An Urgent Assignment [Tutor: Yukiin & Saki]

[Siu]

"You're so screwed..."

"There's still some time to fix this!"

"Your superior's going to rip you apart when they hear about this one."

"We can still salvage this!"

"Kiss your medical career goodbye, kiddo."

"Only four are missing right?! We still got this!"

"Six."

"...Six?!"

"Yes...six."

"....What?!"

"Told you, you're pretty screwed--Shall I begin contacting the Kumogakure Shinobi Intelligence Service now?"

"N--no! We, can still handle this on our own!"

"...We....can?"

"I know--we'll request some people from the Main Branch!"

"Sure, just let me contact the most qualified Jounin connected directly to the Sennin, they'll love to hear about this one."

"N--no! Not them!"

"Then....who?"

"Call, uhh--Call someone unimportant!"

"Cause Academy students are definitely qualified for this kind of thing, right?"

"No..call a..call a Genin! Yea, that's it, a Genin! They won't ask too many questions!"

"And what shall I inform them?: 'Hi, Can you please come fix my screw up so I won't lose my medical license?' "

"A mission!"

"...What?"

"A mission! Yea, that's it! It's a mission! A top-secret mission!"

"You're so screwed..."

---

Later that afternoon, a few rather 'fortunate' shinobi would then find themselves suddenly receiving a letter from their assigned messenger, whom would disappear as quickly and mysteriously once he'd successfully delivered the message just as he had appeared. The front would read in bold red lettering 'CONFIDENTIAL'. Upon opening the envelope in order to view its contents, one would recognize the Kumogakure Medical Branch symbol imprinted on the bottom right of the letter with the purpose of confirming its authenticity, which read:

"Greetings,

Your exceptional performance has proven you to be a rather capable and reliable shinobi on the field; As a result, you have been specifically requested to fulfill a rather urgent assignment crucial to prosperity and well-being of your country. Please report to the designated coordinates as soon as possible.

P.S As this is a 'CLASSIFIED' mission, we request that you reveal the contents of your task to no one, including other shinobi. Furthermore, you are expected to arrive alone; Therefore, take great care to ensure that no one follows you on your way to your designated coordinates. Confidentiality of this mission assignment is imperative. We appreciate your cooperation.

~Kumogkure Medical Facility"

The coordinates appeared to indicate a location within the Ancient Forest; an area most definitely not renowned for its safety by any means. The further the young shinobi approached towards their indicated destination, the fewer inhabitants they would find themselves observing along the way to the point of a total absence thereof.
As they further continued their journey, eventually, one lone figure could be spotted standing out rather conspicuously in comparison to his verdant surroundings; his wear of formal-suit attire entirely contradictive to the wildlife around him. Not far from him appeared to be a rather bulky machinery of some sort.
The rather mature-looking man would observe his guests for a few moments with a composed expression before a hand then rose to his ear. "Requested aid has arrived." He calmly informed, revealing a rather sophisticated manner of speech into what one could assume to be a communication device situated in his ear.
As the recipients approached closer towards his vicinity, the older man could then be witnessed nonchalantly walking in front of the bulky machinery, crouching before it. The sound of static and white noise could be heard as he flipped and turned various switches and knobs on the large contraption.

---

Bzzzt, bzzzt

"He---"

Bzzzt</B><i></i>

"H--Hello?"

Bzzzt<i></i>

"Is this---"

Bzzzzt

"--Is this working?"


The voice desperately struggling to communicate from the other side slowly became more comprehensible overtime, as the man continued to work the machine's various settings.
"Device frequency and settings suitably adjusted." Confirmed the suited man into the bulky contraption this time, rather than his subtle earpiece, as he stood back up straight.

"Aweswooome!" Replied a somewhat staticky and artificially tuned voice through the device. "Could you please provide them with their assignment material?"
The man then proceeded to retrieve and distribute out two dossiers of equilavant material from atop the machine; providing one to each shinobi. It contained a summary of the mission details as well as well as a photo and general information of a certain individual.

"Thank you for coming, your aid is very much appreciated." Eventually greeted the voice through the communication device. "For the sake of confidentiality, you may refer to me as 'Doctor S.' The man next to you can be referred to as 'Investigator T.'; He is assisting me in this unfortunate catastrophe.
I greatly apologize in advance for the rather short introductions, however, time is quite short and therefore I will have to jump to the heart of the matter if you do not mind. In short, a number of extremely important documents have been stolen from the Research Facility here in Aesculapium; Documents which are crucial to both the Medical Facility's and also Kumogakure's development, yet utterly disastrous in the wrong hands.Therefore, it is imperative for you both to retrieve them before such utter disaster takes place.
As stated before, confidentially is imperative, and this is why a small few have been chosen to handle such a serious case. Unfortunately, as the documents were stolen early this morning, our timeframe to solve this dilemma is now rather short; about 3 hours to be more precise. After which, we will no longer be able to work on this case.
As 6 documents were stolen and distributed among various individuals, I have a number of recruits working in groups together at various locations in order to track down each suspect; You are one of those groups. Your task is to retrieve 2 of the stolen documents from a man named 'Mizuro, Sugi'. He was last seen taking refuge in the Ancient Forest in order to sell the documents to the black market. As there are two of you, you will be able to more efficiently work the case in comparison to just one by covering each other's weak points. Strategize and plan however most appropriately suited among yourselves; I just ask that you please work hastily in whatever method you use to solve this case. I wish you best, and thank you for your assistance once again! Remember, Kumogakure depends on you!"

"Or maybe just your medical career..."<i></i> Sarcastically remarked another voice from what seemed to be the same room as the original speaker.

"Shhhh!" Hushed the main speaker, before concluding the call with, "Over and out"

Once the call was over, the formally dressed man would then directly address the two mission recipients for the first time. "When you find the suspect, whether he is alive or dead is not so much important as retrieval of the documents. Therefore, it is advised you do your best to ensure that the documents remain undamaged. Damaging the suspect is completely fine; Yet damaging the documents he carries is a no go. Oh--and try your best to make sure they also don't become bloodstained; The document's contents still need to be legible in order to be of any value, after all. We can't utilize anything from them if they're soaked all in blood; You'd be surprised how many cases we've had like that.
Finally, should you arrest the suspect, as you may have guessed already--you are expected to bring him back to me to turn in for questioning. However, if a live arrest doesn't appear to be an option and you have no other choice but to kill him, I will also understand; This isn't my first rodeo. In the latter case, you need not do anything to the body. Once you return, inform me of the corpse's whereabouts and we'll clean it up for you; You don't need to worry about anything regarding that.
And remember--keep this confidential; Do your best to avoid witnesses, although necessary questioning is okey. Other than that, best of luck to you. I just recommend you hurry because you have about 2 hours and--" The man briefly paused as he took a look at his watch, "57 minutes before my department intervenes and we take over this case."

<B>Assignment Summary Contents:
1. Find the Suspect
2. Retrieve 2 stolen documents from the suspect
3. Arrest OR Kill the suspect.

Suspect Informtion:
Name: Mizuro, Sugi
Age: 27
Height: 6'1
Documents Held: 2
Occupation: Gangster
Combat Style: Taijutsu focused with Ninjutsu knowledge.

Time Limit: 2h 57m:

[WC=1397 l Post 1/5]

 

[Byakko Yukiin]

It seemed that the method of delivering mission details was not to collect them in an office or the like but to have details delivered to him via courier; a decision that he didn't mind but which presented some security risks by adding another person to the transfer of information. Still, it seemed he took some pleasure in finding inconvenient times to disturb Shinobi and deliver the mission information as Yukiin couldn't think of any other reason for this consistent habit. He sighed as the envelope was pressed into his hands, his other hand manipulating his puppet back into his sealing scrolls. Now that he had more than one it was impractical to carry them, to his regret, save for Tsurara who was kept in her pack and slung over the puppeteers shoulder. The remainder of his arsenal was tucked away and bound, the Genin reviewing the instructions as he donned his gear and left the home.

It would hopefully he a chance to try out his new equipment but he didn't think the odds were high, he wasn't typically allowed to maim targets just because he wanted to figure out how good of a job he'd done sculpting puppet claws from ice. Similarly he'd acquired a couple new herbs and extracts to create some more potent poisons which he also hoped to try out but the two things were at odds with one another - if he could rip someone apart the poison seemed excessive for your average quarry. Effectively Yukiin came to the conclusion that without fighting another shinobi he had no real hope of employing these kinds of weapons and was effectively a walking overkill machine for anything else...he wondered how his superiors handled that thought process, what was it like to be a walking force of destruction trying to pretend to be normal long enough to get a fast food order through?

He put that thread aside and redoubled his efforts towards progressing to the meeting point, something that was much more pressing and much more worthy of his time. Auto-pilot movement wasn’t as quick as taking in your surroundings and finding the appropriate places to accelerate your step, something that must’ve seemed strange to most people. The ground and any other surface you stepped off of have a certain degree of toughness to it and thus had a maximum amount of force you could apply to it in order to push off and move faster, making buildings of stone or brick much better than the ground causing many people to take up rooftop hopping. Yukiin disliked this, however, as it drew too much attention and while the ground was ultimately inferior to many surfaces there were pockets of stone or the like which, with a cautious eye, you could catch and push off of with more force without damaging the ground beneath you and leaving a clear mark of your passage. Thus if he was paying attention he could move faster than assuming general consistency in the earth and always pushing off with that minimum.

