The Mission:

Talking about nose to the grind stone. Sanosuke hasn't been back a for a single day and he was already getting pushed off for an assignment. Sanosuke had just gotten off the ferry from Suna after guiding Toraika in the right direction to begin her journey as a sennin. She was already so excited that she had received the blessing of Lady Aelita, the Great Sage of the Bird Clan. The jounin already promised the girl that he would begin to teach her ways to properly implement the senjutsu chakra she was bestowed by Aelita-sama. In the meantime Sanosuke suggested that she rest and spend time with the people she loved. On that note she gave Sanosuke a rib splitting hug that made the Wasp sennin literally feel every rib in his rib cage snap at the monstrous hug he was given. A kiss on the cheek and she was off. A blush was on his face  with the kiss. No doubt she went to see her boyfriend she wouldn't shut up about the whole time they were on the ferry from Kiri and back. It made Sanosuke wonder when exactly the boy that was seeing his student would just give the girl the 'D' to keep her quiet. Of course he was kidding with that. If anyone put harm on his student, they would answer to him.

A messenger ninja that was covered in cold sweat appeared before Sanosuke and Navi. He was given a scroll that was written hastily. Dry blood clinged to the scroll as he held it. Some of the blood was even flaking off. This was not a good site at all. The messenger ninja hurried him to read the contents in the scroll. It read the following...Io has been located on the battle-field with a host of fresh bodies and is moving for the front Gates of Kirigakure to attack the ceremony. Assistance to dealing with the enemy forces is critical! When Sanosuke asked the messenger shinobi what ceremony the scroll was referring to, the messenger shinobi replied and told the kumo jounin, as though he was living under a rock, that Mizukage Ayakashi was appointing new members of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist. That would make sense. It was a big event to Kirigakure history. Many Kiri orginated forces, including the Mizukage herself, would be there at the ceremony; along with most of Kiri's finest shinobi. So their defenses were heavily damaged. This was bad indeed. It would make sense that Sanosuke would be called for this mission. He was an outsider to the Kirigakure ways. In his travels, he learnt about the importance of the Seven Swordsman; but he was simply impartial to a new Seven Swordsman being appointed. There was work to be done.

Swiping his hand to the side, Sanosuke dismissed the shinobi that had delivered the message to him. With his task and package delivered, the messenger activated the body flicker jutsu to leave at high speeds. In a trail of mist, there was no trace of the messenger shinobi anywhere. Now Sanosuke was in front of the barracks holding a scroll in his hands that was crusted in blood. There was definitely work to be done that only a few could do. So he had to take down some resurrected shinobi huh? Shouldn't be too hard. After all, he was a sennin. Who knows he might even be able to fight them all and kill Io without having to go into Sage Mode not even once. It wouldn't surprise him since Sanosuke was stronger than he was 5 years ago.  Now he would put in his training to the task of defending the greater good. The scroll that was in his hand held information that in the wrong hands would hold a significant amount of information. It had to be dealt with as swiftly as possible. Focusing chakra into his hands that held the scroll, his hands popped with lightning. It sizzled in the paper causing it to catch fire. It wasn't katon he activated to burn the scroll but simple lightning. It was needed so that he could dispose of the scroll. The ashes fell on the ground where he rubbed the ashes into the dirt. Now there was no information of the scroll being here.

"Navi we're moving out..." Sanosuke said as he adjusted his gauntlets. He made sure they were as tight as possible. When he was done, he adjusted his sword that was on his back. On his belt was several kunai knives that dangled from the chains that were hanging low on his pants. It made it easier to pull out a blade when it was right there. Finally he got his headband that was tied to his left bicep and tightened it. If by some miracle he died, then Sanosuke wanted the world to know that he was fighting as a shinobi of the vilage hidden in the clouds. This madness was something that only Sanosuke could stop. Taking off down the streets, Sanosuke ran at high speeds. He was passing shinobi left and right who were fighting fights in all directions. Still Sanosuke ran past them and a was running at insane speeds. Jumping between rooftops with the utmost grace of movement. With the help of wind chakra on his heels, he was propelling his body to move farther and farther while he was picking up speed; making him move faster and faster. He had to get to the front lines. There was no arguing that the situation was dear. The report said that Io and his forces were moving right in for the front gates of Kirigakure. Sanosuke had to be sure that he would intercept them right there. It would be the last inch that Sanosuke would allow Io and his forces to gain in Kirigakure. Even though this wasn't his village, Sanosuke would fight tooth and nail to defend Kiri from being destroyed.

"Don't make me look bad Sano, I'm going all out." Navi said confidently as she flew at Sanosuke's sides as he weaved through the many different size roofs that varied with each rooftop he ran across of. She was keeping up with Sanosuke rather well with her fast flying.

"Just try and keep up!" Sanosuke said with a smirk to his partner. He was sure that Navi was returning the look back at him. They were really too similar that it was amazing. Sounds of battle could be heard as Sanosuke got closer and closer to the approximate location where Seven Bell's general Io was leading forces to attack Kirigakure. They were undead shinobi that were being controlled by puppets. This would be a tricky fight even for Sanosuke. But he was sure that as long as he had Navi at his side, he would be okay somehow. Together the two could do anything they wanted to.

Kenji combed through his blue hair as he sat on the edge of his bed. He was just recovering from a long battle that pushed him near his limit, as he ended up taking a dangerous ANBU mission alone. Under those circumstances even the Lion Sage struggled to come out unscathed. With the help of the wonderful medical shinobi and a few hours rest, he was back at 100%. With that being so, he wasn't eager to head back out to the fight, as was apparent by his current preoccupation with grooming. The silver comb swept cleanly through the tufts of blue hair. Forever, his hair has been his trademark and pride, so it was only natural that he dedicated a good deal of time to keeping it up. After a few more cycles he rose from his bed and assembled his weapons on a table. As a shinobi trained in the art of using weapons to their fullest extent he always took great pleasure in just admiring the array of killing tools. His kunai and shuriken were perhaps found the most use, his Supa Hane katana lied in the center, sparkling after a good cleaning. Finally, his precious yet rusty crossbow, a weapon that had aided him many times.

