Foreshadowing: The Return of the Colony

[TyDie]

"...Did they really need two people for this?"

Aiya was grumpy, of that there was no doubt. Here she was, expecting that this mission was going to be some kind of cool rescue mission where they saved some prisoners from slave drivers or something. Instead, what were they doing? Scouting. They weren't even leaving Fire Country to do it either; the report was that a group of bandits had managed to dig their heels in towards the border of Fire Country, despite the many steps Konoha had taken against such things over the years. This meant that they were clearly a cut above the standard bandit crew, and so they wanted info before they sent more shinobi in to handle the threat. Primarily, they wanted to know if there were ninja among the crew, as they had to have some kind of ace up their sleeve to stay active within the borders of Fire Country.

It sounded interesting, but they weren't even supposed to engage in combat unless they were threatened. So Konoha literally just wanted them to show up, inspect the encampment from afar, and report back with information. Hence, Aiya's grumpiness. "Your senses are probably better than mine, why didn't they just send you?" She crossed her arms with a huff, clearly feeling like she was just along for the ride right now. Aiya and Minako, the Inuzuka escorting her along on this mission, were making their way through a wooded forest, in search of signs that might lead them to this bandit encampment they had been hearing about. No doubt Rei was along with them as well; the dog companion of Minako was never far from her partner.

"Can we please just take care of this ourselves?"

[Willoria]

Minako had a bit of a smirk plastered on her face as Aiya complained, walking along with Rei trotting along beside her. "It's pretty simple, Aiya." she told her. "Technically I'm not even here." she told the girl, shrugging as she walked along with her hands in her pockets. "Technically this mission is all yours. I'm only here because as a Genin you're not supposed to leave the village alone. This mission is outside the village, but you aren't supposed to leave the village alone, but its suited for someone of your rank. So here we are. I'm just here to escort you in and out really. But the mission is still yours."

But Minako gave her a significant look as Aiya tried to insist that 'they' take care of the bandits themselves. "Stick to the mission parameters, Aiya. As I said, I'm not here. There's no 'we'. It's just you." she insisted. Of course, if things went wrong she'd have to step in to help, but she wasn't going to outright state it. She had a feeling Aiya might be smart enough to leverage her presence to get what she wanted if she felt the need to.

[TyDie]

Aiya kicked a small rock on the path through the forest as Minako made clear that she was nothing more than a chaperone on this mission. She was told to do it herself, but she was still too low of a rank to leave the village on her own, and so they had to send Minako alongside her. "So you're a babysitter. I don't know who that should upset more, you or me." she joked, but in reality she wasn't entirely joking. She really felt like either she or Minako could've handled this alone... but it was already done, and they were already on their way. Aiya was to stick to the parameters and handle this scouting alone. "Fine. We'll peek on these guys, get a feel for how much of a threat they are, and head back to Konoha. In and out."

The path before them seemed to continue going for another mile or so, and Aiya's superior sight would allow her to see far enough ahead to see that it took a 90 degree turn to the right. Supposedly, the bandits had encamped somewhere in this area... "We should get off the main road. It's well tread, if they've been in the area they've been using this path." As Aiya looked around, she saw that to the right of the path the land rose up into a hill. By her estimate, the hill was at least 30 meters higher than the path at it's highest peak. "Up this way. We should be able to get a good lay of the land from up there, maybe see the smoke from their camp or something."

Aiya would lead the way, as Minako had said; this was her mission. But as they walked, her senses were fine tuned to their surroundings. She didn't want to be caught off guard by a bandit scouting the area too.

[Willoria]

Minako snorted, and Rei seemed to do the same, as Aiya referred to her as a babysitter. But if the woman was insulted, she didn't show it. Instead she simply shrugged. "The risk of rank." she admitted. "Sometimes its fun, its hunting, its killing things.... sometimes its wiping noses." she added, smirking at Aiya. "Just don't make me change diapers." She could tell Aiya wasn't thrilled with the idea of sticking to the mission as it was written, but she was glad the girl seemed to return to the idea of following orders. She wasn't keen on the idea of having to chase after her after all, or worse, have to carry her back if something went horribly wrong.

Minako had her own opinions on how to do the mission, but she kept her mouth shut, determined to leave all actions and decisions up to Aiya. She might have been a Genin but she was a shinobi but Minako really was there just as an observer and nothing more. Perhaps other Jounin would have still lead the mission, but Minako didn't hold to such thoughts. It was Aiya's mission, and so it was fully her mission. She was glad however to see Aiya get to task mentally and start thinking of the mission. She nodded in response to Aiya's observations and followed her off the road.

She did however make a motion to Rei, the dog quickly disappearing from sight as she went to stalk them from a fair distance behind to help watch their backs from any that come up from behind them.

[TyDie]

The young Ibakuro frumped at her overseer as she mentioned wiping noses and changing diapers, letting out a frustrated huff. "Listen, I might only be three years old technically, but I'm not a baby. Hush." She smirked as she told the Inuzuka woman to be quiet, then made her way up the hill at a rapid pace, leaping and climbing up the steepest sections until she got to the very top. Once there, they'd find a lone tree that stood high above the rest of the forest. "Heh... Nature's watchtower." With a grin she'd walk up the side of the tree, looking for a high branch from which she could see the entire forest.

"Not seeing anything yet... wait, there's a smoke plume. Aboooout 150 meters away, to the south." As Aiya spoke, her eyes scanned the smoke plume's direction, and her nose caught a whiff of the materials being burned... Smelled like basic wood, but they might've been cooking something. "Definitely cooking something on a fire... Some kind of meat, I can't quite place it. Pork maybe?" She couldn't hear anything out of place or overly loud, and she couldn't see so well through the treeline, but they had a lock on the camp's location at least.

If Minako's sense of smell was as good or better than Aiya's, she might recognize the smell from some past mission or even during the war... It was meat, that was for sure. But it wasn't pork. "Let's get a better look, even with my eyes I can't see through the canopy." Aiya would slide down the tree with a heavy plop before taking off down the hill again, in the direction of the smoke.

[Willoria]

Minako followed Aiya up the hill, still letting her lead on. As the Ibakuro girl moved up the tree though, Minako stayed on the round. She leaned against the trunk and simply listened, both to what Aiya had to say and to their surroundings. But as the smell wafted up, Minako grew visibly uncomfortable. Her brow furrowed and she pushed off the tree. She was partially aware of Aiya sliding down the tree and landing beside her, but as the girl went to take off, Minako suddenly spun and grabbed her by the arm. "Wait!" she hissed.

Minako crouched and motioned for Aiya to do the same beside her before letting out a low whistle, and a moment later Rei was back beside them. "That isn't pork, Aiya." she told her rather suddenly, turning to look at her. "Look, I'm still not going to interfere much... but I can already tell you this is worse than we thought." she told her, swallowing hard as she tried to fight a feeling of sickness in the back of her throat. "What you smell is nicknamed 'long pork'. It's human." she told her. "We're either about to see funeral pyres or cannibalism down there... and I didn't want to let you walk down there without telling you that. Either one is horrific, one of them is only bad the first time, the other never stops being ugly to see."