Of course chakra could render this problem inconsequential but it was also a waste of energy, something the Genin was quite averse to when he expected to be expending it in pursuit of a mission objective. With a last press, his foot breaking off the ground like a crashing wave and leaving no dust to mark his effort, he carved through the air and landed near the figure and his machine, his own mechanical device unfurling from its covering and landing with him. Both puppeteer and puppet took their bow, offering a sign of respect before the boy’s weapon spoke on behalf of it’s wielder.

“We are prepared to undertake the assigned task.”

He waited, patiently and attentively gathering the information being provided and tossing it about in his mind like a fruit being passed from hand to hand, trying to determine any obvious blemishes or critical details apparent to his senses. The task was immediately strange to him, these kinds of retrieval missions did not seem appropriate for a Genin to be given, let alone to any member of the Medical Core, and his eyes reflexively narrowed in suspicion of what he was hearing. Confidentiality? From who? The village presumably hired out for the task and the speaker was simply administering from that point, though why he didn’t retrieve it himself was also suspicious. He gave no reasoning for why he was required for this task and his briefing made no mention of his unique abilities to imply that what Yukiin brought to the table was necessary for the success of the mission, even though the letter seemed to imply as much. He wouldn’t have been chosen for a mission he was not adept at performing, Kumogakure was not in the habit of wasting money and the salary of a shinobi was not especially cheap even at his rank.

Something was wrong, like the bruises on an orange becoming apparent as every surface was touched by the fingers of his mind, but openly stating as much wouldn’t get him answers. If things were deceptive then pointing out that deception was unlikely to reward additional information or to clear away the falsehoods. This speech was being given much like a practiced script, it was not tailored to him, so it was unlikely questions were expected or welcome, if they were then they would’ve asked if there were questions.

Regardless, retrieving documents from a chakraless seemed...wasteful. If he was a shinobi this job would not be assigned to him, he was not trained in the disposal of other shinobi and academy students were as much shinobi as sporks were utensils...unless that was the purpose of the deception. If that was the case then Yukiin would have the opportunity to test himself properly and he would enjoy that. He would just have to catch and freeze into mist any blood that was pulled from the target so as to avoid making messes, regardless of what he was instructed it was simply unprofessional to return a target in such a state. Killing him was pointless though, you couldn’t investigate a dead man, as well as highly illegal and he finished with his evaluation of the mission shortly after the man finished speaking to him.

The fruit was spoiled, something was wrong about it, and any merchant selling it to him was doing so with deliberate deception but announcing it to everyone would do very little but cause a scene. His fingers moved rapidly but deliberately, the jaw of Tsurara chattering along to his words.

“He must state that Mizuro will be extracted legally, until he has attempted to bear lethal force against us he is a non-combatant and lethal action is not permitted. He will not be given such an opportunity.”

Well...perhaps announcing one deception was fine.

Yukiin made no effort to conceal the underpinning of agitation from being given such an order, was he being tested? He knew the law, and while he had exerted lethal force in the Country of Tea, he was attacked directly and under threat of life, not to mention they had wounded his kinsmen and thus would’ve been killed regardless of the law in that manner...he would not allow such an offense to occur and be unpunished. Still, this matter was much more cut and dry.

Whether or not he would enjoy the opportunity...and clearly he would. There was little doubt in his mind that a civilian would be able to force him into a lethal response, however, so he would simply have to wait.

[WC 1266]

 

[Sato Yuji]

Kei hummed as she walked down one of the main streets Kumogakure beaming brightly she jumped in one of the puddles caused by the recent rainfall. The air was nice and cool today, much different from Tea. Feeling something stabbing at her back she turned around and jumped in front of the person who was at the other end of the feeling. Giggling again when she felt static jump from them to her. The messenger must not have expected someone to intercept them because they shoved something into her hand and then bolted. Frowning she looked down people were so inconsiderate. It wasn't like she could read whatever was in her hands. Her eyes had to be kept firmly closed and hidden behind a hood, a piece of cloth, or glasses when the weather was anything brighter than a heavy cloud cover. Running her hands over the front of it she felt a strangely raised symbol. Brother would know what it was and read it for her though so she went off to find him. It took her a few minutes to find his gun oil smell and follow it to the inn they were staying at. Smiling in hello she handed the file over to him to read. Whatever it was must have been funny because pepper mixed in her throat while he was reading it. Once he was done reading he simply told her to go to the coordinates provided saying it may be an interesting activity for her to participate in. She pouted when he didn't tell her anything more except for her use the new Jutsu he had taught her.

