We Wish You a Merry Hijinks

Communication between the group played out well. Nearly familiar. The exchange between Souji and Gonk was swift and precise - a clear indication of those that took place in the past Chuunin exams knew how to work well with those of the neighboring village, as it as a part of their assignments to advance. “Being the spearhead for this cell is fine with me, I’ll make sure that we get there in one piece.” He would say. His eye would drift to the other lad with a special eye. He wasn’t quite sure of how he managed to see as far as him, but he didn’t really care either. 

Then Goro said something odd, out of his character from what Souji noticed. “Liability? And who decided that? We all have a part to play and offer, even if you lack the field experience you will gain it here and support where we cannot. Remember that, Goro.” He would say as he gave him a stoic expression. Before turning to face Gonk again as he was addressed. 

“You’re talking about the gentle fist. Yeah, it’s a style unique only to the Hyuuga. Useful for for all ranges of utilized properly.” He answered as she listens to Gonk speak to the others. He learned that Goro could use medical and that was…surprisingly useful. He would nod to the boy as he acknowledged this. 

“I will get us into fifty meters of the target. From there, Gonk will resume the lead.” with that it took him no time to take off in that direction. His top speed would be his starting - soon realizing that he would have to bring it down just enough for them to keep up with him. He’s beginning to see that his speed is nothing more than useful for running and that was about it…disappointing really. 

Once he successfully lead the team up to 50 meters of the target he would come to a stop and then look to Gonk and the others. 

[WC: 335]
[TWC: 1,415]

Goro blinked at Kaze’s statement, mouth slowly sliding shut until his teeth nearly dug into his tongue. The vote of confidence was unexpected- but definitely appreciated. Sage knew that he was wildly unpopular in certain circles for his exuberance and thoughtlessness alike. Perhaps assuming that the hostage felt the same way about him was an err.

He did not enter the building, being left ultimately alone in the snow while the others did the actual fighting. Muffled explosions, crashes, and at one point an ear splitting scream were all he could make out from over here. At one point, however, someone had evidently noticed his presence.

It was an elf- or otherwise, a very vertically challenged ninja. He brandished a chef’s knife haphazardly, and the resulting emotion he felt was more confusion than fear. The fuck?

The knife dug into his calf without warning.

It felt like being punched. Only by looking down could he see the blade sticking a couple inches through his skin, held in place by his own flesh and muscle. The wound hurt less than he was anticipating, and it took him a moment to realize that the red pooling at the leg of his pajama pants was absolutely not a good thing.

He didn’t have any weapons nor immediately offensive jutsu to his name, but he threw his fist back and slammed it downwards.

Energy crackled alongside his bones, and a small projectile of force dug its way deep into his attacker’s skull.

Taijutsu Puncture, a distant part of him noted. The elf collapsed bonelessly to the ground, but a rise and fall of the chest let him know he was still alive- just heavily concussed. Something within him unclenched in relief.

It was around then he noticed that there was still a very large knife in his leg. Made for slicing through meat, it easily slid through tendon and muscle alike. Blood was pooling down his leg, and removing the object would be highly ill advised. Once gone, it wouldn’t be able to staunch any bleeding.

On the other hand, he could cast mystical palm. The offending limb began to throb heavily, adrenaline slowly petering out and being replaced by pain. His trembling hands made their way through five seals- much slower than he was used to– and he slid out the knife just as his hands took on an eldritch glow.

It clearly cut something else on the way out with the way his leg spasmed.

The wound closed in moments before his eyes, veins tying themselves back together and muscle reforming into smooth strings. There was no scar to be spoken of.

When everyone else had reconvened outside, he looked down at the unconscious figure and felt an involuntary twinge in his leg. It’s fine. It’s fine.

“I, uh.” he began, looking at Mako for a moment before swallowing a knot in his throat. “I took care of it. It’s nothing,” he added, referring to both his injury and unconscious attacker alike.

[WC: 500]
[Total WC: 1,850]

And so the fun began. With the sound of an explosive tag being the shot clock. Souji would watch as Gonk rushed to protect one of his own. His movements were slow, but they were not wasted. Color the Hyuuga impressed. Souji would have took the blow head on, but he didn’t think it was wise to reveal that he was immune to Fire or any sort to his captors. That would ruin the fun of things he would think. “Good to see that you’re still sturdy as ever, Mako.” He would say as he started towards the entrance. 

He would take his own path as the others took their’s. As he was walking down one of the halls he would come to see a group of elves. He would stand still as he gauged them. “This is…strangely familiar.” The Prince would state. These elves held blades of red and white swirls and their numbers in this one hall ranged from 8 to 10. They roared as they charged at the man. 

“What the fuck?” He would scuff as she thrusted a palm at them and from it a massive vacuum was released which crashed into them and sent them flying back some meters. The man would the. Continue to walk down the path as she held his hands in his pockets. This was a bit boring for his taste. But it was a job. He hoped that the others were fairing well, well he could see that they were but hope wasn’t wasted 

As he entered one of the rooms he would be met with a blinding projectile that nearly struck him. His left eye would trace where it came from and there was this odd…Kitsune like creature wielding a katana. “You do not belong here, boy!” It barked. Souji looking behind himself and moving to the door as he closed it and locked it. “I know that. So what are you going to do about it, bitch?” He retorted. The ears of the creature would twitch as it took offense to his disrespect. Immediately charging him at a speed of 125. Souji smiled as he would allow his body to open its limiters and the veins spread across his flesh. As the creature got within a meter of him preparing to strike his body moved at 240, taking it by surprise and landing a mountain crusher strike at the core of the beast. Punching a hole in its gut which blew out the back and destroyed the room from where the beast was on back and 50 meters of the building and beyond. A white light of chakra would catch the attention of all that was capable of seeing it. And should they look to see the end result they would come to find the dead kitsune outside of the building some yards away and the veined up Souji lazily gazing from the damaged room. He was sure to create a path that would not endanger any of his members. “Well that was anti-climatic.” He said disappointedly. 

Loookong around the room he seemed to have also damaged the gifts, or presents within it. As well as other ones in the path of his technique. 

Stepping out of the room he would. He would come to find that Gonk was outside of the building waiting. “Sup. While you all were doing that, I was dealing with the presents. So, uh yeah. What’s left for us to do?” He inquired. 

[WC: 580]
[TWC: 1,995]

Gonk was surprised to find Goro standing over an unconscious elf, who was holding a bloody knife. Then Gonk noticed the blood that was dripping down Goro’s leg. It didn’t exactly take Gonk long to piece together what had happened. 

“Nice job subduing that attacker Goro,” Gonk commended the genin. It would seem that he also healed his injury already, given that while there was a fair bit of blood, there was no longer a wound of any kind. Healing techniques certainly were handy. It was a shame that Gonk didn’t have an aptitude for them.
Gonk glanced back towards the door to see another piece of paper attached.

“Nice job compromising the bakery,” it read, “There are just two more things I need. The first is to destroy the warehouse where bombs are being disguised as presents, and the second is to steal the evil star utop the christmas tree that’s hypnotizing all the elves of this village. Do these and you will receive even more rewards. 
-Itazura”

Just as he finished reading, Hafuma arrived, shortly followed by Souji, who informed them that he had already dealt with the presents, and asked what they still had to do.

“Well according to this new note we have to steal the star off some christmas tree.” Gonk paused for a moment, wondering where this tree was. “Oh right, I think I saw it over the buildings on the way here. It should be in the town square. Follow me.”

Gonk took off running back the way they had come, heading for the center of town. After around thirty seconds, he saw the tip of the tree towering above the miniature houses, and soon the group of shinobi arrived in the town square. Hundreds of elves and shinobi packed the square, all of whom were gazing up at the tree. More specifically at the star, which glowed radiantly blue.

“We have to steal that thing?” Gonk wondered. “It’s absolutely massive! It has to be at least 25 feet across, and must weigh a ton. But with the whole team on it, maybe we can lift it?” 

Gonk was unsure, but they had to try. He wasn’t sure what exactly they would do with it once they had it, but for some reason he had a strange feeling that things would work out if they just managed to lift it. Almost like something similar had happened in the past. Shaking off his deja vu, Gonk proceeded to give his instructions to the team. 

“Alright, so we’ll want to get up to the top of that tree without being noticed. In order to do this, we’ll utilize the transformation jutsu, paired with chakra suppression if you’re able.”

Gonk proceeded to form a hand seal, causing his appearance to distort and shrink, becoming a squirrel. Gonk’s ANBU armor suppressed his chakra for him, so he didn’t have to worry about actively suppressing his chakra, but the others should be able to suppress their chakra while still remaining transformed. Once the others were ready, Gonk would lead the way through the crown, dodging and weaving around legs as he made his way closer and closer to the tree. Once he reached the base of the tree, he began scrambling up, his squirrel claws allowing him to climb up without channeling chakra to his feet. After several minutes of climbing and jumping from branch to branch, Gonk finally emerged at the base of the star. It was clear that he couldn’t do anything as a squirrel, so once the rest of the team was at the top with him, he would speak.

“Alright, since we obviously can’t lift the star in this form, we’ll need to transform back then try to get it off the tree. I think the Itazura person should help us once we get it up. Unfortunately we’re surrounded on all sides by people watching, so unless one of you can make a distraction, I think we’re going to be spotted.””

As he finished speaking, Gonk glanced down at the crowd, and noticed something in the shadows. A humanoid figure with glowing eyes. Eyes that were focused on them. Except as Gonk looked closer he noticed something strange. They appeared to have cat ears and a cat tail. A kitsune.

“Could this be Itazura?” Gonk wondered as he stared at the figure.

“Alright on the count of three, release your transformation and lift.” Gonk instructed, pulling his eyes away from the far down Kitsune. “One…two…three!”
On three, Gonk transformed back to full size, the tree being more than big enough to hold him and the rest of the team. Once he was full size, Gonk opened the first gate and began lifting the star. Even with 200 strength, Gonk wasn’t able to lift the over 2000 kilogram star. But, once his teammates chipped in, the group managed to pull the star off of the three. Gonk glanced down at the figure, just in time to see them snap their fingers. The star began to dissolve into snow, causing the ethereal light to fade away.

“Maybe there was some kind of protective jutsu on the star, where it was protected while attached to the tree,” Gonk mused, before he realized that he was also fading away into snowflakes himself. 

Suddenly Gonk woke up in his bed. Groggy, Gonk turned on his bedside lamp, as it was still dark, and sat up.
 
“What just happened?” Gonk wondered, as he looked around. Then he remembered. “Wait, was that all a dream?” Gonk looked down at his nightstand to find a small envelope. He quickly opened it and disposed the contents onto his lap. Within was a large sum of ryo along with a slip of paper.

“Thanks for the help
-Itazura”

Gonk placed these items back, before turning off the light and laying down. It seemed wrong that he remembered this dream, but he didn’t ponder it much, and instead drifted off into a now dreamless sleep.

[WC=1000]
[TWC=3298]
[Exit]

claims:

Under other circumstances, praise sourced directly from his superiors would have made him feel elated.

Instead, he just felt unsettled. He’d never been stabbed before, nor had he ever been in a real fight. For better or for worse, he was a paper ninja through and through. His fingers twitched listlessly beneath the long sleeves of his pajamas. They had begun to numb themselves, likely an afflict of the surrounding temperature. His suboptimal choice of attire didn’t help the progression of cold throughout his body, either.

Goro would listen to Mako detail the Christmas tree, as well as their mission to steal the star. With a few glances at the others, he would follow the running ANBU as fast as he could- albeit much slower than most of the accompanying ninja. The object of attention shone brightly enough to come into view before the tree itself. Stealing it wouldn’t be easy- and would likely attract more attention than he was comfortable with.

He was capable of a half decent transformation, but chakra suppression was beyond his currently meagre capabilities. He knew he wouldn’t be of much use here, but…

His eyes travelled back to the crowd. He was pretty decent with crowd dispersion, for better or for worse. He told the group as such- they could focus on the star, and he’d make sure people’s attention was off the tree.

As they made their way up, he’d blend in near seamlessly with the crowd- for better or for worse, the pajamas were pretty similar to what most of them had on, and his general non threatening demeanor meant he also didn’t attract much attention from the shinobi, either.

Goro scratched his nose after a moment. He could set off a couple bombs- not, like, actual bombs, but the equivalent of flashbangs. Loud noise and bright lights. But on the other hand, if he was seen throwing them or dropping them, suspicion would be on him pretty quickly.

Hm.

After a few moments, he came to a half baked conclusion: he’d set a genjutsu or two on a few of the shinobi. Even if only one of them stayed under, they’d cause enough havoc to firmly draw all attention, and if any broke free, they’d be highly paranoid about potential enemies in the midst.

The hand seals were made subtly against his stomach, partially obscured by the falling snow and gentle mist that captured the light of the tree and various lanterns situated about.

He wasn’t a skilled illusionist by any stretch, but he didn’t need a miracle. He just needed something that would work.

The smell of smoke rose sharply in the scattered crowd, and those in the jutsu’s area of effect began to believe that the plaza had caught fire. Even to those that broke it, the panic caused by the few who stayed under was enough to cause a veritable stampede.

In hindsight, he probably could’ve positioned himself a little better. He got himself veritably thrown back first against a wall, knocking the wind out of him.

His vision faded in and out, and as soon as the stolen star (had they managed to do it?) dissolved into lazy puffs of snow, he found himself half hanging off his bed back in the village, and a small envelope containing ryo at his bedside.

The fuck?

[WC: 557]
[Total WC: 2,407]

(Exit)

Claiming:
+24 stats (+4 strength, +10 vigor, +10 chakra)
+110 AP
+21,800 ryo (+300 ryo on top of ordinary stuff for genin memes)
+Omnistone
+Tinkerer's Toolkit
+Material Demagnetizer
+Extra Raffle Entry
+1,500 words into Steaming Multistoried Building
+907 words into A-Ranked Time Dilation
+Memorizing the chakra of Souji & Hafuma; rip Gonk who's in anbu armor

Approved for @Gonk and @Goro Tanaka

“So, you’ve finally noticed her?” Souji would ask, smugly as he looked on at her with his Byakugan. This woman was vile and the chakra that was warped around her was as sinister and sick as the chakra that was around Kenshin, no, this chakra was far more corrupt. His Soulfire was responding to it, the wisps of flames around his head would become more prominent as if a self defense. After all that he did to help and go along with Gonk’s plan from the transformation to this point he was doing his part. This only made him realize just how weak he really was. His speed couldn’t do much for him in terms of lifting. But he would digress. 

Once Gonk mentioned something about a protective Jutsu. Souji would glance around with his eye. “I don’t know! I can’t seem to-” He would cut his words short as he found himself fading into the snow as well. His expression would twist from stern to caution. 

Then he woke up within his cell. The seal returned on him to lock away his chakra and his right eye returned to a small ember that barely sparked. His eye no longer active and his body returning to that normal temperature that he come to hate. “What…forget it. This place is more wacky than I expected. ” He said. Lifting from his bed and walking to his corner to get a glass of water. Then he noticed a note. 

As he opened and read it…he realized that everything that happened was more than a dream. And what’s more, he recalled perfectly every detail that took place. Was that suppose to happen?  

[WC: 279]
[TWC: 2,274]
[Exit]

Mission Claims:
21,500 ryo
600 ryo bonus 
110 AP
1 Omnistone
1 Tinkerer’s Toolkit
1 Material Demagnetizer 
Memorized Chakra for Goro and Hafuma

Jutsu claims will come later