Event A Rogue Train Hijack?! (Mini-event)

[Chigokai Yuna]

It started at approximately 3:42 pm. The train started to move at great speeds. There were a number of passengers on the train, just over two-hundred people. But of those two-hundred people is a small group of individuals that had another idea in mind than going to their next destination. About an hour and thirteen minutes later they acted. One individual pulled a gun out and shot up at the roof of the train. A bunch of people screamed as the sudden sound of danger filled the train. As onlookers watched, a beautiful woman in military like attire pocketed her handgun.

​

As the people quietly watched in fear as the woman then spoke, "You people do not have to fear. As long as you're neither ninja nor Tenouzans." Amongst the fear there was confusion. Were they being used as bait for the ninja? And why would this group of people think the Tenouzans were still a thing? Were there still Tenouzans around? But there wasn't much thought as another person in military attire, a man this time, walked through the aisle and scanned each person with his sharingan eyes. When he would

find someone that made him grunt, some other cronies would come and take that person away. A total of three people were captured. One of which was a Tenouzan, as the grunts beat him senseless with the butt of their guns and called him "Tenouzan Dirt". Those three were brought to the centermost part of the train where they were all chained up and beaten up. Yes, the two ninjas that were captured tried to fight back, but these grunts seemed to move at almost inhuman speed, like that of at least the Jounin level. Eventually, they were too weak to fight or even think of escaping.

Ziren's perspective​

I was sitting near the back of the train thinking about the mission's details that I was given a day prior. Some talks of a surviving Tenouzan agent had been in the area and word had it that he would be on this train. I was thrown into a team of three people with the idea of splitting up to cover most parts of the train as possible to cover as much ground. Everything was going as planned, one of the others had caught sights of the target. But after that... Things went sideways real fast. I heard a gunshot and the panicked screams of people in the train cars ahead. Getting up fast, I rushed towards the door as it opened in front of me. It was both to my surprise as it was to some dude in military attire and... Really? Those eyes?! Why is it that I run into some Uchiha or other who wants to harm or kill me? The surprise from the Sharingan user quickly dissipated as a skeletal blue chakra erupted and punched me. It was all that I could do to not get knocked off the ground. Keeping my eyes on him I quickly made comms to my headset, knowing that I won't be able to handle whoever these people are, there is just this feeling that Tenouza, for once, is not part of this. "This is Ziren! The train I am on is being attacked by an unknown group! At least one of them is an Uchi-" The world started to spin around me. It began to turn dark, opening my eyes I stand in the ruins of Cloud everyone around me is dead. My mind began to panic, but I know that I am under a genjutsu right now. Hands seals flipped through, trying to cancel out of this madness, but to no avail. Fear is starting to kick in.

Outside perspective
​

The Uchiha had activated his genjutsu on the one called Ziren. The fool thinks sending reinforcements would cause any difference. In fact, that's what they are counting on. There was talk on the other end of the headset. He ripped it off of the unconscious Ziren and spoke into it. "Hello. I'm afraid your friend, Ziren, is having some nightmares right now. She won't be able to talk for a while. This is a warning. Stay out of our operations. You don't want anyone to die, right?" He then crushed the headpiece and turned to make his way to the front of the train. Once there, he knocked on the door to the conductor's room.

"Enter." Said a gruff sounding voice. There stood an older man, who clearly held himself as the leader of the group. Along with the usual military attire that the people of this group seem to be wearing, this man had an eye patch over his right eye. "What's the status?"

"It's all going according to plan. Three ninja and one Tenouzan captured. One of the ninja got into contact with Cloud, if I were to assume. I made an announcement to whoever was on the other end of those comms that they should stay out of our business." Reported the Uchiha.

The leader smiled, "Ah, a bit of reverse psychology, knowing full well that they will come. Good thinking." He then grabbed a microphone that would project anything he said over the trains P.A. "Attention citizens of this train, the foul ninja of Cloud, and the disgusting Tenouzan. This is the start of a Revolution. We won't harm you all as long as you don't try and be a hero. As for the ninjas and the Tenouzan, they all will be judged and executed once we near our new destination. That destination? Our base, and I hope that you all can join us in our cause, for it is justice itself. Tenouza caused a war to all of Lightning Country. And Cloud has stolen your children, friends, parents to use them as ninja against your wishes before the Holy War was even close to being a thing."

(Welcome to the Mini-event! Here are some quick rules)
(Aside from Ziren, the other two ninja are npc's and you would have to find your own way to board the train.)
(Let's fill at least 2 pages worth of posts)
(72 hours to post after the previous person has posted, this is to keep it moving at a steady pace, if you think you need more time, just shoot a quick dm at me)
(While there are some slots still open, three more people can join in on this event.)
(Keep in mind that whatever actions you do might help or hurt the civilians and the hostage ninja, and Tenouzan if you're pitying them)
(Last of all, have fun!)
Team
Event Leader (NPC Ziren)
Honnou
Shinjo
Open
Open
Open

 

[Honnou]

… Quick acting made sure that Hon got the command and made his way to the train in such a short time. A sort of distress signal of sorts, a last resort message was conveyed from the shinobi Ziren’s headset, whose signal originated from the train he was approaching in the distance. Hon was wearing his ANBU uniform today, in full duty of the Hidden Cloud with the white fox mask (from the Maple District in Leaf) on and everything. It was being attacked by an unknown group – at first, Hon expected leftover Tenouzans to have been behind this, but it turned out that one of them was of Uchi…

He drew the conclusion that Ziren meant Uchiha… but he hoped not. He really hoped not.

Still, he decided to aim for the very front of the moving train, thinking that whoever orchestrated this attack must’ve had reasons excluding mass murder. He thought of this because of the fact that the train was still moving, and also because that he could see enclosed civilians through the windows still on their seats. Many of them weren’t directly approached or even confronted by whoever was doing this, so… was this hostage situation? Targeting specific people?

If one of them really was an Uchiha, then Hon would have to keep the element of surprise. Uchihas could see chakra in the air around them and from other people, and one gaze in their eyes could trap the Hyūga under a terrific Genjutsu… which was why Shinjo was here as well to support him in his mission. Yeah, Shinjo now knew of Hon’s rank in the ANBU, which was honestly only a matter of time, and… a lot had happened since they met. Right now, however, Hon trusted him to follow certain orders; stay on standby once they got on the roof of the train.

Hon wasn’t sure enough yet that they could just barge into a tightly packed space that was the inside cabins of a moving train like this one. If anything, the fact that it was still going must’ve meant that they planned to reach a destination…

But the destination itself might only harbor more enemies. Think, Hon, think…

…

Okay, first thing’s first was to get on top of the train’s roof – to avoid detection, he chose the back end of the train and began speeding up towards the train’s rear, away from the field of visions that the windows might have been able to grant sightseers. Still a few hundred meters away, still using the terrains they were passing by to conceal himself, Hon weaved a dozen handseals and expended quite a bit of chakra for a use of Polarity Shift, a high-level Magnet Release Jutsu in his arsenal. With this Jutsu, he was able to leap off from his position and into the air, in his arm carrying Shinjo along. The same Jutsu allowed him to land softly and quietly on the back of the train’s roof, and they were now both aboard.

Hon would reconsider turning on his headset just yet, knowing that the attackers had access to Ziren’s right now. Instead, it was turned off, and he focused on the task at hand, waiting for an opportunity to enter the train. His all-seeing eyes would scan through the train’s interior with ease, locating the three hostages at the center of the train having been beaten up badly by their assaulters – though, it looked like Ziren was still alive. Still, Hon expected formidable opponents to be faced, so he and Shinjo would have to be flawless in their entrance to ensure the rescue mission’s success.

 

[Koga Akane]

The roar of a beautiful black and red motorcycle echoed through an abandoned lot. The paint job glistened in the sunlight while the off road wheels dug into the dirt to kick up debris into a misty dust cloud. One man laughed in enjoyment, “Man I love this thing! I’ll take it!” Another man let out a heart laugh of approval. “Fantastic! Let’s head inside and finish paperwork. You’re going to love taking this beast cross country.” With a firm handshake the duo nodded at each other and made their way towards the dealership. The buyer mistakenly forgot the keys in the ignition. Brown hues peered out of green brush, eager to pounce on their prey. Once they were far enough they made a move. “Now!” She told herself.

