Event Truth Seekers Of The Past (Mini-event part 2)

[Chigokai Yuna]

Ziren's perspective
​

It has been seven days since my capture. And in those seven days, a number of other Cloud ninja have been taken prisoners of this place On top of that, these revolutionists have forcibly taken some of my blood samples. I don't know the whole idea behind why they are specifically taking my blood, but it must have something to do with the vial that the Tenouzan had given me prior to me falling. Either way, the revolutionists must be using me in excess since they usually take the other Cloud ninja prisoners, only for me to never see them again. I hated the fact that there was nothing that I could do for them, but there was one other thing that I could do to make sure that their deaths weren't just for the mere satisfaction of these revolutionists.

I had planned my escape since I first had shown up, but I couldn't stand by as more people were needlessly slaughtered. I had to act now. Letting myself get captured was just the plan to get to one of their outposts, but what I didn't expect was to be brought to their main base. Either way, I've made up my mind to act now, as the Full Moon has risen, giving me the most ideal natural light to work under, all the while easily hiding away from those who haven't gone under the training and undertakings of a real ninja. While I may be a medic for Cloud, I was also once part of the ANBU in Leaf, albeit only a short time. But enough of the monologue and summary, my plan is now meant to come to fruition.

I waited until one of my captors came to my cell to draw some more of my blood for their use. However, they were unaware of how much energy I had actually saved up. Even with one arm, all that was needed was a bone shard flying from my palm and into the guard's neck. Grabbing him before he can fall, I laid him down quietly before switching my clothes with his. The only thing left... I broke off an already weak part of the prison door that held me there and, along with some other pieces of metal, shaped it into an arm through melting some parts of the metal together. Just a small amount of chakra keeps the metal to my arm as I go about the next phase of my own operations. Now... If I were to guess, Cloud would be looking high and low for where the Revolutionist main base is.

Through my own deductions, we would have to be somewhere where there is naturally a lot of chakra flowing, as to not draw attention, and it would have to be somewhere that would be easily hidden by foliage and not found unless if people went out of their way to try and find it. I could see my breath as I finally made my way out of the dungeons and up to a high point. I've had the realization that I was in a castle, but my mind wandered elsewhere as I scanned the horizon. Finally, I seen it. A radio tower off in the distance. Making contact with Cloud will no doubt put the revolutionists on high alert, but at least Cloud will know where to strike. I made it there in about an hour with no faults. Which seemed strange, they should have known by now that their guard would not be coming back with my blood sample. Nevertheless, I had to make the message.

Spoiler: Encrypted radio message

Message for Cloud,
Revolutionist main camp uses terrains natural chakra to cover their tracks. Also covered by heavy foliage. You'll know you are at their base when you see a castle in the distance.

After sending out the message, I looked out at my surroundings. I need to find out what exactly they are doing with my blood. And if possible, put a stop to it before it is too late.

Revolutionist perspective
​

A beautiful gun wielding woman bowed respectfully to the founder of their revolutionist group. "Miss Shiori. It seems our special prisoner has escaped. Even more pressing, we have intercepted an encrypted message, but nobody has been able to decrypt what it says."

The founder in question is a woman in a red battle kimono. Her orange hair flowed down to her shoulders as she studied Makoto, one of the revolutionists that was part of the train hijack, had given her yet another pair of bad news. Because of her inexperience, one of the commanders had perished at the hands of a Cloud Ninja. And now she has given her more bad news. "We cannot afford any other mishaps from here on out." Her voice was strained. "You will lead our little test subjects to the village area and hold there. On the way, inform the other commander to cover the entrance of the underground entrance. The rest of our force will be patrolling around the usual areas."

Makoto nodded before a thought crossed her mind, "What about Uchiha Genshin?" The Uchiha was fatally injured during their last mission on the train, it was a miracle that she herself gotten away unscathed by

the whole ordeal.

The founder shook her head. "He is still recovering from his last mission. I will only pull him into battle if there is no other way for victory. As for me... I'll handle the prisoner"

Lady Ice's perspective
​

"So that's my orders? Very well I will make sure nobody gets past me." The commander, that everyone only knows as Lady Ice. She stood at the entrance of the

underground tunnel and formed some handseals. Soon the very air around her, in fact, the surrounding area grew unbelievably cold. Frost began to reach out everywhere in the area as Lady Ice stands at the epicenter of this cold phenomenon. "Let them come."

Ninja extra perspective
​

The ninja scout had just finished his survey of the area and is now ready to report back. It had seemed that encrypted message that found its way to Cloud was valid. But... Not only was this place teeming with regular revolutionists, but he had some bad vibes coming off of a singular person guarding a tunnel entrance, literally seeing the difference in temperature from his hiding spot. And then there was the Village main square, where he had seen a lot of movement. But the thing was... He wasn't sure most of which were even humanoid. Maybe at most one. Which if it lined up with the reports on the train hijack, that just might be the chick with the guns. He made his way back to the ninja force, where an ANBU captain and the Main Branch Sennin stood by. He eyed the Tenouzan that was with them, apparently, they had picked him up as well during the train hijack. He gave the information to them and waited for orders.

OOC Notes:
For right now, there are two paths to take. One through the village main area, where a number of humanoids and gun chick from the train hijack are at. The other, where a single woman with an icy presence seems to be guarding an entrance to a tunnel.

You do have some npc assistance of sixteen random joe ninja along with one the one Tenouzan from train hijack event. Allocate them to either area as you all seem fit.
You have 5 days to post after the latest post.
Let's try and get to 2 pages again.
There are still three open spots for anyone interested in joining the event.
Team
Event Leader (NPC Ziren)
Honnou
Ryuu Rei
Open
Open
Open

 

[Honnou]

It didn’t take very long for the ANBU to receive the encrypted message – after a thorough examination of his headset, a radio message clearly meant for Cloud was transmitted. He was able to decipher it, and it told of the Revolutionist ‘main camp’, which was located in a place using natural chakra in its surroundings to blend in. Heavy foliage was covering it too, and it was marked by a castle in the distance…

Castles, huh? The Cloud was more into temples and domes, but it made the rescue mission all the easier. This radio signal did confirm something to Hon – Ziren was still alive… and it had, somehow, worked in their favor. He knew so little of the vials of blood – Pope blood, to be precise – that the Tenouzan revealed to him back on the train, except that it definitely wasn’t just what it sounded to be like – blood was valuable for blood transfers, but not for much else. Except, maybe, sustenance for certain creatures.

Either way, it led to this force mobilizing near the confirmed location of the main camp. Hon… looked a little different. Other than a change in ANBU attire to a darker tone of grey (a much darker tone of grey), the glow that usually spiked forth through the eye sockets of his mask showed only itself from his left eye. His right eye… held no glow. That eye held something else, and the co-creator of that miracle was standing right next to him.

… She’d gotten taller since back at the Academy…

… Wait, the scout’s report about the mysterious lady at an entrance to some kind of tunnel sounded like the work of chakra. A difference in temperature visually spotted by the scout could be about this woman’s Jutsu leaning on something very… Hyōton. A Kekkei Genkai that turned one’s chakra into freezing auras and manifestations of ice. It was still just a hunch, but it also implied that the Revolutionists had hired shinobi too… that didn’t sit right with the Hyūga, for reasons even he couldn’t put immediate words on.

The loss of his right eye had impacted his field of vision when using the Blue Byakugan… no, it was named the Hakumei Byakugan. That, he corrected himself on once he had found documents of another occurrence of that eye among the Saito from long ago-

B-Back on topic… even while focusing like now, with a simple handseal up in front of his chest, he was no longer able to look as far and as wide as before. He still needed to train more with his new eye to regain his previous ‘clairvoyance’, but he was still able to make points on faces and clear details in people and objects from afar. That, he used to take a look at the village area in an attempt to find any familiar faces.

… He did easily spot the lady at the tunnel entrance. She stuck out like a thorn in his eye.

“… She really does stick out. That’s a shinobi in their ranks,” Hon confirmed the scout’s report of the guard at the tunnel entrance, “… First thought is that the tunnel entrance is important to them, but her grandstanding might just be a trap in and of itself. If not, I believe I can distract her and let you guys enter.”

Still, only the commander was confirmed dead on the train back then. The gunner and the persecutor who apprehended Ziren were likely here too. Hon would await the Main Branch Sennin’s input on his idea, before he’d decide to do any reckless intruding…

Nah, he wasn’t planning on being reckless today. Remember, he lost one of his precious eyes, a price for bringing the hijack leader down. Hon needed strength from the heavens in order to make up for that loss… but maybe, he could suffice with Kitsune-sama’s and Rei-sama’s new invention.

WC: 652

[OOC: Just waiting for Ryuu Rei's thoughts and ideas before doing anything reckless. Enlighten me, booba-sama]

 

[Toraono Michino]

A light cold mist hung in the air around her feet the Sennin stayed crouched down and behind a tree. In the palm of her left hand she ran the thumb over a locket with her family crest imprinted on it. Inside were the pictures of her parents and the brother that saved Rei from a bubble-girl life, but she wasn’t looking at them. The martial artists’ ruby eyes stared forward, not really looking at anything but in a manor of focus as she lined up everything she knew going into this mission. Revolutionists weren’t anything new in Lightning, at least, not since the Tenouzan war ended the bloodline of the Shogun. Since then Kumogakure had put down at least five noble rebellions with only the first having been of any real consequence, and every time they did those very same nobles were offered an olive branch of peace afterwards. The secessionists were allowed to join a specialized council of other nobles that bent the knee to Kumo and their new order. At first it seemed like a great idea as the lesser nobles started to put in their bids to join that council instead of create pointless war, but now she couldn’t help but wonder if the new peace-forward movements Kumogakure took were starting to bite them. Did these rebels believe the same hand of peace would be offered should they fail in their goal? Their provocations of attacking so much and capturing so many at once really made her wonder if that wasn’t a contingency plan they might use at the last second; one that might force her hand towards the more violent. A lesson needed to be learned somewhere that Kumogakure wasn’t just going to keep taking these rebellions. The nobles were one thing with a history directly tied to the country and how its economy worked…these common folk with extraordinary powers up-heaving the order in the name of revenge for acts of an older age was another. If even a single one of these people got into their political system and became popular in their testing grounds for a democratic-lite country, it could spell the end of Lightning and shinobi. There could be no mercy this time, Rei decided, and she was going to personally see that this weed was ripped from her garden before it choked the life out of everything she had fought for.

