai out of Nagisa before quickly using her healing technique on the wound. It didn’t take long to close the wound, but fully repairing her lung wound take awhile longer. Katsumi didn’t know if she had it in her, as she felt her chakra reserves dwindling. The curse mark never took all her chakra fortunately, it always left enough to keep her alive.

After about five minutes, Katsumi was satisfied that Nagisa would be ok. She groaned as she tried to stand, but couldn’t muster up the energy as she slumped down next to Nagisa and stared up at the sky.

“S-sorry for getting captured…”

Nagisa sniggered, having just regained awareness. “Sorry for getting stabbed. Now can we please get the hell out of here?”
 
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Three clones glanced over three houses. It'd been a while since he'd had a little fun. It was dawn, normally too early for Nobushige, but he hadn't slept yet, so it worked. A shinobi was always ready. Honestly, Nobushige was surprised none of his students had returned the favor. The main body whistled over a mountain overlooking the whole village.

A ball of seals quietly slid through each of his students windows, before detonating, filling each room with smoke. Post on the exit to each apartment or compound, a note could be found.

Been doing pretty good for yourself haven't you? Given any thought to what you want to do by the way? I don't mean any shit like 'Imma be Hokage'. I mean, are you wanting to look at ANBU? Teaching? Regular ninja forces? Might want to give it some thought, I might be able to have contacts.

Anyways, got some important information for you. Meet me atop the Hokage Monument whenever the smoke gets your attention. Its pertinent to the whole team. Normally it'd not involve you in the least, but apparently you have Lava Release, and that makes things more difficult. Thank Katsumi for me later. If you have any ideas at all on how to help make that girl lie better, please tell me.

~Nobushige Toyotomi

I see you've got a fair few missions under your belt, and what's more interesting, there's word of an Uchiha around not known for his sharingan, kenjutsu, taijutsu, or genjutsu. Keep it up. If you are wanting more fame, try to leave a few more witnesses alive. If you aren't, try to leave less.

Anyways, got some important information for you. Meet me atop the Hokage Monument whenever the smoke bomb gets your attention. Its pertinent to the whole team. Considering your Dad's in charge of the village, you can probably guess which of the rumors we're going over, but hey, attendance is mandatory, I already took the trouble to break into the Uchiha compound again.

Well, the world's worst liar. Told Nagisa something similiar, but you might want to start thinking about where your ninja career is going. Do you want to be a full time medic nin? ANBU (Nevermind). Do you enjoy the regular field? Do you want to try teaching others? Pretty sure you've got the skills to do whatever at this point, but just something to think about at this point. Whichever way you are going, we're going to have to work on your subterfuge a bit later. It could save your teammates lives. Or your own. Whichever you hold higher.

Anyways, I've got some important information for you and the rest of the team. Meet me atop the Hokage Monument after the smoke bomb goes off. By the way, don't talk to strangers for the next bit... or go with anyone strange.

Looking out across the village, Nobushige started to juggle a kunai as was his normal style.

"You know, have to say, didn't think I'd enjoy teaching this much. Heh, maybe the old git does know what he's doing. Wish Tsubaki had a squad of her own I could upstage. What am I saying? The fact mine are alive with me is a miracle. Well, guess I'd better keep it that way. Thank goodness they make'em tough these days."
 
Yuuki Uchiha
Yuuki stirred from beneath the pile of blankets, trying to ignore the sunlight peeking through his window. Typically, he didn't need to get up for another hour. And dammit, he wanted that extra bit of sleep.

Shame he ended up with an asshole for a sensei.

Scrambling from bed at the smoke bomb's detonation, Yuuki tumbled back out of his room. Sharingan glared into the smoke currently billowing from his room, kunai at the ready. The whole scene elicited little more than a quirked eyebrow from his father who'd been walking down the hall. The younger Uchiha grumbled as the smoke finally cleared revealing no sign of Nobushige or a clone. Just the now spent smoke bomb.

Ignoring the temptation to just crawl back in bed, Yuuki got dressed and started the hunt for the note that was bound to be stuck somewhere nearby. Once he'd found it, getting to the Hokage monument didn't take long at all. "Sooner or later those wakeup calls of yours are going to give Katsumi a panic attack or something. If they haven't already."
 
Katsumi Nonoba​

Katsumi had been awake for awhile, studying a book of medical jutsu she had been given when she first decided to take up medical ninjutsu. She was looking for a new jutsu that she could use to help keep her allies alive. She had been having more doubts than usual lately, mostly about Yuuki and Nagisa and how well she fit in with them. So to try and bridge the gap, she decided learning a useful new jutsu would do the trick. Unfortunately, she was interrupted by a blast of smoke.

After an ear piercing scream, Katsumi stumbled out of the front door of her small home. She rubbed her eyes and shut the door behind her, and leaned against the door for a moment, trying to figure out what the hell just happened. Her eyes caught the corner of a slip of paper on her front door, and she gave it a quick glance over. She didn’t know the answer to most of the questions, and didn’t dwell on them as she hurried back into her home to grab her usual ninja gear.

Minutes later, Katsumi appeared atop the Hokage Monument with a body flicker.

“S-so uh.... good morning sensei, Yuuki, and Nagisa.”
 
Nagisa Kanazawa

​
"There you are!" Nagisa hissed, cresting the monument and catching sight of her Sensei. "You're little stunts have caused permanent smoke damage to thirteen apartments! My landlord's livid and is threatening to evict me!" Nagisa caught up with her squad and thrust a small, neatly typed piece of paper into Nobushige's chest. "I think it's only fair you foot the bill, I've already been homeless before and it sucked, I'm not getting kicked out of my place because you don't know how to knock."

Nagisa glanced around impatiently at the assembled group. "So. You said you had something to tell us?

Although she was hiding it well Nagisa was secretly a little glad for the distraction Nobushige's letter provided, even if it had proven to be strangely prescient. Even before being assaulted with smoke bombs Nagisa had been chewing on their previous mission and what the outcome meant for her future.

Nagisa had never really entertained the idea that she might eventuallly be offered jobs she wasn't willing to do for moral reasons. Having been hungry, alone, discarded she had thought there was nothing she wouldn't do to avoid ending up like that again. Maybe Matsuri had been a one off, a temporary bump in the roadmap Nagisa had planned out for herself. But what if it meant more than that? Nagisa wasn't sure yet.
 
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