[TyDie]

Aiya's grin faded quickly as her hand was grabbed by Minako, she spun around quickly to see that the woman was clearly unsettled by something. And as the situation was explained to her... Aiya felt sick. She crouched with her, but had to hold herself up with one hand as nausea set in. "It's... what?" She found herself questioning Minako's analysis, but the jounin knew far more than Aiya did... This mission just got a whole hell of a lot scarier. She gulped audibly, but slowly got back to her feet as the smell hit her nose again. She shook her head, trying to get the smell out of her nostrils, but eventually let out a sigh.

"It doesn't change anything. We still need to figure out what's going on. Just means we need to be a lot more careful." Aiya nodded to the Inuzuka, then motioned towards the camp again before slowly descending down the hill and into the trees, leaping from branch to branch, following the sickly smell as they neared the smoke plume. When they got within view, Aiya would slow and put a hand up. They were about 50 meters away from the edge of the camp; far enough that Aiya could see very clearly with her enhanced eyes, but not far enough to be seen themselves.

What Minako might have noticed, even before Aiya, was the litany of spider webs lining the trees above them. It was far, far more than normal for the area. Aiya's eyes scanned the scene before her, but she didn't see much of note for the moment. "We have to get closer." Aiya whispered to Minako, before going to leap to the next tree.

[Willoria]

Honestly Minako hated explaining something to Aiya so gruesome. But she'd rather the girl go in at least somewhat prepared than to risk witnessing something horrific and not know it was a possibility. She sincerely hoped she was wrong though and that it was just a funeral pyre. But fact was, she was fairly certain it was cannibalism. Along with the smell of burning flesh, Minako could swear she smelled seasonings on the air as well. She simply nodded as Aiya wanted to continue, and Minako followed her. She stayed closer than originally planned, the new development left the Jounin less than comfortable at leaving a distance between her and Aiya. If something went wrong she wanted to be able to respond quickly.

They drew closer and Minako started noticing a few things, among them the spider webs. "Watch it, some strangely huge spider webs up there." she commented, not fully understanding the significance of them just yet. She wasn't sure why they'd be present, but given the sheer size of them she doubted it would be anything good. More than once the Jounin thought she spied movement as well, but so far it seemed to just be a trick of the light and shadows here and there.

[TyDie]

Aiya caught wind of what Minako had said, turning to look up at the spider webs above them... And her jaw dropped. "Those things are huge... that's not natural." Without even thinking, she leapt up to the higher branches and got closer to one of the webs, looking at the thick strands of webbing that it was made of. Her heart sank as she saw them, and knew full well there wasn't a spider alive in this world that could make such a thick, strong webbing. "...No." She said the word quietly to herself as she slid back down the branch to Minako's side, repeating the word to herself as she got close enough to see the camp. "No no no no... It can't be, there's no way."

She wasn't hysterical, she still maintained some kind of composure, but she was in shear disbelief of what she was seeing. "Don't take your eyes off the webs." Was all Aiya could say as she scanned the camp... She had to fight the tears as she saw her worst fears realized. The camp was normal-ish; tents and basic fencing lining the entirety of the camp, with one smallish log building on the farthest end that was built around some kind of cavern opening that lead deep into the ground. Towards the middle of the camp was a large fire, and sure enough, there seemed to be human remains rotating on a spit roast over the flame. But it was the person - thing - rotating it that made Aiya's heart sink.

Blackened skin. Green and black eyes. Four eyes total. An Extra arm emerging from the back. Two small black fangs.

Her hands tightened in anger, the clenching of her fist audible among the silence of the trees. "Mutants. Spider Mutants. They... they carry the Ibakuro blood. They carry... my blood."

[Willoria]

Minako watched Aiya jump up to check the webs, frowning as she noticed the Genin's shock. She watched her do the checks, and come rushing back down, but did as the girl asked and kept an eye on the webs as Aiya did a visual search of the camp from where they stood. Nothing seemed to move in the webs, but if anything Minako was starting to feel like things were just too damn quiet. It was so quiet she could hear Aiya clench her fists, and what she said. Minako shook her head quickly and moved to stand by the Genin quickly.

"We're leaving." she said sternly. "Bandits with bloodline from a Konoha Clan? This is far more than it was supposed to be already, we need to get back and report it to the Hokage immediately. Two of us might not be enough. We need to involve your Clan Leader as well." Her voice made it clear, Minako saw no other options but to head back and report what they were seeing.

[TyDie]

Aiya grit her teeth in frustration as she saw the spider mutant cooking the remains of some other human... god, she wanted to feather the bastard from here and drop him to the ground. In fact, her bow was already drawn; she hadn't even realized she had done it. But Minako was right... This was going to be too much for them. She only saw one, but there had to have been more. "... You're right. Let's go." Aiya was about to slip her bow away and leave with the information they had, but then she heard yelling from the camp. Turning to look, she saw another actual human, a prisoner. She looked to be Aiya's age, maybe a little older, and another one of those crazed mutants was dragging her by her hair towards the fire, with a knife in his hand.

"Shit, I... I can't..." Aiya fought with herself for all of two seconds before leaping to a closer tree, away from Minako, and drawing an arrow from her quiver. "I can't let them do this!" With her words, she drew and released her arrow in a single motion, sending the arrow flying through the air... straight into the skull of the mutant with the knife. He dropped dead almost instantly, and the girl got up and started running for an exit. As she did so though, the other spider mutant turned his head to see the exchange and rushed towards her, as well as a few more coming out of tents as they felt the vibrations through the ground.

By the time the girl hit the gate, Aiya was standing in front of it, her staff drawn and one of it's ends having been shaped into a Naginata blade. "Go, Run!" The girl ran past, and Aiya was now face to face with three mutated humans, drooling green ichor and chittering to each other. Aiya hadn't even checked to see if Minako was with her yet...

JutsuShow

[Seiryu no Kiba • Sharpening Claws]
D-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
After years of training, the practitioner has learned how to quickly and accurately access their ranged weapon stores at all times in combat. This cuts the effective "reload" time by half, up to a maximum speed equal to the practitioner's Speed score. This also applies to returning unused projectiles to their storage containers or switching between types of projectile weaponry.

[Seiryu no Kiba • Draconic Predictions]
D-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
After much training and study, the practitioner has learned how to read an opponent's movements and adjust their aim accordingly to compensate without penalty. This Discipline allows the practitioner to accurately hit moving targets, though sudden changes in the opponent's movements will still affect accuracy.

[Doton • Sharpened Edge]
D-Rank Ninjutsu
Aiya will perform a series of hand seals before grabbing hold of either her quarterstaff or her tonfas. She will then course chakra through the weapon, allowing her to shape and mold the ends of the chosen weapons into sharpened points, effectively turning her staff into a Naginata with a 10 inch blade or giving her tonfas bladed edges to cut by sharpening their blunt edges. The additional modification has strength equal to Aiya's [Control]. She can revert the weapon to normal by performing this jutsu a second time.

[Willoria]

Minako had a hunch there was going to be a problem as soon as she saw the other prisoner being dragged along. "Aiya... don't...." She tried to warn her, but before she could stop her, the girl was already moving and one of the creatures was already dead. Minako snarled under her breath, rounding as one of the prisoners came running by and Minako pointed to Rei. "Follow the dog out." she ordered her. Rei gave her a look, but Minako snarled at her and Rei barked back before turning and running off to lead the prisoner to safety.

