[Hatake Toshizō]

"recovering supply lines". "A man who can't uphold his beliefs is pathetic, dead or alive." ENEMIES Toshizou nodded when Kizumi said that she would be going, nodding once again once she asked him tos ettle everyone down and get them to enjoy lunch. If it was nothing to be worried about, then it would've been fast. If not, he was confident Kizumi could handle it even if he was not there, she was a strong kunoichi, more than capable with the blade, he had no doubt she was close to reaching his level, and wouldn't surprise him if she even surpassed him in the future. While Kizumi left, Toshizou turned around to the workers. "Round up, folks, it's lunch time. Take the time to rest and recover your energies, you will have plenty of hard work soon enough." he said in as much of a high-spirited tone as he could muster, and the workers celebrated the opportunity to relax and enjoy a nice warm meal. When she caught up with Pakkun, he was hidden near a cliff staring at this group of people in a campfire of their own in this dilapidated small town. They seemed well-equipped with shinobi gear, enough to make him suspicious of their ability to use chakra offensively. They were four, three males, one female. "Kizumi-chan, those four look rather dangerous. I saw others, but they look like hostages of some sort. They are kept inside that broken house over there." he pointed towards a house behind the strong-looking woman sitting by the campfire. "I'm pretty confident they are not looking to engage with our caravan, but we would be coming here, so that would be problematic. I believe that's all of them, however." he said with a rather confident tone. "You can train a dog with food. You can buy a person with money. But there isn't a man alive that can put down the Will of Fire. Some things will never change. The Will of Fire will never be extinguished" B-Rank Mission Pakkun points out to the 4 potential enemies [hirana kizumi] [298 words]

[hirana kizumi]

A HEART'S A HEAVY BURDEN

Pakkun delivered his report, and Kizumi frowned, her brow creasing. Shit. They were clearly decked out in pretty nice gear, shinobi tools and all—which wasn’t a good sign. Four bandits, whatever. But four unidentified people with enough contact with the shinobi world to have acquired gear led to too many unknown variables. Expelled Ryujin clan members still wandering the foothills, making trouble as they were wont to do? Bandits who’d gotten a lucky haul? It seemed unlikely that nuke-nin of any particular note would make camp in a position so obvious, but Kizumi ultimately had no way of knowing; Chuya held the bingo book, and Chuya wasn’t with her. Even still, she might have gone for it—she was experienced enough that she thought she could manage, so long as she wasn’t stupid about it. But hostages made things harder. If something went sideways, she didn’t want to risk putting civilians in even more danger—especially when she had backup ready and willing to go, and she could call for him safely. "So they don’t know about us, but they will if we keep moving.” Kizumi sighed. "Alright, lemme call for Toshi-sensei. Between the two of us this should be simple enough.” Concentrating on her chakra, she flared it as he directed, just a subtle push of energy. It seemed crazy to think that he’d be able to sense something so small from so far away, but she’d take him at his word. In the meantime, she readied her gear. The javelin was good on its own, but fighting in close quarters alongside a swordsman, a sword was always going to be your best bet. She slung the javelin in a standard holster on her back, keeping low and quiet so that she wouldn’t be noticed, and unsealed the katana from her bracelet as she waited for Toshi to arrive.

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[Hatake Toshizō]

"recovering supply lines". "A man who can't uphold his beliefs is pathetic, dead or alive." STRATEGY Pakkun nodded at Kizumi's words. "Good idea. I can also try to sneak around and free them from their bindings. My teeth may be small, but they are quite sharp." the miniature pug said, wanting to make himself useful in the mission. With the flaring of Kizumi's chakra and that of Pakkun as well, Toshizou knew they wanted his assistance. With another set of hand seals, he would summon Bull and Urushi, so that they could continue to guide the caravan while he rushed ahead. "Don't alarm them, if they ask, I'm just helping scout ahead." and the two ninken nodded firmly. With them taking care of the civilians, he could rest at ease they would be safe, and then he dashed north at full speed so he could rendezvous with Kizumi and Pakkun. It would take him a few minutes to get there. Once he was close, he would reduce his speed and make himself more silent. He could clearly sense his foes and the hostages as well, which made this a trickier situation than it should be. Once he got close enough, he would make himself known and Pakkun quickly approached, reporting what was going on. "Four of them. This should be easy enough. If we both take down two, this should be resolved in no time. However, they do have a fair amount of chakra, so they aren't just your run of the mill bandits. Still, they don't strike me as nukenin... Maybe they are one of those wandering self-proclaimed shinobi." he said, as he slowly drew his blade, Kanesada, from its sheath. He would then look at Kizumi, to confirm she and Pakkun were ready to act. "You can train a dog with food. You can buy a person with money. But there isn't a man alive that can put down the Will of Fire. Some things will never change. The Will of Fire will never be extinguished" B-Rank Mission Left Bull and Urushi with the caravan, joined with Kizumi and Pakkun [hirana kizumi] [294 words]

