Killing two, or six, birds with one stone.

Details:

Shinoskay had been called to assist Allegro's team in some activity, they had the details but he still had to be careful making his way out to the meet up spot so as to keep the element of surprise. His route was through to Tanzaku Town, and from there the outpost was a stone throw to the east and so the group would have to find there own way into getting closer to the target.

On his back, the boy had his strange cocoon'ed creature that he was going to also be delivering to a nearby forest that he was told to take it to by a strange talking moth.

A tiny beetle skittered along the ground through the trees as it made it's way to where Shinoskay was waiting. It wasn't long before that beetle was accompanied by a swarm of many others, all crawling along the ground to where the original had been, as soon more swarmed from the sky. Together they formed a rapid funnel of little beetle insects, ranging in the hundreds in numbers, as they formed a tornado that was around a size big enough to conceal a person. It wasn't long before the insects suddenly dispersed and out of the middle of their makeshift tornado stood Higuto Aburame, beetles crawling into his sleeves out of sight, as he gave a slight yawn. He gave Shinoskay a nod.

"Sup?"

Akane was watching the two from a distance before she decided to make herself known. One of them she knew and had had a fight with in the past. He looked to be a bit older and, if she wasn't mistaken, much stronger since the last time they had met. She then noticed the one next to him and didn't recognize him at all. Quite an ugly fellow, if she was being honest, but she wouldn't say as much upon meeting him. She thus stepped quietly to where they were as she came up from behind Higuto and gave the two a wave. "Hi." She felt slightly awkward that she'd be going on a mission with three other she didn't know much about but any experience she was able to gain from her journey was good experience.

Konohagakure was in a state of high activity ever since its loss to the ninja of the Bloody Mist. The assimilation of the village into the Mizukage's tyrannic leadership style has had several effects on the social atmosphere in the village. As far as Konoha's shinobi force was concerned, this meant a lot less time socializing and more time spent on dangerous missions. The village needed the economic boost, and the neighboring minor villages in the Fire Country have been harboring enough missing ninja to the point where they now are seen as a threat to the Leaf. The villages jounin and chuunin were out on missions some 85 percent of the day on average, except for maybe Yensung Aburame, who always seemed to be in someone's thread within the village. In terms of alliances between villages besides the Mist village, if you can call that an alliance, there were rumors of an alliance between the Star and Cloud ninja. That would make 2 large shinobi entities, both with remarkable power. How long before the question of "Who is stronger" arose? There was not a doubt in anyones mind that the thought of war lingered like a pest when on this topic. However, the Leaf have sent two of their best shinobi on a mission to aid the strides towards peace between Konoha and Hoshi. 

Meanwhile, the inside of the village was maintained by the village's genin. Assisting the Konoha Police Force, executing investigations, saving civilians from harms way, and occasionally responding to emergency situations were all part of a genin's duties. That is, unless you're unfortunate enough to be stuck with the extremely non technical duties, like walking a dog, cleaning graffiti, or babysitting. There is no job too big or too little for the shinobi, I suppose. The ninja academy was one of the pillars of the Leaf village, and was successful in producing premium quality ninja with each graduating class. The most recent graduating classes had been recognized for their strength in particular, earning aliases like "The Rookie 12" in reference to their being the cream of the crop among the Leaf Genin. Most of the affiliated genin were capable of carrying out up to A ranked missions without fail. Among them were seedlings from most of the village's strongest clans, including the Uchiha, Hyuuga, Aburame, and Senju. With that in mind, it's almost not even a surprise that they were excelling beyond standard expectations.

