The Wings of Hope, Chapter 1 [Mission]

[Tsukino Dante]

Lower Lightning Country, 5:23 PM
Genin Taskforce: Medic Suzaku Keiji, Acolyte Himura Kiyoko, Genin Tsukino Dante, Surgeon "K Nishu".
Mission Objective: Secure the Forest

[Mission Start]


The four man cell advanced through the forest, Dante's bolter-scope and Keiji's Hyuuga senses providing coverage for the squad as they approached their target. So far they had been lucky enough not to encounter any hostile forces.

"We're almost there. Those ruins up ahead are what's left of the base." Dante explained, a few hundred meters ahead of the group was the clearing and burnt-out base that Dante had scouted earlier. The remainder of the journey to the forest clearing was uneventful. As the group approached the clearing the unmistakable smell of smoke filled the air.

"Alright, we should take to the ground now. I'll tell the army we're here." Dante said, jumping from a tree branch to the forest floor and behind a medium-sized shrub. He quickly keyed in his headset and transmitted "Dante to army element, we're in position, still no hostiles. You're clear to send in the retrieval teams."

Dante looked down, checked his gear, and turned to the rest of the group: "It'll be a few minutes before the clean up crews get here, as you can see, there's a few burnt-out buildings up ahead... and not much else. If you want to get in position, discuss tactics, or do anything else before we mobilize. I'd suggest now. Keiji, I'll defer to your senses and judgement for now." he said.

- The shinobi are positioned at the edge of a forest clearing. Inside the clearing are the remains of a small military encampment that has taken severe fire damage. Weapons, gear, and bodies are scattered throughout the wreckage.

- A squad of soldiers is en route to reclaim the deceased personnel and the equipment, but should be willing to leave things put if it would help the shinobi force.

- Army ballistry and Armored Personnel Carriers are available for rapid deployment.

- Keiji's Hyuuga senses are not picking up anything excessively threatening, but a few bushes appear to be moving... if any op-for is present, they are doing a darned good job at hiding!

- As you can see, I've thrown any notion of keeping a large WC out the window. Just try to keep at least 100 WC per post and we should pull through (shorter are my friend anyway). Have fun!

 

[Keiji]

The stench of burnt corpses and smoke from ruins of equipment, vehicles and other form of supplies filled the air as they approached. It seemed at first eyesight to have been with close to no fighting, clean kills. On first assumptions that he took was that it had been from a form of ambush, a very skilled one at that. Keiji's eyes kept scanning across the field and the surrounding forested area.
A distinct strange feeling echoed in his mind exclaimed that they weren't alone, but maybe it was just his senses playing tricks on him, he remained on high alert.

The battle that had been held here seemed terrible, none of the enemy soldiers were presently there, no dead bodies of the fallen enemies, the removal of corpses must have been a quick job, that or there weren't any dead bodies there in the first place. The silence of the area were almost heart stopping. Silence before the storm one may say. He wiped his forehead for the sweat protruding due to the heat of the basking sun above their heads.

That was until the distinct smell of the burnt corpses re-approached his sinuses making his mind wander back. Only a few days before, the last burnt bodies he witnessed were of terrible circumstance.
His concentration faded and his thoughts reminiscing on the excruciating pain he felt at the time, his eyes shifted on the ground beneath the branch he was situated upon.

He held his hand on his forhead.
Damnit.. I'm fit for duty! Stop it! Stop it! "Stop it!" He said out loud.
His eyes shifted to the others for a second, then returned to looking around.
They heard that, heck, they saw that! Now they'll just think I'm going crazy.. Curse these thoughts of mine!

He tightened his fists as he looked around again, his eyes were shifting over and over again back and forth between the surroundings.
My eyes should be able to pick up on any and all living things.. If there were to be anyone around here.. His eyes shifted again They would not only have to be masters of hiding, but they must also be aware of Chakra, since otherwise I would have been able to see them now, if they were just hiding in bushes they would have been easy to spot. His eyes concentrated on the shaking brushes.. If someone jumps out from there.. Enemy or ally.. I'll hurt them.. Heck, maybe even kill them! I hate surprises..

