[Plotboard] A Bad Time, A Bad Place

User avatar
Golnax
Posts: 1498
Joined: Fri Dec 30, 2016 7:00 pm

[Plotboard] A Bad Time, A Bad Place

Post by Golnax » Thu Mar 08, 2018 9:54 pm

The air was cold. Very cold, and getting colder. The mist encroached from all around, cutting off visibility and dulling the senses. There in the middle of that hovel of a town, were five ninja stood facing one another with a growing number of villagers moving between them, two of them were unaware of just the sort of horror they had stumbled into. As the Inuzuka leaped over the line of villagers and his companion dashed under their legs, perhaps imagining that a conflict would erupt between he and the three opposing shinobi immediately after issuing his ultimatum, all seemed to go still for a moment. Rather than begin to fight brutality with brutality, the three ninja instead leaped away into the encroaching fog, all going in different directions and vanishing silently, the only warning of their movement being a smile from the blond haired, pale eyed one of the trio. This left Kazuo and his canine ally alone in a growing fog, with a group of villagers at his back between him and Yosuke.

"We did so try to warn you," came the voice of one of the villagers who had yet to turn to face the crouching Inuzuka.

"We tried so hard to shake you off of our trail, going so far as to leave the country in the hopes that you wouldn't pursue us any further..." came the voice of a woman, continuing to speak right as the first villager finished speaking as though the two of them were one, which at the moment they might as well have been. Shadows began to emerge from the mist on all sides, taking the shapes of people, slowly encircling the two shinobi at the center of the now foggy village.

"Now, you leave us no choice but to end you. Despair, for you face the legion of the damned. Neither of you will leave this place alive..." spake the voice of the child who had spoken before. Then, as one, the group of villagers who were standing behind Kazuo turned to face him, the short distance between the group and the shinobi making it so that they could see one another although the Inuzuka wouldn't be able to see his comrade through the fog. Similarly, Yosuke would find a small group of villagers stepping forward through the fog towards him, coming within visible range. Should either of the Konoha ninja look upon these villagers, they would be struck with an abnormal sight. It would take some doing to notice in the fog, but once it was spotted it would be unmistakable. The faces of the villagers, their bodies as a whole - they were off somehow. A close, thorough inspection would reveal that they did not blink, their eyes wide and staring forward at the two shinobi. Their skins were smooth, but cracks ran through them. Their hair was too perfect, the shape of their faces too round and shaped too properly, too uniformly. The characteristics of natural human flaws seemed all but removed from their faces and their blank stares, replaced instead with the visage of porcelain dolls.

"We are Legion. This is Hell," the villagers all spoke as one, their mouths unmoving and yet their voices very clearly coming from them. As one, they would reach into their pockets or behind their backs, pulling out crude at best weapons - kitchen knives, hand held gardening tools, even a few kunai here and there although they were far from the finely sharped tools the ninja used but were instead the gardening tools that commoners were allowed to have. Their weapons drawn, the villagers would begin to step forward towards the shinobi while other shadows began to take shape in the fog. More were coming.

Not far away, but far enough that they would not be seen or heard through the fog, the Yamanaka opened his eyes and let out a sigh, bringing his hand up to his throbbing head and resting his forehead against the heel of his palm. It was a strain to control so many people at once like that, he couldn't keep it up for more than a few seconds. He looked up from where he sat on the ground, hidden away by the mist from their enemies and looked up at his silent companion, who stood with his arms crossed on the roof of the building behind him, staring intently out through the fog in the direction of the center of the village as if he could still see their opponents.

"That magic touch of yours sure is helpful," he said quietly. "So is this mist. If it weren't for those, this illusion would be a lot harder to pull off..." He went quiet, listening to his companions thoughts as was the only way the two of the communicated. He let out a sigh and nodded his head, leaning his back against the building he was sat against. "Yeah, I can keep it up. I'm only here for a minute to rest after that big show, I'll have a pair of eyes there in a few seconds. Murai should be buying us some time as it is with his genjutsu. Just let me know what I need to do and when I need to do it, and you can count on me to get it done."

There was no verbal reply from the giant of a man, as there usually wasn't. A cold chill had settled into the air and it was spreading, just like the mist. The intimidating man kept his eyes peeled and focused, watching without truly seeing the events that were unfolding in the center of the town while also keeping tabs on Murai's location. His blade was once again sheathed on his back and his arms were crossed over his chest. The game had begun...

User avatar
Sanjuro
Posts: 3130
Joined: Fri Jul 02, 2010 8:00 pm
Location: Australia

[Plotboard] A Bad Time, A Bad Place

Post by Sanjuro » Fri Mar 09, 2018 9:05 pm

Before he had a chance to follow up on his threats, the trio vanished into the encroaching mist and Kazuo was being pressed in on all sides by the demented civilians. He glanced left and right, watching as they moved to surround him, all of them gormless, staring blankly but with weapons drawn and ready to kill him. Maybe Yosuke was right, maybe these people would be a hinderance, but Kazuo wasn't willing to kill people that had been manipulated and tortured into doing something against their will.

He tried to find the scent of his prey through the crowd, which should have been easy, but it was like something was dampening the smell. Sound was strange as well. It was like he was underwater, everything was muffled beyond his immediate vicinity. All he could hear was the shuffling of cloth, the slow shamble of feet, and blade being wielded poorly. With a feral growl, he barked out an order for Koji to run, before sucking in a deep breath and mentally apologizing for what he was about to do to these people.