Like a bolt of lightning the young teen darted towards the bike. With a stylish hop she landed on the seat and cut the bad body on. Another loud rev echoed out, notifying the dealer and buyer. “Hey! You left the keys in the ignition!” But it was too late, a maniacal laugh carried outward from the young orange haired teen. The wheel spun madly, a massive dust cloud covered her escape. “Later morons! I’m bustin’ out of this podunk country!” Akane laughed again as she sped towards one more destination to take her as far away from Lightning as she could.

“Yes yes yes! It worked! Sorry Sensei! I’m going to the countryside without your slow ass.” Akane could not stop laughing to herself. She had gotten better at operating a motorbike. The year of grand theft molded her well. Those piles of stool that had nothing going for them other than loitering at a bar with their bikes made it easy pickin’s for her. Hell, the police had not bothered with a chase to cuff her. The bikers were scheduled for the pokey anyway. The hum of her bike fueled her passion for adrenaline. However, another stop had to be made. The ring of a train in the distance caught her attention. “So close.. Soooo close!” She cranked the throttle. Through a dirt road and treeline came a dirt ramp. “C’mon, c’mon, c’mon!” She gained incredible speed and without a fear nor care in the world she ramped the bike into the train.

Mid-air Akane worked fast to abandon the bike to crash into an open cargo box at the very end of the train. She flew through the air and without much grace she landed in the cargo box but the bike hadn’t been so lucky. With a loud crash into the backside of a cabin the bike moved with it’s momentum and fell off the train. Her body crashed into the wall of the cargo box and for a moment she held her breath. One eye opened to peek around. She checked her vitals and looked for all her limbs. Lady Luck was on her side! “HELL. YEAH! THAT WAS AWESOME!” she screamed. With a little dance the adrenaline began to fade and she was left with only a smile. “Next stop. Bear Country. Maybe I’ll finally confront my–” Her words were cut off by the sound of a loud bang. “Oop–” She ducked her head. “Maybe that was too loud.” She referred to her entrance. With haste she looked around. In the back of the cargo hold were stacks of boxes of supplies. A light bulb flickered on in her head and with a simple handseal she transformed herself into a dark brown crate just like the others. Transformation jutsu treated her well as of late. If only she were as good at hiding her chakra like she was with grand theft auto. ‘Nobody will notice me away.’ ​

[Topic Entered: In Style]
[WC: 624]
[Cast: Transformation Jutsu: Shape of- Wooden Crate!]

 

[Ryuu Tama]

A metal key was shoved into a lock that unlatched a heavy piece of metal that connected the door to the wall. It was rolled out into the wall instead of swinging open to reveal a dark spacious cell. The man who had opened it, complete in ANBU gear and masked spoke into the darkness.
“An urgent mission has come in and those above have decided to use you. Look sharp!”
The sound of something standing up in the darkness was the only response until Shinjo suddenly stood behind the guard. He was dressed in his usual clothing, a button down shirt, slacks, and dress shoes. An empty holster on the small of his back was the only thing that broke the outfit up.
“I’ll get my things,” was the only thing the guard heart to affirm Shinjo had left his cell and was on his way. Soon as he turned there was once again nothing in either direction despite the area being a straight hallway with nowhere to hide. Reaching his finger up to tap the earpiece for his headset, the ANBU guard confirmed one of their weapons was on the way to help.

The two operatives left at the same time from the village on foot, easily scaling down the mountain and hitting the moving train. Shinjo was a bit more dressed now, in full ANBU regalia with a mask that was blank to denote his continued lower rank. The holster on his back now had a handgun along with another pistol holstered in a shoulder sling; two medium scrolls were holstered on his hips, no doubt containing more weapons.
The mission was complex, but also simple. Ziren, a prominent member of their military, and his team sent out an S.O.S. It was rare that shinobi called back to the village for help when most missions were “to the death” so to speak, but times had changed. The train was full of civilians that the Village now had to take care of now, along with a reputation for protecting their own to upkeep. The terrorists also seemed to be small in arms, so it didn't seem like it'd be too difficult for Kumo to dispatch two of their strong to handle the situation. Shinjo’s mind was already working out the logistics of taking out the group, but what bothered him was that the terroists pronounced themselves in the call for backup. Taunting the Village, almost. Where was the train headed, he wondered.

Before he could wonder too much, he felt the strong arm of his companion scoop him up and lift them both towards the train. The assassin, far from being surprised by the move, supported his weight on Hon’s foot as they flew through the air before dropping into a lower stance to keep the wind from blowing him off the train's roof. His eyes squinted against the wind before the assassin reached into the breast pocket of his vest and withdrew a pair of shades. Being that the overall sound of the train’s speed made speaking hard, the fellow operative signaled to Hon in coded hand messages,
“How many? Hostage still alive?” Once the information had been relayed, Shin nodded and made more gestures to proceed with a shock attack. Basically the two of them would overwhelmed the forces inside with such brute force they would never get a chance to react. Between Hon’s masterful Hyuuga power and Shinjo’s weaponry, the entire cabin would probably be painted wall-to-wall in a matter of seconds.

But there was this thing called Murphy’s Law. Before the assassin could start shimming himself backwards to drop down and kick open the passenger train door a freaking motorcycle suddenly flew into the air. It missed them and someone landed back in what Shinjo assumed was the cargo; but the vehicle itself? Fell off the train and exploded. The ANBU operative flinched at the sound with a stunned look on his face that just proved that, somehow, life could still surprise him.

 

[Chigokai Yuna]

Ziren's perspective
​

I woke from a start, cursing to myself for falling under a genjutsu from that stupid Uchiha. When I woke up, I was handcuffed and by three other people. Two I know for certain are my teammates, as for the other one... "What are you looking at stupid ninja? Never seen a Tenouzan?" The man spat in my direction. Looking around, all of us had been beaten to a pulp, my own body sore and I feel blood had trickled down my face and started to cake. It makes me mad that they kicked me and beaten me up while I was in a Genjutsu. Seriously, that's a low blow. But as I continually looked around, I seen a girl, about in her early twenties, holding a rifle in one hand, and a pistol strapped to her hip. There were a lot of unknowns here, but I do know one thing for certain, these people, are not Tenouzans. Seemed calculated but also still getting used to working together like this on a big scale thing as attacking a train.

The woman noticed I was eyeing her. "Ah, my friend told me that you were knocked out prior to what was said, so I'll tell you just this. We will exterminate both you ninja and any surviving Tenouzans. It will start with you four once we reach our destination." A different group? My thoughts ran through my head, but I had to keep calm and collect my thoughts. Right now, it seems as if the passengers are safe, but as for us... I'll need to think of a plan before we reach the destination, wherever that may be. I seen the woman's eyes flick to something back behind the train before she touched her own headset, "Send a squad to the back make sure to capture or even kill those that fight back."

Outside

perspective​

The woman watched as her Uchiha friend dragged in a kitsune. It was obvious that the Uchiha had beaten the creature up after he had put it under a Genjutsu. Once they came to, she gave it a rundown of what is to happen. Soon after, she heard a thump as if something had hit the train further back. She sent some people to check it out. In the meantime, she sat down in a far enough distance to shoot any of them if they try to attack. A couple of grunts were also standing guard with electric stun batons.

The Uchiha was conversing with the leader of the operations as they both heard a quiet muffled noise far back of the train, but it seemed as if the lieutenant had it handled, sending a squad to investigate the noise. "As said before, the headsets were confiscated from the other two ninja to listen to their comms." He handed the leader one of the comms. "You have one, and I'll have the other. It will be evident that the Cloud Ninjas will suspect we have their comms so they have to be careful for their own sakes to avoid too much communication."

"Yes, we will soon get rid of their reinforcements. Today will mark a great day as a message to all of Clouds Ninjas that the past will bite them in the ass, that not all of us will bow down to their rule." He grabbed a ceremonial sword that he had saved for this event. "I had vowed to exterminate the old ways of this Country. To be honest, I didn't think I would be alive to see it happen until the whole country had suddenly awoken to having chakra and powers that of a ninja half a year ago." After he was done admiring the weapon and sheathed it, he then asked, "What's our intel say about these ninja and tenouzan?"

The Uchiha nodded, and set some papers down onto the desk. "Two of the ninjas are just chunin's with nothing of significance. However, we have information on a Chigokai Ziren. His, or rather their backstory doesn't really add up. Former Leaf Ninja now cloud shinobi. They pride themselves as a 'combat medic'. Some years after arriving at cloud, they went on a mission, and came back a female kitsune. Our inside men had deduced that this Ziren had also changed their powers at will, almost too easily, to be that of a Kaguya Chimerieashi. Could be dangerous if given the chance. As for the Tenouzan, goes by the name of Yuri, was tasked for having some sort of package. As much as I want to see the Tenouzan dead, I think it would benefit us to get this package before we kill him."

The Leader nodded, "Very well, secure it and then kill him." With that, the Uchiha nodded and left the room.

At the back of the train...
​

Three henchmen in full garb entered the cargo hold all wielding electric stun batons. They combed the area, one of which had brushed by a wooden crate, that was Akane, but none of which had noticed her. It took a couple of minutes for them to scour the whole room before one tapped their headset, "Nobody in the cargo hold. Moving onto the roof of the train." With that said, they all had opened a window and easily jumped out and flipped themselves over to be on the top of the train. Akane would feel the cold wind bite into her as the train keeps moving. Now that she is back alone, would she risk taking a look around the cargo hold or move to one of the other cars of the train?

As Honnou and Shinjo quietly made their way on the roof of the train, a motorcycle had skidded and dropped off the train. Soon afterwards, by a couple minutes, three men in dark garb wielding electric stun batons threw themselves onto the train roof. They all made eye contact before the henchmen charged the duo. The first guy charged in fast and got a hit off on Honnou, though it only scraped by him, the Hyuuga would feel an electric shock from the baton, however he was able to withstand it and not be stunned. A second man tried to take this as an opportunity to attack Honnou as well, but they had missed. The third and final one decided to go after Shinjo, but he was too quick for them as he dodged out of the way and did a quick punishing hit on that guy of his own.

(Honnou and Shinjo, you are being attacked, do what you will to beat these guys.)
(Akane, for now it seems that you are alone you can stay a box, look around, or venture forth)
(2 spots still open for anyone interested in joining. Along with that, as a reminder, make sure you throw up a post 72hrs from last one)

 

[Honnou]

Hon quickly noticed Shinjo’s hand messages – he was asking for the number and status of hostages, to which Hon’s eyes scanned through the length of the train until it reached the center again. There, he spotted a peculiar sight – four people were cuffed next to each other, one of which was confirmed to have been Ziren. Hon’s status as ANBU Captain granted him access to more intel about his fellow ranks, and knowing that Ziren was that broody Jinchūriki’s parent only meant that the mission had to be a success. He signaled back to Shinjo by lifting up four fingers and a thumbs-up right after, specifying ‘four friendlies at the center’. Afterwards, he took another glance over the train, still able to see Shinjo suggest for a shock attack – while the Hyūga was understandably worried for the other civilians that were left wondering in the train, taking the prosecutors out as swiftly as possible could prove a liable option.

He just wished that he could get them all out of the train… but thanks to fate, a certain crash into the back of the train proved to provide just the right kind of attention for the two ANBU’s. Who the hell drove that motorbike?!?!

The wind made it hard to warn Shinjo, but three armed men had leapt up on the roof from the cargo room below them. Hon stepped forward first, having welded some chakra ahead due to seeing them show up through the roof with his blue Byakugan. He decided to give Shinjo a moment to weld chakra, for they were to expect open combat from this point on.

The first one to charge was quick enough to scrape Hon’s right arm with his baton – before Hon could counterattack, he felt an electric shock damage that arm, revealing that those batons were charged with some kind of electric energy. So those batons were charged, huh...

Still, an electric shock of that level wasn’t enough to stun a shinobi who also possessed the Lightning Release Nature. When the second enemy missed his strike, Hon spun around and slammed his chakra-infused leg into the enemy’s neck, sending them straight off the moving train. The other enemy had tried to attack him from behind, but Hon had a full view of him and simply lowered his torso to dodge the baton swung at him. Hon’s next move was an elbow to the enemy’s gut, but it was surprisingly blocked with their knee, forcing Hon to spin around so that he could face the foe. They were considerably more skilled in hand-to-hand combat than with their batons, but fighting in melee combat against a Hyūga meant that their body began losing strength rapidly. At one point, the henchman’s fist was caught, stretched out and allowed Hon to break his arm, with the surge of pain giving the ANBU an opening to release a Dragon Assault straight at him, blowing through the henchman's outfit and tearing his skin open. Hon ended the combo with a heavy kick to the henchman's belly, sending him flying with the huge force put behind it. While the enemy was still in the air, Hon flicked his left hand out quickly, shooting a flat, sharp steel kunai from his wrist launcher that dug into the henchman’s face, ending that man’s life before his corpse crashed on the rolling ground.

Hon would eye Shinjo’s fight for a moment, ready to cast an Amp Field to give him any openings.

 

[Koga Akane]

The ruckus that shook the entire train put the young teen on high alert. ‘As long as I don’t move from this position I should be good-’ Her thought process cut short by the sudden jolt of the cargo door sliding open. Akane held her breath. The trick to transformation jutsu was expert levels of chakra control and to keep your enemies unalarmed. Unfortunately the young teen had littel training from her new Sensei. How the hell was she suppose to become this great ninja if Rei was off harassing men? Her eyes rolled within her transformation. ‘Just remain calm… and for the love of the holy lord stay still.’

A cold breeze drifted into the cargo hold. The mountain air, a breath of fresh air yet insanely cold to the point that anyone that stood outside would catch a cold or their death! Not only had the room filled with a deep freeze the sound of a lively fight shook the cart yet again! ‘Oh shit… Are people fighting? Stay calm… stay calm.. STAY CALM!’ Her breaths picked up. There was no way she was leaving this transformation. Her hopes to be missed by those who can seek chakra and simply make it to Bear country slowly turned into mythical feats that needed to be overcome. Unless, these people were from Bear country… ’Shit…’ Maybe they found some fool that took the brunt of her shenanigans and beat them to a pulp. Akane grimaced. ‘Nope. Not gettin’ out me box.’ She quoted from a show with a grumpy old man and his dog. Can this train speed up!?​

 

[Ryuu Tama]

The assassin heard the sound of feet touching the cart behind them where the motorcycle decided to ruin their surprise attack. In that exact moment Shinjo’s body tensed up to mold and pour chakra into his eyes to transform his pupils behind the shades. From his eyes the chakra doubled, tripled, and then shocked out around everyone in less than a second. In that field of chakra, the perception of time froze for everyone there but Shinjo for exactly 1000 milliseconds. In that moment, he glanced behind him to see that two men were already upon the ANBU duo and righted his body to dodge the attack while drawing the gun from the holster on his back. It was a lightly modified M1911 pistol and Shin held it out in front of him almost casually. As soon as time rewrote itself back into the Base Stream the man attacking Shinjo got a nasty surprise when his attack not only hit air, but a pistol was also perfectly readied at his temple. Since the surprise attack was over…

Bang. The guard’s body flopped against the cart’s roof and then off of it along with Hon’s kill. Shinjo replaced the gun back into its holster before suppressing all of his chakra down to nothing. Bursts of chakra and quick attacks would make it appear to the untrained that there was just one shinobi up here causing damage, but hiding his chakra completely was huge in his recent retraining for stealth and espionage. Even knowing that the plan was off the rails, so to speak, the newly minted ANBU weapon could not turn off his reflex to hide back into the shadows; even if there wasn’t a shadow to hide in.

He nodded at Hon and quickly used hand signs to once again signal a new plan. Front to Back. One of them would take the front cart door, the other the back, and attack in two waves; and they needed to move fast. The enemy had to know someone was here already, and they’d have to focus that attention towards the first person to enter. The assassin knew only what info he was given for the mission about Hon, but they said he was a Power Forward, which was Op Speak for the man could be compared to a siege tank. Seeing those All-Seeing eyes for, what felt like, the first time cued Shinjo in on some of the Hyuuga’s abilities. He felt Hon was the most likely to keep the citizens from dying with an extreme defensive and suggested front to his partner with a head nod. He waited for the fellow Operative's confirmation before making his move though. Shinjo's mind moved fast and calculated what he thought was the best move, but also had a hard-line of obedience drilled into him. The assassin wouldn't move until his superior told him to.

 

[Chigokai Yuna]

The Uchiha made his way to the center of the train, where his friend, Makoto, watched over the prisoners. "Hey, I'll need the Tenouzan." The girl nodded and eyed the three ninja. The Uchiha, known by the others of his crew as G, grabbed the Tenouzan by the scuff of his collar and slammed him into the wall of the train. "Now tell me, where is this package that-" He was stopped short as he heard a gunshot. He looked over at Makoto and nodded for her to head to the back of the train to investigate. He had a feeling that his taunting would attract more ninjas to come this way, but they would soon see how this new force would do against them. "I don't have all day Tenouzan. You will either tell me, or I can torture you until you give it to me." The man stayed clammed up. A skeletal hand made of chakra formed from his body as it clenched around the Tenouzan's right arm and squeezed until there was crunching of bone breaking. The man screamed out in pain. "Now tell me wh-" He stopped abruptly as he felt a certain pain in his chest. Looking down, he saw something poking out of his chest, and blood coming out of it. "Run!" He heard the voice of the kitsune command the other hostages.

Ziren's perception
​

Before the Uchiha came in, the Tenouzan spoke to me in a hushed whisper. "You the team leader? Hey, if you want your people to get out alive, then it might help to work together. I think there's a reason all of this is happening right now." I ignored the Tenouzan, he was just as much as the enemy as whoever these people are. They wanted to destroy Cloud, where my family lives. I cannot forgive them so easily. On the other hand, I am one to look at all sides of a conflict, and right now, it does seem more than a coincidence that these people who has it in for both Cloud ninja and Tenouzans to attack a train that had both. I was never one to believe in coincidences.

My eyes narrowed as I seen the Uchiha walk in. He regarded his friend and went straight for the Tenouzan. What was said... made me want to grit my teeth. So, there is a reason here, more than just a 'coincidence'. I had to formulate a plan and fast. Just then, there was a quiet thump. It was enough for the Uchiha to get the girl with the gun to check out the back of the train. I'll have to remember to thank whoever is stupid enough to be causing so much noise after all of this is done and over with. My plan is now a hundred times easier now that I don't have to deal with a ranged fighter. Still, I have to deal with the two grunts with their shock weapons. Even though I can't see or sense chakra like other shinobi, I can still come to the conclusion that these grunts aren't as powerful as the girl or the Uchiha, otherwise why wear the exact same clothes and use the same type of weapons? The Uchiha was really grilling it into the tenouzan. If I don't do something now, who knows when else I'll get the chance. I sent bones flying out of my hands to pierce the jugulars of the two grunts on either side of me, before taking advantage of attacking the Uchiha. Producing a bone spear from the palm of my hand, I stabbed him in the back. Admittedly, it was a quick attack, not one to really kill the man, but injure him so that I can create an opening. "Run!" I ordered the other two ninja and Tenouzan. I followed close behind as they ran, but the world started to spin around me once more. I know that I didn't look into the Uchiha's eyes, but that doesn't mean the man simply used some hand seals for a genjutsu. The door closed behind the last person, but when I reached it, it was all gooified. I fumbled for the handle, knowing it's there, but unable to fight the genjutsu all that well. Finally, I decided that I need to turn my attention to fight the Uchiha. At least these people had the idea to evacuate this compartment of civilians. They must have the thought of a fight happening here, in which case... Yeah.

Outside perspective
​

Makoto had walked back to the end of the train, rifle in hand. Looking around, she didn't see anything out of the ordinary. But she was smarter than that, she set her rifle on a box, not knowing that box was Akane, and brought out her pistol to shoot through the ceiling of the train three times. With the sound of the roaring wind whipping around, she didn't hear anything from the top. She sighed before grabbing her rifle off of the not real box and turned to walk towards the front of the train, closing the door behind her.

Aside from the woman that had guns shooting at the ceiling, Akane would see something else peculiar. In the cargo box, nearby, was a case. This case was peculiar in the sense that it had a three-factor authentication in order to even open it. A pass code, a fingerprint, and voice authentication. Why would such a case need three different ways to open such a case?

On the roof of the train, while Hon and Shinjo were trying to figure out the plan moving forward there was suddenly three gunshots from below. The first one had hit Honnou in his left arm fully, the second one, had missed, and the third had grazed his right leg.

(Akane; hang around, investigate case, or go after the gun chick.)
(Hon, sorry man, RNG doesn't like you.)
(From here on out, all your actions, I will roll for to see if they succeed or not, just annotate your actions both in the post and in ooc notes if you are going to attack or such against the enemy)

 

[Honnou]

… Maybe Shinjo was on to something. Splitting the forces inside the train into two sides could make their mission work, but it required that he’d have total and complete trust in Shinjo’s ability to catch up and meet the Hyūga in the middle – the area where the hostages were last located. However, spotting one of the perpetrators enter the cargo room below convinced Hon that they shouldn’t waste any more time, and thus he nodded in agreement with Shinjo’s plan.

The next events were quite… triggering, prompting Hon to step into action immediately. First, he took another look at the hostage area at the middle of the train, where he had noticed a shift in power – the previously restrained Ziren had the assumed Uchiha on the ropes with a spike through his chest, and Hon quickly nodded again to Shinjo as a means of beginning their plan. With pointing fingers, he’d suggest that he himself entered the front, while Shinjo continued from the back - that was when his prosthetic arm suddenly took the full blunt of a bullet slapping his arm back and almost dislocating his shoulder. The wielder of a similar firearm to Shinjo’s, one of the hijackers who were located in the middle earlier, was shooting up at the two… but Kitsune-sama had really built a durable arm. Still, he did not expect such huge force behind a bullet of that size without the use of a similarly huge application of chakra. It had toppled him backwards, which allowed his right leg to be grazed by a third and last bullet.

He immediately grabbed his prosthetic arm and gritted his teeth. While the arm itself was durable, its attachment to his organic, furthest upper arm had been affected by the shot due to his shoulder almost dislocating from the force alone. In result, a prosthetic of this caliber sent prickling pain throughout his shoulder and chest, while Hon re-adjusted its attachment as quickly as possible. The angle of the previous shot, as well as his body’s formation at that moment, was a huge factor to this issue arising, and he’d have to be more careful with where he’d let opponents hit his arm. It was shameful, really.

Still, completely ignoring the scraped wound on his right leg, Hon gave a thumbs-up to Shinjo, letting him know that he was still ready to execute their plan. Fortunately, the gunner from below had simply left the cargo, probably thinking that her bullets had done their job. Hon darted forth the train’s roof, leaving Shinjo to enter the cargo and thus the back of the train. They’d rendezvous at the middle, and hopefully they’d both succeed in doing so.

In order to truly confirm that Shinjo had changed, he’d have to evaluate the ANBU’s actions while alone. Shinjo had a past of going off the charts when executing missions his way, so the Captain simply prayed that their Sennin’s psycho-therapy had produced satisfying results.

Like a flickering bolt of lightning, Hon reached the front of the train in no time. There was a person simply sitting inside here… with grey hair and an eyepatch over his right eye. No sane conductor would ignore the hijacking taking place unless if he was part of it, so Hon identified the male as an enemy… so what was his plan now? Simply put, to secure the civilians inside, the train had to stop at some point, and while Hon felt brave enough to test out his Magnet Release one more time, he wanted to preserve his chakra for a bit longer. It’d be easier to take out the conductor and stop the train from the inside.

From both his wrists, long and thin steel wires were released. With Magnet Release chakra running through them, they attached their ends to both sides of the train’s front – with those two supporting his weight, Hon leapt forward and briefly appeared upside down in front of the train’s front screen, fully aware of the ‘conductor’s’ presence. As fast as he could, he tucked on both steel wires and launched himself straight through the train’s front screen, shattering through the glass with a mighty foot dive, spinning clockwise for extra power behind the kick. It sure made noise, but he’d allow himself to distract the majority of the hijackers – Shinjo would then have an easier time taking them by surprise from behind.

Still, this meant that Hon had entered open combat against the conductor… how that strange man would respond to his surprise attack would determine the process of this rescue mission.

[OOC: Hon no like dumdum RNGesus. Also, Hon has made his way to the front of the train and is doing a Spiderman-like foot dive through the windshield to attack the eyepatch douchebag who (iirc) is still inside there]

 

[Koga Akane]

There was one thing that the teen had been blessed with… fine hearing. Locked away in her box Akane heard the cargo door slide open and slam into the wall. The jingle of chimes that rattled with every movement piqued her interest. The sounds spoke of her authority that Akane compared to the other sounds of those who came before this person. They had been mostly silent yet the swish of coarse low ranked clothing spoke volumes. However, whoever this was had power and status. A visual confirmation was needed but what came next solidified her suspicions.

