[center][b][i]A plan in motion.
A dangerous hunt.

Part III

A collab between Lillydove and Gerontis.

Summary :
After some days of travel, Team 3 is wandering around. Both are sent on a mission to bring down or capture a missing nin that had murdered his parents, after which he tried to spark a conflict between the Cloud and the Fire Union.[/center][/b][/i]

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[hider=Closing in!]

Hanako sent her chakra into the ground as they halted and tried to find any chakra signatures but she could not find one for the time being. [b]"I did not sense any chakra signatures,"[/b] Hanako said. She stood there and watched Satoshi-Sensei before glancing around the pass. The Frost Country was on the other side and then once they were there she be in the Frost Country for the first time. Hanako always enjoyed going new places and meeting new people, especially on missions.

[b]''Neither did I.''[/b] Satoshi replied as he rubbed his neck. There was always the chance that there was somebody or a few out there. But for now he reasoned that they could relax a bit more. Moving his bag in front of him, Satoshi sighed. Opening the bag, he took out an apple and held it with his left hand. Closing and moving the bag to his back again, Satoshi took another look around. He was half trying to figure out where they were. There were all kinds of passes and it had been a while. Yet, he was a tad disappointed that he couldn't come up with which pass they were at. [b]''I reckon that we will need to buy some jacket or something at least warm once we are over the border.''[/b] Satoshi thought out loud as he took a bite of his apple.

[b]"It seems like you miss it here,"[/b] Hanako said. She decided to eat something as well since she did not eat last night. Taking her pack off and finding a peach instead she took a bite. She looked around some to take in the scenery and searching for the plant life. She assumed that the plants would have adapted to the cold to survive here. Hanako took another bite of her peach and continued to look around. [b]"Yes, I do not imagine our hands or arms will be much use to us if they are frozen,"[/b] she said. 

Satoshi slowly came to a halt as she said he seemed to miss it here. He certainly did. The calm and orderly countryside was much different from what he saw as a chaotic, rude and loud urban life. He placed his right hand on the handle of his blade, slowly unsheating the blade a bit out of its scabbard. [b]''Try to check your weapons now and then. The frost can sometimes make them stuck in their scabbard.''[/b] Satoshi told her, a bit absent mindly. He tried to not fall into the well of memories of his training and time with the Black Guard corps. [b]''From this part, we'll not really have much trouble with the terrain. Just the cold.''[/b]

[b]"Satoshi-Sensei, I do not have any specialized weapons.... But I can check the standard ones,"[/b] Hanako said, she took out a few kunai at a time and carefully inspected them. She did notice the air around them certainly seemed to have more of a chill to it than the air closer to the village. Once she was done with all the kunai she moved on to the shuriken then proceeded to the rest of the metal and iron tools. [b]"Everything is in working order, Sensei,"[/b] she said.

Realizing that she indeed had no specialized weapons, Satoshi mentally cursed himself. Due the fact he had been distracted by his thoughts, he had just said something general. Deciding to concentrate on the mission, he started to lead them through the pass. [b]''Then no time to waste.''[/b] He told her, flashing a smile as he glanced in her direction.

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With a stern, Satoshi viewed the surrounding. Luckily they had the advantage that they were on a hill. Dressed in clothing that was more suitable for the cold. Luckily they hadn't wasted too much time and Satoshi was glad he wasn't the only sensor in the team. For almost half a day they were chasing the tracks of their target. Oddly enough, their target was more or less traveling around. It disturbed Satoshi a bit as he had suspected that the man wanted to try to make it to the border and try to hide somewhere among the border. It would be more easy to try go hiding there as patrolling shinobi from the Fire Union would rather act hostile towards a patrol of the Cloud, trying to get over the border. Sighing, Satoshi threw a sideways glance towards Hanako. [b]''Can you sense him?''[/b] He asked her.