[hirana kizumi]

A HEART'S A HEAVY BURDEN

Toshi arrived quickly, the few minutes it took for Kizumi to get her gear in order more than enough time for Toshi to quietly slip up beside herself and the small, squat Pakkun. "Yeah, see,” she said, rolling her eyes at Pakkun with a grin. "This is why he’s here. I would’ve been doing guesswork for at least another ten minutes trying to figure out what kind of chakra levels these guys were working with.” She rolled her neck, wishing briefly that she’d brought her armor along, and pulled her hookshot out of her hip pouch. With both her unnamed, unceremonious sword, and her beloved little piece of machinery, there wasn’t much that she felt like she couldn’t do. A little push of raiton chakra into the blade in her hand, and she was ready to go. She nodded at Toshi. "Let’s go,” she said. They’d worked together often enough that the strategy seemed, to her mind, obvious and clear: she assumed Toshi would engage with the formidable-looking woman by the campfire in order to pull her attention away from the house behind her, allowing Pakkun to slip in and start chewing the hostages to freedom. Kizumi, meanwhile, would slip around and enter the combat zone, as it were, from the opposite end, using the silencing boon of her cloak to her advantage and slipping up on the enemy while they were still relatively unaware. With that strategy in mind, Kizumi slipped away from her mentor and the ninken, circling around to enter the town from the far side, moving as silently as she could manage as she hunted for her prey.

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[Hatake Toshizō]

"recovering supply lines". "A man who can't uphold his beliefs is pathetic, dead or alive." ENGAGEMENT He chuckled lightly when she mentioned his ability to determine their chakra levels, and he nodded. "Know your enemy, a principle of the art of war." he commented, which was something he read in a book a long time ago. When Kizumi showed she was ready, he nodded and the two of them dashed towards their enemies in a frontal, rather obvious assault. It didn't seem like the smart move, but he was doing that on purpose so that he could attract their attention, thus allowing Pakkun and Kizumi to sneak around them. The four of them looked at Toshizou and their hearts got filled with fool's confidence. "Look at this idiot! He has a death wish!" one of them said, but the Hatake remained silent; Kanesada would be doing the talking. The large, bulk woman with a kanabo was the first to engage, while her meeker looking friend stayed behind, with some shuriken in his hand. She aimed to hit Toshi right in the head with her large weapon, but the man had keen reflexes, and with his sharp eyes and Mind's Eye, anticipating her movements was child's play. With a quick dodge to the side, he aimed to trust her neck with a straight blade, but his range was not enough, as the tip of his sword was but an inch from her. "Rookie's mistak... ARGH!!!" in a flash of intense, blinding light, Kanesada's blade was extended enough so that the energy from the blade pierced through the woman's neck, cutting her air supply and making her drown on her own blood. The man behind her hesitated and took a couple steps back. "N-no way..." he couldn't believe how easily his stronger companion was dispatched, and in his desperation, he started throwing a bunch of shurikens towards Toshizou, but the light made it harder to aim, and with that, the Hatake started deflecting all of the projectiles with his sword. "Futile." he scoffed, disappointed with their level; despite their somewhat abundant chakra, they lacked the more formal shinobi training, they were but empowered thugs. "You can train a dog with food. You can buy a person with money. But there isn't a man alive that can put down the Will of Fire. Some things will never change. The Will of Fire will never be extinguished" B-Rank Mission Toshizou kills the strong-looking woman, and then deflects the shuriken from the meeker man. Pakkun makes his way to the house to free the hostages [hirana kizumi] [372 words]

[hirana kizumi]

