Desert Wandering(Josh, Ryu, No Kill)

The smoke from the remnants of last night's campfire wound up weakly into the pale desert sky, and Hiromasa stared quietly at the dying embers as Masami shifted fitfully in her sleep nearby. The eternal question of a free man: What next? He and his partner had slowly headed east and were nearing the borders of the Land of Fire. That could make for an interesting change of pace from the desert sun he's known nearly all his life. His musings were distracted by the smell of...something. Something delicious, even. Time to get paid.

Shifting his attention to the small group he and his friend had been traveling with. They'd technically been hired to escort them across the desert, but had encountered no trouble the slightest display of ninjutsu hadn't easily handled and, generally, it had been no real work at all. On the other hand, they were being compensated in dried fish, salt pork and, from the smell of it, this morning was bacon. Awesome. Giving his partner a light kick and grunting "Wake up, breakfast soon," he rose and approached the sizzling sounds, a friendly smile on his face.

The old, wrinkly patriarch regarded him with the same scowl and suspicion he had when the pair had first met, causing Hiromasa's smile to widen even more. Anyone with a lick of sense would've realized that if they'd been evil they could've simply killed and robbed them a week ago when they'd started out, but in spite of this the old guy still looked at him like some kind of giant snake, ready to strike. The others, however, were far friendlier, happy for the nearly free protection and all smiles. A plate overflowing with sausages and bacon was handed to him, followed by a large bowl of oatmeal and a smaller one full of brown sugar. With a short, thankful bow, he retreated back to his campfire and plopped down on his bedroll, chuckling as his barely awake companion near-instantly rose to alert consciousness as the wondrous smells surrounded her.

Placing the platter of meat between the two he settled the bowl of oatmeal into his lap, as Masami didn't care for it. Liberally piling the brown sugar into his, he reached over and grabbed a sausage, dunking it into the oatmeal and stuffing it into his mouth cheerily. The pair ate with gusto, occasionally scanning the area around the camp just in case they'd have to do their job at some point, but the sands were quiet outside of the occasional whispering wind. After a leisurely breakfast, a loud throat clearing told the two that it was time to get moving. Grabbing a quick peek at Masami's shapely rear as she bent over to roll up her sleeping bag, he simply plucked his off the ground and stuffed it into his robes where, to all appearances, it simply vanished. Most of the rest of their gear went the same way, the woman neatly folding and packing everything into an easily carried pack, Hiromasa's gear simply disappearing into his robes, his seals devouring it for later retrieval. To his surprise, he felt Masami's pack as she pressed it against him. For reasons he'd never much understood, she didn't normally allow him to store her gear, but a hot day was ahead and she'd seemingly changed his mind. Obligingly, he stored her stuff as well and they set off with their charges, slowly covering the last few hours of travel as they finally reached their destination. Walking into the small trading outpost, they followed their clients all the way up to the inn where they would be staying, as asked. With a final scowl, the old man handed Hiromasa one last pack of food, a large sack full of assorted salted meats and another full of grains. Like everything else, the younger man tucked the sacks into his robes, looking away from the old man and briefly scanning the shops nearby.

Suddenly his robe was forcefully opened, and Hiromasa saw the old man staring, mystified, at his blank chest. Gently taking the edges of his garment from the old man's hands, he walked away towards the outposts exit, attempting to stifle giggles but failing after a few steps and laughing loudly as he leaned against the gate, tears forming in his eyes. Confusing people with his seals never got old, but the memory of that man's expression stuck out as one of the funniest responses he'd ever gotten to his little storing trick. Once he'd recovered, he turned and took one last look, seeing the old man still standing there perplexed. His laughter resumed, and he stumbled out of the outpost in no direction in particular, Masami following close behind, her own soft giggles drowned out in Hiro's guffaws.

WC:

Not long after the pair departed the outpost, a familiar face appeared over the dunes. More blood-spattered than usual but no less smiling, the elder man paused washing his hands off with a cloth and waved as he approached. "Hey there friends! From your cheery mood I take it your mission was as successful as mine? A few more of the good people of this desolate land are safe and whole for a few more days because of us, and that's cause for celebration, I say." With this, Hiruzen reached into his blood-stained robes and withdrew a scroll.

"I always try to deny these kinds of things, but people whose lives you've saved tend to be some of the most stubborn people I've ever met,"he continued, before placing the scroll back within his sleeves. "Suppose we should wait until nightfall to party, though. Have you two decided where we shall next bless with our presences yet?"

