[Grading]When the storm hits a lightning rod: Iron troubles in Lightning Country

[Kanade]

Chiaki had chosen this mission because it seemed rather up her alley. She had experience now with capturing opponents and bringing them back alive, and it served the purpose of bringing Kumogakure no Sato and Iwagakure no sato closer to a tenuous friendship rather than outright spitting in each others faces across a battlefield.

Chiaki had given the scroll and the lead to her new companion, Ning, and the Raikage said that she needed to bond with her new teammate while Mariya was off doing... training? She shrugged and looked up at the sky, reviewing the mission in her head:

A ranked mission with possibility of serious injury. A rogue user of the Iron release, along with the Sand release is known to be stalking about in the territory close to Kumogakure no Sato. Patrol the area and report back whether the rogue ninja is in Kumogakure no sato, and if they are, capture the ninja and transfer them to the nearest outpost for trade with Iwagakure no sato.

It was a bit of a pain to be doing some other country's work, but she couldn't help keeping a grin off of her face as she walked alongside Ning, who probably thought her pace painfully slow compared to the other ninja of the village hidden in the clouds. She couldn't help the grin, as he had called her cute during their training, one, and two, she wanted to make sure that she was seeming friendly towards her new teammate, who she hoped would take care of her on this mission.

Chiaki had undergone some extensive training at the temple in order to focus and control her chakra, but she hadn't had the right partner to test it out with. She hoped, truly, that she woudln't be a hindrance to the mission as she had, historically, and that Ning would enjoy himself. She spoke up, breaking the silence with a, "Do you think that we'll find any sign of this ninja today, or that we'll get to enjoy the low-country a little bit more before returning to the Emperor-cha?"

She had her hands behind her head and looked about in a lazy fashion, her hair covering the scar on her right eye, and her mask up because of all of the pollen of the late spring blooms around them. The wildflowers lazily dipped their heads in the breezes that circulated in the fields to either side, and it made Chiaki positively lazy in her marching patrol. She wasn't a sensory ninja, and if she had to hazard a guess, wouldn't find this rogue ninja unless he dropped almost literally into her lap.

[Zao]

Their tasking was a bit vague really, but reconnaissance and security patrols, while never really run or cool, were truly a necessity for any type of structured military to ensure that its borders were safe and secure. Protecting not only its members but the civilians in order to keep the faith of the people in the new Empire that the Raikage had established with all his hard work and years of blood, sweat, and tears to reach the point that they were at today. The chances of actually encountering the rogue shinobi that had been roaming around the edges of the countryside.

Nevertheless, Ning wouldn't complain about spending some time with his new teammates, especially Chiaki. Currently the man followed alongside the slightly older shinobi, the runic inscribed trident currently across both of his shoulders with the left hand holding near the blunt end of the staff portion while his golden eyes scanned the surrounding and the distance. "Most rogue shinobi tend to try to stay under the radar. So, I'm not exactly expecting him to make contact with a security patrol like ourselves." Ning was honest in his response, or at least what his thoughts were to Chiaki.

"At least we have nice scenery to look at." Ning spoke aloud again, sneaking a peak at the young woman to his right side with a smile as he went back to gazing at the vast fields of wildflowers that were in bloom at the moment, it was a beautiful scene. Suddenly he let out a light sneeze, "Achoo!" Reaching up with his right hand he rubbed his now softly. "Beautiful but this pollen sure is thick this time of year." A comment more to himself than his teammate as he pondered about what other parts of the world were like. Really never having left the borders for anything more than to travel to the international chuunin exams a few months back.

[Kanade]

Chiaki looked up at the sky as the other shinobi snuck a peek at her and she grinned, lazily strutting around and then placed a finger on her chin in thought, "Didn't you say that there was someplace to eat up here? Perhaps we should visit there. Did you know that I am working on making portable, edible, Iijutsu-cha?" She asked the boy walking next to her as he sneezed.

"It is a lovely season, all said and done, and a lovely country-cha." She looked around and thought for a moment that she would like to live here, where it was warm and full of life and plants, and people that just... enjoyed life.