The thud of a heavy weapon bonked Akane on the head. She winced in pain. Her teeth ground together in order to keep her mouth shut and ease away the pain. Next up was the loud ear rattling bang of three gunshots that shook her to her core. Her stomach began to fold and flip. The maintenance of her chakra slowly began to fail but miracles do happen. As whoever left the cargo hold left just before her transformation fell apart. The teens hands swiftly rose to rub her ears and head to ease the pain as she rolled around. “Son of a–! That hurt!” She angrily yelled to herself, quiet enough to not alert anyone else.

Brown hues looked around. ‘This is bad. They could come back at any second…!’ Akane rose to her feet but remained out of sight of the cargo window. ‘There’s got to be something I can hide behind… maybe…’ She moved towards the back end of the cargo hold. Like a free spirited cat the young teen climbed on top of containers and boxes to find any type of hiding spot. Yet her poor footing got the best of her. A rickety box gave out from underneath her feet and with another loud crash she and everything else fell to the floor. But even worse, a large metal case landed on top of her. “NOTHING IS EVER EASY IS IT!” She raged, angrily she tossed everything off her only to pause when her hands touched the case.

“What the hell…” Her palm pressed against the cold steel of the case. Her eyes lit up in excitement. “It’s got to be millions of yen! I’ll be rich! I’ll leave this lifestyle and be hot shit!” She nearly cackled with madness. Her free hand reached behind her back to materialize her Divine Sunderer. Akane stepped back towards the doorway, aligning the spear point to the mechanized lock. “Thruster: On!” She roared. Like a bolt of lightning the golden spear radiated a yellow aura as she flashed forward attacking the case with her signature Pressure Thruster. This had to crack the case. If the case was full of money she’d bail off this crazy train in a heartbeat. ​

[Used Rank B: Pressure Thruster on the case! C'mon.. big money!]

 

[Ryuu Tama]

Shinjo got his orders and prepared to make a move when gunshots rang up from below. Like a cat spooked, the bald assassin zipped backwards to dodge the bullets coming up but in doing so left Hon to take the brunt of the attack. The moment he saw his Captain hit a sharp pain in his head redirected his passive mindset into a full offense. Shin saw the signal that his fellow operative was ok with a thumbs up, but a prebuilt switch placed there by Miro had been flipped to “on”. With the same timing the other ANBU, the assassin slipped into the cargo cart after whatever shot them, sticking to the shadows like a demon terrified of light. His chakra signature all but became zero, making so that only the most astute of people would be able to read it; and only if they could get a bead in the first place.

From the moment Shin sneaked into the gunner’s position he took note of the area. His target wasn’t here and already moved back towards the hostages, at least he assumed as he thoroughly scanned through the area twice. However, right before making his movement out from his hiding spot, Akane had decided to undo her jutsu. The moment he set eyes on her face there was another sharp pain in his head. He knew her, but didn’t recoginze her. Why? Thoughts of his past, blurred out like a redacted document, reeled through his head as he tried to place the woman and could only settle on that she was someone he met during what Miro called, “his alcoholic phase”. According to his sensei it wouldn’t be unusual for him to not remember everything since memories of that time were soaked in liquor. The woman before him, spear drawn and ready to attack a well guarded box, could have been an ex-lover, an old friend, an enemy, or even just someone he hired for a night. Deciding it was best not to tie himself up with his blurry past, the assassin took time to avoid the girl’s line of sight until he reached the door.

From there he took a deep breath. Once more a surge of chakra rebounded itself between his coil and his eyes. Once, twice, and then a third time before he pulled back his eyelids as much as he could from behind the shades and explode out a large field of time/space controlling chakra to actually stop time. This time, he worked within a space of 3000 milliseconds. First second was reaching down to his hip to lift the tab of the scroll there and pull the paper out from the holster to reveal a seal that, when touched by the chakra field, activated to unleash a sawed-off double barrel shotgun. His right hand grabbed the hefty weapon as he moved to open the door, step out, and close it as his sphere of time began to shrink back down.

The weapon was a one-shot and done kind of thing, which was why he carried two. The limited amount of ammunition he could carry was saved for his other two guns, and between all of them it was barely enough for anything short of a single-target hit. Which was why the weapons on his hips were important, because unlike the two pistols these were almost 100% sure to halt whatever he aimed it at in their tracks. As Shinjo slipped out of the door the assassin raised the weapon and used chakra to strengthen his arm temporarily to handle the recoil as he suspected on the other side to be the woman who decided it was a good idea to shoot at ANBU.

[Vanish to Enter Stealth]
[World Standstill for 3 Seconds>Equip TEKE Model 1>Attack With: Pierce Shot if Girl with Gun is still between cars.]
[Proceed to Join Hon]

 

[Chigokai Yuna]

With a little bit of luck and chakra, Akane manage to break open the high security case. But to her dismay, there was not a single yen or any other currency. Instead, there was a single vial of some sort of blue mysterious liquid. Even though she was no sensor ninja, Akane would be able to feel some sort of chakra that seems to emanate from it. But it also seemed... unnatural. What would she do with such an item? Another thing that she would notice is that there was a spot for another vial, but it seemed to be missing from the case. However, the case, she would be aware of the sound of more gunshots and the whole train car rocking until she could feel it coming to a slowing down. Looking out the window, she would actually see that the cargo hold, and another car were separated from the rest of the train. But... it felt as if the door made an ever so softly noise that Akane had almost missed it. She wouldn't see anyone around in the cargo hold.

As Shinjo made haste for the door and opened it, he had noticed that none of the other passengers were in the following car. That and the girl with the gun had disappeared. But soon, gunshots had filled the air and the rain car rattled. It would be easy to assume that the enemies had separated the rear most passenger car along with the cargo hold. However, if Shinjo were to take a look over at Akane, he would see that she had broken into the case and is now holding some sort of vial with blue liquid. Even from where he was standing, he would feel a faint rhythmic thumping of chakra resonating from the vial. He would remember a little bit about the mission details that Ziren's team was in charge of. How they had gotten word of a Tenouzan that would be on the train. And what was this package that this Tenouzan was carrying?

Makoto had already evacuated the civilians away from the rear most passenger car in case a fight was in order, but so far nothing. It was once that she heard a crash back in the cargo hold, that she was getting really annoyed. She knows that luring enemies to an area was much more advantageous than keep going into such an area. As she closed the door behind her, she pointed the rifle at the linking cables that held the rear most passenger car to the next one and fired off a few shots, using some of her chakra to strengthen the bullets. She'd better rendezvous back with the Uchiha.

Front of the train
​

The leader covered his face as glass shattered. Documents went flying around the room. As Hon landed, he would see that there were several documents of the residents of Cloud, the first ones that caught his eyes were Ziren's team. Ziren's documents seemed to be excessively larger than the other two people on his team. There was another document, the name, Yuri. Those were the most prominent documents, but there were others that were flying about due to the introduction of wind from the broken window. The leader, casually picked up the intercom microphone as he stared at Hon. He figured that there were other Cloud ninja around. "Hello fine citizens of this train, and foul Cloud Ninja. Some of you have an idea of what's going on. But let me clarify for you all. This is the start of a revolution. Our fight is with the Cloud ninja and whatever surviving remnants of Tenouzans that are still around. Let me educate everyone for a brief moment. We can all agree that the Tenouzans must be eliminated for the harm they had caused Lightning Country three years ago. But as for the ninja of Cloud? They have done something just as bad as the Tenouzans. They have stole our loved ones from us. That's if when they ask nicely doesn't work, they'll try to buy off our family and friends. And if that doesn't work, then they will take what they want. That is, before the Holy War, when chakra was scarce. I have what looks like an anbu operative right here, who would most likely talk about justice and protection. But let me get on a personal level with you all before I give them a chance to talk. Fifteen years ago, I had a daughter who just turned ten. She had shown great promise of harnessing chakra, the very thing that everyone around the world uses for wars and battles. It wasn't long when she first shown signs of her bloodline that they came. We did the best we could to hide her, to convince Cloud that none of our people had an ounce of chakra, that we just wanted to be left alone. But later that night, my daughter... My Suzume..." There was real pain in his voice. Even through his years of an ANBU, Hon doesn't hear any deceit in the older man's voice. "A year later, I was given a note. She had perished in a mission. Those twisted Cloud Ninja took my daughter away from me and didn't even bother to let her be buried back at home! Where she belongs! Other people here, seen their families, friends, or lovers bought off as if they were objects. Granted, I know that some people can break and have price tags, but it isn't fair for those that love them. So, tell me ANBU, how is Cloud going to answer for their past? Especially when they take what they want and expect us to roll over?"

