[Graded][PB] Meet your party

[Red X]

Ren frowned as he leaned against the wall of the local tavern, the sun at his back as it continued to crawl into the sky. The crisp morning air was being chased away by the growing warmth, but Ren still found himself pulling his cloak closer to his body in an attempt to stay warm. Yashi village was a lot like his own, not too large and mostly comprised of farmers and merchants. There was no Tenbun here to aide them, and the townsfolk didn't feel they needed one. After all, it didn't take some fancy samurai with freaky eyes to tell guide them about their simple lives, 'Until now, apparently.'

Hiruzen, a farmer whose brother resided in Yashi, brought him word of the increasingly aggressive animal attacks in the area. It wasn't uncommon to have to deal with wolves going after livestock, or a bear that raided a meat-locker. But 6 times in a month? It was unheard of. When Hiruzen told him that there was already a hunting party that was driven back, he knew that he couldn't let it continue. So he made the half-days travel to the village yesterday and got himself situated. Apparently, the towns people were able to gather up quite a bit of money to hire people to deal with this issue. If their word was to be believed, two of them were ninja.

Ren's frown turned deeper, 'Not just one ninja, but two? They'd probably be from the land of fire, they're the closest and usually operate out of these parts. But this is at most some small time. Why would any ninja, let alone a pair of them decide this was important enough for them to intervene? There has to be more to this than I know.'

Trying to school his features back to normal, the starry eyed educator continued to wait at the designated meeting place for the rest of his temporary partners.

[Kaguza]

The joint training was going well, least for those that still had their bandannas. To one genin however it was rather boring. With a few bandannas to his benefit, an exercise in stealth and intelligence gathering was boring. A trial by combat would have been far more entertaining, even if he lost his own bandanna. Each hour passed and Kaguza was merely waiting to go home while he picked off those making very obvious mistakes. Walking one of the popular streets, the townsfolk were chatting and going about their business as a worried face caught his eye. An older farmer with a recent wound was asking as many as he could for help regarding an animal problem out near the livestock. Stopping to listen for a moment was enough for the farmer to turn his attention towards the red haired ninja. He pleaded for any information on any capable fighter, swordsmen, or ninja that would be willing to quell the wild animals targeting not only livestock but travelers. Rumors of a few attacks on tourists and even ninja traveling to the Tea country had been spreading. Perhaps it was true, a man begging for help seemed like decent enough proof.

A smile painted Kaguza's face as he set a hand on the farmer's shoulder. Giving a warm confirmation, he agreed to help. Finally something real exciting to do. Though it would likely be tracking which was just as boring as the joint training, there would be actual excitement to follow. The gentle pat of a shoulder turned into a full hug as the farmer got a surprise from hugging the incredibly warm blooded individual, none the less though he thanked the Hizashi before providing what information he could along with a meeting place for the others that had agreed.

Waking at first light, the red haired rose and donned his gear. A pouch of ninja tools and a scroll case on his hips he headed out. He thought back to the farmer trying to remember exactly where the meeting spot was for the supposed group of animal hunters. A quick walk and he arrived, at least he thought, no one was there however. Waiting for a few minutes he thought back to the farmer's information and looked around. Was he in the wrong place? The Tea country was a foreign place to the young man, perhaps the meeting place was somewhere else. Deciding to look he started into a light jog in search of similar areas that matched the farmer's description. One, two, three. It wasn't until the third area that vaguely matched that Kaguza found a man dressed in a bland looking robe with bow over his shoulder. "Hello there, are you here for the hunting party? My name is Hizashi Kaguza." Slowing to a walk he calmly approached the man and offered a friendly handshake, which if taken would offer a decent surprise as his touch was quite warm.

[Nick]

The Frog had just returned from his fun night at the festival, having drank considerably more than his fill, and eaten almost as much. He woke up early, and was still too drunk to be hungover, and so decided it was a good idea to pick up a quick job or two to refill his lightened wallet, grabbing a couple notices off of a board. One of them mentioned something about crazy animals, and while he cringed a bit thinking back to the time he had almost been broken by a giant lizard, it sounded better than some of the other options before him.

