Mission name: Operation: Shatterpoint
Mission rank: A Rank
Objective: Defend against the enemy counterattack!
Location: Suna; What Lies Beneath
Reward: 1000 ryo + 4 EP
Mission Description: Calling all available ninja! The kirigakure compound is under attack from a united enemy force! Enact Operation Shatterpoint!
Mission Details: Operation shatterpoint involves Kirigakure defending a single point by ninja splitting into 2 groups. Groups at the location focus on absolute defense while those abroad accumulate at designated locations and move to pincer the enemy from the outside and harass them from behind until their formation breaks. Ninja, hopefully using or while others are using this tactic are to break and overcome the formation of ‘hundreds’ of enemy combatants attacking the kirigakure forward compound on the suna border. The enemies have B-1 tier stats across the board as well as B rank bukijutsu and ninjutsu with a wide assortment of library techniques and weapons of their rank and lower. Should attackers break through they will move to use explosive tags to destroy buildings and blow apart Kirigakure’s establishment… we can’t let that happen.

This mission will be lead by Maigo as appointed temporary Squad Leader of Ahoban.

Was it babysitting duty to watch over a group of chuunin while guarding an installment of Kirigakure's camps on the border of the remains of Sunagakure? Maigo couldn't really care less about what it was called but what he did care about was the blistering heat that lined the very air and created heat waves that distorted his view just feet away from him. His grey cloak covered his face and body to shield himself from it as he sat leaned against a stone roughly fifteen feet ahead of the passage they made for entry towards the compound. From that entry, there was another hundred feet or so before the base camp that held the supplies, information, and resting area for a chunk of the Kiri forces as well as some encampments for refugees and those seeking help as well.

Though Maigo's body was covered, he was fully armed as he always was. His backpack carried a variety of ninja tools along with the two pouches around his waist and the kunai holsters on his leg. His shoge was neatly packed away for easy access and his great sword stuck into the ground next to him, like a pillar that absorbed heat with black steel and become hotter than it ever was normally. His eyes drifted lazily across the expanse of desert and sand dunes in front of him that were as boring a scene as the feeling of guard duty tended to be. Well, boring now that he'd spent a bit of time in this place and was shifting his focus from hunting down bandits and criminals in the desert as a Hunter Nin of Kirigakure and was now essentially checking peoples bags and making sure they aren't a threat to the encampment.

It was probably more rude of him than anything to lead a squad into guard duty without being too involved but his apathetic nature was irritated heavily by a climate he had no interest in remaining in like this and by a mission that was as dull in description as it came. Of course Maigo wouldn't have been rude or dismissive of them in any way, but the trio that would accompany him would find his responses short, joking of course but never dragging on as he aimed to conserve as much of himself as he could. Nothing worth mentioning and as the morning heat was unbearable, his outlook for the afternoon was growing! The utter lack of anyone arriving or coming near the compound was strange, normally they'd have a few people seeking help to scare off bandits or solve some problem but it was strangely quite.

To Maigo, it was the heat. Unbearable and tragic that anyone should try to exist in a place like this. Still, the distorted image of a trio crossing over the dune in the distance was a break that would help solve the dilemma of things being absolutely unbearable. Even the shortest distraction would help push things onward and accelerate the time he was stuck in this dreadful hellscape, if only by a few minutes.

Minutes would pass before the trio was closer into view, two men and a women approached. Each of them looked dusty and worn out, the clothing underneath them was worn out but in very light colors to combat the sand. The cloaks they wore and covered their head were tattered as well and stained with dirt of some kind. Their faces were equally as dirty, bruised in some places and less of than any normal person, as if these refugees had the worst of it from wherever they came. It was a small sense of empathy that struck over Maigo as he stood to meet their approach and placed his free right hand on his blade. Each of them had backpacks of what Maigo would initially imagine as their only belongings and everything they kept and could carry.

It was like that with so many and while most of them were worn out from their journey's and the lives that had plagued them since the fall of Suna; Maigo could only imagine that the greatest fatigue came from the stress and anxiety of the lives they lived and the threats imposed on them. It's why Kirigakure was here, to eliminate the criminals that plagued them and to bring some form of justice to the lawlessness of a broken nation. Maigo's teeth would grit silently as he cursed being stuck on guard duty for now instead of out performing his duties properly, hunting and tracking those criminals to be eliminated. It was almost an insult that they would use him to stand guard, even if the threat of attack on their encampment was extreme, it was never Kiri's policy to sit and defend but instead to meet their foe head on and crush them with whatever means necessary.

---

The trio approached near the first checkpoint that was elaborated out in their scouting. The two shinobi and one kunoichi were ready to strike. They had the job of breaking and disrupting whatever perimeter and guards were set up so the main strike force could enter in and crush the Kiri presence here. Payback for so many dead within their organization and so many brutally murdered without any reconciliation of their actions, no trial, and no understanding from their enemy.

Their transformations were flawless and blended them in perfectly, each of their backpacks loaded with explosives and various weapons they could use to spring the drop on their foes, the anxiety would be kicking up and increasing their heart rates. Sweaty palms, and worried faces carried more and more the closer they got and as they approached the man in black hair that stood with a great sword to the side of their path, the adrenaline began to rush in. The man with brown hair would reach out from his cloak and pull back the hood to look up and speak, "We're looking for the Kirigakure compound, we were told we could find help here?" the words rang out from a shaky and rough voice used to disguise his real persona and cover the anxiety that struck him.

The other two in their group were absolutely quiet and carried their heads down while shrinking their person to the back of the front man of their group. Time was ticking down, from their arrival here, they would only have a minute or two to act before the force of their people would descend over the sand dune and begin to collapse in on the entrance and then into the Kirigakure compound. All three of them knew they had no time to waste but only facing one of them with three other behind him, guarding the passage more properly, they had to carry their subterfuge for just a bit longer.

---

The words rang out from a quiet scene and blistering heat that seemed to crackle against the air. Maigo's eyes would trace across the trio and pick out the little details that encased each of them as he could, finding the truth or lies in their words. Though, it wasn't in Maigo's interest at all to carry on a conversation of promises to help or what they would find within. It wasn't his place to speak on that or to offer anything other than a guarantee that they would be harmless and truly needing of his village's help. Hesitating for a moment, Maigo would blink over each of them, tilting his head to try and catch the eye of the other man who seemed only to look down and the woman who seemed to dart her gaze away as he looked at her.

"Go on ahead, the other three will check over your things and if you're all clear then you'll be allowed to continue on..." Maigo would nod and motion towards the other three who would no doubt be at the ready as he was! Well, maybe at the ready and either way, when these refugees would cross their path they would know how to handle it.

Maigo would step back and open his shoulder up to let them pass by him while still keeping his right hand resting on the hilt of his sword, almost holding his body weight against it as it stuck in the ground. The man grumbled as he began to step forward and the other two began to follow suit while keeping their eyes down. Maigo stood over each of them as they walked by, their hunching over making him taller than he should have been and his eyes watching each one seem to pass individually. The feeling of empathy and sorrow carried further over as they passed by him and covered the few feet of distance to the rest of the squad. His breathing carried a heavy weight of sadness at their situation and how unforgivable it was to exist in this way.

---

The trio would stop almost a little haphazardly before the other trio and past Maigo. The anxiety would grip them as a bead of sweat would roll down the frontman's face before he would look up to the first person before him and gulping a bit as he knew that they had to act immediately or it might end up too late.

"Say," he would speak up immediately and ignore any instruction that they gave him directly. "Maybe you guys can help us and we won't have to bother anyone else..." he would lead on for just a second before pushing his cloak back a bit further and revealing the tattered clothes underneath.

Without hesitation he would throw his arm back quickly towards his backpack and reach into it while grabbing something and beginning to pull it out. The other two followed suit and they all changed form in a quick puff of smoke as they released their transformation technique and revealed themselves to the squad.

---

Maigo felt the pause and hesitation in their steps, now turned away from the desert expanse behind him to watch them closely. Their sudden stop seemed to catch his attention more carefully as his body weight shifted to hold himself up and not lean on his sword. His eyes kept tracing over each of them and as the man's words rang out, Maigo took a quick step forward while regretting what he would imagine he would have to do. Having to push them along and get them to stop asking questions or putting their burdens here. It wasn't for the guards to decide but the desperation drove people to desperate actions so often.

Still, the shock that would strike Maigo's face as his eyes widened at the sight of the three transforming all together to reveal much more capable people that weren't nearly as tattered up. The one in the lead had drawn out a windmill shuriken and was spinning it violently in his hand. His brown hair remained about the same but his clothing was closer to a tan variant of the Sunagakure ANBU armor but more focused on appearance than function. The women with black hair had drawn forth a katana and the final man with blonde hair had drawn two tanto into each of his hands. The backpacks remained on each of them and they all sat lowly in their stance ready to jump into action and begin engaging each of the guards as best they could, fully utilizing the element of surprise.

---

What Maigo would be missing though, and perhaps what one of the others could see if their vision remained off in the distance of the sand dunes would be the literal hoard of enemies beginning to push over the first sand dune and falling just into view.  


[1985 words]

Following in the tracks of the man called Maigo was the spider-nin called Haka Osada. One of the Chuunin of Ahoban and equally annoyed at the blistering heat of Sunagakure as the man before her. The wolf spider was used to humid regions rich in mist, her natural camouflage a perfect fit for the region. Here, she was out of her element. She disliked the draught and the heat, which certainly didn't improve upon her usual apathy - one of the many traits which, being Sero's daughter, she shared with her father. The long, white hair she had as a human was a remainder of the spider's misty grey camouflage, now somewhat helping her to reflect part of the heat while allowing her to blend in with the light colour of the sand under her feet. Partially covered by that same hair was the brown leather armour worn on top of the misty grey robes which covered her body. All things considered the wolf spider had a quite fitting camouflage should she need to hide under the sand. As a strategist with inclination for longer range, Haka held few weapons. She had her personal obsidian kunai and her tool belt with a variety of items such as her much needed scrolls and wire, but she cared otherwise little for the 'claws of man'. In fact, she considered the humans' reliance on weaponry a sign of weakness and obvious lack of evolution.

This being an A rank mission, Haka was not to leave things to chance. Proper protection against and assessment of the enemies abilities would be crucial for a chuunin as this level of danger was technically not to be given to shinobi of her rank. That's why Administration sent along a jounin of the Forces. He seemed lightly dressed, nothing about his physique or apathetic gaze revealing the strength of a jounin hidden in his muscles. He was annoyed just as much. Perhaps because he had to watch three chuunin while on guard duty, but most likely because of the merciless sun of Sunagakure like everyone else these days. He'd be quiet, giving only brief answers, but Haka was fine with that. She wasn't talkative either, and with the exception of Fuyuko's verbal waterfall, was of an impression few people were that chatty.

Now waiting for something to happen, Haka had positioned herself a couple of meters behind Maigo, eyes fixated on the horizon and gliding slowly from left to right. If there was one thing Haka was good at as a wolf spider, it was this - holding still and observing all possible movement. It would be mostly a dull watch as the only thing moving were the grains of sand that formed the desert. Time would trickle by slowly, the spider not moving an inch even when boredom gnawed at her mind. What a dull place this Sunagakure was, with every passing day the spider finding less reasons to stay.

---

Three people appeared in the distance and shuffled forward towards them. Two men and a women. Humans. Nothing about their appearance betrayed their shinobi nature, but their worried faces, sweaty hands and the reek of discomfort that could be picked up in the scent of their sweat felt strange to the spider-nin. As far as she could see, there was nothing but boredom to fear out here in the open and they were too far off to be affected by her monstrous aura. The spider-nin would stand up as Maigo inclined them to move on and told the visitors the three people behind them - Ahoban in other words - would check over their things, her eyes fixated on the three of them as they moved closer. The smell of their anxiety increased, like was mostly the case when someone stepped inside the spider's monstrous aura. She could see their eyes open to fear, hairs raise up with every step closer they took direction Ahoban. Then, unexpectedly, they halted and the leading man spoke, as if the aura had pushed them over the edge to reveal their true intentions.

"Maybe you guys can help us and we won't have to bother anyone else..."

And at those words, he'd throw off his cloak and break the transformation technique he had kept up. The other two would follow him, ending in the three of them carrying heavy backpacks and weapons. Haka would almost sigh at the sight of this many weapons, wondering why she always ended up fighting humans with weapons, but the bandits would leave them little time for such personal feelings. Each of them ready and able, they jumped forward to occupy their guard.

---

The man with the windmill shuriken was eyeing Haka with a grin. Her spindly stature, smaller than average height and generally quiet demeanour was easily misunderstood as her being the weaker of the three, especially since she was not so fond of a whirling weapons, or any sort of weapons for that matter. On top of that, the apparent absence of weapons indicated the man would have an easy time dealing with her which would allow him to move on quickly to help out his allies. He could see their chance of success rise by the second, a zealous glint in his eyes betraying his fervour.

"I'll take that brat", he'd shout out as the three of them would engage to make use of their successful surprise. As he whirled his windmill shuriken and advanced, Haka was forced to hop back to maintain distance. Weapons really weren't her thing. She had few techniques at her current rank that allowed her to deal with weapons efficiently and the few she knew would just as much affect her allies. More so, the man showed no opening in his offence, revealing skill and experience in combat quite close to her own and perhaps even slightly better than hers. A challenge it would be.

