Sunrise

[Baromosa]

Hearing a voice speak up, Takashi stopped for a moment and knelt up with a smile. "What's that? You found something?" The Hyuuga asked in a pleasant voice relieved that he didn't need to look through this death any longer. Apparently Kaidomaru had found the key, which was fortunate considering how the past prisoners seemed to be less than important to whoever kept watch over this cell. Of course that assumed anyone was watching over their cell.

Edited April 5, 2009 by Baromosa

[Azure]

[second group only]

The time worn padlock fell tiredly to the floor with an echoing thud. The signs of aging were obvious that the lock had been knit on the door for quite some undefined time. At the chime of this sullen lock, Noel popped up from his duties that he elected himself to tend to and scurried over to the perceptive Nara. The cracked open door did not blast resonating light or chakra due to its opening, only the dim light spilled in to the adjacent rooms. "Come on children, we had best get going.” Noel said with a shaky quiver through his vocals. Something had the man on edge, but the sights of the deceased weren't easily taken by many of the living.

Leading the group through the old door, the next room was rather large and the damp chill worsened within these new walls. As did the smell. The carnage inside of this new room was even worse and it was uncertain what exactly happened in these rooms so many moons ago. Two forces either fought each other out of choice or perhaps starvation, disease and famine urged them to turn against each other in this asylum. A warm light emitted from Noel's staff, bringing an extra adjustment to their eyes and a glimmer of hope to their own survival. But all would not remain quiet for long.

A shuffling could be heard through the darkness, creaking, crumbling and moving. There was no need for an otherworldly source to close the door from whence they came, for there was no obvious escape from this room. The chilling dance dispersed throughout the entire room and even the darkened abyss skyward. "Those that so not cross over by will or attachment wake as the dancing dead. We have disturbed their sleep and I fear they are not kind to that…” The kind face usually worn by Noel transformed in to a serious mug, dropping the predominant signs of fear to accommodate to their situation. Although he wasn't beyond being frightened there came a time where it was useful and when it was fatal. With the slip of a few seals, Noel slammed the bottom of his staff to the ground, unleashing a spiraling spear of light extending above. The illumination caused by the spear chased away the shadows above, leaving a photon trail that continued to burn peel away the mask of facades.

Layering around the outer layer of the room was a staircase winding to the top of what appeared to be a very tall room. It was probably equal to the drop they had sustained only minutes earlier. At different sections twirling up were platforms were slumping skeletons waiting to be stirred. At a certain point, the spear exploded, raining photonic chakra throughout the room, attracting to randomly selected skeletons and crumbling their bones to dust. However, there were still a large handful of them roaming about, ready to strike. "Lead the way, they will not charge our backs as long as I am here.”

Ooc; Fight your way to the top! The skeletons are mostly taijutsu based with a variety of weapons of your freedom to roleplay. The have access to a small amount of chakra, but can not use genjutsu. The entire group must reach 4669 words to reach the top. Every 500, you will be able to roleplay reaching the next platform, one floor higher.

[Zereon]

Being completely unaware of the fact that the Hokage tower was being infiltrated a patrolling guard walked out behind the bending wall, only to get a chock by the fact that a number of unfamiliar ninjas were coming towards him. After getting his thoughts together however, he got the idea that he’d probably had to call for reinforcements since the group was probably too much for him to handle anyway. And so he turned quickly and dashed off towards the same direction as the ninjas coming at him were going. But before he managed to get too far and before he managed to get something that made sense out of the tip of his lips; a hurled fireball hit his head and soon after he got a kick from behind that pushed him down to the ground.

On top of him stood Zereon in a squatted manner, made a few signs to the others explaining that the man was out and then he continued running down the corridor in search of the security room. Encounters was best to be handled in a silent matter or as silent as possible. The less people they attracted to themselves the easier the mission got. That is why the signs were probably the better choice after taking out one of the guards since it may have drawn attention from others nearby.

The Hokage tower was much different then what Zereon had remembered it to be. The curved walls were plain, old, and not very modern with a few lights and decoration here and there in forms of a painting or a plant, all and all pretty much as he had remembered it. He didn’t put much more thought to it anyhow. Instead Zereon focused on the task ahead and constantly checked the rooms that they passed, often taking help from at least one of the others, in hope of finding the security room.

With no luck so far they continued on. Yet again they encountered a group of guards, this time three. This made the task a little harder than normally. Without stopping in his momentum Zereon had to think out a good strategy to go with, since the speed that he had gain gave him somewhat an advantage and a disadvantage. The patrolling guards walked with two in the front and one a little further back and they all looked somewhat off duty and the two in the front were having a conversation of some sort. What Zereon had the time to hear was they was saying something about how easy their job currently was and that it was a very dull and boring one, they were also completely unaware of what was going to happen in the next seconds. Even if they had a dull and boring job; as they noticed the approaching group of ninjas they reacted better than the previous, now knocked out, ninja that the group had encountered earlier. The two in the front readied themselves for an attack while the one in the back ran the other way to alarm the others, something that Zereon would like to be avoided if this mission was to be carried out fastest and smoothest way.

“Why can’t we just do this the easy way?” Zereon thought to himself as he figured that he had to get to the man that was running the other way and that he somehow needed to get past the first two ninjas quickly. Zereon made a clone of himself, signaled to the others that he was going to try and pass the two. Then he and the clone set off towards them as the real him hurled a few fireballs from his hands. The ninjas had to doge the fireballs coming at them and as Zereon and his clone got closer the clone jumped up and threw itself towards the two now surprised ninjas and then on the smallest impact, without doing any damage to the enemy, exploded into a thin layer of smoke. But the smoke was thick enough for Zereon to pass the ninjas before they had the time to react. So without hesitating Zereon continued on in hope of the others taking care of the two that he had left behind while he took care of the running one.

“I sure hope they got my plan, never was very good with tactical signs…” He thought doubtfully as he approached the third. This ninja was taken out pretty much the same way as the first although just to be sure Zereon threw not only a fire ball but a kunai as well. The fireball hit the man’s head just as he managed to call out help with the sound of him swallowing his own tongue. And shortly after the kunai hit his back and he fell to the ground. Zereon did the same procedure and checked if he was knocked out, he wasn’t. And so Zereon turned the body, grabbed the man’s head and smashed it to the floor with his fist. He made another check and now he was knocked out he grabbed his kunai from the man’s back as he signaled to the others without looking back assuming that they were done with the other two and then he got up and continued their mission.

----------------------------

Words: 883

Total: 1268

Group Total: 1710/5600

Edited April 8, 2009 by Zereon

[cntrstrk14]

"Let us hope this isn't another genjutsu and take this seriously…”

Tsubasa would give a short scoff at this statement, remembering the ridiculous waste of time that the last genjutsu had been. Even with their reasoning, they were in a battle, knocking out a mass of your own army on the battlefield was a stupid move no matter how he looked at it. It was no wonder that the resistance had failed during the last rebellion. His respect for the resistance of Konoha as a whole was faltering, maybe it would have been better if he had gone to Kiri or Iwa after they had leveled fang, at least they seemed competent.

