Malacanth's first taste of full on combat was truly a hellish sight. puppets were everywhere and not the good kind either. The worst part about these puppets was the fact that they had no puppeteer nearby. They were like zombies, no way to stop their tireless destruction. The few shinobi around him were scared to say the least. The last couple of hours have been nothing but tireless destroying of the puppets before they got too the patients. Evacuation was almost impossible as they would be attacked as soon as they made a move to escape. One more reason why he hated people who depended on others. Perfection was in pristine condition so far but he had no idea how much longer this would last as this seemed to be only a scouting force and a larger wave had been reported closing in. The allied forces had no leadership here and this would most likely become a bloodbath, luckily for Malacanth thats how he wants it. His own clothing was less than pristine though. His lab coat had received some tears to it and grime and dirt covered him as the battle had forced him into some rather uncomfortable positions.

He had a couple of minutes of rest though, which is good considering Perfection could use some maintenance. The area he had taken a break in was what could have been called one of the exterior walls of the hospital. Now it stood broken and battered as the initial attack hit hard. Debris littered the field and bodies mingled among them. Wood was everywhere from the puppets, mingled with the blood of shinobi who had given their lives for a pointless cause. He sat on some of the debris, splattered with blood, As he watched for sign of enemy movement he thought for a second where the hell was Hotaru. They had been separated in the fighting and it set in uneasily that he could possibly be dead. He had grown somewhat attached to the guy and would need to find him, to at least preserve his body to make some use of  it if for nothing else. He whispered to himself as the puppets came over the horizon " guess I might die here, never thought it would be so quick ......" This pointless war would end him was his thoughts but he would not go down easily. Perfection had not reached a state of perfection so work was still needed. He couldn't possibly think of giving up before then. Luckily for him the other shinobi still seemed determine to throw their lives away for the cause which would make his job considerably easier. The army on its way though could prove to much even for the shinobi here though. They had no central command to speak of as the communication lines had been broken and messengers had stopped making trips here. " Well, guess they lost hope for us." as the puppet army grew closer.
502/2500 words

Toraika had been fighting in Kiri for day snow and she was tired but she had good stamina over everything. If all else failed, Toraika would always be the last standing, wounded and dying, but still not tired. She had recently become a sensei and had not met any of her squad members yet. That was mainly because she had been shipped to Kiri before anything could happen. She knew that they would all get along, she just knew it in her heart. Though that wouldn't be hard to do. Toraika would grow fond of her enemy if she spent enough time with them. She was just an open and loving person. Rushing to the Kiri Hospital to see if she could assist with her Medical Abilities at all, she was halted by a large army of terrifying puppets. They were all taller than her, but not by much. They had blades protruding out of their arms and looked absolutely horrific. There were no shinobi near or around fighting which lead her to believe they were off in other parts of the village battling. This angered Toraika beyond compare. She rarely was ever angered, but for once she was absolutely furious. Who left all these poor innocent people in the hospital to die?! She clenched her jaw, then proceeded to rub her hands together extremely fast as blue electricity began to circulate around her hands and fingertips, then as she got to her knees to dodge an incoming attack by a puppet, she pushed her palms against the puppet roughly as the puppet immediately flew backwards harshly. As it flew back, it took a large line of 6 or 7 puppets that were behind it, with it as it moved backwards until a large piles of puppets crashed into a wall of the hospital in the distance. The puppets were left in pieces but there were still more to take out. She had only taken out a third of them and her Kekkei Genkai was not easy on her body. She fell to her knees again for a second after she attempted to stand up breathing heavily. Slowly standing back up, she began to run towards the hospital again, not giving up. There stood about 5 more puppets barricading the door so she couldn't get in, which angered her again, but she needed a moment to breath. Then she saw a boy with a Suna headband, just standing there who seemed to be fighting pretty hard at one point but was resting now, who had witnessed her whole temper tantrum. She was a bit embarrassed by this but she tried her best to not think about something so petty as anger at the moment.

