StarStruckk! {C- Generic Mission}

Age : 28 Posts : 3640

Kimiko:

Beginning the journey:

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Mission Description:

Approved mission link

Something was extremely unnerving and scary about receiving her first A-Rank mission. But at the same time, Kimiko couldn’t help but feel extremely excited and pumped. She had been happy enough to be given B-Ranks, but that seemed almost worlds away. Having already had tasters of what A-Rank missions could entail from her father’s stories, she knew that with one misstep she was a goner. Gone. Dead. Bye-bye. So she had to be extra careful and extra prepared. She felt rather ready as she made her way out of the village and into the Fire Country, skim-reading the mission scroll to try and give herself an idea of where she was heading. There was none. It specified that she was to search the Fire Country for this famous movie star who had gone missing, but gave no direction or even a hint of where she should start searching. It made a point of saying that the group that kidnapped the movie star had stopped in a forest nearby, but that could be anywhere around the village’s borders, or even away from them. She racked her brain and thought hard as to which would be the best way to start searching. The Fire Country was almost like home to her now; especially after she had spent so long out here training with her father all those years ago, and because she often used it as a place to train away from the village. So luckily, she knew it well. ‘Okay… I’ll make a start on scanning the perimeter of the village where I know forested areas are. If that comes up fruitless, I’ll double backwards until I find them. If I move fast, I’ll have no trouble finding them before they make plans to up and leave again.’ She decided with a firm nod to herself, reaching behind her and placing the mission scroll back into one of her weapons pouches. ‘Better get a move on then.’

She didn’t waste much time to say the least. She leapt off to the east, running across tree branches and keeping her sharp eyes and ears out for any disturbances that would tell her shinobi were nearby. She circled the east of the village, dashed past the south side which didn’t have any wooded areas, and started searching the west forested area. Much to her disappointment, that too came up fruitless. With the north of the village being the entrance and exit to it, a single pathway led there and no sane individual would stop to harbour a kidnapped movie star around there, so she eliminated that part out of her search. In a way, it made sense as to why the industry didn’t stop near Konoha now that Kimiko really thought about it, but at least she had checked unless they unwittingly wanted to outsmart their pursuer. There was an old saying about hiding where an enemy most expected psychologically, they wouldn’t check there because of it being so obvious. That aside, she knew now that she would have to take her search further afield, if only slightly to begin with. The woodland started to become thicker further away from the village, and much harder to navigate. Unless the foreign movie industry had hired a trained Navigator, they wouldn’t have much luck going deep inside the forests for they would never find their way back out again. Plus, with a famous movie star kicking and screaming all the way, it would be rather hard for them to go much further than was necessary to stop and regroup. ‘Honestly, famous people… such a liability…’ Kimiko thought to herself with a sigh, broadening her search and heading out into the very heavily forested area south of the village, away from its borders.

While she was searching, she started to think about what the mission scroll had said about A-Ranked Missing Nin being involved in the kidnapping of the famous movie star. The thought made her shudder inwardly a bit; she’d had her fair share of bad experiences with Missing Nin. First with two B-Ranks back in Kumogakure three years ago, and then two years ago with an A-Rank named Issen whom she killed. So far in her encounters with Missing Nin, she had killed most of them, save the two associates of Issen who managed to get off lightly. She had saved a model from the Tea Country from low-ranked Missing Nin who were no better than bandits… overall, she was turning into quite the little crime fighter. A small cracking sound brought her back to her wits mid-jump in the tree canopies. She landed silently on the next branch and crouched low, listening hard with her rather enhanced hearing. She scanned the gloom below of the forest floor, but saw no-one there. Another crack sounded in the distance, and another. She made for the sounds quickly, moving without a sound and with all the stealth that she had learnt in her many years of being a kunochi.

Unfortunately, when she arrived at the scene of where the cracks had been heard, she saw only a badger treading heavily on felled branches. She sighed silently and continued with her search, taking note that she had almost finished searching the south forest and saw no sign of the foreign movie company. Upon completing her search in that forest, she dashed off once more, making for the brighter woodland in the east. The trees didn’t grow as dense here, mainly because of its position in relation to the sun. Due to the sun setting in the east, most of the warmth had gone out of its rays by the time it had reached the eastern forest. In comparison, the western forest was twice as large and heavily wooded. The Katsumi plummeted straight into the eastern wood, leaping high into the canopies once more. Her kimono flapped about her body, but its silken fabric ensured that it didn’t make a sound. Her ebony hair was pushed back off her face from the sheer speed she was running at above ground, all the time listening, waiting, watching… for the tiniest little misstep somebody or something might make down on the ground. This forest too came up clean from Kimiko’s search, but she remained patient and moved onto the next one; the slightly staggered northern forests. At one point, it had been a large woodland completely together, but when Konoha had been founded a road was cut through the forest to lead to the hidden village. She started on the north-eastern forest out of ease due to the direction of her last search, all the more alert while she searched. It would make sense for the movie company to stop here, in the north, close to the road so that they could continue on with their kidnapping scheme.

Just then, she heard a pair of voices up ahead…

Age : 28 Posts : 3640

The voices that Kimiko heard both sounded male, and the closer she got to them, the more distinctive they became. From their accents, she could tell that they were not from around this area of the shinobi world. She didn’t recognise any distinctive twangs from Sunagakure, Iwagakure, Kumogakure or Kirigakure, so they must have been from a minor country or village somewhere. “Yah, how long did the boss say it’d be until we get moving again?” A short fat man asked his colleague, ironically another short fat man. Upon doing a double-take, the Katsumi realised that both these men were probably brothers or twins; most likely the latter due to how alike they appeared, even from above. “Not long now. That movie star chick won’t stay still enough for us to rest properly, so chances are we’ll be away by nightfall.” Both the men exchanged glances and extremely wide, comical grins before saying in unison, “Under the cover of dark!” Kimiko actually sweatdropped from watching the exchange between the pair, and withheld a sigh. She noticed that both were carrying armfuls of chopped wood, but only enough for one fire, if that. It was quite pathetic really; one person could easily carry both loads. But, because both men were so short and obviously unfit (this was made obvious by the wheezing sound they both made while walking), they had shared the load. Without a sound or so much as a rustle from the leaves in the trees, the ebony-haired girl dropped down behind the pair, and realised how short they were up close. Both of them barely reached five foot. She pulled out two kunai, one from each weapon pouch situated at her lower back, and swiftly placed the cool metal of the shinobi tools to both fat necks. The pair stopped in their tracks, and slowly turned their heads to look behind them in the same direction at the same time. ‘They could be a bloody circus act… tweedle dum and tweedle dee…’ She thought while glowering at them both, giving them a look that basically equated to ‘Drop the wood or I’ll slit your throats’. Believe it or not, the two men were particularly good in reading eye language, and did just that.

