Major Escort [Saburo/Dray]

Three musketeers off on a perilous business journey. Well, in actuality only two of them were notable in strength, while the other wielded greater political power. The man was a politician from the Land of Snow in his 40s, who had requested Kumogakure assistance in escorting him back, for most of his guards were taken out by powerful road bandits and the ones who survived are still recovering in one of Kumogakure’s hospitals. The Daimyo of the Land of Lightning looked upon it as a favor if the military that is Kumogakure would be so kind as to assure the man’s security, and thus two of the village’s best ANBU Black Ops were dispatched. They were walking along on top of a mountain plain, almost near the borders between the land of Snow and the Land of Lightning. Ice was taking lead in front, while Saburo strutted behind him, with the client sandwiched in between. They could demonstrate more might than any group of ninja that the Land of Snow has. The two men wore masks to conceal their identity and rarely conversed on their way to the nation. Although Saburo himself would have liked to talk with the politician - in order to gain more foreign leverage in the future no doubt, but that was better done if he was sent alone on this mission and not with someone who could easily eavesdrop on him. Plus, it allowed him to better sense his surroundings on the imminent danger that is surely to come...

As they exited the huge gates of kumogakure, dray's mind was on it's toes. He wasn't ready to allow even the slightest bit of danger come to their client. Not because he was important or of any benefit to dray but for the fact that he was in their care. As they progressed, dray was walking in front with his ace eyes scanning every possible threat while saburo was behind with the client beneath them. Dray was aware that a man with such power would surely have many enemies after him but dray wished that this enemies would not seek his life while he was under dray's care.
For the raikage to dispatch two of kumogakure's notable anbu members, then the man must highly be in danger. As they kept on walking, the crossed the borders of the land of lighting and they were now within the area between the land of snow and the land of lightning. A perfect place for bandits or assasins to attack. Adjusting his wolf mask, dray peered carefully as he saw a black clothing besides a mountain. The owner had probably carelessly left it there or forgot to place it well in the process of hiding. The suspicious materials was to their north east as dray slowed in his steps and said calmly to saburo without causing the client to panic...Suspicion at two O'clock
WC:240

Saburo noticed the deceleration in Ice's pacing, for because he was positioned ahead of Saburo, he was about to notice the discrepancy in their surroundings before Saburo could. A brief word from the Yuki was all Saburo needed. He quickly turned his head towards the angle indicated and saw one what appeared to be a black shade besides a nearby mountain. All these rats.... Saburo thought. Just then, something set off several meters behind him and Saburo turned to see that it was a large cloud of smoke, obscuring his view of whatever was behind it. Ten seconds later, a figure revealed himself as a dual blade-wielding bandit wearing a brown cloak with a hood over his face. Saburo studied his posture and stance. Clearly this was an expert fighter. At the same time, from a small puddle just ten meters ahead of where Dray was emerged another figure with the same appearance, but this time he had with him a large kama. The bandit had utilized the Hiding in Water technique to try to sneak up on the foolish man and his escorts. The third bandit was still hiding besides the mountain. Saburo made sure to be aware of their client's presence, for they were about to take on numbers equal to their own party. Crunching his fist, a snide expression appeared on Saburo's face. "And all these rats have to be whacked".

The member 'V' has done the following action : Dices roll

'Die' : 8

Saburo got dray's coded information pretty well as the two o'clock in his warning was about thirty degrees right to their north.
Dray could feel a change in the atmosphere as he knew that something was wrong. Just then, something set off far behind dray probably behind saburo as dray turned partially to check the safety of their client while still keeping an eye on his own surroundings. What exploded probably a smoke bomb caused a large cloud of smoke that could obstruct vision as a bandit wielding two blades appeared before saburo..
With this occurence, dray was aware that just one bandit couldn't attack alone so, there had to be more as he now kept more focused on his surrounding though he was still calm as he well knew that the bandits would plan on taking out the escorts first before the man himself.

