Rescuing the princess! [Mission]

Mission Details:

Akihiro arrived at the scene,for the very first time, before Zurui. Perhaps it was because he was more familiar with the Land of Fireor maybe just because forests and trees seemed to distrub the Kirigakure ninja a bit. Whatever it was the fact remained that Akihiro was here and Zurui was not. Today they had been sent on  a search and destroy rescue mission to save the daughter of the Land of Water's daimyo. She had been kidnapped while travelling on a ship and brought here to be heldfor ransom.The price for keeping her head on her shoulders was insultingly high. But Akihiro knew the Land of Water was willing to pay it should their mission fail. Alas the bandits weren't complete idiots either. They had brought her to an old fortress, which was ruined now but had once been defended by the mighty Uchiha Clan in its prime state. It was clearly old but the rocks from which the walls were made were still strong and some towers still stood tall. A frontal attack on this place would certainly bring in many casualties...naturally a more stealthy approach was the better option. Akihiro stood still, examining the fortress from the safety of an old ruined mill which was still quite some distance away from the walls. The fortress had three walls, each one standing taller than the previous, although not necessarily bigger. They were clearly old although Akihiro could see they were in good shape,probably due to the repairs the bandits had been doing on it, as evidenced by the construction materials laying around on top of the walls. These guys had money. It was best to wait on Zurui for now.

"Well, that's inconvenient." Said Zurui, walking up alongside Akihiro. He'd been late, gathering some things from the Land of Water before making his way over here to meet Akihiro. Unlike last time, there were more places to visit in this go around, one in particular that spurred Zurui's change in appearance. He knew well that he'd not be likely to see the Hidden Mist Village for at least several weeks, maybe longer, judging by this monstrosity of a bandit base.

Go on a C-Rank Mission, it'll be quick, they told him. Like hell. A ragtag group managed to break into the Daimyo's residence and kidnap his daughter, probably the second most heavily guarded person in the entire Land, second only to her father, naturally, whose own defenses and resources were right there and yet still the bandits prevailed. That alone meant they were highly skilled and this mission was going to take a while. Then he'd heard that Akihiro managed to track them down to this immense fortress, and it looked now like they were renovating the place. A group with resources like that most definitely constituted more than a C-Rank mission. This was some serious crap right here.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. You know how I am with trees." The wretched things.

"I know, I know. No worries. Look." Akihiro nodded towards the fortress, implying Zurui should take a better look at it. "Those are the ruins of an old Uchiha Clan fortress, from before the founding of Konohagakure no Sato. We thought it had been destroyed, but these guys made one hell of a job restoring it. " Akihiro pointed towards places on the wall where "patches" of rocks seemed to cover the earlier wall holes. "They're not using the same kind of stone which composes the original wall, but they're still using doing a good job with regular rocks. I've seen them entering the place while guarding a prisoner- It was from a distance but the woman they were escorting in seemed to match the description. " He had seen about ten bandits entering the fortress through the main gate while escorting a tied up woman. There was a certain air about the way the woman moved that made Akihiro believe she really was a noble. Perhaps it was the way she walked, or her attitude towards the bandits- Akihiro couldn't say. But he was almost certain she was the Land of Water's Daimyo's daughter.

"Any ideas for infiltrating the fortress? Maybe we could approach from the cliffside?"

The Kiri-nin considered the castle. It was a massive construct -a really, really massive construct. They were as ants in its shadow. To climb that cliff on the other side would take a very long time even if they used chakra to run right up the side. Plus, there was the time wasted in just getting to the cliff base. They were closer to the wall from their vantage point, but it was likely to be guarded. They'd have the advantage of hiding from sight behind the rock formations if they took the cliff, which alleviated any need for subterfuge. However, if they could find a method to bypass those defenses, it would be much quicker and time was of the essence. The Water Daimyo wasn't in a mind to waste much time in waiting on a couple of ninja to save his precious child; it took a great deal of convincing just to put him off long enough for the mission to begin. It was entirely possible that the money was already on its way, and if this group got a hold of those funds, they'd became a serious force.

