Crazy Old Jounin's Forest of Unpleasent Situations

[Corvus]

Mission location for:

SPOILER: Click to show

Name: Forest of demise part 1
Rank: D
IIC Length: 2 days
Difficulty: easy- moderate
Description: A residential jounin of mist recently constructed a maze of sorts with a hidden map somewhere within. The maze is a manmade forest of approximately 500 meters with many twists and turns within. Many passes within are identical, so it’s quite easy to get lost. Without the map, it is nearly impossible to get out, but never fear, the maze is not booby trapped.
Objective: get through the maze in a timely manner.
Reward: 1500


Name: Forest of demise part 2
Rank: C
IIC Length: 2 days
Difficulty: moderate- hard
Description: The Jounin of mist has created another maze. This one is just as large as the first, with the added addition of traps. Most of the traps are more annoying than deadly, which may include, but is not restricted to knockout gas, pit fall trap doors, and senbon launchers. To add to the difficulty, various genjutsus linger along certain areas of the maze that may alter ones since of direction and perception, causing them to wander about the same direction for hours on end.
Objective: get through the maze in a timely manner while avoiding the traps
Reward: 3000

Also training:

SPOILER: Click to show

Zankuuha (Decapitating Air Waves)
Rank: D - Rank
Skill: Ninjutsu
Effect: The user sends a powerful blast of wind from the Air Vents in their palms.
Special: ---
Drawback: Should the tubes be blocked, the built up pressure will cause the users arms to burst off as the air escapes.
Description: Placing one, or both palms forward, the user releases an incredibly powerful burst of Air Pressure from their arms, the gust then proceeds to launch outwards and destroy objects within their path, traveling as far as 10 Meters (30 Feet) forward before their potency is reduced.
Limit: Wind Release. Must have Air Vents installed.

[--/10]

"Y-your the kid who's gonna take on the old man's forest?" The man, a tall fellow with dark eyes and tousled hair muttered something about the declining age of shinobi these days. He squatted to get down to Akiko's level and tousled her hair, "well, if you're dead set on this, I'll give you a present. He reached into his back pocket and brought out a small firework and a single match. "I've never been able to beat that maze myself, but if you light this firework, I'll come and get you out, ok?"

A part of Akiko didn't really believe him. After all, he was saying that he didn't have the power to beat this obstacle himself, exactly why he put out the mission requests, and yet he was saying that he would be able to get her out if she couldn't handle it? Obviously he didn't think she would get far. But irregardless of the paradox of him thinking he could save her when he couldn't beat the maze himself, Akiko accepted the firework and match, thinking it a nice gesture at the least.

The tubes in her arms itched, she had studied up on the abilities they gave her, and only now resolved to actually learn to use them. To start with the basics, that's where all training began. And these tubes, the Zankuuha, function by creating a powerful wave from a combination of air pressure and high-frequency vibrations, breaking down and destroying anything in their path. Though there were other uses, they was their primary one. Their biggest advantage, however, was their ability to generate tremendous destructive force without handseals, and with relatively little chakra.

Her goal was to get to the center of the maze, where the crazy old man was, and back out, with the old coot. And of course, the quickest way between two points was a straight line. But she couldn't simply fly over the top of the hedges because the outer walls formed a ceiling, and the inner walls all connected to the top. In truth, it was less a hedge maze, and more a single massive tree grown into the shape of a massive maze, with few options to get through. And she couldn't just burn it to the ground, because that would be a massive fire hazard to the entire village. . . despite the fact that the village had few issues with water, it could still cause considerable damage before it was finally put out.

And that's where these things in her arms came in. Why on earth she had them in her arms, well, that's a story for another time. For now, it was time to learn how to use the blasted things. To reiterate, they functioned using high-pressure air waves in combination with high-frequency vibrations in that high-pressure air wave to literally tear virtually anything in it's path to shreds. She stuffed the firework and match in one of her jacket pockets, and began to work her chakra.

