Into the Snowy Haze

Mission's:

Fragments left in time. Mere remnants left scattered around like shards of broken glass. Soft snow blanketed the ground like a winter's dream. The cool air made even the warmest of blood shiver at the slightest kiss. The setting sun bathed the skies in a velvet wonders. Right now, the tundra of the north was at its most peaceful. Unlike the previous days, when mother nature was at her worst. Even the littles had to recluse inside their domes; but now, the wind is calm and clear skies as far as the eyes could tell. It was breathtaking, a picture-perfect moment in the winter wonderlands. However, everything is not always as what it seems. Peaceful aura does not always mean you are safe. Fiends of the night and creatures of the damned always hid behind to most unexpecting individuals.

Giving a soft sigh, releasing the creation rebirth user from his deep and dark thoughts, he looked straight ahead. While the sun was getting ready to say goodnight, the town was coming alive. Individuals started opening up their shops and doors, welcoming all into their businesses. Giving off a smile, Zunair walked forward into the charming village. Lights began to shine with all assortments of colors. Blue's, greens, and reds splashed color against the everlasting white of the north. White and red canes were shifted in position on the streets, boarding a sign above them named: Candy Cane Lane. Christmas time was his favorite time of year, and this place especially brought out that excitement for him.

With each step, he felt is weight crunch the snow below his feet. One of the sounds he loved the most, very therapeutic. Looking up, he found the place he most definitely wanted to be at, 'the Ole' Fiddle.' Giving a smile, he walked his way in. Since it was still early, this tavern wasn't to full max capacity yet but still it was homed to a few stragglers. Looking around the room, one of the serving wench gave a smile and nod, signaling him that he can take his seat anywhere. That will do.

He maneuvered himself to an evenly square wooden table with a chair at each side. Taking a seat, he was met with the server. The same one that has been working her life away for the past few days and has been serving him.

"Having the usual?" She said with a giggle.

"Of course," Zunair nodded with a smile as the little woman skipped off to put his order in and bring him back his sake. That is what he was really wanting. A smooth, burning taste that lights up his whole abdomen and puts him in a much more pleasant mood.

TWC: 453

The north was silent and peaceful, gentle glaciers and endless plains frozen in time, it almost seemed wasteful, Izuna didn't quite know what to think about it all, he had never really experienced such cold weather before, and while the thrill of something new and interesting tempted him into complacency, the cold still bit the young native of fire country. He didn't want to make a habit of travelling this far from the village if the temperature was this extreme everywhere. Izuna followed his superior through the frozen tundra to where their objective lay.

The village seemed out of place, but at the same time it fit right into the landscape, its soft lights reflecting off the frozen plains it was situated in. It seemed a bastion of warmth and disparity in this otherwise cold and complacent landscape. He felt drawn towards it, tired from travelling the entire day and just wanting to take the evening to relax by a fire and not be in the perpetual freeze. He followed Zunair down towards the town.

While his partner for this series of missions was enjoying the relaxing sound of the snow crunching underneath him, Izuna was taking the opportunity to practice his chakra control, attempting to walk on top of the fluffy powder without disturbing it in the slightest, he was more or less successful not making a sound as he accompanied the Hyuga on his trip to this northern village. Izuna was taking his first mission away from the village and he felt the excitement, although it meant he would be following the Hyuga's lead for most of the excursion. Pretty much clueless on his own.

He followed Zunair down the streets of the village, the Hyuga seeming to know exactly where he was going, so Izuna was content to follow. They made their way into a tavern and Izuna asked for a warm non alcoholic drink from the serving girl, she seemed nice enough, and a hot chocolate sounded lovely after that trek through the tundra, Izuna prepared himself to relax for the evening.
WC 346

"Help!"


"Help!"

A woman, who wasn't much older than Zunair, comes barging in. Frantic and chaotic, screaming for assistance from a problem unknown to the Hyūga. She had long, silk-like, golden hair that fell to her waist. Bright blue eyes that only were more prominent because of the reddening of her sclera. Puffy cheeks caused by either her hysteria or the subzero air. Whatever the case may be, Zunair signaled the newly appointed Genin to move over with him.

Quickly coming to the woman, the Byakugan wielder, began to question her, "What's going on, is everything alright!?" Zunair put his hand on the woman's shoulder, trying to give her some sort of comfort while trying to go out an answer from her.

"No! You have to go help them! Please, you have too!" The woman screamed. If her voice didn't indicate how much she needed help, her eyes definitely did. They shouted in panic, but also fear.

"Who? What happened?" Zunair questioned the woman. Who, or what, had her in such a state of disarray for her to be acting like this. Something of this magnitude must not be taken lightly.

"I don't know! We...we were getting ready. Someone broke in. Something broke in. It was stealing our presents. It was hideous creature. Covered in something that look like green fur. He...he took my son! My husband went to find them on top of the mountain to the north. But there's a storm...a storm coming in. Please, can you help," the woman pleaded for to the Konoha duo. So, not only is the child's life at stake, but the husbands too. Running blindly to save those he loved. Noble, but more importantly, stupid. If not by the stature of their builds, it was plainly obvious this village was no shinobi nation, lacking intelligence and only doing things on pure adrenaline reaction. If this creature frightened the woman to hysteria, Zunair wondered what it was capable of.

"Yes, we'll do everything in our power to," he said calmly to the woman, leading her to sit down on one of the chairs. Turning back to Izuna, "well, I guess dinner and drink is gonna have to wait. Let's go," Zunair said to his subordinate. Luckily for the Hyūga, he hadn't removed off his winter items and some of the alcohol still was burning inside his stomach. Lucky him.

Walking out of the double doors into the white covered streets he was met with the harsh winter air. The biting winds brushed calmly across his checks as he moved forward, heading north. Looking up at the elevated landmass, that was the only mountain around them that path led to. "That is where we are heading, if we're lucky, we can make it back before we get caught in that," Zunair's finger was pointing at the towering mountain side then shifted towards the dark, luminous clouds, that was only going bring a monstrous storm.

TWC: 943

The waitress brought their respective drinks a minute or so after they originally entered the room, Izuna was already relaxing and succumbing to the calm atmosphere of the tavern. He took in the rest of the building as his cup of hot chocolate steamed gently on the table before him. The tavern's patrons were calm and demure, eating or drinking quietly and speaking in hushed tones when they did. It made for a very relaxing environment after the harsh day to trekking through the tundra. He took his steaming cup in his hand and brought it to his mouth to drink, when he was promptly scared out of his seat by a high pitched scream for help.

Izuna shot up to his feet at the sound, spilling the scalding hot liquid over himself. He hissed in pain, but ignored his discomfort in order to focus on the source of the sudden commotion. Taking in the sight of the distressed woman, he looked to the Hyuga for guidance. Zunair's hand signal was heeded and he followed the Chunin to where the woman was screaming for help.

His comrade seemed to have experience with calming down distressed persons as Zunair quickly got the woman calm enough to speak in coherent sentences. Izuna silently listened a step or two behind Zunair, his guard was now fully raised once again and his posture tensed. Unenhanced eyes scanned the bar now that the source of the commotion had been slightly calmed, the patrons were starting at them in curiosity and mortification. The previous calm environment had been replaced with one that felt of fear wariness, and distrust. Izuna was glad he had the more experience Chunin leading the mission, especially because of the young man's people skills, Izuna didn't think he would have been able to calm the woman so quickly.

The woman's story was as bizarre as solving it would be stressful. So a two man rescue operation in the frozen mountains in the middle of a blizzard? If the woman's initial outburst hadn't already ruined Izuna's relaxed mood he might have been apprehensive for this. But now he was wary and ready for action, Zunair's briefing officially put him into mission mode, relaxing could wait until the task was done.

"Understood" he spoke in a quick, to the point tone and moved to grab a rag from one of the tables, he hastily wiped his spilled drink from his winter clothing and hand, the burn still stung somewhat but Izuna had had worse. He then followed his superior out into the frigid weather.

"Are we expecting combat? Do you have any idea what the thing she described might be?" Izuna was hoping for clarification, shinobi were always comfortable with more information at hand and maybe his team leader would have run into something like this. As he asked these questions he fell into step with Zunair keeping pace as the moved towards their objective.
WC 491
TWC 837

Though busy the girl hadn't yet finished her time in snow country, she simply had a vast assortment of missions to deal with, none of them major, most in fact were minor with very little true rush, though she lingered mostly due to enjoying the winter weather, it was cold but her body never quite reached chilling, always kept warm by a jacket or underclothing, but that wasn't something that mattered today, no what mattered today was that she was getting ready to enter the inn, a recent rest stop she's been using in this area, only until she had nearly bumped into a familiar man, though she stopped just in time to side step them as they were likely more looking off towards the mountains then directly in front of them, she debated on continuing herself but stopped for a moment to take not that someone else was with them, a familiar figure, someone young and still early in their career, it was of course Izuna, how nice to see them enjoying this place as well.

Though she wouldn't make a noise she just stared at the two pass by and with some instinct would give a wave, though she wasn't sure if they'd catch it.

WC:207

"I have no idea of what kind of creature she was referring too; however, we should expect combat, especially when dealing with theft and kidnapping."

Zunair answered his subordinate in calm-like manner. Every time he left the village back home, there was always a battle that broke out. Especially, when he was dealing with A-ranked missions that led his journeys to the edge of the fire country. He still remembered the bandits that was terrorizing the town, stealing, and killing the commoners that inhabitant that place. Fun fact, he was with an Uchiha that day. Lynn to be in fact, straight of the academy just like Izuna. Somedays he felt like he was the Uchiha's keeper, always out on missions with them. 

As he was drowning in his memories, he almost ran into someone, slightly taller than the littles. She fortunately side-stepped to stop herself from running into the heir of the Konoha Hyūga Clan. Not that he would've been mad, he just would've been very annoyed. However, something caught his eye upon the straggler. Something felt vaguely familiar to him, turning his head to look at her, he saw that she was giving a subtle wave towards him. Ah, Xena, the self-polarizing Uchiha. He should've figured out by now, the Uchiha's are kind of like cockroaches, when you find one, more are just around the corner. Zunair, of course, found that hilarious.

Giving off a subtle laugh in a serious situation, he waved Xena over, "Oi, Xena, come here," he said with almost a strict, serious tone. If Xena came over, he would continue on, "We have a serious situation at hand, we have a burglary and kidnapping situation and we're going to need your assistance." Zunair didn't even ask if she could come, it was more of an order from the sound of his tone. "Apparently, a woman's son has been kidnapped after being robbed and head up that mountain," he said, shifting his vision towards the towering mountain just right up the trail to the norht and pointing towards it.

"Then the husband went and chased after. This creature, from I heard, is unknown and highly dangerous. So, if you're prepared, we have to get a move on," while he debriefed Xena about the current events, he at least, allowed her to make she was ready for the trek into the northern ravine. 

Once she was ready, the trio headed out on to the northern trail. On the path towards the mountain, Zunair thought about how two of the students that he gave passing grades on the Genin Exam were the ones that were with him, all the way up here in the Snow Country. He found it humorous, he figured much more experienced shinobi would be with him, but he was with two newly fresh Genin. It didn't really bother him as everyone get to start somewhere, right?

"So, how are two taking to becoming proper shinobi now?" Zunair decided to take up small talk as the mountain was far off and it would take around thirty minutes to arrive. Zunair would take up trying to tree jump, but these trees are frail and fragile and most likely only slow them down, so on foot is the way to go.

"Remember, Xena, steer clear of branches. We don't want to have another accident, do we?" Xena chuckled, giving Xena some shit from the last time he found her up here. Sometimes, when serious situations arise, you need to let off some steam from some banter right before you head into battle. While Zunair was confident in his abilities, he wasn't for sure about the other two. Maybe being on this mission will show them which path they want to take in the shinobi world.

TWC: 1,571

Izuna was discouraged by the fact his superior didn't know what they were dealing with. But shinobi were expected to often be uninformed about the capabilities of their opponents, they would have to make do. Izuna continued steeling himself as they quickly made their way towards the mountain, shaking off the last thoughts of relaxation as he fully prepared himself for a potentially dangerous situation, both emotionally and physically. He wasn't as absorbed into his thoughts as the Hyuga clan heir was so he noticed Xena before he did, almost looking like Zunair was about to run straight through the other Uchiha. Izuna idly wondered what she was doing here, he hadn't seen her in almost a year now, she was probably doing a lot of missions, not to mention he rarely visited the district.

He was going to greet his clanswoman before he noticed Zunair's all business attitude, this seemed to rub off on Izuna instantly and he gave his clanswoman a quick nod in greeting before turning his attention towards the mountain, his face locked in a classic Uchiha "fuck off" expression. His default when he was in mission mode.

Zunair's debrief and subsequent order for Xeno to accompany took some of the tension out of Izuna, besides the slight break from the rush he was glad another body was here to deal with whatever green monstrosity they were dealing with. The other body being another Uchiha made the relief even more sweeter, Izuna hoped to catch up with his clanswoman after the mission. They began moving towards the mountain, using a technique similar to water walking to move above the snow unimpeded, although he knew travelling by tree would be ideal, Zunair had decided the trees were too weak here. Upon Zunair's question he thought about his answer for a minute before giving it.

"I haven't really been one for that long, and this excursion is my first real one, but I am enjoying that I all the willing teachers I suddenly have. I hope to have a jonin instructor soon." He answered honestly, he had not been a shinobi for long enough to have a real solid opinion on the change yet, Xena should however, she had been one for quite a while now, so he turned to her for her answer. He didn't really get the team leader's quip on watching for branches, must be a inside joke. Izuna though on the strange green creature. His chakra crackled within him, he had gotten more used to feeling it since becoming a Genin and it tended to do that when he became agitated. He hadn't noticed how angry he actually was that it had caused that woman such distress. He clenched his fists and narrowed his eyes, he couldn't wait to deal with this menace.
WC 469
TWC 1306

Xena had in fact remained extremely quiet, while being talked too and somewhat belittled even she just didn't say anything, she didn't feel like herself today in all honesty, something felt off and she couldn't put her fi gers on it, her eyes had been hurting ever since that training session with Onabi. Though no matter how many times she looked in a mirror nothing showed up. It was somewhat disappointing but also somewhat realistic. Why would her getting petty over some minor bullying unlock them, she barely even know Izuna anyway, just some kid she decided to lie to so he wouldn't get upset, all the good that had done, he ended up storming out into a thunder storm and she did next to nothing to stop him.

With a sigh she just shrugged after Zunair had commented about the guy and woman, she couldn't help but feel this situation was familiar. Far too familiar, was it perhaps the same idiot husband only instead of going up to a cabin he had decided to go up too find his son or whatever, she scoffed a bit to herself. Why were people so stupid, then she thought for a bit, if it were her mother or father she'd of done the same thing without hesitation too save them, running through a blizzard was merely a small bad patch in the eternity of being without family, and protecting them did strike a cord in the girl. Though she still found it foolish that the father would go with presumably no training she didn't care as much now prepared to leave.

As the group had began to walk off towards that location yet again Zunair would strike up a banter, why she wasn't exactly sure, perhaps he felt nervous or didn't like the quiet, personally she wasn't much for conversation at the time highly expecting Izuna to chime in hoping to learn all he could, but she didn't expect for Zunair to make a shot at her. It was annoying, perhaps even a tad aggrevating to her that he'd mock her, as they kept walking forward with her sandal she'd knock a branch off the ground into the air before lighting kicking it towards Zunairs lower back. Even if it hit it would likely just bounce off harmlessly, hurting no more then if a small ball lightly hit you in the back. In fact it was more like she just bounced the stick lightly off her foot rather then kicked it.
WC:419 TWC:626

"Right, I figured you would have one by now. Maybe once the Hokage gets back to the leaf he'll get you situated," Zunair said cheerily in response to Izuna. With so little forces and amaryllis shinobi that make up Konoha's ranking system, all genin teams are decided by the leadership but the Senju duos are always busy with something. Fun fact, Zunair never met the previous Hokages and he's only met Goto like three times. While the male Uchiha partook in the small talk, Xena decides she'd rather keep to herself and stay quiet. Maybe it 'twas for the best.

As the trio made their ascension towards the mountain, Zunair activated his Byakugan to get a sense of awareness around the area as they moved closer. He could feel his nerves began to get irritated. Izuna was pleasant to talk with, easy deal with, all around a decent individual. Xena, not so much. Her attitude and demeanor were something insolent; basically, just very annoying to Zunair. However, he does see it. He used to be like her: quiet, reserved, not one to initiate conversation. But with time and responsibility, he grew out of the introverted stage. Well, at times, he still is quiet natured, but he is more open now. 

Maybe she has something going on in her home life. Something that leads to her reclusiveness. Many of Zunair's family have died, back-to-back through the years. He became well acquainted with sadness, as it did make home inside his heart. He remembers past times where training began to form into abuse, more directly after his mother passed away. Then it came to a deadly clash after he disregarded the Hyūga teachings.

"Such a disgrace,"

Zunair remembers hearing him say this as they fell to the floor, lain in stains of their own blood, their bodies broken. He felt such a desire to just sleep then. His exhausted eyes struggle to see through the stinging blood seeping into them. His head has split open somewhere, it seems. There's so much of it. He can't tell where. Everything hurts, but thanks to his Creation Rebirth technique, he could feel his wounds closing up. However, his father's voice seems to direct Zunair's line of sight. There, he sees him lying just a distance away. Those empty colors staring right back, directly across from him. He looks so elated. So, pleased. Even with blood on his lips and a shattered body burning from the poison he'd inhaled, now coursing through his veins, the bastard finds something to be so damned happy about.

However, his flashback came to an end when he watched Xena, from behind him, kicked a branch towards him. Placing his palm behind his back, he caught the branch with ease while still walking in their destination. A smirk formed across his lips, if she wants to play like this, Zunair is definitely game for it.

"Unlike your forehead, Xena, I saw this branch coming," he said with sly smirk as he tossed the branch off to the side of the path. Turning around to face while still walking backwards so she could see his smile, he would throw a wink at her as well before turning and walking in the right direction. Let's see if she has any other emotion besides the stoic cold face that she usually presents her guests.



Whatever that outcome happened, the trio would finally make their way to the base of the mountain. While there was no path that carved its face on the mountainside, they were presented with cave. Obviously, it was the place that they needed to go. Taking a quick look inside, he found a series of network tunnels that flooded the ground underneath. Easy way for someone to get lost inside and trapped, fortunately for the trio Zunair's eyes saw that one of them had led to the cavern where he could see two faint chakra signatures and one massive one. That must be the culprit. One of the weaker chakra signatures was depleting, they need to move fast.

Taking off in a sprint, Zunair shouted, "Let's go, one of them is in grave danger". Hopefully the Uchiha duo would follow in his footsteps as he led them through the sporadic tunnels that laid before them. While it was a lot of twists and turns Zunair finally led the team to the event. The scenario was like this: young boy, screaming at the top of his lungs, crying, shaking, almost on the verge of vomiting. Father, unconscious, right leg missing, blood everywhere. This creature, hideous and green, taking bites out of said leg. It was something out of a horror novel. The trio needed to do something quick.

The man obviously needed to be healed, however, Zunair was for certain he was the only medic on this team. He's going to have to trust his team members, "I'mma need you two keep him distracted so I can heal the dad and get them both out of harm's way, once I do this will assist you, be careful." Zunair gave a simple instruction, he just hoped they can keep him distracted long enough that Zunair could save the man's life. Hopefully, they'll just kill this creature.

TWC: 2,451

"Yes, well they have been keeping me quite busy either way, I appreciate Lord Hokage's programs for new shinobi despite his absence." Izuna thought back to the collection of missions and training exercises he had been assigned despite not having a jonin instructor. He also regularly got to train with a chunin or two that didn't have much better to do that day, although he knew that personal attention from a teacher that knew him and understood his abilities would open up many avenues for him. Far more than simply jumping around from mission to mission and teacher to teacher.

The group fell into a comfortable silence after that, making haste towards their objective. Izuna noticed the veins around Zunair's eyes bulge, he took comfort in that. They wouldn't be surprised with Hyuga eyes scanning their soundings. He sensed some kind of weird tension between the other two members of the group but ignored it in favour of focusing on the mission at hand. Until he noticed Xena kick a stick at the Hyuga... What? Seemed she took the quips earlier a bit more perosonally then Izuna thought she did.

"Did you just try and blindside a Hyuga with a Byakugan active?" he would ask after Zunair's own response to the weird but definitely insubordinate action. She did realize they were one a mission right now didn't she? Petty shit like that should be left at home. "That's doomed to failure. You should focus on the mission for now." Izuna wouldn't turn around while giving his reprimand, and his tone would be uninterested. He was far too on edge right now to bring any passion into the scolding. He would not notice any none verbal interaction between the two of them.

As they approached the ominous cave Izuna's instincts went into hyperalert mode, he would pounce at the snapping of a twig at this point, every muscle fiber was itching for a fight with the green thing, when they entered the cave he began hearing the screaming. It sounded like two people and it made the hair on his neck stand on end. Zunair knew where they were and rushed them towards the source of the noise, where the Hyuga no doubt could see their chakra signatures.

The scene was atrocious. The green monster was tearing chunks out of what had once been a man's leg, its terrible teeth tearing through muscle and bone like nothing, the father had already passed out from either pain or blood loss. Promptly after activating his doujutsu, Izuna made the RAM sign and body flickered over to the child immediately after Zunair gave his orders to engage. He picked the distressed boy up, before his sharingan screamed at him to move. The thing had charged at him from where it was enjoying its meal, all rage and no reason. It was fast.

Izuna urgently moved himself between the child and the beast. This necessitated rather ungently shoving the child behind him as it had been in his arms before the thing charged. He braces himself for an attack channeling chakra through his right arm which he used to guard against the attack. The monsters claws raked through the arm but the chakra reinforcement kept it from properly damaging anything vital. He felt no pain due to the adrenaline coursing through his body, but the amount of blood suggested the injury was serious. His hand still worked and he immediately weaved hand signs before the creature could ready a second attack.

RAM, OX that was all he was willing to risk, the Thunderclap arrow sprung to life in his injured right arm and Izuna thrust it forward into the monster's abdomen. The jutsu had the desired affect, uasing the weakened version of it he knew that damage would be minimal, but having hundreds of volts of electricity shoved into you was healthy for no creature and the monster howled as its body convulsed momentarily. Izuna used the moment to grab the child again and try and get it out of the combat zone. He hoped Xena would cover his retreat at this point.
WC 688
TWC 1994

AP Pool: 1045-40= 1005AP left
Body Flicker 10AP
One Tomoe Sharingan 20AP
Thunderclap Arrow D 10AP