The Missing Fiance [Private]

Age : 28 Posts : 56

Mission:

The sun was already high in the sky and beating down on the calm waters of a small riverside village near Konoha. The short trek there was only burdened by the mid-day heat. The smell of fish dominated the atmosphere as various markets sold their individual specialities (They all looked the same to Katsu) and the noise of masculine fisherman shouting out was the only sound that rose over the rumbling and rattling of carts trafficking supplies to and from Konoha. The place was at its busiest at this time of the day, with small ships constantly launching and docking from the numerous wharfs that spread across the river bed. Ships ranged from small row boats to mid sized yachts, and occasionally a larger vessel, one that could sustain multi-day journeys to the further reaches of the fire countries array of rivers and lakes, would lumber through the docks, sending the smaller boats scattering away in an orchestra of angry shouts and swearing.

It was one of the rare situations that Katsu had grown hot enough to tie his jacket loosely around his waste, and he had even, on impulse, bought a cheap straw hat to keep the sun out of his eyes. A hastily drawn set of instructions that he had received that morning guided the noticably out of place ninja to a particular wharf, more or less in the middle of town, that held a single ship. A small two storied wooden structure stood at its side, its door hanging open.

Katsu stepped inside, the noise of the small town noticeably dropping to a small, distant hum. Sun beat through the windows illuminating a counter, behind which sat a worried looking middle aged woman. A faint hint of relief spread across her wrinkled, tanned face as she stood up. "Your one of the men they sent to find my love! I'm Kiomi, thank-you for coming to help." Katsu smiled, "Its a pleasure, I'm Katsu, I have friends to assist me on the way. When they arrive we shall set off." Kiomi frowned, a worried look in her eyes. "Will they be here soon? Each moment my dear Haru could be getting more and more lost." Katsu gave a re-assuring smile. "I'm sure they will be here momentarily, in-fact I would expect them to walk through that door any moment." Katsu turned to glance at the door.

Posts : 178

The Genin was up and running around his house because he had an important day today. The messenger bird that always bothered him, came today and he couldn't believe that they were going on a mission today. He figured they would need more time than that to prepare themselves for their first job, but he was wrong. He had gotten ready, but was running through his mind was the fact that this job was going to be tougher than the ones before. He noticed that it was a mission of a different rank before, but he understood this because of the number of people on the squad.

That was one reason to it, but he figured they were on this type of mission because of the report about the fight they had. He sighed as he figured on doing a little bit of pathetic missions for the time being. He shrugged as there was no going back on this. The Senju had made himself food, but he knew I was something that he could make quickly. He got what he needed, but he didn't sit down to eat his meal. Instead, he grabbed a hold of it and left his house.

Yuurei couldn’t say bye to his parents because they weren’t in the same area as him. He had patted his brother on his head as he sprint by him. He left his house and was quick to exit the village; that was the best thing about living in Clan area; they were the ones closest to the village gates. That also meant they were usually subjected to be the first ones attacked, if the village were to be attacked. He hoped that never happen, but he shook those negative thoughts out of his head. He had the directions to the village he was heading to.

He was running faster than your normal Genin as he was made his way through the tree and jumped onto one of the branches. He was quick to start jumping from branch to branch as he didn’t want to get caught on a trap in the forest. It didn’t take him long to get to the village; it wasn’t hidden and it was close to the water. It was small and he just noticed that a lot of the structures were the same. He didn’t really mind the appearance because he was here on a mission.

The Senju dropped from the last branch he was on and he landed on the ground without a problem. He sighed as he started walking towards the docking area. He smiled at a few people that looked at him, and he continued to do that untill he arrived at the docks. Yuurei looked at the ships that were docked here, and was looking for a specific one. His eyes shifted to one ship, and then to another, and then it went back to the one he looked at before. That was the one he was supposed to go into.

He didn’t waste any time as he walked over to the ship, and made his way inside it. When he did he noticed that there was a woman in the ship, who was possibly the client, and then there was Katsu who was the first to arrive on the scene. ”I hope I’m on time; now we need to wait for Gin and we can start the search,” he said with a smile. Kiomi saw how young and small the boy was, and figured the village was joking with her. ”Is he one your teammates you were waiting for?” she whispered to Katsu.

Posts : 61

Gin bolted out from the window before it slammed shut. From rooftop to rooftop he made his way towards his destination. A messenger bird came in with a mission and Gin was quick to act upon it. Surely Yuurei would be there before him, for he knew the speed of this Senju. Either way, whoever arrives first, it matters not for the team consisted of three and they relied upon one another.

Then the thought came to him. Gin remembered how Katsu introduced himself. The way the elder spoke was as if he trusted mainly himself; there was possibly more to it which worried Gin, but that thought subsided quickly as he left through the gates, now moving from tree branch to branch and sometimes reaching the treetops, peeking at the area and it's distance, a beautiful sight.

It wasn't long before Gin arrived, for he had memorized the map of the region... more or less. A bead of sweat dropped from his brow, but he bared the heat, for he graduated a ninja and true ninjas wouldn't be faltered by such a small thing. Gin had left in such a hurry, he didn't even have time to say goodbye to his owl, but then again, he was nowhere to be seen, possibly hunting.

Finding the specific boat was just as easy as finding the docks. Gin merely took the high ground to see wider and narrow everything down. He walked up the gangplank and entered the boat to find Yuurei and Katsu with a middle-aged woman who should be the homeowner. Gin bowed to the lady before giving a nod to his teammates as a greeting.

Age : 28 Posts : 56

His team-mates made their timely arrival, as expected. Kiomi was born and raised in this fishing village, and amongst the shouting, angry fisherman, etiquette was an uncommon gesture. There was no hiding the look on her face as the two youth arrived, she seemed about ready to speak her disapproval at putting her husbands life in the hands of what she assumed to be two immature children when Katsu faced her and gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, they're both a lot older then they look, they're actually only about a year younger than me." A white lie couldn't hurt. "And I assure you that they are just as mature and competent as you're going to come by at our rank." Kiomi faltered slightly, then nodded, still worried. "If you ask me all of you are too young to be doing this, but I don't have time to send you back." Katsu resisted the urge to roll his eyes. The woman then turned to address all of them. "So, I guess I'll make do, you know the details, what my fiance looks like, it should be on the assignment paper. This boat belongs to my family, if it is damaged I expect for it to be compensated for." this woman was becoming more insufferable by the second, but Katsu maintained his polite smile. "I'm sure it will be fine, we will have your fiance back in no time." Kiomi nodded, and then left the three on their own, returning to the small building next to the wharf.

