The Missing Student [Mission-Chain]

[Deacan]

Name: Rebel
Rank: D
Ninja needed 1-3
Mission info: Young academy student Ko has skipped class yet again and is out lallygagging around the village. As a shinobi it is your mission to find and return him to the Academy. Force is allowable if he chooses to run, however capture Ko without hurting him. Ask villagers to discover his last known location.

Deacan quickly walked into the mission hall and grabbed a scroll, barely looking at anything other than the rank. He opened the scroll on his way outside, looking over the mission. It wasn't a difficult one and it didn't really conflict with Deacan on any level. It was a simple retrieval mission, though he would be retrieving a person instead of an object. Apparently some kid was escaping the school, running away from his responsibility as a ninja in favor of having fun around the village. Or at least, that's what the mission said.

Deacan quickly moved to the academy. He had been there before as a teacher, so he had gotten to know a few students. He walked into the academy and told the teacher his mission, getting permission to talk to the kids during lunch time. It would also be a good way to see how well the students were doing with the instructions he had left them. He had taught them the Dead Hands technique and the Mystical hands technique, the second one requiring less precision than the first. since it's goal was to destroy whatever it touched.

[Deacan]

At lunch, it didn't take him long to find the students he worked with before. They seemed to be doing rather well in their training and were even testing on small animals like birds to increase their aptitude with the Mystical palm technique. Some had given up, but a few were sticking to it. They would be the children of the future who could use Iryou to it's fullest. Learning jutsu like that at academy level helped to focus and control chakra as well as to think outside the box, instead of just making the academy students think it was all brute force and face to face combat.

He sat down with the children and talked to them. Apparently the missing student had been bragging about the fun he was having while not at school, telling the students of some of the things he had done like "Tagging" buildings and setting small fires. He seemed to really like setting fires it seemed. Generally, he was either in the park or around the alleyways. This seemeed to narrow down Deacan's search considerably. He could use his crows to scout one area while he checked the other, but that would be both to flashy and to much of a drain on his chakra. So he decided to search the old fashioned way. On Foot.

[Deacan]

Deacan moved towards the park of the village. It was one of the few places around that had quite a few trees and grasses growing in it. The rest of the village was more sandy or rocky, meaning setting fires in most of the village wasn't much of a concern but, as far as Deacan could remember, there was another mission in the park and he could do that one after this one, if it ended peacefully. The problem was that it most likely wouldn't end peacefully. People who skipped school to play with fire were rather hostile and jumpy during school hours, not wanting to get caught but unable to resist the urge to make flames burn. To watch the beautiful flames dance above the ground was magic to some, and even Deacan felt the allure of the flame before, though he quickly got over it.

Deacan's thoughts were soon brought to life as he saw a group of kids around a fire, one of which was the kid he was looking for. Deacan approached quietly and grabbed the kid, throwing him over his shoulder. "Sorry guys, but this one's coming with me. Or we could fight if you'd prefer." Deacan tapped his finger on his rapier. It wasn't something he was great with, but against a few kids it would be sufficient, especially if they didn't know Deacan or his skill. After all, this was the village that birthed the Seven Swordsman of the Mist. Anyone in the village was assumed to be a good swordsman.

Deacan dragged the boy back to his house and sat him down.
"So, who were the kids you were skipping class to hang out with?"
Deacan didn't expect an answer, but oddly he got one.
"They are called the Red Flares. That's all I am saying.
Deacan gave the boy back to his family and then proceeded back to the mission compound to turn this mission in and grab another one.

/Mission End

[Deacan]

name; Graffiti Town
rank; d
description; Gosh darn kids and their painting tools. Apparently a bunch of them went around the city putting their “Tag” all over the place. We can’t have that in our city, not for one second. It’s up to you to hit the streets and clean up as much of this garbage as possible.
reward; 25 experience, 500 ryo
minimum shinobi; one
mission status; interminable

This seemed comical. Deacan had crossed the symbol before. He would need to clean up the village of these tags and he would also need to teach the taggers a lesson about respecting other peoples property. The first thing he would need to do is find the people who tagged the wallas and fences in the first place. Then he would need to make them clean up each and every tag and to figure out what the tags were for in the first place. As far as Deacan knew, a majority of the tags were in the lower district, the other area that Ko usually hung out at.

He quickly reviewed the scroll as he made his way to the lower end of the village. As he walked, he saw the "tag" all over the place, covering one wall on almost every building. The symbol was a red star surrounded by fire. Underneath, each tag had the name "Red Flares", a very familiar name to Deacan, since he just finished talking to someone about them. He didn't know much about them, only that they were a group that seemed to like fire. But this didn't seem like the same group of pyros that was at the park.

