Fandom Naruto: Last of the Fallen Blossoms

[Ganryu]

​

Prelude
Location: South of Three Wolves Mountain
Characters: Roku Kubo - Yukari Satou - Nadeshiko Toyotomi

---

"Think we were followed, Raiden?"

"They're samurai, what do you think? Calm your nerves."

Over a dozen ninja gazed down from a nearby wooden scouting tower from miserable weather as a blizzard whipped up sheets of snow, the howl of the wind near deafening. A dead samurai scout in full armor lay over the wooden side with a kunai in both sides of his neck.

Each of the ninja wore headbands with the symbol of the Hidden Cloud, with in the center a man in a thick black insulated suit and dual rods on his back in control, one of the more nervous type next to him. The nervous nin’s question was answered as suddenly an arc of flame shot upwards. The ninja leapt to the side to dodge it, eyes scanning where it had come from.

Suddenly a falling feeling came to him as he found himself crashing towards the icy wooden floor, gazing up at a headless body, and a man in a straw hat and stubble beard behind it.

“Oh…” Quietly came from a severed head on the ground.

The man in a straw hat flicked blood from his blade as the other ninja pulled kunai on him, only the leader looking elsewhere.

“Damn,” a woman’s voice hummed in the crowd, “guess I owe you 200 Ryo.”

There was a kunai thrown in the direction of the voice but it met only air.

A low growl as one of the nin flew through a set of handsigns. Something sharp jabbed him in the back. He twisted, swinging his weapon at the masked woman behind him.

She grinned and leaned back out of the way, cloaked in a shroud of chakra that matched the cat perched on her shoulder. “Actually, screw it, I’ll throw in an extra 100 because it was so flashy.”

The Cloud nin didn’t get a second swing as stone rapidly encased his body.

"Really you two, gambling is such a deplorable habit,” said a prim voice from within a densely packed knot of cloud shinobi. There was a brief swishing noise, almost masked entirely and the crowd tumbled to the floor in a pile of blood and limp bodies, leaving only a single figure standing, wielding a long bladed polearm.

“I hope this is not the kind of example you intend to set for your prospective students,” said the figure, a young woman with a bob of orange hair wearing practical but feminine clothes and a sturdy apron which was now covered in blood spatters. A surviving shinobi tried to slip past the guard of the long handled weapon only for the woman to flow up to meet him and convert his momentum into a throw that sent him sailing off the edge of the tower’s roof with a wailing cry. “Children are very impressionable, you know,” said the woman, turning her foxlike gaze upon the other two attackers to radiate gentle disapproval at them.

The initial straw hat stood staring, his jaw opening and one eyebrow arched as a piece of straw he was chewing on fell out his mouth. He still held his hand out to the white eyed woman, a ‘gimme motion’ with his fingers as he just shook his head at the carnage, turning at the other ‘sweet woman’ covered in gore. “Ain’t you supposed to be rusty, Ghost of the Toyotomi? Cause I ain’t seeing it. If there's anyone I'm scared to leave with kids, it's you.”

Behind him, one of the shinobi lifted a kanabō, screaming “SNEAK ATTACK” as he brought it down, phasing straight through the man as his body faded away with an illusory haze clone. A finger tapped him on the shoulder, before smashing a sheath in his face as he turned, the sword sheathed a moment later sending the giant toppling over.

“Think that’s gunna be lesson number one for me and mine. Don’t scream ‘sneak attack’. Hopefully I don’t got no idiots. Files don’t look too bad now. Looks like got an edgy boy good with a blade, some Yuki-onna, and a really bad hostage leftover from the Chūseigumi. All of them seem to be pretty good with weapons, maybe I can teach’em something. How ‘bout you, Yukari?”

In the distance a shout “Ha! You let a name slip! We know who you are.” As one tried to flee.

The straw hat sighed, before drawing his blade, and arc of fire engulfing the shinobi. “Who gives a shit? Hell, I’m Roku Kubo if anyone here survives.”

“N’awww, don’t be like that, miss.” Yukari seemed to dance between two nin, peppering them with blows no greater than a tap. “There’s no harm in a little wager between comrades.” A palm strike to the chest and one of the nin crumbled to the floor. She bounded back away from the swipe of a ninjatou, dropping a pouch of coins in Roku’s hand as she passed. “You of all people should know a bit of friendly competition’s good for the little troublemakers. Challenge sparks growth and all that.”

“Besides, I feel like we’re about to teach them far more uh, ‘deplorable habits’ than some friendly betting whoa—!” A flaming blade arced for her neck. She swung her hand as if to slap it away. Yukari never touched the weapon but the sword barely passed over her head, snapping off one of the horns on her mask. “I was starting to like this mask.”

Another sword swing that barely missed. Yukari jabbed her fingers against his arm and the flames wreathing his blade flickered out. “Eh, files really only tell you so much. I definitely got an interesting looking bunch.”

A downward swing embedded the Cloud nin’s sword in the floor. Yukari effortlessly balanced on the back of the blade to keep him from freeing it. Two more strikes to the chest and he dropped. “Let’s see…” She remained standing on the sword as she thought, “I’ve got a little refugee nin, suppose that makes sense she’s with me. A kid that carries a kiseru around - speaking of bad habits - and some girl with the plague that hates shinobi. Think your taishou’s got a bit of a sense of humor on that one.”

“Oh it starts with harmless little wagers,” said the woman who had been identified as a ghost, impaling a fleeing shinobi and levering him up with her naginata to hurl him at the lead shinobi who had been stalking towards her with his rods crackling with energy. “But lay ye a crooked foundation and ye shall build a crooked house! Pretty soon you’re betting your whole paycheck and up to your neck in debt!” lectured Nadeshiko over the whine of an electrical discharge and a ragged scream. “My adorable students shall not be exposed to such debauchery,” Nadeshiko promised, breaking off her tirade to body flicker forwards with unearthly grace to stab down through the shinobi she had just thrown again, her blade piercing through to reach the leader pinned underneath his subordinate and plunge into him as well.

“Ohhhh I can’t wait to meet them!” said Nadeshiko dreamily as she twisted her blade to ensure the wound she had inflicted was lethal. “I have two cute little acrobatic weapon specialists! Obviously the young man with the spear is closest after my own heart but the young lady has a quite imposing bow I am very interested to see in action as well. Then my third is another young lady with a wind infused sword style and a sweet little pet crow which is good for children as it teaches empathy and responsibility. Between the three of them I shall be teaching all three of the noble weapons most suitable for a samurai which I will enjoy very much!”

At the comment of 'wagering whole paycheck', Roku scratched at his stubble, while guiltily looking away and whistling.

Clearing out his throat, he pulled out a cloth, beginning to clean the remaining gore from his blade. "I'd suggest drinks, but early start tomorrow. Told my Mokunoha to meet at the hour of the damned at the Cherry Blossom Grove by the city entrance."

He looked at the blizzard… probably no actual cherry blossoms for a while. He groaned, and tossed the bloody cloth to Nadeshiko to clean her blade. "Anyone who can rise at dawn with a smile on their face ain't right. I have…. 4 hours of sleep as is. Damn…"

Yukari was quiet for a long moment, watching the carnage Nadeshiko left in her wake as she lectured the kunoichi. Exposed to debauchery? Maybe not. Extreme violence? That was looking like a given. The masked woman rubbed the back of her neck, “Y’know, I’m with Roku. You being a teacher is kinda terrifying.” She hopped down from her perch and stretched. “Mission office wants us up and on standby bright and ungodly early too unfortunately. Mine are supposed to meet me at uh . . . shit, what’s the name again?” Yukari turned her hand in the air as she tried to think, “That training field with the hot springs running through them. That whole agility course.”

"Sun Wu Kong's paradise?" Roku offered.

“Yeah! That place. Figure I’ll get a feel for what they can do while we wait for a job.”

“Early?” Nadedshiko tilted her head curiously as she wiped down her blade, although the motion ended up being mostly perfunctory: oddly the malevolent looking crimson blade was almost clean despite the carnage it had wrought seconds ago as if the blood had simply disappeared by itself. “My meeting was only scheduled for six thirty, I wonder why they wanted you two to start early?” Nadeshiko finished cleaning her weapon and gave a little nod to show she was satisfied, unfortunately the motion flicked a drop of blood from her cheek onto the formerly clean weapon and she was forced to dab at it with her thumb again. “Perhaps the inn I’m supposed to be meeting them in only does late breakfasts? It’s the one near the west gate, have either of you been?”

At the later start date, both Roku and Yukari perked up. Wordlessly, both looked at eachother and grunted with a nod before putting their hand in palm and shaking it to Rock-Paper-Scissors.

On the third silent 'Go', Roku slammed down rock, while Yukari landed paper.

Her shoulders shook in a quiet snicker before she turned towards Nadeshiko. “If you’d rather the earlier start, I can swap out with you.”

Roku slumped his shoulder with his head down, whispering several slurs against 'them damn white eyed folk' as he shook his head.

“Oh that would be-” Nadeshiko narrowed her eyes back to fox like slits as she took in disgruntled behavior of Roku with the smug aura of victory subtly radiating from her.

Nadeshiko’s weapon whirred, the blunt end rearing up to deliver a divine punishment in the form of two bonks to the foreheads of the two dangerous warriors. “No Gambling!” said Nadeshiko sternly, her hands on her hips and her cheeks puffed slightly. she sniffed. “And no clan slurs either,” she added as an afterthought, delivering a second bonk to Roku. “That kind of language can be very hurtful. Now you can both go to your own meeting times and reflect on your behavior while you do,”

“Ow! I’m sorry!” Yukari hissed as her mask cracked apart and fell to the floor. She groaned, rubbing the welt on her forehead. “Alright, alright, we’ll keep our original times then.”

"Uuuuuugh…." Roku squeaked as his hat went flying, slowly fluttering back and forth as it landed on his face up ass, his forehead embedded in the splintered wood. "You crazy ass b-" Roku's eyes opened wide as he realized Nadeshiko was now censoring for language. "Oh no…." He winced as the butt of Nadeshiko's weapon threatened him but didn't strike. He grabbed his hat and slowly got back up.