Mission WC: 443/2500

Fuuton Training WC: 443/2000

Chakra: 230/250

Jutsu Used:

Training:

The fog that forever blanketed the entirety of Kirigakure only served to set the mood of the civil war. The fog, unyielding and eternal was much less blinding in the city. It was a light gray tinge to the background of screams, fire, and death. Hotaru himself had only spent a few days in Kiri. A majority of it was spent fighting the army of puppets and their puppeteers. They where all different, every puppeteer seemed to put his special spin on to his puppet. One was made of oak or ash wood. Brown,black, blonde hair, bald even. They all had the same weapons in common, foot long blades protruding from their wrists, elbows and fingers. It was an effect of wartime, he supposed. Make the least costing effective death machine, A smart move on their part. They are able to build more puppets if the standardized the molds, most likely leaving the controllers to upgrade them themselves.

Hotaru waded through the various alleys and walkways in the village. In the distance explosions, screams and the clash of metal on metal where heard regularly. The rooftops where where most of the fighting went on, a body of either side would drop down wherever Hotaru went. Very few villagers remained in the village alive. Most hid in the village bunkers, others lay where they where struck down by either the enemy or a casualty of war. Many of the dead where riddled with lacerations, some suffered from severed limbs that they inevitably succumbed from.

Hotaru knew what he had signed up for, he was no fool. He was not one of the gung-ho adolescents he had seen on the road traveling here. They where drones, calling for a battle they where not fully prepared for. He had seen how their arrogance had cost them. One ninja he remembered from the trip to Kiri from Suna. He was boasting about glory, medals, awards, bravery, all of the things that Hotaru could give a fuck about. He saw him in 'battle', it was more of a one sided fight. Hotaru had been sent out with a group of fifteen others to provide protection for any other villagers escaping earlier in the battle. An enemy group twice their size ambushed them when they where sandwiched between two story windows. The puppeteers hid in the windows while they sent their mechanical monstrosities to slaughter them. Alot fell in the first wave of puppets. Hotaru stayed to fight off the enemy while some of his group separated into the buildings to dispatch the controller's. It was Hotaru, the bravado ninja, Kenshi, and about four others. Kenshi was as white as a ghost, the Kunai in his hand trembled. The puppets rushed their position and the fighting began. Kenshi was torn apart by two puppets, his body leaking a red fountain as it gurgled and lurched with each new wound it received. Where was his confidence and awards then? Where where they as the life was draining from his eyes. He was just another on of the nameless that went down in the fray. There where  many of the puppets and puppeteers, they puppets soon began to fall inanimate and dull as their controls where dispatched inside the houses. By that time only three of the fifteen who had come where walking out.

Hotaru was splattered and smeared with blood, a few cuts and bruises, nothing serious. His clothes where smeared with blood, his face shown stray droplet of red that he didn't bother to wipe off. It was most likely one of his groups. The other two that survived where given new orders, each different for the three. Hotaru was to help hold off the puppets at the hospital. In a flash he was on his way. He was getting tired, his tattered shirt was smeared with blood. His breathing was irregular and labored. But he pressed on. The black coffin on his back bobbed with each step.

Arriving at the hospital, the body was already underway. Bodies of flesh and wood where beginning to be the regular sight. Amid the fighting, a girl, pink hair, who looked to be exhausted was attempting to stand. She faced the door of the hospital where a few puppets where either attempting to enter or prevent entry to. He wasted no time, puppets looked to be about to renew their attack on the girl. Hotaru activated his sand, it came rushing from the container on his back, a formless blob of black particles enveloped his back. "Satetsu Shigure" ,Hotaru whispered. The formless blob of sand soon compacted into four, seven inch projectiles. It was not a minute to soon, the puppets began to fly at the girl, four of them. Their mechanical components produced an ominous clicking sound. Hotaru fired the four projectiles at them, each puppet came apart at the torso, the bullets flew through them and embedded in the dirt behind them. They where reduced to piles in seconds, Hotaru was winded, but still able to continue the defense.

He came to the girls side."Get up", he said, holding a hand out while looking for approaching puppets. "We have to stay together.". Adrenaline was flowing through his vains, he had to form a team of sorts. Another figure he could see resting. "Malacanth! Get the fuck over here, we need to form a defensive!" He had survived the initial fighting after all.

