[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/QDoCJRn.png[/img]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/mlG2SR2.png[/img]
[b][color=black][sub]Nagi Shinrikyo - [@Savato]
Aragami Tsubaki - [@Rabidporcupine]
Soryu Shinano - [@J8cob]
Jikangai Yūhi - [@Tuujaimaa][/sub][/color][/b]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHtTGvjSu3I[/youtube][hr][/center]
When all the other VTOL aircraft kept going straight, yours went left, bending off in an almost ninety-degree angle when a certain mark had been reached. Mission brief...? There was no mission brief. No official one, anyway. You were being inserted as part of a spec-ops team under the guise of providing escort and reconnaisance services to scientists that had been sent out alongside this expedition. This op was, so to speak, under the radar. As vague, shady and strange that might've been.. you were already on an undercover spec-ops mission, namely the expedition itself.. why make that even harder? It would soon become clear, as in the distance a rosebud was visible on the horizon. There was no mistaking it - a god-tree. So that's why you weren't allowed to mention this, even to your fellow expedition members? Curious.

As the VTOL approached, so did the rosebud, showing it's full length, growing larger and larger the closer the VTOL got to it. The team inside would be alerted by the pilot through their headsets that the estimated time of arrival was 'Tee minus 30 seconds'. Time go get ready, if any time was needed. The red light switched on, alerting the shinobi that they were getting closer, before the pilot piped up again. [i]"We're gonna have to do a free jump. Sorry, but take a look at the ground and you'll see why."[/i] Indeed, he was right. A single glance out of the windows would've told them all they had to know - this place was inhospitable, inaccesible to most humans bar those with tremendous willpower and a desire to get through. And even they couldn't stay for long. [i]"The scientist-folk have set up a temporary shelter with some wooden beams on the floor, try aiming for those to soften your landing."[/i] It was highly unlikely that the scientists could've made a jump like that, so it was quite clear that they had arrived on foot - but for Shinobi, especially those of the caliber present inside of the VTOL craft, it was an easy task. Then, the green light turned on, and they knew what they had to do. Never the less, the pilot reminded them, shouting, [i]"t minus 5 seconds. Green light, go, go, go!"[/i]

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/mG9Yy0h.png[/img]
[sub]Dr. O. Okaminari, doctor in bio-engineering, aspiring expedition leader, scientist by trade, adventurer by choice. His files indicate he has lived in Konohagakure, Kumogakure, and Sunagakure, before he finally moved to Amegakure and applied for several research grants. All his research grants led to ground-breaking research in genetechnology and medical applications thereof. His opus magnum is the utilization of Hashirama Senju’s cells to create a clone without the use of chakra, though the clone died 5 hours, 20 minutes and 34 seconds after creation. He is considered a mastermind – and a great asset to the expedition. Losing him would be a loss that will be hard to replace.[/sub][/center]

With a thunk, the doors slid open and they were allowed to jump out on the left and right side of the craft, before the doors slid shut again and the VTOL turned around. They were alone now. Well, almost alone. As soon as the group had landed on the wooden ‘platform’, that was just a series of planks laid in a row on the ground, and had collected themselves, they would look up to find a new person. [i]“You’re the crack team of specialists?”[/i] he politely asked, before looking at the clipboard in his hands, and making 4 checkmark motions with a pen. [i]“Wonderful. My name is Doctor O. Okaminari, but you can call me doctor. I am a bio-engineering specialist, and as you can see behind me, that giant tree is the reason we are here. You’ve all signed the NDA disclosure contracts, I presume? If not, I’ll have it forwarded to your PDA’s. Not that those work out here.”[/i] He turned around and made a gesture with his hands that said ‘follow me,’ as he guided them through the makeshift camp. To the right side, there were 2 tents – 1 was filled with electrical facilities, though it seemed to be at a standstill for some reason. The second tent had PC’s and laptops in it, as well as a variety of PDA’s, magnifiers and other science equipment. None of them seemed to be working. 

[i]“Something is interfering with our electrical equipment and, as much as it pains me to say it, we will need to perform some manual labour here to stand in for our electrical equipment.”[/i] He gestured to the left, where another set of tents was. Three in total, all filled with 2 beds and some personal items. So, there were only six scientists here. But where five beds were freshly used, a sixth was cleanly made and the items near it had been cleaned up and put into a box. 

[i]“We’ve made a casualty. Assistant Dr. E. was caught by local fauna, and could not escape. We have yet to recover his body… and that is also no longer possible. His body sank into the swamp leading up to the tree, and we have a suspicion his biomatter was absorbed into the biosphere.”[/i] 

Suddenly, Dr. O. Okaminari’s footsteps came to a halt as he stopped at a boundary that had been created in the dirt using sticks. [i]“This marks the no-go zone. Us scientists can’t go further than this before you all cleared the way. So, that is your mission goal. Move up to the god-tree and set up a safe position for us to go to and do our research. Any valuable information you can find while you are there is classified as top-secret and needs to be handed over to me, and thus you cannot share it with your fellow expedition members unless otherwise specified. Is that clear?”[/i] 

Once all four shinobi had affirmed, Dr. O. Okaminari gave a solemn nod and let them get on their way. The path ahead was marked clear and it was almost as if it was a straight line forward, of about 500 meters, before they would reach the god-tree. It was… strange how some scientist could’ve died in the area between the god-tree and the camp, which was less than even a kilometre. To local fauna no less? 

Now that they could see the god-tree from up close, it was also very apparent that this was not a regular god-tree, as far as god-tree’s can be regular. This one was a god-tree undoubtedly, but it had malformed or adapted into the local environment, it’s colour a muddier brown, not a lush green. The rosebud at the top lacked any color whatsoever, and had turned a shrivelled up black, though anyone with a remote sense of chakra could feel that there was a faint, but powerful source of chakra somewhere within the tree. Could it be that a chakra fruit was present within the tree? 

Unlikely. But whatever it was, they were tasked with finding out what [i]was[/i] near the tree. 

Whoever took the first step into the swamp wouldn’t notice the effects right away. Neither would the second, or the third, or the fourth. Only when they were well into the swamp, almost halfway to the god-tree, would they notice the effects that the swamp had on them. The path warped, left, right, trees moved up and over, arching over the path, and the god-tree suddenly vanished from sight, suddenly reappearing behind them, this time not 250 meters away, but almost 2 kilometers away. 

It was quite obvious what was going on here – genjutsu of some sort – but whenever one of them tried to dispel it, it wouldn’t work. Something… strange was going on here. And to make matters worse, when the effects seemed to become more subtle and less extravagant, it was then that they heard a loud sound – almost like coughing, barking, and a soft tinge of a whistle whenever the sound ended before it restarted. It was getting closer, and it was getting closer faster. And it came from all sides.