Mission name: Find the Village
Mission rank: C-Rank
Objective: Discover the Location of the Lost Village
Location: The Forest
Reward: 300 ryo + 1 EP
Mission Description: You were told there is a village out here, now you just have to find it. Stay on the path, or you might find yourself lost.
Development References: Death Camp, part II
Mission Details: Lost in the middle of the Dead Forest is a Village; you must find the village, however this is no ordinary forest you will not want to be out here after dark so you better hurry or risk spending the night with the dead. The village will be in the middle of the forest and will be easily found so long as the play stays on its path, the village itself looks to be the Ruins of Kirigakure.

Sero would watch himself floating through the void for a moment. There was no sense of direction or time. It was simply a dimly lit grey liquid void around him. He could breath, and yet it didn't seem like there was much need for it here. He was alone and it seemed to stretch on. Was he falling? His cloak didn't shift like he was. He wasn't standing still though. He could sense that he was approaching something. Or rather leaving what was normal behind. How frightening the experience must be for the others. Not knowing what to expect or if there was even an end. Sero knew where he would end up though. He knew it intimately. So when suddenly the grey liquid seemed to begin to rush away from him he closed his eyes. Bracing his legs for the ground that was about to come to him. After but a moment he would suddenly smell the scents of a dense forest around him. Hear the sounds of a cold breeze against fragile branches. He could feel the world around him again. He opened his eyes slowly as the dim light seemed almost blinding for a moment. Using his eyes to search the area around him.

The world seemed like it lacked color or life. There was foliage but not much. Most of the tree's were dark and barren as the land seemed almost dead. A mist crawled between the tree's and not a hint of human interference could be seen. It was the wilds and yet nothing moved. No hint of animal life anywhere. His grey gaze matched the lack of color in this world as he shifted and Collected his bow off his shoulder. Testing the string. He had not brought a bow through before but the liquid like portal didn't appear to dampen the string. He supposed he shouldn't have been expecting different. His clothes and hair hadn't been damp before. Still it paid to be prepared. He would shift like a specter as he glanced to his right and stepped. Ten meters in a moment easily. Accurate placement as well. It seemed the laws of this placed worked much like the real world. He could feel his chakra pool within. It had its limitations. Whatever this place was, or how it had come to be it was his. Yet he didn't have the control over it Ayakashi had demonstrated with hers. Perhaps it was more tangible for that reason. As such he assumed one thing. What happened here was just as definite. His life was at risk here as well.

Still his presence would ward off most things here. He knew the direction of the village but he could only get so close to it. He had the control to limit his aura to a ten meter radius but he was highly recognizable in this place. Not exactly welcome either. He would need to locate someone to be his eyes and ears. They would be dropping around here randomly. He would be their guide to the village. At least the first of them. Someone alone preferably. He would let his senses stretch out. He had felt something amiss here from his throne room in the manor and now he needed to investigate. To see what was causing turmoil here. In his kingdom. Or at least that was how he saw it. No one could really tell him different. Still his aura would stretch with his senses. Whoever came through close enough to him would feel him. Hopefully that would be enough to draw them to him. Just one of them for now.

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He would sense her the moment she reacted to his aura. A sensation of fear warm from the connection could be felt where another must have entered. He couldn't tell much from it. Simply that it was there. Something was to his right a couple dozen meters. It had felt him and his reach and had reacted. The heart rate increased, sweat formed and hairs raised. It was as if he could see it happening. Or perhaps he had simply studied the matter in large. Watched how so many had reacted to him all his life. That sensation he felt from them. Almost like a sweet smell. Cast into the air. A perfume and yet it shouldn't be detectable by normal standards. Oh how long ago had he separated himself from that word. Assured he could never be those he read of. The normal. The predictable common. How they lived day to day without ever having to fight to survive. Weak creatures. Softened by their peace his father built them. A peace he made others bleed to protect. Not here though in his kingdom of death. Here all knew to die, or fight for survival. They were the survivors, the strong. Only after he had plucked them from their failure to society in the home land.

Still he heard her call out and knew in a moment who it was. Feeling her influence now over the area. A talent he was picking up on of hers that had developed as her power had. The nightmarish tree's around and between them seemed to grow more still. More controlled and less twisted. As if she had cast a command over it without realizing. She, with her chakra and how far she had come had developed a type of chakra. It could be tapped into or lost entirely. But anything interacting with it, Be it the tree's or the breeze grew more to become what they were meant. Calm, orderly. She had a control type chakra. Her mastery over it enough to control creations of her own with a wave of her hand. Of course such incredible amounts of control would spread to her environment as well. Still it was note honed enough to hold back his own aura. The thing that darkened the woods around them slightly as if the sun was wishing to avoid him. WIthin a few steps he would be all around her. From every direction it would seem he was waiting. Like a thing haunting and unseen. Its sense that one felt from it was almost like a starved hunger. On the verge of madness and yet with purpose.

