Intercepting Shinies [Plot Mission/IO]

The Objective:

Ryojin sat on the ground at the edge of the jungle. Rumor had it, a merchant was carrying something both kage wanted. Ryojin was told by his father to be careful as apparently a sun shinobi had been sent to procure these crystals as well. Were they going to end up friends or enemies? Who could say. A small sigh came from Ryojin's lips. He would await his companion for this mission patiently, meditating in the mean time. The weather today was less humid than it had been of late, there was a soft fog in the area, and the usual noises of the jungle could be heard from the village itself. A merchant had made his choice to off road in an attempt to smuggle goods into the moon village. This wasn't going to go very well for him.

Ryojin held the picture of the merchant, lightly spiraling it over and through his fingers. His eyes were a bit more tired today than usual. Perhaps he had not slept, perhaps lately he's had quite a bit on his mind. Either way, it was clear he might be dragging a little. It didn't matter. Once they began this game of cat and mouse it would be fine enough. This merchant apparently had hired some mercenaries to guard him through the wilderness. Easy enough. They weren't shinobi; or so that was the Intel they had received.

It was approaching the end of dusk. The sun would soon set and the operation would be a go. He found himself wondering about this shinobi. He couldn't help but feel curious after the other two sun shinobi had introduced themselves to him. He wondered if all sun shinobi were as interesting as those two.

It took a lot to startle, surprise or shock Mikomi. But as she had stared at her superior, the words he had just spoken had rendered her all three. She blinked once, the only sign of the feeling racing through her veins. "You want me to participate in a joint mission with the Moon?" Her voice was just barely incredulous, enough for her supervisor to take notice. He stared at her for a moment, "Aye Uchiha, you have shown some level of competence in diplomatic matters. So we are giving you an opportunity to impress us, head out shinobi." Her response was reflexive now, "Yessir."

That had been a few days ago now. The scroll with her orders informed her that her companion would meet her in the Lunar Light Jungle. From there they would pursue the suspect. A merchant who ostensibly was selling a new sort of possible contraband. Red crystals supposedly, the size of a golf ball. Maybe fake rubies, maybe disguised drugs, maybe something more sinister. The rest of the parameters were supposed to be given by her partner, such as the merchant's location, and any personnel he may have. This was her first mission outside the Sun Village, and in fact her first outing from that area in years. Her journey across the land to the Moon was effortless thanks to the ongoing festivities. Even bandits and scallywags of the worst kind had not given her more than the usual level of trouble she normally had.

She had read a lot of the Moon village's domain, but nothing could have prepared her for what she found there. The soft fog blanketed the air, something that was very new for her, having lived her entire life in the desert. The trees, the flowers, the animals, even the cloudy sky and fog were like a whole other world to the young woman. She hesitated more than once, taking in the beauty of the world around her. But finally, she approached the place that had been set as the meeting place. She hid herself as best she could, and searched for signs of her partner. It took her a moment, but there, sitting on the edge of the jungle, she saw him. She made sure to make subtle sounds that would alert him of her approach, such as rustling the leaves, so that he would not attack her out of instinct.

She did not know what to expect, but as she got a closer view of the Moon Shinobi, her heart sank. He couldn't be more than sixteen. And no doubt already more dangerous than her. Maybe even this boy had taken a life. She knew better than to judge his capability based on his age. But he was out here in the wilderness, waiting to undergo a potentially fatal mission, where there would be the possibility of death, and an almost guaranteed chance of violence. Of course, it wasn't any better in the Sun. Some of her peers were ten years her junior. The world of the shinobi was propped up by hundreds of these child soldiers. A sadness fell on her shoulders like the weight of the clouds above. And was as quickly thrust aside. And as she faced this young man, she struggled to push away thought of his age, and see him only as a shinobi.

"Greetings from the Sun my friend" Her smile was bright as her Village's namesake. "I am Uchiha Akegata Mikomi, might I know your name?" no need to hide her name, that could only end up badly. Straight to business, she had to be, "And might I know what extra information the Sun's esteemed peers may have discovered about our assignment today?"

He didn't seem startled or caught too off guard, but in response to her greeting he turned and smiled as well. "Welcome to the moon. I am Ryojin Tosho. Father told me you might not have all the details. Our goal this time is to intercept a merchant carrying these ominous crystals. I've been told we can turn them in for ryo or to our kages for more analyzation. I'd like to make you the offer to peacefully split them half and half. I have no interest in petty conflict especially over something like these. Pardon me being straight forward. Father also warned me not to look at them or touch them for very long because they may have adverse effects on the psyche." With that, he was sure he had covered about everything his father had told him.

"Since i'm being upfront with you, I might as well continue. I was assigned to this mission because i'm a user of ice style. Capture is kind of my thing. The merchant is guarded, so we should expect a bit of a scuffle. Our intel could be wrong, but supposedly the guards aren't shinobi. I'll be honest with you, I'm going to do my best to fight hand to hand. My jutsu are indiscriminate. I will end up catching you in them if I try to use them." With a long sigh, he stood straight up. He stretched a bit and he walked to the edge of the jungle.

"From this point forward, I'll do my best to be rather quiet." With that, he pushed apart a couple plats to reveal a side path into the jungle.

Mikomi listened silently, nodding as the Moon Shinobi spoke. Once he began to move off she moved alongside him. "Mr. Tosho, I specialize in ranged combat, but at the moment I only have my kunai and shuriken. If you wish to use your ice jutsu to capture the targets then that would be most optimal. So I will stay out the area of your jutsu as best as I can. Give me parameters and I will follow them." She waited a moment then continued, keeping her voice as quiet as possible "I would prefer to avoid fatalities if it at all possible Mr. Tosho. And I myself will have to limit myself to as support of a role as possible. We don't want an incident of a Sun shinobi harming a Moon Village citizen. That cannot turn out well, no matter if they are a criminal or not. I will do my best to ensure that your safety is guaranteed as a fellow shinobi."

All true, but foremost was Komi's unwillingness to demonstrate any of her abilities. She felt as though her requests were reasonable. After all, it did not require two shinobi to do this mission. A single shinobi would be more than adequate. These inter-village missions were purely to keep relations healthy, and if even the Moon criminals came out unharmed, along with the young ice wielder, then her mission would be accomplished. Though she still steeled herself. if she had to kill, it would be in self defense. She sent a brief prayer whispered under her breath to the Sun, hidden somewhere overhead by the fog. She turned to the Moon Shinobi "In any even Mr. Tosho, this is your territory. I will follow your lead." She would continue to follow Ryojin, remaining silent as she could.

Then stay up high." With that, Ryojin pushed forward. His pitch black hair had been let loose for this mission. Having it tied would only serve to be more of a pain. This was basically a grab and bag. He walked forward quietly. It was easy for them to remain amicable. He had a list of questions for this girl. A long list. His curiosity was brimming. And was it just his imagination or did she look very similar to that other man from the sun village? Odd. That was all besides the point. It was time to reel it in.

Upon coming to a small watering area, Ryojin would hold a finger of his mouth to signify it was time. At the small watering spot ahead, there were four men total. Each of these men looked like they had been through the ringer, spit back out, and then lived to tell the tale. With them was a woman with curves in all the right places, platinum blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, though not quite as blue as Ryojin's.

Their silence would hold. Following these people back to their camp would be easy enough and this would be step number two. Once reaching the area of their camp it was simple. Two guards stepped off to no doubt patrol the area. Two guards stayed with the woman. The woman was enjoying her partake of sake. The guards were at least trained enough to not drink on the job.

At this point Ryojin would bring forth an ability to be so utterly quiet he didn't even know he had. It was time to wait. The thing that would perhaps make the most sense would be to go in now as fast and hard as possible, but that just wasn't Ryojin's style. He would make sure to remain far enough away from the camp, but up in the trees of the jungle so that these mercenaries making their rounds would in no way be able to find them.

He would wait to cast his jutsu till they slept for the night. They were still quite some ways from the village so it was only imaginable that once refilling their water, one last rest would be their next course of action.

Stay up high huh? Mikomi sat in the upper branches of a larger tree, one leg dangling down toward the forest floor. She was still very much on edge, and it had been getting harder to ignore as the forest began to grow darker. The plan was simple, when dark fell, they would strike. It was a plan for a patient person. And Mikomi was patient. But in this circumstance, just waiting, waiting for something terrible to happen? It was unbearable. She continued watching the camp, but cast a glance over to her young companion. Too young. She shook her head to clear the thoughts, he was her equal, not a baby. This was the reality of their world. But was she really just going to stand back and allow him to take the majority of the danger?

Yes, you have to, she told herself. This was his mission, at least functionally. His territory, Moon village business. So he would take the brunt of the danger. As would any full fledged shinobi. Her foot tapped against the tree, silent against the noises of the jungle. Fear was still rising, but it wasn't for her. The realization shook her. It was for Ryojin. He was small, even smaller than she was. If those huge men got within striking distance of him...

It was all too soon. The waiting had felt like years, but now that the sun had dipped, and the sounds of snoring emanated from the camp, it felt as though she had just sat down. Making her way higher in the branches, she watched. Waiting to make her move.

Then horror struck her. Far below, leaning against a tree, was one of the thugs, awake. On watch. She didn't know if the Ice shinobi could see him, he was out of her sight. The image of the young boy injured leaped into her head. And she acted. It didn't matter that he was her equal, if not her superior, he was a child, she couldn't let him bear all of the danger on his shoulders.

And for the first time in her life, Mikomi struck the first blow of a fight. Dropping from the trees, she landed feet first on the man's chest, forcing the air from his lungs and crushing him to the ground. As he struggled to take a breath and shout for help, she drove her fist into his face, once and twice with rapid precision. Groggy, his eyes crossed. She stood quickly as he sucked in air. She wrapped her arms around his neck, applying a rear naked choke. Putting him under in mere moments few seconds. With the hold loosened so that he wouldn't die, she dragged him silently back into the woods.

The sound of her impact had not been too loud. But was it too loud? She bit her lip, had she made the wrong decision? She was on the forest floor, she engaged in close combat, she prayed that Ryojin would be able to complete his part of the mission, even if he hurt her in the process.

God above her knuckles hurt.

He had been patiently waiting. Observing. He watched as she dropped from the tree and couldn't hear the impact, but witnessed a man drop. It was possible there were more than just the four guards they had seen earlier. It made sense. Seeing the other shinobi drop, Ryojin came to realize she had not heeded his warning. It would be fine in the end. Ryojin would have to handle this in a different way.

Ryojin walked down the tree he had been hiding in to come in to light of the camp. It would appear as though even despite the noise, nobody had woken, but he had an odd feeling things weren't that easy. He formed his hand seals and snow began to fall. They were in the jungle. The jungle was normally supposed to be hot. In a few moments it would start to get freezing.

This was the bait. The change in temperature would draw out their mice. What was going to be a silent and quick freeze and walk away was about to turn into a flat out brawl. Admittedly, this didn't excite him. In fact it was moderately irritating. Soon, he would be forced to fight hand to hand. What. A. Pain. This went from a summer breeze to a snow storm; pun intended. Oh well.

After a few moments, Two of the guards would exit from the tent. Ryojin would pull from his flack jacket some wire. Would he have to kill here? Would this be the time his father warned him about? He gulped slightly thinking about it. It was too late to continue thinking. The first guard was running toward him, the second toward the Uchiha.

It was time now, she was a shinobi, this was the first time outside of training that she would fight someone. She had to make it count. She left the unconscious guard and advanced, creating a slight gap between her and Ryojin.

The one who rushed her was big, and she felt a pang of fear. The same fear... that she had felt when under investigation by a shinobi... that wasn't her, this fear wasn't her's. Her eyes met the guard's and their sudden crimson glow made him pause as she activated her Sharingan. This fear wasn't her's anymore. She saw the same fear she had felt a moment ago leap into his eyes.

With a curse he drew a hunting knife from his coat, and rushed her. But he was not a shinobi, not a creature of their world. And before the eyes of an Uchiha, he moved like a newborn foal. Her heart pounding in her ears she watched as he rushed forward. And knew that he would strike with his right hand, her eyes told her so. He rushed toward her, and raised his right hand, holding the knife in an icepick grip. Even as it raised, she was reacting to his strike. He intended to pierce through her left shoulder. She slipped a kunai into her left and right hands, and stepped inside his reach, striking upwards with the left kunai, which punched through his wrist with a spray of blood. She jammed the other kunai into his left knee with a grunt of exertion.

With a shout of sudden excruciating pain, the guard fell, grasping at his alarming wounds. He would not stand again, not for years with that knee.

Komi hoped that she was fast enough, and turned, rushing toward Ryojin even as her opponent fell. Even as she did, she knew that the others would be arriving soon, more enemies.

