Boarderlands

[Junan]

After a couple of days travel, initially down the steep slopes of the Thunder Mountains, down to the forests which drink from the rivers which flow from its banks, and then further to the rolling hills of Lightning Country the group reached their destination.

It was telling that you could see where Lightning Country ended and Marsh Country began. The rivers which flowed freely in Lightning seemed to stagnate in Marsh, giving the country its name. The boarder was clear and the grasslands turned to marshlands. Yet it seemed that Marsh overstepped its territory slightly. As the group walked along what seemed to be the grassy land of Lightning, the slight squelching of water coming from the pressure of their footfall could be heard.

In the distance in either direction could be seen villages, clearly on the Cloud boarder, and where the group stood was a cattle farm's field.

Korekiyo held his arm up with a fist clenched at the location to call a stop to their travels before turning around.

I'll stay here. Team one will consist of Yoringa, Masayuki, and Rirakkusu. Team two will be the rest. I want Team one to travel north of where I am along the boarder, find locations with height and spread out. You don't want to be able to see each other, but you do want to be able to see a small portion of what your neighbor sees. Chuunin you position yourselves in between the genin so that you can give support to either faster, which is also why I'm in the center so that I can arrive to the scene as quickly as I can. Understood?

He looked at everyone and waited to see what would be said.

 

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

The feeling of the moist grass under their feet wasn't very pleasing to Ri, seeing how they were in lightning country where it was almost always cold, it made his feet nearly go numb. But now he'd just need to focus on the mission, he was assigned to a team and told where to go so at least he wasn't completely lost. He would look to see who he had to work with, but considering how he wasn't paying attention during roll call, he had no clue who was who besides their squad leader.

"Got it." Ri said as he began walking in the direction that he was told to go, assuming that the rest of his team would follow. The only thing he knew for sure was that there was a chuunin and another genin on his team, so at least he knew that much. Walking slowly to make sure he'd hear any last minute instructions and to make sure his team could catch up if they hadn't already begun walking, Ri adjusted his hat and made sure he had plenty of arrows for any rats sneaking around in the grass.​

 

[Junan]

The group moved north and the sun was falling in the sky.

"Chances are that they will look to use the night to infiltrate. Masayuki take this area, find something as high as you can but don't get seen! Come on Rirakkusu." She said as she continued to walk north.

The wet ground and long grasses were irritating, however would also provide something which might help with identifying a group moving through.

"I hope you have some kind of sight enhancing jutsu." She said through her headset to everyone. A couple of "yes"'s came through in eager response.

As they reached her location she nodded to Rirakkusu "Good luck out there. Remember to let us know if you spot them, I'll be the first one there to help." It was said kindly, like an older sister.

 

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

The wet ground and grass was indeed annoying, and simply made sure that Ri would find someplace dryer to avoid freezing his toes off during the mission. As the suggestion that they should use sight enhancing jutsu came up, Ri smirked and responded. "I don't need any sight enhancing jutsu, I'm pretty confident in my eyesight." Even though it sounded like overconfidence, his excellent eyesight was part of the reason he chose to use archery in the first place.

When the reached the location that the chuunin would stand guard, Ri nodded to the good luck and reminder and continued to where he was supposed to go. The entire walk there, he thought about what he'd do to pass the time and keep himself awake as he kept watch.

Upon arriving, he looked around the area to scan for any enemies right off the bat. If some were spotted, he'd report and pursue them. If not, he'd take an arrow from his quiver, remove his bow, and play with the feathers on the bottom of the arrow. It wasn't much, but it would keep his attention enough to make sure he stayed awake and alert enough to realize that there was an enemy in sight.​

 

[Junan]

They moved into their positions and Ri looked around, there was nothing he could see for now, and the light was fading. He was out at the furthest point on this side of the group, he would receive the least amount of help in a short period of time, but still it was something that they trusted him with.

The sun fell and silence filled the radio. The chirping of crickets, croaking of frogs and occasional louder noise of an unknown but larger creature would be heard coming from the marsh.

