[Mission]Riverland Empire

[Cylan]

RequestShow

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The journey to track down the thugs that had the information they would need led Zai and Sina to a town along the edge of one of the country's numerous rivers. For a country that was known far and wide as an impoverished land, the town seemed wealthy from a passing glance, if small. There were a handful of houses and a boardwalk leading out onto the water. Through boating records, it was found that a boat belonging to the thugs should have been on the pier. Instead, the pair would just be greeted by a bunch of fishermen that didn't have the slightest idea of what they were talking about. Even if Zai used some of his famous charm on them, they wouldn't know much of anything.

They would, however, point them in the direction of the local riverside bar. Inside was a collection of colorful characters merrily squandering their wealth away at a number of gambling tables. Some of the men drowned themselves in copious amounts of alcohol in spite of their losses, others had women draped on their arms as they pushed their luck more and more. There were some thugs sitting nearby. Whether they were keeping things civil or just enjoying themselves was hard to say. Despite their weapons being out in the open, many of them were smiling and enjoying the atmosphere. It was a fine evening, the perfect temperature, neither too hot nor too cold. It felt like something was ending happily.

For the two agents of Zenchou though, things were just getting started. The ball was in their court, whether Zai wanted to do what Zai did best or Sina wanted to do her thing.

[CDF]

Pain did it sometimes. The feeling of his nails digging into his skin was sometimes just enough to anchor him and his sometimes uncontrollable anger and urges. Like this immense urge to punch the innocent and clueless fishermen at the pier. They weren't at fault for anything, but their lack of knowledge and their being at the wrong place at the wrong time really, in Zai's opinion, warranted a punch to the face.

With a sigh, he resisted and walked towards the bar, expecting Sina to be in tow.

"There isn't even a boat in the pier, so they're either not here, or they're here without a boat. Which would probably mean only some of them are here, either way, this is annoying and now we have to do boring investigative work." With another angsty sigh, like a child that was deprived of candy, Zai walked in to the bar.

He sat down at the bar, ordered a drink and looked around the bar for any clues.

[Lake]

Sina just followed silently. She wasn't sure what to say and what to do. She was just very uncomfortable with the man and she didn't hide it. It wasn't the best to go on mission with someone she was uncomfortable with but did she even have a choice? A sigh nearly escaped but she kept it in. The area was fairly pretty but she didn't care about that. Her head hurt.

Then Zai just complained in the most childish way and that- Sina stopped herself and took a deep breath. Now that was much better. She wasn't going to get angry at him. She wasn't going to get angry at the bastard. She wasn't going to get angry at the insect infested man man. She wasn't going to get angry at him.

A deep sigh escaped her and she pulled the cloak tighter around herself as she noticed the weapons in the open. The katana's weight felt almost relaxing and finally she was able to calm down to an acceptable level. She kept the hood on as Zai sat and ordered a drink. She just asked for water. Then in her most feminine tone, it wasn't too hard to mimic a worried fragile girl, she asked the bartender if there were any mafias and other thugs about as she was worried. She didn't say what she was worried about but tried to hint it through the slightly trembling voice.

She probably just ended up sounding slightly upset and sickly but that was just fine too.

[Cylan]

The people in the bar paid little mind to the two that entered. One or two of the thugs eyed them to size them up but they did little beyond that. There was a lot of money at stake on the game being played and they wanted to see who would emerge the victor.

Tending the bar was a man that aged exceedingly well. A well groomed mustache peppered by gray drooped from a wizened face. "That'll be cash up front." He said to them both. "Don't know why you're buyin' water though, Ma'am. All due respect. If you wanted some, you could get a bucket and go outside." He poured it all the same after taking their money.

Zai would probably notice how all the men were talking about being invited to some riverboat shindig for winning the competition. There were apparently some well connected people on the boat. Unfortunately for him, the people were not too forthcoming with the location of the boat since most of them already knew where it was cruising. As for Sina's question, the bartender looked at her and whispered in a low voice. "Don't ask that when THOSE people are around." He nodded to the table. "They don't like outsiders discussing their...business."

[CDF]

Zai listened closely to both the bartender and the occupants of the bar. His immediate desire was to jump in and cripple them all before proceeding to politely request the information he wanted. He was with Sina today, however, and she wasn't quite yet strong enough that he was comfortable being as reckless as he usually was. So instead, he used his brain for once. He took another drink and stood slowly while muttering to Sina. "Be ready for this to go south."

A handful of his bugs crawled their way up to the ceiling as Zai walked towards the table, smiling. "Mind if I join? I don't know what game this is, but it looks fun and I have money" He did, in fact, know the game and he did, in fact, have money. Nonchalantly, he tossed a wallet loaded with cash (which he had obtained from a dearly departed mafioso).

If the table allowed him in, the bugs that were now on the ceiling, surrounding the table, would be watching everybody's move as Zai played. No doubt leading to his victory in no time.

jutsuShow

Jutsu
~(Destruction Bug Sight)
D-Ranked Ninjutsu
The Aburame member forsakes their own field of vision and takes on that of their Kikaichū. This ability relies on the users control, which determines how many insects can be utilized in the technique and how clear the vision is. When large groups of bugs are controlled at once, it distorts the vision considerably. This jutsu lasts up to three posts before having to be redone.