Shaking his head, the mischief left his eyes and Roku grew more somber. He scanned the scene of dead bodies they'd just dispatched, and the samurai who'd been in the lookout tower beforehand.

"Let's get you home… you deserve better…"

With that, he slammed his sword into the tower platform, flames starting to lick at the wood.

Roku sighed as the flames started to crackle, withdrawing his blade and sheathing once again.

"Good luck on your missions, you two. Though, I gotta ask. Anyone reckon they're just sending mooks at this point? Seems too easy… And I reckon they're up to something."

Roku leapt down with a crunch of snow, blood trailing as he dragged the downed samurai.

Yukari frowned, following behind him as he left. Her landing was far lighter than the swordsman’s. “Nothing good, knowing them. Big and loud has always been the Cloud’s style.”

“Steel has been drawn, but not yet swung,” said Nadeshiko, trailing behind the other two with a distant expression. “We are being studied, probed for the openings in our stance. But whatever their next move is it does not change our duty. They will come and we will cut them down,”

 

[Ganryu]

Squad Roku


Each squad member assigned under the Haganenoha - Roku Kubo: Izumi Takahashi; Yusuke Satomi; and Itto Ōkami; would recieve a letter telling them the date of their first mission, and to meet together for the first time since graduation for their first mission, and to meet their new sensei. The only unfortunate part was the 5 am time frame, written in the letter as the 'asscrack of dawn', at the Cherry Blossom Gate. Though, with it being mid winter, it was less... pink that the path was in the summer. Snow fell in the early hours, a gentle diamond dust by dawn, each falling snow flake glistening in the early morning sun, the sky still purple in the distance.

Row after row of planted tree, dripping with frozen icicles led towards a Torii gate leading outside the city. Atop said gate, a man in his mid thirty's with stubbly beard, and a straw hat over his head lay stretched out, gently snoring while scratching his stomach. Considering how much snow had accumulated on him, it looked like he had slept there... And was still asleep there. Either a homeless man had gotten adventurous, or the famed Roku Kubo was in front of the trio.

 

[KageYuuki]

Squad Yukari
As Koyome, Izanami, and Enkai went about their afternoons, they'd find a small cat with a note tracking them down. The persistent furball wouldn't leave until they accepted the letter. It was a formal affair from the village officials, congratulating them on their ascension to Mokunoha and informing them of their new team assignments. A hastily scrawled note at the bottom informed the new samurai they were to meet at Sun Wukong's Paradise at 0500 tomorrow for their first mission.

Sun Wukong’s Paradise was an apt name. Nestled deep in Hanamachi, the park offered reprieve from the bitter cold raging around it. A hot spring fed a massive central pool and warmed the area around it. Pillars of rock dotted the pool like towering stepping stones, forming multiple agility courses that tested a warrior's balance and speed. Stable pillars that wouldn’t budge no matter your step, stacked rocks that would tumble with a single misstep, and outside the pool were towering bamboo shoots that dared only the most nimble samurai.

The sun hadn't even begun painting the sky in streaks of purple, leaving the park empty save for one person. A lone woman in red lounged across the top of one of the pillars, relaxed like a cat in the sun. A tiger half mask hid the top of her face from view. The same cat that had brought them the letter lay curled up against her, indicating they were in fact at the right place.

Yukari didn’t budge as her students filtered in, it'd be easy to assume she'd fallen asleep on her comfortable perch. But each of the Mokunoha would feel like they were being intently watched.

Phayne AtlannianSpy InsaneAsylum

 

[Phayne]

Team Yukari

Enkai Kaji

Mokunoha

Sun Wukong's Paradise, Hanamachi

- The Eve of the Big day -
It was a slow and uneventful day for the young and budding Mokunoha, the boy continuing his daily duties around the family shop as he had been doing the last few days. Business for the family had been the standard, the regulars coming to buy their daily neccessities whilst the usual trader or two came to strike up potential business with his father; the head honcho of their dainty little family business. Beyond that, nothing out of the ordinary had really made this day any more special than the previous. Thus It was the standard labor to be expected from their establishment, the casual refilling of stock during the early hours of the day, the pick up in trade during the period where the Sun was at its peak and finally latter part of the day which often saw Enkai remaining by the counter to take payment whilst his mother tended to the evening meal; the wafting aroma that crept through the wooden crevices of the wall that seperated the business floor from the backroom kitchen causing a faint rumble in Enkai's stomach. Whilst only ever being told fragments of her mother's previous life as a Kunoichi; he had to wonder if her talent had been put to waste as a shinobi. Undoubtedly she held the potential to be a successful chef, the smell of crab causing a faint line of drool to creep upon the side of Enkai's maw. No doubt this was his favourite dish being created, 'King Crab Kamameshi' a dish that combined the glorious crisp King crab meat with rice and Salmon roe.

Wiping the drool and attempting to distract himself away from the magic being created in the kitchen. Enkai had his arms crossed and placed upon the counter top, using this lull in trade to take an opportunity to rest his head upon them, hazel eyes staring forward towards the shop front entrance where his father had just returned, one of the local artisans from the crafting district in tow; a small wrapped up parcel in his fathers hand. A raised brow would acknowleding the small tingling of curiosity that had sparked within Enkai, yet acting upon it would be delayed as he felt something brush against the side of his right leg; the ticklish sensation startling him ever so slightly as he rose his head and glanced downward.

There, sat upon the floor was a small cat, its tail casually swishing from side to side as it brought its right paw upward; a pink tongue escaping its little mouth as it began to clean itself. For a few moments, Enkai had simply stared at the feline, confused as to how it had gotten into the store without him noticing in the first place; though his confusion would turn towards the direction of the kitchen as he heard his mothers voice call out.

"Well Enkai... don't just stare at it..." she began, the sound of a large pot hitting the stove audible against the faint chorus of oil boiling. "Can't you see they have a message for you?" she continued; causing Enkai to glance down once again; noticing the parchment attached to the feline. 'How does she know...' he thought to himself, marveling at his mothers prowess at seemingly knowing exactly whats occuring upon the shop floor without being present. Truly a former kunoichi...

Leaving his thoughts to one side, Enkai casually began to bend down; both hands reaching out towards the feline as he attempted to pick them up; though his actions would not bode well with the feisty furball as it illicited a vicous hiss towards the larger blue haired boy. The sound of laughter faintly escaping the kitchen as Enkai furrowed his brows towards the cat.

"Come on... I'm just gonna pick you up gently" he offered, as he tried to pick the furball up once again; though just as it had done prior, another hiss had escaped its mouth with the added helping of a fresh swipe at one of Enkai's outstretched hand. "Tsk... you little pain in the..." he began, though the cat had taken exception to Enkai's attitude and had again tried to swipe at him; claws extended this time as his third and final warning.

"Here... give them this.." came his mothers voice from the kitchen, Enkai turning his head towards the direction as a faint metallic flash caught his gaze, soon followed by the sound of something embedding itself into the wooden wall. Turning to see what it was, a thin metallic senbon had buried itself into the wooden boarding of the wall; a fried sardine skewered along its shaft with a fresh smoke trail still trickling off of its freshly cooked body. Quickly turning back to the cat, Enkai had just enough time to react as the cat siezed the opportunity, jumping upon him; its athleticism on display as it landed atop Enkai's head, before pushing itself off once more and onto the counter before making its way towards the offerring.

"Damn cat..." gritted Enkai, now with both hands buried into his hair as he tidied it. The note now somehow placed upon the table as the cat spared no time in sinking its teeth into the sardine. Putting aside his annoyance towards the feline, Enkai had began unveiling the note; hazel eyes reading its contents.

"Well... what does the note say?" inquired his mom, a second senbon needle flying out of the backroom, this time with a chunk of crab meat skewered on it; the cat meowing in thanks at the 2nd offerring. "I'm to meet my new Sensei at Sun Wukong's Paradise...." he continued reading... "at 0500..." his tone hinting at a bit of annoyance at the time... though it was momentary as excitement took over. ".... for my first mission" he finished, placing the note on the counter; next to the feline whom had now started upon the chunk of crab meat.

"Tomorrow eh?" came the voice of his father, the artisan whom he had been talking to now long gone. "Seem's like it was just yesterday you were begging us to teach you... and now your on the eve of your first mission....how you've grown.." he continued placing the box like parcel on the counter before reaching out to stroke the cat. "I've got ya a little something... a celebratory present..." spoke his father, nudging the parcel forward. "It ain't as magical as your mothers cooking..." the cat meowed in agreement. "...but I thought it would come in handy" he finished, his right hand shooting forward to catch a 3rd Senbon being thrown out; the projectile caught between two fingers, a crispy chunk of meat on this one which his father swiftly pulled off and ate.

Turning his attention to the parcel, Enkai had opened it rather quickly; pulling out a large freshly crafted Kiseru pipe. "The craftsman call it a Buyokiseru... its longer than the pipe you've been using and sturdier..." began his father, though he paused as a look of concern spread across his face. "I know its not much.... normally in our family, its tradition to get a newly forged Katana... but since you were adamant about not wanting a Katana... I didn't know what else to get you..." spoke his father, one hand behind his head. as he studied Enkai's expression, though relief soon washed over him as Enkai stood up and gave his father a hug.

"Thanks pops!" he spoke, releasing his embrace as he placed both hands upon his new weapon. Despite being bigger, it felt no heavier than the Kiseru pipe he had been using prior; if anything it felt easier to wield. "Its perfect" he exclaimed, channeling a tiny portion of chakra through the pipe and getting a faint reaction through the bowl.