Minako herself quickly turned her attention back to Aiya and the mess she had just gotten the two of them into. Minako dashed in at full speed to catch up to Aiya, one of the three the girl was facing turning to rush her in return but all the man got in return was a blade. Minako drew both of her karambit and ducked under his multiple wild arms, spinning around to catch him in the side of the neck with it. A spray of blood splashed across her face and he fell as she came up beside Aiya. "Rei's getting the girl to safety." she told Aiya simply as she came up beside the Genin.

Jutsu UsedShow

Silat • Execute
D-Rank Taijutsu Maneuver
Simple but lethal, Minako will lash out with her Kerambit in an attempt to swipe at a major artery, such as the Femoral Artery or the Carotid Artery. Should the strike land successfully and medical attention is not received soon after, exsanguination is almost a certainty.

[TyDie]

Aiya twirled her weapon in preparation, ready to slash the throat of the first mutant who was bold enough to rush her. But as the first one did, and she raised her weapon, Minako beat Aiya to the punch; a single blade flashed through the air and tore the creature's throat out, spattering blood over the both of them. "Good. We're covering her retreat, and there might be more. I can smell other prisoners." There was still a faint human smell in the air, and these things before them definitely didn't smell like a normal human. That meant there must have been more... And they were already seen. "This scouting mission is a rescue mission now. Reprimand me later."

This was all Aiya could get out before she charged in herself, twirling her staff with incredible speed as one of the mutants lashed out at her, attempting to slash at her with a dagger it had in hand. With a series of three swipes, Aiya took off an arm, a leg and finally sent the blade through the creature's throat. With her back to the second, she jabbed her staff backwards and cracked the creature's rib, pivoting and spinning her staff around to crack the side of the creature's skull before finally jabbing the tip of her blade into the beast's chest three times. Blood spilled from the now corpses, but the camp was on alert now; more were coming.

With another flourish, she flicked blood off of her Naginata's blade and let out a deep breath. "...These are the first lives I've ever taken." She spoke matter of factly, just stating the truth of the matter, but honestly... she knew these 'men' weren't men anymore. They were already dead, there was little to no sentience left.

JutsuShow

[Suzaku no Tsubasa • Wing Buffet]
D-Rank Taijutsu Stance
A staple technique of any polearm style, Aiya is capable of maintaining incredible momentum with her polearm by twisting and twirling it in her hands. By rotating her hands, arms and body in various ways, Aiya can spin her polearm around her body in large circles. Doing this works as a functional defense capable of slapping away blows and mundane projectiles of a lesser strength than her own. This also acts as a powerful offense, delivering sweeping strikes backed by the momentum of the spins.

[Suzaku no Tsubasa • Tengu's Assault]
C-Rank Taijutsu Maneuver
Prerequisite: Suzaku no Tsubasa • Wing Buffet
Aiya will twirl her polearm with increasing speed as she approaches her opponent, leading into a strong sweeping strike aimed at the opponent's side. This strike will flow into another and then another as Aiya proceeds with a flurry of crushing blows, following her opponent around the battlefield as he strikes at her opponent multiple times. She can produce a number of strikes equal to half her speed during this assault, which takes an entire post. Any opponent who blocks more than one strike of this flurry will suffer a -3 penalty to their Strength for 3 posts, as the force of the strikes jars their body.

[Willoria]

Aiya commented about lives taken, but Minako walked over to one of the bodies and kicked it over to look at it. She knelt over what had once been a man and looked at him. She looked at the glazed over eyes and frowned, expelling air from her nose and mouth in annoyance as she stood as if trying to expel a disgusting smell and shaking her head. "These aren't lives." she said, looking around them. "And this isn't just a rescue mission. These things need put down..." She looked at Aiya, her expression suddenly stone cold. "You're going to stick close to me, you're not going to leave my sight even once." she told her. "You will not deviate from those orders, the consequences will not be reprimands, and they likely won't even come from me."

She didn't even ask if Aiya understood, it was far simpler than that. She looked around and moved towards the nearest building first. She pushed herself up against a wall with her back against it and peered into a window. "Four hostiles... no hostages that I see..." she muttered. Minako slid along the wall to the door and kicked backwards at it to kick it open with such a force that it shattered behind her before she turned inside. The woman was like a whirlwind as she entered. She followed the shock of the broken door, diving forward to slash the first man's ankles to drop him down. Rolling up to her feet the next took a blade to his throat and the third would take a slash to the inner grown, a femoral.

The last had just enough time to recover from shock to make wild slashes at Minako with his arms, proving more difficult as Minako had to try and dodge his hands to find a way close enough with a blade.

Jutsu UsedShow

Silat • Rough and Tumble
C-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
Utilizing such an acrobatic and agile style does not come without mistakes. Luckily for Minako, she has already made and learned from those mistakes, and thus her ability to properly tuck, roll, dive, slide and flip are all more than adequate for her to utilize the acrobatic strikes and movements of the Silat Style.

Silat • Achilles Bane
C-Rank Taijutsu Maneuver
Minako will dash forward with a feinting strike before quickly dropping low into a slide, with the intent of slipping right between a target's legs. In the midst of this slide, both of her blades will lash out at a target's ankles, specifically aiming to sever the Achilles Tendon running along the back of the leg. If successful, the target's legs will be rendered useless until medical attention is received.

Silat • Execute
D-Rank Taijutsu Maneuver
Simple but lethal, Minako will lash out with her Kerambit in an attempt to swipe at a major artery, such as the Femoral Artery or the Carotid Artery. Should the strike land successfully and medical attention is not received soon after, exsanguination is almost a certainty.

[TyDie]

Aiya looked at the same corpse that Minako kicked over, taking in it's hideously mutated form, and instead of getting said or vomiting at the sight of death like most people might... she just sighed. Heavily. "I know... We're doing them a favor. No one should be forced to live like this..." She said with a nod, steeling her heart to the inevitable combat to come. She listened to Minako's instruction, as she made clear that she was taking command now, but at least she was honoring Aiya's desire to follow through with this and eliminate these abominations to her blood. "Understood. I just... I need to know what's going on here. This is my blood, you know? Thank you... for putting up with me." she would flourish her staff a few more times before holding it behind her as they moved through the compound, poised and ready to strike.

As Minako snuck around the building and called out the number of hostiles, Aiya nodded and silently moved behind her, waiting for her to make the first move. The moment that door was kicked open, Minako was a whirlwind, tucking and rolling to take out the ankle of the first spider mutant before slitting the throat and groin of the next two. Fighting indoors with a spear was hardly a good idea, but Aiya had at least some kind of plan; The spider that had had it's ankle cut was crawling towards Minako while the last remaining mutant slashed at her wildly with a blade. Aiya, in response, charged forward and planted the tip of her naginata into the crawling mutant, silencing it with her stab before swiftly leaping and pushing off of the body with her foot extended. This foot would find it's way swiftly to the next mutant's face, sending him careening to the ground just as another mutant came in through the back door, cutting off their escape.