Opening his mouth, Kazuo's throat and lungs burned as he screamed so loudly that the sound was nothing more than a high-pitched whining. To most, it was an annoyance. To animals and people like Kazuo and the spider-bastard Yosuke, it was like an explosion going off inside their head. The real purpose of it however was immediately apparent. The soundwaves carried a force to it beyond what a normal human could ever hope to muster. The mist would be parted and the people surrounding him would find themselves feeling like that had been blast with a powerful gust of wind, strong enough to possibly bowl them over.

Once the path was clear, Kazuo would suck in a deep breath through his nose and try to find the scent of the closest of the trio while Koji began the trek to return to his side, having had to outrun the sound blast.
Techniques Being UsedShow
Used last thread, still in effect for 4 posts.

[Four-Legged Technique • Warwolf]
B-Rank Ninjutsu
An advancement on the standard Four-Legged Technique. After performing the necessary hand seals, Kazuo will flood his system with chakra and take on a more canine appearance. His pupils will become nothing more than slivers, his teeth will sharpen and his canines will extend into full-blown fangs, his nails extend into razor-sharp claws, and he will be able to travel faster on all fours. He will also have a slight increase in muscle mass, most obviously noticeable in his upper body. While active, this technique increases Kazuo's Strength by 5 and Speed by 4, although this comes at the cost of -9 Control over his chakra for 5 posts.

[Bark]
A-Rank Taijutsu Manoeuvre
Prerequisite: 35 Strength, [Heavenly Body Control]
Kazuo takes a deep breath before letting out an incredibly loud and high pitched battle cry. This sound carries for a number of meters equal to Kazuo's Taijutsu/2 at a speed equal to Kazuo's Taijutsu/2; the shockwave of sound strong enough to cause the ground to shake and push people, objects, and particulates back as if struck by a physical force equal to 2/3rds of Kazuo's Strength. Against people with naturally enhanced hearing or currently employing a focused hearing technique, this technique can rupture the eardrum causing bleeding and deafness.

[Predator's Instinct • Primal Nose]
B-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
After utilizing his nose and training his sense of smell for so long, Kazuo has become able to tap his sense of smell to its most refined and most bestial. Kazuo is able to pick out the most common scents and focus on the freshet ones in an area of 10 meters around him. By doing this Kazuo is able to tell the amount of individual humans, animals or creatures and the most intense smells of each person, including if they were injured or if they were tired by gauging sweat levels. Kazuo can then track these groups of scents with relative ease.

[Predator's Instinct • Faint Scent]
C-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
Inhaling deeply of a specific scent and focusing on it, Kazuo becomes able to track this scent over great distances. Faint scents are the layered, complicated scents such as sweat, sparks, treated wood and oftentimes are hard to distinguish even for canines. During the tracking of these scents it is often hard for Kazuo to focus on other things and he can easily lose the scent, so avoiding combat is required. Targets must have been standing in the area Kazuo begins tracking them from for at least a post or a scenting object such as a personal object must be used to begin tracking. Water, wind and strong scents do not inhibit this level of tracking individually, but when used together they will block scent.
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


User avatar
TyDie
Posts: 7360
Joined: Sat Apr 27, 2013 8:00 pm
Location: Manassas VA

[Plotboard] A Bad Time, A Bad Place

Post by TyDie » Fri Mar 16, 2018 7:27 pm

The mist encroached on their position with surprising speed, before Yosuke knew what was happening the two Konoha shinobi were surrounded in a thick blanket of mist that obscured not just vision, but smell and sound as well. So this was the infamous 'Kirigakure jutsu'... It was the first time he had experienced it himself, but ANBU reports gave him some idea of what this jutsu was capable of. Truth be told, it was one of Yosuke's greatest weaknesses; suppressing his senses crippled him. "Not good... I'm no good with the nonlethal side of things dog man, you've got about 5 seconds to do something with these guys before I turn this into a blood ba-"

As he heard Kazuo inhale deeply, he could tell something bad was about to go down, but he had no idea what. And then a moment later, that roar caused his hands to instantly jolt to his ears, his head reeling back in pain as the blast rang out. "God... Damn! Warn a guy next time!? Shit..." He took a moment to clean his ear out, then saw the effects of the blast. "Good, let's get out of this mist!" He'd dart through the parted mist, sniffing the air as he moved and feeling through the air to find whoever he could.
JutsuShow
[Spider's Scent]
A-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
Spider's release chemicals in the air that other spiders can smell very easily at long distances to ward off competition or attract mates. Knowing this, Yosuke has honed his sense of smell to the level of the spider. His sense of smell is so keen that he can pick up the smell of rotting flesh from 200 meters away. Of course, few things stink that much, so for the average scents like the smell of a human, the range is limited to 20 meters. This allows him to tell the direction of a smell, as well as how close they are based on the potency of their scent.

