A Crisis in a time of need

Village Elder had a strange dream last night, one that foretold him of a coming danger and looming threat that would if left unchecked, would destroy it. He foresaw his father, grandfathers and all others before him, warning him that the ground shall shake, and the burden shall be once again felt on the shoulders of strange men and women. Nango had never seen anything prophetic in his life, but it was his job as elder to be attuned to the Mountain and its many dangers. Nango saw the black cloud in the distance, he knew trouble was coming, and he knew his time was coming to an end. He had to act, he had to do something

Nango awoke from the strange dream, his wife missing from their bed. Nango felt thirsty, parched after his dream, he got up to get a glass of water. His breathing heavy, almost labored, his footsteps shuffled along the old temple floors. Gulping down the water, a small stream missing his mouth entirely, dripping onto his night shirt. He gazed up in the mirror and saw his wife standing in the bathroom. Her face was warm and soft, wrinkled after many years, tan from working the fields. Her hands were still soft, they touched his shoulder. She knew his burden was heavy, and wanted to remove it from him, to let him know that he no longer had to carry it. Such was the task of a wife she thought, a smile across her weathered face. To ease the burden of her husband, to make sure he no longer ached or had worries. She knew that he wasn't long for this world, his health failing, and so she choose to make him as comfortable as possible, to remove those burdens he held.

He dropped the glass at her touch, not so much startled but relived his burden was coming to an end, still a sense of urgency kept him awake. He smiled a little, his tension eased, as he slipped from his mind, all the cares of life looking at her. Oh dear he murmured, grabbing a small tool to pick up the glass, I can be such a klutz sometimes.

The low roar as the earthquake struck, the villager elder's footsteps seemed more sure and stable, right on time he thought, let us hope the guests arrive soon.

Moments later, shouting and touches lit the streets, the village elder moved swiftly to the outside of the temple. Shouting, he called for those around him to help with the disaster.

"Quickly, get some water in-case of fires, someone check on the orphans, we need more men, wake everyone you can, quick now, quick"

The night was quiet, which was in of itself, an unusual sort of silence. However, even more so beyond this abnormality was that there were distinct silences. The first was of Kirigakure itself, the hush before a storm, the sigh when the last struggle was finally completed and the deceased lay- eyes slowly sliding shut with the guiding hand of another. Or perhaps even a specter passing through, the energy fields that underlay everything rippling in the void with silent protest. This first silence was the greatest, but not the grandest or the strongest. It lay like a blanket, perhaps with some imagination, one could even visualize the perpetual mist of Kirigakure to be this barrier.

Akuharu sighed, shuddering in his night clothes as he turned away from the window he'd been looking out of- an errant hand reading out to flick on the kettle that lay dormant near a powerboard at the corner of the room. Cooking was done in a communal space with shared utensils, there simply wasn't enough space or gas to have everyone making something for themselves- so people often ate as groups in the mess hall some fifteen stories below. The second silence was himself, the feet padded across the rooms lino floor almost without sound. For once, he wasn't proud of his Shinobi training which granted him such passive, stealthy movements, but wished he could leave some form of mark on the world. It wouldn't need to be much, making sound on its lonesome would be enough. Proof of his existence, that he didn't live in some void. But he didn't open his mouth to speak, simply opened up the portal to his cutlery, the hinges moving with nary but a slight protesting squeak which gave way into acceptance past the angle of 28.93 degrees radial.

In some ways, Akuharu's mind worked much like a computer, with a fascination for the meticulous and small details that could be build up into larger facts. But it loved the abstract far more then a machine that drew reason from 1s and 0s, it worked within a hexaflexagon, if nothing else. It considering one layer, then morphed itself into a different perspective. Perhaps that was why he noticed the different layers of silence, instead of considering them one, greater whole?

Perhaps, perhaps not. The small orange light that signified that the kettle was worked clicked off with a satisfying ping that alerted him to the fact that his water had been heated to the point the production company considered sufficiently hot enough for those unable to pay for a decent house and all it entailed. In other words, not hot enough at all. It was standard practice in these suburbs to remove the limiting thermometer and replace a timer function and just hit the thing twice- which he did so in short order. During this second interval of slow heating, he placed the cup on the counter frowning as his hand automatically adjusted itself so that it landed levelly- minimizing the possible noise. He made to flick the cup, priming his index finger to strike the cup with his fingernail - which would cause it to chime and resonate through the apartment. But he stopped himself halfway, unable to complete the motion. And utterly puzzled as to why.

Pulling out the ceramic container, Akuharu spooned out a measure of coffee into the cup. More was generally better in his line of work, but he held back and kept the measurement tolerable. He'd timed it roughly so that he would finish his preparations off by the time everything was ready. He was slightly off in his calculations, his icebox just being opened up for him to retrieve his milk when the kettle clicked for the second time. Pulling out the desired item in its class bottle -refrigerators were very expensive to run en masse, so his piss poor apartment only was valued a medium quality icebox. Which wasn't half bad, all said and done. Kirigakure stayed cool anyway generally speaking, morning frosts and the like were common year round. It wasn't like ice was particularly expensive, he only went through approximately five hundred grams a month by himself. Larger family boxes could be a little more irksome however. Flexing his shoulders, Akuharu added the milk and hot water simultaneously, varying the amounts as he did so, both eyes intently fixed on both streams of liquid and the color of his beverage.

His drink deemed worthy by his own atrocious snobby standards, Akuharu opened the door to his apartment and stepped out into the night- slowly winding his way down the stairs 'til he stood at roughly ground level and exited the block. He found one of his more regular haunting grounds and laid himself on his posterior to rest, amber eyes levelly gazing at the blanketing mist that stood sentry to Kirigakure. He was almost tempted to open his senses up to the world, become one with the greater measure of his surroundings- but he refrained. Taking his first sip of the unsweetened coffee, he felt himself relax somewhere inside as the third silence broke like a bottled thunderclap. pieces

And the world fell into p
e
i
c
e
s.

