Cirrus Surveillance, Part 2: I'm on a boat! [Modded Mission]

[Kagetsu Yuii]

The ship creaked and fought against Tatsuo's use of power. From between the gaps in the floorboards, a shield of wood stabbed upwards and blocked the incoming kidnappers from attacking. There were a few good thuds against the wood, but no one dared to use fire on a boat making its way ever deeper into the ocean. It was a safe assumption the shrouded ones were making their way back to the ship to try and head off the motley heroes' escape.

It was hard to feel like the good guys with a five and a half foot bundle or seething hatred and rage climbing up the inside of the ship wall, though. Kikei's friend made a leap for the cargo door and managed to smash her way up and out, making enough distraction that Kikei herself wasn't made the human equivalent of whack-a-mole when she popped out. A gust of wind would hit her face on and make her eyes water in the force. The land was a far off dream under the gale force hitting the sails of the ship squarely. At the bow sat a fourth shrouded one, smaller than the first three that had attacked them, waving a giant fan back and forth in a slow, steady motion. They didn't seem to see Kikei yet because demon ball was making a straight line for them with the full intention of rendering death upon all.

"You said you were a good guy!" Aki shrieked, horrified at the blocked passageway. He dove for his box and curled up inside, happy to follow that instruction. The quiet sobbing and pleading that he hadn't meant to help could be heard, a response clearly born of past abuses.

 

[Tatsuo]

"I am! Just stay in the box." he said looking back to Kikei, "Do you see land?" he said, satisfied that his barrier would stop them from entering the inner bowels of the ship. It'd buy them much needed time. Tatsuo would take this time to scan around the room, looking for anything else that may have been alive in the ship. Tatsuo didn't really know what they intended to do with these children, but he'd rather not find out. Aki was scared understandably, but hopefully by the time they were freed he would be fine. Tatsuo would then place a hand on the side of the wooden wall in hopes to sense how many enemies there were on the ship. With the demon child assisting them they shouldn't have a problem with time. Tatsuo was sure she'd buy them enough time to formulate an actual plan. "Kikei! I kind of know how to sail a ship, but I can't figure out if we're fighting, so we'll need to tie up all of the pirates or whatever they are on this ship then we'll see if we can turn it around. It can't be too hard, right?" he said letting out a nervous chuckle to mask his insecurity.

Tatsuo made a single hand seal, as he held it the nature around him began to manifest into something of an armor. His whole body became surrounded by a wooden armor, however it wasn't immobile, it seemed to grow and flow as if it was currently growing. It's as if the armor itself had a mind and it was as wild as nature as itself. Now that Tatsuo's defense was ready, he was ready to go onto the offensive. "Do we see any of them?!" he asked getting ready to jump into the action.

 

[Kikei]

“Can you not like see I haven’t even poked my head out of the room….” She stated with a sigh as she climbed the ladder a bit further till she was right about to make her exit. ‘Never again will I travel with this guy…..’ she thought to herself as she finally stuck her head out of the hold and quickly scanned the immediate area. Her new demonic side kick doing its own thing was really great for allowing her not to be ripped a new one as she did. Pulling herself up and out of the hold she looked up towards the sky to take note of the sun in order to gage their direction before turning her attention towards the fan wielding woman.

“Hey you stop that thing you’re doing!” She shouted towards the figure as she realized that the only source of propulsion was probably that person. Stopped she turned her attention down towards the hold quickly and looked down on her companion.

“Oh yeah Tatsuo to answer your earlier question. No I do not see any land I think we are pretty screwed right about now.” She calmly stated through the hole in the floor, a large smirk on her face as she felt quite smug about her answer to the lad. ‘Honestly making his life miserable just makes me feel happy.’ She laughed after the thought before turning her attention back to the figure.​

 

[Kagetsu Yuii]

HYPEHYPEBOATBOATHYPEHYPE

Nope, no land. Also, maybe Tatsuo wasn't aware, but tying up things wasn't REALLY happening at that moment. At least he had some nice hardwood.

The fan guy totally didn't listen, by the way. Shouting at someone to stop the thing doesn't usually work.

Meanwhile, while the two trained shinobi bickered back and forth, Kikei's new bestie was doing something about all the rest of the pesky living things on the ship. The desk had become slick with blood and entrails as she shredded through the first seven-man to try and attack her. An eyeball flew and smacked Kikei in the face, the ship lurched and suddenly it was raining blood in desks below. Hopefully, Tatsu liked they colour red because he was rocking it today like a man on fire. if he didn't dodge out of the way.

