[Phantasm]

     The sun was still a ways off, the sky a stormy grey. It'd rained all night and turned all the dirt roads to mud: but no trails led here. Toru stood atop a tall stony cliff, the deep forest he'd had to trek through behind him. Streams of rainwater poured off the edge, trickling down hundreds of feet of rock.

     An abandoned village lay far below, half the buildings overgrown. It'd been an old fishing settlement abandoned many decades ago - now it was decrepit and dark, unlit save for a handful of torches carried aloft by tiny black specks. Lightning cracked.

     All was dark below now. Two paths lay ahead for Toru: a well-trod track ran north-south along the cliff's edge. To his left, it led back towards the forest and to a long-forgotten shrine. To his right, a slippery and decaying passageway cut into the cliff made its way hundreds of feet down in a wide arc that would deposit him on the shoreline at the north end of the village. Dark cave entrances dotted the way.

     The report'd been that were over a hundred foes here, civilian and ex-shinobi alike. Their leader was a powerful former ninja of Kirigakure, but from a glance it was impossible to tell whether he'd be in the caves, the village, the shrine, or somewhere else. Regardless, each section would need to cleansed if the group was to be put to a final end.

---

30 enemies each in the forest, caves, and village proper. Mostly low-ranking, with a Jounin in each location. Location of leader currently undisclosed.
Kaguya Toru | 260 words

[Kaguya Toru]

I would know him in death At the end of the world Phantasm

It had taken some convincing that he could go at this alone, though people rarely dared to question him at council meetings, Daichi was a little different. He protested fiercely when Toru dared to put himself in harm's way. But Toru had felt a calling, no matter what it was to protect his nation just as fiercely as Daichi insisted on protecting Toru.

But here he stood on the precipice of a cliff, the smell of rain filling his lungs in a familiar and almost comforting way. There was more to this place, many other scents filtered through his nose in the immediate vicinity about thirty that he could tell it made for a difficult situation.

There were multiple paths laid out clearly before him, well trodden that divided the smells further into sections. There were supposed to be hundreds of enemies here, which meant for the best results he needed a quiet approach that would not alert anyone to his presence.

It was unfortunate that he would have to take so many lives today, especially one's of civilians that had chosen the wrong path. But forgiveness was given to those who wished to repent and they had most likely were too far gone and so for the safety of the nation their extermination was necessary.

Silent as some of the most skilled shinobi he summoned two clones creating effectively thirty separate explosive tags, plus the clones themselves with darkness below he knew he could move unnoticed with the variability in the skill of those below if he paced himself and remained silent he could do what needed to be done and leave quickly.

His goal was to minimize the need for combat as much as possible.

A clone went to the left, foot steps silent, keeping himself concealed within the brush of the water laden trees towards the shrine.

Then Toru and the other clone went towards the right down into the slippery and decaying passageway, silent as before, using just the slightest bit of chakra to keep themselves from sliding and thus their footsteps concealed.

Even the trios breathing seemed to come to a halt as they moved. Each cave opening that they came across - presuming there were no adversaries - an exploding tag would be placed at the top of its entrance and on and on they went, with the hope that there were not over twenty cave entrances... However if the path was heavy with movement Toru and the clone would not choose to walk it so simply.

SPOILER: Click to show

Explosive Tags being used across empty cave openings if this path is available and unhindered. Toru would not go into the "hive" if he can see or smell adversaries so this plan only works if the path is clear, which the initial post implies that it is.

NAME: Katon Kage Bunshin no Jutsu [Fire Release Shadow Clone Technique]
CHAKRA USAGE: High
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu
ELEMENT: Katon
DESCRIPTION:
A mix of the elemental cloning techniques and the standard Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, the user creates a clone out of flames, which takes on the exact appearance of the one casting the technique. Because these clones are Shadow Clones, they retain the ability to think, react and perform techniques on their own, with independent chakra systems. When struck however, these clones explode in a large inferno, presumably burning all around it and setting alight anything in the area.

---

『Silent Killing』
Toru through quite rigorous training has learned how to blend in with his environment and passing by his targets undetected. His movement and breathing is unnaturally silent, and when focused on a task at hand he is able to appear as a ghost, unheard and unseen, as a result he is able to take out his targets or opponents without alarming those around him with a discomforting amount of ease.

『Scent Hound』
Taking inspiration from his wolf familiar, Toru has developed a keen sense of smell. This sense allows him to easily determine where someone is due to a unique scent profile, and he is able to perform tracking duties by only needing to pick up a trail. This ability allows him to continue 'seeing' when he cannot actually see or hear - 400m passively. Focusing chakra to his nose he can enhance the radius of scent picking up to a formidable 2km, though the scent locations are less precise at this distance. The one downfall to this ability is overly intense foul smells that are closer to Toru may become overwhelming to a generally debilitating degree where only plugging the nose will help alleviate the incoming need to vomit.

OWL

[Phantasm]

     As before, all was quiet as Toru trekked down the path. No interference arrived to prevent him from placing his tags, and no one appeared from the cave entrances.

     By the time he was around halfway down the path, still far above the village, the utter darkness was pierced by a short lived fire on the south face of the cliffs. It burned for a few seconds, then was snuffed out. Another was lit on the docks. Darkness.

     The next cave opening in front of the Mizukage and his clone glowed orange into the night briefly, before he was left in darkness once more. A moment of silence passed.

     Suddenly, two enemies darted out - one from the passage in front of them and another from one they'd visited before, about 30 feet back. The man further in front twirled a Kusarigama coated in blue lightning that illuminated the path. Wordlessly, he spun and swung it horizontally up the path, hoping to either wrap them up and electrify them or force them to jump.

     The second foe, behind them, crouched and weaved a flurry of handseals. Sucking in a chestful of air, he cinched his fingers around his mouth and prepared to unleash a torrent of Fuuton - either directly down the path at them or above their heads, or wherever else they decided to dodge.

     At the same time, a loud rumbling began to emanate from the cave opening. The earth began to split and crumble: an enemy further in the cave system had used a massive Doton jutsu to split the entire cliff face: soon enough the entire front few dozen feet would slide off in a massive landslide. Toru and his clone would either have to attempt to dart inside before it collapsed, where many enemies would be awaiting them, or take their chances on the outside.

---

SPOILER: Click to show

Positioning/Explanation (10/10 much art)

Enemy #1: ?? Rank, Buki sole using B-Rank Raiton Supervibrato Lightning Release Sword.
Enemy #2: ?? Rank, Ninjutsu sole using B-Rank Fuuton Wind Release: Vacuum Wave.

Will resume with the other clone later. Seems to be a Sensor-nin somewhere using the beacons to relay information.
Kaguya Toru | 308 words

[Kaguya Toru]

I would know him in death At the end of the world Phantasm

Toru and the clone had been making good headway wandering silently in the darkness, though his senses never dulled. Sometimes in these kinds of situations, where one felt like one was doing nothing for a long period of time the guard would slowly come down. But Toru's mind was working, constantly aware of every little flicker of light and the shuffles nearby. He took in the scents, marked out how each space smelled and looked.

The silence stretched for a suspicious amount of time, usually something happened... And then two shadows, one he did not immediately see but one he did see with a glow of blue. The Kusarigama whipped itself out towards them and both the clone and Toru reacted, though Toru a touch quicker pressing his palms together to immediately create a dome around him. The dome in question would tear into the weapon, expanding its rope or chain outwards. A rope would likely fracture a chain would find itself distorted and strained.

The dome that expanded and surrounded both Toru and the clone was made of one of the most durable materials available - Toru's own coral - though it likely did not look like more than just some white doton - and thus it would take a truly tremendous amount of focused kinetic force to break.

In other words, between the futon technique, the kusarigama and the cliff face coming crashing down Toru and his clone would be quite safe... The rock most likely crashing and crumbling over the top of the dome before sliding off. However his opponents would have to face that landslide and either be swept away or have to duck into the cave where they had come from.