As they would round a corner, aimlessly moving for any sign of a security station, an NCIA member would come out of a doorway, accessing the situation that a group of ninja was approaching him quickly, and seemed to decide that he had to call for backup. Tsubasa prepared to attack, but before he could the other boy who followed them would launch his own assault, using a fireball and a brute kick to the head to knock him out without much trouble. It was a bit to easy, and he wondered if the NCIA agent had even had any ninja training or if he was just some clerical worker. Either way, Tsubasa would let out a slight smile knowing that at least one of the Konoha kids knew what he was doing.

The other boy, having now sprinted ahead some, was in the lead and choosing the direction they went. It was not long before they would round another corner and meet a group of three. Again, Tsubasa assessed the situation. One of them began to run, the other two ready to stand their group. So, taking his assumptions to be true, two had at least some ninja training while the last was not meant for combat, his first reaction was to turn and run from the three young ninja. The first boy, who Tsubasa still did not know his name, would fling another fireball and create some clones, rushing in as he did. This time however, Tsubasa was ready and moved right behind the boy's attack, so that as the fireball hit and exploded into a cloud of smoke, Tsubasa was already moving at full momentum, his attack aimed for the one on the right. With a rush of genjutsu, the man's body would freeze, his mind going into a temporary paralysis. However, instead of striking him, in the cover of the smoke Tsubasa's middle and index finger would find the man on the left, striking him in the sternum and knocking the wind out of him.

Sutorobu-isshun Taipu; Kaze Suiryoku

(Instance Strobe Style; Wind Thrust)

With a quick twist, Tsubasa would turn and lift of the ground, his right foot striking the first man who was still frozen twice in the chest, a satisfying crack being heard from his ribs as the second hit connected.

Sutorobu-isshun Taipu; Bai Kikku

(Instance Strobe Style; Double Kick)

A moment later he would come back to consciousness, coughing up blood and falling over to the ground clutching his chest. The second man would recover, reaching over to grab Tsubasa around the arms to grapple him. He seemed to expect the classic move, which would be for Tsubasa to swing his foot upwards and catch the man in the groin. However, Tsubasa could feel him lifting his weight up onto his toes to avoid this, and instead as the man traded some of his balance to save his crotch, Tsubasa would instead push off of the ground with all of his force and slam his head into the chin of the man. The hit was solid, and the man's grip would loosen. Without a moment's hesitation, Tsubasa would slide out of the grip, crouching to the ground and turning around, reaching his right fist up to meet to man's face a second time.

Sutorobu-isshun Taipu; Raito Kagi

(Instance Strobe Style; Right Hook)

The man, who may have been knocked out by the first blow to the face, was now definitely out as he fell to the ground limped over. The first man, his ribs broken had also stopped moving, and as the smoke cleared Tsubasa would be standing over the two, blood on his right fist as he would look down the hallway towards the other boy, seeing that he had taken out his target with an equal amount of brutal force.

"Hey, what's your name anyways?”, Tsubasa would ask, blood dripping off his knuckles as he maintained a fist with his right hand.

----------------------------

Words: 774

Total: 982

Group Total: 2484/5600

[Rakirian]

"Something I should know about man? I mean where would you see a flashing light in a cave like that?” Zereon asked, how would Rakirian respond to that? Would he be honest and tell him what happen? Or be quiet about it since how crazy would that sound anyway. Rakirian laid there on that cold hard surface with his hand held up in front of him with the black onyx tiger tooth between his fingers. Trying to figure out what to say to his new friend about this experience. Opening his mouth as to speak, Rakirian would lean his head towards Zereon to give him an answer but at that very same second he hesitated and closed his mouth. This just didn't make any sense? Why would he be the only one affected by this bright flash of light and not his friend who was running right next to him when it happened? Looking back at the tooth again, Rakirian's fingers rotated the tooth so he would get a good look all over it. Looking for any clue to its design or purpose. Maybe it was an old thing he just got from his parents way back before even coming here to Konoha again and he simply had forgot about it. The bright flash might just have been a side effect of the poison he was infected by earlier.

His many thoughts about this strange experience continued to race through his mind as suddenly, Soujiro called to them to get their attention. With this, Rakirian cleared his mind to the matter at hand, placing the tooth into his money pouch as he slowly got back up on his feet. Soujiro's briefing about the upcoming assault made Rakirian tense up. This was the real deal, this was something Rakirian still haven't really gotten into his thick skull since they entered the village which seemed like an eternity ago but was just a couple of hours ago. Trying to remember his younger days when he was in the academy before this whole war broke out, he would fill his mind with a mental map of the tower. His memories of the interior design of it was however poor at best. His visits would usually end up just sitting on the roof of the tower looking out over the village with their teacher giving a lesson of the village history. They were then summoned to stand around the alter Soujiro was standing at. With slow steady steps, Rakirian walked over there while looking at the others. They all seemed rather focused on the task at hands, or maybe Rakirian was just all pumped up about it that he naturally thought all the others would be too. It would seem to be an elevator of some sort as the entire structure started to move upwards. Light was shining down on them as the roof above them which was actually the floor of some room in the tower would open up. Immediately the fight was on as Tsukasa and Soujiro sprinted into action. The others with him seemed to have started moving faster than him and were already past a doorway on the side towards the objective: The security room. Not wanting to be left behind and out of the action, Rakirian started to run as quickly and silently as possible after them. Avoiding detection would seem to be the best strategy as the amount of enemies was unknown. Zereon was talking the lead of this four man strike force as the moved through the corridor in search of the security room.

Zereon managed to knock out a guard in the momentum of the run and gave them the sign that the guard was out of the game. Not too long after their first encounter, a new one came with three guards this time. Zereon once again sprinted into action fast like a tiger and engaged the enemy with a bunshin tactic. Realizing that this would be the moment for the others to strike, Rakirian started to charge up his right fist with blue bright chakra. However, he then hesitated, and in that split second of hesitation, the other younger ninja dashed into the fray with a deadly determination. Almost literally punching the life out of the two guards in the smoke, Rakirian couldn't help but to stand there and staring at his fight style. His chakra he had charged in his right hand slowly faded away as the smoke around the young ninja cleared as well revealing the now two bloody guards laying on the ground with the boy standing there with blood dripping from his closed fist. Looking ahead of the boy, he would catch a glimpse of Zereon standing over the third guard who had been knocked down as well with brutal force. Feeling slightly in awe and envy, Rakirian walked up to them both in silence looking around for any more signs of enemies or and hints to locate their objective.

Words: 830

Total: 830

Group Total: 3314/5600

((OOC: Im sorry for such a late reply. However it's here now hehe))

[Baromosa]

Hyuuga Takashi wasn't going to wait any longer to prove his worth to the group. He had gone alone through the tunnels, only to get himself tripped up and in danger. Now their elder gave the word to move, and Takashi rose up looking at Kaidomaru. "Me and you have the lead today, let's beat these foul things back to the dust they rose from." The Hyuuga spoke with a thin smile curling on his lips.

With that he walked forward towards the staircase of the edge of the room, attracting the attention of a grim looking skeleton. The bony adversary lurched toward him, swinging both arms from side to side as it dashed towards Takashi who waited readily. As the skeleton swiped towards him, Takashi threw out a forearm to block the attack and with his other hand moved into the skeleton to grab it's oppsing arm's wrist. With it's bone arm in hand and the skeleton off it's center, Takashi twisted forcefully to throw the menacing skeleton to the center of the room's floor. It's bones cracked and rattled together as it met stone.

