She courteously kept her thoughts and assumptions to herself. Thankfully, the shuttle had just come into view and was being escorted in by a pair of Buzzard drones. It zoomed over the village and slowed its thrusters, passing the building and circling back around to easily hover a couple of feet off the roof's surface. The bay door lowered in the back and the three were greeted and saluted by a pair of A.I. drones. Due to the current assignment as protection detail within an unsecured habitat, A.I. were used instead of V.I. for the massive increase in processing capabilities, from deduction to warfare.
Their frames were a bit thicker, armored at the joints that were normally a bit exposed for regular drones, equipped with onboard communications and various sensors, and armed with an anti-matter anti-material Oblivion rifle. These shinobi were more physically capable then most species they've met and in possession of a unique internal energy source that greatly enhanced their war potential. Many abilities were unknown and according to Queen Freya's acquired knowledge, what they knew was just the tip of the iceberg. Due to caution of the unknown, they were given weapons that would kill a shinobi no matter what. Anti-Matter was very explosive and the rifle fired ant-sized slivers of it at a time at speeds of around 7,209 fps. On contact with its opposite—matter—the two objects would ANNIHILATE each other on a sub-atomic level in an explosive manner.
It didn't matter what armors they used; it would be scattered energy particles after a shot from these rifles. So far, the Valkyrians and some of their allies know that it is possible to survive a shot if they are protected by an energy barrier with greater power then the anti-matter that hits it. Since energy can not be destroyed but only change shapes, there would be a hole in the shielding that could be exploited until the shield reforms.
Shinobi didn't have energy shields that the Valkyrians knew of, though this chakra could be used by select few, talented individuals to create an aura around their bodies. Loki had designated for future reference to come up with a way to duplicate this aura so she can study its workings, to find strengths to prepare for and weaknesses to exploit.
These "Commando" units were not perfect, but were still excellent for this role, if a bit overqualified in most scenarios that don't deal with meta-humans.
Megusa stepped up the ramp into the aircraft as the twins followed her movements. The two drones scanned the area for a moment before entering the shuttle one at a time. Even in a secured territory, they would not remain idle or complacent. Battle data from Queen Freya's fight against Obito Uchiha proved that this chakra could give one the ability to directly teleport into their areas and avoid any kind of attacks except for weaponized sound waves… that they knew of.
The ramp lifted and the shuttle arose several meters before accelerating back where it came from. This time, four Buzzards escorted the VIPs outside of the anti-aircraft screens of the monolithic Bahamut vessels before banking off, leaving the shuttle and passengers on their lonesome.
The ride was quiet save for the soft hum of the engines of the shuttle. There was plenty of space for each passenger to not be cramped and stretch out if needed but since the ride was only ten minutes, Beth used that time to critically inspect her sword with help from the advanced optics of the commando guard. The thick sword had no signs of weakness at any point and the metal was sharped to the width of a single molecule. Just holding it in a stream would cut anything that brushed against it. The only markings on it were thousands of tiny tally marks to count her kills, and her own personal mark—a straight line with another line that bent at an angle just before crossing the first.
Alicia and Megusa helped with what information the latter was able to find on her opponent, such as fighting styles, favorite terrains, etc. All they really could put together was that he was quickly becoming famous for his physical strength and monstrous chakra reserves that gave him a massive advantage in endurance against even S-class shinobi. His sword was known for devouring the chakra of whatever opponent it came into contact with but since chakra was unique to this world, Beth didn't have to worry about that due to not having chakra.
The time of their arrival was quickly approaching as the air around them was becoming thick with mist, a tell-all sign of Water Country's territory. The temperature dropped a little but the humidity was higher than in Uzushio. Forest-covered islands were passed by below them as the shuttle made its way to the main island. The Village Hidden in the Mist was located in the North-Eastern corner of the main island province.
Coincidentally, it just so happen to be a couple dozen miles South-West of a small island where Obito kept a hidden base as according to the information Queen Freya gained from the memory in his DNA. She'd promised to make use of that little nugget of information when she could.
The rest of the flight was over within a couple of minutes as the pilot lowered the ship's altitude to a few hundred feet; enough space beneath them to clear the main wall and any buildings aside from the Mizukage's tower. From the front of the shuttle, several lights of green and red flickered on and off in a repeating pattern. This was to let the wall guards spot and identify their approach in all of this mist.
