B Class Mission: Bandit Hunting Part 1 (Mission + Reward Dice)

Finally a mission worth Asura's salt. After being assigned one from the office of the Kage, he learned he now had a tall order to fulfill for this mission. He stood in the office in attention as the official gave him his mission. The job was to find and take down a bandit group that was causing havoc around Iwa. They were pretty common but these were ambushing travelers on the roads leading to and from Iwa. Asura was selected to track them down and stop them by any means necessary. Asura welcomed the chance. "COnsider it done, sir," Asura said, bowing to the official and then took off to start the mission.

From the file he was given and reviewed, the bandits seemed to stick close to the boarders of the land of Fire and Earth-- using alot of the tree covered mountains as cover. Either way, he would have to consider the options that the bandits were hoarding and hiding out in the caves. It was the easiest means to hide and go through Iwa unnoticed. As he walked his way slowly to the boarder area of Iwa, he kept a calm mind and outlook. If he was lucky, walking alone like this would make him easy prey. They would think he was traveling and try to rob him.

It would make his job easier if they were stupid enough to come to him.

At that moment as he thought that, he heard a sound of movement behind him! Someone had sprinted behind him, now at his back!

Alarmed, Asura drew his sword, flames already sparking from it as he turned and prepared to slash--

-- but his arm was caught by a trained arm, who anticipated the attack and stopped it from the source. "Jumpy today, aren't we?" a kind tone eminated from the voice of the person. Asura's eyes went wide as he looked at the taller figure.

"Master Roku!!" Asura gasped, seeing his master towering over him as he quickly withdrew his blade. It was him, no doubt as he was that one so quick to catch him off guard. No bandit could do that. The black haired middle age man smiled at him, resisting the urge to laugh. "What are you doing here?"

Roku rubbed the back of his head for a moment, as if in thought. "I find Iwa's lack to put you into a squad puzzling. Even for your talents, the fact they are not putting students into squads is irresponsible. NOw I know you can handle yourself, but I thought id provide you with some back up. You don't mind do you?" Roku said with a smile.

FOr a moment, Asura did feel a little offended. It was like a parent implying he couldn't do it on his own. Despite his age he was well capable to do the task. Having Roku there overseeing him almost felt like him holding his hand cause he couldn't do it himself. "You... really don't have to Master..." he said trying to put his words that spoke respect but not offend his master at his feelings on the matter.

Roku shook his head. "Do not worry. I don't intend to get in your way, " he said, as he placed his hands into his sleeves of his sage-like robe. " I am well aware you are capable for this. Still for my own amusement, can I just tag along? "

"Still I--!" Asura protested but ROku just smirked and bowed lower to Asura.

"You wouldn't want to deny an old man's request, do you?" He said, his voice taking a more sensitive tone. "After all, it is so boring being to the shrine all day. I'm sure a strong man like yourself don't mind giving an old soul like me a brief outing, would you?"

Asura knew very well that Roku was far from helpless, but he turned that act to his age to make him seem more frail like an old man. Asura bit his lip. He hate to admit it, but he was a sucker for the needs of old people. (Like a certain pre-evil Uchiha character).

"Sigh... alright, alright, Master," Asura said, giving in to his request. "You can come with me. "

Roku smirked. In his mind he boasted how he knew Asura so well he could never say no to him. THe old man act never failed to guilt his student into complying.

As the two traveled together, they were soon spotted by mysterious figures in the woods. They kept out of sight and remained hidden for the time being.

They had traveled the country side for a bit, now finally finding trees along the path of the mountains, much like the Jiin estate. Asura always loved the trees, and felt stiffled all the time seeing nothing but mountains and rocks all the time. Things were quiet for a time... till finally...

POOF!! Smoke bombs! They went off right in front of them and obscured their vision.

"GAH!" Asura gasped, taken by surprise, but quickly took action and drew his sword.

Roku guarded his face with his sleeves. "Don't panic,' he said in a calm and quiet voice. "Use your Tengan, Asura. We will anticipate the enemy's actions." he instructed.

Asura didn't argue as he quickly blinked, and his Tengan eyes flared to life. He could see behind the smoke, and spotted them. 8 enemies, all of them with weapons and apparently some of shinobi calibur. They were trying to surround them.

The bandits soon tried to enclosed and waited-- and finally the smoke cleared. The bandits surrounded Asura and Roku. "Game's up losers! " one of the head bandits boasted. "Hand over your valuables or things are going to get nasty!"

Asura glared at the bandits. "Screw you, pal," Asura grumbled.

Taken aback by the comment, they grew frustrated. "KIll them!" one said without hesitation. Two of them charged to the two, who didn't move. At that time, the bandits took their swords, and stabbed ROku and Asura in the chest. They reacted as if shocked, stabbed and seemed about to crumble until...

KABOOOOM!!!

The duo exploded in a blast of fire! The explosion consumed the two bandits, and threw out the rest of them flat on their backs from the eruption. Confused, they looked around, unsure what had exploded. "WHat the hell was that?!" one bandit said.

"Yo!" Asura shouted. They looked up, to see Roku and Asura on a series of rock outcroppings near the edges of the road, overlooking them. Very much where the bandits had been hiding till now. " THat's my Pyro Clones, for ya. Really packs a punch, ya know!"

The other bandits looks in shocked as the smoke screen had taken effect, they swapped out themselves with Pryo clones and Asura made one turn into ROku.

"GET THEM!!" they roared.

Asura was all too happy to comply and jump into the fray. Asura jumped with his blade and slashed into the first one that tried to attack him. His moves were far faster as he freely maneuvered and flipped among them. He moved fast, and delivered punches and kicks freely, never getting struck.

Things were going smoothly till...

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE," one of the bandits boasted. "Move and the old man dies!!"

Asura halted right there as he turned. ANother bandit, one he had not seen before had appeared and caught Roku off guard. The bandit had a blade to Roku's neck and forced his arm behind his back. Roku didn't resist, keeping calm the whole time.

"Master!" Asura shouted but stopped, knowing his actions would put ROku in danger.

"Disarm your weapons and step away, or else I'll give this man's beard its last trimming! " the bandit said in the most corny of threats Asura had ever heard.

With a grit of his teeth, Asura slowly sheathed his sword and dropped it to the ground. He also disarmed himself of his shuriken holster and kicked it to the guards nearby. They took it for the time being.

"You three guard this ninja. I'll take this old fart back to our base. We may be able to get something valuable out of him." he said.

To Asura's dismay, he took Roku out of sight and towards the caves that were situated to the south from him.


Roku was taken deep int the caves, where more bandits were waiting and escorted them further in, taking turns and passes through it. "Try anything old man, and you won't live to see the light of day again." the one to his back said.

Roku said nothing, but resisted the urge to smirk at these naive bandits.

Back outside, Asura was still being guarded by the other bandits. They had taken his gear and were getting closer, about to try and tie him up. They approached with the ropes from behind, about to tie Asura's wrists together--

TWHUMP!, Asura took the one who grabbed his wrist, and jumped. He vaulted right over the bandit's shoulders, and landed behind him. He followed with a sweeping kick to his legs and sending him falling to the floor. After Asura struck him in the neck to keep him down, he moved to attack the others. He swept through them. His Taijutsu alone was carving his way through them, and he wouldn't take long to catch up to ROku.

---

Inside the cave, Roku was in the cavern that acted as the bandit's headquarters. He remained quiet and calm as the bandits were there. Their whole numbers save the ones that Asura was dealing with. They were arguing with one another, Mainly about what to do with Roku.

"The old man probably is some elder. We could probably ransom him off for a pretty penny!"

"Don't be stupid! We report him as missing, all of Iwa will come after us for him!"

Roku stood there calmly while the man holding his arm behind him also kept on his guard. Despite it all, Roku couldn't help but chuckle at this.

It caused the main bandit to get wise and approach ROku. "What's so funny, you old fart! Keep playing cocky and we might just have to cut you lose, sort of speak. "

"Forgive me, its just funny... " Roku said calmly. " For al lthe trouble you caused, you all really don't have a sense of how to use a hostage. So how many of you are actually Chunin? Two or three of you?" Roku asked.

As they all talked, Asura was already making his way down the caves, following the heat trails that the bandits and Roku made behind the walls. It was simple for him to get to the cave where they were, but would take some time.

"I'm warning you! Shut up or we will start slicing your hide!" the bandit said, holding his sword to Roku's chest.

Still, ROku smiled.

"Just who the hell do you think you are anyway? WHat's your name?" The other bandit asked.

"Who, me?" Roku said with a smile. "Jiin Roku. "

"Alright we will send a message too--"

Suddenly one of the bandits dropped his sword. The main one turned around and looked, seeing a look of horror on his face. "What? What the hell you scared of now?!" he asked.

The bandit with a bandana on his head looked in fear as he pointed to Roku. "Th-- the-- Roku? The roku? " He asked, almost terrified.

"What the hell you talking about?" the leader shouted, "SPit it out!"

"He's Roku the Red!" the shinobi shouted in fright. "A legend in Iwa... during the last war incursion, he was known for the sea of flames and blood he left in his wake!"

The bandit leader looked, seeing ROku's smirking expression. "What? Then why--"

"Why was I so easy to capture? You really are not so keen as Shinobi," ROku said, his tone ever calm and superior. " The only reason I let you drag me here was so I could find the location of your little nest. And now I have. "

The bandit leader didn't care for his attitude or revelation. "Screw you, you old fool! I'm not scared of you--!" he roared and took his sword and hastily stabbed Roku in the chest.

Roku coughed and spat up blood, feeling weak in the knees as the bandit struck. "Heh... not so tough, are you?" he said.

Roku looked like he was going to keel over in pain, but his blood soaked lips smirked. "one minor detail, young man." he said.

Whoosh....

In the blink of an eye, Roku was not there. He was now at the back of the cave entrance. The bandit had actually stabbed and killed the one who had been holding Roku's arm. Somehow he had swapped places, or rather, he was never there to begin with.

"Like my poor student, you all have such poor aptitude for Genjutsu" he said calmly, his hands politely in his sleeves in wait.

As the bandit hit the floor, the other bandits got up and drew their weapons. "Come on, there is only one of him.!"

"NO wait you fools! He'll kill you" The smart bandit shouted, knowing the rumors of Roku.

They charged for him, but Roku merely lowered his arms. With the flick of a wrist, his sleeve released something! A chinese sword, A Jian! Out of it, he easily swept in and slashed the first bandit that tried to carve into him.

For an older man, he was very agile and swift, as he easily parried and stabbed his sword through one man, to go to the next. As he moved his sword, flames danced from it, as if his chakra ignited the metal itself.

As the bandits tried to get a grab on him, he merely moved out of reach. As they would look carefully, they could see the glow of His eyes. The Tengan as he slashed his sword in creative arches, as if it was the brush for an artist.

As more than half were slain by ROku, the bandit leader tried to rush forward. Lightning crackled from his hand, showing he was about to use a Lightning Style jutsu. However, Roku merely thrusted a palm out, and a strange red glowing sphere appeared. Roku's scorch style!

The ball struck and passed right through, and with a loud groan of pain-- the bandit fell to the ground, becoming a mummified corpse.

It was by this time that Asura had turned the corner and saw them! It was at this point that four more were coming after Roku but before Roku could do any more, several bolts of fire-- the Phoenix Flower Jutsu-- soared around him and struck the bandits.

"Ah, Asura, did you take your time getting here?" he said playfully.

Asura grimaced at his master. "Hey I was trying to get here aside from navitaging the tunnels." he argued.

It wasn't long till the remaining bandits were dealt with. The only one left was the scared shitless one at Roku's name. At that moment when he thougth Roku would kill him, Roku showed mercy and told him if he cooperate, he wouldn't hurt him.

The bandit nodded and surrendered.

As they had secured the cave, and took the survivor back for questioning, Asura still didn't know the true nature of Roku's past. He knew only the good about him and that he was a respected ninja in Iwa. He had no clue of the bloody past he had as Roku the Red.

Words: 2607  

Rewards: 850 [Max] *15 = 12750 Ryo
+ Reward + Payment: +425 EXP= 3032 & Ability Pts 850 | +225 Reputation Pts (RP)

Reward Dice: 3

The member 'Enjin' has done the following action : Dice

'Reward Dice' : 56, 36, 37