Spoiler:

Waking up early in the morning, Hiro devoured a quick breakfast and donned his new shinobi equipment, doublechecking his shuriken count, making sure he had both kunai and most importantly, his head protector, which he tied snugly against his forehead. Though he'd tied it to his arm before meeting Sanosuke, he didn't want to seem like he was copying. Perhaps later it could become a trademark for their team whenever they got a third member. He'd have to ask Sano about that later. Partners are good, but with a full 3 man shinobi squad they could become a true force to be reckoned with eventually.

Once his preparations were complete, he dashed out of his home towards the Mission Board, forcing himself to slow down. It wouldn't do to tire himself out before they even figured out what they were going to be doing. Browsing the board, he felt a twinge of avarice at the rewards offered on an A rank mission, but laughed and looked at the lower ranked ones.

"Lightning Rods, huh? Sounds easy enough aside from having to carry the things. 8 40 foot long rods? Whew. Doesn't look like there'll be any combat involved though, so the exhaustion won't be an issue." With a confident nod, he took the notice off the board and leaned against the nearest wall. Looking at the horizon, he saw the sun just now asserting its dominance over the night. "Well, whenever Sano gets here I'll see what he thinks, but I guess I got here pretty early with how excited I was." Despite the rather mundane task at hand, it would be his first mission with another ninja. Barely able to contain his excitement, he managed to curb his desire to let out an excited yell, settling for a grin that stretched from ear to ear.

Hikaru, a young man, around the age of fourteen (not that he wasn't well known), landed at the entrance to the mission board, his back was to the entrance, and when he turned around his messy brown hair swiveled with him. He stood up, rotated on his right heel and stepped inside, he had already had a filling breakfast, but...as you may notice later, he hadn't done a weapon count.

He spotted Hiromasa, walking towards him, Hikaru gave a happy wave, Hiro was his Senpai after all...

Face down in his bed, Skye seemed to lay there unconscious and in a deep sleep. He was in a comfortable position and was nice and cozy. But, like always, something had to ruin it. The sun shone in and was now directly in his eyes. "Daaaaaaaaaaaaamn it..." He sat up and yawned. Immediately after his yawn, he stood up and stretched. With every stretch, there came an enjoyable crack of each bone forcefully moved. Now that he was somewhat awake, he changed out of his night clothes and put on his normal get up. As he headed out to meet a few others for a mission, he grabbed a piece of fruit from a bowl that was already set up in his families tent. He was in a rush to get out of his clan's encampment and find his companions. The fact that he remembered where certain shops and landmarks were surprised him. It seemed as if he was getting more and more used to Kumo's layout. Skye eventually made it to where he was supposed to meet the others. All the faces he had seen already, so he was fully prepared to greet each by name. "Hey Hiro, hey Hikaru. How are you guys doing this morning?" Right after he asked his question, he took a bite out of the fruit he brought for breakfast.

The light shined into his eyes from his cave that was built at the base of the Rice Paddy fields. As he tried sleeping, the rays of the sunlight pierced his eyes as Sanosuke slept. Sanosuke slowly awakened by rubbing his eyes from the light rays that his eyes. A yawn escaped Sanosuke's mouth, it left him rested. Though he was sore from his kenjutsu training the other day, he promised to meet Hirosama at the mission board for a mission to do.

An extra fruit from the Durian tree was on his table, Sanosuke remembered plucking the spikes from the fruit so he can eat it. Time to get a move Sanosuke thought to himself as he leaped from his bed, pain coursing through his body with the leap. Before he took another step, Sanosuke took a bite from the apple to soothe his pain.

Once he was done getting dressed, he strapped on his long sword and kunai holster and left for the mission board. When he arrived he saw Hirosama, his partner, Skye a shinobi he already met and another Kumo ninja he wasn't familiar with. Sanosuke let out a yawn "Hey Hirosama, hey Skye What's shaking."

As if he'd shot some kind of flare into the sky, pretty much the only people he knew gathered around him: his new partner, Sanosuke, Skye, whom he'd recently met by chance, and Hikaru who, despite having graduated from the academy first insisted on referring to Hiro as his superior simply due to their age difference. Greeting each of his friends, he smiled and passed around the mission notice he'd taken down.

