---

The situation was slowly spiraling out of control, more combatants meant more complications and risks, and Tsugi was the type of man to prefer his chaos organized. A heavy mist had cut into his visibility, making his useful rather hampered, what he would do for one of those special eyes the Uchiha or Hyugas have. He saw the Hyuga shove aside a Confederate Swordsman, yelling at him and Tsugi himself found humor in how despite the situation the pride of the big clans was put ahead of safety or efficiency. However that still didn't change the fact that from his vantage point the rising mist obscured the little arena that had formed, and would deny him from being useful if he stayed up there.

Tsugi jumped down to get within throwing range of the traitor red-head still under the guise of the Hyuga's form as the real one duked it out in the mist, he meant to prepare some roped senbon. He turned towards the mist. He called his clones to reform around him mimicking his movements. He kept it simple, he simply threw out roped and belled senbon into the mist, he knew the Hyuga could see them and dodge as needed all the while Tsugi himself doubted they could actually hit anything in there, they didn't have to. He just needed enough to be within earshot of the traitors as he formed hand-seals for Illusion Bells. In war, there needs some sacrifices to be made, and if the the Confederate Swordsman and the Hyuga get a nasty ear ache in order to incapacitate the traitors and hopefully dispel their jutsus in the process, fine by him. He'd be prepared to follow up with poisoned senbons if the mist fell.

---

Alright, the redhead should be fine now. I should go after the kekkei genkai boy, and just make clones to distract the-- His thought was immediately interrupted, his instinct of fighting in the mist having him swerve to the side, narrowly dodging Higoho's blow. A good attempt, and certainly a surprise, but the mist was his element, and Nori wouldn't bother with a jutsu that crippled him. "You can see in this mist?! ...I don't plan on playing taijutsu games with you, then."

Nori leaped away again, keeping his distance. Being zoned out by haze clones, a Hyuga, a silver kekkei genkai pool, and that swordsman was getting to be difficult, and if his opponent could see in the mist, that was already two of his jutsu made worthless. He hurled his naginata at Higoho through the mist as a distraction, knowing the Hyuga could dodge or deflect it easily. Still it would hopefully buy him enough time to set up, clasping his hands together for the handsigns. "Water Release: Water Bowl!" he shouted, blasting a torrent of water at Higoho, his other hand making one extra sign.

Try using taijutsu now, Confederate fool. Aquatic Bone Suffering...! If the blast hit, the Hyuga would be fighting with a part of his body that felt like it wasn't even there.

---

A positive outcome, despite the missed jutsu. Nobody had really acknowledged Zaisette's presence from the looks of it, except for the water style user who only paid him a fleeting glance before casting a jutsu. "Hiding in Mist Technique!" Niro shouted, scattering mist across the battlefield in an instant. Zay flinched momentarily, immediately widening the diameter of his pool in response to prevent losing his vantage. That ninja was smarter than he looked, looking to escape as the odds for him and his loudmouthed ally hopelessly plummeted. The confederate shinobi overwhelmed them four to one now. but unfortunately for the haphazard red sage, his reflexive attempt to escape had actually handicapped him against the Hyuga's Dojutsu. In a few moments, it would also give Zay full reign over the a considerable chunk of the battlefield. With his palms facing the floor, he silently fed his pool with two steady streams of silver, stepping further into the mist. It wasn't long before the edge of his goo gently encompassed what he assumed to be Niro's sandals, revealing the red sage's positioning immediately. But before he could assail him, another disturbance upset his pool's smooth surface. That's when Zay realized something he should've noted earlier. He wasn't familiar with the Chakra of anyone fighting at the festival, and couldn't discern friend from foe with definitive results. One wrong move, and he could end up seriously wounding, or killing one of his own allies while this mist persisted, or worse, he could end up dead himself. Unthinkable!

A moment later, he felt another presence upsetting the peace of his silver as it sprinted towards him and the other two shinobi with reckless abandon. It had to be that Hyuga. Those ripples weren't caused by that dancing idiot's fanciful, albeit regrettably refined mobility. Ah well, it didn't matter much. The Byakkugan could see through the mist, and at the end of the day, it would've been less effort for Zay if Higoho could drop the mist ninja first. Once his pool reached around the fourteen yard mark, Zay felt three more shinobi in his radius. One several yards behind him, and two near the edge of the pool, on his left. That made six shinobi in total, only two of which he could confirm as foes. Without vision, or some signal of who was who, he wouldn't be of much assistance in this bloody mist. As much as he'd wanted to sit back and hope for the success of his allies, the situation was too frustrating for him to bare. Just because the Hyuga was advantageous, it didn't mean anyone else was in this dreadful mess of liquid fluff.

It was time for a new plan of action, one that helped differentiate between the chakra signatures in his pool. But just as he was about to enact his ingenious strategy, several small projectiles sank into the pool in front of him, around where Nori, Tatsuya, and the Hyuga were fighting. They felt like Senbons, and judging by the angle of impact, their owner was behind him. Was it the lone shinobi approaching his back, and was he an ally? Whatever.

Zay lifted his left hand, pulling two thin, curved fins of silver up from his pool with a small amount of chakra on either side of his body. With a flick of his hand, the fins of silver appeared rigid as they overtook his height, and spun around his body like a liquid fan, pushing the nearby mist up and away with a strong, circular gust of wind. The immediate area around him was cleared in an instant, giving him vision of Tatsuya, Nori, and the Hyuga as well. "Water Release: Water Bowl!" Nori shouted. Zay sighed profusely after putting so much effort into discerning the water ninja from everyone else. His shouting would've given him away if Zay had just waited a moment longer...

Following its initial dispersal, the mist continued to spread away from Zaisette, albeit at a snail's pace, threatening to leave the air around his pool cleared indefinitely.

---

Ninko tried to keep himself inconspicuous , wanting to be seen by as little people as possible. Today was a festival and had a gathering of farmers from all across the confederation. That meant there would be a need for shinobi guards to oversee that nothing went horribly wrong or to protect the innocent people from an attack by the Red Sages. Ninko was prepared to take whatever measures he had to bring them down in case they attacked. His attention was drawn to the flare that was launched up into the air and he had his right hand firmly grasped at his sword.

He reacted almost instantly when the militant Red Sages appeared and drew his sword. Ninko wasted no time in joining in the battle and quickly cut down a Red Sage by beheading him. He quickly jumped up onto the top of a festival tent to get a better look at what was going on and get a quick survey of the battlefield. Ninko heard one of his follow shinobi shout about protecting the civilians and even though he wanted to engage with more of the rebels, Ninko chose to go and assist the farmers and other attendants at the festival.

Using his incredible speed he weaved in and out though the chaos slashing out at any enemy ninja that either got in his way or was on the verge of striking down a confederate shinobi. Once he made his way to some civilians he quickly escorted them away from the fighting and to safety. That's when Kanata used the hidden mist technique and the battlefield became covered in mist. Ninko cursed as he watched mist obscure his vision of what was going in that mass of chaos. His mind was in overdrive as he thought of what to do next. With the civilians that he had escorted now out of harms way, Ninko would have to do something.

Even though many disagreed with his decisions, he chose to wait until the mist cleared and get a look on the situation. He wasn't too worried about the confederate forces since they had an uchiha and Hyuga on their side and if the legends of the two clans were true then they would be more than a match for a bunch of rebels. He wanted to go in, but he would have to wait until the mist was clear so that he could have more accuracy. An idea then popped into his head and Ninko decided that maybe it would be best to try and blend in with the Red Sages and gain valuable information about the group.

He quickly removed any symbols of the confederation that he had on his clothing and then put on a cloak that he found abandoned by a civilian. His mind thought up a story to tell the sages of his defection from the confederation and his desire to live life free of the system. He would be a skilled ninja unaffiliated with neither organization. Ninko sheathed his sword and continued to check around the battlefield to see if any civilians were injured or need rescuing, he didn't want to engage in combat for the risk of ruining his plan.

"I pray that this plan works because I'll be going into enemy territory" he said quietly to himself.

---

Kaori swiftly realized something interesting: This boy wasn't weak and she was right, he was indeed a threat. If there wasn't a mist troubling her sharingan's chakra-seeing, she'd understand how to counter him better, but right now, she was only relying on her increased reflexes and perception to deal with him. He had ease blocking her attacks and was similarly fast in delivering a counter-attack, apparently aiming his staff towards her head, but not with the intent of killing her, so it seemed. Then, he began to speak while moving his staff dangerously close to her.

"Hey, hey, pretty girl. How about we stop this foolishness? We are both too beautiful to be going against each other. We should just lay down our arms and go on a date together. You are still young but I'm sure we can manage. Otherwise, I'm going to be ahead of you."

Now, listening to something like this in a battlefield was strange. Was he really flirting her? Right here? Was he even taking this seriously? No, there was no way he could. He was likely insane, thrown within the Red Sages by accident or another mean, an unfortunate disturbed man that got caught in the middle of war. Or perhaps, this was the Red Sages itself, materialized in front of her; a bunch of lustful, violent lunatics that fought for something they believed - even though it was fake in it's entirely, a fake dream implanted on their minds by their leaders, who's only ambition was power and once they achieved that, those poor lunatics would find themselves disposed in a deep pit.