SPOILER: Click to show

Explosive Tags being used across empty cave openings if this path is available and unhindered. About 8/9 tags placed along a path of 16/20 caves [discussed]. Enemy attacks and land slides are deal with a dome of coral protecting him and his clone.

NAME: Sangoseigyo no Jutsu [Coral Control Technique]
RANK: C
CHAKRA USAGE: Medium
CLASSIFICATION: Jinchuuriki [Sanbi/Isobu]
ELEMENT: Coral
HANDSEALS: n/a
REQUIREMENT: Jinchuuriki [Sanbi/Isobu]
DESCRIPTION:
With the flick of the hand or any limb so long as it is willed, the jinchuuriki is able to manipulate the coral in whatever way they like. Conjuring it from the ground to send it after enemies, creating walls, or projectile objects. As long as it can be a physical object, the jinchuuriki is able to create it. The rank and jutsu cost depends on the size of the coral being manipulated. The coral is durable and hard to destroy. This is one of the most innate powers of the jinchuuriki giving them full control of the coral and its manifestations or manipulations.

D-Rank manipulations are generally simple and smaller pieces of coral.

S-Rank manipulations are ground breaking, as one might expect, huge and often complex designs.

---
『Demon Reflex』
Toru has impeccable control over his body and muscles, to the point that he appears as if he might be dancing around his opponents with mockery. Not only quick on his feet, but he also seems to have the reflexes to go along with his speed. It takes a similarly lithe and feline-like opponent to land a proper hit on the small boy. An elite jounin with similar speed and reflexes - and proper training - can tire Toru out properly enough to do so, or perhaps a jounin although it may take longer - as long as they have this same training. Toru is a slimy opponent and is difficult to pin down.

『Sanbi Jinchuuriki』
Toru is the host of Isobu the Sanbi and is thus gifted with a series of powers. His chakra pool, in its default state is already quite abnormally large, it has now exponentially increased outmatching if not totally dwarfing the majority of shinobi, in truth only rivaled by other jinchuuriki. Alongside this, he also is granted passive access to different abilities - manipulating coral and coral techniques, in which the coral is harder and more resilient than naturally occurring coral being one of said abilities. Though the most outwardly noticeable trait, is that Toru seems impervious to certain levels of attacks. This is due to a substantial boost to his durability, his skin now being coated in a thin layer of diamond-like durability making him capable of minimizing damage from various jutsu and weaponry as well as stopping attacks that are weaker than him almost entirely.

Later stages of Sanbi he is also granted access to shell techniques, and his durability grows with each stage of influence he has over the beast. Toru also has access to special powerful Suiton when in any of the shrouds.

『Silent Killing』
Toru through quite rigorous training has learned how to blend in with his environment and passing by his targets undetected. His movement and breathing is unnaturally silent, and when focused on a task at hand he is able to appear as a ghost, unheard and unseen, as a result he is able to take out his targets or opponents without alarming those around him with a discomforting amount of ease.

『Scent Hound』
Taking inspiration from his wolf familiar, Toru has developed a keen sense of smell. This sense allows him to easily determine where someone is due to a unique scent profile, and he is able to perform tracking duties by only needing to pick up a trail. This ability allows him to continue 'seeing' when he cannot actually see or hear - 400m passively. Focusing chakra to his nose he can enhance the radius of scent picking up to a formidable 2km, though the scent locations are less precise at this distance. The one downfall to this ability is overly intense foul smells that are closer to Toru may become overwhelming to a generally debilitating degree where only plugging the nose will help alleviate the incoming need to vomit.

OWL

[Phantasm]

     The kusarigama wrapped around the mass of coral, electrified but ineffectual. The man down the path scoffed and called out to his comrade, throwing his weapon to the floor. The eyes of both men glowed a bright red in the darkness as they rushed forward with reckless abandon.

     The man to the north grabbed hold of a spire of coral and used his monstrously amped strength to drive his elbow into the structure - hard. His companion came from the south, a little later, with a massive spinning kick that tore a wide hole in the back side of the coral. The limbs of both men were reduced to bloody messes, but neither seemed bothered.