He comforted his mind with the fact that at least he had a fencer and another Med-nin in the vicinity in the team.
Sadly he didn't know of the fighting capabilities of the 4th member of the crew, which admittedly had rendered him slightly curious.

Keiji looked down to the side of the branch and down to Dante.
"Yo dude, y'never told me what you're capable of doin' y'know, like fightin' wise. What kind of style are you usin'?"
He wiped his nose in discontent towards the whole situation, it's unwise to not familiarize yourself with your allies' abilities before heading into combat.

OOC: I am referring to this thread: http://www.ninpocho.com/viewtopic.php?f=231&t=4311

 

[Junan]

K Nishu

It was fun, he was here leading a mission and everyone else acted like they were in charge. If he wasn't playing someone else he'd have swatted them all into line by now. But he was. So he didn't.

Keiji had a little outburst and Kushin wondered what was going on in that boys mind. Did he have anxiety or performance issues? There were drugs for that if he did. He'd have to bust out some blue triangular shaped ones for the boy to take with him if that did turn out to be the case. At least he was seemingly doing his job, though he was still just chatting casually with the other genin who thought he was in charge.

Standing there in silence he watched. His arms folded and waited to receive anything which told him that someone had to do something, and that that something needed to be done sooner rather than later.

The army on standby were doing what they needed to be doing, his eyes closed and he waited.

His assessment on everyone here so far was simple... they were genin, they couldn't be expected to do much more than take on ordinary soldiers. Keiji was focused on his Hyuuga abilities, which meant that the boy was good at recon and melee combat. Chances were Dante was similar, a melee fighter, though he hoped he might be pleasantly surprised by some ninjutsu from the boy. The girl was a girl, so probably didn't feel the need to be physically strong, likely using ninjutsu or genjutsu. He was being sexist, and stereotyping, but they were genin, and they so did love to fit into their stereotypes.

 

[Himura Kiyoko]

What had happened here?

From a first glance, all I could tell was that someone had gone completely overboard with the fire; the entire area had been reduced to ashes... but the attackers appeared to have spared the surrounding forest 'So, there was at least some level of precision to this attack....' that much seemed apparent. There were charred bodies everywhere, the entire scene was just terrible. I apparently wasn't alone on that sentiment, Keiji appeared to be quite disturbed by the scene. "Relax, we can do this." I assured him... it was something I needed to tell myself too. I was nervous, I was shaking.

I took a few steps back and continued to survey the scene, my senses were nowhere near as good as Keiji's... maybe even not as good as Dante's, but I had to at least try to keep alert, try not to be a burden.

Keiji asked about Dante's combat abilities, which reminded me to prepare myself for a potential fight (Keiji had yet to locate anything, but it was better to be safe). A few quick hand seals summoned my long sword into my left hand, the large blade gently came to rest on my shoulder, a relaxed guard that would keep my stamina up in case I actually had to use this thing.

Thank goodness for scrolls, weapons can be really hard to carry without them (although that wasn't stopping at least one of us... actually, I think I already had a good guess as to what Dante's fighting style was...).

I took another quick scan of the scene in front of me, I really couldn't do much without going in for a closer look, though...

"I'm going to go a bit closer." I said, taking a few steps out into the open. My left hand was ready to strike or block if anything tried to ambush me, and my right hand slowly stared to sift through the rubble, looking for anything out of the ordinary.

Most likely a useless search, but I had to try.

WC: 338

Round Actions

- Search the ruins for evidence, avoid going towards the middle of the clearing.

- Fall back into formation if attacked.