A HEART'S A HEAVY BURDEN

Know your enemy, Toshi said. Kizumi barely suppressed another eyeroll—easy for him to say, when he had superpowers that let him sense the barest flare of chakra from seventeen kilometers away. Back down in the realm of mortals, Kizumi had only her eyes, ears, and logic to go off of. Man, she really needed to step up her game. Toshi went right in for a frontal assault while Kizumi circled around from the side, her already soft footsteps made almost totally silent by the muffling effect of her thickly-woved cloak. Chaos erupted by the campfire; Toshi killed the strongest of the group with barely more than a couple of moves, and was fending off a sloppy, desperate assault from one of the other three in the group. The other two were scrambling in the midst of the chaos, their attention fully on the thread in front of them; understandable, considering what an imposing figure Toshi was cutting. The futile bit was especially effective; Kizumi suspected that one of the two that hadn’t entered the fray yet had pissed himself. Well, she tried to be merciful. She killed him first. Raiton chakra sparking along the blade, Kizumi slipped up unnoticed behind the duo and slid the blade of her katana through the man’s back, cutting through armored vest and flesh and bone as if it were butter. A quick wrench of her wrist and a kick to his back and her sword was pulled free, the body collapsing to the ground with an unceremonious thud. This brought her presence to the attention of his companion, who whirled on Kizumi with a strangled cry. "There’s two of them!” she shouted to her only living companion, breathless with fear and rage. The woman drew a kunai, explosive tag hanging from the back of it, and lunged in for an assault.

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[Hatake Toshizō]

"recovering supply lines". "A man who can't uphold his beliefs is pathetic, dead or alive." DISARMED Kizumi's silent killing approach was rather effective as she took the life of one of their opponents without the poor man even noticing it. It was at least a quick way to go to hell, Toshizou thought, which was more than they deserved. When the man's body fell to the ground in a loud thud, the others were made aware of her presence, and shouted in desperation that there were two of them. The one who shout focused on Kizumi, while the other one continued to deplete his stock of shurikens at Toshizou as the Hatake effortlessly deflected them with Kanesada. A shift in his expression was all the hint Toshizou needed to notice that the man had ran out of his weapons, and that glimpse of fear that crossed his eyes, followed by the hesitation as he tried to think on what to do was all the Hatake needed to close in, and with two quick swings, separate the man from both his arms in a rather swift motion. "ARRRRRGHHHHHH!!!" the man cried in pain as he fell to his knees, blooding gushing out of his shoulders, where his arms used to be. He was going to bleed to death very soon. "Cutting off arms seems to be my specialty now." his tone was rather bitter, as he was still coping with the frustration of failing to kill Shodaime. At this point, Pakkun had returned, approaching Toshizou and nodding. "Hostages are free and on their way back to their town." he informed the Hatake who, nodded in acknowledgement before turning to Kizumi, who was facing their last opponent. She didn't need help, she was an extremely capable shinobi, so he shifted his focus back to the agonizing man, piercing his throat with his blade and twisting it to end his suffering, and then flickering his blade to get rid of the blood before sheathing it. "You can train a dog with food. You can buy a person with money. But there isn't a man alive that can put down the Will of Fire. Some things will never change. The Will of Fire will never be extinguished" B-Rank Mission Cuts off both of the man's arms, Pakkun reports that the hostages have been saved, and he finishes the man off by piercing his throat [hirana kizumi] [315 words]

[hirana kizumi]

A HEART'S A HEAVY BURDEN

The woman charging at her was the last one, since Toshi had the other one well in hand. She likely wasn’t thinking straight in the midst of her panic—charging in for a close-quarters attack with an explosive tag in hand was an act of suicide. Then again, maybe that was the point. Still, those things were dangerous at point blank range, and Kizumi wanted it far away from herself. She reached into her pockets, grabbing at a handful of sand—a constant presence on her person since she was an academy student—and tossed it into the woman’s eyes. The woman cried out, reaching up to try to clear her vision and staggering to the side, as she was suddenly immensely vulnerable. I don’t have to kill her, Kizumi thought distantly as she thrust her sword through the woman’s abdomen. It was just a hell of a lot easier than the alternative. Before the bandit could make any last-ditch efforts to blow herself and Kizumi up, she quickly stepped in to close the distance between them and ripped the kunai and tag out of the woman’s hand, tearing the explosive tag in half in the process. She withdrew her sword, and the woman crumpled. Kizumi sighed. ’Cutting off arms seems to be my specialty now.’ Kizumi snorted despite herself. It wasn’t funny—she knew it was a sore spot for Toshi, and a bitter betrayal that the Leaf had endured—but. It was kind of funny. "Ude no dorobō,” she said solemnly, wiping the blood from her blade with the fabric of her cloak. "You have my gratitude, and my undying respect.” She looked around at their small scene of carnage, then looked back at Toshi and Pakkun. "Did you sense anything else?” she asked. "We should probably clean up here so we don’t scare the civilians, but nothing else is lurking in the distance, yeah?”

