Fandom Naruto: Altered: IC

[Mirgris]

Team Makato

Kichiga releases his fingers and watches the arrow sink into the target. He thinks that maybe he should feel pride, that he should feel something on preforming well. Instead he feels nothing accomplishments require some level of challenge and for him shooting a stationary target takes no more effort than walking or breathing. His grandfather taught him to master something and to be a master of something are different things. He had mastered the bow, he was not a master archer. The distinction was the first was truly only competence, to be able to do the thing in even the most adverse conditions because it was so very simple to you.

Kichiga realizes he has hit that point. He could probably hit a stationary target with one eye swollen shut and a broken arm. He could do it while so cold he could barely stand. It should be a good thing but it saddened him.

His grandfather steps out from the house and looks him over. His grandfather who has weathered tan skin from decades of out door labor, his grandfather who has long since grown wrinkled. Yet, the man is still nearly as wide as he is tall, short and stocky. At a glance he looks like a tree stump who picked up kunai and decided it was a ninja. A worn and damage tree stump. The scars cross cross over his face and arms so much it is clear he is on a first name basis with death, having been so close so often.

"I'll make clones for you when you return" The senior Kuraski says, sharp eyes defying the age of the body that holds them. He knows the problem all ready, he has after all planned his grand sons training carefully. Teaching the young child the importance of the basics, stealth and a solid kunai in your hand.

"Thank you grandfather" Kichiga says giving a small bow of respect to his elder.

"Come inside I made breakfast" The tree stump of a man says.

Kichiga follows and sits at the dining room table quietly. He wonders how you can be so familiar with someone, and yet so uncomfortable.
They eat in silence and the young man quickly scarfs his food down in a mixture of excitement and being eager to leave.

Shortly after Kichiga is out the door with one last check of his various weapons and his backpack before leaving to go and meet his team.
He tries not to think to much about the coming mission and instead focus on the fresh air and the sun, but it is a failed effort and he flips a shuriken between his fingers as he walks, any outlet for anxious energy. He gives a small wave as he arrives at the meeting place and looks over the others who have already arrived.



KageYuuki , InsaneAsylum , Phayne QuirkyAngel

 

[Ganryu]

Mibu
Squad Tatsuya

​

Mini-Neighbor

The rhythmic chopping of a knife was heard around the Sakura Lane Apartments as Mibu did her daily routine. Her knife basically flew as she went from one slab of meat to another. Mibu's taijutsu was... not good, it was almost embarrassing she was better at cooking with it than with a fight, but oh well. As she chopped, she paused, listening around before throwing the knife behind her into the wall.

A masked man in a suit stood smoking a cigarette. He wore a mask with a simple smile pattern, a U for a mouth, and two large horizontal slits for eyes. "Not good, the pause gives you away. Also, you missed. Besides, won't the old lady have a cow over the hole in the wall?" He took a long drag on the cig before letting it go in a great exhale.

"No more than more smoke in the apartment. This little shadow will vacuum and plaster the wall later. Isn't it uncouth to sneak into a ladies apartment, Mr. Hibiki?"

"Consider it training, my little mini-neighbor. Besides, you were cutting portions for two, weren't you, don't complain. Little spicer than normal though from the smells of it. And some higher quality ingredients, I take it the mission went well."

"This one-"

"Say 'I'."

"THIS ONE recently had a bad experience with spices and wishes to learn some tolerance. A ninja could be covert anywhere and have to ingest all manner of food."

"Or perhaps have the Chowakage's son as a teammate, the human garbage disposal, the 'Dragon Slayer' over at Ramun's, and has literally eaten poison before. Also, I must say, your stubbornness is something my squad could use. Can't wait til you get on it some day assuming 'this little ANBU' doesn't end up in the ground beforehand."

Mibu walked over retrieving her knife out the wall. "You always do do your research. This little shadow doubts you'll end up dead though, you take way too many precautions. More likely fired for doing too much research."

As Mibu moved, she felt something sharp point at her shoulder and sighed. She'd failed another one of Hibiki's reactionary tests. "And you aren't cautious enough, my little mini-neighbor. Granted, a few weeks with that jackass will knock that right out. Ironic to me our most vicious ANBU member wasn't ANBU material."

“Wait, Tatsuya-sensei was in ANBU?”

“Maybe. Who knows, masks don’t have names. But we do have files if you want one hell of a training mission and feel mischievous. Obviously, I didn’t tell you this. How did your first mission go?”

“You’ve already done research and know.”

“Well, yeah, but I want to hear it from your mouth. After all, mission reports are more trustworthy from 1st person.”

Mibu sighed, though a small smile curled at her lips. Her neighbor was so annoying, but at the same time….

“We were in charge of delivering supplies up a mountain. Conditions were rainy, the cliff was sheer. We left Tatsuya-sensei behind, he caught up yelling about tradition. We climbed it tied to each other. Mudslide happened. This one cut herself free to secure supplies. Was caught up. Tatsuya-sensei saved this shadow from the slide. He was annoying, so this little shadow hugged him full of mud. We made it to the top, had a photograph. A teammate tried peeping in the shower, this shadow disabled him with a bar of soap. Tatsuya-sensei insisted on giving a talk about honor and tradition in front of some graves. Insisted this one needs to have tradition. This one’s annoyed because there is no tradition for shadows like this one-”

“'Orphans' is the word you're looking for.”

“-Sure, orphans. Harassed a teammate, Haru, after. They said this shadow should pick her own last name after she fell into the bucket of water they were training with. And that was this one’s day.”

Hibiki tapped out the last of his cigarette into the nearby trash, and exhaled a large cloud, making sure Mibu’s story was finished. “Hmm.. So in summary, you need to work on tree climbing jutsu, you fall off of everything, had a great time, a teammate thinks you’re hot, and the other one wants to give you his last name? Aw… my mini-neighbor is growing up so fast.”

Mibu turned bright red as she went to crushing peppers in a mortar and pestle .

“So… what’s next for you?”

Mibu silently ground the peppers harder.

“You’re great at stealth, but how’s that going to help your teammates? Maybe it's time you picked up a new trick?”

“This one isn’t sure where to start. You were the one who told me teammates are precious, this one wishes to protect them then. However, what forte could a shade give?”

“Ninjutsu?”

“No stamina, it’d have to be precise. Wind release from a range might hit an ally. Feels redundant with Haru.”

“Genjutsu?”

“No talent whatsoever… and the teammates of this shade are… a little dull.”

“Hmm… Taijutsu.”

“It would fit, but feels redundant with Ryoken on the squad.”

“Tools.”

“A possibility. This one would need to practice somewhat, and the prices are inhibitive.”

“And you’re scared of explosions.”

“Am not!”

“Was that an ‘I’?.” Mibu stayed quiet again. “Hmm… barrier ninjutsu?”

“What?”

“If you wish to protect them, why not?”

Mibu blinked as she thought about, not coming up with any answer why not. She started to stir the ingredients together.

“Or sealing jutsu, or sensory, or mental jutsu, or chakra absorption, or medical ninjutsu, or time-space ninjutsu, or summoning, or discover your own flow. It doesn’t really matter. Just pick something, your teammates will appreciate it. I’d say let me know when you do, but it’s not really my job, now is it? Why don’t you talk to your sensei about it?”

“...”

“Oh come on, the man’s bristly so far, but he’s soft like pudding on the inside. He left for being too soft. Those spines he wears are the only defense he has. He is your sensei, I’m just a neighbor with a few friendly tips. ‘Sides, you won’t like ANBU if that’s what you’re thinking of.”

“Why not? This one has little emotion to speak of, and no one would miss her.”

“See, that right there. Everyone has emotion, you just never figured out how to read yours. If you can’t control it, you’ll snap without realizing it. And besides, plenty of people would miss you. You already got two teammates drooling over you! And I must admit, your food’s pretty good, makes it worth coming over to ask for a cup of sugar.”

“Sugar’s in the top right cabinet, I have only half a bag left.”

Hibiki facepalmed into his mask. “That wasn’t literal… Also, you keep a pack hidden behind your fridge because of your sweet tooth.”

“U-uhh… T-this one has no such thing!”

Hibiki reached behind the fridge pulling out a bag of sugar. And flour. And a vat of chocolate. And sprinkles. And vanilla extract, and a fresh pack of strawberries.

“I swear you’re the only one who keeps the back of their fridge clean sheerly to hide food behind. No one else even lives here!”

“This one felt it was an appropriate use of hiding in shadows…. And didn’t want a lecture on too many sweets from nosy neighbors….”

 

[Orikanyo]

Old Manimoda's Fish and Ships​

Standing in the east end of downtown was a well known restaurant, one that had been there since one’s grandparents were kids, hell even then nobody could be really certain for how long it had been there even before that. It was old, looked charmingly so, the type of old that spoke of experience in its field that made it stand head and foot over any competitor.

Not all go there, but everyone knows of it, and everyone knows one dire hard lover of the place, at least when ti was brought up in conversation. It didn’t blow anything out of the park, but it was good, and that fact kept it running in a good viewpoint for the locals as THE place to go for fish and chips.

Old Manimoda’s Fish and Ships, the ships part was a joke made by the original founder, old man Manimoda who lived in a time long forgotten in regards to the restaurant’s history. His legacy shone triumphant nonetheless on the wall along with other past owners, alongside countless other pictures of great events that occurred within the restaurant that not many can truly remember.

Ryoken was one of the many who stood by the place, not often actively but it was really good. But today he wasn’t here to feed (just) himself, no, today was a mission all on its own! He sat earnestly on a chair awaiting his order to come up, bouncing his foot on the tips of his toes, not quite impatient as he was eager to get moving…

“Five orders of fish and chips to go? You’ll find the condiments in the bags Ryoken.”

“Thanks Marimoda!” the young boy thanked the middle-aged woman who smiled happily at the young man.

“Lots of food, special occasion?” she asked, curious towards his reason for ordering so much.

“Nah just uhhh…. Thing for friends and my sensei!’

“Oh my how kind of you! Your gonna make a fine man one day Ryoken!” the lady began to dote on the boy as he hefted all the bags.

“Thank you! See you again soon!’ he called once he rushed to the exit. He had quite a few people to hit up.. But some were most important. First, he would have to hit up sensei and Shiori… or maybe Haru? Mibu?

He wasn’t fully certain which he would find first… Leaving it up to chance, he set off nonetheless, leaving the modest storefront behind as people began to meander inside.




The Chosen Vale clinic was surprisingly quiet today, some mild alignment of the stars had blessed the area it serviced with a reprieve from its usual helping of accidents, illnesses, and violence. As afternoon rolled around the relatively peaceful atmosphere allowed the clinic’s inhabitants to turn their attention to matters that occasionally fell by the wayside during busier times.

“Tatsuyaaaa!” Shiori called, barging into her employer’s office where he was taking advantage of the slow period to catch up on paperwork. “Buy me lunch,”

“Absolutely not,” Tatsuya replied without looking up or ceasing work. “You can eat by yourself, you’re not a child anymore,”

“But I didn’t have time to make my lunch today!” Shiori whined. “And you were planning on skipping again to do paperwork! You’re a doctor so you should know to take better care of yourself! So instead of overworking enjoy the experience of taking your cute assistant out for a delicious meal!”

“What I do and don’t eat is none of your concern,” Tatsuya said, covering his mouth to cough. “And these forms are important, if we don’t renew our certifications we can’t-” Tatsuya broke off as Shiori suddenly snatched a stack of papers from his desk and bolted out the door, through the waiting room and out into the street.

“IF THEY’RE THAT IMPORTANT YOU WON’T MIND BUYING LUNCH TO GET THEM BACK THEN!” Shiori called over her shoulder, cackling as Tatsuya untangled himself from his desk to give chase.

Ryoken watched unseen in the sidelines as the struggle began, he had gotten here in time for lunch, just as planned of course, to find a game of tag going on!!! Immediately he rushed after Shiori as well, bags still in hand. “Hiiiiiiiii sensei I wanna play toooo!” he yelled, rushing after Shiori, obviously making this scenario roughly ten times worse than before.

“Little Buddy!” Shiori beamed, adroitly maneuvering around Ryoken and using him as a shield against Tatsuya, who was closing in on them.

“BOY!” Tatsuya snapped, taken aback. “What are you doing here?” he demanded, reaching over Ryoken’s to snatch the papers out of Shiori’s hand, who reacted by giving Ryoken a gentle shove, sending him stumbling into Tatsuya.

“Quickly Ryo! Distract him! It’s a matter of national impor- Ooh! Is that fish and chips?”

Like out of an anime or something, with the sound effect of a little *pomf* Ryoken was face first into Tatsuya’s chest… Instead of the typical anime reaction, Ryoken hurt his nose. “Y-yea!” He stuttered a bit, wanting to rub his hurt little nose but his hands were full. Instead, he looked up to the much taller man, offering one of the bags to him.

The other hand stretched out to Shiori.

“I brought lunch!!”

“Look see!? It’s fate! Destiny! You gotta eat with us now!” Crowed a triumphant Shiori, highlighting the paper bag with elaborate hand motions. “Are you really gonna trample all over your precious student’s kindness?”

“Yes absolutely,” Tatsuya said curtly, finally making a proper grab at the paper’s Shiori was holding and snatching them away. He turned to leave but Shiori snagged the end of his sleeve.

“Y-You can’t leave!” Shiori insisted. “If you do um...Ryoken will eat all of this by himself! And he’ll get sick!”

“I’m certain he does that all the time anyway, I doubt one more will do him any real harm,” Tatsuya replied, taking another step.

“Wait and then! And then I’ll tell everyone about how you’ve been feeding him poison and it’ll totally look like your fault!”

Tatsuya stopped in his tracks for a moment, a calculating expression passed over his face. Finally, he sighed loudly. “Fine,”

Throughout all of this Ryoken’s earnest beaming smile did not disappear, in fact it seemed to focus, beaming directly at Tatsuya, if expectation was able to kill a man, Tatsuya would have been reduced to nothing but a fine mist.

Holding up the bags Ryoken proclaimed. “It’s from the best Fish and chips place in the city! So you know it’s gonna be good! Eating all day without work is no good for your health... Err... I mean, opposite way around…

Or wait that works to right?”

Ryoken caught himself in his own words, like a toddler who untied his shoelaces to take off his shoes, then took a couple steps forward forgetting to take off said shoes and tripping on the laces.

While a wordy metaphor, it tells it rather well.

Tatsuya looked at Shiori and then at Ryoken. “I’m not going to get any peace until I go along with this am I,” he said, with a heavy expression

Shiori grinned at him.

Tatsuya raised his hands and shrugged dramatically. “Fine. But we’re bringing the other two along, there’s no way I’m letting you two eat that much by yourselves,”

“Cool cause I’ve already sent them a message to come here to eat~! Said it was important and stuff!.” Ryoken stated triumphantly oblivious to the fact that Tatsuya seemed much less enthusiastic than him and Shiori on this.

A moment later, running could be heard from the rooftops, with Mibu running and leaping from atop, nearly crashing by Ryoken. She immediately drew a kunai looking around, her hair disheveled.

“This one received the message of some sort of emergency, and is here.”

She looked from Tatsuya to Shiori to Ryoken, her brow furrowing.

“Why’s Shiori here? Tatsuya never has her near danger.”

“A policy I am currently reevaluating,” Tatsuya cut in icily as Shiori waved happily.

Haru landed behind her shortly after, looking less winded than his teammate. His usual jacket was missing and the pouch carrying his first aid kit was crooked, but everything seemed to be in place. “I got the same message,” he looked around before frowning at Ryoken. “But… this doesn’t look like some emergency mission.”

Ryoken looked over the moon. “Hey guys! Glad to see you could make it!!” his words seemed to resound off the walls of the place. “Glad you guys came quick, didn’t say it was an emergency though, just important! Lunch is important right?” His smile was blinding, but did little to dull the pain of confusion…

The fact he handed them a bag each, filled with delicious smells of fries and fish didn’t help cleanse this issue.

“We’re all eating together! Isn’t that great?”

Mibu’s stomach growled and she looked down. “This one left food on the stove to respond… and had Mochi as dessert…”

She looked around to the rest of the people who had been gathered, and then at Ryoken’s smiling face. She could swear if he was a dog he’d be wagging his tail at ‘look at what I’ve done’ over a massacred rabbit. She just sighed and took her portion.

“As voracious as it may be your appetite does not constitute an emergency,” Tatsuya said, rapping Ryoken lightly on the head with his knuckles. “But since we’re all here we might as well get this over with. Come along now there’s a park around the corner with some tables. This kind of...cuisine is best consumed outdoors?”

Ryo’s head lowered, eyes closed the moment Tatsuya bopped his head. “Yea!” He was happy that his apology lunch was being so well accepted. Hopefully they all can move forward with smiles and clear heads, and full bellies!

Heres to squad… Uhh…

“...Hey, guys, do we have a cool name for our squad?”

“Define cool,” Mibu said, looking up and down her food with almost mild interest. She could definitely make this. “We are designated as Squad Tatsuya.” She closed her eyes, taking a bite, noting the various flavors, trying to figure out the oil used along with the fish. Taking a swallow she then eyed Tatsuya. “So, no. Hmm… Pollock fried in shortening, has flour and egg white worked into it, and a fair bit of salt and pepper. This one lacks the fryer but otherwise could easily make this. Hmm… if perhaps I can borrow one from my neighbor Hibiki….”

”Wouldn't a deep pot work?” Haru glanced over at her from poking at his own meal. So much fried food wasn't exactly his idea of something to eat right after training, but he wasn't going to upset Ryoken. He shrugged, ”I don't know, we don't have a dedicated fryer at my house.”

“Perhaps, but this one doesn’t own that either, and her stovetop is currently not fully operational, it will have to be repaired either way as it doesn’t reach past medium.” Mibu shrugged.

“We should call ourselves the...the… Umm…” for his enthusiasm, he however couldn’t figure out an idea. More or less the matter that the ideas came tumbling down on him like somebody trying to climb a shelf for something on top then the whole thing came down on them.

His eyes twirled as his mind scraped for whatever it could.

A single overworked brain cell.

“Traditionally Shinobi do not name themselves,” Tatsuya said, ignoring Mibu and carefully extracting a single chip from the pile that suited his specifications. “As you work and grow names will come to you naturally, as your allies and enemies come to know what kind of ninja you are. If you want a name that’s ‘cool’ as it were, then train diligently and be the kind of shinobi you want to be. A name that is reflective of the effort you put in will come to you. Of course, the opposite is true. Live ignobly and a name that reflects your misconduct will haunt you,” Tatsuya ate his chip.

“Ooh! Ooh! YOU guys should be like.. Team Shadow Wolf Storm!” Shiori butted in excitedly.

Tatsuya sighed. “Of course if you associate with the wrong people you are liable to end up with something ridiculous regardless of what you do,” he said, ignoring the punch a pouting Shiori dealt to his arm in retaliation.

 

[AllHailDago]

The First Step
collabed with AtlannianSpy​

The Murata apartment was lively this afternoon. Although it was a while until dinner yet, Kuroki was planning a stew so she was already cutting vegetables into neat cubes and tossing them into a pot next to her in the kitchen.

In the living room Shizuo was sprawled out on the coach near the radio, indulging in a past time he rarely had time for these days.