He handed the intercom microphone to Hon, but he was also ready to fight if Hon tried anything. As for Hon, he would see that this man has a lot of chakra. To put it simply, this man could very easily be jounin type, or even Sennin given a couple of months.

Ziren's perspective
​

Gun fire... And... An intercom? My mind is sluggish from the Genjutsu, but I can clearly hear what's going on. The Uchiha had stopped his advances as he listened to the voice on the intercom. I can understand this man's pain as he had talked about his daughter. As a father myself, I'd go to the ends of the earth for my children. But to openly start a conflict with Cloud rather than talk it out? I haven't lived my whole life here, so things must have been hard here in Lightning Country, so I might not know the whole story with this 'revolution', but I have to try and minimize the casualties. My thoughts also drifted to what the man on the intercom had said. ANBU operative. Seems like Mirō, although little crazy and might not be liking me, has some sense to help me and the other two ninja. As long as nobody is in this car except for me and this Uchiha, I can find a way to beat them. Now think! What have they shown me that I should be aware of? They have control of the genjutsu side of the Sharingan, which means that I need to avoid their eyes unless if I want to end up in a tsukiyomi. The guy had also shown that he can make partial Susanoo.

While the man was still talking, I took a quick glance out the window to get an idea of my bearings. The sun was setting in the west, therefore... They were heading up north. I can see that we are now on a large bridge. Just as soon as the man stopped talking on the intercom, was when the Uchiha charged me. Using some of my chakra, I summoned spectral copies of my weapons to surround me and send them crashing into the Uchiha. That would be the case, but only three were actual hits. The Uchiha had expertly dodged and weaved around most of the attacks. The car that we were in was now shredded on the inside, with multiple weak points that only a strong attack would be needed to blow away the walls of this train car. He roared out angrily as he sent a chakra skeletal punch towards me, but I had planned it all along. Dodging out of the way, the susanoo fist collided with the train car, shaking the whole train, but put a nice hole in the side of the train. I plan on just pushing this guy over the side if it does come down to it.

Turning around, readying myself for another attack, but I didn't even have to. My teammates and the Tenouzan came back for me. The Uchiha was quick enough to dodge out of the way of the first guy, who charged at him with a kunai, but the second one was using the one ahead of him as cover, as he flung his kunai and it stuck to the side of the Uchiha's cheek. The Tenouzan himself had grabbed one of the shock batons and stabbed it into the Uchiha's face and kicked him over the edge of the hole in the train.

And just like that, it was over, at least for a second that they had taken out one of the bad guys. I turned to the Tenouzan, my mind on my previous mission. "Tell me, what do you have? I find it too much of a coincidence that they came only to set an example of us. My mission details said you had a package and we were going to intercept you."

The Tenouzan brought out a vial and handed it to me. It was blue and seemed to emanate its own bit of chakra, "I have another vial at the cargo hold in case-HEY!"

I was starting to black out, I looked out behind me and seen that there was a skeletal arm that had pierced through my right shoulder. I tried to fight, to not be dragged down, but it seemed that the Uchiha wasn't going to go down without a fight. And soon I fell. I fell down off the train and off the bridge it was on.

(Ziren fell off the train due to evil Uchiha)
(Akane, you now have a mysterious vial, but your train car has been separated from the train)
(Shinjo, there's significance of the vial that you know of but don't know anything else other than it might be the package that the Tenouzan is tasked with carrying. And you're in the same boat as Akane, that the train car has been separated from the train.)
(Hon, you can either talk on the intercom to try and reason with the Leader dude, inform the passengers of Cloud's situation as to why they take people, or fight the leader dude.)

(Made edit in ooc notes for shinjo)
(Another edit, this time on the year of how much time has passed since the conflict with Tenouza)

 

[Honnou]

… Documents flying everywhere was a non-issue. Hon was able to extract information from some of them, including papers about Ziren and her team… and another paper about a certain ‘Yuri’. The rest blew around due to the forceful wind blowing into the train’s front from the broken wind shield. With his hair blowing ahead of his scalp, bristling almost, Hon eyed down the leading hijacker who appeared to carry a sheathed sword.

His problem with Cloud was personal. It was likely tied to the reemergence of people generating chakra inside of them, something that happened back at the conclusion of the Holy War. However, once the leader continued, he talked of an event prior to even that… fifteen years ago, to be exact. Back when the man had a daughter, who had possessed chakra and had a knack for it… but who was taken to the Cloud. Hon knew that people who were able to wield chakra were scarce in times past, and that their cooperation in the ninja village was highly prioritized. After all, back then, shinobi of that caliber was ultimately a rarity… and given the leader’s words, his daughter must’ve been a level 3. That explained a lot.

If she perished only a year later, then clearly the man’s distaste for the Cloud was called for. This was a personal sense of vengeance against the Cloud for forcing people to become shinobi. Suzume… Hon would do well to remember that name for later.

Hon could tell that this wasn’t a ruse. The senior’s voice was genuine, and his heartbeat was sorrowful. Hon could try and see people’s physical expressions and draw conclusions from that, which was how he came to believe the man’s words. And yet, it baffled the ANBU that a child of ten would be sent to her death only a year after joining the village. If he remembered correctly, that was during the seat of the Tenth Raikage, Ayumu… this was back when he, himself, was but a toddler walking around in his parents’ wide garden.

Hon had heard about the recent changes that Kitsune-sama, the Eleventh Raikage, wanted to put through the village, and those ideas came back to mind once he heard about the incident from fifteen years ago. Something told him that the man in front of him had been through a lot of pain… and something told the ANBU that he wasn’t fed the entire story yet. He was going to find out the rest, either by himself or by further intel from the swordsman, but for now, he had to stop the train’s advance across the bridge.

Hon decided to gently grab the microphone. “I’m sorry… I have no control over the Cloud or its past, but things are finally beginning to change, and I can’t let you ruin that,” were the first, feasible words that the ANBU could muster up in his little turmoil, which happened to double as a way to veil his voice in some kind of vocal tremor, “But if you’re still bent on closure… then draw your blade. For your daughter’s sake.”

The ANBU put the microphone down and released a visible burst of chakra, causing the mic to transmit static noise across all the train’s public speakers. Hon had an idea how valuable the feeling of vengeance was. It drove people far, and he couldn’t take that away from the swordsman in front of him. By seeing Hon as an enemy, he’d at least give the man an outlet to obtain some fraction of closure from by engaging in combat with him… and Hon would be left to focus on the mission at hand.

Eight Trigrams, Divination Field!

The world around the Hyūga blackened, and all of his focus was inside the conductor’s room and the leader. A swift Air Palm was thrusted his way, pushing back the air that was rushing in from the open wind shield.

[OOC: Hon grabbed the microphone, said a few words himself, then proceeded to go migatte no gokui on the leader (aka Divination Field and Air Palm)]

 

[Koga Akane]

The power behind Akane’s strike was more than enough to pop open the lid of that accursed trunk. That metal bastard had it comin’. A punishment for nearly crushing her to death when she tried to hide. The satisfying pop of the lid made her pupils light up. ‘This is it! Big money! I can’t wait to le- Huh?’ Her wide grin fell to an annoyed frown when the case revealed to have nothing of initial value. No money, no legendary weapon, no ticket to stardom. Just a vial of gamer juice those shut-in teens with no chakra signatures drank day in and out with their parents. “What a crock of shit! I can’t sell this! It’s pointless!” A free hand reached out to grab the vial. Within her hands she felt a pulse of energy radiate within her palm.

The urge to drop it spiked in her mind. The vial felt like she was clutching the heart of a grizzly bear yet over time the pulse practically called to her. Akane hadn’t had the ability to see the essence of charka that each ninja possessed but whatever had been in this vial had such great energy even her own brown hues saw what stirred within the vial. It had to have some importance, right? Nothing of little value would be locked up behind serious technology. A smug smile overcame her frown as she patted herself on the back for the swift B & E she did. The call of the void spoke to her too, the urge to drink whatever was in it called out to her and loudly. However, she wasn’t a fool. The teen went to place the vial within her shirt but the pulse disgusted her enough to move it to a pocket on her skirt.