907/1350 (Training)
907/2500

Jutsu:

Malacanth hadn't expected for someone to actually engage the puppets alone. The girl was brave, thats for sure. He would of just laughed at the woman's lack of common sense and enjoyed watching her die. It would of made his life easier at least. Sadly the man he was missing only a second earlier showed up at the wrong time. Malacanth got up with a sigh and connected the chakra strings to Perfection. " Well I guess right nows a good time for a suicide rescue." There chances of winning were nil at this point. Three shinobi versus a large attack force of puppets. The main force in the hospital probably would of been overrun by these creations.

Luckily for the cowards hanging back, Malacanth and Hotaru weren't anywhere near average in skill. All he hoped was that the girl could hold her own. He instantly made a move towards an early outpost that had crumbled and was now a small field of debris. As soon as he made the move a small contingency of the puppets followed him. Hopefully Hotaru could save the girl with some pressure taken off them. He had no idea if this would kill him but he sure as hell wasn't going to give in to death. He entered the rubble with his puppet just as the enemy moved in. He was surrounded with no back up from his friend and idiotic girl. " Should be interesting." he muttered. He was able to pull almost ten puppets away. Hopefully they could finish off the remaining ones and help before then. The puppets moved into the rubble, climbing over the rocks, trying for a direct path for him.

Perfection moved to shoot fire a crossbow bolt at one of the five puppets that moved in first. It's head cracked, which greatly reduced its movement capabilities. Malacanth only smiled at the fact that he knew all the weaknesses of puppets as he worked with much more intricate ones every day. As the puppets finally made it to the middle of the small ruins. He hid near a broken down inner wall, making the strings invisible so he couldn't tell where he was hiding. Malacanth would have his work cut out for him as the other four which followed him were climbing through.

Perfection immediately activated every mechanism it had. Kunai popping out of the knees, claws popping out of the fingers, and its mouth opening so a glint of a crossbow bolt could be seen if the puppets had any surveillance for the enemy on it. All five charged in rather clumsily, proving this was all one puppeteer which would make it much easier for him. All five which made it in the small ruins jumped at Perfection, but Perfection dived towards the side, having them all jump into nothing and colliding. Malacanth could only smirk at how easy it would be to outmaneuver him. The thing with puppets is that the more you control, the clumsier they will be. Malacanth's one puppet will be moving much more gracefully then his nine. Perfection's arm shot out and pierced through one of the hinges of a puppet, effectively disconnecting the arm from the main body. Perfections other claw shot out and disconnected the other arm from the same puppet. It then retreated as the puppets recovered. The other four were almost through and Malacanth was starting to worry he might not survive. He had played around with the idea just a bit earlier but he never actually considered death to be an option. His puppet continued to fight the full force and eventually the added force of four with great grace, destroying one of them and leaving another a bit useless without arms. He would need to do a lot more though if he expected to survive this. " Hope the two bastards I gave time too survived this or I will be pissed....." he thought as his puppet danced a battle for his life against the eight puppets remaining.
1179/2500 words
144/150 chakra

Spoiler:

Toraika completely snapped out of her daze as the boy with short dark hair pulled her up from the ground. He let her go once she was to her feet and she was very grateful that he came along. The air was moist and the fog of the village made battle there just that much more difficult. She wished she was back home with her worried Mother who didn't want her to come here in the first place, but Toraika told her that she was needed to help those who were helpless. Her Mother eventually but reluctantly accepted the fact that her daughter was getting older and was going to follow her own rules. She didn't know who the boy was that had helped her stand but he wore a Suna headband which brought her ease that those from her village were still fighting strong here for Kiri and its people. She watched as the other boy she had seen with the bright hair began using his own puppet to destroy a few of the enemies puppets. She hoped she hadn't accidentally taken out one of the boys puppets instead of the enemy, but judging by the type of puppet he wielded at the moment, he was still at a low rank which meant he probably only had that one puppet which made her feel a bit better about not taking out his puppet but then a bit uneasy that someone at such low rank was fighting these enemy that were a but of higher rank. She would have to keep an eye on him just in case but she would have to keep fighting as well. She saw three puppets coming her way and the first thing she did was check to make sure the two boys were behind her since her jutsu would wipe out anything in front of her. Quickly, she made a few hands signs then clapped and pushed her hands forward as if holding something heavy from falling over, as a large burst of wind hit them head on. "Wind Release: Gale Palm!" She shouted as the burst of wind pushed the three puppets into another one behind them and into the hospital wall in the same pile as the last ones she took out and then fell to pieces on top of them. She preferred her Kekkei Genkai but her Fuuton was helpful as well. A plus about using her Fuuton instead of her Kekkei Genkai was that it didn't exhaust her as much. She kept close eye on the light haired puppeteer just in case he needed her then glanced over at the darker haired boy who had helped her stand to make sure he was okay. Though she could tell he was a bit stronger judging by what he was using to battle with. There was a coffin-like container on his back and a blackish sand was flowing through the air, taking out puppets. His type of strategy reminded her of what she had read about and learned about the Kazekage Gaara. He manipulated sand for battle just as this boy was, but there were a few differences. It was an interesting jutsu either way considering anything similar to the Lord Gaara himself was commendable. She couldn't put her finger on it but she had a feeling that she had heard about his specific jutsu somewhere. Pushing the thought aside and focusing on battle again, seeing as there were now four puppets left, she made sure no puppets were coming her way as she stood nearby another puppet waiting for it to lunge at her first. 

