Mission Blitz

A growl from the boy's stomach, indicated what he would be doing while they waited for the contractos to arrive. He had neglected breakfast this morning and did not want to go out of the village on an empty stomach. "Since we have time, I think I'll grab a bite to eat while you do that Kotsuzui. Kisuke you don't want to come do you?" It was highly unlikely his fellow Uchiha would join him, but it did not hurt to offer. Another growl from his stomach and the boy was off, regardless of what his fellow Uchiha said Kaze was going to get some food.

After grabbing a bite to eat the young Uchiha made his way back to the meetup spot, the contractors had not arrived yet so he decided to relax until then. The boy found spot up in a tree in between two branches where he took a seat while Kotsuzui gave a little more info regarding their mission, something that made Kaze think. 'Why would the village give this mission to a genin squad if missing ninja could be involved?' The boy would not complain, he loved a good challenge and this could serve as a good test to see how strong he had gotten depending on if they ran into any ninja. The caravan pulled up right as young Uchiha had truly gotten comfortable in the tree. He quickly hopped out of the tree and prepared to depart, which happened almost immediately. They wasted no time once the caravan found out this was their escort they took off for their home. "Guess they're in a hurry."

As the group traveled Kotsuzui asked if anyone had any ideas for a formation, Kaze was no commander but he did have one idea in his head. "One of us should definitely stay with the caravan, since you volunteered that can be you Kots. Kisuke and I will stay hidden in the trees on either side of the road. Whoever wants these guys probably doesn't want to have to fight unless they have to, so if we give the impression that the caravan is light on protection they might let their guard down thinking they will have it easy. That's when we hit them, in theory anyways." If his teammates agreed to his strategy the boy would take his place up in the trees on the right side of the road watching for anything suspicious.

Kisuke frowned in confusion at Kotsuzui's apparent insult. He did not understand what bad lungs had to do with throwing a punch. If Kisuke was getting into a fight with the tree that would drag on and actually require some sort of stamina then maybe a smoker would have problems. However throwing one punch and a stationary object that did not fight back was a different story. Kisuke simply remained silent as he had herd retarded things come out of the Kaguya's mouth and learnt early on it was best simply not to respond. Having not paid any attention to the kid he saved previously, Kisuke remained leaning against the village wall while Kotsuzui handled bringing the runt back.

"You guessed right." Kisuke said to Kaze as he sat down on the grass with his back up against the wall. Stretching his legs out strait ahead of him and crossing his arms across his chest, the young Uchiha would mumbled while his cigarette dangled from the edge of his lips, dropping some ash onto his jacket "I'll wait here for you fools to get back." Resting the back off his head on the wall as well, he would take a deep inhale from his cigarette and closed his eyes. Kisuke would remain like that even when the caravan arrived, completely ignoring their arrival. He only showed signs of life other than smoking his cigarette when both of his allies had arrived. Grunting his way onto his feet, Kisuke would pull out what little remained of his cigarette with his index finger and thumb. Strolling towards the caravan, Kisuke would carelessly flick the remains onto the dirt before saying in response to Kaze "They have the right idea. I'd like to finish this as quickly as possible."

Stuffing his hands into the depths of his leather jacket pockets, Kisuke would trod after the caravan alongside his team. As he usually did, Kisuke listened to his allies speak as they worked out what the best formation was. Taking it all in and planning out his own scenarios, the young Uchiha would add in to what Kaze said "Well, we know that there are missing nin after this caravan. Therefore the enemy are probably aware that the caravan will be guarded. There is a chance they've set up an ambush somewhere down the road. In either case, if they came at us directly from the road or an ambush, I agree. Heading into the three line is probably best. Like Kaze said, they may think its lightly guarded or we may catch sight of the ambush before the caravan falls into it. Ill stay ahead of the caravan as a scout." Heading for the tree line to the right of the road, Kisuke would say "Stay alert boys." Before hopping into the forest and out of sight. 

