Moving up? (Mission)

Mission Details:

The smirk on Ken Tanahashi’s face was probably something that people would stare at as he made his way down his slum and towards the village gates. He was wearing his undyed Linen robes, which were generally used for assignments  or tasks where stealth may be important, and it sounded like today he was going to actually go on a good job. The letter he had received had informed him that he would be working with a high ranking member of the village, and his task was considered extremely important. Apparently some rich business owner had hired a fancy architect he had to make his way to the Land of Rivers. Given his experience guarding the caravans in the past, his particular skills were considered an assert to this mission, but as it was extremely important and potentially very dangerous they were going to let him go alone...that was fine by him.

He wrapped the chain of his Kusurigama around his shoulder and chest, putting the quiver of arrows at his hip and shouldering his bow as well as he made his preparations, also filling his water skin and taking his tin of hand rolled cigarettes. He planned on being to his assignment early, nothing like a chance to impress someone higher up so that hopefully he would be able to get more assignments like this going forward. It was still cool as the sun hadn’t risen yet, and the village was a completely different place at this time of day. It was really a place that impressed the Samurai, somewhere that had once been his home back when it was just a hamlet, then was destroyed under the thumb of “Sunagakure”, but had turned itself around in that time. This place had been his hell for the past year, but right now it seemed quite beautiful.

As he finally reached the gates he looked around for his charge, finding the architect with his cart and nodding to him as he pulled a cigarette from the tin and lit it, drawing the smoke deep into his lungs as he did. He smiled once again, feeling the smoke cloud his mind as he looked up at the star filled sky. It was beautiful here...and today was the start of the rest of his life. The smoke passed through his nose and dissipated into the air around him as he continued to scan for threats, and for his partner on this task. He knew nothing about this person, except that they were a jounin of the village, and would be considered a Ninja. He hadn’t had the...pleasure? Of working with any of the ninja yet, and generally Samurai and Ninja were natural enemies, but it seemed he would have to put those differences behind him for the sake of the cause.

(20 exp)
469/1750 jutsu training

Out under the heat of Sunagakure’s sun, Ei was dressed in her usual attire. An ornate kimono, painted in beautiful reds and blacks and whites across the silken fabric that gave the outfit a quality similar to a painting. Along her lower half the kimono was adorned with a variety of white birds flying against the backdrop, looping around her outfit to end where they began. An obi sash was tightly wrapped around her midsection to hold the silk against her body tightly, and beneath that she would have her chest tightly bound as to not become an inconvenience in any potential combat. Both in her hair and along her obi sash were a variety of pins, holding fabric tightly wrapped to mimic the shape of flowers. The red and black flowers in her hair emphasized the natural blackness of her hair, wavy and cut short as to barely reach her shoulders. The geta sandals she wore, giving the short woman an extra two inches of height, would emphasize every step she made as she approached, the last punctuation mark on her extravagant appearance. It was impossible to say that Ei Kanagawa looked like a shinobi, but at the same time appearances could be deceiving. And at the same time, what did a shinobi look like? A flak jacket and a set of holsters to hold kunai? Perhaps that was what they traditionally wore, but there was nothing saying that they had to look like that.

The click-clack of her geta against the stone path to the gates would punctuate every step of hers. It wasn’t often that she involved herself in these sorts of missions. It was somewhat uncharacteristic of heer. Ei was very much more the sort that preferred to stay inside the village when doing work, and if possible not engage in any direct combat. Truthfully, she rarely took missions in the first place. Her role as a shinobi only came as a method to subsidize her career as an artist, which unfortunately often wasn’t enough to pay her bills. That she insisted on wearing such beautiful and extravagant outfits likely didn’t help with that, but she was a woman of class and taste. There would be no compromising. It also seemed like nobody had any interest in a living artist’s work. While she did make decent amounts of money from selling her paintings, it was merely pocket change compared to what she knew the works of the long dead greats sold for. She occasionally would consider faking her own death just to see if it would have a result on the sorts of prices her works sold for. At the same time that would be rather inconvenient to do, so she would put up with doing shinobi work for pay in the meanwhile.