The first thing Akuharu thought about, was that whether or not his coffee had spilt. Apparently thru some honed instincts, he'd managed to keep his cup mostly level despite the apparent earthquake that had just hit Kirigakure. Sitting up, he looked around to find nothing familiar at all. Deciding that it was far too much to deal with at the moment, Akuharu sipped contemplatively on his holy grail- taking fortitude from the sacred fluids before looking up again to take in his surroundings. The buildings around him paled in comparison to the mighty architecture of Kirigakure in his opinion, as they largely hugged the ground- rarely going up more then three stories as far as he could tell. Although it seemed that all in all, the style of building was actually reasonably similar to some of the tribal paintings he had seen in his home village. Odd indeed, reaching for his chakra, he found his capacity extremely diminished. And mentally retracted the request for a sensory scan of his immediate surroundings, instead rotating on one foot to gaze levelly at the rest of the area he had bee seemingly teleported to. Shouts began to rise up from his immediate vicinity, coming from one of the more grander buildings as an elderly voice struck the night multiple times- calling for assistance. And for the first time, Akuharu noticed that the reason some of these buildings held nought a candle to the architecture of Kirigakure- was that they were broken in some places.

Running forwards, his oath took control of him for the next half hour as he helped the natives with the rapid pace a trained Shinobi could bring to such a task. But soon he would require answers, but for now, the only thing concerning him was that he shouldn't have held back on his coffee. This could wind up being a lengthy time away from Kirigakure as he still had no idea how he'd gotten here. Wherever 'here' was.

Banri's caution knew no limits. No boundries. He applied the same amount of time and care to every aspect of his life, no matter how tiny and insignificant it might seem. As he moved a small, white, somewhat tackily decorateed porcelain cup of herbal tea to his mouth, he blew into the hot beverage for a fifth time. Figuring the fifth was a charm, he brought the cup to his lips and took a carefull sip before pulling it away in pain and placing it back on the coffee table.

"Still hot, dammit"

Surprised by his own language, his gaze shifted through the living room of his rather small appartment. There was noone there, however. Noone to hear him curse. Noone to scold him. Shrugging and sighing with relief, he focussed on his book again: "A brief history of Genjutsu". Heavy literature, but oh so interesting. A piece of art written by a retired genjutsu master from the Rice country who spent his days unraveling the history of illusions. Boring to most, perhaps, but to him it seemed like a perfect way to spend a free evening.

Suddenly, he felt a shock ripping through his appartment. As if something big had thrown itself against the walls of his flat.

Banri looked at his tea. Underneath a cloud of hot damp, he could see ripples in the drinks surface. He wasn't crazy. A second shock ripped through his appartment, stronger this time, and with all the speed and attention a shinobi off guard can muster, Banri made his way up from his chair towards the windows and peered into the thick white mist that covered the village. His eyes could discern little, but he didn't hear any screams. Was he the only one noticing these quakes?

Black

He heard voices in the distance. Alarmed. If not...panicking. Slowly gaining volume, as if they were nearing. As if he was slowly regaining conciousness. Banri opened his eyes and found himself lying in the middle of a dusty street, staring into the deep blue eyes of an unknown, middle-aged woman. Around her, men and women were running back and forth. Apparently reading his sense of wonder off his face, the woman tried to calm Banri and help him back on his feet. Always a soldier however, he pushed her back and created a safe distance as he began forming a set of handseals. He didn't know where and with who he was, but he knew that in every situation, the first person having a technique ready always had the upper hand.

"Get back, right now!", he roared at his benevolent angel as she slowly shuffled backwards into the panicking crowd and disappeared. "What on earth is going-"

Exhausted, the young jounin dropped to his knees back in the dust, bring his hand to his mouth as he coughed sickly. It was af if his body had been pushed to the edge, and there wasn't even the tiniest bit of chakra left in his entire system. His large, blue eyes darted around, looking for an exit. Looking for something he could put to good use. That's when he spotted a familiar pair of amber eyes in the crowd.

"Akuharu-san?! Hey, Akuharu-san!". He got back up on his feet and slowly made his way towards his genin student, waving in an attempt to catch the boys attention. Though he wasn't a particularily large or notable man, he hoped the boy would do as much as recognize his own sensei. Whatever mess they had gotten into: They were better off facing it with the two of them. "You're a sight for sore eyes!"

Time: Mintues before the quake. Location: Unknown

What was it that brought me here exactly? For what purpose? Does god call for me? Hmph, well I am here better not complain.

Several questions raced through the thoughts of the man known as Kaiser. The Kazekage of the village hidden within the sands. A strong village that thrived on its military strength. However military might meant nothing if they were divided. There was no telling where he was or who was around. Kaiser just laid on the ground with nothing but a headache. Slowly sitting up hit used his arms as a way to support his long body as he looked around. Shifting one weight over to one arm he began to rub his head. He Noticed his mask had fallen off but he managed to recover it. Not in a hurry because it was just him, nothing around in the vacant room. He was on a bed in what it seemed like to be a temple of some sort. He was in the desert but a loud screeching sound before he woke up here. It all felt like a awkward dream really. Except this pain was real and he wasn't in Kansas anymore. He stood up and slowly put on his crown. The Crown of the Kazekage and Mask attached to it.