The wood dropped with a soft thudding and clatter on the ground, and she could have cursed at the fact that they had to drop the bundles of wood in a way that made noise. “Now then… speak out of turn and I’ll flick my wrists, and both of you will die; not just one of you. Is that rather clear?” She kept her voice low, barely above a whisper, but loud enough for tweedle dum and tweedle dee to hear her. They nodded frantically, and each of them drew blood on their necks because of the way the kunai rested. ‘They’re obviously not the brightest bulbs in the box…’ She noticed with a slightly raised eyebrow, but went about asking the questions she had to know the answers to. “Who are you working for?” She asked in a dead-pan tone. “Banumo Azuma.” Both of them replied in unison, probably a bit too loud for Kimiko’s liking, but it was close enough. “Where are you destined for?” She asked her next question, and received an answer straight afterwards once more from both tweedles. “Bear Country.” That was bizarre… from what Kimiko knew of, the Bear Country didn’t have any business in things other than shinobi work. She gave the men a dark glare, gripping her kunai tighter and pressing them closer to their necks; obviously too close for comfort. “U-U-Uh… River Country!” “U-U-Um… Grain Country!” She tensed her wrists and started to slide the kunai forward, and that got it out of them. “Okay, okay, Storm Country.” Kimiko could tell that both of them were (albeit very reluctantly) telling the truth, and nodded her head. That would correspond to the direction they were currently heading in. “Where did you kidnap the movie star from?” She asked next. “Water Country.” They chipped in hastily, eyeing the kunai as beads of blood started trickling from their porky necks. “Very good. And last but not least… what possessed you to believe a kunoichi would keep her word?” That question caught them off guard, and before they could click as to what she meant, Kimiko pushed and drew her kunai back swiftly, severing the main arteries in the chubby men’s necks. She wrinkled her nose at the sight of their blood and wiped it on their clothing before withdrawing them and continuing in the direction that the tweedles had been walking in.

She would have to move quickly now, especially since she expected guards to be on duty around the spot where they were holding this famous movie star hostage. Sooner or later they would find the bodies of tweedle dum and tweedle dee and realise that they had somebody after them. Kimiko wished to get this mission over with as quickly as humanly possible with bloodshed being kept to a minimum. From her knowledge of the forests around this area, she knew that there was a clearing up ahead, and it narrowed it down in her thoughts as to where the group could be resting when she found the two fat men waddling this way. She slowed her pace down considerably when she got closer to the clearing, and she pressed her back against a tree trunk to hide herself when she arrived there. She discretely tilted her head to peer round the tree she was using as cover in order to see what she would be faced with. It looked like quite the basic camp; crude tents had been fashioned with dirty tarpaulin, and there was no more than twenty people there. She could tell from the attire of most of them which were shinobi and which weren’t, and it appeared that most, if not all were trained as such. They bore no headbands, so she didn’t know which country any of them originated from. She assumed from the information that she had got from the fat men a few of them were Water Country Nin, but by the same token none of them could be. They could have purposefully travelled from where they were based to kidnap this movie star in the Land of Water; it was possible. Most of them had mismatching uniforms and old, badly-looked after weapons. This showed that they were badly organised; probably last-minute protection when the person who was behind the scheme decided that it was needed after all.

But as Kimiko was well aware, numbers didn’t overwhelm skill.

She unclipped her small fan Kagerou from the strap resting vertically on her back, and channelled chakra into it. She discretely waved her fan to stir up the loose dust in the small clearing which was no more than five metres wide, and the camp was engulfed in panic. She heard sounds of people falling over one another and stumbling to the ground, or just being disorientated in general. She took this to her advantage and jumped down from her perch up in the trees and attack her unsuspecting opponents. She drew five shuriken from her left weapons pouch and launched one at five men who had their eyes closed from the dust, hitting each one in the neck. That was five down easily enough. Next, she channelled a rather new element to her of Sound, Neton, and released it when she got close to a staggered group of three men starting to come to their senses as the dust settled. They were caught unawares by the sharp, high pitched screaming noise that made their ears ring and made them hesitate long enough for Kimiko to attack each one. Swiftly drawing a kunai from the right weapon pouch, she twirled and slashed at the men as they were stood in a staggered line; leaving them bloody, dead and/ or dying on the floor. That was eight down. A pair rushed at her after seeing her take down their comrades, but she was ready for them. She formed a quick succession of hand seals and moulded a whip made out of smoke flowers that rested in her hands. Using chakra to protect her hand, she wielded the whip and circled it above her head to gather momentum before lassoing the man approaching her first, binding his arms by his sides. He was wearing a sleeveless shirt and feeling the burning pain of the smoke’s acid-like properties well enough. With a firm grip on the man, she drew back on her smoke whip and sent him hurtling into his comrade rushing to help him, and dispelled the jutsu for all the smoke flowers to explode. Groaning in a smoking heap, she leapt over those two and started searching for yet more opponents to strike.

Unfortunately for the next group of four shinobi, they would witness first hand Kimiko’s Katon Mastery. She made a quick series of hand seals that seemed all too familiar to her, and spewed forth a large dragon made out of flames. She held her hands up after producing the flaming dragon and manipulated it to circle the four men who had become frightened and huddled closer together. Sitting ducks. Her jutsu engulfed all of them and made short work to say the least, meaning that she was free once more to carry on in her effective raid of the camp. She paused and her hackles went up quickly when she felt a shuriken slice past her arm, leaving a scratch from which blood trickled slowly. She spun to face whoever it was that threw the shuriken at her, and was met with a group of three men this time. ‘How to finish these guys off… decisions, decisions…’ She pondered to herself, and finally picked an idea that would finish off the rest of the men still able to fight. She ran through a more complex range of hand seals, and called out, “Atsugai no Jutsu!” on the top of her lungs to be heard amongst the rabble of those in pain and shouts of confusion ringing out in the clearing. She produced a large sphere of wind between her palms, and if one looked closely enough, inside they could see the slicing pressure of the wind produced. She kept controlling and compacting the razor gale until it was the size of a small cube, and then she released it. All hell broke loose in the clearing. The blast of wind blew away the remaining dregs of dust floating about in the air from Kimiko’s fan technique earlier, and gave the trees a good battering to say the least, let alone the men. Cries, screams and shouts echoed all around her as she stood steadfast, her hair whipping at her face and flying up above her head, but otherwise she appeared unharmed save for the scratch she had sustained. Chaos, sweet, sweet chaos…

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Age : 28 Posts : 3640

Having ransacked the clearing which she had been directed to by tweedle dum and tweedle dee, Kimiko was just a little bit frustrated that the pair had lied to her. She had searched everywhere in the surrounding area, but saw no sign of the movie star she was meant to be saving. Out of the few men that survived her assault on the camp was the man Banumo Azuma; at least the two idiots hadn’t been lying about everything. “Where is she?” Kimiko demanded of the man whom she had tied to a sparse tree in the centre of the camp. He was of medium height, quite muscular with a shaved head and raggedy auburn beard, betraying his hair colour should he have had any on his scalp. His eyes were wide and frightened, the irises a dull grey colour. He was garbed in typical black; a black shirt, cargo pants and shinobi sandals. “Who?” He asked in return, and earned himself a harsh slap. “What do you mean, who?” The ebony-haired kunoichi snarled. “The movie star you kidnapped from the Water Country!” She decided to jog his memory verbally, and then gave him another slap just to make sure he was still awake. “O-Oh, her…” Azuma seemed to remember now, but it was obvious he had known all along. “I’m just part of a group of bandits that the big guys hired to deal with basic protection…” He said slowly, deliberately, trying to waste time. Kimiko gave him a look that simple said he should hurry up if he valued his life. “They’ve already gone ahead.” That was what she wanted to hear. Well, she hadn’t really wanted to hear it, but at least now she knew what needed to be done. She swung a kick at Banumo Azuma’s head, right at the temple, and knocked him cleanly unconscious. If she was lucky, he was probably dead from that blow. “Thanks for your time.” She muttered sarcastically and started to gather her bearings. From here, she would assume those behind the kidnapping would be taking the main road through the Fire Country, so she didn’t have much time to waste now.