Luring him away from the others as he swung his Fuma shuriken, the spider-nin would feel more comfortable dealing with him on a one to one base when she wouldn't have to worry about her allies. He would follow, still believing she was no match for him and would find himself soon in a cloud of mist. The mist did little to hide her from his eyes, obscuring only the faintest of details, but that was what Haka was looking for. Following up the mist jutsu with the creation of a clone, the obscuring of minor details would help in disguising the real spider from the fake one and soon the man would find himself in a two to one situation. Blows would be dealt and parried, but none would gain the upper hand as the two seemed to be about similar in power. The man was slightly more talented but his advantage was denied as he got preoccupied dealing with two opponents at once. Haka, and her clone, were nothing if not pragmatic and perfectly able to fill each other's strikes up in perfect tandem.

Their fight would go on for a while, none breaking through. Hand seals being formed would be blocked by either parties, but eventually the intense focus would start to cause the first signs of distraction. Haka was a multi-tasker, a treat shared by her clone, but the man wasn't. The spider-nin would successfully take out some wire and fling it through the moving backpack before it was picked up by her clone. As he aimed to attack the clone, Haka would strike the distracted man just enough to make him fail his attack. A little game of team tag would happen as the wire was being woven into the various openings and around his limbs. Enough to make it annoying, but not enough to hamper him sufficiently. Haka then dashed back and formed the hand seals for the Dragon Fire Jutsu, the man well aware of the danger he then found himself in. He was carrying explosives, much to Haka's ignorance, and was not of a mind to have her blow him up before he had reached Kirigakure.  

Spitting out the katon chakra, the Dragon Fire would travel along the wires she held. Too late the man would undo himself of her clone and the wires that had come to entangle them, the fire chakra reaching him and his backpack and creating one vast explosion as the explosives, the man and her clone along with the enshrouding mist would go up in one huge fireworks. While sufficiently out of the way to not suffer any burn wounds, the blast was still strong enough to blow away the light-weight spider-nin 15 meters through the air and almost entirely back near the entrance she had lured the man away from. The whole ordeal would have the spider-nin quite dazed for a bit.

---

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Heat injected itself into him with every inhale, the dry desert air baking his lungs. The heat would stay with him, stuck inside his body even as he exhaled that dusty desert air out. He had known heat before, but never a heat that baked his insides with every breath. He had known dryness before, but never a dryness so complete and utterly devoid of any life-giving moisture. Licking his lips, he could feel them chapped now, the climate already starting to take its toll on him. It was a hostility that he had never imagined before. The very land itself seemed to be angry and out to kill him. Perhaps this was a sign of its diseased nature. Was Sunagakure so ill that it could be felt through the environment itself? No, that couldn't be it. The desert existed long before this political turmoil. While Sunagakure had been burnt to its foundations it wasn't as if the very nation had been reduced to sand and ash as well. There likely wasn't anyone capable of such a feat of power, burning an entire nation. Chigetsu had been surprised before but he was sure that would be outside the reach of anyone.

He didn't know much of the circumstances that created the mess that Sunagakure was in, but through context clues he could guess at the events that transpired. His first introduction was at the Chunin Exams back in Kumogakure. That had been his first journey beyond the borders of the Land of Water. The environment there was hostile to him as well, although not nearly as bad as it was here. He would trade the desert heat for altitude sickness any day. In the stadiums watching the events he had been introduced to many new concepts. The refugees from Sunagakure were one of them and watching many of them fight under new banners was a sight to behold. Even if Sunagakure didn't take part in the event directly they surely won the day, with both of the event's finalists being refugees from Suna. Even if they were fighting under Kiri's banner that didn't account for much. He had those two finalists, Izumi and Nova. Even if their meetings had been short, both of them revealed little bits of insight to Chigetsu. The experience at the Death Camp with Nozomi both had shone above any of the other Kiri shinobi as well, along with the ones from Konoha as well. Twice they had proven their superiority. The thought of it made Chigetsu's head spin. How could he possibly compete with those two? They likely didn't even recognize him as a competitor. If either remembered him at all it was likely as some pathetic side note.

As depressing as that event had been it still gave him much to think about. He had a mountain to climb and plenty of encouragement to rush up those stairs. Nozomi's presence there too was important. Her mentioning of her previous combat revealed more important information. There had apparently been three individuals that took part in the razing of Suna. A man named Sarutobi, Mitsuo. Apparently a former Hokage, and now under the banner of the Raikage for reasons that he couldn't comprehend. Alongside him was the woman who Nozomi had defeated in combat. Layma. A mysterious woman who was strong enough to threaten a member of the Seven Swordsmen. She had apparently escaped from her fight with Nozomi and remained at large. The third member of the razing of Suna remained anonymous. Two of these people were still unaccounted for, and potentially could be anywhere. Maybe they were still in Suna, waiting to enact their plans? Maybe they were preparing to raze another village? It was impossible to know, and not knowing was terrifying.  

Now Chigetsu was in this damned desert involved in this mess. He really, really wished he didn't have to be. If he had his way none of this nonsense in Suna would ever have happened. No burning desert wasteland would go down so he wouldn't have to come here. Hell, if anything he'd make it so Suna didn't exist at all. No deserts, no desert people, no desert country, no desert winds. Of course, Chigetsu wasn't nearly important enough to have what he wanted matter. Maybe that was what Mitsuo and Layma wanted though. Maybe they hated the sand and desert so much that they decided to burn down the entire country. Chigetsu couldn't exactly blame them. If he had the power there was a chance he would considering doing it too. Sand was terrible. Heat was terrible. He hated this dryness. There was sand in the air. He could feel it in his mouth every time he inhaled. There was sand in his pants. It slipped in his clothing somehow, and stubbornly refused to leave. Chigetsu didn't like sand. It's course and rough and irritating, and it gets everywhere.  

Having considered those thoughts made him feel suddenly guilty. The people who lived here were probably insane sand demons, but that didn't mean they deserved to be slaughtered so casually. The memory of his first meeting with Nova came back to him. It was a memory that made him cringe without fail, his own horribly awkward behavior never failing to strike him right in the heart. It was shameful that he acted like such a hot mess. That was the past now though. He had matured a lot since then, or at least that was what he told himself. Having another breakdown like that would be incredibly embarrassing. He doubted he would be able to show his face in public again if something like that happened. The thought of it made his skin crawl. He would shake it away, rubbing up at his face idly to scrub those thoughts away.



That's why Chigetsu was out and about in this desert hellhole though. Roaming the sands was obviously something he would never do by choice, so there was obviously compelling reasons that somebody of his nature would be out here. His earlier preparation in Kirigakure for their expedition lead up to this. It was only natural that he would follow through and contribute in the main event. Ahoban had teamed up with a member of the Hunter-Killer Nin, apparently named Maigo. Little was known of his identity, but his status was enough that Chigetsu could be comfortable resigning himself to their leadership. The man seems polite as well. Not overbearingly friendly, professional in a pleasant way. There hadn't been enough conversation to really gain a close familiarity of each other, but the general terseness could probably be laid upon their location. They were on a mission. Professionality was necessary, but also Chigetsu was completely sure that nobody wanted to be here right now. While it was probably a good geopolitical idea to get involved in the ruins of Suna, just about nobody from Kiri would likely want to be involved. The climate just wasn't hospitable to them. The heat was such unbearable to anyone familiar with Kiri's cooler and moister climate. If they got to know each other better it would likely be back in their homeland.

Wrapped up in robes that mimicked the local garb, Chigetsu would be stationed with the rest of his squad in guarding a Kiri administration building. Rather than dress in his normal outfit he was stuck in baggy robes, along with a wrapped-up head covering. It did a bit to keep the heat off him, allowing a protective layer of air between him and the outside. Beneath his baggy clothing lay Chigetsu's armory. Stationed in close proximity and hidden under the robes would be an assortment of fine kunai and senbon. All remained hidden but were easily able to be retrieved by Chigetsu should the need arise. The only obvious weaponry out was a single kunai, attached to a string and held around his neck in a strange pendant. Several would be stored inside his body, liquefied and melded with his inner fluids. It was one of the benefits of his clan, that he could store weaponry inside himself. Attached to his waist was a rather large aluminum one-liter water bottle as well. It would be his lifeblood, prepared for emergency situations. Drying up in the middle of the desert would be suicide, and so this was his last reserve to prevent that. That they were currently on an A-Rank mission prompted a bit more seriousness from the boy in how he prepared. Normally the issue of hydration wasn't something he had to worry about, but things were very different here than they were in Kiri.

Chigetsu would be stationed with the rest of his squad. Haka and Verdandi would be in close proximity, all three of them a few meters behind their temporary squad leader. The members of Ahoban were at least somewhat used to working together at this point, enough so that being in close proximity to each other likely wouldn't result in any drop in combat effectiveness. Maigo was a different story. His abilities were mysterious and unknown. That they didn't all bundle up in a group was likely a smart idea in itself, but his displacement would also allow him to work on his own should the need arise. Their split would also serve a separate purpose in regards to the checkpoint. Three people would approach off in the distance, shuffling slowly towards them. They would come to Maigo first, and he would scan the three down. Afterwards they would be sent on to Ahoban, who would search them and check over their things. In the case that anything had been discovered that would ring any alarms they would then be surrounded, with Ahoban at their front and Maigo at their back.

The true nature of these three stragglers wasn't something that Magio could see just with a glance. They were all trained shinobi, disguised in tattered rags through the transformation technique in an effort to infiltrate and destroy the Kirigakure forward compound. More than just refugees motivated by revenge, these three were likely scattered Suna nin who joined one of the many unaligned factions that struggled for control of these wastelands. Their disguise was flawless. Nothing they had visually would give away their presence as saboteurs. After a moment of hesitation, the Hunter-Killer Nin would give them the go ahead. The three would be sent over to Ahoban to be searched. This posed several problems. A physical search would reveal the nature of the transformation technique and give their positions away. While they would surely have preferred to destroy the compound from the inside silently swift action was now required in order to salvage their own safety. They would all stop a bit haphazardly before Ahoban squad, with the frontman looking profusely anxious. Nothing was inherently suspicious about this anxiety to Chigetsu, even though it was written all over the man's body language. These were anxiety inducing times, after all. It would be completely excusable for any refugee to be nervous, especially when coming up for a search.  

"Say," the frontman would halt his approach to the squad and speak up immediately. The two behind him would similarly halt. "Maybe you guys can help us and we won't have to bother anyone else..." He would lead on for just a few more seconds, drawing that last syllable out. After those words the man would pull his cloak off, revealing the tattered rags he was wearing underneath. Reaching immediately for his backpack they would all puff into small clouds of smoke. Their transformation technique released at once. The ruse was up. An assortment of weaponry was revealed immediately, and that was when Chigetsu's headache would begin. Angry threats would spew forth from the spinning windmill shuriken, exposing an attitude overly cocksure. With the two tanto and katana added to what was suddenly a party of voices. The soldiers that bore them were quiet, as the moments of mental preparation before battle would require, but the weaponry was all excessively noisy. Annoyingly so. A conversation with them in private might not have been the most unpleasant thing but doing so here in public would have been impossible. Responding to their taunts was a waste of time and doing so would only get strange looks for him squad mates. He wasn't prepared for them to think of him insane. Not just yet, at least. That was something he'd like to put off for as long as possible.  

There wouldn't be any hesitation. As soon as the smoke cleared they would be divided up into fights. The leadman would seem to announce that he was targeting 'the brat', which Chigetsu could only assume to mean Haka. The thought of that man dying made him smile. Chigetsu was sure he would be able to mess around with his body afterwards. While he didn't have control over Kiri policy, if Chigetsu had his way those that attacked them in this way would be mutilated and strung up on poles as a warning to anyone else that would want to attack them. Maybe it was a good thing that he wasn't in charge. Haka would hop backwards and the man would follow. Rather than seeking to interfere, Chigetsu would charge the remaining. It was best to not let them have their pick going forward of who they got to fight. The woman holding the katana would be Chigetsu's target of choice, and with two kunai in hand he would dash wildly in her direction. The resulting swordplay was audible, especially so as Chigetsu struck out in a flurry of knives. Each strike of his was blocked by her weapon, expertly parried and blocked in a display that even he could admit was impressive. She had a long stretch of black hair that Chigetsu's eyes drew towards as he fought with her. His flurry forced her backwards, and with each sideways step back it would sway. Despite how she was blocking his strikes with relative ease he would be swinging with such a ferocity that he could prevent her from getting a word in with her katana. That was the advantage of swinging with both arms, one after another to prevent any sort of moment to rest. Even with the swiftness of Chigetsu's striking the woman's superiority would shine through. She was obviously more skilled than he was at hand to hand combat. He could only guess that she was some sort of Jounin of Sunagakure before the fall. Each step backwards that she took would represent another ounce of advantage for the woman, and eventually she would have enough that she no longer needed to back away from his strikes in order to block them.

