Mission:

Spoiler:

For once, Nozomi was incredibly silent and glum. As of late, the young girl had been relatively happy, but now she was silent. She was sad, and alone. This mission was much like the last time she'd gone on it. Investigate some suspicious smugglers trying to shore up in secret. Kiri's defenses were likely to be impenetrable by the likes of any ordinary smugglers, and she was surprised they didn't realize it by now. After all, lately, none of them have been successful at all. Nozomi and Sero had completely eradicated one such attempt before this, and that had been the last time that the smugglers had attempted such a thing. There wasn't much profit in losing one's life.

Nozomi thought back on the man who had attacked her at the training grounds. The focus of her sorrow. As much as she didn't know about him, she didn't feel like he had deserved to die. She had been expecting more resistance, from the speed he'd exhibited in his attacks. He should have been a better fighter, should have been able to dodge such a basic attack. But in the end, it was proven that he couldn't, and she wouldn't have been able to help him in time. She wasn't any sort of medic, so there wasn't anything she could do to heal the wounds he'd been given, petals having sliced into his lungs and heart. In her own mind, she knew that organs were difficult to repair, especially vital ones. What she'd done had been the right thing, and the way that the ANBU captain had shown up like that, it was obvious he wasn't supposed to be there.

That was something else. Nozomi had been afraid that she'd be reprimanded, or marked as a criminal for killing the man, but apparently the circumstances of his even being in the village were suspicious. Nobody could identify the man, nor had he registered under any sort of name in the village. It appeared that he was in fact, nobody of any importance. That didn't lighten the load on her heart though, so she carried with her the shame of having killed a man that nobody would miss.

Besides that, Nozomi was already feeling down. She tried to drown her sorrows by doing missions and teaching the genin and academy students, but that could only prove to be a momentary distraction to her. Kaekio hadn't responded to a single letter. It was almost obvious that Kaekio hadn't paid a single thought to Nozomi since the Chuunin Exams. Nozomi's letters were still sent on time almost every day, but they were getting shorter and shorter, eventually becoming little more than small notes.

Perhaps because of these things, Nozomi's tolerance for law breakers lately had been extremely low. Her mission, like before, was to take out the smugglers and secure their items. Last time, she and Sero had gone a very secretive route, having split the forces and surprise attacking them all. This time would be quite different. Nozomi tightened her headband, making sure it was secured on her forehead, and pulled out her windmill shuriken, infusing it with chakra as she always did. This mission would be quick and only one would be leaving here.

WC: 542
Mission: 542/1500
Chakra: 195/200
-5 for Substitution Preparation

Nozomi lay in wait, watching as the smugglers unloaded some of their cargo. She needed to be able to accurately tell where everyone here was first. While she was doing so, watching and laying in wait, Nozomi was at work attaching her metsubishi to some of her kunai knives. There were 10 of them, and 10 total henchmen. Which meant, that if she was going to pull this off, her aim had to be true on every single strike. She wasn't aiming to kill them, although, if it happened, that would make her job simpler. Right now, all that mattered was giving them all disadvantages. And a bomb that would irritate their eyes, as well as some small injuries would count as a disadvantage in her eyes, to say the least.

Marking the distances and making sure she had them all down correctly, Nozomi picked up the kunai and laid them out in front of her. She was currently hiding behind a row of boxes, which were keeping her hidden from the view of the smugglers. It was rather obvious she was a kunoichi of Kirigakure by her outfit, so if they saw her, they might get spooked immediately. So it was in her best interest not to strike until she was completely ready. Once she did so, then, she had to strike quickly and efficiently. Taking a deep breathe, Nozomi counted the kunai in front of her, double checking that she had counted out 10 kunai in total.

Once triply sure that she had, Nozomi steeled her feelings and emotions away. This was a complete kill mission. One that she could not mess up. Before, she'd had Sero with her in case anything went wrong. This time was different. This time, she was alone, completely and totally. Except, that she wasn't ever alone. Nozomi was a clone user, and this was one of those situations where it could come in hand. Truth be told, Nozomi's ability to even the numbers placed this at a very even field, and with the element of surprise on her side, she'd be able to take down plenty of them before they even knew what hit them. In this case, it was a good thing, considering that their collective chakra pools would be much greater than her singular one.

Judging by their gear though, it didn't appear they were ninjutsu specialists, so if all she had to worry about was bukijutsu, she'd be fine. Nozomi had her tanto's and her flak jacket for protection. Plus with all her weaponry, she should be able to take out plenty of them with a surprise attack, and then it would be a shorter, less difficult fight to deal with. Her window of opportunity getting smaller and smaller for her to strike, Nozomi quickly made her hand signs, and six water clones popped up next to her. With seven Nozomi's, this would be a walk in the park. But that wasn't all she could do, of course. She formed another hand sign, and made two more clones, these ones her signature petal clones. Nine Nozomi's in total. Each of her clones grabbed a kunai, and Nozomi grabbed two for herself. All 10 kunai were distributed. It was now or never.

WC: 542
Mission: 1084/1500
Chakra: 17/200
-15,-(18*6), -20, x/3
Clones 1-6: 18/18
Clones 8-9: 17/17

Nozomi was winded somewhat, to say the least. The body could only distribute so much chakra, and Nozomi was awfully low right now having done that little thing. Although it was unorthodox to make so many clones, it only worked because Nozomi hadn't wasted all her stamina. She couldn't have done so at the end of a large fight, as Making so many clones after already being exhausted would render her useless. However, since she'd done nothing, and was still in the midst of making a sneak attack, she figured this would be fine. She more needed more hands to throw projectiles and cripple the enemy before they knew what was happening.

Each of the clones started to pull out an assortment of shuriken, kunai, and senbon in addition to the metsubishied kunai they already had. Raining down the projectiles was sure to take out a large amount of the enemy. After having observed their patterns, it was obvious to her when they would all be down on the docks once more, so she withheld action until most of the men were present. Only two of them had stayed up top on the boat, to keep watch over the supplies perhaps. That was fine, she could take them on her own, if she really needed to. Pocketing her two kunai, to save for the men still on the boat, Nozomi pulled out her own array of kunai and shuriken.

The strike was quick and efficient. Kunai whizzed through the air, the metsubishi finding their marks. The men cried out, and were met with a wall of kunai, shuriken, and senbon, as the clones unleashed their barrages. In the end, none remained standing, pelted as they were. Nozomi grinned, dissipating her clones, returning her chakra back to herself. She could deal with the two on the boat herself, and it was clear they knew they were under attack by now, having been alerted by the  cries of their fallen comrades.

Feeling rejuvinated due to her chakra pool being restored, Nozomi began her assault on the boat itself. As she climbed up the  dock of the boat, to board it, Nozomi had to leap back, as throwing knives found themselves being targeted at Nozomi. She couldn't dodge them all, not with what little room she had to manuever, and 4 of them pierced her flak jacket, digging into the skin beneath. Or rather, they would have, but then a cloud of smoke issued out, as Nozomi's substitution jutsu came into effect. Her windmill shuriken fell through the air, along with the throwing knives, and Nozomi appeared right behind it, catching it as it fell.

Instead of opening it up as a shuriken, Nozomi kept it sectioned into 4 blades melded as one, simulating a sword. She didn't want to have to use her tanto's, so they would be a last resort. Rushing up the boat, Nozomi bullrushed the one closest to the entrance, sweeping his feet out from under him and slamming the windmill shuriken down onto his neck as he fell. As she attempted to pull it out, more knives were thrown at her by the sole remaining man. Nozomi let go of the weapon, throwing herself forward, out of the way of the throwing knives. These men didn't care about their allies, it seemed. Now that she found herself weaponless, though, Nozomi squared off against the man, pulling out one of her tanto's, as he pulled out a sword of his own.

Because of this, Nozomi was surprised when he shot out a giant fireball towards her. She hadn't expected him to be knowledgable in ninjutsu at all, but here it was. Quickly, Nozomi launched out her own jutsu, Water Trumpet, in order to counter his fireball. The henchman frowned. His Katon couldn't work against this girl who knew Suiton. There was no point in trying it then. So they rushed forward, exchanging blows and parrying with their blades instead. The man's swordsmanship was excellent, better than Nozomi's was, but Nozomi was mixing her taijutsu into the fight, using her tanto more as an extension of her taijutsu fighting than as a straight bukijutsu competition. It was dead even for a while, until Nozomi got bullrushed by the larger man, who grabbed her through, and slammed her against the side of the ship, making her drop her tanto. Nozomi's throat being crushed and unable to breathe, saw her vision swimming in darkness.

Acting on instinct, Nozomi's hands lit up with a fluid, chakra made light. 4 quick jabs on his arm rendered it utterly useless. 3 strikes to his chest knocked him on his back. Another quick strike to his throat, and the fight was over. Catching her breath momentarily, Nozomi radio'ed in for the clean up. She retrieved her weapons while waiting for them to arrive, rinsing the blood off in the water. With that, her mission was completed.
Chakra: 130/200
160 with the return of the clones
-5 for sub
-10 for water trumpet
-15 for Dance of the Misty Petals

WC: 820
Mission: 1904/1500