Mission:

The mist seemed to be particularly dense in this area of Kirigakure, not only that but the forest itself was thick with vegetation making it all the more difficult to make your way through this area. In this situation it would make sense to travel up top from tree to tree, however Tsurugi found it better to travel on the ground it was less obvious, and it would help them stay out of the radar of any nukenin that may be up top or set up some traps to detect unwanted visitors. The mission task was simple, find the corpse of the ninja that never arrived to the checkpoint, and retrieve the scroll he had with him, Tsurugi knew this was going to be hard like finding a needle in the haystack but luckily he was not completely alone. He had some help, someone he was recently becoming more familiar with from taking on a mission together a few days ago, to training together just a day ago this woman had proven to be a useful one to have around; so Tsurugi had no doubts in bringing her along. Stopping his march he would look up to the tall tree tops, thankful that there was plenty of vegetation to cover them both, “This place is a hot spot for conflict, we should be careful Ciera, and ready for anything” he said to the fellow Genin as he turned his golden orbs to the path ahead once more.

Eventually the male would come to a clearing in their path, the forest seem to split apart a bit more, the space between the trees a bit more roomy with that he stood still, taking advantage of the more open field to look around their surroundings, perhaps he could something that would give clues to other life in the area. Maybe anything that could give away the presence of another, but there seemed to be nothing he could see, “This play is dead…no wonder they call it the Nukenin Graveyard, we should move forward then see if we find anything” as he said that he would begin to march ahead, when suddenly a shadow darted in front of him coming to a stop in their path. Clearly whoever this was aimed to intercept them, wearing a plain green shirt, covered in mud, and glaring at them it was obvious this one was either insane or had something to hide further up. “Welcoming committee?” he asked before the male charged him, he was fast so fast that Tsurugi did not have to react before he was knocked to the side with a forceful kick, after which the mud covered ninja charged at Ciera aiming to smash a fist in her face.

Tsurugi would stumble off to the side grabbing his sides feeling a stinging pain, “Tch…I need to work on Taijutsu” he would mutter to himself watching as the ninja engaged Ciera.


488/1000

The Nukenin graveyard was an aptly named place. It was deserted, dark from overhead that seemed to completely blot out the sky. It should have still been daylight, but no ray of the sun could make it through unfiltered, casting only dim, gloomy glow on the environment. It was still seeable, but effort had to be expended in order to see further away than normal. Even with all the dark clouds that looked like it was about to rain, there was no sign of any rain from the previous day. The desolate ground was dry as could be, and the plant life that was here was wizened. The multitude of trees had browning leaves on their branches, as if they were struggling to survive. And on their trunks, numerous marks and even some leftover weapons were visible.

However, despite the name of Nukenin graveyard, there were no actual gravestones. The name originated from the fact that these locations was where many Nukenins died. That was the only explanation she could think of as she looked at the graying grounds. They probably died here, their minds and body polluted with their hatred, cursing the land that fed on their decayed corpse. She was no spiritualist or shaman, but it was pretty obvious how wrong this place felt. If this was a curse—and she didn’t quite know what constitute a curse or even if it was real—then this was a powerful one that was affecting this land.

Or at least, that was the type of story that she had heard from the older folk in the clan. She didn’t quite believe it, but it had quite the reputation.

Still, it was actually a little bit creepy that it chose this particular day to have dark clouds. Yet, as ominous as it was, they had a mission to do. It was not a simple one, though. A shinobi carrying a scroll was supposed to arrive, but he never did. So that was why they were here. From his last known point at the checkpoint, they followed the route until they found his trail. And it seemed to have led here, to a gloomy destination. Yet, this environment was also a good one for an ambush. Because of the nature of this place, people were unlikely to visit here, thus leaving it witness-free.

Yet, even as she was contemplating that while idly listening to Tsurugi’s comments, they were given no more time for observation. A dirty looking shadow appeared and darted at the pair, first charging Tsurugi and knocking him aside with a kick. He was fast. He was really fast, but the time that it took to knock her partner away was enough time for her to recover from her shock.

Flashing through the seals of her jutsu, she called up practically the only jutsu in her arsenal that was useable for close range opponents. The moment that the mud-covered man came within her range, she finished the activation and her cheeks bloated up as her mouth filled with water. When his fist was swinging through the air, aimed directly at her face, she opened her mouth and released the flood.

The highly pressurized water, capable of smashing bone, spewed forth like an unstoppable tide. It could have been likened to vomiting with the power, force, and amount of a river—even as disgusting as that metaphor was. The water impacted into the man’s chest, lifting him off his feet and throwing him back towards a tree. He hit the trunk with enough force that the bark splinter and blood gushed out of his mouth; his ribs were probably broken by the impact.

Even as the water died down, two more people appeared out from behind trees. For some reason, they looked even shoddier than the one who just attacked them, if that was possible. Their clothes were less muddy, but more ripped, exposing raw, scratched skin. They wore brown shirts and pants, and they all-around younger as well, being on in their late teens.

As one, they both charged at Ciera, intent on getting close and taking her down quickly. As she had just finished off a jutsu, she wasn’t in a position to counter against this quick attack.

“Tsurugi!”

