[fieldbox="Basics of Survival, #00B2EE"]Kukiko Yuki, Shion Kobayashi, and Yuyuko Takeda | Jounin of Team 17 | Republic of the Water Country, Kirigakure, Training Fields
A collab between
@Walter Swan,
@Sakayanagi Selko, and the Frostiest of Camels
Team 17 undertakes a mission to scout and clear an old and seemingly abandoned Outpost. They run into trouble.
[spoili]
Kukiko stood on the road at the edge of Kirigakure, a steady rain pattering off her hood as she waited for her team to show up. They'd gotten their second mission, or at least what would be the second for Shion, it'd be Yuyuko's first. It was simple and Kukiko had high hopes that the two Genin could gain a bit of confidence and some light experience in the more non-combat oriented parts of being a Shinobi on something this simple. She turned to look into the rain, down the road that led inland. Here visibility was low, but she wasn't expecting trouble today and the rain obscuring her sight didn't bother her very much considering their task. She shivered and retched for a few moments, not producing anything she stood back up and wiped her mouth clean. She continued to wait.
Shion flickered into existence, her feet sliding across the rain-soaked ground as she whizzed past Kukiko, before coming to a stop a few feet away from the jonin.
"Tha-that was close," the genin muttered shakily as she doubled over in relief, "Body flicker technique is scary…"
As Shion noticed Kukiko, she pulled onto the hood of her dark-blue raincoat, trying to cover up her blushing face, as she approached the jonin, "G-greetings, sensei. Great weather today, huh?"
A few minutes after, there was the sound of splashing as Yuyuko came running over at a controlled pace as she had decided to not use the body flicker due with the rain that poured regularly in the area.
Granted she was not going to be early but it is better than becoming a flying cannonball as she gently stopped near them.
"Hello sensei, Shion san.. I am sorry if I am abit late…" she said apologetically as she adjusted her dark brown rain coat as her oni mask was seen covering her eye as usual as she put a hand to shield her working left eye from the rain.
Kukiko raised an eyebrow as Shion slid into sight,
"That was close." she agreed before waving to the genin,
"Good morning." she said with a smile. They waited for a while longer and Yuyuko arrived, running her way down the road she stopped by them and offered her greetings, and she was wearing that damned mask. Kukiko sighed and weighed her options, she didn't imagine they'd be meeting any resistance on the mission, so she'd allow the mask for now.
"Yuyuko nice of you to make it." she gestured down the road,
"We're to observe and scout an old fort further inland. It was once used to train chuunin on survival skills as it's rather isolated but it fell into disuse after the Revolution… They want us to make sure no one else is using it when they shouldn't be." she shrugged and began walking,
"We've got thirty kilometers to go so let's hop to it, we should make it before sundown if I'm being honest." she was already a few feet ahead of the genin and didn't seem to look back to see if they were coming or not.
"Hello there, Yuyu," Shion greeted her partner as she glanced at her working eye before turning to Kukiko as she began her briefing. As the jonin started to leave, the young swordsman followed her from behind as she shouted, "Sensei!", with a raised hand.
"What if there's someone using the fort?" she asked before she slammed her fist into her palm, "Can we kick their butt?"
Yuyuko nodded acknowledging Shion and Kukiko's replies while paying attention to the briefing that their sensei was giving. The fort going by her sensei's description sounded impressive if it was used for survival training and might give her an idea of the forts her father may have seen in his lifetime, something to really look forward to
As she heard Shion's question, she chuckled slightly as she wondered whether it would be that easy since there is the off chance where they may need to hold their attacks until after confirming the intentions of the person they may or may not find.
Kukiko raised an eyebrow at her students questions, she hummed to herself for a moment as she thought,
"Well it's indeed very possible some brigands have taken root in the fort since it's fell into disuse…" she shrugged and continued forward with her Genin in tow,
"If there are, we ask them nicely to leave first. And if that doesn't work," she brandished a fist for them to see as she went,
"Then we make them leave. But I don't expect any trouble, if anything this will be a quick and easy mission, and a good way for you two to learn some survival skills once we get there."
