Ealtz Castle - Main Tower

Akihiro's spidey senses had tingled! There was something incredibly strange about this castle and so he had refused to enter the ballroom and instead he chose to send a Shadow Clone in his place. The young Uchiha had used a smoke bomb and Genjutsu to cover his real body's escape. He had jumped off the small stone bridge that led up to the small wooden gate towards the rocks surrounding the castle, and by applying chakra to his feet he quietly crept up the rocks and the castle walls until he reached the top of the tallest tower, taking care to avoid windows and move under the cover of the clouds which occasionally blocked the moonlight. Hopping from tower roof to tower roof, always trying to remain hidden. The young Uchiha could only hope Zurui had managed to follow him there. He was looking for a good vantage point from which he could survey the castle's courtyard and lesser towers. The climb took a few minutes especially considering the way Akihiro was moving, but once he arrived at the roof of the tower he found a place where four maybe five people could easily stand without interfering with each other's personal space. The castle was indeed impressive. Akihiro crouched over the ledge, looking down while he waited for Zurui or maybe someone else who felt like something was wrong. "The castle isn't bigger than the Uchiha fortress once was, but its certainly impressive..." Akihiro touched the roof where he was standing with his hands, examining the materials from which it was made. While most of the castle towers were spiked and covered in tiles, the largest tower was square and made entirely out of stone. "Impressive and old. "

Using:
Infiltration UA
(...)through the use of his natural chakra and Genjutsu prowess to deceive enemies, he can hide his presence for three posts to any sensory technique and perception rank equal or lower than his class(...)

The small cat that had tailed Akihiro suddenly transformed back into Zurui, the version of him with dark hair and mask, of course. He looked around from the top of the castle, wondering perhaps what they might even do here. It was an impressive place, for sure, but the lacking staff in place here left him wondering if perhaps the whole thing was a boring trap -not even the kind with a good dinner and hefty distraction beforehand. Though what kind of nut would invite a mass of ninja from all over the continent for a trap? Surely there was no trap that good.

The Jounin lightly shook his head. There were insufficient details for any kind of judgement just yet, but then, that's what they were doing up there. "Well, Sparrow, what do you make of this place?"

"Oh, hey Zurui. Glad you could make it." Akihiro felt his friend's presence next to him, but he refused to take his eyes off the castle and its courtyard. There was definitely something strange about this whole thing. "Well it's the first time I've even heard of Ealtz Castle or Volenstadt. As far as I was concerned, this place was a damned wasteland. And yet... Look." Akihiro pointed at the walls of the castle, and his finger pointer then moved slowly towards the ground where the castle foundations stood. "Look, the foundations are strong and well repaired from the lowest stone to the tip of the towers. This castle wasn't built by any amateurs or marauding tribes. There are clearly signs of advanced engineering principles applied to these structures. And despite that this place looks incredibly old. The reason we don't have impressive buildings as old as this castle back in the Land of Fire is mostly because we didn't have the technology nor the knowledge to build them. It almost feels like we travelled centuries into the future and are now looking at the empty ruins of our most modern fortresses. Although this looks nothing like a ruin... The fact that there's such an advanced old building here and we haven't heard the slightest thing about this place is... bothering me." Akihiro then breathed in the air of the night. It was cold, and turned into a cloud of white smoke as it left Akihiro's lips.

"And then there's this whole atmosphere. The castle is huge but we've only seen a single person so far. The buttler. I glimpsed at the ballroom but it was empty, no one else there but the guests." A chill ran down his spine, but he shook his head and glanced at Zurui. "What do you think?"

"A castle this large is far too great an ordeal for any single man to keep up with. We can assume there are more people, perhaps in hiding, or that this butler or the mysterious Count Volseig, Lord of Vladveria, possess some kind of power..." Zurui thought back on the invite and that mention of rising dead. It was entirely possible that there was a staff for this castle staying out of sight -they'd only seen the ballroom thus far, after all. But what Zurui was considering is that there may be something supernatural to this whole thing. A castle of advanced construction clearly hundreds of years old in a land previously thought abandoned suddenly appearing out of nowhere with mention of death around the event of hallow's eve implied a sinister plot at work. Maybe the Count and the Butler weren't as human as they might be expected to be. Maybe they were part of death and this was a ghost castle. Or maybe it's maybelline.

"I don't like it. There are too many unknowns in the air right now. We'll need to investigate further, but it's likely going to be one of the more dangerous things we've done, and for little reason beyond our own curiosity."

"Well that may appear to be the case..." Akihiro stated, considering Zurui's point about how little they were gaining for such a huge risk. If these guys had managed to build a castle like this hundreds of years ago, then they certainly also held advanced battle techniques. One could only hope they weren't too overpowered for the duo to handle. They had managed to survive some pretty nasty fights in the last two years but Akihiro was smart enough to know there was *always* someone stronger in the world, around there somewhere.

"But the vast majority of the guests who entered that ballroom are ninjas from either Konoha or Kirigakure no ato. If something happens and they fall, both our villages will lose a lot of firepower. I understand it might be dangerous, but it's not like we can just ignore the situation. This gut feeling...we can't ignore it. We should stand on watch for now... See if there's any strange activity in the courtyard or outside. Maybe look through a few windows...besides" Akihiro smirked, noting that the two of them had gone well over the "legal" line of things many times. "With such an ancient castle, there's gotta be *something* here worth going through that danger for."

