Lustful Gathering[Event Mission]

Makoto would also see the man appear as he would nod his head in agreement with Rei. This indeed was a chakra bomb, with massive power. The bomb was growing to be the size of the man's head as Rei would give out an order on distraction. This wasn’t really Makoto’s strong suit since he was a more face to face fighter, no tricks needed. Makoto would watch as Homura created the basic clones they learned in academy to act as if they were going to attack the beast, or the man, or whatever he was. Anybody who was even remotely close to being a good ninja knew these were fakes, Makoto could tell immediately based off his doujutsu but the clones also lacked shadows which was a big part. Makoto would eye the beast down as he used instincts to decide what move he used.

Makoto had to be accurate to hit the beast but not hit Homura’s clones as this was the ultimate trial. He would rare both arms back as to everybody else he just palmed the air but within moments you would see the grass tear up from underneath the surge of wind as Makoto would palm with his other hand using the jutsu for both hands. Should the jutsu contact the man in time it would cause him to be knocked off balance for Rei to do whatever he was planning. Makoto would then back up to behind Rei as he knew whatever was up his sleeves had to deal with bombs and explosions. As he waited on the signal, the thought of them dying became extremely clear as this was no ordinary foe they were dealing with, this man came to kill them. Makoto would assume position on Rei’s signal and cover his head, although his face was down it didn’t change a thing due to the fact that he could see everything with his byakugan.

Jutsu Used:

900/1000 Chakra Left

For what they were worth, the two younger shinobi seemed to provide a fair distraction for Rei. Homura cast the clone technique, simple but effective for ambushes when they were only fighting one foe. Makoto had gone with a signature hyuga technique, Jyuken. Between the multiple Homura rushing the  chakra cloaked man, and Makoto's powerful strike rushing across the field to strike the man square in the torso- this gave Rei ample time and positioning to execute his tactic. 

Even though Rei was covered from head to toe in a suit of bone armor, a secondary bone sprung out from his body around his chest. This bone was singular like a jagged spear and extended outwards- covering the distance between Rei and the charging chakra monstrous man. His bone spear stabbed into many of Homura's clones on the way, not dispersing them but using them as a cover for his ambush attack. He could only hope that the clones directly in front of him, wasn't the real Homura. Not that he cared too much personally about the girl... but it would be too much of a hassle with having someone die on his mission.

Just after Makoto's technique slammed into the stranger and unbalanced him, Rei's own bone spear would have closed the short distance between them. His strike was flawless, as he had aimed just beneath the charging chakra bomb, right at the man's blind spot. This attack, mixed with Homura and Makoto's distractions, overwhelmed the man which was focusing solely on charging the chakra bomb he planned to annihilate these meddlesome shinobi with. Maybe it was his carelessness, or perhaps he just underestimated the three he had been toying with up until now. Whatever the case, he found himself at a huge disadvantage suddenly. Although Makoto's attack was mild in the terms of damage to his chakra cloaked body, it had offset his balance. His eyes had darted around the many clones of Homura to find the real body. That was when he was struck by the spear, just underneath his chin and tore a jagged hole into the side of his throat.

The violent motion of the bone spear, along with his sudden loss of concentration, as well as Makoto's attack: caused the man to lose his positioning, as well as his hold on the charging chakra bomb. !!! He was truly surprised but yet he still didn't say a word. The closest he came to speaking was a gurgled choke as blood filled his mouth. The chakra bomb was released and shot like a cannon, up and over Rei's head. The ball would sail high and then fall onto a distant plot of land, exploding on impact and created an explosion that the three scouting shinobi could feel from the great distance away. If he had released that attack up close... not only us, but he would have been wiped out too! Rei thought to himself as stood as a bastion against the explosion which seemed to come closer and closer by the second.

He was covered in a powerful bone armor, even the strange assailant's initial ambush hadn't cracked his bone armor. The nearby explosion was nothing compared to his defense. No, his eyes were trained on the bleeding man, which appeared to be dying from his mortal wound. As the explosion rocked the nearby land, Rei stood motionless and watched him. Ready to send more explosives his way if he did anything other than dying. Blood seeped out from his chakra cloaked body from his throat wound and the man grabbed at his wound wildly in vain. The hold on his chakra cloak began to disappear. Yet the strangest thing happened. As the man died on his feet, he fell to the ground. As his chakra cloak began to disperse, so too did his body. There was nothing left for the three of the shinobi to learn about his identity or show as proof of their battle with this dangerous individual. Finally, the shockwave of the nearby explosion would dissipate and leave an annoying ringing sound in the three shinobi's ears for a short time. A sound Rei was all too familiar with. "Kept your identity hidden to the very end huh..." Rei said out loud in an amused but dispassionate tone. He would turn to Makoto and Homura with his typical annoying smile "We survived at least. Although we took on more than we bargained for. We should return to our villages and make a proper report. Makoto, we will travel with you back to our initial staging point. Then we will have to split up." Rei would take one last glance at the spot the monster of the man had died and disappeared. Something felt wrong and he had some suspicions, but they would have to wait until he learned more. One look in the other direction verified that this Bijuu was all but gone from their current location. Likely to find another village to feast upon.

