[Graded] Crisis at Mihara!

[Valkier]

Rikio woke to the sounds of broken men. Only exhaustion, deep-set and damning, had allowed him any rest, but now the moans of the wounded and the sick returned, just barely audible over the ceaseless hammering of rain and claps of thunder overhead. Many shrouded figures lay in the dirt, or sat huddled amid the pallets and debris around him in the shelter—a hastily patched together lean-to that had been expanded to cover half of the village square, protecting people from the torrential storm outside. For a while he had pitied those around him, even as he lay among them, but he just couldn’t summon the emotions to care anymore. What was the point? Every morning there would be one or two who failed to wake, and his grief had been spent weeks ago. And he’d already lost everything. His wife, his children, even his leg. Soon, the rest of him would follow. The leg festered, a blaze of pain that radiated through his whole body, a little worse with each passing day, but it was the least of his hurting.

Groaning, he rolled to the side and fished in the mud to find his crutch—a scrap of wooden spar, tied with a filthy rag around one end for padding—and with some effort used it to push himself upwards to a stand. Each step sent a fresh stab of pain shooting up through the stump of his missing leg, but he couldn’t bear to lie there any longer. He needed something, anything, to dull his senses. The miners, he decided quickly. The miners always have a bottle or two hidden away. The trick was convincing them to share it. Perhaps he could trade for one? But for what? Maybe they’d take pity on him again. He put the problem out of his mind; it was enough to focus on one thing at a time. One step at a time.

He hobbled clumsily out of the shelter and into the pelting rain outside. It thrashed at him, finding the last parts of him that were somewhat dry and soaking them through in a moment. If only I had more elixir… That would solve everything. The day he’d found it he’d returned to the village a hero. The bearer of that wonderful ambrosia. It might not restore his leg or his family, but it’d kill the rot, numb the pain, and fill him with happiness. Maybe he could even sell it… He yearned for it, more and more each day since he’d found it. Just thinking about it seemed to give him energy; the memory of its warmth was like the feeling of embracing a lover. But the memory came with a deep-set hunger, a need for it that dominated all other desires.

A fork of lightning suddenly lit the street, illuminating a single figure running in his direction and snapping him back to reality. They were yelling, their voice lost to the rumbling of the storm. That rumbling grew louder and louder. It was more than the roll of thunder, or even the terrible roar of splitting earth that had struck the village weeks earlier. Suddenly a wave of rushing, dirty water cascaded into view out of the storm ahead, surging towards him in the night. He stumbled in shock, dropping his crutch and grasping for a nearby building for support, but without his leg he was too slow. The body of the wave hit, slamming him into a wall with such force to turn the world into a dizzying blur. It tore and pulled at him even as it surged around him, sucking him down and overwhelming him. He thrashed, helpless against the force of the water, until it took him under its surface. He flailed, unable to kick, but just couldn’t overcome the current and the raging, broiling waves. Slowly his spent body slowed its thrashing, his mind fuzzed, and everything faded to blissful, painless darkness…

---

---

Many miles away, the village of Iwagkure came alive to a warm spring morning. The kiss of cool mountain sunlight reached across the sea of stone roofs and streets, and made the pale white hair of Hachiya Kotori glow where it touched. The teenager smiled faintly, enjoying the warmth as she waited outside the awning of a street vendor, stomach rumbling at the rich aromas within. In her pocket was a small scroll of crisp white paper bearing the seal of the Tsuchikage and containing her orders; a briefing about the struggles of a distant Earth Country village called Mihara. Though it mentioned a number of concurrent disasters and a request for general support to the locals, the whole situation wouldn’t be clear until her squadmates and she arrived to investigate and see where they could help. It was more than enough to get a girl up in the morning; a real mission!

Mission ScrollShow

The small mountain village of Mihara is in desperate need of aid. Iwagakure has elected to provide what assistance it can.
Already in decline after losing most of its workforce to the great war, Mihara has suffered through an especially long and tough winter. Its food stores are empty and its spring planting delayed due to the lingering frosts, promising even more hard times ahead. A recent earthquake devastated the small village, and now the early spring storms are turning mountain streams into perilous floods. This is an urgent and labour intensive humanitarian relief effort. Only the hardy need apply.
Objectives:
(D) - Bring aid and support to the remaining population. Help to stabilise the dire situation and give the hardy villages a chance to recover.
(C~B) (Optional) - Further investigate the concurrent disasters in the region.