Shinoskay, finding the ball room much too public and intense for someone who tends to unnerve people and futher who is use to not being around them, had arrived but became intimidated by the ballroom and so quickly wondered off to somewhere else much less crowded.

Eventually.... in his 3 sizes too large semi suite, semi witch/wizard overcoat, mostly fitting his torso but having sleeves the ended several inches past the ends of his finger, as well as toga like suite looking pants that flared at the ankles. He was not wearing his headband, it would be tucked away, out of sight.... Shinoskay would find himself in the presence of two individuals discussing something, he wasn't stealthy in his approach, his inexperience would likely have caused leaves and twigs to break along the way let along he would have had one or 10 bees hovering around the area and those almost always raise some alert and alarm.

He would have sensed the two, however, as neither seemed to be using suppression and so his sensory would have detected them over in this area... hence his reason for approaching. As he came to the scene, he would have been able to identify and coordinate with their distance to distinguish some 30 meters away and not yet in sight but within ear shot distance "hello, hey, sorry to interrupt but are you guys from the party?" his approach, now heralded with sound before sight, would only take moments before he would include sight to that. If they did not switch to acting hostile then he would continue until they were in sight... and if they didnt say anything back then he would include "This place seems so big, I was just checking it out too."

Akihiro began to speak of potential spoils and Zurui couldn't but crack a grin. They'd been through a lot of trouble many times prior to obtain valuable goods, nearly all of which they handed off to other criminals or aristocrats at dropoff depots. It'd be a nice change of pace to take something of great value that they could actually keep. With a castle this large, there was bound to be something, but a man in charge of an entire country certainly had resources to spare and spare those he would not when it came to his defenses. Truly, this might be their only easy way in -by invitation- but they'd certainly need to maintain their guard. The hardest part of infiltration is getting into the location. The second is not getting caught while seeking your spoil. The getting out is rarely the problem. Now, if he had set his outer defenses aside to invite many people in, then surely his internal defenses would be double or more. They'd need to take great care to evade detection and, as the guy in the oversized coat was about to prove, they were not terribly skilled at that.

"Yeah, we're just getting a look around." Said Zurui, glancing about. It looked like the people below were finally being beckoned in. He couldn't hear what was being said, but he could see movement. It would be up to his clone to determine what was actually happening down there. For now, he needed to focus on finding a quiet way into the castle to sneak around. Hopefully, with this being a foreign land, the people inside might not be familiar with chakra and wouldn't be able to use it to track them, like the coat guy. They may have other means, though, and they'd need to be wary of that.

The Kiri-nin looked to Akihiro for further decision. Though Zurui was the higher ranking of the two, he often defaulted to his inferior because if these last two years had proven anything, it's that Akihiro Uchiha is one smart child.

Akihiro glanced at the newcommer as he arrived. He hadn't been expecting anyone but Zurui to follow him, and this could foil their plans. The young Uchiha carefully examined Shinoskay while he spoke. The Chuunin was trying to evaluate the ninja's battle potential. He was clearly inexperienced considering both Akihiro and Zurui were trying to keep things quiet while he was walking around with some sort of insect buzzing all around him. For a moment Akihiro was of will to leave the new guy behind but then he remembered what Zurui said: This was going to be dangerous. Having an extra pair of hands around certainly wouldn't hurt. And if they did find treasure in this old castle there was certainly going to be enough for everyone on that small 3 men team.

"Hey." The Uchiha greeted him. "First things first, please quiet those insects. They can be heard from a mile away with this eery silence."  It was true that the top of the tower was silent. Silent and cold. Even as he spoke, small puffs of air left his lips. Akihiro tried to take a closer look at the insects, but from where he was standing. Approaching unknown animals could be...dangerous, to say the least. "You're an Aburame? No..." Akihiro tried to think back. He didn't forget faces- in fact, he forgot nothing at all. He could see the face of each person he'd met on the streets of Konoha clearly in his mind. Shinoskay's face wasn't one of them. "You're not a Konohagakure no Sato ninja. Then..." Akihiro made a pause, thinking back of what other clans used insects. His eyes widened a little when he realized where this ninja came from. "Heh, feast your eyes Zurui. You're looking at the rare sight of a Kamizuru clansman, famous bee tamers." He glanced at Zurui and then back at Shinoskay for confirmation. "Am I wrong? The flight patterns of your insects certainly match the ones of a common honey bee." Akihiro then glanced back at the castle courtyard. It was still silent. "The Kamizuru clan had a blood feud with the Aburame and Konoha many years ago, we believed them to have been eradicated. But once again our history books are proved wrong." Akihiro smirked. He had been responsible for correcting Konoha's history books many times before, but it was always satisfying to see the looks of elders' faces whenever they were proved wrong.

"I trust you're not here for payback." It obviously didn't make sense that this man had traveled all the way here just to get revenge for a battle which had occurred many years ago. If he was, tho, he'd be heavily outnumbered. "Well, I for one am glad you're here. I really think we hit the jackpot with this one, Zurui." Akihiro's smirk grew wider, as his glance changed focus between the bee user and the Kirigakure ninja. "The Kamizuru's specialty is infiltration." Akihiro's eyes focused on Shinoskay's. "Tell you what, from your approach I can tell you're clearly inexperienced... and yet surely you must've also noticed there's something off about this place. If you use your bees to check out the castle for us, we'll have much better intel on this place. We'll keep you protected here while you focus on your scouting, and we can figure out a plan of action together after acquiring more information. Sounds fair?" It was unusual for ninjas of the three Great Hidden Villages to work together, but there was something about this castle that made Akihiro feel like they wouldn't make it unless they worked together. Plus, they weren't here on official business and their villages weren't enemies or anything like that. Working together would surely be the smartest option.

