Nagare faced his window, looking out over the cloudy mountains, nothing special for Kumo, really. He could only imagine what the day had in store for him. He knew that Reika had reassigned his Genin; that Aya girl would now be personally trained by Reika herself. But today, his goal wasn't one that involved his squad, but rather a solo mission to save people from a recent landslide. It was a big deal, because Kumo hadn't had a landslide occur in many years, especially not on Sky Point. In fact, there had never been a landslide on Sky Point since the very founding of Kumo, which made things even more odd. He figured he would soon find out what had happened, as his mission was to not only save survivors but also investigate. He got dressed quickly and prepared Horui before leaving for Sky Point. The walk itself would take about an hour or two, so they were prepared far ahead of time.

Sky Point's perfect beauty had been tainted by dust clouds that rose into the sky like plumes of smoke, breaking the scenery's clear image. Large Boulders were now piled at the bottom of the mountain, obviously leaving trails behind them from where they fell. Mud covered half of it, and snow (both white and brown) was scattered all over. The first thing that stuck out to the twins wasn't all of these things, but rather the fact that there was actual smoke, not as much, but still a noticeable amount, lining the brown clouds of dust. There was fire? How had a fire occurred on a snowy mountain after a landslide? They stepped to its base, and looked up.

Utilizing Supernatural Walking Practice, Nagare ran up the steep slope of Sky Point, with Horui following close behind. Each step seemed to dislodge more rock, and it grew harder and harder to maintain a steady pace. Suddenly, Horui's foot broke threw the surface of the rock, and he fell a few meters before catching himself. Nagare was too focused on the fire ahead, and continued without Horui. With a silent sigh, Horui stood again, and watched Nagare sprint away. He had little hope of catching up, but he would still have to follow, so he started running after him, with a strained look. The rocks had hurt his foot a bit, and running was painful, to put it simply.

Nagare reached the fire within minutes, and used a simple water technique. He created a torrent within his hand, and the liquid spun furiously. He threw it at the flames, and it splashed and churned until it became a larger amount of water, extinguishing them. He looked around, and noticed a figure trapped between a few small rocks. The first survivor, one of thirteen, as described in the mission details. He ran over to the silhouette, and pulled it from the rocks. A short man, easy enough to carry, but unconscious. He slung the man over his shoulder, and turned to examine the charred area of the fire. It was obvious that this wasn't natural; it had left an indent in the side of the cliff that indicated an explosion.

Horui caught up, and took the man from Naga's shoulder, placing it on his own. Nagare nodded in thanks and decided to climb higher, in search of more survivors. The rockslide started at the top of the mountain, most likely due to the explosion from this area of the mountain. His feet glowed with chakra again, and he gestured for Horui to follow as he scaled the mountain. This last stretch was many meters long, and it took him a few minutes to run up to it, but he when he got there, he heard screams and cries from all over. At least....six different voices, crying for help up here alone. "Okay, Horui, the plan is simple. You go back to the site of the explosion and search for more survivors, I'll catch all the ones up here." Horui nodded and hopped back down to the earlier area.

Nagare called out to the victims, in hopes of making this easier on himself. It was pretty hard to hunt down voices when there were so many yelling at the same time. "I'm here to help you all! Just one at a time!" this only made their screams louder, as they each wanted to be first. "SHUT UP AND JUST....ugh, who ever can he me clearly....uhm...shit." They were all silent, and this only made it harder to hunt down each one of them. This would be interesting. He labored toward the nearest rumbling in the rocks, and pushed a few of them out of the way to reveal a bloodied face. He pulled the person's hand and lifted them from the debris, a woman who hugged him and cried. She stood and began helping Naga look for the rest of the victims.