The barely heard sounds of something approaching broke Rei from her semi-trance. She refastened the chain that held her locket around her neck and took a deep breath as the scout landed before her kneeling. Taking in his report the Sennin’s mind began to draw a map of the area and started to play hypothetical war games, ticking up and crossing out hundreds of scenarios in a matter of seconds before landing on one that sounded the most plausible. Her eyes turned to Hon. The village hero had suffered from the attacks of the terrorists at the start of this during a train heist, yet it didn’t stop him from equipping an untested eye and walk right back into the fray a couple of weeks later. She could feel her heart leap a little when her eyes caught his silhouette, but quickly squashed down the crush. It was job time.

“Byakko,” she called to him by his codename as not to name drop in front of a bunch of her Main Branch goons, “Choose any five of my soldiers and the Tenouzan. I want you to breach the tunnel and strike from the inside. I will lead a distraction with the rest by attacking the front gates. Focus your goal on disruption and retrieval with high priority on the Pope’s blood. Whatever they’re planning to use with that, best to get it away from them before they can,” which was saying a lot because she hadn’t had time to study it at all. The blood was certified crazy sauce so far and nothing they read from it came back as normal by any means. Without her to guide the R&D, they had barely conceded that whatever it was, it wasn’t chakra powered. Rei wasn’t willing to drop that assumption yet though, because the irony of the Pope having shinobi relatives in his bloodline was a palpable irony that tasted delicious.
“The rest of you are with me. I’ll lead the main charge against their forces in the village with a direct push to the castle’s gates starting from the center. I want you to rotate in and out, 5x5x5; Five shinobi, Five Minutes, Five Rotations. If we make it to a sixth rotation and I still haven’t breached the castle then half of the forces will follow after Byakko’s team, and the other half return to Kumogakure to report and build up for a second strike,” and hopefully we can solve this without getting Kit-chan involved, Rei thought to herself.
“Attack from the shadows when you see openings, don’t be seen, and once you take an injury swap out immediately to be healed. Above all, don’t let her,” Rei pointed to the lone medical shinobi in their midst, “to be caught or hurt in any possible way. If she is taken out, the chances of all of us making it out will drop by at least 80%.”

The Sennin stood up and removed the jean jacket she considered a lucky item. Of all the missions and things that had been destroyed in her career, clothing wise, this had somehow managed to survive. She had to size it up recently due to her bulk up over the last couple of years, but the two ruby-red “R’s” back to back still stood proud; she hung it up on a branch,
“Move out.”

Rei’s light running steps slowly turned into pounding foot stops of a gigantic predator as she made sure to alert her enemies of the oncoming natural disaster. Leaping high into the air her husky form was shadowed by the full moon as she crossed her arms across her chest and face to focus down into her chakra coil. She was given full permission to use her power as she saw fit and that meant unleashing her actual strength that was carefully sealed down by eight different locks lest she burn out her entire life in mere minutes. Going in with a full offensive to distract from Hon’s advance, Rei decided to go full 100% right off the bat. Despite being a martial artist who enjoyed a good challenge she wasn’t about to allow these fools to stomp on her country any longer.
“Releasing chakra seals numbers one through seven. One-hundred percent power unlocked,” she whispered to herself as part of the key to unbind the seals holding her chakra coil down. An explosion of raw chakra rocked down to the town below, her fist drawing back with a strength that caused the air to shake.
“Secret Technique of the Eight Folds, Mountain Crusher!” Rei shouted to give away her position, had it not already been noticed, and to give her team a heads up that her attack was starting. She punched a single time, seemingly, but following the punch aimed at the gates were five bursts of raw air to slam down the area closest to the castle’s entrance right before she landed in the center of town and began to barrel towards the gates with eyes wide in excitement.

She had always wanted to use that technique.

[You have been enlightened, Hon-kun]
[Opening Gates 1-7 With Go Beyond, then using Sure-Kill Strike w/Evening Elephant Variant]
[mft]

 

[Chigokai Yuna]

Mokoto stood at the top of one of houses as she contemplated of the whole ordeal. Thankfully, they had relocated the citizens to a safer place, with full knowledge that this could very well be a battleground any minute. But... She heard the soft growling of the creatures that are now sprawled out in the village below her. She may hate the Cloud ninja, but do they deserve the fate the resulted in these creatures? Part of her was disgusted by the fact that she stood by quietly as such things have happened. No doubt if some of the other revolutionists actually know what's going on behind the scenes, they would be disgusted with some of the higher ups as her. Kamabo, the leader of the train heist, was more human and sincere about his people than Miss Shiori. Though Makoto had guessed, with the main force of the revolutionists positioned elsewhere, they would never know the sinister side of their leadership. And to think that she is caught up in it. She shook her head but looked up as she heard rustling sounds and the creatures letting out their blood curdling roars the had sent chills down her spine. There was a reason why she is as far up as she can be. Those things are an attack on sigh type of creatures.

The gates to the village burst open and almost visible pockets of pressurized air crashed into some buildings and creatures, sending them and some debris flying. Once the flashy

entrance person appeared from the dust settling, Makoto would see the creatures start to swarm the area. They all hold some form of cruel type of weapons as they bared their fangs and roared. Makoto took this chance to fire off a single shot from her rifle, but it had missed. Either way, she didn't wait to see if little miss muscles had seen Makoto as she slid down the roof to obscure visibility and jump to the roof of another roof to set up for another attack. She knows that she isn't just going against the ninja, but because of her failed shot, the creatures are aware of her as well, as she seen a group start climbing up their way to get to her.

Down at the Village Square​

Rei would notice as she did the superhero landing, that there were these weird, unnatural creatures standing on two legs and holding some crude type weapons. Another thing she would notice is that they all seemed vaguely familiar to her. That's when she seen their clothes. It was obvious that these were once Cloud Shinobi. It would verify to her once she seen that each one had the Cloud headband on either their head or tied to one of their arms.

Soon after, a gunshot would fill the air only to miss Rei by a few feet. But she would see someone carrying a rifle on the tallest of buildings in the village. However, she had to also deal with these 'monsters' as one had hit her elbow with a scimitar, and another would hit her in her chest with a shovel. There was a third, but it had missed its attack, going for a swipe, but its reach was too short.

Though it was pretty much an ambush, the ninja force were quick to wipe out a majority of the creatures, only to hear more howling in the distance.

Lady Ice perspective​

Lady Ice stood in the entrance of the tunnel as she heard the commotion of what was happening. She hasn't heard anything yet, but she wasn't dumb to see that the ninja would try to attack on two fronts. And yet... all is quiet. With a sigh, she flipped through some more handseals and a thin layer of ice appeared on the ground all around her. Nearby, a small fly landed on the ice, only to fall easily through to never be seen again.

Tenouzan perspective​

The Tenouzan hugged his body to a nearby tree to keep an eye on this Ice type ninja. He looked over at Hon. Ever since this whole ordeal with the revolutionists, Yuri, the Tenouzan, had been a prisoner of Cloud, to help them out whenever it only comes to the revolutionists. Well, at least they hadn't beaten him senseless or put him on the chopping block yet. But to avoid that, he has to play the good guy card, which he doesn't want to, but he has no other choice. "Hey Ninja Dirt. What do we do about Queen Freeze over there? Seems like she has some serious area effects. Don't really want to get ganked just by having us all charge and hope for the best." He let the question be, but from an extra ninja watching, they were able to surmise what was happening. They relayed their thoughts to Hon, aka Byako. They informed him of the ice jutsu Sub-Zero purge, along with an ice version of Mystical Pond were used.

Ziren's perspective
​

Looking around after about an hour, I finally saw something happen. Something rather un-ninja like, as someone very well made their presence known down at the town center, followed by howls? I shook my head; I need to focus on my own mission. My blood and that blue vial... What's so special about them? I surveyed the area around me to try and find where would be the most logical place for research... Nothing... Well, looks like it's back to the castle for now. I peeked down from the radio tower to have my hopes dashed. Looks like I won't be getting a break anytime soon. Stood at the foot of the radio tower was a woman in red warrior robes. She had a feeling about her that made me want to grit my teeth. We stared at each other for a minute, but she didn't destroy the radio tower that I was on. In fact, she waited until I climbed down before saying. "Chigokai Ziren. Someone who truly wants peace. Come on, let's walk and discuss lessening the number of casualties."

I gritted my teeth before saying, "Hell no. You've taken so many of Cloud ninja and used them for whatever experiments, which I guess would count to their deaths. And even so, how would you think if I were to just remove your head from your shoulders." I clenched my fists.

The woman in red merely laughed, "Well there are many reasons why you haven't tried to fight me yet. One of the main reasons is that you observe people, right? Try to get a feel for who they might be without even knowing. Trying to find that 'chink' in the armor before striking. That, and you don't know where we are keeping your blood samples. A piece of information that you so dearly want because you are a problem solver. Though, what is the problem in question that would need your blood specifically?"

My eyes narrowed as I studied the woman. She surely knows how to get under my skin. But even so, I can use this to my advantage. Distract her until help arrives, along with get information from her. "You all surely know a lot about me. A real uncanny amount of information. So let me guess, you have an insider, don't you?"

OOC Notes:
Ninja force took out first wave of 'lycans', but sounds like there might be more.
Rei, just know that my next post, your debuffs of called shots for 'go beyond' will take effect. Also you have spotted Gun Girl roof hopping.
Hon, ninjas and Yuri awaiting your orders. Just know that Lady Ice is doing some buffing and other things.
There are still three open spots for anyone interested in joining the event.
Team
Event Leader (NPC Ziren)
Honnou
Ryuu Rei
Open
Open
Open

 

[Honnou]

Ninja Dirt, Ninja Dirt, Ninja Dirt, Ninja Dirt, Ninja Dirt-

This Tenouzan sounded tired of life and breathing the same air as shinobis. To utter that phrase over and over again without cringing brought testimony to their enmity towards the Cloud, but that really didn’t matter right now. Hon ignored the insulting remarks, knowing better than to fall for mere taunts from a guy whose life was owed to him.

“… Frost… perfect,” Hon spoke up his mind to the Tenouzan Yuri, “I need to make more space between me and her. Get a kunai or shurikens ready – aim for any of her vital spots after my Jutsu.” With that said, Hon decided to weave handseals, making sure to recheck his cover against her field of vision…

He decided to dash towards a nearby tree to space out from the other shinobi and the Tenouzan before finishing the last handseal. Now, his field of vision focused solely on the Queen Frost girl, and the weather above them began to change… so why was the frosty atmosphere ideal?

