Attempted Assassination

OOC: So the three of us have just left the tournament. We are currently trying to find Hana, the Tsuchikage, and Seiya, Kumo's Head Ninja, before Senna (Iwa Rogue who now works with Kusa) can assassinate her. Senna has brought a large squad with her (20-25 Jounin) to try and kill everyone here. We arrive just to see the battle unfolding.

Kei shot through the border of the Earth Country like lightning. He was wearing battle attire, ready for whatever was waiting for them. He was followed by the Hokage and Kazekage. They were trying to find the Tsuchikage and Kumo's ANBU before Senna did. Zaru had remained behind at Kusa for show. Kei had noticed as the three departed from Kusa. Senna however was obviously on her was to assassinate Hana, the Tsuchikage. As they rocketed through the Earth Country Kei noticed a commotion ahead. As he arrived to a canyon just outside Iwa he saw the turmoil that had unfolded below. Kumo's ANBU (six of them) were battling several Kusa Jounin. A few other un-marked ANBU were the fray as well. Fire, Earth, Wind, Lightning, Magma, and other elemental jutsu were being thrown everywhere. It was pandemonium. Kei caught sight of Seiya who was fending off an ANBU member from another Kumo shinobi. Knowing that he had things under control he tried to find Hana. She was across the canyon on the other plateau fighting Senna. Senna was now in her Iwa ANBU attire, her vials hanging off of her belt. They were engaged in Taijutsu, neither wanting to unleash the deadly chaos both fighters were able to do.

"Tomoe, Jynn, we're going to need to fight our ways through the turmoil below in order to reach that other plateau." With that Kei leaped into the air. A flash of lightning struck from the clouded sky right into Kei, sending him with the bolt into the battle below. As he struck the earth a few Kusa Jounin went flying into the air. One of them was unable to adjust his position before Kei struck his arm, now infused with Black Lightning, through his midsection.

OOC: So just make a post or two about battling through the crowd and getting to the plateau. I have another major character I'm going to introduce along side Senna in a couple posts.

Tomoe has also found the time to change into battle garb and runs swiftly with the Kazekage and Raikage. When they reach the canyon's edge she activates her sharingan to take stock of the chaos below, using her natural dojutsu abilities to watch the frenzy of movements and jutsu. She nods in agreement with the Raikage's assessment.

While he goes straight down into the fray, Tomoe leaps nimbly off to the right, flanking the fighting from that side. As she moves she gathers and kneads chakra within her while removing her fans from her belt. She arrives quietly and quickly behind a group of Kusa's jounin and unfurls her fans, swinging them and releasing the fuuton chakra she has built up. The great blast sends several more Kusa-nin flying with great speed, resulting in numerous lacerations to them, as well as pressure damage.

One of those sent flying hits a rock on the side of the canyon roughly, breaking several ribs. He staggers to his feet to rejoin the fray, but his ability to fight effectively is gone, so he tries to stick to longer range tactics. Another Kusa-nin is sent strategically flying into one of his comrades, knocking them both off their feet. The opening that this presents is taken by one of Kumo's ANBU, who swiftly dispatches the two of them.

Tomoe follows up her opening move by engaging in an acrobatic taijutsu display, moving nimbly and swiftly among the Kusa-nin using her sharingan's abilities to great advantage. Her fans move almost as if in a dance, cutting a tendon here or a muscle there, all strikes designed to disable her opponents swiftly and leave them unable to fight or present an obstacle as the three Kages try to make their way across the canyon floor so they can aid the Tsuchikage. There is the occasional clink as she uses her fans to block a thrown kunai or shuriken, and the rare clang as a fist thrown in her direction is blocked by one of her battle fans. Finding her way into the enemy's ranks, she quickly folds her fans and makes a gesture, using her Vitality Seal Formation technique to suppress the chakra of those around her, providing a further advantage for herself, her allies, and Kumo's ANBU.

With a stern expression Jynn smashed his fists together as he spoke "its a shame it comes to this, but it cant be helped". Raising the small white pole from his belt he flicks it out to his side, the staff grew to its full length with the motion. Hurling the weapon down towards the chaos it plunged into the ground in a flash burrowing nearly half its length into the ground.

Landing amongst a cluster of Kusa shinobi whom all turn their attention to it questioningly. Jynn is gone in a flash, reappearing beside the weapon protruding from the ground. Looking around at the stunned faces he forms a final handsign of the jutsu he had been preparing as the staff found its mark. His expression remained unchanged as he smashed his fists into the ground.