 

[Tsukino Dante]

Dante didn't appear to react to Keiji's little 'incident' much at all; aside from a short glance in the trainee's direction, it didn't seem like the event had even registered in his head. Of course, he had heard it, and he did have some thoughts about it, but he didn't find it appropriate to make any comments about it right now. Fortunately, the rest of the group seemed to be taking things a bit better... maybe. 'Great, the med-nin is most likely the only one here who's actually been in deep... hell, maybe he's secretly the kage's psychopathic assassin, that'd be badass. Nah, Shin-sama doesn't seem to be the type for psychopathic assassins.' Dante thought.

Once Keiji was done with... whatever had been unsettling him, he proceeded to ask about Dante's fighting style. Dante chuckled a little before replying "I'm a weapon fighter... although maybe you figured that much out already?" he said as he pointed to his repeater and the sabre sheathed on his hip "If it's sharp and pointy, I'm good with it. Any range, any form. I know a bit of ninjutsu too, but I'd rather not rely on that too much. I can heal, but I'm fairly sure we have that covered barring an absolute shit-hits-the-fan scenario." he continued.

Kiyoko decided to step out into the open for a closer look, Dante simply nodded as the girl moved ahead, sword in hand. "Do I spy another lefty?" Dante mused. As Kiyoko made her way into the ruins, Dante pulled his repeater up into a firing stance, ready to provide covering fire if anyone decided now was an opportune moment to attack (as unlikely as that was).

Something just didn't feel right, though. Dante couldn't help but feel he was being watched...



[If you are actively doing anything this round, you will be receiving a PM shortly.]

 

[Keiji]

The thoughts had ended and rested in his mind, still bothered and still slightly upset over his current predicament.. Damn smelly bodies..
Dante revealed the sword and repeater hanging by his side,
"Pfft! Guns!" Keiji dismissed his words with a disagreeing tone, Keiji remembered well enough the last time he had a repeater sticking in his face. Back in those days he was still locked up tight with the Academy as well as the house he had previously called home, those damn anbu near killed him and the entire team of Academy students, admittedly Keiji still felt young, it almost felt like it was just a few days ago, whereas it was actually more than 3 years.

He looked to the side as Kiyoko began to make her way down into the fray. admittedly Keiji wouldn't mind she went ahead, as his eyes would then be able to diverge themselves from the task at hand, if at least for a few brief seconds.

Suddenly as she stepped ahead in the corner of his eye, a strange glow emanating from the far side, it wasn't bright enough to tell if he was weak, or strong, but what was clear was the sheer amount of chakra flowing through the person, Keiji took note and believed him to have at least some form of training in the arts of chakra.

His eyes kept staring and didn't move.

He hummed quick and loudly enough just for all nearby teammates to hear him. Indicating silence, and attention. He first had his fist tightly lifted up in a slight fist pump. Signaling everyone to stop whatever they're doing. After a little while (Hoping everyone has their attention at him) He signaled with hand movements. "One enemy" he pointed upwards with his index finger. "That way" he pointed in the direction of the man he had noticed. "Eyes on target!" He pointed at his eyes, then pointed in his direction again. "Move out towards target" He pointed with his index and middle finger at the target as he initiated a jump down from the branch.

As soon as he was down he pointed at Dante and signaled him to follow, he then pointed at K Nishu and signaled him to follow with Kiyoko, continued with signaling them to go straight at him.

The strategy was simple and easy, Keiji quickly estimated that Keiji is a short range, but sensor type, Dante is able to handle a target at range, they flank while the close melee and the more talented Med-nin follow along with the main Close fighter.

He made his way on the side of the battlefield, keeping himself in the bushes and began to make his way towards the individual, trying at best to stay out of sight while keeping his breathing, and movement to a minimum.

 

[Junan]

Everything was getting very serious around Kush... K Nishu. Silence had descended on the group. Keiji had spotted someone and was getting their attention. He gestured, pumped his fist, numbered things off, pointed in directions, pointed at people, pointed in more directions.

