[Suzuki Taru]

With the weaving of a few hand seals, Kimihiro had disappeared into the mist he'd summoned, becoming a deadly spirit of the forest. Taru watched him work. From above the mist, on her perch in the tree, she could see slightly more clearly the shadow puppet players going to work, the way Kimihiro struck deadly fast and cleaved a man in half. She grinned, readying up her next arrow.

She watched the formations of the little shapes from above. One down. Three currently fleeing the camp, spears in hand, headed closer down the path towards her.

Several others moved towards the flaming tent and the area where the retaining wall was threatening to catch fire. Helped along by the mist, they were aiming to put it out, though the strange illumination in the mist was also their only way point to find anything given the heavy fog. Others still moved to arm themselves, trying to ready for combat despite death encroaching around them.

Taru focused on the fleeing bandits for now, trusting Kimihiro to take care of the bandits closest to him. Raising up her bow, she tracked them for a moment before loosing one straight into a bandit's head.

As his body thunked heavy on the ground, the other two shouted, looking around for a source. That gave Taru enough time to ready one more arrow and strike a second bandit through the throat. The last remaining of the fleeing bandits spotted her, pale as a spirit, and ducked into cover.

[Kaguya Kimihiro]

Kaguya Kimihiro

"One, two, three~" Kimihiro sang out as his blade passed through flesh, screams filling the fog filled air in a muffled chorus of pain and fear. For some of the poachers the cries of their companions and the sickening thud of dismembered limbs and spraying blood was enough to break their nerves, which was what the petite male was hoping for. Such a cleansing of scum was rather easy for him, but he wanted to give his companion some more experience so that she could have fun too.

Standing as he was near the burning tent, the poachers who had run towards it to put it out were hesitating now, able to see little more than the massive shape of his sword as it hovered in the mist, blood clearly dripping from it.

"C'mon, won't you dance with me~" he added, grinning gleefully as he watched the men hesitate further. 

Casually dropping his sword into the ground, Kimihiro bit his thumb with a sharp tooth and flipped through a few handseals before pressing the hand to ground. A  jellyfish appeared near him in a puff of smoke as he summoned Nami, the creature bobbing slightly in the mist.

"Omae wo mo shinderu!" the voice from the creature was surprisingly deep, and without any instruction its long tentacles shooting out to the nearest poachers, seeming to emerge from the fog as it wrapped around their throats and squeezed, the cracking of vertebrae echoing in the mist.

"The archer in the tree is an ally Nami-chan, touch them and I'll kill you~" Kimihiro stated cheerfully, picking his blade up again even as the Jellyfish began slamming the poachers it had grabbed into the ground repeatedly.

Three more men ran towards the exit of the camp, in the direction of Taru.

---

With two of his companions taken out by arrows from the mist, the last of the first wave of bandits managed to take cover, panicking slightly as he tried to figure out what to do. Those arrows were too accurate, and he didn't have a ranged weapon. Seeing more of his companions come bursting out of the camp, he let out a croaking "bowman, in the trees!" to the newcomers, the three all diving for cover moments afterwards.

Taru might find it hard to spot one poacher pulling a crossbow from their back and getting into a shooting position, scanning the treeline for the Genin in hopes of putting a bolt through them.

Word Count: 411
Tags: Suzuki Taru
Mission: 17/15
Combat Info:

SPOILER: Click to show

Relevant SA
Ghost of the Battlefield
Thrown into full blown warfare at a young age, Kimihiro wasn't able to stand up to other shinobi in open combat. As such, he developed the sorts of skills needed to go undetected until he struck, and sometimes not even then. This skillset was then built upon by his mentor and later training in the Hunter-nin corps, honing his natural talent for stealth into a true inheritor of Kirigakure's Silent Killing techniques.

Relevant Jutsu
NAME: Kuchiyose no Jutsu [Summoning Technique]

RANK: C

CHAKRA USAGE: Very Low - Very High depending on summon.

CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu [General]

ELEMENT: None

HANDSEALS: 5

DESCRIPTION:

One of the most common and beneficial techniques in the known shinobi world. Simply drawing blood and releasing a mass of chakra from one's extended hand is capable of calling an animal or otherwise to one's location. As a Space-Time Ninjutsu, this technique is capable of instantly displacing an intended summon from wherever they may be to the requested location, though there are obstacles that can prevent this. To use this jutsu, one must first make a contract with whatever they are summoning, living creature or not. Both the size and the stamina of what a shinobi calls upon increases the demand of chakra they must spend to perform the jutsu.

