Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Mission:

Kita woke up in the middle of the night, feeling cold as could be. Kita sat straight up in his futon, jolting into a waking position, teeth chattering from the sheer, shocking cold. When Kita sat up, he wasn't in his room anymore. Kita sat in a pile of snow, with only his blanket covering him. To the left of Kita sat his all of ninja tools, laying amidst the snow in a neatly packed bundle. Sadly however, Kita did not notice his winter clothes, but he did notice an extra fuzzy pair of pajamas that didn't belong to him. Kita quickly snatched them off the ground, and put them on with incredible haste. Kita would have been surprised by the fact that the clothes were already toasty and warm, if not for the fact that he was still incredibly confused as to why he was sitting out in the middle of nowhere in nothing but his pajamas. Kita looked about, searching for anyone who could've brought him here. "Where on earth am I?! Who even brought me here?! Show yourself!" Kita shouted into the cold night air, but aside from his reverberating voice, Kita heard nothing. Kita panting into the night air, breath hanging as a white frost in the air, resembling the mists of the village that he called home. For a moment, Kita wanted to say that none of this was real, and that it was all a strange dream. Those thoughts were silenced quickly when Kita pinched himself, feeling the sting. It definitely wasn't a dream. Thankfully the pajamas were keeping Kita unreasonably warm for now, but he needed to find some kind of shelter before it was too late. Kita had witnessed the effects of hypothermia first-hand, and he wasn't eager to repeat the experience. Kita tried to look around to gain his bearings, but a slight snow fall covered his vision, preventing him from doing even that. Kita wracked his brain, desperately trying to remember where he was before this, and how he ended in this situation.

"The last thing I remember before this was that weird dream." Kita vaguely recalled a strange dream just before he woke up. He had an image of a strange, distorted man that he couldn't make out. He had said something about being the Hollykage, and that Kita had been a, "Very good ninja!" He had wanted something. Kita struggled to remember for a moment, before it came to him. "He wanted me to do a mission! What kind of mission did he mean though?" A single moment passed before a thought came to his head. Kita remembered that he had an entire list of various missions that Kita could perform. Kita remembered choosing something, something about a Jewel. "If I remember correctly, there's supposed to be some kind of jewel in the Land of Iron. It was in a cave of some kind! I don't remember much more than that though. He mentioned something about a challenge." The details came back to Kita in a flurry of motion, and one thought stopped him dead in his tracks. "The man also said that there might be other nin-" were the last words that Kita was able to speak before his train of thought was interrupted by the sound of rustling snow, and a slight gasp of shock.

Word Count- 559 Words

The nights training was over, Ryu had returned to his home and began to prepare to get a few hours of sleep before the morning came and he would be off on his next mission. Ryu was still dressed in his training gear, his clothes soaked with the day's grime and sweat. He wore a plain black t-shirt with the village emblem emblazoned on the front, over the top he wore an overcoat that had the Nara clan symbol printed on the back, his weapon pouches were strapped to his left leg and the other rested on his right hip. Ryu picked up his toothbrush and loaded it up with toothpaste, running some water over the top he began to brush his teeth. Looking into the mirror in front of him as he did so, the mirrors image started to distort, Ryu's young reflection widened and twisted and then imploded into the middle of the mirror-like a black hole. It was replaced by the image of a rotund, bearded man with glasses "Hear me now Ryuzaki", he began, for a moment Ryu wondered if he had fallen asleep and this was all a dream "I have need of your assistance, A group of ninja who has been good this year are attempting to find a jewel, you will join them". Ryu opened his mouth to speak, the toothbrush lolling to the side, but it was too late, the whole room started to distort again, and stretch away from him like a tunnel was being created. All the light vanished from the room and Ryu was transported, toothbrush and all.

Suddenly a crisp, bitter cold hit Ryu as his vision swam back to him, it was cold, this was not a landscape he was used too. Snow-covered all the ground around him and even hung on top of the vegetation, he stood there dumbfounded, "What the hell" he thought to himself as he heard a voice journey on the night air "Show yourself". Ryu turned to the source of the voice and started to walk towards it. Pushing through a grove of trees he moved a branch aside as he came to a new section of the landscape "Hello there", Ryu called out as he saw the man in front of him. The man was dressed unconventional to Ryus eyes, but he had never been to a place like this maybe it was the custom. "I'm here looking for a jewel in a cave, would you know anything about that?" Ryu said as he walked slowly towards the man, no threat being emanated from his stance, the toothbrush still hanging from his mouth.

WC: 442

Kita heard a voice sound somewhere behind him. "Hello there." Kita turned around to face this new individual. Before Kita stood an unfamiliar shinobi with a scar stretching from his left temple to just above his mouth. At least, Kita assumed he was a shinobi. He continued walking forward towards Kita, continuing to speak. "I'm here looking for a jewel in a cave, would you know anything about that?" Kita shook his head. "I'm so sorry. I don't know what you're talking about. I just arrived here actually." Kita scratched at the back of his head. "I was actually teleported here by someone. I was sleeping until just a little while ago. I woke up in the middle of the snow." Kita's brow furrowed slightly. "I had a dream just a little while ago that I don't remember very well. I don't remember anything about a jewel, but I did hear something about a cave. Something about following the moonlight. Apparently it's supposed to glisten under the night sky." Kita looked around his immediate vicinity, observing the vast expanse of snow and ice. This could take a while. "I think that I might be here to assist you? I don't know. I don't really know why it is that I'm here, or what I'm supposed to do."

Kita stood still in the snow, waiting to see the reaction of the man in front of him. Kita realized just how crazy that his story was. He wasn't even sure if he would believe it if someone were in his situation. Still, it was the truth, and he didn't really know what to do. Kita didn't say it aloud, but he wasn't even sure if the information that he was giving was accurate. The dream that Kita was recalling was a fuzzy memory at best, and there's no way to tell whether the information inside is accurate or not. Kita was more than willing to try however. Even if his purpose here wasn't to find whatever cave that this guy was looking for, it was better to travel in a group than alone. "I know how weird of a situation this must sound like. It's just as bizarre for me too. I think I would like to come with you any who if that's okay. I don't want to be stranded out here, and it's better to go as a group than it would be as one person. If it's any consolation, I promise that I won't be a burden. I'm sure that I don't look like it right now, but I'm a shinobi, and I would say decently skilled one at that." Kita jumbled around with his ninja tools, remembering vaguely that his headband happened to be stored amongst them. Kita took it out and displayed it to the strange, black haired guy in front of him, revealing the Kirigakure symbol on it. "I'm a Kirigakure Genin. I don't know any tracking jutsu, but I do have a couple of tricks that could help you out in a pinch."

Word Count - 508

Total Word Count - 1067

Ryuzaki spat the toothbrush out of his mouth and let it fall to the floor, he brought his sleeve up to his mouth and wiped away the toothpaste, he then brought his canteen from his ninja pouch and poured some water over his hands, he then washed his hands and face and dried his hands off on his shorts. "Right well let's get on with it" He turned to the kirigakure genin and extended his hand "I am Ryuzaki, I am a genin also!" Ryu intentionally did not mention his village "And your name is?" Ryuzaki would wait for the man to respond and then take off following the nearby river, it appeared that the moonlight was guiding them somewhere.

Ryuzaki walked along the river, it appeared to be narrowing, suggesting it was flowing from a nearby source. Ryu started to jog, he was now getting tired of being in this foreign place and doing the bidding of some random overweight, bearded man. After a few minutes of travelling the group would reach the mouth of the cave, the cave set several meters off the ground and acted like a waterfall, the water fell from the mouth of the cave into a wide pool, that then separated into an estuary that flowed towards where the group originally came together. Ryuzaki bent down and started to sift through his equipment, making sure he had an accurate account of it all before he entered the cave. Ryuzaki opened both weapon pouches and counted off his kunai, shuriken, smoke bombs and explosive tags, he also noted that he had a military ration pill and 8 meters of wire. He thought how diminished his supplies were, he would feel better if he had his katana and other swords, but what he had would have to do. Ryu returned his weapon pouch to his back hip and also strapped the second one to his left leg. Ryuzaki then began to stretch out his muscles, from his neck all the way down to his feet. Ryu then rose back to his feet and cracked his neck both ways, his eyes closed, and the words of his master shot through his mind "Are you afraid". Ryuzaki let a smirk creep on to the edges of his mouth at the fond memory, his preparations were now complete, he could enter the cave and be ready for anything that would come his way. Ryuzaki turned to the other members of the party, however many there were now "Shall we begin?"

WC: 421
TWC: 863

The man named Ryuzaki introduced himself. Kita gave a slight smile, and shook his outstretched hand. "Kita. Kita Hajime." As he shook the hand of the shinobi in front of him, a familiar face made its way from out of its hiding place. Kita turned around slowly to see that Travin was standing there. He remembered him from a mission that they had gone on. Kita considered him a nice enough person, and seeing a familiar face was comforting in this foreign environment. "Travin! It's good to see you here." He introduced himself to Ryuzaki, and extended his hand out to shake. With introductions over, and it seeming as though no more hidden shinobi for the group to greet, they began to travel on their journey to find the mysterious jewel that they were tasked to find.

The trio of ninja treaded through the snow along the bank of a rapid, churning river, hoping to find their way towards whatever jewel it was that awaited them. It wasn't long before the group found the lip of a cave. Water poured out of the lip of the cave, falling into the narrow base of the river that they had followed here, clear water glistening white in the moonlight. The cave mouth was a bit higher than the group had anticipated, being some twenty feet off the ground, and they hesitated for a moment. This may be the cave that they were looking for.

Ryuzaki was the first of the group to speak. "Shall we begin?" Travin was the next to speak up after that. "As ready as we're going to get." Travin had the good idea to find out what each of the shinobi was good at before entering into the cave, volunteering to go first. Kita was surprised to learn that he was a genjutsu specialist. It wasn't that Kita was surprised that they existed, but he hadn't really met one up to that point. Kita decided to go next. "I'm a swordsman type myself, but I do happen to know a bit of ninjutsu to help myself out. Also water style." Kita patted the sword at his side of his ninja tool belt. Kita looked up at the lip of the cave, listening to whatever Ryuzaki's response was.

When the group finished discussing their basic abilities, the time came to scale the waterfall. Kita looked at the cave itself. It was in a bit of a strange position, but there were enough rocks to where there was a dry path leading inside. To a normal person, this would be a vertical, deadly surface that would require equipment and loads of time to pass by. For shinobi however, it was a simple matter. Kita channeled chakra to the soles of his feet, and placed a foot at the base of the cave (Tree Climbing/Surface Walking Technique). To Kita's satisfaction, it stuck, and Kita walked calmly upwards across the sheer rocky surface. It was only a few seconds before Kita stood at the top. Kita rounded the side of the cave mouth, and stepped inside. The floor of the cave was entirely covered in flowing water, so Kita decided to stay stuck to the side of the cave wall. Outside, the moon shined its silvery light into the cave, and Kita could see that deep within, Kita could see glistening from the walls of the cave itself. Kita grinned. "I think that we found the cave!"

Jutsu Used:

Word Count - 576

Total Word Count - 1643

Ryuzaki turned as a new face emerged from the treeline, he introduced himself and the other two seemed to know each other, this comforted Ryu as he assumed they would have at least a small amount of synergy. Ryuzaki also extended his hand and shook the hand of the newer man named Travin. "I am Ryuzaki, nice to meet you both, good to not be alone" Ryuzaki then waited for Kita to answer before he also spoke up "I am an extreme close range fighter, using ninjutsu and weaponry to frame opponents and then hit hard with taijutsu, I use the Lightning element". When they reached the cave, Ryu followed Kita's lead and pushed chakra from his core throughout his network until it reached the soles of his feet, activating the surface walking technique.

Ryuzaki then walked up the cave behind Kita and as he kept to the wall he fanned out and kept to the middle of the river as the water flowed out of the cavemouth and down to the pool below. In front of the group, there were three distinct plinths with symbols on them, the same symbols were also etched onto the wall. Ryuzaki moved forward "It seems symbol, but maybe we all stand on a plinth and then a door or something appears?" He said as he moved forward and stood on the center plinth, it lit up as Ryu moved his weight onto it. If the other two would stand on a plinth a loud churning could be heard from within the walls, then a series of clicking, and finally a platform would lower from the ceiling. The platform would hold three large rock constructs that were semi human-looking, but much larger than the average human. Behind them, a small stone table sat with a crystal laid upon it, a shimmering blue field surrounding it could be seen with the human eye.

WC: 318
TWC: 1181

Travin followed suit after everyone had said what they were good at. He made a note about Ryuzaki seeing as he was from another village. It might come in handy in the future, as the three of them stood staring at the waterfall Kita took lead and walked up the side using surface walking. With Kita on the right side of the cave and Ryuzaki in the middle, Travin took the left side of the cave. It was a little windy in the cave as the water splashed on the sides of the walls as it made its way down. Travin was thankful that his combat boots were waterproof as they were paying for their selves as he walked. 

It didn’t feel like it was very long till they came to three plinths with symbols on them. Ryuzaki came up with the idea of them all standing on one, and it sounded good to Travin as he agreed with a nod before stepping on the one in front of him. Just like Ryuzaki’s Travins glowed with a Blue light coming from the symbol. When Kita stepped on his and a platform slowly fell from the sky with some clicking noises. There were three humanish things appearing to be made of rock standing on the platform. However, more importantly, was the Jewel behind them giving off a blue shine like the plinths. 

Not stepping off the plinth due to not knowing if the platform would go back up or not, and not wanting to be the one that ruined the missions for the others Travin stayed. “I know it sounds weird, but I have a feeling that those rock things will attack us if we try and take the jewel,” he said turning to look at the other two and see what they thought. 

(WC-303 TWC-1117)

It was Travin who said what Kita was thinking out loud. “I know it sounds weird, but I have a feeling that those rock things will attack us if we try and take the jewel.” Kita nodded, thinking carefully about what to do next while staring at the stone golems that blocked their progress. Kita honestly didn't have any idea on what to do. Kita didn't exactly want to leave the plinth himself, unaware of what it could do. If Travin's idea was right as well, it probably wouldn't end well for them if these figures decided to move. Kita's mind began to run, and an idea came to him. "I think I know how to get the jewel without us leaving these little platforms here. As long as you two can run fast enough, we should be fine." Kita didn't wait for confirmation from the group, being certain that he had captured the, "lightning in a bottle" idea that would lead them to victory. Kita raised his hands for his jutsu. "Be ready Ryuzaki. I'm going to toss the jewel to you."

Kita put his fingers into the familiar cross shaped clone seal, and two Shadow Clones appeared on either side of Kita in a puff of white mist, both of them standing off the plinth (Shadow Clone). Kita nodded, satisfied, and the clones turned to face Kita. One of the clones spoke first, bringing his hand up in a salute. "What can we do for you boss?" Kita pointed to the clone that spoke up first. "You're going to stay with me. I need you to do a particular task for me. You should know which task it is, since you were just in my head." Kita turned to the other clone. "You're going to be the distraction. You don't have to destroy those statues, just keep them busy if they happen to come to life. If it ends up being that our theories are wrong, don't worry about it." The clones nodded, and Kita readied the dog hand seal. The clone that Kita told to stay with him burst into white mist, and a kunai appeared in midair (Transformation Technique). Kita swiped it from midair, and held it in his hand, preparing to throw it. The other clone nodded, and formed its own hand seal, the ram. Four puffs of smoke appeared around the clone, and four more clones appeared to either side of it (Clone Technique). Kita grinned. They weren't shadow clones, and they couldn't hurt anything, but they made for a great distraction.

The clone let out a bellow. "Get the gem my brothers!" The shadow clone rushed forward, fist at the ready towards one of the statues. Dashing towards them, the clone stopped right at the feet of one of these human-like stone creatures. It leaped up ever so slightly, and drove its fist into the golems face, sending bits of rock and debris shattering out in various directions. The golem fell to the ground with a thud, and the other two came alive, eyes glowing a very peculiar white. The four clone copies stepped in, jumping and bouncing around the cave walls, throwing off the attention of the two remaining golems, with the shadow clone occasionally throwing in tangible attacks, blowing off minuscule chunks of rock from the creatures.

The first part of Kita's plan went off without a hitch. Kita readied the clone kunai, waiting for the perfect moment. Soon enough, it came. While the golems were swiping about at the five pesky Kita clones, he threw the kunai directly at the jewel, hoping that the clone was fast enough. The kunai sailed directly past the golems, and it dissipated in a cloud of mist, turning once more into the second Kita shadow clone. With arms outstretched, it reached for the jewel. As its fingers passed through the blue field surrounding the jewel, it turned a bright, angry red, and the cave began to rumble. The clone snatched the jewel in mid air, flipping itself around so that it landed on its feet. It threw the gem over the heads of the golems just as the managed to grab the shadow clone, crushing it to mist in their bare hands. Kita jumped up and grabbed the jewel, getting off the plinth as he did so. The light faded from it, and the platform began to rise towards the ceiling, with the remaining golems turning their attention towards them.

Kita's fingers around the gem began to turn into a white snow, dissolving away. The cave was rumbling louder than ever, and Kita's body seemed to slowly be dissolving away into snow. Looking up, the same effect was happening to his other clone, who was trying desperately to attract the attention of the golems, who were focused solely on the gem. Kita turned to run, but his leg had turned to snow as well, and he collapsed to one knee. It spread rapidly through Kita's body, and he knew he didn't have a lot of time. Kita turned to Ryuzaki. "I told you that I would toss it to you! Catch!" Kita threw the jewel before his arms turned entirely to snow, hoping that he caught it as the last of Kita's body dissolved.

Kita woke up in his bed a little later, having no recollection of anything happening the night before. He only had the distant memory of a snowy plane.

Jutsu Used:

Word Count - 908

Total Word Count - 2551

Exit Claims: