Fandom Naruto: In the Shadow of the Broken Moon ~ IC

[Phayne]

~Squad Kasane~
Mentions: SomeRandomCanuck IG42 The Regal Rper

Seeing the smoke rise and envelope the vastly more experienced red head, Kiyoshi readily knew that there was not much more he could do in terms of adhering to Ryuji's request, after all he had no real techniques designed towards hindering the vision of his enemies. That being said, he still had other ways of aiding in the assault and if Eiichi's goal was to rob Kasane of her sight, then Kiyoshi's would be to rob her of her ability to hear. For one trained in the arts of 'Sound Style' ninjutsu, Kiyoshi was undoubtedly far more aware of just how important the ability to hear was and knew just how detrimental it would be to have that sense betray you.

How would Kasane react with her vision obscured and her hearing no longer reliable? Would she falter long enough for Ryuji's plan to take affect?. Its often been said that once one sense has been hindered, the other's seem to act on overdrive, what would then happen if another sense was taken?.

Forming the required handsigns, Kiyoshi raised both hands now in the 'Tori [bird]' form and began to purse his lips. - Sound Release: Parrot's Charade - The faint whistling of air being pushed aside as if a kunai was flying through could now be heard escaping Kiyoshi's mouth, the sound shot towards the growing plumage of smoke at various angles aiming at nowhere in particular. The aim was to take advantage of the assumption that Kasane would default to relying on her ability to hear to overcome the inability to see in the smoke.

How would she react to hearing the sound of dozens upon dozens of Kunai flying all around her? To make matters worse, Kiyoshi would begin to intermix tongue clicks, this new sound replicating the sound of a Kunai hitting another Kunai or hitting a wall; to further make it believable that Kunai were indeed being thrown indiscriminately.

Would Eiichi's smokescreen and Kiyoshi's sound trickery be enough to stall Kasane enough for Ryuji's genjutsu to land? Only time would tell.

​

 

[Ganryu]

Squad Miyu
KageYuuki Orikanyo Noam

The sounds of pulling wires brushed passed as Miyu's threads attached to the side of a tree, and began to shorten, yanking her up, even as every shadow became an abyss. Under the trees, shrubs disappeared, wildlife went silent, and the massive chakra seemed to pixelate the area, even as it was badly formed.​

Joroguma's Whip

Miyu flipped nimbly in the air, landing in sunlit grass, and adjusted her mask, her fingers stiffening as the thread formed a tight net, sections vibrating in her palm. Miyu checked it, and snapped the webbing apart by stretching her finger.

Jorogumo's Trichobothria

"They'd better be fine." She looked behind her to see Ton fine. She snarled, then nodded, Ton was right. They did need to end this. She looked towards Shikahide's seal, and cocked her head. "I ain't the sealing expert, but does look like Kas- our Jinchuuriki's mark. Old bat, never was fun at ANBU drinking parties. Tch. Give me a moment to assess."

The shadow technique was still swallowing objects around, trees starting to sink into the ground, forcing people into the open, but the toll of it was forcing Shikahide to be a bit inattentive.

"I'd have trouble getting close, but Yumi's arrow in his foot seems to have hurt his shadow. I can count on it as one on two, with both being injured. I can deal with that. With the trees sinking into their own shadows, no cover or anything to bounce off of. I don't like fights on an open field..."

Miyu cocked her head. "Wait... trees sinking into their own shadows. Shit, this is a build up type jutsu, I don't have time. Kid. I know you're an allrounder, but if you have any any interest in what sort of ninja your squad leader is... do.not.blink."

Miyu shook her foot out the ground, as if it had been swamp. She flung her hand to the side, it cracking joints in her fingers by gripping hard into the air, veins visible up her sleeves, followed by a similar crack to her neck, closing her eyes. A few one handed hand signs began. A deep inhale started from Miyu's nose, the flood of air whistling in the area. Her eyes opened.

And she was gone. Replaced by a silver blur, flying at Shikahide like one of Yumi's arrows, one empty sleeve flying behind her like a streamer, the other gripping forward. The shadow under Shikahide instantly responded by punching towards Miyu, who dove out of the way in a flip, her shadow barely avoiding his by an inch.

Her foot slammed into a blocking guard, sending Shikahide flying. Miyu pulled at invisible threads, already placed behind Shikahide, and flew past him mid air. Landing on one foot, she pivotted, and smashed the heel of her foot into the back of his ribcage, causing him to stop mid air. A crack was heard and spittle flew in front of him. Tears began to come undone, and all across his body, stitches flew free, flaps of flesh rending open, and a spray of blood caking the floor.

His shadow took the chance to grab Miyu's foot, and yanked on it, suddenly Miyu held midair, picked off the ground by her foot. It began to spin her over head, Miyu flung round and round in a circle above Shikahide, his shadow grabbing her, but above ground, almost looking comical as it did so. As she swung a still stunned Shikahide, her hand reached down, trying to free her foot, though, a flash of white could be seen as she palmed Shikahide on the thigh before centrifical force send her hand flying out straight, and Miyu was flung as if out a cannonball. She smashed into the ground, and rebounded into a flip, landing on her feet, and catching herself by one hand as she slid past Ton.

Miyu held a hand out, and a shockwave blasted out of her from the ground, flying back at Shikahide, a dust cloud following with a large 'Thwuuump' following it, Shikahide dodging out the way, but dust covering them.

Earth Release: Dragon Vein Pulse

Miyu tapped her radio and yelled "We're retreating!" It fell in pieces out of her ear. She cursed, and picked up Ton, clicking the button on his radio. "We're retreating! Meet up at Tanzaku! Ren, cover our path," and she let him drop to the ground like a dropped telephone.

She began to flicker away, silver afterimage after silver afterimage left in her wake. All around them, the forest had been cleared, becoming a wide plains, but enough dust was kicked up neither them nor Shikahide could see each other.


--------

Halfway back, the city of Tanzaku was a well known gambling den, not a ninja village, but a convenient stop on the way.

 

[IG42]

Squad Kasane
Hearing Ryuji's instruction just as clearly as the other two boys Kasane shook her head slightly, she'd have to give them a crash course in hand signals later and the kid was also prepping in the open again. At least Eiichi followed the callout swiftly and dropped a veil of smoke around her, even better he laced it with a genjutsu obscuring anything outside the cloud.

With her senses addled for the moment she drew her chains closer ready to defend against nearby attacks through the smoke, hearing the whistling noise normally produced by a projectile a chain whipped through the miasma but struck nothing but muggy air. Squinting at the shifting phantoms she smiled with satisfaction at the improvised combo, with work it could be a very effective way to lock an enemy down. "Not bad at all, practice and you might have something there. For now though..." Making a tiger seal she inhaled sharply. "Great fireball jutsu!" Spinning on the spot and around the rope a sustained burst of fire all around drove back the smoke, in the cleared space she blew away the lingering genjutsu with a pulse of chakra.

Aware of the next stage of the boys' plan thanks to Ryuji's wonderfully clear enunciation of the whole scheme Kasane seriously thought about catching the coin but at the rate they were burning chakra the trio might not be functional for their upcoming mission. "Okay let's wrap this up." Rather than simply call an end to the exercise three additional chains shot out from her back making it two for each of the newbies and whipped out much faster than before to snag the trio.

SomeRandomCanuck Phayne The Regal Rper

 

[IG42]

Squad Kazou
"T-that w-was a-a-awesome!" Rokuro exclaimed through his chattering teeth. "Chakra is the stuff inside you that makes ninja powers go!" As Tsubasa talked about the origins of the ticks mystery abilities he tilted his head curiously, he'd looked up some stuff about bloodlines to see what powers he might be able to borrow and he was sure he remembered the Hyuuga were among the most crazy about not letting their special eyes out of their 360ish degree sight.

"Adopting means they go home with someone..." He mused looking at Matsuri thoughtfully, if he did that then they could both do neat ice stuff together, his parents would be fine with that right? The train of thought was broken off by Kaito's instruction that he should turn ratcatcher. "Kaaay! Later ticks!" Patting Matsuri like a puppy Rokuro hopped up and dashed inside.

Running through the halls searching for the rats he thought to himself that pest control seemed like an odd thing to do in the middle of a mission, pausing for a moment he looked around and didn't see anyone. "Hmm maybe I could get some snooping done while I look, 'show some initiative' sensei always used to say." Pleased with himself for having such a bright idea all on his own he zipped off again scrutinising random objects and leafing through books and papers on the way.

Eventually finding a knotted mess of vines he stopped to stare at it suspiciously. "That looks like a great place for a rat nest to hide in." He could even seen where they had scratched the plants while climbing through them. Pushing his way past with a bit of effort he looked down the shaft. "That looks very snoopable." He strolled down the wall of the shaft casually then slowed when he heard a voice from the bottom.

Ganryu Hanarei BriiAngelic

 

[Hanarei]

Squad Kazuo

Emiko Senju
​

Emiko really couldn't help but find the girl so incredibly cute. Even as she hid behind her she could feel her holding on able to make out her name. She didn't seem like a very sneaky girl but it was so sweet none the less. It really made Emi want to give her a nice hug and hold her so badly. Something she at least had self control as to not do. Not that the situation left her much room to do so to begin with. She didn't exactly want to go creating a scene either. Standing strong allowing little Tama to use her as a little pillar of protection. She wanted her to feel safe clearly feeling uneasy with the woman.

"I see... it's good to see she can find such children homes." She spoke quite plainly though a rather chilling suspicion lingered in her mind. The way the children acted seeing her. The fact they all seemed to be from some clan with a Kekkei Genkei. Was she the cause of the disappearances? Was the orphanage an elaborate front to be able to do experimentation to awaken such abilities? She was doubtful a clan like the Hyuga would ever allow a Byakugan to simply go free in the wild. The very idea terrifying just what horrible things could be going on in the background. Seeing just how fearful they were.

The young ANBU recruit shifted her gaze looking over to Kaito. Hearing him speak up as he seemed to volunteer to take over for Rokoru mentioning a rat problem. Emiko not even realizing how absorbed into it she was clenching her hand into a fist. The girl slowly uncoiling her hand relaxing herself a little bit. She didn't want to show any sign of agitation or horror, not being so obvious in her expression but knowing any little gesture would probably be noticeable. It was just suspicions truthfully but she had a feeling there were far too many coincidences that at least some truth had to be in what she thought might be going on there. Only looking at Kaito only able to suspect he likely knew more then he was letting on about the situation going on there. Half tempted to see about slipping a word out to question him though stopping just short of doing so.

Emi felt the little tug as she turned to the girl. A warm smile on her lips hiding away any of the unease. He hadn't asked her to trail the rat so she could only assume she was being trusted to continue her own duty where she was. She didn't want to simply abandon the girl after all. Squatting down to be closer to the girl's height smiling at her warmly. The girl nodding lightly in response. Her gentle brown eyes glancing at the girls.

"Sure Tama, I'd love to see." She spoke warmly to the little girl more then eager to see. A little worried for the girl's wellbeing as it was and wanting to try and make her happy.

IG42 BriiAngelic Orikanyo Ganryu

 

[Orikanyo]

Squad Miyu

Tom Yamada

​

Well... That was awesome...

He had to admit Miyu sensei was really cool back there. Even if she kinda looked silly abit now and again but...

She was super cool.

Who knew his sensei with a sanity balancing on a pen nib was so skilled and awesome!

...Well it came with being ANBU he guessed.

Wait he only cared for balance approaches he can't be congratulating her... Most of it was Taijutsu...

And nin? Kg?

He didn't know but he knew, if that woman could be abit more stable she'd be a force to be reckoned with...

...As the generalist, he is to fill in the spots on the squad that are lacking. Perhaps, in a sense, he should try and fill in to help his sensei...?

...Hrmm...


There was a library at headquarters... He should head there next... After he regroups at the target location.

With the final shadow clone next to him he made it carry his weakened form away, from tree top to tree top he rushed out of the kill zone as ordered... Whatever happens at that point, happens. Job finished, and it was time to move...

