Uchiha Sasuke (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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sunshineverse2014-03-12 02:58 am
not_thedragon) wrote in sunshineverse2014-03-12 02:58 am
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Who: Orochimaru, Adela, Itachi, Hinata, Ashiko, Sasuke, Tsutaki, Peter
Where: Eastern border of Fire Country
When: Feb 20th
Notes: This is a log post started within a Google Doc and moved here for clarity of threading. Please start your thread with the list of those in it and please make a note if you join or leave a thread of action for another.
Notes on setting: There are three drivers, four servants, and two non-ninja guards. The caravan is mostly going to be concerned with getting the heck outta Dodge when the ninja smackdown starts. NPCs are for everyone to play with, don't be afraid to grab one for a fight and do your thing!
Notes on the snake venoms a/o other jutsu: Golden Spitting Cobra venom is neurotoxic, cytotoxic, and cardiotoxic: basically, anyone bitten by the cobras is going to have movement retardation, the skin at the bite-site dying and the tissue going necrotic, and problems with their heart beating like it should! Eventually without an antidote you risk death by paralyzation and being unable to breathe. Symptoms beforehand include headaches, blurred vision, nausea, vomiting. Have fun. :3 (so tempted to say "movement speed reduced depending on their stamina roll..." ) By the way, they're spitting cobras - watch your eyes. :3 (Adela just killed this thing though… Or at least one of them, depending on what Orochimaru does.) ONE of them, so there's one more to deal with!
The other snake is a Japanese Mamushi - it's a pit-viper with both hemotoxin and neurotoxin venom. A bite from it will make your blood not clot well (really bad in a fight where you take blows) and the bite-site itself will go necrotic much like the cobra bites. However it's not as likely to kill you by itself....it's the being-unable-to-clot that'll do you in. Anyone for bleeding out via a bad bruise?
Orochimaru: The merchant caravans that traveled out from Rice Country, bearing loads of the country's namesake, were excellent means of employment and errand-running. Orochimaru and several companions were travelling in this manner: they were employed as guards, but Orochimaru also intended to meet up with a pair of missing-nin. Ashiko, who was with him, had met them on a journey and through correspondence with her, Orochimaru had extended the invitation for them to join him. After all, Mist-nin could be such intriguing fighters.
Orochimaru had two Genin and a Chuunin and a brand new Jounin with him, testing out the Genin. The two Genin he had sent to do a sweep of the trail behind: he was certain they'd picked up a tail within the last five miles. Not that it bothered him, really, it wasn't as if they were doing anything patently illegal....
Dressed in Oto's uniform, with his headband proudly displayed, Orochimaru was riding on the front of the lead wagon with the driver, the owner of this particular caravan. He and the merchant were discussing the prices of rice and the recent rise in taxes in Tea Country. The oxen ambled along steadily, tails switching complacently. There were four wagons in total, each loaded heavily. They were cutting through the Fire Country and heading towards Rain Country, travelling a well-known trade route. The road was broad and the edges clear of brush as they made their way through one of the large forests in the country.
It was cool under the shade of the trees, with snow lingering more persistently here in the shadows. The trees stood tall and bare-branched, laden with snow and ice. Orochimaru didn't mind the cold, but he still had his mottled grey winter cloak wrapped around his shoulders. His breath, and the driver's, and the oxen's all made white clouds in the frosty air, and in thin lancing beams of sunlight steam could be seen rising from the laboring oxen's flanks. They had been having good weather, these past few days, and the winter sunshine was bright and the sky frosty clear.
Orochimaru turned to ensure Ashiko was still warm enough, where she rode in the wagon.
Adela: Looks like the tip had been right. Following the motion to silence herself, Adela followed her two squadmates on mission as she took in the caravans. It was hard to conceal herself, but the white hood she wore helped cover her hair in the snow they were trudging through. There was a small shred of her that didn’t want there to be anything illegal being carried in the carts, that they were worried for nothing, but she had a horrible feeling that it would come to blows. As much as she enjoyed training, actual bloodshed was something that she knew she had a strong distaste for.
All she could do was hope that it was something they could take.
Intently the kunoichi watched, keeping an eye out for their squad leader’s signal to move, to see what they wanted to do, but otherwise trying to keep relaxed with her eyes focused on the caravan. Whatever was going on, they had to know. And this was her first B-Rank mission... If there was any one of them more determined to not fail it than her, Adela didn’t know who it was. But it wasn’t her mission to take the lead on, so she’d look to Hinata and Sasuke and see what they did from there.
Sasuke: The pair that had been sent back as rearguard were cautious and thorough, but still clearly genin-level in their tactics and thinking: they'd tried a couple of genjutsu-dispelling chakra bursts before falling into textbook back-and-forth sweeps across the path and briefly into the woods on either side. It was clear enough that they hadn't spent much time in the Land of Fire before -- they kept their surveillance close to the ground as if they were still in the wide-open fields of Rice Country. They'd been watching the caravan from the trees from habit, but Sasuke had signalled them to keep well at the canopy level as soon as it had become clear that they were dealing with genin.
A pair of genin left in the rear of a caravan was believable, to be sure, but for something as innocuous as regular shipment of rice, even genin were an unusual outlay for a merchant. It was clear that they were expecting to be followed, too, which lent credence to the mission parametres' unfortunately vague "There might be something suspicious in the caravan."
Whatever the case, it was clear that they needed to find an opportunity to take a closer look at both people and contents of the caravan, which meant they needed to get Hinata closer than the protection of the trees without arousing unnecessary suspicion by descending as hostile Konoha-nin right away. The plodding oxen gave Sasuke the idea in the end; he signalled Adela from the next tree he landed on, indicating a bend in the road ahead.
Create a distraction, he signalled, then pointed down at the ground to make the message clearer: a disruption in the earth of the road wouldn't be unusual on a warm winter day, with meltwater sometimes flash-flooding entire sections of road into muddy messes.
Ashiko: Ashiko was in relatively high spirits, which was mostly because she was able to stay by her master’s side while traveling. It was a rarity, and allowed her to fulfil both her duties and her orders, while still being able to tend to her master’s daily needs. It didn’t hurt that having multiple ninja around vastly decreased the likelihood of catcalling or waylaying by undesirables.
She tightened her grip on the thick quilt draped around her, offering a peaceful smile when she felt the familiar weight of Orochimaru’s gaze sweeping over her, cataloguing and assessing every last detail he could eke out. She felt her stomach flutter, and basked in the pleased afterglow of a job well done.
This was far from the first time that some of the connections she had made abroad had come home to roost, so to speak, but she was always pleased when she managed to find people that could benefit her master.
Hinata: Hinata came to a halt, perched on a tree branch at the signal to stop. She took in the caravan the way two genin were sweeping the rear. Their bare bones sweeps were both lucky for the moment and a hindrance. It kept her high and at a distance which meant her eyes were going to be useless. Two facts that she was certain Sasuke would have already picked up on.
Watching from the corner of her eyes she saw him motion for Adela to create a distraction and shifted. Once they were distracted she would only have a short window of opportunity to get closer, take a look, and get out without being noticed. Once she had more concrete information than their rather unfortunate tip, further decisions could be made on what to do next. With any luck the tip proved false and they’d be headed back to the village without incident in no time.
Adela: A distraction. That, she could do. With grace only gained with years of practice she lowered herself to the underbrush, making sure that she hadn’t been spotted before her hands flew into flawless seals. Her clothing already was doing a lot to keep her camouflaged, but she had to be both quick and cautious if the kunoichi in question didn’t want to be discovered. Her breathing was silent as she let her chakra flow into the ground, moistening it until it became thick and muddy in the path of the caravan, just after the oxen in the lead crossed over. Hopefully, that would get the cart wheels stuck enough for them to investigate - to hell with it being suspicious or not.