[Niro]

Kotetsu's eyes cracked open and found only darkness. They shifted to the left and to the right as he did his best to orient himself in the void of the bedroom. It was early, that much was easy to tell. Early enough for the rays of the sun to still be hidden by the mountains and the clouds and cause even the surface of Iwagakure to be bathed in blackness. A shuffling of the fur blanket covering his form preceded his arms breaking free of it and his hands rubbing the crust from his eyes. The young man slowly sat up from where he had fallen asleep last night; the couch after losing time in the forge once again.

'Whoops.' Kotetsu thought to himself as he shuffled off to the shower to clean off the grime and soot from the previous evening.

He wouldn't be clean for long as after exiting the shower and throwing on his clothes for the day, the teen made his way back into the forge and began prepare it for another day of testing out weapon designs. After the first meeting with Team 7, he had quite a few ideas bouncing around in his head for both himself and his teammates. Kotetsu was about to begin lighting the forge once again before a quick yet undeniably loud knock on his door caught his attention, even in here. He placed the bellows down and went to the door where he found a mission scroll lodged in the mail slot.

He plucked it from the small slit and thumbed open the seal before he looked over its contents. Well, looked like they would be away from the village for a little while. Kotetsu turned away from the door and smacked the scroll against his other hand in thought as he went back to his room to prepare an extra scroll with rations. Once he had that, he could maybe get a little maintenance in on his gear...

Kotetsu walked down the street of the now-sunny Iwagakure, oblivious to the light dusting of soot covering his face. He figured the other two would be up by now and had decided it'd be best to meet up with Kotori first then Setsuna. He had set out from his place towards the direction he best recalled her saying she lived and was blessed by luck to find her loitering outside of a food stall.

"Breakfast IS a good idea..." Kotetsu thought aloud as he walked up behind her.

[Kao]

The rising sun splashed the sky above Iwagakure with bright oranges and vibrant pinks that could pull even the most downcast artist out of a months-long slump. With tired eyes Setsuna gazed out of a window at the brightening sky, dreading the moment the sun peeked fully over the horizon. The evening before, the genin had received a very official-looking scroll from the office of the Tsuchikage. It was something she expected would happen eventually, but the arrival of her first mission with her teammates was unwelcome nonetheless.

She began her day the same way she had done for weeks. Rising before the sun, Setsuna washed her hands and feet in a basin next to an elaborately decorated altar in a tiny room in her family home. Upon it was a large statue depicting Gana’ishi, the god of new beginnings, and its empty stony eyes stared down at her as if greedily anticipating her feeble prayers. The kunoichi mumbled a few words half-heartedly, beseeching the god to remove any obstacles in her life and to guide her towards prosperity. She only participated in daily prayers for her parents’ sake. Losing their land and titles following the war had made her mother, especially, suddenly much more pious. Setsuna followed the woman’s lead, but the young kunoichi wasn’t sure that the four-armed, pot-bellied elephant god cared about their recent misfortunes.

Setsuna hadn’t spoken to her teammates much after their first meeting, and the mission scroll gave no instructions regarding where exactly they were supposed to meet up. Figuring her best bet was to meet first with the eager Kotori, the poised redhead made her way toward a block lined with street vendors near the younger kunoichi’s home. Her hope was to catch her teammate before the morning crowds forced her to navigate the village from atop the low rooftops.

[Valkier]

Kotori beamed at the selection of foodstuffs on display at the vendor. Most people would probably consider it poor and simple fare, but not her. Never her. She readily pointed at item after item, collecting a goodie bag of tasty morsels to fill her belly now and enjoy on the upcoming journey. A rack of meaty kababs slathered with rich, sticky sauce. A few pouches of small round fried-somethings that smelled terrific. Toasted nuts, oats, and berries for later, along with some dried meats and fruit. Neatly shaped rice balls and thin dough wraps stuffed with steaming veg, bottles of various flavoured drinks, and more.

I could get used to this, she thought as she counted out a palmful of loose change, and for once didn't even mind that it was the last of her money. It turned out that her first pay as a proper ninja hadn't gone very far—rent, food, and a real mattress had consumed most of it, and she'd given away some more to some down-on-their-luck fellows she'd stumbled across in the street a few days earlier. Then she'd spent a surprising amount on some new shuriken and gear maintenance ahead of this mission, leaving her just enough for this supply stop. But it was worth every penny.

She spun around with a smile at the sound of Kotetsu's voice from behind, and clapped the older boy on the shoulder like they were already firm friends as he approached. She hesitated only for a moment before splitting a pair of kebabs and offering him the larger one, then bit into the other.