The Shojimura Case Files was a serialized radio drama centred on the exploits of the hard boiled, katana wielding detective Yusuke Shojimura and his sidekick Nadeshiko Yukimura, the cabaret dancer and former assassin. The episodes were all fortunately self contained so even though Shizuo had been forced to miss out on the last couple, he was still able to enjoy tonight’s story about a missing sake company heiress.

”I knew she was trouble the minute she walked into my office. She had legs like a pair of chopsticks and skin the color of rice, that I would eat with those chopsticks. She was the most dangerous mistake I’d never regret making an-

“Oh~Whoaohha!~ I wanna hold your hand~”

“Yuuka! Hey! Turn it back!” Shizuo insisted, shooting up from the couch to see his sister messing with the radio’s dials.

“Never!” Yuuka shot back, warding away Shizuo with a rolled up magazine as he tried to close in and return the radio to its rightful programming. “I wanna listen to the top eight and anyway this show is super lame and predictable. It was the gardener, this time by the way!”

“Arggh!” Shizuo groaned, slumping back onto the coach. Yuuka had a lot of time at home and she had spent a fair amount of it reading, or actually listening to other radio plays and many common plots and tropes had become utterly transparent to her, infuriatingly, she was almost certainly right with her off handed guess. Shizuo was still thinking of a counter attack when the doorbell rang.

“I’ll get it!” Yuuka said cheerfully, skipping over to the door while humming along with the radio.

“Hello who is i-Gaahh!” Again Shizuo shot up in time to see Yuuka make a surprised, high pitched yelp and then bolt across the room into her bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

Kojiro stood in confused shock, his hand half extended in a wave to Yuuka. What could have made her run like that so suddenly? He looked behind him to make sure no scary or unsightly characters had followed him without his knowledge. Yet there was no one along the path up to the doorway, or anywhere in sight for that matter, that he'd consider scary or suspicious.

Turning back he peeked his head in the door frame without actually stepping inside Seeing Shizuo he waved excitedly, a grin breaking out across his face. He pointed at himself and then to the floor just inside the house questioningly. He had taken his mom's lessons about not just entering someone's home very seriously after all. He didn't think Shizuo would mind, but it was still polite to ask.

“Oh hey man,” Shizuo said, turning back to Kojiro with a hand up after following Yuuka’s retreat with a puzzled expression. “Come in already, Mum this is Kojiro, the teammate I was telling you about,”

“Ah!” Kuroki put down the knife she was wielding and gave Kojiro a warm smile. “It’s nice to meet you, Shizuo hardly evers brings people home you know? How am I supposed to show off my awesome cooking huh? It sounds like I should thank you for looking after Yuuka the other day as well,”

Kojiro stepped inside at the invitation,slipping his shoes off at the doorway. Based on his expression Yuuka's actions were just as confusing to Shizuo as Kojiro. He shrugged it off as something to ask her later and turned to the woman who was presumably Shizuo's mom. His mouth fairly overflowed at the mention of food. Doubly so as he smelled the wonderful scent of cooking beef and a myriad of vegetables.

At mention of Shizuo not having many people over Kojiro struggled to picture why. As for the mention of looking after Yuuka he just sort of shuffled his feet and waved his hand in an “oh stop” sort of motion. He didn't feel like his contribution was that important.

“She seems to think it was significant,” Kuroki said with a fainter smile. “I suspect that might be why she’s feeling a little shy tonight. If you could just try and act normally around her I think that would help a lot,” Kuroki scraped the rest of her chopped vegetables in the pot and then washed her hands. “But that’s not why you’re here is it? Shizu mentioned you wanted to learn kenjutsu. Why don’t you two head up to the roof and I’ll finish up here and meet you up there?”

“Alright,” Shizuo said, tearing his longing eyes away from the pot on the stove long enough to snap back into business and lead Kojiro back out the apartment and up the stairs to the building’s rooftop.

Kojiro followed Shizuo to the roof with a breathy attempt at a hum along the way. He was quite excited to begin basic Kenjutsu lessons. He was excited to see how he could mix his varying abilities together when he developed them. He could imagine it now, wind surrounding his sword and slashing someone with an entire tornado. How much cooler could it get?!

He looked out at across the city from the rooftop, astonished as usual at just how big the village really was. He wondered what the other hidden villages were like. Of course they'd had some measure of description and even a few scant pictures in school, but it just couldn't compare to the real thing. Getting back on track he turned around and took a stance meant to pump Shizuo up. Though to some it might just look like a particularly energetic squat held in place.

“It’s pretty cool right?” Shizuo said, busying himself unrolling some tatami mats over the concrete floor and taking out two wooden swords from a locker that held training gear. He turned around to see Kojiro’s pose but misinterpreted it. “Oh you actually want a more upright stance for kenjutsu, since leverage and reach are so impor-”

“Oh ho? I didn’t realized we had two senseis in the household,” said Kuroki from the stairway. She had changed into a traditional hakama and tied back her long hair, she was also wielding a wooden sword of her own, giving her a rather martial air. “It’s a little early for you to be correcting other people’s stances Mr. ‘overextends with his right foot all the time,” she said walking up to the two genin and suddenly lashing out to bop Shizuo on the head with the tip of her sword. “Anyway for starters let’s see what kinda raw materials we’re working with here. Kojiro go ahead and take a swing at Shizuo. Do your best to hit him, if he can’t block it he deserves to get bopped and it’ll be a good lesson for him,”

Shizuo sighed, rubbing his head, but he obediently moved over to face opposite Kojiro and adopted his usual drawing stance, with his sword by his side.

Kojiro was a little let down that Shizuo didn't understand the meaning behind his stance. However he mentally shrugged it off and instead took not of the few words he spoke before his mom arrived. He took up the wooden sword with a curious grip. Standing more upright he tried squaring his shoulders somewhat. He couldn't remember where, but he was sure he'd seen someone wield a sword like this before.

The weight of the sword surprised Kojiro. He sorta expected it'd be heavier honestly. He took a few small practice swings in the air and then eyed Shizuo. He didn't expect he'd get the drop on him without Gale Palm's added speed, and this definitely didn't feel like the right time to be using that. After all, he was here to learn Kenjutsu itself. Adding in ninjutsu later would be cool, but he should get grounded in the basics. Tensing slightly, he brought the sword back and swung it forward in as smooth and singular a motion as he could manage.

Shizuo’s own sword flicked upwards to intercept Kojiro’s as expected, batting it away easily and taking up a dominant position. Shizou wanted to look over and see what his mother wanted to happen next, but he knew from long experience if took his eyes off of what was sort of an opponent he was probably in for another thwack on the head so he kept his focus on Kojiro.

“Alright, alright I see where we’re at,” Kuroki said, nodding thoughtfully. “This kind of strike is usually the first one we teach in kenjutsu. It’s easy to execute and teaches some good habits because your sword is right their in the middle of your vision. So it’s easier to keep your edge aligned and to correctly judge the range of your strike which is of critical importance. Now ordinarily I would demonstrate the correct way to execute this strike and then you would practice or for ohhhh six or seven hours-”

As Kuroki explained Shizuo suddenly shivered ever so subtly as if recalling something unpleasant.

“Buut the stew’s already on and you’re already a genin so we’ll take a bit more of an active approach. You might have noticed, but Shizuo didn’t have to exert a lot of force to block your attack even though you were swinging pretty seriously. Why don’t you take another swing, or a couple more and try and figure out why that was the case?”

Kojiro stuck out his tongue to one side and narrowed his eyes in thought. It did seem suspicious to him that his arms didn't buzz with the vibration of hitting against a solid block. Even in something as small as kunai you feel some form of that when two hit each other directly. He expected with something as large and solid as swords he'd have felt it in his teeth. He didn't take another strike, instead returning to a neutral position. He followed Shizuo's lead in not letting down his guard though. He'd received plenty of warnings from Shizuo about that in his mom's presence when she acted as a teacher.

Going over it in his head he sorta thought he figured it out. He let one hand off his sword and gestured along its length, making a sliding gesture. If he was right it was because Shizuo had not blocked force with force, instead deflecting along the length of the “blade”. He returned his hand to the grip and looked between Shizuo and Miss Kuroki with a grin that mixed curiosity with nervous expectancy.

“Bzzt not quite,” Kojiro earned a bop on the head from Kuroki’s sword, although it felt fairly gentle compared to the ones Shizuo was getting and seemed to be more for effect than anything else. “It has more to do with how you’re attacking then how Shizuo is defending.” Kuroki explained, moving closer to the boys and lowering her sword to tap Kojiro on the feet. “The secret is down here. In fact the secret to all kenjutsu is in the footwork. A successful strike needs to be launched at precise range and it needs to be launched with all of the body’s strength behind it. If your footwork and stance are incorrect then you can‘t direct that energy properly and you leave yourself off balance, which is what makes it possible for your attack to be deflected with very little effort. Using her sword to push on their chests, Kuroki separated Kojiro and Shizuo a few paces. “Why don’t you try that swing again with a few changes, so that you can see the difference for yourself.”

Kuroki’s sword began to flick all around Kojiro, tapping various points on his body to pick them out as Kuroki explained what they should be doing.

“Back straight, don’t lean forward as you strike, rely on your feet to put you in the right distance to strike while keeping your balance.” She said, tapping him between the shoulder blades.

“The back foot doesn’t cross over to the front like you would while walking normally, you bring your back foot up to the front and then move the front foot and keep your feet as low to the ground as is practical given the terrain. This is so that you always have your weight distributed evenly even mid stride. When you strike synchronize it with your feet so that your front foot comes down at the same time as your sword,” She said, tapping the backs of Kojiro’s heels.

“Your arms,-” she tapped Kojiro on the elbows. “Should follow as natural an arc as possible, not overextending or cramping up. Keep your elbows and wrists flexible and let them turn at the same time as your shoulders so that all three joints are accelerating the motion of the sword.”

Finally Kuroki tapped a point on Kojiro’s sword near the tip. “If you can apply all three of those than your sword will naturally swing true. It is a conduit for the energy of your body. Try it and see for yourself,”

Kojiro tried his best to follow along, relatively unperturbed by the head bop. It was relatively soft compared to his grandpa's karate chops during jutsu practice after all. He pursed his lips with a look of the rawest concentration he could manage. He maintained eye contact with Shizuo while he went about correcting his posture in the way it felt, to go along with Ms. Kuroki's posing him.

He shifted his back forward and backward a little, taking a small half swing to test where his muscles moved. He flexed and relaxed his arms during the next half swing, checking for anywhere that seemed uncomfortable. He noted a few spots where he was tensing up more than what he presumed was necessary. Lastly he squatted partially down and back up to test the distribution of his weight. He...didn't really understand how to feel for that one as much. However it seemed(?) like he was favoring his right side.

He leaned a bit more weight to his left and drew his arms back once again. He took several deep breaths in and out to steady himself, just like his grandpa taught him. Lastly he gave Shizuo a small, firm nod to let him know the next strike would be real rather than a testing half swing. Trying his best to follow Ms. Kuroki's instructions and pay attention to his own body, he swung the sword at Shizuo once more.

Once more Shizuo’s sword whipped out to meet Kojiro’s and the clashed in midair, jostling in position for a few moments before, with a grunt and visible exertion Shizuo pushed him back. “That one was a lot better,” Shizuo said with a grin, retaking his stance.

“Yup! That was good,” Kuroki said, tucking her sword under her arm to give the boys a little golf clap. “The difference in power that the correct stance and footwork provides is one of the most universal and important principles in kenjutsu. It’s also one of the most transferrable, regardless of what kind of taijutsu you use in the future, studying the sword seriously will give you a very fine sense of distance and balance, which is useful for any martial artist,”

Kuroki checked her watch and hummed. “But turning this general principle into a refined technique that is actually of use on the battlefield is a pretty big investment in terms of training hours, so before we go down that route I’d like to know a bit more about why you want to study kenjutsu in the first place Kojiro. Why don’t we all break for dinner and and we can talk it over?”


While the boys had been training, Yuuka had emerged from her room to mind the stove, overseeing the stew’s transformation from raw ingredients to a rich, savory liquid with delicious and tender meat and vegetables bobbing in it. Accompanying the stew was a steaming bowl of fluffy, white rice.

Yuuka seemed very pleased with her work because she stared intently at her plate as she and the others sat down at the table to eat, studiously avoiding making any eye contact with Kojiro.

“So about what I was saying on the roof, Kojiro,” Kuroki said, as Shizuo wolfed down his food.

Kojiro wasn't sure what to make of Yuuka's refusal to make eye contact, but she seemed uncomfortable so he just shrugged it off and ate for the time being. Kojiro fairly shoveled the food into his mouth, overjoyed with the delicious stew. In fact he almost didn't realize Ms. Kuroki was talking to him for a second. He looked up with a few seconds delay and tilted his head curiously at her. He waited intently to hear what else she had to say. He did not however, stop filling his mouth with food in the interim. One of the positives of not using your mouth to speak in his opinion!

After a few moments he realized she meant his reason for Kenjutsu and not the topic of proper stance. The latter of which he'd already gained some confidence in from strike number two! While trying to think on it for a sec his eyes drifted up to the ceiling. He came up with why but couldn't for the life of him think of how to use gestures or Mental Snippets to convert it. Thankfully in times like this he carried a way to cheat the system!

Reaching into his jacket he produced a notepad and pen. Thankfully he had very small, pristine handwriting. That way even on a paper this small he could write a legible paragraph or three of text. He scribbled down his answer over the course of a minute or so and passed the pad to Ms. Kuroki.

The paper read, 'At first it was just because it looked cool when Shizuo did it. But after I thought about it some I realized most of the things I've done are things I learned from my family. Things they were good at already. They've been telling me to find my own reason to be a shinobi. So I thought finding my own style could help lead to that.’ Waiting for her to finish reading, he looked at her with a bit of shyness that was uncharacteristic of him.

Kuroki read the note quietly, Shizuo leaning over her shoulder to read along. She smiled faintly. “I think I understand, that’s something every shinobi needs I think,” Kuroki said. “I don’t know exactly where you’ll find it though, you’re welcome to tag along with Shizuo’s lessons whenever you want but I don’t think you should contain your search to just us. In the shinobi world there are countless weapons, disciplines and techniques. What you’re looking for might be among any one of them,”

Kojiro gave Ms. Kuroki a smile and a nod of agreement. He hadn't ever considered just trying the single thing even if he found something that he did well right off the bat. To find his style and what goal to pursue he'd have to try numerous new things. But for now… Kenjutsu with Shizuo seemed a good start. He gave Shizuo a thumbs up and a smirk, along with a mental image of them back to back with swords surrounded by shapeless ninjas.

Shizuo nodded and returned the smirk and then suddenly burst into laughter. “Let’s hope that doesn’t come up for a while. Your stance is still a little off in that one,”

 

[AtlannianSpy]

Team Miyako
​

"HOW RUDE!" Cried the old man from his perch on the balcony, retorting to Okuni. "Although close minded views are statistically more prominent against older generations we of the Hidezaki neighborhood association are an open minded group with warm ties to several outer district community groups! And it's precisely because youngsters who do not recall the hardships of war time are ascending to political importance that our foreign policy is shifting in a concerning direction!"

Although the old timer seemed to have no intention of conceding the verbal sparring, Asami's genjutsu seemed to have the desired effect on the rest of the defenders, splitting their fire between the illusory genin and creating an opening for the real children to dash through into the building proper.

Once the children were inside and on their way to the first apartment listed as a customer another problem presented itself. The children passed by apartment one... then apartment twelve... then apartment thirty six and apartment five right after!

Arael Ganryu xAlter

 

[Ganryu]

Okuni Tanabata
Squad Miyako
xAlter Arael
AtlannianSpy
[/CENTER]

Okuni's lip quivered as she saw the genjutsu taking effect, she wanted to retort and call this old man's bullshit, but they had a mission. Asami would see Okuni visibly shaking from the effort before running in, successfully not verbally engaging him as she carried her pizza.

"Nice work! They won't spray us in here, they won't wanna upset the land lady."

Okuni looked around.

"Where'd Haku go? Did he get lost?"

She shrugged, sighing, now to find the right numbers. 1... 12... 36... 5

"Either this is a genjutsu, someone switched the apartment numbers on us, or whoever made these blue prints was blind. Ugh. Not saying I want an easy mission, but I just don't want a mission that pisses me off. Seriously, we're two ladies, we're delivering pizza dripping with grease, get hosed down, and now numbers ain't right. *Sigh* Wait! I have an idea! I'm, uh... kinda covered in the pizza, you wanna go knock on a door as ask someone they know where your 'grandpa' is? Maybe transform! I'll, uh, hide in a corner with these I guess?"

 

[KageYuuki]

Haru Mori - Squad Tatsuya
Tatsuya, how are you doing dear boy? The clinic still stumbling along without me haha? I hear you’re a jounin instructor these days so you’re probably pretty busy but I’ve found myself in a spot of bother. Do you recall I moved my practice out to Koiotaki village as a sort of retirement? It’s quiet enough that I can handle anything myself but recently there’s been an outbreak of mistfever. No serious cases thankfully but I’ve caught it myself which means I can’t go running around town handing out medicine. Can you send someone to cover for me? It should only take a day or so and the village isn’t far from Chowaku.

Regards from your old colleague, Dr. Noritaka

Tatsuya Minazuki read the neat little note in his hand one more time, heaved a weary sigh and then tucked it away in a coat pocket to free up a hand to knock on the door to the Mori clan compound.

If I’m to waste my day hiking out to the sticks I might as well make it an educational experience for one of them Tatsuya mused, as he waited for someone to answer the door, noting the sound of piano music coming from somewhere deep within the compound.

It was a few moments before the door opened, revealing a man with short cropped blond hair and jade eyes. Taller and more muscular than the genin Tatsuya had been searching for, the only real similarities he bore with Haru were his blond locks and freckled features. “Tatsuya Minazuki, I presume?” The man, Junnichi Mori, said after a moment, opening the door all the way. Without the door in the way, it was easy to see his arm hanging uselessly in a sling.

“You should tighten that sling a little and adjust the angle upwards a touch,” said Tatsuya, unable to turn off his training. “It’s going to heal slower like that. But yes you are correct, I’m here for Haru is he about?”

Junnichi gave a small grunt in acknowledgment of the medical advice. “He’s in the music room, shirking his training.” He stepped aside, motioning for Tatsuya to enter. “I’ll take you to him.”

“I see,” said Tatsuya neutrally as he followed after Junnichi. “I don’t recall issuing him any extra exercises though so I wouldn’t worry about it too much,”

“I can’t not worry about him neglecting this gift.” Junnichi shook his head with a slight click of his tongue. As they drew closer, what had been an indistinct melody had grown more clear. A light and airy waltz danced through the halls.



“Heavens forbid,” said Tatsuya, a little more dryly then he had intended. He had no real ear or interest for music but he supposed the tune Haru was working on was pleasant enough, it was at least superior to the mind-numbing pop dreck Shiori kept trying to smuggle radio’s into the clinic to listen to. “In that case, you’ll be relieved to know I need him for educational purposes. I have an errand to run I think will be instructional for him,”

“That so?” Junnichi mused, pushing the door to the music room open. Haru was too lost in the melody to pay much mind to the door. The older Mori cleared his throat, “Haru.”

Haru sighed, not bothering to break the tune he carried. “I know, I-I’ll be outside for drills later.”