The sigil on the man's body... It was a curiosity... Perhaps another facet to learn about...

~~~~~~~~

Ton had recovered somewhat, the returning of chakra from the shadow clone and his natural generation helping him recover. He needed food however, chakra started in the stomache.

He wandered abit, before finding the gambling den, figuring his sensei was within, he scoped the place for a few moments... Watching the place for a moment, he gave a small sigh and entered.. He had gotten out of his ANBU gear already, looking more or less like a traveller, on his way through.

@ team Miyu

 

[Merciless Medic]

Nariko Nakamura
Team Taisei
​

Location: Kazuo's Shop | Mood: Mixed (Terrified, Unnerved, Happy, Confused, Embarrassed) | Interactions: Kazuo Senju, Lyn Senju | Mentions: Taisei Hyuga, Natsume Uchiha, Hisa Hyuga | Collab: Orikanyo ​

Nariko walked inside the shop, looking around with a quizzical look on her face. She noticed a man in a wheelchair, but no tall man. But she had seen the cuts on his arm. That must have been fresh. The blonde’s attention was quickly averted when she heard a girl call to her.

She sent the girl a small smile, finding her cheery demeanor infectious. Apparently, the young lady’s dad was Kazuo Senju. Interesting. When Nariko turned to see the wheelchair-bound ANBU sensei, her eyes widened as it immediately gravitated to where his leg would have been. But to keep respectful, she gave the man a kind nod in regards and blinked in surprise as he knew her last name.

Well, being that most of her family was blonde, blue-eyed, and were generally quite muscle-bound with specializations in bo-staves, nunchaku, and swords, it really wasn’t all that surprising.

She nodded again in greeting, smiling wide but her eyes, while smiling in kind, had an intense stare. “Ah, hello, Senju-san. I was wondering if I could speak to you in private. Catch up for a bit.” She made it sound inconspicuous, but in her tone it was obvious she needed more than just ‘catching up’. “Got any place we can do so?” She asked, head tilting in curiosity as her face softened somewhat.

The older man raised an eyebrow… "Please, call me Kazuo, hardly a full Senju these days what with the leg." He looks towards his dear little daughter. "Be back soon, if not back by sun down, remember to close up." He got a singsong hum of understanding and the little lady swayed abit in her seat behind the counter.

Kazuo took a moment to regard the young lady calling on him and rolled his way into the back. "Come on in, I'll get some tea on the boil." He spoke as he passed into a back room, the dark creating a bit of a veil between the rooms.

The sound of his wheelchair however made it easy to follow him.

"Sorry about the lights we're trying to save on the electricity bill." The man calls out from the black.

Nariko wondered if this was a cover up. For all she knew, all mentors had their limbs (aside from Miyu but she didn’t know this). She didn’t even know if a shinobi could continue being one if they lost one of their legs. While having two arms was important, there could always be single-hand seals. If you only got one usable leg, mobility is lowered, which could be their death. She wondered what he did.

As Nariko tailed behind Kazuo in the dark (thankful that the wheelchair was very loud despite it grating on her ears a bit), she just shrugged and then realized he couldn’t see that. “Ah, it’s okay. I don’t mind the dark.” Though, she was getting hyped for this tea.

As they continued, Nariko decided to ask now, looking behind her to make sure his daughter wasn’t trying to sneak up on them. “Hey uh… Not to be so blunt but uh… What happened to your leg?” Tone full of child-like curiosity and with hesitation, as if she didn’t know how he’d react. “Oh, and uh… If I remember right, you were a sensei for a few-... Failed chunin.” She didn’t want to make it obvious just in case, but she hoped he knew that she was talking about the ANBU. But she was trying to keep it secret and all.

God, glad she’s not talking to the people in “pig town”, she just realized she would have had a hard time talking to some criminals. Or maybe it was just because she was drilled to respect her elders. Yup, yup that was the one.

Stepping into the dark the young lady felt no true issue, but her taijutsu experience definitely told her she had just been… Spun? How? She was walking straight.

The voice called out to her from a doorway, it was certainly bright in that room. "In here, young lady."

Nariko definitely felt like that was a genjutsu, despite feeling like she had gone straight. One too many times her teammates would turn her around while she was blindfolded training with little genjutsu traps she’d accidentally step on. Narrowing at the room, she walked towards it to step inside. Well “outside”.

She felt dizzy, especially when there was no sky, but inky blackness all above, despite there being an open grassy meadow full of flowers… It was bright. Where was she? “H-hey, this has gotta be some genjutsu trick, yeah?” She looked around alarmed, clearly on edge as her entire body stiffened, as if ready to punch the closest thing to her if it got near her. Her jaw tensed, eyes wild, and her fists clenched. She can feel wind blowing against her and it just proved to unnerve her more.

"Doesn't take a genius to know when you step inside to outside you're stuck in an illusion. However, at what point does the illusion end and reality begins…?" Kazuo stood before her across a patch of red flowers, indeed, he stood, on two feet, before her.

"First, you've already been foolish with your cover. Don't speak of any of your leaders or teammates when civilian. Much less when talking to another civilian dressed agent.

Always treat yourself as being watched.

You always are."

He paused, then spoke again. "Work on your opening line, it made it sound like you were asking me out on a date back there." The man's face visibly softens, his eyes gain a twinkle of playfulness.

Nariko didn’t know if she should just… Crawl into a hole and die from sheer embarrassment as a shinobi of the Nakamura clan or try to salvage this. She realized she could have just died right about now if Kazuo wasn’t so kind, and then she felt embarrassed a moment after with the realization that she didn’t… Say that right.

Oh god...

The blonde teenager let out a nervous laughter and calmed down some, her eyes locked on his figure as if waiting for him to do something fishy. “Haha, s-sorry I uh…” She exaggerated a shrug and chuckled. “First time? Glad it’s with someone who won’t kill me?” She chuckled nervously again before trying to keep herself calm. The genjutsu unnerved her enough, so it definitely wasn’t helping. “Um, yeah, so uh… I’ll keep a better eye on that. Um, and uh… Heh, didn’t mean to make it sound like I’m asking you out.” She chuckled, losing some of her nervousness. “I didn’t know how to ask it any other way and my aunt always taught me to be blunt. Doesn’t really help when I need to lie, huh?”

Yeah, but her aunt wasn’t a shinobi. Shaking her head quickly, she realized Kazuo was standing. On two feet, no less. “Oh, you didn’t lose a leg?” She was very confused now, her head tilted and her brow furrowed. Unless the red flowers were supposed to be symbolism of some kind, to which she wasn’t really good with metaphors.

"Hmm… No… A long time ago I did lose a leg. I was protecting my wife from an explosion.

It was a long time ago, such things happen when you are a legitimate shinobi. Now I operate a storefront, with my daughter Lyn." The man explained, it was abit of a painful memory, but one he had long since made peace with.

"My wife was my partner, the explosion occured in an assassination attempt on the three of us. Lyn was yet to be born.

We survived, but due to the injuries and the fact she went into labor, my wife sadly passed… Due to needing to raise a daughter alone and losing my leg, on record and public view, I was given retirement.

This is the story everyone knows who needs to know or asks me as I scuttle around in a chair.

Trouble as it may be, the chair is good coverage." He stands still, explaining the situation without a wavering of voice or demeanor. "But you haven't come for my public life story. You're here for a reason.

One of the few reasons for one to beseech a sensei in our organization is for two reasons.

One, to learn from them.

Two, to kill them.

Social calls are okay but in moderation, I suggest avoiding Miyu however…" he awaited her answer, making odd fluctuations in the tension of the situation with his words.

It was both inspiring and upsetting hearing his life story. Even though she wasn’t here to hear him talk, it was nice. Sympathy was all she had, as she’s never had children or a partner to call her own in that way. She was surprisingly reverent upon hearing how his wife passed, but as soon as he switched topics, she could feel the tension shift from somber to serious. She took in a deep breath and sighed, nodding after he was done and smirking about Miyu. She wondered why Miyu was the dangerous one. Weren’t all shinobi dangerous?

Nariko looked up to him (as he towered over her) and she had a hint of a smile. “Ah, I’m here to learn.” Debating on whether she should just say her sensei’s name or not, she went with it anyway. “My team and I made a plan for a mission we’re doing.” Then she realized. She should probably not tell him everything, as if he were an actual contact who couldn’t know the full truth. Delicate maneuvering. Ah, this definitely wasn’t her strong suit. “It requires us to sneak into a Senju compound to retrieve goods that’s been stolen.” She very obviously failed with that phrasing. Realizing the mission was in their bingo books, she realized the man knew what she was talking about. “Well, more like wine, as we’d rather not have the Uchiha and Senju continue to fight over a few, albeit important, bottles. I already know the intricacies of how to get information, so I’m already prepared not to take everything you say at face value and I’m expecting to give you something in return, but I’m hoping you’d make it easy on me.” She smirked, a playful glint in her eyes now. “Though, I doubt you will. Either way,” Her smirk melted a little to a more neutral expression. “Was wondering if you had any tips or tricks on getting through their security without causing alarms or what traps and triggers we should avoid. Got any info on that?”[/COLOR]

The thought that Kazuo would likely make her leave his genjutsu trap herself as “payment” terrified her and she hoped he didn’t resort to that as a cruel joke.

That’s when she remembered she was going to grab those bottles to share with everyone. She grinned wide. “Actually, I was wondering if I should pay you in a bottle of awesome, antique wine.” She added quickly, hoping that was enough.

"...Oh, that's what this is about? Sure no issue." Kazuo spoke casually as if she spent all this time building up to ask to use his washroom.

"By accounts, I am Senju. In ANBU I am nothing but a shadow within the shadow. My allegiance is to Konoha and its safety.

So, I shall begin with the way Senju opperate.

As you can see, I ensnared you into a genjutsu as simply as going into a dark doorway. This is a common trick in base defense, but also is used in various ways. Hidden trap doors can be trapped, same with hallways so they go along forever. The key to avoiding these has to be secret, naturally, but is also adapted in the Senju way…

Plants." He motions to the flowers before him.

"I didn't pass a trip 9wire, I didn't make a bell go off to addle your senses.

I used something you cannot stop.

Your sense of smell.

Plants also have a… sense, of scent. Rather, they know pollen.

With a jutsu I can force a plant to produce a pollen when disturbed that forces a hallucination, making a simple potted plant a dangerous thing, by the time they notice it, they are already under the effects.

This can be done also with this." He pulls out a small bottle from his shirt, it had a small liquid inside. "Perfume. Its so subtle you wouldn't notice it.

This is just one of the tricks in the Senju tool box. To avoid this… Well, you prefer it simple.

Clog your nose, find a dusty room and pound it till you can't smell a thing." It seemed childish… Was he playing a prank on her…?

"Senju are generalists by nature, we do everything, watch for traps, tools or general plant based snares. Man eating plants are popular and easy to clean up after."

Maybe Nariko shouldn’t have been so worried. What she had told her teammates had been right. He was more interested in helping out the entire village than play favoritism for his clan. As he continued however, she realized just how hellish sneaking into the Senju compound was going to be. In the Nakamura clan, her mother was the one who had genjutsu clan-based traps around and in their home in specific areas. However, most who entered would find themselves beset by many sword and staff wielders and an echoing sound of thunder and bright flashes of lightning if they were to enter when others were awake. Her family’s was far more simple.

But the Senju? They had a bigger area to cover, they needed traps. Genjutsu was all over the place it seemed, and they used the sense of smell and darkness to hide traps. And they had plants. So, to combat the sense of smell - or pollen for flowers - she needed to…

Dust? Play in dust? Was he serious?

It sounded so plausible up until that point that she narrowed her eyes at him. There had to be another way. Also, the way he spoke of man-eating plants had her wondering if he had one. She shivered and shook her head. “Ah… Dust, though? Simply covering my nose with the smelliest cloth I could find wouldn’t work?” She’d rather not clog up her nose with dust when she could end up with a bloody nose or sneeze when she needed to be quiet. “I’m not going to just huff dust, that sounds less healthy than just smelling someone’s used pants.” She curled her lips, as if she’s had to do that before.

"Ah, alright, I'll lend you a hand…" the man sighed, shrugging his shoulders like a father acqueicing his child. He pulls out a small capsule, it had a small lightly blue powder inside.

"Before entering the compound, gather your allies together and pop this open, it will allow you to bypass the pollen easily.

It has a lifetime of 4 hours so be sure to be quick." He tosses the small capsule to her, a smile clear on his face.

"Be sure to get Taisei in it too, if he's there."

Catching the bottle, she beamed, looking between the bottle and then Kazuo, her eyes alight with excitement. “Ohh, man, thanks, Kazuo!” She looked like she won the lottery with that smile. Like a small kid being given a lollipop on a hot summer’s day. “I’ll be sure not to waste it! Don’t worry, I won’t forget Taisei.” She wavered a little, unsure if she should step in to hug him or not.

She decided to take the chance and approached him to give him a big hug, but was careful not to hurt his ribs. “I wasn’t expecting this much help. Thank you, I really mean it.” Being a rather physical person in and out of combat, this was probably both expectant and surprising. Nariko didn’t just up and hug people like this, as if he were her father figure. In actuality, he was a father himself and it felt almost heartwarming, especially with what he told her about himself. Letting go, she beamed, pocketing the bottle. “I should probably head back and tell them what I know.”

The room when she let go of the hug was… Different… Gone was the flower field, gone was the standing man, just a fellow in a wheelchair who had just been hugged… and…

"...Uhh…." Lyn looked upon the scene with a degree of awkwardness as she shuffled abit…

