A Night of Fate and Flame

[Valkier]

A Night of Fate and Flame
Ocha Province, Water Country, Circa Year 1235

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Darkness offered little respite to the village of Hakaba. Not anymore; the invasion of Water Country had put fires to the idle lives of the locals. Try as the Heart Empire might to build support with the civilian population, the hard fact remained that marching a foriegn host through the small towns of Ocha Province was a certain way to sow chaos and resentment in equal measure. Soldiers had to eat. Had to rest, had to sleep, had to maintain the equipment and supplies so that they could keep marching. The means to do so was exacted from the common folk, just like in every war. The byproduct of the necessities of warfare was evident in the downcast eyes of the women, the bowed shoulders of the men, the hungry stares of the children. Fewer and fewer now were those who dared to resist, and never mind whether this invader might be more lenient than the last. What cared the baker for the colour of the flag atop the tower? One tyrant was much the same as another to these people.

But every now and then one might dare to hope. It could be found in the shuttered lantern lights behind closed doors, in the glint in the eyes of men who’d been pushed too far, who’d lost too much. And it sung in the reflected moonlight upon the edge of Fushinkou Tomoe’s raised wakizashi. The blade whispered downwards, lancing across the exposed throat of an otherwise heavily armoured man, and spraying the shadows of an alley wall with dark blood. Short, slight, and black-clad, Tomoe stepped deftly in to press herself up against the samurai, catching him before he could fall and pulling him sideways, through an unlocked door, and into a warehouse.

She dumped the figure beside the corpse of a second—that one a young woman who had almost seen Tomoe coming—and closed the door, then paused to listen. This was not the kunoichi’s first infiltration and, she hoped, would be far from her last. The warehouse contained most of what the invaders had been able to scrounge, loot, steal, and buy from the surrounding area with an eye to supporting their armies further inland, and though it was well patrolled outside, only shadows and silence lay within. Shadows, silence, and sabotage.

A faint glow arose from beside her ear and a voice hummed quietly from the fuuinjutsu there, only just loud enough for her to hear, but nevertheless spiking her anxiety. She paused a moment longer to listen, conscious of the self-imposed timeline brought on by her removal of the guards outside. They’d be missed soon enough.

“So far, nothing,” she muttered while sneaking deeper into the dark warehouse, holding one finger to the fuuinjutsu to carry her words to her distant Captain. “Most of the fighting men have long since departed. To the north, as far as I can gather, to join the main armies further inland. And no airships. Or ships of any kind.” Her tone carried her disappointment along with the report.

“I suspected as much,” the cool voice replied, through the seal and directly to her ear. Aisu Naohiro was leagues away and fighting those same armies, but he had his agents spread as wide as he could get them throughout the lands of what used to be called Tea Country. She was just one of many, if perhaps more capable and favoured than most. “I had hoped we would get another shot at their flying ships, but no doubt they’re too valuable and shorthanded to risk anymore. That we’re seeing none at all, despite the turn in the fighting, bodes well for us. And there’s little chance of Heart’s seagoing vessels breaking through Water Country’s naval blockade. Reports are coming in the same everywhere. Perhaps they’re truly out of options.” Not a hint of disappointment from him there.

“Hakaba is nothing more than a supply dump for them now, for all intents and purposes.” Tomoe whispered back, continuing her report. She’d reached a stone recess set into the floor beside one wall of the warehouse and hopped down into it, located a row of barrels marked as containing oil, and grunted softly as she eased one over and began rolling it back the way she came, towards the middle of the warehouse. “And a nearly exhausted one, at that.” She huffed and pushed, wincing at the grinding and sloshing noises as she set the barrel against a stout wooden beam and returned for more. “But we do what we can…”

“Alas, the real doom of an invasion, moreso than any clash of swords could be,” Naohiro mused, his voice barely reaching her. She only grunted in response, then pulled out a strip of explosive tags and began carefully adhering one to each oil barrel. The stores here might have been destined for an army, but they’d come from the people of Water Country all the same. It was hard to revel in their destruction, knowing that it wouldn’t stop these people from starving come winter.

“Well, continue as you were. If nothing of note catches your eye, pull out and move on southward to the next town. Search for any sign of recent troop movements, any sign of ships. We need to keep as clear a picture of the coasts as we can…” Tomoe stopped listening, having heard the same briefing a half dozen times already. Naohiro loved his planning. She preferred action, and got on with it.

A short while later, cloaked and hooded, she stole out from the shadows of the warehouse and darted away down a different alley. Raised voices were calling from the other, behind her. She scaled one wall, finding easy purchase in the old brickwork, and vaulted across to another, then ducked down into the shadows of a chimney and paused. Shouts, now, and the glow of torches. She took a deep breath, checked her surroundings one last time, and then formed a simple hand seal. Darkness gave way to blinding white, then a bright glowing amber as a deafening rumble shook the town and the old storeroom—and all its contents—detonated in a vast fireball reaching three times the height of any other building in the little town. For a brief moment she was silhouetted against the clouds before flickering darkness returned, broken now by the ominous glow of distant flame…

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OOC: Strength adjustmentsShow

Mod note: For the purposes of a fair and interesting fight—because Fae and I both initially thought Kasuri was at 80 stats when this topic began—we have agreed to artificially lower Tomoe's stats by 15 during this thread to be at a competitive level. Her stats here will be:

• Endurance: 10
• Chakra Pool: 10
• Control: 10
• Strength: 10
• Speed: 13
• Willpower: 12

[Kanade]

Kasuri took only what she needed and no more, tightening her belt she walked from the storage facility where they had been handing out meals to the guards of the supply town on the brisk night, getting more cool by the moment and stuffed the wedge of cheese into the soft bread’s centre, eating the whole thing in four hungry bites.

“No flavor and no real sustenance, we can’t make it on just bread and cheese alone, why can’t we have any of that rice.” Ayago complained, feeling the hunger as acutely as Kasuri did herself. She had seen the look in the children’s eyes and knew that what she didn’t eat would be given as leftovers to those that needed it more than her. The arms that she could wrap her small fingers around almost twice were too thin for a fourteen year old as she scuttled past, keeping her eyes averted from Kasuri.

Kasuri only nodded to the girl in response to what Ayago spoke, attempting to argue with her not with words thought to the spirit that inhabited her and the weapon she carried, but with the image of the girl that was going to die as soon as it became winter. Already the nights’ temperatures were dropping to the point where Kasuri had to put her spare clothes under her door to keep the draft from keeping in and freezing her eyelashes in the mornings. The days were warm enough, the frost giving way to the warmth of mid-morning, and the afternoons were so warm that it almost seemed as if the bite of the cold at midnight had been a fantasy. But as soon as it became dark, that cold crept across the ground like death, inevitable and silent.

An alarm rang out to her left, people had missed the changing of the guards and Kasuri ran, Ayago taking the form of a short sword, fitting perfectly into her hand, the scabbard in her left hand, bare blade cutting through the dark with the reflected light of the torches. Then the explosion came, knocked Kasuri off her feet, blinded her, blew her toward the girl hiding in the shadows. Ayago lunged out psychically at the intruder, the woman in the shadows, touched the barest thread of her fate and recoiled, then went silent for the first time that Kasuri could think of. Not the petulant silence that came from when Kasuri and her argued, and not the pensieve silent of when she was thinking over what advice to give Kasuri, neither still was it the silence of the sadness of her lost previous companions that she had every morning as Kasuri awoke to find her in repose and respect. This was the silence of doubt, the silence of being truly alone for the first time since she had picked Kasuri out of the bows that had been in her parents’ care.

