A Missing Merchant (Oro, Kira)

(it will get more words once we get going)

Orokana woke up to someone knocking on his front door. he walked to the door opening it slowly. there was only one think was in his mind. fuck. He read the scroll and sighed. he closed the door and got dressed. putting on his button up shirt and his coat. doing his tie and putting on his dress shoes. then he walked out the door. skipping breakfast like always. he slowly walked to where the report said the home was. he just walked like it was a normal day. he yawned as he walked. then pulled out a book and started reading. after some time passed he found himself at the home. he sighed and fixed his hair. looking up at the sky noting it was a nice sunny day. not a lot of clouds and no cool wind, yet.

he walked up to the door knocking and making sure his headband as on his arm. he waited for someone or no one to answer before going inside. but he only waited about 3 seconds and he walked in seeing the boy. he cursed to himself. then said "hello, I'm Orokana, who are you?" Orokana studied the boy. he had an interesting style and had some weird hair due. but he ignored it and hoped this one was not like his team. all loud and talkative. and he waited for what the boy would do next. playing with the book in his pocket. wanting to read more and take notes on it. only so he could better his understanding of different things. as he waited for the boy to respond he walked around studying the damage, he think he knew what did this but he did not know for sure, so he waited and wanted to see what the team would think or say then go from there.

It was an early day, much to kira's dismay. She hated that moment when a bright beam of sunlight flowed through the small crack in her blinds, reaching its away across the dark expanse of her room to find that perfect spot between her eyes, bringing her back to the realm of the living from pleasant dreams. She drug herself out of the bed, struggling to find footing against the hard wood floor. Falling foward she hit the ground with a soft thud, allowing her mind to rest once more. This wasn't happening, she thought to herself through slitted eyes as she debating between pushing herself back up and simply dodging the mission she'd signed up to do. It sounded pretty important. All missions however sounded pretty important. The debate was pretty simple for the Hell's angel. either there was some evil force attacking people in their homes, which could be ruled out in her mind fairly simply by her presence there, or there was a drunken night for random villager number twenty two that caused them to stumble dazed in stupor out their front door to take a nap in the nice soft grass. Maybe she could just forget any of this happened. 

"Kira. Kira wake up Kiiiiirrraaaaaa" Fuck. Of all the things the girl could sleep through, Great tornadoes, snowstorms that burried her home completely, causing them to wait a month to finally see light of day again, and the various battles her two team mates had gotten into while she was curled up in a soft arm chair a short distance away there was one thing in this world she wouldn't be able to ignore. That damn pixie. 

"I...awa.....going..." She felt a tugging on her ear that jolted her eyes back open, bringing a frown to her lips and a sigh on her breath. "Fine. Im up. " Lifting herself back up she'd prepare quickly, swatting at the small blue princess as she attempted to help. taking a step out to meet the blinding light of morning she formed the seals for the summoning jutsu twice, calling the two dragons to their spot nestled under her hood, their sharp tallons holding them in place to begin their work and she set out past the great gates of the village hidden in the leaf. The speed at which she moved was blinding, leaving a torrent of swirling wind as the cloak bounced to and fro. She took to the roofs to ensure no bistandards were knocked over as she headed to her destination, not that anyone of intelligence would be up at this hour.

She wondered if she'd actually told the pair that worked with her of the mission today. She thought she had, though her memory as always seemed to fail her sleep addled brain. If she had then she expected they would be there waiting, or shortly. Either way the two genin she'd been teamed up with would be sufficient as far as she was concerned. She could of course do the mission herself with the abilities at her fingertips, but what good would that be. This was primarily a chance to teach the next generation and help them become more able and powerful shinobi.;.... and to make a quick buck in the process.

The home was easy enough to find. There was little for miles outside the village asside from the forrest and sparce patches of this and that that clearly weren't inhabitable homes. Stopping her motion quickly she'd walk through the front door, The power of the demon eyes activating in the three tomoe state to grant her additional ability to study her surroundings. "Hey. Anyone in here?! Come on now. If you were drunk and just screwed your home up I wont judge you I'd just like to get this all done and taken care of so come out!" She didn't expect to get an answer, though inevitably the presence of the other two meant she probably would.

