As the sun was rising there already was a lot of activity going on. Men and women seemed to prepare for something big. Team 7 had been woken up at an early hour, before sunrise with the message that they should be ready to travel out. A pair of Blackroots were stationed outside the room of Team 7, ready to escort them once they were ready to the court yard where a large group of Blackroots were at the ready to leave once the orders would be given. There were various women and children talking with the men who seemed to be more than ready to face the dangers of the woods, likely exchanging goodbyes.
Since he had stopped wearing his heavier armour preparing for a mission had become a lot simpler. While he certainly missed the comfort of its protective qualities, the flak jacket was far easier to don, far lighter, not restrictive whatsoever, and most importantly, as silent as clothing. Then again, it would under no circumstances stop a direct hit from simple cold steel penetrating. Despite that he'd had a chance to rest the day before he felt mentally exhausted. As he dressed and tied his hair back, girded his katana and sat down to eat a hearty but tasteless breakfast his mind kept dwelling on his personal doubts and failures as a team leader and a people person. As he waited for everyone to get ready he made sure to wear a studied expression of patience in order to prevent betraying his train of thoughts. One of the few things his father had learned him.
She was checking her gear again. It was the third time but she felt it was only better to be absolutely certain that she would be ready. Once they would head out there wouldn't be much time to perform a check up. Once she was certain that her pouches and weapons were all where they needed to be Meilin rested her left hand on the pommel of the longsword at her left hip. She threw a glance at the door of the room before speaking up.
"Seeing the new change, I will take the responsibility of talking and deciding with the Blackroots. Just follow the instructions and don't try to cause any uproar. There are enough stories about the Blackroot Vale woods and hills that make it clear enough that finding death is quite easy here. And don't know about you guys, but I am not interested in becoming either meat for a boggart or a dire wolf."
By the last words, she had shifted her gaze, resting it on Kensuke. "Heard that being ripped and shredded by a dire wolf can be quite dreadful. Teeth, muscles, claws and jaws that are all capable of making short work of a human. Even if armed. Let's not try to follow those who were devoured by the dire wolves," raising her chin slightly she hoped that the 'point' of what she want and spoke about was clear enough. She still doubted that Kensuke would just let himself be ordered around but ask if he would just play along nicely wasn't going to make her feel better or more comfortable. She already had experienced enough times that people were prone to lie to just get what they wanted.
Glancing briefly at Kensuke, Karma couldn't help but wonder if the man was going to let Meilin be in charge throughout the entire investigation now. The way he submitted last night was slightly off in her eyes, but it could've had many reasons behind it that she didn't know. Hearing Meilin speak up, she turned to look at her teammate "You already know I'm willing to follow your instructions. And while Lord Blackroot was gracious enough to speak to us in a common language, I don't want to risk anything by making the same assumption for everyone else, so I won't try to talk to the other Blackroots unless I see from them that it is okay." She said as she placed her smaller weapon pouch in its place "I think it would probably be best to stay focused on the goal of the mission we have today. So you won't see me fooling around." Karma finished speaking as she placed the Naginata in its placed and then marked to Meilin she was ready to move out.
Sen had gotten plenty of rest and was now preparing her gear for whatever they would face in the woods. The girl hoped she wouldn't have to encounter boggarts or dire wolves as both sounded quite horrible to her. Listening to Meilin as she finished up with her gear, she wanted to shake her head as it just sounded like she was being redundant. The girl had already told them that she was in charge and they had already agreed, why bother going on about it? Sighing, she said "Yes, got it. Ready to go." She sincerely hoped that the other Cho knew what she was doing and did not get them all killed.
Kensuke raised an eyebrow when Meilin's gaze rested on him after her introductory speech as communicator between the team and the Blackroot. Given yesterday's tensions he did not feel like objecting or speaking whatsoever. Part of him felt bitter about what'd happened, about what she said. But that was only part of him. Her explanation of the dangers of the forest were misplaced if anything, they'd seen quite enough so far to know it wasn't exactly a hospitable place, but he didn't feel the need - or energy for that matter - to speak up. There were scarier things in the world than dire wolves. Such as humans. So he waited until they got underway.
With the team ready they would be escorted to the court yard. Knvell Blackroot would appear a moment later as the team was brought into the yard. At his flank was the previous captain who had brought the team to the fortress. The Blackroot leader talked with some people, likely officers and captains of the assembled force. Once it seemed he was done the man threw a glance at team 7 before he would say something to the known captain, who nodded and headed towards the team.
"Good morning," the captain said, "I hope you all are ready. From what I understand is that a decision would be taken on if you all would either join us against these ... zealots?" For a second the captain seemed slightly confused but he shrugged it off as he would continue, "Anyhow, those who will stay are assigned to my troop. I don't believe I have introduced myself, right?" The young man slightly tilted his head to the right, color=lightgreen]"Authun Blackroot, sorry that I hadn't introduced myself before. Though, who will stay around and who will be send away?"[/color] Authun shifted his gaze upon Meilin, waiting for her answer.
With nobody arguing or speaking against her, Meilin didn't feel that comfortable. While she had an idea that Karma would, at least, follow any orders her main concern was Kensuke. But she wouldn't voice her doubt any more than she already had.
As they were brought not much later into the court yard, Meilin chewed on her lower lip. There was a slight of a doubt going on in the back of her mind on what the Blackroots were planning. Her own desire wasn't hard to guess, but she doubted that the Blackroots would put aside resources and manpower into just saving one family that had nothing to do with them.
