Team Rin: The Sword of the Valiant

[ZeroNumerous]

DM

The girl frowns. "I'll say again. Let me pass or I will be forced to kill her." The statement is accompanied by her right hand pointing back toward Rin with her fingers spread and palm facing out toward the jounin. It seems she expects the medical nin to make the first move, and Rin can see the concentration of chakra in her palm denoting a prepared attack.

Spoiler

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Key
Red=Platforms, +5 movement to get into that area.
Yellow=Destroyed statues, impassable terrain
B1/2/3 = Body 1(Dragon), Body 2(Rabbit) and Body 3
O = Orochimaru's body
R = Rin
G = Girl

Place yourselves in one of the teal squares, then roll initiative.

[Callos_DeTerran]

Sumie

At first, Sumie hesitated when the girl told her to get out of the way, part of her argued that she should try to detain this stranger to find out what she knew about Orochimaru but the other part argued that if this girl could beat...whatever kind of fascimile that had come to this temple then she'd have no trouble brushing Sumie out of her path.

Then Rin, and the girl, had to go and take the decision out of her hands and the teenager's lips set in a grim line as she dashed forward until the girl was within arm's reach (Square 9,7) and tapped deep into her strong martial training. Chakra surged into the muscles of her arms and into the specially prepared gloves of her clan, and when she swung her fist out at this stranger then it would have devastated the other's body.

If it had hit.

The punch went wide and Sumie curses underneath her breath as she falls back into a familiar fighting stance, left arm raised up vertically along her line of sight with the other pulled back horizontally at her waist. "What is your name?" She asks quietly.

Spoiler

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Init.: 11
Perform Roll: (1d20+25)[29]

Attack Roll:(1d20+16)[17]
Action Point: (1d6)[1]
(1d6)[1]
Damage: (2d8+8)[10]
Con. Penalty: (1d4+14)[16]
DC: 25 or be exhausted. Successful save is fatigued.

[Valgunn]

Rin

"I'll not repeat myself again," her voice projected itself clearly despite the softness of it. She pointed her own right hand toward her with her fingers spread wide, shortly accompanied by her other hand with it's fingers spread wide.

OOC:

Spoiler

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Hit points: 46/64 (-14)
Chakra pool: 19/92
Armour class: 28 (29 versus What's her face; 30 versus What's her face in melee)
Ongoing effects: Readied Action, Speed Rank 5 (1/1)

Readied Action!
Kamehameha her Kamehameha.

[ZeroNumerous]

DM

Sumie's question is met with the same blank-faced indifference that girl had used to kill Orochimaru. "What does it matter? My name is ephemeral. It will fade, just as you will." Rin's focus of her chakra draws the girl's attention, and she looks over her shoulder back toward Rin with that unchanging mask of indifference. "A disciple of the Turtle Hermit. Just like this one."

A brilliant blue ball of concentrated chakra cuts through the distance between Rin and her mysterious foe. Rin's own blast of chakra meets it head on. A powerful, silent explosion encompasses both combatants. The bright blue light blinds both from the sight of all onlookers for several seconds as dust and soot blasts away from the two beams meeting point. When the light fades the only thing left is a tired Rin, the girl and a small crater where the beams had touched the temple floor. A subtle smile starts with just a twitch of the woman's lips. "I suppose I must kill you now, or else you won't let me through will you?"

Spoiler

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Her readied action goes off when Rin readies her action. Both Kamehameha's cancel on another out.

[The Unborne]

Hibiki

Hibiki could not understand why everyone was throwing their life in harm's way so easily. Was Rin blind while the woman in white easily struck Orochimaru down with ease? If not, then why would she send her genin off again to face some powerful ninja when there was no chance of winning? The one known as Orochimaru caused Hibiki to tremble in fear, and now he was about to go up against someone who was far stronger. "I-I can't do this..."

His bottom lip begins to tremble as he stares at woman in white and his blond-haired sensei. "I don't wa-want to..." The daft genin clenches his eyes shut and forms the classic T formation with both of his index and middle fingers. "Tajuu...huh?" Hibiki stares in confusion as Rin and white-clad nin cupped their hands simultaneously, he shifts his head slightly as they continued their strange stances. He watched as their cupped hands shot forward and blossomed apart from each other unleashing a torrent of chakra or something simular to it. His eyes spread open with surprise as the two giant waves crashed together.