9+ Control: The user can control ten Kikaichū at a time at a total of twenty feet away. The sight is relative to that of a person with 20/20 vision at all times with this level of control.

[Lake]

Sina didn't bother touching the glass of water. She was a bit thirsty but she didn't trust it anymore. Besides a little thirst wouldn't kill her immediately, so she just ignored it. Meanwhile her 'partner' seemed as if he planned on being the drunk violent individual again. So she was fairly surprised when he gave her a warning and went towards the table with a smile and offer to play the game. She took at glance but ignored him.

Though to be fair, she honestly didn't want to be here and therefore had absolutely no motivation except to get out of this alive. Though to do that, she figured, the mission would have to be successful as otherwise who knew what Zai would do. A small sigh escaped her as she swirled the liquid in the glass. It was clear but she still didn't trust it. So she just mindlessly stared at it with her other hand ready near the katana. She then placed the cup down and observed the bartender.

She had a blank expression slightly twisted by her thoughts. There was a slight tenseness in her limbs as well and another sigh escaped her.

[Cylan]

Well. This guy did have a lot of money. And he played well. It didn't take long at all for him to start winning, knowing exactly when to fold and when it was time to push his luck. The other men at the table found themselves irritated after once more, they were all defeated by this newcomer. Those at the table were dead silent at first, only slight curls of their lips and twitches giving away that they were quickly growing angry. "I don't think I've ever seen you around these parts." One of the men to Zai's right said. "I guess it's not unheard of for someone new to show up and clear the house, but there's no way in hell you're playing fair."

His accusation opened a torrent of them, almost every other person at the table speaking up. A minor uproar was soon breaking out and some of the men were standing up. The thugs took it as their cue to step in before things got out of hand. One of them placed a hand on Zai's shoulder. "I think it's time you left." His voice was deep, commanding despite just being some low-level thug. The men at the table all looked to Zai, wondering if he'd go without a fight. Their hands all reached under the table, just in case.

[CDF]

Damn it.

This wasn't the plan. He originally intended to coax the target information out of the other players, but he ran into a slight problem. They were so fun to steal from! Their anger and their pain, oh NOMNOMNOMNOM, it was so fucking delicious. In the back of his mind, he was a little annoyed at himself. He was still in the process of fully recruiting Sina into the organization and making her feel at home, and he knew that jumping head first into fights wasn't the way to do that.

On the other hand...

so much fun.

The moment the thug's arm touched Zai's shoulder, his body basically moved on its own. His hands snatched at the man's wrist, trying to pull it forward while twisting it, so that the man's elbow was above Zai's shoulder, and pointed downward. With a sharp yank downwards, hopefully breaking the man's arm completely, Zai would then kick back his chair by standing up quickly while simultaneously kicking the table in front of him, causing it to go flipping into the air.

It was a pretty rapid series of events that would basically look like an eruption, and it wasn't even close to over yet.

With a flick of his arm, a grappling kunai was sent hurling at one of the players. If it pierced their chest, the kunai would open up before Zai yanked hard on it, throwing the body towards the other players. At the same time, he grabbed a kunai from his robe with his free hand and threw it at the shoulder of the other thug, whom he didn't want dead quite yet.

This was going to be fun, he didn't even want to use ninjutsu.

[Lake]

Sina didn't want to believe what she saw. The chaos was just so pathetic that she felt sorry for the thugs. Sure maybe there was an outstanding one or two that may over power Zai, but Zai was insane. He was absolutely crazy. She was still relatively sane and therefore felt sorry for the relatively sane thugs. Her hands were now placed on the grip and ready to cut anything that came near her, but she still felt sorry for the relatively sane individuals even if they happened to be thugs.

Or maybe she just didn't want to take Zai's side regardless of what. It was a childish thing and it was due to... reasons. She didn't even want to think about it. It made her head hurt and with the noise, it actually did make her head hurt. She felt the light dull throbbing in her brain and tried her best not to remind herself that Zai was the cause of it all. That Zai had to go berserk and that Zai happened to be beating up relatively innocent people who just made bad lifestyle choices.

She was trying. She really was trying her best.

Her other hand kept the hold on the cup. There was a slight tenseness in her fingers and maybe she looked a little nervous or maybe she didn't. She wasn't sure what she looked like and what kind of expression was showing. Her thoughts were swarmed and she was trying her best to remind herself that she was on the same side as Zai. That Zai was the 'leader'. It was such a disheartening thought and it nearly made her depressed. She wasn't quite so shameless to not admit that she too wasn't very sane though. So perhaps in a way, she was rejecting something of herself. Or, her thoughts piped, she just didn't like Zai. Her fingers tightened its grip around the cup as she struggled and argued with her thoughts.

[Cylan]

These men were kind of fucked.

