mission details:

Lin had dressed in her ninja gear. That is to say, she wore her Village hidden in the mist flak vest, her black sweatshirt underneath, a white skirt, and a black set of leggings under that. She had decided to go with boots, as they would be heading into the forest near Kumogakure. She was meeting Toshi at the gates to the city and would head out with him from there. She had managed to keep up with Gin when they had left to have her duel with Nozomi, and she wouldn't be left behind by Toshi, she was sure of it.

Lin had packed the senbon that she kept from when she had graduated from the academy, her scalpel, the set of tonfas that had appeared mysteriously on her doorstep, and her Hitae-ate. It was tied around her shoulder this time, not around her head, and her hair was in a french braid. She didn't care about letting everyone see her birth-scar. It was a proud symbol that she came from the Katonrai clan. Or that's what she kept telling herself when people would stare at it.

Lin waited for Toshi while thinking of what the mission entailed. It was to track down the magpies, the ones that had stolen the tobacco from the farmers in the outskirts of The land hidden in the clouds. She didn't know whether she or Toshi would be up for the task of taking down the boss, but she had an ace up her sleeve. Gora stepped out from the forest brush and growled her approval at the mission specifications. Gora would be there to take down some of the people that she needed taken out. Gora was her fangs, her claws, and Lin, Lin was the innocent flower. Or that's what Gora called her.

Sighing, she started to bounce from one foot to the other while waiting for Toshi. She had shown up early, and wanted to make sure they had enough time to go and clean up this bandit menace. They had stolen from the village hidden in the mist and the daimyo of the village for long enough, and were now very flush with money. It was a good thing that they were so flush with it, as it made tracing them back to the forest a piece of cake. She hoped that they would at least stay there for a good day or two, giving Toshi and her a pinpoint location to go to. She hoped and hopped and waited for Toshi. Gora sat next to her and watched her, looking at her as though she was a crazy person.

The day was bright and cheery, a good day to go on a mission.

WC: 462

Satoshi Kazuhiko approached the gates to the village hidden in the clouds at precisely the time he had agreed upon. The boy was always timely, almost to the second. Timing was very important to him. He had been raised to respect the time of others. Whether he was disappointed or eager to be a part of an event made no difference. Luckily, today was the latter rather than the former.

Today he and his partner Lin would be tracking down the remainder of the Magpies. Self-styled thieves who had been bullying a nearby farming village and robbing them blind. Satoshi had tussled with a white hat, a purported lieutenant of the crime syndicate on one of his first missions.

The men they'd captured that day had been proven invaluable after their interrogation. While they hadn't given up the location of the lair, they had inadvertently given them a number of clues as to where the Magpies made their nest. Further, they had given them the details on the name of their fence. The superiors within the village had been able to track down the fence and connect the dots well enough to detail the location of the Magpies hideout within a mission.

And this was the mission which Lin and he had undertaken. As the bell tolled the hour Satoshi approached the young woman and her feline friend. He bobbed happily as he walked, his hips and shoulders swaying to some unheard song pumping from within his headphones.

He lifted a fist to her in comraderie and greeting. "Are we ready to put an end to these villains? I know I am! The village has suffered their song long enough!"

He looked down towards the cat as if he'd answer for Lin. Gora had been a new addition to the team. He was a pet of Lin's and seemed to be somewhat inspired by the encounter they'd had with a konoha ninja. He'd utilized a bird of prey to assist in combat and misdeeds and it seemed as though Lin trusted this animal to work in a similar fashion.

Satoshi didn't mind, though Kozue-Obaachan was allergic to cats, so he'd have to take his jacket off when he got in the house.

"Let's go put an end to their evil schemes yeah?!" He stated enthusiastically, the words more of a declaration than a question.

Always eager to get into trouble this one.

Lin watched as Toshi approached, he seemed to be feeling the beat of his music like he usually did, it didn't surprise her in the least. Gora bared her fangs for a bit before recognizing Toshi. She looked to see if he had packed anything that was new, and not seeing anything, shrugged. Well, it wasn't like everyone was getting new things. She waved to Toshi as he came up and offered a fist-bump. She knew that he was into letting his fists do the talking, and it was even suggested that a shinobi that reached a certain level could tell someone's intentions from just fist-bumping them. It was something that was, as Lin thought, a story of fiction, but she didn't discount everything in the ninja world this way. Maybe she and Toshi would get to that place someday.

Gora rubbed up on Toshi, her full two hundred pounds coming to bear on his calves. She enjoyed the company of Lin's friends, and she liked Toshi the most out of them. He had, after all, saved Lin more than once from all kinds of trouble, and had been in most of the stories Lin had told. "I'm ready, and it looks like Gora is too. We should be wary, I don't know how many bandits there are in the lair. We don't even really have a description of the inside of it, just that it is a hollowed out tree." She took out her tonfas and twirled them a bit before stowing them again. They had the Guanyin clan's emblem on them, and Lin had no idea who had given them to her. They had shown up on her doorstep.

