Mission name: Eradicate the smugglers (Repeatable)
Mission rank: B
Objective: “With the new customs protocols, and the limited entry into the country, smugglers trade have been spotted making illegal ports across kiri… this presents an opportunity. Kill the smugglers, secure the goods.”
Location: Kiri
Reward: 500 ryo
Mission description: Small smuggler’s ships have been trying to slip in under our noses. Root them out, kill their captain and secure their illegal weapons/ cargo for kiri. They will resist.
Mission details: The ninja will find a small unmarked vessel with ten vanguard men who will be trying to look inconspicuous. Kill them. They have C rank Katon, ninjutsu and C rank Bukijutsu, with C rank katana and broadswords.

NPC:

Verdandi would get up in the morning. Again. Brush her fingers along her crystals. Again. She started to see there was a certain pattern behind her rituals. But going to the shower… again… was not something that would bug her. She did her meditation, her balance training, a short blade dance to loosen up the muscles and she was good to go. All gear packed. The mission briefing for this one had been in advance as well. So Verd already knew what it was about. But unlike other missions they didn’t have all the valuable information yet to actually go in there with a potent strategy at hand. But anyhow. It was just a new step they had to add to their tactics.

The meet up with the squad was but the usual and they would soon take off towards the Kiri borderlands. The weather was misty and wet. It was raining. Not an unusual thing for Kiri but still, Verd had to admit that she did not participate in many missions that would be accomplished in the rain. But the mission headquarters ensured them that it might come in handy, considering that the enemy was supposedly well equipped with knowledge about fire. Also, it gave a good source for water and ice techniques and probably would make Chi feel right at home. Verd wasn’t sure how Haka would feel within the rain. Probably indifferent towards it? Verd herself, as much as she enjoyed water, didn’t want her clothes to become instantly wet and formed herself a large ice-based umbrella above her head. She extended the size and distance to her body to make sure that none of her frame, even while running at certain speed, would get wet just yet. She was aware she wouldn’t be able to stay dry during this mission but as long as she could preserve her comfort zone she would keep it.

Once they moved out. They could hear thunder in the distance. Not an outright storm but certainly not the easiest type of weather. Verd wondered if Chi would enjoy the sound of the heavens considering his passion for anything even remotely storm related. However. Soon they would reach the target perimeter of the shore. The illegal harbour of the smugglers was but a tiny little bit out of sight within the mist now. Verd made sure to set up the usual ice igloo camp and prepare the fire. The igloo was getting bigger and the fire filtering process turned more complex and less energy consuming. The more often she would do that, the more ideas she would get from using her improvised camp technique. The igloo would provide shelter and was spacey enough that Chi wouldn’t need to sit his water-based butt onto the frost, instead could relax and remain close to the fire.

Verd would pull forth some dry meat and offer it to anyone a little bit hungry. As per usual, this was now the ‘tactics’ tent and they would have to come up with a strategy. “We need to do recon this time. We don’t have enough information on the camp. We need numbers, how many pirates we are dealing with. We need to know if there are ships and how many and we need to know from where we best wish to attack….. Any good ideas?” Verd wondered, the snowstorm would probably be a bad idea in this weather and environment. Stealth was always welcome. But she wasn’t a recon specialist. She would need to rely on a more experienced team mate on this matter.

Meanwhile in the camp. The pirate captain Arrchibald was combing his non-existent hair in front of his mirror. His completely cliché-ridden parrot was demanding pie and pudding. Occasionally hacked his beak into the bald head of his boss. He would slowly move on deck and yell at his pirate smuggler scum that they should hurry up and load the cargo. The carts from their trade partners had but just arrived. A multitude of civilian smugglers would fill the place. Trade would happen. Many hours would go by until all business would be settled and even then, they would have to load the cargo onto the ship first. Arrchibald stumbled with his standard wooden leg and weird metal hand over the helm of the ship. The parrot continued to curse at him for being a cheap fraud of a pirate. Arrchi ignored him. He didn’t even give the poor parrot a cracker. He was worried. The thunder at the horizon was a bad signal for his taste. He could feel it in his missing limbs that something was out there. He didn’t know what but it made him uneasy. Once more he screamed at his men and told those maggots to hurry up or he’d personally bury them in the sea.


820

Haka yawned at the rise of the early rays bringing light onto the world, but the warmth was thwarted by the cold pressure of thunder clouds and rain. It was one of those days where she would much prefer to just sit in a hole and watch an unimaginable amount of rain drops fall down without a care in the world. Rain was one of those hate-love things. Feeling drops wet her body was an annoyance, but the sound had something strangely comforting. A whole day could pass without the need for the slightest of movement, and she'd be fine with that. Lazying about would be an occupation for another day. Another mission had arrived by courier. The messenger bird did not make it, eaten by the lurking spider who had made its web nearby. Spider Island was a dangerous place for the unprepared bird solemnly doing its duty.

Haka would dress up, leather armour protecting her physique, cloak concealing her actions, before she would make her way to the gathering point to meet up with the others. It was located rather far away from the Village, close to the borders. Pirate smugglers had established a little trade port for easy smuggling and had to be dealt with. Haka didn't quite understand why. Trading happened everywhere. Why would the strong be forbidden to trade like everyone else did? She guessed it had something to do with odd rules regulating human lives like they always did. Haka cared not. The chances were slim she'd ever fully understand the irrational decisions of humans anyway. To her it was a mission to be executed. The offered pay was nice, but equally useless considering the nature of her being.

Sitting into the igloo was Verdandi, Chigetsu yet having to arrive. But as soon as Chigetsu entered, the squad would talk tactics. They had no information whatsoever to go about. No numbers, no layout of the base. Even then, Haka was of a mind cutting their escape route was important. If there were ships, they should be burned or otherwise made useless for the pirates. The problem was that this would probably put them in the open just as much. A bad tactical move should they be outnumbered and outclassed in strength.

"We should scout first, and keep ships from sailing away."

That was all the spider could bring in with the current information. Without a good layout of the map, there was no point in looking for a strategic entrance, and without numbers it was hard to determine if they'd stand any chance. Haka would turn her attention to the other two, listening to hear if they had any input.

---

451

Chigetsu woke from the thunder. It snapped him awake, sending immediately out of bed. His body reacted before his mind could, and he would be standing before his jellied legs could support him. The surprise would send him tumbling down to the ground, collapsing in a puddle. Immediately he would be standing again though, and immediately he would have his face pressed up against the window. Wet. Rain. Storm. It sent energy through him. An impossible amount of energy. Despite being asleep just moments ago he would be up now, bursting at the seams and ready to start his day. Boundless energy. Showering and getting dressed would go by quickly, and as soon as he scarfed his breakfast down he would be ready for the day. As soon as he left his apartment he had to rush back in, having forgotten something very important. His weapons. They would all be collected and shoved into his gut, and then he would rush out again. For the second time he would run back into his apartment, having just remembered that he hadn't brushed his teeth. Hygiene was important.

As soon as he was actually done with his morning routine he would burst out into the streets of Kirigakure. The rain was wonderful. He would bask in it, raising his arms up into the sky. He would stand like this for a while, standing on his tip toes as he mentally offered praise to Susannoo. There would be a very literal skip in his step as he went down the streets of Kirigakure, nearly prancing for a little bit. The initial excitement passed of course, but he was always in a good mood when storms came down like this. That meant the seasons were changing. Unlike the mainland, there were only two seasons in Kirigakure, the dry season and the rainy season. The seasonal monsoons that hit Kirigakure every year would surely be brewing and likely roll in soon. This miniature storm was the start of Chigetsu's favorite time of year. He would have start saving up. Getting his own little boat to wreck would involve a lot of financial planning, although it was much more possible now that he was a chuunin.