Well, cold temperatures tended to carry increased, static conditions – this was often due to the lack of moisture in the air, due to all the water solidifying in the cold. To sum it up, it was easier for electricity to gather in the cold, as one would hold experience from trying to grab steel handles on a cold winter night in Kumogakure. Hon intended to turn that frost around his target into his weapon by summoning what looked like a grey, cylinder cloud that bulged out from the rest of the grey sky.

Growling noises echoed down from above, and while a stormy weather was common in the Land of Lightning, those who dealt with Cloud Ninja in the past would be wise to look over their shoulder whenever a thundercloud manifested itself…

Hon’s body forged a lot of chakra for this Jutsu, both to use it in the first place and to localize it to his target’s area in sync with his remaining Byakugan. His prosthetic, right eye had yet to be used, but…

Lightning Style: Raijin’s Vengeance!

A blue bolt traveled down from the sky, right above Queen Frost. It was rather sudden, but if Hon’s idea was to work, then the cold, static atmosphere around Queen Frost would increase the destructive force of his Jutsu… but it took time to gather the thundercloud above her. Maybe she noticed, but if that was so, he still betted on the frosty air to cause a sort of ‘short circuit’ lightfest.

WC: 428

[OOC: Hon took cover and is using Raijin's Vengeance to throw a lightning bolt from the sky down on Queen Frost - using my highschool physics brain to bet on the cold air around her being able to amplify his Lightning Style Jutsu in some way... but that's up to you and RNGesus >:3]

 

[Toraono Michino]

Upon landing with her grandiose opener, she felt the graze of a bullet slip by her left cheek. Glowing red hot eyes quickly traced the bullet’s trajectory and found the shooter on a roof. However, the sniper in question didn’t seem to be as worried about a Sennin dropping full pall mall on their organization as opposed to the usual shinobi tactic of stealth. Instead she seemed to be preoccupied with moving to a new location as beastly creatures began to swarm them both; difference being one of them was trained to handle it. Taking a deep breath Rei stopped her run when the first creature appeared at her flank with a scimitar and instantly preformed a manuever to sweep the legs out from the creature before following up with an impossibly fast kick to its back - snapping the thing’s spine before the real ninjas ambushed in to finish off the creature along with two others. Blood dripped from her elbow. Even when being thrown off balance the creature showed no relenting in their attack. Rei lifted the wounded spot to get a good look at it, a moments distraction, to feel a shovel hitting her chest,
“Oy! Me tits!” she yelled before knocking the handle out of the monster’s hands, reversing the grip, and outright impaling the thing with its own shovel before continuing on. The troops were doing good, and the numbers were starting to quickly thin as they all pushed forward. She broke one over her leg, snapped another’s neck over her shoulder, punched another through a house, and just in general moved with the force of an absolute natural disaster until she felt a shake in her arm. The power reverberating back and forth between her muscles pushing her limits past the confines of a human body were already starting to show just seconds into the fight. She looked down at her right arm and clenched the fist, forcing the shake to stop,
“Hey now, don't go gettin' weak on me. Guess I should loosen up a litt-”, her words suddenly cut off by a claw missing her face by inches. On reflex her leg came up to crush the monster’s pelvis before moving into another straight punch when she saw it. Two beads dangling down from what was left of the thing’s hair in a little braid. The beads were red with little kanji that said “blade”. In horror she quickly looked towards the monster’s neck to make sure, and saw in all of her disbelief, the Kumogakure headband. A shinobi appeared behind the creature to finish it off with a blade across its throat, and Rei could only stare in horror.

This monster was Hisitori Ninkui. Chuunin, three solo missions away from advancing to Jounin. Her partner from her Genin days was named Ito Masumura who was on guard duty today at the gates. The battlefield slowed down to a crawl around her as the Sennin’s eyes darted to each and every body they had laid low. Yuna Yoi. Reijitsu Omagi. An edgy kid who only went by Ungi. A guy named Inu who made the best jokes about being part dog. All of them wearing clothes, trinkets, and the Kumogakure headband that she recognized as people she had sent out on missions recently. Most of them weren’t even dangerous missions either, just recon, spying, or item retrieval. The Main Branch leader’s heart was suddenly heavy as another lycan appeared from the shadows to try and take advantage of that moment of clarity; it was cut down by her team before it got within inches of her. She turned, and said softly,
“Tetuso Sakura,” as she recognized the hair piece in the creature’s mangy hairline. Tears of fury welled up in the corner of Rei’s eyes as she once again began to move forward. Her breath started to pick up in a shaky manner, as if an axiety attack was about to take her, but instead a scream of fury rent the air,
“THEY WERE OUR COMRADES, OUR SIBLINGS, OUR LOVERS! YOU WOULD DARE TURN OUR PRECIOUS ONES AGAINST US?!”

Chakra exploded around Rei as she dug her foot into the ground, cracking and breaking it up with the might of her step, before pushing off of it in a fury in the direction she had saw the girl with the gun head. The Sennin would straight plow through the homes and beasts in a straight line leading to her and when they came face to face, would happily take a bullet just to try and grab her arms, and scream,
“WHY?!” as tears of both fury and helpless sorrow flowed down her cheeks. She was a scientist, not just a musclebound idiot, and knew that transformations to a body at this level of twisted were rarely reversible; to say little of the lives they had already cut down.

[Entered Feral Stance/spend 5% max CP to gain Temp HP to help trigger my Zodiac Blessings]
[Attacks the Gun Girl with Ravager and Submission Taijutsu]
[MFT]

 

[Chigokai Yuna]

Through the battlefield as Rei would charge her way to Makoto, she would feel the strain of her Gates working on her body as her head started to throb, but she would be able to ignore it. Her feet, however, seemed to take a toll as she would feel the bones fracture under her own power. Makoto would notice the woman of pure strength barrel her way towards her with no regard for her own safety. But she was too slow to react. The girl with the guns quickly found herself wrapped up in the Sennin's arms, feeling the pain as she was being squeezed hard. Makoto tried to wriggle free, but to no avail. She tried again, nothing. Finally, she managed to push her rifle in between them and let off a single shot, one that had grazed Rei's left shoulder.

She then retreated and with a single jump, made it to the roof of another building. "If you really cherish your people, then you should have thought about how the townspeople had felt when you Cloud ninja would sometimes come and take our people away from us for your own militaristic gains. Anyways, it seems your people need you now more than ever."

She pointed down to the town square where the ninja force now seems to be struggling as a new wave of mutant monsters come barreling through. These had armor donned on their arms, legs, and heads as they began to fight back more furiously. Of course, the ninjas would swap out when one got injured, but there was so much a single medical ninja can do with the ferocity of these creatures giving to the ninja force.

Lady Ice
​

She waited for something to happen, but alas, nothing. That is, until she was sucker punched from the sky by lightning that had struck her, along with shuriken and kunai piercing her body. Her body arced in pain as she thought of how such a thing could happen. Her vision turned black as electricity not only struck her but filled the whole area in which all of her chakra was spread out at. Falling down after taking so much damage, she felt that one of her hearts is now exposed. She got up and furiously looked around. Such an attack was a low blow, but she was more than enough to take it. Very well, she will show them her power. Another one of her hearts exposed itself and dislodged itself from her body as tendrils and threads enveloped it into a giant pulsating creature, the sound of the heart echoing through the area. It soon split off into a total of five tendril like creatures, all of which have the same rhythmic pulses as the scoured around the area.

As they wandered in the immediate area, the ninja group stayed silent, waiting to see if these things can pass by them. Unfortunately, Yuri spoke out, not really paying attention to what had just happened. "Good job Ninja Dirt. Now all that's left is-" He was instantly cut off as the tendril like monster started to maul him as he started to scream out, leaving deep gashes on his torso, but he did manage to grab a tree branch and hit what looked like its head. Afterwards, he got back up and readied himself for another attack. But because of this ordeal, both Lady Ice and her heart spectres know of Yuri's location. They closed in on him, completely surrounding him.

He had cursed underneath his breath. Even though he has to work with these stupid ninjas, they refuse to let him be armed with an actual weapon, with the thought that he might try and off one of them and make a break for it. And now he has all of the eyes of the enemies on him. "Geez, you lot are even worse than Ninja Dirts. Fine. I'll take you all on!" With his anguish at the whole situation, he faces the enemy at impossible odds. He knows that to the ninja, he is their enemy, and the only time they joined forces was to take out these revolutionists. It wouldn't surprise him if they took the chance to sneak past this crazy lady to get further in. To them, he's just probably another steppingstone for them to merely pass by.

As Hon's force sneaked by, one of the ninjas stopped and asked their leader, Hon, what should they do. "Should we help him?"

Another ninja scoffed at the idea. "The guy is a Tenouzan. He would stab anyone of us in our backs first chance he gets. We have been right to keep him from having any real weapons. You don't remember the pain and agony they had caused the whole of Lightning Country a couple of years ago?"

The one that suggested that they help him snapped back, "Yeah? And that won't make us any better than the Tenouzans or even these Revolutionists."

The anti-Tenouzan ninja shrugged his shoulders, "Aside from that, another thing to take into account. Our original mission. This would be the perfect time to sneak on past and get to Ziren before anything catastrophic happens. Time is of the essence now. But..." All eyes fell onto Hon. "The decision is fully on Byakko here. Either way, we'll need all of our numbers for either situation, if I were to guess the difficulty on either situation."

Ziren
​

I waited for her to answer my question, knowing full well what she is going to say. I had my suspicions back on the train. It seemed all too convenient for it to all be a coincidence, that my team and I, along with the Tenouzan were all on board when these Revolutionists decided to show up. And now thinking about it... My own DNA is messed up on a whole other level... Oh... "Yes. Without them, this whole revolutionary group would have never even existed. They had set the roots and let us people who are angry at Cloud for their unjust past. Sure the kidnappings and having our loved ones being sold off had ceased. But the pain was still there. They may have stopped their evil actions, but they haven't even tried to make amends for all the pain they had caused."

I clenched my fists again. I know their pain all too well. Back in my time in Leaf, during a certain Hokage's reign, my mind went into a dark, dark place. A lot of innocent people had died. Children, at the hands of Leaf shinobi. I had left that place with my own family to initially keep them from Frost ninja, but... Once I had learned of the dark events that had happened while I was gone... I made my way to Cloud and talked to Raikage Ayumu of my situation and asked for citizenship here, promising to leave my hatred for certain people in the past and look for a promising new future.