Mission WC: 1035/2500

Fuuton Training WC: 1035/2000

Chakra: 215/250

Jutsu Used:

The girl had taken his hand and regained her footing, with it was some resolve. The fighting was on decline, half of the enemy forces had been reduced to rubble by Hotaru, Malancanth, and the mystery girl who's aid he had come too.More puppet reenforcments where on their way, they looked almost the same that ambushed him and his former squad in the alleyway. They where just a few of the copies birthed from the mold. Wooden, soulless death machines. Hotatu began molding magnetic chakra in his body, readying up for a new attack. Yet, before he could do a thing, the girl rushed forward and let loose a Futon attack that sent the group of puppets clattering into a wall, broken. Hotaru stopped his concentration, giving the pink haired girl a small nod of approval before focusing back on the task at hand.

The hospital had been cleared of the immediate threat, the puppets where busy with Malacanth. He, idiotically, had used himself and his puppet as live bait. He had coxed ten puppets into following him, taking a bit of the aggro from Hotaru. It was foolish, but needed. Without the help, the puppets could have easily overwhelmed himself and the girl. After all, enough bronze pieces equal the worth of a gold coin, metaphorically speaking. Realistically, Hotaru and the girl couldn't pump out jutsu fast or strong enough at a consistent pace to defeat the puppets before they closed in. When they closed in they would have slaughtered the them both, much like Kenshi had.

The memory was vivid, even though he did not care for the young ninja, it was a shame for potential to go to waste. With more training and a backbone, He would have made a grand ninja. Instead his slowly corpse is going through the stages of decomposition. He wouldn't forgot today, or any day during this war. He had seen enough death and destruction for today and hoped he could get through it alive. No, he knew he would get through it alive. There was no way he would become a withered forgotten body in a ditch in a foreign land. There was no way he would become a Kenshi.

With renewed vigor and a new cycle of adrenaline in his veins, he turned to the girl; "Lets go help him." He would take off after Malacanth, his black iron sand shadowing his every move. Hotaru followed his trail marked by one destroyed puppet. That marked nine needing to be destroyed. It should be interesting to see the extent of Malacanth's abilities. Jumping over debris and charred pieces of buildings, Hotaru could see the puppets all facing toward a particular direction. They where all getting closer and closer to a large piece of debris, one such puppet was already disassembled. Good, Malacanth had managed to defeat two of the puppets on his own; saved him the trouble. One good sign was that there was no screams that would indicate a slaughter, something Hotaru took hope at. He needed a small group if they where going to make it back to the friendly controlled zones after the fight.

Hotaru focused hard to harmonize with the parasite inside him. This technique relied solely on it. Hotaru breathed in, out and held up his hand palm open. It was aimed at one of the puppets in the rear of the group. They still had not noticed him. A bolt of concussive magnetic force shot from his hand making an audible Shtsss sound. It rocketed through the air, its only trace of existence was it's displacement of the air around it. It ripped into the back of the puppet closest to himself, sending it clattering into its brothers splintered and broken. It managed to knock down four of the other puppets, by this time they had turned around and where heading in his direction.

