Reach Heaven By Violence [Doomslayers Mission | A-Rank | Take, Keni, Kei]

[Ōtakemaru]

Infiltrating a cult wasn’t uncommon among shinobi labor. Sometimes, people gathered in sharing certain beliefs that might’ve possessed the potential to harm the residents of the Fire Country – Crater City proved to be the perfect meeting place for such individuals, were they capable of defending themselves from the flooding masses of scum, muggers, and cons.

But this Tenku… a certain, dreadful aura surrounded their circles. Often, a couple members were seen traversing the streets at night – they all hid their forms under black, hooded cloaks, making it almost impossible to distinguish between them. Some unlucky souls had tried to start trouble with them, seeing the newcomers as mere green beans who hadn’t learned about the cruelty of Crater City…

And then, screams emerged at night. Dead corpses with large bite marks. Chunks of flesh missing, and an unsolved mystery arose – people feared the Tenku now, for obvious reasons, but… how? All the signs pointed that the Tenku were, somehow, capable of transforming into large beasts, but… nobody had gotten to see these monsters, unless they were wandering souls now.

This drew the attention of Konohagakure through an informant who stayed incognito in Crater City, and thus the trio had entered their ranks – the Tenku wasn’t a blood-bound clan, and strangers were more than welcome to join them, so infiltrating them appeared to be an easy task. The trio consisted of a golem, a bloodhound, and a demon – each had met the informant Munematsu and achieved aliases respectively:

Yasuke. Matamune. Kenrou.

After meeting official Tenku members and asking to join them, the trio were sternly talked to, but without any obvious ninja equipment or headbands on them, the Tenku believed that these boys were runaways from their families, abandoning their previous homes in search of power. The Tenku… accepted those thirsty for power, and they were thrilled.

The story begins at night – in front of a door located beneath a bridge in Crater City, surrounded by old granite walls. Next to the door was a table, and it looked a bit like the bouncer to a very shady club – the bouncer sitting by the chair behind their little, assembled ‘counter’, glaring holes through the three cloaked shinobi and the Tenku lady who brought them here.

“… They look young.”
“I thought so, too. Apparently, they ran away from home and are searching for a quick way to glory.”
“Huh? Reckless brats… but not unwelcome here. You! State your name, and exactly what your deal is – how you fled, how you came here, and what you’re thinking right now. And don’t worry – we don’t judge, boy. Know that your dirty, little ambitions… are shared by yours truly.”

An opportunity for each to present themselves and win over the ‘bouncer’ and his trust. Take remained quiet, trying to think up a story for himself… but likely, Keni or Kei already had a cover-up ready to tell.

WC: 483
PTWC: 483
TTWC: 483

[OOC: Mission-Link Background info is - we've all met the informant Munematsu, and he told us about Tenku, the rumors that they're vicious murderers, but also that they seek new members all the time. We're in front of a secret door underneath a bridge in the dark of night - use the bouncer's command to come up with a cover-up story for your fake aliases. And for clarity's sake - Keniwa is Yasuke, Keiyaku is Matamune.]

 

[Inuzuka Keiyaku]

Wow, what an absolutely dire shithole.

Keiyaku didn't imagine any part of this mission was going to be particularly glamourous, but he certainly held the opinion that Crater City, to put it lightly, was a bit of a dive. Standing around, dishevelled, with a shady informant and a dirty bounder under an inner-city bridge at least helped him get into character. He made sure his shoulders were hunched so he looked more diminutive, perhaps a little younger than he actually was. He'd taken the trouble to scuff up and muddy his clothes a little, as did Morutobu, to sell the part of being an impoverished runaway, though, being an Inuzuka, he was always pretty scruffy even on a good day. It wasn't much of a stretch. Moru was playing the part of an ill-tempered dog, who stuck closely to 'Matamune's' leg, and who, with his twitchy, snappish attitude, looked as though he'd just left a lucrative career of pit fighting. Moru was a damn good actor, Keiyaku thought.

The Inuzuka did his best impression of a snarky runaway who, despite serving a decent amount of face, also looked kind of scared and unsure as to what he was getting himself into. Coming up with a cover-story on the fly wasn't too much of a challenge though; that was half of what all his ANBU training had been about. On his last mission, he'd had to infiltrate a small village under martial law, and successfully manage to pass himself off as a guard with fake credentials.