"Pollen's getting to you hmm?" She didn't know an analgesic jutsu, perhaps she should develop one for missions such as these, or perhaps she could find a natural analgesic for him so that he wouldn't be sneezing the whole day and be miserable. "I'll go get you something to calm your nose down, I have heard that pollen allergies are quite tiresome after a whole days march." They hadn't been marching at all, more of lollygagging since Chiaki was mostly setting the pace, and she was slow for a ninja, and carefree.

With the thought of finding a natural analgesic, she happily strolled off into the flowers, disregarding the road they were supposed to be travelling off in search for some wireweed, a common mallow with properties that were both analgesic and made for a tasty salad. She had seen it growing around here before and had only just come up with the idea that she could make a salad out of the wild spinach here, some mushrooms, perhaps some of the wireweed, and some of the nasturtium for that bold peppery flavor.

Walking amongst the flowers, she found herself moving among the tall, tall grasses and wondering whether or not she would get lost, seeing as the grass was rapidly getting taller than her, and then she wondered whether or not this would actually be a good place for their quarry to hide. Still on the vein of the wireweed mallow, she bustled to and fro, gathering her herbs and humming to herself, thinking that Ning was either going to follow her into the flowers, grasses, and weeds, or wait for her to return. She wasn't going to be all day about it, and to be completely honest, it wasn't like she had anything that was fresh in a while besides those wild blackberries the other day.

Maybe adding some of those or some wild strawberries would be a lovely addition to her salad.

[Zao]

"Edible Iijutsu? Kind of like medicine or?" The sound of edible medical techniques was interesting to the laid back shinobi as he nodded his head interested in the thought, wandering what she meant specifically. Of course there was medicine for various things but what angle was Chiaki going for with her food medicine that was different that normal edibles. But she seemed to switch subjects regularly and found her back on his mention of the pollen, a little sniffle from his runny nose could be heard just before he replied. "Aye, just a bit. The flowers are in full bloom and that tall grass over there is bad to." Loosening his right hand from the carved shaft of his spear the young man pointed off the right side of the road towards the grassland area no far from them.

"Oh really?" Ning's ears perked up a bit, any offer of hers to help his light case of allergies would be gratefully welcomed as he knew that the longer they patrolled this path along the meadow to their north the worst it would get. Without any more warning she stepped off on her own path that would take her through the wild flowers among other plant life but the spear man waved her off, speaking quickly afterwards. "I'll wait here, not sure I"d survive walking through that. " Ning laughed as he spoke, obviously being a little sarcastic with his remark but sure that he would understand his reasoning for not wanting to walk through the foliage that was causing his current allergy symptoms. His golden gaze lingered on the woman's back as she waltz through the wild flowers that covered her from the waist down before she disappeared into the tall grasslands a bit further over.

Perhaps it was woman's intuition or bad luck but the female chuunin's thoughts hadn't been to far from the truth as laying within the tall grass was a slender figure with a pair of short blades strapped to the left hip. He was currently laying down upon his back, his head propped up on a rounded rock as both hands were interlocked and resting upon his stomach. As a rogue shinobi one could never fully rest and needed to find the best hide sites that offered cover and concealment. The tall grass masking his appearance and the abundance of different aromas from the foliage in the meadow masked his own smell. He'd probable only been there resting a couple hours when the sound of voices and then a single set of footsteps approached in his direction. 'A patrol out here?'

Jinshu cursed his bad luck, he had just been wanting to rest until dark and then he'd move further north to a little shady town that he could use to hang out and let the effects of his most recent activities settle down. A dark green bamboo hat shifted slightly as he attempted to peer through the reeds of tall grass using both his sight and hearing to judge how far the unknown shinobi was from him. Forming quiet hand seals the man extending his hands as four metal kunai formed in each hand and he silently rose to a knee. 'They must know I'm here....I need to take at least one of them out quickly then deal with the other...' Both arms sung together from each side as four kunai arched out to either side in an almost bent flight path that would place Chiaki in their interception path.

