In the Valley of the Shadow of Death

[wolfnin]

Sato gave a warm smile to Yatako as the shinobi mentioned Sato's quickness at arriving in Kusagakure. Though it wasn't difficult to guess that he got here through other methods than walking, still Sato was surprised at how quickly Yatako had noticed. "Heh, well unfortunately I can't fly, but there are other methods of traveling through the sky. Pretty sure if it was his time jutsu I'd still be purging out whatever is left of my lunch from earlier." The Senuskai chuckled at the reference of time jutsus being quite the nauseous experience. "I don't believe Jishin will be joining us here. I heard about the incident of Kusagakure in Metropolis, I came over here to assist anybody in need and see how the country was doing. I didn't expect to find this." He would hope that the way he phrased his statement would make it seem like he had come here on his own free will, since there was no need to have it known that Kumogakure was investigating the disaster. On the flip side it would improve village negotiations since he was on direct orders to aid the locals.

"I should also mention that upon my arrival here I noticed Yokai on the outskirts of Kusagakure. I don't know what they're doing here, but it seems like they're making a path towards somewhere in Kusagakure." Despite all that was going on Sato figured this was one piece of detail that he thought would be important to share. His eyes would widen while his brain clicked on a question in which he was curious to find out. "The harakage, is she alright?" He had almost forgotten that Korin was the kage of Kusagakure and although they had only spent a short time together in the old NCIA Hunting group, he had considered her a friend.

[Azure]

A little, honest smile crept over the Hokage’s lips when he imagined Sato puking his brains out after traveling through time. He always thought time jutsu was either exceedingly dangerous or perhaps very limited in nature. When one assumed that time jutsu had the ability to go back and forth through time, the web of the universe was sure to be broken. If, though, time jutsu were limited to slowing down the speed (or increasing them) of one’s cells- then it was a very controlled ninjutsu, albeit still strong. He had only seen the time jutsu at work once and it was an undoubtful display. “That wouldn’t be pleasant for any of us, I’m glad he didn’t decide to do that.” Yatako liked Jishin, he seemed like an honest and kind man from when they met- but he was still a village leader. To say his motives were questionable would be accurate. He did not know Korin on a personal level, but his kindness appeared genuine. He wasn’t as questionable as the Kazekage, who remained unheard from in quite some time.

“Let’s be clear here, we can’t afford to become suspicious, when we point the knife at each other’s throats we’ll miss the truth here: this is bigger than placing the blame, even if that’s easier. That being said, although I value honesty, we also can’t afford mass pandemonium. The way we introduce the world to the notion that our world has changed permanently due to these yokai could mean everything. When you see Jishin, please give him this.”

Yatako reached into his black robe and handed Sato a opaque stone that shimmered blue and green and gray. There was a seal embedded in deep red on one side of the stone. “Private communication, of sorts.” Radio waves could be fickle, interception were always a plausible alley for communications that way. In any event, the news of the yokai around the village soured Yatako’s countenance. “It looks like we’ve left a trail, there weren’t any when I arrived a bit ago. As for Korin…I’d like to think she acted with bold valiancy for her people and not a victim of an unfortunate curse.” A gauntlet clad hand pointed to the direction of which a Korin statue was situated as if she were a growing tree.

An unhappy sigh escaped his lips, as he began to feel the roots of his gums ache. He had unconsciously been clenching his jaw without even realizing, a bad sign of poor concentration. Then like a lighthouse flash, right in front of the fallen Harakage’s tree, a large white shine exploded. The white light was harmless, besides momentarily blinding, but that was only because his Byakugan was so akin to identifying chakra. To everyone else, the white light would shimmer into existence as if a ghost were appearing before them. He appeared as an apparition, shrouded in a mahogany cloak, covering all but his wrinkled hands and drawn, aged face. A white beard puffed about his face and what could be seen from his morning sky gray eyes, he looked shaken. There was a fleeting image of a red devil standing in his shadow, looking away as if in shame or beckoning the man it was time to leave.  The aged man looked not at anyone in particular, but as if he was looking at something with more magnitude than he could handle.

[Ghost Man]
 

“The world…is yours now…Orhalo forgive-“

The spirit faded like a puff of mist or a gust that had lost its breath. It was like a snippet of memory danced before them from a passed soul that had too much weight to leave the world unscarred. It was a sacred notion and a scary one all the more. “Wantentei…” Yatako murmured, familiar with this Orhalo. It was a monotheistic God of a dead civilization, this man must have been one of their sages. “There’s a temple in Hi no Kuni’s southern region looking out like a lighthouse to Konohagakure and what used to be Uzushiogakure.” He explained without much merit, having uttered the first words that came to his mind.

And then the ground shook.

 

 

[

]

It began to crack and splinter, right where the ghost had previously stood. The cracks in the ground sprouted fierce black, grey and red light. A maleficent, grumbling roar sprouted from the ground as the menagerie of lights polymerized into a terrific titan, magnificent and terrible. Five faces dotted its huge head, adorned with a giant, piercing red eye that glared down at them.

[Gargantua]
 

 

“F-freeeeeeeeeed. Devourrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!”

The giant yokai roared as a halo of fire surrounded its head, spinning with large orbs of fire. The creature was greater than any one yokai, but was instead a mixture of a few that had banded together and mixed their energies in order to seek out a source of food- in their case, chakra in order to subdue and feed. The massing of strong ninja had brought this gigantic yokai into being. And it was dead set on eating those who wandered the lonely streets of Kusagakure no Sato.

[Lemon]

Mizujin stood idly by as the Hokage and the newcomer from Kumo caught up on current events. He was meticulously adjusting his hitae-ate to push his tousled raven locks out of his eyes, giving his hands something to do while he tried to quell the growing feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach. His facial features remained stoic, but his dark azure eyes betrayed his true thoughts. The Uchiha boy was not easily shook, but he found himself so distracted by the recent goings on and his helplessness in the whole situation that he paid little attention to the two older men's conversation. He found himself gazing idly at the Harakage's gnarled wooden body when a bright flash of light snapped him back to reality.

"Who are you..." He muttered at the cloaked man, recognizing it as one of the chakra spirits Syaoran had pointed out earlier. The spirit spoke but unlike the others it seemed to be speaking to them rather than running through a set routine. Yatako seemed to know what the old man was talking about but all the words sounded unfamiliar to Mizujin. All he could focus on was the terror that seemed to shake the ghost, making his own anxieties increase. "I have a bad feeling about this." Mizujin spoke to Yatako in a flat, controlled tone. Almost on cue the spirit vanished and the ground beneath the Harakage's tree began to split as the hell's unleashed a monstrous Yokai that dwarfed any other he had previously encountered.

"I guess they followed us." Before the young Uchiha had finished his sentence two kage bunshin materialized on either side of him as his nimble fingers flew through the familiar seals. Without missing a beat the two copies took off over the rooftops, closing to shoujutsu range with the monster but keeping a safe distance. The true Mizujin didn't move from where he stood, confident the Yokai would be distracted for at least a few seconds by his Kage Bunshin. From what he had gathered in Iwa they just went after large sources of chakra, and that was all a bunshin was.

A pained grunt escaped his clenched teeth as he flooded the seal on his chest with his chakra, trying to use all his willpower to break through the Sanbi's seal on his chest[FAIL]. Mizujin's lean and powerful body was wracked with pain for a moment, causing him to buckle at his knees for a second. His dark blue eyes remained unchanhged, save for black tears of blood that began to well up underneath his eye lids. He clutched at his chest, his heart was beating fast due to the stress on his body. Scowling, Mizujin shot a dirty look at Syaoran through bloody eyes. "You're a real bastard, you know that?" He growled, while a few hundred meters ahead of them his shadow clones sent a flurry of kunai and shuriken towards the one eyes monster.

[cntrstrk14]

Syaoran had sat above the conversation the whole while, silently taking in what was going on. He had nothing to really input, and to be honest his mind was occupied elsewhere. There were many things going on, not the least his own problem with the Sanbi. As the old man's ghost would appear, his eyes would go to him because it was the first time this man had appeared here. Syaoran's mind started to process and think, maybe he was on a longer timer than the others, that was always possible. But there was something strange about this one. Before he could really think about it, his attention would be drawn to the ground just a fraction of a second before it started to shake. There had been a large concentration of chakra that had suddenly amassed in the earth right before the shaking. As the beast ripped from the ground, Syaoran could only smile. Of course, there was a dangerous beast staring down the small group right now, but it was almost a relief for Syaoran. There was not a single innocent life to protect anywhere near them. All of the people here could take care of them selves and there was civilians for miles. It was like a large weight lifted from the Tsuchikage's chest, it had been a long time since he had not had to run the calculation of civilian danger in the back of his head during a fight. Hearing Mizujin's curse at him he would smile. It was an odd response, but Syaoran did not feel responsible for the boy's condition. He had come into a battle over his head and now he was suffering the consequences of that. Maybe it was helped because Syaoran knew it would not be permanent. Looking at his palm however, he remembered one key thing.

"Yatako, I won't be much help here. If I expend too much chakra I leave myself open. I trust you can handle this? I'm not sure which side I would end up on.", he said, not moving from his perch. He was still smiling! He was fairly certain that this thing wouldn't kill him, but there was nothing on the line in this battle but their own lives. What a thrilling concept.

"Mizujin, I'm sure you've at least realized now that the seal really hurts on a failure. If I could I would remove it, but for now it looks like you will have to use another tool to fight with.", he said from his perch. He was going to sit this one out, but that didn't mean he couldn't couch from his position.

[Eechi-go]

"The village is there...but...where's the Harakage Tree...?"

Team Freakshow (was Yue eloquently put it) was currently airborne and approaching their destination with rather ludicrous speed. Kusagakure was clearly in sight now, and looked like it was in rather good condition for people who had never been there before. Raz and Haruyuki, however, would notice that the Harakage's Tree was not where it typically stood in the center of the village. The group was too far up in the air for Raz to be able to make out exactly what was going down in the village. It also didn't help that the sky seemed to literally OPEN UP with a massive downpour from the thunderheads that had begun crowding over the village. The sky was practically black, making visibility even more difficult as the group approached the village.

"Uh, tadpoles...you might wanna hold on tight. I think we've got a problem down there." Gamabunta pointed out as the toad had begun it's descent. Raz poked his head over the side of the massive creature's head only to see a yokai of rather titanic size erupting up out of the ground. Raz immediately attributed this thing to the reason why Kusagakure fell off the map, causing all of his anger to be directed at it. The toad slammed down onto the ground at the very edge of the village, standing tall amongst all the buildings. This yokai stood between the team and where the Harakage's Tree typically stood, so there was no way the group was getting deep into the village without killing this thing first.

"You fucking things need to learn to pick on something your own goddamn size." Raz yelled out at the beast with his arms crossed, his legs poised in the case of an incoming attack after he goaded the creature. Gamabunta would extend a webbed hand backwards to pull his goliath-sized katana out of it's sheath, knowing full well that he'd probably need it. "And I'd be happy to oblige ya'...been a long time since I cut somethin' big enough to feed me...heheheh..."

346 Words

((Everyone part of Raz's group should reset their word count from here on in.))

[cntrstrk14]

Syaoran's eyes would go skyward as he caught another large source of chakra coming in at a ridiculous speed. His eyes focused and through the thunderheads that were forming he could make out a.. giant... frog? It wouldn't take long for the creature to crash down, and Raz's voice to call out at the creature. Syaoran opened his mouth to make a witty comment but then his eyes fell towards the Harakage's tree and Korin's resting point and he quickly snapped it shut. His emerald green eyes snapped back to Raz and his mind spun at a tremendous pace. His moment of happiness was gone as he realized that Raz... didn't know. He didn't know yet.

The entire scenario changed in his head with this new variable, a thousand possibilities all new rolled out in front of him. His eyes went to Mizujin, then Sato, then Terrick. He wasn't sure who Raz had brought with him but he knew damn well what could happen. The one thing that kept going through his head over and over is "Raz doesn't know yet", overlaid on his thoughts. Syaoran's at ease mood was gone in a second and he was on his feet, heart racing and eyes moving. He didn't remember standing.

"SATO! MIZUJIN! TERRICK! GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE NOW! RUN! NOW!!!"

Syaoran's eyes went back to Raz. He didn't know what would happen, but he knew the variables. One ninjutsu user with power much larger than most people have ever seen in their lives, even more than Syaoran himself. One monstrous yokai, the current center of that man's attention. One dead wife. Syaoran could only hope that Raz kept his mind together, but if the man went berserk Syaoran wasn't sure him and Yatako could keep everyone here safe. Hell, he wasn't sure the two of them would be able to keep themselves safe for long.

[Rhap Sodos]

True to his earlier statement about acclimating to weather rather well, Izzy didn't seem bothered in the least when the storm clouds over head opened up, drenching them all in water. Well, he was bothered, but that was mostly because his clothing became drenched, decidedly more clothing then he was used to runing around in. If it hadn't become a surrogate security blanket, Izzy might've peeled the Chuunin vest off of his body, but it was a present from Raz and a symbol of Haruyuki's faith in him, blowfish doodle and all. And so it stayed glued to Izzy's back much like Izzy was glued to the giant toad as they came crashing to the ground.

Izzy could barely hear Raz's question over the sound of the storm but it caused his stomach to sink, a sensation that was only emphasized as Gamabunta came crashing down from the sky. Having learned his lesson last time, Izzy stayed firmly stuck to the giant creature, wondering what it meant when Raz said the Harakage's Tree was gone. Izzy had heard and read of the giant botanical structure, but having never seen it before [and having a hard time seeing now] he wasn't sure what he should be looking for. Of course, Izzy would be hard pressed to miss the giant creature that had spawned in the village, but there was something that came afterwards that would momentarily give the young Namikazed more reason to be concerned.

"SATO! MIZUJIN! TERRICK! GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE NOW! RUN! NOW!!!"

"Syaoran?" Izzy asked, his head swiveling around, recognizing the voice from the night before. He didn't know a Sato or Terrick, but Mizujin ringed a bell. Uchiha Mizujin. Izzy had never met an Uchiha before, but last night... Izzy paused, his eyes going wide, as a feeling of deja vu washed over him.

And in the moment, everything clicked, and Izzy could remember how he ended up in the hospital last night. He would also reaffirm what he told Ren earlier that Izzy was not offended or opposed to swearing.

"Oh. Fuck. Me."

Short, succinct, and decidedly un-Izzy. Something was very, very, wrong.

"Uh, Haruyuki? We got a problem." Izzy would say, which might be considered a bit of an understatement considering that Raz looked and sounded very upset and was squaring off another monstrous yokai. But Izzy was not paying attention to what Raz was doing, or Gamabunta, or even the giant yokai. Instead, his eyes were focused on where the voice of Alchem Syaoran had come, somewhere in the rain.

At least Izzy hoped it was Alchem Syaoran they were dealing with.

[Leon]

The toad ripped through the air as if it was traveling faster than sound. It seemed that a single leap had launched the group from a once peaceful territory to a now hostile environment. The sky tore itself open in agreement with Ren’s thoughts, and a torrential downpour of rain greeted the group upon their arrival. It soaked Ren, matting his hair down to his face allowing for every possible follicle to get in on Ren’s nerve. His brand new clothing clung to his skin, attempting to fuse with the epidermis itself. The sight was what really drove Ren home however. This once magnificent city now stood barren, and apparently without many souls. Abandoned buildings now stood as sites for Yokai attacks, streets passageways for those who wished to fight such a beast. There were only two factions, those who fought the Yokai and those that were the Yokai, a rather simple formula.

Upon the roaring collision of toad on Earth, Ren could literally “feel” the presence of the giant Yokai along with the large sources of chakra that was nearby him. A handy trait he had begun experiencing since last night, but one that was now telling Ren to leave this area as quickly as possible. With the speed of Ren he would be lying if he said he had not thought of that sentiment 3,561 times since the toad left the air to this moment. In fact he had already allowed his scouting instincts to take over and had begun to map the streets from his bird in the sky look. But despite all of the factors working against him right now, one stood clear as day. Team Oto, the group that had grown to form an incredible bond despite all odds against them. At the head of that group was Raz, now standing strong and firm for the ninja of the world. While Ren could not tell who was down there at this time, he knew that Gamabunta and Raz must have a decent amount of hope associated with them. The Calvary had arrived, and Raz painted a giant bulls eye on them.

The large Yokai was of a proportion that Ren had never seen before, standing at the size of what seemed like Metropolis Tower itself. The dark composition of the beast seemed to move, as if thousands of yokai were in fact fused into that one form. Five heads gave the beast its only humanistic features while flaming halo warped the space around it. Flaming orbs, akin to ones seen earlier in a certain person’s lanterns, hovered around the Yokai as it lurked around Gamabunta. Within this seemingly eternal minute Ren pondered if this monster was going to attack or just stare at the group. A voice from below screamed for a particular group of people to withdraw. “Survivors?” Ren muttered to himself as the sounds bounced around his canals and processed through his brain. The voice sounded familiar, but Izzy would confirm Ren’s own suspicions. So the Tsuchikage had come to play hero? Ren wondered what brought the man to this location. Perhaps a sense of duty to his friends, or a larger scheme overall? Ren shook off the feeling that this could possibly be a plan by any kage at large.

Ren turned to view his team mates, each with their own expression worn on their face. Each expression signifying a great deal of their own personalities. None of them were ready for this fight, and they may even bitch and moan about it, but they were going to engage the enemy in one way or another. Right now all they needed to know was how. “What’s the plan Raz?” Ren yelled over the roar of action and downpour of rain, “We know that past Yokai have been able to absorb chakra as if they feed on it. Also they appear to be able to mess with our very souls.” Ren was referring to a body swap that had occurred between Ren, Lilina, and Yue, not sure if Raz knew about it. Ren hoped that this one would in fact be different, and sincerely wished that it could not absorb chakra. That could eliminate any potential super jutsu Raz concocted for the beast.

[710]

Edited October 4, 2012 by Leon

[Azure]

Yatako, like Syaoran wasn’t in the most dramatic moods. Indeed, there was a titanic creature before them that would probably wreak havoc upon the ghost village and be a tough enemy, but it was nothing he never faced before. Unlike the bout in Metropolis, there was no need to hold back, no civilian circumstance to deter the Hokage from unleashing anything he willed at this beast. It allowed for risks to be taken and for once, that was relief. “Remember when we fought Raikou and you wanted to face him alone? I’m asking the same to you, now.” He offered with a wink. It was true: Syaoran using too much chakra was a risk, but aided by Mizujin, Sato and Terrick this wouldn’t be an impossible battle, just an annoying one. Unfortunately, Mizujin’s bloodline was still locked, but Syaoran was right: a shinobi should not be without a backup plan. If he lost his Byakugan, Yatako made sure h wouldn’t be helpless.

And then those pale, white eyes darted to the horizon to see an unfortunate variable: Raz. His eyes first caught the glimpse of a large toad, and having been around Konohagakure no Sato his entire life, it wasn’t difficult to discern that toads were among the most iconic summons…and Raz held the known contract. Yatako’s jaw sagged when he saw the presence of other chakra sources zooming about on the frog. There was Raz…Haruyuki…that Naiyume girl…Izzy- Yatako shook himself out of the thought cloud. There were children here as well. Probably promoted to Chuunin, but compared to the melee to the world’s finest, they weren’t fit to be near here. The Harakage’s tree wasn’t even far, nor could such a legendary thing be covered up. “Oh no.” He breathed, genuinely concerned instead of applauding the presence of the cavalry. And then Syaoran started screaming and Yatako knew why. If Raz realized the state of the Harakage, no one could hold it against him for acting rabid, but the repercussions could be dire. With haste, Yatako called out to Syaoran with his tone a little more than demanding.

“I can handle this Giant Eye, I can do my best with Raz, but I CANNOT control the chaos if you let loose too- GO! I’ll find you again, I promise.”

There was no leniency in those words and though he had never given a command to Alchem Syaoran before, there was hardly a second thought in the matter, He could never tell his friend that Syaoran could do nothing to help them at this point, his presence was only a ticking time bomb in a sea of variables that didn’t add up to their favor. The bijuu could lash out in any moment; especially should Raz dip his hands into insanity. “Get those kids out of here!” Yatako shouted to anyone in particular. Raz’s team shouldn’t be here, even if they ARE his team. Yatako dealt with his wife’s passing, the feel of her body lose its breath of life. He knew the haunts, almost every night after she had gone of the unfairity, but the one thing he had that Raz didn’t, was forewarning. And that would have been all it took to change sadness to instability.

“Mooooore Huuuumanssssssss. Ello shaka saaaaa.”

The Gargantua commented as it turned its attention towards Raz’s group. It spoke some sort of ancient language and when it talked, all five faces spoke in unison. Letting loose a low grumble, the mammoth’s leather like skin began to shimmer flecks of silver, grey and black. The flaming ring around the yokai began to spin fiercely, creating a high pitched hum and a radiating heat. Suddenly, the beast released long spears about ten feet long and half a foot thick crafted entirely of solid fire. Despite the rain, the white hot spears that were glowing red and orange persisted without fault. They rained out of either side of it, attacking both groups and licking flames to the dead grass of Kusagakure. It would take time to spread the fires, but if kept unchecked the whole village would be ash. If the survivors weren’t made into shish kabobs, that is.

Bringing his fingers to his mouth, Yatako let out a screeching whistle to the winds as the flaming shrapnel fell from the heavens. As he pointed his finger to the sky, a burst of fire flew off into the raining clouds. A large shadow would burst through the thundering clouds above, calling forth a fortress of a hawk. The jeweled plate of the sun embroidered on Taiyoutaka’s breast shimmered through the rain, as did the scales of armor on his wings. With a burst of momentum, titan met titan and although Taiyoutaka was a bit smaller (surprising when talking about boss summons) than the yokai, the force of impact sent both parties sprawling. The Gargantua fell off its feet but didn’t go far, but the boss hawk crashed into market and reduced it to rubble.

Jumping into the air, Yatako began to expel chakra from his tenketsu and spinning at a phenomenally fast rate. He was charging head on into the flaming spear, throwing up a barrier of Kaiten. When he collided with it, the searing chakra sung a heated gasp but the Hokage had broken through the spear’s trajectory. As the world slowed again, Yatako’s gauntleted hands snapped onto the flaming spear that was clearly taller than him by more than a quarter. Channeling his chakra to counter the fire, Yatako’s black robes fluttered as he ran to the fallen monster. His legs carried him straight into the cloud of dust protruding from the Gargantua- the heated spear lighting his way. The Hyuuga jumped from its leg to its arm, running up and landing on its cheek. It was beginning to recover by the time Yatako had made it to its cheek.

“WE AREN’T YOUR FOOD!”

Yatako bellowed as he drove the spear right into the central face of the Gargantua. The red face cracked and cried as the spear was hauled into it from over the Hokage’s head. It let out a gruesome yell before one of its great clawed hands blindsided Yatako, caught him and smashed him into the ground wit a deafening quake. Its hand laid out upon the Hachinin as it struggled to get up once again, crushing him even further.

[1059]

•••

As the giant red toad conquered the blackened clouds (because streams and lakes are too mainstream now) the village of Kusagakure no Sato was now visible and…completely intact. It looked like it suffered a massive drought or fire, but all the buildings looked reasonably stable. But Raz was completely correct…there lack a tree, a rather impressive one and iconic one at that. If he were in the joking modd, a joke would be said that someone got cold and used it for firewood. But he wasn’t for once. And he knew that didn’t meant a thing of goodness. As Gamabunta declared that there was something brewing in the village that formerly hid the grass, the arctic fox’s eyes shot upon and its boxy tensed around Haruyuki’s shoulders. Its head picked up and it began barking, signifying that there was in fact, something wrong.

“Just because there’s only one doesn’t mean we can overestimate ourselves.”

Haruyuki muttered, much to remind the newly ranked Chuunin. Though they may take a sigh of relief that there was only one yokai, as comparable to the many they recently fought, it only would take one to slaughter them all. The ten-tails, the single most feared creature that lived was at one point, one being then split into nine. This thing seemed to be attracting the ire of Raze, which for all purposes was probably for the best. The Hisame however, believed this wasn’t the reason Kusagakure fell, otherwise buildings would have been touched by this massive creature getting into the village. Raz was better off in the dark for now.

“They never get prettier, do they?”

At least it was step up from the first yokai they encountered- the most disgusting thing to ever resemble a sea critter. He was briefly running through tactics of what he might advise them to do when he caught a glimmer of who was already here, and a full on vocal stream. Syaoran was here, and then the Hokage, Yatako made a debut and apparently a few others. And then Haruyuki heard his student curse, something really REALLY not Izzy-like, so this caught his attention (even though a giant hawk had flown into the yokai).

“Izzy, what-“

“…behind, you fool.” Growled a new voice to the scenario, something very close and for some reason his ear as warm…oh, the fox talks now. Glancing behind them, Haruyuki acted before he could finish that thought. A group of four flying yokai were closing in on them at superb speeds that literally came out of nowhere. These things were fast and they were waiting for more prey, apparently. Two were diving from the clouds and two were flying in from the rear- in only seconds they would reach them. Wrapping his arm around Izzy, the boy would suddenly feel a very quick jerk to his innards. It shouldn’t have been painful and not quite as trippy as going through space and time, but it was pretty freakin’ fast. Haruyuki wasn’t a slowpoke. Izzy would find himself on the ground, about ten feet from Gamabunta and unhurt, but Haruyuki was casting out his sword like it was a fishing rod. He clipped one of the yokai as it swooped in and flung it like a lasso straight into the ground. But that wasn’t the most important thing.

“Izzy, what’s the problem?!”

When Izzy thought there was a problem, the world very might be imploding. Or they were out of lemonade.

[

Bird Yokai

]

[577]

•••

This whole ‘toad traveling’ business was not going well on her stomach. She wasn’t going to puke, and it wasn’t as bad as the monthly horror, but this was still pretty weird. She was getting used to toad flight, but they never road on this mothertrucker before, this HUGE mothertrucker. When they passed through the clouds, tidbits of rain would hit them and spatter against her skin. It actually was a welcome jolt, making her awareness acute and her fingers eager. Though the winds it was a bit chilly, they caused her to tug at her new vest, trying to keep her warmth from running away. She was excited to find out what happened to the village. What she found out though, was less than intense…at first. As the huge toad broke the sky she caught a glimpse of the below ground, and saw that things were…normal. A little bit brown, but there were no fires or broken buildings. And then thunder struck above, but surprisingly it didn’t scare the wits out of her. Perhaps it was because she felt slightly friendly towards storms now that she wielded lightning. “What’s so great about a tree?” She was going to ask ‘the Harakage’s a tree?’ but she thankfully knew better than that. Raz wasn’t married to a tree (although with some considering maybe it wasn’t too farfetched…) it might have been a landmark, she figured and then she assumed it fit right into the barren space.

And then she spotted the rather large giant of a yokai sprawling the village. It was larger than anything she had ever seen and though not as creepy as the snake-lady, it was still…scary. She could see dots and lines buzzing about behind the yokai. “So these things…there’s more.” Obviously there was more, but what she meant was ‘they weren’t just in Metropolis, they could literally be anywhere. She actually took what that Hisame character said to heart. When the three of them faced the one snake bitch…that was difficult. It took the Raikage to step in and give them a second chance, so the call was strong to delight in the fact that Raz and Haruyuki were here to rescue them…but what if they couldn’t? What if this thing was stronger than what they could imagine? They might be out of their league.

They landed with a tremor, sending reverberations through her little spine. The rain had picked up and noise drowned the battlefield, it was probably a terrible thing and might cost them some communication. This was her first ‘mission’ as a Chuunin, so she figured she should probably start thinking in terms of tactics. “If this thing NUKED Kusa, we need to be extra careful or we’ll be eaten alive!” She complained when Ren inquired as to what they were going to do. Raz knew far much more about battlefield antics than they did, hopefully he knew something about fighting large foes. “The harder they fall, right?” Right- as was seen when a huge…BIRD? Where did that come from? And just who were those people here? Maybe one of them was Raz’s wife!

She was slightly excited at that. But whoever was fighting must have known what they were doing because they ripped that yokai out from its balance and tumbled it right to the ground. And then Izzy cursed, which was pretty strange. She offered him a quizzical look and then he was gone. GONE! Where…she turned behind to find him, but she saw a pair of yokai streaming for Gamabunta’s back and one was flying… straight for Raz. Her dull orange eyes widened and her heart began to pound heavily. She still thought Raz was reasonably creaky and if caught unaware…she was moving before she knew it.

“WATCH OUT!!”

She cried as she launched into the flying yokai. It collided with her and she felt as though she was being stabbed. The wind flew from her lungs as it shoved her off Gamabunta’s head and tumbled her onto a nearby building only feet away. She didn’t move to get up. The bird yokai seemed better for the wear and although disoriented, still had the pep and strength to swing back for another run.

[703]

[Terrick Sukrai]

Lady Benten and Terrick usually had a pretty good relationship. She would smile or otherwise grant a favor now and then, and Terrick would make sure to praise her for the heavens at the end of the day, maybe even leave an extra-sized offering at the shrine every now and then. Sometimes though, she would hiss and spit at him, and Terrick would find himself at the mercy of NCIA ninja, or assassins, or crazy clerics looking to grab up innocent young Kusa-nin, or any number of bad days. All in all though, Lady Benten kept her antics within the realm of manageability, never making a problem too big to handle, and never giving too much good luck either. So, if pressed, the jounin would say that the Lady of Luck was a friend he'd always appreciate...

..... Given what he was seeing now however, he had to wonder what he'd done to piss her off this royally.

Never mind the sheer increduality of the demon in front of him, he'd seen demons before, and just as big as it was. Never mind the fact that an old friend was about to go ballistic. Never mind the fact that two giants were about to have a boxing match on his doorstep with nary a care to what was underfoot. No, doing all this together on the same day with no exit strategy beyond cowardice and children caught in the crossfire? THAT was inventive Bitchiness to the Nth degree!

"I swear I'm going to kill myself doing these kinds of things one day..." Terrick mumbled to himself, before leaping away from where he had been perched. One flaming spear whooshed past his face as he ducked to the side, then sidestepped another that tried to impale him. As the barrage stalled and the bird boss summon took out the marketplace, the medi-nin deigned to ignore Syaoran's advice for the moment, as frozen, dead, or just asleep, Korin would have his HEAD if he didn't protect this place to the best of his abilities! He'd deal with Raz as it came, but for now there was a demon to destroy.

'How droll... Care to take a guess at what it can do to you human?' the almost purring voice of Gobi whispered in his mind, the sensation like wet fur being dragged across his scalp.

"Not now mutt, I'm busy," came the reply, as razor-edged claws began to scissor the air in front of Terrick, his gauntleted hands forming seals to his first jutsu. "Mokuton, Mokuryo Endan!" Support beams from the area around began to creak and groan as new life entered them, their brittle exteriors splintering as they reformed into a large, serpentine form akin to a Chinese dragon, with leaves and brush for its mane and roots for its whiskers. Sharp stakes formed its talons and teeth as it catapulted itself at the multi-headed monstrosity, landing in front of the beast before bringing its tail around for a brutal snap against the arm holding down the Hyuuga Hokage. Distraction made, Terrick bounced his way across the roofs and off his dragon's head before landing to the side of the demon, hoping that it wouldn't notice his actions until the last possible second.

With a flick of his wrists, the jounin caused the chains housed within his gauntlets to launch themselves out and forward, sending them around the Gargantua's foot before the ends connected to form a whole length once more. A quick application of chakra to the seals on them, and the links sprouted serrated blades that, once Terrick activated the gloves' small engines, would saw through the thing's leg and bring it tumbling down...

[wolfnin]

Sato gently placed the stone Yatako had given away deep inside his pouch to prevent any damage from occurring to it. It was a strange way to convey a form of private communication, but the shinobi made a mental note of delivering the message upon his return to Kumogakure. Unfortunately a tranquil moment was difficult to ask for as a new threat arose this time in the form of a massive yokai, which had mysteriously appeared after a ghostly figure. "Damn these creatures are everywhere, it's worse than a swarm of mosquitos." Sato wasn't exactly sure if that was the appropriate comparison, but it was the first words that escaped from his mind. Despite Syaoran's request to sit this one out, there were still four capable shinobi to take such a beast down.

Though for a split second the tide would seem to turn as a new shinobi landed with a giant toad which seemed to shake the earth with its descent. Normal days were far and few in between, though from the destruction of Kusagakure, to yokai, and now random giant toads, it was beginning to appear similar to a science fiction horror film. Of course, any thoughts of having aid were dismissed by Syaoran's immediately response and change of demeanor by the presence of the new arrival. Sato had known Syaoran for a while back in Iwagakure, though he never recalled the shinobi rapidly change a demeanor due to the arrival of an ally (?). A strange premonition of peril would circle through the Senuskai's gut and instincts, causing the hair on his skin to stand.

"Understood Syaoran. You seem to know what's up and I'll take your advice, but first I have to take care of something. I owe you and Yatako for sparing my life back when I showed up in Iwagakure; therefore I can't just let him get squashed by that...thing." Sato would reply calmly as he gazed across the field towards the Yokai. Although it had been a while since Sato could afford to unleash his own personal fury and vent some steam, the rain would make releasing powerful lightning justsu a liability. Though a more controlled and direct attack, would benefit greatly from the rain as well as reduce any collateral damage. His hands crackled with lightning as he immediately preformed several hand signs and made a dash towards the Yokai. The lightning transformed into two four-foot disc, one in each hand, and due to the thunderheads above, he was able to gather a greater amount of energy to make these sharper, larger, and increase speed.

Senuskaiton: Den Kaimetsu Enban

(Senuskai Style: Lightning Destruction Discs)

"OVER HERE!" The Kumogakure shinobi called out towards the beast before he launched the two discs directly towards the arm, or was it a leg, that was attached to the massive claw that pinned Yatako. The Senuskai slid to a stop while out the corner of his eyes he watched several bird-type yokai spring their talons against the newcomers. Thankfully, the speed at which he had sent the disc had now sent the two objects on a direct collision course with the yokais arm/leg, assuming the beast didn't block nor move. In truth it was an effort to aid in the release of Yatako. After several hand signs, a clone made of lightning would take the formation of an exact copy of Sato.

"See what you can do to help Yatako, I'm going to deal with the bird yokai and see if I can't steer them away from here." Sato directed towards his clone, as he watched his clone run and yell towards the beast. With a smile he flickered away from the beast as he increased his chakra level and began to draw the lightning from the clouds above to draw in the attention of the flying yokai.

[Rhap Sodos]

Though Haruyuki's abrupt kidnapping had come as a bit of surprise to the young Namikaze, it helped solve a rather difficult conundrum that Izzy had found himself in. If the young Kiri-nin's hazy memories from last night were correct, Yatako and Mizujin already knew. But there were others, like Raz and his team, and the other names or people he didn't recognize, and Izzy wasn't sure how many people knew what had happened to the missing Tsuchikage. Izzy wasn't quite sure of how to navigate the political and potentially literal minefield if word of this got out.

"It's Syaoran." Izzy said, keeping his voice low, needing to let his friend and mentor know why he was so afraid, but also worried about what it would mean. "He's not himself. We were on the airship when the yokai attacked, and he brought me back, only he started acting all sick. When Mizujin tried to find out what was wrong, he, Syaoran, he attacked, only he wasn't acting like Syaoran and his voice sounded off." Izzy said this all in a rush, as though if he didn't blurt it out now he would lose the nerve to do so.

"Yatako called him a bijuu. Tried to make him stand down. Only the Syaoran-thing wouldn't and he threatened to destroy a city if word got out and then I think the Syaoran-thing killed Syaoran's cousin." Izzy continued, still sounding rather panicky. He had stood there while the other Alchem was destroyed, the last words lingering in Izzy's head. Don't be afraid of him.

Izzy really wanted to be afraid.

"The Syaoran-thing said he was going to Kusa, only I had hit my head, and I forgot." Izzy winced, hating himself for not remembering what had happened. He could've warned Raz, or Haruyuki, or done something that let them all walk obliviously into this situation. Swallowing hard, Izzy had the terrible, awful thought - the Syaoran-thing had threatened to destroy a city, and something had gone wrong in Kusagakure. Had Syaoran done this? What would he do now, if his secret was out? Could they stop him?

"He said he had business in Grass, before the Syaoran-thing left Syaoran's body. He said he wouldn't be hiding." Izzy's lips felt numb, as he gazed imploringly at his teacher, unsure of what to do or how else to explain. He didn't want to believe that the Syaoran-thing had held true to his word and killed off an entire city to prove he wasn't one to be trifled with. But Izzy couldn't bring himself to even say it, or think what would happen now. What would the Syaoran-thing do, if the rest of the world found out?

[Lemon]

Mizujin shook his head at the former Tsuchikage and turned away. He couldn't bear to look at Syaoran's face with that annoying smile on his face. The Alchem seemed amused by the situation as if the fight between the shinobi and the yokai was some act performed for his entertainment. Mizujin inferred that the evil traits of the three tailed beast were already beginning to alter Syaoran's personality but he hoped it wasn't the case.

"Looks like the cavalry has arrived." The Uchiha spoke with a hint of relief in his tone while watching the Boss Frog summon close the distance to the Yokai with a huge leap. To his surprise the reactions of the two kages he was with were quite the opposite of his own. He knew another of the Hachinin was the summoner of Konoha's giant toads but Syaoran and Yatako were worried about his arrival. Something doesn't add up he re.

Before he could finish his thought another growl erupted from the gaping mouth of the demon. Gritting his teeth Mizujin readied himself for battle despite Syaoran's words. He took orders from no one outside of Konoha, and it would be insulting to his clan's recently restored honor if he fled and left his Hokage to battle other worldly forces on his own. Fiery spears flew from the monsters back, igniting his hands into motion as he crafted a string of hand seals. One of the blazing spears was moving quickly towards him through the atmosphere as his chakra molded into water within his core.

Suiton: Suijinheki

(Water type: Barrier Wall)

A huge torrent of water burst forth from the mist-born boy. It took shape into a huge wall that engulfed the street in front of him, flooding the area and dousing the fiery spear until it was nothing more than harmless vapor in the air. Without skipping a beat Mizujin vanished, reappearing momentarily on the rooftops as he dashed across them at break neck speed towards the yokai. Moving in the wake of Yatako he ground to a halt on the edge of the rooftop nearest the Yokai's left flank in time to see the Hokage crushed under the monsters massive weight. "Damn..." his mind worked quickjly, devising a new strategy to combat the situation. He had planned to fight fire with fire and incinerate the demon with one of his own Katon jutsu. It would turn Kusa to an ashen wasteland, sure, but that looked inevitable anyway. Either way his fire jutsu were no longer an option, Yatako would likely be consumed by the flames as well. Within moments his genius mind pieced together a fall back move. The agile Uchiha kicked off of the edge of the roof and spun through the air over the Yokai's back. Dexterously moving his fingers Mizujin sent a few well placed shuriken armed with manipulator wire towards the demon's legs tail and neck in an attempt to pin it in place for a more deadly strike.

Sharingan Hijutsu; Sōfūshasan No Tachi

][secret Sharingan Art; Manipulated Windmill Triple Blades

[1Q84]

Yue would keep his limbs are firmly glued to Gamabunta as his chakra control would let him keeping his head bowed and his eyes squeezed shut as though protecting his eyes from the stupidly fast wind but the truth of the matter was no matter how many trips they took using this fucked up mode of transportation Yue doubted he would ever be comfortable with it. Of course the heavens decided to had piss all over them leaving Yue soaking wet and miserable knowing that if they had a fight on their hands it was going to fucking suck. Rain screwed up his vision even more and if the village was as grassy as the name implied it was going to be slick and sloppy to fight in meaning the chances were greater that somebody was going to get hurt. It certainly didn't help Yue's already foul mood when Gamabunta spoke up about needing to hold on tight and Yue let out a sound that was barely deep enough to be called a groan instead of whine when they made they're landing Yue wanting nothing more then a few minutes to catch his bearings but of course Raz had to shout out some sort of challenge drawing Yue's eye open to see the giant monster that stood in there way. Yue had about three god damn seconds to wonder what the hell it was and how the hell they were supposed to deal with it before someone out in the field shouted to get the 'kids' out of here. "Fuck that noise." Yue snarled pulling himself to his feet knowing damn well that Raz said this was going to be dangerous and like every other crazy suicidal member of this party he had come along anyways.

"If these things nuked Kusa we're ALREADY fucked!" Yue snapped back when Lilina chastised Ren wondering why the hell his teammates always sounded so eager and prepared for this shit. "And I don't know if they eat it or absorb it what but they are sure as hell drawn to chakra so keep that in fuckin' mind when you decide you want frisbee your god damn wind shit at it!" Yue may have the reputation for being hotheaded because of his smart mouth and quick temper but sometimes he had to think he had the coolest head in the group as Lilina decided to prove his mental point by leaping at one of the bird creatures that had come flying out of nowhere. Yue's eyes widened when he saw the way that Lilina dropped wondering what in the hell had possessed her to do that his feet scrambling over the wet skin of the stupid toad his idiotic self when chasing after her.

"Do you have a god damn compulsive need to throw yourself from heights?!" Yue yelled at the downed girl his voice going loud enough to crack remembering the way that she had thrown herself off the side of a god damn monument to get some stupid flag in the exam. If there was one thing he hated more then fighting in the fucking rain it was fighting in the fucking rain when his feet weren't on the ground so leaping after her even if it was only a few feet to the building was enough to make a cold sweat break out on his forehead. Still he wouldn't leave her fucking laying there on the ground as that damn thing started to circle again just like there was a chance in hell he was going to get out of here like some god damn kid so instead he stood protectively over his fallen teammate his bright blue eyes daring the creature to come close enough for Yue to get his hands on it.

[Cloudnine]

The woman from Otogakure played a silent observer after causing the small outburst as they entered Raz’s house earlier. Kikuya had gotten what she wanted out of the sennin and one of his students- their scorn and their distance. Much of the time spent within the basement was equally split into dialogue between Kikuya and Karuna, with the latter quite unpleased with her host dragging the two of them into some kind of barren, demonic hellhole. The base creature understood little of building reputations and maintaining contacts necessary for advancing in this world [and it could be argued that Kikuya also understood little of it] and despite anything the raven-haired host retorted, bribed, or threatened, the creature of sound found no other solace than in an immediate homebound journey. Such were her frustrations when Raz called to round up the group around the massive toad again. Karuna, though capable of fleeing through her own two feet and separate chakra pool, was bound by fear to remain partly assimilated and anchored to Kikuya’s spine. It was true that both twins suffered if one exhausted, but Kikuya was a woman of will and wiles who exploited her own health and vulnerabilities to punish the lesser twin.

Ever still the stranger among the tight-knit group, Kikuya made no social advances to any of the team. She took nothing from the armory and kept the same two wrapped weapons slung about her back. Rather, she’d cling on grimly, her arms and legs dissolved into their pure sound form so that her position was firmly ingrained into Gamabunta’s thick hide. Karuna’s bemoaning was lost to the wind as the group hurdled to their destination. The sound parasite’s meager strength offered her little reprieve to the situation as her branching torso uncontrollably thrashing every which way physics willed it from Kikuya’s own. Kikuya sensed immense chakra pools as they neared, and soon visibly saw the ground-bound figures that possessed them through the downpour. All was not well at all, it seemed. The woman braced for the earth’s impact, and did fine as her well-rooted crouch into Gamabunta’s skin utilized an extension of the summon’s own shock absorption. Karuna however, too weak during the leap to retract fully into her host’s body, suffered much worse from the landing. Snapping audibly from the force, the rest of her body was forced from Kikuya and limply tumbled into the remnants of the village.

“Get back up here, Useless!” Kikuya called over the din for the sound parasite.

The jounin made no other notion to retrieve her fallen twin as avian creatures rapidly approached their position atop Gamabunta. Unwrapping one of her weapons as one of the birds knocked Lilina off the toad, the woman was prepared as the demon shook off the impact and arced back again. A massive tuning fork hoisted over her shoulder, Kikuya pulsed a wave of sound chakra through the instrument until the tines violently trembled. The sound eater swung, to finish the job, at the returning bird yokai.

Edited October 9, 2012 by Cloudnine

[Eechi-go]

"SATO! MIZUJIN! TERRICK! GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE NOW! RUN! NOW!!!"

“I can handle this Giant Eye, I can do my best with Raz, but I CANNOT control the chaos if you let loose too- GO! I’ll find you again, I promise.”

Perhaps not the best things to be yelling if trying to evacuate the area from an Oto-nin, because Raz picked these words up almost immediately despite the downpour and thunder roaring above them. Had they just grabbed their kids in run, perhaps they would have been able to slip out without much trouble after all. But now Raz knew both the Tsuchikage and Hokage were in the village with a platoon of their own. Not only that, they were going to try and 'do their best' with Raz. He didn't want to believe that Syaoran and Yatako were behind this yokai appearance, let alone Kusagakure's current state. But right now he wasn't ruling out a goddamn thing

"I have no idea what the fuck is going on down there, but I'm going to finish it." Raz snarled, absolutely livid at this point. Ren began to inquire about the Sennin's plan, which Raz would reply with his tone deep and commanding. These were not suggestions as a teacher- these were orders from a shinobi cell leader. It was about time to see if his team were worthy of their new titles now.

"Ren, Lilina, and the rest of you- I want you two to move between the buildings and use any ranged techniques you have, but aim for anywhere on it's body besides it's mouth. If you see it abosrbing the chakra regardless, change to kunai and shuriken instead. Keep this thing on it's toes, but don't let it strike you back. After each attack, retreat behind a building for cover to keep hidden and keep moving. I cannot stress this enough. You will probably not survive a direct attack from this thing, so don't push your luck. In the meantime, check the houses for any survivors. I don't care if you need to kick down their doors or shatter their windows. If there's ANYONE left in that village who's still a civilians, they need to get removed ASAP."

That left Yue, who had little to no ranged capabilities to speak of. That would make this a challenge, as he didn't want his student to go around punching this massive beast. It would take Raz a second to think of something, and when he did, his hand would zip quickly to one of the pouches on his vest, flicking it open and pulling out a scroll. He'd lob it underhanded over to Yue, before being very, very clear about this. "Take this. Go with Ren and Lilina. Do not. I repeat. Do NOT use it unless you have no other option. If you must, channel your chakra into the scroll like Gamabunta taught you to activate it, then throw it. Otherwise I want you looking for survivors. When the yokai is down, go to the center of the village- that's where the Harakage's tree was, and where Korin will most likely be."

Raz's nose crumpled when the Hokage demanded he leave his kids out of this, but Yue summed up his feelings on the subject rather nicely. They could have walked out of this if they wanted to, but they came for the long haul. Konoha ninja were a coddled bunch, but Otogakure never had that luxury. The sage had faith that his kids could handle this so long as they used their heads and obeyed orders. That, and seriously, fuck the Hokage right now.

And then came a couple of flying yokai to swoop in and ruin their day. Although Raz was able to hear Syaoran and Yatako through the rain despite how loud the downpour was, the subtle tearing of the air at the mercy of these beast's wings would most certainly catch him off-guard. As a matter of fact, it wasn't until Lilina let out a rather shrill yell did Raz turn on his heel and yank his Kusanagi off his back in response. The birds had knocked their prey off for the most part, but Raz was able to slash at one of the yokai in an attempt to slice it in half, or at the very least deter it from striking back again. Kikuya seemed to have the same idea, although he was somewhat worried that her application of chakra might engorge the beast. Turning to Ren and Yue almost immediately, the man would call out. "Go! Help Lilina and get going!" It looked as though Yue already had the same idea, and he was fairly certain that Ren would follow. If only because Ren wanted a piece of that ass.

"You guys can either dismount or stay on the toad if you think you can fight and stick tight. Either way, like I said before, we'll regroup at the remnants of the Harakage's tree and figure out where to go from there." Raz said as he turned over to Kikuya and Midori, before disengaging the group and running over to the very top of Gamabunta's head, leaning down to pat him slightly to get his attention. "What's the plan, tadpole?"

"Open your mouth up and start preparing a Toad Gun. I'm gonna hop in, and when you're ready, blast me towards the yokai with all the strength you can muster. With luck we can get it down without having to worry about all of this strategy. If not, I want you to follow up and trying cutting it up. Avoid ninjutsu- thus far we know these things gobble up chakra. Got it?"

"Aye. Hop in." The toad uttered, opening up it's rather gargantuan mouth for Raz to hop into. Once the man had glud himself to one of the piercings on Gamabunta's tongue, he'd start gathering a torrent of wind charka within the boss summon's mouth. At the same time, Gamabunta would prepare a stream of handseals, causing his mouth to fill up with chakra-infused water. Raz held his breath to the best of his abilities as the creature's mouth became something akin to a water cooler. The boss would let out a low grumble to let the Sennin know that he was prepared to shoot the bullet, in which Raz would respond by jerking the Kusanagi back behind him and holding it tightly with two hands. He was really, really hoping this plan worked.

".:Gama Teppou:."

[Toad Gun]

A enourmous canonball of water and wind would erupt from Gamabunta's mouth and directly at the yokai that had just recently side-swiped Yatako. Raz was hoping this protective shell of water would dissolve oncoming fire attacks. The plan was for Raz to disperse the bullet when he was close enough to beast so he could slice it's eye out without letting it absorb any chakra from the blast. Considering the speed at which the man was traveling, that moment seemed to approach any second now. Once Raz felt like he was close enough to be in danger, he'd expel wind chakra from his pores, blasting the water and wind away from his body while still clutching the hilt of his sword tight. He went to slice the beast right down the middle of it's oculus...until-

*throb*

His curse seal filled him with an intense pain momentarily, causing his grip to loosen on the hilt and weakening his swing to one that would probably only give the average human a minor injury. That said, it would probably do very little damage to the beast, leaving Raz airborne and at it's mercy. He didn't have time to even wonder what just happened.

"FUCK."

1,389 Words

1,735 Total

[cntrstrk14]

ooc: Taking over the yokai from Azure for now.

The Gargantuan's clawed arm pushed Yotako into the ground with such a force that the street had cracked and buckled under the pressure. Though the majority of the damage was done on impact, it would continually push harder against the man, as if to pop him like a berry. All eleven of its eyes from all its faces would be focused on the Hokage for that moment, despite the presence of two boss level summons around it, one in the market ruins and the other just crashing down from the sky. Many ninja were moving at the same time now, each in their own section of the battlefield around the large beast.

As Terrick's Chinese myth dragons of wood flashed across the street towards the creature's arm, one face would turn its attention towards the man's attack. Opening its large mouth to a point that seemed to be almost unhinged, the face would charge up a ball of silvery orange light. In an instant the ball of energy became a beam of light a meter in diameter that struck down on the wooden dragons and cleaved straight through them, blasting the street underneath. What was left of the splintered wood would fall to the stone streets in flames, everywhere the beam had touched had erupted in fire. In the same manner and at almost the same time, another face on the other side of the creatures head would have a similar response to Sato's attack, cleaving the ground and overpowering the lightning attack so that it was lost in the beast's silvery orange beam. Though neither Sato nor Terrick's attacks had made it halfway to the beast, it did seem to cause it to shift focus. Mizujin's attack from above would come now, just as the beast began to close its fist around Yatako, scooping up thousands of pounds brick and dirt along with the man. The beast let out a howl as it attempted to snap at the Uchiha in the air, missing and barely taking notice of the shuriken that peppered its body. The beast was simply too large to be pinned by regular sized ninja tools. As Mizujin would fly over the beast though, it would lift its tail with a crack like a whip and try and snap the man out of the air before he could find safety on the other side.

Taking Yatako as well as a few thousand bricks from the road, the Gargantuan would lift it all up and with a violent motion whip the man and the contents of its hand across the square and into a few buildings, leveling them on impact. Where and how Yatako managed to end up was of no concern to the beast now as it swung around, using its tail to carelessly knock down another line of buildings. At this point Raz would be in transit, with perfect aim to slice the beast's eye even as it turned and moved into the attack. Unfortunately Raz would lose his momentum and aim and the beast's largest eye would lock onto the Sennin just as he came within a hundred or so feet of it. With a massive and suprisingly quick motion, the beast would attempt to headbutt the Sennin out of the air and into the square grounds below, just about where it had torn out the ground with the Hokage earlier.

Whether he succeeded or not, all five faces would suddenly looks alive. The three that had not yet fired a beam would each shift their focus individually to new targets as the beast braced itself on all fours. Each of the three smaller faces would open their mouths at the same moment and each created a silvery orange ball of energy. One at Sato's clone, one at Terrick, and one at the pair of Haruyuki and Izzy who had landed on the square floor. It didn't seem to matter whether its targets were behind cover or not, it found the three targets without sight and without much warning at all fired. All three beams of silvery orange fire would strike down, sundering brick, dirt and bodies with the same amount of care.

At this same moment, the beast's main mouth opened large at the ground where Raz had ended up one way or another. A much larger ball of silvery orange energy charged up and with the same speed it would unleash a beam of light a dozen meters thick straight down into the ground below it, attempting to disintegrate the man and ground in a single swift motion. If the beam hit the ground, it would burn a clean hole a hundred feet down along its angled path.

"SHHHHRRRAAAAOOOO NOOOO TOOOOMMMMMEEEEE HHUUMAANSSS", it bellowed in its foreign language, very angry and very hungry sounding.

This was probably the most fucked up lazer light show any of them had ever seen.

---------

Moments earlier, the bird yokai were attacking the team from Oto with fervor. They were agile, flicking through the air with a dexterity most could not match on the ground. As Kikuya would swing her tuning fork towards one of them, it would push back and just avoid a direct hit, but the reverberations from the strange weapon seemed to anger and confuse it as it quickly moved away from the woman. It wanted nothing to do with that strange thing. The one that Raz had sliced at before launching himself away had similarly moved back and out of range, just managing to avoid the sword slice. In a manner similar to his brother, it wanted nothing to do with the sage and took back to flight.

The two other bird yokai had made a circle around Lilina who appeared down for the count, hoping to snap some easy prey. As they closed a tighter circle, they would suddenly pick up a large chakra running away from them. Turning away, they would fly after Sato who was starting to channel a large amount of chakra. These two had large appetites and had yet to be scared by any of the ninja. Tucking wings in tight they would fly above the young man and then swoop with a large amount of speed towards him in dive bombing formations.

The two remaining birds that had been spooked by Kikuya and Raz respectively took after Lilina as their brethren swooped after the Kumo ninja. They were fine with the easy prey and as they landed on the roof they would take awkward hobbling steps towards the girl. Though they had somewhat humanoid appearances, their movements on two legs was anything but human. It was eerie to see them move, like some strange creatures from a horror film. Their eyes read "hunger" and the way their mouths move read "eat". They made no sound aside the scrapping of what could only be claws along the rooftop as they moved towards the girl.

---------

Syaoran cursed as all hell broke loose, buildings collapsing, bricks flying and the blows between monstrous beasts letting loose. It seemed every single one of the people he had told to get out had ignored him or not listened in some regard. Being the leader of a village apparently made no difference to these hot heads. Why would Alchem fucking Syaoran know when something was too dangerous? Listening to Yatako, he knew the other man was right, but Syaoran just couldn't leave with all of these younger ninja running about. On the same end, he also couldn't help. So he did what he could, and that was to tie the weave of chakra to form the Flying Thunder God technique and then hold it. He was not yet expelling the chakra, but if he mentally let go of his hold it would release and snap him out of there. But he couldn't let it go yet, he watched with emerald eyes to see what would happen.

[Leon]

The rain picked up in ferocity as it poured upon the unsuspecting mass of chakra that was known as the last people in the village. Ren was certainly no exception to this as his newly acquired hood found a warm place on top of his head. It seemed pointless due to the now soaking mop on his scalp, but it may help keep some of the rain from obscuring his vision down the line. Ren kept telling himself that it was not the rain that he needed to worry about as voices transcended the rain into the Sound Ninja's impeccable hearing. Ren tried to tune out the voices for a moment as Lilina exclaimed that the team was essentially not ready for this moment. At least that is what Ren took from it, for he had partially been thinking that somewhere in the darkest part of his mind. He quickly shook such thoughts as Yue's booming voice seemed to override everything said. There was a lot of activity going on at the moment, Izzy was telling Haruyuki (perhaps even the group) somehting important about Syaoran, the giant yokai had begun assaulting one of the hachinin relentlessly, and Raz was attempting to force feed a gameplan down the team's throat. Believe it, Ren really did want to listen to everything that Raz was saying but the fact that flying Yokai had decided to make Lilina their play thing had the boy somewhat pre-occupied.

"Lilina!" Ren would exclaim as he shifted anxious eyes between the group and the girl. Yue quickly jumped after the girl when Raz bark for Ren to follow after and continue with the plan. Ren nodded as he jumped off what he thought would be a deep fall, only to be reminded that Lilina had not tragically fallen some great distance. He landed on the concrete rough witha heavy thud. His body weight shifted downwards for a second as he stood up beside Yue. The two appeared as a barrier to any threat that came after Lilina. Ren was hoping that the bird yokai would just fly away at the sight of the two men standing over her, and to Ren's suprise his prayer would be momentarily answered. They appeared to be drawn by an unusual amount of lightning that was storming above. Was it the yokai that were causing the lightning or were they being attracted by some large source of chakra up there? Ren gave a sigh of relief as they flew away, but his breath would not even finish before two more of the beasts had taken their place. The lanky appearance of the "birds" was surprisingly human in nature, without tits unfortunately, but their disturbing wings and horns would separate them from any further similarities. They clawed their way over as their bodies swayed from one end to the other. In the background a shinobi launched wooden dragons as tall as these buildings after the giant Yokai. The results were less than satisfactory at best. In fact Ren would surmise that the results were quite dismal.

The giant Yokai had begun to spam beams from its very eyes (or mouths?) that incinerated everything the light touched. Buildings had begun to catch fire as the light grazed their stone finish, providing a lot more apocalyptic feel to the environment. The rain refused to put these fires out, even if it could, as the beams continued to scan the area. At first it appeared the beams were targeted at those with the most power, but as time continued the beams appeared more random in nature attacking anything it touched. Ren stood his ground with Yue beside him, not fearing the ferocious power of the yokai. It had become familiar to him since he dealt with so many at metropolis, and he knew that all of them HAD to have a weak spot. The only real question at this point was whether or not all of the yokai could absorb chakra similar to the large yokai the group fought before. At this moment Ren would make a large concession that he dared not ever make before. He turned to Yue and said, "Yue you're probably the best strategist here right now, and last time you were the biggest threat to these yokai. I'll follow your lead or instruction or whatever as long as we win at the end of this day." Ren would turn to Lilina not sure if she was awake, passed out or even dead. "Now is the time for us to act like a team, something I don't think we've ever executed properly before."

[816/1526]

(ooc: sorry it took so long to post this, busy birthday week and school week rolled into one. @1Q84: ATM you can just make some story up as to how Yue knows about some of Ren's attacks he hasn't used in public yet. Check my tech list for full set.)

Edited October 13, 2012 by Leon

[Azure]

When the Gargantua’s claw slammed Yatako down into the street, it felt as though the entire Hokage’s tower had come crashing down on him and now was attempting to stick him like a syringe. As he hit the ground , Yatako had repositioned himself by struggling to resist the claw from rubbing him into a bloody mess all over the Kusagakure street. Although it was an unseen action, Yatako was able to remain in a squatting position, lifting the large claw just a crack to let air and light in. His muscles were quaking as they were being flooded by chakra , further reinforcing his brute strength against the yokai. The crests on his silver gauntlets were glowing wildly and produced a mighty updraft of wind that further reinforced his resistance. Although Yatako was far from a ninjutsu specialist, his ability to polymerize martial art and ninja art was an admirable feat. Though, the groans escaping his throat were far from admirable.

The pressure was getting thick, he could feel it as his blood turned hot and swelled in his face and arms. There was little time to question it: Yatako knew that it was inevitable the beast would know its prey was fighting back and if it had any conception of survival skills, it would know that a change in pace was necessary to gain the upper hand again. It wouldn’t be long until it could quite easily clench its fingers and turn Yatako’s spine to dust. The dirt and stone and bricks the Gargantua was dissolving with its sheer weight was suffocating enough, the residue it kicked up would make him choke the quickest- and when he’d choke, he’d fall vulnerable. Pouring his chakra current to his feet, Yatako reverted to his primary element, earth to save him of this situation. The blowing dust surrounded him, clotting and clothing him in an armor of clay. As the chakra seeped through the ground, Yatako manipulated it to soften and accept him as a mother gives her child an embrace. Within seconds, his body sunk into the ground a couple of feet below the crushing claw. It must have made the creature thought he won, for the yokai gripped down and unburied several feet of soil and gravel in its might throw as it walloped the area around its hand to halfway across the village. The mighty claw had disintegrated the layers of earth over Yatako’s head, just missing him by a few inches as he lay embedded in the earth. The mighty swoop was deafening to say the least, leaving an imprint on the village permanently. Buildings came crashing down; the rain picked up and would begin to change the world into sloppy mud.

While the Gargantua was distracted, Yatako propelled himself out of the ground and into the air. His clay armor fell to the ground and unshackled him, though dust still plated his face and scratches tore into his robes and skin. His Byakaugan was fully alive, taking in several pools of chakra at once. Immediately he saw Raz chugging towards the Gargantua and a degree of regret washed over him when he saw the black tangle of a curse seal wrap around Raz and constrict him. He wasn’t aware Raz was branded with one, but a curse seal looked distinct when it interacted with the tenketsu. That made Raz an even more unstable factor. Orhalo help them that they’d get out of there the same.

It was a prime opportunity to attack the yokai, but from the position Raz was in, it seemed like he was nothing greater than a ragdoll right now. Turning your back on an ally like that was severely against the Hoikage’s code and whether Raz had any tricks up his sleeve, Yatako wasn’t willing to risk that. Without warning, the red maned Sennin was shot out of the air like release cannonball, directly to where Yatako burred out of the ground*

“RAZ!!”

Yatako yelled with true concern as the Hokage fell back to the earth. Even though he was panicked to see the Otogakure Sennin here, he certainly didn’t wish the man harm and currently it looked like he was wrapped up in quite a large handicap. There was no reprieve for Raz it seemed, as the Gargantua turned around and opened its massive jaw that could swallow an armada whole. Yatako could see the tsunami of power flooding the yokai’s body and that was something he couldn’t punch back at and expect to get away from. But the Hokage was already at work, spinning the seals to one of his favorite techniques. It was one of the few ninjutsu he practiced to use it proficiently, for using this wrong could spell disaster. When Yatako landed next to Raz, he executed it.

.: Nifuu Oribasho no Jutsu :.

(Two Point Seal Fold Technique)

A seal would burn into the ground beneath the two men and ignite into white flames. Suddenly a shimmering white mist would pool over the seal and drop the men into a space-time gate that would warp them out of the beam’s way right before it fired and consumed them completely. The second half of the portal opened up not too far away from the battle- but it would be unexpected for the person carrying the other gate of the warp. The stone that Sato was carrying from Yatako shone and shook before spitting out a beam of chakra that burned the ground next to him. In an instant, Yatako and Raz spilled out of the white portal, but failing to look none too relieved. Syaoran had a bijuu inside of him, Raz had a curse seal gone wild- was he the only hachinin here that wasn’t living on a gamble? “Status report Raz, are you alright?" And the tone he was using suggested Yatako wasn't going to like being falsely assured.

* Checked with Eechi on his plans

[2037]

•••

Haruyuki was remarkably careful with where he let his mind shoot as izzy began explaining. There was a massive battle unfolding, but as far as the Hisame was concerned, his student’s safety was priority- and that meant his physical safety as well as his mental. And right now, Izzy looked pretty shaken up. A hard line fit his jaw as Izzy explained the signs of possession and even blurted an accusation of the Hokage himself. The Hokage was a level minded man, it was hard to imagine throwing something as big as that out without careful consideration. He knew the Kage were close, as they led the Resistance when they fought the Raikage and Izzy certainly wasn’t one for making up facts. This either true, or an elaborate dream.

And yet, the description he provided was sound. Bijuu were prone to be violent, threatening to level a city and raising themselves to be pompous assess was a clean diagnostic and even if the Tsuchikage thought himself of powerful, he wasn’t known to flaunt it as such. A light growl came out of Haruyuki’s mouth when Izzy recalled Syaoran’s ‘cousin’ being killed. That would explain why Chao was nowhere to be found and his chakra had been expunged.

“Sanbi should have been sealed, but I guess that’s why you’re acting up, huh Pebbs?”

Haruyuki mumbled to himself quietly, feeling disgraced that the demon might have slipped through his fingers and stolen the Tsuchikage. How could he be so careless? Or maybe it was another demon, but when would Syaoran had the time to acquire another one after fleeing Kiri? He was possessed by Sanbi once…and Chao did mention there was something to be afraid of with the Alchem. But it didn’t matter, if Sanbi still was here, it was Haruyuki’s duty to deal with the demon. His icy eyes flashed to where Syaoran was originally, when they saw him on their descent. The linger words of his student tantalized his ears and softened the hard expression Haruyuki was holding. There was a time that the hisame would have been off in a stride of righteous indignation, but that time had passed as he acquired responsibility. Izzy was terrified he was partially responsible for their situation of upheaval and it was Haruyuki’s duty to respond to that.

“Hey heyyyyy Izzy, listen bud. Don’t sweat it, you can’t beat yourself up for something you couldn’t control. Even if we knew this, Raz wasn’t in a position to budge until the morning after. We got here as fast as we could. But you remembered now and did well. I won’t let that Syaoran-thing destroy-“

“…you should really start paying attention.” Albra growled from across Haruyuki’s shoulders as a loud crash resulted from the leveling of several of the village’s buildings. In truth maybe he should have been more perceptive, but he knew the compost of concrete wasn’t coming their way, else he might have taken a few steps left. Finally making his debut as a more useful part of the team Alba left off of the Hisame’s shoulders and stretched his legs. The small, white fox began to glow and grow until he was double the size of a typical dog and fully rideable. “Get on Namikaze.” Alba demanded, to which Haruyuki nodded. The arctic fox had probably thought he was faster on his four feet than Izzy on his two and it was only good service to try and let him stay alive. For the time being, Izzy would get a nifty steed. “Beam.” Alba hadn’t many words, but Haruyuki knew when he bothered to say something, it was usually coming for them. His eyes flashed towards the giant yokai who had spun a silvery orange ball of energy poised at their direction, he knew this position was compromised. As the beast shot, Haruyuki and Alba (presumably carrying Izzy) launched into the air and luckily its main eye was not staring at them.

“Izzy, prepare Anyu, launch in five seconds.”

Five seconds was how long it would take Haruyuki to break out his inkpad and paper and draw up a concoction that would be an adequate contender against the mighty beast. Izzy, although a newly appointed Chuunin could still pack a punch as one and if these techniques worked in succession as he planned, the Gargantua was about to have its world rather confused.

≈|:: Sumiton: Goei-ka Leviathan ::|≈

(Ink Release: Gatekeeper Leviathan)

A leviathan tore out from Haruyuki’s page, streaming frozen ink as it took its thirty foot reach out from the Hisame. The creature was scaled and snakelike with a face of a dragon and an eel. The black and teal creature swam through the air, encrusted in frozen ink particles. The leviathan crashed to the broken ground, attempting to slither between the yokai’s leg.

[1383]

•••

The rain continued to drip down from the sky and proceeded to ruin the softness of her hair. It was spat with dirt and rain and currently, she was far from winning a beauty pageant but she never intended to try anyway. Her eyes remained shut and her face was squished into the concrete building and she wasn’t the least bit comfortable but she was alive. It took all she had not to shiver a repressed yell at Yue when he scolded her by taking the hit and protecting Raz, who by the way, really appeared to be falling apart from the seams. She had never seen him truly angry and now that he was letting loose, she was afraid for him. She never believed Raz was the paragon of patience, but he had plenty of it. She knew he was capable of anger and could even control it. Now though…she didn’t get the vibe that he was in control, at all. Yue would put himself in shit situations and justify it with his loud mouth, but if someone else did it, they’d just get criticized.

She figured these yokkai would try and see her as easy meat, which is why she tried to play the deception card by playing dead, or knocked out. Her trained sound-ninja ears picked apart the swooping patterns of the yokai above her, who suddenly diverted their attention elsewhere. But before she picked up her face from the concrete, she could hear the flapping feathers of another pair of yokai . But as the rain and wind picked up, even a for a sound shinobi she was finding it hard to hear the birds. Her original plan to catch them by surprise wouldn’t be perfect, but there was still a chance. As the boys arrived, she picked herself up from the ground without so much for a grunt or a flinch of pain. “You forget that out of us all, I can take the best beating.” She reminded Yue admonishingly, but carefully glad he was worried about her. As she stepped back on her feet, they would be able to notice that the Naiyume girl was changed. Her arms, neck and legs were lined with black veins that twisted on and above her skin. She had unleashed her bloodline right before she took the attack, giving her a larger girth to defend against. Additionally, crimson lines were pulsating softly on her forearms, a new addition to her physique. The attack from the bird yokai would leave a bruise, but that was about it. There was probably more damage those things could do though.

Ren was probably right with giving Yue the reins to direct them and starting acting like a team, but like hell she was going to just wait for those birds to swoop down and eat them. “Whatever we do, we shouldn’t stay here in the open, lest that big thug accidently zaps us!” She replied quickly, hoping to anything holy that Yue wasn’t actually going to suggest fighting these things on the roof. Maybe Ren thought they were invincible and maybe Yue would think ducking down in the buildings was ‘pussy shit’ but they were severely out powered here. Acting without thinking, upon pure instinct, Lilina swapped together three seals and drew her right hand over her left. She pulled back her right hand as if drawing a bowstring and pointed directly above her, at the swarming bird-human yokai. It was the first time she actually got a good look at those swarming things and she really wondered how they were even possible. Regardless, in under a second, a jolt of purple lightning formed between her two fingers and a black bow made of chakra formed. It was a new technique that she developed during the time after she mastered lighting. While in the CNA, the students were taught that the easiest way to mold chakra was to base it around simple objects, if it were stable. A clay table, a wind instrument or a water whip. As she released the first bolt, she pulled back again and loosed a second, both arrows whizzing through the air leaving the brief scent of something burning.

Although she aimed at the birds, she wasn’t banking on hitting them. Not only was it the first time she was trying to use this jutsu, but her purpose wasn’t even to hit them at all. She just wanted to buy them a precious few seconds to make up their minds before they got skewered into human shish kabobs.

“Alright Yue, call’s all yours!”

She would concede to following his orders, realizing that indeed they needed to work as a team. Alone, they would all be toast, but together it was possible that they could hold their own like one of the Jounin. Just…hopefully Yue had a more stealthy plan. She really didn’t feel like trying to punch a mountain that was avalanching silver and orange lights. Especially a mountain with eyes.

[1537]

[wolfnin]

Sato cursed underneath his breath while the sounds of chaotic destruction seemed to echo about throughout the rain. Every second seemed to lead the situation deeper into entropy, which eventually would flatten the already torn village of Kusagakure. The Senuskai gave a quick glance around him as he continued to increase the distance; while he could hear the screech of a new type of yokai in the distance. In the meantime, Sato's clone began to gather chakra in his hand, only to glance up to see the monstrous beast begin an attack of his own. The clone's blue eyes widened as he watched the ball of energy form within the beast mouth, and then instantly descended upon him at a high speed. One could simply describe it as being in the maw of hell, while the silvery orange blast reached impact point and tore away at the clone and the ground beneath him. Though the clone simply *poof* if this were an actual person, the carnage left behind would be one told in stories of horrors.

The Kumogakure jounin came to a sliding halt as the information from the clone that had been destroyed was relayed back to him. The monstrous beast seemed to be capable of determining its target without the need of sight. "Damn it!" The Senuskai thought while lightning crackled around the clenched fist that he just formed. Kusagakure had suffered enough from the destruction that had befallen it and now the yokai began the process of desecrating ground zero. "I'm getting real tired of these damn yokai. I've had enough of them!" Sato called out towards nobody in particular while lightning flashed above him. With an influx of lightning from the thunderheads above, the Senuskai slammed his hands together to begin the process of a jutsu. With each hand seal, the roar of the thunder above increased in pitch and intensity, while lightning flashed with an increase velocity. The other shinobi were a good distance away, which meant the majority of his lightning techniques would be capable of being used without dealing damage to the other shinobi. That was a good thing, it was unnecessary to have collateral damage when dealing with smaller yokai. Plus, Sato had a more controlled technique that contained enough power to slay the two bird yokai.

Raiton: Gohyaku Hari

(Lightning Release: Five hundred Needles)

Lightning rained down from the thunderheads above while the Senuskai released his own lightning from his chakra, allowing the two to combine and take the shape of five hundred needles. Instantly the needles would rush upwards directly towards the bird yokai that had begun their descent towards him. Once the onslaught of needles made their ascent towards the yokai, Sato would quickly place a finger on the earpiece Jishin had given him earlier. It had been a while since he had checked in and now was a good time to request further instructions. Though his quick check in was suspended by the interruption of the stone which Yatako had given him earlier.

"What the fu-"

The sheer surprise of two men appearing from a white light was enough to make the anger that Sato felt towards the yokai turn into confusion. He had thought the stone that was given to him was a message or a secret device for communication, but did it also serve as a transportation portal as well? While it was true that the Senuskai was now having doubts about the integrity of the stone, he was relieved that Yatako and the shinobi had managed to escape the yokai's treacherous wrath, but the expression on the hokage's face indicated a different tale. "Yatako, what exactly is going on around here?" Although now wasn't the best time for an explanation, Sato needed answers, ones that didn't seem to involve secrecy. Both the hokage and the tsuchikage were worried about something, and Syaoran's outburst had occurred exactly at the moment the shinobi that was in his vicinity had arrived. What exactly about this shinobi were the two kages worried about? Though he had focused some of his attention on Yatako and the other shinobi, part of his attention still remained focused on the bird beast above.

[700]

[Lemon]

As Uchiha Mizujin continued his acrobatic flight over the gargantuan devil he glanced down in time to see the monsters viscous maw open, dead set on making the jounin his next meal. A great howl erupted from its fanged mouth as it opened wide to snatch the boy out of sky and swallow him whole. The thunderous noise sent vibrations echoing through the air that seemed to shake the entire village and, due to his very close proximity to the source, temporarily deafened Mizujin until he could hear nothing but a high pitched ringing. Carefully calculating his trajectory and how quickly the yokai was moving to consume him he realized he was in no danger, and within mere moments the Uchiha passed out of harms way as the biblically huge mouth snapped shut no more than a few inches from his feet.

He knew he was not out of the woods yet, and it seemed like his futile attempt at nailing the beast in place for the more powerful ninja in the area was an epic failure. As he began his descent and positioned himself for landing the monster's tail swept through a row of deserted buildings, heading towards Mizujin with the speed and force of a bull whip on an infinitely larger scale. There was no escaping this by dodging, it was coming at him too fast and he could not move suspended in the air like he was, but that did not mean the boy genius wasn't without a trick or two up his sleeve. With as much speed as he could muster he transferred the length of manipulator wire he was still holding to his mouth and hurriedly performed the seals for the water clone technique. Taking advantage of the moisture in the air from the rain the clone materialized with only moments to spare. The watery copy wrapped its hands around Mizujin's arm and with a hard shoulder throw tossed the true Uchiha to the side before splattering back into its natural state under the black tails crushing weight.

Although it seemed like nothing had gone as planned during the Uchiha's attack he had a knack for adapting plans on the fly, sometimes developing new strategies that far outclassed the original. He thought this was one of these moments but only time would really tell. As the beasts tail had come down upon him it intercepted the length of wire he had been holding on to for dear life. With the shuriken still painlessly embedded in the massive creatures flesh acting as a base the tail performed as a fulcrum, allowing Mizujin to shift his body weight and swing around it. He performed two full loops around the beasts tail as it thrashed about, his momentum keeping him in place. On the third go around his hands morphed into a string of seal all too common to the Uchiha clan while still gripping tightly to the wire, which had now begun to cut through his gloves and cause paper thin cuts on his fingers. Once the seals were complete he inhaled a great breath, releasing it in a torrent of flame that began to travel up the wires before he released them.

Katon; Hōsenka No Jutsu

[Fire Release; Phoenix Immortal Fire Technique]

火遁・鳳仙火の術

As Mizujin's momentum sent his out of control body speeding headlong into the rubble of the nearby buildings the wires ignited. Powerful flames that would melt almost anything they came in contact with snaked their way up the wires to their target: the loops Mizujin had made around the beasts tail. His mindset was that if he could concentrate as much firepower as possible on a small area then he would hopefully be able to blow at least a small hole in the damned thing.

"Dad did always teach me to fight fire with fire." He mused as he crashed into the rubble.

650//3171

Edited November 13, 2012 by Lemon

[Cloudnine]

Kikuya staggered a moment as the momentum of her swing clipped nothing but air. Her feet sought rough niches upon the massive toad summon’s back as she regained her footing, skirting around Raz’s position to keep him within range. The incessant low humming of her weapon’s quaking tines seemed to repel the avian creatures, much to Kikuya’s annoyance. Having no ranged ability of her own, the woman could only make multiple attempts to close in on her targets, which didn’t seem like the best idea regarding the massive demon in the epicenter. The viability of genjutsu was uncertain in this scenario, particularly due to the demons’ ability to absorb chakra and their volatile psyches. Raz had given her free reign to essentially do whatever felt best, and Kikuya was about to defend the toad’s back when all the bird demons turned away from her reach.

Meanwhile, Karuna had recovered at ground zero. Somewhere along the village streets, the sound eater counterpart landed in the sooty black soil. She found refuge in the still-standing wreckage of some multistory building with the windows already blown out from the fighting. Clearing away the glass shards, Karuna laid low beneath the sill of one of the middle floors and sought the chakra signature of her host. Calibrating her location in relation to her host, Karuna directed an illusion right at her twin. That way, hopefully, her efforts went unnoticed to all but Kikuya and would therefore draw no ire from the beasts.

“Youuuuuu biiiiiiitch,” Kikuya hissed through clenched teeth as she felt the familiar chakra ensnare her. It was far too late to fend off the sensory invasion by her parasitic twin, from which the jounin’s vision clouded over in a sanguineous, unreasonable rage. The genjutsu sent a raw bout of adrenaline through Kikuya’s dark veins, coursing through her as the internally stored sonic pressures that caused hands to tremble violently. Striking the large tuning fork against her heel, the sound eater took a moment to ravenously feed off the weapon’s vibrations before hoisting it over her shoulder and hurling it towards the pair of bird demons that flew toward Sato. If the throw failed to connect with the demons, at least the properties of the shaking tines could disorient, and the metal could conduct the lightning which Kikuya also bore an affinity over and create an assault from above.

Not one to be unarmed, Kikuya in her wrath procured another weapon from her back. The kusarigama wasn’t as adapted to the woman’s clan fighting style, but served for greater utility purposes. With the sickle section grasped firmly in one hand and the weighted length of the chain spinning from the other, Kikuya took a great leap from the toad summon to reconvene with Sato en route to retrieve her tuning fork. Before landing, the woman made an attempt to snare one of the flying creatures with the end of her weapon’s chain to partly break her fall upon the ground. Foreseeing a less than desirable impact, Kikuya tucked her limbs in upon impact, unfeeling in her frenzy.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Kikuya barked furiously at Raz, unable to tone down her ire as long as Karuna continued the manipulation of anger upon her.