Still, once the jutsu was done Adela made sure that she was flattened against the ground, as still and quiet as a cat in wait for its prey. Adela was ready to substitute out with bushes in several directions, each around fifteen meters away, if it was needed - if only to make noise over there and attract attention away from where Hinata needed to investigate. All she could do was hope that it wouldn’t come to that, even if the ill feeling in her stomach stressed that things would go wrong in spite of her hopes.
Orochimaru: The snake inside Orochimaru's shirt suddenly hissed stridently at his ear. Orochimaru raised an eyebrow. A jutsu? How intriguing.
The rear wheels of the wagon dragged, and the oxen halted. From the other drivers behind came shouts as they halted their beasts. One of the civilian guards, a samurai, came up beside the wagon and stared at the ground dubiously.
Orochimaru turned to look at Ashiko again. "Ashiko-san," - and he was never so formal to her unless there was danger - "I think you're wearing too many blankets."
Tsutaki: Tsutaki was ready to react the moment there was any trouble, just as the chuunin and genin should be. Ideally, Orochimaru-sama shouldn’t have to trouble himself to fight unless he felt like it, but that depended in part on the skill of the people ambushing them. Genin wouldn’t be capable of fighting jounin and would struggle with chuunin even if the genin in question were from Oto. Ultimately, it would be up to her to pick up the slack as a recently promoted jounin.
With nimble grace, she vaulted up, out of the caravan to a low-hanging tree branch to investigate. If someone was possibly using an earth jutsu to snag the caravan wheels, she’d have to survey from higher ground and in her element. Scanning the local surroundings, her gaze went to the trees and bushes nearby. She spent enough time in the woods near Otogakure that she was quite familiar with unnatural colours that signified a person was hiding amongst the flora. Unless they painted their faces to blend in, flesh stood out to one who knew what to look for. Of course, it was easier in these temperatures, where the trees were barer.
Sure enough, as she searched, she caught a glimpse of something out of place in the trees. It was rare for there to be only a single shinobi out on a mission. She’d just have to flush the others out, and she knew just the way to get it started. Forming a set of handseals, she formed a thin branch and sent it snaking up the tree to snag the ankle of the unfortunate shinobi she’d found.
Sasuke: It was only with force of will that Sasuke managed not to startle right out of his spot in the trees when someone from the caravan slipped out and leapt up into them. The light genjutsu that had been covering their movements was only enough to suggest to someone looking that there wasn’t anything of interest, and abruptly he wished he’d set something stronger in place before they’d closed in -- as it was, they were going to have to hope they weren’t seen.
Of course, hope for a shinobi was a useless indulgence. Clearly their attempt at a subtle distraction had failed (he was really going to have to talk to Adela about how make a distraction typically meant something sneaky), which left them with outright confrontation.
The sound of rustling alerted him to the fact that the other party had started the confrontation first -- only the the smear of chakra in Sharingan’s vision allowed him to whip his hands through seals, switching out for a log that tangled up harmlessly in the vine as Sasuke himself flickered to another branch, carefully forming a triangle between himself, Adela, and Hinata.
And since subtlely was already out the window, he drew his sword before he called out, tensing in preparation for another strike: “What is the meaning of this attack?”
Ashiko: Get ready to move, doll, Ashiko translated, suppressing the instinctive shudder that always tried to rattle through her whenever it was necessary for her master to treat her formally. It felt wrong, in more ways than she could name, but she forced herself to ignore the discomfort and instead set her mind to following his subtly phrased order. She slipped the blankets from her shoulders and folded them neatly, sliding her feet back into her sandals and shifting so that she was kneeling in a casual, bastardized runner’s crouch rather than curled comfortably against the wagon’s corner.
Her kimono would keep her from being fully mobile, but there was no need to hobble herself entirely; that would only hinder the shinobi of the company in the long run.
She was close enough to the opening that she could hear a faint echo of Sasuke’s words through the cold, still air, and couldn’t help it when her eyebrows raised in surprise at the familiar voice. “I rather think that should be our line,” she murmured under her breath, though perhaps ‘attack’ was too generous a word for some jammed wheels.
Hinata: With Adela’s jutsu completed, Hinata dropped carefully from the trees. Landing in a low crouch she paused listening before moving close as she dared while still being close enough to take a peek. Only she’d no sooner activated her Byakugan than she heard Sasuke’s voice ringing out through the trees. Never a good sign when he chose to draw attention to himself, of course it was also a very good way to inform her that they were made and this was going to get a lot more complicated.
She took a moment, took a peek at the caravan, a small figure moving within the lead wagon but otherwise nothing suspicious in the actual cargo that she could immediately identify. It was the Oto headbands that were clear as day without her Byakugan that gave her pause as she searched for Sasuke and Adela and within her range of vision was a red headed Oto nin up in the canopy.
Drawing a kunai, she held it at her side gauging the threat the shinobi posed. This was a stealth mission she’d rather see what the Oto nin would do next before jumping into a fight, though she was expecting that it would devolve into one before the thought to retreat crossed either Sasuke or Adela’s minds.
Adela: This was bad. Adela had to consciously focus in order to keep her breathing quiet, watching and waiting to see what would happen. Sasuke was already drawing attention to himself… Why? She didn’t know, but maybe it was to protect Hinata. Damn, if only she knew how to work with some better genjutsu instead of her ninjutsu, then maybe this might have gone better.
It didn’t take long for Adela to pull out several metal balls from the pouch beside her weapons’ holster, and she set them on the ground before performing the hand seals for the expanding metal technique. It’s just to get her chakra strings in place, but if need be she could at least create a paper-thin steel shield if need be for any of them. She just had to get into a better range and vantage point without being noticed, and even if their attention was on Sasuke such a thing was easier said than done.
For the moment she used it to perfectly reflect the scenery on its side, her movement a snail’s crawl as she tried to move towards the others. Any faster and she’d get noticed in an instant, and if she was careful about this she could at least get close enough to help her team - or so she hoped.
Orochimaru: Orochimaru stepped down from the wagon. The snake in his clothes hit the ground and slithered in Adela's direction, a flick of brown patterning against the snow. Orochimaru himself shook back his hair and put two fingers in his mouth. A sharp whistle had the Genin signalled to return.
He gestured to the Chuunin, who immediately set to righting the road, to the relief of the nervous caravaners.
Orochimaru turned, and looked right at Hinata, having marked her descent from the trees. But she was hanging back, wisely, and he looked up into the trees, easily picking out Tsutaki's flaming red head and her opponent. Dark-haired and slender, young voice and distinctly Konoha accent. A katana, which was unusual. Orochimaru raised an eyebrow, and as the two Oto Genin charged into view, he gestured them up to help the Chuunin with the wagons.
Tsutaki wouldn't need the help, and neither would Orochimaru.
Peter: Peter hadn’t been completely idle as everyone else had been maneuvering themselves, instead slipping under the carriage of the wagon to see about getting it moving while people were distracted with the conflict. Someone used an earth jutsu? Fine, he could deal with that, and his hands carefully moved through the seals to make the ground more solid, with him waving to the civilians to give it a push. Better to get them out of the way before risking doing anything with the battle. After all, the client came first, and he was going to make sure that the client was well out of the way in case the other side of this little conflict was… destructive.
Tsutaki: “Attack is such a strong word,” Tsutaki replied to the Konoha shinobi with the katana. She projected an almost nonchalant air about her, even though she was actually paying careful attention to her surroundings. Peter needed time to get the caravan on its way. The two Genin would be able to help him and guard the caravan. She didn’t need help, especially if Orochimaru had stepped out onto the battlefield. Briefly, she glanced in the direction of the snake and caught a sight of another Konoha shinobi. Or presumably Konoha, anyway.
“After all, you and your teammates are the ones sneaking up on a merchant caravan and halting its movement with jutsu. One might think you were thieves. I hope Konoha isn’t financially troubled enough to have to resort to robbery.”
She wanted to bait them. If they were provoked, they might reveal more than they intended to or make some other mistake. Two could play the distraction game. With her vibrant red hair, and her position in the trees, she was clearly visible, but it was Orochimaru that was the far greater threat.