      Both men reached in through the exposed holes to try and grab at Toru and his clone, but were annihilated by the rush of falling stone and swept off the path, dead. More chunks of stone poured down on top of the weakened coral, fracturing it completely as the path and the entire cliff face began to tilt down into the sky - throwing Toru and his clone - coral or not, into the air.

     As the stone crumbled fully, the shear rock face was exposed - perfectly flat with a large open cavern on the left, where about 20 nervous-looking villagers were gathered with makeshift weapons, and another that'd been a tunnel. In the southernly one, a tall, wide man with a fat, bald head grinned out at them with his hands clasped together.

     With a heavy stomp from the man, 4 giant stone arms sprouted from the sheared-off cliffside and reached out to grab Toru and his clone - whether that be separate, together, or together in another coral bubble. Once they'd grasped them, the arms threw the duo into the open cavern where the villagers were ready to pounce.

---

SPOILER: Click to show

Enemy #1: Used B-Rank Tree Leaf Rock-Destroying Rise. Now dead.
Enemy #2: Used B-Rank Tree Leaf Strong Whirlwind. Now dead.

New enemy group: 27 ragtag non-shinobi villagers with farming implements as weapons. All have bright red eyes.
Jounin #1: Used A-Rank Earth Release: Hands of the Underworld. Ninjutsu Primary, ?? Secondary. Will take him a round to reach the cavern.
Kaguya Toru | 302 words

[Kaguya Toru]

I would know him in death At the end of the world Phantasm

Toru and the clone were closer towards the center of the dome so as the coral was punched through and an attempt to grab them was made, they were just slightly out of reach, but also he had crouched when he saw the first hand come through with the clone so the chances were basically zero that they could be grabbed onto.

There was a rumbling though, the coral fractured a bit and they were set out into the air. The clone was fortunately not impacted severely by anything so they were fine for now. Then - luck would have it - giant arms would come up from the rock face and grab onto Toru and the clone to throw them - with a very impressive amount of accuracy - into a newly opened cave opening that clearly belonged to a greater tunnel system.

Toru corrected himself in the air pulling the clone slightly behind himself, drawing his coral sword as he did this. Despite the simplicity of his tactic, his movement against the large grouping was precise and trying to smartly use the impeccable momentum the throw had given his trajectory.

Entering the cave he swung his sword, silent, quickly, and with a ferocious amount of sharpness. The technique was perfect for times when there was little time to react and plenty of enemies to deal with. It would - if it landed - sufficiently put down multiples of the most forward facing farmers...

Which was probably better than the alternative which was him barreling into them like a bowling ball made of the most durable material in the world that would likely put them into a great deal of pain, and shatter both basic farming equipment and bones. A quick death was best here, Toru felt. It was the most merciful for these innocents.

SPOILER: Click to show

Explosive Tags being used across empty cave openings if this path is available and unhindered. About 8/9 tags placed along a path of 16/20 caves [discussed]. Toru and clone fly heartily into cave opening, Toru performs technique to try and cut down half of his new adversaries.

NAME: Kumo-Ryu Mikazukigiri - [Cloud-Style Three days' Moon Beheading]
RANK: C
CHAKRA USAGE: Low
CLASSIFICATION: Bukijutsu
ELEMENT: N/a
DESCRIPTION:
The user swings their sword in a single, large, crescent moon-shaped arc, which occurs with such ferocious velocity that the technique can be employed in situations where only a very limited time to react is available. The swing can be used to counter attacks from multiple opponents simultaneously.

---
『Masterful Kenjutsu』
Toru had a great deal of knowledge when it comes to weaponry, but his love lies in swords. As a jounin, his skill and movement with almost any blade are that of a seasoned master or prodigy. The sword is just an extension of his body and who he is. When a blade is in his hands he strikes his enemies down quickly and doesn't seem to hesitate when he does so. The form of his body is that of someone who has trained in the art for quite some time, and it is no surprise when he is able to go toe-to-toe with elite jounin with seemingly little issue.

『Demon Reflex』
Toru has impeccable control over his body and muscles, to the point that he appears as if he might be dancing around his opponents with mockery. Not only quick on his feet, but he also seems to have the reflexes to go along with his speed. It takes a similarly lithe and feline-like opponent to land a proper hit on the small boy. An elite jounin with similar speed and reflexes - and proper training - can tire Toru out properly enough to do so, or perhaps a jounin although it may take longer - as long as they have this same training. Toru is a slimy opponent and is difficult to pin down.

『Sanbi Jinchuuriki』
Toru is the host of Isobu the Sanbi and is thus gifted with a series of powers. His chakra pool, in its default state is already quite abnormally large, it has now exponentially increased outmatching if not totally dwarfing the majority of shinobi, in truth only rivaled by other jinchuuriki. Alongside this, he also is granted passive access to different abilities - manipulating coral and coral techniques, in which the coral is harder and more resilient than naturally occurring coral being one of said abilities. Though the most outwardly noticeable trait, is that Toru seems impervious to certain levels of attacks. This is due to a substantial boost to his durability, his skin now being coated in a thin layer of diamond-like durability making him capable of minimizing damage from various jutsu and weaponry as well as stopping attacks that are weaker than him almost entirely.

Later stages of Sanbi he is also granted access to shell techniques, and his durability grows with each stage of influence he has over the beast. Toru also has access to special powerful Suiton when in any of the shrouds.

『Silent Killing』
Toru through quite rigorous training has learned how to blend in with his environment and passing by his targets undetected. His movement and breathing is unnaturally silent, and when focused on a task at hand he is able to appear as a ghost, unheard and unseen, as a result he is able to take out his targets or opponents without alarming those around him with a discomforting amount of ease.

『Scent Hound』
Taking inspiration from his wolf familiar, Toru has developed a keen sense of smell. This sense allows him to easily determine where someone is due to a unique scent profile, and he is able to perform tracking duties by only needing to pick up a trail. This ability allows him to continue 'seeing' when he cannot actually see or hear - 400m passively. Focusing chakra to his nose he can enhance the radius of scent picking up to a formidable 2km, though the scent locations are less precise at this distance. The one downfall to this ability is overly intense foul smells that are closer to Toru may become overwhelming to a generally debilitating degree where only plugging the nose will help alleviate the incoming need to vomit.

OWL

[Phantasm]

     Screams echoed through the cavern, the death and dying throes of a dozen men - their lives and loves cut short. The other 15 wore expressions somewhere between rage and fear, their eyes glowing a deep red as they surged forward.

     They trampled their comrades underfoot, driven forward by the drug like unwilling passengers in their own bodies. They stabbed and cut and batted at Toru and the clone, their attacks amateurish and wild but filled with hopeless abandon.

     The villagers likely stood no chance, despite their enhancements that were tearing their bodies apart at the seams. Past the screams and clatter of weapons a loud and low rumble began to fill the cavern. Something big was coming through the tunnels, sending a mini-earthquake through the cavern that might topple whatever few remaining enemies were left but wasn't likely to throw a trained shinobi to his feet.

     The sound was like a giant ball of stone rolling, smashing up against the sides of the tunnels as it gained speed. Soon enough it would be upon Toru and his clone, though they had enough time to deal with the group and make some quick preparations before the Jounin they'd seen before would arrive.

---

SPOILER: Click to show

15 enemies making random, wild, ineffectual attacks.
Jounin #1: Using (buffed) A Rank All-Covering Forests and Ten Thousand Things Giant Rock Tank, barreling towards the cavern. Toru and his clone have enough time to prepare a defense, a counterattack, or evade. (Will arrive on my next post.) If the attack is evaded, he'll hit the wall and the entire tunnel system and rest of the cliff will collapse into a landslide onto half the village below. Ninjutsu Primary, ?? Secondary.

Kaguya Toru | 201 words

[Kaguya Toru]

I would know him in death At the end of the world Phantasm

Toru felt a hint of remorse, but only because these were likely people that had once belonged to his nation. Their rage and fear was fueled by one someone that had destroyed them and now they were facing someone who would simply end their misery for not only their own quality of life but for the nations prosperity too. Toru and the clone were adept, and even if from the sheer quantity an attack might land these weapons would glance off of his hard exterior. Toru an impenetrable force as he made certain to put down any who got close enough - and they often did - with quick beheadings and effective pinpoints to their vital organs that would keep them from suffering in death too. The clone did the same...

