Jin - Streets of Konoha

Oh, perhaps she hadn't given the boy, no man, enough credit. He was coming on stronger than she had expected, but that certainly wasn't a bad thing, far from it even. Jin loosened her grip somewhat and relaxed a little, knowing and wanting what came next. However, things did not exactly go as she had hoped.

Malkizid suddenly gave her a push, catching her off guard and allowing him to break free. Before Jin could regain her footing, he was already up in the air, fading away. For a brief moment Jin thought about pursuing him, that invisibility technique was certainly impressive, but not perfect. But she decided against it, let the boy fester in the knowledge that no matter where he went, no matter how far he got away from her, in the end he had to come back to her himself, they were a team after all.

Jin licked her lips, still tasting him and realigned her clothing. "I'll see you again soon." she said with a certain malicious voice, in the direction Malkizid had disappeared. Next time he wouldn't be so lucky, or unlucky, depending on your perspective. She walked back onto the main street and stretched, garnering a few looks from the people out there, the looks she so craved. Men looked at her with pure lust, while the woman looked upon her with jealousy. Konoha was a big town, and Jin was certain to sample some of the locals.

So Jin wandered the streets somewhat aimlessly, amazed at how big the place really was. Perhaps I should look for Katsu. Knowing him, he'd probably beat half the town to a pulp and was now comfortably waiting in a cell or something. she thought as she sat on some stairs, giving the passing by men some rather suggestive looks, causing some to forget what they were doing. When suddenly there was fireworks in the sky, off into the distance. It was odd, to see fireworks this early in the day, but it did pique Jin's attention. Where there was fireworks, there usually was a party, where there was a party there was booze, where there was booze there were drunk people, where there were drunk people there would be fun.

So feeling somewhat reinvigorated to have a goal again, she got up and started to walk into the direction she had seen the fireworks. She moved across the roofs, the winding streets were too slow to traverse through, and there was a slight sliver of hope that perhaps she'd see Malkizid again, but sadly she didn't have such luck. Soon she found herself on the outskirts of Konoha, at the start of the forest. it seemed a bit odd to have a party so deep into the forest, but then again, this was the Leaf village after all. With some speed she moved along the branches of the trees, once more into the direction she had seen the fireworks. It probably wouldn't take long before she found whoever set those fireworks off. And perhaps finally she could end this dry spell. She increased her gait at the prospect of that.

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-Katsu, training fields, FIGHT!-

With a maddening grin Katsu heard the swordsman's battle cry but gave no response, there was little point for one during a fight in his opinion due to it being a 'friendly spar', there was no need to taunt those who wouldn't be humiliated or be dead in a matter of moments. No this was a drawn out experience as neither men would be completely intent on killing the other....

As the man charged forward to close the gap, Katsu watched the movements though his bloodlust was rising he had not yet gone berserk, instead he charge forward to meet his foe blocking the strike with the scabbard. The moment he felt the blade hit the scabbard Katsu began to draw his blade intending to turn the impromptu block into a sudden close range strike.

Akemi Saotome: Hokage's Office and outside.EDITED

Akemi had been doing the equivalent of twiddling her thumbs which was chewing on a senbon while waiting for Rai to get back from his rounds. She had excused herself from the Hokage's office with a short bow and was now outside in the hallway, facing a window. The clouds were not very entertaining, but what she had read in the files and what she had gathered further from Rai's attitude on the subject matter, gave her a lot of insight as to what went on while she was gone. From what she had gathered of Rai's current state of being and the files, things hadn't been going too well wince she had left. One teammate missing, the other in a possibly irreversible coma, and Rai: the only one who made it semi-intact, was in a depression. She switched the senbon to the other side of her mouth deftly. She kept them in very good condition, often sharpening them when she had nothing to do, so managing to not cut herself on them was quite a feat.

Sighing deeply, she looked down at the trees, and began wondering how to broach talking about what happened with Rai. Talking might help. She had seen some sort of therapy session somewhere in her travels, specifically for shinobi who have seen things that haunt them, and for those who have post-traumatic stress disorder, and it might be able to help him. Of course, as far as she had seen, there wasn't a therapist in Hidden Leaf, only the regular religions and beliefs that helped people keep their sanity. Shinobi tended to stay away from religion, from what she had seen, but for the few who remained religious, it certainly helped explain all of the atrocities that they had seen.

