Mission: Ironbound!

[Kaku]

The day moved slowly in Kumo, something quite strange in the village as normally there was the hustle and bustle in the center mountains, people constantly bumping into friends, something which was inevitable in Kumo. After all, everyone knew everyone and those who didn't were either too young to have met everyone or just plain odd. Recently, a blacksmith had been kidnapped, and the area around his shop had become quite deserted, the commoners of Kumo fearing another attack steered well clear of it, and the people who had set up shop either temporarily or permanently closed down. Furthermore, of the few people who moved through the area, almost 75% of them were ninja, a relatively high figure. It was one of the commoners, however, who would be acting as a guide for the ninja Shizune Mugen. Mugen was a new Jounin, who had attracted the attention of the Raikage. He'd recently been promoted and was about to be given a field test for his skills. The guide, who had requested to be made anonymous, waited patiently on the corner of the street, holding a lamp in his hand which glowed purple. To the average person that wasn't much, but to Mugen that would be the sign he needed to notice this man who, other than the strangely coloured lamp, was pretty average in all aspects of the word.

[CDF]

Mugen sat on top of a nearby roof. He had woken up an hour early and had been waiting atop the roof, hidden so that the guide wouldn’t think he had kept Mugen waiting. When it reached the exact time that had been planned, Mugen leapt from the roof and landed next to the man with the lamp.

“The guide I presume? I am Shinuze Mugen.” Mugen bowed his head slightly and respectfully towards the man.

[Kaku]

The man only nodded as Mugen introduced himself, gesturing to the left with his free hand and uttered only two words out of his mouth. "Follow me." The words were said with a strange gruff tone, while at the same time being rushed or forced out of the man's mouth. He was obviously not liking the idea of being the guide. He dropped the lamp, and quickly began walking in one direction, staying a few feet in front of Mugen and not saying a single word to him the whole time. He kept his hands in his pockets and was constantly looking around, as if checking for any attackers. His breathing became erratic and heavy as they came closer to the outskirts of the town they were in, and all of a sudden, he came to a halt, before falling down face forward. What had happened?

[CDF]

Mugen almost gave a sigh of relief as the guide uttered only two words and remained silent the whole time. Mugen had been worried he would get a talkative or annoying guide. As they walked, Mugen followed close behind while looking around every few minutes just to be sure. Once they were nearing the outskirts however, the guide suddenly stopped and fell forward.

Mugen was there immediately, leaping forward and landing in front of the guide before reaching out an arm to hold him up. His breathing didn't sound good at all and unfortunately, Mugen was nowhere near a medical ninja. Mugen tried to gently lay the man with his back to the ground before asking him what was wrong, hoping the man could breath enough to answer him.

[Kaku]

As Mugen would turn the man over, he would notice the man had stopped all breathing, his eyes were dilated and there was absolutely no pulse in his body. He was dead. There was a small dart sticking out from the front of his chest, laced with a very dangerous poison which had killed the man. With no clue as to how it happened, and now stuck between the village and the destination, Mugen could either choose to go forward or turn back to the village. Upon closer inspection of the body one would notice a small piece of paper in the man's right breast pocket, which was a map that had the location of the kidnapper on it. If Mugen picked it up, he would be able to get there.

[CDF]

Mugen put his hand against the guides’ neck and sighed as he felt no pulse. “At least keeping the guide alive wasn’t part of the mission.” Mugen examined the guides body, looking for an explanation to the random death. A glint in his eye brought Mugens attention to the needle stuck in the guides’ chest. Mugen frowned and plucked the needle carefully by its end where it was bound to not have poisons left in it. Mugen threw the needle onto the ground quickly after examining it and immediately reached over and grabbed the map.

Mugen opened the map and looked it over briefly before running in the direction it was telling him to go. Whoever killed the guide could still be nearby, Mugen had to move quick.

[Kaku]

The clouds above the village stirred, something which the villagers often took as a bad omen. About 500 yards away from Mugen was a man, standing and watching his every move. It was this same man who had just killed the guide who brought Mugen here, and it was this man who was supposed to kill Mugen. however, he decided that it wasn't the right time, so left, waiting to gather more information and find the right time to strike.