"Umm… Why are you hugging dad…?" She asked, as Kazuo blinked a few times. Nariko blushed a bit, blinking a few times as she stared in a stupor and backed away from Kazuo.

"A huggy one, isn't she, huh?" Kazuo responded but only getting a slight look at Nariko from the slightly younger girl. "...You… Uhh… I'm gonna go out with friends, dad, okay?" Lyn said, but left without a word…

She…

Was gonna tell everyone…

Kazuo shrugged. "I'm sure it'll be fine, excuse me I have to man the store front."

Nariko nodded and tilted her head in confusion. "Huh, yeah, you go do that. Thanks again for the … tea." She smirked, finding it funny. Technically, he did give her the tea, and now Lyn was going to share a different kind of tea with everyone. Lovely.

At least she could leave, but how much of her dignity was still intact, she had no idea.

 

[SomeRandomCanuck]

Squad Kasane
Ryūji Ganbā
Interactions: Phayne The Regal Rper IG42

​

“Holy shit these other two guys are the real deal” Ryuji smirked to himself as he made the observation in his head, granted he hadn’t given them much time to react but they performed way better than Ryuji expected. Eiichi's use of his smoke coupled with Kiyoshi's sound made for a great veil for the coin to land on target. Ryuji looked at the coin entering the smoke, feeling the small string of chakra connecting to it.

Taking another deep breath Ryuji wiped the small amount of blood coming from the corner of his mouth, he continued to observe the other two using their Kekkei genkai to help his plan. “Uh lucky, must be nice to have one…” he allowed his mind to wander, the seal exhausting the vast majority of his chakra. This one trick was his last ploy, there wasn’t much they could do other than trick her.

“Well as long as she… ah fuck” Ryuji commented as the smoke was cleared by Kasane’s great fireball. "It's fine, the coin just needs to touch her once" Seeing the coin miss its target and after the explosion from the explosive tag ricoshade it just off its target the small line of chakra connecting him to the coin disappeared from him, then he knew they lost. Seeing the chains shoot towards him and his comrades he sighed and fell backwards, lying upon the floor, taking heavy breaths letting the chains take him without a fight. There was no point in extending this battle, they would probably be sent on gods know what suicide mission considering this was the Anbu and it didn't seem good to waste anymore cards he held.

As the chains wrap themselves around him Ryuji bursts out laughing “Looks like the funs over guys, seems like our sensei is a lot more than just a pretty face. She’s a damn monster.” then coughing his lunges out at the exhaustion he felt from burning chakra. “Shit, I should have been more cautious, was there another path? Maybe…” Ryuji’s smile slightly faltered as he internally criticized his planning, the lack of versatility within his repertoire, and the ease of which he gave out information. His hand binded within the chains clenched tightly, “Damn, losing really sucks doesn’t it…”

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Hisa Hyuga​

It had nearly an hour before Hisa found a chance to get the hell out of that compound. Those damn Senju wouldn’t stop talking about their garden! Still in her old lady transformation, Hisa was making a slow and steady break for the exit. She sure as hell didn't plan to be in disguise for so long, yet here she was nearly out of chakra.

The exit was coming up. She could feel eyes on her as she left. There was no way they suspected her of being a ninja… right? She couldn’t risk activating her byakugan to take a look either. Knowing she was being watched and not being able to identify who made her want to shiver.

Hisa wondered why the hell she agreed to do this in the first place. The neutral yet content expression she was maintaining wavered ever so slightly with a slight twitch of her lip as she started to worry. It may not have been noticeable, but Hisa knew it could’ve been if one was perceptive enough. If they suspected her, odd things like that could signal them off… or they wouldn’t notice and it’d all be fine.

Hisa inhaled deeply through her nose, and let out a slow yet quiet exhale. There wasn’t much to gain worrying anymore about it, Hisa thought to herself. She just had to do her best to be a good old lady and hope it'll work out in the end. Worrying was gonna throw off the act, and the jutsu too if she didn’t get out soon.

The exit was near now, but as Hisa approached. Another senju nin stepped from behind a wall. “I’ll walk you home ma’am!” He called up as he waved his hand and waved.

Internally, Hisa was groaning. She was so close! Yet, one clueless guy was about to ruin her entire escape plan.

“No need, I am perfectly capable of getting home on my own.” Hisa said this with as much resolve as she could muster. She could tell by the wide grin on his face he was the friendly type. He probably wouldn’t take a simple no for an answer.

“I insist! I’m heading in that direction anyway so it’s convenient for us both!” He said, eliciting a sigh from Hisa. She simply nodded and began forward.

——————————

The route towards the Hyuga headquarters went through a wooded area. The senju walked next to her as she shuffled along. The entire time he blabbed about his family, and his prodigy of a little sister. Hisa wanted to groan but she was playing as a respectful old lady, not a mean one afterall.

There had to be a way for her to get rid of him without hurting him though. Plus, she needed to avoid combat at all costs. She had no clue how good the guy was. He didn’t seem to be the brightest though…

“Say, what about your family? Got any grandkids?” The Senju asked, putting his hands behind his head.

Hisa hesitated, trying to think of a story.
“Oh… uh… ” Hisa began. The guy was looking at her intently, the same smile on his face. “I used to have a grandchild, but they died long ago…” Hisa said trailing off. She slowed to a stop, falling to her knees before covering her eyes. A quiet sniffle slipped between her fingers.

The senju let out an alarmed breath before dropping his hands and face palming. Hisa hoped he was feeling like an idiot right now. “I’m sorry for bringing it up ma’am! Are you alright?” He asked as he bent down towards her.

A light bump on his chest made him hesitate for a moment, before continuing as normal. Hisa pulled her palm off of his chest.

Gentle Fist: Pacify

He place a hand on her back and held one out for her to take. Hisa gazed at it for a brief moment, before instead thrusting her palm into his stomach. He grunted as the air was pushed from his lungs, and a moment later cried out in pain as his abdominal muscles started violently contracting.

Gentle Fist: Black Widow

“Sorry young man, but I can’t have you following me anymore. You’ve slowed me down long enough,” Hisa said to him as he writhed on the ground in pain. Hisa stood over him, smiling.

“Wha- what did you do?” He asked with a bewildered look on his face.

It might have been unnecessary to pacify him before putting him through this, but Hisa liked to make sure there wasn’t a chance of him fighting back here. It was a spur of the moment decision after all.

“Don’t think about it too much. Forget about what happened here… ok? Anyway, see ya!” Hisa waved, then formed a handsign. A moment later she disappeared, leaving the senju to writhe around in pain for several more minutes until it settled down enough for him to recover and return to his compound.

Hisa on the other hand, finally began back to headquarters.

“Thank god that’s over…” she grumbled to herself. “Hopefully the other two were as successful as me. We should be able to get into the cellar easy now!”

 

[Noam]

Squad Taisei​

Mana gave Natsume a long once-over, lips pursed. “I’ll pay you what your ‘premium’ is worth, kid.”

The front room of the house was pleasant enough, with a checked katsudon dominating the room and a small TV flickering in the corner. Taisei knew for a fact that there was contraband under the floorboards, and that none of it was as nice as what they were selling.

“So?” Mana sat down with a solid thump and pulled out a cigarette. “What’s so special about this wine?”

“This wine goes for no less than a thousand ryo on the open market. But you’re not going to find it there, because currently, every. Last. Bottle. Is in the possession of the Senju clan.” He rapped the table with each word for emphasis. A particularly annoying habit of Hibiki-sama’s. “But my contact tells me that their security isn't particularly robust."

Mana’s cigarette hung forgotten and unlit in her mouth. “You’re robbing the Senju? Are you two fucking crazy people? I’m not getting mixed up in that!”

Shit. "The money's worth it," Taisei invented. Not really. C-ranks were pocket money for ANBU. But if Mana actually managed to resell the wine, the money would be worth it for her. "And I'm telling you, the security is garbage. You know these old rich fucks. They don't think anyone can touch them. They get lazy, and that's when people like us can profit."

"Old rich shinobi," Mana countered. "I've dealt with shinobi before. Even the old ones can breathe fire and shit. Now get the fuck out of here."

Merciless Medic AtlannianSpy InsaneAsylum

 

[AtlannianSpy]

Squad Taisei
Natsume Uchicha
Ahh crap, we're losing her, Natsume thought, weighing up her options quickly. It wouldn't actually spell the end of the mission if they had to walk away from this meeting. Just the fact that they had made the inquiry might be enough to lead investigators down the right track. On the other hand backing down here might make them seem amateurish and lead investigators to wonder how they had managed to pull off the heist in the first place, so what to do?..

Screw it, time to take a risk Natsume stood, slamming her palms down on the table between them and adopting a fiery expression. "We know what we're doing!" Natsume siad, bringing her hands together and forming a seal, obscuring herself in a puff of smoke as activated the transformation jutsu. When the smoke cleared there were two Mana's in the room, eying each other off. "You think Shinobi are the only ones with a few tricks up their sleeve?" Natsume asked as the second Mana, putting her hands on her hips. "Anyone can learn that crap if you know the right people, but if you're too scared of a few jumped up parlour tricks to make some real money then it's not our problem, we can always find another buyer," I.... might be laying it on a little thick here Natsume mused. But if we push her past her comfort zone she'll be more likely to get cold feet later and pass our story on.

Noam

 

[Phayne]

~Squad Kasane~
Mentions: SomeRandomCanuck IG42 The Regal Rper

For that briefest of moments when time seems to slow and your concentration seems to lapse into a dull sense of nostalgia. The red haired ninja that was Kiyoshi would find himself recoiling at the sight of the giant ball of flame created by Kasane; its raw, unfiltered firepower bright enough to both dazzle and evoke a sense of dread within the genin Anbu who found himself instinctively raising both hands in front of himself in order to shield himself from the destruction that was fire itself. Sweat would inevitably begin to form on his brow, the result an amalgamation of both the boy's efforts to subdue the vastly superior Kasane, as well as from the heat generated from the fire she had produced so easily. However.. perhaps there was also a hint of fear that had smuggled itself into the mix; fear of a monster that had once ravaged the place he had called home.

While time in the real world continued to abide by the laws of physics itself, Kiyoshi instead found himself regressing to a time long since passed... long since believed to have been pushed back to the furthest recesses of his mind, to a place where memories go to be forgotten. Indefinetily. It was a place that Kiyoshi never wanted to venture to, a place he had desperately tried to ignore. The past was meant to be the past after all and as far as Kiyoshi was concerned, that past life of his died the day he buried his uncle. So why... why was this haunting memory that he had believed to have been erased here. Why was the vision that had pervaded his mind so clear... so vivid.. so real...why was he here again?

Standing upon the burning tatami mat that had adorned his families main dining hall, the young son of the Habiki family would be frozen in fear, a puddle forming between both feet as he stood there amidst the cacophony of chaos that echoed all around him. Powerless, lost and innocent, the young boy whom had remained oblivious to the severity of his families crimes and had treated those subservient to the family with respect was now finding himself entwined with the punishment being directed upon them, the innocent victim of an act of justice directed at the oppressors. His family.

An orchestra of madness had invaded their home, the blood curdling cries of those tasked with defending the estate serenading the night sky as their backs were stabbed and their throats slit by the villagers who could no longer endure the oppression they were forced to live with. An inside job, the plan hinged on the Habiki family remaining unaware of the true intentions of their attendants, oblivious to the blood soaked festivities that they were the main guest's to. From Chef to chambermaid, each servant enlisted by the family had a role to play in the nights main event.

A twist of irony, the tool that had garnered so much power for the Habiki family would now become the tool for their destruction. While Kiyoshi's food had been spared the dose of Opiods that had been used to spike the bowls consumed by the rest of his family, the boy was merely given the luxury of a death far less humiliating, a death that was not first premeditated with pure suffering. Suffering in the form of his parents and elder siblings writhing and convulsing upon the floor. The nightmarish sight was one that would haunt him during the nights to come, the foam forming against their lips oozing in green bile as their eyes glazed over; their eyes unable to produce even the smallest of tear drop as they painfully suffered the same fate that many had done under their watch. Confused and scared, Kiyoshi had of course turned to the servants whom had served the family, hoping and preying that one of them would be able to heal his elder siblings, his parents; yet what had greeted him upon his frantic attempts to get help was instead the sight of joy, of bloodlust glee as they revelled in the success of their plan. Why?.. Why were they happy? Why wouldn't they help?... Why were they doing this? The thoughts of a frantic and frightened boy who knew not what was happening.

A moment of madness and desperation had finally caused him to act; fragile little fingers wrapping themselves around a knife that had fallen to the floor next to the food table. His target was anyone and everyone, the demons that had disguised themselves as the families servants, the monsters that would soon plague his dreams. Like a mindless and powerless child, he swung. He stabbed. He cried. He failed. The boy was effortlessly avoided, his animalistic swings nothing more than the desperate flailings of a boy on the verge of breaking down.

A slap to the face was all it took. The force enough to render Kiyoshi unconscious, his body flung against the wall from the sheer strength of the impact; his unconscious body laying against the floor as the home itself was soon lit aflame. Kiyoshi may have been the black sheep of the family, the one and only member to have attempted to treat everyone else as a human being rather than a slave, but the fact remained that the blood of the accursed Habiki flew through his veins, a bloodline that had caused so much irreparable damage to the countless families forced into servitude. His final act of defiance as he tried to protect his family was the nail in his coffin; the knife that had severed the only string of hope that he, if only him would be spared the fate of the Habiki's destruction.

