Two Homies Stop the Boom [Promotion]

Mission:

Two messenger birds fly out of the window of the missions office. Each heading in a different direction, but both carrying the same letter. Once opened, it reads: ‘Team 3 to report straight to the south gate to get orders on a mission marked: CRITICAL. Report Immediately.’ once read, the letter is automatically set to destroy itself via a small seal with an E-rank fire jutsu sealed within it. One of the birds flew straight to the home of Shojin Kagemori and the other went straight to the home of Kosuke. Once he opened the letter, the young Genin threw on his normal ninja clothes and grabbed a few extra kunai from a table before leaping out his apartment window to begin running towards the south gate. Upon his arrival, he found a blonde girl around his age standing with her arms crossed and a leaf headband positioned on top of her head like a bandanna. She had blue eyes and an annoyed look on her face. “Where’s the other guy? We need to leave immediately!” Kosuke would shrug, usually Shojin was there first, so it wouldn’t be long before the redhead arrived and they could get going, not long at all.

Once Shojin did show up, the girl would simply motion for them to follow her before she took off at what he would consider modest Chuunin level speeds out the gate. As they ran she started speaking, “A small village out in the land of fire was placed on lockdown around an hour ago. We have been tasked with infiltrating the village, disposing of some paper tags or something and taking some special jonin into custody or something. I’m Kagaya, oh, and they gave us these.” As she said that, she would toss back a small scroll to each of the males no doubt following behind her. “Apparently we can use these to detect the tags or something.” She seemed to not have a lot more info than what Kosuke and Shojin had at the moment. Kosuke steeled his resolve as he started preparing for what he would do to make sure this mission was a success unlike last time. He would need to come prepared from the very start instead of winging it like he had before. No, he wouldn’t let it happen like it did the last time he and Shojin went on a higher ranked mission.

TWC: 401

Shojin sat bolt upright. There was an odd tapping sound; tap tap tap tap tap. It was a sound something like a cross between wood and plastic tapping on his window. It was erratic, hectic; as though it were a living, intelligent being, trying to communicate with him. Something about it made his hair stand up; if nothing else, he searched for it in order to just stop it. Finally locating the window in his dining room, Shojin gripped the bottom of the panes. With only a few inches of clearance, a bird burst into the middle of his house.

Bewildered at first, Shojin's first reaction was to kill it; a kitchen knife previously located on the table next to him would immediately impale the helpless avian, pinning it into the wall behind itself. It was only then that Shojin noticed the attached scroll; he quietly prayed that he wouldn't get lynched for this. He moved quickly to recover the scroll, and, reading it, understood why such an obnoxious form of communication was required. In his hand, the scroll would light on fire, burning his fingers. "Son of a bitch!" He'd exclaim, immediately planting his thumb in his mouth to nurse his new wound.

A solid five seconds would pass as Shojin stood there before he realized he needed to move. He'd move about the house, changing as quickly as possible, and retrieving his weapons and tools. Within a few moments, he was out of his house and hurtling across rooftops at top speed to go link up with Kosuke and this strange other partner. He assumed it was just because Jun-Sensei wasn't there, but then he was forced to wonder why Jun-Sensei wouldn't lead them on what was potentially their most dangerous mission yet.

"[b]Heyyo, Kosuke!" Shojin smiled as Kosuke began to take off, ushering this other girl along; he didn't even wait for Shojin. He was about the business, today. Shojin would catch up, and run alongside the two of them as he received more information. "I have an idea!" Shojin would perform the Summoning Technique, biting his thumb and formulating the intricate hand seals required to bring forth Kusho; the massive slug. He'd slap his own chest instead of any surface to summon her on, and she'd manifest herself there; split into three football sized versions of herself. Shojin would throw one at Kosuke and the other at their current partner. "This is Kusho," he'd say in their minds. "I believe you've already met her, Kosuke. She'll be able to help us protect the civilians. Every civilian you come across, Kusho will split into a smaller version, and latch herself to them. Make sure they all get one in case the boom happens."