[Kanade]

Chiaki nodded to Ning, "Yes I believe it's so-cha." She said before disappearing into the brush and then as she was gathering, she ducked low as she found the plant that was growing along the ground, the two top kunai rang out as they collided with one another, making a harsh ringing noise, but the ambush wasn't for naught as one sank deeply into her left side, above the second rib and stuck out of her while the one on her right grazed her back, tearing open her gi and leaving a ragged hole with a slit that was about 12 inches, curved, and leaked blood slowly.

clutching her side Chiaki wove familiar hand seals and grimaced as the hot and sharp pain was enhanced by each pant as she pulled the kunai out. She was told that she was supposed to be on constant guard for this shinobi, but she didn't believe that she would find them so easily. Perhaps it was fate, but perhaps it was her doom. She was caught in the middle of a field where her ally couldn't assist, and if she ran off now, she might not be able to catch the damned man. Ning would have to decide whether to help her here or whether she would have to retreat and they would miss their quarry. This was the whole reason they were out here, and frankly she was surprised that the man had made it this far into their territory.

Had the jounin that were hunting him been eluded that easily?

The blood leaked between her fingers as she applied pressure to the wound and pulled the kunai out of her side, holding it with her left side as she attempted to keep her blood in and called out in a high pitched, and urgent voice, "Ning! I need you!" The desperation and pain in her voice evident as she held the kunai, point upwards in her hand in a defensive position, she had dropped her staff to make the hand seals and was breathing rather heavily as she clutched at her side, the blood pooling between her fingers. She would have to administer first aid to herself, but Iijutsu required a steady hand, and more time than she was being afforded for now. She needed her front-line man.

The blood from her wound spattered the mallow, rendering it inedible for some time, and the breeze started to pick up to more of a wind, tossing the heads of the flowers hither and thither, dancing and spiraling in a dance around the woman clothed in lightning, "In the name of Kumogakure no Sato, you're being taken in-cha." She sounded dumb, when it came out of her mouth she knew it sounded dumb, but she didn't know what else to do.

jutsu usedShow

*Raiton • Lightning Armament
D-Ranked Ninjutsu
After the correct hand seals are performed, the user coats themselves in a thick layer of lightning. This armour of lightning forms near instantly and requires [50] Strength to break. During this time, the user's physical strikes apply the Raiton shocking effect.

[Zao]

"What?!" The cry that echoed out from the tall grass a distance away could be heard over the gentle breeze waking the young man from his lackadaisical mind set as the spear spun around and the trident tip was stuck into the ground as he leaped upwards landing with a single foot atop the blunt end of the weapon's shaft elevating him nearly ten feet in the air for a better vantage point of what was going on. It was then that he could see the powerful lightning armor of the young woman that he knew quite well. His golden gaze could just barely make out a figure in the tall grass who was forming a metallic looking staff of...metal? Metal? Could it really be the shinobi that they were scouting for this deep in the Empire's territory?

Though he knew that Chiaki wasn't weak, per say, she wasn't great at close range combat either. Flipping forward he grabbed the weapon as he landed in a crouched position with the ancient runic weapon held in his left hand as the shinobi's eyes seemed to glow as chakra flowed through his body and activated a set of those very runic symbols. Two powerful looking spears of Ranton chakra formed, one to the left side of Ning and one to the right as he pushed forward and used the strength of his leg muscles to leap upwards into the air, easily rising up to around seven or eight meters into the air as he twisted his body and like a javelin throwing launched the spear toward the distant target.

Both of the storm chakra spears flew alongside the real spear which paved the wave as if flew over the young woman's left shoulder before he activated the special effect of both of those elemental spears at the same time causing a rain of storm chakra ribbons that were like slender snake like spears to rain down around the man. Caught off guard the missing-nin who wielded a powerful looking metal spear he had just created leaped back sustaining some relatively minor wounds and torn clothing, but otherwise mostly unharmed. But the attack had created a cloud of dust and smoke as Ning landed a handful of meters in front of his comrade wrenching the old trident from the soft earth. "Are you okay?"

In a defensive stance the man slid his left foot back as his eyes scanned the thinning cloud of dust and smoke from his previous attack as a new, single spear of Ranton chakra formed over his left side. As he passed overhead of his friend, he could see that she had been injured but at high speed he wasn't about to actually assess how bad the injury was. It was key to protect one's medic, but who would have thought that she would be the first one attacked by the strange figure as two more kunai tore through the smoke right at Ning forcing him to spin his staff to deflect them off to each side at the last minute..

