Ripping-off Evil [Team Mission]

Age : 31 Posts : 1495

Spoiler:

These past few months Mana has been working without a stop to think back. The young magician who was now walking through the village, replying to all of the people who greeted her was the best that she ever was. She was working full-time without any breaks for some personal time, no spending time with her family or her magic shows. No wonder people kept asking when will Mana do another magic show, the magician hasn’t done one in several months. Some of her fans started to think that she dropped the act and stopped doing them altogether. And while that wasn’t true the fact that Mana was now much more ninja than she was a magician was obvious. Over the three months that Mana devoted to her ninja work she’s found and brought down monster Honda, had a hand in preserving the old ninja system and crushed a criminal mastermind coordinating all crime in Shukuba town. Was she supposed to feel bad after all the good that she’s done? Does she owe the people of Konoha something or do her good deeds compensate her break in entertaining them? Mana didn’t really know if the two professions that she had were even in conflict, so far they’ve been getting along pretty well.

With all the job Mana did pestering the officials for another mission, it was no surprise that she got it, the description of it however shocked her deeply. These several months Mana was operating in a strange optimistic and heroic mood, she was simply taking up on every challenge without hesitation or much thought of how difficult it would be. Such mood was most likely caused by her victory against Honda preventing many deaths the monster could’ve caused in his rampage. Honda symbolized Mana’s greatest fears – he was the reason the girl slept with a cover over her head or more accurately why she didn’t have that much sleep back then. Bringing that thing down, tearing it’s limbs apart and leaving a helpless shell of what the monster once was symbolized a new page in Mana’s life – her return to the happy and optimistic Mana, the protector of magical balance of life she once was before Ayushi’s fall to madness slapped her into reality. For those several months Mana has been fighting pretty hard to fulfill her duty to the village, still she was the happiest she had ever been, had she had to die in any of the missions she would’ve gladly went out with a bang. And then Mana’s eyes ran through that cursed order that the letters formed words in.

Apparently a lot of reports about unusually strong bandits came flowing to the village, some reports made the authorities think that perhaps the bandits were using the same drug that the spiritual leader turned madman Ayushi designed and was selling in the black market some time back – the pain killer drug, “world without pain” as the madman called it. Mana had the horror of seeing the drug in action first hand – the zombified villagers that Ayushi kidnapped for his experiments were on it, they felt no pain or trouble that they were decomposing and rotting as they walked, caring only about their orders. The monster Honda was on it – he was in fact made out of it. Mana really thought that with her managing to capture the monster alive the village would’ve somehow studied it and came up with a mean to counteract it. While the friends of Mana’s father who were still working as Konoha jounin kept reassuring the girl that the village was studying the beast, something made Mana doubt it, what if they killed it? After everything Mana offered to keep the monster alive, after all the times she almost died…

It was only logical that Mana would’ve been chosen to investigate if the drug was used – having seen it in action so many times she was somewhat of an expert, what the sorceress of Konoha was not expecting, however, was her teammates also being employed. The girl was glad with the opportunity to see her friends again, work alongside with them, after all it has been a long time since she has seen them. It was a little bit after her victory against Honda during the team’s mission in Shukuba town. Still something made Mana wish that she would be alone in this, the way it all started. If Ayushi was actually behind this supplying drugs to the bandits beyond Konoha wall, unlikely as it was, Mana would have wanted to confront him alone. While her last unconquered nemesis was many times surpassing Mana in skill, the girl somehow felt connected to him, like she had to overcome him to become complete, to completely get rid of this strange dark and gritty feeling of reality, to become the same cheerful and goofy magician she once was – truly the best she’s ever been. Still, a lot of things suggested it may not have been Mana’s target that was supplying the drug – it simply didn’t make sense for the man to give out his drugs just to the bandit scum. The drugs falling into their hand by accident was much more likely…

As Mana was contemplating about these things, about the possibility of confronting her fears, she finally arrived at the village gate, where she would wait for her teammates to gather. Having personal feelings with the mission the girl made sure to arrive early, she had much to think about and a lot of feelings to sort out. Mana wanted to feel like she’s about to go on an average usual mission, just like many more before it. Still the dark personal connection that the mission objective had with her kept her from feeling clean, from distancing herself completely from the objective, from dumping the fourteen year old girl behind the ninja that she was and becoming a true kunoichi without the person attached to it. “This won’t be easy with all the emotional confusion… Good thing I have Kiyomi and Meiko now with me. I wonder how they’ve been all this time…” Mana thought, trying to focus on her warm relationship with her friends instead of the dark implications that the mission brought with it's objective.

Posts : 811

Raising her ninjato up towards the light bulb above her, she admired the shine in it's reflection. Moving it ever so slightly to adjust the glare along the blade, checking for any remaining smudges or dirt she may have missed while cleaning. Not quite pleased with the results yet, she placed the weapon back on the table and picked up an old oily rag. Wiping down the blade once more while remaining mindful of her actions. Too many times she had cut herself during cleaning and maintenance of her many weapons. At this point her hands were now callous and covered in countless scars, to the point where she practically had to wear gloves anywhere she went just to avoid the torrent of questions people would throw at her when they saw them. Checking the blade against the light again, she smiled. Now that she was happy with what she saw, she placed the blade back into it's sheath and from there, with the rest of her equipment.

Closing and locking her bedroom door, she began to change into her armour. She had recently received a letter containing orders for a new mission. Apparently the bandit attacks outside the village were getting more intense lately. Normally this wouldn't be too much of a problem, usually the act of simply increasing patrols along the roads would be enough to discourage most of these bandit groups away from the village, in the worst case, perhaps a team of jonin to go and clean up the rabble. However, in this case something was odd about the bandit groups. According to the report, they were becoming almost superhuman in terms of pain resistance, able to fight through even mortal wounds. In addition, it sounded like this was not the first time such a thing had been encountered by the village. Her job, along with her squad, was to confirm what the bandits were using to achieve these feats, then eliminate as many of them as possible along with said substance or whatever it was they were using.

Bandits... The criminal activity in and around the village these past few months had increased exponentially. It seemed no matter how many were cleared out, more would simply take their place. Cutting the head off the hydra only to have two more grow in it's place. And now they had gotten their hands on something dangerous where the standard patrols couldn't handle them anymore. If they were allowed to continue, they'd likely grow bolder and begin full on assaults of the smaller towns where security was weaker. Sure Konoha was safe, being built as a fortress against other nation's attacks, but the smaller settlements like Shukuba were utterly vulnerable.

She knew her father wouldn't like the idea of her going out and fighting more bandits, especially after their last delivery run. She couldn't blame him either. It had been some time since that job, but it still sent chills down her spine at times when she remembered how close to death she had come. Although strangely, since then he had been more open with her, or at least, that's how it felt. Since they got home things kind of just went back to normal, but the tense atmosphere between them had lightened up a bit. Home was starting to finally feel like... well home again.

With her armour now properly fitted to her form, she began clipping on her small arsenal of weapons. As she placed her scrolls into their slots on her back, she took a moment to look out the window. It was another beautiful day, the weather had been very cooperative these past few days, warm with a slight breeze and barely a cloud in the sky. Looking at the expanding blue sky outside, it was hard to believe the strife that was happening just outside the gates. Well, at least for this mission she wouldn't be alone. Kiyomi and Mana had both been assigned to the task of hunting down these bandits, and while having her friends with her did give her comfort, she couldn't help but worry about Kiyomi. It had been quite some time since the incident with the bloody man in the restaurant, but she hadn't seen much of the blonde since. She had been discharged from the hospital with a clean bill of health, but no one could figure out if there would be any lasting repercussions from the fuuinjutsu that had ensnared her.

With the last piece of equipment secured into place, Meiko checked herself quickly in the mirror to ensure everything was properly fitted. Nodding to herself in confirmation, she unlocked her door and made her way downstairs. As she made her way to the front door, she noticed her father sitting in the living room, newspaper in hand. "Hey Dad, I'm heading out now...". She stood silent for a moment as her father simply continued reading his paper. After a few seconds of awkward silence, she sighed to herself and turned to open the door when he lowered the paper. "... Be safe okay? And be sure to be home for dinner". Unable to keep the smile from covering her face, she looked to her father "No promises, on the dinner thing. But I'll come back for sure". With that, she made her way outside and charged down the street in full sprint.

It wasn't long until she reached the outer gates of the village, having to stop as she reached the plaza to catch her breath. Panting and slightly hunched over, she took a quick look over the area and quickly spotted a familiar face. Loitering near the giant doors was Mana in full magician attire as usual. When she finally caught her breath, she took a moment to wipe the sweat from her brow and fix her hair a bit. She didn't want to look like a mess before the job even begun. "Morning Mana, you're early" She called out cheerfully as she made her way over to her dark haired friend.

Age : 32 Posts : 544

The flak jacket of a chuunin still felt weird on her. So did the lack of her once glorious head of hair. After their last mission and the mad man debacle Kiyomi had decided the long hair was a liability. So it had been cut from being waist length to shoulder length. This had shocked her parents and the rest of her family, but hair could grow back to its old length if she left it alone for a few months...Or learned one of the hair based jutsu that was found in the shinobi world. The only other changes from her old appearance was the fact she had light bags under hers eyes from not sleeping so well and the two inch growth spurt that had happened over the last few months.

Kiyomi stood looking in the mirror for the umpteenth since her promotion admiring herself for a moment. She felt that she looked more mature, but she really didn't know if she was. After some rather horrible events Kiyomi didn't feel as light hearted or as forgiving after the incident. Her temper had certainly become more volatile since the attack, but as her parents and older cousins said that just came with the job sometimes. When your life was on the line many didn't have such a nice attitude anymore.

Perhaps that's why the family dog wouldn't stay alone with her anymore. He could sense her anger. He used to stay in her room, but lately he'd walk away from her for some reason, even when she felt calm. Whatever the reason it saddened her. Perhaps this mission outside the village with her friends would make her feel better. Even if they had to deal with some crazy bandtis who didn't feel pain. Perhaps genjutsu would be their kryptonite since they couldn't feel pain that was one way to break genjutsu locked away from them.

That in mind she left home and stealthily made her way to the meeting place. Meiko was going to have a hard time with this mission if the enemy was immune to pain. All her techniques ,at least to Kiyomi's knowledge, where damage inflicting. If this super bandits didn't feel pain then Meiko would likely have to resort to lethal force to survive. They all would. The question with that was would Mana be all right with it. After the first kill against the madman Kiyomi realized that killing would just be another part o the job. Not to say she enjoyed it, but if it came down to their lives Kiyomi decided she'd kill again with no hesitation.

Hopefully it wouldn't come to that. For now it was best to meet the girls once more. Due to Mana being a sensor type she'd likely be able to sense Kiyomi's approach. Meiko on the other hand would likely be caught unaware as Kiyomi appeared from the foliage behind her and and tapped her shoulder and said. "Boo." Provided she didn't get decked by Meiko she'd wave good morning to Mana next.

