Naruto: Warring Fronts

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Saito Hajime

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Naruto: Warring Fronts
OOC Thread


[BCOLOR=transparent]It has been 513 years since the Sage of Six Paths appeared, introducing ninshuu and the use of chakra to mankind. Since then, mankind has taken the art and turned it into a weapon, ninjutsu becoming a destructive force deciding the fate of the land. Those that practice ninjutsu, called ninjas, seemed to only make the world a more dangerous place since then, disrupting the lives of others as a consequence of their battles. Ninjas across the land have grouped together in small clans, who try to hold influence over as much land as possible, though few acquire more than small regions. Each clan is led and identified by a prominent family. The influence of a clan is hardly stable though, and wars are near constant over who controls what area.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]For centuries, this has been the tenuous balance of things. Ninjas were born into clans, and would struggle against all other clans to assert their dominance. Clans would wax and wane like the moon.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]However, a disturbance in the balance of power has occurred. In the Land of Fire, several of the most powerful clans joined together, to form what they call a Hidden Village, the Village Hidden in the Leaves. With so many strong clans standing together, no one can even dream of fending off such a coalition, and clan after clan falls to this military force unlike anything ever imagined before. Claiming that they have a manifest destiny to bring their benevolent way of life to others, the Hidden Leaf is expanding daily, and no clan has been able to stop them. All clans live in fear of the Hidden Leaf Village. Their very way of life is in jeopardy. The two choices seem to be to join them, or disappear.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Two clans now stand at their border in the Land of Earth, who refuse to simply submit. The pragmatic Uroko Clan, and the idealistic Tsuki clan. Both clans are rising stars in the Land of Earth. Neither wishes to see a world dominated by the Hidden Leaf, and are preparing in anticipation of the inevitable confrontation. Even their genin are ever busy preparing against the threat, deployed to patrol less traveled parts of their lands.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]___________[/BCOLOR]



[BCOLOR=transparent]Tsuki[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]The entire camp gathered as scouting parties were formed. It had taken nearly all day to reach the southern parts of the steppe, the only marker being hills in the far distance behind them. Infront of them were lands conquered by the Land of Fire. It was considered dangerous for scouting, and long discussions were held on whether or not to even permit the genin to accompany the more seasoned nin. In the end, Ayumu, leader of the Tsuki clan, had decided they didn’t have enough nin not to. But the Tsuki clan still refused to put them in direct harm. Of the scouting parties, no genin were taken. Instead, they were left to guard the camp, and all the supplies there.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]When it became clear none of the scouts going out were genin, one of the genin complained out of turn.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]“But I want to help!”[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]She was met with a pat to the head. Looking up, she saw the leader of the camp, Jurou Ryuunosuke’s face.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]“You are helping. All of you are helping. We need our supplies safe after all. But you are our future, we can’t put that in danger. It doesn’t make sense have you all killed. Kicho, Pratt, Ciel, Toko, take care of the main camp. We’ll have Kaito here watch you all.”[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]He then turned to the rest of the scouts. [/BCOLOR]
[BCOLOR=transparent]“You all have your orders. A smoke signal will be given in case of emergency. Go.”[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]In a flash, the scouts disappeared.[/BCOLOR]


[BCOLOR=transparent]Uroko[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Hanra Uroko, proud son of clan Uroko, and heir to a prominent shinobi within the Uroko clan. The clan had been on alert ever since the stories had begun pouring out of the south-east of the unstoppable Hidden Leaf village and its new army. Hanra had scoffed at the idea of some rabble of ninja from the Land of Fire being anything more than a brief upset in shinobi politics, and had volunteered to take point and lead an expedition to show those upstarts the strength of the lords of Kizugawa. [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]And here he was, far from the frontlines, leading a pack of nutty kids around on a patrol in some untrodden region of the land. “It’s for the good of the clan!” they had told him. “It’s an essential part of our military strategy!” they had claimed. He suspected they simply had no appreciation for his talents. They wanted all the glory to themselves, so they stuck him with the children to march around areas the Leaf would never reach. They had been out in this dense forest where apart from their own camp, there was nothing but bushes and thickets, and there wasn’t a single sight worth seeing for miles. It was enough to drive him to drink.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Hanra was expected to write reports on their activities, even though Hanra had his doubts that anyone was bothering to read his daily recounts of absolutely nothing occurring. Rather than diligently patrol the middle of nowhere himself, he tended to send a group of raggedy genin out there to suffer while he remained in the sanctity of his command tent. He told his deputy to go bring him the next name on the list; Shigeru Kuroda. After a few moments, and a few swigs of whisky, the kid was brought before him. “Got orders, O glorious commander?” Hanra knew this one had a smart mouth. “Just get a few of those friends of yours and go on patrol.” He told him, barely bothering to look up from his drink.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]“How many friends? Two? Five? And only friends, and not acquaintances? What about friends with benefi-”[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]“Dammit kid, just grab….I dunno, that girl with the wires and that burakumin guy and whoever else and get out there!” His outburst clearly entertained the kid, who walked out with a smirk on his face. Hanra heard him call out to someone, saying “Alright, guys, it’s our turn to go poke around in the bushes again!” Not caring the least, Hanra simply sank into his chair, lazily filling himself with whisky. At least he could rest easy, knowing the Leaf wouldn’t be attacking them this far from the battlefield.[/BCOLOR]
 
