Fukai led the way towards the town. The walls were finally coming into view. Fukai had notified the rest of the squad that this area was the point of interest for the mission and that they should keep their eyes open. It shouldn’t be much more than a checkup, as this was a response mission, but one of the lowest degree. If nothing was up then they would just hang around for a little while before heading back to Iwa. Kurakura Town was their destination, it was a small gathering of semi nomadic people, and travelers that came through here. It was a minor crossroads that lead up into the higher mountains. This meant that there was only a very small permanent population and the amount of people that the town contained fluctuated greatly. Apparently there was a few trading clans present at the moment, but Fukai wasn’t familiar with the specifics of the goings on in this area. They approached the walls and shouted up to the guard to let them in. With a bit of deliberation about their identity and purpose, the guard shouted down that they may pass. An iron gate was drawn up and Fukai walked through, with his young backup in tow. It was quite extraordinary that a place such as this had come into being when you sat down and thought about it. This town formed a gated community for those who had no home, a base for storing and trading. It was the result of mutual need and understanding from a collective of independent clans. They had come together and built something that would serve their whole economic ecosystem for generations to come.

Fukai walked in and onto the main street. Strange, he expected more people to be around at this time of day. But he had never been here himself so he did not suspect anything until it happened. The few people on the street were heavily cloaked and walking under the eves of the building instead of out on the street. There were a lack of stalls and markets around the place, infact the air was noticeably devoid of the sounds of industry and labour. The iron gate clanged down as the guards had lowered back down to it’s resting spot. It had only been about a minute and a half after he had entered the town when the guard he had just conversed with was standing about twenty metres away in front of him. Beside him were four other large men that fingered their sheathed weapons. This is where Fukai stopped and held his left hand straight out to tell the kids to stop and be alert. It looked like they were ready for a confrontation, whatever the meaning was. The guard spoke. “Dog of Iwa, I cannot let you return to your hole. Kill them all.” The command rung out and out from the building came a charge of about thirty people. Fukai’s eyes flew around the scene, taking in every bit of information he could to make sense of the situation.

The attackers lacked the guard uniforms and also weren’t clothed like any merchant he had seen. Instead they looked more like the bandits that lived in the north west that he had come into contact with more than a few times. So what was going on? It looked like the town of Kurakura had been occupied by some invading party. And they had not taken kindly to the idea of a shinobi from Iwagakure prance around. It made sense that they had not turned him away, as it would be suspicious to disallow access to the governing force of the country. The guards standing in front of him were dressed like that for appearances, although they also looked like the leaders, the way that the first guard had signaled the attack.

First thing that Fukai had to do was try to prepare the kids for what was coming in the seconds that he had before the bandits were upon them. Fukai shouted out to them. “Draw your weapons and fight!” He yelled as he drew his own staff. The first few of the bandits arrived and reached out to cut the children with their knives. Most of the kids were slow moving, still drawing their weapons in response to the command. Since the numbers at the front were small, Fukai was able to cover them by shaping a raiton chakra tip over his staff and slash through the face of the first bandit. Then he spun around to carve through the chest of another and up through the navel of a third, sending them spasming to the ground. The rest of the squad was able to finish them off by peppering them with holes. Fukai yelled out again to try to get a defensive formation going. He moved into the center. “Form a circle! Protect each other! Remember your training!” The children shuffled around in the small reprieve. In this formation they would be covering each other and not leaving their back exposed to the enemy. This was the only way they could hope to combat the overwhelming numbers.

The next wave hit, most of the bandits came in force. About twenty of them swarmed around the circle. They charged in and hacked and slashed at the formation, trying to break through. But the squadron held strong. Fukai recognised his advanced combos jutsu among his squad, the children’s feet dancing nimbly and their weapons slithering like snakes against and through their opponent’s clumsy handling. One versus one, Fukai’s apprentices were pushing the invaders back. They were parrying attacks and using their smaller stature to stab at their victim’s bellies. But the fights were not one on one. The enemy were superior in number and were trying to swarm them. Fukai was keeping a watchful eye on the flow of the battle from the center of the circle. He could not micro manage each individual exchange, he had to trust his team. Instead he targeted those who were trying to gang up on the kids. Fukai spun around and thrusted out with the full length of his staff, using his long arms to butcher his foes before they could amass.

But not all was going smoothly as he heard a cry out from behind him. He turned to see that one of his protege’s had slipped up and copped a nasty gash. Fukai wouldn’t make it in time before the attacker would finish him. A split second later, he was surprised to find that another from his squad leapt out from her position to defend her ally. She successfully saved her teammate but now was in a precarious situation herself. A crack landed against her back as a club came swinging through. She cried out and then fell to the ground unconscious. Fukai was upon their attackers, slicing through their necks with two quick lunges. He then grabbed the two injured kids by the collar and dragged them into the middle of the circle. “Keep pushing! We are driving them back!” Fukai yelled out once more. He didn’t want his squad to lose moral at the sight of their comrades falling.

He heard another command from the guard, Fukai looked up in time to see the four men who had been at the side of the main guard, start to charge into the fray. The numbers of the main force were thinning as they were getting dealt with. It looked like fifteen or so of the bandits were out of action, leaving about ten left. There were six squad members left. Fukai decided that he would have to leave the remaining bandits to his squad so that he could tackle the four large fake guards. The four males drew their weapons, two large hammers and two great axes. He knew that his squad wouldn’t stand a chance against the raw power that these four were clearly capable of.

The foursome strode confidently forward, and Fukai jumped out of formation to meet them. The first that got into range swung his hammer up, and Fukai darted forward, accelerating as his pores released raiton. He stabbed the man’s right pectoral with the chakra spear and darted back. The hammer fell down as the muscle supporting it wasn’t working so well after being punctured. The man was brought forward off balance, were Fukai stabbed him right through the eye with another dart forwards. The other three men attempted to surround Fukai, bent on not being taken by surprise like their comrade. Fukai knew that he couldn’t let himself be surrounded so he ducked off to the left to engage the outermost guard. Fukai thrusted forward with a feinted jab, the man bought it, swinging his great axe into his path. The Iwa shinobi forced out more raiton out of his pores to stop his forward momentum and redirect his weapon to slit down the man’s axe hand and then through the side of his body. The other two behind him pounced while he was occupied, the blade of the second axe nicking Fukai’s air as he swayed to dodge. He got in between them, up close and personal so that he could spin his staff in a figure of eight, round and round. The chakra tip on both ends of the blade cutting up the torso’s of the last two guard and sent them spasming to their knees. Fukai slit through their necks to stop them from getting up again. He looked up at the scene. The main guard was scurrying away in the distance, and his squad had dealt with the rest of the bandits. They had survived.

[1637]

mission complete
~exit~