[Kanade]

Chiaki nodded once and pointed to where Ning needed to focus. "I'm alright-cha." She said, clenching her teeth. She hadn't ever been stabbed with a kunai before, but there was a first time for everything. She hissed between clenched teeth, “He got a lucky blow in, it looks like this is the person we were supposed to be after. I’ll back you up-cha.” She wove a set of hand seals and her tether shot out from her, latching onto her ally in the blink of an eye.

She was unsure of the new jutsu that she had been working on, and wondered whether it would even work. She had been practicing since she had the spar with Ning before, and she knew that if the jutsu worked on him like it had worked on the training grounds dummies, that it would be an invaluable asset to be able to give him a shield that she had used on herself. Chiaki grit her teeth, feeling the blood hot and wet beneath her hand as she placed her hand over the wound again. Perhaps it was more grievous than she would have liked to admit. Still, it wasn’t the place for her to perform the needed healing jutsu, she would just have to deal with that some other time.

“Now to try that new jutsu out-cha.” She wove a new set of hand seals and a surge of lightning coursed through the tether, leaping to life around Ning, it was the exact same one as Chiaki’s own, an immensely powerful shield, meant to defend Ning from his foes, “And that’s not it.” she added, weaving one more set of hand seals as his trident became wreathed in lightning from another shot of lightning. She grinned with a rather uncharacteristic darkness in her eyes, “that’ll show them.” She wondered whether or not she would be able to use all of her jutsu like this, and would be asking Ning for his help with developing this particular new jutsu of hers. She was still shaky with the specifics of how this could work, but that was a problem for another time.

Chiaki sighed and sat down, pulling out a needle and thread, her hands shaking from the wound on her side. She would need to at least suture it up now, or the battle would be lost to blood-loss. The hot blood pooled down her side as she let go of the wound and hissed as the once-sterile needle sank into her flesh. She whimpered once and then grit her teeth and continued sewing, the nerves becoming accustomed to the onslaught of new pain from the needle weaving in and out, keeping her blood inside her body, rather than splattering the ground.

jutsu usedShow

~Tenketsu Tethering: Link Up II
C-Rank Ninjutsu/Iijutsu
After a set of hand seals, the Kyoukan family member will make fire off a pink wisp of chakra from themselves at a target at a speed of [50] and up to [50] meters away. If contact is made, a tether will form. This tether can stretch up to [50] x 2 meters and lasts for [50]/5 posts. When stretched further than this range, the tether remains but will be unusable as a medium for tether techniques.

~Teketsu Tethering: Shared Technique
C-Rank Ninjutsu
After a set of hand seals, the Kyoukan family member will send jutsu through the tether at [control (50)] speed to the specified target and use them as the base for their own jutsu. All jutsu are cast from the target rather than the Kyoukan family member unless specified by the Kyoukan family member. This only works if the target is willing to be the target of such jutsu. The target can attempt to resist their being the origin of the jutsu without any effort, and should this happen the jutsu instead manifests as if it were cast from the Kyoukan family member.

*Raiton • Lightning Armament
D-Ranked Ninjutsu
After the correct hand seals are performed, the user coats themselves in a thick layer of lightning. This armour of lightning forms near instantly and requires [50] Strength to break. During this time, the user's physical strikes apply the Raiton shocking effect.
and

*Raiton • Conductor
D-Ranked Ninjutsu
After performing the correct hand seals, the user will coat a weapon they are holding in Raiton electricity for 5 posts. This causes the shock effect to be produced on any contact with a target, while also granting blunt weapons the ability to cut through skin to produce shallow wounds. This also works for thrown weapons, however if the projectile remains out of contact with the user for more than 2 posts the technique will dissipate early.

[Zao]

"Lets do this!" He spoke back to his comrade, sparks flying off the shaft of his runic staff as the pair of kunai were deflects slightly off course as he spun the staff like trident around in rapid circles while retreating a few steps, feeling the strength behind the thrown weapons was creator than his own as each kunai caused the trident to vibrate leaving two tiny nicks in the surface of the metal handle. 'How strong...' The young chuunin mentally reflected on the enemy who he hadn't seen yet as he snuck a quick glance over his shoulder towards Chiaki as he felt her chakra tether technique latch on to him.