She would take a deep breath. Upon the next clang of kunai against katana she would release, parrying Chigetsu's arm upwards. The movement of her parry would be maintained and turned into a spin, and she would exhale her now chakra enhanced breath as she did. A blade of intensely packed wind would be released in a crescent motion, slicing through her enemy at point blank range. The blade of wind would slice several inches through him, and the strength of the blast threw him a meter backwards. Suffering grievous injuries, Chigetsu would clutch at his chest. Blood would be spurting out freely, almost squirting from his wound. It had caught him diagonally down his chest, with a portion of the wound being over his heart. Slicing right through his ribcage, the wind cut into internal organs with ease. It was a bloody and fatal strike, although it was clear from the way that he remained standing that he wasn't quite dead yet. Surely, he would bleed to death quickly, but allowing him the chance to interfere in his dying moments wasn't something the woman was about to chance. Before Chigetsu could reorient from the blast of wind she would surge forward, impaling the katana through his chest. It was a strike that pierced through his heart, and without his pesky ribcage getting in the way there wouldn't be anything stopping the blade from tearing right through him and out the other side. Chigetsu would sputter, blood leaking from his mouth. He would go limp, falling forward and against the woman.

Seven knives would penetrate into her gut immediately. An innumerable number of needles would follow, penetrating into the soft joints that weren't protected by her armor. The sudden sharpness of pain would instinctively force her to pull back, but she would be stuck in place. The 'dying' Chigetsu would have wrapped his arms around her as she came in to pierce him with her katana. He had both arms wrapped tightly around her back now, embracing her tenderly as if they were lovers. He made sure to keep her close, his grip around her firm. In this position her arms were locked, stuck tight and sandwiched between their bodies as he pressed together with her. Her weapon was stuck firmly inside his body, held in place by the force. She would struggle against him, but the presence of senbon piercing into the tendons of her arm would quickly make this impossible. Chigetsu would lean into her, his fluid nature being revealed as his gooey body would begin to cascade over her. In this closeness he would continue to churn the weapons inside of him to penetrate into her, causing a foamy leakage of their blood to leak out into the sands. She wouldn't be able to stream, a liquid pseudopod of goo protruding from his face and forcing itself in her mouth. It was better this way, silencing an enemy's screams as you killed them.

Her body would be discarded once he finished, thrown mercilessly into the sand. Her katana would remain pierced through his heart and watching the terrible death of its owner would burst into rage. Cursing Chigetsu and the hated foreign invaders, the katana would spew forth an angry tirade. Despite its anger he felt almost as if it were holding back tears in its voice. A distinct misery came forth beneath the rage. It was strange and unweaponlike for a blade to cry at its owner's death. It would be plucked slowly from his chest and held by the handle as Chigetsu turned to address his allies. He would get a quick visual confirmation of their status before he noticed the absolutely massive horde of enemies that began to push over the sand dunes. Chigetsu's eyes would go wide in shock as he watched them approach.  

---

[3115]

Thread Total WC: [6595]

Chakra 175/190 | Hydration Points 9/15:

Home, Good Morning Sunshine

Verdandi woke in her tent. Eyes opened up to glare into a beautiful, vast mix of little gems and crystals dangling from the roof of her tent. Traditions had to be kept. Habits die hard. Desires don't vanish. Seeing how the royal court of Yuki no Kuni was in suna for a big diplomatic inquiry and a trading deal, Verd was spoiled to the rotten core once again. Servant's moved around the large tent that directly aligned with her own. Clothes were prepared. Towel. Brush. Everything. She pleasantly yawned and moved up from her bed. Dragging her nails through the crystals above her. Moving on to a tent where a makeshift shower had been installed. A luxury not many could say to have within the camp. Most of them had to make do with the one of the many available ponds and oasis's around the area. Verd dried herself on clean towels. Not a single grain of sand in her hair. Even the floor was lined with fabrics in this area. Moving on to the next tent to cloth herself.

Verdandi's perfectly soft battle kimono was light. She would go without the usual white jacket. The weather was steamy enough as it was. However, she would put on her protection armor layer below her clothes. As she fixed her gear including radio, Katana and misc. weapons, she could feel little sweat droplets forming on her forehead. Not willing to soak her clothes before she even marched off the tent yet, Verd closed her eyes, forming the frost sign to slowly concentrate in a short meditation. The Hyouton chakra would rise past her pores and neatly snug itself like an invisible layer onto her skin. Being now properly conserved and cooled, Verd would move out into the heat without giving a single crap about it.

Her sisters would be busy with their own tasks so Verd wouldn't linger any longer to lose time within the small Yuki camp. Since the Yuki tents were but just a bunch within hundreds if not thousands of the Kiri compound, Verd had to take on quite a walk to actually reach her desired destination a disadvantage she was quite fine with.

Avalanche trotted along slowly. He was a bit of a sleepy head today. The young bear however was in good shape aside from that and had been fed like a king. Probably too much, hence the sleepiness. The princess of the north would trot through the camp like she owned the place. The royal insignia of the Yuki clan cleanly visible on the back of her green kimono now that she wasn't wearing her jacket. A symbol most of these people didn't know for the actual nation, Yuki no Kuni. Sadly, enough since its primary destruction many years ago the north had turned more into a myth than common knowledge. But the symbol itself was not unknown. Yuki. Kori. Aisu. All sub-families had the same insignia of Frost on their clothes. And so, did the Mizukage. A large bladed snowflake. For a young lady of seemingly unknown name to be as bold as to wear the kage's crest on her clothes, many would have questions to say at least.

Verdandi didn't care. They could worship her or not. It wasn't important to her. Aunt Aya was somewhere around these lands too probably laying waste to a majority of enemies all by herself. Dandi would but hum a few well-meant blessings to wish her aunt good luck in her tasks but she somehow doubted she would need them.



Team, Handsome and Cool

Verdandi would notice that basically all of her teammates including the temporary appointed leader, were heavily suffering from the heat. Hours would pass as their guard duty remained boring. Verd would spend most of her time trying to figure out about the supposed new senpai in their rounds. His information was subject of secure intel to a certain degree. Verd was told by Chi that the guy was supposedly a hunter. But what she was most interested in. She had seen this guys face. On paper. She had no idea why and even if she had no idea why she should remember such a face. Why should she care. It took a few hours into the chit chat until Verdandi realized that he was of cursed blood. A red eye. A monster.

She was biased. Not necessarily rude. But anything that reminded the Yuki Clan of Hao and his cursed blood was something to conjure a bad day in a Yuki's diary. Not that she would blame him for his late cousin's deeds like a racist. But trusting his kin just because he was of Kiri was nothing Verd could think of. She soothed herself in the idea that the guard duty would eventually come to and end and they would split paths. Sadly, the very fact that he could be a red-eye was overshadowing her primary belief over that he was quite handsome, even with all the gear and the cloak. Verdandi's usual interactions were mostly limited to shinobi of younger age then herself or those that could be her parents. Seeing a somewhat adult shinobi with this sort of looks was refreshing of sorts. A conflict she'd had to come to terms with. Handsome devil.

Haka was ready for the sand. Geared up to have a proper protection layer. Chi was covered in weird rags. Verdandi wasn't sure if she missed out on a certain low-end dress code for today. But her icy layer on her skin simply filtered all windy sand and kept it comfortably away from her actual skin. Verd was enjoying the beauty of Haka's outfit while obviously giggling to herself about Chi's rags.

During one of their many walks along the along the outlines of the camp and specifically vastly around the main gate, Chi's continuous dragging-on about him melting in the sun was getting massively on Verdandi's nerves. Neither Maigo nor Haka complained that much despite them seemingly uncomfortable as well. At one-point Verdandi took her own water bottle for and splashed some into her hand while she poured Hyouton from her palm. Turning the water into little ice cubes. Once done she would basically, gently punch her fist inside Chi's chest and open her palm. Leaving the ice cubes to slowly slosh away in his guts. Despite his eventual protests about the way she was going around to do this, Verd would notice quickly how he'd absorb the ice into his body. Not sure if he actually realized it. But certain that he would feel a bit better at least for a while.

Avalanche slowly rolled about. His own body layered in Verdandi's fridge technique. Being of Hyouton nature the ice was comfy for him. Putting the same on anyone without frost in their blood would probably be unhealthy for them. Put aside that Verd was sure that neither of the three people with her would willingly take her offer to freeze their skin. Her attempt with the ice cubes was kind of a compromise in her lack of ability to entertain her team, they somehow still sloshed away inside chi's guts like he was some sort of tasty martini soon-ready-to-be-enjoyed-on-the-rocks.



Visitors, Exploding Hot

At some point, Avalanches nostrils flared up. He started to whimper. A bad sign usually. Verd wasn't sure what the young bear was able to inhale. But Maigo already had his eyes on them. Visitors. Refugees. Homeless. Weaklings. Wrecks. Whatever they were. They reeked of poverty and despair. Nothing Verd hadn't seen to be coming in by the thousands already. Some suna kin deemed it'd be wise to remain on the right side of the battlefield. Very aware that Kiri was not particularly famous for making sure that foreign civilians would stay alive and well while they were at war.

Verdandi watched. Without the eye-patch on she could clearly see their features. Yet none of them suggested that they were fake at first. It was Maigo's way of moving to grip his sword that raised a simple intent of questioning them inside her mind. It wasn't important if he was just naturally cautious or if he actually had foreseen that something was wrong with them. Once the seed of doubt was placed in her head Verdandi slowly disappeared mid-conversation. But in her stead was left a dud of a simple clone without shadow. If anyone would have paid attention to her as she was standing in the background of her squad mates. They might have easily noticed. But as she was mere subject to peripheral sight most of the time. Verd could move obfuscated.

Verdandi was expecting them to pass through. She was expecting them to be allowed forth. That they weren't dumb enough to actually have anything in their backpacks that would give their potential nature away. Expecting to be needed to follow them. Eventually forced to spy on them even past the entry point into the camp. But it didn't came as planned. They pouff of smoke would initiate the combat situation. The leader would charge forward towards Haka. Verdandi was clearly at advantage. But she was confident Haka could deal with her enemy. Watching Chigetsu charge in. Drawing the female warrior aside. Verd quickly analysed the situation. Mathematics calculated the whole moment into a board of chess. Time would slow down and freeze at her very whim as she was completely in her element. Staring at all participants. Haka. Enemy Leader. Chi. Girl. Dandi clone. Victim.

The last man with his tanto weapons was focusing his eyes on the Verdandi clone. It would take him mere seconds now that he actually eyed her for him to spot the fake be put a mirage of the desert. But that very moment Verdandi's blade had already clicked into a saw. The grip to his hair from behind was as instant as the intensely painful slice of Verdandi's dreadful weapon as it slit his throat. Clicking the button on her weapon again removed the shark teeth from it's surface and returned the very blade into it's smooth katana form. While Verdandi's enemy would slowly fall to his knees to stare in utter disbelief at his incredibly quick and sudden end.

Dandi would watch how her team mates were doing. Avalanche was staying at distance. He had no quarrel in this fight and rarely acted without instruction. Most of it was going way too fast for him anyway. At some point Haka's target was set on fire and exploded. The wave pretty nasty big considering the amount of tags he had in his backpack. It sent poor Haka flying while it yet also gave the man battling her a pretty nasty death.

Understanding quickly what the actual contents of their backpacks was like. Verd just grabbed on the bag of her victim with one palm and pushed his head forward with another. Seeing as he was already dead he did not complain about Verdandi removing the burden of his treasures from him. After checking the bag to see if there was a potential self-detonator within the tags, finding some potentially useful misc. weapons, she grabbed a few of the tags to keep them in her sleeve and then tossed the bag towards Avalanche. The bear snatched the bag with his mouth and returned back to distance. They might come in handy again. Free explosives anyhow.

As Haka was seemingly busy to recover but not harmed too much, Verdandi's attention would turn to Chi, whom was already entangling his own target as well. The methods he used to kill his enemies were unorthodox but efficient. Dandi moved in to free the woman from her backpack as well as Chi was still sort of… digesting her. Seemingly not bothered by the fact that Verd was pulling away her accessories she left him to finish his meal of sorts.

Before she could toss the second bag to Avalanche she however could see her bear slowly standing on his hind legs and extending himself up into the air. He was howling. Loudly. Very very loudly. Verdandi knew exactly what he was saying. Danger. Massive. Freaking. Danger. Dandi's head turned into the direction he was staring at. The dust in the distance being whirled up. They premature explosion must have had them thinking that the men actually accomplished part of their goal. However even without a broken-up gate or half exploded compound, the number of warriors charging in there was… disturbing.



Army, Gifts from Above

Verd inhaled. Time slowed. Eyes curled upon the horizon. Calculations were being made. Maigo was already on the move. He probably noticed that his trio was somewhat capable enough to deal with the menace at the entrance. Or maybe he spotted the masses of warriors before earlier already. Verdandi created the chess board. Queen Piece Maigo moved towards the endless numbers of peons. Knight Chi was ready. Sprinter Haka too. Tactical Horse Verdandi was ready. Charging forwards made no sense. Within a split second a water clone slowly stepped out of Verdandi's ice covered skin and started to run. Run fast. Cause what Verdandi was seeing next would make her swallow once empty.

The first line of enemies would kneel into the sand dunes. Kyujutsu users. Dozens of them. Hundred maybe. Maybe more. Their arrows were launched. Longbows with large distance reach. The arrows were directly Incoming to wards the gate. Verd figured that they had to move. "Forward!" she yelled as pet Avalanche instantly followed suit. Moving towards the enemy might feel suicidal at first. But the rain of arrows would be seemingly more dodge-able at the very front than closer to the gate they were aiming for.