Two more agitated enemies came forward, one holding a short spear in it's grip. Takashi's eyes flew wide as they scowled and charged him. His concentration was on the pointed weapon, so Takashi backed up from the stab and tried to push the weapon away. As he did so, the second skeleton came over and slashed at him, ripping his white robes. The Hyugga boy shoved the spear man away to turn around and palm thrust the skeleton in the skull, knocking it down the couple of stairs that lead to the first platform. He wasn't killing them though, only doing minor damage and defending himself. If he was going to progress further, these enemies would have to be brought down to their knees. Literally.

As the spear man helped himself up, Takashi leapt towards him with a mid air kick, disconnecting it's head from it's body. Stomping on the rib cage, the bones snapped under the pressure and ended the life of at least one skeleton. As for the one he had thrown it had been more agile and was already coming back for Takashi. It swiped several times at him, forcing Takashi to move and dodge out of the way. Adrenaline picked up in the Hyugga, so much that he started to feel a little shaky as he evaded the skeleton. Soon the skeleton got a hit in, piercing the skin near Takashi's ribs as it struck him and pushed him to the ground.

Groaning from the small puncture, it burned a bit probably from whatever bacteria was on its diseased bones. "Bastard." Takashi swore and screamed lowly into a punch towards the skeleton, spinning around it as he attack to end with an elbow to the back of the skull. The skeleton crumbled under the violent force, falling back to the floor as shattered bones. Knowing more were waiting to be found, Takashi moved up the stairs to the first platform, looking behind him to see where everyone else was.

Words: 519

[Kouta]

Kaidomaru nodded. The two would have to play leaders to their ragtag group. Takashi, it seemed, had no qualms about rushing headlong into the skeletons on the bottom floor. Kaidomaru, however, seemed to take a moment to survey their options. The spiral staircase was across the room from the pair, with a sea of skeletal forms in between them. Corners were dark, which Kaidomaru could use, but could also hide enemies. He even took the time to see how they reacted to Takashi before moving a muscle. Th4ey seemed to act mostly alone, with a hunter mentality. Each one wanted the prey, and they would align for small instances, but by no means were as formulaic as Kaidomaru and Takashi were. They were not a combined army, just a swamp of lesser demons. He could work with this.

Kaidomaru took a few extra moments to notice that they died when their heads were crushed, and that removing a head alone did not stop the animated corpse. Still, knowing they had a limit of destruction, when breaking their pale colored bones DID stop the animation in their bodies, gave Kaidomaru heart. Finally ready, he stood, running out into the room, where the skeletons immediately came at him, trying to feast on him, since Takashi had thoroughly cowed them. ”Preacher! Iki! Tend to Takashi! We'll handle the fighting, if you do all the healing.” He called, pulling two Kunai from his side pouches, gripping each in a reversed fashion, similar to how he had been trained to hold the Chakra Deba of his clan. The style was comfortable, and he immediately lashed out with both Kunai, severing an arm at the joint of one skeleton with a two strike combo. The same skeleton continued the assault, so Kaidomaru whirled and planted a solid kick into its ribcage, which cracked and gave in under the force. The shatter ribcage seemed to be the skeleton's limit, and it collapsed in an unanimated heap.

Immediately, however, two more skeletons rose, leaping at Kaidomaru in an effort to drag him down. The young boy had to smirk. The fear was exciting. He hurled one of the Kunai into the head of the leaping skeleton, embedding it deep, as his second hand met the skeleton's raking fingers with his own blade. With the other hand he grabbed the skeleton's free roving arm, and jumped feet first into his bony partner's chest, ripping arm free of the socket, and then shoving it into the skeleton's head. The skull caved in and the third skeleton joined the pile that was forming. Kaidomaru laughed out loud, plucking up his kunai from the fallen corpse's head.

Deciding he had wasted enough time, Kaidomaru followed Takashi, beginning to climb, hoping that Iki and the Preacher would make it okay themselves. They shouldn't have a big problem, with the skeletal forces thinning, more than six of them down on the first floor by the two ninja combined. He whirled about, the first platform sparsely populated with only two skeletons. Kaidomaru took little heed of them, simply grabbing one skeleton by his talons arm and hurling it to the floor below them, where it fell and didn't move any longer. At least their enemies weren't strong. They were nearly fragile, and didn't have any real muscle to them. Kaidomaru chuckled at his own pun. Leaving the last of the two to Takashi, he sprinted up to the next platform, where four skeletons rose in animation to meet them.

”Four? No problem!” Kaidomaru said, letting the first skeleton rise, Kaidomaru surveying his opponents. These seemed to be more organized, almost like squads. They weren't random like on the first floors, and seemed to act in concert with each other. Just how the younger ninja liked it. He began mumbling to himself as he planned this to perfection. ”Okay, four of them. Center is leader, second row cronies. Thirty-six degrees off the normal. Kunai reflection is going to be distorted at fifteen degrees the norm, so…” He turned his back to the advancing skeleton, holding up his kunai and checking the reflection for a moment. This was more difficult, since he had to do this backwards to get the proper angle, but his sheathed both kunai and began flashing handsigns. ”Kagemane no Jutsu!” He cried, and his shadow extended backwards, latching onto the skeleton leader's own shadow, trapping him to perfection. ”Gotcha!” He said, whirling about and staring down the skeleton forces. The skeleton obeyed, turning to face its comrades. Kaidomaru ran forward a few steps, then swung a punch at the air, keeping his fingers extended. The bony fingers of the skeleton raked out in a similar fashion, knocking against the enemy skeleton and dislodging a single rib.

Knowing his control was complete, Kaidomaru reached out, grabbing hold of the opposing skeleton with his essential puppet, whirling it into one of it other comrades. The two landed in a heap, and Kaidomaru took the opportunity to have their leader punch in both of their skulls, ending their short un-lives. Only one skeleton was left in the back row, and so Kaidomaru grabbed it, hoisting it high, his skeleton receiving many gouges from the struggling victim. No caring in the slightest, Kaidomaru tossed him off the platform in a sign of victory, watching him tumble to the ground.

Finally, only the leader stood left. Kaidomaru simply smirked, grabbing the sides of his head and pulling upwards. His head may not have moved, but the skeleton's head dislodged, and in a violent show, Kaidomaru laughed as he made the skeleton smash its own head on the floor, killing the poor thing. He turned back, making sure Takashi had finished the single skeleton he left behind for him. ”Come on slow poke! We've got a good ways to go yet!” Kaidomaru said, smirking as his shadow snaked back towards him, this fight done. He felt the drain in his chakra immediately, but he knew that there was plenty of chakra left in his reserves…

[1,006 Words]

[1,006 Words Total for Kaidomaru]

[1,525/4669 Words]

[Baromosa]

Kaidomaru's jutsu was very impressive to Takashi. With control of just one of the skeletons he caused a great havoc and destroyed two others and the one he seamlessly controlled as his puppet. The last skeleton of the squad was left for Takashi, so as the Nara finished up his attack Takashi dashed forward, jumping past the skeleton to appear as if he had missed his target. His hands disappeared into the sleeves of his long white robes before he twisted around and used the momentum from his spin to hurl a shuriken into the skull of his confused target. The shuriken embedded half an inch into the skull, but did not destroy the skeleton who almost seemed to be smirking back at the Hyuuga. Now enraged in caught up to the now landing Takashi, raising a hand to block his incoming kick.