"Matamune; peeps just call me 'Mata'. My old man's kinda shitty... He drinks all day, gets into fights, makes me pat him on the back until he pukes himself to sleep. Barely even recognises me, and I bet he don't even know I fucked off out here. It's whatever. Kinda just thinkin' that, whatever happens, it beats what I'm gettin' away from, ya know? Wanna get tough enough to go back home and beat the livin' shit outta him. Ran into these guys too, after I left. Strength in numbers, ya get me?"

Keiyaku glanced down at the Shiba dog by his leg.

"I called this guy Shriomaru. I fed him a few times while I was on the streets and he won't leave me alone. I like him though; he's good at findin' food."

This had to be the key to success; even if he hadn't spun the best tale as to his background just now, even a bad story could pass for genuine if told with a ton of unearned confidence.

 

[Kimari Bōmu]

Interesting... a place like crater city, is somewhere Keniwa always wished of exploring. Despite it's almost run down look, the sparks of flickering neon lights, broken windows scattered around, the last time they were here was... for Ayeka. It was certainly somewhere prone to violence, but despite all this, it was not so different from how he grew up if you did not take the sights and the smell in to account. Either way he went in to the this with like the others a new attire, instead of his usual orange shinobi attire he instead took to a more criminally insane outfit, to match with his new found fake personality.

He was practically a new person, wrapping himself in bandages all over his body and untying each of his dreads to allow a ragged mess of hair to seep out from the bandages. Alongside this he wore a purple robe which was clean and pristine compared to the rest of his outfit a weird juxtaposition. But besides all that he carried a sword across his waist, one real and genuine in it's demeanour, crafted specifically for this mission, by none other than himself. It may not be legendary status, but it appears Kyoujouran's make decent blacksmiths due to their heat resistant and tough skin, so with his new hobby taken under, and katana by waist he would wait with a inhumane twisted smile, resting his arm amongst his blade's helm in it's crimson sheathe.

After Matamune quit speaking, Yasuke would pipe up to the others, confidently walking up to the table he would slam his palm down shaking whatever would rest on top as he giggled. "Yasuke to you, Tenka's a tough shell to crack eh, don't worry that bunny will soon be hopping up down up down and aalllll over me." Turning his head to Tenka he would make a slithering motion as he stuck out his tongue before bringing eye contact back to the bouncer. "Girls just ain't the same in cocoa city, naw here though they are something else I'll tell ya! Their screams here though! Oh... yeah!! I had to slice and dice my way out of The coffee republic when i got caught, and met these three on the run. Despite what Mata says hes a freak to ya know! Shoulda seen what we did to that mudder and daughtuh!" He would make a humping motion before grinning again and letting out a cackle. "Now I do gotta ask, where the bitches at!"

Fortunately this was not the first time Keniwa had went undercover, and after his first attempt he had put a lot more research in to how some true sick bastards really did look and act, though at any moments notice he was ready to return back to his shinobi alias when the time called for it. But for now, Yasuke was showing his truly disgusting nature.

 

[Ōtakemaru]

”Mata… hmh, your old man sounds like a prick. Does he, by any chance, have a wife or a girlfriend?” the bouncer guy asked curiously, “You don’t have to answer, I’m just curious… I used to be a psychiatrist, y’know.” A strange question to ask, but maybe he was just worried for a woman’s well-being in the company of such a prick – an imaginary prick, obviously, but still. The bouncer couldn’t care less about the dog, as long as it knew where to piss and poop when nature called. Which was… well, obvious, right? To which he made no comment to that. The woman who accompanied them to this place did comment: “Cute dog.”

The bouncer rose an eyebrow at Yasuke’s story, though. Yasuke appeared to have been… a psychopath. With a vendetta against females… that latter realization made the bouncer smile a little. This was perfect… but a bit too perfect. He’d keep an eye on Yasuke, but for now, the crazy brat showed promise. “Hmh… well, trust me, you’ll fit right in. Girls… aren’t the same these days, are they?” Turning his gaze back to Mata, the bouncer added, “Huh? So you’re into that kind of shit, eh? Didn’t I tell you to be honest with me, boy?”

“Let him be, Oyster.”

“… Not like I got a problem to begin with, Mole,” the bouncer replied with a scoff, revealing that they both had names after animals. At long last, his attention fell upon the last member of the trio – a rather silent boy hiding most of his face behind his cloak’s hood. A shy boy wasn’t what their organization needed, but… should he witness their deeds behind these walls, then his shyness could prove as a muffle to keep him quiet. Therebefore, the man known as Oyster called out: “You! Your turn, coward… if you wanna join us, drop the pussycat-phase you’re in and speak.”