Molding more of his magnetic chakra, he molded the iron sand into four, four foot slender needles that encircled behind him. The floating needles where fired in an instant they where sent at a downward slope into the four closest puppets. They where impaled into the earth, a giant hole through torso, heads, and backs. The four that attacked him where dealt with, Malacanth only had the three to contend with. He hopped he could handle them.

1350+/1350 (Training)[completed]
907+ 732= 1639/2500

Jutsu used::

Malacanth was about to be found out, his puppet couldn't protect him much longer. As the puppets searched while holding off Perfection he couldn't help but notice them starting to zone in on the one area he was. The fight had pushed Perfection back to almost every single area but Malacanth had purposefully tried to keep them away from this area and his tactical opponent was catching on. They were almost on him and Perfection could only distract so many. As the puppets reached him, he was saved though. Dear Hotaru came through for him in the end. Like an angel of magnetism he crashed through the ruins and destroyed many of the puppets that had proved a bit to much for him. Only three of the dastardly puppets remain and now it was his time to dully shine!

Perfection engaged the three as they turned for the puppet master to see what ambushed them. Perfection's claws stabbed into the connections between the legs and the torso, leaving it on the ground and mostly out of commission. After that Perfection immediately kicked out and slashed at another puppets legs with its knee kunai. This broke the connection to one of its legs, effectively taking out the other one too. Knowing his last puppet was about to go down he jumped in towards the rubble in which Malacanth was hiding for the entire time Perfection's head swiveled around just as the puppet got in front of Malacanth's crouched body. A crossbow bolt shot out and just as the puppet reached out to kill the puppeteer the head was pierced by an arrow, trapping it to the rubble as the bolt pierced through the head and embedded into the rock. This didn't destroy the puppet but made it immobile and kept Malacanth out of reach.

Malacanth stood up and smirked as if this was all according to plan, which to an extent it was. It was a bit to close for Malacanth's taste and this showed Perfection needed some major renovating. As this thought came to him a new emotion showed on his face, depression. He sulked out as his flawed, imperfect creation was shown to be to weak for true battle. Malacanth left the rubble with more dirt on him than before and sulked his way to where the woman he saved stopped. Perfection was now rigged to his back and he had already recovered all the bolts he fired. The strings still connected to Perfection, just in case another ambush came quickly. He assumed Hotaru would follow him out. " Well I hope you and Hotaru are happy. We held them off and I had to do something heroic." He said the last part with venom, almost as if the word heroic was an insult rather than a good characteristic. He sat down next to the woman and sulked about how his puppet failed him, even if it actually helped win the battle. He didn't care how unreasonable he looked, he couldn't stand imperfection.

After a few minutes of rest and recovery from his sulking attitude he finally spoke up " The scouts reported before they died that there were two groups of puppets in the area. One was smaller and the other larger. Most likely this was the larger group and the smaller one will probably be looking to finish us off." As if it was prophetic, a group of ten showed as they could be seen from a distance. " Ready for more war, for Sunagakure or Kirigakure will not back up the fodder for there war." He actually smirked at this part, as if it was a funny joke that didn't have any treasonous undertones whatsoever.
1808/2500 words
138/150 chakra

Spoiler:

Toraika was tired of fighting and she wanted to get I to the hospital. She knew she was more needed there. Then it hit her. She was quite observant and had been paying close attention to everything the boys said to each other. The first dead giveaway was that they wore Suna headbands, then afterwards she was thankful for the research she had done on her squad because she had been able to pick up their abilities. They were two of three if her students. The tanner one who used the magnetic sand was Hotaru and the puppet boy was Malacanth. She was quite pleased with herself for coming up with such a thing. That was when she decided to keep her secret knowledge to herself until after the battle at least. Besides her focus kept bouncing to that hospital and the patients that could be dying because she wasn't there to help them. "Okay team, now I want you to fight as one, watching each other's backs until these last few are exterminated. Only ten more boys." With that she stepped forward, being sure the boys were behind her, and made five hand signs. "Lightning Release: Great Ascension!" The electricity began to course and shoot from her arms and fingertips, until she slammed the ground sending the lightning through the earth and to the last ten puppets. Once it reached them, the blue and white emerged from the ground like large spikes and impaled four of them. The electricity died out after the puppets had been split into 2 parts and it let them fall to the ground motionless and as dead as a puppet could be. She then relaxed to see what her boys could do. Before she was focusing on fighting and now she wanted to watch her future pupils at their best. And well, fighting a war was the best way to go about it in her opinion. Now that she knew they were her squad, she was proud by the amount of teamwork and how well they blended together. They all had different specialties and she could tell. Obviously they all could do something amazingly talented and practically made fighting these puppets look easy. Which technically for their rank as well as the puppets strength, it should have been a bit more of a challenge. This only made her more confident in their abilities. She wanted to see more so she focused her chakra around her until she was airborne and floating in the air like a feather, drifting and comfortably going with the flow in a certain way. She looked like a bird almost but floated just so high to see the battlefield but not so high that if she was needed on land, she could leap down to the moist earth with ease. The boys were extremely different and their fighting style gave it all away. She observed closer until she gathered enough intel to come to a conclusion about what type of people these individuals of hers happened to be. The mist that filled the air around her as well as the fog that shrouded their battle field was all but comforting, making it somewhat difficult to examine what was happening. Though as she honed her senses so that her eyes could easily pick up the movement of each individual. She was even able to pick up the whereabouts of the puppet master controlling these abominations. She gasped lightly once she picked up on his jutsu. Something of this caliber was sure to have repercussions. She sensed his chakra flow and observed that each time one of his puppets was destroyed, his heart beat would slow drastically more and more after another puppet was destroyed. "I understand. Once the last of these few puppets are completely destroyed, he dies. What a sad jutsu." She would have to be sure that she watched her little puppet user student closely. He seemed a bit malevolent in his own way and she wanted to make sure that he didn't attempt to learn any of these forbidden jutsu. 

The next she observed was her adorable little magnetic sand user. It was an amazing thing to behold but she could not put into understanding how it worked just yet. She knew it had to do with his clan, but she also knew that he was just a young chuunin, so that this powerful jutsu would be sure to do nothing but improve. They battled the puppets more and more vigorously as the seconds passed and she knew they would wrap up things in no time. From what she could sense, there was no one's heartbeat coming from the hospital, meaning they did evacuate it. Well at least that was what she had hoped. The last thing she wanted to believe was that there were no heartbeats because everyone was purely dead. Being the optimist she was, she went with the final decision that it was just empty and evacuated. Frowning, she gazed her eyes over the entire surrounding area and saw that of all the fallen shinobi, there was not one that was still alive. They had all stopped breathing and were in pieces. Even her kekkei genkai could not save them now. They were beyond what she was capable of and it broke her heart. She wanted nothing but to be able to bring all these people to life. A dream of hers was to create a jutsu that could bring people to life again who had fallen. She knew that a jutsu like that would leave unbearable repercussions, but she was prepared to accept that. She would never stop improving and never give up to accomplish this wish she had and make it come true. It was what made her the Suna shinboi, the Yoisha, the Medic that she was.

Mission WC: 2014/2500

Fuuton Training WC: 2014/2000 (Complete)

Chakra: 180/250

Jutsu Used:

Quick Comment For Both Of You:

Hotaru watched as his partner finished off the remainder of the attacking forces. His puppet was dancing a dance of blades and bolts. From his inspection of the weapon, it contained claws and a hidden crossbow in its mouth mounted in a swiveling head. It was a very useful took for a Kagutsu user, hidden weapons could very well turn the tide of battle, as seen in this engagement. Without the three of them in a coherent team, Hotaru didn't think they would be alive to see the end of the battle. Malacanth returned to where the pink haired girl was, a bit worse for ware some how. They where already in a war and had just returned from battle, a common thing would be to be run down and tired. Somehow he did not think it was from the battle.

Malacanth followed his creation while Hotaru brought up the rear. His iron sand shadows his movement until he fed it back into its black coffin holder, it made a sound like loosening gravel. Malacanth sat down and began a conversation,"Well I hope you and Hotaru are happy. We held them off and I had to do something heroic." Hotaru smirked at his comment and sat down on the ground with his back to a piece of rubble. "What you did was very naive and foolish. But, it did buy us some time to break the remaining forces. Don't do it again, besides, being heroic isn't in your nature." Hotaru cracked a small smile that dissipated in a flash. Hotaru then put his head back and enjoyed what peace he could get before they where given new orders.

