[Marsh Country] Uninvited Guests [Tutor]

[Shieo]

As the days brushed by like any other; the trio had been travelling on and off for some time. A week, perhaps; in this week they were careful to maneuver themselves to locations that operated as solid places of encampment while providing sufficient natural resources to avoid having to draw from their own reserves. After-all they were relatively inclined to tread on careful grounds given the country they dwelled within' wasn't necessarily regarded for their kindness towards Shinobi. And that one of the three had a rather extraordinarily sized manifestation a few days prior. So all things considered, that without a doubt would have drawn some attention- and likely the militarized forces of the country.
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Which brings us to our lovely band of rag-tags. Namely two of them; because the third 'Siu' decided now would be an ideal time to go berry-picking. It wasn't, but we'll digress. Without further adieu.



In the moment of gathering their equipment and preparing for departure. A sudden sensation shot into the spines of Shizuka and Shieo; thankfully nothing damaging- No, a sensation that almost acted like a sixth sense. Something was awry; the air was heavy and stained with malevolence. <B>"Hm...?" Preemptively, the Chūnin reached into his garbs and pulled out a capsule and slipped it underneath his tongue. "On your toes Shiz-." At almost on command, around the brush that surrounded them in a three-hundred sixty degree radius; came a slew of arrows, the harsh whizzing sounds that ripped through the air.
While Shieo was quick to get low to the ground in a militaristic crouch, both hands immediately brought to one another and in incredibly fluidity weaved together enmasse, erupting with the words he commanded "Raiton! Raikabe!" No shorter did a massive wave of atmospheric energy rush out in a plethora of chakra that barraged the next wave of incoming arrows. A following hiss and crackle of electricity began to manifest and materialize as a dome of near-solidified lightning. With this Shieo's hands extended outwards, each palm facing an opposite pole of the barrier, fingers curled and a steady flow of chakra dedicated to the maintenance of this creation.

"Well!." He called out, in a strained voice; as if he spent more time on focus than the conversational requirement. "Might I recommend gettin' ready kiddo', we've got company; and I can't wager they're the friendly kind. Get a count, mind your angles and let me know when you're ready for me to drop this bloody thing. -- It's gonna get messy, I hope you know how to decide whether your life is worth more than theirs."

戦闘開始!

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[Post 1/5 | 436/1,500 WC]

If you wish to progress the scene, you're encouraged to! I've left Shieo in a position where he is willing to drop the barrier at a moments notice. And there is the freedom to decide our foes, some of their strengths and their numbers. It's time to D-d-d-d-duel!

 

[Senju Shizuka]

Half-crouching while trying to roll up her jacket tightly enough to add it to her backpack she flinched when something, in the air around them, changed. The sensation touching the back of her neck at that very moment was like cold needles running up, then down. Wide-eyed she turned just in time to hear Shieo’s calling. Thankfully, the man was way more experienced and before the arrows could hit them his defense was already up and protecting them both. The sizzling of lightning kept away the arrows, and while he made sure she knew this was serious Shizuka worried about Siu.

Calm, stop, she’ll be alright. They would take care of this and Siu would handle whatever came at her. Hopefully, they hadn’t followed her that way- Shizuka violently shook her head to clear up her mind. In this very moment, she had to take care of the problems at hand. Apparently, those came in the form of dark-clad men with angry arrows.

“Yes, sir.” she brought her hands together weaving seals she knew were necessary for her survival once his dome would drop. “Ready!” Letting him know that he could let go of his jutsu she let the chakra flow through her and into the ground. A second later it the ground move like a wave. It almost felt like they were standing on a carpet and one of the sillier friends had decided to snatch it from under your feet. Then the wave grew stronger. Debris erupted from the ground and tried to bury the enemy under its mass.

Without waiting she went through another sequence of seals and allowed her chakra to come from her in a wave directed at those possible stuck in the debris or hidden behind the trees. It mattered not because nothing solid would stop it. “Atomic shockwave!”

There, they deserved to puke their guts out if they had dared to sneak attack them! The burning, well, that too was a price they were now forced to pay. At least the half in front of her was, she knew next to nothing about those behind her.

On the sides.. ?