Time passed and the moon slowly made its way higher into the sky.

 

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

The whole place Ri was in was horrible for sleeping. The ground was far to wet to be able to lay down on, the noises coming from various animals and insects were so loud he could barely hear himself think, and the fact that someone that might try and kill him could come any second now. Ri sighed as he continued scanning his area, and removed his hat from his head so that he could see a little better. He could already tell that this night would be a long one if no one showed up, and it didn't seem like anyone felt like having any kind of chat over the radio. Not like he would even care if it was clogging up the channel with useless talk..

Balancing in the sift wet grass while wearing his wooden sandals was becoming tiring, so Ri decided he would deal with being wet and sat down. Now he wouldn't be exhausted whenever the enemy showed themselves. Just as he continued scanning his area, he saw a pair of glowing eyes in the dark. "Is that the enemy?" He thought to himself. Slowly standing up, he observed the pair of eyes to see what they would do, just before remembering that human eyes don't glow in the dark... It was just some animal doing it's own thing, and it quickly turned and ran, making quite the ruckus in the process.

"Getting worked up over nothing..." He thought to himself as he let out another sigh.

{MFT}​

 

[Junan]

Hours passed. Every hour their leader would chime with a "Check in." Which would follow with everyone saying their name.

One of the other Genin piped up to try and kill the boredom with conversation but was quickly cut down.

Shut up! The urgency in the voice while being hushed was clear as he cut the other voice off.

By talking you're not paying enough attention to what is going on. By talking you might be giving away your position which might lead to your being killed and we wouldn't know until the end of the hour. So shut up and pay attention.

It was harsh, but it was the difference between a Jounin who did this kind of mission for years versus a Genin who this might have been the first time. Not all missions were fast paced, not all missions were get in and get out. Some missions required a completely different set of skills which required patience and an ability to focus and refocus over long periods of time.

After that altercation the radio went back to silence.

Another hour hit, another "Check in." called. Another series of names given. Everyone was still there.

 

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

The hours went on, and on. And also on. The time was passing so slowly for Ri, especially since the only entertainment he had was one of the other genin being chewed out for something he thought was obviously something they shouldn't do. Eventually, he decided it would be a good idea to sit dow, so that's exactly what he did. Since the ground was wet, it wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world, but at this point, he could care less.

The silence began getting to Ri, so he muted himself and started humming a random tune to ease his boredom. It was quiet, however, and he hoped it was only him that could hear it. Would be a pain if anyone else that wasn't apart of his squad heard it..

At some point during his humming, thoughts of how the females in the squad would look if they weren't wearing the clothing they wore. Nothing was very flattering, or they just had something that threw him off or wierded him out. But after managing to get past the outfit, he found that his imaginary squad mates were quite attractive. To bad all of this thinking took his mind off of the mission. "Shit!" He thought as he continued to scan his zone, but forgetting to un-mute himself.​

 

[Junan]

As he refocused he couldn't see or hear anything, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary...

Just as he said "Shit" his head piece burst into life "What did I say..." unfortunately that was all he heard before darkness fell in his vision.

Waking up, who knows how much after, he found himself being carried over someone's shoulder. Shackles binding him, if he went to use any technique requiring chakra he would find it useless, the ability to mold the energy which powered most shinobi techniques sapped from him.

There was no talk, no chatter amongst the group carrying him. They moved relatively swiftly and quietly through the marsh, which was something he was able to identify despite how quietly they moved.

 

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

The first, and most important thing that Ri checked for when waking up was his hat. Was it there? Good, it seemed it was. Now to figure out the situation. He was being carried by some unknown people with handcuffs. After trying to melt them off with lava, Ri found that he couldn't use his chakra, but physically, he was fine. It was unlikely that his sword and bow were left with him if this was a kidnapping, so what should he do? Looking around was the first thing he did, trying to see what others were around the man carrying him, and to see if any of them had his weapons if there were more.