Kasuri felt the silence of withdrawal as Ayago had touched a thread of fate and left her there, alone, to face this girl.

She coughed from the smoke that bellowed forth from the building’s flames, too close to feel the nightly chill, almost close enough to give her a burn as if she had stood on the sun too long. Ayago was still in her hand, but refused to respond to her, having gone back to bow form and stayed completely still. Usually she would be barking orders and strategies at this point in time, but she was strangely absent right now.

“Who’s there?” She shouted as she leveled her bow toward the girl that thought she had been hidden, and put her fingers to the string without an arrow, hoping that Ayago would supply her with one when she pulled back. “Show yourself.”

[Valkier]

Yellow-white spots lingered in Tomoe's vision as she shook her head, trying to clear the ringing in her ears, before eventually returning to focus as a flurry of embers caught on the wind of the blast. Too close. Fool. Tomoe chided herself and rose to make her exit, then froze. A figure stood almost immediately below her, staring upwards. Shit. They locked eyes for a long moment, a wave of heat and from a nearby gout of flame washing over them and revealing the sleek body of a bow readied in her direction. Suddenly the night didn't seem so dark.

She slowly stepped forward to the edge of the low roof while trying to scan her shadowed surroundings in the periphery of her vision. She could dive away here and run—but, with the fire illuminating the town, she'd stand out immediately upon the rooftops. This woman below her would certainly shoot her down without a second thought. Better to descend, kill or evade the witness, then lose herself in the shadows.

“Easy," she spoke quietly, spreading her hands to her sides. She didn't know why the woman was hesitating, but any reason that kept an arrow out of her heart was a good one. Trying to seem unthreatening seemed pointless—an armed and black-clad figure skulking across the rooftops in the wake of an attack was obviously not innocent—but she would seize any opportunity she could. She would not fail here, not now.

“Easy." How close could she get, if the woman didn't fire? “Who are you?" She waited, teetering right on the brink of the roof now, eager to drop back to street level and remove herself from sight, but thinking herself at the mercy of that bowstring. Embers drifted around them, and even more shouts were rising from across the town, but all that mattered now were those two fingers curled around the bowstring. If the woman drew, Tomoe would have little choice but to throw herself to action, whatever the risk.

[Kanade]

As the strange woman spoke, making placating gestures and telling her to go easy, she willed Ayago to speak with her, but the bow in her hands might as well have been made of the mundane wood of the longbows that were in her parents’ dojo, “That’s far enough.” her eyes narrowed. Kasuri kept her bow drawn, arrow aimed right at the ninja's heart. Her grip was steady, fingers poised to release. She was the arrow, and knew her aim to be true. This girl would not get away. The arrow flickered slightly, was she losing her grip on Ayago’s partnership? Was she out of sync with her companion?

“Who are you. The truth.” She said in a steady tone, not introducing herself first, knowing it to be rude, but she was supposed to be there, the other woman wasn’t. The fire behind her made the woman in front of her look like she was swaying from the low shadows that Kasuri herself cast on the figure.

“You are not from here, I can tell, are you one of those scummy Ninja that Fuhen-sama told me about?” She sneered. The tenuous truce with Kumogakure and Konohagakure be damned, if this ninja was from either of them, she would die just as surely as all the others had in the war.

Ayago kept this from Kasuri, but the girl in front of them, should she choose to, could reach out and touch the strands of fate, and Kasuri would have to prove herself right here, right now to Ayago as the bearer. She would lend her the aid that she had, but wouldn’t talk with her, finding that it distracted Kasuri more than anything. She couldn't process, Ayago had found, more than a couple of thoughts at a time, and if she talked with her, Kasuri might lose a crucial movement, a twitch of the fingers, a jerk of the shoulder.

Kasuri’s eyes were wide with anger and suspicion, “People who live here, run toward the flames to help, you see them with buckets?" She indicated the people running around, panicked and trying to make a water chain between the well and the fast-spreading fire, "and the samurai that defend this land from the Kirigakure scum do as well, Identify yourself or I will shoot.” She was hesitating. Kasuri didn’t know what was wrong with Ayago, didn’t know whether she had abandoned Kasuri to her own devices, and hesitated, her mind awhirl with the events, and the woman standing in front of her. So far no one had noticed the pair either, not good. She wasn't going to have backup from her comrades. This would be a showdown between the two women unless the mysterious girl in front of her revealed herself to be a samurai.

[Valkier]

Tomoe watched the other woman coolly for a long moment, realising that she had little choice but to answer, be it by words or by blade. The arrow, now nocked and drawn in her direction, encouraged at least an attempt at the former.

"I am called... Tomoe." She hesitated, stumbling over her name. She hadn't meant to be honest, when any other name would've worked just fine, but her voice had made the right sounds anyway. Her eyes narrowed, suddenly wary.

"You have your defenders mixed. I am from here. This land is my home," she countered, masking her caution with a defiant tone. "It was not us, not I, who brought war to its people." Not this time. "From where I stand, it is you and yours who ravage this country, who pillage and prey upon its people. The flames take only the spoils of your sins." She spat the last words, taking solace in the anger they stirred. Anger could be a useful emotion at a time like this, and she embraced it, allowed it to fill her.

But that reply, too, hadn't come out quite right. When she tried to speak, it was as if someone else was forcing the words from her mouth. What was happening? A genjutsu? But her mind was still its own. What was said was said, and surely would not appease this fool samurai before her. She tensed, ready to leap, knowing that only a miracle would prevent a bloody fallout from this encounter.

"You invaders think yourselves saviours, even as you carve a bloody swathe through our country. You say you defend, but you are blind to the suffering and carnage of your own actions!" Her voice rose shrilly at the end, her fingers itching to draw.

So be it. Mere words were never going to be her salvation anyway. Tomoe flung herself forwards into the night, vaulting from the edge of the roof outwards and down towards the bow-armed samurai. Her fingers flashed as she jumped, her left hand finding and loosing two shuriken directly towards the other woman to cover her leap while her right hand drew and angled her straight-edged wakizashi. If her leap took her close enough, she would attempt to slash downwards across the other woman as she landed.

Jutsu UsedShow

2x Shuriken thrown with:
*[Flawless Aim Style • Uncanny Shot]
B-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
After much training and study, the practitioner is able to launch projectiles from previously impossible positions. This Discipline represents the practitioner's ability to launch projectile attacks without any detriment to their aim regardless of the position of their body. This includes while contorting their body or making rapid adjustments such as dodging attacks or performing acrobatic maneuvers.

[Kanade]

"Tomoe." Kasuri mouthed, not finding her on the roster of samurai in her head that were stationed there. It didn't mean that she wasn't a newly transplanted samurai, like herself.