The map which Mugen had picked up showed a small section of Kumogakure, the area which he was in. There was a large X marked on it, with a trail leading from the village exit that he had come from to it. Of course, that trail wasn't a straight path like on the map, but following the map would allow Mugen to get a rough idea of where he was to go to find the assailant.

[CDF]

Mugen looked down at the familiar map of Kumo and ran forward in the direction the map told him to.. or at least he thought this was the right direction. Mugen ran at moderate speed, covering a good amount of ground fairly quickly as he followed the path that would lead him to where he’d finish this mission.

[Kaku]

As he raced through the mountainous region of Kumo, Mugen was blissfully unaware that he was being followed, and that, in a few minutes, was about to be attacked. At this point, he had reached a large V-shaped valley, with the option of passing over the valley or going through it. While passing over it would take longer, it was definitely safer, as the through-pass was littered with skulls and bones, the remains of animals and humans alike laying around on the barren floor. The smell of dead things lingered over the air, formins a stench so strong it could be smelt from over 100 metres away. For some strange reason, the sun seemed to neglect the area, resulting in a dark, shadowy path. Of course, being a ninja, there was always a chance that Mugen could pass through and come out unscathed, but then there was always the possibilty that he wouldn't. Meanwhile, about 3 miles from where Mugen was a wretched looking man was cackling evily as he tortured a gruff looking middle aged man, who was probably going through middle age crisis.

[CDF]

Mugen sighed as he gained the option of either going through or above. The through option reeked of danger and bad luck and not to mention it actually reeked, while the above option would obviously take longer but be safer. Danger and luck vs a few minutes later and safety. The choice was obvious.

Mugen darted through the valley, trying his best to ignore the stench as he ran as fast as he could, hoping to leave the valley as quickly as possible with no incident. Since Mugen was running at full speed, if anything tried to attack him from behind, they would have to match his speed. (7)

[Kaku]

As Mugen ran trough the valley, all his best efforts to overcome the stench failed, as halfway through, a decapitated arm bone grabbed onto his leg holding him from running, before a host of other bones joined in the effort to stop him, holding him back with all that was within them, and unusually, they were incredibly strong, managing to deter Mugen from sprinting. Then, from in front of him, an abomination of misplaced bones and joints forming a humanoid shape approached him, picking up a rib of a dead goat to use as a weapon charged towards him, with the clear intent of attacking.

All the while, Mugen's pursuer followed him, cackling as he ran above him, silently mocking the ninja for making the foolish decision of running through the valley instead of above it. As he ran, he held a single handseal, something that was quite peculiar for someone who was 'just running'.

[CDF]

Mugen cursed as hands came out of nowhere and grabbed onto him, at the same time some strange creature emerged from the ground ahead of him and charged forward with a weapon. Quickly, Mugen performed some hand seals and caled out.
"Doton • Ishi Toku [Earth Element • Stone Shelter]" 3 large boulders emerged, despite the numerous things on the ground, and created a shelter around Mugen, protecting him on all sides in case more strange creatures appeared. Without hesitation, Mugen whipped out his staff and slammed it against every hand that was holding him with full strength. If they didn't just let go from the pain, the bones would be damaged so badly that slipping out of their grasp would be easy.

Once he was released, before he could be grabbed again, mugen performed a few hand seals before slamming his hand into the ground. "Doton • Moguragakure no Jutsu [Earth Element • Mole Hiding Technique"

Mugen sank into the ground, away from danger and began to travel forward while underground. He had no interest in fighting the monster from above, just completing his mission. Not only was he traveling out of reach of the monster, he also bought some time since the monster would probably think he was still in the rock shelter.

SpoilerShow

*Doton • Ishi Toku [Earth Element • Stone Shelter]
B-Rank Ninjutsu
By using their mastery of Doton, the user of this jutsu can cause a 3 sided shelter of stone to envelope his allies. This can be used to protect up to 4 people at one time. This technique is mostly used when the entire team is under heavy fire from projectiles.

*Doton • Moguragakure no Jutsu [Earth Element • Mole Hiding Technique
C-Rank Ninjutsu
Doton • Moguragakure no Jutsu is a Ninjutsu technique utilizing the Earth Element. This technique allows the ninja to burrow into the ground and hide out of sight. This allows them to avoid attack or travel underground. Tobi used this jutsu to place Deidara's C2 Doragon spheres underground.