With a simple stretch he felt a slight pop in his back, a clear sign he was getting to old for this shit really. At first he thought he just drank to much and blacked out. In reality he didn't drink enough. He slipped into his wooden foot wear before proceeding out of the room. A wooden door would creak as the metal hinges turned on it. Hand on the handle he peaked around the corner of the door. There wasn't a peep, not even a mouse like this was some silent night type stuff. Yet, it wasn't time for the holidays if anything it was supposed to start getting warm again as they entered the middle of spring. Slowly closing the door it would creak back then Kaiser would slowly walk the halls. Maybe he did black out from pounding down a few drinks and wandered off some where. It wouldn't be the first time something like this happened. Standing at what looked like a entrance way to a room, Kaiser could see outside through a window it was night time. The moon sat in the sky on its cosmetic throne shining its wondrous light on the land. Then that's when it happened. So sudden that it stuck like lighting. A quake moved through the ground causing Kaiser to place a firm hold on the doorway. He didn't know the damage that was done or what exactly had happened.

All he heard was the screaming of a man out to his village. A cry, a plea for help. Of course Kaiser couldn't exactly just sit back idle and let things go too badly. Stepping into the room he would look down to see that some buildings where on fire and the people screamed. The screams and cries where for help. Like a comic action hero he flung himself through the room and out the glassless window into the village. He hit the ground moving with the speed of a Kenyan he proceeded to help villagers along to safety. One of the women pointed in the direction of the orphanage, a man who was a orphan himself could not turn away. After getting a man to take Kaiser's place in the herding of people he dashed off to  help the children.

Silvius woke to a deep rumbling from the ground which he oddly found himself sleeping on. The shaking of the quake causing buildings around to squeal and rattle. His mind tried to snap awake, but his body was rather lethargic due to being drained of any real body heat by the ground. He made a simple check of his body as he tried to stand up pushing himself up with his right hand. Silvius' body was whole, but nearly empty of any form of energy. His chakra was just about done for some unknown reason, but that was not the most pressing of his worry. As he stood he found himself hit by a wave of life giving heat. His limbs relaxed as the heat overtook him causing Silvius stretch out like a cat near fire. Sadly it was not that simple.

Silvius quickly became more aware of his surroundings when a few embers from the raging building that was a blaze in front of him landed on his neck causing a good deal of pain and bit of cursing. His body at once tried to draw from the empty well of chakra the veins around his eyes became more pounced but to no luck not even the slightest growth in vision. And at this point Silvius just turned around getting ready to run, but a scream from inside the building stopped him in his tracks. The simple thought of just letting this person die passed through his mind for a split seconded leaving only disgustin himself as he charged into the burning building. His sight slightly blocked by the smoke, but the building had a simple layout and the person was screaming rather loud, given the circumstances the screaming was fine. He quickly grabbed the person by the shirt and yelled one word. "OTHERS?!" The person just kept screaming so Silvius just dragged them out of the building embers falling from the roof as he did so. Running solely on adrenaline at this point.

Jayne was confused and disoriented, the female host of the one tailed bijuu was not sure where she was when she awoke. The last thing she remembered was the rumbling beneath her feet, at first she thought she was under some wide spread genjutsu however when she woke up here she was no longer sure of that. Jayne was in her sleeping clothes which included baggy sweat pants, and a baggy black t-shirt, both covered her figure and her frazzled hair did not help improve her beauty that day. Jayne felt weak, far weaker than normal and that concerned her even as she found out the source of the problem, she was out of chakra...well dangerously low on it at any rate. So not only was she in a weird place, but she was out of the best way to defend herself and the most important part; a way to keep the bijuu in check.

Jayne decided to restore her chakra before the grumpy sand raccoon decided to try and wrestle her for control of her body, while she had only had a few interactions with the beast before Jayne did not look forward to the next one. That meant she would be nigh defenseless for a rather sizable chunk of time, but there was not much else that could be done about it. Jayne's thoughts and plans were interrupted by low rumblings throughout the ground. 'Great, the earth quake is here too' Jayne thought to herself miserably as she crossed her powerful arms in displeasure. Jayne left the abandoned building she had been in leaving behind the creaky, wooden floors; the walls that did not block the wind; and last but not least, the awful stench that was akin to a dead pig being eaten by a rotting fart that then crapped out a special from some futuristic fast food burrito.

Once she was outside, the large kunochi saw the chaos of the town with her eyes. It concerned her to see how bad the condition was around them. Jayne also noticed that other ninja were helping out amid the burning buildings, falling debris, and general danger in the town. One odd looking ninja had even leaped through a window and sprinted off to go to the orphanage. Jayne settled with making sure that she could get through the throng of people who had now shown up to see the scene in the town. The muscular teenager made it to the orphanage and shouldered her way through a wooden door to get inside to make sure nobody was still in the burning building.

Once inside she noted that two children were still in a room to her left, luckily that part of the building was cement, unfortunately the quake had broken a part of the wall and as she spied the children a piece of the wall fell in. Acting on her reflexes, Jayne rushed forward and held the wall as she led the children out of the room. Once the kids were clear she jumped back and let the heavy cement fall to the floor, after that she lead the kids out of the smoke filled building before bending over and coughing out smoke. 'So much for resting' Jayne thought to herself even though she was relieved the children were okay. Once the two children were out in the growing crowd of people and being cared for, the Kiri genin rushed back into the building to see if there were more children.



[1/4]

As in most scenarios, there was a plan that had been originally followed by the Villagers. But in the rush to assist their fallen, all such logical thoughts fell to the wayside. However, spend long enough rushing through the crowd, and patterns would emerge. There were always two distinct streams of people, those moving towards the houses, and those moving away- carrying people, possessions, etc. Among these possessions, seemed to be the equivalent of scrolls, tablets, paintings. Items that an archaeologist would determine to be an 'artifact' of their civilization.  Mentally expanding his 'serach warrent' so to speak, Akuharu delved into one of the less affected houses with a group of men and women- calling out for someone, anyone within the building. No one answered. If Akuharu had been able to pull in more chakra, he'd be able to save more of these people- locate them within a matter of seconds and get them out. He couldn't however, that much was still utterly beyond him 'til he rested. Ignoring the pangs of exhaustion in his body, the group hefted a fallen beam and found a collapsed Grandmother- apparently having succumbed to the heat. Allocating her to one of the other men, Akuharu and the rest pulled down as much of the historical items as they could before leaving the building post haste. Fully intent on moving on to the next set of buildings, Akuharu turned with his group -soot and ash coloring his face so that he looked more like an orange eyed demon then a young boy with helpful thoughts on high. Although the fact he was still wearing his pajama's somewhat detracted from his normal standards of impressiveness. Nonetheless, the voice that rang out somewhere to his right stopped him in his tracks. Making his way towards the origin of the voice, Akuharu encountered none other then his sensei, Banri Aoyama.

