Vagabonds Galore [Mission/Lang]

[Jett Kuroi]

SPOILER: Click to show

Ruffians!
Rank: C
Ninja needed: 1-3
Mission info: A group of miscreants and deviants have settled into the outskirts of the Western Zone of the village. Eight in number, the gang has left behind a string of robberies and murders in the small towns that have begun to spring up across the country. They are far from shinobi - they are, in fact, hardly as skilled as an academy beginner. Deal with them.
Rewards: 200 exp & 1,000 ryo

Since his patrol mission, Jett had been pretty docile. He had been studying the object that was dropped by that girl. It was nothing more than a balled up piece of paper that said The truth, about Katsumi, and everything else, can be found with us. He had no desire to put himself in harms way, or get himself tied up with criminals, but the allure of learning something about the mother he never knew was still an enticing idea.

A new mission was given to him, and despite how much time he could waste just sitting there thinking about this and what he should do in regards to it, he still had his goal to achieve. He had to find Reika, but before he could do that he needed information. He would not get that sitting around. He needed to do his missions, gain trust, and be allowed to travel to other countries on missions in order to gain that information. It would take a lot of time of study and training, but he had to start somewhere. After hiding the note away, he would leave his home, and head to the gates of the village, where he was to once more await the arrival of his teammate.

He wasn't officially on a team with Rael, but they had been paired together twice now, and it seemed like the higher ups thought the two of them worked well together. Or maybe it was the younger boy's skill offset Jett's lack thereof. Such a thought made himself frown. He would be ready this time, he would do what he could, and push to do more. Even if it meant straining himself, he had to improve. He had to contribute more.

As he awaited his partner's arrival, he took the pad out of his satchel, that held the mission notes. What was there to expect? A 'band' of 8 men. Bandits, supposedly, but reports indicated they had less training than the one armored man he had apprehended himself. He smiled and frowned at the same time. Was it purposely easier, given his apparent lack of skill? Or was there unknowns? Well, there was always unknowns, were there not? Jett would have to take this seriously, and not slack off just because it appeared to be easy.

[Lang]

Another day, another assignment; what else was new. Ever since he lamented over having no missions to do for a week, subsequently followed by him hunting after the grizzly bear, HQ deemed it necessary to send him on menial tasks one after the other. Presently, his batteries were very close to running on empty. At least the amount of money he had accumulated over this short period of time was fairly substantial; he almost made back the several thousand ryō he blew on Yokumaru-sensei's stripper in the older Jounin's stead. Good thing the council hadn't ordered him to pay for all the clean water he wasted during that little jaunt; the sheer volume of it would have been equal to two months' worth of showers.

At least this time their appointed task would involve some action. Not that he openly complained about running D or C-ranks, but even the 'fighting' done in his last combat-oriented mission had been against a dumb animal. Okay, it was a dumb animal perfectly capable of breaking his neck in one blow, or tearing his face off with one bite, but still, brainpower hadn't exactly been a prerequisite to get the job done. From what his current mission scroll entailed, there were eight of these so-called 'bandits' hiding out in the west district, after committing various felonies elsewhere in Water Country. All that begged him to question just how the hell they were allowed into the village in the first place. Furthermore, if the higher-ups knew about the killings, why didn't they just have some patrolling ANBU take a minute to cleanse the filth before wiping his boots and continuing along his business?

Guess they decided it would be funny to let the two Genin play janitor.

He was paired with Yogiri Jett for what would be the third time in so many days; Rael could swear he was spending more time with the Genin twice his age than his own teammates. However, he couldn't complain, especially since the teen proved during their bear hunt before, he possessed the raw power that Rael lacked in his arsenal. Granted, with their targets being classified as even less skilled than academy students, they likely wouldn't need to pull out any of the big guns. Being outnumbered though, regardless of their individual talents (or lack thereof), they would still need to exercise caution, in the event one or two of them were more talented than the report indicated.

Spotting Jett already waiting for him in the central hub, an area built right in the middle of the village that provided access to each of four districts at equal distances, Rael gave him a slight wave as he approached, knowing the two of them would want to get things started and be off as early as possible.

"Hello again, Yogiri-san. How's the arm coming along; any side effects?"

