There's No Honor Among Thieves [C-Ranked Mission]

Age : 29 Posts : 48

Spoiler:

For most of his trip the only imagery Gouzen had available to him was mountains, gray rocks, and gray clouds to match them. Mostly however, it was just mountains. The Forest of Sanctuary is hidden away amongst these mountains, and most of Kumogakure’s inhabitants had never seen it before. Luckily for Gouzen he was given directions before he left on the mission, otherwise he might have never found the road to the forest. The trip from the Village Hidden in the Clouds to the Forest of Sanctuary took much longer than Gouzen had anticipated. He had been walking for the past 2 hours. He wasn’t at all bothered by this, he had previously walked longer distances. The problem was that he had never been to the Forrest of Sanctuary before, and he didn’t eat enough before leaving his home.

” I have to stop focusing on my stomach and focus at the task at hand. I know that there are shinobi who have went days without food, but they still succeeded” It was as if his stomach was playing a joke on Gouzen, because just as he thought this, his stomach began to growl rather loudly. As this happened, Gouzen stopped in his tracks, and he glared down towards his stomach. ”You think you’re funny don’t you? , Gouzen said with a slight chuckle. While looking down towards the ground, he noticed a few leaves below him. This gave Gouzen a bit more motivation. The Kumogakure genin looked up from the ground, and continued onwards towards his destination.

A few minutes after his discovery of the leaves, he saw a few butterflies flutter past his face. Slowly but surely, the atmosphere started to become a lot different. He could actually begin to smell the forest because of how huge it was. After walking for a few more minutes, the path that Gouzen was walking on began to have grass on it. The mountains around him were no longer so close together. All of these where signs that he was getting closer to his destination. Excited, Gouzen picked up his pace. At first he became a fast walk, then a jog, and finally he actually started to run. At this point he could see the edge of the forest in the distance. He stopped just as he reached the forest, still with a proud grin on his face. He looked to his left, and then to his right. The forest was truly magnificent, stretching out to as far his eyes could see. The trees that made up the forest were enormous as well, both in height and circumference. After using so much energy running, Gouzen decided that he could take a quick break. He walked towards the nearest tree, and sat down. With his back against the tree, Gouzen closed his looked into the cloudy skies of the Lightning Country.

I finally made it huh…For a second there I thought I was going to get lost. Well, soon it will be time for the real mission to begin. I just have to go in this forest, find the bad guys, and show them what I’m made of. This is what I’ve been training for. Gouzen said to himself. This was actually be Gouzen’s first mission since graduating from the ninja academy. He had other chances to take far less important D-Ranked missions, however he was much too prideful to take any of them. All of the missions that were previously available to him had been simple errands, and Gouzen never felt the need to waste his precious time with them. Wait a minute…Isn’t there supposed to be somebody here with me!?

Age : 32 Posts : 1178

Doing missions had become a thing he had gotten used to a while ago, something he took pleasure in doing. Aside from one particular mission he would never be able to forget for the rest of his life, he had never really been doing any missions outside of the village, making this one just a bit more special. That said, this was also the first mission that had him become a part of a team again. While he had no idea who these people were, he figured that he'd just have to go on their appearance and skills in battle. Having ingested just a bit too much alcohol the previous evening, Hiruzen had passed out around eight and messed up his sleeping pattern to the point where he woke up early in the morning. Not feeling like waiting for the rest, the young Uchiha felt that he had already proven himself enough to go out and do missions such as these without the need for back-up. Putting on his combat attire, he restocked his weapons and tools before locking the front door behind him and leaving the compound. Leaving a small note with the words "Went ahead to check things out, i'll see you there." pinned to the wall at the place where they were supposed to meet up prior to the mission, the dark haired Chuunin made his way out of the village and into the forest of sanctuary. Luckily for him, it was a place where he had been spending a lot of time when he was still a child.

Never having a whole lot of love in the family since his mother died and his father became an angry drunk, Hiruzen found himself spending the majority of his time with a group of cheeky monkeys that spent most of their time in the natural hot springs along the mountainside. While he had personally never met any bandits during that time, it had allowed him to gain some insight as to what the place looked like and what to expect. Scouting the area for about an hour, he noticed that there were no traps around at all, which was something he would have expected from a group of bandits that was deemed dangerous enough to send an entire team to take care of them. Wondering what the reason for it might have been, he finally noticed the first signs of human activity in the forest when he found the remains of a campfire that had been stomped out quite recently. Hearing the leaves and branches up ahead, his Sharingan instinctively activated itself. Moving through the treeline, his eyes caught onto a man that had been awake for too long. Looking like he could fall asleep at any moment, Hiruzen used this window to move in silently along the side, knocking the man out with one aimed strike at his temple. Pondering on the content of his mission once more, it seemed like one of the five bandits had just been taken out, leaving only four. If the others were as sleep deprived and weak as this guy, the need for a team of shinobi being sent out decreased even further.

Going by what he had seen in terms of preparations, these guys could be taken out by a Genin. The lack of traps meant that they had no real training or knowledge as to how they should keep their camp safe while the sleep deprived scout was enough indication that they did not consider a change of the guard either. Shaking his head in disappointment, the young man took out a rope and bound the man to the nearest tree before binding his arms and legs before he would wake up. Gagging him with a piece of his own clothing, he left the man behind to scout the area. Heading directly to the north, it took him no more than three minutes of careful scouting before he heard men talking up ahead. Using the shadow of the trees as cover, he moved from branch to branch to get a glimpse of the camp they were supposed to clean out. Again, there was nothing that inspired any fear in him. Considering to just step in and beat them all right away, it seemed like the wiser thing to just head back to his captive "friend" and interrogate him once he woke up. Speeding back to where he had bound the bandit, his eyes could see a chakra signature closing in on his location. Keeping his Sharingan active just to be sure, he landed in the tree closest to the new arrival. Noticing that he too was a Kumogakure shinobi, he spoke at a hushed tone, letting the kid know that he was there in case he had not seen him yet.

"You're late, the threat has already been eliminated ten minutes ago. Just kidding, though I have found their encampment no less than two hundred meters north, so i'd keep my voice down.".

Nodding at the tree behind him, he figured that the shinobi would see the bandit that was tied up right behind the Uchiha and know what he was gesturing at. Continuing from that point on, he would make sure that the other guy was completely up to date.