Going over to the closest she tried to decide what outfit she should wear. Running her hands along the clothing in the closet she stopped at the one that felt right. Spinning around with it she showed brother who laughed at her choice but said she should wear it, it would at least make the people she was with confused. That was enough acceptance for her to change into it. It was something some old lady had given them when they were out looking for clothing for Kei, saying Kei reminded her of her granddaughter. It was a skirt and cloak in orange lined with white lace. The cloak had a hood on it with little-rounded ears. At least that was what brother told her it looked like. Underneath the skirt, she was wearing white tights with her pouches hidden under the puffy layer while the cloak covered her upper body and anything she was carrying on it. It didn't look like a practical outfit for fighting, but she could make it work. As her brother explained it, who would expect the most helpless look of young civilian children to come up and stab you/

Saying goodbye to Brother she walked out of the inn while performing a simple Jutsu. Brother had taught her Crystal Eye to help with her inability see in sunlight. It took the minerals she kept in her pockets and turned them into a floating silver and blue eyeball that she could see through. The eye floated around her and took very little of chakra to maintain and allowed her to see in sunlight. The child made a strange sight as she followed her brother's instructions to the coordinates, a civilian child being lead by a floating eyeball was not the oddest thing most had seen but it was up there. As she got closer to her destination the number of people around her slowly decreased and the amount of plant life grew. It became easier for her to figure out where she was heading. The forest was quite desolate which meant picking up on people's emotional signature became easier. She basically stumbled into the clearing with her eye by her side. Smiling at the other two already in the area she took stock of them. The younger of the two tasted like spearmint while the older of the two tasted disgustingly like chalk. He was also dressed quite strangely, who goes into a forest wearing a suit? Was it made out of special material? Making a face she turned towards the older man when his wristwatch began speaking sending her eye to get closer. She almost laughed when the voice spoke of confidentiality, that had failed the second the letter ended up in her hands.

The task itself seemed simple enough, she had never done it before, but she was sure she would do fine. Hunting down someone who wasn't a shinobi would be a good way to get her feet wet. Brother said she had been a shinobi and still retained most of that information. Halfway through the presentation, her partner began to give off little hail balls showing her something was off about the whole set up though, not that she really cared Brother had said to do the thing so she would do the thing. She had never killed anybody before but she was sure it wouldn't be too hard, the blood thing might be harder. They seemed to want the man alive anyway. After the instructions were finished, she turned to her partner. Well, she didn't turn, her eyeball did. The boy was quite cute and he tasted like spearmint which was nice because it cleared the chalky taste of the other man out of her mouth. Turning she pounced on the other child deftly avoiding any attack that the action caused. Latching onto the other boy, but avoiding the puppet, she smiled up at him innocently. "So what are we going to do?" She asked lightly to the puppeteer "I have never done this before and what's with the time limit they could have just done it themselves if they are going to give us only 3 hours!" Hopefully, the person she was clinging to would understand the meaning behind her words, but if he didn't it was still fun.
-------
[WC:1004]
[TC:1004]
[1/5]

 

[Siu]

Meanwhile elsewhere...
​

"Hmmm..."

"...Hmmm?"

"Hmmmmm..."

"..."

"..."

"...Good stuff, right?"

"It's indeed not your everyday find."

"No kidden! You have no idea much of a pain in the ass it was to get the thi--"

"1 million."

"..What?"

"1 million yen."

"I hope you're kidding me...cause that's...UTTER CRAP!"

"That's my offer."

"You must've gone senile if you think i'mma sell a beauty like this for a crap price like that. I send word out and people will come runnin at me with 100 million tonight; TONIGHT"

"..."

"...Screw this guy, man; Let's go find someone else! He's ain't willin to drop the dough."

Sounds of footsteps turning to leave






SCHWIIIING~






"I would take the 1 million while I was still ahead if I were you..."

"Son of a--It's a setup! Quick, get the documents!"

---

Back at our young protaginist...

" 'Legally', hm? '" The older man mumbled back with a slightly arched eyebrow in response to the youth's statement, his eyes gazing at the puppet for a few moments, before turning to examine its ventriloquist. Though it was difficult to tell from his seemingly perpetual neutral expression concerning almost everything, the suited man 'did' seem to be in some form of deep thought concerning his next words. "The moment Mizuri grasped a hold of those documents, he'd already put his life in jeopardy. Yet, because he was so greedy for money, that was a risk he was willing to take." Pausing for a moment as his words settled, the man then gradually broke his gaze from the boy as he looked away in what seemed to be a sort of absentminded thought. "But do what you see fit, kid. If you can bring him back alive, then I have no quarrel with that."

Turning his attention back to the duo, as the young girl had suddenly decided to pounce the older shinobi, in addition to more thoroughly examining the unusual anomaly hovering throughout the air which provided the young girl sight, whether due to having more important matters to attend to, disinterest, or perhaps even both, the man shortly after could be witnessed withdrawing his attention from the two once again, going about his own business. Various reports could faintly be heard escaping from the device within his ear. Then, whether through a sudden reminder or having waited for the appropriate time to actually offer, the older man eventually revealed an additional resource for the duo to use to utilize for their task if they so desired.

"If you need the use of headsets for your task, you can find two tiny earsets like mine on top of the machine, as well."

[WC=434 l Post 2/5]

Assignment Summary Contents:
1. Find the Suspect
2. Retrieve 2 stolen documents from the suspect
3. Arrest OR Kill the suspect.

Time Remaining: 2h 20m

 

[Byakko Yukiin]

The undercurrent of underestimation was clear, much like a splash of cold water across the face. It irked Yukiin, but there was little to be done about that but to make it clear that it was a poor judgement and the most clear path towards that was to get on with the mission as assigned and not to dawdle here arguing over the matter. The man's either contempt or discomfort with the law was a concern for him, a shinobi that held the law in little regard was a dangerous element and one that would only lead the village to ruin. He was resolved to be better, to serve dutifully and to ensure that his homeland and his kinsmen thrived as they deserved. If that meant biting his tongue at the moment then it was an uncomfortable duty, but one that he performed.

That was also his thought process when the girl entered into his personal space, the intrusion into his aura, so to speak, was obvious enough but as the man watching him made no effort to stop her he assumed that it was another hired hand. This meant that he would be in the wrong to attack her for the attempt although her weight was unwelcome on his body and her proximity was also uncomfortable. Yukiin was not accustomed to this type of encroachment into his domain and wordlessly responded, the air around his body responding to his mental assertion of dominance over it. Both his body temperature and the surrounding temperature rapidly plummeted, his deep and long sigh displaying countless beading ice crystals with its heat.

"He would like to remove yourself and to stay without a meter from now on." Tsurara chattered, the puppeteer doing his best to ignore the girl as it seemed kunoichi had a habit of being ineffective or troublesome and he had very little desire to add additional burdens to his task. A curling gust of wind grasped onto the ear pieces, scooping one up and bringing it to Yukiin's free hand and bringing the other to about eye level with the girl so she could similarly grab and insert it. It was an unpleasant feeling to have this device pressing into his ear but it could be worse...

He could have a stranger fail to understand personal boundaries.

"He would like to follow, make use of your floating eye to watch behind us as we proceed. The forest is not safe territory, if a group of chakraless fled into it then they are likely already dead and we only need to retrieve papers from their corpses. An extra pair of eyes would be a great help."

[WC 445]

 

[Sato Yuji]

Kei pouted to herself it seemed like they wouldn't be killing anyone on this mission. She felt sad for a second but then realized she honestly did not care. Killing someone was something that would probably come to her, she didn't actually need to set out to do. Now that she was actually thinking about it, she had no idea what Brother's view of it was. That made her worried, what if Brother would hate her if she extinguished a life. What if he left her? That was something so horrible she could bearly contemplate it. That made up her mind, she refused to kill anyone until after she learned what Brother thought about it. It didn't even occur to her to be worried about the law. Having no grasp of social constructs such as laws or personal boundaries she felt no need to follow them even if she knew what they were. Clinging tighter to the younger boy she said "Hey let's not kill Mr. Inky. If we have to you can do!" Mr. Inky was what she had decided to call the person they were hunting. Kei had a problem with remembering names, as in she didn't care enough to do it for most people.

She adhered tighter to the older boy as it started to snow. Kei had a problem distinguishing what was real and what was psychosomatic. That meant when the so temperature dropped around her she simply chalked it up to the fact that snowflakes were falling on her. With her eye still pointed at the man she didn't realize who was talking. She simply assumed that the boy was talking weirdly something she had no qualms about announcing. "Kei thinks you talk funny," she said giggling while completely ignoring the request, "but Kei doesn't mind she can talk funny too." While she was talking she felt him moving around, probably picking up the ear thingies the Chalky had been talking about. Moving her eye to look at the pair she confirmed that what she thought was happening actually was before turning it back to Chalky. "Yuki you are so nice!" she exclaimed while taking the device and placing it in her ear. It took her a few tries to figure out how it worked and how it was supposed to fit into her ear.