They were strong. There was no question of that, the ones that were overseeing the game rather than participating anyway. Zai was a different breed of monster. He was both a taijutsu master and insane enough that killing would come easy to him.

The thug who grabbed Zai screamed as the sound of his whole arm breaking resonated throughout the establishment in what few quiet moments there were before Zai overturned the table, sending the dealer flying out a window screaming and flailing. The kunai thrown at one of the other men struck true, his death not quick enough to be painless. The body knocked most of the other men over but a few of them managed to regain their composure, charging him from different sides with a variety of small bladed weapons.

They slashed at him, coming from three different angles. Their logic, if they had been asked while calmer, would probably be that he couldn't possibly dodge attacks from that many angles.

Oh how wrong they were.

Meanwhile, three men that actually knew what they were doing came down to back up the single trained swordsman that didn't have a broken arm. One of them that was armed with a mace rushed Zai and swung downward at the same time the other men were striking with their daggers.

[CDF]

Yesyesyes, simultaneous attacks!

Nothing quite boosted a man's confidence like having support to fight with. It made the blood of young men boil with strength and confidence, as though the presence of their comrades would surely grant them success over any enemy. It made them bold and brash and fearless.

That made the slaughter so much more fun.

Performing a limbo-esque fall, Zai's torso fell backwards as he kicked his lower body upwards, the sound of brandished metal filling the room as his boots revealed their four hidden daggers. The timing was impeccable and the incoming mace would just barely miss its intended target while Zai landed on the top portion of his back, spinning immediately as he did so. Before they would have much of a chance to react, Zai's bladed boots would be aiming straight for the guts of all four of the men that were in his immediate area, aiming to creat cuts shallow enough to allow Zai to keep spinning, but deep enough that the last thing on their minds would be to continue fighting. Needless to say, Zai wasn't much in danger of their attacks much longer.

With that threat eliminated and a grin of pure enjoyment across his face, Zai pushed off of the ground using his arms and landed back on his feet, his blade now in hand waiting eagerly for his other opponents. Normally he would just rush them, but he both wanted to give his partner a chance to join in on the fun if she so desired, but also to demonstrate how little threat these men posed to him.

jutsuShow

Power mill
C-ranked Taijutsu
Prereq: Freeze Frame
Perhaps one of the most used offensive jutsu in the B-fist style. While on at least one limb, or even on their back or their head, the user may twist and turn their body and suddenly begin to spin. This spinning may go as fast as [speed/2] and is an effective way of clearing the user’s immediate area. During this spin, the user juts out their feet a certain amount from their body as desired, generating a method of kicking several things at once. Because of the momentum of the spin that only increases as the user continues, these kicks are 1 strength stat stronger and harder to stop than the average kick, with the drawback of having -1 taijutsu, causing the user to have less control over its accuracy. Most importantly, this jutsu makes it easy for a B-fist style user to immediately jump into another technique using the momentum from the spin once they’re finished.

[Lake]

Sina could almost see the joy leaking from the missing. She figured that it was most likely some blood related color and that it would be like some cliche flame surrounding the figure in some malicious way. Sina waved the thought away but the image lingered. It was dreadfully fitting and she physically shook her head to rid of it.

Thankfully the scent of the blood wasn't very thick in the air. She had a dislike towards the scent and she looked on with clear distaste. Well it wasn't as if she could do anything about it. There was no way she was willing to risk herself saving some unfortunate thugs. Besides they were called thugs and the last time she had checked, 'thug' didn't have such a positive meaning. Sina turned back to her water but made sure to focus her attention in the minir chaos. She wasn't a sensor but it was easy to detect untrained movements. Should someone attack, she ought to be ready to cut it down.

If there was any guilt on the sudden change of her mind, it was miniscule enough that it was as good as being nonexistent. Besides they started the fight first, they ought to have been prepared. Especially since Zai didn't exactly look like the type to be peaceful about things. Sina glanced down at the squirming man. Perhaps she ought to put him out of misery? He is going to die soon anyway. But then that meant cleaning the blade of fat and blood afterwards. He is going to die anyways. Her gaze moved on and went back to Zai.

What a happy child he is. She thought sarcastically and bitterly.

[Cylan]

Some people upstairs looked upon the fight with amusement. From their vantage point immediately above the bar part of the bar, they could see all the action and the expression on the face of Zai's partner. One of the men that had actual combat experience was intelligent enough to stay up there and when he saw Zai spin around blades sticking out of his shoe, he almost had to laugh. Then, he remembered that the kid was wiping the floor with an assortment of aspiring mafiamen and hired muscle that had been doing this for years. Watching his kicks and formulating a plan, he jumped up on to the rail and jumped right as Zai wouldn't see him, falling with a mace in his hand aimed right for Zai's gut. He'd fall too fast for the Aburame to actually contend with.

