Private/Closed Naruto AU: Roleplay

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Kai was surprised at the words coming from Shura’s mouth. What? Is he really complaining about moving out in the night? Hunter nin can work for days without feeling fatigue from sleep, especially with all the medications we carry. I suppose the Xenos are too relaxed in their style of operating.

“Are you unable to operate without one night of sleep?” Kai said in a slightly belligerent manner. “You can’t be serious? If you actually want to apprehend your attackers, you should pursue through the night until you find them, and THEN you recoup. Hunter nin protocol is strict and affective, if you plan on deviating I suggest you drop out now.”

The ruthless efficiency of the Yuki and hunter nin alike were a deadly combo. Kai has loaded some senbon with drugs to maintain an active state, containing nutrients and energy as well to supplement sleep deprivation. He would use these if he felt any need to sleep. He had trained for days back in the mist of staying awake in one position without food or water, always failing on the third day. The fact that Shura didn’t even want to stay awake one day to pursue a threat that attacked his village was...insulting.

 

[Grand Master Koop]

Shura looked at Kai. "Not saying I can't, I've done many night missions before." He said. "The sound are sure to have injuries after the invasion, they definitely couldn't have gone too far especially if they have injured with them." Shura explained. "They would most likely stop at night to rest and lick their wounds." He added. "We can keep going if you want so we can find more clues about the whereabouts of the sound but overworking ourselves helps no one but the enemy."

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

“You act as if I don’t already have their trail. We will find them, and then we rest nearby their location. It’s simple recovery strategy, I’m surprised you haven’t heard of it.” Kai didnt waver his pace or his precision. “Are you feeling overworked? I am not. I can go on with this pace for another full day at least. With your damaged states I’m sure we can go to at least half that.”

Kai pressed on, ignoring shura’s childish remarks. He pondered as to why he was on the team to begin with. He seemed only to complain or slow their pace. If Sagiso wasn’t here, he would have suspected him of being a traitor that was meant to slow their pace.

“The best way to take your target is to outpace them, out maneuver them, then finally out think them. The three big ‘Outs.’ Take notes. If they are resting it’s the perfect time to move. Can’t you see? If you want to get your attackers a fraction as much as I want to reclaim my comrade, then you would understand my logic.”

 

[Grand Master Koop]

"Dealing with you is making me feel overworked." Shura thought to himself as he followed Kai. "I do understand that your way of thinking, but its obvious the sound knows that people will be pursuing them which mean they will be more vigilant of their surroundings, especially at night." He said. "But please, lead the way, we'll head back after confirming their location." Shura would then think about the smoke signals. "How would we send out the smoke signals to the other teams without the sound also noticing them." He said quietly.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

“That a simple question: we won’t.” The hunter nin said, disregarding the smoke signals. “We of the mist don’t use smoke signals. They are too obvious, flashy, unnecessary. If you are leading an army then sure, but we are a stealth op! We can not afford to be compromised. Though we may have use of them when we strike.”

After moving a few more steps, Kai stopped, as he spotted something odd in the distance. A small thread had been suspended between trees, stretching from trunk to trunk. It was a silky tripwire of sorts. Kai had found a similar subatnce back at the leaf at the sight of kiro’s apparent kidnapping. It was the sound alright.

“Hm. Looks like we found their location, or the borders of it at least. I will assess the situation, as having one man on the task is less clumsy than three men. I will report in the morning my assessment and strategy. It seems like they well fortified, so get some of your ‘rest’. I will be back.”

Kai then took a more stealthy approach than before, allowing his team to rest as he went ahead slightly. He bended some water to his palms as he jumped from tree to tree, the palms crystallizing along the tree’s surface each time before liquifying again, giving him practically silent progression. He knelt up close to the threads and had begun to assess the traps...

 

[kyuukestu]

Sagisō

Humming her response to Takato Sagisō murmured, "Well, a little more confidence would go a long way..." Her voice was soft, almost inaudible over the arguing between Shura and Kai. Her hand idly found stray locks of her hair as her fingers curled through them. Gazing steadily at the arguing duo in front of her, her lips quirked into a smile. Although Kai was, in a sense, correct, he was in more ways wrong, their misson wasn't to out maneuver, outpace, or out smart thier target. His mission was completely different than theirs. He wanted to engage the sound to recover Kiro, but that's not what this mission was about. It was surveillance. The minute they managed to locate any of the sound forces in the range of thier byakugan, then the mission-on thier part- was over. At that point the sound ninja would have no way of shaking them off, and at a distance of multiple kilometers away, they'd be perfectly safe. In fact, what Kai was suggesting was not only unrequired from their mission, it was also unnecessarily dangerous.

Nevertheless, Sagisō merely smiled, opting not to comment. Maybe it was because she understood how important family was, but she didn't mind a bit more danger and exhaustion for this type of motive. She knew that when push came to shove and they actually needed to confront the sound, Kai would be at the forefront, bearing most of the risks. Therefore, she would indulge his wishes without too much of a fuss, given a similar situation, she would've done the same after all.