[/quote]

[Suzuki Taru]

Dang! When it was just the one bandit it would've been easy enough for her to handle, but now another three had run out to join. That was better than if she had to face six at once, she guessed, but four still wasn't ideal when she was alone. Kimihiro was still busy with the more dense body of bandits within the camp, so she needed to do her job out here and pick off the stragglers. But it would be harder for her to avoid getting gotten by a pincer attack if she didn't move very stealthily.

She needed some way to force them apart and leave them prone. Pressing her hands together in a handseal, she stomped on the branch, and a thin wall of water rose just around the corner from her hiding place, as the branches shook. The bandit below fired off a crossbow, which whizzed right past her and splashed her water wall right apart. Dang, a second time! They had a ranged weapon, too! And they'd just messed up her jutsu. She needed to approach from a new angle.

Quickly creating three more handseals, she formed three false clones, and sent them leaping across the branches, in three different directions.

With the bandits distracted with that, she would creep down the back of the tree and get back low to the ground, in the brush. Moving cautiously as she could, once she was around at a new angle, she retried the jutsu that had been interrupted before. One handseal, slam foot on the ground. A thin wall of water was formed. Grabbing a handful of senbon from her pouch, she tossed them in, and they began to fire off at a rapid pace towards the men, being pitched at them with frightening speed.

SPOILER: Click to show

Jutsu used:
NAME: Bunshin no Jutsu [Clone Technique]
RANK: E
CHAKRA USAGE: Very Low
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu [General]
ELEMENT: None
HANDSEALS: 3
DESCRIPTION:

After performing the necessary hand seals, the user can create a handful of intangible clones to confuse the enemy. They do not contain solid mass, have no shadows and do not interact with the surrounding environment, making them somewhat easy to distinguish from the real person.

NAME: Suiton: Senbon Wayaku [Water Release: Senbon Fiasco]
RANK: D
CHAKRA USAGE: Very Low
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu
ELEMENT: Suiton
DESCRIPTION:

The user will stomp their foot on the ground while preforming a single handseal. Using Suiton Chakra they will manipulate water to create a thin wall of high pressurized water where they step. The user will then throw their senbon towards the enemy. As the senbon pass through the wall, the user will manipulate the water to change their trajectory. The senbon will shift slightly as the pressurized water forces them through like a pitching machine making them travel fast enough to pierce stone. This wall of water lasts for about ten seconds after which it will fall.

[Kaguya Kimihiro]

Kaguya Kimihiro

With Nami happily slaughtering his way through the poachers in a manner that would leave any survivors with severe PTSD.... if there as any, Kimihiro began to casually make his way through the mist that was slowly fading away as he released his grasp on it. The Kubikiribocho bit deeply into any poacher that crossed his path as he made his way towards where Taru was meant to be. There wasn't going to be any poachers left in a few moments in the camp, and he wanted to make sure that the Genin didn't get overwhelmed.

He wouldn't interfere unless she needed it, but he wasn't about to let her come to harm under his watch either.

---

Reloading his crossbow once he realised he had missed, the poacher and his three other compatriots were startled by the movements of multiple figures moving through the trees. The first man, survivor of his own trio, took the opportunity to make a run for it, the sounds from the camp spurring him to try and take his chances with an archer. The other two spear wielding men remained in place, unsure what to do in the face of this assault, tucked up against a fallen log.

It saved their lives.

The runner was dropped as a multitude of senbon caught him in the throat and face, his wet gurgles as he choked on his own blood barely audible against the sound of the slaughter in the camp. The crossbowman was equally in the midst of reloading when the senbon flew at him, a couple slamming into his torso while one embedded itself in his eye, his screaming as he dropped his weapon catching the attention of the others, his crossbow falling to the ground beside him as he writhed in pain.

Word Count: 298
Tags: Suzuki Taru
Mission: 19/15
Combat Info:

SPOILER: Click to show

Relevant SA
Ghost of the Battlefield
Thrown into full blown warfare at a young age, Kimihiro wasn't able to stand up to other shinobi in open combat. As such, he developed the sorts of skills needed to go undetected until he struck, and sometimes not even then. This skillset was then built upon by his mentor and later training in the Hunter-nin corps, honing his natural talent for stealth into a true inheritor of Kirigakure's Silent Killing techniques.

Relevant Jutsu

N/A

[Suzuki Taru]

Two were struck by the onslaught of senbon, one being sent to the ground filled with needles, the other still unfortunately alive and in terrible pain with the needles that struck his face. Two were still in cover. Well, putting the one who'd dropped his crossbow out of his misery should be an easy enough feat with him debilitated.