"Hehe, that's great to know," Shion replied with a chuckle, "Also since the fortress is used for testing Chunins, are there any traps?"
"Ahh, a fortress from ancient times, guarded by traps," she squealed with delight, "It's like something out of a legend!"
"Oh, but hang on," the genin paused, rubbing her chin, "If there are any trap, they might have dissuaded most intruders already."
Yuyuko nodded as she heard the words of her jonin sensei and kept pace with the two as she pondered slightly over Shion's own consideration.
"Unless of course they managed to evade any traps that have not jammed due to age or failures before finding the main mechanism to disarm them." Yuyuko adds thoughtfully to Shion.
Kukiko shook her head as she walked. Traps? What did they think this was a pirates treasure?
"This is a fort. It didn't need traps it had walls and a gate, defenders. There shouldn't be any traps from when it was still in use because there probably never were any traps in the first place." she continued walking and decided to quiz the Genin a bit as they went. Give them something to think about that related to the past use of the fort, especially if this mission saw it out back into use for survival training… She'd be recommending them both for it despite their ranks.
"Alright a question for you two." she said as she turned on her heels and began walking backwards as she watched her two Genin,
"What are the four biggest necessities of survival in the wild? Each of you give me two." she asked of them while holding up four fingers.
Shion paused for a moment she heard Kukiko's quiz on survival. She held her head in both hands, trying to think of the answers, "Four necessities for survival…Four necessities for survival…"
"Umm, first we need to…hydrate ourselves so 'water' would be one of the first necessities," Shion held up her pinky, counting off one of the answers, "And…and…the water needs to be clean so we need to filter and…boil it…and that would mean…ahah, got it! Boiling requires fire and so does cooking."
"Therefore the second necessity would be 'fire'!" she declared, holding up her ring finger next.
Yuyuko started to think while Shion answered water along with fire after some thought. With those options down as Yuyuko did not want to leech of Shion's answers, her brain thought of what could be a necessity before she answered.
"I think a shelter or roof, maybe a structure that be used for defence and allow us a proper place to sleep."
"the second...umm, would it be maybe a supply of weapons since we can use them to hunt for food and defend ourselves?"
Yuyuko replied as she was not sure if her answer was a fully correct one and hence had to answer cautiously.
She was happy with the responses she had gotten back even if they were only partially correct. She continued walking backwards and raised three fingers into the air,
"You got three of the four I wanted, and then kind of the fourth." she gave them a smile and continued,
"Water, Shelter, Fire, and Food. Although not necessarily in that order." she continued stepping backwards her feet splashing through small puddles in the road as she went,
"Personally I'd strive for shelter first, then fire, water and food in that order. You don't need tools to catch or gather food. You can catch food with nothing more than simple things found in nature like sticks and a rock along with your own two hands and some ingenuity."
She tilted her head to the side,
"Now… You can both ask me one question, as a reward for answering mostly correct."
"Any question, hmm?" Shion rubbed her hands together with a smirk, "Heheheh, let's see then. What should I ask? Hmmm~"
"Hmm…oh, I got it!" the young swordsman declared with a snap of her fingers before she pranced towards Kukiko with a smug glee, "Sensei, do you have a crush on anyone? Or maybe…even a lover?"
Yuyuko went into some thought as she decided on what to ask as there was a bunch of things the genin wanted to ask Kukiko about while avoiding any landmines.
"how about...hmm...what did you feel has changed from when you were a genin? I am rather interested how life was when you were a genin."
Yuyuko said while increasing her pace to catch up with Shion.
Kukiko thought for a moment, a bit taken back by Shions question. She felt a deep ache in her chest begin to rise at the painful memories of her past. She shook her head and frowned,
"Not for a very long time." was all she answered to Shion before turning her attention from the uncomfortable question and onto Yuyuko. She thought for a bit before resting her gaze on the mask upon the girls face.