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Age : 31 Posts : 1495

Mana was still deep in her thoughts when she felt a soft pulsing chakra nearby, was it not for its rather unique red color the girl wouldn’t have been able to tell that it was much different from all the other genin and chuunin wandering around the village gate at this early time of day. The chakra signature felt somewhat warm yet unstable, as if the owner of it was moving intensely for some time, chakra felt very similar when a ninja had physical workout. Mana didn’t really tell a lot of people about her ability to sense chakra, in fact, besides several ambiguous sentences she never told anyone that she had the ability. It was not because that the girl hated it or didn’t want anyone to know about it, she just thought that it was a thing best kept hidden, something she can use when no one expects it. Had Mana been able to sense chakra during the training mission with Kimiko their team may have been able to find their sensei. It wasn’t because the trickster expected the exact same scenario to happen that Mana kept this ability hidden from her friends, teammates, mentors and parents but it was something of a contingency plan if it may have been needed. Something told Mana that she may at some point need to use this skill as a hidden ace.

That was why Mana didn’t really bother trying to reveal her ability to sense the incoming soft red chakra signature by meeting the eyes of its owner or greeting her first. The girl did have a guess that it may have been one of her teammates and soon by hearing a familiar voice the young chuunin managed to confirm it. “Hey, Meiko. Yeah, I left home a bit earlier to compensate the time I’d spend with friendly strangers but it seems that people stopped recognizing me as much after I’ve been in and out of the village for these couple of months…” Mana replied after greeting her friend with a warm smile. “So this signature belongs to Meiko? I should try and remember it…” Mana thought to herself as she didn’t really remember Meiko’s chakra having this unique sense to it. “So how have you been those couple of months?” Mana asked, speaking with her friends seemed to calm down her worries about the origins behind the pain killing drug. Plus the warm nature of the armored genin’s chakra made Mana act a little softer as well. It seemed that the chakra she sensed had some influence in the way that Mana felt and acted.

Several minutes later Mana’s sensory abilities picked another sensation, this one was far different from soft and warm Meiko’s chakra, it felt dark and gritty. From the first glance such chakra couldn’t have belonged to anyone peaceful and nice, even Yoroi’s chakra didn’t have such murderous feeling to it and that man killed a lot of people in his time… Even if Mana was greatly concerned by the signature, for a second even thinking that the village is under attack by an evil madman or a rampaging monster as the color reminded to the two greatly, the size of the chakra betrayed that it wasn’t anyone threatening the village. The chakra seemed like that belonging to a chuunin at best, around the same size and density as Mana’s was. Plus while the chakra was dark in its nature it didn’t have the pulsing evil intent that always came with violent people, at least not yet. This signature was calmer as if it didn’t mean anything evil or the evil intent vibrations were at least kept hidden. Several seconds later the chakra started moving as if it tried to approach the girls from behind, Mana was a little scared by the presence of black chakra mass trying to sneak up on them. At one point she even considered telling Meiko about it but the wish to keep her sensory ability in secret prevailed in the end.

“Kiyomi…?” Mana uttered as the now short haired blonde appeared out of the clustered tree branches and tried to surprise Meiko. “Was that chakra really Kiyomi’s? What kind of evil chakra is that? Why is it so dark?” Mana kept wondering to herself as the warm and optimistic flower girl the magician used to know couldn’t have had such dark chakra. “That seal that hit her must’ve really done something to her… Maybe the bloody figure is still in control? Maybe that’s why her chakra is so dark… No. The ANBU would’ve noticed it.” Mana kept thinking but then she realized that the silence from her side was a little too lengthy and awkward, “Your hair is different…” Mana laughed out as if that was the reason the girl got so surprised by seeing Kiyomi. “Can’t say I don’t like it though, it looks pretty good on you.” Mana finished her greeting with the blonde-haired girl. Mana opened her mouth to ask Kiyomi how she’s been, somehow the magician thought that it would be inappropriate, the condition that the young Yamanaka was several months back was pretty horrible, asking may have made the girl have to go through that all over again. Mana figured that if Kiyomi would want to share her experiences she’d tell her everything by herself.

After the girls would’ve finished their greetings, Mana thought that it would be a good idea to get them into the mood about what they might see. “About that drug that the bandits are supposedly taking… I’ve seen it in action a lot of times before, in fact, it originally was used by a man that I seek to bring to justice. I figured I’d share my previous experiences, kind of brief you in on it…” Mana made a serious face, it wasn’t a face she used often but it was the one that best reflected her serious attitude towards the mission. “Those affected by it feel invincible, they do not bother to dodge, block, they do not flinch or act exhausted. Originally I wanted to ask you, Meiko, not to fight them up close, I’ve seen too many close-range fighters get hurt or die from this unusual fighting style but I do realize you’re a better close-range specialist than I am so if you need to fight them up close – do it carefully, as I’ve said they do not defend, they strike back the same moment you attack them.”

Mana pointed her head questioningly showing with a gesture that the team should start moving out the village gate and would start moving herself with a slow and gentle pace unless her teammates provide a reason not to. “The thing is that the drug has no cure and no addiction per se, the person is addicted not to the drug, but to the possibility of not needing to feel pain. If you want any weaknesses about the drug, I’d say that the lack of worry for their own lives would be it, while the users think that they are invincible, in reality they are not. Unless their genetics are tampered with additionally they do not possess any superhuman endurance or regeneration. The village may need samples of the drug, the one I provided previously belongs to a giant monster built from genetics of multiple people and screwed with in many ways so I think we should try taking them in alive – maim them, break or remove their limbs, they won’t try to avoid that too much. Only kill if it can’t be avoided. I’m not in charge of you or anything, I’m just suggesting it since this would help Konoha in the long run. I know that by asking you to avoid killing them first thing I’m asking you to risk your lives, but if it’s possible – the village could use a sample of an ordinary human with the drug in their blood…” Mana finished her speech.

While it was an accurate representation of her opinion and previous encounters with the drug, the fact was that the team also had no idea where to really start the mission, how to draw the bandits out. They may have had a chance simply passing by the forest outside the village several times, trying to explore the outer area where the encounters were most common, Mana waited from suggestions from her friends about this matter, she didn’t want to make them feel as if the magician was trying to impose too much control on them, she already gave them the plead to try and keep the bandits alive when possible, to assume that the girls would agree with Mana’s request was to assume they’d agree to risk their lives which may have been assuming too much… “So any suggestions on how we are going to find these guys?” Mana asked.

Posts : 811

"Ouch, well hope you didn't have to wait too long. Must be lonely out here at this hour". It had been quite some time since she had seen her magician friend and the months had seemed to have taken their toll on her. Despite the warm smile and greeting she offered, Meiko could see something in her eyes, something eating away at the back of her mind. She didn't have the opportunity to ask her however, before Mana herself popped the question. "Well, can't say much. I've been working harder at least. Taking on more jobs, at first it was just to make some extra cash, but then I realized... I've been taking things way too easily lately". When it came to their squad, Meiko was certainly the weakest link. The incident in the restaurant helped prove that. Both Mana and Kiyomi were Chunin and quickly ascending further in the rankings. Not to mention both were highly adept at both ninjutsu and genjutsu, two arts Meiko was sorely lacking in and just another reason she was lacking in comparison to her companions. If she didn't work this hard, there was no hope for her to keep up, much less be worth a spot in Team Hokage.

"I've still got a long ways to go until I can catch up to you and Kiyomi. My strength is all I got unfortunately, compared to your jutsu though it's basically nothing. So that means I just need to work even harder" Shining a smile at her friend, she cracked a few of her joints and neck. "So what about yourself? Seems you've been busy too if you're skipping out on your magic shows". She crossed her arms and remained silent as Mana recounted her past few months. From the looks of her, the months had been pretty brutal to say the least. Physically she appeared fine, but for her to miss her magic shows, something must have happened. After, the two spent the next few minutes with simple small talk. After a few minutes of this however, Mana's attention began to waver. Something was pulling her attention away, she did a relatively good job at hiding it, but she couldn't stop her eyes from sliding to look past Meiko. It would only be for a moment or two before they were refocused, but then they'd slide again. Still, she continued her end of the conversation flawlessly so she still was paying attention to what was being said.

Meiko wanted to ask what was going on, but once more Mana beat her to the punch, uttering the name of their missing friend and teammate. Although from the tone of her voice, she seemed to be confused about it. "Kiyomi? Has she arrived?" Meiko asked just as she felt a weight fall on her shoulder, accompanied by a familiar voice crying out 'Boo' behind her. Instantly her body reacted before her mind could halt her muscles. Left hand balling into a fist, it rapidly snapped up to the side of her head, striking at whomever was behind her. Feeling her knuckles connect with something, she immediately turned around and gasped in surprise. There was Kiyomi who had likely just been decked in the nose. "Oh! Kiyomi! I'm so sorry, I didn't know it was you! Are you okay!?" She cried out as she reached to try and help her friend, hoping she hadn't caused any real damage. When they had finally calmed down, Mana complimented Kiyomi on her new hairstyle. Indeed in all the ruckus, Meiko had failed to notice Kiyomi's hair had been cut short, almost as short as her own. "Oh yeah! I didn't notice cause of the... yeah... Anyway, it looks great on you!".

With all the greetings finally out of the way, it was time to get down to business. Mana took the initiative here and explained that she had experience with this drug before. Just as the mission report had stated, those under the influence of this drug would feel utterly invincible, this being reinforced by their vastly reduced ability to feel pain, allowing them to fight through wounds that would cripple others. She then turned her attention to Meiko specifically, stating that she would prefer her not to engage in close combat with the bandits and if she does, to be extremely careful. It seems that those who had previously tried to fight up close, in Mana's experience, had gotten themselves killed when they were taken off guard by the druggie's absolute reluctance to defend themselves and attacking straight through their opponent's attacks with utter disregard for their own safety. Meiko grimaced at this, if these bandits felt no pain then she was already rather useless. What good was a sword if cutting someone meant nothing to them? It was starting to appear that she was assigned this job simply because she was a member of the squad, rather than for her skill set. They'd likely be better off with another ninjutsu user, namely someone also of Chunin level. Shaking her head slightly, she looked to Mana and tried to give her a smile. "Thanks for the warning. I'll be careful".

Before continuing, Mana motioned with her head that they should start moving. Continuing her debriefing as the group passed through the village gates. Going into further details on the drug itself, it was apparently not an addictive substance, save for the euphoria that comes along with the feeling of being invulnerable. The fact that there was no cure meant that it might be possible to detox the druggies safely by just removing their stash. Although how long that would take was anyone's guess and was an option they did not have the time for. As for fighting them, according to Mana, their feelings of invincibility were both their greatest strength and weakness. They would have to use that against them if they wanted to succeed, at least, that was the case so long as further genetic enhancement had not been performed on them. Which according to Mana was unlikely in this scenario. Since the village wanted some live samples of people with the drug in their system, Mana encouraged them to avoid killing them if possible. They were instead to try and restrain or disable the bandits through whatever means necessary. Even if it meant getting a bit gruesome with their methods.