"That'll take a while. We could go underneath the wall using Doton, try to find a quicker way to reach the princess. With your Genjutsu, moving around inside shouldn't be a problem. What do you think?"

Akihiro considered Zurui's idea for a moment. He didn't know the inside of the Uchiha fortress, all he knew was that it existed and that it had been extremely well guarded once upon a time. "Well, it's not a bad plan... but I wouldn't trust the Uchiha not to have some sort of built-in countermeasures against that kind of infiltration. We fought the Senju after all, and they were Doton masters. We can try, but we should thread carefully." Akihiro gave one last glance to the fortress. It was indeed quite a sight... it was a shame they'd have to go underground to enter it. Was there no other way? He considered the climbing option one more time...but if it was true that the Uchiha had built countermeasures against complex underground infiltrations then they sure as hell built something to prevent something as basic as a climbing technique. Perhaps this was the less risky method to attempt an infiltration. He shrugged, and turned to Zurui.

"Well then, I'm ready when you are. I trust you can find your way underground towards that huge fortress? I'm certain you'll find no trees buried here." Truth to be told he *wasn't* that certain. The Senju used some crazy Mokuton jutsu...no one could guarantee they wouldn't find the roots of some crazy ass tree lurking underground from ancient battles still.

Zurui held his hand out to the ground. Akihiro was probably right. A fortress designed by a Clan that was often at odds with Doton masters was likely to have some kind of safe guards built in. If they were going to infiltrate this place, they would have to use care; there was no telling what had been full rebuilt by these bandits and what had been added since last this fortress stood strong.

The ground open up like a secret door, sliding the top part back to reveal a tunnel. This was not some secret entrance, however. Zurui had managed to manipulate the ground beneath their feet using Earth Release to make an open path for them. This was his alternative to simply digging or phasing through the ground with other techniques, because at least this way, they'd both have more room to react to any unexpected traps.

The Jounin looked up to gauge the tunnel's path before walking inside. Once his vision of the area was gone, he'd be unable to accurately determine the exit point of the tunnel, so he fashioned it all the way to the first outer wall, where he made the exterior lining thinner, so that he'd be better able to create an opening once they reached it. It was going to be dark, though.

With a wave, Zurui beckoned Akihiro to follow him inside, using his mind's recollection of the tunnel to guide his way. It wouldn't be long now before they were at least inside, but then the hard part would begin.

Akihiro did little more than watch as Zurui cast his fancy Doton technique. He used it to nake a tunnel which led directly to the first outter wall through an underground path. Akihiro was still quite unsure about this plan, considering the Uchiha's history with the Senju. But it was the best they had an honestly the duo was running out of time before the Land of Water's daimyo barged into the Land of Fire with a freacking army.

Following Zurui's signal Akihiro jumped into the hole the Kirigakure Ninja had created, moving deep underground and following the Jonin. Of course it was dark and Akihiro couldn't see a thing, vut considering the size of the fortress he decided notnto waste any chakra on using Katon to illuminate the place. If the enemy had sensors they would also be easily spotted. So instead of risking that, Akihiro would simply follow behind Zurui and trust that the man knew where they were going. The path was still long to walk especially when walking in darkness, but eventually the duo reached the wall. Now it was only a matter of waiting and see if Zurui had a way to break through.

As they walked along the path, Zurui could feel the occasional rumbling. He wasn't sure what it was, but as they came near the endpoint of the tunnel, he found out first hand just what kind of defenses the Uchiha employed. You would think they'd set Fuuinjutsu that needed to be unsealed or fire release type explosives or some such, but no, they knew that people manipulating the earth itself would simply find ways around that. they had in the past, and it proved far too troublesome for the Uchiha to make a mass of traps only to have them work maybe a tenth of the time. Frustrated, they went to another source. A more...unavoidable source.

