ABOUT US

[Sukkiriyoichi Ryudashi]

Time: 6:49 PM
Date: September 3rd
Location: Near Inoko Fort

The trek through Fumou no Kuni hadn't been eventful, in fact it had just been a roundabout of questions until just recently. Just a little under an hour, Ryudashi and his Genin student, Miyabi, had arrived in Hashita Town under the disguise that they were searching for information on a missing ninja on a delivery mission. While this was partly true, in reality they were searching for a comrade of Miyabi's who also was the little brother of Ryudashi. As such, they found themselves asking multitude of questions about his whereabouts and his location.

Their search had turned up nothing more than them finding a man by the name of Mando who recruited missing ninja. What they had obtained as far as information goes on Genkotsu, was that Mando hadn't recruited any missing ninja in over a few months, furthering to indicate that Genkotsu hadn't joined their ranks.

As such, Ryudashi and Miyabi had taken the time to reformulate their plan for finding out about his whereabouts. Ryudashi had only been given permission to search as far as the boundaries of Fumou no Kuni for him, and they were soon about to reach that boundary.

As Ryudashi walked down the pathway that lead to the border, in the near distance he could see what appeared to be a fort like structure, causing him to wonder about what it could possibly be. As he pondered, he glanced over towards Miyabi, wondering how she felt about the mission so far. Things had appeared to be leading nowhere, and Ryudashi was all the more closer to believeing that this mission had turned out to be nothing more than an outing for them from the village.

Stopping near a rock, he leaned up against it to sit down, his hands clasped around one knee as the wind kicked up some causing the reeds to sway. Ryudashi looked up towards the sky, seeing the orange beginning to melt with the purple and create what was the beginning of sunset. He took a deep breath and looked around the surrounding area, feeling as though he was just like the surrounding enviroment: Empty.

He had hoped to find some information on Genkotsu, any little thing at all. Though he did manage to confirm that he had passed through here at some point, there was no concrete evidence that he had remained here. However, in retrospect, their is no telling that he ever left from here either. They had only been here an hour, it's possible he could be away from the town at this point.

"Well, we have come as far as our orders would allow us to go. Normally, in this situation I'd say fuck orders and keep going, but it was only by a miracle we were able to get this far with it." Ryudashi said aloud nonchantlantly.

[Yoishierumi Miyabi]

Miyabyi followed Ryudashi in silence going over the information she had in her head. She knew their mission was just about over knowing that they could not travel further. A part of her wanted to because she wanted to find out what happened to Genkotsu, but orders were orders. She knew she could be punish for disobeying order by the council and even her own father. She took a moment to gather her thoughts as Ryudashi had leaned against a rock and looked up at the sky.

She pulled her bag off her shoulder and bent down bitting her thumb to draw blood. She then slammed her hand towards the ground and Akiko appeared out of no where. She then went and dug the files from her bag and held them out to her. ”Give these to my father and don't come back understand. I will summon you if I need you.”

Akiko looked up to Miyabi and took the files from the girl and looked over to Ryudashi and Miyabi again. “See on the quest of finding that dumbass?”

Miyabi glared at Akiko and stood up and stomped on her tail rather hard and crossed her arms to her chest. ”Go and do what I said.” She said sharply and watched the lemur disappear. She knew Akiko had never gotten along with Genkotsu and that could not be helped for the most part. She closed her eyes and shook her head slightly at what just happened. This was the last thing she wanted Ryudashi to over hear and which was one of the reason why she had kept from being at her side during this mission.

”Sorry about Akiko-chan....Ryudashi-kun...” She muttered slightly and looked towards the ground.

She didn't look up when he started to ask her what she thought so far. She simply slipped her hands into her pocket and shrugged some. ”Honestly...we found out so little but at the same time more about the country here since the war that we can feed Takigakure. Them employing missing ninja can become dangerous for countries close to them if they are not kept in check. The information that we have gathered about Genkotsu is slim and unproven so there a chance that he actually never passed through here.”

She paused and jumped up on the rock after placing her bag over her shoulder and sat down crossed legged and looked up at the sky and closed her eyes to feel the breeze against her face. ”....If we continue we could be facing charges. Our duty is to our village...we cannot follow Genkotsu-kun's path. I know this is harder for you than it is me because you have known him all his life...I am was just his teammate. I suppose you should ask yourself...what would your parents do in this situation....”

[Sukkiriyoichi Ryudashi]

Thoughts filled the Jounin's head as he listened to what Miyabi had to say about the way things were going. She was right to a point, the evidence they had found wasn't concrete enough to distinguish whether or not he had or hadn't been here. Plus, with their journey reaching the ending point, there would seem to be nothing left but to turn back.

Hearing Miyabi ask him what his parents would do, caused Ryudashit pause for concern. He was truly thinking over the question as to what they truly would do. Would they continue to press forward in search or obey the village laws and continue their duty? Ryudashi was conflicted by these two thoughts alone, seemingly the teetering moment between right and wrong.

Taking a deep breath, the Jounin would look towards Miyabi with a confused look on his face. He didn't know what the right thing to do would be. Every ounce of him was telling him to go ahead and continue searching but the reasoning behind that being the least affordable option was obvious.

Little did the Jounin know that something was about to be dropped on him that would make that choice unimportant. Behind him in the tall grass, it began to sway ever so slightly. While this might not be something unsusual in wide open plain such as Fumou no Kuni....

There was no breeze whatsoever...Why would the grass sway?

"I guess we have no choice but to go back. As much as I'd like to just say screw it and go forward beyond the boundaries, we have a different agenda. Our side of the fence is order, structure, honor, and code. Genkotsu's side of the fence encompasses chaos, indidivuality, deception, and survival. We might as well ju--" Ryudashi started to say before a sound behind him caught his attention.

In a flash, grass shot up as he looked over his shoulder, seeing a weapon coming pentrating through in the flush of the grass. A blade seperated the space between the grass, aiming straight for Ryudashi's forehead. Rotating towards his right, the Jounin would grab the handle of the blade, placing his left hand on top and his right hand under what would now be the attacker's elbow. Using all the momentum built up from his turn, Ryudashi would proceed to shoulder throw the enemy over his head (and Miyabi's) several feet away.