From the wall, a pair of chunin-ranked shinobi spot the familiar and unique lights that could only belong to the Valkyrians. It helped matters somewhat that they'd spotted the shuttle leaving less than thirty minutes ago. The guards lamented on how they wouldn't be able to see the fight. Once a messenger had relayed the news to Kisame while he was eating in a restaurant, news had spread fast that the bodyguard of the Uzumaki alien queen was on her way to make good on his challenge. Yeah, that had been another shocker, that the Uzumaki were descendants of these aliens. It still made many shinobi very wary about any type of revenge despite news from their Mizukage that the queen wasn't interested in it because of several well-thought out points.
One of the chunin sent up a fireball harmlessly into the air, which was followed by another further within the village, and another even further to basically pass along the news. It was a quick method to signal the village leader since the shuttle flew faster than they could run. As the shuttle flew overhead, they could only hope someone would video record the fight.
In the site designated by the Mizukage for the use of the ambassadorial shuttle, said craft was touching down amidst a spread out gathering of curious shinobi who'd not laid eyes on one of the royal bodyguards. As the bay door lowered, they got a treat of eye candy from the alien ambassador as she followed her two hulking "puppet guards"—a term most easily translatable for the shinobi since such mechanical entities were still beyond their comprehension. She waved a hand and sent a wink that stole more than a couple of inexperienced shinobi's hearts. The older ones were more attuned to self-control and knowledgeable of the art of seduction.
The next two aliens to step off were the twins whose staggering seven feet tall frames and massive swords got them designated as the bodyguards they'd heard a bit about from Kisame. Their physical presence were staggering as they gave the surrounding onlookers an approaching stare, as if looking for an identifiable threat. Their twin appearance in looks and black unitards, armor straps, black gloves and boots gave them some appreciative looks both lustfully and professionally as their own threat level was identified and respected by fellow killers.
Appearing in a shunshin, the short Mizukage gave the twins a once-over before looking at Megusa whose presence caused a vein to throb on his forehead. The woman merely gave him a knowing smile and bowed just her head as a show of politeness. He begrudgingly returned the bow and only hoped she gave him a reason to throw her out or make her stay in the shuttle. Thankfully, his curiosity into the battle prowess of Queen Freya's personal bodyguard was a more interesting prospect for him to look forward to. Hopefully it would be exciting enough for him to completely tune out the frustrating flirt.
"Welcome, Ambassador Megusa. I remember these two were the personal bodyguards of Queen Freya. Forgive me, but I can not really differentiate who is Alicia and Beth. Is there an easier way for convenience's sake?"
Alicia nodded and closed her eyes for a moment of concentration before her back length hair rippled before shrinking to just shoulder width. With it done, she gave the Mizukage an assured nod. "I am Alicia, but your pronunciation is close, though despite our drastic anatomical difference, that is still a very close attempt."
The child-like man nodded and looked at Beth whose hair was still the same back length waterfall as smooth as silk. "Then you are Beth, the one Kisame challenged. He is waiting in a more preferred environment. I'm uncertain of how much room was needed since I have no knowledge of your skill sets but in respect to your position to your queen, I've picked a training field instead of just an arena."
Beth was pleased by the gracious forethought and intuitiveness of the young man. "I give much appreciation. Please lead the way, Mizukage."
Mizukage beckoned them to follow and he turned and started walking while the two Commando units stayed with the shuttle. Alicia and Beth noted with some interest how several children came bounding up the ship and the units disregarded them as threats. Only when the pilot stepped out and knelt to withstand a trio of hugs that the situation was made clear. The pilot, Stella, seemed to have made a great impression on some of the local children who adored her near-undivided affection as well.
The walk was at a steady pace for several minutes and the guards took their time studying the village around them: geographical layouts, possible places for an ambush or to bunker down, street names, how many turns they've taken since leaving the aircraft, any levels of tension among either civilians or shinobi, noted stores that catered supplies and equipment, average number of people on each street, smells permeating the air, whispers and rumors among those they passed.
Despite the reason for them being here, the twins were beaten and eviscerated to near death dozens of hundreds of times throughout their training to never be carefree in neutral territory, much less one that belonged to possible enemies. Having an electromagnetic railgun normally used as an Anti-Heavy Armor weapon blow their legs off in a surprise ambush in the middle of a supposedly cleared enemy city simulation made it a surety that they suffered for their lack of awareness.
That was just the first time they screwed up.