As the 'friendlier' captain of before approached them Meilin felt slightly relieved. Once he was done talking Meilin would nod.
"We all are going," the teen said after a moment, "Don't think I have introduced myself before as well. Meilin Cho. This is," she turned half around to gesture to the other three, "Kensuke Nimatsu, Sen Cho and Karma Minami. Ready to do our part."
Following them to the courtyard he looked down at the polite officer who was to lead them today. Not purposefuly. He was just a bit taller than the other man. He remained silent during the entire exchange, wearing a neutral expression, only nodding when his name was mentioned.
Walking to the courtyard, Karma looked at Meilin. From behind it was hard to tell if her teammate, now leader, was having any reservations, but she felt like it would be best to not start questioning her. After that little speech earlier it was already clear she was unsure of how much Kensuke was going to follow her, and the last thing she wanted was to give her teammate a reason to doubt her own intentions. As they arrived and the captain that previously led them to here introduced himself, she nodded as her name was mentioned "Honored to be working alongside you, captain Blackroot." She said after Meilin was done speaking.
The red headed genin would follow them all to the courtyard, she gave the captain a polite smile and then turned her attention to Meilin. "It's an honor to meet you, Captain," Sen said. The introduction their apparent leader was satisfactory but she thought that it could use some more information. What if the captain wanted to know how they worked as a team and weapons? Sighing, she decided it was better their team work wasn't mentioned as they were more like a group of people thrown together at the last minute with little communication. Sen sighed, and then looked to Kensuke before glancing back at Meilin.
"Alright," he said, nodding back to the others, "We'll be heading out in a moment's notice. A few more packs with rations will be given to my troops and then we will be on our way. Not sure how much time you spent into the catacombs, but we are going to head back there. Word has reached us that there is some change going on there. The enemy, those who you call... zealots?" Authun frowned briefly, but dismissed any of his doubts and questions regarding about the name that they or others had given to the hostile group, "Is preparing something. And it is up to us, of course, to destabilise whatever they are planning."
They were heading out. It hadn't taken much time much after Authun had introduced himself to Team 7 and while he had the typical 'friendly attitude' there was no mistake that the men under his command knew that they had to follow his orders. In an organised march and good pace they headed back to the dark place where they had first met the troop of Authun. A small break was held right before the entrance back into the dark underground world. Most of the Blackroots seemed to be quite calm and content with the idea to head into the darkness that would await them up ahead. Approaching team 7, Authun rested his left hand on the handle of his battle axe. A weapon with a symbol of a boar engraved on the blade. "We will be soon going down. Before we will go, I want to discuss some matters," Authun said on a more stern tone to small group, "I am responsible for each of these men. They are entrusted and follow my command. The same doesn't really count for you, I hope that is something you can understand," the captain informed them. It was clear that he was very serious about it.
"With also the fact that you four don't know your ways into the catacombs, I advise you all to stick close and not to engage into combat unless the order is given. There is more than boggarts that trouble these woods. The catacombs aren't called catacombs just because we considered it a grim place. They have taken more lives from my people and kin than anything else, really." Pausing he would throw a look over his shoulder for a moment, "Anyhow, be careful and don't try to stray away. Our goal is to reach to the crypt of Toroshi. Should be a day's march if we take it careful and slow. Any questions?"
The travel towards the entrance of the catacombs was one where Meilin started to gain mixed feelings. She was eager to try to start to work on retrieving her family, but she wasn't certain if she was ready to go back into what seemed to be a world of shadow and darkness. One that was even stranger and more unknown than she was already known with.
During the break Meilin was chewing on some rations, not wanting to go down the darkness on an empty stomach. Noticing that Authun approached them she would rise up and clear her mouth.
Listening to what he was telling them Meilin would nod on a few occassions. While it wasn't entirely encouraging to hear that he wasn't responsible for their lives, Meilin could assume what he meant with that. Hopefully, the others wouldn't it take the words as some hostile remark or sneer and decide to react to it. It wasn't too early or late for anything to ruin their chances to be sent away, after all.
"Got it," she replied back, "We will be ready and cautious," Meilin added as she would flash a smile. While she had no questions the teen would take a step to the right to signal that if the others felt the need to ask any questions that they should do so.
The short trip to the catacombs flew past in silence. He liked that. He didn't need to, want to listen to any of the members of Team 7 talk. What'd happened had happened and whatever would come out of that as consequence, he would accept it. He hoped the rest of their team thought of it that way too. Or that they even realised. When they eventually arrived the cavern's entrance, they paused. Authun approached them again with further instructions. He looked at Meilin in silence and then caught Authun's eye, nodding.
The silence on the way there reminded her of the silence she kept when they first entered the forest. Karma kept a determined look on her face, wanting to ensure everything goes by fine. When they stopped outside of the entrance and approached by Captain Blackroot, she looked at him with attention, making sure to not miss anything the man said. After Meilin spoke as well and stepped aside, Karma watched as Kensuke only gave the captain a nod before looking at Authun "Understood sir. Stay close and we are responsible for ourselves." She said, briefly looking at Meilin as she wondered if the girl would be ready to step up in case anything happens, because she doubted anyone would accept 'it was done for my family' as an excuse for letting teammates be hurt or injured in any manner.