All this information was enough to make Meiko's head spin, but more importantly, Mana did indeed have a lot of experience with this. Meiko wondered just how much she'd been doing alone. Why hadn't she come to them for help? Was she really that weak that she couldn't even be relied on unless the village forced her upon them? Mana had even mentioned something about a monster made from several humans, something she had taken down recently. Meiko had heard nothing about this. She wanted to ask Mana about this, but knew that she'd likely deflect the question to focus on the mission at hand. Instead, she made a mental note to do so once all this was over.

As they made their way down the road, Mana turned to look at the other two girls and asked how they would go about finding these bandits. Stopping herself, Meiko placed her hand to her chin in thought. "Well, I think the first thing we should do is head to where they were last known to be. If they've laid claim to the area then they'd likely still be nearby. From there, I'd say we disguise ourselves as wealthy merchants or something similar to bait them out. Unless they're in the habit of attacking armed patrols I doubt they'd show themselves to us as we are now". She then turned to Kiyomi "You have any ideas?".

Age : 32 Posts : 544

Mana had almost ruined the surprise by announcing her presence. It wasn't a big deal, but still it should have been obvious she was trying to scare her. She did scare the punch happy red head though and if you liked to scare people one would start to expect someone may throw a punch at them. Luckily all Kiyomi had to do was lift her hand to intercept the punch and move her head out of the way. Throwing a punch like that couldn't really generate as much force as a normal one, but it still stung her hand a bit. It would have been a hell of a way to start the mission by getting decked by her friend, but thankfully it didn't strike her face only her hand. "It's nice to see you too Meiko." Said the blonde dryly.

The comments about her new look where met with a small grin. "Thanks, my body feels five pounds lighter without all of it. She shook her still stinging hand and tried to ignore the fact that Mana had been a little too silent when she first arrived. It was likely just nerves and it was better to not over think it. Kiyomi waved off Meiko and listened as Mana gave the debrief and the warnings.

Her history with such a strange and dangerous drug was surprising. Then again she had never asked Mana about her past missions or experiences. It felt like she'd be prying a bit too much. She had never mentioned it either until it was relevant so it must have been a painful memory. It sounded like it. A genetically engineered monster was not something she'd want to deal with. Or any kind of monster for that matter. Still, thanks to the bandits overconfidence they could win this very easily thanks to her clan jutsu. With it she could take over the enemies bodies, stun them, or even cause them to fight one another.

"I have a question before we continue. They are immune to pain, but can they still be knocked out? I imagine that you wouldn't need to feel pain in order to be knocked out. A quick blow to the temple should do it and that wouldn't involve inflicting horrible injuries. Also I imagine genjutsu would actually be more effective since they can't hurt themselves to shock themselves out of the illusion. Then of course I could hide and pick them off with clan techniques. Hell if we played it right I could make it to where they fight one another so the three of us can pick targets at our leisure to take down. I also agree with Mieko's plan. Rich merchants or a trio of lost pretty young women. That will draw them out." The coming battle didn't have to rely on brute force alone.

Age : 31 Posts : 1495

While Meiko definitely looked stronger physically after the brief several months that passed since Mana last saw the girl, inside she still was the same kind and caring person just as Mana remembered. Despite Mana being the eternal advocate of life it was actually Meiko who was the sweetest and the kindest person in the team. The magician got yet another occasion to be reminded of that as her teammate did talk in a manner which started to become distant and remote for Mana: the armored red-head kept expressing her feelings freely, try to feel for Mana, asked about the magician’s own time after Shukuba town. Over the past couple of months after having to deal with criminals, monsters and politicians Mana had almost forgotten how a positive and warm human conversation felt, it was starting to seem that most people were out there to make jokes of her misfortunes like the bandits, keep hidden agendas in their long speeches like the politicians or just outright hate her guts like every enemy Mana had ever encountered. It took a little time to re-adjust to the normal socializing mode, not having to decipher every word someone said or try to come up with a threatening retort felt pretty great.

Meiko remarked about how she had to catch up with Mana and Kiyomi, after meeting the weaponsmith for the first time during the Team Hokage training mission Mana did see that the girl had some complexes. For some reason the girl felt bad when she failed at things that she wasn’t even supposed to be good at while being amazing in things she specialized in. Mana couldn’t really understand that, she also wasn’t that great in weaponry and close-range fighting and she knew nothing about crafting weapons. There just are things one is good at and others that one couldn’t do to save one’s life. “Don’t chase us, Meiko. If you do you’ll only grow sloppy once you surpass us, this comes from a girl who spent most of her career straining her neck looking up to Hokage-sensei and Yoroi-san. Just try to surpass yourself, every evening go to bed stronger and smarter than you woke up and then one day you’ll find that we’ll be looking up to you. To be honest, I already am. The way you managed to fight that bloody man up close back then, to pretty much go hand-to-hand with him was amazing, I didn’t even manage to be a decent enough distraction to him… Also don’t underestimate physical strength, you have no idea how many times I almost got my behind handed to me these couple of months by letting powerhouses get too close to me, yours is a talent just as valuable as that of mine and Kiyomi.” Mana replied. There was a really powerful and great ninja hidden within that shell of Meiko’s, the girl just didn’t let her out to play often enough because she looked down on herself too much.

Meiko also expressed interest in Mana’s time during the couple of months. Seeing how Meiko had already told the trickster about her own, Mana saw nothing wrong about letting the armored genin know about Mana’s time. “Yeah, I’ve barely spent couple of days in the village during those couple of months, I pretty much took every mission that they threw at me, then I realized that wasn’t enough so I also started running some errands while on missions. I just felt so great these couple of months that I wanted to do my best for the village, only returning to Konoha to pick up another mission and went out again… I guess I didn’t really physically have time to do my shows for a while, if I keep at it villagers will soon forget my face, I’m not sure if I’m excited about it or sad…” Mana laughed out. To be exact even this mission was a part of Mana’s relentless streak of jobs, it was just that the girl didn’t expect to be put back in her team after plowing through piles of missions alone.

It looked like Meiko didn’t take cheap scares too well seeing how she tried to sock Kiyomi, had she succeeded it may have been a pretty painful one. The blonde already had it hard on her with the whole seal situation to add on having to deal with a black eye for the duration of the mission. Luckily Kiyomi managed not to take the brunt of the blow so it turned out pretty good. The young Yamanaka looked great, she even cracked jokes about her different hairstyle. One couldn’t have guessed the horrors the poor girl must’ve been through, during her time in the archives with Yoroi before the Shukuba mission Mana had time to read a story of how one woman sealed her mind for over four centuries, once she was found people thought she was dead except for a young man who fell in love with her, it took the man additional forty years to crack the seal. Unfortunately the seal was supposed to preserve eternal life with the cost of the woman sleeping, once she woke up the poor woman died. Mana picked from the story that seals could be pretty tricky and hard to recover from, who knew what kind of process Kiyomi went through to overcome hers, perhaps the magician was too hard on her black chakra, maybe it was just because of what the girl been through recently, then there was Mana’s own blame for just telling everyone to let the seal go it’s course when it happened…

The Team Hokage took Mana’s request and briefing pretty well. A less experienced child would just shout out that they didn’t need anyone bossing them around or watching their back or would’ve laughed at Mana’s wish to keep the bandits alive. The way that the team listened to what Mana had to say carefully and considered adapting their tactics accordingly just showed that there were no children in Team Hokage, just ninja. Meiko even agreed to be more careful about her approach with fighting the bandits, something Mana appreciated greatly as she was worried of how her teammates would handle the situation, not because she thought they were weak, far from it. It was because one is never prepared to see an opponent brush off pain and start laughing at you with the bloodshot eyes while trying to kill you until one sees it, it’s all downhill after the first time. Kiyomi asked some follow up questions, her sharp mind was forming plans as they spoke without a doubt, that was just the way that the Yamanaka fought and most of the time her plans were solid. Mana really wished to answer the girl’s questions as well as she could.

“To be really honest, I am not sure if they can be knocked out cold, it could be either way. From what I sensed…” Mana stopped as she realized that she almost gave herself out “I mean saw and heard… The drug is made from a mass of chakra, it is injected into a man and then it adapts to one’s own personal source. The chakra has some sort of strange properties and works in different ways, killing pain being most common. The drug wears off when the injected supply uses out itself on maintaining the effects. It is possible that they can be knocked out but there is a greater chance that the chakra stimulates them in a way that sometimes even is enough to break genjutsu or stay awake after taking a lot of damage, but don’t worry, genjutsu still works on them just sometimes it breaks a bit faster.” Only then Mana realized how hard it was to characterize the drug, while she did know a lot about it what she didn’t know was which symptoms monster Honda had were caused by his genetic tampering and which ones were related to the drug. “To be honest, I can’t tell you everything about it because it may have been improved since I last saw it. The most common traits attributed to all versions of the drug are the ones I told you about. Let’s just hope that the drug doesn’t provide regeneration this time…” Mana dropped her answer with something that could give her teammates an idea just how diverse the effects may be. “The best way to know for sure is to try it on them, that’s why I asked to capture them alive, we need to know them if one day there would be an army of immune to pain soldiers knocking on the Konoha gate…”

Mana really liked the idea of luring the bandits, she figured that she should be able to sense those affected by the drug because of the way drug makes one’s chakra seem bigger just like how Mana sensed Honda out before their final battle. “Alright, let’s lure them then. I guess I already kind of look like a fancy and rich merchant…” Mana laughed after looking at her freshly washed uniform. The magician didn’t count on bandits beyond the village to know her face so she was safe as far as that was concerned. “But we do need something that looks shiny to attract attention… Maybe Kiyomi could transform into something golden, then me and Meiko could carry it through the spot, I already look like a merchant and Meiko looks like a mercenary bodyguard… No offense, Meiko…” Mana suggested. Still the decision was that of her team. The area the bandits were sighted most often was already pretty close.

Posts : 811

"Don't chase you huh? Easier said than done". Meiko thought to herself as Mana tried to encourage her. Rather than trying to surpass her teammates, she should try and just constantly surpass herself. The bit that really caught her attention though, was when Mana said she already looked up to Meiko, especially since the incident with the psycho. Not knowing how to really take that news, Meiko found herself blushing and unable to maintain eye contact with her friend. "R-Really. Well thanks, I'll keep that in mind". Nervously scratching her chin as she spoke and then laughing meekly. She did feel a bit better about herself after Mana's little speech. Mana had always been the most mature of the group, Kiyomi may have been their senior, but had a very childish demeanor about her. This wasn't a bad thing in any sense, and in fact was one of the blonde's charms. Mana's maturity, despite her age, was likely due to her exposure to the entertainment world. Appearance was everything when you were in showbiz. How you dressed, spoke, even how you simply walked would be scrutinized by the media and fans alike. That sort of atmosphere would force anyone to grow up prematurely.