The ground beneath Hibiki's feet shook violently for a single second before the two jutsus dissipated leaving a cloud of dust in the air. After a few coughs, Hibiki wipes away the rest of dust and sees the two still standing. I can't let the woman get away no matter how hopeless it is. Rin is using her all to hold the woman back. Even Sumie went out recklessly at sensei's call...I can't be weak now. I have to fight no matter how weak I feel, I need to help. A determined look crossed Hibiki's face as tightened his hands once again. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

White smoke poof into existence around the battle-torn temple as newly-made Kage Bunshins appeared. Those that were placed next to the white-clad woman jumped her, hands outstretched ready to wrestle her down to the floor. One of the clones poofed near Rin and the dying Hare. A worried expression looks up at Rin, "Rin, I don't know how much longer I can hold this up. The least I can do is treat this boy and drag him to safety if need be...Are we going to...die?"

OOC:

Spoiler

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Hit points: 94/94 (-33)
Chakra pool: 24/78
Armour class: 21
Ongoing effects: Kage Bunshin 1-6 (0/600),

Initiative!
22

Kage Bunshin! (full-round action)
Perform (DC20): (1d20+20)[26]
Chakra cost: 12 (6 due to Action Point)
Stamina Damage:
(1d4-1)[0]
(1d4-1)[2]
(1d4-1)[2]
(1d4-1)[3]
(1d4-1)[1]
(1d4-1)[0]


Clones
Hit points: 1-6:3
Armour class: 16

Hibiki
Location: (10,2)

Clone 1
Location: (10,3)

Clone 2
Location: (9,8)

Clone 3
Location: (9,9)

Clone 4
Location: (10,9)

Clone 5
Location: (11,7)

Clone 6
Location: (12,9)

Clones 2-5
Standard Action
Grab!

Clone 2
(1d20+8)[10]

Clone 3
(1d20+8)[12]

Clone 4
(1d20+8)[14]

Clone 5
(1d20+8)[16]

Clone 1
Move Action
Draw Shuriken!

Standard Action
Ready Attack if No Name moves!

Clone 6
Standard Action
Heal Hit Points!
Treat Injury (DC15): (1d20+8)[27]
Hit Points Healed: (1d4+2)[6]

[Rogue 7]

Yuu
Lords above, how much more can happen today? And just who the &*^$ are these people? This dead woman in front of us, the one who's now working for us, and now this new one trying to kill us...again. Gods, it feels like I've been awake for days...except that I probably spent at least half the time unconscious.

He turned to Hibiki, standing beside him, muttering in his ear.
"I've been beat up way too much today to want to get into close combat with this girl. I've got enough chakra left to blast her a few times with Rairyuudan, but your clones are in the way. Spring them back a ways, and I'll get her the best I can.

Glad to have both arms back, as tainted as one was, Yuu stood ready to perform handseals the instant Hibiki's clones- or the girl- moved.

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Initiative- (1d20+1)[9]

Located next to Hibiki- (9,2). Readying an action to perform Rairyuudan no Jutsu when I can get a clean, 10-foot square around the girl.

Perform- (1d20+13)[30]

Chakra Conversion- 2 to 1. DC 24. (1d20+7)[23]

Damage- (7d6+5)[30]

Reflex DC 18

HP 67/79 (12 Stamina), CP 22/40, AC 18

[ZeroNumerous]

DM

That immobile mask shows neither malice nor malevolence as Hibiki's clones surround her. The first attempt at a grapple is met with an effortless and cold-hearted thrust of her fist straight through the clone's heart. It bursts into a rapidly dissolving cloud of smoke, but that does little to stop the other clones from trying. They fail to get a hold on the girl as she takes efficient and short steps to evade their clumsy fingers. With that, she turns her gaze toward Rin. "They're complacent. You've coddled them. Let us see how well they do without you."

The girl's eyes become inky pools of star-studded darkness, then she shimmers and fades from sight. She reappears behind Hibiki with a throwing needle in hand. Yuu's quick thinking and quicker reactions causes him to hurl a lightning dragon at her. Unfortunately the monster of made of chakra-created lightning is met with her extended fist. She seems to grapple with lightning itself as her hand twists around the creature's throat and crushes it. Yuu's lightning dragon dissolves into little flecks of light and she remains unharmed.

"Futile."

Her needle-equipped hand flickers as the steel dart embeds itself in Hibiki's neck.

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Seems Mysterious Girl won initiative with a 24. With Rin's initiative at fifteen and me rolling for Catch the order is:

Mysterious Girl
Garouhime
Hibiki
Rin
Sumie
Yuu

Saves: Rin needs a Will Save at a DC of 23. Hibiki needs a Fort Save at a DC of 20.

