~Defeating A Mirage~

[Alter Ego]

"Later?!"

Though the words had been intended as encouragement, they only served to elevate Hanako to a new level of hysteria, "No time for later!" she shrieked, giving her friend a look of utter desperation, "You...don't understand...is my weapon! Later, later it won't be-just-just let me...while it's still my weapon...gaaah!"

With another pained wail, she redoubled her efforts of collecting the splinters, fervently assembling as many of the larger pieces as she could. There were still plenty missing, but it looked...about right at least. Sighing, she placed her hoard down on the ground in front of her, dividing it into two piles before coaxing a fresh splatter of blood from one of the many cuts on her body and sprinkling it over the splinters. When she raised her voice again, it was as a soft murmur rather than the high-pitched loon voice from a moment ago, sounding like she was reciting something from memory, an expression of intense concentration on her face.

"Drink of my sweat, and know that your toil is mine to share. Drink of my tears, and know that my feelings are yours as well. Drink of my blood and know that our lives are one. By the power of my bloodline, by the letter of the contract, by the strength of my conviction, be whole!"

At her command, the blood splattered across the splinters shimmered ever so slightly, seeping into the wood itself accompanied by a disturbing slurping sound. Soon, the blood-splattered grass around them was completely green again, but the wood still didn't seem satisfied, fresh blood drawing from each and every cut on Hanako's body and into the splinters, the reddish hue deepening in queue with the paling of the girl's body. Then, something happened, diminutive, branch-like appendages sprouting from the larger fragments and snaking their way towards each other, intertwining, drawing closer together...

"Come on..." Hanako mumbled, her face already white as sheet, "Just...just a little more...a little longer..."

Drawn together, the ever-growing fragments began attracting the smaller ones around them. New branches, new growth. Slowly, the first lump of half-living wood began shaping into a handle, but there was still so much to do with the scabbard, so many pieces...

"...come on..."

Her vision swum, she felt cold and anemic, and finally, there simply was nothing to do. With self-protection preventing any more blood from being drained, the new branches ceased sprouting, the assembled pieces drawing together with a final heave before the separate branches melded into a whole. The excess pieces flailed feebly before the crimson color ran out of them, the branches withering out and dying...and then it was over.

And there, on the ground by Hanako's feet, hilt and scabbard rested. They weren't as large as before, the scabbard in particular having lost a fair bit of its length, and no ornate designs were in sight, but there was no mistaking the expression of sheer relief on the kunoichi's face as she reached out a shaky hand for each, clutching them with all her might.

"Daijoubu..." she mumbled out, "...I'll...need a new blade...a smaller one...but is still...my...weapon..."

And with that, her eyelids finally gave in to their desire to snap shut, the kunoichi duly collapsing onto the ground, handle and scabbard still cradled in her arms.


OOC: Deus ex machina ftw! Ahem, contrary to what one might think, the regeneration bit is actually part of the weapon's ability rather than a jutsu or a bloodline ability, so it works, right? Hanako will be unconscious for a while, so just have them drop her off to a medical team whenever that becomes convenient...and maybe patch her up so she doesn't die to blood loss before that. xD Now as for where the weapon got its little ability and what the whole bloodtraitor bit is about...that's a backstory for another day, I'm afraid. Good luck with the RP, peoples. :3

 

[Shadow_Yue]

OOC: Sounds simple enough.

IC: She couldn't be nice, that's what Akane told her. The thought was almost enough to make her chuckle. Since when on Earth had she been labeled as nice? Yumi stopped on a tree when she saw the group had noticed her. It looked like those guys Akane and Hanako were messing with earlier but she wasn't about to go into that. Right now her main focus was making sure no one got near her team and there were two people heading towards her team right now. She wouldn't allow anyone to get near them. But she's dealing with three enemies. Crow's Mind only works one at a time and that would waste time.

'I know! I'll use deep water!' It would take a lot of chakra, but she had plenty to use so that wasn't a problem. She only hoped that her team was far away enough for it not to affect them. Finishing her hand seal she slapped her hands onto the wood of the tree she was standing on. A wave of chakra spread through out 40 feet of the area blanketing it with and illusion. "Deep Water Justu!" The skies darkened and the water came from the ground and trees. The genjustu made it look like it was flooding the entire forest with the water levels rising rapidly. Yumi didn't know whether she should drown them or leave them unconscious. Choosing to leave them unconscious she disappeared into the water. Pushing the current back to send her opponents deeper into the forest and farther away from her team was what she had planned to do. She just hoped it wouldn't take too much chakra.

 

[Đ a r κ]

Souran was astonished by the large wave of water that began to rise from the earth. To think that someone could create something like that, was just truly amazing. Souran had to figure a way to escape this tsunami but there was nothing he could do, not even to break through it. He had no type of jutsu that could stop it, like an earth style, that would be the most helpful style at the moment for him. He couldn't walk on it with his chakra since he wasn't able to jump high enough to get on top of the water, there was absolutely nothing to do to protect himself. Souran looked to his right from the branch he stood on and found something he could do; hide behind the tree while the current blast's it, allowing Souran to avoid the water. The only thing possible for him, hopefully, the tree wouldn't break. All he could do now, is wait, and hope that his team could get past this wave.

 

[Usagi-Chan~]

Keiko dashed from tree branch to tree branch, trying to catch up with Souran ad Fenra."They could not have gotten to far, But if they are in a fight I should be quiet and sneak around to get in a silent attack". Keiko then was suprised by a large wave of water heading straight for him. Keiko jumped on to a higher tree branch then used it as a platform to jump on the water."What the heck could this be coming from!" Keiko scurried on top of the water until he could see Souran and Yumi. "Hey Souran need any help!"

 

[ThatInsaneKid]

((Dansei already has the scroll, but whatever... :x))

"Thanks, Akane-chan," Dansei mumbled, blushing slightly as he knelt down to recieve the Hyorogan jar. Then he noticed Hanako's feeble attempt to restore her blade. "I'll go ahead and carry Hanako," he announced, popping one of the pills from the jar into his mouth. He walked over to the unconcious kunoichi and picked her up, focusing chakra to his feet in order to effortlessly jump into the trees, looking back at Akane.

"She should be able to heal in time for the next exam," he said. "But it looks like Yumi's chasing off some other shinobi, so let's go ahead and start on our way towards the tower. Yumi can catch up later, but we've got to hurry and get Hanako to a medic."

 

[Kansas]

The massive wave of water roared towards them and began to surround them. Fen couldn't help but noticed the water being un-effected by the outside winds.

"Genjutsu..." He said quietly to himself.

He popped the knuckles on his right arm, releasing the chakra flow to it. The rush of chakra cleared the Genjutsu from around him. He looked over to Souran and Keiko, who were standing in a daze, staring into space as the invisible waters enclosed them.

"Sigh.... sorry about this guys, its the only thing i can think of." Fen said aloud. He walked over to them and swung back and punched them both in the cheek, snapping them out of the trance like state.

"we need to hurry up, it was just a Genjutsu... come on" Fen rushed ahead at the inconveniencing genjutsu.

"I don't think that was meant to defeat us, just slow us down... she ninja who set that up must be trying to regroup with their team." He thought to himself while jumping. He dispelled the technique around his right arm and stopped the chakra flow. But a clearing was finally becoming visible, the clearing he had felt in the winds. He leaped high from the tree and landed near a large fissure in the ground, sliding to a crouched stop and kicking up dust making quite an entrance.

The dust cleared revealing Fen standing, brushing his clothes off and looking to the damaged team, but no enemies in sight. Just team 11, they must have scared them off. Fen quickly realized that assessing the situation quietly while the team stared at him was not being productive.

"Oh...erm...Hey... uh... you guys need any help?"

 

[Đ a r κ]

The wave disappeared and Souran had found himself laying on a branch. He used his right hand to rub his cheek, trying to ease the pain that was enforced to undo the genjutsu he had been placed upon. He lifted his body up as Fen told him and Keiko to hurry. He tried to look for that enemy but couldn't see her, so he followed along with Fen.

"Interesting, that is one shinobi I'm going to have to keep my eye on, if I can't see through their genjutsu." Souran thought to himself as he approached a clearing, where Fen had already landed at. Souran decided to stay on the branch, he had jumped onto, for a moment. Fen had said there was fighting, so the enemy could possibly be waiting for a sneak attack. He waited, but failed to unveil any trace of ninja hiding in the tree's or the bushes, and so he appeared next to Fen and pulled up his hand in a greeting way.

"Yo, looks like you guys could use some help."

 

[Usagi-Chan~]

"Hey, you guys need any help?" Said Keiko, Keiko then got up and jumped to a nearby branch."We heard that you guys were cornered by an enemy team, so we came to help out. So you all fine or need the better team to help you out." Said Keiko in a sense of pride."Now how strong were these enemy's?"