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WC: 718/1000

Chakra 155/177. +1 power (clan):

As expected Ciera was able to handle the situation herself, he watched as the violent torrent of water left her mouth slamming into the confident fool that had aimed to end the girl with some wild onslaught, however as fast as he was dispatched two more enemies appeared. Not a moment to waste Tsurugi was quick to charge towards Ciera, before the girl even called out his name he knew that they would charge for the nearest target first. As he ran he was performing the hand seals for the jutsu as quickly as he could, holding the seal he would focus his golden orbs on the two charging ninja as he inhaled. The deep inhale of oxygen would be knitted by the chakra he was manipulating, turning mere oxygen into a blazing inferno that roared deep in his lung. Without a moment to waste he stepped forward stopping practically next to Ciera but a few feet away, regardless he exhaled releasing a wide stream of flames form his open mouth. The bright orange flames lit up the area around Tsurugi with their intense glow that radiated a potent wave of heat, the two ninja caught off guard by the attack would stare with wide eyes as the stream of flame came their way slamming right into them. Before the two could stop, or redirect themselves they found themselves engulfed by the flames that were being fed by Tsurugi’s chakra, with screams of pain, and agony the men flailed around wildly as the flames cooked them in place.

At the mercy of the flames the two men continued to roll, and flail even after Tsurugi stopped feeding the flames they were left to suffer the burn of the flames that clung to their barely existing clothes with that layer easily being burned off, we find the men suffering from their flesh being thoroughly cooked by the flames, boiled off. Once would stop moving completely signaling he was either unconscious or dead, but with such helpless prey Tsurugi was unable to resist as he stepped towards the first ninja he raised a foot off the ground bringing it down with a vicious stomp on the mans throat purposely pushing down on it with his body weight, just to make sure the bastard was dead, now his windpipe was crushed. Stepping on the man like if he was a stone, Tsurugi would approach the other ninja who seemed to be more tolerant towards pain he was already on one knee, “Nukenin…” he said with a smirk on his features, “Those who abandon their village for their own selfish gains, for freedom, or whatever ridiculous reason you preach. In the end, you are cowards…” he would stare down at the man whom was glaring up at him.

Golden eyes locked with a pair of intense dark orbs that stared right back, raising his leg to bring it down for another stomp Tsurugi aimed to smash the man but instead he hit nothing but smoke, eyes would widen for a moment as he realized he was stepping on a log. “Substitution technique…” he said raising his gaze from the log, lucky for them the ninja was injured, and he was staggering. The path he had taken was, the broken branches, disturbed bushes, and the obvious drag mark gave it all away like a great big arrow pointing out the ninja direction. “Something tells me our friend has something to do with the missing scroll” he said to Ciera, as he took off into a full sprint after the man not waiting or giving Ciera any form of heads up.

With a quick stride he followed after the ninja, if Ciera had followed him she would notice that before long the two would come to have the other ninja in their sights; it would only be a matter of time now! Tsurugi jumped from the ground breaking through some branches as he landed roughly on the ground, finding the ninja had run to a stone which he was leaning on now. There at his feet a scroll, not yet opened thankfully, “So he has what we came for…luckily the mission specifies retrieving the scroll only, not the dead messenger. So then…” he would say as he approached the ninja, but as Tsurugi approach the man leaned on the boulder, and performed a series of quick hand seals. Not wasting time he launched a powerful burst of water form his person towards Tsurugi, with a quick roll to the left the male avoided the wind blast just barely he had already been hit once today! However what Tsurugi didn’t see was the following blast of air that went towards him, this time he was swept off his feet, and knocked back into the nearby vegetation, where he crashed violently into the shrubbery! The ninja would attempt to grab the scroll, but as he did that he would double over form the sharp pain of the burns that tormented his abdomen, and the rest of his torso.

135/150:

1328/1000

“Thanks for the save…” Her voice trailed off as Ciera watched the burning men with a type of rapture that was probably inappropriate for the situation. Yet, she couldn’t help it. That sensation of excitement, of seeing a human being—ninja or otherwise—suffering a new type of pain that gave them a unique reaction, a strange look of despair in their eyes…

A new type of agony. It was pleasurable—immensely so—but it was over just as quickly. Short and quick enough that it left her dissatisfied and feeling more than a little disgruntled by that fact. She would have liked to see it done slowly, tenderly, with the fire melting the skin inch by inch, making sure that the person didn’t know when or even if the pain will stop. Oh, the face that would come from such an act would have been beyond delightful, and that fact frustrated her.

However, the chase that came next put that thought right out of her mind. From the substitution technique to the obviously marked path, they followed the escapee to a boulder where he had the scroll at his feet. While Tsurugi attempted to take out the target, she began the hand seals for another jutsu. She didn’t have that many jutsu’s in the first place, so that left her with only one other combat jutsu. It was in the same style as the one before, but it was a rank weaker than the other one. It was at times like this that she wished that she had a bigger pool of techniques, or at least some training in taijutsu or bukijutsu.

Ciera completed the jutsu just as Tsurugi was knocked back by a fuuton technique. Her mouth filled with water and she was about to release it when the man doubled. He groaned, but his voice was strangled. And just like that, he fell over unconscious.

She walked over there, still holding the jutsu in her bloated mouth and put her foot over the scroll. With a backward motion, she sent the scroll rolling behind before she unleashed the pressurized water from her mouth onto the man’s body, pushing and rolling it. Once it was a fair distance away and seeing no response from it, she turned around and walked to the scroll. Picking it up, she saw that it fortunately didn’t get a single drop of water from her jutsu on it.

Mission completed! Now, she just needed to help or patch up Tsurugi, and then they could head home to a well deserved ryo reward.

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WC: 1155/1000

Chakra 145/170, +1 power (clan):