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[Hatake Toshizō]

"recovering supply lines". "A man who can't uphold his beliefs is pathetic, dead or alive." CLEAR PATH With the threats eliminated, Toshizou would look at Kizumi when she snorted at his words and scoff, cracking a smirk in the corner of his mouth and shaking his head. "Words travel fast, uh?" he said, shrugging lightly, trying to make little of the situation, even though he was clearly bothered by it. Not a day went by in which he didn't relieve that attack, the way he directed his strike and how he tried to pierce through her Rotation, but ultimately failed. There was no use crying over spilled milk, but if Shodaime ever came across him again, he would take her life, even if he had to forfeit his own. Then, he focused on his Mind's Eye again and scanned the whola path ahead of them and their surroundings, and after a few seconds, he reopened his eyes and shook his head. "I detect nothing. Pakkun?" he looked at the miniature pug who had just rejoined them and he also shook his head. "Seems like these were the only enemies on the way, Toshi." he confirmed and then he turned back to Kizumi. "You can go back and guide them. Me and Pakkun will take care of this dirty work. One day I believe you will be leading this nation, so do what you are destined to do and lead them. Lead your nation back to its former glory." he said, with a friendly and proud smile on his face, as he rested his hand on her shoulder. "You truly became an amazing shinobi." he added. "You can train a dog with food. You can buy a person with money. But there isn't a man alive that can put down the Will of Fire. Some things will never change. The Will of Fire will never be extinguished" B-Rank Mission No more threats [hirana kizumi] [263 words]

[hirana kizumi]

A HEART'S A HEAVY BURDEN

Words travel fast, uh? Kizumi offered only a shrug in response, a what can ya do? kind of motion. He was clearly bothered by what had happened, but this wasn’t the time nor the place to ask him about it; there was still a mission at hand, a group of civilians under ninken guard who were eager to get to housing and beds again. Toshi’s sensory turned up nothing else, and neither did Pakkun’s. You can go back and guide them, Toshi said, putting his hand on her shoulder, and she nodded, ready to go and finish the job—but what he said next hit her like a sack of bricks. She blinked at him, her good eye wide, stunned into silence for a long few moments. "Jeez, Toshi-sensei,” she said, her expression cracking into a suddenly self-conscious grin. "You can take the credit, you know. At least half of what I know I learned from you.” She couldn’t discredit Chuya-sensei, the Tidecaller had been her mentor and close companion for years; but she’d learned just as much from Toshi. Her tongue poked briefly out from between her teeth. "Love the sentiment,” she said, "but I’ll be in the grave before that ever happens. Back soon.” Even as she took off back in the direction of the civilians, though, Kizumi couldn’t banish the weight of what Toshi had said from her mind. Leading this nation, huh? Absolutely terrifying prospect. Even more frightening that Toshi thought she was capable. Well, at the very least, she could lead this group of contractors safely to their destination. She slowed to a jog as she came in view of the civilians, and loudly clapped her hands once she was within earshot. "Alright, folks,” she called brightly, "lunch break’s over! Our final destination is just a ways ahead, not too much farther now.” A couple of people cast a wary eye at the thin spattering of blood that stained her cloak from where she’d cleaned her sword, but she quickly dispelled the swelling concern within the group by assisting with the clean-up efforts and cheerfully chatting with the folks that gave her the side-eye. They’d made sure the site was clear, she assured them, all safe and sound, and would be for the foreseeable future. On foot and with such a large contingent, it would take a few hours to travel back to the dilapidated village, but Kizumi filled the time by flitting around the group, talking to one woman about local hunting spots that would serve them well in a pinch, another man about herbs he could find just a little ways out of town that did great as a seasoning. She raved about the virtues of local beers that she loved, asked after their families and towns back home, and just like that: the journey was done. She helped the contractors unload their carts, found the most stable structures for them to set up shop in, did her utmost to get everyone comfortable and settled in to the best of her ability. "Shinobi stationed nearby will come to check up on y’all periodically,” she said to one of the women once the bulk of the heavy lifting had been done. She wiped some sweat from her brow, getting her plastered hair out of her face. "Make sure everyone’s still safe and that all’s proceeding to plan. You can always send a bird up to Sancho or Kumogakure if you have any issues, yeah? Help is a just a letter away. We really appreciate the work you’re doing here, and we want to make sure you’re as comfortable and safe as possible.” Kizumi would stay overnight to help with the final efforts of settling in; and then, when the sun rose on a new day, she would escort Toshi back to port to see him off on a safe journey home. [END]

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