Something about people and talking, they always liked to talk if they felt safe, something about the comfort just drew it out of a person. This was ok though, it worked in the boys favor.

"Yeah, we're just getting a look around."
Shinoskay made a glance over at the First man who spoke, and then back over to the other as he then took his turn. In time with him asking the genin to silence his bee's, all of them immediately went quiet as they took a sudden death dive downard to the ground... only to then immediately and furiously re engage their wings about 6 inches from the surface they were about to come into contact with.... just before then landing quietly before proceeding to crawl around in a manner comparable to searching ants. In reaction to not having any in the air, he immediately began to effortlessly form another 20 under his coat, to crawl up the inside of his sleeve and to the inside torso area. about 5 would stay in each sleeve while 10 would be in his torso area.

Moving past that, the boy watched as the Uchiha verbalized his puzzling and musing while he deciphered what the boy was, eventually concluding to "Heh, feast your eyes Zurui. You're looking at the rare sight of a Kamizuru clansman, famous bee tamers, famous bee tamers.". This was probably only partially right but it was close enough in that he was indeed of the Kamizuru "I am not here for any form of revenge, I approached as I did because shinobi are prone to react in a very deadly manner to surprises... however," The boy glanced over at one of his beers near the window before then glancing at one near the primary entryway, before then once more glancing back to Zurui and then Akihiro "I dont mind cooperating." He wasn't as good at hiding his intentions, it was clear there was something that occurred to him but it wasn't clear the nature of what. "I already have scouts in the ball room." It at least occurred to him, despite his sense of pride bidding him to gloat, that he should minimize what he presents even to what appears to be an ally. He was mostly here out of curiosity and going with the flow was fine but he knew enough that you could never trust how something looks... not anymore then 40 percent of it anymore.

Looking around again, Zurui could see a whole lot of castle other than just the ballroom. "We already have clones scouting out the ballroom. Perhaps it would be prudent to use the bees elsewhere in the castle, perhaps where there are less people to notice them?" The Jounin suggested. With everyone gathered in the ballroom, someone was sure to notice any stray bees wandering about, which meant eventually somebody would try to kill it and any number of less favorable outcomes would result. They'd succeed and a scout would be lost. They'd get beaten by a bee and live a life of eternal shame while drawing greatly unwanted attention towards the new super bee, prompting a search for others. Or the bee would escape and people might go chasing it, eventually leading them to the group standing on the tower.

Though overall, Zurui had no real opinion over clans and their abilities, he did find the power to control insects rather odd. If one were to have dominion over an animal, why one so insignificant? They made great scouts, sure, but so could a mouse or a bird or even, and he shuddered to even think the horrible name, squirrels. Their natural evil permeated his very soul at the mere thought. The power to control evil itself? Now that was a clan worth being born into. But then, that was the catch, wasn't it? Nobody chose to be born a Kamizuru or an Aburame or even an Uchiha. It was all about luck of the draw and learning to use what you were given. Zurui only hoped there was more use for Iwagakure's formerly lost clan than bee taming.

Akihiro raised an eyebrow at the bee user's response. It seemed he was...not eager to trust them. That was probably a wise decision in general, after all their villages might not be enemies but they certainly weren't allies either unlike Konohagakure no Sato and Kirigakure no Sato. Perhaps this boy was smarter than he first seemed. Akihiro made sure to note the pattern of flight which the bees took to quiet down, first dropping silently towards the ground and then taking refuge in the bee user's clothing. There were such few bees....was he scouting the castle already? Unlikely, Akihiro ended up concluding. If that were true he would have no need to come up here himself, as certainly the bees would have already informed him of their presence and perhaps even conversation. Akihiro made a mental note to be more wary of insects.

The young Uchiha nodded, agreeing with Zurui's words. "Aye, we have the ballroom covered with a single shadow clone each...no real need to scout there, but if you insist." Akihiro shrugged. "It'd be better if you could scout the rest of the castle tho. There's no way you only have so few bees with you, right? A single beehive hosts anything from twenty-thousand to fifty-thousand bees on a good summer. It would be great if you could make use of even one percent of those numbers to scout this place out. For all of our safeties." Akihiro smiled.

Shinoskay wasn't the most perceptive person, it wouldn't occur to him that they presented they only were using one shadow clone each... but he knew enough to not reveal himself and so the only sound response that occured to him would be the one he would speak "You know quite a but about Bee's impressive, Do you intend to search from here?" He knew that being seen as useful was good, that was basic, but if they felt he had a reserve that he either wasn't using or that he wasn't showing how it would be used then he knew it was best to let them think that.

"Here is fine," Zurui chimed in, "so long as your bees can be controlled remotely." Naturally, he assumed that this was the case, but he wasn't quite sure this fellow could actually perform it. For the most part, he was just standing around, goofing off with the two of them. The Jounin didn't want to cut ties where they didn't need to be cut, but he certainly had better things to do if the bee-man wasn't going to scan the castle for them. It was information that they needed, and the faster the better. So Zurui looked to Akihiro, hoping for some alternative, but issued an optical gesture that they should go. Nothing would be accomplished from the tower.