474/1597

Both Uchiha's agreed with Kotsuzui taking the front. Kaze added in stating that he and Kisuke would head into the tree line. An attack or ambush was likely to be expected, so if the Konoha squad made it look like only Kotsuzui was guarding the caravan then it created the opportunity to catch them off guard. "Sounds as good as any plan to me" Kotsuzui said once both Kisuke and Kotsuzui agreed to going into the treeline. With everything discussed, Both the Uchiha partners jumped into the right side of the tree light taking cover from sight, though Kisuke would make his way further up ahead to scout out the route to see if he could spot anything. With a single hop the Kaguya landed ahead of the first caravan and led the way, making sure he kept up the same pace as the horses as to not slow them down. 

It was now a bit later than mid day and the sun had reached its peak in the sky. Though the clouds were still present and obscuring the rays of the sun. They had been traveling for quite some time and with the possibility of an ambush the Kaguya was forced to be on high alert at all moments. Though he had no realized the mental exhaustion it took in order to be on high alert every second. Kotsuzui had to react to every movement in the bushes or tree, every rustling sound he heard from the sides or up ahead just in case an ambush managed to slip by the Uchiha's and attack. He was just hoping Kisuke would scout them out prior to anything happening. Kotsuzui hated being on the other end of surprises. Hidden further up ahead also hiding within the tree line was a single ninja of the Volcano village sent to intercept the contractors and assassinate them. A recently promoted Chuunin of the village, he awaited the arrival of the caravans. Being hidden would make it more difficult for Kisuke to spot him.

It took about 30 minutes for the caravans to be about 20 feet out from where the Chuunin was watching from, waiting for the right moment to make the move. As they approached, Kotsuzui touched down onto the ground with his bare foot and noticed that the ground had instantly turned much softer than just a moment ago. The Kaguya hardly had enough time to look down at his feet before the ground caved in and the Kaguya fell into a massive whole. Luckily, because Kotsuzui was ahead of the caravans they did not fall into the trap. Kotsuzui set it off too early. Kotsuzui managed to catch himself within the hole as he stabbed his hand into the earth wall of the hole coming to a halt. Looking down, Kotsuzui noticed the bottom of the pit was littered with earth spikes. Kotsuzui let out a little grin knowing he just escaped death, but also because better he set the trap off than the caravans. 

The chuunin's nose flared just a bit, having wanted the caravans to set the trap off. But he was un-phased, for his team had prepared counter measures. Moments later the ground under both caravans sunk in with the use of the Moving Earth Core jutsu. Three Volcano Genins crawled their way out from the earth walls around with caravans with kunai's in hand as they moved in to kill the caravan riders and the Contractors. 
581/2035/2665

ooc: you guys can control anyone of the ninja that you intercept within your posts.

The boy's teammates had agreed to his plan, now it was time to put it into action. The Uchiha was hidden up in the trees alongside the caravan, it was his job to pick out anything that may have been missed by Kisuke, who was a bit ahead scouting for enemies. Kaze was appreciative for the time he had spent using his sharingan for extended amounts of time in training because now it was paying off. The drain from using his eyes was still there it was just more tolerable and did not take away from his ability to do his job. Every once in a while the boy would take a look at the caravan to make sure nothing had changed, and each time he was greeted with the same boring sight. It seemed like the mission would go off without a hitch, but he was in a for a surprise.

They were about half an hour into the trip when Kaze spotted a chakra signature ahead of them, as he turned to signal Kotsuzui, the ground below the Kaguya gave way dropping him into a hole. Mere seconds later the land occupied by the caravan sunk downward creating a four sided pit of death for all the passengers. With a quick glance towards the hole his teammate had fallen into the boy's sharingan was still able to pick up Kotsuzui's chakra meaning he was still alive. Without a second thought Kaze launched himself towards the second pit, Kots was a trained shinobi he could handle himself. As the Uchiha fell down the hole he pulled two kunai from the pouch resting on his back hip, he jabbed them into the wall nearest him using the weapons to slow his descent. He hit the ground hard rolling to cushion the impact, there were three enemy ninja visible moving in on the caravan with a fourth no doubt on his way. 