The boy would soon awaken; his body held firm in the hands of his uncle as he made his way through a hidden passage underneath the family manor; the orange glow of a home engulfed by fire getting ever smaller the further they travelled down this darkened route; eventually reaching the sanctity of the forest; the moon above them painted orange by the glow of the very fire itself. 5 men had been stationed at the exit of this secret passage, 5 men who would soon become 5 corpses as they fell one by one to the man that was Kiyoshi's uncle; Chikao. Alas, the man; his body ravaged by the fire and further broken down by the pursuers would only survive a few more days; his wounds painting the body a sickly purple before his soul itself could no longer inhabit the broken shell.

....

Awoken from the nightmare; Kiyoshi found himself wrapped by the chakra chains protruding from Kasane's body; the time between her fireball jutsu and her additional chain summoning spanning less than a minute; yet for the boy now ensnared, it had felt so much longer; as if he had re-lived that ill fated night and the following days once more.

By now the heat from his body had escaped him and he had broken into a cold sweat with head drooped over and face obscured by the Anbu mask he wore. Crestfallen and reeling from the mental self implosion; he slowly glanced over towards Eiichi then towards Ryuji as he spoke; the sight of his new comrades in a similar predicament had all but ensured their defeat. Had his mind not wavered, perhaps.. perhaps he could have done something to have prevented their current situation.

​

 

[Noam]

Squad Miyu
Yumi Arabori​

Yumi wasted no time racing out of the forest, as far from the missing-nin and his creepy shadow jutsu as she could get. She'd met members of the Nara clan before, but she'd never had the opportunity to see their jutsu up close. And she'd definitely never seen that before. It must have been a hard jutsu to pull off, she decided, or else it needed a ton of chakra. Otherwise, she was pretty sure that the Nara would rule the entire world by now.

The shadows didn't follow them, and neither did Nara. Miyu-sensei had hurt him bad, and he'd already been injured before that--Yumi'd seen his stitches. She wondered why he'd picked now to desert. Wouldn't it have made more sense to wait until his injuries healed? And what had gotten him so hurt in the first place? Miyu-sensei hadn't mentioned it when briefing them for the mission. Then again, anyone who was going to desert from Konoha probably wasn't right in the head in the first place.

Tanzaku wasn't far, and it was easy to find too, on account of all the neon and billboards. It was a city bigger than Konoha and as far as Yumi could tell, it was almost half casinos and bars. It was also not a shinobi village, so running around in her ANBU uniform would cause panic. She made a quick detour to a cluster of trees outside town to change into civilian clothes, then walked into the city just like any other person.

Weirdly, the first person she found was Ren. Ren the super-stealthy, who'd been all but invisible while they were on the mission itself. She was doing a good job passing as a civilian; Yumi had to watch her for a moment just to make sure it was really her. When she was sure, she jogged over to her, waving like she'd just spotted a friend from school.

"Hey, Ren! Wait up!" She fell into step next to her. "So, Miyu-sensei is a total badass. Did you know she could do that?"

KageYuuki Orikanyo Ganryu

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Spilt Soupwith Ton and Hisa​

It was a lazy afternoon in Anbu headquarters. There weren’t many missions out at the moment, so many ninja were gathered in the cafeteria for lunch. For once it was loud in there, as several groups talked and ate. One group was stabbing a kunai between their fingers at alarming speeds, while his friends cheered him on.

Sitting on the far side of the cafeteria, away from most of the other ninja was Hisa, who was sitting idly and gazing at the wall. She twirled a spoon between her fingers as she let the soup in front of her cool. Hisa herself had been lazing around headquarters all day, spending most of her time in the cafeteria. This was her fifth bowl of soup today. She didn’t care much for the taste of it anymore, but she felt she needed some excuse to be in the cafeteria.

Its been a busy day for Ton, kinda, he'd been some places he technically shouldn't have been but really nobody cared since he was, strictly speaking, supposed to be there as ANBU. The knowledge in mind and bell in pocket.. Alongside the weird seal he found copied in the notebook, he figured… Lunch? Dinner?

Food was in order.

He entered the cafeteria with slight wonder at the fact there, in fact, was a cafeteria. A sign and everything. Even a watercooler.

Two agents were standing next to it, sipping from provided disposable cups and talking about things that maybe did, or didn't, matter.

Ton however was not interested in this, his interest was food… Which… Was soup…

…Yay….

It was hard to get excited for soup. Seriously, couldn't afford to buy better food? For the secret service of Konoha? Fucking soup?

He took his soup, he already was disappointed in the meal… Redish… Liquid… Tomato… Abit of potato… Side of rice…

He'd eat better anywhere else…

The thought lingered, as he spotted an old classmate. She looked down, and really bored… Hrmm… The young man felt a slight twinge… A twinge he didn't like… He didn't like it back then, he didn't like it and it decided to stick around to now… It was a twinge in the heart…

And he didn't like that one bit.

He was a peasant, the last thing he needed was to be reminded of that by some highborn brat… Even if she looked so down… Bored… And cu-

Snap out of it.

You are to remain strong and continue your distaste for such nobility.

In fact, to prove this to yourself, you are going to sit across this young lady and most definitely not be doing this because you think this may be one of your first ever chances to speak to them no sir…

…Gods above even you couldn't gaslight yourself that much.

Whatever just go.

Ton walks forward, looking towards the young lady and set down his tray diagonally across from her, looking somewhat defeated by the time he sat down…

A couple moments after Ton sat down, Hisa glanced over at him. She recognized him. He was new to the ANBU too, and had been a part of her class. She didn’t quite remember his name though. Though she knew she didn’t remember much of those years, since she spent it doing the bare minimum and talking to the bare minimum amount of people.

He didn’t say anything when he sat down, so maybe he didn’t want to walk to her. Hisa began to consider the possibility that he thought she was weird. She was just sitting here staring instead of eating her soup. Hisa turned to grab her spoon but her arm hit the bowl, and lukewarm liquid spilled across the table towards Ton.

She wasn’t hungry anymore anyway.

“Oh..” Ton let out a small gasp, looking towards the young lady… he gave a light nod. “..I’ll help..” he spoke softly, pulling out the napkins on his plate he began to clean up the spill, he expected it to be hot.. But…

“...Umm…

I’m… Ton… Yamada…” he spoke, finally, unsure what else to say.

“...I’ve seen you before, somewhere. Haven’t I?”

Hisa held her head in her hand, then nodded. She then grabbed a some of her own napkins, and started to help clean the spilled soup.

“Yes, I’m one of the new members of the ANBU,” she replied. She hesitated a moment, then continued. “I’m Hisa.” She glanced up at him and adjusted her glasses. “You’re… Ryuuji, right?”

"Umm…No… I just said my name. Ton Yamada…" he corrected her… This… Kinda went beyond air headedness…

Like… She really isn't looking to good..

He has some degree of skill from the technique to control Miyo, abit…

"...Are… You okay…?" He asks finally, as the soup is cleaned up, mostly.

"You seem… Down…"

At this point, Hisa was ready to slam her head against the table. Ton definitely thought she was some sort of fool by now.

“I’m ok! Just uh… tired from all the training I’ve been doing today.”

Ton nodded, that seemed… alright… But.. He wasn’t certain about that… he sat down and plopped the napkins into a nearby trash can. Was.. that there before he sat down..? Odd…

“...So… Uhh… Food huh… Kinda….” he paused.. “...it kinda… Sucks..”

“Oh! Yea… I took a couple sips of mine and I didn’t really like it,” Hisa lied.

The small talk was killing Hisa’s soul.

“…”

“… What brought you to the ANBU?” Hisa asked after a couple agonizing moments of silence.

“...My team failing me in the chuunin exams..” Ton sighed deeply, looking downwards. “..I attempted my best in the exams, but during the scroll hunt they… ignored me. They ran off to try and take down an enemy that was all but prepared for them. They kept saying their bloodlines would win it for them… as if it was some key to victory to all scenarios…”

Ton spat, not literally, he’d not want to be rude.

“What use is a tool if badly used, if relied upon too much.

Whats a tool becomes a crutch, whats a useful thing becomes an addiction. Obsession.

It’s fine enough to have… some.. Form of thing your better at.

But to forsake all else for it… And then to expect nobody in their right mind could defeat you…

Thats why I’m in ANBU, they chose me over them… I… haven’t.. Checked to see.. What their doing now…” he paused… Where.. Were those two…?

“I think some ninja tend to let their blood become their identity,” Hisa began. “But here in ANBU we get a chance to rebrand ourselves since nothing has us tethered down anymore. Well, nothing but our village of course.”

Hisa paused. “You think you’ll ever do see your old teammates again?”

“...I don’t think i’ll want to search them out.. Anybody that would possibly know me and my past abilities may notice i’ve changed civilian-wise. I am not supposed to be dead, just… somewhere… It’s the benefit of already being somebody nameless..” he sighed lightly.

“I’d like to at least know they survived, they had heavy injuries…” he paused again.

“...You are Hyuuga correct? I am surprised, you have one of the most pronounced bloodlines in the city, yet you agreed with me, even seeing to want to change…

..I do not know your story, I’m sorry if I am prying…”


Hisa was about to speak, but paused. She didn’t really feel like going over her entire life. But he did reveal something pretty deep. It was her turn to do the same. Talking was such a chore.

“Well, I was meant to be a prodigy, just like my father. But I ended up being mediocre at best. I thought the chuunin exams would be my chance to redeem myself but I ended up getting beaten by a member of my own clan.”

Hisa shook her head with a pained expression, the memory still fresh in her mind.

“Luckily, I got dragged here afterwards, so I get to put my skills to work elsewhere. I don’t have to worry about my family anymore either. It’s a blessing, but I do miss home.”

Well, it wasn’t her home anymore, Hisa thought to herself.

“...I see… I’ll spare you commiserations… Such things I can’t really compare when it comes to loss..” Ton took a moment to breath, looking down at the now cold soup.

“...So… What do you like to do on your free time save eat terrible soup?”

“Uh… sleep I guess? Sometimes I snoop around, since my eyes let me see things people don’t normally get to see,” Hisa revealed.

Ton was.. Obviously carrying the conversation… It… Was abit tiring… Well.. Alright then. “I’m going to go into town, find.. Better food… We’re paid so i may as well use it for actual.. Good.. meals..” he adds in, tossing his.. Lackluster soup into the trashcan.

“..if you want to join it’s my treat, but theres no pressure..”

tag

“Are you asking me on a date?”

It took her a moment to realize just she asked that out loud, and not just in her head. Numerous heads in the cafeteria turned to look at the two.

Ton flushed for a second, then turned away, not bothering to answer, though it most certainly looked like he was running away… And to be completely fair he was. To go somewhere, eat something then possibly die of embaressment.

He will never show his face in that cafeteria again…

Hisa, meanwhile, sat in silence as Ton retreated. Her face turned bright red as she slowly laid her head against the table.

“Why am I so bad at talking to people…” she grumbled.

The rest of the ninja in the cafeteria shrugged, and returned to their conversations, ignoring the lazy hyuga moping in the corner.

 

[The Regal Rper]

Eiichi | ANBU HQ | Squad Uzumaki

He was in the smoke when the blast of fire Kasane released had come rapidly approaching. The only sensible solution was to run and that's exactly what Eiichi and his clone both did. There was no way he would have been able to weave the sign quickly enough to counter the flames, and even if he had the burst of chakra that Kasane followed up with after would have certainly just knocked him flat onto his butt, very much like he had been knocked down to a sliding halt on his stomach.

With a grunt he swore, and then no sooner had he rising to hands and knees did he feel a weight and pressure wrap itself around his waist.

He sighed. Then was promptly hoisted like a flag up with Kiyoshi. The latter of which Eiichi glanced at--

--immediately feeling a sense of concern, and a powerful feeling of dejavu.

The look Kiyoshi expressed or maybe it was the air about him and the way he could detect the way his peer clearly seemed distraught, reminded him of a boy.

A boy his old genin team had met back when he'd been in the Land of Rain. Back in Amegakure going out on relief and support missions weren't uncommon. And at the exact moment Kiyoshi reminded him of a boy. A nameless boy that his team had observed in the area of a town they had gone to visit which had suffered the afflictions of failing to meet their 'taxed dues' according to the soldiers that allowed the Tyrant to maintain its power over the nation at large and as a result the town had suffered for it.

Eiichi remembered this boy for his eyes. Clear but haunted aquamarine eyes. The boy had been his age group, and like him had seen things by simply being a resident of the Land of Rain. Yet when his team noticed him, he would always run off into the background of the rundown and demolished part of the building that had been officially shut down do to its damages.

Every day, Eiichi recalled seeing the boy with aqua eyes, a haunted look in them, but a hopeful expression on his face. Finally on the last week of their time at the town his sensei of their team decided to approach the boy, they all did- and his reaction had been similar. To run away. Only they were trained shinobi, and he was just your average kid, no martial training or sense of understanding of the nature that was Chakra- so it was easy to catch up to him, easy to block his path, and easy to ask some questions. Like why he was always hanging around that rundown building.

Turned out, the building had been store owned by his parents. And his father had said to be the last person in that building when their town was attacked. He'd been told that because the hospitals were full, there had been a few Shinobi from the Land of Fire that offered escort to some of the caravans carrying wounded to another nearby town the Leaf Shinobi would be heading to next. The boy believed that because their home was destroyed, his father would worry for him. And so he hoped to meet his dad on his route to their old home, where he could assure him he was fine.

And that's why he waited, each and every day.