"Finish him!" Aiya yelled, referencing the mutant she had knocked off balance, before dashing back for the door towards the spider mutant, who held two swords in it's arms. As it lashed out, she parried one strike to the right before blocking the next strike with her staff, raising the weapon horizontally to intercept the wild vertical slash that would have hit her in the head. Then, lunging forward with a kick, she'd push it back a bit before delivering a series of three horizontal slashes as she slowly fell to the ground. The first slash would take off the left arm at the shoulder, as he raised up to slash at Aiya again. The second slash would take off the other arm at the wrist, and the third slash would lop off an ankle, as both he and Aiya fell to the ground. Then, with a quick spring, Aiya would get back to her feet and finish the creature with a thrust to it's stomach, spilling its blood along the floor.

As all fell quiet with the dead mutants, Aiya's ears perked up... a cry for help coming from a tent no more than 20 meters away. "That tent out there, someone's calling out from it." She tried to keep her voice low, but she pointed out the window to the tent she was referring to. "Quick, before more of them come."

Jutsu UsedShow

[Suzaku no Tsubasa • Taking Flight]
D-Rank Taijutsu Maneuver
A technique meant for closing the gap, Aier will charge forward before jamming one end of his polearm into the ground. She will then push off of her polearm to gain some forward momentum, launching herself a couple of meters into the air before delivering a flying kick aimed at her opponent. This strike is made with +3 speed due to the extra momentum gathered by the vault, but loses -3 Strength. It can also be used to push herself up and over obstacles or enemy attacks.

[Suzaku no Tsubasa • Flying out of Reach]
D-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
A staple of Suzaku no Tsubasa, Aiya is well trained in the effective range of her polearms, and is capable of maintaining proper distance from her opponent to keep them within the range of her polearms but outside of the range of their attacks. This training has taught her to backpedal and deliver feints and strikes to prevent rush attempts as well as to advance when necessary, all the while doing her best to stay within the sweet spot where he can strike without being struck.

[Suzaku no Tsubasa • Falling Feather]
C-Ranked Taijutsu Maneuver
Aiya will swing her polearm horizontally at her opponent's upper body, spinning on the ball of her heel as she does so. As she spins back around, she will crouch slightly and aim another horizontal swing for the opponent's midsection, somewhere between the thighs and stomach, before rotating again and dropping lower for a sweeping strike aimed for the target's feet or shins to knock them to the ground. She will then quickly rise to her feet, performing one last strike at the target by thrusting her polearm forward into their chest or stomach.

[Willoria]

Finishing off the mutant indicated by Aiya was a simple task, Minako was already rushing in once Aiya was out of the way. Her two blades she brought forward in an underhanded grip, thrusting them up and under the creatures ribs, into the lungs. She ripped outwards, shredding through flesh and cutting off the mutant's screams before dropping the lifeless corpse to the ground and turning to watch Aiya's progress with interest. She smirked with satisfaction as she watched the girl's own swift movements and decisive action. Though some of it concerned her, such as letting herself get knocked down mid-fight, much of it she was proud to see. The girl could handle herself well though the fight was hardly what they had expected on such a mission.

Once their enemies were dispatched, Minako rushed to the Genin's side to see what tent she was pointing to and nodded quickly. "More prisoners." she said, pausing to sniff at the air and wrinkling her nose. "Jesus these things stink." she muttered, frowning. "There are likely guards on the tent too, keep your eyes peeled." she told Aiya before taking off across the ground for the tent as their next stop.

[TyDie]

Aiya acknowledged that the other mutant was dead, and as Minako came to Aiya's side, she wasted no time heading out the door towards the tent across from them. She could hear the people inside clear as day now, as could Minako. "Please, no! I don't want to drink it, please!" Aiya cursed under her breath and looked back to Minako. "They're on the south end of the tent, I can hear them. Close to the tent wall. I'm going in the front, go cut them an escape through the tent walls and flank from the other side." Aiya would give her instructions to Minako, knowing full well that the jounin didn't necessarily have to accept them, but hoping for the sake of smoothness that she would. As Aiya moved for the front, her skin would begin to darken and large clumps of hair would fall out, likely being the last sight that Minako saw before the Inuzuka head to her task.

On the inside now, Aiya's full form had been unleashed. She looked similar to the monsters, but no where near as mutated or animalistic; she still had control. And yet, as the four mutants in the room saw her, they turned to observe what she was... and didn't attack. In the corner that Aiya had told Minako to flank from were three prisoners; a man, woman and child, probably a family. And one of the mutants had a bowl of green ichor that was being held to the man's mouth... she wasn't sure if he had drank from it yet. The mutants were so captivated by her appearance that they stopped what they were doing and walked towards her slowly, heads tilted in confusion before turning to one another and making strange chattering sounds.

"...uh..." Was all Aiya could get out at first, but the prisoners made the next sound.

"Ah, another one, no please!" called out the woman, which immediately got the attention of the mutants again. As they turned to the family again, Aiya made her move and quickly thrust the end of her Naginata into the back of the skull of the closest mutant, before quickly removing it and swiping the blade low towards the next mutant, removing it's feet and causing it to fall over. This once more got them looking at Aiya, likely giving Minako her chance to interrupt.

Jutsu UsedShow

[Suzaku no Tsubasa • Peck]
D-Rank Taijutsu Maneuver
One of the simplest and most basic of strikes, Aiya will grip her polearm with one hand near the center and one hand towards the back end of the polearm. She will then aim her polearm at an opponent before pushing forward with the back hand, sliding the polearm forward in a thrusting strike. This is an incredibly safe and versatile strike, as it can be used from almost any position and in almost any situation with little risk to Aiya.

[Suzaku no Tsubasa • Swallow Tail]
D-Ranked Taijutsu Maneuver
Simple but effective, Aiya will quickly sweep her polearm low across the ground, striking at a target's legs.

[Willoria]

Though Minako outranked Aiya, she didn't argue with the Genin's instruction. The plan was a good one and she wasn't going to waste time arguing rank when innocent lives were at stake, in fact she was quite proud in that moment of Aiya's level head regarding what was going on around her. The girl had taken her first lives that day and yet she was not only pushing forward she was giving orders, another thing Minako imagined the girl was unaccustomed to. It was something she made a mental note of to add in her report when this entire thing was over with. She made her way quickly to the area indicated and drew her bow as she went, adding an arrow to the string.

While the mutants were distracted by Aiya's appearance, Minako quickly made her move. She fired two shots in rapid succession. The first target was the bowl of ichor, spilling the green liquid everywhere but hopefully keeping the man from being forced to drink any of it. The second was the head of the mutant who had been holding it. A third shot was quickly placed towards the neck of a second mutant before Minako quickly moved to the hostages. "Easy now, you're safe." she told them as she put her bow away and motioned to Aiya. "She's not like them, she's not one of them, she's with me, she's with Konoha." she explained as quickly as she could.

She moved quickly to undo any bonds that held the prisoners and motioned towards the side of the camp she had come from. "You'll find a huge black dog at that side of the camp, her name is Rei and she's with me, she'll lead you to safety. We'll meet you there once we clear out the rest of these things and get everyone to medical care and to safety." She did her best to sound as hopeful as she could, though a dark cloud was forming in her mind.

'How many of them have drank this?'

Jutsu UsedShow

*[Flawless Aim Style • Sentinel Shot]
D-Rank Taijutsu Stance
Taking multiple projectiles into hand and priming the muscle groups required for launching projectile weapons, the practitioner can quickly shoot projectiles in rapid succession and just as quickly reload. While in this Stance, the practitioner can maintain a near-constant stream of projectile attacks. However, due to the amount of coordination required for this Stance, their movement is limited, suffering a -3 Speed penalty while in this Stance.

*[Flawless Aim Style • Rapid Reload]
D-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
After years of training, the practitioner has learned how to quickly and accurately access their ranged weapon stores at all times in combat. This cuts the effective "reload" time by half, up to a maximum speed equal to the practitioner's Speed score. This also applies to returning unused projectiles to their storage containers or switching between types of projectile weaponry.

*[Flawless Aim Style • Repeater Shot]
D-Rank Taijutsu Maneuver
Preparing multiple projectiles, the practitioner launches each of the projectiles at one or more targets. For each target beyond the first, the accuracy of each of the attacks is decreased, suffering a -1 Strength penalty for each additional target.

[TyDie]

Watching as the two mutants closest to the family was dealt with by a few arrows, Aiya finished up with a quick thrust to the last mutant on the ground, shoving her Naginata tip through it's chest. As she saw Minako handle the family, she crossed four of her arms and turned her head away from them, waiting for the family to leave. And once they had, she walked over to Minako and sighed. "Of course they thought I was with them... I'm just as much a monster as these guys are." She let out a depressed sigh, dwelling on the sad thought for a few moments before shaking her head. "Now's not the time for that. Come on, I can feel rumbling under our feet and there's a cavern in that building over there that leads under the mountain."

Aiya wouldn't give Minako the chance to feel sorry for her, anymore than she gave herself the chance to feel sorry. There was bound to be more of these things underground, and maybe some answers. Aiya would move for the last big building, walking through the open doorway and looking down the cavern entrance. "It's dark down there. I don't know how you fair in darkness but my sight isn't super necessary. Wait..." Aiya would hold up a hand for silence, her ears perking up as she listened down the tunnels. "I hear flames crackling, but I don't see light. Must be deep, or around bends, but there should be light down there somewhere."

Aiya would proceed to lead the way down the tunnel, feeling the walls as it got darker and looking out for light. "Be careful, who knows whats waiting for us down here... "

[Willoria]

Aiya may not have wanted Minako to feel sorry for her, but Minako also wasn't going to allow any room for doubt either. As the Genin tried to move on, Minako suddenly reached out and grabbed one of the girl's arms and pulled her over to her to force her to look at her. "You are not a monster." she told her harshly. "These things are mindless drones, fuck appearances." she added, her tone intentionally still harsh. "You are strong, by necessity that may mean looking like something terrifying to these people, but that doesn't make you a monster. You are wholly in control, even in the violence. These things are pure monster with no control Putting them down is not only a mercy we can give them, it is a necessity to keep others from becoming something less than human. They could look like a civilian and still be monsters. Its not the outer shell that makes them monsters, its the lack of control and the loss of agency that makes them so." When she was done talking, she'd let Aiya go, so that the pair could move on about their business, her mind still steeled for the task at hand.

Aiya asked about her senses and the woman shrugged. "My smell is better than most but in a situation like this I may as well be average." she admitted. "Feel free to lead the way, but keep me close." She didn't like the idea of letting the Genin lead, but if her senses were better than hers in the dark, it simply made the most sense. As they'd go along, Minako would keep a hand on the wall to maintain her bearings, and another on Aiya to keep track of the girl, but otherwise she would press forward with her.

[TyDie]

Aiya was stunned into silence by Minako's words, a shocked expression on her face as she stood still and listened. Her eyes, all 8 of them, were opened wide with awe as the woman talked her down... When she was done, Aiya closed her eyes and her skin began to lighten up again, as her extra eyes and arms receded within her body and her long black hair regrew. A moment later, Aiya was back to her normal appearance, and the spider form was gone. "...Thank you, Minako. I... I needed to hear that." She opened her eyes again, a newfound flame of determination present in her gaze as she nodded and smiled boldly. "Now let's go. I think the last of them will be in this cave."

The two shinobi would navigate through the darkness, Aiya's eyes scanning for any hint of light while her ears twitched occasionally at the sounds of water hitting the ground deeper within the cave, and her nose sniffed ever so quietly now and then to take in whatever scents she could. Her hand, tracing along the wall, was tuned to feel for any movements deeper within that might cause vibrations within the tunnels. And for a while, she felt nothing aside from Minako's movements behind her. But as they rounded a bend, Aiya looked deeper and did indeed see the faint glimmer of a flame bouncing off of another bend in the cavern. "Perfect, there we go."

A moment later though, she felt a vibration through the wall she was touching as something above Minako shifted. Something big. "Above you Minako!" Was all Aiya could get out before the mutant descended from the ceiling, aiming to drop on Minako's back and deliver a nasty bite to her neck if allowed to. Another mutant dropped in front of Aiya at the same time, too close for Aiya to fight reliably with her staff in such a close proximity. Aiya cursed under her breath as the creature in front of her charged forward, and it was all Aiya could do to shove her staff horizontally at the creature's chest. The shove worked, pushing the spider mutant back a meter or so, which gave Aiya enough room to send forward a powerful straight kick for the creature's stomach.

But she didn't relent, Aiya dashed forward and grabbed her Tonfas from her thighs, tackling the creature to the ground before drilling punch after punch into it's face, the sound of chitin and bone breaking under her tonfas.

Jutsu UsedShow

[Genbu no Ken • Braying Mule]
D-Rank Taijutsu Maneuver
Momentarily planting one of her feet, Aiya will lean her upper body backwards and put all of her weight and force into a kick aimed at the target's stomach or chest, aiming to knock the wind out of them and send them away from her.

[Genbu no Ken • Wolf Fangs]
D-Rank Taijutsu Maneuver
To start, Aiya will simply rush her opponent, with the intent of tackling them to the ground and positioning herself on top of them. Then she will relentlessly bombard the target with a series of tonfa strikes, keeping them down with her weight and leverage while mercilessly pounding them into the ground.

[Willoria]

Minako hated walking blind like this. It had her feeling all kinds of paranoid. As they got a glimmer of light she felt herself let go of a breath she didn't even realize she'd been holding, at least until Aiya called out a warning to her. Next thing she knew she felt a weight on her shoulders and back and a sharp pain in her neck. With a yell she drove her entire body backwards and slammed her attacker into the wall and drove her head back into them. Her hands flew back and grabbed them by the shoulders, yanking them over her own head and slamming them on the ground in front of her.

A moment later her fingers slid deftly into one of her karambit and brought the blade into the neck of the mutant that had attacked her. With a snarl she yanked hard, a spray of the creature's blood splashing across her as she panted to catch her breath as the Jounin looked up to check on Aiya. She could feel the warmth of her own blood on her neck and shoulder but for the time being ignored the wound. She knew by placement and flow it couldn't be a primary vein or artery and so ignored it for the time being.

She was glad to see Aiya had taken care of her own target as she put her karambit away quickly and rushed to her side. The one that had tried to get her was a mess under her tonfa and Minako quickly rushed to her. "It's dead, Aiya!" she hissed at her, pulling her back off the corpse quickly. "It's okay, it's dead." she assured her again, pausing a moment to look at Aiya to make sure she was okay, able to see clearly that adrenaline had kept the girl attacking past the point of the thing's life leaving.