As his team assembled at the gates of Konoha, Allegro reflected on his debriefing on today's mission assignment. In a squadron of 4, their task was to  capture an outpost on the Fire Nation border where an anti Konoha organization has been spotted. They have recruited controversial missing ninja to carry out their wicked agenda, some of which has been negatively effecting Konoha's economy. The Hokage suspects that this organization is planning to starve Konoha of resources to create an opportune time to attack. Whoever was the brains behind their operations can be assumed to have insight on the ninja deployment patterns.They have made their move and raided the outpost that was usually guarded by Chuunin or Jounin within the village. This was because it overlooked the only blindspot in the Leaf Village's defenses.  Since there were no available higher ranked ninja in the village, a team of capable genin were assigned to the task. Shortly after Akane makes her appearance, Allegro rises out of the ground below using his Doton chakra. He seeped out of the earth like a cobra out of a snake charmer's mysterious pot. He would great each of them with a fist bump, and then remove a scroll from the holster on his backside that was designed to hold various sizes of scrolls. He would over the written mission details to anyone who needed it. However, if there were no questions about the task at hand, Allegro would turn to lead the way towards the outpost. This was apparently an urgent matter, if they were sending genin out on an A ranked mission.

The Uzumaki would lead the crack staff team through the forest before giving an inaudible hand signal to halt in their concealed position. Though they were still about 50 meters away, the large outpost resembling a gigantic treehouse could be seen towering up into the clouds like a magical beanstalk. The tree the outpost was built on top of stood at 100 meters tall. It and the outpost had a daunting health of 100, and could not simply be chopped down to dispose of the MN hiding within it. Now was a good a time as any to discuss a plan of action before beginning their climb. He would look at Higuto, whom he shared a telepathic connection with, and try to gauge his opinion.

[801/2000 WC]

Well, so much for subtlety, the swarm and torrent of insects would likely draw the attention of most in this trade town but then again perhaps that could be a good camoflouge in and of itself. Who would believe a couple of indescrete genin gathering were about to take on a fort with a couple of higher ranked missing ninja? Shinoskay thought this over as he noticed the insects, and as the kuinochi approached, and he settled on that he would try to go with this new flow and that the mission must still go on.

He made a small bow to each other them in turn, offering only a small smile as a return greeting. Perhaps Allegro was rubbing off on him?

Speaking of, it wasnt too long before the Uzumaki appeared he had two usual means of conduct and that was either to go straight for the action or to act with a grand sense of flare. In this situation he entered with flare, his slow rise from the ground dramatized by an eccentric and exotic motion.... but his flare stopped there, it seemed, as he then quickly bid those gathered to move onward. The scroll he offered to read off the scroll but the young 0rphan had actually recieved details of the mission before been sent out for once. He knew this was either a capture or kill, and the missing ninja would likely want to fight to the bitter end so it was mostly likely going to be a kill mission. he had been apprehensive of this. While he had been working to steel his nerves, could he? He wasnt sure yet whether he could kill someone without been backed into a corner and he wasnt sure if all his mental fortifying would be enough.

Where would he find himself at the end of this mission? dead? with a prisoner? or as someone else? He came to konoha to find his place in this chaotic land but was he really ready for where his path would take him? where he will find himself? Who he would be when he got there?

The boy's thoughts continued on as they progressed through to the fortress, and were cut off as Allegro signaled for them to stop.


Atop this tower would be the 4 missing ninja, one was watching the koboha side, the other the opposite side, while the remaining two patrolled the inside and strategized their next step now that they had taken the fort. They had expected some kind of occupation force from konoha but the fort all but fell to neglect... hence why the four managed to take the fort... Likewise they also were waiting on their own occupation force... they hadnt spot anyone from the opposite side of the fort from Konoha but they did see movement in the forest leading from the village to their location... this made them nervous. They didnt know who was coming, but they expected a counter attack soon enough.

[wc 500/610]

Higuto looked at the oncoming Uchiha with a bunch of reserve as he smiled upon noticing her and, taking a quick sensory of the chakra laying dormant within her, he could feel that she was a bit stronger then since last they met. He greeted her with a smile and nod as she made her way over and he could see within her a bit of... anxiety maybe? He couldn't tell but she seemed a little nervous. He wrote it off, though, as he felt a chakra signature coming at them from below. He had memorized this chakra signature, luckily, and was immediately able to tell it was Allegro as he watched his fellow teammate rise out of the earth. No doubt he was using his Hiding Like a Mole jutsu as Higuto chuckled and fist bumped Allegro back as soon as it was offered.