Take’s slight panic caused his Cursed Seal to glow, flamy patterns light up on his forehead and cheek that glowed through the cloak and lit up his face with a dreadful aura that blew across the area they were in. They could all feel it… fear, surely, but also fury. Resentment. Hatred. The smell of blood and iron. Rotten flesh. Evil omens. And yet, Take pondered why their faces appeared so… astonished to his look. Raising an eyebrow, he managed to calm his aura down, and his Cursed Seal retracted itself into a faint, dark mark without any glow…

“… W-Well, aren’t you a fucking monster, uh?” Oyster commented with a drop of sweat falling off his face, “No wonder you kept quiet… y-you know what, if you two know him, fine with me. Keep our business within these walls – it’s no secret, but traitors will suffer hell and beyond, and there’s nowhere you can hide… but you didn’t look for a place to hide, did you?”

With that said, Oyster opened the door and led them all in, including Mole herself. Then the door closed, and their real mission began.

…

The tunnel turned into a hallway, with a smooth wall, ceiling and even windows with nothing but black behind. It looked like the hallway through a mansion, all hidden beneath Crater City. The most notable items were images on the walls, depicting just the faces of different women… all in such sickening agony that it made Take sick to just gaze at. Terrifying facial contortions on those images.

“You’re looking for power… am I correct?” Oyster commented, while Mole was called by another member to attend to one of the rooms behind the windows, “We’ve found a way to obtain power… but I sure hope you’re not cowardly enough to deny such a gift. It requires… commitment.” Oyster would walk towards another cloaked member, giving the trio some time to gaze at the images on the walls, the windows behind which pitch darkness resided, or try to eavesdrop Oyster’s conversation:

“How much longer before she descends?”
“It’s been two weeks now… but she’s lost all hope. Vulture’s begun the operation, just give him an hour or two…”
“Good… just in time. One of our recruits needs a demon, after all.”
“You’ll have to wait with the two others – we’re still searching for proper subjects.”

WC: 714
PTWC: 1197
TTWC: 2110

[OOC: Photos are placed on the walls, large in size and depicting only the faces of women... but they're all in complete agony. Contorted, almost illogically filled with despair, almost lifeless faces. Let that affect your characters however you wish - Take's about to puke at the sight, not knowing the implications behind those photos. It it likely that the team needs more evidence before crashing the party...]

 

[Inuzuka Keiyaku]

"Yeah! 'Course I am!" Keiyaku insisted indignantly, actually putting on a show to square up to the guy before his colleague cooled him down. Keiyaku backed down as well, "asshole back home deserves what's comin' to 'im! Don't think I won't do it! Girlfriends, plural; he gets a new one every other week."

Keni's story was a little more adventurous - he'd gotten into costume and spun a tale of an abusive womaniser, demonstrating a fiery personality. He hated the things he said, obviously, but his preparedness, and the enthusiasm he put into his narrative... suffice it to say, it was kind of attractive. The Inuzuka avoided sharing eye contact with the Kyoujouran.

'Shit....' Keiyaku thought to himself as Oyster turned to Take, ordering him to speak up, the latter looking like he was about to wet himself. He hadn't realised the poor guy was going to have such a tough time with this; he really felt for him. Apparently Take's body had ideas of its own, as he could see that dark mark begin to glow, spreading across his body. Keiyaku had never seen the guy's curse mark activate before, at least, not up close, and all of a sudden he was worrying if they were going to have a situation on their hands. Instinctively, he put his hand to his own stomach, where his own seal was located. The presence of cursed chakra was causing the demon to stir ever-so slightly. Not a good omen. As long as they got back to Konoha before the night of the full moon, things should be okay.

Take, however, seemed to have far better control over his condition than Keiyaku did; taking a moment to breathe, the curse receded back into the small tattoo. Phew. Well, at least their company was impressed.

"Yeah, yeah, we know the drill," Keiyaku said as the four of them were ushering inside.

"Man, I think these guys need to hire a new interior decorator...'

The depictions of turmoil and torment across the walls didn't exactly make for a comfy environment. Keiyaku privately thought that he certainly wouldn't have anything like this in his own home. He took a moment to briefly glance through one of the windows, and saw absolutely nothing on the other side. Weird.

"Commitment? Shit, if it gives me what I need, you can have my soul," said Keiyaku proudly, though inwardly thinking his soul may have already been promised to another supernatural eldritch entity, and that now he didn't have many chips to bargain with. He'd sooner volunteer himself than let his teammates do anything though. If they could just find out what the deal was here, then they could unmask and lay waste to the place. The Inuzuka's attention, however, was piqued by Morutobu who silently nudged his leg with his nose in a pointed sort of way, and then gestured with his eyes at Mole and Oyster in front of them. Plain as day, he could hear their conversation. The word 'demon' stood out to him pretty hard, and again he found himself placing a hand over his seal.

