Back in Town and ready to--Wait, bandits?

Mission Name: Advanced Guard Duty
Mission Type: Defense
Mission Rank: B
Mission Goal: Defend the Wall from the incoming threat.
Description: A small force of enemy forces has arrived to threaten the village. These bandits, by their actions, have branded themselves criminals and must be eliminated. In your group or by yourself you are to venture just beyond the walls and meet the threat head on. Make sure to, to the best of your abilities, eliminate these rebels once and for all.
Payment: 25,000 ryo
Requirements: Chunin or pair of Genin


The walls that flanked Sunagakure about every side stood tall, the imposing sight of the Village Walls could nearly boggle the mind. They have protected the village since it formed, making access to Sunagakure for invading forces difficult. This of course was only during the years Sunagakure was an active village, for a long time the walls was left unguarded, and all sorts of thieves and alike would freely entry the village to scavenge what was left after the plague. Now Sunagakure was beginning to breathe again, life has returned to the village and it was under new leadership...granted, this wasn't without its own problems. The village was full of lowlifes and scum, even some of the same thieves the walls meant to keep out.

The Rogue of the Desert had spent a lot of his youth slipping out at night beyond these walls and searching for interesting places and views...they was hard to come by in the vast Sunrise Desert, but Azuma had an artistic eye when it came to finding them. He may have missed his calling as a Photographer. This of course stemmed from trying to bond with one of his Teammates as a Genin, he'd find places to show her in hopes she may see what he sees in them, and that the views was worth putting her artistic talents into painting. It'd been literally since way back then that Azuma had done it...but he was a bit of a sucker for nostalgia of what he'd have called the best times of his life. He had spent the past few nights searching for such a 'scene' to show his former teammate Ei. They had only fairly recently returned to Sunagakure, and Azuma wished to spend some time to catch up with her. He finally found it the night before, and wished to share it with her.

The following day, Azuma made his way towards Ei's home. The young man once he arrived to the home of Ei would have a rather goofball idea to get her attention. Knocking at the door was so boring anyways. The Jounin would activate his Sensing Technique, instantly able to tell she was indeed home. She lived in the top floor of an apartment building, and Azuma didn't wanna take the stairs. Azuma would walk at the outer wall of the building, and with a simple step as if he was just taking a stroll in the streets, he'd make his way straight up the side of the building. His Yukata hung oddly from him as he walked up the side of the building, if only for a moment revealing he did carry the entirety of his personal arsenal. sans the baldric...Even in casual attire this man was ready for the fight of his life, never without his equipment.

He made his way to the window closest to his teammate, stepping to stand directly above the window. His ability let him know her location without having to ever look in. He smirked and would take his foot, and tap a pattern on her window. He stood with his arms crossed, and the same smirk as he waited to see if she'd come to the window.

The tapping on her window caught her attention immediately, pulling Ei’s ears in a slight twitch towards the window of the wall to her far right. She had wondered at first if perhaps a pigeon had collided into her window again. This was something that seemed to be happening somewhat regularly as of late. She could think of at least three times in the last several months where some sort of bird would collide dead on with a window while she had been in the room. Usually it was enough to startle her into spilling paints, or scratching something ugly and unintended across a canvas. She had been growing used to the avain intrusions, but apparently not enough. The pattern of tapping had caused her body to halt. Although less than a line, there would now be a slight imperfection in the brush stroke she had just been in the process of making. A slight blotch of black that pooled out into the frame just a bit too far. It was ugly. She would take the canvas, still wet with paint, and throw it off the easel. The frame would collide into a pile of similarly discarded canvases off to the left of her, somewhere. Once it was off her easel she would erase it from her mind completely.

She would pull up another blank board to her workstation, but before she could continue there would be something to investigate. It had been a series of small taps rather than one large one. Usually birds didn’t travel in flocks like that. Unless they were geese. But she doubted there were any geese down in Sunagakure, and if an entire flock of geese had just crashed into her window she probably would have noticed it.

Ei pulled up to the window. She had been dressed in little more than after afternoon attire, being an old white tee-shirt and a pair of boxers shorts. Comfortable to paint in and sleep in. The shirt, which had been one a pure tabula rasa, had been long stained with a variety of different paints over the years. That it had been once white was almost impossible to tell at this point. The multicolored mess of a shirt she was wearing clashed repulsively with the green plaid shorts she was wearing, but that was part of the point. In nothing more than this, and with the paint still fresh on her fingers, she would open the offending window and peek out.

She saw nothing but the city. Sunagakure was home. There wasn’t much to say about it, other than the obvious. Looking out wouldn’t do her any good though. It was all a formality regardless. Ei had known since the beginning who it was.

“Usually, when a man knocks on a maiden’s window at the brink of dusk, it precedes the reciting of some sort of love poetry.” She would deadpan as she stared out towards the city. Her black hair, a mess, would tousle slightly in the light afternoon breeze. “I don’t suppose you’ve memorized anything you can impress me with? I'm considering not letting you in until you do.”

Azuma would hear movement inside...it was the sound of a canvas being discarded. Azuma couldn't tell what it was exactly, but he had some fairly accurate guesses. It wouldn't be the first, or likely last, time Azuma distracting Ei would make her mess up an art piece. He'd wait a moment, and soon enough the window opened. Seeing Ei look out the window without even looking up almost made him laugh, even though he figured she knew what was up...literally in this case.

He bent over, basically leaned upside-down from her perspective, invading her line of sight as his hair fell to gravity's whims, the black locks not tied back and free to the elements and forces. "Oh thy maiden of paint splattered tees, a knight raps at your window....Yada yada--shall the maiden join an ol' friend for a nice walk in the Desert...Call it nostalgia but I found a view worth a brush stroke or two." Azuma would first speak with an over-dramatic tone, before clearly discarding it and even emphasizing the second Maiden in a mocking way.

He gave her a charming smile, typical after he teased her. The man may had grown a bit jaded over the years, but sometimes that Goofball Genin from the Shodaime Kazekage era shined over the scarred warrior's features. He by far wasn't past teasing Ei and her outfit that clearly lost its battle with her artistic talents years ago.