The thunder in the distance brought him back. He couldn't just prance around the streets like a lunatic all day, even though he wanted to. There was a mission he had lined up. B-Ranked. Important. Also, a good start towards buying himself a boat. He would set off, beginning his journey to their designated meeting point. All the rain that hit him would end up absorbed directly into his body, and because of that the man made of water would be entirely dry as he strolled through the rain. Strange.

Chigetsu would arrive in the igloo shortly after Haka did. Having grown a bit more of a spine since the last time, he would now enter without much fuss. He was still nervous of the ice, but it was something that was beginning to work itself out of his system. That it had been made a bit spacier was comforting too. A seat beside the fire would be taken as they began to speak about tactics.

"If they have ships, I can take care of them." He would smile. This was a mission that worked entirely to his talents. "I can keep myself hidden underwater and break pieces out of their hulls until they sink." Underwater combat. Could Chigetsu ask for anything better? He was already in a happy mood from the storm, but this mission seemed like it was going to be a blast as well. "I can breathe water, so I'll be fine. There won't be any chance of them noticing me, since I'll never surface." Having their ships sink like that would be pretty immediately noticeable though. As he assumed that neither Haka or Verdandi would be able to follow him so easily underwater it would be something they'd have to split up to do. "After we scout their location we could split up. The ships being sunk would be a signal to attack. You two could attack from the land, and I'd surround them from the water." Splitting up maybe wasn't the best idea, but that initial plan sounded wonderful in Chigetsu's head. If they had any better ideas he would be willing to hear them though.

---

[757]

Verdandi nodded. Starting to compare the intel they already had with the plans the team had implied so far. Verd was fine with all components. For once they would have to make use of the weather that was already present. It was still mid-day but the thunder and clouds made sure that no sunlight would bother them. Keeping things misty and somewhat darker. Without any further ado, Verd snacked herself a little croissant she picked up at the bakery in the morning. Offering the same to Chi. She would to Haka too but was guessing it wasn't her taste. Still, she could have some if she wanted to try.

With that little nourishment in check. Verd would melt the igloo and use its water to create six clones from it. If they wanted to properly recon they would need the numbers to do so. Verd and her many twins would lead ahead on their way to the border of the canyon. Once they had arrived at a high hill and could stare down into the illegal bay beneath. The large ships were visible in the distance. Three were by now boarding the docking platform. All neatly next to each other. Giving Chigetsu's idea a good chance of success. The three of them along with the additional clones would proceed to move around. Keeping themselves hidden behind the hillside to make sure their primary spying attempts were not noticed. Verd would use the map she had gotten to roughly layout the bigger buildings. There was a temporary bar that had been put together by a myriad of planks. Attracting a large number of pirates, about ten or more. Verd couldn't exactly see well.

Within the camp were a lot of traders that deemed to be of no harm to their plans. Three guards were patrolling along the pathway that lead out of the bay that was otherwise surrounded by the hills. Verd could see a myriad of very low ranked pirated on the ship. However, they couldn't see captain Arrchibald and two of his strongest men as they were talking business with the traders in the captain's lodge of the main ship.

Eventually Verd touched her clones and re-absorbed their chakra into her body. They had confirmed the numbers but one of them had implied that there was light and activity on the ship that they couldn't measure as to how many people were to expect from there. One of the clones had reported to be aware that the last traders would leave within the next hour and the goods would be moved onto the ships at last by then.

"Alright, seems like we got the basics all made out." Verd would listen to the intel Haka and Chi had gathered and then express her basic idea for the next step. "Hmmm we need someone to keep the pirated in the inn busy… I guess I'm going to disguise myself as one of them. Heading in there like this should be no problem. While I keep them busy, Haka should take care of the patrols. We don't want them in our back. Chi, you will take care of the ships as suggested. The pirates on the ship will try to make it to the docks. Make sure you get rid of the ones that are too slow to get off and maybe, if you can, destroy the docks as well… The more damage the better. I will make sure to start slaughtering the inn pirates. But I'll probably need help with them sooner or later. So, I'd say depending on what survives the first round. I'll flee the inn after my initial attack and join up with Haka. Attacking the survivors from south while Chi can attack them from the water side from north. Any other ideas?"

With or without additions. Verd would get ready for her own phase one. Snatching a low ranked pirate that was escorting the traders to the end of the road. Basically waiting for him to turn back around trying to make his way back into the canyon. She would slit his throat. Shut his mouth while he died and allowed him to sink to his knees. Quickly copying his looks and outfit. Verd would change herself into the scout. Making sure to wink at Haka before she moved into the canyon. Requiring the assassin to have her seen / marked as ally so she wouldn't accidentally kill Verd as suspecting her part of the patrols. Dandi would make her way slowly towards the inn. Giving Chi the time he needed to get around the canyon and hop into the water of the bay, giving Haka the time needed to prepare the assault on the patrols. Trying to keep an eye on the ship in case something bad would happen. Time to kill some pirates.


820 / 1640

Chakra, 195 / 200:

Chigetsu could take care of the ships. Made of water, underwater breathing, tentacles. Good. That took care of their escape route. Verdandi remained quiet, giving no input into the plan from her side. Instead, she broke up the igloo as she stood behind Haka's notion that scouting was important. Six clones were created out of the former ice and the mist that swirled around before all of the Verdandi's vanished to start scouting. Haka would follow, the solitary spider rather used to assess the situation for herself before taking actions towards assassination.

The area was too... open to her tastes. Too many people walking on and off the ships, civilians too mingled with the targets. Chigetsu's suggestion to take on the ships would be granted. He'd be perfectly able to sink the couple of small ships by himself, but the rest of the situation could cause a chaotic escalation real quick. Haka disliked that, as it would be a means for the pirates to escape with the rest of the people. Considering the mission, that option should not be available. A traditional assassination would have too little a beneficial impact on the situation, so a different strategy was needed.

As the group gathered up again and information was shared, Verdandi offered a strategy that fit in well. As she had guessed, Chigetsu would have his aquatic fun and assassinations would have to be dropped in favour of a surprise attack from the heart out. Even if Haka could perfectly mimic human behaviour, the spider-nin simply was not the ideal choice to infiltrate the way Verdandi had in mind. That role would be taken on by the ice princess, leaving Haka to deal with a couple of roaming guards to diminish the chances of an alarm being raised. Good. Then afterwards, she would provide the needed support. The door of the tavern would make the perfect bottleneck where ice and spider web could swiftly deal with them.

The team moved on for the execution. A poor pirate killed and robbed of his clothes, turning the ice princess into a wild streaked bandit for a moment. Haka would mark the two other members of her team with her seal. Verdandi would wink, Haka would blink as she was not quite familiar with that gesture of trust. Haka's approach to her task would not be quite something her team would have expected. Making use of the transformation technique as well, Haka would assume an almost perfect copy of her Creator, Sero Osada. A feminine Sero, that is. Taking out a small bottle that Verdandi was certainly familiar with, she'd proceed to add a spray of tantalising perfume before vainly brushing her long white hair from her face, and resting her other hand onto her hip.