And even if he contended with him, the other men used what would inevitably be a momentary distraction to rush him. One of them was focused on Zai as their compatriots gasped, their guts spilling on the floor. Many of them still stood, looking at their falling counterpart with a look of horror as they contemplated their inevitable ends. Some asked for mercy. None of them got any. The thug that had his intestines still inside him swept low with his katana, aiming to split Zai's head like a melon and not particularly caring if he cut the other guy. He didn't like that other guy anyway. The second one went around, tossing a throwing knife that was jagged at him. Once again, attacks were coming at him from multiple angles.

The thug with the throwing knifes turned his attention to Sina, because why the hell not? Seeing her gaze at the glass, he took the opportunity to throw one of his knives at her, aiming for her head.

[CDF]

While the man had jumped down during Zai's spin, he would still be in air as Zai prepared to launch himself back , a time where Zai would be looking straight up before jumping. Despite this meaning that he could see the assailant, it didn't change the speed of the incoming attack. He didn't have time to dodge and didn't have time to block.

He did, however, have time to roll just a little bit more. Instead of kicking up and jumping, Zai kept rolling backwards, bringing his feet up into the air and aiming them expertly at the hand of the incoming assailant at the very last second. The shiny that was coming in from his side was not unnoticed either, just not as much of an immediate danger. With the combined force of Zai rolling backwards and the man slamming downwards, if successful, it would likely immediately break his hand/wrist while simultaneously pushing away the mace.

Now for Katana. Being a believe in maintaining momentum and flow, Zai just kept going with it. He was already rolling backwards to the point where with a slight contraction of his torso and his legs, while pushing off the ground with his hands would allow him to literally flip right over the incoming blade just after blocking the mace and simultaneously striking the opponent. SO. FUCKING. AWESOME.

As he flipped, Zai accidentally let out a loud "whoop" of enjoyment, watching with amusement as he watched the blade just barely miss him from below. HE LOVED THIS SO MU- ow.

Landing on his feet with a wince, Zai flung a kunai in the direction of the assailant that had just managed to hurt him. The dagger in Zai's right calf was well nestled and fairly deep, considerably painful. Relatively casually, he pulled out the dagger, now with an even larger smile on his face, and sprinted towards the man with the katana, his own blade now in hand. His goal was to strike downwards with the blade, expecting it to be blocked, before reaching from above and stabbing the man in the head with the dagger that was recently embedded in his leg.

He'd heal the leg soon enough, he was having far too much fun right now.


OOC: Sorry for the shitty post.

[Lake]

It was pure dumb luck. Sina silently cursed as she wiped some of the water away from her hair. She hadn't expected anyone to pay attention to her, Zai was flashy individual after all, but obviously she had been wrong. It was luck that she saw a glint of metal reflected in the glass and it was also luck that her body reacted to it. She had swatted the throwing knife away with the glass of water. The glass had shattered and although it didn't dig into her skin, thanks to her gloves, it did cause small cuts on her fingers. With the water splashed onto her and her fingers bleeding, it wasn't much but it was still blood and Sina winced at it.

She looked up and Zai seemed to be having fun. Too much fun. It made her want to cry and worry about her fate. The emotion didn't last too long as she wove a set of hand seals beneath the cloak. Despite the length, she was quite used tot he cloak, enough for it to not bother her too much during combat. Besides, it hid the hand seals very well. With her other hand, she grabbed the katana, ready to draw it whenever necessary.

There wasn't anyone between her and the throwing knife man. Zai was flashy, so she doubted anyone was really paying attention to her. Even so, she kept her guard up. If she hadn't noticed the glint reflected on the glass, the knife would have gone through her head and into her brain. It wasn't a happy thought and so she focused more on the man. If he threw more knives at her, she would draw the blade and block it before rushing into his range and attempting to cut him down horizontally. If not, she would wait until he was in the striking range and cut in a diagonal slash from the front shoulder to the opposite hip. If it was her day, which it already seemed as if it wasn't but she still hoped a little, the man wouldn't be able to ignore the genjutsu and flinch to cause an opening enough for her to cut the man down with ease.

SpoilerShow

Hiss
D-Ranked Genjutsu
Prerequisite: Sword
After handseals, the user will slice down with the sword. Once the victim sees the blade, s/he will hear an extremely high pitched sound. The sound isn't loud enough to block other sounds, but enough to cause distraction and irritation. This lasts for a single post.

[Cylan]

The fact that these men had lasted more than a few seconds against a taijutsu expert was a testament to their skill. Most of them would probably have their egos crushed to find out that he had bugs all over the place and that they only lasted this long because he was apparently holding them back. Zai's deflection of the incoming mace was successful. The thug howled in pain and grabbed the broken wrist with his good hand. Above him, his counterpart tried to slash the Aburame with a katana and that only ended ended him jumping over them. The jaw of the sword swinging thug dropped slightly as he watched the jump.

And it lifted back into place when he was wounded. The knife-throwing man knew he was marked and expected the retaliation that came from both parties. While he couldn't see Sina's hand seals, he certainly saw and countered the knife coming at him with a knife of his own. The two knives met mid-air and he took the opportunity to book it up the stairs to the relative safety of the vantage point. Temporarily, the amount of combatants was lowered down to two. When Zai went to clash steel with the swordsman, he drew a second, shorter blade of his own.