457

Kosuke would nod as Shojin tossed him one of the slugs. This time, he wasn’t in a life or death situation so he had time for a grossed out face to appear as the slimy creature crawled its way onto his shoulder. “Understood, I guess.” Then he decided to call forth his own summon to begin a special jutsu the two of them had been practicing in secret. Biting his thumb and running through seals, he would slam his palm on a tree branch as he passed by only for a large owl to appear flying next to him. “Ah, so I take it you want to do that strategy then, eh, Kosuke?” The owl’s voice was a light baritone with a jovial tone. The two of them would form some more seals before the owl merged with Kosuke’s body, giving Kosuke black pigmentation around his eyes sloping downwards at the back down his cheeks and the insides pointing upwards towards his brow. His eyes themselves turned yellow and one may notice he makes absolutely no sounds from movement once the merge is complete. As the town came into view, he listened as the girl spoke up again, “Alright, I guess I’ll take the lead since I’m the only one who was there early enough to get the briefing. We need to split up and track down the bombs in the area and disable them without setting them off. They output a slight chakra signature so those scrolls can track them down. Also be on the lookout for our target, he is wanted dead or alive, but preferably alive if possible. If there are no questions, you know what to do. Scatter.” With that, provided no questions were asked, she would vanish in a burst of speed rivaling their own.

Kosuke would nod to Shojin as he moved, knowing that with the slug on his back, they would be able to communicate probably from any distance. While in sage mode, he was also able to detect the chakra within the paper tags so he didn’t need the scroll. He could also detect his team's location at any time, so it would prove invaluable during this phase of the mission. As he made his way into the town square, he noticed three signatures around him, one next to a trash bin, one on the roof of a nearby building and one just below the ground. Taking care of the two obviously easy to reach ones, he would make his way down a manhole cover into the sewers, making sure not to step in any of the… questionable water around him. Diffusing the tag down there was the simple part as he sensed several more in the underground area, which meant he would be down there for a while longer making sure he got them all. Running about underground making sure he got them all, he was pushing his senses to their limits. He only hoped Shojin and Kagaya were having better luck on their ends than he had been so far.

TWC: 1,039

Specifics:

Shojin smiled as Kosuke brought forth his own summon. Shojin had been on many missions by now; most of them were rather low-ranked ones, but he had worked with quite a few Genin. In all of his experiences, though some were much stronger than others, Shojin had yet to meet a Genin with the capabilities he'd witnessed from Kosuke or himself. In fact, he'd even partnered with some Chuunin by now, and even they didn't quite match up to this fierce duo. It almost made him wonder what it actually took to make Chuunin, and whether he could possibly attain that rank someday...

Shojin entered the town from the side, away from any actual paths or roads. He figured if someone had placed bombs in the village, he shouldn't be seen just walking in; it could be a problem if he provoked this rogue ninja. He crept around the village, attempting to make an effort to avoid being seen. It became immediately apparent that this was no easy task. As he maneuvered throughout the village, it was like he was playing with his friends and they hid something from him, giving him tips as they gleefully exclaimed "Hotter! Colder!"

It dawned on him rather soon that hiding from sight was going a little too well. In fact, he realized that he had yet to see anyone either. It was oddly quiet. After a few moments, he'd speak into the minds of the others. "Hey, I got a nasty feeling. I'm not seeing anyone. It's possible they figured it out and ran, but... what if they're being kept somewhere? It took us awhile to mobilize after the tip, not to mention the time it took to make the tip. Maybe the situation has escalated. Tread carefully." Communicating with thoughts was odd... despite the number of thoughts that were conveyed, he got his message across as quickly as he could speak just one sentence.

Eventually, Shojin made his way to the center of town, where he was getting the strongest reading. In fact, even with the inexact nature of the detection method he was using, he could tell there were absolutely tons of tags. Then, he realized this building was town hall. Shojin gritted his teeth. Moving quietly, he located a window into the building. He crouched below it, and allowed the tiniest version of Kusho to crawl off of his finger onto the window sill, being sure to keep his fingers out of sight.