Takashi was taken back how this one was resisting him better then those of the first floor. Not waiting for the skeletons attack to come through, he grabbed the skeletons wrist to twist it's body down and smashed it's skull in with his other hand. The crackling skull seared the cheaper quality shuriken Takashi possessed and snapped it in half as the skull fractured. No matter, Takashi simply grinned at Kaidomaru's comment. "Just finishing up. Looks like I'll have to get serious." He whispered, motioning down to Kaidomaru's fallen 3 to his one.

They ascended the second platform together, activating the skeletons that had been slumped to the floor. These skeletons were armed more heavily then the ones before, but again held the leader and three cronie format. The leader brandished a silver short sword, tarnished and worn to compliment the skeletons ancient appearence. The two skeletons on the left and right flanks of their leader bore small spiky maces that seemed as perfect bashing tools for the flesh reaping fiends. Lastly, the fourth skeleton was unarmed, but was no less eager to attack them. Knowing Kaidomaru had used a portion of his chakra in their last encounter, Takashi thought it would be fair to alternate and return the favor. "I'll take these first two quickly." He spoke out quickly, taking two slow steps forward and dropping into his Hyuuga Rokkingu stance. "Byakugan!" cried Takashi, feeling his temples strain as blood vessels became visible and his white eyes took in a 360 degree vision. His smile became serious as he looked at the skeleton's he faced, wondering if the energy holding them was indeed chakra based. With his right arm extended and his left arm tucked in for defense, Takashi was ready for the charging group of three that came into him whilst the leader watched.

The Hyuuga boy thrust his palm into the first skeleton's rip cage, sending a delicate surge of chakra through his pores. This took precise control of his chakra, but the effect in damage was impressive. Takashi thrusted three times more on the closest two skeletons, his chakra imbued Taijutsu smashing their bones in so many places they crumbled easily to the ground. On his third skeleton who adapted to the situation more so then the others, threw his mace from where he stood at Takashi rather then move in closer. This move surprised Takashi, and though he spun to evade it the mace brushed past his robe and knocked the mace onto his foot. Gritting his teeth, Takashi responded by ignoring the pain and stepping forward once on that foot to move closer. His skeleton opponent tried rushing Takashi faster then the other two did, but met him with equal success. Takashi almost effortlessly landed a plam strike directly into the face of his skull, making the brittle bones explode into several shards, and again pushed the skeleton away with a strike to the rib cage. His three were done, and so Takashi stood up from his stance and deactivated his enhanced eye sight.

Turning to Kaidomaru, he grinned softly, almost predicting that the Nara would already be taking on the skeleton commander.

Words: 672

Takashi's Total: 1191

Group Total: 2716 / 4669

[Zereon]

As Zereon was wiping of the blood on his hand with some cloth, which he had taken from the Ninja he’d just punched into the ground merciless, he heard the voice of one of the fellow ninjas behind him. It was the boy that had taken the lead earlier and he was asking for Zereon’s name. Without much effort of looking back, Zereon turned his head sideways so that he barley saw a glimpse of the boy and the fact that he had taken out the two other guards. Zereon smiled warmly but his dreads probably covered most of his face.

“The name is Zereon, Furukawa Zereon to be exact. But don’t mind Furukawa, I tend not to use it much.”

Lately Zereon had grown to hate his family name, despite the fact that his main goal was to make a name for himself and bring some dignity and fame to his now unknown family name. His last name wasn’t special and it didn’t help him very much in his stride towards fame and so he decided to only go with his given birth name which in some way was somewhat unique.

“How about you then, what’s your name?” Zereon said as he turned to face the boy and also to notice that at least Rakirian also had followed them, however Zereon couldn’t really see any signs of the fourth one. But as Zereon turned around and before he heard any answer from the boy; the sound of footsteps come from down the corridor. Zereon assumed that whoever were coming down that hall didn’t know that they were being infiltrated either, since the sound didn’t increase fast and phase was too slow for them to be running or being in any hurry what so ever. If this was a group of patrolling NCIA members again the team was in a lot of luck since their act of infiltration hadn’t reached anyone yet.

With a swift and quite jump and a back flip Zereon jumped back to the others behind him. This was for two main reasons, one, they would definitely work better together, and two, maybe now he could get the boy’s name without giving them away to whoever or whatever was coming down the corridor ahead of them. The moments before they could see what actually was coming towards them the adrenaline pumped out through Zereon like never before and he felt a rush the he had never felt before and then suddenly the feeling of pain felt from every part of his body and the more that he thought of it the more it felt like it was centering around every major vein in his body. This scared him and so he tried to calm himself down. “What is going on? What is this? It hurts…! You can do this Zereon, calm down.” After a few deep breaths, surprisingly, it worked and the adrenalin rush stopped and the pain with it. Despite the pain the rush in itself was wonderful but for now that pain was too much for Zereon to handle and with not knowing what it would have done to him he didn’t want to take the chance of exploring it further, for now.

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Words: 538

Total: 1803

Group Total: 3852/5600

Edited April 20, 2009 by Zereon

[Kouta]

Kaidomaru smiled for once. The Byakugan. He'd always enjoyed the idea of seeing in every direction. It would be interesting. He wondered if the poor kid ever looked inside the back of his head. And then he laughed momentarily, imagining what it'd be like to have a Hyuugan mother. She literally would always see you when you tried to do something wrong. It took him nearly a full minute to shake the image from his head, by which time Takashi had raced up past him to the next floor, having dispatched the skeleton Kaidomaru had left behind. Scolding himself, the Nara child followed him, to see he was rapidly dispatching the skeletons one by one ahead of them, his chakra-laden strikes easily ripping the bones apart, vaporizing the walking corpses. He was just as kind as Kaidomaru, however, leaving him exactly one skeleton to fight, returning the favor.

So, Kaidomaru reached down and produced his two kunai again, racing forward and slashing shallow nicks into his skeleton. Trying to mimic the Hyuugan's grace, Kaidomaru danced around the bumbling skeleton, which seemed to be unable to spinning about fast enough to keep up with youthful ninja, who happily sent his blades in like small mosquitos, slashing useless, superficial cuts upon the skeleton until he grew bored with the creature. Then, in a single strike, he buried the kunai hilt-deep into the head of the skeleton, which crumpled near instantly at his feet, the head detaching, still impaled on the kunai in Kaidomaru's hand. With a scoff, he smashed the head on the ground, the bone cracking and breaking free of the kunai. ”No challenge, really. We could do this all day and get nowhere. I'm seriously beginning to feel like this is a chore, not a real fight. I can hear my mother now…Kaidomaru, clean up all those skeletons in the basement, they are making a clutter!…stupid brutes.” the lad joked, barging up the next flight of stairs, more than halfway to the final exit point. The light from the single doorway they headed to was just barely visible, if you craned your neck just right.

The next floor served no better for enemies. They rose up as he stepped onto the platform. They had more numbers, though. Kaidomaru smiled. ”Plenty of sport for us both up here!” he called, crouching low and charging in. He knocked the first skeleton aside, one of what seemed like eight, or maybe ten. He stopped inside a ring of three of the dumb monsters. ”Less intelligent than the deer in my forest, I tell you.” he said, from his crouch he rapidly rose up, rotating his body a full three hundred and sixty degrees, his kunai claiming all three heads and sending the bodies into heaps of crumbled bone. Kaidomaru returned to the one he had knocked aside earlier, grabbing it by a leg and pulling. The leg snapped, knocking the skeleton off balance. Not one to waste resources, he took the large bone and smashed the skull in the head with it, cracking the skull and sending the bones to the ground.