Blocking the bloodied dagger with his wakizashi, he pushed at Zai with every bit of his strength, locking the steel in place and ready to adjust his posture accordingly if he tried anything. The man with the broken hand managed to fight through the pain. He must have had experience fighting with his off hand because he picked up the mace and swung at Zai's ribcage. Of course, with Zai's mastery of taijutsu, it would be no problem for him to block it with one of his weapons but doing so would leave him open from one angle. But perhaps Sina could help...if the man with the throwing knife didn't try anything...

[CDF]

Zai's large and oddly shaped Kikaichuu blade was sometimes a hinderance. It was too large and bulky, making it oftentimes clumsy and weird. In this situation though, it was a blessing and it was one of the biggest reasons he used it. His eye was on his opponent that he was currently locked against, but he could see and hear the commotion from around him, and it seemed that he was once again being ganged up on, which made it so much more fun when he destroyed his opponents.

Sliding the blade down so that the tip of it was now what was locked against the opponent's blade, as opposed to the middle that was before, Zai started his defensive counter. With the size of the blade, Zai had now brought it down so that it was both pushing against the blade in front of him, and the entire handle was lower down in front of his stomach. He also stepped to the side, rotating just enough, while continuing to push with the blade and assuming that his target would rotate with him accordingly, else risk being slashed. The rotation made it so the incoming mace was now heading towards Zai's stomach instead of his ribs.

Now was time for the fun part.

Zai waited until the very last second, when he could almost feel the mace against the fingers of his hand holding the blade, until he suddenly let go of the blade entirely backed away with a hop. The result would have been that the mace would smash into the handle of the blade, blowing it away and removing any and all resistance that the other swordsman had against him. This would likely result in him either stepping forward and accidentally slashing his comrade, or he would have to stop himself and readjust. Either way, both targets were in a very vulnerable position, which Zai certainly took advantage of.

Using both of his grappling kunai, he threw out his arms and aimed to strike at the shoulder of the swordsman and the shoulder of the mace-weilder. He threw it with just enough force that the kunai would go into the shoulder, but wouldn't come out the other side.

"I don't know if you saw it earlier, but with one little pulse of chakra from me, these kunai burst open. If I were to do that now, not only would both of you receive a fashionably massive hole in your torso, but you'd also lose your arm, feel an incredible amount of pain and surely slip into a slow and painful process of death."

It was time to get what he came for.

[Lake]

Sina often attempted to avoid violence. It wasn't in her nature to actively seek it out. She wasn't sure if it was the stress and if she was simply looking for relief or if she was starting to become like Zai. It was a horrible thought that she crossed out immediately and yet it lingered in its fractured state. Sina frowned and actively went after the man who was throwing knives. For once she felt that if she didn't slice at least a single limb off from that man, she felt that she would regret it.

Besides a glance told her that Zai was doing fine. Zai was always fine as long as there was a violent conflict. Sina pushed away what little bit of guilt she had, she was still mostly a proper human being, the most peaceful and perhaps positive definition whichever it may be, and chased after the knife throwing man. It was rare that she felt such a need for violence and perhaps having Zai behind her helped her get rash. It wasn't good but the words were shoved into a corner to be mulled on later.

And so what did she do? She simply ran after the man instead of supporting Zai. She would take care to dodge around the main fight and climb the stairs after the man. Her sword was still drawn and should he throw anything, she would try to hit it out of the way with the sword, block it with the sword, dodge it, or if neither option seemed possible just simply use her left arm as a guard. The power might lower but as long as the wound wasn't bleeding like hell and the muscle wasn't in halves, she could still wield the sword. Of course, the pain and all that would come to haunt her later but right now she was running on adrenaline. Then once she managed to get herself close enough to cut him, she would slice the typical downward diagonal from right to left then step in and sweep the legs with intention of cutting the man's mobility.

[Cylan]

[[Bear with me, probably not gonna be the best post. Jevi apparently said to go on without her. Chuck, say Zai told her to stay put and wait for orders or something and we'll go from there.]]

Zai would probably be able to see the brawl going on upstairs on the deck above the bar. No doubt he'd see Sina deal with her opponent when he lunged at her. He'd picked his partner well. But he had his own battle to fight. With just a slide of his odd sword, he'd put the sword wielding opponent on the defensive. He couldn't risk a quick strike because it'd get him killed or seriously injured if he let his guard down around this bug wielding monster for a second. Instead, Zai jumped back and his own strength worked against him. This guy was good with Taijutsu but he was obviously no Zai. He tried to stop himself but it was all for naught. The kunai landed in their shoulders and both men screamed in pain.

They tried to fight through the pain. They tried to grab the kunai out of their shoulders. But they couldn't. Moreover, they didn't want to try anything after what Zai said. Both men were intelligent enough to understand that the Aburame had them by the balls. "Alright. What do you want?" One of them asked.

"Don't tell him anything, numbskull. Look at him. The guy decided he was going to kill us five minutes ago when he started this brawl." The man with the mace said. They tried backing away from him, out of arm's reach in case he tried anything. Neither of them knew if he was bluffing or being serious but they knew that they were contending with someone of tremendous skill. The ball was in Zai's court again.

