Northern Patrol: Bandit Hunting

The northern part of the Water Country wasn't like most other countries. 'The North' referred to two things, which Jouijie had known as soon as he got the mission scroll, first of which was that the Land of Water didn't have a real North. It was ocean, endless ocean and sea. Directly north was more or less Kumo territory and most of the east as well, to the west was Iwa territory, so 'North' meant 'Northern part of the island', which is where Jouijie had headed.

The second part of the tale was that Bandits in Water Country took two forms, actual bandits and Pirates who preyed on passing ships. And there were thousands of places for those pirates to hide. Considering the location, it was likely that either group could've been responsible for the mugging and robberies just as much as Pirates, so he prepared himself for both possibilities.

He'd stopped in the village closest to the epicenter of the attacks, Kouzuiwana, and spoken to some of the villagers about the bandits. Until he showed them his Kirigakure forehead protector, he actually got run around quite a bit. It turned out that the gang had just passed through the town, heading towards one closer to Kirigakure itself. They were getting very, very bold. "Thank you, Elder-sama. Please keep everyone calm in the village. I will do my best to return your goods to you." he said now, bowing to the Elder of the village as he stood there, thanking the Mist-nin for his help as he turned and left, heading in the direction the Bandits had reportedly gone.

The Land of Water was a large place and he was quick to stick to the paths that weren't as open. Side roads through the muggy forests or even swimming across the small rivers and lakes dotting the muggy, muddy cesspool. It took a little tracking, a -little- more then he readily admitted, to find the tracks...There was a small rain shower just as he started tracking and it made the footprints impossible to find. But finally he found the tracks, some of feet and others of a cart...Kneeling by the side of the road, he nodded and stood up, checking his gear and reaching into his pouch, tied to the side of his torso, just above the waist on the left side. "There it is...Time to get going." he said, taking a breath as he pulled the Soldier Pill from it's case and crunched it between his teeth, kicking off in the direction of the tracks.

Tracking was not difficult work when people were unskilled at hiding their markings, their trail always given away in some form. Even if the Land of Water wasn't wet enough that every footprint left a track in the dirt or grass, they had the cart. The way they moved told Jouijie they weren't concerned with people following them and he was inclined to reward that confidence with a sound defeat. Since he'd first found the tracks it had been thirty minutes, rushing along the side of the trail following those steps. Where the ground was flat he rushed across it and trees he climbed, rivers he jumped...He was on the hunt and it was hard to lose the scent. He even found the remains of rubbish they just tossed away. Cleaning instruments for weapons, food wrappers, sake jugs...Even what looked like a woman's clothing had been ripped up and tossed aside. Stopping next to that, Jouijie swallowed hard and investigated...No blood, thank god. But the village hadn't mentioned anyone being kidnapped, which left him wondering who it belonged to. One of the villages closer to the trail? A traveler the bandits had caught?

Shaking his head out of his thoughts, he picked himself back up and began to move again, kicking off the ground as he cleared the road and crossed to the other side, ending up in a cusp of trees that he jumped into. It took patience to do this right. Never leave a trail in the same direction, keep off the ground when you could...All the things they taught you in the academy. He had never had much of a chance to use them until now, his missions had been more simple errands. It took some more running...Which seemed to be all his journey consisted of until now, but he finally found them.

He had just landed in another tree when he heard the noise of the cart, leaping off the branch into the next tree and finally seeing them through the forest, peering out quietly. They were sitting in the middle of the road, a large group of them. The cart in the middle wasn't for storing spoils like he'd originally believed, there was actually a large man laying on it being pulled by what looked like two other bandits. At least nine others were crowded around, standing or sitting around the cart, talking...A group of at least eleven. And he saw the reason they were discussing, the man on top of the cart was holding a young woman who was clutching a sheet on the cart for her dear life, trying to not look at the man next to her. She appeared to be mostly undressed too.

"Gya! Let's ransom her back to the village! They'd pay top dollar for a beauty like her back I bet." "Nah, you idiot. They ain't got nothing we can't take normally. Besides, we start stickin' around waiting for a ransom and some idiot comes out and tries to take us on." another replied, sighing as he stood and stretched up. The man on the cart, the Bandit Leader, seemed contemplative for a moment before he laughed and reached out, smashing his hand into the back of the woman's head. The blow sent her reeling forward, flying past the bandits around the cart with force and hitting the ground hard. Jouijie's lips tightened as he watched, shifting on the branch as he reached into his belt and extracted the tanto he hid there, readying it. The wire on the other side of his waist was next, tugging it free as well.

He leapt from the tree as the bandits began to talk again, landing on another branch down the path and kicking off it again. They were so busy taunting the screaming woman that they didn't even notice the trees rustling. Once he was down the path enough that he could still see them but couldn't hear them, he climbed further up the tree and around it's middle he tied one end of the wire. Gripping the opposite end of the wire and threading it across the spool on his belt, he quickly leapt down from the tree and ran across the road, swerving around the first tree and turning back, forth and jumping several times. The wire lasted him about five runs before it ran out, catching on the spool. The entire path in front of the bandits was littered with ninja wire that would cut into them as soon as they touched it, so much they probably wouldn't even be able to jump or crawl under it. The spool was taken off his belt and he shoved it into the ground, pulling a kunai free and using that to wedge it into the ground.

Jumping back into the tree, knowing he'd used up as much time as he could with them distracted by the woman, he began to stealthily make his way back towards the cart through the trees. The woman had quieted down by now, probably due to the bandit now standing on her chest and Jouijie stopped dead in his tracks as he knelt, biting his tongue. He couldn't blow cover. He couldn't rush out. Steadying himself, he raised the tanto in his hand. The woman was curled up in a ball when the Bandits finally decided to leave her, the leader on the cart calling out "Pah! Let her freeze on the road then, stuck up waif...Come on you louts, let's go! This next village should be fat and ripe full of lasses! Nahaha!"

Joui bit down on his tongue once more and now reached into his kit, drawing forth a small sphere. The seal on it read 'Smoke'. The bandits were moving now and the young woman on the road was crawling into the forest...He'd help her later. For now, these bandits had crimes to pay for.

Turning on the branch, Jouijie watched the bandits as they stepped down the road towards his trap without a care in the world. The woman they'd beaten and tormented had rushed into the forest fleeing for her life and probably sanctity. And they were so -languid-. Palming the smoke bomb he was holding, he leapt off the branch he was on into one higher on the next tree, using his control to relegate his speed. He had to be patient, he -needed- to be patient. If he overtook them, they'd see him. But too slow behind and they'd hit the Sene wires before he could get to them...It took several minutes for them to get close enough. Several long, hour-like minutes. A thousand things went through Jouijie's head. Now? Do it now? Or wait. Wait. Fight them up close or intimidate them? Or both? Take out the leader first or the lackeys and use that to scare the group he left alive? Should he reveal his jutsu to them? Or take them out with his hands?

He let his mind go however as soon as they hit the point in the road he needed. Sene wire was hard to see, especially on a misty day like this. Jouijie leapt into the next tree, holding his tanto up and lifting the smoke bomb just as they got within running range of the wires...And then he flung his hand. The smoke bomb sailed down into the air and exploded on the roof of the cart, sweeping out like soup over the entire area. Cries and coughing erupted from the cloud as Jouijie cupped his hand over his mouth, speaking in a voice a few octaves lower then his own; "It's a Shinobi trick! Everyone get out of the smoke, head along the road!" he called, leaping from the tree. The smoke didn't reach this high, but it did obscure everything below. He needed a vantage point, luckily he had set one up. He stopped in the tree holding the sene wire.

There were rapid cries and rushing, before a unison of cries rang out from the smoke. "A...Ahh! I'm caught!! It's wrapped around my arm! God it hurts, it feels like it's cutting into it!" "It's got my leg! Oh god it's got my leg!" "Gg..my neck..." the bandits cried, the tree moving as the sene wires shook and jerked from the maze of people caught in it...And he reached out, tugging on the end tied to the tree. The wires collapsed in a heap and tangle, looping around the people who'd been caught in it now that all the tension was gone. And they were all tethered to the spool and kunai in the ground. The smoke was clearing wonderfully with all the movement and shouting, drifting up into the air like a cloud. Most of the bandits were in the middle of the road, looped painfully by the ninja wire around them. It was rough like sandpaper, even breathing made painful marks on the body. The rest of the bandits were in the trees already it seemed, hiding or running as the smoke cleared.

