Death Row Escapee[IO][NK][NM]

Name: Death Row Escapee
Rank: A
Location: Any village
Reward: 400exp, 300 RYO, 15 instability
Description: A notorious shinobi has betrayed their own village and was imprisoned. Sentenced to death, this prisoner managed to escape during transport. Your mission is to locate this prisoner and detain him for your own village's benefit. A Jounin and a Spc Jounin will be in pursuit of him as well, deal with them and bring the prisoner back to your village, alive.

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Not the typical mission Rei Kaguya was used to undertaking, although the details of this mission seemed promising. Or so he gathered from reading the mission scroll that was delivered to him. Apparently he was being tasked along with another shinobi, one with renown. He recognized the name of the water ninjutsu Hoshigaki. There was talk of her here and there, her name being uttered in matters involving past missions or tutiledge under her. Rei had never seen this Sameonna though, nor did he know her features. She was Hoshigaki, so it wasn't too terribly hard to imagine for him and his "creative mind". "It seems I've finally landed a big fish" he said to himself in a joking manner. Ah, puns.

Even if this mission turned out to be a disappointment, Rei knew it had been useful enough to him. The chance of meeting Sameonna Hoshigaki, the charismatic killer. He had heard the stories of how she sometimes begged her enemies to flee before she had the chance to kill them. While Rei was not the most wholesome person, he knew the merit in compassion. He himself only killed when necessary or by a long shot- when it greatly benefited him. Being as he was a Kaguya, his defensive Ninjutsu was a force to be reckoned with.

He arrived shortly at the gate of Johogakure. Although the village was considered the strongest of the three major villages, they still lacked walls. The "Gate" was more of a checkpoint for entrance and leaving. Rei was here to meet up with his mission partner Sameonna before leaving the village to the surrounding forests. He wore his usual attire, a white haori with long open sleeves to hide beneath. The purpose was simple, he gave his foes as little body language to read as possible, including handseals. Once Sameonna would arrive, he would address her with a slight bow. "It's a pleasure to partake in this mission with you. Rei Kaguya at your service." he would say, smiling his usual annoying fox-like smile.

Sameonna awoke that morning, excited about the day to come. The day before she had received a parcel in the mail, this document containing a mission of vital importance. A high ranking criminal had escaped from a transportation convoy just a few nights prior and news of his actions had reached the capital of Johogakure within a matter of days. As her eyes opened, she'd stretch, her arms above her head as she wiggles out of her bright blue sheets. Pulling them down, Sameonna would then perform the daily routines of every morning. A strict regiment of brushing both rows of her teeth, brushing her hair with a comb manufactured of bone and dull-tipped senbon and adorning herself in the standard flak jacket, an emblem representing Johogakure laying on each shoulder and a larger variation of the symbol located directly in the center of the back between both shoulderblades. Underneath, a thin layer of ringed chainmail, black shirt, black socks, black footpads, black everything. It wasn't an emo phase, she just understands fashion at its roots. Black makes you look skinner. Everyone knows that. She'd quickly tie on her Mizu headband, representing her mastery over Water Ninjutsu.

Once she'd gotten finished, Sameonna sat at her dining room table, scanning over the mission once more just to make sure she'd captured all of the finer details of the briefing. According to its memo, she was to meet a rather powerful shinobi named Rei Kaguya and team up with him to capture this escaped fugitive. She had heard rumors of this mans potential when it came to Ninjutsu, even rumors that it rivaled her own in skill had spread amongst the village far enough for Sameonna to acknowledge. This fact actually encouraged Sameonna even more, the chance to meet another powerful entity behind the great military conquests of Johogakure. Information about Rei would also reveal that his moral compass is somewhat on the same track as her own, which was a beneficial factor. She didn't need to deal with a loose cannon on a search and capture mission. The filthy dirt bastard might just die before we can bring him to justice if that were the case. This ordeal was one she didn't have to deal with fortunately. On the official record, Rei Kaguya is among the more sophisticated and honorable ninja in the village.

Further along her morning, Sameonna finished a coffee, saw a butterfly and watched a bird fly by her second story apartment window. It was at this point she witnessed a squirrel being raped by another squirrel on a far off southern tree branch; the branch itself being rather wide and allowing this extraordinarily disturbing event to take place. No matter, she shrugged it off as survival of the fittest and figured this was nature's way of justifying natural selection. The urban ecosystem at its finest. Sameonna soon would have left her abode and headed toward the gate to begin her mission. Upon her arrival, she found that Rei had already arrived and awaiting her company. She was impressed, this guy is actually more eager than she is. "It's a pleasure to partake in this mission with you. Rei Kaguya at your service." he said, his voice tapering off slightly as he gave his bow. Good manners. Sameonna would smile and curtsy in reply. "Sameonna Hoshigaki. I'm honored to meet your acquaintance Sir Kaguya. I trust we'll certainly be able to handle this escapee no matter his level of skill." It was true after all. Between the two of them it wouldn't really matter who it is that escaped, hell, even a Bijuu would tremble.

She'd waste no time starting out on the mission. Looking up, she'd note that the sun was positioned about 75 degrees east in the sky, its new day sunlight casting a powerfully bright orange and yellow highlight across the sky in nearly every direction. Strewn amongst the beams of light were clouds scattered wildly, not really conforming or sticking together like they typically would in Johogakure's sometimes humid and self-conflicting climate. Due to their location, it wasn't uncommon to experience a monsoon, hurricane or even a tsunami due to their coastline military presence, Sameonna herself wondering if she should take up arms on a boat. The water was her arche, the arche of all things to Sameonna. Her eyes would then snap toward Rei, meeting his own gaze. "It is almost noon.. By my calculations if we leave now we should be able to track this guy down within a few hours if we can find his trail quickly enough. We should get going." She'd turn and begin to walk after Rei would have responded to her, the crisp breeze and morning air gently caressing her face like a mothers hand on a newborn. Simple bliss.

Rei was lucky, that he always had his fox-like smile to fall back on when he lacked words. Not that he lacked any words upon meeting Sameonna, it was just that he was not used to being called a sir. He was used to being avoided, others either feared him or were simply annoyed at the prospect of not being able to predict what he might do or say. So in that regard, the majority of people he knew, only associated with him long enough to complete a mission or do small transactions. Maybe it was just his own problem, for not trusting others. "Between us, I believe we stand a good chance of success as well. Let's get started." he would agree with her and then they'd begin their mission. With a quick dashing pace to begin their little journey, they'd travel a decent distance away from the village before slowing their pace. The reason for this was simple- if anyone had been following them, their speed and movement through the forests would make it quite difficult to keep up- let alone stay hidden. This was always a precaution that Rei took. As they moved swiftly, he would pay attention mostly to the surroundings and behind them until he was certain that they were not being followed.

They finally arrived at their designated location, a spot where their target had last been seen. This is where the two of them would begin their tracking of the target. An hour or so had passed and the full might of the sun's rays cast down on the treetops, allowing streams of glittering light to pass through the treetop canopy. The serene ambience of the forest was beautiful if one slowed down to appreciate the simplicity in nature- scenes like this were one of Rei's sole comforts. While he was good at understanding and predicting others, he was actually quite terrible at getting along with people. Part of him secretly hoped that he could get over this social difficulty with Sameonna. She too was a sort of hermit after all, preferring to live by herself, secluded from the village and its many inhabitants. Of course he knew not where exactly, only that she resided not within the village's inner structure.

His eyes noticed the ground, a thick and mostly undisturbed carpet of grass and moss. The grass remained undisturbed, aside from a few broken tree branches. Rei's eyes followed where the branches had fallen from and noticed the first sign of their target's tracks. Shinobi sandal prints on the side of a large tree, the prints pressing deeply into the thick moss on the forth side of the tree. "It seems our target is headed north." Rei would say, as he leaped up onto the tree. He stood on a nearby branch and pointed to the footprints while his gaze passed through the countless rows of trees while he searched for more footprints. Soon he would find the trail and once Sameonna was ready, they would begin the second part of their journey- tracking.

It wouldn't take long for Rei and Sameonna to get closer to the source: yet as they found more tracks, they would soon realize that their target was not alone! There were two more sets of footprints and apparently in pursuit of their quarry. Not knowing how close they were to their target now, Rei didn't wish to alert their foes of their presence, so he used hand signals to indicate his concerns to Sameonna, hoping she had picked up the art of reading handsigns. While not a super important skill, it was useful for covert ops and communicating with mute people. On the off chance that she did not know sign language, he would mouth the words as well- hoping if she didn't know sign language, she could at least read lips. "Two more targets. I'll eliminate the pursuers, you capture the prisoner." he would pass along the plan to her.

Truthfully, he had just concocted this plan as the information of pursuers came to light. If they were to complete this mission, they needed to prevent the prisoner's pursuers from catching him, as well as from killing Rei or Sameonna. He knew that the Hoshigaki lady preferred to not kill others. Rei was less inclined to be lenient, but he wasn't the type to kill needlessly. He would not torment himself, feel regret or guilt however if death found his foes in the course of battle. Simply, his plan was to be the one to do the dirty work instead of potentially having Sameonna feel regret or shame if she happened to kill the two pursuers. It was a consideration, but it was also the best and most efficient plan. Rei specialized in defensive ninjutsu and explosives- the ideal setup for dealing with multiple foes, but not meant for taking targets alive. Sameonna was a master of water ninjutsu however. Water was a very powerful and versatile element. Being that Sameonna was known to show compassion to her foes, Rei had no doubts that she possessed techniques to subdue foes. That meant she was ideal for capturing their prisoner alive. If she had no objections or ideas to add to the plan, Rei would begin once the two of them came close enough to see the three targets. The prisoner was currently up against a tree, his back to it as he faces the two pursuers with a kunai held menacingly towards them. The two pursuing shinobi stood a good twenty feet away from the man, cautious. They too needed him alive, and that would work to Rei and Sameonna's advantage.