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Kaguya Izuki


"..."
Kaguya was one of the first to reply. "What did you say to Hanra?... Uh... Nevermind." She stretched and began to check her supplies. "... We're scouting again then? Sounds simple enough." She softly spoke, electing herself to go along. She slid her hand to her back. "Mmn.." With a breath or two, the kunoichi brought herself to her feet. "Who wants to take point today?" She almost struggled to ask the others nearby as she obviously didn't feel up to it. Part of her honestly didn't want to go, but the other part didn't want to be left behind.

It might be clear which side would overpower the other.

A well trained slacker is far less useful in war than the average trained mook... Plus, she had already spoken up, so in that case, she really didn't have a choice but to go.

Kaguya walked a few steps away from her previous position, bringing her head down, then looking toward the trees. As soon as someone decided to take the lead, they'd all be off. Well, most of the other kids, anyways. Though, she'd rather split up the group, as they would probably cover more land that way, but it wasn't her call to make.

Kaguya relaxed and just put her hand on her hip, taking in the atmosphere and hoping that the others could organize a proper plan before they all departed, so as not to get slaughtered should they by chance encounter an enemy squadron. Her father would kill her again if he found out that she got sent to the afterlife by a random foot soldier without a name.
 
"Y-yes, sir..." Toko offered a faint nod in response to his orders. Of course, he wanted to be of more use than just guarding the camp but at the end of the day, guarding was one of his clan's main purpose when not out on a crusade. The boy made his way up to a tree, sitting on a larger branch as he got a better vantage point of the area. It seemed empty, no enemies in sight. Hopefully this would all turn out well enough, but some of the other genin seemed very eager to prove themselves. It was good to be ambitious and strive for great things but guarding the camp was an incredibly important task, albeit not as dangerous as what the jounin were doing.

The boy moved his shield closer to his body and sighed slightly, his thoughts often leaving his side and heading towards more adventurous endeavours. He remembered how his mother always told him that he was an explosive personality behind a silent shell. She was probably overdoing it a bit, but it was true that Toko indeed enjoyed the danger of life more so than he perhaps should have.

It was not long after that his ears picked up a sound, a faint noise. Immediately perking up, the boy straightened his body and looked around, moving his eyes towards the sound. Was it a cry? Whimpering? Something along those lines...someone was in distress. He should have informed the others but taking a quick look wouldn't be so harmful would it? No, they were all counting on him as being part of the lookouts, he couldn't just abandon his post. He needed to inform the others of this before heading off, it was the only logical decision. Toko wouldn't want an imminent attack on the camp to be because he failed to do his job. "Uhm...Kaito...sir.." The boy jumped down from the tree and landed on his feet with a cat's grace. "I...I heard a noise." He continued, his voice quiet and demeanour rather insecure. "It...was from over there..." He'd motion towards the location. This probably meant that Kaito would be the one to check it out, which was of course a shame, but it might have been a trap that someone of genin rank couldn't possibly manage to live through.

Toko remained stationary until further instructions were given, though with his eyes on the point of interest. Was it smart to leave a bunch of genins by themselves around the camp if Kaito decided to head off? That wouldn't have been the best course of action. "I...I volunteer to check it out, sir..." Toko spoke up, his fingers clenching around the strap of his shield just a little tighter.
 