[Deacan]

Deacan followed the large tags on the buildings until they began to get more numerous. It was quite a ways before he found a place in the village that had more and more tags, eventually finding a building that had a tag on each wall and on the door. It was pretty obvious this was their headquarters, that or they could just not like the person. Either way, it was obvious they frequently went around this house. Deacan had multiple ideas, but the safest, and slowest, was to wait until the gang came around to enter the building or tag something.

Deacan climbed onto the top of the shack and waited till the dead of night, minimizing his body surface area so that he would be harder to see and would blend into the darkness better. He heard someone enter and knock on the door. Apparently the password was the same as the name of the organization, Red Flares. Deacan hopped down and knocked charged his chakra ¹, just incase. He walked in saw multiple people with weapons drawn. Deacan released his jutsu, sending a multitude of crows from his body, making him almost impossible to trace in the black mass that had just burst into the room. He quickly ran towards the man with the largest stature and stabbed his rapier into the man as the crows exited the building.
"If you don't want to be stabbed like him, I suggest you put down your weapons."

Thankfully for Deacan, it didn't seem like there was anyway of serious skill in the group so they all surrendered rather quickly. Deacan asked a few questions of the group, finding out that this small group was a sub-cell, a small group that followed the commands of the larger group. Generally, their task included recruitment and tagging. They weren't meant for combat.

SPOILER: Click to show

Sanzengarasu no Jutsu (Scattering One Thousand Crows Technique) [70 Released]
Rank: C
Type: Supplementary / Secret Technique
Range: See special!
Chakra: Mid
Special: Crows can exist as far as the eye can see, or until the user leaves the thread, and take no additional chakra for upkeep. Up to 10 are summoned initially, with 10 more each time this jutsu is re-learned for a maximum of 100 crows. Crows move almost as fast as kunai, and maintain a mental chakra connection to the user for the sake of communication.
Description: The base behind the Akegarasu is their control and use of crows in battle, displayed well with this technique. After forming a few simple seals, the crow king will call upon a murder of crows to fly around and envelop the target, causing confusion with their dark forms and quick movement. From here, either a comrade or the user can move within the flock wearing dark clothes and wielding a dark weapon almost undetected. With the target distracted by the crows, the ninja can strike more efficiently. Finally, the mass of crows can obscure any retreating ninja, as the crows are massive in numbers and composed of the user's chakra. When no longer needed, the murder of crows will simply puff away in smoke.
Domain: Akegarasu.

[Deacan]

It didn't take long for Deacan to take control of the situation. He quickly got each of the men to agree to help him clean their tags off the town. It was long and tedious, but at least this way they could say they cleaned it themselves after realizing it was wrong. It may be a lie, but it was better than a bunch of kids being ostracized just for trying to be free and obey orders. The group talked to Deacan on the condition he wouldn't turn them into the ANBU of the village, since the ANBU had a habit of very brutal interrogations.

Deacan's crows stayed with him as he made his way to the mission compound. He was going to turn this mission in and grab the next one. He couldn't go straight to the top of the group, but he could go higher than those kids. The next group of kids were kids he already saw before, the park pyros, the second in command of the group and the most combative group of the gang. Deacan was going to need to warn the medical staff ahead of time in order to end this one without hurting the kids to badly.

SPOILER: Click to show

Maintaining 70 Crows from Sanzengarasu no Jutsu

/mission end

[Deacan]

name; Firefly
rank; d
description; Firebugs, firebugs, firebugs, you know the kind. Little pyromaniacs with a glint of fire in their eyes. Luckily we can stop this kid before he becomes a full on arsonist. Reports say he’s been lighting fires in the village park. Be subtle when approaching though, the report also say’s he gets spooked easy and takes off when confronted.
reward; 25 experience, 500 ryo
minimum shinobi; one
mission status; interminable

It seemed like Deacan was getting closer to the top of the gang that had been causing all the fuss. According to the rumors, there were only two more groups left that needed to be dealt with. The group next was the leaders of the local group. They all had an inclination towards pyromania, loving the site of the dancing flame. This group was about the same age as the last one and was only really in power due to the desires of the head group. All in all, the mission wasn't supposed to be dangerous yet, and he doubted it would be. He had to be careful though, since he had a reputation growing within the small gang. It seemed rumors were spreading of a hunter who was going after the group.