Boar, Dog, Rabbit, Monkey and finally snake, he would perform beneath the long sleeves of his haori. It was not that he didn't trust Sameonna to see his handseals, it was just a habit of his. Especially in situations where there were obvious threats nearby. After performing the handseals, he would place his hands on the ground and insert his chakra into the earth. Moments later, the ground would tremble, offsetting the footing of their tree targets. Then suddenly, large bone spikes would sprout from the ground, all around and beneath the three shinobi. Rei's idea was to separate the pursuers from the prisoner, while also trapping them inside a powerful bone bird cage. With the element of surprise, his technique would be successful- creating a bone bird cage around the five of them, Rei and Sameonna included, while a couple of bone spikes had protruded from the ground beneath the two pursuers to force them away from the prisoner. As they jumped backwards to evade the bone spears, Rei too would move backwards. He would lean backwards against his bone wall and meld into it even before any of the three targets would see him. This would lead them to believe that they only had one intruder, Sameonna. As they would evade and one of the two pursuers would turn to face the new threat, the other pursuer faced off against the prisoner to make sure he didn't escape or stab them in the back while they fought Sameonna.

Neither of them would make it that far however- as the first attempted to wield a sword and slice at Sameonna, Rei would suddenly appear from the nearby walls of the bone cage and intervene. A bone-covered arm would reach out first and grab the blade of the sword, then the rest of Rei's body would appear from inside the bone cage. With a strong grip on the blade, he squeezed hard and shattered the sword, while his other hand grasped the first pursuer by his throat. Rei's whole body was encased in a white bone armor, so thick and powerful that no matter what the pursuer attempted, nothing would penetrate his armor. Instead, Rei would just squeeze until the man fell unconscious. Then, Rei would drop him from the height of the roof to his bone bird cage and shift his gaze to the second pursuer as he melded back into the bones of the bird cage, anticipating a second bewildering ambush.

Spoiler:

About an hour or so into the mission, the pair had finally found the escapee and his band of merry men. High noon, the heat and shadows cast were of a deeper and brighter contrast than ever. The true beauty of Johogakure emerges in the most unlikely of scenarios. Situations like this being a prime example. Beautiful day, escaped prison convict, two ninja hunting him down mercilessly. Absolute elation. Sameonna would scan the area repeatedly as they progressed through the trees, always following more clues and signs and briefly looking at Rei every now and again in case he noticed something before she could. Just as he signaled to her, she had also caught on to what was going on. An ambush had been sprung, triggering Rei to jump into action. Being as though Sameonna's attacks could have also harmed him, she waited to see what he would do before she acted.

Handsigns formed, and from them, a bone cage protruded from underneath both Sameonna and Rei. Collectively, Sameonna figured this was a distracting tactic as she watched Rei meld himself with the walls of the cage and awaited the desired onslaught of the two unfortunate souls he then struck down moments later. After Rei had signaled that he would handle the two pursuers, Sameonna nodded in agreement as she'd begin her own strategic attack on the fugitive who was now trying to escape and use his lackeys as cover. Thankfully, Sameonna didn't even need to try and escape the cage. That was a rather fundamentally easy task. With her mastery over the technique, she performed a single seal, the Seal of Confrontation, and with that, a mist would quickly fill the area with such a thick density one could not see their hand a foot from their face. Being as though Rei had already dispatched of the two idiots who rushed her, she figured he wouldn't have to do much more and could sit back and watch the sparks fly.. Or.. Water flow. Which ever sounds more appropriate to compliment the situation.

Her target, now about fifty-five feet away, was easy to hear. His breathing was heavy, heart beat racing, figure.. Clunky. She didn't even need to see him or his tracks at this point. Sameonna would advance, her body seemingly vanishing into the mist itself without a seconds notice. The Hiding in Water Technique, but utilizing a method she employed in a most unique fashion. Using the mist as a catalyst for travel, she'd now confront the fugitive. Not physically of course, but elementally! A split second, her hand appeared from the mist from above. If one could see it, it would have been a technique specific handseal. With that, the entirety of the mist would almost instantly compress and coalesce around both Sameonna and the fugitive himself. It was like an ocean receding, and from it, a stationary and stagnant ball of mist was standing in place. The fugitive, now practically shitting himself, stopped running for fear of what may happen given he could not see anything whatsoever. A perfect initialization to the trap Sameonna had set. 

As the mist finished gathering, the water would seemingly harden and form into a thousand senbon-shaped icy spears. They, collectively, would fly inward as Sameonna emerged from the top of the ball of mist, back-flipping outward and landing about ten feet from the now bloodied and crippled fugitive. Each and every senbon pierced his legs, tearing them to shreds and causing him to fall after the technique had ended. The remainder of the water vapor dispersed and began evaporating as blood from the fugitives leg started to soak the ground beneath him. He was terribly injured, but, alive. And luckily, due to the precision and accuracy of where each senbon struck the man, Sameonna had successfully managed to avoid his arteries. This would mean, he wouldn't die, and the mission could be completed accordingly. As he would scream out in pain, Sameonna would await Rei's arrival, hoping he'd have fleshed out and/or killed any remaining fools in the area. She'd walk over to him and deliver a jaw jabbering kick to his face, knocking him out cold. "Annoying." she'd murmur. The breeze felt nice though.

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