Singing in the Night (Solo Training)

Yozora slowly opened her eyes. The girl was in full gear, sitting in front of a fire, leaning on a tree and holding Shigure in its sheath with both hands. It was night and she was half asleep. They were in a forest or something like that. She did not feel any danger, even though there were other people nearby. Blinking and trying to shake off the sleepy mood, the girl remembered where and why she was here. They were on a mission. ANBU mission, everyone here were ANBU and it wasn't long until she noticed having her mask on too. ANBU masks were designed specifically for each individual, fitting perfectly to their face and still allowing perfect vision, which was why she did not notice it sooner. Her mask was white with dark blue and black stripes, it represented a snow tiger. On the mission together with her were five more ANBU, all wearing their masks too, three of them were females like her. The six of them were divided in two teams, the other team's captain was a guy as well as one of his subordinate, while Yozora herself was on a full girls' team. She was not the captain though. Being a rookie is never easy and she would have to prove herself here, just as she needed to do while being Genin. Their mission was a bit risky, which was why there were six of them - they let a caravan be hit by a bandit attack and track the bandits to their hideout and then hit it wiping them out. Currently at the camp they were only four, two of them were trailing the caravan which was not too far from here. If it came under attack, the two would alert the others and the whole group would start tracking the bandits. Unfortunately they had no idea when or where the bandits would hit the caravan so they had to wait and watch. The fire slightly bothered Yozora - it was night and the light could easily have been noticed miles from here. It was stupid to set it up, but those were captain orders. These forests were pretty cold, due to them bordering the land of snow and they could use the warmth.

Suddenly Yozora heard something. It seemed like a bird cry, but she knew it was not. It was the signal - caravan has been hit and they were to move out. Immediately the fire was put out with a small water jutsu by one of her new team mates and they all disappeared from the camp in a poof. After a couple of moments of flying through the trees and branches the four of them met up with the one who sent the signal. He quickly explained the location where the caravan was hit and they moved out again. One more of them was at the site, keeping an eye of the situation. Both teams arrived at the spot, landing on the branches high in the trees a couple kilometers away from the scene. Yozora landed next to her captain, Shigure in its sheath in her left hand, she would put the weapon on her back where it belonged. The caravan was down in a valley, a bit farther away but they could see everything clearly from up here. It looked nasty. Half of the goods were already abandoned by the traders, their guards did not stand a chance and were being slaughtered, while the traders were attempting to run away with as much goods as possible. Which proved to be their demise as the bandits did not want to let them take their prey away. And as soon as the guards were dealt with, more than half of the bandit force started moving towards the remaining traders. Multiple reactions could be heard from the ANBU. "Idiots..." said other team's captain, while Yozora's captain sighed, probably feeling the same way about the traders. Some let out strange exclamations and the girl from the other team whispered "B-but they're going to massacre the civilians!..." her captain immediately replies "We have our orders." The other captain added to that "Everyone remain where you are until we give a signal to move out" but the girl would not do as she was told. Yozora could see her body shaking "I'm not going to let them to that. Those people are innocent!" She lunged forward, but her captain's hand would grab her by the wrist. However that would not be the end of it, as apparently the girls other team mate - the man who signaled them to come here - felt the same way, but did not say a word. As she was in their captain's grip, he quickly formed a hand seal for body flicker technique and disappeared in a poof of smoke. "Damn it..." Nobody expected that and before they could interrupt him, he was already down there fighting off the bandits. Yozora waited for her orders as clearly the original plan was now blown. But that was not the worst part. Apparently the bandits expected them and a three times larger force than the one that attacked the caravan emerged from the shadows into the scene. Enemy count suddenly shot from mere thirty to well over a hundred and who knows how many could still have been lurking in the dark. The other captain let go of her subordinate and together they jumped down into the fight. Yozora's captain signaled their team to move out and they jumped off the branch into the trees. Without any words, Yozora understood their team moving into the enemy's flank, probably to cut off any reinforcements and maybe find out where they are coming from. As they got into the position they noticed the three down there getting pressed pretty hard, the sheer number was overwhelming them. There were reports of some of these bandits being rogue ninja of lower rankings, but they would not be a problem, not in such numbers anyway. Yozora could clearly see her captain in distress, the other team was on a verge of being overrun and she had to decide her actions. The three of them were now in a tree next to the valley. Under them the bandit horde swarming. They were obviously coming from somewhere in these woods. Yozora could see the direction, but she would have to follow them.

