Gift of the Gods: The Wind Temple [Last Chapter]

Age : 30 Posts : 8965

Both groups would come to a stop before entering the next room to gather themselves and prepare for what the temple may have in store for them next. As much as they could brace themselves for anything, they were still about to get caught off guard for numerous reasons, one of them being that they were about to regroup as they had reached the same level in the temple without knowing it yet. The room before each of them was where they would reconnect. The size of the room was ridiculous, as if it was too big even for the giant temple. As each group was slowly venture everything rolling smoothly, nothing jumping out at them to cause concern they still would remain extremely aware of their surroundings. Robin, Tani and Kemuri would approach the middle of the room at a quicker pace than Hani, Toshiro and Yoru which would allow them to set their eyes on the prize before their comrades would get the chance to do anything about it. Robin knew better than to continue to approach without caution, but he was wrong to think his comrades were as logical with thinking. Almost Tani came to a stop behind her former Hokage, Kemuri saw an opening for what she had came here for, the godly bag of Fuujin. The bag sat upon a podium approximately eight hundred metres ahead of the trio and Kemuri burst past her Konohagakure shinobi ducking her head and blindly hoping her bluff would cause her no harm as she rushed into the temples unknown territory.

Of course Robin would scream the girls name as he attempted to chase down the reckless kunoichi. Although it would have been safer for him to stay where he was, there was no way to tell what sort of defences the Genin could trigger by running right at the bag, furthermore what would happen if she took it herself. Robin’s mission would to return to back to Konohagakure safely and in his eyes being the most experienced of the group as well as the leader it was him who would be escorting it back, not the irresponsible little girl who couldn’t even take an order without answering back. With the head start the Genin had, Robin wasn’t going to reach her in time as he prepared a handseal to do whatever was necessary to stop her from reaching the bag, whether it was lethal or otherwise. The walls shattered to Robin’s left. The walls of seemingly impenetrable material began crumbling and erupting from its place as a massive black mouth steamrolled the Sandaime pushing him through the wall on the other side of the building and disappearing through its forced exit with the group’s leader.

Tani would stood and watched the whole thing transpire in seconds was able to tell what the creature was and would watch in horror as the serpent ripped the Hokage from the room. Was he dead? Tani had no idea; this colossal serpent had just engulfed what was probably the biggest threat to the bag leaving the temple. Clearly it was some sort of guardian. But by removing Robin from the equation, Kemuri moved closer to the bag. Dust cleared as Tani could finally see Kemuri again who despite having a glance back at the carnage behind her continued forward finally reaching the bag, she slid forward as she slowed down from a sprint to a jog and extended her arm forward to grab the bag. Smiling in delight of her accomplishment as she made contact, rumour was that whoever was first to touch the bag would become its owner until they died, and would be the only person able to use it as per a forbidden seal that would activate at time of them touching the bag and would form over their wrist and forearm. Kemuri lifted the bag from the podium as her wrist and arm began to burn, a seal appeared but it was not the symbol of Wind. Her green eyes widened as her arm started to disappear. This seal wasn’t the sort of binding seal she expected, she was about to be bound to the podium that the bag had sat on. Releasing the bag in hopes that it would somehow deactivate, nothing would change more of the kunoichi faded away. Tani ran to her comrade, as did Yoru, Hani and Toshiro who once hearing the yelling of Kemuri name and the chaos that ensued as Robin got removed by the snake, sprinted towards the centre of the room. All of them now thirty metres of Kemuri and the bag as the vanishing girl turned her head to Tani. Simply saying she was sorry before completely disappearing. A selfish act had cost the girl her life and now things were looking extremely scarce for the group. A group of once eight had been cut in half with at least two confirmed dead in Kemuri and Shuhei. What the four leaf ninja did next was extremely important, a quick debriefing of their lost comrades would probably be best there was no time to waste on taking a few moments for their recently fallen comrade. Tani knew what sort of creatures were zeroing in on them. The bag was right in front of them now, would somebody else be foolish enough to grab it. Little did they know, this wasn’t even the real bag. But it the real one was definitely in this room.

Quote :

Adam's Notes:

Obviously I'll start by saying sorry for taking so long. One or two of you know about my absence for the rest of you sorry for keeping you hanging high and dry.
Wanizame has been killed off as per a 'sort of request' seeing as he's making a new character.
Taking Dan's away topic into consideration I've talked with him and he's stepping out of the thread, as you'll be able to tell with the post above.
All four of you are now in the same room, pretty much one of you will be leaving with the bag or none of you will be leaving the room. This is called the Final Chapter for a reason, time to wrap this thread up.
Posting order is Jelly/Kitty, Celene, Nuclear, Yoru.
48 hour rule still applies [Strong Hypocrite]
Thanks for your patience.

Age : 30 Posts : 471

As they entered the next room, cautiously padding forward through the almost insanely cavernous space, Tani couldn’t shake the daunting feeling of finality creeping up her spine. She eyed the room with suspicion for the purpose of its extravagant size, falling a few steps behind Robin with her friend a few more behind herself as the trio neared the centre and the tension of anticipation began to reach its peak. Something ahead came into view, then into focus as they neared the simple stone podium stationed at the room’s core. What was more significant however, and what drew a surprised gasp from the raven-haired girl’s mouth and brought the Hokage to a standstill, was a pile of fabric perched atop its surface; shimmering almost like liquid as the firelight slid off its silken folds. Though it looked more like a scarf than a bag, the object before them matched the description of their goal and only increased the girl’s dis-ease. The almighty bag of Fuujin, the killer temple’s most precious treasure, and they’d been presented it on a platter in a room they’d been led to by the most straightforward of routes? Tani came to a halt behind her ex-kage and braced herself, on high alert. Though their expedition hadn’t exactly been easy, there was no way reaching the prize could be that simple.

The kunoichi was brought from her cautious inspection of the podium from afar by a body rushing past her. Even at the sight of the familiar blonde braids and the heavy footfalls of combat boots on the temple floor, Tani had to blink in disbelief a few times before it sunk in that Kemuri would be so brash in such a circumstance. “Muri!!” the girl all but shrieked after her friend, blue-green eyes wide with the urgency of concern for her oldest friend’s safety which was evident in her voice. A similar cry echoed from the man beside her as both of the blonde girl’s comrades lurched forward to pull their reckless third back to safety before it was too late. In her shock, Tani had hesitated before sprinting after the Haretsu, letting Robin take off with a head start that cost him dearly. Before the girl could even comprehend the preliminary rumbling of something large approaching fast, she was stopped in her tracks and almost knocked off her feet as a mass of black crashed through the scene; the low light of the torches glinting off its scaled hide as the enormous reptile passed so close Tani might have been able to touch it were she not preoccupied with shielding her face from flying rubble. Then there was another crash as the opposite wall also fell under the serpent’s belly, and as quickly as it had appeared the beast was gone; the mess of crumbled stone, two gaping holes and heavy cloud of dust in which the girl now stood being the only remaining evidence of its passing.

“Whu- what the fuck?!” The breathless exclamation was accompanied by a few light coughs as the girl’s mouth and nose were invaded by the dirt surrounding her small form. Looking to the mottled dark patch in the murky cloud that was the snake’s exit route, Tani’s heart thundered in her chest as her stomach churned. Robin.. was he okay? He’d been the Hokage; surely his death couldn’t be so sudden? No, he’d be tougher to take down than that.. but.. what made the small genin more uneasy than their leader being swept away was not being sure it had been entirely bad; for just before the commotion with the snake- ’No..' with a deeply creased brow, Tani shook her head. ’He wouldn’t attack her.. if anything he would have used a non-lethal technique.’ Before her initial concern got any further delayed, the kunoichi snapped her gaze back in the direction of the podium, searching the settling dirt for those familiar green eyes and hoping that the interruption had shocked some sense into the blonde girl. For just a moment Tani got what she’d been looking for, hope lifting her heart when her eyes met Kemuri’s as the blonde girl glanced over the carnage, before a lance of heat shot through her chest and her heart plummeted at the sight of the girl returning to her advance on the bag.

“Muri, stop!” she cried out in vain as she put her caution on the backburner to once again trudge forward. “Muri!” Her friend paid her no mind as the girl reached for her prize, grasping the folds and lifting the bag off its resting place as Tani’s eyebrows arched down furiously and her stomach twisted into the most uncomfortable shapes. “It can’t be this easy, you idiot!” She shrieked, staring an inferno at the blonde girl’s back, desperation for her childhood friend’s forsaken sense of self-preservation leaving her tone to waver. “Listen to me!” She roared, not daring to approach any further for fear of her own safety in the face of whatever trap may have been activated by moving the bag, but when her friend visibly tensed, bag released from her grasp as though she’d suddenly realised it was full of bees, Tani found it hard not to rush over.

“Kemuri?” Sandaled feet scuffed the stone ground as she shifted her weight, torn between going to her friend’s side and listening to her own sense self-preservation. “Kemuri, what’s happening?” Uncertainty and concern saturated her voice as she thought she saw her comrade’s arm fading, but it couldn’t be real; just a trick of the light, right? Then the girl’s shoulder started to vanish, whatever it was spreading across the Haretsu’s body, and Tani’s insides plummeted as another cry of her friend’s name ripped from her throat and she threw caution to the wind, rushing to the girl as though there was something she could do. She hardly even noticed the footfalls of their lost comrades’ return, nor did she pay them any mind when they came into view; all that mattered in that moment was the quickly disappearing girl too far ahead. She wouldn’t make it there in time; the creeping realisation of the situation’s helplessness spawning moistness in the girl’s eyes that threatened to overflow, but now was no time for tears. Racing forward, disregarding the safe-feeling thirty-odd meter distance her comrades seemed to adopt, Tani watched as her childhood friend finally turned her attention her way.

Familiar green eyes met hers for the last time, all the conversations and cheeky comments they’d shared with just a knowing glance and the last thing they conveyed to each other was fear, sadness and urgency. An apology met Tani’s ears and she felt the dam holding back her tears give way as she pushed herself forward, closing the distance just shy of fast enough. She reached forward to embrace the girl who’d been by her side since their days in the academy together, and in that instant she was gone; the raven-haired kunoichi’s arms closing around nothing but air. Completely disregarding the bag mere meters from her feet, Tani looked hopelessly at the empty space before her, blinking away the tears that threatened her vision and successfully smothering any other sign of her distress. Taking a step back she looked over the area, noticing a seal on the podium and the bag on the floor but not sure what to do next, before glancing at the three other shinobi in her midst. They too were fewer in number now.

Carefully avoiding the bag by giving it a good few meters berth, Tani took a few steps towards her comrades. “The others?” She knew they had little time to linger; there was still at least one monstrosity around in the form of a giant snake, and as much as she hated to leave it, the place where Kemuri disappeared would have to wait to be investigated properly. She refused to accept that the girl was gone forever though, not yet. Shifting her gaze between each of the other three ninja then down to the mass of fabric crumpled a good distance away, Tani wiped what little wetness had escaped the grasp of her willpower from her cheeks. “We should prioritise finding Robin-sensei..” She said firmly while looking down at the weapon they’d apparently come here for, which it seemed now was more hazardous to the wielder. “He may need our help, and he’ll know what to do... about the bag, and maybe even..” Her eyes wandered back to the podium as she trailed off before looking back to her companions. Tani stayed on alert; she knew it wasn’t safe here, and had a sinking feeling that with the luck they’d had so far, that snake wasn’t alone down here.

