Kirigakure: A-Rank Mission, Uphill Battle

A messenger hawk arrived at her room in the Academy. The window popped open, the beak of the hawk lightly poking itself into the room, seeming to scan around for its designated target. Curious, Sylvanas pushed the covers from her body, and stood, walking toward the bird. Opening the window further, she would get a little startled at the birds unexpected squawk. "Oh!" She'd take a step back, and then regather her senses as the bird turned around, giving her access to the small piece of folded parchment attached to its leg through the usage of a rubber adhesive. Taking it, the bird let out another bellowing yell, and flew off in a flurry of wind and wings.

She gently unraveled the document, reading through it carefully. "There was a large report of raiders, bandits and highwaymen along the southern border. Given your delicate experience on enemies such as this, we have designated that it is you, who will carry out this mission. This is a great honor, Wolf of the Mist, and we expect great things from you during the mission, and look forward to your return once it has been completed. We place our full loyalty and faith in you. Good luck." On the other side of the document, there was a Kanji baring the mark of Kirigakure. The bottom of the note was signed swiftly, by what she interpreted to say 'Mizukage'. Nodding, Sylvanas quickly donned her combat armor, taking her breast plate and strapping it on, her shoulderguards followed, a leather harness attaching them to her chestguard. Her forearm and handguards were strapped and set, and her shinguards and footguards as well.

Her raiment was that of the standard Hunter-Nin uniform, her mask was worn over her face. Similar to that of a normal shinobi outfit, this one consisted of the standard Hyougagakure pinstriped attire which stops at the knees. Over this, there is a green haori worn with white trimmings; and around the waist a brown sash with a fringed trail wrapped twice is seen. Light brown platoon sandals with straps in the same color as the kimono and nail polish on the fingernails and toenails in matching unison with the armor description shown above.

It was given to Sylvanas as a symbol of his appreciation for her dedication to fighting and stopping crime by infiltrating bandit camps, eliminating and subduing poachers, and killing when necessary. This would officially be the uniform of the Hunter-Ninja of Hyougagakure. Those who are exceptionally skilled in a specific area of expertise and have proven their worth in the field can receive this armor. The mask, one of a kind, covers the face with a hard material, assumed metal, worn by any respectable ANBU or the person who receives it. The mask is of an elegant design, having been marked with the ANBU logo in the dead center of the mask, between the eyes. The eyes themselves are outlined in a blue highlight, two 'whiskers' coming down from above the brow line and settling on the cheek, repeated on each side. The top center of the mask has a large needle in the center, and two smaller needles going downward toward the eyes, three dots marking the eyebrows. The mouth of the mask is a keenly replicated straight smile.

Though Sylvanas was not an ANBU Black Op, she was a registered Hunter-Nin for Kirigakure, whom specialized in Assassination, Stealth, Infiltration and Tracking. It was her job to hunt down assigned targets, and eliminate them. But most of all, her primary objective was to track down and kill any shinobi that were from Hyougagakure and disbarred from the village without approval from the Kage. Sylvanas quickly sprung open her door, having no time to settle down and eat some breakfast, sprinting from her apartment and running toward the gates of the village, where she was absolutely sure an escort would have been awaiting her arrival. Considering she doesn't run too fast, but just fast enough, it had taken her a little over twenty minutes to reach her destination, and, after finally getting there, she spent another five locating the escort. With all the hustle and bustle of the city during the morning hours, she finally managed to find them. Six individuals aside from what seemed to be a cart wrangler and rider standing beside a large caravan of goods.

She assumed they had been waiting for her. Running to the cart, she apologized. "My apologies. I hadn't been made aware of my placement on the assignment until almost a half an hour ago." The leader of the escort, fat and arrogant, spoke out, bellowing a low-pitched tone from his oversized throat "Its about damn time.. Can we get a move on than?!" Sylvanas would nod in agreement, taking the lead position in front of the cart, with three of the other individuals on each side of the cart as it moves. It was official. The mission had begun and the cart has left the gates of Kirigakure behind. It was all or nothing at this point. Sylvanas would just hope that it wouldn't turn out to be a distaster due to the opponents who lay in the shadows.

