Mission stuff:

Chiaki was running across the rooftops, as was the custom of the shinobi of the hidden leaf village, in her hand she held the missive that she received from the courrier that appeared at her door this morning. It was about her going to a village on the outskirts of Hi No Kuni. Apparently there had been attacks, aftermath of the battle against kumogakure, or at least the attack on the village hidden in the clouds by Takao. It seemed like the ripples were still being felt, both by the people of the village hidden in the leaves and the village hidden in the clouds. Hi no Kuni, or the land of fire was under attack and requested that a medical ninja of her rank was going to be needed for this mission. She was chosen, along with two escorts to go and head off a mission to heal those in the village.

She didn’t know why she was assigned this mission, only that there were people whose lives, and livelihoods were at stake, and that she didn’t want to let their lives be in danger from a little spat between the Kages. It was her job as the Hokage’s assistant to clean up his messes, and what a mess this was. She didn’t know whether she would be back until a week or so out, or whether she would be back in time for dinner, it really was dependent upon the damage that was sustained by the little village.

As she slowed and came to a halt at the gate, she looked around. She was, of course, earliest of her comrades and tapped her sandaled foot against the even cobbled stones of the entrance to the village hidden in the leaves. She had no idea whether she was going to have to start and let them catch up, or whether she was supposed to wait for their back up. Sighing, she took out her scroll and read over it again. Apparently there would be two different groups that were occupying the village. One was a group of criminals and the other was a group of shinobi. She sighed and wrapped up the scroll this wouldn’t be easy.

“Guanyin, Chiaki I presume?” came a voice from afar. She turned around and there was a male, young by the looks of it, waving his hand back and forth. He wore a typical shinobi headband, the emblem of the hidden leaf village emblazoned for all to see. She had worn hers with her insignia on the nape of her neck. She smiled and waved to him. He had a tuft of brown hair that stood out from underneath his headband, almost straight up and a friendly face. It was square, not too bad to look at, and he had brown eyes. Altogether he was a nondescript ninja, and she wondered why he was chosen to help her out on this mission. Best to not question the Hokage in his decision making though.

“Good morning!” She called out and nodded, “I am Guanyin, Chiaki, and you are!?” A bright smile lit her face as she tilted her head, wondering whether or not she would have just woken all the neighboring houses with her shouting. Then again, they were probably used to a commotion at all hours, as the gates to the hidden leaf were usually not closed unless it was a time of war, and it was… it was on the precipice of being a time of war. There was a tremulousness in the air that could be smelled if one were perceptive enough. Chiaki felt it like an electric current, each time she took a breath, she had to let it out in a metered exhalation. She didn’t know why, but her chest was always tight, her eyes were always half-open. The anxiety and paranoia of war had set in long before this mission, and would perhaps be there long after the mission was over.

“I am Nara Nanutobi.” He smiled and flexed a bit. So a user of the shadow strangulation technique eh? Well, some use he would be in the battles. He would at least be able to paralyze her enemies. She nodded and looked around.

“Any sign of the other that is supposed to be travelling with us?” She asked, looking hither and thither before resting her gaze back on him. He shook his head and sighed.

“No sign of them yet, I hear that they’re part of the elite shinobi Ops. They’re to be our chuunin escort and leader. They can’t even show up on time.” He looked up and sighed as he neared Chiaki, “What a-”

He was cut off by something rushing past Chiaki, she was barely able to make it out, and there, standing behind her was their chuunin escort. “Guanyin Chiaki, and Nara Nanutobi, Nice to meet the both of you.” She was a woman of about six foot five, a massive woman with a club on her back. She looked every bit as dangerous as she loomed over the two of them, her eyes scanning them both, sizing them up, daring them to talk back to her as she looked to and fro, seeing if either of them would flinch. Then just as suddenly as the intense gaze was upon them, it lifted in a big grin. She was a softie after all. “ I am Chi Damune.” The smile melted away any semblance of the intimidating aura that she exuded before, and Chiaki let out a relieved sigh.

“Nice to meet you Chi Damune, I am-” She looked up the boy that started to walk toward her with his hand open in greeting, cutting him off and then nodded.

“You’re Nanutobi, I’ve been told that you’re the rising star of the hidden leaf village. You made genin in only two years from the academy and are one of the most promising shinobi, thought to have a skill that will carry you to chuunin in the next couple of months. Welcome to the group.” The eyes rested on Chiaki, who gulped and waved at the woman towering over her, “And that would make you Guanyin Chiaki, the girl who passed the academy barely, was living in obscurity only until a little bit ago, and has the gall to become the hokage’s assistant.” Her eyes narrowed, “I don’t even want to hear you talk on this mission. You’re to stay next to me and Nanutobi. You’re only here because we might have need for a medical shinobi and we’re to escort you to the village that, in question, needs help from someone of your expertise.”

Chiaki swallowed hard and her eyes went to the ground, downcast and nodded in a simple manner. She was still being followed by her past, and she knew that the only reason she was selected for this mission was because Takao favored her because she was his assistant.

“Good, now that we’ve all met, I am a taijutsu user primarily, I will use ninjutsu only enough to keep the people that are outdistancing me at bay, but don’t expect much in the way of long range from me.” The captain said and then looked at the Nara boy, “That’s where you come in sweetie.” She said, drawing nearer, “I need you to tie up the people that I can’t get to so that I can level them with this here club. I’ll bash their brains out as soon as you slow them down, so don’t possess them too long or you’ll be hit in the same manner, ya get me?”