Depending on how many enemies there were, Ri would try to attack the man carrying him by kicking him in the torso. If this was successful, he would get to his feet and attempt knocking him out with a kick to the jaw. Each of these kicks would use the bottom part of his wooden sandals to try and maximize the damage done to whoever was carrying him.​

 

[Junan]

As he looked around it seemed that the man carrying him noticed the shift.

"Kid's awake guys." he said as Ri went to knee him in the torso.

"And he's a squirmer." he continued before throwing Ri to the ground.

There were probably nearly a dozen men around and they converged on the boy. Any attempt to get to his feet would be met by a boot to the face, forcing him down again, his cuffed hands and inability to mold chakra slowing his reactions and strength from how he would normally act.

Another man knelt near the boy I'll tell you what kid. I'll spare you a life in the fighting pits if you tell me where your friends are. I'm sure a shinobi like you wouldn't be alone out there on the boarder watching a village. You must be part of a... damn... hey, what do they call them?

One of the others piped up "A squad. They call themselves squads."

Yeah, that's right. You must be part of a squad right? Maybe one of your squad mates could take your place? What do you say?

 

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

Any chance of fighting them was now out of the question. There were twelve men, and it seemed the cuffs that were attached to his wrists restricted his use of chakra, which also drained his strength. "Well this fucking sucks.." He mumbled to himself after being thrown to the ground. It seemed like the group was making fun of him, if only he had his strength, they would all regret ever capturing him in the first place. Right now, all he could do was listen to whatever they were saying.

As he was asked for information, in exchange for not being killed in the "fighting pits," Ri simply chuckled. "Well.." He struggled when trying to talk, but it seemed this would be how he fought them from now on. "To bad for you.. I like fighting!" He chuckled again, still laying on the cold wet ground. He had no intention of giving these jack asses any information, as there was no doubt in his mind the village would do far worse things to him if he were to sell out his team mates.

"So, why don't you take me to those fighting pits then?" Mocking them would be how he passed the time and kept himself amused, he doubted that if they were actually going to some fighting pits that it would be an entertaining journey.​

 

[Junan]

No need to rush boy. The night is still yo... His hand went to his ear, the man had a head piece on, it seemed there were more of them still out and about.

Oh look at that. A woman has arrived with another boy at your position looking around the place. It seems that we don't need your help after all.

With that there was a dull thud, and then darkness once more.

When Ri awoke next it was day time, he didn't know how long he'd been out for, but the sun was high in the sky. He was still in his cuffs and was laying in some straw, like a barn of some sort, except instead of wooden walls and gates the iron bars kept him inside.

His head felt swollen and if he inspected himself he'd find his skin burning to the touch, swollen most places, and only one eye was opening properly. The rest of him seemed fine though.

In the cell to his right was the still unconscious body of Yoringa lay there, her body splayed in a position which left little to the imagination of what had happened. She had no trenchcoat, no chuunin vest, and what remained of her undershirt barely covered anything. Strangely her combat boots were still on, but although Ri couldn't see anything rude from where he was chained he could still tell that she had nothing on her lower half otherwise.

The next cell over held Masayuki, he was conscious but beaten a bit, much like he himself had been, the other gave a faint smile and a small wave. His face changing to a sadder, more concerned look as he again looked at Yoringa who had suffered the worst by far.

It seemed all of Team one was captured, but no-one else was around, so there was still hope.

At the entrance there were two men sitting in chairs looking out, not bothering to check inside at all, not unless they heard something anyway.

If Ri searched his cell he'd find nothing which seemed like it might help his escape.

 

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

As Ri awoke, he could feel that a lot of his body felt strange. Most of the swelling could be felt when he shifted, but the most noticeable was his head. "Damn it.. Did they really need to beat an unconscious kid?" He mumbled to himself. The shinobi tried opening the eye that hadn't opened when he woke up, but eventually gave up even trying. Looking around the room, he noticed the other boy in his squad, who gave a slight smile and a wave. Was he cuffed too?