Needless to say, if he did something despicable like allowing them to bare the brunt of a mission that hadn't been theirs to begin with then her former thoughts would be overturned in an instant, and all her empathy would morph into murderous intent. Should he do something particularly stupid like that, then she'd be the death of him one way or another.

As for his comment about the smoke bombs? It was rather intentional. They wanted the sound to know they were coming. On one hand the knowledge of pursuers closing in on them would both unnerve and unsettle them; leading to a string of mistakes which would make them much easier to track them. On the other hand, they also hoped that the obvious presence of a pursuing force would deter the sound from engaging with them. Hopefully the sound would be so preoccupied by the notion of a pursuing force that they'd never get the chance to realize thet said force was only a scattered bunch of genin. They were playing the so-called 'paper tiger', only looking dangerous and imposing but lacking the actual strength.

The smoke signals, and thier obviousness, was both a defense for the pursuing force as well as a form of psychological warfare used against the sound. Though, it wasn't like Sagisō was going to explain it to Kai. That was entirely unnecessary and would take far too much time.

Turning back Takato, Sagisō continued to make small talk. "After all that time training with her, did it really seem like she hated you because of your village~? Do you really think that Azumi is so blinded that she can't see who you are beyond a mere headband?"

She really questioned how the boy viewed Azumi, and if he realized that they'd already gone past the point of only viewing each other as silhouettes identified by thier headbands.

"Though, you don't stand a chance with her anyway." A smug expression crossed Sagisō's face as she stared back at the Nara, "Hate to break it to you, but Azumi is already mine! We've fought together for our hands on marriage."

She was technically telling the truth. They had fought together against Zaku with thier hands in marriage on the line, but Sagisō had failed to mention the necessary details that would prevent a misunderstanding. But that's exactly what she wanted anyway.

For a brief moment Sagisō's eyes flickered, staring off into the distance. Although it was a bit harder to see within the black velvet blanket of the night sky, a column of purple smoke was rising in the distance. Likely the signal for the genin to regroup at that location for the night. Of course, their team would be disobeying strict orders, something she figured they'd be punished for when they returned to the leaf. Nevertheless, she kept silent. Instead thinking about what to demand from Kai in repayment for her assistance despite strict orders against it.

 

[Retro Master]

By this time, most of the Sound ninja part of their group had fallen asleep. Those that didn’t looked as if they would drop dead at any second. Taking part in a full on invasion would do that to the body. Well, to the average ninja maybe. These Sound ninja, other than Zaku, seemed to be fodder. It was almost as if Orochimaru was just hoping that throwing an unimaginable amount of bodies at the Leaf would somehow manage to knock them down. Kiro silently chuckled at the idea as he tossed his kunai in the air once more. He performed a plethora of handsigns before catching the kunai before it fell past him. He continued to repeat the process of performing these handsigns at unthinkable speeds, challenging himself to see how many handsigns he could go through before he had to catch the kunai. He had to find some way of keeping himself awake as well as prepared for any sort of ambush. Staying awake through a night was child’s play to him. He believed it to be a necessary trait, especially for a situation like this where he was unsure of his surroundings.

After he caught the kunai for the umpteenth time, Kiro stopped and took a breath. He had been sitting up on a tree branch, with only his back leaning against the actual tree behind him. He simply leaned his head backwards for some relaxation, being careful as to not keeping his eyes closed for too long. Opening his eyes, Kiro looked at the kunai in his right hand as he lifted it up. Placing it in front of the moon, Kiro tried to cover it with the kunai. He took notice of the moonlight reflecting off of it, with the sharp tip having a majestic white glow. He blinked a few times at the brightness that illuminated from the tip before flinging the kunai directly at the tree across from him. Kiro could hear as it silently made a direct impact on the tree, piercing it directly where he had aimed, dead center. The light, it was just too bright.

 

[Godjacob]

Takato had been relatively silent during this entire exchange. Engaging the Sound and going off on his own was not only the opposite of what they were meant to do but this guy was arrogant enough to assume he could spy on a group that managed to infiltrate the village with utter ease. If he got caught, then in all likelihood they'd be screwed to if he gave away their position, so he was banking all of their lives off his own self-inflated capabilities. After all, he didn't even make it to the finals of the Chunin Exams so it wasn't as if he was among the elite of Genin around here.

"This guy is gonna cause us just one headache after another isn't he?" Takato asked himself before he overheard Sagiso's question which concerned Azumi. And before he had a chance to respond he listened to Sagiso seemingly "brag" about already having had Sagiso's hand in marriage. Which confused the Nara, since Azumi came off as the LAST person who'd be interested in something like that. But thinking that over only was bound to raise more questions than answers as he decided to focus on her question which concerned whether Azumi hated him based off his headband.