Her revelations were broken by a sudden burst of light and fireworks in the very forest that her zoned out gaze had been penetrating. Starting slightly, she frowned. 'Wasn't that where Rai went...?' She thought for a moment before racing down the stairs and once outside, sprinting to the area in the forest that the fireworks were going off in. She noticed a few others joining her mad rush to the fireworks, but ignored them. Once she had dodged the typical market-goers and mail-boxes, she hurtled a set of bushes and jumped into the forest canopy, bounding off of each large branch or tree stump she could find. She was remembering shortcuts and areas that were thickly wooded from her memory, it had been a while since she had been home, after all. Once she began to get close to the area where the fireworks had gone off, she began to feel familiar chakra spikes. Rai's chakra, to be specific. She stopped short barely a foot behind him and saw these shinobi who didn't look so friendly, and wondered what was making him stare so distractedly. "Rai...what are you doing?", she said. Her voice was neutral. She frowned as she looked at him and tried to make sure that Rai was okay. After a few seconds, she noted that Rai was acting all out of sorts, and that it probably was a ginjutsu. She pulled out a few senbon from her leg holster and quickly readied herself. She poked Rai in the shoulder a little ruthlessly with a finger, trying to get him out of his one-minded distraction."Rai, look at yourself." She hoped that he would remember to use 'kai' and wake himself out of this. In the meanwhile, she cut her palm with one of the senbon in preparation for one of her favored attacks.

_________________
Doctress Who-CURSE YOU AKAINE AND FENIX. *Shakes fist*
Musicmac-INNUENDO... STRIKE!
Innuendo Squad Leader
Dare to join?

-Lucas Slade-

The swing hit the scabbard with a good clan, not a lot of power put behind it so it didn't crush the scabbard from sheer weight. What shocked him was how precise the block had been, little movement and good control. The gentle hiss of a blade being unsheathing caught his attention in time to notice Katsu had withdrawn his blade and taken a swipe.
Diving backwards, Lucas watched the blade slice harmlessly mere inches from his chest. This guy was fast. Excellent.
"I made the first move. Guess it's your turn. Dazzle me, tough guy." He winked, bringing 'dull' to a strong defensive position.


-Malkizid Artithra-


A shudder of pure ice ripped through Mal's body, somewhere that woman was plotting the poor boy's downfall... he knew it. Nothing else gave that unfamiliar chill to someone with the demonblood technique. That girl was pure evil. One day the bag of tricks associated with an escape artist was going to be useless and she'd get what she wanted without any resistance. Not a good prospect for someone with no experience in that category, if only Katsu would step in and take her off his hands... Dare to dream.

The loud fireworks caught his attention, Jin would go investigate out of curiosity but it was also the job of a ninja to go where his team went... Clever girl. A resigned sigh and a prayer to whatever god played with his fate, he took off in a full run. Within a few minutes he was trailing just behind Jin, hopefully without her noticing. A tackle and a knife to the leg was probably in store to make sure he didn't wriggle away the next time.

_________________

-Bradao, leaving for the grounds.-
Bradao finished his ramen he had made at his house and decided to leave to see what was happening around the village again. He ran across the rooftops and finally stopped at the gates of the village. "Nothing new...I guess since I'm bored I could just go back to the training grounds." He said as he began to make his way to the training grounds. "I bet that guy from earlier will be there again." as he approached, he saw that his assumption was correct. Bradao silently hid behind a rock and watched the battle between the two men pan out.

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Hey everybody, PandaBrady here, with more roleplaying!

Also, please support Monty Oum, his work is amazing, especially RWBY. I wish I was that good.

-/ Yu-Yu: On route to Outskirts of Konoha \-

Yukenra hadn't moved past the village gates when he saw and heard the signal explosions. He was heading to a special training ground he'd recently been granted access to after the successful completion of a series of tough, interrelated missions. Inside of a sealed cave was a water users paradise, complete with a small island, and a water fall basin. Glowing crystals on the ceiling provided lighting and behind the waterfall in a hidden chamber grew a bamboo that was flexible but incredibly hard due to the chamber's chakra absorbing nature. His sensei's warning about the chamber's death toll was still fresh in his mind as he was moving, but that would have to wait until next time. Yu-Yu figured he was trying to sharpen his skills anyway, and what better way to test one's self than through a trial by fire?