It was always best to start on the small scale, and Akiko intended to do just that. Instinctively, she began handseals, but stopped them and relaxed her chakra; no handseals were needed for this jutsu. Akiko calmed herself, and began to work her chakra again. She focused it into the tubing in her right arm, drawing air into it from it's one opening, wrapping the air around itself, condensing it as tight as she could. The small child used her left arm as a support for her right as she walked right up to the nearest plant-wall and faced straight at it. The young genin, no, the future chunin opened her small palm and pointed it towards the wall.

She released the hold she held on the air within her arm. It rapidly expanded, and with only one way out, a cone-shaped burst of air flew out of the opening in her palm. But something was amiss, that Akiko could easily tell as the leaves on the blockage were torn from their home, yet the underling structure remained sound. And then it hit her like a ton of bricks. She had forgotten to create the vibrations via sound release, her Neton. But the difficulty lie in not only molding chakra through two different styles into one single medium, one location, but also in doing that two-way molding all at once. And without handseals to boot.

Until she got used to this, it would take quite some focus to mold in such a way. And it would only get more complex when she tried to use this technique in both arms at once. Yes, very complex indeed. Akiko tried to settle herself down, to settle her chakra and better prepare herself. It was always easier repeating a prior feat, than accomplishing a new one. And accomplishing a new one was indeed her goal here. She tried to think about it more analytically.

Akiko began to mold her chakra again, willing it into the required shapes. Once again, she molded her chakra into the tubes in her arms. This time trying to force the air within to vibrate at high speeds before she even thought about releasing it. It worked...well enough. The buzzing in her arm felt a bit odd though, like what she'd imagine having a host of bugs in her arm would be like.

Again, Akiko braced herself against the recoil of the technique. She pointed her right foot forward, while moving her left foot back, behind the right, with the toes pointing to the left. She also pointed her right palm forward, with the fingers curled in slightly, as if she were grabbing an invisible orange or doornob. Her left hand grabbed her right arm at the wrist. This position helped displace the energy from the jutsu along the whole of her body.

Confidant that her stance would help, Akiko released the jutsu. A terrible wave of devistation burst from the small tubules in the child's right arm, distorting the air and tearing a hole through the plantmatter. A terrible shriek filled the air, inducing a mixed moment of fear and urgency in the child. Before she could recover her composure, the holes she blasted into the hedges began to grow back in. She had no time to think, instead she ran at full speed and lept through the rapidly shrinking hole, and sprang through the one on the far side. And just in time, too. Just as she landed, the leafy gateway she had just used sealed itself behind her. She wasn't too terribly worried, if she blasted the hole once, she could do it again, right?

Akiko decided to give it one more try. She built up highly-pressurized air in the tube in her arm. She then forced it to vibrate at high frequencies. And with her weapon primed, she aimed it at the hedge infront of her and fired full force from a crouching position.

[JiMmIyZ - Hel]

+10

[Corvus]

SPOILER: Click to show

Zankyokukuuha (Extreme Decapitating Air Waves)
Rank: C - Rank
Skill: Ninjutsu
Effect: The user sends an extremely powerful blast of wind from the Air Vents in their palms.
Special: ---
Drawback: Should the tubes be blocked, the built up pressure will cause the users arms to burst off as the air escapes.
Description: Identical to the prior technique in initiation, this one creates an even larger burst of Air Pressure from the vents in the users arms. This technique is the ultimate version of the lesser technique, it creates a massive gust of wind capable of totally wiping out the target if they remain in range of the attack, as well as a good portion of the surrounding area. This technique travels out as far as 20 Meters (60 Feet) in a cone before the potency is diminished.
Limit: Wind Release. Zankuuha (Decapitating Air Waves).

[--/10]

The jutsu errupted with a BANG, and Akiko lept through the resulting gap without hesitation. When she reached the otherside, she found that her jutsu hadn't penetrated far, only two more walls. She lept through with as much hesitation as before, but stopped after that second wall. The hole in the leafy wall sealed up soon after she stopped. She knew it would, and she wasn't sure she would make it through before it did. So she had stopped and prepared. Her arm felt a little numb from all the vibrations, and the elbow joint felt a little compressed.