It had been detailed that the boat would be lent to the team for the duration of the mission, it was a small wooden yacht, roughly 30 meters long and operated with a set of sails. The deck had a single, small cabin, with a ladder that went down into a storage area below the deck. Learning to sail had been briefly covered in the academy, though it was not something that Katsu particularly excelled at, he hoped one of the other could pick up the slack.

Katsu turned to his team-mates, bowing slightly. "Yuurei, Gin, nice to see you guys again. Any of you two good at sailing?" It was nice to finally go on a team mission, it would be interesting to see how they worked together outside of battle.

Posts : 178

It didn’t take long for the whole entire team to arrive. He looked back as he heard someone coming in, and saw that it was Gin that had made his arrival. That was good, and now they were able to process forward from here. He heard the lady, but didn’t say anything because he didn’t care what the lady had to say. He was here for the mission and nothing else; he did, however, heard Katsu and he tried his best not to change the expression on his face. He figured this guy would do something like that, but he didn’t say anything.

The Genin just heard the lady, but stood there waiting for her to leave, so they can start their job. He just scratched his head when they were told not to mess up the ship. He couldn’t believe this lady would say something like that. What if her husband was taken by a band of pirates? Then, they would have to fight and there would be a chance that the ship would get damaged a bit. He just sighed because they would have to do their best not to screw things up. ”Can she leave already?” he thought to himself as looked at the woman.

He just took a position on the wall and leaned on it as he was waiting for something to happen. He heard Katsu speaking to her, which allowed the woman to make her leave. That was good and he just looked over Katsu wondering what they were going to do right now. He was here first, so he figured he would lead the team today. The man did turn to them as he just heard what he said to them. Yuurei smiled at him because it was nice to see him again too.

”It’s nice to see that we were put on a mission. I guess our evaluation didn’t go as bad as we figured it would go. Still, I’m no good at sailing a ship; well I can, but ‘ll probably get us lost to be truthful,” he explained. He thought about it, and it shouldn’t be hard to sail the ship, but he didn’t think he would do too well. He had learned from the Academy, and it was simple for him to learn in class. The Senju didn’t want to try it right now, for he figured he would mess up and make a fool of himself.

”Where do you think that fiancé of hers’ is? I think he ran away from her. She has a bit of an attitude, but I guess she is like that because of her fiancé is missing,” he said in a nice tone. He wasn’t really serious and he didn’t mean any harm in what he said.

Posts : 61

Gin stood up straight, trying to make a good impression with his posture. But as the client stated her thoughts concerning their ages and the way she had said it, it bothered him and he soon realized he wasn't the only one that was bothered. The three genin were in the same boat, both metaphorically and literally; they were all really young, however Katsu was a bit of an exception since he's a teenager.

The woman was crabby and to Gin's surprise, the woman seemed too caring of her boat rather than her missing husband, regardless of how many times he might have went missing. Nevertheless, the mission was still at hand and they needed to commence the search. The woman left, which gave Gin to breath and suck his teeth in irritation from what he had to just deal with.

The genins fell into word of who could sail the ship. The only experience Gin had with machinery was the steam-powered plow back at home, the most expensive piece of equipment his father owned, but it wasn't close to a boat. "I know nothing of 'driving' or 'sailing' a ship, but I do know my navigation" Gin surfaced and went to the mast and began releasing the rope that held the sail.

"We could either wing it and just search around the coast line, hoping we'll find him or ask around for good fishing spots" Gin called to his team. He looked up and viewed the bay. It was beautiful, except for the loud noises of shouts and horns along with the smell of fish everywhere. He hoped Yuurei would turn the helm and get the ship going before he hurled.

Age : 28 Posts : 56

It was a great relief to everyone when the bitch who had employed them left. "I'm looking forward to meeting the man who could deal with that all the time." Katsu said quietly, a smirk across his face. It was worrying, to a degree, that none of them were particularly experienced at sailing, but it was likely that they would pick it up as they went.

Inside the ship was a cabinet which stored various equipment, Katsu pulled out a large chart and a compass, lying it down on a table and placing the compass on top he began to contemplate his course. The chart was large and well drawn, finely detailed with the intricate arrays of rivers that spread across this region, the village they were in was near the bottom right corner.

"We know the general direction that he went." Katsu said, leaning over the table as he traced his finger from the village towards the center of the map. "We also know that his ship is small, not designed for multi-day journeys, meaning that there is definitely some sort of trouble. Kiomi already asked around for any crews that might have seen him, which rules out a lot of the more trafficked areas." Katsu made sure to raise his voice so that Gin could hear him. It would make the task a lot harder if the man had ran away, it would mean that this mission could take longer than a day. "So I'm thinking we check some of the less traveled backwaters, its easy to get lost in there so we'll need to be careful." He indicated a spot on the map that held a large span of smaller rivers snaking through it.

Katsu stood up straight and pulled out a small hand-book from his pocket. "I picked this up on the way here, think of it as a sort of bingo book of the seas, any pirate crews that survive long enough to build a reputation have their known crew recorded in here." It was a rather simple book, detailing the ship name, known crimes, and a list of crew and their estimated rank when compared to ninja. Katsu place the book on the table, next to the chart, and made his way up to the deck.

Perceptive as he was, Katsu was beginning to notice a slight change in atmosphere, the air felt heavier, and a cold breeze had replaced the intense heat, blowing in from the direction of the sea. And on the horizon, just barely becoming noticeable now, the sky was darkening with clouds. "We should get going, the weather is not looking like it will stay good for very long." a worried expression was visible on Katsu's face.

He pulled up the gangplank and untied the ship from the wharf, allowing it to float freely. Then looked over at Gin who was untying the sail. Time to launch.

Posts : 178

Yuurei just looked at Gin as he was probably their only hope on sailing a ship. He couldn’t believe this, but he figured he would get some real lessons on sailing a boat. There was that, and well he needed to really learn how to navigate a map of the sea. It would be a great experience for him, and at the same time it would help him on a job like this for the future. Still, right now it was all up to Gin and he knew that they were both probably staring at him. He heard his words clearly, but was sad when he wasn’t able to sail the ship.

He figured he was going to be the one to sail the damn ship, if Gin didn’t do it. He just looked at Gin as the man made his way outside. He blinked a few times as he figured he would be the one sailing, but he was wrong on that. He looked over to Katsu, and figured that this man would do it, but instead he had obtained a map that was in a cabinet. He figured they were going to map out the areas they were going to be checking before they actually moved.

”Yes at least we know that much, but it is weird that he disappeared without a trace. If he is truly out there, then someone must have him,” he brought up the idea, but knew that it could actually be a small chance of that happening. The Senju noticed where he pointed at and figured that he would show Gin this when they got on board. ”We will know where to go once we give the map to Gin, and you show him,” he pushed himself off the wall he was leaning on.

Yuurei didn’t walk off just yet, he saw Katsu pulling something out from his pocket. This caught his interest as he could only wonder what it could be. He stood there lifeless waiting for his teammate to explain why he pulled the book out, which didn’t take long for him to do. The Genin heard him and he nodded his head understanding what he had showed him. This was good and it would allow them to know how dangerous some pirates were, and seek some justice for others at the same time. He took the book that Katsu had placed on the table as he walked out to the deck.

Once he stepped out he heard exactly what Katsu said. It didn’t seem like the weather was going to change, but he did feel a little cooler than earlier. He believed his words though, and decided to get to the helm. He marched up the little steps that were revealed to him when he turned to his left. He sighed as he did this because he didn’t want to mess up. He figured Gin would be the one to direct him on where to turn. He had made his way to the helm and quickly grabbed it.

This wasn’t as light as he thought it was, but the boat was moving now slowly moving away from the docks as Gin finished untying the sail. ”Once we find her fiancé, can we bring him back a.s.a.p. I don’t want to see that lady honestly, she made me angry with what she had said about us. Gin go look at the map downstairs, it will tell you where we should go from where Katsu wants to search,” he said as he was surprisingly smiling instead of looking mad. He figured they all felt the same way. Still, there was nothing he could do now but wait for directions from Gin and pay attention to anything else they might need to say.

Posts : 61

As Gin was tending to the sail, he listened closely to what Katsu was stating. He could make out most of it from where he was as opposed to where Katsu was. He was surely impressed by his teammate's calculations and his knowledge on the weather, for as far as Gin could tell, Katsu was surely correct.

Gin shifted the sail in the boat's advantage; the wind pushed the boat forward. They were on their way. Yuurei surfaced and gave him the suggestion of taking a look at the map. Gin shrugged his shoulder, figuring it wouldn't hurt to take a look even though Katsu already had the skills and knowledge to handle the map.

He dropped down from the area of the sail onto the steps and descended. Upon the table was the map. As Gin looked over it, he noticed the 'backwaters' Katsu was mentioning. They were right about it taking some time and the possibility that he might have been captured. Close by or far away, where ever he may be, they'll be able to find his boat close by, and it will surely give us a clue.

Gin surfaced, "Let us keep the sail down as long as the wind is at our backs, otherwise we must shift the direction a bit or pull it up all together, hopefully that doesn't happen" Gin said as he gave a nod to Yuurei and Katsu.

Age : 28 Posts : 56

Katsu watched Gin operate the sail with intrigue, he seemed to know very well what he was doing. He grinned as he listened to Gin explain, partially, a bit of how it worked, some of which he remembered from academy. "Looks like you've got this under control then." And with that Katsu walked over to the bow of the ship.

Already they had passed the busy regions of the dock and were making good headway down the large, central river. Most of the boats passed by each-other simply, a few making small adjustments to avoid a collision. Katsu could already feel the wind blowing through his hair, with his little straw hat removed, and it was quite the experience sailing for the first time. The scenery only added to it, the river beds on either end were abruptly cut off by looming, dense forests, desperately trying to drink from the water.

The sun was still high in the sky, and as cold as the wind was Katsu couldn't help but sweat. In response he pushed his forehead protector downwards to cover his neck, allowing his forehead to be exposed to the cool air. He knew that in doing so he would expose his scar, but he was a shinobi now, scars couldn't be that noteworthy could they?

They still had a ways to go before they would have to turn into one of the off-shoot rivers, and the novelty of sailing was already wearing off for Katsu. "Have either of you two been on a boat before?" He asked, turning to his companions.

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Yuurei had heard his partner talk about the sails after he had gotten out of the cabin. He nodded understanding what he had said. He wasn’t planning on touching those things, and it was only because he figured he would allow Gin to operate them. The Senju knew he would only help if he needed him to, or he didn’t have any other choice but to help. He just stood behind the helm as things were going smoothly right now. It wouldn’t take the long to get through the backwaters and that much he knew. There was that, but he was hoping that it didn’t take them that long to find this man.

The Genin smiled as he was getting to be on a ship right now. They were sailing the sea and honestly he felt like he was a pirate. He just stood behind the helm as if he were the captain of the ship. ”We are out on an adventure. We are to save a man’s life, and return him to his wretched wife!” he shouted out loud being bored with actually just standing there. He could feel the breeze passing him and he just smiled as it felt amazing.

The weather was the best it could get; he enjoyed this weather, but the hot sun didn’t really bother him. He never wore a shirt, so it didn’t bother him and the jacket he wore wasn’t long at all. Still, he just wondered what kind of problems the sea would bring the trio. ”This is actually a good day now that I think about it,” he brought this up randomly as he looked over to Katsu. The man spoke and he was trying to make conversation with the two of them. He didn’t have to think about an answer for this question.

”I been on a boat once. Well, I never went out sailing before. My clan use wood, so my father made a boat in our backyard once. He did this so we could learn about the boat; it was a fun experience, but I honestly wished the man had done that next to water. Maybe then, me and my little brother could have gone out sailing,” he explained his time on a boat. It wasn’t much, but he was happy to at least to be on a boat that was sailing the sea.

He looked over to Katsu when he said this to him, and when he looked at his friend he noticed that he had a scar on his forehead. That was interesting, for he didn’t think his friend would have a scar like that. ”What about you Katsu, have you ever been on a boat before today?” he asked his teammate as he figured that he would leave the question about the scar for a later time. He had asked the question, but he looked over at Gin to see what he was going to say.

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Gin enjoyed the sun and the weather. The heat was more or less balanced out by the breeze. So far the mission was relaxing and not boring. He realized he was leaning back against the sail with a small smile on; Gin gave a quick look to Yuurei and Katsu, hoping they didn't notice. Surely they needed to keep a serious attitude and focus. Well that was Gin's thought until Yuurei made the joke referring the client. Gin chuckled. Ninjas or not, Yuurei and Gin were still kids and there was no going around it.

The farm boy had nabbed the compass and map and brought it to the helm for a better view. Soon, the boat was sailing down a river in the middle of a thick forest. Left and right, Gin only saw trees, vines, and every now and then a possible animal sound. He was beginning to get nervous; not out of being lost, for he was following the map well enough, but for what may come out of the forest. He fear there might be a chance the three ninjas would have to exit the boat and enter the mysterious place.

Gin's attention was brought back to the boat; it seemed the other two were talking about their experiences in boats as far as he caught, "Never been in a boat, but my father told me about them and I also read some information about sailing, that's about it" Gin realized there was much to the world that he has not experienced; even a lad from a village has experienced way more than what he expect a normal person should experience, this lad of course he was referring to Yuurei.

Age : 28 Posts : 56

Katsu laughed at Yuurei's statement, "It's almost like we're the bad guys for once, isn't it?" he grinned mockingly. While mostly just mere amusement, the notion was not something that Katsu particularly minded, provided it do him no harm. He looked at his comrades, thankful that they hadn't mentioned the scar, it was not something that he was particularly fond of remembering.

He had seen enough to know that there was a storm coming in their direction, the clouds he had seen earlier were approaching rapidly, and they had the same shade of grey that one would expect to see in storm clouds. At the moment they were sailing through a narrow river with trees encroaching upon them and blocking the view, so it was hard to tell how long they had. It was somewhat ironic, then, that Yuurei mentioned the good weather. "It's good for now, but I can say with certainty that we will see some rain before this mission is over." Through narrow rivers like this there would be little room for waves, but along some of the larger waterways they may have a hard time sailing. A grim look briefly crossed Katsu's face, but only briefly.

He changed the topic of conversation to Yuurei's earlier question. "Nope, this is my first time on a boat. Pretty interesting isn't it?" Upon the mention of Yuurei's dad making a boat an interesting point came to mind. "Hey, Yuurei, are you capable of manipulating the wood on this boat? or other boats should it come to it?" It would make for a large tactical advantage should they run into trouble, though Katsu knew that the wood for most boats was treated, dead, and otherwise modified, he wondered how that would effect Senju technique.

As he spoke, a clearing in the dense forest encroaching them came into view, a large sort of lake was in-front of them. It was hard to see it from the vines obscuring the view, but they would come to it very soon at their current speed. And from what little glimpses Katsu could see, there seemed to be two ships at rest near the edge of the lake.

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Yuurei had heard Gin’s comment about never being on a boat; he figured he didn’t since the man was a farm. It wasn’t surprising, but he was okay with that because there were always new experiences for everybody to enjoy. He just noticed the amount of trees that were surrounding them. These forests that they had been sailing in between were vast enough for anything to be living in them. He didn’t care about what was in the forest as they would need to have an incredible strength on their legs to leap off the land and onto their boat.

He was calm thinking about it like that as he heard Katsu’s words about it going to rain before the mission was over. That wasn’t good because honestly he didn’t really like the rain hitting him over and over again. The Senju sighed because of the news because he wasn’t happy with it, but he knew there was nothing that he could do about it. The man didn’t say anything about the scar now as it was in the back of his head. He was thinking about it raining now and knew it would be good for his water jutsus, but he just wanted the trio to bump into the female’s fiancé already.

He heard about Katsu talking about this being his first experience on a boat. He shook his head as he couldn’t believe it. ”I seem to have been the only person who was on a boat before. Well at least I can experience with these guys,” he thought to himself as he looked away from the two. He wondered what his family was doing, but his train of thought didn’t last long because of Katsu. He was quick to snap his neck to the Yamanaka with a smile on his face.

He heard the question being asked, and thought about it. He didn’t need to think that long because he already knew the answer to it. ”I can manipulate the wood everywhere as long as somebody else chakra isn’t currently in it. If it’s natural wood I can manipulate its shape,” he spoke up as he remembered using his element to bring out spikes, which had pinned down Gin in their sparring match from before. ”I used it on Gin before, so yeah,” he added on as he was looking around the area. He noticed that a lake was coming in to view right now.

He didn’t know what to expect here, but he figured, if the fiancé of the woman was around here, then they would be able to find him. Yuurei hoped this was the place because honestly he didn’t want to turn around and search for him, in another body of water. ”I hope we can find this man here, or else I’m going to yell at the top of my lungs because of this mission,” he told the two because he wanted to complete this mission already. They were sailing for a while, he could see two ships coming in to view, but it was hard to see how big they truly were.

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Gin looked up to the sky, or what he could see through the cluster of branches from the large trees sprouting from both sides of the river. It was as Katsu said. But for Gin it wasn't a big deal since he was a lover of such weather, the rain has always been calming to him. His father would always say that the rain never sets work back, for it provides life to the plants which provides food for the animals.

He sat beside the mast as the other two continued their conversation. With the sky grey, the woods on either side grew darker which sent a chill running up Gin's spine. Soon enough, the boat reached the opening into a lake, Gin was relieved and surprised. Such a wide open space. He took another look to the sky and sure enough, the entire sky was grey and getting darker by the moment.

Gin wanted to note this to the guys but heard his name being said, "I gave you a descent run for your coin, Yuurei-kun" he pointed out, feeling a bit bashful in defeat. He respected Yuurei and was impressed by his tactics, but the embarrassment risen either way. Gin was still a kid after all.

He turned back to see two ships some distance away, "Crud, if we get any closer, we'll be spotted, any ideas?" Gin asked as he jumped down to the lower level to avoid being seen.

Age : 28 Posts : 56

Their ship cleared the vines and the lake came into view, waves rippling across it from the growing intensity of the cold wind, along with the two ships at the opposite end. The lake was oval shaped with its longest axis in between the squads ship, and the two other ships. One of the other boats was a simple, small, fishing boat, painted in white with a yellow stripe across it, however the other one was a bit more noteworthy. It was sleek and long with its deck adorned with sets of masts and large crates, atop its sail was a black flag bearing in white the symbol of a large snake coiled around a ship, put simply, it was an obvious pirate ship.

As the pirate ship erupted with activity Katsu fished around in his pocket for the small hand-book. The opposing ship sprung into motion with surprising speed, much faster than the young squads ship could match. "Too late, Gin." Katsu stated the obvious. As the pirate ship came closer its crew came into view, they seemed like the kind of suspicious individuals one would expect to see on a pirate ship, with the exception of one. There was a man on the deck, tied to a mast, roughly matching the description of the missing fiancé. "That's our man, get ready."

Katsu spun around to face Yuurei and Gin, flipping through the handbook before resting his finger on a page. "The River Serpent, crew of 6, consisting of 3 non-ninja, 2 C-rank ninja, and 1 B-rank ninja, the three main combatants are all known to be adept at water jutsu." Katsu closed the book and shoved it in his pocket, grinning. "Bounty reward: 39,000 ryo for the whole set, that's 13,000 for each of us." his grin disappeared when he looked up.