Standard: Genjutsu on Rin
Swift: Hiryuusen to (10,1)
Heroic Surge: Tenketsu Freeze on Hibiki.

Rin identifies the genjutsu as Magen - Jagen. Hibiki, Yuu and Sumie identify her fast movement as Hiryuusen. She saves on Yuu's Rairyuudan with a 25, Evasion X means she takes no damage.



New Key:
Red=Platforms, +5 movement to get into that area.
Yellow=Destroyed statues, impassable terrain
R = Rin
G = Garouhime
Y = Yuu
H = Hibiki
H# = Clones
S = Sumie
Teal = Mysterious Girl

I'll let Catch post his actions when he gets back tomorrow. Otherwise, it's your go.

[Rogue 7]

Yuu
Oh mother%^&@#$...another speedy one.

As his hands finished the signs for his jutsu, they immediately flashed to the hilt of his sword. Internally relaxing the restrictions he had placed on his body, time seemed to slow ever so slightly as he seemed to drag his sword out of his sheath, slicing a blow aimed at taking off the limb she had extended to embed that needle in Hibiki's neck. The blade made a singing sound, and Yuu's arm seemed to throb as a voice in his ear seemed to howl for blood.
Not now, dammit! That didn't work last time, I need to control it!

Pushing down the killing intent, he finished the blow and followed through, the traditional openness of an iaido technique hopefully avoided as he stepped back and prepared to shundou away.

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HP 67/79 CP 16/22 AC 18 (19 vs scary chick).
Rank 2 Speed Activated.

Attack- Iaido- Zankenteki!

Perform- DC 16- (1d20+15)[20]

Attack- (1d20+15)[25] With the action point spent in the OOC thread, that's 29

Damage- (4d6+3)[14]

Fort Save 18 or take (1d4)[2] points of temporary dex damage.

Sword is drawn, 5-foot step back to (1,9)

[ZeroNumerous]

DM

Yuu's sword swings out, but the woman shimmers again. In her place is the Hare's battered, wounded body. Before Yuu has a chance to stop his sword strike the blade cleaves cleanly through the young boy's sternum. Steel collides with bone in a sickening symphony of pain, but the Hare makes no cry of pain. Instead Yuu feels the body go limp and heavy like a wet sandbag. The girl reappears thirty feet down the hallway with that same expressionless mask hanging across her face as if it were a priceless painting. "One down."

Before anyone has a chance to act, the Hare's body begins to glow bright sea green. It starts glowing at it's hands and feet first, then the soft light creeps up the boy's limbs and into his chest. A tendril of energy lashes out and strikes Yuu square in the stomach. Unseen to the world, that tendril burns the kanji for "4" into his flesh. With it's task done, the energy fades into nothingness and the body lies inert, bloodied and with Yuu's sword still jutting from it's gut.

Spoiler

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Mysterious Girl uses Heartless Substitution, switching places with Hare. Yuu's attack hits Hare, dropping him from -1 to Dead. Yuu gains the Blood Pact(Hare) feat as a bonus feat.

EDIT: Forgot the updated map.

[Rogue 7]

Yuu

"Aaaaarrgghhh!"

"Again with the pain! Why is it always me?!"

[Callos_DeTerran]

Sumie

"Just like you will fade too. I will not allow you to kill Rin or pass." Sumie retorts in a dead tone of voice, watching dispassionately as the body was yanked up into the air in front of Yuu's sword blade and the number was burned into his chest. That didn't concern her. Her mission concerned her and she had to focus on that instead of more sentimental things.

It was to that end that she reaches down to peel the weights off of her arms and legs, dropping them down to the ground with a thunderous crash as she took a deep breath. One gloved hand, beginning to burn red hot, was raised up until it covered the girl's body from sight. Sumie closes her eyes as she listens for her opponent and the invigorating feeling of chakra flooding her muscles and awakening them to their full potential almost made her smile. Almost.

"Yield. Or I will be forced to destroy you." She says calm as ever, finding a measure of inner peace as she falls into a regular routine for her.

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Releasing all speed/strength ranks.

Meibi Kochou Ryuu - Isshiki Perform: (1d20+21)[23]

Looks like I'm spending an extra 3 chakra on the technique to boost my perform check.

[Valgunn]

Rin

With a grin and grunt Rin lifted herself off the ground with incredible agility. Reaching inside herself into her cooling core she felt her reserves simmer down. Pulling back her eyes and the chakra she flooded her body with she smiled as nostalgia hit. Images of Anju, Yuki and Kurina shrouded her as she remembered. Just like old times for now. "Don't let her leave," she said again. "I'm nearly out of chakra, but I've got your backs," she continued as she moved up behind her genin instead of in front.