He decided to investigate the source of the explosions as any other leaf ninja might do and made a b-line for the area upon exiting the gate. As he was unsure of what he might find upon his arrival, he was steadily molding chakra as he made his way to the site. A small portion of the chakra was channeled to his legs and feet to boost his speed and jumping power as he traveled. He was no sensor or tracker, but the lack of a few things made the explosions all the more suspect. Fireworks usually left a trail of smoke and the smell of explosive powder, but neither were present as he got closer to his destination. He'd even heard rumors of village liasons disappearing between vlllages. He started to get the feeling that he was walking into a trap, but persisted anyway. If something shady was going down, he'd throw a wrench in their plans one way or another.

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My Poetry and More!

{Outskirts, Forest}

Rikudou stepped forward from between the trees, arriving just after Akemi but at the same time as Jin and just before Malkizid. He stopped and respectfully bowed his head to both ladies and the newest arrival before continuing to walk forward, pushing his glasses back up his nose. His eyes glanced over the limp forms that were Rin's two prior associates. He then glanced over to Rai, seeing his elder still astounded by this other young man's presence.

"I must request you not try anything, sir. You are outnumbered already and there are others still on the way to investigate this area. Could you tell us what it is you and your...acquaintances are doing here?" Rikudou kept his byakugan active as he tried to reason through any unnecessary conflict. He could still see some faded hints of chakra from Rin's hand seals performing something. he then began checking around to find the chakra from the other two who had been standing with him moments ago.

Did they hide themselves, or did his jutsu hide them... Rikudou pondered while examining every inch of the forest his senses could cover.

_________________

[In town]

The little wind up mouse scurried along, slipping through the crowded Konoha streets without harm. Bouncing up on a stand it sat upright for a moment, scanning the area for it's destination. Though it's search was interrupted as the world went dark and straw like, under the weight of a shopkeep's broom. The victorious shopkeep jumped though as the little metal rodent shredded it's way out from under the cleaning instrument, flinging little bits of straw everywhere as it continued on it's way. Ducking through an alley it soon found it's destination and plopped itself down next to Lucas scratching at his ankle.

[Fallen Leaf]

Age was shown to a room without incident, the room was probably larger than was neccessary but not excessive. He took a walk around the room, a hand against the wall as he walked around inspecting the room. When he was satisfied he turned his attention to what he'd do next, that was of course investigating the earlier disturbance. A quick glance out the window at the civilians still going about their day showed that it wasn't something that happened inside their comfort zone. It was something that happened outside the village. "Stepping out to get a bite to eat." He said to the person working the front desk on his way out. Heading towards the edge of the village he drew no attention to himself, rapidly zipping through the alleyways. At least until his eye caught an interesting headline in the local paper and Age found himself in the inescapable pull of a newsstand.

The shorter of the two enemy ninja on the ground stirred. He was swift, so swift in fact, that it was difficult to perceive what exactly was happening. Rising to one knee behind Rin, both of the ninja's glowing hands swept out wide just behind Rin's knees, hamstringing him. Flecks of blood glistened in the air as they flew outward from the assailant's flat palms. As Rin tipped backwards in pain, the ninja snaked an arm over Rin's shoulder and onto his chest, driving his free hand into Rin's back once, twice, three times. The assassin released Rin, spinning him off balance, blood soaked his the silver robe from a gory wound on his lower back.

The attacker quickly turned, not toward the Konoha ninja, but toward the remaining ninja on the ground, and moved to attack.

The one on the ground grabbed the leg of the attacker and threw him into the air. "Traitor!" He looked at the air above, where the fireworks had been launched, and turned, departing quickly and leaving the other behind to die. As he ran, he dropped his mask which fell to the ground and shattered.

_________________
Final Fantasy IX was the best Final Fantasy game ever and if you think otherwise you are WRONG!

My fanfiction account. Comments and criticisms are very welcome.

The traitor twirled in the air, landing on all fours as the tall ninja dissappeared into the trees. Standing, the ninja looked around at the Konoha ninja that now had him surrounded.