She turned her head, eyes scanning left. Then right. It was hard to be sure if there were more of them than met the eye. She assumed there had to be. Nobody was stupid enough to attack with all its forces while being unsure about the enemy’s strengths, right?

Using the bits of dust still in the air to move behind one of the branches she left behind a clone. It didn’t take long for multiple knives to pierce her in various places. But all they got was mud running onto the ground and forming a heap which would later become a puddle.

Standing there with her heart pounding in her chest she bit her lip while trying to figure out what to do next. Shieo was somewhere near. The thought reassured her that everything would be fine. So far what’s been used against them, even if with the intent to kill, wasn’t out of their league. The numbers were annoying, sure. She would have to pay a lot of attention to make sure that nobody would sneak up behind her and stab her in the side.

Perhaps.. Ohh!

She let the crystal eye form before sending it upward toward the sky. Watching from above would give her a better perspective on the situation. Perhaps she would even notice Shieo and/or Siu!


**
[579/1,500 || 1/5]

 

[Shieo]

All that was met when young-Shizuka shouted 'Ready!' was Shieo's receding hands towards his torso; and the barrier of electricity dissipating in a light-show of sparks. Forming a cross with his forearms, he buffered a moment afore he felt the ground beneath him start to shape and mold like play-dough. At that point, he leaped with the aid of chakra directly into the sky. As he bit down on the capsule in his mouth; a surge of espresso funneled into his system.
Now elevated about sixty-feet into the sky, he broke the coverage of some of the trees. Working with the sight of his phantom, he began to perceive and count the number of foes-- We're looking at about thirty, an excursion force. That could be a nuisance. Hopefully none are chakra orientated. Upon the apex of his leap, and the slow beginning of his descent, he nose-dive; twirling his torso as he started unleashing a hail of Hiraishin kunai. An audible 'thunk' of the tool impacted against trees, the ground and varying miscellaneous areas about the battlefield.

As the coffee began to make its way into his hyper-accelerated system. His heart began to thump faster and faster, with the world slowing down more and more. It was a surreal experience that forced a new perspective to the slowed reality every-time he did it; in the end it helped with the Hiraishin, after-all- Movement at that speed is rather challenging to keep track of.

"Alright! Shizuka! Care to not hit me!" As he shouted, he was just about to break through the canopy of leaves at the tops of the trees. Loud enough for Shizuka- and the others to hear. And at that moment, she had already unleashed the atomic mayhem, and receded into the guise of stealth. His eyes narrowed, careful to he-himself not get caught in that radioactive wave.
Exerting a quick breath, he focused on any number of ten kunai that lodged themselves among the slew of trees. And started his assault; in a blinding flash of white and red light. His body seemingly warped at ultra-speeds to a mark on each kunai. By planting his feet with a layer of chakra against the tree, ground or rock wherever he landed. He sent himself lunging through the air at sonic speeds with his left palm opened and licking with mystical fire from a marking now revealed there. Don't fail me now Dragon's Wrath. With each lunge, a wave of two to three chains the size of tree-trunks erupted from his palm and homed in onto enemy targets, impaling, cutting and throwing them through the trees with destructive 'CRACK!'s.

At this point, the young-man was littered with sweat, and traces of blood. It was difficult to discern if it was his own blood, or the enemies- Likely a mixture of both, as his melee and chain-fighting styles were rather bold. And left him open. At the end of his assault, he was left heaving and standing on the ground; about forty-feet from Shizuka's position, and opposite from her assault on the atomic level. With the chains retracted back into his palm; Shieo's hands brought themselves together after weaving a slew of seals and extending both open palms forwards; namely towards five foes. "Shakuton! Kikasuru!" In a blur of incredibly mythical heat, so much so that even the water in the air seared into evaporation sent into a blast that irradiated the entire portion of the thicket. All that remained was charred landscape and an incredible heat lingering.
Shieo having looked rather worn himself, with a heavy set exhaustion in his stance. Looking over his shoulder to Shizuka's shadow, giving some description of where she might be. This however- Was met with a concerned expression; not because of her, but what he saw beyond.

... That's not good, Chakra is emanating from them. Exhausting another breath, he let the flames lick away from his left palm as he prepared himself. "Alright Shizuka, time to up your game. We've got competition."