"I heard guys like feminine forms like these.", she said with an alluring whisper and an enigmatic smile before sauntering off to go find the guards.

Finding them along the road, the three of them had a bored expression until a mysterious woman in white robes appeared before them. Suddenly their eyes grew big to a point they could have popped out of their sockets, their ogling returned with a coy smile as she lowered her eyes briefly.

"Hello, boys~", she cooed. "Anyone of you wishing to show me the way to the market?"

They were more than happy to help, the three of them almost stumbling over each other as they raised hands and called out, pushing each other to be the first in line. Haka giggled softly, feigning amusement at their eagerness.

"I wouldn't want to keep all of you from doing your duty, so ah... let's say the strongest of you lot can... take me along."

She rested a delicate hand on her chest, trailing down a little with her finger, drawing the attention to the unmistakable shapes hidden by the robes she wore. Three pair of eyes followed, one of them having blood drip out of his nose with a lecherous smile. As his mind proceeded to process all the things he wanted to do with this beauty, he was forced to take out a handkerchief and withdraw for a moment, blood now jetting out of his nostrils. A brief moment of awkwardness followed as the man was forced to a temporary withdrawal to deal with his obvious perversion.

"So... Who's the strongest of you lot?"

And that set the scene for a perfect distraction. The two others started with bragging, then pushing and shouting at each other, and eventually they were fighting as all of them wanted to be the alpha taking her home. It took a couple of minutes before one was knocked out cold, the other one rather well exhausted with a couple of bruises and a thick eye. Proud he won, he told her how he would be the one to 'take her with him and show her' the market, he moved closer to wrap his arm around her waist. With a coy giggle she granting him the right of the strongest, moving her arms around his neck.

And snapped it without further thought.

Dropping this silly game, she slit the throat of the knocked out guard with her kunai, And as the third man finally returned, feeling remotely better now that he had regained control over his perverted thoughts, he quickly joined his allies right after as his senses confusedly tried to understand why two of his allies were out cold. With the guards out of the way, Haka dispelled her 'lady Sero' form and started to drag them away from the road and out of sight. Humans were such silly creatures.

---

953
Total: 1404

185/200:

Better not have the Perverted SC.:

With the plan appearing satisfactory to Verdandi and Haka, Chigetsu would raise an arm up in victory. Truly he was blessed. The rain and storm must have been granting him luck, and perhaps even favor from Susanno. The bit of the croissant that was offered to him would be happily chewed at. He was in an incredibly cheery mood. With the melting of the igloo he would stand up, setting forth in the motion of a series of stretches. It seemed Verdandi was going to take care of the scouting bit, and when it came to the clones she had created that shouldn't be difficult at all. As the clones set off he would begin to prepare. Other than stretching though there wasn't much for him to do. He had already checked every last bit of his equipment before setting off. While waiting a little tune would be hummed to himself, and he would resist the urge to dance in the rain.

The return of the clones would allow Chigetsu to spring back into excitement. All information would be paid attention to closely, and he would make a mental note of each detail. Three ships currently docking, all neatly next to each other. He knew better than to assume that Verdandi had the shipping expertise to identify the class of ship they were, and so refrained from asking. The rest of the information was beyond his scope. The presence of a bar was interesting, although mostly irrelevant to what his role was. Though, it would provide a nice place for them to relax after the mission was over. He would nod quickly in response to Verdandi's final run over the plan. Destroy the ships. Take care of the stragglers. Destroy the docks too. Pincer attack and catch them all in their grasp. Perfect. He had no additions that needed mentioning.

None of the information had given Chigetsu any reason to slow his roll, and so he would roll out. Bidding his squad adieu, the squishy gooboy would set off to complete the role of ship sinker.  One hour. That was more than enough time. The solid timeframe sent jolts of excitement through his spine. He would rush around the canyon, squishing down to adopt the form of a puddle slipping across the ground. Keeping low to the ground in this form left him almost unnoticeable and gave him a better chance of avoiding any eyes that might catch him by chance. The mobile puddle would zip outwards, sliming across ground in record speed until it was able to dump itself into the ocean.  

He was incredibly fast in the ocean. His goo would squelch itself into the shape of a shark, and with the fins and gills of a fish he was right at home in the salt water. Sharkgetsu would casually swim to the location of the docks from his entrance point. The water would get shallower, but any depth large enough to contain these ships, what looks like frigates now that Chigetsu saw them in person, would be more than enough for a shark to slip into. And so he would, and so he did. Approaching the bottom of the wooden hull would have Sharkgetsu bump his snouty shark face against it, bumping off and recoiling somewhat. He would shift again then, returning to his base state.  

It occurred to him suddenly that this was going to be a lot harder than he thought. The wooden that made these ships was a lot tougher than he had assumed, and he should have known this. Years of seeing ships so casually torn apart by storms had made it look easier than it was though. He had to think for a few moments of how exactly he was going to be sinking these things. With a minor bit of difficulty, he would slip in through the boards, squeezing through the tight fit to enter the underside of the boat. A bit of squirming would allow him into the bottom level of the hull. He had entered into what he could only assume was where they had loaded the cargo, the level half covered in barrels and darkness. A quick glance around would confirm that he was fortunately alone, as he had slid in before looking around. The mission description had made mention to the cargo of these ships being something along the lines of illegal weaponry. A large hammer or something along the lines would make the process of opening holes in the underside of these ships a lot easier, and so Chigetsu would search through the various cargo.

He found something a lot better than a hammer. Explosive tags. A crate full of them. They were all printed out into sheets, connected in large pieces as if they were just recently printed and not yet seperated. How exactly explosive tags were constructed, whether they were printed or crafted by hand, wasn't something that Chigetsu had often thought about. It was something he regarded curiously before picking up a few sheets of the stuff. This would be perfect. Slipping back below deck, Chigetu would place a sheet of explosive tags firmly into the bottom of each of the ships. They would be placed tight and infused with a tiny bit of Chigetsu chakra to act like a primer.  

He would then get very far away from the ships. Sliding under the docks he would return to his human puddle form, zipping as close to land as he could get. There was an hour before these ships were to set off, and despite being prepared now he would wait. Allowing his squad more time to prepare would be beneficial. As handy as it would have been to communicate with them now and ask if they were ready he had to leave it all to intuition. Once he thought enough time had passed Chigetsu would raise a single blobby hand up from his puddlebody, forming the half-tiger sign.  

Three simultaneous explosions would ring out. Immediately following them would be several more. The sheets placed at the bottom of the ships would serve to detonate the ones that had been left in the crate, and so a series of detonations would rip through the lowest levels of the three docked ship. The shockwave would nearly capsize the ships, and the fact that they hadn't been sent over was made irrelevant by the amount of water they quickly began to take in. The shallowness of the dock waters would make it so that the ships wouldn't sink entirely below the water level, but it would be certain that they wouldn't be sailing anywhere.  

Chaos would rain down with the storm. Confusion and panic would ring through the pirates at the bay, those on the upper levels of the ship attempting to keep their balance and recover from the impact of the blasts, and those on land trying to figure out what the hell had just happened. Those on the docks were caught up in another issue though. Tentacles had risen up from the sea, eight orange tendrils that began sweeping up across the planks. Chigetsu seized on the panic quickly. With his goo-tentacles he was able to rip down three unprepared men into the ocean, where they would be held until they drowned. He could easily stretch up above the water level with his tentacles to attack and keep his body obscured underwater. It was a winning strategy, especially as it caught the pirates by surprise. He would wreak havoc on the docks, and his little stunt would signal the rest of his squad to move in.