"So? What is it you're gonna give us? What's this power ya keep bangin' on about," he asked the two, trying to sound casual and no like he was listening in, "I can take anything!"

 

[Kimari Bōmu]

Keniwa would almost stiffen up as he waited for Otakemaru to begin his tale, however it appears as if right at he stood in front of the bouncer, that he had stage fright. The kyoujouran was prepared for the worst of the worst to take place silently planting his feet preparing to pounce although as luck would have it, Otakemaru's seal would come in to effect in all of it's flaming dreaded glory, even as his ally he could feel it's pressure. As if it was a carnivorous plant it sat and bared it's sharp traits to the degenerate, Keniwa almost instinctively would go to giggle in an attempt to re-grasp his character. But that was far too close especially this early in, they could not afford to make mistakes considering the sheer amount of numbers in this gang.

As the doors opened wide allowing them to follow behind the bouncer, Yasuke would gift Kenrou a quick nudge to the elbow and a piercing glare, which spoke all to well to show how serious this mission actually is. As being the highest ranking shinobi out of the three, if things went wrong it would be him put to blame, he needed to lead efficiently and have these two at their peak potential. Their disgusting images which were poorly scattered around the walls made for a horrible sense of dread to feel the Sennin, the black outside coupled with the vile depictions made for an unsettling duo. However keeping up with his character he would carry a twisted grin even taking a moment to stop and burst out with laughter at a few of the pieces of art for short periods of time, Yasuke was just as much as a bastard as these guys, and it needed to be shown somewhat. Otakemaru however still seemed to be struggling luckily he was out of sight, yet if this kept up... the future did not bode well.

Keiyaku seemed to be taking an initiative in terms of response, and Keniwa wasted no time in following up after him "If this shit's the real deal, then what he said!" backing up Masuta and showing Yasuke's willingness to go forward with whatever the dastards had planned. He appeared somewhat bored as the two talked with each one and another, gazing off to a random part of the hallway, but in actuality he was scanning the perimeter with his tremor sense to see how many they were dealing with and what he might be able to see without the use of his eyes. Silently he would concentrate on this in an attempt to understand what was going in the rooms behind each window.

WC: 447

 

[Ōtakemaru]

Keniwa’s seismic sense, his tremor vision, caught an entire operation table inside of the pitch-black room. From the vibrations of a faint, faint heartbeat, he could confirm that at least one person was in there… sitting on a strange circular chair.

…

Oyster was impressed with how impatient they were – mirror images of himself, and all. “Now now, relax. We have the ability to draw power from creatures from another world… but you’re best off not knowing how we pull that off. We got one of these creatures ready to fuse with you – I take it you’re familiar with a certain term… Jinchūriki?”

”You think they’re shinobi, Oyster?”

“We’ve all heard of Jinchūrikis, Lemur… people who draw immeasurable power from beasts sealed inside of them – doesn’t that sound convenient and awesome?” Oyster tried to sell the idea that this Jinchūriki business was the real shit, “We got one such beast ready to be sealed inside of our new members. It requires you assert yourself against it beforehand, though… gain its respect through combat, typical animal shit… but since you’re so eager to go, I take it we have nothing to worry about. Just make sure not to get killed – we’ll help you out as best we can.”

Apparently, in order to obtain a beast for sealing, one would have to confront it in battle. “You, Kenrou. Mole will aid you against the beast, so follow them into the room behind. Unfortunately, it’ll take a bit before we can supply you two with demons of your own… but trust me. It’ll all be worth it.”

An attempt to convince them further, Oyster suddenly released a very familiar aura. All Jinchūriki were able to manifest limbs of pure chakra in one way or another, and Oyster’s arms were surrounded in a bluish, shell-like dome – more like a clam’s unforgiving bite, worn like boxing gloves. Take stood still without a word, but he soon walked up to Oyster and grew out a tibia made of dark-grey, reinforced flesh from his Cursed Seal. Oyster was beyond surprised, but he wasn’t the smartest tool in the shed and was rather impressed than suspicious. “F-For real? You too? Damn… the hell’d ya get that from?”

“I… I stole a secret scroll with a seal,” Take began waffling, “Jūin… if you’ve heard of it.”

“Jūin… Cursed Seal? First time I’ve heard of such a thing- wait, you were a shinobi?”