His ANBU classified mission was done, and he was back in his traditional shinobi gear. He had on a sleevless gray vest (no defensive properties) and black loose fitting sweat pants. His forearm was decorated in a white wrap, a similar white wrap that covered the lower part of his face and neck. He hadn't been assigned a mission at the moment, but during war, it would behoove everyone to stay prepared. He slipped his Hane into its sheath along his left hip. He carried a quiver bookbag and his crossbow went over his shoulder. There were two brest pouches on his vest and two along both sides of his torso, and their were two on each thigh. These various pouches held his projectiles which he wielded deftly. He placed his foot on the edge of the table and tightly laced his black boots. The tall and lean shinobi exited his room, and looked around at one of the few secured areas of Kirigakure. This particular area had been fortified, so there was little commotion going on around this area. Kenji had received most of his assignments so far by one of the commanders in charge.

He walked briskly through the streets, getting some fresh air, not wanting to stay cooped in his room and also wanting to stay abreast on the status of other sites and battles, so he would be ready to be sent out if needed. It was important for him to stay involved, he hadn't traveled all the way from Kumogakure to just spectate. Kenji saw the commanders and a sub commander approach him in the middle of the street. Their faces were stressed, "We knew no one else on this location who we could go to about this, Chikara, Kenji, we need you once more." They hurried to the commander's office which was across the street. "First of all, great work yesterday, breaking the chain of command and delivering that final assault on the Seven Bells nested in the forrest. But, what we're facing now has never been seen before." Kenji crossed his arms pleading the man to get on with it, if it was as dire as he was making it seem to be, they didn't have much time. "Io, one of the Seven bell's elite shinobi. He is an extremely dangerous shinobi, Kage caliber. Well, this puppet barrage just doesn't end. The man known as Io is leading an undead puppet army right now... Anyone lesser than the best are going to get torn to shreds. We need your tact and skill out there on the battlefield. There will be other elite shinobi assissting you there." Kenji needed no more intel, he had dealt with human puppets, not like this, but he was sure it wouldn't be much different.

After leaving the office, he took out leaving a blue blur through the citiy streets as he ran at top speed to provide back up. As he exited the secured region, he took the roof tops as to avoid interrupting the other contests, so far so good. The allied forces were finally finding some chemistry and working well together. The battles were still gruesome, but this was war. His heart raced as he neared zone he'd been instructed was home to the dead rising. As he skipped effortlessly from building to building, he saw just what had spooked the commanders, "Well, I can't blame them I guess."

He caught sight of a shinobi with a... hidden cloud headd band around his bicep, along with a hovering creature nearby. Kenji then realized he had forgot to put on his head band. He grabbed it from his back pocket and tied it tightly around his forehead. He was building over from the man, as he was too sizing up the challenge they were about to engage in. He snapped his fingers, getting the man's attention (if not already spotted) in the midst of the grumbling below. The sleek texture of his gloves of reflection gave the snap a squeeky high pitch sound. After getting the man's attention he jumps over to the rooftop landing quietly about 5 meters away. He eyes the man, he appeared he could handle himself. Kenji feared that introductions would have to wait. He looked away from the man and down at the advancing army about 50-70 meters out. While gazing upon the task at hand, "it's times like these I wished I'd stayed in Kumogakure."

The vastness of the death march was terrifying. The creepy undead puppets advanced methodically, seemingly challenging any soul brave enough to get in their way. Kenji was a long range support fighter, but he had the ability to go on an offensive streak. He would have to, his initial goal would be to target the puppet masters from range with his crossbow, then after their numbers dwindled go in for the kill. That's what first came to mind, he was never much for strategy, he really tended to let things play out and go from there.


WC: 1067/3500

~The night before~
Io had been furious as the forward medical base had been lost to the now injured Mizukage. He should of tried to finish her. But no he had run from the fight in order to save his arm. Still everyone who had faced him in combat so far had failed to come out on top. The Mizukage, The Anbu captain. The Sannin with the hammers. He still wondered how that sannin's blood would feel on his hands. He however was not done with his influence of this war. His quizzical gaze looking over the ruins where he had fallen back to. He was surrounded by puppet masters now. High ranking individuals. He tilted his head as he observed them. He had not managed to arm more then a couple of them with unique puppets designed as siege weapons. Those two where being sent on their own mission against the samurai. No instead he had a bunch of dead bodies and a bunch of empty handed puppeteers. Of course as his mind made that connection he grinned. Before turning to his assistants.

"Mutilate the Kiri corpses and give them to the puppeteers. Make sure each is armed and resembles the pathetic person they used to be." And with that he went to work for the night and into the next day all the way up until nightfall. And then he was ready. The horror he would visit on the minds of Kiri and her people.

~The Hour of Horror~

Io moved forward with his forces. He had prepared a cushioned seat that was carried by four of his guard. One on each corner on top their shoulders. Around him marched the puppeteers. Some sneered and some where cold and calculated. But they all where guiding a pull cart with something covered within. It wasn't long before a scouting party attempted to engage them. The Kiri fools had recognized him and decided they could do what their Mizukage and Sannin could not. Perhaps they hoped to even wound him. But instead they where greeted by the eager puppeteers. He sipped his wine as the patrol squad screamed terrified reports into their coms before being cut down. Io ordered one of the men kept alive as he wanted a bit of a visual demonstration. They where expecting him now as he approached a direct line for the front gates.