This particular fool would find himself disposed sooner than them, and by Kaori herself. She was determined now. With her blade, she swept his staff to the side while leaping back, in a single motion, she sheathed her blade, certainly she had done this countless times as it seemed extremely natural and fluid, the same way her hands did when she raised them slightly to form three handseals, in a flash; tiger, boar, dragon. The movement was so quick, that by the time she finished, her feet touched the ground after the leap.

In order to finish the jutsu, she took a deep breath and expelled a gray smoke from her mouth - it divided in two, and each direction moved in opposite ways, only to reunite briefly after, forming a circle, likely around Mikoto unless he had moved. Then, the smoke ignited onto a fire, but it wasn't an offensive ninjutsu or anything of the sort - it was a distraction, and of course, a genjutsu. It was simple: The fire's heat would slowly induce whoever felt it into a genjutsu that made the heat increase, until it became unbearable.

... At the same time, a strange sound reached Kaori's ears. She couldn't tell what was it, but it made her head hurt, her vision became slightly blurry, even with the sharingan. Soon after, she couldn't see clearly at all, as if the world was having many layers of itself, becoming extremely hard to dintinguish what was it. What the hell? Have I been caught in a genjutsu as well? This is bad...

Having no idea of what was the source of that and thus, no idea of how to deal with it, made Kaori fear an unexpected outcome. Her own death, for example. The sound was becoming louder, and her desire to break free from it was increasing as well - she looked down at her own arms, her motor skill slowly dimishing, making it almost impossible to raise her hand and attempt to flow an impulse of her own chakra through herself in order to break free. Is this.. the end?

---

Umary listened to the sounds of battle as they came closer and closer. Only her training kept her from flinching at the screams. People were out there dying, horribly. Still she maintained her calm and took deep breaths not really listening as the Jounin of their little group was talking to the delegates. Until she heard her name.

"...Honma will keep you safe."

Umary blinked, obviously hearing something out of context. She turned and regarded her squad leader and he nodded his head but kept his attention on the delegates. With the five, they were able to maintain the barrier. But if it came down...

Obviously he wanted Umary to take the Delegates away at that point. Which meant he thought they were going to loose. Umary turned her attention back to the barrier, her stomach churning. As a medic she was afforded certain things, including other shinobi helping her get off the battlefield. But having them lay down their lives for hers (And the delegates). Didn't sit right with her. But if she stayed she'd die.

Umary took another deep bracing breath as they all heard people approach.

"The Red Sages are coming in!!"

Shortly following the words was an earth shaking impact. Everyone staggered, but was unharmed as the moment passed. The barrier stood. The Medic's hands were beginning to sweat. The battle was upon them.

She made eye contact with the Jounin before pulling out her set of needles. She took a settling stance as the floor began to warp. The other four did the same.

---

Noriko took a deep breath to clear her chakra and looked at the felled men. Weak. Her mind mentally supplied. Since they were completely dead Noriko put them away from her thoughts and turned to survey the area. People were still panicking but another Shinobi was trying to stem that by herding them with... some ability.

He didn't have a red sash so when he made his way to Noriko she didn't attack. Plus, he was helping civilians.

Would you be willing to assist me in bringing these people to safety? While I can provide protection I am not much use in dispatching opposition at the moment and would appreciate your assistance. If you are willing please feel free to join us.

Noriko's mouth curved up into a smile as he asked her for help, then proceeded to not wait for an answer. He had some balls. She didn't bother responding since he didn't wait but took up a position to watch the motley group. Which was a good thing because it allowed her to spot another shinobi looking at her. Noriko easily settled into a horse stance and raised her sword in invitation. The other would have to take the lizard.

Noriko watched shuriken fly towards her. A corner of her mouth twitched upwards. With a quick movement she drove her Wakizashi point first into the ground and quickly made hand seals.

"Katon!" Noriko said calmly. "Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" At the final word she exhaled fire, gathering it into a large ball. The fire ball would immolate anything thrown, including hidden objects. At the same time, Noriko retrieved her Wakizashi from the ground, ready. If anything came through her jutsu it wouldn't catch her surprised.

---

The girl jumped back after pushing away Mikoto's staff. She prepared her next jutsu, but, as always, Mikoto didn't seem to be in a rush at all.

He straightened his back and then moved his head to get some of his hair out of the way.

"Well, it's your funeral." A genjutsu. That much was obvious to Mikoto.

It was the Uchiha girl's genjutsu AND some other guy's genjutsu. There was the sound of ringing bells. Mikoto could think of one way to avoid the latter and he was about to bypass the former, but he needed his ears right now....

He made the signs for his High Speed Jet jutsu and then shouted, "Max output!"

The waterjet coming out from both ends of his staff became even more aggressive and was clearly starting to destroy the metal plates.

"Let's dance, then, milady. Dies Irae!" He extends his right hand to the side as he holds his staff on the left hand.

After that, he bows down as if to about to start his next piece. He then straightens out and dashes forward towards the Uchiha girl.

Flames or not, he couldn't stay in the middle of the genjutsu, even if the girl was ready to receive him, not to mention that he had to get out of the range of the ringing bells. He needed to make short work of the Uchiha girl with whom his charms had failed, not that it was anything new, mind you.

After positioning himself right in front of Kaori, he would bring his staff down on the girl and across her chest after spinning it some in her hand. After that, and catching the staff on his right hand, Mikoto would follow up with an attack directed at Kaori's knees.

His staff wouldn't last long, so he needed to stay close, no matter what the girl did or how hurt he was. He planned on settling it right that instant.

"For the unsaved, the ardent flames of hell await." He chanted quietly.

It was unsure of whether he meant Kaori or himself.

---

@Nero

---

Any relief Masato would have felt at having the kunoichi join his little brigade was quickly vanquished as he took notice of a large amphibian, he was fairly certain it was of the newt family but didn’t have the time to confirm that, bearing down towards his Shieldbearers and the civilians. In addition to the creature another enemy shinobi had made his appearance before them, throwing out a few shuriken from each hand shortly after Masato took notice of him, which were flying towards both him and the accompanying kunoichi. He quickly took a step back, standing beside one of his Shieldbearers, while at the same time flicking one finger on his left hand to the side. As his movement finished the construct he stood beside moved it’s shield to cover his body, protecting him as the shuriken which hit it shortly after it had been moved into position and fell harmlessly to the ground.

With the immediate threat taken care of Masato turned his focus back onto the amphibian that was still charging them at a reasonable pace. His lips fell into a momentary frown as he realized that any course of action he could take would place the civilians under his protection at risk. Unable to hesitate for too long he barked out orders. ”Shieldbearers 4, 5, and 6 you are dismissed.” Following his command the back three constructs disappeared in a puff of smoke while Masato addressed the innocents still in the now half circle. ”As for all of you I suggest you run as fast as you can, find any shelter available. We will hold them off as long as we can.” As soon as they took off he focused his attention on his hand to confirm it was still bleeding before slamming it into the ground once more.

”Assassin, step forward!” Another burst of white smoke, this time coming from just in front of the three remaining Shieldbearers, followed his words. The smoke cleared quickly and revealed another construct, this one was completely unlike the previous ones as it was thin and covered from head to toe in pitch black clothing. As it appeared it drew it’s tanto from it’s back, spinning it once before waiting for it’s orders which came soon after. ”Assassin, kill or disable.” Masato’s words were ended with him singling out the amphibian with his right index finger.

Without hesitation the construct took off towards it’s target, the speed that it was running at on par with that of an exceptionally fast chuunin. It closed the distance rapidly and began striking out at the amphibian wherever it could reach, typically the legs and throat. Regardless of whether or not a strike landed the construct quickly leapt away after delivering the attack, doing it’s best to stay outside of the creature’s range of attack.

Tatsuya cursed as he cut through the water clone, the steam rising to envelop him as the rebel used it to help him perform a jutsu, and thus leaving him unable to see a goddamn thing, as well as gritting his teeth in annoyance as he heard the Hyuuga he sought to assist berate him for lending a hand. This was followed by someone grabbing his collar, and while he couldn't see the figure clearly, he could hazard a guess at who it was. It was proven to be correct as he was shoved to the side, the guy's voice causing him to grit his teeth in annoyance. As his anger rose, so to did the temperature of the ground around him as his Kekkei Genkai reacted to his emotions, but before it could get out of hand, he took a deep breath to calm himself. Taking stock of his surroundings, he noticed two things:a strange silver liquid flowing by his feet and a increasingly painful and distracting ringing in his ears. He ignored the first thing for now, immediately surging his chakra in an attempt to cancel this in case it was a genjutsu. When that proved successful, he looked down at the strange stuff at his feet, wondering if this was the work of the enemy or one of his allies. This question was soon to be answered as a sudden gust cleared the mist in the immediate area, giving him a view of his previous target engaging the Hyuuga a short ways off.

