Saints and Sinners (Arrival and A-Rank Mission)

The trip to Holy Country was short as they soon arrived in the desert of this strange land. While the sand was warm under his feet, their location was far from barren or desolant like the sands in the land of wind. Asura looked out to find a wide variety of settlements nestled around oasis that were scattered along the sands. Ravana near him looked out at the warm sun and view. In the distance further, there was a city in view-- gently blurry due to the heat and light that could have been a foolish mirage. Still, the land was oddly calming and welcoming to them.

"So this is Holy country?" Asura asked, curious to know more about this place. "I wonder why they call it holy. It certainly doesn't look as grandiose as Shinkoku."

He recalled the city now in his nation was a holy feel due to the indian culter there, but he digressed. He was getting an Arabian vibe from this place, and it was amusing to say the least.

He was soon reminded that he was not alone, as he looked back to Kokoro-- the fellow Akatsuki member who now was at his side to help with his missions and situations. "Aren't you warm in that cloak?" he asked, still aware they were in a desert.

Kokoro followed at a distance, while the two lieutenants, in which she hadn’t yet formally introduced, had hung back about two miles. They departed after them. Kokoro had used her telepathy to keep them in the loop as far as where they were headed, and now informed the two of them that they had arrived. Asura asked about her being hot, as she looked around, taking in the interesting scenery. She looked around, without making eye contact and continued on looking around, she took her arm and pulled the left side of the cloak to the side, revealing her lower torso on down, only having a string around her waist line in which were her underwear.
“Heat is not a problem.” She said, as she closed the cloak and proceeded on nonchalantly. “I am a little dehydrated though. Maybe we should find somewhere to grab a bite to eat. I would love to try the food of each country! It’s now a part of my bucket list that I didn’t know I had!!!” she exclaimed cheerfully. She was exhausted though, as she expelled a decent amount of chakra during the trip to keep a barrier of moisture around her cloak to stay hydrated. “We do need to come up with a solution for different weather scenarios…” she looked back as the blade on her back, grabbing the hilt and absorbing some of the paper, revealing the actual hilt a bit.
“Sorry bud, I’m going to need some of that back, if you don’t mind. Just enough to keep me from passing out. I’m starving!” she had a new appetite that she had never had before. It could be due to constantly feeding chakra into her blade to keep it content. She stopped and looked back at Asura.
“After you, tour guide!” she said.
[303|303]

(A rank Mission forgot to post it. )

Her two 'lieutenants' kept their distance from them for some reason. Why, Asura didn't know but he did like the company of Kokoro, despite Ravana's pervy behavior. At Asura's question, she opened up her robe slowly to reveal just a glimpse of inside-- showing she was pratically nude under her robes. Asura's eyes widened lightly, while Ravana of course fully turned his head.

"Oh, I'm liking this girl already," Ravana growled in a flirtatious manner.

Asura resisted the urge to elbow him in the ribs with all his might. If only that were enough. It was Ravana after all who drilled Taijutsu into him, and he was a fucking juggernaut.

While Ravana clearly made no indication to hide the bloody nose he had, Asura turned and cleared his throat. "Y-yes, lets get to the town below and get some water." Asura said as he handed Kokoro the spare cantine he brought with him. If nothing else, he was going to be respectful to his teammate.

Heat rarely bothered Asura-- partly due to his affinity for fire and the Jiin clan. He could survive the hottest of temperatures and even the coldest via his Tengan. Regardless, he was aware how the heat was brutal to most.

Asura glanced as he saw the woman talk to her sword-- and for a moment he thought he saw it move along with a small cackling sound. His brow raised at it but said nothing for the moment.

They soon began to descend down the sand dune towards the town. "Before we get too far in, we should learn a bit more about each other, don't you think?" Asura asked, "if we are going to be a team might as well know what we each are capable of."

Asura didn't mind starting . "Apart from a few things, my specialty is Katon ninjutsu and Taijutsu. I also have a Kekkei Genkai that allows me dominion over Katon traits," he explained, "I mean i wont bore you with long examples, but I have experience with blacksmithing and other talents. I also can summon support if needed. Oh, and I should note I have dabbled in medical ninjutsu so I can provided support." It was a cut and dirty explanation. He wouldn't explain Yang release or his mastery of Sage jutsu to her. Still, it was important to share what they were good at so they could coordinate as a team-- should the worst occurs.

(Moving on since its been a few days)

As they walked closer to the village, movements in the sand began to catch on to Asura's attention. At first, he thought it was just the wind brushing against the dunes and for a while he allowed it to roll off his back. It made no sense to just be paranoid about this place.