---

[1282/2039]

Chakra 150/190:

Verd was already past Haka in her scummy pirate disguise as she could hear Haka approach the patrols. Verd would gave a distinctively surprised facial expression upon seeing what Haka was doing back there. But having her own task she'd have to keep her curiosity in check. The spider going for seduction was something Verd had never, ever thought of was possible. Baffled by the concept, she bumped by accident into a large fat pirate. He gazed down and yelled out at her. "Watch where you step you ugly rat!" he claimed and pushed Verd away. Dandi needed a second to remember whom she was disguised as. Obviously, the guard pirate she had taken form off was of lesser rank and didn't heed much respect among the men. Verd decided that she needed a better face to properly infiltrate the masses.

As she excused herself in order not to get into a fight with the fat pirate, she could see how the pirates all around the area would suddenly stand still and in awe as their leader, Arrchibald moved from his ship down the docks straight towards the bar. His weird ass parrot was sitting on his shoulder and constantly insulted the men. Claiming they were all ugly and weak little turds. The parrot commences to hack his beak into Arrchi's bald head. The scumbag pirate had yet to feed the poor little bird that was starving from being neglected like this.

Verd was now familiar with her new objective. To claim this person's face would be the ticket to deal with the crew. However, Verdandi needed to create an environment allowing her to take his place. She shuddered already as she could see Arrchibald sit down in the pub and glaring with lecherous eyes on the skin of the almost naked dancers that moved through the bar. She knew what would come next. Having just made mentally fun of Haka being the seducer, made things even more difficult for Verd as she hated it to accept that chickening out of this now would make Haka 'win' in regards of effort through seduction. Verd disliked it anyhow. As much as she enjoyed teasing Chi she wasn't the kind to user looks and sexual desires as weapons.

Accepting her fate Verd sighed and slowly moved behind the bar. With a little knock of her elbow to a few wooden planks she created herself a makeshift entrance into what must be clothing area for the dancers. Verd sneaked in and peeked upon the ladies getting all dressed up. Neither of them was particularly beautiful but they were slutty in a way that Dandi couldn't compete with. Removing her henge disguise Verd stepped from the barrels and moved in to quickly knock the two ladies out that were here. The one that just came back from the stage would give a surprised squeak but a soft hit to the guts and a palm to the neck would send her asleep as well.

Verd would slowly drag the three ladies past the make-shift plank door out of the pub and take them to safety. The things that will transpire in the bar will sooner or later turn bloody and as so often mentioned before, Dandi disliked it hen civilians got hit in the crossfire. Moving back in, Verd would fix the plank so that none of the passing-by pirates that might move in behind the bar to take a piss would get suspicious. The ladies had been dropped tied up and lips taped shut into one of the barracks behind the bar. Verd dropped the remains of her pirate clothes and slipped piece by piece into the most skin-covering dress she could find. It was still perking her bust out and the skirt didn't really cover much of her waist. Adding some stockings would eventually help cover some leg skin at least.

As the pirates were already growling in waiting for the next dancer. Verd slowly moved on into the bar. Her looks easily surpassed those of the pirate girl dancers. Making a lot of jaws drop as they hadn't seen that one coming. Arrchibald was obviously captured by the new face of beauty. Instantly feeling his heart beating faster. Even the little parrot would shut himself up for a minute without insulting anyone.

Verd would make use of the memories she had made at Siren's Den, trying her best to move and dance as pretty as one of Gin's stripper girls, particularity like the suna girl that had e beautiful and aesthetically pleasing dance that was more hypnotic than sexual. Mixing in some of her own blade-dance moves to complete the illusion, Verd would soon receive endless praises, whistles and loud gloats from the pirate crew. In an attempt to complete her objective. Verd would lean forth and slowly stroke into Arrchibald's goatee, tugging on his beard as the men started to cheer for their captain. Pulling him up to the stage and slowly towards the backroom.

While the crew cheered for their captain's luck, the drunk captain still had his bird on his shoulder. Once inside the wardrobe room, he would start to compliment Verd's beauty and turned around to remove his coat and place his bird off his shoulder in lust for what was coming next. Being vulnerable Verdandi would seize her chance to pull her sword from a hidden bundle of ropes in the room. The parrot would scream a few times. "From behind! From behind!" which would probably be misunderstood by the crew outside in the bar. However, the captain would turn around, his reflexes quite well as his cutlass could block Verdandi's blade. He grinned at the futile attempt to assassinate him. However, he must have underestimated the girls strength as Verd's eyes would glow shortly and a large spike of ice would suddenly break through the wooden floor and impale itself into the captains belly. Followed by this Verd would pull a kunai from her stockings and shove it from below into Arrchibald's throat, impaling it into his jaw and hitting his skull with the pointy end. He died.

The parrot was staring at what had happened in disbelief and gawked in panic. "Pain! Torture!" he would scream leaving the crew to wonder what was going on in this room. Verd quickly produced a little bit of croissant food from her pockets and offered it to the bird. Having seen him being starved Verd would take advantage of this and buy the parrots loyalty with food. The bird would see that he was not in danger despite the gruesome death of it's former Master. Munching quickly away at the bread offered and clucked a few times happy.

Verd would leave Arrchibald impaled. Take his cutlass sword and transform herself into the captain now. Staring into one of the mirrors made her clearly agree that this was one of the least enjoyable jobs in her career. First turning into a low ranked disgusting pleb, then into a seductive dancer and now into an ugly pirate captain. Verd sighed as the parrot sat casually on Verd's shoulder, she would feed him some more bread crumbs that'd instantly result in happy clucking again.

Verdandi would step out of the wardrobe room. The men instantly cheering at her… or him in that regard. Sure that their captain just had the time of his life. Verd would pull the cutlass from her belt and scream at the pirate crew. "Listen you filthy maggots. We got everything we wanted from this wretched shore! It is time to move. Get your ugly asses onto the boats! Now!" he screamed while the parrot underlined every few words. Especially enjoying the part where he could call the crew a bunch of filthy maggots.

In hail the crewmen would empty their drinks and slowly move on towards their ships. Verdandi was slightly moving forth and staring at the globed sun that would shine past the heavy weather. A few times. The time was up. The hour was passed soon. About five or six drunk pirates were still at the bar. The crewmen boarded their ships just in time to be there when Chigetsu's move came into action. The ships exploded. Verd's eyes would widen. She expected them to sink but actual explosions weren't part of her expectations. Many of the crewmen that just freshly boarded and went in for the cargo parts would die within the initial explosions. Some would drown or be hit by the debris of wood that would be torn around. The upper parts of the ships would remain intact and many crewmen seemed to have survived there.

As Chigetsu's palms started to roam from his body in tentacle form, the men screamed for "The Kraken! The Kraken!" as his arms started to violently pick and pull on the survivors. Verd would slowly move past the drunken pirates in the pub. Using the cutlass to slit their throats and eventually shoving her blade deep in the belly of the last one. The pub was dealt with. Haka had killed the patrols. The captain was impaled and bleeding to his death, unable to scream or move as a kunai was stuck in his throat. The ships were blowing up and Chigetsu's tentacles were wildly picking at the men on the docks.