"mmf. S'good!" She grinned around a mouthful, then nodded a direction back down the street and began fell into step beside him. "And these, you gotta try them!" She offered an opened box of the fried balls which did in fact turn out to be chicken. "I got plenty! Hey, did you see Sets— Oh, there she is!" She bounded forward into a run, chewing all the while, and skidded to a halt in front of her redheaded teammate. She moved to greet Setsuna in the same way, but froze at the last moment and quickly withdrew her hand, still sticky with remnants of sauce, before it fouled Setsuna's spotless attire. She turned it into a wave instead.

"Hey! Good timing, we're about ready to leave. How are ya?" Then she stepped back to make room for Kotetsu and waited, a little awkwardly, to see if one of them was going to take charge. She was definitely the loudest, but she was also the junior of the group, and had... other talents. A hand subconsciously touched the front of her tunic, over where the Genma lay sealed in her chest beneath. But, bobbing on her toes, she was ready to lead off if neither of the other two spoke up. Belatedly she remembered the bag of food and offered it to the group.

"I brought breakfast! Dig in!"

[Niro]

The sheer amount of food Kotori had accumulated before Kotetsu had arrived worried him. Where the hell did she put it? However, his thought process was immediately shut down as she handed him a skewered kebab. His stomach rumbled, loudly, in response to the smells alone and he blushed ever so slightly as he dug into the piece of meat. The young man's desire to get some extra work in before leaving had left him without any time to cook a breakfast so rather than wonder about Kotori's cavernous stomach, he'd just stuff his own face and be grateful.

He was only able to nod in agreeance and snag a single piece of the fried chicken ball before she took off down the street at the sight of Setsuna. Kotetsu did his best to keep up while chewing whatever food he had in his mouth and not choking before coming to a delayed stop behind the silver and red haired girls. He swallowed down the rest of the kebab and fried piece before wiping his mouth with the back of his right hand as best he could. Kotetsu stared at the offered bag as he felt the kebab and chicken settle in his stomach and held up a hand to decline it for now.

"I'm fine for now, thanks. Does anyone need anything before we get out of here?" Kotetsu asked the small group. The last thing he wanted to happen was them to be half way there and someone to have forgotten something important.

[Kao]

"I'm as fine as one can be before a mission," the redhead replied dryly, grateful that her bubbly teammate had second thoughts about offering a sticky hand, "especially one that requires manual labor." When Kotori offered the bag of food, Setsuna's knee-jerk reaction was to reject it, but on second thought maybe it was better if they went into this will full stomachs. She peeked into the bag and grabbed a bit of dried meat, noting that it was of decent enough quality. At least Kotori was useful in that regard. "Genin always get the grunt work until able to prove themselves. At least we're not chasing livestock or digging graves."

Setsuna turned to Kotetsu, and at his question she shook her head and patted the hilt of Ajisai, her katana. "I'm good here. I didn't know what to bring but I have a few things here." The girl shrugged her shoulder to gesture at the bag slung across her body. There wasn't much inside; she had a small roll of bandages, a small pair of scissors, a bit of gauze, a map of the country, and a copy of their mission scroll. She also had quite a bit of ryo tucked at the bottom of the bag in case of an emergency. Setsuna wasn't sure what all they would need, but at least she felt more prepared than if she had come with only her usual equipment.

"If you guys are ready then we should leave the village now. It looks like it'll take us about half a day to get to Mihara if we book it."

[Valkier]

Kotori took a quick mental inventory and shook her head while chewing a mouthful of kebab. It didn't take long, seeing as she was carrying pretty much all of the tools she owned. Whatever happened on the mission ahead, she couldn't be more prepared than she was now anyway.

"Aw' righ'!" She swallowed, flashed a grin at the other two, then spun and began walking away. "Let's go!" She got a half dozen paces before she stopped, turned, and walked back past them in the other direction. It was this way to the nearest guard post. Probably.

Despite Kotori's creative directions, the trio soon found themselves waiting in a line at a guard post near the vast and indomitable walls of Iwagakure. The monolithic structure was impressive even from a distance, and up close it all but blotted out the sky completely. Kotori's neck quickly began to ache from staring upwards. One by one the queue ahead eased as people came and went, with Kotori gawping wide-eyed at the senior ninja on guard who manipulated the sheer face of the wall to create passages through it as needed. That was impressive, and the sort of expertise she dreamed of having herself, one day. When their turn came, she showed the approaching guardswoman the seal on their mission scroll. The woman nodded, bored, then gave each of them a cursory glance. Kotetsu got half a look, Setsuna a moment of consideration, and the woman almost turned away before snapping her eyes back to Kotori's. She searched the genin's face for a moment, thoughtful, before giving the group a curt "Wait here," and disappearing into the adjoining tower.