Looking towards the source of the gust, he saw a white haired shinobi, a Confederate he assumed due to the lack of a red armband, manipulating the silver substance he was standing in to great a sort of fan or something. He then turned his attention towards the fight between the Hyuuga and the Red Sage, before deciding that he'd give the asshole what he wanted, as he seemed capable enough that with the other confederate shinobi around, he should be more than fine. Tatsuya moved over to the guy, deciding to give him some need info. "Hey, name's Tatsuya and I'm going to hazard a guess in thinking that you're responsible for all this silver stuff on the ground." Tatsuya said, keeping an eye out in case anybody else showed up to join this clusterfuck. He could hear the clang of metal against metal in the mist, but didn't want to risk losing his head by rushing in without a plan. "Do you have any idea where people are in this stuff, or is it just for manipulation? If the former, I'd like to get at least a general idea of where that one rebel that the Hyuuga asshole was fighting currently is."

While Tatsuya was taking a more conservative approach to this battle, his clone would pop out from the ground outside of the mist, taking a moment to orient itself by looking around, deciding on the next course of action. It had been waiting for Tatsuya to give the signal to launch it's attack, a quick double tap on the ground with his foot, but the field had become so chaotjc it would've been impossible to tell. So, the clone had decided to leave the area and see of there was anything else it could do besides suffocate underground. (We need to come up with a better system for this.) While it knew that it should go into the mist to help out the original, that would also probably lead to it's death, as it had no idea how to maneuver well in the dense cloud. Not liking the idea of dying without accomplishing something useful, it turned it's attention towards the rest of the battlefield, noticing another cloud of mist(Nope), a lizard attacking a confederate shinobi and some weird looking warriors(Meh, he's probably got that handled, and rebel who was currently being targeted by a fireball thanks to another Confederate shinobi(Hmmm).

The clone tapped his head, trying to figure out the best course of action to get the most out of his admittedly worthless existence, before snapping his fingers in glee. It sank back into the ground, rushing first over towards where the one kid was fighting the lizard. Instead of rising from the ground however, it activated its Lava Creation jutsu directly under the beast, hoping to either kill or hinder it by turning the ground underneath the it into a pool of hot lava, before heading off towards the rebel ninja, blasting up from the ground a short ways behind him with a grin on its face as they appeared.

"Hey ya fuckin' rebel scum, eat shit! Yoton: Lava Spray!" It called out as it ran through a string of handseals, taking a deep breath before launching out a jet of hot magma at the foe. After that, not expecting to survive for much longer, the clone would pull out 4 explosive tags and attach them to it's body, lighting them as it once more sunk into the ground, rushing towards the rebel(or his melted corpse, if he was lucky), only to leap up right in front of them with a 'Surprise!' and end it's short life with an impressive bang.

After this series of events, Tatsuya would receive the memories of his clone, his eye twitching a little bit in annoyance at himself. Why is it that whenever I use this stupid jutsu, my clones never seem to come out alright in the head. Seriously, what the fuck?

@Savato

@Blue Demon

@Lost in my Mind

@Tex



As Akio followed the leader with a sharp eye, she clicked her teeth as she noticed a dense mist suddenly begin to form. Not wanting to waste the chance to do some damage, she switched the arrow to a homing shot and let loose the bolt, the one bolt soon splitting into three as they raced towards the silver haired woman. Akio was quick to follow it up by throwing several Kunai into the mist with Explosive tags attached, aiming to disrupt the troops around the building and give them something else to focus on besides the barrier.

After that, she'd turn her attention towards the rest of the battlefield, taking a few more shots at several rebel shinobi that were currently engaged with confederate shinobi, including Nori and Arima. After that, she'd cancel the Thunder Bow and leap to the ground, not wanting to stay in one place any longer than she already had. Once she landed, she'd draw her Tanto and race across the battlefield towards the government building, cutting down a few rebels that got in her way with little trouble.

Once there, she scale up the walls all the way to the top of the building, gaining a vantage point above the mist to ready herself and overlook the area, summoning her bow again and drawing it back for another charged shot. She wasn't sure if her last one had connected at all, so it never hurt to be prepared.

@Hatman1801

@Partisan

@j8cob

@GrafRoy Zeppeli

The clattering of metal caused Mirai to look up. The swords she and Aneko use landed in front of her. Directing her gaze forward and a silver-haired woman was standing about where the swords used to be. Something seemed familiar about the woman's face and she had an air of importance. Perhaps she was the one leading this attack. Why would she give me my weapon back? Mirai's prosthetic arm reached forward and gripped the sword, and she slowly got onto her hands and knees. Nobody is looking this way. This is my chance... to do... something... Before the blue-haired girl could get up a powerful gust of wind knocked her back over onto her side. This one was far less painful but equally surprising. Looking up to find the source, the man with the demon mask that knocked her away had summoned a terrifying and gigantic mace.

But the building had a barrier around it that reflected his attack. A weight felt like it had been lifted from Mirai's shoulders. That's right. There are others inside. They don't need me to defend this place. Not like I could in the first place. If that monster couldn't destroy the barrier then nothing can. I don't have to try to fight them. Once again she picked herself up, resting on her knees as she sheathed her sword on her back. But what do I do now? They still haven't noticed me. I could kill that lady... maybe. That'd make me a hero, right? But, even if I pull it off perfectly and kill her, I'll probably die too... What should I do, Aneko? Mirai looked past the Red Sages before her to where her servant's unconscious body was. Well, hopefully she was just unconscious. A blow like that wouldn't be fatal, right? She wasn't moving though and Mirai can't check her pulse from far away. A wave of anxiety began to creep over the girl again. Did they kill her? I must know. I have to save her. I have to fight them. I have to-

A mist suddenly appeared around the compound, obstructing Mirai's vision of most everything. She instinctively jumped to her feet, reaching for her sword again with her real arm. But apparently the source was friendly, as another girl jumped out of the smoke and offered a hand and assistance. "Uh," Mirai let out first, leaving her sword sheathed and bringing her hand back down to her side. "I think... that's their leaders over there. We should go. They'll kill us." Mirai looked in the direction of the enemies, but the mist was too thick to see them. Hopefully it worked the other way as well. "My serv- er, my friend is on the other side of them. She got knocked out. We have to get her away from here too." Mirai crouched down, picking up Aneko's sword and holding it with her metal arm. "If you can carry her out of here I'll distract them and catch up..." With her free hand she withdrew several shuriken and held them between her fingers. "We need to regroup. We outnumber them, but..." Mirai pulled her arm back, preparing to throw her weapons in Seijo's direction through the mist. "They surprised us. Let's organize." And with that she gave it her best toss. Sure, Seijo could've moved in the past few seconds and Mirai would be none the wiser. But she had to do something. If she used explosives it would lift the fog and her stealth would be gone. Then that demon-mask guy, or any other Red Sages that could've gathered, could easily chase her down and kill her. She had to rely on luck, something she was perfectly willing to rely on if it meant she wouldn't have to die.

---

The red-haired man behind the demon mask scoffed, looking back towards Seijo. "More capable than me? Nobody is," he remarked aloud, though not particularly loudly so as to instigate an argument with Seijo. Now would be a particularly bad time to argue, being in the middle of a battle and all. His gaze went back towards the barrier as he began tapping the gigantic club against his shoulder. It's like she didn't even notice all the men I took out. Whatever, she's just doing that to hurt my ego. The mask felt particularly uncomfortable suddenly and he had to resist the urge to take it off. After all his identity was something worse protecting. Unlike Seijo he hadn't been identified or associated with the Red Sages. As long as nothing incriminating was said or done around the enemies he would still be able to go home this night and not worry about being found out.

Wait a minute... He turned to face Seijo again. "You used my name! Why would you do that!?" Though he didn't seem overly heated about the situation, one could definitely detect the anger in his voice. "Now we have to kill everyone!" Before he could complain to his boss any further, a mist technique spread across the government's building and around the compound. Having decided in the heat of the moment that he didn't care anymore, Katsuko ripped off the stupid mask and threw it in the direction of the barrier. The mist was so thick that he couldn't see what happened to it, but it would've bounced off and landed somewhere he wouldn't have to deal with it any longer. Can't use Saihyousen like this. Not with Seijo and the others so nearby. I'd never hear the end of it if I hurt the Lady Commander. The red-haired man quickly sealed his massive weapon back in its scroll and stowed it in a pouch along his belt. Clearly there's an enemy that will try to take her out in the mist. Can't see anything though. Oh well, she's a big girl, she'll handle herself. At least she better handle herself.

Meanwhile I'm useless right here. This has to be one of those barriers that uses tags. There's no way they've got someone in there who is stronger than me and can withstand my attacks. There has to be tags. I'll search for those. Katsuko began to jog along the outside of the barrier, making sure to keep it at about an arm's length away. The thick mist made it impossible to see further than his arm's reach anyways, so he was at least able to navigate to that degree. Surely the tags have to be near the corners. Just have to find this corner and... here. He reached the front left (from the front door's perspective) corner of the building and accordingly the corner of the barrier. There has to be one here...