"It's time to bring these Bandits to justice." Lin nodded. "They are supposed to be about 10 miles away to the east, let's head there and scout it out. Would you like to go first or would you like me to?" Lin asked. Gora surrounded Lin's knees and looked up at Toshi, her blue eyes, like Lin's, gleaming with excitement.

WC: 828

Satoshi normally toppled over from the weight of the large feline as it rubbed up against his legs. He laughed stupidly as he playfully shoved back against the animal, of course failing to budge it even an inch. As Lin spoke Satoshi was ruffling the fur on the animals head and mock swatting at him.

Satoshi, like most with the mind of a child, loved pets! It never seemed to enter his mind that this "pet" could easily tear him asunder. Of course... That reality never seemed to dawn on Satoshi, regardless of his environment and "playmate".

Unlike Lin, Satoshi didn't have any new equipment, as she'd observed. His ninja tools were the same as they'd been since they'd first met. He carried a kunai, his headband, and the keepsake he'd received from Kozue-Obaachan. It had been from his mother, at least that's what Kozue had told him. It was the only remnant he had of his biological parents. Satoshi had brushed the thought off, reminding Kozue that -she- was his mother... Though not knowing the identity of his family did occaisionally haunt him.

"Hollowed out tree huh? I wonder if it has good acoustics..." He rubbed his chin in thought, for once, and set off. The walk would be long but he had good company. He'd moved his headphones to hang about his shoulders, the music from his cassette player having stopped so that he could better observe the world around him.

"I'll go first! That way if anyone is coming I'll see them before they see us." He then looked to the cat. "That means I'm relying on you, Gora-Kun, to protect Lin-Senpai! Do your best!" Without another moments hesitation Satoshi leapt up into the tree line.

He'd stay off the ground as he scouted ahead. It allowed him to use more of his passive sensory ability. He'd have a bird's eye view of their environment. All the foliage definitely made things a bit difficult to see and feel, but on the road he'd be fairly easy to spot out.

Satoshi kept his headphones off and instead tried to focus on the world around him. It was definitely a bit boring. He missed the accompaniment of conversation or the sounds of music in his ears. Despite his sensory capabilities, he absolutely hated stake-out situations. They were boring and typically offered very little stimuli. He was a stalwart guardian and an idealist. He'd fight an army on his own to defend his ideals. But vigilant he was not. He got bored very easily and had difficulty keeping his attention on any one thing for too long.

He breathed out a sigh of relief as the hollowed out tree came into view. He placed a hand over his eyes, shading them from the sun as he attempted to spy out any opposition. If he noticed he was spotted out he would attempt to calculate their immediate threat range and get between Lin and the opponent. If not, he'd spend a few moments observing their behavior... After a few moments though, there was no predicting exactly what Satoshi would do!

Gora followed along behind Toshi, only a meter or so behind. She enjoyed his company and was trying to be fast friends with him. It was cute to see them getting along so well. Lin lagged further behind, keeping about 5 meters between her and Toshi at all times, to make sure that she was at an optimum distance to help him or jump back and hurt others. She had learned some new jutsu and she couldn't wait to show Toshi how strong she had become. The clones that she could make were now more formidable than ever, and she had even learned how to heal the full body. She had learned these techniques over the past week, and wondered if Toshi had any of his own tricks up his sleeve that she wasn't aware of. She hadn't seen Toshi since she had the run in with that Konoha ninja, Kashizudoto, and well, she wondered if he had gotten stronger from that encounter.

Shrugging, she walked on, the sounds of the forest comforting her. She enjoyed music as much as the next girl and could be seen at the club (the skybar) as much as she could be seen anywhere. She loved to dance, but sometimes just being away from all the noise and having time to think was really all that she needed. They approached the hallowed out tree and she ducked down behind a tree as soon as Toshi did. She hadn't really noticed it, and it was a good thing that Toshi was in the lead. Gora was behind him, and wiggling her tail low to the ground behind the bush, waiting for the opportune time to pounce.

Lin waited, her hands fidgeting and her mind racing for the right jutsu to use. She would probably use one that would have pinpoint accuracy over anything else, as she didn't want to hit Toshi accidentally. But which one to use... She mused.

The guards that were outside had kunai on their belts and one was drawing circles in the dirt, completely unaware that they were going to be ambushed by the two Kumogakure ninja. The other one was picking his nose with a kunai, not really the smartest thing, but he seemed pretty bored. It was as though they had been guarding all day and had become bored half-way through their day. All things considered, it was probably a normal day for them. No one around, nothing to see. They did have Hitae-ate though, and it showed the symbol of the village hidden in the clouds with a strike through it, symbolizing that they were indeed ninja that had defected from the Raikage.

