Ishiaki appeared with a POOF! besides the gate. He smiled and nodded to the dignitary. "Greetings and salutations, Lord Daimyo. I trust that I require no introductions?
"
"Certainly not, blind swordsman." The Daimyo replied with an eager smile. "You are a legend even among my people. I had no idea that you were to be my escort."
"I am the leader of the squad that will act as your escort, my lord." Ishiaki explained with a bow of his head. "My students will be making up the rest of the squad. They are surprisingly adept for ones so young. I am certain you will be pleased with our capabilities."
"That remains to be seen, though I will take your words to heart." The Daimyo told him kindly. The ruler held up a finger, "Let us keep my true identity from your students however. We wouldn't want them to get swollen heads, now would we?"
Ishiaki chuckled softly and bowed his head to the Daimyo, "As you wish, m'lord." He looked up at the sky, judging the time by the position of the sun in it's journey. "They ought to be here any minute, hopefully you will approve. Did I mention one is a puppet ninja? Always was an interesting method of combat, if you asked me."
"Puppet jutsu? You don't say..." A smile crossed the man's face and he looked at Ishiaki hopefully. "Although I certainly do not wish any ill to befall us on this trip, but I would greatly like to see a puppet show..."
Oita wasn't exactly in the lead of their little race to get to Ishiaki, he wasn't exactly the most eagle eyed either, but he was the first one they could see. His glasses always shone like the midday sun, even at twilight, and his backpack made him the most obvious ninja of the lot.
"Ah! Here they come now, sir. That's the puppeteer there up front." Ishiaki explained, gesturing towards Oita. He knew it always amazed people how truly well he could see, despite the fact he was blind.
Akane was in the back, behind Kami and Oita. She was casually walking nonchalantly with her hands behind her back. Her toes gracefully tapped the ground below her.
Kami peeked from around behind Oita's pack at the dignitary they would be accompanying. So this was the man they had to impress? Kami had been overly excited all day but at the moment she had a single butterfly in her stomach.
"There's the puppeteer, Oita, from the Village of the Hidden Entrance. A wind-style ninja from the Village of Quills, Akane. And a lightning-style ninja from the Village Hidden Amidst the Smoke, Kami." Ishiaki introduced them as they came closer. "And this," He said, gesturing to the dignitary, "Is Rita Kakureta, a dignitary from Eienohanto, the Land of the Eternal Hunt. It is our duty to escort him safely back to his home, and to prove ourselves worthy of their allegiance."
The man's eyebrow arched slightly as his name was given. He smirked, thinking the blind swordsman was very clever indeed. He bowed respectfully to the three ninja students. "From what I have heard of you young Genin and your abilities, I have very little doubts of my safety being at risk."
Oita bowed to the two older men, standing up carefully again so he could look between the two; something was amiss here, he was already calculating what it could be. "We are still just Genin" he pointed out, with another short bow "We shall do our best to defend you if something attacks, and I hope you will be confident enough in our abilities to follow any or all instructions we give."
Kami bowed when Ishiaki sensei introduced them. She chose to stay quiet, allowing Oita to be the mouthpiece for the group. He seemed good at that sort of thing.
Akane was a bit annoyed that Oita just down-talked their group by saying they were JUST Genin. Way to seal the deal she thought, nodding her head to Rita. Hopefully they would prove to be quite successful on this mission.
"Well now that you guys are finally ready to go, we can depart." Ishiaki told them with a smile. Luckily Rita had a carriage waiting for him to ride in and the whole group wouldn't have to walk; like on some other escort missions he had done in the past. He helped the man into his carriage and turned to his students. "Alright, we'll be guarding his carriage for the trip. I don't want any complaints, ok? I know escort duty isn't exactly the most glamorous of jobs, but it's still important."
"Hai, sensei" Oita said with a curt nod, looking at the carriage and frowning slightly; that posed a new challenge, there was a bigger target now. "Permission to allow one of my puppets to sit inside" he said, after taking a moment to think.
"As long as it's alright with our charge, you may. We are not to make his trip any less comfortable than he is used to." Ishiaki explained, gesturing towards the carriage. It was Oita's idea, let him ask the man for permission himself. "I will be taking up position at the front of the carriage. Oita, wherever you need to be to best operate your puppets will do just fine. Kami and Akane can take flanking positions along the sides, keeping tot he brush as much as possible."
Oita shrugged, carefully moving forward head forwards and sticking his head in to look at the man inside "With permission sir, I would like to leave one of my puppets inside here already summoned, to make sure I can react as quickly as possible if something happens."
"Oh! How very thoughtful! Yes indeed, you may." Rita replied with a cheerful smile and nod. He gestured toward the seat opposite of him. He had left it open, instead of bringing a guard or the like, for the sole purpose of having one of the ninjas sit there for his protection. The idea of having a puppet there instead, leaving the ninja to travel outside with the others and offer further protection was a very good idea indeed. He made a mental note to keep his eye on this boy, his potential is certainly great.