It was quick work and now the area smelled insidiously of copper from all the blood that had spilled onto the cavern floor. There was something coming though and there was just the marginal amount of time to react.

Toru put himself against the side of the wall in an attempt to evade whatever was coming - there was a scent to it, so he assumed it was the individual from before - and motioned for the clone to take the brunt of the attack in the area where they had entered the cavern to begin with.

The clone would hunker down lowering its stance defensively, ready to take on what was coming... With the intention to take the tank and blow him up, hopefully killing.

OWL

[Phantasm]

     The Jounin's earthern tank sphere flung into the cavern at blistering speed, skipping over the earth like a stone over water. In a freeze frame, it collided with the clone, who'd assumed a defensive position and taken the brunt of the force head on.

     A great explosion shook the cavern, illuminating the village below and the waters beyond. Dozens of pairs of red eyes peeked through aged and fallen blinds in the dilapidated village below.

     The real Toru was thrust against the rock wall by the force of the explosion, narrowly avoiding being struck with the great chunks of stone that flew off the sphere. The clone was gone instantly, his counterattack having created such a massive kinetic force that the cavern itself was sundered.

     Their foe was launched out of his impromptu armor, covered head to toe in deep red and black burns. He collided with the wall opposite Toru and, surprisingly tough, attempted to stand and perform another jutsu.

     Before he could, the cave system collapsed - the cliff face splintered into a number of great rocks, throwing them both off balance as a great landslide began.

     Toru and the man found themselves on different chunks of stone, sliding down towards the settlement at an angle. The foe's red eyes stared out at Toru as he weaved four handseals and coated himself in a massive, 14 feet tall suit of armor from the sliding stones around them. With a bellowing roar, he struck down on Toru's position with two massive stone arms.

---

Jounin #1: Using (buffed) A Rank Earth Style: Gods of Heaven and Earth. He and Toru are now standing on giant boulders sliding down towards the village, surfing the landslide.
Kaguya Toru | 253 words

[Kaguya Toru]

I would know him in death At the end of the world Phantasm

Toru shielded his face quickly from the heat of the explosion, there was that hint of pain, but he knew that nothing was actually happening to him. He had learned he could take on multiple explosions like that all at once with little to no scrapes. He had a bigger problem, something that he as a human could not ignore.

Mother Nature shifted around him from the explosion and the tankman's collision against his clone, and it all started crumbling. It was din from there, his ears ringing as he regained his footing as gracefully as he could in the middle of a literal landslide. He grappled with the slab of rock, standing on it as he was now haphazardly surfing towards the village...

So much for his stealthy approach.

Now his the same tank man was growing in size in a large stone armor that was several feet taller than Toru could ever hope to be. He stared up as the large fists came from overhead. Two things happened then, Toru timed the fists coming down enough to create a show with enough time to escape and make his attack happen.

They came down and he let out a cry, not a loud one but a convincing one enough for the tank to hear. He would see blood, a boy severely wounded.

But in truth the real Toru had launched himself into the air and had pushed chakra into his sword hand to launch an onslaught hoping to pierce through defenses and end the man's life from the advantage of being above him and thus near his head - even if armored.

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Ikamono Tsurugi [Fake Blood]
RANK: E
CHAKRA USAGE: To Use: Very Low | To Maintain: Very Low
CLASSIFICATION: Genjutsu
ELEMENT: -
HANDSEALS: 0
REQUIREMENT: Auditory
DESCRIPTION:
Another extremely simple technique to utilize, but very effective when used under the correct circumstances. Originally thought up to be used on children to help them get over their fear of blood the technique has proven to be useful in combat. Perfect for distracting opponent, putting fear into them or best yet, making them lower their defenses. Someone utilizing this technique can make small or medium amounts of blood appear before the target's eyes.