"Well, can't say I'm gonna complain about having some extra folks help out. Doesn't seem like anything too interesting, but I certainly don't mind having an extra pair of arms to carry the damned things. Guess we need to pick 'em up at a warehouse down the road, so I'll grab half of them with Sano, and you guys can pick up the rest and we'll make our way there for some exciting digging and lifting and stuff!"
With that and a gesture in the direction of the warehouse, he took the notice back and stuffed it in his pocket. Friends, some good old fashioned hard work, and the pay was certainly a cut above organizing the library again. It was shaping up to be a fine, if somewhat dull, day.

Hikaru sighed, staring at the notice before him, it wasn't as much as a chore for him as some of the others around him might think, but it was such a pain that he was silent. Hiromasa looked sort of contented, Skye, whom Hikaru had not yet greeted in return looked almost bored to him, and the other person he saw seemed to just be in a neutral feel, he decided he'd intorduce himself again, just for the heck of it,

"Hi, the name's Hikaru Ai, Ai Clan shinobi...", he muttered monotonously, he was quite tired, it had been a long morning, now he answered Hiro,

"It doesn't seem like much", in mid-yawn.

Skye grinned at the small group. Knowing all of them gave him a slight bit of confidence. Right before he was about to say something, Hiro interrupted his thought with talk of the mission. It seemed as if Hiro appointed himself leader, even though he said nothing and no one objected. Looking down, he quickly read the notice before passing it along. The task seemed simple enough. Might even be a bit boring considering they were just relocating lightning rods. Once Hiro declared what teams were going where, Skye grinned and looked over at Hikaru. To him, it seemed like Hikaru would rather have more sleep than start doing a mission. Skye himself was ready to go. Usually when Skye got up, he wouldn't be tired until the next time he had to sleep. "So get some lightning rods and set them up? Simple enough." He grinned and put his hands behind his head. Now all he had to do was get the approval from Hiro to get started. Hiro was the "leader" after all.

Sanosuke began to think to himself, he had so far met with every single ninja in the group. All except for the genin with black hair who looked as though he was the youngest in the group. He looked at the notice paper that was being held by Skye and read from over the paper really quickly. It was a good habit that Sanosuke picked up from hanging around in the library, being able to speed read was something that he could pick up.

"Well guys there's 8 poles and 4 directions to put them in. It'll make sense if we divide up the work and seperate. We can each take 2 poles and take them to the different corners of the room" Sanosuke said. He fished in his back equipment holster and picked up 4 communicators. He handed them each to the members of the group. "We can communicate with these."

Spoiler:

Once at the Lightning Grounds they divvied up the poles and headed in their separate directions. Hoisting his own par of poles up on his shoulder, he carried them as quickly as he could in the direction he was to take, the East. Unsure exactly what he was looking for, he pulled the notice out of his pocket, looking for any sign of what kinda of marker would signify where the rods needed to be placed. No dice.

Eventually however. he came across a road leading out of the grounds, dozens of small holes from lightning strikes marring it. "This seems like a good enough place to set these up. Now for the more important question: How?" He wondered aloud. Setting up a 40 foot pole alone seemed a somewhat difficult undertaking alone. Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps behind him. Turning to greet what he expected was one of the merchants mentioned in the notice, he instead saw an aggressive-looking young woman, a knife in hand. She was also quite cute. With a smile, he waved at her. "I take it you're not here to make friends, hm?"

Hikaru nodded at the other...genin? He wasn't sure, but anyway, Hikaru nodded and set his poles down at the north edge of the grounds, slumping onto the pole and letting his back slide down so that he was now seated, wondering about the other's...

Hikaru stood up a few minutes later, he hadn't got communications from anyone, he clicked the speaker and spoke into it, "Skye, umm... other guy, come in! Are you there?", he stood silently waiting for any response from the others...

Spoiler:

The communicator Hikaru was holding made a sudden static noise, but was quickly followed up with the sound of Skye's voice. "Yeah, I hear you. I have the rod... I'm just about where this thing is supposed to be. This thing isn't rea-!" There was a slight distortion, then a immediate cut off in his voice. Probably since Skye had never used a communicator before and tried to change the volume or frequency slightly. "Crap... I keep messing with this thing. Eh... Whatever... I'm setting up the rod now, so I'll call you when I'm finished." The communicator shut off and Skye started to set up the lightning rod. He occasionally heard a rustle in the plants way behind him, but he dismissed it as the wind.