One might have compared this what it felt to have someone embrace you from behind, a gentle warm flowing through his body as a result of the Kyoukan's unique chakra technique tying them together. Lightning chakra began to crackle across his body as he could hear from behind him the sweet voice of his friend as she spoke of having a jutsu to try out. Though he questioned what she meant he could see the outline of a broad-shouldered figure through the thinning dust as the figure had crafted a pair of long swords, one for each hand. 'A dual sword user?'

Someone who could use two swords at the same time had to have a great deal of experience with the weapon along with excellent perception and rection time to use the weapons in tandem and to not disrupt their own flow of combat through a miss stroke. But before he could advance the crackling lightning flowed over his body, but to his surprise it didn't shock or injure him but instead formed an armor like construct around his own form, much like how his comrade had done in their sparring bout. 'This is...!' He instantly recognized the jutsu as he could hear indistinctive words from behind him as the trident in his hands was also coated in a powerful surging raiton cloak.

Before he had already began to doubt his chances versus this missing-nin, feeling that the man would easily be able to overpower him with the strength Ning felt the man had based on the impacts of his kunai a few moments earlier. But now he had renewed confidence as a second spear once again appeared above his right shoulder. "Thanks Chiaki!" With his swords sprouting from his mouth the lightning clad youth pressed forward with a sudden burst of speed as he attempted to fight against the foreign shinobi.

The long trident lashed out like a viper striking at its prey, the young man's white hair flying to and fro as his ghost spears shot out with each strike but to his surprise the swordsman was able to block his attacks. His own metal weapons created from his ninjutsu able to currently neutralize the shocking effect of the lightning but each blow from not only his own spears but the lightning reinforcement of Chi's jutsu allow for him to form cracks in the two swords. Something that he wouldn't have been able to do without his teammate's support.

As his opponent slashed towards his waist the man leaped upwards spinning before delivering an enhanced series of blows down from above like an angel striking down from the heavens at a demon rising up, this increase in strength enough to finally break apart both of the swords. Yet, the experienced shinobi quickly retreated forming hand seals as Ning landed once more keeping himself between Chiaki and the missing-nin. The power of the lightning flowing around his body and weapon causing the young man to smile calmly.

But the other man didn't seem to threaten as he slide backwards putting tens of meters between them now (around twenty) as a series of metallic looking, handless blades broke through the surface of the ground and floated around him in a circular fashion. These blades gave the young chuunin a strange feeling of pressure, more and more blades flowed up until a total of thirteen silvery blades flickered around the man's body as he pointed his finger at Ning with a smug smile on his lips. Instantly one of the blades shot out with such speed that he couldn't dodge it or deflect it as he attempted to with his staff only to have it brushed aside as the blade smashed straight into his chest armor sending him flying backwards until he then smashed into the ground.

The force of the impact causing him to dig a small track in the ground as he slid about ten meters back ending up in the same general area as his teammate, though he was somewhat winded from the blow thankfully he was alive, all thanks to the armor placed on him by his teammate. The missing-nin on the other hand only tilted his head, mildly amused that he didn't kill the Kumo shinobi with a single sword blow. "Damn that hurt..." Both of the ghost spears flew back towards their master floating over top of him as he slowly got back up...

JutsuShow

* Kushou・The Viper Flicks its Tongue
D-Ranked Taijutsu Maneuver
This simple technique involves thrusting quickly with the user’s long weapon from a distance before quickly pulling back their polearm to prevent counters. These techniques most useful aspect is that it can be used while in motion without affecting speed or momentum.


* Kushou・The Swallow Rides the Wind
C-Ranked Taijutsu Maneuver
Prerequisite: * Kushou・The Swallow Takes Flight
The user of this technique must first launch themselves high into the air as if with The Swallow Takes Flight. They will then begin to spin and unleash a flurry of blows from above. The user is capable of performing up to three strikes in the air, each of them prolonging the user’s airtime. The Swallow Rides the Wind is useful as it maintains the advantageous high ground and all of the forward momentum toward the opponent throughout all of its blows, giving the user an effective +6 Strength and -6 Control for the three blows.