---

[Post 2/5 | 1,107/1,500 WC]

Again, feel free to scene progress; and write what you like. At the end, Shieo is preparing himself. But sort of in a state of rest. So you don't need to worry about his interaction with anything other than what he did. Including these new faces that bore chakra powers. Otherwise, go crazy my little Hashirama you.

 

[Senju Shizuka]

Through the crystal eye above she could see that there were too many of them to her liking, but at least a part of the enemy force was still recovering from the blow or was simply unconscious now. That was before beams of incredible heat wiped away a couple of still active faces from existence. The warmth lingered all around them. She felt the sweat starting to run down the side of her face. It was probably both from the remaining heat and the fact that this was a real battlefield. People were dying. And while she knew that being involved with death one way or another was something every Shinobi had to deal with, actually experiencing the situation itself was different. The textbooks, the lectures, the various trainings. None of them came close to the rush, fear, excitement and mild confusion she felt right now.

The stacks were clear. If she wanted for herself, and her group, to get away unharmed then she had to let keep her mind sharp and focused on one thing and one thing only: dealing with the enemy.

Damn it, she felt it after he told her. Chakra users were drawing closer. Still, they had the advantage, right? Could they prepare for them- set a trap? Her mind jumped to the jutsu she knew which could be of use now. Though, a part of her was afraid none of them would hold. So, instead, she decided to try to weaken the ones coming closer. It was a good thing that Shieo was visible from her spot, that way she would make sure none of the spores tried to infiltrate his lungs.

Rushing through the seals she felt glad that they were in a forest - and that there were still plants left to use after Shieo’s display of raw power. Infusing the ones next to her with chakra she let them spit out their spores in a cloud of shimmering green. 'Glow moss', a technique her father had taught her so she could recover while her opponents tried to maintain their energy.

Leaving her spot behind as not to be traced too easily she grabbed one of the kunai sticking out of a tree. As it dangled from her pink finger she started to prepare her next jutsu. One of the men who had appeared seemed to be unaffected by the spores - either that or he didn’t care - he was weaving his own seals. She was too slow to get to him before he would be done, that’s why she edited her plan and pulled him closer with the use of gravity.

Perhaps it was the lack of a headband that got him confused when he was sucked toward her. Perhaps he just hadn’t thought about being thrown forward instead of backward. It didn’t matter. She tried to stab him with the kunai but only managed to cut his forearm as he threw her off. His jutsu was put on halt, but she was too close to him now. Being bad at taijutsu Shizuka knew that she had to get away from him and do it fast.


**
[1,099/1,500 || 2/5]

 

[Shieo]

Entranced on the battle, he didn't interfere with Shizuka's prepared spore tactics. During this time, he had looked around and scanned the horizon. Their numbers had dwindled tremendously in the grand scheme of the scene of combat; however a handful still remained tucked away in crevices, behind boulders and anywhere that granted them some semblance of defenses against the shinobi.
With the enclosing of the chakra users, it left the two Kumogakurian Shinobi in a pinch; they had to deal with the minor foes in order to grant their own focus on the high-priority targets. Because of this, Shieo was intent on keeping his eyes out for a foe. It was then, a guerrilla fighter stood out and cocked a bow shot. When the two's eyes met, a sharp pain crawled up the archer's neck as chakra infiltrated his mind and body, slowly encouraging the lethality of withdrawing the arrow from his weapon, angling the point and driving it through his neck.

A bit much for my tastes.. But hopefully it'll leave those lingering in hiding to be a bit fearful before sticking their necks out... Shieo had paused, to witness and allow the self-destructive death on the guerrilla take place, not because it amused him; or even made him feel any sort of dread- But he knew that he should take into mind each thing he did that was heinous.. After-all, these men were sent to assault the two shinobi on someone else's own volition-- Although they did decide to come.