Haka must have wrapped herself up by now. Chi was possibly the only one that could try and wait this out but Verd certainly encouraged him not to test his luck as a walking weapon-immunity. The arrows soon started to impact on ground. Hitting into the sand. Their nasty swishing noise something that put adrenaline into anyone's veins that could hear them pass. Especially the water clone was doing the run of her lifetime. As arrows rained down aside her, left and right, she would speed at full burst towards the gate. One arrow would hit her. Straight through the chests leaving a hole of suiton that would close itself and regenerate. The clone wouldn't be able to take another hit. But she was speeding for her goal. Running past the gates as her water body didn't bother to slow down but directly ran itself into the alarm bell. Splashing her water body roughly against it in a sacrificial move that had but one purpose. Once the terrifying sound of the entrance gate echoed forth. They started to re-sound in the whole Kiri compound.

Gates were turned shut. Massive movement began. Hundreds of Kiri soldiers would instantly drop anything they had at hand and man the walls. They field of arrows before the main gate and the corpses, explosion hole in the sand. All clear symbols of attack.

However, Verdandi's chess had yet a final move to be put down with. She sent Avalanche, the King piece, off into the distance after binding one of the tag bags around his neck. She had removed all the Misc. weapons from said bag and made sure that she combined the mass of both bags amount of exploding tags into his. He ran off into the horizon. What Verdandi's actual plan with the King piece was. Had yet to be revealed. She still had a bag with tons of misc. projectiles at hand now. Including a few dozen tags in case her teammates wanted to stock up on them too.

Soon the next wave of arrows would come. Soon the reaction of the warned Kiri-army had to be seen. But most importantly and most interestingly. They would come to see Maigo's first move.


Verd WC: [2735]
Thread WC: [9330]

Chakra:

Maigo let his eyes spin into action as three black tomoe spun into life and began to mark his targets in front of him and watch his squad all spin into action. Maigo jumped to the side high and took an overwatch of each of them as they all spun into various acts. Haka drew her enemy closer to the gate and engaged while Verdandi substituted her place out and Chigetsu directly attacked the third of the trio. It was a quick chance to see the squad he was appointed to in action and see how they could handle themselves. Though, as Maigo's eyes would spin into life and take careful notes of everything happening between them and how they each fought out their own situations.

It was interesting, as they each unfolded and created the chaos between their fights, they all displayed some prowess in various fields. Though, perhaps most impressive was Verdandi as she began planning steps ahead and utilizing jutsu while also taking account of the actions of others even before they would happen. Though, he wondered how far her analytical prowess really went and how well she could truly predict the future. For Chigetsu, he seemed beyond apt at taking on single opponents in much the style that Maigo would, though taking hits and hurting himself in the process to do so would send a streak up Maigo's back as he worried about losing a teammate already. Finally, Haka seemed the most subtle and quickest to act quickly, having that killer instict on top of it but letting the danger of the situation grow and letting that ninja full of explosives close to the camp gates. They each had skill but experience would tune them into killers, absolute weapons for the village, and cementing their legacy but for now they were like raw material slowly taking form.

Maigo dropped from his perk and let his eyes wander to the distance and seeing the incoming attackers as the encampment would begin to close down and lock itself in a defensive mode, though, as the front line of defense, it would be on their squad to engage and crush the opponents in front of them.

The projectiles in front of him flew high into the air as if they were going to pepper the ground and guarantee that they would take their lives with them. Maigo stuck his blade into the sand again and with his free hand would draw out four of his kunai into his hand while his sharingan spun and took in the location of each of them. With a slight turn of his chest and a step forward, Maigo would let a few arrows skid past him, letting them create a slight breeze past his flesh and hit the ground behind him as he targeted the other arrows directly aimed at him and knocked them out of the way with each kunai in a single throw. The rest of the flurry pelted the ground and he had no concern for what wasn't anywhere near him. The rest of his squad would be preoccupied with there's and in a much more enclosed space than Maigo who stood at the front of it all.

As each arrow hit the ground and pelted with sudden thuds that splashed into the sand around him, Maigo began to take a line of the enemies that stood in front of him and what needed to happen. Maybe to flank them would be best but there were so many of the enemy it would take a sizeable force to make any real impact. With the final few arrows hitting the ground, Maigo would turn his head back to his squad, his red eyes burning in his sockets as they felt out the chakra and saw everything around them.

"Take who you can and flank them, I'll meet them head on." he would yell back and rip his great sword from the sand again. Though, neither worry near fear would really be on his lips but instead a devious smirk as he could feel that rage boiling up in his stomach again. The overwhelming feeling to slaughter each and everyone of them, for the sake of the Land of Wind and to punish those who would dare bring harm and destruction to his doorstep. With his sword in tow, Maigo would take a labored step forward followed by a second that would ease up just a bit.

Moving further and further, each step becoming quicker as he moved himself into a sprint as the second wave of arrows came up. Maigo's smirk grew as with his left hand he would press an extreme amount of chakra into it and watch it burst into life with electricity focused in his palm. The very air around him would shift as he would clock around the bulk of the arrows aimed behind him and flick his arm across his body in a flurry of electric senbon while the chirping of birds would fill the air around him. His eyes would target each and every arrow that he could, knocking them down and breaking them in air as they would fall to the ground. Instantly, what was a flurry of hundreds of arrows would fall into the ten's of arrows and Maigo would be in full sprint with his sword behind him.

Just meters from the front line, several enemy ninja would step up with kunai, shuriken, katana, and many other weapons to meet him head on but Maigo had no interest in engaging all the ninja  around him and those that expanded further in the distance behind him. Knowing from battle formations there were enough bodies to make out anywhere from three hundred to five hundred and yet, Maigo's body was acting on instinct and without fear. But rage. Rage building up as his smirk carried to a grin that nearly burst and the chakra flowed through his arm into his greatsword.

Sparks and heat flying from the steel creating the edge of flames that dissipated with each movement, he would leap up and make a great slash at the first few combatants in front of him and pressing on to disrupt the archers they worked to defend so clearly. His sharingan was in overdrive, flickering in every which direction as he would fight on until Kiri could bring soldiers to the front line or his squad would be able to flank them and draw attention away.

It was simple though, he couldn't mess up and had to stay on his feet. In close quarters there were no jutsu they would risk using at the cost of their comrades but Maigo was free to rage out as he pleased. And with every swing of his sword, rage he would.


[1143 words, 3128 words total]

245/300 Chakra:

Hopping back to life, Haka would dust off her clothes as her ears caught the cacophony of an army charging in. Lifting her eyes up, she would watch the horizon to see hundreds of humans run in their direction. Then figures blurred. Weapons. Haka narrowed her eyes, seeing them fire off giant needles into the air. For a moment she'd watch them rise up and blanket the sky. She was not familiar with such weapons, nor was she all too sure what to expect of them but Verdandi ordered an advance. Haka failed to understand the need for a charge of the four of them when hundreds were awaiting them, certainly when there were others already running towards them to begin with. To her, it sounded more reasonable to sit it out and prepare to deal with the incoming wave as they were at an advantage here with the fortified camp behind them.

As Haka formed the spider, tiger, dragon hand seals and slammed the ground, Maigo was already running to the front to meet up with the incoming wave, Verdandi and Avalanche joining them as they intended to deal with the situation head on. Haka's chakra created a 10m radius weapon-free zone, the spider patiently waiting in the middle to see any and all arrows entering the radius vanishing from sight in the blink of an eye. Soon after the ground was covered in arrows, a beautiful circle right in the middle of the arrow rain being the only place left untouched.

Forming another couple of hand seals, Fuinjutsu would create a temporal gate in the air from which a brown-haired Clydesdale horse would come in trotting, its black eyes almost as apathetic as its owner. It's stable located near the manor of Spider Island had killed most of its sense of fear as the spider-nin spent most of her time taking care of him, her aura by now sufficiently a familiar threat to be mostly disregarded by the horse. As she mounted Torubiyuto, Maigo shouted his orders. Driving the horse to move next to Chigetsu, she'd pull him up to sit behind her, then watch the troops in the camp starting to gather up on Maigo's orders. A flanking manoeuvre while he and Verdandi would rush in head on. That she could do.

"Toribyūto isn't battle worthy, just fast.", she'd let her partner know, making him understand that the Clydesdale horse would be returned to the stables rather soon. She had called him in so they could position themselves rather than to gallop through the battlefield swinging tentacles wildly. Expecting Chigetsu to have understood her, Toribyūto sprinted through the desert at her command, quickly leaving Maigo and Verdandi on their own as they moved in position to flank. From the corner of her eyes, she could see the first of Kirigakure's troops moving to meet them on the side of the battlefield. Haka considered that she'd stay close to Chigetsu as he flailed and beat up enemies along with the troops, making use of her own techniques to ward him against jutsu and beat down those who would slip through his terror - a situation he might be familiar with as Ameya had once been ordered to do the same during a mission.

Arriving to the side of the battlefield, Kirigakure's troops were already taking care of the few that had run up to meet them. Good spotters, but the continued flow of Kirigakure's troops outnumbered them in a matter of moments. Haka would nudge Chigetsu of the horse and descend herself, allowing Toribyūto to return home again with another Fuinjutsu Gate before she'd relay Maigo's orders to the captains that had come to meet them. They'd nod in understanding of the strategy, and shouted their orders to get their troops in formation as Haka ran a hand through her long hair and watched Maigo's raiton clash with the enemies. With their own side ready to flank, Haka marked Chigetsu with her familiar Spider Mark and gave the order to charge to the captains that had come to report their readiness. Under a loud morale-boosting cheer, Kirigakure's troops charged in, feet ploughing through the desert sand as they moved. The counter-offence had begun.

Chigetsu and Haka would run in to close the distance, the spider-nin remaining at Chigetsu's side and ready to take down those who would attempt to take him out even if she knew well enough his blob skin was better suited to soak up damage than her arachnid composure. The reason simply being that Chigetsu had somewhat of a one-track mind. The mission being of a high rank there was no saying what strength they harboured or how well Chigetsu would be able to deal with their blows should they be able to reach him. They would soon figure that out as the troops finally clashed after what had felt like an eternity charging. The cavalry had arrived, but the sight of it was not as romantic as one might come to expect from the cliche imagery. The charge was met with resistance. Arrows quickly took out the first front liners before they had made melee contact, a variety of weapons cleaved through bodies and armour alike. In a matter of moments, a blood bath had been formed as both sides suffered heavy losses. Even if the enemy was pincered and at a great disadvantage, they did not waver nor give up that easily. It reminded Haka of the fresco she had seen in Sero's library. A picture of two warring factions and the gruesome aftermath it held.

As the onslaught proceeded, the first of the enemy troops would break through and reach Chigetsu and Haka. Leaving Chigetsu to do what he did best, Haka channelled chakra into her limbs and ran up to take them out alongside the troops. The passion of her katon chakra fuelled the deadliness of the wolf spider, the suiton in her veins delivering the spider's poison to the body with every bite she delivered and infecting their mind with every prey taken out. In the middle of the chaos, Haka's natural superior perception and multitasking ability was an asset there where her combat skills were still lacking as the opportunistic Unmei focused on taking down those that were already at a disadvantage. Where skill failed, numbers would succeed. Where power lacked, opportunities seized evened the odds. With combined effort, noses and jaws would be broken, throats and knees would be shattered. Those who didn't die right away would find a merciful ending be delivered by an obsidian kunai.

---

1129
Total: 2624
Total Thread WC: 11602

E Rank - Pony:

110/200:

Immediately Chigetsu would turn away from the charging horde. He had more important things to worry about in the moment. He would just need to glance back at his allies to confirm their position and safety. The explosion that he had heard moments beforehand had given him reason to worry, and he was unable to contain that. Perhaps he should have had a bit more trust in the abilities of his squad mates, but they didn't have the same sort of durability as he did. Knives and swords through the chest would likely hurt them a lot more than it did to him. Verdandi, however, had already shoved her nose into his business. While he was removing any excess liquid from his enemy's body she had reached in and swiftly pulled away the backpack that the corpse had been wearing. He wasn't about to stop her, but he did give her a strange glance. He hadn't expected anyone to approach an event like that so casually, especially with what state he left the corpse in afterwards. She was definitely a strange girl. She seemed unharmed though, at least from what Chigetsu could tell. Haka appeared similarly unharmed, if somewhat disoriented.  