As they moved through the mist the opposition was completely evading him. Likely they had been ordered to fall back to defend against his attack. He smiled as he leaned back in his chair. The green lower robes and the loose white upper robes where comfortable and clean still. He flexed his left arm experimentally. The injury had healed perfectly but he still remembered the loss of feeling in it. Still he had his men pass him the bottle of chilled red wine. As the progression halted they where still hidden in the mist. He smiled and directed the puppeteers to arm themselves. With out question they grabbed the mutilated kiri bodies and attached the invisible chakra strings to them.

Out of the mist emerged what looked like a horde of dead and at the back of it Io's cushioned seat sat where he gazed up at the wall. Oh so they had the nerve to try and stand against him. He smiled as he began to apply pressure to the bottom of the cork to his wine with one hand. His long hair tied back in a pony tail.

"Show them the price they pay for insolence."

With that they escorted the Kiri nin that had been in the scouting party they had engaged. Forcing him to kneel before the gates just within eyes sight. Once he was kneeled down there was a gasp as many above the wall recognized him. friends or family no doubt. And with that he nodded and a knife was jammed through the prisoners throat from behind. A scream echoed from a woman above the wall as she launched herself from the gate. She rushed forward to kill her lovers murderers but instead. Her lovers body seemed to rise to its feet. His eyes dull and grey. Her eyes filled with confusion and horror as suddenly the dead prisoners blade slammed into her heart. In that moment Io popped the cork to his wine. And grinned as she stumbled back and dropped to her knee's.

"Take them."

And with those two words and ungodly roar rose from the ranks of the dead. Something only to be heard from the released hell spawn of the dead. It echoed over the gates as the roar was not meant to be heard by the living. Io sniffed and sipped at his wine as the horde of the dead charged forward. These where not slow zombie either. The ranks that charged forward of horrifying and mutilated corpses where fast! The hell army moving at A rank speed as they charged the wall. The stench of rotting flesh arriving well before the dead themselves.

Kiri had been treating Skye and all the other Kumo Shinobi rather well considering the conditions it was in. Having been attacked by a massive force, the shinobi and citizens had it rough. Thinking back on the reason he came to such a mess in the first place, he began to feel a bit guilty. Leaving Kumo just because of boredom wasn’t something he was normally inclined to do. Assisting the village of Kiri was what he was there to do, and he was positive he was going to do just that. As luck would have it, the moment he was done thinking about his purpose in Kiri, a scroll was delivered to him. It was a mission, and one of top priority at that. Taking a glance at the messenger, she looked scared, and rather tired. With a nod of approval and thanks, the girl sprinted off to deliver more scrolls no doubt. Breaking the seal holding the scroll in place, he opened it up and began to read it. “Io has been located on the battle-field with a host of fresh bodies and is moving for the front Gates of Kirigakure to attack the ceremony. Ceremony… Ceremony… The word seemed to echo in Skye’s head. He had heard talk of a ceremony while walking around Kiri, yet couldn’t for the life of him remember what it was about. With a simple shrug, Skye rolled the scroll back up and put it in his pack. Getting up from his resting place, he began to sprint though Kiri and occasionally hop from building to building in an attempt to get to the front lines faster. Time was definitely of the essence. If he failed to assist in the defense of the Kiri, he’d have to live with the outcome.

Skye made a bit of a face upon seeing the walking corpses. They disturbed him a bit, but definitely didn’t make him afraid of fighting them. It would have been better to cut the corpses loose from the puppet master’s control then let their bodies be desecrated by some heartless ninja. Stretching his arms up and exhaling, he hopped down from the small incline and joined the other two Kumo shinobi that had arrived to assist in the defense. One of them he immediately recognized, the other, he had only seen once or twice before. “Sano, Navi...” He was rather happy to see his good friend here and willing to fight alongside him. Knowing full well what Sano’s abilities were and having seen/heard about them, he knew the upcoming brawl with the dead would be interesting. Glancing at the other with them, he remembered seeing him in Kumo’s ANBU. The name immediately followed with the memory. “And Kenji...” Even though he wasn’t next to the man, he still acknowledged his presence. Though Skye was somewhat new to Kumo’s ANBU and had only had the pleasure of meeting one or two of its members, he was still informed enough to know the basic capabilities of Kenji.

The board was set, the pieces in play. All that was left was to see who makes the first move. Skye’s was answered in mere seconds. A loud and unsettling chorus of roar and groans came from the massive amount corpses. Skye took a few steps forward and began to change his slow walk into a fast run. Now, Skye wasn’t exactly the best fighter when it came to being within melee range of opponents. He preferred using Genjutsu to exhaust his opponents. However, due to the shear amount of enemies, his Genjutsu would be almost useless. Though this was the case, it didn’t mean he wasn’t going to do some damage with his Ninjutsu. Charging forwards and beginning a stream of hand signs, he finished and opened the palm of his hand in front of him. Electrical sparks began to weave around Skye’s hand He slammed it into the ground and forced multiple bolts of electricity to be shot through the earth. There were a total of about ten tendrils heading into the many ranks of dead. As soon as the bolts reached the front line of corpses, they shot out from the ground and jumped through multiple sections of the dead. It was only enough to take out an incredibly small fraction of enemies, but it made a decent sized dent. Each corpse hit was burnt and fell to the ground. “Oh damn… That’s a crap ton of bodies…” Skye took a few steps back to get a slightly better overview of the army. It was much more massive than he originally thought.