She nodded and her expression was cold as she began to speak,
"I think you're all far too weak. It's my job to get you both up to snuff but I shouldn't have to work over the terrible job the Academy did of getting you at least decent. When I was a Genin… My Jounin would have beat me to within an inch of my life over something as stupid as that damn mask." she pointed at the girls mask and began to wonder if she shouldn't beat her student over it. She badly wanted to, especially since it would take her mind off of the deep ache in her chest that was only getting worse with every passing second. She pivoted on her feet to turn away from both the Genin and hide her face,
"You're both far too carefree. Growing up in a time of this relative peace has made everyone too soft. When the next big conflict comes, or we're fighting more than simple pickpockets, there will be far too many dead to count on our side if all the academy grads for the last few years are even remotely similar to what I see in you both." she spat. She wanted to take the words back, but she had decided a long time ago to be truthful with her students, even over things they wouldn't like the truth from.
Shion paused in her track for a moment, surprised by Kukiko's reaction to her joking question. It must have hit far too close to home, considering that the Jonin could have been involved in the past wars, "I'm sorry about that, sensei. I-I should have known about that..."
Next, the jonin answered Yuyuko's question with a rant, causing the young swordsman to frown, "I myself think we're both pretty strong, sensei."
"Buttt if you insist, why don't you train us yourself?" she continued on with a smirk, "As Masakage-jii-san said, 'If you want something done right, do it yourself.' Right, Yuyuko?"
Yuyuko's eyes blinked slightly as she heard the answer of her Jonin sensei's answer to her and Shion's question. With both answers, it gave Yuyuko much insight in her sensei as she put her right hand against her mask considering what was said, trying to hide any expression that may show on the side not covered by her mask.
Her thoughts were soon interrupted when she heard Shion referring to her father Masakage as her mind caught the last sentence of Shion's words before she replied. "Uhh, yes, that is what father does make an effort to remind me."
Kukiko shook her head at Shion as she apologized for her question,
"You couldn't have known. It's not a problem." she put a hand out to her side and spun it around in circles.
"It's not that I don't plan on training you both. I just feel the Academy didn't do its job in the first place and now I have to do far more work than I should to get you both up to snuff.". She turned back around to face her students and continue walking backwards,
"Simple question this time. What do each of you believe your biggest strength and your biggest weakness is?" she fell silent for a moment before opening her mouth again,
"Personally my biggest strength is the fact I look like I'm down with the plague," she shrugged,
"people underestimate me because of it. My weakness… I'd say it's my want to control as much as possible in a situation, especially things that aren't within my ability to control." she turned the floor over to the her students as she kept pacing back.
"Heh, that's an easy question. I am one of the very best when it comes to Kenjutsu," Shion boasted with a puffed chest before pointing her thumb at Yuyuko, "In fact, even to this day, only Yuyu could match me in pure swordsmanship."
"That said though, there's only so many things a sword could cut," she pouted, "That's why I'm trying to learn Samurai Sabre Technique. And…oh yeah. Yuyu's pebbles gave me a lot of troubles in most of the spars so small projectiles could also count as my weakness?"
Yuyuko let out a small breath as she decided to think about the question and reply to them as she tilted her head.
"Ummmm, I don't know actually about my strengths. I more or less just try what seems to work while suiting what i like to help me climb up to the level Father and Mother are at, hopefully asap."
She then paused before continuing, "for weakness, maybe bad shoes and at times, the ground? I don't like changing shoes a lot even if my shoes get worn out and plus it feels weird to walk barefooted. And sometimes I get hiccups when I train with father and mother so I suppose that counts, Desu?" she said tilting her head.
Listening intently to both of her students as they talked she'd find herself once again a little annoyed by the arrogance of Shion, the very same arrogance that had gotten her knocked out at their earlier training. She fought back the rage that boiled up from her gut and managed to keep her face calm and neutral as Shion moved onto her weakness. The first part wasn't so much a real weakness that Kukiko would consider, not being able to cut everything would be a fact of life, even after she figured out the samurai sabre technique. The second part however, that she could work with, and rather easily too. It seemed Shion's weakness was her reflexes or reaction time. She smirked as she got an idea for the rest of their walk to the fort.
