Team Cybele: The Hare and the Snake

[zeone3000]

Houshi nodded towards Amon about the Red Eyes, "Noted, now get going." He gives her an incredulous look, "So we can be sitting ducks for scouts? Don't think so. Heading to town and having a talk with you know who."

He picks up Yousuke and carefully lands hop away, didn't want to agitate Yousuke's wounds.

[Bad Situation]

Begrudgingly, Yousuke allows Houshi to carry him back to town with about as much reluctance as a nominally paralyzed person can reasonably muster. Which is to say, none. Had he the energy he would have scowled the whole way, lacking any sort of vitality he instead he settled for closing his eyes and resting.

[ZeroNumerous]

Houshi and Yousuke

The pair head out of the woods and north toward Sonada. On the way over they spot a group of four ninjas ahead of them. All four ninja are standing at a crossroad created by the joining of their path and a path from the east--the direction of the Fire Country. One of the four ninja, an older looking woman, is wearing Konoha's green vest and jumpsuit. She bears a headband with the Konoha symbol, but it hangs off her head at an angle. The headband carefully covers her right eye, and almost acts like a bandage or eyepatch. Her long curly brunette hair drapes down to cover the rest of her headband. The ninja's face isn't visible from here, but both Yousuke and Houshi recognize her muscle tone as being a taijutsu adept. A long straight sword hangs off her left hip, and she wears it like an old lover. She doesn't seem to have noticed Houshi or Yousuke yet, and seems to be lecturing her group on something.

Her group--two young girls, a young boy, and a large dog--seem to be much younger. The white-haired young boy couldn't be older than thirteen. He's wearing a black blazer over the top of a white dress shirt. Black slacks stretch down from the bottom of his blazer, and stop at his dusty black dress shoes. His style and muscle tone don't speak of a taijutsu user, and the fact that he's barely paying attention to his teacher shows his lack of respect. His headband is wrapped around his left leg, and doesn't seem to be of any importance to him.

To the boy's right stands a girl and a large dog. The girl's wild and spiked brown hair matches her dog's shaggy coat. She's wearing a fur lined white jacket with a brown shirt underneath and matching shorts. Her toned body suggests a lot of exercise, and the way she absentmindedly pets the dog tells of her familiarity with it. She pays rapt attention to their teacher's lecture, but doesn't seem to be looking at the older woman's eyes. Her headband's wrapped around her forehead as intended.

The final member of the team seems to be the oldest. She's probably fourteen or so, and stands five inches taller than her compatriots. She also lacks the muscle tone of a taijutsu user, but she's a bit more robust than either of the other genin. She's very well developed for her age, and her straight black hair shines in the sunlight. She'd be quite pretty if not for the fur-lined baggy hoodie, baggy pants, and her general down-dressed approach to fashion. Her headband isn't in plain view.

The three genin continue to be lectured by their teacher unless Houshi or Yousuke interrupt them.

[Bad Situation]

Cradled in Houshi's arms, Yousuke tugs weakly at the larger genin's sleeves and points toward the Konoha team. "Approach cautiously and do not reveal the purposes of our mission just yet," he manages to rasp out, "they may be able to help us. As it stands I doubt they have reason to attack us."

Seeing the jounin's blade, Yousuke finally makes the connection. "Wait...that's Sanagi Bea..." Along with his grandfather she was one of the greatest swordsmen in the world. "What is she doing here?" Had Konoha been contracted for a similar, or even identical mission to their own? Her presence on the mission was an extremely troublesome one. If they were allies, saving Kaede and completing the mission was practically a given. If they were enemies...he didn't want to think about that.

"Stay on your toes..."

[zeone3000]

Houshi grunts, "I thought I told you all your opinions are invalid, especially when they're obvious. Now save your damn strength and shut up!"

Still, he scratched his head, where Soraha and Konoha consider allies? His lack of knowledge would be his undoing but maybe his innocence would shine through.

He approaches with Yousuke in arm, very non-threateningly and tries t make his presence known without interrupting the jounin to harshly, "Excuse me, could I trouble you for a little assistance?"

[ZeroNumerous]

Houshi and Yousuke

The group turns around when Houshi introduces himself. The brunette woman turns her pale brown eye toward the young man. Her right eye's clearly covered by her Konoha headband, but her body stance tells of a woman whose gotten used to to having only one eye. Her eye darts to Yousuke for a second, then she looks toward the spikey-haired girl. "Heal him Jun. Mako, look for others. Koji, help her." The brown-haired girl moves closer and takes Yousuke from Houshi if allowed to. She retrieves her medical bag from her belt, then starts doing what she can for Yousuke. Afterwards, she retrieves a vial of viscous green liquid from her bag, then pours it down Yousuke's throat.

Spoiler

Show

Jun uses the Restore Hit Points function of Treat Injury. She takes 10, hitting DC 20, and heals Yousuke for (1d4)[4] HP.

She further gives him a cure potion, restoring (1d6)[3] additional HP.

The girl pats Yousuke on the head. Jun's soft brown eyes meet Yousuke's own as her lips turn up into a warm smile. "Feelin' better little guy?"

The white-eyed girl closes her eyes for a second, then her beautiful face becomes marred by bulging veins around her snow-white eyes. Both the boy and the Hyuuga girl start looking around for any potential enemies.

The one-eyed jounin looks toward Houshi. "What happened to him?"

[Bad Situation]

"I can speak for myself, thank you very much." Pulling himself into a sitting position, Yousuke scowls at the medic's treatment but does not shy away from her touch. It would be rude to completely ignore someone going out of their way to help he figured. It had absolutely nothing to do with pleasant sensation of his flesh knitting itself back together. Brushing back a hair braid from his eyes, Yousuke looks directly at Sanagi and almost forgets himself for a moment. It was, quite frankly, an honor to be in the presence of such a legend. To even be speaking to her was an accomplishment many swordsmen his age would never hope to match. Luckily his faculties had not completely vacated themselves, due in part to his experience with highly skilled swordsmen.

Dragging his still aching body into a half-kneel he lightly bows his head and introduces himself, "Konpaku Yousuke, genin of Soragakure." Frowning, he even answers the shaggy haired girl's inquiry, "And I am not a little boy, mind." Unused to speaking in any sort of volume after the wind dragon's attack on his lungs, Yousuke begins wheezing and coughing but does not remove his eyes from Sanagi's own.

[ZeroNumerous]

Houshi and Yousuke

The brown haired girl giggles at Yousuke's brave face. "Don't get all macho on me. I've still got to fix you up." She keeps her hands on Yousuke, and doesn't let him move much. Her glowing green hands hover over the young boy's injuries as her warm chakra flows into his wounds. She calmly goes about her medical technique regardless of Yousuke's rudeness or complaints about his size.

Bea just looks at Yousuke with a blank face as he introduces himself, then nods when she hears his last name. "Youki's grandson, I presume. He and my grandfather fought quite a bit. It is an honor to meet the son of a legend." She crosses her arms over her chest, and then looks toward Houshi. But before she can say anything the Hyuuga girl and Koji return.

"No enemies in sight ma'am", Mako says with a crisp salute, "but we did spot smoke from a skirmish about a hundred feet south-by-southwest. It may be our target."

Bea nods, then looks back to the two sky-nin. "We're here to apprehend an escaped criminal. No one dangerous, but he has state secrets important to the Fire Country." She shows both genin a photo of a man who very vaguely resembles Kaede. The man's nose is too flat, his eyes are sharper, and his jaw more pronounced than Kaede's. He's likely a brother, or other familial connection. Or possibly just the result of a bad sketch artist.

"Have you seen someone who looks like this man?"

[Bad Situation]

Bowing his head again he extends the same niceties, "No, the honor is mine. The grandson of a legend does not compare quite so favorably against a woman who has carved her own story." It was only polite to acknowledge her skill, after she had acknowledged his own lineage. Next to his mother, Sanagi was one of the few women held a particular respect for. If nothing else, he was expected to extend a few passing courtesies.