She would reach the scene of the cart at the direct border of the gates. The caravan itself was easily identifiable, along with the variety of civilians surrounding it. A man with a kusarigama partially wrapped around his shoulder and chest, along with wearing a quiver of arrows and a bow, would be who she would only assume would be her assigned partner for this mission. Judging just from his appearance he must have been of a similar age, rather than some young brat who she would have to guide through things. It was a bit of a relief. Ei would approach him, even as rude as it may be to interrupt a man on their cigarette break. Once close she would bow, lowering herself to a forty five degree angle in a traditional formal greeting. After a moment she would raise herself again, and with a slight smile she would address the man.

“Ei Kanagawa. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Ken could sense the impressive chakra of the individual approaching him before he could see her, assuming this was the ninja that he was being paired up with. When she came into view he gave a puzzled look as he saw she was dressed in something that would be extremely warm in the desert, instantly judging her inadequate survival skills for such a climate. He decided to put that thought behind him, however, as the ninja tended to have very different ways of coping with such things as opposed to the general and practical ways. He was taller than the woman by several inches, but he attributed that to her footwear. He was wearing a more practical sandal, one that wouldn’t make his balance worse when walking across the sand, though again, Ninja were crafty.

“Do you...do you fight in silk? In the desert? How do you keep from getting overheated?” He couldn’t help it, it just all seemed so impractical to him. He shook his head. “I’m sorry, that was rude of me. I haven’t been interacting with too many people recently...My name is Ken, last of the Tanahashi line of Samurai. I’ve never worked with a ninja before...it’ll be interesting to see how you work.” He offered up a kind smile to the young woman, maybe a couple years younger than him at most, and took another draw from his cigarette before putting it out under his boot and walking towards the man they were being charged to protect.

“This is the first time I’ve been given a real mission. Your leader isn’t a fan of giving such jobs to...non ninja personal I suppose. To be fair, if I ran the village I wouldn’t give important missions to ninja, I’d only trust the samurai. I can’t say I blame them. It wasn’t long ago that your people slaughtered my family, after all. There’s bad blood on both sides...not that I’m bitter. I’ve spent too much time living on the streets to be bitter. Now I’m just sad for the people like me, those of us who have nothing, skilled people who live in poverty because this village won’t take a shot on us.” He chuckled to himself under his breath, sure he was talking a little bit too much. “I’m sorry to talk your ear off. I don’t get a lot of chances to engage in conversation, and I’ve become a little poor in that kind of skill. What is our plan?”

Chakra: 109.5/110
(40 exp)

The male before her would immediately bounce off into questioning, and Ei would stifle a bit of laughter. It was cute. She didn’t get this reaction very often, but it did happen occasionally. With how often people in this village wore head scarves or other protective gear, Ei did get a few looks and questioning based on how she dressed every so often. It was only natural. There was no way they could know about the unique way in which her body worked. She supposed it was good that he at least showed concern about it, and was willing to make conversation the matter.

“So quick to question a woman’s outfit? Rather bold of you, Mister Samurai.” She would let out a small laugh. Ei couldn’t help but tease him a bit. “But, you have no need to worry for me. I’m the most comfortable while wearing silk. It’s… ah, I would show you, but suddenly touching another on our first meeting would be rather rude of me. The heat has never bothered me though. My body is a good deal hotter than that of the average person. If you were to touch my skin you would see, and the heat would likely make it rather uncomfortable for you.” The invitation was open, although she didn’t expect him to take her up on the offer. With her body heat naturally being at a toasty 116 degrees fahrenheit, the heat of the desert even in the middle of the day was never a problem for her. Her skin seemed to be similarly genetically selected for the environment, which could be evidently seen just from just how fair-skinned she was. It was a Kekkei Genkai, although one in its earlier and untrained staged. Ei herself wasn’t aware she had one, and so it wouldn’t be so easy to just explain it away like that. Instead just the symptoms could be described to others.

She would walk along with him to the man they were hired to protect, listening to him speak as they did. It seemed that he had a lot to say. She would simply listen, and allow him to speak as he pleased. Ei had no real opinion on the entire samurai versus shinobi thing. She was only a shinobi as a way to subsidize her work as an artist. It was just her job, rather than a way of life for her. There wasn’t any attachment to the title, and so it was impossible for her to be offended by someone who had a dislike of shinobi.

