Thunder of Darkness, Sister-Pupils at Arms

The Briefing
Akemi and Kimi are sitting beside each other, facing none other than the famed Beauty of the Leaf, Sayuri Uchiha, who had recently taken them in as her pupils in the quest for greater power. The two younger kunoichi were expecting a briefing on the day's training session after breakfast like always, but little did they know today's training would be a more hands-on approach.

"What will we be doing today, Sayuri-sensei?" Akemi asked.

"Ah, yes, about that. Today you'll be leaving the hideout, and go about doing some field work." Sayuri said plainly.

"Field work? So like a mission?" Now Kimi's turn to ask.

"I suppose you could put it that way, yes." Sayuri answered.

"What will this operation entail then?" Kimi asked once more.

Sayuri then started to explain, "Recently, a group of bandits who banded together have been outright burning down the surrounding minor villages, most located in the countryside. I'm honestly surprised the Shinobi Union still hasn't done anything about this."

"So... you want us to go do vigilante work? That's new." Kimi remarked.

"Not exactly." Sayuri replied, her expression neutral, "They're quickly coming closer to the hideout judging from the pattern of their raids. If they learn of the hideout's location, they could become a major threat to our operations if the Shinobi Union manages to capture one of them alive and extort information from them. Hence, I'd like you to remove them from the map for me." Sayuri smirks, "Besides, it's a good way to test how far your training's come."

"What does 'remove' entail in this case?" Though Akemi tried to hide it, she seemed apprehensive of Sayuri's choice of words.

"Obviously, I'd prefer it if you just killed them." Sayuri said the works as if she was asking some trivial chore of the two girls. "As long as they are alive we risk them attracting attention to our location. This isn't a problem, is it?" Sayuri's eyes shifted to meet Akemi's.

"No Sayuri-sensei, it's not."

"Excellent then. I expect to see the two of you back here before dinner, I've got some nice chicken breasts that I am just so excited to try." As she spoke Sayuri quickly rose up onto her toes and lowered herself again, causing her own breast to nearly shake loose of the black kimono she was wearing. "Just try not to make too much of a ruckus, the purpose of this assignment is to help keep a low profile."

"As you wish, Sayuri-sensei." Akemi said, averting her eyes away from Sayuri's cleavage.

"Wouldn't it be more advantageous if we were to strike them at night?" Kimi asked.

"Now, that would be too easy, wouldn't it? And sometimes, you just don't have time to wait for nightfall to strike down an enemy. True shinobi should be very resourceful, and surprise attacks are possible even during daytime, which is when they least expect being surprised." Sayuri quickly winked her eye at her last words, then proceeding to reach into her clothing to produce a scroll, which she handed to the two kunoichi, "Here's a map with the coordinates of their most recent encampment. Their numbers range from around 15 to 20-ish men. Piece of cake, yes?"

"Hai, Sayuri-sensei!" The kunoichi said in unison, before Kimi taking the scroll from Sayuri's hand and opening it to examine the contents. Akemi leaned over to get a better view of the map. It appeared that the encampment that they were supposed to assault was perched atop a plateau only about twelve kilometers away from the hideout, indicated by a red "X" that Sayuri had drawn on the map. From what Akemi could tell, the bandits had picked an excellent spot to set up. The plateau provided full view of the area and forced any would-be attackers to give up the high ground. In addition, the nearby ravine made an attack from the East drastically more difficult. The abundance of natural defenses would surely make the task of removing the bandits notably harder, but still neither Akemi nor Kimi showed any hint of concern.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Get going!" Sayuri ordered after the younger girls took a moment to analyze the map.

"Y-Yes!" Both replied, soon after hurrying out of the hideout in a ninja dash.

The Operation
Hidden away in a treetop, Kimi spied on the makeshift, temporary settlement established by the bandit group through a small pair of binoculars, her Sharingan active to better aid her in the collection of intelligence about their targets.

"Hm..." Kimi hummed once, slightly intrigued, likely to arouse curiosity in her partner.

"Was our intel on the situation correct?" Akemi asked, biting on Kimi's attempt to lure her into conversation. "Roughly twenty hostiles present?"