Spoiler:

Hikaru's voice was heard through Sanosuke's headset as he began walking towards the West gate of the village. While holding the tall metal rods sith each arm, He has to be sure to not only keep his balance by the large rods that detered carelessly off his arms and also the rods were doing a good job at attracting the lightning from the Thunder Grounds because everyone in a while, Sanosuke had to side step the lightning bolts. That was close Sanosuke thought before continuing his walk to the East gate. Just his luck, Sanosuke's luck would make him travel to the worst part of the Thunder Grounds where the lightning bolts were more concentrated.

When he heard the shinobi that he had just met in the mission board speak up, Sanosuke had to think hard about who his new teammate was. Once he got the name he decided to use it "Yeah Sanosuke here at the West gate Hikaru, over" Sanosuke informed his team as he stuck the metal rods in the ground and adjusted them accordingly. It took minutes until he was done setting up both the rods, Sanosuke focused his lightning chakra on the rod to sturdy the rods into the ground.

The through the headset, Sanosuke heard his number one partner Hiromasa speak "I take it you're not here to make friends, hm?" Immediately, Sanosuke felt worried, that was obviously an indicator that someone had appeared on the Thunder Grounds when no body besides them should be in the Thunder Grounds for construction purposes. "Hiro, come in Hiro! Over!" Sanosuke said in his mic over and over again to get his partner to respond. What Sanosuke didn't hear through his communications was the sound of a sword being scraped against the ground. A voice was heard from Sanosuke before he could react.

"It looks like they'll let anyone be a shinobi these days."

Hiromasa laughed over the radio. "Looks like this won't be as boring as everyone thought! If you don't hear back from me in 5 minutes I've either died or decided to take a nap.' With that, he turned off his radio and directed his attention to the pretty girl in front of him, who had gotten much closer since he'd started talking. "I'm sorry miss, it was rude of me to talk on the radio with you right here. What can this humble genin do for you?" he asked politely, offering a handshake he knew would be rejected.

The girl seemed taken aback by his courtesy, her face full of confusion for a moment before mustering up a serious demeanor. "You didn't pay to pass through our turf, ninja or not. You hand over 100-no, 50 ryo, since you're so respectful, or I take it from you by force," She said, punctuating the last bit with a jab of her knife. Taking a look at her weapon, Hiro noted that it was chipped and somewhat rusted, but still very much deadly. "I personally wouldn't mind giving you the money since you asked so nicely and I bet you're not a bad person when not holding a knife up to someone, but I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't ask whether you do this to everyone who passes through? Bad for our economy if people are shaking down merchants even before out taxes get a chance at 'em," He replied, keeping the conversation calm and friendly with a wink to emphasize the small joke at the end. There was always a chance for things to not end in violence.

OOC: I've been on my nook for the past few days, looong computer update...anyway, I can reply better, now that my computer's done.

IC: As Hikaru lifted his lightning rod, it waved high over his head, he realized now what was going to happen, and before anything could hit him he staked the lightning rod into the ground so powerfully that the ground around him for quite a few kilometers shook...must have passed through the fragile earth of the lightning grounds...This caused a shinobi, hiding in a small bush to pop up in a startled way, Hikaru turned around as if he wasn't shocked, in fact, he wasn't because even a Genin could sense something like this,

"Well, well, well, it seems I have a visitor as well, oh, and Sanosuke, it seems you've got company too.", he muttered calmly through the headset, still staring silently at the shinobi that stood before him, it was a young man, normal as ever, but the one thing that was different about this one was the shocking two heads that balanced themselves on his..or their, skinny neck.

"It s-seems w-we've got a ch-child on our h-hands", They said in unison, giving a silent chuckle, then he lifted quite a big staff from a sort of sheath, N-now hand over a h-hundred ryo, or I-I'll h-have to t-take it by f-force...", he mumbled, more menacing this time,

"What gives you the right to make me give you ryo!?", Hikaru asked, getting mad, he immediately got in a stance, holding up fists, "I don't wanna sound like a jerk, but your messing with the Ai Clan prodigy!", he gloated, frowning...

Skye put the lightning rod down to take a quick breather and plan out what he would have to do in order to make sure this thing was set up correctly. He dug a hole in the ground that was deep enough to hold the lightning rod steady. It was quite simple from there. All he had to do was just fill in the dirt he removed. As soon as he scooped the last bit of dirt up and put it in the hole, Skye heard a loud rustle behind him. Turning around, he suddenly rolled to his right. A guy with a knife attempted a jump and stab from behind. Fortunately, Skye was able to get away. "Whoa! What the hell man?!" It was an unexpected event in Skye's perspective.

"One hundred ryo or your life." The man seemed to hold his knife with a hard grip. Seeing this, Skye knew that this guy had a bit of skill with it. "If you refuse to give me the money... I'll take it once I'm done with you..." He brought the knife up and readied a fighting stance.

"Oh please..." Skye cracked his neck and stretched a little. He was going to have to fight this guy. He obviously wasn't to open to reason. "Listen... How about I keep my ryo in my pocket, and you turn around and avoid getting your mind screwed over. Fair deal, right?" Skye took his chain scythes off his hip, just in case the guy ended up being trouble. If the man didn't back down, things would certainly turn out bad... for him, that is....

Spoiler:

The voice that Sanosuke heard behind him brought him out of his desperate attempts to contact his partner. Behind him was a man with wild shaggy heard and what looked like a tattered robe that was probably bought at a hard sale. He was also wielding a rusty katana that was missing a sheathe. The man looked as though he was in his mid 20s and rested his sword on his shoulder. There was a sneer that crossed his face that made Sanosuke feel slightly uneasy. This guy was really creeping him out.

Behind the man with the rusty katana was another man who looked around the same age of his companion, but this guy was bigger and was more bulky. The big guy had more scars that can hold his body and had a hammer that looked like a meat tenderizer. Unlike the shorter man, this guy looked at Sanosuke with a blank stare.

"Hear that Baki? This guy actually thinks he's a shinobi" the sword wielder said with a sneer. "What a joke!"

The man called Baki looked at Sanosuke and then his companion that was behind him. He let out a weary sigh "Tank please, I didn't sign for this. All I wanted to do was get money for my family" Baki begged the man. He turned his attention to Sanosuke with pleading eyes "Please we don't want trouble, just hand over your ryo and we'll leave."

Sanosuke looked at both men and said only one thing in his headset "Hey guys I'll call you back" Sanosuke said before turning off his headset. These guys were asking for a beating, especially the guy named Tank. But the other guy Baki, was just a nice guy who is just trying to supply for his family. It was as though he had everything together, but the question was what was he doing robbing people. With a smirk he showed his empty hands. "What if I say I forgot to bring my ryo?"

Tank gripped his sword tightly and leveled the point at Sanosuke's face. The sword he was wielding was rusty, but it could still deliver a nasty cut. "You're life seems like a good substitute" Tank glared at Sanosuke. Baki looked at Tank and shook his head in disappointment before he took out his hammer. It would really get on his conscious that he had to beat up a nice guy like that, but he had a job to do.

Upon seeing his enemies draw out their weapons, Sanosuke unsheathed his sword and smirked. "Listen here TANK" Sanosuke said drawing out sarcasm in his voice when saying Tank's name "This is a real sword" He took out his sword and focused chakra around his fingers and traced his sword from the flat side of the sword to the very end. Sensui, Sanosuke said finding his sword now coated with chakra before grabbing hold of his sword with both hands ready for battle.

Spoiler:

The woman's advance stopped and confusion spread across her face again. Seeing the hand holding her blade tighten its grip and begin shaking, Hiromasa casually erected an aura of his chakra around himself, activating his personal defense technique, the Honey Trap jutsu. The woman wasn't close enough yet, but if she got much closer she'd be stopped in her tracks. Still, Hiro held out a small amount of hope that this would not be necessary. "Let's stay calm here, huh? My name's Hiromasa, what's yours?"

Remaining calm for the moment, the woman seemed to forget that she was trying to rob him for a moment, her blade falling to her side. "My name's Mimi. I'm going to be our boss's wife soon," she answered, a proud smile expressing her excitement at her second statement."But he won't marry me if I can't rob a pathetic loser like you!" Her demeanor changing in an instant, Hiro wondered if her calm had simply been a trick, simply staring at her as his jutsu stopped her from even getting close to striking range.

Shaking his head, Hiro sighed. Pulling a hand into the sleeve of his robes, he slowly withdrew a kunai and advanced on the paralyzed girl. Reactivating his radio in case anyone else was having a harder time than he'd had, he looked at his opponent sadly. "I'm sorry it had to be this way, miss, but if you won't listen to reason I have no choice."

Chakra: 60/80

Spoiler:

The young man, two-headed to be exact, circled Hikaru...the Genin knew this was no Genjutsu, this guy seriously had two heads, anyway, Hikaru stood in his position, and the two began what's called peacocking in a circle, staring each other down, Hikaru's fists up and the other man's staff at the ready...