When his squad mate shot a sad look to another side of the room, Ri looked to the same spot, and immediately turned his head back to the other boy. He usually liked seeing women naked, but not like that... It didn't seem there was anything in the cage that he could use to escape, which would prove to be problematic, so it seemed the only way he could escape was by attracting the guards attention.

He stood up and approached the door to the cage and looked around outside, noticing the guards at the exit first. Maybe one of them would have the key to his handcuffs? It would be nice not having his energy drained constantly. Ri would scan the cage and just outside of the cage to see if he could find a rock of sorts that he could throw. If he managed to find one, he would throw it at one of the guards, relying on his aim to let him hit one of them in the head. Hopefully this would draw one of them to the cage.

{MFT}​

 

[Junan]

It seemed that the clanking of the cuffs on the iron bars was enough to get the guards attention. One of them looked at the boy and then to his partner before standing and heading inside.

Hey, looks like you're awake. The guard said, amusement in his voice.

The boss will be happy about that. Sorry about the bumps, we had to keep you unconscious through the night you see, he was worried we'd hit you maybe a bit too hard.

Looking to the other boy and then back to Ri, then to the girl and then back to Ri again.

She killed about four of the boys before we finally managed to take her down. She'll be repaying us for a while, before we then sell her. You however, and your buddy over there. You'll get to take part in the fighting pits. A couple of young shinobi trained fighters can earn us some good money. So do your best.

He smiled looking at Ri. There had been a rock in reach, and Ri had it in his fist.

 

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

"At least he was worried.." Ri said with a chuckle after the man mentioned his boss was worried. He really shouldn't be joking around at a time like this, but what else was he supposed to do? Thankfully, there was a rock on the ground nearby, so he would have that to do something with. He didn't know what yet, but it would definitely be something at some point. Seeing how his original plan of getting the guard's attention would be pointless since he just had it, he'd have to find some other use.

Maybe he could slowly wear down the chain? It could be worth a shot, if he managed to escape he could actually do something about these jack asses. So that's what he did, Ri sat back down in the same spot he woke up and began trying to saw through the cuffs using the rock he had picked up. He had to avoid looking to his side, unless he wanted to disrespect his teammate. Disrespect? Didn't seem like something he'd normally think about avoiding, but now wasn't the time to think about it.

RI hoped the noise coming from the rock grinding against his cuffs wouldn't alert the guards to what he was doing, the thought of getting his ass kicked without being able to do anything wasn't fun. Especially since he just went through that last night, and it was pretty irritating.​

 

[Junan]

After the strange reply from Ri the guard headed back to his seat, shaking his head. The words "crazy" and "shinobi" were muttered amongst a few other things and Ri had time to work on his chains.

Unfortunately after a couple of hours he found that he'd barely caused a scratch in them, the rock however split and broke with the pressure.

An hour or so later again Yoringa regained consciousness, and went about covering herself up. She couldn't meet anyones eyes, she was scared and curled up at the back of her cell. The things they had done to her still fresh in her mind, the things they had promised to do to her stopping her from looking towards what might need to be done.

You're up. A guard said, unlocking the cage that Masayuki was in. Walking inside the man unlocked the chains.

Like a well trained shinobi Genin Masayuki ripped at the chain with all his strength, pulling it from the mans grasp and effectively giving him a whip. The man however didn't seem fazed, standing upright as Masayuki slinked out of the cage, his eyes on the guard, who simply followed, keeping the chain out of the guards reach, and keeping it moving allowing him to attack with it.

Ri would see in his eyes the willingness to fight, the strength of conviction that he himself had. And then as the guard moved too close he would realize why the man wasn't afraid.

Masayuki swung the chain around the opposite direction that the guard made a grab for, hoping to hit him where he was open. The chain connected full force, but then the guards fist made contact. Masayuki had managed to block it with his leg, but still the strength difference between the teenage boy and a full grown man was able to be seen. The block didn't stop the momentum and strength, sending Masayuki into the wall. Caught off balance the chain was grabbed, and then pulled, forcing Masayuki to the ground where he was then dragged out of the cells. Kicking and trying to maneuver himself into a position where he could fight back was useless.