Immediately, the child whirled about, smashing a skeleton inside the rib cage, jolting the beastly idiot backwards over the ledge, and down the several stories to a thud of a death. He spun the bone like a small baton before tossing it over the ledge to join his friend, favoring his kunai. He stayed low, the skeletons beginning to move towards him again. That was five down, five to go…

[589 Words]

[1595 Words Total for Kaidomaru]

[3305/4669 Words Total]

[Baromosa]

"Skeletons? This is coming right out of a ghost story. And they are so weak I'm half convinced this is an illusion." Takashi called to Kaidomaru, following him up the stairs to the next platform. The Nara had raised a good point, about their enemies being no more then nuisances to them. If this was the Hokage's Tower, he had expected any traps or enchantments placed around it to be much more advanced then lightly trained Gennin could handle. Takashi himself wasn't even an official shinobi, just given private tutoring by his family's instructors. That was one benefit of being from a family as old as the Hyuuga. Their resources allowed him education as a child which he continued to the present day. This adventure with Kaidomaru was an entirely new experience though, and slowly Takashi was beginning to wonder what he had missed out on. His new friend joked quite often, and seemed to have a bright spirit that even this dank tomb-like basement didn't affect. "More you say? Just try and stop me." Takashi said with a flick his his arm to draw a fresh kunai from his robe. His hand gripped it in a more traditional way however, holding it like a small knife or a sword. Running forth as his Nara partner battled the first 5 skeletons, Takashi waited for his opening then dove in to take it.

Kaidomaru seemed to fight like a stealth operative, probably one of the aspects of the Nara fighting style. Shadow jutsu used by dark and highly intelligent ninja in the shadows. The stereotypical shinobi definition if there ever was one, and yet with their own special qualities. Takashi was always this graceful in his fights however, and as he stepped into range he flourished his steel kunai and sliced into the brittle forearm of a skeleton holding a jagged dagger. The weapon clanged to the ground while Takashi twisted his step into a firm kick to the ivy thigh of the skeleton, sending it to the ground in pieces. To make sure the downed enemy was dead and move on to the next one, he crushed down with his foot on the rib cage that brought him into a low crouch, and jumped off that foot off of the skeleton leaving splintered pieces of bone over the floor. "I bet your deer would retreat if they kept getting the stuffing knocked out of them." Takashi acknowledged the Nara's statement.

The next four skeletons proved just as little of a challenge. They were coming toward him now, and with a few confidently placed and powerful slashes split the bones into manageable sections. His personal style told him to turn and twist, sometimes pushing with his legs to unbalance them. On his second to last skeleton, Takashi simply jumped and kicked him square in the chest, sending the frantic skeleton off the edge and smashing down below similar to how Kaidomaru had done. "That seems to work." He smiled to his friend and glanced at the last skeleton. Walking forward towards his opponent, the skeleton seems to have the foresight to realize it might not make this encounter alive. Trying to stop Takashi, it leaped into the air with it's mace, swinging it to the side to try and strike him before the Hyuuga could react. Takashi watched this with perfect clarity though, and realized the perfect place to step out left and up to come to the side of the skeleton. The mace pulled the skeleton further to Takashi's right as it missed by only an inch near his ear, and it stumbled a bit to its own left knee. His opponent kneeling on the ground, Takashi simply stepped closer and swung his kunai out to cut its head off and proceeded to strike it's spine with a quickly palm thrust.

"Nice work. We're almost there, I hope we can get free of these accursed things soon." Takashi said with a sigh and looked behind him. "I think the others are catching up." He said peering behind him, thinking he could notice the priest holding off any skeletal reinforcements. Nodding he turned back to the new stairs leading to the higher level. "Once we get up to the top, there shouldn't be much more distance to cover."

Words: 717

Total for Takashi: 1908

Words Total: 4022/4669

Edited April 19, 2009 by Baromosa

[Kouta]

Kaidomaru happily bounded up behind the Hyuugan. It had seemed that Otto was right. He was making a friend, and one of the damned Poster Boy bloodlined brats at that! He honestly never thought he'd see eye to eye with a Hyuugan ninja on anything. Most of them were too caught up in their own affairs and being better than those they crushed under their heels that they rarely had time for the common folk like Kaidomaru. The Hyuuga and the Uchiha had both accomplished making only a bad name for themselves ever since the days of the Uchiha's famous purge in a bath of their own fires. At the least the Hyuugans never pissed anyone off enough to systematically murder them.

But it seemed like some of them were okay. At least Kaidomaru had been lucky enough to find himself with a competent medic and an able-bodied fighter. They made a good squad together, the three of them. Iki wasn't much of a fighter, but she WAS the reason that he was currently alive. Takeshi, however, seemed like he could hold his own in a real fight…not in situation like this, where you had to systematically knock down dominos for a few hundred steps. If anything, Kaidomaru was pretty certain he would lose the graceful, artistic style that Takeshi had. It would take some time before Kaidomaru could overcome a style like that. He didn't know enough back doors yet. They'd come, though. Eventually. He just had to wait patiently, and survive this mess. Then he could seclude himself in the forest again, and work out the kinks.

Now, however, he came to the top of the staircase, and was met with a new site. It seemed like their opponents got harder, because, at long last, the skeletons were animated before they got there. They held weapons in hand, and one of them wore body armor. ”Finally!” he yelled, drawing thweir attention. As the three skeletons that waited lumbered toward him, Kaidomaru receded back into his analytical mind. ”Approximately five and a half feet tall to six feet and two inches. Tall. They have a longer reach by .43 feet. I'm faster, and I bleed. Let's go.” He broke his analytical mode, and immediately flashed handseals. Takeshi might recognize them as the same ones he had flashed before. ”Kagemane!” He cried, his shadow striking out to claim the armor-clad skeleton.

But it jumped. A quick sideways skip and the shadow struck wide by a few inches, latching onto the skeleton behind the armor clad leader. ”Damnit!” Kaidomaru said, motioning to tightly grab the skeleton's mace. He stepped forward, putting the second skeleton in range of the armored skeleton. He swung the mace, only to have the leader step aside again! So this one could dodge! Without pause, Kaidomaru whirled, the mace catching the third skeleton square in skull, killing it. Then, with a brutal finish, Kaidomaru forced the skeleton to bash its own face in. All that remained was Kaidomaru and the leader, who lifted up the fallen weapons, now holding a mace in one hand, and a scimitar in the second. Kaidomaru gulped a minute, plucking both of his kunai from their sheaths again and running forward. He goal was evasion. The skeleton swung too high with the mace, and sliced down slow with the scimitar, both missing as Kaidomaru rolled around to the side, where he struck.

He instantly realized his mistake. Any normal person would have been hamstrung, but the skeleton had no tendons. Kaidomaru had struck thin air. ”Stupid!” He called, and he jumped to the left, hearing his shirt rip as the sword cleaved a rather deep cut in his arm, half of his sleeve hanging loosely, and blood beginning to flow. The dodge was sloppy, though, and Kaidomaru tumbled. The skeleton made some out howling chuckle, and advanced with the mace, holding it high. It moved to swing.