Even here, before the events of the Holy War, I was frequently asked if my children had possessed any chakra-like abilities. I knew somewhat of why Cloud at the time needed ninja so badly. In the sense, me, along with the whole of Cloud, were accomplices in such an evil deed in worst case scenario, people were forcibly taken away from their friends and family to become a ninja here. But... Cloud is looking towards a new era of peace. I can't let that peace for all the innocents be taken away, even if this war is only directed towards the ninja of Cloud. "I understand your pain. But what you are doing is causing more pain than understanding. I'm sure if you all could have just talked, then the Leadership of Cloud would have done something to help."

Shiori only laughed, before saying, "Perhaps. Or they could have just blown us off. We've figured the fastest way to get our message out there was to speak your language. Violence." She turned away from me, nodding to make me follow her. "You wanted to know why we were using your blood. Follow me."

(Rei, your slug zodiac will take effect my next postings along with Go Beyond! called shot debuffs)
(Rei, you are now with the choice, continue fighting Makoto and risk your ninja getting hurt or killed, or help your ninja and risk Makoto either shooting you or getting away.)
(Hon, first off, congratz, rng is smiling upon you for right now.)
(Hon, you also are now with a choice. Use Yuri as the distraction to sneak past and get further in without any real threats to stop you, with the risk of Yuri potentially dying, or help Yuri out with the risk of losing time to find Ziren or the sample of the Pope's blood)
There are still three open spots for anyone interested in joining the event.
Team
Event Leader (NPC Ziren)
Honnou
Ryuu Rei
Open
Open
Open

 

[Honnou]

Damn it, Hon didn’t see any of this coming. She survived the hit, somehow… but there was a clear, open wound on her. Hon spotted it with his functioning Byakugan, just briefly – an exposed… heart?

Her hearts, they expunged themselves from her body- wait, hearts? In plural? At first, Hon was beyond bewildered at the scenery unfolding, until he called back to his knowledge. Was this a Jutsu, or was it part of the Revolutionists’ own arsenals? Once the hearts summoned black, hairy tendrils to surround themselves, Hon suddenly recalled a drawing.

A Kinjutsu thought long extinct, prohibited even. It fit the description, but… he’d have to report this back to the Main Branch Sennin later. For now-

Hon was, once again, taken aback by the actions of the Tenouzan Yuri. His mere exclamation drew them over to him in an instant, already on the offense, their tendrils digging through his skin. Hon’s immediate reaction was to jump into the field and intercept Lady Ice, but the mere question of whether or not they should help this Tenouzan left him at odds with his wish.

The Tenouzan hadn’t told them everything about the blood of the Pope. There was still intel to be extracted from Yuri, making him a valuable prisoner of war. Yes, that was it… or maybe it was Hon’s yet lingering, merciful nature. Hon was a gentle man, even slightly before he was a damn tough shinobi.

“… He’s…”

Damn it, the hijacker. The man he fought and killed on the train… the one who mentioned Cloud’s history. A bad history, a really bad history. That man was harmed and betrayed by the Cloud once, losing his daughter in gruesome fashion during a mission by their orders. Hon knew one thing; the Tenouzans weren’t completely done with yet. Choosing to let this one die… it might just replicate this entire ordeal. History repeating itself, some might have called it.

“… a prisoner of war. And one with more intel than we’ve been led to believe,” the Byakko replied before finally choosing to move at high speed, “Any long-range Fire Release users among you, keep the air around us warm!” There was a risk that they could cause some bushes near the tunnel to catch on fire, along with trees lined up further away, but if it heated up the air, then her Hyōton would prove less efficient. That was what the Byakko aimed for.

He had decided to get up and close. Five, hairy monsters – more like onis, really – had exited her body, with the heavy sounds of heartbeats surrounding the field. Was she a Reverend? If that was the case, then if intel served right, she’d have to be killed multiple times… for every heart that was present. And he saw five, excluding her own damn body. Six lives, in total… six lives.

Hon couldn’t afford wasting more chakra. The Gentle Fist should prove handy in causing cardiac arrests through minimal damage – an air palm, per se, aimed at the chest could send enough force through the tissue and cutaneous membrane to hit the heart as if it was directly slapped on by a surgeon during an operation.

Hon performed a few handseals and summoned human-sized smoke clouds out of nowhere, revealing 2 extra Hon’s next to him as he approached Lady Ice’s tendril beasts from within the shrubbery. One of the clones darted across the field to the other side of the straight line towards the tunnel, appearing like a blur that would likely be spotted – hopefully, if his little advancing action plan was to be successful.

The blur was from one of the 2 clones who readied up their White Long-Ranged Dart Launcher – one of his valuable items, a launching mechanism of his wrist blades that could shoot out the blade like a launched kunai or arrow. With that, adding more force with a flick of his hand, the clone of Hon launched a swift, air-cutting blade about 13 cm in length through the air directly for Lady Ice’s position, aiming to grab all the attention.

Hon and the other clone of Hon who hid on the previous side of the way towards the tunnel would use this distraction to jump out of the shrubbery fast as ever, hoping that those of his team who knew Fire Release Jutsus had stuck to his plan and lit up the surrounding area in Fire Release flames. Hon and the clone would directly aim a heavy, wide-handed slam towards the tendril creatures’ cores – the hearts that would be visible through Hon’s left Byakugan eye. With such loud beating, those hearts weren’t discreet at all.

Both Hon’s who went on the close-range offense would attack at the exact same time, aiming to hit in total two of the five tendril monsters right where their hearts would be tucked behind.

Eight Trigrams: Palm Strike!

WC: 815 [MFT]

 

[Toraono Michino]

Rage. It was an anger that Rei had never felt before in her entire life. Years of a cyborg and years before that as a chakra-less scientist, the woman had only ever felt frustration at herself and maybe the occasional anger at a difficult project. This feeling, however, was something on a whole ‘nother level. Rei’s mind was set to “kill, kill, kill”, and her vision red with fury. She hadn’t fully realized that she was crushing the gun wielding opponent with a bear hug, just that she had something in her arms that needed to die. The bullet grazing her should and sudden loud sound of gunfire was enough to jolt her mind back into a more reasonable sense as it caused her to reflexively let go and jump back. The opponent she had grabbed also jumped back. Then, there it was, the supposed reason for all this.

Kumogakure’s history was not a nice one by any means and Rei knew this. She was one of those many kidnap victims but instead of being forced into shinobi work, her talents were focused towards R&D to find a village defining answer to Sunagakure’s puppet mastery. The start of it all was terrifying to be abducted in the middle of the night and put to work for years before she was allowed to even see her own parents, but…eventually, it evened out. Her expertise, natural talent, and want for a better future made her climb the ladder until she was respected enough to be set free. Rei got to see her parents again, transformed herself into the beast of a woman she was today, and that all started because the ninja village saw a potential in her that her own folks wanted to squash down and hide away. Without the opportunity the village offered, she’d just be another farmer. How many shinobi were just the same? Poverty stricken peasants who rose above because they had a latent power no one could tap into except the very same people who kidnapped them in the first place?

Rei took exception to the rebel’s words.

Before she could set up a rebuttal the other woman made a very cross point. The Sennin could hear the cries of her people below fighting the beasts in the street that were also once her people. Fury at the thought of laying them low boiled back up, but this time she controlled it. With a glare that would set trees on fire, Rei dropped back down to the streets, feeling the stress of her chakra laden body starting to take toll. She ignored it. There was a time and a place.
With a quick dart to her left she found the first wolf-thing and gave it a good sock in the snoot. Then another, and another, and another. Rei moved like a lightning bolt between the man-hounds giving every last one a solid slap on their nose. Not to completely harm them, though she did get heavy handed with any of them that were near an injured companion, but the idea was to piss off as many as she could. When the Sennin was sure that she had a majority of them following her she did her best to dodge and keep out of their reach before doing a straight dead-on run towards the main entrance to the castle the village propped up.

Now she just had the goal of dodging bullets and slamming down whatever gate they had up to defend their fortress. From there, she would lead the lycans back to their creators…

[Basic Strikes on as many lycans as I can before using Falcon Punch! on whatever gate they have between the village and the castle]
[MFT]

 

[Chigokai Yuna]

Ziren's perspective​

Geez, this chick isn't giving me enough information for me to kill her yet. I still have to play her game of playing nice. But I did learn something valuable during this conversation. They have a person on the inside. Not only giving them important information about Cloud's ninjas, but also backing them since the very start. Perhaps even the originating person behind all of this. I have to find a chink in this woman's armor if I am to outright attack her. The way she carries herself makes me think that she might be a heavy hitting type of person. And my time here only proved the point, there were some commanders, one of which was the leader of the train, and some lady that can control ice. A step down from them were the gun wielding chick and the Uchiha and below them are the grunts that have less power over chakra than them. But from the talks of the guards when I was imprisoned, this woman might be the top-notch leader of this organization.

We walked in silence, but I could hear the sound of battle going on behind me, the Cloud Ninja are meeting some serious resistance. Just what the hell are these people? Finally, we made it to some sort of laboratory that was inside of the castle. My eyes widened as I looked around the room. There was some Cloud ninja stuck in large specimen tanks, and in others... Some sort of twisted humanoid creatures. But the most unnerving thing about it... I saw Cloud headbands on some of these creatures. I looked over some of the documents that were around. All medical documents... Something inside of me snapped. All calm thinking and mannerisms were thrown out of the window.

I saved up my chakra for a big fight, but what I'm about to do isn't a fight, no. It will be a massacre. I heard one last thing before I blanked out.

"We had used your own blood, along with the Pope from Tenouza. Your blood that has been through so much genetic strain that it has changed so much, along with the Pope, who wasn't even human to begin with. This is the secret weapon to kill the Cloud Ninja. Frankly, they haven't made a perfect creature to take on your unstable genetic traits, or the power of the monstrosity that the Pope was."

Chakra had spread out to my feet and to the ground, which spread throughout the whole castle. A whole bone forest came into existence piercing the hybrids and revolutionists alike. "You people make me sick! You want payback to Cloud for all that has been done to either you or your families, I get that. But what you are doing is INHUMANE!!!!" Several bones shot out of the ground and pierced Shiori. "All I wanted was peace for my family! You will pay for all that you have done!"