"They won't see us coming, I took down their scout and tied him to that tree over there. If you ask me, they're not the kind of people the village should worry so much about, sending a team of shinobi in to beat them seems like massive overkill, unless there is more to it.".

Speaking at a soft tone, he looked around to see if there was any activity in the near vicinity, though there was nothing coming directly from the north, meaning they were not at risk of being compromised. Dropping down from his branch, the Uchiha pointed into the direction of the bandit camp, just in case the guy had trouble figuring out where the north was without a compass. Waiting for the other guy to come up with a response, he leaned back against the tree he had just dropped out of. Looking over his shoulder to see whether the bandit had woken up yet, it seemed that this was not the case. Still being out cold, Hiruzen scratched himself behind his ear before locking eyes with the Kumogakure shinobi again. For now, he'd just wait and see how things would turn out.

Age : 30 Posts : 311

Having been dubbed the ‘Forest of Sanctuary,’ the strip of forestry was as tranquil and calming as one would expect with such a name. The trees thrummed beneath one’s toes with generations of knowledge; their roots expanding far below the surface in order to pass years of intellect between one another. Even above, the foliage reached so high that its tips seemed to blink in the peeking sunlight, stretching forward to touch the Mother Sun like only dedicated children could. The birds sang quietly, and the fluttering of leaves was the only testament to their gossiping nature as they blew in the breeze from one location to the next.

Yes, the solitude was beautiful, and Tosatsu couldn’t stand a fuckin’ minute of it.

Letting out an annoyed huff as he sauntered through the forest, the chūnin tilted his head backwards and stared morosely at the heavily veiled sky. The treetops ate away at the sunny disposition, leaving shades of darkness scattered across the forest floor as pitiful substitutions of light. As the man walked, his hands shoved heavily into the pockets of his pants, Tosa couldn’t help but lament over the loss of his pristine boots. The perpetual muck that seemed to grace the ground of Kumogakure was far worse in this area of the wood as it could not be dried out by ordinary means, so the panther found himself sidestepping particularly awful puddles of mud like a dancer diverting around an obstacle. It was ridiculous that he had to resort to such maneuvers; especially since the whole reason he was on the ground in the first place was to catch a whiff of his fellow shinobi.

Did they not understand the whole concept of a meeting place? ‘Gone ahead,’ the note had said when Tosa had finally shown up at the meeting site two minutes prior to the allotted time, and yet, not a single soul had shown up afterwards. It was a fuckin’ hassle that he now was late, scuttling around on the forest floor like a pitiful dog looking for its master. Did his fellow teammates not realize that the forest was fuckin’ massive and although they were given vague coordinates from the pansy thief, there was still a lot of ground to cover? Not to mention that Tosa was not a sensory ninja by any means, so to find them would probably be similar to searching for a needle in a proverbial haystack?

People were just too fuckin’ stupid, he mused, eying his surroundings with faux disinterest, as he scanned ahead clinically. There were too many people that wanted to be the hero rather than the winner, and this was simply another display of that. He was with a genin and another chūnin, the panther recalled, and it appeared that the genin was an inexperienced idiot while his fellow ranked shinobi was merely callous and a show off. Now, it didn’t really matter to Tosatsu if they got their asses killed, because frankly, if people were going to act like this, they weren’t valuable to him, but it certainly would create more paperwork for himself. Hopefully by the time he finally found those fuck-ups, they would have at least achieved something.

Taking a slim hand from his pocket, Tosa carded his fingers through his hair. What a fuckin’ useless mission. Mayhap, after this shit was done with, he could go back home and find a nice little bosom to curl up in. Or, he thought with a predatory grin, if he was lucky, one of these thieves would be cute. Girls always dug the bad boy, so maybe a hot little number with a naughty side would be the exact same. That would certainly make up for this shitty mission that he was overqualified for, and the two imbeciles he seemed to be paired up with. Hopefully these two go lucky soldiers could be convinced to do all the work, and he could just stand back on the sidelines and daydream.

A small chakra signature momentarily flared to his right, and Tosatsu let out an annoyed growl. So that’s where one of his little compatriots was. From what he could sense with his minimal experience in sensory, he assumed it was probably the genin due to their lack of control on their chakra. Taking to the trees in order to avoid a possible confrontation, as he assumed that such a sudden influx didn’t happen for any apparent reason, the chūnin stalked through the shadows of the branches, crouching like his namesake as he snuck up on his target. He didn’t bother drawing a weapon at this point, but he kept himself hidden from view, his form approaching slowly from the south. Noting the small span of open forestry before him, Tosatsu wanted to smack his head off the trunk he was currently squatted next to when he saw the form of a small, ugly creature, and a taller, less ugly, but still eye-watering form sitting and standing respectively in the open. Seriously? Who sits down on the job?

Fuckin’ incompetent.

Stalking forward slowly again, the chūnin took his time allowing his presence to be known. From the gesturing he could see, there seemed to be a tied up captive not even 300 yards from his location, which he could only assume was one of their targets – if he were to continue to believe that these two shinobi with his teammates. Aside from that additional presence, he could not note anyone else; their surroundings silent in their assent with his assessment. The two also seemed to be in a heated, one-sided conversation that at this distance, Tosatsu could not be privy of. It was obvious he was going to have to get closer to them, and with a disheartened, inward sigh, the white-haired man relieved his back of his hunch and stepped casually out of the tree before plummeting towards the earth.

The last thing he wanted was to be close to these fuckin’ idiots that forced him to be the last to arrive at their destination, but pasting an overly friendly smile upon his face, Tosatsu landed gracefully upon the forest floor, barely making a sound as he predatorily made his way towards his teammates.

“Why hello,” he said softly, his eyes half-lidded as he closed in, “I’m so happy to see that we all got here without gettin’ lost. And it even seems that we were able to bring a plus one to this party as well!”

Gesturing towards the unconscious man, he leaned in closely between the two men, completely disregarding their personal space, “It’s a pity I didn’t know. I guess one of you will just have to be my date.”

Winking at the little genin, he licked his lips suggestively before continuing, “I’ll even let you tie me up, and punish me.”

Age : 29 Posts : 48

”This is really my first mission. I’ll probably be a chunin in no time as long as I can prove to everyone how great I really am.”