Light brown tresses shook side to side. No money, just a different flavor of gamer juice. “Maybe Father or Mother would know what to do with it. Soon, I’ll be in Bear.” Her attention turned towards the front of the train. Her jaw dropped suddenly at the sight of her train car creating a gap between trains. “What the hell just happened!” She roared, frantically she clutched her head. “I look away for ten seconds and I’m detached from the damn train!” Another sudden burst of action cut off her train of thought. The side of the train ahead of her burst open with a chaotic noise and strange chakra to boot. From it’s side emerged a man surrounded by a skeletal ribcage who fell out of the train cart. With wide eyes Akane focused on the events that played out only to witness another person, a woman this time, fall from the gaping hole of the train car. Deep down she was happy she hadn’t gotten caught and even happier that she didn’t know any patrons on the train. On the downside there was no way in hell she’d make the jump to the other train car.

“Oh for the love of the Pope–” Akane caught herself praising her past religion again. She abandoned it when her guardian angel granted her that new power. Old habits die hard, she guessed. Akane threw her hands up then tucked them under her arms. There was naught else she could do. The cart needed to come to a slow crawl for her to jump off. Hell, perhaps she was far enough from Kumogakure to be forgotten and walk to Bear Country herself. ​

 

[Ryuu Tama]

Nothing.

He had missed his shot by taking too much time to get to his target and failed in ending one of the terrorist. His newfound power over time gave him numerous advantages but his ability to actually time it was still left quite wanting. After all, Shinjo only had about a month of training with it and in incredibly limited settings as he was trying hard to keep his new dojutsu a secret. Turning away from the door and closing it back again the assassin decided to stand in the shadows outside of Akane’s sight for the moment while he formulated a plan; part of it residing on her success in opening the box.

When she pried open box with a masterful spear strike, the ANBU’s eyes gazed down on the blue vial and felt his heart leap. So that’s what Ziren’s team had been sent after. He wasn’t innately sure of exactly what the vial was full off, but knew without a doubt that it gave off a powerful aura that he could clearly feel from his hidden spot. His face twisted up in disgust behind his mask as the girl began to lament it not being a viable treasure without actually knowing what it was until she reached out to grab it; an action Shin had to restrain himself from stopping.
Thankfully, nothing happened and she hadn’t did anything stupid like, say, drinking it…but the fact that the unknown that blew his cover to start with was playing such a larger role in this frustrated him to no ends. If she decided to jump off the train then that would be another loose thread to deal with on top of all of this as securing whatever the hell Akane just stuck in her shirt, then shirt pocket, was the original mission.

With a long sigh the operative pulled off his shades and mask to gently rub his eyes as he tried to fight a building headache. He wasn’t at all sure what to do at this point as leaving the girl behind would prove to be a potential problem, and then there was still the original rescue of Ziren that the two ANBU had been sent out to accomplish. The urge for a cigarette was strong but he managed to keep the bad habit in check as he plotted out a strategy for his next move when yet another wrench was thrown into his plans. A gun shot and then a jolt. He felt the speed of the train car he was in slow down and quickly slammed open the door to see the girl he was after close her door to the train moving away. Shortly after, Ziren and his opponent flew out of the side of the car up ahead.

Shinjo swore loudly, giving away his position to Akane. He had to quickly make a decision. Removing his shades, and then the non descriptive mask he walked from around the storage to come face to face with Akane and simply said,
“Hey,” in a way that called out to her. The moment she looked into his eyes he’d activate the ANBU Body Bind jutsu to lock her body up to keep her in place. It was a temporary measure, if it even worked, but it’s all he had. Without looking to see if it even worked, Shinjo refocused his chakra from the center down into his legs to explode out of the slowing down cart and towards not the train; but for Ziren and his falling opponent. Hon was a professional and could handle the rest of the enemy, but their mission was rescue and re-secure. If the Body Bind technique worked on the girl back in the cart, one half of the mission was good - now they just needed to get Ziren into safety.

Using the max power of his shinobi speed, Shin bolted down the tracks and leaped off the bridge without a moment of hesitation. Lowering his hands to his side he dove down to get close enough to the Uchiha’s magic skeleton arm and reached out as he activated his dojutsu once again. He could feel the warm blood beginning to well up beneath his eyes from the repeated use of the dojutsu in such quick successions.
“Wither,” he spoke as he touched the Soosano to force the chakra to age into nothing before attempting to grab onto Ziren, twist his body around, and pull out the gun that was hanging in the holster on his chest. It was a veritable hand-cannon that Shinjo pushed against his leg and shoved down to arm it before aiming at the bridge and fired. The bullet fired had a ninja wire attached and after about two feet from the end of the gun, the projectile shed its form to reveal a tiny grappling hook to catch the bridge and keep the duo from falling into the abyss below.

Now the real trick was getting back up.

[Techniques Used: Body Bind on Akane | Fast Forward on the Uchiha | Grappling Shot to rescue himself and Ziren from falling]

 

[Chigokai Yuna]

To Akane's surprise, her luck finally ran out as she would hear someone say hey, and when she turns to look, she'll find that her body can no longer move. Whilst in this stasis, she could only really see some guy run and jump off the bridge after the female kitsune and other guy. But while in this frozen state, she would be able to remember that there was a position in the case for a second vial but no traces of said second vial.

As for Shinjo, he managed to catch up pretty fast to the Uchiha and Ziren. Touching the Sussanoo, it had instantly withered away into nothingness, and to the Uchiha's surprise, part of his actual arm aged and grew wrinkly as Shinjo's powers extended before him. The Uchiha fell out of sight into the trees far below them. Ziren had turned around and seen Shinjo reaching out his hand. Reaching out their own hand, they held on. As Shinjo shot a grappling hook out of his gun, at the bridge, it had missed its mark by just a few inches...

"Hey." Shinjo would hear Ziren say.

Ziren's perspective
​

Everything seemed to slow down. The fall. The realization of dying. There was no sense of urgency, but I knew my job was far from being over. This new group, what are they truly after other than the extermination of both the Tenouzans and the ninja. Just then, the Uchiha's powers had ended, and he fell down into the depths of what was below them. Meanwhile, I looked up to see another man. I assume that he was with Cloud as I reached my hand out to grab his. He had reached out his gun and shot out a grappling hook, but it had missed. I reacted without thinking, using the information that I have at my disposal. "Hey." The word came out of my mouth as I focused my own chakra and shot my spinal cord out of my back, knowing full well that it'll instantly grow back a new one for me. The spinal cord extended and stuck into the bridge as I used my partially free hand, the one with the vial still in it, to grab the spinal cord that is stuck into the bridge. "Listen, I have an idea, but you're not gonna like it." My grip was slipping. Right now, this guy that tried to save my life, but now they are both in a predicament. He was below me, and if I were to try to use all my strength, I think I would be able to throw him high enough to give him the chance to propel himself further to safety. "There's still so much that we don't know about this new group. And I feel like they aren't just here for having a thing against the ninja. Just trust me on this. Just... Make sure that people will be on the standby when I grab enough information about these guys." I did not give him an opportunity to speak. Heck, even if I did want to listen to him, my grip on the spinal cord finally gave way and I felt gravity take its course again. Using all of my strength, I hefted Shinjo up and threw him up high enough for him to hopefully take action from there.

As for me, I turned to face the ground, letting go of as much bones as I can muster to soften the landing, if that would ever be really possible. In the end, I made a slide out of bones last second. But it was as soon as I landed somewhat safe, I got up and with a flash of chakra and pain in my left arm, or rather, where my left arm should be. "Shit! Again!?" Yes, again, such a thing happened when I wasn't changed through freakish genetic accident. Turning around, as I fall down, I seen who it was. It was the Uchiha, bloodied, bruised, and his right arm has deteriorated to looking a hundred years older than he is.

Front of train
​

Hon and the conductor were facing off. Unknown to the leader, he was now in Hon's Divination field range. And with that, Hon fired off a quick air palm that had left the conductor dazed for a few seconds. He shook his head to get his bearings again and warped right next to the Anbu captain and launched an attack onto Hon as he brandished his sword and attempted an attack, only for it to miss, he blames it on the fact that he might still be dazed from that attack.