‘Better get a move on.’ And with that thought, she started away from the clearing at a smooth sprint, finding the road and swerving into the line of trees that ran beside it. From there, she leapt up the branches in the trees until she was running through the canopies, keeping her eyes peeled in front of her (because she wouldn’t like to be caught out by a rogue branch to the face) and to the side. She was beginning to get a better idea of those responsible for this kidnapping. They had hired bandits, no more than men with basic shinobi skills, to ward off pursuers or to literally buy them time while they moved ahead. Judging by the obvious smarts that these people had, Kimiko had no doubt that there would be more bandit camps like the one she had just ransacked up ahead to stop her advancing too quickly after her real targets.

She didn’t really know what she had been expecting for this mission, but the scroll had told her that A-Ranked Missing Nin were behind the operation. That rang alarm bells for her straight away; if these Missing Nin were as strong as they were clever, she would have one hell of a fight on. From that moment onwards, she would have to keep the amount of chakra she used down to a bare minimum and not squander it like she had done at the first camp of bandits. She kept to her chosen path in the treetops, and only started to hop down when she heard voices. She slowed to a stop when she reached the grassy floor, and crept up behind a tree. The voices drifted to her from across the road, and in the forest on the other side. ‘I should continue and try to catch up to my targets as much as physically possible.’ She decided, knowing that a fight wasn’t worth it if she had to instigate it now. She got up to speed again, and went hurtling back up into the tree tops, but no sooner had she done so, she felt a stabbing pain in her lower left leg. She bit her tongue to keep from swearing aloud and stopped as soon as possible, turning and inspecting her left calf. A kunai was sticking out of it, and she painfully removed the shinobi tool while gripping the tree trunk beside her so hard that she left indentations in the bark. With that removed, she let it drop down to the forest floor below and was suddenly on high alert, wondering who could have thrown it, and whether they were close or far away. Hesitantly, she started running again, impeded by the wound on her leg but not as much as one would probably expect. This time, when a kunai came flying right at her, she was ready, she drew her own kunai and turned, deflecting it just in the nick of time before it went hurtling into her chest. She was most definitely being followed.

“Show yourself!” She demanded, and right on cue a pair of two shinobi appeared before her, possibly down to a Shunshin no Jutsu. These shinobi were different than the bandit ninja she had faced in the camp she had left in ruins; they sported headbands for one thing, each with the crossed out symbol of Konoha on it. Missing Nin. “D’aw, they sent a girl to do a man’s job.” One of them said with a sneer in his voice, a smirk spreading across his thin lips. He was shorter than Kimiko by an inch or so, very wiry and thin with an eye patch over his right eye. The other eye was hazel in colour. His hair was long and black, braided off his face with… bells jingling at the end of the braid. “It’ll almost be a shame to kill her.” The other said, showing big white teeth; almost too good to be real. He looked the same as his partner, only his hair was short and black with what looked to be like hawk feathers tied at the left side. His left eye sported an eye patch as opposed to the right. Kimiko didn’t recognise the pair, but they looked no older than her; perhaps even younger. ‘They mock me for being a girl, and yet they are no more than boys.’ She thought, her chocolate brown eyes narrowing on her opponents. They seemed to have no other weapons than the kunai holsters on their respective legs, so she deduced that they weren’t Weaponry users. Possibly Taijutsu or Ninjutsu, or maybe even Genjutsu because they didn’t look able to cope with full-frontal combat. She could have probably snapped their limbs with a finger by the looks of them. “You won’t hold me back for long.” She warned them, taking up a fighting stance to detract from what her true intentions were. And that was to run straight away. “Oh really?” Right eye-patch said, still smirking that odd smirk of his. “We’ll see about that.” Left eye-patch cackled, and the pair looked at one another before nodding and leaping forward towards Kimiko.

Age : 28 Posts : 3640

Everything happened quickly. The ebony-haired Jounin spun on her heel and started sprinting through the trees, paying close attention to the sounds of the footsteps of her pursuers behind her, approaching but not that fast. ‘Speed perhaps isn’t their best skill…’ She thought, leaping into the next level of tree canopies. She heard scampering footsteps then, murmured voices, and then footsteps continuing below her. Just as she thought that she had lost then for now, right eye-patch dropped down in front of her. Luckily, her reaction was quick. She swerved to the left to avoid a kunai to the face, and continued running. She was determined not to be slowed down by this pair obviously working to impede her progress, but it soon seemed that she would have to fight them as left eye-patch popped up in front of her. She stopped before she could reach him, and glanced behind her to see right eye-patch approaching her. There was no way up, and going down meant that there was a possibility of her missing the precarious tree branch below. This would be her stand. ‘They work as a pair, so maybe if I separate them… they won’t stand a chance.’ She decided, performing a few familiar hand seals and expelling a thick black smoke into the surrounding area up in the trees. Panicked coughs rose from the two males on either side of her, and first she leapt to the right, quiet as a shadow, and upon seeing the silhouette of what must be left eye-patch due to the direction she had jumped in, she ducked down low, gripping the tree branch she had been stood on with both hands, and brought her dominant right leg round sharply to the back of the young man’s knees. He yelped in surprise, and went hurtling towards his partner-in-crime, and possible brother. Judging the sound of flesh impacting on flesh, she knew that she had hit her target.

‘Got them.’ She thought to herself, turning to face the way she was meant to be going and leaping off once more, out of the smoke cloud. When she had left, neither left or right eye-patch’s figures were there, meaning that they must have fallen down into the next level of the canopy, or with any luck, the floor. Such a basic technique had served her well, and she had hardly spent any chakra fighting against them both. ‘I have to be quick; that wouldn’t have knocked them down for long.’ She darted further into the forest and zig-zagged back to her original path; aiming to keep moving in such a manner to throw them off her direction. When she deemed it safe, she dropped back down to the lower level of the canopy and sprinted at full tilt, her legs a blur and her body automatically stream-lining into the usual way shinobi ran with her arms behind her and a slight stooped bodily position. Just then, a large explosion engulfed the trees before her, and behind her, trapping her to stand on one branch. She growled under her breath, realising that she had been too careless and allowed the pair to catch her again. It wasn’t the flames that stopped her from continuing, it was the fact that the trees had been blown apart and left her trapped. A kunai with an exploding tag came hurtling straight for from the opposite side of the road, she dodged just in time, landing and rolling on the floor to break her fall. Fragments of trees showered atop her, and she shied away enough for a kick to be aimed square in her chest. It wasn’t powerful, but strong enough to knock the wind out of her and send her flying backwards until she dug her feet into the ground beneath to steady herself. And believe it or not, there was right eye-patch, battered and bruised but otherwise not injured. He and his partner/ brother didn’t have to use explosive tags to get Kimiko down, but using them meant that now their position was advertised to whoever was close by. They were sending out a signal for back-up.