It's best to do in moderation. she thought to herself, activating her doujutsu as she did. Her awareness expanded fifty meters, and she began to take in the details. Chakra flowed through the mystery plant like blood, or chakra for that matter, in a human. It seemed the entire maze was indeed one single, gigantic plant. Amazing. Akiko knelt down and observed the plant. A part of her wished that she had brought a specimine jar, while another part sarcastically reminded the first that they hadn't brought a knife, so the jar would be useless, and they didn't have much special knowledge of plants anyway, so the sample would be neigh useless.

Akiko figured that she would be able to come back later down the road, so she stood up and dusted herself off, continuing on. The maze was confusing, but with her eyes, she had something even more effective than a minimap...for fifty meters at least. Still, that was five times as far as she could blast. . .Akiko continued walking half-absentmindedly, paying more attention to the shape of the hedgewalls than to anything else. Her foot caught on something and she fell hard. "Ne~e." Akiko got up and looked backwards. Her foot had caught on a rock.

Akiko looked forward again and saw that several long wooden objects, almost like primitive spears with their sharpened ends, blocked off her path. She slowly reached forward, more than a little confused. But she quickly pulled her hand back as thick thorny brambles covered her path as well, weaving around the wooden 'spears' and dripping a pungent purple liquid from their small thorns. If anything ever looked poisonous without a Jolly Roger, here it was. And the seemingly deliberate attempts by the 'natural' world to stop her just frustrated her.

Frustrated her to the point that she began compressing and ocilating air into the tubeules in her arm. And in her rising temper, she doubled the density of the air, and the frequency of the vibrations. But the thing seeme to sense her intentions. While the pressure was still building, a number of brambles peeled off the wooden spears and formed into a thorny spear of their own. And it thrust itself swiftly straight at Akiko.

She reflexivly reacted, jumping back as far as she could to buy enough time to fire off the blast. As she moved backwards, more thorny vines burst forth from the hedge walls to try and impale her. Her body reflexivly began charging the tubes in her left arm as well, also at double potency. And Just as they were reaching completion, vines, complete with purple goo, thrust out of the walls behind her, trying to squewer her from all directions.

She stopped jumping back and aimed her two arm cannons straight forward. They finished building pressure just in time. With them aimed almost straight forward, Akiko loosed the blasts. The combination of vibration and raw pressurised air proved a deadly combination. The thorny attacks in the blast's way were completely obliterated, not a trace remaining.

But Akiko had no time to celebrate. She still had to deal with attacks from behind. She didn't have time to build up for another attack, so she just charged straight forward. Even the soil was torn up from her attack. Her feet slipped a little at first, but they found enough traction for her to keep running. Suddenly, her right foot stopped on something hard.

Her upper torso, however, kept going at full speed, and the result was a tiny shinobi tumbling head-over-heels through the air, utterly out of control. One thing she caught, however, was a familiar-looking rock still sitting there, defiant of her raw destructive power, looking proud. Akiko couldn't help but smile in the slow-motion moment, before her sense of time returned to normal and she resumed flipping top-over-bottom through the air until she hit the ground, and rolled to a stop.

Akiko extended her arms to raise her face off the ground, and spat out dirt and fertilizer that tasted strangely...strange. With some of the foreign material gone from her mouth, Akiko stood up and dusted herself off. Spotting a nearby pond, she walked over and took a deep moutful, only to spit it, and the remaining topsoil, to some random off screen spot.

With her mouth free of the vile taste, she took a deep drink from the cool, clear liquid. It tasted magnificant after the disgusting, and disturbingly...disturbing soil. But there was a slightly familiar element to the taste. Then it hit her, the water had a similar taste to the soil, though without the soil-y-ness, so it tasted much better. Still, there was something...off about it.

Akiko took another drink to try and figure it out, but didn't have a chance to analyze the taste. As she was sipping the cool liquid, she looked to the side and saw something that, quite frankly, caused her such surprise and alarm that she reflexivly spat out all the water in the form of a pressurized jet of water.

Sitting there, in the middle of the path was a fairly large dragon with green scales. It was of the western variety, with no wings, and a wide, lizard-like body. It's head was triangular, and it had a total of eight backwards facing conicular protrusions from it's face. Two from top back of the head, these seemed to be the horns, and three on either side of the jaw, protruding outwards slightly. It's iruses were a darker green than it's scales, and it's claws and teeth were a brilliant white...and it's tounge was pink...

Wait...TEETH!?!? TOUNGE!?!?!?! The reptilian fiend was licking it's lips, looking at Akiko. At it's next morsel. . .

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Akiko ran at top speed from the scally beast, trying her hardest to stay ahead of the snapping jaws that constantly fell just short of the hem of her jacket. Why do I feel like I've fallen into some fantasy Manga?! And the worst part was she was rapidlly approaching a dead end. She had no time to think; building air pressure and vibrations into her arm-cannon was her only option, and it was done reflexivly.

As she rapidlly approached the Bad End, Akiko fired the shot, creating a conicular wave of destruction that tore a hole through her blockage. She jumped and rolled through the thorny issue, barely making it to the other side. The Dragon stopped short, making some frustrated sounds before walking away as the wall regenerated.

Akiko flopped on her back, gasping for breath after that sudden exersion. "When(gasp)did I(gasp)fall into(gasp)an RPG(gasp),Ne~~?" When finally she recovered, Akiko sat up and reactivated her God's Eyes, which had come undone in the excitement. The area she was in now looked nothing like where she was, and with good reason that she soon saw. The Maze changed shapes of its own accord.

And just as her frustration at this infernal place was mounting, she felt a small tremor behind her, and before checking exactly what it was, she muttered to herself, "please, not another scripted encounter. . ." And yet... when she checked behind her using her eyes, she saw a large tree-like creature with a humanoid face and a thick beard of what looked like a dark green moss.

Akiko's "Fuuuuuu....." was cut off by the large tree-thing saying in a deep, rumbly voice "Hello." Akiko stood up and dusted herself off before assuming a runner's stance. And like a bolt, she was off, screaming like a ninny while being chased by a gargantuan tree creature. A real pitty she didn't carry a sword. If she had, she could have unsheathed it and stuck it in this tree with human features.

That aside, the pair ran down a fairly straight corridor until the Treant said, and quote: "Slow down little Orc Girl." Akiko immediatly skidded to a halt. The wood-monster followed suit, windmilling its arms so as to not fall ontop of Akiko. Akiko's fist clenched. She slowly turned around as she said, "I know I'm not exactly a looker, but no one calls me a miniscule pipsqueek to tiny to track when running!!" The volume of her voice rose as she spoke, her hands both fully coated in a nimbus of chakra that showed she meant buisness.

She closed the gap in an instant, and slammed her hand down hard on his right foot...root...thing... The fiberous material compressed and shattered under the force of the blow, causing the creature to begin to fall. Akiko followed up with a full force uppercut, knocking the thing into the sky. A powerful leap brought Akiko up to the same level as the tree-thing, "AND NOBODY," she unleashed a quick flurry of blows, "EVER", she unleashed a full force blow that sent the wooden aggressor rocketing to the ground. Akiko completed a series of handseals and launched a full volley of thunderstorm ravens at the creature, before kicking off the air somehow and propelling herself downward at him.


"CALLS ME AN ORC!!" Akiko unleashed a burst of high-pressure, high-frequency air at the thing's face from close range, the pressure and energy of the attack being higher than normal from the fall forcing additional air into the tubes. The attack decimated the face-like formation on the front of the thing, and it moved no more. However, Akiko was only more lost than ever. "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!" Akiko's voice reverberated througout the forest until it lost all meaning. Never the less, the yelling without the threat of impending doom did make her feel better.

With some invisible weight off her back, Akiko went on skipping merrily through the Malevolent Forest of Impending Doom and Other Assorted Unplesent Situations and Assorted Sundries.