About a dozen of the pirates would flee the docks back to the shore. But Verdandi was sure that Haka would find ways to enjoy herself here as well.


1610 / 3250

Chakra 155/200:

The last of the guards was dragged off the road and dumped into a small crevice in the mountain. Not deep enough to hide the bodies entirely, but sufficient for most not to pay attention to it. To make sure the rotting process would hasten up a little, Haka injected her wolf spider venom in each of them, making it so that they would soften up from the inside out in a matter of hours. Soon, they would just be a mass of soft flesh filled with squish and loose bones. Along with a few good scoops of dirt and mountain grind, the colour of the mountains would add to the camouflage of the corpses and further make sure they would not be spotted as easily.

Haka then transformed again, taking on the form of one of the pirates and picked up his cutlass, bandana and leather gloves. Tying the belt around her, wearing the selected accessories and pulling her own 'pirate' patch over her eye - the one with the kitten on top of it - she would move down the road. It might not have been the perfect pirate looks, but it would do for Haka. The road downwards was mostly abandoned by now, the gross of the guards having been dealt with. A couple of drunks would stumble about, singing some sea shanty loudly, lyrics barely audible as they probably didn't even knew them. At other times, some ladies of pleasure would coo at her, making her reply with a wink and a smile before she continued towards the tavern.

One of the pirates stopped her, promptly pushing a bottle of rum into her hands and growling something akin to, "Yarr, matey. Drin' it all up 'fore the rum's gone. Yar har har!", leaving the spider in a difficult situation. She remembered the fruit wine Nova had once let her taste and the aftermath of that, so she was quite reluctant to drink something that smelled as foul as a wet dog, the alcohol strong enough to make her feel drunk just by smelling it. The pirate would have none of it, shoving the bottle almost in her mouth and spilling part of it over her face.

"Come on! Booze ain' cheap, mate."

Haka took a swig, coughing as the drink burned down her throat, much to the pirate's amusement. Seeing the bottle was almost empty, she emptied the rest in her mouth, looked at the pirate with a cold gaze and released a spark of katon chakra as she spit out the beverage in his face, creating a makeshift flamethrower in the process that would leave him burned enough to leave her alone for the rest of the time. The wounds would not be terrible, but his face would be red. The sting of the light burns sufficient to make him dance about, torn between patting his face in comfort and leaving it as it was since patting hurt just as much as enduring the burn.

Taking the empty bottle with her as yet another accessory, the swig she had taken was already taking effect. Her vision blurred, her mind swirled about. This stuff was worse than Nova's fruit wine. By far. Swaying about drunkenly, Haka was of a mind having eight legs would be much better now but rationale reminded her she was on a mission. She'd have to endure this state of discomfort until after the mission. Barging into the tavern, the noise drowned out all of her thoughts. Pirates sitting everywhere, laughing, swearing as the drank and gambled the day away. The tavern was full, dancers performing on the stage wearing so much as nothing. It made the Siren's Den almost proper in comparison. Some ugly beard got in her way, a mouth full ugly teeth laughing broadly at her drunken face before she grabbed it and yanked him to the side, making him tumble into the table nearby. Her drunken sway made her lean over to the other side, grabbing onto the table, three pirates looking at the drunk before them. Cards and ryo danced as she tried to regain her composure, the other pirate worse off as he got a fistful of meat for disturbing their place.

Standing back on two legs, Haka somewhat forgot what she was supposed to do in the tavern. It certainly had something to do with helping Verdandi out, the thought seemingly being the cue for a beautiful woman to take to the stage and dance about. And dancing she could, in double even, her moves fluid and in perfect cadence to the song. Sufficiently hypnotic to even catch the drunk spider's attention for a moment. Long enough to notice the mark of the spider and have Haka come to understanding Verdandi was playing her part in this game. For a moment, the spider-nin was of a mind to step up the platform and dance along, but by the time thought was translated to action Verdandi took the pirate captain by the goatee and guided him to the quarters behind under loud cheering of the pirates here.

There was some noise, some pirate screaming about behinds, the crowd cheering about that much to Haka's confusion, and finally the pirate captain would return to the stage to scowl at the pirates in the tavern. They cheered again, Haka joining them with less enthusiasm seconds later still not too sure what just happened. Then the crowd would swarm out to run onto the ships, leaving the 'pirate captain', the 'pirate' and a couple of sailors in the tavern. As Verdandi slit their throats, and the boats blew up to smithereens, turning the crew into shark fodder, some others cried out in panic about a 'Kraken'. At that point, Haka had enough of this chaos. Nothing made sense anymore. She dropped her disguise and fumbled about to lean on Verdandi, her soft voice nearing her ear.

"Have you ever eaten kraken?"

She had no idea what a Kraken was though.

---

1008
Total: 2412

175/200:

Despite the ravaging of his tendrils there would be those who escape. With how many of them there were on the docks it was inevitable that he would miss some. His limited vision likely contributed to that as well. Keeping the bulk of his bod underwater while reaching up above with tentacles was all fine and dandy, but that just meant he would be groping around blindly for anything that felt fleshy. His ability to shift his body around came in handy here, if in an incredibly bizarre way. He would shift his eyeballs up from his head into the tentacles, displacing them and allowing them to rise out of the water to provide vision for him. Humans were generally much better at seeing through their eyes when they were evenly placed in their eye sockets though, and so this strange vision was incredibly disorienting. The two tentacles that they had been placed in would stay back and allow the other six to spread havoc. In the end it was beginning to seem like hiding himself underwater was more trouble than it was worth, especially with how dizzy he was beginning to get.

As the dock cleared it would give him a perfect opportunity to remedy this problem. His eyeballs would stream back into his head quickly, plopping back into each socket with a pleasantly wet sound. Perfect fit. The rest of his gooey blob body would rise up from the ocean after that. The support beams of the dock would be climbed, and a massive blob of orange goo, the source of the tentacles, would squirm itself onto the dock. The entire creature appeared something like a semi-translucent orange slug, with the exception of the flailing tentacles that came out of its one side. It was so massive it barely fit on the dock in the first place, but its relative lightweight nature prevented it from breaking through. At its center another differently colored blob could be seen, serving as a light blue core to the orange slug.

Tentacles would stream out. Those that had remained alive on the decks would be sought after next. Eight tentacles would stretch out, allowing the blob to attack from an extreme far range while staying on the dock. The "kraken" would pick up any remaining pirates and toss them overboard. Resistance would be futile. Direct contact with the tentacles would result in an intense burning sensation that dried out the touched flesh, leaving the affected pirates with splotches of jerky-skin wounds. Conventional weaponry, such as the cutlasses and daggers that many reached for, simply sunk into the goo that composed the tentacles and got stuck. The crunching of wood and bones filled the air, the mast of one ship being torn apart from a thrashing tentacle. In reality Chigetsu wasn't doing anything more than flailing them all about over the surface of the deck, slamming into whatever, he could hit and grabbing onto anything that felt humanoid. It was a simple tactic but also one that was working out wonderfully. The chaotic battlefield on the deck would be repeated with the other two wrecked ships shortly after. It likely wasn't even necessary for him to take care of these disoriented and likely heavily injured pirates in the first place, but it was good to clear his flank before proceeding inland.

The slub-blob would slime itself forward onto land after it appeared like a satisfactory job was created in making as much chaos on the ships as possible. Whether or not the thrown pirates could swim was irrelevant. Survivors would hopefully surrender once they mopped around the area again. Upon hitting land, it would gurgle forward, forming upwards into something resembling a humanoid form. Two pseudopods formed out of the 'bottom', taking on the role of legs, while the mass of tentacles became the arms. The massive strange blobby thing would wobble forward, obviously unsteady on its legs and stumbling in search of anything else that might put up resistance.  

Falling on his face the first time wasn't sufficient proof that trying to walk on two legs with his blob armor wasn't a good idea, so he would fall a second time. It was clumsy and unfortunate but moving around in this blob form wasn't the easiest. He really wanted to stand up on two legs and wear the blob-like some sort of cool humanoid armor, but it just didn't seem feasible. Too clumsy on land to be moving around at great speeds, Chigetsu would spend more time flailing about in his orange blob suit than hunting down the survivors who fled off the docks.  

---

[782/2821]

Chakra 140/190:

Verdandi moved to Haka, undoing her disguise and dropping the ugly captain's clothes. She'd keep the funny hat he had and placed it as a goodie on her head. The mad parrot was still sitting on her shoulder despite Verdandi not looking much like a pirate anymore. She had picked up a box of crackers form the bar and idly fed some of them to the bird whom was deeply falling for the person that was feeding him. Laughing in a clucked noise towards the dying weak pirates. Verd would pick up Haka by the waist. Helping her move outside. There were two chairs outside the tavern but still neatly covered by the roof of the building. Verd would put Haka down into a chair. Placing the pirate hat on her head, dumping the funny bird on her shoulder and making sure that the spider queen had a box of crackers in her left and a laaarge glass of water in her right hand. "Alright darling, you going to drink this water and feel all fine fine again." She said and chuckled.

Despite the fact that Haka had once before warned Verd and mentioned the plum wine incident. She had yet never seen the effect of alcohol on her before. Dandi was just secretly hoping she would sober up soon. Despite the whole look with captain's hat and parrot on her shoulder was something of deep amusement. Verd just wanted to huddle off as suddenly a giant blob was moving from the shore towards the land. Verd instantly stopped in her tracks. Realizing at once that the person she was running to aid wasn't in need of such. Chi's monstrous form was moving over land and tossing around pirates like children's toys.

Within a change of plans. Verd moved to the back-hut to free the dancers, giving them a little prep speech to search for a more meaningful job in life and then tell them to hurry about and escape past north and NOT going anywhere close the giant blob creature that was currently wiping out the remains of the pirate camp.

Once that was taken care of. Verd would pick up some rum of her own. Returning to Haka whom was idly enjoying the show. Dandi would sit down in a chair next to her and sip a bit from the bottle. The storm was raging. Thunder was hauling from the sky. Rain was falling in masses. Chimonstru was stomping through the fields and tossing any remaining pirates off the cliff that once had a proper docking to it. The docks by now broken to pieces and slowly floating away along with the surviving pirates. Verd would relax herself and make sure Haka would remain seated while drunk. Both just watching the water titan do its job and obliterate their enemies.

Some hours would pass. The rain would stop. Sunshine would fall upon the canyon. All buildings aside the tavern had been torn down. The pirates were all either dead or having climbed up on one of the large plank platforms, floating idly in the bay. None of them had the guts to try and swim towards solid land where the kraken was and neither of them had the strength to swim out into the far away exit of the bay and dare to enter the open sea. They were trapped exactly where they already were sitting.

Verdandi lifted the mission scroll and moved up from her chair, hopefully the hours of drinking water and relaxing, maybe even napping, had helped Haka to recover from her drowsiness. Dandi would stroll around towards the bay and assess the situation. Peeking at her scroll she realized that they were missing a rather important component here. The illegal goods had to be secured. Considering the mess that she could see in the beach and the many broken ship pieces it was pretty logic that the goods were by now all stuck in the sand of the beach between ship wrecks.

Verdandi scratched her head, for every problem there had to be a solution. Watching Chi still somewhat recovering to return to his more human form, Verd would step onto the water, the supernatural walking technique allowing her to move straight towards the myriad of survivors. Some of them would recognize her as the 'dancer' from the tavern and their faces would turn red from anger as they became more and more aware that hey had been played here. Verdandi would casually offer any pirate safe passage if they would move their asses to help Verdandi recover the booty, the loot, the goods or basically just all the illegal cargo from the beach.

While some of the scared pirates would prefer to just remain on the large wooden planks, freighted by the concept of coming closer to the kraken. Most of them would nod. Verd forced them to lay down their weapons however. Checking them before they eventually would make their way towards the bay and closer to Chigetsu and Haka.

After another good two hours of the squaddies watching the enslaved pirates work. Verd would slowly move back to the tavern. With a few loud whistles she'd quickly attract the attention of her messenger bird. As Verdandi's raven arrived she would caw a few times loud as the parrot seemingly threatened to kill the messenger. Verd quickly put her written report to the bird's foot and let it fly off, not willing to confront the two birdies longer than necessary.


With all things considered. Their job seemed pretty much finished. Soon the civilians from Kiri would arrive to seize the cargo. As to what would now happen to the pirates… Verdandi would leave that decision up to Haka and Chigetsu. Pretty sure that her part in this play was over now.


980 / 4230

Verdandi had never eaten kraken. She didn't mention that, but Haka was pretty sure she hadn't since she brought the spider-nin outside and have her a box of crackers, a glass of water, some random bird and a hat. Not sure what the crackers or the water was for, the girl eyed the bird with mild interest, its fattened body looking a remotely decent snack that could feed the strange sensation of drunken hunger. Sensing the predator's gaze, the parrot flapped its wings wildly, screaming "Murder! Murder!" even though she had yet to touch the bird in the slightest. Annoyed by its screech, she would throw the water in is direction, the bird instantly cooled down and perplexed at the unexpected assault before it shook its feathery head to get most of the liquid off of it.

It was about to say something again when a pirate crashed down into the ground nearby, screaming all the way through the air prior to that. An unfortunate end to his live, the fall would prove too much for his body, inspiring Haka to drop the idea of snacking on the bird and instead opt for actual dinner since it just came to be served. Chimonstru was on a rampage, and he was doing it very well. The crunching of wood sounded like a symphony, the screams of terror being those moments where one would close their eyes to enjoy the shivers that would run over their back as the beauty of a musical masterpiece would be played.

But wait!

Haka could add to this, a macabre moment of inspiration striking her. She would stand up, pushing away Verdandi's attempt to make her sit down and take out a scroll marked with "計器" from her pouch. "Instrument", because to the spider it mattered little what the real name was of this plaything. Unsealing it, the majestic form of a grand piano would reveal itself with a puff of smoke. She would sit down again, moving the chair closer to the piano and placed her fingers on the ivory spine that formed the keys. A few seconds of silence would follow, like she had seen the butler do, then her fingers would dart over the keys with such grace her multi-tasking nature would instantly become known. Two hands each playing their part as if they were two different entities, the grand piano would come to life under the eerie inspiration of the spider-nin. A beautiful composure amid the terror of the Krakengetsu, mockingly playful in nature in between the deadly cacophony.

Music, Maestro!:

As Chigetsu's reign of terror came to an end, so too did Haka's inspiration and thus she sealed the piano into the scroll again. She'd brush her hair out of her face, only now feeling the few water drops that would herald the coming of rain. She would look up, sobered up somewhat, enjoying the sensation of the cold water on her face for a little while before she'd shift her gaze onto Chigetsu clumsily crawling forward in his giant blob form. The whole area around him was trashed, the tavern comically the only construction still standing.