'We walked right into an ambush!' With his mind racing Kaze dashed over towards the shinobi taking an angle that allowed him to position himself between them and their target. The boy's body instinctively dropped into a fighting stance as his hands speedily formed a series of seals spawning ten heads of fire in various locations around him once the seals were completed. The three volcano ninja, identifiable by their headbands, all paused eyeing the Uchiha and his jutsu. "I'm only going to say this once. If you want to live go back to your village." They ignored his warning all rushing at him. A single head was sent towards the feet of one enemy, the ball of fire crashed into the ground exploding roughly a meter in front of the opposing ninja stopping them all in their tracks once more. "I guess we'll have to do things the hard way." A devilish smirk found its way onto the young boy's face as he sent the remaining 9 heads at his opponents, the volcano ninja dipped and dodged wary of being hit by the exploding balls of fire. The demonic red orbs moved in harmony in 3 separate groups, one for each opponent, their movements somewhat like a violent dance, one would dive in while another circled around from behind before speeding towards its target. The enemy shinobi were forced to join in this dangerous dance unless they wanted to go out with a bang. Kaze did not doubt his ability to take the three volcano ninja out, but he might not be able to keep the caravan safe while trying to defeat the enemy. Therefore delaying them ensured the safety of the caravan until someone could help him out. 

-35 AP for Demon Lantern
-10 AP for Sharingan
305 AP Remaining

(OOC: Sorry for the delay)

The young Uchiha was slowly making his way through the dense canopy of trees, every one of his senses on high alert. Being the scout of their little group, it was Kisuke's job to spot any trouble before it had to opportunity to cause some trouble. As he slowly and systematically made his way through the trees, making as little noise as someone of his skill level could make Kisuke paid attention to every little detail possible. His eyes darted from left to right none stop, trying to see if he could pick out anything particular or something that was out of place. Sometimes he would swiftly look over towards the direction he may have herd something. It was usually just the rustling of leaves do to the blowing wind however he always looked to make sure. He also kept his nose active, sniffing here and there just in case someone had set up a trap with some sort of gas. If even the faintest odour could be sensed then Kisuke made sure he would catch it. Being this aware and constantly sensing his surroundings was like being in a horror movie, he felt paranoid. This was a prime example of when he wished he still had his sharingan. 

However, all the effort he put into being aware was for not as Kotsuzui stepped right into a trap. Swiftly Kisuke's head jolted to the left, turning towards the source of the trap activating. It being some ways behind, Kisuke knew it came from where the caravan was and he immediately jumped towards the tree line. Landing onto the side of a tree trunk, now having a clear view of the path Kisuke saw everything that unfolded. Kotsuzui was hanging just inside a bit and behind him a second pit was being created, taking the caravan down with it. From where he was situated, Kisuke could see Kaze jumped down into the second pit to protect the caravan. Kisuke would have joined him however just as he was getting ready to react he saw someone emerge from the tree line on the opposite side of the road. Wearing a Volcano village head guard, the Chuunin was sneakily making his way towards the pit Kotsuzui found himself hanging in. 

Swiftly darting along side the tree line to get closer to his allies, Kisuke would release his chakra into the surrounding area in one swift burst. The Chuunin would sense the sudden raise in a chakra level and divert his attention towards the source. As he did this, to his eyes the pit Kotsuzui was hanging in would vanish. The ground had formed back to normal, leaving no trace of the pit having ever existed. Once his Genjutsu was active and Kotsuzui was momentarily out of harms way till he got his ass out of there, Kisuke pounced into the air, performing the Hoarse-Tiger seal in quick succession. Upon landing on the ground the Uchiha released the welled up chakra in his chest in the form a spherical ball of fire from his mouth. Being followed by a thin stream of flame, the fire ball rolled through the air strait towards the Chuunin, who would probably easily avoid the incoming ball of flame. This was really just a distraction to give Kotsuzui enough time to make it to his feet and decide whether he was going to help Kaze with the caravan or help Kisuke fight the Chuunin before him.

