Night Hunting [Invite Only]

Close enough. Having calculated the zombies' speed and his own, as well as the distance between them, allowed Akaboshi to sink underground before any of the undead were able to get to him and possibly bring harm. Finding himself in a safe position, twenty meters from where he once stood, the Jounin had traveled outside the village gates and out of sight or reach of anyone else. The red haired Uzumaki, still underneath the ground, would travel a couple of meters to his left, placing himself in a way no one would be able to spot him in case he suddenly decided to emerge. 

Unbeknownst to him, yet something he figured out soon enough after witnessing none of the zombies had decided to follow him, was the fact that either their unknown ally took care of them or that the undead were currently in chase of Loghain. Akaboshi didn't plan on collecting earth all day, so he headed back to the direction he came from. Traveling until he was about half a meter away from the outside wall, his passive sensing active to make sure there were no surprises waiting for him, the Uzumaki would finally emerge all the while scanning his surroundings in case some of the zombies popped up out of nowhere.

For now he would simply keep himself hidden, out of sight from the one who smelled like blood. With the wall concealing his position the redhead would begin and come up with his plan on how to deal with the weakened zombies.

(WC: 256, TWC: 837)

AP + Stats:

Well the sewing had worked, the jounin had escaped and all of the zombies were sewn to the ground. The zombies still struggled and faced the direction of their closest target. They didn't seem hurt in the slighest by the shadows running through their bodies. He would have to come up with a plan to destroy the damned things in the event he could no longer hold them.

Shadow possession was not an option even controlling three of them the other seven could rush him. He would have to let them go as well as he needed to maintain the seal he was currently holding to keep them trapped. Before his invisibility ended he would have to set a trap using Trapman's mines. They would have to be far enough for the mines to arm before the zombies sprinted past them and close enough to not hit any allies. Luckily, he still had quite some time to ponder as he maintained his position close to the wall and out of reach of zombies. Which were all turned toward Loghain and not the Nara.

For now Ryuzaki would maintain his invisibility and shadow sewing along with the seal to maintain the shadow technique, working on a plan for the future.
Jutsu used:
Hiding in camoflouge: -15AP upkeep 3/4 posts used
Shadow Sewing/Stitching Technique -46Ap 2/4 posts used
Ap remaining: 288/450

OOC: Sorry for the late post everyone, really busy on the weekends, and was busy today a bit too. Probably going to call it here because 210 speed is no joke, haha. Good job people!

Sei had just started sinking into the floor when the strange man suddenly turned into a wolf. It was quite the quick transformation, as everything seemed to be sped up in a sense, and this was when the maiden had started her scream, as the man had tried to speak to Sei about surrendering, but there was no way he was going to do that at this moment, and there was really no reason to, in Sei's mind. So, he went with his original plan to lock eyes with the wolf man before sinking down into the dirt, but he miscalculated the speed of his descent with the sheer speed of his opponent when they transformed into the horrifying sight that he had seen just now. He wondered how this person had not been captured and experimented on yet, but he could not really focus much, as he attempted to sink into the floor as fast as possible. 

As the scream went off, it created a wall of sound that was spreading outwards, but it seemed that the werewolf's speed was simply too fast, and beat out the chakra infused sphere that was spreading rapidly. It was fairly easy for the wolf man to blitz his way past the sound wave before it had extended too far away from the screecher's body, and so the wolf man was upon Sei as he was sinking into the earth. Sei had gotten about half of his body down into the earth before he felt the wolf man's claws rake through his chest. Sei did not even have time to see that the wolf man had also smashed the head of the screecher before it had a chance for the scream to fully materialize, as he was wondering what was going on. Sei did not really even feel much pain from that as he was in a bit of shock. His posturing had done him in, as he thought that these people were all just stupid, and were playing around, and he did not even realize that the other two were having quit a bit of trouble with the zombies on the other side, but in a few moments, that would notice that the zombies would suddenly fall over dead. 

Due to the shock and adrenaline from being close to death, Sei was able to continue sinking into the ground the rest of the way, but the dirt around him only managed to cover his body by an inch or so before the jutsu stopped and he fell unconscious because of blood loss, and he was also suffocating due to his damaged lung and heart. His life faded away a couple of moments later,, but he was no quite distraught about it, as his soul was heading to his ancestors, and he would simply live there from now on, in another form, waiting to help other Yamaguchi with their tasks. Once Sei was dug up in a bit for verification, among other things, the people would see a fairly macabre smile on his lifeless corpse. The screecher would also fall over lifeless, but that was also a given.
---------
WC: 526
---------
NPC dead as hell

The claws of the beast would tear through their target as intended, ending the youth’s life before it really even had a chance to begin. As the dying body sunk deeper the creature would lift its head and without conscious effort would unleash a bellowing howl, alerting the others and likely everyone in Hoshi to his presence. The wolf would stand hunched over, eyes shifting down to his clawed hands as if just realizing what had happened. Blood covered the hand that took theboy's life and feelings of sorrow would flood the mind of the man buried within the savage beast standing in the village.
 
His training had paid off, as maintaining control was becoming a much simpler task. Of course… he no longer had the beast to hide behind. His actions today were his own, not those of a mindless rage beast seeking only blood and destruction. He chose to take the boy’s life... but was it the right decision?
 
His hands would be placed on each side of his head, snarls of pain as his body would painfully shift back into that of the man. His clothing was torn to shreds, but fortunately his cloak had not been. The cloak had fallen to the ground as the man transformed, and so he would quickly tie it around his waist before the others made their way over to his position to keep himself covered in hopes of preventing making anyone uncomfortable. He didn't sense anyone unexpected in the immediate area, but that didn't mean that nobody could see him. 
 
Once the others made their way over Loghain would apologize for his actions. “I am sorry, Akaboshi. I ran off on my own. I thought that I could handle it.” He would point at the ground where the target had sunk into the earth. The right side of his face and his right hand were coated in blood, and Akaboshi likely knew what happened. “He is… he is over there.” Loghain’s gaze hung low, his conscious gnawing away at him. “I hope that my actions today do not cause you any trouble, friend.” He wasn’t sure how the village would look upon this outcome, but the wolf cared more about keeping his friend from being punished than he had about any punishment he himself might receive.

"You aren't hurt, right?" Loghain would ask the Jounin. He didn't smell any blood on the man, but that didn't mean he was unscathed.

A howl filled the streets of Hoshigakure, alerting Akaboshi something must have happened. The Jounin, still positioned behind the village walls, could hear the bellowing roar as well as the dropping sound of the zombies closeby. Taking both these factors into account the red haired Uzumaki figured the technique of the undead was ended either voluntarily or forcibly. In case of the first scenario it would have meant Loghain successfully changed the fugitive's mind, however, if it was the latter then the only explanation was that the young wolf was forced to end the boy's life before any more harm could be done.

Without any hesitation Akaboshi rushed over to Loghain's position hoping it was indeed over, but most importantly, to find the young wolf unharmed. Upon arriving the Jounin noticed the shifting had ended considering the state his companion found himself in. "No need to apologize, my friend. You acted without hesitating and took care of it by yourself". The redhead would glance over the lifeless body of the young Genin, or at least what was left of it. "You don't have to worry about anything from here on out. I'll take full responsibility. The most important thing is that all of us came out unscathed. But, what we certainly can't forget is the fact we allowed something like this to happen, meaning we have to look where this could have gone wrong". No matter how he looked at it, Akaboshi knew his report would mention the need to find out how tonight could happen in the first place.

The red haired Uzumaki would then direct his attention towards the other person involved. "Now, why don't we find out who our unknown ally is?". The Jounin looked at the remains of the boy once more, paying his respects regardless of his unforgivable acts.

(WC: 304, TWC: 1396)

Messed up the WC math last post, oops

It wasn't long after a shrill scream that the corpses stopped moving entirely. It wasn't as if the creatures were moving much before, but now they were completely still. Was this a part of the technique for when they couldn't find a living person to devour they would go inert? No, it couldn't be there was even a scream that sounded like neither of the other two.

Letting go of the shadow sewing Ryuzaki would take the blade arm of his puppet and remove the head of a zombie in a single stroke. Nothing. Good. Undead freaks. It was odd to watch them come to life, seeing them die held upright by shadow even more so.

The Nara would remain invisible until the end of the conversation between the two Hoshi shinobi. Evidently, the one who killed attacking ninja was upset about killing them. Why would you do that just to immediately regret it? The conversation would continue with the red haired guy stating everything would be okay, before addressing the invisible.elephant in the room. With a quick look at the dead genin's face and the ring he wore the mission was complete, so it was safe to stop hiding.

Dropping the camoflouge a young boy would appear with a puppet draped over his shoulders like a backpack. "I'm Ryuzaki, sorry for not introducing myself earlier." The boy would shuffle through his pockets and retrieve the instructions for the job and hand them to the jounin. "I was told to take the ring he stole if I wanted credit for aiding Hoshi."

Maybe, straight to business wasn't the socially accepted approach but it was the current one that got the Nara a room and some food for the night. "This guy had a plan to swarm us to escape. Smart, even if his stlye was somewhat grotesque. Ryuzaki would say looking at the caved in skull of the screamer. Ugh, gross he touched it. Thats how you get diseases right there.

If allowed Ryuzaki would take the ring off of his target and store it within his pants pocket. He would have to avoid other mercenaries on the way back who would try to steal it for the reward. For now he would talk to the people who really made the mission a success.
WC: 390
TWC: 1396

The wolf would accept the Uzumaki’s words of encouragement.  The Jounin made it clear that Loghain didn’t do anything wrong, and that if any backlash were to occur then Akaboshi would take the responsibility for it. Of course, that then meant that Loghain had been even more concerned about the villages view on what happened here. “You are right, friend. I’m surprised it came to this. To think that he turned his back on the village so much that he would not only try to kill us, but would also rather offer his life than surrender to face judgement.” It was a very unfortunate situation, one that made the wolf wonder what it would take for himself to reach such a point. It was hard to believe that anything could cause such a reaction in Loghain, but he never found out what exactly caused this Genin to do what he did.

 
“Well, that ally is close.” Loghain would add in reply. When the shadow ninja made himself visible and offered his name the young wolf would do the same, “I am Sebastian Loghain. I am sorry that we have to meet in such unfortunate circumstances.” The wolf would offer a quick bow and nod of his head. When questioned about the ring, Loghain would remain silent. He held no authority to allow or disallow such a thing and so would leave such to Akaboshi.
 
“I hope that you are also unharmed.” He would offer to the foreigner. He might not have known the man, but he still didn’t want to see another harmed. Especially not someone who isn’t even a Hoshi shinobi. If harm were to befall anyone because of the actions of their own rogue shinobi… Luckily it seemed as though the technique used to hide protected him from the attacks of the hideous undead. “I am glad that his ploy did not succeed. A shinobi such as himself could cause a great deal of harm if left unchecked in the borders.”

WC: 333

Following that night's aftermath the three men would gather in an attempt to figure out what exactly happened. Where they originally thought it was going to be a rather simple mission of apprehending a fugitive, they were proven wrong drastically. "Hm, let's see" Akaboshi voiced, accepting the piece of paper given to him by the boy who introduced himself as Ryuzaki. It appeared the puppeteer had received orders to retrieve a stolen ring, at least that's what could be made out of the instructions he read. "Unfortunately the ring wasn't all he took" the Uzumaki referred to the fellow Hoshigakure shinobi who got killed during the event.

The Jounin returned both the instructions and the stolen goods to Ryuzaki, wondering how and where it went wrong. "He had quite the interesting technique in his arsenal, that's for sure". Looking back at it, Akaboshi didn't know there were people capable of commanding the undead. It only showed to always expect the unexpected. And that there were people with creepy powers. But most importantly, the Uzumaki knew they had to question themselves on how they allowed something like this to happen in the first place. Was the innocent Genin simply at the wrong place at the wrong time? Perhaps he even tried to stop his teammate with all its consequences and to no avail. All these questions but no answers.

A couple of minutes had passed, time the three of them used to exchange formalities and introduce themselves to one another. "As Loghain said, I'm glad none of us got hurt. Regardless, I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to stick around for a bit longer than you might have anticipated. You're a witness so I'm sure some people will have some questions for all of us". Assuming the conversation continued Akaboshi couldn't help but feel his mind wander, thinking how all of this could have been avoided.

(WC: 316, TWC: 1712)

It seemed the jounin understood and gave Ryuzaki the missing ring. At the same time the one known as Loghain introduced himself for someone who was a cold blooded killer he seemed rather calm and generous. Maybe, that was just a trap his sheeps clothing that the wolf hid inside. The dead genin being the boy who cried wolf it would seem.

"I am glad you guys are safe as well. Things could have gone badly quick. I had no way to get out of that horde."
He would say before acknowledging Akaboshi's order. "Of course. I will follow you then." As they moved the Nara would explain why the ring was wanted.

"Apparently the genin that guy killed owned this ring. The leader of a mercenary companies nephew was who owned it and with the body of the wanted ninja belonging to Hoshi proof of death had to come in the form of something the ninja possessed." Ryuzaki would hold the ring and look over it inspecting it.

It wouldn't be long before they ran into other mercenaries who were on the look out for the ring. One of the men appoached the Nara with a loud hey and intimidating stare, but he took note of the jounin and left quickly. "So, I may have to hide from some goons to return this and get paid.Word will be out I have it in no time. I'll have to sneak past them to enter the guild and return it." He would say muttering to himself so that only the other two could hear.

"This mercenary stuff sucks." His words were true, people in this field of work lived shamelessly. People who didn't help to apprehend the target would wait to trap the people that had and steal the reward and credit. It was disgusting how little honor they had. Village shinobi didn't fight over credit like these scoundrels.

WC: 318
TWC: 1714

Loghain would mutter a short prayer, hoping that the boy finds peace in the afterlife. “Just make certain that he gets buried… That they all get buried…” He would mutter, mostly to himself, though loud enough for any who are listening to hear. It may have been odd considering that the wolf was the one who had killed the young man, but ultimately he was just a civilian with an unfortunate curse. Of course, his actions today proved that he was becoming more and more adjusted to a regular shinobi life, protecting the village and its inhabitants without hesitation. “Those creatures that he conjured… the corpses of the fallen… It is hard to imagine civilians would be accepting of such techniques, much less the church. Desecration of the dead is generally frowned upon.” He glanced over at the location of the genin and then back to his team. He wasn’t really in a position to judge considering what he was.
 
The wolf was glad they all made it out unscathed, at least not counting the rogue genin. As requested, the young wolf would wait patiently with his handler and the boy Ryuzaki. There was a procedure to follow with missions, one that Loghain had been relatively familiar with, but this time it was different. A fellow villager – albeit one that intended to revoke that position – had been killed. The moments waiting for the debriefing couldn’t have been all that long, but each stress filled minute felt like an eternity. Akaboshi would vouch for him, but still he knew that killing this genin would be a mark against him. Possibly be the village, but definitely by his own conscious. He still wondered if it could have been resolved without bloodshed.
 
Hearing their foreign ally mention what he had to deal with on just a simple mission made him grateful for what he had. Hoshi might have kept him in exile to keep everyone safe, but he didn’t have to worry about his own comrades trying to attack him for something as trivial as money. “I am sorry to hear that. I hope that you manage to avoid those that would seek your reward. I don’t know where it is that you need to go, but once this is all over I’ll have to head out of the village anyhow. Would you like an escort?”

WC: 393