Haka would move inside the tavern to find shelter, not really wanting to be caught in the pouring rain. She would sit down arms wrapped around her legs in silence for the coming hours, waiting for the team to get together again and the rain to halt. Hours would pass, but she wouldn't mind. The patient wolf spider never minded waiting for the right opportunity. Time would pass, the rain would too. Their mission was not at an end yet, considering they had to secure the goods. Haka knew this, and eventually the others would come to that realisation as well, but how would they go about it? Everything had been sinking to the depths of the waters, trashed around or destroyed in the explosion. Chigetsu could probably use his tentacles to fish out the materials, while she could go for a dive and drag some materials out as her rebreather would allow her to stay under water for quite a while. Haka was not sure if Verdandi would be prepared for a situation as this, but the ice princess would reveal her own way of going about things as she walked up to the scattered pirates to strike a bargain and set them up to do most of the looting work. Lazy, but it had its merit and so Haka wouldn't bother with any of her preparations either, just watching how the humans slaved to gather their own cherished booty and see it all be taken away by the 'shinobi dogs' that would claim it for Kirigakure.

All in all, the mission had been too chaotic to her tastes, lacking efficiency mostly due to the explosions scattering the loot all around the place, but it had been done. The mission was a success, the execution of it fascinatingly unorthodox in nature for the trio of shinobi that had otherwise proven to be diligent and organised in their execution. It was a matter of waiting until Kirigakure's forces would come to collect.

---

871
Total: 3283

Screaming filled the air. For a while it was the only thing that Chigetsu could hear, with the exception of the occasional crunching of wood. Ten meters of goo surrounding his body made it difficult to hear much of anything else. This sort of experimentation exposed those sorts of flaws though. Vibrations from things that were close were the only things that were audible to him, and his visibility wasn't much better with everything being tinted a bright orange. The battle that ensured with his blobby body and the remnants of the pirates could hardly be described as a fight at all. Chimonstru, half blinded and nearly deaf inside his blob would flail around in the direction of movement, and from that point the movement would be crushed under his body or snatched up by his tentacles and tossed. The pirates didn't exactly sit back and allow him to do this, but their resistance was futile. Swords and knives stabbed into the goo would sink in harmlessly, far removed from the center where Chigetsu was located. Penetrating too deeply into the goo blob with weaponry was difficulty when it savagely burnt any skin that it came into contact with. Hands that were accidentally shoved in with weaponry would pull back leathery, the liquid having been sucked out of the initial layers of skin. A lot of the fumbling left crushed and terribly burnt bodies in his wake spread out in the ruins of what had been the docks and structures around them. He only avoided his allies through a bit of luck, their blurry forms barely visible through the goo.

Only when there was nothing left to rampage around in would the rampaging stop. The tentacles and goo would drip away from the structure they had been in, melting into a massive puddle that coated the rubble orange. Chigetsu stood at its center, looking a tad disoriented. Moving around in that goo tornado had been entertaining at the very least, but it was likely something he should have practiced with before trying it out here. He would stumble down from the wreckage he was perched on top of, nearly slipping on the remnants of his own goo as he slid to the ground. The taint of orange would begin to wash away as the beginnings of rain started, and quickly came down in a torrent. Rubbing the orange out of his eyes, Chigetsu would look up into the sky. The rain and clouds were something he couldn't help but stop and admire. He would get soaked quickly standing there like that. His allies, perhaps a bit more intelligent than he was, had both already taken shelter. After a while of watching the rain he would join them. Soaking wet clothing would be dried in a moment as he walked under the roof, water all vacuumed into his skin. He would wait with Haka and Verdandi in the tavern that had luckily escaped his wrath, silently looking up into the rainclouds with a dumb smile on his face.

That there were some survivors would be noticed eventually. He hadn't intended to just kill everybody, but that there were people that he missed was a bit annoying for some reason. The way they cowered on the wooden wreckage out in the ocean, a bit off of the shore, would be enough to make him snicker though. Kraken. That was funny, he had to admit. There might have been a slight resemblance but thinking back to how he must have looked rolling around with his goo blob made it seem hilarious. Rather than finish them off, they somehow had been put to work by Verdandi in recovering the loot that they were supposed to collect.

The loot. They were supposed to collect that. It wasn't something that he had thought of when placing those explosive tags. The memory of sinking those ships flooded back to him. All of that muttering weaponry that he had exploded without thinking of it. The thought now suddenly made him sick to his stomach. How much of it had he destroyed without thinking? It wasn't something he would have to wonder about for long, as the hauled loot would quickly be brought back to shore in armfuls by the pressganged crew. The weaponry that had been collected, now all soaking wet, were quick to remind him of what he had done. It cause an immediate grimace on Chigetsu's face, one which sent the pirates scuttering off in fear. Even while looking like a human they recognized who the 'kraken' was, and the sudden glare and anger he had directed towards them was enough to nearly make some of them wet their pants. Their fleeing didn't stop the angry berating of the collected loot though. Voices quickly filled his head, spilling into his thoughts. Each haul of weaponry back from the sea only added another dozen sounds. All of it quickly decayed into fragments and noise, only the emotions and intent being understood.

There was sure to be fragments of steel left at the bottom of the sea. Weaponry that had been destroyed so thoroughly by the bombs that there was no use in retrieving it, or that it simply couldn't be retrieved. Chigetsu would sit down in the tavern, crossing his legs and staring down to the ground. What had been an otherwise cheery day was being drowned out now by an overwhelming presence of noise. Closed eyes and deep breathes brought him comfort, which he would desperately turn to in an attempt to keep focus. It was probably for the best that he didn't stand at the moment either. Frustration and dizziness throbbed in his mind. He was half tempted to terrorize these pirates further in an attempt to clear his head. Instead he would pound his fist into the wooden floor of the tavern. It was something he kept at in a rhythm, smashing the fleshy part of his hand down until it was red and sore. The thumping was like a dull drumbeat. Reflection back to his actions or the way he executed the mission were impossible in the moment, or any deeper thoughts if he wanted to keep his composure. Unable to contribute further to any decision making, the burden of what exactly to do with the pirates would pass by Chigetsu. He couldn't care in the slightest, and more than anything he wanted to leave this place now. Whatever got them back home the fasted was what he would agree with.  

---

[1099/3920]

A walking terror of krakenous blobby orange goo that seemingly aimless trashed the whole place. A piano playing spider, drunk from a mere bit exposure towards alcohol. Exploded goods and unwilling pirate workers.

Verd was scratching her head. The rain didn't bother her too much but she preferred to observe the pirates work from below the taverns covering roof. Seeing Haka seemingly lost in her own world now, somewhat curled into a child-like position and watching Chi seemingly loose it over his sort of imperfect approach towards the goods, Verd sighed deeply. Haka wasn't to be helped. There was enough water close by for her to get sober. Verd was not going to force feed it to her. That was a bad idea. However, the piano part was as crazy as it was hilarious. If things were not already seemingly odd to begin with, Verd would not have believed it. Seeing the weapons somewhat burned, Verd however recognized that some of the pirates were trying to hide a specific chest while doing their Job. Verd had the perception of a hawk at this point.