Shiori stood still as the bones had cut through her flesh. But... She had a wicked smile. "Inhumane? Please." The place started to heat up, the specimen tanks began to boil until they would burst open. Flames began to surround both me and the Revolutionist. The flames began spinning faster and faster, growing in size until it became a flaming vortex that erupted out of the Castle. The flames are intense. But... I have a feeling that these aren't normal flames. "What about our Justice?! It was inhumane for the Cloud to take away our children, lovers, friends and families for their own militaristic gain. How is this different? Let me tell you something about history and justice." The flames and heat got even more intense, if that were even possible. "History is usually written by the victor. Justice's definition, is what the victor says it is, in a situation like this. So, I challenge you to an Agni Kai the true test to see who has the stronger Justice. Either way, Justice will prevail in the end it always does with the Victor!" Just then, I felt a pressure in the air, one so strong that I couldn't really believe it. I've only felt it once, and that was when I was in Water Country. "Gates one through Seven, open!"

Guess we are going all out at the beginning. I don't have any of my weapons with me, but... A single wave of my hand and I was surrounded by astral copies of my own weapons. "I'm doing this for the peace of my family. I won't let you trample on my dreams!"

Lady Ice
​

So of Hon's group, only two were actually fire users. On the bright side, one of them is an ashen heart. As the plan was getting into motion, the tendril monsters went in to strike at Yuri. He managed to dodge out of the way of the first but after that, he had quickly gotten surrounded and started to tear into him. Two of which had pierced his sides and shoulders, the other two only managed to slash his chest and arm. It was looking grim for Yuri. That is, until he saw flames envelope the area close around him. It turns out the ninja came back for him. "Geez, being saved by ninja. How ironic is this?" His body was feeling heavy but he kept himself upright. Out of the corner of his eyes, he seen some pretty strong looking ice jutsus being thrown his way, but before it made contact with him, some sort of fire jutsus had intercepted them and blown up both jutsus.

"Wait, what?" Surprise had hit Lady ice in the face as she had soon found a kunai in her shoulder. Yuri took this chance to try his own attack. Tree branch in hand, he roared out and struck down... But he had missed Lady Ice by only a few inches as she rolled away. Meanwhile, Hon and his other Clone went to work on the tendril monsters. His clone couldn't hit anything, but Hon, on the other hand, managed to hit four of the five tendril monsters. Some of his hits had absolutely demolished two of the heart monsters, but the other two that were hit, seemed to have merely brushed it off. Three tendril monsters left.

And that's when things started to get a little weird. In the distance, everyone would hear the sound of a building collapsing. If anyone were to look up, they would see the castle is now wrapped in what looks like giant bones, along with a bone forest surrounding the whole area. Soon after though, a fiery vortex had erupted out of the castle that reaches up high into the night sky. Yuri had cursed to himself. Just what the hell is going on? His vision blacked out for a second as he stumbled to keep his footing. His vision cleared and he shook his head to keep consciousness.

Makoto
​

Makoto figured just as much. The freakishly buff woman went to rescue her people. They both that in common. The very thought of wanting to protect those close to them. In reality, Makoto has been fighting a whole lot of morality once she has heard of these creatures. It is very.... Inhuman. Sick, wrong. But she had convinced herself that she was doing this to bring to light the pain and suffering the Cloud ninja had inflicted upon the civilians of Lightning Country. She was sold off from her family by ninja. The very next day, she had learned that there was a monster attack that had wiped out the whole town where she was from. It was soon after that, that she went missing from Cloud, but with no goal in mind except staying alive, she had stayed hidden from the public and far-reaching eyes of Cloud hoping that she would find an opening. When she had heard of this revolution that was growing, she took up the offer to join in an instant.

She had agreed to kill in order to reveal Cloud's dark secrets, but... These experiments... She doesn't agree with them at all. Looking over as the buff woman had attracted over half of the monsters to use them as a force to raid the castle.

Down on the battlefield as Rei attracted over half of the creatures, some had gotten within range to try and attack her. All but one had been really persistent. It had managed to cling to Rei as she had shaken it off multiple times but had finally gotten it off of her as it snarled and howled. Rei could feel her head and leg start to feel better as her Zodiac Slug sign did its thing, but also, she would start to feel a slight strain on her arms and neck, nothing too serious yet. She was reaching a gate, a small obstacle that is in her way. Her hand would glow, but before she would be able to punch that small insignificant gate into oblivion an unassuming squirrel ran right into her way, tripping up her footing. The hybrid creatures took this chance to quickly catch up to her. But that's when something weird happened.

The nearest one that closed in on Rei was about to strike when a gunshot rang through the area and a bullet had grazed its leg. It turned around and roared at the perpetrator. If Rei so decides to look where it came from, she would see the gun wielder, Makoto. She didn't speak, but Rei would get the feeling of what is wanted to be said, I'm only doing this to decrease the casualties. Makoto would then use her rifle to try and shoot at the lock only to miss. She grimaced and shouted "Go!" She threw down a Kunai that had some sort of object attached to it. Whatever it was, it seemed to affect the hybrids on a sound-based level as they all held their ears and screeched and howled.

It was at this moment that Rei would also hear something that would almost sound like an avalanche. Bones the size of buildings grew out of the castle, along with what looks like a whole forest of bones came into existence surrounding it. Seconds afterwards, a flaming tornado had erupted from inside the castle, the heat that Rei would be able to feel from even where she was at. Ashes from the bones burning soon filled the air. Cinder sparks gently fall to the cold winter ground. Soon though, the screeching and howls of pain was turning into snarls. What will Rei do?

OOC Notes
Ziren is in Agni Kai with the leader of the Revolutionists
Hon, two of the five tendril monsters are no more, there are still three left along with Lady Ice herself.
Hon, Yuri ain't looking too hot right now.
Rei, RNG isn't smiling upon you today. That gate though small and insignificant still stands
Rei, for now, it seems gun girl will work with you until you act otherwise or different circumstances happen

 

[Honnou]

Damn it… damn it! He got two tendril monsters down; that was apparent, given that the hair-like tendrils that their bodies were made of crumbled down and turned to lifeless matter in seconds. The three left, however… he wasn’t able to hit their hearts precisely. Losing an eye had really been a bigger detriment than he could accept.

Taking on an airtight, defensive stance, Hon did realize something… the fires around them did the trick. Lady Ice had tried to attack the Tenouzan with Hyōton Jutsus, but some of his allied shinobi had melted it away. The clone next to Hon – the one standing on the field along with the real one, that is – gave a quick nod to the caster of that Fire Release Jutsu before spotting… a huge crash in the distance. It grabbed everyone’s attention, and Hon’s left eye clearly spotted bones protruding from all the walls of the distant castle. That was a Kekkei Genkai that Byakko was informed of – that was Ziren’s Jutsu!

He had to hurry up – Yuri looked fatigued by the tendrils’ attacks, so the clone next to Hon quickly stepped up in front of the Tenouzan as cover. The clone hiding in the bushes performed one handseal and turned into a smoke cloud, dispelling itself and sending its share of chakra back to the real Hon.

Yes, this should be just enough… Eight Trigrams, Divination Field!

With the use of the clone’s chakra – that was part of his own pool before the clone was made earlier – Hon had begun zoning everything out of his field of vision… except his enemies. While his last Clone guarded the Tenouzan, everything was black in the eyes of the real Hon with the exception of Lady Ice and her three remaining tendril creatures. With a Fire Release user among them, he would take full advantage of the predicament that Lady Ice found herself in and move at blinding speed, this time holding complete, deadly intent to stop each of the three, remaining hearts of the tendril monsters before dealing with Lady Ice herself. What he knew was that, if his knowledge served him right, the Reverend’s greatest weapon was access to extra lives via these heart-storing creatures. In return, keeping them around must’ve costed a hefty amount of chakra, and the Hyōton user would only be in trouble after her greatest weapons were removed from the equation.

If he succeeded at taking the creatures down now, he’d immediately aim for a sharp, heart-wrenching Palm Strike at Lady Ice’s chest, the world around him still blackened by the heightened senses granted with this secret technique.

[OOC: Hon dispelled the hiding Clone to get some chakra back to himself. The other Clone is standing in front of Yuri as guard, and Hon himself is using Divination Field to blitz with Palm Strikes to the three, remaining monsters. If successful, he'll immediately go for Lady Ice's heart next]

 

[Toraono Michino]

Satisfied that she had a great deal of the hybrids chasing her she sprinted towards the gates. One of the creatures was all kinds of clingy, no matter how many times she just barely dodged the thing’s attack and flung it; the creature was back on her heels faster than the rest. On its last attack she saw a piece of clothing that struck the chord of recognition. The memory playing in the back of her mind was of a very fun date she had with the man and the chance of a life with someone special before his mysterious disappearance a few weeks ago. Rei was very strict on herself about dating the subordinates under her, but this guy had the upper hand of being one of the few males in the entire village who wasn’t afraid of her. He quickly won her attention and despite rebuffs, and even a threat to demote him back to Genin, he kept sending her flowers and speaking double entendre in her presence. Eventually, Rei just caved and accepted his offer for a date.
And it was magical. The guy actually cared about her which was a hard lean away from her normal antics with the male specimen. It was too soon to say that she had fallen in love with the Chuunin named Seng, but she deeply enjoyed his company from that day forward. However, to prove she wasn’t playing favorites to some of the shinobi lawyers of her division, she made sure the missions he went out on were of his level of skill. The last thing he was sent out to do was recon for a suspected rebel base. Nothing more than a see and wait. Yet, he never came back. Before Rei could even think to use any resources to find out what had happened to Seng, the mission to raid this castle was high up on the order list and so she did what she had to; pushing those emotions down. It was on the beast’s torn up Chunnin vest, a little memento that Rei had gifted him dangling by a thread. Grabbing the lycan by the throat one more time she threw the beast into a house and burned ever harder towards the iron gates with fury reignited.