Gazing at the portrait through slightly bleary eyes he says, "Only vaguely," and with a slight pause he considers his next words carefully. "I have met many dark haired men in my life but none quite so angular as the man in that photo." Turning to the newly arrived Uchiha he casually points out, "And there's one of them."

Turning the questions back to the Konoha team, he asks, "Has there been a criminal sighting in the area? Should I be worried? Has he only recently escaped the custody of the leaf?" Chances are they wouldn't be entirely forthcoming with their answers but every little bit of information helped.

[ZeroNumerous]

Houshi and Yousuke

The Uchiha looks back at Yousuke, and frowns deeply. He apparently resents the implication that he is anything like the man on the drawing, but says nothing. Jun leans in close to Yousuke and whispers to him. "Keep that stuff to yourself. Koji doesn't like being compared to his uncle. That's who we're hunting: Uchiha Daisuke."

Bea responds with surprisingly straightforward answers. "No, you shouldn't be worried. He is a chuunin-level ninja, but the grandson of Youki has little to fear from such a man. He escaped a week ago, and our information network believes he came here. We tried to ask the locals, but they've had trouble with a group of renegade ninja known as the Garou clan. I offered to wipe them out, but the village mayor claims to have a contract on them already."

[zeone3000]

Houshi rubs his chin, inspecting the picture. Once he hears the name he relaxes, "Oh good, it's not the Uchiha we know then. Though, he might be surprised to here about this."

He focuses on Bea, "That would be us and the rest of our team. One is tracking a group of them, the other was purposely captured by the group. The tracker left us trail to follow." He thumbs back down the trail to the split.

[ZeroNumerous]

DM

Bea raises her right eyebrow in a sign of surprise. "You know an Uchiha? What's his name, and where is he now?" The brunette woman makes no overtures toward her weapon, nor does her team start to treat you any differently. It seems as if she simply wants to know who the Uchiha you know is.

[Bad Situation]

Maintaining eye contact with the swordswoman, Yousuke responds to Bea without skipping a beat, "His name is Kaede and unfortunately I do not know of his exact location at the present time, I apologize." There was no telling what the Konoha team would do with the knowledge of a rogue Uchiha in the area. Thankfully, Kaede's exact location currently was a mystery though if Sanagi and her team decided to investigate it would not be a mystery for very long. There was little use hiding their knowledge of Kaede now, what with the Hyuuga and Uchiha on the team. If they entered the Garou camp it was only a matter of time before the dark-haired girl divined Kaede's location.

For now he would feed them mostly useless information, in case they got suspicious.

[ZeroNumerous]

DM

Bea looks at Yousuke, and her eye narrows as she scrutinizes the young man. After what seems like forever she finally relents, and just nods at the young man. "You are not under a genjutsu, so I believe you." Bea reaches into a belt pouch on her right hip, fishes out a small book adorned with a bright red X on the cover, then opens it. She retrieves a pen from another pouch, writes something in it, then closes the book and replaces them both. Bea looks toward her team, then nods. "You three will stay with these two. Do whatever is necessary to help them. My mission has changed to apprehending the missing-nin Uchiha Kaede."

The leaf-nin nod, and Bea starts to head back the way the two sky-nin had come from. She follows their tracks carefully down the road and disappears into the distance unless stopped. The three leaf-nin left behind look at their new sky-nin compatriots. Mako points toward herself as she takes up the burden of introducing them.

"Greetings. My name is Hyuuga Mako." She motions toward the brown-haired girl treating Yousuke.

"This is Inuzuka Jun." The brown-haired girl doesn't recognize her name being spoken, and continues on with treating Yousuke. Mako then looks toward the Uchiha.

"And that's Uchiha Koji. We're a tracking team." The young boy just nods at them, but otherwise makes no overtures of friendship. He seems kind of dickish in comparison to the only other Uchiha the group has met so far.