“The girl isn’t that shabby.” Right eye-patch chuckled to himself, walking forward casually with a kunai glinting in his grip. Kimiko straightened herself up and stood at her full height, watching the way that her opponent was moving. He was limping, not much, but enough for her to know that her attack from earlier hadn’t been completely in vain. “And you’re becoming increasingly annoying.” She slipped into a fighting stance, this time fully intending to stand and fight. Her opponent didn’t have his partner with him, and that gave her an extra chance. Not only that, but she knew that they weren’t A-Ranked Missing Nin. They were likely to be C or B-Ranked, possibly the former with good teamwork skills to make them both together a B-Rank. “That’s fighting talk, I hear. So the girl isn’t going to run and hide anymore?” The boy sneered, holding his kunai accusingly towards her. The onyx point glistened in the fading sunlight above them, and Kimiko started to realise how late in the day it was. ‘I don’t have much time.’ She thought grimly. In another day, her targets would be out of the Fire Country, and that just couldn’t do. “As long as you no longer call me a girl, I’ll stand and fight you like a true kunoichi of my village, the one that you betrayed.” Her voice didn’t falter, and she stood strong and ready to fight. “Then let’s get down to business.” Right eye-patch lunged at her, deliberately running past her and going for a strike from behind. Kimiko was too quick for him, however. She shot out a hand and grabbed her opponent’s collar, and leapt into the air. Using his collar as leverage, she stopped mid-leap and came crashing down onto the young man’s back with a strong aerial kick. She pushed off his back with her feet when she landed, and flipped over gracefully to land on her feet, already starting her next assault. She swiftly drew three shuriken from her weapons pouch, spreading them between her fingers and launching all of them in the same flick of her wrist. Two were dodged, but one lodged itself into right eye-patch’s abdomen while he had been turning around to keep tabs on his opponent, moving with a slight hunch because of the impact to his back.

Keeping to her ‘swift, strong, strike’ strategy, she darted straight for her opponent once more, channelling fire chakra into her dominant right fist, and landing a hit on the young man’s chest with her Blazing Hit Technique. He cried out and stumbled back, leaving him open for another strike from the Katsumi female currently dominating in this fight. She flung herself over backwards, swinging her left leg up and catching the young man’s face as he stumbled backwards with his face being left vulnerable. Landing cat-like, she sprung up with an elbow to right eye-patch’s ribs, and a palm strike from her other hand in the same place. To finish, she drew her left leg around her until she stood with her foot pressed on the inside of her right thigh, palms closed and a determined look in her eye, drawing strength for this next strike. She charged the small distance between her and her opponent, lowering her shoulder enough to hit him in the abdomen, and as she straightened back up, she kicked him hard with a sharp upward incline to lead to him flying a short distance into the air before tumbling back down to the floor. He was unconscious after that, judging by his limp body on the ground. Kimiko had delivered no killing blows, so she knew he couldn’t be dead. The next challenge would be right eye-patch’s companion, that, judging by the familiar voice approaching, would be imminent…

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Age : 28 Posts : 3640

Kimiko was now faced with a real dilemma. Should she try to run ahead again, or leave it to chance that left eye-patch was a dangerous enough threat to take out now? Right eye-patch hadn’t proved to be too difficult after all; separated from his partner, he hadn’t held the strength to even really harm the Jounin in her determined fighting stance. She would guess that if she chose to fight left eye-patch, the outcome would be the same, because they fought as a pair and would probably be of the same rank for that reason. Other factors like their visible age made her realise this fact too, but she couldn’t be completely sure. She highly doubted that left eye-patch would be an A-Rank in disguise when his partner was probably of C-Rank at best. Even so, she knew that she was running out of time, and fast. The sun was beginning to set, and if she left it too late to catch up to her targets, they would have left the Fire Country and entered the protection of another envoy to lead the movie star to her destination. The ebony-haired girl sighed bitterly and reached her hands up to the back of her head, re-arranging her ponytail and making sure that the Japanese pin was still in place. ‘If I prolong the problem, it will only hinder me down the line. Now that I have him on the run, I might as well take action now.’ She thought solemnly as she heard her opponent draw closer, muttering a string of curses under his breath at present. He was approaching from the west side, from the forest that he and his partner had their hand in attacking not very long ago. Kimiko stayed where she was, listening and preparing for a quick assault that preserved her chakra, yet finished her opponent swiftly. “Ah, you really are starting to cause us a problem…” A familiar voice mused as left eye-patch stepped out of the trees, turning so that he was stood sideways on, his head turned to look disgustedly at the Konoha Jounin.

The kunoichi didn’t budge, her gaze unwavering as she looked at the troublesome Missing Nin. He, unlike his partner, actually seemed to be taking this seriously. “And who’s us?” She asked, deciding to kill two birds with one stone by asking him about his allegiance. “Who do you work for?” She pressed, but didn’t leave him much chance to answer before she charged forwards to meet the young man, hand facing outwards for a palm strike to his chest. He blocked it with his wrist, and used his free hand to form a fist, aiming for Kimiko’s face. She dodged the intended strike by sashaying to the left, using a leg to trail behind her and attempt to hook around one of his ankles, aiming to send him off balance to hopefully fall or at least stumble. That didn’t happen, however; he stamped down on her leg, causing her to retract it in pain and voice a small curse. “Why is that any of your business, Leaf scum?” He snarled, his demeanour completely changed from the way it had been presented before. He had been playful and sarcastic, but now he was radiating pure hatred and malice. Kimiko skidded backwards a couple of feet to regain her composure and plan another strategy, her gaze never leaving that of her opponent. “You were once from the Leaf too, or does your headband lie?” She started making rapid hand seals, kneading Doton chakra into her right palm before slamming it to the ground. The rock beneath left eye-patch started to churn and twist, a small rock pillar reaching up and wrapping around the boy’s leg to bind him, while the rest of the rock started making a sickly churning sound, engulfing his foot. He cried out in pain, and channelled chakra throughout his body, breaking the rock away and leaping away from the source of the jutsu. “I was from Konoha, yes. Emphasis on was.” He hissed, drawing two kunai with wire attached between the pair and launching them at the kunoichi he was facing. The aim was for the wire not to be seen, and have her dodge by standing in the middle of the two kunai, but Kimiko had already seen the wire, thin though it was. She dodged by sliding beneath the kunai and the trapping wire, springing to her feet again and charging forth to continue her assault.