And so, he drunkenly asked someone for quick directions, and off he went to earn his pay. Hours later, and shortly after the other two had introduced themselves, Fuhen would stumble down the road, slowly sobering up, but still drunk. He would be singing a local river country song, one of his favorites, retelling the tale of Takiyasha-hime in verse. As he approached the pair, he would finish up the most recent verse of the song about the frog princess destroying her enemies, before hiccuping, and speaking. "Hey, sheither o' ya know somethin' 'bout some kinda... mean kittens... or somethin'...?"

[Red X]

As the morning continued to creep on, Renshu had begun to get more and more anxious for the other members of this hunt to show themselves. It was half an hour later when the first one arrived, a red head seemingly composed entirely of leather who couldn't have been more than 14 or 15. There was no shortage of pouches on his person, a hint or two of metal peeking from within causing him to stiffen ever so slightly. He found himself focusing on the small glint of metal tied around the younger man's head. Sure enough, it held a symbol that he did not recognize immediately, but it all meant the same to the people of Rice country, 'Ninja....'

Ren shifted himself off the wall and turned towards the approaching youth. He was not going to show his fear, at least not if he could help it. He was here representing the Tenbun, possibly the first and only time this ninja would ever come across his clan. It would not do to seem weak or frightened. Swallowing his fear, Ren noticed the approaching hand but left it grasping air, who knew what kind of tricks this ninja could from such a simple touch.

"If you're here to help with aggressive wildlife, then yes, this is the place," He spoke, shifting his gaze from the boy to the surrounding area, "There should be others...." His voice trailed off as he found himself staring at a behemoth of a man stumbling down the road with a song croaking from his throat. Ren found himself speechless, he'd never seen anyone that tall before, and if the large amount of swords on his back was anything to go by, he'd likely never seen anyone fight like him either. The giant approached them both with a hiccup and a slurred question to which he gave a curt reply, "Were it just mean kittens then I doubt they'd have such a sizable bounty. Although to you, I'm sure vicious wolves just look like slobbering pups."

He allowed the other two to get acquainted before introducing himself, "My name is Tenbun, Renshu. I'm usually one of the few people who deal with these types of situations that the townsfolk find themselves in. This one feels strange though, too many incidents too close together. Our job isn't just to kill the beasts, but we also have to try and determine what drove them to this."

He allowed the words to sink in before he moved again, "There was supposed to be a third, but I doubt they'll show if they haven't already. Come, it's this way." Turning his back to the other two, he headed out into the wilderness.

[Kaguza]

The bowman was cautious. Simply closing his hand he smiled and clapped gently before himself as another man stumbled into the scene, this one very, very, very tall. It almost felt inhuman to be so tall and drunk. It was almost like being in the same room as his uncle except not as tall but just as drunk. A large sheath on the new man's back caught the young Hizashi's eye. One, two, three, . . . he began counting the swords he could see tucked away neatly in the obnoxiously sized case. He was too tall however, the man would have to set the damn thing down in order to get an accurate count.

A bowman and a very tall swordsman, interesting. Kaguza always felt like a front man in squads but this would prove to be good experience for him as he'd run support or mid range most likely. Overall this would be unorthodox, a ninja running with two . . . samurai? He hadn't really considered what to refer to them as nor did pay attention enough to learn the proper designation for Non-Shinobi that weren't marked missing. Even then though he could only assume that they weren't missing ninja. "My name is Hizashi Kaguza." He offered a light bow with a smile before following the lazy one into the wilderness, patiently listening to just what they would be doing on this make shift mission.

[Nick]

"Ka-gu-za, Ren-shu." He put a finger to his chin as he sounded out the names, doing his best to make a storage of memory for each of them, before shrugging. "Oi'm Fuhen, friends be callin' me Froggy though!" The River Country man smiled broadly as he introduced himself, stopping swaying for just long enough to point a thumb back at himself, before continuing his drunken actions.

Fuhen shrugged at the compliment from the strange minor country man, before taking note of his eyes for seemingly the first time, reaching out slowly with one hand like a salesman sighting the most beautiful jewels. "Anyone ever tell ye that yer real pretty...?" He said aloud, before his eyes unfocused once more, and with the shake of his head, he put his hand back down. "Oi oi! Lez folk to be sharin' the bounty with, aye? The less, the merrier!"

And with that, the Frog was quick to follow after the man with stars in his eyes, peeking back over his shoulder to make sure the ninja was following too, mumbling back towards him. "Ey, yer hair is nice'n'pretty too, yanno." He nodded to himself, his walk being more like a controlled fall as he made his way towards the mission site.

[Red X]

Uncomfortable, Ren kept his focus on the road and allowed the Kyokugan to guide him. It might not have been a perfected method of tracking, but with eyes that allowed him to see even the smallest of details it was child's play to track over aggressive beasts, 'With Fuhen's size and state they might just be coming for us. He's not exactly quiet.'

The over-sized man seemed friendly enough, hell they both did if he was being honest. But he wasn't about put any emphasis on his eyes or his clan with a ninja around. At best he'd return with his superiors to recruit the Tenbun into their village. At worst, he'd capture Ren and force him to whatever village he hailed from to be interrogated or bred like livestock. Neither of which would be an enjoyable experience in his mind.

Forcing his fears away, Ren continued his attempt at tracking and was rewarded with an increasing amount of what looked to be wolf prints. After walking a little further he then started to find a trail of blood along the grass, 'Hunting? This close to a settlement?' As they continued, the wolf prints increased, and not all of them from grown wolves. He stopped, raising his arm as a signal for the others to do the same, "We're close to a wolf den," He pointed out the trail of blood that was lightly coating different blades of grass, "You can tell by the way the grass is bending that whatever is bleeding is being drug. It's also fairly recent, probably within the last hour at least."

Moving his bow into his hands, Ren notched and arrow in preparation for a fight, "Fuhen, right? Normally I'd take a more stealthy approach, but with your size we could go full tilt from the start. I'm not much for close combat, but I can keep you covered, " He shifted his eyes towards Kaguza, "What about you? Do you have any ranged options or are you better up close?"

[Kaguza]

"Well thank you, you're very coordinated for being drunk." Kaguza gave his hair a light flip for the man called froggy before looking back to the back before them. His eyes locked onto Renshu. Fuhen seemed like a decent fighter despite the drunken nature, but Renshu seemed simpler, his attention to the path was beyond his own. Perhaps he had been trained to hunt wild game and was just by profession a hunter. The logic made sense in the Hizashi's mind, uses a bow, no armor, no real weaponry, or means to carry general equipment. The group stopped for a moment to observe some grass. Bending of grass could determine the direction of their target? A look of confusion came over Kaguza. It was a rarity to even see grass for him let alone how it lay under certain conditions. "Hmm, sure. I'm not too familiar with grass so I'll trust your judgement."

Renshu took up his bow and readied an arrow, their mark must be close. Calmly the red headed man reached into his pouch and pulled out a pair of kunai, "I'm got a few tricks for every distance. Close, mid, or far, I'll whatever we need. I actually have a bow myself, though my shots are a little less stealthy. I make a great distraction." The pair of kunai sitting between his fingers, he gave a smile to Renshu, an explosive tag hanging from one of the kunai in plain view for him to see.

[Nick]

"Ah'm no drunk!" He argued, despite clearly being at least a little intoxicated, and smelling of various different types of alcohol. "Ah'm jus'... hungover, aye?" He nodded to himself, agreeing with himself, and folding his arms across his chest, trying to look more sage and knowledgeable.

As the two discussed their abilities, the Frog realized that the both of them had bows, and even as the red-haired boy pulled out knives, it was to be noted that they were the type used by ninja as throwing knives. With his arms still folded across his chest, Fuhen shrugged and let out a short belch before speaking. "While ah've caught a boar on foot before, is nae an easy task." He started, unfolding his arms and scratching at the side of his face lazily. "Yer right, ah'm nae much fer sneakin' about, but eh... Maybe you two can be, eh?" He smiled broadly, reaching his long arms out to pat each of them on the head, though he wouldn't go chasing after them if they moved out of the way.