He was dirty with dried blood which flecked off if he brushed it, disgusting. His clothes where tattered and cut in certain places from dodging kunai and other projectiles. He took the moment to look around, the ground was littered with splintered wood and the various mechanisms that they housed. The entrance to the hospital was damaged but otherwise unbreached. A success in his book. The buildings where as they where when he arrived. Broken, and abandoned except for those which housed the corpses that littered them. They would be mausoleums, testaments to the carnage that war brought. Restaurant signs served as grave markers, their doors the entrances to the graveyard. But it was war, war was ugly, cruel, and bloody. He expected no less.

Minutes passed and Hotaru's body no longer felt the burdens of battle. His heart beat was calm and predictable. His breathing rhythmic and unhindered. Malacanth soon spoke up about another attacking force, a smaller one that most likely would be there soon. Shit, how did he forget about the smaller force. He had been filled in when he was given orders to help the hospital. The larger force which was in tattered would have been used to over come and claim the hospital. The smaller force would have acted as a garrison unit to hold the hospital while the larger one moved on.

Within seconds the group of ten puppets shown in the distance. The girl was the first so speak up,"Okay team, now I want you to fight as one, watching each other's backs until these last few are exterminated. Only ten more boys." He gave a small nod of agreement before jumping to his feet. The opponents where closing in on them, the whites of their inhuman eyes could be seen. The girl let out a raiton jutsu which jolts traveled underground and then popped out skewering four of the coming enemies.

Amazingly, the girl,....flew. This caused Hotaru to raise an eyebrow, he would have to ask her about it after the battle. She had left Malacanth and himself six puppets to destroy. And easy task.

Hotaru ran at the enemy with Malacanth hopefully in tow. All the while he summoned his sand and formed it into four projectiles which he sent to the oncoming wave striking down four of them. The last two would be left for Malacanth, he wished him luck.

907+ 732+687= 2326/2500

Jutsu used::

Malacanth laughed at the idea of being lectured about not being naive. The conversation they had on the way here only proved that he didn't believe in the very thing he did. His act of stupidity would not gain him any medals or accolades and most likely he would be reprimanded if asked for a report of what happened. Such is the way of war unless you do something truly amazing. He was just another foot soldier and would be sent to the front lines again and most likely die. A depressing thought but to true. If old wars of this scale proved anything than only one out of the three of them would survive. He would personally place his bet on the pink haired girl. She seemed to have much more experience then either Hotaru or himself. If the fact that he won't make it out alive wasn't depressing enough his puppet couldn't handle the battle like they could. He could only use ingenuity and close calls to survive and neither was something he liked on the battle field. He would much prefer ingenuity in his workshop and close calls he would prefer disappear.

As the enemy closed in the pink haired girl proved once again the obvious skill gap between her and himself. Taking out four in an instant where it would take him at least a half hour. The worst part was her saying she did enough work and it was there turn. Paraphrasing of course but he would much prefer to be useless and alive than semi-useful and dead. He moved in just after Hotaru's charge, well his puppet did, not him personally. Hotaru was the next to show his competence as he easily destroyed another four with his iron sand. He almost felt like it was cheating being able to control iron like sand. So unfair to people with more mundane abilities like his. He imagined for a second what it would be like to control iron sand in that way and he even had a theory about how he could, but that would be saved for a later date. As Perfection moved in for the last two, he heard an interesting fact, he could faintly hear the woman talking to herself while in the air, a jutsu that would allow fairly good control at the price of possibly dying. A harsh trade but he wouldn't mind the option. He whispered under his breath " Thanks lady, this shall become useful." Perfection finally made it into range and fainted towards the right to see what would happen. The puppets ignored the feint and attacked the puppet as if the attack didn't matter. If he could guess that would be because of him being desperate. If what the pink haired lady said was true then this is literally life and death for him and he would want to take dangers out as fast as possible. His haste would prove to be a mistake though as the puppet jumped up and landed on the arm. A quick strike from the claws disconnected the arm from the main body, then Perfection jumped back, dodging the strike from the other puppet.

Malacanth laughed at how easy it is to outmaneuver the man. He yelled out to wherever he was " How do you call yourself a puppet master with that sort of control! Such weaklings don't deserve the title!" To the outside he might have been a bit maniacal but all he was really doing was letting out some stress. He had been convinced he would die and the realization that he would live to create Perfection was a great victory.