[Spider Sense]
S-Ranked Taijutsu Discipline
Prerequisite: [Spider's Touch]
Taking his senses a step farther than even the spider colony's senses, Yosuke has developed such a powerful sense of touch that he no longer needs to be touching the same surface as someone else to feel their movements. The very air is displaced when something moves within it, if only briefly and faintly, but that slight displacement is enough for Yosuke to pinpoint a moving target's location within 20 meters of him.
Active Characters
Village of OriginCharacter Name & LinkRankColor
Sunagakure no SatoHenrin EmiGenin[color=darkgoldenrod][b][/b][/color]
Konohagakure no SatoIbakuro AiyaChuunin[color=#8CD600][/color]
Sunagakure no SatoKouseki TakumaGenin[color=#003893][b][/b][/color], [b][color=#AFBCDB][/color][/b]
Kirigakure no SatoKazuki RyuChuunin[color=#dc143c][/color], [b][color=#C71585][/color][/b]
Iwagakure No SatoHiraku KenjiBannin S-Rank Missing Ninja[b][color=slategray][/color][/b]
Iwagakure No SatoFukusha JinsaiJounin[color=#BF0000][/color], [b][glow=orangered][color=#000000][/color][/glow][/b]

User avatar
Golnax
Posts: 1498
Joined: Fri Dec 30, 2016 7:00 pm

[Plotboard] A Bad Time, A Bad Place

Post by Golnax » Sun Mar 18, 2018 8:52 pm

Kazuo's mighty bark would do it's job and do it well, the mist around him in a 15 meter area clearing up as it was pushed away from him. The villagers, still under the influence of the three shinobi, would all stop dead in their tracks and move their hands up to their ears, some dropping their weapons, others holding onto them tightly as they tried to save their eardrums from the assault they were receiving. Some of the villagers fell onto the ground limp while others fell to their knees. With their doll-like appearances, they all looked as if they were marionettes who's strings had been cut, the puppeteer being a bit too quick to pull his hand back from the sudden loss of control. No sooner had the bark ended that the mist began to encroach once more, slowly creeping forward to fill in the empty space that had been forced upon it. They had a limited window before they were both blanketed in fog once more.

The two tracking ninja's noses wouldn't lie to them, the powerful scents of smells each letting them know of the trail of the three shinobi that they sought who had all been in the area only a few moments before. There was no visual sign of them, though, and their noses would reveal that each of the three of them had rushed off into a separate direction before the scent would be lost to the mist, to be picked up again once the two of them actually followed it through the mist. One scent trail lead due north at 12:00. Another was angled off at 9:30 while the last was angled off towards 5:30. Three directions, three choices. How to choose?

However the two of them chose to pursue their prey, they would leave the villagers behind writhing in seemingly silent agony on the ground, still clutching their heads and staring off blankly into the mist all around them, unable to stare at anything else with those perfect, porcelain faces that they all wore.

Yosuke's trip through the fog would be a relatively short one, as the mist surrounded him and dulled his senses once more, cutting off even his awareness of his partner on this mission if the two of them chose to go in separate directions. The sparsely populated buildings and ground level hovels would seemingly give way to thick forest, trees rising up through the mist and rushing towards him as he moved forward, following the scent as best as he could through the senses dulling mist. The forest would then give way to walls and then more buildings, buildings that the spidery ninja would find familiar. It might take a few seconds to click in his head, but he would invariably recognize this scene as the buildings he had been past many times in his life: suddenly, Yosuke was in Konoha.

It was exactly as he had last seen it, with only a few major differences. There were no people around, not Kazuo, not his canine companion, only himself. The other major difference was the mist which still hung heavily in the air around him, keeping his senses dulled compared to what they should have been. As he'd continue to run through the familiar streets of his own village, past the empty alleyways and seemingly abandoned streets, there would be one building that would stick out to him, one that felt out of place by virtue of being. A hospital. An old hospital. One that didn't exist anymore, and yet there it stood in the mist, right where it had once been, as it had once been. The hospital that was in Konoha before Yaku and Enma invaded the village and burned it down. Yosuke would be drawn to this building as if by a magnet, the void-like pull of it's dark windows and doors seemingly grabbing onto him and ushering him forward as though it were a place he belonged. Would he give in to the urge to see what lie behind the doors?

Kazuo and Koji's run through the mist would seem long and endless, the pair of faithful companions following the trail that Kazuo had picked him after unleashing his titanic bark to the best of their abilities through the mist. The group of manipulated villager-dolls were seemingly long behind them, as were the buildings that had been present at the center of the village. Far behind them were the subterranean hovels that people called homes and far behind him was Yosuke, if the pair of candid canine ninja chose to separate from him. All that was left to them was the omnidirectional mist, bearing down on them like a cool, oppressive blanket that limited their senses only to what was in front of them, dictating that the two continue to follow the trail; the only thing that they had to hold on to in terms of finding the ninja they were looking for.

Eventually, the trail would lead to some sparse trees that quickly became a thick forest, the trees rushing forward towards them through the mist like dark lines in a barcode that rose up into the obscured, foggy sky and beyond. Eventually, the pair would come across a rather large log cabin in the middle of these woods. It was plain but serviceable looking with no decorations and no apparent yard of any sort, no sign of any sort of human interaction aside from the fact that it appeared to be there in the first place. It's general shape could be made out easily enough in the mist, but the pair would need to move around in order to get a more proper layout of the building itself. Should the pair chose to inspect it, a deep sense of dread would come over them, a feeling of something being off about this building without any particular suspicion as to what might be causing the feeling in the first place. More than that, though, the sight of the building would trigger a deeper, more instinctual feeling for the pair of highly instinct driven ninja, a feeling that would be all too familiar and primal:

They were being watched.