"If'n we're thinkin' there's someone causin' the beasties ta go mad, may's t'be the two's of ya can sweep around the sides all quiet like, and let me walk straight in! They's t'be thinkin' is just me, but really it was three!" His smile only widened more in the wake of his own brilliant, drunken plan. He was getting better at this sort of battle planning thing ever since his father had taught him chess. He hated that game, and lost most of the time, but clearly it was starting to work out for him.

[Red X]

A tight smirk spread across his face as he listened to his companions. As expected, the ninja seemed adept at defending himself at any range. He recognized the ninja tool that he retrieved from his person as one of the few he was trained to use.. Is that an explosive tag?

Fuhen might have been drunk, but he was no fool. His plan to flank the beasts before ambushing them while he charged in was a bit reckless on his end, but sound enough. "Ok, I'll go left and work my way around." He glanced over at Kaguza, "That leaves you with the right flank. We just have to make sure we don't get Fuhen caught in the cross fire."

Waiting for confirmation, Ren headed towards his side with one last parting, "I'll wait for your signal, Fuhen. Just wait 30 seconds and I'll be ready." With that he was gone. Sneaking through the brush was fairly uneventful, but as he approached he found their targets. He counted five gray wolves tearing at the carcass of some unfortunate creature. By itself that would not have been a problem, but their den was littered with the rotten corpses of uneaten prey. Some of them human.

Forcing himself not to gag, Ren took aim with his bow from behind a tree and waited. Once the signal came, he'd be ready to open fire.

[Kaguza]

The temptation was so very real, to simply reach out with a single finger, as The Frog stood with an attempted sagely appearance to just lightly push him over like a coat rack. A little professionalism kept all ten of the Hizashi's digits restrained however, though the thought of such a tall man falling flat on his back still played out in his mind and it was quite humorous. A light flinch and disruption of laughable imaginations came as a quick belch erupted from Fuhen. The man's speech was slightly slurred at the beginning of his sentences which added a slight difficulty to understanding him though even in a drunken stupor he had a decent strategy. The young red head giving a light nod at the suggestion of flanking the target while Froggy ran decoy. Even the lazy man seemed to like the slurred plan as a light smirk painted his face. Returning the pair of kunai to his pouch, Kaguza pulled out the scroll at his hip and opened it to reveal a storage seal for his bow and arrows. A simple handseal and light puff of smoke revealed a well polished bow and quiver ready to go. The scroll quickly tucked away before the smoke cleared, the ranged weapon was slung over his shoulder and arrows tucked neatly at his waist for use. "I'll cover the right then, on your mark." Leaving maybe a second or two after the bowman he dashed off into hiding.

Hidden away from view, Kaguza made sure that he could still see Fuhen, after all covering someone didn't work too well if you lost them. A smell reached his nose, decay and rot. His eyes quickly finding the source along with the group's target most likely. A pack of five gray wolves eating at some prey. Several carcasses were scattered about and while it took a bit to register he could tell there were human beings mixed in among the death. The sight of the feral K-nines feasting simply reminded him of one thought, he had skipped breakfast this morning. While he acknowledged the terrible smell it didn't bother him, least not yet, nor did the thought of dead people only meters away from him. 'I'm hungry. Should find a nice little restaurant after this. What to eat though? BBQ doesn't sound bad. I suppose most might find it unappealing after something like this though.' notching an arrow he was ready. Though his eyes scanned the area and kept watch over the decoy, he continued to think about his dinner plans. 'Steak sounds good.'

[Nick]

"Aye-aye!" The Frogman said, forming an 'ok' sign with his fingers, and slowly started walking out into the brush. He stumbled a bit in his initial step, and suddenly the alcohol did the worst thing it could have done to him, starting to wear off. A very dull pain began to stab him in the head, starting on the back of his head behind his right eye. Fuhen let out an audible groan of displeasure, but soldiered on regardless, he'd made the plan to be the distraction, so he was going to be very distracting.