Finally it was decided. The captain obviously was being torn between trying and fulfilling the assignment and helping the other team. So Yozora gave her an option. She could follow the bandits into their lair and they could go assist the others. The captain agreed. Right before they jumped off the branch the other girl in their team let out a scream. The captain of the team in the valley got pierced by a spear. From this range all they could see that it went straight through his gut. Without wasting any time the two jumped into the fray and Yozora descended into the swarm bellow her. Her blade immediately cut four of them open and without wasting any time she proceeded to cut them one after another making her way against the flow. At some point she started relishing it. She knew it was a loss of life, but since there was no other option and these people had to day anyway, she would enjoy it like a piece of art. Ducking down from a polearm strike she swung her sword splashing blood into the air. She would observe the blood in motion and how it would then land, right up to the moment as she had to cut another and then she would admire it again. At some point she started to feel tired, no more having the courtesy to swing her blade for every kill. So she needed to cut more than one with each swing. At first she was using the gale cutter technique, which let her send a wide slash cutting multiple people to pieces. But that would not work for long as soon she had to make a pause with the technique not to overtax her chakra reserves. And at that point she began using her genjutsu. Parrying another blade, the Shigure began to chime and bandits around her would fall down screaming in despair and agony. Both of her blades were completely blooded including their hilts. He cloak had splashes of blood on it too and half of the mask was blooded too. Actually from that day forward her mask would always have a little red splash on it to symbolize the slaughter and her affinity for it. As their comrades would fall down screaming in front of her the other bandits began to approach her more carefully, some even tried using techniques. The more tricky ones would never even see her blade coming as she would cut them down using her flashing blade technique. It was not long before they panicked and completely lost themselves. Then it was just a matter to hunt them all down. Yozora would jump from tree to a tree cutting men and women alike every time her shadow passed over them. Sometimes she would let one of her swords fly, piercing into someone's flesh, then she would take it again before their body even reached the ground. Soon all she did was let her blades chime and people would just fall down and she killed them mentally. At some point she realized she did not need her blades to clash to cause the vibrations. It would not be too much different from the sound caused when she used the sacred song, infusing the blade with chakra she could make it vibrate and chime simple by swinging it. The light would reflect from her blades as she descended on the ground once more. Her eyes could not see anything living around, nothing but dead body as far as her eye could see. She had completely lost herself and had progressed deep into the forest. Basically she had no idea where she was. Only thing marking the spot it that this is where the bodies ended and... there was a cave. She started stepping towards the cave when suddenly she heard a shout - one alive bandit was coming straight at her with a blade. He was shouting something about his family and revenge. In her current state it did not mean anything to her. Without a second thought Yozora made a thrust and Shigure rested in the boy's throat. He would gulp with an obvious surprise in his face. Blood would slowly start coming from his mouth and he continued to choke. His light shirt was get flooded with his blood. Yozora watched life slowly fading from boy's eyes, as he tried to say something. Her right hand would let got of Shigure for a moment, touching the blood on his lips. He was fairly young, not as young as she, but still - maybe 13. And then he was dead. Her hand swiftly grabbed the weapon's hilt and she activated the flash blade while the sword was still inside the boy exploding him into pieces, leaving nothing recognizable behind. And then she would turn around and walk into the cave. There was hardly anyone left to fight inside. A few what seemed to be leaders of the group and whatever was left of their elite guard. With a single swing Yozora put half of them in a genjutsu. The rest then panicked, retreating further into the cave. Slowly walking on the slippery floor, the girl finished off each and single one she could find still taking breaths, under genjutsu or not. The last one was at the very end of the cave, no where else to run, with a wall at hit back. He was screaming something, but she did not pay any attention. Without even using her blades she thrusted her right hand forward, grabbing his neck and choking him to death at that wall. And then she passed out and that is where she was found by her ANBU team half an hour later as they followed the blood bath all the way into the caves.

2042 w.
[+10 stats, +20 JP, Obtaining Genjutsu as second Spec.]

Approved for Appropriate Rewards