Bring a Package to the Royal Palace (IO) (Kote)

Mission::

A draft blew in through the open window of Tsume's room. This was soothing to the Chokyoshi, he took in a deep breath. Hakucho, the white falcon, loved the feeling as well. This was the duos way of relaxing on a day off. Well, it was a day off until a knock came at the door of their humble home. "I'll get it," Tsume told Hakucho, jokily. The genin got up and opened the door to a jonin standing there. "Can I help you?" Tsume asked. The jonin nodded and said, "Yes, we have a mission for you." After that, the animal lover was handed a letter with the mission details inside. "Meet your mission partner at the gates in 30 minutes, after that you may go on with your mission." Then, just as he arrived, he disappeared with just some left behind dust that the fast jonin made. Tsume whistled for Hakucho to come over. The bird obeyed and perched itself on Tsume's shoulder. Soon after, Tsume and Hakucho slipped out of the house.

They arrived at the gates and waited for their soon to be the partner for the mission. He hoped that it would be someone they knew, the people he knew would be great for this mission. 

WC:211

It would seem that the Hogokage had more work for him to do. He was just getting ready for another day of training when a messenger arrived at his parent’s house with a letter. He was to make his way to the village gates to await another Genin, whom he would be assisting on a mission. The letter didn’t go over any of the details involved, that would be up to the other member of the squad, who would be acting as team leader for this mission. ‘Fine by me…’ Kotetsu thought to himself as he got his gear ready.  He had no issue with leading a mission, but if they determined that someone else was going to call the shots, Kotetsu would work with that and work hard to complete the mission. 

Once he had all of his things packed, he made his way to the village gates, where he saw a familiar pair. “Seems like they’re putting us on a lot of missions together, eh?” He says to Tsume with a small wave as he approached the older shinobi and his winged companion. “I was told to meet my teammate here, I’m guessing that would be you?” ‘I guess they agree that we make a good team together.’ Kotetsu thought to himself while he waited for Tsume’s reply. After Tsume responds, Kotetsu would ask “The letter I received said you would have all of the mission details. What’s our mission for today?”

WC: 244

Tsume waited for his partner to arrive. He looked at the clouds in the bright blue sky. Then Kote's voice could be heard. Tsume looked at his dear friend and smiled, waving back. "Yeah, they must think we are a good team." He chuckled after saying that. Kote then said that he guessed that they were partners as he was where his partner was supposed to meet, which was the same reason Tsume was there. "Then you guessed right."


Kotetsu finally asked the same question that was one Tsume's mind, what was the mission? Tsume nodded saying, "Right." He opened the file that he held onto. Inside was a single piece of paper with the mission written on it. Tsume read it out loud to Kotetsu. 

"Ogai Kurata, a royal, has lost his way to the Haven Borders. Your job is to bring him to Hoshi safely. The reason we are sending two of you is that there is a band of Rouges called Jaws of Grima in that area." Then Tsume read the reward. "2,000 ryo will be awarded to you both at the end of the mission." 

Hakucho shrieked. "Yeah, this job might be tough, Hakucho. This is what we trained for." Then Tsume switched his attention to his other partner. "Shall we go?" Assuming he was ready to go, Tsume started out of the village gates with Hakucho flying ahead.

Sometime later, they find the missing royal. Apon arriving, Tsume immediately saw why they got lost. One person was holding the map, assuming to the navigator and then a man yelling at him wearing nice garnishes. "What seems to be the problem?" Tsume asked. Ogai, the royal, responded in his high and mighty voice. "This bozo
got us lost." Before anything else happened, Tsume  introduced himself and his team."I'm Tsume Chokyoshi, that is Kotetsu Shinogami and my bird is named Hakucho." As he introduced Hakucho, the winged companion landed on his shoulder, as if it was rehearsed. "We will escort you to Hoshigare." Though Tsume didn't really like the royal based on the first appearance, he would have to deal with him for the sake of the mission, he just hoped that Hakucho wouldn't act up. Luckily, Hakucho had no intention of ruining the mission, he knew that it would help them both out with the money they earn. "Oh all right, Please lead," Ogai said and he relaxed a bit from all the yelling. Tsume nodded and took the lead while Hakucho took the liberty to fly ahead to scout for trouble.