"Alright boys...we're closing early.. now pack up the sentimentality and start getting the table ready" chimed his mother from inside, breaking the moment between the two men in her life. "Alright alright sweetheart" replied his father, turning towards the shop entrance as he began shutting it up. Enkai meanwhile continued holding onto the Pipe, continueing to get a feel for his new weapon; perhaps trying to hide the excitement that was now slowly welling up within him. It was only now beginning to really sink in that tomorrow was his first step into becoming a Samurai; a sparkle now present within his eyes. Another brush upon his skin, this time his left forearm as the cat pressed itself against him; tiny bits of food caught against the fur around its mouth. A faint purring would escape it, before the cat lept off the counter, squeezing past his father and out the front door.


- 0500, Sun Wukong Paradise -
It was the first day as an official Mokunoha of the land of iron and as was to be expected, Enkai found himself dragging his feet along the snowy ground as he trudged his way towards Sun Wukong's Paradise; the meeting point indicated upon the note he had recieved the evening prior. Tucked into the left side of his Obi, his new Buyokiseru was securely fastened against his waist; a water gourd on his right side filled to the brim as he made he continued on his way through the early hours of the day; purple streaks just about visible upon the skies above. "its... too early.." he yawned, pushing forward towards the destination.

Upon finally arriving at what initially appeared to be an empty park, Enkai was almost immediately put on edge; his right hand instinctively reaching towards the Kiseru pipe fastened to the left side of his waste; eyes scouring his surroundings for any sign of what had suddenly caused him to be on edge. Like prey caught in the headlights of a predator, Enkai could not help but feel like he had stumbled upon a lions den; his hair standing on edge as beads of sweat formed upon his brow.

Enkai, remaining rooted would continue to scour around him, his gaze eventually falling upon a lone woman lounged across one of the top pillars, a familiar furball nestled against her red clothing. Had she been there this whole time? Out in the open? Why had it taken so long for him to notice...?

Still feeling the nerves, Enkai simply stared at the masked woman, keeping his eyes fixed upon her should she suddenly move.

KageYuuki InsaneAsylum AtlannianSpy

Code by Serobliss

 

[AtlannianSpy]

Squad Nadeshiko
The previous morning a trio of notes had been delivered out to the three newly minted members of Squad Nadeshiko. The notes, delivered by young children fortified with healthy looking pieces of fruit, were written in a gentle, easy to read script and requested the presence of the three at Minshuku Hidarisou, a modest guesthouse near the western gate leading out of the city. The building was a narrow three storey of traditional wooden construction, made more inviting by the flickering warmth lighting the windows, hinting at a crackling hearth inside.

Sure enough inside the inn a charcoal hearth was doing an admirable job of warding away the early morning winter chill, providing a cozy atmosphere for the few patrons of the inn awake to take their breakfast at this hour. One such patron was a gentle looking young woman with orange hair, sipping delicately on a steaming mug of tea. Nadeshiko appeared serene at first glance but every so often she shot a subtle, eager glance at the inn's door as if waiting for someone to arrive.

Spoiled Bread Ganryu Orikanyo

 

[Ganryu]

Akari Tone - Tone Residence, Outskirts of Hanamachi

Within a wooden cabin on the edge of Hanamachi, outside the gate, smoke rose from the chimney, and the smell of eggs, sausage and bacon slowly drifted and curled to the nearby area. Inside, fat sizzling and the clatter of plates and utensils filled the kitchen, but a heavy silence. Everyone had gotten up early for the day, the day of Akari's first mission, but nobody seemed to be able to work up the courage to break it, or congratulate it, other than her mother's breakfast.

At the head sat her father, grasping at the edge of the corner of the table with a wince. With a clatter, his cane fell over, but he didn't reach for it immediately. Instead, another sizzle as a new sausage entered the frying pan behind him as the matriarch of the family cooked.

Akari sat next to a pile of over easy eggs... one that was slowly dwindling as she practiced her own 'vanishing' jutsu, her mouth occassionally opening wide, and a flash of a fork, but no sign of anything remotely close to 'eating' inbetween.

A sigh finally broke as her father stared straight at the girl. "You're really doing this, aren't you?"

Her brother huffed with crossed arms. "Don't know why she's bothering. I'm already tetsunoha, I've got the family honor covered. Unless you're wanting to follow in your brother's foot steps Akari. The new way's the way to go."

Akari shook her head violently to her brother, grabbing an arrow and smirking. She was following her father's footsteps.

A ladle bonked her hand, and the back of her brother's head. "No weapons at the table. And don't tease your sister with ridiculous theory's. It's her big day, Rei. You could at least say 'congratulations'." She picked up her husband's cane, who only signed again, his eyes seeming more sunken than ever. A dull 'congratulations' came from both her brother and father. Somehow, her father was the more energetic of the two.

Her mother than paused. "What time was your mission anyways, Akari?"

"Six thirty." She peeped. Everyone in the house cocked their heads at the clock.

A moment later, the door to the house burst open, Akari sprinting with her bow in one hand and quiver in the other, jumping and half putting on her shoes. A single piece of toast hanging out her mouth as jam bounced against her scarf. She leapt over the fence to their property, then jumped again midair, landing on a tree branch. Sadly, she bit too hard, and was left only a corner of the toast as the rest fell into the woods, excited chickens scavenging it.

"Flying general indeed..." Her mother commented.

----------

Akari twisted open the door to the inn, taking a single shaky step inside before collapsing on the ground, panting for air from the floor.

 

[IG42]

Yusuke Satomi
"Well brat looks like daddy doesn't want you back. Seems we 'impugned his honour' by proposing a fair and equitable trade, maybe sending a free sample will change his tune." A tiny glint of light flashed as a shadowy figure loomed closer and with a chill of cold steel on his skin-

---

Opening his eyes Yusuke reached out of his futon to silence the alarm clock before realising his hand still held the sheathed tanto he had hidden in his futon ever since the incident and often gripped to make sure it was there. Tapping the clock with the weapon until the alarm stopped he sat up feeling quietly thankful that his new sensei's insistence on an early start had interrupted the twisted memory early for a change.

Packing away the futon he silently prepared himself for whatever his teacher had in store, leaving the austerely designed house he wasn't surprised to see his father already in the courtyard performing practice swings with his sword, even when caring to see his youngest off he refused to seem like he was showing too much favour. "Father, I am about to depart for my mission." He said in a neutral tone. Turning his father looked Yusuke over with a critical eye, without shifting his expression he gave a short nod of approval. "Good, go and bring honour to our nation."

Give your all for our nation above all else. The familiar mantra echoed through his mind with a touch of bitterness as he bowed once more and left giving a silent nod of respect to the guard outside the gate, the only visible sign of his ordeal had been assigned from above despite what he heard of his father saying such special treatment was unnecessary.

Approaching the meeting place Yusuke looked up to see a man sleeping atop the gate, he did recall his father saying that Roku was an impressive warrior but also a decidedly 'slovenly' one. "Kubo-sensei? Yusuke Satomi reporting for duty." While he bowed politely he did consider gathering a snowball to wake the man if he proved unresponsive.

Ganryu

 

[Haze-]

Ōkami Itto
Team Roku​

- Ōkami Residence; Early Morning. . .​

---

Everything died by this time of the year.

Usually, at the first bitingly-cold sigh of winter’s howl, it’d get to the green leaves, they’d drop from their limbs— leave them bare and bony; dry and thin— and they'd curl up to a ball there on the wintry. He’d walk over the layers of snow, hear the crunch of the crumpled leaf-balls under his feet; the winter was harsh, brutal around these parts of the forest.

There was little to do but wander around the cold, follow the trail of breath that hung out of your mouth, see where it leads you— maybe you’d find a funny looking critter or two. And that morning jog was just if he wanted to heat himself up, he’d normally have his mother hog up the fire inside the shack to warm herself alone.

Itto would wake at around this hour, before the sun came up, start swinging his sword at the lines of trees. But on winter that wasn’t even a thing for him. The trees were too hollow, too dry— they’d break or peel at the touch of his sword. All of them looked like giant lumps of flaking coals, reaching out to the sun from the bottom of the soil with their wiry stems and twigs.

Hell, even the sun felt cold on the skin today.

“Tch…” — All he could do was take his sword and draw bored loops, lazy half-circles on the snow. As if it were a ritual, one of those seals the ninja used. Maybe one to make the sands of time flow faster.

He sat there for a while longer, much longer, watching the snowflakes brush down the road to the villa, trailing a white path through it like a gang of autumn leaves. And he sat there a little longer, fumbling and playing with the note he’d received a while ago, roughening the corners on an idle hand.

The birds and the red squirrels went about their odyssey, worried about their leavings buried beneath the snow, wrestling their vocals in a boundless effort to fill in the hollowing, mind-numbing quiet of the forest. Itto sat there watching them, wondering if they too had a long day ahead of them.

“Itto…!” — Mother’s voice snapped him out of the trance He immediately turned, hands coiling on the handle of his sword with animal awareness. He loosened his grip when he saw her waving from across the edge of the treelines, leaning on their front door.

“You’ll be late…”— Her voice was a deep, soft-song, hoarse like it were an effort on the throat, almost whispery.

“Is it time already…?” — He scratched at the back of his head, they didn’t have a clock or anything fancy to tell the time in their little cabin. His father had taught him to read the ‘sun’s position’ to tell the time, but it seemed like he was still lost in that regard.

The boy slowly rose up to a feigned groan, stretching, stealing a weary look from her — “A’ know Ma’, I’ll be there in time.”— In polar contrast, her son’s voice was harsh, damn near grating on the ears. It screamed for a spelling in uppercase; an absolute country bumpkin — “’Sides, heard the sensei’s just as much of a sloth as I am…I’ll probably be waitin’ there for ‘im to arrive anyways.”

Itto rubbed the dirty snow off his hand on the side of his kimono, walking over to her. His stomach still got tight everytime he’d see her sickly-pale face, she’d been getting better throughout the years, she’d been conscious about where she was for a while, but Itto’s father passing had made her relapse.

Her skin had faded through years without getting a lick of sunlight, holed up inside their shack, to this unhealthy-yellow hue. She’d usually wear a plain gray kimono, Itto would brush her knotted hair nice and loose— make her look fancy. But he’d still notice a lack of… life, he could see it in her gaze. Her eyes were a deep gloom, dark pools where a hollow, quiet thing lived.