“Mm. I see.” She would nod her head as he finished speaking. “To review the status of our mission, we were both hired to escort this architect and his cart to the Land of Rivers. Given his status and the leaking of information that has spread around the nation in the last several days, we should expect there to be an assault on his life. The most prudent thing would be to form a close perimeter together with the caravan and watch for assault from all potential angles.” She would glance at the cart. “Hopefully there won’t be any trouble, but if so one of us will have to dedicate ourselves to guarding the direct person of the architect, and the other to dragging away foes in order to slaughter them.”

When invited to do so, Ken would hover his hand above the woman’s skin before pulling back, feeling the heat radiating off of her. It made sense instantly. She possessed some form of unique ninja ability that made her core temperature extremely high. He imagined this would be tremendously useful if someone tried to capture her, a neat little ninja trick to be sure. As she spoke about the mission he nodded along, noting that she had decided to ignore what he had said for the most part, which suited him just fine. He had no issues with glossing over the depressing things he had mentioned, and realistically didn’t want to talk about them. It was just nice to have someone to talk too; he was getting tired of talking to himself...that was depressing.

“I spent eight years of my life specifically guarding a caravan. I have a feeling that’s part of why I was allowed to go on this job. I have been known to take down multiple targets at once, generally utilizing my bow from a distance and then using swords when I close the gap...the Kusurigama should suffice here. I can defend the target from close. You Ninjas with your ninja magic are probably more suited for the more stealthy work anyway.” He took the bow off of his shoulder and put an arrow in his hand, gently holding it near the bowstring as they continued their trek. His passive chakra sensory wasn’t picking up anything at the moment, so they seemed to at least be safe at the moment, but he knew that could change at any moment.

“How long have you...been a ninja? What age do they start your training usually? And how did you learn the skin thing?” He realistically had very little knowledge on how the inner workings of being shinobi went. He was somewhat curious on the subject, and as this was his first ever interaction with one, he was going to try to take the chance to learn what he could. “If that isn’t an invasive question of course, I apologize if it is.”

Chakra 109/110
(60 exp)

“Learn?” She waited until he was finished speaking to respond, although that bit did make her respond just out of sheer surprise. It took her a moment to process his words, and then she would give something of a small laugh. “No, I didn’t learn this. I’ve been of this temperature as long as I can remember. From the moment I was born, as my father would used to tell me. May the Sage rest his soul.” Even though it was something of an invasion question she didn’t mind answering. Few would dare to question her on something like that, especially as it required close contact to even discover. At the same time, as it was a mystery even to herself why her body was as it was, she felt no need to keep it a secret. It was simply how she had always known life.

“I can tell you must be very curious about the lifestyle of shinobi. Please, don’t feel afraid to ask any questions that float up to your mind.” She would say, giving a knowing smile over to the man. It made for good conversation while they waited for any potential action. “As for what you asked though… I started training back when the village formed. I believe I was eleven? Although it was such a long time ago I can’t recall exactly how old I was. Training now does traditionally begin younger than that though. Most students enter the Shinobi Academy at eight years old now. I suppose if one came from a family traditionally associated with Shinobi they might receive private tutoring even before that.”

She would laugh a bit at the comment on ‘ninja magic’ though. It was cute. She had never heard it described like that before, and the idea was rather amusing. “How about you, Mister Samurai? Why not entertain your partner a bit with tales of your own martial training?”

The thought of someone being born at such a temperature was quite shocking to Ken, as well as getting started on training at such an old age. By the time Ken was eleven, he had been training for seven years under his father’s tutelage, but he chalked that up to the Samurai being more dedicated to their craft. To be perfectly fair he didn’t know if every Samurai had the same training he did, and he hoped for their sake that they hadn’t honestly, but it had certainly given him an interesting outlook on life. The two of them continued their walk and he heard her ask him about his own training, referring to him as “Master Samurai” which made him smile. The old Bowyer had called him the same, but before that it had been along time.