Sen would take in her surroundings as they walked through the dark with Authuns team, as they stopped for a small break and the Captain came over to them. Although she was a little disheartened at being told he wasn't responsible for their lives she didn't say anything or act any differently. She couldn't help but to wonder how it would look to the Jounin Commander if something terrible were to happen to them all under Meilins leadership and Kensuke stood there. Sen hoped it wouldn't come to that but this was a less than ideal situation and it what it was now. She would only nod as Meilin stepped aside.
As no complaints or questions rose up Authun would just nod at the group before leaving them to their own affairs. The break lasted for a small bit longer until the command was given that they were going to continue. The Blackroots became silent, looking ready for a fight as they would lead the way into the darkness of the catacombs. A few of the Blackroots carried torches that they lighted up before heading into the entrance towards the darkness. Walking down the eerie silence was present and not much later there was no other light than those of the torches. A look thrown backwards wouldn't even show the light of the way they had entered the catacombs. Walking in silence the Blackroots would enter a spacious room with Team 7. Instead of waiting they continued on, but being more on guard. Continuing on their way the team would be led into an open space. The formation of the Blackroots, however, shifted to a more narrow and stretched out line. As the group would walk in a slower pace, the team would be met by Authun who waited for them.
"Watch your step. If you fall then there is no telling if you ever will see the light of day or enter lord Akumu's hall sooner than you want, the captain informed them on a hushed tone. He pointed at the ground as the light of the torches would reveal that only a small space of ground, enough for four men to walk next to each other. Turning around he would continue to walk, passing on another order to his men. Most of them readied their weapons as a few Blackroots already nocked an arrow at the ready. Walking for another fifteen minutes the ground seemed to widen as the formation of Blackroots spread out.
"We will soon cross over into contested area. Don't make any sound or mould any chakra. There are worse things than boggarts in these places," Authun informed them as he rested his right hand on the handle of his weapon. The group continued to walk, in a slow and cautious space. Yet no enemy that the men seemed to be expecting appeared, charging from out of the darkness. No sudden arrow flying past or burying itself into somebody. Just silence and darkness. Entering what seemed to be a hallway Authun briefly mumbled something in Chonobi. With the entire group into the hallway, Authun instructed an order. The few Blackroots at the back of the group would nod and stay behind in the darkness as the others continued. Up ahead there seemed to be some light to which the Blackroots killed their own lights without any orders needed from Authun.
"Okay, you guys stay close to us. Try to prevent using any chakra. One second," he instructed them. Silence dawned for a moment on the group as Authun became silent. In the dark it was impossible to see what was going on, but apparently one of Authun's men managed to reach him. Whispering something, Authun would whisper something back. "Those filthy bastards are up ahead. They aren't present with more men than us, but they have likely some more friends skulking around. We're going in hard and fast. No prisoners." There was a sliver of excitment and enthousaism in the last bit of Authun's word. For a moment there was no other sound heard, but Authun would whisper and the entire formation would start moving. "My next command will be to halt. After that I will give another command... we will then charge. The arrows will be first released, so don't be too eager unless you want to be pelted by some."
Nearing the light the formation would stop on Authun's command. For a moment the eerie silence returned, only to be broken by a stern whisper from Authun. No battle cry from the Blackroots filled the air, but the soft sounds of men moving into quick movement had something menacing. Running towards the light, the air would soon be filled with cries of surprise and pain. The light from the fire that the Zealots had made was in the midst of the room and as Team 7 would enter the room with the last of the Blackroots they would notice that there was already a number of the enemy down on the ground, arrows in their guts. Some more zealots came running from the other entrances into the room, being surprised by the determined Blacrkoots who still raised no battlecry.
Relieved. Meilin had expected that there would be questions or even some form of objections from the group as Authun spoke. Luckily it seemed that either Sen and Kensuke had lost their tongue or didn't feel the need to speak up or again, yet. As the break was over and they descended into the darkness that they had escaped from a day ago, Meilin couldn't state without lying that she felt a cold shiver running down her spine. The silence and strange markings on the wall made her feel rather unwelcome. But it also kept raising her curiosity. Who had build this place? Why weren't the builders anymore around? The nick of catacombs did fit the place as she felt she was trespassing a tomb instead of heading through an underground place towards the place of destination.
The narrow strip that they were walking on wasn't much to Meilin's liking. The light of the torches didn't illuminate how deep the fall would be if she would slip. Deciding to focus on maintaining her balance and not making either a misstep or slip, Meilin couldn't help but move her right hand to the handle of her longsword.
A soft sigh of relief escaped the teen as they were able to walk on ground that wasn't narrow. The only comfortable information that follows was that Authun warned them that they were now heading into contested area. Already she had on her lips the questions if the zealots were around or what he meant with worse than boggarts. Those monsters had seemed huge and menacing. What worse could lurk around than those beasts?
"Oh, that spells trouble," she softly mumbled underneath her breath upon hearing Authun's prayer. The fact that the captain made a soft prayer didn't please nor comfort Meilin much.
Continue to follow the group Meilin threw a look over her shoulder. So far everything was going fine, but she couldn't help but wary of the team. Deciding that she had enough to worry about without pestering herself mentally to question Team 7 mentally, Meilin focused back on front of her.
Then the lights were killed.
Surprised Meilin quickly looked around her. Trying to find the possible reason why the Blackroots had made such a decision. Hearing what Authun instructed them the doubts and all other thoughts were pushed away from Meilin's mind. Knowing that they were going to shed the blood of those zealots, the teen couldn't help but hope that there were more than just zealots nearby. Perhaps they had stumbled on a prisoner's group?