577/2174

OOC:

AP = 423 
- 24(Demonic Illusion: False Surroundings Technique) 
- 20(Fire Release: Great Fireball) 
= 379

Knowing there was no time to waste, Kotsuzui placed both his feet on the side of the hole. Simultaneously, the Kaguya pulled his hand out from the wall and pushed off of it launching himself out of the death pit and back up to the surface. Once clear from the trap Kotsuzui could fully analyze the situation. They had been ambushed by a team of Volcano ninja, as Kaze was clearly fighting the three Genin with his fire lantern jutsu while the Chuunin was engaged by Kisuke. He had a choice here, to help Kaze fend off the Genin from the caravan, or to help Kisuke take down the Chuunin leader. The Kaguya didn't have to help either one if need be for both Uchiha were capable of handling the situation on their own, but he couldn't stand around and let them have all the fun in the first place. Having to act quick, the Kaguya decided to join in on the pit fight with Kaze for protecting the caravan was the main priority. If it and the Contractors inside were to be taken down then their whole mission would be a failure.
 
Kotsuzui jumped into the pit that held Kaze, the three Genin and the two caravans as he placed his feet onto the sides of it coming to a halt. Now being inside the pit but hanging from the sides of it, he was now both closer to the action and had a vantage point on the three Genin. Kaze was using the same jutsu he used when they both sparred against each other, thus Kotsuzui knew the skill Kaze possessed while using the jutsu and the power of it. The Genin seemed to be fairing pretty good at the moment, managing to avoid the oncoming fire balls. But they could not risk one of them slipping past the jutsu and getting to the caravan. Lifting both his arms up and pointing each one in the direction of a Genin, Kotsuzui pointed at them with his pointer and middle finger as he made a make shift "gun" with his hands. Kotsuzui waited like that for a few moments, making sure to wait for the right moment. Because the Genin were so preoccupied with avoiding the fire heads they were constantly hoping and moving around making it harder for the Kaguya the aim. Finally, a grin slowly opened up on Kotsuzui's face while uttering the words "bang bang". From both hands, Kotsuzui released a bone bullet from his pointer and middle finger. Two bullets would pierce right into the left thigh of one Genin as the other two plunged right above the hip of a second Genin. This would stump their evasive maneuvers just enough to open up a clear window for Kaze to take them out. If successful, there would only be one left. In the case of one Genin remaining, Kotsuzui would leave it to Kaze knowing full well he could handle it. If it did not work and there were still three Genin to take care of, Kotsuzui would remain.
 
If successful, Kotsuzui would jump out of the pit and back to where he stood before jumping down to help Kaze. Turning towards where Kisuke and the Chuunin had been, Kotsuzui would see how well Kisuke had fended for himself and see if his other Uchiha partner would require his assistance as well.

567/2602/2665

-1 ap for hanging on pit wall
-20 ap for Ten Finger Drilling Bullets
AP = 423 - 21 = 402

Down in the second pit there was a stalemate, the volcano ninja could not far enough away from Kaze's jutsu to attack the caravan and the Uchiha had to focus solely on maneuvering the 9 heads. The fact that the boy had to avoid shuriken as well did not make things any easier, but he was managing. Up to this point he had only been worrying about buying time now it was time to make an offensive push. Delaying the enemies attack in hopes one of his teammates coming to help him was wishful thinking, the boy had no idea what could have been happening above ground. His teammates could have been in a situation much worse than his current predicament, so he made his move.

Responding to Kaze's will the demonic spheres of fire intensified their attacks. Instead of graceful arcs the lanterns made jagged unorthodox moves in an attempt to open the opposing genin up for killing blow. Unknown to the four shinobi battling down in the pit, Kotsuzui had made his way into their pit and had taken aim at two of them. The shortest and seemingly youngest of the volcano genin was beginning to have trouble avoiding the new aggressive movements of the lanterns, picking up on this the Uchiha used his jutsu to direct the young shinobi closer to one of the other enemy genin. Right before Kaze had them close enough to each other to finish them one of his spheres exploded near the thigh of the youngest of the three and the second enemy just fell in the middle of dodging. He had not commanded the sphere to explode but it had worked in his favor, two of his targets were now vulnerable and he wasted no time directing a number of his fiery orbs to end them. Five more explosions sounded and only one enemy stood in front of the young Uchiha.