The rumbling got closer and until by the time they'd come to the wall, it was very obviously right on the other side of the tunnel. Zurui waved his hand to react, but before he could even muster his chakra, a massive wyrm bust through the tunnel wall and shoved them straight up through the ceiling. Fortunately, it was part of the thin lining that Zurui had made beforehand, and so the duo would be quite undamaged when they recovered from being flung from their tunnel and onto the courtyard. That was hardly a concern, though, with a gigantic burrowing monstrosity bearing down on them. Funny enough, that wasn't even the worst part.

"Holy sh- what is that?!" Akihiro asked. He had never seen this kind of creature before, at least live. The wyrm looked very much like a dragon but with no wongs or any sort of legs or feet. It was just slithering around underground and waiting for someone to try exactly what the two of them were trying. The two ninjas were flung off the tunnel and into the courtyard. By a pure stroke of luck, there were no bandits present on the courtyard at the time.

"Over here!" Akihiro yelled out to Zurui as he ran over a small stone wall present on the courtyard which separated the entry area from a small training ground. Ducking, he managed to avoid a wave of fire that completely razed everything between them and the wyrm. The creature was huge, several meters tall and many more meters long. Its screams made Akihiro's ears hurt, but more importantly than that they alerted the bandits who were now coming out to the courtyard and drawing weapons to face the creature. Akihiro (and probably Zurui) managed to stay hidden for now, but that wouldn't last unless they made a move now. "We gotta get out of here or we'll be found. See if you can find a way out!" Akihiro glanced over the wall just in time to see a bandit being flung by the beast's tail, hitting the wall with an audible "crack".

Making a mad dash to the small stone wall, Zurui barely managed to join Akihiro in his small cover before the flames torched the area. Bandits rushed out and proceeded to get stomped by the monstrous wyrm. Zurui scanned the courtyard for any escape. He'd need to think quick, lest the beast finish with the bandits and come for them. That, or the bandits beat the creature and then come for them. No matter who won that battle, the two invaders were in trouble. The Jounin found no obvious signs of escape. To leave the cover of the wall both opened them up to another wave of fire and greatly risked exposure to the bandits. The only way out was to go underground. Hopefully, there wouldn't be another monster waiting for them down there. What's a real shame though is that nobody around here had a Sharingan to forcibly tame that monster. Do you know how much easier this mission would be if they had that thing helping them?

Zurui opened another underground passageway. This time, rather than an entire tunnel, he simply parted the ground to let them slip down into a basement level and then closed it up behind them, placing a solid layer of stone between them and the chaos above ground. Now they were on their own, in an underground hallway lit with torches and little idea of where the princess might be.

It was a good thing Akihiro hadn't unlocked the sharingan yet. It meant the two ninjas would have to get more creative and thus find space to grow and learn new things! Truthfully a shinobi was also measured by his ability to innovate, come up with new ideas and -"We're going underground again?" Akihiro asked, raising an eyebrow. He wasn't all that fond of going back to darkness. Alas, he didn't have much of a choice since yet another wave of fire just passed right over the wall of stone and far too close to his head for comfort. Akihiro shrugged and jumped into the hole again, landing and looking around while Zurui closed it.

The hallway seemed ancient very much like the rest of the fortress. If the torches weren't lit Akihiro would have guessed no one walked these corridors in many years, but that clearly wasn't the case. Screams could be heard on the upper level of the courtyard. The poor bastards clearly weren't having a good time against the supernatural creature they were facing. Akihiro was glad they didn't have to kill the thing. Akihiro walked down the corridor, hopefully, followed by Zurui. Upon taking a turn, he found a group of guards guarding a door and immediately retreated, signaling Zurui that there were two of them.