When Yuyuko's turn came, Kukiko found herself once more concerned with the young Genin. She had asked such a thoughtful question in comparison to Shion's, the sort of thing that hinted to a greater intelligence beneath the young girls… outer appearance. She wasn't sure on her strengths, but playing to what she knew and was comfortable with was a bit of a strength in and of itself. Kukiko wrote of the girls strength as knowing her limits. Her weakness? Kukiko was pretty sure it was her rather scattered personality. She formed a hand seal and around them small balls of ice began to form in the air around them, no larger than a ping-pong ball in size.
"Alright Shion, let's practice your reaction time then." without warning two of the balls would fly for Shion and a third for Yuyuko specifically from her blindspot due to the mask.
Night had fallen sometime before, and all the team had to lead their way was the increasingly seldom slivers of moonlight as the clouds above them crept eerily past. The team had come to a halt at the bottom of a narrow and winding footpath that led up to the outpost they were tasked with inspecting and securing if necessary. The outpost itself was in disarray, the wooden palisade around it was overgrown and in places entire sections had leaned far to either side and even completely toppled over in another. The gate itself was askew, as was obvious by the fact they could see through a human sized sliver into the clouds beyond through the two large gate doors.
Kukiko studied the sky above the outpost for a moment, squinting at the moving clouds above before she decided she was not watching a particularly fast moving streamer of clouds but instead the smoke from a campfire within the outpost itself. She turned to her Genin who had spent the last few hours of their time dodging their Jounin's ice as they walked, but nothing that would make them too tired to fight if the need came to it. She wondered if either of them would be bruised after that. She pointed a finger up at the barely visible column of smoke rising from the outpost,
"Seems there are unwelcome guests here." she said before dropping her finger,
"We're going in quietly and taking them without any injuries as long as they don't fight back, last thing I want is for a Genin to kill some poor hunter or smuggler because you two get too on edge." she said as she turned back toward the outpost and began picking her way up the path.
They would move slowly to to the main gate and upon finding it undefended she motioned for the two to follow her. She swept into the open yard beyond the gate and made a straight line for the one story building that the smoke was rising from. Kukiko would stop along the edge of the door, a faint beam of light escaping from under it and turn to her students,
"Lose the mask Yuyuko." she said quietly before she placed a hand on the door knob and turned it so slowly it barely made a noise. She gripped a kunai in one hand pulled the door open quickly moving into the room in a flash and finding it to be an empty hallway. She breathed out, a sigh of relief that she wasn't yet having to spill blood before noticing the open door further down the hall that the light was emanating from. Voices trailed out of it and the sound of a crackling fire and smell of meats cooking overwhelmed the hallway. Stepping silently down the hallway she risked a glance around the corner and pulled her head back quickly, she turned to her students spoke in a voice lower than a whisper,
"Four men, they're unarmed, we apprehend them and see what's going on." she waited for their answers before she'd signal them to take the room.
Shion followed closely behind Kukiko, rubbing a small bruise on her forehead she got from the sudden training. She was sweating lightly, her body warmed up from dodging the jonin's projectiles for the last few hours. Though her muscles felt a bit sore, it was nothing she couldn't handle.
As Kukiko finished her briefing, Shion nodded and peeked a glance into the room before whispering to her masked rival, "Yuyu, watch my back."
The genin silently drew her katana and took out a shuriken from her pouch with her off-hand, hiding the small star between her thumb and index finger. After taking a deep breath, she shouted, "Shinobi Forces here!" as she strutted into the room with her sword resting on her shoulder.
"So you bastards," she pointed her sword at the criminals, "What in the void are you…'cooking up' right now?"
As Yuyuko followed on after her jonin sensei and Shion, she had quite a few knocks to her face due to being kept on her toes by the balls of ice that was flicked at her. Granted unlike Shion, her mask tanked some of the damage, however, that was made up by how she had a few more bruises due to ones were shot at her from her blindspot but at least it was workable for her too.