And stopped. As if de-animated. Kaidomaru chuckled. ”Checkmate!” He said, smirking. The skeleton's mace had connected both shadows. Kaidomaru didn't even have to aim his kagemane this time. Then, as brutally as he had killed the skeleton before him, Kaidomaru forced the skeleton to drop its weapons, tossing them off the side of the platform. Then, forcing the skeleton to kneel, Kaidomaru made no seals, just smiled a wicked smile. In a moment, he understood why so many Nara all delved into the deeper, darker methods of murder. ”You lose.” He said, and a thread of shadow arched up, impaling the skull and then retracting, leaving a bullet-sized hole that killed the skeleton instantly. Kaidomaru's shadow retracted, and he rose up, dusting off his clothing. He finished ripping the sleeve and tied the cloth about his cut.

He turned about, and the exit was in plain sight. ”Let's blow this cakestand. I've had enough toothpicks to last a lifetime.” he said, walking towards the exit, leaving his dead skeletons in his wake.

[827 Words]

[2412 Words Total of Kaidomaru]

[4849/4669 Words Total]

[Task Complete]

[cntrstrk14]

As the other boy would retreat back to Tsubasa's side he would respond to his question in a much quieter voice.

"Endō Tsubasa."

The other two of their group seemed rather useless, the one had followed but had not prepared to do anything yet, and the fourth had disappeared, possibly getting left behind in the last corridor. Regardless, Tsubasa had not been planning for anyone to help, so even this one boy Zereon would be an addition to his expectations. The footsteps were approaching from the end of the corridor, and hiding at this point was not an option. The three bodies couldn't be moved fast enough, and the patrol would report their location. Looking towards the ceiling, Tsubasa would see that it was a slightly higher ceiling, with visible piping along the length of the corridor.

"Get their attention."

Tsubasa would say quickly, before running towards where Zereon had been over the other man, kicking off the wall and pulling himself up against the piping, using the pipes and the wall to hold himself up in the ceiling above the man. In the shadows of the ceiling it was unlikely the men would see him, especially if Zereon did a good job of getting their attention. As the footsteps would near, a man and a woman would walk around the corner, stumbling onto the scene.

----------------------------

Words: 226

Total: 1208

Group Total: 4078/5600

[Zereon]

The name, Endō Tsubasa, echoed through Zereon’s head as he was trying to remember if he’d ever heard it before, but with no luck. But since Zereon had been ‘out of town’ for a long time now it wasn’t really a surprise that he’d forgot any name or just never kept it in his mind if he had actually ever heard of it before. At least the boy seemed to know what he was doing and that was all that mattered for now.

Hearing how the footstep got closer, Tsubasa spoke again telling Zereon that he should distract the approaching enemy or as he put it; get their attention. Without having much time to reflect on the situation Zereon figured that he could as well go along with whatever the plan was and nodded as a response before watching how Tsubasa started to climb the pipes above them. Now Zereon started to get the idea of what Tsubasa’s attentions were and readied himself. Instead of the normal stance Zereon had before he now put one foot behind himself for stability and both hands in front of himself with palms facing forward.

And so as the sound of footsteps came closer a man and a woman suddenly appeared around the corner and for a second the sound of footsteps stopped. The man and woman’s reaction was quick as they saw the group of ninjas, including Zereon, standing above knocked out or possible dead allies of the NCIA. Without even the thought of calling for backup they both went towards Zereon readying whatever assault plan they had in their arsenal. And so, without hesitation or leaving his stance, Zereon fired up his hands and again shot fire balls from his fire amplifier implants. This time the fire balls were much smaller than before, but in greater numbers. He tried not to aim to high because of Tsubasa’s position.

“Wouldn’t you know? More guards to take care of! Think you can take me and my friend here out after we just took care of two of you?”

Zereon made a gesture towards Rakirian before he left his stance and started running. He was trying to get to them before they had gotten too far and past Tsubasa. Normally Zereon wasn’t the one to brag or cry out stupid things while in a fight but he thought that it would make them bring their attention even more towards him. And with the power he had left continued shooting fire balls and as he got closer he made a another clone again of himself for distraction before he made a quick slide along the floor and pulling out two kunais trying to hit the man and the woman’s legs and get their attention down below. At this moment Zereon was right under Tsubasa hoping that he had some follow up plan to what Zereon just had done so that he wouldn’t end up being pinned down himself.

“I don’t think so.”

----------------------------

Words: 496

Total: 2299

Group Total: 4574/5600

Edited April 20, 2009 by Zereon

[cntrstrk14]

Tsubasa would watch as Zereon would stand his ground, planting himself as the two NCIA stormed towards him, fireballs flying from his hands at a much more rapid pace than before. Hiding in the shadows of the ceiling as they charged forward, Tsubasa would wait as they neared, and be surprised as Zereon took off towards them, looking to intercept them at once. He would not expect this, placing his trust in the boy above as if they had known each other a long while. For all Zereon knew, Tsubasa might be a total idiot and just be hoping to hide up here in the safety of the ceiling. However, he was not planning anything that cowardly and as the two had their attention towards the floor, kunai coming at their legs as Zereon slid towards them, Tsubasa would pull out four kunai of his own. Flipping them over with his right hand as his left kept his body suspended in the ceiling, he would flip two at each of the opponent's aiming to catch their pant legs with the kunai.

Sutorobu-isshun Taipu; Kunai Kagemane

(Instance Strobe Style; Kunai Shadow Bind)

The kunai would find their mark, catching the pants legs of both the man and the woman, causing them to lose their footing as they were suddenly pinned to the floor. What Zereon would be able to see would be that in order to do this maneuver, the opponent's had been hit with a preliminary genjutsu attack, momentarily seizing their perception and ‘pausing' their brain. To them, it would appear as if time has suddenly jumped ahead 1-2 seconds, but to an onlooker their actions would have slowed and in extreme cases, stopped all together. Regardless, the window of opportunity had worked and the kunai had found their mark, causing the two to arc forward and begin to fall. Taking the opportunity, Tsubasa would drop from the ground, choosing to land all of his weight on the back of the falling man. Taking his hand he would grip the back of his head, arcing it downward as he fell so that his forehead would slam into the concrete first with the weight of his momentum and the added weight of Tsubasa's body. Hopefully Zereon would catch the cue and go for the woman as she fell, as Tsubasa could only take one of the two as he came from above.

----------------------------

Words: 401

Total: 1609

Group Total: 4975/5600

[Rakirian]

Standing a couple of feet behind Zereon and Tsubasa, Rakirian observed them as well as the two knocked out men at their feet. The scene was quite impressive but things got back into motion quick again as footsteps were heard down the corridor. Tsubasa said something quickly to Zereon which Rakirian couldn't make out before Tsubasa suddenly dashed down the corridor a bit over to the third knocked out man and kicked off the wall to climb up to the pipes on the ceiling. Not knowing what they had conjured up, Rakirian prepared himself by flipping out a kunai from his leg holster with his left hand with the blade downwards held tight. Standing back, ready to step in as back-up if needed as soon as their plan went into motion. Trying to go in between them if they now got a strategy would be stupid and could possibly just end up being in their way.