Lin's blood boiled at that. How dare they openly oppose the village hidden in the clouds. She tried to get Toshi's attention and Gora's. Gora turned around and gave her a nod, She would go for the one on the right. Gora started to slink around to the right, using the bushes and underbrush as cover for her white girth. She would only be a surprise to their enemies once, and then they would be in danger.

If Lin could get Toshi's attention by waving to him slightly in his pursuit of sound, something that they had been working on, she would signal for him to go for the one on the left, then would point to Gora.

The guard drawing in the dirt called out to the one picking his nose and showed that he had drawn a checkerboard in the dirt. Taking out some checkers, he dumped them on the ground and smiled at the other ninja. How naive they were for letting their guard down. They would continue to set up and play checkers, unaware that the danger in the forest was drawing nearer. While Lin had a problem killing enemies, Gora harbored none of her sentiment. Anyone that was a threat to Lin must be eliminated. That is, unless Lin told her not to.

WC: 1502
(OOC: technically done with the mission word count, but we haven't completed it yet Lol)

Satoshi continued through the trees. He charged ahead valiantly, relying on his sensory specialization to help him pick out anything his eyes might miss. Satoshi was constantly making progress and he was eager to show Lin that he was more capable than he had been during their last meeting.

Last time they'd had a conflict he'd been able to show off his new backdraft jutsu to protect her. The jutsu had used the principle that fuuton style was weak to Katon and turned that against the Katon user in a method similar to throwing gasoline on a torch they were holding. He had been pretty proud of his ingenuity!

Despite that, he could sense that Lin was outpacing him. She had been stronger than him when they'd met and now it felt like perhaps she was in a class above. The competition helped to motivate him. That and he admired her for her strength and dedication to the village. He couldn't help but feel a little disappointed however, that there was a strong possibility that she may end up protecting him instead of the other way around.

His thoughts were interrupted rather suddenly as the trio came upon their destination. The old tree was being guarded by two slovenly missing-ninja from their own village. Satoshi let out a quiet irritated noise from betwixt his teeth. There was something arrogant and offensive to him about wearing the hitae-ite of the village that had once sheltered you. Slashing through it's symbol further intensified the insult.

Satoshi felt Lin's hand signals from behind him. Rather than nodding or showing that he understood he simply moved. He'd lost sight of Gora, the brush deflecting the subtle chakra infused vibrations that were the foundation of his sensory abilities. The sensation was comforting, that they had such a capable stalker.

Satoshi lept over a few more branches, positioning himself overhead as the leftmost guard finished drawing out his checkerboard. Satoshi lived checkers as much as the next kid, so he felt a little twinge of guilt for interrupting their game.

As the guard dumped out the checkers onto the dirt Satoshi descended! The balls of his feet would impact the top of the missing-nin's shoulders. Satoshi would ride his weight down, driving the foe face down into the unforgiving earth and scattering his pieces, sending them clattering about his head.

He'd turn to face the right most guard, prepared to defend himself if Gora hadn't taken him out. His fists clenched and humming softly with the power of his Resonant Fist style.

Gora moved as Toshi did, he was in the tree, she, in the bush. Gora pounced, colliding with the other guard and biting his neck. Her long fangs wrapped around his windpipe, crushing it before he could make a peep. It was soft tissue, so it wasn't hard to do, and Gora, being her weight crushed the man under her. She looked up at Toshi with an apologetic look as he landed on the man's shoulders, rendering him unconscious. Gora was more of a killer than Lin, but Lin was still necrophobic so Gora didn't like doing things like that.

Gora let go of the man and dropped his head to the forest floor as Lin came out and winced at Gora's handiwork. There wasn't much blood, but Lin knew the pallor and the film of death that took over one's face and eyes respectively. This man was undeniably dead. Gora's tail descended as did her ears. Lin believed that she didn't really mean to kill the man. They were silent up until then.

Lin looked at Toshi and nodded. He had done a good job. She opened the door. There were stairs up, and stairs down. She looked to Toshi, "Up or down?" She whispered before letting him lead the way. There was room for two abreast, but only barely. If they fought someone on the stairs it would be more of a one-on-one fight than anything, "Or we could lure them out into a trap?" It looks like this is the only entrance and exit. Not a very good hideout if you ask me." Her voice was low, barely a murmur.

Gora was behind Toshi, her fur red with the man's blood, but her eyes showing no malice. "Gora, Go home, it's going to get dangerous from here on out." It was, and she had no reason to be here. Gora growled and went to sit by the tree. Clearly deciding that she would rather stay there. Lin didn't think of her as a pet anyhow, more of as a companion, but she huffed anyhow. More people would be hurt if she tried to protect Gora.

"If we draw them out, We can probably surprise them?"

((OOC: I am alright with you playing the NPC's as well, by the way! ))

WC: 1896