Two guards meant two things. One, the door they were in front of lead to something of value to the bandits. Two, the threat level of whatever they expected to enter or exit that door was rather low. This meant that the princess could very well be behind that door, or that this was the entry point to the castle's next level and while they didn't necessarily expect company from the basement, they also didn't want to chance someone sneaking in unnoticed. Either way, it was a door they would need to go through. Fortunately, the entire passage was surrounded by earth, and Zurui could move it with just a few motions of his hand. Unfortunately, he didn't want to waste any unnecessary energy because his reserves weren't all that great.

The Jounin nodded to Akihiro and moved up beside him at the corner. The Jounin drew out a kunai, motioned the Uchiha to go forward, and lunged out in concert with his ally to fling the kunai at the neck of the guard closest to him. As smart as his companion was, Zurui was sure that he'd be able to deduce the proper target so that both guards would be taken out simultaneously. Sadly, the guard Zurui had aimed at possessed a little more padding on his body than expected, and was able to take the kunai without drawing much blood, let alone taking a loss of life. Zurui sighed at his own lack of strength and rushed in to deal with the guard before he yelled. Only a brief mutter escaped his mouth before the Kiri-nin was upon him, grasping his weapon with one hand and covering his mouth with the other. A few seconds of struggle later and that kunai found its way back into the man's neck, this time buried deep.

Akihiro confirmed Zurui's nod, nodding back when he saw the kunai the Kirigakure no Sato ninja drew from its sleeve. Akihiro was surprised however when the Jonin chose to throw the kunai. Considering both their lack of strength Akihiro had just assumed the duo would move on quickly onto the guards and take them out fast, making use of their natural speed. So you can understand why he was surprised when he dashed towards the guard on the left side and saw a kunai slipping past him towards the guard on the right side. Alas, he was sure Zurui knew what he was doing.

With a quick movement of hand Akihiro would use his kunai to slice the guard's throat, killing him immediately and without letting the man make a single sound. He turned towards the other guard just as Zurui was finishing him off. "We would be smart to hide the bodies. Can you bury them real quick? No need for a deep grave, a shallow one will do. Let them find the bodies in a couple of weeks through the rotten stench." Akihiro would wait for Zurui's reply and then turn towards the door. He was hesitant a first, considering whether or not this thing would be trapped. But the young Uchiha figured out that if they placed guards then that was unlikely. Despite the risk, he took a chance. He opened the doors and entered the room behind them. Looking around, Akihiro saw a huuuuuge corridor, the door they had gotten through was but a small access through the sides. The ceiling was incredibly tall, easily lost in darkness. "We must be inside of the second wall..."

The Jounin quietly activated a technique to cause the earth to swallow up the two guards. It looked like they had simply sunk into stone-looking water and were no more. As Akihiro said, they would be found in a week or two via the stench, but they'd be rather difficult to recover if the people that found them didn't possess the Doton element.

Zurui followed Akihiro into the massive corridor, stunned at first by the sheer size of the place. There was so much space wasted on what could only be described as a grand gesture, a show of power and riches. But the loss of functionality here was just devastating. There could easily have been an entire prison here, or enough rooms to house a village, but instead, they made a grand corridor.

The Jounin found the nearest wall and moved alongside it, staying close enough to hide behind the passing pillars as needed but far away enough to not be fully exposed by the torches lit all along it. The bandits seemed determine to renovate this entire fortress and by the looks of everything, they'd been doing a good job. He hated to think how many they had at their command, how many soldiers filled this one building. Getting caught was becoming less and less an option.

Zurui skipped practically every door he came across until he reached a large, winding staircase towards the end of the corridor. They'd probably need to go up; it seemed like every princess that was ever kidnapped was always trapped in the tallest tower. However, given the lack of guards here -probably sent to deal with the monster in the courtyard, there were bound to be more up the stair case. They'd need to use care.