The sound of pounding rain filled Eiichi's ears and when he blinked Kiyoshi was that boy. Dripping wet, steadily being soaked to the bone, just like the rest of them, it'd been so noisy with the all that rain- yet somehow it'd never been so eerily silent when Eiichi had asked the nameless boy with aqua eyes if his mother was with him wherever they were staying.

The haunted look had been so clear.

And now he saw it in Kiyoshi.

He blinked, and the nameless boy with pretty aqua eyes was gone, and Eiichi found himself concerned. Not frustrated over the fact he felt they probably could've just called this all off maybe a few seconds earlier when it became more or less clear they weren't going to get the one over Kasane. Not irritated that perhaps he'd burnt up more chakra than he'd cared to for something that was clearly just supposed to be a test. Not aggravated that he was essentially dangling in the air at the mercy of their mentor, feeling exposed, somehow vulnerable.

Even if he agreed with Ryuji in being frustrated that they had ultimately lost, he didn't feel the stinging annoyance that came from frustration. Instead he was concerned.

"Hey...you alright?" He asked Kiyoshi as he looked in his direction.

It was a foolish question and he regretted asking. Of course he wasn't, but what else could he have asked. Even if he got the sense, even when he knew Kiyoshi probably wasn't alright from how sweat caked his skin, he had to at least ask.

He wasn't an asshole like some of his old teammates had been after all.

Mentions: n/a

Interactions: SomeRandomCanuck IG42 Phayne

 

[IG42]

Squad Kasane
Seeing that all 3 boys had been quickly caught Kasane checked they were all safely placed on the floor then released them from her chains and let them dissipate. "Alright kids, fall in!" Hopping off her perch she dropped to floor and beckoned for the trio to join her. While Eiichi seemed to be fine to move if a touch subdued Ryuji had clearly burned all his chakra and Kiyoshi was slumped in apparent dejection. I...didn't hit them that hard did I? Are chuunin really this fragile?

Taking care of the easiest issue first she dug in her pouch for a chakra pull and tossed it onto his chest where he lay on the floor. "Get that down when you can move your arms 'kay?" Kiyoshi was highest on her list of worries, if her admittedly slightly muddled senses at the end of the fight could be relied upon the boy who had seemed to her the most level headed of the three had seized up well before she grabbed him, obviously that was the kind of thing that would end with him in a box very quickly in fieldwork. "Hey, you with us?" She asked the other redhead while taking a seat on the floor beside him, rather than press too hard for an immediate response she addressed all three of them. "Well you boys can function as a group which is more than can be said for some new teams, stacking up your tricks to mess with multiple senses at once was great stuff to make up on the fly. You can lose the masks while we're in here by the way." She gave Kiyoshi a gentle nudge with her shoulder trying to draw him out. "Come on let's see that cute face before we get down to work."

Phayne The Regal Rper SomeRandomCanuck

 

[KageYuuki]

Ren Ogumo

Squad Miyu​

Watching through the eyes of one of her spiders, Ren frowned at the series of handsigns and the seal emerging over their mark's stomach. Being kilometers from the action was both a blessing and a curse. A blessing in that she had an extra split second to react and a curse in that she couldn't do anything to aid her teammates. Even with the extra warning, Ren barely stopped herself from falling into the sudden abyss. Threads coiling around branches to catch and hoist herself back up to the web she'd strung out across the water. She perched on the thin threads as easily as the tree branches.

Thread Walker

The small ANBU couldn't help but let out a sigh as she looked at all of the webs strung up to catch their prey. All of these traps for nothing. She shifted her weight slightly, Perhaps not entirely for nothing. That shadow doesn't seem to be something we could climb out of so easily . . .

Her earpiece crackled to life, snapping Ren out of her thoughts.

"We're retreating! Meet up at Tanzaku! Ren, cover our path,"

"Yes, Captain." As soon as the inky expanse retreated, Ren followed after them. With nearly all of the trees and grass gone in a massive swath of land, it was harder for her to lay her threads in her wake. Ren would just have to hope the loose dust and cracks in the earth gave her enough coverage until they made it back into the forests.

Tanzaku Town . . . her last mission with her team had been here funnily enough.


People had been disappearing during the Spring festival, a mission well suited for her team's tracking abilities. Sho and his hawks were able to search from the skies while Kei and her ninken Kenzo ran through the streets searching by sound and smell. Ren searched closer still to ground level, spreading her webs through the city.

Despite everything, it had been close to midnight before Kei picked up a trail. The faintest whiff of one of the missing tourists. It was all they needed to give chase. He'd been fast, narrowly avoiding Sho's rain of sharp feathers and Kei's fangs and claws. It felt almost like dumb luck that he stumbled when he did, falling into the webs Ren had managed to string up.

"I didn't do it!" He'd yelled and thrashed, straining against the silk threads.

Kei snarled, sharp fangs glinting in the moonlight. "You reek of every person that's gone missing." A warning growl sounded in Kenzo's throat.

"I was playing Chou Han all day! You know how many people went in and out of that building?"

"About one hundred and twenty-two."

"Any one of them could've bumped into me. Or maybe your real guy did."

Sho frowned, "Just tell us what you know and we'll let you go then."

The man snarled, "I told you, I didn't do it--" He froze, staring up at the pair of scarlet eyes boring down on him.

"Yasu Chibe," Ren recognized her sensei Kenichi's level voice. The jounin descended to street level and approached, "You made a big fuss when you left Suna."

"What?" Yasu didn't have a chance to protest any further before being overwhelmed by the jounin's genjutsu and going limp.

"Well done, you three. Slowing down a missing nin's no small feat." Kenichi pulled a pack of cigarettes from his vest, lighting one.

"Slowing?" Kei protested, wrinkling her nose at the smell of the smoke. "We caught him!"

The jounin mussed her hair as he walked by. Pulling a kunai from his pouch, he reached out and tapped the web. Droplets of clear liquid fell from the silk. "He's an expert in poisons, developed ones strong enough to paralyze a jounin without killing them."

"Why would he need that." Ren clipped the webs from her fingertips, checking for any of the liquid on them.

"Experiments. Turning people into puppets to steal their techniques." His cigarette cast an uneasy glow over the jounin's face. It didn't take much for the three of them to imagine what kind of horrors that meant. Kenichi knelt, slinging the unconscious nin over his shoulder. "Thankfully, I don't think he's ever come close to succeeding. Still, Suna will be very interested to have him back."

"Wait!" Sho stepped closer. "What about all those people missing?"

The jounin gave him a sad smile, "If there's anything left, it's better you don't see it. Suna will probably want to take over from here. I'll meet you three back at the hotel in a little bit." He vanished with a body flicker.


Ren shook herself from the memory as the town's wall came into view. A few handsigns and silk engulfed her body. Her mask and cloak fell away for a light yukata, her long hair pulled back into a braid. She looked like just about any other person wandering the streets.

Jorogumo's Disguise

It had been the mission that led to Kenichi recommending them for the chuunin exams. "You three more than proved yourselves that night." He'd beamed. "Even if you don't pass, it'll be good experience for you."

"Hey, Ren! Wait up!" She fell into step next to her. "So, Miyu-sensei is a total badass. Did you know she could do that?"

Her teammate's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. She looked at Yumi for a moment before shaking her head. "We did not. She is very much the kind to keep to herself, even when she is at home." Ren hesitated, scratching her cheek. "Unfortunately, we were too far away to see any of it when it happened."


Noam Orikanyo Ganryu

 

[Ganryu]

Squad Miyu
Orikanyo KageYuuki Noam​

Miyu could be seen in town a little farther in, a thousand yard stare as the ANBU squad ambled in. She wore a simple white coat with a black belt, and one sleeve whipping in the wind. Her breath was shallow, and her fingers convulsed from her good hand. Her lips quivered, her canine showing underneath as her iris's narrowed.

"Haa.... haaa... haa..."

Each exhale raspy and wheezy. Her iris narrowed, and she hunched over. Her eyes bulged, and jaw clenched hard enough a worrying 'crack' could be heard, several white bits slobbering out of the corners of her mouth with drool, decorating down to her chin. Her veins bulged for a minute, across her neck, and forehead, then slowly faded with several long breaths.

Miyu shook her head, snapping out of it. She just relaxed her shoulders as she unglued herself from the wall, shrugging and slinking over. Her iris's loosened back to normal. And she reached into her pocket and pulled a few pills.

"Haaa.... Alright, we should be good. Seal team has been contacted, they're monitoring his every move, our job is over. I told them about the seal Ton had mentioned, I'm not the best at seals. Seems like it looks like a Jinchuriki's mark. Oh, don't know if you all know about them. We seal the tailed beast inside some sorry sod, call it a Jinchuriki and use them as war time weapons. Current one's an old hag who's always on my case like she's my mother or something. Bitch. The thing is, all tailed beasts are accounted for, so, whatever they tried is new. Hence the surgeries. Really hurt his skills as a ninja, even if I was going easy. But, it did give him a loooot of chakra. If he has time to adjust, he might be a real threat. I'm going to advice Kaito to let me try by myself later, with the kid gloves off."

Miyu sighed, reaching into a shirt pocket for her lighter, tossing it up and down.

"Speculation bit. I noticed that Shika-Ino-Cho has largely been quiet lately. Creating a Jinchuriki requires a sacrifice to use. About six months ago, nobody heard from Ino or Cho. If I had to guess what had happened to them..."

She didn't explain, but looked up as she thought to how the shadow had seemed to have had a mind of it's own...

The pause lasted a good minute. She finally took a calm breath, and reached for her carton of cigarettes, holding it side by side her lighter in her hand

"Evaluation. We had shitty data, but none of you are dead. That's good. You pulled your weight too.

Yumi, nice Kyūjutsu. I don't know if the shot to his foot was intentional or happy accident, but luck's an important skill. You did the most sheer damage to him. You were a bit too happy to get out of there though. Cover fire could have helped escape.

Ren, we didn't end up needing the traps, but you didn't rush in like an idiot when he proved to be stronger than reported. and your spider's scouting did help us pin point him before that fight. Sorry 'bout Miss Ameko. That said, you need to be a bit more flexible in plans. I'd work on some long range summoning attacks or something. I'm sure someone in the clan who ain't considered a 'failure' like me could teach'em.

Ton, nice use of genjutsu, and application of clones and taijutsu, all around good coverage. That said, you ran out of chakra very quickly. If he had any friends and our intel was even worse than it was, and he had back up, you'd be more dead than anyone else there. Life ain't fair, sometimes you pull more than your weight, but get slammed anyways.

Good call on when you sent me out when you do. I think a full on fight, without casualties against him, was about 30/70 chance of you three against him. He was banged up pretty bad, but for chakra to be visible like that... ♪whooooot♪. It could rival Kasane. Thankfully, not a lot of control over it. And you all did injure the shit out of him. Heh.

Overall, you all did pretty good. Enjoy yourselves, did good enough for me. "

Miyu then popped open the carton lid with her thumb, and fished around in it with her index finger. Her eyebrows raised concerned. She fished for another moment, then looked in the carton. She tipped it upside down, Nothing came out.

Miyu took a single breath. Long and paced. 5 seconds... 10 seconds... 15 seconds... 20 seconds. Her chest slowly rose, and rose, and rose. Muscles in her abs tensed hard with the influx of air.

Miyu held her breath, closing her eyes.

The lighter in her hand exploded, shards of metal flying like shrapnel from the area, as if a grenade had just gone off. Pieces embedded in nearby clay wall, pieces of tile on the roof shattered, and oil dripped down Miyu's fingers.

Miyu slowly opened her eyes again. Cold and dead, eyes that black and emotionless. The exhale slowly started to come. Miyu went still as a statue, only her veins dancing and her muscles contracting showing any movement. She wasn't even blinking.

A single unspoken word screamed in the air, even as everything was silent, heard by everyone in the vicinity, even the deaf:

Run.

 

[Merciless Medic]

Nariko Nakamura
Team Taisei
​

Location: Third Training Ground | Mood: Angry and upset, trying to be reserved and calm; Focused | Interactions: N/A | Mentions: Taisei Hyuga, Natsume Uchiha, Hisa Hyuga, Kazuo Senju​

After getting the information from Kazuo and a bottle of… This glittery perfume stuff… Nariko went back to headquarters to find her team.

However, after asking around where Taisei had gone, it seemed like he was still out there, which meant the Uchiha wasn’t here either. And, at least at the time of her asking around for a Hyuuga with glasses (much to her chagrin as some ANBU member snickered at the description), they hadn’t seen her since the last time Nariko had left.

Great. Well, she can always train while she waited. It was about time, too.

Packing some food for her trip, her body flickered towards a familiar training spot she used to train on with her old team.

God, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?

As she landed outside of the tree line and into the clearing, her gaze traveled across the nearby river, the three wooden logs in the ground, and then lastly… The memorial, in the shape of a kunai.

Sighing, she decided to pay her respects. Approaching the engraved stone, she put her hand on it, the hand laying just next to a name that held such nostalgia, it was heartbreaking. There weren’t many people in Nariko’s family she’d share a tear for. But this one. This one person she would, any given day. This one person, she would show her vulnerabilities to. And he was taken away.

As she gazed upon the name of the person who shared her clan name, her eyes watered and she closed them, being treated to a familiar, bittersweet memory. One of childlike innocence; vain hope; countless questions; loss of trust.

---

Nariko was but a small child. She showed promise in taijutsu and ninjutsu early, but her mother was not happy with the selection of tutors to teach little Nariko. They didn’t hold the values that she wanted instilled in her daughter. So she looked to her husband’s brother, a man who was just as sweet as he was deadly with a blade. Fukokoro Nakamura or Uncle Koro as the kids liked to call him. Silent and ever watching, yet him being an observant owl did not put a damper on his quick wit and humor that made others brighten near him. The man was one of the few in the family who didn’t have blonde hair, making him out to be an oddball and rumors spread about how he was the bastard offspring of an Uzumaki due to his reddish hair and bigger-than-usual chakra pools, but he held the gift of kenjutsu and their Kekkei Genkai like any other Nakamura. Maybe even more so given his rumored heritage.