She drew up her bow again, lining up her shot swiftly. She had to account for him squirming on the ground, but she managed it well enough, ducking around the tree to draw back the arrow. All her archery practice paid off, as she landed a pretty solid shot to his back, somewhere near his lung. It wouldn't kill him immediately, but he definitely wasn't surviving it long.

She notched another arrow, taking aim at the log the two bandits were still hid behind. A normal arrow wasn't enough to pierce a log and strike one of them, but she knew a technique that just might help.

She channeled chakra into her arrow and loosed the string, sending it flying. Then, she quickly shifted to clap her hands together. The arrow suddenly grew in size, transforming from a regular arrow into what was essentially a heavy harpoon, ready to crash through the log and right into one of the hiding criminals.

If it struck, she'd offer to the final poacher,

"The forest is very angry with you. If you repent by telling us more about your operation, it might spare your life."

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Shuriken Henge no Jutsu [Shuriken Transformation Technique]
RANK: C-rank
CHAKRA USAGE: Very Low
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu
ELEMENT:
DESCRIPTION:

This technique is a surprise attack that is designed to maximize the killing potential of thrown projectiles. At a hand clap, the projectile is instantly enlarged, proportionate to its size. This causes, for example, a shuriken to reach the size of a fūma shuriken, or a kunai to reach the size of a short sword.

[Kaguya Kimihiro]

Kaguya Kimihiro

Crouched in a nearby branch, Kimihiro watched as Taru dealt with her poachers, a quick glance over his shoulder told him that his summon had finished destroying what was left of the men in the camp, and so he dispelled it before the aggressive Jellyfish could come over here to ruin the Genin's sport. The arrow to the man's chest was a nice start, there wasn't much chance of survival but he'd certainly regret his life choices until he expired.

His grin widened slightly as he watched the next arrow increase massively in size and smash through the log the remaining poachers were hiding behind skewering one on a harpoon-sized arrow and sending shards of wood into the flesh of the other. Left writhing in pain on the ground, the last of the poachers stilled slightly as Taru approached, wincing in pain but staring up at her in apprehension.

"What do you want to know?"

Meanwhile, Kimihiro hopped down from the branch he had been on, stalking in complete silence over to behind the poacher, his large sword resting casually on his shoulder, content to let the Genin take the interrogation lead. He was, aftera all, hoping to help build her skills so that she might be promoted sooner rather than later. It'd be good to build up Kiri's forces a bit more after all.

Word Count: 225
Tags: Suzuki Taru
Mission: 21/15

[Suzuki Taru]

The sound of violence from inside the camp had stopped, which left the forest eerily quiet. Not even just forest-quiet, either, but actually quiet. The poachers and their violence had run much of the life here into hiding. Even the discontented animals in their cages seemed to still for a moment, as though to avoid calling the attention of the pressure in the air. The wind in the trees didn't breathe. The forest was at its most frightening like this. The forest only went dead still when there was a predator nearby. Taru hoped that this poacher could feel that she was that predator.

She stalked closer, moving not unlike a tiger, playing the part. If she wanted to intimidate him best, she needed to not just be an enemy assailant, but a representative of Kashiwa. A dangerous forest spirit, a protector of the trees.

"Was this camp all of you, or are you just a part of a bigger group? Can we expect more people to come out here and cause the forest spirits trouble?" She asked. "Remember not to lie, or the hell of great screaming awaits you. You'll have your tongue torn right from your mouth," she said, shouldering her bow in favor of pulling out her kunai. A promise to make good on that threat.

[Kaguya Kimihiro]

Kaguya Kimihiro

Grinning slightly at the interrogation tactics, the Kaguya squatted down and rested his free hand on the ground. Bone emerged from the limb and burrowed through the dirt, emerging to wrap around the poacher's limbs in a gnarled and knotty fashion as he emulated tree roots to hold the man down. In the gloom of the forest, it would be a fairly convincing approximation, and given his silent movements, it was unlikely that the man would realise that Taru even had an ally right there, lending his own predatory aura to hers.

The man squirmed fruitlessly against the restraining 'roots', trying to pull back and away from the girl and her blade, eyes wide in fear and helplessness. 

"T-this was our only camp..." he declared, writhing to move away, "we were only just getting set up.." he tried to look around, but the bone restrained even the movements of his head. "There is a client that is paying premium for stuff that comes outta here, s-so there's probably going to be other people who will pick up the job. I d-don't think that they're gonna give up just because we're gone..."

