Take it Up a Notch [P, Squad 3 Mission]

Mission:

Kosuke arrived at the village gates early to meet with their client for today’s mission. It would prove to be a rather uneventful mission in his opinion, but it would be a good chance for the team to get some out of the village training. When he arrived at the gates, he saw their client waiting, a rather elderly man with elegant looking clothing and a rather snobbish demeanor about him. “Good, you’ve arrived. I do hope your team is up to the task of guarding me to the countryside in the Land of Wind.” It was clear to him that the man had very little hopes for him or his team, no doubt due to his age and then the rank of his team. “I can assure you Lord Yamasaki, you have nothing to worry about. I lead one of the most prominent teams in Konoha. More than capable of handling anything we may come across in this mission I assure you.” The man looked anything but relieved by his reassurances. It wouldn’t be long before the rest of his team arrived, the time he gave them to show up was approaching so they’d be there momentarily. He would greet them as they arrived individually before addressing them as a group once they had all arrived.

“Alright, listen up. Today is going to be not only our first C-rank mission, but also an escort mission into the Land of Wind. I don’t expect anything too dangerous to happen while we are out of the village, but I do expect you all to be on your guard and to follow my orders to the letter as you always do. Our client is Lord Kai Yamasaki, a wealthy businessman who is moving out into Wind Country to a more secured location. We are simply to act as his escorts. Remember to protect the client with your lives and work together as a team! Our formation is as follows, Mika, you will take the lead, followed by the client and then myself. Shiroe will take the left side and Komugi will take the right.” He beamed with pride, waiting for them to say anything or ask any questions before he would motion for them to move out. They’d go at a much more reserved walking pace due to the civilian who was with them, but Kosuke would take up a position behind the team. His eyes peeled around the forests as they walked, making sure to keep a close eye out for anything out of place, as well as keeping an eye on his team and how they were doing on this mission.

TWC: 441

Although Kosuke had told the team to arrive at the gates at a predetermined time, Shiroe had opted to go ahead and head on out to the gates preemptively before that time would arrive. He had managed to grow quite a bit in the time that they had been training in between the Bell Test and now and had been quite keen to show the others what he had been capable of. That being said, Shiroe had found himself lying atop of the gates of the village long before the client and Kosuke would come to show. The excitement that he had building up within him for this mission had ensured that he was awake enough by the time that the businessman would actually show.

Having heard a pair of voices below, one of the voices belonging to his Sensei, Shiroe would intentionally roll over the gates in a way that would allow for him to twist his body and land on his feet just beside Kosuke below. "It's as he says, Lord Yamasaki. We are one of the most prominent teams in Konoha and shall ensure your safety. If there is anyone that dares to cross us within that time..." The young Sashigame would than allow for his eyes to become half lidded as he would drag his thumb across his neck. "Well, you get what I mean."

Once the others would arrive, Shiroe would quickly fall in line beside them. He was ready to get a move on and had believe himself to be prepared for anything that might come their way. He hadn't spent all of that extra time training outside of the teams training periods for nothing, after all. "A diamond formation, huh? I can see how that'll assist us in keep the Lord safe." A teasing wink would than be offered to their Sensei as Shiroe had begun to toy with him a bit. "Just be sure to try and keep up if anything bad happens, yeah?" Naturally he had just been joking with the teenage Uchiha but perhaps this wasn't the time for such a thing. "By the way, good morning you two..! Lookin' lovely as usual. I'm excited to see just where this little mission of ours takes us."

Once the team would begin to move on out from the village, Shiroe would be sure to keep an eye out for anything of note in particular. With his sensory abilities having been on par with Kosuke's, he was sure that he wouldn't have any issues with picking up on any lifeforms that had chosen to come within one hundred and twenty five meters of the squad. 

"Hm.. Hup!"

With a half eaten red bean bun in her mouth, Komugi hopped and shuffled her way toward the meeting spot at the village gates. As she bounced along on the balls of her feet, she replayed the confirmation message regarding the team's mission in her head. It had definitely been a C ranked mission they were signed up for, and with this being their first, it naturally filled the Genin with mixture of nervousness and excitement. She had only meant to warm up a little in an attempt to chase away the anxiety, but each time the young Sarutobi kicked off the ground she felt lighter and more energized - to the point where she was actively chasing that feeling and trying to improve it. Had it not been for the sound of Kosuke's voice up ahead, she might have danced right on by.