"That's the thing about her. I do think she can recognize individuals and not brand them all by the banner of their headband. First she made comments like how I was "helpful" for "one of those Konoha-nin" but as we progressed I got the sense she was able to separate me from the village I come from. Was able to get more personal with me, even had the confidence to tell me of you her best friend and other things. Or maybe it is bride. I don't know this new development. And have some conversation that was not just training lessons. In her own odd way, I consider her one of my few friends around here." Takato admitted before he frowned as he thought back to Azumi's theft of the Forbidden Scroll.

"Though I wonder what she actually does think of me, as she had no issues stealing a valued scroll from our village but also kept me alive from a comrade of hers when I went to confront them. I do think there is something in there beyond a vessel for revenge, but I don't know enough of what happened in her village to make a call for what drives her to do what she has been willing to do." Takato admitted to Sagiso as he hoped that the one Azumi considered a "best friend" might be able to help him shed some light in that subject.

-----------
Azumi glanced over to Reaver as he began work on repairs as he seemed to take note of the way Azumi held the scroll close. Though it was not as if Azumi had not made her intentions clear, she figured that a proper explanation would satisfy Reaver's curiosity.

"Simple. I aim to study all the jutsu kept within this scroll. It is apparently famous for holding several forbidden techniques that could prove to be useful to me." Azumi explained to Reaver as she took the chance to open the scroll for the first time and began to scan through the various jutsu contained inside. There was far more than the Ame-nin expected to see, which could only be a good thing in the long run as it gave her more options.

----------
"That sounds reasonable to me. Something personal huh? How about T.Y.M.? A secret team name that is made up of acronyms of our first names. It's simple and I think it works. But that's beside the point, we can discuss this as we go, it's already late so I say we move out!" Tomiko said with her fist raised as she took what supplies she desired and made her way to the forest as she motioned for Yasu & Mori to follow as she seemed ready to begin the chase.

----------
"So, anyone got an idea of how to begin? I mean we could just charge in blind but I think that would be unwise without a team formation." Kenji said to his own group as Sakura thought it over before she turned to Aisha as she finished gathered what supplies seemed interesting to her.

"Tell me something, did you or your companions happen to get a sent of that Oto-nin? Zaku?" Sakura asked as she remembered that Kenji along with Aisha and her wolf companions were there in the tunnel with Zaku during their fight with his Oto-companion. Aisha thought it over as she closed her eyes and thought it over.

"Y-yeah. I think so. I mean it's harder without something fresh to smell but I think we can zone in on it should we get close." Aisha explained as Sakura gave a nod before she thought it over.

"Well, I mean the guy's corpse is still in the caves. Dosu I think his name is, and if even some piece of torn clothing if left there we could use it for Aisha to track since I believe that Zaku guy took that gauntlet of his." Kenji interjected as Sakura and everyone seemed to beam at the suggestion.

"Okay, we'll explore the caves to find Dosu or any remnants of his and then go track the Oto. Okay, Aisha will take the front and try to zero in on him. That way we know for sure we'll run into an Oto-nin we could be able to take on should worst come to worst. And just in general better our odds of finding something. Madoka will take the back with her puppet to offer rear support while Kenji & I take the middle to try and scout. Sound good?" Sakura asked everyone as they gave nods before they set off and headed to the tunnel entrance to begin their own search.

 

[DarkHydraT]

"I am ready, and T.Y.M is good at the start but if an enemy hears all of our names it will be easy to guess. We can discuss this at a later time though, our target is not going to wait for us to get to them. Are you ready Yasu?" Mori looked at Tomiko and her arms, they seemed to be healed but one can never be too cautious. He would have to make sure that Tomiko did not overexert herself in her condition, not yet anyways.

 

[Grand Master Koop]

Shura watched as Kai ran off after finding a sign of where the sound was resting. "Yeah, good luck with that." He thought to himself before turning back. He caught a glimpse of what Sagiso was saying to Takato. "Oh? So gender doesn't matter to Nadeshiko shinobis or are you just into girls." Shura's voice suddenly appeared as he jumped back after seeing Kai off. "Since we now know the approximate location of the sound, we've already reached our target for our mission." He said. "He can go off and do whatever he wants for his mission, we have no obligations to follow him." He said, talking about Kai.

 

[Fire Mana]

Yasu had been lost in his thoughts again while he was waiting on the others, but it seemed they were waiting for them now.

"Hu-Huh? Oh... yeah, I'm ready. And also, the name is fine for now I guess, but maybe change it in the future?"

Yasu sighed and kind of hung around behind Tomiko and Mori. They seemed more comfortable with eachother anyway, no sense in him getting in their way.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

..........

The day light peaked above the trees ahead as it marked the time of awakening. It was morning, but far from peaceful. The sound four had woken up, along with the other teams of sound ninja. They were all pleased to find out that none of them had died nor had the leaf caught up to them.