“My training was...intense. When I was old enough to stand, my father began to teach me footwork and when I could properly hold it, he gave me a Boken and began teaching me to wield it. He taught me to use a bow, when I could properly draw the arrow back, and my training didn’t really end, not properly anyway. When I was fourteen my father took me deep into the desert and left me there to ‘survive or die’. I wasn’t to come back until I had mastered my craft, whatever that meant. I learned a lot in my two years alone in the desert.” He would shake his head and chuckle softly. “After that, a merchant caravan found me. They were being attacked by bandits and I helped them get rid of them, at which point the owner, Master Suzuki, gave me a job protecting him. I was there until a little over a year ago with them.” A flash of sadness would cross over his face as he came to this.

“I came here to find the land changed and my little hamlet destroyed. My family had died when the ninja came to claim the land, my father trying to defend the village but ultimately failing. My life had been taken from me, and while I slept on the rubble of my former house, my weapons were as well. I have survived on the streets ever since, foraging for food and taking the simple jobs that the village would give me.” He could feel a chakra source approaching, and then more than one, scanning ahead. “And now we are here...about to be ambushed.”

Chakra - 108.5/110
(80 exp)

When he was old enough to stand? How interesting. She did expect the training for samurai to be different, but not in this way. She did know stories of shinobi being trained to be fighting machines around the ages of six or eight, but she couldn’t imagine a literal toddler having any productive time in training. Ei assumed this was something of a hyperbole, but either way it didn’t matter all too much. She respected the samurai and their training. Training in the art of how to wield a sword or bow were legitimate forms of artistic expression in her eyes, even if they were often used as simple tools of warfare. The line between artistic expression and war though was at times a thin thing.

The story he gave about his home being destroyed in the foundation of Sunagakure was something she could unfortunately relate to though. Having been just a civilian who lived in the area before the formation of Sunagakure, Ei watched the village be formed first hand around what used to be her home. While Ei adopted the life of a shinobi, she could tell just from his voice that Kensai had a powerful resentment towards them for killing his father and destroying his home. “I sympathise with your story. I too lived in the area where Sunagakure would be built during my childhood. It’s a coincidence that we both had. Perhaps if you hadn’t been sent away to hone your skills we would have met, and perhaps become friends.” She did sympathize with him, but there was nothing that could be done now. She could only listen respectfully as he gave his story. “Unlike you, I had no formal training at that point except in painting. If the village hadn’t been build, I imagine I would have remained that way.”

The interruption that came as he informed her of the ambush caused her to perk up to alertness. “Ah. I assume you must have some sort of skills with sensing then, despite being a samurai? Interesting.” She knew of Azuma who had a similar talent. It was an admirable skill, but not one that she had any talent in cultivating herself. Not that she seemed to have any need with how reliable Azuma was. “How many are there?” She would take a gaze out towards the distance, seeing if she could spot anything coming close. If he was making not of them, they must have been of some significant strength to set their chakra signatures apart from mere civilians.

“If you can point me in their direction, I can say with confidence that they’ll be removed. Although, perhaps would you want to show off your skills, Mister Samurai? With all that training, I can only assume you’d be a master with the sword.” She would smile at him. It seemed as though it would be best to allow him to take out any pent up aggression he might have. Ei knew how boys were. Rushing to action herself would have a chance to just make him frustrated, and so she would allow him to take the lead here. It was only fair as well, as he was the one who spotted them with his sensory skills.

The woman told Ken that her upbringing, at least in where she had lived, was a similarly sad story, something that made him frown. It was unfortunate to hear from someone else whom had suffered similarly, as he would wish that on nobody, but as it was the case he had decided that at least the two of them were still here. She mentioned that had circumstances been different they may have been friends, and he supposed that could be true enough. She was a nice enough person anyway and he couldn’t say he was disliking their time together at all, quite the contrary; it was nice having another combat trained individual to speak with. She would mention his sensory skills, to which he would answer “The Samurai are well versed in the ability to seek one’s Ki, using it in order to allow us to have a leg up on the shinobi in combat. It is a very useful tool.”

He would take a second before answering again, feeling several strong energies up ahead. “I sense...eight strong Kis of varying degrees, one is head and shoulders stronger than the rest, two more being a cut above the other five. I believe that the best course of action would be to use your sneaky ninja trickery and circle around on them, they will likely send the weaker ones first, whom I have no doubt in my mind I will be able to take on my own. I am not feeling specific elemental natures from most, which is something I would generally pick up, so I’d hazard to guess they are not as well trained as you or I...these are bandits likely. The stronger one has a strong attunement to the spirits of water, so beware of their techniques. They aren’t far, just up ahead, I can already sense the weaker ones beginning to move towards the caravan.”