"H-hand over th-the money k-kid!", The man demanded silently, but Hikaru stood his ground, "You actually think I'll give into you that easily, your pathetic!", he hissed, the man acrossed from him flinched as they circled each other,

"Well, y-you s-seem to c-cocky to negotiate w-with, s-so I'll just h-have to t-take the m-money...", he sighed, stopping. Hikaru stood at the ready, gathering up chakra inside, the man ran at him, full speed, he was quite fast! But Hikaru took a deep breath, and his chest puffed out, at the same moment, he shouted,

"Futon: Ryuusui", and he blew a huge amount of air into the ground, the next thing his opponent knew, Hikaru shot up into the air, a cloud of dirt forming below...

Chakra: 70/80

Spoiler:

The man was obviously angered a bit by Skye's comment. He showed his teeth and scoffed. Skye walked around, but still kept his distance. His eyed were darting every which way, looking for any terrain that he could use to beat the guy as fast as possible. Finally, he set his eyes on a pile of stones that were most likely there because of a lightning bolt hitting the earth. He slowly made his way over to them and talked while doing so. "If you asked nicely, and didn't try to stab me in the back, I would have considered giving you some ryo... but since that's not the case, It looks like your out of luck." As soon as he reached the rocks, he made a few hand signs and waited for the man to react.

The man immediately leaped at Skye, who was simply just standing there with a smile. The knife pierced into Skye, but something was off. The knife made a loud clank when it hit him, almost like it hit something solid and incredibly dense. The illusion disappeared and was replaced by a large rock. The man was obviously dumbfounded, but that didn't stop Skye from stopping. The true Skye ran up behind the man and disarmed him by knocking the knife out of Ba's hand with his chain scythe. He then rolled back and threw Ba backwards. It all happened quite suddenly and definitely caught Ba off guard. "Now, that is how one properly catches someone who isn't paying attention... Now stand up. I want to give another example." Skye laughed at his own jest because, in all honesty, he was having too much fun with this fight.

Chakra: 115/120

Spoiler:

The two thugs dashed at Sanosuke in an attempt to flank him on both sides so that way Sanosuke would be pinned into one position. A smirk crossed his lips as they were now set up just where he wanted him. Crescent Moon Slice! Sanosuke said as he backed up so he can have some space between the two thugs. Normally, this really wouldn't have change the outcome as both Tank and Baki continued their strike now more unified. Tank wielding his rusty katana in a downwards swing and Baki attempting to smash Sanosuke horizontally. Sanosuke countered both attacks at the same time. He swung his sword to first bat away Tank's swipe to send the thug leader backward from the recoil of the strike. Sanosuke delivered another slash that would've normally deeply wounded Tank if he hadn't activated Sensui, but the blade smashed down on Tank's rib cage sending the man skidding away.

He turned his attention to Baki and blocked the smashing blow of the hammer he was wielding. The blows smashed into each other badly enough for Sanosuke to feel his grip slacken. Damn it, Sanosuke cursed in his head as he had now left himself wide open to an attack by Baki. He underestimated Baki's strength which was oddily strong for anyone. With a battle cry, Baki clenched onto Sanosuke blade to hold it still. Before Sanosuke could react, Tank delivered a crushing blow to Sanosuke's leg. If Sanosuke hadn't pivoted his leg at the last minute and Baki actually used a battle hammer, Sanosuke would definitely have broken his leg to the point where he could never walk again. But it turns out that Sanosuke felt himself cave under his weight, his sword clattered on the floor he could move but he was on his knees and was easily in a perdicament where Baki can easily crush his head with the hammer; but he didn't in fact Baki looked at Sanosuke with big sad eyes of his.

Tank dragged his feet to join his comrade in gloating, the leader laughed maniacally. "Good job Baki, now finished him" Tank ordered, he was still reeling from the blow to the ribs he took from the sword. Even though Sanosuke was pinned and was felt pain in his leg spread dramatically, he couldn't but help admire his swork. If he hadn't taken it easy on the thugs, he would've killed them. But Sanosuke was no murderer and he knew it, killing wasn't his style.

Baki shook his head "No damn it Tank I told you, I'm no killer" Baki exclaimed as he threw his hammer to the ground. "I didn't sign up to killing kids"

"Fine then, I will you damn coward!" Tank went in to stab Sanosuke in the stomach. Sanosuke had to act quickly before it was too late.