Murai collapsed against the side of one of the buildings, panting heavily and slumping down to the ground. He'd just rushed around the buildings at the center of the would-be-village at the orders of the Yamanaka who had transferred orders from the Aisu via some telepathic jutsu. Immediately after re-positioning himself through the fog, he'd followed through with his orders and executed a string of genjutsu that had ultimately proved to be taxing on his chakra, hence his current exhaustion. The illusions that he was being asked for were complex and grand, the sort that he could perform but couldn't maintain for a very long amount of time. It didn't help that he didn't actually know what the two ninja were seeing at the moment either, so he couldn't actually let the other two know so that they could plan accordingly. To him, this whole thing felt like a big gambit...

'How're you holding up over there?' came the voice of the Yamanaka in his head, once again utilizing that telepathic link of his. Murai let out a huff. He didn't like being alone in this mist, even if he knew that the other two weren't far away and the three of them were working together to coordinate and keep their enemies busy. The mist made even him feel uneasy... "I'm bushed! How the hell do you think I am after a string of genjutsu like that!?" he said aloud, knowing that the Yamanaka could hear him.

'You're sure that the genjutsu took?'

"How should I know? I can't see them so I can't tell if they were caught or not. If they picked up on our scents then yeah, they did. Wouldn't our silent friend be able to tell if they weren't?"

'Not necessarily, no. He's just as blind as we are in this mist, but he's using other means to track the Konoha ninja from what I understand. It may be fairly safe to say that your jutsu worked since we haven't been discovered yet, but we'll wait a couple of minutes more to be sure.'

Murai let out another huff and hung his head low, reaching a hand up and running it through his hair. "If the genjutsu stuck, we'll know about it soon enough. Tell tall, dark and quiet that I don't actually know what it is they're seeing. I'm not a mind reader like you are. I only know that the genjutsu that they may or may not be under is an invocation of some of their deepest, darkest fears. We'll know if it took soon enough by how they react... if our silent party can actually track them in all of this, he'll know by how they behave. But as for me? I'm done for a bit. I've done my part, and my chakra's wiped! I need to rest if I'm going to cast anything else. Just let me know if I need to move again, alright?"

'I'll keep you posted,' the Yamanaka said, going quiet in Murai's head to relay the information to the Aisu member of their party. Murai let out a sigh and let his head rest against the building wall, feeling a shiver run up his spine at the thought of what the two ninja might be seeing in the mist right now, resting up for the event that he needed to use even more genjutsu soon...

User avatar
Sanjuro
Posts: 3130
Joined: Fri Jul 02, 2010 8:00 pm
Location: Australia

[Plotboard] A Bad Time, A Bad Place

Post by Sanjuro » Mon Mar 19, 2018 2:53 pm

Kazuo started running after Yosuke, offering him no words but a feral, toothy grin at his complaint about the sudden noise. As far as he was concerned it was payback for the spider-bastards constant bad attitude. He was glad that it had been so effective as to deal with these civilians turned puppets without permanently harming any of them though. It meant Yosuke had no reason to give in to his apparent murderous tendencies. Taking off at a run after picking up the same trail as Yosuke, he paused for just long enough to perform some hand seals and transform Koji into an exact replica of himself in his current stat, boosted strength and all. The pair turned to keep following Yosuke only to find he had vanished into the mist. Growling, Kazuo picked up the scent and began running once more.

And he ran. And ran. And ran. The mist made following the scent damn near impossible and finally when he thought he had found something it was… trees? A forest? How far had he moved from the village? He leapt forward, bounding from branch to branch of the darkened wood, feeling a sense of unease wash over him as he delved further into the mist. The scent trail was faint but led him to a cabin. It was small, unassuming, more like a resting place for a woodsman than any kind of lived in home. He dropped from the trees and began to approach, signalling for Koji to circle around, when he felt the hairs on his arms and the back of his neck stand on end. A chill ran down his spine and his stomach sank. Something was very wrong here.

A kunai found its way into his hand and before he even stopped to really think about it he turned and threw. The blade vanished into the mist, Kazuo watching it, listening for its trajectory and the accompanying howl of pain he was expecting but… nothing. The mist dampened the sound and it looked like he missed. Or no one was there to begin with. But he was sure… Another chill down his spine and he turned and bared his fangs, ready to howl at the one sneaking up on him, but found nothing but the log cabin, looming over him, shrouded in mist and shadow.

Someone was watching him.

Whistling shrilly to call Koji to his side, he pulled a flash tag from his pouch and lifted it skyward, igniting it as he closed his eyes. While the flash blinded whoever was watching him he would quickly summon up some basic clones and direct all of them to run off in different directions while he and Koji leapt back into the tree-line, this time moving silently, trying to turn this predator into prey.
Techniques UsedShow
Koji: ~[Shadow Beast-Man Form]
B-Rank Ninjutsu
Taking the Beast Man Form jutsu a step farther, the Shadow Beast-Man Form technique is utilized by the Ninken. After their Inuzuka partner has completed the hand seals, the Ninken will sacrifice half of it's stamina to become an exact copy of their Inuzuka partner, copying all of their stats save for their stamina. In this form, the Ninken is capable of performing any techniques the Inuzuka partner knows, but a series of solid hits will cause the Ninken to pop out of this form.

Kazuo: 1x Flash Tag

*[Basic Jutsu • Clone Technique]
E-Ranked Ninjutsu
After completing a set of handseals, the user forms a slight chakra 'body', thus creating a single, massless clone. The clone created from this technique is very basic and will dissipate when hit with anything. These clones do not possess vital signs or a unique chakra signature, meaning they don't disrupt the environment, and anything on their person is superficial. The clone has 1 in each stat. They are limited to basic movements.

