[Red Alert] Spreading Death

[Zao]

In an oasis village in the eastern part of the Wind Country, one that was about half the size of Sunanada, an emergency request for help was sent out by foot arriving at the village two days later due to the constant battlefield that the deserts of the country had become over the past week due to the random spirits appearing. The town itself covers an area about six to seven square kilometers in size but from the outside if one was approach its boundaries they would find it ominously devoid of any sizes of life. A dark cloud or mist seemed to be forming over the oasis town starting to stretch out into the desert itself and where it did the sand was beginning to turn a dark grey and the closer to the oasis you moved the sand transitioned from grey to black. The village had already lost contact with a small scouting pair of shinobi that had been to investigate the emergency request and report back to the village with their finding, yet they have not returned...

[FluffyGinja]

Sueatsu had heard of the emergency request and would immediately go to investigate on it. A town that seemed to have a dark cloud over it bothered him greatly and he wished to know more about it... and whether it not it had to do with the recent spirit epidemic that was going on around the deserts of Wind Country. He could see the oasis village in the distance would start to sprint to get there a little faster, his eagerness accompanied by a sense of worry for his fellow shinobi that had gone to investigate ahead of him.

When he finally did arrive there, he would see the obvious signs. It seemed like a ghost town immediately as he was on the outskirts. Quietly, he reached down and scooped up some of the darkened sand that was normally a shimmering, golden colour... but this was a dark, lifeless black. He quietly let the sand fall from his hand and took in a deep breath, looking around him. This was a matter that seemed like he was the only one to come for. He would do it... no matter the cost. He would quietly approach the village, each step in the sand leaving an imprint of his foot as he was looking around for what could be causing this... other than the ominous and obvious dark cloud.

[Zao]

The village oasis was quiet large, looking to house a few thousand people at its maximum capacity but their didn't appear to be any signs of life as the man arrived. But just as he made it a few meter's onto the dark sand a dark clothed figure whom was concealed within the center of the dead town opened his eyes from what appeared to be some sort of meditative state as a smirk formed upon its skull-like face now having sensed that someone strong had entered into its domain now. A hand of bone extended from beneath the dark cloak around its body now forming a half dragon hand seal before it injected its chakra into the ground which already carried some of the spirits chakra now...'Let me evaluate this one, perhaps I can add him into my collection like the rest....' With that chakra expanded out from the center of the city through the dark sand and as the shinobi had made it about ten meters from the edge of the dark sand dozens of skeleton like hands burst forth from the earth in a ten meter radius of him. Each attempting to grasp hold of the man and then drag him into the dark sands.

(The hands moved with a speed and strength of twenty and have the ability to pursue him for up to ten meters away. )

[FluffyGinja]

Sueatsu watched him do this and looked around himself, seeing the sand shift and writhe as several skeleton like appendages popped out of the ground from the figure that was cloaked in a dark cloth. Whatever this creature was, it seemed to be trying to capture him. There was a moment that the hands were approaching him and were close before he simply took a deep breath and in what seemed the blink of an eye was right up on the skeleton like figure. He reached down and grasped it by its throat without saying a word and proceeds to slam it down onto the ground with ferocity of all of his strength.

This was something that Sueatsu was not okay with. It seemed that whatever this thing was had practically rid the entire village of its occupants and it was evident that this had gotten Sueatsu beyond bothered and he was growing actually angry. He looked around himself, wondering if those hands were still pursuing him and he would make sure to move out of their way as they were nearing him, backing up as need be to avoid them and circling around them if they were starting to get in his way.

[Zao]

As the banning slammed the skeletal figure into the ground it would discover that a pair of skeletal hands had grasped ahold of the one holding onto the neck of what would be revealed to be a true skeleton as green chakra illuminated from within the eye holes of the skull. "Kekeke...." A cackle seemed to echo out of the skeleton making it almost obvious that it had been used as some sort of plow as numerous bones began to rise from around the man's current position beginning to form a dome of interlocking bones, a bone prison. From outside the range of the bone prison a series of six coffins rose from the dark soil that had formerly been the beautiful golden sand but they remained closed for the moment. "You are a strong one, maybe you'd like to join the others?" The voice that had laughed through the skeleton puppet spoke once more through it now asking him a sinister question...

[FluffyGinja]

Sueatsu let out a huff of air as he grasped the hand that was around him and squeezed on it roughly, attempting to break it before he quickly spun around with a massive kick for the other rising hands that were coming to him. Each one he would hit would likely crumble away from him and give him time to move away from it all. He wasn't going to be captured anytime soon if he could help it, that much was certain. He wasn't going to even speak to this thing. When a hole would present itself from his own attack, he'd move out of it and look around.