Gouzen was still sitting down at the same tree he was moments ago. As he usually did when alone, he began to daydream about his future. Gouzen had decided that he would wait few minutes to see if his partner was late, and then he would continue onwards into the forest. He didn’t know exactly who his partner was, or what they looked like. But not many people come through the Forest of Sanctuary, and thus Gouzen would assume that the first person he saw with a Kumogakure forehead protector would be his teammate.

Just as Gouzen was about to get up, he heard someone speaking to him. The genin’s eyes quickly shifted into the trees above him, looking for the origin of the voice. Up in the trees above Gouzen, a man was standing. Just by looking at the man’s flak jacket, and headband, Gouzen knew that he was his partner. Gouzen listened attentively as the man continued to talk to him.

"You're late, the threat has already been eliminated ten minutes ago. Just kidding, though I have found their encampment no less than two hundred meters north, so i'd keep my voice down."

Gouzen was disappointed at the fact that he was late, however at this point it couldn’t be helped. As his teammate spoke, Gouzen noticed something very peculiar about him. He had a dojutsu, called the Sharingan. Gouzen had never actually seen a Sharingan or an Uchiha in person before and he wanted to know more about their eyes. However, Gouzen chose to hold all of his questions for the Uchiha until the end of the mission. After telling Gouzen of the bandit’s encampment, the Uchiha nodded at a tree behind him. Gouzen eyes shot towards that direction to see what he was hinting at. To his surprise, there was a man tied up against a tree. The man was obviously out cold, and Gouzen guessed that it was one of the bandits. The fact that the young genin didn’t notice him before was quite astonishing. Gouzen then looked right back at his teammate, as the man spoke once again.

"They won't see us coming, I took down their scout and tied him to that tree over there. If you ask me, they're not the kind of people the village should worry so much about, sending a team of shinobi in to beat them seems like massive overkill, unless there is more to it."

Just as he had finished saying this, the Uchiha dropped down from the tree branch he was standing on. Gouzen’s eyes followed him the whole way down. His partner pointed into the direction of the bandit encampment. As this happened Gouzen, nodded as to say that he understood. His body still stood erect, waiting to hear if the man had anything else to say. When the man before him began to scratch behind his ear, Gouzen felt that it was his turn to speak. Just as he was about to get up and begin to speak, he heard another voice.

“Why hello, “I’m so happy to see that we all got here without gettin’ lost. And it even seems that we were able to bring a plus one to this party as well!”

Gouzen’s turned his attention towards the new voice. The strange new man, gestured towards the captured bandit, and then he suddenly leaned right in between Gouzen and the Uchiha. The young genin reeled back a bit, so that they’re bodies wouldn’t touch. With an eyebrow raised, Gouzen continued to watch the white haired man.
”There’s something seriously wrong with this nutcase. Why is he getting so close to us? What is he planning? Gouzen pondered.

“It’s a pity I didn’t know. I guess one of you will just have to be my date. I’ll even let you tie me up, and punish me.” The white haired man continued. As said this he winked at Gouzen and licked his lips. This made for an extremely uncomfortable situation that seemed mostly unnecessary. Was he trying to scare Gouzen, or was he just that much of a creep? The way that the new guy had acted had bothered Gouzen more than just a little bit. Not wanting to allow the strange chunin to do anything else that would make him uncomfortable, Gouzen shot up from his sitting position and hopped back a few feet. Now that he had regained his personal space, the genin looked back and forth between his two teammates. According to the mission description that he read earlier, they were both chunin. Despite knowing their ranks, Gouzen could not remember if had seen either of their names. At the time he was more worried about reading the objective of the mission.

”Well you two sure know how to introduce yourselves huh? “ Gouzen said in a sarcastic tone. ”Anyways, I’m Soeki, Gouzen. I’m pretty sure you two already guessed that I’m the genin of the team. That being said, I would prefer to be treated as an equal despite my rank. I expect us to all act as professionally as possible while we complete the task at hand. “ Gouzen paused for a bit, and stared right at the white haired man, making sure to make eye contact.

Though this may be my first mission, that doesn’t give you permission to wink or lick your lips at me. And no, I don’t want to go on a date with you either. I bet you wouldn’t have guessed but I prefer women over men. ” Gouzen said these last few sentences in a very serious tone. He gazed at the white haired man the whole time. Though it might have come across like it, Gouzen was not trying to intimidate his teammate at all. He just wanted the white haired man to know that he was taking the mission very seriously, despite the fact that it wouldn’t be too hard to complete.

After allowing his point to get across, Gouzen’s eyes shifted from the white haired mans, onto the captive tied against a tree. Now that we’re all on the same page, I think it would be best if you two introduced yourselves as well. After that we can figure out what to do next.”

Age : 32 Posts : 1178

With yet another member of the team arriving at the scene, it seemed that they would finally be able to get going. Even though he had not really been waiting for them for long, he had gotten rather bored with doing nothing after tying the bandit up to a tree. Where the kid seemed a bit too serious, the other guy seemed like he could make things a bit more interesting. From the moment he started talking, Hiruzen could tell that he was aiming to pick on the Genin with what could only be explained as sexual harassment. While doubting it was funny for the Genin, it sure was funny to him, being the kind of guy that could enjoy a joke at the expense of others. When the Genin backed himself up and started talking about how he wanted to be treated as an equal, even though his rank was below that of Hiruzen, he could not help but smirk while covering his face with his hand. The two other shinobi that made up this team seemed like they were exact opposites of each other, making this mission rather interesting. Hiruzen had already established that there was no need for three people to take on this mission when he scouted ahead and took a look at their intended targets. Listening to the Genin as he was rambling on and on about how things were going to go, Hiruzen's own pride came into play. As a proud member of the Uchiha clan and a Chuunin of Kumogakure, he had no intention of being told what to do by a Genin, even if he was right. Shrugging his throat to pull the attention back to himself, Hiruzen started talking.

"While I do think you're right about most things, you have to understand that you're a Genin, and as a Genin, you should get used to being the underdog when paired with those of a higher rank. As for the professional part, you're right about that, this is still a mission after all, so if we could all act our age and get the job done, that would be much appreciated, okay sweet cheeks?".

Looking at the Genin and the Chuunin while he made sure that what he said had passed through their thick skulls, most of what he just said was aimed at Gouzen, though he felt like the other guy could learn something from it as well. It went without saying that the last part was not aimed at the Genin, but at the Chuunin that managed to put Gouzen in defense mode just by making a few jokes.