"The flames take the food and ammunition that was in the building, from both your enemies and your family alike!" Kasuri rebutted in kind to the other girls words, and added, "it wasn't I that started this war either." She was angry that she had been drawn into this conflict the sudden ferocity of it made the arrow made of chakra in her fingers itch.

Then the girl jumped down, loosing two shuriken she in turn loosed two arrows, trying to knock the shuriken off course, to the left and right, And using their trajectory she made them take a pincer formation, coming at tomoe herself from both directions, aiming for where she would land.

The wakizashi came down hard, tearing a searing line of pain across her chest, from her collarbone to her hip. She gasped in pain and attempted to get some more distance between herself and the advancing Shinobi, she was a fool to think that the arrows would stop the downward arc of that straight blade and the heat from the wound told her that it wasn't a mortal wound, yet, but that it would probably leave a pretty nasty scar if she got out of this with her life.

She shot two more arrows as she fled, one trailing behind the other, hopefully hidden from the kunoichi, aimed at her leg to slow her advance so that kasuri could get a breath.

She noticed, as she was jumping away she had been holding her breath and sucked in a lungful of air, before gritting her teeth, kasuri blinked tears of pain rapidly away as the inhalation tore at the wounds edges.

jutsu usedShow

*[Flawless Aim Style • Forcible Redirection]
C-Rank Taijutsu Maneuver
The practitioner first launches a projectile at -1 Strength. Then, they launch a second projectile at full Strength, targeting the first projectile. The second projectile ricochets off of the first projectile, capable of changing direction within 360 degrees of the location of the first projectile upon impact. The practitioner first launches a projectile at -1 Strength. Then, they launch a second projectile at full Strength, targeting the first projectile. The second projectile ricochets off of the first projectile, capable of changing direction within 360 degrees of the location of the first projectile upon impact. The second projectile is treated as an attack with a -5 Strength penalty.

*[Flawless Aim Style • Evasive Maneuvers]
C-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
The practitioner has learned how to accurately launch projectiles while moving through the flow of combat. This Discipline represents the practitioner's ability to accurately launch projectiles while moving at full Speed, while jumping, rolling, sliding off the ground, or while performing other basic combat movements.

*[Flawless Aim Style • Hidden Shot]
C-Rank Taijutsu Maneuver
By launching two projectiles, one immediately after the other, the practitioner attempts to create a decoy for the second. The first projectile is often larger or of equal size, and the second projectile is slightly behind and below it, the second projectile hiding in the first projectile's shadow. This masks the second projectile and makes it more difficult for the opponent to completely avoid. Opponents with a Perception technique equal or higher in rank may be able to see both projectiles clearly within a reasonable distance, though they'll still have to properly defend against it.

[Valkier]

tomoe jumps and slashes downwards @ Str: 15 Spd: 20 and throws two shuriken @ 15str/spd
kasuri fires two arrows @ 13 str/spd, knocking the shuriken aside and bouncing the arrows in towards tomoe from either side

Tomoe's dark eyes flickered and widened as the two arrows lanced outwards from the woman's bow, lightning-fast. In the midst of her jump, she instinctively tensed and adjusted, moving her left hand to rapidly draw her second wakizashi. Initially she thought the archer's aim was poor, only to immediately correct herself; it was in fact far better than anticipated. This woman had the true aim and skill of a shinobi with her bow, effortlessly making a split-shot that Tomoe herself would have struggled with.

The arrows pinged off the two shuriken and sent the stars flying harmlessly wide of their target, while deflecting themselves inwards to meet her own trajectory. She had too little time to move and avoid them fully, and her right arm was already falling to deliver her strike. But she did manage to twist her left-side blade up and around just in time to slash across the one arrow shaft coming from that direction, sending it just skimming past and away. The other, shooting in from her right, thudded deep into her left shoulder.

The impact, along with the shift to a one-handed grip mid-strike, hampered the weight behind her strike. What should have been a killing blow instead only slashed superficially across the other woman. The steel kissed Kasuri from collar to hip, but its bite was shallow. Meanwhile, Tomoe's right arm burst with pain, its movement hampered by the arrow now pinning through her muscles.

"You have quick fingers, Warrior of Heart," Tomoe hissed as she rushed forward, trying to follow and prevent the other woman from gaining any distance. Better to keep close, and limit the effectiveness of that bow. "But they will not save you. What are you called?"

Her right arm burned and she began to channel, flooding her arm then body with Naikai chakra in an attempt to counter the nuisance of such needless stimuli. The action slowed her, though, giving Kasuri the opening and the time to fire off her two follow-up arrows. But even so, Tomoe was not deaf. She was a trained operator of the Head Hunter Division, and her ears were more than accustomed enough to the sounds of projectiles to hear through such simple visual misdirection. Her twin swords lanced downwards just quickly enough to slash aside both arrows, then she charged fowards once more, pressing her next attack as the burning pain of her arrow-shot arm began to lessen and fade from notice, wound or no wound.

Leaving her numbed right arm free, with its straight-edged wakizashi held ready to defend any further snapshots from the archer, she darted forward and, as soon as she was in striking range with her impressive speed advantage, snaked that sword forward to try and lacerate across the muscles of the other woman's drawing arm and weaken any further resistance...

Jutsu Used...Show

Disbelief of Pain
D-Rank Ninjutsu
By preparing this technique the user will isolate their nervous system and flood it with Naikai. For the next 10 posts the user will be unable to experience pain.

[Projectile Whistles]
C-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
The user has attuned their hearing to the sound of things moving through the air within 30 metres of their person. This allows them to hear projectiles flying at them from a general location, even if they can’t see the source.

[Target Strength]
B-Rank Taijutsu Manoeuvre
The user strikes with pinpoint accuracy at the correct pressure points or muscle groups on an opponent's body that can effectively debilitate their strength. When struck, the opponent suffers a shock throughout their body and a sudden loss of vigour, manifesting as a -6 to Strength for the next five posts. This technique can be applied using a thrown weapon, however doing so from range lowers the potency of the strike and only imparts a -3 penalty to Strength instead.

[Kanade]

"I am Kasuri from Heart, Wielder of the great Ayago, the weaver of fate, and we have spun your capture tonight." She didn't waver, not now, not when she was so close to her goal of making sure that she got away from the girl to a better vantage point, she wouldn't make the same mistake and would fire on the girls' legs the next time. But then the near impossible happened, or so it seemed to Kasuri who had little to no combat experience before, The girl had just received a wound that would slow even the more trained soldiers in the shoulder and she just kept coming. It was unbelievable. She couldn't believe that this girl kept coming for her, and that terrified her more than anything as the slash came, she could see it, she could dodge it she hoped, but then she saw the course and screamed at Ayago, "Change into anything that can take a blow!"

The bow changed and the leather in her hand became hard wood as Ayago turned into a very large round shield. The change in weight made the girl stagger, the blow rattled off of the shield, jarring both her arms as she toppled to the ground, Ayago on top of her in the form of the shield that had kept her from most of the damage. The blow still rang through her and jarred her, she could hear ringing in her ears. Kasuri skidded, as she had been running full tilt, on her back, scraping the skin off as she did so before coming to a bloody halt, "Ayago, get off me." She tried to push the large shield off of her. Instead Ayago turned into a larger shield, this time it was a tower shield, capable of being able to hide behind while Kasuri recovered. She wouldn't let this child die because of her own folly. She couldn't outrun her foe, and she couldn't outfight her. The opponent was too skilled for the likes of Ayago, but without linking minds, she couldn't parlay with the other girl.