[Jett Kuroi]

"Mmm... hello Hiraiyomi-san." he said in a soft tone. "It's fine. Better than ever." Such was a complete lie, but he still tried to look tough. His hand flexed into a fist, and he grinned, as widely as he could, to hide the pain. Of course, the mask.... oh just forget it. He'd never remember that mask hid his facial expressions.

He lowered his hand, and turned to Rael as he stuffed the pad with the mission objectives and info back into his pack, and stepped up to the younger Genin. "Ok, so, let's do a equipment check first. Then we'll head out. We'll find some cover once we've located their camp, or wherever they're hiding now, and decide our approach from there." He opened his own packs, and for the sake of keeping a tally between the both of them, counted up his own tools and supplies, along with Rael's. He would then lead the way out of the village, to approach the outskirts of the western portion of the village.

Along the way, Jett's mind wandered, as it often did. However, rather than dwell on matters involving his sister, mother, and the recent interaction he had with the Shiroi family, he dwelled on what had transpired on his last mission with Rael. Yes, he got bitch slapped by a bear, and his hand got shattered, but more importantly, he reflected on the questioning Rael started on their way. As he thought about it, he began to wonder if there was really any harm in talking about certain things. Rael seemed trustworthy enough. Then again, nothing about his family had come up in their first two missions.

"So... Hiraiyomi-san..." he started, as he still inwardly debated if he should really reveal anything. "Are you from Kirigakure originally?"

[Lang]

Rael merely looked at the Genin as he put on a brave front, finally giving a small nod as he accepted the answer. So long as it did not adversely affect his performance. and the iryou-nin could tell if it did, there was little need for him to pursue the matter should Jett be unwilling to bring it up. He consented to the older teen's desire to check their equipment, using this opportunity to likewise take stock of what his teammate brought. Nothing out of the ordinary, although he raised an eyebrow at the sight of two empty scroll sleeves; what was the point of having these without an actual scroll attached?

The fact Jett wanted to take charge on this mission was not lost on the white-haired youth, and he complied without making it an issue. Perhaps something had changed within the older Genin during the timeframe they spent out of one another's company, and he was trying to prove something, though to whom, he could only guess. Rael was content to follow as they moved out, heading for the outskirts beyond the west district and away from the busy masses that were starting to fill the central hub.

They journeyed in silence for the most part, Rael making no attempt to start up a conversation as he did last time. He assumed that Jett desired some peace and quiet before they reached their objective, and he did his best to comply with a professional attitude. As such, he was a bit surprised, yet pleasantly so, when the older Genin made the first move. However, he was puzzled as to the question, since he knew for a fact he mentioned the answer during their previous mission; maybe his partner hadn't been listening at the time. Nonetheless, since it was a rare instance for Jett to be so forthcoming while speaking, Rael decided to indulge his curiosity once more.

"No, I didn't come until well after my seventh winter. My homeland is to the far, far north, beyond the Five Great Nations."

[Jett Kuroi]

Jett was putting on a brave face for more than one reason. Primarily, when he got angry, the other part of his personality did act smarted, did fighting better, and had always come out the winner. However, his angered half of his personality also cared nothing for innocent people in the way, and Jett did not want to hurt anyone. He wanted to find his sister alive. The other half of his personality was his sole drive towards getting stronger. He needed to do better, because he didn't want to have to rely on that anger to get things done. He needed to get better, so he could find, and then protect, his sister. And once he had his sister back, he could truly forget about his anger, because he knew she would take care of him.

Is it so bad to want a peaceful life? Is it strange that I want to become stronger so that I never have to use that strength?

You are pathetic. All you need is strength. All you need is power. With that, you can do whatever you wish. Who needs peace? You'll never have it, your family will never stop hunting you.

Rael's answer was no real surprise. Jett did not know that the boy's homeland would end up being the Land of Snow... or that was what he assumed at least, when Rael said far to the north of the great nations... but he had already known the boy was not from Kirigakure. Rael asked the question twice, now Jett asked it twice. However, he hadn't learned why the question had been asked twice, which was what he had hoped to learn from repeating such process. He didn't have any better understanding about the younger Genin.