The bone came careening through Homura's clones until it stabbed through the monster's body. The beast went down, its large chakra ball soaring in the air before landing a few feet away. Homura had to hide behind a few walls as the explosion from the chakra bomb went off. The radius from the blast was strong, but the shockwave was even more so. She had to hold her ears so that they didn't burst and curl her body for any random debris that decided to come and hit her. She closed her eyes too, for the sheer magnitude of the explosion brought about a bright light that would probably blind her if she stared at it.

When the explosion was over, Homura came from her hiding hole. "Is it... Is it over?" She asked. She looked around but she didn't see a body. It seemed like the monster had died, though. The last thing she remembered was the monster falling over after Rei stabbed it. She didn't see anything else. Though, Rei seemed less on guard from before, so the monster must've either died and disappeared or been mortally wounded and disappeared.

She could barely hear what Rei was saying. The ringing in her ears kept her from understanding everything. She could read his lips a bit, though. He said something about survived, return, and travel. It seemed that, by this point, the mission was over. Thank Buddha, she thought to herself. This entire mission had been more than she bargained for. She only thought that she was here for reconnaissance, but apparently, more happened than she had expected. It was high time that she got away from this land as fast as possible.

"ARE YOU SURE THERE IS NO ONE ELSE FOLLOWING US?!" Homura had to scream. Her ears were still ringing, so she wasn't aware of her own volume level. She had to speak a great deal louder just to hear herself. "THE HYUUGA SHOULD PROBABLY TAKE ANOTHER LOOK AROUND."

Even though Makoto had his head covered as he was on the ground, due to his byakugan he witnessed everything. Both him and Homura’s attacks had worked successfully as Rei went in for the kill. Makoto would seem to be amazed in the strength of Rei as he soon saw how much more powerful, he was over Makoto. Makoto would also see the chakra bomb fly into the air and land at a nearby plot of land, Makoto would hear the bomb hit before he felt it within a few seconds there would be a gush of wind and dust that hit as he would stay down in his bomb position the whole time.  

Makoto would get up as he looked at Rei covered in bone armor. Makoto’s ears weren't shot to the explosion, he could actually hear just fine. He would listen to him as he would start to think about the man that appeared before them, his body was gone, as in Makoto couldn’t see his chakra at all with his Byakugan. Makoto would nod at Rei’s analysis of the mission as he stated the next objective as well, they were going to travel together to the meeting point before separating. Makoto would look at the Uchiha as she began to scream out what seemed like bullshit to Makoto as her disrespect towards him began tiring him. But he would keep his calm as her time would come eventually whether it be by him or someone else.

“The name is Makoto, not Hyuga. As well as there is nothing here but the Bijuu.” Makoto would rub his eyes as they would begin to tire him. He had his byakugan active all day. “Shall we start the trip Rei?” Makoto would ask as he would stretch some while thinking. This Rei was a force to be reckoned with as Makoto needed to become, if anything Rei just made Makoto want to work harder to become a stronger shinobi.

It was natural to be skeptical. The mission had been fairly straight forward in the beginning after all. Go check on a nasty rumor and verify the validity of it. From there, it devolved into the rumors being true... Worse, the rumors were pale in comparison to the truth. Furthermore, the three of them had been assaulted by an unknown assailant. A powerful individual with strength befitting of a Kage... and yet, a monstrous power lurking inside him. One thing is abundantly clear to me... this individual was trying hard to mask his identity. Rei thought to himself, certain about his suspicions. His thoughts were eliminating possible candidates as as the list of potential candidates got shorter, the options had much more sinister implications. A thought occurred to him, but he would wait for the right moment to act.

Rei would listen as Makoto verified what Rei already knew. He had watched the man disintegrate after all. It never hurt to have the chakra seeing doujutsu verify what his naked eyes couldn't see however. Much to dispel the fears of Homura more than himself.

It was time to return to their villages however. The situation was dire, and the need for information was just as important to the villages, as it was to the surrounding territories. He reached into his sleeves again to hide his handseals, performing them in a casual manner. If Makoto wasn't paying close attention to him, he would miss the action even with his Byakugan because it was done quickly and in one swift but subtle motion. He had reached into his pouch and the mouth in his hand ate two white clay sticks. After he had performed the handseals, he would extend his hand just as he had done at the start of the mission. To the naked and untrained eye, it appeared simply as if he had done a magic trick- pulling a white bird from his sleeves which expanded and took on an autonomous lifeform. "We should make a swift return to our villages. I will fly you Makoto, to our original rendezvous point. From there, you will be on your own. Be cautious." he would instruct in a somber tone but with a friendly fox-like smile.

He would then jump onto his white bird, expecting the other two to join him once again- though maybe they would be more reluctant to fly with him on the creature if they had ascertained the true nature of his explosives. He would pat the seats behind him in a friendly seductive manner and chuckle silently to himself.


As the three shinobi would leave the area, another figure watched them from a great distance away. Much farther than even Makoto's byakugan was capable of seeing. This being's sight wasn't anything special, no- they simply used a pair of binoculars to watch the three retreating shinobi. Like the first assailant they had come across, this individual too, wore a black cloak which hid their whole body. Why was this person watching them? What link did they share with the Bijuu and the unmasked assailant? What was it? Was it the same person as before... or a different one?

Spoiler:

Homura dug in her ear with her pinky finger while Makoto spoke. The ringing really made it hard for her to understand anything he just said. "WHAT?" she ended up saying loudly. "I CAN'T HEAR YOU. SPEAK UP!"

When it came time to hop on the bird, that was something Homura understood clearly. She rather fearlessly sat on that clay bird. She didn't have much fear of Rei and his explosive animal. Whatever happened, happened to her. She at least was aware that if Rei wanted to explode this thing, he would have to explode it on himself too.

She would remain quiet on the ride back to the village. She didn't really have much to say to these guys anymore. She only dreamed of what she would do once she returned home. She liked to think of the possible warm bath she'd be having, or the nice meal that her mother would cook for her. These thoughts plagued her mind on the ride over.

Makoto would ignore the girl as he was the last one to climb onto the bird, he felt the same way as he did before with the bird. Just slightly more nervous because he knew that the bird could blow up at any moment of Rei’s choosing. This flight back though Makoto would enjoy the scenery knowing that he came close to death and is leaving the area with some life which made him feel comfortable.

Upon landing he would nod at Rei and Homura. This whole experience was new, but it was special specifically because he had met ninja that he had never met before. He was almost sure the next time he would see them they would be stronger, but his goal would have to be to get stronger than them as he would address them as friends in his book. Whether they trusted him or not didn’t bother him any as he would do another light stretch as he grabbed a cigarette from the pack in his pocket and grab the lighter with his other hand. “It was a pleasure.” He would say as he nodded at both of them and turned around, lighting his cigarette. All they would see was a puff of smoke as his body vanished into the shadows of the trees before them headed towards Shiki. “Chao”

-Thread Exit-

After Rei and Homura would drop Makoto off at the destination, they would continue on their way to Johogkaure. Rei would travel in mostly silence. He had a lot on his mind, but he would respond to Homura if she said anything or asked him anything. That was of course, if she said anything or asked anything that he thought was important enough to answer. Finally, they would near the village. That was when he would open his mouth to speak to the Uchiha girl. "We are here at the village. Keep what you witnessed on this mission to yourself. I will report our mission success to the Kage, you may come with me though" He would instruct to Homura. The secrecy of their mission was paramount. If the civilians knew what they witnessed, word would quickly get back to their rival village Chozogakure. Yet Rei had an alterior motive for being the one to personally address the Johokage on this matter.

Homura was silent when Makoto was dropped off. She was silent along the rest of the way to Johogakure. She didn't have much to say to this man named Rei. She only thought of the sweet, blissful moment of returning home. When they arrived at the village, she was heavily excited. Then Rei spoke to her.

"I guess I won't mind tagging along," she said. Since Makoto wasn't here anymore, there was enough room on the bird for her to lay down and relax. She had her back on the clay beast and looked up as the sky as she rode. Thankfully, she didn't have to yell anymore. Her hearing had returned while on their ride over to the village. "Not much I'll have to say, though. You can report everything. You're the leader after all." The less Homura had to do, the better, in her opinion.

As such, she remained quiet.

He wound land the bird near the Kage tower and the two of them would hop off. His bird would simply revert to inert clay and Rei would pick it up. He didnt need anyone picking up his clay and inspecting it. Rei would lead forward as they approached the Kage office door and were greeted by a Jounin. There are likely a handful of ANBU watching us right now... this one at the door is simply misdirection. he thought to himself, assessing the environment and potential threats. "We are here to see the Kage about a mission he assigned us to. Bijuu is the word." He would say, stating a keyword only the guard at the door would understand and nod silently, stepping aside and allowing them to enter the office unopposed. Rei would glance over at Homura. With all the information he had gathered and if his suspicions were correct- the two of them were stepping into a lion's den.