Then he would turn back to address the threat in front of him. Waves upon waves of soldiers. Dozens of them kneel into the dunes at the front. Each of these kneeling soldiers had a longbow in hand, and from their coordinated firing what must have been hundreds of arrows burst forth. The collective twanging of bowstring was almost something he swore he could hear, even with how far off it was. Their arc through the sky would be followed with his eyes, and Chigetsu would stand in silence as he watched them. So many arrows all raining down was beyond his comprehension. It was almost beautiful, like watching raindrops fall down from the sky. It was likely that the arrows weren't chakra enhanced, Chigetsu deduced. They were more likely intended to pepper and wear down their forces before the initial assault, rather than a crushing strike from above. Normally this wouldn't be any sort of difficulty for him. It would be what he was sure would be a mind crushingly loud cacophony of screeching from the arrows that came after that landed would be what was dehabilitating. There were more things he had to worry about now though. His normal strategy of liquefying through the arrows and letting them pass through him wasn't something he was exactly keen on right now. Sunagakure was much too dry, and he wasn't able to call upon the ambient liquid in the air to rehydrate himself as he normally would be able to in Kirigakure. Wasting hydration so casually would result in him drying up quickly and dying a painful death in this desert. There wasn't any doubt about that. As evaporation wasn't something he was very keen on experiencing, Chigetsu would attempt another way around the arrows. He would shrink down, getting on his knees and curling into a tight ball. Despite how silly he might have looked in the moment doing this his strategy wasn't to just curl into the fetal position, as it might have seemed. In a moment he would have shrunk considerably, reducing his form into an orb of water about the size of a fist. Being condensed so tightly wasn't exactly comfortable for him but it was a necessity at the moment. Arrows would whiz through the air that he had previously occupied, smashing down and burrowing into the sands where he had stood. His plan relied on a good deal of luck. Smushing down to such a small size was great for avoiding arrows, but he made no effort to dodge out of the way of anything that were incoming. If he had been unlucky and a stray arrow hit him in his condensed form it would have been a disaster.  

As the arrow rain ended Chigetsu would expand back up from his sphere form, quickly assuming his regular body and glancing around. Arrows littered the dunes now. He could already feel a headache coming on with how each began to talk, chattering to each other. Dozens of idle conversations rang off at once, nearly deafening him. Luck continued to be on Chigetsu's side today, and before he could be mentally overwhelmed by the excess of weaponry around him a knight in shining armor would come to rescue him. Sort of. Haka came over on a horse and scooped him up, pulling him up by his robes and placing him behind her on the horse. If he had been in a clearer mind state he would have been incredibly impressed by this. Haka pulling his entire body up onto the horse with one arm showed a lot more strength than he would have expected from the girl. It would take a second for him to reorient and regain his mental clarity, but as he did Chigetsu would adapt into a more comfortable riding position. While Maigo's instructions to perform a flanking maneuver were lost to Chigetsu in his moment of distraction it wasn't that hard for him to figure out what Haka was taking him to do.  

Although it was unknown to Chigetsu, they weren't charging out alone. They hadn't been alone in guarding the compound, just the first line of defense. The hundreds of others in the Kiri administration building were already springing into action. The gates behind them were swiftly pulled shut, locked tightly to deny access to the invaders. The walls would be manned by dozens, each of them equipped with heavy crossbows. The invading archers were answered swiftly with a hail of bolts that rained down from the walls. Rather than relying on massed fire to take down foes as the archers did, these Kiri crossbowmen would fire carefully. Each bolt was aimed towards a specific target, seeking to snipe away anyone that appeared to be commanders or leaders of the enemy force. Targeting the leadership of the enemy force was a traditional tactic of Kirigakure. With their head cut off the rest would be easy pickings. Over the walls would come down several initial squads to assist in the defense and form a front line in which to defend the gates. Verdandi's actions had put the entire compound on high alert, and they were now swiftly reacting to the threat from the sands.  

Upon Haka's nudging Chigetsu would drop to the ground again, descending quickly from the galloping horse. The seal that took it away would be watched curiously. Fuuinjutsu was something he had come to expect from Haka at this point but a horse summoning technique was somewhat odd. He didn't have much time to muse over it, quickly turning to face the captains that had come to assist them. His lack of greater battlefield awareness made him incredibly thankful for Haka in moments like this, especially as she relayed Maigo's orders. Reaching to his belt Chigetsu would take out his water bottle, and very quickly he would gulp down nearly half the bottle's contents. Normally he wouldn't drink his reserve hydration so quickly, but it was very necessary if he was now charging into battle. The moments preluding the eventual clash of forces wouldn't last long. The initial force of Kirigakure troops were already streaming forth to form a front line and engage the invaders. With a rounding cheer the flanking forces would plow forward, streaming forward to hammer onto Suna's flank. Chigetsu would be in that advancing crowd with Haka at his side.  

Group combat wasn't a specialty of Chigetsu's. Haka surely knew this, as he had explained it to her in the past. So many enemies and weapons chaotically moving about on the battlefield was more than his feeble mind could comprehend. To focus on specific areas or target out anything in this chaos wasn't possible for him. It was a difficult and uncomfortable scenario for him. With the amount of noise coming from every direction he might as well have been deafened. Thinking was difficult. Of course, this wasn't as incredibly debilitating as it might have been to others. This was a weakness that Chigetsu planned around. A good deal of his fighting style didn't require complex thought or tactical weaving of technique after technique. Opposite to the intelligence that Verdandi and Haka showed in combat he was much simpler. That wasn't to say he wasn't intelligent, but when he could rely on his liquification complex solutions usually weren't necessary. He embodied extreme force instead. The rampage. The tidal wave. He was suiton in its purest form, an unstoppable force of chaos that surged forward. Several hand signs would be prepared as he charged the enemy flanks, and when he finally met the enemy forces he would spring forward. A massive exoskeleton of orange liquid would flow out of his skin, surging forth in every direction. He would purposely avoid his allies with this goo, having it flow around Haka and the other flankers to avoid harming them.  

The transformation would only take a few seconds. The goo would quickly expand and thicken, transforming into a beast that towered over the enemy lines. At fifteen meters tall the goo monster dwarfed the administration building, being as tall as a five-story building. It would appear as some indescribable horror. The beast that Chigetsu had transformed into was clearly meant to appear as some living creature, having two eyes of a lighter shade of orange that looked down into the enemy forces, but no other existing creature could compare to it. Its four limbs were impressions of rubbery octopus tentacles formed out of the goo, each of them twice as long as the beast was tall nearly three times as thick as a grown man. Rather than standing upon them it would lay down on its stomach, using these tentacles to drag itself forward through the sand. Its maw would be lined with an impressive collection of sharpened teeth, that despite being made of goo clearly looked to be hardened and have a sharpened edge. From its perpetually open mouth would extend another eight monstrous tentacles, each of them flailing about and twirling forward. The beast that had been Chigetsu would flail forth into the enemy flanks.

Chaos would follow. Chigetsu's presence upon the dune would block out the sun and leave the battlefield in the shade. Many soldiers on both sides would pause in place to stare over at it, frozen in fear. This terror would be seized upon immediately by the monstrosity. Surging tentacles would blast forward and draw lines of chaos through the invading forces. Those that collided with the beast's monstrous tentacles would find themselves being sucked dry, the goo drawing liquid right out of their skin. The wounds would be absolutely horrific, leaving several crushed dead that were given the physical appearance of dried meat. The rampage would begin. It was impossible for him to target anything in specific, and so Chigetsu's movements forward would be more akin to flailing wildly. He would drag himself forward towards anything that appeared to not be dressed in Kiri colors, moving about wildly. Being not particularly fast in this massive form prevented the damage he caused from being too high, but the distraction and chaos he ravaged immediately upon the Sunagakure forces would be an advantage in itself. He would be targeted immediately and with an intense furry. Arrows would collide down onto his gooey form, penetrating in several inches before losing momentum. Kunai and shuriken would collide into his body with similarly little effect. It would be the issue of jutsu colliding with him that he would have to worry about. Even in this form a well-placed raiton technique would still mean the end of him. Evasive maneuvers weren't exactly something he could engage in though, assuming he would even see it coming. It was a big flaw in his strategy here, and one that he could only hope his enemies wouldn't catch onto, or his allies would protect him from.

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[2056/5171]

Total Thread WC: [13658]

Chakra 120/190 | 15/15 Hydration Points :

Items:

Verdandi was surprised, that Chigetsu seemed surprised. After all, even while he dried the corpse within his body, she was perfectly aware of his liquid form. Considering the way, she usually killed those she deemed evil, Verd's method still remained equally deadly in nature. Being a gasped by the sight of a dry corpse was not something that fit her personality. At best she'd be disgusted by its unsightly presence.

The thought, being thought. Verdandi had made her way safely from the primary area of effect onto which the arrows hailed down upon. Seeing how her previous actions, of alarming the army, had a pretty huge effect, she was contemporarily satisfied with her current progress. However, the situation had changed. The chess pieces moved and Verdandi needed to inhale once deeply. Close her eyes shortly and then open them once more as she returned into her trance.

Maigo, the Queen piece dismantled diverse bolts and arrows and slayed his way through the peons of the enemy. He was not to worry about. As time went on, his persona would just potentially become more and more powerful within this battle, that was the one thing she was sure of about him.

Haka, the Sprinter piece used one of her persona specific abilities and yet conjured a new one that was yet not recorded in Verdandi's memories. A horse that would drag her and Chi towards the desired flanking location as advised by the queen piece.

Chigetsu, the Knight piece was ready to unleash his intense power, eventually turning into a Tower piece that could smash all enemies beneath his unique form and almost immortal body of sorts. She liked it. Sprinter and Tower would do a very well flanking.

Verdandi, the Horse piece was supposed to unleash her potential as tactical weapon. She would neither be of use at flanking nor at lingering around the queen. Slaying peons one by one seemed to be unproductive. This was a large battlefield. Kiri peons and Suna peons would soon clash on a line that would form the very horizon of the battle. Her two squaddies would have their back free if not supported by more flanking Kiri peon pieces.

What Verdandi could see however, whilst seemingly no one else did. Was that a huge amount of Suna soldiers was actually moving slightly down into a valley dune within the sand, before the path to the Kiri encampment would lead upwards again. Lower ground. Different heights. Seeing very well, that one of the large, huge sand dunes, erected itself to the west of the attacking army. Seeing as Maigo and the main kiri-army headed towards the enemy from south and her friends went east. Verdandi's plan that she already thought about a bit earlier, would finalize itself into form.

Avalanche already ran off towards the western dunes as he was advised to. Giving Verdandi the chance to slowly retreat herself behind Kiri lines. With a few quick jumps she moved and created four shadow clones on the joy of a single hand seal. Slowly dividing her pieces towards different directions once she was behind the Kiri line of forces. The original and two of the four clones directly turned west and would aim to catch up with Avalanche.

The other two clones would move towards the Kiri gates and start to converse with the tactical officers of the forces that were overseeing the main gates resources. Under the show of the Yuki Clan sigil, she demanded personal resources of five suiton talented users and five fuuton ones. With no particular will to explain why she needed them. The clones would wait for the tactical leaders to organize the chess pieces she had ordered. Using their time to glare upon the battlefield and observe the glorious ways in which Haka and Chigetsu, as well as Maigo slayed through the masses of peons before them.

Meanwhile. Verdandi and her clones passed the western battle line. Running from the conflict zone, probably appearing as deserters to those watching her go. No one at least, neither Kiri-nin nor Suna-nin seemed to follow her. She had her ice ready in her palm in case but was happy that she didn't need to. Pin pointing down the perfect use of her chakra would be crucial. Once they arrived at the summit of the desert dune. Verdandi would find her cute little pet already doing quite well. He was grabbing on a random number of tags for a while now and spreading the explosives casually all over the top line of the sand dune.

Due to the dunes size and the fact that it was towering a valley filled with hundreds of people, it would take quite some time for Avalanche and the two clones there to arrange the tags properly. Meanwhile, the real Verdandi sat down, centred in the very middle of the huge done. Moving into a meditative seated position. Putting her palm on top of the other. Closing her eyes. Starting to slowly allocate the very depth of her powers. Knowing well that the following feat would take everything she had out of her. Every ounce of chakra would go into this. She needed to be prepared. Concentrated, controlled and completely on top of every little tiny movement that would come hence forth. The preparations continued. Time ran.

The chess board, the battlefield itself. Didn't drastically change just yet. Maigo certainly massively advanced but his big cards were yet to be played. Haka and Chigetsu wonderfully flanked the enemy position and were a powerful distraction as well as skilled leaders within the ranks of Kiri-nin that crashed onto the lines. But they all were exposed. The enemy was still motivated. The enemy still had power. Desires. Hopes. Hatred.

Verdandi decided that she might not be able to stop them all. But she would crush their spirit. Doing exactly what the tactical horse piece was supposed to do. Give the Queen piece all the power and chances in the world to create its havoc onto the enemy. Verdandi would deliver.

The ice princess radiated with intense Hyouton chakra. Her eyes were glowing brightly. Her body almost hovered off the ground from the mere power she was conjuring within her. Her clones and the added kiri-nin were prepared. It was time to move. They moved forward in positions next to Verdandi and started concentrating on their own chakra to be cast.

Meanwhile Verdandi main body had called upon her worst of nightmares. The heavens above them started to change. The sky would rapidly darken. Clouds would slowly shake together and start to twirl into a dangerous circle. Thunder could be heard. It wasn't conjured by her technique or raiton, the friction she caused within the air simply produced the nasty electrifying noise within the hollow darkness she created. Suiton was being pumped into the clouds. A sudden rainfall would drop down from the dunes. Fuuton was being exhaled into the clouds. Turning the rain into snowflakes.

As the insanity of snow within the desert would dazzle down from the dunes. Their initial effect seemed to be of little meaning for what Verdandi had planned. Wind, Powerful as the worst of storms, strong, rapid wind would gush down the dunes into the valley at almost 100 mp/h. It's power insane enough that anyone close would be tossed around, but it's range was limited it'd start to make the suna-nin curious as they could hear the howling danger from afar but did not yet damage them.