---

Tsugi cursed under his breathe, his bells did in fact do their job in disrupting the fight, but within the chaos and confusion not many were caught in its affects and he may do more harm than good as more confederates showed up. This was all the more apparent in a duel between the red head water dancer and -well I be damned- an Uchiha. Fuck, Tsugi messed up, audio genjutsu were just as potent to sharingan users as not, and the red-head swordsman while dazed, still had it in his thick head to go for an attack. Tsugi needed to act quick, less he lose a comrade to his own incompetence. He quickly prepped some more senbon, a vast array, belled or otherwise and formed seals for shadow senbon. With his bell's genjutsu still surely in the mind of the red-head, it would be very improbable to dodge the myriad of stings coming his way.

Tsugi aimed for soft vitals, arteries in the neck, wrist and thigh, as well as joints, he didn't need many to hit, just enough to stun or impede the traitor's assult as the Uchiha recomposes herself. Should Tsugi's plan work, the man's mobility should be heavily diminished and hoped that this infernal battle can finally end. The odds were certainly stacked in the confederacy's favor, but he also felt that others were in danger as a disproportional number of confederate strength was consentrated in this area. He substituted with a clone hanging around the edge of the battle, still forgetting that he was in the Hyuga's form, and set off to assist any civilians in danger, mayhaps even regrouping with his squadmates.

Tsugi was diligent in his work, upheaving civilians from rubble and taken out minor Red Sage underlings looking to loot or harass the citizens of the confederacy. He took great pleasure in making sure their last moments sane were just barely so. The citizenry were appreciative, but they kept thanking him and his "Great Clan's work," Tsugi just smiled, and thought it funny that his small family was being called great. Little did he know he was just offering free good press to the Hyugas, as he ran around still in the form of the Hyuga bastard.

---

The blue-haired fool had managed to dodge his initial attack, almost getting hit. Unluckily for Nori, the Gentle Fist style was dangerous even if you dodged the blows. While he wasn't able to launch the second attack he had wanted to, the first hit surely caused damage to Nori's side, as the Gentle Fist style would inject chakra even on a miss. And given that Nori had only managed to barely evade him, it was obvious he'd feel atleast something.

Higoho bit his lip in annoyance as he stood his ground despite Nori's attack. Using his byakugan, he was able to discern the naginata being thrown regardless of it's camouflaged color and speed. Rather than dodging it, which would've proven to be easy enough, or blocking it and sending it flying away, Higoho stuck out his hand and moved back only a few centimeters, twisting his body to dodge the front of the naginata. With a quick movement he then snatched the naginata out of mid-air. If it hadn't been for his byakugan, he'd likely have been hit by the naginata, and he'd never have been able to grab the naginata out of the air like that.

Higoho held onto the naginata for now, looking at Nori through the mist and noticing an incoming jutsu. It was too late to dodge it - then again, he didn't feel like the water was going to really do any damage. He kneaded some chakra at his feet, to keep him standing up and avoid being blasted away by the water torrent. He took the water torrent straight on the chest, but stayed upright regardless, not feeling too bothered by the water since he'd kneaded chakra at his feet to keep him standing.

Suddenly an agonizing pain shook through his body, arms and legs, at first barely noticeable but quickly growing in strength. It was clear something was wrong with this water jutsu he was using. Higoho gritted his teeth but as the pain grew he let go of that constraint. “AAAAGH!” he yelled out loudly while he quickly stepped out of the water jet. The pain kept growing none the less, causing Higoho to look down at his arms and legs, which were visibly shaking from the agonizing pain at this point. But something was up.. with the Byakugan he was able to spot that something was wrong with his own chakra. Despite the pain he was feeling he managed to let go of the naginata, causing it to fall to the floor with a clang. He slapped his hands together, forming the tiger seal. “KAI!” he yelled, releasing himself from the genjutsu that was cast on him. What a fool.. didn't know the Byakugan can see through most genjutsu.

Higoho bent down through his knees and grabbed the Naginata again, preparing to launch an attack. However, using his Byakugan, he could discern two interesting things from the corner of his eyes. First of all.. there were several objects with bells attached to them flying through the air. The bells were emitting some form of genjutsu, which Higoho figured out soon enough was a sound-based genjutsu. Atleast, that's the most reasonable thing he could come up with. Bells equal sound, genjutsu bell equals genjutsu sound. It made sense to Higoho. He didn't know the effects of this genjutsu however, so it was best to simply dispel it for himself. “KAI!” he yelled again, forming a one handed tiger seal. He wasn't sure if he had even been under it's influence, but dispelling it wouldn't hurt regardless of whether he had been effected or not.

The second thing he saw, was that a girl was fighting the red-haired prancing shinobi. While the shinobi was.. peculiar, to say the least, he was somewhat capable atleast, other than the blue-haired guy who had been improvising for most of the fight. Then again, the Byakugan was a worthy opponent for anyone, especially given Higoho's skill level with it. And it was likely that Nori had never even noticed the Byakugan to begin with. Higoho looked at the naginata in his hand, before looking at Mikoto again. He swung his arm back before launching it forwards - releasing the naginata that didn't even belong to him, and sending it hurdling through the mist towards Mikoto. Given the fact that Nori had a camouflaged naginata that worked perfectly in the mist, it was unlikely but possible that Mikoto somehow saw the Naginata. Regardless of whether he saw it, dodging, blocking or reacting in any way would require Mikoto to somehow let go of his attention on the girl he was fighting. But Higoho hadn't meant to help her - he was just trying to kill that annoying fellow.

After the naginata had been thrown, Higoho rushed through the battlefield again giving only some time for Tanji's senbon to pass by, whistling with those annoying bells.Higoho was ignoring Nori now, and heading straight for Mikoto. Unless Mikoto was a sensory, or had vision in the mist somehow, Higoho was fairly certain he'd get the drop on the guy. An opened palm was drawn back, and once he was close to Mikoto, launched forwards towards the guys chest. Using the gentle fist style, he didn't even need to hit him to do damage, all he needed to do was close. And given the aggressiveness of Higoho's attacks, it would be easy to get close. His attack wouldn't stop there - he would throw four more of these open palm strikes, all intended to kill, and all would only have to get close to deal damage.

As soon as he was finished with the flurry of strikes, he'd jump back landing next to the girl - which he could see now was an Uchiha. He scoffed, collected some spit in his mouth and spit it out in front of the girl. “Just like the Uchiha bastards to stick their noses in a fight that's not theirs. I was fighting these two Red Sage monkeys, so go play 'destructor of the world' somewhere else, with your fucking curse of hatred.” he said aggressively, obviously not impressed with the girl what-so-ever. The Sharingan, the strongest dojutsu? A newborn baby with the Byakugan was stronger than the most skilled Sharingan user.. After glancing at the Uchiha girl he peered forwards into the mist again, keeping an eye on Mikoto to see if he was dead or still alive after those five attacks.

---

---

Seijo looked at Yudai as if he was crazy, her right eyebrow slightly raised as he 'confessed' that it wasn't him. She looked over at Katsuko, before looking back at Yudai and raising a finger as if she was a teacher about to tell something important. “Now, now, young recruit. No need to be so humble. I know Katsuko, and I know he couldn't possibly have knocked all those shinobi unconscious. You don't have to play pretend with me. Did he pay you to say that? Corruption won't be tolerated, you know.” she said, looking serious as ever. No more words would be spilled on the subject however, and she watched boy disappear under ground, supposedly to travel under the barrier and take care of it so she could enter. Her deadly glance shifted to Katsuko now, watching on as he was doing his thing. She snorted as he said nobody was more capable than him, obviously disagreeing with him. Curse of Katsuko.

Suddenly she sharply replied to him when he got angry at her for using his name. “Shut up, idiot. If you're so strong like you think you are, everyone would know your name already.” She looked to the side where now a mist had formed, raising an eyebrow as she turned her body to it. Wasn't that girl there before? “Baka. Baka Moto is what his parents should've named him..” she mumbled to herself as she carefully watched the mist.

Suddenly, from the corner of her eye, she spotted a lightning bolt- wait, no, three?! It suddenly split! Moving quickly, Seijo pushed her hands together and rapidly formed seals, before spreading her hands wide and pushing them on the floor. “Fungus Release: Invocation of Nature!” she said out loud. From under her shirt came a surge of moss, spreading onto the floor and slightly outwards of Seijo's position. She stood up straight again, seeing the bolts appear rapidly now. She had to move quickly now. She pushed her hands together and formed a string of three seals before moving her hands towards the moss. “Fungus Release: Control of Nature!” She gestured upwards with her hands, almost as if she was pulling the moss up with invisible strings. But the moss reacted, going up and forming a small wall in front of her, about 2 meters wide and three meters high.

She didn't know if the moss would hold the bolts back, but even if they did, she'd have stopped most of the force most likely. From the corner of her eye however, she also spotted a shimmering of light. Several shuriken flew towards her, blinking in the light slightly as they left the mist and entered her sight. Moving quickly she turned her body and arms to the right, where the shurikens were coming from. The wall expanded in a circular fashion, following her body movements, and caught the shuriken in them. They stuck out like they would out of wood. She'd stopped the attacks now, and could rest easy again.

She relaxed her arm muscles and let her arms fall, only forming the tiger seal. “Release.” she said calmly, and when she did the moss in front of her that formed the wall dissipated, crumbling slowly and falling to the floor, where it got absorbed into the patch of moss at Seijo's feet. She wasn't concerned seemingly, only looking into the mist for a moment before scanning for whomever had shot those bolts. Explosions went off around her, but she wasn't sure where those had come from either. Possibly from the same shinobi? Never the less she stood calm, almost as if the explosions didn't phase her whatsoever. She simply peered out looking for the person that did this.

She wasn't able to discern any shinobi from the direction the bolts had come from - but she did notice someone scaling the wall nearby. Thinking quickly, she formed handseals and held on to the tiger seal. Slowly she started sinking into the moss patch below her, which was sprouting mushrooms and small tree saplings. Her eyes remained on the figure on the rooftops - not wanting to risk losing her.

While the sinking-into-the-ground was slow, appearing was less so. Even if Akio had seen her vanish, she'd be clueless as to where she had gone.. until Seijo suddenly rushed out of the ground merely half a meter away from Akio. She immediately stuck out her hand while holding the tiger seal with her other hand, attempting to grab her shoulder. While being silent and not saying anything was the tactically superior choice, and would lead to an almost certain grab, Lady Tametomo had become quite worked up. “Hey! You the one shooting those bolts of lightning at me, with that bow of yours?” Her words rung loudly, likely to catch the attention of those nearby. Her face was contorted in anger now, very much so annoyed by those bolts and shuriken that were thrown and shot at her.

If she managed to grab her, moss would expand out of the pores in her fingers and creep onto Akio's shoulder, burrowing itself into her pores and tenketsu, finding it's way into her body. Once inside, they'd simply sit there and start 'eating' chakra. The more moss found itself in her body, the more chakra would be taken from her. A simple, but efficient technique. Ofcourse, that was all under the impression that Akio got grabbed by Seijo.

---

Meanwhile, Neki nodded at Arima. With his tail, he slapped the politician over head once again to make sure he was knocked out cold - just in case Arima wasn't capable enough to do even that. Soon after the politician was pulled into Neki's mouth using it's large tongue. He didn't have much time to do anything at all though, as Arima had already picked the next target. Neki glanced over and only nodded, not wanting to speak given there was, well, a human inside it's mouth. And you don't talk with food in your mouth, that'd be rude. Slowly Neki stepped forwards, heading for the large constructs with the shields, and then started a slow but obviously bouldering charge. But the constructs were smart and disappeared at the back, leaving an opening for the civilians to escape.

And while the three shield things dissipated, a new one appeared, looking more vicious. It attacked Neki, charging at it's neck and legs. Most the attacks were guarded against using the large tail it had, but the tail wasn't fast enough to keep up forever. And if that wasn't bad enough, the floor was getting hot, hot, HOT? “AAAARIMAAAAAA!” it yelled, causing the ground to shake from the power of it's voice, given it was deep enough to make even a grown man sound like a four year old girl. From inside the mouth, muffled screams from a certain politician could also be head. “Enoouuuughh! I am.. going home!!” the newt said, trying to step away from the lava. Ofcourse, being slow as it was, it only ended up a few steps away from the edge, before it decided it had had enough and dissapeared in a poof.

It appeared again in it's home, an underwater cave. It slowly got out of the water sighing heavily before using it's tongue to pull the politician out of it's mouth and placing it down on the ground in a corner. The politician had feinted, probably from the strange experience of being inside the newt's mouth. It would be stressful, to say the least, for non shinobi. Neki then moved over to a comfy chair, sitting down casually and pulling on the string of a lamp turning it on. Using it's paws it took some reading glasses and grabbed it's book, starting to read as if it had just gone through an average day, despite the fact that it had just been in a large battle.

---

Nori was immediately punished by every single aspect of that damned Byakugan. The strike he'd avoided? For some reason, it felt like he had been hit hard on his side, and upon some self-inspection, his chakra had weakened around the area. A solid strike probably would have ruptured his stomach. His naginata? He had expected the boy to dodge or deflect it. Instead if hearing the thunk of it hitting the ground either from a strike or from going past him, he heard nothing. The Hyuga bastard must have caught it. And he heard the oh-so-obnoxious sound of the boy shouting the worst syllable of all; “KAI!”

Well, there had gone every single basic attempt. The ninjutsu was blocked properly, his weapon gone, and one of his special genjutsu failed. The Drowning Spear wasn't having a good time, especially with the growing pain in his side. It didn't help that he was becoming aware of a slim thinning of the mist...the silver-haired boy, with the liquid silver. He had launched it at him as balls before; could he have turned that silver into a means of pushing the mist away? So much for the mission going well. It's time for a tactical retreat. I need this wound inspected, to report this kekkei genkai to the Lady Commander, and to ensure the success of the actual mission, he told himself mentally.

He prepared for another jutsu, before he heard the faint sound of ringing bells, steadily growing louder...and his enemy shouting the release command again. One of his favorite jutsu was an audio-based technique. He wasn't about to fall for this. "Kai!" He called out, before redoing his interrupted handsigns, and sprinting away from every single bad thing he could notice; the sounds of fighting, his disrupted mist, the genjutsu bells, the silver.

He felt a little woozy as he began kneading his chakra. That blow to the gut had disrupted his flow somewhat, but it wasn't crippling. It just meant that he should expend it on his escape, and only leave the bare minimum to fend off a pursuit. "Water Release: Water Clone!" He made three, and they ran alongside him, a trio of guards should he be attacked. He made his way towards the edge of the mist, and made his way along there. Anyone on the outside shouldn't be able to see him, and he was far away from anyone on the inside, far enough away from detection by anyone but Higoho, and he had hopefully decided to go back to trying to kill off Mikoto.

A shame, really. In retrospect, the idiot was pretty cute. It didn't matter now though; Red Sages had died on the battlefield today. He didn't intend to join them in recklessness, when there was a far safer alternative. And so Nori ran, towards the Red Sages' real objective, and the direction of Lady Commander Tametomo.

---

A fire ball?! Holy crap these Confeds are insane!

Flabbergasted by the initiative taken by the redhead female, Arima felt his forehead get warm and damp from the tensions rising. He didn't know what to think of this, it did destroy his clone as proof that he received its chakra upon deletion, but they were otherwise Shuriken. Is surprised him even more that they seemed to have been destroyed by simple fire, but then again it was a peculiar universe. A fireball was heading toward him in response, and he could only deduce that the other guy blocked the shuriken too, unless he was really that bad.

There weren't many alternatives, but at least Neki could keep things going his way for now. Right? As the poor Newt got its ass handed to it, Arima did what he did best, charge up his magic boots and swiftly gain momentum to jump over the searing sphere of flames, some of his coat gaining a darker tint due to how close he got. Nonetheless, he easily calculated his move here, and upon having line of sight once over the ball, he'd shift his body to land as quickly as he got over the ball, now merely a few meters away from the female (approximately 10 meters?).

However, the eerie screams of Neki caught the male's attention, causing him to turn his head real quick to check on it. Its feet were burning and it was being assaulted by some cloaked thing. This didn't look good, and Arima would be choking in stress from the fact that he'd be alone against at least two guys. Scratch that, another one just started to talk smack behind him. This was a really shitty situation to say the least.

"Dammit."

He had a politician, but he was likely not going to live to see the glory of accomplishing such a feat. The one from behind quite evidently hurled something, it looked hot and was coming Arima's way, forcing him to look back and turn his head on his first enemy. Lava? Really? This was getting somewhat crazy. He would undoubtedly being attacked from another angle too, making one option truly viable in this situation. Five han seals were swiftly made until his body was completely coated in lava, only to reveal he had quickly switched places with a chair in a nearby house he hunkered down in to avoid being caught.

This wasn't good, not only did they have the advantage in numbers but they were also one upping each other with more and more lethal attacks as they went. Swiftly making his way to the roof, he'd kneel down to avoid immediate detection, overwatching the area and hopefully finding an exploitable weak spot in the overwhelming defense the Confederates wielded. Truthfully, he wanted out and call it a day. He was counting on Seijo to finish quickly before he succumb to this endless wave of powerful shinobi. He unknowingly panted the whole time, having been inches from sweet release more than once, and if he hadn't cowered away to recompose himself, he'd would have made it a little too easy for these governmental bafoons to get him.

---

---

Yaaaaawwwwwwwnnnnnn

The General of armed forces was indeed intrigued by the whole bunch of explosions and killing, especially from the better trained lads. But, its small attention span made it somewhat difficult for it to care about things too much. Getting a decent overlook for many of the combatants, it already made itself a few ideas as to what they were made of. Maybe it didn't have a very focused brain, but in terms of memory it was as efficient as a mule. Some were good, some were okay, any potentials for its new armed forces to exterminate these Red Sages once more and live the glory of war again.