"My name is Hiruzen, son of Seto and Naori Uchiha. With the introductions out of the way, I think it would be wise to take care of the more important details first. I took the liberty of scouting ahead and taking this man into custody. With him tied up here, the camp has no scout and no way of knowing that someone is coming for them. Seeing as we have no real leader, I will be taking care of that job myself so the two of you won't need to take orders from your respective "Soul-mate".".

Mocking the two and the fact that the other candidate for squad leader had pretty much been harassing the Genin to the point where he had taken on a rather defensive stance, it seemed like a good idea for him to just take matters into his own hands so they would not have any more reason to pick on one another.

"The camp is roughly two hundred meters to the north, just on the other side of a hill. The place is surrounded by trees, most likely as a means of hiding themselves. They will not get a lot of cover from it, seeing as we will use that to our advantage. If we use the high trees in order to swoop down on them like an eagle on a rat, we will be able to take them down before they will know what hit them. The four of them that are left seemed to be deprived of sleep, just like this guy over here, so catching them off-guard should be a piece of cake. Any questions?".

Age : 30 Posts : 311

A malicious smirk gathered itself upon Tosatsu’s lips as the young genin scooted away from him like a bat out of hell. The fact that the little slip of a kid was unnerved by him was one of the sweetest poisons the panther could taste and he couldn’t help the predatory glint that lit his eyes. They were ravenous as they stared directly at the boy, watching as he attempted to appear intimidating and equal by making direct eye contact with the chūnin. He relished in this challenge, and Tosatsu continued to stare back, the lavender of his orbs nearly overtaken by the inky blackness of his pupils. He would not back down from this kid; his spine far stronger than an inexperienced genin with a leadership complex. The moment that he thought he could head into the forest without his team, was the moment Tosa noted his lack of value. Anyone who could not follow orders or even provide the fuckin’ courtesy to at least leave a letter was not useful to the chūnin, and thus, this twat wasn’t going to be given an inch of breathing room. Tosatsu was not a forgiving man, and this shitty attitude simply would not do.

As the genin spoke of his sexual preferences and turned him down outwardly, Tosatsu relaxed from his predatory crouch to bat away his words like they were simply annoying insects, “Ma, genin-chan, you don’t know what you want. But I could teach you.”

Giggling rather girlishly, Tosatsu sent one more lascivious wink at him, before deciding to direct his attention back to his fellow chūnin. Already, it seemed that the panther’s original assessment that this guy was a self-righteous fucker was correct. The man’s narcissism and obvious overconfidence over his family was enough to make the disowned man laugh; a family did not make a man, but the man did and undid himself. Anyone who found pride in a simple name and lineage did not understand the complexities of life that went beyond being borne into the right family, at the right time, with absolutely nothing to do with it all. The chūnin despised people like him that felt entitled and special over circumstances that went beyond their control. True merit came from one’s actions, and although it was evident that this teenager had some potential, it was truly squashed under the hot air that was escaping from his ears.

Inwardly sighing at being stuck with a set of brats, the eldest man cracked his neck before settling his hands back into his pockets and slouching in a rather unintimidating manner. If there was one thing the chūnin had learned through various encounters with strangers in his life, it was to appear far more incapable than one actually was. The easiest way to kill an opponent, after all, was when they thought one couldn’t do it and eventually found themselves stuck like a pig when their back was turned. Thus, listening keenly but with the appearance of distraction, Tosatsu found himself judging what each character was saying.

Narcissistic-san seemed to nominate himself for the captain position under the guise of objectivity between lovers. It was rather sly of him to utilize Tosatsu’s own jokes against him, but it was not unexpected. The panther could normally gauge the sort of person he was working with and the fact that this pompous piece of shit thought that he was better leadership material than a seasoned veteran really didn’t seem that farfetched or out of character for this kid. Tosatsu didn’t care enough to argue, especially considering that these two brats were so gung-ho for this expedition that they didn’t follow procedure, so he wasn’t about to put up a big fuss at being delegated to a lesser job. In the grand scheme of things, as long as the mission was a success and he got paid, he didn’t really fuckin’ care what went down. If, by chance, the two of them fucked up in some way or another, it’d obviously make the situation better and he wouldn’t complain, but he highly doubted something of that sort would actually happen.

More’s the pity he had such crap luck.

As Showoff-san continued to speak and Pretty-Boy-chan listened, Tosatsu ideally wondered what he was having for dinner. Beef would be nice at this point, but mayhap pigs' feet instead…

Eventually, when Hiruzen finished his little assessment, the panther couldn’t help but yawn and stretch. When he was finished and feeling quite limber, he idly stated a loud, “Would you not suppose that they had a scout so that the other four could sleep, thus forming an alert rotation like anyone with common sense would do? It would rather ruin the whole point of making a singular unit vulnerable otherwise, unless I am to believe you think they’re that stupid. Perhaps you simply caught this poor fellow at the wrong time and at any moment, his relief is going to show up at his station and realize he’s missing. Whew! Hopefully that’s not the case, or we’re going to look rather stupid ourselves, don’t you think?”

Laughing quietly at his veiled insults like he was speaking good naturedly about the potential for rain, Tosatsu inconspicuously pulled apart the two snaps on his collar and opened it wide to reveal his bare chest and tattoos.

“So, Capt’n, still stickin’ by your previous prognosis?”

Age : 29 Posts : 48

As the white haired chunin continued to wink and tease at Gouzen, the young genin decided that it would be best to just ignore him. Someone who took everything as a joke didn’t deserve the satisfaction of a rebuttal. Gouzen’s attention than shifted over to the Uchiha who had begun to speak. Though the Uchiha agreed with Gouzen for the most part, he actually had the nerve to call him an underdog. This statement actually caused Gouzen to raise an eyebrow. The young genin had never really been the underdog in any situation. He passed through the academy with flying colors. There was never a doubt in any of the teacher’s minds that he would graduate. But of course, most shinobi didn’t pay attention to the ninja academy, unless they worked as teachers there of course. Gouzen would have to once again prove his worth. No matter how talented or smart he might feel, everybody around him would constantly at him like an average genin. Just thinking about all of this motivated Gouzen to become stronger, not that he needed any more motivation than he already had.