It had been said in Konoha that 'when it rains, it pours', this storm was certainly no exception. First was the gentle waves growing both larger and more violent in the wind, and then came the rain. A wall of torrenting water shot across the lake at an impossible speed, rain covered the area in a fashion similar to a blanket being tossed over it. In an instant vision was obscured, clothes were soaked, and the boat rocked violently in the waves.

Katsu jumped off the boat and onto the water, spreading chakra around his feet, he was now eager to finish this battle as quickly as possible. He found his footing on the water and soon after lost it as the waves dipped and rose. The turbulent waters would necessitate almost constant movement, Katsu realized as he jumped across wave peaks. Already the three combatants from the opposing ship were making their way towards the team in a similar fashion. This would be a tough fight.

Jutsu used:

CP: 49/50

Posts : 178

Yuurei vision of the ship was clear now. He blinked a few times because he was surprised of the pirate ship that was there. This was good only if the fiancé was on the ship, but if not, then they were in for something huge, and it would prolong their search for the man. He could see that the ship was moving towards them quickly, and he just sighed because they weren’t welcoming of their arrival. He had gotten into position as he was ready to use his Mokuton. There was something nice to hear, and it was the fact that the man was on the pirate ship.

”Well it’s about time we found this guy. Now to bring him to his woman,” he smiled as this was going to get interesting, lively, and he was hoping to make this quick. He was waiting for their ship to get closer as it was incoming quickly, but before that he could only listen to Katsu giving them information about the pirates on the ship. He nodded as he was remembering the information he was getting from his partner. ”Of course they would be good at water jutsu,” he shook his head because they sounded annoying by description alone.

The reward allowed him to be happy because they would get some quantity of money out of this. They weren’t going to use their ship for fighting, which made perfect sense. The size of their ship would crush theirs without a problem. Yuurei was getting ready for this fight, but that was when it happened; he noticed that it started to rain, but the rain that was hitting him was calm and falling down at a normal rate that it would. Then, it happened, the rain started to pour down on everybody and it only caused the Senju to close his eyes.

He was upset that it was raining right now because he was not happy with this. His eyes reopened only for the young boy to look extremely furious that it had to rain right now. He looked to his side and noticed that Katsu was already on the move; the thing that caught his attention was the way the body of water reacted to the massive rain that was coming down on them. The waves picked up, and rocked their ship, which made his stumble to his left. He couldn’t believe the Genin had jumped off the ship, but figured it would be easier to fight like that than on a ship for him.

Yuurei watched him as he was getting use to the waves formed and made their way towards him. He observed watching his partner take them on, and getting use to jump over them instead of allowing them to interrupt his water walking. That was a smart thing to do, and he was ready to help as well, but there was something he thought about. He couldn’t use Doton, and their Suiton were probably better than his.

He shook his head as he didn’t care about that, but noticed that the three ninjas he had spoken about were off their ship as well. ”Ah man they are coming our way now. This is just great,” he said out loud as started to perform hands seals now. The Senju was not in a mood to get captured by one of their water techniques, so he figured that annoying them would be perfect with his wood style. Once he finished he could only look at the three that were running towards their ship. He couldn’t allow Katsu to go in it alone, so he hoped that Gin would help him out as well.

”Wood Release: Small Forest Technique,” he said as his left arm started to change to a bunch of cherry blossoms. The wood of the cherry blossoms were all red as they had started to rapidly grow as their branches forked out extending that now. The branches headed towards all three of the ninjas running towards the group. He didn’t want Katsu to be caught by all three of them, while he and Gin were still on the boat.

64/70 Chakra.

Jutsu:

Posts : 61

Gin was amazed by how easily they were spotted. The opposing ship's speed was nothing like he has ever seen on a boat, even for one of it's size. As much as Katsu said, Gin figured these foes, or pirate-ninjas, would more of a hassle than he had expected. His focus didn't falter, but noticing the rain's sudden appearance was enough to have him change his initial plan of attacking head on. He chose to stay on the ship.

The farm boy noticed how Katsu had difficulty obtaining his balance on the rocky water, then he looked towards the three pirate-ninjas that were making their way to them on foot. The heavy rain made it a bit difficult to see through, even with Gin's good perception, he feared he wouldn't land a direct hit with his weapons unless he threw off the enemy. Just then, Yuurei initiated by shooting out his signature move towards the enemy. Gin took advantage of this; he formed handseals and jumped onto the extending branch nearest to Yuurei before thrusting both his hands in front of him "Fuuton: Daitoppa!", a blast of wind shot forward and rushed through the branches. Two of the three pirate-ninjas that were trying to dodge the incoming branches were hit by the wind and pushed back by the branches, losing distance, however, one pirate-ninja managed to avoid the blast by hiding behind a thick branch before continuing his run.

"Water Style: Scold Spit Jutsu" the pirate ninja spat out a small stream of scolding hot water towards Gin's and Yuurei's direction. Gin began forming seals and hoped either him or Yuurei was fast enough to counter.

Chakra: 41/50

Jutsu Used:

Age : 28 Posts : 56

The thick rain limited vision, but Katsu managed to make out most of what was going on. The swell of waves was a difficult obstacle to overcome, Katsu was certainly not the most athletic of ninja, he knew that with repetitive jumping and moving he would tire quickly. Which meant he just had to end it quickly.

As his team-mates prepared to act Katsu's tactical prowess kicked into effect, quickly analyzing his options and what would be the most effective means of neutralizing the enemy. His earth jutsu were effectively useless in this environment, which meant his main method of surprise attacking was out. The easiest method of neutralizing an opponent in this situation would be by using his cramp jutsu to disable the opponents leg, if they couldn't use their legs they wouldn't be able to hop from wave to wave, or swim. In terms of being able to launch a surprise attack, Katsu would simply need to use his basic clone jutsu, the weather would greatly add to such a distraction.

Katsu grinned as he decided his plan, this could actually be easy. He watched his team-mates kick into action and adapted his plan accordingly. As a torrent of branches launched out of Yuurei, Katsu jumped into the thick of them, using the collection of branches as cover while he performed his clone jutsu. "Bunshin no Jutsu", a group of 5 clones assembled around Katsu as he leapt out of the branches, already performing hand-seals for his next jutsu.

As Katsu left the branches he noticed that two of the ninja had been knocked back, probably from a team mates jutsu, he vaguely noticed the attack against Gin, but payed it no mind. "Itai Itai Sujichigai!", all the clones shouted at once as they converged upon a very startled looking ninja. Perfect, Katsu thought, right on target. As the ninja dodged a couple of the clones, Katsu himself lunged for the targets leg. But, instead of a successful hit, Katsu instead got a mouthful of salty water as the ninja was carried up by a swell in the water.

Katsu surfaced, spitting water out of his mouth, a relieved looking ninja in the distance moving to engage the other genin. Running away when im down like this? Katsu was treading water, trying to re-establish his balance on the surface, an easy target, Why? Then he noticed the other ninja that had been hit by Gin's jutsu, a large, muscular looking man who had just finished performing hand-seals and was smiling greedily in Katsu's direction. All of a sudden a gush of water launched Katsu up into the air with shocking speed, towards the grinning pirate, who jumped up into the air towards him, fist drawn back. That technique! This is the B-rank...

Crunch.

The two ninja collided and a fist was slammed into Katsu's ribs with immense force. The pain consumed him and his vision briefly faded as he shouted in pain. He fell to the water and sunk down as his mind went dull.

Was this what I get for rushing ahead of the team? Shit, why did I do that? I should have let them get into all the danger, risk their life, I'm just supposed to sit back and support them. Why? Was I trying to prove something? Nonsense, I've got nothing to prove. I shouldn't have been so reckless... Shit...

A dull thud was turned into a flood of pain as Katsu's back hit the bottom of the lake.

I can't die here.

Adrenalin saturated Katsu's blood, his muscles straining and aching, the pain from bones that were no doubt broken faded as his eyes opened. Fists clenched and teeth gritted, the sensation Katsu felt now could only be described as blood lust.

Jutsu used:

CP: 40/50

Posts : 178

Yuurei’s branches had been used to separate the ninjas, but his teammates had also used his branches to their own advantage. He could only smile as he noticed how Gin had used them. It was a smart tactic, and he was avoided walking on the water. That would have been much difficult for him to do, then what he was doing now. The Senju only watched what his partner had done, and soon after noticed that Katsu had made his way around the vast amount of branches as well. He smiled because his technique had been useful for his friends as well.

That was when he noticed that Katsu had jumped out from the area, but there were also five other one that had appeared as well. He nodded because that was a smart thing to do. The Genin had allowed more branches to come out as they were all moving around the area. That was when he noticed that one of the pirates that were there had sent an attack on him and Gin. The Senju had no choice but to use his branches to defend himself from the incoming attack. He had brought fifteen large branches to move their way in front of the two ninjas.

The hot water had hit the branches, and he could see the steaming hot water hitting against the branches. Yuurei was surprised to see how hot this water was and he could only wondered what kind of affect it would have had, if it had touched Gin and him. He sighed because he was safe from that attack, but knew that he was going to go on the offense. The branches he used to defend himself with had allowed new branches to grow from them as they were making their way towards the man who had attacked them.

The young ninja looked over to Katsu as he figured he would help him as well. He looked over at Katsu and noticed that he indeed needed help. Yuurei had ordered his branches to lung in the direction towards his friend’s help. That was when it happened; his friend had been launched into the air, which caught Yuurei by surprise. He was not expecting this to happen to his friend, but he needed to try to help. The branches made their way towards Katsu, as he was hoping to make it on time.

The branches got there too late as he was not able to save his friend from the punch of the pirate. Yuurei could only twitch with anger from watching his friend getting hurt like that. It was not something he thought he would see for a long time, but he was wrong. The branches had slammed against the ninja who had attacked his friend. They had collided with the man whose attention was towards his friend and the water current was also affecting him. It had sent the stronger pirate away from the area as he was nervous and scared that his friend had lost his life.

”No way please be alright Katsu; Why did you go out there first anyway,” he thought to himself as he figured that he should have followed Katsu. The Senju had brought a bunch of branches to go down into the lake. The Genin was trying to retrieve his friend from under the water hoping he was alright. ”Make sure nobody attacks me from behind, or just tell me when I need to defend myself. Katsu needs my help,” he told his friend. The branches would try to retrieve Katsu, and when he grabbed onto a branch it would be sent up to the surface of the lake.

Chakra 62/70

Jutsu:

Posts : 61

Gin stood his ground, trying to think of a counter for the torrent of scolding hot water that was coming his way, a blink later, a thick wall of branches appeared in front of him as the steam emitted through the cracks. The genin looked back to Yuurei and gave him a smile, he would thank his teammate later when the danger has been averted.

Knowing that the water squirter was most likely still behind the wall of wood, Gin formed the tiger handseal to create a single bunshin of himself. The fake Gin ran off and turned the corner of the wood wall only to be met by large ice shards piercing right through him; immediately afterwards, the real Gin turned the corner on the other side of the wood wall to see a surprised pirate ninja clearly figuring out that the Gin he had hit was a mere illusion, but before he could react, the real Gin threw a kunai with an exploding note attached. With the enemy being closer, Gin had a better shot at aiming. The kunai dug into the pirate ninja's left palm; the farm boy immediately formed a seal and yelled "Katsu!" but nothing happened. A second later, Gin realized the ran must have damped the note, making the writing on it useless. But nevertheless, the pirate ninja jumped off the branches and landed on the surface of the water some meters away; the kunai bomb combo might have caused him to take a quick leave of caution.

With an open moment to check on his teammates, Gin turned to see Katsu receiving a devastating blow, sending him shooting into the water, "Katsu-san!" He yelled, shocked. For a moment, he didn't know what to do or how to react; luckily Yuurei took point and gave him an order he could follow without hesitation. As Yuurei's branches were busy looking for Katsu, Gin took a position on the ship in front of Yuurei. From his point, he could see two pirate ninjas trying to circle the ship; the muscular one who downed Katsu was moving port-side and the smaller of the three with the spikey hair was moving starboard, they were both either trying to flank Gin, or die for Yuurei behind him.

Gin knew there would be a point where he would have to split his focus on more than one target at a time, which was why he had practiced two different jutsu for such occasions, however he chose to choose the simplier one due to his lack of focus, he formed handseals "Keep away!" He yelled before he began spitting small fireballs at the pirate ninjas; he spat towards port, to starboard and back again, repeating the process until three fireballs were hurtling towards their targets.

The two pirate ninjas trying to flank stopped their charge and tried to dodge the fire balls and keep moving, but the third from each side managed to force them to jump back a meter, slowing them and giving Gin more time to defend Yuurei.