Deacan made his way to the group. It was going to probably be the same routine. Threaten some kids and make them tell him where the next group is hiding at. Well, he hoped it would be that easy, but you never know. These kids had that glint of fire in their eye, the thing that made them dangerous. The biggest problem was some of the kids had gotten a thought of becoming suicidally beautiful into their heads. They were convinced that a fire was it's most beautiful when it was near going out, and that made them dangerous. He would take his crows with him as he made his way to the park.

SPOILER: Click to show

Maintaining 70 Crows from Sanzengarasu no Jutsu

[Deacan]

Deacan, accompanied by a cloud of dark feathered birds, made his way to the park, looking for the group of pryomaniac children he saw earlier. They weren't to dangerous, but that could all change in mere moments if they decided that they wanted to go out with a bang. Deacan's patience was starting to run thin with all of these run around jobs and the incessant flapping of his murderous wave's wings echoed into his head. He adored his birds, but sometimes they simply pushed his mind to someplace else. The quickest way to get through this was simply to run somebody through as an example before the fighting got to intense, an example to the group of what happens to those who don't submit willingly.

Deacan made his way towards the fire-pit that was surrounded by a few kids. Deacan wasn't going to waste his time here, he had bigger toys to play with, and he was in no mood to wait till the holidays. He snapped his fingers as he sent a mental command to his crows, creating a furious storm of black feathers surrounding the pit of flames. 70 Crows was not an insurmountable number, but it was enough to leave someone horribly confused. Deacan walked into the flurry of feathers, appearing inside the vortex of carrion monsters. He unsheathed his rapier with a wicked grin and stepped towards the children, a look of fear on their faces as a wicked smile began to crease his face, his rapier infront of him standing straight up before he twisted his wrist, and lunged forward, his legs standing in almost the same place as before the lung, moving by a dragging motion, dragging his back leg as he stepped forward and began to impale his thin rapier into the child's arm.

SPOILER: Click to show

Maintaining 70 Crows from Sanzengarasu no Jutsu

[Deacan]

Deacan's smile slowly faded. This wasn't fun nor was it even remotely entertaining. A bunch of kids in the middle of a storm of crows was rather dull to be honest. Especially when one had a rapier impaling his shoulder. This was just ridiculously boring to Deacan. They weren't unique at all. That glint of fire in their eyes was nothing more than a smoldering ember, and Deacan just extinguished every bit of hope it had of becoming something more, smothering the red coals of the children's dreams to black ashes with his flock. He quickly asked the boy who was impaled where the other group was. Due to not getting a quick answer, Deacan twisted the rapier inside the boy's arm, sending it spiraling into his flesh as a small trickle of blood slowly descended his arm, dropping to the ground and staining the grass a dark red color.

Deacan quickly sent the boys to the hospital, not even curious how they would be treated. He was a medic and he knew the wound wasn't deep enough to cause any serious problems. He made his way back to the compound, quickly swiping his blade through the air to shed the blood from the tip of the rapier. He entered and took another scroll. He already knew the mission, eliminate a group of thugs. The village didn't know it, but Deacan already knew who the group was and where to find them.

SPOILER: Click to show

Maintaining 70 Crows from Sanzengarasu no Jutsu

/mission end.

[Deacan]

name; Bully Beatdown
rank; d
description; Nothing worse than a bully and that’s exactly what we have. Some recent academy drop out is picking on kids as they walk to school. Confront the misguided youth and set him straight. Do not use any more force than necessary, he’s just a kid after all.
reward; 25 experience, 500 ryo
minimum shinobi; one
mission status; interminable

Deacan tapped his metal rapier dangling from his wrist, his crows, counting 70 in total, each perched outside of the mission compound, but each within his sight range as he grabbed the new mission and ran outside. This was the final confrontation with the Red Flares. This was the biggest group and was definitely the most dangerous, but Deacan was also feeling rather foolhardy and cock at the moment. It wouldn't last and he knew it, so he decided to take advantage of the emotion while he had it, rushing outside towards the location of the last group. The location was something he learned from the last group, and he expected there to be heavy resistance.

Deacan was about half the village away from the mission compound, so a request for help would be out of the question. Deacan sent commands to his birds to surround the area the people frequented. He saw the gang rather quickly and ordered the birds to surround the men, though they were much less afraid than the pyromaniac kids in the park. They seemed more hardened by battle. This was definitely the leading group.

SPOILER: Click to show

Maintaining 70 Crows from Sanzengarasu no Jutsu

[Deacan]

This wasn't going to be an easy fight, and Deacan realized that. He had gotten cocky since he was only fighting kids until now, but now it would actually take some skill to take this group down. He started to build his chakra and used a few hand seals. He jumped down and melded into the black whirlwind of feathers and cawing. He lunged in, releasing his jutsu ¹ and grabbed his rapier. Amidst the flurry of 20 shuriken, reducing the whirlwind of feather's size, Deacan stabbed one of the men in the side. This group was relatively small, only numbering 4 people, so Deacan needed to keep enough crows to transport the men to the hospital if needed afterwards, and it almost surely would be.