Hiromasa held out a hand, and a small pool of iron sand formed around it, swirling in a wild mass before slowly taking the shape of a forest, complete with leaves falling and branches swaying in the breeze. "The Land of Fire. I've lived my whole life here and not yet found my place in the world. A land with trees and rivers and frequent rain will be an interesting change of pace," answered Hiromasa with a shrug and closed his hand, the forest collapsing and receding into his body. "We can start heading that way now if neither of you have somewhere else you need to stop by first."

Neither of his companions spoke up, so without another word he turned and started walking, the melodic sound of sand crunching underfoot allowing him to drift into the familiar daydreaming, his mind wandering back to his place of origin and his family. The peace they all had, the satisfaction with their place in life, he envied it as much as he despised it. Given the choice, he would have allowed himself to fall into the same complacence as his family members, but his desire for more had always proven too strong. Shaking his head, he forced his thoughts elsewhere.

The Land of Fire. Odd name for a nation of forests, he'd always thought. Sure, there was the legendary Will of Fire as one possible reason for the name, but why not the Will of Trees? Iwagakure's Will of Stone made more sense. While he was at it, how was fire a good role model for always doing the right thing? Fire consumes all in it's path with no regard for anything but its own need for fuel. Rocks at least don't inherently cause more harm than good. He'd have to ask some of the residents as they journeyed. Where to, specifically, he did not know. They might just resume wandering, simply in a new country, or maybe it'd be better to pick a landmark and stick with finding it. Konohagakure itself, perhaps. A problem for tomorrow, however.

The sun slowly set as the trio walked through the blazing heat, stopping only once darkness had overtaken the world. Setting up a campfire, Hiruzen finally revealed the contents of the scroll, rolling it across the sand and slamming an open palm on a seal in the middle of it. With a puff of smoke, a small feast appeared, more food than the group could eat over several days, and more than enough drink to send them all into a coma. Shoveling food into his mouth in between jokes with his friends, Hiromasa stared up at the night sky, the smoke from their fire barely making an impression against the backdrop of the stars, and briefly doubted his resolve. Was this kind of life really not worth continuing? Good food, good friends, and a modest amount of local fame. Surely one could do worse than that?

Setting the dilemma aside for now, he resumed enjoying the company of his friends, though he left the alcohol to them; he'd never much cared for it, and it was far more amusing watching the two of them gradually lose coherence and dissolve into giggling messes. Besides, the desert at night was just as if not more dangerous than during the day, and someone had to keep an eye out. Eventually, the feast, seemingly undiminished despite them all eating their fill, was taken back within the scroll and his companions fell asleep, murmuring in their sleep about forests and food. As he always did, he stared into the flames, letting his mind wander as it would, a form of rest without fully going to sleep, his ears on the watch for danger.

WC:

[24 Hours after the incomplete thread, Gemini]

It was night time, and the desert was finally cold. Choku had been travelling quite a long time in the desert, so long in fact that he didn't quite know where he was. Nor did he know what direction he was going. It was quite depressing, thinking that the only way he would make it out of this desert was to keep walking until it ended. And even then, who knows where he would end up? He might have gone far west and wound up in an uncharted, unexplored, dangerous land. It was quite ominous to think about, yet somehow also thrilling in a sense.

As he walked, he heard something off in the distance. It was a very faint, crisp sound, and seemed about fifty meters away. Choku headed towards the sound, shifting his feet very slowly and smoothly, the only audible sound coming from the movements the ever so quiet slight shifting of the sands. As he drew close to the sound he identified it. It was the crackling of a fire, likely a camp fire because why else would there even be a damned camp fire out here? He drew even closer, slowing his steps even more and activating his Byakugan. He focused on the area the sound was coming from, and identified it as a small campsite. There sat a man before the fire, and also with him were two other people, one an elderly man, one a woman, both sleeping. If conflict occurred Choku was certain he could win and take the man before the fire out in a near instant. He didn't think that would be necessary here though.

Choku was now, by an estimate he used his Byakugan to measure, about twenty five meters away from the man sitting at the camp fire. He crouched down low, right hand unsheathing his blade slowly and silently and holding it up in a position that, if a person was very close to and in front of him, would have the blade pressed up against their neck firmly. With his left hand he formed a one handed Ram seal and molded his chakra. He would then be gone.

The next instant he would be behind the man, blade around his neck and mouth up to his ear.