A long couple of minutes passed with the three young genin standing and waiting, unable to do much else. A second guard stuck their head out and examined the group, staring in particular at Kotori, before shutting the door and leaving them alone again. A runner came and went, avoiding their eyes. And eventually, after a half hour or so of delay, the first woman emerged and granted their passage, though hesitantly. The three genin jogged through the passage the guard formed for them in the wall. Kotori found it a novelty at first, but soon grew restless as the tunnel went on and on, seemingly without end.

Eventually and suddenly she stumbled out into bright sunlight ahead of the others, and threw up a hand to shield her eyes after so long spent in the shadow and depths of the wall. Once her eyes adjusted, she couldn't help but break out into a wonderous smile. She'd missed the mountains and the cool, clean air outside the confines of Iwagakure. It'd already been too long. And so she led the way away from the village, following directions—as well as she ever did, and then some, with frequent help from her comrades—given to them by the wall guard to put them on the right path...
- -

---

- - - -

Clouds rolled in from the mountains during their hike through the afternoon, and soon the pleasant morning and noon sunshine was lost to a grey and overcast sky. The group made good time, descending from the hidden village and following the contours of the land north and east on track for Mihara. Kotori, filled with a new lease of life now she was back outside the village and equally excited for the team's first outing, had talked and talked for the first few hours, even more than usual. She rambled about anything she could, slowly getting to know her companions a little better and no doubt wearing their patience thin, while also trying to avoid questions about why they were so delayed at the walls. Eventually, and probably much to Kotetsu and Setsuna's relief, she grew hoarse and fell quiet, leaving the group hiking in blissful silence for most of the afternoon.

An hour or two later, just as they began the descent into a small river valley, the skies opened up. It was only a light drizzle at first, but before long the trio were trudging through thickening mud and bowing their heads against a steady downpour. The sky began to grow darker by the minute despite the fact it was barely early evening, and thunder rumbled distantly. Their map and directions suggested that Mihara lay ahead, further down into the valley and tucked against the side of a steep rise towards the mountains, but for now the village was still well out of sight...

[Niro]

Kotetsu followed the two girls as the group made their way to the nearest guard post which would grant them access through the gigantic walls surrounding the village. To most, the walls would be a thing of wonder but to Kotetsu they just hurt his neck to look at. Once they found the guard post they were to depart from, they were met with a bit of resistance. Kotetsu wasn't too much surprised; they were three genin going outside of the village on a relief mission. It wasn't every day genin got to leave the confines of the walls but their draw was just lucky. The delay they ran into was annoying but it gave the group enough time to finish whatever food was in their hands and get ready for the trek ahead of them. The boy thought about sharpening their weapons while they waited but kicked the thought away. He didn't want to start something and then have to stop halfway through, possibly putting them in danger later on down the line.

Finally, they were granted passage through the wall. It was quickly manipulated by the shinobi into a tunnel they were able to run through and out of after what felt like an eternity. The light at the end of the tunnel wasn't just a figure of speech was the first thing Kotetsu learned on this mission. Once they did finally exit, Kotetsu nearly stumbled across the surface of the now uneven terrain. As he found his footing, Kotetsu took a deep breath and closed his eyes. It was weird how being outside of the village reminded him so much of his home before he had made his way here. Doing his best to ignore the nostalgia washing over him, Kotetsu once more followed Kotori as they made their way towards Mihara.

The boy did his best to answer and respond to as many of Kotori's inquiries as he could but even he eventually ran out of words to say and was quite thankfully that she did eventually as well. The light drizzle of rain as they entered the valley where Mihara lie prompted Kotetsu to pull a travelling cloak from his pack to shield himself with. They continued on and as they did, so did the rain. Soon enough the sky was dark, the wind had picked up considerably, and the rain was falling so hard to redden their skin upon impact easily. Kotetsu lifted his cloak high enough for the girls to attempt to hide under it as well as they moved but even it only offered so much protection as the wind began to sound as if they were being howled at by some animal.

Just where the hell is this village?

The trio continued to trudge through the mud and the weather as best they could before Kotetsu could no longer shake off the feeling the howl of the wind was something. The hair on the back of his neck stood straight and a deep chill ran through his body. Immediately adrenaline began to pump through his body at the realization they were being hunted. His breath caught in his throat and he found it hard to breathe.

Pull it together.

Kotetsu swallowed hard and slowed his pace as they walked. Fighting the adrenaline coursing through his body, Kotetsu finally opened his mouth and rattled out a few shaky words.