Both: [Predator's Instinct • The Hunt is On]
B-Rank Taijutsu Stance
Having spent years honing the art of silently stalking his prey, Kazuo has learned to naturally adjust the way he moves to remove any distinguishable noise even when moving at top speed. Those with enhanced hearing will still be able to make out the sound of his approach whilst moving at top speed, but should he slow to a walk he will become completely undetectable by sound even to himself.
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


User avatar
TyDie
Posts: 7360
Joined: Sat Apr 27, 2013 8:00 pm
Location: Manassas VA

[Plotboard] A Bad Time, A Bad Place

Post by TyDie » Wed Mar 28, 2018 2:24 pm

Yosuke immediately picked up on Mirai's scent, or what he assumed was Mirai's scent at least. It smelled familiar, but with genjutsu users who knew what was real and what wasn't? he dashed through the mist, trying desperately to keep wind of it, running for what seemed like only a short trip, but as the forest rose up around him through the mist, he couldn't help but think that this forest seemed familiar... these buidings seemed familiar. This place seemed familiar.

He was... in Konoha?

No, there was no way... It must have been a genjutsu, but it felt so real He reached out to touch one of the buildings and sure enough, it felt just like the material it was made of. What on earth... this was the most realistic genjutsu he had ever seen... Unless it wasn't a genjutsu? But how... Mirai's scent was picked up by his nose again, leading him through the streets of Konoha to what appeared to be a hospital... The same hospital that had been burned down during the invasion, from what Aina had told him. He had been treated here himself numerous times, and knew the old building well...

He felt drawn to it, like he had to walk inside, to see what it contained. Maybe Mirai was in there? But that wasn't what he was feeling... He felt something else, something unexplainable. He just had this incessant urge to walk in... and so he would. He reached out, grabbed hold of the handle, pulled the doors open cautiously, and stepped inside. His senses were on high alert, he was ready and waiting for... whatever was in here to rear it's ugly head.
JutsuShow
[Spider Sense]
S-Ranked Taijutsu Discipline
Prerequisite: [Spider's Touch]
Taking his senses a step farther than even the spider colony's senses, Yosuke has developed such a powerful sense of touch that he no longer needs to be touching the same surface as someone else to feel their movements. The very air is displaced when something moves within it, if only briefly and faintly, but that slight displacement is enough for Yosuke to pinpoint a moving target's location within 20 meters of him.
Active Characters
Village of OriginCharacter Name & LinkRankColor
Sunagakure no SatoHenrin EmiGenin[color=darkgoldenrod][b][/b][/color]
Konohagakure no SatoIbakuro AiyaChuunin[color=#8CD600][/color]
Sunagakure no SatoKouseki TakumaGenin[color=#003893][b][/b][/color], [b][color=#AFBCDB][/color][/b]
Kirigakure no SatoKazuki RyuChuunin[color=#dc143c][/color], [b][color=#C71585][/color][/b]
Iwagakure No SatoHiraku KenjiBannin S-Rank Missing Ninja[b][color=slategray][/color][/b]
Iwagakure No SatoFukusha JinsaiJounin[color=#BF0000][/color], [b][glow=orangered][color=#000000][/color][/glow][/b]

User avatar
Golnax
Posts: 1498
Joined: Fri Dec 30, 2016 7:00 pm

[Plotboard] A Bad Time, A Bad Place

Post by Golnax » Wed Mar 28, 2018 3:35 pm

As Koji, looking the part of Kazuo, circled around the cabin and inspected it, the dog would notice something peculiar indeed. The cabin itself was dead silent, with no signs of life from the outside what so ever. The wood looked old and worn by too many summer storms, moss growing on the roof and on the walls in between cracks of wood, the wood itself looking dark and warped with some parts of the walls bending outward. The degradation was so bad at some points that the ends of boards were outright sticking up from the rest of the cabin, nails and all! There were no glass windows of any kind, only dark square shaped holes in the building that revealed only darkness inside. There were two door frames that lead into the cabin, one in the front and one in the back, neither of which actually had a door on them and were similar gaping maws of darkness and mystery. Despite the dilapidated look of the house there was no mistaking the feeling that Koji was getting, a sense so keenly innate in animals that Kazuo, a trained ninja, might not have been able to pick up on it, but for his canine companion there would be no mistaking it. Despite the lack of any apparent signs of life coming from the dark cabin, something was definitely alive in there.

Koji would retreat back to his master's side as he was called and the clones would rush forth in all directions to try and ward off whatever it was that was watching them. The flash of light from the tag temporarily made visibility absolutely zero within the mist, the light bouncing from one particle of water to the next to turn the dimly grey veil into an intense white sheet that rooted out all visibility for a brief moment in time. Yet as the light cleared, Kazuo and Koji would find that nothing had changed. The cabin was still there, shrouded by mist. All was quiet for the two of them...

That was until something stirred from within the cabin itself. It was a loud, distinct sound of wood being stepped upon and complaining about it, the sort of sudden, shrill noise that came natural to old buildings that hadn't seen habitation for a long time. First one creak then another until an entire cacophony of noise could be heard coming from the cabin, and then, from out of the 'front door' of the cabin, they came...

An entire group of dogs! They rushed out, numbering five in total, happily barking and bounding with one another, running around each other in circles, playfully nipping at each other's tail and frolicking about! It would seem the most natural thing in the world, even with the setting of the thick mist and the cabin, that these five dogs, none of them looking to belong to the same litter or even be identified as a specific species, every one of them undoubtedly mutts. The unease that both Koji and Kazuo had felt before would seem to vanish though it doubtfully would be forgotten. The sight of these dogs playing with one another would be a cheerful thing, a pleasant distraction from the intensity of the last few hours that would seem oh so inviting! Why not go out and join them? Would the pair be able to resist?