Horui was still at the explosion site, pushing through the various rocks and ashes. The sound of footsteps behind him immediately made him turn. A bald man with a hideous face covered in scars and burns stood there, with an evil grin. "So, you're trying to save these fools....you're only setting yourself up to be the next victim." Horui scowled at the man, and pulled out a Tachiba knife. "I'm Riku Ayudake...and my battleaxe will be the last thing you see." and with that, Riku dashed at Horui, holding a massive axe high overhead, glowing with Fuuton chakra. Horui dodged the hit, and flashed back to the fight against blacksmith with Bokuden. You're wrong. This won't be my first time seeing a battleaxe coming at me, and it certainly won't be my last. he thought to himself as he charged at Riku with the Tachiba.

Battle Theme: Riku vs. Horui

Horui knew his way around close-quarters combat. The axe was swinging wildly at various angles and from different directions; an overhead swing here, a quick slash there, a stab there. Riku's strategy wasn't a smart one, and Horui, between dodges, managed to figure out the pattern. Slash, stab, slash, overhead, kick, repeat. The kick left a perfect opening where Riku would find his footing before pulling up the axe and swinging; Horui took this opportunity and sweeped Riku, knocking him to the ground. Instinctively, the bald ninja raised the axe to shield himself, although it didn't do much. Horui shoved the Tachiba knive into Riku's stomach, and the man let out a howl of pain. He shoved the axe to Horui's neck, forcing him to stand, and pulled the knife from his torso, throwing it to his left.

Horui, with no time to go and retrieve his knife, made a couple of hand seals, and mist covered the area. Riku, with no hope of finding his way through this, began to weave some hand seals of his own. Upon completion, he pressed a hand to the ground, and the ground began to shake furiously, until more rocks crashed around them. Horui's leg got caught, and he fell to the ground. Riku made another hand seal, and a burst of wind chakra cut in all directions around him, slicing Horui in various places. Pain shot through him as he got back to his feet, and Riku seemed to be looking around in an effort to find him. He activated Heat Mapping to target Riku, aimed directly at his torso, and launched a Great Fireball. It impacted hard, and Riku was sent flying backwards, skidding against the ground until he reached the edge. He stepped his weight with his foot so that he wouldn't fall off of the cliff, before slowly getting back to his feet. "You're pretty good, kid." Horui released the mist, and stood, face-to-face with him, about 10 meters apart. He picked up his Tachiba knife again, and Riku drew his axe, and they clashed weapons at full force.

Nagare had managed to save 4 others, leaving one to be found up there. Their cries had ceased, maybe a sign that they were unconscious?....hopefully not dead. Suddenly, Nagare heard the sound of blades clashing below, and figured Horui had ran into some trouble. He pivoted his foot and faced the woman, who had been helping find victims. "I need to help my twin, someone is fighting him. Can you and the others look for the last person?" the woman nodded in approval, and Nagare ran down, on his way to Horui.

Horui was forced against the charred wall of cliff, axe to his neck once again. Riku had managed to overpower him, and it was looking grim, when Nagare arrived. He pulled a Tachiba knife of his own from the sash around his torso, and threw it at Riku. It stabbed into Riku's back, between his shoulder and spine, and blood seeped from the large wound. Riku yanked it from his back without a second thought, and dropped it, turning to face Naga. The axe released Horui, and he gasped for air. "You're gonna regret that."

"Am I, really?" Nagare replied, jokingly. He made some hand seals, and used Fire Release: Hunter Cerberus Bombs. The three massive fireballs went straight for Riku by following his heat, and they exploded into a massive flame on impact. He ran out from the flame, covered in burns, and lifted his axe. "WIND RELEASE: CUTTING EDGE!" Riku screamed, and his axe glowed blue for a moment before growing to 10 times its original size, by becoming fully covered in multiple layers of razor sharp chakra. Nagare knew that the burns had done some serious damage, and Riku couldn't take much more. He pulled a scroll from his torso and summoned Ondan, who lifted a white-hot katana to block the axe-swing, which actually had a negative effect. The searing hot blade made the chakra surrounding the axe explode in flames. Ondan disappeared in smoke (he escaped by de-summoning himself) and both Nagare and Riku were caught in the blast.