Itto padded the snow off her shoulders, urging her back inside— “You okay? I’s cold out ‘ere, y’should get back inside Ma’. Don’t got medicine for a cold…” — He immediately went stiff as she went to mutter some more, gently pressing her hands to his face. They were cold, absent, like she didn’t quite process who was in front of her. Even if her words betrayed her lifeless, cold body.

“Have you eaten anything, Itto…? You…You need to be strong and healthy for your mission…You said you were…” — She stuttered on her words, struggling to find them. Itto looked at her with a sour face — “The…The famous samurai…You’re training with him; you need to impress him…!”— Her voice became light, pleasant.

He’d told her that he would be training with a famed samurai, someone with a decent rep in the Land of Iron. A soldier, just like father. Itto was half-hoping that it’d at least liven her up for a while, get her back into the world of the living, but he was beginning to half-regret it by now.

“I’ll be fine Ma’…”— He assured — "I might be gone for a while. Y’remember the nice old lady from the village, right? She’ll come check on you. I left some food for ya just in case, though.”

“You’ll be fine without me, won’tcha?” — He tried to smile up at her. He didn’t get a response, the woman’s focus drifted somewhere around the woods, up in the trees. She went back inside. Not a word, not a glance.

Itto looked down at her footsteps in the snow, his breath hitching into a quiver. He gripped the sword tight, it was his only refuge, his only solace.

He wouldn’t admit it out loud, but sometimes he couldn’t stand being there in that house. Watching his mother rotting away slowly. The both of them starving to death.

- Cherry Blossom Gate; 'At the asscrack of dawn'. . .​

---

Itto arrived at the location right behind the other two.

A complete opposite from the duo, he wore his ragged, dirty kimono and dragged his bare feet along the snowy path; an inch or two of bruised skin showing beneath the slits on the messy blue satin. His hair was a messy shock of true-white hair, white as the snow that fell around them. He had no sheathe for his wooden sword, so he held it by his side on his callous hands.

To any onlooker, from afar, this might’ve seemed like just another homeless who'd gotten adventurous.

He remained quiet as one of the other kids took to the talking. One arm was folded inside his kimono, scratching at his side, mindlessly picking at a random cut he’d found under there. He listened with strained ears to whatever the other kid had just said, Itto only saw his mouth moving up and down. Spewing something, an introduction probably…

Not that he cared.

He sighed, eyes moving from the blue kid and over to the man still snoring over the torii gate, half-buried in a thin layer of snow. It took an inhumane effort for him not to hurl his sword at the man, Itto remained uncharacteristically quiet through it all. Begrudgingly reminiscing what his mother had said about leaving a good first impression.

For now, he hefted his sword on one shoulder; a restless foot slowly tapped away at the floor, arrhythmically.

He figured the man would wake up sooner or later.

Right?

"What a pain in the ass..."

Ganryu IG42 KageYuuki

 

[AtlannianSpy]

Squad Yukari
Koyome Omozukai

The basement where Koyome worked had been dimly lit, by only a flickering lantern she had begged off the landlord. Now though a trickle of early dawn sunlight was filtering in through the wide, short little window at the very top of the wall. The pale sunlight struggled to penetrate the thick, cloudy glass used in the window but it did eventually reach Koyome's sensitive, lavender eyes and she blinked.

"Eh? already? bah," Koyome muttered under her breath, pushing her seat back from her bench and stretching her pale, slender arms. Splayed out before Koyome on the bench was her victim: a spread eagled body with its insides exposed for the world to see. It would have been a grizzly sight if the whole thing hadn't been made of wood, even so the puppet still had a slightly uncanny look to it. Koyome had long since grown inured to uncanny however, so the eye she cast over the puppet was strictly that of a craftsman evaluating their work.

"...Acceptable I suppose," Koyome said, pushing a strong of her long, dark hair out of her face. Really the puppet had been in perfect condition for weeks now, since Koyome had settled in and had time to repair the minor dings and scrapes her exodus from Konoha had incurred. Tonight, or last night rather, had just been fussing: adjusting joint tension back and forth; sanding away perceived imperfections in wooden panels: meaningless busywork. It wasn't that Koyome had been nervous about today, after all she had done this whole team meeting shebang once before after all, but there had been a certain... restlessness in the parts of Koyome's body she could still feel that made sleep unappealing. Koyome had napped during the day anyways and the bags under her eyes would be hidden from view within her puppet: there were silver linings to this kind of condition if you knew were to look.

With a sigh Koyome put her hands down on the bench and lifted her body up to sit on it, then maneuvered her legs into the open compartment in the chest of the puppet. The whole ordeal was helped along with thin, nearly invisible threads of chakra that handled her unresponsive limbs. Shortly Koyome had tucked herself away neatly inside the puppet and slid the access panel back in place, concealing her completely. Then, in a single, smooth motion the puppet sat up.



Not long after that Koyome left the house, her mechanical body now clothed and indistinguishable from any of the few other pedestrians already out and about this early. Well, there was a the heavy tool belt Koyome wore, bristling with kunai, shuriken, senbon and other tools of her trade but those were steadily becoming more and more common in the city and Koyome received only a few curious glances that she returned with a saccharin smile that was mechanical only in the literal sense. Tucked away as she was Koyome was unbothered by the chill of the early winter morning so she made her way towards Sun Wukong's Paradise at an unhurried pace. The park was actually quite a bit nicer than Koyome had been expecting. The name had seemed a little seedy to Koyome and she had half been expecting cheap incense and scantily clad attendants wearing false monkey ears and tails .

There was nothing like that however, instead the park was an artfully arranged tableau of natural features that served both aesthetic and practical purposes. Even stuffy old Suzaku who maintained the Hyuuga compound would have grudgingly given the place a passing grade. Koyome however, had had enough lounging around in aesthetically pleasing gardens to so she was more interested in the occupants. There was a boy her age, so likely a teammate, locked in place as if dumbstruck

Joy. A simpleton Koyome thought, before focusing her byakugan on the woman who had been waiting for them. Koyome almost broke and ran right then.

HYUUGA! Koyome heard a voice feral with panic hiss inside her mind THEY FOUND ME! It was only Koyome's hands, shaking too badly for her to properly operate her mechanical legs, that kept her fixed in place long enough for reason to prevail. Wait that isn't possible Koyome told herself firmly, her hidden away hands still trembling even as her outer body remained placid. Even the Hyuuga can't just walk into the middle of Hanamichi. And if they could they would have just grabbed me at my place, or set up a meeting somewhere out of the way. Koyome studied the woman more intensely, the veins around her temples rising as she channelled her dojutsu with more intensity than the casual glance she had taken before. Wasn't there another runaway a few years back? A cousin or something, some kind of big shot? Koyome wondered. regretting for the first time in her life that she hadn't paid more attention to the byzantine vipers nest that was Hyuuga internal poitics. I'm pretty sure there was someone like that, and she would be aroudn the right age from what I remember Koyome thought, the cold logic of her analysis helping her calm down. To think that they'd end up here as well and be assigned as my teacher. Fate has a sick sense of humour,

Suddenly Koyome realised that, while she'd been panicking about being abducted back to the leaf she'd frozen in place right behind the boy, turning them into the beginnings of some kind of ridiculous queue. Koyome's cheeks reddened, a feature of biology her puppeted external body thankfully would not replicate without her instruction. We must look absurd! Fuck! What do I do now!?

Phayne KageYuuki InsaneAsylum

 

[Orikanyo]

Squad Nadeshiko​

Shaoko Hojo
AtlannianSpy Ganryu Spoiled Bread

"...Mother it is an honorable profession, I desire it and will not be deterred from this path... so... Please.. Remove yourself from the doorway." Shaoko spoke to his mother, he was in his full kit and he had been prepared for this day for some time. his armor was maintained, his spear was polished and sharpened and there was nothing that could stop him from going through with his journey towards greatness...

Except for his mother literally blocking the doorway with her body. "You can't! I simply wont let you!!"

"mother, pl-"

"NOOOOOOOO! YOUR JUST A BABY BOY WHAT MOTHER WOULD I BE IF I LET YOU GO OFF AND DIE!!!"

Shaoko only stared at the inconsolable woman, his visage blank as if his own mother wasn't howling like a forlorn ghost. "I'm not going to die. I am going to meet my Haganenoha, they will be teaching me the ways of-"

"TEACHING YOU TO THROW AWAY YOUR LIFE!!"

Shaoko was starting to get annoyed, it had been five weeks of this behavior, and this is where he draws the line, he could deal with theft of equipment(which he found again), burning of his scrolls(not the hidden ones) and simply mournfully sobbing could stop him before, this wont end his journey before its begun.

"So be it, I will be returning to my room." he spoke with a closeing of his eyes, his mother visibly relaxed but.. Still remained in the doorway. he would turn away as she began to sob something about him finally seeing reason and how he'd "Finally find a new and much safer profession!" which, of course, he did not agree to. He went to his room and with not even a stopped stride he opened the window and leapt out of the fifth story Hojo mansion window.

He had a letter already made for this moment, he had preplanned it in case... Well, this happened. he would land upon the neighboring building, before leaping to the walls that held the Hojo estate. They were very old in truth, built before they became a mining and refinery company, but Shaoko liked them, they kept his home safe despite their age. There was honor in that...

He left the sounds of wailing as he had been found out behind, passing by some superstitious men giving a prayer... "The house must be having a haunting again..." one said, as Shaoko gave a nod, heading down the road.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Walking inside with the door already open, Shaoko regarded Akari with a look that had the smallest hint of disappointment.

"in a rush i see. Did you sleep in once more Akari?" the young man asked as he stood next to her, he gave out a small sigh. "Two hundred and thirty fourth time." he seemed to mark down something in a small notebook. "At least you arrived."

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Izanami Kutsuki
“Did ya remember to grab those tea bags I made for you?”