"Good to be working with you once more, Allegro."

He then looked over to Akane as he bowed to her.

"It is very nice to see you again, Ms. Uchiha, and even nicer that we'll be doing this mission together."

And then he'd turn to Shinoskay.

"I don't know much about you apart from seeing you at the BBQ but I must say it's nice to meet you. I hope to live up to any expectations you may have of me... and surpass them."

After introductions were made he would go over the details of the mission that Allegro had brought with him as he would make certain to give everything a quick read before the four set out on their journey. He would follow Allegro along the trees of the forest that made their way to the hideout in question as Allegro suddenly signaled for them to stop outside of a large tree that the outpost was supposed to be lying at the top of. This surprised him and made him wonder what would posses anyone to build something so complex it went above the very clouds as he decided not to write anything off as he looked over to Allegro. He could feel Allegro's thoughts reaching into his mind as if to ask him of what he thought the next move should be. Higuto gave one more look up the tower before giving Allegro a soft smile before relaying through their telecommunication link 'Allow me five minutes.'

He would look to Akane and Shino before bringing a finger up to his lips. Being that the tree extended all the way to the top of the clouds and the outpost was supposed to be up that high itself it stood to reason that, if the ninja knew as much, they were too far away for the ninja they were after to be able to pick up their chakra signatures. So as long as they didn't get too close they wouldn't alert anyone of their presence. Keeping that in mind he extended his right arm out as a lone kikaichu beetle crawled out of his jacket sleeve to the tip of his finger as he brought it up to his face for a moment before it started to fly upwards the large tree to the outpost. Higuto would then take a load off as he sat on either the ground or the branch he sat upon, whichever one they had each chose to travel along, until five minutes later his insect came back and he listened to what his kikaichu had to say. About a minute later he would allow the insect to crawl back inside before looking at them all and huddling up to them in order to whisper the information that he had been relayed by his kikaichu.

"Ok. So all four of the ninja we're looking for are in the outpost. As far as I can tell they have no plans of leaving anytime soon. I COULD try my luck on the tree and try and chop it down. The problem is... they have a hostage. The mission file had said that they had taken out all the guards yet left one. More than likely they want to keep him around so that they have him as a shield in case things go hairy. Now, luckily, it looks as though it's about to rain so I propose a sneaky way in as to not let the ninja know we're coming. I'll use my jutsu to make it rain so as to hide our chakra signatures, in case they are able to sense chakra, and we'll make our way up four separate sections up the tree as to provide possible flanking tactics against them all. If you guys are ever in need of extra help while sneaking in in order to neutralize a target I can use Hidden Mist jutsu as a last resort to disorient the ninja. I know Allegro knows how to sense chakra and if either of you do not I, or he, can most certainly keep track of them all and keep you guys in the loop of what to look out for. They're keeping the guard in a gate made of iron. I can either try and be silent and steal one of the keys or be loud and break it open. The guard looks badly beat, however, so I doubt he'll be able to get far alone. One of us may need to get him out of there... That's my idea, at least. Anyone have another?"

He would listen to what everyone had to say with patience as he wanted to make certain that the mission ended in perfection and with no unexpected casualties.

(TWC 1,071/2000)

Akane couldn't help but place her guard up as she could sense a person's chakra coming up to them seemingly from underground. This chakra was unknown to her yet felt very powerful as her Sharingan activated and looked to see a head slowly coming above the ground. Upon seeing Higuto's reaction to it, however, he didn't seem to take much in the way of a cautious mind to it which meant that he knew who it was. She thus cancelled her Sharingan as she watched a head pop out of the ground followed by it's body. It must've been Allegro as she watched him come up to Higuto and Shinoskay and offer them fist bumps. 'Pfft. Boys.' It was here that Higuto offered her a greeting with which she smiled and bowed kindly back. "I thought I told you to not call me Ms. Uchiha. It's just Akane. And likewise. I look forward to our mission together."