There had to be a source for this thing... something that he could fight head on instead of just fighting what it decided to talk through... and it glowed with green chakra so it is possible that he could potentially look around for a source of said same glow. Without even thinking on it further, he'd move away from where he was and start to dash about the ruins of this place, searching for some sort of source.

[Zao]

'So strong...I must have him!' From his hiding spot the man watched through his various automated creations that crawled around the battle torn town as the man broke free from the hands grasping his own with relative ease. The prison of bone took merely a few blows from the powerful Suna-nin to break open a hole large enough to exit through but as he did so the man would feel a slight tug on his chakra/stamina, faint but enough for him to notice despite his crazy stamina pool. The black sand that he was standing upon was doing more than changing the looks of the area it was also acting as a method through which its creator could slowly drain his opponents in a fighting style that consisted of him hiding in the shadows while his skeletal warriors wore down any attackers.

One of the coffins that had risen up had its top thrown off as a pale looking hand slowly reached out from either side and set up to reveal a shinobi head band with the marking for Suna upon it, this was one of the ninja that had been sent out to investigate the mysterious circumstances that had been transpiring here along with the emergency help request sent out by the occupants of the oasis. His name was Sanjo and his specialty had been the use of Sand ninjutsu. Without a single word the dead shinobi stood up from his casket and then leaped out attempting to move between the advancing man and the center of the dead town now. A hint of a jade green glow could be found in the shinobi's eyes as the reanimated corpse stood there without saying a word in front of Sueatsu.

JutsuShow

Sands of Decay
B-Ranked Ninjutsu
Having affected the ground with his corrupted chakra, those that stand on will begin to feel drained of their energy. This is reflected by the target(s) losing one stamina per post for nine posts as long as they remain in contact with the black sand.

Necromancy - Death Knights
A-Ranked Ninjutsu
After having corrupted the body of a recently deceased body, Toruk is able to temporally reanimate the body as a slave under his will. The body will respond to commands and is able to use all the jutsu it previously had before death. This technique reanimates a body for seven posts.

[FluffyGinja]

Sueatsu had been starting to feel some sort of... drain on himself. He knew he had hardly been doing anything but he took a moment to think about what could be causing it. There were a few ideas but he had no idea which one was certain. The only one that would make the most sense to him would be the ground he was touching but he had not felt it up to this point. However, he was never one to take chances when it came to success so without even bothering, he would leap up onto a building a jump off the roof into the air.

If the shinobi was meant to get in his way, it must mean he was actually going the right direction... but it could take ages to search this entire town... and he felt he wasn't going to have as much time as he desired. His eyes would peer back at the shinobi to watch him, making sure to keep his mind on all possible targets while he was leaping from roof top to roof top. There was a clear bit of malice within himself that he could feel. Whoever did this would feel a wrath upon them unlike any they had ever felt.

[Zao]

"Hmm, this one seems to have decent intelligence to get off the sands...let me test this one further now..." The undead skeletal creature remarked to himself seeking to remain out the fight personally for the moment and to simply allow for his minions to seek to drain and or overwhelm the shinobi who seemed to be rather physically strong and fast. As Sueatsu passed the shinobi the shinobi would hold out his hand causing for the ground at the base of the roof top that the banning was about to leap onto to be smashed as a wave of sand towering about fifteen meters high and wide was lifted from the ground and being pushed up and towards the man at around a speed of thirty. The massive wave seeking to crush the man under its weight as the dead Suna-nin was giving chase with his hands together in a prayer like manner, seemingly preparing to use another technique when he got closer.

On the rooftops another four cloaked figures ascended from the ground landing softly, each wearing a cloak of a different hue moving from left to right; red, black, white, and green. From underneath each of the hoods of their cloaks one could easily see the jade green glow of their eyes as they watched the man deal with the wave of black sand being forced upon him now. These were the first four death knights under the spirit's command and had been his minion for numerous years now. Each of them with their own specialties but their most powerful abilities was their formation techniques. They were about fifty meters past the wave, deeper into the town, being sent by their master to either kill or capture the new comer and to keep this strong shinobi from making it to their master's location in the center of town now. "So we finally get to meet someone worth of our skills, my old friends." "Yes, maybe he is." "I doubt he's that worth..." The group would speak mentally to one another as they simply observed for now.