"Aomoya-sensei," Akuharu replied breathlessly as he came to a rest beside his curious teacher. "I could say much the same for you, is your chakra pool also depleted?" After his teacher would answer the perpetually inquistative mind of Akuharu the younger of the pair would turn on the spot, swivelling in the light sand to look around. If Aomoya-sensei was here, then the possibility for /other/ Kirigakure Shinobi to also have been similarly transported suddenly lept into existence. Akuharu turned back from his quick scan of the surrounding crowds to ask yet another question of his teacher. "You haven't seen any other Shinobi yet, have you sensei?" However the question itself would be answered by the arrival, and immediate depature of someone who could only achieve the speeds he was boasting with a dosage of chakra within their metabolisms and the rigorous training that the Hidden Villages metered out to their gifted young and old. However, Akuharu didn't pursue- he didn't even have a good visual on the facial features of the man, simply his retreating back.
Staring forwards, Akuharu stopped suddenly and came to a halt- looking around. This wasn't right. He was near exhaustion, the lack of chakra to supplement the thirsty demands of his musculature sapping at his otherwise resilient stamina. Finding a seat off to one side some ways from the grieving, Akuharu gestured for Banri to sit with if he wanted. He'd wait, they didn't have that much more that they would assist with right now anyway. All that remained would be to rebuild, something that might need to be delegated to the Villagers, there was something off here. Deeply, strangely wrong. Choosing inaction to be his action, Akuharu simply waited.

[1/4]

Mona gave a loud yawn, she didn't remember falling asleep, or even most of her last night. She opened her dark abyss like eyes, blinking a few times as she did, shocked by the scene that awaited her. Destruction, ruble, fire, and dirt. She wondered for a brief moment if she was having another one of her sex dreams, where the entire village of ame men, women, and children came out in thongs and devoured each other like animals, fornicating and making sweet love to corpses and pets, and destroying everything. She quickly tried to sit up to join in the fun, but immediately fell backwards feeling the familiar tantalizing buzz of pleasure from the aching in her joints. She frowned sadly and realized that it was not a dream at all, and closed her eyes again for a few minutes.

The next time she awoke it was out of frustration, the screaming of people, and the panic in the air made it too hard to sleep, it allured and teased her far too much to ignore. She willed herself to sit up and this time she did. She tried to remember what happened last night, but everything was fuzzy. She wondered for a second if someone in the underground ame SM club had tried to roofie her again. She dismissed this idea when she found herself clothed, and not chained, or in a leather harness. She quickly assessed the situation. She was injured, fatigued, in a strange chaotic land that was obviously not Amegakure because it wasn't raining, and no one had tried to get with her unconscious body. The most important problem for Mona at the moment though, was that her hat was missing! She managed to stand up and survey her current surroundings, finding herself on a small hill overlooking the rest of the unknown village. Her blue hair blew slightly majestically in the wind that blew ominously through the destroyed village. She scanned the area for any signs of her beloved hat, and finally spotted a spec of dark blue floating down into the panic of the village. Mona decided it was time to investigate so she began the long stroll down to the village to retrieve her hat, storing and replenishing her chakra along the way.

Once into the village she weaved past the multiple fleeing individuals through the village, most of the people fleeing naturally avoided her as she walked, as Mona naturally gave off a naturally off putting vibe to others. Yawning a bit as she trudged through the anarchy, she finally found her precious hat cut in the branches of a dead potted tree. She gently took the hat off the decayed tree carcass, brushing some of the dirt off, and crushing a small little caterpillar that had decided to sleep in the fur lining of her hat. Placing that hat back on her head, Mona finally felt whole and back to her old self, well, except for the whole confused, stranded, and barely having any chakra part. She wanted to get back to her village soon as the elders and others would probably wonder where she was and bitch at her about something. She wandered around until coming across a deserted dusty old bar that had caved in on itself slightly. Now Mona was quite parched, so naturally she avoided the debris in the bar making her way to the liqueur cabinet. She decided to play bar tender, filling a large jug she found with saki, placing a long pink bendy straw in the jug for easier access, she was recovering after all, and did not want to strain herself. She then ditched the bar and looked for where everyone else was at, feeling a little lonely and board. She wandered around for awhile, drinking from her jug every few minutes, most would suspect her a simple drunk from how dirty and bruised she was, her ninja headband tucked under her coat dress as to not arise any unwanted attention. Finally finding where the wounded were being treated she sat down on a large piece of a building that had feel down next to the group in street. She eyed other ninja around, helping to do boring tasks like save children, or rescue people, and decided that she was far too tired to do the same. She was content with just sitting on her little piece of rubble in the anarchy, waiting for whatever else would unfold, hoping to get shit faced drunk from her saki jug while she waited.

[1/4]

(Topic jumping for increased variety)


Yuan reawakens again his back to that crumbled statue in the village square. He hears the footstep of someone near by. He takes a glance over to his left to where a woman is taking a leisurely stroll with a bottle of saki in her hand. She completely ignores Yuan as she walks by and takes a seat at a pile of rubble not to far away from Yuan with her back turns toward her. Yuan felt something off about this woman, as if she has some sort of aura around her that just repels people. Yuan decides that she is not that important to focus on right now and decides to check the area Yuan Activates his Byakugan again just for 10 seconds to see the area. Yuan sees the woman first and her purple chakra signature, he then quickly switches his focus to everywhere else as he picks up three more chakra signatures that are near one yellow and two some sort of light greenish blue color. Seeing as he doesnt want to burn a lot of what chakra he has he quickly deactivates the Byakugan. Yuan takes off his headband and rubs the sweat off of his brow from the strain on his eyes and tightly ties the band back on his forehead. Yuan has had enough rest for now but he doesnt really feel like exploring yet so he will just sit here and wait, occasionally activation Byakugan to see if any new chakra signatures show up in the area. Yuan puts his hands back up behind his head and lowly whistles a tune while he waits.

"I could say much the same for you, is your chakra pool also depleted?"

"Yes. I'm not quite sure how much I have left in me, but it's an alarming amount, that's for sure."

"Also" depleted. It could be no coincidence that the both of them not only suddenly found themselves in the same, unknown location, but were also in the exact same condition as eachother. Something big had happened. Something extraordinary. And apparently, it had affected multiple shinobi from the Mist. More importantly however, Banri didn't rule out it had affected shinobi from other villages as well. He closed his eyes for a second and tried to sense chakra signatures that might belong to shinobi. It proved practically impossible to make up ninjas from the rest with the immense amount of people running around however, and he quickly opened his eyes again. He tried a second time, with his bare eyes now. He tried to spot forehead protectors in the crowd, but he would've been better off looking for a needle in a haystack. It couldn't be done. He could only hope that shinobi from the opposing villages were as drained as he and Akuharu were, so there wouldn't be any conflict for now.

"You haven't seen any other Shinobi yet, have you sensei?"

His students voice interrupted the carefull search that was going on in his head. Slightly startled, he shifted his gaze to the genin, who made at least an as exhausted impression as he did. "No, not yet. Although I'm not quite sure if that is a good or a bad thing". They shuffled on for a few feet, marvelling at what was going on around them. Then, Akuharu went through his knees and sat down, apparently choosing to rest and wait what was going to happen. A most dangerous attitude, it seemed to Banri. With all the strength and stamina he could muster, he clowly crept towards his student and placed his hand on the boys shoulder.

"I understand that you're tired, but it's not safe here. We need to figure out where we are and who's here with us." He placed himself in front of Akuharu and extended his hand, offering to pull the boy back on his feet again. Frankly, he wasn't even quite sure if he had the power for that if the boy accepted this gesture. What he was sure of however was that they had to stay on the move. "If there are more Mist shinobi here, our top priority is meeting up with them. If there are other shinobi here, we'll want to know who. Also, we might want to find a few locals to talk to and see if they know what's going on. We'll find a place to rest soon, but for now, it's best to slowly keep on moving."

[1/4]

((Jumping in with a quick post ))

Lokian had been making his way from the outskirts of the Village towards the statue. The Village was a wreck and he felt at least at half strength and he felt he really needed to be closer to full strength than that. His shield and spear were lashed to his back in a similar fashion as a back pack. Leaning up against a sturdy pillar Lokian worked to gain a little more strength. He remembered an age old technique that some one in a caravan taught him. Pausing for a moment he stood a little straighter and took a deep long breath in through his nose and out through his mouth. Those deep powerful breaths did their job as more and more energy started coursing though his body.

Lokian got off the pillar and walked around the Sage of the Six Path's seal still making him feel a little buzzy in the head. There was stuff to do and people that needed to be helped but he couldn't do much good if his head was still ringing like it was. So he did what he must to regain remembering something about going in half cocked would get a person killed so he had to take things slow just in case he had to use up some chakra he didn't want to try it with an empty tank. ~One more lap aught to do it~ Lokian thought and he took another easy lap out of the way of people who were scrambling.


251 words 3/4 recovered.

Silvius let go of the screaming person as he walked away several meters from the burning building. The medic in him screamed to help the poor human who most likely needed a lot of medical attention due to burns. But his body roared the loudest of the two. REST was all it asked for and a valid request at that, Silvius had barely any chakra left and would be useless if he died from the lack of it. As Silvius fell to his knees he scanned around him in a daze his dull grey eyes passing over several oddities. Buildings still a blaze but the villagers seem to be getting more organized in putting out the fires. People dragging those who were over taken by the flames or smoke away most likely to some forme of medical care station. He also saw a few odd balls like himself stuck out from the other villagers. All seeming more out-of-place than himself which was dressed in a dull blue robes with a long-sleeved, brown haori which blended quite well which was now covered in ash from the building. But next his mind quickly became clouded with thoughts of resting. So he sat down folding his legs over one another. Watching the building he just came from burn to the ground as people quickly tried to put it out but not much avail. His eyes scanned the fire watching the wood crackle letting his mind drift into a relaxed state compared to his body's. The heat still keeping him from the burning building kept him from freezing.

The body next to him seemed to have stopped screaming for a while tears running down the persons face. Silvius turned and looked at the person and actually looked at them. It was a lad around the same age as himself watching his home burn to the ground not able to do anything about it. This home was probably the one he was born in just like his parents and possibly theirs. His whole family's history was in this building and all he could do was lay there and watch it burn. Silvius felt a pang of sadness for the guy wondering if it was the right thing to save the guy or should he have just let him burn. That pain would only last a bit longer if he had just left him. Now if he lived through the night Silvius is forcing him to live with horrid burns on his body as well as the horrid feeling of not being able to do anything to stop the flames. But once again the slight ping of self-disgust would hit Silvius. Is it not better to save his life? Is it not better to let the hope of tomorrow heal the wounds of yesterday? All Silvius knew he had to regain some of his chakra soon not all of it but just enough to help tending to these villagers in a bit. A good few would have gotten burned a lot more would have breathed in too much smoke. This was going to be a very long and odd time away from the village for Silvius.

1/4

During his little sprint through the darkness to see if anyone needed help. He noticed that he was a bit winded. Granted his natural chakra reserves had already began to replenish itself he still had to take it easy. Granted this light sprint was nothing because he was a Taijutsu Master that trained in this kind of condition. 'When you are at your lowest is when you will beat at your greatest.' One of the teachings that he lived by and that was passed down to him by his late uncle. So he couldn't do anything crazy like completely isolating the fire like he wanted to. Regardless he wasn't worried, it would take more than a natural calamity to put him down. The heavens and hell would have to collaborate to take him down. Regardless there was a mission to be done. Finally reaching the entrance to the orphanage he saw the muscular female muscle her way out with a few kids. Afterward she went back in again for more. It was admirable really, putting her life on the line like that to get the kids to safety.

He would have made things easy by turning on the Shingantsu to scan the building for any signs of life. However, with his low chakra levels he needed to let his reserves build themselves up. Anyone, anything could be lurking in the shadows, waiting to take a few pot shots at the crowd of people rushing to safety. Running through the crowd the 7 foot tall man just bellowed at the top of his lungs. So loud that it would echo through out the skies and be heard by the people panicking. “Get to the temple now! Don't look back!” As he rushed into the burning building right behind the rather muscular girl. He would pass her offering nothing but a simple nod. “You go left I will go right kiddo!” he said in a parent like fashion. Rushing off towards the right of the building he would listen for any form of crying or yelling. Sure enough there was a faint cry in the far back of the building. Several obstacles stood in Kaiser's path but they were nothing to him. He placed his fists up as he moved in and out of burning debris. It was a fighting style he was developing, a defensive counter style that uses a forward motion to get in through an opponents attacks before unleashing a devastating barrage upon them.

In this case it was merely dodging the falling debris, nothing more than a training session. He didn't use any form of chakra just a rhythm and a dashing motion as he proceeded through the collapsing building. The crying grew louder as he got closer before a large piece of burning wood crossed his path. It was met with a punch a single accurate but devastating punch. Thanks to Kaiser's bloodline that one punch became ten in a instant as he pulled his right arm back from the burning debris. Time seemed to stand still as a blur of fists from this one punch shattered the wood before the flames could even burn Kaiser. The wood separated in a beautiful fashion as Kaiser passed through into the room. It was a large room where everything was falling around. He listened carefully as the children were pinned under debris while hiding under a metal table. Having already exited his fighters stance he grabbed a hold of the scolding table as the heat had conducted through it but he did not wavier. With what strength he had he flipped the table upward with everything. Causing the debris to get flung backward through a weakened wall giving way to a exit. Five children, no time and burning hands. Kaiser was in pain but he would not let that stop him. “You three on my back and hold onto my neck and shoulders with everything!” While saying this he grabbed two of the children as if they were barrels and as they all latched on. Kaiser focused hard on the exit and dashed off. Not to fast cause he didn't want to fling the children off but fast enough to get through the collapsing exit. 'I hope that girl makes it out okay.' he thought as they ran out of the building. Kaiser had to make a u-turn whilst jumping over cracks and large debris already there. When he got to safety his run turned into a calm walk.

With the children he proceeded back to the temple with them to make sure no form of harm came their way. “No worry kids you are safe with Papa Kaiser!” He didn't look at them through the mask but he could feel the warmth of their thanks. Kaiser was once a orphan and knows what it means to lose ones family. Far as he knew he was the last of his kind. There could be more out there but he never met them besides his uncle. Noticing someone who was casually just wondering through the village bothered him. He made a mental image of what she looked like. A woman with a odd way of dressing. Most likely from a more weathered area that constantly had a change of seasons unlike Suna. Where it was windy, dusty, sandy, hot, all the fucking time. Regardless she wasn't doing anything to help and that bothered him. Was she the root of this evil? Or just someone who doesn't care for anything but themselves. Regardless both of those kinds of things disgusted him. With a slight cough he looked back towards the temple where the crowds where going. He placed the children down and held the youngest one of the group. She held onto Kaiser as if he was really a father figure to her. She felt the mask before giving out a slight giggle. This warmed his heart. He waved to the crowd to move away from the destruction towards safety. “Lets move it people!”

Most of the villagers should have been evacuated as the trail of people began to thin out, the seven foot man looking over and directing people while the children he saved followed him closely.

[2/4]

[OOC: Too speed up my recovery process and just to get the ball rolling again generally, going to start posting again. As I wasn't really interacting with anyone aside from Banri, this shouldn't cause much in the way of a disruption.]

The wind sighed lightly, lifting the tattered edges of singed clothing- shaking the looser particles of dust from the ground- burnt objects rolled like tumbleweed across the ground looking lost and hopeless. It was the lull after the emergency as the final activities were ticked off the list and the remnants of the fires burnt themselves out having been isolated from their counterparts. Akuharu also sighed, feeling the silence that had been surrounding himself in Kirigakure once again settle its heavy mantle over his shoulders like the cold embrace of a friendly corpse. He shuddered as he shook off the exhaustion at his sensei's urging- rising to his feet once again with a rather visible force of willpower. "If there are more Mist shinobi here, our top priority is meeting up with them. If there are other shinobi here, we'll want to know who. Also, we might want to find a few locals to talk to and see if they know what's going on. We'll find a place to rest soon, but for now, it's best to slowly keep on moving." The words made an odd amount of sense to Akuharu. Perhaps that was good? He felt that the fatigue that had been bade wary by the sudden burst of adrenaline was now approaching with a fair amount of speed. But there would be nothing else to do about it until some more information was retrieved about their situation. He could feel himself already gathering for the cause- his second wind catching his sails. It would only increase the eventual crash later on down the track. But for now? Akuharu would ride these tides 'til the break of dawn and the gates of hell swung open.
"You will have more capacity at gathering together the other Shinobi in this area then I would Sensei. I'll scout out a bit further and locate other chakra signatures once I've rested up a bit and see if I can locate any other Kirigakure Shinobi."