”Chakra: 280/300:

Mission Word Count: 770/3500

As he was running at high speeds to the battle, Sanosuke noticed that he was being tailed by someone. The sight of movement could be seen out of the corner of his eyes as he was moving and weaving through each of the rooftops as though he was an agile prime ape in the jungle of his home. Navi also alerted Sanosuke that he was being tailed. The fact that the person following him wasn't attempting to hide his presence was a good sign; it just meant that there wasn't any enemies surrounding him as he was moving quickly in the air. That would be disastrous for Kiri to know that their defenses were breached so easily while there was a direct attack coming from their front doors. If such a thing happened, then Sanosuke seriously doubted that Kiri would have the resources and the man power to keep itselt afloat from that sort of attack. Thank Kami that this wasn't the case. It was most likely an ally. The ally snapped his fingers to get Sanosuke's attention. This time Sanosuke looked over to see that now the person tailing him wanted to get Sanosuke's attention more formally than him having to rely on his peripheral vision to find out that he was being followed by someone. Before he knew it, the man was at Sanosuke's side now. There was a Kumogakure headband on him. So he was a shinobi from his village as well, this would be good that he was allied with someone from his village in this fight. The man spoke to Sanosuke as they made a beeline to the village gates. They would climb over to the top of the wall to get a better visual of what they were dealing with.

With a leap, Sanosuke got to where he needed to be which was at the top of the wall with the other shinobi of the village hidden in the mist that stood guard in case an attack like this happened; he was certain that the man that was running along side him was at his side. There were other shinobi around that were watching guard and they were from other villages. Sanosuke saw that his friend Skye had also joined as well to observe what they were saying. With a short nod to his friend, he stood at the side of his old friend with Navi floating close to his ear. From what Skye said, it seemed as though the man that was following Sanosuke to the wall of Kiri went by the name of Kenji. The named sounded familiar but he couldn't put his finger on it for some reason. It didn't matter. All three of them, shinobi of Kumogakure, were summoned here to deal with the threat that was looming over them. Sanosuke had on a skin tight black long sleeved shirt on that went up to the middle of his neck and could easily cover his face if needed to in case something was trying to get in his mouth. He had on a burgundy short sleeved shirt and a short cloak that was the same length of his shirt that when stitched together looked like it was part of the shirt the whole time with a red hood to match his shirt. The Kumogakure headband was tied to his left bicep tightly. He tightened it again to get himself ready for battle.

Looking down, he saw a sight that made his heart nearly skip a beat. Before him what looked like several dead bodies that were moving as though they were alive. The bodies were moving with the help of puppetters from Seven Bell's forces. There was an army of them. It looked as though the dead bodies were shinobi that were killed in battle that belong to their side. It would explain why most of the shinobi on the wall were pale beyond belief; they literally were seeing the ghosts of their comrades and friends but turned against them. It was enough to scare anyone really. It made Sanosuke tighten his fist in anger. His whole body shook with fury. Chakra was sparking around his body in fury as he could barely contain himself. This was unforgivable. Completely unforgivable in Sanosuke's books. There was no coincidence that this was done with the dead bodies of their own forces; it was to demoralize the shinobi who were defending the wall. It was such a dirt trick that it almost made Sanosuke want to vomit in his mouth. Whoever's idea this is would pay dearly. More than ever Sanosuke wanted nothing more than get his blade to shed some blood.

"We're going to put an end to this guys. Skye, Kenji let's show Kiri how it's done." Sanosuke growled under his teeth as he tried his best to calm down and think of a more strategic way to diving into battle without doing something stupid; it was failing dramatically as he could feel his body edge closer to the edge of the wall and leap in to hunt down the leader of this siege. Skye beat him to it as he could see Skye running off into battle flashing through hand seals as he tried to meet the enemy forces head on by himself without any backup. That was just perfect, a sure fire way to get killed if Skye wasn't so skilled. When Skye had let out his jutsu, lightning danced around him in tendrils. It made Sanosuke have to slightly avert his eyes from the bright light that was coming from the lightning of Skye's jutsu. When he was done, there was several dead corpses of dead shinobi that was being controlled as puppets as well as some puppeeters as well. Even with that jutsu, there were still plenty of more controlled dead bodies to dispose of. They were already advancing near the wall. There was no way he would allow Skye to fight this alone. Sanosuke focused and let chakra power his vocal cords, making sure he could be heard throughout the area.

"CHARGE!!!!!!!!!"

With that, Sanosuke leaped from the wall with chakra in his footsteps to make his jump farther. He descended at a fast rate, the wind danced in his hair as he got closer and closer to the forces. Voices and shouts from the other shinobi that was on the wall could be heard as a majority of them leaped as well to join in on the fight. They wanted vengeance for their fallen comrades; it seemed as though Sanosuke's battle cry was enough to snap a majority of them out of their daze to follow the Kumogakure jounin into battle. While in mid air, Sanosuke unsheathed the sword that was on his back and brought down on a dead shinobi body that was about to attack Skye from the left. Spinning around in circles as he came down quickly, he was only a form of a spinning top as he spun around. Blood splattered as his blade cut through undead shinobi's neck with ease. There was no way that he could do that to a body with such ease. It seemed as though these bodies were taking more damage than natural since the bodies were put together hastily. Landing softly on the ground, Sanosuke braced himself for battle as he let out another battle cry and dashed at a puppeteer. The puppeteer looked green. His age was somewhere close to Sanosuke, probably younger just about 18 or 19.