"Sensei!" she called out, raising an arm overhead as if he'd have any trouble picking out who was speaking. As the red bean bun fell from her mouth, Komugi gave it a light bump with her knee and knocked it up into her other hand. "EVERYONE, GOOD M- eep"

Komugi stopped her yelling when she realized who else in attendance as well. It was obvious the team was young, but the last thing they needed was the client - who was clearly already doubting them - to think he'd hired nothing but a group of children. Hiding her half eaten breakfast behind her back, Komugi quietly fell in line for the briefing.

"Good morning," she whispered plainly, and would have remained silent otherwise had it not been for Shiroe's compliment after he obviously noticed her post-exercise glow. "Huh? REALLY?! I mean...Thank you, Shiroe.. Sir.. Shiroe sir..eugh.."

How is a ninja supposed to act?


{PWC:296}

Mika had gotten up early today, partially to prepare for the mission she was to go on, but mostly because she had a few things to finish and a package to receive before she left that was something she knew was coming. the package arrived easily enough, and unpacking it showed the things she had bought a smile on her face as she checked everything and nodded to herself, thankfully one of the items was something that would also help her carry it all, annoyingly enough she didn't have all the time needed to train with it all exclusively, so for the moment some of it was dead weight, those she would leave behind, others though even though she didn't train with them at all she could still use them to a great deal of effect as they were just because of the type of Item that they were after all weapons and the like would be handy regardless.

Setting aside the weight that was disguised as a hair ornament, and the three section staff, both of which she would need training to even make use of at all, she looked at the Two Tonfa and nodded, they would be handy even without the time taken to train rapidly switching the hand holds and stances, she could practice that as they walked if she wanted to. Next was a length of rope with a heavy weight at the end, again she couldn't take the time to train with it to use more specialized techniques with it, but she could still make use of the weapon without that so she packed that up as well, next was a set of shields with spikes and blades on them, yeah no those were out, she needed training with them to make use of in any way shape or form, and that needed to be controlled so she didn't end up hurting herself.

She did end up packing up her special Gauntlets, altered and decorated, as well as the attachments with their disguises as hair ornaments, well one of them she could use anyway, the other was more difficult, she made the attachments herself so they were well disguised, but she didn't have the time to train with one, so she would leave that behind, the cloak would have to stay as well she didn't take the time to train it up properly and without that training it would be just a useless set of netting, not even strong enough to catch a person in since that's not it was designed for. But the last item was a large shield, it would be handy even if she didn't train to use it specifically, she could still use it and considering the mission it would be perfect for it, so she folded it up into it's backpack state and put her other weapons that she was taking into it, granted that was only the Meteor Hammer, and the tonfa, but she would be wearing her gauntlets, thankfully they looked rather nondescript so there was no issues there, she took the powders as well, she really didn't want to have to use them, but if it came down to it she would rather live then die. and with that she packed all her other weapons such as Shuriken, senbon, exploding tags and Kunai before she put some food and simple medical supplies and then she slipped the backpack on and headed out the door.

It didn't take her long to get to the gates, her house being on the edge of the Village after all, but due to her having had to wait and then pack up she was still the last to arrive, though not far behind Komugi who was bouncing around energetic as always. she then noticed the client and she walked over and waved to Shiroe as he greeted them, then listened tot he briefing and nodded to the formation [blue]"Understood, I'll keep my eyes open for anything strange"[/color] she said as they headed off, she was a little surprised to have been given the lead position, it made sense for Kosuke to take the rear since he could watch over the team and the client, maybe it was because of her Taijutsu during the test he gave them? if so then it would make sense that he would put her up front.