Her eyes seemed to brighten at his question, she knew she could try and maybe not suceed but she would always jump at any oppurtunity to use her sensory.[b]"Let me see,"[/b] Hanako said in a cheery voice. With her eyes now closed, she sent her chakra into the ground and heard its hum in return. It took a minute, but she could sense him, he was on the edge of her range but close enough to make certain. [b]"Yes I can, he is within my range,"[/b] she said as her eyes snapped open.

Frowning, Satoshi was glad that she could sense him. It was more than great as they were thus closing in on the missing nin. But it didn't solve the question on why the man was acting like a chicken without a head. Running around and basically not going into hiding would just provoke that he would get shinobi getting send after him. Though it was clear they had to stay close, Satoshi wasn't sure if it would be wise to quickly close in. They had to be more cautious in case their target was up to something. [b]''Okay, considering that he is moving around and doesn't seem to have a clear goal, I propose that we'll try to move in close at a slow pace. In case he suddenly turns and thus comes towards us, that means he is either trying to attack us head on and we'll have time to prepare for it. In the other case, we can try to manouvre in a way that we'll force him into a pinch. Alrighty?''[/b] Placing his right hand already on the handle of his weapon, Satoshi still was wondering why the man was behaving so weird. Lunactics these days.

[b]"I think he might know we are here for him, if thats the case then maybe we should throw him off somehow,"[/b] Hanako said, she talked slow as she said it due to her thinking her idea through as she said it. [b]"If one of us, were to travel underground towards him while the other traveled above ground then the one underground could be used to surprise him, we could even make a clone so he still thinks there are two of us,"[/b] she added. If she could get close enough to him she could trap him and get him cornered with Satoshi ready to attack.

Thinking about it, Satoshi then firmly nodded. [b]''That sounds good. I'll try to distract him while you will travel underground to try to corner him. I prefer to take him alive now, as I've some questions for him. I want to know why he has been behaving so out of line.''[/b] Satoshi told her. Waiting for her to use her technique, he would then head in the direction of where she had sensed him. Using his own sensory technique, he vaguely sensed a chakra signature as well. There were a few scarce others, but based on how they were moving around, it was easy to deduce that they were probably forest critters. Moving in a careful pace, Satoshi kept sensing that the man was sort of heading back to the border between the Frost and the Lightning country. The direction where both the missing nin as he and Hanako had come from. 

[i]250 meters.[/i] Satoshi started to count down as he could sense how they were closing in. Then suddenly it seemd that their target had turned around. He was going to try to attack them. Coming to a halt, Satoshi took a quick glance of their current surroundings. There were several pine trees around them. Frowning, he couldn't find a spot where he had more advantage than his soon to be opponent. Deciding to wait, he thought he already spotted a person coming jogging towards him at a distance. [i]There he is.[/i]

She nodded and then proceeded to perform the handsignals for her jutsu as she sunk into the ground, once she was submerged underground she traveled in the direction of the missing nin and then stopped to sense him again, he had changed directions. Frowning, she tried to figure out why but then kept going underground and once she was sure she was close enough to him, she stopped. He was moving at a steady pace back where Satoshi-Sensei was at, it became clear then. He was attacking and it was now or never. Without a second thought, she performed her jutsu and above ground huge walls of stone would shoot up from the ground. [i]There, it is done,[/i] she thought as she came up from the ground with a kunai at ready position, the labyrinth should buy Satoshi some time.

Standing still, Satoshi kept his eyes on their opponent as long as it was possible. With the walls rising up, he could just see how the man had been surprised and somewhat confused. Waiting until the technique of his student was done, Satoshi would check the man's position with his sensory technique. As long as both he and Hanako could use their sensory technique, it wouldn't be hard to use her technique to pin him down within the earth made labyrinth. After he sensed that their opponent was still standing still in the same position, he decided to try to distract and occupy the man. Using the Hiding In Rock technique to move through the technique of Hanako, Satoshi decided to try to move to the man's left.