Missing-nin

*Kouton • Heaven's Wheel
A-Ranked Ninjutsu
After performing the required hand seals, the user will generate thirteen swords from metal which will spin slowly in a ring around them at waist height for 6 posts. They are able to do two things with these blades: either they can cause 2 blades to fly into their hands at [Control] speed at will, or they can fire one sword in a single direction with [Control] speed and strength for up to 60 meters. Each effect can only be activated once per post.

[Kanade]

Chiaki wove her hands in a series of seals once again and sent her chakra through the tether, “Aim it and fire-cha!” Chiaki shouted and then performed one more set of hand seals, the field about the young male ninja with the staves became electrified, his right hand would be abuzz with her lightning chakra that would paralyze the ninja should he hit him. It would be fast, and it would be painful when the jutsu spread enough to encapsulate his legs, plus an extra 10 meters behind. Chiaki was hoping that it would catch him off guard, and Ning could freely attack and defend in the field just as she had been able to do when she was facing off against her last sparring partner.

Chiaki was a bit outside of the range of the jutsu, carefully calculated and wondered whether or not this would give Ning the upperhand or not. She had seen what the other ninja was capable of so far, and wouldn’t be surprised if he had some sort of upper hand to his attacks and tactics that she didn’t know about, nor could comprehend, being a simple chuunin with little to no combat experience herself.

“Good job breaking his swords Ning!” Chiaki smiled and grit her teeth as she tried to stand, and hunched back over, her side still bothering her from where the kunai pierced. She was going to have to deal with that sooner rather than later she had the feeling.

Chiaki noticed, also, that the barrier was going to give way with another one of those attacks. She sighed and wove one more set of hand seals and a barrier shot from her to Ning that she had been working on at that time: the jikiton barrier. It made sense to do this against a Kouton user, and she only hoped that it would stop the weapons harmlessly like it was supposed to, and even if they did manage to penetrate the outer barrier, he still had the lightning armor on him.

Seeing as the blow before was able to deal bludgeoning damage through the armor, she knew that another hit would be worse, the next one would be undoubtedly with more force, with more malice behind it, the magnetic barrier, should, in theory, stop that from happening.

She thought at that moment, that it would behoove her to start training more jutsu that enhanced her allies speed, strength, and other such abilities. A little too little a little too late for that though, hers and Nings opponent was in front of him, and she needed to concentrate or she would be taken by surprise again by something that their opponent, probably easily overpowering either of them on their own, would throw at them. Who would win, the inexperienced two Chuunin of lightning country, or the metal wall of a ninja that hailed from earth country?

[Zao]

The earth country shinobi eyed the pair and the team like tactics they used, from his own intelligence reports he could see that this white-haired kid must be from the Arashiyama clan known for their storm ninjutsu and the young woman must be from the Kyoukan based on her link techniques. This truly was a bad match up for himself even being a jounin. Kyoukan were known for their ability to be a true support figure in any fight, being able to increase offensive or defensive abilities of their teammates. If one was a medic-nin too, then you were truly fucked unless you could kill them quickly. He cursed himself at the moment for not just going all out and killing the woman earlier, it was truly a novice mistake on his part. "Seems I'll have to try to deal with them in one blow before this become too disadvantageous..." He just mumbled under his breath his breath as he bounded backwards again forming hand seals before he pointed not at either of hte two Kumo chuunin but instead upwards toward the sky for some odd reason. In doing so one of his rotating sword blades shot upwards into the air as it began to transform in size to a ten-meter sword that rapidly split itself into seven seperate blades total. All of blades pointed downward like they were wielded by giant, invisible hands as a length of chain ran from each of the blades connecting them in a rough circular pattern as the blade seemed to have centered themselves on the area of Chiaki and Ning, "Exterminate..." The rough voice of the older shinobi could be heard as the blade immediately plunged downward with high speed (35 spd/str) with a motion from his hand.

Enemy JutsuShow

35 Control

*Kouton • Final Judgement
S-Ranked Ninjutsu
Prerequisite: Heaven's Wheel
After performing the correct hand seals, the user will fire one of the Heaven's Wheel blades straight up into the air. The blade will transform into 7 10-meter long swords, all connected by loose lengths of chain. These swords will then fall from the sky at [Control] speed, decimating an 80 meter area of the user's choosing with 7 hits of [Control] strength in close proximity. This technique is capable of levelling an entire battalion at once, leaving behind a huge crater with 7 large swords planted in the ground.