Ken would pull the bow off of his shoulder and knock an arrow, looking towards where he had sensed the signatures, adjusting his bow’s angle for the attack. He licked his lips and drew the string back until he was positive that the Ki signature he was sensing was continuing its forward momentum and let the arrow loose, waiting a second before watching the signature disappear from his senses as the other four looked around confused. “I think I’ve stunned them. There’s only seven now...It may be a good time to make your move.”

Chakra - 108/110
(100 exp)

Eight of them of varying strengths, with one head and shoulders above the rest, and two being a cut above the remainder. The general outlook then was five of a weaker sort, two of a middle sort, and one who seemed to clearly be the leader. She would nod at the information. Already Kensai was proving himself competent. No specific elemental natures from most of them, but the strongest being naturally attuned to Suiton was a bit annoying. Ei herself wasn’t all too skilled in elemental manipulation, only having recently discovered any talent in the field. She was just barely capable of elemental manipulation with Katon and Fuuton, a secret she had been keeping until she managed to get to a more adequate skill level. Hard elemental ninjutsu had never exactly been her focus, and with her painting she rarely had the time to practice it, but a part of her felt she needed to. It wasn’t as much as Ko was capable of, with her lacking any talent in Doton, but two out of the three elements he could manipulate wasn’t bad. Still, that combination here would be of little value.

She would watch Ken pull the bow off his shoulder and knock an arrow. It was a neat combination with his skills in sensory. With the string twanging as he released it the arrow would fly outwards. With the confirmation he gave that there were only seven now, Ei could only assume that it had flown true and hit its mark. Now it was her turn.

“Very well.” She would flash her hands into a variety of hand seals. The ‘ninja trickery’ he was referring to. It wasn’t exactly the most basic of techniques, but the Transparent Escape Technique was something she was familiar with. Chakra would be applied to the outer layer of her skin and clothing and would apply to it a degree of transparency. She would become nearly invisible. The downside would be that this technique severely limited her mobility, but that was fine in a situation like this. She would head off in the direction that the arrow had been shot in, but would be limited to only a walking speed. If Kensai’s prediction was correct, the weaker bandits would be likely sent in first before she would reach their position, leaving Kensai to deal with them while Ei got into position.

-Using Transparent Escape Technique
Chakra 175 /185

As the shinobi made her way, Ken began preparing for his own assault. The erratic movement of the targets would make them more difficult to shoot at this point, so instead he would focus his Ki and activate a pair of techniques that his father had taught him in order to quickly get the drop on his opponents. The first would would focus ki into his feet and legs, increasing his speed for a short burst, more than enough to close the gap between them, and the second was taking his ki and focusing it into the full body robes that he wore, using it to adapt it to the colour and texture of the sands that he was surrounded by. This would make him neigh invisible until it was far too late. He quickly and quietly closed the gap to the four bandits, taking out his Kusurigama and swinging the chain before lashing out with it in order to take out one of the men by the leg, quickly pulling him towards him and ending him with a deep slice to the throat with the sickle, ensuring he had cut the vocal chords so that he wound be unable to scream.

He could hear the bandits talking quietly, concern and fear in their voices as they noticed another of their comrades had vanished. Ken took the chance to remove the arrow from the other man’s eye and put it back into his quiver, sneaking up behind the others as they had decided to stick together. This would make them easier to kill more efficiently normally...if he had his sword. Unfortunately, he didn’t, and his skill with the kusurigama wasn’t quite as impressive, though it was something he would be able to work with. This would be more of a fight than he was used to when it came to fighting bandits, but he wouldn’t shy away from that. He would get the kusurigama swinging once again, getting close behind and releasing it so that the ball would hit the middle bandit in the back of the skill, making him fall to the ground.

The other two turned around as their comrade fell to the ground limp, Ken smiling a wicked smile as he swung the chain of the Kusurigama, both men drawing large knives as Ken chuckled. “You picked the wrong caravan to fuck with, gentlemen. You’ve picked a fight with the devil, and like your friends, you will not survive the night....”