She looked over to Komugi and smiled a bit "Relax a little you will be fine" she whispered to her after she seen her muttering when replying to Shiroe's greeting. then she returned her sight to the front to keep an eye out, she wasn't expecting anything so close to the village but that didn't mean nothing could happen.

stats:

[PWC=790]
[TWC=790]

As the team trekked their way through the forested path, Kosuke kept his eyes out for anything suspicious. The team was only on a C-ranked mission, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t run into anything unexpected. No, he had learned that the hard way on his own first high ranked mission. Luckily, Shojin and his own unknown heritage had saved them. But, as they walked, he noted two chakra signatures moving behind them at the edges of his senses and noticed two strangely placed puddles of water up ahead of them. He’d break formation, moving forwards to just next to Mika. They were still traveling at a leisurely pace and he doubted the team had noticed anything too unusual, so he didn’t expect them to be on any kind of high alert. “Hey Mika, I wondered if yo-” With the words still forming, four kunai with spiked chains attached to them came from the trees and wrapped around him before appearing to rip his body to shreds. In reality, he had used the substitution jutsu to escape the attack. Arriving in a tree where he could clearly see but not be sensed by his team or the enemy.

As soon as Kosuke appeared to have been taken out, four blurs arrived around the team, surrounding them. The four individuals wore slashed suna headbands, one of them spoke up, “Alright brats, hand over the old man and you can go home. Don’t want you to wind up like your poor sensei there.” The four of them each had a kunai attached to a spiked chain that wrapped around their forearms. They looked ready to kill and the fierceness in their eyes said they’d attack without hesitation if their demands weren’t met. For his part, the client was now quivering in his shoes, thinking he was about to die. Should the genin not comply, they will instantly attack at the client with their chains, using C-rank freeform speed and strength. If the Genin hand over the client, they still attack, but this time, they attack the Genin instead.

TWC: 780

Although he wouldn't really say anything at first, Shiroe had most assuredly picked up on the four individuals that had been creeping upon the party. If anything, it is actually quite possible that he had picked up on them around the same time that their sensei might have. Still, he had figured that it was fine if he didn't mention anything at first. After all, Kosuke would say something if he had spotted the others, right? Or was this something that would be left to the genin to have to figure out on their own? Honestly there wasn't really any way of knowing what to say or do in this moment so for the time being, Shiroe would simply remain quiet. Of course that didn't mean that he wasn't about to take any defensive measures. Rather than simply follow after the group on their own, Shiroe would begin to knead the chakra that had been welling up within his chest so that he could alter it into a special chemical substance. Afterward he would just continue to follow after the group while acting as if everything was normal.

Once the kunai had begun to wrap around Kosuke and had begun to tear him to shreds, from what the group could see, Shiroe would stop in his tracks. He had a feeling that he could sense Kosuke if he were to focus on it but right now wasn't the time for that. If their sensei was really only going to add up to the point of being torn apart on their first mission than it might have been better for him to have done so now. Even with that being the case though, Shiroe had a bit more faith in their teenage sensei than they had wanted to admit.

Of course it wouldn't be long before the four shinobi would not only show themselves but begin to threaten the squad with physical violence if they hadn't handed over their client. The fact that these shinobi had the gall to try and come over here and stir up trouble... It was highly annoying to the Sashigame. He had wished to tear them apart and leave them for the wolves but that wasn't something that he could do here. Not now. That being the case, he had decided to approach things in a different manner. Rather than stress himself out about it, Shiroe would jolt directly to the side of the four shinobi at top speeds before bellowing out a tremendous cloud of deadly poison in the direction of the four Sunagakure shinobi. Well, former shinobi really. Even just breathing in a small amount of this would mean that the rogues would lose the ability to use their body, whilst also ensuring that it doesn't take away the pain factor. 

The intent behind this action had been so that they could interrogate the rogues if need be and haul them back to the village after they had finished up here. It was entirely likely that the four rogues would have been completely paralyzed by this point but honestly, only time would really tell here. With how much chakra the Sashigame had been pouring into this jutsu though, he was almost certain that they would come out on top. "How dare you think that you can come out here and attack our client!" While there was more that the genin could do at the moment, he had figured that he should at least see how his squad will react first and foremost. Depending on the actions that they would take, he had intended on responding appropriately. Of course it wouldn't be too surprising if the rogues had lost all power to even stand at this point. Paralysis poisons will do that to you.