A wave of electricity danced across the ground swirling in all directions around Jynn. Those caught in the wave began to seize as white streams of power enveloped their body. Looking behind him he caught a glimpse of advancing Kusa ninja, apparently a group breaking off from a smaller engagement.

Jynn removes his staff from the ground and with a powerful toss sends it hurtling towards the group.
As they split apart allowing the staff to travel between them Jynn appears with a hand grasping the weapon. They stop and face him dumbfounded at his sudden appearance, giving him just enough time to launch his attack. Jynn assaults them relentlessly, powerful punches sending ninja skidding across the ground and staff strikes that batter others into the hard earth.

Kei continues to battle through shinobi until finally he reaches the end of the canyon at the base of the other plateau where Hana is battling Senna above. Kei runs up the side of the plateau, using chakra to speed him up the side of the cliff. Upon reaching the stop he points his right arm at Senna and sends a large bolt of rippling Lightning at her. Surprised she is hit, but not before rolling out of the brunt of the attack. She skids to a hault as Kei stands beside Hana. Hana is bleeding in a couple places, but Senna is far worse, with a deep gash down his left side. "I had it." "I know."

OOC: Once you guys get to the cliff I have a pretty nasty character to introduce!

While Jynn seems to be focused on attacks with great destructive power, Tomoe chooses to use small and swift attacks to clear her path. A gust of wind here to throw them aside, a fireball to scorch a group, and quick slashes of her fans to disable those that get too close. She relies on Kumo's ANBU to do the clean up behind her, taking advantage of the Kusa-nin being unprepared for three Kage to make their way through the battlefield. While Kusa had the number advantage beforehand, Kumo's ANBU have greatly gained the tactical advantage and are finishing up the fight against wounded opponents.

She quickly reaches the base of the cliff and nimbly leaps and runs up it's surface, jumping up onto the plateau above just as she sees Kei making his attack on Senna. She takes advantage of the moment to expel chakra from her mouth aimed directly at Senna, a great flame which she stokes with her fans.

Toppling the last of his opponents Jynn takes a deep breath as he turns to the mostly clear trail to the cliff. Watching Tomoe leap up the cliff face he speaks to himself "this is it I guess, time to put the big boy gloves on". Twisting the staff in his hand he makes his way to the cliff and up its shelves with great speed.

Stopping at the sight of battle before him Jynn jabs his staff into the ground and raises his thumb to his mouth. With a small trail of blood running down the bite mark he places the palm onto the ground and in a puff of smoke a man sized slug appears beside him. Still looking to the battle Jynn speaks "alright Taku, I need youre help on this one". The slug wordlessly breaks down into dozens of smaller versions of itself and scatter across the landscape.

One small clone finds its way up Jynn's body and stops on his lower back. Clasping his hands together Jynn continues to look on at the scene unfolding as he begins to channel chakra with Taku's assistance.

OOC: You are about to see and meet the major 'Bad Guy' at least for the first few arcs. His attire is pretty much the same as below, except ignore the red clouds. Just assume its all black.

Urimono 'The Forsaken One':

Suddenly everything is quiet. Deathly quiet. Crystal's erupt from the earth and impale every Kusa, Rogue, and Kumo ANBU ninja in the canyon. Seiya manages to just barely dodge the one that erupts under him. He leaps backwards just in time, but not before his leg takes a large laceration. He crumbles on the ground, unable to grasp his mind around what just happened. He is bleeding fast, so he takes off his shirt and begins to address his wound. He tries to stand but falls. "Kei!"

Kei notices the ground vibrate. He grabs Hana and in a bolt of lightning he is ten meters behind where they were standing, two crystal spikes in the place they just were. Kei hear's Seiya's voice and his eys widen at the scene below. Several of his ANBU are dead, hanging from crystal spikes. The crystal is a dark purple, but almost clear. The glow under the moon that is just visible through a hole in the clouds. Kei looks over to make sure Tomoe is okay, his voice nearly full of panic. "Tomoe?! Jynn?!" Hana can't speak, her body shaking with shock. S

Senna is standing across the plateau, her eyes wide. She has the feint outline of a dark and twisted smile. "I didn't expect you to come here, Urimono." A loud and booming voice erupts the silence of the night. "Four Kages. You wouldn't stand a chance, my lovely rose." A Crystal flower appears next to Senna. As it grows taller it begins to blossom. A man steps outside of the center of the crystal flower (see picture). He eyes Kei, Hana, and Tomoe. And then looks down in the canyon at Seiya and Jynn...