"Yuan! Twooooo!" He started, yelling loudly to announce his presence and keep his partners in the loop about when to strike. "Tain! Thirteen!" He continued, marching on, drawing a blade for each hand out of his massive basket sheath, reaching the edge of the forested part and into a clearing, where he noticed the wolves. He'd dealt with such creatures before, but something about these ones in particular seemed exceedingly aggressive, and made a bead of sweat drip down the back of his neck. "T'enty-three!" He called out, as the wolves looked up from their meal to stare at the new meal placed before them.

The Frog blinked a bit at the wolves, and a slight wind pushed something into his nose. It was an unmistakably disgusting smell of rotten flesh. He looked up past the wolves, and saw it with his own two eyes, and suddenly the visual connection made the smell so much worse. Fuhen emptied his stomach. It was very sobering, very fast, as chunks of festival food, alcohol, and stomach bile all fell onto the ground. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, the frog spat out a glob of saliva and puke to clean his mouth. "Thirty!" He called out, throwing the blades suddenly at the pack of wolves, each one flying straight and true towards two of the middle creatures.

Combat LogShow

Rain Drop
B-rank Taijutsu Discipline
An advanced throwing technique used to throw a sword at a target, moving or still, with greatly improved accuracy.

[Red X]

Ren was brought up short at the yells his drunken companion was spouting from his mouth. Expecting he giant to at least attempt some form of stealth, this charade would surely put them on guard. Then he thought about it, 'Well, it'll have the same effect. Not my preferred method though.' He actually caught himself smiling at the other man's antics. And then Fuhen vomited.

Ren had fought down the nausea of sight and smell, with great, great effort. The sound of someone else vomiting on top of that, broke down that last ounce of will, "HUuuuuuurrrrgh," It was terrible. Foul bitter acid filled his mouth as what little breakfast he had was evacuated onto the forest floor. His abdomen was heaving, urging his stomach to continue its bitter rebellion.

Forcing himself to regain his composure, he fired on the wolf closest to him. His hand was moving for another arrow soon after, pleased to hear a howl of pain from his target as it jerked side ways into another wolf. Shifting his feet, he allowed himself to stand strong so that he could fire more arrows. Spitting again, he tried to keep from focusing on the taste, less he find himself incapacitated from his own vomit.

TaijutsuShow

*[Flawless Aim Style • Sentinel Stance]
D-Rank Taijutsu Stance
A stable and steady stance practiced by nearly all wishing to use projectiles. At this stage they are planted and focusing on their arms and shoulders, moving in smooth motions to mitigate unnecessary movements that may ruin their aim.

*[Flawless Aim Style • Tracking]
D-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
This allows the user to hit a moving target so long as it is moving in a way predictable to the user. They must still take into account travel time, and sudden changes in path will still affect the outcome.

[Kaguza]

Loud counting made for an easy distraction while finding a hiding place but it did add a sense of difficulty to contemplating food. The sound of puking only adding as the sight of such a large man spewing forth internal contents only made him slightly thirsty. His stomach at ease and his bow at the ready the head of his arrow beginning to give off a faint red glow. A light stream of smoke came from the arrowhead as Kaguza maintained his aim. With a loud thirty, the man calling himself Frog tossed a pair of swords at wolves within the middle of the pack. A smile painted over his face as he loosed his arrow aimed for a third wolf in the middle of the pack. 'Kai', a single hand sign and the arrow that struck the wolf would erupt in a ball of flame, catching any of the other wolves nearby in the explosion. Without a care for the surroundings or to check the state of the wolves hit, he readies another arrow. An air of confidence hung about him that the swordsman didn't get caught in the explosion and would likely clean up any wolf still brave enough to hold their ground.

Combat InfoShow

*[Flawless Aim Style • Sentinel Stance]
D-Rank Taijutsu Stance
A stable and steady stance practiced by nearly all wishing to use projectiles. At this stage they are planted and focusing on their arms and shoulders, moving in smooth motions to mitigate unnecessary movements that may ruin their aim.

*[Flawless Aim Style • Tracking]
D-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
This allows the user to hit a moving target so long as it is moving in a way predictable to the user. They must still take into account travel time, and sudden changes in path will still affect the outcome.