He must have seen blood before; this must be the first time he had gotten this close to somebody who wanted nothing more than to kill him. The young puppeteer looked scared and frightened as he desperately tried to shoot his own puppeet threads at Sanosuke. They were weaponized and looked as though they could do some damage to Sanosuke if he didn't move. With a swift dodge, Sanosuke got his sword with one hand and his other hand leveled at his eyes. He was aiming for a strike at the boy's jugular. This would be the end of his life as Sanosuke dashed at fast speeds at the inexpereienced boy. With a scream, the boy's life was cut short. The sounds of choking could be heard as Sanosuke's sword was imbedded in the boy's throat. A puppeteer looked to see what happened. Just before he could react, Sanosuke swiftly wiped blood from the boy's open wound and threw the blood at the nearby puppeteer's eyes to blind him. The puppeteer screamed in surprise as his vision was gone. He wipped his eyes with his hand to get the blood out. When he did so, he opened his eyes to see that both of his arms were cut off. Blood sprayed over the place; it got on Sanosuke's already red shirt. With a forcefully kick, Sanosuke knocked the puppeteer into a crowd of dead shinobi.

Jumping back, Sanosuke got back to back with Skye and reposition his sword to strike again. It didn't matter how many shinboi there was, they would all fall by his blade. The Wasp Sennin made sure that the leader of this siege would answer to him for his crimes. "Skye hope you don't mind me stepping in." Sanosuke said with a smirk as he wiped some of the blood that managed to get on his face off it. The bloodied smell would distract the jounin in his massacre of the undead.

Io could only peer over the top of his wine suspiciously as lightning flashed across the battle field. Now he was prepared to launch counter offensives but Lightning was hardly something he expected to be used with so much investment and training from a Kiri nin. He had seen little of such intense lightning jutsu here. But that was just the beginning. Slowly he sipped at his wine and watched. Though the lightning had split ten ways it only hit two puppeteers. Even then it burned them but didn't kill them. Still it was enough for those two to fall back and bring their puppets with them. Second degree burns marking them. But the undead puppets groaned rising back to their feet. The smell of burnt flesh mixing with the rotted smell of death.

Another two individuals had joined nearby the fellow though and where either shooting a cross bow or slicing through their enemy at any given point in time. One of them had gone so far as to gain the support of some of the Kiri nin. Io smiled at that as the forces clashed. The Kiri nin where holding their own and the three who stood apart where doing more then just that. They where carving a path through the undead army. They where incredibly good and one was even as fast as Io himself. He smirked at the display of speed. Oh but they where some skilled individuals. But war did not just rely on ones sword. The mind was just as deadly.

Some of the puppeteers grabbed a few of the Kiri nin they had killed and cleaned up nicely. Leaving them looking ruffled but for all intents and purposes appeared alive. With that they blended into the battle. Occasionally engaging the other puppets to put on a show and falling back before merging into the ranks of the Kiri nin. Now was the turning point. The Kiri forces where falling at a much faster rate as they could no longer be sure the man fighting at their side was indeed an ally. And the three Kumo nin where priority targets. Still he would distract them with a much bigger threat then a knife to the back. If they had even noticed yet.

Io Nodded to a man holding a flag and the individual raised it high above his head. Waving a flag with two bells on it to initiate phase two. Io sipped his wine as he watched the horde suddenly split into two and the bodies slamming into each other as if molding together. The two sections appeared to be giant writhing snakes of dead flesh and weapons sticking out. They began to spin and like two massive drills smashed through the forces on either side before colliding in the middle of the battle field and rising high into one giant spinning drill point of weapons and the dead. Before surging forward straight for the gate. The massive combined undead puppet being flung forward by dozens of puppeteers. As wide as the gate and as tall as the wall spanning the length of a four story tower.

Skye watched the hordes of corpses and how they acted in accordance to their controllers. Seeing how he couldn’t face the dead with his genjutsu, targeting the source would be his best bet since the dead didn’t have any chakra Skye could manipulate. Though, he wouldn’t be able to do it alone. Focusing on multiple targets and taking them out via illusions would leave Skye open to any corpses in the area. Just as Skye got his plan and started to move forward, an organized formation began to occur in the ranks of the dead. They seemed to mold into one another and stick all of their weapons forward. A battering ram made from the walking dead. Skye had seen some pretty interesting techniques used in battles, but none so interesting, and disturbing, as that. The massive wave of undead would surly cause the wall to take damage, and possibly even break down. That would result in the failure of the mission, and possibly other dire consequences.


Knowing full well he wouldn’t be able to get even moderately close to the horde, or even be able to make a dent, he decided to make some distance between him and the horde. Rushing back to the wall, he glanced back to see the fleshy drill start to rush towards the wall. If the horde ended up making it through, he’d take it upon himself to stop the corpses from advancing any further. His plan wasn’t entirely thought through, but considering the enemy had a literal wave of zombies heading straight for the wall, there was no time to fully think. Between Skye and the horde, he could see Sano. As much as he wanted to rush back out and warn Sano of the danger, he stopped himself. With a shake of his head, he turned back and stood in front of the wall facing away. He knew Sano could take care of himself, but the enemy made him nervous that he’d be losing comrades this day.

Word Count: 1105/3500

((OOC: Sorry about the short post… I’m having a time of it trying to write stuff lately…))