Oita looked at the small space available, tutted softly to himself, then pulled out his fresh scroll. He cut his finger on a bladed edge of the scroll and smeared it across the parchment quickly; immediately... there were two of him. A version of him stood in the middle of the compartment, except without his most noticeable feature, the massive backpack. Both were sucking their thumbs; but just for fun, while the real Oita still was, the clone puppet pulled out his thumb and said clearly "He's not perfect, but it'll confuse any attackers to have two of me."
"Fascinating!" Rita exclaimed as he stared at the puppet double of it's master. "The swordsman was correct, you really do put on quite the show. Don't you?" He smiled widely, still keeping an eye on the puppet. He could not see the chakra strings that operated it, very few people actually could after all. He knew that was how puppets worked, but to actually see one up close, he had never gotten the chance before. "I suppose that you are going to keep what this puppet can do a secret until the time is needed, yes?"
"It is the nature of this one, yes" Oita said, the real Oita this time. He still needed to get the entire thing right, but right now only an illusion of himself would do. He would improve when he had more time. The puppet sat down opposite Rite as Oita left, sitting on the back of the cart, among the luggage so he might disguise himself with his backpack.
Akane stuck a finger in her ear and twisting it in boredom. Plucking it out, she moved to a lonely side of the cart and leaned to one side, waiting to go.
Kami had no problem in traveling along side the carriage. She'd never ridden in one any way and didn't intend to start now. Besides, being inside the carriage would hinder her visibility and she would be intently watching for an ambush.
Ishiaki made a gesture tot he carriage driver and the group set off. It was going to be a rather long journey, and he knew the dangers that had to lie ahead with such an escort.
Kami followed behind the carriage for a few paces before slipping off into the brush along the right side of the carriage. On that side was the driver's blind side and and if an ambush were to occur it would most likely happen on this side.
Oita gave a faint sway where he sat, taking in a deep breath as he looked around slowly at his other team mates all deciding to walk. He supposed as a puppet user he was privileged on that point, no one ever asked great levels of physical exertion from him.
Akane stayed walking alongside of the carriage, keeping to herself. She would let her guard up later as they left the village. No point in doing it so close to civilization.
Leaping dramatically, Ishiaki took up the seat beside the driver of the carriage. He'd let the Genin do the walking for this part. He had to be prepared in case the worst should happen
All anyone could see of Kami were a few hints of storm blue from her thunder buffalo skin dress. she stayed to the thickest of the brush, using her size and skill in sneaking to go relatively undetected.
Inside the coach Oita stroked his legs slowly, looking around at the inside. Or at least the puppet did, Oita was actually just behind the dignitary's head mingled with the bags after all. "So" Oita had mastered throwing his voice long ago, and somehow managed to make the puppet sound like it was talking "Tell me about the likely obstacles we will come across in this trek."
"My word!" Rita exclaimed as the puppet spoke. "Extraordinary!" He smiled wide and looked more closely at the puppet, trying to decide if this were really a puppet or if the boy had fooled him. "Enemies of my country are certain to try and attack us, to stop me from delivering my message. As I am also certain that enemies of your own village is certain to as well."
Oita couldn't actually see inside the coach so he cheated Rita out of eye to eye contact by steepling the puppet's fingers and making it look down at them. "But you do not expect a lot of resistance? If they sent an elite squad after you I'm afraid genin would drop like flies... Probably."
Akane, on the other side of the carriage was looking around and keeping to herself for the most part. Occasionally, she would listen in on the chirps of the unseen songbirds above them. Puckering her lips, she whistled back, mimicking them. If there were anyone else in the woods that they would encounter, Akane's birds would alert her.
"That may be true, but you forget that I, like many other emissaries, had the chance to see you young genin in action. That little demonstration showed all of us what we needed in order to put our lives in your under-developed hands. So to speak." Rita explained with a little thought. "Furthermore, your Jonin squad leader is the Legendary Blind Swordsman from the Village of the Crashing Waves. With someone like him around, I do not believe I will suffer so much as a mosquito bite."
"I do not believe in over-confidence" Oita said, itching his nose slightly, or was it the puppet, it was so difficult to tell. "But then again I trust if you truly were under constant threat you would not have ventured out without an escort, as if you had an escort beforehand they would be joining you back now..."
"If I did have said escort, what makes you think they have not already rejoined me for my journey home?" Rita retorted with a small chuckle. "You clearly have very little knowledge of my people, unfortunately. But we are very highly trained hunters. The best way to subdue one's prey is for the prey to never know you were there."
"Or to confuse them so much they don't know what to do?" the puppet's lips moved, a hand smoothing across his shirt slowly to remove an imaginary crease, but the voice came from behind Rita where Oita was actually sitting. "I do not pretend to know much about your people" it was the puppet talking now, at least the thing sitting opposite him in the seat "But... I am certain that if you do have an escort beyond us our sensei has already noticed them. While I might be in the dark for now I trust he will inform us should anything happen."
Kami was still keeping to the brush. Every so often she'd venture away from the road and check out the surrounding area, keeping an eye out for signs of other ninja.