She would sigh. His hair right in front of her face like this almost made her wish it was a flock of geese invading her window instead. “D-. See me after class.” Her eyes would follow after the slight swaying of his hair that came from the breeze. The emphasis of the second Maiden made her want to take a handful of his hair and just tug at it, but that would have been a bit too much. Instead she would tilt her head up, finally looking up to Azuma. Her eyes would meet with his, and through his eyes she would gauge the seriousness of his proposition. The idea of a new scene worth painting was intriguing. If it was really something that would be worth her time the trouble of going out to find it would be more than worth it.

“Let me put on a kimono first. Or at least some pants” She would retreat back into her apartment from the window, although the fact that she left it open would be a clear invite for him to enter if he pleased. There was something of a weary tone to her words, although nothing out of the usual for the girl. “Feel free to come in while I change. Just remember the consequences for peeking.”

Her apartment would be a mess, as always. Cans of paint and brushes of different varieties would be littered all over the place, along with canvas and other painting equipment. What was especially garish was just all the emptied trash food containers that were lying around. Ei was notoriously a slob with housekeeping, and so this wouldn’t be anything new to Azuma, but the room still looked something more like a pigsty than anything fit for human living. Ei would disappear off into another room, leaving a pathway through the mess and garbage that littered the floor.

She would return not too long after, somehow having arranged herself into an ornate kimono in an unreasonably short amount of time. It was different than the one she had been wearing recently, being a rather traditional dark black base with pink flowers that spread up from the bottom. A bit plain compared to what she would normally wear, but it was pretty clear this was something she had bought rather than made herself. Still, Ei would protrude an aura of elegance while in it. It was strange that she could do that even when standing in a room full of garbage, but that was one of the mysteries of Ei Kanagawa.

“Well? Do you think this looks good enough?” She would adjust her obi slightly, tightening it a bit. Lacking the flowery hairpins and accesseries she normally wore left her with a simplicity in style that was somewhat unlike her. The question was a trap, of course. A wrong answer would get him a paintbrush in the eye.

Her response was nothing Azuma didn't expect, if anything it felt like she was letting him off light. He simply snickered innocently, he didn't do anything wrong, nooo. Azuma would nod in response to her changing into something more acceptable to be seen in public wearing. Or, ya'know, 'at least some pants'. He was intending to stay out there, but the invite was given, if laced with a warning. "Me? Peek? and risk loosing an eye for the second time in my life? I'll pass." he'd say as he front flipped from standing on the vertical wall of the building to landing fairly gracefully on her windowsill, facing out the window.

He'd take a seat right there, legs hung into the breeze as he looked over the Village. Azuma had a small home, he didn't enjoy a decent view of Sunagakure--his windows only showed views of the streets and his neighbors. Unlike Ei, Azuma was very particular about keeping his place tidy, but he never was bothered by the clutter of the artists apartment. Still, every now and then he may suggest picking up after herself.

His ear burned as her footsteps could be heard entering the room again, figuring this meant he was 'safe' from seeing her in a potentially embarrassing state, he looked over his shoulder, seeing Ei in a black Kimono adorned by pink flowers spreading from the bottom. She'd hit him with the dreaded question, even for just a friend, essentially 'how do I look'...Azuma may have been a single man but The Desert Rogue knew this was a trap for any guy. Still...Azuma couldn't help himself...

"Looks great Ei. Classy, elegant. A true diamond in the rough." he'd say, a poke knocking over a nearby pile of trash. He smirked and slipped out the window before she had a chance to throw anything at him. He may regret that when she meets him downstairs, but it was worth it in the moment.

The manner in which her expression soured was immediately visible. He had given the wrong answer, and thus he had to pay for his crime. The handle side of a paintbrush would collide into the wall where he had been, sticking into the wall as if it had been sharpened. Azuma was lucky he was fast. Still, the sound of what she had thrown would meet his ears before he would be able to escape in full from her wrath. She glanced down at the pile of garbage that he had knocked over, almost glaring at it. It had obviously been a trap, but he went out of his way to spring it and then tease her about it afterwards.

Despite her outfit being offensively plain, Ei wouldn’t have a choice but to settle on it. If he had played her game they would have been there the entire night as she modeled each of her kimonos for him. That was another form of art, after all. One as valuable and worthy of her time as her normal pursuits. It was just that painting was easier for her. When there was an imperfection on a canvas she could just toss the entire thing and start anew. The same wasn’t true when the canvas was your own body. She would huff in annoyance, although nobody would be around to see it. There was no reason to delay now though. She had already collected what equipment she would need in the folds of her kimono. Easels, paints, and brushes all sealed away conveniently. Along with a few other things. A bottle of sake. Just in case. Ei liked to be prepared no matter the occasion.

He would already be downstairs by the time she got there, especially as Ei decided to take the stairs like a civilized person instead of just jumping out the window. Upon meeting him outside, dressed the same with the exception of the addition of a few flowery hairpins, Ei would greet him with a slightly annoyed stare.

“Would it kill you to at least pretend to be civilized?”

Azuma had suspected some sort of item would've been thrown his way, on his way down from dropping out her apartment window his ear rung with the sound of something hitting the wall. He landed after the drop, body compressing like a spring to absorb his fall. He'd take a spot leaned against the wall next to the door, waiting. Soon enough, Ei would emerge from the building. She now had her hair adorned with hairpins, flowers gracing the girl's locks. Despite her annoyed stare, Azuma smiled at Ei.

"Theres the Ei I remember. Hairpins, Kimono, a work of artistic beauty..." Azuma spoke to her, this time lacking any tone of mockery, being genuine. He'd shift his gaze from her after the compliment, turning towards the direction he intended to go, a subtle gesture for her to join him before he let his feet carry him forward.

Azuma remained weary when walking the streets of Sunagakure...no longer did the Shinobi feel at home in the village, he always was on his toes due to the types of people who lurked in the streets. Azuma's features had faded to a more serious expression. His tone even shifted as he'd speak to his former teammate, assuming she'd follow along with him.

"...I been meaning to ask, what do you think about the state of the village...I really don't like the lack of security at the gates, its like they let anyone through anymore...It wasn't ever great back in the day but now crime is ridiculous..." a quiet sigh passed The Desert Rogue's lips. "Then there is the leadership of the village...No face, no contact with us...its all shady. Guess I miss the old days of the Shodaime Kazekage...at least we knew who he was." the man went on to say. Clearly he had a bit on his mind...and Ei was about the only one he could talk to.

