[Mission] Through the Fire and Flames

[Willoria]

Aina visibly blushed as Kazuo replied to her mutter, mentally chiding herself. ’Goddamn Inuzuka ears… how the hell did I forget about that?’ she thought to herself, momentarily remembering all the embarrassing moments with Masami when she would mutter something and the girl would hear her thanks to those damn ears of hers.

Of course, none of that lasted long when Kazuo set off the explosion. ”SHIT!” Aina spared hardly a glance towards the beast to see if it was following before she tore after Kazuo and Koji, running as fast as she could though it wasn’t quite as fast as Kazuo.

”Seriously, Kazu?! We couldn’t get some distance BEFORE you detonated that?!” she shouted after him.

[Sanjuro]

Really? Really!? They were clearly running for their lives and she wanted to berate him now!? "Well I wasn't exactly thinking about that now was I!? There was a giant monster thing quite possibly ready to turn and eat us at any minute and I just acted, okay!?" Once they were safely out of range of the flying debris, Kazuo came to a halt and dropped Koji to the ground, who was unsteady on his legs for a moment before he quickly turned and bit Kazu in the hand. The Inuzuka yelped and snatched his hand to his chest. "Ow! Oi, you little shite! Be thankful I even brought you with me. You aint a pup anymore, you're bloody heavy!"

He shook his hand a few times, the bite hadn't drawn blood, but it had still hurt. Turning his attention back to Aina, he shrugged. "And besides, we're alive aren't we? The monster is trapped, we're alive, and we can finish this bloody mission and go home. All in all, I'd call this a pretty good plan." With that, Kazu shook his ponytail behind him with a flourish and started marching back towards the forest, making sure to go around the destroyed village. It was a longer trip but he had no desire to go through that devastation again.

It wouldn't take long to get back to the original point they had left the forest from, given they had the giant footprints to lead them back so he didn’t have to try and backtrack his own scent. Taking to the treetops, he used the aerial highway to bypass the site of the massacre as well, though the smell permeated the forest at this point. He pinched his nose shut until they were back at the camp, where the smell of the dying fires and smoke were enough to drown out the blood at least a little. "Okay, so, what were we looking for again? Something to tell us what these guys were up to, right?"

[Willoria]

Aina couldn’t help a smirk as they stopped and Koji bit Kazuo. As Kazuo huffed off towards the encampment, Aina looked down at the dog and chuckled. ”If you bite him in the ass, I’ll get you a steak, or whatever you want.” she told Koji before turning and following Kazuo. She knew he probably heard her remarks to Koji but didn’t much care this time at least.

She hated the smells that permeated the air as they walked, but seeing Kazuo pinch his nose reminded her just how sensitive his and Koji’s noses must have been, and she resolved to not let herself be too affected by it again, if only because they had it so much worse. She was happy once they were back in the encampment though, and safe and sound it would seem. ”Yeah, there has to be something around here. Maybe their leader’s tent? Probably somewhere towards the middle where he or she would have thought they were safest, we’ll see what we can find.” she stated as she activated her eyes yet again, taking a look around until she saw what looked like a rather large tent that had once been very comfortable. ”Over there.”

Aina jogged over to it, stepping around some debris and moving tent flaps around as she started searching for anything. Maybe a map that showed some kind of plan?

[Niro]

The monster lizard's head turned and it's eyes blinked as the explosions went off and trapped it in the pass. It slowly lumbered up to the collapsed rocks and nudged it with its ridged head. It didn't move. The beast snorted as he backed up and ran forward, smashing its head against the cave in.

The only thing that happened was more rocks joined the pile. Tina shook off the blows off the rocks and raised back her claws which she then used to attack the wall. They gouged the rocks and displaced some. It seemed this method was better than using her head...

And with that, she got to work.

---

Aina would find some plans. Well, the remains of one. It seemed the group was trying to infiltrate Konoha after hearing about it's supposed weakness after the invasion. They had set up camp to test the defenses but it seemed the defenses were stronger than ever and it was proving to be too difficult to continue their plans. They were a day away from abandoning their plan and reporting back to their superiors.

Now the trio just had to return home.

[Sanjuro]

Kazuo shrugged and followed Aina into the tent. He was good at sniffing out people, not paper. He stepped into the tent and started to rummage around on the opposite side to the Hyuuga, Koji waiting outside with his usual instructions of 'bark if there's trouble'. It took a bit of flinging things around but he finally found some remains of important-ish looking documents. He shrugged and pocketed them before turning to Aina. "You find much, all I got was some crap about testing Konoha's defences. I mean, really, how stupid do you have to be to try that?"

He started on his way out after listening to whatever Aina found, running his hand along Koji's head as he passed the pup. The Inuzuka looked back towards the site of the massacre and the destroyed village with a heavy sigh. He still didn't feel right about abandoning the hunt but at least they had it trapped for the time being. Reaching up to scratch the back of his head, he forced the thoughts from his mind and looked in the direction of the village. "I guess it's time to get this back to the boss and see what he wants to do. Probably find the damn thing and ride it. Crazy bastard."

[Willoria]

Aina found a map with a few places marked for supposed weaknesses, which made Aina chuckle. So they had been looking for weaknesses that didn't exist huh? Fruitless effort, and all their effort got them was eaten. While she still despised the violence she didn't feel quite as bad about the fact that the bad guys got eaten.

She rolled up the map and stepped out of what was left of the tent, nodding in reply to what Kazuo said about returning, and of course chuckling at his comment. "Probably. I swear to god if I see that thing again and he's riding it.... I'll find a way to slap him for it. I don't care if he does throw me out another window for it." she replied, turning in the direction of the village. "Let's get back quickly."