Kimi kept her eyes on the binoculars, "More or less, I'd say about between 20 and 30 men, but there's something about their chakra that just appears strange, I'd even dare say unnerving..." Kimi said, her usual cool monotone voice more analytical this time.

"'Strange' is too vague of a term. It would be better if you tried to articulate what you mean with a little more detail."

This time, Kimi turns to face Akemi, "Nomadic countryside bandits like these usually don't get enough education to properly make use of chakra, yet the walls they've built around their encampment were clearly made with a relatively adept-level ninjutsu. No way they would be able to build it all by hand in such a short time and only for temporary use, despite their numbers. What's more strange, is that their chakra appears somewhat disrupted, as if under some sort of genjutsu, but... not quite like a genjutsu. I can't explain it, it just appears... strange."

"Perhaps they've found some artificial means of augmenting their abilities, as unusual as that would be. Regardless, whether or not there is something unnatural about the targets doesn't change the orders we were given by Sayuri-sensei. They all must be eliminated." As Akemi spoke several black crows landed on the tree branch next to her. The five birds stood perfectly still, not even bothering to look at their summoner before disappearing in successive puffs of white smoke. "It doesn't appear that there is anyone else in the area surrounding their camp. Interesting that they didn't bother to patrol the area."

"If they're augmenting their abilities through unnatural means, then we should be on our toes. We should silently take out as many of them as possible before any can notice they're being attacked." Kimi said while storing away the binoculars, then looking back to Akemi again, "That being said, got any ideas for a plan?"

Akemi pondered for a moment, her eyes drifting towards the sky. "Our best option would be to try and lure all the targets into one centralized location and taking them all out at once. If we are smart about it we may be able to eliminate a majority of the targets with a single attack. In addition, they may have an excellent line of sight from their camp, but we still have several options for slipping in. I believe the more intelligent move would be to utilize my Earth Release and infiltrate the encampment from underground. The only real issue would be the targets located in the four crude guard towers they have in place along the wall. It is unlikely we will be able to corral them in with the rest of the group, so we will have to come up with another way to eliminate them, otherwise we risk allowing them to launch a counterattack from their advantageous perches."

"There are two pairs patrolling the walls just outside, and one pair for each tower. That makes twelve bandits outside the encampment proper." Kimi said, looking at the encampment with her Sharingan, even without the binoculars, "You should be able to infiltrate and start taking them out from within. I'll take out the ones on watch in the towers and patrolling outside. Once you see the ones on the towers falling, that's your cue. Are we in agreement?" Kimi asked, looking back to Akemi one last time.

"That seems like an adequate plan. Now we just need to ensure the execution is just as satisfactory." Akemi averted her eyes downward, gauging the distance to the ground to be roughly forty-six feet straight down. "I'll only need a maximum of three minutes to get into position. I'll strike at the first sign of confrontation. We should be finished here somewhere between five and seven minutes, depending on the effectiveness of our enemies' counterattack. I..." Akemi trailed off, looking away from Kimi. "Just... you... I hope that... Good luck, Kimi."

Not waiting to see Kimi's reaction to Akemi's attempt at compassion, the kunoichi leaned forward until she fell forward off the high branch. The flames had already begun to appear before her feet left the bark, licking at her feet and fingertips. As Akemi rapidly descended, the flames quickly spread, engulfing her entire body in a matter of moments. Once there was none of Akemi's body left visible in the mass of fire, the flames began to disperse. By the time Akemi would have hit the ground, nothing remained but a wisp of dark smoke.

Kimi merely stared back as the older kunoichi dived down into the floor below, a small smirk spread across her lips, perhaps even unconsciously, "Three minutes, huh? I bet I can take out those twelve bandits in one!" Kimi spoke to herself, not sure if Akemi heard her or not, but not caring either. Kimi focused her crimson stare on the encampment and performed a one-handed ram hand seal before disappearing amidst sudden lightning.