OOC:

Spoiler

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Hit points: 46/64 (-14)
Chakra pool: 5/92
Armour class: 28 (29 versus What's her face; 30 versus What's her face in melee)
Ongoing effects:

[The Unborne]

Hibiki

Strange, Hibiki lost sight of the woman for a split second, but turned around just in time to see the flutter of her white clothing. Unfortunately, he was not fast enough to dodge the sudden needle that stabbed him in the back of his neck. As the cold metal found punctured its way through his flesh, the Leaf-nin instinctively reached back and yelped in pain. Luckily for Hibiki, he was able to shrug off the effects of the needle puncturing his pressure point and only felt a small prick from the attack.

While Hibiki was about to squarely face the woman in white, look a pure terror comes across the clone's face as the dying child suddenly disappears from his tending hands. He falls forward trying to feel if the Hare was still there, he wasn't. Poor Hibiki had to watch the anonymous ninja pull the unconscious child in front of Yuu's sword's path. The genin's eyes widen with fear as a stream of blood gushed from the tip of Yuu's now crimson blade. When his comrade finally manages to release his katana from abdomen of the child, Hibiki falls to his knees and surveys the damage. No pulse, no life, the child was dead.

A large lump was stuck in the daft genin's throat at that time. It was one of the few times he could feel someone's life blood slowly drip onto his hands, and it was the first time he held a dead body in his hands. There was no breath to feel, no warmth to touch, just the strong stench of blood and the heavy weight of a lifeless body. His bottom lip began to tremble as his sense of failure grew loomed over him. Someone he was taking care of had suddenly died, and the culprit was making her escape. "No," Hibiki mutters under his breath as he stands up from his kneeling position; he then held his hand at waist level and palm up. Chakra poured from his hand and began their torrential spiral. The closest kage bunshin made his way up the side of the hall and took a position a few yards away from the mysterious nin.

"So...that's it, she'll kill more if I don't stop her, huh." As he said this, he noticed the white-clad woman did not make a single step away from them. In fact, no one made a move as he charged up his empowered Rasengan; the only sound he could hear was the low hum of his jutsu. For some odd reason he had returned to the still world he first entered when they face Yusa; however, this time he knew he didn't have enough time before his chance would end. Hibiki stared at the blue orb that was levitating just barely off of his hand, deep down he didn't know if this would end it like it had ended the resurrected Yusa.

Heedless of that thought, Hibiki charged forward. His Rasengan outstretched in front of him with all of his momentum behind it. In that frozen realm the Leaf-nin let out a feral cry and rammed the orb into the gut of the woman.

OOC:

Spoiler

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Hit points: 94/94 (-42)
Chakra pool: 1/78
Armour class: 23
Ongoing effects: Kage Bunshin 1-6 (1/600), Rank 2 Speed (0/5)

Real-Time

Free Action
Nidan Kousoku

Full-round
Rasengan!
Perform (DC27): (1d20+28)[43] (+8 due to extra 4 chakra spent. The chakra was freely converted.)
Chakra cost: 18 (9 converted)
Convert Chakra 1:1 (DC17): (1d20+16)[30]


Clones
Hit points: 1-6:3
Armour class: 16

Clone 1
Move Action!
Move to (11,9)

Time Stop
1 Round

Full-Round Action!
Charge to (10,7)
Action Point to Attack: (2d6b1)[6]
Touch Attack!: (1d20+11)[28]
Damage: (10d8)[39]
Knock Back: 1/2 damage

[ZeroNumerous]

DM

Time freezes for six full seconds. Shortly afterward, Hibiki is standing where the mysterious woman had been and she is leaning in a broken slump against the wall. Her head is twists at an odd angle and her distinctly brown hair is matted by blood pouring down the red gash splitting her scalp. Her dull lifeless green eyes stare off into the endless abyss and only accentuate her splayed arms and fingers. She is quite obviously dead, and quite obviously not the blond and brown-eyed woman she had been just six seconds ago. Her clothes have not changed, nor has her body itself. She still bears the spiral pattern of torn flesh and clothes from where Hibiki's Rasengan had struck home. A scant few wisps of smoke from a possible bunshin or simply the burning of her flesh still lazily waft away from her body.