WC:426
TWC:637

Kotetsu nods at the confirmation of their being  on the same mission again, something Kotetsu had no problem with. Without further ado, Tsume  opens a letter and reads off what was inside;  "Ogai Kurata, a royal, has lost his way to the Haven Borders. Your job is to bring him to Hoshi safely. The reason we are sending two of you is that there is a band of Rouges called Jaws of Grima in that area." Then Tsume read the reward. "2,000 ryo will be awarded to you both at the end of the mission." Kotetsu nods while he processes the information they were  given. 'It sounds harder than it likely will be. I'm more than capable of handling any opponents that come our way...' He thought to himself. Tsume and Hachuko have definitely improved, but neither one were anywhere near to being on Kotetsu's level. That was not the important thing here thought. What mattered was completing the mission and moving on to the next one. When asked if he was ready, Kotetsu would nod and they would head out to find this wayward royal.

They found who Kotetsu hoped to be their charge standing with an attendant holding what appeared to be a map. After a quick introduction, Tsume started off in the lead with Hachuko scouting. Kotetsu would fall in at the end of the group to watch the sides and protect from attacks to the rear since he was the fastest of all the members present, he was best suited to handling attacks anywhere on the group. 'I'm curious as to how much trouble we're going to get from the Jaws of Grima...' Kotetsu thought to himself as he kept an eye on their surroundings.

WC: 289
TWC: 533

Tsume looked at the sky as they walked along the forested area. It was the late afternoon, which likely meant they had to stay the night somewhere. Tsume expressed his thoughts out loud. "We took to long getting here, we'll have to stay the night somewhere." With that, he cupped his hands together to make a bird call. This signalled Hakucho, his trusty bird companion, to come. Which Hakucho obliged, and landed on the Chokyoshi's arm. Tsume explained to him. "Find us a nice place to spend the night, please." Without anything else to say, Hakucho took to the sky again. 

Then, Hakucho returned. He had located a spot. Tsume turned around to the crowd of people. "We are gonna get some rest." Then he added. "Kotetsu, could you please come here?"  If Kotetsu did, the Chokyoshi would explain, "The Jaws of Grima might still be around, When we get to the site, I want you to stay with people while I go after the gang." Tsume would then explain why, "Your less expendable than I am, also your stronger and faster." After he told Kotetsu the plan, they arrived at the site Hakucho picked out. It had three large boulders, it was sitting in an open around. I  the centre of all the rocks, they could fit all the people and their supplies, including space for tents if need be. He hoped Kotetsu would understand why he needed to stay with the people necessary for the mission. 

The visitors sent up the camp while Hakucho was checking the perimeter in the sky. Tsume was also scouting out the area on one of the largest boulders. It was dark now, the night sky was littered with lights from stars. It was beautiful out. But there was no time to admire. Suddenly, Hakucho came to Tsume and shrieked. It seemed that the bird had said something surprising. "Thank you, buddy." Tsume went to Kotetsu with his winged companion. "We are surrounded by 20 men, they haven't noticed we've spotted them, I'll go and use the element of surprise back on them, please stay here." Then asked, "Any objections?" If there were none. Then Tsume would take off with Hakucho. 

The first two were close together, so Tsume easily took them both out with a kunai throat slash. The next two were a bit tougher. Tsume quickly used human beast transformation. The two didn't stand a chance. Both Tsume and Hakucho took out their assigned opponents with two hits. Unfortunately, the fighting warned the others that they have been located. "GO GO GO!" One of the men chanted. This sent the rest of the men toward the campsite. Luckily for Tsume, he was able to take out two shurikens and take out two men with hits to the back of the neck. This got four more men to charge back at Tsume and Hakucho, which had restored back to his bird form. Tsume took out a kunai as they flashed their own. Both Tsume and Hakucho charged at the group. The frontman tried a swipe at Tsume but it was easily dodged. Tsume used this opening to cut the man's torso. The next man tried to decapitate the Chokyoshi, which Tsume ducked and then took him out with a jab to the stomach with his own kunai. Hakucho was able to swipe the other two men with a nice clean slash to the neck with his talons. They were all bloodied and fallen. Tsume and Hakucho were raised to kill if necessary, they both deemed this necessary. 
WC: 595
TWC: 1232

The start of their journey back was as uneventful as could be expected. The Royal was complaining, but it seemed that’s all they were good for. For a normally cheery and positive individual, Kotetsu was becoming somewhat cynical, particularly when it came to dealing with those that liked to complain. Negativity was not something Kotetsu was a fan of. Oh well, the Royal was paying, so it wasn’t like much could be said. It was late afternoon when it became apparent that they were going to have to spend the night outside. They were not going to make it to the village before sundown. Better now to prepare and set up while there was still light, since there was still the chance that they could be attacked by the gang that made their rounds out here. Tsume called Hachuko in and sent him off to look for a place to set up camp for the night while he did so, Kotetsu made sure his own gear was ready in case they were attacked overnight. He had filled the water sealing scrolls he had before they had left, so he had two scrolls there to work with. Plenty of water in order to create water or ice jutsu. He had all of his ninja tools, and he was running full on chakra. In his current condition, unless there was some serious bandit numbers, Kotetsu would be able to handle them easily.

Hachuko did not take long and found a fairly defensible site. Another sign that Kotetsu took that forting up would likely be the best thing to do in this situation. Tsume went to go lie down while the royal’s attendants set up his pavilion, and called Kotetsu over. Tsume’s plan was to find the gang, the Jaws of Grima, and attack them before they could make their way here. Kotetsu would have preferred to be the one to take care of the bandits since Tsume was the weaker of the pair, and would be better off working with the others in the royal’s retinue. He insisted on heading out himself though, so Kotetsu would acquiesce since he was the one leading up this mission. “I understand. I will make sure that no one here gets hurt.” He says to Tsume shortly before the older shinobi heads out.

Not long after Tsume left, Kotetsu heard a bird shriek that sounded almost like Hachuko. Tsume and his hawk returned almost immediately after to appraise Kotetsu of the situation. ‘So they know where we are, but not that we know they are out there…’ Kotetsu thought to himself as Tsume went back out to try to deal with the threat. It would appear he wasn’t entirely successful, since a very loud “GO GO GO” could be heard. Kotetsu walked among the Royal and his attendants saying “it will be alright, I will not let any harm befall you.”. He could hear their foot falls as the bandits made their way towards the group, so Kotetsu drew a kunai out of his weapon pouch. Kotetsu was not sure how many of the bandits that Tsume was able to take out, but that didn’t matter, Kotetsu would deal with any threat that made its way to the camp.
A pair of kunai came flying out of the dark. Kotetsu was easily able to deflect them with the kunai in his hand. ‘Perfect…’ He thought to himself ‘More weapons that I can use for later…’ They were followed by a pair of bandits, leering at the group as they approached. They went down quickly to a series of Air Bullets that Kotetsu sent their way. The Air Bullets didn’t have enough force to kill, but they hit the bandits in the head, rendering them unconscious for the near future. ‘Two down…’ Kotetsu thought to himself as another bandit came out of the dark with a kunai in hand. This one was a little faster than the first two, but was still no match for the young Hoshi Genin. The bandit tried to stab Kotetsu, which of course did not happen. Kotetsu side stepped the stab, grabbed the man’s wrist, and punched his elbow upwards, breaking it at the joint, before punching him in the side. Kotetsu then followed up with a kick to the man’s right thigh, to seize up the muscle and cause it to collapse underneath him. He finished off the man with a blow to the jaw, knocking him out cold as well.

The next group of bandits was a trio that decided to charge at Kotetsu while his back was turned. That didn’t help them though, as they found themselves impaled on spears of ice, two spears each. One through the stomach, and one through the heart. All three died instantly. Kotetsu did not like killing, but he had to ensure that the royal and his entourage were protected at all costs, and if that meant the lives of a few bandits, so be it. Kotetsu wasn’t sure of how many were left, but that was six so far. He would keep fighting until there were none left to fight. (assuming Tsume leaves his other 4/10 alone :P)

WC: 858
TWC: 1391

(Sorry it took me awhile, broken computer yesterday.)
The bird and the male soon after finishing their own fight, they looked at the group. Kotetsu seemed to only get six guys down as there was still four more to take out. Hakucho was the first to respond before being stopped by a zooming arrow that he narrowly hit its target. Another arrow also zoomed towards Tsume, but that was also dodged as he witnessed the first arrow, and saw the second when he went to see the location of the archer. There were three in the tree about 50 meters away. Two of which were holding bows, the other seemed to be guiding the targets. Before Tsume or Hakucho could quickly counter, the archers had already reloaded their bows and fired at the two. Tsume and Hakucho at least both saw the arrows come this time, so they dodged once more. "Alright Hakucho, It looks like we need to close some distance," Tsume told his buddy out loud. Hakucho shrieked, kinda like a war cry. While that happened, the figure without a bow pointed to the group and another group of four came from the forest and travelled to the group's location. Two of the men in that group held spears while the other two held bows. Tsume or Hakucho couldn't make a move to go stop them as there was still arrows flying. All either of them could hope that Kotetsu could stop them all by himself. 

Not wanting to leave Kotetsu alone for too long, Tsume and his white feathered partner preceded to the archers and the other figure's location. The archers were able to get two more shots in before Tsume and Hakucho came close to them. Before either of the archers could draw another shot, Tsume and Hakucho slashed through their bows and then hitting them in the face. They fell to the dirt ground below. But neither of them could get to the third figure because he slipped into the night. Which wasn't good because neither of them could get a good look at him. "Hakucho, check from the sky, I'm gonna check from the sky." Hakucho follows orders and flew upwards, above the trees and leaves. While he did that, the Chokyoshi went to see how Kotetsu was doing at this time.

WC:380
TWC: 1612

It would appear that there was four other assailants that Kotetsu had to deal with. It would appear that two of them had spears, and the other two had bows. 'This could prove tricky...' Kotetsu thought to himself as he prepared himself for what he hoped was the last wave of attackers. The archers stopped and fired arrows over the shoulders of their spear-wielding allies, which Kotetsu was able to deflect with the kunai in his hand. He made sure to deflect them upwards so that they would not end up being re-directed into the entourage he was trying to protect. While they were reloading, Kotetsu pulled a pair of shuriken from his pouch and threw them at one of the archers. The archer couldn't move fast enough to dodge the incoming projectiles, so he took one in the throat, and the other in the chest. He fell to the ground clutching his throat. Before he could deal with the other archer, the spearmen were upon him. They stabbed at him together, one going low, one going high. Kotetsu spun to one side, grabbing the spear that was aimed high. He pulled it with him, throwing the spearman off balance. A Kunai in his thigh quickly had the spearman releasing the spear to clutch his leg as he howled in agony. Kotetsu then spun the spear around and stabbed him in the heart, for a quick kill. 'No point in him suffering...' Kotetsu thought to himself as he swung his newly acquired spear at the other spear-wielding assailant. The bandit was too slow to block, so he took the flat of the blade to the side of his head. He then fell to the ground with an arrow in the back, since the blow from the spear accidentally knocked the spearman into the archer's line of fire. Kotetsu then took the spear in one hand, and threw it at the archer, which hit him in the shoulder. Kotetsu picked up the other spear and finished off both of the bandits with killing blows. There were enough survivors to explain what their objective was. They would be taken back to the village for questioning. Kotetsu would keep a vigil, waiting for Tsume to return. it didn't look like there was any other bandits coming, but Kotetsu would not lower his guard until they were one hundred percent certain.

WC: 397
TWC: 1788

Tsume only saw the end of the battle, but it looked like Kotetsu had it covered. Unlike Tsume, he left some survivors. The Chokyoshi could respect that, he just hoped that it wouldn't come and bite them in the butt. The genin returned to the terrified group of royals. The royal that hired final came from his tent. "Thank you for saving me but we should get the hell out of here." Tsume nodded. "I agree, but we should wait until Hakucho returns with a perimeter report." Then he turned to Kotetsu, "What about you? What do you think?" 

If Kotetsu agreed, Tsume would whistle for Hakucho to return. Not long after, the white feather comrade returned to the group and landed on Tsume's outstretched arm. "Did you find anything?" Hakucho gave a human response with a shake of the head. He did that so that the group knew that he didn't find anything and that it was clear. Tsume would then nod to the group. "Let's go then." As they would leave the sun would start to rise, giving a beautiful light in the sky. It was almost calming. 

WC:190
TWC: 1802

It looked like Tsume and Hachuko made it out of the attack unscathed as well. 'Good...' Kotetsu thought to himself. 'I was worried they might have gotten hurt...' Not long after, the Royal came out of his tent and suggested they leave immediately. Since there was likely no chance of them being attacked again, Kotetsu nodded in agreement. "Yes, we'll head out shortly. We'll let Hachuko scout the area first, just to make sure." It gave Kotetsu time to acquire rope from the Royal's entourage to secure the unconscious bandits and prepare them for transport back to the village.

It would seem that the coast is clear, as Hachuko returns not long after departing, with nothing to report. Since the sun was starting to rise, they make for Hoshigakure and make really good time. It was  around noon when they reach the main gates of the village. It was here that the group parted ways. "I'll head over to the ANBU headquarters to drop these three off for questioning." He says to Tsume pulling the trio of bandits behind him. "Feel free to drop  the payment off at my parent's place when you're done." And with that, Kotetsu heads off down one of the side streets, with his prisoners in tow. Once they were dropped off, he would head back to his parent's place to relax and recover from the strenuous mission.

[EXIT]

WC: 232
TWC: 2020
Claiming
2000 Ryo
5AP
1500 WC towards Space/Time Art: Immaterial Sword (C-rank)(2000/2000)
520 WC towards Space/Time Art: Immaterial Sword (B-rank)(520/3000)

Proof of progress: Here