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Pratt

"Alright then," replies Pratt. Even if he agrees, the boy still wanted to do something other than guarding. Scouting around the areas seems like an interesting job to him. He hoped to one day be running around seeing what was happening. However, it isn't that day, so he is stuck at the camp guarding it.

With that, Pratt wanders and strolls through the surrounding steppe. To him, he didn't see anything of danger besides a sun that can blind him if he stared at it for too long. "Well seeing nothing is better than finding an enemy," thinks him as nothing is really happening.

As the boy walks around the camp, he stumbles upon a hare. "Hey little buddy," says him as he looks down at it. The hare starts to run away then. "Alright, there are other animals around here..." As Pratt says that, he notices the lack of animals around. The only life he can see is a flock of birds going farther from the camp. "That's strange," says him," it wasn't this barren yesterday." Thinking that something may be wrong, he nears camp. "Hey," shouts him," I can barely see any animals around here anymore. What could've happened to them?"
 
Patrol, patrol, patrol...

That word was slowly dominating Kanoke's psyche with its mind-numbing tediousness. Oh, he would patrol on behalf on his family, but couldn't he at least have some excitement? Hell, he was almost tempted to try and wrangle a few Leaf ninjas over just so their patrols were actually beneficial.

"I get the feeling they're punishing us for some....unknown transgression."

He let out a long sigh. Was he here because he was creepy? He knew he was creepy and the Uroko were fully well aware of how creepy the Etamura were, so it didn't make sense unless it was out of some misguided spite. Well, there was no reason to draw out such contemplation, for they were here and they had their orders. On that note...

"I'm definitely not leading this time."

That left, somebody, but he was certain thing would sort themselves out.
 
Kicho Hashiba

The small hyperactive Kunoichi wasn't happy about being left behind. Kicho had worked hard to be a ninja, and wanted to be strong, but standing around camp for a few hours seemed so boring! She wanted to be useful, she wanted to be doing stuff.

It didn't take her long to find somewhere comfortable to watch from, atop a pile of supplies. Kicho sighed looking outward. There didn't seem to be much. Just grass, grass, and more grass. Even a cloud was rare. A small odd black one was on the horizons, but that was it. It was a bad omen supposedly. She took note of it, mainly due to it being the only thing she could see on the horizon.

[BCOLOR=transparent]“Being a ninja's more boring than I thought it would be. Wonder why brother Tenjin envied it so much. Wonder if he's....”[/BCOLOR]

Mentioning him made her think of home.... which she didn't like. She was saved from thoughts of homesickness by one of the others shouting.

"Hey,I can barely see any animals around here anymore. What could've happened to them?"
She looked over to see it was the really, really tall one, Pratt.

[BCOLOR=transparent]“Maybe there's evil spirits nearby!"[/BCOLOR]

She replied back superstitiously. Being raised in a shrine had a tendency to do that. He wasn't the only one with something to report. The one with a bow, Toko, was already talking quietly with Kaito. Kicho let go of a strand of hair she had been twirling incessantly, and jumped back down, walking to see what was up. She saw Toko pointing towards where she'd seen the weird cloud.

[BCOLOR=transparent]“I saw some weird looking cloud that way too. Maybe a bad omen?"[/BCOLOR]

Tsuki Clan

Kaito Tsuki, a ninja about 10 years older than most of the group, listened to the reports. He lifted an eyebrow at the small little things everyone had picked up. He closed his eyes to listen, before everyone else added to it.

"Cries... a black cloud... all the animals are running. I'm not sure what's going on, but we do have to keep an eye out."

Kaito gritted his teeth as he thought.

"I absolutely can't let the supplies fall, but I don't want you all in too much danger. I'm part of the main house, your safety is my top priority...."

In the end he shook his head.

"Alright, I absolutely hate to do this, but I need to make sure the camp is secure. Toko, take with you Pratt, Kicho, and Ciel. You are in charge. If you see anything, and I mean anything that looks dangerous, avoid it. If you hit danger, send a smoke signal. 3 puffs for danger."

Kaito held his hand to his face.

"Heaven help me if anything should happen to you all...."
 