Somewhere else in the Land of Water

A well kept bun of hair colored like dry grass glistens in the early morning sunlight. Pale brown eyes with shallow bags indicative of many sleepless nights stare at the mountain in the distance. A well-shaped body wrapped only in gray bandages balances atop the very tip of a lonely tree. A Takigakure headband hangs off the girl's shoulder, but a single scar mars the stylized waterfall. Her thin lips draw into a frown as she looks up toward the early morning moon still not below the horizon yet. "No prospects at the exams, Master. No, Orochimaru is dead. Yes, Yakushi did not make it. No, I was only able to kill three of them. Someone interfered and they fled." Her eyes close and she breathes a light breath that, in the darkest recesses of her mind, she hopes to be her last. "It was Sakumei's boy, Master. Yes, he survived. He's being taught by the Uchiha woman. No, Mizuki failed her mission." A tense moment passes as something unseen and unheard shouts at her. A slight shiver runs up her spine in stark contrast to the warm and humid morning air. "Yes, Master."

Spoiler

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Everyone involved gains 633 XP for the fight.

[The Unborne]

Hibiki

Though the body was lifeless and obviously dead, it did not stop Hibiki from thrusting the toe of his foot into its gut repeatedly. As the genin lashed out at the crumpled up body on the ground his voice became delirious with a crazed anger, "Why? Why couldn't you be the woman? Why? I-I hate you. I-I hate ya-you..." Unable to control the emotions he was feeling, the genin began to cry. He looked frantically over his shoulder with tears still streaming down his cheeks and counted the other dead bodies, this one was a new one and maybe it was alive during the fight. "Wha-what are these pe-people? Using innocents and..." Hibiki crouches down so that his face is even with the dead woman's face, "Ah-are you still, you still listening? I'm ga-going to ge-get you back for this. I swear. I will."

The genin shakes the body vigorously as if trying to get a confession out of a criminal. As a response, the nameless woman's head slumps downwards from the wall and her green eyes stare down at the earth below. Hibiki looks at the dead body with eyes nearly shut from the teary water that was flooding pass his tear ducts. "I-I don't, I don't even know your name, but I-I'm so sorry. I didn't..." His words are lost as he lets out a pained cry. His legs give out from the tremendous stress he put them through and his body falls limp into woman's sprawled out arms. His sobs are muffled as he buries his face into the spiral-shaped wound he had inflicted upon her. Blood from the recent battle clings onto Hibiki's skin and begins their slow process of coagulation, but the kid doesn't budge.

"I'm so sorry...I'm..." he remains there in the corpse's embrace until someone provokes him in some way.

[Callos_DeTerran]

Sumie

Time seemed to stand still for Sumie as Hibiki went on the offensive, picking up the noise of the genin's heartbeat as he wildly charged forward and launched an orb of pure chakra into the girl's abdomen and sent her flying back into the wall behind her. It takes the ANBU girl a moment to get over her shock, falling out of the stance she had taken slowly as an angry voice whispers in the back of her head.

He's done it again. That broken boy has managed to be more effective then you not once, but twice now. You should be ashamed of yourself, clearly you've been slacking off on your training if he's out-shining you.

Gloved hands tighten into tight fists, nails digging into her palms as she watches Hibiki go over to the body and seem to alternate between wanting to desecrate it or get it's forgiveness all at the same time. It brought back gloomy memories of standing in the dead of night with crisp moonlight playing off the cooling corpse in front of her, limbs splayed awkwardly around like some multi-jointed puppet where once a 'whole' person had once been. Something stirred in her practiced deadened heart and Sumie silently approached Hibiki from behind, draping her arms over his shoulders from behind and gently tugging him back from the body.

"Leave her alone Hibiki-sama. She was an enemy, trying to hurt us all. You did the right thing and no one thinks otherwise." The ANBU agent whispers to him softly, tugging him away and standing him up on his feet. Without a word, the dark-haired girl turns Hibiki about and pulls him into a tight hug. "Just let it out, all out now. Do not let it fester inside of you, grief will simply get you and your team dead so let it all out."

[Valgunn]

Rin

Rin tried, she failed. She shook visibly as she stood exhausted from the effort. Why couldn't things have gone good, she asked herself. I could have been happy here! Flexing her hand she made a hammer of it to stop her shaking. She held back her own emotions out of reflex instead of deliberate thought; instead of breaking down like she wanted too. Instead her body moved forward by itself. "You three, are you ready to move?" The usual sparkle of something mad in her voice was absent as she spoke. Her green eyes held no luster.