But something had caught Nishu's eye. There was a particular flower which was very rarely seen in Lightning Country. It had a very horrid smell and really wasn't very pretty. But for it to be here was of interest. Not like anything else was. So while Keiji was doing his gesturing dance of gesticulature (yes, I made up a word) Nishu was bent down looking at a small plant.

That the flower was a mix of off white and brownish yellow told him that the soil of the area must have been quite neutral. Perhaps slightly acidic but not very much. The way one of the leaves had swollen would tell the casual onlooker that perhaps the plant had been infected or something, but Nishu knew that that was not the case. Indeed it meant that the plant had most likely devoured a caterpillar recently. The leaves of this flower were unusual in that they produced a toxin, which when eaten would have a hallucinogenic effect on the devourer, usually caterpillars. The flower itself attracted a most particular insect which enjoyed that smell, and like all flowers it seeded through pollination.

So nothing that was going on behind him was noticed at all.

 

[Himura Kiyoko]

I kept my guard up as I searched through the rubble, after what could have only been a few seconds of looking I felt myself kick something...

I looked down at what seemed to be a small box, somehow this little thing had survived the fire. Just what was it made out of? Well, maybe it was something important, so I picked the box up and stored it in my summoning scroll. I was about to continue my search when something caught my attention, I looked back to the rest of the group and saw Keiji signaling something out... he had found someone! Well, I guess it was a good thing I had my sword ready.

I made my way through the rubble, sword in hand, if someone wanted a fight, they were about to get it! From what Keiji had communicated to us, it was only one opponent, and four of us! All we had to do was corner the guy and he'd have to give up, right? Well, hopefully it would be that ea- wait a minute, I just tempted fate there. Oh, darn it!

I was almost to the far end of the camp, ready to rush into whoever had been dumb enough to think spying on us was a good idea. As I readied myself for a fight, I looked back to where the more experienced med-nin of our group was... supposed to be? It seemed that the senior member of our team had gone off and gotten distracted at the worst time imaginable. "Dude! Are you serious?" I shouted back, hoping to at least knock the old man out of his daydream. Not that it mattered, even if he decided to go take a piss it was still 3-on-1. We still had the guy outnumbered, and hopefully outgunned.

Still... what the heck, guy?

My sword fell into a single-handed side guard, ready to swipe at any incoming threat. I slowly moved towards the woods, ready to flush out our recently spotted company. 'Just give up now... I'd rather not have to fight today...'

 

[Tsukino Dante]

Spoiler

Crap given by Isaki Kushin: 0

Dante nodded to Keiji's signal, and proceeded to follow him around to intercept the newly spotted target.

The target, aware that he had failed to keep his presence masked, was already trying to flee by the time the squad had mobilized to catch him. As he had now opted to forsake the cover that was concealing him, the group was able to take a short glimpse of him before he tried to make his escape; a tall, Kaminarijin male with dark hair, and wearing a dark grey cloak... a mostly unremarkable specimen, but apparently he was good (or dumb) enough to think he could spy on a ninja.

As the dark figure turned to flee, he produced two small capsules and tossed them into the clearing, directly at Kiyoko. What followed was massive burst of smoke which obscured everything in the clearing, and a good bit of the surrounding area too.

"Hey, Kiyoko-san. You alright? Kiyoko-san?" Dante whispered into his headset, but to no avail, there was nothing but silence... "Dante to army element, come in. Repeat, come on. Is anyone there?" Dante desperately switched from channel to channel, but he couldn't get any replies. "Well, it looks like they got our radios." Dante bluntly admitted; surely enough, the group would find more of their more high-end gear inert. Curses!

"Yo! Cough real loud if you're alive in there, Kiyoko-san!!!" Dante shouted, he then turned back to Keiji "I assume this doesn't change the plan; we're going to catch this bastard, right?" he said, oddly confident considering his team had just been hit by one of the oldest tricks in the book.

Surely enough, the mysterious figure had taken to the trees and was fleeing as fast as he could. Things still appeared to be in the team's favor, though. If they kept pursuit they would most likely be able to catch up.