Yakoul was a bit turned off when there was more ganging up than actual kill and be killed. It almost made the creature feel a bit sad knowing that the Confederation had a big chance of completely stomping the Red Sages before they'd make anything of consequence. Well, at least they captured some top list politician, maybe they'll decapitate him on cam and cause uproars all over the land. One could only hope, sadly. But then Yakoul's ears perked up at the feeling of humidity coming from much closer than the previous mist. This time mist formed at the Compound, except it wasn't from that Red Sage runt that didn't seem to have moved too far away from the fighting grounds.

"What do we have here? A bunch of shitheads going full retard on the chiefs? Fuck, I gotta see this anyway."

With that, the cat-human-thing swiftly got of its behind and took the time to stretch its back before hoping down in the middle of the melee, swords and shuriken flinging from every side, some even trying to kill the General, all failing miserably of course. Yakoul was equipping its ring claws on each finger, slowly, as it ascended the stairs of the compound and seemed to have entered deep within the hidden mist ability used by some third party assailant. Using its Perfect Symbiosis, Yakoul could easily distinguish who was where and depending on their position and chakra pools, could easily determine their roles here.

Seijo was easy to determine, especially when she started to brawl with one of the Jonin Yakoul was acquainted to for quite a while now. The massive sack of chakra that seemed to have caused all the big ruckus going on here was also easily found given he was holding a gargantuan tool Yakoul couldn't quite despite everything. Otherwise, it'd notice one female completely knocked out on one side and two more apparently helping each other. Actually, from what Yakoul's powerful ears could hear, it seemed like one of them was the third party that made the mist and the other wanted to shoot down the Rebel leader. It made Yakoul frown, but the deed was already done when it arrived.

Somewhat impressed for confronting the leader despite their evidently inferior prowess and their need to resort to stealth. Then again, Yakoul never gave a crap about playing fair. Placing a hand on both Mirai's and Kanata's shoulders (robot one for Mirai), the General would give a very tight grip, the golden claws digging into their skin deep enough to leave a mark but not enough to make blood. It set its head between the two so it could at least be seen by them, given its presence was particularly well hidden. With a gleeful grin, it spoke with its croaky voice.

"Well aren't you two just something. Fuck me, I'd pussy out if I were you. Or maybe not. Who cares? But hot damn, imagine you killing queen bitch, with just a shuriken. You'd be more famous than that actress cunt I forget the name of ehhhh."

Its lack of attention took hold again as it actively tried to think of the actress' name, but after a short moment it would pout and stare directly at the supposed direction the fight with Seijo was happening, even if it was sealed up even more.

"Hey girly small boobs. Mind lowering that mist, it's making my retarded shirt even dumber and wet. No need to be afraid now, 'cause I'm here to save the motherfucking day! Oh speaking of motherfuckers, mind if I ask you ladies for some hot ass tips for a speech? I need to fear monger a bit here, wake up some idiots there. 'Cause you know, we gotta get rid of these assholes. Right?"

It addressed Kanata but also Mirai to an extent when referring to helping it with some speech it was preparing. At this point, it would let go of them, releasing them from the uneasy tension and suffocating chakra it imposed on them. Yakoul wasn't going to harm them, no matter their level of loyalty. It simply needed to get into the decisive scene and distract itself.

---

If Yudai knew a battle would erupt a few moments before he sinked in the ground, he'd stay and aid the Lady-Commander in it. But, for now, he was occupied with something else: The Barrier. From underneath the ground, he could feel the magnetic forces above - and he could tell there were a handful of shinobi up there. Yudai was sweating with anxiety, but he tried his best to clear his mind and remain as calm as possible, in order to trace a plan. If he could make the barrier fall, even for a few seconds, it would be enough for that man to enter and likely destroy everyone inside in a matter of seconds. If something went wrong though, Yudai would likely pay the price with his own life: He knew he wasn't capable of handing that many shinobi by himself.

But, he had to try, it was his chance to prove himself useful.

Calculating roughly where the center of this place would be, Yudai erupted from the group very quickly, his hands already forming four quick handseals.

Doton, Jishin!

At the same time, the shinobi leaned down to slam his hands at the ground, creating the whole area around him to begin shaking wildly, the earth shattering and likely causing everyone that stood in the ground to lose their balance - except for the boy, himself. If anyone felt in the ground, they could possibly take damage as the whole ground began shattering, earth was crumbling and sinking, until Yudai was interrupted - or, until the barrier felt.

---

---

An Uchiha was not supposed to lose this easily - no. Uchiha are a powerful clan, with one of the most powerful dõjutsu, they're skilled, feared and respected - the Sharingan is a symbol of power and uniqueness, how could Kaori fall so easily for a genjutsu, how could her motor skill fail her that much when she simply needed to clamp her hands together, while this strange Red Sage still stood- he could even sprint in her direction, which he was doing now and Kaori knew that she was going to get killed. His staff, she could see how powerful the chakra around it had became, it was practically the same level of her Hinõken with the maximum intensity, if not stronger.

He was spouting out some nonsense, but Kaori could barely hear - after all, a stronger sound was currently predominant in her mind, the ringing bells sound. This cursed Genjutsu! "THIS CURSED GENJUTSU!"

"KAI!" Finally, Kaori mustered the strength (truly, it took her a lot of effort to move her arms, given her motor skills had nearly been taken completely from her) to clamp her hands together and release herself from this damned genjutsu, but alas, it was too late. Not that she had been hit, no, but apparently not one, but two other confederate shinobi had aided her. Her Sharingan could take the senbon flying into sight - then, a spear (naginata), all flew towards the boy and interrupted his attack. Finally, a well known Hyuuga stepped in to help her, this arrogant, but efficient man known as Higoho. The bastard.

"Just like the Uchiha bastards to stick their noses in a fight that's not theirs. I was fighting these two Red Sage monkeys, so go play 'destructor of the world' somewhere else, with your fucking curse of hatred.”

Honestly, the words weren't dripped in venom. They were drenched with venomous insulting words that Kaori couldn't even understand why; normally, he was known for being arrogant, but Kaori never expected him to be this enormous asshole. Nonetheless, his efforts had saved her life and despite her deep desire to tell him to fuck off right now, all she could do was bow her head slightly and let out a barely audible;

"Thank you."

Then, she unsheated Hinõken and began stepping back. If this was his fight, she'd leave it to him. Kaori tried to escape the mist, so she could offer her aid somewhere else.

---

A pinching sensation clutched onto the back of Zay's eardrums as Tanji's senbon began their ringing. He lurched forwards as his ears began to ring, causing his fan to clumsily melt back into the pool beneath him, slowing the mist dispersal to a complete stop before it revealed the Uchiha and her opponent. It was hard to discern exactly where the sound was coming from, but it made it difficult to differentiate between the individuals in the pool he'd created. He still saw the Hyuga boy fighting with the mist ninja, or rather, 3 Hyuga boys battling it out against a full platoon of mist ninja! Augh! The ringing senbon were an utter nuisance! "Hey, name's Tatsuya-" The sudden comment startled Zay. He hadn't noticed Tatsuya's approach through the thickness of his silver pool. Thankfully, it helped him gain some bearing as the ringing of the senbon came to a pause. The shinobi was quick to figure out that the silver was Zay's doing, which should've been obvious to anyone who'd actually noticed the dispersal of mist a few seconds earlier. Zay nodded and composed himself, trying to get a feel for the position of everyone who stood in his pool. As Tatsuya further inquired, Zay was hardly paying much attention to what he'd been asked, focused on the Hyuga boy disengaging with his opponent and heading towards the other two shinobi on his left. As Tatsuya finished speaking, Zay shifted his eyes back towards him for a brief second, before pointing in the direction that the Hyuga had darted off in. Truthfully, the only things he'd heard from Tatsuya were 'where,' 'Hyuga,' and something about hazards. He was more concerned with where the Hyuga was headed, and by extension, which of the two shinobi he was going to attack.

As Mikoto stepped in to attack, Higoho was finally in range to put a stop to the flamboyant jester's parade of irritable phrases. Thank god. Although it was hard to discern which of the two shinobi was spouting that nonsense from 13 yards away, Zay's patience for corrupt chivalry was wearing very thin. The Hyuga stepped in, and launched his palm forwards towards the chest of the furthermost shinobi. There he was. And not a moment too late.

A moment after confirming his target, Zay shifted his hands up, and turned towards the three shinobi on his left. His chakra shot across the mirror pool in a surge, conjuring two ripples behind both of red sage's legs. Zay clenched his fists, and Two streams of silver zipped towards each of Mikoto's thigh's as the Hyuga attempted to connect with his chakra infused palm strike from the front. All the while, Zay felt Niro's presence leaving the range of his pool, and heading away from the mist entirely. The mist wouldn't stick around for much longer if Niro was leaving, which may have been a wonderful outcome for the confederate ninja nearby. Everyone except for Zay and Higoho, anyways.

---

For once, Mikoto just HAD to admit he was about to be beaten. For the love of everything that is beautiful, there were, like, 4 ninjas trying to get rid of him. More could be hidden too.

"My, aren't I the popular one today." He said with a small smile in his lips.

The naginata, senbons, and even the streams of silver were dangerously near now. He could've handled all of them if he had his ever reliable support from Kanata, but alone... even he had to admit he was overpowered.

"You win..." He sighed as all of the weapons or similars thrown at him hit their mark.

Mikoto then disappeared with a poof, leaving only a log stabbed by the senbon and the naginata, and appeared already several meters away from his opponents.

He was still near enough so that they would hear him, though.

"I concede this time. Victory is yours. My mission was more or less to win time anyway. I did just so and kept you away from the real problem. I hope we will encounter again, Hyuuga, Uchiha girl. Next time, I'll bring a friend of my own and we can have some real fun. Until then, darlings!"

Mikoto mused and then jumped away. If they wanted to come after him that was fine by him. For now, he'd go look for Kanata.

"Onii-chan worries about you and your flatchest, dear sister. Also, I need to turn the tables on these guys AND get thi ringing out of my ears.", Mikoto thought to himself, before bringing his hands together and, "Kai!"

Kanata always had a knack for getting in trouble, so he should probably start by looking where Lady Tametomo was. She could also (not) use his help.

Regardless, he should also kill any other generic confederate shinobi that got in his way. No matter how many of them came, Mikoto was confident he could take them all as long as they had forgettable faces.

---

@tex@Nero@Hatman1801@KenyeIsMyLife@Partisan@Goddamn there's so many of ya

---

The girl with blue hair was scared out of her mind, or so was the impression she left in Kanata. Understandable, yeah.

"Don't worry, I can hide in the mist and be right back with your friend. You just get the hell outta here before that guy decides he wants to kill our asses." She heard someone throwing something into the inside of her mist.

When she turned to her side, she saw a mask resting by her feet. Had the guy from before thrown it all the way here? Why? Was it useless now?

Regardless, Kanata was quick to crouch down and take it, before putting it away on one of the many pockets she had to store kunais. It could come in handy, even more so if it was something from a Red Sage. She could pretend she was one of them without them knowing who she really is. She'd get away from the Red Sages AND keep the confederation off her ass.

After that, she was about to cast her Hidding in Mist technique again to go get the girl's friend when someone took a hold of her shoulder.

It was a fierce grip and it sent a chill down her spine just as the hand made contact with her discovered shoulder. She turned to the... thing, that appeared beside the two of them

It seemed to be a cat and looked... slightly feminine, but it didn't seem human, what with the claws digging into her skin and whatnot.

"Tell me something I don't know, will you? I don't care how much of a pussy I seem, I'm saving my ass no matter what. And I'm planning on getting as much people outta here with me as I can. There's no need for them to die senselessly in here." Kanata answered it with a knowing and unamused look in her face.

And then the thing said something he shouldn't have.

"Small boobs?" Kanata turned her gaze to the ground. "I swear to God that if you didn't look and feel so fucking strong and intimidating I'd shove something up your cheeky throat right about now. In any case, if you plan on helping, then be my guest. I can also lift the mist for you, only if you promise to cover our asses as we make our escape from here."

It was offering them, the three of them (she still had to go look for the other girl), a way out of this hellhole. Hell, she'd kiss it if he asked for it to get their asses out.

"And for an speech? Well, who the hell needs one? You should just kill everyone and show them your overwhelming power. That way, I'm sure several will shit their pants." Kanata knew when a person was more powerful than her. It had saved her ass multiple times before.

When Yakoul let go of her shoulder, she knew that he was overwhelmingly more powerful than her. Even the combination of Mikoto and herself wouldn't be enough to stop a thing like this.

"Dispel." She said after bringing her hands together and slowly making the mist disappear. "Now, go give 'em hell while we escape."

Kanata nodded and then waited for Yakoul to clean up the building so she could go get Mirai's friend.

Of course, she just hopped that Mirai was okay with her just agreeing to accept the cat-thing's help.

---

@j8cob @Savato

---

“Talk about a turn of events.” Setsuko murmured to herself as she took the last bite of her rice ball.

Unlike the usual day where she would spend weapon shopping, and then practicing today was the day a festival would be taking place, so of course she would skip her usual routine to be able to attend. The festival wasn't much newer than the last year, but it was nonetheless entertaining due to the fact that many different foods were made for the special occasion. Before the raid took place she was enjoying a simple “catch a water balloon with only a paper clip, and a damp piece of paper that tears way too easily”. She had failed the first two attempts, and was working on her third when the alarms went off. She was as confused as the other civilians, but knew that they wouldn’t sound those alarms unless it was on a day when they’d usually check them for functioning purposes. With that she did what she could to get people to run the opposite way of the wall since that’s the only possible spot an attack would take place. As she ran with some of the people who didn't want to wait around to see what was going to happen she would stop by her apartment to grab the necessary equipment, and make her way from the balcony to the rooftop of the complex. That’s how she ended up standing at the top of a complex looking over parts of Konohagakure where fights were taking place. She also couldn’t resist grabbing a rice ball on her way out since she hadn’t made her way through the festival to be able to buy some food. Usually the food stands were closer to the middle of the festival, so she was upset that the raid had decided to attack when they did.

As she stood there a Jounin clone had ran up the side of the complex to meet with her, and would tell her that she was to assist any shinobi on the battlefield due to the fact that the battle needed to be finished quickly, and any more time they waste trying to finish off one opponent the less shinobi they'd have on hand to deal with the real problem. "Understood?"

"Hai." she said in a low tone while nodding. After the order was given the clone went -poof-

I wonder what the real problem is- Wait, did I lock my door?

Suddenly, out of nowhere _{(not out of nowhere; from the ground, but of course she's kind of dumb)}, a Kunai was thrown at her from below. Because she was late in noticing Setsuko had tried to dodge the weapon by taking a step to her right, and without noticing the damage it had done Setsuko cursed under her breath at the fact that she had forgotten people could still see her from this high up. Right after the attack she sprinted to the opposite side of the rooftop where she would then jump to the nearest rooftop. The roof was weak, so instead of landing on it she had fallen through only to be met with concrete flooring. It had taken some seconds to be able to get a grip on what had happened, and by then the ninja who had tried to attack luckily didn’t make the decision to follow. Setsuko slowly stood up so as not to get dizzy, and began to clean the small chunks of debris off of her. Of course, she didn’t have time to stand here, and properly clean herself off, so without checking the place she had fallen into Setsuko ran out the door. Outside there were civilians running for their lives, and shinobi running every which way to either protect the citizens or get their hands on the enemy.

Dammit, where do I even start? It was bad enough that she had been overthrown from a spot that would’ve been helpful, and now after touching her cheek because something warm was trailing down it she had lost a fight. Both annoyed her, so instead of going back up the same rooftop she was on Setsuko decided to begin running opposite of the crowd to see if she could be helpful to someone.

---

It was ridiculous how many times she had run into people, people bumping into her, or someone had thought she was a Red Sage despite the fact that she had a headband on her head. At least now she knew who was attacking, and what she was going up against as she continued to make her way towards the fighting that was visible even on the ground. I know I have orders, but I'm technically following them by helping those on the front lines. Along with that she would help the injured until she was able to get a hold of a medical ninja, or get them in the care of another citizen who could take them to the hospital. Occasionally she’d bump into a Red Sage, but were quite the small fry since she only needed to use some Explosive Pouches, a few Kunai, and of course her Windmill Shuriken to get through. As she made it closer to the battlefield Setsuko noticed an individual who had taken off any part of his attire that yelled out Konohagauke, and grabbed a cloak from the ground to use. At first she had no idea on what he was trying to achieve with what he did, but after putting 2 + 2 together it finally clicked that he was going to disguise as a Red Sage. At this realization a small smile appeared as she had continued on since he would be able to handle things himself. Without thinking she had focused the energy to the bottom of her feet, and began to run up the side of a concrete shop. As she made it onto its roof Setsuko cursed once again due to the fact that she still couldn’t get a good sight of what was happening where. Remind me again Setsuko why I chose to be on the roof instead of on the ground? I get the same view no matter which I choose... Not only that, but she couldn’t stay here for longer than a few seconds since at any moment someone can strike. Suddenly, without intending to she had noticed that Higoho was practically pushing people away from a fight that he couldn’t win.

“...Why are you doing this?” Setsuko said as she looked up to the sky. “It’s his own fault for not being reasonable.”