Prying into Rael's inner self however, to learn more, would open the doors for Rael, likewise, to ask about Jett. He had no issues with being social, but the truth about his past was not something he wanted to be common knowledge. He feared that because of both sides of his families were well known criminal groups, that he would be thought to be a criminal spy, planted for some elaborate scheme to topple the village. At some point, he would have to be honest about his past, he knew this, but at the same time, he did not want to accept such. He had to say something though, otherwise he was sure his partner would think there was something going on, and that perhaps, Jett would be mistrusted.

"Hmm... the Yuki no Kuni? I guess the white hair should have been a give-away." This was a complete assumption and guess, he had no idea what sort of physical traits were common in that land, and he hoped he hadn't offended his partner with that statement.

[Lang]

Perhaps he was not so alienated after all, if Rael's earliest efforts were beginning to yield results, albeit just a little at a time. Should this trend of theirs with partnering up continue on in the future, it might strange if they shared nothing more a few lines each months down the line, barely more knowledgeable of the other than when they first began. Rael was not looking to make 'bosom buddies' anytime soon, but comrades and especially teammates ought to understand their unique circumstances a bit better than strangers.

The older teen's guess was good, although he was only half correct. "Haha...close. I was born in Snow Country, but neither of my parents were; the white hair is likely just coincidence. No, they came from even further to the north, beyond the chartered 'shinobi lands'." Any further information he kept to himself, not out of reluctance to share, but because he was still uncertain about a number of things. Too many questions, and too few answers.

"How about yourself? At your age, you probably had a couple different paths laid out; what inspired you to pick the life of a ninja?"

He was genuinely curious about why someone well into their teenage years would decide to follow this route. It was exponentially harder to learn ninjutsu once past their prepubescent year. Not just psychologically, but because a person approaching adulthood had a much more rigid and fully-developed chakra coil system. Children held a significant advantage, as their bodies could undergo vast changes to adapt to their growing power.

Of course, this was all based on the assumption that Jett had not been a shinobi prior to coming here. Whether or not the older Genin had been telling the truth, back when he divulged this information during their session with the troublemakers, was anyone's guess. He was willing to give the teen the benefit of the doubt.

Hrm, we should be coming up on point soon.

[Jett Kuroi]

Such a question would be rewarded with more silence. His eyes peered downward, subconsciously keeping track of his steps as they progressed to their mission objective. As his body subconsciously did such, he dwelled on thoughts relating to that question. Why did he choose to be a ninja? Did he choose? It was a double ended answer. After a moment of thought on such, he would raise his head, and look ahead. "Well, by profession, I chose because of a goal I have. There's something I need to do, and I need to be stronger to do it." The tone in his voice was vastly different than before. Despite his age, he was usually a shy person, but there was one aspect of his life, where he cast aside all fears, as best he could, and focused himself. This was the reason behind the drastic change that Rael had noticed earlier.

"I apologize for being so vague. Please, understand it is nothing against you. My past is no pretty thing. I realize many people can say such, but I have my reasons for keeping these secrets. I know it also may cause me more trouble in the end, if such secrets are found out, but... Well... my reasons are my reasons." He felt like he had spoken more in the past few moments than he had spoken his entire life. He came to a stop, planting his feet to the branch of a tree, pumping chakra to his feet to make himself stick and stop. He would hold up a hand to signal Rael to do the same. "I've found our quarry."

Just ahead of them, a few meters, in a clearing of the forest, there was a campfire, with the eight men gathered around. Jett would motion down, before leaping off the tree branch so that they could hide in the bushes and other foliage and formulate their plan. He would give the barest of smiles, as he looked down to the dirt, and began drawing a diagram of the campsite. He did not have an idea, but to keep their location a secret, drawing it out while speaking as quietly as possible would be their best way to progress from there.

"When we get back to the village, dango on me, and I'll talk about it. But for now.. how shall we proceed?"

[Lang]

...Why do I have the feeling I learned nothing new from him after all that.

Taking the cue to back off for now, assuaged by the knowledge they would continue their conversation on the subject at a later date, the pair continued on. Jett eventually halted, spying the small campsite their targets made for themselves. Eight of them in total, just like it mentioned in the report. Strangely enough, all of them were more or less crowded around the campfire, without even having someone on watch. Despite this scenario swinging in their favor, a single explosive-tagged kunai might not be enough to catch them all in the blast radius. Not unless he found a way to bring them all just a little bit closer.

Dropping down from their treetop cover without a sound, Rael looked at the other Genin's squiggly drawing, raising an eyebrow but made no comment. Before he could offer a suggestion for their next course of action, the crunch of footsteps approached the bush they hid behind. He instinctively lay low, trusting Jett to do the same as they waited with bated breath to see what would transpire. They didn't have to wait long, before they heard the sound of a fly being unzipped, and a content sigh followed by the unmistakable sound of someone answering nature's call. The smell was repulsive, made even worse by the stream of urine missing the two Genin by mere feet. However, it presented them with a new window of opportunity as well.

Peeking out through the small sliver of space between the ground and the bottom of the bush, Rael ascertained none of the seated bandits were looking at their accomplice before making his move. A dark-blue glow of chakra surrounded his right hand, and Rael darted forward from his crouched position, shoving his arm straight through the bush separating them. The tip of his knife-hand jab caught the straggler right in the throat, denying him the ability to even emit a death rattle as he began to collapse. Rael quickly hauled the dead man over to their side before his body hitting the floor attracted anyone's attention, laying the corpse down on the grass.

Unbuttoning the dead male's shirt and shoving it to one side, Rael's fingers slipped into his weapon satchel and brought out two explosion notes, slapping them on the body's front and back respectively. He turned to Jett and nodded once, knowing the other Genin would get the drift.

---

^{1. Chakra no Mesu [Chakra Scalpel] // A-Rank // [x1 Mid]}

[Jett Kuroi]

A plan for capturing them all was a difficult one. They neede to be closer for one single attack to take them all out, and if it failed to down them all, some could run off and get away. That would not be good. Jett was about to say something, to suggest as a plan, when one of the bandits came closer. At first, Jett thought they had been discovered, and was ready to reach for a weapon, but when the man stopped moving, and the 'zip' sound was heard, Jett froze, and went silent. The one bandit coming over to them presented itself as a extra bonus to their efforts. He ducked down with Rael, to avoid notice, to see what he was really up to, and then.... he began to piss. Jett's nose wrinkled up instantly, and he would turn his head to further get away from the smell. When that wasn't enough, he would even cover his face with his palm.

The smell was rancid alright, but that was urine for you. Of course, as soon as he thought that, he had an idea. A very dubious idea! He could charge up his chakra, and send a tinge of electricity into the urine and... Rael was moving. Why was Rael moving? Jett blinked a bit as he watched the younger boy dispose of the bandit without letting him even choke out a gasp, much less utter out the pain of death. Then Jett's eyes widened, as he began rigging the dead bandit up with explosive notes. Was he going to ...? Jett's eyes widened. This kid was sick! Wait... was he? Jett had been planning to electrocute the man to death by zapping his piss, while Rael planned to turn him into a self-delivering time bomb. Who was this kid?

I must remember to never piss this kid off. Or piss near this kid....

Comical thoughts aside, Jett slipped a little bit away from Rael, and took a better position to watch the remaining seven bandits. He had to make sure he could see the lot of them, without being blinded by the blast that was surely to come. He had to make sure that none of the men could get away after such a blast. Also, it would be nice if one of them was left alive in the end, so they could be brought before the Mizukage for any information retrieval. This bandit problem was clearly not a one time thing, seeing as this was the second time something had to have been done about it. And they still had no idea who the leader of these bandits was.

Jett settled into place, and began gathering chakra for taking down any stragglers following the blast that Rael was about to deploy. As he gathered his chakra, he made four hand seals, then waited...¹

---

1: Prep...

---

[Lang]

Seeing Jett ready the handseals for whichever jutsu he had in mind, Rael inclined his head forward, buttoning the deceased target's shirt back up as he prepared a different, longer sequence of hand formations. It was not a technique he used frequently, being frowned upon as a much darker aspect behind the potential of medical ninjutsu. The thought of potentially disturbing the Genin next to him briefly crossed his mind, but he pushed it aside; there would be time later for reconciliation if necessary. Finishing the tenth seal, he allowed chakra to seep into the corpse's body, forcing it to gather near the heart as the jutsu took effect.