Remaining silent she focused on the commands. Slowly drawing her longsword Meilin would grip it with both hands. Her heart started to skip beats while her hands were starting to get warm, almost being itchy.
Then the first command was given. Trying to control her breath Meilin narrowed her eyes as she tried to not lose focus and let her emotion overwhelm her rational thinking. But as the command was given she moved out of her own. Moving not too fast as she didn't want to stumble into the Blackroots and disrupt in any way the attack the teen could already hear that the beginning of the fight was starting.
Rushing out of the darkness Meilin already noticed a Zealot that was preparing himself for a fight. As the zealot pulled out a short sword of foreign design, the teen already came in with an attack. A sharp swing from the right was barely blocked by the zealot, who was facing another quick strike. Hacking at the man, not wanting to give him any time Meilin saw how a strike missed as her opponent stepped aside, raising his blade for an attack back.
Raising her longsword, while dropping into the hanging sword stance, Meilin felt a vibration going down her arms as the edge of the enemy's sword landed against the flat of her own weapon. Stepping backwards as she realised she was too late Meilin focused on the opponent in front of her, that already was swinging her sword again, for another attack.
Kensuke kept a close eye on Meilin and the rest of the team as they followed to Blackroots over the ravine. He noticed that some of them grew nervous with the great depth nearby, but to him it was like hiking back home. The problem was that back home it'd been mountains where he could use the altitude and his visual prowess to his advantage. This was a cave, and as soon as the lights were killed without warning Kensuke was blind. Unbeknownst to most outside of the clan, using the dojutsu, even passively, meant that it also brought a weakness inherent to actual hawks and eagles as well. They were practically blind at night. Fortunately Authun chose this moment to pause and instruct them, allowing him to recover. Mostly. It took a good minute of stumbling blindly through the darkness and cursing the Blackroot for their lack of communication before his nightsight was restored to a degree where he could see anything at all.
And then they were moving. The lights of the zealots were easy to track, even with his impaired eyesight. When the first wave of arrows struck he saw the lights dance, several clattering over the floor, as the column reacted. As they got closer to the torches he was able to gradually make out more and more of his environment until he saw one of the zealots in front of him who was squinting fiercely to try and see Kensuke coming, blinded by his own torch.
It'd been a while since he'd used purely kenjutsu in a fight. The iai strike was one he could execute both with and without chakra, and his surprised opponent only succeeded in saving his life by covering his neck with his arm. The sword cut through flesh, sinew and bone but got stuck in the proces. Stepping in and grasping the blade near the point Kensuke then rammed it home into the eyesocket of his adversary. Retrieving his blade he stepped back, looking for a new opponent. Many torches had fallen to the floor by now, giving the room a sinister look as everyone was lit from below by flickering lights.
As they started to walk into the cave and into the darkness, the eerie silence felt very unnatural to Karma, as if something was keeping the silence by force. As they entered the second spacious room, she briefly wondered how big the place was. Authun approached them and gave them a warning regarding their steps, to which Karma nodded briefly. After passing the narrow pathway and seeing everyone slightly more spreading out, she felt a bit of relief. Being overly crowded while on a narrow space was not something she enjoyed.
Authun informed them about entering a contested area and to not mould any chakra. In response to that Karma begun suppressing her chakra, and kept maintaining her focus on that. If moulding Chakra was bad and could potentially attract worse things than the boggarts, then she hoped no one in her team would accidently jump ahead without thinking, briefly looking at Kensuke's back. More orders from Authun, this time about what his orders would mean in Chonobi. She was grateful for that, and waited to hear his commands, taking off her Naginata and preparing to charge.
First command was given, and the silence that spread all around was like the silence of a graveyard, with breathes of the people all around not even being audible. When the second command was given, she waited briefly, trying to listen to the sounds of the arrow, but just barely managing to do so. As soon as she saw the Blackroots begin to move forward, she began running forward as well, looking at the backs of Kensuke and Meilin, who both vanished among the Blackroots as they ran ahead.
Moving towards one of the entrances, she raised her Naginata upon seeing several more Zealots who were coming inside, charging to help their comrades. Bringing the blade of the Naginata down as several of the Zealots spotted her and several Blackroots charging towards, she watched as one of the Zealots prepared to defend himself with a pair of swords. As the blade of the Naginata started to hit the ground slightly, Karma started to count down in her head, the distance between her and the Zealot only growing shorter. When she reached zero, she brought it very quickly up, allowing the Naginata's blade to hit the Zealot's swords, and making the dust the Naginata's blade gather go straight at the Zealot, going into his eyes and catching him off guard.
Pushing her weapon forward, she brought the Naginata's blade close enough to just barely poke the partially blinded Zealot's neck, and quickly spin the Naginata, making the staff edge go from below and strike him in his private part, catching the man off guard once more. With the man's full attention on getting past the pain, Karma struck the man in the chest and then moved across, letting the blade get out from the side of his body. Before she could properly look around, she heard footsteps from behind and brought her Naginata's staff part backwards, feeling it become blocked by something as she turned her gaze. There was another Zealot, blocking the Naginata with a long sword, and he appeared determined to not get caught off guard so easily.
As they entered the catacombs she kept the Captains warning in mind, the use of chakra would worsen their situation and there would be holes to avoid stepping in. The only light she could gather was from the torches carried by some of blackroots, at first she didn't mind it. The darkness with a bit of light was not that bad. Unfornuately, the more they walked the more her nerves would act up and she couldn't help but to feel nervous. She kept in mind what the Seer had said, the boggarts could detect chakra and apparently there were such things as leeches that could drain chakra. The girl wasn't planning on using any chakra but she was glad the Captain had also spoke against it.
