[Legendary Campaign] A Black Operation

[Taiga]

The defense of Soul Country was left to a rather small portion of the Kumogakure's force- specifically, Hayate had sent the legendary bannin, Banri to the island with a rather small force. The Kumogakure Black Ops. For years they were a rumor or a myth with the everyday person not having the slightest clue as to Banri's true role in the Lightning Country spare the elite Jounin and the men who served him. Shortly after arrival, the shrewd man had forced the Black OPs into small units across the island with the command center being located in Soul Country's palace, just in the foyer. The scars of the skirmish with Iwagakure and Kirigakure were still fresh and Soul Country, though hesitant, was quick to allow shinobi aid with fears that they'd be the first target in the great war, which happened soon after.

From their place in the Foyer of the palace, the Black Ops commander sat impatiently as a "radio technician" attempted to get news from some coast patrol ships and a single skyguard squad who was stationed in the skies above. There hadn't been anything yet over the radio... and the nothing was the worrisome part. Why were the lookouts not reporting? Especially after mentioning of some ships far off in the distance, potentially that of Kirigakure.

The large, old man shifted his weight in his seat and snapped his fingers, calling for one of his favourite Black Ops operatives- Hotaru.

Banri's operation would start.

[Trusted Grader]

Nonki, Hotaru, daughter of a lowly thief, stepdaughter of a Kage, an outcast, a hidden blade.

Soul Country, sheesh, I remember sneaking through here to sneak into water country, that was a crazy adventure. Hotaru had followed a small band of black ops members moving through their new territory, she had been here before on a self sent mission to track down a missing ninja, a pirate who she managed to get to work for her, she had reported it all but never mentioned the part where he was recruited, for she used Aimi as an excuse as to why the assassination attempt was failed. Hotaru knew that one day she'd return here and that one soon she'd meet the pirate again.

She was decked out in her black mask, hood, vest, cargo pants and boots ready to for any operation. Her cloak helped her disguise herself among her peers, yet her mask appeared different from theirs, she was different, she wasn't just stepdaughter to a Kage, but one of the operators Hotaru believed Banri could rely on, she had been consistent, although from her perspectives at times they didn't seem to have any real connections, but at the same time she knew that she was nothing more than a pawn, a hidden blade who would die for her countrymen.

Hotaru nodded once she heard the snap, in a flash she appeared in a crouched position in front of Banri.

[Taiga]

Banri's eyes would shift slowly down towards the little hidden blade who had come to be known as Hotaru to him. She, the daughter of his enemy, the Raikage, had been his most trusted weapon. Like all Nakajima she would serve him, just like her father, the smug Raikage before her, and his father before that. The Black Ops commander parsed his lips before slowly speaking. He would not use her name as was customary amongst the black ops when masked. He'd pace forward past the girl and pace once more uncharacteristically before returning back to the girl and crouching to her height- Banri was a mammoth of a man and Hotaru was quite small.

"B- we have troubling news off our costs. Our patrol ships have gone silent with their last report being Kirigakure soldiers. Likewise, we have reasons to believe some of Soul here might be sabotaging against us as we speak." the Lord Commander spoke as he turned back away from her and made his way back to the operator. The radio was still silent.

"Take that squad and investigate at the southeastern most cost. We must know if Kirigakure is coming and we must be ready. We must also know if some of Soul oppose our occupation and aim to aid our enemies from the shadows." the bannin said as he grabbed his cane, leaning on it and going into complete silence.

Immediately behind Hotaru, another Black Ops agent would speak up.

"At top speed we can arrive within the hour B" he said. For this mission, this man had been assigned the moniker of C and would be Hotaru's right hand.

[Trusted Grader]

Hotaru watched Banri walk and talk, listening intently and accepting the nickname of B, she quickly figured that if anything then Banri would most likely be A, her mind wasn't allowed to wander as she was a slave to the situation, she was the weapon of the man before her and had now been summoned to take care of business. She was to investigate missing ships, which got her thinking of the pirate she had recruited, but at the same time the reports that had come in didn't fit the mission. Her heart returned back into rhythm as C spoke.

Remember Hotaru, none of these men matter, only the mission does, focus on the results. She blankly stared into the forest.

Hotaru was a woman of few words and instead nodded, the squad took off without her speaking to Banri, he knew that at this point there was little left to be said, though she had noticed that some had taken offence to her not following the strict honorific. She on the other hand didn't care, she focused on delivering results, her feet where airborne for longer than they touched the tree branches, almost racing towards their destinations.

The rules of black ops was follow the leaders flow, and Hotaru was feisty today.

[Taiga]

---

Le time skip

---

The group would arrive at the coast before long with plenty of time. The man named C had been surprisingly quick and lithe, along with the other squad members who followed behind Hotaru. Each had a mask. C's was like a bat. D's was like a Tengu. E had a mask similar to that of Raijin and F was a small woman with a noh theatre mask of a woman. C stepped forward and cleared his throat as he hummed gently and the strange melodic sounds filled the air, ringing through it as if it was just wind, but feeling eerily off to those close to him.

It was echolocation- some Jinrai jutsu of sorts, if Hotaru was quick enough to put it together.

"There's at least a camp of samurai down there, towards the shoreline. We're far enough they won't noticed us." he said as he put his hand to his chin thinking. D, spoke up soon after.

"Samurai? Why would samurai, no less Soul samurai bank an encampment on the shore? There's no war here." he said as he straightened his gear. C nodded his head in agreement, only for E to speak. "Something doesn't add up..." she said gently as she pointed to Hotaru. "B, what's the next move?" she said as she crouched down.