This time what he said would be close enough to what she had been looking for. A small, sharp smile, with narrowed eyes, would appear on her now. It wrote over her previous annoyed glare. Despite how frustrating Azuma could be there would be times where he said things that almost passed for charming. Or, that Ei wouldn’t admit that were charming. It wasn’t the recitals of self-composed poetry that she might have prefered, but it almost always made her smile like this. In this sharp way, between a smile and a glare. She wouldn’t say anything, but it was likely that he would know the reaction that she would make even with his head turned.

She would follow after him, only a few steps behind. The streets of Sunagakure were her home, but one she had seldom visited in recent months. A recluse at heart, Ei only regularly left when needing to buy supplies or sell her art. That, or when a troublesome boy would drag her away. Although, even with the harshness of the sun above her bearing down she would find the walk pleasant. It all had to be respected. The land here promises nothing, and it keeps its promise.

“Adversity brings us acquainted with strange bedfellows. Although, you could hardly call one a bedfellow if you haven’t seen their face.” It was a simple response. Clearly this was something she had been thinking about as well. “And if they are hiding something as paramount as their face, there must be something that is truly worth being hidden. That’s what I can see.”

It was a somewhat roundabout way of speaking

“Everyone naturally desires knowledge. Just by nature, the truth will eventually come out. We’ll both eventually see it for what it is. Until then, I’m content to continue painting. Or, should I suppose the scene you were interested in showing me was the cold office of our mysterious Nidaime?”

His ear buzzed with her response, listening to Ei as she answered his question. It seems they both shared similar views on it, although maybe differing levels of contempt. No one could call either Jounin dull, both Azuma and Ei shared a higher intellect then most their peers--but Ei was always the smarter of the two, a whole new level even. Still, they seemed to come to the same conclusion...something was amiss in the Kazekage's Tower.

"Heh...if only we could pull that off..." he'd remark about the idea of them investigating their 'Nidaime's' Office. "I figure it may be something well above my head...but I still want to figure out what is going on. Its a hard pill to swallow, taking tasks from a 'leader' who won't even make themselves known..." he'd finish his train of thought on the matter. Soon enough he'd have lead them through the streets and to the Great Sand Walls. Making their way to the Gate, they'd soon be on their way out of the village.

The sun was just beginning to fall under the horizon, setting--dusk was upon them. Some would call this the golden hour. The duo would pass through the gates--a large valley carved into the sand walls that surrounded the village, flanked on either side by advantage points for guards...while not undefended by any means, the guards seemed disinterested in their jobs, and barely checked those attempting to enter the village. Frankly, it made Azuma sick. The man had a strong moral compass, and despite any distaste for the current state of the village, it came from a loyalty wishing to see Sunagakure thrive. He was loyal to Sunagakure...but that didn't mean he wouldn't consider abandoning his home if things didn't feel right. The Desert Rogue's gut feelings tended to point him down the right path.

Azuma's gaze shifted to Ei, "Its not too far, just over these last few dunes." Azuma would let her know, at this point they was entering the dunes of the desert that flanked the village on all sides. He was a bit worried she may not see what he sees in it, but hoped the artist would. He'd lead her a fair ways away from the village, and finally to a sand dune--it having a couple sets of sandstone boulders jutting from the sand. He'd make his way to stand a few feet behind the sets of sandstone, a gesture for her to come over there. By the time they got out there, the sun had set and night was upon them, just in time for the view he wished to show her.

"If you sit here and look towards the village...the rocks form a natural frame...and well...look for yourself." he'd vaguely explain. If she was to take a seat where he spoke of, she'd find that the boulders indeed was perfectly spaced to give a grand distant view of Sunagakure, while providing a simple natural frame, standing strong like the walls of the village itself. But the kicker would be the sky...it was the perfect night of the year, and the Moon now rose right above the village gates...perfectly centered in the 'frame' of perspective Azuma wished to share with her. The Lunar satellite wasn't alone, bright in the night sky was a vast array of stars, the galaxy itself visible behind and surrounding the moon. It may have been simple...but to the right eye a thing of beauty.

Azuma did well to hide his nervousness on if she'd see his vision and find the beauty in it.

She would accept his response, although say nothing in return. There was nothing to say. She didn’t share the same general contempt that Azuma seemed to be developing. Ei’s reaction was more one of suspicion, although idle optimism. There was nothing she could do about the state of the village, after all. She had seen that personally with the plague. So there was no reason to fuss. Things would reveal themselves in time, and once that happened she could consider thinking about action. She could be patient. Perhaps Azuma could too.

Geta were difficult to maneuver in sand. The wooden sandals would have their teeth sinking into the fine grains of the dune, and every step upwards would flick the material up against the backside of her legs. Annoying. It was part of why she so rarely traveled into these exterior sands. She was the type to insist on wearing geta due to their traditional elegance, even as inconvenient as they were in a village like this. Still, despite her stubborn insistence to wear them she would remain annoyed. She could have solved this all with a generous application of the supernatural walking practice technique, layering chakra at the bottom of her geta, but that would have just been her admitting defeat. Instead she would just remain annoyed.

By the time that the two of them reached where Azuma had been taking them the sun had already vanished from the sky. With the sun disappearing so did all traces of it. With the land being unable to capture its heat without its presence just the mere dropping of the sun would lower the temperature almost immediately. It became almost chilly as the heat began to disperse, although luckily Ei’s kimono was warm. Perfect for keeping the hot sun off her skin during the day and then retaining body heat at night.

“This is…” She would narrow her eyes as Azuma pointed out the sight that he intended for her to see. Ei could see what he was saying. She had already painted the village into near exhaustion, having thought she had gotten everything she could out of Sunagakure in terms of potential paintings. At the same time there was some merit in what he was pointing out here.

From the folds of her Kimono Ei would pull out an easel. It had been sealed away into the fabric, and would exit with a small puff of smoke. Placing it down firmly into the sand would be followed with the production of a canvas, which would be fitted into place. She wouldn’t say anything, but by how she pulled out this equipment it seemed as though Ei approved of Azuma’s suggestion.