[The Unborne]

Hibiki

When Sumie brings Hibiki up to his feet and turns him around from the dead corpse on the ground the daft Leaf-nin stares at her with vacant eyes as if the brain behind them was not comprehending her words. His face was covered with blood devoid of its sanguine color; his unkempt hair hangs loosely towards the earth burdened by the sweat he had built up during his battles. As the ANBU agent wrapped her lively arms around him and whispers comforting words to him, Hibiki dropped his head into her shoulder and wept for a few moments before calming down.

"It..It doesn't feel right. She doesn't have the face of the one I wanted to...I wanted to kill..." Hibiki sucks in air and holds it in his chest before breathing out jaggedly, "You're right, just give me a second." The kid breaks away from Sumie's hug and walks up to the body, he stares at it for a few seconds and turns around to Rin. "Before we head out...Can we at least bury the bodies? All...All of these deaths happened because of us coming here. The least we can do is give them a proper burial..."

[Rogue 7]

Yuu

Yuu sheaths his sword as he looks around at his teammates, both new and old, standing around him.

Looking at the new woman, one who apparently had allied with them, his hand drifted to his sheathed sword.

"Before we go, I have to ask who this woman is, sensei. Wasn't she trying to kill you a while ago? I've got a ton of other questions, but they can wait until we get off this godsforsaken mountain and I actually get a good night's sleep in me."

[Valgunn]

Rin

Rin looked at at Hibiki and then Yuu with a blank face. The small amount of her personality that wasn't being crushed chose to spend it's effort on this. "Yes, Hibiki." She then turned her blank face again to Yuu. "Her? Garouhime." Mind, body and equipment in tatters she moved listlessly as she helped Hibiki. Her pragmatic knowledge of demons and their demonic chakra telling her that Yuu's trials had only just began.

[Catch]

Garouhime

The white-robed woman perked up the mention of her name, red eyes glinting with feral cunning. She had been leaning against the wall at the mouth of the room, watching with crossed arms and hooded eyes as Rin's charges brought down the unnamed girl. During the brief encounter, Garouhime had not bothered to draw a weapon or even move out of the way. Indeed the most hostile act she seemed to deign appropriate was a dismissive snort and an ivory sneer. Black pupils rimmed in crimson followed with vague interest the violent thrashing of the combatants, and when the assassin's simulacrum crumpled in a bloody heap of wayward limbs, Garohime's nose twitched involuntarily, despite her composure.

Rin's voice drew her attention and the woman flashed a mouthful of too-white teeth toward the wounded boy.

"I wasn't trying to kill her," she clarified with smug candor. "I was going to eat her."

[The Unborne]

Hibiki

Still listless, the daft child took no heed to Wolf Princess's words; instead, he nodded to Rin and looked down at the body he slew. Hibiki tilted his head to the left and then tilted it to the right, no matter what view point he looked at the dead girls's body the body was unnaturally bent up. Sighing, the genin grabbed her leg and began to drag her off towards the entrance they had come from. Like a doll, the corpse fumbled and twisted lifelessly along the beaten up floor. Dirt-ridden hair snagged on the cracks of the floor, but Hibiki would yank the body free every time; unbeknownst to the Leaf-nin, he was leaving behind a trail of patches of hair each time he yanked the body free.

Before he leaves the group behind he turns his head slightly over his shoulder, "Yuu! Grab your body and follow me. We're killers now, but if we're going to be killers, we're going to be nice ones." Hibiki doesn't wait for his companion and continues his long plod to the courtyard where this whole fiasco began. Once outside, the genin stares up at the sky overhead. Whether it was because of the death of those people inside the temple or because the gods were looking down upon the child, the sky was an ominous gray- devoid of all color. Hibiki's eyes then stared down at the earth. Slowly, the genin drew one of his kunais and stabbed the ground with it. He dug away and turned the soil with the metallic nin-weapon.

Hibiki laughed to himself as he thought it funny that a tool made for gardening had transformed into a weapon of death. His laughs soon became tears again as he finished the shallow pit. If he was any better, he could have made a proper grave for the nameless girl, but he wasn't and had to make due with what he could do. Hibiki stepped out of the ditch and pushed the body into it. Weakly, he moved the overturned dirt onto the body. The result of his toils was a large mound of dirt just soft enough for Hibiki to lay his head upon. The genin would remain this way for all night if he could; however, for now he was relaxing his muscles for the future to come.

[Rogue 7]

Yuu

Yuu looked apprehensively at the mysterious woman.

"Thats...not much better."