So saying, he began to make his way towards the end of the alley, his frown creasing a normally care-free face with the weight of concern. He didn't think that he would be able to sustain a chakra sensory sphere yet, so he'd get some distance between the area his Sensei would be able to work and his own efforts before he actually began to work on his proposed task. He assumed of course, that Aomoya-sensei would see the reasoning behind Akuharu's suggestion. There were two primary driving factors at play- firstly the division of labour. Both Akuharu and Banri had some skill within the arts of sensory, so leaving the two of them in the same area was fairly inefficient in terms of ground that the two of them would be able to cover separately. Secondly was the chain of command. Akuharu was a simple Genin, not even able to hold his own terribly well in a fight. Not that he'd been in many to begin with, but that was a moot point. Right now, they needed to establish that chain of order, if Aomoya happened to be at the head of it- so be it. However concentrating the knowledge of how many other people were in this situation and their respective skill levels was definitely imperative. To Akuharu anyway.

But for now, he was going to make some distance, resting along the way before he began his own search. It was more by luck then anything else that he stumbled across an unfamiliar face- someone doing something so entirely apathetic that they were either totally removed from any sense of empathy from the Village or had caused the disaster itself and thus considered it to be more beneficial then anything else. The person in question, was a matured female and if Akuharu had been more mentally in possession of his facilities he would have taken the time to categorise her most outstanding physical attributes- as most sixteen year old boys were wont to do. There was no way possible that she was a Villager. Perhaps some of the more anti-social elements might bring themselves out to show during a disaster such as this, but they would be looting and stealing. Not drinking sake casually for all to see. It was such a contradiction that Akuharu was mentally overcome with the mingling possibilities for a second. But Akuharu didn't, and couldn't talk to her. He hid his eyes from the sight, allowing his pale bangs to hide his face away- amber eyes vanishing beneath the silvery screen. It was open to possibility that she was a ninja, but he couldn't confirm it without directing his metaphysical senses at her and he didn't feel like doing that just yet.

[2/4]

Mona had contented herself for awhile with watching a man trapped under the debris of his house burn alive. His screams and anguishing pain had been a chorus of seductive erotica to her, sadly muffled by the chaos and calamity going on around him, well muffled to all but Mona. His begging for help and cries of pain were giving her a slight turn on and sexual buzz, watching his skin melt and sear, his hair disintegrate, and his charred face slightly dampen with tears made her almost want to moan. She took a sip from her bendy straw while she watched, she loved having something to drink while she watched fluff go on, as her throat tended to get dry from some reason when ever she par took in observing something hot. Her legs were crossed as she sat, a natural pose for a woman of course, but also a way of holding herself back, and controlling her urge to go over play with the mans melted flesh. She gave a soft content filled sigh.

After 20 minutes of watching, her fun finally came to the end, as the man had stopped his seductive please and calls for help, finally dying from a combination of blood loss, burning, and smoke inhalation. Her fluff had ended, and she hadn't even gotten that turned on by it, she was slightly disappointed, but then again she did not even know where she was so at least she got a little pleasure in this strange town. She pondered for a second if she should force some villager or child to play around in the puddle of melted flesh and blood that remained of her entertainment. Having them rub it all over themselves, and masturbate may make her feel something, maybe have them use the liquid remains as lube too. As these ideas flooded through her mind she felt the eyes of someone on her back, someone who was definitely eye fucking her hardcore, but she did not seem to care enough to look. She was still pretty fatigued and tired and didn't want to waste time turning around. Her chakra was recovering at a steady rate but it would still be awhile until her chakra pool was back to normal, a bit of annoyance sure, but she had been in tougher circumstances.

Just then she spotted another strange site, a giant of a man barreling through the anarchy gong around saving children, and barking at others to move along to somewhere else. The way he dressed it was clear he was not from around here or even where she lived, looking more at home in a place with a constantly warm climate, definitely not the constant dampness and chill of Amegakure. He stuck out like a big masked sore thumb compared with everyone else, and not just because of how tall he was. He wore some kind of crown, maybe he had won some competition, like a tallness competition and been crowned king of the tall, she didn't know. The man also wore a blue mask with a grin on it. Maybe he had bad acne and was trying to hide it, Mona did not know for sure about that either, but she felt like it was a really good guess, but then again she did not really care too much. He seemed to be very muscular, like some of the men from back in her village, only those men liked to dance around in cages wearing woman's thongs, and bras in some of the clubs around. Mona wondered if he had a thong on under his pants, if he did she hoped he lost the pants soon, she loved those guys, they had soooo much energy and were sooo fun. Having the strange, maybe thong wearing giant fade from her mind, Mona gave a yawn and took a sip from her bendy straw. She decided to lay on her back on her little piece of ruble, taking a chance to look at the grey smoke filled sky. She was slightly saddened that the constant anarchy of the village was starting to loose its entertainment as more and more children and people were saved, but all good things come to an end sooner or later. She wondered how long the chaos would continue, and how long she would have to sit in this village before something at least somewhat exciting or noteworthy happened.

(2/4)

The elder village man, calmly rapped his cane against a near by building. Garnering the attention of those around him. It appeared the village was taking good steps towards repairing itself. However, the village elder needed to get a handle on these people who mysteriously appeared.

Several younger girls could be heard crying, and dogs were barking in the distance, but the sounds of aftershock had grown distant.

"If I could have everyone's attention, just for a moment please" He said, straining to shout and make himself heard.

"I believe there to be around 30 some of you, and I believe you were sent here by the Sage of 6 Path's himself. We beg of you to come to our aid and destroy the monsters that haunt our land. They have been trapped in the mountain and the barrier protecting them has weakened. Please, use your powers and destroy the plague of our land." He said, not even introducing himself, his concern was mounting, if those beasts got unleashed, and were to find where the sage hid there powers, it would be disastrous.

