Hired Muscle! [Fallen][Mission]

Etsuba reassured the merchant, telling him that they would protect him along the way. Ishiro was confident of his abilities, but yet, he felt doubt and anxiety in his heart. It was a creeping feeling, one that flowed through his body with ease, reaching his fingertips. It manifested as shaking. Ishiro tried to hide this by balling his hands up. He would walk with the merchant, fists clenched. As they left the city, Ishiro immediately began to listen to every sound he could hear. The Kusomimi, a technique that was available only to the members of the Shitakuma clan. Their odd ears and sense of perception was akin to being the best in the world.

Ishiro listened to the merchant, who called himself Kenta, as well, but his focus was elsewhere. Nervousness was getting the best of him, nearly becoming acute paranoia. He was expecting the worst, and when it did happen, he would be the first to know. However, the merchant distracted him with a question. A question about music. Ishiro turned, blind eyes looking over the merchant. They were glazed and milky, having a ghostly appearance to them. They looked at everything and nothing at the same time.

"Aye. I hope to one day master the art of crafting such items."

Ishiro listened to Etsuba as he began to answer his question. Etsuba told Ishiro of his defense mechanisms: to hide or to turn into mud. Ishiro, upon hearing this, dropped his head. He kept his face stoic but within his mind, he began to worry intensely. His partner, then, was very lacking in techniques and skill. He would have to backpack his friend through the battle if something like this happened. Etsuba interrupted his train of thought, however, asking how Ishiro himself planned to defend against earth techniques. He called Ishiro Disciple of Sand which made him smile. Kenta, by this time, was playing a beautiful meoldy on his flute. Ishiro could not enjoy it, however, as he was too nervous.

"You have answered your own question, it seems." he said, smiling, tapping on his gourd. Suddenly, he heard rustling. Ishiro stopped suddenly, sand busting from the gourd. The sand flowed freely as Ishiro pinpointed the enemy positions. There was one about 5 meters to his 3 o'clock, one 10 meters to Ishiro's 9 o'clock and one about 15 meters to his 2 o'clock. Ishiro dropped down into a stance of readiness.

Suddenly, the earth burst up through the ground. A large prison began to surround Etsuba. Bars suddenly closed over the prison, cutting him off. Ishiro's mind frayed about, but he took a shaky breath, trying to calm himself. He reminded himself of the objective: protecting Kenta. The three thugs finally showed themselves, leaping into the area. Two began to charge at the blind genin, which snapped the shinobi from his frozen trance. As they neared, Ishiro began to swiftly perform handseals, hoping to cut the charging thugs off before they got to his position. The handseals completed, he let his chakra flow through the sand around him. He began to consciously braid a rope out of sand as it launched towards one of the rushing thugs. If the sand rope were to hit one of the ex-shinobi, it would completely entangle them within its snaring grip, causing them to tumble to the ground. They would then have the ability to wiggle out, but that was after the damage had been done.

The second charging enemy was closing, and Ishiro did not have enough time to create more handseals. Pouring a small amount of chakra into the ground, he began to feel vibrations along the earth for 15 meters in every direction, allowing him to shape very accurately everything within his area. The rushing highwayman, who was being pinpointed by both sound and feel, was now upon Ishiro. Ishiro was no taijutsu specialist, but the opponent seemed to be fighting without a single form or discipline. Swinging wildly, Ishiro could both hear and feel the blade rushing towards his neck. Focusing on the opponent, he began to form handseals. As the blade rushed towards his neck, Ishiro dipped down, letting his right knee bend greatly, so that his entire head ducked down under the flying, steel blade. The sand around him jumped, ready to intercept if such an attack were about to land, but Ishiro was prepared. Bringing his head back up, he pushed back off of both of his feet, jumping back a full meter. At this point, his handseals were completed, and sand began to form condensed, sharp, sandy shurikens. Seven sand shurikens flew from a distance of one meter to the opponent; he guessed that unless the thug was a master with that sword, he would have a tough time even deflecting his sandy shinobi tools.

If the second thug had somehow managed to slip through his sand rope technique, he would have successfuly charged Ishiro, getting close enough to slash. As Ishiro was preoccupied with the first one, he would not have time to dodge the second strike. However, the sand around him would not allow such an attack. The sand would jump, intercepting the strike against his stomach, stopping the blade completely. Ishiro would then have targeted both ex-shinobi with his seven shurikens.

The third thug seemed static, however, not moving. Ishiro decided to take the initiative and attack the third with a genjutsu, allowing Etsuba to have time to escape. Forming handseals, he let his milky white eyes glaze over the third thug, allowing chakra to flow between the two. Ishiro shot at him with a link of chakra, thus allowing Ishiro to mess around in there. Grabbing the correct impulses, the genjutsu's preparation was complete. If the enemy would not throw it off, he would begin to see his worst fears manifested right in front of his eyes. It would damage him psychologically and buy the trio some more precious time.

Ishiro really hoped that Etsuba could escape...

Ishiro's grin suddenly turned into a state of surprise, listening as earth rose up around him, cutting of the genjutsu link. Ishiro was thrust out of the thug's mind, slicing the genjutsu technique into non-existence. Ishiro would have normally been flooded with rage at the prospect, knowing that the thug was only delaying the inevitable, yet he heard somebody climbing up from under the ground. Etsuba's hand popped out of the earth, grabbing the thug, pulling him down into the earth. In a grace, he erupted from the ground, kunais ablaze. The man, now entrapped, could do nothing as the kunai's landed in his face, killing him instantly.

"Hi there!" Etsuba said towards Ishiro, still in the earth prison. All three thugs were now indisposed, the battle was over. Now all the had to do was track down Kenta, who had seemed to have disappeared into the forest, and tell him of their success. Using his ninja physique, Ishiro used the walls of the earth prison to climb out. Jumping down, he landed towards Etsuba.

"Great job, Etsuba. Kenta's run off into the northeast, so we have to chase after him. There's no telling if there's more bandits or if they have him, so we must proceed carefully. I will send a clone forward, and you and I will follow close behind, watching to see what will happen. If Kenta is alone and safe, then there should be no problem."