The attacker would rotate through the air, landing on their feet nimbly. As their face came into view, Ryudashi was greeted with a rough looking female face. This one appeared to be bred for battle, as her attire suggested so. She appeared to carry many small knifes along her torso in addition to wielding double swords. The Jounin couldn't help but cock an eyebrow up as he thought to himself.

How the hell did someone like that manage to counter and disable my shoulder throw momentum? I even braced against the rocked for extra leverage into the throw and still it was negated? Ryudashi thought as he drew a fighting stance, glancing over towards Miyabi as he did.

He wasn't the slightest bit worried about fighting this person, though their ability to counter his throw did bother him a bit. However, the fight still was two on one, giving them the advantage."Seems, we have road bandit on our hands and judging from the looks of things," Ryudashi stated as he gave Miyabi a cheeky glance. He shifted his weight towards his front leg. "This isn't your average bandit...I'll take care of this in about 1 minute. Time me... Ryudashi stated to her before he rushed forward.

He had his body low as his right hand was drawn back, his approach distance between the attacker and him closing. As he got within striking distance, he swung forward with his right fist, aiming to bring it coming downward on top of the attacker's head. But the attacker proved to be just as quick as he was, ducking and moving slightly back to avoid the attack. As Ryudashi saw this miss, he would turn into his punch, bringing his left fist up for a backfist. This attack would also miss, as the attacker would sway backwards and avoid the backfist.

In this moment, Ryudashi now realized just how good this person was. As the female attacker swayed backwards, she kept going into a back handspring fashion, bringing both her feet upwards towards the Jounin's chin. "!!!" The Jounin gasped as he managed to barely avoid the kicks, feeling the tips of the boots nick his chin. With almost no time to react afterwards the Jounin had to sidestep to avoid a follow up front flipping kick.

After his side step, Ryudashi brought up his left hand towards the attackers face, hoping to catch a quick attack. The attacker would proceed to raise up their right hand to catch his left fist. Then using their own left hand, they would strike Ryudashi twice in the stomach, before kicking him in the back sending him flying forward. He would roll over once, before righting himself to his feet. He would take a second to rub his stomach, before rushing forward again. The Jounin and the attacker woudl exchange blows once again with the attacker gaining ground.

However, soon the exchange turned in Ryudashi's favor as he manage to counter a forward punch and follow up with three strong knees. This was followed by the attacker being picked up over his head and slammed into the ground, his right hand still holding one arm. As the attacker hit the ground, with their arm still held by Ryudashi's hand, the Jounin would give one swift kick to the back, sending the attacker skidding across the plains several feet. The attacker would get up to one knee, holding their midsection section and jaw, panting hard.

Smirking, Ryudashi would glance over his shoulder to Miyabi with a slight bit of confidence in his voice. "Maybe a minute was not enough ti--" He started to say before there was the sound of someone whistling. The attacker had fingers towards their mouth and were making a whistling sound. Without warning, all around Ryudashi and Miyabi about 40-50 enemies sprung up out the grass around them.

His eyes circling around in every direction, the Jounin couldn't believe his eyes at the sight. All these people have been hiding here the whole time!!? How did I not sense their presence? Ryudashi thought as he moved closer to Miyabi. They needed to stick together in this situation, as it was looking bad. Ryudashi could handle himself pretty well against multiple attackers since the samurai war, but he wasn't sure of Miyabi's capabilities in an actual fight. "Stay on your toes...And stick as close to each other as possible." Ryudashi ordered.

That was simple. They were outnumbered majorly and sticking close together in battle would help them out in the long run. That's provided they managed to live long enough through this encounter. Placing his right hand behind him, the Jounin would proceed to channel Hariton chakra towards it, creating a 5 and half foot long staff with spiked ends. He then channeled Doton chakra into it, feeling it's weight double and it become a rugged and hard dirty brown. He spun it around his head several times before letting it rest on his shoulder but still in a positon to be moved to a neutral one.

He was prepared to fight, there was no other option.

[Yoishierumi Miyabi]

Miyabi watched her Jounin sensei closely when she purposed the question of his parents. She knew her father was very well connected in their village and that if she had the choice of disobeying orders and following them her father would want her to follow them. For some reason though, she felt this was a difficult choice for Ryudashi because he was in the situation over his brother. She would follow him of course because she was under his command at the moment.

Her eyebrow rose slightly when she saw his confused look in his face over the question. She did not know what else to day to him and felt like it was her fault slightly that she had just placed him in such a position. She bit the inside of her lip slightly and was trying to form some more words in her head before saying anything else that might cause him some pain. She glanced up slightly and caught sight of the grassing moving. Thinking it was nothing more than the bre….

”…No the wind is not blowing…have someone followed us?!”

Before she could voice her concerns she heard Ryudashi’s voice and her head turned back towards him and listened to him speak about their mission and where it was carrying them. She simply nodded some and said nothing to cut him off before she saw a blade of grass coming towards Ryudashi. She quickly jumped to her feet and grabbed one of her tanto swords out of its holder.

”…Damnit…I should have said something…” She thought to herself has Ryudashi was engaged by the bandit and watched him throw her over her and his head. Her grip on her sword tighten as her sensei decided to take this person on only. ”Sensei…I highly doubt that is a good idea…but if you insist….”

“One thing is for sure…you a bit more vocal in being cocky than your brother is…” Miyabi added with her own smirk and watched Ryudashi rush towards the woman. She watched their movements closely and saw how well train the bandit was in fighting at the moment. She watched as Ryudashi finally landed an attack on her that knocked her back down into the grass for now. She shook her head slightly when he mentioned that it was going to take longer than a minute to take care of her. ”Like I said…not a good idea…”

She froze midsentence when she saw more people come out of hiding from the glass. She drew her other sword and looked to Ryudashi quickly and back to the group of bandits. ”Well I think this area is claimed by them and that fort over in the distance belongs to them…war has changed this land a bit because this was not on our maps….”

She could tell they were out number a great deal and depending on what sort of training these bandits had it would be trouble for both him and her. Her eyes wondered around them as she moved closer to Ryudashi and finally felt her back up against his own. She chuckled slightly because of the situation. ”Sticking together looks to be our own choice sensei…that or surrendering and well I dislike that choice. Hm you don’t have anything to start a fire with on you by chance….I feel like burning these idiots with my alcohol.”