Still Sero would step out from behind the tree. A sinner. A wolf at her door for dinner. If she had not known him, if he had come across her in this place it would be easy to assume he had come for her head. To make another ghost in this lost village. His equipment still hanging about him as cold grey eyes would regard her. Speaking in turn to her question. Though not as an answer. A lesson. "If I had been after your head, such a statement would not dissuade me. Nor would I reveal myself. I would show caution at best because it was possible you had detected me. It is better to utilize two options. Feign ignorance and be ready when the trap is sprung, or fade out of the senses. If the hunter loses the prey they must shift to find it. It is far more possible they will reveal themselves at such a time. Allowing you to spring a trap of your own."

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Sero would watch her with his grey eyes studying her as they always did. He was always studying those around him. Especially those who thrived around him. He hadn't done more than challenge her once or twice. A conversation here and there. She had been so small before. Just a little girl come to his door step with curiosity in her heart. He had little time or interest for the time being in those who had little proven. He had taken fresh students before and never had they managed to remain with him. Never had they failed to break and flee. Even the one that had returned, the Uchiha girl had once again left him after being made his right hand. He had grown callous to training the young but now, now Nova had proven herself several times over. She was potent. A force of reckoning and even he could feel the pressure she did not yet seem to know she put out. How dominating it could be against those around her own level. Her progression was rapid however. In no time at all she would be close enough to his level to be a threat. Already he would have to use his stronger weapons or techniques to deal with her should the time arise.

Still she spoke up to him. Describing how she had felt him. Something moving too quickly to be tracked. An interesting trick of the mind when it felt threatened. His step let him glide to her side as she questioned multiple questions as she usually did. Not waiting for an answer to the first question before she was on to the next. He had learned to pause and wait until she was quiet before answering. Her curiosity was boundless. Still if her potential was so grand, as to seek the strength he held. Well her ambition would naturally match it wouldn't it. Still he would speak in an answer to the first question. Casually circling around behind her. Placing his hands on her shoulders. It was an uncomfortable heat but it wouldn't burn her. He simply ran hot. "The seal is simply opening the gate. Allowing us to step through. It however does not have a set path. One who entered a second after another might not find themselves deposited in nearly the same space. Short of being connected in some way. You may find the others were scattered through out this side of the woods."

He would lean down slowly. His head lowering next to her own as his white hair spilled over her shoulder. She would be able to feel the heat of him this close now but he wasn't getting intimate. This was something else. He would simply aid her chakra flow into his own. Allowing her senses to spread to sense the chakra around them as he did. His third eye opening as his eyes took on a red hue. His gaze fixed on the tree's she spoke of. Allowing her to feel how everything connected around them. His sage chakra allowing her to flow into him but not back to her. Careful not to taint her chakra. Allowing her to sense nature chakra as he did. Speaking into her ear as he did. "Do you feel it? How our chakra flows through us..through the tree's, the ground...all of it is connected. It senses your strength over it. Sense its submission and how it pushes back. Testing your will. Feel it and push back...Show dominance to the tree's. If you bid it, they will spread apart. Creating a path for us as we walk to the village. You have reached a level, little Nova, where dominating the chakra around you can be practiced." She would be able to feel it. However out of everything around her she would feel him too. A dark beast caged within him. Like a black oil that was barely being held back. Threatening to overwhelm her should it simply be given a little leeway. Threatening to take over and consume all. Yet strangely all the chakra in the area vaguely resembled it.

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Sero would watch and feel for her. Restraining what was held within him with a practiced ease. It liked being let out to flow freely and corrupt but it had long submitted to the king of the body. Sero was in control. It may rise again but he would be sure to crush it into obedience. As he always was. Still it was troubling that it was not something he could remove or kill. It was a part of him. Marking him to curse what he touched and where he would tread. Still this girl was hardly cursed by him. His nose would pick up the scent of her. Know her and feel her chakra. It seemed to tremble as it passed through the area. Circulating as it did on its own. It seemed to struggle at first. Unsure of its own existence. It's own connection and power over that around it. What a pity it was she had not been born with the sensation of being connected in some way with the reality around her. Had not been born as he had. Discovering paint peeling off walls as he walked too close...how metal heated at his touch and most of all how the mist had seemed to cling to him. The mist had hid him for years and when he wished it hid him now. A friend of his and his comfortable space. In this place though, that control could be extended much further. The world bending to ones will as it was made from ones will.

