Land of Iron

Sora looked down on the battle from a near by building, his feet hung from the side of the building as the wind blew and some ash whipped through his hair. Sora shook his head in disappointment and said “ you know if the enemy was watching you guys would have made yourselves perfect targets. He threw Kunai at each of their feet and then stood up on the building. He smiled and then disappeared in a bright blaze of flames. He then appeared next to Roku and said “ your as rash as ever, you haven’t changed much.” Sora then jumped up to a near by tree and watched, he then said “ let the battle continue I want to see how this fight is going to end.” Sora chuckled, he hadn’t seen Roku or Jin in a while and seeing them again brought back a lot of memories.

"Hey Roku, watch your back!" Jin yells, standing and allowing the wall to fall apart, the shards trapped in it. "He's about to-"

"Hari Bunshin no Jutsu!" Ichiro yelld, before Jin could finish his warning. This caused all of the glass shards to begin to move and grow, raising up to be come clear, hollow, glass clones of Ichiro. There were at least ten all around Roku before he had time to reach, and at Ichiro's word they began to move in towards him. "It's not nice to spoil the suprises in life Jin, isn't that what you told me once before?"

"Yeah, yeah..." Jin said, holding his right fist close to his body, sending a large amount of chakra into it. "Hope you got good balance! Ryushiton: Massive Impact!" And with that he slammed his fist into the ground. Immediately the area around him in a diameter large enough to encompass both Ichiro and Roku, the ground shattered, turning to dust, and sank as it begin to gather nearer the center of the large pit he'd just created, which would be filled half way with dust. The only solid piece of land was where he stood, and it was just big enough for him.

Jin watched as the two of them began to fall into the pit, then, just for good measure, he tossed in a stone shark, which began to grow to the size of an adult great white. "That guy can swim through dust like water, watch out!"

From the shadows Shibotsu moved, until he was standing at the base of the tree where Sora was watching thw whole affair from.

"Long time no see..." He says quietly, now leaning against the tree and sighing. "Hakatsukuru is hungry...I'll be glad when I can kill again...this match is just boring...why did you encourage it to go on?"

Sora laughed at what Shibotsu said, Sora then responded by saying “well they looked like they were enjoying themselves, plus watching them fight will just give me ideas on how to combine our abilities and make ourselves that much stronger. Sora then sat down on the branch and let his legs hang, he started to stretch and yawn. He then said “you are right though, this fight is a little boring, I’m thinking about taking a nap, wake me up when they finish.” Sora brought his legs up on the branch and he placed his back against the trunk of the tree and he started to fall asleep.

Roku grinned. Despite how serious this was, he always liked a challenge - kept his mind and skills sharp. "So soon as we hit the mountains, we should expect heavy resistance? Or at least highly skilled resistance? Good to know." he said as they moved.

"Who will be doing the scouting? You, Jin?" Roku asked.

Before Jin coul say anything on the subject a huge tree suddenly sprng up before him. Unable to dodge in time he sent chakra to his legs and kicked off backwards from it, doing a single lazy flip before landing and facing the odd tree again. "What the hell? Where did this tree come from?" He asked, stepping back, when suddenly a whole forest grew suddenly from the ground, creating a hige wall of tangles branches and trunks several stories high that blocked their way. "This is a jutsu...and a rare one. Everyone be on the lookout. I don't know how far away someone would have to be to do this much..."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about Keiji-senpai, we'll keep your little group company!" came the voice of one of several men he leapted down from the top of the wall of tangled trees. "Gyaku-sama sent us to wipe you out before you every got close to the mountains!"

"The one who created this wall, Keiji I believe that man just called him...he is leaving now, mot even staying to watch..." Ichiro said, now holding a small glass orb in his hands, both eyes closed. "I can see his chakra trail moving away with my Third Eye Technique. I think these men intend to try and kill us now..." Opening his eyes the orb melted back into his glass armor, which by now had cleared once more so that it was nearly invisable. "It seems there are all mid-level chuunin, with various chakra types...this should be fun, right Jin-kun?"