Akane, unlike her paranoid teammate, stayed walking alongside of the cart. She contemplated hovering above everyone on one of her feathers, but figured it best to save her chakra. All this walking was getting on her nerves though.
"That is certainly true." Rita told him with a nod. "The Blind Swordsman would certainly be aware of their presence, if they were mere amateurs." He chuckled softly and poured himself a drink, "But as I said, the prey would not know of the hunter's presence until it were too late."
The carriage set off at a speedy enough pace once they left the village. Those stationed outside the carriage would have to move more swiftly than a mere walk in order to keep up.
Ishiaki kept his head up, scanning the area, his hand resting upon his sword scabbard. He had a good jutsu to use in case they needed help in a pinch. He just didn't like to use it.
Akane went from a walk to long, swift jumps. She used a breezy lift to push her up and forward, letting her toes tap the ground on impact. The yellow bow on her butt bounced behind her.
Oita merely bounced where he sat, eyes scanning the surroundings slowly as his fingers tapped slowly off the rack above as the puppet did the same, so the sound of thumping wood was all around Rita. "Learning this ability would be handy" he admitted, the voice slightly off since Oita was looking around so it sounded like it was coming several feet from the left of the puppet "I find myself too often attacked by people in the middle of battle."
When they sped up Kami took to the trees, leaping overhead from branch to branch. With the risk of an ambush she wanted to summon Master Risu and a few of his ninja, but she was trying not to rely on his help as much as she had in the past.
"It takes quite some time to master such a technique." Rita explained to him as they continued down the road. "All of the greatest techniques take time to develop. I am certain that given enough time, you will figure out how to remain hidden during battle."
"I have already developed... certain methods of distraction" the puppet smirked at Rite as Oita spoke "Perhaps you can give me some pointers if we find ourselves having to fight."
Rita raised his hands and shook his head, "Sadly I have no skills to aid in a fight. I am but a diplomat, my people are the hunters."
"But surely you watch, you do not have to do it yourself but you must know... the basics" Oita had his eye on this man, he seemed strange to him. "You cannot live among something your entire life and not pic anything up..."
"I really do not have anything to teach," Rita told him truthfully, "On that subject."
Kami was doing a splendid job of keeping up with the coach while continuing to investigate the area every quarter of a mile or so.
Akane zoned in and out, hoping that this mission would go along quickly.
As the carriage continued on it's way, the conversation inside it went on and on. The young genin flanking the vehicle did a most excellent job of protecting the wagon from the small calamities of falling rocks and snapping twigs. Much to the dismay of the young ones, nobody seemed to be targeting this diplomat. Of course, they were riding with a living legend seated up front and in full view. People would have to be fools to attack with him at the head.
Ishiaki sighed and leaned back in the seat, "Just once I'd like to come across some action..."
"So tell me, young puppet master, just what is it do you think that I do for my village? Aside from traveling from place to place as I am doing now." Rita asked the Oita puppet
"Yea, tell me about it." Akane muttered in response to Ishiaki. She wondered about the other team and how they were doing. Milking an animal seemed a bit more interesting. Then again- with three boys, Akane could only assume the situation was hilarious.
"You sell your village. In a metaphorical sense" Oita was lying on his side slightly now, he was having a nice relaxing trip while those two decided to tire themselves out. "You go to places and you make your village sound worthy, either by telling people about your village itself and your great..." Oita struggled here "resources and economical place in the world... Or by being dignified and memorable."
"That's true enough." Rita agreed with a dignified nod. "We are a very proud and strong people. And I do pretty much sell my land. Before this Coalition began, we were the ones that people turned to if they needed help. Now that you ninjas are here, we're kind of out of work. So we figured it'd be best to jump on the band wagon."
"Advisable, I would have thought you one of the original clans to join" Oita might as well just climb into the cab the talk, it was getting rather tedious to throw his voice to the puppet and make it move all the time. He didn't want to tire himself out more than necessary.
"Ah, but because we are not ninjas, we were not asked to." Rita explained with a soft chuckle. "It is a ninja coalition after all."
Ishiaki looked over at Akane when she spoke. "It's never good to go asking for trouble. That's certainly when trouble finds you." He warned her gently. It was true that he was growing bored, ad that usually spelled danger for most people. Boredom often brought out the worst in people.
"An oversight in my opinion, if you are capable of something as great as hiding from my sensei.." Oita said gently "But if that is true... then I question if you DO have an escort around us. Even if you have something as simple as an armed escort hiding around us then surely you would be considered a viable coalition member."
Akane opened her mouth and hesitated asking if Ishiaki wanted to race her. Maybe it wasn't the best time. Besides, she would probably have gotten scolded for even suggesting it. Keeping quiet, she proceeding in taking long strides.
"Would it not be foolish for one such as I, to be traveling without an escort?" Rita asked him in retort. "We hired you for this mission, perhaps there is more to it than simply protecting my life?"
"I do not doubt that this would be a test of our new coalition's future prospects. It would be foolish to enter an agreement without seeing a promising future... Which would explain why we were all put forward for a new team so fast." Oita gave a small shrug, but forgot to make the puppet do the same "I am merely questioning whether you should really be classed merely as hunters and not as a ninja clan as well."