For Ning, as he stood between Chiaki and the metallic swords of the foreign shinobi, he couldn't help but muse how his partner had saved his life moments earlier with the lightning armor and lightning Armament, but even the white-haired youth was nervous about how this battle would continue as he was swept away in one exchange, in truth he was just two inexperienced at fighting at this level. He quickly glanced back to see the condition of the young woman behind him and then back onto the missing-nin who pointed to the sky and a blade shot up quickly forming into a massive array of swords and chains that could only spell destruct for the both of them. "This..." Ning actually started to studder on his own words at the moment as his head tilted up to stare at what he precieved to be almost sure death as neither himself or the injured teammate could outrun something of that size if it moved as fast as the blade from earlier. Turning around, the lighting clad chuunin took a step back leading him closer to the young woman though he was unaware of what she was working on jutsu wise as the sword blades fell from above. "Sorry..." That was all the man could muster, a single apologetic word as he wasn't strong enough to take on this threat nor protect his teammate. (Up to you!)

[Kanade]

Chiaki watched as the Jutsu was formed by the Jounin and could only think of one thing. They were not going to die here.

She thought fast to how she had sustained a couple of hits with her jutsu before and thought back to the words of the Raikage when she had set out on this mission, "Alright-cha, I think I have this." She wove a series of hand seals, shouted, "IRYOTETSU: HOUSE OF HEALING!" and placed both hands on the ground, envisioning a house that was big enough to protect them, strong enough to protect them. Metal shot up around them, forming four walls, and as Ning made it barely within the jutsu's 30 meter radius. He had tried to protect her, and now she would protect him. With the next set of seals, made at blinding speed, she erected a barrier around herself.

She waited and the blows rang out, the entire building shaking around them, breaking through the first layer, the second layer, and lodging themselves in the roof, stopping there.

She was panting heavily from the use of jutsu and nodded to Ning, "We have to hit him with something, or he's going to kill us. I'm going to give you the lightning shot jutsu once more, do you think you can aim and hit him with it-cha?"

She didn't know where the blows would land next, where the attacks would come from next, but at least they had some respite. She couldn't see the other shinobi, but wondered if there was anyone around that might be able to save them, if they couldn't save themselves. She had trained with Maido before, but this was on a different level. This Jounin was clearly trying to kill them both, was clearly targetting her as she could see from the multitudinous protrusions in the ceiling. She was running out of chakra, and hoped that the other man was too. She had better control over it, but she also had to expend almost twice as much to give Ning the upper-hand.

----



New Jutsu used.

Iryotetsu: House of Healing
B-Ranked Ninjutsu
After performing the required hand seals, the user will cause megallium to surround them in a makeshift house, four walls, one window and one door. The dimensions are up to 30 meters high and 60 meters wide, centered on the user (radius of 30 meters) at [Control] speed. The roof and walls are reinforced by 3 layers of Megallium. This metal will guard the user with [Control] Strength for 4 posts.

[Zao]

"Protect...?" He barely had time to mumble the first word of the series of thoughts that were attempting to spill from his lips as he saw the young woman slam her palms into the ground now as the swirling blades lashed together with massive chains began to descend. In response to the woman's actions, he seemed to forget about the impending attack as the metallic walls shot upwards around the pair and began forming into a three-layered house like structure, all he could do was close his eyes and shake his head, a smile forming on his busted lips. "Thanks." If felt like before she had full faint and confidence in him to protect her so, why couldn't he have the same kind of believe in his fellow teammate at this point.

As the darkness descended caused by the metallic structure fully enclosing the pair Ning shifted his position back closer to that of Chiaki glancing at her briefly just before the strictly fully completed itself and it became truly dark within it, only the crackling lightning that still surrounded the youth and his trident seemed to cause a soft light that washed over the pair. Boom! Boom! Boom! The seven gigantic swords rained down and smashed through two out of the three layers of metal that made up the roof of the large house and large indentions appeared on the third level that could just barely be seen with the dark inside combined with the faint lightly the chuunin was giving off.