With the introductions done the Hyuuga girl looks toward Yousuke. "What's your group based around? And do you guys need our help with anything?"

"Aside from not dying that is." Jun interjects.

[Bad Situation]

Yousuke opens his mouth to answer the girl but stops when he realizes he simply doesn't know enough to answer her. The Ninja Academy in Soragakure probably wasn't as large or as neatly organized as a powerhouse village like Konohagakure, meaning team assignments were based more around balance than any sort of special talents. Their team was largely capable in several areas of expertise and the only designation they were completely incapable of was assassination, given Houshi's considerable girth. Still it would not reflect well on Soragakure if he told the Konoha team that his own team was literally a rag tag bunch of misfits, "We are a general response team, slotted to whatever assignment the village has need for." Of course, given their missions thus far they did have something of an emphasis, "We are however, geared more toward frontal assault than anything else."

"As you may have heard, I am Konpaku Yousuke." Bowing respectfully toward the Hyuuga he continues, "I will admit that I have the benefit and privilege of already knowing your name, Mako-san." It was hard not to keep up on the knowledge concerning talented bloodline users, of a doujutsu bearing clan notwithstanding. The Konpaku clan could not be called a clan in the same way that the Hyuuga could be called a clan, after all.

"As soon as you are finished healing me I will be entering the Garou encampment with my teammate, rescue my Sora-nin allies, and complete my mission objective. You need not inconvenience yourself with my team any further. I would not ask your team to risk your lives to deal with matters beyond your interest."

[ZeroNumerous]

DM

The girl nods respectfully at Yousuke's tact avoidance of mentioning his own team's abilities. She did not suspect that they were ragtag and poorly assembled, merely that he was hiding their abilities in case they would meet again later as enemies. The girl swells with pride when Yousuke mentions her own minor fame among her clan. "I did not know sky-nin were so knowledgeable. You do your village credit."

However, when Yousuke mentions going off on their own, the leaf-nin shakes her head. "Sorry Konpaku-san, but we were given an order. Sanagi-sensei will expect us to stay with you. So you've got captured allies, right? The Garou clan don't kill bloodline users outright, so he or she is probably still alive. Do you have some idea as to where your friend was taken?"

[zeone3000]

Apparently know one just listened to what the big guy just said. He sighs mentally, "Yes, back down this path, taking the other. Our other teammate left a trail to follow."

[Bad Situation]

Nodding politely, Yousuke continues to exchange idle flattery, "No, I believe you are the one who does her village credit. I have merely collected information that I believe will suit me in the future. I would not expect someone such as yourself to know of a lowly genin like me." This was how one prostrated himself to royalty, another skill that Youki had taught him in his youth. Shameless deferential speech and flowery language gilded with compliments. His grandfather had said something about the language pleasing maidens and princesses alike. He had personally stopped paying attention when the man began blushing and giggling pervertedly.

The Hyuuga were a clan of ninja but they might as well have been royalty, given the way they seemed to bare themselves to the world. The girl's choice in clothing was somewhat questionable, but Yousuke decided it was merely the fashion in Konoha. Girls were good at stuff like that or something. Even the Inuzuka girl had a furlined hood on. "I did not take you for a Hyuuga immediately upon sighting you, though I cannot say that I am disappointed in your appearance."

She was obviously a 'trendy' girl who was all up in the fashions of Konoha. Far be it from him to assume otherwise. For all he knew, baggy clothing was immensely popular in the village.

[ZeroNumerous]

Houshi and Yousuke

The girl accepts Yousuke idle words with a growing sense of humility. "I'm afraid I do not have nearly the skill of Koji, nor could I compare to the pedigree of the Konpaku clan."

Before things can go much further Jun raises her head and gives Yousuke a flat glare. "If you're well enough to flirt with her, then you should be well enough to fight right?" That gets a blush frolm the Hyuuga, and Koji finally decides to put an end to things. He steps forward, standing beside Houshi, and points at the forest behind him.