- A thick cloud of smoke covers the clearing, obscuring vision.

- General items have been disabled!

 

[Keiji]

With his Byakugan still activated Keiji rested assured that wherever he would run off to, with a little dedication he could be catch up to.

Keiji, surprised by the man's reaction as the smoke had taken a hold of the area, and Dante attempting to contact Kiyoko and the army stationed nearby.
As soon as Kiyoko didn't answer Dante's call, Keiji instantly jumped out of the bushes towards Kiyoko and shouted, "Get running Dante! I'll grab Kiyoko! We'll catch up!"

With his eyes still activated he knew full well how easily he could navigate through the smoke and find her. Heck, Keiji could even technically see through solid rock, smoke is by far not an issue for him.

With ease he quickly ran through the smoke and grabbed Kiyoko in whatever state she might be in, if she were standing, he would grab her hand and lead her out of the smoke in the direction of the man trying to escape.
If lying down he would lift her up and begin running out of the smoke. In whichever way, he would, once cleared out of the smoke, begin running to catch up with Dante quickly and hopefully with Kiyoko running behind they would be able to handle the man trying to escape with ease.

 

[Junan]

[OOC: Whoops, sorry didn't know it was my turn]

Nishu looked up at the sound of some form of explosion and a smoke cloud was where he thought the girl was meant to be.

Dashing forward he moved through the smoke ignoring the small heartbeat he could sense there and instead following the one he could sense further ahead. Using his most considerable speed and strength Nishu seemed to find himself running alongside the guy the others were trying to catch.

Hello there. He said, slight confusion entering his tone as he kept pace with the man.

You haven't seen three youngins running around? Two boys, one girl, one boy has dreadlocks and funky looking eyes, the other has a sword and barks commands like he's in charge of something? The girl is just another girl. I last saw here around the area that the smoke went off.

If attacked he'd simply kawarimi and be on the other side of the man asking for the same information. This was all very confusing.

It doesn't seem like my headset is working either. Damn. He'd at least like to watch them performing as a team...

 

[Himura Kiyoko]

Somewhat of a blah post, I'll admit.... but oh well. Let's see if we can actually not have this mission stall anymore. xD

*Cough, cough*

What? He said cough.

But in all seriousness, this smoke bomb was proving very annoying. I couldn't see a thing, and inhaling smoke is not good for one's health (I did try to hold my breath, but I'm not very good with that). At least the smoke wasn't poisoned... well, not any more than smoke is by default... as far as I could tell (although I could be wrong, in which case things were likely about to get a lot worse). I fumbled through the smokescreen, trying to make my way out before things got too bad- I must have been disoriented from the blast, the clearing seemed a lot larger than I remember it, every few steps I ended up stumbling over something.

I was about to be a liability again, I hate when that happens.

I felt someone take my hand and pull me along, I was being lead out of the smoke. It felt kinda warm....

When I was finally clear of the smoke cloud, I could see that Keiji had helped me out. "Uh... thanks..." I said, somewhat quietly. I was thankful that I was not alone right now.

The man who had attacked me was trying to run, I wouldn't let him; I quickly switched out my sword for my grenade launcher and loaded a non-explosive iron charge into it... a few pounds of metal hitting him in the face should slow him down a bit. I quickly pulled the weapon into a firing stance and took aim.

"Yo! Take this!" I shouted as I fired the projectile.

 

[Tsukino Dante]

Spoiler

Crap given by Isaki Kushin: -1

Dante wasted no time (in stark contrast to his writer, who wasted plenty of time) in giving chase to the mysterious man who had made the irredeemably retarded decision of tossing grenades at a squad of shinobi. Oh yes, this guy was gonna get it, and Dante was going to enjoy it.