Akihiro followed Zurui after he buried the bodies and moved up towards and into the grand corridor. He couldn't help but be of the same opinion of the Kirigakure no Sato ninja. He wasn't sure of what exactly was here during the time the Uchiha reigned over this place but he would certainly be disappointed to find out the Uchiha wasted space like this. No, certainly there was something more to this wall back then. A weapon storage unit? Food storage? Storage for...anything? Or maybe a prison or even a training area. Heck, he'd be happy with a common room. But he doubted his clan had the luxury to afford time for those back then, after all, they were constantly at war.

The duo kept on moving through the corridor. The lack of guards in this area was obvious, and Akihiro found himself glad that they had chosen to take an underground route and awaken a wyrm. Not only had they gotten the chance to see a rare mythical animal, but they had also had the opportunity to see that animal shred guards to pieces. Guards that were supposed to be guarding...this staircase. Akihiro looked at Zurui, shrugged and moved up the stairs. It wasn't like they had any choice, there was no point in going back now. Akihiro climbed a long way up, until he found a door sealed with a wooden bar. Akihiro took out a kunai and used the Flying Swallow technique to slice the wood bar in half and grant acess. Upon opening the door Akihiro found himself on the main tower of the third wall. Overlooking the castle, Akihiro found soldiers on the third wall shooting arrows towards the top of the second wall where a bunch of soldiers were fighting the wyrm which had somehow managed to find a way to climb he massive wall.

The Jounin followed his companion up the stairs and through the door. Like Akihiro, Zurui looked over at the wyrm battle still commencing below. It was a bad sign for the bandits that it had figured out how to climb so far, though he wondered how they'd gone so long without coming up with a way to deal with it. Maybe they just hoped to ignore it and it would return the favor. Or maybe they weren't even aware of its presence, since it really took a use of Earth Release to even find the thing and it was entirely possible that nobody here could use it, save Zurui.

As the Jounin looked around, he could notice that some of them were moving beyond the capacity of his eyes to follow. This troubled him, because he knew the bandits weren’t particularly skilled, and any others they ran across may have the same level of speed, thereby preventing him from accurately dealing with them simply because he couldn’t clearly see them. Before moving on to deal with the archers on the third tower that had yet to take note of their presence, the Jounin drew a seal on his forehead and immediately activated it. This was a new technique of his that he’d not yet tried, but should serve to aid his eyesight enough to follow at least the bandits’ movement.

It was like a curtain had been removed. In an instant, he could see everything that everyone did down below and up on the third level with no problems at all. So, with this new sight, the Jounin fired off a Katon ninjutsu to ignite the archers. They screamed and they burned but it wasn’t likely to give their position away, since that wyrm was spitting flames in every direction.

Trained Seal of Vision, C-Rank Custom, 306/200 WC

"Good aim." Akihiro stated as he watched the fireballs dextrously chasing their targets and lighting them up in fire. It was almost like his demon lantern jutsu really. Zurui also somehow managed to find a way of utilizing this technique in a manner which made it seem like the wyrm was the one burning down the bandits. Looking down Akihiro almost felt pitty for these guys. They were being chased, burned and murdered by a beast who they did not awaken. A smart person would try to make a run for it since, you know, wyrms have no legs. But bandits weren't exactly known for being smart were they? These were good builders at least. Maybe the Uchiha Clan could claim this fortress once these guys were kicked out. Then again that was unlikely. The Clan had settled quite nicely in Konoha and Akihiro didn't think the majority of the clansmen would want to come back here.

Alas now they were here and needed to look at the what was ahead and not behind them. The third level of the fortress held several buildings: A small stone building which Akihiro figured was either the armory or some sort of storage unit, the main fortress building which towered tall above the rest of the fortress, and a tower with hallway pass to the main building. Akihiro moved towards the tower and began climbing it, but as peeked through the tower's window he had a stroke of bad luck and found himself face to face with a bandit. The man's reaction was to pull a Jaime Lannister and push a little boy off a window. Luckily this little boy was a ninja and with a quick backflip Akihiro drew a kunai and used the Flying Swallow to not only slice the string which held the alarm bell but also stick the kunai to the tower wall, creating a large cut as he slowed down his fall. Hanging from the kunai, Akihiro would glance at Zurui. "We need to prevent that sentry from crossing the tower pass hallway and alerting the guards."