Within a few moments, an image would appear in the minds of the three ninja. Dozens of citizens were placed, hands and feet bound, in a circle within the building. Explosive tags covered every inch of the walls in town hall, as if they were wall paper. In the center was a single man who wore a scratched out Leaf headband. "Hostages." Shojin would observe, speaking shortly in the minds of the others. "Kosuke, Kagaya. I need a distraction; I can help them, but I need him gone."

Shojin wasn't entirely sure what the others could do to cause such a distraction, but he had faith in Kosuke. He knew if his friend wanted to make a distraction, he'd make a distraction. "If he does follow you, I'll be there shortly."



1001

Kosuke climbed out of the underground area before he heard and saw the things that Shojin sent them through their mind link. That meant that they’d need something to draw the other guy away. Clenching his fist as his mind rushed with many thoughts on what he could do, Kosuke came to a realization and then made a plan. He realized the paper tags surrounding the hostages must be why he couldn’t just sense them, and he also came up with his plan. Forming some hand seals, he would send a massive swirl of flames into the sky that would take the shape of a fire dragon that would begin flying around the town, no doubt drawing the attention of the criminal to hunt him down. He would maneuver his way to the top of one of the taller buildings in town to wait while he had the dragon move overhead to display his current location.

While this was happening, Kagaya was making her way to Shojin’s current location to aid him with dealing with the civilians and getting them to safety. She was just here as an observer after all, so she would do all that she could to avoid actual combat so that she could see what these chuunin hopefuls were capable of. As she neared the area where Shojin had signaled them from, she could sense the other larger signature heading out and heading in Kosuke’s direction, meaning they had the opening they needed. She would arrive next to Shojin, “Alright, I’m a medic-nin so I can do the most good here with you, helping you get these civilians to safety, but If you need to, you can leave this to me and go help Kosuke, it’s up to you.” She would let him make this decision to prove his aptitude for making choices. Kosuke had already proven his in a way with his display to draw out their target, so that was taken care of.

TWC: 1,368

Siiiiicckkk... thought Shojin, as he watched Kosuke's flaming dragon avatar flying over the town.  Wish I could do something like that, he'd absently think to himself.  Shojin had never mastered or discovered a proficiency toward Ninjutsu outside of his sealing techniques, and that was probably only because of his abilities.  Not that his clan directly impacted his sealing arts, but it somewhat made sense that enchanting equipment and sealing techniques sort of fell within the same realm.  To him, it almost felt identical, and even though they were technically unrelated, he even used some of the same inscriptions for both.

"That's perfect, Kosuke." The mind link, by now, was perfectly natural to Shojin, but he wasn't sure about the other two.  It could be an odd sensation for someone who didn't have a ton of experience with it.  It was not long before the enemy Shojin had located was exiting the building in a rush, and Kagaya made her way to him.  Her proposal made sense to Shojin; it was the best course of action.  "Yeah," Shojin would continue to use the mind link despite how close the two were at the moment, just to maintain silence and noise discipline.  "There's not much I can do here anyway; I was just gonna use Kusho.  Make certain the first thing you do is spread Kusho divisions to all of those civilians."

Kusho, without prompting, would simply share the knowledge of her abilities.  She didn't say anything, she just transferred knowledge from herself to Kagaya.  For Kagaya, it'd be an odd sensation; learning without hearing, seeing, reading, or anything like that.  Knowledge would simply imprint itself upon her mind with no foundation, experience, or other reason to understand what she was currently learning other than a mystical slug sharing a mind-link with her. Kagaya would be made aware of Kusho's technique that could protect people she is touching from instances of damage, using chakra by essentially preemptively healing wounds that aren't even there yet.

Soon, Shojin was off to find Kosuke.  It wouldn't be hard, as Kyoto Senju would find him first, and it'd be an absolute spectacle.  Shojin would glance into the sky toward Kosuke's massive dragon to see a second dragon; this one made of water; collide with it, extinguishing it completely.  Immediately following that water dragon would be a third dragon made of wood, with blossoming flowers and vines and moss covering it.  Since Kosuke could sense people using his Sage Mode, Kyoto wouldn't be able to sneak up on him, but he wasn't aware of that.  As the massive wooden dragon barreled down on Kosuke, Kyoto would round the corner of a building behind him, and attempt to drive a katana into his back.  Shojin, while he could see what was happening, hadn't quite managed to close the distance yet, and was not close enough to intervene.  