Meanwhile, Nishu continued his... odd approach to the mission. "Man, what is this?" Dante sighed, quite confused by the man's approach to the whole situation. Meanwhile the fleeing assailant decided not to answer Nishu's question, or rather tried to answer it with a kunai to the chest which Nishu dodged with practically no effort at all. The man attempted to give a threatening glare at the displaced med-nin, but he came off as more confused than an actual threat. The poor fool, he didn't even realize what he had gotten himself into.

And then he took five pounds of crude iron to the face, to make his day even worse. The man stumbled from the treetops and crashed onto the forest floor. Undeterred by this, he produced another knife from his cloak and held it in a reverse grip... was he really going to stand and fight against the entire squad? This guy probably wasn't very smart. He wasn't getting away, why didn't he just surrender?

And, of course, to make things even better for our heroes, their equipment seemed to be coming back online.

"What happened?" demanded a military officer over the comm channel.

"Mild inconvenience, will have it handled by the time reinforcements arrive." Dante casually said as he closed in on the cloaked figure and fired a bolt straight at him. The target dodged, but it seemed more like luck than anything else; this guy didn't stand a chance.

"I ain't sure what you're smoking, but you should probably drop that knife." Dante said as he aimed his bolter at the cloaked man, ready to fire another shot.

Apologies for the delay, I know we all have other things we want to do before we retire. I'll try to keep a new post out every 48 hours as long as someone has posted by then. Maybe we can wrap this up this week. xD

Intel
- Kiyoko's shot broke the cloaked man's concentration and grounded him. He seems aware that he can't flee, and is preparing to fight.

- General Items may be used normally.

- Additional forces may be present.

 

[Keiji]

Jumping down from the tree tops Keiji initiated his fighting stance, readying for giving an asskicking. Hands at the ready and his fists clenched, his eyes concentrated on the enemy's movements.

He initiated the first attack, punching for his face, and as he retracted his punch he would kick forward with his knee, and if hopeful events unfolded as he hoped he would stand back, taking a few steps backwards to begin reading his opponent again.

Keiji's eyes widened suddenly. His eyes fixated on something further in the distance.

"Something's coming.." he said with a quiet and mellow tone of voice. he clenched his fists even tighter as a slight smile grew on his lips. "More excitement, I love it!"

 

[Junan]

[OOC: When the delay for my turn to post is this massive please pm me cos I wont even think about this as a topic I need to post in. I mean it was more than a month between mine and Keiji's posts.]

Something was coming Keiji said? Nishu looked at him as he stood near the dog who'd found himself in a corner.

So there were more then.

Thank you for your help in finding my comrades. Nishu said to the man facing him.

Then he turned his head around to the others All of you stay behind me, Keiji turn off your byakugan, I'm going to torture some information out of this man. Wow, so Nishu was about to do something, though he wouldn't start till Keiji turned off his byakugan.

One hand forming some seals he used a Kinetic jutsu to rip the blade from the mans hands, and caught it before casting it to the ground. The man would then find himself completely unable to react, his movements stopped as Nishu used one of his binding techniques on the man. Moving up closer he whispered in the mans ear Watch me carefully, and know that I could destroy your existence in seconds.

He then stepped back and growing from his chest, and then another from his stomach two massive circular growths. Nishu nodded at the man as a glow of power began growing in the middle of them. Moving closer once more he whispered again You've heard of cannons? These are so much more powerful. Now I want you to tell us what to expect, and I promise I'll let you go. You have my word as a shinobi.

The cannons vanished and Nishu stepped back He'll be a good boy and tell you anything you want to know now.

Looking around him he searched for a tall tree, from which he'd be able to hide and watch the youngsters fight.

 

[Tsukino Dante]

Keiji was ready to deliver a righteous ass-kicking; the man was... not ready to receive.

The man cursed his luck as Keiji's initial combo knocked him back, resulting in him stumbling quite pathetically onto the ground. By the time the man had time to realize how utterly screwed he was he had been disarmed and bound....

Easiest. Encounter. Ever.