It was dusk when they finally came to a halt, the party of eight began setting up camp to wait out the night. After finally making their way to "Ground Zero", a term used by officials in the Kirigakure military to signify the battlefield or warzone before them. While everyone else was busy working on a campfire, lollygagging and drinking ale and sake, Sylvanas had been working to defend the group in case of an ambush. She had actively put water in strategic locations all around the camp, which would effectively allow her to teleport in a sense, using the well known Hiding in Water Technique. She had set up rolls of chakra wire all around the encampment, having empty aluminum cans filled with pebbles of different sizes throughout the four-cornered area. The northern side had small pebbles, which would give off a different sound if moved, the eastern side had large rocks which would create a clanging noise, the western side had pebbles and rocks of different sizes, giving off yet aother dinstinct sound if moved, and the southern side had only water in it, and the reason for this would have been revealed should they attack from behind. The sun had fallen, Sylvanas having just finished prepping her traps and potential give-a-ways for incoming enemies, if they should indeed arrive.

After all, the entire purpose of this mission was to portray as a simple caravan transporting goods across trading routes. A party of this size would prompt the raider forces to use as many as possible to overcome the escort provided, which would draw them out. Now, all Sylvanas had to do was wait; which is more than she can say about the blaggarts behind her. The group was drunk and laughing around the campfire they had prepared earlier, ignorant of the oncoming chakra signatures. It was saddening, Sylvanas thought. She was a Jounin, and at thirteen years old, was more aware of things happening around her than those who double her age. She felt as though she was the only escort here. In an instant, the northern chakra wire had been touched, giving off the sound of rocks within the can. Knowing all well the highwayman's plan to sneak attack had been found out, he threw a shuriken in a blazing display of speed. It spun rapidly, hitting one of the protectors in the back. causing him to fall to the ground, interrupting his pathetic dancing moves. "That one had to go! The bandit murmured under his breath, fowl in stench. It was then Sylvanas had activated the Hidden Mist Technique, her signature. Filling the air around them, the hazing mist clouded the vision and judgment of those within its white gates, so much in fact that it was dense enough to actually disable you from seeing your hand. "What the-" The bandits speaking was his undoing.

Talking after the mist was put up gave away his location. Sylvanas sprung into action, taking a black hilted, razor sharp kunai, and rapidly sliding it across his throat from behind, dropping him instantly, which accordingly caused his blood to spill outward like a waterfall. He had fallen in a thud, landing in a pubble of blood and water beneath him. Sylvanas called out to the group. "Protect the cart, but fight for your life!" Just then, two more bandits had made their presence known. One rushed Sylvanas, throwing a skilfully placed kick to her midsection. The other came from behind her, but was slowed down by the chakra wire she had placed. Trying to untangle himself, his actions became futile. Sylvanas used the leg of the oncoming attacker, taking her hands and using them to grab onto his calf, lifting herself above his body and throwing herself after twisting her hand on his kneecap when her fingers were in a specific position on his nerves surrounding the bone, to damage them effectively. SNAP! His kneecap had been broken, and he fell to the ground withing in pain as his associate watched. She spun around the attacker she had disabled, landing on the ground and successfully throwing a nicely placed sweep kick to the face of the raider, knocking him out cold in the process. Standing back up, Sylvanas heard the shinobi still trying to escape from the wire trap.

Considering the enlarged veil of mist was still active, Sylvanas knew that even if he managed to escape from the trap, he wouldn't know where to go or what to do, though he would have a general idea in the direction he had to go in. Bandits and raiders never attacked thrivelously, and they always had a plan or back up plan prepared. Sylvanas had already eliminated two of the attackers, and it was only a matter of how many were still around. Unknown to Sylvanas, the bandit had finally gave way through her wire trap using a kunai, severing the ties that once held him in place. He fled, using some kind of space-time manipulation technique. With one of the protectors now dead, she hoped that her fellow escorts would become more aware of what can happen if no attention is paid to the mission. She activated a special technique that utilized the Hidden Mist Technique as a base, furthering its lethal potential. Although, it took time to take its full effect, so she figured by the time the raider returns, it would be at its maximum lethality. She took a kunai, and held it to the throat of the bandit she had knocked out previously. To wake him up, she simply pimp slapped him a few times with her ring hand, to keep it strong, ya dig? "You! Tell me where your friends are camped or I will slaughter you as you are. A pathetic watchdog and a pig who thrives from the pillaging of innocents. Disgusting." He'd break under pressure, trying to scurry away, though the grip on his shirt and the kunai to his neck was too threatening for him to even do so much as move.

The bandit would breathe heavily as he spoke. "Okay! Okay! They are about thirty kilometers west of here.." She'd grip him even tighter, holding the kunai against his throat like a barbell weighing him down, pressing the sharpened edge against the grain of his beard hair. "How many?" She'd ask. "Thirteen! There are thirteen of us! We were planning on selling the goods from that cart and splitting the profits! Will you let me go!?" He'd yell. Sylvanas would shake her head. Pathetically. "I do not negotiate with thieves who dishonor the very culture of Shinobi life. You are trash. Garbage. And you will die here, knowing that." Her words were heavily placed, sinking deep into the heart of the fearful highwayman before her. She took her kunai in hand, and grasped it tightly, sliding it across his throat. The environment seemed to drop in temperature. Her previously activated technique was about to take its full effect. She directed the rest of the group to exit the area, far enough to the point where they could still help, but avoid dying due to the exposure presented by Sylvanas's technique - Water Mastery Technique: Mist of the Frozen Throne.


Standing up, she'd look among the group. Even the Jounin seemed to partake in the bandits fearful demeanor. It had seemed that their fortitude had faltered. "I can't believe that the Mizukage Officials had paired me up with a bunch of pussies." She'd shake her head. "Letting a thirteen year old Chunin do all of the fighting. Pathetic!" She began to repair the broken wiring, resetting the trap. Just then, the entire bandit group seemed to attack full steam ahead. Six coming from the right, five from the left. They were all aimed at Sylvanas. "There! Thats the little bitch who killed Suzaku!" The bandit who had previously been trapped by her wires screamed. Sylvanas jumped toward them, landing in a small brush of grass. The six surrounded her, while the other five attacked the Jounin at the cart. Rushing without warning, blades drawn, two of the thieves swung at her viciously. Ducking lightly and stepping to the side about four degrees, she managed to dodge one of the punches, and caught the hand of the other thief, twisting it and breaking his wrist before flipping him over and slamming on his neck as he landed. Reversing the weight of her body, the other two shinobi came from behind her, which allowed her to use the arm of the shinobi she had taken to jump upward and spin, kicking the first attacker who threw the punch at her away, and doing a backflip, activating the Water Clone Technique, and trapping the two oncoming enemies in two individual Water Prison techniques. They drowned quickly, giving Sylvanas and her now, two clones, the ability to advance to the remaining shinobi before her. Sylvanas could feel her chakra weakening. The initial Hidden Mist Technique had depleted a good amount of it from the get go. Releasing the Water Prisons, one clone ran to the left, the other to the right, and Sylvanas straight up the middle. After a brief encounter of Taijutsu and combative reflexes, dodges and counter attacks, her enemies had fallen, and her clones had died as well. By the time she had handled all six of her enemies, the Jounin had finally beaten the five which attacked them, with two of their numbers dying in the process.

The leader then came, rushing Sylvanas. She yelled to the escort. "Leave! Get out of the area now!" She shouted. By this time, however, it was much too late. The mist she had brought forth had just reached its fifth phase potential, inducing the final stages of Hypothermia. The leader seemed to activate a technique, which caused the earth around the man to break up, large wolverines crawling from the ground underneath of his feet. The creatures were heavily built, short-legged and carnivorous from what she could tell. A mammal with a rather shaggy, darkened coat, a bushy tail present as well. Sylvanas knew the creatures quite well, having a unique connection with nature, she has taken time to study them. Due to them being native to the tundra and forests of arctic and subarctic regions, she figured these creatures would have a slight immunity to the frost-filled area, but it was still more than cold enough to kill them. Suddenly, the man froze up, and dropped to the ground. The wolverines continued to follow suit, the bodies of each siezing up and suffering from total organ failure, as well as cold shock, water immersion, and cardiac arrest. This was something the bandit leader hadn't anticipated, and being that he was poorly underdressed, it only helped to serve Sylvanas. Once he had entered the mist, his body would have had an instantaneous response to the massive temperature drop. In humans, cold shock response is perhaps the most common cause of death from immersion in very cold water, such as by falling through thin ice. The cold water can cause heart attack due to vasoconstriction, the heart has to work harder to pump the same volume of blood throughout the body. For people with heart disease, this additional workload can cause the heart to go into arrest and results from hyperventilation. However, in this instance, the mist in itself acts as a beacon for water immersion. As it soaks the clothes of the subject and seeps into their skin, it not only weighed the leader down, but throughout the technique, robbed him of his body heat.

She took his sword, a uniquely curved scimitar. With the attack over, Sylvanas counted the dead bodies and proceeded to stack them in the middle of the road, a sign to any remaining bandits to be wary, for they will die too. Sylvanas urged the cart rider to carry on through the night, returning home later on that next day. Sylvanas was then given her reward by the cart rider and remaining Jounin escort. She hurried back to the Town Hall of Kirigakure, so as to meet up with the giver of the mission and inform the contractee of the missions success, offering the blade of the bandit as proof of his inevitable, unfortunate death.