The hospital door creaked with a screech as rusted hinges voiced their anguish at being used after what seemed like ages. A gust of stale air would escape from inside of the hospital as Yosuke stepped inside, swirling out the mist behind him and becoming still once more as he stepped in and the door closed behind him. The place was silent, still and without any sort of presence save for Yosuke's. A heavy layer of dust seemed to cover everything and hang in the air as the only source of movement within the darkened halls of the hospital. Chairs where people had once sat to wait for news about loved ones or be brought back to see a doctor for an opponent were left empty, their colors made an off shade of pale by the dust that lay on them. The same was true for all else, the walls, the floor, the tables, the magazines on the tables. The reception desk not far away from the door seemed especially barren without the presence of a nurse behind it as there always seemed to be in these sorts of places.

More than anything else though, the hospital was dark. The glass doors that Yosuke had stepped through provided the only semblance of light that could be had without direct input from Yosuke himself, the silvery light of the mist only illuminating so much within the opening hall of the phantom hospital. Beyond the reception desk, leading further into the hospital, was darkness, oppressive and yet passive all at once in that place. The only upside, it would seem, was that there was no mist within the halls of this place. The senses once dulled by the mist that the spidery shinobi had been experiencing up to that point would be on full alert once again without the gentle embrace of the fog, replaced by the natural unknown of the dark deeper within. Outside, the fog would visibly swirl against the glass door as if trying to peer in and see what Yosuke would do. Nothing else could be seen from the outside world, though. Beyond was only the mist that surrounded Konoha.

With the return of his full sensual faculties, Yosuke would easily be able to pick up a subtle smell. Beneath the heavily layer of dust that filled the air was a sharp scent of something burning, or rather of something that had been burnt. There was no smoke in the air though and no embers around that would denote such a thing to be the case, and yet the scent was there. The further in he stepped the stronger it would become as well. The only other thing that hadn't left him was that nagging pull from seemingly the hospital itself, insisting that he go further into the bowels of the once burned down hospital. It was as if something were silently hanging over his shoulder, whispering without words or even a breath, "Come and see." What would Yosuke do?

User avatar
Sanjuro
Posts: 3130
Joined: Fri Jul 02, 2010 8:00 pm
Location: Australia

[Plotboard] A Bad Time, A Bad Place

Post by Sanjuro » Thu Mar 29, 2018 5:08 pm

Kazuo moved with all the stealth of an apex predator, vanishing into the trees, his senses expanding to find whoever or whatever had tried to talk him. Everything was telling him the house was inhabited, he could feel it in his gut, but he felt a presence watching him from elsewhere as well. He circled the cabin, sticking to the trees, watching each and every entrance and window with bated breath, the adrenaline flowing through him making his heart beat sound like a great thumping drumbeat in his head. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, as did the ones on his arms, and he readied himself to launch at top speed from his perch in the trees when he felt whatever was within coming out.

It took his considerable strength to latch onto the tree and keep from flying when his legs pushed forward. The site of a bunch of playing dogs had thrown him off so much that he didn't know what was going on and he didn't want to risk throwing himself into a trap. He had been prepared to face Murai, the masked man or his associate, not a bunch of dogs. He saw Koji bare his fangs in a manner more akin to his dog-like self than Kazuo's usual feral grin, a strange expression to see on his own face, and immediately leapt across to the transformed dog and shook his head. They weren't going down there. The unease was gone, like whatever threat had been stalking them had left after their little trick with the light.

That didn't mean they weren't still around. Just that they weren't actively being hunted anymore. He motioned for Koji to circle around to the other side of the house and find a way in while he did the same on the opposite site. Rather than risk the doors, especially since that was there the dogs had come from, they found one of the dark windows on either side of the building and leapt in through those, moving as gracefully as a master thief would and just as silently. They landed, feet never making a sound, and immediate Kazuo took the opportunity to scent the air and listen for any signs of life within the dark, frankly terrifying building.
TechniquesShow
[Predator's Instinct • Primal Nose]
B-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
After utilizing his nose and training his sense of smell for so long, Kazuo has become able to tap his sense of smell to its most refined and most bestial. Kazuo is able to pick out the most common scents and focus on the freshet ones in an area of 10 meters around him. By doing this Kazuo is able to tell the amount of individual humans, animals or creatures and the most intense smells of each person, including if they were injured or if they were tired by gauging sweat levels. Kazuo can then track these groups of scents with relative ease.

[Predator's Instinct • Primal Ear]
B-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
Kazuo has attuned his sense of hearing to the point where he can passively pick up the sound of objects moving quickly towards him out of all other sounds. This is especially useful for noticing approaching projectiles, opponents or objects advancing at high speed. By picking up the direction of the sounds, he is also capable of back tracking them to their rough point of origin. Even though he can process this information it is useless if Kazuo's Taijutsu and Speed are not high enough to react, but it does allow for him to avoid surprise attacks.

