Ban: Assassination of Fuma Kazama - 09/22/16

==Participants==
Nara Ban
==The Assassination of Fuma Kazama==
Kare: [Thunderstorm] - Ban stood at the entrance to the Academy, patiently waiting for someone on the inside to come open the doors to the public. The rain fell down upon the oversized hood of his poncho that helped keep the clothes underneath as dry as possible under these conditions. Ban's poncho would effectively cover his head, shoulders, entire torso and just about half of his thighs. Underneath the poncho Ban wore a black short sleeve skintight thermal undershirt under a black long sleeved pullover sweater, black pocketless pants that were tapered around his ankles, black standard issue shinobi sandals that exposed his toes and heels to the elements. Hidden behind the shadow casted over his face by the oversized hood Ban wore his tinted black goggles, a compact metal rebreather with a matte finish and his forehead protector with the Amegakure’s symbol engraved into the metal plate. Strapped around Ban's chest was a dark brown leather harness that contains a holster to the right side of the back of his shoulder for his tanto; the harness is similar to the one Shisui’s harness. The harness also has a stretchable storage compartment for scrolls to the left side of his chest; one small scroll with a first-aid kit sealed within it is stored in this compartment. Ban wore armored bracers that covered the full extent of his forearm to provide decent defense against close quarters combat and projectiles; the right bracer has been modified with a kunai pouch on the inner part of his forearm that contains an explosive kunai. Around Ban's waist rested a medium satchel made of an identical dark brown leather as his harness containing the rest of his tools, such as kunai, shuriken, wire string, flash and smoke bombs, and explosive tags. The satchel was a bit heavy, but Ban has gotten used to carrying around the extra weight. After a few minutes of waiting the door slowly opened up and the face of a female could barely be made out from the opening due to the dimly lit interior of the Academy. - Female Jounin (FJ): “G-Good morning. Come in please.” - The female opened the doors just enough for Ban to slip right in and once inside, she sealed the door shut. - FJ: “How may I help you?” Ban: “Rumors have been spreading throughout the village of a group of criminals lurking around the outskirts of the village… I'm here to offer my services.” FJ: “Ah, yes! A gang of criminals from a neighboring village has sent out a party of an unknown amount to set up camp around the eastern border of the village… perhaps to gather information and scout the area, but they've also been terrorizing the villagers and they don't seem to be letting up. Deal with the leader, Lord Kazama, and bring proof to confirm the kill, if possible.” Ban: “Very well.” - Ban would weave the hand seal for tiger and a surge of chakra rushed throughout his entire body and he performed the Body Flicker Jutsu to vanish from the area within a fraction of a second; the sound of the once sealed door closing shut echoed throughout the empty lobby of the Academy as Ban swiftly exited the area. -
Kare: - Once Ban was out of the Academy, he reappeared on its rooftop. His eyes scanned the rooftops that littered the eastern portion of the village for the most convenient path to travel. Once the path was chosen he would take off, jumping from one rooftop to another heading towards the eastern border of the village. As he approached the eastern border, he came to a stop and scanned the border from the rooftop he was on. - 'I don't see any signs of an encampment along the border, but they would know better than to set up camp so close to the village.’ - He thought to himself as he wove the hand seal for ram, closed his eyes, and focused on any foreign chakra signatures that hid within the vast expanse of forest. After a few minutes had passed, Ban released his hands from the hand seal formation and turned slightly to face southeast. While sensing for any foreign chakra signatures in the area Ban managed to locate a faint chakra signature heading southeast from his location, but as he expanded his sensory field to gather more information he noticed a large void in which he couldn't sense the presence of even a deer; leading him to believe the gang has set up camp in that area. Ban leap onto the remaining rooftops before passing through the border and into the forest to track the chakra signature he had picked up on. While navigating his way through the forest via the tree branches, carving a mark into the trunk of a tree roughly every 120 yards or when he had to change directions, Ban would've eventually realized that the chakra signature he was tracking was that of a dying man as he entered a clearing. The lifeless body laid up against the trunk of a tree as Ban cautiously approached it to verify that the man was indeed dead. - [Observation] - As Ban kneeled down beside the body and pressed his index and middle finger firmly against the man's jugular to check for a pulse, he felt nothing. Ban searched the body carefully with his eyes and noticed rope burns around the man's neck. - 'Strangulation. This man was probably wandering too close to their camp, so they dealt with him before they could be discovered. But leaving the body out in plain sight… perhaps they wanted it to be found.’ - Ban marked the trunk of tree the body laid against and jumped up onto the branch above the body and as he suspected there was a hole punched into the branch where a rope dart was used to lynch the man and once dead the dart was pulled from the branch and rope released from its grasp around the man's neck. He dropped down from the branch to further analyze the scene, but there wasn't much to find. - 'Whoever killed this man cleaned up after themselves pretty well.’ - [Thunderstorm] - He thought to himself as he wandered towards the void he noticed earlier. As he approached the void he came to a stop, peered into the area ahead and through the trees he noticed what seemed to be a well. He would form a cross with the index and middle fingers of both his hands. - 'Shadow Clone Jutsu.’ - An identical clone of himself would appear beside him cloaked by a cloud of smoke that would quickly vanish. The clone didn't waste any time and approached the well, discovering it was an entrance to what could only be a hideout of sorts; perhaps it was Kazama's hideout. -
Kare: - In the meanwhile, Ban had retreated to the treetops to watch from above. The clone further examined the well and noticed that the entrance was boarded up and stuck onto one of the wooden planks with a kunai was a seal tag with “NO ENTRY” written on it. The seal tag casted a barrier around the well preventing anyone other than those with knowledge of the required hand seals from removing it to gain entry into the hideout. The clone couldn't really do anything, so it dispelled itself; giving Ban insight on what it had discovered, and so Ban waited patiently for someone to eventually come to the well or exit it since there was no sign of anyone nearby. After about an hour passed with no activity, the sound of shaking leaves and twigs snapping under the pressure of something's foot alerted Ban to the presence of something finally approaching the well. Ban would pour his chakra out into the area around him to utilize the water vapor in the immediate area to bend the light reflecting off of him, effectively erasing his presence; having no physical body or chakra signature, from the area as a precautionary measure. - [Predator] - Whatever was approaching the well would have a difficult time detecting Ban after using Dustless Bewildering Cover. -
Kare: - Two individuals leapt out from the trees, revealing themselves to Ban as he watched intently from the treetops. Both individuals wore identical clothing which consisted of a dull brown standard issue shinobi flak jacket with no storage compartments over a dull navy long sleeve sweater, loose fitting pants with bandages wrapped around their ankles and black standard issue shinobi sandals identical to the ones Ban wore. Over all of that they wore a hooded cloak that concealed their forehead protectors, but also the two pouches they both wore on each side of their waist. The two shinobi approached the well and before they even attempted releasing the barrier they scanned the area for any imposters. Intently watching the two wander around the well looking for any sign of an imposter, Ban began to note the differences between the two of them and what their skills could possibly be. His eyes locked onto one of them who was quite bulky. - ‘Male… physically superior… probably proficient in taijutsu… he’ll be hard to deal with if he gets too close.’ - He switched over to the other shinobi and began his brief analysis. - ‘Female… slender physique… probably light on her feet… What makes you so special?’ - As Ban scanned them from head to toe for any signs of a weapon, the two regrouped back at the well. - Male Criminal (MC): “I don’t see anything, you?” Female Criminal (FC): “Neither do I… which is odd given that the barrier detected someone lurking around in the area, but there’s no one here.” Ban: ‘Not only does the barrier prevent entry into the well, but it acts as a sensor for them.’ MC: “We’ve got to tell Lord Kaz-” FC: “How about we hold off on that till we can verify if there’s any threat, huh? There’s no need to worry him if there’s no immediate threat.” MC: “What do you suggest?” FC: “Well we can’t risk dispelling the barrier until we deal with the intruder… Where are you hiding?!” - There was a lingering sense of fear in her voice as Lord Kazama’s name was briefly mentioned and her demand for Ban to reveal himself didn’t hold much weight. A moment of silence between both parties and neither made any movements for a few minutes as Ban analyzed the situation to find a weakness to expose. - Ban: ‘It seems that Kazama built his influence around fear.’ - Using that information, Ban wove and held the hand seal for ram to perform Ventriloquism Jutsu; letting him project his voice from any direction, but altering the projection of his voice wasn't the only thing he was doing. Not only was Ban attempting to catch the two shinobi off their guard by altering the projection of his voice, but he was also performing Spoken Word Genjutsu which laced his words with the potential to cripple one's will and confidence in their own ability. - Ban: “Who said I'm hiding? Perhaps you should be worried about what Kazama is going to do to you for letting me slip through into your hideout.” - As the words left Ban's mouth, putting emphasis on Lord Kazama’s name, it'd sound like he was standing right behind them and they quickly turned around to face the imposter, but no one was there. - FC: “What the fuck! How dare you speak Lord K-Kazama’s name! S-Show yourself?” MC: “Did you hear that?” FC: “Yeah, I did. Perhaps this wasn’t the best idea.”