Zaku woke with a loud yawn, stretching out his arms. His hand implants made a steaming teapot noise, as it expelled the bad air from the night and allowed it to breathe. That was a pretty relaxing rest, I wonder if the Uchiha kid got any sleep. If I’m down a partner I’d have to pull his weight too...

Zaku was going to look for his partner when he heard a sneeze from behind him. He turned around, spotting Kou, a few feathers around his body. Zaku arched an eyebrow as Kou’s younger eyes looked back up at him.

“Did you sleep on a chicken or somethin’?” Zaku asked.

“Huh? What?” Kou said rubbing his eyes. “What? These? No no that just happens sometimes.”

Zaku didn’t know what to say to that comment, weather he has feathers in his hole wridden clothes, pockets, or maybe just was attractive to birds. He was about to question it when the sound ninja lifting orochiamru’s casket cleared their throat.

“We are about to head out, get ready. We have a long walk ahead.”

Zaku shrugged it off as some of Kou’s childish nonsense and picked up the melody gauntlet from Dosu. He couldn’t help but wonder where Kiro had gone.

Meanwhile Kou tugged on the legs of a fatter sound ninja, who looked down toward him.

“Hm? What do you want pipsqueak?”

“Say, you look like you eat well.” Kou put on his sly voice, running his hand through his hair. “What do you say a gold watch for its weight in food huh?”

Kou waved the golden watch in front of the ninja, who’s eyes locked onto it like a treasure. The fat sound ninja grabbed ten candy bars with one hand and handed it to Kou in replacement for the watch.

“Heh, pleasure doing business with you kid.”

Kou laughed heartily as he took a bite out of one of the candies, his mouth curling up in satisfaction.

“Oh ho ho ho ho this is the best!”



........




Sakon has gotten up along with the majority of the sound four, Jirobo was rather late to start. Kin and Yukimaru still seemed unconscious in the box, but no doubt were recovering Nicley.

“Alright, don’t lay around. We have a mission.” Sakon commanded.


......


Kai had finished his investigation of the site many hours ago, and had drawn up a in depth detailed diagram around the camp site, showing the entire perimeter of the site he had spotted. It was drawn accurately with a senbon, as he fed on haze berries, a mist delicacy.

“Alright everyone wake up, I’ve got a plan.”

 

[kyuukestu]

Sagisō

"I hope it's a good one, I don't plan to risk my life on something flimsy." Sagisō hadn't really slept per say, she'd more gone into a very low activity recovery mode much like meditation. It wouldn't exactly refresh her as much as actual sleep would, but it did have the benefit of keeping her mind sharp and her senses on their toes. As an added benefit, she didn't wake up groggy and susceptible to ambushes.

Though her current position, which had been upon a fairly thick branch that hung above the forest floor, wasn't the best of surfaces to spent multiple hours immobile. Her legs were now cramped and to top it off she was getting hungry. She had brought with her simple rations, but they weren't the most appealing thing on her mind. Maybe after this little escapade she'd hunt down a rabbit and cook herself a real meal.

Furījia

Stretching her limbs to rid them of numbness, the Hyūga heiress awoke amidst the large open field they'd chosen to set up camp in. The field was such that it was impossible for them to have been ambushed without first noticing the attackers trying to traverse the several tens of meters between the camp, and the nearest hiding places such as the forest. She'd arrived with the Uchiha siblings, but didn't have much of an idea where they'd went, maybe to join another team? Well, whatever they'd chosen to do, the fact remained that she couldn't move alone. She'd need to find another team before departing from camp.

 

[DarkHydraT]

The sight of dawn was never so...freeing to Mori, who thanked his lucky stars for letting him see the dawn of day. He got next to no sleep last night, even after his guard shift he was wide awake, nearly jumping up at the slightest sounds. He thought it might be the adrenaline from yesterday and the fact that they were trying to find the attackers of Konoha whilst in reality it was his fear. He was afraid, and he was not denying it. He was in an unknown area with a stranger and an old classmate tracking a force powerful enough to decimate Konoha, and he was pretty damn sure that Orochimaru was behind the attack which didn't help at all.

Mori rubbed his eyes and looked at his team members, still asleep without a care in the world by the looks of it. This mission was so much different than what he was used to. He used to pull out weeds and return lost cats, along with the rare animal hunting missions. Those missions were in a familiar surrounding and without much risk, this mission was a real one with a real chance of death. The image of the medical post with all the hurt people flashed before his eyes and he started to doubt his dream. Was he cut out to be a ninja? Was he capable of living on the edge of life and death every day?

Mori shook his head and went to a small stream to wake up properly by throwing water at his face when he saw his reflection in the water. Bags started to form under his eyes, his hair was messy and slightly greasy and the scar he got on his cheek from Reaver needed to be cleaned. After cleaning his scar and feeling less groggy than five minutes ago, he grabbed some rations for breakfast and looked around the camp site. They set up camp in a small clearing with access to flowing water and a clear view of any ambushes. The fire was reduced to ashes and provided a decent amount of warmth for the night and the chilly morning. All he could do now was wait for his team to wake up and discuss further actions with them.