Ryojin side stepped a rushing blow form his opponent and exchanged a quick punch to his muscled chest. Ouch. He was definitely not a hand to hand fighter by any means, but on the plus side, this guy was big and slow. He slipped again to the left as he let out another huge swing. This time, a quick knee to the man's lower stomach. Ouch. Again. What a pain. As the man tried yet again for the same swing, the time Ryojin planted his feet and dropped himself. He closed his palms. Two fists pulled to his side. He shuffled in just slightly unleashing both these fists directly toward the man's diaphragm. He was just strong enough to knock the wind from his opponent. The man came tumbling down to his knees gasping for air and with this, Ryojin unleashed a knee to the side of the man's head to knock him unconscious. "Solid as a bag of rocks. Jeeze."

The next two guards stepped out, and this time the woman too. Ryojin had witnessed the girl's eyes change. What was that? The word for it. Kekegenkai? Just like his ice? Interesting. So there were other types out there too."I'll be honest. I'm not a big fan of this hand to hand thing. Any way we can skip the fighting since we already took down these two?"

The woman didn't look threatened in the slightest. She was one of those. It was clear to him. A soft sigh escaped his lips. "Pass over the gems and you won't have to spend more Ryo to hire more guards?"

Mikomi blew out a sigh, skidding to a halt almost as soon as she had started, the young shinobi was very fast. She felt much better now, overcoming the other thug, and seeing Ryojin dispatch that other threat so quickly had eased her nerves. At least a little. She stared at him with surprise as he spoke so calmly and assuredly. Then again the reality hit her. A shinobi, her equal. She suddenly felt very tired.

Then her eyes switched to the woman's, there was something there. Defiance? The unwillingness to accept when you have failed. Or was it... confidence? Either way, this needed to end quickly. "HEY!" She shouted, startled, the three turned toward her, startled by the sudden noise. As they did, she activated Kemurukagami. Now the thugs and the woman saw of her whatever she wanted them to, Ryojin as well if he had been looking at her face when she cast it. "I'd pay attention to my friend if I were you, and I was you once. There isn't an outcome were we don't win. Give up"

If they did, then Mikomi would proceed as a normal responsible shinobi. If not, then she would use Body Flicker to move up into the trees, out of the way of Ryojin's technique, which she would allow him to see if he had been affected by Kemurukagami. But as for the three, if they did not surrender, they would be surrounded on all sides by suddenly appearing illusions of Mikomi, katanas drawn. These would not be visible to Ryojin, either because he was unaffected, or because she chose not to show him that illusion. Hopefully, this move would end this encounter, allowing Ryojin to capture them all with his jutsu.

It turned out between them that their words had been enough to sway the woman. "He never mentioned shinobi being a real problem. I thought this was on the sly. What a fool." Ryojin tilted his head slightly. "He? Who? Is there someone else involved?" It was no good. The merchant let out a laugh and a sudden flash of light occurred. That was it. They were gone. The gems remained. Ryojin had to cover his eyes during the light as they were a bit sensitive.

"Well. I guess we... Did it." That woman. That jutsu. Why did this feel familiar? Her eyes were blue too, but not like Ryojin's. Was it possible she was from there too? Questions raced through his mind. Someone pulling the strings? It would make sense. Recently his brother had been near the village, this lady who struck him as if he should know her? As quick as the thoughts rose, they vanished.

"Whelp. A deals a deal." He passed her a bag of the gemstones. This could've gone differently. Ryojin rubbed at his sore wrists and knee. That man seriously might as well have been a pile of rocks.

Mikomi took the bag with a smile at the younger shinobi. The quick resolution made her head spin a little, her activated Sharingan made everything so sharp and clear. She quickly shut it off. The forest seemed suddenly much darker. She sighed, "Not a very cinematic ending." Mikomi laughed softly. "I am very glad though, we could solve it with..." She looked over at the two thugs, both solidly out of commission "minimal violence".

"I am aware I moved out of position, I hope that it didn't cause you too much trouble Mr. Tosho" She looked for his response. Then gave a bow, "I am in the Moon village for a while longer, I hope to see you around." She turned and ran off into the forest.

What a peculiar girl. She looked similar to him, but they were two very different people he felt like. Interesting. Their mission was done. They had gathered the stones as requested. With a soft yawn Ryojin himself would head back up to the village. He would proceed to turn his stones into the kage and head back home to get some well deserved rest.

[Exit]