[Predator's Instinct • The Hunt is On]
B-Rank Taijutsu Stance
Having spent years honing the art of silently stalking his prey, Kazuo has learned to naturally adjust the way he moves to remove any distinguishable noise even when moving at top speed. Those with enhanced hearing will still be able to make out the sound of his approach whilst moving at top speed, but should he slow to a walk he will become completely undetectable by sound even to himself.
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


User avatar
TyDie
Posts: 7360
Joined: Sat Apr 27, 2013 8:00 pm
Location: Manassas VA

[Plotboard] A Bad Time, A Bad Place

Post by TyDie » Sat Mar 31, 2018 1:17 pm

Yosuke had no idea just what was going on... everything seemed off, and yet for some reason everything seemed right. It was an off, paradoxical feeling... But his senses were back now, so that must have meant he was no longer in that damnable mist. That only lent even more credence to the fact that he was no longer in that battle with Mirai and his comrades, that he had somehow in fact made it back to Konoha. And as his senses came back to him, the musty air of the deserted, dark hospital had another scent within it that seemed out of place.

Fire.

But he saw no flickering flames, no ashes, and felt no heat. Either this fire he smelled was coming from much deeper in the hospital, or his senses were once more being tricked by something... His mind had no time to carry through that though however, as something deep within him was tugging him forward, deeper into the hospital... He had to know what was going on. And so, cautiously as before, Yosuke tread lightly through the hospital, his nose twitching now and then to keep on the scent of this flame.
Jutsu UsedShow
[Spider's Scent]
A-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
Spider's release chemicals in the air that other spiders can smell very easily at long distances to ward off competition or attract mates. Knowing this, Yosuke has honed his sense of smell to the level of the spider. His sense of smell is so keen that he can pick up the smell of rotting flesh from 200 meters away. Of course, few things stink that much, so for the average scents like the smell of a human, the range is limited to 20 meters. This allows him to tell the direction of a smell, as well as how close they are based on the potency of their scent.
Active Characters
Village of OriginCharacter Name & LinkRankColor
Sunagakure no SatoHenrin EmiGenin[color=darkgoldenrod][b][/b][/color]
Konohagakure no SatoIbakuro AiyaChuunin[color=#8CD600][/color]
Sunagakure no SatoKouseki TakumaGenin[color=#003893][b][/b][/color], [b][color=#AFBCDB][/color][/b]
Kirigakure no SatoKazuki RyuChuunin[color=#dc143c][/color], [b][color=#C71585][/color][/b]
Iwagakure No SatoHiraku KenjiBannin S-Rank Missing Ninja[b][color=slategray][/color][/b]
Iwagakure No SatoFukusha JinsaiJounin[color=#BF0000][/color], [b][glow=orangered][color=#000000][/color][/glow][/b]

User avatar
Golnax
Posts: 1498
Joined: Fri Dec 30, 2016 7:00 pm

[Plotboard] A Bad Time, A Bad Place

Post by Golnax » Sun Apr 01, 2018 12:48 pm

The inside of the cabin would be just as bare and desolate as the outside. There was nothing that would signify any sort of actual human habitation in recent history, no smells to indicate that anything had been in there even despite the dogs that had just run outside and were still currently playing. Inside it was dark, damp and musty with a tipped over pair of chairs towards the eastern corner of the room. There was a staircase that looked rotten and worn, actually breaking apart into a pile at the first landing. The ceiling above them looked to be the most rotten of all, the wood dark and swollen with dampness. Aside from the chairs, there was nothing in there but mist and mildew.

Outside, the dogs continued to play with one another. They could be seen through the open door ways and windows, occasionally hopping up on their hind legs or dashing around each other merrily. Sounds of panting, the occasional bark, and the scuffling of paws on dirt were the only sounds to be heard from outside the cabin. The feeling of unease still remained vacant from the scene as though it had never been in the first place. By all accounts, this was a strange happening and a strange place but there was no direct indication that Murai or his two accomplices were here or had ever been there. It would appear as if the pair of ninja companions had simply gotten lost in the fog and had come across an abandoned cabin that a pack of dogs had taken to inhabiting.

The illusion of safety would be shattered in an instant by the sound of heavy thudding steps from outside of the cabin followed by a dark shape eclipsing the open view ports through which Kazuo and Koji could see the dogs outside. The dogs themselves showed no indication of being aware of this dark shape right up until one of them was swept away by it out of the air as it was trying to jump on one of it's playmates. The shadow was upon the airborne dog and almost appeared to swallow it whole as it raced in front of the cabin and carried the dog away back into the mist! As one, the pack of dogs all turned and looked off into the direction of their abducted play mate, fur standing on end and teeth barred, each and every one of them staring off intently in the same direction and waiting for a sign of the dog or the thing's return. There was also a smell, unmistakable and putrid, impossible to miss. It was a heavy, wet smell, sour and sharp like the scent of rotten flesh or a settled bucket of blood. The scent of bestial death.

There came the horrible, heart breaking sound of a dog in pain that pierced through the sense muffling fog into both Kazuo and Koji's sensitive ears, a desperate cry of pain that was mercifully cut short. The cry was replaced by a strange, otherworldly roar, deep and shrill all at once. The dogs all began to bark wildly, a fear having gripped the pack that was easily seen and even felt by the two combatants. The sound of the roar would be the arrival of that same sense of dread that they had felt before, that feeling of being watched now returned a hundred fold more potent as now, without having actually seen whatever it was that had taken the dog away they would know that it was what had been watching them before. Now though it was worse because the evidence of the pack of dogs and the abducted one suggested one undeniable fact:

They were being hunted.