"Something is hunting us."

[Kao]

Unlike Kotori, Setsuna was far from impressed by Iwagakure's massive wall. Instead of being awestruck she appeared bored, her face locked in a slight frown as they made their way through the queue. When they were forced to wait, she scoffed; surely it wasn't completely out of the ordinary for three genin to have business outside of the village. Since the war, it seemed there was more scrutiny on the comings and goings of in Iwagakure, and Setsuni was, by some, barely regarded as a citizen of the village. She remained in limbo, in a sort of strange space between Iwagakure shinobi and the daughter of Rock Country warlord - former warlord. In the few times she had left both during and after the war to tend to her father, she'd needed paperwork, escorts, and approval from some faceless village official. It was clear to her that she wasn't completely trusted despite her willingness to remain in the village on active duty. In Setsuna's mind she was the reason for the delay, but she didn't bother to mention her suspicions to her teammates.

Once they were outside of the confines of the village, Setsuna's countenance softened. The genin was a bit more at ease here, and she trekked through the rough terrain with a sort of confidence that suggested hiking wasn’t a new experience for her. Occasionally she would purposefully walk ahead of them to dodge Kotori's incessant blathering, but when that failed she responded tersely and with cool formality. When the rain started, she initially allowed Kotetsu to shield them from it. But the storm quickly worsened. When it became clear that his attempt at chivalry wasn’t enough, the kunoichi pulled out her own cloak from her knapsack and shrugged it on, pulling the hood down as far as it would go and avoiding her teammate’s gaze.

The rain didn’t just batter the trio. It drenched the terrain, turning the hills and valleys into sodden smears of brown and grey. Setsuna’s face scrunched in disgust as she futilely tried to avoid huge pools of mud and gunk, and she barely noticed Kotetsu becoming more and more on edge.

“What?”

Setsuna looked over her shoulder back at Kotetsu, finally noticing his pace had slowed. A chill ran down her arms and spine at his almost palpable terror. “It’s just the wind,” she reassured him, though she didn't sound completely convinced herself. "Come on, we should be getting close to the village." The girl tried to shoulder the burden of keeping the team on track, but seeing their oldest teammate - and the only male among them - so clearly unnerved made her heart start its own race. Setsuna gripped her katana, her knuckles quickly turning white, and looked over to Kotori. After a pause, "I guess it could be wolves. But we can take a few wolves, it''s just wolves.

Right?"

[Valkier]

At first Kotori's face lit up at the gentle wind and rain, full of a carefree sense of joy in counterpoint to the moody skies overhead. Growing up in the mountains made one familiar with bad weather, and now—after life in the hidden village this past year—she felt peaceful, and free, in its embrace. But memory was only so much comfort, and soon enough as the downpour worsened, her spirits too became dampened. She was too proud, or perhaps too stubborn, to accept Kotetsu's offer all the same, at least until Setsuna accepted first. But then she felt awkward at the idea of squeezing in beside both of her teammates, so instead Kotori simply grit her teeth and endured the hammering rain alone. Better that than to appear weak, right?

Soon enough even cloaks appeared to offer little benefit. That was much the same to Kotori, since she didn't own one. She bowed her head and leaned into the storm instead, wrapping her arms around herself and pushing forward step by step. She'd just wrap herself in resilience instead. No mere weather would bring her low, no matter how intense it got!

Suddenly she staggered, one foot snaring on a ledge of rock hidden beneath the surface of a deep puddle lying across the path. Squinting as she was against the stinging rain, she'd missed the puddle entirely. She caught herself with one hand to avoid falling flat onto the slick rocks and mud around the puddle, then scrambled back to her feet. Hopefully the heavy rain would mask her embarrassed flush.

She almost missed Kotetsu's first warning during the fall, his voice nearly lost to the howling of the storm. But even through the haze she could see the tension in his body, and the way he began searching the terrain around them. Setsuna, too, appeared on edge, with one hand already gripping her weapon. Wolves? Yes, it could be wolves. Or a wolf? She cocked her head, trying to listen again to the howling noise and separate it from the actual sounds of the wind. The two seemed in sync somehow, resonating together and making it difficult to tell either apart. Was it many howls, or one?