There were two ways this was going to go down. First- the kage wouldn't be there, simply disappeared without an explanation. Second, the kage would be there and his suspicions would be relieved. The two of them would walk down a long hallway until they reached the Kage's room, an awkward pair if ever anyone saw one. A young Uchiha girl and a tall silver haired Kaguya. Once they had entered the room, Rei would take up a respectful bow before the kage's desk and give an oral report."Lord Johokage. We have returned from our recon mission. The rumors are pale in comparison to the truth." he would start and then glance upwards at the kage which was still there in his seat. I guess I was mistaken after all. Rei thought to himself a he inspected the physical appearance of the Johokage to make sure someone wasnt simply fooling his senses.

Surprised, relieved or even still suspicious... Many things still circled around in Rei's cautious mind and did not allow him to rest the case. He suspiciously inspected the Kage as if it would give him any inkling to the suspicion that gnawed at his gut. Then he saw the most peculiar thing.... A scar which resided on the kage's throat... in the exact spot he had struck the masked individual with his bone technique. Now was time for a test.. of both Homura and the kage himself. Rei left his explanation off there momentarily, not mentioning the stranger which had attacked them.

Homura was nonchalant as she hopped off the bird and followed Rei. She had her hands behind her head and her legs extending back and forward bit by bit to move her. She allowed Rei to do all of the talking. They walked past the Jounin that guarded the doors and moved a little more down the hall before they came into the Johokage's room.

Homura was behind Rei as he spoke to the Johokage. Casually, she looked around the room with awe, as if she was seeing the place for the first time and inspired. Though, there were all sorts of things going through her mind than just the decor of the room. Homura always seemed dumb on the outside. That was how she purposefully acted so that people could underestimate her. However, in reality, she was smarter than she let herself seem and she saw more than people failed to realize. Case in point, the scar that rested across the kage's throat. A normal idiot wouldn't recognize such a thing, and that's what Homura masqueraded herself as, a normal idiot.

Before Rei could speak anymore, Homura stepped past the Kaguya. "We found absolutely nothing," she suddenly said. Her tone was just as casual as it had always been. There was barely any change from her. "Nothing but debris and dirt. Maybe a few mangled bodies. The village was destroyed, yeah, but whatever attacked it was gone before we had the chance to see it. We wager that it was just some punk trying to show off his skills. Other than that, nothing much to report. Isn't that right, Rei-senpai?" Homura turned on her heel at the very end to address Rei. When did she ever call him senpai? It was obviously a strange behavior from her, one that only Rei would notice. The kage, of course, wouldn't understand the strangeness behind her calling him senpai, for he wasn't aware of Homura's true personality yet.

She waited to see what Rei, or even the kage, would do with her report of the events.

Maybe Homura had caught wind of Rei's suspicions: either way, he wasn't going to step on the young kunoichi's toes. He hadn't planned to disclose information about the strange attacker- although he had planned to confirm the existence of the Bijuu. Rei just kept up his fox-like smile and remained silent while Homura gave the false report. The harsh truth was... If the kage confirmed the information himself, the false report by Homura and Rei could mean their execution. Rei was prepared for this, but he hadn't expected Homura to follow along with a plan he hadn't discussed with her beforehand. He had only expected her to follow his instructions, when he had told her to remain quiet and allow him to make the report. I was not expecting that... he thought to himself, quickly regaining his inner composure before acting again.

"I see.. That is somewhat of a relief." said the Johokage suddenly, leaning forward over his desk and peering at the two shinobi making their report. His eyes watched them closely. Homura seemed quite confident. Rei... Well, it was impossible to read that man's intentions. "I'm relieved the two of you and our allies didn't run into any unforeseen dangers. As it happens, I sent out a second recon team besides your group. They confirmed the existence of this creature dubbed mysteriously as a "Bijuu". Apparently it had already moved on from the location you were assigned to investigate. Thank you for your hard work." The Johokage would say, complimenting them and revealing that he had already learned everything he needed to know about their mission.

If Homura had anything else to say, Rei would interrupt her suddenly by standing, walking passed Homura and talking over the young Uchiha kunoichi. "Thank you Lord Johokage. I live to serve the village. I believe I'll take a nice rest in the hotsprings after this." he would say and give a respectful bow to the Joholage, turning and giving Homura a look of intent as he walked passed her and patted her on the shoulder. "You did well on this mission Homura-chan. Perhaps you should go rest in the hotsprings yourself and rejuvenate your body." he would finish saying and take his exit. Intentionally or not, Homura had been caught up in his schemes. It was best if he explained the situation to the uchiha kunoichi IF she got his hint and met him at the hotsprings. Of course if she followed his hints, she would find him in the mixed bath.

[EXIT]