- It seems that Ban's genjutsu successfully penetrated the defenses of the female shinobi; affecting her confidence in her ability to deal with the intruder profoundly and instilling a sense of fear of what might happen if Lord Kazama was aware of Ban’s presence in the area. Now Ban had to deal with them quickly before the element of surprise was no longer on his side. As the two shinobi stood with their backs to each other, Ban began to weave a string of hand seals starting with ox, then snake and ending with ram. - Ban: 'Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu.’ - [Confrontation] - Due to the current weather conditions Ban didn't have to exert much chakra into producing a thick mist, instead he utilized the rain as his source of water. The immediate area was quickly engulfed within a thick white mist that was nearly impossible to see through without the aid of a doujutsu. As the mist settled, Ban dispelled the Dustless Bewildering Cover and drew his tanto out from its sheath. A deafening silence filled the ears of the two shinobi leaving them solely with their own thoughts to keep them company. - MC: “Don't worry… I'll ke-” - As the male spoke his final words Ban maneuvered himself in front of the male. Without hesitation Ban drove the tanto clean through the male's throat before he could utter another word and swiftly retreated back into the safety of the mist. The male placed his hands over his neck in an attempt to stop the bleeding, but within a matter of seconds his life gushed out from the gaps between his fingers and his lifeless body dropped to the ground. The blood flowed out of the wound like water from a faucet and the female shinobi began to weave a string of hand seals. - [Battle] - Expecting some form of retaliation to be the result of the hand seals, Ban swiftly closed in on the female from behind in an attempt to slit her throat before anything can come of her jutsu, but just as he came within striking range she jumped up and clapped her hands together to finalize the string of hand seals. A roaring explosion echoed throughout the area as the seal tag placed on the cover morphed into an explosive tag and blew the cover right off the well. While pieces of wood and debris scattered all over the place, Ban was glued in place attempting to dodge incoming shrapnel as he waited for the uncomfortable ringing in his ears to fade. The female shinobi took advantage of Ban’s inability to detain her to dive right into the well and rush to inform Lord Kazama of the breach; successfully evading death for the time being. -
Kare: - As the chaos subsided, Ban proceeded to leap into the well blindly fueled by the desire to prevent the female shinobi from reaching Kazama. There wasn't much of a drop, but as Ban landed he shifted his weight forward and rolled over his head to distribute the impact over his entire body rather than just his ankles. The last thing he needed was a sprained ankle. Ban rose to his feet as he exited the roll and focused on the female shinobi, who was only just a couple of yards ahead of him. The path ahead was straight so Ban didn't have to worry about losing his target, but as he chased her down the thought of traps being littered along the path filled his mind. Fortunately for Ban the female wasn't any faster than Ban and he was able to shrink the gap between them faster than expected. - FC: “Why don't you just let up?!” - The female shinobi shouted as she reached into one of her two pouches, retrieving half a dozen shuriken and immediately flinging them towards Ban. Time would seemingly slow down for a brief moment as his mind processed what was going on and without hesitation Ban wove a string of hand seals starting off with tiger, followed by boar, then dog and once again tiger; performing Wire Bind. As the last hand seal was formed, Ban extended his hands outwards with his fingers spread apart and then several strings of wire shoot out from his pouch and spread out in front of him to intercept the trajectory of the shuriken, but also with the intention of ensnaring the female's legs. Ban managed to disable four of the six shuriken; one of the shuriken impaled itself into the left side of Ban's chest, but the harness prevented the shuriken from penetrating into his flesh and the other shuriken his grazed his left thigh. Fortunately for Ban, some of the wire slipped through and successfully ensnared the female by her ankles. As the wire tightened around her ankles, she maneuvered her body so that she’d land on her back. Ban quickly wove the hand seal for rat in order to perform the hiden jutsu known as Shadow Possession Jutsu, and grabbed the strand of wire connected to the female. - ‘Success.’ - He thought to himself as his shadow merged with the female's shadow, effectively placing her in a state of paralysis, but something didn't feel right. - FC: “Heh… I've got you right where I wanted you.” - Ban didn't say a word as he intently watched the female's figure closely until he noticed a layer of explosive tags coating her flak jacket. Ban didn't think twice before retreating his shadow and weaving the hand seal for tiger to Body Flicker several yards passed the female’s body moments before her flak jacket lit ablaze and erupted into a violent explosion. Even though Ban was a safe distance away from being caught within the blast, he was still forcefully propelled forward into tunnel like a rag doll, helplessly rolling across the ground, but then coming to an abrupt stop as he roll stomach first into a rock pillar; knocking the air out of his lungs. With the tunnel caving in on itself Ban didn't have time to sit and recuperate his strength, instead he struggled to rise to his feet and forced himself to run as fast as he could to avoid being crushed beneath the collapsing ceiling. After a few minutes passed, the collapsing of the tunnel came to an end, but Ban kept going deeper into down the tunnel. Not noticing the walls around him were becoming increasingly wider, Ban found himself standing within a small dimly lit cavern. - [Track 24] - Before taking any further action, Ban crouched down and began to take deep breaths; holding his breath for a few seconds before exhaling, and peered into the darkness ahead while attempting to sense for any chakra signatures. His eyes widened as an incoming shuriken pierced through the darkness and came straight for him, but before Ban could even attempt to properly counter or reposition himself, it changed its course and withdrew back into the darkness. The sound of footsteps echoed throughout the cavern as the silhouette of a figure perched atop a rock formation; roughly thirty yards away from Ban, appeared. - Lord Kazama: “Leave… now!” - A thunderous voice proclaimed. Ban's heart pounded against his chest, but he kept breathing in and out as he slowly regained his composure. The sound of a clap echoed from the silhouette and suddenly torches placed along the edge of the cavern lit up one by one. No longer cloaked by darkness, Kazama and Ban stared each other down. - Kazama: “You're just a kid.” Ban: “And you're just a man.” - Kazama was dressed in a washed out brown haori which partially exposed his scarred chest, a dirty brown tattered hakama held up by rope and wooden geta sandals. The only form of weaponry that Ban could see was a large fuma shuriken that he assumed was laced with wire due to the maneuver it pulled earlier. Ban couldn't make out much of the man's face since his hair hung messily over it. - Ban: “I take it you're Kazama…” Kazama: “Who's asking?” Ban: “That doesn't matter…” Kazama: “Then you can eat shit!” - Kazama hurled his fuma shuriken towards Ban with great strength and before the shuriken was anywhere near, Ban reached into his pouch, retrieved a flash bomb and ran straight for Kazama whilst keeping a close eye on the shuriken. As the shuriken came into range of Ban, Kazama manipulated it to make a sharp left turn in an attempt to crash into Ban’s side. Unfortunately for Kazama, Ban dropped into a slide and the shuriken flew right over him. Ban came to a halt and turned towards the direction the shuriken was headed to bare witness to it turn back around for another attempt. - ‘Just as I suspected.’ - Ban rose onto one knee and as he attempted to prepare himself to leap over the shuriken, a sharp pain rushed through his left leg causing him to drop back onto his knees. He braced himself by crossing his arms over his chest in anticipation for a direct hit, but shuriken was manipulated to pass close enough to cut into Ban’s right bicep. - Kazama: “I'm going to have a little fun with you before I end you.” Ban: “Tch… baka.” - Ban turned to face Kazama as prepared himself to capture his shuriken. - ‘Now I’ve got you.’ - After catching the shuriken, Kazama let the weight of shuriken carry his body into a spin and utilized the momentum to launch the shuriken once more at Ban, but this time the shuriken was attempting to ensnare Ban and give Kazama the chance to deliver a fatal blow. Ban swiftly reached into his sleeve to pull out his kunai laced with an explosive tag, turned around while still on his knees, and flung the kunai after calculating the shuriken’s path so that the kunai would be perpendicular to the shuriken as it travelled around Ban. Once the shuriken was within blast range, Ban held up the Seal of Confrontation to detonate the explosive tag on the kunai. - Ban: “Katsu!” - The force of the blast would knock the shuriken off its current course and send it straight into the wall. The shuriken forcefully reeled Kazama in, knocking him off balance and pulling him off the rock formation he stood on. While Kazama soared through the air, Ban threw the flash bomb over his back. After a short delay, the flash bomb burst open to release a bright white light throughout the entirety of the cavern. Given the position of the light source, Ban’s shadow was stretched out in front of him several meters, allowing him to perform Ninja Art: Shadow Stitching Jutsu without having to dry up his chakra reserve. Ban wove the hand seal for rat, bird and then slammed his hands onto the surface of the ground as his shadow materialized into half a dozen sharp needle-like threads that shoot out towards Kazama's body, which laid on the ground helplessly, at incredible speeds. Kazama had tried to get up before Ban performed his jutsu, but the bright light had forced him to bury his face back into the ground. Without hesitation, Ban manipulated each of the shadow threads individually to have them penetrate into Kazama's heart and burrow into the ground, pierce through each of his lungs, sew his arms together and also his legs, and puncture through his gut while also burrowing into the ground. Once Ban turned Kazama into a slice of Swiss cheese, the threads revered back to shadow form and retreated back to Ban. -