“Yea I got ‘em.”

“Did you pack an extra sharpening stone?”

“Uhh… nope. I don’t really nee-“

“Here ya go! Oh! Take this too! Maybe a couple extra blankets too…”

“Jeez mum, your gonna have me lugging half the house to Hanamachi!”

A small figure in a heavy fur coat stood in place patiently. An Odachi rested on her shoulder, hidden in its matte black sheathe. A thin woman stood behind them, trying to shove another blanket into the already oversized backpack the girl in samurai armor was wearing.

It was only earlier that day that a cat had arrived with a letter. As soon as Izanami read it, she got ready to leave. Hanamachi was nearly a day away, so she’d have to leave very soon if she was to make it on time and get a chance to sleep.

“Izanami, you know you can never be too prepared! It’s a long ways to Hanamachi and I ain’t having my girl starve or freeze to death before she even gets there!” Izanami’s mother grunted as she finally got the blanket in properly.

“So… can I go now? I don’t want to be the last one to show up,” Izanami said, gazing away from her mother. It was rare to see her so energized. Izanami figured her mother was more excited than she was for this day.

“You’re free to go,” her mother responded.

For a moment, the two stood their quietly, before they each moved in, giving each other a hug.

“Be safe Izzy. And don’t give your new teacher any attitude. Show them how wonderful you are.” Izanami’s mom spoke quietly and with closed eyes as she held her daughter close.

“Will do… and don’t worry so much mum.”

With that said, Izanamai turned and opened the door. The crisp cold air immediately greeted her. She turned and gave her mother another brief smile, before stepping out, and shutting the door behind her.

———————————————————

The hot springs were a drastic shift from the cold winds Izanami had dressed for. Fortunately, she didn’t need to lug her entire bag here. She bought a room in a Hanamachi, so she was able to leave the nonessentials there. However, her armor seemed to be quite the oven. No doubt it was soaking up plenty of sweat as well. Of course Izanami fully intended to endure it. A true samurai could persist no matter the conditions, so she would too!

Soon Izanami found herself approaching two unique individuals. She tried to add a bit of confidence to her walk as she approached, so they wouldn’t think she was battling the beginnings of heatstroke.

“Did a cat send y’all two here as well?” Izanami asked once she finally closed the distance. Her eyes looked over the two.

One looked really stiff and uncomfortable, and another had a huge… thing on his back. Neither were quite what she expected. She pictured more basic warriors, or perhaps she pictured some stereotypical samurai badasses.

“My name’s Izanami Kutsuki. It’s great to meet you both,” Izzy said with a cute smile, before bowing politely.

“Sooo… where’s our new teacher? I’m excited to meet them! Don’t tell me they’re late or something.”

After saying this, Izzy found herself following her new teammates gazes up to the top of one of the pillars. There Izzy spotted a fox-like woman and a familiar black cat. However, she couldn’t really tell what she was doing up there. She didn’t seem like she’d noticed them, or maybe she was just watching. Either way, it was a bit unnerving.

KageYuuki AtlannianSpy Phayne

 

[KageYuuki]

Izumi Takahashi

Squad Roku​

Izumi bit back a yawn as she trudged through the snow. Only the crazy and the unlucky dared stir at this hour. She wasn't sure which she was. When the letter arrived yesterday, Izumi had been ecstatic. Her first real mission, it meant a chance to start building a reputation and begin venturing further than just home and the village. Now out here in the dark and cold with only the sounds of crunching snow and the icy wind, Izumi had to admit her excitement dwindled somewhat. It was, as the letter so eloquently put it, the asscrack of dawn.

She tapped her belt again as she walked, checking for the umpteenth time that her dagger was still there with the rest of her kit. Izumi let out a breath to find the weathered tanto still in its place. Originally Akihito's, its partner weapon had been lost with their wielder. We're one step closer to seeing the world. Just you wait.

Shaking her head, Izumi hurried toward the meeting place. Even in its frozen state, the Cherry Blossom Gate was a beautiful place. The way the icicles shimmered in the barely rising sun. Or maybe that was just her inherent connection to ice speaking. Last to arrive... She chided herself, slowing to a stop beside who she assumed were her teammates. It was still dark and she was still tired. But they were still missing someone. "Where's . . .?" Izumi's search was shortlived as the sound of snoring drew her attention. "That's not Roku-Sensei, is it?" She asked, glancing over at the other two Mokunoha. But their gazes were also fixed on the sleeping man, halfburied in the snow. "Ooooi! Sensei!" Izumi's voice echoed slightly in the cold air. "You're gonna catch a cold sleeping out here like that!"

Ganryu IG42 Haze-

 

[Ganryu]

Roku Kubo


At the "Ooooi! Sensei!", the snoring stopped, only for the man to startle, flailing with a start from his perch, only to find there no surface to flail onto. The man blinked for a moment, before tumbling straight off the gate, and crashing into a snowbank below, his legs sticking out awkwardly, and his hat falling side to side after him. From the snow a muffled "Hour of the damned..." came.

He burst out a moment later yawning as he looked over the three, his eyes darting between their appearances, from how night and day Yusuke and Itto looked, to Izumi's energy being completely different.

"You three my Mokunoha? Huh. Welp, I'll be damned, I'm Roku Kubo, I'll be your sensei from now on. I'm a Haganenoha. No, I don't have a clue how either. But, maybe I reckon I can teach ya'll a few things?" He shook his head, picking up his hat, and headed just a few paces past the gate.

With a 'Ssssss' his sword spoke it's warning as it left his sheath, before sparking into flame, a magnificant orange hue lighting the road next to them. However, Roku then slammed it into the ground and sat next to it. Groaning, he rubbed his hands together, and held them out against it, tears of sleep running down his eyes. He paused as if something important occurred to him. Ruffling through his robes, he pulled out tin foil with a few wrapped cabbages with meat inside it, putting it around his impromtu fire.

"Had breakfast yet?" He offered.

He yawned again, smacking his lips, holding up a hand.

"The mission office wants us gone, but, well, I wanna be late. Still, we needed to be out the gate to be 'good little soldiers'. Wouldn't want to make no folk mad now."

Roku waited a minute more before pulling out a scroll, and tossing it for people to see, on it was simply a trail marked on a map to the south of the Land of Iron.

"Excitingly, we have a scouting mission. Run across to the border, make sure nothing's on. Real boring work." Roku groaned again, poking his meat-cabbage wrap below with his finger, then pulling it back and flicking his wrist like he'd burned it. He deliberately put in snow, waiting for it to cool down, still insisting on waiting.

"Seeing as I want to be late, should probably get introductions out the way. Could do it while walking, but would any of you really walk and talk? We're gunna be stuck with eachother, so, might wanna listen. I'm Roku, impress some folk, not others. Some think I'm smart, some a bit of a coward. Doesn't really matter, in the end, I do my job. Bit of an all rounder really. If you want a specialist, that'd be Nakeshide's squad, you want someone with 'weird', that'd be Yukari. Me? I'm a samurai, I got a sword, and I ain't afraid of adding a little spice or trickery to it. Suppose bit of a lie there. I am pretty good at chakra flow, and using chakra with weapons.

Well, we'll go Yusuke, Itto, then Izumi. Order I think ya'll arrived. I dunno, was zonked out, but saw more snow on Yusuke than the rest, so assuming he was first."


Another poke, another burn, Roku shaking his wrist, fat starting to sizzle out the sides as the smell wafted around.

"Oh, by the way, 'fore ya'll get too antsy, I suppose everyone's gunna get pissed why we ain't going. Of course, if I thought it was boring scouting, we'd be gone. I personally can state, I got burned enough that I don't do no missions without some investigations, and mapping it out. I told them I didn't think this was a good first mission, but they don't listen. I did a bit of research. Not as much as I'd like, had some, uh, work last night.

Anyways, the rumor is, down in the Land of Mist, some dissidents spoke out against the Shogun, and how the village don't need no Shogun because ninjas run everything. They might got a point there, but, well, man with money has influence. Man with influence has power. Man with power has kidney of man without.

Well, 2 days ago was his birthday, so if I were a mist nin, that is when I'd be starting some shennanigans. And, assuming it failed, I'd get the hell out of dodge. Funnily enough, it's about a 2 days journey for most folk there to here. So, reckon that'd be today.

I'd be begging for sanctuary, but wouldn't wanna show up in the night, so I'd chose the morning.

If I were a hunter nin, I'd be thinking mighty similarly, and run ahead of the escapee's, and kill any scouts on the way, and lay an ambush. So, uh, seeing as we're scouts I think we're just, gunna be late for that party?

Thing about ninja is they're really stealthy... til someone throws a fireball and blows up half the damn forest. So, we're, uh, gunna let that NOT be us, then miraculously show up, and see what we can't do. And that, that is why I'm being a bit lazy today. By the way, that's why it's reaaaally gunna be important ya'll say what you're good at. Cause we gunna find out real quick if you're lying.

Course, that's all just conject-conj-... that be a guess. Worse that happens is I'm wrong, there ain't nothing out there, and we just have a bit of a late patrol. Maybe someone chews my ass later, which case, that's a me problem, and ya'll are still fine."

Roku poked another bun, before pulling it up by the tinfoil and offering to the Mokunoha. "Cabbage roll?"

He took his regardless, and started to eat.

 

[Spoiled Bread]

Hibari Yozora / Squad Nadeshiko
Location: Takayama's shrine -> Minshuku Hidarisou

The sun had only been peeking in the horizon when Hibari started her new daily routine. Usually she would be tasked with either cleaning the clan's onsen or tending the garden, but after her graduation from the academy the clan's head of internal affair seems it fitting for her to be assigned to something less demanding. That's why she's here, cleaning a barely visited old shrine in the middle of the Takayama's cemetery at the crack of dawn during the winter. She definitely prefers the onsen but she knew she shoudn't be picky about her duty. Besides, her crow Koga seemed to really enjoys it here, he spent his time chasing away another birds in the area and marking his new territory with scratches on the trees and some well-placed droppings. Hibari wasn't sure if a crow was supposed to do all that but Koga had always been displaying way higher intelligence than any other corvids.

Wringing out the chilling wet towel on her hands, she proceed to shove the towel across the shrine to clean the floor. Hibari was already used to this kind of work so not only she's very meticulous in her scrubbing but she also made a mental game to make the chore more enjoyable. She got 1 point for every 1 meter square of floor cleaned, old stain gave her 2 points, persistent stain 7 points, and nasty grimes would varies depending on the size and intensity. So far she only got 73 and that was mostly because the building was quite large, it wasn't terribly dirty all things considered. After she cleaned the floor she looked up towards the sky and found that quite some time had passed. She knew she wouldn't be able to clean the entire place in just one hour so she decided to stop the work here and continue it tomorrow.

"Koga, let's go." The girl let out a loud whistle and the crow immediately landed gently on her head. Hibari put her padded white jacket on top of her kimono, making sure she carries the right stuffs and proceeded to head towards the place where she would finally able to officially became a samurai.

"Koga, do you think papa would be proud if he see me now being a samurai?" Hibari asked her little companion, the crow stared at her but didn't really make any noise and instead simply tilted his head as if expressing confusion.

"I see. You are right. He's dead. Dead people can't be proud." Hibari concluded her own thought. After walking for awhile she arrived at the mentioned inn. She opened the door and walked in, sidesteping around Akane on the floor and sat on the seat nearest to the fireplace.

"Good morning." She greeted the other with a slight bow, Koga on her head mimicked the gesture with his own little bow.

AtlannianSpy Ganryu Orikanyo

 

[AtlannianSpy]

Squad Nadeshiko
"Oh dear, someone's already tuckered out?" Nadeshiko wondered aloud, tilting her head as Akari collapsed onto the floor. By the time the other two mokunoha had arrived Nadeshiko had swept over to Akari and unceremoniously picked her up, carrying the hapless mokunoha over her shoulder back to the table she had been sitting at. All the while, Nadeshiko chatted away to the other two students.

"Hello everyone! My name is Nadeshiko Toyotomi and I will be your sensei for the foreseeable future. My hobbies are reading stories and gardening and I'm very excited to meet all of you!" Nadeshiko said, depositing her burden in an empty chair and sitting down herself, gesturing for the other two to sit down as well. "now since some of us seem to be a little worn out we might have a morning snack while I tell you about our first mission,"

Nadeshiko reached down to one of the pouches in her apron and produced a scroll, that she unfurled on the table and activated. There was a modest puff of smoke and suddenly a stack of three, small bento boxes appeared, that Nadeshiko distributed to the three mokunoha, revealing their contents to be an assortment of sliced and peeled fruit.

"Now then," Nadeshiko said, clapping her hands together. "Our very first mission is a simple one, but it should be an excellent opportunity to learn about civil infrastructure and give back to our community. You see children, some no good ruffians have collapsed a bridge some ways to the west here. Lots of people need to use this bridge to move about important things like food and medicine so everyone is very sad about this. Fortunately our nation has made a new friend, a Mr Endo Kannabi, who is very proficient with earth release jutsu and will be happy to make a new bridge for everyone! Unfortunately while Mr. Endo is very skilled at bridge making he is not so proficient in direct combat, so he would like some friends to keep him company on the journey over to the bridge sight and keep an eye out for those troublemakers while he does his work. If those ruffians do reappear and try to ruin things for everybody again then we shall have to round them up and have a firm word with them so that they understand how mean they are being. I suspect this will not be the case, sabotage teams rarely maintain their positions after completing their initial objectives."

Nadeshiko said, looking around at the mokunoha to ensure they were following along and nodded, apparently satisfied. "Now then, I'd like for you all to introduce yourselves to me and each other and if you have any questions about the mission you may ask those as well. Nadeshiko reached into another pouch and produced a kunai that she placed onto the table between her three students. "Now we can't have everybody talking at once so whoever would like to go first can pick up the talking kunai here and begin. When they are finished they will hand the talking kunai to the next person. If you need to ask a question or add something but you don't have the talking kunai then please raise your hand and I will call on you. Oh and please finish your fruit first, it's very impolite to speak with your mouth full,"

Orikanyo Ganryu Spoiled Bread

 

[Ganryu]

~Akari Tone - Squad Nadeshiko~​

Akari moaned from the ground. "I live... outside Hanamachi... Also, I don't think academy had that many days of school...?"

She looked up, counting on her hands before realizing she didn't know the answer either. Was he counting events she was late to too? That was partly because Akari never really wanted to go to them, only ever really going to support whoever planned it! She was the only one NOT to show up at her birthday party! Until her mother hunted her down like a bloodhound... Then her missing father. Then her brother, who had come in with several welts as well, and been forced to use his katana to cut the cake.

As Hibari walked over her, Akari helpfully scooched to the wide. She bowed her head into the floor. "Good Morning." she rasped from the floor, only to feel a tug on her back, and be thrown over Nadeshiko's shoulders, bow and all, Akari's eyes opening wide like a deer in the headlights, looking panicked at Hibari then Shaoko for 'what do I do?' before being gently put into the chair.

She listened to the mission with raised eyebrow, unsure if their sensei was real or not. Was this a genjutsu? She pulled out a hunting knife under the table, and pricked her finger, wincing. Nope teacher was still there. A strong genjutsu...? Akari wished she'd paid more attention to the lessons!!! She'd never learned the 'kai' signal. She shrugged and absolutely stabbed the back of her hand, yelping, but sensei was still there.

Yup. This was real... She stored the hunting knife away, and searched for her med kit, confused as a kunai was brought out. Technically, there wasn't much difference between it, and her hunting knife. Same purpose, to cut. Same efficiency, but somehow, it reminded her of her brother bragging about adopting the ninja way. Sure, she'd picked up a few new things, there were lessons in genjutsu and ninjutsu. But, just something about the kunai made her shake her head.

She offered her hand instead, before realizing blood was dripping down it. Akari squeaked and put it back under the table, wrapping it with some gauze and ointment quickly. She then raised the same hand again, now bandaged.

"Akari Tone. Daughter of the Flying General. I want to fight like him too. I'm an archer."

The giant ass bow behind her proooobably could have given that away.

"Question: I've never heard of you. How long have you been a Haganenoha? "

Akari lowered her hat, and with the butt of her hunting knife, nudged the kunai to Shaoko, before wrapping up her fruit for later.

 

[IG42]

Yusuke Satomi
Finding himself joined by a boy he'd describe as scruffy if not outright beggarly and a girl in much neater archery gear Yusuke kept a neutral expression and gave each a short nod. While he didn't pass his own comment on their sensei's unresponsiveness he did snort lightly in amusement at the other boy's grumbling. "That is indeed Roku-sensei." He said flatly as he reconsidered the snowball idea until the girl's callout managed to rouse the man.

Folding his arms Yusuke's eyes narrowed as the bonfire was lit. "You would have us be intentionally tardy in attending to our duty?" He asked haughtily but sat obediently on his knees next to the fire. "Yusuke Satomi, I have been trained in the Chūseigumi's Fuin no Tsurugi style to restrain foes for capture or immediate execution."

Listening to Roku explain the reasoning for the delay Yusuke conceded that it probably wasn't a bad idea to wait a little. "Conjecture." He supplied almost on reflex as he accepted the offered food with a nod of thanks.

Ganryu KageYuuki Haze-

 

[Haze-]

Ōkami Itto
Team Roku​

- Cherry Blossom Gate. . .​

---

Itto jerked his head away slightly as the girl’s shouting caught him by surprise, like it’d jabbed him right on the ear. His face scrunched up to a sour look and he hissed, pressing a— perhaps overdramatic— hand to the side of his head and cupping an ear. As the man had finally dropped from his perch, with the grace of a whiskerless, drunken cat, Itto’s lips turned up to what could’ve been interpreted as a half-smile.

Contempt; one might’ve seen the kid’s jaw flex in an attempt to hold back the grimace threatening to form on his face.

Blood beat an awkward drum at the back of his ears— something, some invisible force tightened around his forehead, making a nasty strain on his head. They hadn’t met up until today, but Itto was already well-ashamed of his sensei. He figured that feeling would become a common occurrence after a while.

“Hm…” — Long story short, the guy was pissing him off.

So much for good first impressions...

His head hung with shame, strands of white hair cowling his weary eyes. Itto glanced up from the snowy path, side-eyeing the both of his teammates before mirroring the blue, fancy-dressed one, folding his arms and keeping his eyes trained on their sensei. His eyes were distant, empty as the man spoke, only grumbling and baring fangs like an animal when he'd gone and mentioned something about breakfast.

Maybe in his own, made-up alien language that grumble would’ve translated to a redundant— “No.”

He sighed, scratching at the nape of his neck and stepping closer to the fire once the other boy was done with his intro— “My turn, then…”

“Itto.”— He tapped the danger-end of the wooden sword on his own head, speaking plainly — “My clan name doesn’t matter, so just Itto.” — His head leaned on one shoulder as he began to trail off, juggling with the butt of his sword on the tip of his fingers, making it do snappy pirouettes the next second.

“Got my own style. Self-taught, not bad. Y’can gimme a tree branch, a good chunk o’ that torii gate—anythin’ that looks like a sword, and I’ll make it cut like one. S’ just forming chakra around the weapon. That’s what I’m good at.”

“Take that away and I’m just a decent swordsman, nothin’ fancy.” — He spun the bokken on one last, quick arc and caught it with a reverse-grip, bringing it to his waist — “Tha’s about it.”

Finally, after getting his piece out, Itto took a seat right next to the other boy, shoving himself at his side and mindlessly taking handfuls. Not even looking up to thank Roku for the food; his eyes were still just as dazzled and empty, almost deadpan.

“So, old man,”— He spoke in-between bites, wiping his mouth on a cold sleeve and pointing at his sensei with his free hand — "If there is somethin’ out there, and we don’t arrive right after ta’ carnage, wha’s plan B?”

“Don’t got the ‘coward-smarts’ like you do, I’m just plain stupid.” — He shamelessly clarified — “And I don’t feel like dying today.”

“Not to some random mist ninjas, no way in hell.” — Itto damn near spat out his food in disgust just at the thought of it — “The damn Shōgun himself better come blow kisses on my grave if that’s how A’ end up dying for his sake…”

Ganryu KageYuuki IG42

 

[KageYuuki]

Yukari Satou

Yukari remained motionless as she waited for her students to wander in. The warmth and early hour made it hard not to fall asleep, so she instead turned her focus to the natural energy flowing through the space drawing it in. Finally, the first of her students made their way into the park. The pipe hanging from his belt marked him as Enkai. Almost immediately, he seemed to bristle and reach for his unusual weapon. My, my, jumpy are we? He remained frozen in place as he stared up at her. A brief purr rumbled against her chest from her curled up cat.

The multitude of pouches and tools marked the next student that stepped into her field of sight as the kunoichi. So a shurikenjutsu specialist? This might be a challenge... Yukari never considered herself skilled with ranged weaponry. The way the girl's chakra barely filled her limbs and pooled instead in her torso begged a closer inspection. Hold on . . . a puppet? She recalled hearing once about a puppetmaster from Suna that hid within an armored puppet. Was this a former student of his? Koyome's hands were shaking. A deep, almost primal fear had seemingly grasped her. Yukari didn't have to wonder why for long when she noticed the veins around her eyes.

Byakugan. A Hyuuga.

I wonder if you knew . . . Kaizo, you son of a bitch. It was no wonder Koyome was seemingly scared shitless for even a brief moment.

Yukari relaxed her doujutsu hoping it would take some of the pressure off her . . . clanmate? Ex clanmate? Fellow runaway. They would have to talk later, far from any prying ears. Things just got a lot more complicated. She'd gotten so lost in her own thoughts she nearly missed the appearance of her third and final student. Guess that's our cue.

"I'd say 'good morning' but we all know it's too godsdamned early for that nonsense." Yukari got to her feet and stretched. Maybe laying that long on top of the stone wasn't the best idea. She stepped off the pillar, landing on the water's surface with barely a ripple. "But, we're here so may as well make the most of it." She continued walking across the water's surface before stepping up onto solid ground. "I'm Yukari Satou, your new sensei."

The black cat stretched with a yawn before leaping across the pool and landing in front of the trio. "That there's Kyubei. He and I have a summoning contract, so you'll be seeing a lot of him." He watched them with golden eyes as he wove around them before rubbing up against Enkai with a low purr. "The delivery that fed you, why am I not surprised?"

A quiet meow answered her.

Yukari clapped her hands together. "Well, seeing as the mission office has our asses on standby for the time being, why don't we get introductions out of the way?" She smiled, "I've read your files, sure, but those are so . . . boring. Paper can only tell you so much. So tell me, who are you? What do you excel at? And give us a little demonstration. Without blowing up the park preferably." A few quick handsigns summoned a handful of basic clones who fanned out around the park. "In case you need targets."

Phayne AtlannianSpy InsaneAsylum

 

[Orikanyo]

Hojo

Team Nadeshiko


"..."

This was.... Odd.... This woman was sweet enough, but she exhumed this aura of.... A preschool teacher... Was she really their leader...? This was lightly concerning to be treated as a child. but, he also wondered if this was a test. So he allowed it nonetheless. The bento was appreciated if a strange gift. As she spoke of the mission, which she seemed to explain it as one might a field trip or... Story towards children.

He guessed, in a sense, they were compared to her?

He would consider this as he eat his fruit...

...

Ah, the kunai was to him now, talking kunai as it was, he guessed he should speak. "My name is Shaoko, of the Hojo clan. We are a older samurai clan that turned to merchantilism, i desired to return to the path of the samurai despite protests from interested parties." he held the famed talking kunai, thumbing the end of the handle. "My family hired many of the refugees, we pride ourselves on giving them a suitable place to rebuild their lives with health and forward thinking. We offered and still do offer physical and mental disability support and have a two decade no major accident streak.

...My family specialization from long ago lay in the utilization of polearms and aerial based combat. I have achieved a degree of success in the early techniques. my speacialities lie there, taijutsu and ninjutsu."

He paused for a moment to consider the questions portion.

"I have no questions." he concluded and handed the kunai to their final in the chain, looking about as serious as one might be holding of a thing dearest to their life... or maybe it was just his thick eyebrows.

 

[Spoiled Bread]

Hibari Yozora / Squad Nadeshiko
Location: Minshuku Hidarisou

Hibari's eyes gleamed briefly when she saw her new sensei conjured a few bento boxes from the scroll. She was a big fan of using the sealing technique for everyday use to the point she learned the jutsu even though it technically contributes nothing to her fighting style so it excites her to know someone else who used it the same way as her. She took the box and slowly munching through its content while listening to the other kid's introduction. Koga seemed interested in the snack so she gave him the biggest grape.

The other kids introduced their name, their family and their fighting style. She could even feel Hojo's pride of his family through the way he explain things, Hibari let out some small claps everytime her teammates finished talking. Then the boy handed her the kunai and suddenly her mind became blank. She could feel her back suddenly stiffened and a few drop of sweats appeared on her forehead.

"M-my name is Hibari." Hibari stated in a conclusive tone, as if that was all she was was about to disclose. Though her eyes were darting all over the place, making it obvious that she still thinking hard. There's nothing remarkable about her family and she's practically a glorified servant within the Takayama household so talking about those topics would be a no go.

"I like gummy bear," A brief pause.

"Especially the green one." Another pause. Then she pointed at the crow on her head, the corvid looked at her finger curiously.

"This is Koga. He is my partner. He is good at making money and can beat most academy student in math." That should be enough, probably. Her posture returned back to being relaxed as she finished her turn.

"Are we going to fight evil ninjas? I want to fight one." She threw her question out.

AtlannianSpy Ganryu Orikanyo

 

[Phayne]

Team Yukari

Enkai Kaji

Mokunoha

Sun Wukong's Paradise, Hanamachi

- Sun Wukong Onsen - Show and Tell -
For the next few moments, Enkai would remain transfixed upon the woman resting upon the pillar; his voice caught within his throat during the early hours of the day. Whether this was due to the sheer presence the woman carried about her that had caused him to remain silent, or the sheer nerves stemming from the magnitude of todays occassion that had stolen his voice; the boy could not be sure. The only truth that could be derived from this moment of silence was that Enkai was speechless, a deer caught in the headlight not knowing whether to stay or run and unsure as to how to act within the moment that encapsulated the space. A mere gulp that seemed to last longer than it needed to would be his only reaction to the situation; at least until the sound of crisp snow being stepped upon would cause him to slowly glance sideward. A figure coming up the beaten path and approaching the Onsen.

The arrival of a another would come as welcomed reprieve, allowing Enkai to tear his gaze away from the mysterious woman clad in red and towards the new arrival; her combat gear a dead give away as to why she too had decided to come to the hot springs during the god forsaken hours of the day. A heavy toolbelt adorned with a healthy collection of Kunai, Shuriken, Senbon and god knew what else was definitely not the standard form of attire for a mere civilian deciding to get an early dip in the Springs... well... unless of course she had read the Icha Icha novels and was somewhat aware of its notorious author. Then her equipment could be justified as necessary for self defence.

A wry smile slowly crept upon Enkai's face as he vaguely recalled the first day he had heard of the novels... his father coming very close to arriving at death's door once his mother had found his stash of books. While initially oblivious as to what the initial problem was, Enkai would soon come to be educated as to why his mother had reacted in such a way as well as why his father had been so keen to keep the collection a secret from her. On no other occasion had he ever seen his mother so mad. A shiver momentarily tickled his back as he recalled the monstrous aura that his mother had managed to manifest that moment; the memory making this whole situation seem harmless.

Taking a breath and finding his composure, he would now find Koyomi standing a few steps behind him... frozen in place. Seeing her reaction had caused Enkai to chuckle slightly, seeing as how he had not been the only one to have suddenly tensed up upon arrival; though he had made the quick assumption that her reasons for freezing up had been the same as his and not something else entirely. That being said having glanced at her frozen form, Enkai could not help but feel somewhat uneasy, though as to why he felt that way he could not really put into words. By all accounts from what he could see, there was nothing about her that seemed to be so outlandish to cause him to feel this unease... save for maybe overcompensating on the amount of tools she had; Enkai suddenly feeling a bit lighter considering how little he had brought with him; had he really come here prepared?

Before they could converse and break the silence; the 3rd and final Mukunoha that made their team would arrive; the latter breaking the silence upon closing the distance to the group; her question about the cat confirming that she too was here for the same reason as they were. "Yeah.." replied Enkai, raising a free hand to the back of his head and averting his gaze "...the little menace..." he muttered under his breath, recalling how difficult the cat had been prior to being bribed with his mothers cooking. "I guess by the question... the same cat visited you aswell.." he said matter of factly; knowing that it was a meaningless statement and he probably looked foolish for stating the obvious. However considering they had just met, he wasn't too sure how else to reply and to converse with them.

"I'm Enkai. Enkai Kagi" he added, pausing to consider whether he should stretch a hand out or not for a hand shake; though he decided against it. "It's nice to meet you too, Miss Izanami..." he paused, turning to face the other girl that had arrived prior to Izanami "...and its nice to meet you too... Miss...uh..." he paused once again, now knowing her name just yet.


It would be a few moments after their exchange that Yukari would make her move; Enkai's attention drawn away from Koyomi and Izanami and instead drawn towards Yukari who suddenly spoke up; their sensei stretching atop the pillar before gracefully landing upon the water's surface, soon followed by her contracted summoning; Kyubei. The feline rubbing up against him with a low purr. '..Playing nice in front of your summoner eh?' he thought to himself as he watched the feline for a few seconds longer, before returning his attention towards their sensei as she continued to speak; shadow clones soon appearing after she weaved the needed hand signs for the jutsu.