So far Kami hadn't detected any signs of ninja within the trees or below. She continued keeping up with the carriage, trying her best to go unseen.
"To be a ninja, one must be able to manipulate the chakra network, in some way. Is that not correct?" Rita asked Oita curiously. He was choosing his words carefully.
Ishiaki couldn't help but listen in on Rita's conversation with Oita. It was an interesting one to say the least. Clearly, Rita was playing some sort of game with his young pupil.
Akane is still walking.
The longer they traveled Kami became more and more suspicious. Mainly because she hadn't seen any signs of other ninja. She at least figured she'd spot remnants of at the very least a band of traveling merchants or hunters.
"I believe there was once a famous ninja who could barely control the chakra network, only break all his gates which lead him to almost die on several occasions" Oita said, thinking about the villages he had studied about "But... some minor manipulation I believe, yes."
"My people cannot do that. We have no method of manipulating our chakra. Those who are born with the latent ability to do so, are taken to neighboring lands where ninja academies do exist, but then they are sworn into service to that village or country." Rita explained further
Up ahead of the carriage, a tree fell slowly across the road; blocking the roadway and causing the carriage driver to bring them to a halt.
Ishiaki hopped off the top of the carriage and immediately began shouting orders. "Kami! Get that tree out of the way. Akane! Find whoever knocked it down. It came down far too slowly to have fallen naturally."
"Well if that's-" Oita froze mid-sentance, looking up over the rim at the sound of the falling tree "Tree, in the path, large. Obviously cut. Shame it's used for this, looks good quality." Oita began to reach around, ready to take another scroll from his pack "We'll take care of this."
"Hai sensei!" Akane said, hurrying forward. She jumped and planted her toes on the trunk of the tree before leaping several feet into the air, letting the wind carry her over the canopy. Akane moved in the opposite direction from how the tree fell, figuring whomever did this had no choice but to escape this way.
"Yes Ishiaki Sensei." Kami said and took stock of the tree. It was too large for her to move on her own and it would take all of master Risu's ninja to move it for her. There was only one thing she could do. She looked at Akane who was hovering in her way and said, "You should relocate, otherwise it would not be pleasant for you."
Ishiaki raised his arm and pointed back at the carriage. "Oita! Stay with Rita. Keep him safe. That's an order." He didn't think that last part was necessary, but it was more for whomever may be listening outside of their troop
An arm stuck out from inside the carriage, the puppet Oita making it seem like the boy was in there with the man instead of hiding just outside. Unless their assailant was sitting on Oita's actual back or knew, somehow, where he was then for all intents and purposes Oita was inside the cabin.
Akane kept moving and leaping from canopy to canopy, trying to spot the perpetrator down below.
Blinds fell and tomahawks flew through the air. The twirled end over end and then thunked into the side of the carriage. Men dressed in dark greens and browns roared from where the blinds were set up, their faces covered in paint that hid them from sight.
Kami turned just in time to see the tomahawks strike the side of the carriage. It was still blocked, if she could remove the tree the driver could escape with the carriage and their escort would be safe. She performed a few hand signals and a massive bolt of blue lightening erupted at her feet, sending shards of tree trunk and shrapnel spiraling outward. In a blink she loosed five kunai and struck a few particularly deadly looking hunks of tree shrapnel, changing their trajectory and sending them towards the men who'd been hiding behind the blinds. Now the tree blocking their way was no longer a problem, and if her aim was true enough she'd rid them of a few of their attackers.
Oita pressed down harder into the coach, eyes scanning around just below his pack as his hands tensed. Thank goodness he already had a puppet out, he just hoped that a stray tomahawk while he was hidden here. He might take a new puppet out later, he might enter the fight, but right now he had an actual puppet out ready for the first time one of these men tried to enter the carriage.
Akane spotted the blind and the attackers behind it. Dropping down through the trees, she flanked them from behind. Landing, she brought with her a torpedo of wind and sent it outward from herself. It traveled low to the ground but lifted underneath and around the attacker's legs, hopefully putting them off balance in the least.
Kami's aim was true and several of the attackers fell backward as the tree chunks embedded themselves in their armor. Those that had no fallen from the wood shrapnel, found themselves quite literally blown over by Akane's attack.
Those who could still attack, rolled with the wind and bounded back up to their feet, pulling other sharp blades from their belts. They leaped at the carriage, hoping to disable the vehicle or land a lucky blow through a window
There was a sudden movement from inside the carriage and the puppet sat on the passenger's lap with three knives stuck in it, the others had missed completely. The puppet twitched, then the image of Oita faded to reveal... well it looked like a wooden puppet version of the boy, but he had a several explosive tags on his chest and a mocking face painted on the head. The hands moved quickly, reaching out and planting explosive papers on the attackers, punching the papers into their faces in an attempt to knock them off the coach where they could explode safely.