[CDF]

Zai grinned at the response. With a pulse of chakra, the one that told his partner not to talk suddenly had a kunai bursting open within him, causing an immense amount of pain in the process and most likely putting him out of the game for quite a while. Turning to the other one, Zai smiled his most sinister smile and spoke again.

"Maybe he's right, maybe he's not. So either I'm telling the truth and I'll keep you alive, or I'm lying and I'll kill you either way. However, if I'm killing you either way, at least this way you won't die like that." Zai pointed at the body writhing in pain before him.

"So tell me, where are the mafia members. Where are your leaders? Your bosses."

[Cylan]

"Aaaah!" That scream was the only tangible sound made by the mace wielding man as he fell to the floor. He writhed in pain and his partner knew that his only chance was to tell Zai everything that he knew.

"Fine. Look, I'll tell you everything." Zai had lucked out with the order that he killed men. This was one of the thugs that was part of the in crowd. He was to escort the winner of this card game to the mafia's boat anyway. Pondering thought, he realized how he could buy himself some time. "I can get you onto their boat. They're having a party and the winner of this card tournament was to receive the prize from them personally. They're waiting at a pier about two kilometers to the north. You could get to where their boat is anyway on your own if I told you, but if you patch me up, I'll get you right there in the middle of all of them. You can attack them and they won't know what hit them. Just let me walk away after it's done." The man was trying to bargain with Zai.

Hopefully he was intelligent enough to see this for the opportunity it was. Or maybe the man was trying to double cross him. It was up to Zai to decide what to do with this information.

[CDF]

Zai grinned with satisfaction at the man's response. Yes, that would do just fine, although probably not as fine as the man intended. Surely he had some sort of half-assed plan or hope that he'd manage to escape or tip off his comrades in such a way as to protect himself, or perhaps that upon their arrival they'd immediately know something was up and save the poor bastard. Unfortunately, Zai was a tad too bright for that.

Yanking sharply on the kunai, caring not for the pain it caused, Zai started to walk forward slowly. As he did so, bugs began to cover his body and as they did so, bits and pieces of his body slowly disappeared, creating a very gradual and disturbing plotchy disappearance of his body as he grew closer, until he was right in front of the target. While invisible, he leaned over and attempted to push powerfully on the target's wound, surely causing pain in the process.

Upon contact, his medical bugs would flood the wound and start their magic as Zai whispered in a near hiss. "I'm patching you up, and you'll feel good as new. You'll be feeling quite the opposite, however, if I get even the slightest scent that you're up to something. You can never be sure what angle I'll be staring at you from, so I'll always be watching your every single move. One wrong twitch and," As he paused his threat, a kunai shot out from seemingly nowhere (but actually where Zai was) and flew towards the neck of the man who was screaming in agonizing pain beside them. "I'll make sure you won't get such a clean death. Now let's go."

For the remainder of their time, Zai would keep close to his target, walking carefully so as to not create tracks, and if necessary, deliberately walking over the tracks made by his escort. His kunai was always in hand, also hidden by the invisibility jutsu and ready to spring into action.

jutsuShow

~(To Camouflage)
D-Ranked Ninjutsu
Prereq: A-rank Kikaichuu
This jutsu is merely an activation of A-rank Kikaichuu's innate ability, hence its low rank. With a simple command from the aburame host, the bugs are capable of turning on their camouflage abilities. This camouflage allows them to recreate the colors of their surroundings, or any color they desire. This allows them to become effectively invisible, so long as they're moving at a speed less than the user's control, up to a speed of 4. Once the speed is either higher than the user's control, or higher than 4, the bugs make a rather visible blur as they try to change colors quickly enough to stay invisible. This jutsu has no real time limit, as camouflage is just one of the bug's natural capabilities.

Mushi Vessels
C-ranked Ninjutsu
By creating tubes of various sizes with their bodies, Zai’s bugs can essentially form blood vessels if they’re linked up to a source of blood. They function in the same way as regular vessels and can range in size so as to create either veins, arteries or even capillaries and anything inbetween.

[Cylan]

Why'd it have to be today?

The swordsman thought that many times in his last few hours. A dozen plots raced through his head as to how to double cross the man. The pain Zai caused dulled his nerves though. He knew that only a fool would double-cross a shinobi. Unlike many people in River Country, he had the occasional run-ins with them as they traveled back and forth between the great powers that River Country was sandwiched between. Moreover, he knew that he was no match for the man standing before him now that his magic tricks were being used.

The medical tricks used on him made his body feel unnatural but he was indeed fixed up good as new. After retrieving his sword, the man set off towards the pier where his bosses would be waiting. Zai would be in for a treat. No doubt the Missing-nin had seen lots of poverty during his time in the country. The festivities on the riverboat were anything but. As they neared the pier, the lights of the riverboat revealed partygoers in upperclass clothing mingling on the deck. A few guards greeted him and typical grunt banter ensued.