“And yet here we are, fighting to kill one another.” She said bitterly, meeting left eye-patch head on in close combat once more, swinging a round-house kick to the young man’s side, which he didn’t see in time to dodge due to wearing an eye patch on that side. He grunted at the impact, stumbling a little and snarling as he acted to counter, aiming to punch the kunoichi in the abdomen while he was still recovering from the last strike. “Surely you know that what your bosses are doing is wrong!” The ebony-haired female cried out, catching hold of left eye-patch’s fist and scrunching it tight, throwing him aside and charging after him again. He regained his balance and skidded along the floor a little, shaking his hand as if to get rid of the pain that plagued it. “You don’t know anything!” He yelled in return, not recovering quickly enough to dodge a strong punch to the face. While his head travelled backwards, Kimiko grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him forwards again, their faces now mere inches away from one another as she narrowed her eyes at him. “Tell me, then!” She shouted in his face, watching as his stern, hard facial expression changed to one of confusion. She let go of him and moved backwards, having barely exerted any effort she stood tall with her fists clenched, watching the injured Missing Nin try to gather himself. Something seemed to click when he realised that the kunoichi could have killed him at any point, but she had left both him and his partner alive; his brother, no less. With ragged breaths, he heaved himself back up to his full height, gaze still fixed with hers. “Our boss… is doing it for the money they need to buy more aid, more shinobi to take over minor nations. The actress will fetch a high ransom price, but an even higher selling price.” He explained slowly to the young woman before him, suddenly falling to his knees with a slight sigh. “He aims to be out of the Fire Country by tonight. You need to hurry if you want to stop him.” He told her, and without a word Kimiko turned on her heel and went as if to leap up into the tree canopies again, but she stopped when she heard a plea from the injured Missing Nin on his knees behind her. She turned her head, looking at him with a quizzical look. “G-Good… good luck. You’ll need it.” He told her, gulping and then hunching up in a ball.

These ‘bosses’ sounded like quite the formidable foes alright. Kimiko nodded at the boy and leapt up into the trees again, moving quickly as she realised now that back-up would be on its way from seeing that explosion from before. At least if she was in the trees, they shouldn’t see her, especially not at this speed. She was a blur of black and red, barely visible to the human eye should they even look up to the tree canopies. She never did learn the names of the two partners in crime that she left behind, but it didn’t matter. They had betrayed their village, her village, and for that reason they weren’t even worthy of names that their parents, undoubtedly Konoha shinobi, had given them. But somehow she couldn’t bring herself to kill them. They were still boys, not looking a day over fourteen or maybe fifteen, and even then that would be a push. She understood now the magnitude of her situation, and knew why she had to get there to save the poor actress before it was too late.

Jutsu Used:

Chakra Remaining:

Age : 28 Posts : 3640

Serachi Nayuma, the Actress as she appeared in her last film, 'Bad Cop':

Cazumoi Kenzo, the evil bad-guy A-Rank Missing Nin:

Leaping through the tree canopies, Kimiko kept a keen ear out for any sounds of people’s voices, or footsteps up ahead that would be apparent if a large party was moving. So far, there was nothing. She had been running for a long time, at least half an hour, and yet she was still nowhere near the kidnap envoy? She frowned to herself; something wasn’t quite right about that. Either they were taking extra precautions to muffle their tracks and minimise their noise, or… she didn’t know what, in all honesty. She took an estimated guess at thinking that the envoy consisted of no less than ten people, including the kidnapped actress. The A-Ranked Missing Nin who were behind the operation, probably two or maybe even three of them, or just the one. That easily took up two people. The rest would be those guarding the actress and the envoy itself, along with keeping their tracks covered as much as possible. From what she could see of the dirt road below, what with the fading sunlight and the pace she was running at, she could still see tracks there. Footprints. Even if she had no idea who they belonged to, or how recent they were, it gave her hope all the same.

She knew that a surprise attack would be the best option, because even though her main style was that of ‘rush in, attacking everything that moves and beat them to a pulp’, a very brazen style, that wouldn’t work in this situation. Not since there would be A-Ranked Missing Nin involved. Those of her own rank, and no matter which way one looked at it, the outcome could be very bad indeed if she was careless on his mission. So far, her opponents had been reasonably easy, although quantative, but she could still feel that she had a fair amount of chakra left. She hadn’t used more than half of it, and that was a good thing. As long as she was clever and quick about it, there would be no need for huge, devastating jutsu that drained her dry of chakra. But no simple hit-and-run strategy would work either.

Just when she was starting to despair that the party had already crossed the Fire Country borders, she heard it. Footsteps. She could have sighed with relief, kissed the ground in gratitude, done both of those things and jumped for joy too. But that wasn’t appropriate in her current situation, of course it wasn’t. The envoy was walking, quite slowly but not at a plodding pace either. It didn’t take too long for Kimiko to catch up from them after she first heard their footsteps, and when she was running slowly alongside their walking mass, she hastily counted numbers to give her an idea of what to expect. The movie star stood in the middle of a group of men, a group of less people than she originally imagined. Overall, there was no more than seven of them; one walking at the front, two slightly behind and flanking the sides, two more flanking the back and a man stood either side of the poor actress. She looked absolutely and positively exhausted. Even from here the kunoichi could see the pale colour of her skin, and the laboured breathing that rattled from her chest. Her once lustrous blonde hair hung in loose rat’s tails, her once beautiful kimono had been ripped to barely keep herself decent and was covered in dirt and grass stains galore. Getting hold of her had been quite the struggle. Or, keeping hold of her had. One of the two. But the fact that she was a movie actress didn’t strike Kimiko as pinning her to be the type that would desperately fight for her life.

The woman was a civilian after all, a very famous one, but still someone with no combat abilities according to the mission description, or what the description alluded to anyway. That was why a high-ranked shinobi had been sent after her, to retrieve her and take her home. The men that surrounded her looked like the typical generic types to follow a corrupt operation; almost all of them had dark hair, expressionless eyes and a gait that proved to be as without flair as a bog-standard chicken dinner. Not like their walk resembled a chicken dinner… it was a mere comparison that Kimiko found fitting. They walked at a steady plod, their feet making definite loud sounds each time a foot struck the ground. It sounded like they were marching. The one leading the march had quite striking sea blue hair, and stood a head taller than the rest of the mid-height followers. He was garbed in a black net shirt, over which was a crimson vest with a deep V-neck at the front to reveal his toned abdominals underneath the thin net shirt. He wore loose black pants tied at both knees with bandages, wooden sandals with red straps and a headband wrapped around his upper right arm revealed that he was an ex-Kumo nin. At times like these, Kimiko was grateful for her sharp senses, so that she could pick out the necessary details before acting upon anything. She judged that the blue-haired shinobi leading the proceedings was of A-Rank, simply because he was out front. She highly doubted that the rest were secret A-Ranks in disguise and he was of C-Rank, especially not since she recognised the look and feel of a powerful opponent. There was an atmosphere about them, and the blue-haired male sported it well enough. The others, not so much.