Sasuke: "A small attack is still an attack," Sasuke replied, tense -- more shinobi had suddenly sprouted from the caravan, all but confirming that there was indeed something suspicious in there. The chakra of at least one of them felt like a serious threat, and the genin that were now racing back to the caravan would be bodies and nuisances if not necessarily a danger. It was likely too much to hope that they hadn't all been spotted by now, and the kunoichi's next words only confirmed it.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed at the insult, stance shifting into a more obvious threat, as much for display as in real offense. If he could stall long enough, they could establish just how willing this group was to protect their goods.
"We have reports of a shipment coming through here with contraband goods," he said, voice flat. "If your travel here is legitimate, you won't hesitate to stand down for inspection."
Hinata: Hinata froze when Orochimaru looked directly at her gaze flickering briefly to the snake slithering off in Adela’s direction. They were screwed between him and the scattering of ninja quickly coming back to defend the caravan. Pursing her lips she shifted back in a more defensive position. The snake was her biggest worry especially given that Adela was a new Chunin. She didn’t think the girl would panic but she did worry about her noticing the snake before it was too late.
She watched as both her teammates took matters handled their situations. Goading the red head nin into doing something didn’t seem like a good idea, but she trusted Sasuke’s judgment. Carefully, she backed up without turning around. She’d rather have Orochimaru in full view than risk him slipping into her blind spot. As she moved she altered her course so she would be able to help either squadmate if need be. The fact that they were still in a tense stand off was bothering her. Distraction. She lets out a short three tone whistle more than aware of how bad an idea that was with ninja capable of manipulating sound. But conveying that message seemed just as important as warning Adela she had a tail despite her attempts to mask her retreat. Lucky the whistle would do both equally as well.
Adela: What was Hinata trying to tell her? She stiffened, stopping before trying to re-evaluate her surroundings. Eventually she managed to crane her neck, and that was when she noticed the snake not even a few feet away from her. It was moving slowly in the cold, but it would still catch up to her if she didn’t do something quickly.
Shit. Adela didn’t know what the chances were that it was going to attack, but considering that it’s a snake in the snow she didn't want to take her chances. That was just a little too uncommon for her to believe that it was a native in the area after all.
The metal wrapped around her torso in a liquid armor then, and she took the chance to ascend to the branches in a quick movement. Unfortunately, the hood covering her hair got caught on a stray branch and fluttered away as a simple white cloth, leaving long red tresses revealed through the frost-covered bark in the trees. So much for cover, but getting out of the snake’s reach just seemed like the higher priority then - especially since, judging from the conversation, they at least knew she was there.
Hinata: Satisfied that her message was conveyed, she turned her attention to the snake man himself. This was the stupidest idea she’d ever had. It could easily turn out that her next move was entirely unnecessary as she wasn't 100% sure that the snake in the snow was entirely independent of the man, he had to have given it some sort of orders at some point right? Shifting forward onto her toes she launched herself out of the bushes she was hiding in.
Considering her only weapon in hand was a kunai and her kusarigama is still firmly sitting at her side this will easily be the quickest fight ever. Or semi-fight as her path was really meant to skirt around him and head straight for the wagon to stall it from taking off. It was only cursory effort at attacking as she threw her kunai at his leg so she can grip her kusarigama in one hand should she need it.
Tsutaki: “Considering that your team snuck around like a team of bandits rather than stopping us like a legitimate border patrol, no, I don’t think we’ll be delaying our client any further. Here’s my counter-offer: turn around, go home and leave us alone, and you can get out of this unscathed. Cause any further problems for us, and we’ll have to be less cordial with you.”
Given his combative stance, Tsutaki very much doubted that they’d be turning around and going away, but it was only polite to give the option. The shock of red hair caught her attention, as did the movement of the metal. Kekkai genkai, hm? She’d have to do something about that. In light of that, their odds of being taken as captives just went up. Or at least the other red-haired kunoichi’s did. And then as the other kunoichi lept into action, she caught a quick glimpse of the tell-tale eyes of the Hyuuga clan. Now things were just getting interesting.
After a quick succession of handseals, tree branches shot up on either side of Adela, in an attempt to snag her wrists and pin them to the tree to keep her from forming handseals.
Itachi: Itachi had been tailing the two missing-nin for a two days now, trying to see just who they were meeting up with. With the use of crows placed under henge, he could stay far enough back as not to alert suspicion. The two were former Kiri-nin, and seemed to fulfill the stereotypical expectations of such ninja. One was a ninjutsu expert, carrying only standard short blades and kunai. The other had a very wicked and heavily modified fishing spear she kept on a chain. Itachi had seen her throwing it at a tree yesterday, and she had amazing accuracy. It was long enough to use in melee combat as well.
The two had not been content to wait around at their chosen meeting spot. As they moved off to scout out whoever they were meeting, Itachi had moved in closer, using his crows to make sure he didn’t get too close, but still knew what was going on. The two were not as adept at tree travel as Itachi, which made it easier for him to get closer under the cover of their noise. He was near enough to see them clearly when the stopped at a clearing, crouching in the cover of the tree to watch a caravan. Itachi swept his gaze over the clearing, assessing the caravan. His heart almost stopped. It was Sasuke--Sasuke standing in the open. He hardly had time to come to terms with Sasuke being there before he saw Hinata jump at someone. Whatever had been going on before, this was a fight now.
Well, isn’t this a clusterfuck. Itachi thought grimly. Clanners and Chuunin everywhere. Hopefully Sasuke and Hinata had two teammate hidden away somewhere, and maybe one of them would be a Jounin. Whatever the case, Itachi’s mission had abruptly shifted from chasing missing-nin to getting these Chuunin out of this alive, and that meant taking out the Kiri-nin before they hit the fight. There was no doubt they would enter the fight, and Itachi has no illusions that they would help Konoha. Ideally, he could cause enough of a disturbance that the Chuunin could extract themselves. He didn’t think he could nor did he really want to kill all parties involved. Only a few.
This was going to be a brawl, that much was certain. Itachi took a precious few second to coil up his hair and shove it down his flak vest before slamming his hands through signs. He translocated beside the ninjutsu specialist and as the man turned, slammed a genjutsu into him. Startled as the man was, the genjutsu hooked him instantly. With a guttural shriek of terror, the man clutched at his face and lost his balance, falling from the tree branch. The man’s partner, named Beniko, moved faster than Itachi had expected. Itachi barely missed getting pinned to his branch by her spear. Instead Itachi went racing down the tree. As soon as the man hit the ground with a sickening crack and thump, the genjustu was gone. The man wasn’t dead yet, but three kunai across his throat and then Itachi’s booted heel coming down on the kunai lodged in his windpipe as Itachi came off the tree finished the man off nicely. Of course a kunai sinking through flesh and cartilage and bone, that didn’t make for a solid landing. Itachi fell forward in a roll, catching a glimpse of Beniko landing hard on the ground and readying her spear to throw as she took a few running steps.
She didn’t throw it. Instead she flickered right in front of him, jabbing at his face with her spear. Itachi expected that and twisted to the side enough to not get his head impaled. What he wasn’t expecting was the speed with which she yanked the weapon back and too the side in a move more intended to bludgeon than stab. Despite the arm he threw up to block the blow, Itachi felt the tip of the spear bite into his face, level with his eye. The tip snatched around the side of his face as she tried to get to his eye. Luckily she didn’t have enough control to stop the sideways strike and stab back at his face, or he would have lost his eye. The force of the blow was enough to stagger him. He used the stumbling motion to clap his hands through the signs for a henge, giving a low, pained cry as he clutched at his face. That smeared the blood over his eye, which along with his tiny henge made it look like she’d taken out his eye.