Eventually, Katsuragi only knows how, Akiko made it to the center of the maze. There, infront of her, was a large, partially crumbling dome-structure constructed of a pale brown material, perhaps sandstone. It was surrounded by a number of large trees that rose up and formed the roof of the maze. Curiously, somewhere near the top, instead of treebrances, what seemed to be the same thorny vines that tried to impale Akiko earlier formed a loose roof that allowed a large amount of sunshine to enter. A pillar of sunlight shone straight down on the central dome.

And off to the side was a conspiciously placed cabin, with a little smoke coming out of the chimney. There was an old man sitting on the porch in a rocking chair, smoking a pipe. Akiko approached him and inquired into exactly 'What the Hell is going on here Ne?!" The old man laughed and explained that he was a Hanakora and that he'd had an 'Accident' with a jutsu that he was developing. The result was this massive forest, and one that refused to let him leave. The source of this massive forest was a large creature in the central dome, what was left of his experimentation area.

Akiko figured that if she wanted to finsh this mission, she'd have to take out the 'source'. Akiko thanked the man and said she'd have him out soon. The man didn't try to stop her, only saying "Fare well," Akiko responded with the more cheery "Ki o-tsukeru ne." Take care of your soul. It was like the western 'take care', implying that they would soon meet again.

Four retractible mirrors dropped into an active position as soon as Akiko entered the room. The material was indeed sandstone, and the roof of the building was completely missing. In the center of the room sat a simply massive flower with closed red petals, at least two, maybe three meters from the ground up. There were only a few platforms onwhich to stand. The rest of the area was under water, though the crumbling edges suggested this wasn't by design. And speaking of water, that which was in the room was a deep green color. And it gave off a familiar scent, giving the air a flavor that seemed oddly familiar.

Then she finally placed all the pieces together. The odd taste to the soil and the water in the maze. The strange flavor to the air here...it was coppery, metalic. It tasted of human blood. Akiko swore under her breath as she prepared for a fight. And she was not left to want, almost as soon as she steeled herself for the inevitble, a tendril disguised as an exposed root rose up and thrust itself at Akiko. The poor child barely dodged it, but she managed to get a good look at it before restoring her God's Eyes. The tendril was shaped like a club almost, and was all green, except for the spikes which protruded from it's bulbous end. The spike were a dark maroon, and Akiko doubted very much that they lacked the purple gunk or some derivitive or equally lethal substitute.

Her cheak burned, with her awakened Omnisciousness Akiko saw the flesh there imidiately begin necrotising, the cells undergoing rapid necrotisation; dying. A powerful toxin indeed. Luckily Akiko had considerible skill in many medical forms. She molded her chakra as needed while the tendril retracted, and once ready, she applied the jutsu to the wound, starting at the edges and working in as needed. It worked, the toxin was simple, but powerful. Luckily it broke down quickly enough. Akiko applied her Healing Hands afterward, to repair the cellular damage where possible, and to replace those cells already lost. She was lucky that the toxin couldn't spread by blood.

The tendril struck again. But this time, Akiko was better prepared, and avoided the thorny club completely. But this wasn't working well, Akiko was on the defensive. And pure defense never help you break anything. She prepared a jutsu and waited for the tendril to attack. And it launched, just as she expected. At the last moment, she released her jutsu, spawning a cloud of electrical cherry blossom petals. At the same time, she used Shunshin Arc to move at high-speed around the weapon towards the base.

Her heart was beating fast. As dangerous as this was, she never felt more alive than here. Her chakra moved faster and more precisely than ever. She built up the needed airpressure and frequency during the movement. As she returned to normal speed, Akiko heard a screech that sounded familiar. Her eyes saw that the club had just passed through the cloud of petals, and been badly electrocuted. Akiko loosed her blast at the apparent 'heart' of the plant; the point on the plant where the petals and the roots met, that fiberious area where the seeds were most likely, assuming that this thing had seeds.

The blast felt right, but Akiko couldn't believe her eyes. All the chakra in this beast was focused in this area, and yet she was barely able to cut a single foot into the core with a full shot. But she heard that screech again, and louder. She recognised it, she realized she had heard it before. Every time she damaged one of the plants, except for the Treant. Fainter before, but now that she was so near the source, it was much louder. Akiko kicked off the ground and moved forward just in time. She was suspended in the air over the water for a frozen moment before a second tendril swung down on her. Luckily enough, she had moved forward enough to be hit by the blunt, round stock, and avoided the poisoned spikes.