Mika looked around them as they walked, she had to stay on guard after all she was the lead of the formation, though she lacked a few of the more specialized techniques others likely would have, she could at least use some of her own skills in some manner to deal with anything that came up, or at least stall it long enough for one of the others to deal with it since she wasn't exactly going to expose herself for the sake of this noble.. that was the main issue though, balancing being useful and not showing to much of her strength, that meant constant vigilance on her part on controlling her self and restraining herself so that wouldn't happen, she already slipped a bit a while back during a training exercise for the dang bells, so she would have to be more careful from now on.

The good news was that at the time it was just a small push and a small slip so it could likely be brushed away as desperation or her pushing herself rather then her straining to not use her full strength, so there was that at least.

Then their Sensei walked up... out of position... okay that was strange enough and Mika was immediately on alert, he was supposedly a strong Ninja and well trained so she didn't think he would be leaving formation for just any reason, he then started to address her, but before he could continue she seen the spiked chains and the Kunai coming, she could have tried to do something, but that would expose her, and she highly doubted he couldn't see them himself what with that Sharingan he had, though he didn't seem to have it active at the time... Ether way she expected him to dodge or deflect, but instead he was caught up in it and the chains quickly pulled taught and seemingly tore him to ribbons, at least that's what it would have looked like, there was just one issue, there wasn't any blood... not that she could see.. but before she could look more into it there was a man yelling at them.

It was rather clear they were surrounded, the Suna.. or she guessed Ex-Suna Ninjas where all around their formation, well at least there was still three of them.. there was the faint chance that Kosuke was considered strong for peacetime and so wasn't actually as strong as say ex-ninja that had to fight all the time, but again a faint chance, could this be another test? Possible.. but if the Client was real and not a test actor.. then she would have to defend him.

And then before she could reply Shiroe did something Mika damn near yelled at him for... he moved to the side of their formation... and spat what was apparently POISON GAS at the entire group... to catch all four enemy ninja at the same time.. he would have to blow the poison right on top of the rest of the group, the Client included, there was no other way to get all four of them since they were all surrounded..

Mika kicked off the ground suddenly and picked up the Client unfolding her back pack as she moved, the weapons inside tucked into straps on the inside of the shield as the rest folded out into the Large Armored shield front itself, The Worst part was she couldn't move fast enough to get them totally out of the gas that Shiroe had released, but she could toss the Client out of the range at least, and she did her best to not breath in the gas...

The issue was the attack was to fast, she had to jump through it, and she had to do so while also carrying the client, as she came out of the poison cloud Mika could already feel her body not listening to her as she didn't so much land... as she crashed into the ground and rolled, and worse yet she could feel the pain from the landing and as she tried to move... nope... nothing was happening.... at least she wasn't allowing anything to happen.. she could move... barely she checked with bits of herself that where out of sight... that poison had been strong.... likely if she was as weak as she was pretending to be it would fully stop her.. so she didn't even bother moving.. Exposing herself due to an Allies friendly fire? yeah she wasn't about to do that... Though she could barely see out of the corner of her eye thanks to the way she landed, that the Client was already making a break for it down the path back towards the Village... well she hoped some of the enemy got caught by that... the issue was... the gas was on top of the team... not on top of any of the enemy...

As she lay there 'unable to move' she couldn't help but think to herself "What the hell was Shiroe thinking? Dropping Poison gas on US?! Aim for the Enemy on ONE side... not the whole GROUP!!! didn't we JUST have an Issue about working as a TEAM with the DAMN BELLS!? Don't go thinking you can do EVERYTHING yourself... great.... just great... I'm gonna die like this aren't I? paralyzed by my own teammate in my first mission... not to far out of the Village gates... Well.. guess I should be happy that I wasn't exposed at least..... if those bastards try to make a move on me... I will have no damned choice but to force myself to move...  the only thing I can do now is play possum and hope I can out last the supposed duration of the poison before the attacks turn to deal with me.. since I am clearly out of the fight at the moment..".