The rest of the battle went much like the first engagement, Perfection would move in, take out a body part and retreat to avoid damage. This eventually left the puppets with not enough limbs to attack or move, making them useless. Perfection then took each out with a precise stab to the head of each puppet. This destroyed what little functionality they had left and hopefully ended the puppeteer behind it.

He told his two teammates as he packed his puppet " I'll meet you two at the base where the patients were sent, unless you two have other assignments thats where all remaining shinobi who defended the hospital are to go to defend the new front line. " With a smirk on his face that said he was pleased with himself he left for the base, not bothering to find out if they followed.
[exit]
2577/2500-complete
132/150 chakra

Spoiler:

Toraika watched intently as her team defeated the puppets. The fact that they were so powerful already gave her a great feeling to know that she was was graced with the blessing of being their sensei. The way the Iron Sand user, Hotaru, manipulated his sand and the way it flowed around the battlefield like a dark wind swirling around and around made her miss the dry sand of her village. This mist and fog with the moist ground was the complete opposite that she was used to and it made her somewhat homesick in a way. Shrugging off trivial things like that, since she at least had a home to return to unlike the poor people of Kiri. Seven Bells and his men had for sure done a huge amount of damage and brought an insane amount of pain to the land and the people of Kirigakure. She wanted nothing but to help this blood stained village.

As the fight progressed, she watched the Iron Sand user take out four of the puppets there with little to no effort causing Toraika to release a light giggle. He was trying so hard and she was proud of him. It was a good feeling to have knowing that your students had not even met their sensei yet, though they still were powerful. They would need guidance though. Especially the puppet user, Malacanth. He seemed a bit corrupted at heart, but she would be sure to share with him her views. Still with her senses heightened, she could hear, see, smell, and feel things that a normal person typically couldn't, so after she mentioned her observation of the puppet master controlling the enemy, she heard Malacanth make a comment just as she had assumed causing her to frown. He really really needed guidance. The way his personality came off was nearly her exact opposite which amused her. Being his sensei would be a challenge and she was excited about it. Even the boy, Hotaru seemed like a challenge himself. Finally Malacanth was able to annihilate the final two puppets and as if on cue, Toraika heard the painful scream of the puppet master controlling the enemy as his heart beat stopped causing him to die. It was sad. Obviously he didn't stand a chance against Team 2.

Finally the hospital was safe even though it was empty which made her feel as if there could have been more effort put forth to save and defend something worth a bit more and in need of more assistance. At least the hospital itself was saved and that was truly what the mission was, to defend the hospital. It didn't say the people in it, now that she thought about it. Landing on the ground gracefully beside her two boys, she bowed to them. "You both were fantastic. Congradulations!" She was so very proud of her boys. After she rose back up to face the boys, Malacanth was leaving as he yelled to join him or not. She thought she would check out the hospital though for any type of life just to be safe, so waving goodbye to Hotaru, "Be careful dear!", she ran stepped into the hospital actually finding someone to help. One boy was laying on the ground bleeding but still alive if only faintly. She knew that she needed to help at least someone in the hospital. Now she could preserve life again, like she felt she was born to do.

(Exit Thread)

Mission WC: 2597/2500

Hotaru watched his teammate annihilate the two other puppets remaining, it was easy work. They where only dangerous in packs, much like wolves. Malacanth was having fun with the mayhem he caused. At the end of it he left with a not so much as a goodbye. It didn't affect Hotaru, he didn't care for conventional manners, They where at war. Hotaru had come to at least respect the young puppet user, if not grow a bit close to the psychopath.

With Malacanth slowly fading into the ever developing mist, it was only himself and the pink haired girl. She was nice enough, not a bad looker. A bit on the odd side though. She gave an odd comment, "Good luck dear". Who called people dear except Malacanth? No matter, maybe it was only one of her quarks, maybe it was just how she was. He turned and began flooding the iron sand back into its holder, giving the girl a wave from over his shoulder. and he headed after Malacanth. Hotaru would survive this war, and obtain true freedom in the process.

907+ 732+687+ 183= 2509/2500 [Completed]