Water would be conjured. Verdandi's first clone planted the archerfish technique to the ground below her and let a rather large amount of water of at least 20 cubic meters be summoned into existence. Larger than the size Chigetsu's monster form was. The five kiri-nin with suiton affinity stepped forth and exhaled the Wild Water Wave technique from their throats, slowly adding up to the already huge body of water as it slowly splashed down the dunes causing a sudden large wave of water to gush down from the dune. Soon hitting the first suna-nin from the side and tossing them away from their path. The first clone dispersed again.

Ice would be conjured. Verdandi's second clone jumped off the dune's edge in a sort of suicidal movement. Conjuring in it's position a huge statue of that looked like a frozen Verdandi. The clone would sit on top of the statue. Since the ice sculpture had already an incredibly huge weight. Together with the clone the unusual projectile of thick ice would fall down into the freshly created lake of water against the dune. It's deep freezing effect turning all that water quickly into ice. The second clone would die in it's beautiful act of suicide as it turned a large area in the sand to frost.

Sand would be conjured. Verdandi's third clone hit the chakra ignitor on an explosive tag. The kiri-nin with suiton alignment retreated. An earth shattering sound would be heard. One by one the planted explosive tags would blow up all over the horizon of the sand dune. If anyone was yet not sure what was going on. It would start to become evident now. The dune was collapsing. Moving down like a large hand. Upon the valley. It would soon have no structure to remain on anymore. So Verdandi's real body retreated and third clone dispersed.

Wind would be conjured. Verdandi's fourth clone summoned upon the great powers of the wind. The Great Breakthrough technique would be cast behind the shadow. Forcing the wind-tuned Kiri-nin to hold the clone by it's palms in order to not have a second one sacrificed. They then proceeded to add their own Gale Palm techniques. As the six wind powers combined with the 100 mp/s of Verdandi's storm, the final form of the monstrosity she had conjured would surface. But They wouldn't be able to watch it. As the sand below their feet would start to crumble. The Kiri-nin retreated as well and the fourth clone dispersed.

The intense wind was concentrated in a huge radius of about 20 meters in diameter, where all the sand below the wind stream would be shot like a large gunshot bullet down towards the battlefield. The frozen water had turned into an L-Shaped ramp and the huge sand projectile would be redirected at the foot of the dune and punch into the masses of suna-nin like a gigantic fist to their face. Despite that being a fun thing to happen, the main aim was to create a hole within the dune in the very middle and now, letting nature do its worst.

As the whole sand dune started to massively collapse over the valley, it unleashed a power and force far beyond Verdandi's actual powers. What she did, was merely sabotaging the environment around her and create an insanely large and powerful weapon, far past the reaches of her own techniques, at the mere cost of her chakra and a little help.

The sand dune slowly clashed into the valley from the west. Kiri-nin at the gate quickly backed off, suna-nin close the gate would not be harmed. Maigo could potentially still be within it's reach but Haka and Chi would certainly be safe on the east side. The sand itself crushed onto the shinobi of the west. Screams and terrors could be heard as the power of tons of sand would crush over bodies and bury them beneath. Hundreds of enemies would either die or be insanely injured by the pressure of their own land threatening to kill them.

Some of the more experienced Suna-nin might be able to blast their way out somehow. Blow enough incoming sand from them with wind, some might even be able to control a portion of sand if they had the unique sunaan bloodline at hand. Some might flee. Some might be fast enough to escape the western valley. But most of them would be buried alive. Instantly halving the complete army of attackers and most importantly. Crushing their morale and spirit within an instant.


Verds WC: 2050 / 4785
Total Thread: 15'708

Chakra 45 / 200:

The rage leaked and poured out from his very pores, splashing away from his skin and staining the air around him with every movement. The aura of rage around him was thicker than the sweat that grew on his skin and though he engaged them directly and cut several of their ninja down, there was nothing to stop him from growing and embodying this essence. It would scorch the desert like fire along with the heat of his blade, pressing the fire into his hilt and through the length of the blade. The hues of heated metal would expand and ting the sword so that it hissed against the air and glowed red, flickers of flame and sparks bursting off of it. When the blade hit the ground, it would crackle and begin to melt the silicon of the sand down and with every enemy it struck, it would cleave through them but burn the edges opened to a crisp instantly while setting fire from the point of impact.  

The blade felt heavy in his hand but cut cleanly with smooth motions, letting trails of heat distort the air behind each swing regardless of what came in contact with it. It was fading out with every new enemy that came near him, an enemy dressed in similar ANBU gear ran up with a shout and would have his katana blocked by Maigo as the sharingan would trace over him. In a quick move and rotation of his body, Maigo would spin and draw his sword across before spinning again and tearing through the midsection of the ninja. The yell out in pain and blood that splattered from his stomach didn't phase Maigo at all as he continued on and fell into almost a trance of murder and destruction for each enemy he would have.

A kick off of one to push into the group of another, leaving parts of them alive to continue moving rapidly, knowing that the force didn't have to be decimated all at once. But still, with every step and movement Maigo made, the tax and weight of oxygen deprivation that built as fatigue on his muscles grew and grew like water over the fire of his rage. The snow began to fall and the scenery shifted as reminiscent gusts of wind would blow by him and Maigo would slowly start cutting his way into the other portions of ninja to the east and away from whatever his squad was planning.

None of it matter though, out of breath was a state of mind for Maigo now and as he jumped, spun, and dodged his way through flurries of blows seeming to come one after the other while dodging in the most minimal way he could, he knew that his only saving grace was the onslaught of Kirgakure ninja that amassed into the battlefield and began to create a line of combat behind him. With every new swing of his sword, some misses and less direct hits, knowing the fatigue was getting to him and his breath stunting even further and further. His muscles would begin to physically burn and every jump that required him to draw his sword up with him forced the question of why he needed such a bulky weapon.

It wasn't enough though. There hadn't been enough blood, enough punishment for their actions. With every new cut that cauterized the wounds of those he engaged, he needed to push further and further until they were forced into full retreat. Nothing would stop his annihilation of the enemy in front of him. The wind had kicked up and the flurry of jutsu that tore apart the landscape sat in the corner of his eyes as they flickered back and forth. It was changing and tearing into the ground underneath him while ripping apart the forces of the enemy ninja as they tried to combat against it in close quarters. Maigo hesitated and let his eyes flicker, remaining low to the ground.

His knees bent, he would slowly let his sword rotate on his person as the enemy ninja stood surrounding him, each of them watching intently. It was the first moment that Maigo got a good look at each of them, the sweat running down their faces and lingering on their brows. The gulps that they each would take as Maigo cut through them over and over again with nothing they could do. Despite Maigo's labored breathing, he would let his sword sheath to his back and flatten his body towards the ground while leaning into the balls of his feet and pressing his hands into the sand around him. The chakra swirling around and ripping a hole into the sand dune itself was obvious, the violent tearing and noise might be enough to distract them from focusing but there wasn't much that escaped Maigo's eyes. And in that moment that they all stood gridlocked, Maigo would let them sit, almost taunting them to make the first move.

His right hand would reach back to his pouch and grab a single shuriken from his pouch while holding it to his side and letting a devious smirk dance across his face. As the ground would shake, in an instance it would trigger a signal in everyone's brain around to break their standstill and act before getting caught up in the chaos of what unknown was coming. Three charged forward as others moved around and would try to block Maigo from jumping back and away from them. His smile didn't fade at all though, as he would press into the sand and jump as far as he could forward, aiming for the point well beyond the sand dune and back to the lines of the Kirigakure ninja that arrived for combat but not before guaranteeing his escape. With a turn of his shoulder and feeling the wind rushing behind him as he cleared as much air and distance as he could, he would turn back and throw his single shuriken towards any enemies that would be following or trying to move in his direction.

Sharingan tracing numbers as he quickly weaved through the handsigns needed. Ram → Rat → Bird → Boar → Tiger. He would watch the shuriken begin to spawn a thousand shuriken with it to sprinkle down and pepper the numbers of shinobi at the edge of the collapse. Maigo would focus to see if anyone had the ability to make it past that but would be disappointed as those that could block the weapons wouldn't be mobile enough to escape and those that were mobile would be struck down in a flurry of weapons.

Turning his shoulder again and coming down harshly in the sand dune just meters away from a waiting group of Kiri ninja, Maigo slide onto his knees and grabbed at the sand to slow his descent. Heavy breath pressed his chest as he slowly stood up and grabbed his sword, pausing for a moment to catch his breath as the dust and sand would settle ahead. With his Lingering Wildfire drawn again and crashed in the sand next to him, the heat still emanating from it, he would continue to mow over the scene with his sharingan before throwing a hand out.

"Go, drive them into retreat and strike them down from behind. Leave none alive!"

The Uchiha would plaster out to those shinobi nearby him and within shouting distance before drawing his blade out again. Hearing the confident and near-victorious yells of the shinobi on his side, Maigo would draw out his blade and begin taking steps forward to continue the onslaught. As he said, none left alive, not as long as he had strength or chakra in his body to make that so.


[1304 words, 4432 words total]

210/300 Chakra:

The Hammer and Anvil strategy. A traditional strategy that had always been credited as one of the better ones in the arsenal of a strategist. However, none would have ever mentioned it evolved a giant Chimonstru on one side, thrashing through the crowd like a kid splashing in water, a powerful shinobi in the middle side, a singularity deceptively more powerful than the opponent could have credited him for and that was serving a tar-pit role in the whole fight, and the land itself rising up to the occasion to bury troops in large amounts as it came crashing down from the west. That amount of power alone was sufficient to break the morale of all but the best. And breaking they would, as the invading force looked nothing more than ants running to all sides under the titanic display of power Kirigakure was bringing forward.

Morale broken, formations broken. Sunagakure's troops had already lost but one could only commend their foolish bravery into keeping a last stand. As if they knew they had come to die this day. The leaders had a good grasp on their units, keeping up the fight despite the desperation, but their control over the battlefield was lost. Troops had been killed, flanks were left unprotected. Openings an assassin such as Haka could and would make use of. Leaving the east flank into the hands of Chimonstru and whichever Kiri-troops that somehow succeeded at maintaining morale and power throughout the battle, Haka would run up Chigetsu's 15-floor tall size to stand on his shoulders for a moment. The view was admittedly impressive from that high up, seeing the destruction of the land on one side and the centre blocked by a single shinobi. The chaos was real too, and stressed upon the assassin's mind as she disliked such blatant use of power, her approach being one of subtlety and perfect quietude.

Yet her eyes would look over the battlefield like a hawk searching for prey, spotting the handful of leaders and flag bearers remaining in the crowd. Marking their position in her mind, Haka would run down Chigetsu's left arm as it came crashing down the enemy, his fist only hitting slightly off her first mark. Just as his limb would raise up to slam again, Haka would jump off his arm and onto the first of her targets. An easy target, since Chigetsu's recent attack had left him to find back his coordination and control over the nearby situation. He would be met with a 45 Kg body slam instead, impact power enhanced by her chakra, and feel his entire ribcage shatter brutally. Bones would crack, lungs would be perforated, his heart would stop its functions all in a single instant before the body would hit the sand five meters further. As fast as she had appeared, Haka vanished within the fighting crowd in search of her next target.

The area had by now been turned into a giant frozen sea with only the outer areas remaining humid as the desert sand was greedily absorbing the liquid. The statue's ice was shattered and scattered all across the battlefield breaking the line of sight of the many foot folk that were too slow to adapt to the new situation, but to shinobi these newly found obstacles were an asset. Keeping her body low as she ran, the spider-nin was like a ghostly flicker in this newly shaped world, the bleak leather and misty grey of her armour granting her an advantage within the whites of snow and ice. If spotted on one moment, she'd vanish from sight the other moment, change direction and seemingly disappear from existence. Few would have the time to follow her up as the dwindling troops of Suna were met with the progressing forces of Kiri, granting Haka free movement on the battlefield.

Her next target would soon come into view, the banner carrier going into a slow retreat as he passively beckoned his allies to his side in quiet resolution. A small dozen of troops had gathered and were efficiently dealing with the incoming assault as it crashed down on a rather well organised wall of steel. The half moon formation of spears and swords allowed none to get past them. None would generally do so since more hostile troops were gathering up, dissuading the few courageous ones that wanted to get behind enemy lines. But such was the task of a shinobi, especially one that would be spitting a large fireball in front of her. Having aimed behind the troops as she intended to jump behind the lines, the fireball exploded under a load roar. Only two targets would be engulfed in the flames, their clothes set ablaze and having them scream in terror due to that, but the imposing presence of fire was sufficient to temporarily cut short the flow of new troops rallying to the flag carrier on top of having them being distracted enough to look back at what was happening. A fatal mistake. Seizing the opportunity of the distraction, Kiri's troops would charge onto the half-moon wall of Suna troops and kill a couple of them at the cost of a few men. At the same time, Haka seemed to emerge from the flames with killing intent, taking out the flag carrier with a short dash and a flying kick. His life would be taken by a blade's end, the flag broken under loud cheering, nudging Haka to find the last of her targets.