Confirming dray's suspicion about the bandit not attacking alone, a figure wearing something resembling a black cloak and a hood over his face wielding a weapon similar to a sickle. The bandit came from a water puddle using the hiding in water technique...so, the water puddle tech eh... Dray thought.. He could hear saburo crunching his fist.. So he was also in the mood eh..... As adrenaline was filling up within dray, dray looked to see saburo as they were back against each other with the client between them before looking back at his opponent...
now, I see something we are similar in... dray said with a coarse voice due to the anbu wolf mask he wore.
WC:270

The bandit nearest to Saburo threw up two of his blades, but by clapping his hands, the swords stopped in mid-air to hover around him. With an additional eight seals, eight copies of those swords were made, allowing the bandit an arsenal of ten swords at his disposal. Saburo could clearly tell that with chakra running through them, the style of fighting the bandit was using centered on using his swords in a versatile manner and extend their melee range. Which means when ranged fighting is no longer applicable, a chink will open up in the enemy’s defenses. Which is perfect for Saburo who is a brutal close combat specialist. “I trust that I can leave you to take care of your own life!” Saburo said as he ran forward a few meters towards the direction of the bandit, just as the bandit would be sending all ten blades flying right at Saburo’s direction. Saburo successfully weaved six handseals before those blades were able to fly into his range. “Ninja Art: Needle Jizo..” Chakra spread through his dead hair cells and enhanced their metabolism, increasing their length and size while also strengthening his golden flame-like locks and sharpening their edge, giving them the shape of needles. A warm layer of a fabulous, golden, hairy protection wrapped completely around Saburo’s body, while leaving his skin unpricked from the inside. With chakra running through his hair, the ten blades stopped right along the surface of his needle hair barrier. He de-activated the jutsu in order to regain his mobility, but not before plucking off a few hair needles. Seperated from the rest of the hive, Saburo fired these darts towards the bandit, like bees ready to give a good sting to whatever prick was standing in the way. But unfortunatley the bandit dodged the needles and went into hiding behind a rock. This did give Saburo a chance to pick up one of the man’s swords and jog over to where the man was hiding behind the rock. He turned around to see how Dray was handling his own battle before turning back and continue to be on his way to shove the tip of the blade up the little bugger’s ass….


380/400

So it was fend for yourself eh..... The enemy was advancing yet dray kept his ground. The only thing that was partially holding him back was the client. The want to protect him. Dray still kept an eye on who definetly was the third bandit hiding behind a rock. The one who's cloak dray had earlier seen before alerting saburo. Dray had heard saburo and his opponent begin with saburo flinging into action saying that he believed dray could handle himself.
Well well, time to do away with this pesky things as dray liked to call them....

The enemy almost like dray was not the rushy type. Pretty analytic maybe but what dray was about to do was what almost every ninja would fall for. The bandit raised his kama as he came for dray. The speed at which he was accelerating would make it impossible to dodge so, he would just resort to parring off the projectiles which dray was about to throw. Getting on with the plan, still with the client between dray and saburo, dray reached for four kunais, holding two in both hands and lacing them with explosive tags... The boom sound of explosives seem to excite dray and he loved using this attack more than ever..

As the bandit got within five metres of dray, dray launched two projectiles at the hooded man's upper body and the remaining two at his legs.. As dray had expected, besides the fact that he could dodge the projectiles due to the speed at which he was accelerating, he must have probablu felt that four mere kunais were an insult to his ninja prowess as he simply parred off the kunais with his sickle- like weapon but then did the effect of the real attack take place. Upon contact, the kunais exploded but luckily for him, only his left arm and thigh received second degree burns.. and this drastically slowed his speed.

Taking this advantage, dray unsheathed his A-ranked anbu sword on his back under his fuuma shuriken and flung towards the incoming problem.
WC:348

