Better Than Booze (Mission)

Spoiler:

Rakka Yuki was on the easiest mission she’d had in quite some time. She had been sent to catch a thief. Normally, this sort of work would be designated to the genin of Kirigakure, but with their resources drawn so thin due to the war, Rakka was assigned to this menial task. To be honest, she was a little thankful. It was nice to get some action, instead of just standing on guard duty. A thief has been busy putting his greasy little fingers on everything in Kirigakure. What was normally a genin’s training exercise was now Rakka’s warm up for the day. Now, she was in the streets of Kirigakure, looking for a thief, who was taking advantage of Kirigakure’s laxed defenses to steal and pillage the helpless villagers.

So here she was, on the rooftops, looking for a thief. Rakka was really nothing special as a sensory ninja. Plenty were better than she in the area of subtlety and subterfuge, and plenty possessed far greater sensory abilities. What Rakka possessed was something much greater: The ability to rain death from above and make life a living hell for any who dared to hide from her. She carried a reputation as a weapon of mass destruction, leaving massive casualties and collateral damage to any who opposed her on her missions. She was feared by the criminals of Kirigakure. Therefore, all Rakka had to do was show her face and flash a knowing look. It was a flawless plan.

It was a bit of a chilly day here in Kirigakure, not that it bothered Rakka. Being a Yuki, she was naturally resistant to the cold, and it seemed that her power was only increasing. Why, her very chakra seemed to be emboldened by the cold. Rakka had never truly embraced her heritage as a member of the Yuki clan, in part because her mother was the only other Yuki she knew, besides that one kid she met from Tengakure. Huh… She wondered where he was now. It had been rather creepy how he tried to flirt with her, so perhaps it was best she did not cross paths with him again.

Standing there in the cold winds, she realized that she actually felt her chakra rising in potency. Actually increasing in power, as if the cold itself was bolstering her. It was a strange feeling. Even now, using Hyoton as freely as she did, Rakka had not truly embraced her clan’s abilities, had not delved deeper into it, had not made much of an attempt to do so. Katon was just so much more fun for her. Now, however, she felt like she had been missing something. Members of the Yuki clan were quite powerful, and though they exist only scattered now, she knew from stories that they were a force to be reckoned with. Perhaps Rakka should have paid them more mind. Perhaps she should have tried harder to delve into her family history.

As she pondered these things, she felt another chill from the winds, one that seemed to bolster her chakra again, sending a feeling of power coursing through her, crawling up her spine, and reminding her of her task. She was to catch a thief.

Hopping down from the rooftop, Rakka caught sight of the pickpocket, slipping a woman’s earrings off and sliding a handful of ryo from her purse, bumping into her and stealing an heirloom necklace before vanishing into the crowd. He was good. Thankfully, Rakka was better.

”Clear the streets, now!” Rakka shouted, throwing her head back and breathing a jet of fire. Just as she had hoped, everyone scattered, and Rakka found her culprit, plain as day, running for dear life as he realized just who was after him. She walked at a leisurely pace as he tried to escape judgement, shooting spears of ice from the ground to entrap him. Two at each side of him pinned his arms, outstretched, while two more held his head in place, his eyes wide in horror. At each side, two more stood mere inches from his form, so that if he flinched or fidgeted, he would be impaled.

”Citizens of Kirigakure, what you see before you is a thief.” Rakka announced, haphazardly slipping his bag off of his shoulder and emptying his pockets. The crowd now gathered back around Rakka, shouting expletives and cheering for Rakka, crying for punishment. Rakka held out the thief’s latest conquest to the poor old lady he had stolen them from, before pacing back towards her victim. As she spoke, another chill ran through the air, and Rakka felt more alive than ever. ”Today, I am going to show you what Kirigakure does to thieves.” She explained, gripping her captured prey by the jaw and holding his head so that he was forced to gaze upon his right hand, pinned out, held up.


To her surprise, the icy spears were quite a bit more powerful than Rakka expected. Indeed, they were literally glowing a deep purple, the color of her chakra, from the pure concentrated energy of it. She felt something begin when she made those spears. A chain of events that she had to continue. It was not a matter of whether she could or should, it was a matter of need. She needed to continue this chain. Fire, Ice, Fire, Ice, Katon, Hyoton, Katon, Hyoton. It seemed to grow stronger and stronger with each subsequent use in her mind. Her jutsu melded together and worked in sweet harmony to produce as much damage as they were able to. It was quite beautiful.  