Then it all went wrong for their fearless red eyed friend. The ship shook with a murderous scream as two of the sailors landed what could only be described as lucky hits and took from her a hand and her lower leg. Fueled now by pure, clean hatred, however, she was not so hindered by her loss of limb that she couldn't kill them both and a third for good measure. Nine down, a whole many more appearing from below with the bosses incoming.

>Cue boss music next post<

 

[Tatsuo]

Tatsuo just shrugged off what Kikei had to say. He just wanted off this boat, his patience with being in this boat was waning very fast. Now that he had his armor on he was ready to get into the real thick of it. Quickly forming a few hand signs. Whipping his arm forward, large wooden spikes would wrap around them until forming a huge hammer in which he would slam into his own barrier. All the while weakening the chakra behind the barrier. His goal would be to be hit whatever men were behind his barrier originally with a surprise attack and make an opening for them to go further into the boat.

 

[Kikei]

Kikei watched in both horror and amazement as her new found ‘friend’ went about dismembering and destroying her way through the ship’s crew. Letting out an awkward laugh as she watched the blood slosh onto the deck and down upon her partner below she pulled herself up and out of the hold and began running towards the fan wielding figure.

“You listen this instant or I swear I’ll burn this boat to the ground!” She yelled as she advanced towards the figure. Hoping that any crew member that attempted to stop her would be to stupid to realize they shouldn’t make eye contact with her. After all a quick genjutsu and they would quickly forget just who’s side they were on. This would lead to infighting amongst the crew which would make life so much easier for the lass. At least that was her plan as she made her way towards the fan wielding crewmember.

“I told you to stop that!” She declared as she attempted to force her way towards them. ‘Ugh this is getting so annoying! I swear this is just all bad luck like somewhere there is some god like being laughing their ass off over every terrible mistake that has befouled us.’ She thought to herself as she growled fist clenched in preparation to deck the man with the fan if he refused to look her in the eyes. At which point if eye contact was made she would quickly place a genjutsu that would cause him to lose track of who was friend and who was foe.

[WC: 262]

 

[Kagetsu Yuii]

The demoness gave a loud roaring scream and the blood of her enemies began to pool then draw up towards her body. She slashed and killed two more men with her remaining limbs as their life fluids formed into two new deep red limbs. Her new body parts squirmed and writhed as if the spirits of those she had killed were fighting to take back their life force. As her hand lodged deep into the eye sockets of a sailor wielding no more than a short sword and pistol, the new arm and leg stabilised.

Kikei ducked around the dead, focused entirely on the man with the fan. It was easier to ignore the gore happening in her peripheral, to ignore the screams of the dying and pretend that the demoness was not killing in her name. The white mop of hair bouldering towards him caught the attention of wind creator before her shouting had an opportunity to cut over the battle screams. Their eyes met, Kikei's eyes took hold, and the wind stopped. The giant metal fan clanged against the deck boards, disarmed from its user. He charged at Kikei, aiming to punch her in the stomach or knock her prone for capture.

"Catch the girl!" was shouted from the cabin doorway as two of the original trio arrived. Both were immediately occupied, however, by the screaming demoness hurling a human torso then diving into an attack.

Meanwhile, their shrouded kidnappers had left the door when Tatsuo originally blocked in, but he was hot on their tail in his wooden armour. He made it up the stairs just in time to see two of three make it on deck. The third, indiscernible save for being smaller than the others, skidded to a stop and launched a metallic chain, not unlike the one that had caught them unaware before. The sharp metal surrounded Tatsuo's wooden armour and dented it's outer laters. Bits of wood scattered, there was a moment where all seemed lost, then the chain snapped and fell away. With a snarl, his assailant sent a wave of sharp metal projectiles at Tatsuo as a distraction then, in a twist of fate created a metallic between themselves and Tatsuo/the exit onto the deck.

Without guide or crew, the ship lurched and smashed suddenly into a small iceberg. The force punctured a hole into the base of the ship and it began to take on water at an alarming rate. Aki's fearful cries echoed up from the cargo hold below as his crate was about to become a casket.