[1Q84]

Yue was thoroughly creeped out watching the bird things approach wondering why the hell they bothered to walk since there was a chance in hell it was natural which gave them a pretty fucking big advantage as they stayed in the sky. Of course, that would put them outside of Yue's righting range so he'd rather not look a gift bird demon thing in the mouth or beak or whatever the hell they ate with. Standing defensively between the demons and his teammate he heard something land behind him with a quick glance telling him it was Ren though it looked like his concern was for nothing as Lilina pulled herself up off the ground brushing the whole thing off and decided to after them, again.

"Yeah, well, I can drink a fifth of vodka on a empty stomach. Doesn't mean it's a good idea to fuckin' do it." Yue snapped back though he was relieved to see that she was alright. Yue knew she had some dumb bloodline that caused her to freak the fuck out the minute anyone but her talked about it so other then the painfully obvious black lines and latest addition of glowing shit, Yue had no idea how the hell it worked and hadn't exactly tested her ability to 'take a beating'. Better not to comment on that because chances are she would go all sorts of pyschotic bitch on him, again.

"Pop fuckin' quiz. What the fuck are these things attracted to again?" Yue said reminding them all that they seemed to show an above average interest in people who demonstrated a large amount of chakra so why Lilina thought it was idea to activate her bloodline and start shooting chakra at it was beyond him. At least Ren had listened to that piece of advice so far though it made Yue feel rather useless since he could only stand here with his thumb up his ass unless they got closer. "So I know this is going to be a novel fuckin' idea, but let's try to avoid drawing attention to ourselves for once. We don't know what the fuck is out there, we don't know what the hell happened to the village that has Raz so fuckin' worried, so the last thing we should do is try an' catch the attention of whoever or whatever is out there."

What was really bugging Yue was other then the laser light show and the sounds of the battle behind them Yue didn't hear anything else above the sound of the rain. If this was supposed to be a Hidden Village like Otogakure where the fuck was everyone else? Why wasn't there screaming or crying or the sounds of mindless panic Yue expected when a giant fucking demon started blowing shit up. Other then the buildings and streets that were getting torn up by Raz and his psychotic friends from what he could tell in the rain everything else looked pretty much in one piece. The thought that the buildings and streets were filled with a village worth of dead people was enough to make Yue shudder. Of course thewn his teammates decided to throw the whole situation into his lap which was Yue could only be suspicious about.

"Oh, so now you're going to listen to me?" Yue asked wanting to roll his eyes at his teammates. "Or is this just another fuckin' set-up so you can ignore me yet still blame me when this shit goes to hell, again." Though by the way Yue didn't take his eyes off the weird bird things he didn't mean it, not really, even if he seemed to be the only who remember Ren punching him in the god damn face last night and Raz flipping out about Yue’s “immaturity”. Though maybe, just maybe they'd fucking listen to him and they could get out of this situation with minimal maiming or body switching or Ren shacking it up with some succubus.

"Raz said to look for survivors, and to head to some tree in the middle of the village once they've dealt with the demon. We stick to that. Get the fuck off this roof, and try to figure out what the hell is going on here." Yue decided though he half expected Ren and Lilina to pitch a fit about their heroic need to through themselves into some suicidal fight and dragging Yue along for the ride. Glance at the mayhem behind him Yue wasn’t exacty sure what was going on anymore with all the strangers and the powerful jutsu that may or may not be more yokai or just some fancy ass technique. While Yue didn’t appreciate being called a kid he could appreciate the sentiment that getting involved in that mess was probably going to get them killed because there was no way they could stand toe to toe with what was pretty much two and a half kage. Still he would wait for confirmation from his teammates before moving because it wouldn’t surprise him if the minute his back was turned the went running off elsewhere. Fuck, is this what the Raz felt like all the god damn time? Like he needed to keep them on a leash or some dumb shit?

[Eechi-go]

Raz hadn't the chakra to disperse himself into the wind like he normally would have in this situation. If he had to guess, he'd estimate that he was at about 20% of his usual strength, and as such he would be at the mercy of this yokai's assault. He wasn't even sure what he was expecting as he lingered in the air a few seconds longer than he'd like...but it most certainly wasn't a headbutt. The sheer strength of the creature slamming it's skull against the Sennin's own was enough to cause him to black out immediately. From there on in, his body would limply fly through the air, slamming down against the ground with his body becoming even more battered and broken than it had been before.

The Namikaze wouldn't awaken until some time after Yatako had produced his seal that helped them evacuate the area from the crazy laser light show that was going off in the background. Gamabunta leaping into the fray and slamming down into the ground ahead of them is what had shook him awake, but it looked as though the Otogakure shinobi was on his last legs. As the massive toad attempted to ram the yokai in order to provide cover for the group, Raz slowly but surely pulled himself back up onto his feet. Fresh blood cascaded down the man's forehead, covering him in a grim visage as he tried to regain his footing. The world was spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and every noise around him echoed painfully in his skull. Speaking of pain; it was miracle that Raz was even capable of standing at this point since every fiber of his being was practically screaming at him for pushing himself back into the fight. He had never looked this bad before. Not even during the fight with the Raikage.

So when Yatako asked for a status report from Raz, the Sennin would merely shoot an exasperated gaze at the man as he felt his rage begin to bubble over. But then he remembered something the Hokage said to him during the Chuunin Exams rather suddenly--

“I’m glad Otogakure found relief from its draught. I will do what’s in my power to help the good people of Oto, promise. Perhaps one day we’ll get that on paper. My people should be out of your territory soon enough- I just hope we haven’t given our little brother too hard a nookie.”"

This wasn't Konoha's doing. It couldn't be. Not after all the Hokage's sacrifices he made to support Otogakure. Not after Mari went out of his way to tutor Raz in a technique that probably should have never left the village walls. Not after the will Uzumaki Naruto left behind in his passing. Even if Konoha produced some of the worst missing-nin in history, it was not in the nature of their best shinobi to outright attack and demolish another village. In this realization, Raz's expression would soften as he allowed himself to hesitantly go out on a limb and trust Yatako. "...Fine. I'll be fine." In reality he was not going to be fine, but it was more of a confirmation that his anger had subsided...

...that was until Sato appeared and started talking casually with Yatako. Sato, who had been documented by Otogakure ever since he showed up at a rather bad time to deliver his scroll from the Raikage. Raz didn't trust Kumo in the slightest, not after they left a psychopath like Li in charge of Otogakure during the war who went on to fucking with alternate dimensions and going rogue from the NCIA. The Raikage never attempted to remove Li from power and allowed him to sit on his throne of crazy. Between that and the Raikage's tone with Raz and his students during the Exams, the Sennin's attitude towards Kumogakure was one of distaste. To see Sato here in this situation only went on to sour the taste in his mouth further. Was this the Raikage's doing? Was he perhaps pulling the strings of Konoha and Iwa? Too many variables were currently lingering in the air, and Raz wasn't sure who he could trust anymore. His expression immediately went livid yet again.

"I don't know what the hell all you motherfuckers are doing here, but if we didn't have bigger problems at the moment, heads would be ROLLING. So consider this my one act of mercy when I say this; I suggest you leave town- immediately. Because if I find out any of you had a hand in what went down here, I will personally tear out each and every molecule of oxygen from your bodies."

With that said, Raz produced the hand-seal for a Kage Bunshin and mustered up the chakra rather quickly to produce it. Though his chakra reserves were at rock bottom, he had enough to produce one final attack on the yokai so long as he had time to prepare. While he didn't have as much information on the yokai as he would have liked, he did recall the Rasengan working rather well on the lesser yokai's in Metropolis. Perhaps it was due to the technique being capable of spinning their chakra forms out of control and dispersing them. For a creature this big, however, he'd need to hit it with something that did damage on molecular scale to ensure it wouldn't just reform itself.

"Working on a contingency." Raz snapped back at Kikuya as she appeared and bitched him out. Under normal circumstances he would have probably reamed into her for the way she had been acting since he let her join the group, but right now they had bigger fish to fry. "Now if you want to stop bitching at me long enough to help, that'd be great. But to be honest, I don't even know where the hell you came from, let alone what you're good at. So I can't really give you any orders. Do whatever you can to beat on the thing, or atleast keep it distracted. I probably can't take another hit like that." He muttered, extending his hand outward for his clone, who would begin to slowly but surely spin a ball of chakra that rushed around and around like a miniature typhoon in his palm. The Rasengan was rather recognizable for people who knew what it was, but Raz wasn't done yet. He still had to apply wind chakra to it, and that was going to be difficult given his low reserves and strained concentration. At this point Raz was just hoping that Gamabunta could keep the yokai pinned and busy long enough for him to finish the technique.

And so he began to limp his way forward towards Gamabunta's back, slowly but surely, wanting to be able to deliver the attack immeditely once the Rasengan had cooked long enough.

1,147 Words

2,882 Total

Edited October 26, 2012 by Eechi-go

[Rhap Sodos]

OOC: I had a stupidly hard time writing this, and it's still kind of poop, so I apologize. :<

"Sanbi?" Izzy squeaked, previously only having Yatako's clue of "bijuu" to understand what was sealed inside of Syaoran. The young Namikaze wasn't entirely sure if that had been an exaggeration or best estimate at the time, but with Haruyuki confirming and offering further enlightenment on what happened to the Tsuchikage, Izzy finally realized what had been so ironic about offering to be a host. The tall Kiri-nin did it more out a desire to help Syaoran, but Izzy couldn't help but shudder at the thought of being a Jinchuuriki to that particular tailed beast.

His ancestors had probably rolled in their graves.

And while the Hisame was trying to absolve Izzy of his guilt, the boy still felt somewhat responsible. Raz might have been unable to come here sooner, but Haruyuki and Izzy could have. At the very least, Izzy was convinced that everyone would've been more prepared for what they were going to face, both with Kusa and with possible opposition if had simply remembered. Of court, feelings of guilt would be momentarily set aside for the sake of self preservation, as Haruyuki's scarf barked a brief warning before the giant demonic creature went on a rampage.

Scrambling onto the now much larger fox creature, Izzy was careful to not pull or tug needlessly on any of the snowy white fur, afraid to do anything that would hurt or upset the creature he was now astride. Of course, the short warning of "beam" coupled with being launched into the air completed negated these attempts as Izzy clung to the animal for dear life, digging his long fingers into the white hair and squeezing with his knees. He barely heard Haruyuki's instructions, but he still heard them, glad that his training allowed him to cling to Alba with his legs and spare hand as he only needed one to perform the necessary seals. The young Namikaze wasn't sure what Haruyuki was planning or what good his Chuunin level technique would have against such a giant creature that was plowing through shinobi much stronger then he, but Izzy wasn't going to ignore Haruyuki's instructions just because he had self-doubts. It was hard to wait, even those few seconds, because the amount of fear and adrenaline that was coursing through his veins made every moment feel like an eternity, one one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand, four... Gathering his chakra, Izzy took a deep breath, never doubting that Haruyuki knew what he was doing, just sincerely hoping that Izzy didn't fuck this up.

The amount of moisture in the air made this technique easy to perform as a sudden explosion of ice crystals filled the air, catching sparks of light in the faceted frozen water as Haruyuki unleashed his leviathan. Perhaps between the two of them, they'd be able to confuse and hinder the large creature long enough to regroup and launch a more coordinated assault.

Edited October 26, 2012 by Rhap Sodos