The leader was laying in front of his cart after having fallen out of it, the cushy bed he was sitting on turning out to be a large pile of cushioned goods. Trinkets, food, supplies, even ryo and jewelry...The latest haul from the village. The bandits were like children at this point, all of them struggling against the wire and trying to free themselves while their leader pulled himself up off the ground. Joui chose that moment to begin, pulling his tanto up and putting the handle in his teeth. His hands came together, forming the seals he needed and murmuring the words. A second Jouijie popped up from nowhere in a small cloud of smoke, standing next to him on the branch holding his own tanto.

While Jouijie began to form his own hand seals, the Bunshin leapt down off the tree and landed on the ground beside the road, running out immediately and leaping onto the back of the leader. The huge man looked ready to move until the tanto came to his neck suddenly, held there by the clone. All the bandits went silent at this, the leader going stock still.

In the tree, Jouijie began the hand seals again. Ram and Bird, whispering "Chigami no Jutsu" into the air softly and the chakra suddenly pulsed around his right hand, a steady flow of blue in place. It would only retain for a few seconds however.

The cloned Jouijie was busy speaking at the same time. "It's over. The rest of you can lay that way for all I care, but you're coming with me. The Land of Water won't tolerate your activities any longer." he said, dropping down off the man's back and keeping the tanto pressed into his back. The bandit leader flinched, but slowly began to move as the ninja revealed the stakes. "You bastard...I won't let you do that!" he cried, whirling around quickly and slamming his fist into the bunshin. It blew away like dust, popping out of existence with a confident grin on it's face.

And out of the tree, the real Jouijie leaped. He landed on the big bandit's exposed back, his hand glowing with chakra enhanced strength and he slammed his fist into the leader's head. The effect was nearly instant, slamming the man down into the ground like a weight. Standing up on the man's back, he pulled his hand up once more and slammed it down, this time into the guy's back. The two blows were more then enough to suffice, knocking the man out as Jouijie stepped off him. Picking him up by the back of his shirt, he drug him a little and tipped the cart, pulling the lummox onto it. Turning to face the other bandits, Joui just reached into his weapon's pouch.

"You, shinobi! I'll get you for this! No one attacks Water Bandits and- Ow! God, ow!!!" one cried, digging the sene deeper into his skin as Joui pulled the explosive tag from his case, tying it to the end of a kunai. He pressed his finger against it in the lighting manner and hap-hazardly tossed it into the group, completely forgoing any kind of vocalization as he picked up the handle of the cart and began to pull it away. About ten seconds down the road, the kunai exploded wickedly behind him and the bandits screamed as they were pushed and hit by explosive force and dirt. By the time they had cleared, Jouijie was already a ways down the road from the injured bandits.

----

It took him a few hours to return to the village of Kouzuiwana, where he returned the cart to the villagers and their bane along with it, the bandit leader. They seemed to take too great a pleasure in dragging him towards the elder's home, one of the men brandishing a club. "Thank you, Mist-nin. Please send my regards to the council of Kirigakure." the Elder spoke, handing a small envelope to Jouijie who accepted it with a bowed head, nodding as he pocketed the envelope. "Most welcome, honored Elder. Please be safe." the Genin replied, standing up straight and once more taking off from the village. The people had never even learned his name really, all they knew was that he was a mist-nin.

In total, it had taken him a full day to find the bandits and with the mission payment in his pocket and no need to track as he leapt into the trees, he'd be back to his village soon. Things weighed on his mind now however, things he knew he had to clear before he could report to the Mizukage completely. The woman he hadn't been able to find or save. She was still wandering alone...But he couldn't have wasted time finding her. The bandits in the woods would have ambushed him...She was at least safe from them now. He hoped.

Had he done the right thing? Or had he just left a woman to die? Unbeknown to him, he hadn't in fact done anything to hurt the woman. She had been found by a merchant convoy heading down the road next to the forest who were already on their way to delivering her.

But he didn't know that. All he knew was the guilt he felt as he landed on a branch, trying to push it down. He had completed his mission and for a shinobi, there was nothing else. Right?
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[End]