That all consuming rage came with a price of awareness. Of all things that could have stopped her, a squirrel. She hadn’t noticed the creature at all, and if she had, with all things considered, it probably would have been little more than road kill beneath her feet. Yet so focused on destroying these enemy with their own hubris she was, all the Sennin could do was charge forward with a fist full of awesome power; and literally trip on the rodent. It wasn’t like the squirrel had the stopping power of a well placed mountain, but like one of those things where you step down and think “Oh no! I’m stepping on the cat!” and at the last second change your momentum; which in turn caused her to fall. The fist hit the ground, shaking the world beneath them and causing a plum of dirt to throw up into the sky as she rolled her momentum to a stop. As soon as she looked up she saw Seng the Monster once again inches of closing its jaws on her head. The thought of dying crossed her mind now for the first time since gaining her insane body and strength, but it was a thought that non-the-less came and went. She was a shinobi, a proud member of Kumogakure’s forces. Death was but the price she would happily pay for peace. With a load of chakra quickly forming at the tip of her thumb, Rei began to push it beneath her left breast and into her heart to activate the forbidden technique her sensei taught her. It was a monster of a physical boost in power, making her current form look like a weak-willed Genin, but it had the draw back of guaranteeing her death. Since she was about to die to the jaws of an ex-lover anyways, she might as well go out taking everything with her.

Until a shot rang out and grazed Seng’s leg, catching his attention. Rei looked up to expect one of her shinobi using a gun, of all things, to try and pull the lycan attention away from their Sennin, but instead saw Makoto. Confusion reigned for a moment, wondering of the gun wielder had intended to end her life before she could suffer at the hands of the hybrid beasts, until the woman yelled “Go!” and threw down a kunai that played on the monster’s universal weakness of sound.

The Sennin was at a lost for words and actions. She quickly removed her thumb, got back up and began to start removing the gate one more time before a mountain of bones and fire erupted from the center of the castle. The platinum blond jumped back in time to not get impaled herself as she recognized the power of a Kaguya. Ziren was fighting for their life in there, but the fire was too hot to do anything about. It did give her an idea though…
Quickly reaching up to the device in her ear that relayed commands, she sent out message for her team to quickly retreat and work back to Hon’s location to assist his team, fearing they may have broken past the Ice Lady and got caught in the castle with the bone forest. She then yelled at Makoto,
“You go! Run! This entire area is about to become nothing more than burning ash and bad memories!” The sennin was very by the books when it came to completing orders. After all, a part of the Main Branch division was literally lawyers but, the girl with the gun had saved Rei’s life. She would give her the chance to run away and be caught another day…and that would be enough payback.

As the lycans began to lose their distraction Rei began to run up the castle walls and bone pillars until she faced the pillar of fire. She couldn’t put out the fire by any means whatsoever, that was the strength of the fire burning up towards the sky. She could however use it to her advantage as she maneuvered around until the fire pillar was between her and the monsters no doubt trying to climb after her.
“I’m so sorry, my friends,” she whispered as the Sennin’s hands came together to form ninjutsu seals. She wasn’t the most practiced in the wizardry that ninjutsu specialists were, but as the leader of the Main Branch she had a good hold of just about every style of shinobi combat. Finishing the seals she moved the concentrated chakra into the air around her to form a long dragon made of swirling air that dove through the firenado and towards the lycans and town below to burn, cut, and blow away everything below the castle.

[Casting the Wind Ninjutsu: Zephyr's Grace]

 

[Chigokai Yuna]

Ziren's perspective
​

I stood in the storm of my Astral weaponry with the fires of the Agni Kai I have found myself in. I'm no idiot, I've been around long enough, done enough research of other blood lines and core abilities to know how this is going to end. These fires are meant to sever all connection with the outside world. The Flames will never extinguish until one of the combatants is either knocked out or even dead.

Even in the midst of battle, I can see the strain of the Gates effecting the leader of the revolution. Her arms and legs seem to already be broken. Grabbing one of my Astral weapons, a sword, I moved with extreme speed. But it would be no surprise that his opponent could also move at inhuman speeds. My intentions were to stab the sword into her and grab my next weapon, but she narrowly dodged out of the way of the Astral copy as the blade only left a moderate cut at her side. Without even thinking, I brought out my staff and gave two good thwacks to her. One on her head, the other one of her legs.

I can see holy aura surrounding her fist as she punched through my armor full of weapons. However, I managed to jump out of the way as the spectral weapons gave me the time to react. But it looks like she isn't done yet, a tiger the size of a train car made of wind barreled towards me. My weapons moved to intercept, but it had passed by them as if they were nothing. I had braced myself for an attack, but it never came. Opening my eyes the wind made tiger had dissipated right before my eyes.

I know that I won't be able to keep this up forever. But now I know how to tackle the situation. Cinders from the bones burning slowly falling to the ground. My body shivered, I wonder if it was because I haven't been in a serious fight for a while, or is it because I'm fighting with only one hand? My tail flicked back and forth as I looked for an opening.

Lady Ice
​

Lady Ice's body trembled as she saw two of her creatures die before her. "No... Mom... Dad... I'm sorry that I'm not strong enough..." Her mind refocused on the battle. Even though the masked ninja is a problem, she saw the ninja force as one to hinder her actions. As for the Tenouzan. He is on Deaths door. She will put as much focus on him to ensure that these ninja will suffer some sort of loss.

One of the tendril monsters rush Yuri, the other two attacked the ninja force. The one that attaked Yuri went in for a strike down, but the Tenouzan was far from being done in by a monster as he managed to parry it with his tree branch and move away for some breathing room. The ninja force was quick in avoiding the other two monsters as they jumped into the trees.

Lady Ice focused her attacks on the weakened Tenouzan with some fierce ice attacks. She flanked around Hon's Clone in a fast fashion to get clear line of sights of Yuri. She formed hand seals and she breathed ice breath that covered Yuri. All those around can hear his screams of pain. And once the ice fog dissipated, they could see Yuri on the ground, his legs afflicted with frost bite. Lady Ice didn't stop there, a spherical shape appeared above her head as she sent it to Yuri. He was in no shape to move as it trapped him in a freezing globe.

During that whole time, Hon would be able to destroy the three tendril monsters. Afterwards, he would be able to focus on Lady Ice, just as she had entrapped Yuri in an ice globe. As he would go in for some strikes, only one would hit. It was at this time that Lady ice would lock eyes with Hon and register that he had killed the three monsters. He would see tears start to fall from her face. Her brother, sister, and her friend that she had feelings for but never took the chance to ask him out. All gone again. The Ninja took her friend from the town at the start of the Holy War, and soon, the Tenouzans had come to kill everyone in her town. Her friend came back to try and save everyone but... The woman had promised to make both ninja and Tenouzans pay for their war. She kept the hearts of those that she loved to strengthen herself, to kill the Tenouzans, to kill ninja alike.

"How DARE you people kill my loved ones again!!!" She clenched her fists, and so far gone in her emotions that she wasn't aware of another ninja force coming her way. Nevertheless, a cold aura rose up all around everyone as she screamed out in emotional agony. Some of the ninjas tried throwing kunai and shuriken, but the projectiles seemed to only freeze as soon as they got close to the aura and dropped out of the air. Yuri was able to break out of the bind and grabbed his tree branch, which has frost quickly forming on it, and swung the branch. But even in lost in her own emotions, Lady ice saw the attack coming her way. She punched the tree branch into oblivion. Even though she looks like a cornered animal, Hon would see that she is still far from being taken out of commission as she stared down Yuri. "I've gotta kill at least one more Tenouzan. For my family."

Makoto
​

Rei would feel her bones start to heal, thanks to her Slug zodiac, yet again, but now her head is starting to hurt. Nothing too serious yet. As she would run up the wall, she would realize that not a whole lot would be following her. But her plan was in full motion. As she let the wind chakra surround her and lunge through the the firenado, she would find out that she can't go through the most of it, via can't get to the center, but she was able to use the winds to grab some of that fire to add more damage as she crashed into the town and scorched the place. As she would get out of the crater that she made, she would see that there was a moderate group of monsters that had retreated into the wooded area. Upon looking around, she would see the girl with the gun among the fiery debris. It seemed that a lot of these monsters were killed by Rei's actions were all around the girl with the gun.

A minute ago, Makoto contemplated what the muscular woman had told her. Her mind tried to register what she had said, but she soon realized what the woman was trying to do. The problem was... these monsters weren't in a concentrated area, there would be no way for her to kill them all in one go. She gritted her teeth. She made up her mind. This revolution that she was part of, has done some things that is inhumane. And she has had a hand in it. She knows a way to end this. But it will end with her death. She shot a Flare gun up in the sky to try and attract the attention of as much hybrids as possible before shooting her gun at the nearest ones, hoping the sounds attract more. She seen a firey comet falling close, and she made her way closer to it. But one of those things tackled her to the ground. She shot it in the face and tried to move closer, but they were on her within seconds. She let out a terrified scream, but it was soon snuffed out as a loud crash came and killed all that was in the area.


(Sorry, I'm doing all this on phone)
(Hon, lady ice is really focused on Yuri, however all her heart monsters are dead.)
(Rei, gun girl Makoto is dead, along with a portion of hybrids. The rest can be used for a later mission. You also know that you cannot reach the center of the firenado)

 

[Honnou]

Hon’s azure eye caught the two creatures and their hairy tissue crumbling into faint embers. What Lady Ice called them… he could not let it stop him. She was down two monsters, and with the next three tendril creatures succumbing to his attacks, he was finally left to focus on her. He could breathe a little more now, and that increased space rejuvenated him.

One of his Palm Strikes landed on her, and the tears of grief were visible to the Hyūga. Whatever those tendril creatures were – family members or precious friends – meant little… this was a part of war. Loved ones would do anything for each other to gain the upper hand. And yet, to think that she might’ve been another victim of the Cloud’s past actions was tiring. How much conscience was Hon supposed to carry on his shoulders before they were satisfied?

Her frustration was turning into a dangerous force of nature – as of now, the air around them was turning into a thick layer of frost, slowing down all objects moving around her – Hon included. He clenched his bleeding fists as hard as possible, but even concentrating his chakra wasn’t enough to protect himself completely – not to mention the protection that the Tenouzan and the other ninjas needed. Lady Ice was having all of her attention at the Tenouzan, much to the Byakko’s dismay. “I won’t…” Hon swore under his chilled breath, drawing some of the blood from his nails onto the center of his palm. Then, he slammed the palm down to the cold ground, and a huge smoke cloud bashed against the chilly cold.

…

“W-W-W-W-WHAT THE SHIT!??!?! H-HON, IT’S COLD AS C*NTS OUT HERE-“

“N-Now, Ayaka! Hurry!” Hon warned the apparition hidden in the smoke cloud, who immediately did as instinctively told to her. The cold had to be beaten back with warmth, and thus Ayaka – the golden fox and contract partner of his – had manifested fire in the midst of the frost aura that Lady Ice was maintaining.