She held her tanto swords in a defensive pose has her eyes narrowed on a man about ten years older than what she was moved closer to her. His glare made her feel uncomfortable by all means at the moment. ”Yea, killing or just disabling them? My vote mainly for this one is killing.” She had been placed in position of kill or be killed before and she disliked it, but that was a part of her training. She had to get over the fact that being a shinobi meant killing others and right now was one of those times.

[Sukkiriyoichi Ryudashi]

As Ryudashi eyed down the enemies, he began to weigh the abilities of the first bandit against the abilities of both himself and his student. He knew that they were surrounded and outnumbered, but that didn't necessarily mean that they would be taken down so easily. In fact, Ryudashi had to assume that these people were as good as the first bandit that attacked him and possibly better. As the Jounin was contemplating things, he felt Miyabi's back press up against his and in that moment his thoughts began to change.

He wasn't worried about Miyabi being able to handle herself in battle, as the Jounin was her teacher and knew of her skills. Ryudashi was worried about not being able to protect her should the situation arrive. It was a thought that had occurred to him as he was contemplating how to attack these users.

There are just so many of them... Ryudashi thought as he swung his staff forward.

Hearing Miyabi mention something about killing the person in front of her, put a smirk on the Jounin's face. It was that little statement that renewed his confidence in being able to keep her safe while still getting them out of this situation. "Try not to, but they might not see it the same way....I'll cover you by 4 paces." Ryudashi stated to her. He wanted her to understand that even though they were watching each other's back, Ryudashi was going to be the one covering her. That was the purpose of him making such a long staff. Even Miyabi would have been keen to notice why he made it so long. His speciality was combat naturally, but Miyabi's weapons were very close ranged. With his abilities to wield different weapons, he could cover her in more ways than one that allowed her to work her magic with the Tantos. "It's time I put my combat expertise to good use."

And with that, the enemies rushed the two...

Ryudashi's moved forward as three enemies rushed at him, their swords held high above their heads. The first one slashed at him trying to cut him in half at the waist. Moving forward one step, Ryudashi would grab the staff with his left hand and deflect the attack. Just as he felt the sword make contact, he could see an enemy trying to slash at his right leg. Lifting up that leg, Ryudashi felt the wind come up under him, managing to avoid that attack. By this point, the third enemy was rushing in for a forward thrust before the first attack had begun his next assault.

Now as the forward thrust of the blade was coming towards the Jounin's chest, he still had his right leg up in the air. Pushing it out forward and twisting to his right, Ryudashi effectively dodged the blade and kicked the opponent away in time. As the blade passed over his face, he could see in the reflection that the first and second enemies's were aiming to cleave his head off with a double decapitation strike. Slamming his staff into the ground, Ryudashi used his upper arm strength to raise himself above the blades, hearing and feeling them clash against his staff. In the instant he felt that, he shoved out one foot and his free hand to attack both members aznd send them flying backwards.

Rolling over away from the enemy he had kicked beforehand, the Jounin would remove his staff from the ground, swinging it around in a full circle to land on the opponent's face and sending him flying backwards as well. Rotating back around to face the other opponents barreling down on them, the Jounin would see that he was still close by Miyabi, who apeared to be handling herself pretty well for the moment.

But soon, Ryudashi would find himself in multiple exchanges following, before he himself found the battle proving difficult. "These guys are fairly good at combat..." Ryudashi stated as he grabbed at his chest some. In some of the exchanges, Ryudashi had taken a decent hit to the chest, right in the spot where he had been stabbed by Genkotsu during their last battle. Though it was healed, the pain was still ever present. Raising his staff up and swinging it around a arcing motion, Ryudashi was still prepared to fight. He hadn't killed anyone in the battle yet, but he definately had knocked out a few and disable one man at the kneecap. He was trying to avoid bloodshed at all costs, but things weren't looking too good.

But no matter what, they had to keep up the fight...

[Yoishierumi Miyabi]

Miyabi had listened to Ryudashi when he told her not to try and kill them. She grinned slightly know that disabling them well enough to try and attack them would be something of a task since they were so many of them and only two of them. She heard him tell her that he would cover her by four paces when their backs were turn towards each other. That meant that he was going to protect him and her in case she needed it. In a way she understood the notion of that, but in another way it had made her wanted to prove herself that she was capable of combat at close range.

She said nothing though mainly because she knew that now as not exactly the time to argue with her sensei over this matter. Even if they had a full team by shinobi standards this encounter could be dangerous for them with them being out numbered like this. Her jutsu alone could be harmful to her and Ryudashi if she was not quick on her feet and mind. Fighting between them would only cause the group that now had them surrounded to have more of the upper hand.

”Right, count of four.” She repeated to him to tell him that she had understood what he meant. ”Still say if you had a match that lighting them on fire would be a better solution. Teaching them that playing with fire is not such a good idea mixed with my jutsu is funny as hell.”

Before she could hear Ryudashi’s comment towards her own she saw the man that was glaring at her rush towards her. ”Geez don’t you people know how to let someone finish their converstation first. That is a bit rude you know…” She pulled up her tantos to blocked the attack from the sword the guy was holding. A few more men started to rush towards her and she raised her eyebrow slightly.

She quickly slipped her swords back into the sheath and unclipped the sheaths for her belt. She locked the swords into place for now in order to not draw blood to the attackers just yet. She moved and dodged a blow that was aimed for her midsection and blocked a second attack that was meant for her face with her left tanto. However, she took the blow to her right shoulder. She knew she was lucky since it was just a fist that took, but it still had hurt. She twisted enough to stab the man that had just hit her in the shoulder with the edge part of the tanto in the gut and shot up her elbow has he bent down into his nose. The man stumbled backwards as the one that missed her midsection launched another attack towards her knee and the other one went to hit her in the face again.

She brought her knee up just in time and stomped on the guy’s leg. She moved slightly in time for the fist to move passed her ear. She knocked the arm up and rammed her shoulder into the guy’s stomach. ”Seriously?! Three on one with a kid is nooooooot fair!” She whined slightly mainly out of frustration and she wanted to catch them off guard. If they thought she was a little miss easy going down they had another thing coming.

She stepped back away from the small group that had launch their first attacks at her and looked around to see the guy with the sword just in time towards her right. She watched him swing the sword and she moved back away from it just in time has the tip of the blade cut along her cheek. She felt the blood from the cut drip down her face. She knew it was not too deep of a cut, but it had pissed her off. It was a good few inches though.