A man and a woman could be seen walking around the corner as Zereon went into a position some feet away from himself. Effectively catching their attention he then started luring them towards them as Zereon fired small fireballs towards the enemy and then gave Rakirian a sign to pull back. Giving out a small smile, Rakirian now knowing what their plan was started running back a bit to lure them with Zereon underneath the now lurking Tsubasa up on the ceiling. Almost simultaneously, Zereon and Tsubasa sprung the trap: Zereon launches two kunai's aiming at their legs as Tsubasa made a strike from above. Turning around and started running towards the enemy with his left hand in front with the kunai, Rakirian noticed that Tsubasa's attack was more than just a ranged attack to try and nail them down by force but also a genjutsu attack leaving them almost paralyzed or stopped in time for a very brief moment. Taking this opportunity Rakirian sprints ahead and launches an axe kick with his right leg towards the now defenseless woman. A silent scream only to be drowned by her own blood was heard from the woman as Rakirian's axe kick connected just a bit above her belly, slamming her into the ground cracking the tiles underneath by the force.

Words: 375

Total: 1205

Group Total: 5350/5600

[Zereon]

With a big sigh of relief, while still lying on the floor after the slide watching it all upside-down, Zereon could witness that Tsubasa was not a disappointment at all, just as Zereon had hoped. Tsubasa pulled of a technique Zereon yet had not heard about or seen before. The man and woman seemed to a frozen and didn't realize what was going on before they'd been pinned to the floor by Tsubasa. Even though Tsubasa made a pretty big impression on Zereon, not to talk about the man and the woman, he only managed to take out the man, which was understandable. As Zereon noticed this he turned around on the floor and dashed towards the woman. But before he jumped in a flying he attack towards her he saw that Rakirian was already on it and before she managed to awaken from the chock from what had happened to her, Rakirian had her pinned with an axe kick.

Almost at the same time as Tsubasa, with some delay, Rakirian landed the kick the on the target. They were both knocked out cold at least that was what Zereon thought as he was only the observer. "Well, seems I forgot to tell them that we were actually three.” Zereon grinned before he continued. "Great work Tsubasa and Rakirian, glad it all worked out.”

After making sure that the woman and the man was out it was probably good to continue the task they had started, to find the security room. With how far they had gotten so far Zereon assumed that it couldn't be long before they found the security room and could, hopefully, finish this one once and for all. And so Zereon got up on his feet again and started moving as soon as they all were done.

This time footstep couldn't be heard anymore and nothing interrupted the search and Zereon continued his normal routine by checking every door they passed by slowly making a small opening by opening the door and then he looked in with one eye while he still had his back to the same wall as the door. Most rooms seemed not to be of much importance, at least not now when under NCIA control. And for a while with no luck Zereon continued.

Every now and then he gave a thought to what was going on with the other ones that never made it out of the maze, knowing that they'd probably need all the men that they had independent on how good or bad they were as ninjas. The fact they'd never made it out of the maze didn't mean that they were weaker than Zereon or any of the other guys currently around him; it could have been a matter of luck as well. But so far from what Zereon had experienced both he and Tsubasa had been performing really well, so had Rakirian just now, and it didn't seem to be getting any harder the higher they got, at least not for now.

The fact that they had not found the room yet was getting to Zereon's head and he was starting to get irritated, although he tried to hide it as much as possible it could still be seen on the expression on his face; the more they searched and the more rooms they passed the more serious his expression got. It was as if his face said ‘aren't we done yet' and ‘come on get on with it'. Zereon knew that he easily could grow inpatient and this was one of those times. The fact that it also had somewhat t do with Zereon himself didn't make things better.

But then as sent from the gods a door could be seen with the text "Security Room: Do not enter” written on a white sign hanging from a nail. The excitement came over Zereon and he pushed himself to the wall right beside the door and motioned to the others lively towards the sign before he entered with caution.

----------------------------

Words: 668

Total: 2967

Group Total: 6018/5600 We're done!

[cntrstrk14]

As they would enter, Tsubasa would move through the doorway first and quickly move over to the control panel. For some reason, the room was empty with no guards or security personnel. Maybe they were out doing rounds, hell, they may have been one of the people they knocked out. Regardless, Tsubasa would glide his one eye over the panel, looking for the correct control. After a moment of thinking he would reach over and pull a lever, and within the video surveillance he could see that a series of metal security doors would start blocking off the entire building.

"There.”

----------------------------

Words: 101

Total: 1710

Group Total: 6119/5600

[Rakirian]

As Zereon and Tsubasa would enter the security room, Rakirian stayed by the doorway out to the corridor to act as the vanguard and look-out. Eyeing down the corridor with no sign ooff guards or any potential threat, he would tilt his head around to see Zereon and Tsubasa.

Then Tsubasa pulled a lever on what it seemed to be the control panel over the security of the tower, sounds could be heard in the distance as if doors shut down and locked up. "Seems like thats a wrap" He said with a happy ring to his voice to the group. "The hallway looks clear...however they might send a squad to this room to reopen the security lock-down."

Edited April 20, 2009 by Rakirian

[Azure]

The sound of gears turning and metal clinking echoed throughout the halls, with the majority of the sounds deriving from the hallway in back of them. From the video surveillance, hey would be able to see figures dashing in panic, realizing just what was going on. They had secured their task and there was no turning back. Testing their luck in this game would slim their probability of success even greater. But the minuscule chance of succeeding was infinitely greater than surrendering or turning their backs on their future.

Soon after, a low whistle broke the reprieve; Soujiro and Tsukasa were wandering up through the halls, looking at the fallen soldiers. They would be out for quite some time to come in the future and wouldn't be a disturbance in the freedom fighters' course of action. "Good job team, we're now in lockdown.” The duo looked as if they had barely broken a sweat aside some ruffled clothing and torn threads. Soujiro had said that the strongest soldiers would be in areas other than the one they currently occupied. "Unfortunately we don't even have time for a break this time, we have to keep moving. The meeting's bound to begin soon and well, our window of opportunity is closing if we don't get up there soon enough. There may still be a few lingering shinobi up ahead, so stay close.” The cerulean haired man hinted towards the excitement and movement they wished for so much only a few steps in their overall process ago. The group was lead to a stairwell, this one more typically fit for a staircase. They would climb skyward until they could no further, signifying they were near the top of the tower.

Traversing further down the bending hallway, the Hokage's tower, which usually seemed to be a symbol of culture and the social epitome of the heritage, radiated a strange foreignness that betrayed those feelings. A droning march of footsteps cackled through the oncoming hall, anticipating an enemy strike Tsukasa whispered loud enough for the group, "I'll handle them.” As he slipped the hand that wasn't gripped on his staff in to his shepherd robed, he pulled out a vile with a neon green liquid contained in its glass. Tucking his staff underneath his armpit, the shinobi found a kunai stuffed in his belt pouch and dropped a liberal helping of the vibrant liquid on the metal surface. Around the bend, two figures ran in single file, a woman in front and a man, both clad in traditional NCIA armor. Tsukasa flung the kunai with a near invisible glint riding on its tail. The female gracefully moved out of the way, but the man had fallen victim to the weapon as its tip slid directly in to his arm. Leaving out a wail, the woman responded by clapping her hands together, finishing the formula for a jutsu, but before she could slap together the last seal, the kunai opened up a wound around her neck. Ninja wire was laced to the loop in the kunai and apparently this mystic concoction was potent, because the man had already slumped to the ground and the woman crashed down to the floor. The poison had quickly entered her system through her artery, but within seconds Tsukasa had patched the wound to prevent her death. He was quick with his fingers, but her life was still uncertain, the wound could turn fatal quite quickly. Without so much of a word, he pressed forward, but there was something about that even that tugged at his soul. It was something barely visible, but visible all the same.