"We should go. If we're not quick, then Bea-sama will wipe out this missing-nin and we'll be left in the lurch again." The Uchiha boy starts land-hopping back to where the sky-nin had left Amon and Kaede. Jun looks toward him, sighs, then looks to Yousuke.

"Think you can stand little guy?" She stops her technique, stands up, then offers Yousuke a hand up if he needs it. "I'd like to stay here and finish this, but Koji isn't gonna slow down. And even he won't survive an ambush." She starts following Koji, and the blushing Hyuuga does as well. A few seconds into the journey all the genin present see a cascade of lightning slam into the earth like a cannonball. Koji points toward it. "That was Bae-sama! She's probably found him."

[Bad Situation]

Yousuke reluctantly but graciously grips Jun's hand and pulls himself up. If things were about to get as bad as he expected he would need all the strength he could muster. Grimacing at the sound, Yousuke dashes in ahead of Koji and the Leaf genin to take in the sight. Kaede was indeed a skilled ninja, but against a legend like Sanagi his skill alone would not be enough. The ex-Leaf Uchiha was going to need support if it came down to a fight and if he and Houshi didn't make it in time Kaede would, at best, have Amon to aid him. Personally, he didn't like their odds but if they were lucky and opportunistic the mission was salvageable yet.

[Princess Tracy]

Amon sits and watches from the trees until her duration is almost up. The loud crack either breaks her focus or makes her lose track of how much duration was left, and her technique ends by the time the scene is complete.

[ZeroNumerous]

DM

Houshi and Yousuke arrive at where the lightning strikes had taken place, but find nothing except a large patch of charred earth and Amon sleeping at the base of a giant tree. She looks no worse for wear, and has no visible injuries. Neither Bea, Kaede, nor the Garou ninja from earlier are anywhere to be find. Jun immediately goes over to Amon and attempts to diagnose what happened. Once she's done she looks at Amon and talks to her in a calm, even tone of voice. "You're not hurt. You're gonna be fine." Then she turns to the other genin, and speaks a bit more casually.

"She wasn't knocked out, so it was possibly a genjutsu. Maybe this Uchiha missing-nin found her, but Bea interrupted him."

The Hyuuga and Uchiha immediately split up and start searching the area.

Spoiler

Show

Jun takes 10 to Diagnose Amon, hitting DC 15 easily. She knows Amon isn't injured.

If Amon checks herself, then she also verifies that she isn't injured.

If she checks her things, then she finds nothing out of the ordinary, except that her Wild Card is glowing greenish-blue.

[Princess Tracy]

Amon's eyes are half open and bleary as she awakens, but it's a bluff. Her mind is hard at work, looking over the new faces, listening to the slightest word, figuring out what's going on. No corpses or mark from Yousuke's fight, Konoha-nin, missing nin Uchiha - Kaede, Kaede's gone, blast zone, how did they know he was here, they did not know until immediate hour, where are the bodies, not here, genjutsu, third party, three man group, their sensei - a Jounin, 'Bea', that one perhaps who else the Thunder God, **** Kaede's genjutsu he knows I hate this sort of thing, what was I doing, tailing, therefore... I tailed Kaede, they went back along the road, made some friends, tipped them off that Kaede was here, their sensei came ahead to pick him up and Kaede knocked me out for my own protection. On a whim, when the others are paying less attention, she rifles through her bag quickly her senses indicating the Wild Card is charged. It throws her through a loop before she makes any further deductions.

"I should have the maid clean us up for losing our prisoner," Amon says, sounding drunk to give her the deniability of still being groggy for her odd choice of words.

Spoiler

Show

Take 10 on bluff check to pass message "Kaede's gone, I'll go get Cybele (she'll kill us for this)."

Amon has to hold back the instinct just to drive the leaf-nin into the ground and take them prisoners right there - if Houshi and Yousuke didn't seem on friendly terms, she'd do just that, good odds or no, though remembers to exploit that as two of them leave to track. I should gather more data, see what their search holds.. no, by then it will be too late. Then what? Shall I use the wild card? I don't know under what circumstance he envisioned me using this. I have no way of knowing, except the boundaries of how complex the technique can be and the fact I must use it within 24 hours. Some kind of message? Or perhaps... The whole time, Amon doesn't stand and doesn't speak much unless spoken to as she plans (and tries to look docile).

[retracted plan].

Amon gets to her feet, her eyes now fully open as she looks around, trying to seem scared. "I-I was under a genjutsu?" she asks, holding the hand of the remaining lead-nin as if for support. "Oh, where am I? How much time passed, he could be anywhere..." The thoroughing of her brow with fright can be seen through her bandanna. Houshi and Yousuke knew her well enough to know that her expression - that of an innocent young maiden, was quite the ploy. "Houshi-kun, K-Konpaku-san, you're both well..." she remarks, humbly and gladly twiddling her hair. She was rather glad to see Yousuke walking about again so soon, but the pleasantries were just a plot to have someone idly spill infor for her.

[Bad Situation]

Yousuke's eyes momentarily flicker with recognition at Amon's veiled statement but hides his interest before the others can suspect anything. "As much as I would like to ascertain your well being, Yamana-san I believe I should accompany Hyuuga-san to ensure her safety among the bloodline thieves." There was no telling what those eyes would be capable of finding, so he would need to be there in case she attempted something that could potentially jeopardize the mission. "Houshi, accompany Uchiha-san as well. I would hate for something to happen to the rising Uchiha genjutsu master."

If nobody stops him Yousuke goes after Mako and leaves Koji to Houshi.

[ZeroNumerous]

DM

Jun raises her head when Amon says something about a prisoner. "Wait, you guys had that Uchiha has a prisoner? But..." She looks to Yousuke. "He said you didn't know where he was." The brown-haired medic looks rather confused. "If you had him captive, then why didn't you tell Bea-sensei? She'd have taken him off your hands."

[zeone3000]

Houshi nods to Yousuke, "Yosh." He follows Koji leaving the Amon with Inuzuka, "Don't do anything I would do."

[Bad Situation]

Before Yousuke leaves he turns and says, "I spoke the truth. I did not know where he was nor did I know of my teammate's location." Which unfortunately meant that everyone else knew of Kaede's location as well.

"Now I do," he finishes lamely.

[zeone3000]

Houshi sighs, rolling his eyes, "I told you he purposely gotten himself captured by the Garou and that she...," he points to Amon. "Was tracking them. Obviously, something happened and standing around isn't going to help figure out. Also, he was knocked during that time. That's why I asked for your assistance."

[ZeroNumerous]

DM

Jun stops checking over Amon, looks at Houshi, and starts to back away from the group. "No. You told us a member of your team had gotten caught, and that another member of your team was tracking him. You didn't say anything about that team member being an S-rank criminal." She sticks her fingers in her mouth and lets out a loud whistle. A brown-haired shaggy dog leaps from the forest to her side, and both the Hyuuga and Uchiha stop what they're doing. They hadn't been paying attention to the conversation, but the whistle had definitely gotten their attention.

Jun raises her hands into a fighting stance. "If you guys are teammates with that criminal, then you're accessories to his crimes. I'm going to bring you in!" Her companions activate their respective bloodlines, and all of them stop restraining their enhanced speed and strength.

Spoiler

Show

I'll need initiative checks. Jun activates Feral Combat in the surprise round. Mako activates her Byakugan in the surprise round. Koji activates his Sharingan in the surprise round. All three activate their speed/strength ranks.

Initiative:
Leaf Nin- (1d20+2)[18]

[zeone3000]

First she whistles, "Whoa... Then, the other activate their kekkai genkai, "Whoa! That's because we didn't know he was a S-rank criminal! No one tells us anything! Seriously..."

Spoiler

Show

Initiative: (1d20)[1]