She looked behind her quickly when Ryudashi had said they were skilled in combat. ”Bet that bitch that did a number on your shoulder training them…I don’t think just disabling them is going to work sensei. Some have weapons…some are just fight bare fist. They should be easy to take out, but the ones with weapons will be difficult if we are just going to disabling them. Jutsu…in this sort of surrounding is dangerous…we could miss and hit each other…and that would only grant them the upper hand….which they already have now.” She grinned. She hated feeling like the team that was trying to do them in had an upper hand.

She took a deep breath and looked around slightly at the men and woman that had sinister look on their faces about their situation they were win. She tightened her grip on her handles ready for the next wave of idiots wanting to be knocked down. ”We need a better plan than just covering four paces sensei….”

[Sukkiriyoichi Ryudashi]

This was bad, things were starting to get worse as Ryudashi blocked two attackers thrust of a sword with his staff before sidestepping around them and landing a baseball swing into thier abdomens. This sent them flying into several men, before they all fell over in a pile.

Stepping back towards Miyabi, Ryudashi heard her mention about having a better plan than covering four places of each other. This made the Jounin start to show a bit of frustration on his face. He knew perfectly good and well that they needed a better plan to work against these guys, however a major portion of their plan was gone thanks to what his student had pointed out. Though Ninjutsu would be their best bet, it was also a risk that they were taking.

"Your right, Miyabi-san. We are going to need a better plan." Ryudashi said as he moved to his left to avoid an attack.

At that moment, the same attacker lifted their sword up high into the air for a downward slash. Ryudashi rose up his staff in order to block the attack, feeling the weapons clash together. As soon as they did, the Jounin would rotate to his right, bringing his left hand around to break through the wooden handle of the blocked weapon. Continuing to turn, the Jounin would swing around to backhand the attacker with his staff. But unfortunately, at that exact moment, another attacker came in with a slash, cutting a deep gash into the Jounin's extended arm.

"ARGGGGHHHHH!!!" Ryudashi yelled out as blood spurted into the air and then he felt himself recieve a blow to the chest. "Oof!"

This sent him flying backwards, landing him just a few feet from Miyabi. At this moment, the Jounin realzied that he was weaponless, having dropped his staff during the cut from the attacker. As he looked up, he saw both of them running towards him with their weapons raised up. Swinging back up into a defensive position, Ryudashi rushed towards the both of them. Reaching behind him, he pulled out a kunai, encasing it in glass and extending it. He then channeled Raiton chakra into this kunai as he came within striking distance of the two attackers.

Suddenly without warning, the Jounin would leap into the air and toss the kunai at his attackers. As they both stopped and one tried to block this attack, the kunai passed straight through the opponent, killing him on the spot. Ryudashi didn't want to resort to killing people right off the bat, but he knew that eventually it woul dhave to come to that. It wasn't like he hadn't killed anyone before anyway.

As the Jounin landed on the ground, he realized that the group had taken the point to stack their forces in a scattered formation around the two of them, leaving them ample space for advancing and retreat. However, that would also mean...

"Miyabi! Watch out for the adv--" Ryudashi started to say before suddenly EVERY single member rushed towards the group.

Without warning, the Jounin found himself fighting for his life as the group swarmed the two of them. Raising up his left leg, the Jounin would pull a front flip forward, crashing his left heel into the top of an attacker's leg. At the same time when he landed, he swung out both arms to hit an enemy. Looking back behind him, the Jounin would leap up into a gainer backflip, landing a crushing toe kick to another attacker. Once that was done, the Jounin felt someone grab one of his arms. Reaching out to tag that person with a strong hook, the Jounin soon felt his body being overwhelemed by people grabbing and striking at him.

He held up at best he could for a short period of time before suddenly, he felt a slash go across his chest and blood start to run. At this point, the Jounin simply stopped moving before he was hitting with crushign blows to his face, stomach, legs, and arms. The next thing he could remember was hitting the ground on his stomach, before being lifted up over someone's back. His arms and legs were tied, but he kept fading in and out before the last thing he saw was him being toted away and then he blacked out.

---

Time: 8:03 PM
Location: Inside Inoko Fort's Dungeon


BAMPF!!!

...e up!

BAMPF!! BAMPF!!

I said...WAKE UP!!"

SHULUK!!

In an instance, Ryudashi found himself screaming in pain as his eyes sudden burst open. The first thing he did was look down at where the pain was in his rib, only to find two kunai stuck into him, bleeding warm blood. As the Jounin took a few seconds to look around, he realized that his entire body was covered in whip lashings, cuts, and bruises, as well as the throbbing pain he felt all over. Light invaded him from the front but all he could see was a few masked people standing in front of him.

"Wha-Wha..t...Do you...fuckers want?" Ryudashis stifled out to say as he looked around the room.

It was then at this moment one of the masked men moved forward, driving their heel into Ryudashi's chin, making his teeth click. There was the sound of something shattering as the Jounin felt one his teeth crack on the side. Spitting out the chunk of tooth, Ryudashi looked up at his captors.

"Heh! You got alot of balls coming down by Inoko Fort. Don't you know anything? This is the home of the famous Yellow Moon! Greatest and most feared of all, truly a grand an--

"Shut up, Onigawa! You always speak too much! Anyways, shinobi...You are now our slave for trespassing and as such, you will tell us what you were doing out here!"

Ryudashi tried to move his arms and legs only to find himself on his knees with his arms stretched out held by chains and his legs shackled to the floor. Feeling so drained after what had transpired, the Jounin almost forgot about his student until he looked around and noticed that she was nowhere to be found.

"Whe-....*coughbloodhack* Where is...my student?" Ryudashi stated before he found himself being slapped across the face.

"Don't speak unless we speak to you! And don't worry about your little friend, I'm sure she's making good friends with our pal Koba down in the next dungeon. But don't worry about her, in the meantime I'd worry about what the hell is about to happen to you!" The voice said before Ryudashi felt his body being assaulted once more.

Amidst the kicking, punching, and beating of the Jounin, the only thing in his mind was Miyabi. He felt so ashamed that he had failed her in getting them both captured over Genkotsu. Feeling sadness well up inside of him, Ryudashi could do nothing as the masked men assasulted him more and more before finally leaving him to wallow in his own blood and sweat, vowing to be back.

As the Jounin lay in the dungeon cell, body mixed with blood, sweat, and grime from all the cuts, bruises, and beatings, there was only one thing that he could even possibly utter from his voice.

"Miyabi-san....I failed." Ryudashi said.

[Yoishierumi Miyabi]

Miyabi grinned slightly when Ryudashi had agreed that they needed a new plan. This was bad mainly because of the number difference between the two groups. She felt that someone had informed this larger group of their location. This was the only conclusion that she could think of at the moment. It also in her mind made since. "Sensei, this is not by chance we stumbled on them...I fear someone followed us from the town to here...then somehow communicated our location.." She knew she had no proof of the matter and it was not a logically time to be voicing this, but she felt she needed to tell Ryudashi anyways.

She took a deep breath and glanced behind her at her sensei for a moment and turned back to the people that were starting to attack her once more. She knew they were out number and the distance between them and her and Ryudashi had become even more limited. Defending them off now seemed to be fruitless by all means, but that was not going to mean that she was going to give up either.

She did not turn when she heard him say her name. If she had it would only give the group launching their final attack against her the upper hand, not that they needed much more of it. Miyabi frown when they all decided to fight them at once. This allowed her no movement to move whatsoever or even room to defend herself. She was not going down without a fight though.

She quickly ducked a weapon that was aimed for her head and slammed the butt of her tanto into the guy’s shin has she bent down. She twisted a blow that was coming from her left shoulder only just noticing the movement out of the corner of her eye. However, she was hit from the right with something heavy and hard cross her back. She winced refusing to call out in pain at the moment has she felt several kicks to her mid section. She fell to the ground and went to push herself back up and felt a pounding sensation in her head after being hit from behind once more with the heavy objected that just collided with her back.

===

Just over an hour later Miyabi was woken by a pain shooting up from her leg. She felt like she was dreaming at first and that she had a Charlie horse as her left leg tighten from the pain that was being sent throughout her nervous system. Then she felt another pain in her shoulder and knew it was not a dream. She opened her eyes slowly to find herself face down on the ground. What had happened?!

”Wake up you dirty little shit!!”

Miyabi took a moment to see if she knew the voice, but no one that she knew sounded like this. It finally hit her as the headache, bruised ribs, and her cheek finally caught up to her nervous system and she felt even more pain within her body. They were ambushed near a fort they thought proposed no threat to them. How wrong they were.

”Ah, now you want to wake up girl…” After the spoke come a cruel sounding laugh.

”Fuck off, not like I had a choice in the matter….” Miyabi said as she listened to the voice laughing. She listened to see if anyone else might be near him. No one else seemed to be around them at the moment. Where was Ryudashi?! She felt a knot in her stomach because she was not sure where he was. She had already lost one of her best friends and now someone that was close to her was nowhere to be seen or heard.

She went to pick herself up off the floor and found placing pressure on her left hand hurt like hell. It seemed like her broken fingers she had gotten from the war were now broken again. No doubt they had been stepped on. ”Fighting now…would be stupid…” She had every intentions of putting up a fight once she got to her feet, but since she had no idea where her sensei was or how badly her fingers were hurt it seemed pointless at the moment. It would also give them more of a reason to kill her.

”You were caught trespassing on our lands!!! What were you doing here?!”

Miyabi pushed herself up to her needs and looked around. Her hands were cuffed, she was able to move her hands a few feet away from each other, along with her legs not that she was able to see better with kneeing on her knees. Her black hair had fallen down behind and in front of her shoulders. She looked up to the bald fat guy with a dagger in his hands. ”Seriously?! You think I am going tell your fat ass!!” She was annoyed and she was pissed at the moment. It was hard for her to control her tempter through the pain she was feeling at the moment.

She watched the guy move and grabbed her by her hair and pulled her up to her feet. She then received a swift blow to her stomach from his knee. ”How about I give you a matching cut on your cheek here?!” He pressed the dagger against her unhurt cheek applied pressure to it until she was bleeding.

Miyabi had closed her eyes once she felt the hot liquid of her own blood against her flesh at the moment. Getting smart with him was not going to be the answer here either. However, this did not mean she was going to tell him shit. ”Nice, thanks for that.”

The man was about to say something else when he heard his name being called. ”You are now a slave for your crimes of trespassing!” He laughed slightly and started to drag Miyabi out of the room. He dragged her to another room and pushed her inside of it.

Miyabi stumbled to catch her balance and quickly turned and slammed her hands against the door. ”You rotten son of a bitch!!” After a moment she stopped and turned around. It took her a moment to realize who else was in the room with her.

”RYUDASHI-KUN!”

[Sukkiriyoichi Ryudashi]

The time spent passed out chained to the wall had done some good for the Jounin. For starters, the pain that he felt all over his body had stopped but only temporarily. Eventually, when he woke up he would feel it again but the temorary moment of unconsiciouness had done him some good.

The Jounin had dreamed of nothing but his former family, thinking about peaceful times. Spending the days hunting in the mornings with day, and learning practical Hariton usage from his mother. Going to the Academy, graduation, becoming a Genin, beginning to train with his younger brother. Watching Genkotsu grow up, training with his younger brother through it all, and then suddenly his world would go dark on Genkotsu's normally blank stated face.

Darkness...

That was all Ryudashi could remember between catching a beating and being thrown in the jail cell. His lack of focus from all the pain he endured during his moments of blacking out now had made him lose all sense of time, leaving him further in the dark so to speak. His senses were still working thankfully, and because of such things he could feel presences entering and exiting the room, even though it was hard to make his eyes work. The last time he looked up, there were so many people in front of him, each raring to kick his ass.

However, this time as he opened his eyes, vision still cloudy to him, he could make out the distinct sounds and motions of someone entering the dungeon hall. The only thing Ryudashi could think of at the moment was that they were coming back to beat him some more, and yet he still hadn't found out what happened to Miyabi.

At the sound of the metal doors clanking, he could hear the sounds of struggle occuring followed by rough footsteps approaching and fast. The Jounin's head hung as he knew what would soon be following. As he braced himself for what appeared to be another beating coming, the Jounin heard his door open and then close. Closing his eyes, the Jounin awaited for the inevitable to come out and strike at him however, that never happened. Instead....