Kami saw one of them men on the side of the carriage fall off with a paper bomb attached to his face. It looked like Akane was coming in for another attack and she couldn't see the paper bomb. "AKANE!" she shouted and leaped grabbing the wind rider around the middle and throwing off her course so she couldn't get close enough to get blown up when the paper bomb exploded. She might not like Akane but she didn't want to see her scattered on a road in multiple pieces.
Akane had the wind knocked out of her by Kami, literally. From the rough exhale, she blew a sharp gust at the carriage as she was thrown back from the bomb. Shielding herself from bomb debris for a moment, she started to breathe normally. When the dust cleared, she stood up and offered Kami a hand. "Come on-"
Ishiaki wasted no time in leaping to the scene. His sword was out in a flash. When Oita's paperbombs went off, his attack on the ambushers started. The first few stood no chance at all, they fell beneath his blade as if struck down by the breath of a god.
The ambushers did not look at all impressed when the blind swordsman entered the fray, in fact they seemed all the more eager to fight now. More blinds dropped and even more warriors jumped into action.
Kami smirked and took Akane's hand. "Let's show these men what ninja can do." She told Akane and filled her hands with kunai, surely Akane could figure out what she was thinking. There was no way Kami could hit all the targets, but perhaps with Akane's help she could.
A little compartment slid open from the puppet inside the carriage, a chest piece where the heart should be sliding out to start spewing thick fog around the puppet and their mark. It would make it harder for them to hit the target, while Oita was able to see perfectly well from outside the carriage. This puppet was purely short ranged right now, but Oita had confidence in the others to take out most of the enemy before it got to him.
"On your mark-" Akane, kneeling so that Kami could throw the kunai above her. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, preparing herself.
The attackers showed no fear, despite the fact that now they had 3 able bodied ninjas to contend with and a fog to hide their target. Still they pressed onward, keeping their shields high, and weapons drawn, they once again charged the carriage
"Three, two-" And the air above Akane filled with Kunai as Kami threw them. There were no fewer than ten for Akane to control, but Kami had seen her wield her feathers, she was deadly when she chose to be,
Akane swung her arms before each kunai, sending it barreling towards the attackers. Moving like lightning, she was able to send each one out without falter. Mini jet streams enveloped the blades as they soared to their targets.
The jet-powered kunai rocketed through the air and through several of the attackers' bodies. Most fell instantly, those unfortunate ones however were sent hurtling through the air into their comrades before succumbing to the brutal attack.
Still, there were far more warriors than there were ninjas or kunai in the battle. It seemed to matter not if they were disabled or killed, they still kept coming.
Ishiaki wasted no more time. He had grown tired of this already. He formed the handsigns and bit his thumb at the end. He slammed his scabbard into the ground, "Summoning Jutsu! Spirits of the Fallen!" The summoning circle enveloped the area around where his scabbard struck the ground. Each of the seven symbols along its length suddenly flared and then erupted as the spirits of the seven legendary samurai were summoned to this realm
Kami was surprised at their sensei's sudden summoning and awed at the addition for SEVEN new sword masters. She only let herself be distracted for a moment before leaving Akane's side and switched to shuriken to save on her dwindling kunai.
"If you wouldn't mind" Oita said from behind the man they were protecting. He grabbed a puppet scroll from his backpack, knicked his finger and rolled it out, smearing blood across the scroll's surface. The puppet spitting smoke already inside the wagon suddenly rushed outside, trailing smoke behind it; but the new puppet Oita had summoned didn't appear outside, the coach bounced with the appearance of the large puppet, the smokey interior of the couch was replaced by darkness for the man they were protecting, and something seemed to swathe out of the door the first puppet had escaped through. It was big, and wooden, and then... gone. With a rumble of earth the puppet was gone, with the person they were protecting inside it.
Akane was at least expecting Kami to say something before darting off. Cursing lowly to herself, she ran up a tree and perched herself on a branch. She always preferred to attack from above. Catching her breath and calming the winds in her lungs, she scoped out any of the remaining ninja.
The spirits that Ishiaki had summoned spanned outward from the summoner, sending waves of elemental energy at the attackers.
It took only a manner of minutes for the remaining warriors to fall, utterly defeated before the onslaught of the ancient samurais.
Breathing heavily, Ishiaki leaned against his scabbard, it was often used as a walking stick, and so was used to the stress.
Several paces out into the forest some of their attackers had surrounded Kami. She'd run out of kunai and shuriken and so widened her stance and balled her fists. "Come and have a portion." She told them, ready to unveil her taijutsu, but their sensei's new "friends" had done something she did not fully understand and those surrounding her fell, defeated before she could begin her attack.
With the mark safely... well, kidnapped basically, by Oita's puppet the boy decided to could concentrate on working on clearing the trees of any more. He had to look in further out however, and that meant stand up and making himself a target. "Get away from the trees!" he yelled as a warning, his smoke spitting dummy running around in a circle suddenly. He was going to blow a hole in that tree line and scatter the enemies.
Akane stayed up in the trees for a while. Ishiaki's attack seemed to have done them in. "That wasn't too bad." she said, dropping down finally.