Somewhere near the front, there would be another fight breaking out, this time, from the two ninja and Tenouzan fighting some of the revolutionist henchmen.

(Shinjo, you are thrown into the air with the choice to trust Ziren and the plan they have or go back down to help them out)
(Akane, you are in a bind and will roll for another attempt to escape come next round unless if you have another idea to do something)
(Hon, you are still in combat)

 

[Honnou]

Hon’s Air Palm landed successfully! In the briefest of openings available to the Hyūga, Hon extended his right Wrist Blade and jabbed it straight towards the leader’s neck for a quick kill, but despite having the Divination Field activated, the leader was able to vanish… it appeared to be a Body Flicker Jutsu going on here. That could explain the speed necessary to evade Hon’s Divination Field.

Hon took a good look around him, making sure to know the surroundings of the conductor’s cart. He had but a blink to do so, but hopefully, he could catch some more intel or items of use. His eyes would never let him down, after all.

Lowering his body allowed Hon to evade the next slash from the leader’s sword, to which Hon desired not to miss his next attacks due to any Body Flickers. He still knew nothing of what that sword could do to him if he got hit… but, again, that was if he got hit. And Hon didn’t plan to get cut anytime soon; that shit was for the Mednins whenever they were patching him up. He quickly turned his body and spun towards the leader, aiming an elbow to his belly and a Disruption Palm straight for the leader’s chest center. If they landed, Hon would give it his all and land as many palms on the leader’s torso as he possibly could within the last, few moments left in the Divination Field – the more Tenketsu points were closed off, the better.

[OOC: Hon is checking out the conductor's room for a brief moment, then spins around and elbow-combos a bunch of palms at the leader]

 

[Ryuu Tama]

Shinjo’s eyes widened at the sight of his hook missing. Of all the things he could have messed up on, he missed the one thing that was going to save their lives. Missed it, by that much. Yet Ziren, the person he was saving, calmly looked at the assassin and called his attention with a ‘Hey’, as he had done Akane. Turning to look on reflex, despite having just fooled someone with this very technique, Shinjo saw not a paralyzing ANBU technique. Instead, he got nightmare fuel that would haunt him for years. The older teen had never in his life had seen someone of the Kaguya bloodline or someone with powers comparable to their strength of literally being able to yank their own bones out and use them as weapons. In fact, the very thought of it had been beyond his imagination. So, watching Ziren reach behind and literately yank out their freaking spinal cord, to save their lives in the same manor Shinjo had just attempted left the operative in training speechless; thankfully it didn’t effect his ability to hear or pay attention.

The words of the higher command weighed heavy on Shin’s shoulders. They wanted him to save themselves and allow the potential death of one of their betters to make contact with the main base. What Ziren had said was deeply disturbing. When the fellow Operative used the last of their strength to throw Shin back to the bridge, he wasted no movement in attaching himself to the metal. He watched, helpless, as the person they had been sent to secure plummeted to the bottom of the wooded gorge. A spike of anger made the AiT punch the metal he stood on in frustration without a hint of chakra. It split his knuckle but he ignored the throbbing pain as the focus of his self-hate overwhelmed such petty harm. There was a strong part of Shin that wanted to ignore Ziren’s orders, and immediately work his way down the cliff, but that line of thinking only began to spark a headache as his training and recent brainwashing kicked in. He was a weapon. He did what he was commanded to do.

Slowly the young man stood from his spot, ever looking down, before breaking his sight away to quickly return to the train car. First thing was first. He opened the car’s door from the side with a swipe of his arm to see the paralyzed stow-away and gently pushed her over on her back to pat around Akane’s chest until he found the vial, reached into the pocket, and carefully extracted it. He placed it in a slightly more secure pocket on his vest. Suddenly the thought of sealing it would have been better, but he didn’t exactly have the talent for it. His shotguns were presealed by the ANBU’s Weapon Department, and aside from that, Shin wasn’t sure with the feeling the vial gave off if sealing it would have been an option anyways.
From there he jumped on top of the car knelt down before reaching up to his ear to remove the receiver to take off its back to expose the wiring beneath. From another vest pocket he removed a special ANBU-issue tool kit that he unrolled on the train. He picked out a few tools and special metal device that he quickly attached before closing back up the ear piece and setting it to the highest frequency. Standing up, to be as high as he could, Shin began to slowly work through the channels by sending out a Morse Code signal special to his branch of the military until he could get one of the towers around to pick up. Once he finally got a return signal, Shinjo began to tap out the coded message of everything he had learned, the actions and status of everyone, and a call for reinforcements. He also asked for immediate orders on how he should proceed as he was an AiT, and more-or-less, a masterless weapon that needed instructions. A part of his heart begged to immediately scale down into the gorge below to insure Ziren’s safety, but that only brought back the damned headache.

Before Shinjo knew it, he had pulled out and lit a cigarette as he waited for the return coded message.

 

[Chigokai Yuna]

As Shinjo went over to grab the vial from Akane, who is still frozen in place, he would notice that it still had that rhythmic hum and beating as he held it in his hand. Even just holding it, he could feel the chakra powers coming off of the vial as if was even alive. Shinjo had waited for a response to come, and it finally did after a couple of minutes. It would be at this moment that he would learn that no reinforcements were coming, that there were suddenly conflicts popping up everywhere in Lightning Country of anti-ninja propaganda, rallies, and even some other fellow shinobi are put into danger. As for his orders, the Morse Code that was sent out had only said to investigate further into the vial and question the girl.

As for Akane herself, she would notice that, through a window, she would see several different areas in the distance are up in smoke. Although for her, she won't be able to investigate any further since she is in fact, still frozen in place by the body bind jutsu.

During his fight with the Leader, Hon would be able to see everything around him. This would include the documents that were already seen, but he would see a map of Lightning Country that had three x's on it, he would also see a bit more information on Yuri. As it would seem, Yuri is a Tenouzan who, seemed to carry some sort of package. He would also see everything outside of the cart as well, how the rear carts were separated, how Ziren fell, and Shinjo caught them. How they almost died but Ziren saved Shinjo at the cost of falling down but before, Ziren telling Shinjo something. And that there were several areas in the distance that had smoke rising. With his general knowledge of Lightning Country, it might be a guess that those smokey areas coincide with the three x's on the map.

But he won't be able to think for that long as he threw his next bit of attacks. The elbow had missed, but the first disruption palm had hit, and it seemed to have hit hard as the man flew back into the wall. The leader caught his breath for a second and dodged out of the way of the next three attacks flawlessly. And in that time, he was able to recover the use of using his chakra, and he spent no time at all for the next few moments. With Hon's eyes, he was able to discern where the Leader was what with him blinking in and out around him, trying to get a hit in, but alas, only one had hit, and it was only able to graze his prosthetic arm. But the Leader wasn't done yet, her grew tired of these games and went in for swinging his blade violently, but expertly.

The blade had hit Hon first at his torso, leaving a gash across his body, the second one, a hard hitter had hit, slashed right through Hon's face, leaving a nasty gash from the right side of his face down to the left side of his chin, but the worst part yet was that it had cut right through his right eye, making the Byakugan, at least the right one, useless. The third and final hit had also hit him in his torso, leaving another gash on the body. The other attacks made against Hon had missed after the third attack had hit. Everything was looking grim, but it wasn't over yet. Just then, the door busted open and Hon would see the other two ninja that were Ziren's teammates along with another guy, that was holding a stun baton try and attack the Leader. The two ninja had both missed as the Leader effortlessly blinked around them, but as for the the third guy, he managed to get a hit off on the Leader with his Stun baton. It had hit him in his back as he fell forth but caught himself. Hon would notice that the Leader must be nearing his limits, but the real question would be if Hon can hold out long enough to end the fight or would he able unable to stop the man until then? Either way, he does now have backup, but how helpful will they be in this fight?

(Akane, You are still stuck, but you do see smoke in the distance of several locations)
(Shinjo, You now have learned that reinforcements are not coming due to anti-ninja activities, along with that, the morse coded orders given to you are to further investigate the vial along with question the girl, Akane)
(Hon, Again, sorry RNG has no mercy, your right eye is severely damaged, but you now have backup. Leader dude seems to be on his last legs, and you are aware of things happening that are off of the train.)