 

[Tatsuo]

Tatsuo lurched backwards as he was now blocked off by a wall of metal. He quickly furrowed his brows and surveyed the situation, it'd seem Kikei's monster was doing most of the work and that they were steadily gaining control of the boat. Things seemed to be looking up for the rag tag combo, until the boat let out a loud crash as it smacked into the ice berg. Tatsuo didn't need to be an experienced sailor to realize that was no good. He could feel the boat twist and turn as it fought the ocean's grip in trying to bring it down to her very floor. Instantly, Tatsuo went back down to where Aki was, as he reached down into his box he'd go to pick up the boy. "Hey help me out here!" he said as he would throw the boy over his shoulder and make a bee line for the ladder. "Kikei! Where are you?!" he yelled across the boat as he tried to get to the top of it. He had lost track of her location as she went to do her own thing in the boat. He knew he'd have to get off this sinking ship and fast, but he couldn't leave Aki or Kikei, maybe the demon girl, but who knows.

 

[Kikei]

Kikei using a simple close combat technique quickly isolated the man’s hand and using his own momentum attempted to toss him in the direction of the demon woman so she could dispatch with him. After all why did she have to dirty her own hands when she had someone so eager to kill around? Once she hopefully dispatched the man she would make a mad dash towards a clear before hearing her name being called out during the ongoing massacre. It was then she heard a loud crash come from below along with a great rattling of the boat that almost caused her to lose her footing. Luckily a quick hop would allow her to readjust herself allowing her to stand firm once more.

“Huh me I’m right over here!” She called out not quite sure if it was her ally that called for her or someone else who just so happened to know her by name. ‘Did he finally come out from the hole? I sure hope so especially have that crazy sound I heard come from down below.’ She thought to herself as she turned her attention back to her other comrade who was dealing with what remained of the crew.

“Keep up the great work!” She shouted out to encourage the demon, not sure if the killing would actually stop with just the crew. Kikei clearly hoped that it would indeed stop with just the crew and that the female would be able to hold some sort of conversation in which an understanding could be reached.

[WC: 259]

 

[Kagetsu Yuii]

The demoness screamed and lunged at the small metal user who had trapped Tatsuo below and raked her clawed fingers across his chest. His clothing tore, and fresh blood spurted onto the gore painted deck. The man stumbled back and his hand glowed orange as he healed his wounds. With a hideous grin, the demoness licked her fingers clean.

In retaliation, the larger man closed in on the demon and expertly lodged a short metal spear attached to a chain in her back shoulder. He pulled her back away from hitting his companion again and the chain, as if a living snake of metal, wrapped around her until it bound her arms flat. Enraged, she spat a mouth full of blood at her captor, which turned into tiny needles that peppered his body.

The masked lady, feeling that the demon is taken care of, formed a chain of hand seals and directed another chain of metal at Kikei. It misses, however, slamming into the side rail of the ship and falling to the ground. Kikei throws the unarmed fan user towards the demoness, but while the spirit is willing the flesh is now unable to render him limb from limb. He is knocked off his feet, prone, and unable to attack her in return as a cage that was meant for her created by the now half healed small male entraps him.

The demoness fights back, and while she is unable to break her binds she does manage to spit blood, which changes into projectiles that damage the man binding her. The demoness lets out an ear piercing scream as she tries to escape, but is stopped by the female of their cloaked kidnappers and forced to the bow of the deck.

Meanwhile, Aki had taken refuge in his small crate and was trying to ignore the noise above. He'd heard the crash of the ship hitting the ice, but assumed it was connected to the demoness and the evil blond who 'controlled' her. Tatsuo's sudden appearance visibly surprised him, and until he saw that the ship was quickly filling he fought against being carried from the ship. Once he realised he was being saved, not harmed, she was much more helpful in getting up the ladder and topside. Once they were up, they would be met with the scene of nearly twenty dead men torn to pieces and the ongoing battle between kidnappers, demon, and hand seal inept student.

 

[Kikei]

Frantic by the sudden drastic change in events Kikei rushed head first towards her new found ally who had been restrained by the hooded villains. Attempting to muster up as much courage and strength the young girl focused her eyes upon the man restraining the demoness. With her eyes strained to their limit as her mangekyou forms quickly as a black flame erupts from the deck of the ship separating her demon friend from the squad of dastardly delinquents. Reaching her ally Kikei yanked as hard as she could upon the chains In hopes of pulling the woman over her shoulder and began to run towards her leaf companion.

“Hey can you like make us a ship or something so we can get off this one and make way towards the exact opposite direction this one is going!” She called out as she ran past Tatsuo without as much as looking down towards him before reaching the edge of the ship. This would be the point she would notice the small vessel drifting along the side of the boat. No need to make one if there is already one for the four of them to use.