Taking a quick glance at the top of the pit the boy saw Kotsuzui leaping out, the sight instantly explained what had just happened. The Kaguya had tipped the scale and now expected the boy to finish the job himself. Planning on meeting that expectation Kaze directed his lanterns upward towards the face of the last volcano genin, detonating them at eye level. This genin was by far the most skilled of the three, which was evident because she was still alive. She was too talented to be hit by the jutsu but that was not the objective, the explosion of the three remaining heads had served as a distraction. The flash they caused upon erupting would blind the girl for a few seconds, which was all the young Uchiha needed to finish her off. Forming two seals the boy gathered chakra at the back of his throat before a large fireball shot from his mouth racing towards the defenseless kunoichi. The screams Kaze heard coming from the fireball meant his attack had hit its mark and the caravan was safe for now. He turned towards the passengers of the caravan directing them to stay where they were before he dashed up the side of the pit to see what was happening above ground.

-10 AP for Sharingan
-20 AP for Great Fireball
-1 AP for wall run
274 AP Remaining

It appeared Kotsuzui had chosen to assist Kaze in protecting the caravan, which was the right choice to make considering f they lost that caravan their mission would be a failure. Besides, Kisuke could handle this one Chuunin, or at least hold him off. If he wasnt able to then this whole mission was for not considering the only reason they were doing these mission was to rank up to the level of Chuunin. Continuously shooting forth the chakra he had welled up inside his chest, the rolling ball of intense heat was met by a wall of earth, raised from the ground just in front of the Volcano Chuunin. Seeing his orb of flame explode upon contact, Kisuke would cut the stream of fire by closing his mouth and thus stopping the flow of chakra. The earth wall stood for a while, charred and smoking from the fire jutsu however it soon crumbled and broke apart, falling to the ground and revealing the Chuunin hiding behind it un-touched. 

"That was a close call." Chuckled the Volcano ninja and he clapped his hands together into the Ram seal. Performing the Earth Shadow Clone jutsu, out of the ground two feet to his left the earth and mud would begin to shift and rise. Grouping together, the earth would form into a perfect clone of the enemy. Down in a defensive stance, Kisuke would take a few steps backwards as his eyes drifted from the real Chuunin to his shadow clone. Kisuke's eyes fell upon the real Chuunin as his hands that were still in the Ram seal was released and he then clapped his hands together before slapping his palms onto the ground. Knowing exactly what was coming, while the shadow clone pounced into the air, Kisuke swiftly activated an earth jutsu of his own. The enemies jutsu took effect and the ground bellow him began raising into the air, heading strait for the descending shadow clone that was about to meet him.

Kisuke would sink right into the raising earth as if it had turned into water, avoiding the incoming attack from above just barely. Now hidden within the raised earth, Kisuke would use this opportunity to counter attack. From inside the earth the Uchiha would perform a quick succession of hand seals. Shooting out his chakra once more into the surrounding area, once it engulfed the Chuunin he would fall victim to yet another one of Kisuke's Genjutsus. Suddenly to the senses of the Volcano shinobi, a fast growing tree and begun to coil its roots and branches around him from behind. His arms, legs, waist and neck were all dangerously constricted by the tree that seemingly came out of the forest behind him, now preventing him from being able to move. As he struggled to free himself, Kisuke would use this distraction to finish him off. Not only did this Genjutsu paralyse his opponent but it also made Kisuke invisible to his sight, being the perfect Genjutsu to easily move around and finish off a target without any resistance. Pouncing out the side of the raised earth, with two hands Kisuke would thrust a kunai right into the throat of the paralysed Volcano squad leader. 