Kare: - Silence filled every crevices of the cavern as the battle between Ban and Kazama came to a swift conclusion. Ban remained on both knees with his eyes fixated on Kazama's body as his life slipped away. With every passing second the torches eventually died out and so did the barrier around the area that had initially prevented Ban from sensing any chakra within the area. As the blood pooled around Kazama's body, Ban sat down on the ground and sighed with relief. He took a moment to pull the shuriken that had impaled itself into Ban's harness and removed his tattered cloak so he could unstrap his harness and examine the area. - 'It doesn't seem like the shuriken made it through the harness, but I've got to deal with this thigh wound.’ - He thought to himself and he carefully applied pressure around the gash on his thigh. He didn't have much chakra left in him to effectively heal all of his wounds, but he did carry a first-aid kit in a scroll within his pouch. He reached around his back and into the pouch to retrieve the small scroll and unraveled it on the ground in front of him. There wasn't much on the scroll itself except for a seal graph with an outline of Ban's hand at the center of the scroll. He'd place his right hand within the confines of the outline and focused his chakra around his hand, causing an aura of sky blue chakra to radiate off of his hand and then his chakra slowly traced around the seal graph. A small cloud of smoke shot out from the scroll as his chakra traced the entirety of the seal graph and within his hand was a small first-aid kit that could fit snug in his back. Ban wasn't too sure of what he could do with the contents of the kit, but it'd have to do till he made it back to the village for proper care. He opened up the kit dumped it's contents out onto the scroll that functioned as a mat for the time being. - “Just a few bandages, cleaning wipes and antibiotic ointment…” - He sighed in disappointment and made a mental note to upgrade his first-aid kit. Ban pulled his pants down to expose the wounded area around his thigh and then opened up one of the cleaning wipes to clean the area. After letting the area dry up a bit, he coated it with the antibiotic ointment to prevent infection. Unfortunately the bandages were too small to cover the area on their own, so Ban had to use several of the largest bandages he had to cover the wound before tearing a piece of fabric from his cloak to tie it around his thigh. He packed up the remainder of the contents and laid the first-aid kit on top of the scroll. He looked over to Kazama's body and a thought crossed his mind. - Ban: ‘I've got to bring proof that Kazama's dead… but he's too heavy for me.’ - He limped over to Kazama's body while drawing a kunai from his pouch and kneeled down beside the body. Unable to bring the body with him, he decided to gather enough evidence that could identify Kazama through DNA test. He tore a piece of fabric from his cloak, soaked it in Kazama's blood and then laid layers of Kazama's skin, strands of hair, several teeth and nails he had peeled, cut and extracted onto the fabric and wrapped it up. After sealing the first-aid kit and the evidence of Kazama's death, he followed the stream of surface light that shined through the other end of the cavern, which inevitably lead back to the surface. Ban slowly traveled back to the village, taking several breaks along the way to regain the strength and energy he needed to traverse the dense forest. After several hours of traveling, Ban ran into a squad of Jounin that were patrolling the border of the village and was escorted to the Kage's tower to report what he had discovered. Unfortunately, the Amekage wasn't available at the moment, so Ban was informed to write a detailed report about what had occurred and any other important information. The jounin that had escorted him would evacuate the premises and Ban did the same; heading to the Academy to inform them of the mission’s status since he couldn’t reach the Kage directly. After debriefing the jounin in charge at the Academy of what had occurred, the location of Kazama's body, and handing over the proof of Kazama's death, Ban headed straight to the nearest hospital to have his wounds tended to and to get some rest after such a strainful day.
==Summary==
Ban successfully located the troublesome individuals threatening the peace within Amegakure. The leader of the group, Fuma Kazama, lays lifeless within the ruins of his hideout waiting to be extracted by shinobi of Amegakure and to be handled with care. Ban rests in a local hospital having his wounds tended to and letting his body rest physically and also mentally.