It had all taken seconds. She was grinning widely, so pleased to have gotten an Uchiha’s eye. Itachi kept his grin behind clenched teeth as she came for him again. Itachi took an unsteady step back. She could assume he was frightened or in too much pain to stand firm. He would prove her wrong.
Orochimaru: As chaos exploded around him, Orochimaru merely smiled. Oh now this, this was getting interesting. He bit his thumb, and rolled his sleeve up, summoning a second pair of snakes: a pair of spitting cobras, each fifteen feet long. He sent one after the redhead with the bloodline and a second after the Hyuuga.
The oxen were bellowing, starting to panic. Orochimaru leaned into the wagon and grabbed for Ashiko: he wanted her within rescuing distance. "Peter, stay with Ashiko. We'll catch up to the caravan later," he ordered the blonde, and darted across the space to help the Kiri-nin against the Uchiha Jounin. Two Uchiha at once, a pretty little Hyuuga, and a redhead with a bloodline.
Well, it was almost worth losing the Mist-nin for this.
Orochimaru didn't bother with being subtle: he spat a large fireball right into the fray between Itachi and Beniko.
Peter: Shit. Okay, so his plans changed just that fast then. If Orochimaru was leaving Ashiko in his hands then he wasn’t going to risk anything happening to her, and he made sure to keep up with the fray, his gaze moving over the situation rapidly before he sprung into action. He twisted, looking back to the genin for only a moment. “Anything that happens to this caravan is now the fault of you two.”
Then he pinned his gaze on his objective, hands already moving to pull his brush. Genjutsu was out. Not with the Uchiha involved. That left seals and defensive barriers. He knew that Ashiko wouldn’t stay in Orochimaru’s grip for the whole fight, if only because that was too dangerous for the village’s civilian. No, it was up to him to make sure that the other side didn’t get the impression that the woman was in any way to do with the fight and keep her out of it.
“Of course. I won’t let her out of my sight for a second.”
Adela: No...! Despite her best efforts one of Adela’s wrists was caught, pinning her left side to a tree and leaving her hanging by the restraint. It was all she could do to keep using her sword to slice at the other branch trying to get at her, although the metal she had been using as armour reverted shape and dropped as the three metal balls to the ground, devoid of all chakra. She was in trouble, especially since she could hear more hissing...
As quickly as she could she sheathed the sword and formed hand seals with her free hand, breathing fire onto the branch still trying to get at her. Until she freed herself, she couldn’t help her teammates - if anything she’d be a liability or get killed, or captured. It was with that thought in mind that the red-headed chuunin tried as hard as she could to burn the branch still trapping her left wrist, even at the cost of burns to her skin and clothing--
Until, before she could finish, the snake got to her. It was in the tree, staring her down with a hiss before two things happened at once; the snake bit into her trapped arm, and she stabbed it through the head with a kunai. Its carcass fell to the ground soon after, and Adela was breathing hard before resuming trying to free herself. She was already starting to feel sick, not good. It must have been poisonous, though how the poison was effecting her she wasn’t sure. But she had to focus, even if she was having trouble freeing herself she could help the others...
As much as she could she lifted her free arm to the trapped one, forming seals and concentrating as much as she could to force her sword towards Sasuke, hilt first with the intent for him to catch it. She wasn’t going to let the enemy get their hands on her sword, and even if Sasuke had his own he could probably use hers as well.
Hinata: It wasn’t enough that there was one snake on the ground, as one followed after her, fangs bared as it advanced. She didn’t stop moving, ignoring the creature once a familiar form emerged from the nearest wagon to be guarded by the blond attempting to get the wagons moving mere seconds ago. If Orochimaru was kidnapping Kuzuryu-san he had another thing coming, as Hinata rushed toward the blond intent on getting Ashiko out of the fray and somewhere safe.
Channeling chakra into her hands Hinata prepared to ultimately seal and eventually knock Peter out once she’s close enough. The snake for the moment was forgotten in the face of more important matters. Just as she could see Adela trapped against a tree seemingly injured from what she could tell from afar.
Peter: Oh no. No way was he letting a Hyuuga anywhere near him with that jutsu they all used. He’d researched them, the records of how they fought and what they could do, and it was a simple fact of the universe that Peter had no intention of being on the receiving end of it. Pretty much ever. That was why the brush he’d gotten out was moving shorthanding one of his personal seals.
Usually it was just good for temporarily dazing an opponent with a flash of light.
This time he put an extra mark to triple the effect and threw it up in front of him, turning his face aside as he shifted between the jutsu and Ashiko, as well as away from the Hyuuga, to block her from the mini sun of light that flared from the seal. She hopefully wouldn’t be blinded too, and he hoped that the extra marker did as intended and had the chakra itself do exactly the same thing… on the Byakugan’s level.
If not, he was so screwed, but he had yet to have a seal completely fail him when it was as familiar to him as this one was. After all, he’d created the soundless flashbomb himself.
Ashiko: Ashiko, mercifully, was able to shield her eyes behind one long sleeve when the technique finished. That was more or less where her luck ran out, however, as the sudden influx of light resulted in some friendly fire in regards to the genin now dubiously in charge of the caravan. They were rendered helpless as the livestock began to buck and panic. From there, it was a very unfortunate domino effect.
The oxen tore loose from their bonds, stumbling around in false starts rather than full charges thanks to their impaired vision.
Ashiko, similarly impaired, took a small, dainty step back.
One ox stumbled around in a drunken sort of circle, as if searching for its lost bearings. And then a small, slender body was behind it, and hundreds of years of instinct took over.
If Ashiko made any sort of noise—of distress or of pain or of losing all of her air in one violent moment—it was lost beneath the sick crackle of at least two ribs caving in and the ox thundering off in the opposite direction. She was left splayed on the ground like a broken doll, eyes wide and watering and her mouth and throat working helplessly to replace the air that had been stolen away so suddenly.
Sasuke: Several things happened at the same time: Adela's attempt at disguise failed, the Oto-nin burst out into obvious attack, Hinata sprang out from her hiding position to back up Adela, the woman they'd shared a room with at the inn popped out of the caravan completely incongruously, and Itachi appeared out of nowhere. Where in the hell did -- but he didn't have time to worry about Itachi, beset by attackers or not, because in the next second chakra flared up by the caravan and he turned just in time to see Adela yanking a kunai out of a snake's head.
And with it, its fangs out of her arm. Shit: for all that he'd trained in combat medicine, poisons were a specialty he didn't have. Still, Sasuke had already flickered out of range of the red-headed Oto-nin he'd been talking to (clear enough that both of their attempts at a bluff had been thoroughly called by now) and was heading toward her when his brother's sound of pain arrested his movement. Instinctively Sasuke paused where he was, gaze turning toward Itachi fast enough to catch the spray of blood and the sight of his brother staggering before the fireball cut off his vision.
"B--" The shout almost started out of him before he clamped his mouth shut, fear cold in his bones (had Itachi been clutching his face? his eye?), but it was probably already obvious enough they were both Uchiha without giving the enemy more room to leverage them against each other as brothers.
Prioritize, Sasuke -- he could hear it in his mind, the impatient voice of medic-nin treating a victim with multiple wounds. Prioritize or the whole situation gets out of hand --
But his brother -- but his team was in danger as well, and Itachi was a jounin, and Sasuke's attention tore back to the caravan just in time to catch the sword Adela threw at him and understand the meaning. If she was giving over her sword, there was no doubt that the poison from that snake was fast-acting and likely lethal at her size, and from his vantage point he could see another one heading for Hinata. With Adela's sword in hand, Sasuke whipped his standard-issue katana forward at the lunging reptile, fully intending to follow it up with an attack of his own before a sudden explosion of light and chakra in his vision whited everything out.
Seconds, seconds were everything -- and his normal vision was losing time, spots dancing across everything that wasn't the Sharingan's more rapid recovery at this distance. There was nothing but smears of chakra and intent in a confused blur, Adela's and Hinata's familiar colours and the stranger ones ... the faint, narrow one had to be the snake, and Sasuke surged forward at it without waiting for his eyes to readjust, sword smashing through small branches between him and making sure that they didn't lose another teammate to poison.