“Oy, what do we have here? You lot lost?” Asked a voice as a strange squat and round form almost literally rolled up on the three ninja.  It was a sight that had to be hard to believe but here was a carved Halloween pumpkin with arms and legs wearing a black top hat and coat and it was speaking to them.

The Grim Gourd :

Clutching a knife that seemed to be wet with blood already in one hand the pumpkin man seemed to grin sadistically as he tapped the knife against the open palm of his other hand. “What do you boys think. Should we give them some directions?” he asked to the three ‘men’ that where following close behind him.

Large and bulky with bulging muscles they too had pumpkins on their heads thought the faces carved on them seemed much happier looking then their diminutive leaders.  The scariest thing about them was that it was hard to tell if the oversized fruit was simply being worn as masks or not.  That and the extra large butcher knifes they where carrying.  

Pumpkin Golems:

It seemed the group had idled in one place where they weren’t supposed to be for too long, drawing the attention of security. Things hadn’t come to a fight yet but they might depending on how they handled the situation.

Upon hearing a voice Akihiro immediately turned his head and noticed a set of the strangest creatures he had ever seen (and he once encountered a wyvern). These guys seemed to be some sort of Halloween gang or something. They were...pumpkins? The strangest thing about them was that they actually seemed like living pumpkins and not some servant wearing a pumpkin costume. Akihiro would have actually found them quite funny if not for the fact that they were all wielding some sort of knife and their leader seemed to actually have blood on his. On the other hand, it could easily be a prop paint. Akihiro had to think, and fast. They were all very close to each other and a wide attack could probably take them all out in one go. But he knew very little about his opponent's abilities and starting a battle now could complicate things later on. If they were capable of dodging and even one of them sounded an alarm, the three ninjas from the three different villages would be finding themselves in a whole lot of trouble with nothing to show for it. Plus, battles could easily get noisy... he didn't want to alert the butler or anyone else in the ball room.

"Lost? Oh no, we're not lost. But we are certainly glad you four gentlemen found us! I am Lee, and this is my lord, Lord Dill Pickle, and this is Lenny, a bee expert! We are the Count's guests." Akihiro smiled, pointed at Zurui first and then at Shinoskay. He needed to play their game for now. "You see, while entering the castle and admiring the beautiful gardens, my here here was stung by a bee. Truly I am a terrible guard, couldn't even protect my lord from bees! Perhaps I could take a lesson from you fine gentlemen one of these days?" Akihiro would place his hand on Zurui's shoulder and hope to God he would play along. "Well this situation is very problematic because Lord Dill Pickle is highly allergic to bees!" Akihiro's face looked worried now. "We usually bring Lenny along with us to help in these situations, but he's all out of medicine because we got attacked 3 times on our way here... so we climbed up this tower to see if we could find someone to help us, or someone found us. And here you are! " Once again Akihiro's expression reflected a smile. The young Uchiha certainly knew how to be persuasive and appeal to other people's interests...except these weren't really people? He'd have to see how things went. "Would you please be so kind as to take us to the castle's infirmary as fast as possible? It would be a shame if one of the Count's guests died because we couldn't get help. I imagine he'd be angry, after all Lord Pickle here is also a noble! Really, Lord Pickle could die at anytime now!"

With any luck, they would be escorted through the castle with no need for combat. Akihiro could only hope the two other ninjas played along...hopefully Shinoslay would have one of his bees discreetly sting Zurui so the Kirigakure ninja could show the wound and their story gained more credibility.

Seemingly from no where, undetected by the sensory ninja, these 4 knife wielding and menacing individuals would show up. Shinoskay would detect them just in time to be able to catch sight of their arrival but somehow no sooner, and on top of that there was a sudden panic from one of his bees, only for some 7 to be winked out withing seconds of time. To top it all of, there was also now someone rushing towards the direction of everyone, both the ball room and the tower, with what was clearly a determined intent. He felt it was unlikely anyone in the ball room would be the reason for the sudden charge, and the individual beginning to move at about the same time the bee's began to find themselves targeted was nothing short of conspicuous. Clearly, the jig was up, and whats worse they could clearly somehow detect both that he was the source and where he was. It was possible that the suite was just going to the ball room to investigate but if they they could so easily move to target each bee with precision that suggested omnipresence then it was more likely that whoever was retaliating knew exactly who, what, and where.

Panic set into the boy at this, this wasnt normal, he learned that even low level suppression worked effectively against a high level sensory shinobi due to the nature of the two techniques. This was clearly something else and it was clearly retaliating as if he had just committed an attack. He couldnt fault the source, the first part of war is intel and to move to gather information is usually to prepare an attack, warfare lived and died on information. He learned this at the academy, it was basic stuff, he knew exactly what kind of situation he found himself in and it quickly gripped him in fear.

to make matters worse, no sooner had the suite appeared and he was about to warn the other two did he detect the 4 strange monsters. Shinoskay didnt wait for Akihiro to finish what he was saying, this likely wouldnt influence the situation be quite honestly it was hard to imagine what would... seeing as the four creatures looked inhuman and all brandished knife's like bandits. they didnt look like they were here to help the three shinobi, they looked like they were here to end lives. He would speak low and just loud enough for the other two to hear "they've been found in the throne room, more are coming here, they can sense us..." the following was then spoken slightly louder then he intended "they can sense ME". his last word, the indication of himself, was spoken in a cracked voice that clearly showed his panic.

He could see Akihiro was acting calm, completely non combative, as a shinobi he had been trained to be able to follow along with a ploy even if he didnt understand it, though he was too panicked to think quite like how akihiro hoped he would, and he himself was use to remaining just outside of combat so his first instinct, instead of to fight, was to quickly begin making more Bee's in preparation for one. under his clothing, out of sight, another 50 would quickly form while he, himself, took a step backwards to shift himself closer to the view port section of the ledge he had been near. If he needed, he would make sure he could step off and then travel down the side of the tower rather then having to test his luck making way into the tower. He didnt know what he would face but with flying bee's and strange creatures.... he felt his best bet, if the need would arise, would be this.

As nice as it was that Shinoskay employed his bees to scout out the castle, it was of little use to Zurui. They were discovered as soon as they were released, which meant the only intel they had was where the throne room was. And then there were the pumpkins. Oh the pumpkins.

The fearless Lord of Pickles stood with his proud lordliness over the pitiful little lowlife pumpkin. Such petty commoners had no business addressing a lord, let alone the great lord of pickles! The great man remained steadfast, looking down upon the pumpkin man as his lowly servant spoke in his stead. It would be beneath him to impart his magnificent voice upon such rabble.

As Lee continued to explain their situation, what with the bee sting and all, Lord Dill made a minor alteration to the transformation technique that he'd been using to create his present disguise. On his shoulder, underneath the clothing of course, appeared a rather nasty looking sting. It was clearly blowing out of proportion, as one with an allergy would. He'd show it to the pumpkinman if necessary, but he was hesitant, for a commoner and especially one of pumpkin blood had no right to view the skin of the Great Lord Pickle.

Grim was confused as he listened to everything Lyon had to say.  Lord Dill Pickle? Bees?  He was under the impression that most of these nin-ja  where commoners.  Then again it would be weird if their wasn’t any nobility among them since part of the reason the count had invited them over was to discuses trade.  

The name sounded strange, but well the man was from a foreign country that the living pumpkin understood little about so that also checked out.  The bee story would have been a bit harder to swallow, they where deep into fall after all which was awfully unseasonable for such insects.  Grim wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t seen a few Bee’s with his own eyes on the way over here.

“Right then.  Can’t be having the Count’s guests go dying all prematurely.  You two.” He said pointing at two of the golems behind him. “Take Lord Dill Pickle to the infirmary at once and be quick about it.  And you best not be dropping him or there’ll be hell to pay.” ordered Grim.

Giving the smaller pumpkin a salute the golems stashed away their large butcher knifes and moved to surround Lord Dill pickle so that they could attempt to gently grab him by his arms and legs and then cart him off.  

Peering at Lenny Grim frowned. “Oy, what’s up with him?” With all the sweating and the muttering the man seemed like he needed to go the the infirmary even more then Lord Dill pickle did. “Anyhow I like you Lee, you’re a guard just like me self. How’s about I give you the grand tour while your Lord’s busy recuperating? ” asked the Pumpkin man.    

While they where busy talking the armored figure was getting closer and closer to their location.  It wouldn’t be much longer now before it appeared.

Akihiro was glad things turned out like this. For a moment there it seemed like they were about to have a fight on their hands, but luckily their story pulled through and the pumpkins fell for it. It was better this way...their chakra reserves weren't that high, and a fight here could prove to be fatal later one even if they did manage to survive it. Plus, Akihiro didn't want to put the whole castle on alert. On the other hand, Shinoskay seemed to be panicking a bit, and there was something weird about this man was panicking. A trained shinobi- even a Genin, should not panic like that at the mere sight of weird creatures. Perhaps there was something he knew that neither Akihiro or Zurui did? The Uchiha's suspicions became reality when Shino whispered information into his hear. This was bad news, very bad news.

"Oh, him?" Akihiro asked, glancing at Shinoskay. "Don't mind him. He's probably worried about the Lord too." Akihiro smiled "After all it was his responsibility to keep the Lord safe from bees. If Lord Pickle dies, we'll have to go through the trouble of beheading this poor chap." he then shrugged. "I'd want to keep my neck intact too." Chuckling a bit, Akihiro tried to keep up their act.

"Well thank you. I am tempted to accept your offer but... I would be a poor guard if I didn't accompany my master through these rough times. I'm sure as a fellow guard you'll understand. After all, I too would like to keep my head on my shoulders. Lord Pickle can be moody... So, with your permission." Akihiro bowed slightly and made a single hand-seal with a single hand while doing so, immediately dispersing the shadow clone at the ballroom. The hand-seal was hidden by his long sleeve. Akihiro immediately went into a high alert mode. He needed to think of a plan and fast. If it was true that they were coming, then there was no way he would let these pumpkins take Zurui and separate them...

At this point Akihiro was left with 2 options: The first one was abandoning the Bee user to his fate. With his and Zurui's abilities, they could easily escape and not risk a fight. The second option was to somehow help out the bee user and get out of this situation. After pondering for an instant, it became clear that the first choice wasn't really an option. Even if they turned on Shinoskay and blamed the whole incident on him, it was unlikely that their story would hold for long. Shinoskay seemed inexperienced and outnumbered he was likely to fall. If he fell, their whole story would likely fall apart quickly and they would be hunted around the castle as rogues without even having managed to reduce the enemy's numbers. Helping him made more sense...besides, there was something about the boy's panic that made Akihiro sympathize with him. Just as he made the seal for the Shadow Clone technique, Akihiro used his other hand to also make a set of one-handed hand-seals hidden from sight.

They were on top of a tower. The tower roof wasn't all that large. Akihiro, Shinoskay, Zurui and two pumpkin were on one side, while Grim and the other two pumpkins were on another side. But they were relatively close. This made for the perfect scenario to release Fuuton: Daitoppa. As he rose from the slight bow, by merely opening his mouth as if he was going to speak again, Akihiro released a powerful, concentrated gust of wind that was capable of easily tearing trees up from their roots and hallow out the ground in its wake.  The regular range of this jutsu was 150 meters. The three pumpkins he aimed it at were standing at about five meters away from them. This meant they would probably be pushed and forced out of the tower traveling at least 145 meters in a straight line before falling from a considerable height somewhere beyond the castle walls. If they managed to kill these three quietly, perhaps there was still a chance to keep scouting.

Of course, this meant Zurui would have to deal with the two pumpkins aiming to grab him. But Akihiro was sure he was up to that. Turning to Shinoskay and Zurui, Akihiro's expression would have completely changed after releasing that jutsu.

"Be ready to fight." It seemed they were going to fight either way. Hopefully they would pull through.

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Stuff:

Shadow Clone (used earlier) -10 Dispersed clone allows Akihiro to regain the clone's unspent stamina.
Wind Release: Great Breakthrough C-rank (-5)
75/90 points

Shinoskay, at first, felt the world pull away from him as he heard the two talk. Thankfully, the mention of possible beheading would likely, easily, cover the panic he presently demonstrated. The idea that they were going to travel into the castle, to anywhere, casually would mean that this strange energy signature that was making way towards the small band would have an easier time getting to them and the idea of meeting this threat with unfamiliar individuals just sounded like death. He knew he just revealed he was the target, he felt a slight ping increase in panic over this as he knew that this meant they would likely think about the possibility of abandoning him so that they would not have to face the same threat... in particularly since they had just talked themselves out of a threat and had an easy exit.

Nothing in this situation was good for the boy, he knew this and the only thing that kept him from hyperventilating out of panic was that he felt his bee's comfortingly nestled against him. He wasnt alone, he was never alone, he had already had a good position near a viewing dip in the tower wall that would allow him to easily lean over and fall off if he really felt like trying an escape. The scenario would turn things ideal for him and his many flying allies....

And then something else peculiar happened, a surge of chakra quickly began forming in Akihiro's left, concealed, hand. Something was about to happen, it made no sense that he would use a jutsu if he intended to take his escape option. He had an out, he could just walk and be good, the only reason he would form a jutsu is if he intended to fight. Suddenly, everything snapped back and the world became clear and in focus. The panic had not left the genins face yet and he was still going white from it but in this very instant he snapped to action. Now there was the start of a surge of chakra in the more astute shinobi's right hand, it seemed more formed and developed, more complex, and this meant it would be something big. Shinoskay Formed another 50 bee's in the time it took for the Chuunin to form those hand seals and then in the moment the spike of chakra stopped, the moment shinoskay sensed the moulding of the chakra was done, he sent out 100 bee's all at once. He would burst them forward and towards the many targets at 20 bee's a target. He was already forming more bee's to send at the same time. In tandem to releasing the bee's, Shinoskay would also send two copper kunai forth, one for the main pumpkin guard who had been talking and one for one of the pumpkin heads not next to Zurui.

The timing was good, the moment he did this a burst of wind would cast itself out from the Uchiha and, coincidentally, this sent the bee's off with the many pumpkin heads. Most importantly though, this blast of air would cause the bee's to fill their mouths and so any and all screams would be muffled and stopped... only a dull mumble, the roar of the wind, and silence would be heard as the many pumpkin heads and their accompanying bee's were launched from atop the tower. The bee's the very instant they came in contact with the surface of the pumpkin heads, whether inside or outside, would immediately begin driving their stingers into the strange, mystical, threat. The bee's would not be limited to one sting, as these constructs werent so limited, and would repeatedly sting and bite and swarm until either the bee's or the pumpkin heads were clearly destroyed.

Assuming the Pumpkin heads were defeated, Shinoskay would immediately glance off the edge of the tower to try and ascertain the situation just beyond the ledge. He wanted to make sure there was no flying threats to be concerned about, he didnt sense any at this time but who knows with these strange creatures. He would also direct the surviving bee's to return to him from the Pumpkin head fall... if any, and if there were surviving bee's then they would also be directed to carry his kunai and the pumpkin heads weapons back to him.

If the pumpkin heads were not defeated then he would immediately do his plan of leaning over and slipping off the side of the tower, catching his feet on the wall while activating tree climbing jutsu, to stand off the ledge where he would be out of the way of the two upper rank'ed shinobi fighting the pumpkin heads, his bee's would still swarm in and aid the fight, of course.

Either way, he would also ready 2 more kunai before turning towards the entrance to the platform the three shinobi would stand on.