Hearing Chigetsu's flailing arm smashing the ground nearby, Haka would do a small sprint to hop onto his arm again. She needed to catch her breath as chakra use, desert heat and swift movement was catching up on her. At the same time as the flailing arms of Chimonstru would rise up to smash a new spot, Haka probably looking like a small fly in comparison to his current size, she allowed her eyes to reorient and figure out the current position of her last target. Finding him on the other side, Haka ran up Chigetsu's limb and over his body to reach the other side before she ran down again. However, rather than to jump down, she would shoot a string of chakra web at the troop leader the moment Chigetsu's arm brought her close enough, the suiton nature allowing it to bend and bypass the battlefield's obstacles. The needle would hit him in the back and pull him out of balance as Haka pulled the strand of web in her direction. Then, with Chigetsu aiming to smash yet another area, the leader would find himself helplessly dangling on a spider's strand as he was pulled in the air and away of his allies. Then, at its highest point, Haka would let go of the jutsu to watch the man scream the whole way down as he plummeted towards a dull death.

Suna's strength was sapped by the brutal display of power, their morale crushed by as the last of the flags and troops leaders were eliminated, the flame of courage doused by the hefty amount of water and ice. Victory was assured but Maigo remained unsatisfied. He ordered the pursuit of the remaining troops as they fled to reach the safety of the dunes.

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1235
Total: 3859
Total Thread: 18247

75/200:

Squish. Scrunch. Squelch. There was a large variety of noises that came from his body when he moves. Most of them were utterly repulsive. That was the sin of being made of slime. Moving around tended to produce disgusting sounds. Like putty being squeezed, his form would ooze out in a mess with every squirm and stretch of his limbs. The masses of tentacles he had were put to good work. There was nary a moment of stillness from him. Every part of him would be moving. Of course, this wasn't to say that any of it was directed in any sort of tactical sense, except possibly in the loosest possible sense of the term. This was the tactical maneuver that Chigetsu dubbed 'combat flailing'. It worked surprisingly well when he was the size he was now, and when you were a writhing mass of tentacles and melting orange flesh. He flatted down his tangle of mouth-limbs onto the battle field, jamming countless ants beneath the thrashing mess. Some effort was being made by him to squish what looked to be areas well populated with the bandits. More than anything he made a concentrated effort to not thrash himself accidentally into the Kirigakure front line. Squishing one of his allies, even if was a mistake, wasn't something he could risk. That sort of carelessness was criminal on the battlefield.

As focused as he was, there was no ignoring some things. He was unable to be oblivious as the sky darkened. Even through the masses of goo that coated his true body, deep beneath the flesh of the monster he had created, he could hear the familiar crackle of thunder. It was enough to make him pause, for two separate reasons. Thunder was usually something he welcomed with excitement. The exalted drums of Susanoo beating in a place like this surely would signal a glorious victory. The idea that this cursed land would ever see a drop of rain naturally was something Chigetsu had a hard time believing though. The entire place was drained of any moisture, from the air to the ground. There wasn't a chance that thunder would occur naturally here. That left two explanations. Divine intervention, or there was a raiton technique being cast down upon him. That, even in his current form, was something he needed to be concerned about. Just as he was about to assume the worst, Chigetsu would feel it.

Rain. Then snow. The surge of the storm was enough to make his flailing slow. It was a half-hearted mangling now, as he attempted to watch for any further changes. The insanity of snow within the desert was enough to make him assume this was Verdandi's doing almost immediately, but there was a part of him that was hopeful it wasn't. What more could he ask for than a rumbling display of Susanoo's pleasure? It became clearer as time passed that the snow was all unfortunately a production of chakra. The earth-shattering kaboom that followed only confirmed it. It had all been a trick of his comrades. It was impressive, even if disappointing. The masses of explosions along the sand dunes were something he could observe just from the plumes of sand they threw into the air and were made even more obvious by the collapse of the dune. The mess that was made down on the battlefield was a great distraction. There were moments when he couldn't help but watch it happen.  

It was the movements of the little Spider-Nin along his shoulder that tore his eyes away. Prepared to thrash anyone who dared to climb his slimy mass, he stopped just short of twisting into a death roll once he noticed who it was that had scaled him. Instead of the small kunoichi on his shoulder, he would turn down to direct his wrath at the remnants of their foes. A slam of a tentacle down would bring Haka off him, charging towards what he recognized as the likely leadership of this mob. He had just barely missed them, but in truth they weren't something he had been aiming for. Over extending himself and becoming a priority target by assaulting the leadership would have just resulted in the behemoth Chigetsu falling. The massive target that he was, in all its glory, was nothing more than a big target to those who had the right firepower to punch through. The concentrated effort that was made to repel him in swords and arrows fell futile, and a concentrated fanning of fuuton techniques ended in a similar squishy fate. Those that penetrated into his tangling mass simply dug into liquid, and projectiles that lost their momentum would be absorbed. The massive terror held in it a surprising fragility. His role on the battlefield wasn't to plow through until the enemy was destroyed, but to demoralize and distract. The scrambling of his arachnid friend almost went unnoticed, up until the moment she began to use him as a form of transportation. He made sure to be at least conscious of her position, lest he become an unfortunate bug swatter. The way she managed to climb and maneuver across his slimy body so easily was definitely a surprise, considering the fates of others who made contact with his goo.  

The execution of their leader and general mayhem that was being enacted across the battlefield crushed the moral of those who remained alive. The orders of Maigo would be followed eagerly, and those who remained would pursue the now routed Sunagakure troops.  

---

[973/6144]
Total Thread WC: [19,220]

Chakra 95/190 :

Mayhem shall befall those whom dare to cross their paths with the mist and reawaken the bloody sins of our past. To fuel our desires and instincts and bring us to become the natural killers that had brought terror to this world oh so many times.

Verdandi was out cold. Her clones had disappeared and their chakra slowly returned to her pool waking her. She was still weak from the insane mass of energy she had used to bend the very shape of the mountain dunes. But conversing with one of the shinobi that was carrying her would make it clear. Their goal had been reached. Verdandi's tactic had been complete and the enemy was now but forced to watch their own army buried alive beneath the very sand that they called their home. Following the latest intel and orders from the battlefield. Maigo and many of the charging Kiri-nin leaders had made things clear that they would not allow this battle to end with hundreds of enemies escaping just so they could attack and try another day. They had to be wiped and whilst Verdandi came to her senses. She asked the men carrying her to stop. Dropping her gently onto her weak legs. Verd would move slowly past the now broken-away mountain rim of sand dunes to stare down at the very havoc she herself had created. Her eyes would widen at the sight below. She could see hundreds of weapons sticking from the sand. Crying and screaming men. Kiri-nin falling into the front ranks. The western forces had long since broken through the shamble remains of the westerns suna militia. The uneven battlefield quickly taking advantage that the numbers of Kiri-nin would by now far surpass those of the invaders. The Kiri troops from the west would rapidly swarm and clash into the central and eastern forces. It was a slaughter.

Chigetsu the knight and tower piece. He had clearly marked his worth as a monster and special weapon to the battlefield. The troops surrounding him were on higher morale than anywhere else. To charge battle with the by far largest monster leading them on was riling the men up to feel overly confident and at the same time the very view of his existence was breaking the spirit in the east. While the Kiri-nin obviously tried to avoid the monster as its goo seemed to be clearly toxic to anyone within reach. They worked beside it and charged whenever the large Hozuki advanced as well.

Haka had done what she could do best. Assassination. Leaders would fall. Important men would vanish. Flags and symbols of power disappear. Morale would fall to an all time low in the advancers ranks. The most important leader directly killed by the spider herself. His corpse a mere reminder of how they were failing their very own attack in this valley of the dead.

Maigo was charging through the men like they were flies. Giving them a clear picture of his superiority in strength. Clashing only with the higher ranked enemies while the rest around him would wither like cattle infected by his very presence. The central forces advancing as well. Storming the remaining charges and waves of the intruders.

The west had been eradicated and buried. The east was being swallowed by a huge monster in advance. The central was being massacred by the Hunter and his men crushing the very core of the enemy. The leaders had fallen. Fear would creep upon every last remaining soldier of the sand. Signals would be shot into the heavens. Screams would echo for their need to retreat. The front lines would crumble down as suna-nin would sacrifice themselves at the front in order to give their own men behind a tiny chance to escape. As the forces of Kiri surrounded the remaining troops against the entrance of the valley.

Verdandi would clearly see what had to be done and thanks to her advanced position on the high ground and the pathway her men had carried her towards. She was closer to the valleys entrance than anyone else. If they manage to pass through the mountain ridden pathway from the valley out into the open desert, they would escape for good. Kiri-nin would not have the endurance to hunt the scattering ants over the whole desert platform. Not after they already had fought for so long and lost so much energy. Verdandi moved. Her helpers following close behind her. Avalanche soon catching up with her allowing her to grab on his fur and tug on him to move her light weight body onto his back. Charging down the mountain side would allow him to use gravity in his advance to actually move quicker than on open ground despite the young girl clinging to his back and slowing his motions.

As expected, Verdandi and her men arrived at the entrance before the suna-nin had passed the mountain ridge. They were swarming against the walls while most likely being slaughtered at the entrance by the rest of her Squad. The five wind users and the five water users neatly positioned themselves on top of each side at the very exit of the mountain ridge. Verdandi and Avalanche moved down. Standing at the very centre of the exit. Seeing the large forces incoming for them. Verdandi wouldn't be able to stop them head on. Tactic was necessary and as usual. She had an idea. Calling upon the few reserves of her chakra. Verd would spew out a large amount of slimy starch syrup from her lips. The famous water technique well known by the kiri-nin that followed her here. The five water users following suit and adding to Verdandi's sticky mass of jelly that would flood the whole thing entrance ridge. Ultimately sloshing down back into the masses of the suna troops and trapping their feet in the sticky liquid. Every step they took within it would further slow down the ninja. The kiri-nin on top of the ridge turned into snipers. Shooting air and water bullets down into the ridge below to hit the ones that enclosed the exit. But Verdandi wasn't finished with her final move. Not by a long shot. Not while she still had a single ounce of chakra within her veins she would stop.

Attaching her remaining explosive tags from within her sleeves to her three shuriken and her kunai, she would shoot them at each side of the exit. The four explosions quickly bringing rumble down that would narrow the exit into a very very small pathway. Verdandi would move forward to stand in this very pathway and inhale deeply. Closing her eyes. The screams of suna-nin being shot down from water and air bullets would echo into the mountain ridge. Adding to the difficulty to move through the filed of syrup, the incoming enemies would have to try an climb over the corpses of their own dead allies. Verdandi's eyes once more would shine in a brightly lit sapphire colour emitting her Frost chakra from her body. Her eyes locked up onto the sky that was still riddled with her own clouds and how rain and snow would now too reach this area and slowly bring her very killer intent upon the remaining enemy forces. With a final loud exhale of the very last that she could tap within her chakra. Verd would raise her newest creation of her most famous ice spears onto the exit. Just as the first ones dared to try and enter the narrow escape route. Frost would raise from below their feet.

The frost she had sent into the ground would extend up to 50m forward into the mountain ride. The frost spikes would raise from below and start dig past the syrup field into the bodies of the escapees. Spikes as large as 5 meters would cover the whole pathway of the 50m forward and bury themselves into any potential target. Cutting two inches deep into their skin and further reducing their chances to flee. As if the torture of being dunked in syrup and impaled on frost spikes wasn't enough. The natural ability of this Hyouton chakra would start to freeze the syrup field slowly. Ice would layer itself on top of the syrup. Making movement even worse. The exit becoming a dead end for the suna-nin. The few that still tried to move on while getting cut by ice spikes and sinking within frost and syrup beneath their feet would be shot down by the snipers on top of the ridge. Not to say that maigo and his men would soon have eradicated the remains within the valley and follow up into the ridge to slaughter the rest of these men. Verdandi casually hopping to stand at the top of one of her ice spikes. Glaring down at the death below her. Avalanche the bear sitting now at the exit. Ready to paw his deadly claws at anyone that would somehow manage to move past this deadly trap of an exit.

The fight was over. The battle was finished. What now remained was but the cruel reminder that the bloody mist, held no prisoners.


Verd WC: 1550 / 6335
Thread WC: 20'770

Chakra 10/200:

The enemies forces were scattered and retreating, few stood back or turned themselves to fight in that burning and malicious heat. With everyone that turned back, they would be overcome by yells and shouts, their blood spilled out and strewn across the land with looks of despair in their final moments. The various Kiri ninja descending and slaughtering out who they could and unrelenting into their final chase. Maigo descended upon two unsuspecting souls and impaled them into each other and then into the sand itself. A women sat above the man with blood pouring from her chest and leaking from the edge of her lips, Maigo felt nothing though in the cold and pleading eyes she gave off in her final moments. Violence had become an art form and he watched it unfold around him and consume the canvas of the desert.

With a final watch, he would rip the sword from their chests and let the two bodies slump over into the sand and let them pool up their blood together. Soon, the various vultures and creatures of the desert would crawl out to consume them or the Kiri nin would collect their bodies to gather information. None of that mattered to Maigo though, he was bent on returning to his post, walking back slowly once the last few were crushed under the fists of the Kirigakure ninja. Dragging the blade of his sword into the sand to clean the sharpened edge before flinging it wildly up in the air and behind his back before clipping it in place behind his cloak.