The bandit abruptly sat up, his face devoid of expression as Rael took merely a second to heal the damaged vocal cords he severed earlier, giving his temporary puppet back the ability of speech. Since he never learned the jutsu used to detonate explosive notes at his bidding, Rael poured a small measure of his chakra into the volatile paper, priming it for eighteen seconds before setting off. Climbing to its feet, the body swayed ever so slightly before righting itself, walking at a regular human's pace back to the camp as its controller kept watching from behind the bush. The other felons hooted and jeered as their 'comrade' returned.

"What took you so long, Eiji? Fall asleep while taking a leak?"

"That, or he was probably wanking out there!"

'Eiji' smiled just a bit, which looked rather strange on him since they were used to seeing the guy act just as loud and rowdy as them. "As a matter of fact, I did find something. Something good. Everyone, come on, except you," he pointed towards the furthest seated bandit, who had started getting up but paused at the finger pointed towards him, "stay here and keep watch. You'll like what we show you soon." The man looked confused and a little put out at not being included, but nodded and sat back down. Someone needed to look after their stuff anyways; not that they needed to worry about anyone else coming here.

The other six gathered around him, grumbling but waiting for the man to show them whatever had caught his interest. "We going or what? This better be good man." Their comrade's little smirk widened, suddenly turning into a full-blown grin as he chuckled loudly, causing a few to flinch despite themselves. "Oh, you'll laugh. I guarantee it," Eiji promised.

And then he promptly exploded.

---

^{Shousen no Jutsu [Mystical Hand Technique] // A-Rank // [x1 Mid]}

[Jett Kuroi]

As the bandits spoke, Jett weaved his chakra laden hands, drawing out a bow in the air. Once such object was formed, he would grab it with one hand, as an arrow materialized in the other. He slid the arrow into place, and waited. The conversation was rather amusing, really, and actually made him wonder even more about Rael. Jett himself, disliked killing. If he could avoid it, he would. The other half of him loved to kill, and would not hesitate. That other half of Jett's personality liked Rael, while it hated Jett.

Jett followed Rael's instructions, through his 'puppet' out on the field, and aimed his shot for the one man that was being left alone and apart from the rest. He waited, and waited, then, when he heard the sizzle of that paper, as it was about to explode, he let loose the arrow. The six men gathered around the puppet, were lost in the explosion. They were all huddled around so closely, that there was no escape.

"What the...!?" the man exclaimed. However, his statement, nor his reaction to the explosion, could be finished as the lightning arrow struck him in the chest. This arrow was made entirely of chakra, and it's construction was not made for penetration, but instead simply concussive force. It would knock him on his back, and knock him out in moments flat. The bow that Jett held would vanish soon after the shot was fired, and once the explosion had quieted down, Jett would move his hand to the hilt of one of his swords, and leap out into what had been the camp site. After a moment, his voice would raise out to Rael. "All clear!"

Seven of the eight men were downed and the last living man was unconscious, away from the pile of bodies. Jett would push the man down over, onto his chest, pulling his arms back behind him, so they could be bound. As he bound the man's hands, he glanced back towards Rael. His mind was turning with what had just happened. He had a whole new set of questions for the younger Genin now. Questions that would be answered later, when they had the privacy and time to talk.

---

1: Eshaku Raikou (Lightning Bow)
Rank: C.
Type: Offensive.
Range: See special!
Handseals: 4.
Chakra: Mid.
Special: Range of arrows is determined by the user's highest 'Karai Shin' range. Up to one arrow can be made and shot each time, plus one more each time retrained. However, for every 4 arrows the user is able to fire off, their chakra consumption will automatically go up by one.
Description: After performing the needed handseals, the user will wave both arms through the air, leaving Raiton chakra behind in the shape of bow and arrow. The lightning arrow can then be shot at an opponent and stun them from afar. By taking extra time to focus their energy, the arrow can be re-shaped for distance, rather than power.

---

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[KEITH]

+55 @ Both

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