Sweat was beading on his brow at this point, and he went still as the genin got close enough to be within striking range. It was obvious he didn't want to provoke her into attacking.

"P-please let me go, I've told you everything I know... d-don't take my tongue!"

Word Count: 240
Tags: Suzuki Taru
Mission: 23/15

[Suzuki Taru]

Through the mist, even Taru had a hard time telling the difference between root and bone, though she knew well enough that the forest didn't usually move to aid people. It was probably, probably Kimihiro, but she would have to ask later.

The man divulged more information, desperate and afraid. So they only had the one camp, but they were working on behalf of a naughty high-roller who would probably hire on more troublemakers. Taru hummed, carefully running the tip of her finger along the edge of the blade, as if contemplating his honesty.

"You've been honest, so I won't cut you up," Taru finally relented, sounding far too cheery for such an odious and cruel statement. She pocketed the kunai again, coming closer.

"But the guardians of the forest take this very seriously. The spirits here don't like to be disturbed. Even if you leave this place, the forest's curse might follow you everywhere you go, especially if more people come back and do more harm. So you'll have to help us find your client so we can send them where they belong, too. It's the only way to put the spirits back at rest. Do you think you can do that?" She asked, squatting down right next to him.

If he agreed, she'd spring right back up to standing and, without another word, bound over to begin releasing the animals. They were probably getting antsy, being stuck in there, and this guy was scared enough of the forest that he probably wouldn't run off alone!

[Kaguya Kimihiro]

Kaguya Kimihiro

"I- I can't tell you about him, he'd kill me!" the terrified poacher protested, eyes rolling in his head as he tried to consider whether or not her threats were true. In his mind, there was definitely something far more creepy here than he had been expecting, considering the apparent spirit that had killed his companions, and now he was being held down by 'roots' that had grown up around him. Still... his fear of his client was warring with his fear of the forest.

Kimihiro leaned himself up against the nearest tree, silently indicating to Taru that he'd wait out here with their captive while she went to free the animals. He'd do some pilfering of the camp once the animals were out of the picture, looking for anything of interest to the mission, or to himself, but for now it was a probably important for one of them to be watching over the poacher.

Hopefully this camp would have the supplies they needed too, because despite the way things turned out, they actually weren't here to free any of the animals, they were trying to get ingredients for medicines and poisons for the village after all. Still, there was time, it wasn't like they needed to be back in Kiri just yet.

Word Count: 214
Tags: Suzuki Taru
Mission: 25/15

[Suzuki Taru]

Kimihiro signaled that he would watch over the poacher they'd captured, and she was free to skip over to the cages and start letting the animals out. There were typical ones of course. Foxes and wolves and the like, though also some strange and dark-furred creatures that in the low and misty light of the forest didn't look quite right to the eye.

Taru worked with them slowly, talking to them in soft and whispered voices, and most of them remained surprisingly calm.

"Come now, we'll get you back home," she assured one, petting its fur.

One by one the animals bounded away from where they'd been trapped, back into the forest where they belonged, away from this burnt out ghost town of a camp.

When she was sure they were really gone and wouldn't be coming back to maul anyone, Taru returned to where Kimihiro was quietly guarding the poacher. She told the man,

"I wouldn't be too worried about him hurting you. When we get to him, the forest won't let him live another day. And you'll be in our custody anyways!" Taru said, delighted, grabbing him by the wrist.

She held up her hand and motioned for Kimihiro to come out if he liked.

"Let me introduce you to the Jigokuko. He is this forest's vengeance, and he'll be helping me see you back to society. Now why don't you tell us all about your noble friend on the walk home, or we'll have to be less friendly."

Taru didn't have much practice with it, but she was alright breaking a few fingers if Kimihiro thought they'd need to!

[Kaguya Kimihiro]

Kaguya Kimihiro

As Taru spoke to the poacher, Kimihiro's bones grew out over his body to form a vine or rootlike armour, the face an elongated deer/human skull hybrid with large antlers rising up over the top. He was trying his absolute best to look like some sort of awful kami that would take great delight in the man's suffering if he dared to do anything other than tell the truth.

"You will talk, I guarantee it" he rasped out, before solidifying the bone structure and slipping out the back, leaving it where it loomed ominously over the man. Gesturing silently for Taru to wait a moment, the Kaguya slipped back into the poacher's camp and promptly ransacked it, slipping everything of value into the scrolls that he was carrying. In particular the medicinal and toxic materials that they had been sent here to collect in the first place.