OOC info:

Zurui sighed. He sighed loudly. They were so close to a peaceful resolution and while his cover as Lord Pickle would have removed the hands of any that touched him, he was not particularly fond of the idea of starting an international war. The deed was done, however, and any attempt to reconcile would inevitably end poorly for Akihiro and Shinoskay. While the Jounin had no concern over the beekeeper's fate, he'd not let the Uchiha boy be lost. Therefore, he was fully committed to this course of action.

Zurui took a step back and, taking a page out of Akihiro's book, he weaved the signs and opened his mouth to unleash a powerful gust of wind. It was a smaller version of Akihiro's, because if he used the Great Breakthrough, then his two allies would be cast away as well. With just the Breakthrough technique, the Kiri-nin could control it enough to only push the pumpkins into the larger burst of wind as it was starting to go down.

This brief connection was all Zurui needed. He quickly switched to fire release and unleashed a stream of heat to feed the wind. The Flame Bullet collided with the fading tail end of Akihiro's and Zurui's techniques to start a trail of incineration that grew great by the end and in a brilliant show of red, orange, and yellow, the pumpkins would all of them be reduced to blackened ash and spread to the wind without a trace. There would probably be a lot of toasted bees, too, but that's okay. They had sealed their fate when they wounded Lord Pickle.

Enemy stats:

Grim nodded along as his new buddy Lee talked.  Sadly his friend had to guard his lord and the Pumpkin could respect that since it was his duty to protect the castle from intruders.  That’s why his friends suddenly betray pissed him off all the more. If he hadn’t been so Short the guest of wind would have hit him as well but instead it merely sent his hat flying as he ducked into the blast, tucking his hands and his feet into his body and then rolling his way towards Akihiro at high speeds.

The diminutive pumpkin man would try to roll under the chunnins legs then whirl around pop his arms and legs back out as he attempted to skive him in the back with his knife. His eyes brimming with an angry red light.  “You must think you’re a big shot eh? Trying to trick me like that. We’ll see how big you feel once I cut you down to size.” muttered Grim his voice heavy with rage.

The Pumkpin Golem’s beside him wouldn’t be so lucky as he was immediately flung into the air, bee swarming all over his mouth but strangely he didn’t seem to mind much since he didn’t really need to breath.   There was a glint in his eyes,  like he wasn’t afraid to fall either.  He must have had a plan to return to the tower, but Zurui would make sure that chance would never come to pass.

The other two that had been attempting to grab the so called Lord Dill Pickle fared a little better. As he stepped back to weave seals they actually had a chance to see that SOMETHING was about to happen and where a bit more ready for it as it gave them a chance to ready their blades anew.

As the weaker blast of wind hit them they stabbed their knifes into the ground using them as an anchor to keep themselves from behind pushed back.  They grinned thinking they had won only for Zurui to blast a wave of fire at them that quickly seemed to engulf them before moving on to envelop the golem still flaying in the air setting him ablaze.

Letting lose a sceam of agony the one in the air fell from the sky, crashing down to the earth below like a shooting star as more and more of him was burned away for every centermeter that he fell. The stench of burning pumpkin filled the air and just when it seemed like they’d only have the Grim himself left to deal with the flames covering the spot where the other two had been hit cleared away revealing that one of the golem had been reduced to a blackened chaired husk while the other stood behind him completely intact.

It seemed at the last possible second the one that had been closesed to Zurui had pushed the other back, placing himself in the way of the blast of fire sacrificing himself to save his friend.  Tilting his head back the remaining Golem let lose a unhuman roar of anger that seemed to shake the very tower itself before leveling it’s eyes at the Jounin.

“I Make, you pay.” He uttered the broken sentence guttural as he took the oversized butcher knife he was holding and chucked it straight at the Masked man’s chest aiming to impale him straight through with the instrument and avenge his friend.

“You… you monsters.  How could you just murder Moe and Larry like that? All they’z wanted to do was give you a helping hand.” said Grim remorsefully, the flames in his eyes doubling in size. Before He’d wanted to simply capture and interrogate for them double crossing him… now he simply wanted them dead.

Angry Grim:

As this happened the sounds of heavy metal footsteps could be heard ringing from a distance. Something was coming, and it would be here soon then expected. And when it did it would be coming for a different direction then they where likely suspecting.  Duh duh duuuuuuuuuh.

Well, this was bad. It was one of thing if they had managed to destroy all the pumpkin men in a single, swift blow. But now things were about to get much more complicated...a full-sized battle was about to occur. But Akihiro wasn't really comfortable with that idea. Was there a way they could still save this situation? Akihiro could only think of one, but it was risky.

The moment he saw his jutsu go over Grim, Akihiro knew they'd messed up. The rest of the pumpkins were easily defeated but Grim was too short and one of the ones that had tried to grab Zurui has somehow managed to find protection and avoid the sea of fire. Grim immediately began his assault. Akihiro couldn't help but be surprised at the pumpkins way of...moving? he retracted his hands and legs into his main body and rolled towards him.vNot a simple roll, but an incredibly fast one. The pace at which he gained speed surpassed Akihiro's perception skills and for once in a very long time, Akihiro felt threatened. The thing rolled under his legs and immediately tried to stab him in the back. Akihiro didn't see it coming, but his only reaction was to step aside. The knife would not miss him, however. It would brush against his cloak and his right side as he stepped away. The leather he wore under the cloak as well as his jade plate armor kept him safe, but it was a solid hit (even if only a brush) which would leave him bruised. Turning around to face Grim, Akihiro's eyes had changed.