He guled and nodded, “Got it ma’am. I’ll assist in any way I can.” She smiled, the woman who called herself Chi and she turned her back on the two of them.

“Let’s go then!”

Off they went, all three of them jumping through the gates and into the trees, it would take the better part of a half hour, given their speed to get to their destination, and Chiaki for one hoped that the half hour would go by quickly. She didn’t enjoy being under someone who thought her irritating, and didn’t know how she could help with anything in particular at all. She felt about as big as the ants that were making a nest outside of her apartment complex, and just about as significant to their cause as the ants were to the cause of Konoha.

As soon as they took to the trees, they took on the shinobi gait, or what chiaki called the shinobi gait at least. It was where shinobi would jump from branch to branch to conserve energy, using little to no chakra as they did so to jump between the branches of the great trees that pervaded the outside of the village all the way to the border. It was said that these trees were the doing of the late first hokage, his legacy on the village hidden in the leaves, and that the great ninja war almost destroyed the entirety of this forest. Now it was back and with a vengeance, the great konoha forest was daily expanding, feeding on the chakra, or what was left of it, of the great Hashirama Senju.

Chiaki felt honored to be a part of the mission, but felt out of place, as they jumped from tree to tree. Just as suddenly as her thoughts had turned inward there was an attack from the left of her, a kunai that just barely missed her eye and cut the bridge of her nose, sinking deep into the tree that was next to her. Her jumping gait halted and the two ahead of her halted as well, kunai springing out of the trees next to them as well.

“Ambush!” the woman ahead of them, called Chi, called out as she took out her club and batted away another three kunai aimed at her chest. Chiaki took out her own kunai and parried a kunai aimed at her. The nara kid was already weaving hand seals and was aiming his shadow at the person that was closest to him as Chi jumped from tree to tree, trying to get close enough to the one who targetted her to bash him in. That left Chiaki with her own.

She growled and the ninja, wearing no headband to identify himself, and charged forward. He took out another kunai and threw it at her while weaving hand seals. She parried it and her left hand started to work. She would have to make quick work of this one to get to the others.

“Hidden leaf jutsu: Heavy water!” Chiaki shouted, her kunai coming up to defend her as her hand outstretched, trying to touch the person she was after. It was going to be a hard go of it, since the person that was ahead of her was faster by all means, than she was. But she had the element of surprise for her jutsu didn't make any water and the user thought that her jutsu had failed from his kunai throw. Well, it would prove to be a mistake that he wouldn't live down

A fraction of a second later, she felt a stinging sensation in her right arm, with the kunai defending it, and she dropped her kunai, sprouting a geyser of blood from that arm, she touched the torso of her intended victim as he shouted, “Wind Waves!” and made the slicing movement with his hand which guided the air wave. She was too close to move out of the way. She was too slow to move out of the way, but she got him. Thinking about his legs, his legs dropped out from under him in midair and as he tried to catch himself on a branch, she heard a snapping noise as his arm broke under him.

He tumbled a long way to the ground, and with only one arm to brace himself or right himself he tumbled headfirst. She felt, more than heard, his neck snap and he was done. It was a killer move when they were up this high, and Chiaki hadn’t taken that many lives before. It turned her stomach, even now, to think that she had taken another life.

Chi let out a strangled noise and Chiaki saw her drop to the forest floor. She sucked in a breath and started to weave the hand seals necessary to patch herself up. She would be of no use if she was unconscious. A thread of chakra pooled between her fingers and she tapped her finger to the edge of the wound. The chakra thread wound its way between her muscles, tendons, and veins which were sliced by the air blade and meded themselves. She sucked in an inhalation and let it out between clenched teeth. Each time it hurt, no matter what she did to patch herself up.

Jumping down from the branch, Chiaki landed next to Chi, checking her pulse. She had been badly wounded by the one that she had been attacking, sprouting at least four kunai she could see. Chiaki pulled out the kunai one by one and then wove more hand seals, this time it would be her chance to shine, to show what she was made of. Another bandit fell to the forest floor, a kunai sticking out if his eye. So the Nara kid was really a good ninja after all.

Touching one of the wounds, Chi moaned in pain as the healing started to take effect. She had used a lot of chakra by this point and Chiaki had broken into a cold sweat.

The other bandits seemed to be retreating towards the village. Chiaki sighed in relief and nodded to the other two. They nodded back, the nara kid dropping down from the branches, a kunai in his left shoulder.

Chi grabbed Chiaki by the throat and slammed her against the tree, “Did I ask for your help?” Then she shakily took her hand back, and Chiaki could see why, the Nara kid had used his shadow jutsu to bind her in place, “Go to the village, we’ll catch up.” He said, a small smile on his face.

“How dare you use jutsu against a superior!” Chi roared hatred filling her eyes and as Chiaki left the two of them in the forest, she only hoped that Nanutobi knew what he was doing. Reaching the village she was handed a lot of bandages and medical supplies by one of the nurses racing around there. There were shinobi all around jutsu flying out of control, and Chiaki was in the thick of it, bandaging wounds that she couldn’t heal and sending people to the nearest jounin ranked healer to help out with the healing process. All the while, she thought, ‘War. War has come to the land of fire.’

And she was right.


WC: 2523

Jutsu Used:

Spoiler:

|Exit thread|

Using WC for training: (2000/2500) Perception to C-2
leftover words: 500 going towards training senjutsu up to D rank. (2500 including this thread: http://www.narutosaga.com/t30374p25-green-thumb-chiaki#239024)