Zurui nodded to Akihiro, thankful that this didn't end in broken legs, a coma, and a three-eyed raven, and proceeded to scale the tower by simply running up it. With his enhanced vision, he was able to trace the bandit and predict his path. All that was left was to place himself in front of him, but that didn't seem likely to happen, given Zurui's speed. So naturally the Jounin activated the body flicker technique as soon as he reached the window and darted through it and along the pass and right into the back of the fleeing bandit with a quarterback-level tackle.

The bandit and Zurui regained their footing and entered a skirmish. Neither had any particular physical advantage, but Zurui continued to use openings to draw another seal, this time on his torso. When he activated the seal, he neglected to dodge the bandit’s next punch. Instead, he took the punch like it was nothing, now having more resilience than before, and knocked the bandit out with a solid hit to the side of the head. Medical knowledge had its uses, of course, even in combat.

The Jounin tapped both of the seals on his body to deactivate them and continued along the path to the part of the castle where the princess was sure to be kept. Hopefully.

Trained Seal of Endurance, C-Rank Custom, 223/200 WC

Thankfully there were two ninjas on this mission and not a single one. If Akihiro had been forced to chase this bandot after falling, he would never have been able to catch him and would have ended up in a battle against an entire fortress of bandits. Fortunately Zurui came through and ended up managing to put down the man just as Akihiro approached the fighting duo. Yeah he was late, but to be fair he had been thrown off a tower and had to climb all the way back up and then go through the pass without using Body Flicker. It wasn't that he couldn0t use the technique, it was just that Akihiro trusted Zurui to be able to take care of one single bandit, of course. Yeah, that was definitely it.

Alas, they kept moving towards the main building and found themselves face to face with a ridiculously huge wooden door, reinforced by steel and iron plants on what would be its weaker points. The symbol of the Uchiha clan was engraved on these metal plates along with what seemed to be representations and figures of important people and battles. The whole thing seemed ancient. Akihiro doubted they would be able to take down the door with raw power alone...but what other choices could they possibly have? Tearing down this door through force would also mean blowing their cover.

One look at the door told Zurui that the time for sneaky infiltration was over. They were either to going to turn away and waste inordinate amounts of time seeking another route or they were going to make so loud a ruckus that everyone in the compound would hear them. Zurui began to make the hand seals for a powerful ninjutsu but suddenly leaped onto the door, using chakra to hold himself afoot as the wyrm shattered the pass from below and rose to face the Kirigakure Jounin. The two locked eyes and in a moment's notice, the wyrm lunged forward, busting through the door. It splintered and caved in while the bar that held it in place from the other side cracked in two and collapsed to the ground far below. That was their way in, so long as they could deal with the wyrm in some way. Luckily they had a Sharingan use- oh, that's right.

It was a good thing that Akihiro had yet to acquire his sharingan! This provided both him and Zurui the opportunity to deal with a deadly creature which had killed several dozens of men already, but to deal with it in a way that wasn't cheating. No, they would be fighting mano a mano, hombre to hombre, man to deadly mythological creature. This was a test of bravery, of courage, of skill! A test of might and power, intelligence and other general attributes usually associated with heroes. Above all, Akihiro really hoped this was a test Zurui would pass.

Oh, did I not mention? This wasn't a "men to deadly creature" sort of battle. It was a "man to deadly creature" sort. Plus, Akihiro was only fourteen, one couldn't really expect him to take part on this challenge, right? So instead, as the Wyvern got distracted with Zurui, Akihiro slip past it using its shadowy ability and entered the main building. Once he was fine and safe he would try to find a way to help his friend. Whatever guard were there guarding that place, they all seemed to have vanished with the sight of the wyvern. Akihiro glanced at the door and noticed a large metallic structure above it. It seemed like an additional iron door held in place by a long metal chain. Akihiro calculated the trajectory and got himself ready. As soon as Zurui managed to place the beast under the doorway, Akihiro would use a powerful fuuton to blast the chain away and drop the large metal door on the wyvern. Hopefully killing it.

