XX0. Giant Sand Burial [Solo]

Heavy sandstorms. Unnaturally unbearable sandstorms, that could not have been timed better, in all honesty. It was almost too perfect. Anybody could use this weather to hide themselves, as you can barely even look forward if you're not used to it or have goggles with you. As much as you could get lucky, the group of three came prepared.

Sunagakure was a village literally hidden in the middle of the desert. Someone who wasn't suited for such harsh climaxes could never live here, and if they had to they adapted. The hard way, if needed. Presumably, the runaway was part of this village for a long time, to be able to maneuver despite this intense storm. Even the capes and square headkerchiefs couldn't protect the Shinobi who went through this vast wasteland, cautiously but hastily. In the part; a Sealing specialist, a sensor and a combat specialist. Despite them all being of relatively high ranks in the Shinobi world, they would still unlikely be enough to capture the runaway safely in this storm.

The mission this time involved returning urgently important scrolls that were stolen. Made on barely a moment's notice, the Kazekage had issued the order to return the thief dead or alive, only further proving the importance of this mission. Not even two hours after they were stolen, an immediate order was made and the squad of two Jounin and one Tokubetsu Jounin were dispatched into the desert with minimal, but efficiently light equipment. Those scrolls were to be returned at all costs, and who knew where they were hidden; if they were still on the body of the thief, it could have been a terrible problem. However, informant eagles did issue the information that the three scrolls were hidden somewhere in the desert, and the fact today's sandstorm was so severe made such a possibly equally bad situation: if the sand gathered in the places the scrolls were hidden in, finding those would be almost impossible, rendering the mission a failure. But they didn't complain; they were soldiers, tools to be used as means of defense. Their job was not to complain, it was to issue and follow orders to perfection. It was why they had so much training, why their skill was so vast. And so, with an unknown identity as a target, three scrolls somewhere in the desert and barely any equipment besides what they had on their form, Asakura Ganju; Kirishima Shouko; Endou Yachiru; all set out.

Ganju's specific qualms with this mission was being assigned two females to tag alongside him. He would be leading this operation as the only sensor, and best means of finding the thief, but despite the potential greatness this team possessed, personal problems arose with the redhead's unfortunate fear of women, an incredibly uncomfortable feeling overtaking him as he had to lead the two through the desert. He was vastly handicapped in this too; not only were they on a mission, and all three were professional enough to treat it as an extremely urgent case, but the sandstorm prevented him from hearing anything the girls said, if they said anything. Applying mostly to small talk, of course. Needless to say none of that was around, the weather wouldn't allow anybody to just chat nonchalantly. Even so, Ganju was still overtaken by his fear and couldn't really interpret the sounds well, convincing himself that his current teammates were speaking to each other. "Please be quiet." He requested with a rather shaky tone, "We're on an incredibly important task you know. Don't waste needed air." As he let that out rather sheepishly, not daring to look in the two's direction, he could suddenly feel pain in the back of his head and tailbone; they probably hit him for saying something like that. Falling to the ground, Ganju's face was planted down in the sand. He murmured to himself in irritation, feeling the sand very well entering his nostrils and mouth; an unpleasant feeling. But...

"Did you even hear anything? We haven't spoken a darn word since we set out!! How c--"

"Shhh!!... ...I've got him."

That, ridiculously enough, seemed to be the one thing they were missing in tracking down the thief: leads. But of course. In this sandstorm, if you've got enough power to steal three significant scrolls and go by unseen, with almost seven guards incapacitated as a result of your escape, it'll only make sense that your own Chakra would be leaking into your surroundings. And in a sandstorm like this... "I've got a lead. It's vague because of the sandstorm... But I can definitely sense his Chakra. Let's go." He declared, beginning to rush after the signal he had found. In hindsight... The scrolls could not have been hidden in the sand. The thief would gain nothing from it. Those scrolls were incredibly vulnerable to Sunagakure, thus, he most likely planned on handing them over to a certain criminal organization or using them himself for his own interests. Losing them in a sandstorm would be a rookie's mistake, something very much unlikely for a person of his caliber. "He's close. Prepare yourselves." Ganju added, noticing how the Chakra signal he had been picking up got stronger the more they rushed forward. Even though it was a horrible sandstorm, Shinobi of the Sand were to be used to such climates. It was bothersome, but the three were experienced.