Spoiler:

Gripping the ringed end of the kunai, Hiro brought it smashing down on the back of the girl's head. With her out of the way, he got to work setting up his lightning rods, which proved to be more of a pain in the rear than the thug girl had been. "On second though, it might've been smarter to terrify you into helping me with this," He said to the unconscious woman. "Ah well, nothing to be done for it." Hoisting the first into place, he jumped back as it was struck by lightning as soon as he let it go.

Chuckling, he repeated the process for his second rod, which luckily waited a few moments before it began drawing bolts to it. " Well, that about wraps things up for me folks, how's everyone else-oh you are going to be a pain in the butt aren't ya?" he said, changing his message mid-sentence as he saw that not only had the girl recovered, but she had managed to take a merchant who had been wandering by hostage. Briefly wondering how the man had been caught by someone looking as out of it as the bandit woman was, he dismissed the thought and put his hands at his hips, feigning frustration.

"You're making me almost regret showing you mercy little lady," He said in a scolding tone. "You made a mistake thinking that putting a feeble merchant in front of you would make any difference, however." Forming some random handsigns, he yelled out "Great Fireball Jutsu!" forming the seals for the technique he actually wanted to use as he did, the Demonic Illusion: Hell-Viewing Technique. Since fireball techniques come from the mouth, the woman's attention was drawn to his face aaaaaaand "Got her," he thought to himself as they briefly locked eyes.

Almost immediately the woman released her grip on the merchant and dropped to her knees. "Tank, no! I'm not as pretty as I used to be but I still love you! Tank please don't leave! Tank!" With a nod to the merchant, who began running away, Hiromasa approached Mimi the same as before, except this time the sharp end of the kunai was held at the ready. "I really wish people would just accept mercy the first time that it was offered. I'm sorry miss, but your wedding isn't going to happen." With that he drove a fist into the girl's stomach, breaking the illusion and leaving her gasping for air. Placing a hand on the woman's head to hold it still, he slit her throat with one quick motion, wiping the blade on her shirt as she collapsed. "Being merciful more than once is fine with me personally, but while representing Kumo I can't allow us to look weak. I really do apologize." A single tear flowed down his cheek as he made his first kill, a pretty young girl with a head full of dreams. Summoning up his usual cheeriness, he turned on his radio. "Things are taken care of here, anyone need any help?"

40/80 Chakra

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Hikaru stared at Dai, who was emerging quite confusedly from the cloud of dirt and debris of the thunder grounds. Hikaru gazed at his second lightning rod, still not staked into the ground, he would need to finish this quickly, if not, he'd be at the thunder grounds all day, not a pleasant thought. Hikaru smirked from where he was above, landing softly by simpley concentrating chakra out of his feet.

Dai looked up, growling, the thug looked more pathetic than anything menacing Hikaru had ever faced, "Y-you'll p-pay for th-that", he muttered, taking a step forward, "For a thug, you're r-really pathetic!", Hikaru mocked, he was all about fun and games so he added the little stutter...

Dai growled again, his eyes darkening, "I'll k-kill you!", he shouted, streaking forward, he hit Hikaru with the staff, but instead of the satisfying crack of his skull Dai heard the kunai whistling towards him, he immediately turned around and blocked with his staff, but Hikaru just grinned.

Dai looked at his opponent, eyes filled with fear, "P-please, n-no!", he cried as Hikaru hopped backwards, starting the sequence of Handseals, Sanke, Ram, Monkey, Tiger, his hands moved rapidly as he began to speak, "Katon: Kasumi Enbu no Jutsu!", with that, a burst of flames released from Hikaru's mouth, flying towards Dai, who finally realized the paper bomb that was planted on his shirt, and with that, there was an explosion of flame on the battlefield.

Hikaru sighed, wiping his forhead, and there Dai stood, scorched, the Genin decided he would end the battle, Ai Clan style, and with one last attack, Hikaru sent Dai flying into his lightning rod with a giant punch...

Hikaru looked down at his hands, he didn't know what had come over him, he had just killed a man! Hikaru touched his headphones, answering to Hiro, "I-I need some help with the rods, I don't think I want to use my hands anymore...", he muttered, falling down and leaving Dai's corpse at the edge of the lightning rod.