She allowed the envoy to pass her by, lessening her speed in the tree canopies until she was almost stood stationary, and when they had only just passed her, she leapt out, falling for what seemed like an eternity. Nobody noticed her presence, thankfully, which left her plenty of space to strike. When she landed, she hit the ground running, literally, to catch up the ones flanking the back of the party. They didn’t know what hit them when each of them felt strong punches to the backs of their heads. Kimiko proceeded to grab their shoulders and throw them down to the floor hard enough for the pair not to get back up again. Needless to say, this alerted the attention of the others around those who had been felled. Before one of the men flanking the actress could turn his head, however, Kimiko dashed forwards, kneed him in the back, grabbed his long-ish brown hair to hold him back, kneed him in the back of the head, and slammed him down with a harsh stomp on the chest for good measure. She pivoted round and had a kunai drawn to counter a slash aimed at her with a meagre katana from the man stood on the other side of the movie actress, and plunged the small shinobi tool of hers forward into the man’s neck. He fell down with no more protest, effectively freeing the blonde actress. But she stood there. Paralysed with fear. It showed in her pale gold eyes, the fear that she was being taken by another evil force, or just from fear in general. Seeing men slain or knocked unconscious probably wasn’t her thing, because in the movies she had done they would spring back up, laugh and go to the next scene. Real death never happened in the movie industry, or real violence for that matter. When all went pear-shaped, they just called in a stunt double.

Kimiko stooped down to retrieve her bloody kunai, snapping her head round to face the front again and throwing the same projectile at the next approaching man’s abdomen. It hit its target, and he immediately crumpled over in pain, clutching at the kunai to try and pull it out despite the obvious agony. The final underling was effectively finished with a side-long high kick to the temple. Between the film actress and the potentially dangerous Missing Nin stood the Katsumi from Konoha, head held high and fists clenched white in determination. She wouldn’t let any harm come to the female who had already suffered enough, stood cowering behind her. Quite calmly, the blue-haired man stopped walking, paused, and then turned slowly on the spot to face the kunoichi who had slain his band of followers. He smiled at her, his cool blue eyes scanning every inch of her, even penetrating into her soul as it felt like. It gave her the chills. “Ah… so you arrived, after all.”

Age : 28 Posts : 3640

NPC Post (Does not count towards Mission Post Count)

Name: Cazumoi Kenzo
Letter Rank: A
Specialty: Genjutsu, Ninjutsu
Elemental Affinities: Suiton, Raiton
Combat Style: Kenzo is more of a long-range fighter and doesn't like to be caught out in a close-combat situation. Due to his weaknesses as a child, he has never really developed any real bodily strength beyond normal shinobi training, and instead excels in his use of powerful Genjutsu and elemental Ninjutsu. He is perhaps most well-known for his mastery of the Suiton element, advanced chakra control and strong Genjutsu.
Special Characteristics:
Name: Suiton Master
Rank: A
Type: Chakra Based
Physical Requirements: Must have Suiton Prodigy
Training Requirements: A 1600 word training post is required to gain this special characteristic.
Description: The title given to those elite ninja who've become legendary for their power and skill over the water element. Being classified as a prodigy during their early years, the ninja has now mastered the water element and attains great power from their continuous training. The ninja's water techniques are now 40% more destructive, which is measured via the increase in pressure and in size. The user can now summon large volumes of water from molding their chakra, which can be used for their water techniques or other convenient uses. They can also scale across water in very high speeds and attack from the depth. Through such mastery they also gain the ability to access a sub-element from the water element known as 'Mist Release'. This allows them to create specialized jutsu under this sub-element.

Name: Advanced Chakra Control.
Rank: D-S.
Type: Chakra Based.
Physical Requirements: Must specialize in Medical Ninjutsu or Genjutsu, and must not have an Increased Chakra Capacity or Bijuu.
Training Requirements: 700.
Description: An exceptional attribution that one is innately born with and further invokes during the course of their training. Chakra Control is key to preserving your stamina which will increase your vitality and enable you to use techniques to it's fullest capacity. It is essential for nearly all specialties of Ninjutsu but is heavily coveted in the areas of Medical Ninjutsu and Genjutsu which require good chakra in order to perform their techniques proficiently. Those with Advanced Chakra Control however are able to take it to the next step and preserve more noticeable chakra from their standard pool. Depending on the rank of the technique, a small quantity of chakra is preserved within the body when executed the Jutsu, which ultimately lowers the cost of your techniques. Furthermore because your Chakra Control is so flawless and exceptional, your Surface Walking and Water Walking techniques no longer cost chakra because you can now perform them effortlessly. This technique does not lower the cost chakra points going towards maintaining a jutsu, only creating them.
D Rank Jutsu - Costs are reduced by 1 CP.
C Rank Jutsu - Costs are reduced by 2 CP.
B Rank Jutsu - Costs are reduced by 4 CP.
A Rank Jutsu - Costs are reduced by 8 CP.
S Rank Jutsu - Costs are reduced by 12 CP.

Name: Yin Release.
Rank: D-S.
Type: Chakra Based.
Physical Requirements: Must have Genjutsu specialty.
Training Requirements: 700.
Description: Genjutsu is a notably skillful specialization that requires great intelligence and chakra control in order to perform. Those who have attained this special characteristic have met those criteria which has allowed them to take their illusions to the next plane. Genjutsu fittingly falls under the broad category of Yin Release and it has been revealed that those with superior talent in Genjutsu likewise have greater mastery in Yin Release. This type of mastery allows them to more accurately manipulate the victim's chakra flow to their brain and stimulate more powerful illusions, making you're illusions more realistic and bypassing a persons perception. Because of your more powerful illusions, it now takes double the chakra cost to perform a Kai Release than it normally would for targets.
Description: Kenzo is an ex-Kumo nin having escaped to feed his big, unrealistic ideology of a shinobi world where he owns everything. He has an obsession with money and power, and surrounds himself with measly minions to make him feel better about himself. He likes to feel as though he is the strongest shinobi in the world, and will stop at nothing to realise his dream, no matter how dark the route will take. He has built up quite the profile for himself as a Missing Nin, and the attempt to kidnap the famous movie star Serachi Nayuma is the biggest plot he has carried out so far. He stands at 5'9", quite tall for a shinobi despite his earlier health problems, has blue hair and matching eyes. He has numerous scars that cover his lower body excluding his feet where his brittle bones used to break and operations to set them right had occurred. From birth, his legs had been a weakness to him since they were wrapped around his foetus when born. Although his legs were righted shortly after birth, they remained weak and made him unable of pursuing his passion to learn Taijutsu.
Jutsu:

Academy Jutsu:

Suiton Jutsu:

Raiton Jutsu:

Genjutsu:

Age : 28 Posts : 3640

When Things Weren't Looking Good...:

When Things Start Looking Up...:

When Kimiko raises that fighting spirit...:

Kimiko stared down at the dangerous Missing Nin stood opposite her, her chocolate gaze hardening and becoming venomous the longer she looked at him. Why was he so… calm? Collected? Had he really been expecting her or was he trying to psyche her out? She wasn’t sure of any of these questions or the answers to them, and was starting to become uneasy with the oppressive silence that seemed to be enveloping the entire area. The birds seemed to have been spooked and flown away. No other wildlife made their presence known. Nobody else was in the area aside from her, the Missing Nin stranger and the actress. The envoy of shinobi that had been following their leader were all dead or dying at his feet. And yet this man was still so… calm. It was disconcerting how he reminded Kimiko of the water, and it wasn’t just because of his hair colour either. He seemed so calm, so cool and collected on the surface, but seemed ready to start a tidal wave at any second. “Who are you?” The Katsumi demanded all of a sudden, wondering if she would recognise his name from anywhere when she heard it. Should he actually give it to her, of course. His sea blue gaze didn’t leave her chocolate brown one for a second while his lips quirked up into an amused smile. “My name is Cazumoi Kenzo.” He told her smoothly, and strangely enough, she knew he wasn’t lying to her. For many years, she had been studying the body language of people, and knew when somebody was stretching the truth, even slightly. Judging by his current body language and facial expression, how there was no hesitation or flicker of nerves in his voice, he was actually being truthful with her. She nodded slowly, still not taking her eyes off him for a moment. He might be truthful, but that didn’t mean to say she would trust him.