Suddenly one ofthe men began spitting fireballs at the group, as another created a whirlwind. This was done in such a way that the two jutsu collided, causing a massive firestorm sent right for the group. And on top of that, the men were begining to move out and had begun to surround them.

"Doton: Earth Style Wall!" jin called, after making a few quick handseals. The earthen wall suddenly rose from the groupd, blocking and dismissing the approaching firestorm. "Alright guys, let's make this quick. I want to learn more about that Mokuton user who just left!"

(Keiji is a new baddie, working on his and the other character info now. none of these baddies are important, but there are about 20, all almost at jonin level. so there should be plenty of bodies to go around, have fun ^_^)

"Oh yeah, now this is what i'm talkin' about!" Sho flashed a bright smile and sped towards the front of the group, hands already moving into a rapid series of handsigns. Without event he slightest thought chakra gathered around the soles of his feet and the jonin dashed up the earth wall with ease. Reaching the end of the great earth wall, he kicked off of the top of the structure and into the air. The jutsu was completed in the same moment of course. Needed some style right? Suiton: Exploding Water Colliding Wave! A massive stream of water erupted from the shinobi's mouth towards the enemy in a violent wave of crashing water. There was more than enough summoned water to wash away the a portion of the mass of enemy shinobi, if not crush them outright. The attack didn't stop there, as the next set of handsigns were complete by the time the waves collided with the ground.

"Suiton: Volatile Water Clone Technique!" from the waves a small army of transleucent likenesses of Sho burst forth to slash and stab at whomever had been unfortunate enough to be caught up in or too close to the water as well as slashing away the conjured foliage. As each got close to their target, the clones themselves exploded into blasts of highly concentrated liquid that would shred and pulverize flesh and bone. Having timed his attacks with expert flare, Sho landed back on top of Jin's makeshift wall. He turned and bowed with a flourish, his first act completed. "Thank you, thank you." with a smirk he nodded at Jin. "You said we should be quick, right?"

Roku nodded. Quick was the word, though truthfully Sho's jutsu had been a bit flashy - effective, no doubt, but he probably didn't need to have used quite that much chakra on lackeys alone.

The area was soaked, with enough pools of water from all Sho's Suitons to form almost standing water in the whole area, if shallow. Roku knelt and placed a hand in the water, letting his fist crackle with lightning, which was instantly conducted by sho's water and gave all ninja unfortunate enough to be in the water a very painful and through shocking. Sho was spared as he was on top of Jin's wall of earth.

"Don't forget, Gyaku was watching for moves and jutsus through Megumi's tattoo last time - one of these guys may have the same mark, if not all of them - careful about how many jutsu you show them." said Roku. "We don't want Gyaku to have a full list of our abilities before we even find him."

"Guy's...I wouldn't celebrate just yet..." Jin says, looking around the wall. "Look there, one of them survived both the suiton and raiton. Plus...is he even human?"

Jin pointed to the figure rising up from the charged water. He was tall, then, and dripping wet with small sparks of electricity jumping all over his body. It looked almost as if he were part eel, as he was smiling, revealing long, thin fangs, and his skin was black and slimy looking. As his teeth parted a slimy red tongue poked out, like a snakes. Then he began to move towards them, slowly at first, as if it were a struggle to move, but then he picked up speed and made a single hand sign. His neck then stretched out towards Sho and he bit down onto his shoulder and tried to pull him towards his body, and as his neck stretch he revealed long sharp claws on his fingers.

"Multiple Shadow Clone Technique." Shibotsu says quietly. His clones then rush forward and grab onto the ell-nin's neck, keeping him from pulling Sho in any closer than it already had. "I believe that this one is an experiment gone wrong. Years ago a man named Orochimaru did similar things in underground facilities all over the world. I wonder if Gyaku created this, or found it..."