The guard looked at Ri as he exited, a smile on his face.

And then all went quiet again. Only now Masayuki was no longer in the cells.

 

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

"Crazy huh?" Ri liked that he had left a bit of an impression, but it wouldn't matter after they got out of this damn place. The shinobi was already a bit frustrated that the rock seemed to be ineffective against the chains that bound him, but when they broke he was just mad. His face showed how angry he was, as he just glared at the iron bars which surrounded him. But after about an hour of just staring at a single spot, Yoringa woke up. Ri could hear the chains rattle as she began covering herself, and made sure to avoid eye contact. He doubted there could be anything worse than making eye contact after what likely happened to her...

A little after his other comrade woke up, the guards approached Masayuki's cage saying that he was next. Guess they were being serious about the fighting pits thing, not that he doubted it of course. When they removed his ally's chains, and the boy tried fighting back, Ri realized how they could've taken out a chuunin like they did. Even if he was just a genin, Masayuki should easily be able to take out any normal person. Clearly they underestimated their opponents, and that's if these guys really were the ones they were supposed to find.

As they dragged the young boy from his cage, one of the guards shot Ri a smile. Ri smiled back, but this wasn't because he's actually trying to be nice to the guards. He just thought of an idea that may work. If the hand cuffs on him drained him of his energy, and stopped him from using chakra, it would be a bad move for the guards to remove them. Now that he knew they'd be removed, and since he's had time to think unlike his comrade, he could actually think of a way to take these guards out and get Yoringa out as well.

"Now I just need to hope Masayuki makes it out okay.." Ri mumbled. This statement surprised him though, he's never really cared for anyone besides his sister and Osuteno. Was this just him hoping for a little assistance when he tried to escape? It had to be, there's no way he'd actually think about someone else. Even though he also thought about Yoringa during his escape plan. But that had to be because she's a she!

{MFT}​

 

[Junan]

With a plan in mind Ri waited for his opportunity.

Maybe a half hour passed before the man returned, taking a seat.

Masayuki didn't seem to come back.

More time passed and still no Masayuki.

Eventually it seemed that the guard was signaled and he stood coming to Ri's prison.

Unlocking the door the man smiled.

Your turn Hummingbird. The man said, unclasping the cuffs.

 

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

"Good! Can't wait.." Ri said to the guard as he waited for his cuffs to be undone. When he got to his feet, Ri became very dizzy and a bit nauseated. This was all a front, and he hoped that it would give him some time to gain enough energy to do what needed, and have an excuse as well. After a couple of seconds, Ri made a few handsigns while trying to hide his hands with his torso. If he was allowed to complete them, he would begin "vomiting" lava. He hoped to spill this lava directly onto the first guard to incapacitate him at least. Whether he was successful or not, he'd follow up with as hard of a punch as he could manage through the lava and into the man's stomach.

He assumed the commotion would grab the attention of the other guard, which was also apart of the plan. Ri would fly through another set of hand seals, then form a hunk of metal in his hand, spit some (highly poisonous if touched) mercury on it for "good luck", infuse it with chakra to increase the speed, and chuck it at the other guard. He didn't care where the metal would hit, as it would likely cause some damage if it made contact with skin or hit him anywhere he wasn't ready to be hit in.

If all of these thing were successful, and it was probably asking a lot for such a plan to work without really knowing the guards' skill sets, he would walk to Yoringa, force her onto his shoulders (as they had no time to argue about what they should do), and limp out of the room to see what kind of shit hole they were brought to. Any energy used in his little plan would've been all he could muster for the time being, as he just regained use of his chakra and still felt a bit drained physically. If these things failed, then it seemed he would still get to see what kind of shit hole he was brought to, and he may even have time to regain his energy for the fight he was probably about to get into.​