Momentarily baffled by the Uchiha slipping inside the doorway and leaving him alone with the monstrosity, Zurui quickly composed himself and prepared for the battle at hand. He'd need to handle this thing while Akihiro located the princess. Of course, this wasn't what the Chuunin actually had in mind, but with no visibility, Zurui had no way of knowing. He jumped down and stabbed the thing on the head. the wyrm cried out in pain and flung Zurui into the doorway, where he could now see Akihiro ready to drop a heavy iron door. This was good. All the Jounin needed to do was lure the beast inside long enough to get killed by that door. Unfortunately, he'd spent too long looking up and the wyrm was deceptively fast. It lunged in, snagged Zurui by the leg, and pulled him outside where they both toppled down to the ground below before the door had a chance to fall. Either Akihiro had reacted swiftly, closing the door and putting a barrier between himself and a falling Zurui, or he was too slow and the door had yet to fall, leaving the option to either continue on with the mission, trusting the Jounin to handle the small lizard, or turning back to save his ally, costing them time and possibly success, now that they'd been discovered.

Akihiro's plan was to let the door down on the wyrm, but placing a barrier between them and the creature would also work! So as soon as Zurui stepped inside he cut down the chain with Wind Release: Slash. The wyrm was fast however, and snagged Zurui pulling him towards the outside area. If this happened it would mean serious trouble since Akihiro would have placed a barrier between he and his ally, and his ally would have a large ass mythological creature to deal with, all by himself. Akihiro couldn't allow this to happen so as soon as the wyrm began pulling Zurui out he made a quick set of handseals and cast a Genjutsu upon the creature. The false surroundings technique, tricking the creature into believing it was actually grabbing fire. The sudden change in scenario was enough to shock the creature and cause it to drop Zurui just as the iron gate was closing in. Suddenly, they would find themselves inside the main building, with a wyrm screaming outside. Had they really been found? Akihiro looked around but he couldn't see anyone, or anything. The entire room was empty except for a large staircase which led to the upper floor. He had to wonder, was this where the princess could be found?

Thankful for his ally's hastily delivered judgement, Zurui dusted his clothes off and headed towards the staircase. It seemed that the place had cleared out to deal with the wyrm, which made this part really easy for them. Ascending the staircase, Zurui came to an open hallway with many doors, but only one was guarded by two armed men. The shinobi threw several shuriken at them and closed in, using his feet to knock them down so that he could finish them off in a moderately bloody mess. With that complete, he opened the door to find a...mushroom?



"Thank you Zurui! But our princess is another castle!"

Zurui quickly murdered the little man and proceeded on to the princess.

Akihiro did little more than watch Zurui deal with the guards all by himself. If he had tried half this ahrd against the wyrm the young Uchiha was sure they would have been able to deal with it quite nicely. But oooh nooo, it was such a creaaature... apparently killing wyrms was too difficult but murdering innocent mushroom men was okay. For some reason Akihiro couldn't help but feel a lot of satisfaction for seeing the mushroom man's corpse on the ground. It was as if for years this guy had haunted him in a video game or something, crushing his hopes every time Akihiro was close to rescuing the princess. Well, not. This. Damn. Time.

Akihiro childishly kicked the corpse and moved on. After having acquiring the princess, who had been so shocked she suddenly turned quiet, the duo would leave that place. They had to be careful to avoid the wyrm, but it seemed like the creature was tired of the last battle bandit massacre and was now asleep on top of the main building. Which was great, because it meant the three of them could slip away unnoticed and not be troubled by any bandits. Once again, the joint task force had saved the day!

[exit]