"My grandson is waiting by the town square to lead you to the mountain, the trip will take a few days, and after your rested, please join him there." He said, his voice slightly sad to see his grandson go, but such was the task of youth.

As the old man speaks, Yuan raises his headband and looks around the corner to where the voice is coming from. Yuan waits and listens to what the old man has to say. After listening to the man, Yuan is not sure what to think about the situation that he and these apparent other 30 something people are in. When Yuan took a look with his Byakugan before there were way less than 30 people from what he could see by chakra signature. The rest of the people just be outside of his field of Byakugan vision. Its hard for Yuan to think that the sage of the six paths had brought them here, but its better than any explanation he could give himself. In a place called the land of Demons, it doesnt really surprise Yuan that there are monsters or creatures that plague the people. Yuan decides he should get up and help even if he is not at full chakra. Yuan has not seen anyone who seems to be from his village from the chakra signatures coming off the people. Yuan takes one last look at the female sitting over by herself looking bored as hell. Yuan uses the crumbled remains of the statue as a base for him to stand up off of. He turns back to the old man and gets a good look at him and then back to the remains of the statue. There is a similarity between the man on the satue and the old villager. Yuan will ask him later about his relevance with the statue. Yuan decides he should head off to the town square.

275/250 3 posts healed

EXIT>>

Banri roamed the streets of the unknown village as he desperately tried to spot fellow shinobi. Though he was certain there had to be a couple around, he failed to find any. Looking over his shoulder, he wondered if Akuharu was having more luck scouring for ninja's. It was then, amids all the crying and chaos, that an old man tapped his cane against a building and asked for everyone's attention. Though he wasn't quite sure who the geezer was, Banri did notice the old man demanded a great deal of respect from the other villagers, thus he guessed that whatever the man had to say would be worth listening to.

"I believe there to be around 30 some of you, and I believe you were sent here by the Sage of 6 Path's himself. We beg of you to come to our aid and destroy the monsters that haunt our land. They have been trapped in the mountain and the barrier protecting them has weakened. Please, use your powers and destroy the plague of our land."

Banri listened carefully to the mans words. With a stale face, at first. But as the mans story progressed, a frown started to form on his sickly, almost parchment-like skin. It seemed like his intuition had been right and they were indeed stuck here with a large group of shinobi. Though he, despite his greatest efforts, failed to locate any besides Akuharu, there was at least another dozen of them bound to be creeping about in this village somewhere. On top of that, faith had apparently summoned them to this remote location to battle some sort of ancient race. The mist veterans lips moved slightly as he softly muttered.

"Well, this could turn out to be quite troublesome"

He didn't like the situation one bit. He didn't dare to turn his back to shinobi from the other villages and, above all else, detested the idea of having to risk his life and those of several other capable Kiri shinobi for some village they had never heard of untill now. Banri shrugged and shifted his gaze into the street he figured led towards the villages center. Though he didn't exactly feel duty call after the old mans short speech, he figured the town square would be his best bet of finding the remaining Kiri shinobi that had been summoned here. Wether or not they would rush to the villages aid would be up to the highest ranking shinobi there.

Recovery: 3/4

[EXIT]

Following the pronounement from the Village Elder, Akuharu considered the numbers given. Thirty Shinobi. That was potentially an extremely powerful force if at least 10% of their number was made up of jounin. Possibly higher ranks as well. The possibility remained open that a Kage was amongst them, and their cooperation could not be guaranteed. Akuharu could imagine several of the shinobi simply choosing not to assist, seeing the potential for danger standing there in the stark light of realisation. He narrowed his eyes, debating the issue with himself- although his heart had already decided and argued against his brain on the matter.

One of the things that Akuharu did perhaps more then he should, was listen to how he would feel about something later when he hadn't emotionally steeled himself to do what he should. Turning towards the direction he felt that it would be likely to be in given how the village /should/ have looked Akuharu made his way towards the centre.

[Exit]
[3/4]

Mona listened to strange old man talk. He obviously was someone of at least minor importance as everyone else seemed to quiet down as he talked. Mona would take a long sip from her just as she listened to what the wrinkled man had to say. He spoke of the sage of six paths bringing them here, and their supposed to destiny to destroy monsters that plagued the land. She pondered if the man was simply showing signs of dementia, and is his care takers or someone could quiet him down, and stop him from causing anymore of a scene. When no one rose to take care of the man, Mona took it that these sad fuckers believed him. Well the pleasant anarchy had been completely stopped thanks to the ninja and this man guiding and calming the people, leaving Mona with not a thing to do for entertainment. perhaps it was best for her to go along with this ridiculous monster hunting quest. The man wanted all the ninja to meet up in the town square to be lead by some little kid? This quest was getting more and more ridiculous by the second. Mona could see that certain people were starting to leave, and rose from her piece of rubble. She would go along with this if only to find some information on how to get back to her village, and also to find something to cure her boredom. She followed some of the other ninja leaving, taking her jug with her as she did. She took small sips every few steps as she walked lazily to this square.

(exit)
3/4

Kaiser herded the people into the temple to get them out of harms way. He managed to save a lot but that muscular girl that shouldered her way into the house wasn't among the group. It was a shame really if she had succumb to the flames. The destruction of this land was extensive. Kaiser needed to avoid getting caught up in anything just in case if he was needed at the temple. After getting the people to safety he did nothing but let out a deep sigh. Looking out into the village something drew him towards it like a moth to the flame. It was like a small smoldering fire that several ninja's where being sent to. He needed to investigate this feeling for the sake of doing so. Why? Because he needed to get to the root of this problem. Maybe play a hand in taking down the culprit that caused this whole thing from the get go.

[exit] 3/4