Ayago was afraid, for the first time, that Kasuri might not come out of this alive, which had made her turn against her wielder, rather than letting her decide her fate. Ayago was the weaver of fate, and was trying to save the silly girl from herself, even as Kasuri pounded on the inside of Ayago's hard shell, she held her tower shield form steadfast, covering the child from head to toe. Ayago had seen something that neither one of the fighters had, and it made her doubt. That was the most terrifying thing of all. She had seen, clearly two scenarios. Kasuri running off, badly wounded into the night, or the other girl, holding ayago triumphantly over Kasuri's dead corpse, then a couple of quick flashes. A bargaining table, a negotiation, and then an olive branch. She couldn't really make out the symbolism, but held the tower shield form, protecting the frail girl beneath her, even as Kasuri pounded on her and demanded to be let out.

[wc:517/???? NANOWRIMO]

[Valkier]

Tomoe's thrust deflected away from the new shield with a sudden clonk of steel on hard wood, sending her arm ricocheting wide and making her gasp silently with the surprise of the block. Where had that come from?! She wavered for just a moment while the other woman fell backwards along the ground beneath the weight of her blow. What IS she? What is that power?

Meanwhile, as the exchange between the two combatants waged, the flames licked higher and higher across the surrounding buildings. While the initial explosive gout of the storage warehouse had shifted now to a more respectable inferno, the nighttime breeze carried the embers and sparks well across the narrow alleys and on to the thatch and wooden walls of other nearby or adjoining structures. A few minutes was all it took for a single fire to become a dozen, all soon to be raging out of control themselves. Whatever the efforts of the Heart soldiers or the few locals braving the flames, it was already clear that fighting it would be futile.

"...Ayago, the weaver of fate.." Tomoe muttered, eyes going wide. There were few stories of the legendary spirit, but one or two had found her ears during the war. Sightings and rumours of sightings, talk of the old myths come alive once again. "So, the legends are true? And this is her power?" Tomoe hesitated still, eyes searching across the woman before her. Her hand itched to rush forward and finish the job, but she was nothing if not cautious. This Kasuri could be hiding any number of other talents or new-formed weapons beneath that shield. As if in response to her thoughts, the shield morphed and changed again. One moment a sturdy round shield, the next an engulfing tower shield. Tomoe frowned; it hardly seemed practical. The warrior looked squashed beneath the weight, struggling against it...

"What are you doing, Kasuri of Heart? Stand up and fight!" She levelled the sword in her numb right arm and shifted her strong-side weapon to an overhead stance, vicious tip glinting in the firelight and aimed directly down towards the figure on the ground. She rose onto the balls of her feet, moving a quiet half-circle around Kasuri where she lay struggling on the floor. "Or I will finish this quickly! Kiai!" Discipline and energy rushed through her stance with the shout as she relaxed into the familiar form of Zantou's base stance. From there it was a simple matter to aim a powerful twisting strike down towards one edge of the shield, over where Kasuri's head might be. The strike would surely not pierce the spiritual-weapon, but if the Heart samurai was already struggling under its weight, the added strike would likely shove the shield back and away, using its own weight to upset her grip and send it spinning away. Either that or, if she clung on tight to it, it'd probably smash her in the face with the heavy shifting weight...

Jutsu Used...Show

*[Zantou • Winter Solstice]
D-Rank Taijutsu Stance
The basic Stance of Zantou, the practitioner holds one blade forward, parallel to the ground, and holds the other high over the head, pointing toward the opponent. The low blade grants the practitioner the ability to quickly defend against an opponent's attack while the blade raised overhead allows the practitioner to either quickly attack or counterattack with a powerful downward swing or thrust. This pairing of defense and offense serves as one of the cores of Zantou's swordsmanship. Drawing in a deep breath, the practitioner also gathers up their energy and releases a kiai. This Stance allows the practitioner to ignore non-critical distractions and minor environmental factors, such as small amounts of excess heat, small amounts of excess cold, small amounts of fatigue, and even small amounts of pain, allowing them to focus entirely on their opponents' movements and the tasks at hand. While in this Stance, the practitioner is conferred with a +2 increase to Strength and +1 increase to Will Power but suffers a -2 penalty to Chakra Pool and -1 penalty to Control. The practitioner may end this Stance whenever they so wish.

*[Zantou • Frigid Gust]
D-Rank Taijutsu Maneuver
Zantou harnesses the inner strength of its warrior to cause the opponent to falter. Intentionally clashing with the opponent's weapon at a weak point, the practitioner immediately torques the muscles in their arm to violently push and twist the weapon in a single direction. An opponent affected by this technique must have a Strength higher than the practitioner's Strength to avoid losing their grip on their weapon or being disarmed entirely. The practitioner can immediately follow up on this opening with a slash with the other weapon if they so wish.

[Kanade]

Kasuri clenched her jaw, waiting for the blow to come, and screamed in frustration at Ayago. Why wasn’t she letting her get up. Ayago’s voice came into Kasuri’s mind, telling her the plan that she had hatched while sitting atop Kasuri’s frame and when the ninja approached, Kasuri tossed an explosive tag outside of the tower shield and tucked her head and her feet into Ayago so that the blast would be mitigated by her.

She then performed a Kai and the resulting blast blew Ayago away from her, her away from the woman who called herself a native here, and bruised up her left arm a small amount from Ayago slamming into her from the blast. She already had her hand on some more of her ninja tools. She tossed a flashbang at her assailant’s feet and tossed a smoke bomb at her own, tightly closing her eyes against the concussive and brilliant flash of light. She then tossed the next smoke bomb at the assailant’s general direction, and took off where she thought Ayago had clattered to a halt and was shouting at her to come retrieve her. She sped off, grabbing what she hoped was Ayago in halberd form, stuck into the ground and used her to pole-vault onto a low roof, then took to the roofs, the flames of the nearby fire started to spray cinders, which caught the roof she was standing on aflame.

She knew that it would be a race against the flames to see if she could find her quarry. Searching in the smoke she willed Ayago to turn back into a bow and knocked an arrow, readying another barrage, planning to aim for those damned legs. She channeled chakra into her arms and readied a genjutsu to ensure that even if the girl knocked the arrow away, she would feel the sting of her arrows.

Her chest hurt, the slice across her chest had picked up some grit from her being tossed across the ground, and so each breath brought a fresh new wave of fiery pain as the small bits of dirt ground against the raw, exposed flesh. She felt cold, despite the fire that raged behind her, giving her light and warmth.

“Come out, you coward!” She shouted, “You burned down your own home town and then ran away? What was this about pride in your land?” She attempted to goad the girl out, knowing that the goading attempt that tomoe had used had worked on her.

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.

Readying this jutsu:

*[Genjutsu • Arrow to the knee]
D-Ranked Warp Genjutsu
After performing the hand seals the user fires their projectile launcher type weapon, making a loud ‘twang’ noise which permeates an area of 15 meters. The body reacts in pain as if it were hit by a projectile launched by the projectile launcher. This confers a -1 to speed stat as the victim of the jutsu thinks that they’ve been hit and need to tread more carefully. Lasts 3 posts.