"Come on! Don't slow down! Whatever it is, we'll be safer once we reach the village. Press on!" She shouted over the storm, hoping it was only wolves. And Mihara couldn't be much farther; though the haze was too thick now to see very far at all ahead, the valley here only led that direction. Could they make it? More importantly, would running mean safety, or would they simply herd themselves into a trap? She turned to peer back over her shoulder to watch the trail behind them, and missed a step as she thought she saw something move. A faint, indistinct shape, shifting beyond the sheets of torrential rain. Stalking them. On her next step her foot fell too far and splashed down into another puddle, then caught on something. With the momentum of her run she fell heavily, slamming her right side into the sodden ground and rolling. She scrambled back up in a panic, only to realise it'd been just another rock. Hidden just beneath the surface of a deep puddle, surrounded by slick rocks and mud. It was hard to be sure, but it looked very similar to the last.

"Uh, g-guys?" She swallowed, trying to remove the quaver from her voice. Stay strong. "...Are we running in circles?" She stared at the distinctive puddle, then up and around, trying to make out some landmarks through the storm. She gripped a kunai in a shaking hand. Shit, shit!

[Niro]

The team of teenagers tried their best to continue their treacherous path through the storm and towards the village in a bid for safety. Unbeknownst to them, the entity stalking them from behind the treeline was no wolf. If it was a wolf or even a pack of them, there'd be little worry for the genin team. Rather, the being stalking them through the storm was something otherworldly in its entirety. The monster stalked them through the canopy, its bat-like limbs curling around wet branches and its antlers parting anything in its way. The storm was something it had conjured up shortly after the trio had entered its territory and soon they, like the others in this forest, would become just another meal for it.

It watched and followed them slowly as they continued in circles before finally the spirit saw its moment of opportunity. One of the females had tripped, again, and with her preoccupied so would be others. With a burst of strength and a shriek loud enough to drown out the thunder raining down around them, the spirit erupted from the canopy towards the group with its talons outstretched to slice through one of them.

---

Kotetsu struggled along with Setsuna and Kotori as the rain continued. He could feel it in his boots, the rain seeping into them each time his foot conformed to some rock beneath him. The young man's attention snapped to the youngest of their group when she fell again and he turned to help pick her up but his eyes caught on something else. Something in the trees. Rather than pick Kotori up, he shoved her down and Setsuna away from them to the left as the shrill scream pierced the air. In a flash of movement, Kotetsu withdrew the hammer and tongs from his belt and pouch and crossed them in front of him as best he could as makeshift tonfas. The spirit took him off his feet and sent him flying across the clearing and into a tree trunk before disappearing once more into the drenched canopy. The sheer force he impacted it with caused the bark to crack and splinter and Kotetsu to let out a pained scream before he slid down to the base of it.

He had no idea where his equipment had flown off to or if it had even held together. The only thing Kotetsu knew was pain the moment his feet left the ground while his vision swam and blood dribbled from where he had bitten his lip. Whatever that thing was, it wasn't a damn wolf. It was also strong, probably stronger than them.

'Shit, the girls.' Kotetsu thought to himself as he tried to get up only to find himself gasping for air as he did and promptly fell back to the sodden forest floor. 'This really isn't good.

[Kao]

Setsuna’s head snapped to Kotori when she fell, again. The situation was bad enough without the gauche teenager slowing them down. Under different circumstances, the red-headed kunoichi would have rolled her eyes at Kotori’s clumsiness. But now, with the hairs on the back of her neck prickling upright and her throat dryer than a wind-swept dune, her focus was on the feeling of fast approaching danger. Setsuna had no time to even begin to mull over the possibility that they may be lost. Mere moments later, chaos erupted.

A shrill cry cut through the din of the pouring rain, and Setsuna’s heart descended to her stomach. With a yelp she was shoved, and she tumbled sideways into a thick, muddy puddle. Through a curtain of soaked and dirty hair, the kunoichi saw Kotetsu go flying past her into a nearby tree, the sickening crack of wood - and possibly the genin’s bones - added to the sudden confusion.

Her hand never left her weapon. But since she didn’t know what was attacking them or from what direction, her readiness was wasted. ”Ahh shit!” Something sharp and jagged clamped around her left arm, and in the next second she was being lifted off the ground. “No!!” Panic swept through her body. Raw terror wrapped snake-like around her chest. Setsuna drew her katana and yelled as she jammed it into the earth in an attempt to keep herself from being carried away. The girl craned her head to see what had a hold of her, and what she saw made her blood run cold.

Initially all the young genin could see was a matted mess of fur and feathers. Her bleeding arm was caught in the grip of what looked like a gangly bird’s foot, its talons each easily a foot long. The creature’s body was huge, and from beneath it she couldn’t see its head. All that was visible was a pair of gnarled, pointed antlers.