The axe fell to the ground, melted from the pure heat. Nagare's clothes were burned, leaving him in a thin black shirt covered in holes, and some shorts than used to be pants. He removed the shirt completely, and looked down at Riku. The man was unconscious; but he wasn't out. A quick once-over of him revealed hidden tags sticking out from all areas of his body: he was about to suicide-bomb the place. The tags began to glow brightly, so Nagare ran to Horui and grabbed him, and they ran back to the summit of the mountain.

Standing at the foot of the summit, 13 people were there, about half of them unconscious. It looked like the group of victims had managed to find each other, lightening the work load on Naga. They needed to get off of that mountain, quick. "Listen up!" Nagare called out, feverishly. "There's a mass of paper bombs that we can't really disarm at this point. They're set to blow at any moment, and when they do, there will be another landslide, and we'll most likely end up dead. I need you guys to come with me. Raise your hands, how many of you are ninja who have learned Supernatural Walking?" Of the thirteen, only 5 of the people raised their hands. "Okay...and how many of you can carry another person?" 2 of the ninja raised their hands, and 4 of the civilians raised their hands. This will work Horui thought to Naga.

Nagare nodded, and gave the next orders quickly. "Now, everyone who can't use Supernatural Walking, jump into someone else's arms. I'll carry someone, and Horui will too." With their plan prepared, the 6 people who could carry others picked up a partner, and Horui carried the last. Nagare, now unburdened by the odd number of people (and therefore not having to carry one), ran forward, gesturing for everyone to follow. They needed to work fast, and they couldn't spend much time thinking. If they were too slow, they'd only be caught in the middle of the landslide, or worse, the explosion itself. They needed to hurry....and suddenly, it happened.

Within a matter of seconds, Nagare felt like the world stopped, time froze, and silence ruled. The rocks around them that shifted with every one of their steps stopped, everything blurred. He knew it was too late. The explosion was deafening and bright, and they were all blinded. Nagare fell down and began rolling before he managed to regain footing, and the ground was shaking like an earthquake on such a steep slope. All of the survivors and Horui stopped and grabbed something to hold onto, but the shaking made it hard to balance. When the shaking stopped, there were a few other problems. The landslide had started, and massive boulders were falling around them, crashing around through the thick, dust and ash filled air. Very little could be seen through the film in the sky, and Nagare yelled out to them. "Just follow the sound of my footsteps! We're getting closer!"

The survivors heeded his advice and they ran ahead, dodging boulders left and right. The noises around them were like explosions in themselves, between rocks crashing and skidding and subsequent cave-ins across the cliff. They continued down the slope, their blue chakra-infused feet leading the way. Nagare got an idea and pulled Yami no Ikimono from his hip, summoning a giant bat. "Get on! The ground isn't stable enough to keep running on...." He led them onto it's back, and they flew away, looking behind them as they went.

The sky grew orange as sunset neared, and the sight of the cloud of dust that surrounding the pure white mountain that was Sky Point was a sad sight. It's beauty was further tainted now. But one day, Nagare knew it would return to the way it once was, and when it did, Riku's goal would be done. Nagare will have won. Until then, he sighed, and wished that Riku had never come here. They landed at the mountain's base, and Nagare de-summoned the bat. All of the survivors thanked him and Horui, who was looking rather tired. They were all covered in soot and dust and cuts and bruises, but they had survived, and that was all that mattered.

The group dispersed, each set to go back to their homes. Nagare checked Horui to make sure he was okay, before looking back towards Kumogakure. "C'mon, Horui, let's go get our reward for a job well done." They walked the scenic route, as the night began behind them. Their pale skinned figures walking down the path in the moonlight faded away as they turned the corner, headed toward the Kage's Mansion.




Mission Word Count:
2,524/2,500

Training Water Release: Flourish Tear
Word Count: 850/850
(15% off due to Sōseiji KKG + Quick Learner)

Training Water Release: Water Eel
Word Count: 1,275/1,275
(15% off due to Sōseiji KKG + Quick Learner)