He Rose his hands slowly Trying not to make any sudden moves, and unbuttoned his cloak and mask, allowing both to fall to the ground. Revealing his light brown hair and grey eyes. Beneath the cloak he wore a black ninja jacket and grey blue shorts, along with tight black elbow length gloves. The same tight black material covered his legs and feet ending in thin five toe shoes.

He left his hands raised, and spoke in a quiet, raspy voice "There are more of them in the forest, I don't know how many."

_________________
The truth is that the ancients never really leave. We've only just stepped out for a moment.

{Forest}

Rikudou watched with a bit of shock as one of the men attacked this Rin fellow. The act itself wasn't the alarming part. Rikudou had thought they were most likely allies, so the attack was not one of the most likely scenarios the Hyuuga boy was expecting. But he regained his composure quickly as the assailant was grabbed by the other man. He could piece together what would happen from here, though.

"Miss," Rikudou turned, looking to Akemi, "I would like to ask you to please stay with this man and Rai-sama. I will attempt pursuit." He then turned and jumped past the fake Rin and the other man, landing into a sprint to chase after the man who had run off. His pulsing eyes stared ahead, still easily seeing the man as he was trying to escape.

_________________

*A mile away*

An eye narrowed as the fireworks went off. The owner of the eye spoke into a wireless radio which sent a message to everyone with a mask, including Rin. "Abort the operation. Disperse and regroup. Leave your masks behind." He began to perform hand seals as he spoke.

*Areas surrounding the village*

Dozens of groups of three followed their orders, leaving the masks behind as they retreated. Most of the masks disintegrated into a mass of chakra. This chakra flowed to other masks.

*Behind Rin*

Rin felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end and Rai was suddenly blinded by a huge mass of chakra that flooded the area. A dozen masks gathered themselves in the air and soaked up the chakra. Then the chakra flowed out of the back of the mask, pulling out metal from the ground to form a kind of armor. Each mask formed a kind of body with a shell of metal. Chakra shone through the cracks of the armor. The main body inside the armor was formed entirely of chakra. The dozen chakra masks faced the groups, silently awaiting orders from their creator. Almost instantly, they recieved them. Eight of the creatures fled into the forest, tracking down incoming enemies, while four stood behind.

One of them flew at Rin. Literally flew. The creatures had no legs and levitated through a steady stream of power. Chakra leaked out through the armor and formed around its arms. Rin could suddenly feel the chakra form into something sharp and narrowly dodged a swing of the creature's arms which cut through the air.

Another two turned to Rai and Akemi. One of them put its hands together and began forming a sphere of dense chakra while another launched a barrage of chakra 'missles', carpet bombing the general area.

Rikudou was given a special treat. The construct grew lengths of strands made of chakra which flicked around. They were unpredictable, incredibly fast, and, from the damage they were doing to the trees, apparently very heavy.

_________________
Final Fantasy IX was the best Final Fantasy game ever and if you think otherwise you are WRONG!

My fanfiction account. Comments and criticisms are very welcome.

-Rai-
=Forest=

For a while Rai stood stiff, his mind a blank as he stared worriedly at the fake Rin. He didn't know that he had fallen prey to a genjutsu, a few things felt off about the situation however the shock of seeing his former teammate's face was enough to make him forget about that possibility. The young man didn't make any movement until a few others had arrived, causing Rai to turn and look in surprise as Akemi and a few others revealed themselves. The confusion from the genjutsu had taken his toll, he had forgotten for a brief moment that he'd sent up a signal for help and was completely taken by surprise by the sudden arrival of the others. If they had been enemies, he would have been caught off guard and would be an easy target. His hands clenched into fists, he was being careless and even without Akemi's words and gestures he now knew that something had gone wrong. He nodded at Akemi, his face still pale from the sudden shock of seeing Rin through the genjutsu.

"Yeah, sorry... I don't have any defense against Genjutsu. But at least you all are here now, that's what matters." he said shaking his head to try and quickly shake away some of the lingering confusion that was still floating around in his mind. It was around this time that the three masked ninja started to betray one another, one rose from the ground and attacked the other two. Rai immediately put his guard back up as this happened, not exactly certain of what to expect from this new turn of events. Things were now becoming more and more confusing, even without the genjutsu affecting his thoughts. His teeth ground together as the other masked figure removed his mask, once again revealing himself to be Rin. This time Rai briefly turned his gaze towards Akemi, to gauge her reaction to the sudden developments. He wasn't able to discern truth from illusions as well as she could, her reactions would let him know if this was just another trick or not. But regardless of her reaction, the warning from this person didn't bode well for Rikudou as he charged off into the woods.