Mana then went on to explain what she had been doing over the last few months. Seems she had indeed had a very brutal time, although it was more self inflicted than Meiko had first thought. Taking on job after job and not allowing herself enough time for a break much less making time for her shows. The smile on Meiko's face slowly faded as Mana spoke. She thought she had been working hard these past few months, that was nothing compared to how hard Mana was pushing herself. "Wow you have been busy. Just don't push yourself too hard okay? I don't think anyone wants to see you collapse from exhaustion. As for your shows, ask yourself. Do you enjoy performing? You'll find your answer there". Meiko could empathize with that last bit, she knew how difficult it was to try and maintain a second job alongside one's work as a shinobi. Since you were always on call, you could be pulled away at anytime, it made it quite difficult to create a steady schedule most of the time.

As for Kiyomi, the girl either showed off her skill as a ninja by blocking Meiko's punch with her hand, or experience of being punched when sneaking up on people. Regardless, Meiko was just happy she didn't actually hurt her friend. It would have been extremely embarrassing for everyone if the mission had to be delayed because of a broken nose inflicted from within the party. As for Kiyomi herself she was indeed looking well. A relieving sight when one remembered just what short of hell she had been through. Fuuinjutsu was a tricky thing at times, you had to be precise in your analysis if you wanted to know exactly what was going on. One slip up, no matter how minor, could leave a person at the utter mercy of the seal. Ever since that incident Meiko had been studying Fuuinjutsu as hard as she could, but even so, she knew she was nowhere near the level required to help should they encounter something like that again.

After turning to Kiyomi for her take on how to draw out the bandits, the blonde had some questions of her own to ask first about those affected by it. Since they would be trying to take them in alive, the question of whether or not they could be rendered unconscious through normal means was an important one. A question sadly, Mana didn't quite have an answer for. While it was likely possible that a swift blow to the temples may knock them out, it was not a guaranteed success. Hell, considering their immense amount of pain resistance, if it didn't knock them out, they might be encouraged to simply hit harder. Such an act would likely result in brain trauma or damage to those being struck. A method like that, Meiko wanted to try and avoid as much as possible. They may have been bandits, but she didn't want to kill them if she didn't have to. A cold shiver shot up her spine as she remembered when Kiyomi touched the red man. She had let her rage overtake her and nearly killed the man herself. Certainly not her proudest moment and something she hoped not to relive.

The next part of Kiyomi's questioning involved the effectiveness of genjutsu, something that she couldn't exactly apply herself but considering both Mana and Kiyomi specialized in it, was still quite important. Plus if the bandits were vulnerable to genjutsu, it would allow them to swing combat greatly in their favour. Mana was able to give a more definite answer on this, although not as good of one as the girls would have liked. Genjutsu would likely affect them just as it would anyone else, but thanks to the drug being chakra based in it's design, it was likely that their ability to break the illusions was increased as well. This would limit their window of attack when this all began, but it would still provide them with an opening regardless. They just needed to be more alert than normal.

As for drawing out the bandits, Kiyomi simply agreed with Meiko's idea of transforming into merchants or some other common target. Mana however, gave the idea her own twist. Since she already appeared to be someone of wealthy stature and Meiko a bodyguard, they could have Kiyomi transform not into another person, but an object or box that possibly contained something of great value. Admittedly, that was probably their best option. There would be no way a bunch of drugged up bandits could resist a box that could possibly contain something shiny. Plus it would save them some chakra from their total pool, with only Kiyomi having to use a jutsu for Mana's variant of the plan. Waving her hand she smiled "None taken. I know some people can be off put by my appearance". Looking to the girls, she focused more on Kiyomi. "Sorry, seems you'll be the only one transforming. Don't worry though, I won't let you get stolen". A large grin on her face as she chuckled. "Anyway, Mana do you happen to know where they last struck? That would be the best place to start".

Age : 32 Posts : 544

"Damn that will make things more annoying. Still, they shouldn't be able to break out of my clan justu so there is our greatest advantage to taking them alive." They only needed to bring back one alive for the village. If it came down to it she'd kill the bandits and leave only one alive. One would be hard enough to handle anyways. Meiko would have to be the one to drag the bandits back. Kiyomi and Mana couldn't do it. In fact if they all had to drag a knocked out bandit that would leave them open to attack from other people or creatures.

"Sigh, no mission is ever going to be simple again is it? They just had to be drug injecting bandits. Maybe we can request a mission to guard a beach or something later." A vacation seemed like something they all needed. A stay in the hospital was not a vacation, but a punishment. If she could have, Kiyomi would have gone on vacation right after to calm her nerves, but alas she had bills to pay.

The plan to have one of them transform into something shiny and valuable was good. It did seem like she'd be the one to do it too. Not that she minded of course. She'd have less work to do. She could henge into something valuable, but Meiko would have to carry her. She couldn't henge into working wagon that could roll after all. Henge didn't allow for working parts, only taking on the image. "Hey, don't feel bad for me. I'm going to be the one being carried. I'll henge into a backpack full of gold or spices and Meiko can carry me. I can't turn into a wagon or something like that."

She walked behind Meiko and jumped onto her back like a child wood there parent. "Don't drop me I'm valuable cargo you know." She put her arms around Meiko's shoulders and did two sets of seals. The first created the telepathic link between them. The second caused her to henge into a large backpack. It bulged a bit and a small glint of gold could be seen poking out the top of it. "There we go I'm as comfy as I can get. Now forward my trusty steed. Into battle! She'd have pointed if not for the fact she was playing the roll of merchant goods.

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Age : 31 Posts : 1495

Meiko seemed rather shocked when Mana told her that the magician has always admired the armored genin and even held her as an example. In fact the girl was a little shocked by how much of a surprise that was to Meiko, then again Meiko was never the one to be too self confident and rarely spoke of her abilities whether it was bragging or not. All that mattered was that it was revealed to Meiko at last that she never was some kind of weak chain of the party, someone who had most to learn out of the three girls, someone who was in danger of being dumped from the team for being incompetent. The team really needed Meiko and all she brought to it both her combat skills and her character outside the battlefield. However it seemed that Mana wasn’t the only one to open the eyes of a teammate, Meiko shared some of her wisdom with Mana as well. Her worries about Mana overexerting herself or forgetting an important part of her personality were really on point. It was actually a little strange how Meiko would be the one to teach Mana who she really was, how she shouldn’t let her work consume her and let her forget an important part of her personality.

However Mana didn’t really work so much because she felt like she owed someone something as she did before. Of course she still had the duty of protecting the people ungifted with the magical ability to control chakra but that wasn’t what Mana was doing. Her wild rampage of missions that she set out on was meant to show that she’s back, back being the carefree child she once was, that she was so full of this magical essence of good that she felt like she’d burst so the magician felt like she had to share it with the world. Every mission Mana completed was supposed to take a part of that accumulating joy away, yet it didn’t. “Maybe magic is also a part of my spirit, if I only focus on one part of who I am I won’t be able to fully express myself… Thank you, Meiko…” Mana thanked the girl in her mind, the trickster wanted to voice that gratitude but it was then that she caught the sense of Kiyomi’s chakra, triggering the events that followed. Mana’s gratitude will have to wait for another time it seemed.

Mana appreciated that the team agreed to her idea and that Kiyomi had no problem in transforming into something. There were some hidden factors that influenced Mana’s decision to suggest transformation for Kiyomi specifically. Mana did recall the trouble that Meiko had transforming back at the training days, while Mana wasn’t as cruel as to think that Meiko was unsuitable for being the transforming one, the magician did not want the armored red-head to feel bad or beat herself too much if she decided to be the one transforming and failed the first time again. Right now the weaponsmith was confident and upbeat, it was the badass Meiko who fought the bloody man that was in control, not the self doubting one and Mana wanted it to be that way. As for why she didn’t transform herself it was because of Mana’s complex about using jutsu she didn’t invent herself. The girl would’ve felt really unoriginal and bad had she used a knockoff jutsu when she didn’t really have to like during the training mission with Kimiko. Back then the need of using the transformation was rather intense, there was simply no other way. To use an unoriginal jutsu right now would’ve felt as dirty as killing someone for Mana. That’s why Mana was really glad to hear that Kiyomi accepted the duty to transform.

“It’s a small open patch of forest up ahead that they’ve been sighted the most. Actually that was pretty much the only spot that these unusual bandits were spotted, most other attacks included usual bandits.” Mana replied to Meiko’s question as to where were the bandits spotted the most. There was no doubt that the girls would get attacked, the pathway led to a dead end – a road that was getting built but abandoned due to lack of funding and constant raids of bandits. No one really used the road that lead to the area even if it was perfect for camps and picnics seeing how most trees were cut down to make this nice open grassland, the looming threat of bandits was too dangerous even before the bandits acquired their drug. “Get your act together, guys, if we don’t get attacked the first time and have to march again, we may start looking suspicious…” Mana told the team through the link that Kiyomi established. She adopted a snobby step herself, trying to imitate the audience of her shows that was of the higher class.

As the team walked out the overgrown with trees part of the forest into the open grasslands of about two hundred meters in diameter, Mana looked around. “There’s no doubt they’ll see us walking if they’re hiding somewhere in the trees further, they may not hear us talking though… Too bad, I wanted to try my snobby accent so much.” Mana thought on the link. Her guess was right, just several steps later it was evident that about five or six men went out of the trees, covering the exit to the other part of the forest road that lead all the way to where the road was abandoned. “They’re taunting us, there are probably people hiding all over the trees, those up front are supposed to scare us, if we turn around now, there would probably be five more on the way we came as well…” Mana thought. It was a common tactic, used by many thugs in Konoha as well. Of course the scale was way different if Mana’s guess was correct there may have been about twenty if not more of them. “This could be bad…” Mana thought on the link, keeping out a small bit of what her thought actually meant “No doubt Meiko and Kiyomi will feel threatened enough to start killing them… Can’t say I blame them.” Mana kept leading her team forward to the five scouts that were standing ahead.

“My, my… I think we may be lost… You look like honorable and fair gents, could you maybe tell a lost merchant and her bodyguard where Roiyaru road is?” Mana asked, she was glad that the girl actually got to use her snobby accent after all, using a similar manner that the snobby women used when talking to her after the shows. “It’s actually so far away, girl, that it would be just too much trouble for you to go all the way back… As “fair gents” we are most willing to take that heavy thing off your tired backs though…” one of the bandits replied. Mana tried to sense them out, they didn’t feel any different which was odd, could this version of drug not leave the sloppy trace of chakra that the older one did? Maybe the bandits didn’t even use the drug yet? It seemed that Mana’s last assumption was a correct one as she felt a sudden sense of multiple chakra shooting up in the forest area. She could see the ones in front also having their arms in their pockets as if they were hiding something.

“These guys aren’t yet using the drug… They probably won’t inject it unless they feel threatened which means they don’t have too much of it to use freely. This means that they most likely aren’t associated with any big dealer, they probably just sniffed some from whoever had a big load of it… Oh, and cover your ears.” Mana let her team know, “I’ll need to take as many out as I can, just so that Kiyomi or Meiko don’t get too excited and kill them.” The magician kept that thought off the link. After alerting her team she’d wait for several seconds until her team covered her ears, Mana assumed that Kiyomi would need to stop her transformation jutsu to do that. After several seconds passed Mana would start humming a lyrical tune and activate her genjutsu, as the five collapsed on their knees overcome by pleasure Mana came up to them and sang out keeping the tune going “Give me the drug in your pocket… Or I’ll stop doing this…” It wasn’t easy to incorporate the words and keep the tune but Mana somehow managed and after a brief delay it seemed that the pleasure was too much and the bandits gave their small needles with bright blue slime inside. Mana put the injections in her pouch as she sensed a coordinated barrage of chakra shooting up both behind her and in the forest. “They’ve got friends incoming… These won’t be dangerous for a while, but you fighting with your ears covered would be troublesome, let’s take these five down then let’s prepare for the real fight coming up…” Mana alerted her team, it was enough trouble to think something while humming a melody, the magician wanted it over with so she kicked one of the drooling men in the face. It was brutal but he wasn’t dead and he won’t be troubling them, the girls needed to take these five down quick before their reinforcements came.

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Age : 32 Posts : 544

[This post is from Daedalus given to me via skype.]
With Mana's briefing complete, Kiyomi gave her own final thoughts on the matter. Obviously disappointed at the prospect that her genjutsu may be less effective against the drugged up bandits. She did however, mention that her clan's techniques should remain unaffected by the drug's effects, making that their best option for bringing the bandits back alive. The mention of her clans' techniques stirred a bit of curiosity within Meiko, as well as worry. The only techniques she had seen in action was the one Kiyomi used to read the bloody man's mind, and they all remembered how that went, and the mind link. Now it was highly unlikely the bandits knew how to seal their minds against such techniques, but if all her other skills were such double-edged swords, Meiko wasn't sure she wanted Kiyomi performing them. Of course, any objections she were to bring up would most certainly be shot down by Kiyomi herself, and that was the best case scenario. Worst case would be her taking offense to the remark and cause some tension between the two. So she chose to remain silent.

Kiyomi went on to playfully complain about the mission being far too difficult and her want of a vacation. Laughing playfully with her, Meiko turned to Mana ”Well, what do you think? Should we go for a vacation? Maybe then Kiyomi will finally stop whining for one”. Turning back to Kiyomi, she flashed the blonde a wide grin. With all that had occurred these past months, perhaps a vacation wasn't a bad idea. Mana, by her own account, had been working herself to the bone with barely a break between each. As for Kiyomi, well Meiko wasn't sure what she'd been up to these past few months since she was released from the hospital, but she could likely use the break as well. Meiko knew that she could, while her life hadn't been as eventful as theirs recently, she too had been rather busy. Whether they went to the beach or whatever, the time away from all responsibilities would do her wonders.

But that was a discussion for a later time, now they had a mission to focus on. With Kiyomi offering to be the one to transform, the other two would simply have to put up a proper act to fit their appearances. For Meiko, the job was actually quite easy. She'd just have to keep quiet and if Mana gave out any orders, follow them to the letter and carry Kiyomi in whatever form she chose. Mana would have a bit more difficulty, she'd have to carry herself as a wealthy merchant or someone of similar stature. Of course, with her background in performance, Meiko had the utmost confidence in the magician to carry out her part of the task. With everything now decided, Kiyomi hopped onto Meiko's back, wrapping her legs around her waist and arms around her neck, almost cheering as she did so. Stumbling for a moment as Meiko adjusted herself to the added weight of her companion, she turned her head as far as it could go to try and face Kiyomi. ”I immediately regret this plan” She said flatly as Kiyomi transformed into a backpack bulging to the brim with hints of gold shining through the seams.

With that, the three were off, Mana informing them that the bandits had a habit of appearing in a clearance just down the way. Near an abandoned road who's construction had been halted due to the amount of thefts and bandit activity even before this group got a hold of this drug. When Kiyomi transformed, she had established the mind link between them again, something Mana put to use immediately. Reminding them that they needed to play their part perfectly, least they have to turn around and march through the area again. Doing so would raise suspicion in even the thickest of bandits. As they started walking however, Meiko had to bite the inside of her lip to keep from laughing. The way Mana held herself while walking was so unlike her. Her posture was so stiff and steps exaggerated that she really did appear as a spoiled rich kid who had just taken their first steps out of the family manor.

They soon reached the clearing she had mentioned, from the looks of it the area was about two hundred meters in diameter. At the very least they'd have good warning if anyone were to attack them and enough space to fight freely. As Mana said, if these bandits were nearby, they would be hiding in the trees and would be able to see the girls clearly. A pain of disappointment hit Meiko when Mana suggested they would not likely be able to hear them speak, and thus would not be able to test out her snobby accent. Which, if it were anything like her walk, would likely be comedic gold.

Indeed, as Mana had said, they were being watched from the trees. For mere minutes later, five thugs appeared before them. Mana told the girls over the link this was a taunt meant to scare them. If they were to turn around now, another five would likely appear to cover their escape. Meiko had the urge to draw her weapons in defense, but as Mana had yet to make a move of her own, she held her ground. Since there were still more in the woods, it would be best not to provoke them to action just yet. This way they may be able to lure a bit more of them out of their hiding places before the fight began. Less surprises would certainly make the battle easier. Mana continued her pace forward, approaching the five thugs before them and Meiko followed in suit.

Once they were a bit closer, Mana got her opportunity to pull out her snobbish accent. Luckily, as Meiko was on high alert, she was better able to control herself, even though under any other circumstance she'd have burst out in laughter at Mana's little speech. One of the bandits stepped forward in reply, offering to 'relieve' them of their 'cargo', all while wearing the sleaziest grin Meiko had ever seen. As the two had their little conversation, Mana filled in Meiko and Kiyomi on a little observation of hers. Apparently these five had not yet injected themselves with the drug. Looking them over herself, Meiko couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, granted she had no experience with this drug before so perhaps there were side effects that made it's use obvious? Well regardless, Mana was the expert here in this situation so she'd have to take her word for it.

Meiko was so absorbed in trying to find signs of the drug in the bandits that she nearly missed Mana's last command. It didn't help that she just kind of slipped it in at the end, but doing as she was told, Meiko quickly brought her hands to her ears and stuck her fingers inside, muting the world around her. Moments later, Mana began humming, the sound was extremely dulled to Meiko, but she could immediately see why Mana told them to cover their ears. For the moment her humming started, the five men fell to their knees with disgusting looks on their faces. Eyes nearly rolling back, tongues dangling out and the widest smiles their mugs could manage they each began moaning in ecstasy. Mana then approached the five and sung them a command, either give her the drug, or she cease her tune. The men quickly gave in, each one producing a vial of blue liquid from their pockets. ”Scary” Meiko thought to herself, making sure to keep that out of the link. But indeed, the power of Mana's genjutsu was terrifying. Had she not covered her ears as she had been told, she would have been just like those thugs. Helpless on the ground, a slave to her whims.

Mana then turned to face Kiyomi and Meiko, speaking again over the link that more bandits were about to attack them from the woods. Taking a quick glance herself, Meiko saw nothing stirring just yet, but Mana was right about these five in the first place, so there was no reason to doubt her now. Mana then turned back and kicked the nearest bandit in the face, still in the trappings of the genjutsu, he went down instantly. ”Right, I'll take out the two on the left then, I'll leave the others to you guys”. Meiko told them over the link as she broke into a run, keeping her fingers in her ears until the humming ceased, she then jumped up and extended her right leg forward, planting her foot in the face of one of the remaining bandits. His head slamming into the ground, the man immediately fell unconscious. As Meiko landed, she then spun on the spot and kicked the second bandit square in the back of the skull, causing his face to fall flat into the dirt.

Once Kiyomi and Mana had dealt with the other two, her humming would have likely stopped, allowing Meiko to have free use of her hands. Removing her fingers from her ears, she reached into her pouch and drew forth three kunai and her razor wire. Cutting the wire into three lengths of four meters each, she tied one piece to the ends of each kunai and moved to cover both Mana and Kiyomi, waiting for the bandits to appear.

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Age : 32 Posts : 544

[This is my post. You can tell because it's the best Very Happy

]

You know you love being my pack mule Meiko stop playing. And I don't whine, I merely state the obvious. It only comes off as whining. Also think of it carrying me this way. You're carrying the team on your back. You're the star player!" Joking aside for now Kiyomi fell silent so she could listen to Mana's orders. She had the most experience with the bandits so Kiyomi had no problem with letting her call the shots. At least until things got hairy, then they'd have to do what they thought was best for survival and the completion of the mission.

Plus it was kind of fun just enjoying the ride on Meiko's back. Under different circumstances Kiyomi could have easily fallen asleep on their front line specialist's back. "You could always do the snooty accent later for us if you wish. Perhaps while we're escorting survivors back. You could be the last show they see for a while before they sit in jail for many years. Kiyomi's mind voice was dry, but it was hard to tell if she was being serious or not. She didn't have time to clarify either before the bandits made their presence known. There was a good deal of them after all. Taking them all alive would be really hard. Especially once they took the drug.

Five men so far, and likely more on the way. Kiyomi's clan techniques could only catch one or two at a time. Considering this, it would give them an unwilling ally to help fight the unknown amount of bandits lurking in the ocean of trees. The meant she'd open with that justu and go from there. Kiyomi continued to play the role of the backpack as Mana got the chance to use her lovely snooty accent. An accent she'd give a 4 out of 5 for right now. It was good, but Kiyomi knew Mana could do better if she tried.

Then came the warning to cover their ears. So much for the piggy back ride. She unhenged and let go of Meiko before slapping her hands over her ears. Thank goodness for the mind link or Mana may have not been able to use it without verbally warning them. The genjutsu was pretty impressive. It made her want to create some more techniques of her own. Perhaps something to keep people from moving so she could land her mind transfer jutsu.

Regardless of the prospect of future genjutsu Kiyomi helped with knocking the remaining bandits out. Since they where helpless before Mana there was no need to kill them. Even though there was a minor urge to do so. Perhaps it was because these men had hurt people, that her subconscious was telling her to slit their throats. She ignored the feeling and followed Meiko's example. Two solids kicks to the head later the bandits where out. The feeling of kicking the helpless outlaws kind of thrilled her, but Kiyomi tied that down to her adrenaline starting to pump. "I'll leave you two to it and hide in the trees and take them down as they approach. She made a single hand seal before vanishing into the nearby foliage leaving a normal clone behind as a distraction.

She'd use the clone later to lure in the best target for her mind derangement jutsu. With the confusion of one of their own attacking them, the rest of the bandits would fall as well.