Exceeding her own expectations, Akemi found herself beneath the enemy compound in a mere forty seconds. The soil was surprisingly light, allowing her to rapidly move through the ground utilizing the Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Technique. Above her, Akemi could hear the footsteps of her targets through the earth, concentrating hard to try and pinpoint the individual movements to ensure her assault was as pinpoint accurate as it could be. Though Akemi had given herself a full three minutes to prepare, it seemed more likely that Kimi would begin the assault whenever she felt ready to do so. The thought irritated Akemi. If she had been alone she would have simply used her summoning birds to destroy the guard towers. No coordination would be required and the planning would have taken a fraction of what it had. Group work was always such a hassle.

One of the pairs patrolling the walls would be the first to fall. The two men were occasionally chatting with each other as they made their round, until one's face suddenly contorted in deep pain and fell limp into the other's arms, who would become rather worried with his friend's sudden loss of consciousness. However, the last thing he would see would be a kunai stabbing deep into his friend's back, before his own would get viciously perforated by steel claws and darkness claimed his vision.

Kimi had used the Shadow Clone Technique to cut down the work by half, the clone headed for the southern and western towers while Kimi herself took on the eastern and northern towers, claiming the second ground patrol on the way. Kimi and her clone made sure to dispatch the bandits as swiftly and quietly as possible, preventing them from alerting the others inside to the massacre that was about to ensue. If already above ground, Akemi could notice quick bouts of silent lightning striking each tower before leaving behind a fine crimson haze on the air above. Kimi would have killed all the bandits outside and on the towers in around forty seconds following Akemi's infiltration.

Kimi now held the last bandit by his shirt as the man bled from his mouth, "Hmph... pitiful." Kimi spoke in her usual monotone, her crimson gaze fixated on the dying bandit, "Y... you... you bitch!" The bandit gurgled, before his shirt rent from Kimi's hand and he stumbled off the edge of the tower. The young Uchiha still attempted to grab hold of him again, but the man fell off before she could properly reach him, crashing down on top of a tent and very likely drawing the attention of his fellows, "...Shit!" Kimi snarled.

The commotion by the tent was immediately noticed by several nearby bandits, every one of them witnessing their ally crash through the side of one of the tents, pulling out one of the stakes and causing that side of the tent to sag. Upon spotting the kunoichi, her claws still dripping with the blood of her last victim, the guards immediately went for their weapons. They appeared armed with little more than kunai and cheap swords, and as one of the guards called out to the rest of the bandits, more of these weapons began appearing around the camp.

"You hear me!" One of the bandits continued to yell. "There's a girl-" The voice was suddenly cut off, the bandit's eyes going wide as he turned as looked down at a massive diamond spike that had come up through the ground and pierced his heart. The man managed a few silent movements with his mouth before his eyes rolled back and he went limp. Mere moments after, more spikes began shooting up from the earth, each one swiftly impaling the bandits that occupied the center of the camp. As an eerie hush fell over the camp, Akemi emerged from the ground, stepping out of the earth with sand covering her head and shoulders.

"If I counted correctly, my technique has struck about fifteen targets, and I don't believe any missed." Akemi said, trying not to look directly as any of the limp corpses hanging from her diamond spikes. "How many targets did you eliminate?"

Kimi merely stared down at the proverbial graveyard that the bandit encampment had become in an instant, a tinge of disappointment upon her face. Then suddenly, Kimi goggled her eyes as her expression became more aggressive, her Sharingan staring down at Akemi, before she would leap into the air from the tower, launching several shuriken towards the general direction of her sister-pupil and igniting them on fire with fire breath!

Akemi was legitimately caught off guard, her eyes widening as the flaming steel spun her way. Had her sister pupil suddenly decided to resume the confrontation they had had in Sayuri's hideout? Had Akemi somehow offended her? Akemi's hand were instinctively moving towards one another to attempt to form a hand seal, but as the shuriken drew near her hands stopped. With her adrenaline pumping, everything seemed to be moving slower than usual. The flaming shuriken flew past Akemi, but only just. The kunoichi felt a volley of heat as the flames from the shuriken licked at her body, one passing so close the ends of Akemi's hair were singed.

As it turns out, from Kimi's point of view, three of the remaining bandits had suddenly emerged from a black mist that had formed behind Akemi. Kimi managed to spot the mist in time due to the presence of the strange chakra, thus launching a preemptive strike on whatever was about to attack Akemi. The burning shuriken struck the bandits, who were already about to strike the redhead, setting them on fire and sending them on a frenzy all over the camp as they screamed in pain, before finally collapsing.

Kimi landed swiftly on the ground, her expression slightly calmer but still focused, "Don't let your guard down! These guys aren't as ordinary as we thought." Kimi stared down at Akemi, her eyebrows furrowed.

Akemi blinked hard. She hadn't quite been ready for what had just taken place, but there would be time to sort out the details later. Kimi was right, it appeared that the targets were more capable than originally predicted. Akemi removed her kukri from its sheath and turned away from Kimi, turning her back to her ally.

"Um, back and back?" Akemi suggested to Kimi.

Kimi stared at Akemi for a moment, before she herself turned her back towards her partner, "Be on guard. I feel this is not over yet." Kimi said, her Sharingan eyes constantly shifting around to look for possible ambushes.

Suddenly, four more bandits jumped from underground and clapped their hands together while on the air, causing earthen walls to erupt from the ground and advancing very quickly towards the two kunoichi, threatening to crush them.

"Here they come!" Kimi shouted, disappearing in a flash of lightning as the walls crashed against each other and crumbled to rocks. The blue lightning that Kimi had become suddenly flashed in front of one of the bandits, who got the bitter end of Kimi's steel claws and the bitter taste of incoming death as he screamed in agony.

Not wanting to be upstaged by Kimi, Akmei tossed her kukri into the air and formed a quick series of hand seals as the rock walls closed in around her. As it seemed the young kunoichi was to be crushed like an insect by her enemy's technique, Akemi leaped upward and placed her hands on two of the stone walls. Outside the rock formation, several of the bandits were pelted with melon sized stones as their rock walls suddenly broke apart in a volley of flying projectiles. Several of the stones passes just in front of Kimi, tearing the unfortunate bandit away from Kimi's claws and ripping apart the dead man's torso.

Kimi was slightly surprised at the man being abruptly shredded away from her claws, but thought nothing of it. She wasted no time in dispatching the last remaining bandit, moving towards him with incredible speed. The terrified man still managed to block her claws with his knife, but Kimi quickly countered, nimbly jumping over the man and slashing his shoulders with her foot-claws, before flipping in the air and shooting a fireball back at the bandit, incinerating him as she landed swiftly on one knee a few feet behind him.

Akemi snatched her kukri as it descended past her just in time to witness Kimi dispatch the final target. The bandit's screams quickly faded and his dark silhouette collapsed within the flames. As the corpse burned, Akemi stood in her battle stance, expecting another ambush to occur at any moment.

"I believe we may have underestimated the targets." Akemi stated, her eyes carefully scanning the small collection of olive drab tents.

The sound of sand being crushed is heard, as someone approaches both kunoichi. Kimi immediately shifts her eyes towards the source of the sound and remains frozen in caution. A rather large man walks towards them, he's wearing an assortment of animal hides as clothing and wielding a spear, and some scars are visible on his body and face, "So, you think you can just come in here and slaughter all of my subordinates without retribution... from me?" The man spoke in a deep voice, halting his march as he finished his sentence, standing around fifteen feet away from the girls, "I'll rip your heads off and plant them on a pike for your arrogance!!!" he barked angrily, clutching his spear with both hands and steadying himself for battle.

Kimi slowly arose to her feet and turned to face the chieftain, "So you're the chieftain, I assume?" Kimi asked in her usual cool monotone, her crimson eyes focused on the man.

The husky man simply huffed and replied "Congratulations. I shall reward your perception with a swift death upon the end of my spear."

The man quickly twisted the spear around in his hand, the massive spike now pointed downward, and threw the weapon with all his might. The spear soared past Kimi in a blur, Akemi standing directly in the weapon's path. Twisting her body to the side and away from the spear, Akemi managed to catch the shaft of the weapon.

Kimi glanced at the spear slightly surprised as it bypassed her to strike at Akemi, but wasted no time after Akemi caught the spear to quickly rush towards the chieftain, her claws ready to strike. However, the spear in Akemi's hands was suddenly pulled away hard, forcing Akemi to let go off the weapon; the chieftain had apparently used Chakra Threads to quickly return the spear to his hands and block Kimi's attacks, deflecting each blow of the claws with an audible clash of the metal. However, Kimi faintly noted a type of dark chakra emanating from the chieftain's arm when he finally managed to push her away and kicked her back. Kimi rolled on the ground a bit before getting on one knee, somewhat surprised by the chieftain's ability, who awaited the girls' next move with a smug smirk.

Taking Kimi's hint to act, Akemi moved forward, kukri in hand. The chieftain quickly maneuvered his spear in his hand once more in preparation for a throw, but Akemi interrupted his attack with a single swipe of her free hand, sending several diamond shuriken in his direction. Abandoning his throw attempt, the chieftain knocked each of the shuriken out of the air with a single wide swipe of the spear's shaft. Akemi was now upon her target, moving with her near paragon form to deliver an upwards slash. The chieftain narrowly managed to maneuver his weapon to block Akemi's attack, driving the spike at the tip of the spear into the ground to add leverage to his block. Just like when Kimi had lashed out, the two weapons met in a flash of sparks, though Akemi could see the diamond edge of her kukri had bit just slightly into the spear. Now it was only a simple matter of striking while the spear was stuck in the ground. Akemi began stepping to the side of the spear and spinning the kukri in her hand. Now with one quick motion Akemi would lunge to the opposite side and drive the kukri between the chieftain's ribs, likely puncturing a lung in the process, surly bringing about a swift end to the-. Akemi wasn't able to deliver the intended blow, as the chieftain ripped his spear from the earth, kicking up dirt and sand into Akemi's eyes. Her eyes stung and forced themselves closed. When Akemi opened them a fraction of a second later, she could see the shaft of the spear being swung once again. Akemi braced the down turned kukri against her forearm and used it as a makeshift shield to block the incoming attack. The force of the hit surprised her, sending a wave of shock and pain throughout her arm as it pushed her back. Fearing a follow up attack, Akemi quickly hopped several paced back next to Kimi.

Akemi growled as she wiped the dirt from her face, furious that she had fallen for what was in her mind a simple schoolyard trick. She was supposed to be the genetic pinnacle of kunoichi; an unbeatable human weapon. Seeing the chieftain's cocky grin as he spun the spear around in his fingers only made her more angry and the fact that she had just allowed Kimi to see her frustrated made her angrier still.

Kimi kept her Sharingan gaze upon the enemy as Akemi made her attempt at dispatching the chieftain, furrowing her eyebrows upon her discovery; again, the dark chakra emanating from the man as Akemi's strike seemed certain to hit home! The bandit chieftain appeared to be using some strange ninjutsu to momentarily augment his reflexes and reaction times, not very different from what the Sharingan offered.

"...I don't think we'll be able to beat him if we keep attacking individually..." Kimi spoke to Akemi, but keeping her gaze fixated on the chieftain.

"Agreed." Akemi replied as she sheathed her kukri. "Working together seems to be the safest course of action. Should we aim to eliminate the target with precision or overwhelming force? I am compliant with either method."

"He's using some sort of technique that allows him to move faster momentarily to dodge our attacks, we should..." The lightning-charged spear is suddenly hurled at both the kunoichi, who barely avoided it by jumping out of the way in their opposite directions, "You're in the middle of a fight! Did you really think I would just let you strategize to your pleasing?" The chieftain barked, retrieving his spear with chakra threads, still cackling with lightning.

Kimi jumped a few feet away in front of the chieftain, swiftly performing the hand-seals for the Great Fireball Technique, inhaling and consecutively blowing a large fireball at the chieftain; the large man easily side-stepped the rapidly incoming ball of death, the dark chakra once again visible in Kimi's Sharingan. Directly behind the chieftain was Akemi, right in the fireball's path of destruction, but Kimi had noticed her prior to her attack and didn't seem the least worried.

The massive fireball struck Akemi, shrouding her body in intense flames. "How foolish!" The chieftain shouted, preparing to throw his spear one more time in Kimi's direction. However his assumption that Kimi had accidentally incinerated her ally quickly proved to be incorrect. The flames around Akemi began twisting around the girl's body before disappearing in a shower of embers that hung in the air. Her body felt like it was boiling from the inside, the heat from the fire she had just absorbed swelling inside her body. By the time the chieftain realized he had been deceived, Akemi's hands were already in the Tora position.

"Fire Release: Rivet!" Akemi yelled, thrusting her palms outward. A concentrated blast of flame shot from Akemi's hands, roaring towards the chieftain. The large man once again moved impossibly quick, attempting to evade the incoming attack, but this time it wasn't quite enough. The fast moving flames devoured his spear arm, along with most of the right side of his torso. The chieftain let out a blood rattling shriek as his flesh was reduced to charred meat. The spear fell from his grasp, parts of the weapon beginning to glow red hot. The burned man began to stumble, small cries of pain escaping with each breath.

Kimi's stoic expression turned into a slight smirk upon seeing the chieftain get caught by surprise by Akemi's counter-attack. The burly man fell to his knees, his healthy arm pressing against the ground to prevent him from falling completely, "Dammit! DAMMIIIIIIT!!!" The man howled in pain and frustration, "This ends here." Kimi spoke in her usual cool monotone, lifting her right arm and readying her claw for the fatal strike, her crimson eyes set upon the now helpless man with an ice-cold gaze.

Akemi watched Kimi methodically moved towards the now defenseless chieftain, the sunlight reflecting off the steel claws. Her arms still felt warm from the technique she had just used. Fire Release: Rivet wasn't a move she used very often, and rarely used both hands to perform. In this instance, two hands was required to expel the flames she had absorbed from Kimi's attack. The effects were as desired, completely incapacitating the target. Now Kimi was free to finish their adversary off. As Kimi drew near the chieftain turned his head to look at Akemi and Akemi immediately averted her eyes and turned away. She had no desire to see the lights go out in the man's eyes.

Noticing Akemi's lack of reaction, the chieftain planned his escape, "Not stopping me, are you? Then I'll just escape into Yomi!" The chieftain shifted his eyes towards his hand, the dark chakra visible only to Kimi surging once again in the chieftain's hand touching the ground, slowly but steadily increasing the size of a pool of dark mist, the latter clearly visible to Akemi now, "He's doing something again! Stop him!" Kimi shouted, quickly advancing towards the man.

Having been distracted by her thoughts, Akemi wasn't nearly as quick to react to Kimi's warning as she needed to be. Going for her kukri, Akemi turned and began to sprint in order to lunge at the chieftain. However...

As the pool of darkness grew in size, peering through it, the chieftain's expression suddenly went from urgency to a state of complete terrifying shock; an expression of absolute terror...

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A booming, otherworldy voice with a feminine tinge to it echoed in the valley, but at the same time it sounded as if whatever hellish being produced it were standing right next to each one of them, this while the vision of bright fuchsia eyes and a nightmarish smile amidst pitch-black darkness quickly flashed across the minds of Kimi and Akemi, halting their advance before the chieftain as a similar petrifying horror easily overcame the mildly battle-hardened kunoichi. Their blood began running cold as ice.

"...W... Wh-what-t..." Kimi managed to croak while visibly shaking in fear, her eyes no longer focused on the man, but rather staring off into the distance in perpetual terror as thick, pitch-dark mist began pouring around them from the pool.

Akemi remained silent but the horror was visible on her face despite the face paint. She stumbled back, her eyes wide in shock and nearly tripped on a small rock protruding from the earth and falling on her rear. She continued to scoot away and managed to regain her footing. Even after increasing the distance between herself and whatever was happening before her eyes several times over, she still wanted to run, but her pride kicked in and prevented her from submitting to instinct.