A Mission of a Different Sort

Name: Classified
Rank: C-A
Location: Unknown
Description: Classified
Goals: Succeed

Tonou had sent Mianyi the paper a fortnight from the present evening. The paper simple read, 'Kaze'. He had hoped that she had remembered that Kaze meant wind, and that his puppet Kaze, absorbed wind. If she remembered, she would find that applying her Wind chakra into the page would reveal a secret text on it. It read, 'Meet me where you met Kaze a week from today at the same time. It was midnight in Suna. Another clear night, this time with wind howling in different places making different sounds. Tonou sat in his makeshift cavern, a small candle light only visible if you descent down the dune almost directly in front of it. On the table were two long black cloaks, two packs filled with various provisions, and a tome.

Mianyi wonders what the purpose of all this could be. Why does Tonou need to send her a secret message cloaked like this? And why the late night meeting? These questions, as well as her friendship with Tonou, drive Mianyi to investigate. This time she puts on a solid cloak to keep the chill of the night winds at bay and heads out of Sunagakure, moving towards the cavern that she once followed Tonou to. She approaches it cautiously, peering into it to see that Tonou is there before she enters. "What is this about?" she asks as she approaches the table and sees the items laid out on it.

Tonou tosses one of the black cloaks at Mianyi. "You'll need this." He then turns to the packs and throws one on. The book in his possession is then placed into his left hand as he keeps his right hand open from anything. He blows the candle out and steps past Mianyi back into the night air. The cold wind brushes against his scar but he doesn't seem to feel it. His thoughts and mind are elsewhere. "I hope you don't have any plans soon. We are going to the Rice Country. We leave now."

Mianyi catches the cloak, then looks at the tome and the packs. "Rice Country? What are we going there for?" she asks before even donning the cloak. "What's this about?" As someone who is sneaking off in the middle of the night, even if it's to help a friend, Mianyi feels a certain right to know.

Tonoe looks at Mianyi, smirks, and then takes off into the night sprinting towards the north-eastern border. Knowing she will follow he begins to explain himself. "Shiriki an I have remained in contact through courier pigeons. It just so happens that the Grand Citadel Library has information on the Cursed Seal and its creator, Orochimaru. Shiriki needs to see the information, he can confirm it and deny it. There hasn't been a living shinobi with the seal in over a century, so the information may be incorrect. I could do this on my own, but then I got a bit of interesting information from Shiriki. Oto is expecting a shipment of Kiri Shinobi. They already ported in Shimo and are now moving towards the Rice Country. Six Genin and One Jounin. Shiriki has become a bit of a vigilante in Oto, secretly sabotaging any efforts to steal shinobi. We are going to help him release these Kiri Shinobi."

Mianyi does indeed follow, if only to at least hear out Tonou. She grabs the pack that Tonou has provided for her and puts the cloak on over her own, the additional warmth welcome for a cool desert night such as this. She listens quietly as she follows Tonou. "I never would have guessed he would be that sort of a person," she says quietly. "What else do we know about this rescue mission?"

Tonou wouldn't have guessed Shiriki would have been that way either, but there was a certain innocence in him that Tonou recognized during the Nanpuu mission. He was doing his best to change things the only way he could, and Tonou respected him for that. He was a victim of the seal. [b]"We know that these Genin can fight. They have been battling this Jounin through thick and thin. Shiriki overheard elite Oto-nin saying that they might have to send the Jounin back-up. Shiriki volunteered to go. Let's use their will to our advantage."

Mianyi takes this in and nods. "So we'll have help on both sides." Unless Tonou has more to say, Mianyi has nothing more to say or ask, so she'll continue in silence until they reach Rice Country. As Tonou knows more of where they are meeting up with Shiriki and/or the shinobi being taken to Otogakure, she leaves it to him to lead.

Two days pass before they finally enter into the Rice Country. Most of their travel time was spent in silence. Every now and then they would talk about the wheather, the countries and landscapes outside of Suna, or about Genin they had met in Suna. These conversations were always brief. Finally they were in the Rice Field Country. Plains were all around them. The occasional foothill would spring up somewhere, but for the majority they were out in the open. "Now would be a good time to transform." Tonou transformed his appearance to an old Rice farmer. They waited at the edge of the border until finally Shiriki appeared in the distance. As he came closer he bowed to Tonou and Mianyi. "Plentiful crop this spring?" Tonou had managed to alter his voice as well, "Not bad, but I say the wind always helps." Shiriki nodded and shot off in the direction he came. Tonou followed behind.

Mianyi transforms into the son of an old rice farmer, pretending to work alongside 'his' father. When Shiriki arrives, she can't help but smile a little at the sight of the Oto-nin who was their former enemy and bows back, following him and Tonou as well. With Shiriki accompanying them, it's clear that there is going to be some trouble ahead, so Mianyi keeps a more vigilant outlook this time and prepares for the action to come.

"The Jounin is a Fuuinjutsu expert. He helped research and aide Oto's attempts to prefect the Cursed Seal. He's sealed the four in some sort of binding brace around their arms. We have to break the brace, but they are rigged with explosion tags..." Tonou listened intently. Breaking the seals would be absolutely necessary in order to complete the mission. Tonou thought for a moment until he came up with an idea, one that Mianyi probably wouldn't care for. "Mianyi is superior with Chakra Control. She can contain the blast with her chakra and push the explosion elsewhere. It will take immense focus, so we will need to keep this Jounin busy." Tonou turned to Mianyi and gave her an encouraging look. He didn't ask her if she would do it, he assumed she would, but he knew that she was the only Genin he knew that could.