As the lights were put out, the girl would ready her weapon and keep it trained in front of her. As the first command was given, she would go towards an area that would provide her good support to have her back to. One zealot came towards with his sword at a ready position. Sen would quickly take aim at the zealots neck, releasing the arrow and quickly setting another arrow in its place. Her arrows would strike the zealot seemingly at its intended target which allowed her a breif moment of relief before another zealot came charging towards her.
The girl would train her arrow on the zealots neck as she did with the first, releasing the arrow and quickly sending another arrow to follow it. This time her aim was slightly off as it would clink against his armor and fall to the ground without harming the zealot. The zealot laughed, but failed to notice the third arrow she had sent that had followed the second and it did strike its intended target. It would seem to her that a few zealots would come at her and as she sent more arrows soaring into the air some would hit the zealots and some wouldn't. Sen was grateful that she had at least taken out a few of them. Sending more arrows soaring into the air and again she readied more arrows as the charging zealots kept coming.
The sound of steel clashing against steel resonated in a loud fashion through the air near Meilin. Deflecting the attack of her opponent, she felt the heavy vibration going through her arms. A soft grunt escaped Meilin as she focused on trying to hold her ground. Focusing on making sure that she wouldn't make any mistake. Which was easier thought or said than done.
"Shit!"
In the nick of time, Meilin managed to parry an attack but the fierce anger and determination would shift into desperation. Her opponent was more skilled and on the offensive, but cautious for any counter attack of the genin he was facing.
Parry, step aside, parry, feint, parry.
The dance between Meilin and her opponent didn't seem to halt as the genin wasn't able to find any window of time to launch an attack back. Keeping the hanging sword stance she noticed that her opponent started to become a bit overconfident. Instead of launching a quick sweep from the right or left the man went for an overhead attack. Probably wanting to deliver a powerful blow to crush through her defence. Narrowing her eyes, Meilin would ready herself for the attack.
Once more the air around the two combatants would be filled with the sound of steel clashing on steel, but this time it would end in a different manner. In a fluid movement, Meilin would let the attack hit the flat of her blade, using the kinetic energy of her foe's attack help to direct her own blade while she stepped aside. In the moment time seemed to slow down as her adrenaline rushed to a new height in her body. It was an exciting moment and she realised in that moment that she was capable of deciding if this man would die here in these cold, underground halls or be allowed to live.The choice was made without any hesitation.
Bringing the blade in a fell sweep, blood would gush out of the wound, splattering on the arms and gloves of Meilin. The steel of her longsword bites through the clothing of her opponent as he gasped for air, clearly not expecting the genin employing such a technique. As the steel sink deeper into the flesh of her opponent Meilin would push her weight into her attack, driving the edge of her longsword deeper into the man.
"Die! Come on, die!" She thought to herself, panicking as she noticed that he kept struggling. Kicking the man's knee to force him on a knee she tried to release her blade, which would go in a sloppy fashion. Now with the opponent on a knee and trying to recover Meilin wouldn't hesitate to bring down her longsword on her foe. Just before the steel would bite once more through clothing, skin and flesh Meilin swore she heard the man mutter something as raising his free hand up.
The attack would mean the end, however, for the zealot. Collapsing on the ground, the man wouldn't move anymore. Jerking her longsword out of the man's neck Meilin turned around as she panted lightly. Before she could recompose herself two Zealots approached her. Readying herself quickly Meilin would be forced into the defence as the two started to corner her with quick and cautious attacks.
"Cowards," Meilin hissed as she quickly stepped backwards to avoid another attack. Parry one attack, she was forced once more to step backwards. Only to hit something solid.
"A wall? Shit!"
Raising her blade, Meilin would try to do her best to do her best to parry the incoming attacks. Feeling a sharp sensation originating from her left shoulder,,, she tried to focus on not allowing any attack reach her.
Chaos. As usual in a skirmish. Darkness. Nothing he wasn't used to. A movement left of him, and then a scream. He weaved right, and saw a Blackroot ram a dagger home before flinching away with a cut over his arm. A zealot jabbed at him from far away, but the attack was easily set aside. Yet he hadn't been ready for it, so he couldn't take advantage. Despite his experience he sensed that the Blackroot were far better at fighting under these conditions than he was. A dense skirmish where keeping an eye on your friends was as hard and twice as necessary as keeping an eye on your enemies. The zealot lunged at him again with the same move, and Kensuke parried it, stepping in to take advantage now the man was out of balance, but it'd been a trick to get him closer. Two zealouts stepped forwards, weapons poised to strike. Kensuke backstepped and parried the one blade that could still reach him, having achieved nothing. When the man pushed in to press the bind Kensuke wanted to set it aside through weakness and strike, but the third zealot stepped in to abuse his opening. Instead of a lethal cut Kensuke was forced to grapple the second one to manoeuvre himself out of harm's way, disarming the man in the process, bringing pause.