Readying this maneuver:

*[Flawless Aim Style • Twisting Path]
C-Rank Taijutsu Maneuver
Preparing a projectile, the practitioner launches the weapon with a slight tailspin, causing the flight path of the weapon to warp as it travels. The practitioner uses this slight change in the projectile's trajectory to hit a variety of targets that could not be targeted by normal means. This can be used to hit a target that is hiding behind another person or object, particularly useful against opponents behind human shields.

[Valkier]

Tomoe's eyes went wide as the small paper tag was thrust out from beneath the shield-laden figure on the floor. It hung in the air a moment, too light to travel far from a throw, and time seemed to slow while she stared at it. This is what happens when you rush in recklessly! Fool! She chided herself, and then frantically adjusted her aim and swung downwards at the tag with her readied strike. Instead of slamming down into the shield over Kasuri, her wakizashi hooked the air beneath the tag and whipped the paper to one side while she spun and dove in the opposite direction.

Her world shook and went white as the tag detonated and threw her away to one side. Her back took the brunt of the shockwave as she was tossed into the air, and was then raked by shards of razor-sharp cobblestone sent showering in all directions from the explosion before she hit the ground and skidded in a mass of limbs and grunts.

Fuck! I was so close! Should've ended it faster! Her ringing ears and shaking body missed the concussive blast of the successive flashbang, but she saw the brightness through squinted eyes and quickly buried her face down into the ground again. Her fingers gripped the hilts of her swords tightly, knuckles pressing against the cold ground until she felt adrenaline and strength begin return to her shocked body. Get up! Get up! Got to keep moving. I'm a sitting target for that Samurai to come and finish! She hauled herself up and rolled back to her feet, noticing the splatter of blood across the cobbles below her and silently thanking her Disbelief of Pain technique, for her back must've been a mess. She blinked away the lingering spottiness and lights in her vision from the aftermath of the blasts and found herself in thick smoke, heavy and cloying, and began to worry that the nearby fire had swept across the alley while she was down until she recognised the acrid tang of a smoke bomb. Clever.

She instinctively crouched and began focusing her hearing as the ringing began to fade, moving a few metres away so that she was no longer standing in the same place she'd landed. This was not a disaster. Kasuri had only delayed the inevitable with that escape; now she was playing Tomoe's game. Smoke and shadow were as much a part of the Hunter as the fingers on her good left hand. She took a slow, steadying breath.

"..ward! ... rned down your own..! ...then ran away?" Her head snapped around, trying to pinpoint the voice taunting her. What was that woman talking about? Was the Samurai accusing her of running? "What was this about pride in your land?” A slow smirk crept across Tomoe's face as she rose onto the balls of her feet and began to tread silently through the smoke, picturing the layout of the alley and surrounding buildings in her memory and quirking her ears for the slightest noise. If it were a question of pride and power, Tomoe had much yet to offer.

She knew Kasuri's rough location now, but her target had gone silent again, and an approximation did not make for a deadly aim. She heard nothing else. No footsteps, no speaking, only the crackle and roar of flames growing closer and closer. How long, now, before their battleground was awash with fire? She had to end this quickly. She peeled back the layers of sound and focused closer, closer. Thud. There. Thu-thud. Her eyes snapped upwards, to where she remembered a rooftop overlooking her current position, one still yet hidden behind the thick smoke. A heartbeat. Her smile grew wider and she swapped her
two wakizashi for kunai. Twirling two blades and attaching an explosive tag to one, she began to channel and focus chakra outwards.

"You can't run forever, Kasuri of Heart! Soon enough we'll both be caught in the flame." She called out, voice clear and sharp, sending her chakra outwards along with the word 'flame'. If her enemy heard it, she hoped a distracting genjutsu would draw her eyes away. All the better to help Tomoe's actual attack, as the fushinkou twirled and loosed a kunai directly towards where she heard Kasuri's heartbeat. And hidden in the shadow of that first kunai, imperceptible to most, was the second kunai now wrapped in an explosive tag, already sizzling and timed to detonate right as it hit or passed Kasuri's position.

Finally, Tomoe dropped one of her own smoke bombs too, scattering yet more smoke further out into the alley and letting the obscuring cloud spread and rise up towards the rooftops. It all gave her more room to move unseen, and soon enough she'd also be able to follow the rising smoke up to the rooftops. Soon enough, with the approaching flames, she wouldn't even need smoke bombs to create cover. The fire would provide plenty enough...

Jutsu Used...Show

Disbelief of Pain - Post 3/10
D-Rank Ninjutsu
By preparing this technique the user will isolate their nervous system and flood it with Naikai. For the next 10 posts the user will be unable to experience pain.

[Vigilance]
D-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
The user maintains a constant state of vigilance with respect to their immediate surroundings and all persons in their vicinity. This allows the user to effortlessly identify and recall the environment, obstructions, and structures around them to passively recognise entry and escape routes, vantage points, probable sources of cover, and so forth. Additionally, the user can quickly recognise and differentiate civilians from trained (D-rank or higher) persons, such as by analysing gait, body structure, reactions, deftness, and the target's awareness.

[Heartbeat]
A-Tank Taijutsu Discipline
The user has attuned their hearing to the sound of heartbeats. This allows them to accurately locate and track anything with a heartbeat within 50 metres of their person, and filter the sound of heartbeats out from other surrounding noises and distractions regardless of environment.

[Focus]
C-Rank Warp Genjutsu
The user will prepare this technique and then speak aloud mentioning an object in their speech. The target will feel an intense draw towards whatever the focus of the desire is. This draw will also cause a sort of tunnel vision in the target’s sight, causing a blurring of their peripherals and making it hard to focus on anything but the target.This lasts for up to 5 posts.

*[Flawless Aim Style • Hidden Shot]
C-Rank Taijutsu Maneuver
By launching two projectiles, one immediately after the other, the practitioner attempts to create a decoy for the second. The first projectile is often larger or of equal size, and the second projectile is slightly behind and below it, the second projectile hiding in the first projectile's shadow. This masks the second projectile and makes it more difficult for the opponent to completely avoid. Opponents with a Perception technique equal or higher in rank may be able to see both projectiles clearly within a reasonable distance, though they'll still have to properly defend against it.

[Kanade]

Kasuri snapped off a shot at the first Kunai before the genjutsu hit her, drawing her attention to the fire rather than the second Kunai. Ayago screamed at her to duck and she did just in time to have the other one fly wide of her left shoulder, cutting the fabric. She sighed in relief as the kunai hadn’t hit her and her attention was drawn again to the flames. What the heck was she going to do about those. The people that were in danger because of them, this person, Tomoe, had set fire to her own village in order to run away, the coward!

The moment she thought of the word coward was when she felt the blowback from the explosive tag, the concussive force, since it had gone wide, caught her in the back as she was looking at the flames, sending her hurtling toward them. She put her hands up, and Ayago turned into the shield form again, dragging her left arm downward, creating a makeshift sled. The explosive tag had knocked the wind out of her and the thick black smoke of burning building, tar, and other materials filled her lungs and stung her eyes. She couldn’t see anything, but rolled away from the flames, unfortunately that was off the roof, landing on the ground on her left knee.