"Someone else go with him, if there's more of those things out there he shouldn't be alone!" Rai shouted out as he began to dodge the oncoming 'missile' barrage from one of the constructs. The Hyuuga began to dash around the clearing, full speed as he closed in upon the construct that was forming the massive chakra orb. These creatures seemed to rely heavily upon raw chakra manipulation for their attacks, something that was Rai's own personal specialty. Rai appeared to the side of the creature that was forming the chakra orb, his arms were held backwards with opened hands ready to strike. Chakra formed small claw like blades upon Rai's fingers as he slashed both hands forwards with a slight glimmer of blue chakra flowing behind them as they moved. He swiped both hands at the hand of the construct, hopefully disrupting the flow of chakra from its hand and de-stabilizing the dense ball of chakra that it was forming.

_________________

{Forest}

A wild wind began to roll through the trees as everything slowed down around Rikudou. His throbbing, clear eyes went directly toward the large barrage of limbs coming for him from every angle. He gritted his teeth, knowing what was going to happen should they hit. But then he started to grin. He also knew something else. Something that made him sure of how things would turn out.

A blur of white shot past Rai and the others suddenly, quickly moving past their area to head after Rikudou. Rai's eyes would easily catch the figure and he'd know who it was right away. The dashing blur flew through the air as the waving appendages began drawing down over Rikudou. The boy chuckled a bit and turned into a rapid spin, arms flying out. He caught the extended hands of the figure coming to his rescue, spinning around and knocking away the first attacking limb with the figure's kicking legs.

Rikudou landed and lifted with the momentum, spinning the clone he'd come to aid, tossing him forward to kick away two more appendages. He then rolled forward into a jump, evading another striking blow that pounded heavily into the ground just where he'd been standing. The twin Hyuugas skidded along the ground as they both came to a landing beside each other, staring at the chakra creature.

"I think that was a bit too close, don't you?" The clone inquired with a slight smirk, glancing at his creator before running forward and jumping straight up, tilting the soles of his jika-tabi toward the real Rikudou.

"Apologies," Rikudou leapt forward and flipped backwards, kicking out with his feet. "I had a bit of dirt on a lens and had to clean it." He kicked at his clones feet, sending him flying at the chakra construct in a wild spin. The clone began striking out for the creature's upper body to try the sealing strikes of the Gentle Fist on the armor and chakra body. Rikudou then landed onto his feet and rushed in from low to the ground, whipping out a pair of kunai as he drew close to swing out two slashing strikes toward the creature's lower body.

_________________

-/ Yu-Yu | Forest \-

Yukenra steeled himself when he heard the sounds of battle in the distance. A number of figures soon came into view just a bit deeper into the forest. Apparently he wasn't the only one to come investigate the source of the flashy aerial explosions. He recognized a few of them. Namely the Hyuugas, Rai and Rikudou, and Akemi from the village and the others he saw heading that way were assumed to be foreign nin and judging from their clothing the Shadow village.

On occasion as a young boy he would come with his father to sell their catch to the various ports that would permit them to operate there. As the services they provided as acquirers of rare fish, and exotic catches was in always in high demand somewhere, they had business arrangements with people no mater the village they hailed from. It wasn't one of his favorite places to visit as the shadow village truly took the phrase "see underneath the underneath" to heart. It was a land of illusions and riddles, mixed with sticky fingers, slight of hand, and back-stabbery from his point of view. They had espionage down to a science, so it was never certain what you would get when dealing with them but they didn't seem hostile at the moment.

He didn't have time to worry about the foreign ninja however as the forest was soon saturated with chakra from the masks left behind by the assault units. It soon became apparent that they were caught in an enemy trap while the culprits responsible for leaving them such a thoughtful parting gift got further away. He drew his blade and after filling his mouth with water and performing a couple of seals he sprayed the blade with water. He channeled his chakra through the sword which caused the water to cling to the crystal blade. Foam drops left a trail from the blade now engulfed in the acidic off white froth as he dashed toward a nearby group of chakra mask creatures.