Stepping in between them. The treasure chest at her feet at last. Verd was surrounded by pirates. Next to crates full of weapons. With no allies next to her. The pirates would look at each other. Everyone was thinking the same. No one was yet daring to move. Verdandi stared back at them in apathy. The strong ones had long lost their lives. The ones here were trash that fled at the first chance. She kicked the chest open. Shining, thick heavy gold would shimmer from within. Diamonds. Sapphires. Emeralds. Verd knacked her neck. It had to be gems huh? The one thing Verd had a massive weakness for.

However. The men surrounding her were certainly not less interested. Dandi quickly kicked the chest shut. They were looking at her. Back to the weapon crate. To her. Crate. It was obvious they wanted to just grab those and shove it into Verdandi's back until she bled out and they could run off with their treasure. Verd would slowly inhale as the Hyouton chakra was collecting itself in her palms. "Don't." she said. A single. Simple command. As her eyes began to glow, one of the cheeky men reached with his hand for a spear in the weapon crate. The ice was already forming around him as he turned around to try and stuff said spear in Verdandi's belly. While he was busy concentrating on the weapon, the other around him however had noticed the flying particles of ice. Afraid of it they would stand still. The frost slowly encaged the man turning him into a life statue.

"Just go. Now. You have three seconds to move…" Verdandi was bluffing. She would be in serious danger if they all decided to attack her at once. But she had the ability to make her powers look scarier than her actual capabilities were holding up to. "One…" she started and squeezed her palm together. The man's bones inside the statue started to crack slowly. "Two…" she added as half of the gang already fled the premises. When blood splat inside the frost and the former man that inhabited it was nowhere to be seen anymore, the remaining pirates had run in terror.

Verd sighed. Exhaling slowly. Just one had to die and not all of them. Fair price. Dandi leaned down and opened the chest once more. Casually slipping a sapphire from the booty chest into her cleavage. She proceeded to sit down while the rain was slowly fading. The retrieval crew from Kiri would arrive about an hour later. Taking some of the weapons. Burning the too damaged ones and seemingly pleasured by the appearance of the booty chest.

With that in mind, the mission was of more success than originally intended. However, the execution of it was, simply said somewhat bumpy. One got drunk and the other depressed over some minor difficulties. Verd scratched her head again. She wasn't really sure how to deal with those two but would hope that Haka eventually sobered enough and Chi would somehow find his inner Zen again.

After all, the mission was over and it was time for them to go home.  Verd picked up the pirate hat that fell away from Haka's shoulder as she moved to her piano. The parrot however lingered nearby Haka. For some odd reason the bird liked the spidergirl.

[EXIT]





750 / Total wc: 4980

Chakra 115/200:

WC Usage:

As the wind swept over the remains of the smuggler docks and the pirates did their best to gather up the loot Chigetsu had blown up, Haka moved to higher ground. The alcohol's effect was mostly gone since she hadn't been drinking that much, but it pushed her in an odd mood. The spider-nin contemplated things she would never have been considering otherwise. Human things, perhaps? It was hard to say what it was, but it made her think about the future she was slowly bringing to a reality. Beauty was in the eye of the beholder. Her music was just one thing. This time it was the mess left behind by their mission. It was... not beautiful.

The debris of the ships littered the sea and were here and there washing ashore. The tavern was still standing, but it was a solitary building in between the ruins of several completely trashed buildings. A storage, a couple of small houses, some small shop. The spider had no qualms with explaining what happened but it felt so disorderly. The pirates had been completely chaotic. Untamed, wild. No one to guide them into a specific direction. It felt much like the Spider Clan where every spider just did whatever it pleased. It existed. But it was not driven by purpose. The Unmei were possibly the only ones that had some notion of purpose as they observed humanity and drew their own conclusions from their existence.

Haka had hers, but many Unmei had a different view. Haka was a monster who mostly killed for survival, but there were others who just killed. There were Unmei that lived a solitary existence. There were those who wandered between the humans and shepherded them. But with the exception of Miyu and herself, few acknowledged Sero as their Creator or Momma as their brood mother. It was not treason, but like these pirates such disorder in purpose was just... not beautiful. The clan belonged together. They needed one banner, one purpose only. How they achieved it was less of a concern. That they achieved it was what mattered.

Brushing her hair backwards, the spider-nin would see how the last bits of loot were gathered, the former captain's parrot still sitting quietly on her shoulder as it nibbled on the last of its biscuits. Her red amber eyes would watch how the Kirigakure shinobi would finally arrive and take care of the last assessment and clean-up. Haka would nod. The mission was over now, but one thing was certain. Haka needed to talk to Sero, but whether his answers would please her or not, she would soon unfold her plans for the evolution of the Unmei.

---

[EXIT]

454
Total: 3737
- 2500 mission (500 ryo)
- 1200 extra ryo (+300)
Discard rest

The retrieval of the weapons removed a point of frustration. Even with their removal Chigetsu's mood remained soured though. Their chatter had come from every angle, suddenly shattering his earlier mindset. With their voices in his mind he was paralyzed. If he had taken notice of their presence earlier who knows what would have happened. Would his enemies have been able to take advantage of the chaos in his mind to defeat him? With the ease he had in destroying just about everything here it seemed doubtful, but it was something for him to think about all the same. With his legs crossed on the tavern floor Chigetsu had taken to clearing his mind through meditation and prayer. Little expressions of his emotions came out occasionally, but it was all for nothing. Asking for mercy from a higher power just left him feeling even more discontent. It was a weakness.  

With his kunai he would distract his scrambled mind by carving small shapes into the wooden floor. It had been unusually silent during this entire fiasco. Normally he could expect a quip or two out of it when things went wrong like that. A comment. Something along those lines. It's silence this entire mission was something he had only just noticed now, as he played around with it. If it hadn't been for the noise that those captured weapons made he wouldn't have noticed this either. He would stare down at his weapon with a frown. This had happened before. During his extended stay at the Death Camp when they fought Nozomi his kunai had been oddly silent the entire time. Then it caused him a lot more anxiety than it did now. He had felt empty and shattered, chittering the entire time as he waited for the voices in his head to return. That wasn't that long of a time ago, but so many things had changed. It was something he had barely noticed now, until reminded by a frustration. His kunai always was quieter around other people but that had never been a problem until now.

He wouldn't linger in the tavern any longer than was necessary. There wasn't any reason for him to stay along past the point that the cleaners arrived on the scene. Even knowing he had no reason to remain he would drag his feet though, only rising up from his sulking after the job had been completely finished. After confirming that the team had collected whatever was recoverable and were packing up themselves Chigetsu would prepare to leave. The status of his kunai remained on his mind. What would happen if his kunai remained silent forever? Never being able to hear his kunai's voice again was almost something he couldn't imagine. It was an incredibly depressing thought. Years and years of his kunai's advice made it feel as if it were a part of him, or a family member. He would have to speak to it tonight in private, to see if there was anything he could gleam from its silence. Anything that would get it speaking again.  

He would leave, without checking on his allies. Haka and Verdandi could take care of themselves. He was much more concerned about something else right now anyway. It wasn't something they would understand. Confiding in them would be a waste of time. Retreating back into himself, Chigetsu would take the slow route back to Kirigakure. Hopefully his kunai would begin speaking again on the way back, while they were alone.  

---

[EXIT]

[596/4516]
[-2500: Mission]
[-1200: Extra Pay]