[Izanagi]

Delving deeper into Wind Country, the Hokage noted a peculiar cloud in the distance. Even from several miles away, the dark grey/black discoloration was quite apparent and upon closer inspection, it seemed to be affecting the sand as well. Takeo traveled alongside an ANBU bodyguard known as Shujaku, a man with dark red hair and similarly colored eyes, barely visible behind a porcelain phoenix mask. The Hokage and his companion had already defeated a trio of giant sandworms earlier that day. They had rested considerably since though still felt a modicum of fatigue as the traversed the harsh desert conditions, eventually entering the area afflicted by this curse. “Be careful what you touch. We don’t know the extent of what this corruption does or how it works” the man warned to which the masked man simply nodded.

As they moved deeper into the ghost town, Takeo’s sharp hearing picked up on the sound of combat. Tossing a tagged kunai into the ground he would gesture the man forward the pair moved swiftly and silently towards the sound. There was always the possibility of genjutsu to worry about, in his experience it was commonly used in this sort of situation and so he placed the marker to help identify their starting position as well as signal them should they become disoriented and need to find the edge of town in order to escape. As they neared the sound of combat Takeo signaled for his companion to take cover and watch him from the distance and without hesitation the masked man did just that, moving to the rooftops and keeping a low profile, staying back a distance of about 30 meters and providing overwatch.

Meanwhile, Takeo would note the 6 coffins, one of which had been opened with a Sunagakure shinobi standing in front of it. Immediately he knew that the man was dead, he could smell the stench of the corpse. ‘So we’ve got a necromancer then…interesting’ he noted. He had never combated such a jutsu before though he had heard about its uses. Clearly, there was someone operating in the shadows but Takeo wasn’t about to turn his back to a present threat nor was he the kind of person to back down from a challenge. He was curious as to how strong these six individuals were. Perhaps he would even be in for a difficult fight. That was certainly an exciting prospect, though he couldn’t imagine that one reanimated shinobi would be much challenge at all. Before he could approach the shinobi however he noted that it turned to give chase to another individual, commanding a wave of sand after him. Takeo peered around the corner of a building, having approached with some degree of caution. He noted the coloration of the fleeing shinobi’s robes and hair, the speed and grace of his movements and a recognition flooded in. ‘Suaetsu. Finally, I’ll get to see what you can really do’ he realized with excitement. He had met the man once before and knew he was a Bannin of Suna but beyond knowing that he could sense auras and was skilled in taijutsu the man was a mystery to him.

Grinning, the Hokage began forming a lengthy set of handseals. He would back up the Bannin and display the true power of the protector of Fire Country and ally of the sand. Out here, surrounded by sand and in an abandoned village he might finally be able to let loose and display the true power of his Katon techniques. Before long he would finish his hand seals and be enveloped in a blazing aura of flames. Without wasting any time he would burst forward at remarkable speed. To most he moved as a flash or at very least a blur and in this state the air itself distorted around him, rippling against the immense heat. With the reanimated Suna nin likely distracted by Suaetsu, attempting to keep at bay his similarly remarkable speed and power it was likely Takeo would catch him off guard as he aimed to sever his head clean off his shoulders with the sheer force of the strike of his punch. At the very least he would provide an opening for the Suna Bannin to follow up with and between the two of them it was all but certain that this corpse would be brought down in short order. Even if it didn’t feel physical pain any contact with the Hokage at all would result in its flesh burning away, almost instantly turned to ash as even its bones would be charred and damaged. “Back up has arrived” the man would state confidently after his attack had either struck home or been evaded. Either way he wasn’t particularly concerned. He was still very much on guard and able to react with precision reaction speed and expert hand to hand skills.

Jutsu UsedShow

Katon • Aura of Sakuretsu
S-Rank Ninjutsu
Prerequisite: 40 Ninjutsu, 35 Control
Takeo had developed this technique as the pinnacle of close quarters Katon ninjutsu, made only possible by those with exceptional chakra control. After forming a lengthy set of hand seals the user will shroud their entire body in an extremely thin though powerful layer of protective chakra which will serve as a barrier between ones flesh/clothing and flame, mitigating a great deal of its heat. Next the user will be enveloped in an aura of flames, erupting 3-6 inches around their entire body with such intensity that the air ripples around them. Any who comes in contact with the flames will receive 4th degree burns as the result of a direct strike and 3rd degree burns from glancing blows. In addition the user is able to enhance ones strikes with bursts of flames, unleashing up to 16 explosive tags worth of force. This explosive power can be divided incrementally or used all at once but can’t exceed 16 tags worth. The aura lasts for a maximum of 7 posts.