He would need 50 birds for that, though he could create more it was better to be prudent with one's chakra, especially when you don't know how far you are going to be pushed into a corner. The Shuriken sliced up 3 of the members of the group rather well, though the fourth was much more skilled. The man had a rapier, but was much more skilled with it than Deacan could dream of being. Deacan would need to do something drastic, though since he was taking the men to the hospital afterwards, there wasn't much harm to be done. He formed a few hand seals and sent a mental command to his murder of crows. The crows swooped down, grabbing the group of men ² and taking them to the air. As the fourth man focused on Deacan, the birds came from behind, lifting him as Deacan lunged forward, sticking the blade into the mans arm, between the elbow and shoulder. His blade slightly penetrated muscle, but it wasn't to bad.

SPOILER: Click to show

Maintained 70 Crows, used 20 that dissipated ¹ and used 50 that are still active ².

1 - Kurou Shuriken no Jutsu (Crow Shuriken Technique)
Rank: C
Type: Offensive / Secret Technique
Range: 20 meters
Chakra: Mid
Special: Requires crows summoned by the 'Sanzengarasu no Jutsu'. Fires one shuriken per crow used. Shuriken cast lose substance and disappear after two turns. Any of the user's crows within eyesight can be utilized for the technique.
Description: A basic yet effective Akegarasu technique, the user can utilize one or more of their own crows and transform them into deadly shuriken mid-flight. Solidified and sharpened to the point of surpassing even their original counterparts, these shuriken are powered by the user's burst of chakra, resulting in a deadly bombardment of black-starred projectiles, depending on the number of crows used.
Domain: Akegarasu. Must know 'Sanzengarasu no Jutsu'.

2 - Satsujin no Nami (Murder's Wave)
Rank: C
Type: Supplementary / Secret Technique
Range: See special!
Chakra: Mid
Special: Crows can operate as far as the eye can see, following the same restrictions as the 'Sanzengarasu no Jutsu'. Requires at least 10 crows summoned with the 'Sanzengarasu no Jutsu'. Number of crows used determines the number of targets capable of being carried off and the number of secondary weapons that can be swept away. By using the 'Kurafutikarasu' technique, secondary items that have been swept away can be held by the crows in question and used against the opponent following the restrictions of said technique. Crows sweep target's away at 5 meters a second, until said target escapes their grip or until the user is comfortable with the distance and-or result.

10 crows // 5 secondary weapons

20 crows // 10 secondary weapons // 1 person

30 crows // 20 secondary weapons // 2 people

40 crows // 30 secondary weapons // 3 people

50 crows // 40 secondary weapons // 4 people

+10 crows // +10 secondary weapons // +1 person

Description: Often used as a counter by Akegarasu, this effective technique utilizes the user's crows to fend off projectile-weaponry and even drag away targets who may be too close for the user's comfort. Through means of their mental connection with the master, the murder will flock towards and repel whatever it has been designated to counter. Using their beaks and talons, they will amass in unison to carry off projectile-weapons thrown or pull a person backwards. Though it has been used many times in the past as a means of fending off someone or using their projectiles against them, there have quite a few cases in which the Murder's Wave truly lived up to its name- by throwing people off a cliff, for example, or driving them into a wave of fire.
Domain: Akegarasu. Must know 'Sanzengarasu no Jutsu'.

[Deacan]

Deacan made it to the hospital about a minute after his crows had. Upon landing the men infront of the hospital, the crows vanished as if they hadn't been there, save the damage to the men from their claws and shuriken forms. The doctors came out, taking the men inside while Deacan waited to question them. It took a few hours, but the men were tended to, though they were confined to the hospital room with Anbu in it, guarding them. Deacan didn't get to ask many questions before the ANBU shooed him out of the room, telling him his mission was more than over.

Deacan returned to the Mission compound, his mission done. It was a two days, but it was finally over. From confronting a little kid who skipped school, to a small gang spreading their fame, then to the leaders. It was definitely something he wasn't expecting when he signed on for this mission, but a ninja had to adapt. Deacan dropped the scroll off in the mission compound and reported in.

/mission end
/Chain End
/Exit Thread

[Jae]

Rebel - 14 EXP! + 25
Graffiti Town - 10 EXP! + 25
Firefly - 12 EXP! + 25
Bully Beatdown - 12 EXP! + 25