1458

Kosuke could sense the approaching foe and prepared himself for the incoming battle. Once he was close enough, he would watch as his dragon was destroyed before another dragon was incoming, this one made of wood. Kosuke’s eyes would shift to a red coloration before his vision would harden. As the wooden dragon lunged forwards, he would roll out of the way, forming more seals before spewing out a thick fog of smoke followed by a spark that ignited it into a wall of flames that engulfed the dragon construct, destroying it. As he did so, he would prepare another jutsu, a basic fireball that he would send after the rogue ninja as he made his way onto the rooftop across from Kosuke. He could sense Shojin closing in on his position, so he just needed to hold the guy off for a little longer before he had backup available. Forming seals, he would send out three dragon head shaped fireballs that would arc into the air before shifting their trajectory to aim all around the missing ninja that was targeting him. The goal of this technique was simply to throw him off guard, not to really damage him, as Shojin would be able to do that from a stealthy vantage point as he was approaching from the man’s blindspot. He just hoped his little distraction had done enough for Shojin to get a good shot.

Kagaya was somewhat unused to the sensation of having thoughts broadcast directly into her head, but she was seasoned enough to be able to roll with it regardless. As Shojin leapt off to assist Kosuke, she would create a Shadow Clone to follow them and observe, while her main self stayed behind and used some healing to assist Kusho in providing aid to the wounded civilians while Kusho also worked on defending those she healed. It was astounding to watch the football sized slug dissolve into dozens of smaller slugs before being able to expand once more into a creature large enough to cover the individual people and safeguard them from any kind of incoming attacks or if the tags exploded. These two boys would prove to be invaluable to the village if they kept their current rate of improvement. Her clone followed at a reasonable pace and distance behind Shojin, making sure to stay hidden in both line of sight, and suppressing its chakra signature. It was only there to observe, nothing more. What it saw, at least from Kosuke’s initial strike, was someone willing and able to work with a team, and not take too much risk when it came to making attempts to claim the glory for himself. He might could have taken the Jonin down on his own, but that left the possibility that the Jonin activates a failsafe upon seeing an attack like that coming in. Thus, he relied on the hope that Shojin would be able to snipe the Jonin without the man noticing, thus removing the threat.

TWC: 1,868

Once Shojin was within striking distance, he prepared himself.  He knew he did not have to be too concerned with Kosuke; Kosuke was as strong as or stronger than Shojin himself, and what he'd seen so far from the rogue ninja was nothing either of them couldn't handle.  That didn't mean Shojin was or could leave Kosuke to fend for himself, however; it just meant that he could take his time with his entrance and end this sooner rather than later because of that. By now, Shojin and Kosuke worked well together, and whether they knew it or not, were naturally following the same train of thought.

He did not have to watch long before Shojin saw the opening that Kosuke gave him.  Kosuke was easily the more flashy of the two in terms of his combat style, so he served best with making distractions.  Shojin was a swift, silent striker.  All of his techniques thus far were small-scale, and he did not bother with manifesting things like giant flaming dragon heads.  That did not, however, mean that his strikes were any less deadly.  Shojin readied Hebunriamori, equipping Bladegnasher and the Cloning Pommel, which more or less meant that he was wielding a Bladegnasher in each hand.  

Shojin would use the standard technique of the Bladegnasher, which was called Shearing Slash.  The serrated blade of each Bladegnasher would begin vibrating at monstrous frequencies, enhancing the damage the weapon is capable of by huge amounts.  This was a demanding attack for Shojin; easily one of his strongest.  He didn't know it, but it was on par with even S-Rank techniques employed by Kage and some elite Jounin due to the amplification it received from being a technique utilize through Jigoku no Jizo.  