She sighed as she knew that she was going to help the arrogant Hyuga whether she had wanted to or not. After all, it was her order to her any shinboi, and from the looks of it some of the fighters looked like they have either a partner, or have it handled. In a way it looked amazing to see many people use different kinds of techniques from the vantage point that she had. Without thinking about it any longer, and with a long sigh she had begun running from rooftop to rooftop to reach Higoho. As she did she would throw some Explosive Pouches on the ground below without checking to see if anyone was hurt from it. Once she was close enough to the Hyugas battle she noticed that there was a girl who began to back away from the fight. Whether she backed away because Higoho was being rude, or because she didn’t want to get in the way was something Setsuko would ask later. Upon closer inspection she remembered that someone had told her of a girl that looked similar to this one who part of the Uchiha Clan. Setsuko had always wondered about the Uchiha, and how strong they were since they practically had the same Kekkei Genkai, but took a wild guess that he thought something different about them. As she jumped down from the last rooftop she was on Setsuko threw one more Explosive Pouch at Higoho that would land inches from his feet.

“You look tired.” She yelled out to him. “Don’t tell me your arrogance led you to biting off more than you could chew.”

@Partisan

---

Hamajo Confederate, Harvest Festival Government Building

---

Tatsuya raised a brow as the swirling silver fell back into the pool, before coming to a quick realization. He must be under that damn genjutsu that almost got me earlier. seeing the problem, he walked up to the fellow Shinobi and placed a hand on his shoulder, sticking Keysui into the ground before making a half tiger seal. "Kai." He said, sending a surge of chakra into the other shinobi's system to purge him of the foreign chakra, keeping an eye and ear on his surroundings as he drew his sword from the ground, removing the liquid coating the blade with a casual swing. The mist that had been converging back on them was beginning to dissipate as one of the rebels had retreated, and he could hear the flamboyant one also concede his defeat before promptly making his own escape, or so Tatsuya assumed from what was said.

Something that the one sage said before he retreated stuck in the red headed Chunin's head, however, how they had only been buying time for their real objective. But what could it be at a simple festival?

Wait, wasn't that one famous general, the one in chage of the 11th corps and killed the Rebel leader, here as well. So that's what they're after, shit, I hope that the protection detail at the government building has kept them back. Tatsuya thought as he turned and made his way through the thinning fog, forgetting to inform the silver haired guy he'd been talking to of the reason for his sudden departure in his haste.

As he made his way towards the building, he noticed that the one rebel from before, the one that he'd tried to engage before, was also heading in that direction with a squad if clones. Not wanting to waste time engaging them, but not wanting to leave them be either, he took a device to think before snapping his fingers, am idea coming I uk as he quickly flashed through a set of hand seals.

"Doton: Subterranean Voyage." He whispered, sinking into the ground before hurtling through the soil, passing underneath Nori and leaving an exploding tag a little ways ahead of the rebel's path, hoping to either disable or slow down the foe with the explosive while he hurried ahead. Once arriving at building, he'd emerge from the ground with Ketsui at the ready, looking around the area to see if there was anything that he could do about the current situation.

As he scanned his surroundings, his eyes passed over the strange sight of a shirt cat-eared person that took the red head very little time to identify. Whelp, they're fucked The sight of Yakoul gave Tatsuya equal levels of relief and fear as he remembered the stories he heard from some older Chunin, cause while he'd heard that the androgynous individual was a veritable monster in combat, they were well-known through-out the Konoha forces for their sudden mood swings, which he had heard could be quite terrifying. But surely they'll keep focused on the rebel forces right now and not attack their allies in the middle if a battle. . . right?

Tatsuya took a dry swallow as he decided to keep some distance from cat-eared Jounin, instead focusing on some fodder rebels so as to help thin the does numbers a bit.

@Hatman1801

@Savato

@tex

---

Hamajo Confederate, Harvest Festival Government Building, facing off against Seijo

---

Akio narrowed her eyes, scanning for any sign of her target now that parts of the mist had been lifted. Unfortunately, she could not see hide nor hair of her, the only thing in sight being. . . a circle of moss. Her brows came together in confusion before rising as she heard a voice behind her, quickly making a roll to the side to avoid the out-stretched hand. As soon as she got up, she took aim and released the bolt, this one being a piercing shot aimed at her torso. At this range, it'd be difficult to dodge it completely, and if she tried to block it with a jutsu, it should be able to pierce through.

"That answer your question?" Akio responded somewhat mockingly as she quickly backed up and strafe the Rebel leader, firing several quick draw shots, all with invisible static strings attached. If she managed to land any of them, she'd immediately send a surge of electricity through the string, aiming to incapacitate her. If none of them hit, she'd cancel her Thunder Bow to send a brace of kunai and shurikens hurtling towards Seijo, followed by a string of hand seals before she breathed out a stream of flame around them, infusing the projectiles with Fire chakra as she announced the jutsu in a low voice.

"Katon:Phoenix Flow Shuriken!"

@Partisan

---

Higoho stood at ease as he noticed, with his Byakugan, that his opponent had vanished. He raised himself up and looked around in the mist, which was slightly dissipating now. Never the less, the Byakugan still made it easy to see through. As far as he was aware there wasn't any more Red Sages around. For now, anyway. He took the small moment to rest easy, looking around to see where to go next. Before he could make up his mind his byakugan caught a hold of a pouch landing in front of him. What the.. Shortly after, Setsuko Hyuga, a clansmate of his, landed nearby, spouting nonsense at him within minutes of arriving. “Hey, idiot.” he said, bending over to grab the pouch filled with explosives, before tossing it back to her. By now the mist was clearing out, a side effect of the person using it disappearing as well. “Shut up.” he'd say before walking away past her, heading for the compounds main building. It seems there was something going on there and Higoho wasn't about to stand by while people were duking it out.

As he walked past Setsuko he'd speak to her a little bit more, making sure to let her know that she was late, and above all that he didn't even have to break a sweat to beat these two guys. In his mind, anyway. “Actually, I beat both of them and saved this dumb Uchiha's life. Maybe next time you can be on time, so you can see for yourself that I can handle myself perfectly well.” He continued on his way, walking at a leisurely pace, definitely not in a hurry to reach the main building and come to help the other confederates. Mumbling to himself he'd add, “You're not needed here anyway Setsuko, should've just stayed at home like the rest of these useless shinobi.” It was obvious he was worked up about something, it being unclear what precisely that was.

Walking slowly, he reached the stairs much later than, for instance, Tatsuya and Nori would've reached it. He walked up following the same leisurely pace, striding past the unconscious and dead bodies that were strewn about on the stairs. It seemed someone, or rather, something had held house here on it's way up the stairs. When he reached the top, he looked around to see what was going on precisely. On the left hand side there were two girls and some cat-lady that he recognised as Yakoul. She was strong, but on his side. He thought so anyway. That bitch was a wild card if he'd ever seen one - she'd likely turn on him at a key point in a battle if she felt like it. Not a good trait for a commander, but what to do about that, huh? On the rooftops there was Akio, someone he also recognised given her long duty under Konohagakure before the takeover. And there was someone behind her - was that Seijo Tametomo? Red Sage commander, in the same field as Yakoul. This might get interesting, but given Yakouls lack of doing anything worthwhile in this battle, it was more likely that she'd not interfere anymore either. And then there was this guy in red going around the building. Weirdo. But Higoho didn't see any place he could possibly help out - Akio could handle herself he thought. And if she couldn't, well, good riddance. And Yakoul, he wasn't messing with that. There's being a hero, and there's messing with crazy. And Higoho wasn't about to mess around with that crazy cat. So he stood idly by, waiting for something interesting to possibly happen.

---

---

As soon as Akio rolled away, Seijo was formed seals already, not wishing to suffer the fate of being pierced by those arrows. When the arrow struck her, she disappeared in a poof. As the smoke cleared, a block of wood fell to the ground, giving off a clear sign as to what had happened. This also meant she'd dodged the shuriken as a side effect. The shuriken simply flew into the wooden log, sticking out as shuriken do.

Seijo re-appeared above Akio, this time not planning on making such a stupid mistake again. She was rapidly approaching Akio, readying a fist behind her body, bringing it forward swiftly with tremendous force to land on top of Akio's head. The force would likely be enough to break the roof, and send Akio flying through it into the ground below it. If the attack landed on Akio, she'd simply stop herself from falling through the hole as well, and land on the part of the roof that was still standing. She wouldn't waste any time letting Akio live, however. Revenge was part of her personal crusade, and currently Akio had made her quite annoyed. She grabbed a shuriken from her leg pouch, throwing it towards Akio. It seemed to be a simple attack - only one shuriken? That'd be laughable to any self respecting shinobi. But Seijo formed some more seals before pushing her open hands together.



From the single shuriken came more shuriken, clones in fact, but these were shadow clones. As such they had the actual capacity to damage Akio. From one shuriken came two, three, four.. in a matter of a second there were almost a hundred shurikens, all hurdling towards Akio, wherever she was at that point. “I don't like little shits like you. Too confident for your own good.” she'd say, before looking at the main building and dropping down from the rooftop. She wasn't about to pay more attention to Akio. “Hey, Katsuko.” she'd say out loud, quite sure she'd be able to hear him. “If that girl tries to get at me again, show her how strong you are. Impress me. I'm feeling bored with her already. I just wanna get inside of the building. ”