They didn't know what the samurai were doing yet, or why they were there, or who they were. They could be friends... they could be hostile.

All the while, G was silent, standing against a tree. His mask was that of a demon, and he carried a large metal spiked bat that rested upon his shoulder.

[Trusted Grader]

The team consisted of people she was used to work with, though the circumstance was very different, usually they worked in smaller teams but Banri wanted her to lead the invasion. Everything about this mission intruiged her, it made her question a lot of things, even though it wasn't her place to do so. The hawk masked agent known as B, looked over at her team and nodded at them.

Her ears perked up as C hummed, she herself used Audiothesia and focused her minds eye on catching the sounds reflections, so that she too could visualize the camp. A sigh rolled out of her breath as she closed her eyes, her team brought up valid points, what were they doing here? Could it be that they weren't going to cause any trouble or were they specifically called here because intel had somehow leaked?

"That is a good question, I suggest we gather more intel before we engage in combat as things could easily escalate and unnecessary bloodshed could come back to bite Lightning Empire, if that happens then we re the ones that have to take the blame..." Hotaru knew that due to how black ops worked that there were no way the country would be blamed, that didn't mean that she wanted to take unnecessary risks.

"I will need another one with me, we will act as a civilian and the rest of the team protect me if things go sour." Hotaru removed her mask and slowly changed to a more casual outfit. "Remember, we are not here to kill everyone."

---

MetaShow

Audiothesia
S-Rank Tentaijutsu Discipline
Prerequisite: [Perception]
By training their body to absolute peak, the user is able to hear anyone within [Will]x4 meters away from their position with the max range being 200, this technique is a form of remote hearing and allows the user to determine if anyone is saying anything or listening in, the hair on their body rises towards where the target is and within their mind's eye a moving image is created of the target, the closer they are the better the image is displayed. Perfect for hunting and pinpointing any slight noise, whether a weapon cutting through the air or an arrow being shot from an out-of-sight angle.

[Taiga]

As the group listened to this operations commander, they would all node silently affirming Hotaru's decision on the matter. It was pragmatic and also helped with everything they had felt. G who had been silent up until now dropped his weapon from his shoulder to the tree branch he was on, causing it to gently shake it's leaves. He would walk towards Hotaru, dragging his weapon.

"I'll go with you." he said ominously as he lined up to Hotaru and performed a hand seal, transforming himself into someone who looked more like a merchant or typical civilian, in the garb similar to Soul Country. His weapon had been transformed into a massive sack of what appeared to be metal. He swung it over his shoulder and looked at Hotaru, impatiently awaiting her disguise. He blinked twice.

The rest of the members aligned themselves in the trees, and would take their positions as close as could be. Meanwhile, at the encampment, one of the men was sharpening his blade.

His skin was dark, his hair was blonde. His eyes were a striking gold unlike anything one naturally would have. Something about him was off- he didn't look like the denizens of Soul. He was a foreigner. To the right of him a man worked on his sick-chain-and-ball, sharpening it. His skin was white and his eyes slits. He licked his lips with a long snake-like tongue. There were some other odd balls, but the rest of the men at the camp did seem to be Soul Country and did not look that out of place.

It was unlikely though that any of the operatives would notice these details without getting close, but to you, dear reader, something was off. Just slightly off enough to plant a tiny bit of doubt in anyone who had an eye for detail and got close enough.

[Trusted Grader]

Her face appeared gender-neutral, which allowed her to switch clothes without drawing too much attention to her true gender, Hotaru was slick as she had been doing this dance for years. She knew that using Henge was faster but it always carried its flaws, she knew that natural was better and easier to maneuver, plus it saved on chakra. She had learned this from years of experience, having been out in the fields for so long had changed the way she saw missions, her sense of self had almost disappeared for she was always another character, another human being living out their lives for the sake of completion.

"Well go as merchants, I'll be your elderly mother and you are a wandering blacksmith." Hotaru stepped out of the shadow and revealed herself as an older lady, her hair appeared graying and the wrinkles on her face placed her around the 45-55 age range, she gently hunched a little forward to appear frail. "I want D and E to tail us while C and F act as our flank. Got it?" Once they nodded she expected them to disappear into the wind, they hadn't trained like madmen to be invisible if she could still see them.

"Your name is Manji, Yosuke and I am Manji, Hinata, we are traveling blacksmiths that have been doing this since you were a baby, back then we had my husband..." Hotaru continued to tell their back story to G, in order to synch their stories, the duo continued to move towards their camp, due to her audiothesia, she was able not only hear were she able to hear where the enemy was placed but she was able to see it within her mind's eye due to their noises they generated. Rookies.


Her demeanor changed ever so slightly as they got closer to the encampment, they would try to get as close to it as possible or until they were greeted by any of the bandits, her eyes would stay sharp on whoever would call them out and begin her spiel. This was what she was good at, gathering intel one way or another, getting close to the enemy, and taking them down if she must, S.T.R.A.T.O.S, preferred to know what they got themselves into before they strike as they always have to know if they could turn assets or play the chess game.

S.T.R.A.T.O.S always wins.

---

401

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I Am
S-Rank Tentaijutsu Discipline Taijutsu
Prerequisite: [Stealth]
To perform this taijutsu the user must spend at least half a post preparing for the role of her life and as long as she continues to play the role the more convinced, she becomes that she is that character. With enough practice, the woman could copy anyone's mannerisms, characteristics, tone of voice, and style from which she has gathered enough information. At this level she is the character and will improvise as the said character, reading the user's mind requires an equal level of technique and higher Will than the user. The target needs a higher-ranked [Perception] technique to see through her lies.

[Taiga]

The man nodded, his sack of metal to his side. Making another hand seals he formed a hammer out of a kunai and hung it at his waist- hopefully it would help him look the part that B had assigned to him. Taking a moment to acknowledge the epic work B had done to transform into his elderly mother he looked at her. b]"Manji Yosuke- son of a black smith and a bitch!"[/b] he said as the band gently chuckled. It was a crass humor that the civilians would never understand, but one the black ops and elite soldiers of the Lightning Empire shared.

Taking his place at the commanders side he would prepare to go with her and gather information. He hand signaled to D, E, who took to the trees behind them and above them. They moved so silently not a single twig, leave, or trace was left to be seen or lingered to be heard. C and F on the other hand follows Hotaru's order to be a flank, and just as she nodded, made themselves sparse. They'd hold the back perimeter but stay out of line of sight, making sure no one could surprise the group from behind.

And with the scene set, Hotaru and G would make their way towards the encampment- the strange band of warriors that seemed as if they were ready for something. As Hotaru would approach she'd hear nothing but the typical talk. Stuff about wives. Stuff about banging each others wives. Men claiming they'd gut the other men. Another man counting a bag of coin religiously, twice over. A man sharpening his blade.

Amongst the cacophony of sounds she would also hear the smacking of one's lips and tongue- if her eyes could make it out a strange man. His skin was white and his eyes slits. He licked his lips with a long snake-like tongue. The men near him were all slightly odd. One of them spoke.

"What's the Lord playing at, aye?" he said as he sharpened a throwing axe. The snake man's tongue hissed in the air. He sharply said back "None of your business- but we're tired of being the toys of the great nations." he said as he finished sharpening his sickle-chain-and-ball.

Before the two could get any closer and hear any more, someone would spot them on the horizon. He cleared his throat.

"Halt!" he said as he jogged over to G and Hotaru, a battalion at his side.

What would they say?
---
423

[Trusted Grader]

Hotaru laughed with the band of black ops agents, their humor was indeed special, for it was the one the crassest, one could never know when they would find their end, so they always said what they weren't supposed to, you could even say that they had a black humor. Hotaru closed her eyes and chuckled, almost breaking character until she knew that she had to be serious, the noise she picked up gave her enough visuals to place people in the area but not enough to see them, it was too rowdy, so instead she switched over to Vibrothesia and the vibrations paint a picture in her mind's eye instead.

The vibrations from the world around her acted almost like a sonar and began to shape the world around them, from the steps of G, the silent steps of her operatives, the thug counting the money, and the list went on and on, she could see it in her mind.

They don't seem to be that dangerous from the pressure they exude, nor do their vibrations indicate an insane level of strength... Though, let's not jump to conclusions. She tucked Yosukes arm as if she didn't really feel safe around these dangerous bandits before relaxing she heard them speak. They don't sound that dangerous, a band of mercenaries getting paid, we should make sure to capture the loudmouths. Hotaru didn't hand signal at G but instead shared a look that said what needed to be said, once he understood she would nod.

Once one of the bandits made their way towards the duo, she would put on a charade, she spoke as if she was an experienced merchant with her brutish child. "Well hello, fancy meeting a young chap such as yourself out here in the woods. Me and my son are traveling blacksmiths who perform the odd repair on our long journey across the world." The old woman smiled and nodded then picked one of the hammered kunai from G's belt and revealed it to the bandit. "Look at this craftmanship, now tell me my boy isn't a master at his craft?" She smiled and looked over at her son and nodded.

She would then carefully look at the man, trying to inspect him without giving off too much of an aloof persona, or that she was peering through his soul, this was her jam and she was damn sure not going to mess this up.

---

408

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Vibrothesia
S-Rank Tentaijutsu Discipline
Prerequisite: [Perception]
By training their body to absolute peak, the user is able to sense any vibration within [Will]x4 meters away from their position with the max range being 200, this technique is a form of remote sensing and allows the user to determine if anything is touching or moving about, the hair on their body rises towards where the target is and within their mind's eye a moving image is created of the target, the closer they are the better the image is displayed. Perfect for hunting and pinpointing any slight noise, whether it's stepping to prepare a strike or reinforcement coming from an out-of-sight angle.

[Taiga]

The rest of the black ops group was in the wind- nearby, perched or even underground. Doing what they did best and staying off the radar but ready to help their companions.

As the old granny spoke up, more and more of the "bandits" showed up. In truth, most of the men wore clear insignias of Soul Country, with only a few, the ones who looked a little stronger, unmarked. The one who greeted the pair looked them up and down, and watched as the grandma drew the kunai. Instinctively, he began to draw his sword, but stopped after only a few inches into the draw, putting it back into it's sheath as he bowed his head once. It was interesting, but to him he really didn't see her as anything other than a grandma. Hotaru's acting had done well.

G noted the Hotaru wasn't particularly worried yet. And watched as his mother showed off his weaponry. He cleared his throat and put his hand onto his "hammer", the sack of metals behind him held by his opposite hand. "I tell ya, I could gear your whole- whatever it is you have here!" he said proudly as he flashed a grin, then mimed hitting an anvil with an "air hammer".

Hotaru would be able to see that at least the men before her were of very low risk, if any at all. Just what was going on in Soul Country?

From behind the group the hissing voice of another man came. He yelled out, yet somehow not sounding like a yell, "Bring our guests to the center of camp!"

What would G and B do next?

278

[Trusted Grader]

Hotaru was quick to spot the man drawing his sword, her heart palpitated but her exterior remained the same, she couldn't show that she was afraid, no, instead she let a small chuckle escape. "No need for violence, dearest." Once her son began to speak she would clasp her hands, smile and nod as if the words he had spoken were the most sincere, the two of them knew what it meant to be spies, their words had to hold validity or they would find holes in their speech pattern, this is what they had been drilling for years.

"Yes, yes, my son is the best. We have travelled almost half of the world and we have yet to meet anyone who can compete with him... Well... Save for those bastards in Rock Country." The old lady laughed as she gently nudged G, then turned to face the hissing man. "Ooh, sounds like we have an interested customer Yosuke-Kun, come now." The old lady wrapped her arm around her sons, she used this to "Stabilize" herself, but in reality, she used G's heavy footsteps to sense danger, his steps created enough vibrations that she could probably see the world with her mind's eye but she limited the view to the camp.

Okay, this has to be the leader or someone higher up? Right? This is clearly the man that they asked what the lord was playing him for... This has to be... Wait... These are Soul citizens, but who the hell are the other ones then? This man's whole appearance is very different from the rest... A ninja perhaps? The old lady chuckled and acted a little startled by his tongue. "Oh my, I guess that tongue makes you popular with the ladies heh, I kid I kid. May we have the pleasure of introducing ourselves, I am Manji, Hinata and this is my son Yosuke. The world's greatest traveling blacksmith, because those cheeky bastards in Rock don't travel now do they? Mhm." The old lady gestured as she waved an invisible hammer in the air, she smiled and seemed to take great joy in bragging about their abilities, all the while Hotaru was actually sizing up their enemies and trying to figure out if they should strike now or continue with the charades.

Most of them look easy to take down, but we have to make sure to find the ones worth keeping alive, one wrong move and they might set off an alarm for who knows how deep this runs.

---

422

[Taiga]

The old lady’s somewhat cautious call out would indeed help sell her case and make her all that much more reasonable to the Soul Country samurai who were huddled around them. They swords well in their sheets, they had no issue with the masterful work of the Black Ops operatives before them and were non the wise to them being anyone else but some locals who were proud of their work. After all, Soul Country had maintained it’s independence as an island for a millennia prior to the involvement of these foreign scum.

The first man nodded and grinned, only to be snapped back to the harsh reality of this strange snake man who commanded then. With that, and being whisked off to the group of more intimidating looking individuals to the side. The snake man looked at them, his slit eyes unblinking as he stared as if he was looking through their souls. His tongue licked around the air rapidly, as if it was feeling the air itself.

With her vibrations Hotaru would not notice any traps or things embedded, any hidden individuals, or anything like that. Everything was exactly as their eyes saw it. Straightforward.


The man, as he hissed about, narrowed his eyes. He seemed un interested in the old lady’s banter and he made a hand signal to some of the men off in the camp before cracking his neck. The joke about his tongue and ladies not only didn’t hit, it was a weird joke for an old woman in a conservative world. Though, somewhere in the wind or the ground or wherever the other agents were hiding it did get some giggles- that Black Ops humor.

”Odd place for a pair of black smith…” he paused. More of the men had gathered around the pair. He reached his hand out, asking to try some of the ware will pointing to the bag. Beads of sweat would roll down “Yosuke’s” head. The bag wasn’t real- it was an illusion via ninpou and very much a bat. He grinned, as his mother did her talking. Putting the bag down he reached into his pocket and procured a shuriken instead.

”This is probably better than the scrap metal in that bag- I can make them ninja weapon too, make em better than them ninja.” he said, keeping his composure despite burning up on the inside. They were fucked.

The split-eyed man looked at the pair and pointed once more to the bag.

”The bag.” he said as a few samurai made their way for it. This was going south quick. G had no clue what to do.

---
448

[Trusted Grader]

Hotaru was proud of this little disguise of hers, it seemed to work wonders and made her think about saving it for future uses, especially if it got her inside enemy camps. One can never have too many characters under their bag, huh? Plus, with time I get better at pretending to be the character. The spy was right, though she had to be careful not to overextend certain characters as she could be put on the map.

They continued in and noticed that there were even stronger soldiers, which to her signaled that something was truly up, why else would they gather like this, and why would they surround themselves with a man that doesn't look like he was a native? Sure he could've been a weapon for hire but why would they listen to him and not vice versa? Yeah, something was definitely up.

"Well, I don't know if you heard but there is a great war ongoing, and not to be cold but business has been booming, so the last two years we have been traveling around the world and made a small name of ourselves." Hinata giggled as she looked at the other men, she winked and produced a gold coin. "You know, we could use some protection, the road out there is quite da-" She stopped speaking once the snake man raised his arm, it seemed that he wanted the fake bag, which was not good.

Nothing comes easy around these parts, huh? Well, I hope the backup squad is ready. Hotaru wanted to break character and laugh at the big bad snake man, especially for not understanding the black ops humor but knew better than to let anyone in on the ruse.

Though luckily G was a fast thinker and told him that it was just scrap metal, a lie but still one that she had hoped would sell, though when the man asked for it she would be quick to wave her hands. "Oh come on now, there is no reason to be rude, if you don't want our services then we will be on our merry way. Come, come, let us do business instead." Hinata let go of Yosuke's arm and moved to gently grab the snake man as old ladies do, she gently tried to steer him to walk away so they could talk shop instead.