Soon afterwards, she kept her ears open to her sensei as Kukiko briefed them on what they were to do, Yuyuko staying silent as they headed to the door before answering Shion's request with a small "ok." before her head tilted slightly upon hearing Kukiko's order.
Great….but then again it probably is serious enough that it necessitated it as she slipped off the mask she normally wore and slid it into her coat and begun to ready her left hand with 2 pebbles. After that, she put her hand near the hilt of her sword as she followed behind Shion, occasionally opening and closing her right eye to readjust back to her vision or as Yuyuko called it, her 'serious mode'.
As the two Genin entered the room, shouting their commands that obviously told the smugglers not to run they'd hesitate for a moment, taking in the two girls and seeming to decide if they could make a break for it or not. They at once appeared to make the same decision to instead surrender when the taller Kukiko entered the room looking rather upset with the whole situation. The men fell to their knees and placed their hands over their heads in such a fluid motion that it suggested they had been arrested many times in the past. They bellowed out surrenders and laced their fingers together on top of their heads while they waited for the three Shinobi to bind their hands where they couldn't use them.
Entering the room behind her Genin, she was less than happy with the way in which Shion had decided to enter. She'd need to walk them through what good announcing yourself can do, if any, in a situation like this. She'd much rather have preferred to have just talked the men down if given the opportunity. She walked forward in between her two students with a kunai in her hand and knelt behind the first of the four men,
"Keep an eye on the other three, I'll get them all bound." she said to her students before a moment later standing and moving away from the newly tied up smuggler.
"We're only smugglers! We won't be charged with anything worth while, we're barely smuggling anything really! Just sugar and wheat!" one called. Another appeared to think about hitting him before deciding that was a bad idea and instead decided to verbally assault his companion, "Are you fucking dumb?! Why would you say that? You idiot!"
Kukiko raised an eyebrow as she tied the third man and moved to the fourth,
"Smugglers huh? Anything you think we should know before we go rifling through your stuff and find something more than sugars and wheat?" she asked curiously of the men. One of them appeared about to talk when Kukiko noticed something in her periphere. A glint in the doorway to the Genin's backs and a flash of something to her left on the other side of the rooms window, she raised a hand to point at the cloaked man with a short sword coming up behind the Genin and managed the first syllable of the word
behind before a single panel of the window shattered in as an arrow passed through it and struck the jounin in the neck sending her toppling over in an unmoving mass.
As Shion heard Kukiko's voice, she turned on her front foot, to create some distances and face her attacker, as she haphazardly threw a shuriken at him. Realizing that the jonin's warning was cut off by something breaking through the window, the genin took a glance at her, seeing to her horror that she was crumpled on the floor with an arrow stuck in her neck, "Sensei!"
Right now, they needed to prevent the archer from firing another arrow especially with an enemy in the same room. They did have smoke bombs to obscure the view but detonating one of them in the room might result in a blind brawl, the last thing they want. Then again, they only needed to obscure the archer's vision...
Shion shouted, "Yuyu! Drop smoke bombs outside the window and take sensei to cover! I will deal with this one!"
The genin glared at the cloaked man as she stood in her fighting stance, her sword held in front of her waist with the tip of the blade pointing down at the floor.
Yuyuko turned hard as she saw the attacker and then heard Kukiko crumpling on the floor.
While Yuyuko did consider drawing her sword, Shion seemed to have gone into her fighting stance preparing to deal with their attacker. Yuyuko at that moment decided to follow Shion's lead reaching into her pouch with her right hand and threw a bunch of smoke bombs outside the window while moving towards Kukiko while keeping ready her left hand with her pebbles just in case she needs to help Shion gain the advantage in the fight that may soon come.
Yuyuko then looked at Kukiko's injuries so as to see how bad the damage is before breathing a sigh of relief. Luckily, the arrow ended up being lodged in Kukiko's flak jacket around the sensei's neck guard. "Don't worry sensei, just relax."
Yuyuko said as she begins to try to move her sensei away from the view of any windows in the room so they wouldn't have to worry about getting sniped again.