Despite the bits of ostracization he received from other more traditional members of the family (Nariko’s mother included), he always held a smile, always cared for everyone in the family, and was the perfect face for the Nakamura’s traditional practices. He was quirky, great with people, but didn’t seem to care about tradition unlike the impression everyone else outside the family held, thinking he was a model Nakamura member.

No, he was one of the many reasons why Nariko became a hellion of a child for her mother as she grew older.

The man was a lady’s man, always had flings and never settled down. Nariko remembered the different kinds of women he’d bring home much to the family’s ire. Despite his traditionalist actions and practiced movements of worship for their deity and looking like the poster boy of the clan, he had many problems as the family put it. His flippant relationships that never lasted longer than a week, sometimes being with multiple women at a time in some polygamous fanfare that her parents greatly despised, his desire to never have children, too care-free with things he should be caring more about according to her family, and his secrets he kept specifically from Nariko’s mother and his constant lying.

Despite the vices he subjected himself and others to, he was also one of the more devoted to the family - one anyone could go to for secrets and he’d keep them; one anyone could feel comfortable and relaxed around; one who was great with kids and would teach them the things they need to despite his opinion towards the greater Nakamura belief and code.

However, as Nariko, ages four to eight, worked under him, Uncle Koro seemed to slack off from his traditional teachings, instead going for his own kind of teaching.

One day in particular, after a hefty bout of taijutsu and staff training when Nariko was seven, they were enjoying a meal together, the sun setting over the horizon as they sat near the river of the Third Training Ground - a place he rarely ever took her to train.

And on this day, there was a good reason as to why.

“Nariko? How do you think about this whole… Tradition thing your mother wants you to do?”

Nariko looked up at her uncle, who stared off into the setting sun, enjoying the golden and vermillion hues that bounced off the river. Stunned, she gazed up to see his blue eyes. They looked resolute, yet his body was relaxed. She didn’t understand these bodily cues in terms of what that meant emotionally, but she could see them and make them out nonetheless, due to her time training on how the body reacted and acted based on the person’s whims. He seemed ready to do something in his mind was all she could tell. “What do you mean, uncle?”

Now, his face was unreadable. He was like that for a few moments longer, and Nariko’s body tensed in worry, her mouth slightly open and her brow furrowed. Her uncle glanced over at her and seemed to relax a bit more, sighing and shaking his head. “Ahh, sorry, firecracker. I was wondering if you even wanted to learn about this whole tradition thing your mother has been hounding me to teach you. Is it your thing?”

The little girl looked down at her half-empty lunch box and sighed, shoulders sagging. “Don’t tell mom, okay?” She can feel her uncle’s gaze; he was looking at her with interest. “But…” She timidly continued, unsure of how to say this as it was all just abstract feeling. “You know… How you don’t want to do some things, but people want you to do them and it feels like you have to? So you do them because you don’t want to feel like a failure or make them upset?” She finally managed.

Uncle Koro smiled and patted her on the head, her eyes widening in surprise as she looked up at him. “Yeah. I know that feeling really well. You know why your mother was always so upset with me? I may show I follow our traditions to a tee with those who come to see our family and they happen to see me, but I don’t actually follow the traditions because I want to. I do it to not stain my family’s image while doing what I want. I’d sneak my dates through the back door and I know your mother knows I’m doing it, but she can’t do anything to me. Tradition can be too stuffy. Too strict. It gives peace of mind sometimes and it gives structure, but sometimes you just need a bit of chaos to feel good and test yourself. Dive into what makes you happy or do something new and have some fun. That doesn’t make you a failure, it just makes you a free spirit. And sometimes, our stuck-up, traditional family needs that. So don’t worry about what makes them upset too much, just do what you want.”

Nariko hung on every word, despite the ironic reason as to why her mother wanted him to tutor her. While she may not have understood what he had meant then, she began understanding as she grew older. It cemented in her and every time she felt stuck or trapped, she would always remember Koro’s words and would run from home, finding a thrill or something to occupy her and make her feel free, always making sure she was back before sun up.

Not everything was sunny-side up, however. Her relationship with her uncle grew and she spent more time with him, yet he was still a shinobi. When she was ten, he was slated to go on an A Rank mission with a squad. After a hug, an exchange of “I love you’s” and well wishes, he left for the north.

He never came back.

Days of wondering where he was at and when he’ll come home plagued her mind and she focused on training more than ever to blot out the static and noise of losing the one person in her family she could trust to such a degree. The like-minded soul she could confide in was no longer here and each day she had to accept that he wasn’t coming back. Her parents seemed upset that he wasn’t back either, but Nariko always suspected her mother. Not because she had any proof or she saw her doing anything she wasn’t supposed to. She was just paranoid that her own mother was upset at whatever Koro had taught her and got rid of him.

If that were the case, Nariko would have left a long time ago. However, her mother’s incessant reasoning, foolproof alibi, and promises to have never done harm or wished harm upon him helped in dissuading Nariko’s doubt and suspicion. Even if the young Nakamura’s wariness about the circumstances of Uncle Koro’s disappearance was calmed, she still didn’t make it easy on her mother. She didn’t do her morning rites, forsaken prayer at the table, and was constantly out training when Nariko was supposed to be at home with her family. She even left home one night and didn’t come back until lunch, scaring her mother to death. She even wanted to take her uncle’s vices, to be more like him so that he could be with her, and she didn’t have to feel so alone. She could take his mannerisms and spunkiness and she could be the one people could go to for secrets and happy-go-lucky air and fun.

With each cracked bone and every bruised muscle, Nariko bettered herself, pushing her body to the limit so she wouldn’t end up like her uncle. It was also to be strong enough to find him, to bring him back and save him if he was still out there alive. As the years went by, she highly doubted it.

---

“Nariko? Is that you?” Nariko’s gaze and head shot up from her hanging posture, her body having been held up by the hand against the stone memorial that held her uncle’s name. “Hey… Are you crying?”

Sniffing, Nariko wiped her cheeks hastily and turned to see a familiar face. Long black hair, chocolate brown eyes, and a subtle worried expression on a, usually, stoic face. And those familiar Yasui-brand beige robes with black trim and sash.

Osamu Yasui!

Nariko shook her head, a smile easily appearing on her face despite the hard memory she went through. “No, I-”

“You’re a horrible liar, you know.” Osamu’s eyes lidded in exasperation and Nariko shook her head, chuckling.

“I know. I just… Was reminiscing, I guess.” She put the memorial stone behind her and focused on her old teammate. “So, how are things?”

“Well, besides figuring out my old teammate isn’t dead, just doing her own thing,” he gave her a stern look before it melted into his usual stoic expression. “I’ve been doing well. I’m in a new team now. Honestly though, the new girl on our team is a bit too much. Even with your faults, I would prefer it if you came back.”

Nariko blinked a few times before she smirked, feeling her ego getting stroked. “Always so forward. Sadly, I cannot. I’m…” She realized she didn’t have an excuse and she looked around. Nobody here. Yet, the words of Kazuo repeated in her head and she shook her head. “I’m sorry. I cannot tell you. It’s… A secret.”

Osamu tilted his head, but seemed to understand after a moment. “It’s okay, shinobis are about secrecy. Though, saying it like that, it makes it really obvious who you work for now.” He lidded his eyes again in mild disappointment and Nariko chuckled sheepishly.

“Huh, that obvious?” She scratched the back of her head and he sighed. “I don’t have a coverup story, yet.”

“You should work on that.” Osamu sighed and shook his head. “Look, if you’re here to train, so am I. My taijutsu is kind of lacking and, in turn, I know a better way to teach you sealing and genjutsu.” Nariko perked up, eyes wide, earning a smile from Osamu. “Oh, I know you’ve been needing to learn how to do some things. So, we’ll be doing that sealing technique that busted your ego years ago and we’ll be doing some genjutsu breaking.”

Nariko felt both elated and horrified. Oh god, not this again.

Seeing the panicked look on her face, Osamu broke into a laugh. Which only unnerved Nariko even more. “You don’t normally laugh, cut it out!” Fists balled up, she yelled at her former teammate, anger overriding the horror on her face. Osamu just simply chuckled and shook his head as he was coming back from the hilarity that was seeing the ruff-n-tuff tai girl get scared.

“Alright, I’ll stop taking pleasure in your fear.” She shot him another look and he simply procured a scroll and ink. “You ready?” Besides the amusement in his stoic face, he had already calmed down from his outburst and Nariko was left with no choice but to try.

As she trained with the “simplest” sealing technique, she ended up making leaps and bounds. Her symbol memory was absolutely horrid, as they found out, which made making symbols very difficult as she’d get them switched around or even upside down. So, Osamu taught her a few tricks to help her with her memory, making the learning process actually bearable. While the seal wasn’t perfect, it still managed to complete its intended effect. When Nariko told Osamu of the seal her sensei tried teaching her (omitting who he was), his face scrunched up from the cringe and he let out a pained chuckle. He explained that it was a rather weak sealing spell that was more temporary, as it failed to have the full circle of squiggly symbols. So, he taught her that one instead, which she actually got perfect. Finally.

Thanking him for his efforts, she was just about to leave when Osamu had quickly put her into a genjutsu. She picked up the scent of chardonnay after the snap of fingers and she was about to turn around to ask for some alcohol, only to see it was a small, empty flask he opened. Then she felt the world wiggle. The ground was uneven and she was starting to get dizzy. Step by step, Osamu helped her through it, laughing in her futile attempts at trying to get out the “old-fashioned” way without chakra. Sure, that possibly worked for small time genjutsu tricks, but nothing as complex as the one he put her in.

Her teammate being a prodigy in genjutsu, Nariko was wondering if she’d ever get out. Fortunately, with Osamu’s guidance, he gave her the confidence to calm her down and focus on her chakra to still it and then push it into a burst, like trying to push out poison from within your body (which was a jutsu skill they saw their sensei do). There was another way to get out of genjutsu, but Osamu wanted to make it easier on her. Just telling her to “disrupt your chakra” would have led to confusion, so he gave her some advice on how to do it specifically. He also showed her how to do it visually if she was having trouble. Clasping her hands together to make the tiger symbol, but instead of the index and middle fingers being up, just the index fingers and focusing on that point to still and push.

Amazingly, the world stopped wiggling.

“It was that easy?”

The two laughed at her deadpan tone and they ate lunch together, catching up on their lives (with Nariko omitting her presence within the ANBU, though she had a sneaking suspicion he already figured that out earlier anyway), trained his taijutsu skills (which his progress impressed Nariko), and then departed. Giving each other a sort of “bro hug” that left Osamu being awkward with a cringe look on his face, they left with Osamu possibly heading back to his home and Nariko body flickering back to headquarters, where she may rest and…

Was she still hungry?

To the cafeteria!

 

[SomeRandomCanuck]

Squad Kasane
Ryūji Ganbā
Interactions: Phayne The Regal Rper IG42

​

Wrapped snugly by his new sensei and team leader’s chakra chains Ryuji considered for a moment just closing his eyes. “Damn chakra exaustion is no fucking joke, maybe I should look into a way to improve my reserves or something, maybe some chakra pills…” Ryuji mused to himself, his chest heaving with each breath in tune with the deep, melocronic breaths he was trying to take.

“Alright kids, fall in!” Listening to Kasane-sama beckoned to the trio Ryuji first looked down at his chakra chains, the ones binding him to minimal movement on the ground, then back up at Kasane, before looking at his teammates in a “Is she fucking joking” look on his otherwise as per usual poker smiling face. Before he could get a clear sight of his teammates Kasane threw what seemed to be a small, brownish ball onto his chest, "Ask and thou shall recieve I guess..." he mused to himself before Kasane told him to get it, despite the lack of releasing his chains “Oh now this is just a fucking game to her isn’t it? You gotta be kidding me. To have a hot sensei only for her to keep screwing me over like this...” his hands bound to his side struggled to get free, wiggling and pulling in a vain effort to dislodge himself and grab the pill.

He stared, no, glared at the brown ball sitting upon his chest, mocking his current situation, he extended his neck in an attempt to reach the ball, sticking his tongue out to reach it. However, the ball was ever so slightly out of his reach, “Come on, a little bit… NO NO NO NO WAIT!” he thought to himself as he pushed a bit with his feet, creating a small incline. The ball slowly started to move towards his mouth before one of his feet slightly staggered, the ball shifted trajectories and rolled past his tongue, down his chest and behind him.

“Fucking stupid pill” muttering to himself as he started using his feet and body to try and flip himself over, creating as much momentum as the chains would allow him too. Sweat started to form on his brow as his body started moving side to side, as if he was violently rocking a cradle before his body flipped, his face smacking the floor. “Ow, alright not such a smart idea, but I'll get the little bastard.” Ryuji expressed in his head as he looked upon the pill infront of him, he tried commanding it to roll back to him, demanding the chakra that was to somehow force the pill into his mouth, his eyes burning holes through the little brown shit. Realizing he cannot in fact, magically pull things towards him with his mind, he sighed and grumbled a little before using his head and feet to slowly inchworm his way towards the pill. Little by little, as if climbing a great mountain Ryuji approached the brown crown, the thing that mocked his situation. He came ever so closer to the pill, endless chakra surely awaiting him upon its consumption.

As the pill became just centimeters away from his mouth he used every muscle in his body, all the strength his bounds would allow, and with a valiant cry picked up the brown pill with his teeth. Then he took a bite of the chakra pill, “Oh come on! All that work and this tastes so fucking bad!” he told himself as he finished up the acursed pill, his chakra slowly recovering though not as much as he would have hoped with the amount of shit to reach it. He coughed and gagged ever so slightly.

Unfortunately, his face and body was facing the opposite direction from the rest of the group, and while he could hear some of what the group had been saying, his mission to eat that fucking pill took his mind off it. “What, the fuck are they talking about” he muttered to himself, trying in vain to wiggle himself around, “You know what? Fuck it, fake it till you make it, just pretend you heard everything and know what is wrong with them.” he told himself.

“Alright that is cool and all, and I’m sure that this is all very important. But can a certain someone get us out of these chains? Since you probably wouldn't give a chakra pill without us doing something in the near future.” he called out, hoping the timing was right.

 

[Phayne]

~Squad Kasane~
Mentions: SomeRandomCanuck IG42 The Regal Rper

Through the slit eye sockets of the anbu mask Kiyoshi wore, he would glance in the direction of where Eiichi was strung up; another of the three boys now presently at the mercy of the older and vastly more experienced woman and her chains. Quite clearly, this had been childsplay for their sensei, the ease in which she had countered their attempts to subdue her as well as the precision in which she had simply ended the whole fight in an instance went a long way into showing just how big the disparity was between their present level and hers. That being said, Kiyoshi had little energy, willingness and intention to hang here and admire the skillset of his new squad leader.

His mind had other issues to attend to, such as the unwelcomed trip down memory lane and the inevitable migraine that would soon follow. On top of that, brushing aside his own personal issues at the moment, there was still the situation of his new team mates; their makeshift teamwork appearing to show some promise despite the unfavourable end result. Still glancing at the blonde, Kiyoshi had simply given a small nod of the head in response to his concern, being unable to offer a thumbs up in his present 'restrained' position and somewhat reverting to his default 'silent type' persona; though his silence this time around was brought about due to his memories as well as his fatigue; rather than simply being silent as a 'choice'.

Their time as piniata's would come to an end as Kiyoshi felt himself descending to the ground; his eyes still on Eiichi before turning to face Ryuji; confirming that like himself, the duo too were being released from their bindings. Whilst Kiyoshi couldn't really speak much on how he appeared towards the others, it was refreshing to see that both Eiichi and Ryuji appeared to be fine, despite the results.

As feet touched ground and his restraints were removed, Kiyoshi would almost instantaneously feel like his weight had doubled, the strain radiating off of his aching muscles causing him to take a couple step backs just to steady himself without actually falling onto his ass, as he did so; his right hand -now free from the chains- was raised to his forward, the beginning of the migraine already making its presence known as his mind was still recoiling from the mental assault; a hint of blurriness beginning to tickle the peripherals of his sight.

That being said, no amount of blurred vision or silence emanating from Kiyoshi could hide the antics taking place to the side. While Kiyoshi epitomised silence in this moment, Ryuji did his best to personify the other side of that coin; his verbal protest not going unnoticed as the the blue haired Ryuji squirmed along the ground like a worm in the middle of an epileptic fit. Arm's strapped to both sides and his legs seemingly glued together, Ryuji for all intents and purpose appeared to still be under the effects of Kasane's chains, bound tightly; only he appeared as such without the actual bindings in place to keep him restrained. Had Kiyoshi not been preoccupied with regaining his bearings, he'd have questioned the sanity of his new partner; the red head once more glancing towards Eiichi to see if he was seeing the same thing.

Any opportunity to ask the blonde would alas be put on hold as while Ryuji was now at war with a chakra ball, Kiyoshi was now focusing upon Kasane whom had approached; questioning his current status whilst taking a seat next to him before beginning her debrief on the training session.

Kiyoshi would find himself taking a seat as well; both arms stretched backwards with palms pressed against the cold floor as he began to recoup some strength; his masked face staring skyward as he took in several deep breaths; all the while listening as Kasane praised their improvised teamwork. Improvised; a spur of the moment attempt by all of them to find a semblance of balance to meet a common goal. A task that sounded far easier than it actually was considering they had only just been grouped together. If this was what they could muster on day 1, then imagine what they could achieve if they actually worked on team synergy. Glancing to Ryuji; the man still squirming away as he tried to get the pill in his mouth, than at Eiichi whom had been the vanguard of their attack; Kiyoshi could only find relief in knowing that at least for now his team had potential.

However while there were positives, Kiyoshi was all the more aware of the negatives; primarily his mistake towards the end of the session. It was all well and good being praised on their ingenuity and improvisation, but a mistake like the one he had made was one that on a real battlefield would have been costly; not only to himself but to his team mates as well. The thought would cause Kiyoshi to sit upright; his arms now loosely sprawled across his legs which he had crossed and his body arching forward as he slumped his shoulders and stared at the floor.

The gentle nudge upon his back was all it took for the mask he wore to fall off, its clasp seemingly coming loose at some point during the fight. A coincidence, considering Kasane's attempt to draw him out. Alas, she'd only get half of what she asked for as the lack of a mask upon his face was quickly replaced by his long red bangs that still obscured the majority of his face from view.

"Apologies Sensei... Ryuji... Eiichi" spoke Kiyoshi, his voice rather soft as he somewhat ignored the ridiculous protest from Ryuji who was already unchained and simply a prisoner of his own vivid imagination. . "I.. I won't make that kind of mistake again" he added, clenching his right fist as he grabbed the fallen mask with his left, flipping it over and staring into the face of the mask assigned to him.

A mistake in training was one thing, a mistake on the field unforgivable... but he was no longer just a simple shinobi. He was Anbu and a mistake by those that worked in the shadows amidst powers unimaginable could only ever have devastating effects. He was lucky this time it was only in training.
​

 

[The Regal Rper]

Eiichi | ANBU HQ | Squad Uzumaki

The nod was all Eiichi needed, satisfied, he turned his attention back to Kasane as he himself took notice that they were being lowered back to the ground. Though it bugged him to know that something had set Kiyoshi off, he decided not to pry. If he was managing, prying might just make things worse.

Instead he turned his attention to what he could have done better to alleviate things for his teammates. It had been obvious they wouldn't have won easily, in fact it never crossed his mind they'd have been able to fully win- but the fact they had had this much trouble...it was honestly kind of frustrating. Is the gap really that wide?

"Jonin really are on another level." The words were barely a whisper as he muttered it. And with the small bit of what their sensei was capable of Eiichi had no doubt that she would help them improve in ways that his last sensei had been unable to fully help them in flourishing. It was promising, even if the challenge that had provided the insight had been a tad frustrating.

Hearing Ryuuji's frustrations however drew Eiichi out of his own contemplations to look in his fellow teammate's directions. With Ryuuji's back facing him, the shinobi could only ponder over what on earth the guy was trying to do. A look of confused annoyance affixed Eiichi's face just listening to it, and upon seeing the equally expressed confusion on Kiyoshi's face, Eiichi began approaching his teammate where he lay to see what he was trying to do.

Struggling to get the pill down. According to Ryuuji himself as he just swallowed it as Eiichi neared.

The blonde could really only shake his head and sigh. "You really are a showman, yknow that?" He sighed. If they hadn't been whooped so soundly perhaps he might have actually chuckled a bit at the sheer absurdity of Ryuji's antics but instead he just found it mildly annoying. "Here--" he alerted the prone genin of his presence. He was about to say more till he paused when he heard:

"Apologies Sensei... Ryuji... Eiichi"​

Eiichi's surprise was expressed clearly as he turned on his heel to look over his shoulder at the downtrodden Kiyoshi. What?

Kiyoshi continued. And it became quite clear what he was trying to say.

Eiichi's expression became tight with a slight grimace. Nudging Ryuuji with his foot, the blonde said: "Get up drama queen." Then moved back to Kiyoshi to clap a hand on his shoulder in order to snap him out of his funk and fix his attention on to him.

"Hey," he was scowling now and he wasn't sure why this irritated him so much, "don't apologize over what just happened." The other hand came up in front of Kiyoshi's face to stop him from interrupting. "I get it, you choked for a moment, hesitated for a second-- if we were out on the field, it would have been deadly if we were fighting a group like our Redhead beauty over there the gambler can't stop simping over." Not that he was going to lie and say Kasane wasn't pretty, but, priorities. Sides, they were too young for her anyway. He intended on helping Ryuji not go down the same path one of his cousins had in chasing a lioness that a fox would never be able to woo.

Where was he going with this? Oh yeah.

"Point being, we've got your back. Life like this isn't easy. It's why cities don't throw their young into joining Shinobi Villages to be fodder for the things we have to do. If it happens again we'll cover you- just communicate with us." His scowl became a stern line. "Got it? My last team was pretty good at communicating when we had a unified front to fight. It was when we got at each other for the dumbest shit, that we fell apart and our sensei always played that against us. Specifically me and another former teammate of mine. You have no reason to apologize for us over what just happened. As long as we communicate clearly, we can avoid future stuff like this. Got it?"

He patted him on the shoulder, took a step back to get out of his personal space, then offered him a closed fist. "Hit it to let me know you got what I just said." His expression was still hard, but his tone of voice was less stern and chastising and much lighter when he said it.

Mentions: n/a

Interactions: SomeRandomCanuck IG42 Phayne

 

[Orikanyo]

Around ANBU headquarters, Ton would find the roots of the tree just as illusory as before, able to walk through them to a mass of black. A moment later it faded to the stone tunnels of ANBU headquarters, with a reception desk, and a woman holding up a ‘release sign’. She was young with long white down to the curve of her back, a smiling mask, and a feathered cap atop her head. Her eyes, when they did become visible through the mask, were rather unique, purple with pink sclera, with an additional ring around the iris, glowing slightly.

“Welcome to ANBU, Ton. I don’t believe Squad Miyu has any work, Miyu is taking a ‘mental health’ day, but you are more than welcome to explore, or perhaps take up any personal missions. I have a list back here of backlogged items that are unassigned. Oh, if you do, ignore the ones to kill Giichi Oda… which is about half of them. We’ve more or less given up.

Is there anything in particular I can help you with? I remember my first few days. They were… exciting. I remember the group I joined with… Ah…”

The woman breathed emphatically, before leaning in, cupping her mask as if to ‘whisper’. “A lot of people around here are kinda assholes. So, if you need anything, just come to me.” She moved her head to the side as if she was winking… though, with the mask on, hard to tell. The pink glow simply blinked for a second.

Ton wasn't fully certain what to say, outside the fact this woman was legitimately intimidating with that mask she was… Nice, which was good. He had been stuck in that ever present desire to "find it himself" or "Don't ask where something is they will think you're a fool or just blow you off" type thing you'd usually feel when looking for a place in a new job…

But she seemed nice, and pretty, so he asked anyway. "I am looking for the Library, I imagined it would be good to look through on the first day." He said in his stilted stiffness, those eyes of hers were kinda spooky…

“Library is up the stairs to the left, up the stairs to the right, down the stairs to the left, down the stairs to the right, then select the black door, and start inside. I’m not good for much, but I can give directions, and more or less run the facilities. I’m Tora by the way. Happy reading!”

With information in, uhh, hand, the young man gave a small bow "Thank you Miss Tora, I will follow your words to the letter." Once again, words stiff as Kaito's back after a day of dealing with paperwork from all this bullshit going on. Ton wondered, did half the reports get read then burned? Do you really need to put much effort into them if they were just to be destroyed…?

He decided, t was best not to think of that, and make his future reports as concise as possible.

The young man followed the eerily familiar directions to the letter, he had trouble with the blac door part as it was next to a dark navy blue door in a darkened room as the light gave out quickly on his entry.

Several times hes sworn he was followed, a handful of times he saw somebody in the corner of his eye, once he saw a thing he could only describe as a werewolf pass around a corner… Only for them to disappear when Ton rounded it.

There was one time where he entered a door and found a fellow tied against the back wall, blindfolded, missing his right ear with a Octopus masked agent teasing him with a knife, he gave a small apology wave before closing the door again.

How awkward.

But here he was, of course he forgot to press start on the elevator, it barely looked like a lift, jut another part of floor with a button on the wall.

Hes just glad he didn't have to ask anybody else for help, they all looked so busy… the small lift whirred to life and he started going down…

…And down…

And… down…

…Hrmm…

How deep is this place…?

…

……

………

Is… that a dead body in the wall? No.. Must've been his imagination, only being able to see with a small fluorescent light is troubling…

………….

Ah, he must be near, the elevator is slowing.

As the elevator came to a stop, the place seemed nearly pitch black. However, at any movement, candles began to flicker alive, spiraling out from around Ton.

-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-

One after enough, bathing the area in a pale orange light. Bookcases full of scrolls lined one after another in the underground room, occasional cards serving as an index.

• Assassination Records
• Sleeper Agents & Retired Passphrases
• Traitors
• Extended Bingo Book
• Self Help
• Clan Records
• Redacted Clan Records
• Ninja Tools & Design
• Failed Ninja Tools & Design
• Kinjutsu & Counter Kinjutsu
• Living Memories
• Lives of the Hokage
• Ciphers
• Restricted
• List of Idiots Vegetated by Restricted Section

An old ANBU woman with sharp glasses scribbled away, apparently having been working in the dark with an old feather pen, an ink jar, and with eyes glossed over and her eyes staring straight up with her mouth gaping open. At any movement from Ton, she suddenly snapped, her eyes returning to normal, and peered over to Ton. “Is there a particular reason a new ANBU recruits is in the subsection of the library unattended? Most wouldn’t find it without some sort of help, and it’s extremely easy to get lost here. Not all knowledge is good knowledge. If anyone is sending you down here, it’s for more complicated knowledge that the regular library above wouldn’t have. Bah, whatever. No horseplay. What do you want? I’ll have Jin show you any knowledge you need.”

No one else seemed to be in the library besides the two of them.

Ton gave a look at the various scenery around him, whilst he was certain it wasn't going to be a simple library… He did however expect somebody at the desk.

"Hello Oba-san, I shall be honest.. I didn't expect to be finding this deep of a library. But, if anything, I may find what I seek here…

Ah… There…" instead of pointing to the quite litterally more interesting anything on the sign, he pointed directly to… Self help…

He had to brush that part off abit, seems not many cared for that subject.

"Self help, is where i'd like to search…

My sensei is…

…Unfortunately unstable…

I would like to try and find ways to keep her stable long enough to complete our missions without issue." He explained himself straight out in an earnest fashion. "...Umm… A Onee-sama spoke to me on the way in, she gave me the way here but I don't have a clue who she is. Purple glowing eyes beneath a smiling mask." He explained, pausing a moment to fix his own… It was good but abit stuffy down here…

The woman pushed up her glasses, a stone expression on her face. “Those books are a little more than basic self help. ANBU deals with all sorts of cases. Ninja gone rogue, those who have flown to close to the sun, who know too much, Ninja captured by the enemy, subject to genjutsu. Discontents. Sometimes nightmares that never fade. We have basic books in the above library, these are… the more extreme methods to help one’s self.

Your description sounds like Tora, she’s not one to generally prank others. Her issues are… more distinct. Who is your sensei…?”

Suddenly a pink and purple flash flared in the room. For a moment, Ton would see Tora’s eyes floating as light infront of him. A single name was dropped in Tora’s voice. “Miyu Ogumo”

The librarian blinked at the name, took off her glasses, and sunk her face into her hands in a groan.

“Checks out. Help yourself all you want. Jin. Help him out.”

From nearby candelabras, the flames began to flicker and twist, turning blue, slowly flaring into the image of a man, one Ton might recognize from the ride down, the same clothing, and headband placement. His body was incorporeal, and the librarian went back to writing notes, her eyes once more fading over.

The ghost drifted to the self help section, and made a few hand signs, scrolls growing as he did. Pointing, a scroll began to light up and glow.

“Genjutsu: Flared Hue - Techniques For Adjusting Mood in Yourself and Others. Theory of Auramancy and Emotional Control.”

Other books and scrolls lined up. Techniques for memory manipulation, interrogation techniques, and resistance, some… honest to goodness self help books, but by authors best not left public for having had issues, such as the 2nd Hokage, such as “Don’t Fear The Reaper”

"Hmm… Thank you Jin…" he took the scroll into his hands and gave a pause to look at the others… Some of them were interesting.. Especially the book titled "Feeling down? Just use Genjutsu!" Which felt like a unhelpful long term strategy… But… Then again the scroll in his hands… May be helpful…

"Emotional control…?" He paused to unfurl the scroll, whatever light around him causing him to squint at the pictographs depicting the technique… He went to one of the corners, a candelabra showing him the scroll better….

"Moods displayed via genjutsu upon the user, utilizing one's own effective aura to implant a feeling within another via charged chakra… A pulse that will force a form of shift towards the emotion desired…

This sound like the dumb thing my sister claimed to be.. Empath or something…" he paused in his talking to consider if he was, in fact alone… No… With those eyes from earlier… Toru is probably watching him still… He scratched at the base of his mask lightly, continuing.

"Best applied with another technique that would in a reasonable way inspire such a reaction in a typical person, lest the change in aura be countered. A type of emotion trap…? The trigger should be easily at hand, ringing of a bell, or whistle, depending on desired emotion…

I'll have to get a bell then.. Will be handy…" the young man gave a slight sight, looking up from the scroll. His eyes turned to the various hallways and such… He wondered what oddities lay down here… He became… Curious… Like the possibility of some long forgotten treasure waits not too far off in some dusty corner…

Much like the one in his hands…

…Perhaps…?

Was he still being watched…? Maybe. He created a clone and handed it the scroll, he ordered it to keep reading, practice, and dissipate once done… Maybe put back the scroll neatly.

He had things to look for here… Even if he knew not what to find.


----------------


The librarian once more was seancing, her eyes clouded over once more, Toru’s eyes weren’t currently flashing, and the ghost dissipated back into flames, reappearing behind the librarian’s head, whispering sweet, dreadful nothings, that if Ton were to listen into, would cause headaches.

The forbidden section spiraled underground, same sections listed, and, beyond the candles flames, an elevator to the regular section, and stone wall, decorated with paintings. Large portraits of the former Hokage flickering with the orange flame from the candle. Each portrait had a title affixed.

Kaijarisuigyo Senju, the First Hokage, the Trampling Trees

Fumiko, the Second Hokage, the Reaper

Gou Uchiha, the Third Hokage, the Eye of Heaven

Hiroto Hyuga, the Fourth Hokage, the Curse Bringer

Next to Fumiko’s portrait, a loose stone hung out of the wall. Looking at it, Ton would feel an immense pressure from the wall, staring down at him. Visions of him pressing the stones, of the wall opening up, and eldritch creatures dragging him in and tearing him apart would play in his head, again and again. Dark mist seemed to seep out, only to disappear if his head looked away. An echoing ‘lub-lub’ beat in his ear, again and again, slowly growing stronger, slowly beating faster.

"....." it was… Calling… Out to him in a strange sense… Really, he shouldn't even try.

If there was a place for traps.

This would be the place. The fact he was being drawn was.. More than enough to keep away from it… He could feel the eyes of the paintings nearby watching him… Why was he down here…? What ever possessed him to do such a terrible idea…

Truely… This was a great area to make into a death trap actually… No true secrets, just death.

Would be a good idea, he'd think it's already been done…

He gives a moment of thought, it was… Too easy… Too cliche. Hmm… He siddled around abit, putting himself against a wall he looked at the paintings in particular, avoiding the loose stone, trying to see if they were flush to the wall or they had space behind…

Each painting was about the size of Ton, massive in size, and heavy against the wall, hooks hanging them against the wall, though, with some effort he could move them slightly. Against the walls, dark circles, barely a change in hue against the rest of the wall could be made out, hooking behind the Second Hokage’s portrait. The circles formed a large seal, all concentrated on the single brick. Thought hard to read, it seemed similar to a summoning circle, but strange. Words could be seen for:

Death
Soul
Contract
Scythe
Conquer

As Ton inspected, behind the Second Hokage in her portrait, slowly, a shadow began to be visible. Almost completely transparent, but the outlines of purple skin, and white hair could be seen, a large scythe in hand, and a scroll of names in the other.


"...You have a pretty boring job huh…" Ton spoke, as he considered it. "Waiting till somebody presses a button just to kill them…" he sighed lightly, he'd hate to be that reaper… He'd think about trying to bypass the seal, but… Well it was likely either passcoded or simply a trap. He took a few small notes on the structure of the seal, the words… Rather neat really… Fumiko the Second Hokage… Fascinating, he copied what he could into a small notebook, not comepletely, but more like each piece of the seal as a different section…

He would see if he could gain safer information later about this one.

There must be something here he could take a look at… Truely it was a bad place to enter without a formal plan, but fortune favors the bold and most brazen direct plans are unbelievably able to succeed.

He is likely already being watched.

"..Outside of you Reaper, still, horrible job sitting here…" he offered his condolences again, wondering where to go next…

Hmm…

…Is there a FORBIDDEN self help section…?

No… He should stay pure with those…

Hrmm… His weaponry.. Perhaps thats where he should focus… Information on such may .be useful, he will need an edge to beat specialists… He had to get it somewhere..

The forbidden Self Help Section did, in fact, exist. It was where his clone was reading a genjutsu technique from a scroll from, forbidden due to the genjutsus, or due to the authors of the books. The regular self help section, full of motivational pep talks, techniques for calming one’s self, and stories of self worth was an elevator trip above, where Team Taisei had been earlier today, the most popular books being: “Believing it”, or “Murder and You, How to Make Peace with your Inner Demons.”

Little else would be going on in the library, the seance continuing, a quill and ink scribbling, the sweet nothings whispered by the dead filling the room.

Above, however, Tora could be seen nearly on her tippy toes at the desk. She held up a hand. “Hope you found what you were looking for. There’s normal library, but you’re a speeecial case. Don’t let Miyu kill you now! Oh with that scroll you were reading, I might have just the thing!”

She reached under the desk, and would hand Ton a bell.

Ton looked over the woman and gave a solemn, understanding nod… "Thank you Onee-sama. This will help immensely…" he held it in his hand and looked it over… If it was a cursed freaky thing he'll learn soon enough.

"Its good to meet you, I hope to see you again soo ." He gave a polite wave, a effective smile but the mask certainly covered it, and he made his way out…

Who knew, to get into the forbidden section all you had to do was be poliet.

 

[Noam]

Team Taisei​

Taisei had actually been to the Senju clan compound before. Not in a long time, and not in any kind of professional capacity. There had been some sort of formal meeting between Hibiki-sama and the Senju clan head, and Taisei had been brought along to serve tea. He remembered a building older than his own clan compound, every inch of which seemed somehow alive. The paper doors rustled like healthy leaves when they were opened, and the wood floors almost seemed to breath. He'd imagined that the building had chakra like a living thing, that the Senju had brought it to life with their jutsu.

Now he was an adult with a fully-developed Byakugan, and he could see that it wasn't true. Beautiful though it was, the Senju clan compound was a collection of buildings and gardens. Nothing more.

Well, he'd been kind of a stupid kid.

Team Taisei crouched in the branches of a massive, swaying pine tree outside the compound. Taisei pulled out the bottle that Nariko had gotten from Kazuo. Carefully, he tipped some of the sparkling powder into his palm, then--feeling more like a junkie than an elite shinobi--sniffed it. Immediately, his nose started running.

"Ogay den--" He sneezed. "Okay then. Wow, that works. I can't smell anything." He passed the bottle to Nariko. "We're clear on the plan, then? I'll cover us with a simple genjutsu while you all load the wine into your bags. Nakamura has a fake bag; if one of the Senju breaks my genjutsu, she's the diversion. Once Hyuga and Uchiha are clear, I'll come back for you." That last part was addressed to Nariko. "We regroup at ANBU HQ, and then Uchiha and I will take the wine to our contact in Buta-chō." He raised his eyebrows at them. "Whatever you don't want to keep for yourselves, anyway."

Taisei was definitely keeping a bottle for himself, and he definitely planned to consume it far, far away from anyone who could be considered a child in any capacity.

"Any last minute questions? Concerns?" His voice took on a sardonic tone. "Did you all use the bathroom before we left? Is everyone wearing clean socks?"

Merciless Medic InsaneAsylum AtlannianSpy

 

[IG42]

Squad Kasane
Glancing at Ryuji flopping around Kasane sighed. "Kid your chakra backfired on you, you're under your own genjutsu. Don't get started on taste of the pill, you'll get some Cooking Ninja coming down on us and they're just a nuisance to deal with." She could almost feel a headache coming on just from mentioning them. "It's usually a good idea to check yourself for genjutsu after any fight is done along with injuries just in case the opponent faked you out to escape."

Leaning forward she tilted her head to see as much of Kyoshi's face as possible with his hair. "There he is." Evidently he wasn't so easily distracted as Ryuji as the other redhead was busy apologising. "Yosh, yosh." She ruffled his already messy hair. "It's alright for now but I can't sugarcoat it enough to not say we'll need to work through it together as a group before long."

Helpfully Eiichi was also there to pitch in with his own pep-talk complete with a side shot at Ryuji's obvious preoccupation with Kasane that got a bark of laughter from her. "Right, it's a group effort now, no one's getting left behind even if I have to drag you facedown so it'll be better for you to keep up." Noticing Eiichi's slight sulk she chuckled a little more. "The point of this wasn't to beat me, it was just to gauge you three. If you're worried about the gap just think of how many lifelong chuunin there are around. The gulf between genin and chuunin and chuunin and jounin is far wider."

Hopping up she brushed off her legs and true to her earlier words pulled Kiyoshi to his feet. "Now we've already got a mission to get to so no time to stew in your juices right now. Do what you need to do to get yourselves functional again and meet me at the entrance with a civilian disguise packed and ready, I'll brief you then. Any questions?"

Phayne SomeRandomCanuck The Regal Rper