Unexpected [Solo Mission]

[Senju Shizuka]

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Three Chuunin involved, every one of them had a group of three people. It worried Shizuka a little that they were actually having so many people participate in this rescue mission slash take-down. In fact, she wasn’t confident that she was ready even if her target was to simply find the boy and get out of the way of conflict. Only when necessary was she supposed to engage. Being quiet and quick was what this one was all about. Her entire team had been provided with little headsets. Shrouded by the cover of the night they slid across the roof of the building they were going to penetrate. Downstairs was where the action would be. Here, only the wind reigned.

The two other Genin didn’t look worried at all. She could only assume that they were way more experienced than she was and therefore didn’t feel the way she did. With her having been the one to have promised Naoko the safe return of her brother, she felt extra stressed out. There was no room for failure - they had to find him fast. In the meantime, the others did their part of the job.

Thugs weren’t uncommon, but ones dumb enough to get into a clash with shinobi were rare to the Senjus knowledge. These had either deeper roots than her superiors let her know or were dumber than the average guy thought them to be. In case it was the latter everything might go well tonight, right?

Well, she would know soon enough. The sign.

Two fingers up, the Chuunin crooked them. The signal was given and off they went. First to go in was a tall, dark haired Genin of about 14 - he didn’t hesitate, nor did he look back as he swung into the nearest window after jumping in an arc downward. She was up next, following smoothly and in the same arc; a second later Shizuka heard two soft thuds when the rest of the team arrived. Two to left, two to the right. She followed Jim, the Tall guy.

Everything looked deserted and dirty. The place was a mixture of a construction site and a warehouse. There was an odd smell clinging to the entire building, too. As if the frequent rains who were masters in Cloud had left their permanent marks on the walls and floors - she thought to see mold in the upper corners, huge dark spots, then shreds of the night sky where the roof was missing. Somehow she hadn’t noticed the little cracks when they had crossed the roof. Then again, she hadn’t been the leader, so watching her steps hadn’t been necessary.

The cold bit into her skin where her sleeves ended. It was sneakily licking her cheeks with every step she took. If the boy was somewhere here then she felt quite sorry for him. Staying here a few hours would be uncomfortable, a couple of days to a week seemed like a nightmare to someone who’s grown up in a cosy and comfortable home like she did.

Shaking off the thoughts when Jim stopped, she took out a couple of shuriken from her pouch just in case that someone was nearing them. The silence of the night added to the tension. She thought to hear her own blood running through the back of her ears. Then took a side each, she prepared to fight, but nothing was in the hall once they were out of the room. Just some extra mold, broken pieces of god-knew-what and more cold. They went from room to room, then downstairs. Another level, more broken crap, less mold, still cold. Then, the sweet, metallic smell of blood hit her nostrils. She felt her heart become heavier together with the smell. Downstairs, on the ground floor, everything erupted.

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[637/2.000]

 

[Senju Shizuka]

From the very start her guts had been telling her that something about this mission was off. Even a genin could tell that there were too many shinobi involved for this to be ‘just another gang’. When her teammate screamed for her to get back, she ducked. In a disorientated state she found herself pulled into a hand-to-hand combat with someone whose strength wasn’t lacking. This man was not a normal citizen of the Cloud - if he was from the Cloud at all, his strikes were well aimed and if she hadn’t been practising taijutsu the blows could have been causes of serious injuries.

Aside from being quick, she had tough skin. She also didn’t shy from using ninjutsu when being pushed back. A quick blast of lightning had her opponent stagger on his feet - she assumed it to be a ‘him’ because of the posture. He hit one of the walls with his broad right shoulder when she slammed into his side. Using her knee she tried to hit him in the stomach but found herself being lifted toward the ceiling. When he tried to slam her into the ground she managed to hold onto the wall with her chakra. Then used her elbow to hit him in the face. He stumbled, his jaw let out a crack. However, he didn’t flee or fall back. The man was stubborn and obviously trained for these types of things.

Where the hell was Jim?

What the fuck was he up to?

Why did he scream?

All these questions were burning in the back of her mind, but she had no time to check on him because her enemy was already rushing in. He threw a right, she dodged. Using her heel Shizuka tried to slam it into the side of his knee and disable him that way when everything cracked. Literally everything. Walls sounded like fireworks, the ceiling was coming down, she found the floor sinking away into nothing.

Fuck, the building was coming down. Was that the result of whatever had happened downstairs? What the- Shit, she had to protect herself from the debris. Tons of stone and wood crashing on top of her head might not kill her but she didn’t want to test her luck.

Using vines as her escape by shooting some toward a building that had to be out there, she found herself rolling over the ground and across the street mere moments later. Dust settled upon the area like an avalanche. Someone nearby used wind to blow away the smothering mess, another helped with water. There were orders being shouted, she heard the clanking of steel against steel.

