Hozuki Maichi Faction [S-ranked mission, Rai, Raiden]

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The scroll was hand delivered in a red rope to all three of the shinobi participates. It was not odd for Cloud to receive this special mission delivery. It meant there was an S-rank secret mission ahead of them. Quickly he geared himself up for the battle that awaited him. Hozuki Maichi, a Kage/ANBU leveled shinobi was their target. One that Cloud had never faced, even in the Warring Era that was before them. There was no doubt or fear inside of the blonde ANBU Captain as he left the gates by jumping atop then into the forest below him. Cloud had special requested Raiden to accompany them on the mission.

A mission of this rank would require Rai and Cloud both, the leads of the ANBU and it was more of a learning experience for Raiden. That being the ANBU Captain's apprentice was going to be no easy mission for anyone who dared to tow that line. The blonde man waited with his back against the wall for either of them to show up and be ready to head towards the faction and counteract their path.

The cost of being powerful was that more people relied on you. And when relied on, you had to push to always become stronger so you would not let said people down. That was Rai's life. So whenever Cloud sent for him, he was ready to prove that he was still powerful. More to himself than anyone.

Apparently this mission would be a tough one, not too different from the one the two ANBU members completed not too long ago. There was a man, a, Kage ranked shinobi, that needed to be taken out. Something they were very good at doing. The only difference was that they were taking a third with them this time. A genin of all people.

When the Hyuuga first heard this, he was skeptical. He had never seen this done before, and it seemed dangerous. It was possibly a risk to the mission bringing someone so inexperienced. He and Cloud had been talking about a ROOT faction of the ANBU, but Rai assumed the genin would be eased into this sort of thing.

Approaching his captain, he bowed his head slightly. He would trust the man's judgement. And he would not judge this Himura based on her rank. Smirking, he leaned on the wall next to Cloud and waited. "Another one, huh? We've been busy lately."

Rai arrived first to the selected spot. "Yes, this one is going to be much more complicated then the last though Rai. It seems Maichi has taken out very high ranked shinobi from many villages.. I've never faced him or any Hozuki to know the length and power of their water style either." Cloud stopped his sentence when Raiden had arrived and introduced herself. "Here Raiden, we need you geared up.." He dug out the ANBU gear to fit the genin. It was the full set of armor down to the forearm protectors.

"Change behind that tree while I brief. First off Rai, this is Himura Raiden, the first introductee to the Root Faction I've been plotting. Now our enemy is Hozuki Maichi, although he has a following I plan to take care of them as soon as the battle starts.. This man is a S-rank criminal whose abilities are unknown to us. We will have to be careful among taking him down. Things will get hectic fast if we don't stay on our guard.. We know the water style he uses can make his entire body into water, which will be a problem with physical attacks.."

Cloud looked over at both of them with a soft nod. "If you relax or let your guard down during that fight, without a doubt he will kill you. This man has no hesitation or remorse and is well trained to pin point a weakness. Don't leave yourself open and if I say to retreat Raiden, retreat." As he finished his speech and waited for them to reply, they set off into the trees, masking their chakra.

Rai watched the girl approach. SHe was small, but she seemed ready for anything. He wondered if she had ever been outside of the village. The redhead addressed Cloud, and Rai stood there silently until she turned to him and politely introduced herself. Smirking, he nodded at her manners. He had to admit. He liked this girl already.

"Good morning, I am Hyuuga Rai. Pleased to meet you." His name was not as well known as Clouds, and he liked to keep it that way. He had way too much attention being who he was within the Hyuuga clan anyway. He picked up the ANBU mask to be able to serve without being constantly watched. This didn't mean that he hadn't made a name for himself, but he preferred just being the Hyuuga ANBU for now.

Rai watched as Cloud pulled out some gear for Raiden to wear, and confirmed that she was the first recruit for for the ROOT faction. He jus nodded as the man explained the mission and urged them to be careful. Of course, he knew this. Cloud's words were mostly meant for the girl, but that didn't mean he would ignore them. He waited for the girl to get dressed before they began to walk off, preparing for what was said to be their most challenging mission in a while.