Kami jumped over the group of men who'd fallen around her and headed back to the road. "Is our charge still safe?" she asked.
There was an explosion that shook the trees, and the little puppet of Oita came careering backwards. That would clear out any enemies they hadn't spotted. "I have him" Oita said, catching the puppet in mid-air and unsummoning the small wooden version of himself. It had done enough today.
Ishiaki looked at his students and nodded, "Well done. Let's get him back in the carriage and back on the road...hopefully we won't have any more interruptions." He swayed as he walked back to the carriage. The summoning jutsu he had just worked took a tremendous amount of chakra to perform, and he had reached his limit
"Sensei!" Kami exclaimed and slipped under his left shoulder before he could sway himself all the way to the ground. "Are you alright sensei?"
The assistance was greatly appreciated, Ishiaki leaned on Kami as they walked to the carriage. "I will be better once I can sit down and rest. That jutsu using every bit of chakra I have...I do not enjoy using it for this reason alone."
"Do you recognize these chameleon men sensei?" Kami asked. All the men were dressed in varying styles of camouflage, but she had never seen it before and interpreted it as a sort of chameleon fabric.
Oita looked around to check if the cost really was clear, then Casket burrowed his way out of the ground, the large body even larger now, as if it had puffed up to hold something much bigger than usual. Oita had done this several times before, the man would be fine, perhaps shocked at being put in a large wooden puppet underground, but fine. With a flick of his fingers, Oita freed their charge from his puppet's inner cavity.
Ishiaki shook his head slowly. "In all my travels, I can say I have certainly have not." It wasn't quite a lie, the camouflage hid them well to the untrained eyes
"It seems like a useful tool." Kami said "As useful as Oita's puppets I would say." She had to admit that Oita had been crucial in the protection of their charge.
"Well can we get moving before more show up?" Akane suggested, cleaning the underside of her feet from pine needles.
"It would be advisable" Oita muttered as casket disappeared, leaving just him there now, and the dazed charge on the floor.
"I agree." Kami said and then looked to their sensei for conformation. "Should we go now sensei?"
"Yes." Ishiaki replied as he sat down on the carriage. He would much rather be inside it now, than up front, but he had to at least give the appearance of being the major threat. Even if all he could do right now was stop himself from collapsing from exhaustion.
Akane lept up and perched herself on the roof of the carriage, a bit tired from the fight.
Oita carefully raised their charge to his feet, checking the man and seeing he was alright. He guided him towards his seat, patting the man and trying to smile "See, we're quite good at our jobs."
Kami remained on the ground, if any more of them came out of the woods she wanted to be ready.
"Indeed...you've proven yourselves quite...deadly." Rita explained as he looked at the numerous unconscious and dead lying around the carriage. He climbed inside and took his seat without saying much else.
Once everyone was situated, Ishiaki tapped the driver on the shoulder, signaling for them to move out. He reclined back in his seat and tilted his head back as if looking at Akane. "How you holding up? Impressive move with the kunai that Kami threw."
Akane was a bit caught off guard that Ishiaki would outright compliment her like that. "Oh?" She definitely wasn't used to praise. "Well I- uhh... I knew that Kami couldn't do it on her own, so I thought I would help her out."
Oita found his seat behind the man on the back of the carriage, curling up there so he'd be able to spring a surprise if anything happened. He was rather pleased, they'd defended the area quite well.
Kami heard Akane loud and clear and found a new level of resentment for her. And to think, she'd been proud that they'd managed to work together for once.
Ishiaki arched an eyebrow at Akane's comment. "Oh? Because I recall hearing Kami suggest it to you." He smirked and shook his head slightly. "Don't be so quick to denounce your teamwork. You're all on a team now, you have to work together."
Akane exhaled slowly and said, "I know..." She didn't seem to pleased about it either. It wasn't that she didn't like being on a team, Akane just didn't no how to.
"Do you make a habit of dealing with your enemies with such lethality?" Rita asked them curiously from within the carriage.
"There are certainly more lethal ways to deal with bandits such as those." Kami observed. "But they sought to take you, it would not have done well for our mission to leave them able to regroup and try again."
"Yes, but you did not leave any that could be questioned. Who were they and who sent them?" Rita asked pointedly.
Akane went quiet after Ishiaki called her out. She didn't like admitting she was wrong, so she stayed silent and perched atop of the carriage.
Kami was thoughtful for a moment... he was right... but wouldn't it have been their Sensei's place to bring that up before they left the scene? "You have a valid point..." She said trailing off.
Ishiaki was far to worn out to carry on discussing things as the carriage gently rocked along the road. He quickly found himself drifting off to sleep.
"Do not mistake our success for all out skill and prowess in training" Oita said from his position on the cart "While we have been trained in lethal arts, and many other abilities, we are still not at the level where we can take out so many enemies, but leave one or two for questioning. We are still in training. We have defended you well, but anything that is more complicated than that would involve fewer attackers, or towards no specific target, or a higher level group."