After seeing that Dray was engaging in his own match-up, Saburo continued his assault on his cowardly opponent. His mind raced, diverging in thought before converging on tactic. He composed several strategies with which to commandeer the battle while he got ready to pounce on his target, the assailant’s blade in hand. But Saburo received a surprise when he saw that pebbles started to levitate around the rock the assailant was hiding behind. A second later, the rock dislodged from the ground and jumped into the air, levitating fifteen meters above the ground and hovering above Saburo. The bandit had used a Doton to manipulate rock, and now was on top of the piece of rock, holding the last seal for the jutsu that he used. Without uttering another word, the bandit broke the formation for the seal and the rock immediately descended down upon Saburo, but not before the bandit had jumped off from it. A light grin formed on the crime mob’s face as his hands cupped together, palms touching and fingers interlaced to mold the familiar formation for Snake. A cousin of the Needle Jizo, chakra ran through Saburo’s hair once more and rapidly increased their length and size, strengthening the durability and strength of each of his thousands of golden hair strands as bundles of them darted at the falling rock like streaks of yellow flames. “Wild Lion’s Mane Technique!” His hair flowed all around the place, forming something like a barrier that enclosed both him and the falling bandit as well as bringing up several barricades of his own hair that obstructed view of Saburo’s actions both within and outside of the hair barrier. The violent flow of motion caused a lot of background noise, thus muffling out Saburo’s own utterances as well. His chakra-enhanced hair was able to stop the motion of the rock and bring it back down with a violent thump several meters away from Saburo. After that happened, everything that obstructed the pathway between the bandit and he were cleared, revealing an open battleground as his own hair cells started to retreat half-way back into the top of Saburo’s head. But something was missing. For the sword that was once in Saburo’s hands had disappeared, vanished into thin air while he his hair had surrounded the distance between the two men. Saburo pointed behind the bandit, who realized too late the harbringer of his own death.

Za Warudo carried the assailant’s weapon in its hand, staring down at the clueless bandit. The moment he turned, Za Warudo swung the blade, cleaving off his head and thus executing the offender. “And the first one goes down…” Saburo said. As part of his massive hair was still active, no one behind him would witness the actions that had taken place. Saburo had simply activated his Stand while he had barricaded the bandit and he in a barrier of his own liking, passed the sword onto Za Warudo, and had his Stand circumnavigate around to get to the bandit’s back without his knowing because Saburo’s hair had obstructed his view. De-activating the Stand, Za Warudo lost shape and form and vanished from existence, returning back into the deepest confines of Saburo’s soul. He had commited a perfect kill and now he was able to de-activate a hair jutus for the second time, returning his home to their normal activity.

But right after then, something long and sharp swooshed through the air. Saburo turned towards the angle Dray indicated earlier; the bandit that was hiding behind the mountain made his move. With a bow, he had shot out a perculiar looking arrow. It had a reinforcd tip and seemed almost more like a spear rather than an arrow. and yet it was spinning rapidly towards his way, dozens of meters away, no doubt with chakra running through it.

“Hmph. A boy is coming out of his shell…”

360/400

The man had quite an endurance to still be able to move properly with the burns he had suffered from. All the client did was shiver between saburo and dray. That is what happen when you have no power. No form of defense. Political power might have been something but what does that power hold against merciless bandits. Nothing! Now, when the client gets to his own land, he begins to execute his powers here and there but why can't those so- called powers help him here. Dray just waved off the thoughts from his mind and focused on the incoming opponent. Such filty people and now, this bandit was messing with him. Dray tried to control it but this time, it seemed to get out of his control. As the bandit lunged in to land a strike, dray parred it off with his katana creating an opening to strike the man and dray did not think twice before stabbing right through his heart or somewhere around it. Then, the most annoying thing happend. The man poofed into a log of wood. If that was a replacement, then the real one had to be... Coming from above dray was the bandits who had just finished weaving a set of handseals as about thirty shurikens were now launched in the air towards dray. The man had used the multiplication technique.. Now now, dray too didn't go to the academy for nothing..He looked and he was sure that the bandit was about five metres away from the client and he was about four metres from him. He was closer and at that moment, he saw saburo run off in another direction without his opponent in sight.
so, dray just allowed himself to be hit by the shurikens as he also poofed into a log of wood utilizing the body replacement technique. He appeared about eight metres away from the bandit that had landed on the ground too.. Dray could now feel the rage channel through his every veins and mixing with his adrenaline. This badit had sure pissed him off. Fighting in an annoying but supplementary manner. Dray too started by taking things lightly so the bandit might have probably underestimated dray and the client might have thought of dray as incapable too..
Dray spoke out loud to the bandit that did not seem to care at first...You have managed to piss me off and escape your death with little tricks but that won't stop me from sealing your fate. Now, you shall see my power.... Dray concluded as he pressed his wolf mask tightly to his face.. Performing the requird handseal, a water clone appeared standing right in fron of him. With a quick series of handseals, the clone slammed it's hands on the ground as the earth beneath the target changed to ice as three dragons swiftly pinned him down in a crucifying form.
Now, closing both of his legs, dray performed a long series of handseals that seemed fast due to his prowess in ninjutsu. The clouds above the opponent rumbled as ice spears fell down around the opponent and quickly converged, encasing him in solid ice. This was an S- rank technique and in little to no time, the bandit would be frozen dead.. Tell your ancestors Ice sent you.. dray murmured as he dissipated the clone in water and headed in saburo's direction..
WC:578