Still, the sands seemed to move-- and from the dunes appeared four oddly cloaked strangers. They were in colors that blended in easily with the sand and moved. "Eliminate the forigners..." one spoke to his allies as they slithered like snakes closer to their targets.

"Strike." one said the other, and charged. The sand erupted right form the left and right of Asura-- attempting to pincer him in. Swords gleamed from the sand as they moved, attempting to stab him on either side.

SKRITCH! The sword connected and bored right through him.

Asura was struck by a sudden hot shock along his body, alerting his allies to the invasion they were under. However....

KaboooM! A violent flash of fire erupted from where Asura was. The two assailants were quickly engulfed by the explosion, turning them into burnt enemies .

Asura's Pyro Clone.

Kokoro perked up at the sentencing of their death.
“Not quite the warm welcome I was hoping for…” Kokoro noted, as she had been approached by one of the four. She shot her hands forward, as the man before her stopped in his tracks in the shape of a diamond. As the man seemingly stood there, paralyzed, the second of the remaining two jumped forward, beginning to pass the paralyzed man. He was quickly halted by the unexpected. The man that had been paralyzed sprung to life, unsheathing his katana and slashing a big chunk of meat out of the second man’s thigh. He then turned the blade on himself, thrusting it into his lower abdomen.
Kokoro dropped her hands.
“I’m sorry about that…” she said cheerfully. “I prefer not to get my cloak dirty. Please keep your distance when bleeding. She said. She threw her left hand forward, engulfing one of them in her paper jutsu. She stood next to the struggling wrapped body, as she took her heavy blade into her hand, and dropped it gentle on the body. The blade began to shake under its paper mache shell, as it connected to the bind. It continuously shook as it were feeding its hunger.
The man struggled less and less, as if he were an unresting mummy finally being laid to rest. She looked up, activating her high sense ability.
“There aren’t too many of this guys around… but they are fairly scattered and well hidden…” she said. The man stopped shaking, and the paper jutsu slide off of the man and onto the blade, revealing his lifeless discolored body. It continued to wiggle around under its shell of paper, but she put it back on her back anyhow.
“Do we proceed? All I want to do is find something to eat…” she said, followed by a sigh…
[310|613]

Thankfully, Kokoro was far handier than Asura thought-- as he too emerged from behind one of the dunes. The first two assailants were taken out by Asura's Pyro Clone substitution, while Kokoro easily butchered the other via paper and her odd living sword.

As he slowly approached them, it was clear they were some form of assassins. "These are not normal thugs... something is off," Asura said.

"What do you mean, kiddo?" Ravana asked, having pretty much brushed off the whole incident as if they had been mosquitos or something.

"They were not your adverage highwaymen. They would of simply tried to hold us up for our money or supplies," Asura explained, "They targeted us with lethal prejudice, regardless of who we are. Why would that be ?"

IT was more of a rhetorical question. He knew the answer. "I think it is safe to assume outsiders are discouraged here. Or rather, for some other purpose. They were too cold-blooded to be some low life bandits." he explained, keeping a key out around them. "This so called 'holy land' might be not as holy as we think. We should be cautious if we explore too much into this place, okay?" Asura warned to them.

Kokoro looked up at the two that had finished off their own targets. She turned back to look at the distance set between her and the two accomplices that she brought from the main lands.
‘Hang back a bit. Be very cautious… they do not like outsiders, and they seemingly go for the kill on sight.’
‘Understood.’ The younger voice said.
‘Be careful, Flower’… her uncle’s voice rung in her head. She hadn’t been called that in a very long time. She looked back up at the other two.
“Alright… you know… I typically wouldn’t mind just moving on to the next village. But I’m just so damn hungry! I’m famished! We cannot leave here without first getting something to eat.” She said. “Damn it… I wish I would’ve packed more than just these water bottles. I really want to try the food here… unless of course they kill people and butcher them up…” she trailed off as her face went slightly pale in a concerned looked, as she looked at the decaying body on the ground.
“I’d try anything once!” she said, as her face reverted to the cheerful face in which she always holds. “So guys… what is our next move? Do we explore deeper in to find a restaurant, or starve until we get to the next country over?” she asked them, dreading the thought of holding off on food.
[233|846]

Asura sighed. It was amazing this girl had such an insatiable hunger. He rolled his eyes as he looked around. THe nearest place for them to truly rest was indeed the village down below-- the city. THough it meant venturing into more dangerous territory. Still, the question stirred in Asura's mind. Why were they targeted? how could random strangers be of any real risk against them. Asura could easily find out more information there among the crowds and travelers.

"Alright, alright..." Asura sighed and held up his arms in surrender. "We can go and get something to eat-- but then we should use my Tiger Claws and get the hell out of here."

Though he seemed irritated to leave this land without having questions answered-- there was no time for that. He could come back to it later. He would have to report to Hayabusa-- wherever the hell he was and soon as he heard rumors of events happening back in Shishen continent.

Still he had plans to make use of this area. Holy country was a promising area, but the dark secrets made him nervous. Even SHinkoku had a divine feel about it with a religious backing, so it was hard to know their neighbors were this dark. It made Asura worry about the other nations in this new land. He gripped his tiger claws as they made their way to the village , to get Kokoro the food she wanted.

"Do you ever stop thinking with your stomach though," Asura said to his new friend, "You're as bad as my tiger friends."

"I'm famished too, "Ravana brought up with a laugh. "Lets feast before we leave. No one will try anything in town."

Asura sighed. "Poison in our food, someone stab us in the streets... the mind boggles..." ASura replied more to himself than his team. Either way they knew what they had to do.

Before they would leave however, Asura would place a special seal that allowed him to gain knowledge on a location later. He would be able to learn more about it as he was away.

The city itself was a arabian style design with a street market that ran through the center of hte city. Clay and stone marked the buildings and structures of this place, and not as advance in technology as the east was where Asura was from. Many people wore nomad like attire and headgear similar to the sand-- clothes to cool their heads, and many were tanned in color. Many goods from food to jewlerly lined the market place and it also showed the areas of government, or the rulesers of these small cities as manors overviewed by the higher towers of the city.

It was an odd structure.. still Asura couldn't shake the ominous feel this nation gave him. Something was out of place there, even as he saw the happy faces of the people. It was like living in a mirage that no one would notice a wrong thing to happen if it ever did.

Still that didn't stop Ravana and Kokoro from finding a restaurant and eating and drinking themselves silly. Asura sighed as he just had a simple meal while they racked up the bill... The two were insatiable.

Kokoro has been delighted at the fact that they were going to get themselves something to eat. Using her prowness about her surroundings through the use of her clan’s High sense ability, she had been able to successfully get the group to the centre city without running into anybody else that would try to kill them. But then again, possibly everybody on this land would like to kill them. She took this into consideration.
They waited on the outskirt of the nearest restaurant for the two that remained behind to catch up. She looked at her Uncle.
“How do you feel about using my mother’s recipe…” she said. He looked at her sideways.
“What do you mean? Why am I cooking?”
“Uncle, obviously everybody here is going to try to kill us… thus they’re going to poison us. We won’t have to kill anybody. So, we’ll just go in there, take over the chef’s station for a little bit. And the bar of course!” she said. He sighed. “Fine…” he said as he looked at the shorter one by him.
“Hang back…” he then broke off into a flock of crows, flying towards the closest restaurant. There had been screams at first, but after about 30 seconds, it died down. Kokoro kept watch, making sure there weren’t any oppositions coming to the rescue.
They were successful in the commandeering of the food place. Her uncle was both able to cook them a delicious cuisine as well as kept any fighters in that kitchen at bay. He did have to knock out a few of them to keep them from running away and getting help.
They all enjoyed eating. Seemingly only Kokoro and Ravana enjoyed their time drinking. Of course, she didn’t want to go overboard with it. They had to get out of here with a clear head.
As the time died down, Fugaku packed some food so that they could go on without worrying about stopping again. She left them money at least, though she skipped out on a tip. They had very bad hospitality.
The five of them stood outside for a moment. Asura had cut a rift in the time and space. It seemed to be not so different from the one in which Hayabusa used, but it had greater spans, as he had come back from 2 villages over not too long after.
While she waited for him to return, her and her two lieutenants sat on the roof, keeping watch.
“These two are interesting people…” Fugaku said to her. “They don’t really compliment each other. Two opposites…”
“Balance…” said the young one. Both of them looked at him. He looked back from behind his mask. “Balance. Two extremes coming together to find balance. Isn’t that what my father is about? Isn’t that what this whole organization is about?” he asked. The two pondered a moment. Kokoro smiled cheerfully.
“I suppose they do compliment each other perfectly.” She said, giggling. “The old guy is a riot! I can have a lot of fun with him around. He’s funny. Asura is… too calm for the boy on fire that I’ve heard about… I’m surprised. He seems a little too level headed compared to what I had been expecting.” She said, as she looked at a rift form, cutting once again into Time and Space. Out Asura came from his country. The three jumped down, and they had begun to embark on their next journey .
It was not long after in which she paused in the middle of their walking. She then looked up at Asura.
“Hayabusa wants us back at Dream Island. I assume you can get there yourself?” she asked him, after witnessing how he had went to his own country and came back. She would wait for her confirmation before she would close her eyes and go silent, telepathically answering him back that she had been ready to go.
[655|1501]

Rolling for brawn