"M-me...?" Was Toko going to be the leader? He never expected himself to be put in that position, in charge of his allies actions. Of course, the boy had wanted some action, probably like everyone else at the camp, but this sudden development came out of nowhere. "I..." The boy gulped, looking down at his feet. "I'll...do my best, sir..." After a moment the swordsman would look up with a soft smile and nod once in approval, albeit rather forced. "I mean...yes, sir." He didn't quite know what the others would think of him being the leader of this little expedition. They all probably saw him as nothing but a quiet background character sometimes making his place heard by swinging a sword loudly enough. Though, he wanted to convince himself that everyone was professional enough to put their emotions aside for a moment and focus on the task at hand. At the end of the day, Toko was probably the only one thinking about this so much.

He wasn't large by any stretch of the imagination. Even though melee combat was his only expertise, the boy sported a thin, short frame with little muscles visible on the surface of his skin. The black t-shirt and shorts he wore left little to the imagination as all four limbs were exposed enough to warrant assumptions, though most ninja knew that looks could be very deceiving. "Alright, everyone..." He spoke up loudly enough for the small group to hear but not particularly clearly. "Let's go..." Whatever awaited further from camp could be a lethal trap or an impending ambush. Lowering his hand to the hilt of his short sword, the boy released the blade from the scabbard and moved forth with caution, his shield held closer to his chest as he moved.

Toko was unsure of what the others could do and what their skills allowed. He hadn't seen them in combat enough to draw a reasonable conclusion yet but he knew that everyone was more than capable. With the right teamwork, they would be able to handle the ordeal ahead. Kaito seemed incredibly distraught over the whole situation but the matter of the fact remained true, these genin needed to learn. He probably knew that, and perhaps that was why he decided to let them deal with it. "Is everyone's lives my responsibility now, because he put me in charge..?" The boy's thoughts circled his head. "No...we're all responsible for each other. We need to stick together." Turning around, Toko looked behind him to make sure that everyone was there. They hadn't moved very far from the camp yet but it was better to be safe than sorry. Splitting up in a situation like this was only acceptable when devising a battle strategy, but that wasn't applicable at this very moment.
 
"I guess I'll take the lead again." Shigeru's voice was tinged with reluctance, but it was largely feigned. It wasn't a big deal to him if he had to take point in their little bush excursion. "Really, guys, what does it matter who takes the lead?" He began, as the lot of them started walking out of the camp and into the bush. "We've done this before. We all have. We all know it's just a long period of walking around in circles looking at all the exciting varieties of identical thickets this vast forest has to offer. Heck, we could just spend the whole time just messing around if we want...." They were out of earshot of the rest of the camp by the time he started talking like this. Even if this was the most pointless task in the world, there were sticklers around the camp, Hanra in particular, that would be demanding a flogging for vaguely insubordinate talk. Even though Hanra was probably doing the least work of anyone in the camp.

"I mean, come on, what's going to happen out here? What are the chances that some Leaf assholes are going to show up and-"

"WE are the SENJU!" A loud voice rang out through the relative quiet. Shigeru looked to see a group of shinobi standing not far from their group. One of them, who was wearing a special jacket, was the one speaking out. "PROUD sons of the Hidden Village of the LEAF. We come in the name of our BENEVOLENT nation to demand your SURRENDER! We shall LIBERATE you from the TYRANNY of your masters, and grant you a GLORIOUS new life in the service of the LEA-"

He was stopped mid-sentence by a piece of stone that pierced his throat. He collapsed to the ground, quite clearly dead. "Okay, yeah, I don't know if this some kind of practical joke or not, but you guys can all bugger off back to where you came from, kay?" Shigeru watched as the other Leaf ninja simply stood there, stunned, as though they couldn't believe he had killed their commander so casually. But soon, they came to their senses. "ATTACK!" The cry rang out, and the Senju began their assault on Shigeru and the others. Shigeru quickly found himself locked in battle with one of the Senju, and the others would find themselves embroiled in the conflict much the same....
 