Setsuna screamed. As terror ripped her throat she nearly dropped her katana, but the rush of fear and adrenaline somehow led her to regain a firm grip on the weapon. Her body told her to fight. So the girl pulled the katana from the ground and slashed towards the claw around her left arm, hitting flesh and drawing blood. Another ear-splitting cry pierced through the forest as the creature dropped her and crashed through the canopy above. Setsuna took a few stumbling steps toward Kotetsu, but her eyes darted around as she dreaded the next attack.

[Valkier]

"I'm fine, I'm fi—mmMPFFf!" Kotori's attempt to downplay her fall was cut off as Kotetsu's helping hand instead dunked her forcefully back down into the dirty water of the puddle, her head slapping into the wet mud beneath. She thrashed her way back up, her startlement and motion almost causing her to miss the initial animal shriek and the sudden rush of air overhead as the creature shot through their group in it's first attack.

She half-sat, half-squatted there for a moment, confused, stunned, and trying to scrub the gunk from her eyes until she heard Setsuna's voice call out. She managed to clear her vision just in time to Kotetsu's crumpled form beside the bole of a large tree, and the creature swooping down towards Setsuna. A nightmarish creature, its form dark, slick, and winged. It snatched Setsuna with long talons and swept back into the air before Kotori could so much as react. Fury filled her like the swift falling of a forge hammer, washing away the uncertainty and panic.

"FU—" She gagged, stumbling while trying to leap to her feet and retching up a mouthful of brown sludge and water. It only took a second for her to resume moving, running back towards the others, but in that time Setsuna's blade licked out into the darkness and freed her from the beast's grip. The girl dropped back to the ground just as Kotori caught up. She looked injured, but was still standing, which was something. Kotori spared a glance at Kotetsu, but knew there was nothing for it but to trust that he would be okay for now. The moment they turned their backs to the forest would be the moment they were taken by that winged monstrosity.

Think! For fuck's sake! She stared around, searching for the creature through the foliage, though even here under partial cover the downpour made it a futile task. She'd lost her kunai at some point, no doubt dropped from slick, shaking fingers during her scramble. Instead she took a deep breath and put her hands together, deliberately and steadily forming one seal formula after another. She had to do something!

"Stick together!" She called out to Setsuna, suddenly remembering the way lone predators would often hunt in the wild. "Watch each others backs! Don't let it separate us, that's what it wants!" Well, probably. Assuming it hunted the same way that non-monsters might, anyway. Assuming it didn't simply overpower their entire group head on, too. She licked mud-caked lips and concentrated on her sealing, sending a wave of chakra down into the ground at her feet and causing it to ripple and gather into a small spike-like shape.

A keening cry rose from the treetops overhead, causing the hairs on the back of Kotori's neck to rise. The sound seemed to bounce back at them and echo again from all directions. She swallowed, squinting into the dim canopy—and abruptly the beast was back. The spirit darted towards them on silent wings, leaving Kotori barely enough time to cry out a frantic "Right!". She spun and frantically released her least hand seal, unleashing her technique with the spirit almost upon her, claws swiping and...

The creature burst into twisting trails of dark smoke as her technique, a meter-long spear of solid rock, struck true. Launching from right between her feet, it lanced directly towards the spirit as it swooped in to attack. Where the rock touched, the illusion of the spirit collapsed, revealing only empty air where before the thing had been about to strike. Kotori gawped, momentarily lowering her guard in shock, until the real creature struck. Coming in from her left, it latched it's long talons around her left arm and slammed into her, spinning her around and lifting her up. It's antlered head sank down once, twice, sending a spray of golden-tinged blood raining behind her as it mauled and tossed her, like a discarded rag doll, out and away into the forest away from the group...

Jutsu usedShow

*Doton • Spike Shot
C-Rank Ninjutsu
After performing the correct hand seals the user will form a stone spike directly in front of them roughly 1.5 meter long and 1/2 meter in diameter at it's thickest point before launching the spike forward up to 25 meters away at [Control] strength and speed.

[Niro]

Ears still ringing, pain still racking his body. Kotetsu really didn't expect today to go to south so quick. It felt like just a minute ago they were slurping down breakfast in the village. How quickly the situation could change in the real world. A lesson he had already learned before but seemed to forget and life deemed it important to remember.

His fingers dug through the swampy earth as he tried to find some sort of stability before finding the broken shaft of his hammer. Every breath he took, he could feel pain erupt from his ribs. The pain slowly brought him back to his senses as he got to his feet holding the jagged piece of wood. The girls, where were they? Kotetsu's eyes swiveled in their sockets as he tried to see through the rain and poor visibility of the forest.