A purple crystalline spike nearly comes up from the ground and impales Jynn, managing to leap back just before the spike pierced him up the middle. By mere chance he had gathered enough energy to finish his channeling. Thin blue lines ran across Jynn's face as Taku's voice echoed softly "I'll try to keep channeling Jynn but we arent at full connection yet so take it easy". Looking at the man who was starring at him Jynn removed his staff from the ground and shifted his gaze over to Seiya, looking her up and down to see if she was okay. He was amazed and angered by the sight of those around him, dozens of lives cut short mercilessly.

The silence is an excellent cue that something is about to happen. Tomoe scans the area with her sharingan still active, as it has been throughout this battle, prepared for something to happen. With her sharingan she can recognize the beginning burst of chakra that threaten to erupt through the ground, allowing her to spin away and avoid the crystalline spikes, but only barely.

When the ground stills, Tomoe is standing a distance away from Urimono and Senna, but also away from Kei and Hana. She takes up a defensive and wary position, sizing up this newcomer with her sharingan. "What's the meaning of this?" she asks coldly.

"Senna, you may go." Senna looks over at Urimono as if she's surprised. "But.." Urimono shoots her a deathly look. "Go watch the tournament with your pet Zaru. We will talk later." Senna dashes off the edge of the cliff and out of sight. Urimono turns back to Tomoe eyeing her up. Then he turns his attention to Kei and Hana. Finally he takes another glimpse at Jynn below before addressing all of them. "No doubt you have questions. My regrets that you had to witness so much death Kei Raiken. Your shinobi meant a lot to you no doubt." His voice was mocking, and it infuriated Kei to the point that he leapt forward his lightning bracelet emitting a light blinding to anyone around. An enormous bolt of lightning flew at Urimono, but before Kei could grasp what was happening he was impaled.

Urimono had appeared in front of Kei, and with a crystal glove forming around his left hand grabbed the bracelet and lifted his arm firing it into the sky. His right hand formed a crystal spike at the end of it and stabbed through Kei. Kei fell to the ground as Urimono reappeared where he had been standing before. "As for your question, Tomoe Uchiha, the meaning is simple. It is an introduction. Too bad Arashi Hozuki couldn't be here as well. I am Urimono."

Hana still couldn't move, frozen by fear or whatever she was feeling. She looked forward, unable to do anything. Seiya still lay on the ground, his leg throbbing. He couldn't see what had happened to Kei. Kei was bleeding on the ground, the wound wasn't fatal, but he certainly wouldn't be fighting any more during the present crisis.

Tomoe returns the look, remaining on edge and alert for what might come next. Which was not actually what Tomoe was expecting as he and the Kei engage in a brief scuffle, with the Raikage ending up impaled. She stays where she is standing, making no move to aid the Raikage yet, nor a move against Urimono. "Urimono, is it? And what of it?" she says, her voice challenging and appearing unimpressed with the fact that he just stabbed Kei.

The sound of thunder drew Jynn's attention back to the others. His eyes widened as Kei fell to the ground, on instinct he threw his pole towards Kei's collapsed figure. As the streak of white flew over Kei, Jynn appeared in a flash behind him, his arm extended upwards with a hand around the pole as if he caught the weapon mid flight. Keeping his eyes on Urimono he spoke "Kei,are you alright?". As Tomoe spoke Jynn retracted somewhat waiting to hear the man's response.

Kei coughed up a bit of blood on the ground and then looked up at Urimono, refusing to let the bastard think he had gotten the best of Kei. "Y-yeah, I'm alright Jynn."

Urimono looked at Jynn, distracted for a brief moment. "Ah, the legendary kindness displayed by Jynn Hyasuka. Amazing the effort you go through to ensure others prosper. Yet in all of this time, look at how the world has grown? Tomoe Uchiha, my name is meaningless until the world knows of it. For now, I don't care if they do or not. In time though, I will rebuild a strength that was once lost. A strength that nearly put a world in total peace."

Tomoe scoffs at this display of arrogance, "And what strength would that be?"

She appears unconcerned about the Raikage at the moment, focused more on this strange individual and his intentions towards the rest of them.

Not breaking eye contact with the stranger Jynn made a series of hand signs in a blur. Placing his free hand on the ground near Kei he spoke "earth style, earth cradle". A low concave barrier of rock and soil raised up a little higher than Kei's body and formed a thick shield before him. Standing back up he heard Taku speak once more "I know how you feel Jynn but dont go charging into a fight right now, we need more information on top of that with you not focusing its only me back here channeling". Nodding at the words Jynn flicked his bo-staff reducing its size down to its portable state.

"What strength would that be? Have you not seen it?" He refers to the slaughter below as he looks down in the canyon. He turns to Tomoe and a dark smile crosses his face. A small crystal forms in his palm, he throws it into the air and it suddenly turns into a million tiny crystals, all shaped like Senbons but harder and sharper. "It's time for me to depart." Urimono snaps his fingers, and millions of crystal senbon rocket towards the Kage's below.

The attack seems unavoidable until Hana steps in front of the other Kages. Her hands turn to diamonds, and all around her hundreds of thousands of diamond arrowheads appear around her and start clashing with the crystal senbon in a fireworks show of sparks and pops as senbon and arrowheads destroy one another. There are still a few hundred senbon remaining. Hana addresses them by creating enough Diamond Clones to surround the kages. She even sends one down in the canyon to cover Seiya. The remaining senbon all lodge into the clones, dissipating them, but preventing any harm to any of the Kages.

Urimono is gone.

"Very unoriginal," Tomoe replies in regards to the answer he provides to her question. As the senbon rain appears imminent to fall, Tomoe prepares to take counter measures and deflect... but Hana beats her to it. "Well done, Lady Tsuchikage," she says as a means of thanks and acknowledgement of the woman's skill.

She then picks her way carefully through the mess of crystal that litters the ground, approaching the Raikage to scan his wounded form with her sharingan. "Kei, how are you?" she asks, allowing some emotion to show the first time since they departed Kusagakure in the form of concern for one of her peers.

Looking to Hana with a wide smile he placed the small section of staff onto his belt. "Good thing you were around huh?" Taku's slithered its way up to Jynn's shoulder as it spoke "I wonder what he was talking about, it was rather vauge". Jynn shook his head as he sighed, removing Taku from his shoulder he placed the slug on the injured Raikage smiling as he spoke "alright work your magic and get to patching him up will you?".

Kei attempted to stand up, but all he could manage was getting on one knee. "I'm find Tomoe... Seiya-where is Seiya?" Hana's hand appeared on his shoulder, she looked at him with a reassuring glance. "I'll get him." She nodded at Jynn's praise and leapt off the canyon side, going to retrieve Seiya.

"Take it easy, I think the Kazekage has something to help you get better soon. And then we can get back to Kusagakure and the tournament. We should discuss what we will do once we get to there, knowing that we're now in a den of snakes and will be walking right back in among them. Still, we must make sure our genin remain safe despite all of this."

Her sharingan remains active as she continues to survey the field of crystal around them to glean whatever further information she can about Urimono and Senna.

Folding his arms across his chest Jynn shook his head in confusion. "I just dont get it, this guy shows up out of nowhere blasts everyone with fancy jutsu and runs off". Looking over to Tomoe he shrugs "got any ideas what he was talking about?".

"Someone who intends to make his mark on the world, for better or worse." She says this in a derisive sort of tone. "And likely for the worse, considering his disregard for human life." Tomoe punctuates this with a gesture at the canyon filled with bodies that were indiscriminately murdered.

Hana arrives at the top of the canyon holding an injured Seiya. Seiya rushes to Kei to make sure he is alright. His body is being mending by Jynn's jutsu. As Kei stands up he enters the conversation. "It doesn't matter right now. We need to get back to the tournament and protect our Genin. When we get home we need to prepare our villages. A hundreds years peace just ended with the blood of my people. It's time we act."

Tomoe's attention snaps back to Kei. "Are you well enough to return? I do not like the idea of those snakes holding our genin hostage any longer. Let us hurry back to them and watch how this tournament plays out. We will arrange to meet once this is over to discuss these events in more detail."

Holding his chin with his hand Jynn sighed "Its a shame really, I didnt think we'd be the Kage in charge when something like this happened". Looking up to the sky he shook his head once more "how do we even find this guy, we dont have any idea what hes going to do next. Seems like were just grasping at straws but I agree lets head back, to the tournament and meet up after".