Still, he was in no condition to argue, so he let his hand fall. If this woman wanted to kill them all in their sleep, well, that would just be the pinnacle to what had already been a hellish day. Nothing he could do about it.

Hearing Hibiki's statement, Yuu looked down at the corpse that had been interposed between his sword and the woman Hibiki now carried.

"Yeah, alright."

Gently picking up the body, Yuu followed Hibiki outside, pausing when he spotted Kuromaru still lying there from their previous battle, but decided to let him rest.

"Stay strong, buddy. You're going to need the rest."

As they got outside and started digging (Yuu used his hands instead of a Kunai), Yuu spoke up:

"Hibiki, what did you mean by "we're killers now?" Did you really expect that we could become shinobi without killing?...I mean, I haven't actually killed anyone before now, but that really wasn't for lack of trying...

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if we plan to remain shinobi, we're probably going to have to get used to this. I know my father tried to teach me that sort of thing, but I don't really know how you were trained...

Yuu trails off, wondering just how far he put his foot in his mouth there.

[Valgunn]

Rin

Rin moved as normal to help Hibiki and Yuu. To her though everything seemed distant and slow. "Rule 24: A shinobi must never show emotion," she recited at Hibiki. Such a hard and cruel rule. She didn't even take in what she said. The rules of the shinobi guided her body as she lifted herself up.

"Sumie," she snapped. "Collect Kusanagi no Tsurugi, it will go a long way to make up this unfortunate detour to the Hokage." She stared at the sword still sitting in a pool of Orochimaru's blood. "I'm going to," she paused as she wondered just why she wanted to see where Orochimaru was going. "Investigate." She decided before she headed off.

"I want everything and everyone ready to leave when I come back."

[The Unborne]

Hibiki

Hibiki pops his head from the grave he had made and glares at Yuu. After a long hard look at the Leaf-nin, he returns out of sight and back to work. The daft child's trembling hands grab around the dead corpse's body; the sound of bones' crunching filled the desolate courtyard as Hibiki tried his best to fix the dead girl's body into a respectable position with her hands crossed over her heart. He stares down at the body and shrugs his shoulders; it was good enough.

With little trouble, Hibiki steps out from the ditch and pushes the loose earth back into the hole. When he was finished, the mound stood a foot off the ground, noticeable to anyone who passed by. The Leaf-nin claps his hand releases the dirt that covered his hands; he surveys Yakushi's garden and spots a tree void of all leaves. Hibiki runs to it and breaks off two branches and returns to the grave he had made. Looking at the sticks in his hands, the genin tried formulating a plan; however, the best he came up with was sticking one branch vertically into the ground and then tying his shuriken holder around its middle. He finally forcefully slides the other branch through whatever space the holder left. The end result was vaguely similar to a cross, but of course Hibiki couldn't find a way to make the second branch perfectly horizontal.

The gravedigger tilts his head at the makeshift cross and frowns. "I know what shinobi are, Yuu! I may be crazy, but at least I'm not an idiot. Shinobi are tools and we attack when ordered. Tell me, did we kill our target? No, we killed a couple of kids. We are killers because we killed the helpless bystanders. Don't you understand that? Don't you feel bad?" Hibiki's bottom jaw drops a little and his mouth begins to quiver again, "Get used to killing children? H-Ha!" The genin wipes his eyes and walks away.

[Rogue 7]

Yuu

Yuu continued to dig, piling the dirt around the hole. The child was small, but he knew graves needed to be fairly deep to avoid plague and disease. He stopped, and sat back, looking at Hibiki. He squatted in front of the hole, dirt covered hands intertwined behind his head.

"You're beating yourself up for something that isn't your fault, Hibiki. That girl had jutsus and techniques I've never seen before, and that you've never seen before. Hell, has sensei ever seen them before? We can't react to those. I didn't know she could put this corpse between my sword and her arm in less time than it takes to blink. I didn't know anyone could do that. But she did. You didn't know that she had some sort of technique that let her substitute another body for her own. But she did. She's the one who killed these people, Hibiki. Not you, not me. I'm never going to be okay with killing kids, or bystanders. We can hunt down the people who did this, and make them pay. But we didn't do it.


And you saved our lives in there, man. I don't know quite what you did, but that whatchamacallit, that Rasengan you used on her? That was incredible. If you hadn't done that, we would have been killed. So thanks for that, if it helps."

Yuu looks up at the blue sky and paues for a bit, thinking.