After speaking about professionalism, the Uchiha revealed to the team that his name was Hiruzen. He also declared himself leader, which is something that Gouzen agreed with. The young genin already didn’t like the white haired man very much, and having to take orders from would only add fuel to the fire. Hiruzen on the other hand seemed to be a no nonsense type of person, similar to Gouzen. After taking the leadership role, Hiruzen began to give directions of what the team would do next. As he explained it, everything seemed like it would be way too easy. The group of bandits happened just happened to be sleep deprived, and their scout was captured a little too easily. However, Gouzen decided that he would take a backseat for now. Speaking his opinion at this point might make it seem like he was trying to take lead of the team. Gouzen was still just a genin, and didn’t feel like that was responsibility, so he just shut his mouth and nodded his head.

Right on cue, the other chunin began to speak. He too doubted that the bandits were as idiotic as Hiruzen thought them to be. Though the white haired weirdo’s assumptions did make a lot of sense, the way he spoke still irked Gouzen. The man was speaking in such a sarcastic tone, it was as if he was completely ignoring what Hiruzen and Gouzen said about professionalism. Regardless of this fact, the young genin agreed with the strange man, these bandits must have known someone would be coming after them. The only reason that they were being chased after was because one of their crewmates ratted them out. A criminal who runs from their crew doesn’t simply disappear and do nothing, they try to gain their freedom. These bandit’s probably know that, just like anyone else with common sense would. Now Gouzen had an opportunity to speak his opinion, as a supporting voice rather than the leader.

”Hiruzen, I think that our friend here might be right. Even if they bandits don’t know that their scout is gone, sooner or later they will go out to check on him. Waiting here any longer will not benefit us at all. If they have no knowledge of their partner being gone, then they’re probably still at their encampment. But if they do know he’s gone, then they’re likely going to try to run rather than wait for us to strike. Going on a wild goose chase in a forest this large would take forever, especially if they decide to split up. Let us hope that they’re still sound asleep…So let’s get going shall we? Taking the high ground should still be preferred, regardless of the situation.”

After saying his final words, Gouzen looked up to a tree to the left of him. He sprinted towards the huge tree, eventually placing his foot on the trunk of the tree. Focusing his chakra to the soles of his feet, he began to run up the tree. After running for about 4 seconds, he hopped off of the tree trunk, and onto a large branch. Standing on the tree branch, Gouzen faced north. He was the first to get up into the trees, so he awaited eagerly for the two chunin to get up there as well. Now that the talking was over, the mission could begin.

Age : 32 Posts : 1178

"While I appreciate your input, I have already found out about that by myself. When I went ahead, I spent my time doing something productive. I went to scout ahead, took a look at their base and went back here with the information I just shared with you. It's not like I don't believe that what you're saying has no value, though I was raised to believe what I see with my own eyes, and what I saw is what I just told you. A single Chuunin would have been enough to take care of them, so the three of us going at it is nothing short of overkill. Now, if we could wrap this up, that would be nice. Move.".

It was as he said, it was not like he did not value the things the others said, it was just that he had seen what was going on. He had gone through the trouble of checking whether or not there were any traps in the area, He had taken care of the scout and He had been the one who had done some scouting for the rest of the team that was yet to arrive. If he really had wanted to, he could have finished this pathetic mission by himself, though he came back to see whether or not his team had arrived and to pull them into it as well as he could. Because of that, the tone he was getting from the two was not exactly putting him into a particularly good mood. Had he known that this was the attitude he would be getting, he would have taken care of the mission by himself so he would get the pleasure of not meeting these people. Given the way in which they spoke, he could tell that they did not appreciate what he had been doing, nor did they really appreciate him taking the lead on this. It was a tactical call, seeing as he knew about the terrain, scouted the area and knew where the camp was. Whether they liked it or not, this was happening and there was nothing they could do to stop it. Once he said the word, Gouzen was the first to dash up into the treeline, showing the he was at least capable of listening and wanted to get this mission done just as much as Hiruzen did. Wasting no time, he went up after him, leaving the white haired guy behind to choose whether he wanted to stick with Hiruzen's own plan or wanted to play the nuisance factor by pulling a plan of his own out of his ass. Hiruzen did not care about it anymore, for once he met up with Gouzen in the trees, the Chuunin went on ahead to guide the Genin to the place where he had located the bandits.

A few seconds after they went on his way, Hiruzen and Gouzen would have arrived at the encampment. Looking down upon them from the trees, the men below seemed to be far too tired to notice that they were even there, let alone that their scout had not returned yet. As he looked on for any openings, he figured that he might as well just drop in and take them down, though that might leave him open to be attacked by the people he could not have seen, if such people were there to begin with. Coming up with a rather simple plan, Hiruzen formed a set of hand seals before transforming his body into an exact copy of the man he had just taken down. Having heard just enough of his voice to make up what he believed to be a decent sounding copy, he made a gesture at Gouzen and the other guy, in case he had chosen to come with them, telling them to wait for a moment as he started making his way down on the shadow side of the tree. Once he got down, he made it seem like he had just gotten back from a long walk, slowly pacing into the camp and sitting down on a makeshift bench. Looking around at the other men in front of him, all there really was to this camp was a few logs that acted as benches, a campfire and a couple of tents. It seemed that there was a tent for every man present, as well as an additional tent that was still closed at this point. Wondering who might be inside of the last tent, it seemed quite clear that this person was still asleep while the others were making sure that he would not be disturbed. Little did they know that there was already a team of shinobi ready to disturb them quite a bit. Whether or not this guy was the boss of the group or not, Hiruzen believed that it was the wise thing to ask and figure out who this person was. They had already killed someone and were known to take hostages, so if this person was a dangerous criminal or a hostage remained to be seen.

"So, how is he doing. I figured the guy would be up by the time I got back from my round, seems like he was more tired than I thought.".

"Yeah, the boss said he was tired of looking at your ugly mug all night before he went to bed. He's been asleep for about nine hours now. We'd better not be too loud, he tends to hear things, even when he is asleep.".