103.5 Chakra
Sensory
Body Flicker
Invisibility Cloak

(120 exp)

Given the speed she was forced to move at, Ei wouldn’t be all too far away when the bandits began to approach. Their charge forward, even if made with erratic movements, came much quicker than she was capable of moving, and as a result a direct pincher assault where she snuck directly behind them and began attacking would be impossible. Knowing this, Ei would instead move to the side. It would be to catch them by surprise, but also to make sure that the caravan and her partner were outside of any blast radiuses. Once she was parallel with the caravan around fifteen meters off to the side she would wait for the action to begin.

It seemed that she didn’t have to wait at all though, especially given that Kensai seemed more than eager to begin the slaughter. She would watch as Kensai rushed towards the bandits, and from her own position she could see the throat of one man mysteriously slit after Kensai had disappeared into the sands. It seemed that he was more than content rushing towards and fighting the remaining of the weaker bandits. Given his progress so far it seemed that he would make short work of them. Her eyes would focus on the remaining three, off still in the distance.

Her hands would form the Tiger seal, and the moment they did something magical would happen. The two elements she had, Katon and Futon, would twist and twirl together inside her body until they merged as one. Together, more than the sum of their parts, they would form into Shakuton. Scorch Release. The chakra would be ejected from her still invisible body in the shape of three suns, all which for a moment would orbit around her unseeable form. This rotating orbit would only last for a second though, and then they would all blast forward at a blinding speed. One would be set down for each of the three remaining, and would travel out in a guided path towards their intended targets.

One of three, who’s slow reactions would seem to imply they were not the leader, would find themselves caught off guard by the Shakuton. The orb would smash into his body while the other two skirted back, engaging in evasive maneuvers. Immediately upon contact all the liquid would evaporate from the poor man’s body, streaming out through his skin and eyes and mouth until he was nothing more than a dessicated husk that more resembled a mummy than a man. The orb that made contact with him would be consumed by the death, while the other two would continue to track their designated targets. In the heat of the moment the two bandits only attempted to evade, needing their entire focus to be dedicated to their speed in order to escape the flurrying suns that were quickly gaining round.

180/185
-Scorch Release: Extremely Steaming Murder

As the shinobi made her way into the battle Ken could feel the heat of the entire area seemingly increasing, hearing a horrible hiss that sounded like a lake evaporating and the steam squeezing out of a very small space...The human body was majority liquid after all. Kensai tried not to focus on what was going on over there, his attention split between the two men in front of him, and the third who was unconscious on the ground. The ball of his Kusurigama would continue to swing from side to side, alternating and making it difficult for the men to step closer to Kensai as the would easily be caught by the chain. They decided to begin to split up and try to circle him from either side, and as they did this Ken would begin to focus his Ki inside of his body, focusing on one of the more advanced techniques his father had showed him to deal with similar situations.

His eyes would glow and the surge of power would disturb the sand around him, kicking it up as he channelled the power of the wind. He would focus that power into his left hand prepare for a simultaneous attack that would at the very least drop the individual who had the greatest advantage on him. He could feel the third man rising to his feet and ending up near the man behind him, a smile moving across the Samurai’s face as it all worked out better than he could have even anticipated. He understood their plan; the man in the front draws the attack while the two behind go in for the kill. It was a good plan, and often worked on people who were much less skilled...but it wouldn’t work on a Samurai like Ken...

The man in front would move in and Ken would throw the ball, catching his blade with the chain and pulling it. He felt the two behind him moving in for the kill as he reached his left hand behind him and released a razor sharp gale of wind, controlling it and driving it through the throats of both men, causing their heads to roll to the ground below. He could feel the spray of their blood as their headless bodies fell to the ground, the wind still available to be used. As he wrestled the blade free from the other man’s hand he swung the chain around once more, wrapping it around his torso as the ball would smash into his chest, taking the wind out of him. Ken would bring the blade of wind back around and use it to take his legs just above the knee, causing a scream of pain as the man fell before going into shock. Ken would dissipate the blade of wind and use the man’s own blade to finish him off, cutting his throat as he had done before, and then focusing on the other battle, where he could tell what was going on by the chakra signatures of each combatant...