He was done with the day, done with this invasion. Cleaning up was someone else's job and he returned to the gate to take a final tally of what they would have lost in lives, in gear, and seeing if any of those he was in charge of on guard duty would have died needlessly in the line of duty. Maybe they would have but it would be better if they didn't. His tired feet dragging him apathetically past various Kiri ninja as he made his way past the collapsed sand dune and towards the encampment they had come from. His face carried plainly, no smile or melancholy about it, drawing curious looks from others that might come by him as they charged in to finish off the stragglers and guarantee the deaths of everyone that they could. Maigo could care less though, his feet dragged on and around various senbon he'd thrown earlier and the scattered arrows he had knocked away, the electric needles fading away as the chakra ran out and dispersing into the sand at his feet as well.

Once back to his guard post, he would find the closest thing he could to shade before reaching back and snapping his sword free from him, letting it fall to the ground next to him before slumping down himself. His back resting against the table they had to check things and his legs out in front of him. Maigo's head would stay mostly down before waiting for his squad to return to this point, waiting and watching beyond that to see they were alright and to see what Kiri ninja would be brought in injured or drag various bodies with them. His watch was almost over but he'd still have to file a report on it all, or maybe convince one of the others to do it? Now that was almost an idea...


[584 words, 5016 words total]
[3500 words for Mission Complete]
[Exit Thread]

Training:

The remaining enemies were fleeing, their own troops chasing to follow up Maigo's orders. Haka would run her hand through her hair, brushing it out of the way. This hunt was over in the eyes of the spider-nin. Red eyes looking around the battlefield, all she would find was blood and dead flesh, broken weapons and flags. She had heard tales about the Blood Mist before but this was the first time she would lay eyes upon it. The stories of genin fighting to the death to earn their position as a shinobi of Kirigakure had always appealed to her as they spoke very much to the lifestyle she was used to, but this felt indefinitely better. One massive clash that would cull the weak and allow the strong to step forward. This proved the essence of the Blood Mist was not entirely lost to Kirigakure despite the persistent curbing of its resurrection. Good.

In the distance she could see Verdandi standing on top of ice spikes, looking down on the remains of the battlefield as well, the gore, the blood. The deaths of the people just as versatile in approach as that of the war themed fresco she had spotted in Sero's library. An ode to the Blood Mist? Or did Sero truly like this sort of theatrical graves? She couldn't say. To her it was a display of power triggered by foolish behaviour rather than a desire to make a point or even impose dominance. Survival of the fittest in a hunt for prey that had come to escalate. Unfortunately for the Sunagakure shinobi they had stumbled upon the adept hunters of Ahoban and would not live to tell the tale.

Pulling her eyes away from the Ice Princess and the slaughter, Haka looked at the mass of non-pudding terror that was Chimonstru. Of all the people here, not counting Maigo, he looked the least exhausted of all the people here. The spider-nin could only wonder how he had succeeded to do so, her respect for his combat abilities acknowledged again. Was there no limit to his growth?

Her analysis would bring her to Maigo, the one who had lead them in this battle. The speed of his movement, the agility in how he wielded his weapon. It was easy to conclude his skill was far beyond the league of Ahoban, making the spider-nin wonder how well he would fare against Sero. Was he at his level? Higher? Lower? It was hard to say. In fact, it reminded the spider-nin she had no real idea of what Sero's true power was like. All she had to base his strength upon was that one hit the first they had met, and the Seal Gates he had used to open Hansha. Perhaps it would be high time she requested to fight her creator.

With those thoughts in mind, seeing as how Maigo didn't bother with the cleanup of the battle field, Haka would follow in his wake believing he was setting the example of the squads new direction - back to camp. The fatigue of chakra use and the muscle strain from all that running on Chigetsu and through the war zone was catching up. The spider would once more open the Seal Gate that looked into the stables, seeing the Clydesdale horse trod onto the sand, patted the animal upon its arrival and mounted the horse. She'd throw one last look in Verdandi's direction as if to assure herself she still had Avalance at her side as a mount, then at Chigetsu to see if he had returned to his normal size. If so, she'd drive the horse to pick him up if he so wanted. If not, his giant size wouldn't do well on the horse, so she'd wait a little for him to shrink before returning back to base. If he, however, decided to not hop on the horse at all, Haka would return to base by herself.

---

[EXIT]

675
Total: 4534
- 3500 mission
- 750 E rank Fuinjutsu Mastery
- 200 extra ryo (+50)
Discarding rest


Thread WC: 22.029

75/200:

The retreat was incredibly undignified. The Suna forces had been broken, both their lines and spirits, by the retaliating Kiri army. It wasn’t pleasant to watch. While it had been a large attack by the opposing Suna forces that was meant to be a showing of strength, it only seemed to expose their weakness. The mishmash of uniforms and general disorganization of arms among Suna forces was in stark contrast to the standard issue war machine that was Kiri. The military-industrial complex produced a large amount of standard matte-black weaponry and matching uniforms that were made to take into account Suna’s heat and compensate for it. This was the nature of the professionally trained army of shinobi that the Land of Water fielded. The mismatch of bandits and half-trained conscripts led by a few hardened veterans was hardly comparable to the sheer force that Kiri could bring to bear. This was the nature of Suiton. A vast overwhelming force that struck down at the foe. Even if the initial wave only broke against rocks, eventually it would be worn down with an unending torrent of force that would never end until the enemy was crushed.  

Chigetsu almost felt bad as he saw their backs turn to flee. His role in this battle was over. Unable to drag himself forward to such an extent to chase after them, he would come to a rest. The unwieldy nature of his transformation would get in the way of his allies as well should he attempt to pursue. He was nothing more than a set piece in this battlefield to begin with. While he surely crushed many with his flailing his prime purpose was to serve as a distracting and demoralize the enemies. A towering monstrosity that blocked out the sun was more than most could handle, especially when that beast could absorb through attacks and burnt the skin when touched. The appearance of a monster he took was specifically to frighten and appear unnatural, rather than for its combat efficiency. Despite how terrifying and large he was, Chigetsu was just a Chunin. Sustained fire from ninjutsu would surely take him down, but the formations that came about from mass warfare prevented widespread destructive techniques from being easily used. Chigetsu was just as constrained. Thrashing about too wildly would result in the deaths of allies, and so his options for movement were massively restricted. Now that the morale of the enemy had thoroughly been shaken he would allow himself to drain. The massive form that was Chimonstru would collapse like a popped balloon. Water would stream from his body, releasing out into the sands. The blood -soaked battlefield would be washed over in a flood of goo, wiping away much of the scene of battle and turning the entire area into a swamp. From the gooey mass his true body would emerge, stumbling out of the heap that he left behind. All the goo he left behind would evaporate into nothing eventually, and hopefully not cause any structural damage.  

As he came out from his massive goo suit Chigetsu would appear sparkling, and almost healthier and more energetic than he had been before. The battle, rather than being a toll on his energy, served as an opportunity for him to soak up the blood of the dead and gorge himself on that liquid meal. No longer feeling as though he would evaporate at any moment much of the fatigue and irritation that plagued him in this land disappeared. It would be an entirely temporary feeling, and as what he had absorbed here boiled away he would be reduced down to the same frustration, but he would enjoy this fullness while he could. Despite how massive he was his overall contribution to that battle was low. Getting off easy while his allies were exhausted gave him a strange mixture of pride and shame. Still dripping and somewhat sticky, Chigetsu would accept Haka’s invitation to return to the base atop her Clydesdale without a word. His hopping up on top to ride would be punctuated with a squelch and a sigh. Squelching and bubbling noises would continue to come out from his body as they returned to base, each shift and movement provoking another. Other than the sounds his body made he would remain silent, watching the battlefield as they rode off.

---

[732/6876]
- 3500 mission
- 3000 Water Clone - Traceless Legend
- 300 +75 ryo
[EXIT]

Total Thread WC: [22,761]

And hence, the battle was over. The men surrounding Verdandi showed her the respect she supposedly earned from her tactic decisions and then returned to their forces. The last remaining enemy troops would be questioned and executed. Some would potentially be brought back to the camp for proper interrogation. Knowing that Kiri didn't make prisoners Verd however was pretty certain that their fates were just as sealed as those dead bodies that were already dying at her feet.

A tremendous victory. In all her missions for all the various villages she had served in terms of diplomatic interest, none of them had been as large as this one. Despite the very fact that it started out as but a small, guard duty mission. She had thought, that conversing with the Uchiha would be the toughest part of this day. But he had already left the battlefield. Verd could see from afar how Haka and Chi packed their things. The way Chi reformed himself was an odd but interesting practice, while Haka's majestic horse was still a sight to behold.

Verd softly placed her palm to her forehead. She felt dizzy. Headache was creeping up on her. Avalanche slowly moved in beside her. He could feel how the strength of his Master was leaving their body. Verd happily sunk back into his fur. She had overused her powers in display of strength. But it reminded her, that despite her tactical knowledge and success, she didn't properly control her powers just yet. She needed deeper practice with her new techniques, despite having a vast knowledge about ninjutsu, ice in specific, the way to efficiently use it and not waste chakra would still need practice.

Avalanche slowly trotted down the pathway. The starch syrup field left behind a large graveyard of impaled men by the hand of Verdandi's spikes and many more that had been sniped and shot down by her helpers. Kiri-nin were swarming into the valley. Collecting corpses. Making sure the bodies were really dead and not just pretending. Collecting weapons. Armor. Searching for unique traits within them. If any of them had a nice bloodline they would be food for the ANBU. Genetic traits were always interesting research material.

The piles of bodies were terrifyingly large. Verd couldn't help but notice that they needed special sensory ninja to even find the corpses she had buried beneath the sand. Dawning on Verdandi that many of them probably suffocated beneath the hot sand that hence became but their coffin. The brutality that was dealt today was indeed reminiscent to the days of the bloody mist. The darkness of Kiri's past was slowly rising. With people like Maigo whom were living for the blood rush. People like Haka that weren't really people but actual monsters. People like Chi that… well the same thought as with Haka, despite that he had actual human emotions to back up his joy in trampling his enemies. Literally.

And then there was Verdandi. Once more she wondered where she fit in. In a perfect world she would have just frozen the whole valley. Convince her enemies that they are wrong and rather cooperate with the join venture of the villages than resisting and reaching for violence. She still questioned how righteous this act of moving into suna was anyway. But Verdandi was simple. The moment her enemy resolved and was willing to kill her, they had forsaken themselves. The small line that separates her from a true eternal paragon type, alike the prodigal seventh Hokage. The legend that redefined how it good and righteous you could be as a shinobi. She wasn't that perfect. She neither liked nor disliked it to kill. She enjoyed the rush of a battle. She would prefer to spare her enemies but was certainly not going to punish herself with mindless worries or regrets because she did her job.

If she really was doing wrong, Karma would someday return and punish her for her misdeeds and when that day would come. She would accept it. As a fair judgement. Just as she tries to fairly judge her own enemies. Making all of them, with herself included. Equal in the face of true, bitter, dark karma. This world was a tragic and violent one. But maybe she'd be allowed to grow her own haven, her paradise in the snow. Maybe it'd work out this time. Maybe people would be happy this time. Or another Hao would come by and ruin it once again.

Verdandi sighed, her eyes still locked at the horizon. Watching the kiri-nin tend to their wounded, recover the tags and bodies of their dead and pile up the enemies like dead cattle after claiming their goods. Mass graves would be lifted into the sand. Corpses would be burned. Famine was not something Kiri wanted to invite onto the doorstep of their encampment. The poison that their rotting corpses would emit was not something they could allow to grow from their carcasses and take revenge on the Kiri population in a way that, many victorious armies before, had fallen victim for.

The holes that were dug into the sand were large. The bodies would soon burn. The whole valley before the Kiri camp would be lit in large fires. While the bodies of their own would be covered. Put into bags, frozen one way or another, kept for processing or eventual burials if the families requested so. Most of them had however no family. Or were true soldiers. Their bodies would be cremated and added to the flow of the ocean nearby.

Verdandi wondered how many more men would eventually fall in this conflict. She could only guess. She had no idea that the real, grand battle was yet to come, yet to happen. How all of this would change her. How suna would influence her whole story, her character, her ideals and wishes. How this place would become her hell to force her to grow on it or shatter forever. It would be her first true test of willpower.

Avalanche would reach the companions of her Squad. But by the time Ava arrived there. Verdandi had already fallen asleep against his back. The bear softly growled in Haka from one predator to the other and moved his head in to nuzzle against his cuddle buddy Chigetsu before the bear silently and without much contemplation trotted off into the Kiri camp. He'd find their tent and make sure to drop off his Master in her own bed. She'd need a lot of rest to refill the empty chakra gauge within her. That night Verd would dream of the large battle she had. Her psyche would obviously need to cope with what she had seen. But it seemed resistant and resilient against the potential ill effects and worries of war. A true shinobi. A hunter. A killer and yet a paragon. In her very own, odd way. The lawfully good. Or the chaotic hero. She didn't know where to place herself in this world. But she knew. The world had no choice but to live with her existence for now.

[EXIT]

Verdandi WC: 1200 / 7'535
Final Thread WC: 23'961 (9 EP)

WC Usage: