Money to make, love to lose

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Go ahead young padawan

Throwing stones at the walls of Jericho

While he knew that there was a group of village ninjas still outside of the village gates of Suna, but he was sure that Kenshin would be able to handle the fact that he was being watched. Taichi was sure that this was not the first time and most certainly would not be the last time. He headed back through the village. He wanted to go back to the training grounds to work on his techniques and try to get his mind off of Bri for a little while longer. He walked through the town, the sun was beginning to touch the walls of the village. He knew that he didn't have a lot of time to train, but any moment he wasn’t spending actively thinking about her, he felt that he was better off. He got the the main road of Sunagakure. When he reached this point he could see the village gates. As he got closer, he couldn’t get Bri’s screams out of his head, flashbacks began flashing in his mind. The sounds that he heard, the pain he felt, the fire that had come closer and closer to consuming his body. He did realize that he was still not entirely sure as to how he escaped that situation.

He found that he was having a hard time walking, his head felt as though it was going to explode. He saw that an abandoned shop was directly next to him and the door was open. He stumbled through the door and he shut the door behind him, bracing it shut with a couch that was inside the shop. He checked the entirety of the building, ensuring that no one was in there with him. Once he confirmed that he was alone inside the abandoned shop, he knelt down in the middle of the room he was standing in, pulled his backpack off and set it directly in front of him. When he opened his backpack, he took his shirt off and he folded it and placed it inside his backpack. He grabbed the leather strap that he was using as his whip, and pulled it out of the backpack. He focused on the flashbacks that continued to flow through his mind, unallowing him to do anything but relive the moments that was his love’s brutal. He gripped onto the leather strap as hard as he could. He then threw it over his shoulder, and whipped himself in the back.

The pain of the whipping surged through his body. His teeth clenched and eyes had tightened shut. He would grip the whip once again, as hard as he could, and would whip himself by throwing the whip over the other shoulder. He could already feel some blood beginning to spill out of the wound, but he refused to relent. He continued the punishment as long as he could stand it, and then a lot more. After almost a half hour of whipping, he stood up from his knees and grabbed his body bandage. This product was a wrap that would soak up the blood and help him stop the bleeding from the whipping. It was a fairly large roll of white adhesive tape that Taichi had in his backpack, he tried carrying a few rolls at a time. Just in case something like this was to happen again.

When the flashbacks came to his mind and wouldn’t leave, he found the only way to rid himself of the overwhelming guilt that came with these visions was to physically punish himself, while allowing himself to be beaten up by the bandits certainly worked for a short time. It was only a short time. The whipping was something much more portable and was something that he was able to hide from others. This was important so he could hide it from his enemies so they wouldn’t know that he had a secret that he was trying to hide from everyone, and it was a way for his opponents to see that he had a weakness that he needed to hide. So he was extremely careful when it came to actually performing the punishment unto himself. He had his back wrapped and he put his shirt back on. He cleaned off the leather strap and placed it back into his backpack. His back felt as if it was on fire, but he pushed on. He left the store, and he left the door open, just as he found it. He continued to walk through the village, the flashbacks had subsided by then so he was able to focus on the task at hand. By his estimate he still had about two hours left of sunlight, so he could get at least some physical training in the time that he had left, before the sun was to drop below the sandy hills that lay out in the distance. Training did become quite difficult when the desert’s temperature dropped and the new moon provided almost no light on the desert’s surface. He reached the village gates and he began walking through the valley that was the entrance to the lawless community within the walls of the late Sunagakure.

Before leaving the gates and heading to the training grounds that sat along the outside of the village walls, he gazed upon the village gates as they sat. The staircase on each side of the entrance being covered in corpses. The smell that this produced was staggering, he wondered how long Kenshin would keep the bodies piled on top of the village walls like that? Would he keep them there indefinitely? He figured that if Kenshin wanted to run the entirety of Suna like a black market, the bodies may just help Kenshin prove his point that whatever rules he lays out, would be taken seriously and would be heavily enforced. When he first gazed upon the decor of the grizzliest kind, he thought of it as a sign of defeat, but after his conversation, he realized that it was a sign of strength.

With this thought in his mind, he walked away from the village gates, and he headed over to the training grounds. He only had enough time for a quick session of training for he only had another two hours of sunlight at this point. The temperature was already beginning to drop quickly, so he needed to get to work and get to it quickly. Taichi had been practicing with another elemental transformation of his chakra, being water. Fire, water, and earth. In Taichi’s mind, these were the most versatile and the most powerful elemental changes that one could have mastery over and he was one man who was going to be able to control those elements.

While in the training grounds, he felt a certain rage come over him. It wasn’t the shame that he had felt before on his way to the grounds. But it was a feeling that he had felt before, he decided that training in any traditional sense was going to happen, so he gave up on that goal. What he did instead was he began to meditate. He sat on the sand and he closed his eyes and began the process of searching through his mind and his soul to see what the source of the rage was coming from. As he searched, the rage began to pulse through his mind. Short scenes that seemed to be flashbacks began rushing through his mind, but they were not of the screams of Bri or Hana. They were of a different person, he was an older man that seemed to be standing over Taichi. His mind thought for a moment, and when his mind matched the man to the memory, his entire body felt as if it was on fire. The burns on his arm began to feel as though it was burning like it was on that day. Taichi’s eyes opened, but this feeling was different. He hadn’t tried to actually embrace the flashbacks of that day, he continued to try and push them away by whipping his body to get him to forget. He honestly still didn’t feel like Bri was gone, he still felt like he was going to go home and she was going to be there waiting for him. While he wasn’t in complete denial, he was certainly somewhere in between.

Taichi thought that was enough meditating for today, his body was not quite ready for the training that day. He decided to walk back home, but the same scene kept playing in his head. The man was just about to leave, the moment he and his men were about to do what they did to Bri. The shame began to pile up again, but Taichi did his best to focus on the man, he tried to focus on what the man had said. He saw the man’s mouth move, but he just couldn’t make out what he was saying. Taichi continued to stumble across the village’s roads. When the flashbacks, he could feel the entirety of his back would seize and his eyes would blur. The pain would be enough to make him lose his balance. Taichi continued to try and make out exactly what he had said, but he finally decided that he was going to need to go back to that camp. Maybe if he was back in the same location, the memories would flood his mind. The only worry would be he would have to finally face the flashbacks from that day. While months may have past, he still denied its very existence. He had read in several books that he had been reading about trauma, that denial was a very common reaction to trauma, but he didn’t think that he would be the kind of guy who would deal with his trauma like this.

He felt so numb to everything else. The village and the people who lived there, his own body and life, nothing else mattered to him. But this woman, her fate and the role that he played in bringing her end to fruition. He finally made it home and went inside. As he stumbled through the door, he tripped and fell on the threshold that led into his house. As he fell, he hit his head on the halltry that was in the entryway of his house. By the time he had hit the ground, he was unconscious. This caused him to skip his final whipping before bed. He performed one last whipping just before sleeping because it staved off the flashbacks through most of his sleep. Without it, he was sure to go through the entirety of his flashbacks in one night, forcing him to face the emotions that he was going through.

As he slept on the hardwood floors of his home, he first began grunting and groaning. Talking in his sleep, calling out to Bri, waiting for her to respond. He went on like this for hours. Progressing up to screaming and thrashing around the floor, still asleep. Being drenched in sweat and beginning to claw at his body, breaking the skin and drawing blood all over his body. Taichi had been reliving the horrific time in that camp, listening to the screams from Bri and low, growling voice from the leader of the bandit group.

Taichi couldn't wake himself up, he was forced to go back through the flashbacks again and again. Blood, sweat, and tears covered his clothes and the floor. Taichi finally woke up screaming at the tip of his lungs. Body covered in cuts and scratches. His Sharingan had been activated during the turmoil while he slept. But this feeling was different, it felt even more powerful than before. He rushed into his bathroom to see what his eyes looked like in the mirror. The three tomoes were gone. They had a much different pattern instead. His eye had turned black with the middle pattern being a red six pointed star with black lines running across the star itself. Taichi didnt exactly know what had just happened or what this new pattern in his eyes represented. Did it just mutate? Did it get stronger? Questions flooded through his mind and he began patching up all of the cuts on his body.

The sun was coming out and Taichi was sitting in his dining room chair, thinking about the flashbacks as they ran through his mind for what felt like eternity. He had his hands flat against the wooden dining room table and he stared blankly at the wall in front if him. He was thinking about the old man, the leader of the bandit group. He finally remembered that he said something about their group being called the “Walls of Jericho.” Taichi knew what he needed to do. He was going to find this group, locate everyone that was involved in the brutal murder of Bri, and he was going to do much worse than kill them, he didn’t know what he was going to do, he was going to let his heart decide when the time came. But first, a lead. He was going to need a lead to find out where these guys are and where they may have moved their base after Taichi had burned down their last encampment.

He looked out the window in the kitchen that overlooked the exact spot that the sun rose every single morning. He watched as it rose above the village wall, trying to gain the energy to get himself up off of the chair that he was sitting on. His fury swelled in his mind and he stood. He came to his feet and after throwing on a new shirt and vest. He left his house and hit the road leaving the village. He was going to find these bastards, no matter what.

He walked through the valley that was the village gates, and he looked back toward the village that he was leaving, not entirely sure if he was going to see it again. The last time he fought with these men, he killed a lot of their men, but ultimately he was the one that lost, so he knew that he was going to need to be careful and cautious when it came to fighting with them. For they would not hesitate to kill him, luckily for Taichi, he was going in with the same attitude.

He gripped the straps on his backpack and he began the long journey to the camp that he had found Bri the first time. The camp would be down to ashes, if it hadn’t been swallowed completely by the sand already. He walked until the point that the village was beginning to look like a distant memory that was just about to sink beneath the mounds of sand that surrounded it. He stopped for a moment to stand underneath a tree that had somehow managed to survive in this desolate wasteland of a terrain. The shade it provided was much appreciated and he leaned against the tree to think for a moment about where they could be. He had been traveling all around the land of wind so he knew much of the terrain by heart.

He thought for a couple minutes, but he knew that he was going to need to cover as much ground as possible if he was going to have any chance at finding this group any time soon. He stood up from the sand, brushed off his clothes, thanked the tree and he continued down the trail to the camp.

Hours later the sun was beginning to barely touch the mounds of sand that still surrounded him. He knew that he was beginning to get close, the terrain looked familiar. He remembered the sand storm that he had fought through to get there the last time, all the lives that he took for that day and night. Then the final group that did him in when he had no chakra left to do anything about the numbers that they had compared to him.

Taichi found the campsite in the condition he had been expecting. The sand had swallowed most of it within its clutches, but the leader’s tent was still somewhat untouched, except for when the leader tried blowing Taichi up while he was still inside of it the first time. Most of what was left was ashes. He continued to sift through all of the ashes, hoping to find something that would lead him to their new camp and/or outpost. He remembered the desk that had landed on top of him when the leader blew the tent up. The desk wasn’t really affected by the explosion, he figured it was probably because it was solid wood.

He went over to the desk that was still somewhat lodged into the sand, in the same spot that it had been when it pinned Taichi to the ground. He focused his chakra on his hand, performing the chakra scalpel technique. Then he continued to slice open the top of the desk. The drawers were facing down and it wasn’t coming out of the sand very well. He looked through the desk and he found only one thing of interest. It was a small lock box that was made of wood, looked to be just big enough to fit some documents and maybe some valuables. He used his chakra scalpel one more time to slice the lid right off of the box. The box contained a map that had three separate areas of the desert circled. But one was circled twice. While that was a lot to go on with, he figured he’d visit the twice circled location first. He read a note on the top that read “I shouldn’t have to explain something as simple as this. Go to the location circled twice, dumbass.” Taichi laughed and he folded the map and set it into his backpack, he knew the area. It was in the same vicinity as the outposts Dan had along the borders of the Wind country and the Land of Rivers. That would be a half a day trip and he would rather arrive at night. So his tired body was telling him to rest, but his mind and his fury was telling him the opposite. Taichi decided to walk through the rest of the day so he could arrive there at night.

Taichi continued to walk when he gradually saw the sun droop down below the horizon, marvelous colors and hues clashing against each other, but staying still in perfect harmony. Taichi was hoping that one day he would be able to float like a cloud, for everything else in his life was stressful and exhausting, he often thought of how nice it would be to be able to just float across the sky like a cloud. He turned his focus back onto the trail now that it was beginning to get darker for there was supposed to be a new moon, so visibility was going to be nearly nonexistent.

He continued thinking about the pattern that had formed in his eyes that morning. It was far different than the regular Sharingan that he was used to. His regular Sharingan was predominantly red with a black circle with three tomoes along the circle. This was way different, it was predominantly black with a red six pointed star shape and black lines going through the star. He didn’t know what the eye would do, he didn’t know what he could do with it, he just knew that it was different and it showed up when Taichi had finally come to the realization and accepted the fact that Bri was gone and he shared part of the blame. On the hardest night he had ever experienced, he also gained this new eye. “Maybe Stark would know what to do and how to work it?” he thought to himself.

Taichi came over a large mound of sand and he was able to see a rather large outpost that sat close to the border, maybe another couple kilometers, out to the land of Rivers. Taichi knew this place quite well. He came down the mound and began his approach on the outpost. He wasn’t sure how he was going to enter the outpost, but he knew that he was going to take the stealthy approach because he did not want to get into a full on fight just yet, he would rather take the slow but steady route this time. He quickly ran over the wall and began checking his surroundings. He made sure that no one had seen him go over the wall and started hiding in the sage brush that was directly next to the infirmary tent. He poked his head under the fabric that made up the tent, to see who was all in this tent. From what he could see, there was only a few patients sleeping and one doctor treating the unconscious patients. He activated his Sharingan, at three tomoes, he didn’t really want to use his newfound eye pattern until he knew what it could and would do.

He slid under the tarp of the tent and he crept behind the doctor. He activated his chakra scalpel and slit the throat of the doctor. Once he was finished with him, he turned around and he began doing the same to the patients. One of the patients that was still sleeping, and alive, triggered something in Taichi’s mind. He saw the man’s face and immediately fell to his knees. There was something about this man that triggered the flashbacks. He then noticed a tattoo on the man’s left arm, he recognized that tattoo from that day at the camp with Bri, the day she was killed. Taichi knew that he was there, so he didn’t want to kill too quickly. Taichi opened the man’s mouth and shoved dirty gauze inside, making the man gag and choke all the while muffling his puny screams. Taichi had already tied him up to the bed and he began formulating what he was going to do with the type of man that would take advantage of a woman who couldn’t defend herself, or at all for that matter, and could kill a woman without any provocation. He didn’t want to spend too much time with him, so he cut off his male appendage and let him bleed out. His muffled screams of pain, turned into soft sobs, which turned into slight groans as he took in and let out his last breaths of life. All the while looking up at Taichi, who was loving every second of it.

Taichi knew that he was on the right path now that he had seen someone that he recognized, now he just needed to find the rest of the men that were there that day, especially their leader. He had thought he would die in the desert heat when he left him out their tied up and naked against the broiling sand, but he didn’t. Now he was going to need to finish what he started and this time, he was going to enjoy it. Taichi snuck out of the medical tent and he began scanning the area for a building the leaders would stay in. He scanned for a few minutes until he saw a man dressed up in a nice suit walk into one of the buildings that sat in the back of the camp from the entrance.

Taichi crossed the camp, along the edges, making sure to not draw any attention to himself, staying mostly in the brush that lined the camp’s perimeter. He was leaning against the wall of the leader’s building and quickly looked through the window with Sharingan activated, this would allow him to see more with his quick look. He shot his up head over the window sill and took a quick look. It was only the well dressed man that was inside the building. Taichi crawled around to the front door. Taichi took a deep breath and quickly pushed the door open and looked into the man’s eyes and placed him under a genjutsu. He shut his mind off with his mind control and placed him into a deep sleep. When the man fell to the floor, Taichi ran under and caught him. Placing him on the ground gently so he wouldn’t make any noise.

Taichi went through all of the desks and drawers in the room until he found exactly what he was looking for, it was a small stack of maps that had outlined the outposts trading routes that went across the border to the land of rivers and to their other outposts along the border also. Taichi grinned the kind of grin that one would make when their entire plan just got a whole lot easier and much more effective. Taichi figured that if he was going to take down these Walls of Jericho, down to a point that they couldn’t build back up, he was going to need more preparations, and maybe even some help. Taichi put all the documents into his backpack and he quickly left the leader building. He ran over the wall and he found a place that he could set up camp for the night. Starting tomorrow, he was going to form his plan, with what he found that night, he was finally going to see their walls crumble.

WC: 4256
+14 stats (Stealth = 300 words/stat)
+5050 Ryo
+10 AP
+500 Hidden Mist (completed)
+500 Water Sealing/Release (completed)
+1500 1000 needles of death (completed)
+1500 5 feeding sharks (completed)
+256 Hiding in the rain (256/1500)

[size=31]The cracks in the "Walls of Jericho"[/size]

[size=31]The night was coming to an end, but Taichi hadn’t been able to sleep a bit. He had been taking turns between staring at the star filled sky, and back at the trade routes and maps that he had stolen from the outpost that belonged to the Walls of Jericho. He tried to think of just how he was going to use these trade routes against the walls and see how he could make them vulnerable. He could obviously find bandits in Suna that would be able to choke out the trade routes, that would be an easy route to go down, but that was always fixable by creating new trade routes. He also gave thought to the idea of creating an army. Sieging the place, and taking over the main hub, killing all the bandits in the process. He Taichi, art that this was going to be dangerous and that there were other outposts out there. But if he was able to take out the main hub and the communication and trade, the other outposts would most likely begin sending scout parties to see what was going on. This is when Taichi could start culling the population of the other outposts that way. Then if they ever stop sending the parties, that would be enough information to tell Taichi that they were most likely running low on fighters. Taichi nodded his head to himself and he began planning how he was going to get enough bandits on his side. [/size]

[size=31]While an army would obviously make the numbers balance more so in Taichi’s favor, it would also allow him to multi task and carry out a more complex plan, rather than keep ambushing supply caravans with his shadow clones. It would allow him to infiltrate the different outposts, while also choking out every single one of their trading routes. If he could get enough bandits to join him, he could have different groups doing different things. The ones that would be able to me a little more stealthy and better with their combat, they would be able to accompany him on the actual siege of the outposts. One by one they would fall, or if he planned it right, all of them at once. Another option that came into his head was to attack the two smaller outposts that sat a couple kilometers out from the main outpost. He wouldn’t tear them to pieces, not completely, he would attack them until he had them on the run. When they run, he would not chase them down. He would allow them to run off to the main outpost, because that was his first stop. He knew that he could find a weapons caravan or two coming into Suna. These caravans often had explosives and most importantly, paper bombs. If he could find enough paper bombs, and have the ability to come up with enough chakra, he would be able to run the bombs underneath the entirety of the outpost. Then when all of the bandits were held up in the main outpost for safety. He would blow the entire place to kingdom come. But not before he grabbed the leader, the ones that had Taichi tied up before he and his men took advantage of Bri and killed her. He would have him watch every single bit of his hard work burn down to ashes. Then once the outpost was gone, he would make him miserable. He would ruin the psyche of the bandit leader and leave him in a dark room until he starved to death. [/size]

[size=31]Taichi grinned ear to ear at the thought of his plan and he decided that he was not going to sleep. It was still dark and the moon was still high in the sky. He put out his fire and stood up. He gathered all of his things and began walking back to Suna. The first step in his plan was going to be gathering the men, or was it? Taichi realized that he needed to do the recon on the outposts, find out all the information he was going to need before actually gathering an army of bandits that were going to want to get paid. Taichi turned back around and pulled the map out of his backpack. When he opened up the map, he read to see just where the smaller outpost out to the east was. He was walking in the eastern direction as he read the map. During his recon, he was going to need to find a trade route between the outposts, make sure the route on the map was still the current route that was being used. He would stay on the trading route and follow along the road to get to both smaller outposts, if he saw a caravan either heading in to the smaller outpost, or coming out, he would be assured that the routes were still in use. If he found no caravans going back or forth, than he would need to feel the roadway out, check to see if there were any other roadways near the area that they could also be used as a trade route. If he found none, then he would infiltrate the larger outpost with his transformation technique and see who would have the updated maps to the trading routes, use genjutsu with his Sharingan, and have them tell him where the new trade routes were. [/size]

[size=31]He was sure this plan was going to work, he didn’t see a flaw in it that would make it to where it would end up being a failure. If the outposts decided to tuck in and fight, then he would obliterate them all. If a caravan breaks through the bandits and arrived in the larger outpost to let them know that they were all under attack, then he would blow the paper bombs that he is going to place as the first phase of his attack plan. Now that he has been training his Earth element affinity, he was going to be able to go underneath the ground of the outposts, placing all the paper bombs he could plant. Worst case scenario is killing all of the bandits by slaughter instead of by explosion. Which to Taichi, didn’t make much difference. The only thing that was imperative in this mission, was the leader was forced to watch all of it, then be tortured to death himself. [/size]

[size=31]He found himself on a route that was depicted on the map. This was most likely the trading route due to how straight a shot it was between the two outposts, so he began walking along the road, knowing that due to it being early morning, this would be when the caravans would begin to run, trying to get back before nightfall. Taichi kept his eyes opened and his body ready to react to whatever he was to run into on the way to the smaller outpost. He didn’t need to see the outpost for his plan to work, but he figured it would be good to know exactly what it was that he was dealing with when it came time to put the fire to the outpost, wanting to be able to rule out most counterattacks, and also think of how he could get whatever bandits he could to run, instead of fighting back. He wanted to stay there for at least one full day, noting all of their guard changes, and try to get the best picture he could about their schedule and their routines, this was going to be how he was going to be able to formulate the perfect invasion of the outpost and have the smallest amount of resistance and fighting,  this would be good to eliminate risks, but also make them less likely to fight back in the first place. A well laid out plan will always be challenging to work against. [/size]

[size=31]After a couple hours of walking along the cool desert sand, he looked up the road, toward the horizon, and he was able to see wagons coming his way, hoping that it was a trading caravan, he hurried off of the side of the road and waited for the carvan to get closer to him. He knew that letting it go went against his instincts, but he needed the main outpost and the leader to feel as though everything was normal. He wanted to stay under the radar for as long as he could, before the attack phase of his plan was put into motion. This is when he was going to have all of his pieces in place and ready to go at any moment. He waited and he listened for the caravan as it got closer to him. He tried to suppress his urge to incinerate every member of the caravan. The wagons began to pass by his location. While this was not what he wanted, there was a nugget of good news with this passing caravan, this was in fact still the current trade route to the eastern outpost. As the wagons past, he tried to see if any of the men on the caravan were there for the murder of Bri. When he was not able to recognize any of the men on the caravan, he allowed them all to live. When the wagons got out of sight of Taichi, he returned to the road and he continued walking toward the eastern outpost. He walked for about another hour, the sun still on its rise into the sky. He saw the walls of what he hoped was the eastern outpost. He began to sprint toward their outpost, using every bit of cover that the sagebrush and the mounds of sand could provide. He weaved around the mounds of sand and got within thirty meters from the walls of the outpost. He found a mound of sand that was high enough for him to be able to see into the outpost so he could check to see just how this outpost acted and interacted with each other. He wanted to see where the leader stayed and what their daily routine was. If he was able to get enough information on the outpost itself, it would make the attack phase of his plan much easier and much more fluid when it came time to initiate. While he was sure not to arise any suspicion, he continued to mark down all of the guard changes, not just when there was a new set of guards on the walls either. He wanted to know exactly when the guards changed sections of the outpost walls, when the different guards were changed out at the village gates, and every other time a guard would move his position. While he may not be able to get all of that information, he was going to get as much as he could.[/size]

[size=31]With the first outpost, he wanted to understand how they were able to generate their resources. If he was going to attack this outpost without an army of bandits helping him, he was going to need to be able to starve them out if he wasn’t able to gather enough people to help him with a massive attack. While he wasn’t sure just how many people lived inside that outpost, he didn’t want to foolishly bust through the front gates without a plan, that would only lead to his defeat, like it did the day with Bri. While he would have much more chakra than that day, he would also be facing a lot more foes if he was to storm the outpost as a whole. If he had to carry out this plan completely on his own, he was going to need to fall back on his plan B. Have both the smaller outposts flood into the bigger outpost, then blow it to pieces with the paper bombs that he was still in need of obtaining. Taichi laid on the mound of sand, changing positions every hour, until he finally felt that he had enough information, and the sun was going down. He slid down the mound of sand and he began to walk away from the outpost, and he was headed on to the next. [/size]

[size=31]As he was heading west, the sun was directly in his face. Taichi knew the sun was going down, and soon he was going to have the help of nightfall to aid him in his travels. This was going to be a longer trip due to the sheer distance that he was going to need to conquer so he could make it to the second outpost. He wanted to storm the outposts now, but he knew that he needed to wait. The flashbacks hadn’t been coming to his mind as much while he was on this trip. He figured maybe it was the fact that he was going to avenge Bri for what these men had done to her. Maybe the shame and the guilt lightened up due to the adrenaline that was pumping through his body, not allowing him to feel the weight of shame and guilt as much. Or maybe he was just lucky for a day or two. He didn’t care which of the options it was, all he knew was that he was covering a lot more ground due to his not needing to whip himself every couple hours. [/size]

[size=31]The sun had completely dropped below the sand, but luckily there was a full moon that night. The desert sand was brightened up with the moon and he was able to see where he was going without the need of a lantern, this was a huge positive due to the fact that it helped him keep his position a secret much easier than if he was carrying around a lit lantern or a torch while walking along the road way. He didn’t want to lose any ground coverage by sleeping. While he did in fact feel tired, he continued to push through that and get himself going as fast as he could. If he was able to get to the western outpost by sunrise, he would be able to watch a full day of guard changes, breaks, opening in the walls, and maybe even the caravan schedule. Most times they were sent out just before sunrise, this ensured a full day to help a caravan reach the main outpost before nightfall, and still have the visual aid of the sun to keep the horizons from becoming far too dark to be able to see if any enemies were approaching. [/size]

[size=31]Taichi was just about to make it to the main outpost, he could see the outline of the wall as it peaked just above the horizon. While he couldn’t see the outpost exactly due to it being nighttime. Thanks to the full moon he was able to see the mere silhouette of the outpost, so he veered off the roadway so he wouldn’t be seen by any lookouts in the outpost. As he veered off course he was able to keep a safe distance away from the outpost so they wouldn’t be able to see him and try to rob him as if he was a regular traveler. He wasn’t too concerned about a fight happening between him and the bandits, but he was not wanting for the outpost and those dwelled within it to know that Taichi was the one roaming around their outpost, or just some random guy that was snooping in their areas in the middle of the night. He could easily kill the bandit group that would try to apprehend him, but he was still trying to keep his presence a secret, again, at least for now. [/size]

[size=31]Everything he was going to be doing was going to be in secret and needed to stay that way until he was able to get the rest of the plan in place before he went off killing anyone that would be able to relay the information to the main outposts and put everyone on lockdown. Not that it would make it impossible,  it would seriously complicate things to make it to where certain higher ups of the outposts would be able to run off and escape the wrath that would be raining down upon them when Taichi was finally ready with his plan. The main goal of this offensive was to take down the walls of jericho and all of the higher ups that made up its ranks. He also wanted to kill the grunts, but if one or two of them happened to live, it wouldn’t much matter due to their not really being in a place of importance. Anyone of importance needed to die, so they wouldn't be able to rebuild their organization with the same principles.He wanted to get revenge and to avenge Bri, but he also figured that the least amount of these miserable lawless bastards there was in this world, the better. [/size]

[size=31]He finally reached the outpost and he found him a place that he would be able to hide out and look over the outpost, just as he did with the first outpost and was able to get most of the information that he needed. He circled the outpost for a little while, trying to find the right spot that would be able to get all the right angles, he was going to need to change his position so he could learn more things, but he wanted to focus on the front gates. He noticed that there wasn’t really an entrance or exit other than the front gates, that left little opening for caravans and the like to enter through. So if he was going to get caravan schedules, he was going to need to focus on the front gates. He found the perfect mound of sand that was about 45 yards out of the outpost. This was a good distance that allowed him to be able to get an idea for their routine, while also keeping his presence able to be protected, especially with the hole in the sand that he would dig, allowing him to have very little amounts of his head popping out of the sand. There was a rock sitting on the mound that he hid behind, allowing him to seem like just another rock next to it.[/size]

[size=31]He observed the routines of the outposts for a few hours. He realized that he was too far out. He needed to get a little closer. He had been working on his Earth style element, but he had not yet  learned any actual techniques. He kicked himself because of this. He knew there were Earth style techniques that would allow him to move faster underneath the ground. This would allow him to be able to get much closer to the outpost without actually being noticed or giving up his position. Taichi quickly ran from cover to cover when he saw no one looking in his direction on the front of the outpost. He had gotten within 15 meters of the outpost, and he began to see more than he had before. He was able to get a better look over the wall by climbing the nearest mound of sand. The walls weren’t very high, maybe 2-3 meters, so he was able to see over them. He found a building that he presumed to be the leader building. He based this finding on the attire the people entering and exiting the building were dawning. The clothing was gaudy and in Taichi’s experience, that usually meant that you were the leader of something, the leader always wanted to stand out from the rest of them, which was more than likely their downfall. [/size]

[size=31]He knew that to get the bandits to run away from this outpost and high tailing it to the main outpost, he was going to need to kill the leader. This way, they would have no words of wisdom or experience coming from above, so the grunts on the bottom of the chain of command would have to fend for themselves. Taichi was hoping that in this situation, the grunts would all run to the closest outpost that still had a leader, being the main outpost in between both of the smaller outposts. But, even if this plan was to not work, then he would torch the entire outpost and everyone that lived inside, just for good measure. While Taichi trusted in his ability of being able to take out the entire outpost on his own, he did realize that if even one bandit was able to run off and escape, he would be able to tell the leader of the main outpost and he would run. [/size]

[size=31]The leader of the main outpost was the main goal, Taichi wasn’t sure that he was the man that ran the camp where Bri was killed, but he wanted that to be the main priority, just in case it was. But even if it wasn’t, he would still have cleansed the world of such a filth that was the Walls of Jericho and its band of bandits, thieves, and fiends. With this flaw in the plan in Taichi’s mind, he decided that was going to need to go to Suna to try and recruit. If he could have the bandit on both of the trading routes that Taichi had found, they would be able to catch any stragglers from sending word to the main outpost and more importantly, the leader of the Walls of Jericho. [/size]

[size=31]Taichi had watched over this outpost for long enough to gain the intel that he was going to need for his mission to be successful. He knew what caravans were sent out when, and he knew where the leader’s building was. He got out of the sand that he had dug himself in to hide his body from view, grabbed his things, and he began heading back to Suna, with a hastened pace. If he could get into Suna prior to sunrise of the next day, he would be able to recruit for a few hours, promise the bandits whatever spoils were left in all three outposts, being sure that this would be enough enticement to bring in enough bandits to blockade the trading routes. He would be able to give the bandits a little while to gather their things and ready themselves for the attack phase of Taichi’s plan. By the dawn of the next day. He would be able to initiate his attack. This is when a thought entered Taichi’s mind. If he was to blow the entire main outpost up with paper bombs, the bandits would be less likely to want to help due to the possibility that all of the spoils from the outposts would be gone from the explosions. [/size]

[size=31]Taichi tried thinking of another plan to deal with the main outposts, but his mind was far too tired. It occurred to Taichi that he had been awake for three days straight and his body was beginning to show severe signs of exhaustion. He had been going full speed for so long, partly trying to put his plan into place, but also due to the immense strain he was putting on his mind to keep the flashbacks at bay. Taichi tried to push his body to keep walking and keep pushing through to get to Suna before sunrise. But his body just couldn’t do it. He realized that he was not just trying to avoid sleep because of his plan. But because of the fact that he had become terrified of his sleeping. He knew that when he finally gave in to his exhaustion, he would have to live through the day of Bri’s death again and again and this was something Taichi didn’t want to go through again. The cuts and scratches all over his body were just beginning to truly heal and he didn’t want to have to deal with opening all of the injuries again.[/size]

[size=31]Taichi finally decided to set up camp, he was going to need his strength if he was only a day away from his assault on the outposts, so he laid down on a bedroll that he laid out on the sand. He laid down and he quickly fell asleep, his body was certainly exhausted. While tonight may be hard on Taichi, from the flashbacks and the shame. Tomorrow would bring a day full of combat and uncertainty, which side would prevail? Only time would tell.[/size]

[size=31]WC:4096[/size]
[size=31]+13 stats (Stealth Challenge: 300 words/stat point)[/size]
[size=31]+5050 Ryo, +10 AP[/size]
[size=31]+1244 towards Hiding in the rain (completed) previous progress is above[/size]
[size=31]+1500 towards Wood release: cutting (completed)[/size]
[size=31]+1352 towards Exploding shock wave (1352/1500)[/size]

[size=30]The fall of Jericho and those who dwell within[/size]

[size=30]Taichi was still lying underneath the star filled desert sky. The temperature had dropped significantly. But luckily with his fire chakra, he was able to keep himself warm through the cold climate. He was thrashing in the sand, but before he fell asleep, he decided to put gloves on his hands, this kept his nails from scratching himself. He also kept his backpack away from his body. This made it much more difficult for him to be able to reach for any type of blade or sharp object that he could cut himself with. Taichi slept for only a few hours. He watched the flashbacks as he tried his best to sleep through them. He was covered in sweat once again, even in the frigid temperatures that the desert provided at night time. He knew that this was coming, but his body needed to sleep. If he was to just go barging in there after being awake for four to five days. That would make fighting much harder and increase the possibility of his plan failing, only acting as another failure that Taichi would bring to Bri. The shame continued to torment Taichi, but he tried his best to push through it and not let it bring him down too far, if he was to allow the depression and the shame to overwhelm him, then he would not be able to do anything. He would be nothing more than a puddle of waste that would not be able to do goo by anyone, including Bri. [/size]

[size=30]When he finally had enough of tossing and turning, and thrashing around in the sand, his head whipped forward and he woke up with gasping breaths. His blue piercing eyes darted around his immediate area, making sure that there was no threats near him. He had his Mangekyo Sharingan activated, feeling the new power filling his eyes. He was so curious as to what they did, what kind of mysteries he would be able to unlock with these new eyes in his head. He could wonder for now, for he had no actual information on what these eyes could or did do. The eyes did feel as though they were filled to the brim with power and potential, but they also had a slight painful sensation whenever they were activated. Was this because they were actually damaging his ability to see? Would this have long term effects that he would want to be aware of? These were questions that he had no answers to. He hoped that maybe one day he would be able to find someone that had the same type of eyes as he did. If he could find someone with them, maybe he would be able to learn more about what these eyes could do, based on the other person’s experience. That is, if he could find someone that would not also try and kill him for his eyes in the first place, which in this world full of criminals and lunatics, may be a tall order afterall.[/size]

[size=30]Taichi stood up from the sandy bed that he had made and he took a look at his surroundings, he did not see anything when he stood, so he had hoped that he was safe for the moment. While his body didn’t feel rested, he felt well enough to carry on through the rest of this mission. If he could finish the mission, he hoped that this would also help with all of his anxieties and his shame over Bri’s brutal death. He tried packing up his things as quickly as he could so he could keep his mind distracted from the impending flashbacks that were sure to bombard his mind. He grabbed his bed roll and he rolled it back up, feeling the flashbacks begin to bombard his mind. Taichi gathered all of his things and he closed up his backpack, zipped it up and threw it over his shoulder. [/size]

[size=30]He tried to keep walking forward, trying to push his body forward. He didn’t want to stop, for it would only prolong this trip and give the leader of the main outpost more chances to leave the outpost. The flashbacks were impossible to ignore, he could hear her screams once again. The groans she let out as she died. The bandits allowed her to die slowly, painfully. His fury built, it swelled in his mind, causing his eyes to feel as though they were beginning to come out of his skull. He couldn’t handle the anger any longer. The shame was weighing down on his shoulders, making him feel as though he was walking with ankle weights. He was drowning in his guilt, he couldn’t seem to pull himself out. His pace began to slow from the power walking that he was doing, all the way down to practically dragging his knuckles and feet against the sandy road. [/size]

[size=30]Taichi kneeled down on the sand on the side of the road, reluctantly and painfully he grabbed his backpack and he placed it in front of him. He unzipped the smaller pocket on the front of the backpack, and pulled out his leather strap. The strap had seen so much of Taichi’s blood that it was beginning to change the color of the leather. Taichi slowly pulled off his vest, not looking forward to what he had to do to himself,  and placed it into the backpack. He pulled off his white t shirt, folded it, and placed it in the backpack. He gripped the handle that he had made for the leather strap, and he began to breathe as slowly as he could. The adrenaline was pumping through his chest, as if it was preparing his body for what was to come. Taichi gripped the handle a little tighter and threw it over his left shoulder, and snapped it back, causing it to rip into the skin on his back, effectively whipping himself. Taichi continued this until the flashbacks became drowned out with the pain that came with the whipping. As the leather would crash into his skin, Taichi would clench his jaw and grit his teeth, the pain was overwhelming, but not as overwhelming as the flashbacks. The more he whipped, the less his mind would think about the flashbacks, the more he whipped, the more he could feel like he could breathe again. [/size]

[size=30]Taichi whipped himself for half an hour until he felt like he could continue on this mission. He put his whip back into his backpack and he used his medical ninjutsu to heal his whipping wounds. The blood had been stopped and he was able to wear his shirt again. He threw on his shirt and his sleeveless vest. His mind still feeling heavy, but the flashbacks were more towards the back of his mind, rather than on the forefront, crushing Taichi every time he would think about them. He pushed himself forward, he was dedicated to getting to Suna, and be sure to catch a weapons caravan on the way. While he wasn’t sure if he was going to blow the main outpost to kingdom come, he wanted that to be an option just in case things went south. [/size]

[size=30]As he was getting closer to Suna, he began looking for a caravan that he could ransack on the way to Suna. Not only due to the weapons that he would hopefully gain in the robbery, but also because it would grant him a wagon with horses or camels, instead of him having traverse the desert all by himself. He walked for a few hours, he was only another hour or two out of Suna when he finally found himself a caravan that he could rob. A wheel had broken on one of the wagons, causing the whole caravan to come to a stop. But during the time they had to put the wheel back onto the wagon, both of the horses that were attached to the broken down wagon had escaped. Taichi walked over to the caravan and offered his help. A sceptical bandit on the caravan reluctantly accepted his help and Taichi asked the man where the horses had run off to, when the bandit pointed in the direction. Taichi began running after the horses. After a short while, he noticed that he wasn’t seeing any horse prints in the direction the bandit had pointed out to Taihci. While he wasn’t entirely sure why this was, he had a good feeling that this bandit was sending him into a trap. Taichi looked up and he began seeing bandits throwing paper bombs at Taichi. The bombs, not having any chakra infused into them, obviously didn’t blow. Taichi began to laugh at the confused faces all of the bandits had on their faces. [/size]

[size=30]“I’m sorry, did you just steal these from some shinobi and think that they worked for regular people like you? You need to infuse your chakra into the bombs to make them work. But luckily for me. I need a bunch of these things, so tell me. Where are the rest of them?” Taichi spoke with a devilishly sweet tone. He knew that he was going to get these paper bombs, no matter what. Taichi sprinted up the dunes of sand, when he reached the top, he saw another caravan rushing off away from him. He looked around and saw no cases of paper bombs, so he assumed that they were on that caravan. Taichi grinned and he stretched his body for a moment. When he was done, the chase was on. Taichi felt his body move faster than it had in quite a while, turned out he really did need that sleep. Taichi was catching up to the caravan and the bandits all began to yell to each other that he was catching up. Taichi laughed and caught up to the rear wagon in the caravan. When he caught up, the bandit threw a knife directly at Taichi, while he was not going to let this stand. Taichi dodged it to the left and grabbed it out of the air. He threw the knife back at the bandit, sinking it deep into his skull. The bandit died on impact, but the horses kept pulling the wagon forward. Taichi climbed onto the wagon and he started looking through the wagon, hoping he would find the paper bombs. [/size]

[size=30]When he saw that there was none, he set his eyes on the rest of the caravan. Taichi noticed that the caravan had begun to split up. Taichi didn’t care about the caravan itself. All he cared about was the paper bombs. He used his Sharingan to hopefully help him see which wagon the paper bombs were on. As Taichi looked, he hollered to the horses to get them to go faster, he grabbed the reins and he drove the wagon. The horses ran as fast as they could, which allowed Taichi to catch up to another wagon that was on the caravan. Taichi got to the side of the caravan and leaped onto the next wagon. The bandit tried to thrust a blade into Taichi’s side as he leaped onto the wagon. Taichi activated his chakra scalpel and slapped the blade away. Taichi then thrust his hand into the bandit’s neck, killing him instantly. Taichi then looked behind him and he began searching the wagon, hoping he would be able to find a case full of paper bombs. Taichi found a crate that looked as though it would hold the paper bombs. He used his chakra scalpel again to bust the lock that was on the box. When the lock gave way, he threw the lid to the box open and he looked inside. To his delight it was the paper bombs, so he immediately slowed the horses on the wagon down and praised them for working so hard. He turned the wagon around and began driving the wagon back to Sunagakure. With this weapon in his arsenal, he was another large step in the right direction towards initiating his plan and having it succeed. [/size]

[size=30]Taichi had most of his plan underway already, the only thing he needed to do now was to gather his army and prepare himself for the destruction of the main outposts. When he walked into Suna, he saw there was a fight happening just outside of Suna. When he went to see what the commotion was, he was stopped by a man that stood much taller than Taichi did. He had his giant hand on Taichi’s shoulder. He looked up to the large obstacle and asked him just what the hell he was doing. The man had a low growling voice when he responded. Turned out the fight was an initiation for two recruits to fight to the death so one of them could prove their worth to the bandit’s group. Taichi found this practice to be impractical and primitive, but he didn’t judge. He asked where the leader was so he could offer him a proposition and the large man leaned back and crossed his arms. The man laughed and told Taichi that he was in fact the leader of the group. He then asked what this proposition was that Taichi had to offer. Taichi explained the situation. He told the leader his plan and what he needed from the bandits and their numbers. [/size]

[size=30]When Taichi finished explaining his plan, the leader thought for a moment. He told Taichi to stay where he was and began walking away to speak with what seemed like his second in command. The leader walked back toward taichi after a few minutes and had Taichi follow the men into Suna. Taichi wasn't sure if this was a trap, but he wasn't sure what these men could do to him. Taichi followed them into Suna and the men began to explain what they would want if they were to join Taichi on his mission to tear apart the Walls of Jericho. The leader's name was Ryukao and what he wanted was all the spoils that his men could find and that he would not destroy the smaller outposts. He agreed that if the back up plan, being blowing up the main outpost, he required that Taichi go into the leaders building and find their lockbox and sack all the valuables they had and deliver it straight to the Ryukao. Taichi agreed to his terms and they shook hands. Taichi found his terms understandable and he was already planning on plucking the leader before blowing the whole outpost, so that wasn't going to inconvenience Taichi in anyway.  Taichi continued to follow the men and they walked inside what looked like a restaurant. Taichi got excited at the prospect of eating at a restaurant inside of Suna. He thought they were all abandoned and destroyed. Ryukao pulled a seat out and offered Taichi to sit. He obliged happily and he waited for the rest of the men to sit at the table. [/size]

[size=30]The men sat and they all talked for a few hours about the plans and how they were going to pull off the attack phase of the plan. As taichi spoke to Ryukao, he had thought that all bandits and leaders were primitive and savages. But he was different, he was well spoken and polite. He was probably 6'8" and was extremely muscular. He was in a sleeveless vest and denim pants. His body seemed to almost burst out of them due to the sheer size of his body. When a group of men were done, Taichi gave the map to Ryukao and told him where to meet Taichi so he could explain the plan to the rest of his men. Then Ryukao would slit his men in any way he saw fit. The three men all shook hands and Taichi walked back out of the village and readied the horses to head on back to the main outpost. [/size]

[size=30]The first stage of his attack phase was going to be setting up all of the paper bombs underneath the outpost. Once he would finish with this portion of the plan, he would be able to take on the rest of it.Taichi rode the wagon that he had stolen from the caravan back to the main outpost. The bandits were following behind him, he knew that he would have to hurry to finish this portion of the plan so he could meet the bandits at the rendezvous point. If he didn’t finish in time, scouts from the outposts may find it strange that there is a different bandit group sitting just outside of their outposts, this would cause a snowball effect, ruining his entire plan and this could turn into an all out war that the outpost leader could easily run away from. Taichi thought for a while about how he was going to plant the bombs as he continued down the road with the horses trotting along the way, pulling the wagon. He thought about the Senju DNA that he had just received from Kenshin, and the Wood Style technique that he had learned. Mayfly. It allowed one to submerge themselves under the ground at a pretty intense rate of speed. Taichi figured this would be the best chance he would have at being able to quickly plant the bombs and still meet the bandit group in a good amount of time. Taichi stood up on the wagon, he grabbed the crate of paper bombs. Taichi activated the Mayfly technique and began sinking into the ground. He quickly traveled under the ground, hurling his body toward the main outpost. [/size]

[size=30]When he reached the outpost, this part of the plan was the time consuming part. He needed to place a paper bomb in a grid type pattern that covered the entirety of the ground. The blast radius of the paper bombs was only 2 meters, so he was going to use the entirety of the case of paper bombs that he had to cover the entirety of the outpost. Taichi began placing and infusing his chakra into each and every one of his paper bombs. He hit the halfway point and hurried back to the outside of the outpost. He wanted to take a look to see where the sun was. When he saw that the sun was just about to rise, he hurried back under the outpost so he could finish placing all of the paper bombs. He needed to get this done before sunrise so he would be able to meet the rest of the group in time for everyone to get into their positions before the caravans began to run. Taichi went back underneath the outpost and continued the placing of the bombs. When he was finished he went back out from under the outpost, and he went to meet the bandit groups. [/size]

[size=30]Taichi reached the rendezvous point just as the sun was beginning to rise. He told the bandits that they needed to get into position before the sun rose to completion, for that was when the caravans began to run. The bandits all understood and they began to move that direction Ryukao ordered his men to split up into two groups. When the bandits began to move. Taichi used the Mayfly technique to transport himself to the western outpost first. He shot out of the ground and he began his movements on the outpost. He watched as the caravan began to leave the outpost, heading to the main outpost, along the same route that he had an army of bandits sitting on, waiting for them. He used his mayfly to sneak into the outpost, he transported himself to roughly the area the leader’s building was and shot through the floor of the building. He lunged at the leader that was inside, activated his chakra scalpel, and sliced his head clean off. As his head fell to the floor and began to roll down the to the other end of the building, Taichi began searching the building for anything of value. He found a little bit of money and some jewels that he was going to be leaving for the bandits to go through, he wanted to ensure that they were well paid for all of their work. Without them, this plan would have proved to be either much harder, or much less effective. [/size]

[size=30]When Taichi was done searching through the first outpost’s leader’s room. He grabbed the leader’ head and he took it outside, showing it to all the bandits that had walked by him. He yelled to them, “You’re leader is dead! If you feel like joining him, stay. If you value your lives, run to the main outpost where their numbers are far greater and their people are far stronger. There will be bandits on the road ways waiting for you, but they will not kill you, unless you decide to run off or leave the main outpost before we say you can. The bandits around didn’t react with as much fear as they did anger. Taichi knew that he was going to have to make an example out of the bandits that stood around him. Taichi set the leader’s head on a pike, forcing the wooden pike to pierce the brain, ensuring that it would fall off. He stuck the pike into some of the soft sand on the ground and he began walking toward all of the bandits that stood around him. As the bandits began coming at Taichi. He began killing them effortlessly. The memory of the fight that he lost on the day of Bri’s death fresh in his mind. He had both of his hands coated with his chakra, forming his chakra scalpels. He continued cleaving the bandits in two. One by one, he could feel the passion by the horde of bandits dwindle. They knew they could not win, so they began to run. Taichi had just cut another bandit’s head clean off when he noticed the remainder of the group had already vanished from the middle of the outpost. [/size]

[size=30]Taichi ran out of the outpost and saw as the caravans began hightailing out of the outpost and were going East to the main outpost. Taichi smirked as he watched his plan come to fruition. He waved toward the bandits to go ahead and ransack the outpost. He walked up to the group leader and told him to make his scouring the area snappy, they were to head to the main outpost as soon as possible, to be ready for the main outpost’s portion of the mission. He activated his Mayfly technique and he transported almost immediately to the Eastern outpost. He did just as he had done for the Western Outpost, he came in, killed the leader of the outpost and battled whatever dissenters he had. Both outposts had been cleared and the bandits were beginning their clearing of the valuables. Taichi met Ryukao just outside of sight of the main outpost. Both of them talked about how they were going to handle the main outpost. Taichi told him to hold his bandits off for a few minutes, while he went and gathered the leader. He transformed into one of the bandits that he had killed from the Western outpost and he busted through the front gate of the main outpost, claiming to be one of the bandits that watched as the western outpost was destroyed by one man, speaking of himself. He was taken to the leader’s building, the man inside wanted to ask him many questions about Taichi as possible. He entered the leader’s building and spoke to the same man in the suit that he had put under a genjutsu when he was first planning this attack. Taichi didn’t recognize him, so he tried his best to return questions about where the leader of the Walls of Jericho was. [/size]

[size=30]As the questions were pointed to the transformed Taichi, he answered them as if he was just a lowly bandit, not knowing what was going on. Taichi expertly responded with questions that sounded just stupid enough to get the information he needed, while still sounding like a lowly bandit in shock from the attack. The man in the suit became angry and yelled at the transformed Taichi, telling him that the leader had left for some expansion projects in the farther East, in the borderlands of the land of Wind and the land of Rivers. Infuriated at the fact that he had went through all of this work, to miss the very guy he was after the whole time. He began looking around, to see if he could find a picture of the bandit leader so he would be able to recognize him if he was to find him on his travels. This is when he found a portrait. The man in the portrait, the leader of the Walls of Jericho, was the same man that had led the bandits to taking advantage of Bri and killing her. Taichi’s anger reached his boiling point, to the point that he had lost control of his transformation. The leader leaped out of his chair and began yelling that there was an imposter inside the building. Taichi activated his Chakra scalpel and pulled out the leader’s tongue. After cutting it off, he grabbed the screaming man’s head and slowly cut the skin, inch by inch. The screaming went from blood curdling, sobbing, then finally to sullen moans until he died. Both of his eyes wide open, one slowly slumping to the side. Taichi threw the head out of the window of the leader’s building and used Mayfly to transport himself to outside the outpost gates once more. Taichi detonated all the paper bombs all at once. The explosions all happened simultaneously. Taichi could see the bodies of the bandits begin to fly into the air with the percussion of the blasts. Taichi thought that when he destroyed the outposts, it would bring him closure. But it brought him nothing but so close to his goal, only to realize it was still so far. Taichi shook hands with Ryukao and thanked him for his help. He reciprocated the gesture and they went their separate ways. Taichi began planning his next attempt to kill that bastard, this was his first priority, above all things in life.[/size]

[size=30]WC: 4400[/size]
[size=30]+4000 & 10 AP & 11 Stats[/size]
+148 towards Exploding shock wave (completed) previous progress is above 
+2500 towards Rain Sharks (completed)
+1752 towards Chakra Scalpel (1752/2500)

[size=31]Don't fear the shadow, kill it.[/size]

[size=31]Taichi was walking through the border lands of the land of wind. After his successful siege of the Walls of Jericho bandit group, but the failure to kill the man who killed Bri, he vowed to dedicate himself to the pursuit of that man and to be the one who took his life. As he roamed the sandy borders, just about to reach the land of Rivers. It was a longer walk for sure, but the endless mounds of sand in the distance was beginning to bum Taichi out. In his bummed state, he decided to go to the land of rivers, the waters always had the ability to calm Taichi down and bring him out of his depressed states that he had tendencies to get into. These usually came about when his mind had the ability to wander without any distractions. He would begin to remember all of the traumatic things that had happened in his life. He would remember the screams from Hana, just before the ceiling fell in on her and her family. He would think of the screams from Bri as she was killed slowly. He felt like a walking failure and he had the hardest time coming out of his depression, which is why the constant sounds from the water aided him in his struggles.[/size]

[size=31]If left for too long, the flashbacks would generate far too much shame and guilt for him to be able to bear. When this would happen, it would cause Taichi to see no other option than to be punished for his failures, thus the whipping would begin. Taichi didn’t see too much to gain from the whipping, it was only to calm his mind and to get his mind off of the shame and guilt, and push it more to focus on the pain and being in the moment, rather than living in the past. Taichi had been trying to at least reduce the amount of whipping to his body, for fear of causing irreparable damage. But there were still plenty of times that the flashbacks were unstoppable and the shame and guilt felt immeasurable. He reached the land of Rivers and he stopped for a little while to rest his body before marching through the land of Rivers and hopefully finding the leader of the bandit group the Walls of Jericho. His siege on their lands proved to be quite successful, killing almost every single one of the members, except for the most important one, the leader. [/size]

[size=31]The leader of the group was the same man that ran the camp Taichi tried clearing for Bri when she was recovering from the beating she had gotten from his men the night before. Taichi killed most of his men, but he had run out of chakra before finishing off the reinforcements that had showed up the next day. When he failed to fight all of them off, leaving nine of them, they all took advantage of the almost unconscious Bri and killed her slowly and painfully. Taichi was bound in the tent directly next to them, being forced to listen to every scream, groan, and the last breath that she was able to produce. While his fury was still very much alive toward the world for the rest of the tragedies that riddled his life, his main target and highest priority was the bastard that led the Walls of Jericho. [/size]

[size=31]This fury had brought him to a new outpost, a larger outpost, that they had been running two smaller sub outposts to the east and the west of the main outpost. Taichi spent a couple days spying on the outposts, formulating a plan to execute each and every one of them. After his planning and putting all of his attacks in line to almost guarantee success, he finally blew the main outpost to smithereens, and allowed a group of bandits that he had befriended to ransack anything that was leftover from the ruins that were left by Taichi and his bombs. He visited each outpost and tried to find anyone of the men that he recognized from that fateful day with Bri, but he was only able to find two. [/size]

[size=31]One of the men that Taichi had recognized that day, was a sick and weak man in the medical tent. Taichi used his chakra scalpel to kill that man in a gruesome way, just as they had done to Bri. The other one that Taichi had found, was the leader. The leader was currently roaming the area between the land of Wind and the land of Rivers on some sort of expansion quest. Taichi scowled at the thought of him running more than what Taichi had already destroyed, his kind needed to be wiped out from this planet, and Taichi wanted nothing more than to watch the entire criminal underworld come up in flames, the same with the village system. Taichi was beginning to see human life as nothing, just like they all did, but he didn't mind. He had been trying so hard to keep a hold of his humanity and his compassion, but after losing Hana, he felt it slip. Then when Bri left this world in such a terrible manner, his grip lost even more integrity. He was becoming more and more of a saddhist and nihilist. He cared not for love or compassion, the only thing that was left was self preservation. He continued to pursue whatever he felt would continue his journey to becoming stronger. [/size]

[size=31]His main goal, after ending the life of the bandit leader of the Walls of Jericho, was to become the strongest fighter in the world. He wanted to watch as the Kage of every village either tremble in fear of Taichi, or show him the respect a master criminal would require. Taichi had an interesting relationship with crime and criminals. He knew that he was  in fact a criminal himself, he still had a shred of morality left in him that he had the ability to understand what the difference of right and wrong was.[/size]

[size=31]Taichi finally meditated next to the river for long enough to consider his mind calm enough to travel. As he began getting ready, he felt an unease that he wasn’t quite sure what the cause was. Taichi shook off the nerves and he began walking down the road. As he continued to walk, that feeling didn’t go away, but he still continued to walk, not letting it bother him. As he walked along the waters, he realized that the sun was beginning to go down, the light was beginning to dim and shade was spreading across the road that he was traveling on. As the sun went farther down, the shades grew more and more. Taichi was still feeling that uneasy feeling, knowing that it had been hours since he first began feeling this feeling. Taichi knew that he was being followed, he had that thought continuing to pass through his head. Taichi had constant problems with paranoia, but at this moment, he could not shake the feeling of someone following him. Taichi decided that if he was to try and come at the pursuer head on, he would most likely run or have the drop on him. Knowing this, Taichi began formulating a plan that would allow him to neutralize the pursuer without giving them the drop of Taichi. [/size]

[size=31]Taichi was closing in on a small town that was at the halfway point to the end of the land of rivers. Taichi was trying to find out where this leader was, the suited man at the main outpost only told him that he had left for the borders between the land of wind and the land of rivers for an expansion project. Taichi knew that he was heading in the right direction. When he was getting closer to the town, he wasn’t entirely sure just how long this shadow was going to follow him. If he was able to get through the town, then he may be able to get a good look at the bastard with his enhanced eyes. Taichi was walking along the winding curves along the river and the trail that followed the river to the curve. He finally saw the familiar archway that had carved into it “Welcome to Bust”. Taichi walked quickly into the town and he was thinking about how he was going to be able to get a good look at the shadow.[/size]

[size=31]Taichi was walking along the main road that went straight through the town, when he saw the bar that he had tried entering into the singing competition. Taichi walked into the bar and he sat at the bar. When he was looking at the front door out of the corner of his eye, the bartender who turned out to be the same one that kicked him out months ago, walked up to Taichi. The bartender looked at Taichi for a moment and leaned over the counter, he then whispered only loud enough for Taichi to hear him. “You better have a damn good reason to be here boy. I told you the next time that you entered this bar, I’d kill you myself. Now ge-” Taichi was done with this so he activated his Sharingan and began controlling his mind. The bartender stood straight up and asked Taichi what he would like. Taichi told him what he wanted and the bartender went and got it for him. Taichi thanked the bartender and released the bartender from his genjutsu. The bartender stumbled backwards a few steps, before catching himself on the bar behind him. He shook his head and tried rubbing his eyes, Taichi was already gone before he could say anything. [/size]

[size=31]Taichi was among the crowd around the pool tables, looking around with his Sharingan deactivated. He wanted to find someone that was staring at Taichi, without giving his suspicion away. He wanted to find someone that would be staring at Taichi, watching his every move. Taichi looked around the entire bar, trying his best to keep his suspicions to a minimum. He was sure that the shadow was either not in the bar at all, or he was a master of disguise because Taichi was unable to find him. Instead of hurrying off to fight his shadow, he decided to instead stay in the bar a little while. The place was packed and Taichi, while for the most part being an introvert, he felt like being around people for a little while. He went over to the pool tables and he started racking the balls, figured he could play a little game by himself. [/size]

[size=31]He had just finished racking the balls and pulled the rack off to go and break them for himself. But before he was able to get into his pool stance, a rather large man walked up to Taichi. Taichi stopped and looked up toward the individual. It was Ryukao, the leader of the bandits that helped Taichi storm and destroy the outposts of the Walls of Jericho. Taichi was happy to see his comrade, and it seemed that Ryukao felt the same. The two shook hands and began playing pool together, talking about their times in life, both good and bad. The entire night was full of music, pool, and chatting. These three things together would usually drive Taichi away and terrify him, but he was happy to have the company. [/size]

[size=31]After a few hours of the two criminals playing pool and talking, it finally came time for Taichi to hit the road once again. Ryukao and Taichi both walked just outside the bar and said their good byes. Ryukao bid Taichi safe travels and thanked him for clearing out the two smaller outposts, which had turned into their new home. He held his hand out towards Taichi and handed him a small stack of money. He said that that was for all of the help that he had been to his group, staying in Suna was becoming difficult due to the size of their group and the outposts was exactly what they needed. Taichi said it was no worry and he hoped that it continued to aid his group until they found something even better. The two men shook hands once again and Taichi hit the road. [/size]

[size=31]Taichi was walking out of Bust, when he felt that feeling once again. The feeling that made him sense the person following him. Taichi was just out of town, maybe twenty meters away from the arch way. He figured Ryukao would be able to help him, just in case something went awry. Taichi turned around with his Sharingan activated and he looked directly at his shadow. It was a shorter figure, being about five feet eight inches tall. He had a dark outfit on, which he was sure was to help him with the stealth that he was using to trail Taichi for as long as he did. Not entirely sure how it helped him in the bar, so he was sure that he just didn’t follow him inside. Taichi then yelled out to the shadow. “Who are you and why have you been trailing me for half the day?!” Taichi had his chakra scalpel activated in both of his hands and was in his fighting stance. The shadow didn’t respond with words, only with action. The man was fast, faster than Taichi was expecting, there was no way that this was a normal bandit. [/size]

[size=31]The shadow sprinted directly for Taichi with a kunai in hand. Taichi waited for the shadow to get right up to Taichi and blocked the kunai with his chakra scalpel. Taichi then threw the man over his shoulder and launched him using his own momentum. The man flipped in the middle of the air and landed on his feet. He performed a couple hand signs and launched an Earth dragon directly in Taichi direction. Taichi was blown away at this, he had only fought one person that had skills with their chakra and it had been a while. Taichi grinned and he dodged the dragon that was coming directly towards him. He then performed the Wood Clone technique and created five clones out of the wood from the trees that stood along the river. Taichi and his clones then stared at the shadow, and they all began coming him at the same time. One of the clones performed the Great Fire Annihilation technique, while two other clones had their chakra scalpels activated, waiting at each end of the fire technique, waiting for the shadow to dodge the massive cloud in any direction. Taichi and one more of his clones waited for the counter attack.[/size]

[size=31]The shadow had managed to use a earth technique to get underneath the ground to dodge the giant fire cloud. So Taichi immediately began gathering his chakra, readying himself to perform the Hiding in Ash technique. The other clone was preparing himself for the shadow to pop out of the ground to try and grab Taichi. The shadow did exactly what Taichi was expecting him to do, he popped out of the ground, attempting to thrust a kunai directly through Taichi’s jaw. Taichi quickly stepped backwards, dodging the attack. Taichi’s clone then grabbed him out of the air and held him in place, his other four clones then arrived in Taichi’s location and aided the first clone in holding the shadow down. The shadow then squirmed and whimpered, trying to escape from the clones all holding him down. Taichi then got down on one knee and he looked at the shadow. “Who are you? Why the hell were you following me?” Taichi asked the shadow with a matter of fact tone and with indifference in his face. The shadow then began pleading for his life. Taichi did not want to hear his cries, so he slapped him with the back of his left hand. The shadow went back to whimpering, acting as though he was a puppy being scolded. The shadow then began telling Taichi everything he needed and wanted to know. He was hired by the leader of the Walls of Jericho, who hired the shadow when he heard of what had happened in his former outposts. Taichi was angry because this meant that he was not going to have the element of surprise, and the leader could now be anywhere. Taichi growled as he spoke his next words, “Where is he then!?” The shadow cowered at Taichi’s new demeanor. The shadow tried to remember and he began speaking, “I don’t know for sure, all I know is he was saying something about the land of Fang? I don’t know much about the place, other than it is an island that is just offshore of Kirigakure.” Taichi was unhappy about this information. He had no clue about this new island, he had never been there before. But he knew one thing, that’s where he was going next. [/size]

[size=31]Taichi had his wood clones tear the man apart, using the chakra scalpel to aid them in the ripping off of the limbs. Taichi then released the wood clones and they all dissipated. Taichi at least had a new destination, which was more than he had. So now, he was going to need to find a way to get to this new island of Fang. Being from the land of wind, a desert, he didn’t have too many contacts that revolved around the waters of the ocean. Taichi went back into Bust, he was going to check to see if Ryukao knew anyone that may be able to get him across the ocean to the land of Fang, for that was where he was going next to finally get the revenge that he desired, and he would hopefully rid himself of the flashbacks and the shame and guilt that they brought to him. He would avenge Bri, no matter what.[/size]

[size=31]WC:3001[/size]
[size=31]+7 stats & 3000 Ryo & 7 AP[/size]
[size=31]+748 toward Chakra Scalpel [/size][size=31](completed) previous progress is above[/size]
[size=31]+1500 towards Water Shark Bullet Technique (complete)
[/size]
+753 towards Water Trident (753/1500)