Tatsuya coughed, loudly and deliberately to announced his presence. “Actually I require your assistance with something so I’ll be separating you from the piano for a while,”

The music stopped abruptly as Haru jumped, spinning to face them. “S-sensei…” He clambered to his feet, “sure, w-what do you need?”

“We’re going to take a little trip outside the city,” said Tatsuya crisply. “It’s not far but we’ll have to cover most of it on foot so we should get moving. I’m sure the exertion should more than make up for you missing out on your drills,”


The Chowaku tram lines took Haru and Tatsuya out to the edge of the city but from then on they were forced to rely on their feet, as a simple, dirt road led them towards Koiotaki village. Tatsuya had passed the note he’d received over to Haru to read as they walked rather than explain the matter verbally, so there wasn’t initially much to talk about as they set off, the scenery around them changing rapidly from urban jungle to surprisingly picturesque countryside.

For the most part, Haru had remained silent himself. Sapphire hues focusing intently on the path ahead of them as he listened to the songs of various birds. There wasn’t much the boy could say and he half expected his sensei to launch off into some form of lecture at any moment. When he never did, Haru got tired of the pressing silence between them and spoke up. “So, ah… what’s ‘mistfever’ anyway?”

“It’s a virus,” said Tatsuya crisply. “So called because of a folkloric association with cold and particularly mist. The virus isn’t terribly dangerous in terms of symptoms, but it’s very persistent and can remain in a person’s system for months while their immune system suppresses any signs of it. When the weather cools down and puts more strain on people’s systems the symptoms flare up and many people appear to get sick all at once when in fact they were carrying it all alone. For that reason, it’s important to treat mistfever quickly and thoroughly. This will be a good chance to teach you proper infection control protocols and for a healthy boy your age mistfever is little more than an inconvenience even if the worst happens and you pick it up.”

Tatsuya paused his explanation to look up towards the sky, where a bank of dark, stormy clouds were rolling towards the two travelers. “Where in the blazes did that come from?” Tatsuya muttered, glancing behind them where the sky was still a sunny, bright blue. “Let’s pick up the pace, I’d rather not get soaked on top of everything else,” Tatsuya said, breaking out into a run. “Once we cross that bridge over the falls ahead we’ll be very close to the village,”

Haru nodded, quietly listening to the explanation. So it was basically just a bad cold then, shouldn’t be too big of a deal for them to deal with. The genin stopped to look up at the incoming storm, “Rain again?” He groaned before realizing Tatsuya was already getting ahead of him. “Ah! Sensei, wait up!” Haru had to sprint to try and close the gap between them.

“Try and keep up boy!” Tatsuya snapped, wrapping the end of his scarf around his head to provide some shelter from the rain that had sprung up seemingly out of nowhere. “I don’t intend to ruin one of these coats every damn time I take you children out,” Tatsuya said, not really slowing down, but not accelerating either, so that the distance between the two of them remained more or less constant as they rand down the road and began to cross the bridge.

And then, just as they were halfway across the storm seemed to intensify all of a sudden and a burst of wind and water assaulted them on the unsteady ground of the rain-slick bridge. “For what it’s worth,” Haru called out, trying in vain to close the gap between them. “I’d rather this didn’t become the norm eith- uwah!” The genin’s feet were swept out from under him, Haru slammed into the slick wooden bridge. In a panicked scramble, he drove a kunai into the wood to try and keep from being washed away.

“DAMN!” Tatsuya turned back to lunge towards Haru’s hand, but just before he could get a grip on the boy another gust of wind and rain assailed him and tore lose his grip on the kunai driven into the wooden bridge, flinging the boy down over the falls and into the river below. Tatsuya was over the bridge and diving after Haru a moment later, but as soon as he hit the water and opened his eyes to look around Haru was nowhere to be seen.


Haru softly groaned, shifting. Despite being completely drenched, he wasn’t cold. He figured it had something to do with the warm wall he was propped up against. Wait… The blond frowned and struggled to force his eyes open. He found himself surrounded by snow white walls, smooth, and warm, and…

Moving.

Not just moving, breathing.

Choking back a yell, Haru scrambled to try and stand but couldn’t get his legs under him. He fell back to his knees and stared at the hulking, serpentine beast looming over him. He had to have hit his head after falling off the bridge. There was no other explanation for this. Words tumbled from his lips in an incoherent stream.

The beast - a dragon - spoke. “Be at peace, little one. You’re safe here.” The language was unlike anything Haru had heard, he shouldn’t have been able to understand a word. Yet the meaning echoed clearly in his head. ”I am Tanegashima,” She paused, tilting her head slightly as Haru formed a sign with shaking hands.

His genjutsu had never been all that great, another entry in the long list of things he had to work on. But a genjutsu cancel had to do something, right? He was currently face to face with a dragon - whose smallest teeth rivaled the size of a kunai - there was no way this could actually be happening. Had this been Tatsuya’s doing? What could he have done to earn his sensei’s ire this time around?

Outside of just existing.

“Hmm, perhaps this form will be less intimidating,” in a flash the dragon vanished, replaced by a young woman. With porcelain skin and long ebony hair, she smiled serenely at Haru. ”it's been too long since I last spoke to a Mori.” Tanegashima opened her eyes, revealing golden snakelike hues. ”Longer still since one was so frightened by my appearance.”

Haru froze. ”Wh-what…?”

She softly sighed, ”have you forgotten already?” The dragon closed the gap between them in a few short steps. ” I guess humans always were so fickle, fleeting.” Tanegashima held up a hand, forming a brilliant orb. ”Perhaps things will be more clear when next we meet.”

”Wait, I don't understand-” Haru was cut short as she pressed the orb against him. A scream tore free from the genin’s throat as the foreign chakra burned through his system.


If there was a silver lining to all this, at least the rain was no longer bothering Tatsuya. Granted that was only because the rain seemed inconsequential when one was already dripping river water from head to toe but all the same, the rain was no longer a problem.

What was a problem was the sudden absence of Tatsuya’s student. The jonin had spent about a minute searching under the cloudy, rapidly flowing water before concluding that Haru must have been swept further downstream.

Just how many times do these damn children plan to throw their lives away Tatsuya thought grimly, leaping from the river to continue running along the bank. He would hurry up to beyond where Haru could reasonably have been carried and then work his way back upstream, he decided, as he rounded a bend in the river.

Luckily the jounin didn't have to travel far to spy his missing student. Haru’s lithe form lay collapsed on the shore just around the bend. Just as suddenly as it came, the torrential downpour was already dissipating.

“..-y ....Boy!” Haru would likely be roused to consciousness as Tatsuya urgently checked him over for injuries. “Are you alright?” he asked seriously, looking up to watch the clouds recede with uncanny swiftness as soon as it was obvious Haru was awake.

Haru softly moaned, looking up at the sky with bleary eyes. His entire body ached and Tatsuya checking for injuries did little to help. ”Sensei…” He winced at how raspy his voice was.

“Good grief,” Tatsuya muttered peering into Haru’s eyes for signs of a concussion. “I suppose you must have landed on a rock and then gotten carried downstream. You're damn lucky you washed ashore when you did, you could have easily drowned. I can’t seem to find any serious injuries though...Did you always have a birthmark here though?”

The genin winced, “I don’t even remember falling…” He struggled to push himself up into a sitting position. “We’d been running to get out of the rain, and-” Haru frowned, glancing at where Tatsuya pointed. It was a jagged looking mark, with a faint blue tinge that seemed anything but natural. “Uhh… no…?”

“Well that’s alarming frankly, it doesn’t look like an injury you sustained in the fall either. If someone has inflicted this on you it might actually be dangerous,” Tatsuya said, studying the mark thoughtfully. “For now I think the best course is to continue on to the village, I can use Noritaka’s clinic to give you a full examination and you can rest off your injuries while I tend to this mistfever outbreak. Keep an eye on your condition though, if you feel like you might suddenly explode or try to murder me pass that information along. Now: can you stand?”

It took him a moment to get his feet under him, but Haru proved capable of remaining relatively stable without Tatsuya’s help. He felt exhausted though, like when he’d be forced into burning through most of his chakra in training. ”sorry, sensei…” He murmured after a moment, deep cerulean eyes more focused on studying the rough shore than actually looking at said sensei.

Tatsuya snorted. “Oh? Have you learned how to control the weather all of a sudden? You’ll make plenty of your own mistakes in time so don’t be over eager to claim responsibility for simple misfortune.” Tatsuya said and ushered Haru in the direction of the road they had left. But as the jonin left he too couldn’t help but glance back at the river, his brow furrowed.


Since retiring to the countryside Doctor Noritaka had developed an unfortunate taste for garishly patterned shirts, left unbuttoned to more comfortably accommodate his bulky midsection, but he welcomed the sodden Tatsuya and Haru with a wide and genuine smile and he quickly provided clean clothes and made his examination room available to them when Tatsuya explained the incident.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it,” Noritaka said with airy curiosity as he handed a steaming mug of tea to Haru, who had been divested of his shirt so that the mark could be examined properly.

Resting on his collarbone, the mark itself was pale blue reminiscent of the hue his storm release took. While the top half was jagged like a lightning bolt, the bottom was a smooth claw-like curve.

“...I haven’t either,” Tatsuya said grumpily, as if reluctant to admit it. “I think I can feel some kind of chakra from it but it doesn’t resemble any kind of seal I’m familiar with, though that’s not exactly my area of expertise. How does it feel at the moment?” He asked Haru.

”Sore, ” the genin muttered, looking down at it. ”But so is everything else. Like I used up all my chakra in training or something.” While he’d managed to make the walk to the village, Haru hadn't been the most stable on his feet.

“Then for now get some rest,” Tatsuya said. “Noritaka will observe you for any changes in condition while I deal with the outbreak. I think we’d best stay overnight as well. Assuming nothing deteriorates we’ll take you back to the village and find someone more specialized to take a look at it. It doesn’t seem immediately dangerous so I wouldn’t worry about it too much. For now,”

Haru nodded, lightly running his thumb on the side of the mug of tea. ”Alright, sensei.”

As Tatsuya departed with a borrowed umbrella Noritaka handed Haru a shirt to wear and stroked his chin thoughtfully. “You know it rather reminds me of this village’s emblem and the legend it supposedly pertains to. Have you heard it before”

Brows furrowed, Haru shook his head. ”can't say that I have.”

“Koiotaki village, it means ‘carp waterfall’” said Noritaka. “As the story goes, the carp in the river try to swim up the waterfall in the hopes that they’ll catch the eye of dragons that sometimes fly over them. If a carp does manage to get the attention the dragons will pluck them out of the water and carry them to a hidden palace to turn them into dragons themselves. It’s supposed to be a story about how humbly working hard at a seemingly impossible task will encourage fortune from on high to smile down upon you but I’ve never seen it that way personally. Getting plucked out of the sky and spirited away by some monster sounds rather scary, doesn’t it? I always wondered if the dragons weren’t just fishing for their dinner,”

Haru set the now empty mug down. Dragons… The Mori’s crest was also one… ”Yeah, doesn't really sound encouraging…”

 

[Arael]

Asami Kurayami
Team Miyako
Ganryu AtlannianSpy xAlter
​

After watching the genjutsu take effect, and Okuni's verbal combat with the old man who seemed to have a lot of energy aimed towards the argument as well when he retorted the original statement. Asami simply allowed her brows to furrow as she simply sat as an observer before taking off into the building once a safe opening presented itself.

"Thanks, sorry about having you do all the lifting but you're right, we should be somewhat safe here."

Asami looked back, noting they were down a team member, hopefully, he didn't stray too far.

"Maybe he took a wrong turn? Or he's trying to throw them off the trail and give us more time...worst case scenario he bailed but I don't think he'd do that."

Turning her attention towards the doors, Asami did a double take as the numbers were all scattered. It didn't feel like genjutsu, maybe a simple swap of numbers on the doors? These old folks sure were serious about their pizza. Giving a slight nod as she followed Okuni's train of thought, narrowing down the options to the more simplistic of the three due to how well her own genjutsu seemed to work outside she'd be able to break from this rather easy if it were just a change to the numbers.

"Yeah, it hasn't been as easy as I thought it would...sorry about your robes I can help you clean them if you'd like? But after we're done here but for now I think I have a bit of an idea on how to go about this, just don't talk about it after we're done here, please." Asami took a deep breath as she allowed the image to form in her head, performing the hand signs for the transformation jutsu quickly before someone saw. A small puff of smoke followed soon after before fading away, and in place of the young genin was now a small(er) child.

Spoiler: Transformation

Asami allowed her feelings of embarrassment to pass before taking in a deep breath as she focused for a moment, allowing tears to well up in her eyes, giving small sniffles as she walked towards the door with an out of place '32' across the front, knocking steadily but with a slight sense of urgency- for both the mission and her current ruse.

 

[Arael]

Asami Kurayami
Team Miyako
Ganryu AtlannianSpy xAlter

Door Knocking

Asami allowed her feelings of embarrassment to pass before taking in a deep breath as she focused for a moment, allowing tears to well up in her eyes, giving small sniffles as she walked towards the door with an out of place '32' across the front, knocking steadily but with a slight sense of urgency- for both the mission and her current ruse.

“We ain’t buyin anything! And we’re perfectly happy with our current gods if that’s what yer- oh,”

A cantankerous voice ran out from behind the door and then faltered for a few minutes, then a few seconds later the door swung open to reveal an old women in a faded, green kimono.

“Well you look a little you young to be a door to door salesman don’tcha kiddo?” said the old woman, her gruff voice a touch gentler.

Asami resisted the urge to step back as the door swung open, looking over the older woman as she spoke. “I guess so,” She gave a soft sniffle before rubbing at her watery eyes.

“I’m sorry, I came to visit my grandpa and he promised me we’d have pizza together but... now.. I can’t find his apartment!” Asami brought both hands up to meet her eyes as tears rolled down her cheeks.


“The numbers are all switched, can you help me find him?” She gave the old woman a pleading look as tears continued to flow from her eyes.

“Hahh?” The old woman sniffed and craned her neck over Asami’s shortened form to study her own number plate. “Well so they are,” she said and sighed sharply. “What are those fools up to now I wonder?” she continued in a more gentle tone. “I’ll never hear the end of it if I stick my nose in but I can probably point you in the right direction at least. What number is your Grandpa’s apartment supposed to be?”

Asami smiled inward as the older woman began buying into her tale, but that all soon went south as she asked for a specific number. ‘Oh crap she’s onto me, I wonder if this is how Okuni feels? Snap out of it!’ She shook herself mentally before rocking on her heels as she looked down at her feet. “I can’t remember, I walked all around and no one else seemed to wanna help...they called me a li..a..bility? Or something like that?” Gears were slowly turning as she began to pull the loose ends together.

“He’s got a lot of energy, wears a cute tiny soldier hat? Or do you know if anyone on this floor was waiting for someone?” She asked, trying to calm herself so it didn’t feel like an interrogation, it was moments like these where she wanted to use fear for an answer, but so far this tiny and non-threatening form seemed to do the trick, she’d have to note that for future reference.

“That sounds like Inosuke,” said the old woman with a roll of her eyes. “He’s the head of the neighbourhood association.I heard the lot of ‘em all yammering on about some kind of scheme they had cooked up? Something about deliveries? I dunno I try not to waste my time with that old fool. But he lives on apartment 42. That’ll be... the first door on the left, on the fourth floor I think. Do you think you can get there on your own?”

“Sweet, so the first numbers are floor numbers?” Okuni spoke up from the corner, shuffling the pizzas in her arms to an unpleasant squelching noise. ”I never want pizza again…”[/i]

Okuni then remembered that that might mess up the interrogation. “Uh, just delivering pizzas when they messed up the numbers, I’ll be on my way.” Okuni started to climb the near stair case, looking at the delivery addresses on the pizzas.

“Uhh...huh,” said the old woman, blinking once. “Don’t think I’ve ever seen a miko delivering pizza before but I guess maybe the younger generations aren’t as generous to temples with their donations. Anyway that’s how it works yes,” The old woman glanced at Okuni again then at the disguised Asami. “Hey wait a sec why did you ask about the switched up numbers first if you didn’t even know what your grandpa’s was in the first place? Did Inosuke even have a granddaughter?”

Okuni’s sudden outburst was enough to make Asami jump, trying to maintain her composure while hiding the smile that hid behind her confused facade, they had not only gotten the address of one of the more prominent figures behind the plan against them but now knew how to deliver the pizzas efficiently. “Must be a difference in priorities if you think about it,” She stated absentmindedly before turning at the question. “Uh? I can’t read very well yet?”

“I’m sorry, I’m bad at remembering things so that’s why I asked you.” She gave a nervous giggle before scratching her head, “Thank you for the help, I’m sure I can find my way now!” Completely ignoring the last question Asami took off down the hall after Okuni, keeping up her disguise until she was out of sight.​

 

[Ganryu]

Okuni Tanabata

Squad Miyako
Arael
AtlannianSpy

Okuni gave a sigh of relief, trying to remember the numbering order, starting right was odd from the stairs, left was even.

"Alright, Asami, let's go!
Inosuke Toriyama, 42
Suda Botan, 47
Kato Tomiji, 32
Morioka Nobuhiko, 61
Haga Jotaro, 67
Iha Masayoshi, 58
Yoshizawa Maris, 44
Uchima Taji, 27
Yahiro Kageyasu, 65
Haruyama Morihiro, 88
Ishida Tetsuo, 45
Terauchi Haruhiko, 36
Suzukaze Kiyohisa, 75
Watase Osamu, 26
Shimoda Naofumi,72
Mitsui Takuboku, 57
Ikehara Sanetomo, 81
Kanai Eiji, 38
Taniuchi Yoshitomo, 21
Kagiyama Shigemori, 43
Kawakami Natsuo, 82
Ashikaga Masayuki, 73
Tajima Takuji, 70
Takamori Tetsunori, 78
Mitsui Sadaharu, 61
Tsujii Shintaro, 79
Kobayashi Gennosuke, 59
Koki Monzaemon, 71
Matsutani Nobuhisa,52
Shinobu Yuki,23

Let's go♪. Have fun with your Grandpa!"

Okuni dumped 10 boxes on Asami, and started to run to the various delivery points, knocking. She did take a little bit to try and figure out which building was which, but, meh.

Okuni knocked each door with a smile.

"♪Togato's Delivery service, Friendly Miko Okuni here. We have your pizza! And on time."

Inwardly, Okuni was still seething, but, mission first! It was the only way to stay out of the 'man's' view. Never mind the fact she was drenched in grease and giving to a bunch of people who's neighbors had just attacked them! Meh.

 

[AtlannianSpy]

Team Miyako
​

One after the other baffled and disappointed retirees opened their doors and begrudgingly forked over their ryo to receive their pizzas. It seemed that even despite their scheme the old timers were a little too proud to stoop to the level of actually. A few even seemed to take their defeat with good grace, taking their pizzas with a rueful smile or a laugh. On their swift, shinobi feet the two genin were able to tear through the list of deliveries in good time, at least until the last name.

Shinobu Yuki opened his door normally but as Okuni tried to hand him his pizza he broke into a sinister, overly dramatic laugh, covering his face with a clawed hand.

"Kukukukuku AHAHAHA! Shinobu Yuki? Of Hidezaki towers apartment 23? Why that is me, but the person who ordered the extra large pepperoni with onion and sausage was not I, but Shinabi Yuki of Himezaki towers apartment 23! My identical twin brother, while I ordered the Hawaiian with extra pineapple! Gahahaha! I'm sure it was all too easy to overlook a single syllable with so many orders coming from this location! All of that was part of my sinister machinations! Inosuke, the neighborhood association, all of them pawns in my multi dimensional shogi game! All to have you, my rivals, dancing merrily in the palm of my han- Garrkh!"

Shinobu's monologue was suddenly cut off as a pizzabox, spinning through the air like a shuriken collided with his face.

"Just in time," said Miyako whi was standing halfway down the corridor with her throwing arm outstretched.

"B-but that's impossible!" spluttered Shinobu, after hurriedly catching and lowering the pizza. "Himezaki towers is on the other side of the city!"

Miyako smirked triumphantly. "I admit your plan was pretty good, but you overlooked one, key detail Yuki. My total willingness to abuse my position as a jonin! I just oredered a new pizza for your brother and then used the Shinobi transit system to cut across town! GAHAHAAH!"

"Damn you!" Snarled Shinobu, hurling a handful of coins and bills at Okuni and then slamming his door behind him while Miyako laughed.

"Whelp that about wraps that up," Miyako said, walking up to Okuni and Asami. "You two did pretty good! Especially since you had to finish up short handed, Haku had some kind of family emergency. I think it'll all shake out okay but I don't think we'll be seeing him again. Anyway! The one downside in the way I handled that last guy is that I had to pay for an extra pizza, which is that one-" Miyako gestured at the box Okuni was holding. "Buuuut that does mean it ours to eat! If you two aren't totally sick of pizza by now that is,"

Epilogue



Togata's pizza would go on to attain the high honor of being named Chowaku's 7th best pizzaeria

The Yuki brothers persisted in their attempts to score free food through convoluted schemes, but that is a story for another time.

​

Arael
Ganryu

 

[KageYuuki]

Haru Mori - Squad Tatsuya
“Have you noticed anything since that day? Have you felt strange in any way? Has the mark itself changed or reacted to anything?” Tatsuya asked as he and Haru made their way down a crowded street in one of Chowaku’s many mid-range residential areas.

It was a couple of days after Tatsuya and Haru’s ill-fated journey. After sending Haru home with instructions not to push himself and to closely monitor his own condition Tatsuya had done some cursory research into the matter of Haru’s mysterious new mark and failed to turn up any real leads.

”I can't use jutsu,” Haru admitted as he walked alongside the jounin. His gaze was more focused on the ground than the person he was talking to. ”Or… chakra at all, really.” He sighed, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his jacket. ”Everything’s still sore, but nothing’s really changed.”

“Hmm that’s rather alarming,” said Tatsuya, although his tone didn’t really change from his usual dry monotone. “But it does mean I think this meeting will be productive, as...tiresome as it will no doubt be,” Tatsuya sighed softly as he came to a halt in front of a small house with a rather disheveled front garden.

Finally looking up from the ground, the genin tilted his head slightly at their destination. ”Why? Who are we meeting anyway?”

“One of the best sensors in the village,” Tatsuya said, knocking on the door of the house. “Though you wouldn’t know it to look at her, or listen to her inane babbli-”

“Yooooo! Did somebody call for Gunshugakure’s greatest and cutest jounin?”

Suddenly the door opened, revealing Miyako Fujihara, leaning one arm on the door frame and wearing a triumphant grin.

“Fujihara I’d really like to conclude this as quickly as possible,” said Tatsuya. “And I’d also rather not discuss it outside, can you just let us in already?”

“AH! Not so fast there bud, if you want my help then there will be a grave price to pay,” Miyako paused and drew up a finger to point dramatically at Tatsuya.

“You gotta come drinking with us! I’ve been trying to get all five of us of together on the same night for aaaaaages and you always blow me off!”

Tatsuya was silent except for a soft, grinding noise coming from his jaw. “Fine.” he said finally. “Fine. Now will you please let us in?”

“WOOO!” Miyako spun out of the doorway, pumping both arms in the air. “Party confirmed! Come on in!”

The interior of Miyako’s house was… eclectic, with furniture, decorations, even wallpaper having been picked seemingly at random with garish, clashing patterns and attention grabbing textures like leopard print or purple leather casually thrown in. The most consistent element was a series of framed movie posters, mostly classic martial arts movies like Revenge of the thirteen disciples and Way of the Jade Snapping Turtle. A few of the posters were even signed.

“Can I get you guys a drink?” Miyako asked, folding her arms up behind her head as she led Tatsuya and Haru into her house. “Oh but I only have beer and ‘Moo Ya!’”

“No thank you,” said Tatsuya tersely.

“It’s like... A milkshake flavored energy drink? Or maybe its an energy drink flavored milkshake? Not really sure but the can is super cool looking so I bought like-”

“I already said I didn’t want any!” snapped Tatsuya.

Haru remained silent throughout most of the exchange, his arms folded in front of him as if it would provide some kind of barrier against the energetic woman. She seemed like a combination of Shiori and Ryoken, bursting with untold amounts of energy.

The genin’s gaze shifted to the floor, even that looked like it had been chosen on a whim. Tatsuya wouldn't have to be here dealing with her if it weren't for him.

“You’re pretty quiet aint’cha,” Miyako said, putting a hand on Haru’s head and tilting it up to see her suddenly rather close face. “Why don’t we get down to business then, what exactly am I supposed to be taking a look at?”

“Show her,” said Tatsuya, with a nod.

Haru gave a slight, almost imperceptible nod. Wriggling away from Miyako, he pulled off his jacket and shirt. The blue mark resting on his collarbone stood out against the pale, freckled skin. Shifting his weight, he stood quietly unsure of what else the jounin would need.

“Whelp, first things first you could stand to work on your definition a little,” said Miyako, crouching down to poke Haru in the stomach with one finger. “I recommend crunches and maybe-”

“Fujihara, focus!” said Tatsuya from the side.

“Ah right, right,” said Miyako quickly, closing her eyes and holding an open hand over the brand.

Immediately Miyako made a whooshing sound, sucking air in through her teeth. “Yikes, your pathways are pretty messed up here. This thing is leaking some chakra I don’t really recognize into your system and it’s totally unbalanced the flow. Your chakra is stagnant in some places and running too thinly in others. This musta hurt like a bi-”

“Haru hasn’t been able to mold chakra since this happened,” Tatsuya cut in. “So you’re saying it’s because of this brand,”

“Well..sorta,” said Miyako thoughtfully, sitting down in front of Haru. “I don’t really get the impression that that was the point of it though, it seems more like a side effect. This thing is really crude, like, primitive so to do whatever it was trying to do it just blasted a bunch of extra chakra into you. It should heal up pretty naturally though,”

“So what is it trying to do?” Tatsuya asked, eliciting a shrug from Miyako.

“That I don’t really know, it doesn’t resemble any seal or brand I’m familiar with and most of the original chakra has already passed through Haru’s system. I can eliminate a few possibilities though. I don’t think it’s any kind of spying technique or anything to influence Haru’s mind, it just doesn’t have any kind of mechanism to send information. I also don’t think it’s a kind of bomb or straightforward weapon, it just doesn’t have enough chakra left to make a worthwhile explosion,”

Miyako grinned at Haru. “Pretty reassuring right?”

”Uh…” Haru rubbed the back of his neck, shifting his weight slightly. ”We still don't know what it's for, or who put it there, or why they did it.” He leaned back against the side of a garishly colored couch. ”So… No, not really.”

He ran his fingers through his hair with a tired sigh. ”Everything that happened between trying to cross the bridge to waking up on the shore is still just a giant blank. We’re still basically stuck at square one.”

Miyako solemnly laid her hands on Haru’s shoulders and looked him straight in the eyes.

“Kid if you sweat the small stuff all the time you’re gonna end up grouchy and shriveled up just like your sensei. So you’ve got a weird brand on your collarbone! Doesn’t everybody have a weird brand of their own in a metaphorical sense? And hey, bright side, it does look kinda cool, maybe there’s a girl you can impress with it?” Miyako elbowed Haru gently in the ribs and stood up. “My advice would be to not worry about it too much until it starts actually doing something, it isn’t storing up its own chakra so I don’t think it can do too much all of a sudden. When it does start doing something that’ll also be when you can start figuring out what it is,”

Haru gave a low, noncommittal hum. His sapphire gaze focused more on the strange brand than the jounin in front of him. It was fairly obvious he was unconvinced by her pep talk.

“Now then,” Miyako said, putting her hands on her hips and looking satisfied with herself. “Are you two sure I can’t interest you in a ‘Moo Ya!’? I just.. I bought so much and I really need the space in my cupboard,”

”N-no thank you,” the blond quickly shot a glance to Tatsuya for help. ”Energy drinks sound like a really bad idea if I'm still healing anyway…”

“We’re leaving,” said Tatsuya grimly. “Try to make me ingest that abomination of a drink and I’ll poison you, it’s bad enough being roped into drinking alcohol with you,”

Miyako shrugged. “See what I mean kid? Total. Grouch. But fine I get it. Come back if it starts glowing or doing anything else cool and Tatsuya! See you Friday night buddy!” Miyako shot the departing pair a cheesy double thumbs up.

“Yes, yes, thank you for your ‘help’” Tatsuya said, rubbing his temples. “Oh and Fujihara? Don’t mention this to your family, I have no intention of wasting my time getting caught up in clan politics,”

“Oh sure, whatever,” Miyako said, with another shrug. “Like I tell those nerds every little thing anyway. I’ll see you two another time, try to loosen up a little in the meantime okay?”

”He's serious, ” Haru mumbled over a sigh. ”They already see me as a threat for some reason… I really don't want to give them something to lord over me with…”

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” said Tatsuya, as Miyako’s door closed behind them, leaving them alone on the street. “Her clan dislikes her even more than I do and the feeling is mutual, they would have disowned her by now if she wasn’t far and away their most accomplished member. That’s part of the reason I took you to her. The rest of them can be a bit conniving and there aren’t really any non Fujihara experts on sensory jutsu and fuuinjutsu. I was expecting us to get more information though,”

”All she really told us was that it wasn't a threat right now,” the blond quickly pulled his shirt and jacket back on. ”Wh-which is nice I guess. But we still know nothing about what it's supposed to do.” Haru kicked at a small pebble, sending it clattering down the sidewalk. ”Maybe if I could just remember something, that would help.”

“We might have one more card left to play on that front,” said Tatsuya thoughtfully. “I’ll have to pull some strings I’d rather not touch but I’m determined to get to the bottom of this so I’ll make the arrangements but it might take a few days. In the meantime take care, notify me immediately if your condition changes,”

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Sketchy Sairento Stuff​

“For fuck’s sake Em, I told you not wear white! Are you dumb or something?” Ines glared down at her daughter, who had forgotten her instructions once again.

“You didn’t even try to hide your hair either? You think this is some kind of happy ass grocery store trip we’re going on?” Ines groaned, and pushed back her sleeve revealing an assortment of various symbols tattooed on her arm. She gazed across them, before settling on an oval shaped one. She tapped it lightly, and a dark brown cloak appeared in her hand.

“Wear this you idiot, and don’t wear your mask until we get to where we’re going,” Ines commanded as she tossed the hooded cloak to her daughter.

“Thank you mama!” Emerie replied thankfully, smiling broadly as she slid the hooded cloak over her smaller frame. The cloak dragged on the ground a little, but when she put the hood up, it hid her hair and covered up her fancy outfit completely.

Today, Emerie was going with her mother to buy special parts she couldn’t get anywhere else. However the shop was located in the less fortunate part of the village, and her mother didn’t want the future head of the Sairento Clan to be seen out in that part of the village. Even Emerie knew that less than legal activities went down out there. But if her mom went out there to buy things, surely it wasn’t too bad out there. All Emerie was excited about was spending time with her mom and her work at the same time!

———————

It was as if there was a distinct line between wealth and poverty in the village. Emerie coukd tell by the sudden drop in building quality, lighting, and overall cleanliness. For the young sheltered girl, it was frightening. Emerie stayed close to her mother, who strode along confidently. Ines occasionally looked over her shoulder, or peeked down dark alleys. Everyone seemed suspicious to Emerie, but Ines actually waved to a few of them. One building they passed by, with cracked walls and a crumbling roof had an old woman sitting outside of it. Ines stopped in front of the house, and watched the old woman for a moment.

“What’s wrong ‘mummy’,” Emerie asked.

Ines didn’t answer for a moment. “Why do you think the people her are so poor, Emerie?” She asked, still gazing up at the old woman and her home.

Emerie was never called her full name by her mother unless she was serious. Emerie thought hard about her answer, taking awhile to respond. “Well maybe their parents were poor, or zhey were like our clan once was, foreign and desperate.”

“That’s partially why, I guess. I wish I could do more to help them, but the clan elders don’t let me get my way anymore than I ever did. I like to think that if the people here didn’t have to worry so much about staying alive they could focus on making something good of their lives instead.”

Emerie gazed up at her mother as she spoke, surprised to hear her empty put her heart so suddenly. “Well I become the Clan Head, those elders won’t stop me from helping anyone!”

Ines let out a short quiet chuckle, before patting her daughter on the head. “Don’t be an idiot and I’m sure you’ll be able to do whatever you please. You have a whole clan that will help you no matter what too, so you don’t have an excuse… Now let’s get moving, we look stupid standing out here.”

—————————-

In a dark alley, stepping over trash and unconscious bodies, Ines and Emerie approached a metal door. Ines knocked on the door loudly, and waited.

“Ah shit, hold up hold up I’m coming!” the sound of various crashes could be heard, the yowl of a cat “Fucken hell, hold up!” The sound of a large pot slamming down a set of stone stairs echoed throughout the alley.

“Stay right there I’m comin!” the sounds of indistinct yelling could be heard. “IT’S NOBODY MA!” more distant yelling “MA IT’S JUST SOME VISITORS YEA DON’T GOTTA WORRY!” even more yelling. “LOVE YEA TO MA!” the voice that was yelling, a scratchy male voice that sounded like it had spent the last three decades with a cigarette in his mouth, was finally coming closer to the door.

Closer and closer until the metal slit on the door sldie aside, revealing a pair of eyes stareing out into the dark alley and the two before it.

“What's the password?”

Emerie peered up at her mother, who was rolling her eyes.

“Ugh, do I have to say this everytime?” Ines grumbled, before clearing her throat. “Hippie Harem…”

The sound of a lock being undone, followed by several chains, locks and a couple of curses after something very, very heavy hit the ground. The door began to slowly swing open, revealing a dark and shadowy room, barely lit by a couple red lights coming off of some hidden technology in the room.

The light from outside even lit up some puppet-like limbs hanging from the shadowy ceiling drifting down like limbs of an awaiting spider.

Ines guided Emerie inside by the arm, closing the door behind her.

“Don’t touch anything,” was all her mother said before heading towards a far off shelf full of small unique metal parts.

Emerie let out a quiet puff, pulled her cloak tighter around herself. She gazed around, before spotting something shiny over on the far wall. She glanced back at her mother and quickly tip-toed towards it, nearly letting out a squeal as one of the puppet limbs hanging from the ceiling brushed the top of her head. She let out a deep breath as she knelt down in front of the shiny circular object. It didn’t look like a tool or weapon, but it was still pretty cute. She slowly stretched her hand out to touch the ball, completely forgetting about what her mother had just told her.

The shop keeper, a ragged scruffy man in a eye shadowing wide brim hat, a week old beard and grey frayed hair, despite his appearance not quite showing advanced age, popped up behind Emerie. “Careful! Careful… Can’t go touching everything you see in there things can be very very dangerous and very very very fragile…. Well not this one, glorified chakra glow sti- Blub… Ball? Yes glowball.” he plucked the ball in his hand and fiddled with it in his long and… surprisingly well manicured fingers, nails brought to fine points, akin to talons.

Here for something specific little one? Perhaps poisons? Bombs they don’t sell in those “upstanding” and boring shops up in the rich part of town of but don’t you worry Uncle Kirrei has it all and can get anything you need yes…

...

You are definitely Ines’ daughter, for sure… Yes… similar eyes… Masks… Yes.. those masks Don’t come cheap thats for sure… Uncle Kirrei supplies certain little things for those you know!

..You probably don’t… Doubt Ines’ ever talks about me…

Which is good, can’t have this shop’s location getting around yes…”

He stood silent and still for a second… before looking around. “...So are yea here for something or not?’

Emerie had fallen on her rear in Kirrei sudden appearance. Her bright grey eyes gazed up at strange man as he spoke. She’d never met anyone like him before, but he seemed friendly at the least. Standing back up, Emerie brushed herself off and took a deep breath. Hopefully she hadn’t ruined her first impression yet.

“I am not here to buy anything, I am only here to accompany my mother,” Emerie replied, looking to her mother who was gathering an assortment of various small objects and devices. Emerie didn’t recognize any of them. They looked like junk to her, but if her mother was getting them, then surely they were useful and important!

Ines looked over to Emere, frowning. “Don’t talk to that creeper. He might try and sell you or something.”

“Oh come on now Inny-chan you know I wouldn’t do that! No money in human trafficking, plus she is your kid so more likely to blow up the shop rather than…” he paused and walked to a counter top. “Regardless kiddo, take a look around, maybe you’ll find something you like, hell if yea know of something and you don’t see it speak up, i’m your man for finding anything in the world.”

“Anything?” Emerie asked, turning in a full circle as she scanned the shop once again. There was so much to take in that Emerie had no chance of making a decision now. However, there was one thing she wanted to get. She looked to Kierri and smiled. “Perhaps I could get the uhm… glowball? It would look quite nice as an accessory,” she asked as politely as she could in her thick accent.


“...An accessory?” he rose an eyebrow and looked at it. “I mean sure kid, yea know what, take it, can’t remember how I got it anyways, call it a welcoming gift to the exclusive club eh?

Just don’t tell anybody where yea found it lest yea wana end up in a buncha trouble don’tchyea know. Hush hush and all.” the hat veiled man smirked widely, almost cat like in it’s mischievousness, a finger to his lips.

“Last fellah to speak up didn’t speak no more, if yea get me.”

Emerie nodded. “I understand completely. Thank y-,” Emerie was cut off abruptly by Ines bopping her on the head.

“Did I say you could get anything, much less touch anything?” She growled at Emerie, who was still smiling. Ines flashed Kierri an annoyed look before plopping down what she intended to purchase on the counter along with a pouch full of money. Emerie didn’t remember her mother bringing it along.

“She didn’t buy it, so nothings wrong right? Call it a gift from a creepy old fellah HAhahahaha.” he laughed, quick fingers flipping through the money with practiced movements.

“Tell me if that thing is more than just a worthless bauble alright? And remember the password in here, otherwise theres no entry as yea might expect. If worse comes to worse, leave a letter if yea really, really need to order somethin’ but yea don’t got time to talk or whatever... “ he nodded to Ines.

“Got it, here you are.” he tossed the lighter bag to the woman.

Ines didn’t bother to check the remaining amount. She just turned to Emerie and pulled her hood farther forward, making the girl stumble a bit.

“Let’s go Em. Thanks again Kierri, I’ll probably be back in a couple weeks.” Ines said to Kierri as she tugged Emerie along behind her. Emerie turned back to Kierri and waved with a smile before her mother pulled her through the door, closing it behind her.

“Heh, another satisfied customer… Cute kid, wonder if she’ll come back..” Kierri huffed leaning back in his old lawn chair, feet on the counter. “...Crap… Gotta lock the damn door.”

 

[AtlannianSpy]

Team Kazou

Home Improvement
​

Title: Miscellaneous duties

Description: With the recent storm that had blown through town there is a great deal of distress amongst the people, as part of the village’s task force it is among our duties to attend and aid the civilian populace who are deemed high risk and vulnerable to these events and the effects thereof.

It is your duty to aid one such person as a piece of debris had struck the roof of their home and caused quite a bit of damage to the attic, the occupant of the household also states they heard odd noises in the attic and thus it has been deemed that you shall be sent to deal with the lodged debris and whatever is in the attic, if nothing is there simply complete the former task and you shall be compensated accordingly.

Notes from sensei: “The act of aiding those who cannot help those themselves is an act of compassion, that which even in our profession we must hold onto lest we walk down a dark path. Do good things and good shall come your way, perform well and be courteous and you shall be rewarded accordingly!”




It was an understatement to say that storm was bad, the winds themselves tore off many a shingle and rattled windows in their frames threatening to break them open, and at times flying debris did so. Luckily most if not all citizens got through the wind storm okay, if a bit worried, but their homes required some aid. While most simply were aided by handyman the common workforce was stretched to far, thus, this is where our genin come in. Honest work, for honest pay, said their sensei as he handed them the scroll. He would be observing and aiding should the debris be too cumbersome, but this was a good entry into D rank missions for his students, after such they would be able to choose missions amongst themselves with his guidance and final say of course. Nonetheless, he told them to meet him in the small roundabout nearby the location, he wondered about their reactions to this type of mission, perhaps they were wondering if they were going to see combat, in truth he doubted it but you never know.


It might be worth bringing up sparring lessons to his students, Though… in Shizuo’s case he might be black and blue form his mother… Fox that she was… he wondered how she was doing these days…

...Would it be awkward to ask her kid about her…?

Yea.. likely would be..

Then there was Sakura… Firey woman she was… and still is…

The man scratched his beard, eyes closed as he remembered the good old days…


“Mornin’ Sensei,”

When Shizuo arrived he was a little out of breath and scarfing down the remnants of a convenience store pastry.. Shizuo had been exhausted last night after his training session and slept in a little. Yuuka had snatched his covers away mercilessly before he could be properly late but then Mr.s Nagiri from the apartment next door just had to be trying lug three bags of fertilizer up to her apartment by herself!

How the heck does one old lady have that many pot plants anyway? Shizuo wondered grumpily. He’d managed to make up the time by running, even while he ate so that he nearly choked on his damn breakfast but at least he wasn’t too-

Shizuo looked around. “Wait, are Kohaku and Kojiro not here yet?” He asked Sensei, failing to hide a hint of exasperation.

I TOTALLY COULD HAVE WALKED!


“Welcome Shizuo, glad you made it.” He paused a moment to brush a bit off dirt off his student’s shoulder. “A simple mission today, consider it the gateway to long term work and better pay, but keep in mind! Simple doesn’t mean easy!” He laughed a bit before pausing again… he cleared his throat a bit…

“...So… How’s your mother.” He asked, totally and completely hiding his slight embarrassment.

“She’s uh...normal,” Shizuo said, his tone slightly suspicious. In the first place it was a nuisance that his teacher and mother knew each other. Every kid knew that the trick to surviving events like parent-teacher conferences was to play them off against each other, how was he supposed to do that when they kept talking about each other? “She mentioned last night that you should come over for dinner,” Shizuo added reluctantly then, after a pause, added even more reluctantly: “And that you should bring Lyn as well,” Kuroki hadn’t so much mentioned this idea as she had drilled it insistently into Shizuo’s head with the aid of her wooden sword, she had picked up on his reluctance and headed it off rather forcefully. Truth be told Shizuo may have very well “forgotten” to mention the invitation to his sensei otherwise, the instincts honed by years of torment at the hands of his sister and mother told him this Lyn girl was dangerous and he wanted to minimize his exposure to her.


“Really? Is that so?” his words came out a bit quick, like he was excited about this good news. He cleared his throat once more and straightened his posture. “Is that so? Well, I will see about it tonight then. It would be nice to be able to speak to Kuroki again after so much time. Won't stay long as I have important business to take care of a report to fill after this mission of course.”

He was playing it off… But…

It was rather hard to hide that smile on his face…

Really.. Really hard to hide it.


“T-tonight huh?” Shizuo said with an extremely forced smile. So it’s Kuroki and not Ms. Murata huh? The situation was clearly more dangerous than Shizuo had initially realized.

“Oooo, is Shizuo already in trouble with sensei~?” Kohaku chimed, skipping towards the pair. Her headband was loosely tied around her neck, though bruises could be glimpsed as she bounced. She still cradled her puppet against her chest, ignoring her shoulder’s complaints.

“Ah Kohaku, seems you’re on time!” Kazou smiled again towards the young lady. “And how is your little friend today? All set and ready to go?” he looked at the puppet, leaning down slightly.


Kojiro bounded into view of his team, a grin spread ear to ear in what looked to be an almost painful manner. 'First mission, first mission! Woo!’ He slid to a stop next to Shizuo and realized he was the last one to arrive. That's what he gets for letting his mom tell him to be careful and giving him all those kisses in the cheek…. Well, he was here and not late do last wasn't too awful! He waved excitedly to Kazou-sensei and both his teammates. This was gonna be great!


“Can we just get on with it?” Shizuo asked hastily. “Nobody’s in trouble alright?”

at least not for anything I actually did Shizuo added silently. “Anyway, it sounded relatively simple right? It’s basically tidying up and some repair work. I’ve done that kind of thing before, kinda,” Shizuo smacked his fist into his other hand, suddenly very keen to get the group moving and not talking about dinner plans.


“Of course Riku’s ready!” Kohaku replied indignantly. Though the mission itself… “Why do we have to go clean though? We’re ninja now shouldn’t we be doing more… ninja-y things? Hikaru’s off protecting a caravan!”


“Kojiro and our friend Riku, looks like everyone is here. Now then!” Kazou stood to his full height, crossing his arms. “Genin! This is your first mission, here you shall be putting your skills to the test in a more practical and home grown sense. We are protectors of the village as we are its agents, and if we do not aid our citizens we are no better than the enemies who wish to inflict harm upon them!

We may protect people from enemies, but if we neglect the small jobs we shall soon find us with no home to return to! D rank missions are simple in that way, they can be monotonous, but they are as crucial as an S rank if left to fester. Like a wound untreated, we aim to sterilize, bandage and take care of this wound.

Today, as you have read, we will be removing and clearing debris from a recent storm. The older gentleman living in the house cannot remove it from the roof, a branch that was heavy enough to smash a hole in his home, causing great damage and allowing water inside.

This man is our client!” he motioned behind him, his hand pointing towards an absolutely serene old man who was sitting on a nearby bench with his hands folded on his cane, wrinkled and tired but with a small happy smile on his face. “Hello kids, good to see you all are well! I remember when I was your age, ohohoho, so full of energy.” the old man chuckled a bit from his spot.

Sensei continued. “Jiji-san shall be giving you your pay once the job is complete, keep your heads on and call me should there be any issue.” He pointed to the house in question. It was small yet sturdy enough, a sweet little home that would warm the heart of any who saw it… If it didn’t have half a damn tree sticking out of its roof. To call it a branch was an understatement and a half… and it was clear that something.. Or rather multiple somethings, were skittering around inside its branches.

“Call if you need help!”


Kojiro mimicked Shizuo's gesture, punching his fist into his opposite palm. D rank or no, he was gonna take this seriously and give it his all! He had to make his family proud after all! Also, he was just having a fun time with his new friends! He should get food with Kohaku some time like he did with Shizuo now that he thought about it.

Eyeing the tree in the roof he pondered how they could remove it. It looked like it'd probably be too heavy for them to just lift it up. Plus there was the issue of whatever was moving around up there… He looked to Shizuo and Kohaku to see if they had any ideas of where to start.


Even while Kazou spoke, Kohaku’s scowl did little to let up. Finally turning towards the damaged house, she could only stare at the so called ‘branch.’ “How are we supposed to move THAT!?” She whined, loudly.


“Hmmm looks like the safest way to go about it would be to cut it up into smaller pieces and move them out one by one right?” Shizuo said, scratching his chin as he squinted up at the heavy branch, the leaves seem to quiver, which was odd because Shizuo couldn’t feel a breeze at all, but it probably wasn’t anything important. “Using a kunai wouldn’t be practical… We could borrow a saw from the old man or maybe one of his neighbors, but there’s no guarantee anyone will have one since we’re in the city so it could take a while to find one…” Shizuo glanced down at the sword he was carrying. Even though it wasn’t the whole tree it was still a pretty thick branch, but Shizuo had been training a lot lately, he felt like he’d gotten a little stronger at least.

“Guess we’ll try this,” Shizuo muttered, suddenly leaping up towards the branch and drawing his sword in a flash of steel to try and cut through it.


With his intense strike, the wood split upon the blade!!! But.. the trunk did not quite sever, in fact split was all it did as the blade was now… Well.. Quite stuck in the green wood of the tree. He got a good bit in so the tree was holding rather strongly onto the blade.

However, the tree seemed to shake a bit out from the hole with the strike.. Or perhaps further in? It was a toss-up until they had eyes on the inside it seems.


Ahh..damn, Mum’s going to kill me, Shizuo thought, dangling uselessly from the hilt of his sword by one hand. Unwilling to relinquish his grip on the weapon Shizuo was now hanging meters above the ground, hoping vainly that his weight would be sufficient to tug his sword free. Shizuo could already imagine the training session she was going to put him through when he got home.

“Can you two put your weight on the end of the branch?” Shizuo called down, ignoring the ominous shaking of the tree branch, it was obviously just doing that because he was moving about right? “If we can bend the branch a little the cut will open up and I can uh.. Get my sword back,”


Not only did they have a massive tree to clear out of someone’s house, now one of her teammates was stuck. Kohaku could only stare nonplussed at the scene playing out.


Kojiro watched Shizuo in amazement at his cool attempt to cut the big hunk of wood in half. Unfortunately, it didn't work out and he got stuck which was… decidedly less cool. Looking to Kohaku he was disappointed to find her just staring and not really making much effort to help. So Kojiro flicked through the hand signs for Gale Palm and increased his speed as much as he could.

Leaping up he landed on the closest end of the branch with a wobble. Then, without paying much mind to the shaking of the leaves, he ran towards the big end and prepped to leap and slam back down on it. His plan was simply “knock the tree branch out of the house”. While his weight was likely not enough on its own he figured a drastic increase in speed might make up the difference. Then they could simply have Shizuo pull out his sword once he'd have proper leverage on the ground.


With the shaking and the small split, it was indeed enough to split the branch in two! Sadly, a good bit still fell back inside the attic, but Shizuo’s sword was indeed loose! And a young man who was bouncing on the branch may gain a bit of a bruise or two from the fall if he weren’t careful. Nonetheless, there was indeed progress… if an issue of smaller pieces still left inside the hole, it would merit going inside, luckily the hole is big enough for the group to slip into it seems.


“There…” Shizuo said, panting and brushing the stray leaves from his jacket. “All…” He picked up his hat from where it had fallen on the ground and slapped it against his leg before replacing it on his head. “According…” Lastly, he retrieved his sword and resheathed it. “To plan!” Shizuo put his hands on his hips and nodded. “Now all we have to do is get the pieces down from there! I’m sure if all three of us get to work up there we’ll be done in no time!” He glanced over at where Kojiro had landed. “If you’re okay over there we can get to work shifting this section, Kohaku instead of standing around and gawking you could get up there and start tossing down the smaller branches and debris you can handle by yourself,”


Kohaku scowled at him, did Shizuo not realize how tiny she was? Moving a fallen tree wasn't exactly within her capabilities. Besides, who put him in charge!? ”Lucky you didn't break your sword, ” she muttered under her breath before bounding up into the hole in the roof. The kunoichi had scarcely vanished before sticks, pieces of wood, and shingles began raining down. Most of which were conspicuously aimed for Shizuo.


The inside of the attic was damp and very dusty. It was clear when the branch came hurtling into the room an old box was split open, it’s contents filling the room. A couple old pictures littered the area, most of an old squad pictured in many of the photos. Growing older and older with each photo seen. Amongst them was a broken hilt to a sword, a split apart fighting fan, and a nasty looking dagger. One pitted, dulled with time and with the lingering scent of ages old blood.

Alongside this was a more gruesome sight…

A piece of rope, tied in a necklace, ringed with ears.

A jar, filled with curiously pupiled eyes, some normal amongst them.

And finally a skull, clean and dry bone shining in the light coming in from above…

The sticks and such still lay around, marking your task yet incomplete.


Kojiro let out an airy huff of pain as he got back to his feet. The bruises and scratches from falling stung and burned unpleasantly. However he didn't stew over it for long as it was, honestly, entirely his fault. He wasn't going to complain when his plans hurt him if they succeeded in the process. Dusting himself off he eyed Kohaku as she moved to jump up and help Shizuo clean the inside.

Scratching his chin with a slight wince, Kojiro eyed the outside. There were a fair amount of branches and pieces of debris over windows and on the roof that he could see. Considering the other two seemed to have the inside bit handled, and the largest piece was taken care of, he decided to handle the outside bits. Making sure to carefully monitor and measure his chakra he began using bursts of wind from Gale Palm to clear the debris from the house. Like this he could reach even the roof from the safety of the ground!


After lecturing Kohaku Shizuo had turned his attention to moving the fallen section of the tree from the middle of the yard to a tucked away corner where it would be less in the way, so he was totally unprepared when a smaller branch came sailing out to land on the back of his head.

“Gah! Hey, Kohaku watch where you’re -Arggh!” Shizuo broke off as a shingle bounced off his shoulder mid-sentence.

That was definitely on purpose! That little-

Shizuo was by now alert enough to bat away the third piece of debris aimed for him with one arm and he was able to finish shifting the tree trunk in time to spin around to catch the fourth piece…

Which never came.

“Kohaku?” Shizuo called, puzzled. Then he sighed.

Is she slacking off again already?Shizuo wondered, leaping up to the rooftop to check in on Kohaku and start shifting the larger section of trunk still up there.


When Shizuo finished his climb, he wouldn't find his small teammate waiting for him. At first, it would be hard to make out, standing motionless in a darkened corner. Though the genin’s gaze stirred it into motion, bringing it creeping into the light.

Draped in a moldy, tattered sheet like some burial shroud the only visible part of its body was its skull, locked in an eternal grin. A grisly necklace of mutilated trophies dangled from its neck and unseen hands held a shattered sword and tessen. The broken blade clattered to the floor as its invisible hand reached up to instead grip the worn dagger clenched between its teeth, silently pointing the weapon at Shizuo.


“G--GARGH!” Shizuo let forth a yell and stumbled backwards as the terrifying creature lurched towards him, losing his footing on the edge of the roof and tumbling over the edge to land with a groan.

“S-Sensei! Kojiro!” Spluttered Shizuo, bolting up after a second and wincing. “There’s some kind of creature up there! I’m pretty sure it ate Kohaku!”


With all the commotion, their sensei leapt forth, quite literally as he landed in front of Shizuo. “Kojiro, see to Shizuo!” he ordered before leaping once more into the hole. Arms held up in defense of himself and wrecking any branches left in the way.

“Kohaku?” he called into the area, gazing around for this creature.


The same beast as before still flitted about, just barely outside of the light’s reach. It tilted its head at the jounin, pointing the same weathered dagger at him. The sound of barely suppressed giggling drifted from somewhere above.

Kazou sighed lightly “...Kohaku… Come out…” The man eyed the ghost with a raised eyebrow. ”...A bunch of old trophies…? Still holding onto these things are you old man..?”


No longer a point in trying to hide, the stifled giggling grew into full-fledged laughter. “Aw, come on sensei…” Kohaku dropped down from the ceiling bringing the improvised puppet closer, “isn’t this stuff awesome?”


Well, he definitely wasn’t dealing with your average young lady. He knew many a young girl who would scream and run for the hills when faced with this stuff… Not her though, had to give her some credit.

“In a way yes, but these are not something to be played with. Given the fact they are… Well... Pieces of living beings…” he tried his best to… Well... make certain she knows this… Wasn’t a collection of toys… if she even thought that at all.

“Let's put them back for now, We can’t be playing with the client’s stuff.” his smile was returning.. If even he was… pretty creeped out by the kid.


Kohaku huffed a sigh but still obeyed. A few subtle movements of her fingers sent the various items back to where she had found them. A few more and Riku came scampering back, bounding up onto his usual perch on her shoulder.


At Shizuo's sudden yell Kojiro turned a surprised gaze towards his friend. Just in time to panic and attempt to use Gale Palm to form a cushion of air where Shizuo would land. Unfortunately, he had never even considered such an application before with the blast of wind, and had no clue if it worked. He rushed to his side, leaving the monster to their sensei. As he reached him he sent a questioning mental snippet of the word “okay?”


Kojiro’s wind blast didn’t quite halt Shizuo’s fall, but it did have the unintended side effect of propelling him into the pile of branches and sticks that had been gathered, which softened his landing at least a little.

“Arggh dammit,” Shizuo mattered, raising an arm to wave off Kojiro’s concern. “I’m fine, I’m fine,” Struggling to his feet and shooting a dirty glance up at the roof top as Kohaku’s giggle echoed out of it. “Gah! You little brat!” Shizuo shouted, shaking his fist up at the roof. “I wish you had been eaten!”


Kazou rubbed the back of his head. “If yea paid half as much effort in ninjutsu as you did your pranks you’d be a master in a few months. Speaking of, report for extra training this evening. Don’t play hooky either, there's another hour of clones in it if you do…” he paused and looked around. “...Scratch that I have to go visit an old friend. But you should train nonetheless.”

Kazou hefted the last of the branch out, landing well away from the group. “Seems that's the last of it. Lets go and report the success.


And one last thing, clever use of Riku, keep it up and you’ll master puppetry in the foreseeable future.” He gave the young lady’s hair a good ruffle before exiting the hole… Only to stop at the hole…

He shifted… Pushed… As the roof around him heaved. “...It… appears i’m stuck.”

”Definitely didn't have any issues getting in here…” Kohaku muttered behind him.


“Stuck what do you mean stu--...oh,” Shizuo stood up groggily and then looked up to their client’s roof to spot exactly half of his sensei’s considerable bulk poking out of the hole.

“Oooof course,” Shizuo muttered under his breath, then louder. “Alright nobody panic! This is just like the time Yuuka got stuck in our air conditioning vent after listening to too many spy serials. I’ll go borrow some vegetable oil, Kojiro, you go find the actual door to the attic and get ready to blow him out with your wind release,” Shizuo dusted himself off, for the second time that day and then set off for the next house over. If there was one thing Shizuo was confident of it was his ability to get along with neighbors so this was finally his chance to shine, not that he was all that excited about it.


Within roughly a few minutes, the stage was set, with the vegetable oil applied and wind release used upon the poor jonin’s behind, he shot out of the hole like a missile, the force sending the big man clear over several buildings and landing directly into a passing milk delivery cart…

Needless to say, the cart was destroyed and its contents now covered a severely unhappy jonin…

"Well... okay, that didn't happen with Yuuka," Shizuo admitted, rubbing the back of his head. "I uh... I'm pretty sure milk is good for your skin though? Sensei?"

Orikanyo
AllHailDago
KageYuuki

 

[Ganryu]

Genin Fight Club
Okuni vs Shizuo ​

Is this… really the place? This is starting to seem a little shady Shizuo wondered, as he crept through the abandoned warehouse, slowly encroaching upon the sound of distant cheering, slaps and thuds. Over stimulating thoughts of organ sellers, kidnappers or plain old thieves ran through SHizuo’s mind as he made his way between rusted shipping containers so he couldn’t help but grip the hilt of his sword even tighter than usual.

It had all started with the flier. Shizuo was normally satisfied with the training his mother gave him. That was to say, he was normally exhausted and black and blue after one of their usual sessions so the the idea of seeking out additional work, on top of his academy studies as well, had never really appealed to Shizuo. Ever since Yuuka’s fall at the arcade though Shizuo had been starting to think that he needed to get stronger more quickly, so he’d come to the outdoor training field with the vague idea that something or someone there might be of use in that pursuit.

The training fields themselves had been a little disappointing. The wooden dummies and targets were about the same as the ones Shizuo and his mother had set up on top of the roof, albeit with much more room. It would probably be easier to practice ninjutsu and shurikenjutsu here, where there was no risk of debris or rogue projectiles putting his neighbours in danger, but right now Shizuo was interested in polishing the skills he was already proficient in rather than starting to pick up something new.

But it was at the training field that Shizuo had noticed the flier.

Are You Really Satisfied With This Much?

Are you a genin? Feeling dissatisfied with rounding up stray cats and manual labor? Worried that your strength, your true strength is stagnating while the machine of society grinds you down into a good little cog? Are you wondering what’s missing from your stale life of consumer goods and following orders?

If you aren’t, come to the old warehouse on 47 Shirotaku street and fight it out. It won’t solve anything but that won’t matter.


Back in the present Shizuo suddenly rounded a corner and came upon a roaring circle of teenagers, most of them Shizuo’s age or within a few years. From the grunts, and the thwacking sound of flesh on flesh coming from within the circle, there was some kind of fight going on there. Shizuo stood up on the tips of his toes and that combined with his natural height was enough to get him a shallow look at the proceedings.

In the centre of the circle was a loose tangle of limbs that could be identified with some effort as two boys, the larger of whom had managed to mount his opponent and began raining clumsy blows down on his face. A bo staff lying abandoned on the floor near the boys and the blood on their faces told Shizuo the fight had been going on for a while and was probably about to end. Suddenly the boy in the lower position opened his mouth and ejected a torrent of water, sending his opponent hurtling upwards towards the roof of the warehouse and then straight back down to land with a hard smack on the floor.

The circle of onlookers erupted into ecstatic cheering, as two teens wearing medical armbands ran into the circle to tend to the fighters.

“AH! We got another one boys and girls!” A cocky voice said, somehow managing to rise above the volume of the crow, THe voice belonged to a wiry boy with gelled up, blond hair and large, dark sunglasses that hid away most of his expression except for a cocky grin.

“That’s two now so I guess we get to have ourselves a newbie match!”

Laughter emitted from the crowd as a Miko approached. “That looks fun!” Without so much as a flinch at the previous injuries, Okuni approached, bowing before the crowd politely, before doing a slow dance on the stage, waiting for her partner, it looked like a series of rolling waves.

“You guys just get it! Don’t let the man get you down, let yourself get strong, let yourself fight! I’m so down! HIT ME!”

She moved to pop a pill out of a bottle on her sleeves, but then thought about it, and put it away, she could do with a little craziness! Every where around her there were imps,beings she could put down with impunity!

Shizuo frowned, opened his mouth to speak and then paused as if not sure what to say.

“Alright look,” he said finally. “I don’t think this is really my uh...scene. You guys look like you’re having a great time so I think I’m just gonna leeeavvve you to it and-”

Shizuo turned to leave but stopped as the crowd closed in around him, reforming into a ring around him, Okuni and the spiky haired announcer.

“FIRST RULE OF GENIN FIGHT CLUB!” Yelled the announcer, eliciting delighted howls from the audience “IF IT’S YOUR FIRST NIGHT, YOU HAVE TO FIGHT!”

…”I though that was like… the eigth rule or something,” called out a lone voice from somewhere near the back.

“Wasn’t the first rule ‘Don’t talk about genin fight club?” asked another voice.

“Yeah we had to scrap that one when we got no new members for like five months,” said the announcer dismissively.

“What about the no shirt thing? Wasn’t that like, the sixth rule?" asked another voice.

“OBVIOUSLY we had to ditch that one as well once girls started turning up,” said the announcer, clearly becoming exasperated. “Look it was for effect alright!? Effect. The point is-” he turned back to Shizuo. “Listen, man, you can leave if you really want to. You can head right on out and go back to your ordinary life. But you came here looking for something more than ordinary right? To become more than ordinary,”

Shizuo’s expression twisted as he chewed on his lip thoughtfully. That much was true at least, being ordinary wouldn’t get him noticed. Shizuo didn’t really like fighting girls, even when they were serious he couldn’t help but think about his sister. Still, this girl didn’t look all that tough, maybe he could end it quickly and cleanly…

“Alright, let’s do this,” Shizuo said, taking a red baseball cap out of his pouch and putting it on. There wasn’t any sun to keep out of his eyes in here so but it was the principle of the thing.

Okuni continued to dance in the middle of the crowd giggling a bit. THIS was a place she could like, no deception, people already were plain on what they were doing. To Okuni, she almost saw a bunch of imps, and smiled cruelly, this was going to be fun! Who was first, who was first! There was one in front of her putting something on his head. “Finally decided on doing something! Come on, just be honest, the man isn’t in this fight! Just us! Go on, go on! She continued to goad without breaking the dance, seemingly cheering she rolled her wrists infront of her. It seemed like she had no intentions of the first strike.

Shizuo frowned. Fighting a girl already felt gross, but having to hit first? He hesitated but then remembered a trick his Mother had taught him for situations like this. Granted this had probably not been exactly what she had in mind.

Shizuo tucked his sword underneath his arm and wove some seals with his now free hands.

Genjutsu: Stained Honor

“If you aren’t gonna make the first move you should just go home,” Shizuo called over, already feeling guilty about what he was saying but counting on the subtle yin chakra lacing his words to do the heavy lifting of provoking Okuni. “Cause no one here wants to see your average at best dancing!”

Okuni said nothing as she finished the form, but reached into her hair, pulling out her comb, her ‘sword’. She normally wouldn’t use this one someone outside of real combat… but her eyes locked with Shizuo as she approached him, completely without defense, getting closer and closer. He’d have plenty of openings.

As Okuni approached, Shizuo hurriedly assumed a proper stance and then, as she entered the ideal range he dashed forward, launching a powerful iai slash at her head, using the reverse edge of his blade to try and secure a quick knock out. He’d apologize after the fight, but for now he was sensing a dangerous vibe from the girl and wanted to finish things before they got out of hand.

The Iai strike would hit Okuni head on, who didn’t bother to dodge it. Simply flicking her head at the last minute, but it was nowhere fast enough, it was like the tortoise and the hare. At the brief strike, she fell dazed to the ground, the world spinning around her, catching herself at the ground at the last moment. Shizuo would feel a downward pull on his blade as her hair attempted to wrap around it as soon as he’d collided with her head. Okuni was still dazed, but unless he had a miracle, his blade would be caught inside her hair, wrapped like a whip around it.

Shizuo felt a satisfying crack as his strike went home, but then a very unsatisfying resistance as he tried to withdraw his sword and resheath it, only for the hair wrapped around it to hold it in place.

CRAP! Shizuo thought, desperately giving another tug. Did his sword get knotted in their accidentally? No hair didn’t just wrap around stuff like that, there had to be some kind of trick to it. Fine forget it- Keep the pressure on! Shizuo thought, recalling his mother’s advice, he had one more weapon to rely on anyway.

Shifting his still entangled blade slightly so that reverse edge was aligned properly, Shizuo swung the empty sheath in his other hand upwards to strike the blade, driving the sword against Okuni again like a nail hit by a hammer.

Okuni blinked in the daze as she felt her hair tugged, bringing her back to reality, and seeing her opponent move to strike at her. Eyes glared up at him from the ground, and she sprung forward, rather than away from danger, into it, standing and launching herself closer... She made a cross strike at his left hand with hers, the comb threatening to tear open his hand if he continued the strike against the sword. She would probably have tried a headbutt if him holding the sword didn’t also stop her from going too far in either direction, held down by her bound hair too. She had the center in this close range, though he had control of her head.

GAH! TOO CLOSE! TOO CLOSE! Shizuo thought, his cheeks flushing red despite the murderous intent being directed at him as Okuni rushed in to attack. Shizuo was able to angle his sheath so that the teeth of the combs entered the opening where a sword would normally go and pushed back to lock the two weapons together.

Although Shizuo felt that he was a little stronger then his opponent the gap was smaller then he expected and Okuni had one more arm free so this position favored her. Shizuo couldn’t tell how strong Okuni’s hair was due to whatever was strengthening it, but it was time to test that out, he needed his sword back.

Shoving forwards with the sheath locked into the comb and the sword tangled in Okuni’s hair, Shizuo tried to push her far away enough to get his leg up and launch a pushing front kick at Okuni’s stomach while pulling back on his weapons, attempting to recover them through a rather clumsy game of tug and war.

Okuni reacted instinctually, wrapping her arm in front of the kick, reducing its effectiveness and catching the leg fairly easily. However, her hair was not, infact, all that reinforced. A tearing sound resounded as the loudest sound that could be heard that match, not in decimals, but in reaction. Okuni’s eyes shot wide open. She lifted one of her feet, and brought it down hard against Shizuo’s planted leg with her hard wooden sandal, tearing at the skin from halfway up his shin down to his ankles if it hit. Her eyes were open, her pupils narrow, her lips pursed, if twitching a little bit.

“Ahhh…” Shizuo froze. Unlike the audience, he was close enough to audibly parse the ungodly tearing sound that his gambit produced. The boy stood stock still even as Okuni’s sandal tore down his leg, opting instead to stare dumbly down at the loose, subtly perfumed strands now ornamenting his sword.

I..Really thought she would let go Shizuo thought, his frizzled brain going into overdrive as he tried to remember every bit of training, every word of wisdom she had imparted to him, trying to connect any part of it to his current situation. What Shizuo eventually dredged up was an incident from a years ago, during his little sisters twintail phase, when Shizuo had been practicing sword drills and accidentally lopped off one of her ponytails, rendering the normally precocious Yuuka absolutely inconsolable for nearly two weeks.

“Yeah I give up,” Shizuo said, his expression suddenly turning determined as he carefully sheathed his sword, after delicately shaking off the loose hair, and then lowered it to the floor, raising his hands. “I surrender, I didn’t get into the whole shinobi thing to tear out girls’ hair. You should get some good hits in to even the score though,” He said, closing his eyes and bracing himself to receive whatever punishment came his way.

Okuni ripped at him with her comb, aiming straight at the throat. It stopped inches in front of his skin, glistening in the lighting of the room. She snarled and turned around, walking off, letting off a killing intent wherever she went, the aura coming off of her encouraging people to get out of the way as she did.

True to his word Shizuo stood stock still as the comb flew to within inches of his throat, his eyes tightly shut for several seconds until he opened one to see Okuni stalking away with a deadly aura. Shizuo exhaled softly as the stunned crowd parted to let her through, it seemed as though he’d gotten off easy.

“Hey wait!” He called out suddenly, chasing after her despite every instinct in his being telling him to go the opposite. “You should take this- for the walk home I mean,” he said, taking off his cap and holding it out to Okuni. “Actually you can keep it as long as you need it, I know it’s not much though,”

Okuni turned with a palm straight to his nose, her arm straightening like a bar for impact, the aura had never really left her. She still REALLY wanted to kill the ninja behind her, and the offering a hat was only insult to injury! First, he cut her hair, then he told her she was so ugly she needed a hat in public!

She turned once again, striding off with a confident gait, and her chin up, despite the bad haircut.

Shizuo’s head snapped backward and the rest of him followed suit shortly after, until he hit the ground splayed out. The hat he had held out flipped into the air and then wafted down slowly until it landed on top of his face.

“Aright. Cool,” Shizuo said, his voice dazed and muffled by his cap as he held up an arm to give a shaky thumbs up.

“LAAAAAADIIIES AND GENTLEMEN WE HAVE A WINNER!” Shouted the announcer, suddenly breaking the silence to try and restore the energy in the room. “EVERYONE GIVE A BIG HAND TO MIKO!” The crowd erupted in cheers and applause as Okuni left.

Underneath his hat, Shizuo let out a sigh. “Girls are scary,” he muttered, recovering his strength on the floor.

 

[KageYuuki]

Haru Mori - Squad Tatsuya
Shifting his weight, Haru peered through the metal bars blocking the entrance to the Mori’s property. The front yard appeared empty - provided there weren't any lingering self-proclaimed shadows - which was good. All he wanted to do was get up to his room unnoticed. Walking around town with Tatsuya had done little to ease the lingering ache from the seal placed on him, training was among the last things the genin wanted to do right now.

Just gotta get upstairs before anyone notices. Can just say I'm reading through that pile of scrolls someone left in there or… Something... Gingerly pushing against the gate, Haru cringed as the old hinges creaked loudly.

“To be fair, I noticed before the gate.” His father said behind him, arms crossed. Not a good sign. He glared Haru down. “And just where were you? I don’t really care about your comings and goings, but you missed our training. Your sensei’s not in charge of everything. Dojo. Now.”

Stifling a yelp, Haru spun to face him. ”I-I was just… Sensei was looking at the injuries from our trip the other day, ” he said weakly. While not entirely untrue, Haru hadn't exactly shared the part about the seal and missing memories. ”Y’know, from the bridge breaking? H-he still wants me to be taking it easy.”

“I didn’t get a note. Move it. I’ll be ‘light’. I don’t want your storm release going to waste.” Haru’s Father started to walk, simply expecting Haru to follow. It was an order, and Haru would know it. He didn’t say a word as he walked.

Haru started after him a few moments later, shoulders slumped in defeat. It wasn't like he could really argue the matter. The dojo itself wasn't anything spectacular. A large, open room on the building’s first level allowed for clan members to hone their skills. Striking dummies lined the far wall, scarred from the occasional shurikenjutsu practice. Though no one was allowed to throw weapons indoors until they could consistently hit the targets.

Haru stood across from Junnichi in the center of the dojo. His gaze focused more on the wooden floor than his father in front of him.

Junnichi held the sign of confrontation, with one hand in front of Haru, waiting for the reverse to occur. As soon as Haru would return, and let Haru make the first move, even as he reached into his back pouch, pulling out two spikes.

Letting out a slow, shaky breath, Haru finally returned the handsign and lunged. A feinted punch. He sprang to the side opposite of the hand his father held behind his back and swung a kick for the man’s ribs.

Junnichi pulled out the spikes, countering by thrusting the blunt of the spikes into Haru’s shin.

“Haru…” He sounded disappointed. “We both know your taijutsu is… lacking. Try a little harder. You are my pride. Show it.”

Haru grimaced, staggering back a step. “Light” or not, he knew that was going to leave a decent bruise. “Am I, now?” He was surprised by his own tone, blatant bitterness clinging to the words.

Junnichi rolled his eyes. “Not this again. You have a kekkei genkai not seen in centuries. Of course you are my pride, why would I waste time on something I’m not proud in. Of course, the constant tantrums could have some doing with, act a little more proud of it yourself!

Just… just break this barrier, and we’ll call it a night, so you can go write in your diary or whatever you emo kids do..”

Junnichi threw the two spikes to his side, lightning sparking between them before a barrier rose between the two, solid blue, and constantly sparking.

Haru glared at the man and the barrier for a long moment before straightening. This was far from the first time he’d seen this barrier, something he couldn’t break through with physical blows. No, he was expected to use his Storm Release to shatter it. Though it looked stronger than normal, to say nothing of his current inability to cast even the simplest jutsu.

“I can’t.”

“Son… please don’t be rebellious. You’ll be the one to make this clan great again, just try. Hit it with your best shot.”

Junnichi looked… tired. He grabbed two spikes, and threw it on the other side of Haru making a box.

“Sure, you might hate me, but I do believe you can do it. This clan’s going to be great. If I have to be the devil to do that, I will.”

The younger Mori clenched his fists, “not ‘I won’t,’ I can’t.” Haru bit out the words even as he was quite literally boxed in. “I can’t mold chakra at all right now.”

Junichi’s brow furrowed, and he clenched his fist as he bit his lip. Taking a deep breath he made a hand sign, the barriers disappearing. He spoke quietly.

“Explain. Is this Tatsuya’s ‘experimentations’?”

A sense of dread quickly quenched the simmering anger. Haru swallowed past the lump that formed in his throat, “No, sensei had nothing to do with it. I told you I got hurt the other day.”

Junichi remained silent as he waited for the rest of the story, crossing his arms.

Haru took a breath, “That’s where I was today, having it looked at. It’ll heal, but until then I can’t even mold chakra. Just trying hurts.”

“Having ‘what’ looked at? There are few ways to damage your chakra system I know of that a sensei wouldn’t be in charge of stopping.”

“It doesn’t matter,” the genin said finally. “Sensei had nothing to do with it and it’ll heal soon enough. Be like nothing even happened.”

Junnichi continued to stare down Haru. “What is it? Show me.”

“It’s…” Haru retreated a few steps, “Look, I’ll make up training later, okay?”

Junnichi didn’t unfold his arms. “This is more important. You ARE my pride, I’m not a man who lets my pride get damaged and walks away. What is IT? What’s wrong?”

There was a long, strained silence between the two. Haru wanted to just walk away, be anywhere but here. Do anything other than be interrogated by his father for answers he simply didn’t have. “I don’t know,” the words were barely audible, clinging to a shaky breath.

Junnichi took a deep breath. “Then how do you know you can’t cast jutsu? Did you burn out doing a jutsu, hold on too long? Some sort of seal? How’d you get hurt? I’m not going to just drop it. If you lose your storm release, the clan is sunk.”

“Because I’ve tried and nothing happened.” Haru shook his head, “it isn’t permanent.”

“You’re going to give me a stroke… I’m not asking you a hard question, and I’ve asked FIVE times.” Junnichi redid his handsigns, the barrier raising, and sat down.

“It’s this… thing, okay?” Grabbing the collar of his shirt, Haru pulled it aside enough to show the pale blue seal.

Junnichi looked at the seal, and undid the barrier, sighing. “Was that so hard. I’m going to have… words with your sensei. Maybe we can move you to a squad where I DON’T worry about my son being experimented on or developing Stockholm syndrome. Maybe withdraw you completely and train you from the clan itself.” He turned to leave, not bothering to hear his son’s explanation.

“He had nothing to do with it!” His words falling on deaf ears, Haru moved without thinking. He snatched one of the spikes from the floor and threw it at Junnichi.

Junnichi seemed distracted as a spike landed straight into his shoulder, causing the patriarch to drop to one knee. He glanced at Haru with a look that would say ‘you’ll pay for this later’, and kept walking out the door, now more on guard. “If I were you, I would be in your room before I say anything else.”

It wasn’t until he left that Haru fully registered what he’d just done. “What the hell was I thinking?” Did the mark have something to do with it? Just stress? He wasn’t sure he even wanted to know as he scrambled out of the dojo.

 

[Ganryu]

Tea Time
Team Miyako
Okuni & Asami​

Okuni sat down at a small traditional table with Asami as her mother poured them both tea.

“So yeah, there was a genin fight club, fought a swordsman, and that’s how I got a haircut…. Yeah… Still won. Should have seen what he looked like.”

Okuni looked at the tea hesitantly before sipping it, leaning in to whisper to Asami. “My Mom’s very traditional….”

Asami sat cross-legged at the small table, feeling a bit out of place in the traditional household, her eyes wandering around the interior as Okuni explained her new haircut which Asami found surprisingly suiting for the genin.

“Wow...Kinda wish I could’ve seen it, not the other guy but just the whole club, in general, seeing how it’s now everyday you stumble across something like that.”

Grasping the cup lightly in her hands as she examined the tea as well before taking a small sip, raising an eyebrow at the obvious statement. “Just in style or like parenting-wise? My dads pretty old fashioned as well.”

Okuni tensed up at the word dad, and Asami would see the cup crack. She smiled though. She noted her mom leaving the room. “Oops. Sorry ‘bout that. Anyways, I wear shrine maiden clothes cause she does. She’s all about being proper. I kinda idolize her though, wish I could be just like her. Like teh whole clothes thing, making these robes like steal is her schtick. She’s alot more creative than me though… Still, not like I’m talented, I’ve worn her out training before! What’s training with your folks like?”

Asami flinched a bit as she saw the cup crack, looking from the damaged vessel back to the genin. Shrugging a bit at the apology as she caught a glimpse of the older woman leaving the pair, a wave of familiarity washed over her for a moment as Okuni went on to explain the relationship with her parents. “It’s nice that you have that connection, my parents are a bit old fashion in a sense of sticking to clan traditions, my mom is more relaxed and into her work than anything else, and my dad takes my training too serious...I don’t think I’d be able to even get a scratch on him while training since he doesn’t hold back at all, and taijutsu is one big thing he wants me to focus on and since I have the combat prowess of wet paper it just makes training more difficult.”

“How do you take training too seriously?” Okuni asked with an honest to goodness look of confusion. She shook it away. “I don’t see a problem though, you’re pretty smart, and that genjutsu’s pretty useful. Me, I just keep getting up. Swore that I don’t ever want to lose. See, I, uh… don’t have the best… relationship with my Dad.” The cracks spidered up the cup. ”But cause of that, I wanna outdo him. When people hear me, they won’t even have the chance to think of his last name! Scared to death that they will before I get that strong though myself though… Well, that’s my plan, what’s yours? Outdo them too?.”

Asami nodded lightly for a moment, “That may have been a bad choice of words, he’s intense I’ll say that much.” Asami said as she thought back to her hours of training, on top of the academy work. “He’s not a big fan of it, and often makes me work a lot harder so I won’t feel the need to rely on genjutsu, but the end result is self-evident.” Watching the cracks slither around the cup with fearful anticipation of the final shatter, Asami shifted lightly in her spot as she listened intently, the sudden shift in attitude directed towards Okuni’s father stirred a familiar feeling inside of her as she eagerly nodded her approval and understanding- for the most part. “The plan was to break off from his teachings as do things my way...but a part of me does want to surpass him and show him that I’m capable of going beyond his ideal standards, so maybe I’ll do just that.”

Okuni put down her cup, though it leaked down on the table.

“Yeah, sounds fine. Let me know if ya need any help. I’m a taijutsu ‘expert’ anyways. Don’t expect me to go easy though. If I ever lose….” Okuni looked at the leaking cup, chanting to herself. “I can’t lose… I can’t lose….” She seemed lost in thought, but snapped out of it.

“We’ll get you strong enough to show that jerk of a father what you’re made of. Lets both get strong!” Okuni pounded the table triumphantly, and her cup finally exploded. “Oops.” She went to get a rag. “By the way, hear that Haku quit?”

Asami held onto her cup as Okuni’s damaged one sat on the table, the leakage hinting towards nothing good.

“That’d be amazing if you could! And I geuss in exchange I can teach you some genjutsu or at least help you learn to start resisting it.” Asami gave a slight smile which was soon replaced with a look of shock as Okuni’s cup finally gave out. “I mean so far as a team we’ve been pretty good, but I agree I don’t wanna lose either!”

A gentle nod followed Okuni’s question, “Yeah, I guess it was too much for him, plus I heard the old people got the best of him at Hidezaki.” She shuddered at the thought, “In the meantime I guess it’s back to training until we get our next mission.” She paused a bit after that, her focus sharp on her left hand before snapping back into reality.

“So your clan...was big on religion and all that? I mean with the whole shrine maiden thing going on it just has me curious.”

“Oh, that’s my mother’s clan, the Tanabata.” Okuni didn’t mention that she had her mother’s last name. “Yeah, its extremely religious. Our jutsu array is mostly after clothing and turning cloth into a weapon, or really anything we have on us. Guess you haven’t really gotten to see it, but I’m armed to the teeth right now! The comb in my hair can crack blades its so tough, my clothing’s an armor, my sleeves are as strong as my fists… used to be my hair was a whip, but…”

Okuni brushed through it nervously.

“Anyways, yeah, I’d like that. Don’t have much against genjutsu other than willpower, but, well… that could be bad if a genjutsu like, confused me I guess. That, and I’d be a great training partner! I never get tired! Hit me a hard as ya want, I’ll just keep getting up. Haven’t gone down yet. Actually. Hey, wanna hit me with your best genjutsu? I wanna know what if feels like.”

Asami was amazed and taken back by the sudden revelation, while she sat there unarmed and virtually defenseless, her teammate was armed and ready for combat whenever the situation called for it.

“That’s amazing, and it means you’re never unarmed!” A look of awe spread across Asami’s face as she listened to the list of things Okuni could do and began thinking up ways they could combine both their skills.

“I mean I’m sure even with short hair you could give a pretty mean headbutt?” She was a bit unsure on how it all worked but ideas were nice, but the topic of genjutsu suddenly piqued her interest. “Yeah I guess that would be pretty bad, but I’m sure we’ll be able to work around it.” She paused for a moment at the odd but understandable request, tapping both her index fingers together as faint sparks danced between them.

“Well I do have one...but I need you to hit me, so maybe we shouldn’t be indoors? That way you don’t break anything...or me.”

“‘kay .” Okuni said, a small mad glint in her eyes. She called out. “Hey, Mom, we’re going out to the shrine, I’ll put the dishes up later.”

She got up, leading Asami out to the backyard, a clearing with a small pond maintained to size, leading to a shrine in the middle with a fabric inside the shrine, along with a painting of Tanabata Hime. Several unlit incense sticks were under that. Okuni bowed gracefully before it, then took a combative stance. “So… just need me to hit you?”

Okuni shrugged, but complied with a simple palm strike at Asami’s stomach, though she made sure it was plenty coordinated, even dodgeable if needed.

Asami followed quietly as they went out back, her eyes scanning over the shrine in awe before giving a respectful bow of her head.

“Yep, just hit me,” Asami stated calmly with a slight smile as she began building chakra around her body, trying to focus on forming the genjutsu while prepping herself for the incoming attack. On instinct, she brought her arms up to defend herself even though the palm was aimed at her exposed center, which on impact sent her stumbling back a few feet.

Asami smiled and nodded her approval as her chakra latched onto Okuni, starting from the contact with her palm and working its way up into her system. “Not bad, my turn now.” She raised her left hand, pointing her middle and index fingers at Okuni, activating the genjutsu. Slight shuffling could be seen behind her dark hair before two crows emerged from behind her and immediately took flight towards Okuni, cawing and flapping their wings furiously.

“Huh, cool.” Okuni said, totally letting the birds attack her. “Wait… is this illusion or real? I can’t tell the difference? Is there… like a way to tell?” Okuni looked more confused that anything, haphazardly swatting at one.

Asami watched Okuni for a moment, a bit taken back by her reaction. “It’s...an illusion, but depending on the skill of the person casting it they can feel real, like some may make you feel things so that makes it hard to tell.” She waited a moment before dispelling the genjutsu and stretching a bit. “There’s usually some type of flaw if the jutsu is rushed though, the attention to detail is often what makes it effective...another way to tell is simply testing it or the caster I guess, you wanna try another one?”

“Sure.” Okuni said. “I mean, I can cast some genjutsu myself, I’m just not hte best at it, and I think it’d be best to cover it a bit, specially seeing as I got a specialist on team.” Okuni bit her lip thinking.

“I really don’t like trusting people, never know where plants are, but… well… you seem alright. I’m still not sure about about sensei, you never know… but…” Okuni reached into her sleeves, popping a pill. “After this jutsu, or maybe another day, I could always help you a bit on stances, that’s the most important part of taijutsu, your feet. I wouldn’t… mind so much… having a friend or two…. Sides, world out to get me gets tiring.”

“Yeah, I guess practicing on yourself could work, and the perfume you used in our exam gave me a few ideas on how to apply genjutsu, but if you ever want a partner you know where to find me...well not really but I’d give you directions.”

Asami raised an eyebrow before giving light chuckle, “I kinda got that vibe when we first met, but I understand...and for what it’s worth you’re alright too.” She did however blink in surprise, witnessing Okuni take her meds for the first time, maybe her own sign of trust? “Maybe we can practice more another day? That way we have a bit or time to go over a few ideas and discuss them more, either way I trust you.” She smiled and bowed her head slightly, “Also...this is a genjutsu, we never left the house.”

Asami giggled to herself as she turned on her heels, obviously bluffing but the oppurtunity to mess with Okuni was too good to pass up, maybe having her as a friend wouldn’t be so bad.

Okuni looked aroud her, “Wait, what?” She then started to make the dispel sign, confused as she tried breaking the non-existent genjutsu. “Uh, Asami? Help? Help!”

 

[Ganryu]

Mibu
Squad Tatsuya
-
​

Training a Stubborn Shadow​

Mibu stood against the elevator as it went deeper, and deeper underground, watching each green light pass. A training with sensei sounded… painful. Apparently he’d been poisoning Ryo, so whatever he had in mind for Mibu was a tad bit frightening. Then again, that’s what shinobi such as her were for, right? So what was there to be scared about. Still, there was a thing of note to her, as she was leaving here, Hibiki slipped that this used to be his old stomping ground, and ANBU loved reserving this room for special occasion. As the final light ding, Mibu decided to have some fun. She looked at the tag in her bag, and thought for a minute…

As the elevator opened, the form of Shiori would be running out to meet Tatsuya with a file in hand. “Yoohoo! Tatsuya! You forgot something!”

“A reasonable approximation,” Tatsuya said, raising his cane and jabbing it through the folder into ‘Shiori’s’ shoulder, dispelling the transformations disguising Mibu and her fake explosive tag. “In the unlikely event that you ever have an actual reason to impersonate my assistant you should know that if she actually thought I had forgotten something that she remembered her tone would be far more self satisfied...and louder,”

Tatsuya coughed. “Anyway we aren’t here to practice the things you’re already...competent at. The purpose of today’s session is to round you out a little bit,”

Turning around Tatsuya left down a dark, underground hallway, expecting Mibu to follow.

Mibu did so obediently and quickly, the moment the transformation was undone, her facial expression went from Shiori’s cheer to apathetic fairly quickly.

“You ought know in the academy even towards the end, this one’s grades in the three main areas were, Ninjutsu: C, Taijutsu: C, Genjutsu: D. They are far from this shadow in many ways. But if you want to spend time there…”

“I know what your grades were yes,” said Tatsuya without breaking his stride or turning around. “I’m not going to waste my time trying to bring three separate disciplines up to a high standard. Instead I’m going to teach you a general principle and then we’re going to see what you make of it,”

Abruptly Tatsuya stopped in front of one of the many numbered, steel doors they had been passing and opened it, revealing a large, wide room with a dirt floor equipped with targets, training dummies and other basic facilities of a training field.

Tatsuya moved into the centre of the room and, using the end of his walking stick, drew a small circle at arms length around himself. “Let’s start with this for now. You’re goal is to get me outside of this circle. You can use whatever techniques or equipment you like but don’t leave this room or try to involve any passers by. You have ten minutes,”

Mibu quickly formed handsigns without even thinking, and pressed her palm to the earthen ground.

“Wind Release: Cloud Cover.”

Wind shot out of a Mibu’s hand, blowing up a cloud of dust in a moment, and covering the the two. More importantly, it would also blow away Tatsuya’s line. Mibu reached for her knife, and knelt, cutting a circle around her with the handle.

She would wait for the debris to clear.

“This one is now in the circle.”

“Yes good thinking,” said Tatsuya as the dust around his legs cleared, revealing a deep, circular groove where he had forcibly pressed his cane into the hard ground beneath the first layer of dust, leaving a mark deep enough to resist Mibu’s wind. “I did specify this circle though,”

Mibu stared at the circle, confusion on her face how the dust hadn’t just settled into the ring, but the time limit was generous, ten minutes. She sat down, taking a deep breath.

“There is little reason to randomly attack. The power level is too great to overcome. Mimicry wouldn’t work against an opponent on guard. Bribery could only come from a source worth having.”

As she spoke to herself, she got up, and began to circle the circle, beginning a few slow hand signs.

“There are two immediate solutions that come to mind. Getting sensei to move would prove… difficult. So breaking the rules seem easier.”

The hand signs ended as she ended up on the other side of the circle, and Mibu’s shadow started to retreat from her. She pressed her palm to the ground. The ground exploded in a dust cloud again.

“Therefore, a better use of time ought be found.”

Mibu darted out the dust cloud towards the elevator.

“You do that rather a lot,” Tatsuya said, shrugging off his white coat and flicking it with enough force to clear the dust around him. “Try to avoid problems or short circuit them in some way instead of facing them head on. It’s a useful trait most of the time but sometimes that won’t be an option. There will be times when there won’t be a trick to figure out or, an exit you can retreat through or a rule you can interpret creatively. It’s good to think outside the box but sometimes,” Tatsuya tapped the ground inside his drawn circle to illustrate his point. “You have no choice but to step into the box,”

After a brief pause Tatsuya added. “And don’t even start with ‘that isn’t a box it’s a circle’ alright? it’s a metaphor. you’re going to have to figure those out sooner or later,”

The blown wind was probably even more effective than Tatsuya had imagined, as not only did it blow away the dust, but a small cloak was sent flying into the air as well, colored perfectly to match the ground, not that it ever got to see the use of day. In the distance the ‘Mibu’ running faded as nothing more than an academy clone. That left the real Mibu huddled on the ground, with a kunai in one hand, and an explosive tag in the other.

“This one sees little point in fighting fair. If one wanted to fight, go join the samurai and their dying cult. If there’s no way through, this little shadow isn’t going to risk injury. Dying is of little concern, but there’s nothing worse than injury. Tell this one, what are the odds she could take you on in a fight? In 10,000 fights, is there a chance of winning once?”

Mibu stored her weapons, her shadow returning.

“Hmm after 10,000 I might conclude I had better things to do and let you win,” said Tatsuya dryly, stepping out of the circle to converse with Mibu at a more natural distance. “But that was sort of the point, so well done. The problem is that sometimes you won’t have the choice. There’ll be times when your mission is to hold some ground and if you don’t other people will die. Or times when you’ll face opponents you can’t escape but that you might be able to stall if you fight them head on. Did you know the chunin exams typically feature one on one fights in small, featureless arenas? You’ll need to at least be able to put a fight if you want to pass.”

Mibu nodded, slightly walking as she talked.

“And that is a concern of this one. A chunnin pays much better than genin, this shadow would like to get there. As stated, dying is nothing, but injury would be career ending. Are there suggestions one’s sensei would have? This one has no grudge, simply wish to do that which makes sense.”

Mibu was now, cheekily, standing inside the circle.

“The only solution this one had would be rigging the fights. Perhaps greet an opponent, and slip a tag inside their pouch. No attack had been placed previously, and this one believes most would find a customary ‘hello’ to be innocent, no?”

“That will work exactly once,” said Tatsuya, quirking an eyebrow but otherwise tolerating her new position. “Your next opponent will be on guard for tricks and while you're fairly devious there’s no guarantee they won't be smart enough to keep up with you. What you need is a concrete threat, not just to fall back on but because it will make your tricks more effective. An opponent on guard for a direct attack is less likely to consider subtler strategies, an opponent on the lookout for tricks can’t react as naturally to a straightforward attack. By forcing your opponent to be on guard for both kinds of strategies you can increase the mental pressure you exert, which will create more openings to exploit. In fact once you’ve become a threat you can actually limit your opponent’s options and exert pressure on them just by existing. Your aptitude for hiding can become an offensive weapon,”

Tatsuya coughed. “As for what kind of threat you should wield. That’s up to you, we’ll try it like this: Removing me from that circle is now a long term project. Your job is figure out what kind of technique or discipline will help you do it and then I’ll teach you that, I’ll even find someone else if it’s something I can’t teach you personally. We can start now if you have any ideas though,”

Mibu sat down, scratching her cheek. “To be honest…. Other than stealth… it is unknown what this one is good at. Perhaps until then increasing its effectiveness would be best.

This shadow is in accordance with it being caught. This one would like some more offensive threats, but, would also like to defend better against being caught. This one read of a technique called chakra suppression? Perhaps with training, it could be taught? This shadow also does not disagree about the need of an offensive threat, perhaps finding a use for her shadows, or perhaps simply picking one of three main categories, and focussing on it? There is none on the team with genjutsu, though this one was particularly bad at it.”

Mibu made a handsign, stealing her academy teacher’s voice.

“You should be good at it, but you have zero imagination whatsoever, and keep falling for the illusions seeing them as real. You’re even a yin specialist… try a little harder Mibu.”

“You seem plenty creative whenever you’re dreaming up mischief to inflict on me,” said Tatsuya, a little sourly. “So I wonder if that’s really the problem. Even so not all genjutsu are reliant on creativity, some of the most effective illusions simply involve interfering with people’s perception a little. Would you like an example?”

“Sure.”

Tatsuya stared intently at Mibu for a moment and wove some quick handseals. “There,” he said, holding up a single finger in front of her. “Now try to follow the motion of my hand,” Tatsuya said, moving the finger from side to side. Mibu would it strangely difficult to keep Tatsuya’s finger in focus, it would seem to suddenly slide out of her vision and disappear despite not moving very quickly. “Can you tell what’s happening here?” asked Tatsuya.

“Yes, or at least a guess. There are two blinds spots in one’s vision, located 15 degrees from the sides of your vision, approximately 7.5° high and 5.5° wide. You used genjutsu to cause one to put that finger into their blind spot subconsciously, completely losing track of it, as rather than display ‘nothing’, your brain will not interpret the blindspot, and most of one’s vision is memory, causing it to simply disappear. Hibiki occasionally uses this, without genjutsu, to steal Mochi as this one is eating it… then taunts me about not seeing him. Perhaps this is wrong, it is merely a guess.”