"There wasn't a winner tonight, eh?"
"None that I can see." His reply was more snarky than the other thug could know. "Where are the bosses?" He was trying to throw Zai a bone, earn himself a few more years living the thug life.
"They're inside on the middle deck. Some officials from the capital are here." Maybe Zai would know about how the rich lined each others' pockets with deals so they stayed rich. Or maybe he didn't care about the politics of this country.

Either way, it'd be easy to use the distraction of the guards to sneak onto the docked ship. There were a few guests mingling near the stairs that would take him below deck. They were hunched together too close to sneak past but maybe he could create a distraction.

[CDF]

If Zai cared just a fraction of a fraction of a little more interest in humanity, the sight before him would be absolutely disgusting. But he didn't, so it wasn't, it was just amusing. He even felt a little ashamed to admit he was really going to enjoy bringing about the downfall of this place, this little oasis of corruption.

Quietly, Zai observed it all. Silently, he admired his makeshift partner's assistance and almost felt bad when he slapped an explosive tag on the boat as he carefully got off of it and climbed onto the pier and made his way to the ship, quiet eager to see what kind of officials they had today. Might even help with his plans.

For now, he focused on gingerly weaving his way through the guests. At one point, he'd have no choice but to barge into one as they were blocking his path, so he waited until they went to make a step and lightly hooked at their ankle at the exact right moment, aiming to cause one of the guests to trip and fall barreling into each other, clearing the way for him to go down into the deck unnoticed.

[Cylan]

Zai's impromptu minion was smart enough to see where this was going. After a few more minutes of talking with the guards on the pier, he made an excuse and then left. He'd escaped with his life and he was smart enough to know just how much trouble the Aburame was.

Meanwhile, Zai managed to get past the people around the stairways to the lower deck with no problem. There were people spread out all over this middle deck but none that could probably detect him. There were no shinobi that would magically detect him. Nope, today he was just dealing with poor normal mundane people who just happened to be as corrupt as he was unpredictable.

As Zai sneaked through the ship, a man would eventually walk out in front of him as he turned a corner. He'd have to act fast to avoid walking right into him. After that, maybe he'd be able to go about setting some tags or whatever his plan was deeper into the ship. From a room near his present location, there was a lot of clamor. He might even be able to find a high ranking member of the organization he was attempting to dismantle.

[CDF]

OOC: Lost my muse, posts are going to be super shitty for now.

Dodging the random person walking towards him was easy, just took the swiveling of his foot and a quick step to get him out of the way and back to planting explosive tags strategically around the boat. As he did so, he kept an observant eye out and watched to see who was important and who wasn't.

Of course, it would have been impossible to find out who his actual target was from just this, but he'd be able to pin out who the employees were at least, and that's all he needed for now.

Once he put down the last of his explosive tags, he snuck up behind one of the politicians that was isolated while nobody was looking and while still invisible, slit his neck with a kunai and quickly backed away before any blood could hit him or anybody could bump into him. They were still very much in the open, he had waited for a perfect enough moment that nobody would be able to quickly deduced it must have been done by a shinobi or somebody invisible under the logic that if people were close, they would have seen something, which is what would have happened had he just slit the throat of somebody in the middle of the crowd.

With that done, he kept a safe distance and watched carefully. This crisis was sure to uncover who the leader was. Whoever the boats' goons ran to when the shit hit the fan and whoever dealt with talking to the guests or issuing orders to the goons would be the person(s) he was interested in.

[Cylan]

OOC: It's k I lost my muse the moment I took a mission for you

Zai's plan worked beautifully, as usual. The men ran to an unassuming man in a plain suit near the center of the room. He was an older gentleman and had spent the majority of his time before the neck of his personal friend was slit socializing with people and making valuable contacts. Zai would have to act quickly. The crowd was in an uproar, weapons were drawn, and the thugs were trying to evacuate their leader.

The area was congested with people and there was no clear path. Zai could try threatening them, he could use his superior speed to cleave a path and take him hostage, or he could come up with some outside the box method like he was known for.

[CDF]

If they were in an uproar now...

The boat of his poor companion suddenly exploded as Zai triggered the explosive tag that was on it. Along with the explosive tags he placed at the opposite end of the ship's hull. If succesful, it would surely cause water to start pouring in and a fairly quick descent into the water to occur.

Taking advantage of the chaos and the narrow window that presented itself before the guards managed to collect their senses and return to protecting their leader, Zai appeared behind the man, attempted to hook one arm in front and over his torso so that the kunai in his hand was pointing back into the target's neck, but his arm was in front of him so he couldn't just run forward. He would also hold another kunaii nto the man's spine with his other hand, pressing both kunai hard enough that they would break skin. At the same time, he undid the invisibility jutsu he had performed and let himself be seen to a surely very confused audience.

"I have set explosive all throughout the ship, and now that I have the only person here who matters, I can blow this entire ship to smithereens. That would be exhausting, though, and this guy smells bad so I don't want to have to protect him from the blast. So all of you fuck off and don't make me kill you. Or him." As he said "him" he applied more pressure to the kunai inching its way into the man's neck very slowly, far from the any arteries so it was merely very painful and scary.