His three opponents loitered around him and he realised he was falling out of the chaotic frontline, to be surrounded. He retreated a step and used the moment it bought him to get a look around, immediately noticing a Blackroot besides him. He couldn't see Karma, but he saw the flash of a naginata further behind him, meaning she should be fine. A little ways behind him on the other side was Sen who was using her bow far too close for comfort, but he couldn't warn her now. Even as he thought this another zealot made the decision to dash at her, leaping over the man struggling with an arrow through his thigh. He also realized that Meilin was absent amidst the chaos, and noticed a struggle towards the right near what looked like the wall of the cavern. Several zealots were surrounding someone who'd been driven out of their lines. It looked bad. He'd have to choose who to help. Leave Sen to fight the axeman with just her bow, leave this Blackroot facing three opponents, or leave what probably was Meilin to fight her own way out of that mess. The Blackroot would be able to handle it. Or so he hoped.
He feinted towards his three opponents but instead dashed to where he believed Meilin was being surrounded. The three men flinched back, ready to receive his strike and retaliate, but in doing so left the gap Kensuke needed to get past them. He was almost there when besides him a Blackroot worked a zealot to the ground and finished him off, but was then promptly kicked in the head by another zealot. Another Blackroot came in to help, but Kensuke was faster. The kicked man shook his head, spat some blood and got up without a word, finishing off the zealot Kensuke'd just incapacitated. He had to admit that the Blackroot were scarily effective at this sort of fighting. Given the chaos it was almost inevitable to suffer injuries and casualties, but by some miracle he'd only seen two Blackroot take a wound so far, both shrugging it off.
The zealots were becoming harder to fend off with her bow and she was also at risk for using up all her arrows. The girl would aim at the closest zealot to her then firing her arrow at the pressumably weakest point of the body and watched as the zealot ducked, anticipating the attack. Fortunately a Blackroot then engaged the zealot, saving her for the moment. Of course, this was just in time for a new one to come charging towards her with an axe. Sen swore under breath and aimed at the incoming zealot. Firing at the zealot, she swore again as his axe knocked the arrow down and got closer to her. Unlike her teammates, she didn't have a weapon that she could use in close combat. Sen only had her bow and arrows as well as some typical shinobi weapons.
The axeman was now close enough to swing at her with his axe, deciding her bow was no longer the best weapon and narrowly dodging the first attempt. She took out a few kunai and took a defensive position. As he would swing again, she would dart around it and narrowly miss the aze sending her right hand up as she did to cut into his arms. Missing, she readied herself for the next attack. He swung at her again but this time as she attempted to dodge the axe it would graze her left shoulder causing her to stumble a bit on her feet from the pain. Gritting her teeth she kicked her left leg out in a sweeping motion and managed to knock him off balance while darting up with her kunai. Making contact she would then use this as leverage to dig the other kunai into him as well. Pulling one out of his arm she would take his disorientation to cut through the pulse area. With some luck, she cut deep enough to cause him to bleed decently. Still using her advantage she would use her other kunai to swipe across the top of him and essentially slit his throat. His axe would swing again as she did this and as they both made contact she would feel the blade of the axe cut into her right leg. Stumbling back as the man recoiled in turn from the cuts she had made.
The Zealot Karma was facing now slowly pushed her naginata away from him, eventually pushing hard enough to make her take a couple of steps back, and then she jumped back another step to dodge a slash from his long sword. The Zealot begun going on the offensive, slowly pushing her back as she constantly tried to think about a plan to break his attention. Before long she begun hearing footsteps behind her, but because she couldn't break her attention away from the Zealot, she couldn't be sure if it was an ally or a foe that was moving behind her. Deciding to not take a chance, she begun counting the seconds between each strike he landed against her Naginata.
She managed to count two and three seconds between strikes, depending on which side they came from. As she counted, however, the long sword nearly reached her hand, making her realize that slipping away from this man's attack spree wouldn't be easy. It took her another couple strikes from his direction before she noticed the gaps between his attacks grew by a second. The constant attacks were beginning to make him slower. She took this to her advantage and after the next strike against her naginata, she rolled to the side, managing to completely dodge his next hit and then sent her Naginata towards the man's legs, aiming to make him trip, but he followed her movements and jumped, completely avoiding the hit and then coming down towards her with his long sword. She rolled out of the way again but this time felt her Naginata became stuck, and she saw the Zealot landed his sword on the blade of the Naginata, holding it down. He then sent a kick towards Karma, which she blocked with her arm, pushing her away from her weapon before the Zealot begun making his way towards her once more, his sword at the ready for any surprise she may hold.
Glancing in her Naginata's direction, she managed to spot the rope with which she held her weapon against her back. Karma hoped for the best as she begun moving towards the Zealot, with the man sending a strike towards her chest. She dropped backwards, landing on the ground and sending a kick towards the Zealot's legs, briefly catching him off guard but failing to make him move as the man quickly sent another slash with his sword towards her, and she rolled out of the way, getting up with the rope the weapon in he grasp. She wondered if she would get a chance to bring her weapon back to her as she kept moving backwards to dodge the strikes of the Zealot's sword.
It didn't go well. There was no room that she could utilise to move away from her attackers. The only advantage that Meilin had at the moment was that her attackers were limited slightly in the directions that they could launch their attacks from. But that didn't mean that they weren't less determined to bring her down. Focusing everything she had and could into trying to keep holding her ground, Meilin gasped.
A sharp pain shot from her side as the steel blade of the zealot at her left grazed her. It wasn't a wound that was going to be deadly, but it was quite painful. Not being allowed to winch or drive the zealot at her left back and away, Meilin was forced to deflect an attack from the right. Panting, she wasn't given a chance to do anything else as another attack came from the right.
As this continued for two more exchange of blows Meilin decided that she had to risk something. Eventually, they would go through her defence and take her down. So, in the end, she would lose anyways.