Taking a step, Satoshi appeared like he just was formed out of the earth made walls. Throwing a stern glare towards the missing nin, Satoshi noticed how the man grinned. [b]''Throw your weapons on the ground and surrender yourself.''[/b] Satoshi calmly ordered, though he was well aware that it wouldn't probably happen. But every second he could stall the man would be another second for Hanako to have a chance to surprise attack him. 

[b]''Why don't you try to come get them, lapdog?''[/b] Was the sneering reply of the missing nin as he looked with a rather arrogant expression towards Satoshi. It stayed silent for one moment as they then started to head towards each other. Readying his katana, Satoshi moved in with performing Iaidō. His katana sliced through the shirt of his opponent and made a light cut as he passed him by. Skidding to a halt, Satoshi turned around. The snow made them slide a bit instead of coming to halt. 

Leaning to the right, Satoshi barely managed to avoid a kunai. The thrown weapon had been aimed at his right shoulder, probably to try to force him to not use his katana. With both men standing still and throwing glares at each other, they didn't had much space to go either right or left. Though Satoshi felt he was in the advantage of the corridor kind of situation. Chakra started to surround the blade of his katana as he was preparing his next attack. His opponent pulled out another kunai as he seemed to ready himself for another exchange of blows.

Finding his chakra signature was rather easy now as there was no place to go, she smiled as she once more went underground and swiftly travled to where her sensei was buying her some time. Now directly under the missing nin, she performed the Double Suicide Decapitation technique but it seemed the missing nin was not about to go down so easily, as he sprang up just as she surfaced from the justsu. It was a good thing she had a kunai in her hand at ready to be of use to her sensei.

Finding it a pity that Hanako's sneak attack had failed, he didn't blame her. She had performed it with the right timing, but their opponent was quite a fast one. While he jumped up and used the nearby wall to land, Satoshi would already unleash his next attack. The gathered chakra around his blade left his blade as Satoshi swung with his katana. The sharp chakra flow would fly in a wide arc towards the man, who was forced to make another jump. Already moving forward, Satoshi hoped that it would create an opening for Hanako as he caught sight that the missing nin was forming handsignals.

Hanako started to perform more hand signals for another jutsu that woud hopefully be of more use when she too saw his hands moving, she had to move faster as she went under ground and further down the path of the labyrinth to lay the scrol for her jutsu down. With that being done she went back to Satoshi - Sensei and created a rock clone to help them force the missing nin further down the path. Her clone took a step forwards as Hanako looked to her sensei for instruction and perhaps a signal of sorts if he had formed a plan of his own already.

As expected, the arc of sharp formed chakra sliced into the wall and damaged it, but the man had been safe. He landed against the other wall and held a handsignal. Satoshi noticed that Hanako went back underground, hoping she would try to surprise attack their opponent again. Readying himself for a possible attack, he noticed how the missing nin took a deep breath in. Just when Satoshi decided to move in for another attempt to attack the missing nin with Iaidō, he was forced to jump backwards. Spheres of air were blown at a high speed towards him, violently blowing up dust and snow as they landed, barely missing Satoshi. Grunting, Satoshi raised his left arm to prevent any dust or snow to get in his eyes. [i]He is trying to create an opening?[/i] With the barrage of wind bullets, Satoshi saw no other choice but to stay in the screen of dust and snow. 

The missing nin halted his attack as he grinned. Staring at the screen, he was waiting for a sign of movement. Then several projectiles flew out of the dust towards him. Shuriken, aimed in a curve towards the missing nin. Simply dropping himself to the ground, the man avoided the projectiles as he turned back to the dust screen that was settling down. With the dust settling back on the ravaged ground, Satoshi stood calmly waiting as he noticed they were back on the same spots as before. Noticing movement, Satoshi saw Hanako, taking her position. [b]''I'll create an opening. Then you close in, okay?''[/b] He calmly said as the missing nin seemed to ready himself again.[/hider]