_________________
My Poetry and More!

[Newsstand]

Age slowly perused the various papers and magazines taking great care not to skip over any of the items up for sale. There were numerous tabloids with headlines like Fish People of the Sand and The 7 Wonders of Konoha but ultimately there was little in the way of news. It was disappointing for him, the only newspaper was one he'd picked up earlier in the day. Moving along finally he ducked into an alley heading on towards the forests at a much quicker pace.

As he went along, he pulled long metal tubes from inside his vest which once in his hands slowly morphed in shape. They slowly wrapped their way around his hands and lower arms forming into gauntlets but in the mean time there was more metal, slipping out of the end of his pant leg and twisting up their way up to guard his lower leg. Reaching into his vest again garnered another mass of metal which quickly formed it's way into a helmet, in a deft motion he removed his sunglasses and replaced them with the helmet. He finished just in time to enter the forest, sounds of battle noticeable to the discerning ear in the distance.

He naturally started moving chakra into this gauntlets as he drew nearer to the battle, the concentration orbs moving closer to the surface of the metal as he did. Heading off in one direction he could see strange metallic chakra machinations, for lack of a better word, however his interest was in the battles already taking place not in getting into a new one. Bounding up into the trees over head he could get a decent view of the battlefield looking for a place to effectively join the fight, in an instant he loosed his attack. A fist sized, egg shaped orb of chakra hurtled down from above on the creature attacking the lone ninja.

Just a moment after it had touched the ground, Rin's mask quietly rose into the air, threads of chakra flowing from it's back into the ground. Rin took a cautious step back, staring at it inquisitively. A handfull of other masks appeared around the clearing, and Rin slowly tensed. Streams of metal erupted from the ground and solidified into piecemeal bodies for each mask, the pulse of chakra inside glowing through the places that the plates did not overlap.

Gently adopting a defensive posture, Rin took a second step. The mask creatures turned instantly, three of them facing the ninja in the clearing, and all hell broke loose.

The mask facing Rin barreled toward him like a rocket, a blade of chakra forming around its arm. He listed slightly to the left, tilting his head to the ground as the mask whistled past him, it's blade slicing the air where his neck had been only a moment before.

Rin's eyes darted around the meadow, taking in the ninja, and remaining masks. Eight of the creatures had flown into the forest, just as the Hyuuga that Rin didn't know had. If they were in pursuit of him, he would not last long alone. Three of them had remained in the clearing to engage the rest of the Konoha ninja.

A ninja wearing a helmet had arrived in the treetops as Rin dodged. In response, Rin suddenly dissappeared, appearing ten feet away in a sudden burst of speed as the helmeted ninja sent a missile of chakra at the still flying mask.

_________________
The truth is that the ancients never really leave. We've only just stepped out for a moment.

Akemi Saotome: Forest: Rin returns.

It was after the quick prod that she gave Rai, that she realized that one of the shinobi near them was Rin. "Kuso", she muttered as she frowned in surprise. It had only just recently sunk in that Rin was missing and their other teammate was in a possibly permanent coma. To have Rin come back so soon was something of a shock. She didn't let that halt her movements and thinking for long, because they were in the middle of a fight, obviously. She then noticed that some young buck was talking to her and called her 'miss'. She almost snickered, but held it in as she raised an eyebrow and gave him a look that said 'really?'. She didn't really have the time to respond, but if she did, more than likely, something rude would have erupted from her lips, so it was perhaps better for everyone that there were other things that demanded her attention at the moment.

She let him run after one of the other shinobi and turned her face back to Rin in the next moment only to feel a great movement of chakra, and furrowed her brows to try and see it. "Ah shit", she muttered, after seeing a creature attack Rin, and one of them turn to Rai and herself. She twirled the senbon in her hands expertly, and her right eye twitched slightly, the slashing scar on it wrinkling the skin around it slightly as it was pulled. She stabbed her left palm with a senbon, and whispered "Blood Signature", as she began to tip a few of the senbon in her blood, which was quickly turning black. She then noticed the thing was holding chakra, and began dodging the onslaught of chakra balls, and she looked at Rai, her face serious. This was no game, and she was treating this as an assault on Konoha, and so should everyone else involved. If things were like this on the outskirts, who knew what it would be like closer to home.