As she used these ice spears, she had felt something strange. A sort of yearning, and a sort of  anticipation. Her body wanted to spit flames, wanted to spew forth fire. It was a strange desire, for while Rakka quite enjoyed Katon, she did not consider herself any sort of maniac. She was not obsessive, and yet now something primal within her urged her to bring forth a katon technique. It was all rather surreal. Of course, her combat style relied quite heavily on both techniques, so perhaps she was merely feeling the intense desire to keep fighting, perhaps her katon was merely the next logical step, now that her target was entrapped. Yes, that had to be it. It was merely a subconscious urge to keep going. No… It was more than that. Something deep inside her, something at the core of her being, something that was Rakka, wanted to see flames, wanted to see them burn alongside the ice.


The idea of mixing the two elements had occured to Rakka before, of course. It was the very core of her fighting style, Rasencannon was a fantastic example, as it utilized both elements at once. Still, this was different. She used her elements together in the past because they legitimately worked well together. This, however, was merely an intense and primal desire to use katon, and it felt somehow related to the fact that she just used Hyoton.



Released from this trance, Rakka took in a breath of air before spewing a stream of purple Katon onto his hands, burning them horribly. The pain in his hands caused him to cry out in pain as his fingers were charred to a crisp. As the sickening smell of charred flesh reached the man’s nose, he gagged, retching. Rakka pushed his face away, towards the other arm, causing him to vomit all over himself. She wiped her hand upon his clothes.

”Disgusting.” She sighed, reaching back and punching the man in the gut hard. He recoiled, causing his back to be struck by one of the spikes, not injuring him badly, but hurting like hell nonetheless. Rakka returned to his other hand, giving it the same treatment, scorching it with powerful flames. The crowd relished in his screams of pain. Rakka grinned as he finally passed out from the sheer agony. She held out her hand, causing a mirror of ice to form above his head. She spat flames upon it, etching in the words that would brand him in this makeshift stockade.

Thief

An example had been made, as was the status quo. Thieves needed to be reminded that they would not be tolerated here in Kirigakure, and Rakka found that making an example in such a showy fashion as this meant that she need not worry about nearly as many ruffians breaking the law. She took no pleasure in this display, but found that it was the best way to prevent future troubles. It was for the greater good.

She left him there now. Soon, he would be retrieved and locked in the prison, his stolen possessions returned. For now, Rakka was granted a merciful break. She had been on patrol for ages, and now that she had finished her assignment early, she had time for a nap… Or a drink.

And that was how she found herself back on the rooftop, watching over Kirigakure, enjoying a large bottle of whiskey, sipping from it and enjoying the warm feeling as it burned her throat. Against the chill of Kirigakure’s cold day, it felt great, even if the cold did not bother her.

She had noticed that her chakra was actually increasing in potency with the cold. She was actively growing stronger as she embraced it, and it was empowering her in a way she had not felt before. Well, she had, she supposed. It was a feeling similar to when she donned her new chakra enhancer. It seemed to be granting her extreme raw power. Now, the cold too was bolstering her chakra, taking her to new heights that she had never reached. She felt leagues ahead of her previous strength.

She wondered idly just how strong a Rasencannon would be with this newfound power. She was rather tempted to give it a try, as a matter of fact. She knew that Xyxer would be quite upset if she went about blasting such a powerful technique inside the village, but… Well, what the hell, he wasn’t here to see it, now was he? She could send a blast right into the storm circle and nobody would bat an eye. Well.. Shit, yeah, probably not the best idea. There would be too many witnesses, and as she recalled, the storm circle had been destroyed in the past by something similar. While she did not claim to be an expert of weather and storm circle mechanics, she knew blasting it with an ice and fire drill was probably not exactly the best idea.

And so, rather than causing more collateral damage, Rakka Yuki merely took another sip of whiskey as she contemplated this newfound power. It was not revolutionary, nor was it game changing, but… Damn if it didn’t feel good. She felt like a million bucks with this new boost to her power. This was better than booze, better than anything, really. She looked at the bottle again. For the first time in a long time, Rakka Yuki did something important. She set the bottle down.


She didn’t need it anymore. This new power she felt was incredible, the best she had felt in a long, long time. This, combined with the yearning she had felt earlier, drove her to continue the chain, to see what it truly held in store for her. She breathed a jet of fire. Nothing but desire to continue filled her form, and she knew what she had to do. She reached out, forming a mirror of ice. It shined deep purple. She continued, breathing another jet of flames, which felt hotter than ever, now burning deep purple as well. Fire, Ice, Fire, Ice, Fire, Ice, Katon, Hyoton, Katon, Hyoton, Katon, Hyoton. The cycle was perpetual, it continued on into oblivion, and it was beautiful. This was better than booze.



(Exit)
(TWC: 2000)

+1500/1500 Yuki Physiology (25% Reduction)
+500/1500 Snowburn
+1000 Ryo
+3 AP

Approved