"I say we should rather focus on the positives in life and not let paranoia get the best of us." Hotaru had already sized up all of the goons, she had now seen what she needed in order to take action but wanted to buy some time for both G and the rest of her operatives, all that mattered now was if the snake man would allow her or if he was dumb enough to attempt to strike her now that she was within a couple of inches from him. She would be able to strike his vital points if he tried anything, Hopefully I can separate him from his team.

---

506

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The Algorithm
S-Rank Discipline Taijutsu
Prerequisite: [Perception]
Through mastering the art of being able to read their subtle movements, readings of emotions and appear to "predict" the outcome of the situation making it appear as if they are reading their minds. In order for this connection to be linked, the user must study the target for 2 posts, gather enough information about the targets behavioural patterns, speech, combat style and etc, it will only work if Hotaru has higher [Perception] than the targets [Stealth]

[Taiga]

Bad move.

The moment the old lady put her arms around Yogori’s arm, the man responded with force. Pulling his legs in he would pull her off balance and exert all his strength in an attempt to throw the old woman to the ground. The second he would be free of her, if he could be, he would reach for his Kama at his side, the chain swinging like whip at Hotaru’s legs.

At that same moment, the guards had closed in on the bag and G, who let out a shrill, ”Fuck!” as he grabbed the bag swinging it into one of the guards in a moment of panic, his costume disappearing as the smoke faded to reveal G and his bat. The sounds of swords drawing and the clattering of rushing foot steps continued.

Meanwhile from the wind the other Black Ops operatives would appear, with C and D showing up first. No sooner then they appeared, would a barrier form around C and D. One of the stronger men at the center of the camps fingers were clasped together.

Something seemed very off from the start to Hotaru, and the truth was, that’s because it was. Her intuition had been correct.


With G now revealed, the shouts of the men “it’s a shinobi!?” Rang out in the camp. It was only a matter of time before the entire group- a small battalion, would encircle the Black Ops operatives. E and F were back at the clearing of the tree, watching from a far with binoculars.

”Shit… B and G are in combat, D, C.. Captures” he said as his voice wavered and broke. ”Fuck, what do we do?”

”B ordered us to keep this back line clear- maybe they can get out.” the two men did all they could- they would stick to their orders and hold their position to make sure there was an escape route maintained. This was the way.

If the others couldn’t get out, well, they had their orders from Banri too. As Black Ops did- they’d kill their own if it meant preventing an enemy from acquiring someone who knew too much.

Meanwhile, G wildly slung his club around, keeping the men whose swords were held high in a circle around him. Things did not look good.

C began to seal- perhaps he could break this barrier.

USEDShow

Judo - Throw
B-Rank Maneuver
A defensive maneuver, if an opponent has grabbed onto Yogori's upper body he will use their hold on him to pull them off-balance while simultaneously moving to grip them. From the off-balance position he will execute the kake throw putting the opponent onto their back. The force of this throw coupled with the surprise of it tends to leave targets weaker than Yogori stunned momentarily.

Dead Pan Tells no Tales
S-Rank Discipline Taijutsu
Prerequisite: [Stealth]
Yogori is extremely capable of masking his emotions and thoughts through the art of a very dry, dead pan delivery. There is no distinguishing tells or things to go on- the man an expert in showing what he wants.

[Trusted Grader]

So she was right, god did she love being right, but that could also entail that she got herself in sticky situations. She hadn't really expected the man to turn violent towards an old lady, who does that? What kind of savage would attempt to throw an old lady to the ground? For there was no way he had seen through her disguise, which had to mean something else didn't it? Strange, strange indeed.

Fortunately, the spy was a master at close-quarter combat, so when the snake man pulled his leg back, she would plant hers forward, and as the snake man lifted his leg to throw her, she would respond by flipping, using the help of his momentum to twirl in the air and land in front of him. Her free hand would already move to counter his counter and punch him in the solar plexus, this was done to weaken him but also get him to release Hotaru, she would kick him and use it to leap in the air.

"The gig is up."

In the air, she would twirl around and toss 4 senbons aimed at the men surrounding G, before sliding next to him, she would push off with her left leg so that she rounded and stood back to back against the burlier man. "Something is definitely up." Hotaru looked around and protected the men back, she spotted how D and C made an appearance and was almost disappointed by the fact that they got captured, the only reason why she wasn't was that someone on this camp clearly had the capabilities of using ninjutsu.

This doesn't make any sense. Hotaru looked around and saw the goon who had his hands together and deduced that he had to be the caster. "D and C are captured, I'm popping and releasing." She used code words so that only G would understand, she said that she would toss a smoke and then make sure to release the two of them from their prison.

With that she tossed a smoke bomb at her feet, crouched down then pulled out her sword as she blitzed toward the castor, she would move in a straight line and cut off his head if he didn't move. Once the move was finished she would reposition herself, or continue her onslaught against the castor in hopes of releasing her comrades. She was glad that E and F were still following orders and didn't engage, for if their escape route was compromised or if reinforcement came and they had no way of dealing with them then they surely would get swamped, surely.

---

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[Wushu • Know Your Enemy]
D-Rank Discipline Taijutsu
Prereq: Medicine
Having extensive experience and knowledge in martial arts and the anatomy, both through first-hand experience and theory, the user has managed to obtain and maintain great overall knowledge of the human body and its workings. This knowledge allows them easily to identify and target weak points, such as the backs of joints, organs, nose, jaw, etc.