Kaguya Izuki
"I swear, sometimes you're too foward to be a ninja..." Kaguya remarked towards Shigeru, rather cross with the way he handled things. "...But action is action... Even if these, Senja-whatever, have no idea what they're doing... " She slid her hand to her blade's sheath. After releasing a breath, the sword was drawn. Not long after that she was lunged at by one of the opposing ninja. It was a rather sloppy technique if she could say so herself, so she took his arm off as punishment for underestimating her. As expected, the ninja cried out in pain and confusion as a couple of splatters of fresh blood, oh, and an arm, plopped themselves onto a small section of the brush beneath everyone's feet. Personally, Kaguya wasn't really a fan of torturous acts, so she decided to swiftly put an end to the ninja's pain, as from what she could tell, the kid wasn't any more skilled than she was at 10 despite from looks being around her age. It's unfortunate that things had to go such a way, but she knew what to expect when she was talked into becoming a ninja. Kaguya decided to stand back and let the others have fun with the rest, as long as another enemy mook didn't decide to boast their overconfidence.
 
"I guess I'll take the lead again." Shigeru's voice was tinged with reluctance, but it was largely feigned. It wasn't a big deal to him if he had to take point in their little bush excursion. "Really, guys, what does it matter who takes the lead?" He began, as the lot of them started walking out of the camp and into the bush. "We've done this before. We all have. We all know it's just a long period of walking around in circles looking at all the exciting varieties of identical thickets this vast forest has to offer. Heck, we could just spend the whole time just messing around if we want...."
"Oh, but it does matter, Kuroda-san." Kanoke replied. "Taking the lead means you're the first to encounter anything we come across...especially the troublesome bits." It shouldn't have been too surprising that he essentially declared his laziness, considering how bad he was off the field. Then again, he was conserving his energy for more important things, and patrols weren't entirely up there on his list.
"I mean, come on, what's going to happen out here? What are the chances that some Leaf assholes are going to show up and-"

"WE are the SENJU!" A loud voice rang out through the relative quiet. Shigeru looked to see a group of shinobi standing not far from their group. One of them, who was wearing a special jacket, was the one speaking out. "PROUD sons of the Hidden Village of the LEAF. We come in the name of our BENEVOLENT nation to demand your SURRENDER! We shall LIBERATE you from the TYRANNY of your masters, and grant you a GLORIOUS new life in the service of the LEA-"
"Re...really?" His brain struggled to registered what exactly he had witnessed. Like Kuroda had verbalize, he was uncertain of whether or not this was all just a joke, but it seemed battle had ignited regardless. "I can't help but feel like I've been cheated after all those rumors..." Whipping his arm to the side, the action was enough to loosen his bajōzutsu from the hidden holster in his sleeve and the matchlock pistol found its way into his hand just in time to intercept the leaf-nin who had chosen to charge him with a kunai. A gunshot sounded, the scent of lit gunpowder filled the forest's clearing, and for the unfortunate leaf-nin, he would find a musket ball burrowing into his eye before breaking through to bounce around in his skull.
 
Pratt

"Great," says Pratt. "Evil spirits. Now that's going to be more frightening than a regular enemy." After all, the boy knew nothing about evil spirits, except that they're evil and they're spirits.

He hears the rather superior person at the camp want him and the other kids to search around. "Alright, grouped. Let's get a move on then." Pratt is a mild one when it comes to groups. It's better to fight in a group than alone. However, everyone would be together instead of being scattered about. Either way, the boy follows with the group. "There's got to be something that made the animals run away. Either is was evil spirits as it was proposed, or something else."
 
Kicho Hashiba
Kicho's eyes lit up as her name was called, instantly followed by a flurry of excited movement. Her hands pressed together like a prayer, the rest of her was bouncing up and down.

"♫ We get to go scouting ♫"

She bounded infront of the nervous Toko.

"You'll do fiiine."

In just as quick speed she was halfway to Pratt, bemoaning her mention of evil spirits. The evil spirits were superstitious, myths and legends she'd heard, but Kicho loved the stories. She grinned confidently.

"Just as well I was a shrine maiden before I was a kunoichi."

She pulled out a Ofuda, a fortune lot with a prayer inscribed on it to show. Kicho lived in her own little world.

"Let's go!"

She was way too excited about this. She knew deep down it was dangerous, but the thought didn't appear to affect her too much. In truth, she felt like she'd been training all this time to be useful. To be strong enough to protect people around her. She wasn't going to do that staring at a barren field. And if there wasn't anything, well, at least she got to get up and move.

As they travelled, one thing that never ceased amaze Kicho was how tall Pratt was. She kept glancing up at him, craning her neck every time.
 
Pratt
"I still don't see that much animals," goes the Pratt. No matter where he looks, whether it's North, South, East, or Northeast, he doesn't see a single sign of life other than vegetation.

"Either these things have some super migration that is happening right now, or some damm hunters killed and scared everything away prior. I never saw anyone besides us in the past few days, so I'll put some bet on-."

The boy notices Kicho looking up at him. He doesn't know why though, he doesn't owe her anything and he doesn't feel a huge spider on him.

"Is there something wrong? I feel alright; not feeling sick at all-"

Pratt then feels a little tickle on his right hand. He raises it to see a small beetles there. Soon, he notices a few on the ground the boy is walking past.

"It looks like beetles are the only things left here. Either something doesn't like the taste of beetles, or these beetles can eat things whole."
 
"Bugs...?" The silence, the lack of life and the stillness was disturbing all on its own. Toko had never much cared for insects, much less liked them, but this struck him as odd on a disturbing level. With another few careful steps, the boy's grip around his blade tightened ever so slightly, his eyes trailing the grassy ground for more insects. They would not be disappointed as an increased amount of bugs filled the area. "Wait..." Toko stopped, raising his hand as he fixed his gaze on what appeared a short distance from the group. It would seem like the bugs had gathered a few feet away, surrounding something. "This is probably a stupid decision, Toko...you should turn back and go on the defensive..." The swordsman was never very good at listening to his own advice, however. It was quite prominent as he continued forth, his heartbeat accelerating with each step.

Heavy breathing would strike him like a sledge hammer to the chest as he laid eyes upon the sight stretching out before him, once he had crossed the distance between the camp and the point of interest. A corpse laid between the strands of grass, bugs crawling upon her flesh and drawing a sight hard to stomach. "Th-that's..." A fellow warrior from the Tsuki clan had fallen to an enemy. The wounds on her body indicated battle and these bugs, they weren't ordinary insects. At this point, it was rather hard to keep a calm mind, but he had to relax his heartbeat and quickly analyse the situation before his next few breaths were going to be his last.

The enemy who did this was still around. Toko had been told that there were bloodline limits and other jutsu both disturbing and obscure. Many ninja had managed to master the most nightmarish and horrible of techniques in the past and the future would be no different. While he had little knowledge of this specific situation, he knew that these bugs had be part of the enemy's arsenal.

Before further analysis could be provided, Toko found himself suddenly attacked by a flying swarm of bugs appearing out of the grass. His reflexes were fast enough to raise his shield in retaliation and heard a loud metallic thump as the insects collided with the metallic layer of his shield. Spinning his body around, he delivered a quick slash towards the swarm and backflipped, allowing for some distance as he saw a good few bugs fall to the ground, red and yellow fluids now drenching his blade. "An ambush..." He breathed, looking around quickly to see his allies still safe. "We can't get out of this...we've already sprung the trap...get ready..." The boy frowned, his teeth clenched as his fingers tightened around the hilt of his sword. They would need to battle their way out of this, there was no escape.
 
Bringing down his last opponent with a kunai to the chest, Shigeru realised that their little skirmish had ended. Between himself, Kanoke, Kaguya, and the others, they had defeated the enemy. But they didn't have long to rest before others arrived. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you looked at it, the others that arrived were just Hanra and the other shinobi that had remained at the camp, drawn over by the sounds of fighting. "What is this? What's going on?" Hanra barked. He looked and sounded flustered.

Shigeru picked up his final opponent and held him in Hanra's direction. "Take a look, cap'n. They're Leaf ninja." He pointed to the headband as he spoke. As Hanra looked, his face went pale. "Oh no...." He was visibly shaking at this point. "This can't be happening. They can't have come here..."

For those more aware, Hanra's ensuing cowardice was the least noteworthy sound on this battlefield. Shigeru, and likely the others, caught wind of the sound of clapping. A figure emerged from the nearby bushes, dressed in a long coat. He wore a headband much the same as those on the corpses around them; one from Konohagakure. "I must say, I'm impressed." He began speaking, completely ignoring Hanra and the others, focusing on those that had taken part in the battle. "When my scouts reported a run down camp full of layabouts, I thought the idiot brigade here..." He gestured towards the dead ninja that were strewn around. "...would be a match for you people. It's a pleasant surprise, really, to finally see some backbone in the people we fight."

Hanra, who had initially held his tongue, chose this moment to have a burst of confidence. "H-hey, don't you ignore me!" He advanced on the Leaf ninja, who rolled his eyes upon noticing Hanra. He simply stomped one of his feet on the ground, and in the blink of an eye, a gnarled wooden spike erupted from the ground and pierced Hanra in the gut. Hanra's entourage were stunned at the spectacle of what had just occurred. Barely wasting a second, the man returned his attention to the others. "It's a pity you're not Senju, or you might have had a bright future. I'm afraid this is where it ends for all of you..."

Suddenly, the man found himself tackled to the ground by one of the other Uroko ninja. The Uroko readied their weapons, but yet another surprise came; a horde of Leaf shinobi poured out of the bushes to attack. It only took a few seconds for the battle to turn sour, with Uroko shinobi dying left and right, and blood flying everywhere. Even the man with the long cloak was finishing off his attacker, almost ready to attack the others himself.

Shigeru, standing by his comrades, had only one thing to say; "You know guys, I didn't like Hanra that much, so...bye!" And like that, he was off. He would run over the hills and far away if he had his way.
 
Kicho Hashiba
Kicho was caught looking at Pratt. She responded simply with stating the obvious.

"You're tall."

Like that she turned away. In her own world, everything was simple. He was tall, it was interesting to her..It still was, but she didn't want to be caught again. She kept looking around, wondering where all the insects had gone. A chill ran down her spine as she wondered if it was a bad spirit. Or something she didn't know how to deal with.

As her eyes kept darting absentmindedly, before it started to bug her that there were bugs everywhere. Wasn't Pratt just mentioning the lack of wildlife? Why all the bugs? As one landed on her kimono, Pratt commented

"It looks like beetles are the only things left here. Either something doesn't like the taste of beetles, or these beetles can eat things whole."

Kicho squealed and slapped at it hearing the team 'eat things whole'.

She was brought back to orbit by what Toko encountered next though.

A body infront of them.

Kicho stood, an uncharacteristic seriousness and gloom coming across her face. One of the scouts had been attacked and killed.

It scared her. It was one thing to see someone sad in the shrine, or hear of Tsuki ninja's talking about the wars and battles going on.... but Kicho had never seen someone killed before. Kicho looked horrified at the body, she wanted to throw up. Then she noticed a necklace on the neck. A kindly kunoichi who'd given Kicho candy before they left.

"Kaede Tsuki!?"

Before she think too much on it herself, insects attacked Toko. Kicho looked nervously around. The insects seemed more active.

Tsuki

A roar of insects sounded in the area, and clouds of insects rose in a circle around them, creating a tornado like effect to box the group in. Rising out of a swarm of insects, directly behind the group, a hooded figure appeared. Most of his face was obscured by his clothing, but his emotions were clearly shown by the relaxed posture he held, with his hands in his pockets.

"I see. Only natural for a corpse to attract flies. This shouldn't take long. I am Shingen Aburame. Be warned, the Aburame don't hold back, no matter who our opponents are."

As he spoke, he removed his hand from his pocket, outstretching it at the group. 2 swarms of insects came crashing down at Pratt and Toko.

On the otherside, using the crashing motion as a distraction, 2 swarms surged upward hidden by the grass at Kicho and Ciel. Both screamed as they were covered, Kicho reaching for her pouch as they surged.
 
As the insects circled the group in a terrifying hurricane of wind, the boy's feet stood frozen to the ground as his eyes quickly turned to look at the man appearing behind them. His voice, his posture, his presence, they were all disturbingly calm. A group of genin couldn't hope to go up against this guy, could they? He seemed used to the battlefield in a way genin never could. Toko found himself shivering slightly at the thought. The bugs were closing in and this was no way to go. The thought of being eating alive by bugs wasn't very tempting. "Come on, Toko..." The boy's mind continued. "You're a Chakra Knight...this shouldn't phase you...you need to fight." His grip around his sword tightened further but he still found himself frozen to the spot. It felt hopeless.

Breaking him from paralysis was pure muscle memory as he quickly tossed himself to the side in reaction to a wave of insects coming his way. With a quick swing, followed by a second slash of his sword, he saw some more insects falling to the ground but this wouldn't do. It was like fighting a cloud, how could he possibly damage that. Toko couldn't use any effective ability against this type of opponent yet. His Chakra Enchantment techniques weren't up to par yet and the genin would have to aid one another perfectly in order to win. The insect wave came at him and Pratt once more. Raising his shield in a bashing motion, he slapped several bugs out of the way forcefully and continued to slice at the cloud but a third assault from the creeps would knock him off balance.

