[Kaguya Toru]

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

The clone was about to move but reflex quick muscles froze when instinct said to stop. A wall swung open and revealed another part of the room, there was a man inside, sleeping and now they were switching guard.

The clone moved silently and quietly in the midst of their brief conversation to another dark corner in the opposite direction so as to not be seen. He would need to take out this new man, he was sleepier and likely weaker as a result. But the other man was unlikely to be fully asleep yet which meant he had to be extremely careful in his approach.

The torch absolutely had to be lit to avoid raising any suspicions. With a silent crouched step he moved to be just behind the man, but he took great care to not be noticed. Even his breath was silent it seemed - if he was breathing at all - he waited for the torch. And the moment that it lit up, he would use one hand to cover the man's mouth whilst simultaneously a piece of coral would impale him from the back right into his heart. Toru's free hand would grab onto the torch as he held the man up from slumping over or making too much noise.

This noiseless assault would hopefully keep him from being noticed by the other man at all.

He would drag him to the corner where he had been hiding the second time out of the way of the secondary door, inspect his features and perform henge to transform.

Then and only then would he wander towards the door where the exchange for sleep had occurred his intention was to kill the new sleeping man and put both of the two mens bodies together to avoid raising suspicions while he would inevitably wander out with a torch looking like the new guard.

OWL

[Phantasm]

     The assault had worked flawlessly: the sleeping man, oblivious thanks to the drug's effect, never woke up. Toru successfully stashed the bodies and transformed, before slipping back outside.

     Wind whistled through the valley as the disguised clone made his way down the pathway. It was almost too easy, and he successfully crossed the bulk of the valley - the only way forward was still obstructed by one guard, who he'd have to pass close by to get to the shrine.

     The guard stuck his hand out in front of Toru, nodded his head at him. A moment passed as he stared him down, then the guard laughed. "Just messing with you, Naoya. Need another dose, huh? Your eyes are looking a little faded." He jabbed a thumb down at the shrine, which Toru's clone now had a straight line at. "Just be quick, yeah?"

     In the clear, all the clone had to do was walk to the shrine ahead. The rain was letting up now, and if he used his enhanced sense of smell, he could tell there were no more enemies ahead - save for one. Inside the shrine was an overpowering floral smell, but it did not fully cover their scent.

     The shrine was old, creaking in the wind. Thankfully, it was far enough away from the enemies that he'd slipped past, that only a catastrophically loud noise would alert them. Whoever was inside, he'd be in the clear to fight as he wished.

     There were a number of possibles entrances - the tall front doors, the windows atop the peak, or any of the numerous massive gaps between the wooden planks that comprised the structure. Whichever way he decided upon, it'd be easy enough to peer inside.

     The inside of the building was peculiar in its simplicity. Rather than a normal floor, it was a large dirt pit that was covered in grass and hundreds of strange white flowers with red stems. In the very center, a massive statue of an ancient and angry god loomed tall. And underneath, facing the statue, a single chair sat - occupied by a woman who looked about as old as one could ever hope to be.

---

An ancient looking woman sits surrounded by white blossoms. It seems hard to imagine she would notice Toru enter, but something seems off.
Kaguya Toru | 362 words

[Kaguya Toru]

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

Toru paused when he was pointed at, but the man laughed and showed that he was kidding moments later.

"Good one," He grumbled though he definitely nodded when he was asked about another dose. It was for the best that he looked the way he did it seemed... So, on he went.

The clone moved methodically, without haste, but also not too slowly as to raise suspicions on accident. He had a general confident but weary cadence to the way he walked towards the shrine. His intuition said something was off about all of this, but he had a mission and so he kept moving along.

Once he had come upon the shrine he found that it was a surprisingly old and falling apart ... thing. It was not like any nice shrine that was well maintained. This was bordering on creepy.

And the smell...

He chose a less common approach, deciding against the obvious double doors and instead scaling the building to go through the windows at the very top so that he could observe from the rafters before making a decision on what to do.

There were flowers everywhere, and an old statue that was terrifying to look at... Beyond that there was the old woman. She had not yet acknowledged him which gave the impression that he had not been seen. But this was an S-Rank mission for a reason and things had been simpler than usual. The clone had a feeling something else was at play here.

He wouldn't wait to find out - there was no chance this woman was an innocent - sitting at the top he created a coral projectile with a soft membrane polyp attached to it and with all the precision he could muster he tossed it at her head hoping to hit her in the temple to knock her out or kill her outright.

Though if this did not work he was hoping for the slightest abrasion and for the toxin of the polyp to enter her blood stream to begin the slow path to victory.