[TyDie]

Aiya had punched the creature in the face at least a dozen times by the time Minako got to her, having long since dispatched the mutant's life. As she pulled Aiya back, Aiya let out a deep breath or two before looking at what remained of the mutant's face, a mixture of anger and disgust washing over her. She had tried to play it off, like this was just another mission, but she couldn't help herself now; She spit in the pummeled corpse. "I mourn for who they used to be, but as they are now, they're a disgrace to my blood. If more like this get out, the Ibakuro reputation could be ruined. We're so new as it is, it wouldn't take much to tarnish our name forever..."

Wiping her tonfas off on her leg, spreading green blood over herself, she sighed as she put the tonfas back in their holsters and retrieved her staff from the ground. Only now did she get a chance to look back at Minako, noticing the gash in her neck. "Oh no, you got bit. Are you feeling okay? I can't tell if they're venomous or not, most Ibakuro aren't by nature but these aren't normal spider hybrids..." For the time being, Minako would feel okay, but who knew how long that might last? Either way, they'd have time to make their way down the tunnel towards the antechamber of this small mining operation.

Down there, they'd find a large cavern, 40 meters at least, with a high ceiling. All around they could see spider webs, some up high and some low enough that they might have to duck under them. In the room were no less than seven mutants, all gathered around some other entity... It was a spider. A giant spider with a humanoid face.

"...No." was all Aiya could mutter. If the stories and images were true, then this was no mere spider, nor even a spider spirit - This was a queen.

[Willoria]

"We won't let a single one of them out of here, Aiya." Minako tried to assure her. "Your clan isn't going to suffer for this, I swear. We'll settle this, we'll report it back to the village, and we'll figure this out." she told her. She could only imagine how Aiya was feeling right now. If this were mutants of some kind of canine she might understand more, but at the same time the Inuzuka were well established in Konoha. The Ibakuro were not. They were so new they were practically unknown to the wide world still, many might still see them as monsters.

As Aiya turned her concern to her however, Minako shook her head and waved the girl off. "I'm alright, I feel normal." she tried to assure her. "Nothing I can't ignore well enough, and so far I haven't seen any sign of venom either. They keep making their prisoners drink something... I don't think we have to worry about a venom. Stupid prick was just frisky." she said, her nose wrinkling up in disgust as she thought about the mutant that had bitten her.

Once Aiya seemed satisfied, the pair made their way down, to that horrific sight. Minako raised an eyebrow and wasn't sure what she was looking at. All she knew was it had to die. She drew out her bow once more and fired off two shots. One was aimed specifically for the queen, but the second would fire three arrows at once, aimed for three of the mutants to try and whittle down their numbers. "Bastards." she muttered as she moved just in front of Aiya.

Jutsu UsedShow

*[Flawless Aim Style • Arcing Shot]
D-Rank Taijutsu Maneuver
The practitioner can launch projectiles in arcs up and over most obstacles, being able to accurately hit a target that is behind obstructions as if they were in the open. The practitioner must still be able to locate their target by some other means to ensure the projectile will hit its target.


*[Flawless Aim Style • Rapid Reload]
D-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
After years of training, the practitioner has learned how to quickly and accurately access their ranged weapon stores at all times in combat. This cuts the effective "reload" time by half, up to a maximum speed equal to the practitioner's Speed score. This also applies to returning unused projectiles to their storage containers or switching between types of projectile weaponry.

*[Flawless Aim Style • Repeater Shot]
D-Rank Taijutsu Maneuver
Preparing multiple projectiles, the practitioner launches each of the projectiles at one or more targets. For each target beyond the first, the accuracy of each of the attacks is decreased, suffering a -1 Strength penalty for each additional target.

[TyDie]

Aiya was dumbstruck by the sight before her, and it became quickly apparent that the queen knew the two shinobi were there. After all, Aiya's sensory enhancing training was based on the very creatures before her, and while the mutants lacked any kind of ability, the queen in the middle of the mutants had far better senses. The sound of the string being drawn on Minako's bow caused her to recoil behind a mutant, allowing the creature to take the first arrow meant for her, while 1 of the other three arrows would pierce the skull of a second mutant. In total, Minako managed to fell two of the mutants; the other two arrows glanced off of the chitinous armor of the mutants they were aimed at.

"Ahh... I smell spider blood." the queen called out, stepping back towards the wall of the antechamber. The mutants all lined up in front of her, as if controlled by her, while Aiya strode out into the chamber, staff in hand. "You do. I bear the blood of the Ibakuro clan, you horrid creature." As Aiya spoke, once more her skin blackened and the spider form emerged, as she took a moment to twirl her staff between all six of her arms. "Ahh... That name. You are descended from the one who escaped out clutches. How delicious... If only you knew what awaited your people, Ibakuro spawn."

"What do you mean!?" Aiya yelled out, gritting her teeth as she prepared to strike. But the creature was already fading into nothingness, dissipating from sight. "All in due time, child. For now, enjoy these failed manifestations of our power..." Aiya started to rush in to stop the spider, but the mutants all drew various weapons - Clubs, Swords, axes, typical bandit level gear.

"Shit... Let's make this quick Minako." Aiya brandished her staff again, took her tonfas in two other hands and withdrew her bow and a few arrows with her final set of arms. She was going to go all out...

[Willoria]

Minako swore under her breath as half of her arrows missed their marks. But as Aiya moved forward, so did she. She wasn't about to let the girl move forward without her. She was there to protect her after all, to guide her, even if she was more than a little freaked out by what she was seeing and hearing. She stored away the information the creature revealed with her words and swore again as she disappeared and Minako's eyes dropped to the mutants. Suddenly she didn't like their odds much. Aiya looked oddly similar to these things. There were enough differences that at a distance it was fine, but in the shadows of the cave Minako found herself suddenly worried about a stray weapon. "Don't get creeped out." She suddenly said under her breath to Aiya as she stepped right up next to the girl and came within inches of her before breathing deep of her scent.

With Aiya's scent in mind, she was certain she could make sure to keep the right targets in mind even if her sight was temporarily lost. "Not taking any risks in this damn underground mess." she muttered as she stepped away. "If you get hurt, you get out, Aiya. That's an order, you don't look for me, you run."

She put her bow away and drew out her two karambit, dancing on the balls of her feet for a moment before grinning wildly. "My promises are deadly little spiders... let's pull some legs off." she said playfully before rushing in.

Jutsu UsedShow

Silat • Ambidexterity
D-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
After practicing for a long amount of time with the concept of using both of their hands with equal skill, the user has developed a level of ambidexterity that allows them to utilize both hands equally and as effectively without any penalty. This extends to other methods of combat or simple everyday life as well.

[TyDie]

The young spider girl nodded to Minako as she gave her order - after all, she was still in charge. As the mutants moved, so too did Aiya, quickly moving to the left of the antechamber and luring three mutants with her. They were fast, as fast as her, but she had more reach and more skill; she had to get through this. Two of the mutants came at her simultaneously, one aiming high with a club and the other swinging low with an axe. The third one was waiting for an opportunity to strike, to see how Aiya would react... For mutants, they were well coordinated. Clearly they were friends or allies before the mutation, and that carried into their new existence, showing some level of sapience still remained.