But the water didn't fare her much better. She closed her eyes tight before hitting the surface, but the bellyflop still hurt. Especially since the water was only a foot deep, and she hit the porous stonework beneath. The tendrils didn't seem to want to attack her down there, but she didn't want to enjoy her reprive. The sickly green water, which seemed to have a film of sorts on the surface, burned her skin, hair, and clothes wherever it touched. And she was drenched in the stuff. It burned, painfully.

Akiko climbed out of the water, ignoring the burning of her palms, and tried to put some distance between her and the thing. She summoned her wind cubes and used the air currents they could make to get as much of the acidic liquid off her. It hurt, especially her cut, but it seemed to effect the skin more than the hair, which was sorta lucky, if you thought about it right. The tendrils attacked from either side, leaving her no chance to set up a defense, so she had to counter. She quickly built up the air pressure and frequency and turned around to face the beast, tendrils attacking from either side.

Akiko countered with her newest jutsu. The hyper-sonic waves of high-pressure air errupted from her arm-canons. The terrorising waves of destruction tore through the bulbous spiky flails, rendering them useless. The fleshy remains then dissolved into nothingness. An odd mechinism. But then again, this was a creature spawned through the arcane interventions of man. Odd was its underlying description. The screech erupted again, having become a near-deafening roar. The petals of the bud unravelled, and a curled up insectoid creature attached to the bud stretched to the skies, roaring as it did so. The beast reached a height of at least ten meters, perhaps more. And that was just from where it met the more plant like portion.

Not only was it huge, but it looked pretty deadly...it resembled an insect, a huge one, with a long pillar-like body and a thick head with strong mandibles. The creature had two small, possibly somewhat vestigual, arms coming from an area almost on top of a second set of arms. This second set was longer, and obvously the 'battle' pair. Each of the larger arms was equipped with a large scythe-like blade instead of a hand of some sort. And if none of those surfaces were poisoned, then it woujld be a miracle.

The creature obviously wanted Akiko for lunch, sliced thin, as it swung its bladed right main arm down hard. Akiko dodge-rolled to her right, shifting into handseals as she got back up and kept running. The creature swung its left scythe horizontally, and Akiko barely cleared the edge with the best jump she could manage. But as soon as she landed, she finished her seals, and the jutsu began. She took all of two steps along the blade before her wings were fully grown, and her second ended with a jump into the air.

Akiko had an easier time dodging once she was in the air. Obviously, this thing didn't have much practice with flying food. Akiko dove and weaved as she wove her handseals. They finished before long, and her wind cubes prepared to take the form of 2000 Senbon of wind. Akiko set up her cubes in the right spots and began to build up for the strongest destruction wave she could muster. As soon as she was ready, she pulled sharply up and over the thing's head, falling into an inmalman as she shifted cubes to needles. Two thousand unseen needles stabbed into the hard carapace of the unknown creature, not doing much damage, but still distracting it. With it's attention diverted for just a moment, Akiko dove in at top speed and rammed her left arm down the thing's throat, interrupting a roar it had intended for the flying morsel.

Akiko released the burst within the creature's slimy body, obliterating it. She discarded the remaining head as she fell towards the part of the flower where the stamen should be. But instead, she saw what seemed to be a younger version of the old man, wrapped up in thick vines with penetrated the skin. He looked up with glazed eyes as Akiko came down. She flared her wings as the sun broke through the clouds. Akiko's shadow swallowed the man. The golden haired child with wings of pure white layed her right hand upon the man's chest, and whispered to him, "sleep now." A deafening roar, the sound of highly pressurized air rapidly expanding, filled the area for miles.

The whole maze turned to ash and dissolved, blown to the four winds. Akiko witnesses claimed to have seen an angel leaving the area afterward.

[Corvus]

[EXIT unless Gohma enters]

[ladymia]

Long ass post x.x

+10