"It's quite dangerous out here at night, what are you and these two people doing around here, huh?" he would whisper softly into the man's ear, his head tilted very slightly downwards to compensate for the difference in height between the two, his bamboo hat sliding down slightly and covering his eyes. If need be Choku would act with lethal intent, as if that wasn't clear enough already, but he didn't feel the man would provide trouble. He felt kind of bad for making such a violent, hostile first impression, but if one were to survive out here, far from home, one needed to be very, very careful. Speaking of careful, Choku was already molding chakra again, his left hand twitching at the ready to perform jutsu again if needed.

WC: 511 to Ninjutsu

"Not too much really, friend. My buddies are recovering from partying a touch too hard perhaps, and I am out here simply enjoying the stars," Hiromasa replied calmly, tilting his head to indicate the night sky. At the same time,a thin strand of iron sand erupted from his chin and pushed the blade against him a few precious centimeters away from his neck. At the same time, he formed the hand seal for shunshin with one hand and slammed his hand against his seat with the other, leaving a ninjutsu seal behind. Flickering to a position that put him between his friends and the stranger, he activated the seal, which released a cloud of iron sand that quickly spread over the camp. Reaching down, he grabbed his companions and jumped out of the spreading radius of the cloud, ignoring their annoyed murmurs.

The crackling of the fire could be heard through the cloud and thin lines of red light stretched out into the darkness of the desert night. Cheerily, Hiromasa called out to the stranger. "Perhaps we're off to a bad start, eh? How about I get rid of this cloud and you join me for some leftovers? Scrolls are pretty good at storing things, so it's probably even warm still, what do you say? You've nothing to fear from us unless you mean us harm, and I don't recognize your voice so I can't imagine I've done you wrong." Without waiting for a reply he dug the scroll from a groggy Hiruzen's pocket, ready to activate should he receive a response in the affirmative, though he kept ready to protect his friends from further hostility. Never could catch a break, he thought, exasperated. Terrible end to a good day.

Just behind him, Masami and Hiruzen slowly roused, their eyes blinking angrily as they tried to figure out what was going on. After a few seconds, a katana and staff were raised behind him shakily. They would be of no use against any enemy that gave him any trouble, but perhaps the appearance of numbers would help stave off any threats.

WC:

Jutsu used:

The cloud of iron sand was silent, and Hiromasa's eyes narrowed, exasperation on his face. If he was intending to be friendly he'd have spoken by now, and he was likely planning an attack. With a sudden movement he removed the top half of his robes, them falling around his waist. "Seems like it's that time again guys, I'll let you out when it's safe," said the young man, growing nervous. Silently, his friends walked up to him and place their hands on his back. Black Ocean Seals awoke and writhed along him and ran up the arms of his friends, and in a few seconds they were gone, sealed within him for their own safety.

Dark sand flowed out of his body, rapidly forming into a thick cloud around him. "If you're friendly, you'd better start talkin', friend..." the dust compacted, and then segmented into innumerable pellets for a split second before they all began shooting into the cloud. The sheer quantity of bullets guaranteed anything remaining in the cloud would be riddled with bloody holes in fairly short order if some prevention was not taken. At the same time, anticipating a potential surprise melee attack, he began drawing a seal with his foot, hidden underneath his robes.

jutsu used:

WC:

Choku had allowed the man to push his blade away from his throat, and now watched through his Byakugan as the man had flickered back a ways from him, now between him and the two other people who had now been grabbed up and were being awakened from their slumber. He also noticed a chakra signature left behind on the man's seat, and molded chakra and in a split second had flickered out of the range and directly across from the man by about thirty meters. He would counter the cloud then by forming a few hand signs and molding Water release chakra, very quickly dispelling a very thick mist from his lips that would cover the area of the cloud. He suspected that any vaporous form in appearance that was actually small solids was going to be dangerous to be around. Choku likened it to a sandstorm of sorts, yet quiet.

From the mist of his technique, Choku would continue on to form a few hand seals and create four water clones, two on the left side of the mist cloud and two on the right. These clones would run into the cloud of black mass, only to quickly be heavily injured through the inhalation of the stuff. This Choku observed through close watch by means of his Byakugan, and confirmed his suspicions. The stuff was like sand, but more deadly. This confirmation of suspicions was what led him to raise his sword, Nuibari, very quickly and begin to coat it in his chakra. This was in reaction to the intense number of small pellets he observed with his good eye covered that were forming before the man who was now his opponent. Choku flicked his sword and released his chakra, which would form an intensely large wave of water that would sweep forward rushing towards the man. Due to the mist covering Choku's position and the density also of the black cloud the man had created, it would be very difficult to anticipate the coming of this wave before it was on the opponent. In addition, this counter would very much so be likely to be effective in stopping the bullets that would then shoot at Choku with incredible speed, as, seeing as they were composed of a matter very much so similar, if not the exact same, as sand, the sand would become wet, drowned, and slowed.