A sharp pop and pain spread through her entire left leg. She had just ruptured her patella by landing wrong on it. Ayago shouted at her to get up as she hissed at the pain and used the bow that Kasuri had turned into to stand again. The bow was much too big for her, but she had used bows that were too big when she was little. She placed Ayago on the ground, and knew that her arrows wouldn’t be fired off with as much strength, but she could at least hold off her attacker.

Struggling to gain a breath that wasn’t filled with smoke, she gasped and coughed, spittle running down the sides of her mouth and coating her chin. She couldn’t run anymore, not with these sorts of wounds. The saving grace was that the pain that made her blink back soot-grained tears. Kasuri didn’t know that she had been blown off of the building to the other side, through the flames, but thought that the flames had caught up to her after the explosive tag, so she looked around for her adversary, who was on the other side of the building.

It was the only building on fire, currently, and the samurai that were in the village had already cleared out this part of the whole town. They were spreading water on buildings near the fire so that the hot coals from the roaring flames wouldn’t catch on the dry tinder of the wooden shingles of the houses. She couldn’t hear all that well, her ears still ringing from the explosive tag, but she could feel numbness start to creep through her chest from the shallow wound that was still bleeding, bled more and more as she reopened it with every firing of her bow.

An onlooker saw her, shouted to her to run for her life and then took off. What he saw was a woman that was using a bow, much too big for her, as a crutch, looking out from one soot-covered eye, the other shut and weeping to try to alleviate and clear itself. Her back was torn to shreds, exposing the musculature beneath, that of a strong bow-woman. Her trapezius were her strongest muscles, and she screamed through gritted teeth as she nocked another arrow, weeping, coughing, gagging, and drooling from the trip through the flames. She would protect as much of this village as possible while the samurai went about, unhindered, around her. She had one purpose, and that was to buy them time to stop the flames from engulfing the entire village. Her thoughts were on the villagers, and not the reason she was here. She was here because she was meant to be, because Ayago had told her that she felt a very strong pull at the threads of fate, and that she felts that her and Kasuri were just meant to be here.

710/???? NANOWRIMO

[Valkier]

Tomoe, still hidden and listening with the building smoke, heard and felt the blast overhead as her kunai attack found its target. The cacophanous airburst snapped through the night, and though the Kirigkaure ninja could not see it, she heard the resulting clatter and crunch of a body falling. Falling away? She cocked her head and tried to trace the noice through the aftermath of the explosion, heard the sound of skidding, a pause, then a soft crack of a landing. She waited a moment longer, focusing intently on her immediate vicinty, but could hear no breathing or heartbeat nearby. Only the distant hiss and spit of flames and firefighting from the direction of the town centre. So her adversary had not landed close by.

With that realisation, she lurched into motion again. Though her Disbelief still numbed her body, when she moved she could feel the earlier injuries tugging at her skin, the wounded muscles on her back and arm tense and less responsive than she was accustomed to. She hesitated just for a moment, the situation making her uneasy. I should use this chance to escape, she reasoned, since her objective was indeed complete. Her instinct was to leave the woman and town behind to wallow in their ruin, to disappear into the night as nothing more than a phantom, especially now that she was wounded. But something pulled at her to stay. Ayago. A legendary spirit, a creature of myth. Right here, so close she could almost reach out and grasp it. What a victory it would be! And she deserved it! To one end or another, Fate was calling to her. And so she scowled, limbered up her arms and fingers, then sprang into a run towards the nearest building. Time to finish this.

She vaulted up the side wall of the building upon which Kasuri had stood moments before and landed in a crouch on the parapet. The apex of the roof rose ahead, and smoke still filled the sky—the discharge from stacked smoke bombs in the alley below still rose slowly behind her, but the deeper, more bitter black clouds from the fire engulfing the warehouse billowed above. All the more reason to hurry. Stay low so that she remained behind the cover of the roof peak, she confirmed the roof was vacant before running along its length to a corner, then slowly peeked over. She could hear someone coughing below, on the far side of the building.

Her eyes picked out Kasuri immediately. Half-standing with her bow ready in an open area of a town square, she looked even worse off than Tomoe herself; her earlier explosive tag must've struck close to its mark indeed. But the woman still waited ready for her, and that bow in her hands filled Tomoe's vision. That must be it—must be her, Ayago—with it's shape-changing nature and ability to summon arrows from naught. Tomoe considered for a moment, then began to channel and broke cover up above the apex of the roof and threw two shuriken down towards the woman, angling them in opposing arcs to that each shuriken would spin towards Kasuri from her left and right sides simultaneously if not shot out of the sky first. But the throwing motion had an ulterior motive, and the shuriken only a distraction: if Kasuri saw Tomoe's arms rise and fall to throw, Tomoe's next genjutsu would snare Kasuri and begin, and fog would begin to billow up around the Heart samurai.

Next Tomoe would try and duck back into cover on the far side of the peaked roofline, in case Kasuri tried to release a shot in return, and then she would relocate further along its length, back the way she'd initially come. Best to keep her opponent guessing as to her own location. But seeing the woman barely standing, bleeding onto the cobbles and fighting to the last, she couldn't help but taunt her again. It would all be over soon...

"You are done, Kasuri! Your fate is sealed! I wonder, was it Ayago that brought us together tonight?" She called out, still moving, and drew another pair of shuriken ready to toss. "You should consider that perhaps you've only ever been a means to this end, your fate woven to reach this point, and no further! Ayago is come to me!"

Jutsu Used...Show

[Fog]
D-Rank Illusion Genjutsu
The user will prepare this technique before raising their arms high, causing any who see their arms rise to become caught in this illusion. For the next 5 posts victims will see a fog around them, limiting vision to 5m. Because the fog is not real, it will not disappear if the target tries to disperse it.

[Kanade]

Hearing the whistle of Shuriken coming toward her, one in front, one behind, she used her stance to inhale swiftly and fired an arrow at each, then whipped Ayago around, firing no less than four arrows of her chakra at the location that they had come from, which, from the wide arc meant that the person had to be where she had been blown away from.

‘Tomoe’ Ayago mused, a deep feminine rumble in Kasuri’s mind. The chakra arrows disappeared into the smoke and she heard the tiles on the roof explode, rather than hitting har mark she had missed. Unfortunately, she was still not able to really see all that well, having to rely on her hearing and hadn’t completely knocked the shuriken off course, it dug into her leg with a dull, unrecognized pain. She gasped and coughed as the black smoke didn’t allow her the steady breath that she needed to finish this.

Luckily, because of the tears streaming down her eyes, the soot and grit making her vision blurry, she wasn’t even able to see Tomoe, much less the genjutsu she had cast. Kasuri grit her teeth, spitting out some of the soot and blood that had gathered there. She had bit her lip in the attempt to stifle the coughing and had drawn her own blood in the process.

In a moment of cold clarity her opponent revealed herself, holding two shuriken. Could she close the gap before Kasuri was able to riddle her full of arrows, or would the Heart Samurai be able to bring down her foe. Gone was the thought that she might be able to survive this encounter. Her retreat was blocked by her own physical condition. There was no help forthcoming, and the flames were reaching their hottest. The main support beam of the roof collapsed, sending a torrent of sparks into the air. Cinders crashed down around Kasuri, burning holes in her clothes, singing her flesh. She kept Ayago half drawn, waiting for the the ninja to make a move.