“Never mind the making one we can just use the one they got!” She cried out as she watched her companion make his way over to her. Motioning for him to jump with his package in hand she continued to spread her black flames till most of the deck was engulfed in the flames. This though would put immense pressure on her eyes almost enough to cause her vision to blur for a second or two before she jumped down towards the smaller water craft. Quickly laying her demon companion down on the boat she looked into her eyes and commanded she rest after doing such an amazing job of helping them get free. Undoing any ropes that tied the ship to the main boat Kikei then pushed off with all her might before turn to the sail and letting it lose hoping to death that it would catch and the boat would be able to make strides away.

“Tatsuo help us get some speed somehow!” She cried out as she desperately blew towards the sail like it would actually speed up. All the while Tatsuo would form a pair of oars and begin to row frantically but in a rhythmic pattern so as to get the most out of each row. Kikei saw this and quickly demanded a set of her own so that the two of them could row in unison and hopefully make their way home.

 

[Kagetsu Yuii]

Kikei succeeded in casting her black fire between herself and the attackers. She dove retrieved the demoness and managed to retrieve her despite becoming the focus of fire from the larger man and woman. In the background, the caged fan user screeched in Marsh Country dialect at the fourth kidnapper, clearly upset to have been caged in such a dire situation. The woman flung her chain back towards Kikei and once again narrowly missed hitting her, then pulled it back and missed again. It came close enough Kikei could feel the force of it ripping through the are, and the metallic clank was loud in her ears.

As Kikei ran for the edge of the ship, Tatsuo found his feet on the deck. Aki had moved to Tatsuo's back and clung on like a baby koala which shaking like a leaf. Tatsuo had contracted 'inactivitus' and seemed to have lost his voice and free will sometime in the last seconds, so when Kikei started making demands he only scowled and stomped after her towards the ships edge. He COULD make a boat because he was great like that, but Kikei found a lifeboat before he needed to expel any energy. He and Aki joined Kikei on the boat, the poor kid screaming for his life when they jumped from the deck without hesitation and settled expectantly in seats like good NPCs.

The fire held off the bad guys long enough for them all to get loaded on the boat, and real flames soon replaced the black ones. A plume of black smoke rose up into the sky, a beacon for any nearby to see. The demoness was oddly complacent in being loaded into the boat, perhaps aware that she was being saved or too exhausted to fight. Tatsuo would indeed make an impressive set of oars, and begin paddling them away from the SS. kidnapship as fast as his arms and power willed it. Of course, once the flames died down, the fan user was free of his cage and all four were able to gather, their captors would be hot on their heels in a similar boat. Despite all the bad luck, they seemed VERY invested in catching them again.

On the horizon, a sailboat appeared.

 

[Kikei]

Scanning the horizon Kikei noticed the small boat and immediately order for them to head in that general direction. Hoping that it wasn’t another ship owned by the evil organization that had just taken them captive. Turning her attention towards the incoming small craft she gave one last attempt to ignite the sail upon it in hopes it would slow the pursuers long enough for them to get to the boat on the horizon. It was with that last attempt to use amaterasu that she dropped to one knee and realized she had been using her chakra to frequently and would need to restrict herself if she was to keep the demoness docile.

“Tatsuo is there anything you can do to create a barrier between us and the enemy while we make our way towards that large ship?” She asked out slightly out of breath her left eye closed shut while the right was much unfocused as she had never once in her life used so much of its power in such a small amount of time. It was now literally her only focus to keep the woman she brought with her calm by reassuring them that safety was within reach. Laying down next to her new pal she laughed slightly as she rested to try and regain her strength in case it was needed. ‘Please let that boat be safety, please I don’t think I can handle another battle after what just transpired.’ She thought to herself as she held her right eye open gazing into the eyes of the demoness to maintain the link.

[WC: 266]

 

[Okada Kaji]

All things considered, it was a fine day to sail the high seas. A bit of experience in tracking rogue pupils put the two sensei out to sea, riding the waves with the wind in their sails, and a perpetual wave of chakra rolling behind the ship to propel it at high speed. Kaji was hard at work, putting his skills at seamanship to the test as he steered their single-sail catboat to the best of his abilities. As seasoned shinobi, tracking down the likes of Kikei and Tatsuo wasn’t terribly difficult, especially when their adventure had come with plenty of witnesses telling of their harrowing adventure. It was mostly the collateral damage which created a breadcrumb trail of clues to follow. Though, nothing served as the biggest clue like the billowing smoke which danced into the sky on the face of the ocean. A huge cargo ship was a burning wreck, sinking into the bay.