Age : 28 Posts : 796

It was with the first cry lifted up to her ears that she started to run. The name "Muri" pierced the air around them, which was the cause of her fast pace. Hani gave little regards to stealth , as enough ruckus was already amongst them. Her body paused a few feet away from the action that played out in front of her. Tani, if she remembered correctly, card out to that rebellious friend of hers as Muri..

Muri...
Oh god.." Her voice managed to choke out as a delicate hand was placed over her lips. Her violet eyes watched as the girl touched the bag, the one bag they al came for. That's it, it was done. The grand game they played was over. A sigh was about to slip when something odd started to occur.

Growing up, the phrase "Don't walk into the light", was often used in cases of death. That metaphorical light at the end of the tunnel, some sort of closure. But this, this occurrence that began before her eyes was by far no miracle. Instead of being sad at the thought, she was struck in wonder by what was happening to the body of Muri. "Oh ..Oh wow..."Was all that she said.

Truly only this could be the work of something, someone else. In all due time her comrades body faded into a fine light before disappearing altogether. The chuunin shifted her gaze onto the genin that stood nearest the bag. Briefly she flicked her eyes back in the direction of her team , knowing that they too had also rushed in after. Carefully her feet navigated her way to Tani, not going in a straight path, and within minutes she stood right beside the girl. It really wasn't her place, nor did she know the girl that just passed, but she placed her hand on Tanis shoulder as she talked and squeezed gently. That little action conveyed what her voice could not.

Quickly , just as her touch took place, she backed away and faced all her team mates, and looked at each one. The genin spoke mentioning things about the ex-Hokage and the bag. "Well I think Robin will be fine on his own, he after all is stronger than most of us and has had more experience." The small girls body began to pace around, feeling uncomfortable with standing still. "As for the bag.."

For a while she stared at it, trying to make some sort of sense of the thing. It was known that upon touch, that bag was to become owned by the person who laid their paws upon. But in this case, something peculiar took place. Hani voiced her thoughts about that, while studying the room. "It would.. Have to be in this room right? After all.. We all got led to this one space. It just...it has to be somewhere here." With that she once again resumed her gaze onto her group, waiting for their thoughts.

Age : 48 Posts : 1036

At the rear of their group, where he could (hopefully) see any threats first, Toshiro had been steadily getting more and more on edge. Things were going well for the reunited Konoha team - too well and the chuunin didn't like that one bit. In his experience when things went well without effort you were being set up to take a massive fall. Probably because he was expecting something bad to happen, as the way teal eyes flickered from shadow to shadow, he wasn't quite as surprised when the same genin who had ignored orders, logic, and common sense to rush ahead made a mad dash for the bag on its pedestal. 'Of course, it would be one of us.' With that thought a trio of kunai, explosive notes already affixed to the hilts, were between the chuunin's knuckles as he aimed to send them just in front of the greed-crazed blonde then detonate them to stop her mad rush. Extreme? Yes it was but there was no way Toshiro was going to take chances. Not only had Kemuri proven to be a loose cannon who might have other ideas for the bag than simply taking it back to Konoha to be locked away, but there was no telling what sort of traps or defenders would activate once it was disturbed. Far better she suffer a few second or third degree burns and some fractured bones that Hani would have to patch up than the entire temple caving in on their heads because the sun-haired ditz didn't think.

At least that had been his plan before Tani and Robin's chasing after Kemuri brought them into Toshiro's line of fire. Something that made the white-haired chuunin check his arm mid-swing and gave the little rage-man in his head a swift kick in the privates. 'Son of a bitch! It's Shi Mori all over again!' Maybe it was just him or possibly the Kami found his reaction to that sort of situation a source of amusement, but yet again Toshiro had to discard a simple and effective plan because one of his comrades in arms had unthinkingly put themselves between him and his target. Left with no choice but to join the others in their dash he yet again cursed being at the rear of the group; had he been in the front he could have probably caught the reckless genin thanks to be the fastest person in the group. At the rear however he could go no faster than the people ahead of him least he knock them down, or worse knock them into the trigger for some sort of trap. When the wall nearest the former Hokage shattered into dust and shards of stone to make way for what could only be described as one big snake however he suddenly thought at times obstacles were a good thing. Otherwise that might have been him instead of the Sandaime being put through the opposite wall which absolutely had to hurt. Between that thought and the cloud of dust that made seeing impossible (and breathing decidedly unpleasant) he had briefly forgotten about the reason why they were in this mess when one of the genin's yelling for her friend to stop. That reminder was enough that Toshiro realized he needed to get rid of this dust and now. The handseals came naturally as the white-haired chuunin's whispered "daitoppa" was followed by the dust promptly vacating the area as the (relatively) weak jutsu blew it away.

Just in time to make its caster wish he hadn't cleared the dust away. Toshiro was no stranger to blood and guts and had seen some strange things in his years. Nor was he particularly close to any of the members of this team; they were comrades-in-arms as fellow Leaf-nin and he felt some regret at Shuhei's death since that genin had given any chance of living to see that Toshiro lived. Nothing however prepared him to see Kemuri start to literally fade away piece by piece like a drawing being erased. That quite end unsettled him more than if the seal had resulted in a massive explosion and painted the immediate area with her blood and innards. Still he, even if he was at best a novice with fuinjutsu, Toshiro did know one thing about that seal - it was NOT one he wanted to mess with. Neither he nor Hani were sealing master and while the Sandaime Hokage could, maybe have unraveled sufficiently to recover Kemuri (if there was anything left to recover) given enough time he doubted it would be in this lifetime. Plus time was one thing the surviving Leaf-nin didn't have - even if that snake had been alone there could still be other creatures who were heading to this room or yet another trap whose timer was counting down. Plus there was how long the team's supplies could hold out to consider and it probably wasn't very long after 3 days in cold storage. A rather grim assessment that gave rise to two words said in a voice somewhere between a growl and a whisper. "Bloody hell."

With there being nothing he could do to retrieve the genin whose avarice and impulsiveness had ended her life early, Toshiro turned his attention to what he could do. Hani had taken the other genin in hand so that left it him to check as much of the room for more threats as he could without getting closer to that triple-damned sack on the floor. Because of that he barely heard Hani's gentle order that the remaining four ninja wouldn't be gallivanting off to attempt a rescue of someone who was either already dead or in the middle of a fight for his life. To that he added his own indirect order to quell any attempt by either of the remaining genin to take off by herself. "Agreed. Even if we could follow the snake's tunnel it's too narrow to let us do anything without being as much hindrance as help. We'll have to trust Uzumaki-san to prove that being the Sandaime didn't take off his edge as a shinobi. The best we can do now is find that bag and get out without anyone else dying." Said much lower was something that Toshiro was beginning to suspect could be all too true. "Unless the stupid thing never existed and this is someone's sick idea of a joke." Still he had to hope that it existed otherwise at least two and as many as four lives had been spent in vain. To that end he focused his search on likely hiding places where one would put a bag with the power to level forests if they wanted to hide it. In the white-haired chuunin's mind that was in plain sight but out of immediate sight. A view he readily voiced when his fellow chuunin said that the bag had to be somewhere in the room. "Right. If you were some all-powerful cloud-sitting clown or just a really powerful seal master with a penchant for crazy weapons, would you leave your most destructive creation out on a pedestal for anyone who could undo your seal to take? No, you hide it where no one will think to look and leave a booby-trapped facsimile out to dispose of would-be thieves. You put it in plain sight but not where it's the first thing someone sees."

His point made, Toshiro went back to scanning the room with his eyes. At the same time he attempted to drag the genin into the matter. While technically Hani and he were the leaders he wasn't going to let the two younger ninja coast along or wallow in grief. At this point every hand and eye was needed or none of them would make it out of this place in one piece. "Any ideas oh he who speaks with dead people? At this point I wouldn't object to you using tarot cards if it finds that bag so we can get us out of this death-trap faster." His piece to Yoru said, Toshiro briefly turned his attention to Tani - making sure he had her full attention before speaking. "As for you young lady, if there is anything that we should know about this place - even if you were told to keep quiet about it or don't think its important - spill it. We've already lost too many people to this place and I will not lose more because we didn't prepare for a known danger." Under less serious circumstances he might have wondered at the irony of calling someone who was almost the same age as himself in the manner that a parent might address their child when they. Then again maybe that was why he did it; he needed Natanine to focus beyond her grief for the other kunochi who had obviously been at least a friend and follow his and Hani's orders.

Toshiro: 120CP - 9 CP = 111 CP

Spoiler:

Age : 34 Posts : 590

Shock was all he felt when everything happened in the few seconds it did. As he watched the blonde girl run towards the bag he knew instantly that something bad was about to happen. What he did not see coming was the giant snake that seemed to devoure the Sandaime in an instant and then disappear. As quickly as it appeared the snake was gone, "What in the name of kami is going on." As he finished the sentence a light wind blew the dust out of the way just in time for Yoru to see the blonde Kunoichi disappear. "Not again." He thought. He didnt know her but it was still painful to watch someone from the same village die.

Walking towards the bag Yoru kneeled down and looked at it but making sure not to touch it. It was his guess that there was something wrong with it. It was what caused the girl to disappear so it was obviously not the one they were looking for. Then standing he looked down the hole where the snake had gone. From what he could feel the Sandiame was not dead so that was at least a blessing. However it was in a few moments that he was assaulted by the emotions of the few dead that was in the room. "Obviously not many made it here." Walking around Yoru heard Toshiros thoughts on the area. It was maddening at how this place had been designed. Everything was fine until Toshiro made his comment."Any ideas oh he who speaks with dead people? At this point I wouldn't object to you using tarot cards if it finds that bag so we can get us out of this death-trap faster." His eye began to twitch at the mans comment. It was then that he began to make a desicion, turning to the white haired chuunin he said."You want to see something?" Walking back over to the bag Yoru held his hand a fair distance over it. From what he could tell the seal that had been used to seal away the girl had to be of a dark nature.

With that he began to focus on the bag with his mind. With the power of his sixth sense it slowly began to show his mind the history of the bag. Though it showed the most recent of pain being the girl who just disappeared he began to push it more to show him more of the past. Skipping through every fool that ever just grabbed the bag. Still going through its history it slowly came closer and closer to the moment the bag was placed. Maybe if he was lucky it could show him where the real bag had been placed.

Spoiler:

Age : 30 Posts : 471

As the gentle Chuunin who’d made the effort to wake Tani on that first morning, that now felt so long ago, grasped her shoulder again and the girl looked from each of her comrades’ faces to the next, she realised none of them were going to answer her question about the rest of their team mates. If they’d been split yet again and didn’t know the whereabouts of the others, they surely would have said so, which indicated that their missing shinobi had met a fate too painful to communicate at the time. As Hani spoke, the female Genin stole a swig from her water supplies to be rid of the lump growing in her parched throat and followed the action with several controlled breaths while listening to the two Chuunin. The argument that formed on the tip of the girl’s tongue at the first suggestion to abandon their squad leader was quelled before she could do more than grunt in disapproval, however, by a more elaborate assessment from the Chuunin Toshiro. He had a point about the size of the tunnel. Obviously unhappy about the decision to leave one of their own to fend for himself, but understanding the logic behind it enough to see her need to comply, Tani gave a firm nod of understanding and agreement on the subject before conversation moved to the finding of the bag.

"Right. If you were some all-powerful cloud-sitting clown or just a really powerful seal master with a penchant for crazy weapons, would you leave your most destructive creation out on a pedestal for anyone who could undo your seal to take? No, you hide it where no one will think to look and leave a booby-trapped facsimile out to dispose of would-be thieves. You put it in plain sight but not where it's the first thing someone sees." They still expected to find the weapon they wanted, without even seeming to consider that the one that they’d already got could be all that there was? Tani’s hands found her hips as her angular eyebrows tilted downwards and she found her voice, firm in what she considered to be perfectly realistic sense. “I would hide my greatest weapon deep in a labyrinth, hidden somewhere nobody would ever have more than the slightest gleam of hope of finding it. I most certainly wouldn’t lead the would-be thieves straight to anything other than misery. I doubt the ‘Bag of Fuujin’ ever was more than the sickly sweet goo luring poor saps like us into this death trap, is it so hard to think we already found it?” A hand waved in the direction of their dangerous dud, laying alone on the floor before the girl returned her gaze to the surrounding area, scouring over the room for threats. “At this point, shouldn’t escaping with as many of our comrades as possible be our primary objective?” She demanded of her team, whose attention had seemed to have started to return to possible nooks and crannies, imagining the one dark corner nearby that their objective was hiding in, no doubt. Tani had joined the expedition to this damned temple in the first place with the best interests of her village; home and comrades, and nothing else in mind. Now that the people she’d hoped to protect were dropping like flies in a sandstone venus trap, the last thing she wanted was to lose everyone for want of being able to realise a harsh reality. The rest of her team seemed to be having none of it, though.

"Any ideas oh he who speaks with dead people? At this point I wouldn't object to you using tarot cards if it finds that bag so we can get us out of this death-trap faster." Exasperatedly, Tani turned away from the group, pacing in obvious irritation back towards the pedestal as Yoru’s own displeasure was made evident in the tone of his response. On some level she registered the outrageous explanation for the white haired Genin’s often strange behaviour, but found it irrelevant; whether the boy having the ability to speak with the dead was true or false, she had more pressing things to consider. Bright eyes were inspecting the stone object in the middle of the room in consideration of how it might be taken with them back to the village when the older male shinobi spoke again. "As for you young lady..” With an incredulously quirked eyebrow, Tani turned; her sharp gaze meeting hard turquoise eyes and turning cold at the realisation that, yes, he was indeed addressing her that way. “..if there is anything that we should know about this place - even if you were told to keep quiet about it or don't think its important - spill it. We've already lost too many people to this place and I will not lose more because we didn't prepare for a known danger." Blinking rapidly with a jerk of her neck, taken totally aback by her team mate’s words, Tani felt her jaw instantly clamp down hard; biting back the venom rising in her throat as her hands became animated with her tension cycle of tiger-claw, fist, tiger-claw, and repeat. Sinking from her shock at such a suggestion, that she would keep important information from her team purposely, from a fellow leaf shinobi- someone she considered extended kin, the kunoichi’s eyes fluttered shut as an expression of disgust momentarily graced her face and she shook her head before forcefully reclaiming her grasp on herself. Replacing the disgust with a flawed mask that hid only a fraction of the molten irritation bubbling inside her, the girl turned her expressively burning eyes back on the boy; eyebrows dipped steeply while her fingers continued their threatening flexing.

“Unfortunately, punching you in the teeth is going to have to wait until we’re in a less pressing situation, but well done needlessly offending literally half your team.” Without blinking, Tani’s eyes swept pointedly in the direction of the white haired Genin, who was now stooped over the bag with concentration and annoyance plastered all over his face, before snapping her fiery orbs back to the Chuunin towering over her, having lost none of their zeal. Speaking in a voice loud enough that it was clear she spoke more to her less insulting team mates than the man with whom her eyes were locked, the kunoichi continued. “The walls, floor and ceiling are indestructible- at least so we thought, seals can be written on them in mediums such as ink, air and water have flown through despite no obvious space for such, the torches don’t burn out. We’ve stumbled through illusions seemingly cast by the temple itself.” As her list went on the girl’s voice became louder and her irritation more prevalent. “And fixtures inside the temple don’t seem to lend themselves to the same level of endurance as the structure itself.” Finally breaking away from her stare, Tani glanced between Yoru and Hani, before turning her back once more to search the room in paranoid expectation of the next threat. Returning her attention to the pedestal as though her initial pondering hadn’t been interrupted, the girl looked over the stone object and the seal on top, and tensed at the thought that crossed her mind. ‘No.. surely not.’ With a sidewards glance over her shoulder, Tani eyed her comrades cautiously to see if any had shared that dangerous notion. ‘Even if whatever- whoever… were sadistic enough to hide the treasure in something that may contain a comrade of those expected to break it out, no one here would destroy the only hope for getting a fellow shinobi of Konoha back safely for it. They couldn’t..’ Even as she tried to convince herself, Tani’s attention drifted suspiciously over the group; eyeing her team mates with similar caution to what she gave the temple surrounding them. She didn’t want to believe that they could care more for the weapon than saving members of the team, but she couldn’t deny that the general attitude of the group seemed increasingly to be more driven towards the mission than their overall survival rates.

Age : 48 Posts : 1036

If Natani she had been expecting Toshiro to get angry at what she thought about him, she was would be sorely disappointed. Far more intimidating people have implied worse and he was still living. Especially since her own words had proven the snowy-haired chuunins point. She had, unwittingly, withheld the information that not only did the surviving four shinobi have to worry about mechanical traps but illusions that were still functional after who knew how long. For all the Konoha-nin knew the bag might very well be right in front of his nose but if it was masked with a genjutsu he never knew about it might as well have been on the moon. Now that he knew that there were more traps than just the mechanical monstrosities and booby-trapped seals he could try to plan for them. Plus he was simply finding her attitude irritating. After enduring three days and up to four deaths to get this far, now she wanted to turn tail and run with the end in sight. Never mind how many deaths that would be in vain or how many more might die on a second team sent to this place. And that a second team would be sent should they not bring back the bag he had no doubt. Something able to level an entire forest was simply too tempting for elements ranging from other villages to insane missing-nin for them to not come hunting and if one of them did find it things would get ugly fast. Maybe the genin could convince herself that those deaths weren't her responsibility, that all that mattered was saving her stupid friend whose recklessness had finally bit her in the rear, but Toshiro would know that he was at least partially at ultimate fault if he didn't see this through. So he wasn't going to leave until either he found the bag or could be absolutely sure that it wasn't going to be found without tearing the entire place apart stone by stone.

That didn't mean that Toshiro wasn't irked by her behavior. He had almost wished she had tried to make good on her threat to punch him in the teeth. Maybe getting thrown around a few times would have taught her what the Academy obviously hadn't. Since she didn't though he settled for ignoring her while both trying to get into the head of whoever had set up this place and silently thanking whatever kami was listening that his own genin were the sort he could depend on in tough spots and vowing to put them through hell for not coming along. The later quickly out of the way, Toshiro went about the former with a sense of urgency. For all he knew Kerumi's grabbing the bag had started a countdown somewhere in this temple that would trigger the mother of all explosive notes and there was always that monster snake coming back to worry about. As he racked his brain trying to "read" the mind of a "god", Toshiro finally took note of what the other genin had been doing. What that was got a raised eyebrow out of the white haired chuunin. He could accept his mother having a bit of a sixth sense but she had been a miko trained practically from infancy to deal with the supernatural. He had seen things with his own eyes that defied normal explanation, but he just couldn't completely accept the idea that someone could simply be born with a "gift" for talking to the dead. Still, the way the genin seemed to be oblivious to the world said he was doing something and if would give some shred of insight into where the real bag was he wasn't going to object. That didn't mean he would wait for long though. "Yoru, how much longer and can you hurry it up at all? That snake could be heading back or have invited friends that are fashionably late."

As if to emphasis his point Toshiro gestured with one kunai-wielding hand towards the hole that the giant... whatever type of snake it was had made as it left the room. As if adding a point all its own, one of the smaller blocks of stone (but still weighing a hundred pounds or more) fell from the roof of the new tunnel to the floor with a loud "whump" and a small cloud of dust. Turning back to watch the rest of the group, the snow-haired chuunin's eyes roved over and picked up that "The Twit", as he dubbed Natani, was facing the podium that the fake bag had rested on but was watching the other shinobi without a decidedly wary look. 'Why would she... of course.' It didn't take much thinking for Toshiro to put the little bits together. The only person "The Twit" seemed to worry about was her friend who had gotten stuffed into that podium courtesy her own greed. She was facing said podium yet watching the other Leaf-nin with a tinge of fear. Ergo she was afraid that the other Konoha-nin would notice the podium, and the only reason that would happen was if someone thought the bag was there. Or rather IN there - he had no doubt she at least suspected that it was a possible hiding place for the supposed relic they had come to find. Of course Toshiro wasn't going to mess with that podium until Yoru had finished whatever mumbo-jumbo séance thingy he was doing. While he had no particular care for Kerumi (and frankly thought it was better this way since she hadn't gotten anyone else killed - he hoped), he wasn't so cold-hearted that he would take the easy route if other options existed. Nor was he nearly as stupid as the blonde ditz that had gotten herself sealed. If that seal could swallow someone's entire body just by their touching the bag, who knew what actually striking that hunk of sandstone would do. To say nothing of the potential traps that could be put inside; Toshiro knew of half a dozen different designs that could fit inside as last-ditch defense and he was sure the sadistic mastermind behind this deathtrap knew many more. Better to hold off on that option until all the others were exhausted. Even if he did eyeball the podium while his right hand rhythmically tapped the flat of a kunai against his leg as he thought about how to best dismantle what was probably a hundred pounds or more of sandstone.

Toshiro: 111 CP

Age : 34 Posts : 590

As the final parts of his vision finally passed through his eyes Yoru turned to Tani. Shaking his head he let her know there was no hope for her friend. Annoyed by the white haired Chuunin's words to hurry he began looking over the walls. Through from what he has seen they were normal walls however he was still very sure that somewhere close the bag was hidden. Looking at his companions Yoru assessed each ones state. Tani with the pain of losing her closest friend was down near useless unless she pulled herself together."Yea I can so see that happening." Yoru thought as he turned to the girl. Out of the group Yoru wondered what she could help if he thought up anything. Then of course there was the white haired chuunin bit of a jerk but from what he could see it was for a reason. Though he had yet to really see what it was.

Walking around the room Yoru began to think. "The room is extremely large. Why is that?" Running a finger against the wall Yoru began walking all around the room. At this point Yoru was not really looking for something in the wall he was just measuring the distance all around the building. When he reached the point that he started Yoru began running the numbers in his head. Though he was not the smartest person in the world but Yoru could still calculate numbers in his head with the best of them. When the numbers came through he looked around the room once more. It was then that he did something that nobody in the group had thought about doing ever since they had walked into the room.

Yoru looked straight up at the ceiling, As crazy as it may had seemed to anybody else who had been paying attention. Yoru was looking for anything out of the normal in the ceiling. Not to say he was greedy he would not mind having the bag for himself. After all he was Fuuton user and a weapons user. Yet he would not be overly upset if someone else got it. Deciding to take a look he performed a hand seal and started walking up the wall. Even if there was not something up there. He could at least look down at the room from a better angle to figure it out. As he reached the top of the wall he looked around for anything that was out of the normal for up there. Then looking down at the ground he looked at the others that were down there. Hopefully he would see something that would tip them off to the bag. "We need to find it then get to Hokage-sama. Ever minute wasted is a minute he might be dieing."

Spoiler:

Age : 30 Posts : 471

The sound of Mister Superiority’s voice after his total silence during her display of barely controlled anger drew Tani’s attention back to what the decidedly-less-dickhole-ish white haired boy of the team was up to. Upon falling on Yoru’s crouched and concentrating form once more, her hard gaze softened. While his team mates had been butting heads, he’d tried to follow the only possible lead they really had, and even though the girl was still firmly convinced that there was no other bag for the one on the cold, stone floor to lead to, she couldn’t help but admire his resolve. Where the older male had seemingly done nothing but verbally defecate on the situation after insisting there was more for them to find here, Yoru had actually tried to do something about that over-hopeful belief, and it was the respect that those actions drew from her that made Tani watch on, with the barest tint of hope in her eyes, that he would be rewarded for his effort with something- anything useful. Then the boy’s red eyes seemed to focus again, returning to reality one moment and seeking her out the next, something she had to blink at in surprise and confusion; not sure why he’d purposefully meet her gaze in particular given her feelings on the bag were clear, unless… That tiny speck of hope sparked and flared in an instant, glimmering in her eyes, mixed with the sadness and caution there as the Kunoichi tried to resist getting too hopeful that he’d seen something that could save her doomed best friend. From Yoru’s expression, Tani could tell that she’d been as easy to see through in that moment, as the unfortunate Haretsu girl had been in her last; the thoughts of her friend written all over her face. So when a profound solemness settled into the blood red eyes she stared into with such poorly veiled hope, Tani had no doubt of the implications; her insides plummeting as the slow but definite shake of the boy’s head only gave the feeling finality. Closing her eyes, the kunoichi spun on her heel to hide the emotions that assaulted her, successfully withholding her tears for now, as a rough breath racked through her and she forced herself back to some semblance of clarity of mind.

“But you didn’t find out anything about this alluring second bag?” It was more of a statement than a real question, as, if he had; the boy would without a doubt have shared. Her tone was a hard one, firm despite the slightest of emotion rasping, still raw, at its edges; clearly meant to imply yet again that the bag they sought didn’t exist, and the boy’s recent attempt only helped her case, even if the specifics of what he’d done escaped her. Shaking her head in the smallest of movements, while letting her shoulder slump in the smallest of ways, the most defeatist thing ever to cross Yin, Natanie’s mind, slid, barely more than a whisper, past her lips and she felt the smallest she ever had in her life. “Reality is harsh..” Glancing once more towards the podium, Tani realised she spoke as much of herself as she did the others, as she finished her thought. “Masking it with wishful thinking will only get you killed.” Her friend was gone. Tani didn’t know how, where she was, who or what did it, if anyone could fix it, or even whether or not the girl was alive if she was retrievable. Even if the pedestal wasn’t possibly dangerous itself, in a hostile environment; the thing was too large and unwieldy for them to lug across multiple countries, through their fatigue, to a place where they may or may not be able to unravel its secrets. With a deep, steady breath, Tani raised her chin. She’d always been good at putting off emotional responses for the sake of survivability, losing the girl who’d been her best friend for about as long as she could remember may be a greater challenge, but she would do it for the sake of not losing herself or anyone else.

“Alright.” The kunoichi’s voice was suddenly clear, strong, and void of the quivering of her previous loss and sorrow. Small hands found the still slightly damp fabric of the sash between them and her hips, which had been soaked in an earlier defence, and turned back to her squad with eyebrows arched in determination. “What will it take to convince you that there’s nothing left to find here but our graves? If we poke every kami-damned nook and cranny of this room, brave all its potential traps, and still find nothing; are you willing to accept that the bag that killed Muri, whether you like it or not, is the one we came here for?” Tani’s calm didn’t falter; her voice wouldn’t waiver, neither an eyelid batted nor was a pause taken as she spoke of her best friend’s very recent end. She was done messing around; in her eyes this temple was done, now all that she needed to worry about was getting her comrades to let go of this collective fantasy they had of finding the exact version of the prize they wanted and walking home with every damned one of them intact. She, of course, knew nothing for certain, but Tani’d always been an up-front person who took what she saw as it was. That wasn’t to say she suffered everything at face-value; she would investigate if something seemed off kilter, but in the temple of a sadistic god who would split them apart, starve them for days, cast on them illusions, all the while leading the hardy intruder to their treasure, a ‘prize’ such as the one at their feet made more sense to Tani than a mighty weapon would. Something precious would be sincerely protected not made the tasty cheese at the end of a very linear game of cat and mouse.

As Yoru made his way around the room, Tani watched him like a hawk; stance lowered and arms poised for quickly forming seals if trouble struck and her fellow Genin required her help, and before he made his way towards the roof, she offered follow him at a distance as a spotter, and perform her Hotaru Uchuu Shoukan jutsu to provide them with better light if they found they needed it. She wouldn’t use the chakra if it wasn’t needed, as they still had to find Robin, most likely accompanied by his reptilian attacker, and fight their way out of this death trap, but the sooner her team mates were content with their search effort, the sooner they would leave. For now, Tani would help in the hunt for what she expected to be fiction.

Age : 48 Posts : 1036

Having vaguely paid attention to what the two genin had done while his own attention was on trying to puzzle out, Toshiro almost absently responded to Natani's request to know what would satisfy the rest of the squad. "Checking every potential place that bag could be hidden." Focused on his self-assigned task, the white haired chuunin didn't even fully realize that he had kept speaking in a lower voice. "If we leave without absolutely certainty that the bag doesn't exist, including checking every likely place it could be hidden, then a second team will be sent. A team that will take more casualties and those casualties will be the result of our putting our own lives above theirs." Even lower still his last words were spoken as he began to carefully pace around the podium while his eyes darted around as if trying to take in everything at once to get some sort of overall picture. "This is what it means to be a shinobi. Being willing to put your own life on the line or throw it away for the good of people who you'll never meet and will never know that they live because you don't." His piece said (without really noticing he said it), Toshiro went back to trying to organize what few crumbs of hard fact he had into something that might let him figure out where whoever had built this temple would hide it's supposed greatest treasure. If someone had bothered to ask why he wasn't physically searching like the others he would have probably said something about if the bag had stayed hidden this long from who knew how many groups that had gotten this far, then it was obvious that just searching at random and hoping to get lucky wasn't going to work. In fact it might very well doom their entire efforts by trampling whatever hints the room held beyond recognition.

A chance at least one of the genin seemed aware of as he took to the wall and then the ceiling while clearly looking around for something. As for himself, Toshiro was watching where he put his feet to not disturb anything and was finding that there simply wasn't a whole lot of work with here. Beyond the obvious fact that the designer clearly believed in "bigger is better" and had access to some serious seals, the only thing he could come up with was that, god or mortal, whoever had designed this place was a sadist. It was the last part of that thought that stuck in Toshiro's head and bounced around until it knocked loose memories. To be exact memories of the only class in Konoha's higher-education system he had attended - a class that dealt with the basics of abnormal psychology such as would be needed to make a profile of a person. Sadist... sadism... of course!' People who were sadistic almost invariably toyed with their "prey" to extract as much "fun" as possible. .They also tended to be rather arrogant, rarely taking more than basic precautions out of the belief that no one could possibly be smart enough to figure them out. Ergo, the bag was, if it existed, somewhere close at hand and probably not heavily protected. Close enough that a twisted mind would derive enjoyment from watching them scurry like ants trying to find something underfoot. The last gave the white-haired chuunin his first real course of action since Yoru's gamble had come up dry.

While the two genin turned their eyes upwards, Toshiro was focused on the ground. To be exact the ground around the podium that had held what he was becoming convinced had been a decoy. As he paced around that stand in an outward spiral he began to look for small inconsistencies - changes in hue, shape, or the lines between the dry-laid sandstone. Even the base of the podium was checked to see if it had been carved from the block underneath or simply rested on it. Anything that would hint at a place where a relatively large bag could be hidden under a stone while searchers walked right over it. Once Toshiro was a dozen meters or so away from the podium he also nicked his finger on the kunai he had palmed and after several handseals pressed them both to the ground with a quite "kuchiose no jutsu." Hopefully the distance and his back being to the center concealed what he had just done. It was one of those times, the chuunin thought ruefully, that having a contract with a species who aren't giants like the toads came in handy. They might be fellow Leaf-nin but Toshiro was getting a sense that this little ad-hoc team was just waiting to fly apart at the seams now that the appointed leader was gone. Yoru seemed the next most reliable of the three, the other chuunin had barely moved, and the less said about "The Twit" the better even if she might be starting to realize that they couldn't just cut and run. He had wanted to keep his summon in reserve in case of the, well, worst case but he needed the extra (reliable) eyes for what he was planning. "Check around the room and see if you can find anything that looks like a bag, where a bag could be hidden, or just looks odd. Don't touch anything though - one of the fresh-meats got greedy and ended up sealed for grabbing a decoy. If you hear any rumblings yell and get the hell out of here. Otherwise meet me back at the center when your done and don't touch that bag." "Gotcha boss." With that Tonbi took off in the series of half-running and half-flying "hops" that pheasants used to cover ground quickly while his summoner resumed his slow and methodical search for any hint of where the bag might be hiding.

Toshiro: 111 CP - 5 CP = 106 CP

Spoiler:

Summon:

Spoiler:

[ooc: 4 days past, skipping Celene.]

Age : 34 Posts : 590

Walking around the room Yoru couldn't help but swear. How could it be that in all of this area he had yet to find the stupid bag. When he had exhausted all that he could find in the area above the group he started making his way back down to the group.Stepping onto the floor Yoru felt more than a little ticked off that he could not find it in a rather obvious place. As the Toshiro summoned an odd bird Yoru felt that they may yet have a chance of finding it. More eyes will definitely help in finding it. As it began making its way around the room Yoru felt even more ticked off and again began pacing the room thinking over everything he knew about the god known as Fuujin.

"Fuujin. God of wind most often depicted as a demon. The bag is known to hold wind. When he is shown he is depicted carrying the bag on his shoulders. Thus meaning the most likeliest place it is would be somewhere high however. From what I can take of the room it is not up there." Scratching his head Yoru tried to think harder. Whomever had designed this place had made it to torment anyone who had gotten this far. Walking over to the pedestal where the bag was located Yoru began looking it over in hopes of finding something that could hint to where the real bag was. Writing, carvings yet even as he looked with scrutiny over the pedestal Yoru could not find one hint as to where the bag was.

Taking a few steps back Yoru took a deep breath, there was not much use as to losing your cool over something so simple...or so you would think. Reaching down and picking up a rock from where the snake had smashed threw the wall Yoru tossed it up and caught it in his hand. Then with all of the pent up rage threw the rock at the pedestal. Due to the blinding rage he was going through he missed. Picking up another he continued to hurl large rocks at the pedestal until finally it hit dead on. Now proud that he had hit it Yoru began looking around at his teammates and instantly blushed. He had lost his cool which he rarely done yet he knew that it was a good thing he did it now rather than later.

Spoiler:

Age : 30 Posts : 471

“What the hell, Yoru?!” Tani growled at the white haired genin as she stood frozen in place by the shock of his reckless behaviour and the boy glanced around with pink cheeks. Furious that he’d risk destroying the seal that held their comrade for no reason other than to selfishly release his own irritation, she stormed past him and hurried back over to the stone structure. She could force herself to sacrifice trying to save her friend in the name of the group’s survival, but she wouldn’t tolerate meaningless violence towards the Haretsu girl’s resting place. That pedestal was Kemuri’s prison at least, and her grave at most, and Tani expected much more than such pointless hostility towards it from her comrades. Upon reaching the pedestal once more, the girl lowered herself to closely inspect any damage, searching its rough surface, especially over the seal, for any cracks or chips.

“I thought you had more respect than that.” She shot over her shoulder at her fellow genin angrily, before returning to her inspection. As her eyes drifted over the object’s evidently unmarred face, Tani’s expression softened with relief, then again with sadness. On one mission they’d lost three - possibly four – comrades, one of the two chuunin had gone disturbingly quiet and still while the other clearly had teamwork issues, Yoru’d apparently reached the end of his tether and Tani knew she herself wasn’t in the best state of mind… They weren’t a team now; they were four emotionally isolated people held together by circumstance. The young kunoichi’s offer of help hadn’t been accepted by the red-eyed shinobi, who had carried out his search of the roof alone, while Mister Superiority had taken to searching likewise on the ground. Tani had taken the opportunity to inspect the holes created by their serpentine host, only to find nothing significant before being distracted by the sight of the white haired chuunin summoning a bird of some kind, and apparently trying to do so without them noticing. With the most deadpan of expressions and yet another incredulously quirked eyebrow, she’d wondered if his body language was somehow an illusion, as he’d seemed smarter than someone who thought they could do something so obvious as spawn a four foot tall bird in a cavernous empty room without anyone else noticing. Then as the creature hopped away the girl’s attention had been snatched up by Yoru hurling rocks in her peripheral vision, leading to her return to the stone pedestal, in front of which she now crouched.

They needed to reunite, or the situation would surely deteriorate further and their shrinking, estranged unit would crumble entirely. Wrapped up in her thoughts, ponderous gaze looking through the pedestal now, Tani thought fondly, for a few minutes, of home; of her brother, of friends and colleagues she knew would never tolerate the separation her current team had suffered. As she considered the situation, the existence of another bag, the behaviour of her comrades, how their misplaced leader was faring, and what she could or should do, a staid hand reached tentatively towards the stone structure before her. “Checking every potential place…” The male chuunin’s words rolled, barely a whisper, off Tani’s tongue as her thoughts turned to what he’d muttered quietly earlier on. The prospect of another team being sent into harm’s way, based on the same stubborn optimism that her team mates had seemingly suffered, had been a sobering one the instant it was presented; leading the kunoichi to believe maybe Toshiro wasn’t so bad under his obvious lack of people skills. The point was there though, and it was a good one. Tanned fingers pressed gently to cold, hard stone and Tani found it odd that she was somehow disappointed by the temperature; biting, bleak… devoid of the warmth of life.

“I think…” The girl’s voice broke and died before she could drag what she wanted to say out of her reluctant heart. Taking a fortifying breath, she tried again in a firmer, more enduring tone. “I think we should check in here.” It pained her to suggest something that might result in one of her less restrained team mates damaging her friend’s container, but it was a risk she had to abide. “If this Mad God was going to hide a powerful weapon somewhere here – and don’t think this means I’m convinced there is one – placing it inside something that would potentially hold the life of a comrade of the thieves’ would be the closest thing to fitting for the sadistic bastard…” Her fingers roamed the object in question as she spoke; it was clear from the sadness in her aquamarine eyes and her subtly pinched brow that Tani knew what would have to happen in order for them to be sure… and also that she couldn’t do it. Raising herself up to stand straight, the female genin boldly ran her hands over the pedestal’s sides then top, searching half-heartedly for an anomaly that might have it open unharmed. Upon predictably finding nothing, she lowered her ear to hover just above its surface, before giving the cold stone a forceful rap with her knuckles; she wouldn’t be surprised if her companions thought her mad for such audacity.

The sound that met her ears made her heart skip a beat; it was dull, but the resonation of sound bouncing off stone and traveling through an internal space was unmistakable. Silence settled on the girl as she stood straight once more and tried to come to terms with the implications of her findings. With a deep, controlled breath, Tani’s eyes fluttered closed and, still unsure of whether such a lead was good, bad, or affected how she felt about the possibility of another bag being around, she spoke. “…There’s a hollow space inside…” She announced with the slightest hint of defeat, yet a dusting of oddly placed hope. “Maybe these sacrifices won’t have been made in vain after all.” Turning on her heels to look at the remnants of their team, Tani tried to fight the twisting of her insides as she was torn between the quiet hope of finding a treasure for their village after all this, and the dread of what their attempts to investigate the pedestal’s insides might do to any pitiful scraps of hope there was for her friend. The young kunoichi had searched the pillar thoroughly for external faults, switches or seams to no avail, in the process disturbing the object enough to display the unlikelihood of it hiding any traps… unless she’d activated them without anyone being able to notice. “So…” She continued, quashing the urge she had to fold her arms tightly across her chest in rejection of the situation and needing to access the inside of the pedestal, but standing in front of it protectively without noticing. “Any ideas on how to open this baby safely?” Sharp blue-green eyes sought out the scarlet ones of her fellow genin as she spoke the last word, ‘Safely’ of course having the all-inclusive meaning of ‘without hurting any of us or the seal’.

Age : 48 Posts : 1036

Focused on his own methodical search, Toshiro had systematically blocked out the other members of the "team". So he missed more of the byplay between the two genin than someone shouting at someone else until, after several minutes, his summon flapped back to land alongside him. One yellow-tinted eye on the squabbling fresh-meat Tonbi summed up the fruits of his search with a single gesture in the negative that matched the outcome of his summoner's own search. No options left with the rest of the room ruled out, Toshiro turned back to the pedestal in the center with a grim expression. He was not looking forward to what he was certain would be coming, mostly because the chuunin was sure that "The Twit" would fight him every step of the way. Nor was Hani much help as for whatever reason his fellow chuunin seemed to have shut down for all intents and purposes. As he strode back Toshiro was preparing himself for a battle of words (and possibly fists) to thoroughly search that pillar when Tani spoke up. Hearing the genin speak up the elder male of the group almost didn't believe what that she was suggesting searching inside the pillar, even with the proof that it was hollow, with all it entailed. 'Well, maybe she's finally realized that more lives than ours ride on this.'

While the two genin had their discussion, Toshiro had latched on the key points; a hollow space in the pedestal that might hold the bag (or simply have been used to reduce the weight when it was made). Tani's next words, asking if someone else had an idea to open the pedestal safely, might have been spoken to the other genin but it was the chuunin she apparently detested who would act on them. He pointedly ignored any ugly looks sent his way while giving the pedestal a weighing look as he formulated his plan of attack. "Safely depends on what is inside that hunk of rock besides the bag. A bunch of explosives, poison gas cartridge, another seal - all rigged to go off when it's opened are all possibilities. The only safe way I know is to blast it apart with everyone at a safe distance." Fitting action to word, the white haired chuunin began removing the explosive tags from his kunai then sounded out the pedestal to find the dimensions of the hidden space. Once he had those the snow-maned chuunin began placing the pieces of paper so that the hollow space was ringed above and below. If, and the exact details depended heavily on factors that couldn't be known without opening the pedestal, everything went according to plan the resulting blasts should cut the pedestal above and below the visible seal. The explosion would, Toshiro hoped, also destroy any traps inside before they could be trigged.

While his summoner was busy fussing with the explosive notes, Tonbi took it upon himself to shepherd the two genin and silent chuunin until they were well out of the range of not only the blast but any flying debris. In a manner vaguely similar to a mother bird herding her chicks the several-times normal sized pheasant used sweeps from his wings, along with the occasional peck if someone proved especially obstinate, to do so. Once he had all three out of the danger Tonbi made sure to keep them there and tried to forestall any mad rushes back to the pedestal by the younger kunochi. "Sorry kiddo, but you're friend is already gone. Even a seal master who could undo the seal would more than likely just recover a corpse. Seals need to separate things like chakra and physical bodies to work and with living things needing chakra to stay alive that process caused all sorts of grief. It's why one of the first rules in sealing is not to sealing anything alive unless you want it dead." A glance over one shoulder to confirm that his partner was about to ignite the tags with a match, the bird gestured for everyone to lie flat while he continued his spiel. "The best you can do is make sure your friend's, and the others, deaths aren't in vain. If anything look at what is about to happen as giving her soul a chance to move on instead of being stuck in a hunk of rock for eternity. No one, well with the possible exception of the white-haired chimps sister, deserves that sort of end."

"Fire in the hole!" Following that shout (which was said from behind one of the larger pieces of rubble the snake had knocked loose) came the dull "whump" that went with a large volume of explosive notes simultaneously igniting.

Toshiro: 111 CP 3/23 explosive notes left.

Age : 28 Posts : 796

During all the commotion she was silent. Silent as one would be during a funeral. The young girl knew not of why she was acting so odd. It was as if she stood on the outer rings of actions, merely observing from a distance. Her team fluttered around her, scrambling to form their own thoughts and ideas. Now and then she would look at each one, seeing their course of emotions tumbling down their faces. She was, as one would say, the unmovable stone of the lot. Quietly her eyes took in the scene, the damage room. Those violet hues glanced everywhere quickly, as if chasing an invisible butterfly.

It was only when Tani, if she remembered correctly , began to speak did she listen. Still in her dream like state, she only hear snippets of what was said. Curiously she padded closer , to further inspect. The next few words Tani said made her gasp, breaking her silence. "A small hollow part?" What great fortunate luck. Hani allowed herself the briefest of smiles at the younger girls finding. This was going somewhere , finally.

A few moments later, as they thought of how to open the damned thing, Toshiro began to act. In the deepest areas of her mind , far bow the surface, she thought of his actions. Or what he would do. Just some odd seconds later he started to Shepard them off and away from the pedestal to safety. For the remainder of his actions , she watched. A explosive tag here.. One there.

It dawned on her what the boy was going to do.

His shouted words echoed all around her, faintly.. Muddled. As if she was trying to hear him from underwater. Her eyes grew wide as the explosion started, and she ducked more to avoid any loose rocks. It was the sound the explosion made , that woke her. The incredibly loud sound of objects shattering from the note made her awaken from her odd spell.

"Oh my.." She managed hoarsely. Glancing swiftly at her comrades she inquired if they were all okay and once satisfied that they were , she stood back up. With quicker movements than she had earlier , she moved towards the now gone pedestal. As her feet carried her, she beckoned the white hair chuunin to her. "With me, please." Hani wanted him to see whatever there was to see with her, seeing as it was he who broke the object apart.

Cautiously she approached the rubble, carefully stepping over loose ground. There was now a hole , a small hole left clear. With a sideways glance to her fellow teammate she peered in.

There, amongst everything, it was. Slightly covered , almost hard to see, the bag was there. A small surprised gasp escaped from her, and she took a step back. Through all this trouble , through all this death, it was there. Right before them. In that instant she could of reached for it first. Claimed the spectacular prize before anyone.

Yet, she did not crave it. Or it's power. "There it is." She simply stated as her female form slowly inched away. With the white haired male beside her , those small feminine hands motioned for the others to come closer as well.

Age : 34 Posts : 590

After being lead to a safe distance Yoru was unsure of what was going to happen next. However his questions were answered very shortly when the blast went off. Rubble and debri flew in all directions and the sound reverberated in the large room. As the sound slowly dulled Yoru saw the new hole and slowly started to make his way over to it. However he was not the first one to the hole, however he quickened his step when Tsuyo motioned everyone over. Now standing over the hole he saw the very thing that they had came for. The thing so many people had die to obtain yet it was inches from him. The girl had not taken it so it was still up for grabs. Does he just reach in and grab it or should he let someone else go for it? Sure Yoru wanted it but at the same time what if it was another trap.

Looking around he saw the other members of the team, Who wanted it more? Looking at Tani he knew that she probably didn't want the bag. Sure she would probably want it out of the hands of any enemy of konoha but she proably didn't want it for herself. Turning to Toshiro he couldn't read his face, if anyone would go for the bag it was probably him. Then looking at Tusyo, she had the chance to grab it yet she didn't. Either she thought it was another trap or she just did not want it. "I feel I should ask...Who wants it? I can say that I would not mind having it. However I am sure that it could be in better hands then mine." Again lookin around at the others he continued to think."Also how are we to know that this is the real one. This could just be another trap." Reaching down Yoru hovered his hand over the bag. Not to grab it but to just see what he would sense from it if anything.

Age : 30 Posts : 471

“There was another one…” The words were barely a whisper, unintentionally spoken aloud by the young girl slowly approaching her fellow Genin’s side, though directed at herself. Her steps were slow and steady as Tani wandered over with a heaving heart, eyes flicking from the dirty silken bag to the rubble amongst which it lay. Yoru started to speak, but now it was the younger female’s turn to fade out from a world that descended into the warbled mumbles of her submersion in thought. The seal was destroyed, and with it, so too was any lingering hope of retrieving Kemuri; the Haretsu girl’s role in the world and her friend’s life officially and irreversibly over. She was gone.

It had been with a great deal of self-control, and an expression of thinly veiled pain that the girl had let herself be herded out of the danger zone by Toshiro’s summon, biting down on her bottom lip to prevent herself from voicing any futile arguments that had arisen in her mind. It had been a vain hope to get inside the stone structure without putting either the seal or the team at risk, but a hope she’d held none the less. Upon reaching a point the large bird had apparently deemed safe, Tani’d looked back over the creature’s unfurled wing to watch while the white haired Chuunin made preparations. “She’s been my best friend since the Academy.” She’d rasped quietly, suddenly aware that her fingers were trembling ever so slightly as her breath gained in pace; not really sure if she was explaining herself and her reaction to the pheasant or trying to justify it to herself so she would stop feeling so weak for having it. “-The girl in that seal..“ Had been added as clarification for the creature, whom had then turned his attention to her. “Sorry kiddo, but your friend is already gone. Even a seal master who could undo the seal would more than likely just recover a corpse.” She’d closed her eyes at that, scrunching them shut in a bid to close out what was happening around her and keep in any tears. The bird had said what she’d already known, deep down on some level, but to have had it spoken made it all the more real, and Tani didn’t want to hear it; didn’t want it to be real. “Seals need to separate things like chakra and physical bodies to work, and with living things needing chakra to stay alive, that process caused all sorts of grief; it's why one of the first rules in sealing is not to sealing anything alive unless you want it dead.” A ragged breath had shaken through her as Tani’d let her eyes flutter open, tears clinging to her lashes though refusing to fall. “Well…” After attempting to swallow the lump in her throat, the kunoichi had let out a weak chuckle. “Muri always was the one who knew more about sealing.” Then the stubborn droplets had finally crawled from her eyelashes to make their escape down the young kunoichi’s cheeks, and she’d just barely managed a nod at the summon’s words about her friend’s freedom while ignoring some reference she didn’t understand made about Toshiro’s sister, before the shout of a familiar voice grasped her attention and she’d swiftly ducked for cover with her companions.

‘Whump’.
That was the sound of someone’s existence being erased.

Over in an instant, the explosion had done one thing well at least, and that, it seemed, was to wake up their sleep-walking team mate. Hani had snapped immediately into action as though the daze she’d been in had never occurred, scurrying over to the blast site, beckoning her fellow Chuunin to join her and with the two Genin in tow. While her comrades said whatever it was they were saying, and did whatever it was they were doing, Tani spared a moment to engrave upon her mind that Kemuri was, without a doubt, irretrievable, dead and gone. ‘Free..’ She corrected her thoughts with the words of Toshiro’s summon. ‘Free like we need to focus on getting, too.’ With that she turned her full attention back to the group, noticing that she was standing next to Yoru, who was crouched to her right with a hand hovering some distance over the bag, and had just fallen into silence. “Don’t touch it, just in case.” She suggested, getting back to the task at hand. Casually reaching around to the small of her back, Tani slid the knot of her sash undone and smoothly unwrapped the crimson fabric from her waist. “Here…” Without pausing, the kunoichi folded the wide garment into half and then a fourth it’s length while lowering herself beside the younger white haired male, before covering the shimmering puddle of a weapon with it. “We’re going to need the next step of our plan now; how are we going to fetch Robin-sensei and haul ass out of this place alive?” Taking care not to touch or expose the bag, she then pinched it through the guard of her own treasured accessory, lifting it from its resting place most gingerly and carefully swaddling it entirely in the safety of her sash. They were here, after all, to collect the weapon for their village; not themselves.

Age : 48 Posts : 1036

Only after the din and dust of the explosion had passed did Toshiro actually lift his head enough to look over the small boulder that had protected his head from damage (if not dust) to survey the results of his handiwork with some measure of confidence. True to his expectations the double ring of explosive notes had directed most of the force of the blast into the pillar itself, sparing (for the most part) the seal from actual blast damage. Of course there was the matter that instead of remaining intact after it fell the entire section had scattered on impact, irrevocably destroying the seal. So much for the best-case where the seal survived, but at least he could say it hadn't been for lack of trying on his part. Nor did he feel bad about being cautious - the tiny pieces of shrapnel he had spotted among nearby rubble were proof that caution had been warranted. The white-haired chuunin wouldn't have been surprised if those bits of twisted metal belonged to a container inside the pedestal that was filled with explosives and rigged so that if the hollow space breached it would detonate - killing yet more people and destroying the seal in the process anyway. As far as Toshiro was concerned he had made the right decision and if Tani had had a fit over the seal being ruined he would have told her just that. Thankfully, as Tonbi informed his summoner through a mix of gesture and expression, the bird had managed to at least get her to see sense though Toshiro had been too far to hear how. Then Hani had called him over for some reason and so here he stood surveying the heart of the remnants of the pedestal.

Now he was standing alongside his fellow chuunin who seemed to have finally snapped back to reality and looking down at what was (almost) certainly the reason behind this whole mess. A plain bag that supposedly had the power to level entire forests. A bag Toshiro would have cheerfully stuffed with enough explosives to obliterate a good-size portion of Konoha if by doing so he could reduce it to memories. To him the bag was in the same category as bloodlines - power that was simply handed to whoever found or was born with it instead of being earned through sweat and blood. In his experience that sort of power was rarely understood by those using it but often taken as license to do things that one shouldn't. Plus he knew that at least one good fellow Leaf-nin had died because of the possible threat that power represented. If the others didn't want it, it would have been impossible to give it to Toshiro. Taking in what information he could it was apparent he wasn't the only one who was wary of that bag. Hani was backing away from it like one would a slumbering viper they had almost stepped on. Yoru seemed drawn to it but the other male's hesitation said he hadn't forgotten what happened to the last person who let a lust for power overrule sense. The big surprise was the genin Toshiro had concerned the weakest link. The snow-haired chuunin had been considering creating a mizu bushin to pick up the bag when the younger female of the group had beaten him to the punch, using her sash to handle the bag without actually touching it while keeping the others from an ill-advised hasty grab. That display of creative forethought, not to mention remembering why they were here in the first place, had Toshiro nodding slightly in unconscious approval. Somewhere in the back of his head he began to reassess his initial opinion of the younger kunochi.

Of course there was still the matter of finding any remaining survivors and getting out of this place as Tani pointed out, which with the bag finally (if not safely) in Konoha's possession took first priority. Thinking about how to do both, without taking more casualties, meant that Toshiro didn't notice the start of the collapse that affected a large section of wall over the snake's entrance tunnel. A collapse that in turn triggered a cascade up the wall as more blocks continued to fall until a portion of the ceiling collapsed. Blinking owlishly at the abrupt sunlight Toshiro had to fight down the urge to grin manically at this latest turn of events. This was exactly what he needed to get the other members of this group headed out of harms way, both for their own safety and so he could focus on dealing with that overgrown garter snake. "We? Oh no." Gesturing at the section of wall through which the serpent had made its exit, the younger of the two chuunin put his proverbial foot down to head off any suggestions of entering the narrow tunnel the snake had used as a group. Besides which Tani held the bag and Hani was the only medic who could deal with whatever injuries must have befallen the missing genin which left either Yoru or himself to be the "bodyguard" for both. "In places like that more people just mean more things getting in the way and less room to dodge. " And there was no way in whatever hell someone believed in that the white haired chuunin was going to send a raw genin to get involved in a fight between a former kage and a giant snake that just couldn't be normal. "Me and feather-head will find Uzumaki-san and catch up with the rest of you. We've practiced together at close-quarters and won't get in each others way." To emphasis what he was going to say Toshiro pointed at the after-market skylight that had been just added to the room. "You three are going to take that bag and use that hole to look for our missing genin. After that you'll head back to Konoha so all this", this being the dead and missing (if not presumed dead) members of the team as well as the general misery all of them had endured in this "Temple of the Wind God" as indicated through a sweep of one arm, "isn't in vain." Hoping that the others would at least take a few minutes to think over what he said, if not actually listen, Toshiro turned around and flashed the gesture that between the two meant "time to go" at his summon who had been poking among the rubble. "Come on Tonbi. We've got a snake to skin." With that the pair set off towards the tunnel while loosening weapons in their sheathes and fastening what explosives they had left to kunai and in between talking at a machinegun pace through the curious mix of hand signs, body language, and expression that was a second language to them.

Age : 28 Posts : 796

Hani watched the younger Tani carefully pick up the sacred object. She was impressed to say, that none of them present had touched the bag with their bare hands. Instead the other female opted to use her sash as a new means of transport. The young woman wondered however, why noone decided to take the item. Was it really out of respect of their kage that no one dared to touch it? Or did they all fear the gods weapon. Either way, they all had a new objective to accomplish.

The white haired chuunin seemed to follow the same thought wave as he soon spoke up.

" You three are going to take that bag and use that hole to look for our missing genin. After that you'll head back to Konoha so all this..

She watched as he made a grand gesture to emphasize the course of their journey. To his plan, the chuunin held no objections. He seemed to be the better fighter of the lot, so to her it was fit that he would chase after the serpent.

As her eyes followed the boy as he scampered off she slowly turned to the two that stood beside her. "I believe our best bet is to just head out to Konoha. Anymore time spent here can get us into further trouble." For a brief moment she paused in her speech. The next few words she was about to say wouldn't , or may have not agreed to well with what the others may have wanted. "It's been awhile since we've heard from those missing from our group. Too long. Lets just head out."

Slowly her gaze traveled over the wrecked room, remembering every detail. No matter what had happened inside , it was indeed the "Temple of the Wind God". Through all the strife and trials they plowed against, it was still a "holy" place. The type of thing few get to see in their life time. Her eyes lingered all upon the walls and rubble. She looked back at Tani and Yoru and motioned for them to start heading towards the hole her other partner pointed out. As they began to progress closer to their destination she made sure to ask the bearer of the bag if everything was okay and if she was fine carrying it.

In time she reached the hole opening, her fellow comrades hopefully following behind. Some delay was to be expected of course, but that was just fine. Before stepping out her hands reached and grazed the stone near her. Her palm lingered there, as if saying a farewell. Silently she told herself that she would be back. That was , if the temple still stood there in the days to come. Hani , almost hesitantly , placed her feet out of the hole and clambered out. "Lets go home." Her voiced echoed warmly around, hopeful to get home. She was ready, and there was no doubt the others were too. With more footsteps she was out of the hole, onto the hot desert sand that was the outside. It was time. Time to go back to the village at long last.

[Exit]

Age : 30 Posts : 471

Spoiler:

After cradling the godly bundle firmly in her grasp, Tani damn near had a heart attack as the room filled with a low rumbling, followed by the sound of stone hunks falling, and again soon after with the sight of a crumbling wall and ceiling. A very unladylike exclamation barked through her mind as she assumed the entire temple was coming down; something she'd read in an adventure book as a child. However, after ducking, and with nothing to duck behind regardless, it became clear that her fears weren't to be realised as the rumbling stopped and the room flared with the sudden presence of sunlight. Blinking rapidly in response to the assault on her irises before squinting up at the newly made hole, Tani felt her expression shift into the first one of deep-seated joy she'd worn in a number of days. They were well hidden from the stinging, sand filled gales of the wasteland outside, but warm desert air still forced its way through the opening, an the girl never thought she'd be so welcoming of the hot, dry breath of the desert or associate it with such an all permeating sense of freedom. Well that was the escape route sorted.

Before she even articulated the words she wanted to use to suggest they get onto finding their misplaced, retired Kage, the inhalation of someone in preparation of speech met the young girl's ears and immediately Tani knew the white haired Chuunin would, no doubt, have other plans. "We? Oh no. In places like that more people just mean more things getting in the way and less room to dodge." As predicted, Toshiro didn't share the bright eyed kunoichi's idea of a sound plan; something that was fortunate, as the young girl was notably lacking in the strategic field. Never one to quietly opt out of the action, though, Tani spun to face te teal eyed male with an obvious disapproving frown. He continued to insist that he and his summon were best fit for the task of fetching their leader, and that the two would do so alone. Eyebrows swifty sinking into stubborn arcs, the girl opened her mouth to snap at the proposition of them willingly abandoning another team member, this time the Chuunin himself, and splitting the group up after having only just reunited. All that fought its way from her lips, however, was an irritated and inarticulate spluttering of "Now just hang on-" Before something in the next part of the boy's spiel stopped her in her tracks. "…look for our missing Genin…" Stunned into silence while Toshiro finished his speech, Tani's heart danced in her chest at the news; "Someone got separated…"

Though she bit her lips again in contemplation, from the moment she'd spoken those words and seen the look of confirmation on the Chuunin's face it was clear that the female Genin would comply with his wishes. After assuming from her comrades' earlier silence on the topic, that all the missing members of their party had perished, hearing that it seemed one had simply gone unaccounted for was all the convincing she needed to invest in a search. Disregarding the coppery tang that signified she'd clamped her jaw doesn't too hard in her thoughts, Tani gave a curt nor to signify that she understood what she'd be doing before looking up at the hole through which it seemed she would now be traveling. As the sound of sandals and talons on sandstone started to click and scuff, she snapped her gaze back to the retreating pair as an idea struck her, and she refused to let the sound of their footsteps be her last memory of that condescending ass and a his bird friend. "Oi! Toshiro-San!" She shouted at the man's back, her voice hard and authoritative - as if she had any such authority in the situation. "60 minutes! You hear me? If you're not out here in an hour, I'm coming to drag your ass back to Konoha if I have to!" Her tone almost wavered as she bellowed after the Chuunin, it felt a little odd speaking in such a way to someone above he rank while on a mission with them, but she didn't think she could bare losing any more of her comrades to that blasted temple; not even one she butted heads with all the time… not by far.

It wasn't until the melodious voice of the other female in the group broke through her thoughts, that the Genin looked away from where their teal eyed companion had vanishe I tothe gaping, black mouth of the serpent's tunnel, and what she heard shocked her. "What? You're kidding." Whilping around to saddle the equally short woman with her fiery gaze, Tani realised she'd heard correctly and her face slid seamlessly from shocked and angered, to straight up scorching at the mere suggestion of leaving without attempting to find their post Genin. "No. No damn way. How can you be serious?" She shot at the woman, not noticing the irritated clenching of her jaw. "If one of the others were separated from you lot too - and right from the start - that means it happened in that first room. We can access that first room." it had seemed almost too good to be true for Tani, she just couldn't understand Hani's hopeless attitude. With an exasperated sigh an controlled breaths, the girl climbed the wall to freedom alongside her two complacent team mates; however she wasn't going back to the village without at least he king out the temple's entrance room once more and waiting, in the safety of the dune on which they'd started, for Toshiro and hopefully Rovin to emerge. She scaled the outside if the temple, now one of a meager trio, and accompanied Hani and Yoru to their starting point, where a little bit if digging under days' worth if accumulated sand revealed the girl's travel pack. After stashing the knotted bundle containing the bag I store and removing a spare canteen, Tani slung the pack over he shoulders and started back towards the temple, taking a swig of unpleasantly warm water as she went; explaining to te others that she wouldn't leave without trying to find their missing man.

A few moments later and the temple's large double doors found a small, tanned Genin standing before them in an odd sense of dejavu… though this time there was no team of associates to help push the opposing objects in, not was there any of the previous intent to do so kindly. It took the girl only a few seconds to place all four of the simple sealed tags from her kit on the rightmost of the two doors, another to hop out of range. With a single gesture the notes exploded, swallowing the voice if the Shinobi who placed them as she muttered "Katsu." Then, staring down the severely cracked and crumbling, but still stubbornly standing stone slab, Tani felt her chakra surge, sprinted at the blocked vestibule, sprung into the air, and launched herself in a flying jump kick a the door's weak center. The crash of stone crumbling under the strike as it flaked off into sizable chunks and slumped to the floor was accompanied by a ferocious roar of "DYNAMIC ENTRY!" and followed by a pained grunt muffled behind clenched teeth as the Genin ha to brace herself against the doorjamb and wrench her grazed leg from the mess she'd made in the doorway.

Hey! Anybody kicking in here!?" She called in a manner that provided a striking and painful reminder of Kemuri, wincing as she stuffed the feelings deeper inside and instead took it as a wakeup call that she was being as reckless as the Haretsu girl. With another grunt, Tani kicked at the stone piled in the walkway, pushing it from her path before stepping aside to let the light of the midday sun flood through the entire gap. The room was as beautifully decorated as it had been on that morning three days ago, and the lush colours of tapestries and shining of gold plating almost made the kunoichi's sick with loahing for the wretched place. One thing had changed though; one part if the room hadn't remained nearly as pristinely untouched. Not far from the doorway, in the part of the room the majority of the group had been standing when the team had been separated, a small section of the floor ha seemingly crumbled away to reveal a narrow but - as far as Tabi could see - deep pit below. Excitement flaring at te finding of a lead, but not sure stepping inside again was a great idea afte te unwelcome events of her first round with the building; Tani stood at the doorway and called out again "Oi! Anybody down there?" she hollered. If their missing team mate was alive and retrievable, then he'd hopefully be nearby. Having lost so many members of their team already though, the girl was fighting the assumption that heir misplaced comrade had met the same fate. If the missing boy called back, she'd find a way to help him. If her cries where met with silence she would assume the worst and focus on Toshiro's time limit.

Spoiler:

Age : 48 Posts : 1036

It would be nearly two hours past Tani's autocratic deadline after which she would try to drag one white-haired chuunin back to Konoha that several figures came into view of the massive dune that surrounded the temple. Distance and wind-blown sand at first made it nearly impossible to determine more than that one was taller than the other and that they were slowly moving closer to where the group had cached what supplies they hadn't brought into the temple. As they descended down from the dune they had been traversing and began the half-trek half-climb up the face of the one surrounding the temple proper a sharp eye could make out additional details. The taller one had clearly seen better days as the scorch marks mixed in with sand, dust, and a few splotches of blood turning what had once been a greyish-tan shirt and pants into a motley assortment along with turning his hair a from white to a curious mix of brownish-grey. In fact the only the only thing that readily would identify the chuunin as the same one who had been hell-bent on seeing the assignment through were the teal eyes that held a mix of fury, resignation, and sheer irritation. Slung over chuunin's shoulder was one Sael Sanka who looked as if he had gone ten losing rounds of bare-knuckle boxing with one of Konoha's better taijutsu users. The other upright and mobile figure was much shorter and looked to have a deformity of the spine so that it was nearly as wide as it was tall until it was close enough to be seen that it was actual two individuals. One a four foot bird with a short haori and the other a human who had once been a Hokage slung over the birds back.

It had been a stroke of pure luck that after finding the second missing member of the group unconscious and roughed up but (seemingly) alone and without serious injury, the tunnel they had been following had caved in. Forced to detour downward through a new opening the chuunin and summon had been searching for a way out and (literally) stumbled on the puppeteer still in his puppet. How he got several floors further down from where he had first been trapped was easily seen from below where the rubble of that floor had come to rest after collapsing from the extra burden. Tani's call to the puppet-using genin had gone unanswered because at some point in that second collapse Sael had knocked his head against the wall of his puppet and lost consciousness. Naturally the pair couldn't just leave another Leaf-nin behind and so Toshiro had let his summon bear the full weight of the former Hokage while he got the puppeteer out of his damaged puppet and hefted that burden. The chuunin had even sealed up the puppet (or what he could find of it anyway) away. After all, if he had been the one unconscious in a situation that wasn't life or death, he wouldn't have wanted his swords left behind to rust. No doubt a puppeteer shared the same feeling for their puppets so Toshiro had extended the same courtesy.