Justu used/active SC active:

Age : 31 Posts : 1495

Right before the three kunoichi started with their plan, Kiyomi expressed her annoyance with the difficulty of the mission. It was probably meant most as a joke but Mana understood where Kiyomi came from – a mission like this was quite troublesome, it may have become even worse if the version of the Ayushi drug used by the bandits grant them some sort of special ability like the one monster Honda had. Granted the possibility of the bandits having some other supernatural even by shinobi standards ability was close to zero, it took so much drug that it was basically running in the monster’s veins to make him what he was. It was more likely that the bandits would be as simple as a pain defying man can be, nothing more. By what Mana has come to expect from her missions it was supposed to be quite simple. Meiko turned to Mana and asked if the three should ask for a vacation after this bandit situation is resolved, most likely just following up on the same joke Kiyomi made. Mana smiled with a left side of her mouth, it was not a smile of happiness, more that of apology, “I’m sorry Meiko, but there’s just one more important matter I have to resolve before I can rest. Until it is done I won’t be able to enjoy myself as much as you guys would deserve seeing me, I’d just ruin your fun.”

After that reply which came right from her heart Mana realized that just stopping the monster she’s been searching for months will not do in making her responsibility go away, if the magician ever wanted to sleep calmly she had to resolve things with the man behind it. “Then again… I’m likely to meet the man who made this drug on the way, I’ll make sure to tell him how grateful you guys are that we have to clean up his mess.” Mana laughed out truthfully this time. Still her words couldn’t have been closer to the girl’s true feelings, she wanted to just end that man for taking Mana’s ideals and beliefs and making such a mess out of it, for making Mana blame herself for every life ruined by his hand. “Damn it…” Mana thought to herself, accidentally forgetting that her thoughts aren’t personal anymore for just a second ”Sorry, guys, I just love to curse in my mind for no reason.” She followed the two slipped words up. There she was again thinking about that man when she was supposed to be focused on matters at hand. If she’s floating around she’ll be sloppy, if Mana will be sloppy she’ll either let herself or her friends get hurt or not stop her friends from taking more lives than was needed.

Kiyomi and Meiko had this interesting dynamic to them, they constantly worked off one another and Mana always loved to see them joke around or bicker with each other, the magician’s early experience as a ninja was that of a sole player so she didn’t really manage to completely fit into that chemistry between Meiko and Kiyomi. Sometimes Mana felt like a guest star in this team, of course both Kiyomi and Meiko were probably her best friends but Mana didn’t really get to work with them that much seeing how she constantly considered things “her responsibility” and tried to avoid asking her friends for help. Honestly how could she? How could she ask such nice and warm people to risk their lives for a mess that Mana indirectly made, how could she ask her friends to involve themselves in something where their chances of survival were almost zero and where Mana pulled it through just by sheer luck the whole time? How could the magician allow herself to risk taking these wonderful and nice people away from their friends, families, Hokage-sensei? No she couldn’t. “If I’ll ever find Ayushi, I’ll keep you guys out of it, I’m sorry…” Mana thought this time making sure to leave it out. “I’d love that, I need to hone my entertainment skills some more after leaving them to dust for so long…” Mana replied to Kiyomi’s thought of Mana entertaining the girls with her silly accent on the way back

It seemed that so far things have been going pretty good, the five scouts quickly fell to the combination of Mana’s genjutsu and Team Hokage’s impressive skill of finishing off helpless opponents with Mana taking care of one thug while Kiyomi and Meiko took out the other four taking on two each. Without much trouble Team Hokage prepared for the second round of the battle, Mana could sense chakra masses all over the forest, after some time as they got closer the magician finally managed to count them with there being about twenty more bandits in total five being in the direction the girls came from and five in each surrounding direction. The strategy of the bandits was to box the girls and beat them down without giving them room to breathe. Mana’s hands flashed through hand seals with the top speed she could manage as she finally got to see figures approaching in the distance. “Guys, I can see them trying to box us in, there are about five in each direction: north, south, west and east to us, don’t let us get surrounded.” Mana thought, her fear of getting surrounded wasn’t because of her being afraid of getting injured but more because she knew that if they get surrounded her friends will stop pulling punches and start going for killshots. Mana could not allow that to happen.

The ninja magician placed her hands forward and shot out a barrage of lightning balls at the five bandits that were approaching them from the direction they came from. Mana’s goal was to break their lower bodies so that they cannot move efficiently and that would leave the girls with an escape route. As expected the bandits barely even bother to dodge as most of the lighting balls successfully bombarded their legs and groin area shattering the bones and crushing muscles in their pelvis and legs forcing the bandits to resort to crawling. With the speed they were moving with their legs and stomach area crushed they weren't about to reach the girls any time too soon even if they were less than ten metres away, having only the hands to drag their bodies the bandits moved only inches at a time and even if they got too close they could probably be knocked out with a kick to the face. “If things go sour, retreat that way!” Mana alerted her friends on the link. Mana didn’t want to admit it but even after using the jutsu once she wanted to stop and catch a breath, that would have to wait for a later time however, the girl’s head desperately tried to see where she should direct her stream of lightning projectiles next as she needed to prioritize the side where she’s firing, when Mana was concentrated on firing the balls she was left open on her backside. “Okay, so just about fifteen more left…” Mana thought to herself, she has taken such odds on before and with her friends to back her up now the completion of the mission was looking quite good, the girl just wanted to make sure that her friends don’t take any unnecessary lives and they would be all set to go home.

Spoiler:

Age : 31 Posts : 1495

[Daed's post]

At Mana's response to Meiko's little joke about taking a vacation, the red head felt her lips purse and face scrunch up. It seemed the girl was still planning on doing everything alone again, just like she had been these past months. ”Well it's not a vacation unless we're all there. We can wait” she replied herself. Still, she kept her eyes on the magician who had fallen back into her own mind. A moment later, she spoke again. Mentioning the man behind all this and that she might encounter him soon. She tried to turn it into a joke, followed by a laugh that actually did have honesty to it, but was followed with a hollow look in her eyes. As though she just erected a wall between herself and her team mates. Walking up to Mana, Meiko then placed a hand on her shoulder. Tapping it twice before giving the young magician a reaffirming squeeze. She still wanted to confront the girl about her habit of keeping the rest of them out of the loop, but for now the mission took priority. This gesture was all she could get away with to remind Mana that she was not alone.

Kiyomi followed up on Meiko, taking out the remaining bandits with two swift kicks of her own. Once all five were down, Mana ceased her humming and allowed the girls to lower their hands. The three had a short amount of time to prepare themselves as the remaining bandits prepared for their main assault. Raising the three kunai she had prepared, Mana's voice called out over the link. According to her, the bandits were moving to box them in, with four groups of five approaching from each major compass direction. Sure enough, moments later the bandits appeared from the treeline, charging forth in groups of five, just as Mana had predicted. ”Damn you're good” Meiko commented as she looked to the group to the west. Kiyomi then wasted no time creating a clone and using the smoke from it's creation to mask her escape. The blonde planning to retreat to the treeline and wait for the opportunity to place a few of their opponents under her genjutsu. While having a hidden set of eyes would be useful, the distance to the treeline would mean that the mind link would quickly be severed. Granted, they didn't need to be stealthy about their conversations at this point, but the tactical advantage it gave was now lost.

Once more Mana was able to show off the power of her jutsu. Mere moments after the group of bandits appeared behind them, Mana unleashed a barrage of orbs that pelted the men. It was actually quite disturbing how they collapsed to the ground, bones obviously shattered but not a single cry of pain came from them. They looked more surprised than anything that their legs suddenly refused to work. But whether it was their own stubborn tenacity or just the influence of the drug, they continued their approach. Only able to slowly crawl along the grass, they were no threat at this point, but the sight was still rather unnerving. ”Nice work Mana!” Meiko called out as she turned to the group approaching from the west. They were still too far out for her little kunai trick to work, and even then she didn't have enough to grab all five at once. Slipping the weapons into her belt, she grabbed two fuuma shuriken from her back and with a quick snap of her wrists, unfolded the blades and began rapidly spinning them.

”Right, my turn then!” She said with a grin and stepped forward, tossing the two giant blades and sending them flying towards the bandits. Each shuriken would then fly to the sides and begin to descend, her aim being to cut into the tendons of the two outer most bandit's legs. Her aim proved to be true as the two bandits quickly collapsed when the shuriken sliced right through their flesh and embedded themselves in the ground behind them. Meiko then immediately grabbed her remaining two fuuma shuriken and repeated the attack. Normally, such a head on attack would not work and be used as an opener to simply gain momentum on the opponent and dictate their moves. But as Mana had said earlier, because of the drug these bandits had no sense of self preservation, they simply continued charging forward regardless of the danger to themselves. If Meiko had wanted to go for a killing blow, it would have been a simple task. But the mission called for them to be taken alive, and she would do her utmost to ensure that happened.
The next two bandits fell to the ground, leaving only one from the group still charging. Sadly her attack was not as effective as Mana's and they all still had at least one working leg. It would take them some time, but after stumbling around several times even these drugged up bandits would figure out they could still hop on one leg. They were slowed but not completely eliminated, but it was enough that they could be ignored for now. The fifth bandit was still a few moments out from Meiko, which would give her just enough time for one extra trick before she'd have to engage him. Since there were still two groups with full numbers approaching form the north and east, something had to be done before they overwhelmed them. The ones to the east would likely be handled by Kiyomi and Mana was free at the moment, so she could probably finish off the ones to the north, but Meiko knew of a way to slow them down a bit and make the job easier for the magician.

Reaching into her kit, she quickly drew forth a pen and a small blank scroll. Unrolling part of the scroll, she quickly flipped the pen in her fingers to get a better grip and began writing as fast as she could. In just a moment, she finished and tore the scroll, placing the pen and the remains of the scroll back in her pack, she then withdrew a kunai and attached her creation to it. A quick hand sign to charge the seal, it began to emit a yellow glow and was then thrown several meters north, landing in the ground with a dull thud. With that done, she then turned back to the remaining standing bandit who was now only meters away. Meiko only had enough time to draw a single weapon before he'd be on top of her, thankfully she had already prepared the three kunai in her belt. Drawing one, she quickly tossed it underhand and grabbed the wire tied to it's end. There wasn't much power in this throw, but power wasn't needed. This attack wasn't meant to seriously wound the bandit, it just needed to land deep enough to stick.

And stick it did, The bandit did not even register the weapon as it stuck itself into his stomach. He simply continued his charge and raised his sword above his head, intent on cutting Meiko in two. As the man started to swing down his sword, Meiko pulled the string tight and blasted a surge of her chakra through it. Once her chakra had entered the man's body through the kunai, every muscle of his would immediately seize up, paralyzing him on the spot. Not even able to vocalize his surprise, the man stood frozen as he towered over Meiko, sword only inches above her head. Smiling, she kept hold of the wire while using her free hand to draw one of her ninjato. Ducking down, she quickly dashed forward and behind the bandit, slicing deep in the back of both his legs, then spinning around and cutting into his wrists. Being careful to only cut muscle and avoid the major arteries so he didn't accidentally bleed out, she then pulled on the wire and removed the kunai. With that link gone, the paralysis ended and the man could move again. The moment he tried however, he found himself collapsing to the ground, not even able to hold his sword anymore all he could do was wriggle and curse helplessly.