"As for you," This time, the kunai in the spine was given more pressure, "I think it's time you learn to be more trusting and share your secrets with me, your new close friend." It wasabit of a lame dialogue, but Zai wasn't feeling like he was at the top of his game today. It would have to do.

[Cylan]

Luckily, as his unlikely ally had booked it on land, he was far away from the explosions when they occurred. He hadn't been called an elite thug for nothing. With his livelihood in shambles, he counted himself lucky to escape with his life.

---

Meanwhile, the mob boss was snared by Zai's trap. The guards were smart enough to know when they were outclassed. His powers confused them. It was almost like magic. The confused partygoers started running for the upper decks. Unfortunately for them, Zai probably wouldn't let them get away. The mob boss tried to look back at Zai even with the kunai sticking in his neck. "Easy, easy there buddy. We can work this out." He had a sly tongue. He had obviously done this kind of thing before.

"Alright. Tell me what you wanna know. I'll tell you anything. Just loosen up a bit, savvy?" His breath smelled like tobacco. Copious amounts of tobacco. It was kind of disgusting. At least he was being complacent.

Unfortunately for Zai, this wouldn't be easy. There were doors leading to the room he was in from all directions and most of them were open. In the chaos, one of the guards had slipped out and was waiting for a chance to snipe Zai off of his boss. For now, he waited, jumping from door to door to find the right angle. The shortbow in his hand was notched with an arrow. The best part? With how thick the crowd was, it'd be hard to spot him dipping out.

[CDF]

Carefully and with clear expertise, Zai backed himself and his target to the corner of the room, allowing nobody to sneak up from behind. He aimed to get the side of the room that had a wall that if destroyed would lead straight outside, as opposed to another room. As he did this, he spoke to his hostage with a calm voice, which he found freaked people out more than him yelling.

"Who is your boss and where do I find him? And before you answer and consider lying..."

Zai took the kunai that was aimed at the man's back, reached over and stabbed him in the left bicep. It would have been a flesh wound if successful and his only chance of death was blood loss after a long period of time. If the man reacted by jerking around too much, Zai would move the kunai on his neck accordingly so that it was still pointed there, but making sure it didn't accidentally slit the man's throat. "Shhh, look at the wound." Zai's medical bugs poured out from his hand and moved towards the wound as he continued speaking. "These little bugs of mine? They have a special ability. They can tell when my hostages are stupid. It's an interesting system really, they latch onto vital parts of your body and can sense disturbances both in your physiology and your chakra network, even though your chakra network's so pitifully weak. They tell me when a target's lying to me, and thus tell me if they're stupid enough to do such a thing. I really don't like stupid people."

With his arm available again, Zai reached in and pulled out another kunai and once again placed it on the man's spine, ready to hear what he had to say. The medical bugs in his wound would have just sat there, as the man wouldn't have had any way of knowing they were spreading or staying still anyways, so Zai doubted he'd be able to see through the bluff.

[Mino]

SpoilerShow

. told you

"He'll kill me. He'll KILL ME!!" The man didn't squirm very much, his wounded biscep made him cringe, and whimper. It sounded like with all that was happening, he could be falling into shock. The man knew very well that death was a real possiblity here- something that all his fast living hadn't prepared him for. The change in behavior was apparent- the man went from cool, collected boss, to fearful, weak pitiful creature- at the very thought of betraying his boss.

Must be some guy, mm?

The guard leveled his bow and yelled out. "Think about what you do. You won't get out of here alive." His voice was cold, unafraid. Perhaps that was strange...

[CDF]

"Oh don't be pathetic. But yes, you're right, I will kill you." Staring up at the underling that yelled at him, Zai reached over with the blade that was against the man's back and used the hand to pull on the kunai that was in his bicep, making it wiggle and surely causing a lot of pain.

"I won't, however, if you answer my fucking question. Who is your boss and where can I find him? And don't forget, I'll know if you lie and I'll kill you if you do." Emphasizing the point, Zai placed the kunai back against the man's spine.

[Mino]

Yelling wasn't a word powerful enough to describe the noise that erupted from the boss's mouth. It was sheer agony, exploding from the mouth of a man whose life was over. Who'd seen death and welcomed her touch. His eyes closed and he started to speak. "You killing me isn't what i'm worried about. HE They think they know him-- thinik it's so obvious but they don't know shit. The beast of Tea Country: he's not just a man he--kkkuuhhh" It was then an arrow struck his face sinking in right between his eyes: in that perfect moment when the rat was going to truly spill what he knew. The guard who'd been training his arrow nodded once, and ducked into the crowd, lost in the commotion.

The mafia boss bled and bled and bled, arrow lodged firmly in his skull. No sign of the guard who shot him- and no more clues to go on. "Beast of Tea Country" among the last words the assassin heard. All a puzzle to be worked out- but perhaps that's how the life of a killer is.

There's always at least one more person who needs to die.

[end]