Setsuna was making her way towards him, a deep gash along her arm. He stumbled forward towards her before his eyes found the creature once more. This time it was attacking Kotori and had already gotten her in its talons. Kotetsu dug his toes into the muddy ground through his boots and pushed towards Kotori and the spirit who's back was to him. The genin leapt as best he could onto the beasts back and wrapped one hand around its antlers while the other raised high holding the broken shaft. With all the force he could muster, Kotetsu let out a pained cry and drove it downwards into the spirits neck from the side. He didn't even care to see if it had done anything before raising it again and again. Black blood sprayed from the wound and the beast cried out in pain as it tossed Kotori away into the brush while flailing about. It knocked into several trees before finally Kotetsu's grip relented and he fell from its back onto the forest floor near Kotori.

The spirit's jump found it once more in the canopy above them. Strained cries escaped its peak before a crack of lightning blinded them and it disappeared into the forest to recover from its wounds.

Elsewhere on the forest floor, Kotetsu and Kotori lay broken and bleeding as the rain continued to fall.

[Kao]

As the spirit turned its attention to Kotori, every drop of fight in Setsuna evaporated. She stood frozen as the younger shinobi was thrown out of sight, and for a heart-stopping second she thought the spirit would come for her once more. But instead of finding herself again fighting for her life, she watched as Kotetsu drove it away. When the sounds of the retreating spirit faded the girl moved towards her fallen teammates' unmoving bodies with shaking knees and a churning stomach.

Her arm burned and her sleeve was soaked through with blood, but the adrenaline rushing through her shielded her from the pain. Setsuna's breath came in shallow gasps as she stumbled through the mud. 'Please please please please please.' The thought that they might be dead invaded her mind, clawing away at her already crumbling composure. When she stood over them her legs finally gave out and she fell to her knees, and the gravity of the situation settled upon her shoulders and threatened to suffocate her.

Their injuries were grave, but they were still clinging to life. Setsuna knew almost nothing about medicine or the healing arts. All she knew were the most rudimentary concepts that various teachers had briefly touched upon in the academy: stop the bleeding, wrap the wound. But that advice seemed worthless since she had no first aid equipment on her person, and she was too shaken and scared to think to check her teammates' gear. Setsuna had to bite her lip to keep from openly sobbing as she visually assessed their wounds and decided to tend to Kotori first. The red headed kunoichi took off her cloak, wiped away as much mud as grime as she could, and then grabbed a dagger from her pouch. She cut away long strips of cloth and then wrapped the younger girl's left arm, above her wound. Stifled sobs rocked her chest as she did the best she could with the other wounds, but all she could do was hope wrapping the wounds was enough. She belatedly noticed the golden fluid that seeped from Kotori's wounds. It covered Kotori and the ground around her, and Setsuna stared at it as it shimmered on her own skin.

"What...what is this?" It didn't quite register in her mind that it was Kotori's blood. Blood is red. Setsuna paused in awe, but a strike of lightning illuminated the sky above them, and the immediate crack re-focused her mind on the task at hand. 'Maybe she's ok...yeah, she's ok, she's not really bleeding.'

Kotetsu was next. When she saw the state of the boy's arm, Setsuna couldn't help but whimper. It was mangled. Bone pierced through his skin in several places. His muscles were shredded. She wasn't immediately sure since he was drenched and covered in dark mud, but it looked like some of his fingers were hanging by mere fibers. The injury was leagues beyond her abilities, but she still had to try. It took several minutes but eventually she had his arm completely wrapped in strips of her cloth and secured on the side of his body.

Now was the hard part.

Luckily for the team, Setsuna was not only resourceful, but she was also much stronger than she looked. Setsuna shuffled over to a large nearby tree and snatched down several long branches. She snapped them so they were close to equal sizes, laying them down on the ground as she worked. As gently as she could, Setsuna removed Kotetsu's cloak, set the branches inside of it so it resembled a stretcher, and bundled Kotetsu and Kotori and inside of it. It was a snug fit, and it only worked when Setsuna arranged them so that Kotori lied on top of Kotetsu, with his uninjured arm around her protectively. After a bit of creative cutting and tying together of the two cloaks, Setsuna completed the makeshift stretcher with a pair of long strap-like pieces that she could use to pull them.

The girl continued on their journey with only the sound of falling rain and her own ragged breaths to accompany her. Her teammates were breathing - but just barely - and she prayed to her gods that they would last long enough to receive help. Eventually the downpour became a drizzle. The thick forest thinned, and she emerged through the dense tree line to see a village less than half a mile away - or at least, the remnants of one.