Where: Eastern border of Fire Country
When: Feb 20th
Notes: This is a log post started within a Google Doc and moved here for clarity of threading. Please start your thread with the list of those in it and please make a note if you join or leave a thread of action for another.
Notes on setting: There are three drivers, four servants, and two non-ninja guards. The caravan is mostly going to be concerned with getting the heck outta Dodge when the ninja smackdown starts. NPCs are for everyone to play with, don't be afraid to grab one for a fight and do your thing!
Notes on the snake venoms a/o other jutsu: Golden Spitting Cobra venom is neurotoxic, cytotoxic, and cardiotoxic: basically, anyone bitten by the cobras is going to have movement retardation, the skin at the bite-site dying and the tissue going necrotic, and problems with their heart beating like it should! Eventually without an antidote you risk death by paralyzation and being unable to breathe. Symptoms beforehand include headaches, blurred vision, nausea, vomiting. Have fun. :3 (so tempted to say "movement speed reduced depending on their stamina roll..." ) By the way, they're spitting cobras - watch your eyes. :3 (Adela just killed this thing though… Or at least one of them, depending on what Orochimaru does.) ONE of them, so there's one more to deal with!
The other snake is a Japanese Mamushi - it's a pit-viper with both hemotoxin and neurotoxin venom. A bite from it will make your blood not clot well (really bad in a fight where you take blows) and the bite-site itself will go necrotic much like the cobra bites. However it's not as likely to kill you by itself....it's the being-unable-to-clot that'll do you in. Anyone for bleeding out via a bad bruise?
Orochimaru: The merchant caravans that traveled out from Rice Country, bearing loads of the country's namesake, were excellent means of employment and errand-running. Orochimaru and several companions were travelling in this manner: they were employed as guards, but Orochimaru also intended to meet up with a pair of missing-nin. Ashiko, who was with him, had met them on a journey and through correspondence with her, Orochimaru had extended the invitation for them to join him. After all, Mist-nin could be such intriguing fighters.
Orochimaru had two Genin and a Chuunin and a brand new Jounin with him, testing out the Genin. The two Genin he had sent to do a sweep of the trail behind: he was certain they'd picked up a tail within the last five miles. Not that it bothered him, really, it wasn't as if they were doing anything patently illegal....
Dressed in Oto's uniform, with his headband proudly displayed, Orochimaru was riding on the front of the lead wagon with the driver, the owner of this particular caravan. He and the merchant were discussing the prices of rice and the recent rise in taxes in Tea Country. The oxen ambled along steadily, tails switching complacently. There were four wagons in total, each loaded heavily. They were cutting through the Fire Country and heading towards Rain Country, travelling a well-known trade route. The road was broad and the edges clear of brush as they made their way through one of the large forests in the country.
It was cool under the shade of the trees, with snow lingering more persistently here in the shadows. The trees stood tall and bare-branched, laden with snow and ice. Orochimaru didn't mind the cold, but he still had his mottled grey winter cloak wrapped around his shoulders. His breath, and the driver's, and the oxen's all made white clouds in the frosty air, and in thin lancing beams of sunlight steam could be seen rising from the laboring oxen's flanks. They had been having good weather, these past few days, and the winter sunshine was bright and the sky frosty clear.
Orochimaru turned to ensure Ashiko was still warm enough, where she rode in the wagon.
Adela: Looks like the tip had been right. Following the motion to silence herself, Adela followed her two squadmates on mission as she took in the caravans. It was hard to conceal herself, but the white hood she wore helped cover her hair in the snow they were trudging through. There was a small shred of her that didn’t want there to be anything illegal being carried in the carts, that they were worried for nothing, but she had a horrible feeling that it would come to blows. As much as she enjoyed training, actual bloodshed was something that she knew she had a strong distaste for.
All she could do was hope that it was something they could take.
Intently the kunoichi watched, keeping an eye out for their squad leader’s signal to move, to see what they wanted to do, but otherwise trying to keep relaxed with her eyes focused on the caravan. Whatever was going on, they had to know. And this was her first B-Rank mission... If there was any one of them more determined to not fail it than her, Adela didn’t know who it was. But it wasn’t her mission to take the lead on, so she’d look to Hinata and Sasuke and see what they did from there.
Sasuke: The pair that had been sent back as rearguard were cautious and thorough, but still clearly genin-level in their tactics and thinking: they'd tried a couple of genjutsu-dispelling chakra bursts before falling into textbook back-and-forth sweeps across the path and briefly into the woods on either side. It was clear enough that they hadn't spent much time in the Land of Fire before -- they kept their surveillance close to the ground as if they were still in the wide-open fields of Rice Country. They'd been watching the caravan from the trees from habit, but Sasuke had signalled them to keep well at the canopy level as soon as it had become clear that they were dealing with genin.
A pair of genin left in the rear of a caravan was believable, to be sure, but for something as innocuous as regular shipment of rice, even genin were an unusual outlay for a merchant. It was clear that they were expecting to be followed, too, which lent credence to the mission parametres' unfortunately vague "There might be something suspicious in the caravan."
Whatever the case, it was clear that they needed to find an opportunity to take a closer look at both people and contents of the caravan, which meant they needed to get Hinata closer than the protection of the trees without arousing unnecessary suspicion by descending as hostile Konoha-nin right away. The plodding oxen gave Sasuke the idea in the end; he signalled Adela from the next tree he landed on, indicating a bend in the road ahead.
Create a distraction, he signalled, then pointed down at the ground to make the message clearer: a disruption in the earth of the road wouldn't be unusual on a warm winter day, with meltwater sometimes flash-flooding entire sections of road into muddy messes.
Ashiko: Ashiko was in relatively high spirits, which was mostly because she was able to stay by her master’s side while traveling. It was a rarity, and allowed her to fulfil both her duties and her orders, while still being able to tend to her master’s daily needs. It didn’t hurt that having multiple ninja around vastly decreased the likelihood of catcalling or waylaying by undesirables.
She tightened her grip on the thick quilt draped around her, offering a peaceful smile when she felt the familiar weight of Orochimaru’s gaze sweeping over her, cataloguing and assessing every last detail he could eke out. She felt her stomach flutter, and basked in the pleased afterglow of a job well done.
This was far from the first time that some of the connections she had made abroad had come home to roost, so to speak, but she was always pleased when she managed to find people that could benefit her master.
Hinata: Hinata came to a halt, perched on a tree branch at the signal to stop. She took in the caravan the way two genin were sweeping the rear. Their bare bones sweeps were both lucky for the moment and a hindrance. It kept her high and at a distance which meant her eyes were going to be useless. Two facts that she was certain Sasuke would have already picked up on.
Watching from the corner of her eyes she saw him motion for Adela to create a distraction and shifted. Once they were distracted she would only have a short window of opportunity to get closer, take a look, and get out without being noticed. Once she had more concrete information than their rather unfortunate tip, further decisions could be made on what to do next. With any luck the tip proved false and they’d be headed back to the village without incident in no time.
Adela: A distraction. That, she could do. With grace only gained with years of practice she lowered herself to the underbrush, making sure that she hadn’t been spotted before her hands flew into flawless seals. Her clothing already was doing a lot to keep her camouflaged, but she had to be both quick and cautious if the kunoichi in question didn’t want to be discovered. Her breathing was silent as she let her chakra flow into the ground, moistening it until it became thick and muddy in the path of the caravan, just after the oxen in the lead crossed over. Hopefully, that would get the cart wheels stuck enough for them to investigate - to hell with it being suspicious or not.
Still, once the jutsu was done Adela made sure that she was flattened against the ground, as still and quiet as a cat in wait for its prey. Adela was ready to substitute out with bushes in several directions, each around fifteen meters away, if it was needed - if only to make noise over there and attract attention away from where Hinata needed to investigate. All she could do was hope that it wouldn’t come to that, even if the ill feeling in her stomach stressed that things would go wrong in spite of her hopes.