Receiving the desired effect, Hiruzen now knew that the person in the tent was in fact the person that was in charge of this group of thugs. Now, they could jump in and begin their offensive without having any collateral damage. At this point, he had gotten rather interested in this boss character, believing that he was either overrated or the kind of person that had a shinobi background. To lead a group of ruffians was not that much of an achievement, keeping them on their toes when around you was a lot harder. People like these were not exactly known for their loyalty, so when they got the chance to take over the lead and take more of the wealth, few would resist such an urge. If this guy was really paying attention to his surroundings even when he was sleeping, he might just be the kind of person that would make for an interesting skirmish. Figuring that the others were watching him from above, he formed another seal while standing up straight. Releasing his transformation, his Sharingan locked on the first person in front of him that was watching in shock as the man he believed he knew turned into a Shinobi from the Hidden Cloud. Locking him in an immobilizing Genjutsu, the remaining three went on the offense while Hiruzen prepared to take them all on if he had to. The sooner these guys were taken care of, the sooner he would get to play with their boss. Slipping into a defensive stance, a smirk appearing on his face as the men got closer to him. He was ready for this.

"Ready when you are!".

Techniques:

Age : 29 Posts : 48

The team of two chunins and one genin finished discussing what the next step in their mission would be. Hiruzen, one of the chunins, had already scouted the area and thus he had the most knowledge of the current situation. Though there were some possible variables going forwards, Gouzen decided that it would be best to follow Hiruzen’s orders. Gouzen watched as the self-appointed leader passed by him. Jumping from tree branch to tree branch, he followed Hiruzen. Not bothering to see if the third member of the team was following, Gouzen stayed right behind the Uchiha on the way to the bandits’ encampment. During this time Gouzen had time to think a bit.

”This Hiruzen guy seems to be very confident in himself…Well anyone who’s going to lead should be confidant, otherwise their team might just fail their mission.” Gouzen’s thoughts were soon interrupted when Hiruzen came to a stop and made a sort of gesture. The genin watched his teammate as he used a transformation technique to make himself appear to be the criminal who had been captured. The now disguised Uchiha hopped down from the trees and began to walk. Looking forwards, Gouzen could see the group of tents that Hiruzen was headed towards. It was kind of obvious what the chunin was trying to do, so Gouzen simply sat back until an opening presented itself.

Perching on a tree branch like a bird, the blonde haired genin’s eyes continued to watch as his teammate infiltrated the enemies’ camp. At this point Hiruzen was sitting on a bench, speaking to the other bandits. Gouzen was way too far to hear what they were saying. This didn’t bother him too much, he trusted that someone with as much experience as Hiruzen would know what to say in this situation. POOF. Suddenly Hiruzen ended his transformation jutsu. The mean who were previously comfortably having a conversation now were filled with fear.

”I guess it’s time to join the party!” As he said that Gouzen looked over his shoulder. His white haired teammate was nowhere to be found. The genin rose an eyebrow, wondering where the man could have gone. Instead of worrying about it too much, Gouzen put his attention back on the bandits. He leaped down from the tree that he was previously perched on, landing with a thud. Sprinting past several trees, he soon found himself in the open area that the camp was placed on. Gouzen was coming from the right side of Hiruzen and the two other bandits. Just as he was about to pounce on the two unsuspecting enemies, a fearsome roar came from one of the tents. Gouzen stopped in his tracks, his eyes locking on to the tent that the noise had originated from.

”I knew that one of my men would betray me. Of course there is no honor among thieves.” The voice boomed through the surrounding area. A figure began to come out of the tent, slowly but surely. This however, was no normal man, it was a muscular giant. The shirtless man who came out of the tent stood proudly, carrying a gigantic sword on his back. A black eye patch covered his right eye, and his red hair reached down to his shoulders. ”Well I didn’t think they’d be sending so many people after little ol’ me! Before I kill you brats, I just want you to know who exactly you’re dealing with! My name is Ki-“

”Save your breath for the prison guards!!” Gouzen said, cutting the large man off. The blonde haired shinobi darted towards the giant, and leapt into the air. Flying through the air, Gouzen stuck his right leg in front of him, attempting to kick the red haired bandit. The huge man quickly grabbed his great sword and brought it in front of him to use as a shield of sorts. Gouzen’s foot planted on the wide blade of the sword. The genin then hopped off of it landing about 10 feet away from the bandit leader. Before he could continue his attack, the giant man was already in the air above Gouzen.

”Like I was saying before, my name is Kira! NOW DIE! After bringing his large blade above his head, Kira sent it crashing down directly at Gouzen. The blonde genin responded by preforming a single hand seal. However it all seemed to be too late for Gouzen. The blade chopped straight through his right shoulder and embedding itself into the ground below. Gouzen’s right arm flopped helplessly to the ground. Kira’s face filled with a large grin as he dislodged his great sword from the ground. Despite all of this…There was no blood. The large bandit’s smile soon turned into a frown as orange leaves began to flow out of the genin’s wound. His arm soon turned into leaves, and the rest of his body soon followed suit. Gouzen’s body seemingly disappeared into a shower of autumn leaves.

”I guess I shouldn’t have underestimated you. You are a killer of course!” Gouzen exclaimed. He was now standing next to the campfire. Kira turned to face Gouzen, still frowning. The blonde genin grinned, knowing that his opponent that he was done for. Despite this he didn’t get away unscathed. A small cut could be seen on his right shoulder, however it was nothing too serious. Clenching his fist, he got into a defensive stance, watching to see what Kira’s next move would be.

Age : 32 Posts : 1178

Aside from the man that had been locked in place, the other bandits seemed to have better things to do than fight Hiruzen. Whether they decided to chicken out or were just that interested in watching their boss fight a Genin from the Hidden Cloud, Hiruzen did not really feel like figuring that much out. Instead, he too decided to ease up for a moment in order to carefully assess the situation and watch his current subordinate do some of his own fighting. While it would not take a genius to find out who he was rooting for, the odds were against the Genin, though it seemed like he was enjoying himself quite well. When the man that was supposedly leading this team finally came out of his tent and introduced himself as Kira, Hiruzen wondered whether this man would pose a threat to someone like him or not. Deciding to let time be the judging factor, one of the people that had come with him on this mission, the one called Gouzen, charged into battle first. Aiming to dish out the first hit, his attack was blocked by a large blade. Forced to go on the defensive straight after attacking first, Hiruzen could not help but smirk at this. Swinging his sword in a rather violent manner, there was in fact a pattern to be found in his seemingly random attacks. While the style itself was unknown to Hiruzen, his Sharingan was capable of figuring out his manner of attacks, something that would most certainly work out in his favor if he was to be drawn into the fight himself. When the swordsman became even more hostile, his attack landed, causing a large amount of damage, or that was what it would seem like to the untrained eye. As someone that stood outside of the fight, it was easier for him to look for things that someone who was preoccupied with fighting might not notice in time.