Inhaling deeply, Shieo had looked over at the moment where Shizuka began the clashing with one of the Chakra shinobi. And the struggle that started to ensue. With narrowed eyes, he lifted a part of his clothing over his nose and mouth. Using a thin layer of chakra to help filter the air afore he stepped in.
Flourishing one of his Hiraishin kunai, he took aim and launched it in-between Shizuka and the assailant. The same red-white light erupted from his position, and re-emerged where he was to arrive; directly between an incoming fist; wreathed in lightning. "Tch!" with the audible grunt, Shieo's left palm scorched into a blaze of mythical fire that flowed along his left arm to his shoulder blade- all in the matter of milliseconds. Flaring into what could be best described as a wing of fire. It drove between the assailant; clashing in an array of fireworks of flame and lightning. During this, Shieo gave Shizuka a dire stare, bags of exhaustion forming underneath his dour eyes, "Alright! Shizuka, time to get agile; these guys aren't going to sit around and let you do your thing. Move and act! I'll focus this guy, taijutsu I can handle. Get the others; call out if you need anything." Exhaling a heaved breath, the young man roared as he routed the assailant back a few feet with a push of the wing.
Letting either arm droop to his sides, he winced. The air started to grow heavy and an increasing weight of heat stared to exhaust from his body. "Alright Bahamut, unleash wrath." As he spoke, a circular torrent of fire started to energize around his feet. Licking at the grass and dirt; scorching it in the semi-ethereal essence that it existed under.

It seemed some moments would pass before the dragon and dour-eyed man would act further; and the first of three chakra users within' the vicinity was recovering from the flaming wings and the straining toxins of the spores. The two were about to have their hands full- How will Shizuka handle the burden of facing two skilled fighters?

---

[Post 3/5 | 1,711/1,500 WC]

Same thing as always!

 

[Senju Shizuka]

There he was again, right on time. She tried to offer Shieo a smile when he covered her but the way he looked at her forced her lips to remain in a firm line. With a short nod, she disappeared to the side, eyeing the piles of rubble and fallen trees with great suspicion. Enemies were hiding somewhere around them and she had to deal with these really fast because the major problem was about to hit them.

Bringing her hands together in the middle of the field, she decided to get a large portion of the area in one go. The jutsu she was channeling her chakra for wouldn’t be a pretty one. In a situation like this one, however, she didn’t see any other options. Her arsenal of stronger spells wasn’t very large. And Shieo had told her to deal with the ones hiding, right?

So, with a shrinking soul, she turned back to nature. No matter where her enemies were they either touched the ground or the trees. This would make things easier but not less gruesome. As the jutsu came into work she breathed out the words that were meant to be the end of those nearby. “Woodstyle, grand gaia impalement.”

From beneath the ground, spikes darted toward the sky like bony fingers. They ripped through everything on their way up and aimed to pierce Shizuka’s enemies. The awful part here was that they didn’t stop there. Further, higher, the spikes went and dragged along their victims to their death. Blood would sprinkle the grass and the leftovers of the forest around them as the unfortunate ones dangled above the ground.

In her doubt of this being right, she made the mistake of turning away. That’s when a large ball of fire came flying from the side. Jumping to the side she felt it eat away at her sleeve. At least she managed to tear it off before the injury turned into a huge nuisance. Sinking her teeth into her lip she focused on the seals necessary for her defense. When a rain of smaller fireballs came she was ready. A wall of earth blocked them before erupting toward the enemy.

Sliding back over the burnt grass she suddenly felt the water around her feet. A moment later it was curling around her in a tight bubble of transparency ready to suffocate her. Turning and twisting didn’t really help as the hostile shinobi kept the water prison active. She thrashed around for a second, realized that doing so had no effect at all, and started to think of a way to get out.

This was bad. She couldn’t even call out to Shieo to help her out!


**
[1,550/1,500 || 3/5]

 

[Shieo]

Amidst the chaos of battle the two were found in. Shieo couldn't help but keep focused entirely on his newfound opponent, they were large and built for the grudging brawls among brawny men and lithe shinobi. Sadly, Shieo was one of those. The assailant had since recovered from the flaming defenses, char on his fist and forearm were enough to have left some lingering pain- but not enough to stop the man. While Shieo prepared himself for the unleashing of Bahamut, he was met with a chakra-fueled punch to the gut-- Far too fast for himself to have reacted adequately too given his focus.

Unfortunately, that was not the start and the end of the assault. While his back curled out from the impact; he was met with a succession of rapid fire fists centric around his torso. With flaring fists, Shieo tried to catch and deflect any number of them. But it only aimed to lessen the impact ever so slightly- After some moments defending himself, stepping backwards with the impacts until they lifted him from the ground. This man was fast, and bore incredible strength; Shieo had spent a few moments in his focus and defense- wondering when the assault would end- up until he felt a gut-wrenching kick fired right into his abdomen, and sent skywards. Counting thirty-feet.