But Aiya didn't have time to worry about that, as her Tonfa intercepted both blows, her left handed tonfa rose up to counter the club while her right handed tonfa dropped low to intercept the axe. Next, a few thrusts from her naginata blade would pierce through the chitin and flesh of the third mutant, sliding between the two mutants with ease. The mutant on her right would then lash out with another weapon, a sword stabbing for Aiya's stomach. And were it not for the strength of her chitin, it might have ended her; the blade cracked her carapace but otherwise bounced harmlessly off of her.

In response, Aiya leapt back towards the wall and used the arrows in one of her hands for a multi shot, aiming two arrows at the mutant on her left and one for the mutant on her right. The arrows flew true, piercing the legs of the left mutant and an arm of the right mutant. The left one fell, but still had fight in it, while the right one screeched and charged Aiya. She was done with this already... flipping one of her tonfa out so the long end was facing towards the creature, she waited for it to swipe at her with it's axe, bringing her other tonfa up to parry the blow to the side before lashing out with the long end of her other tonfa, cracking it's skull with the strike and sending it away from her. Then, a few follow up thrusts would cause it to fall forward, as she stabbed it in the back and left it for dead.

A sharp pain would ring out through her ankle though, as the one she left on the floor lashed out with a sword it had picked up from it's dead comrade, drawing blood from her calf. But Aiya was used to bumps and cuts, she could stand the pain. To put an end to the third one, she'd simply take a step back and bring her staff down hard on the creature's skull, splitting it with the bladed end in a powerful vertical slash.

JutsuShow

[Genbu no Ken • Tortoise Shell]
C-Rank Taijutsu Stance
Aiya will bring her arms in close to her torso and tighten her stance as she prepares to defend herself. While maintaining this stance, she is much slower (-6 Speed) But she is also a lot tougher, and is able to more adequately take and defend against attacks (+6 Endurance).

[Suzaku no Tsubasa • Peck]
D-Rank Taijutsu Maneuver
One of the simplest and most basic of strikes, Aiya will grip her polearm with one hand near the center and one hand towards the back end of the polearm. She will then aim her polearm at an opponent before pushing forward with the back hand, sliding the polearm forward in a thrusting strike. This is an incredibly safe and versatile strike, as it can be used from almost any position and in almost any situation with little risk to Aiya.

[Seiryu no Kiba • Baring Claws]
D-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
After much training and study, the practitioner has learned how to use projectiles at close range, even point-blank range, with the same Strength as attacks against more distant targets. This Discipline allows the practitioner to use Flawless Aim techniques against melee-range targets without excessive exposure to counterattack and without losing Speed, Strength, or accuracy.

[Seiryu no Kiba • Many Fangs]
D-Rank Taijutsu Maneuver
Preparing multiple projectiles, the practitioner launches each of the projectiles at one or more targets. For each target beyond the first, the accuracy of each of the attacks is decreased, suffering a -1 Strength penalty for each additional target.

[Genbu no Ken • Snapping Strike]
C-Rank Taijutsu Maneuver
Aiya will begin this strike by allowing an attack to slide off of her tonfa, parrying the blow away from her body. She will then quickly lash out with the long end of her other Tonfa, using the opening created by the parry to strike the target.

[Suzaku no Tsubasa • Falcon Dive]
D-Ranked Taijutsu Maneuver
Aiya will lift her polearm up high before grabbing hold of one end of her polearm, swinging the entire length of the polearm down hard in a vertical strike aimed for a target's upper body. Using the full length of the polearm grants this attack a surprisingly long range.

---

Minako had two to deal with, but they were noticeably bulkier than the ones Aiya had to fight. Bigger, stronger, and with larger weapons; the one to her right wielding a greataxe of massive size and the one to the left using a sword and shield. It was the bigger one who would lash out first, roaring as it swing it's axe horizontally at the Inuzuka, aiming to bisect her with one gigantic slash. The other would watch and wait for a dodge before rushing forward with it's shield out, aiming to ram her before stabbing forward with his blade. It was clear these two knew how to fight together too...

[Willoria]

Minako was grinning like a wild animal, the blood running down her neck and shoulder only completing the image as the remaining two came at her. As the one with the axe came at her, Minako flipped forward and sideways, dropping down to hit the ground with an audible thud but still rolling across the ground. She came up by the mutant's feet and slid between them, lashing out with her blades to slice at the ankles. Her karambit slid home into their sheaths as she drew her bow and arrow while rising and fired off quickly at the one with the sword and shield.

One shot barely missed the shield, the second struck it while the first embedded into the creature's armpit and it howled in pain.

Yet she felt a sudden pain of her own and hissed through her teeth as she looked down and saw the first had rolled over to dig teeth into her calf, claws into her knee and thigh. Her bow turned downward and fired two arrows into the face of the creature's eyes so that it fell back unmoving and Minako dropped to a knee before looking over at Aiya. "Aiya! You alright?!" She was far more worried about the girl than herself right now.

Jutsu UsedShow

Silat • Rough and Tumble
C-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
Utilizing such an acrobatic and agile style does not come without mistakes. Luckily for Minako, she has already made and learned from those mistakes, and thus her ability to properly tuck, roll, dive, slide and flip are all more than adequate for her to utilize the acrobatic strikes and movements of the Silat Style.

Silat • Achilles Bane
C-Rank Taijutsu Maneuver
Minako will dash forward with a feinting strike before quickly dropping low into a slide, with the intent of slipping right between a target's legs. In the midst of this slide, both of her blades will lash out at a target's ankles, specifically aiming to sever the Achilles Tendon running along the back of the leg. If successful, the target's legs will be rendered useless until medical attention is received.

*[Flawless Aim Style • Sentinel Shot]
D-Rank Taijutsu Stance
Taking multiple projectiles into hand and priming the muscle groups required for launching projectile weapons, the practitioner can quickly shoot projectiles in rapid succession and just as quickly reload. While in this Stance, the practitioner can maintain a near-constant stream of projectile attacks. However, due to the amount of coordination required for this Stance, their movement is limited, suffering a -3 Speed penalty while in this Stance.

*[Flawless Aim Style • Dead Angle Targeting]
D-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
After much training and study, the practitioner has learned how to use projectiles at close range, even point-blank range, with the same Strength as attacks against more distant targets. This Discipline allows the practitioner to use Flawless Aim techniques against melee-range targets without excessive exposure to counterattack and without losing Speed, Strength, or accuracy.

[TyDie]

Aiya watched as Minako finished dispatching her enemies around the same time Aiya finished hers, a grin crossing her face as she limped towards Minako, blood running down her leg. Minako was hurt too, of that there was no doubt, but at least the two were alive... "Yeah... I'm fine..." Aiya would put her nose to the air with a few sniffs, but as far as she could tell the room was empty now - the mutants had been dealt with. With a sigh, she put all of her weaponry away and let her spider form recede, breathing sighs of relief and exhaustion as the battle was won.

"How about you? Can you stand? We still have to go find those survivors, right?" Aiya was trying to focus on the mission itself, not the ominous words of the spider that had left... But it wasn't working all that well. Still she felt as if something bad was about to happen...