The fire grew steadily, taking on the form of a huge, regal fox. A messenger of the gods, as some would perceive it as… or as a wrathful demon, seeking a sacrifice. Either way, its infernal body brought by Abysmal Harbinger was meant to suppress the cold, and if success was within his reach, Hon would immediately go for Lady Ice’s heart with one of his Hidden Carpal Blades.

[OOC: Summoned Hon's Fox Summon known as Ayaka, made her use Abysmal Harbinger to try and make some warmer air (and thus space) for Hon to try and drive a hidden blade into Lady Ice's heart]

 

[Toraono Michino]

The attack followed through and she heard the howling screams of her comrades rend the air. Rei didn’t hesitate even a little. Though her heart broke to pieces from the act of destroying many of her own branch, many of which had families she would need to answer to later, the Sennin’s control over the Wind Element wavered not even a little. Once she had exhausted the reserve of chakra used for the attack the beastly woman’s knees buckled. There was no way into the center of the fire storm and whatever battle was being waged in the eye of that fire storm was to be guided by the kami; she would have no say. Rei was far from giving up combat though; there was still the frosty air blowing from her right that reminded her that Hon was in combat. As she navigated through the towers of bone spears she eyed the carnage her attack had caused. The smell of roasting rot hit her nose but not before the glint of a rifle sticking out from the clutched hands of a body.
“So she sacrificed herself instead…” the Sennin muttered. There was going to be a reckoning after this was all over with, from the top down. It was more than clear that in order to prevent such a tragedy from ever repeating, she was going to have to redouble her efforts in ensuring the civilians of Lightning that Kumogakure was done with their old ways…

With the boosted power of her unnatural strength still rolling through her body, threatening to destroy it, Rei landed within the range of Lady Ice. She took on a defensive stance before launching into a flurry of blows that were meant to distract as she tried to aim her distraction with the ANBU Captain’s blow to finish off this one once and for all. The echoing screams of pain from the lycan she had roasted still echoed within her head as it thumped in a building headache. They needed to finish this battle as soon as they could before her super-human strength began to bend her mortal body further than she could handle. It was Rei’s real first time cutting loose, and through the combat with other superhuman creatures she learned a lot; but at what cost, the scientist wondered.

A beer sounded divine right about now.

[Entered Defensive Stance and attacked with Multi-Hit Combo]

 

[Chigokai Yuna]

Lady ice
​

Her own anguish of losing her loved ones made her lose sight of stopping these hypocrites in their tracks. Her cold was almost instantly snuffed out by a fiery image of a fox. By now she was frustrated as she had summoned an ice sword that was actively melting. Even then, she stared down at Yuri, only for her vision to be obsured by another woman, this one full of muscles as she went in for multiple unarmed attacks. As Rei would lay in attacks on Lady Ice, four of her attacks would hit. Two of which had caused serious harm as the first one would hit her rib cage and Rei would be able to tell that her ribcage was now broken. The second one, shattered her right arm. Hon would be able to take this to his advantage as he naturally moved around Rei, using her sudden appearance to hide his movements as he trusted the hidden blade right into Lady Ice's one and true heart.

And just like that, all of the snowstorm had ended. The woman gasped for air as tears would fall from her face, staring at Hon. As she would fall to the ground, face up, she had a sad smile on her face. "At last... I'll be with my family..." And with that, she breathed her last breath.

Yuri, who was the spotlight of Lady Ice wanting to kill, finally collapsed. He was still alive, but the Medical ninja could tell that he was going into shock. He is in a bad condition, one of which is a surprise that the Tenouzan was still alive.

Uchiha Genshin was off in a far distance, far enough to not be seen by the one with the byakugan. He let off a sigh. It seems the ninja have defeated them. But he wasn't going to go down just yet. He didn't agree with the making of the hybrids. He will at least make amends on that front.

Ziren's perspective
​

I'm not in my top performance, but I can't stop until this woman is dead. Water chakra formed into my hand as it formed a sphere with cascading waters all around me as I rushed in for an attack, only to miss. The lead revolutionist followed up with her own attack, as she broke through the Calamity storm but not before taking a flurry of attacks from my own weapons. She had an open spear hand that peirced through my chest as I yelled out in pain. It was at this time that I would feel my Medical Ward Seal activate to keep me from fainting. Even so... my vision would blacken for a second before I caught myself from falling over. Some of the giant bones started to fall to the ground leaving loud crashes and shaking the very ground around them.

But even then... I can't give up! Forming more handseals, blood shurikens appeared all around me before launching themselves at the revolutionist leader. There were only three blood shurikens that had managed to lodge themselves into Shiori. But it looked like she was also on her last legs. I could feel as if this will be it. But in my lost moment of thought, I wasn't aware when she broken through my calamity storm and delivered a powerful fiery punch into my face. I was launched from where I was and crashed into the wall behind me a couple of yards back. Getting up painfully, I was able to react just in time to dodge to grab my Astral sword from the Calamity sword to strike her down with a legendary sword technique, Higuma. One Slash, two. Three slashes to deliver to Shiori. The last attack had embedded into the side of the woman's neck, a shocked look on her face. She fell to the ground, unmoving. The firenado that had trapped them into a death battle slowly dissipated into nothingness.

I was glad that it had ended, but... my eyes closed for a second before opening them once more and I was face up on the ground. I tried to move, but I couldn't. It hurt to even try to move. I could tell that I was bleeding out. My own time was running out. I had a feeling that even if I had enough chakra to heal, it would be for naught.

What Rei and Hon see
​

Rei and Hon would finally get a break when the firenado slowly dissipated. They would also see the bone forest slowly falling apart, leaving mini quakes as they crash into the ground. Whoever does decide to venture forward, they would find Ziren the kitsune laying on the ground face up, barely breathing, a hole in their chest, and singe marks everywhere. Nearby would be a woman in red war robes sitting there, but it was obvious that she was dead. Multiple wounds all around her body. Ashes from all the things that were burning slowly fell to the ground, with more distant sounds of bones or other debris falling to the ground.

(Congrats, Lady ice is dead. Uchiha Genshin has left, and maybe encountered in a mission)
(Both Yuri and Ziren are on death's door, though it seems that Ziren is closer.)

 

[Honnou]

Rei’s violent intervention was completely without warning, even while Hon still had a single, functioning Byakugan. She had appeared in the blink of an eye… but her assistance was well needed. Lady Ice, who had dominated most of the battle up until now, was pushed to a corner by the shinobi already present as well as Byakko himself – Rei’s surprise broke the camel’s back and brought Yuri to her knees, with Hon’s hidden blade piercing its target without failure.

Yuri was not allowed to slam onto the floor below her without a gentle hand holding the back of her head. Hon slowly allowed her to rest back, seeing her chakra disappear at a rapid pace. Her last words were filled with relief, almost content, for the fact that she could finally rejoin with her deceased family. At the time of death, she decided not to focus on her hatred… and Hon could respect that.

Yuri’s sudden collapse was more alarming! With Ayako’s blazing Jutsu shrinking in size, the air was still left warmed up, but Yuri looked to have suffered more than enough from Lady Ice’s Hyōton techniques. “Sennin-sama! Can you stabilize him?!” Byakko beckoned his superior who was present, only now noticing the falling debris and bones in the distance…

Was that from Ziren? Did it mean that Ziren was still alive? “Wait, Rei, Ziren’s nearby…” Byakko relayed back to the Sennin, using what limited prowess his Byakugan had at its disposal, “… No…”

If what Hon saw was true, then Ziren was in critical condition. “R-Rei, Ziren’s fatally injured! Ayaka and I will help Yuri – go to the castle and find Ziren,” Hon tried to relay Ziren’s location to the Sennin, hoping that she’d be fast and skilled enough to save their life, “Ayaka! Keep the fire close, surround Yuri! I’ll try something! Any Medical Ninja here, please help me stabilize him!”

Yuri’s body was likely suffering from hypothermia at this point – a decreased inner body temperature could lead to entering shock. That was why he commanded Ayaka to keep the fires lingering, forming a ring of fires that sent heated air onto Yuri’s skin in a deep but ultimately harmless manner. It was akin to standing in front of the molten rocks in a sauna – not exactly the most pleasant experience, but it sure as hell warmed your skin up. Hon, in the meantime, kept an eye out for Yuri’s inner body with his Byakugan – shock and frostbite could lead to organ failure, and since the Byakko had insufficient Medical training, all he could do was prevent any organs from shutting down with an Acupuncture or two.

A kidney or one lung was a loss as big as it could get, but Yuri could survive that. Organs such as the brain, heart or liver had the highest priority.

[OOC: Ayaka's keeping a ring of fire around Yuri to warm him up, while Hon's trying his best to stabilize him with the help of any potential Medical Ninja among the group. Rei is asked to go to Ziren immediately.]

 

[Toraono Michino]

It was over. The battle and fury of Kumogakure versus the astounding might of the rebels had proved far more troublesome than the Sennin had expected. For years she lived her life under the idea that the mountain village was the pinnacle of military might and that nothing could ever topple it within the confines of their own country. Today, that childish belief was burned out. Going “full throttle” with her nigh unlimited power should have ended the entire fiasco by itself; yet she had been so pushed she nearly died. In fact, the enemy had all but sacrificed themselves to save her at one point.
These weren’t trained soldiers they were facing, they were normal citizens who had awakened to the power that had repressed them for years. Yet all it took was a handful of trained shinobi to lead an entire rebellion that would easily leave a mark on her military for years to come. The lycans that she had put down personally were all her own, and forced against their will to fight against their home by a handful of people that should of been as easy to put out as a cigarette…but here Rei was, staring down Lady Ice as she died in Hon’s arms. No regrets. Bliss, in fact, that she was able to finally meet loved ones who had already died. It twisted something rotten in the Sennin’s gut.

Kumogakure was the one who won…right?

It wasn’t over though. The battle had finished, but there laid on the ground was Yuri, trying his hardest to not die from shock. Rei wasn’t sure at all how he felt about the man. The ANBU Captain seemed to care enough about him to try and keep the Tenouzan from dying, but Rei did nothing to help. He was her enemy from a war not even a few years past, and it was clear he still held a venomous tongue towards her kind. However, when Hon mentioned Ziren was within the forest of bones and dying, the twist in her gut turned harder. Of all the people of the mission who had died, she couldn’t allow this one to go. The original mission from ANBU had been to rescue the man to start with, a mission that was failed but lead to Kumogakure managing to crush a rebellion before it got too far out of hand. The sole medic of the group, worn out as she looked, was already trying to help Yuri but as far as Rei was concerned he had played his role.