He seemed to notice her grim determination when it came to looking at him, and a small chuckle left his lips while he started to walk towards her. It wasn’t an urgent gait, it better reflected an older person with all the patience in the world. Kimiko held an arm out to the side protectively, backing up towards the actress behind her, ready to defend the blonde woman with all her might. But before Kenzo crossed a line of personal space, he stopped, studying the ebony-haired girl as if she was a fascinating display in a museum. “What do you want with her?” Kimiko asked next, obviously meaning the actress who was stood shivering in fear behind her. Kenzo seemed to consider the question carefully, tilting his head this way and that while he folded his arms across his chest. “Oh, you know… we all need money in this crazy world of ours… oh, sorry, I meant… this crazy world of mine.” His lips pulled back when he smirked, showing a full set of pearly white teeth. The Katsumi couldn’t help but notice the way in which the teeth were pointed slightly, giving the man a menacing look. “Kehehehehe…” He chuckled oddly, unfolding his arms and holding a hand out towards Kimiko, as if wanting to make a bargain with her. “Step aside, my dear, and this won’t have to get ugly. I very much enjoy Nayuma-san’s company, and she enjoys mine in return…” He averted his gaze to the blonde actress, who visibly shuddered upon making eye-contact with him. With a flick of her wrist, the ebony-haired Jounin had launched three shuriken at Kenzo, not aiming to hit him but instead firing off warning shots. They thumped into the ground just in front of his sandaled feet, glinting onyx in the waning light of the day. “It is my mission to bring this poor woman back and save her from whatever you plan to do with her. You’d be insane to think that I’d hand her back to you after everything you’ve done.” Her tone was cold, and her eyes had narrowed into brown slits while she glared at him.

Kenzo tutted and shook his head slowly, smirking again as if he found something fascinating about the dark-haired girl before him. “If it’s a fight you want, it’s a fight you’ll have. You can’t say, however, that I didn’t warn you…” He trailed off, and with a slight widening of his eyes, Kimiko found herself in a dark void of nothingness. She found herself opening her mouth and attempting to call out, but when she tried to speak she could only croak like a demonic frog. The space around her offered no light, and she assumed she was completely alone, until she felt something grab her ankle. She gasped and wheeled round to see what had took hold of her, and cried in revulsion at what she saw. A man, or at least it once was, with only the torso left. His skin was pale green, his eyes had long since gone. He wore a Konoha headband around his forehead, the black material threadbare and covered in gore. She tugged desperately at her ankle to try and free it from the grotesque man’s grasp, and when she finally pulled herself free, she fell over and hit the ground hard. It was difficult to tell which way was up and which way was down when everything was in blackness, and she felt extremely disorientated while she tried to gather her bearings. Subconsciously when she fell she had closed her eyes, and when she opened them now the horror that she felt was obvious on her face. Approaching her were more awful figures, all of whom had limbs missing, blood pouring from their decaying bodies, eyes hanging by their sockets and different headbands making their allegiance known. Konoha, Kumo, Iwa, Kiri, Suna were among them, alongside some of the minor countries too like Ame. Kimiko screamed and screamed even if the sound was audible in this world, crawling backwards madly until she was grasped by only a hand from behind. When she turned her head, it became obvious that she was surrounded. More grotesquery figures were coming at her, men and women, young and old. She screamed until her lungs were hoarse, even though it was obvious nobody would hear her pleas when she couldn’t hear them herself.

As they started to surround her, and she felt their disgusting hands grab hold of her, she thought it was all over. This was it; she would die here alongside these evil beings and would become just like them to come back and haunt others who ventured into this void. Instead of screaming now she began sobbing, trying to curl up inside herself to escape the grotesque figures, closing her eyes tight to try and forget where she was. As an old lady reached a hand out towards her face, empty eye sockets swimming with worms, Kimiko felt a hard impact to the back of her head. When she next opened her eyes, she was back where she had been before, in the Fire Country stood in front of Kenzo. The blue-haired men did not look best pleased right now; a scowl was tugging down at the corners of his lips, and slowly, the realisation dawned on the Katsumi that what she had witnessed had been an illusion. She had been looking into her opponent’s eyes, after all, so she would have been easy pickings for the criminal casting a Genjutsu on her. But… how did she break free if she didn’t use the Kai jutsu? She slowly turned her head to glance behind her, and saw Nayuma panting hard, her golden eyes strong and unwavering. In her delicate hands she held a katana that had been dropped by one of her captors. Blood blossomed from cuts made in her hands from holding the sword blade first in order to use the blunt handle as an instrument to hit Kimiko with. “You…” The ebony-haired girl was at a loss for words, and she stared in horror at the blood trickling onto the floor. Nayuma dropped the katana she had been holding and looked at her hands, but didn’t appear fazed by the blood pouring forth from them. “You saved me…” Kimiko attempted what she had tried to say before and succeeded to say it this time. The blonde actress smiled slightly as her hands dropped to her sides, splatters of blood spraying on her kimono from this action. “I’ve been so helpless this whole time, waiting for my saviour to come for me. And now that you’re here, your bravery…” She paused and laughed shakily, dropping to her knees and refusing to look at her hands. Her skin had paled considerably since looking at her bloody appendages, and Kimiko guessed that the sight/ smell of her own blood was something that made her nauseous. “Your bravery is contagious.” She smiled slightly, averting her gaze to Kenzo who had been her captor. “Please… stop him… please…” With that final plea, Nayuma the actress collapsed to the side, eyes closed and obviously unconscious.