When his body broke down into leaves, it became clear to everyone that was watching the fight that it had been nothing more than a Genjutsu. Believing it to be a personalized Genjutsu of his own creation, Hiruzen was fairly impressed with the Genin and his combat prowess. He showed a lot of potential, though it was very likely that the man he was fighting now was beyond his current level of skill. For now, he would give the Genin his moment to shine while he focused his attention on the fight itself for a brief moment. The bandits that had thus far been watching the fight themselves seemed to get more and more bored, especially once the boy they believed got killed in the fight turned out to be nothing more than an illusion. Hiruzen knew that it would only be a matter of time before the others would start finding ways to break into the fight and make it harder on Gouzen. The man he was fighting right now was more than an even match for him already, having any more people thrown into the already volatile mixture would most likely end up getting him killed faster than he could reach the count of five. Sighing deeply, he looked up at the treetops once to see if the white haired guy that refused to give them his name was still planning on jumping into the fight. As he had expected, the guy was nothing more than a big mouth. Incapable of spotting any chakra signatures within the limited amount of range his Sharingan could reach, he no longer counted on any help from the guy. Walking away from the fight between Gouzen and his new sword wielding friend, he let out a loud whistle, trying to draw the attention of the bandits that had been little more than bystanders up to this point.

"If any of you even thinks about stepping in and ruining the show, you must be very stupid. I won't let anyone, least of all some common thugs like you get past me. That's why I would offer something better. Why don't you all come up and fight me, i'll take you all on, all by myself. I have to warn you though, when I start swinging, I find it hard to restrain myself. Anyone interested?".

Shortly after calling them out, the men seemed unphased by his warnings, listening only to his taunts and most likely not hearing anything from that point on. Coming at him in a rather cheap fashion, they were not nearly as trained as the one they called their leader. It was most likely because of that big difference that the one with the sword was the one leading the untrained lot. Whatever the logic behind their hierarchy was, it really did not matter to the Uchiha, he just wanted to beat these guys and see how the fight would end. Evading the first punch that got thrown at him, his rather limited Taijutsu skills mixed with the use of his Sharingan made it really easy for him to land a low, sweeping kick that made the man lose his footing. While still spinning after his kick, an elbow followed, using the momentum of the spin to hit him in the back of the head and knock him face first into the ground. The next guy that came in did not seem to care about his fallen comrade, walking over him like he was no more than a cheap rug. Sending one wide punch after the other his way, Hiruzen had to dodge a whole flurry of brutish attacks that seemed like they came at him in slow motion. Once he got the gist of his fighting style, the young Uchiha made use of the first opening he saw to land a devastating blow to his temple with his fist. Hiruzen was not a bulging mass of muscle, though he did not need to be strong if he knew where and when to hit. The training he had received in the academy had prepared him for basic hand-to-hand combat while the Sharingan just enhanced his perception to the point where he could take on quite a few fighters.

Preparing for the last man to come at him, it seemed that he had already lost the will to fight after one of his comrades got locked in a binding Genjutsu and the other two took a dive moments after they decided to fight him. Laying down on his stomach and his hands on his back, Hiruzen could not do anything else but accept his surrender and leave him be, at least for now. Picking up and dropping the two men he had just taken out on top of the guy that surrendered, he sat down on top of them to keep the one at the bottom from escaping. After sitting himself down, his full attention went back to the fight between Gouzen and Kira. If the kid did get himself in trouble, he would be needing his help. Until that moment came, he would just remain seated and read as much of the two combatants as possible, that was, until he got bored and invited himself to join in too.

Age : 29 Posts : 48

Gouzen and Kira stood meters from each other, the intensity of this standoff could be felt by anyone. Gouzen however wasn’t merely just standing there waiting for his opponent to make a move, he was devising a plan on how to defeat his opponent. ”Everyone has a weakness…This guy may be as strong as a bull, but his movements don’t seem to be as fast as mine. But whatever I do, I can’t let him get a direct hit on me. That would be the end of it all.” Being unskilled in both ninjutsu and weaponry, Gouzen lacked any type of defense against his opponent’s attacks. Allowing someone with such a large sword to be the aggressor wouldn’t be a very smart idea. So, the blonde genin decided that his best defense would be to attack. But simply running straight towards Kira obviously wouldn’t work either, Gouzen would have to use more than pure aggression to defeat someone as skilled as him.

After about 30 seconds of thinking Gouzen’s thoughts were interrupted by the voice of a brute. ”Come on brat, I know you’re not tired already! Or maybe you’re scared ahahaha!” Kira’s laugh boomed through the surrounding area. However, no sign of fear could be seen on Gouzen’s face. The only thing that was present was a confident smirk. He had figured out his plan.

Reaching behind him, Gouzen grabbed a kunai from his belt pouch. The blonde teenager brought his right arm across him, holding the knife, and then launched it towards Kira. After throwing the kunai, Gouzen chased after it while performing a few handsigns. After completing the handsigns the projectile spontaneously transformed into a flurry of yellow leaves. Using the leaves to hide his movements, Gouzen change the angle of his sprint slightly to the right, In order to get on the flank of his opponent. Meanwhile, Kira was busy dealing with the harmless leaves that were darting towards him. The one eyed man used his large sword to swipe upwards at the yellow leaves. While doing this he actually knocked away the kunai that was hidden within the flying foliage. However, Gouzen expected this the whole time, he was simply trying to distract the man long enough for him to safely get in range.

Gouzen’s sprint came to a halt as soon as he arrived at Kira’s flank. He then jerked his body to the left, so he could face his foe. Kira, whose sword was still high above his head, quickly turned his neck to look at the young genin. His reactions where fast, however this wasn’t anything that Gouzen didn’t know. He had to stay one step ahead of his opponent if wanted to defeat him. Planting his feet to the ground, the blonde genin readied himself to dodge any on coming attacks. Just as Gouzen had predicted, Kira wildly swung his zanbato downwards, attempting to cleave him in half. Gouzen hopped to his right, narrowly dodging any type of damage. After landing a few meters away, the genin from Kumogakure planted his feet on the ground, this time getting ready to counter attack. The thing about weapons that were as large about Kira’s was that no matter how strong someone is it’s nearly impossible to attack in multiple successions. After swinging such a blade one would have to make a slight pause to regroup themselves, and Gouzen had knew that.