Dante approached the group, weapon at the ready. He wasn't going to take any chances, if the man had some sort of secret plan, he'd have an arrow through his skull before he could carry it out. But it seemed that the fool had been legitimately cornered.

"L-let me go? You think letting me go is good enough?" the man said with all the tone and composure of a raving madman. "Oh no, I got caught, I'm done for now! Any second now-" the man was cut off by a shuriken to the throat, he went limp, and a few seconds later he had vanished... a corpse disposal technique?

"Any second now.... that will happen, you useless peon." another cloaked figure said, this man seemed to be a lot more threatening than his apparent underling (he even broke the three-round entry rule, that villain!) but for all his imposing aura he didn't seem to actually be doing anything. He just stood there.

"So, the army sent you, right?" the man asked, walking closer to the party, if anyone attempted to attack him he would simply body switch away to reappear somewhere else. "That fool would have talked eventually; in hindsight it was foolish to put him on watch. Oh well." he continued, unfazed by any attempts made to hit him. Dante still had his weapon fixed on the newcomer, but he wasn't going to make the first move, not until he had some time to read the target.

"Still... congratulations for finding him, I guess. I'm sure we'll meet again sooner or later, I look forward to it." the man took one last look at the group, his vision stayed in one place for a suspect amount of time. "We'll need to keep an eye on that one." he said as he formed a handseal and disappeared in a puff of smoke. A clone?

"Well... shit."

WC: 367

- The guy you were chasing is... kinda dead... and disintegrated.

- No one is currently present.

- This mission needs to be wrapped up. I don't even know where I put my script for it anymore. >_>

 

[Keiji]

Obeying Nishu's commands he witnessed something which wasn't easy to describe, the sheer brutality of it seemed unreal. Like no living thing alive could, or should be able to replicate.
Scary stuff to say the least.

The next few events which transpired merely made Keiji stare silently with a slightly grim look on his face.
Pfft, silly cloaked people, always so secret and.. Puffy..

"We'd best get out of here, contact the Military and let them know the coast is clear and that their free to come and grab their bodies. As soon as they're here we'll leave for Kumo at first possibility. Agreed?"
He clenched his fists together as he made a crack with his neck. "In any rate, we're done here.."

He turned and began to walk with a quickened pace to the previous area, where the bodies that were being sought was located.

[Thread exited? Mission over?]

 

[Himura Kiyoko]

And he's dead. Yay. (Note the obvious sarcasm)

Just when we might have figured out what was going on here, the man we has been chasing was killed off (and the body was disposed of, whoever this was apparently didn't want to take any chances). Our expedition was now left with no prisoner, no body, and more or less no clue. So, basically, we were stuck in the kind of situation we never want to be in. On the plus side, it seemed that no one else was going to be throwing knives at us today, so at least there was that.

Keiji suggested that we leave as soon as possible, which didn't seem like too bad of an idea. The past few minutes had pretty much felt like the longest minutes of my entire (admittedly short) life, and I was quite certain that I had quite enough of burned buildings and hooded hoodlums for one day.

"If we're done here... sooner we get home, the better. I think I breathed a bit too much of that smoke bomb." I said.

[Topic left unless stopped.]

 

[Tsukino Dante]

Dante sighed at the obviously non-optimal outcome of the encounter. But at least it was over, right?

"Dante to army element, all confirmed threats have been neutralized. What is your status?"

"Retrieval teams are two minutes out, Beta Team reports an area that needs further investigation. We'll contact Kumogakure with any relevant findings."

Surely enough, in no time at all a small platoon of soldier arrived at the former base and started moving through the rubble to retrieve the bodies and any intact gear they could potentially salvage.

"Well, I think they have things under control now. Time to go home I guess." Dante said as he turned homeward bound.


[Leaving Topic]

Okay, so, I'm going to take a good hard look at what I need to get done for next chapter to actually kickstart the plot. Next time there will be a script, and posting rounds. This was a poor showing for me, I will strive to never repeat it.