"Wait, enough of this. Lenny drop the bees, he doesn't know about Lord Picke's condition. It's not his fault." Akihiro was a master at deception. Not only with genjutsu but also with facial expressions and speech. His mastery of the deceptive arts was about to be put to the test.  His eyes faced Grim. ". I was trying to save you! This is the consequence of Lord Pickle's alergy! Every few minutes he involuntarily uses chakra to release techniques with power that can range from insignificant to enough blow us all to hell. I felt it coming and did the only thing I could do to save you in case it was really bad: push you away. Lenny here doesn't know about the consequences of the Lord's allergy. He thought a fight had broken and tried to help the Lord."

Akihiro would raise his hands, as if to imply he meant no harm. "Unfortunately I used a Wind technique and Lord Pickle's flames ignited it. I'm sorry, but if we don't do something to aid Lord Pickle, we're all dead. If he uses a technique and accidentally kills himself, all of his monstrous chakra will be released at once and the whole castle will be razed."It was important to make Grim realize that killing Pickle wasn't an option.

"I assure you we will pay full compensation to the families and lord for the accidental deaths of your men. But sir..." Akihiro made a pause, to enhance the dramatic effect. "Us guards live a noble profession. We fight and kill for our Lords, not for revenge. We have a higher purpose." Assuming Grim would calm down, Akihiro would continue.

"We should have three more minutes until Lord Pickle has another...case. It's different every time, so we can be sure it won't be something light this time. Ask your man to take him to the infirmary real quick and apply the antidote, and we should be okay. No one else has to die here today. " Akihiro would then smile.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save your friends, but we're going to be okay. Send your man to the infirmary, and I'll take the tour with you if you'd still like to do that. "

Shinoskay was confused, the flurry of activities happened almost in the blink of an eye from sensing the formation of chakra, to the blasts of wind, his bee's for whatever they were doing, and the sudden torrent of fire into Akihiro talking. The boy saw the suddenly intense stare and expression as the Uchiha turned to look at Grim, he didnt know anything about the Uchiha other then they had a legendary ocular genjutsu, as such legend had spread the world several times over, but he had trouble sensing chakra through it so he couldnt tell what was happening.

Error'ing on the side of caution, the bee user would send his swarm up and above the many individuals before then having it move to just off the side and out of site. The pounding of metal was alarming, it had an odd echo to it but it wasnt clear to him why. He probably could have guessed by the strange pumpkin heads, and the animated metal suite, that there was some serious magics at play with the likelihood that some kind of visual distortion was in effect but he lacked the ability to deduce this and so it was lost on him.

Instead, having followed through with his plans to move himself to a safer location, would step up on the ledge and then lean over it to activate tree climbing jutsu. having been careful with his footing, he was now standing off the side of the ledge with a short gap between its lip and his feet... allowing him to lean 'forward' to see over it and at the scene.

Now much calmer, and since he was disengaging from combat, Shinoskay re initiated his sensory technique to track the many elements across the castle. He could still sense the candle creation making quick work of his, bees... some how, even as he focused his bee's to hide more then scout, it still found them with the same ease. He also recalled the pumpkin's lack of fear at nearly falling but yet the two pumpkin heads here before him are mad because it and one other was burnt to nothing. Their was clearly something off about what everyone was seeing but he couldnt figure out what or how.

More people came into the ball, on top of those signatures he had already been tracking he felt the new signatures and quickly got a feel for theirs as well. claiming Raijin, Ryuko, Sakata, Alkaid, Nozomi, Tetsudashi Ken, Yun signatures memorized. His bee's were not reacting to the environment any differently then he was, they both sensed, saw, felt, and seemed to exist within the same perception of reality which ruled out a genjutsu... he would be inclined to think the owners of the castle had their own sensory but yet the knight suites sounds and the ease and the lack of fear for the one pumpkin head just wasnt adding up.

The ability of a person to be influenced mentally by another has a large quantity of variables. Chief among these variables is often previous attempts at persuasion that may lead one to believe they are being fooled again. For this reason,  Zurui saw Akihiro backtracking as a dangerous ploy. He opened himself up to attack, a sign of trust to immediately build rapport, but dangerous because if Grim didn't believe it,  the Uchiha would be at a disadvantage.  

The situation wasn't particularly good. The one pumpkin had seen through their ruse and not only survived,  but was on the attack. The other, more dangerous one had also survived, but was far below the tower top. Without the option to attack,  it chose to release its betrayal-fueled anger through screaming.  This would certainly bring more enemies to the area.

Without much choice, Zurui went along with Akihiro's plan.  He did not speak, of course, for he was a mighty lord and had no need to stoop below his stature to address measely servants. He did rub his nose, as if recovering from a fiery sneeze, and then went back to standing in a relaxed posture, indicating that he stood behind Lee's words. Seeing the large pumpkin ready a knife, though, put Lord Dill back on edge. He easily predicted the projectile's path based on the golem's positioning and avoided if indeed it came. He hoped it would not, for a direct assault on the Lord of Pickles over the lives of pitiful servants would be considered an act of war. You think pumpkin men are bad? You can't even imagine the pickle you'll be in one the Warriors of Dill attack.

Meanwhile,  Shinoskay was doing weird things.