*Katon • Bomb Creation
C-Rank Ninjutsu
By channeling katon chakra into any item, the user will turn it into a ticking time bomb. Either when 3 posts are up or when activated through the use of Chakra Kai, the object will explode, releasing all the katon chakra in it in a C-Rank explosion and scattering flames in the immediate area.

*[Basic Jutsu • Chakra Kai]
E-Ranked Ninjutsu
A jutsu used with the purpose of activating seals and a range of devices and weapons, this technique begins with a single handseal. Once this has been performed, the user will focus a dollop of their chakra into what they are looking to activate in order to complete the task. Seals activated with this technique must be within 20 + (Control/2) meters of the user's position.

[Nick]

The ambush worked better than could've really been expected. Had the wolves been more inclined to follow their cousins, stopping their feast to go about and hide, or even run away when the smell of men came near. Perhaps a mixture of the rotten meat in the air, along with their insanity that the man with strange eyes claimed they had changed their natural reactions to such things, or distracted them so much that they couldn't even smell the stench of them.

Wolves were a wondrous creature, their pelts made some of the best winter clothing he'd ever worn. Their meat was mostly useless, even in stews it mostly maintained a very gamey, tough, and chewey feeling to it, not to mention it was hard to digest for most, and can make younger children sick by eating it. Because of this, the Frog wanted to maintain the integrity of their hides as best he could, and remembered to do so just in the last moment of his vomiting induced sobriety before he threw his swords. The blades would fly true, aimed for just below the wolves' necks and into their breast cavity. Such a blow would kill the poor creatures almost instantly as it skewered them through, while still cutting roughly how he'd skin the creatures later.

Fuhen's own two blades sliced clean into their targets, having been the initiator and catching them by surprise was the main factor in this. Renshu's arrows would pelt the wolf closest to him, each digging deep into the side of the sick creature, causing it to fall over and immediately begin bleeding out, unfortunately still alive and suffering. Kaguza's single, focused arrow would reach its target before exploding, leaving the creature nearer to him a splatter of brains and blood, which also landed on the Frog, who said, "Oh ah, fuckin' 'ell!" Because, while undamaged by the explosion, it still scared the crap out of him, and being covered in wolf brains and blood didn't really help. The explosion would serve a secondary function as well, knocking the very last wolf back, and damaging it, its hide smoking and smoldering lightly as it regained its footing.

This left one wolf taken out of the battle thanks to its wounds, and another one regaining its footing, clearly planning to run away seeing the state of its pack. Fuhen's swords that had been thrown at his wolves both wiggled free from their deep stabs thanks to his Shogun ability, and at his will, one flew over to the burned wolf, who growled at the blade, before it zipped around to the side of it and sliced its head clean off. The other blade, meanwhile, purposefully flew over to the damaged wolf, and stabbed directly through its brain, killing it almost instantly.

"Fer the love o' Takiyasha-Hime, pal, that was crazy!" The Frog called out to his hidden companions, clearly at least a little more sober now, though it was hard to tell through his accent sometimes. "I cannae believe that! Settin' up a bomb roight next t'me! Y'gotta be warnin' me about that!" And then he mumbled afterwards in a quiet tone. "Fuckin' ninja, no respect for good pelts..."

[Red X]

For moment everything seemed to be going as planned. The blades ripped through two of the wolves while his arrow pegged a third, easy. Then there was an explosion of fire and blood. Renshu had seen little of ninja arts. People usually used it carelessly in bars for women, or intimidation if that was their aim. Now Ren was getting a glimpse of what ninjutsu was truly capable of, giving him a living example that he would not soon forget. Turning away from the destruction, he vomited again. Many, many times.

He heard another whimper, the swishing of a blade, and then silence. Opening his eyes, Ren did his best to avoid staring at a very detailed pile of vomit but stopped short when his eyes rested on what looked to be a footprint. Moving towards it, he found that there were a set of human footprints leading away from the wolf den, 'Someone came across this vile place and walked away?'

Ren frowned as he digested the information. Combined with the carnage in the wolf den, and their strange behavior it was starting to seem less like aggressive beasts and more like conspiracy. 'They'll need to know. Our work isn't done yet.'
He turned and made his way towards the others, holding his nose in disgust as he did so.

[End Thread]