 

[sSoul]

Taiyo
A full night of jumping from tree to tree followed up by the lack of sleep he got due to the rather uncomfortable sleeping situation ensured that Taiyo would be rather cranky.
"Dammit, this is the forest of death all over again. I'll take a quick power nap and then get moving," The Leaf-nin whispered, noticing that Raiku and Shiho were still asleep. He took this oppourtunity to get rest, as he'd need it for the day that was yet to come.
Tsuki
As the Yuki-nin had taken the time to get herself recomposed in thought, Tsuki was unaware that she was sleeping near the river which lead to a waterfall. She almost fell in, but woke up last minute to save herself.
"Wow, I almost died, I really can't catch a break, can I?" The genin had still remembered the events of yesterday vividly, and who wouldn't when their lives were put on the line multiple times?
I should probably meet back with Mr. Yuki, he might have executed Seiun already, but I can't be too sure.
Tsuki promptly dusted herself off and simply walked in the direction she remebered her clan leader being in last.
Seiun
The rouge Chunin had played possum for a full day now, seeing as the Yuki clan had yet to execute him. As Seiun woke up, he realized that the ice might have melted by now, and if not, he could always heat them up. He had to be discreet about it though,he grabbed an icicle off of the prison and started to use his lightning, it was now a matter of time before it melted and Seiun could escape.

 

[Fire Mana]

Yasu had woken up hours earlier. He barely slept, in fact he might not have slept at all. He laid still for a while longer, trying to get sleep that he hadn't managed to the night before. However, when Mori got up to clean his face and eat, Yasu decided he might as well get up too. He picked himself up from the ground and walked over to Mori.

"Nice morning huh? Perfect temperature, not too much fog or anything like that."

Yasu dusted off his cloak pulled a Feather Dart from his pouch, twirling it in his hands as he spoke.

 

[DarkHydraT]

Mori jumped a little when Yasu spoke to him as he had zoned out a little, but answered rather soon. "Yeah, the weather here is a lot better than back home. It is also a lot greener here, we have small patches of bamboo and that's about it. Did you get any sleep tonight?" He realised that it was the most cliché conversation ever, but he was too tired to really care.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

“Your concern in understandable, but completely unwarranted.” Kai shook his head, approaching the yard wide drawing in the dirt he made. “I spent hour tracing their parimeter, careful not to get too close. So this is what I have pieced together.”

He pointed his senbon at the drawing, crouching down to it. The map described a large circle surrounding their parimeter. There were several x marks around the parimeter. And in the center of the zone was several question marks but a few named figures. One was ‘fat one’ with a large looking mass drawn holding a box, and another was ‘the red Xeno’ which looked feminine with a hat. The others were question marks, with question marks surrounding the box the ‘fat one’ was carrying.

“Surrounding their parimeter are as expected, several dozen traps. They seem to be the same webbing from the village. They had fought large numbers with this technique, and counter powerful techniques, so keep your eyes peeled for that unknown user, I’m thinking it’s the red headed Xeno.”

He spoke as if the spider silk was the strongest weapon at their disposal, or at least the most troublesome. He drew a circle around Tayuya’s drawing, and but a question mark around her.

“The webs limit our attack routes, so I suggest we dive in from above, staying amongst the caps of the trees. Now, we are looking for Kiro. I suspect him to be captured within the box there the fat one is carrying, so that should be our target. Our goal is to eliminate the fat one and obtain the box. If Kiro is not in it, we simply kill the fat one and gather where is next possible location should be. One we encounter them, we activate the smoke signals for further support. Thought?”

 

[Fire Mana]

"It certainly is greener here, Suna doesn't even have bamboo... We have some shrubbery but it's all still brown."

Yasu signed and took a seat where he had been standing. He looked back at Tomiko, who was still asleep.

"Really is beautiful here..."

He turned back to Mori quickly though. The Iwa-Nin still seemed tired, not that he could blame him.

"Sorry for scaring you by the way, didn't mean to. Oh, and to answer your question, I got as much as I needed. I've lived on little sleep my whole life though, so I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

 

[DarkHydraT]

"Are you sure? That can't be healthy in the slightest." Mori seemed genuinely worried about Yasu and offered him some rations. "Here, you should eat something." Mori sat down on a rock and put his head in his hands before looking at Tomiko and then Yasu. "May I ask a question if you don't mind?"

 

[kyuukestu]

Sagisō

"Actually...you do have two wielders of the Byakugan here, and if you hadn't been so gung-ho about sneaking around then I could've told you all that after a few moments." Sagisō pinned Kai with a disapproving stare, but nevertheless continued on. "I'd tried to check out the contents of those boxes, but they seem to be made of some material capable of blocking my byakugan. It seems like we'll be going with your plan, so no objections here."