[Wushu • Know Your Limits]
D-Rank Discipline Taijutsu
Pre-Requirements: Know Your Enemy, Subtle Movements.
Having extensive knowledge over the human body's limitations, the user has managed to achieve great skill in the art of analyzing how well their own or their opponent's bodies may respond to a given situation, in terms of body length, size, ability, speed, strength. With this technique, one would be aware of how an opponent could respond in battle, such as a situation where the user has the opponent in a choke hold and the opponent may bend their legs to kick back. Although the user must see the target's movement.

[Wushu • Know Your Arsenal]
C-Rank Discipline Taijutsu
Pre-Requirements: Know How to One-Two
The user, after many hours of practice, repetition and conditioning their body and mind, have obtained a high degree of muscle memory. They can shoot off any of their techniques practically at any time when not under special circumstances. They may also respond faster to and almost predict an enemy attack from a slight movement simply due to their understanding and comprehension of the anatomy and Taijutsu itself. This means they may have a chance at counterattack a target with a lot more efficiency, using only the knowledge of their bodies, meaning it'll be a Speed vs Strength situation, not a Strength vs Strength situation.

[Wushu • Know How to Counter]
B-Rank Maneuver Taijutsu
Pre-Requirements: Know How to One-Two
With their high level in the art of manipulating and using their body and also high reflexes and strategic ability, the user has mastered their ability of avoiding quick strikes that come on short notice, finding little to no challenge in side-stepping punches, jumping over kicks, leaning back, among others. The user understands that fights have a tempo and is able to adapt him or herself into said tempo in order to dodge effectively but instead of fully dodging the attacks the user is able to perform a quick counter, using the targets momentum against them. Often aiming for the solar plexus, an area that can cause damage and sustaining pain, (-3 Endurance, -3 Strength) for 5 posts.

Ghost Draw
D-Rank Discipline Taijutsu
Prerequisite: Sword.
The user has mastered the ways of drawing their hidden sword slowly to reduce sound, though at this level the user can only unsheathe the blade without drawing attention.

Ghost Strike
B-Rank Maneuver Taijutsu
Prerequisite: Ghost Draw, Black Wolf, Sword, 25 Speed.
The user crouches down to a three-point stand as they lock in on their target, once their mind is set, they will rush the next [Strength=meters] at top speed and lose the ability to change direction until their strike has either landed or been blocked. This grants the user the ability to vanish as a shadow if the targets speed is lower than the users.

[Taiga]

It would not be so easy to evade the throw of the man. While Hotaru certainly had technique and skill, she was roughly in step with his speed and a tad weaker than him. Though her flipping with his motion would work, she’d find herself not quite with the perfect opportunity to strike him in the solar plexus and pull off her counter attack. This was fine though, as space enough between them was all he could of asked for. The snake man was no push over though, and he would not let Hotaru go help her allies.


Just as quick as she had escaped him, he would swing his sickle and chain at her whipping the blade in a wide diagonal slice that moved with both depth and width that made it hard to just side-step or dodge the attack. When the sickle would pass by her too, if she somehow managed to do something without deflecting it, he’d yank the chain to reverse it right back making another slash at her.


G meanwhile swung his bat as it impacted right into the side of one of the soul country samurai. He crumpled like nothing under the mighty force of G’s attack. It was very clear that the samurai weren’t particularly powerful, nor were they particularly skilled, but these other men seemed to be something more- something on par with the Black Ops shinobi.

While C and D worked to batter at the extremely strong barrier, G locked his eyes on them. With one more mighty swing he had knocked a clearing through the group of men surrounding him enough that he could rush out for the barrier. Before he could swing his mighty spike bat into the barrier though, with blinding speed, someone tackled him, knocking the bat out of his hand as G went flying into the ground.

That someone was almost like a wolf man with the amount of body hair it had, and wore tights. His body was large and extremely powerful. He wore a spandex mask like some kind of wrestler.

G rolled to the side narrowly dodging his stomp, as he continued to stomp at him, all the while more samurai were building up around them.

”We need to scram!” he shouted just as D managed to break through the barrier, his fist covered in lightning. C instantly sprung out kicking the man forming a seal in the face as he stumbled backwards. D would on the other hand leap towards a crowd of samurai as he smashed the ground with his hand, the lightning grounding off of it and towards a group of eight samurai, their swords held high.

The blast of lightning would instantly paralyze the eight men as they dropped to the ground.

He nodded.

”Abor-“ before he could finish his next words a samurai had lunged his blade through D’s chest, his heart coming out on the other side. In a blur of a movement the man’s sword was back in his sheath as if his attack had never transpired.

Among even the samurai were some particularly powerful combatants.

But why attack? Why were they even here?

532

[Trusted Grader]

Entangled Ego
phpBB [video]
Her flip worked, she couldn't believe how well she was at close-quarter combat, well, actually that was a bold face lie, but when she missed the counter strike and kick it did question her prowess, did she need to train some more? One could never be too over-prepared and considering what type of mess they found themselves in right now, she would have to believe that she wasn't really up to scratch. Son of a bitch!

But instead of running away, she would push towards him, if he didn't give her any breathing room then was surely going to regret it, was he really that ignorant to the fact that he was facing down Banri's top agent? Well, how would he know? There was no chance of him knowing that right? Though he still attacked her, even though she appeared like a granny. Something is wrong here!

Hotaru would pull out her scissor blades, one sword per hand, and block the chain with her right, side-step and block the kama with her left before flipping into the air, interlocking the two swords and forming them into her gunblade, shooting two shots towards the snake man before pushing off from the branch. Seeing as he wouldn't allow her to escape, she would focus on fighting the man head-on. "Anyone aborting dies!" She answered G before pushing towards the snake man.

