[attr="class","APP3"]To walk in this land of Otagakure had felt like walking on the bones of something greater, of something older. Had that not been the case, though, when the great village fell and in her place rushed in vultures that were prepared to carve in their greed swathes of land? Despite his sentiments--and, also, his purposeful separation from politics--he had found himself here on a political stance, the Raikage imploring him to show face for Kumogakure. He had spent a great deal of times in the wilderness, wildlife plentiful in these lands as a majority of it had been taken over by nature. At some point he had even gotten in a fight and, at another, the jounin found himself training diligently in a dojo only to accosted by smaller men who saw him a foreigner.
Even with its lower population, the streets were still rife with life in all shapes. Children could be heard playing as their feet thrummed wildly against the ground in the heat of their games. Not far and, in fact, all around people could be heard bartering and trading as Shinobi from foreign villages were implored to enter and make purchases. The air was blessed with a fresh scent as bakers baked and shops turned their signs, fryers to burn and soon bubble as meals were prepared for the day. It was a melody of tasty scents; alas, however, as not all was well. As unfortunate as it was, this was hardly the fault of Otogakure. The world had a penchant for ne'er-do-wells, clusters of populations creating pools for them to be found around. For someone possessing the statuesque of Seiichi, however, that was seldom an issue as few dared approach the man and even less sought to stir trouble with him.
But not everyone was born like Seiichi.
Cries tore through the murmur of the crowds from an ally he had once walked by, the screams of a woman could be heard. "No! Let go! These are mine! What are you doing?" She screamed for all to hear, two men dragging her into this crevice of society, pulling her in until her voice was muffled by the surrounding buildings. Blows could be heard landing, perhaps that resounding ring only born when blunt objects struck flesh or butted against bone. There was a crowed he was forced to weave through, pushing aside and mowing down a group would only be a further cause of concern here. The man growled as he worked to push through the many that seemed to turn a deaf ear to the situation, perhaps all to familiar with what was going on.
If someone didn't make it there soon and accost those who were trying to rob the lady, they could get away or far worse. He had only heard where cries came from but, not for a moment, had the shinobi gotten an opportunity to steal a glance of what they looked like as they acted so quickly. This was one of the few moments where Seiichi which he had back up.
Adjusting from the humidity of Amegakure to the dryness of Otogakure had been a rather jarring journey. From the fear of constant rain, to a need to make sure she was drinking far more water than she was used to, the new landscape was a journey in and of itself. However, it wasn’t a long journey, at least. She was already finding it easier to navigate the town and it’s bustling crowds. Smoothly navigating out of the way of busy patrons was simple when she herself wasn’t in any rush herself.[break][break]
Though, it seemed the moment she considered the relief of not needing to be somewhere, that something suddenly demanded her attention. A scream that made her jump, as those around her merely spared a glance and kept walking. It seemed the world was too busy to help, or perhaps those around her were too scared to do it themselves. With the influx of shinobi here, maybe they found it easier to pretend to not see and hope someone else did notice.[break][break]
Luckily, Aiko wasn’t one to turn away from these sorts of things.[break][break]
Sliding her way through, without an excuse me to offer at this time, Aiko made quick work towards the source of the noise. The distance meant nothing, as her Byakugan was activated by the time she drew closer to it. As she neared the edge of the crowd, she found a man who was pushing towards the noises as well. Or, she assumed that was the case, by him actively looking around in the direction or it all. Judging by his build, he was clearly a fighter. However, it seemed he wasn’t entirely sure of the direction to go - unlike her. With a split second decision, she shot a hand up as if to flag him down.[break][break]
Whether he could follow her or not became more of his problem than her’s.[break][break]
Being much smaller made it much easier for her to slip through the crowd, breaking off into the alleyway. It was easy to see for her, spotting the small crowd of thieves looming over their victim. With a quick use of the body flicker technique, in a burst of chakra she was in the air, dropping down from the sky above the thief as they were about to swing down on the woman again. [break][break]
Her feet crashed into the man’s face and chest, with all her weight and force, and a burst of chakra from her feet - right into points on his chest and head. This, while taking advantage of his already off balance position from the arch of his classless swing. The men around him jolted back with surprise at her sudden appearance, and wouldn’t have the time to keep her from forcing her target into the hard concrete below. Before he had a chance to react, her feet repositioned - one crashing down with a precise jab on his weapon wielding arm’s wrist, the other swiftly kicking for his temple with another precise burst to knock him out. [break][break]
She twisted the other foot as she stepped off, using quick feet work to kick the weapon from his lost grasp as she stepped away from him. Without craning her head, the next motion was a crossbow bolt firing off at the first of the men to go for her in response to her sudden attack. It was gave her enough time to get out of immediate grabbing range. The shock was wearing off, which mean a sneaky maneuver like that wouldn’t work, again. The men were yelling at her, asking mundane angry questions she didn’t bother minding at the moment. Her attention wasn’t on chatter, but the layout of the alley. While her eyes didn’t move, the scene formulated in her mind.[break][break]
The battered woman was on the ground behind the approaching men, crying, and frantically clutching her things - whatever it was the men were trying to take from her. There was at least five men, one of them now incapacitated from the assault to his skull just now, and his weapon down the alley. The other four of various strengths, sizes, were looming closer. It was just a matter of getting around them to grab the woman and run, yeah?