Although, Ei would hesitate. Rather than diving into the painting she would stare out at the scene put before her with a frustrated, narrowed glance. She hadn’t pulled out a brush yet.

Azuma waited quietly to sort of gauge her reaction. Ei wasn't the most expressive girl, her expression all came out in her art, and she seemed to save very little for herself. But once Ei begun pulling out her equipment, it must've meant he did something right, even if it wasn't anything amazing. Azuma wouldn't bother her, opting to leave Ei to her work, the young man taking a seat a few meters away and eyes peering out across the desert. Something in the back of Azuma's mind made him feel Ei wasn unimpressed with it...but it'd been a long time since he even did this, maybe he'd been a bit rusty.

Being ever weary, even in the Desert, Azuma kept his sensing technique activated. One may never known when and where it may become handy. It was one of The Desert Rogue's specialties after all. Time would pass, likely letting Ei get pretty deep into her painting, Azuma letting a nigh silent sigh pass his lips as he peered across the sands. Off-Amber and white hues would narrow, he caught something out of the corner of his eye and now was focusing on it. A group of men could be seen in the distance, making their way towards the village, them leaving his line of sight behind a dune roughly 200m away.

The young Jounin would push his hand to the sand, and focus his sensing range, extending it. The usual 125m of range would double, at least for anything touching the sand, giving him up to 250m of range. Now he could sense the group, and his eyes narrowed further. "...Ei I think there is trouble heading for the village." he'd inform her, likely pulling the artist from her art. Azuma sensed the fairly large group of what would turn out to be bandits, and could feel the dark intentions that tainted their chakra signatures. He'd shut his eyes and groan a little, he seemed more annoyed then worried, as the fairly tall Jounin would rise to his feet, if only a bit lazily, opening his gaze again to glare in the direction of the group.

He had said it before she had done anything. Not yet was there a single brushstroke on her canvas. It was unlike her. Ei was typically excessively fast with her brushstrokes, and would be quick to start and finish a painting. It was why she carried and went through so many canvases so fast. It was unreadable as to why she hadn’t started yet. Had she been displeased with the scene? It was hard to tell. When Azuma had given her the knowledge of incoming trouble she would turn to him with a glare. Narrowed eyes, annoyed more than anything at the inconvenience. Having traveled all the way out here for a chance to paint and then having it be ruined by banditry? Very frustrating.

She would follow his eyes and stare out into the distance where the bandits seemed to be coming from. It would only take her a second of her eyes focusing for her to see them. Attacking poorly guarded gates under the cover of the night. With how they had both seen the poor quality of Suna’s current gate guards, there was a chance they could succeed. Azuma would insist they do something about it. Ei could already tell. That was just the sort of person he was, and she would relent. Ei wouldn’t let him do it alone.

“I’m guessing you want to go out there and do something about this.” She would deadpan as they both looked out towards the group of bandits. It was a rhetorical question. Still, it would cause her a problem. Ei usually filled supportive roles. Fuuinjutsu. Genjutsu. Medical Techniques. These were her skills. She couldn’t do much more than support him from afar with these sorts of things and then tend to his wounds afterwards. That was the dynamic they usually had in combat, but at the same time it was frustrating to just look on from afar while your friend risked their life.

Nothing more needed to be said. She would follow his lead and support him where she could.

Azuma's ear burned with her deadpan question. They both knew each other well enough to know exactly where this was leading, Azuma...well, you could call him a 'good guy', he would always do what his moral compass told him was right. This even meant defying orders if it meant doing the right thing went against what he was told. In some ways this made Azuma a bit of a hero type, but in others he was at times defiant.

"Guess trying to be nostalgic for the old times just leads to being pushed right back into the now..."

Azuma took a deep breath and a scroll slid from the sleeve of his Yukata, caught by the Desert Rogue's hand. With a flick the scroll opened, and his other palm came to meet the first of 5 slots for weapons within the small scroll. Chakra, only a little, would grace the scroll, and the seal within sparked with lightning before a burst of smoke summoned Azuma's weapon of choice. One hand gripped the long pole-arm, a blade on the end signifying it as a Naginata--the other would carefully but with decent speed roll up the scroll and slide it back into his sleeve.

A smirk crossed Azuma's features as his head hung if only slightly. "Heh...been a long time since we worked together. Glad you got my back again Ei..." the Desert Rogue said, eyes adverting over to her for only a moment. With that he would begin forming hand seals, a single free hand contorting into signs not many had seen, an ability picked up by Azuma over the years to get around needing two hands for seals when he was wielding a weapon. It'd only be about a second and he rattled off four hand signs--Dog-Boar-Serpent-Ram--and Azuma would activate his Lightning Reflex, 'Kaminari Hansha', a technique so far solely one of Azuma's own.

Lightning Chakra flowed through the man's body, his muscles and reflexes stimulated, enhancing them. Ei would be very familiar with Azuma's combat style, likely knowing the details of his jutsu. In the blink of an eye Azuma was off...the man was fast, very fast, his speed approaching 150 meters a second. Anyone without a high enough skill in perception would struggle to even keep track of Azuma, even Ei would only see him as a blur as he streamed across the Desert--a wake of sand trailing behind the force of nature.

The White Wolf of the North blitzed across the dunes, closing the gap in under 2 seconds. As he moved, his free hand went for a kunai from his leg holster, holding it with the blade aimed downward out his palm. A mob of 20 men, most brandishing weapons of many kinds, would be met with the sight of Azuma sliding into place in front of them, between the bandits and the Gates of Sunagakure. Azuma slid across the sand, kunai pushed into the desert floor for extra drag to slow him down quicker. To most of them, The Desert Rogue was fast enough for them to only notice after-images of the Speed Demon, while to a select number of the bandits, he was a blur much like he would be to Ei.

His smirk from before he took off in a bolt of speed was gone, expression cold, serious. He clearly meant business. "This is your one chance...drop your weapons, and turn tail." Azuma warned the mob, his voice rather booming as he spoke louder then normal. Of course, they refused...who would've guessed. Their rebuttal was a kunai thrown at Azuma's head...the man simply tilting his noggin to the side and letting it fly past him, harmlessly sticking in the sand behind him. The Jounin sighed. 'The hard way it is...'