Akane just listened in on their conversation from her perch on the top of the carraige. Hopefully that was the one and only attack that they would experience, she was getting a bit hungry. As they moved, she looked around at the surrounding trees and bushes, hoping to find one that offered berries or fruit.
Kami was glad that Oita had drawn the conversation with Rita away from her and searched in her pack for some of her food pellets. Which all of them knew she had in great abundance since she'd spent the whole morning in Oita's kitchen making enough for all of them.
Seeing Kami pull out some food, Akane's stomach grumbled. She looked away, trying not to think about it. Akane was so stubborn that she resisted asking for some food.
The crunching of food pellets persisted as Kami ate, having no idea that Akane was hungry. Unlike most ninja who made tasteless protein pellets as backup for rations, Kami carried with her a small variety of fruits and vegetables also.
"I did not state that you have not defended me well." Rita agreed with Oita with a nod. "You defended me quite well indeed. Though I must say, that jutsu you used to protect me was most bizarre."
"When you can create your own team mates and power links, you can come up with some very inventive combinations" Oita said with a small shrug "Though I doubt any of it would have worked quite so effectively if I was up here by myself. I have my team mates to thank for defending the carriage so well."
"True indeed." Rita replied with a nod. "Your team did a wonderful job of keeping me alive."
Akane wasn't fond of Kami's chewing. Annoyed and hungry, she planted her feet on the top of the carriage and jumped upward, disappearing in the trees.
"That is if we don't kill each other" Oita sighed as Akane left to the trees, rolling his eyes because no one could see it beneath his glasses. "If you put all kinds of independent and strong people together and make them team up they want to just pull away."
"It takes time to develop teamwork, is this not your first mission?" Rita asked him curiously, although he already knew the answer
It was Kami thought. It was no wonder they were still green and inexperienced.
"It is" Oita said slowly "But while it might take a while to produce teamwork, you'd think tolerance would be a basic human instinct. Ah well." He shrugged "Whatever will be will be."
"Indeed." Rita replied softly. From what he had seen, they were certainly beginning to develop teamwork.
Akane stayed in the trees, moving with everyone unseen. She was looking for some fruit bearing trees but there were none. Akane really hated deciduous forests.
"Are we nearing your village? I'm afraid I do not know exactly where we are going, and our sensei appears... to be asleep" Oita said slowly, trying not to grin at his sensei.
Kami offered a small pouch of her rations to Oita and Rita. "It is not much, but you are welcome to it if you like."
Oita took one with a soft "thank you", popping it into his mouth and taking his time eating it. Just one would be fine for him, he hadn't really done much in that fight.
"I wouldn't be too harsh on your sensei. He is a great warrior." Rita told them bluntly. He smiled and took a piece of the rations Kami offered. "My thanks." he told her with a polite nod. "We are indeed close to my village. I dare say, by the time your sensei awakens, we should be there. Of course, that is unless we are attacked again."
Rita's comment about their sensei had been the smartest thing he'd said all day, in Kami's opinion. While she might not know Ishiaki much, she admired him greatly.
Akane was having a hell of a time trying to find something to eat, instead her arms and legs were getting cut up by the sharp pine trees.
"Indeed" Oita said softly "But... he IS still asleep." He turned his head, calling up into the trees "Akane, we are sharing food down here, if you require some yourself." He guessed what she was doing, might as well make an effort to be civil.
"You would be as well, if you used up as much chakra as he had." Rita told Oita truthfully. The swordsman had nearly depleted all of his chakra with that last attack, it was certainly clear why he wouldn't like to use it very often.
"I do not doubt that" Oita admitted, resisting the urge to poke his sleeping master "And I am glad he did the jutsu, it helped us win, but falling asleep on the job is never something to reach for. What would happen if we were not here to help defend you?"
"There is trust in his easiness to sleep." Kami observed. "If he did not trust us to protect our charge, he would not have fallen asleep so readily. He would have fought to stay awake at the expense of his body. I see it as a great cimpliment."
"I suppose" Oita admitted, watching his sensei swaying, and still waiting for Akane to come down from the trees.
Tired of being cut up, Akane dropped down and followed the carriage from several feet behind.
"Fancy some food Akane?" Oita called back, determined to be the glue that held this damned group together if it killed him.
Kami was still a little wounded about Akane's last comment and wasn't going to offer her any of her rations. Though she'd made enough for all four of them and then some. Oita was welcome to anything she had, so if he wanted to offer Akane, she would not stop him.
"I'm perfectly fine back here!" Akane shouted ahead, a certain frustration in her voice. Unfortunately, she had too much pride to admit defeat and give into Kami's rations. Now she was cut up from the pine needles and even hungrier now that she had expelled more energy.
Oita groaned, taking a handful of the balls with a thankful nod to Kami. "Time to go see if she's being proud" he muttered before jumping backwards off the coach. He started off running, because the loud thud of him hitting the floor suggested that if he hadn't his pack would have broken his shins. He jogged along after the coach, matching speed with Akane so he could run beside her. He held out the food pellets "Go on, you used a lot of energy doing such a good job on this mission. Even sensei has fallen asleep, you can eat one pellet."