"You rotten son of a bitch!!....RYUDASHI-KUN!!

That voice...it's so familar, yet so far away... Ryudashi thought in his head as his eyes struggled to place a face with the familar voice.

As his vision still remained cloudy, the Jounin could tell from the person's reaction that they had to be friendly as he got no intention of ill will from them. In fact, as the person came closer, Ryudashi's vision started to fix and he finally got adjusted to seeing out of his right eye and caught the familar sight.

"Mi-Miyabi-san?" He stammered out through the pain.

As he adjusted himself again, he gave Miyabi a genuine smile. Although this smile was covered with dried blood, sweat, and grime, as well as cuts and lacerations across his face, the Jounin seemed to be in good shape. As he brought his attention to Miyabi, he couldn't help but feel all the more relieved to hear her voice. That meant she had done well in staying alive this long, but then again that also left the matter of...

"Have they hurt you at all, Miyabi? Are you alright?" Ryudashi stated as blabbed out the questions quickly.

He was more worried abotu her own well being than his own personally. Ryudashi knew that he could handle himself. It was actually quite funny that these guys truly believed that they would make Ryudashi tell them anything. He had been trained both by his sensei and self-prepared himself for these types of situations. He was at home during the torture (Even though he admits that keeping the appearance he is fine is quite diffcult) but he couldn't be sure about Miyabi.

After listening to her answer, the Jounin would pause and look around the room trying to figure out exactly how to get out of this situation. His mind was calmly trying to assess all the damage he had taken over the time. From what he could tell, he had cuts and bruises all over at the very least. Two stabs to the upper abdomen from kunai, cracked jaw, broken left eye socket, fractured left hand, a few broken ribs, and a few broken toes.

From that assesment, the Jounin had come to the conclusion that he could still fight although, it wouldn't be at 100%. The upper body injuries would definitely hinder his stamina, and that brought down his fighting capapbilities quite a bit. It would seem that they would have to rely on their more basic ninja skills if they wanted to make it out of here alive.

"We need to get out of here, but (*winces*) first we need to worry about (*wincesgroans*) these chains binding me...With my arms like this I can't, (*winces*) make any hand seals for my jutsu." Ryudashi stated.

What he spoke was true. Even though their have been instances where Ryudashi could create Hariton objects without hand seals, the only things he could make were small practical things, and he couldn't think of anything pratical that he could make to get him out of the chains. Plus, he had no leverage in the position he was in, so making a tool was useless. A Hari Bunshin clone would work, if it weren't for the fact that his hands were so far away from one another.

"So, got any ideas?" The Jounin asked her.

How ironic....Searching for a criminal only to be captured by a criminal organization.

[Yoishierumi Miyabi]

Miyabi watched Ryudashi has he looked her over. He looked worse than what she did at this point in time. She looked down to her fingers for a moment and sighed slightly when he asked if she was alright. She sat down next to him trying to catch her breath after yelling at the guard a moment or so. She shrugged at his question mainly because she knew whatever they did at this point was going to be hell for them. She felt the only reason they were still alive at this point because they choose not to kill the group back there.

”Broken ribs, my fingers are rebroken it seems, but that goes to show they probably had not healed right in the first place. Good thing they are just my middle to pinky fingers. Hell you look worse than what I do…meaning they thought you would purpose a tougher opponent.” She closed her eyes for a moment or so. ”They are claiming we are prisoners because we were near here…I believe we was followed from the town and someone sent a message of our location to them here at the so called fortress.”

She remained silenced as Ryudashi spoke about getting out of here, but he could not make the proper handsigns needed. She looked around slightly and stood up and nodded. “I have one…I am not sure if its going to work or now.”[/color] She moved closer to the chains and looked at the locket that was on the chains. ”Its going to be tricky too…I don’t really have a proper water source either….”

She moved back slightly and pulled off her jacket and tore off the sleeve of it. She took the torn cloth in her mouth and formed some handsigns with grinned through the pain. After a moment a few water particles formed into alcohol needles. She took the cloth and grabbed them before they fell to the ground. She held them gently in her hand since she did not want to risk jabbing them into her or Ryudashi at the moment.

”I get bored with working at the shop when its my shift…so I taught myself how to pick the locks we use there….its tricky…and I have never done it with the needles…so…yea…” She was not sure if this was going to work or not, but it was better than just sitting around and dreaming what they was going to do about this at this point in time.

She moved back over to the locket and took two of the needles with one of her hand and folded the others up in the cloth and held the cloth with her teeth as she set to work on the lock. After about five minutes and her breaking two of the needles she finally heard a click that released the lock. She smirked slightly and pulled off the lock from the chain. She was glad she could move within her cuffs at this point in time.

She pulled back and took the cloth out of her mouth and saw she had one needle left and sighed slightly. She had gotten on of his hands free. ”You might be able to do get your other hand out of that one…One needle left….so if you cannot I will make more in a few minutes to pick that one over there…”

[Sukkiriyoichi Ryudashi]

The Jounin was feeling so unadequate at the moment. Here he was, trapped to the walls with his student and he couldn't even free himself. On top of that, they were now in some fortress with some renegade mercenary organization hellbent on making them prisoners here. As Ryudashi listened to Miyabi give her assessment of her abilities and physical being, she set about work to a lock.

The Jounin watched as she used her Goshuton to form needles and pick the locks of the shackles on one of his hands. He felt his arm fall free from the wall, hitting the ground with a light thud. It felt like it had weighed a ton, probably from the sustained positioned locked into the wall. After a few moments, the Jouinin was able to gain the strength to move it again.

"All I need is one hand..." Ryudashi stated as began to concentrate.

In his hand Hariton began to form and take the shape of a small pickaxe. As it formed and the sharpened end came in, it began to take a dirty brown appearance as Doton was injected. Once it was rugged enough, Ryudashi would make swings with it towards his shackles and released himself fully. Throwing the pickaxe away, the Jounin would fall to his hands and knees, taking several deep breaths. He was glad to be off that wall, his body ached something terrible from being down in that position for a period of time.

"I'm glad to be off that wall, but our next priority should be getting out of here." The Jounin said as he struggled to get to his feet and take a few steps before falling again.