 

[Grand Master Koop]

"What if those two you have there, or anyone else for that matter, has some unknown technique other than that spider silk that proves to be troublesome?" Shura suddenly asked as he dropped down from the tree branch he was resting on. "What if there are others there but aren't around currently and comes back during our operation?" He asked. "We're engaging our enemies blind here, we don't know what tricks they have up their sleeves. Its best to act with caution right now."

 

[SageNeb]

Raiku had woken up to the sound of Taiyo and saw him going to sleep again. He looked at the sky and saw it was already dawn, if not past that.

What a lazy guy....

He did the Tiger seal and was about to unleash the Leaf Village Secret Finger Jutsu: One Thousand Years of Death before remembering it had no effect on unconscious people. So he turned Taiyo around slightly and activated his Sharingan. Checking for any responses from Taiyo he jumped onto his stomach and afterwards put his hands over Taiyo's mouth in order to muffle noise.

"If you're awake now you should wake up Shiho while I prepare to leave."

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Kai blinked several time from under his mask. He had forgotten that he was not the team itself, and that the others had talents that he could make good use of. Hm...that’s an asset, that gives me an idea.

Kai whipped around to answer Shura. “A simple question. We have the you and Sagiso’s Byakugan, we are able to visualize in there or at least to some degree if there are any other surprises I didn’t mark.”

He looked back and forth between the two of them before gesturing toward their position. “So then? Get to it so we can move along with the plan.”

 

[Godjacob]

"So, let me get this straight. After all this observation and planning your aim is to go in against opponents that we know nothing about concerning their capabilities and just dive in and hope we can get the box that might have your ally inside?" Takato asked, as unlike Sagiso he seemed to have some skepticism that concerned the plan. Shura seemed to back up his point with the follow up comment he made which seemed to echo Takato's overall point. Or rather, he echoed Shura's point since Shura spoke up before him.

"Honestly it would be more reasonable to try and take the box itself without directly engaging the enemy. Since it's the item and its contents we are after, not a fight. Jumping down to take out one leaves us open to the other three to respond in kind." Takato said as Kai's mention of "just killing the fat one" sounded simple on paper but these ninja could be in another league compared to them. Takato seemed to want to avoid a battle, or at least not directly instigate one.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

“So the Xeno can speak.” Kai talked to the previously silent Takato. “No, the fat one is not going to simply hand it to us, he has it firmly tied under his waitband. Unless you plan on stripping him of his clothing, I don’t see how one could do that without killing he mongrel. But we come for the box and nothing else, you are correct there.”

Figuring Sagiso and Shura would detect Kiro if he were elsewhere, he was fairly certain that the mysterious contents of the box were him, he was certain of it

 

[sSoul]

Taiyo
When Raiku jumped on his stomach, the Leaf-nin wanted to scream out in pain and then punch his friend in the face for. interrupting his power nap, which at this point, turned into a regular nap. However, he was able to put his emotions aside for a moment and comply with Raiku.
"Alright, I'll wake her up now," Taiyo told his fellow Leaf-nin, removing his hand from his face so he could speak clearly. He tip-toed over to where Shiho was sleeping and stared at her, uneasy for what his task was.
I don't know what kind of dreams she's having right now, but I just hope she doesn't get mad at me from taking her away from that dream girl she's probably groping.
He soon began to lightly and rapidly tap the Hyuga's shoulder until she risen from her slumber.

 

[Fire Mana]

"Oh it's fine." Yasu retorted. "I've been like that my whole life, I just don't need much sleep."

He slumped back for a second before perking up at the mention of food. He accepted Mori's offer and took the rations with a "Thanks." He had gotten half way through his food when Mori had mentioned a question of sorts.

"Sure, go ahead. I'm sure I'll be able to answer whatever it is."

 

[DarkHydraT]

"How did you meet Tomiko and why did you decide to stick with her? Sorry if I am prying a bit too much, I am just curious." Mori surpressed a yawn and waited for an answer from the Suna-nin. He wondered why he stuck around with Tomiko, maybe she gave him a purpose like in his own case?

 

[Fire Mana]

Yasu went quiet for a moment when Mori asked his question. Why did he want to stay with Tomiko so badly? They were just friends, why didn't he want to stay with Madoka like he did with Tomiko?

"I... I met her right before the Chuunin exams. Right at the entrance of Konoha. So I haven't known her very long... But there's just something about her."

He paused again. How much did he want to tell Mori?

"You see... I don't really care about anything. I've never cared about other people, or about being a ninja, or about getting strong. I only ever did things for other people, never for myself. I just never cared to or tried to improve upon myself. But when I'm with Tomiko, I feel something else... I care about her just like I do for Madoka and all of my friends, but she has something else that they don't. When I'm with Tomiko I really feel like I want to try my hardest for the first time in my life. I want to get better, I want to try harder, I want to do everything in my power, for her."