She wasn’t going to be goaded into firing the first shot. She would have to deflect the two Shuriken, maybe use their trajectory to ensure accuracy when firing. “One more step-” Kasuri coughed, her voice barely audible above the roar and snapping of the inferno to her right, “One more step, and your life will be forfeit.” She raised Ayago to a readied position. If Tomoe moved, she would fire. If she tossed the shuriken she would use them again like she had before. This was the final move, if Tomoe didn’t walk away right now, one of them would end up dead. She knew what she had signed up for in the beginning, when she had Akiko. Her breathing was shallow, her lungs hurt, she felt exhausted. The weeping samurai tossed her head, clearing her face of the wet bangs that clung to cheeks stained by ash and tears, stained with smoke.

Kasuri decided that she had to prove herself, she hadn’t been any tangible help in the war so far. No kill count to speak of. She hadn’t needed to become a Samurai for helping like this. She wouldn’t be in this situation if she hadn’t tried to apprehend this kunoichi. She bit back bitter tears as they ploughed through the pot ash on her face and steeled her resolve. As soon as Tomoe moved, if it was toward her or away, her fingers were a blur, she didn’t need to reach back for an arrow, the quiver she had held there when she was a Kyudoka was no longer there. As Ayago loosed arrow after arrow, Kasuri could swear that she heard a song, it sounded oddly sad, and the melancholic melody resonated louder and louder with each arrow she fired. She would continue to fire arrows until her quarry ran out of range, or she was rendered unable to fire the bow anymore due to lack of chakra or being cut down. No more time for pretty words.

[Valkier]

Tomoe ducked lower down behind the angle of the roof ridge as she heard the tell-tale th-thock of four arrows hammer into the tiles right besdie where she'd thrown her shuriken from only a moment earlier, then continued to run along its length. I was seen immediately, she reasoned, assuming that her genjutsu attempt had therefore succeeded while also silently admiring the speed and foresight of her opponent to shoot as she had. By now, the tiles beneath her feet were red-hot and smoke was billowing upwards, and in many areas the roof was beginning to sag inwards to show flames licking up and outwards from the various gaps. Not daring to breathe, she channeled briefly and removed the need for it by choosing to Disbelieve. A moment later and her lungs simply didn't require oxygen, allowing her to duck through the cloying smoke that would otherwise render someone gagging and coughing, and slip down from the roof to the courtyard below. The courtyard where Kasuri was waiting, presumably lost in the mental fog of Tomoe's genjutsu.

It was a surprise, then, to be confronted by Kasuri when she'd only crossed half the distance towards the half-standing woman. She froze, twin shuriken still in hand and ready to throw, while the building began to collapse behind her and shower the area with embers and sparks. The two women confronted one another in an arena of black smoke and fire, the world beyond forgotten for the duration of their duel. Clearly the woman had realised and dispelled her genjutsu, or managed to avoid it, after all. Not good. I should not have underestimated her, she thought. Now what?

She knew she had to be quick. Had to anticipate any shots that Kasuri might fire, and wished she'd thrown the shuriken earlier and drawn her blades instead. Got to make do with what you have. Watching the bow attentively, measuring the set and tension of the muscles in Kasuri's draw-arm, she tensed and readied to intercept any shots with the two held shuriken. But no arrows came immediately, only an ultimatum.

"You and I have come too far to stop now," she spoke calmly, clearly, betraying her ability to ignore the acrid black smoke filling the air between them. "This only ends one way, and it's already decided. Stand down, Warrior of Heart. Lay down the bow, set aside Ayago, and this can be over, quick and clean."

Not expecting any answer except arrows, she began to channel once more and held her poise ready to slap any incoming projectiles out of the air with the two shuriken, but otherwise did not throw them or move forwards. Kasuri had given her a final chance to surrender, and Tomoe respected the woman's talents and tenaciousness enough to offer the same opportunity in return while she filled her body with chakra.

And then, unless Kasuri surrendered or fired—perhaps even if she did fire, given Tomoe's readiness to counter—the moment would pass. The short Fushinkou woman would vanish entirely, instantaneously reappearing immediately behind Kasuri by swapping places with a spar of burning wood. Shuriken still in hand, she would spin and engage without hesitation; her training had provided several ways to make full use of the small ranged weapons even in close quarters. She sent one shuriken spinning directly into Kasuri's draw-arm shoulder, hoping to incapacitate her dominant arm and prevent the use of the bow in a counterattack. She ducked low and sent the second shuriken leaping from her fingers in a tight arc, cutting a razor's line across the back of Kasuri's ankles, aiming to sever both achilles tendons and make standing up or moving incredibly difficult for her opponent. In the next motion she would try and kick Kasuri down to the floor and re-draw a wakizashi with her remaining strong hand, standing over Kasuri ready for any last spark of resistance.

Jutsu UsedShow

Disbelief of Pain - Post 5/10
D-Rank Ninjutsu
By preparing this technique the user will isolate their nervous system and flood it with Naikai. For the next 10 posts the user will be unable to experience pain.

Disbelief of Respiration - Post 1/10
D-Rank Ninjutsu
By preparing this technique the user will isolate their lungs and stop them in time, disbelieving the need to breathe. For the next 10 posts the user will not need to breathe, and their lungs cannot be targeted by external techniques.

*Ochiba • Dance Detour
D-Ranked Taijutsu Maneuver
Prerequisite: 10 Speed
A technique that relies highly on speed, the user will attempt to slap away any incoming melee strikes or projectiles with their kunai. The average of the user's speed and strength needs to be higher than the strength the projectile was thrown at, using the momentum of their own speed to deflect the strike.

[Instant Strike]
A-Rank Nintaijutsu Manoeuvre
The user prepares an attack or action before priming their muscles and surging forward in an instantaneous, chakra-assisted movement towards or away from a target within 50 metres, which consumes one of the user's two available teleport movements per thread. This allows the user to jump forward and deliver a lightning-fast series of strikes to a target without any perceivable precursor motion, or to attack a target already in range and then instaneously move away to a safe location by identifying an object within range that is at least 1/5th the user's size while preparing the technique. An object used in this manner must be solid and must not already be imbued with foreign chakra. The user can perform up to [Base Speed/10] strikes as part of this technique, performed at up to +12 Speed, but the focus on rapid motion leaves the user unprepared to guard and thus a corresponding Endurance debuff for the duration of the strike.

*[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.

[Precision Aim]
A-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
The user has studied anatomy to the extent that they can passively apply that knowledge to their strikes and aim in the heat of combat. This allows the user to identify and exploit opportunities for pinpoint attacks to cause severe internal damage to a target, such as breaking bones, rupturing organs, slicing muscles and tendons, and so forth. This technique aids the user in spotting weak points in the armour or guard of a target and deliving precision attacks in those areas to bypass physical defences and strike the body beneath.