The user can choose what form the blood takes and how it appears, but it must be a semi-realistic representation. (Meaning no summoning a blood ogre) A user generally will make their own bodies spew blood forward when an opponent makes an attack using a cry of pain as the trigger; with such a trigger the user always tries to dodge as closely as possible so the hit looks to have connected. This makes the target lower their guard by thinking the user is dead or severely wounded.

NAME: Jōzan Surasuto [Multiplying Thrust]
RANK: A
CHAKRA USAGE: Medium
CLASSIFICATION: Bukijutsu
ELEMENT: -
HANDSEALS: 0
DESCRIPTION:
A fairly simple, yet deadly technique. By flowing chakra to the muscles in their arms the user is temporarily capable of stabbing their weapons with incredible speed, capable of performing roughly a hundred thrusts in just a few seconds. While this can prove deadly to anyone caught within the range of their weapon, it is also limited by that range. Additionally while the user's striking speed is increased, that is the only speed increased. Lastly this technique can only be utilized four times per engagement before the user begins to destroy the muscles in their arm(s).

OWL

[Phantasm]

     The man breathed a ragged sigh of relief as he heard the Mizukage's scream, and saw the blood gush out from his stony hands. He was cooked - literally - but he could at least use the last of his life and his chakra to prevent the worst of the destruction to the village below, and reduce the risks of his leader being injured.

     He turned to look at over the settlement, preparing to use Doton to try and slow the rush of rock - only for Toru to seemingly appear behind him. The Jounin whirled, attempting to swat at Toru as his sword clashed into the rock of his armor again and again - a flurry of dust kicked up as he drilled into it. The blade pierced through the last layer of resistance and sunk through its target.

     As his blood seeped out from the stones, his suit of armor disintegrated back into rocks that joined with the landslide. Tons and tons of rock swept out over the village, smashing into the fishing huts and homes. Screams echoed out over the bay as men and women were carried out into the sea by a wave of earth.

---

     Chirps filtered through the trees as Toru's clone stalked the path to the shrine. It was quiet - very - and the path was entirely unlit, barely visible save for the evidence of use on the forest floor. The sky was still stormy and dark above.

     Through the tangle of branches, the clone could make out a divet in the earth - a fissure that the path dove down into. A boulder sat beside the path that he could hide behind and use as cover to formulate a plan.

     Torches lit the small valley, carried aloft by enemy Shinobi. Stone doorways had been carved into the cliff walls, arranged in three floors. Walkways rimmed the place, with wooden bridges connecting at several key points. There appeared to be about 13 Shinobi patrolling the area, maybe more in hiding. Beyond the valley lay the shrine, an old wooden structure hidden deep in the forest at the valley's end.

     There was a man at each end of the ground path ahead, and another in the middle. There were five on the middle level - 1 on each wooden bridge at the 2/5 and 4/5 marks, 1 on the left walkway, and 2 on the right. The top level had three equidistant bridges, with a man each. The right and left pathway had one each.

     The clone'd need to proceed forward stealthily or risk being swarmed by enemies.

---

Swapping over to Toru's clone in the forest. Will return to the village and the landslide's aftermath.
Kaguya Toru | 428 words

[Kaguya Toru]

I would know him in death At the end of the world Phantasm

Death came to the man and then the huge landslide took out the village. It swept Toru into the water as well, but unlike some of the most regular individuals who could not fight these currents and speeds he was able to do so. At least enough to come out alive - but that was all he could do for now was to pull himself out onto the sandy shore, soaked and a bit winded from the fall. What did he need to do next?

---

The clone wandered up the path occasionally glancing towards the sky. It was quite ominous...

He wondered how his original was doing but perhaps it was best not to contemplate such things and instead keep on moving. The clone came to a path with a boulder, and based on all the scents up ahead it was best to hide behind it and formulate some kind of a plan.

It seemed that there were quite a few individuals here, which meant he had to proceed really quietly. As a clone he could not really risk getting seen and overwhelmed as it meant total destruction then and a loud one at that.

So, he sat there peeking out from behind the boulder surveying what was in front of him instead of moving ahead.