He landed with a thud on his chest, feeling pain shoot through his body. As he pushed himself up to his hands and knees, the Jounin realized that he had been stripped of everything except his inner form fitting suit worn under his clothes. His Takigakure vest was gone, as was all the tools in the pouches, his trench coat was still there in the room, but that's all which meant that his summoning scrolls and healing items were gone too. All this time, he hadn't been paying attention to his equipment, but he couldn't say that he shouldn't have expected this.

Taking a few moments time to get himself together, the Jounin would manage to get to his feet and pull his trenchcoat on before he set about going to the door. Within minutes, he had unlocked it (through careful breaking and reapplying of Hariton) and they had managed to get free. As the door opened, Ryudashi would grab at his side as he would wave for Miyabi to follow him.

"Our first priority needs to be getting out of here..." Ryudashi stated.

That was easier said than done. Here they were, both of them injured and weaponless, getting out was going to be very very difficult. This was especially considering true for Ryudashi as his physical body was pretty beat up. Taijutsu was something Ryudashi prided himself on being fairly adept at, but right now, he wasn't even sure if his current condition would allow him enough range to even properly take down an opponent. Defend himself, sure, but offense didn't seem to be in the picture.

As the Jounin hurried his way down the hallway to the end of the door, he kicked it down and was surprised to see a balcony. To his right, were a set of steps that lead down the current spire of the dungeon they were at, which would take them down into the coutryard. However, the coutrtyard didn't look to pleasing as the Jounin walked up to the edge of the balcony and looked down.

"Are you kidding me?"

Below the Jounin was the courtyard....And it was the grimiest thing he had ever seen. People were being forced to work for the mercenaries as they prodded them with whips and metal poles. The people they were prodding appeared to be regular citizens who were being put to work like slaves. This wasn't a good thing, and it didn't boast too well for the two shinobi either.

[Yoishierumi Miyabi]

Miyabi watched at Ryudashi freed himself after she was able to free one of his hands. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment as he rested. There was no point in worrying if he was about to stand up. Even she realized that this had taken a toll on him as well as her. She felt a few short pains in her side when door in the few deep breathe of air. She made a mental note to herself not to do that for the moment.

When she heard Ryudashi moving she opened her eyes and watched him for a moment or so. She raised her eyebrow slightly and grinned some to herself as he fell again. She wanted to tell him not to rush things, but she also knew that was not actually a choice for them. If they were caught with him being freed than it would become worse for the two of them. If they could do this simply because they felt her and Ryudashi had trespassed on their land than it would be worse if they were caught trying to get out of her.

Miyabi pulled herself up off the floor once Ryudashi had been on his feet and watched him unlock the door with his glass. She knew he was right and they needed to get out of here as quickly as possible. She looked around the cell and grinned slightly and stepped on the last alcohol needle that she had left. She watched it as it turned to liquid. This would give them a few minutes of surprise if they were caught. They did not know she was able to create the needles yet.

She moved behind him without a word as they walked down the hallway. She was glancing over her shoulder to make sure no one was sneaking up behind them as they traveled down it. She stopped when she heard something hit something and glance back ahead to see the door flew open and Ryudashi’s foot coming down. This made her smirk to herself mainly because she saw Ryudashi has someone that would not give up and he was proving this to her right now.

”I am lucky to have a sensei like this…and a friend.” She thought to herself and felt herself start to smile, but stopped when she heard him speak. She jogged up to where he was standing and looked over and her stomach turned a bit at what she saw down below. She closed her eyes and grinned slightly. She had read stories of this, but did not think that there were people so greedy and selfish to do this now. She leaned on the balcony and opened her eyes and watched them.

”I know we have no grounds in this small country Ryudashi-kun. But we also must not allow them to harm these people….if we escape it only solves this issue with us here, but these people..they have no military strength to help them like our country does….”

She looked over her shoulder to him and grinned slightly. ”I know finding Genkotsu-kun is important to you as it is with me. I think we should find our weapons and destroy this fort and make these people pay for what they have done to the ones down there. We can burn the fort down as long as we have fire. My alcohol can help it spread.”

She turned her head back towards the ground and closed her eyes again and pushed herself off the balcony and looked around after she reopened her eyes. Something towards the left of her caught her attention and she moved and grabbed Ryudashi by the arm and pulled him back from the balcony and against the wall. She held her finger to her lips and pointed as a pair of men had turned their backs away from them about sixty feet away from them.

”We need to take them out before they see us.” Miyabi’s voice was just barely above a whisper at this point. She was glaring at the two men at the moment.

[Sukkiriyoichi Ryudashi]

Seeing the people toil away for the amusement and labor of the mercenaries that were residing in this fort was just enough to make Ryudashi's blood boil. He genuinely agreed with Miyabi's statement about doing somthing to ensure these people's safety and helping them to stay alive just as they did.

The Jounin had to smirk at Miyabi's thought process of the situation, thinking that she already had progressed so much in a short amount of time. Her analytical skills had proven to be quite top notch as she deduced what Ryudashi had nearly in the same amount of time. Quite amazing how skilled each generation gets with time.

"Your absolutely right." He responded as he massaged his side some.

He continued to look down at the people as Miyabi mentioned something about Genkotsu. He didn't need to even truly hear what she said as her intentions became clear when she spoke about the people in the courtyard. Turning his head towards her and nodding, he looked back down at the courtyard.

From what he could see, there was a large wooden gate that lead outside the walls. However, there were several towers with archers in them just above the door. Something would need to be done about them before they would be able to leave. That was much eaiser said than done with these injuries. Taijutsu was the best option, but Ninjutsu would prove to help out much more here than any other of his skills.

At that moment, Ryudashi felt his arm being tugged as he was backed into the wall and Miyabi was signaling him to be quiet as she pointed out two gaurds and spoke of taking them out.

Someone's aggressiveness has gone up....Probably from the sight of the people and the predicament we are in. Ryudashi deduced in his head.

As he nodded towards her, the Jounin would test out his movement in a exerted motion by stretching a little. It hurt him a bit to feel pain, but overall he was sure he could move. He had an idea on how to get passed them without them noticing. "Good thing these guys aren't ninja.." He muttered to himself.

Using his Shunshin technique, the Jounin moved behind the man nearest to him and jabbed a fist into his back while grabbing the man's mouth. Gripping the upper part of his shoulder with his freehand, the Jounin would perform a revering throw to land the man on his back with a large thud. As he looked up, he hoped to see that Miyabi had gotten her guy as well, and once she was done he would speak to her.

