Arrival

The sun beat down on the desert dunes, a blistering heat that had only grown stronger as the day progressed; and yet despite this life moved ever forwards. Amidst the great towering waves of sand, a conglomerate of figures could be seen moving, a caravan stretching into the distance moved towards the once great city hidden in the sand. Whilst it had once been the seat of power within the world, it was, at least as far as Rin knew, now nothing more than a ruin, a monument to a once great dynasty now filled with those few remaining individuals who were too weak, or too afraid to make their way in the wider world. Streets filled with starving urchins and beleaguered adults trying to scrape a living in a broken world. In short somewhere Rin would feel right at home; and yet the place held no promise, no valuables would have been left by the armies of thunder, and what little people that lived there would struggle to produce enough to support themselves. ‘So why then would Roshi insist we travel here?’ she thought to herself. It wasn’t as if the dapper old shinobi had expressed any love for the place, and yet only a few moments after capturing this caravan on the edge of the borders she had received a message from him instructing their entire group to rendezvous with him.

“Why, are we heading this way... Erm Mam?” one of her companions said adding the honorific hurriedly in response to the cutting stare she gave him for speaking out of turn. These men were nothing like herself or roshi, they were bandits for certain, but they weren't any more trained than common militia, and their discipline left much to be desired; and yet the man’s word’s mirrored her own thoughts. With a beleaguered sigh Rin responded, raising her voice enough to be heard by the men around her. “Listen closely… Kenjiro isn't it?” Rin asked, not waiting for the man’s nod of agreement, though she wouldn't give them the satisfaction she had memorised each of their names and faces; the more you knew about a man after all, the harder it was for them to stab you in the back. “Well Kenjiro, you don’t need to know why we’re heading this way, all you need to know is that Roshi instructed it, and he’s never lead us astray before. Now shut that cute mouth of yours and focus on riding, we’re almost to the rendezvous, and when we get there I expect you all to look in top shape!” She said, her voice rising to a shout with those last words.

Rin wasn’t mistaken, in fact within minutes they had crested the top of one of the largest dunes and came into view of a small cave… a small cave, surrounded by tents and campfires strewn out in a ramshackle mess, as she counted the tents it quickly dawned on her that even if there were twice the number of bandits she knew of under Rowan’s command, the forces gathered here were almost three times that number; with at least two men a tent and three hundred tents that she could see… “There must be over four hundred men here” The voice of one of her more… physically minded companions rung out as the rest of the caravan began to reach the crest of the dune. Rin sighed, it was exasperating sometimes, dealing with these men, but she sighed to herself, muscle and brute force does have its uses from time to time. “Closer to 600 i would expect” she said clicking her heels together and spurring the horse below her onward. The ramshackle camp was laid out haphazardly, but even so as she got closer Rin could recognize a familiar figure in the distance, then again it wasn’t hard to pick out Roshi Rōsoku ashi. The weathered old man stood out amongst the other men his striking white coat and Red Hat with a single hawk feather swaying hypnotically in the wind.
“Welcome back Miss Togakawa, you had a profitable expedition I see?” He said with a wave of his solid rosewood cane towards the wagons that were making their way down the dune. With a glance over her shoulder Rin nodded her head “Indeed a cursory examination yielded 40 pounds of frankincense and I’d estimate at least 4000 Ryo worth of other goods, It might be a little hard to fence the frankincense but there’s a tidy profit all the same, what's with the uh… gathering?” she asked, glancing around at the men; most of them nearby wore a red handkerchief somewhere on their body, the mark of their gang, the crimson falcon’s; ‘stupid name really, I still dont know why roman came up with such a name, we’re desert bandits for gods sake, at least call us vultures or something’ Rin thought to herself, before continuing her analysis. Whilst the vast majority of people surrounding them wore the Red kerchief there was still a significant portion of others who were not, as far as Rin could tell, members of their gang. “Well Rin my dear” Rowan said removing his hat with a flamboyant flourish of his hand and bringing it down to his chest for a bow. “This assembly represents a gathering of the largest organized bandit forces in the country.”