After deflecting an attack from the right, Meilin would move to the right. Using her left foot, the teen quickly kicked the Zealot. As the man stumbled backwards by the kick, his companion decided to lash out. Winching, Meilin felt how the blade of the other Zealot slashed her left forearm. In more of a reflex than a coordinated attack, she lashed out back. Judging by the grunt of the man, she had managed to drive him back but her vision became blurry for a second.
Blinking rapidly her vision would become clear, but it was evident that she wouldn't be able to fight two zealots at the same time. Hearing something at her back, Meilin lowered her level and dodged the attack. Only once more to get cornered by two foes.
It was Meilin after all. With an economy of effort wasted on the zealots he severed the spine of one of the men cornering Meilin before dragging his left foot back, half-turning to catch an incoming blow from the second zealot behind Meilin on his sword, still extended. As soon as the blades made contact Kensuke used his left hand to grasp both blades where they connected, bringing the hilt of his blade forwards, levering it under his opponent's wrists as he stepped in. Twisting violently he disarmed his foe and pointed the tip of his katana at the man's face in one move, and a heartbeat later the man was dead weight on his sword.
Retrieving the blade he immediately whirled into a feint to keep Meilin's other assailants at a distance. Absentmindedly he realised that in a normal skirmish the zealots would have run already. But in this darkness with no real way of telling who had the upper hand until all were slain or you were dead yourself, every fight became one with an incredible toll.
As she tried to keep up with the attacks, Meilin was certain that she was losing ground again to her foes. Growing a bit more determined she opted for trying to find a window in their attacks to fend one off and take out the other. Parrying another attack she thought she spotted an opening. Only for somebody else to join the fray. Taking a quick step backwards, uncertain if it was friend or foe that joined in, Meilin released a loud sigh as Kensuke took over the fight. It was a moment where she could catch her breath again and inspect the wounds she had sustained. From a quick look nothing too bad. She would have to fix herself up later, but not now. There was still some fighting going on.
As Kensuke would fend off more assailants, one still tried to approach and attack the Nimatsu from his right flank. The handaxe of the Zealot was raised, but as it came down with the intention of driving a gash into the back of Kensuke a loud sound rang through the air.
Holding her longsword up, Meilin deflected the strike as the vibration went through her arms. While the zealot was caught off guard the genin didn't waste any breath on kicking him. Landing a kick between the man's legs Meilin would push the blocked weapon backwards to give herself some space. A quick slash would follow, causing the man to stumble but not yet ending his life. Without any word or signal needed Meilin would drop into a fighting stance, deciding to defend the Nimatsu's flank as good as she could.
As the Zealot kept forcing Karma to move backwards, she caught glimpses of the Blackroots that were fighting around her. All she needed was to try and get one of their attention for assistance, and she decided to do so by whipping the hand that held the rope of the Naginata to the right, making it hit the legs of a Blackroot who was with her back to her. As she kept moving back and the Zealot kept moving forward, the Blackroot didn't take a chance and slammed his arm back, hitting both Karma and the Zealot and making them both drop to the ground before going back to his fight.
Taking the open moment she got, Karma finally managed to bring the Naginata into her grasp and roll out of the way of another attempted stab at her from the Zealot. Getting back up, she started to try and hit the man with the staff part of the Naginata, which he was managing to block. Keep an eye out on his reactions, Karma spotted another Zealot that was coming to aid his accomplice. Not wanting to try her luck at fighting two people, she took another swing at the Zealot and then sent a kick at him, with the swing being blocked but the kick managing to hit the man's leg and push him down to be on his knee. She then took another swing at the man, who blocked the hit once more, and this time also blocked a kick from Karma, only to be caught off guard as Karma pushed her Naginata towards him, forcing him to focus his grip on the sword so it wont end up against his own chest. With the grip on her foot loosened, she brought it back and sent another strong kick at him, hitting his hand once more but this time with enough force so that it moved back, hitting the man's face and making him fall on the side from the hit. Karma then quickly placed one foot on his sword, the other on the open arm and hit the man hard with Naginata's blade towards his neck. The Zealot moved his head and managed to only get a scratch, and she moved the blade towards his neck with force before getting kicked from the side, forcing her off the Zealot who was now trying to do his best to stop the bleeding.
Looking up at the man who kicked her, she noticed his weapon was still sheathed and he held a taijutsu stance. Either this man was foolish or overly confident in his skills, she thought to herself as she brought her Naginata up for another hit, only to get kicked from behind by a second Zealot. Landing on the ground, she wondered if she would have any luck in this fight before rolling out of the way of the first Zealot's foot, and getting back up on her feet, hoping she won't need to face two Zealots for long.
The fighting would continue on when eventually the Zealots were starting to try to make their way out. Few managed to scurry away from the fighting into the dark halls from whench they came. Others were less fortunate. Being taken down by the Blackroots and the members of Team 7 an eerie silence would follow. The Blackroots started to search the death without much talking. As they did a few of them would bring back some light as Authun's voice rang through the hall. On the few entrances to the room he positioned some of his men to be on guard. Turning around the captain would look around, before settling his gaze on the team. Being covered in blood the young man seemed to be fine. Letting his handaxe rest on his right shoulder he eyed briefly the members of Team 7 before speaking. "You all made it? Expected it to be a longer fight, though," Turning half around he threw a quick look. So far those who were slain on the ground seemed to be Zealots. There were a few wounded Blackroots, rounded up together and being treated by a few others. "Think you guys need a rest, eh? I plan to send some scouts ahead. Didn't expect a fight in this hall. Usually those bastards tend to skulk around up ahead. We will try to move again in a hour, so make the best of it." Nodding towards the team, Authun would rejoin his kin, helping a wounded man towards the others as some laughter resonated through the hall from the two Blackroots.