After the wave was sent forward Choku would use his left and empty hand to grab the case he carried on his back and heave it into the air strongly. The case would fly up a ways and spin, the open end facing the ground and the forty seven swords carried in it scattered towards the now wet and mud-like sand. If the man truly was serious about fighting, Choku would not hesitate to pull out all the stops for this one man. This lack of any restriction in power was also due to Choku's irritation with the man and the way he talked. He seemed so backwoods, so uncivilized, and it thoroughly bothered Choku to hear him speak. Hopefully he wouldn't have to for very long, he thought as he prepared his Nuibari and lowered himself into an almost crouched stance, ready to draw the sword again at any moment, as he had sheathed it after using it to create the enormous wave of water. All the while his Byakugan would be glaring ahead, focused on the man and analyzing any actions he would perform, attempting and likely succeeding in following him with its gaze as the man moved.

Common Courtesy:

Seemingly in response to his queries, a form flew out of the iron sand cloud, a cloud of mist following shortly after. Taking a few steps back from the mist, Hiro heard a rush of water and braced himself, confusion appearing on his face as a seemingly harmless wave of water slowly slid across the sand a moment later. "The fuck?" Hiromasa whispered quietly, bewildered. Still, he took no chances, and a small platform of iron sand formed beneath his feet before the water reached him, keeping him out of contact with it. His confusion abated somewhat as he saw quantities of iron sand flowing around him, and he figured out where his bullets had gone. The came the crunches. He couldn't see into the mist, but the sound of sand being crunched in numerous places only added to the confusion.

Hiromasa thought a moment. His opponent wasn't near him, hiding behind the mist, so he had some space to work with. A flood of iron sand erupted from his body, forming a pair of masses over the battlefield. Hiromasa turned around, facing away from the mist, and formed the ram seal, flickering out into the desert as the iron sand collided with itself, a maze of deadly spikes rapidly forming down to the earth. As he sprinted into the darkness, he shrugged. The maze should buy him time, if nothing else. Fighting bandits was a lose/lose scenario anyway. Someone coming to kill you for your stuff likely didn't have much of value even if he won, and if he didn't, he would probably die, along with his friends. If nothing else, the desert night's air was cool and felt good on his skin. Pulling his robes back over his chest, he looked at the feast scroll in his hands and laughed. "Filthy bandit should've accepted the food, now he's out whatever chakra he spent and a delicious meal with potential friends. They just never get it, though, always want it all." In a moment, the scroll vanished into the seals on his body and he began contemplating the forest to come.

Chakra usage:

OOC:

WC:

[OOC: The water wasn't meant to hurt you, it was to counter the bullets, and you're fine for exiting lol giving chase would only get me killed by your stupidly high ranged spastic spikes]

Choku observed the masses of black sand gathering by his opponent quickly. Despite his cover from the mist, it wasn't enough of a cover to block whatever the man was planning. If only the mist could take a physical form...... Well there was that one thing. But the man had made a point. Even if he hadn't used THAT much chakra, it was no point wasting anymore when he could easily get away very quickly. Choku raised his left hand and formed a hand sign, tracking the movements of the two masses of iron sand. He molded chakra and flickered backwards away from the man as far as he could. To further bring himself to a breathable range away from the two masses, which had now begun to move at each other, he performed this action about six times, quickly losing sight of the masses and the man, who had already fled from the scene quickly before Choku had moved back.

A couple of spikes managed to branch out and stab the ground before him, shifting the sands about twenty meters ahead of Choku. He sighed, releasing the tensed muscles in his now sore body from trying to dodge away from the man. He was surprised at the scale of the Ninjutsu he was capable of performing, and also at the fact that he had quite adept abilities in Fuuinjutsu as well, to be able to seal a technique on an object. That man was quite skilled, but then again, maybe everyone he had met before were too. Perhaps Choku's previous victims were also as skilled as the man he had encountered tonight, just not so lucky.

It was with these thoughts that Choku turned and headed back into the desert, disappearing into the night and traveling further along the path life had for him, just waiting for the next chance encounter fate had in store for him.......

[Chakra Usage: 6 Body Flickers = 30 Chakra, Chakra Total at 236]

[Thread exited]

[WC total: 1429

Used towards Chakra, 250 WC per stat adds up to 5 points.]