(666 2 stacks of nature energy)

Maloren continued to survey the area around the house before he an unfamiliar voice speak up, he trained his eyes on him, byakugan blaring at the guy before he realized he wasn't being threatening in any way. he raised an eyebrow as he spoke and introduced himself and Maloren realized he must've been a teammate of some kind. "So I won't be alone on this one.." He thought as he bowed his in greeting "Maloren Hyuuga, so far I've discovered an open safe but no other clues as of yet." He replied simply as he sighed at his lack of progress. He then heard a familiar voice from outside calling out to come out and he went downstairs into the bright light. He smiled widely at the sight of his temporary sensei. "Hello again sensei, it appears we're working together today." He said simply as he bowed his head in greeting. "I haven't found anything yet in the merchants home besides an open and empty safe. We have another teammate as well, one named Orokana." He informed her as he turned back to look inside, scrutinizing everything with his byakugan. There were certainly signs of a struggle. Meaning the people involved either wanted him alive or they weren't trained shinobi. He focused his eyes on the safe and saw that there was no sign of forced entry. That meant either he man had opened it before they had gotten him. Or they forced him to do it. Genjutsu or a well placed threat would've worked in that regard. But this wasn't what he needed. 

They needed a trail of some kind to follow so that they could track them. He looked around and found a small pool of blood in the largest area of the struggle. That meant someone was injured, and if they were in a hurry they wouldn't have had time to address it until later. He walked outside and searched the general area with his byakugan and sure enough could see a trail of blood leading away from the home. "Sensei, Orokana, I have something, a trail of blood leading deeper into the woods, away from the village. I don't know if it's our merchants or the people who him but at least it's a start. He said as he began to move toward the trail of blood. He would go to where the trail really began and await the two of them before moving onward. With sensei here there was little chance this mission would end in failure, no matter what Orokana could or couldn't bring to the table. He looked up at the sky and smiled softly, the heat was still bearing down upon them, and he was in fact sweating now. But he could live with that. 

1120

before malo spoke Orokana was looking out the window noting the blood trail. Orokana then walked into an office and noted a safe opened, and he looked at some papers on the desk seeing if there was something to see to give them any clues, but sadly he got nothing. he sighed looked around a bit. he then walked back to the front door. Orokana listened to what the boy said as he came down and then noted nomo was here joining them. "ah hello again milady, looks like we will be working together on this mission." Orokana smiled at nomo. then looked at malo. "hello sir maloern, pleasure to meet you." Orokana did a small bow. and then listened to what malo said. "Yes I saw the blood trail, if I had to guess it would be the merchant, probably the merchant either owed someone money and they did not want to wait and he did not have the money, or the merchant had something they wanted and the merchant did not give it up. all being a cliché of course." Orokana looked at malo and nomo. "oh and just to get this out of the way malo, since milady knows what I can do, I am a genjutsu user, meaning I will be no were near the front lines." Orokana smiled looking at malo. Orokana was thinking. Was this mission going to be better then I thought? maybe some combat or maybe something interesting will happen, maybe I can test some of my new gen on some people, they would not mind, because they will hopefully be died hehe, maybe if we are going to kill them, the two might want to bring them back to the village alive, which id boring. Orokana put his hand in his pocket, playing with his book once more. "so the mission is to just find the merchant? what about if there is kidnappers, do we kill them or try to bring them back to the village to be dealt with?" Orokana was hoping for we kill them answer. Orokana waited patently for the two to respond. as he waited he looked  around at the mess seeing if they missed something.

(words 677

She noted the two, thankful that those who'd also rallied to aid Konoha were at least people she was knowledgeable about. First was Maloren, a hyuuga like herself...sort of. He posessed the white eyes of their clan and an affinity for taijutsu. That would be incredibly helpful. Second the small boy Orokana. She didn't know too terribly much about him assides from his affinity for genjutsu. had she seen him fight at all? her mind fogged on the details. It wouldn't matter. "well. it couldn't have been a kidnapping, that I know for sure. These borders are completely safe. My prediction is the couple who lived here had just a little too much sake and went out into the night to sleep under the stars."

This was a sound plan. She was certain it was the only way this could have ended.... even if the state of the house suggested otherwise. Boy this must have been some hell of a tussel, she thought to herself. Things were thrown everywhere, A table in the corner laid broken in half and there was blood. She followed the trail of blood through the main entrance way to see the safe opened. that doesn't look like a drunken action but how can this be possible. "Ok. Clearly someone is playing a trick on us. This blood isn't the dripped from a wound kind. " Bending down she'd bring the groups attention to the streaks of red across the wooden floor. "If you'll notice, theres streak lines, suggesting that someone was dragged out. But....Theres no way."

"THink again Kira." Two more figures appeared in the doorway, pulling the attention of the hell's angel away. Apparently Her two team mates were late, but not enough for it to matter.