It didn't help matters for their psyche for when their anatomy grew older and stronger to resist such weapons, the trainers brought out bigger and more versatile guns, such as radiation cannons, microwave emitters, biological mutagens, swarms of flea-sized drones that would enter their bodies through any orifice and explode in bits of plasma, entire artillery salvos, high-frequency sonic cannons, gravity alteration missiles that would either compress or stretch their bodies to near fatal degrees, bio-organic weapons (monstrosities of nature built and weaponized for asymmetrical warfare, lasers with power of up to 50 TeraWatts, etc.
The trainers took sadistic glee in their punishment methods, all to make the idea of slacking off a nightmare for the two girls. They learned fast as having flew-sized drones invade their bodies through their mouths and ears and explode into bits of plasma was something they never wanted to feel again. Having their feelers stripped of any protection covering the sensitive strands of nerves and soaked in Xenomorph blood was unbearable. Losing their virginity not to a desirable partner, but losing it and having their urethra and womb slowly eviscerated by a large drill used to mine through subterranean metal deposits on asteroids because they let their VIP get killed had scarred their minds and dreams for years even when their anatomy's regeneration healed the wounds after a day despite having to fully regenerate an entire lower abdomen. Truly, the only reason their minds hadn't broke was because they had each other to hold when they slept... when they were allowed to sleep.
Coincidentally, training to protect the queen meant that, at the least, they had to be able to withstand attacks any foolish race might scheme up with to harm her so the punishments were justified in a "written in-between the lines" sort of way, or so they said.
Last they heard, those trainers had been serving a few centuries under Luvos Primal Esdeath in Cocytus before being picked to train them, and that once they were deemed "too stubborn to die or fail", the trainers went back to the material Hell that was Esdeath's ship.
It was through this crucible that made the twins distorted by all definitions of the word. They would forever and always be alert, even in the inner chambers of the nursery on Cradle of Life despite the unholy vast amounts of security measures in place. It was this distortion that also made them the perfect soldiers. No enemy could scare them, threaten their emotions, manipulate their will, or hope to overcome their professionalism.
On a side note, it was also this little bit that the twins could emphatically understand and comprehend the Megusa's existence during her younger years as a pure soldier.
Anyway, this distortion was clear as day as they not only sought all all avenues of escape while being lead to the training area, but all ways that they could cause as much damage as possible whether directly or indirectly should the need for artillery salvos be necessary. It wasn't untrustworthy feelings towards the shinobi that dictated their actions, but their own training.
Had the Mizukage read their minds and been able to comprehend how some of the Valkyrians' war waging technology worked, even he would have been horrified at the dozens of different scenarios and tactical forecasting that would make his village and the occupants within it an example to never become an enemy of the Valkyrians.
Megusa broke the uninterrupted silence with a suggestion of convenience. "Mizukage-dono, we are somewhat aware of a ninja's ability to quickly traverse terrains. Please do not feel that we can't move as well as some of you."
He understood and was simply curious as to if they could or not. Just using shunshin and not explaining it a bit or giving them a bit of warning would have been very rude. Say what you want about Megusa, but she knew how to word sentences in ways to make them innocent. She seemed to be fishing for physical capabilities on their people. Since they were aliens, they couldn't very well know alot about chakra related skills.
"I'm certain the twins can keep up but I hadn't properly stretched and this dress is more suited for diplomacy and not physical maneuverability since I'm an ambassador and not a soldier. If you want, you can carry me." She sent him a wink after making such a silly notion sound so sensible. It had the effect of numerous shinobi around them and many popping out of the wood-works to offer their arms or back to carry her with. She soaked up the attention while the Mizukage cracked a tooth from the pressure of his clenched jaws.
Honestly, you can say WHATEVER you want about Megusa, especially if it's negative.
Much to his bemusement… horror… he didn't really know yet, but he saw the twin bodyguards give Megusa a hopeless look that was replaced with an eye message between each other that seemed borderline desperate. Perhaps this woman's antics were not viewed as flippantly as he thought due to the frequency of which she acted of them. He sent up numerous prayers to have the woman shamed and removed from her post.
If it had been Freya who was still acting leader of the Valkyrian, he might have gotten his wish. However, the acting leader was Loki who was notorious for messing with Freya herself, frustrating the woman to committing assaults against the scientist.
Yagura had the feeling that he shouldn't hold his breath.