Kimiko balled her hands into fists and closed her eyes tight while looking at the unconscious form of the brave actress who had saved her from a fate worse than death; being trapped in that awful Genjutsu. ‘She was brave for me… and now I need to be brave for her…’ She thought to herself firmly. An actress that she had doubted had shown more bravery than she had thus far, and she couldn’t let that act be in vain. She turned around to face Kenzo, being careful not to meet his cool gaze. She didn’t like how vivid, how real his Genjutsu were, and guessed that if Nayuma hadn’t hit her on the head when she did, chances are she would have fallen unconscious with fright in that god-awful illusion. She performed a very familiar set of hand seals so fast that it was second nature to her, and one minute she was the ordinary human Katsumi Kimiko, the next she was the child borne of prophecy in her lioness form. Sandy-coloured ears protruded from atop her head, her eyes narrowed and were coloured amber, the tip of her nose was black and whiskers twitched from her cheeks. A long, swishing lion tail was had grown at her backside, visible as it lifted up her kimono and stood rigid in annoyance. Lion paws had replaced her hands and feet, and deadly sharp claws were drawn at her fingertips. ‘As brave as a lion…’ She thought, lowering herself down onto all fours. Her claws dug into the earth below while she glared at her newest prey. “I won’t let you get away with what you’ve done.” She growled, her lips pulling back to show her new deadly fangs. “I’ll put you in the shallow grave that you deserve!”

Kenzo's SCs:

Kenzo's Jutsu:

Chakra Remaining:

Kimiko's Jutsu:

Chakra Remaining:

Age : 28 Posts : 3640

Determination to end the Fight:

The battle that ensued was fierce to a new degree. It was by far the most intense that Kimiko had ever been a part of, that much was for certain. She kept dashing, striking, being pushed back mid-way. She knew by now that Kenzo was a long-range fighter, and kept trying to get up-close at all costs, but he kept pushing her back with his Suiton Ninjutsu. They really were relentless to a new extreme. “Haran Banshou no Jutsu!” Her opponent cried out, summoning forth a great pillar of water and launching it straight at her. In her lioness form, she was much more alert and on her toes with those cat-like reflexes of hers, but as the fight drew out she was finding it much more difficult to dodge the attacks being launched at her. She guessed that he had better chakra control than her, just because of the amount of jutsu he had been able to fire at her without letting up even one bit. “Ja no Kuchi!” He yelled, summoning forth another great pillar of water. But this time, it took the shape of a very deadly-looking serpent. Kimiko dodged out of its way when it came hurtling towards her, feeling her tail get a bit of a soaking from the spray as it barrelled past. To her surprise, however, it performed a U-turn behind her back, and the next time she became aware of its presence was when it had engulfed her. She cried out in pain as the wall of water hit her like a tonne of bricks, and she desperately fought against the current. She clung onto the earth beneath her for dear life, her claws pulling out of the ground and starting to hurt from the immense pressure they were being subjected to. In a desperate attempt to break free, Kimiko channelled her Fuuton chakra all at once around her body, sending up a great gale which thankfully proved big enough to break Kenzo’s Suiton jutsu.

Now soaked and feeling even more exhausted from the direct hit she had taken, she panted loudly after getting up to her feet again. ‘I need to end this… and fast.’ She realised, knowing that even if she won eventually, she might pass out from the effort of doing so, and she needed to be strong enough to take Nayuma back to Konoha for immediate medical attention. The fading daylight burnt bright red across the battlefield they had created while fighting; chunks of earth had been upturned, trees battered and uprooted, singe marks here and there from Kimiko’s fiery chakra. She had been able to protect the unconscious actress thus far, but wasn’t sure how much longer she could do that due to Kenzo’s progressive rage at not being able to take his opponent down once and for all. “I never liked cats.” Kenzo growled, starting to run through a sequence of hand seals already while speaking. “Stop resisting and just DIE already!” He yelled, finishing his hand seals and raising his hands up high. “Electromagnetic Murder!” He screeched, lightning shooting out of his fingertips and snaking its way to find Kimiko. She leapt up out of its way, using this momentum to come down near Kenzo hard. The impact rocked the ground beneath him and made him stumble with a small cry, and this was a chance that the lioness couldn’t ignore.

She hastily drew her own seal onto her index finger, and closed the small distance between herself and her opponent, holding out her dominant hand towards him, index finger first. He flinched as if she was about to strike, but all she did was poke his chest with her index finger. A small smirk touched her lips as they barely parted to say, “Faibufingāshīru: Indekkusu.” The ensuing explosion of fiery chakra was enough to knock an unsuspecting Kenzo backwards through a tree. That jutsu had become much more powerful since Kimiko’s enhanced mastery of the Katon element, and it never ceased to satisfy her when she managed to pull the jutsu off. But she wasn’t finished yet. She charged forward again, following the blue-haired monster to where he fell in order to follow up that attack with even more. “Kaze no Yaiba!” She yelled, reaching her palm out towards Kenzo in mid-leap to close the gap between them again. He hastily tried to stand, but the terribly excruciating gale he found himself trapped in now immobilised him from moving any further. Kimiko could hear the very satisfying slicing sounds that her jutsu made when it impacted with her opponent, cutting up his clothing and his skin. And just to put the icing on the cake, to make Kenzo’s last thoughts echo along the lines of, ‘I messed with the wrong woman’, the ebony-haired Jounin made a rapid succession of well-known hand seals, even though this technique was a new one to her. An even wider smirk covered her features as the gale from before still ripped in the air, making her hair stand on end and her loose clothing flap madly. “Zekokku no Jutsu!” She screamed, and her voice echoed much louder than the slicing sound of her previous jutsu still in effect. She took a deep breath in and spewed forth a small fireball; harmless in that state, but not so harmless when it not only made contact with the ground, but when it was fanned by the raging gale…

Kenzo’s screams seemed to last a lifetime as the flames combined with the slicing gale ripped and burnt his body to shreds, possibly the most painful death Kimiko could have ever imagined. And there she was having committed it. She had changed a lot since her early days of being a kunoichi, whereas before she despised the idea of such a monstrosity that she had just committed, she rather enjoyed it now. Knowing that she had made the evil man suffer for what he had done satisfied her greatly. Her ability of reading the hearts and minds of those she encountered had told her that greed, a plague that could never be stopped when it had started, had spread through Kenzo’s heart to the point where there was no good left to salvage. Her rage from earlier had also been fuelled by the brave act that Nayuma had carried out to save the ebony-haired kunoichi from death by illusion, because such bravery had been stamped on by Kenzo while he held the woman captive. The Konoha Jounin moved back to the road where the actress had fallen unconscious and where Kenzo’s cronies were all dead by now, and walked to Nayuma’s side. She picked up the felled woman and held her tight, glancing back over her shoulder at the blaze that continued to burn behind her. No doubt the woodland would flourish with the remains of Kenzo. It was a well-known fact that human bodies made wonderful fertiliser.

And with that cheerful, macabre thought, Kimiko started running down the pathway which lead back home. She was tired and would most likely need medical attention when she arrived back as well, she had no doubt about this fact. But at least her body was used to the strain of being battered, bruised, stabbed and all sorts of other punishment doled out through her choice of profession. Nayuma was understandably pushed to the point of exhaustion, and for a civilian she had shown bravery capable to rival those of most shinobi that Kimiko knew of. This mission had been long but rewarding at the same time, and when the actress awoke after a well-earned rest, maybe the young woman who was tasked with finding and rescuing her could talk eagerly about how much the despicable Cazumoi Kenzo had suffered.

Kenzo's SC:

Kenzo's Jutsu:

Chakra Remaining:

Cazumoi Kenzo - DECEASED

Kimiko's Jutsu:

Chakra Remaining:

Mission COMPLETE!