"Oh good. You two have finally shown up. Maloren, Orokana. This is Selene and Amber. Glad to see you decided to sleep in today when we have very important missions to go about ladies. "

"Actually. We got here a little after dawn. waited a few hours for someone to show up and then began doing recon. It seems whoever lived here was kidnapped. You can tell by the drag marks in the blood. I haven't been able to locate the culprits or victims. The trail stops dead about seventy yards from the door. It looks like we'll need to pay closer attention. where dark things lurk secrets always seem to get through the cracks. "

Shit. How was this even possible. To think that something had made it through their grasp, eluding sight to be able to cause trouble. This would not end well for them. "Alright," Kira started, " So unless you two see something else of importance in here it sounds like we go hunting. Split up into three groups, Oro with Amber, Malo with Selene and I'll go by myself. Search through everything and try your best to find clues to their whereabouts. If you find something call out your sorrow." The final part of her statement was aimed at amber and selene. The strongest heads up the trinity could give was of course the cry of sorrow, which would ressonate through the entirety of the borders. "oro. malo. If you heard a loud screech it means one of us has found them. Rush to where it came from quickly and be prepared for a fight just in case. "

(1230/2667 enter amber and selene with summons under their cloaks, 2 stacks nature energy for amber and selene 4 for kira)

Maloren listened to her instructions and nodded his head in acknowledgement. He remembered Amber and Selene from his training with her. He expected them to be a large help. He looked towards Orokana and nodded at him as way of saying 'good luck' and dashed off into the forest, knowing Selene would follow with him. He would be quiet for the trek, as he wouldn't want to give off their position if the kidnappers were about. His Byakugan blazed through the canopy as he hunted for those responsible. He hoped they could rescue the merchant in time, he would hate to have innocent blood be spilled because he wasn't quick enough. That thought simply seemed unbearable to him and so he resolved himself to succeed. The heat of the sun continued to beat down on them as this went on, not letting up for even a moment in it's burning abuse from the sky. 

As he dashed through the trees with Selene nearby he stopped short and looked around. He could've sworn he had seen something skirting the edge of his vision. He made a quick gesture to Selene to get her attention and pointed in the direction he thought he had seen the disturbance. He wasn't see what it was, but it definitely had a chakra system. She was the faster and more stealthy of the two of them so he figured she was better equipped to check while he scouted for anything else while she did. He briefly wondered how Orokana was doing. He didn't know the guy at all and that worried him because he would hate for his fellow konoha shinobi to get hurt. He shook this thought out of his quickly however, as he knew Amber was with him. Which meant he was as safe as he could be. 

He knew better than to worry about Sensei, she could easily handle this solo, she defended the borders from all kinds of threats after all. In the end it all boiled down to the fact that he was simply nervous with Jace and Queen around, he had become accustomed to their presence. He would need to train with them when he returned to the village. Perhaps with Queen, as he and Jace had already had a training session. He shook these thoughts from his head as he watched Selene carefully to make sure her back was watched. He wouldn't let her get injured because his head was in the clouds. He knew she could take care of herself, but even the most powerful shinobi could fall to a simple kunai. 

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Orokana watched as the two came in. he knew one of them sadly. but he ignored it and walked up to her. "milday amber, let us go." Orokana said looking at her smiling. he then walked out of the home. he slowly walked into the forest. he studied the forest seeing if there was something that should not be in the forest. sadly he did not see anything abnormal. he walked around more. listen to amber follow him. he did not hear anything abnormal, all he hear was the trigs and leafs crunch as he walked and birds singing. he sighed as he walked. he looked up to see the sun. he did not mind this but he felt tense, he was weak and he knew he was, all he could hope for was to not die and use gen so the others could do something. that was his plan and he liked it. worst case is I run, might be a coward but I can still live. he was new at this and did not have any tracking Jutsu but he was smart so he could still try and help. he thought he saw someone near him, but he dismissed it, he was not sure so he would amber keep watch as he studied the forest as they walked. "amber tell me if you find anything or see something abnormal." Orokana said with a monotone voice then saw a path that looked abnormal. he started following it.

"there's a path here amber, looks fresh, might be someone or a animal." Orokana said quietly. he lowed as he followed the path, then heard some people talking. he stopped moving and listened. he could not make out what they said but they where close. looked like there was two of them. Orokana calmed his breathing. which was hard to do because he was panicking. this was a live or die mission. his first. he had no offense and he only had gen. he looked at amber hoping she had an idea. he looked up trying to see movement and he could not. his heart was beating but he remained calm. he started storing chakra waiting to see if he needed to cast some gen or not, he hoped he did not need to. he waited till he saw them make a first move or amber make it, he was not that was for sure. And then he hide behind a tree, watching ambers movements. tried calming down. he can not panic right now he needed to be relaxed. he then tried to listen, see where they are, he took a peak from his hiding spot next to the tree. a kuni flew past him, but he could not see from where. "fuck, that was closer then I would like." Orokana looked at amber. "i will support you but I need you to get there attention I can not do anything if they are trying to aim for me." Orokana said trying to sound calm. he was sweating a lot and he felt he was knocking on hells doors here, he had no idea who they are or what they could do, but he then smiled. he was going to enjoy this or try to.