[Willoria]

Minako nodded as she looked over and saw Aiya coming towards her. She forced herself back up to her feet and grinned almost sheepishly. "Look at us, we'll be limping our way out." she commented with a bit of a laugh. "Considering what this mission was supposed to be and what it turned out to be though... I'll take that as a win." she added, motioning for the exit. "Come on, lets get out of here. Rei should still be with the survivors, we'll regroup and get out of here."

A sinking feeling returned to her gut as she realized she might still have one more job to do, and it was one Aiya might hate her for. But for now she buried the thought as she led the way out, limping along but limping at least. "We'll need to report this to the village... and I'll go with you to report this to your Clan Leader as well. He'll need to know. Normally you'd probably go alone for that, but at your rank they may want me with you simply because I witnessed it as well." she looked at Aiya for a moment. "Are you okay with that?"

[TyDie]

As Minako got to her feet, Aiya couldn't help but laugh and chuckle through labored breaths. "Yeah... We're hurt all right... But compared to them? We definitely came out on top. How many genin can say they took down a whole squad of mutants with their jounin friend? Only me, that's who!" She grinned cheekily and held up her index and middle finger, forming a "V" for victory as she proclaimed their success. She'd follow the Inuzuka woman out of the cavern, limping along as best she could as they spoke about what comes next.

"Yeah, I definitely think Yosuke will want to speak to you. This all involves our bloodline, whether you wanted to or not you're now privy to the clan's information. I think he'd value your take on the matter, or at least your eyewitness accounts. We'll get out of here and go check on the survivors, then get home... maybe get patched up along the way. Limping home might take a while, haha..." As they got clear of the encampment, Aiya's nose turned to the air for a moment, searching for Rei's scent. And sure enough, the girl shuddered as she caught wind of the smell of dog.

"Bleh... She's that way." Aiya pointed down the path, letting Minako lead the way to her Ninken.

[Willoria]

Minako nodded as Aiya talked about her clan leader. "Yeah... if he's like any of the other clan leaders he's probably going to be a bit sour about what I've learned. But not like I could really help it." she remarked, shrugging a bit and then immediately wincing. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off she could feel the wound in her neck more and even the leg was starting to hurt more. "I think we'll pay for a cart for the trip back or something, we'll need it." she muttered as they got out into the open air once more and Minako took a deep breath of fresh air. It really did just smell so much better out here, and she didn't want to admit it to Aiya but it felt good to get the scent of spider out of her nose.

Of course as Aiya reacted to the scent of Rei and pointed in the direction of the dog, Minako couldn't help a laugh. She'd almost forgotten that Aiya didn't like dogs. As they got nearer, Minako was reminded of the survivors and was glad to see most of them resting under the trees and near Rei. A couple of them were even sitting with the dog and petting her. Naturally Rei was loving the attention which only had Minako rolling her eyes.

"The camp has been cleared out." she called to them as they got closer and Minako started counting people to see how many they had. There were about four, and as they got close Minako felt her blood run cold as she noticed a member of the family they had saved, namely the father, had what looked like black veins running down one of his arms.

[TyDie]

Aiya was never happier to see a dog in her life, but she couldn't help but sigh with relief as Rei was keeping the survivors company. The family of three saw the two shinobi coming, and initially recoiled as they saw Aiya, but they had clearly been saved by her and Minako's efforts - they tried to let her previous appearance go. The other girl was happy to see them though, running up and hugging Aiya. "Oh gods, thank you so much! You saved us all from those horrible creatures!"

Aiya grimaced at first, not sure what to do, but eventually she hugged the girl back with a chuckle. "Part of the job, hun. Glad we could help. Now, let's get you back to your homes... and maybe one of your towns could lend us a cart to wheel us back to the village? We uh, didn't get out of there unscathed, haha." Her leg was starting to throb now, she was ready to get off of it and relax on the way back home. She might even be willing to ride Rei home if she needed to...

[Willoria]

Minako watched the reunion with a strangely serious expression, crossing her arms under her chest as she watched them for a moment. She seemed so serious that eventually Rei looked at her and let out a low whine. "We're not safe yet." she said suddenly, waiting for all eyes to turn to her before she looked at the husband and father of the family and nodding towards him. "You're infected and starting to show symptoms." she told him. "We found no antivenom there, and once you show signs there is no way for us to cure you from what we've seen." Minako took a deep breath, and drew one of her karambit from under a forearm and held it for a moment.

"You are going to turn into one of those things, and you're going to try and kill your family and everyone else around you."

The man stared at her, frozen in shock and shook his head. "No, no I wouldn't do that!"

"This isn't a question of if. It's just a matter of when." Minako pointed to his arm. "It's crawling up your neck too. Your eyes will go next, you have less than an hour I'd guess."

"No, there has to be something you can do."

Minako held up her knife. "The only thing I can do is this." she told him before looking over at Aiya. "Take them away, they don't need to see this." she told her, and if Aiya argued she'd simply look at her coldly and add. "That's an order. Now."

[TyDie]

Aiya was happy to finally be done with this mess, ready to go home and get checked up on so she could get some much needed rest in her bed. But as Minako's tone grew cold, Aiya felt a shift in the wind that sent a chill down her spine. As she explained herself, Aiya's blood ran cold and her eyes grew wide. "No... Oh god. Aiya closed her eyes, not even realizing that a tear was already rolling down her cheek. The man protested, clearly not wanting to die, but after Aiya saw those things... She knew as well as Minako did that there was no coming back from that. If there was no cure for it...

"Maybe we can bring him with us! We could make an antidote or something, anything other tha-" Minako made clear that this was an order, harshly spitting the words at Aiya, and Aiya sniffled in response... "...Alright..." The girl spoke quietly, somberly, and walked over to the other three survivors. "I'm sorry. There's nothing we can do, please... You shouldn't have to see this."

"No wait, daddy don't go!" the little girl protested, and it killed Aiya to have to pick her up, holding her steady while she thrashed and cried. "I'm sorry..." Aiya sniffled again as she grabbed the mother and other girl, taking them all down the path with Rei at her side to keep them all in line. Once they were beyond the treeline and out of earshot, she'd put the little girl down and let her go be with her mother while she leaned against a tree, keeping them from rushing off to the father again.

[Willoria]

Minako kept her eyes to the group as Aiya took them away. It wasn't only so she could keep an eye on the man, but so she wouldn't have to see the family's reaction. She could practically feel the sorrow from the daughter, the anger from the wife that would eventually boil over. She'd face that later. The man tried to move past Minako and the woman simply put a hand on the center of his chest. When she could hear that they were far enough away and he started to try and plead with her again, she slipped her fingers along the grip of her knife and lashed out quickly. His final words ended in a sickening gurgle before he hit the ground and his eyes were staring into nothing before his body had fully fallen.

Minako wiped the knife in the grass and put it away before turning to walk away, towards where the group was gone. As expected as she came into view she was greeted by sorrow and rage. The little girl was still crying and the moment the wife saw her she stalked straight over to Minako and delivered a slap hard enough to nearly stumble the Inuzuka who had been limping. Rei tried to growl but Minako silenced the dog with a single hand motion.

She simply looked at Aiya, the weight of it in her eyes still. "Let's go." she told her quietly. "We have a long trip back."