 

[Shadow_Yue]

Yumi couldn't believe it! They had gotten through her genjustu! But she still had to protect her team that's for sure. Jumping over to a nearby tree that was the tallest she could find she grabbed the two whips at her sides and and started focusing chakra into them. She was going to destroy them before they even got close.

Jumping from the high tree she came down with both whips flinging in all directions. "Fury of Two Whips!" she screamed as she hit the ground and hopefully the other ninja, with a giant 'Bang!' Yumi had focused all of her chakra into that one so it should've done some serious damage. Before the smoke could clear, Yumi started cutting down trees to fall on top of each other. She was trying to block them from getting any further. The trees were pretty big so that shouldn't have been a problem.

"Don't take another step you three!" Yumi shouted in the most intimidating and angry voice she could muster. No way was she going to allow her team to get attacked again. No way.

 

[Usagi-Chan~]

Keiko quickly jumped out of the way.You Jerk! We are trying to help you! I swear as a shinobi."Stop attacking us we want to help you!"
Keiko said in an angry voice."Souran do we have to help them 'cause Yumi may be cute but again do we have to help 'em.

 

[Đ a r κ]

As one of the two whips came crashing down, Souran slided to the left, avoiding the first attack with barely doing anything. With whips, they are very flexible, but they do have weakness'. Once they are ordered by the user in a certain direction, they cannot stop it from going that way until the ends of the whip hit that point they were aimed at. Once the smoke had cleared, Souran could begin to notice trees falling, blocking the way to the other team. Souran sighed, annoyed to all of this.

"Souran do we have to help them 'cause Yumi may be cute but again do we have to help 'em." Keiko asked Souran, who replied; "Yeah, we do." not giving any reasons as to why, but only the main answer. After, he took a look at the trees that stood before him. He then smiled largely.

"Yes, something that can surprise people!" Souran stated as he motioned his hands to face the large amount of trees. He then blasted his manipulation technique at them by using each of his ten fingers, trying to control as many as possible. Souran raised his hands as far up as he could, which forced the trees to levitate off the earth as if defying gravity. Once they were at a safe level of hight, Souran slowly moved them to the side, allowing Fen, Keiko, and Souran to continue on. Before moving forward, Souran crossed his arms and seemed disappointed.

"Come on, is that it? I would have thought that the one to create such a good genjutsu would be able to hold me off a little better then that...Honestly." Souran taunted Yumi, smirking.

 

[Usagi-Chan~]

"I agree with Souran." Said Keiko in a sad voice. "I wanted more action before the next round."
Said Keiko while he jumped to a higher tree branch. "Come on Souran can we get to the tower
now!

 

[Kansas]

Fen sighed heavily at the taunts aimed towards the flustered shinobi.

"....you two aren't helping...at all. Keiko, why don't you go scout ahead towards the tower to see if its safe..." Fen told Keiko aggravated by his small comments. Fen turned to Yumi and spoke coldly towards her.

"If you don't halt the attacks, i'm going to put you down myself. We already have both our scrolls, we're here to help you." He took a step forward reaching out a helping hand to her, showing her he had no hidden tools or ill intent.

"Well? what do you say you lower your weapons and let us help you with the first aid, you guys are in no condition to administer first aid and defend yourselves. We Leaf Ninja need to stick together. We shouldn't be fighting each other right now." Fen said calmly.

Without waiting for an answer he swiftly disappeared and reappeared near the fallen shinobi on the ground near her splintered weapon, she was unconscious. Fen pulled his small water container from his side and parted her lips, pouring some in and rubbing her throat gently.

"She looks like she'll need to rest a while longer, better not move her for a bit." He said to the team in a low voice, standing up and looking around at the reaction of the unwanted help he had given, trying to judge if his presence was truly welcomed...

 

[ThatInsaneKid]

((Okay, WTF. Why must everyone ignore my posts? Dansei is carrying Hanako.

:[))

 

[Kansas]

OOC: sorry, the shorter posts tend to just kinda fly by me, i musta missed it

 

[Usagi-Chan~]

Keiko looked at Fen." Whatever, butthis is the last time I take orders from you! Sheesh you are so bossy." Said Keiko angrily."Jeez sometimes I wish he was still in the acadamy, then I could order him around. Said Keiko as he stopped at the tower door and looks around."Okay so nobody here is here

 

[ThatInsaneKid]

((*sigh*

Working around that... >>;;;;

EDIT: I went ahead and changed Dansei's personality in his sign up a bit, because I'm very bad at keeping him in the character I originally made him. You mind, Re:Mix?))

