Stormfall (An AU Naruto Quest)

"Living Roots," Momoka murmured, expanding her awareness to the tremors of the earth. Through the vibrations she could sense the subtle, but distinct casual lounging motions of three individuals in the barn. She turned to her teammates and nodded grimly. No civilians in the barn, then. There was just the three enemy ninja, who would likely be gone by the time they returned with Kobayashi-sensei. Which meant it fell to them to take care of this threat.

"Gale Edge," Kenzō spoke quietly.

Shion, for her part, drew a kunai with her sole explosive tag on it. She put up her face covering and looked between them both, getting nods in response as they pulled up their own face covers. She activated her tag, and threw. And brought hell to this corner of the Land of Rain.

"Spine of the Earth!" Momoka shouted, slamming her hands into the ground, sending a trail of tiny spikes rapidly crawling towards the barn. She felt the tensing of her target, as the spear of stone approached them. Her target replaced themselves with a barrel just a moment too late. Immediately after getting clipped by a spike of rock, the kunai with an explosive sailed through the window, lighting up the barn in a brief fireball.

"Vacuum Step!" Kenzō cried out right after Shion's tag detonated, plunging himself into the storm of debris and splinters raining down everywhere as the barn began to collapse. He would do his best to stop anyone from fleeing.

Three other figures became visible from various parts of the rapidly clearing dust cloud, faces covered, with headbands bearing the crest of the Village Hidden in Rock. The tallest of them bore a sheath on his back and… a chūnin vest. That was troublesome. One of them, shorter, bore no vest but had made it out of the explosion unscathed. The other, whom Momoka discerned was the one she had struck with Spine of the Earth, bore tattered and bloody clothing, having taken severe damage from the explosive. Just as they turned to run, a shuriken flew from Momoka's fingertips, finding its way into the back of their skull. They dropped to the ground, dead in an instant.

"Reiko!" two voices called out.

She felt sick with herself. But it was numerous innocent lives against three malefactors, and it made the choice easier.

The chūnin screamed with rage, calling out, "Water Release: Cresting Wave!" He bowled over Kenzō as he surged towards Momoka, hand going to the weapon at his back.

Shion already had her Water Whip in hand after throwing the explosive, and she braced as the chūnin was upon them, water surging at Momoka's feet and causing her to stumble. The chūnin's weapon was in hand in a moment, flying into the sky in an eerily familiar fashion.

In a flash, Senbon were raining down everywhere as Shion and Momoka sprinted out of the way of the shower of needles, one of them catching Momoka across the arm. Within moments, she felt herself getting slower. Venom in the needles.

Her foe thundered toward her in a rage, and Momoka panicked, as poison began circulating her blood. "Earth Release: Earth Dive," she gasped, embracing the safety of the earth as she sank into the ground, still unable to shake the uncomfortable sense of familiarity she was feeling.

---

Kenzō was knocked aside by the chūnin's sudden burst of power, but he recovered quickly. He pivoted from containing the chūnin, who would be facing two opponents at once as it is, and turned to the last Hidden Rock ninja before they could run.

He deflected a kunai and moved to close the distance between himself and his opponent who seemed to favor ranged weaponry. He ducked behind a charred wall as another weapon flew past him, then jumped up and launched himself off of the fixture, putting himself in melee range in an instant. She grunted as she ducked out of the way of Kenzō's web of swings, slowly cutting off her escape routes.

"Wind Release: Silent Sickle!" she cried out, a tinge of desperation in her voice. Kenzō had seen this ninjutsu before and lay himself flat for a moment as it passed harmlessly over his head, springing himself back up and continuing his assault, nicking his opponent's shoulder. She winced in pain and leapt backward once more, throwing a spray of Senbon. Kenzō's hooks scooped up wooden slats and lobbed them into the path of the projectiles, then knocked them aside after they soaked up the swarm of tiny needles, twin hook blades with a razor sharp aura of wind flaring out and cutting the Hidden Rock nin across the legs. The bleeding was instant and profuse, causing her to cry out, stumble, and fall.

He raised his swords and began to swing downward, but her eyes seemed to focus on his blades, gurgling a confused, "Kenzō…?"

What the fuck. He hesitated for a moment, and she scrambled to her feet, beginning to run away. Kenzō was about to pursue when he heard a rush of water coming back his way, turning to face the chūnin head on. Out of the corner of his eye, Shion seemed to be running his way while Momoka was nowhere to be seen. No time to think about that. He leapt over the inrushing wave of water, swords slamming down upon his foe's weapon - but his opponent twisted around, parrying his flurry of strikes and slamming a fist into his chest while their own weapon kept his at bay.

Kenzō flew back and tumbled to the ground, the wind knocked out of him. His ribs were bruised at best, maybe fractured at worst. They weren't much better than him, but they were better enough…

He raised himself back up, wincing from the pain. If he couldn't keep up before, keeping up now would be a daunting ask. He had to try anyways. Who else in their group could? He scowled, noting his reserves of chakra were below half-

Kenzō and his opponent both froze up, recognizing each other's weapons. Kenzō's unique hook swords and the Okura's umbrellas were both too distinct to mistake for anything else.

"What the hell… what the hell are you doing?!" he screamed.

"You shouldn't have come here," the Okura ninja of Hidden Rain murmured, and raised his weapon to continue the fight.

---

Shion pushed herself to her feet, Water Whip still in hand. Was that really… Okura Sai?