Chakra 93/110
Sensory
Beast Tearing Palm (Trained)

(140 exp)

Just as Kensai did to her, Ei would do her best to focus entirely on her fight and allow the samurai to work on his own. She had no need to intervene in the first place, trusting that his skills were adequate to succeed wherever he went regarding combat. Ei had her work set out for her anyway, and taking time to distract herself watching over someone else would likely just result in her own death. Especially now that her invisibility was dropped, and the two remaining bandits she was in charge of taking out were aware of her location and attacks.

In a sense, the orbs of Shakuton chakra were bait. While they were extremely deadly and Ei would have likely more than anything to just kill her three targets here and now, they served the dual purpose of hopefully bringing out the Suiton that Kensai had informed her that one of the bandits possessed. If this could be drawn out then she could accurately determine who to focus on between these two remaining. Of course, this may be just overthinking the situation. Her Shakuton balls were incredibly fast, and with how she caught these three by surprise it may just result in all of them dying before any sort of those mind games could be played out.

She would be proven wrong moments later. One of the two remaining shinobi she was tracking down, seeing that it would be only a matter of time before the balls caught up with him, began forming hand seals. He would flip himself around once he finished, and the spray of water that he produced would collide into the ball that was tracking him. Immediately a massive amount of steam would be produced, and both techniques would be captured in the blast. The massive amount of steam that had been produced would coat the area, and the man that had been identified as the strongest bandit would disappear into this steam cover and escape from Ei’s sight.

The other wouldn't be so lucky. Unable to escape, the Shakuton orb would collide into him just the same as it did to his partner. He would scream, loud and desperate in a way that rang out into Ei’s ears. The sound of steam escaping from his body would come after this, and the husk that had formerly been a human would drop to the ground..

The fight would now be one on one.

He wasn’t close enough to see what was actually going on, but he could see flares of impressive chakra and the extinguishing others, deciding to leave the woman to her own devices as he made his way towards the person of interest that they were protecting, checking to make sure there were no other potential attackers around looking to take him out. He would calm the man down, assuring him that the two of them had everything in hand and there would be no further issues when the young woman came back from her battle. He could still feel the fight happening in the distance and decided not to worry the man any more.

It felt good to be doing the kind of work he was truly suited too once more. He was happy to be able to be useful in such a way. It had been a difficult time for him since coming back to his former home and he needed more experiences like this in order to feel like his old self again. He would smile a soft smile and pull his tin of cigarettes out of his sash, lighting one and drawing deeply as the smoke filled his lungs and made his head swim. It wouldn’t take the woman long to get back, she was impressively strong. He wondered about her powers, but she didn’t seem to know much more about them than he did...

Chakra - 92.5/110
(160 exp)

Perfect. She had anihilated the two extras and dissolved the situation down to just her and the most skilled one, according to Kensai. Her Shakuton would be useless with his Suiton affinity, as he had already shown by turning her steaming orb into just steam. Dealing with Suiton was tricky for her. Katon was equally as useless as Shakuton when dealing with it, and so that only left her with Fuuton. There was nothing wrong with Fuuton, but at the same time it limited her options a good deal. Shakuton was the sort of advanced element that had low versatility. It was high in offensive output and raw damage, but when it came to defense, or dealing with alternate elements, it had low potential. Both Suiton and Doton made things difficult for it, and neither it or Katon could deal with those two elements well.

As soon as she saw the steam raise up into the air from her Shakuton orb being destroyed Ei would form some more hand seals. Hammer the gap. Press the advantage. Don’t give them any time to rest. Overwhelm them with brute force. It was necessary, since she had no ability to switch into a defensive stance other than just pure dodging. She needed to kill this man immediately.

Wind would stream out from her mouth. She blew with all the power she had. All the air in her lungs would be blown out, and with her chakra more and more would be created and blown in a vast colliding current of air. It would blow up a massive storm in the sand as it traveled out, blowing with an incredible speed and ferocity. It was a wide range attack, and with how fast it moved and how wide the attack was it would be impossible for the man to dodge.