"This entire situation is incredibly screwed up. I don't even know what's going on. We're on a mysterious mountain, which is apparently surrounded by demons, one of which killed itself to give me a new arm,

He indicated his bandage-wrapped right arm, which still had occasional spurts of flame poking through.

,and our new crazy teammate apparently agreed to this by impaling herself on my sword. I get back to find two crazy women attacking our sensei, only for one of them to apparently reincarnate Yusa-san and force us to fight. She, what, broke my legs? and almost killed my dog. We then got confronted with another crazy woman trying to kill us, and apparently some sort of zodiac guardians of this mountain. Not to mention I think that there's a completely different level here that I'm missing. Do you know who "Orochimaru" is? Because that's all I was really able to puzzle out of this mess."

[The Unborne]

Hibiki

Hibiki pauses mid-step and turns around; instead of looking at Yuu, his eyes fall upon the two mounds of dirt they had made, "It just wasn't enough...I wanted to save everyone...C'mon let's go get things ready for Rin, are you done? Say a prayer. It's the right thing to do at least." The genin claps his hands together and bows stiffly. His torso remains bent for a few seconds before he rises upright slowly. "Uhh...I think I did that right..." He turns back and begins to walk away again, but not before taking another glance back at the graves; the Leaf-nin walks just slow enough for Yuu to catch up and talk with him on their way back.

[Rogue 7]

Yuu

Yuu smiles and returns to his work, finishing quicky. When he finishes, he walks over to a tree, pulling out a kunai as he does so- it wouldn't do to dull his blade for a task like this. He broke off a branch of the tree, making sure the wood was still green. Using his kunai, he sliced off two narrow strip of bark, thin enough to be bent and tied, and broke off two more branches. Using the bark, he tied the one branch to the other in an appropriate cross, and did the same for Hibiki's victim's grave. He bows his head and prays for a minute.

"Better? Let's go."

[ZeroNumerous]

Rin

The depths of Yakushi's Garden reveal themselves to Rin in her slow trek toward where she assumes Orochimaru had been heading. Ornately carved and gilded columns creating a doorway that leads, quite literally, to nothingness denotes the first instance Rin recalls of seeing any overt displays of wealth. The inky blackness beyond the doorway pulsates and ripples with each breath the beleaguered ninja takes. Something tells her to keep moving forward, however, and whispers that this was what Orochimaru had been searching for. As Rin touches nothingness she feels a cold sensation mixed with needles of pain spreading across her entire body.

Soon she finds herself standing in a room still filled with color and wrought entirely of white jade. The floor, the ceiling and even the doorway with it's conspiciously absent door are made from the mineral. The room spans almost fifty meters before terminating at a throne of silver inlaid with golden dragons carved into it's surface. A circular bi of gold crisscrossed with silver veins sits atop the throne's headrest. But neither the throne's composition, nor it's decoration were the important details of the room. No, Rin's eyes are drawn to the brilliant crimson trail of blood leading up to the throne--little splotches of life itself spreading their taint across the immaculate surface. The trail leads from the doorway to the feet of the throne and there it terminates in a heavy set body cold with death.

A blade of dark steel juts from the body's chest. It's visible edge is etched with a tiger and a dragon locked in an unending duel. It's hilt made of fine, silvery steel inlaid with a vine-like design of ruby gems. The sword terminates in a pommel made of a stylized dragon's head with fangs of white jade. It is obviously a blade intended to be looked at rather than swung, but the seamless transition of blade into edge shows that it is still a weapon of war.

Sumie

The Kusanagi feels.. unremarkable for a blade supposedly able to cut through a god. It is a balanced, plainly crafted katana with a black-and-gold but otherwise plain hilt. It's pommel is unadorned and ends simply in a golden cap which holds the fabric in place. It's one straight edge stands out against the dull black-and-white color of your current surroundings. Strangely, it seems entirely clean of Orochimaru's blood when Sumie picks it up.

Hibiki and Yuu

The two arrive back at Sumie's location to find Rin missing, Sumie holding Orochimaru's sword and Garouhime looking annoyed.

[Catch]

Garouhime

The wolf princess growled at the two genin returned to the blood-spattered room. "Are you whelps done with your little errand? If I wasn't sworn to Rin, I'd gut the the both of you for whining so much." She seemed to be resisting the urge to pace, grinding her teeth with the effort. Or maybe she just felt like biting someone.

She scowled, "Ninja kill people. Good ninja kill a lot of people."

Her voice dripped with condescension and the scowl twisted into the form of a smile, which wasn't much different than a baring of teeth. "Even your precious Rin-sensei. Get used to it."