When the pair where maybe a hundred paces away the wind died down enough for those nearby to hear what the pair not in lala-land were saying. "Why do I have to carry this lard arse and you get the shrimp?" "Because you tried to blow me up over a harmless reptile." "I thought it was a snake okay? You know I hate snakes." "It was maybe six inches long, had four legs, was three feet from my head, and trying to get away. A kunai alone was over-kill and you threw a tagged one that went off in my face bird-brain." "Shut it, snow ape." "You first, turkey dinner." "I will get your for that..." "Feel free to try. I've got photos of you coming out of that topless bar with two waitresses on your wings. I'm sure Kanko will just love seeing them." "You win... cheating bastard" At the same time Tonbi reluctantly admitted defeat in the verbal exchange, not wanting his girlfriend to find out what had happened the only time Tonbi had ever gotten roaring drunk, the pair reached the crest of the dune on which the rest of the group (sans one genin) was waiting. No sooner had they reached that place than both unceremoniously divested themselves of their burdens (Toshiro with care, Tonbi with many loud complaints about former Hokages getting fat) and went to dig up the pack of supplies that the white-haired chuunin had buried just below the surface. During that brief dig Toshiro made it very clear that whatever had made him irate at his summon was still not forgiven or forgotten. "Do you really want to help Aki's brats with target practice?" Tonbi's reaction to that was all his summoner needed to see to know he had won - it wasn't often one saw a feathered creature physically pale. Then anyone who had been drafted to help the chuunin's little sister with teaching her unofficial students weapons would probably have done the same. The poor aim of academy students (at least when it came to hitting what they actually were aiming for) when just starting was legendary. To the extent that someone had actually purposed, and only slightly jokingly, giving instructors hazardous duty pay equivalent to the ANBU for assuming that task. Tonbi had already been in that spot once for running his beak and had sworn to do anything to avoid nearly being concussed, maimed, or emasculated (at least such as a avian could be) a second time. Taking his summons frantic nodding as the capitulation it was, Toshiro slung his considerably lighter pack onto his shoulders while whispering "didn't think so." At least partially restocked now, the chuunin turned back to the rest of the survivors of an ad-hoc team to lay out his plan to the rest of the group. As much as he hated leading in these kinds of situations, Toshiro had stepped into that role to fill the vacuum and was stuck with it until the group reached Konoha or Robin recovered enough to be fit for duty. "We'll set up a camp on the lee side of the outcrop we passed on the way here for tonight and in the morning I'll send turkey-face back to Konoha with an update. Then we'll head in a straight line east for the coast. I've got kin who run a maritime trade route between Fire Country and a small port nearby. They'll be able to get us out of here without having to risk the border crossings." With that the snow-haired chuunin hefted Sael over his shoulder, gesturing for his summon to do the same to the former Hokage, and slowly started walking in the direction he had indicated. Kept to a low mutter as he did that Toshiro's opinion on the whole situation. "What a cluster-frick. And all over something that should have been burned in the first place."

Toshiro: 110 CP

Spoiler:

Tonbi: 25 CP

[Exiting thread... finally!]

Age : 30 Posts : 92

Sael sat in tortoise in silence and brooded over his options. They had apparently walked straight into a trap and now he was stuck inside tortoise, a ceilings worth of rubble on top of him and seemingly nobody around capable of helping him, or even aware of his absence. “Yipee” he murmured quietly to himself and closed his eyes to think, trying to shift into a more comfortable position within Tortoise as he thought.

After nearly an hour of silence he decided to attempt some sort of assessment of his situation. He made a hand sign and placed a palm over his left eye before withdrawing it, now seeing through the eyes of tortoise, attempting to find any way he could out of this mess. If he could only find some bit of loose rubble to move, maybe get enough off of him that he could get out of tortoise and find the others, or send for help, anything but sit here and wait to die. He cured a couple fingers to try and shift tortoise’s head, maybe he could see an opening somewhere. He used the strings coming from his other hand to probe outside of tortoise, mapping out the ruin above him and trying to move a piece here or there…. Damn, this was going to take a long time to get out of if he could even get out of it at all. He may just have to hope that someone would look for him if he couldn’t get himself out. Someone to look for him that didn’t even know he was gone, “Yipee again”, this was not looking good at all. Abandoning his efforts after a time he let his jutsu go and shifted into as comfortable position as he could and waited for someone to discover him.

Days later a sound stirred Saels thoughts. He was out of food and water now, and having been confined in this space he was stiff and sore. He heard the sounds again and listened close, making out someone speaking…. "Oi! Anybody down there?" …. Sael’s mind leaped into action, someone was up there, someone who could help get him out. He was about to call out when a loud crack rang through the air, followed by the grinding of stone and metal, a swift weightless sensation and then he neither heard nor thought anything. The rock that had been surrounding and supporting Tortoise and himself had suddenly dropped again, knocking Sael out as he collided with the shell of Tortoise and causing him several more various bumps, scrapes and bruises. The next thing he knew other then the flashes of conversation around him here or there was waking up, back in Konoha on a hospital bed with bandages around his head and a slightly irritated feeling that volunteering for that mission was one being blunder

Age : 29 Posts : 1236

Shhh-Crack.

Dust and chunks of wall exploded and peppered his waterproof coat like that of shotgun pellets. In that millisecond of reprieve, Robin had the notion to alter his view to where the wall has seemingly erupted and at the point of his head turning so too was an agonizing pain of utter traumatic force. His forward motion, a byproduct of chasing after Kemuri, thankfully stopped the clutches of the snake ripping his upper body clean off his pelvis. Regardless, the whole right side of his body seemingly convulsed in immense pain from collarbone to pelvis as the snake's jaws struck and clamped on Robin's defenseless body. The next half-second followed and thankfully he was too far within the Snake's jaws for Robin's body to be used as a battering ram through the what was once believed to be indestructible wall. He could be thankful for not having the other half of his body destroyed, at least.

The Snake barreled its way through half-a-dozen, a dozen, ten, Robin seemed to lost count by the end of it. Twenty, maybe if he was lucky. The constant pain from the vice grip of the snake fatigued Robin considerably. Instinct or wits, something, controlled and compelled Robin's hands to flicker between a very quick motion of simple handsigns and muttering 'Bureijinguhitto' to which his now burning right hand was slung into the quadrate bone of the snake's jaw. A click and a violent hiss sent the jaw flinching open and Robin being flung to the back of a very large and vacated chamber. He was on the opposite side of what seemed like a 100-square-foot wide by 30ft high chamber and the Huge snake dwarfing 2/3rds of the wall of it. This thing was an absolute monster of a reptile and the taste of its own purple blood oozing from the broken quadrate bone seemed to really piss the snake off. Robin gained some form of advantage with the serpents inability to fully open and to completely shut its jaw. The brightside was at least he wouldn't get chomped to death..

The elderly man rubbed and dabbed at his litter of injuries in the brief respite between the snake realising its prey wasnt moving: broken collarbone, cracked and bruised ribs, internal bleeding and profuse bruising and It would appear part of the snakes jaws had clamped on his sack seemingly winding the former Hokage - that could take some time to heal properly. Robin caught his breath and stayed very still, his understanding and teachings of snakes would suggest they detect vibrations very efficiently and as a second measure can taste the scent with its large forked tongue. Too late before the snakes man-sized tongue rolled out of its opened jaws and instantly located Robin, its huge piercing yellow eyes staring seemingly into his soul. Without a moments hesitation saw the snake propel itself with insurmountable quickness at the former Hokage. What was moments before a hand of fire was now encroached with a miniature violent tornado, "Reppushou" shouted Robin as he thrust his hand forward and sent a pulse of wind at the Snake. It did little to stop the snake's movement but managed to provide Robin with some form of a buffer to evade the head-long attack. This then positioned Robin briefly adjacent to the exposed neck area of the snake. Robin yelled with such emphasis "Kaze no Yaiba" before his one good hand clutched at an invisible sword of wind, bringing the sword down along the Snake's neck in such emphatic fashion - although to no avail. The sword bounced off the scales of the snake with no effect and sparked Robin to retreat to diagonally opposite of his foe. Fuck me, this thing is solid, thought Robin, stratergizing profusely before the next lunge.

Robin caught some more relaxed breaths, striking onto a new plan to conquer his foe. The snakes tongue again lept out of its mouth to located the man and again it charged towards Robin. Instantaneously saw Robin mutter "Konoha no Gādian" and a large Alpha-male Lion erupted from the fire emitted from the opened mouth of Robin. The Lion also countered the charge with its own and about halfway across the chamber saw the giant, seemingly solid snake collide with the Lion and the Lion bursting in an inferno at the protected nostrils of the serpent. If the snake wasn't agitated enough by its prey-item opposing it, then the flame really pissed it off and served to double its pace. Too little too late and Robin had managed to jump enough for his legs to get taken hard out from beneath him and send him into a massive spin cycle before colliding abruptly with the hard sandstone floor again. Corks, jars, potential tear of the ligaments in his knees, Robin was getting too old for this shit. By his side, the Lion reappeared from a small flame.

The snake turned its attention towards the man, however not quite, as the heat had seemed to really affect its thermo-sensory glands and anger the snake and its target towards the Lion of fire. Robin saw this to a huge advantage as without a moments contemplation Robin had crossed the room from the Lion and watched the snake bolt towards the lion. The snake covered a lot of ground quickly and before the tail-part of the Snake had moved from its original position, Robin was standing right next to its posterior and slamming his hands against the ground he yelled "Doro Gaeshi" to which a slab of sandstone-earth-floor pivoted from its position and caught the tail of the snake, pinning it to the ceiling and exposing the soft fleshy part of the snake and its vacant posterior.

What happened next was not for the faint of heart as Robin instinctively sought to defeat his enemy by any means possible. Robin took a sharp breath in and would hold it for the next sequence of events as well as taking a rather-exaggerated gulp in his throat - It had to be done. Robin shouted with such triumph, "Sennen Goroshi" before folding his fingers together and exposing the index and middle fingers. With such poise and elegance, Robin dove head first into the nether region of the Snake and tore through its posterior and into its gut cavity with such ease. Robin removed a pair of kunai and in each one of his now outstretched arm and hands, ran them through the fleshy inside of the giant snake in a parallel motion all of the way to the opening of the mouth where Robin cut the ligaments and muscles of the jaw, forcing them to spring open and allow Robin to jump out of its opened mouth. The snake's inside and entrails spilled out of its corpse. It would do no more shedding and bothering in this life.

Robin was covered in the purple blood and green juices of its interior, but little cared. He had done enough violating today for himself to feel embarrassed and the corpse of the snake was testament to this. The elderly Kage was just about done with this shithole of a temple, the beautiful tapestries and flawless environment could all burn for all he cared. Robin cleaned the juices off himself somewhat and dissipated his Lion to allow the return journey through the 20-something walls he was dragged through to begin with. The man was hobbled greatly and impeded significantly, but he walked it off like a man to reach the rest of the group. Entering back into the chamber where he was taken, he found one lone shinobi, Toshiro, to accompany and assist the injured, smelling Hokage to the entrance of the temple. Along the way, Toshiro mentioned of the demise of Kemuri to the bag, the acquisition of the bag however not the possession and the return of the Hyuuga from where he was taken earlier on in the temple. So, one death to a ratbag and the object obtained by the aim of the mission - success. Some sacrifices were necessary for the advancement of a population, people MAY sing songs of Kemuri's idiocy.

Proper sunlight encapsulated the pair as they stepped out of the hellhole of the temple and back into the misery of ninja life..

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Chakra Used: 60/235

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