Yasu laid down on his back and sighed. Maybe he shouldn't have spilled everything to this Iwa-Nin he met so recently.

"Sorry if that bored you... I kinda spoke my mind without thinking."

 

[DarkHydraT]

Mori smiled gently and for a second he looked way older than his actual age. "I know the feeling you have all too well. I wanted to become a jonin that my Kage could use as I said when we first met." He smiled sheepishly after bringing up their less than ideal meeting. "When I first met Tomiko in the academy, I thought nothing of her except that she was a troublemaker, constantly entering class with a smile and a black eye. I lost contact with her soon after we graduated and thought she would live in the slums for her entire life."

"When I met her again alongside you and Madoka, I was shocked to find out that she made it to Konoha. And the moment we met again, something sparked in me. I no longer wanted to become a tool to be used until I die, I wanted to help Tomiko become Tsuchikage and help her with her duties. She makes me less self-centered and actually care about the people around me. I don't know how she does it, but I'm not complaining."

 

[Grand Master Koop]

Shiho had a bit of drool escaping her mouth as she slept peacefully before she began twitching when Taiyo went to wake her up. "Huh? What is it? Morning already?" She said in a drowsy voice while waking up.

Shura listened to Kai's reply then listened to Takato. "For a plan you are so sure about, you don't seem to have it thought out." He said. "If getting that box is your objective, then there's no need to engage the enemy of we don't have to, we don't know what they are capable of so its better to think of somehow to get the box without engaging in combat like this guy said." Shura said, pointing towards Takato for the last part.

 

[Godjacob]

Azumi woke up relatively early in the morning as she stretched in place and found her water clone which had remained up; both to act as a guard and also to assist Azumi with a specific task.

Namely, to read a few jutsu within the scroll and soak the information of those techniques in like a sponge. Azumi knew that this offered her benefit; as she did not need to waste vital hours asleep to take in the techniques which would make the process more efficent.

However, it also came with a risk. As too much information and the former memories the clone soaked in would rush to her all at once. So Azumi knew that if the clone had read too much of the scroll it would bring with it pain and not just knowledge. So she advised it only to study three techniques in detail for the moment. Azumi figured that low number would be enough to allow her to endure the pain that was to come.

Azumi moved over to the clone and gave it thanks for a job well done before she stabbed it with her kunai as it was reduced to a puddle. The memories it learned from the forbidden scroll came flooding to her...all at once, and she fell to a knee as she grapsed her head.

"Gah! D-damn it..." Azumi cursed as a throbbing headache struck her all at once; seems the jutsu she assigned to her clone were more detailed than expected. Along with one memories of the clone's night watch, one of which was a rather...prolong view of a squirrel that tried to find a spot to bury an acorn.

Okay, the next squirrel I see is gonna come face to face with a shiruken for this!

-----------
Tomiko had remained asleep for the longest time, and thankfully there had been no nightmares of that certain Uchiha to disturb them as soon her fluttered opened. Though her body was turned away from Yasu & Mori as she was able to inadvertently listen into their conversation while she appeared to still be asleep.

"I want to get better, I want to try harder, I want to do everything in my power, for her."

"She makes me less self-centered and actually care about the people around me."
​

Tomiko had to admit, she had not expected to hear these two speak about her in such a manner. While it was true, to a degree, that some of her friends back in the slums said she inspired them; but she figured that they were just being nice and really all she did was give them the spark to the confidence they already had. Wasn't as if she magically gave them confidence to strive to be better.

Though the conversation caused her to doubt that. This was nice to hear, as it made the pair motivated and was touching they thought of her that way. However, Tomiko did not want them to feel their purpose should revolve around Tomiko or anything. Though she decided to mask the fact she heard this as she let out a loud yawn as if she had just woken up then and there as she sat up "groggily" and rubbed one of her sleepy eyes. A rather convincing sleepy expression and tired smile greeted the pair.

"Oh hey guys, you up already?" Tomiko asked as she began to stretch to fully "wake" her body up while she played dumb.

-----------
"I don't expect the guy to just hand it to us. I am far from naive about that. Just saying charging in blind to an enemy camp to attack one of their own in the hopes to get the box before the other members retaliate is a fool's errand. The best bet would be to get that strap that connects the box to the big guy severed and provide a distraction of some kind while we take the box and flee. I could use my Shadow Possession, but the odds of getting all four of them without one of them noticing first is highly improbable." Takato admitted as he gave his evaluation of the situation, moving past the "Xeno" comment that Kai had made as he felt it was better not to address it.

----------
Kenji & Sakura followed Aisha along with Sky & Luna as Madoka and her puppet Raven followed them as they moved in their synchronized formation through the forest. Within the cave system they managed to not find Dosu's body, but did luck out one a piece of torn fabric from one of his clothing. What happened to the dead body raised far more questions than anyone there wanted to admit, so they just took the article as Aisha began to track the sent. A sent that should lead them to the gauntlet that Zaku should still have had in his possession.