She simply laughed when he suggested that she had her eye keep track of the much older man. "Kei doesn't need to do that!" She said pouting at him. "Kei knows where everyone is!" After those words, the floating orb quickly returned to her speedily spinning around the pair until it stopped behind them. "Kei thinks we should go that way!" was her last words before releasing the boy. That didn't mean she moved out of his space. She simply grabbed his hand and began pulling him in the direction that her eye faced.
----------
[WC:494]
[TC:1498]
[2/5]

 

[Siu]

The hasted journey would lead the duo (or trio if you counted the floating eye thing) through a dense maze of abundant vegetation littered with countless briers and thorns. For a time, it may have appeared as if there were nothing to even be found in the forest at all, save for the brief appearance of highly unusual creatures here and there; So abnormal in fact, that it was questionable whether they even belonged to any sort of definable species whatsoever, or simply belonged to a category all to themselves. If the two maintained perseverance to continue their search, however, eventually a loud exclamation would break the almost serene silence of their verdant surroundings, perhaps offering a lead of some sort.

"Get your ass back here!" Echoed a rather agitated voice, far in the distance from the group; Someone was definitely not in a good mood.

Should the two choose to pursue the agitated exclamation deeper into the dense maze, they would eventually come across a small clearing littered with unconscious bodies; very much unconscious bodies. Judging from the warmth of each corpse, one could easily assume their ascent into the afterlife was actually quite recent.
There lied five bodies total, each dressed in various street gang attire, fatally injured from what appeared to be various gashes and penetrations through vital organs. If any of the young shinobi were skilled enough in such matters, they might have recognized that such precision could not have possibly taken place by any amateur; Undoubtedly, whomever had performed such work was highly skilled in their art--a true swordsman. Had the two young shinobi possibly agreed to more than their expertise could actually handle?

Furthermore, if the two were perceptive enough--and hadn't lost their nerve at this point, a more thorough inspection would also reveal a series of footsteps fleeing away from the scene, back into the forest, leaving a small trail of blood in their wake which stained the ground and various vegetation of the forest. They did not appear to be only ones in a hurry to exiting from the clearing either, as could be determined by the various differences in footprint sizes and footwear patterns. Altogether, a total of three seemed to have left the clearing together--yet only one appeared to actually be injured. How would our young protagonist determine their next move?

[WC=391 l Post 3/5]

Assignment Summary Contents:
1. Find the Suspect
2. Retrieve 2 stolen documents from the suspect
3. Arrest OR Kill the suspect.

Time Remaining: 1h 40m

 

[Byakko Yukiin]

There were few things that would slow the youth down once he had made a decision on the path to take and began the ordeal, but unfortunately, there were certain limitations to being a classified medic that he felt were more critical than his desire to continue unabated. Finding their path leading to a cluster of men, still potentially alive, Yukiin halted his movement and clicked his tongue in audible agitation. Even a glancing overview of their injuries told him that they were deep enough to be life-threatening and in accordance with the code he was not permitted to not make an attempt to halt this loss of life, not to mention they had value for information. He descended from the high ground and unfurled his scrolls as he did so, puppets falling out in the puff of smoke and being captured by the boy's strings as the trio hit the ground with a gracefully broken fall.

His puppets moved swiftly, gathering up the bodies as they lay and carrying them as safely as he could manage based on their injuries as he had no desire to remain in the area where he would be visible and potentially under threat. Only once each of them had been carried off deeper into the woods, pressed against a root so he could examine them. Yukiin did little to hide his attention, pulling out some medical supplies from a pocket and passing thread and needle into both puppet's hands, directing them to conduct the work for him. Blood infection was something he had no desire to learn about by having it happen to him and his level of kugutsu was more than sufficient to make up for his hands, they moved perhaps even better than his fleshy appendages as their mechanical nature lacked any kind of shaking.

Both of them moved swiftly, clicking as they draped themselves over the bodies and rapidly pushed their needles through the largest of the wounds which were still bleeding, sewing them shut and clipping off the thread once it had been knotted to hold. He'd learned as much in his free time already, Kumogakure had plenty of literature after all and he had an abundance of free time to learn things that seemed practical in a world where he was liable to get stabbed more times than the once he already had been. Once that had been set in place he closed his eyes, dropping the puppets back into their scrolls and pressing his hand to the closed wounds, gathering chakra to his hand and pushing it into their bodies.