The fire still licked around his body for some moments during the travel into the sky from the taijutsu assault. However, upon reaching the pique altitude. Shieo felt a beckoning flame and a metal-grinding roar; being picked from the sky to Bahamut's back. "That... Hurt, a bit yeah." Letting out a hack, he felt the wounds piling up. And a trickle of blood down the side of his mouth. With a quick wipe of his sleeve, he bore his attention back down towards the ground. "Alright, Bahamut; light 'em up.."

With focus set on making sure Shizuka wasn't about to get caught in anything destructive. The massive mythological beast angled its neck and head towards the ground; it's massive maw stretching open as a ball of enormous red/orange fire seared in a screeching energized sound. In a blur of milliseconds, the same fire burst towards the earth in a condensed beam, about the size of four tree trunks. As it impacted the earth, it turned ground and grass into glass afore incinerating it with overbearing temperatures. Once the dragon witnessed where it landed, it twisted and directed its neck. The beam in guidance with the strike. It had done this to cover nearly a kilometer from the point of impact. Turning trees, enemies and the one Taijutsu-ist into dust.

However, that didn't solve the problem that Shizuka was faced with.

---

[Post 4/5 | 2,163/1,500 WC]

Same thing as always!
Sorry about kinda crumby post, recovering and super drowsy.

 

[Senju Shizuka]

Slowly, she was drowning. And with Shieo being busy elsewhere and Siu out of the picture entirely it was up to Shizuka to get herself out of this predicament if she wanted to live to see another day. The problem here was the lack of space to move. The water was trying really hard to prevent her from making seals, and it was succeeding. There appeared to be only one solution now, at least only one she could think of.

Pumping her chakra into the water she hoped that her opponent wasn’t some sort of genius with unique chakra. He seemed to be unaware of what she was doing, talking to his (or perhaps it was hers) companion while keeping the water prison in check. Not for long, though. With a last effort, she claimed the water as hers. Forcing the chakra to spread through the prison and turn the substance into wood. From there on it was child’s play. Her element surrounded her and broke apart like an egg’s shell when she wanted it to. Using a part of it to create a wooden clone she had it clash with the water user. In the meanwhile, her eyes fell on the fire shinobi.

With her body free to move again she wove together a plan. It wasn’t a waterproof one, but she could at least try to use the area around them to her benefit. From the side she could see clouds of smoke curling toward the sky where Shieo’s Persona had demolished the area. Bits of the smoke and ash flew across the area with every gust of wind. The ground was turned both from the earth jutsu and the fire.

Shizuka jumped behind a tree. The setup of the jutsu was done, all she had to do was find a spot. Her clone wouldn’t be able to distract the other Shinobi for too long, so she had to be quick about finishing off this one.

“Pit of Crimson Tears,” she whispered, having picked a spot on the ground to lay her trap. A deep pit with stakes ready to pierce whoever would fall into it. Now she had to somehow get her target to actually fall in that exact spot.

A quick calculation of the angles had her believe that if thrown from far enough the Shinobi might land there. That’s why she moved from her hiding spot and tried to lure her enemy behind her. It seemed to be working, for all they knew she was using the clone to keep them at bay while running. Because she was running in the opposite direction of the pit. Dodging fireballs with barely any space to spare.

Accelerating she turned to see where the fire shinobi was. Not too far behind, but far enough from the pit. They were fumbling with seals and Shizuka could only assume that whatever they were preparing was bigger than the previous shot spheres. So, this was the time. Hopefully she hadn’t miscalculated the distance.

With no time to waste she jumped into the air, hoping to go as high as was possible without any jutsu- she needed her hands for another jutsu- seemingly leaving herself wide open to the enemy’s attack. It’s why she really hoped that her jutsu would be stronger than theirs. In case of it being the way around then, Shieo would be picking up a pile of crispy bones. Because the destructive beam heading toward her would tear the flesh from her skeleton should her defense fail.