Saburo jumped away from the arrow’s path, and it landed, unleashing what could only be described as a chakra explosion from the tip when it crashed to the ground, creating a crater right on where it landed. Oof…. looks like those things pack quite a punch.. Saburo could hear Dray running towards him as he had finished his battle, but it was then did Saburo realize the bandit’s next target. Looking back at the mountain where the guy was hiding, Saburo could see another arrow being prepared and aimed. He traced where the trajectory was going to land at, and saw that their client was the target. “This little snitch…” Saburo croaked, forming some hand seals before he converted his chakra to that of the Wind element. “Wind Release: Spiral Air Mines!” Eight spheres of wind hovered around Saburo, just as the arrow was released at high speed towards the vulnerable client. Saburo sent in one of his air mines to home in on the arrow, and intercept its trajectory. Once it had done so, the air mine immediately exploded, releasing an expanding sphere of compressed wind that deflected the arrow, bouncing it back at high speed towards its shooter. After that, Saburo bent low and focused chakra to his feet, before leaping off with a massive burst, landing on the side of the mountain. The bandit no doubt would have avoided his own attack being sent back at him, but so long as Saburo could close the distance and remove the bandit’s advantage at ranged combat, he will eliminate him while he still has him in his sights. He'd admit that the bandit could run fast, so he had his balls get ahead of him, and surrounded him with seven floating air spheres. Saburo just watched from a distance away while he got the rat trapped what the next move will be....


340/400

With dray's bandit fully encased in ice, dray continued heading towards saburo leaving the client since the only opponent left was in saburo's direction.. Getting closer and closer to saburo, his figure was now as clear to dray as ever.. He seemed to stop for a second like something was happening.. Then, saburo leapt away from the path of something bright that landed and exploded colorfully..following that attack did about eight circular balls of wind hover around saburo as he seemed to send one of them at something moving causing another explosion after which saburo leapt into the air and landed about a mountain probably trying to intercept the attacker..

All the while, dray was still running towards the same direction.. Looking to see their client safe, saburo might probably use a hand if not two as dray body flicker and appeared on the right side of the mountain since saburo landed on the mountain's left side..

WC:200

Saburo had the last man standing cornered within his field of spiraling hovering air mines. Taking his stance thirteen meters from where the target was, Saburo stood watching to see what the assailant’s next move was. And as expected, it wasn’t smart. Taking the aim to ready his arrow, the bandit pulled his arrow along the string of his bow to shoot it at Saburo. There appeared to be a gap junction between two air mines that would have led a path straight to Saburo’s heart. In a blink of an eye, the bandit released his hold over the arrow and sent it flying straight at Saburo. But the Daitaishou was an analytical man, and could see what the man was playing at. Reacting in an instant to the attack, Saburo simply closed the two spheres an inch together, sandwiching the arrow in between them right at the tip. This set off by the explosion from the tip of the arrow as well as the explosion of the two air mines. In terms of recoil, this probably won’t do much to the bandit himself, but one thing he didn’t count on was the pinball effect. The air from one explosion triggered another an air mine to go off, which also set off a string of the other remaining air mines too. The bandit was caught off guard by this chain of air mines expanding at once, thus he was sent tumbling by one air mine to another air mine, and then to another mine, until the fifth air mine going off sent him crashing to the ground at high velocity. He was disorientated as surely the wind explosions would have knocked his brain inside his skull around a good deal, so he probably couldn’t even stand and tune in to his surroundings. Furthermore, his body would be battered, if not rendered useless from what he’d register as an instantaneous concussive force that blew him away. Saburo looked over to the incoming Ice, who was coming from the other side. “Ice, good sir. You wanna finish off this little jagoff?” Saburo offered.

Being an anbu required quality in everything. Speed, reflexes, reaction and most importantly, uniqueness.
Dray was beginning to like saburo. Within the moment that Dray had taken to get to the other side of the mountain, saburo had manifested an art of brutally. Signing beautifully on the bandit that was now laying at dray's feet. Dray was unaware of what saburo might have done to the bandit to cause such damage but whatever it was, it was one hell of a skill. The bandit now lying at dray's feet was so helpless. The first bandit had been killed off by saburo, the second definetly dead by now as a result of his blood vessels contracting and his blood freezing due to him being in an ice enclosure, and the third bandit now at the mercy of dray as saburo had teasingly asked dray to finish him off.. Being a lover of art, dray wondered what he could do with the to- be- dead man. Dray definetly could not kill him with a bastard technique, that would seem a bit of over- killing considering the fact that he was almost dead. Slitting his throat would be so fast that dray would not be able to savor the moment of his death besides, dray did not want to disappoint saburo by refusing to kill the bandit and that was when the idea struck in. Maybe dray had something better. Something in handy.. Perhaps, the bandit was tired from the fight and so hungry that he needed to eat..
Going down to the bandit, dray pulled off the leather glove on his right hand and said in a disguised voice caused by his wolf mask..perhaps, I could treat you to lunch....he concluded as he opened the mouth of the helpless bandit and released into it liquidated ice that ejected from dray's right palm over his mouth.. The bandit eyes were wide open as he could not struggle. Completing the process, dray put his hand to the bandit's neck as he felt it solid enough. Dray had used his ice affinity technique by releasing liquidated ice that would solidify upon contact so the bandit's oesophagus, lungs and other parts the liquid ice could reach were probably frozen now.
Stepping onto the bandit with his left foot, dray landed his right foot with force upon the bandits face as he tilted it to the side as the sound of bones snapping and ice shackling could be heard.. Facing saburo, dray said..beautiful enough.. their work was almost done. All they needed do was reach yukigakure which was only a few miles away though dray still knew saburo would notice the ice dome dray hadn't broken yet.. Such brilliant art..
WC:468

Saburo watched as Ice, as his name befits him, gave the bandit a very cold treatment. Brutality expressed itself through this man, as the victim’s internals were stuffed with frost and subsequently the man psychologically crumbled away under Ice’s foot. He would never be able to operate properly as a human being ever again. “Nice. He needs to cool down a bit”, Saburo mused before another leap carried him back to the road they were traveling on. He could see that the client was still safe. At first he was bellowing for protection, but now he was praising the two ANBU operatives for a job well done and expressed his gratitude for Kumogakure’s special military force. Saburo was only happy to accept the man’s happiness, reminded him what his name once, and said that he’d be happy to be called upon by him at any time. And so, the seeds were sown.
Saburo looked at the ice sculpture Dray crafted using a bandit as a model. Like glittering blue jewels, the bandit’s final agony displayed itself. Ice was able to preserve human suffering, showing it off to passer-bys who stop to admire it. Perhaps it would even discourage equally naughty highwaymen from trying to rob people blind. Saburo pointed his finger at the bandit encased in ice while looking at Ice with a light grin on his face. “This man… this man would make a nice painting. You captured him while he was letting out all of his human emotions. He has lived his life huhuh…”, Saburo said.

They would continue off on their journey to Yukigakure, arriving at their destination in about a hour. Saburo saw off the man at the border, as he was now in his own land accompanied by shinobi from his own village now. The village was not far off, so they would get there safely. Saburo reminded the politician who he was and said that he can be personally requested by him at any time. He hoped to do business later on.


[Mission Completed]

Saburo commended dray's skill though dray was not flattered. He also commended saburo's abilities and apart from their anbu captain, it needs not be proved that saburo and ice were the top ninjas of the village.
Saburo took a leap back to their route where the client was as dray body flickered over. The client who was afraid earlier now had a broad smile on his face. He had nothing else to say than to thank Ice and saburo.
Getting a glimpse of the beautiful sculpture dray had crafted, saburo talked about his artistic skills and dray snickered inside..a lesson to other bandits huh..
They continued their journey off to the land of snow as they got there in about an hour. Escorting him to his border as shinobi from the snow came for him. Saburo and the man exchanged goodbyes as dray and saburo set to return to the village hidden in the clouds..
WC:158
Total wc:2262
MISSION COMPLETED