Much like excess material, chakra seemed to work to aid a body in healing itself if it was properly mixed and attuned, obviously some types of the stuff were more harmful than helpful but the technique to mold them properly wasn't exactly a secret. Especially in his branch, this kind of treatment was common, and with the wounds stitched already he had to do far less work, guiding the body to recover slightly so as to stop the worst of the internal damage while the stitching kept the flesh held close enough to work itself out without his aid. All in all it was a rush job, intended to keep them from dying (if they weren't already going to die) while he returned to his actual task, in and out in under five minutes was his assessment once he checked his watch again.

"He hates being delayed like this..." Yukiin muttered, returning to his pursuit with heightened vigor to make up for the lost time.

[WC 598]

 

[Sato Yuji]

Kei felt something like a slippery eel brush against her skin as Yuki rushed into the clearing the voice had echoed from. It was an unpleasant sensation. Sending her eye in the general direction of the feeling she happened upon the scene. To say Kei was horrified of the scene they stumbled upon would be a gross overstatement even saying she was sad was an overestimation of the impact of the scene on her. She was, if anything, mildly put out because the person she was supposed to be hunting the man down with her had decided helping the dying people was more important than the mission. When the eye got closer to the bodies she noticed something interesting, it seemed they weren’t hunting an complete amature after all. That made the hunt more fun.

As Yuki dragged the bodies and fixed them Kei ruffled through their pockets. Pulling out anything worth money or that was just plain interesting she put the objects in her own. Maybe upon closer examination later they would reveal something about their mission. Frowning she complained “Yuki we have to go.” The go was stressed so that it sounded like a whine. “Why are you helping helping them?” Sending her eye around she noticed the blood trail. “If you’re not going to continue Kei will.” She tapped her earpiece causing it to do a unpleasant feedback squeal. “Kei will continue ahead and Yuki can stay and heal the dead people. Kei will call when she find them.” Sticking her tongue out at Yuki she faded into the underbrush. “Catch Kei when Yuki is done.”

Kei was surprisingly stealthy for someone dressed the way she was. Slipping silently through the trees unseen she began to hunt her pray. Her eye moved above the line to get a more panoramic view. The hunt was on in truth and her fake eye was not what she would be relying on for it.
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[WC:324]
[TC:1822]
[3/5]

 

[Siu]

Finding more leads in their continued investigation would not be too difficult. The footsteps were easy enough to keep track of, even through the dense foliage of their surroundings, as those escaping from the scene seemed to have been so hasted in their steps that none bothered to disguise any of their tracks; Or perhaps, another possible explanation could have been that they might not have even been skilled in such matters.
Despite the young puppet master's rather noble deeds, it was still questionable whether any of the unfortunate victims would survive the scene, as their wounds were quite grave. Yet, if there were even the slightest chance for the survival of just one of the five, undoubtedly it would have been due to the young medical-nin in training's efforts.
As for the younger kunoichi, ironically enough, whether she had been looking for it or not, her looting would reward her with an interesting emblem on a metal chain made of black marble from one of the victim's pockets, sculpted into what appeared to be the image of a black snake. Perhaps a possible clue of some sort which could aid in determining the victim's origins and explaining the mysterious murder? Perhaps; Only time would tell.
Regardless, as our two heroes continued their pursuit, soon enough they would eventually hear the familiar echoes of the previous voice they'd heard earlier--undoubtedly, no less agitated than before, despite gap in time.

"You can't run forever!"

An observation through keen enough eyes would reveal a number of swiftly moving figures throughout the forest. Two members in street-gang attire appeared to be in fervent pursuit of another target---our two youth's very target. One of the pursuing members had a noticeably long object strapped to his waist, a finely crafted katana-styled blade. It's wielder, no doubt also the professional responsible for the mess the two shinobi had previously witnessed.
Interestingly enough, the pursued culprit also seemed to have unexpected company attending him; No less fearful for his life than the one he attended to, as could be observed from the man's greatly panicked expression. One could easily assume, that it'd be quite unwise for either of them to either give in to fatigue, slow their pace, or in the worst case scenario, fall; However, as cruel fate seemed to deem it--an unfortunately placed log would ensure just the latter. In their hasted flee, neither had ample time to pay keen enough attention to their surroundings, leading one to be met with unfortunate consequence.

"Gah!...shit!" Echoed a panicked shout, as the culprit's companion could be seen violently tripping and rolling across the ground, through a multitude of foliage. Dirt, thorns, and sweat blatantly were visible upon the other street thug's visage and attire, as he anxiously turned behind him while hastily struggling to stand back up and continue his escape--but it was too late, he'd already lost far too much of his distance advantage at this point, and his enemies were rapidly closing in from behind.
The culprit himself, looked back for a brief moment, yet made no effort whatsoever to assist, continuing his escape and leaving his companion to his own fate; But then again--could anyone blame him?