Akane wanted everything to smile at Oita and thank him for being so thoughtful- but the admittance she was ill prepared was impossible for her. With a shrug, "I'm fine!" Her pride was a dangerous thing and she refused to show weakness...even if it was merely hunger. "I don't need you to hand feed me." she said sternly. Her eye glanced down at the pellet for a moment, but she forced her gaze ahead.
"I'm not" Oita said, popping on of them in his mouth and crunching happily "I'm sharing offered food. I didn't make it, I didn't bring it, I just have some and I was wondering if you wanted some as well." He was trying to make it so she could accept it without her pride being hurt... Having HER pass out from hunger wouldn't be the best signal.
Akane scowled at him, looking down at the food thing in his hand. Using her speed, she snatched it out of his hand and shoved it into her mouth.
Oita jogged alongside her for a few moments, letting her chew on the capsules as they moved. Finally, after what he considered an adequet amont of time, he asked Akane "So... how were they?"
"Dry as all hell." Akane said honestly. The shape of the things didn't help either. She was actually surprised he was keeping up with her like this.
Kami stopped when she heard what Akane said about her rations. Her pellets were tasty, full of vitamins and nutrients. And she'd worked hard on them all morning. She turned around and looked at Akane. "Take that back."
Akane had eaten them all at once at they were way too crunchy for her and struggled to talk through it. She chewed for a while before swallowing, "What?" she asked Kami.
Oita's eye twitched, somewhere down beneath the glasses. But he stayed silent, nothing he could say would help THIS conversation he could tell, past trying to knock Akane off the road with his pack. So he just concentrated on keeping in time with the cart and Akane.
Kami looked like she were full of rage and thrust her water skin at Akane. "Drink." She said with steel in her voice. The flavor explosion would ensue after that and Kami expected an apology.
"What the hell is her problem?" Akane asked Oita after she caught the jug.
Rita turned and looked back at Akane. "I do believe she is the one who made the rations. You have insulted her cooking, wind-walker."
Akane resisted scowling at the cargo and cocked her head back, drinking the water. Who the hell was this prick anyway? He had no right butting in on their conversation. 'Wind-walker'?! What the hell was that supposed to mean?! When the water hit the pellets in her stomach, they expanded and Akane started to not feel too good. Wincing at the water, she tied the cap on and pushed it away, offering it over to Oita.
When Kami saw Akane wince she asked, "How many did you eat?" And she took the bag from Oita, realizing at least another handful were gone. Who looked like the stupid one now?" "Here." She said pulling something green out of her pack. It was a leaf and she handed it to Akane. "Eat this, before your stomach explodes."
"What is this? More poison?" Akane asked, not the smartest when it came to herbs and remedies.
"You poisoned yourself by eating too many so fast." Kami told her. "This will alleviate the pressure built up by them expanding. Unless you want to die..."
"Ah- antidote to the poison." Akane said, sensing a moody tone in Kami's voice. She didn't take those things too lightly.
"Eat it." Kami told her. "I do not want to explain to Ikiashi Sensei that I killed you inadvertently."
"You couldn't kill me if you tried." Akane instigated with a smirk, taking teh leafy thing and chewing on it.
"Whatever." Kami told her and turned to catch up with the carriage. "Just stay in back. No one want's to smell your stupidity." If Akane hadn't eaten so many she would have been fine, but now that the herb had to work to alleviate the pressure build up Akane would have to stay down wind of everyone, for reasons that would become obvious in a few moments.
"I think you ate a handful of dried pills, and now if you finished it with water it would expand in your stomach and kill you" Oita sighed, almost wishing that she would just pop and end this so they didn't have to have even more arguments.
"Doesn't mean she has to be a bitch about it." Akane said, eating another leafy thing.
"Well you were quite insulting. Lets just finish the mission" Oita muttered softly as he walked along "Then everyone can go and sit in different rooms as usual. Just stop fighting in front of our friend here." He nodded towards the delegate they were transporting.
Rita raised his hand and shook his head lightly. "There is no need for you to stop fighting, I must say I find it most amusing." He told them with a gentle smile
"How much farther are we to the rendezvous?" Kami asked, choosing not to mention their spat. She only hoped Akane would stay in the back of their group. She had no intention of seeing what kind of air she could summon up from her bowels now that the herbs she'd eaten would quickly begin to flush out the gasses caused by the expansion.
Akane felt her insides tighten and rumble. She still didn't feel too hat... but at least the hunger was gone. Scowling ahead at the back of Kami's head, she leaped into the air and pushed herself up past the treeline where she could be alone. Things were better that way.
"We are very near to my country's borders. If you look out the window, you can just see the tips of our towers." Rita explained gesturing toward the window, where sure enough there were towers poking out above the tree tops.
"At least she isn't throwing rocks" Oita mumbled to himself as he tried to catch back up to the coach. He'd like to ride the rest of the way.
In only a few more minutes they arrived at the gates of the Country of the Eternal Hunt. Ishiaki awoke just in time to see the gates.
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