"We're close. The sent is pretty strong." Aisha said as she stopped in place, for even a wild girl knew that barging in blindly when the sent was so close was a poor decision.

Kenji, Sakura, Aisha, the wolves and Madoka along with her puppet took hiding positions among the foliage and bushes as they were careful not to give away their positions; just close enough to see Zaku along with that kid from earlier.

"All right, looks like we found him." Sakura said with a whisper as Aisha had a grin and flared her canines.

"Good, does that me we go in and beat him down right?" Aisha asked with a bit...too much eagerness as Kenji let out a sigh and faced the wild girl.

"Easy there, we are here to observe. Not fight remember?" Kenji explained to the Inuzuka who scowled but eventually gave a nod to Kenji while the four continued to observe.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Kai was irritated at the Xenos persistence, both of them. They were tearing down his perfect plan! But in order to keep them on his side instead of against him he would have to make SOME sacrafices....

“Fine then. New part of the plan.” Kai said clearing his throat. “Takato will use the shadow possession jutsu on fat on and red haired one, if he can, more. Once this is done, this is where Shura comes in, a close ranged specialist to snap the rope and claim the box. I will make a good getaway with my ice barrier and then we can judge the contents inside. Everyone agree on this plan?”



......


Reaver woke up with a snort, his face implanted on the cockpit of the suit. He had been working on the suit for a lot of the night. He had made a breakthrough, which unfortunately most of it would have to wait until home, but he applied what he could to the reaver MK IV. He then put in back into the scroll with a poof of smoke and stretched his slender frame.

“Ngh...! Okay Azumi, what’s the game plan?”

 

[Grand Master Koop]

Shura nodded when he heard Kai's new plan. "Yeah, that sounds good." He said, agreeing that the new plan was much more efficient and cautious. He then waked up to Sagiso. "Hey Sagiso, if I'm going to be the one going in for the retrieval then I could use your help at something." He said.

 

[kyuukestu]

Sagisō

Since she didn't really want to participate in any of this arguing, Sagisō had adopted the strategy of 'just smile and nod'. It'd been working up to the point where Shura approached her and posed a question which her brilliant smile couldn't have passed as an answer for. "Oh, whatcha got it mind?" She was rather curious about this idea of his, and was more than inclined to help simply because of their relationship as family.

Furījia

While she'd essentially lost her team, Furījia had been able to fall back onto her initial plans, that was to follow the Inuzuka and hope she caught onto a trail. While the team containing the Inuzuka seemed to have taken a rather roundabout route by heading back to the caves, they did seemed to have picked up on something, and Furījia, who'd been following them from about 50m behind, was ecstatic. She was careful to maintain her distance to them because on one hand, she didn't want to startle them, and on the other hand, she was much too embarrassed to actually join them. While she did gain a fair degree of confidence with Raiju in-hand, she was still a shy girl at heart.

 

[Grand Master Koop]

Hearing the response he got from the fellow Hyuga, Shura took his chain from behind his waist and showed it to Sagiso. "I don't know if the weight of the box will slow me down or if something might stop me from jumping back the instant I grab the box, so I as a precaution, I want you to hold onto my chain after I tie it to myself, this way you can pull me back as soon as I grab our target and also enhance my return speed." He explained. "Besides, I didn't want you to feel left out." He added with a smug tone.

 

[sSoul]

Taiyo
When he saw Shiho seem relatively disoriented from sleeping, Taiyo sighed as if he were disappointed. He knew he was no better than her, but the Hyuga didn't seem to have any stand-out skills she could use.
"Yeah it's morning, I know, too bad so sad. Get your stuff ready, were leaving," Taiyo told his other teammate before walking to his own sleeping site to do the same.
I'd say it's too early to call her useless yet, we haven't been in a fight and she seems relatively okay with the lifestyle she's chosen, in the fact that she is well suited for it.

 

[kyuukestu]

Sagisō

"..? That's a joke right? No, whatever, just leave the chain, it'll make too much noise and tip them off long before you can reach them, and that length of metal isn't exactly light." Almost bringing herself to a face palm, Sagisō sighed lightly, "I'm a shurikenjutsu specialist, so I can hinder then enough for you to catch up, just leave it to me. If you must carry the chain then try to tether it to a nearby tree, that way Takato can use the shadow of the chain to extend his shadow possession a fairly large distance."

 

[SageNeb]

Raiku got ready and told the others to do so as well. He went near taiyo and whispered to him.

“Hey uh sorry I’m not used to waking people up. I knew you were tough and could handle it though.”

He patted him in the shoulder and looked back at Shiho.

“Let’s get going.”

Once again he started jumping through trees.

“Hey Shiho, are you part of a clan? If so, which one? I’m an Uchiha.”