“Knuckleheaded pupils, coming up port side” Kaji called out aloud. Despite the devastation of a sinking ship and the lifeboat which contained his and Yuii’s apprentices, Kaji was clearly enjoying their time out on the water. He substituted his regular flak jacket for a green float-coat and wore his standard Leaf shinobi attire underneath since they had come from the Kages’ Meeting in order to find the adrift younglings. He looked to Yuii as their boat came closer towards the lifeboat, almost saddened that their time alone together was so short. He shot a cool smile her way while considering how they’d have to stifle their affection in favor of their nosey, bratty apprentices. “Well Blue, it was fun while it lasted… time to put on our serious faces, huh?” He then turned back towards the lifeboat, which revealed Tatsuo, Kikei, and Aki, a little friend of theirs.

“Hey kids, heard you needed a lift.”

// Thread entered //

 

[Kagetsu Yuii]

The trip, while brisk, had been pleasant in company and weather. The journey was more fun than the destination so they said. Yuii agreed, selfishly disappointed that playing saviour meant losing her exclusive access to Kaji, but even then she couldn't be upset. Kaji's company made her way too happy.

Yuii waved her hand across her face, and her impish smile turned to one of icey calm, "Serious face," she said, matching her tone to her expression. Another hand wave, and the creases of her face deepened into matronly dissatisfaction, "Disappointed face," she named it, waving a third to a frightening scowl, "more training needed face." She rolled back and maintained the second, breaking character only to give Kaji a playful wink before the boat full of children arrived.

To say they all looked like shit was an understatement. Kikei looked one moderate level jutsu away from collapsing from energy exhaustion, Tatsuo was banged up and half drowned, the kid they had towed along looked no better and at the bottom of the boat was the humanoid form of a creature so bloodied it would be a surprise if she was still alive.

While Kaji helped the children up into their small vessel, Yuii busied herself trying to get themselves turned around. A strong gust of wind and some hard pulling on the rudder had them back on course though they cut close enough to clearly see the robed group. "You were supposed to look in a warehouse. How in all the hells did you end up being chased by," Yuii stopped, and did a quick head count of the pursuing ship, "Four head hunters!?" The question was meant specifically for Kikei, her poor unfortunate student, who as mission leader would be bearing the bulk of questions from now on.

The demon girl was the last to be loaded in and Yuii visibly paled at the sight of her. It wasn't just her bloody and beaten state and the fire red limbs that appeared to be made of hardened blood, but the ram-like horns curling from her forehead and the thick, arm-length tail that curled down one of her thighs. That was a bonified demon, at least half-blooded. "Raiden, save us, Was that on the ship?" Demons were anathema in Lightning country. Where anyone could have found a creature like her was beyond Yuii's imagination and Yuii was a very imaginative human.

The head hunters were not giving up, and now that the kids were all on board it was time to leave them in the dust. "Okada-san, would you be kind enough to show our friends back there the way home? I think they're confused."

Once the shrouded sailors were dealt with, it would be clear sailing homeward.

[Annnnnnnnnnnd done on last posts for you guys. After you post Kikei, I'll post up for those sweet sweet mission rewards!]

 

[Kikei]

Kikei sighed rather deeply as she attempted to help the others board the ship with what energy she had left. In all honesty the poor girl was ready to sleep for weeks straight but knew that was nowhere in the possible future. ‘I’m going to get the worst lashing from sensei I just know it….maybe I can avoid it if I fall asleep on the deck and just die there….’ She thought to herself as she looked up at the very scary looking face of her sensei.

“Things happened…..some chains, lots of boxes it honestly got really out of hand incredibly fast.” She stated as she looked down towards the floor doing her best to avoid making eye contact with her sensei. Hopefully that explanation was good enough for the time being and she would get a decent chance to rest up before having to give the actual full report. ‘‘Sleeping just screams best option at this point….but what if that just makes things even worse for me in the end….’ She thought to herself as she stood in the middle of the deck her hands in her pocket and eyes closed shut in preparation for the verbal lashing she would receive.

“Sensei can I just go get some rest please…..you can punish me all you want but honestly right now I’m so worn out that it be falling on deaf ears if you did it now….” She whispered under her breath as an attempt to convince Yuii that punishing her now would be a waste of time. ‘‘Please work……maybe she would even forget about the punishment and I can just get away scot free.’ The young woman thought as she gripped her fist as she slowly peeked towards Yuii.

[WC: 290]
[MFT]