There was a silence between Rai and Cloud as Raiden began to get dressed. There was a quick glance as he saw the seal on the lower part of her back. 'A jinchuurki.. Interesting.' Cloud thought to himself as he nodded towards the seal for Rai. That was probably the best thing he had learned today, suddenly a smirk crossed his face as the ANBU gear was slipped over the seal. If she was a Jinchuurki who he had personally secured onto his team.. That was almost enough to give him a push into more power.

The three of them all moved in unison into the treeline and towards the enemy that they had so well prepared for. "Word is they are moving up the coast towards Kumogakure on a job. It is only a certain part of the faction but all of their heritage is from the Land of Water, which being directly next to the ocean puts us at a horrible disadvantage. I have no plan to change this handicap but to adapt to it and use it to our advantage at some point." There was already a plot that was formulating in his head as they closed in after three hours of moving towards the opponents.

It was about 14 of them in a small band of shinobi, in the center was Hozuku Maichi.. He was a tall, blonde man as well who wore sunglasses and was drinking a large container of water. Cloud began to eat a food pill then he looked back towards the two subordinates. "Have your jutsu or attack ready. I'm going to flash all three of us into the battle and we will take out all thirteen of his subs in one hit. I'll directly move to attack Maichi to protect you two. Rai, watch her back. Let me know when you're ready.." Cloud said as he prepared his attack and the jutsu. By flashing the other two, he would only use half of his own chakra and half their chakra for the technique.

Rai couldn't believe it. This girl was actually getting undressed in front of them. He quickly turned around and looked elsewhere. Not that looking away would have stopped a Hyuuha from seeing in the back of their head. Luckily he did not have his Byakugan active at the time. Glancing towards Cloud, his face furrowed in confusion. He could already tell that this girl either didn't care about her own privacy, or she wasn't right in the head. It was probably both.

When he focused back on the man beside him, he noticed Cloud nodding towards the girl. His eyes widened slightly. He must have been losing his mind. His commanding officer, the great Cloud Strife, was a closet pervert?? Slowly turning his head, he caught sight of Raiden just in time to see the seal on her back before she covered it with clothing. He released a breath of relief as she approached them once more and they were on their way. He had let his mind wander a bit too far on that one. Shaking the incident off, he got back into mission mode.

It took three hours for them to reach their destination. They had been briefed on the way there and Rai was prepared for anything. This was the highest ranking of missions. He had to be ready. His Byakugan was already active, as he took his job to watch over everyone very seriously.

"Have your jutsu or attack ready. I'm going to flash all three of us into the battle and we will take out all thirteen of his subs in one hit. I'll directly move to attack Maichi to protect you two. Rai, watch her back. Let me know when you're ready.."


Rai heard him loud and clear. He went into how brain and scanned through the many techniques he knew to pick out the most devastating yet controlled one. He had to remember that he wasn't alone. In fact, his job to protect Himura was just as important as his order to wipe out the enemy. Having the right techniques in mind, he nodded. A smirk appeared on his face as he looked toward the girl. "Since I have seniority, let me make the first move. You'll come in right behind me."

The next thing he knew they were in the middle of the unsuspecting group. Taking a deep breath, he exhaled and instead of just breath, poison came out. Turning his head to catch as many men as he could, Rai made a giant cloud in front of him and then closed his mouth. All they had to do was inhale just a bit and that would be the last breath they took. Then, before the cloud could come back and harm his allies, Rai held both hands out and shot chakra from both of them. "Eight Triagrams Vacuum Palm Wall!" he called out. Both the poison and the men trapped in it were blown away, leaving about six left for them to deal with. Turning to Himura, he nodded. "Your turn."

As soon as they flashed into the scene, Cloud was already swinging his blade that hit two men critically hitting them and before Maichi could move, the ANBU Captain was in the face of the Hozuki man with a large slice that went clean through the S rank criminal but it was not the normal way. His body had turned to water that splashed on all of them, including the remaining of his own men. "What!?" This was unexpected, what was that water and why was it his body? Was that a water clone? No it didn't disappear but just reformed.

"Mistake Konoha nin!" The water had splashed on Himura, Rai and mostly Cloud, Maichi made a handseal and all of that water exploded on each of them. Even killing the remaining of his own men, the explosions on the three Konoha nin were not that bad but enough to harm and blow all three of them in different directions.