She would land low and attempt to avoid any more strikes from the chained kama, her focus was now to slash towards him and shoot him whenever he attempted to dodge, and seeing as she had already shot two senbons that would mean that she could do it four more times before she was forced to reload. All of this was incredibly frustrating for Hotaru as she didn't like the idea that she couldn't assist her comrades and instead was forced to deal with the man who knew too much.

No matter how she twisted the info, she just couldn't believe that a man of his stature could see through her lies, was it because G was sweating? No, that couldn't be, for it could've been blamed on the heat and carrying the heavy bag. Hotaru gritted her teeth as she continued to slash at the snake man, shot and low sweep at him. All her focus was on him until she felt how D was pierced within her mind's eye due to the Vibrothesia, she wanted to scream out but knew that if she took her eyes off the man in front of her then she would get punished.

"No one leaves!" Hotaru's ego was getting entangled in this mess, which was not good, she needed to know how and why they were in this mess. These goons knew more than they let on, their formations, and their attack patterns seemed to indicate that they knew they were on the way. How!? Hotaru not being able to get an attack on this man frustrated her, her algorithm technique told her a lot about his fighting style, and he almost seemed to be the perfect counter to her, which again, begged the question, HOW!?

---

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Gunblade shoots senbon at 35 Speed/Strength

Reckless Abandon
B-Rank Discipline Taijutsu
Prerequisite: Switch it Up
This is an upgraded version of Switch it Up, which allows the user to switch between all of her weapons mid-combo and change some of her styles without stopping to suit the needed tactic, such as starting a fight with Wushu, then tossing senbons at close range to finish up with a knife strike or nun-chuck combo.

Intimidation
B-Rank TenTaijutsu Discipline
Prerequisite: [Perception], [Ridgid body]
The user uses their physical posture and voice to intimidate their foes, if their target is within strengthx2 meters with max being 60 meters, if they are within those parameters then they can sense the user's aura which can cause them to be intimidated by the user if their will is lower than theirs. This technique can be used as long as it doesn't exceed their Endurance/5 posts.

[Taiga]

As Hotaru blocked the first kama strike with her sword blade, the clattering sound of steel rang out into the air with a screech. The Kama went off past her to the side as she flipped into the air to turn it into a gun blade. She’d make two shots at the man; but she had also left herself open to his yank-back as the Kama would slide by her back towards the man slicing her leg. The cut was not superficial, but it wasn’t deep or too dangerous.

Pulling his Kama back the man would seemingly channel a gust of wind over his body; it wasn’t strong enough to fully block the Senbon, but it was enough to weaken them to a point that his armor did the rest and the Senbon fell to the ground. He wouldn’t stop his pursuit- all of Hotaru’s flips and jumps, while cool, put her in the air and made her more vulnerable.

G was now swinging at some samurai again, doing his best to get to D, as C was as-well. The Fuuin on D, would do it’s job in erasing any signs of his allegiances to Kumogakure and the Blacks, from kekkei Genkai genetic destruction down to burning his prints, warping his teeth, and modifying him. This, was the way. As a final act his body would light on fire- and G and C knew this. Carefully they defended, guarded, and counter-attacked a group of samurai as they skirted towards the body of C.

The man who had killed D and the barrier ninja were closing in on them too. Both men flash-stepped to the side just as D’s corpse incinerated itself managing to catch a few samurai on fire.

G shouted, ”Intel first!” reminding B they weren’t here to slaughter or kill. Not leaving wasn’t the plan. Moments later G and C would be fully engaged by the two powerful opponents, to wrapped up to do anything else.

Back to the snake man, the further shots towards the man would similarly do nothing with his defenses, though one rogue Senbon managed to bounce off his armor and slice his pants near the pocket, causing a scroll to fall out.

He didn’t notice it.

His Kama now retracted all the way back to his hand from his back-slice, he began to spin it like a shield out in front of him before throwing it for Hotaru again, waiting for the moment she was close to him and had the least amount of timing to dodge.

426

[Trusted Grader]

Sloppy... Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy!

Hotaru couldn't believe it, she had done so well up until now, she couldn't believe that the man had one-upped her, that no matter how well she could read angles, how she could see what he did, how she could read his very muscle movements, that she could see the chain and the Kama through vibrations, she still, somehow, got surprised by him.

None of this makes any sense!

Hotaru was right, even the way they fought seemed to take her by surprise, how was she going to call herself number one if she got upstaged by some loser with a snake tongue? It was almost embarrassing and if not for the fact that she was on a mission she'd probably hand up her robes and call it a quit, what was that? How could she not have gone through with her attack the way she saw it in her mind's eye? Why was everything she did failing?

It didn't tear any ligaments, shit...

She felt the pain of the Kama slicing her leg, fortunately she could still stand on it, though now her mind was obsessed with revenge, that was until G told her that information was what they were after and not to slaughter them, she had lost herself in the sauce. It severely bugged her that the snake man knew so much about their fighting style, the way they moved, and the way they thought it seemed.

No matter how much she tried to read his mind she didn't seem to be able to penetrate his skull, cursing under her breath the spy would take notice of the scroll that fell out of his pocket, though due to circumstances she couldn't just grab it and now that she was bleeding, things got worse, could she even escape with her soldiers if she wanted to? They would be able to follow the blood trail and that would be no bueno.

I am just a pawn.