Dansei sighed, looking in the general direction of Fen as he treated Hanako and mulling over the various thoughts in his head. This does not bode well, he thought. If Hanako can't get her strength back up, she might not be able to make it through the next portion of the exam. He put his hands on the back of his head. That is... If we'll have to go through the next part immediately...

Well, looks like we'll be stuck here a little longer, then... How troublesome, Dansei thought, "looking" at Fen as he stood up. "Er... Thanks," he finally said, holding his hand out to his fellow Konoha shinobi. "Your help was very appreciated."

 

[Scarlet Weather]

OOC: Due to the arrival of the Houseki NPC clan, Akane will be learning a new ninjutsu very, very soon. So be ready!

Akane watched in awe as Hanako proceeded to release blood into the weapon's splinters and the blade began to reform. "So this is why your sword is a part of you... your blood is inside it..." she muttered before kneeling beside her happy but now unconscious team mate. She had intended to treat Hanako's injuries, but Dansei had beaten her to the punch by lifting the girl. It was at this point that Akane's keen senses alerted her to the presence of another team, who Yumi promptly engaged in combat with her genjutsu. To Akane's surprise, they quickly removed the attack and proceeded to engage the team in conversation after one of them, who she recognized as the perv from Ichiraku, proceeded to use a jutsu that was... interesting to say the least. The ability to move so many things so quickly was quite impressive and what's more, the method of using the jutsu was akin to a master puppeteer manipulating a stage. Akane was an analyst at heart, and quickly memorized as much as she could about the jutsu's performance before it was finished. And avoiding Yumi's whips was no mean feat... just as Akane had her bearings straight, who should appear but that sadistic idiot with words of peace on his lips. The nerve! Her kunai had already leapt to her hands seemingly by magic and she moved towards the other team growling.

"Kyokou-kun, Pervert-kun, nice to make your acquaintance," she remarked sarcastically. "If you really don't want to fight then I suggest that you turn around and walk away slowly before I impale you. With Hanako-chan injured, there's no way I'll be talking with either of you. If you were going to help us, you would have done it earlier before Hanako-chan's sword got broken. Now get out of our way, we need to get to the tower as fast as possible. One wrong move and I'll show you the meaning of sadism. Understand?" She didn't wait for either to answer before moving closer, the better to intimidate her opponent's. "And don't try catching me with that little chakra-string jutsu, Pervert-kun. I know you'd just love to have me in a position where you could toy with me, but I've already taken the time to analyze how you launch it. Even if I don't understand the jutsu, it requires you to grab me with one of those strings, right? No chance I'll be falling for that," she growled. She lifted a kunai, preparing to throw. "Leave, or I'll-" she stopped abruptly before returning the kunai to its pouch. "Ah, what's the use. You two are too dense to even recognize an oppurtunity like this anway, aren't you? Nevermind what I said before, I'll only kill you if you attack. If you want to help, you can have your friend the scout tell us the best route to the tower. I'll be waiting." She hefted a kunai one last time. "Waiting with a sharp, pointy object."

 

[Usagi-Chan~]

Keiko had looked around and their was nothing, so Keiko than reported back to Souran and Fen."Thier was no one, so then it easy to get their.And Akane, the simplest route I found is the path through The top of the tree then straight forword.Now if you excues me I think my team and I should leave but, you owe me". Said Keiko as he jumped to a nearby tree branch.

 

[Đ a r κ]

"Nice, so she understands my technique, although not everything, but; the basics...I don't delight in you calling me a pervert, so how's about we make a deal. I'll be more civil if you are. Deal?" Souran asked, though having a feeling the deal would be destroyed whether it is made or not.

As Keiko reported back, he had informed everyone of the area around the tower. Keiko had announced that everything had been clear and the fastest route was from a tree and forward on. Seemed simple enough, Souran thought. Then when Keiko said he thought we should leave, Souran had to object.

"Keiko, I'm not sure that's a good idea. I mean, we need to get to the tower just like these guys; since we have both scrolls, so both of our teams are going the same way. Perhaps we should assure them a safe travel to the tower in case another team ambushes us. The path may seem clear, but it could change at any moment....and that way, they'll owe us even more." Souran remarked, as he faced Akane, awaiting to hear her thought's.