Mibu tapped her cheek as she thought. “Perhaps one could use a medium to convey a genjutsu such as this….”

She shook her head. “Still, this one is poor at using genjutsu itself. Time would be taken to improve even a little. Appreciation is offered though, this seems a good starting point. Oh… this one digresses, you were teaching were you not?”

“That’s fairly close,” said Tatsuya, dispelling the genjutsu. “In actual fact all it does is slow down the movement of your eyes, which makes it easy for me to move my finger in and out of those blind spots to illustrate its effectiveness. It’s based on a natural phenomenon that happens when you strain the muscles around your eyes that control them, so creativity doesn’t come into it, it’s more a kind of mimicry, which you seem to have a taste for. But it is true that it would still take some time to learn, that’s true of anything worth learning. There are no shortcuts to true strength,”

Mibu nodded. “Of this is true.”

 

[KageYuuki]

Kohaku Fujioka - Team Kazou

Kohaku walked down the streets of one of Chowaku’s low-income districts, humming a light melody. Sure, the mission itself had been extremely boring and nothing like her dad’s stories. But she also got to scare the crap out of Shizuo. The memory brought a light giggle out from kunoichi. She’d honestly expected him just to slash it with his sword after his whole tough leader act.

Him shrieking and falling off the roof? Certainly made getting in trouble all the more worth it. Even though sensei didn’t seem all that adamant on enforcing said punishment.

Most families in the area would never allow such a small girl to wander alone. Though the wisteria on the back of her jacket and gleaming headband did well to ward off any potential trouble. The way the district had fallen in the last few decades was likely another factor in the Fujiokas ensuring their children learned to handle basic puppets at a young age.

There was one time a teen thought Kohaku to be an easy target and attempted to mug the kunoichi in training. He ended up with a face peppered with senbon for his trouble. The Chosen Vale Clinic likely had an interesting case walk in their doors that evening.

The Fujioka’s home was a modest building, that part of Chowaku being fairly undeveloped when her grandparents bought the land allowed them a sizeable property. One far bigger than many of their neighbors. But the house itself was a modest size, just enough for a small family to call home. It was the large underground workshop and extensive greenhouse that made it more than the average house.

Pushing open the front door, Kohaku was immediately greeted with a familiar, sweet and spicy aroma currently filling the house. “Hikaru!” Barely kicking off her sandals, she raced into the kitchen and latched onto her older brother.

“Whoa!” Hikaru stumbled forward a step, nearly dropping his spoon into the pot. He turned towards her, “Where’ve you been, brat?”

“Look! Look!” She moved her headband causing the metal to glint in the kitchen light, “I’m a ninja now!”

The white haired chuunin blinked down at her a few times. She . . . passed? He hadn’t expected her to get through the academy’s test considering her complete lack of ninjutsu ability, let alone pass whatever surprise her new sensei would have in store. Realizing his little sister was still staring up at him expectantly, Hikaru cleared his throat before forcing a bright smile. “That’s great!” He ruffled her hair, “Sorry I couldn’t be at the graduation, kiddo.”

“It’s okay,” pulling away, Kohaku peered into the pot. The curry looked too thin still, it would be a while before they could eat.

“What happened here?” Frowning, Hikaru lightly took hold of her face, tilting her head this way and that to get a better look at her neck. “Did your sensei do this?”

Kohaku shifted her weight, “no.”

“Then what happened?”

“Just a little fight with another genin.” Seeing her brother’s nonplussed expression she shook her head, “I’m fine.”

Hikaru groaned, “why were you even fighting?”

“She started it!” Kohaku snapped indignantly, stamping her small foot for emphasis.

“Certainly doesn’t look like you finished it.” He sighed, moving back to their dinner. “Does your sensei know?” Frowning at the shrug he got in response, he continued, “who is your sensei anyway?”

“Kazou… uh…” Her brows pinched together in thought, what was her sensei’s last name again?

“Yamamoto?” Hikaru finished, moving over to the sink and washing the rice he was going to cook. Perhaps he could get a quick meeting with this jounin in the morning. “He’s doesn’t seem too bad at least.” Hearing his sister already padding out of the kitchen he shook his head, “we’ll talk more about it during dinner I guess.”

“I’m going downstairs,” Kohaku called, already having the door to the basement open. She didn’t wait for a response before heading down to the workshop. Turning on the lights, she took in the various workbenches and puppets in differing states of completion.

Kohaku had claimed a little workbench of her own off in the far corner. Various doodled designs littered her chaotic workspace, more so than actual parts. Shuffling through the papers for a moment, she turned and padded over to a nearby workbench to grab a tool.

“Kohaku!” Her brother’s voice rang out, “don’t you go touching my stuff!”

“Then why's my sharpener on your workbench?” She shot back. Taking his silence as a concession, Kohaku returned to her own space and set to work.

 

[Ganryu]

A Miko, A Mute, and a Melee
Okuni vs Kojiro
​

Okuni approached the fight club… now with shorter hair, but, well, that was the nature of the beast. She had fun… other than the haircut, and the unending rage she felt towards her last opponent. Maybe this one would be better? She took a deep breath.

“Stronger… people will respect me if I’m stronger. I have to fight, I have to win. That is how I’ll get respect.”

She stepped into the ring before the announcer even got the chance to ask who was going to fight, beginning a light dance.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the Miko returns! And with a stylish cut! Nice to see she wasn’t scared off, so now, who is she going to fight?”

Kojiro glanced down at the flyer advertising something called “Genin Fight Club” and back up at a gathered crowd of people mostly around his age. There were cries of joy, booing, and yells of encouragement as a battle seemed to end. However those sounds seemed to abruptly turn to murmurs of anticipation as they announced a returning combatant. Sounds like her last match had been rough?

Kojiro wandered through the crowd curiously, attempting to see who it was. As he burst through the last bit of the crowd he stood in the midst of a large ring of people. Across from him stood girl from his class, Okuni. Though she seemed to have a new haircut. Kojiro waved at Okuni with a smile, pointing at her hair and giving a big thumbs up!

Okuni returned the thumbsup, but Kojiro would find the crowd pushing him into the arena. He was that quiet one! It was oddly suspicious. But no reason not to be friendly, standing out was bad.

“We have a new volunteer. Uh, uh… scarfboy!”

“Scarfboy… really?”

“Hey you try coming up with names on the spot!”

“What about….the Jolly Brawler?”

“Shit that’s good.”

Okuni turned to Kojiro, still middance. “Huh, you fighting me? That’s refreshingly direct! I’m game! Just so you know, I CAN’T lose, so get ready for a bloody nose.”

She kept dancing, her arms moving like waves.

Kojiro blinked rapidly in surprise as he found himself pushed into the center of the ring. He wasn't actually here to fight originally. He was just curious about a flyer he found while returning home from practicing sword strikes with Shizuo. In fact he even still had the wooden practice sword across his back, which had been uncomfortably pushed against him as he was encouraged to fight. He looked between the crowd and Okuni a time or two before shrugging.

He gave Okuni a determined look and clenched one fist in her direction, accepting her challenge. He set the other hand around the grip of his practice sword as he took up a low, preparatory battle stance.

“Oh yeah…” Okuni said absentmindedly as she made the seal of confrontation. She then started to waltz over to Kojiro, making a few hand signs, then removing her comb from her hair with one hand, gripping it hard.

“You’re free to attack me you know. Sure, I’m a girl, I look amazing I know, but this is a fight club. Also, I HATE people who aren’t honest, you never know who their friends are, or what they conspire to do. Me? I’m here to dance.”

She lunged at him with a strike with the comb. Okuni’s style, as always, was slow but strong, outpacing her would not be difficult.

Kojiro sidestepped the strike, spinning around to stop behind her. He took the sword from his back and made a testing strike at her back. She seemed to prefer power over speed, but it could be an act. Kazou sensei was fast despite how muscly he was after all.

His face was an off mix of concentration and confusion when he struck. He didn't understand what she meant about her being a girl. Why did that matter in their fight? Plenty of girls were shinobi weren't they? The concept of treating Okuni differently for that downright baffled him.

Sidestepping would prove to be a little troubling, as Okuni’s sleeve followed behind her comb, extending her range by a hidden couple of feet.

Crane’s Unerring Strike!

The sleeve would be just as powerful as being punch directly in the face by the girl, and despite her dress and looks, anyone who could see up her sleeve would see a fair bit of muscle. Okuni was definitely one who favored power over speed, though it was hardly inhuman.

When Kojiro still managed to strike despite likely a blow to the face, Okuni would tip forward, moving to regain her balance even as she was taking the blow full on. She’d turned with a face full of rage glinting in her eyes as she took a more defensive posture.

Kojiro meanwhile reeled back in surprised pain. What in the world were her sleeves made of?! He wiped fresh blood from his nose as he eyed Okuni warily. She seemed...angry. He couldn't figure why. He'd barely tapped her thanks to that hit!

He chewed his lip in thought for a second before deciding how to proceed. He quickly put his hands together around the sword, flicking through the hand signs for Mist Servant Technique as he did. He aimed it solely at Okuni, making sure it wouldn't affect the crowd. After a moment she would begin to see several close look alikes to Kojiro appear from the ground and crowd around them. Each “clone” took a stance similar to Kojiro.

The real Kojiro and the “clones” then sidestepped through each other for a second or two, hoping to confuse Okuni to the real Kojiros location. When they stopped they brandished their swords at her, smiling in unison.

Okuni looked at the clones a bit confused. “Wow. You can do clones? Cool. Well, bring’em on! Those academy ones, or ya got any stronger?” Okuni removed the veil she had draped over her, and start to lead it like a ribbon around her, trying to drag it through the clones to see if it stuck or not, with the plan of using her defensive technique if they were real. In her mind, if they were academy clones, it’d be enough. She never even considered genjutsu as she continued her dance, her eyes still fiery.

As the false Kojiro's were sliced their form wavered for but a moment. Counter to her goal when they reformed they actually began multiplying. Where four images once stood, now eight did. They began trudging towards her slowly, as if wary of further strikes. Two of the newly formed imaged dropped their swords and instead drew shuriken, which they threw two of each. Thanks

Okuni didn’t seem to notice in her dance, she continued to drape her veil through them, misunderstanding the jutsu. If there were more of them, that must mean more chakra! She’d multiply them to hell and back! As the shuriken flew at her, one sweeping movement covered her face with her sleeves. Any physical shuriken would clank as if they’d hit armor. Any genjutsu ones? Well, it’d seem like Okuni never even noticed them… which wouldn’t be too far from the truth.

All four shuriken passed harmlessly through her seemingly without her notice. Kojiro was pretty sure now that she had little to no genjutsu training. As she struck again and again the forms only doubled and quadrupled. He was a bit surprised that had yet to notice, but he wasn't going to complain. Striking from hiding was all the easier with nearly forty images of himself moving in an odd, confusing mass.

While she struck he stood behind a wall of fake versions of himself, effectively unseen, and began a second set of hand signs. Using Gale Palm to ramp up his speed, he took a firmer grip of his sword and waited for a gap in the images to see her location. Noting her height comparatively he lunged forward, swinging the sword with as much speed and power as he could manage. He attempted to time it to hit her when she was turned away, striking through his own “clones” as they made their own, false, strikes.

Even a deaf person would be able to hear a blast of air like that, and Okuni, the resident deaf person, still unsure of its direction, at least knew it meant an attack. She span faster with her veil, it forming a rotating dome around her as protection, wildly spinning to divert incoming attacks around her.

Veil of Tanabata-hime

To Kojiro's shock Okuni reacted to the sound of his speed increase far faster than he'd thought she could. His sword met her veil, and found the forces to be roughly equal. Rather than continuing to spin defensively the veil dropped to its original position, while Kojiro back stepped as his sword was knocked aside.

He sidestepped into an image of himself, moving in time with it to hide again. Waiting for the other images to close distance again, he dashed in to strike as well. This time staying low, he swung heavily for one of Okuni's legs.

Okuni gave a small gasp of surprise as her veil was stopped. It wasn’t the strongest defense in the world, but it was still a strong feat to stop her. As she turned to try and find Kojiro, holding her comb like a dagger, she just saw his clones, his many, many clones. ‘Hmm….’, as she was planning something a wooden sword jutted out hitting her legs, sweeping them out from under her, causing Okuni to fall over.

“Tch.”

It hurt, but, Okuni would never let pain stop her. Before he could hit her again, Okuni rolled off into the side, into the crowd of clones. If they could hide him, maybe they could hide her? What were those things anyways?

Okuni got up to her knees, flinching slightly from the pain, the idea growing better. She made a handsign.

Transformation Jutsu

An ocean of clones, why not fit in? It was better than getting hit from every direction. Okuni dropped her Armor of Tanabatahime, it didn’t seem to be getting a lot of use, and was wasting chakra.

Kojiro moved in time with the image of himself, trying to seek out Okuni. After several moments of being unable to find her he began to wonder if she'd blended in somehow. Maybe she ducked into the crowd? He dismissed that thought because he was pretty sure the crowd would toss her back in. Maybe… maybe she was trying to blend in with his clones? He couldn't see through their eyes, so he wouldn't have seen her do it… Welp, only one way to find out.

Sitting in place along with his clones, he ordered all the rest to do the same. Almost in unison they began to sit down. Each one set their kunai or sword on the ground and used the hand signs for Gale Palm. This time they were “going to use” the attack version. In reality the real Kojiro was looking for a clone that didn't have wind gathering in their hands while they sat. THAT one would be aimed at and attacked.

Okuni looked around as dozens of clones sat down for handsigns.

“Crap!”

The transformation faded, there wasn’t a point in it. This was blunt damage, her armor wouldn’t help anyways. She’d dropped her veil behind at the sword attack… Okuni wasn’t looking forward to this as she crossed her arms.

The clone to not sit shifted back to the form of Okuni. Kojiro was honestly a little surprised that worked, but he wasn't about to pass on the opportunity. He let loose a compressed blast of wind directly aimed at Okuni. The others did as well, but their's would pass straight through her. Afterwards they would dissipate, their drain on his chakra finally pushing Kojiro to end the genjutsu.

Okuni crossed her arms as the air was fired, unsure which clone was the real one. One hit her directly in the stomach, sending the Miko flying into the air as she lost breath, and crashing into the ground below. The announcers spoke.

“It looks like we have a winner, Mitsu, the Joll-”

“Wait a second Shingen.”

Okuni started to stand slowly, panting heavily at the hit, looking pained, but she limped back towards the fight, ready as ever.

“I-I can’t lose. Not now… not ever. I’M NOT WEAK!”

Okuni stumbled as she circled her foot behind her body is a firm stance with her palms out again.

Spoiler: Cliche Flashback

“Search the house. That traitor Tachibana must have left some evidence.”

A boot broke in Okuni’s front door as the little girl huddled behind her mother. Her mother stroked her head as ANBU member after ANBU member poured into their former apartment. Her mother looked up. The white masks horrifying the young child.

“What’s this about?”

“Your husband is under arrest for treason, sedition, and conspiracy against the village. We’re here to search the place.”

“What?”

“Stay there with your child, ma’am. There’s no evidence you were linked… yet. Just don’t get in the way.”

A blur of motions followed as the investigators body flickered around the house, tearing open everything. Okuni saw one in her parents room, looking at a picture frame of a doodle Okuni had given her parents. She ran off breaking from her mother’s grasp, who reached out trying to grab her.

“Hey! That’s my present for daddy!”

“Girl, do you understand how serious trouble your ‘daddy’ is in?”

Okuni got into a martial stance. “Let it go!”

Rushing the man, everything went blurry as the man kicked her into the wall…

With her head spinning, Okuni saw the man rip open the picture, and his hands produced a letter.

“Ah… there we go, just the information we needed…”

Okuni started to black out as he opened it.

Kojiro stood up and took up a stance across from Okuni. His breathing was heavy, having used more chakra in a short time than he was used to. He hadn't ever used a genjutsu for so long, and so many images. It made for good practice, but he doubted he had much left in him. He eyed Okuni with both curiosity and perhaps a but of worry.

She didn't seem like she had too much left in her either, but she seemed more determined to not give up than he expected from a friendly duel. He didn't know what idiot told her she was weak for her to have to say that, but he'd smack them on the head if he ever found out. For now though he'd just give her the end of a serious fight she seemed to want do badly.

Using the last dregs of chakra he could if he were to walk himself home after, he used Gale Palm one more time to increase his speed. Holding his sword low to one side, he charged Okuni. As he closed the distance he made an attempt to bring the sword up diagonally and whack her across the front side of her torso. He kept a semi lose grip however, intent on actually letting go of the sword when she went to block it. That would be when he shoulder tackled her if things panned out.

Okuni batted at the sword, sending it flying from the loose grip, but as caught off guard as he tackled her. Her firm stance let her take it, pushing into the ground behind her as he ran into her. She definitely flinched from the enhanced blow, but Okuni’s taijutsu didn’t come from raw power, but rather in her careful stances and unending endurance.

Grunting, she grabbed his clothing from the back, and started to lift, trying to throw Kojiro across the field, into a nearby building.

“I CAN’T LOSE!”

Kojiro felt but a moment’s satisfaction about his successful trick with the sword and shoulder charge. That moment was swiftly trounced by the worry he felt when Okuni latched on to his arm. Her strength and stance both exceeded his by measures he wasn't expecting. He was even more taken aback when she friggin THREW HIM OVER THE CROWD!

He flailed wildly for a second, trying to think of a way to soften the landing. Unfortunately he was out of chakra and couldn't use his usual Gale Palm solution. He hit the ground with a red flash of pain in his arm he tried to brace for impact with. His eyes immediately welled up with reflexive tears as he continued to roll and hit a wall.

After several long moments of lying still he pulled himself up and eyed his arm, which was starting to go numb thankfully. He was pretty sure it wasn't supposed to be at that angle. People seemed to be wondering less if he was okay however, and more if he could continue. With his opposite hand he made the seal of Reconciliation, both to symbolize surrender and no hard feeling.

“That's it, Mitsu! We have a winner for this match. Miss Miko!”

“And what a fight it was Shingen! We got a good mix of genjutsu, ninjutsu, and taijutsu in that one. I don't know about the crowd, but I was unsure who was going to win every second of the match! Now let's get these two to the medical unit, eh?”

Okuni panted as she stood the winner. She was battered all over, but she’d won. That’s all that mattered… she won. She glanced at Kojiro, noting the broken arm, but turned away. It was a fight. That was all there was to it.

As the medic nin approached her, she waved him off. She was hurt, but she wasn’t done yet. “NEXT!”. She had to hit her limit, and now she had to pass it!

Kojiro was surprised to see Okuni turn away from him to seek a new opponent. The fact she didn't say anything to him didn't even register. He was just stunned at her sheer stamina reserves! He was going to have to train a bunch and learn new jutsu to counteract Okuni and people like her in the future. He doubted he'd ever compare in raw power, so he'd have to get crafty.

He grimaced in silent pain as medical nin began handling his arm. Unfortunately it seemed they weren't able to completely heal it at their skill level, but they did make sure to lessen the pain and make it to where it'd heal without any permanent damage. That was more than good enough for Kojiro. He cradled the arm carefully and headed home for the day, leaving Okuni to her next bout!