Cloud landed on top of the water, bleeding from his arm as some of his armor on the left side fell off, revealing a large scar that covered his entire shoulder almost. "Guess this is gonna be harder than I thought.. You two whole?"

And as soon as it started it was over. But not in the way that they had expected. While he took out his fair share and even Himura took out someone and was working on her second. But when Cloud had attempted to slice down their leader, something physically impossible happened. And he knew this because he had extensive knowledge of the human body. The man, Maichi Hozuki, had just turned into water. And it wasn't a water clone, it was definitely him. Water splashed everywhere…or more like pieces of their enemy splashed everywhere. Rai realized what was happening immediately due to him seeing the chakra in the water, but it was too late to do anything. Taking out his own men in the process, the Hozuki caused the water to explode.

Rai flew back a bit at the intensity of it, but was fine other than that, There wasn't enough water on him for it to do any more than leave a small gash across his back. It was nothing that couldn't be healed. His first thought was to turn to the genin of their group. He was supposed to be protecting her, so hopefully she was sturdier than most her age. When he saw that she was fine, he looked at Cloud, who was just as taken aback as he was.

"I'm whole…just a bit pissed is all," he replied as he got up to finish what he started.

"Pretty cool shit right guys!? I mean it always makes people lose their minds, trying to fight destructive water!? HAHA!" Maichi called outward as he laughed eccentrically at the Konoha shinobi. "We don't know the extent of his abilities, just that he has the power to turn his solid body into water. We have to assume that he can still attack. Stay alert." Cloud said as he rushed the man again, handseals being woven as the lightning coursed through his hand, he threw the large blade he generally fought with directly at the man.

As the blade just hit a splash of water that slowly began to reform into Maichi but it was too late as Cloud hit the man with a chidori. The lightning coursed through the man's body but once again it just went through him but all of the water on Cloud's body seemed to be effected by the water, it was obvious to the ANBU Captain Maichi didn't make it explode. His blue eyes shot towards Rai as in hopes he noticed that the lightning chakra paralyzed Maichi briefly and it stopped the chakra in the water.

Uspoken words were always a factor in the teamwork amongst Anbu, and especially so when it came to those who fought so well together such as Cloud and Rai. He watched as his superior attack the man with lightning, a jutsu that he had just found out the man possessed not too many days before, and he stayed and watched intently. It was a smart move seeing how the man seemed to be made of water. What better way to attack him then by using water's greatest weakness?

Like expected, the chidori stopped the sharp toothed man, and Cloud looked back at Rai. The man began to move upon reflex. They had found out how to beat the guy and he still had a few tricks up his sleeve. Running toward Cloud and Maichi, he pulled his arms back in his clan's signature stance before releasing them onto the occupied Hozuki. Except these strikes were not normal chakra strikes. These were laced with lightning, and each hit sent electricity is pouring into the man's nervous system, severing the signals and deranging his body control.

Or at least that would have been the case if he weren't made of water. The electrical feild that Rai created using this technique made the man lose control of his body even further, as his shape began to turn mushy as he couldn't hold himself together.

Jutsu:

His two ANBU agents attacked viciously against the man whose body had begun to turn to a watery mush with the lightning coordinated attacks. Raiden was quick as her blade ran across the neck of the rapidly paralyzed man but suddenly it all took the form of lose water, even his head. A large form of chakra came from the ocean behind them and a dragon formed of water shot forward and was large enough to hit all three of them and lift them up within the head of the water dragon as it shot straightupward.

Cloud couldn't even flash them out of the head as it came crashing down, slamming all of them into the dirt unless one of them found a way out of the attack. The ANBU Captain hit the ground with a thud that threw his body back upward, slamming against the ground again soaking wet. Slowly Maichi reformed himself, completely undamaged but some bruises around where the attacks hit. "You guys are really out of your league here. I've been fighting against lightning style for a long time and you guys are no where near the skill level of some of the lightning users I've taken out. Just wait and see!" Suddenly his arm had grown double in size of muscle as Maichi jumped forward with his fist trying to trash itself directly at Raiden.