”Whew, now to finish off those four”. She said as her little trap to the north would activate now. With the five bandits reaching the kunai the explosive tag she created would activate, engulfing all five in a rather large explosion. While the blast would be impressive, it still did not hold enough power to be lethal, they would be wounded yes and even with the drug, being that close to a blast like that would leave them momentarily disoriented, but beyond some nasty burns, the worst they might suffer would be some cracked bones. While that might have been enough to take them out under normal circumstances, the drug's effects would certainly allow them to get back up shortly. ”I'll leave those guys to you then”. She said as she placed the kunai back in her belt and drew one of the scrolls from her back. Releasing the seal on it, she drew her shield and longsword from the paper and charged in.

With only four wounded bandits to take down, this would be a rather simple task. She decided to take them out from left to right, so the first bandit she struck with the fuuma shuriken would be the first one that would go down. Cursing at her for screwing up his leg, the bandit raised his sword as Meiko approached and began swinging like a madman. There was no finesse or thought to his attack, he was merely swinging blindly and hoping to hit. Slowing her approach, she watched his movements and once she saw an opening, stepped forward and raised her shield. Blocking the bandit's sword, he simply continued to pound on the slab of metal rather than try to create an opening for himself. Meanwhile, Meiko was free to simply raise her longsword and stab the man through the knee. Withdrawing her blade, she then kicked the man in the stomach, forcing him back and knocking him to the ground. ”One down”. Turning to the next bandit who was hobbling towards her, she raised her shield and charged forth. Ramming right into the bandit and throwing him backwards onto the ground. Before he could start getting up, she quickly sliced his heel and turned to the next bandit.

Yelling a challenge of his own, the bandit slowly began hopping towards her. Repeating her strategy that defeated the first one, she blocked his sword and stabbed him through the knee as well. Kicking him down she stepped back and turned to face the last one. ”One more” She said as she took a second to catch her breath and charged forth again. Blocking the man's attack, she pushed back with her shield, causing him to stagger and opening him up for her to stab her longsword through his shin. Withdrawing her sword, she then punched him in the stomach with her shielded arm, knocking him to the ground, wheezing for breath. ”Got 'em!” she then called out. It was likely that the others would have taken out the remaining bandits by this point. Her methods compared to theirs would be rather... slow. But at least all of them were still alive, now they just needed to be restrained.

Jutsu Used:

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SC Used:

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Equipment Used:

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Chakra Remaining:
60-1-7-15-3-6=28
28/60CP

Age : 32 Posts : 544

If you do ever catch the creator of the drug tell him I'll be taking his financial assets as compensation for this tom foolery. It's truly astounding what people can make. However, many inventors don't seem to question if they should make the inventions or not. Or what kind of bad things it could be used for. Kiyomi didn't know anything about the man, but this drug could have been created for the purpose of helping those about to undergo surgery. Instead it's being used for war like purposes. "Also I'd like to see you practice the accent. It's a free show after all, but I'll pass the notion the show comes with tea and cakes...And a slab of ribs for Meiko since she'll be the one hauling all the injured bandits back. I'm sure she'll be starving after all the exertion. Kioymi was half serious of course, but the point still stood that they would need help dragging all these idiots back. Whomever assigned this mission was going to get an earful from Kiyomi if backup didn't come to help them out.

The bit of foul language from Mana was easily forgiven. It was hard without a lot of practice to shield your inner thoughts. Only years of training with this jutsu kept her thoughts from leaking out to the others. No problem Mana, I swear like a sailor in my mind. One little damn isn't going to offend me. The news that there was a horde incoming though was enough to get Kiyomi out of the playful mood and start considering her options. Genjutsu was likely less effective, plus many of the one's that stunned required eye contact. Plus, it only worked on one person at a time. Not the best way to deal with a lot of people.

As the first batch of bandits approached from the east underneath her tree Kiyomi had a wicked little idea. She quickly spotted the leader, the biggest of the bandits leading the charge, and lined up her hands to just ahead of him. She made the hand seals for her mind derangement technique and leader ran into the blast of energy. In an instant the big man with the axe started attacking his friends. Even with the drug in his system he'd be unable to stop himself from attacking his friends. The act of betrayal would also make the bandits turn their attentions away from Mana and Meiko as they had to fend off getting killed by their leader who was screaming about how his body was acting on its own.

A savage grin spread over her face as part one of her little plan began. Part two involved taking down the last batch of bandits as that had already been softened up by Meiko's bomb. They where already injured, so why not put the final touches on what Meiko started. Hand seals where quickly formed and Kiyomi stepped out onto a branch. Her chest expanded and then three dragons came out of her mouth, their jaws opened wide as a roar of flames was heard throughout the clearing.

The bandits looked up in some horror as the dragons curved towards them and crashed down all at once in a fiery blast that burnt every single one of them. The blast would also launch their bodies into the air. Some would simply fall back to the ground after flying ten feet into the air and moved no more. Other would fly into trees and be knocked out from the force of the blast. Regardless of where they fell bones would be broken and flesh would be seared.

This would reveal her location to the bandits fighting the leader below her. Kiyomi looked down then spoke in a calm, but loud voice. "Good work Mako, you lead them right towards us. They bought you're disguise hook, line, and sinker. Why don't you take care of them already so we may head back to the village so they can be put on trial and either executed or locked away for life." Whatever doubt was left in the minions minds was gone at this lie. The bandit leader kept trying to deny it, but they'd all start attacking in earnest now trying to fell the "traitor." Kiyomi merely watched them duke it out waiting for a chance to start tossing down tagged kunai to knock people out.

Jutsu used:

Age : 31 Posts : 1495

From the way that the scuffle was going it started looking like an all-out war. It reminded Mana a lot of the horror plays she saw the actor group performing about people rising from the graves unable to be killed as they were already dead. It wasn’t really that grotesque, the bandits actually did not have any regeneration factor which made Mana feel greatly relieved. It meant that whoever stole the drug from the main source only did it for the act of stealing it and it was a one-time occurrence, the thugs probably didn’t even know who they were stealing from or what they were stealing. There was no reason to damage them too much, these guys were just the bottom of the barrel who managed to get their hands on some impressive scientific breakthrough made by a madman. Mana kept a sloppy eye on the five bandits she mowed down before, just to know that they didn’t threaten anyone anymore, indeed they barely even managed to move, one or two even gave up on it and just laid down happy that they aren’t feeling any pain for now. Mana’s sight immediately turned to look what Meiko was doing – the girl was partially a close-range fighter, had she decided to fight up close Mana wanted to have her back.

With an impressive combination of weaponry skills, great aim and skill in fuuinjutsu Meiko did a lot of damage for the thugs disabling some and giving the rest something to think about. Still Mana knew that the genin pulled her blows, had she wanted to just take the bandits out there wasn’t anything in the mission that stopped her from doing so. That meant that Meiko respected Mana’s request not to kill unless absolutely necessary. That meant a great deal for the magician, most ninja would not have given a damn about Mana’s beliefs or about her unofficial extension to the objective of bringing some thugs alive. And yet Meiko was working around killing, dealing a lot of damage and showing off some impressive feats with her shuriken and seals, the girl managed to leave a dent on pretty much every bandit that wasn’t taken out by Mana. That took off a lot from the responsibility that the magician put on herself to take out as many of the thugs as she could that her teammates don’t get tempted to kill them. It was really unfortunate that Kiyomi broke off the link by going off range, Mana would’ve liked to thank Meiko silently, so that the bandits couldn’t hear it and consider her a silly child.

Kiyomi’s approach was less subtle, the Yamanaka made good use of her clan’s hijutsu and took over a large bandit, making him chop the bandits from behind. Mana wanted to alert Kiyomi to be careful, it didn’t look like the man aimed where he was chopping so there may have been some casualties or bandits hurt too much to help. Still without the link Mana didn’t see the need to scream with full lungs just to reach the blonde. Mana decided to better let the girl decide where and what strikes are necessary even if the magician started to really doubt if Kiyomi was as devoted to preventing deaths as Mana and Meiko was. Also Kiyomi decided that the bandits that got damaged by Meiko’s explosion needed some more damage to go down, while Mana wanted to judge Kiyomi’s decision to attack damaged opponents where they looked somewhat doubtful about continuing their assault, the girl did know that these bandits needed some more punishment and would’ve most likely targeted those with her own jutsu in the nearest future. Kiyomi’s fire jutsu was quite impressive both visually and destructively as it took the bandits who were stunned after Meiko’s attack for good. While the attack and the way that the bandits just flew off everywhere like ragdolls did look rather cruel nothing suggested a lethal injury, Mana couldn’t have argued with Kiyomi’s choice of jutsu.

Something Kiyomi did actually did anger Mana it was luring the bandits closer to the tree and toying with their minds, making them think that their leader was an actual traitor and just watching sadistically as the immune to pain bandits were battling it out. Obviously annoyed by the situation Mana ran up closer to the fight and flashed through the handisigns initiating a genjutsu, suddenly the men all jumped back and dropped their weapons, “Holly shit, where the fuck did all of the snakes come from!!!” “Snakes, I’m covered with snakes, they’re everywhere!!!” “Motherfucking snakes all over the motherfucking grass!!!” the bandits started shouting as some just started trying to shake the snakes off and two started just running. “Let them go! They're not a danger anymore!” Mana shouted as she looked at those affected by the jutsu. “Kick to the shin – grab the hair – knee to the back of the neck” Mana remembered a similar combination used by Yoroi to take a man out, then Mana immediately turned at another bandit and kneed the area between his eyes, even if he does stand up and wish to continue the swelling would make it impossible for him to see anything, Mana went through more handsigns and shot a jolt of lighning into the man's lower back area dooming the man for being unable to walk. Just as Mana wanted to finish the third man out nearby she realized that the man has already recovered from the genjutsu, it was the same large bandit affected by Kiyomi’s jutsu, Mana figured that her own interfering genjutsu would have cancelled Kiyomi’s one out. Luckily whether it was due to Kiyomi’s orders or the man’s own wish to save his life he started running into the forested area desperately clinging to his life.

Ignoring that the fight was over Mana’s eyes kept running over the bandits laying defeated all over the grasslands, “Five with their pelvis and legs crushed… Will live but won’t walk ever again. The bunch Meiko took out will recover just fine. The ones blown by Kiyomi – burnt up severely, some must’ve broke some bones after the blowback but all of them should live… This one could be paralyzed for life and that other one will have a week of swollen face and won't walk…” Mana ran over the bodycount giving a rough prediction of the diagnosis for the bandits, she may have been wrong but she knew the power of her own jutsu and the move she adapted from Yoroi too well – it was a spine breaker but not enough to kill. Some may have thought it was too rough to take the bandits out this way but as far as Mana was concerned had they stood up and continued the battle they would've got hurt a lot more, this was just the lesser of evils. The bandits who ran would definitely reconsider their life choices, Mana wasn't sure that they would stop their life of crime but at least they'd move further away from the village and feel worried every time they attack a merchant, every time they rob someone they'd remember this fight...