Much unfortunately, so was the opposing party. As soon as the silhouette matching the Chakra signal came into sight, four objects appeared to ride the wind, aimed in the squad's direction. Upon closer inspection, right before it landed, it seemed to be a reformed type of explosive; a black ball emitting smoke constantly. "Look out!!" If it wasn't for Shouko's quick observation skill, it would have been likely that one of the three was severely injured; and to think she was of the lowest militia rank, too. That proved that your skill is never to be judged depending on your rank. If they were attacked, it had to be the criminal. 100% sure, by now. No other reports of any person in the desert came in through the informant eagles, and in this storm, it wouldn't make sense for anybody to move out without a legitimate reason. But as soon as the man was prepared to initiate an attack to capture the thief, he disappeared. The silhouette was no more in sight. "!? Where'd he go!?" Stopping in his spot, the puppeteer prepared his Chakra; he would need to fight, apparently.

Luckily he had reinforcements. "Fuuton: Atsugai!!" The combat specialist, Yachiru, hastened to fire off a Ninjutsu technique to blow out powerful wind, blowing away sand in the general direction the thief was in. His form soon appeared, if only briefly, followed by a fire-style technique the trio managed to barely see before he disappeared into the sand once again. "Kai!!" Forming a single, basic handseal, Ganju activated his Chakra. In a smokescreen that formed from a white explosion, one woman appeared: Orihime; his prime weapon. "Let's go, Orihime!!" The puppet was seemingly sealed into his Jounin vest through basic sealing methods, enhanced further thanks to the Sealing specialist on the team. Though he had barely managed to even move the woman before being struck cleanly at the abdomen, sent flying away. "Gaaah!!" He skidded along the sand, the center of his shirt burned. In pain, he clutched at his abdomen, feeling the full burn of the hit. It appears that he was hit by a fire technique. He had to ignore the pain somehow, but it was too much; what the heck was that just now? He couldn't even see it coming. The woman he had summoned fell limply to the ground on her knees before the puppeteer regained his control, activating his Chakra Strings again almost instinctively upon losing his control.

...But the assault was done. No further attacks were made. To assure that the enemy was still nearby, Ganju attempted to sense his track again - only to realize he was escaping. "Damn bastard... So running away is his top priority then. Shouko, Yachiru. Here's what we're going to do." He said, coming up with a plan. It wasn't certain to work; in fact, it had rather low chances. But at the moment, it was Ganju's best shot. Time was running out, and the runaway thief could have most likely taken a different, unexpected turn. The only thing the redhead could hope for, was to execute the plan earlier than the thief would manage to escape Sunagakure's borders.

---

Move one: A sacrifice is needed. Queen moves in.

It took a small while to get properly in position using the sandstorm's camouflage to help and Ganju's sensory abilities for direction. The goal in the plan was to push the thief to a corner where he wouldn't be able to escape, trap him and force him into talking before sealing him down. It seems that midway the squad's run, the thief had briefly stopped. Ganju could feel a certain trace of Chakra coming off from a single point, where the thief had stopped apparently. However, catching the runaway was their first priority; he was most likely getting prepared for a fight himself. If one thing he was not going to expect, was a humongous wave of Chakra coming at him. Almost, literally.

"(The Queen plays a key role in the game; she has absolute dominance of the field almost all the time. Clearly, every player recognizes her as the most powerful piece on the board. Allowing sacrificing of the Queen, would often lower the opponent's guard. To critical points, at times.)"

"Ryuusa Bakuryuu!!"

Normally, only Kage-level Shinobi should be able to use a technique as destructive and ridiculous as this; but when a Kekkei Genkai is applied and the area is already filled with sand to use, simply animating this much is all that it would take. Regardless, a technique as outrageously complex as this, would drain anybody of their Chakra reserves almost right away. It wasn't labeled an A-rank Jutsu for nothing; and even then, it bordered S, with only this circumstance working in the poor Jounin girl's favor. A gigantic wave of sand was raised, taking to it a large amount of the flowing sandstorm, threatening the now visible thief; directed only through Ganju's sensory abilities, and noticed as nothing but a black silhouette in this storm. Obviously, if he was to plunge in, he would take some significant damage and therefore, was to run away as fast as possible. Yachiru was going to get extra pay for this effort. Turning sideways upon noticing the gigantic wave of sand, the thief started rushing his way; that was when, a bone-smashing punch to the cheek was delivered out of nowhere, perhaps boosting his speed, but guaranteeing weakening. That punch was delivered by an iron hand; and in the sandstorm, the form of a puppet with green hair and two blades on her head appeared. Gnome; one of Ganju's puppets. "Midorihigi: Goutekken!!" Dosei too, was sealed onto the man's Jounin vest; behind, this time. Only allowed two puppets on his form due to the vest's build, this was perfect for Ganju, who could only use those two on this operation.