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Stat boosts/debuffs
Speed +1 tier (Effects of Kaminari Hansha Aura) = A++
Coordination +1 Tier (Effects of Ryutai no Kiba Style), +1 Tier (Effects of Weapon Artist UA), -1 Tier (Negative Effects of A Wolves Gaze UA) = B
Perception +1 Tier (Effects of A Wolves Gaze UA) = A

Azuma was as fast as always. Enough so that she could barely see him move. This was typical, but it had been a long time since she had last had the opportunity to watch him fight. Even though she remembered it from the past, it was still impressive to watch. It seemed like every time that she saw him that he would get faster, or stronger, or more impressive in some way. All the while she would stay the same. Ei always took a supportive role. She simply didn’t have what it took to charge in at high speeds and be the hero like Azuma did. She was slow, weak, and didn’t have the constitution in order to engage at close quarters. That was true both then and now. It was only by virtue of her intelligence and ability to use fuuinjutsu that she had been promoted in the first place. By sheer combat skill she really didn’t come anywhere close to what was expected of a Jounin. What he had said about being glad she had his back was a kind thing to say that had no basis in the truth, unfortunately. She had always been the weak link in their team of three.

She would pull out a weapon too though. Even if she was weak, Ei still had to fight. Rather than a naginata she would retrieve a few senbon from her kimono. By the time she was preparing to throw them Azuma had already made contact with the mob. As was typical of him, Azuma seemed to be giving them the chance to run, or surrender. Too kind of him, especially seeing what it got him.

She would let loose a flurry of senbon down to the group, having approached during that time in order to enter throwing range. Five would be thrown, arched up in order to fly over the heads of those in front and strike down into the center of the mob. It was to prevent any risk of hitting Azuma, especially considering that she was throwing them while behind him. As they flew though she would begin to maneuver her hands. Tiger, then Rabbit, then Dog. She was a bit rusty.

Each of the five senbon would increase to ten times their original size. This brought their length from 15cm to 150cm, turning them from needles into iron javelins. They would keep their momentum as well, and with the same force that she threw them with they would collide down into the center of the mob. With the cover of the night, the senbon arching in the air would be near invisible to them. Four men would be speared through in a variety of different places. She hadn’t thrown with the most accuracy, but just as a general way of softening the targets. One man had been unfortunate enough to have it spear right through his foot and then dig deep into the sand, effectively crippling him and holding him in place. All of the men that she had hit with them would remain alive, but the injuries caused by the senbon-javelins were intense. It was likely that most wouldn’t be alive for much longer.

The five javelin colliding into the ground seemed to signal the beginning of battle. The screams of the man who had his foot pinned to the sand seemed to startle the those surrounding him, along with the injuries that the senbon had caused. This would be Azuma’s opportunity to strike.

---

Woman Scorned - UA -> Strength: C
Ninja Art: Shuriken Giant Body Technique

Clearly Azuma had created enough of a diversion with drawing their attention that Ei's attack would be a complete surprise to them. Azuma barely even seen it with his sharp eyes, but he'd expected something from his teammate. She wasn't the type to give them a chance like Azuma, and would be quick to strike.

Azuma watched as her Senbon turned Javelin would fall into the middle of the group, striking a number of the 20 men before them. This would cause confusion in their ranks, yells of pain startling others. Now the attention wasn't on Azuma, and he made use of it. His feet dug into the sand and he rushed forth, spinning his body and letting his Naginata flow fluidly with the movement as he entered the fray. Immediately, 2 of the bandits would fall victim to Azuma's initial sweep, entering the frontlines and letting his blade meet their necks, quickly dispatching them. The kunai he'd once used to slow himself down with added drag would be thrown into the mix, the blade released before he'd slow to stand his ground among the mob, spinning his Naginata until he had the polearm running the length of his forearm, drawn back in a ready to strike or defend pose. This kunai would meet the forehead of the bandit Ei had managed to pin to the desert floor with her senbon.

The fight was on. Azuma lifted his weapon, spreading his palms across the length of the Naginata's handle as he braced for what was coming, one of the bandits making an overhead strike towards Azuma with a sword. He successfully blocked it, and by dropping one hand as support, the Naginata was leveraged into another spin, deflecting the blade away from Azuma while simaltaniously letting the pole-end of his Naginata strike his would-be attacker across the face, breaking their jaw and knocking them to the side. This almost seemed to easy for the Jounin, but he'd get a reality check when a larger man in the group would swing from Azuma's blind spot with a blunt weapon.

The Desert Rogue barely could react, his focus elsewhere in that moment, turning and again bracing his weapon to block the attack. This time it hit hard, and Azuma nearly crumpled under the force of the attack, knocking him back a few steps. Azuma took this backwards momentum and leaped, back flipping out of the middle of the mob and landing outside of physical striking range of them.

Azuma channeled his Raiton chakra into his weapon, activating Chidori Katana, letting the power of his Chidori spark along the weapons blade, forming a loud chirping sound as it came to life. Of course, the namesake of the parent jutsu. The same bandit who'd caught him nearly off guard by the club from Azuma's blind spot would push through their peers and charge at Azuma, the larger man clearly more physically strong then mentally sharp. Azuma simply lifted his weapon into the path of theirs, and let them use their own force against the Chidori enhanced Naginata's blade. This split the wooden club like a hot knife through butter, a smirk crossing Azuma's features as the bandit inspected their now much shorter club...or rather, handle. So far 3 had been dealt with by Azuma, another injured, and big boy disarmed. Only 17 more to go...and a number of them already diminished by Ei's senbon strike.

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Speed +1 tier (Effects of Kaminari Hansha Aura) = A++
Coordination +1 Tier (Effects of Ryutai no Kiba Style), +1 Tier (Effects of Weapon Artist UA), -1 Tier (Negative Effects of A Wolves Gaze UA) = B
Perception +1 Tier (Effects of A Wolves Gaze UA) = A

For a few moments she would just watch him move. Although she had already palmed another handful of senbon there wouldn’t be any need to throw them just yet. The initial barrage had caught the group off guard, and with Azuma now in their midst it would just be chaos. Just from a few seconds of analysis she could already tell the way this fight was going to go. Not that she ever doubted Azuma for even a second. But it was obvious to anyone who saw that this was just a slaughter. He had killed two in the first movement of his naginata.