(1220 wc

The three groups split up, finding opposite directions to ensure their teams would be able to cover the distance more easily then Amber and selene could themselves. Treading through heavy underbrush the first group, led by Selene approached in near silence. The girl activated the cloak of the night, A black film seeming to float across her form, allowing the unlit forrest line to become her shelter. As the boy stopped she turned her attention, noticing he'd found something. Beneath her a small string of black shadow flowed, reaching through the trees towards the direction he'd pointed to. She felt the power of her chakra hold something within the grasp of the shadow imitation, however there was no fight.

"It would seem the target is quite weak. They should be subdued." She'd say with all the emotional depth of a card board box. Good ole selene. Always calm and passive. If the boy went through to check on what he'd noticed he'd find a grim sight ahead of him. There lying on the ground about seven meters away was infact the chakra network he'd noticed, however unfortunately it came with a bit of a down side. Lying with her face in the dirt was a woman, her body bruised and bleeding. She drew shallow breaths that seemed to gurgle with blood seeping swiftly into her lungs. She was nearly dead, so near in fact that as the two went to investigate the soft movement of her chest would stop. her eyes went out of focus as her body finally gave up, the clenching fist reaching out to the boy releasing for good. "Well. That's unfortunate" The avatar of sorrow would speak to the boy. Forming a couple of seals she caused the body to sink into the ground using earth style before addressing him again. "It would seem that we are not quite in the proper position. Would you prefer to move on in this path or head towards one of the groups. Just as she did this two cries echoed across the forrest, one from the east and one from the west. The sound was piercing, like to a terrified maiden breathing her last shrieking breath before her spirit left the world of the flesh to transport to the afterlife.

As selene and maloren moved to find the assumed wife that lived in the cottage, Amber walked with the small genjutsu user through the heavy packed forrest east of the first groups position. She stopped, hearing sound as Orokana did and held out a hand to stop him. She noticed immediately at the path the boy had noticed that something had happened this way, however to expect them to find life this close to the start of their tracking was a surprising feat. Their moment to strike came far before the demon of chance would have preffered, when two ninja weapons flew through the air, cutting through vines and branches with incredible ease on a collision course with the duo. Thankfully both missed the boy, mostly because they seemed aimed more so at the demon of chance who let out a soft sigh. With a terrifying blood curdling screech the likes of which very few in this world had ever heard she summoned the twin daggers disdain, each forming quickly of black energy. The chain connecting the pair seemed to snake downward towards the ground, collecting at her feet in a pile as she brought the two weapons upward. The ringing of steel on steel confirmed to any around the corner that there was a hit, but not waht the assailants wanted. Releasing the two weapons she sent them on a course that exactly mimiced the attackers, the ringing of chain barely audible in the air as her weapons saught to exstinguish the light from her opponents eyes. Moments later there was a heavy thud, though it wasn't that of flesh meeting steel as much as wood.

"Follow me." In a single bound she pushed through to the clearing where they'd heard voices but.... There was nothing. two wooden contraptions set in the tree tops with their ammo spent. Several more were set up in a circle around the area but while they'd heard voices it would seem as if no one was actually around, up until the point when amber's steps forward met hollow ground. Silently she motioned beneath her, where there must have been a trap door. ~Kira. Selene. I believe I've found them. On me whenever you're free.~ The words slid solely into the minds of the trinity as Amber motioned for the boy to prepare, backing up as she waited for back up.


Alone the Hell's angel ripped through the forrest, rushing past tree and vine, the cloak of shadows hiding her form and behind the power of her ten tailed gelel demon shroud. The tails whipped about, shadow sewing active within them to cut through anthing in her path until she felt something catch the edge of her foot. In an instant she was lifted upward, a heavy net wrapping around her body to twist up her limbs as she found herself suspended from the ground. "Shit." She searched the area for the attacker, or someone who'd recently set up this trap but found her place empty. With a sight she allowed the chakra within her to burst out, ten sharpened tendrils of shadow power cutting the netting to ribbons in barelly a moment. As her feet touched down against the earth she heard the thought speach command. "Perfect." Her form was barelly noticable as she allowed the stacks of nature energy to do their job, the effects of incomplete sage mode with pixie whiles pushing her through the borders at a speed of one hundred and ninety five towards where she knew amber to be, and as she moved the signature scythe of sorrow seemed to rip itself from infinity to form in her black cloaked hands. This would be a terrifying sight for any who saw, though thankfully as she passed Maloren and Selene her speed would most likely be too much for the boy to even register.