The man in front of Shion would begin to move to her right, circling the girl slightly as his eyes stared out from under his hood. He said something in a language that definitely wasn't Taika and a second cloaked figure would enter the room and take the position the first had been standing in before he had moved. With another unrecognizable noise the first man would lunge forward at Shion, the sword jabbing straight for her right flank before he'd suddenly stop and pull it back from the Genin. To her front the second ma would come at her with a sweeping strike from her left, timed almost perfectly with the first man's feint it would come at the side the girl would no longer be protecting.
Kukiko found herself staring at the ceiling with a throbbing pain in the side of her neck as if she had been hit with something particularly hard. When Yuyuko appeared over her and began to drag her somewhere Kukiko quickly snapped back into the moment. She sat up quickly and pulled the arrow from her collar. She took only a moment to realize that her genin had blocked the view from the windows with their smoke bombs and that Shion appeared to be in more than a little bit of trouble as she versed two hooded figures. She rose to her feet,
"Help Shion with the one on the right, I can handle the one at the door." she said loud enough for the Genin to hear before she ran forward and past the tied up smugglers who were all lying on the ground now.
There was a resoundingly large crack as the sword of the second man struck metal before it could reach Shion. Kukiko lifted her hand straight up sending the man's sword up with it as she reached her free hand for his neck. The man gasped as the jounins fingers wrapped around his windpipe and squeezed. She was no more than a few seconds from crushing his throat when she felt the sword held against her kunai shift and slip away. She looked up in time to move her head away as the man brought the hilt of the katana down on her. Her shoulder stung as the hilt landed hard and Kukiko let go of the man's neck who quickly took the moment to move back toward the door of the room.
"Sensei!?" Shion said in disbelief as the jonin deflected the strike aimed at her. Saving her surprise and celebration for later, the genin focused her attention on the first cloaked man, as she raised her sword above her head, while Kukiko was keeping the new attacker busy.
The genin grimaced as the jonin ordered Yuyuko to assist her. Though she was confident in her ability to deal with the cloaked man, she didn't have the luxury to refuse her help with the archer outside. The genin shook her head as an image of Kukiko crumpled on the floor flashed in her mind. Right now, the best course of action would be to finish the fight before the smoke dissipated enough for the one outside to get a clear shot or else…
Pushing forward with her back-foot, the genin shot towards the cloaked man as she delivered a diagonal cut aimed at the left side of his neck, the same side in which he was holding his sword.
Yuyuko was greatly surprised the moment she saw Kukiko begin to get up as she nodded hearing her sensei's instructions before seeing Kukiko parry and begun to engage the second opponent which left Shion and her to deal with the original one which Yuyuko moved to assist, first to position herself such that Shion and the first man was on her left field of vision.
As Shion begun her lunge, Yuyuko raised her left hand before flicking a pebble at Shion's foe, the trajectory of it aimed at the right from the center of the man's hood due to it most likely being the man's face was and as she knew it would mean her pebble should be able to hit slightly before Shion's lunge did.
The cloaked man would raise his sword to deflect Shion's strike, a clash of metal filling the air for a moment before he would push the girls sword back and fall into place with the second man at the door. He rubbed at his face under his hood, the pebble from Yuyuko had struck, but with the adrenaline pumping through his veins he had barely noticed the sting when it happened and found himself confused at the feeling. His friend said something low and both the men backed out of the door with their weapons still readied at the Shinobi.
In the time it had taken her opponent to reach the door, Shion and Yuyuko had managed to let theirs slip away as well. She placed their combat ability at that of an experienced Chuunin, together she figured they'd put up quite a fight even for her. Shion and Yuyuko? The stood no chance even two on one. Kukiko stepped forward to follow as the men backed out of the door and turned to her Genin,
"Out the window cut them off! Watch for the archer!" she yelled as she would slip two shuriken from her pouch and step into the hall. A flash of steel alerted her that one of the men had been waiting for someone to leave the doorway and she was suddenly very happy she had decided to send the Genin out the window and not through this death trap. She dropped in time for the sword to scrape off the wall and lunged forward with the kunai in her hand. A warm liquid began to flow over her hand as she plunged the blade into the stomach of the unlucky bastard that had thought he could catch her off guard again. He stumbled back, pressed at his stomach and leaned against the wall of the hallway. He slid down it quietly.
Kukiko noticed he was still breathing and holding pressure to his wound, but she knew he wasn't going anywhere soon. She left the man and ran for the exit of the building, bursting through the doorway too fast for anyone waiting to kill her upon exit she spun to survey the courtyard and try and spot her students.
"Roger that, sensei!" Shion replied as she threw a smoke bomb outside the window to cover their exit. Just as she was about to vault out the window, the genin paused for a moment before she formed a hand-seal, summoning two water clones by her sides as one of them transformed into an exact replica of Yuyuko.
"Yuyu, we're going out after the clones," the young swordsman said as the clones vaulted out of the window and into the smoke, "With an archer outside, it would be best to send out some decoys first."
"Shall we?" Shion asked, as she climbed onto the window-sill.
Yuyuko on her part had a smile on her face as her and Shion's foe were beating a hasty retreat. With Kukiko's instruction to go after them via the window, Yuyuko moved her hands to take out 2 shurikens from one of her pouches with her right and a pebble in her left one.
As Shion said they are to go after the clones, she nodded in approval as Yuyuko too had the same concerns like her partner about that archer.
"let's and on the double." Yuyuko called as she followed after the clones out the window, a few moments later, a thumping of footsteps told her that Shuon was right behind her.
The archer loosed as two shinobi burst forth from the smoke in front of him. His arrow flew true and struck the first of the girls before they could react. He cursed himself and notched a second arrow as the girl burst into water before his eyes. The archer would turn and begin to run for the gate while aiming his bow for the second running figure. He launched the arrow and managed to graze the girl, sending the clone tumbling into a puddle of water as it fell apart. He cursed again and reached for another arrow, notched it and sent it into the smoke that the clones had come out of, he notched again and repeated the shot.
Kukiko watched as Shion was hit by an arrow and her heart dropped for a moment only to find it was an overreaction as the girl burst into water. She turned her view away from the archer, her students had it covered, and tried to find the second swordsman. She spotted someone leaving the derelict gate at the front of the outpost and took off ina sprint. Moving out the gate she caught sight of the second swordsman and another, yet unseen man as they mounted two horses. Forming a flurry of handseals she would form a large amount of small ice needles around her. The first man took off on his horse and the second followed close behind, she let the needles fly. The rider in the back passed in front of the second rider just as the needles would have passed him and unluckily enough took them all for his companion. The horse went over in a cloud of dust and sent the lifeless body of the man flying off it as it did.
"Gods damnit" she cursed as she could barely see the second rider making off through the cloud of dust from the horse. She ran up to the man that had been thrown from his horse and made sure he had expired before she began to run back for the outpost and her students.
"Whoa!" Shion exclaimed as an arrow brushed past her and embedded itself into the wall behind. Just a second ago, the genin felt the connection break between her and the clones which would mean they were destroyed already.
"This is quite troublesome," the young swordsman commented, "Alright, Yuyu, I will go out from the left and you go out from the right. That will make it harder for the archer to track both of us at the same time."
Shion then dove out of the smoke into the open as she readied her blade in a fighting stance, "Come at me, you bastards!"
Yuyuko was surprised like Shion when she saw the arrow hit but recovered quickly as she at least was happy it was a clone and not them who got hit as she nodded. "On it, Shion."
With that, Yuyuko jumped out through the window from the left on the shooter's right and out of the smoke from that side as she pulled out two shurikens in her hand readying them to be thrown at any foes that enter her line of sight, preferably the archer who may be shooting at them.
The archer would notice the two shinobi as they burst from the smoke on opposite side of him, he cursed again and took a knee as he knocked an arrow and aimed for the girl on his right. He loosed and cursed again as the arrow went long and behind her. He rose and grabbed for another arrow from his quiver, attempting to knock it with shaking hands as the two shinobi closed on him. The archer fumbled, the arrow fell and he dropped his bow as he tore a small knife from his waistband and brandished it at the two shinobi,
"Don't you two fucks come any closer!" he yelled as he continued to flash the knife at them both,
"I won't give up shit to you lowlifes!"
"Uh, huh? With that dinky little knife?" Shion stepped forward with a smirk, her sword pointed down at the ground as her wrists relaxed, "What if we get closer? Then what?"
"Your friends are either running like rats, captured or lying down dead in the dirts," she continued as she took another step forward, "You're outnumbered two to one against trained shinobi and not to mention, we have a jonin coming right up who can skewer you like a yakitori from before you even see her."
"Oh, speak of the devil," the genin pointed behind the archer, at Kukiko who was now entering the courtyard, "There she is~"
Yuyuko cringed as she saw the arrow fly past her before she let out a small pant.
She at least was glad as had the arrow hit, she may not have the same amount of luck like her sensei to survive it, however her eyes seemed to dull as her mind seemed to trail off.
Then as the archer pulled out his knife, Yuyuko's eyes focused on it as though in a trance, focusing only on the knife and the eyes of the archer. As Shion begun her banter, Yuyuko's breath begun to quicken slightly as a thought ran through her head. Then in the next moment the archer finished saying low lifes, Yuyuko raised her left hand to her shoulder and gave it a quick flick throwing the 2 shurikens in it at the archer, one flying at the archer's left shoulder near his heart and the other at the archer's right hip.
In that same instance, the left hand that threw the shuriken it held, moved to the sheath of Fuurai before Yuyuko used her feet to close the distance with a quick jump and used the standard Iaido quickdraw slash aiming at around heart level hoping to either kill him, disarm him or, make him trip over due to how many attacks he had to deal with at once while she remained silent,unlike how she normally would be as loud and outspoken as Shion.
"I don't give a shit what you say Shinobi!" the man would yell as his eyes widened in sudden confusion as one of the shuriken would dig into his hip. He stumbled back and fell over as he noticed the girl moving forward to strike. He let out a scream and thrust his knife.
Kukiko approached from behind the man, picking up her pace as Yuyuko seemed to decide to strike the cornered man. She watched as he fell before her and had to avert her eyes a moment as he plunged the knife into the side of his own neck before the girl could land her strike. She would run up and kick the knife from the man's hand as he pulled it out of his own flesh. He gurgled and blood flowed freely in a smooth sheet down his neck quickly soaking his clothes. She knelt at his side and shoved her hands into the wound at his neck, attempting to staunch the flow to little effect.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" she yelled at the dying man as his eyes searched frantically for something that wasn't there, his hands came up and pressed against hers, an oddly unsettling movement from someone who had just been trying to kill her students only for him to smile slightly.
"Suzu…" he struggled and coughed, "will rise…"
She let her hands fall from the man's neck as he went limp in front of her and quietly stood to face her students,
"Gather the smugglers, we're taking them back right now." she stated, the tone making it obvious there would be no changes to the order.
"Huh?" Shion replied in confusion as she snapped out of her shock at the man's suicide, before the jonin's orders sank into her mind, "O-oh, yeah. The smugglers. Just a moment, sensei."
"Well, that was quite a dedication to his work, eh, Yuyuko?" she said to her friend with a nervous laughter as they walked back to the building, "Killing himself over a failed 'smuggling' job."
Yuyuko while mildly surprised by the display remained quiet as she watches the person begin to die in her sensei's arms. However her hands, body and sword were shaking, her eyes slightly dull as she watches the scene before she hears her Sensei's order.
At that moment, she seemed to snap back into reality and nodded as she accompanied Shion, her brain not exactly processing her friend's words. However when she sort of manages to process Shion's words,her reply while short as they neared the door to pick up the smugglers was.."No….it is just stupid, but sadly, he is in a better place now, Desu." Yuyuko said,her voice having a slight monotone with some struggle of trying to keep her voice happy as she fished out her vision blinding Oni mask to consider if she should rewear it or at least so she could put it on when Kukiko gives the ok.[/spoili][/fieldbox]