She did know that if it came down to it she would force herself to move to save his life, but at the moment she wasn't about to give away how strong she was by simply standing up after inhaling a poison that had affected her so fully already with how strong she was currently, though countermeasures for such a thing had been possible those to would have exposed her... so if it was an enemy that did that... and she was alone? yes she would have just dealt with the situation and the gas.. but in a case like this.. when she also didn't know where that Uchiha was? she wasn't about to expose herself.

stats:

[PWC=1,098]
[TWC=1,888]

Kosuke watched as the enemies made contact with his students. So far, this mission wasn’t going according to plan. Then with his little fake death act, which he knew his team wouldn’t fall for, to draw out the enemy and figure out their true motives, he hoped their teamwork training would pay off. But he supposed training in simulated environments can only get you so far in the heat of actual conflict. Komugi hadn’t made any moves, Shiroe sprung into action almost as quickly as Mika, who moved to guard the client. Shiroe however, went on the offensive to take out the threat. Unfortunately, he used a wide ranged attack that could effect his team as well as the enemy, so as the enemy fell, so did his team. Luckily, Mika had tossed the client out of the way and he remained relatively unharmed. Though, it appeared Komugi had taken in too much of the gas and seemed unable to continue. Once everything cleared up, he would flicker and appear with the team. “Well, that could have gone better. It seems that our clients enemies are willing to even hire missing ninja to take him out. That means we will need to be on our guard from here on out.” He spoke mostly to himself, but the team could have heard.

He would then glance to Shiroe out of the corner of his eye, “Shiroe, go administer aid to Mika and the client. I’ll get Komugi to a safer location and arrange transportation for her back to the village. She is in no shape to continue this mission.” He would then create a shadow clone that would lift the girl up and vanish in a mirror portal as its Mangekyō flared to life. The clone would arrive at the general hospital in Konoha and drop the young Genin off. “She was exposed to large amounts of non-lethal gas. She is unable to move, but should recover after a few hours and some rest.” With that said he would pop to send the info back to original Kosuke who would shake his head some and close his eyes as the strain of the Mangekyō reached him along with the information. His vision blurred slightly as he looked back up to his team. Once they, along with the client had gotten over this attack and tied up the missing ninja, he would proceed with a small team meeting, keeping his senses pushed out to their max to detect any additional incoming threats. “Alright, my actions there were to serve a twofold purpose with the first and primary being to draw out the enemy and determine if they were just missing nin guarding their turf or if they had been hired to kill our client. The second being to see how you three reacted in an actual combat situation. As for the first part, it’s pretty clear that they were hired, meaning we will need to keep our guard up. For the second, I am pleased with the initial thoughts taken for both of your actions. It seemed that at least you two had thoughts and plans out in the moments after I was taken out. Mika, your goal was to guard the client which is exactly what our mission is. You made that your priority and were successful in that endeavor. Shiroe, your plan was on the right track, take out the threat to the client. However, the technique you used was not suited for use with a friendly presence surrounded by enemies. Your actions led to both your team as well as the enemy element being taken out. Luckily it wasn’t anything deadly or we’d be having a very different conversation right now.” He would then lighten up his look, “But, as long as we learn from this and improve ourselves we should continue to do well. Keep these lessons in mind as we move forward.”

He would then motion for them to get moving again, they still had a ways to go before they reached the rendezvous. “Let’s get moving team, I’m sure our mission isn’t over yet. There will be reinforcements coming when these four don’t report back. Prepare yourselves for a conflict and prepare for them to be stronger than these four.” As they moved through the forest, back in mostly the same formation, minus Komugi, eventually they came to where the Land of Wind was just in sight. The forests had turned to badlands, with dead trees and minimal flora or fauna around them anymore. The temperature increased and the desert was just in sight ahead. It was at that moment six ninja appeared in sight. Three directly in front of the group, two behind them and then one off in front of them on a tree trunk. Judging by the chakra output, he would put the first three as Chūnin level, the two behind as low Jōnin with the final one definitely being Jōnin level. “Alright team, protect the client. Shiroe, deal with the two behind us if you can, keep them busy and away from the client. Mika, take out the three ahead of us as quickly as you can. Don’t hold back, that’s an order. I’ll keep their leader at bay. Make sure to communicate as you need help!” With that he would vanish and appear across from the leader on another branch, staring him down with his sharingan spinning wildly.

TWC - 1,687

[OOC: sorry for the delay once again!! Hopefully we can keep this going and get done soon!

Aitsu has been safely removed from this thread! If they want to keep posting they can disregard the parts that had them being removed, but otherwise they are safe and may continue how they want and claim rewards of their posts but not mission completion.]