[Kanade]

Tomoe spoke, but the words were almost lost in the raging inferno that was to Kasuri’s right. She hurt and her vision swam with tears, blood, and ash. She could barely breathe and the only thing that kept her standing was her stubborn pride as a Samurai of Heart. The first movement that Tomoe made she sent a shock and flurry of arrows at the woman, the first two were redirected, Kasuri was going for the kill, like she had with the bandit leader before, and was surprised, belatedly, when Tomoe disappeared entirely from her sight.

Damn, she was caught in a genjutsu. The first blow was to her shoulder that she was able to catch sight of from the flash off the shuriken in Tomoe’s hand. She managed to narrowly avoid a permanent injury, but the shiriken dug deep into the muscle of her shoulder, rendering it useless nonetheless for what she hoped wasn’t the foreseeable future. The second she didn’t see, focused entirely on the first and felt a tugging sensation at the bag of her ankles before she collapsed to the ground, feeling the pain shoot up her leg as one knee cracked itself against the hard stones and she slumped to the ground.

The kick that was meant to send Kasurii to the floor instead hit her in the gut, bringing up the remainder of the sparse meal that she had earlier, tossing her back onto her back as the pain exploded in her ribs and finally a sharp pain rolled up her legs from her ankles. Ah, so her tendons were severed.

“Breathe!” Ayago screamed in her head and Kasuri took a sharp intake of breath inward, releasing a torrent of coughing from the bile that clung to the inside of her cheeks which rolled down into her lungs. She was shaking all over, a sign that her body had gone into shock and her limbs were starting to curl inwards.

She couldn’t speak, only look in what she hoped was a defiant way at her opponent. She didn’t feel the bright blade of the wakizashi, burned into her memory, bathed in red from the flames that rolled over her in blessed warmth as cold spread throughout her limbs, and darkness pushed at the corners of her vision. She fancied fireworks were exploding all around them, their explosions silent to her as the darkness that their absence left in her vision started to blot out her remaining consciousness.

“Kasuri!” A faint voice, was it Ayago’s or her mothers, echoed in her mind as the world shook harshly to the left and she was left in blissful ignorance and darkness.

[Valkier]

Tomoe moved in an adrenaline-fuelled blur, only half registering the success of her strikes and blind to all else around her until she found herself standing over the crumpled form of Kasuri on the ground before her. The racing of her heart and the rush of blood pounded in her ears, and when she raised her wakizashi high, a flicker of movement drew her attention. She glanced downwards, pulling her eyes away from Kasuri's writhing form, until her eyes settled on the feathered shaft lodged in her own chest, its tip still quivering from the motion of her own body.

Shit. Not fast enough. She knew she'd knocked a few arrows from the air in the brief moments before her movement and strike, but clearly the archer had momentarily bested her. Tomoe's focus wavered for a second before she reasserted control; she still refused the pain, and therefore the wound was merely... inconvenient. Had her lungs still been there, the injury might have been a crippling one. She scowled and sent her arm flashing downwards, snapping the flat of the blade across Kanade's exposed cheek to stun the woman, then knelt and delivered a powerful hilt-strike vertically downwards into the woman's forehead, intending to knock her out cold. The woman already seemed on the verge of it, if not already passing out, but Tomoe was not known for half measures. She didn't hesitate before flicking the tip of the wakizashi out to one side and severing the first two fingers from Kasuri's drawing hand for peace of mind.

Only then did she step back and pause to take stock of the broader situation. The sounds of firefighting had fallen away by now, or else were dwarfed by the roaring inferno of the building beside them. Smoke and ashes still filled the sky, sending plumes of orange-hued sparks spiralling into the night, and more than a few other buildings showed signs of igniting. Their immediate vicinity was empty still; a blood-stained courtyard littered with blackened spars and scattered embers as far as she could see until the walls of smoke swallowed its edges. For the first time, she began to doubt her ability to escape in one piece; if one Heart Samurai had been this strong—and this well armed!—then any further fighting would be beyond her waning ability. She may only have moments before others stumbled upon their position, or before the fires made escape impossible. Forcing herself back into motion, she tapped the fuuinjutsu seal behind her left ear one more time, re-initiating an audio link back to her captain.

"Sir." She crouched and began unravelling the long length of wrapped steel wire she kept coiled around her waist while waiting for her hail to be received. A moment was enough.

"I need..." She hesitated, checked herself, then changed what she'd been about to ask. "Mission complete, sir. But I'm still in Hakaba. Got interrupted by a troublesome samurai and things got... complicated." She tried to ignore the arrow shaft still protruding from her chest—she knew she lacked the strength in her ruined arm to snap it, even if it could be snapped—and instead focused on winding the steel wire in a tight binding around Kasuri's arms and legs, then securing both bindings together. "And Sir? I chanced across something you might want to see."

"Understood. And your status?" A reply, cool and steady as always, emanated back from her fuuinjutsu. She kept working, gagging the unconscious woman, binding that in place, and checking the other knots before rolling Kasuri over onto her back again. Finally, hesitantly, Tomoe crouched down and hovered a hand over the longbow, still clutched in the woman's bloodied and half-fingered grip. "I've been better. But I'll survive. Can't say the same for the samurai." she grunted back. "But I'll be bringing her back with me, either way. Sir? The rumours about Ayago are real. She has it." She swallowed, then touched the weapon lightly and waited.

Nothing happened. She'd expected to feel something—anything—when coming into contact with a legendary artefact such as Ayago. But to her unwelcome hand the weapon seemed as inert as any other, even when she prised it from Kasuri's grip and slung it across her own back. A problem for later, she reasoned, and began to hoist Kasuri's limp form up to carry her awkwardly away.

"Understood. Get somewhere safe. I'll prep someone to meet you and assist. Be safe, Tomoe. Come home to us." She blinked. There was almost emotion in those words. Curious. And so, bound captive slung over her good shoulder, she slunk away, through the banks of smoke—effortless thanks to both of her active Naikai—and away from the burning section of the town. Only the first few streets were difficult, with her forced to crouch and hide in the deep shadows of alleys and doorways for openings before darting past the varied samurai and responders. She considered that her mission, initially aimed at only the central warehouse storing supplies seized by the armies of Heart, had been a little too successful, but it was a fleeting surface thought, given no acknowledgement while she had bigger priorities.

Some minutes later she dropped to the ground outside the town walls and hurried away into the night, silent as a shadow. Only once she was confident of her escape, once her Naikai had faded and the pain had come crashing home like hammer to anvil, and once her steps slowed into staggers did she stop and tend to her wounds. She removed the arrow shaft with a tight-lipped snarl and bound the wound, and the same for her arm and a sling. Then a check and rearrangement of her weapons, to ensure she could defend herself if caught offguard while carrying her burden. A splash of water and a moment of caught breath, and then she continued. Actual rest would have to wait a little longer...

Jutsu UsedShow

Disbelief of Pain - Post 6/10
D-Rank Ninjutsu
By preparing this technique the user will isolate their nervous system and flood it with Naikai. For the next 10 posts the user will be unable to experience pain.

Disbelief of Respiration - Post 2/10
D-Rank Ninjutsu
By preparing this technique the user will isolate their lungs and stop them in time, disbelieving the need to breathe. For the next 10 posts the user will not need to breathe, and their lungs cannot be targeted by external techniques.