Soujiro took the helm of the group again and pressed to the last leg of the bending hallway, stopping abruptly at an unpolished door. He opened the door revealing a simple janitorial closet. Ushering them inside of the room, Soujiro would shut the door and closed them off from the hallway. Tsukasa clicked on a small hanging light in the room, showing that it was spacious inside. "Maybe if we're lucky we'll be seeing some familiar faces."

• • • • • • •

As the group meandered their way up the spiraling labyrinth glued with skeletons, they had made very swift work out of all of the undead soldiers attempting a rebellion after their disturbed sleep. The near magical light being expelled by Noel every so often prevented the vile creatures from touching the team. These were only shells of the past humans that once were, what was controlling them remained a mystery and the looming question pertaining to the existence of other obstacles and mythical creatures wouldn't fall too far behind their cranial thoughts. The Nara and Hyuuga worked flawlessly in their efforts to fight for the top and the group had finally seized their glory. Although not every skeleton had been disassembled, they had reached the top platform, securing it from the grasp of the undead. "Excellent work children, hurry down the corridor!” Noel commanded, referring to the only hallway connecting the top platform to an unknown destination outside of the room. With a final blast of blinding light down the tunneling staircase, Noel planned to buy them enough time before the fiends could catch up with them.

At the end of the tunnel a stone panel was etched on one of the bricks on what appeared to be a dead end. On the panel, the symbol of the leaf- Konohagakure no Sato's famed standard was traced. Once Noel arrived at the wall, he laid his hand on the panel, sending a surge of his chakra in to the device, waking it from its old slumber. A few stone moved away from the wall, revealing that the stones were a part of a fake wall, leading in to an elevator shaft. Stepping in and waiting for everyone to join up, the open shaft ascended in to the stone tunnel coating them in darkness. The ride was smooth for something that didn't appear to be in operation for many years. "We're going to ride this all the way to the last stop. Wait for my signal to get off.” The priest warned as the elevator slowed its pace and attempted to persuade its guests to leave their positioned. After they abstained from doing so long enough, the elevator reached its peak.

Slowing to it inevitable stop, the old elevator came a halt behind a tiny square door with light now leaking through its outline. Muffled voices could be heard like whispers crawling through the cracks along with the light. Noel unhitched a wooden latch, causing the plain door to open away from them and the vision of Soujiro, along with the rest of the missing group enter their eyes.

• • • • • • •

A metaphoric light appeared to flicker in the eyes of Soujiro, greeting the other half of the group, as they had arrived promptly in time for their next objective. Soujiro took a seat on the wooden crate inside of the closet and suggested that the rest of them could take the same liberties as they saw fit. "Well here we are the last leg to this infiltration. Above us lays the roof of the tower, where the meeting should be taking place, as a formal announcement is going to be made to the citizens of Konohagakure this afternoon. This is about the extent of our information though, we can only presume the Daimyo will arrive very soon if he hasn't already. You should all be very proud of yourselves, carrying on the Flame of Konohagakure no Sato in your hearts and driving you on this journey. I can't promise anything once we reach the other side, but I'm confident the future is as unwritten to us as it is to them.” Soujiro nodded to his two companions as they worked as a team to operate a small pulley and lever device that dropped a free hanging ladder from the ceiling of the room to their feet. It was up to them to decide to investigate what was at the topic of this final obstacle.

"Anyone have anything to say, or questions? I'll try my best to explain, honestly. Then we cross over.”

• • • • • • •

.:|Experience and Rewards|:.

• Endō Tsubasa; 450 Exp. [+90 Exp. for the 'Patient' event]

• Hyuuga Takashi; 450 Exp. [+80 Exp. for the 'Patient' even -or- +$80 after the entire event is over. Your choice.]

• Furukawa Zereon; 400 Exp.

• Sukaikon Rakirian; 400 Exp.

• Sokudo Tenkai; 300 Exp.

• Nara Kaidomarui; 250 Exp.

• Chiryou Ikii; 250 Exp.

• Inuzuka Aya; 380 Exp. [bonus Included]

Ooc; This is based off of the entire topic and I have only included the most active characters. If any pop up down the road, I'll reward them on another date.

[Kouta]

Kaidomaru emerged from the elevator, glad that his stupid chore was over. He waltz forward with an air of annoyance, like the event was beneath him. "Of course you guys get the fun jobs! All we had were toothpicks that came to life." he said, sighing with obvious displeasure as he saw the fallen ninja. "I do have a question though. What kind of security can be beaten by a pair of genin with little combat experience? You might want to suggest a better defense grid when this is all over. It hasn't done too good of a job to help us from sneaking in. Better thank your gods that the NCIA didn't do this themselves earlier." Kaidomaru said, shaking his head as he stood at the base of the ladder, waiting for anybody to go first. He was the strategist, not the spearhead of the assault.

[Zereon]

((Ummm, let me get this straight, the exp of 400 we just got was for the ENTIRE topic. That's to say the beating of the genjutsu, the maze and now this infiltration mission? And this topic has 10 pages and started back in November? Correct me if I'm wrong but I find this a little unfair compared to the other topics. I don't usually whine but joining the Sunrise topic seemed all in all a waste of time except for the fun in RPing.))

[cntrstrk14]

ooc: 400 EXP is about right for the amount of writing and RP in this thread. Its as much our fault as others that the thread has been up since November. Just because we post slow doesn't mean we are necessarily entitled to more EXP. A good argument would be to count up your words and see how much you would have gotten in training for it.

[Zereon]

ooc: Hey, I respect the decision but I'm not very happy with it I must say. I never blamed anyone of inactivity, it still has been going on for a long time despite the inactivity if you look at the number of pages.

But very well, I've counted my words to 7454 in total. We were a lot of people in the beginning giving the exp a better modifier if this would have been training. This later part we were 3 which would also be giving it a higher modifier than normally. And if this would have been me training ALONE I'd have got ~373 exp from just training. And also this being a mission to liberate Konoha itself, I thought that the reward would have been a little better exp wise.

And to compare this with lets say Spider Trap, one of the members would make a total of around 2000-2500 words and were given MORE than we were. This is the same amount, slightly less, as I posted in this last task only.

Finally, I will stay in this topic since this RP have been great so far and love the characters involved and it's always fun to earn experience with others. In the long run I'm quite happy that we've finally starting to get somewhere and that there's probably more exp ahead.

Edited April 21, 2009 by Zereon

[Azure]

Ooc; I assure you and everyone in this topic that I understand your complaint and everything, but the mission isn't finished yet. I've just rewarded based off of what was done so far, but at the end I'm going to hand out the accumulating 'stockpile' that will compensate for this 'low' total. At the end I'll also dish out the bonuses and everything, so don't worry. If you guys are as active as you are right now, its not going to take months to see more Exp. =)