Shojin blitzed forward from the blind spot of Kyoto Senju.  He moved fast enough (A+1 Technique Speed) that even Kosuke, with his Sharingan, might find it difficult to fully read his movements.  Kosuke had set up this attack well, and it was easy for Shojin's blade to find its home.  If Kosuke were looking at Kyoto from the front, he'd see the tip of a blade protrude from Kyoto's throat and his heart; struck at in two lethal locations at once. When Kyoto went limp, Shojin would re-seal Bladegnasher and Cloning Pommel into Hebunriamori's pocket dimension, so that when  Kyoto fell to reveal Shojin behind him, he'd simply be standing there empty-handed.  

"Great work," Shojin would say in the shared mindspace of the three teammates.  "Kagaya, be careful.  There could be a failsafe.  If there's a boom you'll all be protected, but we should try and minimize damage.  Kosuke and I will stay here; the fewer people there, the less likely we are to trigger said failsafe, if there is one."  Shojin would then turn to Kosuke, this time speaking aloud and not sharing his thoughts with Kagaya. "Kosuke... I don't mean to pry, but what are these techniques you use?  I meant to ask about it before, but the red eyes, the other markings on your eyes... They're wildly powerful.  Is it at all possible for me to learn to employ these abilities?"

1978

Kosuke could feel his reserves slipping as he ended his technique, watching the rogue ninja collapse and Shojin reveal himself standing behind him. Letting out a sigh of relief, Kosuke would release the transformation hold he had with Fukuroichi, causing the owl to emerge from his back and land on the ground next to him. He was still in sage mode though, having charged enough of the natural energy to maintain it for a while longer, not to mention he was standing still. He quite enjoyed the feeling that sage mode gave him. He would deactivate his sharingan though, revealing the golden eyes associated with his empowered form. As Shojin approached, he had to admit, he felt bad for not telling his friend about the developments in his life, but they had been so busy he hadn’t had the chance. As Shojin approached, he detected something… off. Fukuroichi must have sensed it too as he immediately flapped his wings, a gust of wind blasting out to send both Kosuke and Shojin flying backwards. As soon as the two of them were cleared from the rooftop, the building exploded, taking Fukuroichi along with it. Kosuke slammed into the wall of a nearby building, creating spiderweb cracks.

Prying himself up, he would rush forwards at full speed to land in the rubble of the building they had been standing on a moment ago. Ripping up massive boulders and slabs of concrete, doing all he could to find Fukuroichi. As he did, tears of blood began to fall from his eyes as the sharingan morphed into something… different. A floral pattern connected by what appeared to be black vines appeared. He ripped through the rubble with a ferocity unseen in all his life, “FUKUROICHI!! WHERE ARE YOU?!” That young owl had been the closest thing to family to him outside of Shojin himself. Lifting more rubble, he had forgotten about Shojin, Kagaya and the mission entirely. His only goal was to find Fukuroichi and make sure he was okay. As he continued digging to no avail, finally, his sage mode wore off and the sudden lack of that energy caused him to collapse from fatigue. Passing unconscious, his eyes would shift to normal and he would fall limp.

Kagaya had taken care of the remainder of the explosive notes and had just got the last citizen to a safe area when the explosion went off. Her clone had gotten caught up in the explosion and so once she received the memory of all that, she rocketed off in the direction of the rising smoke. Arriving to find a building in rubble with Kosuke lying in the middle of it and Shojin nearby, she immediately rushed over to Kosuke and checked his vitals. Luckily, he was still alive. Looking over him with the mystical palm technique, it seemed he had just passed out from chakra exhaustion, his other wounds were minor at best. Nodding to herself, she would create another clone to carry Kosuke as she ran over to where Shojin was, beginning to check him over, realizing he no doubt had a clone of his slug healing him as well at this point. “Shojin, are you okay? We need to get Kosuke back to the village asap. If you can walk, follow me, if not I’ll carry you. You can fill me in on what happened as we move!” Waiting a fraction of a second for his reply, she would either take off in the direction of the village, her clone following suit, or she would pick Shojin up and carry him when she took off, listening to his recounting of the events that she missed.

TWC: 2,481

[MS obtained]

[exit]

Stressed and exalted, Shojin would speak to Kusho as he and Kagaya rushed Kosuke home. "Do what you can! We'll get him to the hospital soon!"

EXIT

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