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TLDR: Aiko activated Byakugan. Briefly waved at Seiichi before taking off down the alley. Took down one of the men from a surprise attack from above. Knocked him out via Gentle Fist technique in her feet. Fired off a crossbolt at another one of the men, and put distance between herself and the men to gauge the situation. 4 still standing.
He didn't recognize it as a gesture meant for him. Perhaps he was not smarter than your average bear. Or so it seemed.
Aiko would find herself in the alley postured against four men, the fifth member of their devious group had been subdued and the other wailed in pain for the crossbow bolt that stuck him in the leg with a purposed precision -- the last thing she needed to do was commit murder on the summon of the Hokage, right? Perhaps it was better this way, to strike without maiming or murdering. However, these men that she now faced against did not hold to the same lofty idea and were of much fouler principles, as she'd soon come to learn if she found herself bested by the trio. They could recognize right away that, by the veins that swelled around her eyes, that something funny was up. Luckily, for her, it turned out that these ne'er-do-wells weren't smarter than your average... delinquent?
"YOU.... RUDE HONEY!"
One of the muggers roared his battle cry, springing towards her from his position in the alley way, no more then 3 meters from her. If Aiko could react beneath the duress of a high-tension situation, she could hopefully recall a thing or two about fighting in a narrow strip such as this one. If she were to successful handle these men that now swarmed to her, it would be crucial that she applied her previous training and adaptability at this very moment as they all moved in her direction and varying speeds. They were of rather average builds with no true defining characteristics, but each one of them was larger than her and by judging by their frames alone, they'd pack punches that would truly hurt. Two rushed forward faster then the last. They both began to let loose punches, their strikes quicker than they were hard as they attempted to gauge her reaction time, let alone her abilities. Unless she was able to blow them back, she would be forced to deflect and parry their blows until she could find an opening. They struck with an alarming coordination, as if they'd practice this rotation of blows before, knowing that four fists were enough to typically overwhelm people. There was a pretty clear pattern, however, and a fighter who found their confidence would be able to discern their telegraphed movements and interrupt one or even both of the men that attacked her.
None of the men seemed to focus on the woman they were mugging as the other picked up a bat that had been lying on the ground and, in the wake of the other two who continued their assault, rushed in from behind prepared to swing with a great big cleave, easily meant to knock the senses and the light out of Aiko's step if she failed to evade the blow; all the while the third man with the crossbow bolt in his leg was still recovering, shouting as he attempted to pull it out.
". . ."
Then, somewhere in the distance, Seiichi still waded through the crowd. If he pushed too hard he was bound to knock someone over and trample them. Every step when you were as large as he was required a risk evaluation.
It wasn’t her first time against bandits that outnumbered her. She hated the fact it certainly wouldn’t be the last.[break][break]
For the moment, the odds were less drastic than they started at. Three on one was manageable, but there was no missing the fact the fourth man was trying far too hard to get back in the battle. A part of her wanted to say removing that arrow may make him bleed too much, but she wouldn’t have the chance.[break][break]
The first sprang at her, and she made the effort to grab his arm. Using his sudden burst of momentum, she twisted her body with his arm in tow to pull him up, off his feet, over her back, and slammed with all his own force and her own into the ground. The thug, too uneducated to know how to catch himself, was disorientated by the fall long enough for her to use him as a step to jump back off of. An important step to make, as it bought her the extra distance she needed to address the two men trying to jump her next.[break][break]
They tried to go for her as she was busy, but unfortunately for her, she saw them clearly coming. Twisting back around to face them, though she shouldn’t have been able to see them, her eyes did. She caught the first fist and jabbed a nervous point in the man’s forearm, pinching the muscle there. It was enough to delay his next swing from surprised shock, but it left her open to get a prompt punch to the face. A good enough warning that she needed to shift her focus to deflections and parries, instead of attacks like that. [break][break]
She began bouncing between the two’s momentum as the swings came in like a synchronised swim. A pattern was showing itself, and she tested the waters with a sudden pinch of her Gentle Fist. It was enough to throw off the beat, giving her the feeling of control she needed. However, just as she was getting into the groove of this dance, the final problem child showed his face. Catching him grabbing his bat, she let the rhythm of punches return to shift her focus to the bat man.[break][break]
It was as he began to swing the bat down, she’d suddenly duck down and dive between the legs of one of the bandit’s wide stances. The bat came down instead on the arms of the men who’d been attacking her before. She twisted around, and swung her leg up, right into the crotch of the man she’d dove under. The kick was followed up with a kick to the startled bandit’s back to send him into the bat wielding man’s grasp.[break][break]
With them stumbling over each other, her attention turned to the woman. Aiko raced over to her, grabbing her arm and promptly tugging her up to her feet. There was no time for pleasantries or are you okays. Aiko turned her to gently push her towards the alley. “Go!” she ordered immediately, with another push. The push was enough to give the woman help with the hardest first step of her life. The fear and panic that froze her in place was now the fuel that had her hobbling away from the scene as quickly and clumsily as she could.
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TLDR: Flipped the first attacker over her shoulder to throw him to the ground. Pinched a muscle in one thug's arm, before getting caught up in parries. Waited for the last thug to swing down his bat. Avoided it, so the bat would hit his friends, instead. Dove out of the way between the legs of one of the thugs. Kicked him in the balls, then kicked him into the others to buy enough time to get the victim of the mugging up on their feet and running away from the scene.