His blade whistled int the air as the weapon he was holding became alive. It sang a beautiful song as though each swing was a mystical note to the instrument he was playing for the horde of zombies and Seven Bells shinobi that dared come accross him. With each swing, Sanosuke could feel any thought in his mind disappear that was not related to the battle. As he was right now at the instance he was content with the ability he has now. Sanosuke loved training back in the day when he was still a young ranking shinobi, but after training he gained insight. Training while traveling around the shinbi world with Guru Pathik gave him the feeling as though training was only a small part as his duties of being a shinobi. But now that he was swinging his blade against many enermies that were weak before Sanosuke's power. It was as though he was bliss; like the first time in a long time he could just be happy without any requirements of doing so. Just a blade in his hand and he would be able to show the world his feelings. Catching a dead shinobi's hand as it came down to at him, he drove the blade deep into the body and kept it running through. He used the weapon's momentum and dashed himself forward to drive his weapon in the chest cavity of the puppeteer's body. Sanosuke smirked as his blade finally hit home. Pulling the sword out of the rows of bodies, He yanked it out and held the dead body of the zombie he had killed with one hand. With great strength, Sanosuke tossed the body at the row of shinobi that was before him. Both zombies and humans alike that was allied with Seven Bell's fraction, was knocked down on the ground by the body. Springing forward with speeds that was only seen as rapid speed, Sanosuke dashed at the bodies he had knocked away. Before the bodies had enough time to recover from being knocked over, Sanosuke dragged his blade over each neck of the enemy puppeteers; killing them instantly from the significantly lethal blow that Sanosuke inflicted. The zombies that were being controlled by the decapitated puppeteers that Sanosuke had created with his sword, dropped down to the ground with a heavy thud becoming once again dead bodies. Looking around him, he could see that his allies in arms were fighting with the only thought of survival on his mind. Kenji was hacking away at enemy forces with his blade. It hummed through the air with each swing it completed. Skye was holding his own with a combination of close quarters combat and high level of ninjutsu techniques that could only be accomplished by those who hold the title of jounin. Even the Kiri ninja that Sanosuke had believed lost the will to fight were also fighting back with everything they had. Their lost ones were just ammunition and fuel for the burning fire of vengeance they had for Seven Bells. They were pushing back the forces tremendously, they could even win this war.

A white flag caught his eyes and that made Sanosuke's attention become split. He noticed this by how differently the puppeteers were acting in the process of fighting back. Nodding to each other they stepped back and brought their puppets to come forward but they weren't attacking at all. They just stood there like a wall of dead bodies. It made Sanosuke raise an eyebrow in shock. What was going through the head of these puppeteers? That's when the unthinkable occurred and the puppet combined with each other to become one mass off zombies that was holding weapons. The bodies splattered in blood as it was combined. The bloodied mashed up bodies were only being kept together and not sliding off their wet bodies because of the chakra that the puppeteers were feeding into the two giant puppets of two swirling snake shaped mass of bodies. The giant zombie snake spiraled with the weapons that was sticking out in the form of giant blades. This wasn't good at all. The drills of dead flesh spun tightly in a tight twisted of blades that made the wind around his body kick up. His hair swayed back and forth through the wind. This is bad... Sanosuke moaned mentally in his mind. At this rate, it would kill everyone if nobody moved.

"MOVE NOW!!!" Sanosuke ordered loudly in a desperate scream. He could tell what was going to happen. Hopefully Sanosuke's order got to his Kumogakure allies as he retreated backwards. The drills of dead flesh came into the ranks of his forces killing many of them in frenzy of blades and ammunition. Blood filled the air as in a storm of crimson droplets. Sanosuke covered his eyes with his free arm as he avoided the slashes of the dancing blades. One of them slashed at his sides as he held the blood that was coming from his wound. It screamed in pain as he was barely avoiding the slashes of the 2 dancing drills. All around him, his allies were being slaughtered. When he dropped down to the ground, he noticed that the 2 swirling snakes were now becoming one colossal puppet of death. He looked up to notice that this was happening. There was no way that they could possibly defend themselves against this attack. This time there was no going back, it was do or die. The puppets were colliding into one as Sanosuke slowly watched it combine into one massive murder puppet.

It was him before the drill that was going to converge and kill them all very soon. Sanosuke had to stop this. He had the power to end this fight from reaching into the city. This bloodshed would only continue to happen if he didn't put a stop to it right here and now. Focusing chakra into his body, he focused on just gathering the force of the nature itself. It was beginning to overfow in this body as he could feel himself getting more powerful. The trees, the mist, the ground, the small animals that were close by. Navi popped out of Sanosuke's hiding to look at her partner gather senjutsu chakra. Nature's energy must have gotten her to notice what was about to occur. With closed eyes, Sanosuke focused as more and more senjutsu chakra was enveloping his body. Chakra burned through his flesh as he could feel the power coarsing through his veins. He raised his eyelids to see the drill was almost completed. Now his body was in sage mode. He could hear the large and familiar buzzing sound that could be heard from his body as he was casted in a soft blue and silver light. This was the power he was searching for; the power to protect those that could not defend themselves. Sanosuke rose his hands up and could slowly feel as nature came to him. All of it. He was even gathering the shinobi that had fallen their body's essence from the shinobi. The ball was growing to a massive amount of senjutsu chakra. It was insane how much was in it. The giant undead drill was just about complete when Sanosuke focused more senjutsu chakra into the ball of pure chakra that he was gathering. It was so much larger than the ball of chakra that was coming from nature itself. The whole battlefield was covered in its soft glow. Everyone that was fighting could see the light that was being gathered by Sanosuke. But still he didn't have enough to protect everyone. Closing his left eye once more, Sanosuke unleashed the hidden reserves of strength he had. When he opened them once more, the sight of the demon's symbol was on his left pupil. The lightning that was dancing around the ball of power Sanosuke was holding intensified; creating more pops of static in the ball of energy. The drill turned its sights at Sanosuke as it made a lunge to take Sanosuke's life first since he was the only person who stood in its way. Now was the time to show Seven Bells what he was made of.

"YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!" Sanosuke roared as he threw the insanely large sphere of chakra at the giant puppet made of pure madness and power. The drill was enveloped in a the giant ball that Sanosuke had created with his two hands. It was destroyed instantly. In that motion, Sanosuke ran to chase straight forward the ball of light. The ball grrew in size and exploded outwards in a 50 meter radius hitting anybody that was in it with a shockful blast. Anyone that was in the radius of the giant blast of energy was shocked to the point where they were feeling sickness in their body. If he moved quickly enough he could even capture Io. There's no doubt the puppet master was in the radius of the blast; how could a commander be so far out of the battlefield and yet control his troops? No he had to get him. He would capture the general of Seven Bell's army that led this attack and bring him to Kiri to answer for his crimes. Closing his eyes, Sanosuke let the senjutsu chakra that was around him guide him to the large amount of chakra that had to be the leader of the attack. He would be moving so fast into the heart of the enemy puppeteers that he was bound to find a large amount of chakra that had to belong to Io. He darted past all of the shinobi that were near the radius of his attack. They were still recovering from the symptoms of his attack to notice that they couldn't move to intercept the wasp sennin. When he finally got close enough to Io's guard that was most likely dealt with by the radius of his large scaled jutsu, Sanosuke opened his eyes to lock eyes with the person responsible for this madness. At this range, his buzzing that he was creating would have him knocked in seconds unable to deal with what his happening. Already he should be feeling the symptoms of the jutsu. He was a meter from Io now. It was time to end this fight....

245/335 Chakra; Jutsu Used:

Thump, thump. His chest compressed at the sight of the twisting mass of compiled zombies. The dual zombie tornado crashed into the battlefield ripping through many people. Kenji would do what his comrades were doing, and that was retreat. Many didn’t make it, either they were too scared, or too slow. Kenji was neither. In a hurry, his feet dug into the rich soil as he pushed off further and further away from the twin drills of destruction. There was nothing Kenji could do that would combat such a maneuver. He had only 2 or 3 techniques, but he considered those last resorts. He had an eerie feeling that this was just a sliver of what the enemy could do, so he couldn’t resort to those moves yet. Kenji decided it was best to back up and take some time, even though it was looking like they wouldn’t have much time at all. After concentrating chakra in the soles of his shoes, he reached the top of the wall, in the act of self preservation. He looked down and saw that its advance stopped. Exhaling, “I knew he couldn’t sustain it…” He fell silent as it underwent a transformation even more thrilling than the first.

The two conglomerations of zombies fused to make one giant snake like horde of sharp puppets. His eyes struggled to focus as he couldn’t accept the magnitude of the enemy’s strength. Kenji knew that he couldn’t do anything against such an offense. His only option was to use a particular technique to bypass the giant obstacle and go straight to the source. Then, with the help of Genjutsu, possibly subdue Io. But that was a long shot. “I can’t just stand up here doing nothing…” As he contemplated his next move in response to an impressive show by Io, Kenji from the bottom of his stare started to see a bright light being emitted. He located the source… it was Sanosuke.

Using both hands, the Kumogakure shinobi generated a mass of lightning chakra almost equal to the size of the enemy’s attack. Also, it appeared that Sanosuke transformed during the chaos. “First the weird transformation and now this massive lightning jutsu, it looks like they called the right guy. There’s something about that transformation that seems familiar as well.” The giant ball of lightning was then beamed at the huge target. Upon collision the ball of lightning did unfathomable damage. The energy released destroyed the enormous writhing zombie snake, and the explosion that followed rippled through nearly the entire battlefield. Because Kenji was so high off the ground, the shockwave missed him completely, but the visual alone told him it was something he didn’t want to experience.



Even after the startling display of firepower, Sanosuke added another surprise to the list, he was now sprinting in the direction of the general, Io. “Is he going in to battle Io now? Well, it had to be done at some point I guess.” The blue hair shinobi strongly considered letting Sanosuke take him alone, but Kenji knew that he might need his support. He assumed it would take a team effort to topple their enemy. The damage from Sanosuke’s jutsu had been done now and he could now return back to the surface. He drew his Hane immediately and dashed to get as close to the action as possible. He somersaulted over a few shinobi on route, decapitating them in the process. For the most part they were brutally injured or killed, so the path to the vicinity of the battle was easy. He stopped at about 20 meters out (Right before Sano attempts to get within 1 meter, Kenji is able get there because he’s equally fast and he doesn’t travel as far, as he stops 20 meters out). He could hear an annoying buzzing sound. Based on Sanosuke’s appearance he assumed it was coming from him. Kenji sheathed his Hane as Sanosuke drew closer to Io.



The three Kumogakure Jounin had succeeded in defeating the zombies. Kenji began to wonder if they should just leave it at that. They stopped the undead puppet advance, wasn’t that the assignment, wasn’t that good enough? It wasn’t. The despicable general would have to escape with a fight, if he escaped at all. Kenji kept his distance (20 meters) to see exactly what would transpire over the following seconds, so his next move would be the right one. He already had a few scenarios playing in his mind. But he would need to see a glimpse of Io’s ability and his response to Sanosuke before he would initiate any attack on the infamous general.



WC: 3612/3500,
I think we stopped the invasion at least... so mission complete?
　

　

OOc sorry for the slow response. Each member must complete the word count but you will get partials even though the objective was finished.

IC Io watched as the spectacle unfolded itself before him. His bright eyes watching as the enemy retreated from the horror show and seemed to have no answer for it. Even the three who had acted so rashly appeared to be concerned. Still one of them was doing something annoying. He could feel the static in the air as he observed the huge amount of raiton energy being built up. The sheer size of it was something to raise an eye brow. Still the time it took to charge would of been it's down fall had the puppeteers reacted faster. Still Io recognized it as a potential threat. Who wouldn't come to that conclusion with something so massive? He and his guard left the seat behind and quickly retreated back to a hill.