Akane then noticed the light bow from Shinoskay as she had a feeling it might take a lot to meet his expectations as she sighed and didn't rightly care about meeting anyone's expectations except maybe Higuto as she had fought with him before and lost. She was wanting to show him she had improved since last they met and was determined to do just that. The other two who were strangers to her she didn't really much care for in terms of their opinions of her as she still didn't want to come off as rude, though, as she gave them nods of greeting. Upon receiving the mission detail from Allegro, understanding enough to not really have any questions, she took off with them into the forest as they made their way to the outpost in question. They continued their way into the forest before they all stopped before a massive tree that she couldn't see the top of upon reaching. She didn't know how best to go about this until Higuto faced her with his finger to his lips and allowed one of his insects to fly up into the air and to the top of the tree.

Once the beetle had come back she watched as Higuto wanted to huddle as she shrugged and joined in to hear what he had to say. He relayed that there was a hostage in a cage as well as a plan on how best to approach. She listened to what Higuto had to say as she looked up the trees and had thoughts about if she was going to be good enough to keep up with such plans. She got these negative thoughts out of her mind as she didn't have any problems with the plan.

(TWC 592/2000)

Shinoskay was unsure what was going on between Allegro and Higuto but he saw a glance between the two and so felt there was likely some kind of comradery signaling going on between the two developed over a number of missions together... probably something similar but more developed to how shinoskay was starting to learn cues from Allegro's body language to see his oftne wordless communications. The mind is a facinating thing in that way, always grasping at everything it can... if it cannot hear then it will waylay that sense and rededicate the processing power to its many other senses... continuing so until all of the unused processing power hyper focuses to allow a form of enhanced understanding.

The moment an insect left Higuto, been that Shinoskay has had encounters with a few of the aburame prior to now, the orphan boy was able to determine that because there was only one insect then there was probably going to be some kind of scouting.... meaning prep time...

There really wasnt a whole lot he could do, his arsenal was going... true... but how do you prepare for sneak counter attacking a sneak counter attack? He wasnt terribly sneaky as of yet, he knew about chakra sensory from the Uzumaki however he had yet to develope the technique to hide from it. Also, the tree was not actually soil and earth, it was an organic substance that he couldnt use hiding like a mole through, a clever and well established fort... this raises the question of how these missing ninja had found there way in. They themselves likely had means to conceal themselves, so he knew at least that he should be wary for sudden sneak attacks... he had been reading, recently, into space time jutsu so he knew that theoretically they probably could have used some form of that to get in but he still didnt know enough to even try to guess how. Depressing, trying to rack your brain for options and possibilities only to come up with a whole lot of nothing.

Well, the boy knew that at the very least there was some form of misdirection available... a feint in tandem with a sneak attack can cause a LOT of chaos as well as some particularly appealing backsides.

Seeing as he knew he couldnt hide his chakra, if the enemy was going to detect his chakra then they would have already done so... Shinoskay concluded then that there was no point in waiting to cast jutsu.

As the bug became lost from sight... a tiny spec in the air, disapearing somewhere around 75 meters, Shinoskay Formed Ne, Inu, Tatsu, U, Tora, while moulding chakra. Somewhat slowly, 2 Blobs of the local earthen material began to rise 45 degrees forwards and on the left and right, respectively, of him. Slowly, these blobs rose and formed into humanoids with clawed hands and feet... and segmentations and joints to accomodate limps. No sooner had that finished, silently, the boy then followed in with forming Inu, I, Hitsuji, while moulding more chakra... and he both changed to look like one of the sharp fingured earthly humanoids he just made... with a few exceptions... wound around his waist was 14 feet of wire... slowly freeing itself from his back was a long scorpian tail like bladed weapon.