“Don’t lump me in with those… them.”

“… Damn, boy- listen, I said I don’t give a fuck about your pasts, but it’s that big of a deal?”

“… Shinobis are… m-more monster than you think. I-I mean… I had to get this curse just to be acknowledged. It hurt… so I left them behind. I don’t care what happens to me now – as long as I choose it myself.”

“K-Kinda self-contradictory, that statement… but fine, fine. Hey, about that Cursed Seal-“

Take managed to waffle a story about being an ex-shinobi without raising suspicions, perhaps a side-effect of being virally affected by his Cursed Seal. He’d draw Oyster’s attention far away from Keniwa… and Take hoped that their upperclassman realized that.

…

Should Keiyaku follow Mole into the room at the end of the hallway, he’d find a large hall akin to those used for Taijutsu practice or PE. A demonic entity was chained down by Sealing lines at the end of the hall, and… it had limbs, alright. A sort of maw, too, but it was fleshy, dark-green, and howling in several different decibels without rhythm. Even if you glared at it for a while, it’d be extremely difficult to describe its form, as if it was constantly melting down on itself. One thing was certain – it was pissed off at the mere sight of those who entered.

“I’ll loosen the seals a bit, now,” Mole spoke up, throwing down a short katana at Keiyaku’s feet, “Strike its eyes, located all over its body. Once it’s weakened and leaves you alone, we’ll commence the body sealing.”

 

[Inuzuka Keiyaku]

Jinchūriki.

Keiyaku's face seemed to lose a lot of colour as the word was spoken aloud. He heard the term as if spoken from across a vast expanse, and he felt himself instinctively placing a hand over his belly, where, beneath his clothes, was inscribed a black tattoo containing the life essence of a demon. It wasn't as though, even if his body was wholly his own, that he would allow one of these gang members to shove a demon inside of him for the sake of maintaining cover on a mission, but he knew how territorial the thing inside him was. There was a significant risk their cover could be blown. Above all, he needed to make sure neither of his comrades would risk undergoing such a procedure. Fortunately for Keiyaku, the full moon was still two weeks away, which meant, even if his inner demon decided to get jealous, he should be able to keep a lid on it.

"A... beast? You mean... you're going to let uh.... some kind of thing possess us?" Keiyaku asked, his eyes flashing back to the ruined village, a great rock monster above them, about to drop an small asteroid on him and his squad...

Allowing Mole to lead him into the adjoining room, his jaw dropped at what he saw.

Moru whimpered.

Some unholy entity was chained by a sealing spell, keeping it from moving, but the thing was desperately fighting for freedom by the look of it. Keiyaku could barely keep the damn thing's facial features in focus, and he wasn't sure whether human language had the necessary vocabulary to adequately describe the thing's appearance. A short katana clanging to the ground snapped the Inuzuka out of his reverie, and he slowly lowered himself to pick it up, unable to tear his eyes away from the entity.

Keiyaku opened his mouth, but what came out, didn't seem to be Fuego, the common language of the Fire Country. No, his accent was suddenly differently, and the language that came out felt much older, somehow. The langauge of demons.

"Quid est tibi nōmen? Quomodo huc venisti? Doleō, sed desino hoc..."

"What's your name? How did you get here? I'm sorry, but I have to stop this from happening..."

In fact, as Keiyaku spoke, it was quite plain that he had no idea he was even speaking a different language; surely he would have realised doing so would risk blowing their cover. He could already feel the caged animal inside him raise his head, staring at the entity in front of him from behind Keiyaku's eyes, sneering in disgust at the sight of it. Take, by virtue of his Cursed Seal, might have some understanding of this language.

'Sit. The fuck. Down. Nobody asked you to weigh in,' Keiyaku thought to himself, hoping the damn animal would get the hint and stop trying to possess him.

"I uh... I mean.... shit.... let's... do this," said Keiyaku, holding the katana and making a gesture to Moru to stop him from assisting, desperately clinging onto the character he had created for himself. He had absolutely no qualkms about harming this entity, he could smell the cursed chakra dripping from it, but he was doubtful about what to do after attempting to weaken it. Could he perhaps kill it, or banish it to keep it out of this gang's hands.

So, he struck, he slashed, he sliced, trying to weaken the thing as best he could, trying to go further and take the thing out completely. Even if that didn't work... he was sure he could work out a solution before this whole 'sealing' business got started. Whatever happened, if he needed to, he would take the fall for his comrades, even if it meant his body became the battle ground for two cosmic monstrosities to duke it out.