He'd rushed off upon hearing his teammate cry out in pain, now locked in combat with Kenzō, who seemed to be struggling to keep up as Sai circled around him fiendishly with that water ninjutsu, laying into him with strikes from one of those strange umbrellas the Okura Clan used. Momoka had gone under the ground, trailing after their last foe who was stumbling into the woods.

Shion sprinted over to the ruins of the barn, calling out to Kenzō as she leapt over chunks of burning wood. He grunted acknowledgement, not having much time to reply as he endured the onslaught. Shion sprung off the ground, whipping her ninjutsu towards Sai, who deftly swiveled around it much as he might during a spar. She tumbled, breaking her landing into a roll that left her facing Sai again. Kenzō slithered toward him once more but couldn't find an in.

Try as they might, Sai was too powerful to get in close with, and Kenzō was clearly getting tired, maybe already injured. Stamina was one of her strong suits, maybe stronger even than Sai's… and tired as Kenzō was, he was still wearing Sai down at the same time. She flashed Kenzō a single handsign their whole team had learned.

GIVE ME AN OPENING.

He grit his teeth in another clash with Sai, failing to make headway once more, and flashed a quick and frustrated sign back.

GO!

Shion sprinted a quick circle and ducked the occasional stab, making her way to Sai's back. Sai tried to move away and keep them both in his vision, but as he retreated back, Kenzō hopped up onto the bricks of a well, leaping forward as fast as Sai moved back, locking into another weapon clash, twisting his hooks around the umbrella and locking it down. He and Sai thrashed upon the wave as Sai tried to buck him loose. Shion flew towards them, jamming her Water Whip into Sai's Cresting Wave. He didn't see the attack coming - he couldn't quite pull himself out of the way in time, yanking free of the blade lock just to get pierced in the calf by a point of water jetting out from the roaring water of his own technique, causing him to stumble off of the wave.

Shion whipped her ninjutsu toward him again, and Sai easily batted aside the attack, but Kenzō grabbed him around the foot while he wasn't looking. He stumbled free before Kenzō's follow-up could behead him, lancing his razor point umbrella out at Shion as she came into range. She kicked the umbrella aside and Kenzō grazed Sai's chest with the aura around his blades before his hooks could be parried. Sai brough the umbrella back around to deflect Kenzō's continuous attacks and force him backward, only to get slashed across the head by Shion's whip.

The umbrella clicked oddly, the top blowing off and launching a net towards Shion, but Kenzō's left hook snagged it before it reached her. She jumped over the interception, slamming her whip down upon Sai who barely sidestepped in time, raising a simple sword that was hidden inside the odd contraption, but Kenzō slapped it down as Shion's whip smacked Sai across the face with a painful thump.

Sai spat out blood, and roared with a deep-seated rage, summoning his wave back to himself, and with the last of his strength he surged towards Kenzō, who was quickly slowing down. Kenzō rolled out of the way, barely, and caught Sai's legs from behind, stopping him in his tracks, as Shion speared forward with her water ninjutsu, impaling Sai through the ribs.

In an instant, the fight drained out of Sai, his water technique fading to nothing. He collapsed to the ground, alive but in shock and swiftly losing consciousness. He gurgled, "Traitors," before passing out.

"I'll stabilize him," Shion said grimly. "We'll have questions. Are you okay to go after Momoka?"

Kenzō gripped his side, but nodded. "Will you be okay?" he replied, after a moment.

She nodded back, and he jogged off at a slightly-slower-than-normal pace, following the small mounds of dirt that marked where Momoka had tunneled.

Shion turned to look at one of her oldest schoolyard rivals unconscious on the ground, thoughts and emotions swirling within her like a rainstorm.

---

Momoka pulled herself free of the ground slowly, her Living Roots technique still pulsing out into the environment around her and letting her sense the local vibrations. Her quarry wasn't too far ahead. They were slowing by the minute.

Momoka didn't move quickly, exactly, as her dread was mounting, but even at her pace she gained ground on her target with ease.

Before she knew it, she stood in a small glade, a pool of water rippling in the rain and separating her from her enemy - or, her ally, once.

"Momoka…" her target said from across the small pond. Nishi Minori. Not a friend, exactly, but someone Momoka knew. Or, thought she knew.

Momoka had a kunai in hand, already ready to throw, but she hesitated at the soft and desperate voice. Momoka's arm slowly began to lower - in a flash, Minori's own hands were glistening with weapons. And then, her eye socket sprouted a kunai. Minori slumped slowly to the forest floor.

She felt Kenzō's familiar footsteps - albeit with a bit of a limp - approach behind her. Before she knew it, she fell to her knees and began to weep. Kenzō walked up slowly, hesitating, before laying a hand on her shoulder.

"What are we going to do?" she whispered.

After a pause, he whispered back. "I don't know."

---

Kenzō has taken a Mild, "Bruised Ribs," and Momoka has taken a Mild, "Poisoned!" for which they each receive a FP. Additionally, the group has received one FP for winning a difficult encounter.

The group has also received one TYS point each for the events of this chapter.

What do you do next?

[X] Rest up and have Shion quickly heal your injuries before you go anywhere else. Interrogate Sai for information.
[X] Drag Sai back to Sarobetsu immediately and have Kobayashi-sensei interrogate him.
[X] Execute Sai and disappear into the night before you come into conflict with Kobayashi-sensei.