Yosuke's trip deeper into the hospital would bring about a sense of unease and dread, the fact that something was clearly off becoming more and more obvious the further in he got. The thick, heavy darkness of the hospital made his vision limited as it had been when he was wandering about the fog, his sight limited only to a couple of meters in any direction without the aid of some sort of light. The further in he delved, the stronger the smell of fire became, and yet there was no signs of a fire having broken out. No light, no ashes, no smoke. Just dust and darkness. Things gradually began to degrade the further in that he went as well. At first, it was just things like doors being left open that lead into empty patient rooms, then came a broom closet with it's door swung wide open and the contents of the cleaning closet strewn about the floor in front of Yosuke. Then the floor itself started to degrade, the laminate flooring growing dirty looking and cracking, some tiles outright missing while others had curled up at the corners. The wall paper started to peel and reveal the damp, ruined plaster underneath. Ceiling tiles which had been pristine, if not a bit dusty, in the lobby became shabby and steadily in need of repair, wet spots and in some places outright missing from the rest of the ceiling.

Hospital equipment became more and more common to see in the halls. In the halls behind him he would have easily been able to see with a bit of inspection heart monitors, I.V. poles with empty bags and hospital beds, all empty. The further in he went though the more common it became to see these articles of hospital equipment out in the hall itself, seemingly just tossed haphazardly about. I.V. Poles leaned up against walls or were laying on the floor, hospital beds tipped over and broken glass from heart monitors scattered on the floor. Some of the rooms were outright blocked off from entry by hospital beds being pushed in the opened door ways. Some rooms were boarded off and still others were left entirely empty, the doors seemingly ripped off of the hinges never to be seen again. Yosuke could have easily tore his way into the rooms if he wanted to, but something told him that there would be nothing in these blocked off rooms worthy of seeing anyways. The feeling of being pulled into the hospital was too strong anyways, growing stronger with each step he took. He'd carry on.

Something else would become aware to him and his sharp senses as he made his way further into the hospital, a sound that would be barely noticeable at first but would steadily grow more in the forefront of his awareness; a scuttling sound, like the tapping of many fingers against a hard wood desk top. It was an unnerving sound, but it was nothing that couldn't be explained by the presence of mice or rats which, judging by the state of the rest of the hospital, wouldn't have been all that unbelievable. His journey through the halls of the dilapidated Konoha hospital would come to a literal dead end as the floor just gave way to nothingness, a massive gap in the floor that seemed to have no bottom and the other side of which couldn't be seen through the darkness and didn't seem to have a bottom to it. Directly to his left, though, would be something of even greater interest to him.

It was a door, just as dirty and ragged looking as the others which he had passed to get to that point, which was cracked open and leading into a room that seemed just as dingy and empty as the others. Except for the sound of quiet sobbing. Entering the room, the spidery ninja would ind that it was mostly empty save for the top right corner, where the two hospital beds had been pushed together to form a sort of barrier, a divider curtain partially drawn as if to obscure them. Stepping beyond this divider, approaching the beds, Yosuke would see what appeared to be a young girl or woman, hard to tell, crouched in the corner, heavily sobbing. Her hair was long and darker and she wore a hospital gown, tied at the neck and lower back, her back itself exposed, the spine protruding up through the skin. Inside of the room the smell of burning was strong but the sound of scuttling had vanished. All that could be heard was her quiet, shaking sobs. What would he do?

User avatar
Sanjuro
Posts: 3130
Joined: Fri Jul 02, 2010 8:00 pm
Location: Australia

[Plotboard] A Bad Time, A Bad Place

Post by Sanjuro » Thu Apr 05, 2018 4:00 pm

The silence that greeted the duo upon entering the cabin was worrying. Kazuo scowled, scenting the air, and spun to face the door where the dogs were playing. There was nothing leading to them. No scent of dog in the house, not even from Koji as he was currently transformed. No scent that led out to them. It was something he had disregarded as he entered the clearing originally as a trick of the mist but there was no mist in here. Something was definitely not right with this entire situation. As he started to walk towards the door and out to the dogs, he saw a flicker of movement through the window near to the door and watched in slight horror as one of the dogs was picked up and vanished, only the shadows dancing on the clearing floor giving him any kind of indication as to what happened.

Darting out from the building, still moving with absolute care as to not make a sound, he followed the line of sight from where the dogs were staring into the forest beyond. The sound the echoed back to him had Kazuo stumbling for a moment, feeling as though his stomach had just dropped from his body and his heart was stuck in his throat. He wasn't some weak prey, however, and refused to submit to some unseen threat that thought it could push its way into his head through scare tactics. Standing to his full height, Kazuo took off in the direction the scent of whatever this beast was was leading him and as soon as he felt he was in range he would let out a howl of his own, the same howl he had used earlier to clear the mist. This time it was fuelled not by his confidence but by his own dread and the desire to overcame that, no matter the odds.

He wouldn't submit. Not to anything.
TechniquesShow
[Bark]
A-Rank Taijutsu Manoeuvre
Prerequisite: 35 Strength, [Heavenly Body Control]
Kazuo takes a deep breath before letting out an incredibly loud and high pitched battle cry. This sound carries for a number of meters equal to Kazuo's Taijutsu/2 at a speed equal to Kazuo's Taijutsu/2; the shockwave of sound strong enough to cause the ground to shake and push people, objects, and particulates back as if struck by a physical force equal to 2/3rds of Kazuo's Strength. Against people with naturally enhanced hearing or currently employing a focused hearing technique, this technique can rupture the eardrum causing bleeding and deafness.
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


REPLY

Return to “Fire Country”

×