Chakra: 35/50
Kunai: 5/6
Exploding Notes: 3/4

Jutsu Used:

Age : 28 Posts : 56

There wasn't much Katsu could do in this condition. He had suffered too much damage to fight against the current of the turbulent water. Through force of will he had swam a mere 6 feet above the bottom of the lake. his breath was fading fast, and his oxygen deprived, adrenalin jacked brain struggled to find a solution. It was a truly desperate situation, and Katsu didn't even know what he would do when he reached the surface of the lake. However, consciously, non of this dire situation registered on Katsu's enraged drive to kill the pirate responsible for this.

An irregularity in the water was just barely picked up on in Katsu's struggle to rise to the surface. Narrowed eyes focused on, of all things, a tree branch. At first he merely dismissed this as a piece of debris caught in the storm and thrown to the lake bed. But it moved with intent, and Katsu ran his eyes along the length of the thing to the surface. Realization struck him, and he firmly gripped the god-send branch as it began to rise. Yuurei had bailed him out again, what a humiliation.

Katsu let go of the branch as he approached the surface, using that last bit of momentum to propel himself towards fresh air. He formed hand-seals and prepared to enact revenge against the pirate. The last of the air exited his lungs in the form of bubbles as his mouth formed the words "Haran Banshou". It was a hasty jutsu, poorly performed due to Katsu's deteriorated state of mind. But it did it's job as a rapidly moving volume of water slammed into him, propelling him to the surface. As much as Katsu tried to go with the flow of the torrent of water it still hurt, no doubt breaking a few more weakened bones. He didn't care. He took a lungful of air as he surfaced from the water, located the pirate who had hit him, and used the last force from his jutsu to alter his course towards him. He arced high into the air, forming hand-seals as he went.

The B-rank pirate knew things were going well, none of his crew were truly damaged yet, and they had already made short work of one of the opponents. His punch hadn't been enough to kill the genin, just disable him. From his personal experience he knew that the rest of the team would try to retreat with their injured. He didn't plan on letting them. He dodged a few fireballs and prepared to counter-attack. However, his attention was disrupted by the kid he had hurt earlier flying towards him. He swiveled to face him, "Sorry kid, you're not going to survive this time". He drew his fist back as the incoming ninja looked at him with rage filled eyes. He then punched straight through the boys chest. The pirate was slightly shocked as the boy simple dispersed into the air, realizing too late that it was a clone. A foot landed on his stretched out fist.

Katsu kicked off the pirates fist, using it to spin himself downwards. The Kunai he held in his hand, with the combined force of his spinning, falling momentum, was driven towards the targets forehead. As he fell towards him he opened his mouth to swear at the man, but what came out was a simple, angry, roar. It all happened in an instant. With such incredible force Katsu drove the kunai straight through the pirates forehead. It was an instant death as his brain was skewered and turned to mush.

The deceased pirate stood their, a stunned look remaining on his face. Katsu flew past him and tumbled and cartwheeled uncontrollably in an arc across the water. His speed caused him to skip like a rock off the surface a few times, before finally his face plowed through the water and brought him to a stop. The injured Katsu floated, face down, on the surface of the lake, motionless, but still barely clinging onto conciousness.

Jutsu used:

CP: 31/50

Posts : 178

Yuurei had done all that he could to help his friend. He was not excited about what happened, for it had placed doubt on how he was able to help his team out. He was a tactical person, or that was how most of his techniques made him out to be. The Genin knew this for a while, but the jutsus he knew brought people into checkmate instead of taking them down. He just knew that he would have to get stronger, if he ever wanted to lead this team, or any team in the future. His branches were sent into the water as he could sense the pressure of current hitting the wood.

He stood his ground as he didn't move from his spot. He could hear fighting happening, and he knew that Gin was doing his best. The Senju could only smile because his friend was doing his best to have his back. On the other hand, he was searching for Katsu as he was hoping that he wasn't too late. The young ninja's branches came out of the water as they were shooting out with the wood of his technique being moist. He could see the silhouette of someone rising from the water. He smiled because he knew it had to be Katsu.

His attention could only change to one of the pirate ninjas that were present. It was actually the one that had been running away. Yuurei could only see that he was grabbing his hand, and that he was trying to remove what he spotted to be a Kunai pierced through his palm. The young boy only smirked when he saw what Gin had done to him. The branches that were around the vicinity only spread out like wildfire, as more were quick to lengthen in size and soar through the sky, and towards this criminal.

Yuurei's branches started to crash into the water as they were trying to slam against the pirate. He was quick on his feet, even though the currents were harsh. The Senju could see that he had enough experienced in this type of terrain. This was the reason that he chose to stay on the ship and not put himself in a disadvantage. Still, he had the man on the run and he made sure that every time his branches had crash into the water that only more would spread from it and made their way towards the injured pirate.

He heard a noise that had resonated through the area not far from him. It sounded as if someone had hit the water really hard, but he wasn't sure who it was. The Genin was desperate to see, but knew that taking this guy down would be his safest bet. The pirate ninja was running around the area as he was seen dodging the branches that came from the small Senju. He just smiled as he had forcefully gotten the man to turn run around in a circle and was surrounded by the branches that he had created.

The ninja had made hands seals as he prepared to destroy them as he had finally gotten the kunai out of his hand. Yuurei noticed that he had performed two water whips and started cracking them onto his branches. He was surprised that the man would fight back, but knew this would happen. He was a ninja after all, and if he just lost without a fight, then it wouldn't have been a fight. Still, the fact that he had rushed away from the small ship was the man's downfall. Yuurei was an all around fighter, but this guy was at a distance that he wouldn't have been able to hit him.

The branches were overwhelming at this point; the pirate had to have known this by now as he looked over to see that his companion was taken out. He sighed as he knew what was coming, and he honestly couldn't believe that he had been taken out by such a tiny person. One branch had hit the man, and soon many others branches had slammed themselves onto the pirate. Yuurei could only force the man's body to move back and forth as if he was punching him with simple, but multiple punches.

The pirate could only drop to his knees from all the blows and looked over to Yuurei. He had a distasteful look on his face as Yuurei shook his head as he didn't want to get distracted right now. The Senju had stopped the transformation of his arm, as he pulled his arm back. He had separated himself from his jutsu, but he was clearly not done there. The Genin had performed new hands seals and without a second of hesitation a massive amount of spikes had appeared all over his branches.