Orochimaru: The snake inside Orochimaru's shirt suddenly hissed stridently at his ear. Orochimaru raised an eyebrow. A jutsu? How intriguing.
The rear wheels of the wagon dragged, and the oxen halted. From the other drivers behind came shouts as they halted their beasts. One of the civilian guards, a samurai, came up beside the wagon and stared at the ground dubiously.
Orochimaru turned to look at Ashiko again. "Ashiko-san," - and he was never so formal to her unless there was danger - "I think you're wearing too many blankets."
Tsutaki: Tsutaki was ready to react the moment there was any trouble, just as the chuunin and genin should be. Ideally, Orochimaru-sama shouldn’t have to trouble himself to fight unless he felt like it, but that depended in part on the skill of the people ambushing them. Genin wouldn’t be capable of fighting jounin and would struggle with chuunin even if the genin in question were from Oto. Ultimately, it would be up to her to pick up the slack as a recently promoted jounin.
With nimble grace, she vaulted up, out of the caravan to a low-hanging tree branch to investigate. If someone was possibly using an earth jutsu to snag the caravan wheels, she’d have to survey from higher ground and in her element. Scanning the local surroundings, her gaze went to the trees and bushes nearby. She spent enough time in the woods near Otogakure that she was quite familiar with unnatural colours that signified a person was hiding amongst the flora. Unless they painted their faces to blend in, flesh stood out to one who knew what to look for. Of course, it was easier in these temperatures, where the trees were barer.
Sure enough, as she searched, she caught a glimpse of something out of place in the trees. It was rare for there to be only a single shinobi out on a mission. She’d just have to flush the others out, and she knew just the way to get it started. Forming a set of handseals, she formed a thin branch and sent it snaking up the tree to snag the ankle of the unfortunate shinobi she’d found.
Sasuke: It was only with force of will that Sasuke managed not to startle right out of his spot in the trees when someone from the caravan slipped out and leapt up into them. The light genjutsu that had been covering their movements was only enough to suggest to someone looking that there wasn’t anything of interest, and abruptly he wished he’d set something stronger in place before they’d closed in -- as it was, they were going to have to hope they weren’t seen.
Of course, hope for a shinobi was a useless indulgence. Clearly their attempt at a subtle distraction had failed (he was really going to have to talk to Adela about how make a distraction typically meant something sneaky), which left them with outright confrontation.
The sound of rustling alerted him to the fact that the other party had started the confrontation first -- only the the smear of chakra in Sharingan’s vision allowed him to whip his hands through seals, switching out for a log that tangled up harmlessly in the vine as Sasuke himself flickered to another branch, carefully forming a triangle between himself, Adela, and Hinata.
And since subtlely was already out the window, he drew his sword before he called out, tensing in preparation for another strike: “What is the meaning of this attack?”
Ashiko: Get ready to move, doll, Ashiko translated, suppressing the instinctive shudder that always tried to rattle through her whenever it was necessary for her master to treat her formally. It felt wrong, in more ways than she could name, but she forced herself to ignore the discomfort and instead set her mind to following his subtly phrased order. She slipped the blankets from her shoulders and folded them neatly, sliding her feet back into her sandals and shifting so that she was kneeling in a casual, bastardized runner’s crouch rather than curled comfortably against the wagon’s corner.
Her kimono would keep her from being fully mobile, but there was no need to hobble herself entirely; that would only hinder the shinobi of the company in the long run.
She was close enough to the opening that she could hear a faint echo of Sasuke’s words through the cold, still air, and couldn’t help it when her eyebrows raised in surprise at the familiar voice. “I rather think that should be our line,” she murmured under her breath, though perhaps ‘attack’ was too generous a word for some jammed wheels.
Hinata: With Adela’s jutsu completed, Hinata dropped carefully from the trees. Landing in a low crouch she paused listening before moving close as she dared while still being close enough to take a peek. Only she’d no sooner activated her Byakugan than she heard Sasuke’s voice ringing out through the trees. Never a good sign when he chose to draw attention to himself, of course it was also a very good way to inform her that they were made and this was going to get a lot more complicated.
She took a moment, took a peek at the caravan, a small figure moving within the lead wagon but otherwise nothing suspicious in the actual cargo that she could immediately identify. It was the Oto headbands that were clear as day without her Byakugan that gave her pause as she searched for Sasuke and Adela and within her range of vision was a red headed Oto nin up in the canopy.
Drawing a kunai, she held it at her side gauging the threat the shinobi posed. This was a stealth mission she’d rather see what the Oto nin would do next before jumping into a fight, though she was expecting that it would devolve into one before the thought to retreat crossed either Sasuke or Adela’s minds.
Adela: This was bad. Adela had to consciously focus in order to keep her breathing quiet, watching and waiting to see what would happen. Sasuke was already drawing attention to himself… Why? She didn’t know, but maybe it was to protect Hinata. Damn, if only she knew how to work with some better genjutsu instead of her ninjutsu, then maybe this might have gone better.
It didn’t take long for Adela to pull out several metal balls from the pouch beside her weapons’ holster, and she set them on the ground before performing the hand seals for the expanding metal technique. It’s just to get her chakra strings in place, but if need be she could at least create a paper-thin steel shield if need be for any of them. She just had to get into a better range and vantage point without being noticed, and even if their attention was on Sasuke such a thing was easier said than done.
For the moment she used it to perfectly reflect the scenery on its side, her movement a snail’s crawl as she tried to move towards the others. Any faster and she’d get noticed in an instant, and if she was careful about this she could at least get close enough to help her team - or so she hoped.
Orochimaru: Orochimaru stepped down from the wagon. The snake in his clothes hit the ground and slithered in Adela's direction, a flick of brown patterning against the snow. Orochimaru himself shook back his hair and put two fingers in his mouth. A sharp whistle had the Genin signalled to return.
He gestured to the Chuunin, who immediately set to righting the road, to the relief of the nervous caravaners.
Orochimaru turned, and looked right at Hinata, having marked her descent from the trees. But she was hanging back, wisely, and he looked up into the trees, easily picking out Tsutaki's flaming red head and her opponent. Dark-haired and slender, young voice and distinctly Konoha accent. A katana, which was unusual. Orochimaru raised an eyebrow, and as the two Oto Genin charged into view, he gestured them up to help the Chuunin with the wagons.
Tsutaki wouldn't need the help, and neither would Orochimaru.
Peter: Peter hadn’t been completely idle as everyone else had been maneuvering themselves, instead slipping under the carriage of the wagon to see about getting it moving while people were distracted with the conflict. Someone used an earth jutsu? Fine, he could deal with that, and his hands carefully moved through the seals to make the ground more solid, with him waving to the civilians to give it a push. Better to get them out of the way before risking doing anything with the battle. After all, the client came first, and he was going to make sure that the client was well out of the way in case the other side of this little conflict was… destructive.
Tsutaki: “Attack is such a strong word,” Tsutaki replied to the Konoha shinobi with the katana. She projected an almost nonchalant air about her, even though she was actually paying careful attention to her surroundings. Peter needed time to get the caravan on its way. The two Genin would be able to help him and guard the caravan. She didn’t need help, especially if Orochimaru had stepped out onto the battlefield. Briefly, she glanced in the direction of the snake and caught a sight of another Konoha shinobi. Or presumably Konoha, anyway.
“After all, you and your teammates are the ones sneaking up on a merchant caravan and halting its movement with jutsu. One might think you were thieves. I hope Konoha isn’t financially troubled enough to have to resort to robbery.”
She wanted to bait them. If they were provoked, they might reveal more than they intended to or make some other mistake. Two could play the distraction game. With her vibrant red hair, and her position in the trees, she was clearly visible, but it was Orochimaru that was the far greater threat.
Sasuke: "A small attack is still an attack," Sasuke replied, tense -- more shinobi had suddenly sprouted from the caravan, all but confirming that there was indeed something suspicious in there. The chakra of at least one of them felt like a serious threat, and the genin that were now racing back to the caravan would be bodies and nuisances if not necessarily a danger. It was likely too much to hope that they hadn't all been spotted by now, and the kunoichi's next words only confirmed it.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed at the insult, stance shifting into a more obvious threat, as much for display as in real offense. If he could stall long enough, they could establish just how willing this group was to protect their goods.
"We have reports of a shipment coming through here with contraband goods," he said, voice flat. "If your travel here is legitimate, you won't hesitate to stand down for inspection."
Hinata: Hinata froze when Orochimaru looked directly at her gaze flickering briefly to the snake slithering off in Adela’s direction. They were screwed between him and the scattering of ninja quickly coming back to defend the caravan. Pursing her lips she shifted back in a more defensive position. The snake was her biggest worry especially given that Adela was a new Chunin. She didn’t think the girl would panic but she did worry about her noticing the snake before it was too late.
She watched as both her teammates took matters handled their situations. Goading the red head nin into doing something didn’t seem like a good idea, but she trusted Sasuke’s judgment. Carefully, she backed up without turning around. She’d rather have Orochimaru in full view than risk him slipping into her blind spot. As she moved she altered her course so she would be able to help either squadmate if need be. The fact that they were still in a tense stand off was bothering her. Distraction. She lets out a short three tone whistle more than aware of how bad an idea that was with ninja capable of manipulating sound. But conveying that message seemed just as important as warning Adela she had a tail despite her attempts to mask her retreat. Lucky the whistle would do both equally as well.
Adela: What was Hinata trying to tell her? She stiffened, stopping before trying to re-evaluate her surroundings. Eventually she managed to crane her neck, and that was when she noticed the snake not even a few feet away from her. It was moving slowly in the cold, but it would still catch up to her if she didn’t do something quickly.
Shit. Adela didn’t know what the chances were that it was going to attack, but considering that it’s a snake in the snow she didn't want to take her chances. That was just a little too uncommon for her to believe that it was a native in the area after all.
The metal wrapped around her torso in a liquid armor then, and she took the chance to ascend to the branches in a quick movement. Unfortunately, the hood covering her hair got caught on a stray branch and fluttered away as a simple white cloth, leaving long red tresses revealed through the frost-covered bark in the trees. So much for cover, but getting out of the snake’s reach just seemed like the higher priority then - especially since, judging from the conversation, they at least knew she was there.
Hinata: Satisfied that her message was conveyed, she turned her attention to the snake man himself. This was the stupidest idea she’d ever had. It could easily turn out that her next move was entirely unnecessary as she wasn't 100% sure that the snake in the snow was entirely independent of the man, he had to have given it some sort of orders at some point right? Shifting forward onto her toes she launched herself out of the bushes she was hiding in.
Considering her only weapon in hand was a kunai and her kusarigama is still firmly sitting at her side this will easily be the quickest fight ever. Or semi-fight as her path was really meant to skirt around him and head straight for the wagon to stall it from taking off. It was only cursory effort at attacking as she threw her kunai at his leg so she can grip her kusarigama in one hand should she need it.
Tsutaki: “Considering that your team snuck around like a team of bandits rather than stopping us like a legitimate border patrol, no, I don’t think we’ll be delaying our client any further. Here’s my counter-offer: turn around, go home and leave us alone, and you can get out of this unscathed. Cause any further problems for us, and we’ll have to be less cordial with you.”
Given his combative stance, Tsutaki very much doubted that they’d be turning around and going away, but it was only polite to give the option. The shock of red hair caught her attention, as did the movement of the metal. Kekkai genkai, hm? She’d have to do something about that. In light of that, their odds of being taken as captives just went up. Or at least the other red-haired kunoichi’s did. And then as the other kunoichi lept into action, she caught a quick glimpse of the tell-tale eyes of the Hyuuga clan. Now things were just getting interesting.
After a quick succession of handseals, tree branches shot up on either side of Adela, in an attempt to snag her wrists and pin them to the tree to keep her from forming handseals.
Itachi: Itachi had been tailing the two missing-nin for a two days now, trying to see just who they were meeting up with. With the use of crows placed under henge, he could stay far enough back as not to alert suspicion. The two were former Kiri-nin, and seemed to fulfill the stereotypical expectations of such ninja. One was a ninjutsu expert, carrying only standard short blades and kunai. The other had a very wicked and heavily modified fishing spear she kept on a chain. Itachi had seen her throwing it at a tree yesterday, and she had amazing accuracy. It was long enough to use in melee combat as well.
The two had not been content to wait around at their chosen meeting spot. As they moved off to scout out whoever they were meeting, Itachi had moved in closer, using his crows to make sure he didn’t get too close, but still knew what was going on. The two were not as adept at tree travel as Itachi, which made it easier for him to get closer under the cover of their noise. He was near enough to see them clearly when the stopped at a clearing, crouching in the cover of the tree to watch a caravan. Itachi swept his gaze over the clearing, assessing the caravan. His heart almost stopped. It was Sasuke--Sasuke standing in the open. He hardly had time to come to terms with Sasuke being there before he saw Hinata jump at someone. Whatever had been going on before, this was a fight now.
Well, isn’t this a clusterfuck. Itachi thought grimly. Clanners and Chuunin everywhere. Hopefully Sasuke and Hinata had two teammate hidden away somewhere, and maybe one of them would be a Jounin. Whatever the case, Itachi’s mission had abruptly shifted from chasing missing-nin to getting these Chuunin out of this alive, and that meant taking out the Kiri-nin before they hit the fight. There was no doubt they would enter the fight, and Itachi has no illusions that they would help Konoha. Ideally, he could cause enough of a disturbance that the Chuunin could extract themselves. He didn’t think he could nor did he really want to kill all parties involved. Only a few.
This was going to be a brawl, that much was certain. Itachi took a precious few second to coil up his hair and shove it down his flak vest before slamming his hands through signs. He translocated beside the ninjutsu specialist and as the man turned, slammed a genjutsu into him. Startled as the man was, the genjutsu hooked him instantly. With a guttural shriek of terror, the man clutched at his face and lost his balance, falling from the tree branch. The man’s partner, named Beniko, moved faster than Itachi had expected. Itachi barely missed getting pinned to his branch by her spear. Instead Itachi went racing down the tree. As soon as the man hit the ground with a sickening crack and thump, the genjustu was gone. The man wasn’t dead yet, but three kunai across his throat and then Itachi’s booted heel coming down on the kunai lodged in his windpipe as Itachi came off the tree finished the man off nicely. Of course a kunai sinking through flesh and cartilage and bone, that didn’t make for a solid landing. Itachi fell forward in a roll, catching a glimpse of Beniko landing hard on the ground and readying her spear to throw as she took a few running steps.
She didn’t throw it. Instead she flickered right in front of him, jabbing at his face with her spear. Itachi expected that and twisted to the side enough to not get his head impaled. What he wasn’t expecting was the speed with which she yanked the weapon back and too the side in a move more intended to bludgeon than stab. Despite the arm he threw up to block the blow, Itachi felt the tip of the spear bite into his face, level with his eye. The tip snatched around the side of his face as she tried to get to his eye. Luckily she didn’t have enough control to stop the sideways strike and stab back at his face, or he would have lost his eye. The force of the blow was enough to stagger him. He used the stumbling motion to clap his hands through the signs for a henge, giving a low, pained cry as he clutched at his face. That smeared the blood over his eye, which along with his tiny henge made it look like she’d taken out his eye.
It had all taken seconds. She was grinning widely, so pleased to have gotten an Uchiha’s eye. Itachi kept his grin behind clenched teeth as she came for him again. Itachi took an unsteady step back. She could assume he was frightened or in too much pain to stand firm. He would prove her wrong.