It took him maybe five minutes to do that, before he re-coated himself in the bone armour of the 'Jigokuko' and sent a pulse of chakra through his bones in the ground to begin the process of rotting into dust, freeing the poacher (after coating him in a fould smelling goo briefly), and causing the 'statue' he had left behind to vanish.

"Come" he instructed, turning to walk out of the forest before the man could find his way to his feet, disappearing again in a way that the poacher couldn't see, but Taru would be able to notice him finding a spot in the trees to stay near them.

He didn't really want to wander around in that outfit the whole time.

The poacher himself seemed much too scared to say anything at this point, babbling and trying not to soil himself.

Word Count: 290
Tags: Suzuki Taru
Mission: 27/15

[/quote]

[Suzuki Taru]

Kimihiro really knew how to put on a show! He took every cue she gave him with even more art than she expected, even crafting a frightful design for a kami of the woods to help sell her story. He was like the unseen stagehand at the theater, a deadly sort of kuroko. She hoped she could do more missions with him soon - frightening enemies out of their senses using the tricks of the Kaguya was good fun.

With the materials gathered up, and the duo ready to exit the woods with the captured poacher in tow, there wasn't much else to do here. The forest would gradually consume the remains of this camp and it would become re-wilded again. Hopefully no other fools would come out here, for rumors of sharing a similar grim fate.

Now that the poacher was properly frightened and unlikely to flee, Taru grabbed him by the arm and started to lead him through the brush, back out the way they'd come towards Kashiwa.

On the walk home, she was sure to regale him with plenty of tales of frightful yokai that lived in the woods, and the innumerable curses one might acquire by angering the forest spirits. Partially to keep the man in his terror, but also partially to give Kimihiro some entertainment on the walk back! He might get bored just lingering in the trees, after all.

When they made it back to the village proper, Taru would turn the captured man over to the shinobi of Kashiwa's garrison. Hopefully he'd really spill his guts!

After that, she would approach Kimhiro, chipper as ever.

"You tore those poachers apart! And made a real spooky show of it, too. It's a shame they're all dead so they can't have nightmares about it...," she contemplated. "I hope we get assigned on another mission together. But we need to get back and report on this one first..."

[Kaguya Kimihiro]

Kaguya Kimihiro

It was a relatively simple trip back to the village, and someone as skilled as he was in keeping hidden and silent meant that there was no chance that the poacher would realise he was there, except for the few moments that he made sure to appear in the man's peripheral vision in his yokai disguise, just to 'reassure' their prisoner that he was still around.

He was grateful for the stories. Not only were they interesting, they gave him plenty of ideas for ways to mess with people in the future, which was quite frankly an excellent thing in his mind. Taru was definitely proving herself to be one of the more fun mission partners he'd had.

When their prisoner was disposed of, the Genin approached him, and he couldn't help but grin at the enthusiastic response. "It's nice of you to appreciate it~" he stated with a grin, rocking back on his heels and putting his hands behind his head, "lotta people just get kinda spooked when I do that. Bad memories from the war I guess..." he shrugged slightly, seemingly unconcerned that he was a walking ptsd trigger to some. Wasn't his problem if they couldn't handle him.

The mention of paperwork did bring down his mood somewhat, but he'd been trying to be more responsible ever since he took up the Kubikiribocho, so he supposed it wouldn't do to whine about it. "You did good too, just gotta remember the mission objective alongside your own," he stated teasingly as he began to walk off, expecting the Genin to keep up. 

Word Count: 264
Tags: Suzuki Taru
Mission: 29/15

[Suzuki Taru]

Bad memories from the war? She didn't have many memories from the war herself - she still lived in Kashiwa for the majority of it. All she could recall was that the shinobi stationed at the garrisons there had been largely called back to the village on responsibility to participate. Maybe that was part of why she'd been able to spend so long in the woods unhindered? In either case, she'd come to Kirigakure to join the academy right as the war was finishing and Yuki Nanami was coming to power.

It was strange to think how many Kages they'd been through in the time since then... The war really had left interesting scars on all of Mizu no Kuni.

"I don't find violence that frightful. It's just normal, especially for our jobs," Taru said, skipping to catch up with Kimihiro and then walking alongside him.

He teased her to remember her own objective as well, and she perked up in realization.

"Oh! I definitely almost forgot. I guess I figured you'd handled it, since you were inside the bandit camp... I'll remember better next time," she reassured. When it came to her hometown and the forest, she supposed she could get a little bit of tunnel-vision, falling in with the spirits of nature itself. But her shinobi goals and helping Mizu no Kuni at large needed to take precedence over all of that!