His eyes watched. Grey and empty as the forest fought back. Pressed against him. He had given it room to flourish and it thought it had a chance. It thought it could free itself from its creator. However he knew something the forest did not. She was more than just some student he had picked up. A true champion. Even within her puppets as she still was she held the potential to be one of the largest threats to the known world. If she wished to be. Even now her growth rate was astonishing. He would watch as the energy of the tree's snapped back as if finding something too strong pressing back. Basic things having no power to struggle against one such as her. They seemed to have been stung by the interaction. Fearing her now. That fear only increasing the spread of her influence. These dark woods feared her....excellent. He would slide back from her and stop his assistance to her. Leaving the reigns to her entirely now. At first it slowed the progression. The tree's fighting to remain. However the world around them could not deny Nova. Slowly the tree's would crack and shift away. Revealing a stone walkway, an old road risen to the surface. Even this she had forced for them. The road to Kumogakure. He wondered idly if they went too far what would happen. In the back of his mind though he knew if they left the area, they would find only mist.

She would look to him. Seeking something from him. He could only assume it was approval. His eyes would look to the road and study it a moment before they seemed to snap to her own. Suddenly making direct and unblinking eye contact. Oh the games they would play. She was a capable woman indeed. Still the way she affected this world would be far greater than that of the world they came from. A construct left to a manipulator. How humorous. Still he would shift and hold out his right hand. Mist would form a moment around his outstretched palm before swirling in the center. Peeling away to reveal a small dagger. Too tiny for practical use and yet still sharp. A letter opener perhaps? On the base of it the knife would have the seal of the Osada. He would speak as he presented the small, metallic black piece of metal to her. "You have done well in your time at the manor child. Growing and growing as if urged to become more. Take this now, as a symbol of your growth. No doubt you will soon wish to travel the world and test yourself. Once we leave this place at least. Write back to us, and use this seal. Should anyone without my chakra attempt to open your letters, the letter will burst aflame. I urge you one warning though...you are a Kiri shinobi now. Do not abandon your post for long. I would hate to be assigned to collect you."

"Let us carry onward"

With that he would hand it to her. The metal surprisingly warm and heavy. Somehow the heat being held within the item as if it would not fade. Perhaps it was imbued with katon energy. Despite that Sero would slip passed her. Gliding as a slower pace so she could keep up. Seeming to float down the road as mist came under his control. Covering them and cloaking them from sight of anything around them. He would seem to float on a moment in silence. Giving her a chance to keep up comfortably. Finding that pace they both could manage. Still she would fall in with him in time he was sure. His eyes only focused on the road ahead of them for the time being. He knew the village ahead of them was a short hike away. Still he wondered what she would think of it. As thoughts of her entered his mind he realized she would have more questions now. Her questions always seemed to lead to more questions. Still he followed the road which seemed to unveil itself before them as if automatically reacting to her for the time being. Certainly a safe route to follow. Still he would speak in a calm but quieter tone now. No t wishing to be overheard. Was there something in the woods Sero did not wish to intercept them?

"I am certain you have questions. Be quick and ask them before we near the village."

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He would listen to her questions and concerns with an open mind. This was certainly a new experience for her. He had revealed an ancient yet time honored system to her and with it its perks. Certainly she would have questions for it. His lifeless eyes stared ahead a moment as he contemplated what she had asked. Had it been him or her? He supposed it was natural to doubt ones own abilities. After all few actually imagined the reality of the power they could potentially grasp. Her own power was certainly not to be scoffed at. She would make an excellent anbu or hunter nin. One who inspired fear in her targets with her signature puppet creations. Much as he did with the extra work of displaying bodies to torment the mind. Still he was amused. She doubted her power and what was more she showed caution. Unsure of what was wrong with this place but also certain it wasn't actually Kiri. However that in itself was difficult to explain. He would pause before putting in the effort to do so all the same. Stopping as in the distance weathered gates could barely be seen towering over the road.

"In a way we are and we aren't. This place is a creation displaying my inner self. What I am familiar with ends up here. However the mind is not perfect so the ruins you see around you are the result of vague memories and the creatures here tearing it down. The people here are remnants of those I have killed. Spirits even. They take on human form for the most part but are mere shadows of their former selves. Don't let that fool you however. Ahead is a village filled with murderers. People I put down for a reason. Take no pity and play none of their games. Do only what is needed. As for if that was your power or my own, well thats for you to decide I think. Keep practicing and in time you will do so without me. See what it is that has them so frightened and report back to me along the edge of the abandoned western village."

With that he was gone again. As if slipping into the mist and becoming part of it once more. Faded from view and soon enough she would no longer be able to feel his presence. Sure enough the village was just ahead. A group of pale and ragged individuals barely held together waited her holding sticks and pipes. However none would approach her. Only watch and avoid being first on the chopping block. They feared her certainly. However she could bring them structure, protection and comfort. There was little that could place a price on that. They would stand aside and watch her with fear in their hearts. Unsure of what move to make until before her she would see an old fashioned bounty board. Even this place held missions and offered payment. Things they either could not do or were afraid to do themselves. However there would be whispers as she moved among them. Whispers of a shinobi come to save them. Someone to banish the dark lord. To kill him finally and set them all free. She was some sort of hero already and she had simply waltzed in as Sero watched from a good distance away. Watched and waited.

3500+
Mission complete. Taking double pay and Ep

Exit thread