SPOILER: Click to show

『Coral Assassin』
By cultivating a strong relationship with his bijuu and understanding how the coral the bijuu uses works, Toru has alongside Isobu, developed a powerful branch for the coral ability. He can now selectively create polyps, or soft coral that branches from the hard coral that he produces. The soft coral itself contains a naturally occurring palytoxin in its soft membranes. Skin contact with these polyps causes extreme irritation. Ingestion and inhalation (the polyps do not become gas on their own, but can be scrapped thus causing bits to fly into the air for inhalation) causes flu-like symptoms to develop and in only three rounds following inhalation or ingestion, respiratory problems arise where physical activity aggravates this further. The deadliest form of the palytoxin however, is found when the toxin enters the blood stream. It does not matter how, whether it is through a cut or abrasion. Palytoxin is powerful enough and plentiful enough that in an hour, the individual with the toxin in their bloodstream will find themselves dead. The process is sped up if combat or physical activity is continued as the blood stream pumps faster. Though the toxin never fully causes paralysis the body dose slow down over time and those who die often do so via cardiac arrest.

Due to the special nature of the palytoxin, a common antidote is unlikely to fully heal. In this case a full dose of a common A-Rank antidote can stave off death by one hour as long as medical treatment is sought out (full extraction of the toxin - shousen is not sufficient).

Progression outline without antidote:

Target is fully stationary: Chest tightness (45 min) Death (1hr)
Continuation of combat: Chest tightness (25-30 min) Death (35-45 min)
Intense continuation: Chest tightness (10-15 min) Death (30 min)

An individual with an endurance SA may resist a little longer, but it is graded based on their rank with a genin most likely finding a negligible amount of resistance available to them and a jounin adding an extra 5 minutes to their overall survival in each category of progression.

OWL

[Phantasm]

     The polyp smacked the woman on the side of the head, bouncing off and ending up amid the flowers. Evidently, she was sturdier than appearances would suggest. She leaned forward and brushed a wavering hand against the wound, coming up with small smears of blood and - unbeknownst to her - toxin.

     "How rude." She said with a frail voice. "I'll assume that was poisoned," the woman glanced over to the coral as she stood. "Mizukage." She clapped as if it were amazing news.

     Fishing a small vial out from her kimono, she downed a pinkish liquid. Her eyes went from a dull red to a vibrant, blood red. With a satisfied sigh, she stretched and cracked most of her joints. "I'd thought I'd never fight again, but these flowers are a blessing. I feel fourty years younger!"

     As she said the words, she used a technique to further amp her physicality - muttering something under her breath about being 'near the end already.' In a flash of unexpected speed, she launched herself into the air at the clone. The woman's body was immediately sending out distress signals, all of them overridden by the drug.

     She was upon the clone nearly instantly, making a play to grab him the legs and throw him down to the ground. Should he dodge in the minuscule timeframe, she would immediately follow with a savage series of kicks designed to crush his skull.

---

Jounin #2: Taijutsu Sole w/ Enhanced Strength, Speed, Durability, ??, ?? + amp to all physical attributes from drug
Using Sokudo to further buff self, then attacking Toru's clone with Flight of the Nymphs and Fang.
Combination of effects will likely kill her in a short timespan regardless.
Kaguya Toru | 236 words

[Kaguya Toru]

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

Toru was not really expecting the sheer speed the woman had, and while he did not have time to move out of the way of her approach in grabbing him and throwing him down, he did have time to react to actually correcting himself in the middle of the fall. He fell among the flowers, colliding with the ground on his feet, bending his knees to absorb the shock as he did. The throw itself was enough to make him slide backwards, leaving decent track marks in his wake as he did. But he slowed down eventually and drawing his sword would launch himself upwards towards the woman, in an attempt to slice her in half.

He needed to make sure she utilized the very maximum of her physical ability, it would hopefully speed up the toxin even more. Chest tightness would really make it difficult for her... If he could last ten minutes. Could he lead her on a wild good chase? Would she get so angry that she would destroy the entire shrine and all the men that were defending her?

The clone needed to bide its time, and be careful about being fully hit as to not be dispersed. It needed to see whether the drug would take her on a true mindless rampage or if he should carefully keep her here, fighting until she could no longer fight.

SPOILER: Click to show

Beheading

OWL

[Phantasm]

     The woman hurtled down at Toru's clone, screeching something inaudible about the flowers - likely, that he was trampling them. With a single handseal, she created a shadow clone mid-air and launched herself off the replica. The shadow clone flung down into the path of Toru's swing, while the woman's trajectory was changed so he landed behind Toru with a surprisingly graceful flip.

     She landed softly amongst the flowers behind him, though her joints and bones could be heard creaking loudly. Her eyes glowed a sickly red as her muscles ripped and rippled. The drug and the ridiculous amount of physical exertion was already taking its toll, though she seemed utterly unaffected at the moment - and likely would continue that way until she dropped dead.

     "You won't take them from us!" she yelled. Evidently, conserving her chakra was not something she was immensely concerned about. The walls glowed, the flowers cast in blue-purple as her leg became coated in electricity. Hoping to catch Toru in the middle of his swing, she unleashed a flurry of kicks high towards his head and shoulders - higher than she should have perhaps. Whether it was a mistake or a concerted effort to protect the flowers wasn't clear - but the kicks could easily disperse the clone if he didn't avoid them or somehow protect himself.

---

Jounin #2: Taijutsu Sole w/ Enhanced Strength, Speed, Durability, Chakra Control, ?? + amp to all physical attributes from drug
Using Shadow Clone Technique and Wild Raptor Stomping.
Kaguya Toru | 219 words

[Kaguya Toru]

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

The clone got in the way of his beheading, likely slicing the replica in half while the woman managed to get well out of the way. It was a furiously fast swing as he allowed the momentum of it to change the way he was facing. After the shadow clone was sliced through and his arms swung around he would be able to face her and fly backwards a bit as she used electricity in her legs to propel upwards in an attempt to kick at him towards his shoulders and head. It was higher than he had initially imagined it but the clone was quick to react using its sword to block the initial several blows at the smallest amount of distance - a literal arms length.

He just needed a literal moment to conjure coral, just enough from his abdomen that could reach up in several spikes in an attempt to basically impale her. In the clones mind it would *hopefully* work since her trajectory was very much moving forward, so she would have a hard time getting out of the way since she was pushing up and forward. Each kick causing the clones arms to grow unsteady in his blocking, but hopefully the two spokes of coral protruding out from his abdomen would be enough to impale her thoroughly and kill her right then and there.

OWL

[Phantasm]

     The coral mercilessly embedded itself in the woman's stomach, who coughed up blood but still seemed to refuse to die. She shattered the coral with a strong elbow blow and staggered backwards, toppling and rolling, leaving a wide smear of dark red blood all over the grass and flowers. Using the last burst of immense speed, she darted over to the statue, shattered a door on it and grabbed something from within. She clutched it tight in her hand as she grimaced and held the gaping hole in her stomach.

     The ground began to rumble violently, dust shaken loose from the rafters fell, old beams snapped. The colossal noise of the landslide emanated all around, and yells and screams could be heard outside - back the way of the valley. She turned to him with a look that seemed to show she wanted to insult him, or taunt him, but didn't want to use the energy to do so. Instead, she darted for the door and slammed it open with a shoulder. Limping, though still at quite a speed, she ran towards the village proper - practically beckoning for the clone to give chase.

     Whatever she'd taken, she clearly didn't want him to have - or she wanted to deliver it to someone else. The trail of blood she left behind meant easy following, even if she might've outsped him initially. She, and all the guards of the valley, made their way to the cliff's edge - the latter, to gawk at the collassal landslide that was not sweeping over the buildings far below - if the clone timed his chase and attack properly, he could have a decent shot an annihilating an entire section of the enemy forces as well as her alongside.

---

Jounin ran away towards the landslide with something in her hand. Clone has the chance to destroy a good chunk of the enemy forces from behind, and/or to try and stop her from delivering the mystery object.
Kaguya Toru | 289 words

[Kaguya Toru]

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

The woman wasn't quickly put down, and it honestly shocked Toru a bit though he did not immediately show it. The rumbling of a landslide though meant that his attention was partially diverted just as the woman darted out, he gave chase but not before creating *another* clone of himself. A clone of a clone? It was odd, but regardless that meant he could try and take care of the situation. Two birds one stone.

The other enemies were gawking over the edge of the cliff, which meant he could toss them down the crumbling edge. The woman would likely be cutting it close towards them and so the first clone was hoping for this throw to be serendipitous. He grabbed onto the clone spun and threw it. The impact with the guards would cause it to explode and the explosion would hopefully take out the woman as she ran in that direction alongside every single one of the guards. If not, then he had his work cut out for him.

But in truth, the woman was more important.

Assuming he was successful, the clone would move through the dust and rubble to get to where the woman had last been to find the scroll she had been holding onto.