"Shew! You saved us!" A light laugh slipped from the warrior's mouth as his bright gaze was upon the faintly illuminated roof from the inside, exhaling he tried to calm his mind as he nodded towards the woman's words but at the same time his first couple exchanges caused some doubt to linger in the shinobi's mind as his finger gripped ever tighter upon his runic trident. "Maybe, we'll have to exit this barrier first." He had no idea what the rogue shinobi was doing or exactly where he was on the outside of the structure...Ning was expected to be attacked again at any second but for some reason he was like it was two quiet..."Um, how are we going to get out of this barrier, Chiaki-chan?"

Outside the large barrier...

"What kind of metal is that?" The Iwa nin shook his head, eyes almost bulging out of his head as he stared at his seven massive swords that had plunged down into the structure but didn't manage to break completely through it in one go. Sweat dripped down the corners of his face, using the large-scale destruction technique wasn't easy. "Damn it!" Cursing out loud he knew that the use of his large jutsu and the matching large defensive building was bound to grab the attention of other nearby squads. In the distance he could see that on the horizon a handful of shadows were moving towards the powerful exchange. "I don't have time, got to run." He was no fool, he'd survived this long as a rogue ninja because he knew when to fight and when to run. With a flick of his sleeve the shinobi turned on his heels and rapidly began to retreat in order to leave the scene before the reinforcements arrived and he was surroudned...

[Kanade]

Sweating, and gasping for air she pointed at the door, "Get over there and open the door-cha." She had strained herself this much, but she needed to secure the capture in order for the mission to count, and for it not to be considered a failure. Why couldn't Iwa keep their own missing ninja in line instead of letting them bleed into the land of lightning.

"Nevermind-cha, just go and get him." As soon as Ning ran over she would pull at the door with her Jikiton draw, opening it with enough speed so that he didn't have to stop his departure. Then she pumped more chakra into the tether, first giving him another Raiton barrier, replenishing his defensive capabilities.

The strain from it brought her to one knee. She was breathing hard, pumped more chakra into the tether and it shot towards him, his finger lighting up with the Raiton Chakra. It wasn't a particularly hard-hitting jutsu, but it would do the trick. It should at least get him the paralysis he needed to shut down this ninja for good. her vision blurred as she breathed heavily, taking down her mask, beads of sweat forming on her brow as she kept the kneeling position. She had to maintain the jutsu on him as long as she could, or he would be defenseless, and that meant death for him. She just hoped that the other ninja was tiring as much as she was.

She also hoped that her jutsu had kept Ning at his tip-top shape so that he could ram his spear into the other ninja.

How dare he try to kill her and her comrade.

[Zao]

"Oh!" The youth felt a bit silly but in his defense he had been preoccupied with watching the massive seven swords of death fall upon them and hadn't been aware enough to notice that this house like structure was actually just that, a house. Plus, the darkness surrounded the edges of the room they were in also helped to hide the fact but with Chiaki pointing it out he summoned his strength as two large tridents of storm chakra formed on either side of him and he nodded to her in thanks. Summoning all the strength into his leg muscles he dashed fowards as the door seemed to swing upon on its own revealing the light of day outside as he broke through the plane into the next sliding to a stop at this point.

"Where did he go?!" Ning frantically looked around surveying the scene but he had been just one step to late as his body cracked with lightning and his left hand clenched tightly in anger at the stranger who had threated their very lives had already ran away like a coward. Little did the youth know that a few moments later back up from an adjacent squad who had seen the massive collision of ninjutsu from some distance had rushed at full speed to support them, it was a pair of jounin under the supervision of a jounin level shinobi. "Are you hurt?" One of the chuunin asked as the silver haired youth just shook his head and pointed inside the damaged structure of his comrade's, "I'm fine, but my friend could use some help."

The female chuunin nodded and went to help out inside the metallic house like building as the jounin simply nodded and the remaining two dashed off seeming to nearly disappear from sight. Ning sighed to himself as he allowed the left wrist and arm to relax as the tri pointed weapon's tips fell from their defensive position until they touched the ground where the sparking electric current that ran through the runic weapon caused the ground to crack and shatter. Only then did he truly understand just how powerful the woman who had been supporting him was, this level of ninjutsu was far outside his reach. "Heh, she's truly strong. I'll have to catch up, so I don't hold her back next time."