(2256/2667)

Maloren heard the terrible screech that pierced the forests quiet scenery as easily as anyone else would. He turned in the direction and dashed through the canopy at a mere speed of seventy seven. He knew selene was at his back the entire time. She certainly was a quiet woman, something Maloren was exceedingly thankful for. He wasn't much for talking to much with people he didn't know too well, and while he'd seen Selene and Amber they had spoken exclusively to sensei as if he hadn't really existed besides the brief nods acknowledging his introduction. He didn't mind that, of course, but it left with very little to say at all. He continued dashing through the trees toward the screech knowing that to Selene it would feel like a snails pace, although there wasn't much he could do about it. He figured the screech had come from Amber as it came from where they had gone so they were running to back them up. 

He suddenly felt a frightening presence for a split second before it seemingly disappeared. Whatever it was had sent a shiver down his spine and made his blood run cold like it never had before.  He looked around for what it could possibly have been with his byakugan but couldn't see or sense anything and this confused him greatly. It hit him in a flash, it must have been sensei. The feeling felt similar to that night when she had almost killed him, and she must have been moving toward the other two "If you want to catch up, feel free, I can take care of myself against foes like the ones we're dealing with just fine."  He would say, and it was true too. He hasn't worried about his abilities in combat, far from it in fact. And he could and would catch up as soon as he could but he was simply slowing her down at this point. 

He continued to dash at his max speed through the forest and after awhile found Orokana and Amber. His eyes catching the traps in the trees. "Well now doesn't that just look inviting?" He cracked as he looked at the trap door and shrugged, sensei would be around, she passed him after all. Might as well head on inside. He jumped into the trap door and continuously scouted with his byakugan. The area was a winding maze of hallways that he was certain were mostly trapped. The idea of it however made him laugh as with his byakugan he could easily see the path. He moved down the correct one, figuring orokana at least would follow while Sensei, Amber, and Selene would probably have their own way was navigating on move on their own. As he passed certain hallways a few kunai, shuriken, or even spears would fire down toward them. Maloren would easily bat them away with his Gentle fist before they were even a problem. As he continued down the winding paths on the only route he could that didn't end up in a dead end. He had finally seen the end of it. The path had led them to a large room in which the merchant was hog tied in the midlde of and was surrounded by a rather large group of bandits. 

Maloren rolled his eyes as he already predicted sensei would want him and Orokana to protect the Merchant while they had all the fun. Oh well, he could certainly live with that. If she ordered them to protect him he'd dash in at his max speed and move to the side of the surrounded merchant. No one would be able to get to him without him seeing it this way, and he was fast enough to handle any threat from them. He would crack in neck in preparation as sudden realization would befall the bandits before they were all wiped out. They wouldn't touch Maloren, or the merchant, one way or another.

If however she surprised him and told him to take out the bandits he would dash forward to the nearest on at full speed while whoever was meant to guard the merchant moved to do so. He would reach the first bandit and use a mountain crusher on him, blowing a hole clean through his chest and flying through the group of bandits, knocking a good few out with his death. That would put all of the attention on him and he would briefly smile and wave in a fairly condescending manner in order to invoke rage at him. Then he would drop into his one hundred and twenty eight palms stance and smirk as some of the bandits recognized a Hyuuga. He then tear into them like wet paper with the technique. Each strike powerful enough to knock out a single man as he tore through the number like a madman. 

After either or were done he knew the mission would pretty much be over. So he'd walk over to the target and look him up and down with his byakugan before declaring "They roughed him up a bit, but he's still well within the confines of this earth." He would say as he looked the man in the eye "Why did they want you anyway?..." He would ask and nod as the man would explain that they were after his money and were drafting a random note to be sent to another family member. Maloren would then sigh and inform the man that his wife had been killed by the very men that were just slaughtered like cattle. He would nod his head in his condolences but then get back to mission mode as he continued scouting around with his byakugan. He wouldn't see anymore threats, all in all the mission was only ranked as it had been because of the wealth of the merchant. It meant quite a bit to the village to have merchants such as him there and if they didn't provide the appropriate mission level to make sure the situation was rectified the other merchants might leave. He mentally shrugged, that's the way it worked after all. 

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