Yuurei had pinned anybody who was in between his branches right there as he sighed to look over and see if Katsu was okay. He noticed that his friend was floating on above the water, but looked like he couldn't move on his own that was not good. The Senju performed hands seals again and changed his arm into a branch again. This time the branches had gone straight towards the Yamanaka and it slowly wrapped around the young man. He just looked lift him and brought the boy back to the boat.

Yuurei had also allowed a couple of his branches to make their way towards the ship in front of them. He figured they could get on the ship by using his branches. The Senju had a bunch of branches collide between the ship and he easily placed branches on their boat. He figured that Gin would be able to take care of the other pirate without anybody's help. The young ninja had rushed over to Katsu now as he was quick to slide to the teenager. "Are you okay Katsu? You took him out, but look at the cost. Do you think you could heal yourself?" he asked wondering if his friend would be able to talk back.

Chakra 54/70

Jutsu:

Posts : 61

Gin's eyes shifted from left to right, he couldn't leave his spot to go after one ninja and risk the other attacking Yuurei while he was on a rescue operation. However as soon as the two enemy ninjas moved towards him, something shot out of the water at his seven o'clock, Gin dared not removed his gaze from his current trouble. At first he figured he was another of the enemy's attacks, but seeing Katsu deliver a diving blow to the larger pirate ninja, his stress was slightly lifted and his position didn't need to be held any longer.

Yuurei extended his branches again to which Gin took advantage and ran along them as they spread outward over the water, creating it's own battlefield while trying to contain the enemy. As Yuurei's focused enemy ran from the branches, so did the spiky haired pirate ninja while keeping away from Gin who was trying to keep a certain distance away from him. Gin then picked up the pace and ran a bit faster, but as he ran along the moving branches, the spiked haired pirate darted away along the surface of the moving water.

When Gin noticed he was being led in a circle, he decided to set up a trap; he quickly formed seals before pulling out all of his nine senbon and throwing them to an open area in the branches, allowing the chakra laced needles to sink into the bark, hopefully it didn't harm Yuurei. Gin changed his course and ran an arc towards a point where his foe would be, but his foe noticed and decided to double back while forming seals; a large amount of water in the shape of a shark shot out of the lake and attacked Gin; the farmboy, in panic, dropped down to a lower branch path as the water shark broke through several higher branches before dissipating back into natural water. Heart racing, Gin pursued, forcing the running foe to run into his trapped area while he began tying ninja wire to three shurikens.

The spiked hair ninja began forming seals again to perform another jutsu, but it was too late; the unaware pirate ninja was close enough to allow Gin to release the trap which he did by forming the tiger seal. The senbons shot from the branches above the pirate, digging into his back, shoulders, and his right foot, but even though the attack landed, he was still able to release his jutsu; Gin jumped to the side to try and dodge the scolding hot water that was spewed from the enemy's mouth, but was still hit on his left elbow. Wincing in pain, he forced himself to follow the spiked foe who had hopped into the branches, most likely to gain cover now that he was limping.

But even though the branches were now thick like a small forest, Gin's perception were nothing to take lightly. Once he saw his foe trying to cover cover behind a thick trunk, he threw his three wired shurikens which then arced around the enemy, tying him and pinning him to the bark he leaned on. Gin pulled on the string as he arced around until he was face to face with the pirate ninja but at a distance. His elbow was still in burning pain which fueled Gin's irritation and added onto his anger; the thought of asking the foe questions had left his mind and was replaced with the other option of ending it now. He quickly formed handseals, he took a deep breath "Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu!" and a stream of fire escaped his lips and shot forward, running along the wire he held like a mine cart running along rails until it collided with the foe's pinned body in a small explosion. A small portion of Yuurei's small forest was set on fire and charred.

Gin dropped the wire and stared at the scene, he realized he might have stepped over the line, but he argued with himself mentally that he couldn't think straight; even now, the pain from his elbow irritated him; his focus was being disturbed. He shook his head before heading back to the boat where Yuurei and Katsu were, hoping that Katsu could heal his burn so he could return to his proper way of thinking. He cursed when he came to see the medic unconscious. "What now?" he turned to Yuurei, his breath heavy and his cloths soaking wet.

Senbons 0/9
Shurikens 7/10
12m String 0/1
Chakra: 23/50

Jutsus Used:

Age : 28 Posts : 56

Katsu floated for a while, rain pummelling down on his back. As adrenalin left his system and his mind resumed normal function, he became all too aware of how badly he had been damaged. As he struggled to lift himself from the surface of the water pain consumed him in violent protest. He managed to lift his neck above the turbulent water, taking a gulp of fresh air. I have to get back to the ship, I can't just lay here like this, he thought. Fear struck him as he felt something wrap around him. He weakly struggled as he was lifted into the air, until he realized that, once again, it was Yuurei. "Goddamn you Yuurei, I can help myself." he muttered under his breath.

It was humiliating to be treated like this. Katsu had imagined himself to be more capable then either of the two youth on his team. Yet here they were, bruised but standing, saving him from his own failure. Katsu frowned, he had been far too reckless, he was supposed to be the one who stood back and supported his team, not the one to charge ahead. He was, at the very least, somewhat thankful that he had learned his lesson without losing his life. Yet, still, he shouldn't allow people to see him like this. It's harder to lead someone who has seen you broken and beaten.

He was placed down, and simply rested on the deck of the ship, trying to calm his mind and focus on the situation at hand. Yuurei ran over and began speaking. Katsu clenched his teeth, he was in no mood to put up with his criticism. "I can tell the fucking cost Yuurei, just give me a moment". Katsu closed his eyes, laying perfectly still while collecting his thoughts and adjusting to the pain.

He heard Gin run over, the entire team was here, that must have meant that they had been victorious. After the boy's question Katsu opened his eyes. "Go grab the guy we're looking for, quickly, I just need to rest for a bit". He groaned as he sat up, his body shaking and aching from the effort. Then he performed hand-seals, before placing his hand on his chest. "Shindan Shuhou". A mental image of his body materialized in Katsu's mind, indicating where his injuries were worst. "It's all in the torso, broken and fractured ribs mostly." The pain only grew worse now that Katsu knew what his condition was. Thankfully, as a ninja, he had a high pain tolerance, else he would probably have passed out by now. He formed another set of hand-seals, before holding his hand to his chest. "Shousen no Jutsu". Chakra channelled from his hands to his broken ribs, slowly beginning to mend the damage.

On the pirate ship the remaining three crew, all non-ninja with little to no combat capabilities, scattered about trying to manoeuvre the ship to make an escape. The missing fiancé, still tied to a mast, smiled in anticipation of his immanent rescue.

Jutsu used:

CP: 15/50