The fight was over as abruptly as it had begun. The same darkness that had allowed the ambush also meant that when one flank gave away, the rest of the zealots only realised when they wer cut down. The torchlit cavern was littered with corpses of the unfortunate zealots. Most were wounded, but Kensuke made no illusions about their survival. Already the Blackroot were systematically slicing throats, all the while bandaging their own wounds. Kensuke surpressed the urge to retch and cleaned his sword on a corpse. He knew this kind of warfare. People died. Yet it still opposed him. Looking around he felt something move under his feet and saw the man whom he'd stabbed in the face gurgling something. With a sigh he knelt down and retrieved a knife he found on the man's body.
"Embrace the rest." He said and punched the knife through the man's eye and brains, ending his suffering. There was blood on his hands, and to his surprise most of it was his own. Although he'd executed the technique very well, his grip on the crossed blades must've been wrong, as there was a long, superficial cut in the palm of his hand. He squeezed it, watching the blood flow out.
Then he got up and looked around to search for his Team, finding all of them standing, some in better shape than others. They gathered as if by plan when Authun approached them, explaining the situation. Then he left, laughing together with an injured comrade. Again that retching feeling, but then it was gone.
"You guys alright?" He asked, eyeing their injuries and grabbing the pouch with medical supplies he carried on him.
Had they won? Meilin kept guarding Kensuke's flank, wary of any advances of hostiles around them. As they ran away the teen grew angry. She wasn't yet done with them. Using that anger as fuel the genin would whip up her weapon, causing the blade to slash into the stomach of the man who had attempted before to hack into the back of Kensuke. The impact of her attack caused the man to drop forwards, a hand shooting to his stomach. Without slowing down as she pulled her blade backwards Meilin wouldn't allow the man to even attempt to crawl away.
Raising the point she would push it downwards to stab the man in the back. Judging by his gurgling it wasn't yet enough to take his life. Planting a foot firmly on the man's back. Planting the longsword once more into the back of the man she noticed that he didn't move anymore. Looking up she was trying to spot any nearby Zealot she could try to mow down, but it seemed that they either were already cut down or managed to get away. Gritting her teeth Meilin would look down as she kicked the man she had just killed. She wasn't yet done with them.
With this respite, she would use it to clean the blade of her sword on the last corpse she had made. Authun approached and spoke up but while Meilin listened, she wasn't feeling that great. Just nodding to the captain she wanted to inspect her own injuries. Some did sting but they didn't seem to be life-threatening. Knowing that she wasn't allowed to use her medical chakra, the teen was confident that she wouldn't need to break that rule with her skill. Not yet.
Kensuke then asked if they were alright, which made Meilin stare at him. No, she wasn't alright. If anything she wanted to sneer at him that she could hold her own ground, but she knew better.
"I am fine," she replied in a neutral tone while kneeling down, "Just some scratches..." her voice trailed off in some muttering as she started to bandage her own wounds..
She wanted to thank him for his aid but at the same time, she didn't trust herself yet. Deciding in silence that she would see to it that she would repay the debt that she had gained today.
As she was barely managing to defending herself against the two Zealots that were now fighting her, gaining a couple of cuts and being pushed around by them, Karma hoped anything would interrupt their attention, or that perhaps someone came to her assistance. Getting kicked by both Zealots sent her to the ground, and she brought her Naginata up to block their legs from hitting her chest. Before she could try and push them off her, she watched as they suddenly retreated back into the entrance they came from. Slowly getting up, she looked at her few bruises before looking around to try and spot her team members. Managing to find Kensuke and Meilin, who were next to each other, she made her way to them, looking at the both. They both seemed mostly fine, except Kensuke's hand was bleeding quite a bit.
When Authun came and gave them the briefing, Karma nodded briefly. Now that the fighting stopped, she was starting to feel the aches of her muscles from the places which were hit by the Zealots with nothing to occupy her mind away from the pain. While it wasn't enough to make her stop moving, she did decide to get down to a sitting position and let her muscles rest and take advantage of the hour rest they had. When Kensuke asked if they were alright, Karma looked at him "I think we should be asking you that. We're not the ones with a cut hand. But I only have a couple of cuts and a bit of aching muscles, nothing serious." She said, reaching for the medical pouch to start taking care of the cuts.
As Meilin knelt down, clearly annoyed about something. He had a pretty good idea what about, but he didn't want to judge too early. Instead, his head shot towards Karma as she suggested he bandage himself up. He threw back his head and laughed heartily, perhaps a little too heartily. There was more stress than joy in the sound.
"Good point." He said and began wrapping his hand in a bandage. "Should learn me to respect sharp objects." He joked while he secured the anaesthetic-induced wrappings. He moved his hand and wrist around to see if it obstructed his movement, and then put his gloves back on.
Sen was glad when the fight was over and finally she was able to breath a sigh of relief. Her shoulder was a bleeding lightly and ached a lot but she wasn't going to complain when she was sure there were people with worse injuries. Going over to Meilin and her other team mates, they seemed to be in a decent condition despite the fight they had. Chuckling at Kensuke's sort of joke and giving a small smile.