"Where were you taken too when you were captured, Miyabi?" the Jounin said as he crouched down and made his way down a spiral set of stairs.

He aksed because he wanted to know exactly where she was when they were taken. His faint memories of being brought here rememebered that when they were seperated, they took his weapons and things from him shortly before throwing him into a jail cell upstairs. If she was downstairs, they might have thier own weapons and items close by or at least that was the hope.

[Yoishierumi Miyabi]

Miyabi was not about to do or say anything about Ryudashi thinking on the lines of doing something for the people that were enslaved here. She was glad that he thought she was right and wanted to act on it as well. However, she knew that rushing into something without a proper plan for them to overcome would be their downfall. They also had to make sure that there were not going to get caught and end up dead or something.

Her mind was in overdrive by the time she had seen the guard and pulled Ryudashi back against the wall. She had hated to be treated like a prisoner that by these people and what they had done with the people. To her it was not fair, but she knew better than to rush something like this.

She watched Ryudashi move forward toward the guard and she moved as well. It was clear what he meant by moving. He would take one and she would take the other. She quickly formed a few handsigns and brought a few alcohol needles to her hand and grabbed them. Her father was always telling her an overdose was a bad idea when training, but right now it was good. She made sure the needles where in her hand that she felt her fingers were broken and moved and grabbed a hold of the man’s mouth as she jabbed the needles into the side of his leg. She waited for about a moment before letting go of the man to watch him stagger for a moment before she brought her first down on his neck to make him fall to the ground.

Miyabi glanced at Ryudashi when he spoke about where she was taken. She shrugged slightly at the question. ”I was already in a room when someone started to kick me awake. But I do remember how that guy brought me to your cell though. Our weapons probably aint far from where they kept us. No doubt trying to find out if they are worth something.” She made a face at the thought of someone handling her own custom weapons that were made for her.

”Someone better not have my swords…” She muttered darkly to herself and shook her head slightly. ”Come on.” She glanced at the two men they took out for a moment. ”Leaving them here might not be a good idea, but considering both of our conditions we have no choice. I think we need to be fast and come up with a plan on the way instead of sneaking around. The longer we wait the more they have time to gather their forces like they did before, sensei.”

She moved back into the building and started to jog towards where she was thrown in with Ryudashi. She came to a stop and looked around for a moment. There were two more hallways from where the exit was. She pointed towards the hallway towards the right. ”I was brought from that direction. Two or three rooms from there is the room I was kept in.” She glanced behind them to look at the exit her sensei had created moments before.

”Building makes have never been my strong point, but if it would seem that this is the main holding cell for all them out there….and if there more room down that way…then something must be that way that leads to the main hall and main exit of this crappy fort of theirs.” She glanced at the left direction at the moment.

”I think we should check for a storage room around this are and see if we cannot find out weapons quickly. Dad likes to keep a small storage room off to the main hallway of our shop of supplies just in case the main floor runs low of things….”

[Sukkiriyoichi Ryudashi]

From what Miyabi had just told Ryudashi, he was correct in thinking that they had to have their weapons stored somewhere nearby. It was comforting to see that Miyabi thought the same, furthering to boost his confidence about getting out of this situation. He had always tried to stress to Miyabi that teamwork was important, even with just the two of them. Right now, their teamwork training up to now would be put to the test. He could hear no immediate noises from anywhere near them, indicating that it was possible they were alone for the moment.

"Guess we pick a door and start looking. Bits of my memory have been flooding back now that I've had a few moments to recover and I'm pretty sure after my stuff was taken, they through me in a cell no less than 2 minutes after that." Ryudashi stated as he calculated the possibilities.

Starting with the nearest door to him, Ryudashi opened it slightly to peek inside. He saw no enemies inside and pushed the door all the way open, finding what appeared to be some kind of record keeping room. Nothing but old books and dusty items that were useless to them. This wans't the right room. As Ryudashi turned out of the room and into the next one, he was quite relieved to see it was a type of armory.

"Armory's over here." Ryudashi said to his student as he walked inside.

It appeared to be quite a big room, everything had a place for it'sself. Swords, Shields, knives, maces, etc...anything you could think of was in this room. Ryudashi instantly started scanning through the weapon racks and other supplies. After a few minutes, the Jounin found what he was looking for: His trenchcoat. It had some sentimental value to him and that's why he wanted it.

As he checked his pockets, he noticed that his two scrolls were still there. It had been a while since he had updated his scrolls, so in the event he had to use them it would be a very short occasion. However, as the Jounin put on his trenchcoat, he started going through the weapons racks. He was searching for weapons to place on his person. In the process, he picked up two swords that he placed on his back, some daggers to go in his side pockets of his trenchcoat, a pair of short swords to go on his hip, and two sickles with short handles to go at his side.

He didn't plan on keeping any of the weapons, but at the same time if he could conserve his own chakra by not creating weapons, then why not use their own. Ryudashi turned back towards Miyabi, pretty sure she had found her swords by now in this room and walked over towards her.

"Now that we have weapons back, we need to make sure we get out of here together and fully alive. Ryudashi stated as he grabbed one of Miyabi's hands and gave it a slight squeeze. He then moved his hand to her shoulder while still looking at her. "I'm sorry I got you into this crap Miyabi-san. I didn't mean for this to happen at all. It was supposed to be a simple Q&A and then go home." Ryudashi stated before he removed his hand and headed towards the door.

As he looked out the Jounin moved with the aid of Shunshin to the end of the hallway, there was a large door that had voices on the other side. Stopping and motioning for Miyabi to move to the other side of the doorway. Holding out both of his hands, Ryudashi would create a one handed seal with one hand and then flatten it out again.

"Hariton: Kagami" (Glass Release: Mirror)

In his hands, two four by four inch squares were made, and he handed one over to Miyabi while motioning with his other to slide it through the cracks in the door. As he moved his into the crack, Ryudashi could see the reflection off the glass that there was about 4 people from he could see on his side. He waited for a few moments before looking towards Miyabi with a look that says "Let's bust in and kick ass".

This wasn't a shinobi mission, they had no time to be subtle nor did they have time to even worry about being caught...The only thing necessary was survivial.