She threw a few of her blood-stained senbon at the creature and inwardly, she agreed with Rai. It wasn't a good idea to go rushing off after an enemy that runs away with little provocation. It could very easily be a trap. She didn't say much, but continued dodging, jumping up into the trees and preparing another of her techniques. It seemed that Rai might need some cover from this creature while he prepared his move, so she kept on dipping her extra senbon into her poisoned blood and making sure to aim accurately to keep the thing busy. She made sure to check on Rai as well, some part of her still holding suspicion that this Rai wasn't the real one. It had been years since she'd seen him, so you couldn't really blame her.

Finally, feeling that she'd waited long enough, Akemi grumbled out "Senbon Rain", and she gathered a large number of senbon from her leg holster, and from her perch on the tree, aimed handfuls at the creature threatening Rai and herself, and at those odd masks. This could help them, as she had made sure that the blood on the senbon was targeting their enemies, and wouldn't do any additional damage to any allies if they happened to get in the way. The poison wouldn't affect them, but the senbon would.

_________________
Doctress Who-CURSE YOU AKAINE AND FENIX. *Shakes fist*
Musicmac-INNUENDO... STRIKE!
Innuendo Squad Leader
Dare to join?

*Forest*

Rai's attack had two consequences, one intended, the other unintended. The intended part was that his claw managed to swipe through the orb, making it waver and collapse. The unintended part was that the chakra was still in existence. It wavered for just a moment and collapsed before exploding outward, hitting both the chakra construct and Rai. The construct spun through the air before stabilizing. The arm that had held the ball of chakra had been destroyed. Instead of trying the same thing with its other arm, it gathered chakra into the slits of the helmet and fired... laser beams from its eyes. The rays swept through the ground, leaving burned foliage in their wake.


Akemi's attacks penetrated the armor of the creatures, leaving small holes from which chakra gently escaped. If she continued, she could probably cause the thing to disappear without a trace.


Each of Rikudou's clone's attacks pushed some of the creature's chakra away from the main body, causing it to dissipate. However, as Rikudou came close, it extended both of its arms and sent out of pulse of chakra that threw both Rikudou and his clone against trees. The blow was powerful enough to destroy the clone which disappeared into a puff of smoke. Small orbs of chakra floated out of the creature and filled the air. Rikudou's instincts told him they were most likely chakra mines that would explode if he got close.


Rin's opponent's head was taken off by Age's powerful attack. However, the chakra left in the creature's body did not dissipate peacefully. Instead, the creature exploded in a large shockwave, almost flattening the nearby area.

_________________
Final Fantasy IX was the best Final Fantasy game ever and if you think otherwise you are WRONG!

My fanfiction account. Comments and criticisms are very welcome.

-Rai-
=Forest=

His attacks had connected with the construct, however Rai's eyes narrowed slightly at the chakra orb's reaction to the blows. In the air there wasn't much he could have done to avoid the explosion but he did have one trick up his sleeve to at least lessen the blow as much as possible in that situation. Moving quickly Rai clapped his hands together, now preparing to use a move from his other style that he had developed. He held his palms out towards the construct just before the explosion, releasing small explosions of pressure from his palms just as the orb expanded outwards. It propelled him backwards a little bit, just enough to avoid taking the brunt of the explosion. Rai's body was still flung backwards and out of control from the blast wave of the orb, sending him crashing downwards through a group of trees.

The branches of the trees slammed into his body, slowing him down a bit as he came to a roll on the ground, landing with a skid on his feet and hands. He was a little banged up from that little tumble, blood trickled down his cheek from a scratch, scrapes and bruises could be seen here and there, however for the most part he was still able to fight. The young man spit onto the ground and brought himself up to a full stand, looking down at his slightly scraped up hands.
"I keep forgetting why I named that style the broken fist..." he thought to himself, shaking his hands slightly as he tried to ignore the pain that he felt from using that technique. Within his Byakugan's vision he could see one of the constructs exploding after having its head blown away and the effects that Akemi's senbon were having on another.

"Looks like close combat will be tricky... but..." Rai looked upwards as the construct he was fighting began to fire lasers from its eyes. Even though Rai was banged up, it wasn't enough to stop him from being able to move like he normally did. He dodged the beams and quickly made his way over to where his former teacher was fighting.
"Akemi! Hold off with those senbon for a moment... let me see a few of the ones that you have left, I have an idea that might work."

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Akemi Saotome: Forest

As she was about to throw some more senbon down, as she thought that her attacks were wearing the creature down, she had noticed the laser beams coming out from the creature's eyes that was attacking Rai and almost cursed verbally. "You've gotta be kidding me. Come on!" It would be her kind of luck that would have a creature with laser beams shooting from it's eyeballs magically showing up on the exact day of her return home. She heard Rai call to her as he came closer and requested that she stop attacking for a moment and toss him some of her senbon. She frowned slightly, despite knowing that he had some kind of crazy plan in mind, but in a quick decision, she tossed him a small handful. She trusted the guy, and who knows, maybe his plan would work. "You got it." She said in mid-toss. She was curious to see what he'd come up with, but that didn't meant that she'd stand around and do nothing. In the meanwhile, she drew more blood from her palm and prepared a few more senbon and looked around at the surrounding forest, partially looking around for more creatures, and mostly looking for Rin.

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Doctress Who-CURSE YOU AKAINE AND FENIX. *Shakes fist*
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{Forest}

Rikudou coughed instinctively after slamming into a tree, landing upon his knees. The boy took in a few steadying breaths, scanning everything while his head was hanging low. That certainly hurt.... But the Gentle Fist seemed to have an effect. He slowly pushed himself back up, taking the moment to count off the worst points in his back. His muscles were sore and tense. His spine was feeling uncomfortable, likely misaligned a slight bit from the sharp tingling he felt. But in all he didn't have anything broken or torn.

His eyes darted to the side a second as he witnessed the flash as one of the creatures exploded back near where the others were fighting. And they can certainly be destroyed... That's good news. Rikudou straightened his body and calmed his breathing before attempting to ready the twin kunai that had fallen near his feet. He then tilted his head a moment as a thought came to him. He quickly threw one of the small blades at one of the mines nearest to the creature, attempting to damage the beast with its own power and test the reach of the explosion.

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-/ Yu-Yu | Forest \-

As he got closer, Yukenra weaved another string of hand seals and the foam he left in his wake amassed quickly into a clone running in his shadow. He then lept high into the air, landing a tree limb as his clone continued charging forward to engage the enemy. "Lets see what these things are made of shall we?" he thought. Taking another drink of water, Yu-Yu formed a pair of seals as his mouth filled with water, chakra, and foam. "Foam Cannon!!" He launched a a giant ball of water from his mouth aiming at the center of the trio of chakra mask creatures. At most he was hoping to take one out straight away, if not he could at least scatter them enough to take 'em on and take 'em out.

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-Forest-

Age was not expecting the creature below him to explode, quite forcefully at that, and lost his footing as the top of tree he was standing on rocked violently. That was okay though he was experienced and could turn that to his advantage, grabbing another branch and slinging around it to get to another part of the battlefield. Bounding off towards a battle in the distance, since the ones below him seemed to be handled.

Jin - Leaf forest

Chaos, that was the best description Jin could give the situation following her arrival at the clearing. masked men springing a trap, back-stabbing and chakra monstrosities. It seemed that whoever these masked men were, they sure were hell-bent on keeping their identities hidden. Jin didn't even know chakra could be manipulated in such a manner, it was fascinating to say the least.

The others seemed to jump right into combat, seeing as these chakra constructs were anything but friendly. But not Jin, she kept to the shadows of the trees. Out of sight, out of mind. Assuming these things even had a mind. It wasn't that she was scared, far from it, it seemed like an interesting fight, but simply because this wasn't her fight. It was clear that these masked men had Konoha as their target, and why should she care for the fate of that town? Selfish? Perhaps, but it was also a good means of survival. Mixing up in conflicts that weren't your business were a sure way to an early grave.

She did manifest her blade, pulling it seemingly out of nowhere, just in case one of those things would see her and think she would be an easy target. This wasn't her kind of fight anyway, she was much better suited for fights that required finesse, class if you wanted. Full frontal assaults weren't her forte.

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