He saw it coming, and in a haste he would form hand signs of his own. Water would spray down to the sand, blowing up to form a shield of flowing water between him in the blast. It wouldn’t be enough. The water and his body would be swept up by the storm, being blown off with the power of the current. The wind would slash at him as it carried him in its gale, with massive gashes and cuts appearing throughout his body, with the wind slicing through his armor.

Ei would take a moment to breath. The gale would blow out to its full distance, and she had caught the man in it cleanly. He was surely dead.

She would turn back to the caravan, and back to her ally. “All clear?”

160/185
-20 Great Sickle Weasel

He felt the ki of the last target being extinguished by the impressive display of power from the young woman and a smile would briefly cross his face. It was interesting to see the abilities of these people on display, and Ei had proven herself to be an impressive combatant, taking on the stronger folks seemingly with ease. As she approached the caravan once more she would ask him if everything was good.

“Worry not, they’re all dead. I imagine even were we to run into anyone else between the two of us they would pose no threat.” The engineer seemed to be at ease after this news as Kensai made his way towards the young woman, feeling heat radiating from her. He didn’t know how he hadn’t noticed it before, it seemed so obvious now. This power was something different from anything he had ever comprehended in the past, and it was truly unique and fascinating. He checked his weapons to ensure they were in their proper places, moving to clean the arrow that had firmly landed in the bandit’s eye, before putting it back in his quiver. His previously undyed robes were now soaked red with blood, something that wasn’t so easy to get out...fortunately he looked good in red.

“Your skills are very impressive. I’m almost sad I didn’t get to see them first hand, but I could feel the tremendous power of your...chakra...as you used your abilities. The strength of the shinobi is every bit as impressive as my father had told me, and I understand why he feared them.” He would inhale deeply from the cigarette, trapping the smoke in his lungs before passing it out through his nose and watching as it dissipated into the night air...

Chakra 92/110
(180 exp)

It was impressive how fast the adrenaline left her. The combat had been so fast. It felt like a long time in the moment, when it was actually happening, but now she realized just how short a time everything had taken place during. Her Shakuton orbs moved at an incredible rate, and the moments where she had been tracking her foes was akin to a high speed chase. There had been too much to focus on all at once, and then the ending with the leader being blown back just as he defended. It only hit her after she had taken a breath and everything was already over. With all the adrenaline leaving her veins she felt for a moment how fast her heart had been beating.

It had been a long time since she had been in direct combat like this. Her skills were rusty. Or perhaps, not her skills. Those orbs of Shakuton she had created just then were new to her. Only weeks ago was she able to actually materialize any of this, much less use either of the elements that constituted it. It was her mental fortitude. Training was nothing. She had forgotten what combat was like, an what it was like to kill a person.

“That’s excellent to hear. If they’re all dead we have nothing more to worry about, other than perhaps getting you a new change of clothing.” A smile followed it. It was a small joke, seeing as her new friend seemed to be completely soaked in blood now.

“You flatter me, Mister Samurai. Although, you have nothing to fear. Especially a man of your acumen and skill..” A slight tilt of her head would follow. One of her hairpins had been displaced slightly by the sudden movements she had made during combat. It would be the focus of her attention for a moment, both hands raised to fix it before she would regard Kensai again.

“Ah… As I was saying, you have nothing to fear from shinobi, or myself specifically. I’m sure we can maintain a positive relationship going into the future.”

She would watch the smoke from his cigarette escape into the night sky. As the sun lowered through the sky and the night got colder a similar phenomenon would start to rise up from her. The heat rising from her body would be visible in the chilled air that surrounded her, in visible streaks of distortion that leaked into the air. Those around her would feel the heat as clearly as they could see it, and the woman would become a mobile space heater for their travels during the rest of the mission.

[Exit]

Kensai would nod as Ei spoke, taking in her words and smiling as he killed his cigarette, crushing it into the sand under his boot. The mission would move on with no issues and the two of them wouldn’t have much more than small chat for the rest of the time, something that Kensai didn’t particularly mind. He always had his mind of the next mission, his next way to make a bit of money and gain some more worldly experience so he could move towards his goal of taking the Iron Country back from the disgusting shinobi who had decided to occupy it. One day they would all lay dead at his feet, but until then he would continue to play their games and learn their strengths, so that when it was time he would be better prepared for what was to come...

{Exit}
(200 exp)