Mana walked up to the center of the grasslands and waited for her team to gather, “Nice work guys, thank you for not killing them, it means a lot to me. Our mission only states to take the bandits out and we did just that, we’ve got the drug samples, village can do whatever tests they want so I don’t think we need to drag any of them with us, feel free if you want to but they’re just the lowest ranking bandit scum, I say we leave them lying here, they’ll recover in time even if some of them won’t walk or move ever again… Our job here is done.” Mana said with a casual rather annoyed tone. She was a little annoyed by Kiyomi’s sadistic game with the bandit group but she didn’t think that it was something shameful or hate the girl for it, it just annoyed her a little because anyone who was willing to play around with people like that would have no trouble killing them if they could. “Kiyomi’s definitely changed… She’s not evil but she’s… Different now.” Mana thought as she silently turned and started walking south back to the road that lead to the village. Of course she’d alert the first guards met of a group of injured people laying around an open grassland, if she wouldn’t then the bandits that were made paraplegic would soon die out there all alone. “I’m glad I got to work with you guys again.” Mana would’ve said casually after her team decided to also leave for the village. Still just as Mana’s mind settled on this mission being complete the girl thought what other mission she’d get after getting back. Seeing how lately Mana was asking for new missions right after she completed the old ones the administration would’ve likely already prepared one for her…

[EXIT]

Spoiler:

Age : 31 Posts : 1495

[Daedalus's post]

With the final bandit falling at her feet, Meiko took several strides away from the flailing thug. He may have been incapacitated, but thanks to the drug he still had some fighting spirit in him. If she wasn't careful he may even try to bite her legs off. Once she was a relatively safe distance from any of the five she had just taken down, she let out a deep sigh and wiped the sweat off her brow. So thick it was that it practically left a puddle on her gauntlet. Swinging her arm down, the sweat pool was thrown to the grass, sparkling in the afternoon sunlight. It was at this point that the red head noticed just how hard she was breathing. Physically she felt fine, sure that fight was a bit of a workout, but nothing she could handle. This exhaustion she had felt before, namely during her spar with Kiyomi way back when she first became a shinobi. She felt drained and knew it was from chakra exhaustion. She still felt she had a decent amount left in her, but from what she already used was enough to wind the girl. ”How do those two do it? She thought to herself, perhaps it just came with the practice of ninjutsu. The more you use it the more you become accustomed to it. As it was though, just the single use of her new B rank jutsu was enough to take what felt like a full quarter of her chakra.

Finally catching her breath, she looked over to the east, the last group of bandits and the only one she had not been paying attention to. Having entrusted them to Kiyomi, Meiko was confident the blonde would be able to take out that small group. What she saw though, was not what she had expected. Kiyomi often bragged about her clan's techniques, but what she saw was kind of...scary. The largest bandit in that group was attacking the other four and they were fighting back. Blood was flying left and right with each swing of their weapons, none of them even considering to dodge. This was a dangerous situation if they wished to bring any of them back alive. ”Kiyomi...”.

The next moment, a very familiar jutsu erupted from the treeline. Meiko remembered that fire dragon well. It was kind of hard to forget when a friend launched something that destructive at you during a “friendly” spar. The dragon roared across the battlefield and towards the group of northern bandits, now mostly recovered from Meikos' bomb, they were regrouping and preparing for a second charge when the dragon struck them. Even though they couldn't feel it, they were still able to acknowledge the fact they were on fire. Engulfed by the massive explosion, their bodies went flying like ragdolls. Burnt bodies flailing through the air landing up to ten meters from the blast zone. Whether the jutsu had fully disabled them, or the trauma of the event had finally broken their spirits, the bandits only groaned slightly before falling still. For a moment Meiko thought them dead if not for the occasional twitching.

The increased screaming of the remaining bandits caught Meiko's attention again. Looking over, the four attacking the large bandit struck at him with more fury than ever. Indeed they were going for killing blows now. Movement out of the corner of her eye caused Meiko to pull her attention away from the bandits for a moment. Charging across the field towards the treeline was Mana whom was performing a quick set of hand seals. Upon completion, the bandits immediately cried out, not in pain but fear. Even from this distance Meiko could hear they were screaming about snakes and were flailing about as if they were covered in the reptiles. Obviously as there were no snakes Mana must have caught them all in a genjutsu of hers. The magician then wasted no time performing an impressive taijutsu combo and knocking out one of the bandits. A lightning bolt then erupted from the girl and struck down another bandit.

The large bandit then suddenly came to his senses, no long flailing nor screaming about snakes Meiko figured he must have escaped the genjutsu. Likely due to a combination of the drug and watching Mana take out two of his companions the man was able to break free. Meiko expected him to immediately go on the offensive again, but to her surprise, the man turned tail and began fleeing to the trees. So even the drug's supposed invincibility had it's limits. Well, she wasn't about to let him get away that easily, she didn't have much time until he was out of range, just enough for a single shot. Breaking into a sprint, Meiko dropped her sword into the ground, the blade stabbing itself into the dirt. With her hands now free, she reached behind her and pulled off a second scroll from her back. Quickly unrolling and releasing the seal, she drew forth her bow and quivers. Letting one simply fall to the ground as it would not be needed, the other was quickly thrown over her back and a single arrow drawn from it. Slowing her pace to a halt, she drew back the string, took her aim quickly and let the arrow fly. Watching the projectile fly through the air, it soared past Mana and struck the large bandit in the back of the knee just as he reached the trees. Toppling over in surprise, he frantically tried to get back to his feet. Unable to feel the arrow however, he simply fell over again, confused as to why he was suddenly unable to walk and began desperately crawling. Meanwhile the remaining two bandits had managed to break free of the genjutsu as well and were following suit, each making a break for the trees themselves. Meiko didn't bother firing at them, they were already too far gone by this point. By the time the arrow was fired they would be in the cover of the trees.

Slipping the bow over her shoulder, she watched for a moment as Mana appeared to be taking a body count. Kiyomi was still doing her thing, no doubt she'd at least try to take down the last two bandits herself. Meiko decided to use this opportunity to gather up her weapons. The fuuma shuriken were scattered all over the western side and she could count that kunai she strapped the bomb to as gone for good. The bandits themselves had given up the fight and now merely lay in the grass, accepting of their fate. Walking back, she picked up the quiver and her sword before gathering up the shuriken. Once everything was accounted for, she took out her pen again and used this downtime to reseal her larger weapons. No point in carrying the extra weight when she'd have to drag a few of these buggers back home.

Once she had finished her seals, Mana had too finished counting and was heading towards the center of the clearing. Meeting her there, Meiko gave the girl a soft smile. ”Good work. I'm gonna guess Kiyomi got the last two so that's everything then. I think they're all alive too, maybe we'll get a bonus for that” She said with a chuckle. When Kiyomi reunited with the group, Mana addressed them both, congratulating them for a job well done and that she was personally thankful they did not kill any of them. It gave Meiko a moment's pause, was Mana thinking they would resort to killing these bandits? Honestly the thought only crossed Meiko's mind when she witnessed how easy it could have been when they simply wouldn't dodge her attacks. If she had truly been willing, landing a killing blow would have been all too easy. Well, hopefully this would give Mana more faith in them in the future.

She continued, mentioning that they wouldn't have to bring any bandits back with them since they had samples of the drug itself. ”But, didn't you say they wanted a person with the drug already in them? It's really no trouble to bring at least one back” Meiko offered, a bit confused but since Mana didn't fight her on the issue, she figured that she'd do it anyway. Pulling the three kunai from her belt, she removed the razor wire and further cut the pieces down into one meter lengths, giving her a total of twelve pieces. ”Before we go, there's still a few feisty ones. Probably best to bind their wrists so they don't accidentally hurt themselves or anyone who may come by” She was referring to her group at the very least. They had suffered the least amount of damage in comparison to the others and if they wanted to, could possibly do some damage.

Thankfully they didn't put up a fight and Meiko was able to tie their arms behind their backs. ”Now I know you can't feel any pain, but that's razor wire around your wrists. You're not gonna break free by just pulling it, instead you'll just hurt yourself and if you're unlucky, you'll cut something important and bleed out. I'm pretty sure no one here wants that, so be nice and have a nap or something. We'll be sending someone to pick you all up shortly. You'll all receive medical attention too, so that's one thing you won't have to worry about at least”. She told the bandits as she got back to the group. Mana and Kiyomi were ready to go by this point, so Meiko picked up the nearest bandit she had restrained and threw him over her shoulder. It was awkward for sure, the man being about as tall as her but with much more defined muscle, but at least he didn't put up a struggle. He did stink something fierce though, forcing Meiko to breathe through her mouth to try and ignore it, but she could swear she could taste the odor. ”It was, I miss working with you guys”. As the girls made their way up the path back to Konoha, Meiko recalled that she wanted to talk to Mana about the missions she'd been soloing so much lately. ”Hey Mana...” She began, but cut herself off quickly. Before the girl could turn around, Meiko was shaking her head ”Sorry, it just slipped my mind. Hate when that happens”.

She'd ask her another time.

[EXIT]

Jutsu Used:

Spoiler:

Chakra Used:
28-3=25
25/50CP

Age : 32 Posts : 544

Kiyomi had been perfectly content with letting the bandits fight it out. This way they'd be less likely to suffer injuries if the bandits where already bloodied up, unconscious, or even dead. If not for Mana's wish that they should avoid killing them then Kiyomi would have killed them. Their lack of respect for their fellow man offended Kiyomi, as did their weakness. Only idiots thought they could fight better with a drug and the fact they risked injury because they couldn't feel pain proved how foolish they where. If you couldn't feel the pain then you couldn't gauge how bad the wound was and risked bleeding out.

They deserved to die in Kiyomi's opinion, but her friendship with Mana saved the worthless bastards lives. As Mana cried out for her to stop Kiyomi released the jutsu. This allowed the man to be hit with Mana's jutsu instead. If she hadn't released it then the man would still be attacking people while under the effects of Mana's genjutsu. Kiyomi began to pull out two tagged kunai as she watched the last remnants of the so called battle below. It had been a massacre to say the least. The worthless fools hadn't been able to do much except make the team waste chakra to round them up.

Once some bandits started fleeing Kiyomi watched as Meiko got one in the leg with an arrow. The worthless fops thought they could escape from them. Truly that was an insult to their abilities. With an almost lazy flick of her wrists the tagged kunai flew into the fleeing bandits legs. The kunai then exploded destroying the muscle tissue rendering them unable to flee. Kiyomi hopped down from her treetop perch and stretched a bit. She didn't feel very good about this mission. It had felt rather easy to her. However, it was nice to team up with her friends once more. For safety purposes she created two katon clones to begin gathering up the bandits weapons and then aided Meiko in tying the worthless bastards up.

Once the bandits where tied up and relieved of their weapons Kiyomi joined the rest of the team on the path back to the village. "Well, that was easy don't ya think? We should do more missions together since our skills mesh so well. Now let's get some food and some drinks. This little excursion has made me thirsty."

Jutsu used:

[Exit]