Halloween with Mitacho

Mission specs:

Still manipulating and upkeeping his technique used to suppress the dancing zombies Goto would wait until he finally heard back from Mitacho, the Sunagakure shouting his part of the plan had been completed as well. Noticing the undead stopped moving around the young Senju ended his jutsu as it was no longer required for him to do so. Checking the surroundings he saw his companion had safely made it back as well. "Thank you, it is one of the abilities my clan granted me" the silver haired replied to the compliment he received. "You've played your part as well", before he could finish his sentence Goto suddenly fainted.

When he came back to his senses and woke up again, the Senju realized he was no longer at the graveyard. Once he felt less groggy and tried to move the silver haired noticed something was stopping him as he could hear the sound and feel the wrapping of chains around his wrists. "What the..", looking around Goto saw there were others just like him chained to the wall. In case they were still out cold he would try to wake them up. "Hey, hello? Can you hear me?". In case he succeeded the rest of them would also be able to hear the crackling voice coming in over a hidden intercom placed in the filthy room.

Visibly confused, not knowing if he ended up in someone else's weird joke Goto soon realized it would no longer be a game. Well, to the person behind the intercom it was. An announcement that they would have to go through a gauntlet of horrific tests and traps, at least one trap would be designed so one participant would have to die so the others go forward, necessitating one be sacrificed in order for the mission to be completed. "Can we even die if this is all a dream?" the Senju wondered while questioning the entire situation they found themselves in.

However, whether death was a possible factor or not, Goto decided he wouldn't just simply wait for someone's fate to be sealed. The silver haired wasn't exactly a betting man, nor the heroic type, but if his guess turned out to be right it was a risk worth taking. "I'll be going back to sleep, you guys can do what you want". Perhaps the trap was trying to come up with the right decision all along. Trapped in a room, trapped in one's own conscience. Who would be brave enough to sacrifice themself or collapse under pressure and sacrifice another? Time would tell, but the Senju was not going to be part of someone else's sick game. Even though he didn't say it with that many words, the boy believed nothing bad would happen regardless of what option they decided to go with.

And if it did, Goto would simply accept the outcome. Not every game had a winner and more often than not there were going to be more losers at the end.

(WC: 500, TWC: 2500)

Silence

and cold. Her eyes fluttered open. The world was gray and grainy- not unlike the odd, recurring dreams of... Well, she couldn't remember, but it wasn't a coincidence. This, too, was likely a dream. Heavy wrought iron chains bound her wrists to the wall. Lachesis twisted awkwardly, the items not budging despite how much she squirmed. Damn. She breathed in deeply, reaching towards her total concentration-

Interruption. The Yuki blinked and turned to her sides. There were other people here as well- one was vaguely familiar. Perhaps she had seen him around Konoha somewhere? Regardless, The situation- especially once the intercoms rang- required cooperation. "No." she spoke out, looking Goto (though she didn't know his name yet) dead in the eye. "If this is a trap of some sort, do you really think staying behind is the safest option?" Inhale. Exhale. Total concentration. And...

The chains yanked from their place in the wall with a near deafening clang. Though still wrapped around her wrists, she could move about with much more freedom than she had previously. Her fists throbbed in time with her pulse. "We're staying together, even if I have to do all of the damn challenges myself." Lachesis clenched her fingers, wriggling them as if to test their response. Nobody had ever gotten anywhere from rolling over onto their backs and letting the world pass them by. She placed her fingers together, humming with strain. The cuffs- or perhaps the dream itself, made accessing chakra much more difficult than usual, but as evidenced by her escape a few moments, ago, not impossible by any stretch of the imagination.

With a puff of smoke and a sharp, acrid smell, a shadow clone coalesced at her side. It looked her wordlessly in the eyes, nodding in response to an unseen and unheard conversation. Should nobody else protest, the clone would attempt to free the rest of the chained participants with a combination of lockpicking and brute force. "The game is shitty, nobody's disagreeing with you there. But we're ninja. We cheat. Make a clone or something, or otherwise, stay close."

Should everyone who wanted to have been freed been released, the shadow clone would push on ahead of the rest of the group, delicately searching rooms for traps, tricks, and other puzzles that would be potentially lethal to human contestants. The first lethal puzzle had been reached by now- and after a moment's consideration, the clone triggered it, opening the next door and leaving the rest of the contestants unharmed.

"I can't make another one for a few moments, so unless someone else knows how to use that technique, let's wait here for a bit." Should anyone else cast shadow clones, she would follow, same as before, but otherwise, she'd take a breather (presumably with the rest of the group). The puzzles would continue much like that until the traps became fewer and farther between, until the dream slowly faded from her vision, leaving Lachesis alone in her room.

[WC: 500]
[Total WC: 500]

Unease had plagued Ryō's sleep for some time. Ever since he had returned to the village and learned of the many tragedies that had occurred to the village and those who lived within it, Ryō had a dark cloud hanging in his thoughts. There was no doubting that there was nothing he could have done at the time to have affected the outcome in any appreciable way; in all probability, his parents had made the only choice that could have been made by anyone that would have kept him alive. And that meant his power wasn't enough to protect the village yet.

Nightmares had become frequent, so it was hardly a shock to him when he found himself within a dark, dank dungeon. His arms were unsurprisingly chained to the walls, not leaving him in any truly uncomfortable position but chained down nonetheless. Looking around the room, he found others there as well. Many had faces he didn't recognize, but a few had faces he did recognize. Others he would recognize only by reputation only. There was one face that had repeatedly cropped up in his dreams of late; a woman of towering stature and intimidating gaze, with raven hair and a coldness to her that went beyond her appearance.

Another person there was someone he had never met personally but had heard a great deal about on a familial level and on a village level. Of course, he had heard stories of his clan cousin, even before the white-haired male had become Deputy Kage. This was certainly the oddest dream he had had in a while, though perhaps not so strange the longer he thought about it. ... It was a dream, right? Having been driven to think about his place in the village ever since returning, being forced to reflect on how the years of stagnation had left him woefully behind his contemporaries in ability, and being shown that fact in person every day was sure to leave an impact on his dreams. 

The announcement of a death game would have been more of a shock to Ryō had he not become aware of his dreaming status at that exact moment. So a dream... But there was still something to be learned from dreams, wasn't there? He hadn't started the dream, so there was perhaps something in this particular one he was supposed to learn about himself to further his own growth as a shinobi. 

He became distracted, lost in his thoughts, and acting only on instinct. He let himself be led out of the dungeon by the Leaf Jōnin and into the labyrinthian death game. He followed instructions and dutifully acted, but it was only a matter of time before his distracted state of mind caused him to error. Perhaps it was left when the others went right. Perhaps he had jumped when others had ducked. Whatever the mistake, he snapped out of his mental ponderings to a flash of a moment, sharp concussive pain in his chest right as he bolted awake in his room. His sheets were soaked with sweat and thrown about in a chaotic bundle at his feet. Ryō stumbled away and into the bathroom to splash some water across his face. 

The shock of cold water stung his face, instantly banishing the nightmare from his concerns. He looked over at the clock, noticing how late in the night it was. He had had a long day doing missions for the Leaf Village, even if they were largely pedestrian in nature. Was that what he wanted? Was that what being a shinobi was? Wasn't he better?

-----

WC: 600
TWC: 600

" Thanks. I try with the means that I have. But seriously. That's cool that you can use your bloodline to make things like that," Was it envy or jealousy that drove him to make such a statement? He didn't have anything except this disease that only allowed him the power of fire but maybe that was something the Gods deemed fitting for him because he could handle it...or maybe they had something else planned. Either way they were successful in stopping both the music and the zombies which meant this obstacle was done. What was going to happen next was all that was on the young Meijin's mind until he heard a thud. He was quick to look around until he had seen Goto on the ground. Before he could even react to the sight, his body felt weak...no sluggish as his eyesight began to blur and soon all he saw was darkness. It took him a minute to awaken as he heard a sound, a familiar one before an unfamiliar voice broke through the familiarity. He didn't know what was going on but he felt the cold iron against his arms and legs which meant he had been bound. The unknown voice spoke of a game that they would have to play to leave and in that someone would have to die.

Mita at this point had been at least semi-cognative so he listened to each word that came after another looking for some form of loophole in order to beat the game itself. His eyes looked over toward Goto before he even wanted to speak but he also felt...others in there with him. Turning his head he would look at the other two before allowing everyone one else to speak their own idea. The clone idea did sound like a better alternative. No one had to die and if the condition was someone dying for the rest to go past...that was someone dying. Whoever the lady was she was wise in her ways and that did make this a lot better. Focusing his chakra his body would begin to heat up and as a result melt the chains that had bound him. As the slag slowly dripped to the floor he would stand up and sigh," The young madam has a point. If the condition is one of us has to die, there was no mention it could not be something else. With that we fulfill the requirements and no one has to die. Even if this is not our reality, we shouldn't be haphazardly ready to off ourselves," with that he would wait to see if anyone had a rebuttal and if not see what they would be doing next. It wasn't because he didn't want anyone offing themselves, its was purely because the rules of this game or games were so loose ended that whoever made them didn't think someone could make a clone or find a clause in such a thing that it could be exploited. He had no doubts that this could have been something they had thought about but did not think it would come to pass or just didn't think of it at all. Either way this would be the necessary step they would need to take to get out of here and find whoever had been behind it.

507 WC

Truth Part 1:

Truth Part 2:

Truth Part 3:

It seemed yet another challenge had appeared for Goto and his company as the young Senju noticed they ended up at again a desolate looking place somewhere around the village. Surprises kept coming left and right but so far the end of the adventure wasn't in sight. Silver hair blowing in the wind, the Konohagakure shinobi checking his surroundings in order to find out if everyone made it there with him. For better or worse he believed the only way of making it out of the ordeal would be to stick together. At the end of the day, this whole prolonged experience was rather unpleasant.

Assuming some form of conversation or communication between their group had taken place Goto's eyes continued scanning the area before finally coming to a stop at an odd looking building somewhere not so far in the distance from them. "Looks quite mysterious" the Senju spoke under his breath only for those close to him to hear. It wouldn't exactly be a horror story without anything suspicious finding its way into the scenario. "My guess is we have to infiltrate the place". He couldn't think of any other reason as to why they were summoned exactly there where something dubious was going on so safe to say, Goto felt rather sceptical.

If what he saw would be right then it appeared there was only one door which was being protected by two guards. Both of them could be seen wearing quite the specific symbol but he had trouble recognizing it from afar. "I don't really have a good feeling about this" he whispered as he continued keeping watch over the entire situation. Every now and then he saw people walking up to the door where after an identification check they were allowed entrance by the two men standing guard. "Cultists?" would be the first thing coming to mind. A strange symbol, mysterious building and some sort of code needed to enter. If someone would ask Goto then he couldn't really think of any other option that would fit the current scenario.

As time passed slowly but surely more and more people started to enter through the door, all of them successfully identifying themselves. "I suppose we'll need to come up with something to make it in as well, but what?". It would surprise the young Senju if they could simply walk up to the guards and ask to be let in, especially without any means of identification. Perhaps upon further inspection someone would be able to find another door or hidden entry but if the only way was through those guards then they'd be having a hard time getting in unnoticed. Assuming anyone else of their group had also been thinking about possible solutions to solve the predicament they were in the silver haired figured it couldn't hurt asking. "So, what do you guys think we should do?". Hopefully one of them had an idea on how to move from there since it's most likely the only way for them to finally leave the nightmares. 

(WC: 509, TWC: 3009)

Her dreams passed with a fitful silence. Familiar faces and landscapes distorted just past the point of recognition faded in and out of her perception, accompanied by a feeling of…

Utter indifference.

That the universe cared little for her own existence; that she was just an atom on a speck that existed for an infinitesimally small timeframe. And the feeling of worthlessness was not unfamiliar, especially in the wake of Konohagakure’s previous invasions and subsequent fall from grace, but to have it reaffirmed in a manner such as this was disheartening nonetheless. Her head- or what she thought was her head in this bizarre dreamscape, anyway, pounded erratically as reality started to bend around her.

And she was awake.

The world around her was eerie and dark- similar to the hotel where she met…

…

Similar to something that she could not quite recall. Perhaps awake wasn’t the right word to use, though ‘lucid’ wasn’t much better. This was definitely a dream, but it carred a certain weight that told her that any failure would carry very real consequences.

The people around her were both familiar and not- perhaps she had met them in a previous dream of some sort, although their headbands (...two of their headbands, anyway) indicated its possible she had met them in passing across the village.

She listened errantly to the current speaker, taking in his words with a stony complexion that belied turmoil. Any infiltration would be simple enough with a transformation technique- that much was simple enough- but they had no idea as towards the strangers’ capabilities, goals, or motives. There were two men at the front of the building, evidently guards.

No other people seemed to be around- aside from her current group- and she would bring up the idea of a simple and soundless takedown. Should they agree, she would form three hand seals- bird, horse, and dog- and create numerous glistening senbon. After her fingers untwisted, she would pluck the projectiles delicately out of the air. In total, she’d be holding four. Senbon were traditionally used by hunter nin in Kirigakure, but so too were they by the Yuki clan.

A quick flick of the wrist, and the senbon would soar directly into two nerve points each; one where the skull met the spine, and one just above the shoulders. The guards would collapse almost bonelessly to the ground, and she would turn back to the group with a small nod as the senbon sublimated into cool air. She had no means to dispose of the unconscious bodies- and thus she would gently ask the group if they knew any earth release techniques. She would assist in their transport, if able, before bringing up the possibility of interrogation.

She had no idea if they were on a time crunch, after all, and Lachesis’s own sensory capabilities were subpar compared to dedicated specialists. Nonetheless, she would form handseals for the Transformation technique and take the exact appearance of one of the cultists. At least it’d help get them in easier?

Once more, she turned back to the group. Any ideas they brought up would be carefully taken into account- after all, cooperation was essential in a situation with this many unknowns. Most of what she had in terms of jutsu were lower rank, and she didn’t have the largest chakra pool, either. She wouldn’t bring this up, of course- she still didn’t know who the strangers were- but she’d flex her fingers every few minutes, trying to get used to the feeling of the stranger’s body.

Hopefully, the night wouldn’t get any stranger…

[WC: 601]
[Total WC: 1,101]

Ryō froze in place for a heartbeat as a sense almost akin to mental vertigo suddenly cut through his mind. How had he gotten to this place? The last thing he could recall clearly... He placed a hand on his temple and groaned softly as a faint headache was all of an answer that he could muster to his own question. It didn't matter, as there were far more important things to consider and question, such as what exactly was going on in that building across the way. There was something about it that simultaneously drew his eye to it and repulsed him in such a fashion as to make him want to look away. Such a paradoxical feeling did nothing to help his budding headache. 

 Surprised and yet not that he was in the middle of a group of people, his mind naturally accepted their presence with little qualm. After all, as he looked at the raven-haired woman, Ryō felt an odd sense of familiarity with her that, mostly, but him at ease. If nothing else, it was nice to see others bearing the once-proud leaf of Konoha on their headbands. Perhaps, one day, it would be proud again. 

As others mused and commented on the building and the bizarre guards, Ryō silently watched as a group approach the guards. In the pale moonlight, his eyes caught a glint of metal and realized that the ones allowed past the guards each had on a pendant with the same etched pattern on the front. Understanding that there was something to it, but unfamiliar with the symbol or its meaning, Ryō ventured a thought into one of the silences that cropped up as his fellow shinobi spoke to each other. "I think those pendants are important somehow; maybe a sign of patronage to the same group?" 

He felt woefully out of place and inadequate for... whatever this was. Still practicing some of the more basic jutsu a shinobi was expected to know, and still struggling with such routine things as a change in chakra nature, he felt that this was hardly the sort of mission he should be participating in. However, he stilled those personal feelings and did his best to not let it show in his face or in his words. After all, a shinobi was someone who endured and sacrificed, right? He wouldn't always have the chance to be ready for everything that life would throw at him; if he wanted to pursue this path in life, he was going to have to be willing to step outside of his comfort zones and do more. 

When the woman, the Leaf Jōnin, spoke and suggested a silent takedown of the guards, Ryō found himself unconsciously nodding his agreement. Something about her had him automatically deferring to her judgment and viewpoint. When no one else seemed to venture a disagreement with the plan, Ryō began to prepare. Briefly, he noted how the woman materialized a number of senbon and made a mental note of her use of such a precise weapon. Immediately understanding then that he wouldn't be needed to actually take the guards down, Ryō shifted his position and instead got ready for follow-up action. 

As the senbon found their targets and the guards began to slump to the ground, already unconscious, Ryō pulsed his chakra and briefly accelerated. Closing the distance between their hiding place and the guards, Ryō steaded the fall of both bodies just enough to ensure that neither made any serious noise and laid them out on the ground before similarly blurring back to the hiding place of the group. The way he saw it, if anyone else was watching the guards, his presence wouldn't have been the only thing that raised an alarm, but bodies hitting the ground could be noisy and he didn't want something like that to be what caused them to have issues later.

"We should see about collecting a few pendants and robes from the cultists. We don't know for sure that there's not something significant about them. Without knowing for sure what the guards were checking on the earlier cultists, we might miss some detail with our Transformation Jutsu that gives us away later," Ryō mused aloud. Perhaps they'd get lucky and one last straggling group of cultists would appear by providence and give them access to what they needed, or perhaps they'd need to jump on a straggling group of cultists inside the compound to acquire what they needed that way. 

On the matter of hiding the guard bodies, Ryō considered what was being asked by the Leaf Jōnin. Earth was his only chakra nature that he'd mastered with any serious degree, but he hadn't yet tested his ability with anything of significant size or complexity. Fortunately, the need here was fairly small and easy to estimate. If no one else had anything and they needed to ensure the bodies would stay out of sight, Ryō would weave together a few signs and create a small chasm to place the bodies in before seeing the hole once more with a second brief expenditure of chakra. 

With the matter of the guards handled, and with a store of robes and pendants to mask their identities, Ryō felt an odd calm wash over him. The exact details were still a blur, but clearly, this was a mission of some sort. And even if he didn't understand how he was qualified to be a part of it, the young Senju was determined to ensure he wasn't a burden on their efforts to infiltrate the building and ascertain what was going on within its dark walls. He shared his brief list of abilities and proficiencies, a meager fare against what a Jōnin could provide, but he wasn't going to let a little thing like a massive difference in experience get in the way of providing possibilities for the mission's success. In any event, he knew well enough to know that he was absolutely not qualified to be the first one to enter the building and deferred that to someone with more experience. 

-----

WC: 1,019
TWC: 1,619

An eerie calm washed over him as he closed his eyes at the end of one trial and found himself awakening in another unfamiliar place. The trials he had undertook with the other three seemed to be sacrificial in nature, but the way of the ninja meant finding a way out of seemingly no way. The group of four passed through the trials with no real issue after coming up with a plan, and once they had reached the end it simply seemed as if they were finally able to breath...only for a moment. Upon the horizon Mitacho sat crouched watching the building in mental silence. The others had been talking among themselves about how to approach the situation and Mita had simply took the route of keen observation. There were obviously two guards who had been checking the cultists for something, what it was Mitacho had not yet seen come to pass. Their clothing. Their mannerisms, all things he had continually been watching and copying in his mind. Their robes had been simple and the adornments something he had never seen before but were essential for this. What was it that gained them passage...What was it that would get the four into the citadel like structure and not get caught? The other three had the first part of this plan figured out as the woman made some sort of item from the three handseals she had just performed. What was she going to do had been his initial thought until he had thought about their conversation - she was going to take them out. Waiting for the moment, he would watch as the senbon did their job and struck true. 

Taking out both of the guards was an easy thing. Something that due to his unique skillset he would not necessarily had been able to take out the both of them quickly enough, but the way she had did was soundless and flawless. Moving over quickly he would grab both bodies, more so if the doors opened two bodies would not be there. One of them had moved quickly enough to stop the falling and with Mita's strength he could easily pick up both the bodies and quickly head back to the group where he would study the bodies of the cultist guards carefully. Nothing out of the ordinary that he could see. Robes. Trinkets showing their faith. No outward tattoos and as he looked into the robes quickly to see if there was something hidden, there was nothing he could see there. Interesting. What was it that made them stick out to gain entrance? The others talked about a way to get rid of the bodies and one thought came to burning them, but that would create smoke and in doing so bring attention to them. Once again fire would not be the answer to this dilemma. The thought of transforming into them was brought up and it wasn't a bad idea, in fact one of the others had already begun to do the hand seals for it which would change their appearance into that of a cultist which had been a smart move.

Following the same suit, Mitacho's appearance would change into one of the cultists and with a swift motion he would bring the hood over his head to cloak his head much like the one he had watched getting in prior to their plan. With that in mind he would stand and bring both hands into the long sleeves of the robe and wait for the others to see how they would deal with this as well. The guards were buried deep under earth due to the chasm one of the other shinobi had made and now it was only a matter of time to see what would happen for them to get in. Mita from the darkness of the hood would speak for once to the group before they moved in," While you were making plans to get in, I paid close attention to the way they had walked and gained entry. It isn't a one hundred percent certainty but it is a favorable odds of success that I will speak on. When they had gathered in front of the guards I had seen them make three unique gestures with their hands. While I can only replicate what I saw I do not know if anything came after it so this will be a gamble if they ask us a question....but it is our best bet," he'd let that sit with each of them before he had finally made his move toward the citadel and hoped that this would work..

775 wc

It appeared there were three other people close to Goto and the young Senju would listen as each one of them shared their thoughts and opinions on how to handle the matter at hand. The first person to speak up was one that looked familiar, perhaps they had seen each other somewhere before or maybe his mind was simply affected by the dreams that manipulated his thoughts. Regardless, the silver haired listened attentively as the kunoichi suggested a swift takedown before forming a couple of hand seals. Numerous, about four, glistening senbon were created almost out of thin air, most likely one of the young woman's abilities. Once she had gathered each individual senbon the female shinobi launched the projectiles as they were shot at the two guards standing there not knowing what was about to hit them.

Soon the Konohagakure youngster watched as each of the projectiles successfully hit their mark, causing both guards to collapse after being hit by the senbon. The two men, unaware what just happened, stood no chance at all. Immediately after taking out her targets the woman used the transformation technique in order to take on the appearance of one of them, a precaution in case any other guards would show up. By then someone else from their group had started to move as the boy rushed towards the guards' location and catch them before they fell, preventing their unconscious bodies to produce any sound that could potentially alarm anyone inside of the building. Quick thinking and fast on his feet. Goto would follow suit and began collecting some of the pendants while putting on a robe belonging to one of the guards.

The young Senju noticed how the fourth and final member of their group followed the kunoichi's example and transformed into one of the guards, his body covered by the cloak and a hood which could hide his face. After they had succeeded in burying both men Goto paid close attention to the cloaked member of their group who had started to speak, explaining the information he gathered earlier and how it could be used to enter the building. "Not a bad idea" the silver haired replied. If Mitacho was indeed able to replicate the specific gestures the guards used to get in perhaps it would also enable them do to the same. "It's our best shot. For now the two of you should go first, we don't want to make them suspect anything when they notice there are four of us while there were only two guards" he would say to both the kunoichi and the boy who were the ones that had transformed themselves.

Goto would signal the other shinobi who caught and buried the men, letting him know to prepare for the worst in case they had to force their way in. But for now he simply waited and hoped their plan of using the special code would be enough to make their way into the building and find out just what exactly was going on inside.

(WC: 508, TWC: 3517)

Lachesis nodded grimly in the guise of a (soon to be) dead man, tilting her head at the stranger’s comments. “I,” she spoke up, noting how the unfamiliar tongue made her voice feel weird. “Think there might be a simpler solution.” she gathered her thoughts for a moment before adding to the previous comment. “The targets have been intermittently bringing in sacrifices, correct?... If you pretend to be prisoners, it would provide the four of us an excuse to stay together.” another pause, and an adam’s apple (those were weird, what the fuck?) bobbed. “If the bindings are loose enough, you could break out and attack as needed. I doubt anyone would expect any resistance if you played up being ‘out of it’, as it were.”

She drummed her hands on her thigh. The fabric was not particularly comfortable, but she’d freely admit the evil cult aesthetic wasn’t the worst thing she’d ever dressed in. The Onomori turned to her transformed partner, taking in his disguise before nodding. It would work for what they had to do. “Since I don’t have any rope, perhaps you could just transform into yourselves WEARING rope. That would work for you, yes?” she tapped her nose once.

Should the three men comply, she would progress the plan with the confidence of someone who had infiltrated many times before, despite the fact that she mostly took missions in village. The building floor creaked with every step she took, and she was embracing a simple truth: if you look and act like you’re supposed to be somewhere, most people won’t give a fuck what you’re doing.

The smell of mold wafted through the air. The wooden planks and panels that made up the temple(?) were dampened, likely through the humidity permeating the surroundings from the aforementioned hot springs- the village had to get its name somehow, after all. It was dimly lit, though whether or not it was intentional or simply a result of poor funding wasn’t immediately evident. People not used to fighting in such conditions may find themselves at a disadvantage. She was fairly confident in her ability to take a cultist or two by surprise, but the more of a mess she made, the easier she would be to track down in the event something went wrong.

She would progress with purpose down a long, dark hallway. At the end was a flight of stairs leading upwards; the end result of meandering through a labyrinthine first floor. Yugakure’s ground was too wet to support much (or any) basement building, so it was likely that was their destination. Lachesis hardened her spine and strode forward. A single guard at the staircase caught her eye, glancing towards the faux prisoners.

He opened his mouth, presumably to ask her a question, but she silenced it with a glare and a Furious Design.

The stranger swallowed and moved ahead to let them pass. “R-right this way, sir.”

Lachesis made her responding blink slow and deliberate, only moving to walk up the stairs after a few moments. Let the bastard stew in his own sweat.

…Of course, this was only assuming that the group agreed with her plan. Should they want to deliberate more, or ask any questions, she would remain with them and reflect on any further actions. She wouldn’t blame the temporary team, of course- this was an unfamiliar environment, and acting with haste wouldn’t end well unless they acted with both caution and deliberation alike. She would be a little disappointed, though- each minute they wasted would be a drain on her chakra from the Transformation upheld, and providing additional time for the residents of the temple to realize that something had gone wrong at the gates.

She didn’t know if they had any check in policies or rotation shifts or what, after all. They were in a bad position all around- but they’d made it this far.

[WC: 653]
[Total WC: 1,754]