From the hill he could barely see the battle field but the blinding light of the massive ball of energy incinerating the puppet army made him tilt his head. So these allies had some things up their sleeves. He watched as even those not caught in the blast seemed to lose their balance. Some even throwing up friend and foe alike. That much electricity didn't dictate between the two. Still he watched as a couple of the pawns over confident in their ability rushed him. It was as if they didn't even notice the disguised puppets and puppeteers(Mentioned in the previous post) laying waste to the few remaining Kiri forces. Kiri nin being killed by kiri nin and being unable to tell between friend and foe. It was a slaughter around the gate. Kiri nin screaming in death and the one who stayed behind forced to fight off the few puppets left as the Kumo nin where priority targets. Puppets approached Skye from four sides with broken blades each going in for the kill.

As for the two charging Io. He watched them crossing the battle field feeling that they where certainly encourage-able. He smiled and tilted his head again. His guard drawing swords. And preparing to defend him. But Io was already doing something of his own. He smiled wickedly as he breathed in. Then when he released the breath a giant fireball lit up his side of the field before rushing forward. Straight for Sanosuke but that was just something for him to dodge or to slow him down. It's goal was behind Sanosuke. The chinese dragon head of fire would head straight for the gates as Io's guard dropped smoke bombs and in a flash they fled the battle field. Leaving the disguised puppeteers to die on the wall if Skye could handle them or retreat after stabbing him if he could not. The Kiri forces where decimated and if the fire ball collided with the gate then the gate itself would be no more. Io having fled at SS rank speed with his guards engaging anyone who gave chase long enough for Io to be long gone.

Chakra 380/400:

Skye watched in awe as Sano prepared a massive jutsu. The blast itself forced Skye to take a small step back and put his arms up to shield himself from small debris. Though Skye knew his old friend had gone through some major changes and learned incredible things, but to actually see one of his jutsus in action, it was surprising. Looking out farther into the battlefield, he could see Sano and Kenji heading for Io. Getting a sudden realization, he took a few steps forward to get a better look. If the two were heading for Io, they would have a better chance of catching or killing him if Skye was there. With his genjutsu, he would easily be able to distract Io or even provide cover for the two. Knowing how the other two fought and having seen some of their abilities in action, he knew that by adding his own strength to the mix would make the overall force very lethal.

Looking over to his side, he noticed a figure starting to run for him. At first it looked like a Kiri nin, but as soon as he noticed the broken blade, he ducked down and pulled out a kunai from his item pouch. As soon as the disguised corpse swung it’s blade in an attempt to cut Skye’s head off, Skye immediately reacted by jabbing the kunai underneath it’s jaw. With a swift twist, he sliced through it’s neck and kicked the now useless puppet away from him. In a matter of seconds, he was surrounded by a few more disguised puppets and puppeteers. “Do you guys seriously not have any decency. You’re wearing the clothes of dead people... And your dead people are wearing clothes of dead people!” With a tiny laugh, Skye pulled out two more Kunai and ceased his laughter. “Still... It’s disrespectful to the dead.” If there was one thing Skye hated during fights, it would be close range combat. But due to his situation, he had to deal with it. Using his genjutsu first wouldn’t have been a very good idea because of the puppets, as well as the number of puppeteers. Most of his genjutsu was more suited towards causing pain, disorienting opponents, and limiting options of escape. That being the case, he would have to eliminate the puppets first before doing damage to the puppeteers. Twirling his kunai once, he made a quick dash at one of the puppets. With a quick sidestep to avoid the sword, he spun around and shoved the kunai into the back of the corpse’s skull. Ripping the kunai out and turning, he could see that the other puppets were now after him. Tossing his kunai up in the air for a moment, he put his hands together and began a series of rapid hand signs. As he was doing this, the corpses had gotten rather close to him. The moment he finished, he shoved his palms outward and let loose a thin electrical pulse that stopped the corpses in their tracks. Reaching up and catching his weapons, he ran through the pack, slicing as he went by. The corpses fell to the ground and were no longer moving. All the puppets had been dealt with, and now it was time to fight the puppeteers. A simple feat considering he was an expert at illusions. With a grin, he put his hands together and focused on the group of puppeteers. In the genjutsu, a large void opened beneath the group and caused a few of them to fall over due to the disorienting pattern of the void. Arms began to reach out and grip at their arms and legs, then pull them into the abyss below. They were’t gentle about it either, the arms were pulling at them with such force that the puppeteers were unable to resist the power of the illusion. One of the puppeteers broke free of a few of the arms and tried to stand up, plodding forward to get away from the center of the void, he fell when his leg was caught by another hand. The thin and wisp-like hands wrapped around him and dragged him down deep into the illusion. Eventually, all of them passed beneath the surface and were left with their minds being in a chaotic state. Most of them were writhing on the ground in pain. Walking over to each individual one, he took his kunai and slit their throats. Killing them while they were defenseless didn’t matter to Skye. They were evil and were threatening every life that was behind the walls of Kiri. With a soft exhale, he stood up straight and looked around at his work. “Pfft... That was easy... Now for Sano and Kenji.” His tone of voice was somewhat joking and cheery. Just from the few events that just transpired a few moments ago, he could tell the mission was going to be a complete success.

Cracking his neck slightly, Skye left the wall and started running towards where his partners were. He wasn’t worried about the wall. There wasn’t any danger to it now that the majority of Io’s corpse army was no more. As Skye ran, he began to think about what might have happened as he fought the troops near the wall. For all he knew, Io could’ve killed the two of them and had already turned them into puppets. Shaking his head, he erased the thought from his mind. Sano and Kenji were strong, and he knew that for a fact. There was no way that they would die from someone like Io. Skye started to shift his mind to the positives. He started to think about what good he could come upon. Maybe the two of them were able to catch Io, or even had him killed. Hopping over a few mounds of corpses, he eventually caught a glance of his two comrades. From where he was, he would sprint and form up with his teammates to deal with whatever situation they were in.

Chakra: 255/300:

Mission Word Count: 2116/3500