Those with chakra sensory would also sense a sudden shift in chakra signatures of the puppets seem to shift to detecting as 50 chakra of some random signature... so with only chakra sensory, one may think there was two other ninja here now.

He had begin inspecting his work, and he had just attatched chakra threads to his puppets, when Allegro grabbed him and Akane to pull them to cover. It seemed someone had caught the rather sharp and astute uzumaki's attention and once again he was taking the lead in covering those in his team not immediately aware, 'damnit, I really... really... need to get better at this'. The boy couldnt help but scold himself, particularly since this was most certainly a do or die mission... who knows what was going to happen and here he was la la gawking at his own work. Thankfully it wasnt very hard to spot the falling individual, once more not been aware of what higuto mentelapathied over to the freakishly tall orange haired boy and so he acted in what he felt was the most logical way... he could asses that the person falling seemed wasnt screaming so on the surface one could only struggle to gauge the situation... however, seeing that she seemed to be falling feet first and not flailing, or presenting any sign of distress... he felt confident this was someone coming to engage the team.

"there could be more, we should send bug scouts out to watch for flankers... Please allow me to present myself as a target so we can gauge the oppenent here. Please flank if you see a chance." If he isnt stopped.... With his statement finished, the clay doll looking boy and his two actual clay doll puppets, each one to the side of him, would walk forwards while watching the falling person while, of course, making sure to remain covered and mostly out of sight. To be sure, he made a point of gauging the decent of the person to within a rough 5 meter radious as well as to gauge what cover was both, largely, brown and would keep him mostly concealed until the person was just about to touch ground.

The Very moment the person finished falling, the wire wrapped around his waist would slowly begin to uncoil from its place to form a circle on the ground and a smaller circle just under his feet... these circles would probably take up a meter on the ground and a foot just beneath his feet... allowing him to use this to lift himself up into the air by rough 10 meters... approximately where the tree canopy starts. there would still be another 3 meters of wire loosely wrapped around his torso. The two puppets themselves would step forward, further them he, while fanning out... there aim was to flank the very large person. He wasnt sure what to expect here but then getting the opponent to reveal there fighting style on non living allies was kind of the whole reason he figured he should step forward as a target.

[wc 1073/1683]
Clay dolls 40 ap
Chakra disguise 10 x2 [20 ap]
Transformation 5ap
Bloodline recover 10 ap

Higuto would watch what was falling towards them from the top of the tree as he saw the cloaked figure, heavyset seeming even under all their clothing, as he had recognized them from what his kikaichu had told him about them. He had no doubt that this person was not falling to their death. Either they were going out on reconnaissance... or their targets knew they were there. Before the figure had decided to take the plunge to the ground Shinoskay  made his move by forming two puppets on either side of him. He had to admit: he was surprised to learn that Shinoskay was a puppet user as he watched the boy suddenly turn himself to look like one of them along with what seemed like the sharp stinger like tail of a scorpion unfurling behind him. It was here he would take notice of the falling cloaked figure as Shinoskay asked them to take up possible enemy flanking positions in case they were ambushed. Higuto wouldn't question Shinoskay as this was going to provide him with the chance to see what he was capable of. Higuto knew they'd need a backup plan, though, as he looked back over to Akane and tapped her shoulder.

He would whisper into her ear, discussing a plan of action only to her, as he wanted to have a backup plan for if things were to become tragic. If she allowed him to speak he would discuss the plan and then look around to Allegro and speak to him through the mind link the two had formed. 'I don't sense any abnormal amount of chakra coming from this one so there's a likely chance their strength is more physical then mental. I don't know what Shinoskay is going to do but, taking into account they haven't done anything yet, there's a chance they are very very strong if they plan on landing from a fall of that height. He's going to need help.'

(TWC 1,403/2,000)