The sandstorm worked in their favor, and knowledge of the field existed in both parties' minds. But whatever you can use, your enemy can use against you. The thief engaged in evasive maneuvers, hiding his form through his invisibility technique once more, to avoid Dosei's assaults. While he had to maintain in movement to avoid the giant sand wave rushing at him, the thief had to keep up with the blinded Dosei as well. His technique was at work again, Gnome appearing to be hit by a high-temperature attack, burning a part of her hair away before causing her to be swallowed in the large sand tsunami that advanced. The thief continued to run, but that single hit was what it took for the next move; as with this, location was pinpointed. "I've got your Chakra signature now. Lock on. Shihigi: Jououenhou!!

---

Move two: Chase. King is cornered.

Ganju, in the previous step, posted two Queen figures on the field: his own puppet Gnome, which was engulfed by the sand and rescued through pulling the puppet up before she was damaged over the top, and Endou Yachiru, who had maintained the Sand Tsunami Jutsu for them to use. Orihime appeared in the air, as if surfing on the gigantic wave, aiming two open hands at the open space from which Gnome was sent away. Her blasters should be enough to finish this guy off. He's better off alive than dead, but in this predictability, if he really was S-rank, he should have escaped. And as suspected, the intensive fire caused the Chakra signature to retreat further, closing in more and more on a nearby mountain. In there, he would be protected from the gigantic sand wall. But, that would also mean that the squad would have the upper hand. Attempting to use his invisibility to jump up and strike at the puppet, avoiding the wave at the same time, proved futile however, as the second puppet intercepted once again; the same move as earlier. A retractable hand sent out like a rocket, hitting the mark. "I already have your Chakra locked on. I can tell your location perfectly!! But, just to make sure you don't escape... Orihime!!" The woman riding the sand wave's right arm bent back, revealing a hole by the elbow. A barrel. From which, two rather large bombs were shot, only to explode on two corners by the large sand wave.

The explosion was not a blast however, but poison gas. This was used to completely trap the thief in the corner, in which he would have to either take the hit by standing still on the mountain, or find a way in. Conveniently enough, there was a hole in the mountain at a certain level, into which the Chakra signature entered. Not even a second after entering, he had created Shadow Clones and prepared a new Jutsu, his invisibility lifted. The thief's body was engulfed in flames, like a large armor, and the six Shadow Clones were preparing an attack. But by the time he had entered the cave, it was a loss.

---

Final move: Neutralize.

"Bakuryuugeki!!"

Inside the cave, awaited the third member of the squad; Shouko. The whole process of luring the thief into the cave was also used to give her time to prepare all of her necessary Jutsus; the opponent was S-class after all. With a flip of her scroll, a flame dragon emerged at the Shadow Clones, exploding before contact, knocking away the clones and creating a large smokescreen. Luckily enough, Shouko's specialty was not battle tactics; it was Fuinjutsu. "Next. Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu!!" In the smokescreen, Shouko figured that the opponent wouldn't be able to see her incoming attacks and used an offensive Jutsu while jumping back, shooting bullets of water at the unseen thief; only to miss, drastically. With his Fire armor intact, the thief bolted forward, aiming to burn the Special Jounin. But, before he managed to get much further, many formulas engulfed him and pinned him to the ground. A prepared Sealing Tag Barrier, luckily activated. But the criminal's fire armor was still intact, burning at the formulas. "And last, Nunoshibari no Jutsu!!" By swinging a piece of cloth, it began engulfing the criminal, eventually trapping him inside a ball, sealed properly with a sealing tag.

Check and Mate; so long as he was sealed inside, they could do whatever they wanted with him.

Ganju and Yachiru entered the cave shortly to inspect the situation. Shouko was exhausted; having to use three advanced Jutsus consecutively, just as much as her teammates had to exert their Chakra to near maximum just to lead the criminal in. "Sunagakure no Jutsu... Is your main trick, isn't it." Ganju started, looking at the large cloth bag, in which the thief was sealed. "Hiding in Sand Technique. This sandstorm and your action was not a coincidence; you've timed it. There's no better chance to use your camouflage technique, after all. And this burn mark... Is a result of Katon no Yoroi, I assume. First time I get to see that..." The redhead fell on his bottom to the ground. The burn mark on his stomach still pained him greatly. He wanted to treat it as fast as possible. "Not bad... Not bad at all."

---

The thief, named Fujimaru Taichi, was handed to a prison on the borders between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind. After successfully turning him in, the squad took a night to rest before attending the scrolls. Thanks to Ganju's ability to trace the small Chakra leftovers from Taichi's hold and Shouko's expertise in Sealing techniques, finding and dispelling the Exploding Bomb traps laid around each scroll was relatively easy. They had to carefully remove each exploding tag attached and make sure no one was there to ambush the squad, managing to lift the Sealing Technique off each scroll. By the third scroll's collection, Ganju finally used a transmission device to state his results.

"This is Ganju. Reporting in: we've just finished collecting the three stolen scrolls. Now returning to the village for storage. Target successfully captured. End."