Falling to the ground, Toko quickly rolled back to his feet and raised his shield to block yet another incoming wave striking him with full force. "We need a strategy..." He managed, looking around for his companions in the chaos while keeping his attention at the enemy. They would need to strike the hooded figure directly. Unless someone could breathe fire, fighting the bugs would get them nowhere. The bugs were endless and despite fighting a single enemy, the genin were vast outnumbered. "We'll need to go for him..." Toko continued, a bit more silently this time.

Swarms of dead bugs donned the stained grass but their numbers did not seem to dwindle at all. Eventually, the group would tire out and they would be sitting ducks. The only way to win this fight was probably to target the source of the bugs.
 
Pratt
He is tall. That's why Kicho took a gaze at him. Well that boy couldn't deny it. He was over two meters and could reach the top shelves in his home. Yet, being called tall sounded annoying to him.

"Well yeah. Sure I'm tall, but it's not like I have to duck when I go through a -."

The lips of Pratt stop their movement as the eyes of Pratt and the others notice fear straight on. In front of him was deceased kunoichi, one of his Tsuki's kunoichi. To scream would be the boys first reaction, but self control made sure it didn't come out. No scream is needed anyway with the fear being shown on his face. Soon, his fright and shock would be pushed more as a beetles arrives surrounding them all.

"Maybe they do eat things whole," thinks him.

As the group gets surrounded by the arthropods, a person comes present who seems to be as calm as heck with the corpse nearby. That man didn't seem to be passive at all, seeing that he says that he won't hold back. As that figure announces that, a swarm of those beetles come at him. With that, he takes out his tantō and starts swinging it at them. Pratt's tantō quickly just becomes a steel blade covered in yellow goop. The boy knew that he wouldn't be able to keep up for long. As dead bugs cover the ground, he hears Toko say to go for the man.

"How though," whispers Pratt as his blade slices through the beetles," he has beetles and we got blades and kunais. I can do my spiked floor jutsu, but he may be a big jumper. There's got to be something we can do."
 
Kicho Hashiba
Kicho screamed as insects blanketed her. She had just enough sense to reach for her pouch before they managed to. She slapped herself with her an Fortune Paper.

As soon as the insects completely covered her, a sudden shock wave blasted her back out of the wave of insects, the force of it killing many of them.

She rolled a bit on the ground before staggering up. The thought that these things were never ending unless they could get to the man controlling them scared her. Kicho trembling grabbed another paper seal, then slapped helplessly against a few more beetles landing on her.

She hated the thought of dealing with the insects, but if they didn't do something soon...

"I-I might be able to hold off the bugs for a second or two, I-I have a few Ofudas. C-can we really s-stop him, though?"

She was terrified out of her mind at volunteering, but she was more afraid of having to deal with the bugs longer than she had to. That, and her paper probably wouldn't do much to him anyways.
 
"Damn it... Hanra..." Kaguya was stunned. It was as if in a snap of that Senju-whatever ninja's fingers, all of their fellow Uroko ninja began to fall. This obviously wasn't the the case, they weren't just falling, they were being killed as a mass, like a herd of wild animals. This wasn't good, Hanra is dying, many others are dead, and in no time the enemy would reach herself and the others, and they would die. For the first time in her conscious life, Kaguya was scared... But she had to atleast look confident...

As much as she hated to admit it, Shigeru had the right idea. They had to leave, or they would die.

Kaguya opened her mouth, at first having a hard time getting her words out. "I'm-... I'm withdrawing as well, I suggest that you guys all do the same.." She told the others before hopping up into a tree and taking her leave. Those Hidden Leaf ninja, they really were something else, and that was just a couple dozen of them... Uroko and... Maybe even the neighboring Tsuki Clan may be in trouble...

Kaguya wondered how they would explain what just happened. A bunch of teens returning from a small camp alone? Would their leader even believe them? Would their news cause panic? Would the Uroko Clan be assimilated before the group even arrived? This sudden turn of events caused Kaguya to grow more and more dissuaded.
 
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