The ultimate thing was to see if anyone moved and if there was a pattern to that movement, perhaps he could catch one of these guards isolated from the rest, kill and transform into that man to more or less pass himself off as a guard and slowly pick through the crowd without getting seen as suspicious?

Only if it was possible, if not then he would have to consider his paths a little more carefully.

OWL

[Phantasm]

     The only sounds that reached Toru from the valley were the somewhat-distant sounds of torches crackling. Each of the guards carried one, without exception.

     All had the same, standard outfit - the selfsame that'd been worn by the guards at the Red Keep. The guards on the sides patrolled back and forth in a way so that when one reached the furthest north point of their straight-line patrol, their opposite was diagonal from them.

     The guards in the middle didn't seem to patrol at all, the men on the ground simply watched the path - the middle one walking bath and forth between each end - and those on the bridges above watched them and the side paths, occasionally turning around every few minutes to survey behind them.

     It seemed like the men patrolling the sides went into some of the stone doorways about every 15 minutes, and exited about 2 minutes later, though at this distance one couldn't tell by sight if they exited as the same man or a replacement. If Toru's scent capabilities were strong enough, maybe, but the rain interfered with that too.

     There was enough room at the mouth of the valley to perhaps avoid being spotted by the man guarding the road and sneak up onto the second floor via the stone stairs, if one pressed up against the stone wall and found him inattentive. From there, one would probably need to wait for the bridge guards to turn and look towards the shrine, especially if they wanted to use the ladders to get to the third floor.

     From the outside, it was impossible to tell if the rooms behind the stone doorways connected, or if one could enter and take a set of stairs up or down - but regardless, assuming there wasn't anyone inside, they could a good place to wait for patrols to move, turn, or be replaced.

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Kaguya Toru | 313 words

[Kaguya Toru]

I would know him in death At the end of the world Phantasm

The clone watched, observing all the movements and all that there was to take in. It was difficult to determine right off the bat, especially with the rain taking up so much of the scent but at some point he felt he had a good enough picture of what was going on here and so he moved forward. Carefully in a circular manner away from prying eyes, pressing himself up against the cliff wall and beginning to move up and up, each step silent and calculated. Taking moments to wait out the patrols of the guards that were there... It was a huge waiting game and a bit of a gamble.

Silent killing was rather handy in this situation it allowed him to be completely silent and act more as a shadow than anything else. The rain would help obscure him too to some degree.

There was a stone doorway and he slipped inside of it waiting with intent for someone to wander his way so that he could quickly and silently dispatch them, put them into the darkest corner available and transform into a perfect replica of them... From there the next section would begin, he needed to figure out how to get through here disguised without setting off any alarms...

Act nonchalant and more like a stoic guard that could work... But he had to time that right too, and not walk out too late or too early.

OWL

[Phantasm]

     The door creaked open, flooding the room with the warm orange torchlight. A man walked in, woefully inattentive - far as he was concerned, there was no reason to suspect there'd be anyone in this room given he'd just been in here a few minutes ago. He sighed and snuffed his torch out, set it aside and rubbed his shoulder. "This crap is making me tired as hell..."

     He hadn't noticed Toru's clone hiding in the corner, nor heard him - of course. But before Toru could be sure the coast was clear to take him out, the man pressed a stone in on the wall and what had initially seemed to be a closet swung open to connect to the next room over. The man entered.

     If Toru angled himself right, he'd be able to see that the adjoining room was small - poorly furnished with a small bed, in which another man was sleeping. The guard woke him and they swapped places. Evidently, the strain of the drug on the body caused its' users to require more frequent sleep. The one who'd been sleeping put on his outfit and exited the room.

     If Toru hadn't found a different, out-of-sight spot in the initial empty room he'd most likely be spotted - though the man hadn't lit his torch yet, so perhaps he could hide in the darkness in the meantime. After that, he'd need to decide whether to attack the sleeping man after the new guard left and risk an imbalance in the numbers outside, or find a way to silently kill him without waking up the man sleeping in the connecting room.

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Kaguya Toru | 271 words