Ei wondered for a moment where these men had come from. What their names were. Why they were coming here to attack Sunagakure. Banditry was the new norm, so it was likely that they saw it as an easy target, but why? Did they want money? Power? Did they have children to feed? At the end of the day it didn’t matter. All of them were going to die, but Ei couldn’t help but wonder. At least, that was what she had been thinking about. Until the moment that Azuma would take a hit, and then she would snap back to the fight she was watching from afar.

She hadn’t thrown any more senbon due to the fact that Azuma was now in the crowd. It would be difficult to minimize the chance of hitting him. Even if he was fast accidents still happened, and accidentally tagging him with a senbon could potentially be a life or death situation here. He seemed to bounce back from the attack pretty fast, but at the same time it shook Ei’s confidence a bit. She grew worried.

Choosing not to use her brush or paints for this, Ei would instead form a single hand seal. The senbon she had been carrying would be placed back into the foldes of her kimono. Her fingers would layer over each other in the form of the Tiger.

All around the desert feathers would begin to rain from the heavens. The Temple of Nirvana Technique. A high ranked Genjutsu made for wide ranges. She would be able to catch everyone around her in the range of the technique. This included Azuma, but hopefully he would be intelligent or perceptive enough to Kai out of it before falling asleep. Either way, it would take a little while for the effect of the feathers to be seen.

---

Temple of Nirvana
[412 WC Training Temple of Nirvana]

Azuma was just about ready to strike once again, he sometimes focused just a bit too much on battles, thoughts of who was being fought against pushed aside. These man hard marked themselves as criminals when they threatened the village. They was to be taken care of, by any means necessary in Azuma's eyes. He may have been a kind soul at heart, and always out to do the right thing...but he had no problem getting his hands bloody.

It'd seem Ei on the other hand had a much more clean way of handling this, less blood, less death involved. Azuma had pulled back, ready to spring forward, when out of the corner of his eye a white feather floated down. The man looked around, taking notice of the flurry of feathers falling around him. "What the..." he would question as he watched the feathers. His eyes would not allow him to be deceived though, and almost as if a light bulb went off--Azuma realized what was happening.

'Genjutsu...'

He'd pull up his hand, fingers contorting into a seal. "Kai."--with that, he was released from the grip of the Genjutsu. Azuma glanced to Ei, taking note it was indeed her who'd set off the Genjutsu. It'd still be some time before it fully took effect, until then Azuma had to keep them busy. But now Ei would come under fire, a number of the bandits had taken notice of her by now--and one angered by taking a Senbon to the shoulder wasn't too happy with the lass. The bandit would charge towards Ei.

Azuma seen this and dug the ball of his foot into the sand, launching off the dust surface and towards the one attacking Ei. Azuma managed to get between them and with his weapon's long handle, block an incoming sword strike...but two more simply followed, passing Azuma. "Ei watch out!" he called back to her, as he himself was pushed back by the bandit he defended against. Azuma was fast, coordinated, but he wasn't very physically strong--it didn't take much to push him back in a standoff. A twirl of his Naginata would send the blunt end of the weapon into the crook of the bandit attacking him's neck, and flick them aside, not doing much damage but surely leaving the bandit with a sore neck and having to recover from being thrown to the side.


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Speed +1 tier (Effects of Kaminari Hansha Aura) = A++
Coordination +1 Tier (Effects of Ryutai no Kiba Style), +1 Tier (Effects of Weapon Artist UA), -1 Tier (Negative Effects of A Wolves Gaze UA) = B
Perception +1 Tier (Effects of A Wolves Gaze UA) = A

Azuma had done exactly as she had wanted him to do. He was smart, and she appreciated this. Smart enough, at least, to realize that he was in a Genjutsu very quickly. This was what she had been relying on when she first used the technique. If he hadn’t figured it out and had been put to sleep by all those feathers raining down around him, well… She would have felt very guilty about it, but she probably would have also lectured him afterwards about being more careful while in combat. Even though it would have been entirely her fault that it happened.

Unfortunately, as it seemed, Azuma was not the only one who was perceptive in the night. While it hadn’t been the feathers that caught their eyes, but rather the javelin that she had initially thrown. It was one of the men she had hit with the initial throw. She could see him clearly as he separated from the group, making  his way away from Azuma and the ground. It was obvious where he was going, especially as he made a beeline straight for her. With the fresh wound in his shoulder it was easy to tell that that he had been one of the few that she had tagged with her initial throwing of senbon. It was likely that he was provoked by the rage and pain that he was feeling, and realizing that Ei was the source of that, decided to take it all out on her. It was a good idea, she had to admit. Ei was small and weak. With this kimono on her options for swift movements were limited.

She would raise her arm. Once he got too close, around five or so meters away, a stream of tentacles would extend out from her sleeve. Ten of them would come out, to be exact. Eight of them would contain suckers, while two would be distinctly longer than the rest, functioning as clubs that ended in a widened pad of suckers. These were all clearly and distinctly reminiscent of a squid, and like a squid they would stretch out from the space in her sleeve to meet the man. Immediately they would wrap around him, catching the charging man off guard due to the sheer oddity of what was happening. Wrapping around his increasing confused body once, twice, three times. He would cease to have the ability to move, his entire body wrapped up in the tentacles, with suckers holding on harshly to whatever skin they could take ahold of. The man struggled against them, screaming and spitting and swearing all the while.

Ei would give a tired smile. “You’ve gotten ahead of yourself, haven’t you? Did you really think it was a good idea to come all the way over here, all alone?”

---

[Training Hidden Shadow Squid Hands and Many Hidden Shadow Squid Hands]

Azuma made sure to defend himself from any follow up attacks, the one he'd just dealt with was not down for the count and now was angry with the Jounin. But Azuma was, at least a bit, worried about Ei. But she could handle it, Azuma knew this...and handle it she did, the woman bursting out with squid arms extending from her form. "Really though...tentacles..." the man said with narrowed eyes towards his teammate. Even in a fight he wasn't past giving Ei a little shit. Granted she was unlikely to have even heard him from this distance in the middle of a crowded battlefield.