SPOILER: Click to show

katon kage bunshin, spin and blow up everyone by the edge to try and take everyone out in one go

OWL

[Phantasm]

     The thrown clone exploded mid-air in the midst of the group that was gawking over the cliff, the sound partially obstructed by the cacophonous landslide further ahead. When the earth had settled, and the dust was floating up from the village, it was quiet save for the distant screams of those who'd been blown off the edge and the moaning of the dying.

     The woman was rasping on the ground, a bloody mess. Her remaining hand clutched the object tight against the bloody ruin of her chest. It heaved one final time, and her eyes closed.

     Should Toru's clone pry it open, he'd find a small scroll wrapped around an even tinier vial. The vial was filled with some kind of purple liquid, but what exactly it was was unclear at the moment. The scroll itself was, probably, the more important find. If he were to unfurl it, he'd see that it contained all the know-how - everything - that was behind their drug.

     Details on the plant - the flowers he'd seen in the shrine - and every other ingredient. Notes on how to achieve the desired effect, quantities, and a small section at the end - ink still wet - about this purple variant. Most of the scroll was highly technical and was likely undecipherable at the moment, and the purple vial could either be an improved version or an antidote, but the importance of the scroll was obvious.

     Left alone on the cliff, the clone could safely stash the retrieved items in some hidden spot for Toru to retrieve later and either head down to the village, or disperse to send its chakra and knowledge back to the Toru that was now standing amidst the destruction far below.

---

With the only copy of the instructions to make the drug retrieved, one of the mission's objectives is complete. Yet members of the group still remain below, perhaps with the knowledge to transcribe the scroll's contents.
Kaguya Toru | 285 words

[Kaguya Toru]

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

The clone did pry and it was not a great deal of work since the woman had now passed away, he coughed slightly from the smoke and ash and rubble of the landslide. Opening the scroll, looking over its contents, and then looking over the purple vial. He found a tree a little ways away from everyone and an upturned root. The clone would place the scroll and all of the information there for safe keeping before turning down towards the cliff.

His original was alright, but he wondered how bad things had been for him in the landslide. Still, with the work up here done - at least the clone could not see or smell any extra individuals up here, he would disperse carrying both chakra and knowledge back towards the original Toru who was pulling himself out of the watery edge of the beach, exhaling slightly as he did, gaining all of the knowledge from his clone.

Whatever he needed to do was here now, whatever remained. Fortunately he still had a lot of juice left in him, but that could mean nothing if one considered the amount of poisoned individuals in the village and how many of them were particularly strong.

The boy king rose to his feet and looked around, he would prefer a stealthier approach still... after all a land slide could have been natural.

OWL

[Phantasm]

     Chalky white dust covered the village. Most of it had been buried by the rocks, roofs and walls blown off of most of the houses. The sturdier foundations still, for the most part, remained exposed. As the smoke cleared, Toru would see that in truth little remained.

     Coughing could be heard in the distance, accompanied by the sound of... Doors? Squeaky hinges pierced the eerie silence, followed by more coughing and a great number of footsteps. From his position down by the coast, Toru could peek over the rocks that covered his location.

     While the air was still semi-opaque, he would be able to smell that a large number of men had appeared where there'd be none before. Further, there was an odd smell - damp, almost, cold and stale. Like a basement, or underground passage. It pierced through the smell of stone and seemed to emanate from three of the now-exposed hut floors.

     Three groups of ten, maybe fifteen - the number was hard to determine thanks to the conflicting stenches of fish and dirt - had appeared from those ruined homes. They spread out, many trying to pick through the rubble and excavate some dead comrade.

     If he could find a way to sneak past them, he might be able to slip into whatever doors they'd departed from, before they returned to close them.

---

Most everyone and everything in the village were killed or destroyed. Large number of enemies surface from some kind of underground passage.
Kaguya Toru | 223 words

[Kaguya Toru]

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

Toru moved closer to the outcropping of rocks, leaning into and over them just his fingers grasping onto the edges while his chalk covered already white hair likely blended in with the rocks well enough as he poked over to get a glimpse of what was going on. The air was heavy with the silt of concussive force, stone mixed with the slightest acrid scent of ash, though this was mostly for Toru to smell... Plus, he knew what his clone had done.

He inspected what was going on, but it was difficult to inspect due to how the air looked. Still he could smell and see some figures, or rather shadows rummaging around.

There was another scent too, a much more significantly damp one. Basements. This could mean that there were still some survivors in the village down beneath if all those that crawled out were just the minimum of what underneath contained.

So, Toru started to move forward. He took a wide circular berth to where his opponents - the ten or fifteen men - would be, approaching from behind to find one of the huts so that he could crack a window open from the outside and slide inside one of the huts to inspect and find this basement that he was looking for.

OWL