Mianyi listens to both the intelligence and Tonou's plan, with a kind of, "…" expression as she has no idea really what Tonou is expecting her to do here. Some kind of wizardry, maybe? After some moments of consideration as she tries to figure out how to contain explosions and plush them elsewhere, she finally nods. "It is something that I can try," she replies uncertainly.

Tonou nodded back at Mianyi. That was good enough. The two followed Shiriki to the top of a small foothill. Down in the small valley below the figures of a Jounin and four Genin trailing behind were walking through the area. Shiriki and Tonou made eye contact and nodded at one another, then they descended down the hill, trying to gain the Jounin's attention. At first he looked confused, seeing Shiriki run towards him with a kunai drawn made him understand the situation, making a few handseals he sent a large burst of wind towards Tonou and Shiriki, leaving the Genin behind him unguarded.

While Shiriki and Tonou are preparing to descend down the hill, Mianyi sticks as much cover as she can to flank the group. The distraction that they provide enables Mianyi to slip from that shelter that hides her from view to get near to the genin and get a view of the situation. She tries to see where the explosive tags on the genin from Kiri are located and tries to knead some chakra and shape it into a bubble shaped barrier that can isolate them from their intended victims, if possible. Mianyi isn't sure that it can be done, but right now isn't really the time for that kind of doubt.

"Heyo, get me out! Get me out, get me out, get me out! I will bash his freaking head in! Get me out!" Ryo swung his arms back and forth as Mianyi sized up the task at hand. He was the loudest of the Kiri Genin and by trait, the obvious leader. He had an impatient look to him. The feature that would catch everyone's eye however, was the giant sword on his back.

Tonou and Shiriki through kunai, shuriken, bomb tags, and anything they could find at the Jounin. Everything they threw was blocked by the Wind and repelled back towards the two. They dodged and continued to try and inch closer. Tonou jumped behind the Jounin and drove a round-house kick to the Jounin's temple. The kick was blocked however. The Jounin had grabbed Tonou's foot and binded it with some sort of seal. As Tonou leapt backwards to get away from the attack he stumbled to the ground upon landing. He couldn't use his right leg.

Mianyi attaches the bubble of chakra to the tip of one of her chakra conducting knives and then uses that to quickly slice through the bonds that are keeping Ryo restrained. The bubble is meant to isolate the explosive tag, yet despite the bond being broken it does not detonate, even as Mianyi pushes it away to take the explosion elsewhere. This is confusing, given their intelligence, but useful, as it now enables Mianyi to act faster. She channels chakra into her blades and swiftly cuts the remaining genin free, letting them loose to aide in the fight against the jounin.

"Yes! Move move move move move move!" Ryo rushes past Mianyi and towards the Jounin. Tonou and Shiriki are both exhausted and both have been bruised and cut by the wind techniques he keeps throwing at them. Ryo swings his sword high above his head and slams it down towards the Jounin preoccupied with Shiriki and Tonou. As the sword starts its downswing a wave of water forms in the air above him and comes crashing down on the Jounin, smashing him and crushing him under the wave. The wave sends Tonou and Shiriki sliding down towards Mianyi and the other Genin.

With the genin free, Mianyi starts to move, although she braces for that wave of water that pushes Tonou and Shiriki towards her. Once the jutsu abates, she jumps over the puddle and dashes at the jounin, channeling chakra into her blades and preparing to finish him off if the Kiri genins have not already done so.

Before Mianyi could reach the Jounin Ryo was already standing on top of his sword, balancing on the hilt. A wide and goofy smile played on his face. The Jounin below him was dead, the sword sticking through his gut. Shiriki and Tonou looked on in awed silence. Behind everyone the Kiri trio were cheering and murmuring among themselves, all excited and goofy, as if they had never been held captive and stolen from their home. "Oh yeah! Easy easy easy. Told this dumbass as soon as my hands were free I was gunna shove my sword up his-" Tonou interrupted him, much to Ryo's dismay. "You're welcome. Now, if you would kindly shut up, we can figure out how we are going to get out of hostile territory and you back to Kiri." Tonou was obviously annoyed, perhaps his ego had been bruised.

Mianyi pulls up short, the chakra on her knives dying out as she tucks them away. "Yes, you will need to get out of here. We can provide an escort to the border." She turns to Shiriki. "As for you, you need a cover for what happened here. It will not do if your superiors in Otogakure begin to suspect you or limit your movements as punishment for so many failed missions."

Shiriki and Ryo both looked like they had things they wanted to say but might not sound too good. And then they both said "I'm not going back." Tonou looked at Mianyi and gave her a guilty look. "Shiriki is coming back with us... I'm bring him to the new Kazekage... If he stays here, he will surely die." Ryo on the other hand, had other things to say as Tonou looked at him inquiringly. "I'm going to Konoha! I want to see the great Hokage Faces. So does my team. We're not going back to Kiri, piss on that nonsense. We are going to explore!!"

Mianyi looks surprised for a minute at this announcement from Tonou, then nods her acceptance and even smiles a little. "That is the better choice."

She gives Ryo a slightly disgusted look. "You'd abandon your village so easily?" Disdain for the deserters is clearly evident in her voice. "You're not our concern. Go do as you'd like," she says dismissively.