Forming a few complicated series of seals, Rei created a clone of herself that stepped down to take over what the medical shinobi was doing before the giant woman scooped up the medic and turned towards where Ziren was.
“I’m sorry, Byakko, but Ziren is a priority target. I’m taking the medical shinobi to try and keep Ziren stable until we can get them back to Kumogakure for treatment. I’m not…as experience as the medical, but I have some knowledge of the human body. Hopefully, it’ll be enough to keep Yuri alive, too.” The image of Rei standing there with the medical shinobi in her arms vanished, leaving only a small crater where her feet were. She reappeared again near the bones, quickly darting through them and crashing through others when needed to reach Ziren.

Once they had landed in the area, Rei gently dropped their medical down next to Ziren before taking a deep breath and assuming a stance that triggered every single muscle in her body. With a snap in the air, the Sennin reset her muscles back to normal as she closed down her powers one Gate at a time; to an outside witness she did it in an eye’s blink. The exhaustion that hit Rei nearly caused her to black out on the spot. She had never used these powers at their fullest, and never used them at all this long. Sheer mental willpower was the only thing that allowed her to stay on her feet as she stumbled next to Ziren and began to help the medical shinobi where she could. Her ability in knowing the human body was nigh unparalleled, but working those systems in a living organism to keep them from dying? Out of her league.
“Do everything we can to prep him to move,” Rei said, though her voice was hoarse and strained. She wasn’t a fool. The wound Ziren had taken was fatal. It wasn’t unheard of for shinobi of their village to come back from fatal wounds. Hell, their Raikage was once declared dead and buried before, but she would be a liar to say she was optimistic about…well anything at this point.

[Used: Medical Assistant to help Hon keep Yuri alive. Using Coagulation and Mystical Force to try help stabilize Ziren]

 

[Chigokai Yuna]

Yuri
​

Even though the heat brought warmth and feeling back to the Tenouzan's body, he held no feeling in his legs. In his groggy state, he had heard something rather peculiar. The fiery fox had addressed someone as Hon. Even in his muddled mind, he was aware that the fox was taking orders from the only masked ninja. As soon as the Anbu that he had directly called 'Ninja Dirt', he made a weak attempt to grab the man's sleeve. He looked into the man's eyes and then said, "How ironic... Here I'd have thought you all would take the opportunity to pass Miss Ice and let me die to get to your other ninja friend. Perhaps you are not as dirt as other ninja dirt." He took a deep breath. before speaking once more, "Even though it seems that the battle is won today, I have a feeling that it isn't over just yet." It would be evident to both Clone of Rei and Byakko that the man will live, but never be able to walk ever again once they were able to stabilize him and take a look at his injuries. The man looked as if her had lost a fight against a bear, but that wasn't the worst part. Taking a look at his legs, they would soon realize that they were black as night, the effects of extreme frostbite.

Ziren

They say that when you're about to die, your life flashes before your eyes. Me? I'm no different. Back then... At the Water Country, I had thought I was going to die, but my own innate powers and abilities kept me in comatose. This time... I had no tricks up my sleeve. My own mind tried to find a way out of the whole situation, playing my whole life before me in mere seconds.

My earliest memories other than having been on the run as a child, was when I had found shelter in Leaf. I had thought my bloodline, Chigokai, was a curse without knowing anything of it. I had met so many people worth the world to me. Hyuuga Yukio... He was in a sense both a brother and a teacher to me. We've both had hardship and could relate to each other on some occasions and gave each other advice from time to time. The last time I had met him, I was my normal self, not a female kitsune, but it was a solemn meeting as that was our last. He was sick with a chakra like parasite. One that would kill him... He had left me... Entrusted me with finding the rest of these parasitic creatures, and not kill them, but give them the redemption that they so much needed. Heh... He was such one with a kind heart. From him... I truly learned to have a kind heart...

Next... Nasaki Soku. She was a true sister of mine, even though we shared no blood relations. We both had helped each other out with our own problems that became an issue for Leaf. Through that hardship, we had grown close. Soku was by far, the only person I had really cared for once I had decided to never be a Leaf citizen ever again. We had confided, I told her all of my issues. With her, I felt as if we could take on the world together.

Umashi. Yomi. Mikasa. Kenshin. All of my elders that had helped me grow and cherish of what I had. Without them, there would have been no doubt that I would have walked down a much darker path than ever before. Reicheru and the crew... Whilst they were on my nerves, they had also taught me a valuable lesson... Cherish every moment that you have with a smile. Even if it may be your last. Reicheru had taught me never to give up on people, no matter how much they seem to get on my nerves. Asuka... The last time I had seen her, we left on bad terms, but I have no ill will towards her. I understand that she has something precious that she cannot let get hurt.

Raikage Ayuumu. He had given me and my family a chance to start a new life here. Something that I can never give enough thanks to the man ever before. Even Dokuso Maru... To have seen the deranged darkness loving puppet grow up to be somewhat of a civil person... All of these memories that I held with everyone are precious to me. And I can't forget about my own family. Hana, my wife. Moji and Yuna, my children...

With a blink of my eyes, I was back in the present. A strong burly woman along with a medical ninja whom I knew back at the hospital, stood over me as I am breathing my last breaths. I could tell that she was shaken. I gave her a cheerful smile, as if I'm not the one about to die. If being a combat medic had taught me anything, it's to have a good bedside manner. I reached out and put a reassuring hand on her own, using the metal arm I had made out of chakra within the last hour. "It's okay. I don't have much time left, no matter what happens, so I'll say this. There is one other... A medical ninja. They will probably strike soon. You need to find some samples of my blood along with the Pope's blood. I'm sure if it gets reverse engineered, there can be a cure to change those who are monsters back to normal..." I coughed up some blood. It had pained me to even cough. But there was more to say... "If you see my daughter... Yuna. Tell her I'm sorry... I did this to try and maintain peace back home..." I then closed my eyes. I could feel myself drifting into a sea, my body weightless at first.

In the Shinobi world, it's not how you live. It's how you die. A shinobi's life is not measured by how they live, but by what they accomplished before their death. And looking back... My life has been nothing but failures... Failing to stop my own crazy brother before he became a real problem. Hurting a friend because I didn't know my own powers. I couldn't do anything when those kids had met their end in Leaf, nor really understand them until it was too late. I had barely met my sister after I had left Leaf... I had preached about family but had went on missions with having no idea of if I was ever going to come back...

My body, slowly sank into the ocean waters... But when I had opened my eyes, I had found myself between two extremes. A warm and welcoming light in which I could see of all my happy memories. The other, cold and dark, with all of my memories that I am not proud of, along with my dark past. I see... It was giving me the choice... I could live happily in the afterlife. Or I could atone for all the pain and sorrow that I had inflicted upon others... And I choose...

Rei would feel Ziren's body go limp. No life left in the Medical ninja... The medical ninja that was with Rei looked up at her, eyes filled with tears as she shook her head. The kitsune's wounds were just too great. They would both see the medical ward seal that Ziren had placed upon themself in case they got into a hairy fight, dissipate into nothing. If Rei would look around, she would find a mixture of Ziren's and the Pope's blood along with in a drawer some research papers on Ziren's fractured dna that seemed more unstable than a normal Chimera's. The pope's, well he was some sort of monster himself so it could be assumed that his own blood would have some kind of freakish qualities of its own...

The next night... Aesculapium
Kazeno
​

Kazeno had walked the halls of Aesculapium. He had went over the papers of a patient that came into the hospital last night. A tenouzan. He took a deep breath and rubbed the back of his neck. His orders were to check up on the patient. As a medical Ninja. But he was the very man that had given the push to the revolution. He sifted through his other papers, looking at the other patients, an Anbu and a Sennin had stood out to him. But they were already admitted to leave.

He knew he would be walking into a trap, but there would be no more beating around the bush. It has to all end. There's been too much bloodshed. He reluctantly opened the door and sat down next to Yuri the Tenouzan, who had his legs amputated due to his interaction with Lady Ice, and he then said, "Hello there. No need to alarm you. I know that you must have worked hard with the ANBU and a Sennin against the revolutionists. It is a high probability that they had used you as bait to get me to come here. So would you please inform them. I'm not here to fight, unless if they truly wish that. but rather, I want to talk." Little did he know, that Yuri had on him an earpiece that would activate as soon as someone other than Yuri would speak, transmitting straight to Rei and Hon.

(OOC: Yuri lives, but lost his legs)
(Ziren has passed away)
(A new character, Kazeno has appeared. One full day has past and is now nighttime at the Aesculapium. Yuri has an earpiece on to directly transmit to both Hon and Rei, both of which know of a person in Yuri's room)

 

[Honnou]

Unlike his battle against the first Commander at the train, Hon’s injuries were minor against Lady Ice. His long-distance initiation into battle, the element of surprise, his quick thinking and the usage of his teammates’ affinity for Fire Release had made sure to obtain a preferable execution of her. In the short span of time inside the wards of the Aesculapium as a patient, he tried to expunge… grudges. He had murdered two ambitious warriors with fleeting hopes of avenging their fallen kin. It would weigh heavily on anyone to have their lives on their conscience.

He also had to meditate. That damn train hijacker was far more skilled than he anticipated, so if he wanted to prevent the same mistake from happening again, then he would have to practice. The Mental Infiltration Jutsu that he aimed on himself would provide Hon a mental world to physically interact with – like the most lucid dream a person could ever have. Within, he repeated his fight against the Commander inside the conductor’s cart… over and over and over… his speed wouldn’t change, his strength wouldn’t rise, but how he could’ve approached the fight, what to do, where to move, which actions and Jutsus to take, every detail was do-or-die.

…

Hon was a seasoned Shinobi at this point in time, and he knew where he could hide in long periods of time for situations such as this one. A stranger’s voice transmitted through his earpiece, which was connected to Yuri’s…

“What do you have to talk about?”

The voice of the Byakko came directly from the curtains, unseen up until now, still wearing his ANBU uniform and mask but seen unarmed. His form wasn’t visible behind the thin fabric before, but slowly, Hon made his presence known – a good distance from both Yuri and the doctor who had piqued his interest. “Speak.”