”Konoha Dai Senkou!” After yelling these words, Gouzen leapt at Kira, swing his left leg at the man’s head. The man with the eye patch had to think on his feet. Instead of taking a direct hit, he let go of his blade and lifted his arms up in front of his face to protect himself. Doing this would have caused significant damage to a normal man’s arms, but a behemoth such as Kira would be unfazed by this. Gouzen’s kick connected with Kira’s forearms, causing very little damage. However the sheer force of the attack still caused Kira to stumble back a bit, distancing himself from his sword. Gouzen would wasn’t done though, he wasn’t the type of person to let his opponent regroup themselves. Like a lion pouncing on his prey, Gouzen continued his relentless attack, seeking for a kill shot. The blonde shinobi pursued his foe. After quickly preforming a few handsigns chakra flowed through his right hand. Gouzen dashed towards his stumbling foe, and launching himself right towards him. After bringing his right hand behind him, he slammed his lightning infused palm into the face of Kira. A scream of agony filled the air as the face of the criminal began to go numb. The large man fell to his back, with Gouzen’s hand still grasping on to his face.

The blonde genin stood on top of the bandit’s chest, looking down at him. Kira was far from dead however, he was still breathing. Kira seemed to be unconscious however, or maybe he had just given up. Regardless what he was, all Gouzen knew was that he had won. Standing triumphantly, the young genin looked around the area. All of the bandits had fallen. The only two people still able to fight were the two Kumogakure shinobi. Gouzen looked at Hiruzen, who was now sitting on a bench.

”Aye, what do we do next?”

Spoiler:

Age : 32 Posts : 1178

Sighing when the leader of the group finally went down, Hiruzen deactivated his Sharingan. Knocking the first of the bandits that made up the small hill of wasted space, he started taking out wire from his outfit, starting to tie their hands and feet together and making it incredibly hard for any of them to get back up, if they at all managed to slip out of their sleep-like state before the people tasked with taking the apprehended bandits back to the prison facility where they would be questioned about what they had done, why it had happened and who of them was the instigator. All of these things were important pieces of information the people of the administrative department and needed in order to close any ongoing investigations. Figuring that everything would end now that the entire group had been taken care of in one go, he tightened the wires to the point where, if they were to move around, they would cut into their skin and hurt like hell. Tying them all together and pinning the wires into the ground to create a web like formation, he was more than certain that none of these guys would be getting out any time soon. Placing the kunai and wire he would not be using anymore back into the special slots in his belt pouches and flak jacket, he walked over to the Genin that had managed to best the brute. Even though he had been nothing more than a dumb sack of muscular meat, he still had the kind of fighting prowess that could make it hard for a Genin to beat him. Taking a flare out of his pocket, he wasted no time on activating it, letting the disciplinary squad know that the deed had been done.

"Well, i'd say one of us waits here until the prison squad gets here and takes these guys to Rengoku. They will be severely punished for the crimes they have committed against the Lightning country and most likely won't be seeing the light of day ever again once they are taken inside. It's the kind of fate that awaits anyone that would kill the people that fall under the jurisdiction of the Hidden Cloud. In any case, NOT IT!".

Ending his explanation with a sudden statement, the Uchiha suddenly stormed off. He knew that someone would have to wait around and guard the bandits that were already incapacitated to the point where they would never be able to get out without any outside help, a job he did not really want. Figuring the white haired male shinobi would still be in the area somewhere, he would most likely be one of the first to notice it when someone else was to come up and try to cut them loose. That said, the disciplinary team would be on the scene in no more than five minutes to pick up the group of bandits. On his way back to the village, the first thing he did was check up on the scout he had taken down and tied to a tree before they started their invasion of the camp. When he arrived, it seemed that the man was still as much asleep as he was when they left him behind in order to take down the hostile campsite. Making sure that the bindings were still holding, he secured his arms with a new layer of wire after taking off the ropes, just in case. Grinning a bit when he saw that the white haired man was nowhere to be found, he was glad that his initial thoughts on this person were correct, while he was only partially right about the Genin. He had been very capable and managed to take care of himself against a rather brutal opponent without any real help, something that showed that he would someday become a very strong individual. In going with Hiruzen and taking on the entire group with just the two of them, he had already proven himself to be more gutsy than the man that had been assigned to help them, yet did nothing other than make sexual gestures at Gouzen and eventually just disappear.

Some people were not to be trusted, even if they were from the same village as them. At the end of the day, there were those that had their own agenda, some being harmless, others being relatively dangerous if given the chance to run freely. While Hiruzen was not the least bit intimidated by the weird guy, he wondered what his reasons had been for ever coming out to become a part of the mission in the first place when his goal had been to leave when things started picking up. Shaking his head in disappointment, he left the tied up bandit behind him and went on his way back to the village. The young Uchiha still had a lot of things that needed to be done before he could rest up. Once he got him, his grandfather would no doubt end up putting him to work in the garden if he came back so early, believing he had not been challenged enough for one day. He would have been right in assuming that much though, for a mission like this meant nothing to someone with superior battle skills and the Sharingan to back it all up.

[Exit Thread]

Age : 29 Posts : 48

Hearing Hiruzen’s answer didn’t bother Gouzen a bit. The Uchiha was quick to leave, but it obviously wasn’t necessary more than one shinobi to wait for the disciplinary squad. After waving goodbye to his teammate, Gouzen sat walked towards the nearest bench. Once he sat down he put his right elbow on his knee and held his head up with his hand. After getting comfortable the young genin began to do what he did best, thinking about ways to become the greatest shinobi alive. This was part day dreaming and part planning, but at the end of the day he always had the same goal. This one mission was just a stepping stone to Gouzen’s eventual destination.

After daydreaming for about 30 minutes, the disciplinary squad finally showed up. Gouzen got up from his sitting position and waved to the men who came out from the surrounding trees. They quickly tied up all of the shinobi, and pilled them all up in a wagon of sorts. Gouzen wasn’t really paying attention to them at this point, all he could think of was getting home. After letting out a huge yawn, he began to walk back to Kumogakure. It was going to be a long journey, and he wasn’t looking forward to it at all.

[Exit Thread]

Age : 32 Posts : 1178

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