Hotaru tossed a flash note in front of them, she closed her left eye as she made it go off, opened the right and closed the left as she couldn't see out of it, rolled, grabbed the scroll then pushed off the ground and off the tree branch. "Scatter!" She ordered G and C to run as she tossed a smoke bomb at their feet, she would rush towards E and F, and tossed them the scroll before continuing in another direction.

"Don't worry about me, make sure G and C make it out." Hotaru gritted her teeth, she could no longer move at top speed, but that wouldn't matter, what mattered was that they now had intel for Banri, their lives were meant to be forfeited anyway.

---

459

1 flash and 1 smoke.

[Taiga]

Hotaru would successfully be able to grab the scroll as her flash blinded those immediately round her. The snake mans tongue flickered wildly in the air as he got a sense for where Hotaru was, only for her smoke to then block his ability to smell and taste his way through the air. Swinging his kama back into his hand he'd yell, "Stop them!" As the soldiers who were not inside the smoke or flash radius would try to chase down Hotaru.

Meanwhile, and perhaps somewhat oddly, snake man and the others would seemingly retreat, leaving only the samurai of soul to continue the fight- not that the Blackops operatives would notice anytime soon. It'd take minutes if not more to realize they were no longer being pursued by the dangerous men in the camp, who seemed to stand still in the smoke and flash.

Meanwhile, two samurai would lunge for Hotaru with ferocious speed trying to tackle her.

The other Black Ops operatives would more or less make it to the tree clearing, give or take a few altercations and fist fights along the way.

[Trusted Grader]

Hotaru always noticed things, whether they appeared small or not, but that came with a heavy price, the heavy use was starting to drain her chakra and the further away she got from the snake man the worse things got for her as she had to crank her ability up to eleven. She had managed to sneak the scroll and toss it to one of her comrades but took note that two samurai were giving chase.

Their speed was out of this world as they seemingly caught up to Hotaru, who was quick to form a set of hand seals, stop then turn to face them. The first samurai would tackle her to the ground, and the old lady would squirm as he wrestled her in his mind's eye, in real life, the spy would leap over him, kick the second one on the collarbone, and push herself up into a flip, she would toss multiple senbon to end their lives as she would then land and take a look around.

Hopefully, she was left alone, which would give her enough time to reorganize herself. "Status rapport. Hotaru would repeat as she moved towards their rendezvous, they had lost many soldiers but the war wasn't over, there was much to once-over and she was going to the bottom of things, one way or another.

---

MetaShow

Doppelganger
D-Rank Illusion Genjutsu
Prereq: Sight Init.
After forming a set of hand seals, Hotaru attempt to block an incoming attack, if the target sees her attempt to block the incoming attack then a clone created by a swarm of Fireflies will appear in her place,. This clone functions as a simple clone, created fake that the clone "takes" damage. The clone only completes the defense transaction and once the clone has been struck it will immediately puff into scattering fireflies, this genjutsu is merely used to distract the target while the real body attempts to evade the incoming attack. Last 1 post.

[Taiga]

As the others got ahead and the group broke off from each, the samurai would smile as they got their tackle in on Hotaru- only to soon after feel pressure and the dull thuds of the senbon as it penetrated their neck veins, blood spurting everywhere. Gargling, they stood up, and wandered towards Hotaru whose Genjutsu was broken by her fatal attack. The first samurai would fall to the ground barely able to get his hand on his blade. The second would draw, while holding his bleeding neck and gurgling, and swing haphazardly at Hotaru, though ultimately miss as he stumbled to the ground.

She called for a status report but... something was off.

"We- ssscakaa....."

Static came through on the line. Nothing but static. And then silence. Something was horribly wrong- it was as if they were doomed from the start... but worse, why were the soldiers of Soul Country amassing a strong force... with those even on par with shinobi?

What could it all mean...

The barking of dogs went out into the air as the sound of boots and armor shuffling filled the air. Hotaru needed to move, fast.

[Trusted Grader]

Hotaru was glad that her counter worked as she didn't want to waste too much energy or time on fighting these samurai, not when the mission might be jeopardized, her plan had half worked, see, Hotaru expected that more of them would come after her. Thankfully she used the time to check in, but unfortunately what little she could pick up gave her almost no clue what they said, panic wanted to take control, but her training had taught her well to stay calm.

That was until she heard the dogs bark and off she was, leaping from branch to branch, calling for the next protocol into dead air. "Dogs have been deployed, scatter." Anger started to take over, how were they able to pinpoint them this well, what was actually going on and why did it seem like she had a massive target on her head? Either someone must have leaked intel... Or?

She hoped that they safeguarded the scroll, otherwise, her distraction would've been a total bust, although the chasing dogs told her that she was nothing other than not chased. She wanted to laugh, because if she was about to be cornered and killed then at least she would want to do it while laughing.

[Taiga]

Hotaru would manage to evade capture as she leapt through the trees. The samurai, though great warriors, had nothing on her agility and ability to slip into the shadows. Even their dogs were like children in comparison... and though their noses and senses could point the samurai in her direction they'd have little luck keeping up or catching up before the scent all but faded into the surroundings.

Hotaru's persistent attempts to contact the others would be all but futile, each attempt met with nothing but static on the line. They were most likely captured or dead... who knew. Either way, whatever scroll they had would never make it's way back to Lightning Country.

Regardless of the scroll though one thing was certain: at least one survivor who saw things with their own eyes and perhaps had their own sneaking suspicions something wasn't right would make it out.

[Fini - Thread End]