The man sighed, and turned his attention back to the task at hand. Azuma was aware of the effects of the Genjutsu that Ei had cast, and he knew soon enough the entirety of those unable to realize what was going on would fall asleep. Still, he had to press on for now. Ei was showing new tricks, maybe Azuma could do the same. Azuma's blade would come back into play, the man channeling chakra into the Naginata, sending the power of a Raikiri into the blade. The weapon's edge would find itself coated in the chakra, arcing with lightning, this was something the man had been cooking up for a while.

Once charged with energy, Azuma got a bit of distance, a leap back putting a gap between himself and the group. One of the enemy threw a Kunai Azuma's way...a volunteer, great! The man's sharp gaze seen the blade coming, and with a slash through the air of his Naginata, a wave of Raikiri was released. This crescent of lightning appeared to simply swallow the kunai on its way towards the crowd, striking the one who'd thrown the Kunai directly, and watching as the energy ripped through them and continued on, causing more injury and death in its wake.

Azuma followed this up with two more, each of the three being 2m in size. Again each wave of lightning crashed through the Bandits. Now their numbers was cut down, and their determination was fading. Some begun to run...but the sleepy feeling was slowing them. The rest stood their ground, now unsure if they even wanted to attack either of the Suna Jounin...Meanwhile Azuma scanned them, counting the numbers left. '....Nine left standing...but for how long.' passed Azuma's mind as he watched on.

((399 out of 175 WC required, halved by Training Reductions. Learned Raikiri Nami ('Lightning Cutter Wave').))

With the restrained bandit stuck tight in her tentacles Ei would be free to continue her specating of the fight. With her attention away from the man, who struggled in vain against the much stronger tentacles, she would be able to watch Azuma once again. Except… She would turn back to the man she had captured. There was still that large injury in his shoulder, which seemed to pain him deeply in his twistings and turnings against the writhing tentacles. There wasn’t really much of a point of keeping this one alive. He was sure to die from his wound anyway, whether it be from simple blood loss or infection. Ei would let out a small sign. She would once again retrieve a handful of senbon needles from the folds of her kimono. It was unfortunate that it would have to end like this. The needles would be thrown towards the captive man, and as they were Ei’s hands would flash again. The five that were thrown would transform into fifty, and immediately the man would be skewered like a pincushion. The javelin from earlier hadn’t done the trick, but this would be more than enough. Ei would drop the body into the desert, and the tentacles would then retract into her sleeve.

Just in time for her to see the fireworks. The lightning that streamed into Azuma’s naginata would arc lightning in a way that immediately caught her eyes. It seemed she wasn’t the only one with a new trick or two up her sleeve. He tore up the battlefield with it. More and more it was feeling like this fight was dreadfully uneven. It was twenty against two, and even at that point Ei was hardly contributing. Perhaps fifty against Azuma would have been more fair? It was an amusing thing to think about.

“Perhaps give them a chance to surrender?” She would call out to Azuma, placing her hands around her mouth to allow her voice to carry further. It was a needlessly cruel thing to say, as she was well aware all of these bandits would have to be executed regardless of whether they surrendered or not. It would buy time though if they could be tricked into doing so, as it wouldn’t be too much longer until the genjutsu she had cast earlier would take effect.

[Training Shadow Shuriken Technique]

The Desert Rogue stood his ground, at this point a number of them had fled, and only the 9 before him stood their ground, but seemed reluctant to attack. Ei had taken out the one who'd attacked her, this left a number of them dead, the rest still standing or running. Ei called out to Azuma, an idea to let them surrender. Azuma took a moment, not replying as a few more seconds passed.

It was at this point the weaker ones all faded, they dropped to the ground--and the sound of snoring filled the Desert air. The stronger ones held on a bit longer, watching their comrades fall asleep, before they too would fail. One bandit, arguably the 'leader' of this ragtag team, he managed to understand what was happening and formed a hand sign, Kai'ing out of it. Before the man even dropped his hands, the pole-end of Azuma's Naginata slammed into his stomach, causing the one left unaffected by Ei's Temple of Nirvana to drop as well, possibly passing out from the pain. Azuma stood among the dead and sleeping, sighing quietly.

"Don't think we need to, that Genjutsu did the charm...for the most part." Azuma said, giving her a cheeky smirk after the bit of teasing at the end. "Really has been a while huh...you got some new moves I see." the man said as he'd slip the scroll he'd summoned his weapon from, from his sleeve--and quickly seal away the Naginata, freeing up his hands. "Now what...I can dispose of the dead's bodies, leave no trace...or we can let those in the Village decide how they wanna handle this. The rest we can get picked up before they all wake up." Azuma said to Ei, beginning to walk away--towards his former teammate.

Azuma was suddenly stopped when a hand grabbed onto his ankle, holding him in place. It was the one who'd Kai'd out of the jutsu earlier, apparently Azuma's attack wasn't enough to keep him down. Now--Azuma may pay the price. In a desperate attempt to hurt the one who'd hurt them, the bandit revealed a string of Explosive tags, 5 or 6 of them--who could count right now--and activated them. A large explosion ripped through the battlefield, many of the dead and sleeping was vaporized in the blast, others tossed about the sands like ragdolls. As the dust cleared from the epicenter of the blast, it was clear there was nothing left...Had Azuma been taken down by this sneak suicide bomb attack?

The dust cleared further, and revealed one figure still standing roughly 30 meters from the center of the blast...it would be Azuma, he'd escaped being killed by it, but hadn't escaped injury all together. The man coughed and tried to catch his breath, part of his Yukata was burned--one sleeve gone entirely and the arm had some burns across it, but nothing too serious. Still though, it was a close one. Azuma said nothing, he was trying to catch his breath and figure out what the hell had happened...he'd only barely managed to move in time.

She would laugh. The offer to surrender had been slightly in jest, but the fact that nearly all the bandits dropped to sleep right after it would prove to be a moment of wonderful comedic timing. That she lost count of exactly when her Genjutsu would begin to affect her targets was perhaps a bit sloppy, but she was rusty. Genjutsu, while something she could do very well, was never truly her speciality either. Hopefully Azuma wouldn’t think too poorly of her for laughing in such a serious situation, but the built up tension that she had been feeling during the course of the fight would feel as though it finally unwound. She would sigh softly after the laughter left her, looking with a smile and narrowed eyes over towards Azuma.