Chakra: 55/80

Spoiler:

Ba shook the throw off and looked around. His eyes stopped and stared at his knife. "Now I'm angry! Once I get my knife back, you're dead!!" His voice was meaning to sound threatening, but it only made Skye laugh a bit more. The fact that the man though he had a chance was funny to him. Ba shifted to the right and ended up near where Skye had set up the lightning rod. A slight mistake on his part. Ba definitely didn't know what he was dealing with. Before he had a chance to say anything more, Skye was already preparing another jutsu.

"Well... I hate to ruin all the fun, but I get the feeling I'm going to have to end it..." Shrugging his shoulders as he walked forward, he put his hands together and continued on. Ba took the opportunity of Skye getting closer by running up and trying to punch him. Pushing his palms outward, he released an electric discharge that pushed Ba back and caused him to hit his head on the lightning rod. This lead him to getting knocked unconscious. "That takes care of that... Wonder if the others got someone like this... Oh crap... the others!" Right away, he rushed away and started to head to Sano's area. He wasn't to sure where he was going, but it was just a guess where one of his friends were.

Jumping forward, he eventually got a glimpse of something in the distance. Only after squinting, he could see it was Sano with two others. Immediately, Skye changed direction and went straight for the closest person. The person closest to him happened to be Baki. As soon as he had Baki in sight, he tackled him and quickly hopped off. This would definitely get Tank's attention. It's not really normal for someone to come rushing out of nowhere and tackling a teammate. Skye cracked his neck and waved at his friend. "Hey there Sano! I see you're making new friends, so I thought I'd help out." He smiled and nodded at Sano to show he was willing to do what he said.

Chakra: 105/120

Spoiler:

It was a relief to say the least that his teammate Skye had come in to save him at the last minute, but the thing was if Skye had come in and tackled Tank he didn't have to deal with the incoming katana that was about to impale his stomach. Quickly, Sanosuke drew out his kunai from his leg holster to parry the stab. Tank was surprised to say the least that his attempt on Sanosuke's life was thwarted. Sanosuke pushed off Tank's katana to make Tank reel backwards from the blow. Taking advantage of this opening, Sanosuke picked up his sword that was on the ground and, although his left calf muscle screamed in protest of movement, jumped backwards to cover some distance between him and Tank. Sanosuke made sure that he landed on his right leg and only put his weight on his right leg so to not worsen the injury he was sporting.

Tank glared at Sanosuke with looks that can easily kill, but he didn't care. If it wasn't for Skye, Sanosuke would be forced to do something that would go against his philosophy: take a life. Now, he can take out Tank without having to kill him. But the battle was leaving him tired, his left leg was giving out spasms; no doubt that Baki had given Sanosuke a nasty bruise on his leg that made it difficult for him to walk. He had to end this now. "Skye, I'm going to need you to fend off Baki for me while I deal with Tank." Sanosuke said "I want them alive so we can put them in prison, so don't kill them. Be careful he's a lot stronger than he looks."

It was time to end this, Tank was taking credit for his subordinates' strengths claiming them as his own power. Those were the kind of people that frustrated Sanosuke. He closed his left eye and felt the chakra from his core swell into his body and explode inside. When he opened his left eye, the contract of his kekai genkai was established. Sanosuke felt more powerful and knew that he can destroy Tank's pride with a single move.

Swinging his sword around, Sanosuke pointed the end of his sword at Tank. "I'm about to show you how out class you really are you novice" Sanosuke proclaimed before dashing at the thug leader.

Spoiler:

Somewhat concerned with Hikaru's last statement, he walked casually in his direction, thinking carefully. He'd just taken his first life and from the sounds of it, his friend might've just done the same. Arriving at Hikaru's location, he could see that he was correct. Hikaru was sitting on the ground, looking horrified and not too far away, a corpse leaned against a lightning rod, small bits of flame briefly appearing at the tips of the hair as lightning struck the rod.

"It's an inevitable fact of shinobi life, my friend. I just took my first life as well. The best way to think about it is to realize the harm you have prevented by ending them. They wanted to rob people who pass through the lightning grounds, making our village look weak. Kumo looking like a weak village is a threat to the lives of everyone living in it. Also, what would've happened if they came across someone who couldn't pay? They would likely have been killed for innocently trying to go about their lies. Being a ninja, we will have to kill to protect our village. You did nothing wrong. Now, let's see about these lightning rods and go meet up with Sano and Skye. Seems like things are just about wrapped up here, even if we had to work a bit harder than expected for our pay. At least it wasn't boring, right?" With this, he reached a hand out to help Hikaru get to his feet, more than ready for this job to be over.