Orochimaru: As chaos exploded around him, Orochimaru merely smiled. Oh now this, this was getting interesting. He bit his thumb, and rolled his sleeve up, summoning a second pair of snakes: a pair of spitting cobras, each fifteen feet long. He sent one after the redhead with the bloodline and a second after the Hyuuga.
The oxen were bellowing, starting to panic. Orochimaru leaned into the wagon and grabbed for Ashiko: he wanted her within rescuing distance. "Peter, stay with Ashiko. We'll catch up to the caravan later," he ordered the blonde, and darted across the space to help the Kiri-nin against the Uchiha Jounin. Two Uchiha at once, a pretty little Hyuuga, and a redhead with a bloodline.
Well, it was almost worth losing the Mist-nin for this.
Orochimaru didn't bother with being subtle: he spat a large fireball right into the fray between Itachi and Beniko.
Peter: Shit. Okay, so his plans changed just that fast then. If Orochimaru was leaving Ashiko in his hands then he wasn’t going to risk anything happening to her, and he made sure to keep up with the fray, his gaze moving over the situation rapidly before he sprung into action. He twisted, looking back to the genin for only a moment. “Anything that happens to this caravan is now the fault of you two.”
Then he pinned his gaze on his objective, hands already moving to pull his brush. Genjutsu was out. Not with the Uchiha involved. That left seals and defensive barriers. He knew that Ashiko wouldn’t stay in Orochimaru’s grip for the whole fight, if only because that was too dangerous for the village’s civilian. No, it was up to him to make sure that the other side didn’t get the impression that the woman was in any way to do with the fight and keep her out of it.
“Of course. I won’t let her out of my sight for a second.”
Adela: No...! Despite her best efforts one of Adela’s wrists was caught, pinning her left side to a tree and leaving her hanging by the restraint. It was all she could do to keep using her sword to slice at the other branch trying to get at her, although the metal she had been using as armour reverted shape and dropped as the three metal balls to the ground, devoid of all chakra. She was in trouble, especially since she could hear more hissing...
As quickly as she could she sheathed the sword and formed hand seals with her free hand, breathing fire onto the branch still trying to get at her. Until she freed herself, she couldn’t help her teammates - if anything she’d be a liability or get killed, or captured. It was with that thought in mind that the red-headed chuunin tried as hard as she could to burn the branch still trapping her left wrist, even at the cost of burns to her skin and clothing--
Until, before she could finish, the snake got to her. It was in the tree, staring her down with a hiss before two things happened at once; the snake bit into her trapped arm, and she stabbed it through the head with a kunai. Its carcass fell to the ground soon after, and Adela was breathing hard before resuming trying to free herself. She was already starting to feel sick, not good. It must have been poisonous, though how the poison was effecting her she wasn’t sure. But she had to focus, even if she was having trouble freeing herself she could help the others...
As much as she could she lifted her free arm to the trapped one, forming seals and concentrating as much as she could to force her sword towards Sasuke, hilt first with the intent for him to catch it. She wasn’t going to let the enemy get their hands on her sword, and even if Sasuke had his own he could probably use hers as well.
Hinata: It wasn’t enough that there was one snake on the ground, as one followed after her, fangs bared as it advanced. She didn’t stop moving, ignoring the creature once a familiar form emerged from the nearest wagon to be guarded by the blond attempting to get the wagons moving mere seconds ago. If Orochimaru was kidnapping Kuzuryu-san he had another thing coming, as Hinata rushed toward the blond intent on getting Ashiko out of the fray and somewhere safe.
Channeling chakra into her hands Hinata prepared to ultimately seal and eventually knock Peter out once she’s close enough. The snake for the moment was forgotten in the face of more important matters. Just as she could see Adela trapped against a tree seemingly injured from what she could tell from afar.
Peter: Oh no. No way was he letting a Hyuuga anywhere near him with that jutsu they all used. He’d researched them, the records of how they fought and what they could do, and it was a simple fact of the universe that Peter had no intention of being on the receiving end of it. Pretty much ever. That was why the brush he’d gotten out was moving shorthanding one of his personal seals.
Usually it was just good for temporarily dazing an opponent with a flash of light.
This time he put an extra mark to triple the effect and threw it up in front of him, turning his face aside as he shifted between the jutsu and Ashiko, as well as away from the Hyuuga, to block her from the mini sun of light that flared from the seal. She hopefully wouldn’t be blinded too, and he hoped that the extra marker did as intended and had the chakra itself do exactly the same thing… on the Byakugan’s level.
If not, he was so screwed, but he had yet to have a seal completely fail him when it was as familiar to him as this one was. After all, he’d created the soundless flashbomb himself.
Ashiko: Ashiko, mercifully, was able to shield her eyes behind one long sleeve when the technique finished. That was more or less where her luck ran out, however, as the sudden influx of light resulted in some friendly fire in regards to the genin now dubiously in charge of the caravan. They were rendered helpless as the livestock began to buck and panic. From there, it was a very unfortunate domino effect.
The oxen tore loose from their bonds, stumbling around in false starts rather than full charges thanks to their impaired vision.
Ashiko, similarly impaired, took a small, dainty step back.
One ox stumbled around in a drunken sort of circle, as if searching for its lost bearings. And then a small, slender body was behind it, and hundreds of years of instinct took over.
If Ashiko made any sort of noise—of distress or of pain or of losing all of her air in one violent moment—it was lost beneath the sick crackle of at least two ribs caving in and the ox thundering off in the opposite direction. She was left splayed on the ground like a broken doll, eyes wide and watering and her mouth and throat working helplessly to replace the air that had been stolen away so suddenly.
Sasuke: Several things happened at the same time: Adela's attempt at disguise failed, the Oto-nin burst out into obvious attack, Hinata sprang out from her hiding position to back up Adela, the woman they'd shared a room with at the inn popped out of the caravan completely incongruously, and Itachi appeared out of nowhere. Where in the hell did -- but he didn't have time to worry about Itachi, beset by attackers or not, because in the next second chakra flared up by the caravan and he turned just in time to see Adela yanking a kunai out of a snake's head.
And with it, its fangs out of her arm. Shit: for all that he'd trained in combat medicine, poisons were a specialty he didn't have. Still, Sasuke had already flickered out of range of the red-headed Oto-nin he'd been talking to (clear enough that both of their attempts at a bluff had been thoroughly called by now) and was heading toward her when his brother's sound of pain arrested his movement. Instinctively Sasuke paused where he was, gaze turning toward Itachi fast enough to catch the spray of blood and the sight of his brother staggering before the fireball cut off his vision.
"B--" The shout almost started out of him before he clamped his mouth shut, fear cold in his bones (had Itachi been clutching his face? his eye?), but it was probably already obvious enough they were both Uchiha without giving the enemy more room to leverage them against each other as brothers.
Prioritize, Sasuke -- he could hear it in his mind, the impatient voice of medic-nin treating a victim with multiple wounds. Prioritize or the whole situation gets out of hand --
But his brother -- but his team was in danger as well, and Itachi was a jounin, and Sasuke's attention tore back to the caravan just in time to catch the sword Adela threw at him and understand the meaning. If she was giving over her sword, there was no doubt that the poison from that snake was fast-acting and likely lethal at her size, and from his vantage point he could see another one heading for Hinata. With Adela's sword in hand, Sasuke whipped his standard-issue katana forward at the lunging reptile, fully intending to follow it up with an attack of his own before a sudden explosion of light and chakra in his vision whited everything out.
Seconds, seconds were everything -- and his normal vision was losing time, spots dancing across everything that wasn't the Sharingan's more rapid recovery at this distance. There was nothing but smears of chakra and intent in a confused blur, Adela's and Hinata's familiar colours and the stranger ones ... the faint, narrow one had to be the snake, and Sasuke surged forward at it without waiting for his eyes to readjust, sword smashing through small branches between him and making sure that they didn't lose another teammate to poison.