As he spoke the real Shibotsu approached the eel-nin, drawing his sword. When he got close enough one of the clones moved away and he sliced through the neck. The body fell limp and the mouth released Sho, but then both parts began to move, and grow, and suddenly there were two of them, one far away and the other in the midst of the group.

"That Gyaku - he has a habit of copying the jutsus of the worst types," Roku said as he leapt forward and drove a fist into the stomach of the eel-nin who had spawned from the severed head, hearing - and feeling - several somethings crunch inside the body.

This guy doesn't seem too strong, but if he keeps multiplying like this, things could get tricky, Roku thought.

"Um...ow..." Sho gingerly rubbed the tiny holes that the eel freak had left in his shoulder. The wound was bleeding slightly, but did little more than prove to be an annoyance. He sighed and leapt down from the earth wall, using his chakra to disperse the energy of the landing to keep from breaking anything. The bloody water Kyoko had seen fit to throw at him was wiped away with a cringe, the man not being too fond of blood in particular. "You really think I'm going to let you have all the fun?" he whispered with a smirk. With a burst of speed the shinobi brushed past the closer of the eel-nin to pull up alongside Kyoko, figuring that Jin and the others could handle that one.

His hands were already working in a blur to form the handsigns of his next attack as his chakra flowed through the soles of his feet, allowing the Ame-nin to run on the surface of the water. "Yoko-chan, finish this for me!" Hyoton! Ice Spikes Technique! the chakra used to form the frozen attack was transferred through the water over to Kyoko, allowing the blood user to complete the jutsu. Better make this good... he thought as they closed the gap between theselves and the mutation.

Roku swung his other fist up to knock the eel-nin into the air, following it up with punches and kicks to knock the eel-nin even higher, before trying a move he created by combining one of the kage's jutsu and the leaf's lotus - he grabbed the nin around the waist and spun towards the earth in a blurring series of mid-air somersaults, crashing to earth with the eel-nin hitting headfirst as Roku yelled, "Liger Bomb!" and a blast of electricity burst from the point of impact upward as the ground cracked and buckled under the impact - the eel-nin was buried in the earth - the impact had no doubt left him crushed beyond recognition - that technique was strong enough to break the bones of the Uchiha's kekkei genkai, Susanoo, when standing - let alone from a good 20-30 feet up.

"Nice work Roku," Jin said with a smile. "Now, let's make sure-" he was about to say that they should make sure the other eel-nin was dead as well, but then the one in the earth began to wriggle, as if were about to either heal or rise up or something. "Shit...Doton: Final Burial!" With that the earth around the eel-nin gave way, letting him sink in further, before coming together and burying him in a coffin made of stone before slowly crushing him into, well, mush.

"There..." Jin says with a sigh, wiping the mud from his hands where he slamed them into the ground to finish his jutsu. "Now, for the other one. Let's go."

Shibotsu nodded, as did Ichiro, and they hurried up to where Sho and Kiyoko were. Shibotsu, seeing that the eel-nin was subdued by a painful infection and bloody ice, unsheathed his sword and used Kagekiri to slide the eel-nin in half, however, because of te darkness feeding on the chakra, instead of multiplying he began to shrivle up, like a snail and salt. Soon he was nothing but a, well, mess on the ground.

"You two alright?" Ichiro asks as Jin and Roku catch up to them. "I'm sorry I didn't help, but hot glass and cold water don't often mix well. My jutsu may have well exploded..."

"Shibotsu, Ichiro, the two of you move on ahead, circle around to the mountains by west of here, we'll continue on this way." Jin says once he gets there, having taken his time and just walked. The two ninja looked to Jin, then at eachother, sighed, and took off.

Roku nodded. "Jin and I will stick together - Sho, Kiyoko, you two stick together as well." Roku glanced back to make sure the eel-nin wasn't getting up again, then nodded to Jin. "Let's go."