538/2712

OOC:

AP = 379
- 20(Hiding Like a Mole)
- 35(Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death)
= 324

When Kotsuzui made it back to ground level to see if Kisuke needed help with the Chunin, he quickly saw that the Uchiha did not need any help. Kisuke wad just dashed out of a raised earth core towards the Chunin but the Chunin did not move a single muscle in response to the charging Uchiha. Kisuke must have placed the nin in one of his many genjutsus. Just like that Kisuke took the leader of the ambush unit out and his earth clone crumbled to dust. "Would you look at that" Kotsuzui said once Kaze had also made his way back to ground level, "we handled the situation quite well and I didn't even have to break a sweat." It was time to get the mission back on track and get the caravans back onto the main road. Clapping his hands together, Kotsuzui went on to slap them onto the ground raising the platform which the caravans were on back to ground level. The Kaguya followed up by doing it again to lower the platform the Chunin had created during his short bout with Kisuke as it was blocking the main road. "We should retake our original positions in case there are more people planning on ambushing us" Kotsuzui said. Once the three Genin's were in place, they would be back on track to the Volcano village.

The mission continued with no other distractions. By the time they reached the Volcano village the sun had begun to set behind all the clouds. The Contractors thanked the three Genins for their service and provided them with a signed paper confirming their safe arrival so that a proper reward for completing the mission could be had. Kotsuzui turned to his two Uchiha partners to inform them of their next and final mission for the day. "Looks like the day isn't over. We've gotta head back to a cemetery just outside of Konoha that has had some grave robbers as of late. I'm gonna grab something quick to eat and drink here. We need to make it back for night and the sun's already began to set, which means we'll need to be quick. I suggest we get some energy. Lets meet back here in five." After getting a quick sandwich and some water, Kotsuzui was back at the Volcano gates. Once his two partners were ready as well, they would head out back to Konoha both as fast as possible but also trying to conserve energy. They would need it if they wanted to make it back to Konoha by night time but also to stay away and wait out the grave robbers.

It was now night time and the team of Genin's had just made it to the cemetery just outside of the village within Konoha's forest. There was no sight of any grave robbers so they may still be in luck. Kotsuzui decided to take a moment to gather himself after the long journey back. "So...what's the game plan?" he'd ask, looking at his two Uchiha teammates.
508/3110/3998

AP: 402 - 20(Moving Earth Core) = 382

Mission 4:

As the Uchiha made his way out the pit he was able to watch as Kisuke dealt the final blow to the leader of the ambush party. "I'm glad you had a nice, relaxing time in that hole Kots." Kaze responded jokingly while the Kaguya shifted the earth around them back to its normal position. As the earth was moved the boy realized how much of a hassle it could have been if no one in his squad was capable of earth jutsu, getting the caravan out of the hole would have definitely put them further behind schedule. It would most likely be dark before they made it back to the village not to mention they probably had at least one more mission to complete before they could call it a day. 

Once the caravan was ready to move Kaze made his way back into the trees in case of another attack, as Kotsuzui had mentioned a moment ago. Luckily for the genin the mission went off without any further issues. Once inside their village the contractors thanked their escorts before giving the ninja a paper signifying the mission was a success. The young Uchiha suppressed a sigh as Kotsuzui announced that they had yet another mission and it required them to get back to the village in a hurry. The boy could only wonder what kind of thought process had gone into assigning these missions, one would think that after traveling to another village they would be done for the day apparently that's not how things worked in Konoha. He had no problem with the workload he just could not understand why the village would send shinobi out on missions, that would normally call for a fully rested ninja, to a group of genin who had already been assigned multiple missions throughout the day. He would get no where trying to make sense of their assignments so he would just grab a bite to eat and meet back up with his teammates before they had to rush back to Konoha.

The three genin had made it back just as night set in, now they were at the cemetery on lookout. Kaze rested up on a branch of a tree, the higher ground allowed him to see further even though it was almost pitch black tonight. The boy turned his head to look down at his teammates, "Well this cemetery is quiet large so it would probably be best if we all spread out a bit so we have better visual coverage of the area. These guys are grave robbers so they should not present us with any real danger and if they do put up a fight we won't be spread too far apart so we will be able to assist each other. That is if they are able to detect us considering how dark it is right now." A single drop of rain landed on the Uchiha's nose causing him to pause and look up at starless sky. "But I'm not tactical genius so whatever you guys come up with is fine with me."