With a jerk Shizuka jumped up when her target came into view - either he was here to finish her or he had somehow taken the same way out as she had. Regardless of the answer, they were entangled in a deadly dance once again. This time, he held two dagers. So she brought out ‘Don’, the warhammer, that hung on her back.

Its slim handle wrapped in soft grey leather fit well into her fairly small hand. She clutched it tightly. Eyes focussed on the man with the wrapped face. Either the noise had scared off the ‘civilians’ or the shinobi had made sure nobody was around. By now she had no idea what was happening, but this one had attacked her, so she had to take him out before she could go look for Jim or anyone else.

Blocking his next attack with the side of the hammer she turned to smash it into his thigh but missed. His next slash almost caught her by the ear - which was way too close to her face to her liking. It appeared that she would have a hard time dealing with him this close. While she was a bit faster, the weapon wasn’t one to be handled during this situation. Letting it fly toward him in order to get his eyes onto Don, she took out the Classics and rushed in. They protected her from the hits. She caught them with her steely knuckles, but importantly, she could still use her hands.

Don had barely made it to the wall behind them when the young Senju got the tiran in wooden tendrils. It caught him off guard - he seemed to be a taijutsu type of sorts. She didn’t hesitate and bound him further, this time with a crystal jutsu. The gold looked pretty, would have shone brightly if it was day, but held on tightly to his side. It spread, too. She grinned, this was her chance to end it.

Fist of Gaia

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#1.417/2.000

 

[Senju Shizuka]

Her chakra seemed to burn a faint green as she slammed her fist into the middle of his back. Between the shoulderblades, a bit lower. The cracking of his spine and ribs was followed up by him throwing up blood. If it hadn’t been for the vines and gold still holding onto him the man would have collapsed. She was pretty sure of that because his body hung limply and the daggers fell on the ground. His eyes had rolled back. There was a brief twitch, but this one wouldn’t be going anyway anytime soon. Shizuka, on the other hand, was already on her way toward the ruin of a building.

There were a couple of bodies on the ground. None of them were anyone she knew - none of them bore any Cloud shinobi markings. At least that was a relief.

Concentrating on finding someone she could talk to, someone who might know what the fuck was going on, she rushed across the site while turning her head left and right. There, around the corner, next to a huge block of concrete and splinters of wood - Jim! “Hey,” she shouted, hurried up and came to a stop sliding through stones. “you okay? What happened?”

A thin stream of blood ran down his face, but he didn’t bother to wipe it off. She took care of it with her sleeve. He didn’t react to her words or gesture. Something was odd. The guy was sitting there, on a stone, staring at his feet as if they were the most interesting thing in the whole world. Was it genjutsu?

Others appeared, a chuunin that wasn’t her leader. He didn’t bother with them, was doing something else entirely. From his calm and collected appearance she figured that the mission wasn’t a failure. Even though she wasn’t completely sure what the mission had been.

“Did you get him? The kid? Jim?” She pushed him, he slid back. Leaning against the dirt behind him. Shizuka was slowly getting annoyed when he nodded.

“He’s dead.”

“What?” Blinking like a dumb bird she repeated her question. “What?”

“Dead. Gone. They already killed him. A kid. A defenseless kid.” He opened the palms of his hands in a helpless gesture. A little toy came into her view. He had been holding onto it with his left. She knelt down and took a closer look to the tiny wooden bear. A bear! The was a spot of blood on it. Not quite dry yet, but there.

“How.. what? You mean..?” Staring at him with a look of shock across her face she found him jumping up onto his feet. He towered over her, eyes angry and fists tight. For a second she thought that he would hit her, but all he did was scream in her face.

“DEAD. What don’t you get about it?! He was long gone before we were there!” And with that, he threw the toy on the ground before turning his back on Shizuka and walking away without saying a word more. She felt empty. Helpless. Sad.

Naoko would never see her little brother again because Shizuka didn’t even have a chance to save him. Perhaps nobody ever did. If Jim was right, the kid was murdered right away. Nobody cared. This was a set up. A trap from both sides. Everyone wanted to outsmart each other, wanted to be the one to strike at the right time. There had been no time for the kid, no real intention to save them. They had come in to check, and turned out to be the back-up.

Feeling the tears stinging the side of her eyes, she tried to blink them back. Angry, that’s how she felt now. Angry and sad. And still empty. Embarrassed over her failure, too. Naoko would hate her. That, though, didn’t take away that the bear should return to someone it was familiar with. Only one person had the right to throw it away. Shizuka picked up the wooden toy.

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#2.087/2.000