Rowan glanced up at the girl, giving her one of his trademark charming grins; a grin Rin was unimpressed by. “You’ve hardly answered my question Rowan, I gathered that their bandits, but why are they here; and more importantly why aren’t they killing each other?” Rin scowled at the older man, doing her best not to be taken in by his cavalier attitude. It wasn’t working, With another flourish of his hand Rowan stood up and turned to start walking towards the cave at the center of the camp. “Fine spoilsport” the man said, pouting “We are here because there’s a new power rising in the country, it’s still in its early stages, but word on the street is a powerful mad man has taken control over the ruins of sunagakure, and perhaps more interesting is that he appears to be rebuilding the place.” As the two of them drew closer to the cave Rin saw three bulky figures sitting around the entrance, the largest of them was a hulking mass of a man by the name of Brutus. The giant rarely if ever spoke and when he did it was less of a coherent sentence and more fractured sounds, so whilst it likely wasn’t his birth name it was what rowan, and by extension the rest of the gang had taken to calling him; As Rin glanced over the 3 individual’s she recognised each of them bore the mark of a high ranking member of the 3 largest gangs in the land of wind. Brutus of course bore the typical red kerchief with a golden falcon embroidered in the corner, next to him stood a short man in a butler's outfit and a pair of black fingerless gloves with the symbol of the Altair’s Shades on the palm, most curious of all a tall elegant looking lady in a black formal dress leaned against the corner of the rocky outcropping, an ouroboros tattoo on her sternum. Now that was a symbol she’d only seen briefly before, the mark of one of the foremost networks of information brokers…

Rin shook her head as her thoughts drifted back to that day, that meeting, it had been weeks ago, and the result was that she’d been sent here to infiltrate and offer their services to the man who now ruled suna, but first she had to test him as she sat within her tiny shallow crevice, she had to say she was not impressed her chakra suppression active, the arrogant little man hadn’t even noticed her, such a simple trick, and yet the simplest tricks are often the best, how arrogant little insects can be, so confident in their power, so sure of themselves, so certain that they are capable and invincible, and yet such a thing is rarely the case. Rin knew this well for she had once thought herself the same, invincible, immortal, immune to any and all threats, it was truly one of the great vanities that lead to the deaths of many, in this case that death was one of the greatest ninja of the age. Of course Rin had no intention of actually killing the man, she had been sent here simply to test her, to show him the strength of the outlaws that she was allied with, and to offer him their services. But a show of strength was necessary, after all, bandits and brigands only respected one thing, strength, if the man couldn't fight then none of them would follow him, and neither would Rin, after all if she could beat the man, kill him then what good would allying herself with him do. All these thoughts rushed through the girl’s mind as she stepped out from a single short crack in the wall of the Kazekage’s chambers, it was an odd, quite austere for what was the seat of power of a once great village, of course it reflected the state of this village quite well. Whilst it had perhaps once been a grand room spanning 50 meters in radius from the center, the perfectly circular room was now empty apart from a single plain seat 5 meters in front of her, within which sat a somewhat haggard looking man, the ragdoll of suna, self proclaimed kazekage; indeed the man had evidently made some effort to repair the place, there were no more cracks in the wall apart from the one she had stepped out of and it was devoid of any debris apart from a pen and inkwell that sat on the floor by the man’s chair. With a short bow she spoke “Greetings Lord Kazekage, I represent a small group of rather arrogant *Ahm* I mean powerful bandit lords who would like to offer you the services of their respective forces. First however they have requested I verify your capabilities. Unfortunately they insist that you must be strong enough to handle me at the very least if they are going to convince their men to fight for you. With that she pulled a kunai from her pouch and stepped forward and to her left, driving her blade towards the man’s open eye, glancing over she was surprised to see the eye she was aiming at was already a pure milky white, perhaps he had already lost an eye to a similar attack before. Regardless if the man didn't move soon then the blade would pierce his eye and go straight through to his brain, killing him in an instant. She was shocked when she felt the strike connect and slide through with almost no effort at all, indeed she didn't have time to react or pull back as the blade slid into the eye socket to the hilt, her hand covering in; and with that the scourge that was kenshin uzumaki, the ragdoll of hoshi, kazekage of suna, and great terror of the western continent faded away. “Fuck, that shouldnt have been so easy.” Rin thought to herself, panicking for a moment. The man must have been merely a figurehead, that was the only explanation she could think of that he would fail to react, it was not like her attack was insanely fast, indeed she had seen far faster motions; but regardless of why it happened Rin knew she couldn't stay here, the man must have allies, if any of them caught her… or found his body she would be in deep trouble. The only option she had now would be to take him and herself and hide, lay low for a while and hope that this all blew over. Glancing around Rin confirmed once again that there was definitely still no one in the room, nor could she sense any chakra nearby. “At least no one has seen me” She thought to herself as she activated her teleportation technique, vanishing, taking his body along with her since she already was in contact with him, and escaping to one of her safehouses in the borders.

Unbeknownst to Rin as all of this happened, half a mile away, a clone of the man she had just killed, in the middle of a strike with his chains and hidden inside of a wall would disappear in a puff of smoke. She may very well have just saved the life of what it was attacking, but neither her, nor the man she had saved would know it in fact it wasn’t even likely they would ever meet each other, truly this was a strange world they lived in
[Exit Via Vanish]
TWC: 2151
Claiming body of Kenshin Uzumaki
Will do the other claims later

Vanish
AP 630 - 100-18 = 548

Post order:

Drip. Drip. Drip.

The blood of Senhime dripping from the lowered tip of his sword was the only moment from the fully still Hayate, each muscle held fully in control. Then, after being certain the hideous chakra had gone away and the chains were nowhere to be found, the focus of combat faded and the chakra lacing left his system. His shoulders began to rise and fall with heavy breaths from the exertion, the rest of his body exhibiting the subtle motion and slight, barely detectable muscle movements common to the normal human body that had been absent before. He glanced over at the Hokage, then at the genin, then the face down body slowly pooling blood around it, the large gash in the back face up for the world to see.

His voice came, softly at first from under the half mask. "What was... that? Where did the thing chasing me go?"

current: 432 AP (recovered 10)

I'll edit/write a long cd response here later but for the time being just posting here to confirm Ken's edit and tell everyone they can skip me if need be

Tap-tap. Tap-tap. Tap-tap.

The coarse ringing of sand being crunched over by the ginger grew only louder to the swordsman and at the same time, quieter to the Hokage. At his full speed, Tadashi dashed towards the casualty scene as soon as the body of Senhime would drop, just moments after his clone was dispersed. Yurai would still be unsheathed as well as Dracosight lingering in case of any surprise attacks. As soon as he arrived at Hayate's location in a short amount of time, his eyes would widen fearingly. The lifeless eyes of Senhime bore into Tadashi like a dagger, eerily resembling his mother's body. Blood continuously hemorrhaged out of her, creating a pool of crimson liquid. What was more unsettling was the dripping of Hayate's blade, instantly reviving flashbacks of the ginger taking the life of Oda. Only sheer willpower prevented the boy from not vomiting profusely.  Tadashi took panting deep breaths, trying to not relive the nightmare he endured months ago. Only a small voice exuded from Hayate would bring him back to reality.

"W-what thing? I d-didn't see anything." He replied, still shaken up from Senhime's death. Perhaps it was a chakra he sensed, maybe his Shadow Clone sensed it but didn't have enough time to transmit the message to Tadashi. Nevertheless, the teen took off his metallic hood which retracted back into his armor while sheathing his weapon. He would put his knee down while pulling out a corpse scroll, wrapped intricately. Taking off the constraints, the scroll expanded immediately as he would exhale with finality.

"I'll take care of the corpse." He would resolutely state. Placing the scroll on Senhime's body, the scroll magically sucked the corpse in its vast space just before the body the teen caught it in the air. "Huh. It's like a mini Storage Displacement." Tadashi mused internally.

He stood up once more, a few inches away from the swordsman, he had nothing else to do at this moment, so he would just stay at this location in case of an attacker.

"You did a good job." He softly complimented Hayate.

WC: 351
TWC: 1214

-5 AP for Dracosight
-15 AP for Corpse Storage Seal

AP: 439 

Claiming Senhime's Body along with her Ryo.

Approved @Kenshin

Approved @Tadashi unless timelined.

Just like that, before Kinzoku even had the opportunity to fire off his bolt to the aid of Hayate, the mysterious figure and chakra chains exploded into a puff of smoke vanishing from both sight and senses. "A clone?" Kinzoku questioned, fiddling with the idea in his mind for a moment. Unsure of what was really happening, his shadow clone continued its approach towards the main gates. As it met no resistance at all once it reached its originally intended 30 meter mark, instead of stopping to aid and make sure Hayate was okay, it continued on. With the disappearance of what was likely a clone and the straggler being dealt with by Hayate himself, the clone had no reason to stay and survey the scene. He would instead proceed to the gates and the village and investigate who or what the sudden serge of dark chakra was. 

Before Kinzoku proceeded himself, he turned to now face the forces of Konohagakure while binding Peacemaker back into his straps on the back of his chest piece. With both his hands he pulled his helmet off and tucked it neatly beneath his right armpit. It was time to utilize the full force of the Hidden Leaf's forces. But first precautions needed to be made. "We move on the village now!" Kinzoku began, loud enough for his forces to hear. "Climb the walls and surround the village. No one escapes!" No more was to be said as the message was quite clear. Surrounding the village while detaining or killing any and all who attempt to exit. The forces followed the orders of the Kage as they began marching towards the gates at their max speed, Kinzoku turning back to the village and marching on himself.