Holding her breath, she continued to ignore the pain in her injured arm. Slowly her eyes narrowed with purpose as the beam came closer. This wasn’t a jutsu she had used before, but it said to be stronger than the push or pull, so it [i[had[/i] to work.

Shinra tensei

The beam bent to her will together with the trees. Her target was smashed into the ground, dragged through it all the way to the pit, but Shizuka soon realized that the wood wouldn’t hold. Pierced in various places the man just lifelessly hung there, the gravity, however, tore away at everything. It buried him deeper, broke apart the wooden stakes, peeled back the green which was still left, and only came to rest when Shizuka landed on the bare, dusty ground.

She had crushed her own clone in the process.. Of the water shinobi, well, she assumed her might be hidden beneath the ground, but at the moment there was no sight of the man. No sight of anything around her to be honest. Fuck.


**
[2,315/1,500 || 4/5]

 

[Shieo]

It wasn't until the dust settled, that the skirmish appeared to have come to a close. With Shizuka's actioning of the Gaia Impalement, and mustering the skills to both defend herself but simultaneously vaporize the opponent with the assailants own technique; it had certainly brought them to a position of relief.
With some strained efforts, the two slowly descended. Far enough to the ground where Shieo would leap down and catch himself with the aid of chakra. The essence of Bahamut slowly twisting into a stream of energy afore it was brought back into his torso.

Heaving out a single breath, he looked over to Shizuka. Whom had just finished defeating her own challenges; "Alright Shizuka let's get re-." Just as he was working towards finishing his sentence. A body of water started to bubble and rise from up behind the young-girl. Crap. In a hurry, he systematically overloaded his left arm with chakra; aiming to funnel sufficient chakra without seals into his palm. Aiming the same palm towards Shizuka; he shouted out. "Duck!" While his aim wasn't bad, it was better to be safe than sorry. When he shouted, a electrical storm manifested on his palm as a sound of a thousand birds up-roared from his position. In one final flash, the same electrical chakra fired forwards in a linear line; pointed at the man's head that formed just moments before, with an angled blade of water aimed to strike Shizuka.

Perhaps it worked in his favor to face someone water-based, but the lightning arced violently through the system of the chakra-user and dropped him to the ground like a log. "S-Sheesh..." He wheezed, letting his body naturally slow down to a more human pace. "As I was saying.. We should probably start heading out, track down Siu and find a new place to recover." Afterwards, he wandered to some of the opponents that weren't eviscerated and searched their belongings. Coming across what appeared to be an insignia-brooch, a few of them shared the same mark. Perhaps this was more organized than they originally thought...?

Narrowing his eyes while examining it, afore he tucked one into his pockets. Took a moment to retrieve his gear and Siu's afore making a brisk walk towards the direction Siu had originally left to. "Get your stuff and let's go."

---

[Post 5/5 | 2,550/1,500 WC]

Same thing as always!

 

[Senju Shizuka]

Now that the adrenaline was fading she felt the tiredness left by the fight settle in. Slightly sore muscles, a stingy and burning sensation on one of her arms, and then the gap left by the chakra she had burnt while casting the jutsu. Breathing out slowly she was turning to face Shieo when he pointed his arm at her. Confused, but only briefly, she followed his order and dropped onto the ground. Flat on her belly she waited for the storm above her to play its role. After the sizzling had died down a little she turned around, remaining on the ground with her eyes closed. For just a moment she enjoyed the wind on her sweaty face, but then had to force herself up. Back onto her feet she went.

“Thanks, Shieo-san!” A vague gesture toward the body on her side as a way of explaining what she was thanking him for had to do. She wasn’t sure if he had seen it. The man was already looking around for any hints of who their attackers might be. Following his lead she tried to take mental notes of the things they wore and the very few details there were.

Skilled Shinobi was the clearest thing about the matter - she wasn’t sure why they were here because Marsh country wasn’t famous for having any, right?

The question reflected in her eyes, but she decided to talk about it later.

Getting her stuff she hoped that Shieo would make some of that ointment against burns. While the spots itched and the substance had an odd smell, it had been quite helpful the last time.

“Do you think more will come?” The girl mumbled half to herself while following the older Cloud shinobi through the ruins of the forest nearby. Looking at it from up close she knew that this area would be marked by today’s fight for a while.


**
[2,635/1,500 || 5/5]