“Yes, that was rather bad timing on my part, was it not?” She already had that thin lipped, narrowed eyed, all too pleased with herself smirk on that Ei was well known for. Very smug. “The only thing left now is cleaning up now. Thank you for being a gentleman and offering to take care of it all.” It had been his idea to get into this mess after all, and Ei wasn’t exactly the sort of lady that did very much heavy lifting. Azuma would take care of that, as he always did.

Or so she thought. The explosion tore through her satisfied smile. Her face would be wiped clean, and in the silence of the blast Ei would remain silent, stunned. Her heart stopped.

It started again once the dust cleared. The breath that had hitched in her throat would be suddenly swallowed down, and her blood would run again. Azuma was still there. She saw him coughing. His limbs intact.

She rushed towards him. Ei had never been the fast one, until this moment. The burst of adrenaline she had made her almost seem faster than Azuma was, for just a split second. It was less than a second before she was right beside him. She would be close to him, enough to feel each other’s breath. Her eyes would look over him again, scanning with a ferocious intensity born from worry. His arm was the only thing visibly injured, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any that just weren’t obvious at a glance. She would look into his eyes, checking for the dilation of his pupils. A head injury was possible. Nothing looked immediately wrong, but…

She hugged him. Even with the potential that his ribs might be broken she wouldn’t be able to resist it. Ei squeezed him tight and didn’t let go.

The young man stood mostly still, pain was setting in as the adrinaline was leaving his body. It seemed as his drained, it flowed right into Ei--he didn't even notice her until she was directly at his side seemingly in an instant, and thoroughly examining him for injuries. He was finally getting barring. He could feel he was hurting, but nothing too major. 1st and 2nd degree burns patterned his arm, him having used it to block his face from the blast as he narrowly escaped.

He looked to his former teammate, and could read her worry all across the young woman's features. His expression turned to a hint of guilt. "I...I think I'm fin--" he didn't even get his words out to let her know he was ok before he was interupted, feeling the woman's arms quickly pull around him and squeezing, a tight hug. Azuma's eyes had widened, a look of shock, Ei hadn't really been the type to hug him in the past. This really must've frightened her.

His look of shock shifted once more, features taking a more somber expression. He'd hestitated while still being shocked at her actions, but soon enough Ei found Azuma's uninjured arm curling around her shoulders, returning the embrace. "...Sorry Ei, I was reckless...I didn't mean to worry you." he'd say, voice quiet and soft, a rare tone for Azuma. "I'm fine, really..." he'd go on to say, an attempt to dampen her worries. Azuma was used to Ei being very serious, even in the face of Ko's death years ago she was always internalizing her emotions...for her to hug him as she did, clearly this had truly worried her.

Her face was against his chest, buried where it couldn’t be seen. Ei needed the darkness right now. Seeing that was too much. Overwhelming. Having her face against his chest was the best thing for her right now. Her arms were kept tight around him, unflinching and unrelenting. It was a stiff hug, tense and uncomfortable after the initial squeeze held tight. It stayed like this for a moment longer than it should have. The facade had broken just then. A porcelain mask cracking. That she had cracked like that let out a bit of something she was uncomfortable with, adding to the cocktail of emotions that swirled around on the inside of the stiff, unmoving woman.

She would let go, and then Ei would turn around. Azuma wouldn’t be able to see her face. Standing like that, a deep breath would exhale from her in a long sigh. More than anything right now she needed to drink. She had even brought along a bottle of sake, but pulling it out right now would have been almost comically inappropriate. That, and having something hit her stomach right now would probably just result in her vomiting.

The rest of the bandits had been killed from the blast. There was no reason to stay here. She was in no mood to paint anymore either.


“I’m going home.” She would state, her voice cutting through the air.

“Come with me. I’ll treat your wounds there.” Her voice would trail off at the end, losing its strength. The last few words would be too soft, almost unable to be heard. Only because they were so close could Azuma hear her.

Azuma got no response from Ei, not verbal anyways, just an unyielding embrace, her face pushed to Azuma's chest. He went quiet, just letting the moment go on, honestly...he needed it maybe as much as she did, a connection hard to come by in this harsh world, a moment of care rarely if ever shown. The Desert Rogue knew Ei well enough to know this wasn't like her...but if only for a slim fleeting moment, he smiled as his arm around her tightened ever so slightly.

But all things, good or bad, must come to an end. Maybe it'd gone on long enough that from an outsider's perspective it was getting awkward, but in the moment to Azuma it was just enough. He watched her turn after finally letting go, hardly catching a glimpse of her face if at all as she turned away from him. Azuma knew the feeling all to well...years before his mask had cracked and broken, and even without seeing Ei's face, he could see her mask cracking.

She finally spoke, direct and brief. But she lost the power to her voice towards the end, a sign of the emotional fatigue she'd endured. Azuma kept a serious nature to his features, giving a nod even though she'd be unable to see his visual response to her words. Azuma would step forward, coming to stand beside Ei, head tilting down--hair falling to frame his face, now hidden from a side view. He'd invited her out here, he'd been reckless. The man felt guilty...but he wouldn't let it get to him, or at least he'd try not too. "Alright...but first I need to take care of this." said the Jounin, finally returning to the harsh reality of the world. Their moment of peace and care was brief, fleeting. Azuma had a duty to uphold...

He'd make it quick, but as respectful as he could. The man went to each dead body of their fallen enemy, for each one he'd knell beside them, close his eyes and even gesture something akin to a prayer. After these short moments Azuma would place his hand upon the body of the fallen, and pulse chakra into them. This would cause the body of the dead to erupt in what could only be described as a blue chakra-y fire...and they burned away without a trace. This was the Body Elimination Technique, most commonly used by ANBU, but Azuma felt it was useful even if he himself wasn't an ANBU. Azuma did this for every bandit who hadn't been vaporized in the blast. Cleaning off his hand, he'd return to Ei, ready to follow her back to the woman's apartment.

--Exit Post--