"Yo! Wait, wait, wait--We can talk this out!" Came a desperate plead. Yet, his pursuers resolved expressions and movements made clear that their next intentions were completely unnegotiable.
All that could be heard was the unsheathing of steel, as his pursuers began closing in for a finishing blow; which left our duo with an interesting decision--Would they aid the unfortunate victim in his time of need, yet risk losing their culprit and also further expending their already limited time, or ignore the incident altogether and continue pursuit of their main target? Or perhaps, would they make an entirely different decision altogether?
Furthermore, what of the two pursuers? Would our duo risk a possible engagement with two enemies of unknown potential, even possibly further risking even further expending of their time? The clock was ticking, and the window for opportunity was rapidly closing with every second--forcing the two protagonists into a situation where they'd need to make their next decision fast.

Yet, how would they proceed?

[WC=702 l Post 4/5]

 

[Byakko Yukiin]

Yukiin's recollection of the medical codes and general expectations of his Branch were becoming more and more burdensome as more and more people were finding themselves in unfortunate situations that he could not safely, wisely, or perhaps legally ignore. He supposed he wasn't obligated to assist non-shinobi in these situations and compromising his mission was another risk but he couldn't be in two places at once. What he could do, however, is lie.

He paused momentarily, a series of icicile-like projectiles raining from foilage and punching into the ground between the fallen man and his assailants, each producing a crack as they embedded themselves through the stone and roots that might've halted their purchase. Dozens of the long needles circled the man, caging him off in a sense. The shinobi who had produced and thrown them produced one of his puppets from the boughs, concealed beneath its cloak and harsh situational lighting. The shinobi could've employed some simple jutsu to make it appear as himself but it wasn't required in this situation and he was loathe to be so wasteful with his energy before he knew if he needed it or not on his actual target.

"If either party crosses that boundary line you will be immediately pierced by one of the icicles who will have an easier time going through flesh than they did stone or wood. Those are the visible ones that were scattered, the remainder are hidden and will loose themselves if you trigger them. You are to stay in place until I have consulted with a superior regarding what to do with you, if you choose to disobey this directive then please at least write out your name so we'll know where to send your corpse."

Yukiin knew two things about the chakraless - that they didn't understand how jutsu worked and that they were wise enough to find out with their lives on the line. It was one thing to call his bluff if he emerged and fought them head on, it was quite another to see a jutsu performed and to be instructed on how it operates. A shinobi could lie but they rarely did, most of them were quite forthcoming with how their techniques operated, so leveraging that fact he assumed that he could bluff them into remaining in place with a show of a small amount of power. It wouldn't take too long to catch the primary target now, he could come back before they'd figured out that he was bluffing.

Thats what he told himself anyways as the puppet retreated into the shadows and both the weapons and the wielder continued their pursuit, leaving them to their own affairs as Yukiin continue his assigned task.

[WC 453]

 

[Sato Yuji]

It was easy enough to follow the group that she was hunting, they weren’t exactly trying to be stealthy. Following the noise they made she sent her eye ahead to see if it could get a clear view. It seemed that there were three people in the group, two pursuing their prey and their prey plus 1. Kei didn’t like that at all, the person who has stolen the documents was theirs to hunt down. It was no fun if someone else tried to steal the game from them. She almost acted on her displeasure but then remembered she had promised to inform her partner when she found the group. Following them she began to rely her location to the male who. Hopefully he would catch up soon.

As she watched them from the eye in the sky, she stifled giggle when one of them stumbled into a log. She was blind and had yet to run into anything in the forest. What she wasn’t happy about was the fact that she may be forced to intervene. Yuki hadn’t seemed to want to their target dead so she would have to take action if his life was threatened. She didn’t have to take action when anyone else's life was though. Therefore, she made no move to stop the blow that was going towards her prey companion. There was no reason for her to save him so she simply did not. Instead she continued to follow the hunted man. Who knows, maybe they would kill each other and she wouldn’t have to do anything. What she did do was cast a few quick, low power, genjutsu in quick succession. It was a fairly basic one, meant to make people feel more tired than they actually were. It was weak enough that it wouldn't be noticeable to those she cast it on while also slowing them down slightly. It also bearly used any of her energy so it wasn’t like it was hard.

Leaving the culprits companion to his fate she continued to follow the missions target, it wasn’t like she couldn't go back for the body later. She would wait for Yuki to catch up with her before she made any moves. The only thing that would cause her to intervene was an attack on her prey that would actually kill him.
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[WC:391]
[TC:2213]
[4/5]