Instead of joining his forces, he stopped at the dead body of Senhime where both Tadashi and Hayate were located while the army began making their way around the walls and scaling up the stair-like structure. By now Tadashi would already be collecting the body into a scroll. Whatever Tadashi's intentions were, Kinzoku was unsure of. Time for questioning the Pendragon would be for later, assuming later came. For now there were more pressing matters at hand. The invasion. Tadashi was to join the forces in surrounding and closing out all exits of the village. Hayate however was of Kiri and not required to remain with Konoha. "Join us in choking out the filth from the village or return to Kirigakure and your forces, the choice is yours" Kinzoku began as he addressed the Chuunin. "We could use all the extra talent we can get" Kinzoku finished, basically agreeing with Tadashi that he had done well. Whatever choice he made Kinzoku would proceed the same way. Fastening his helmet back on, the Nazar would make his way through the main gates ensuring this section was now blocked off.

During Kinzoku's call to arms, his shadow clone had already entered the village with his chakra completely suppressed and its Peacemaker still in hand. Using the many great shadows created by looming sun above, the clone quickly made its way through the village and towards it target, The Kazekage tower. The plan was simple. Take it down. Kage towers were always the symbol of hope and strength for the village and its people. You take that away from them and the moral instantly drops. Reduced moral may lead to the enemy attempting to flee in order to avoid the oncoming destruction only to find out their village was surrounded. As the clone came into what was about the 115 meter mark from the tower he instantly picked up onto the exact same dark chakra signature they had sensed at the gates. Whoever it was that attacked them must have had some cause to retreat from the gates and deal with a more pressing matter. Perhaps it was no clone then but the person himself. Why else disperse a clone if it could continue its objective while the creator did its own task? It was at this mark that the clone retrieved a single marked kunai and dropped it in the alley it was currently in. Nonetheless, the clone moved on, its objective not changing. Mid way through Kenshins torture and speech to Rin, the clone would arrive 90+ meters from the Kazekage's tower and office, continuing to mask its chakra signature and remain hidden within the shadows of surrounding buildings. Peacemaker trained at the tower, the clones right arm retrieved a single explosive tag from the pouch on its back hip and slapped it onto the head of the readied bolt. Directly after the clone formed a set of 5 seals with its right hand and fired the bolt. 15 meters out Kinzoku would follow up with the final half seal on confrontation and light the tags, multiplying the fired bolt into a thousand shinny silver bolts all aimed at the Kage tower and its surrounding structures. The bolts would penetrate the tower in its entirety and surrounding buildings with ease, nearly taking them all down in that one moment. As the wall of bolts entered the kage's building and potentially ripped everything and everyone to shreds, each and every single tag would erupt in an explosion engulfing all in flames. The clone would watch from his hidden position as the thousand fireworks show began, sure that all around would either hear or see the destruction of the Kage tower and a significant portion of the village itself. Sometimes an over the top display was needed for first impressions.

Edit: Edited a few typos I picked up on including distance from the tower, and removed a line of unnecessary description that detailed my arrival. Also, Is that even allowed? It's not an actual post nor is it putting a pause to the topic.

Interrupting Kenshin's exit:

Hey, it's me.

I will refrain from ruling on the meat of this thread as it stands because neither party has attempted to work it out with the other before calling a battlemod. As has been said before and as will surely be repeated again, please work with your fellow threaders to try to reach an agreement on a given scenario before appealing to a higher power.

Communication is not hard, guys.

I will, however, take this time to make a personal aside about placeholder claims. My understanding of the rules as they stand, and as I have seen them applied, is that unless an ic post or ooc argument is made in the following post a person may edit their post freely (i.e. Placeholders are not valid until the placeholder is given substance). Naturally—and this is a point I am sympathetic to—this sets a poor precedent for someone constantly editing their post and thereby making it impossible to respond to. Indeed, one hopes staff will address this potential loophole sooner rather than later. Nonetheless, I am also a person bound by my understanding of the rules as they exist currently and will rule accordingly when/if the time comes.

Cheers.

This just in: NRPG members unable to talk things out like adults; sit down with me as we discuss their differences. And later, we talk to a fish named Dory who confirms that water is, indeed, still wet.


Joking aside, the two concerned parties have spoken with each other and were unable to reach an agreement. As such, we will proceed with the adjudication process once Kinzoku posts his counterargument. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to DM me on discord or PM me on the site and I'll try to get back to you in a relatively expedient manner depending on the effectiveness of your conversation starter.

Cheers.