Woosh!
Azumi had already spun her umbrella moments after she grasped the scroll as she fired several high speed senbon out which struck a couple of thuggish caravan members that she presumed backed the fallen Scappa as they coughed out; blood dripped from their lips as they fell to the ground as they convulsed and squirmed before they slumped down. Azumi heard both Reaver & Baiyan's comments as she thought over what was to be done as she placed the scroll in her pocket and signaled for her clone to come and take the body of the "mook" who laid dead still.
"You will take the body with them. You two go on ahead I will gather up other supplies and wrap up the loose ends." Azumi explained to the pair as neither seemed to question it as Baiyan was quick to use an Earth Release variant to make a mud path that allowed them to tunnel their way safely out of the tunnel as Azumi's clone which dragged Scappa's body followed. Azumi turned to the reamaining Caravan members and Okabe, while his wife and children remain hidden in a nearby cabinet against the wall. Okabe frowned but kept himself in front of the Carvan members, injuries and all.
"I presume we will have to abide by further conditions to escape this doomed cave? Whatever it is including my life I am prepared to pay needed penalty." Okabe explained as he had been willing to put his own life as sacrifice as he doubted Azumi would let him live but to negotiate for what lives he could had been a must.
Swoosh!
However, as she seemed to draw a pair of blades that seemed to carry an Iwa-style craftsmanship and her shadows danced about, it seemed she sought more than mere pleas.
-----
"Yeah, will be weird to see my little girl running the village. Worried our store would be seen as a conflict of interest, not that Tomiko would ever try to bend the rules for personal gain." Kuro said with a sheepish chuckle before he addressed his question. "Oh yes, Tomiko admires his strength & skill and the fact he has changed so much only strives to make her improve. I'm glad to see my girl is able to help him in kind." Kuro replied with a small smile.
"Yeah, Tomiko....bumped into an Uchiha from the Mist in the exams. Damaged her gauntlets & arms severely, it was a tough period for all of us her especially." Atsuko explained in mention of the damaged gauntlets, with her voice lowered momentarily before she shook her head and smiled back at the kunoichi. "Oh Tomiko can take them off no issues, I think for this dinner she was just busy out with a little get together with her crew so she forgot to take them off." Atsuko explained with a light chuckle as she wondered even if Tomiko was aware she still had them on. "Guess it shows how comfortable she is with them to not even notice them huh?"
Tomiko herself after some teases and begging from her crew, gained some distance as she volunteered to help clean some dishes. Ren providing some support as the two worked to clean the plates as Ren glanced once back at Mori before he turned to Tomiko.
"Seems his attitude took a 180 from what you described at the academy. If these few visits to us are any indication..." Ren said as Tomiko had a light smile as she had not even glanced away from her plate before she responded.
"I mean people change, is it really that shocking he did?" Tomiko countered back simply as Ren offered a light shrug as he dried his plate with an old rag.
"Not so much that, but to the degree of it. And I wonder how much sway you had in this new direction..." Ren mused as Tomiko had a big grin and was quick to answer.
"He made this choice himself, if he felt I had any factor in his judgement well more power to him. But he is the one who fixed his lazy and indifferent habits and that should be celebrated. Heck if Mori could pull himself to becoming this fine shinobi maybe it can work to improve those Sharks..." Tomiko began to say before a gesture and stern look cut her off as Ren eyed her.
"Those Sharks are not mere slacker students. They see the misery of this situation as justification to bully and cause harm, those kind of people don't change." Ren countered, as unknown to all he had already paid those sharks a visit before they could try something with Mori and his parents. Though Tomiko was not one to be told off with one "no" as she glanced back at Ren.
"That is a defeatist mindset. They had a hard life, everyone here does, but that doesn't mean one can't rise to be better than their circumstance."
-----
"...I think one can rise above the dark circumstances they may be born into. That one is never doomed to remain there."
Azumi was merciless. She charged ahead as her tendrils kept most from escaping as one by one she cut each and every caravan member down. The cries of agony, the screams of terror and pleas for mercy were drowned out as her cold eyes stared ahead with a focused intensity. Blood shot high into the air as it began to stain her Iwa-crafted tools as they cut them down in rapid succession.
"And that's what I want to do, what I want to be. An example to show that one doesn't have to wallow in that pain, that they can rise above and find greater purpose rather than let those old wounds cause them further misery."
Okabe tried to stand in defiance of this, injuries and all, but he was little more than an extended speedbump and soon enough blood splattered as the curved blade sliced through his neck and one kick sent him crashing to the cabinet where his body came to a mortified slump. The same cabinit that Azumi had heard those muffled cries earlier...
"The Sharks are in the same situation we are. Even if they turn to these tactics, it doesn't mean that all there is left is evil. I think one can always take the path to being decent, it just needs to be opened to them."
Azumi opened up the cabinte, her gaze shifted to a mother who clutched her two children as they fearfully clung to her for support. The mother mixed aggression and fear as she was all that remained between them and this aggressor. Only a silent cry of "please" escaped her lips, hoping if little else that she'd spare the two children who were innocent of whatever she presumed she was hired to deal with.
But even as this image caused a slight hesitation from Azumi, she none the less draw a kunai and made a "shush" motion before she advanced.
.....
Before long Azumi followed Baiyan's mud path out of the tunnel just before it would inevitably collapse, as she took extra precuation and sealed the exit as she finished wiping the fresh blood off her kunai; the lone weapon she held to as the rest of the Iwa-style weapons were left in the tunnels along with an old blood-stained headband she had just for this occasion. Azumi walked over to Reaver, Baiyan and her clone as well as the dead Scappa.
"Our mission is finished. The next part, once we are done with the matter of this scroll and its former host, is to return to Ame and begin plans to cut the head off this snake." Azumi explained, referring to the diplomat that had these caravan as a hired hand. Only with that fall could this first branch of corruption be wiped from the Shinobi World.
----------
"Well to be fair, this is my first share of a mission check and I probably need to use that to find a place. I mean I can just stay in the wild but I think Kenji would judge me~" Aisha said with a toothy reply as Kenji shrugged her best he could with his wings.
"Hey, let's worry about the tip drama after we make sure a friend in need is okay. Objections? Okay good to hear let's go." Kenji said as he tried to "smoothly" dodge the question and once the ninja and ninja dogs had been allotted time to get used to their wings and soon enough took off though kept a pace Taji could follow at.
During this takeoff, Rika had wondered the sidewalk alone as she seemed to try and take a path to avoid being spotted by people; through alleys and seemingly taking isolated longer routes. None of this mattered, as Aisha and her companions noses would easily keep up with whatever path she took. Though where she went itself was a curiosity.
----------
Fuck this fucking bullshit!
Bluff or no bluff, Tayuya had not taken kindly to the taunt as much to her own annoyance the girls handed remained annoying locked in spite of her best efforts. The flashbang seemed to disorient them but not enough for her goal, which left her with limited options and most of them quite frankly were a bit too taxing for her liking.
So, she ceased her whistling and turned to face them now that they had arrived at the training field. One hand on her flute she pulled out, the other resting in her pocket where a subtle kunai rested by her thumb.
"Okay, let me make one thing clear. I bath on my own terms, certainty I am not dragged to go to a pool party on your leisure you got that?" Tayuya spat with a scowl as she made her defiant stand against the Hyuga.