Still, he decided to take her words at some value and added some chakra to his legs and hopped to the top of a nearby building with practiced ease. Glancing behind him and giving the twins an appraising glance, they caught on and leaped up to the same building without any difficulty though when they landed, the roofing cracked and buckled a bit under the weight. He did admit that their swords were large and thick, so it'd make sense that they'd weigh a few hundred pounds. To the chagrin of his grinding nerves, Megusa had actually convinced one shinobi to carry her bridle style. The man was a jounin and was probably just wanting to get to the area to see one of his village's top shinobi fight a woman he challenged to a swordsman's duel.
The Mizukage noted with some curiosity the shinobi's arms straining but he didn't complain. Megusa looked positively pleased as her carrier jumped up with her in his arms.
Yagura and the twins were able to cover the area to the training grounds very quickly. Whenever he'd noticed them keeping up, he would add a bit more chakra and increase both his speed and jumping distance. To his surprise and approval, they kept up without any sign of labor. The shinobi following them were left a bit in the dust by the time the trio dropped in front of a treeline where the tall, blue-skinned shark man known throughout the Elemental Nations as the "Tailless-Tailed Beast" was stretching his legs with a couple of squats.
He straightened up when the trio arrived and when he caught sight of the two twins, one who had accepted his challenge, he gave a grin that showcased the pointy teeth all members of the "Seven Swordsmen of the Mist" pretty much trademarked.
He stretched his arms out before giving a respectful nod to Yagura since the guy was still his boss and allowed the fight to take place. He couldn't really recognize which one of the women was Beth but had it answered when the one with long hair stepped forward.
"Kisame," Yagura addressed stoically. "I will ref the match when necessary. Your opponent is Beth here. Since you challenged her to a swordsman duel, all that is allowed is your sword of choice. The same applies to you, Beth. You can use any kind of blade in any number, as long as it's a not any jutsu or non-sword weapons. Enhancing your strength with chakra will be permitted if Beth has something similar."
"Would you explain this chakra, Mizukage-dono? I have not had the chance to study your species yet," Beth asked, merely keeping the image that they don't know alot about the ninja world.
"Chakra is a form of innate energy within all living things on this planet. Ninjas are those who train to master and utilize their own personal reserves of chakra to perform elemental attacks and empower their own bodies. There are more uses for it outside of warfare but that would take a lengthy explanation."
Beth compared it to what she knew and found no discrepancies. "I understand. We Valkyrians have something similar but in an opposite manner. We are born with a lot of innate physical and mental prowess that grows with age and experience, but our ancestors developed a way to mental limit the use of our powers to better interact with our surroundings, like a form of self-hypnotism that we are born with."
It was a breach in information on her part but it wasn't something they would be able to hide for long and if someone down the line made the information public known, she had the paranoid feeling it would come back to bite her in the ass. Hopefully she was just overthinking it. Yagura accepted the information at face value since this woman didn't feel the type to lie deliberately.
"Very well. Now, outside interference is strictly prohibited. The boundaries of the arena are within this training area. Since you're unfamiliar with this land, Beth, the boundary is a fence line on each side and where the land meets the river a mile into the forest. This is a spar. Deliberately maiming or killing the other is prohibited though given the position you both hold, it is to be expected that wounds will occur. Am I understood?"
"Of course, Mizukage-sama." Kisame grinned and locked eyes with Beth's silver ones.
"I understand and accept these conditions, Mizukage-dono." Beth's gaze didn't flinch or waver in the slightest.
While they were having their little staring contest, the other two present hopped back a few leaps a few dozen meters away. They knew this was a spar and killing each other would not be tolerated. Around that time, the rest of the shinobi spectators jumped into the area, including the jounin carrying a bemused Megusa. The man looked a bit worn out from such a short trip despite being a jounin.
He set her down while hiding any obvious signs of relief he felt; didn't want to give them the impression that she was heavy aloud—even if she was! When she turned to face the coming duelists, he took a moment to shake his arms to get the feeling back into them. The woman had to have weighed at least 700 lbs!
Alicia returned to Megusa's side to act as her bodyguard given that warriors from two different societies were about to have a fight. Tensions could run high should Kisame lose and someone might do something stupid. It sounds unnecessary but never underestimate stupidity. If there was an obviously stupid person around, she wouldn't be as cautious since you can always expect a stupid person to do something stupid. However, an unknown person who hasn't shown signs of stupidity is more dangerous since you don't know who they are or when they'll do something stupid.