Enkai could not deny being in awe of the technique; the appearance of several identical clones of their sensei standing firm all around them. Gobsmacked by the high level jutsu, Enkai was still a boy at heart and it was only now dawning upon him that he was the only man amidst a group of women... at a hot spring. This wasn't exactly how he had envisioned his first day as an official Mokunoha; though he'd be lying if he said he had any complaints about it. The book cover for the Icha Icha series that he had spied from his fathers collection, momentarily coming to mind.


"I guess I'll go first..." spoke Enkai stepping forward, shaking his head to get the unneccasry thoughts out of his head. Enkai was only taking the inititiative solely due to being the first out of the three to arrive, though he was perhaps eager to flex in front of his new team mates.

"I am Enkai Kagi" he spoke, his voice stern and filled with confidence as he psyched himself up to make a good first impression upon his new team mates. "I have inherited my mothers bloodline ability, a technique that the Shinobi refer to as a Kekkei Genkai. In my case I inherited my mothers Boil Release. Though do not be mistaken, I am Samurai and as an aspiring warrior of the village, I hope to infuse this ability with the Kenjutsu passed down within my fathers family in order to protect Hanamachi" as he spoke, he would begin to walk to one of the clones that Yukari had summoned, reaching for the Kiseru pipe fastened against his waist via the Obi he wore.

With pipe in hand, he would cycle through the needed Handsigns, before grabbing his water gourd. Taking a traditional stance for quickdraw techniques, Enkai would slide the end of his Kiseru pipe into the water gourd, effectively sheathing it. ALmost instantly both items would gradually begin to shake as pressure grew within.

"Boil Release: Dragon's Scalding Kettle Strike" shouted Enkai, twisting his body to the right as he quickly drew out his Kiseru Pipe, much like a Samurai would their Katana. With the built up pressure within the gourd, the strike was quick; the base of his pipe striking out in front of him towards the nearest clone, should it remain on the spot the pipe would strike at his head in a truncheon like manner. This however was only part one of the jutsu and as his strike reached its peak, he would step forward with his left foot, pivoting forward and rotating his body accordingly; his left hand stretched outward with the gourd, aiming ahead of himself. Like a kettle spewing hot steam, a torrent of hot steam would burst forth from within the gourd, hot enough to burn anyone caught within its reach.

Once the steam had finished spewing forth, Enkai would turn around to face everyone else; fastening the gourd and pipe against his sides once more. "That's just one part of my jutsu... I have some basic training in sensory techniques utilising Steam... likewise I can replicate some Water Release techniques with my Boil Release.." he added, before finally finishing, glancing towards the others as he eagerly awaited to see what they could do.
KageYuuki InsaneAsylum AtlannianSpy

Code by Serobliss

 

[AtlannianSpy]

Squad Yukari
Koyome Omozukai
Satou huh? Sure. Koyome thought, forcefully relaxing her posture. It was oddly reassuring to know the other Hyuuga was operating under a new name as well, made it seem as though their situations were somewhat similar. Koyome wasn't quite ready to let her guard down completely, but this seemed like enough to work together at least.

"...Omozukai, my name is Koyome Omozukai," Koyome said simply in response to Enkai's leading trail off, watching with mild curiosity as the boy stepped up to demonstrate his techniques. He seemed a bit overly serious, but his kekkei genkai was interesting, Koyome hadn't thought the samurai would have access to such things, perhaps she had been underestimating her new employers a bit, Enkai's steam release seemed powerful and decently versatile if he could really use the full breadth of water release techniques through it.

After Enkai had finished Koyome stepped forwards herself. "Well. I don't have anything that flashy to my name, but I suppose I can demonstrate my own humble techniques," Koyome said with a placid smile, trying to recapture her usual demeanour. Reaching into one of her many pouches, Koyome withdrew a small contraption of wood and fabric in the shape of a bird and held in her open palm. "I've made a bit of a study of puppetry with some interesting results I think. This is Chunori, a light puppet suitable for scouting and harassment." From one of the tenketsu in the small of her back, Koyome extended a thin, invisible chakra thread that snaked around to connect up to the puppet, causing it come to life with a shake of its artificial wings.

The bird puppet took off, fluttering through the air on its cloth wings, banking sharply to line up a bombing run of some of the clones, opening its beak to fire senbons at some of the clones and then diving down to stab its sharpened metal beak through the final clone in its path. Meanwhile Koyome drew a handful of senbon from another puch and threw them, timing her hail of projectiles to coincide with the attacks of the puppet.

"The power is somewhat lacking at this stage, but they make excellent distractions," said Koyome, as she steered Chunori to land on her shoulder. "Besides that I have my own shurikenjutsu and I can defend myself in hand to hand. Ahh, I'm quite perceptive, in my own way as well,"

KageYuuki Phayne InsaneAsylum

 

[AtlannianSpy]

Squad Nadeshiko
Nadeshiko Toyotomi
Nadeshiko opened her mouth as Akari brought out her hunting knife but before she could say anything the girl stabbed herself in the hand. hard. Nadeshiko sighed, it was always unpleasant seeing children hurt themselves, often self mutilation was a sign of serious emotional distress, she would have to keep a close eye on this one. This flying general moniker sounded vaguely familiar though, a contemporary? It was hard to say, Nadeshiko had not spared too much attention for notable figures who weren't directly in her path in those days, her focus had been so narrow... Nadeshiko tucked those musings away for later as Akari had asked her a question about her experience, my how precocious~

"I have only been a haganenoha for about a month or so," Nadeshiko said. Prior to that I was a school teacher which is more where my passions lie, however with things being as they are these days I thought it appropriate to try and pass on what I could of my modest skill at arms instead."

With that resolved the talking kunai passed on to Shaoko, such a polite young man! his family seemed nice too, some of the refugees she had taught had gone on to take jobs with the Hojo, Nadeshiko recalled. "My own weapon of choice is the naginata so I'm sure I'll be able to help you with your own style."

Last but not at all least was Hibari, who seemed a little shy in comparison to her peers bless her, she reminded Nadeshiko of some of the refugee children she had taught, who could be very withdrawn. She would have to be drawn out of her shell somewhat, perhaps green gummy bears could be of aid in that endeavour?

"It's not good to go out in search of a fight when there doesn't need to be one," Nadeshiko reprimanded gently in response to the girl's question. "That being said it will be our duty to fight at times and it seems likely that some of our opponents will be shinobi. Whether they will be evil or not is difficult to say, war has a way of dragging in the just and the wicked in equal measure I find,"

Nadeshiko clapped her hands together and stood up. "Well then with introductions out of the way there's no time like the present to be on our way hmm? The day is young and we have a little bit of a walk ahead of us,"

---

With that Nadeshiko lead her three charges out of the inn and out into the street, where the early morning sun was fighting the first stages of its battle against the chill of the previous night. The party of four exited the city out through the Western gate, a more modest affair than the grand entrances that was mainly used by merchants and farmers carting their wares into the city proper.

"There would normally be more traffic through here even this early in the morning," Nadeshiko explained to the children, nodding at the occasional oxcart or foot traveller that passed them by. "But with the Yasaji bridge down trade has been restricted so it's up to us and this Mr Kannabi to get things moving again! Speaking of which... ah! Hullo!"

Nadeshiko waved, the target of her greeting being a surly looking fellow in a forest green cloak. The cloak was made of stiff material so that it stuck out in a rough cone shape and little of the man's face was visible from under his hood except for a bushy, brown beard, giving him the overall impression of a pine tree topped with birds nest.

"Endo Kannabi? Good morning, we are your escort," said Nadeshiko warmly. "I am Nadeshiko Toyotomi and these are my students."

"Hrmm genin squad is it? Or no, what do you folks call em? Sticks or something? Bah, was thinking I would rate a little better than some brats, bridges are very important you know?"

"I assure you the children are very well behaved," Nadeshiko said smoothly. "And it was our hope this mission would prove educational to them. Pass on some of the importance of bridges and bridge building to the next generation as such,"

"Hrmmm," said Endo suspiciously, a hand snaking out from under his cloak to tug at his beard. "S'pose so, s'pose so. Well let's be off then, can't be leaving the bridge out, why the lost revenue already..."

With that party, now of five set out west again, in the direction of the Yasaji bridge.

"If you children have any questions about bridges while we travel you might try asking mr. Kanabi," said Nadeshiko pleasantly as they walked. "He seems very knowledgeable. and it might flatter him into a better mood, went unsaid.

Ganryu Orikanyo Spoiled Bread

 

[Ganryu]

Akari Tone - Squad Nadeshiko​

Akari turned listening to each of her teammates introduction, pulling out a notebook, with random notes and drawings. She... realized halfway through that she'd stabbed the wrong hand...

Notes did manage to be written of

-Shaoko Hojo - sounds like he likes flying too. Seems to like fruits? Polarms. Awkward

-Hibari Yozora - LIKES GUMMY BEARS ♥♥♥ - Green. ToDo Try to make life sized mold of one. Also awkward. Has crow - offer shinies. Crow likes grapes. Crow named Koga. Is cute. Crow is smarter than I am.

- Nadeshiko Toyotomi - New Hanagenoha. Polearms. Find favorite food. Not awkward, but creepy. Pacifist?

Akari flinching from her hand as she reviewed her notes once more before nodding as they ran to their next mission. She WOULD cook them all something later!

Wanting to be friendly, she pulled back out her bento box, and shuffled through for a grape of similar offering Hibari had made, and bowed as she gave one to Koga as well. Akari then panicked she might have been playing favorites, and quickly turned, 'offering'/shoving her bento box towards Shaoko for fairness before diving out the door to their next mission!

...

She didn't have anything for the bearded bridgebuilding. As his hand came out from under his cloak, Akari instantly held out her hand to shake it... only to awkwardly hang it there as she saw he was just stroking his beard.

She sighed and pulled out her notebook.

- Akari Tone - Awkward...

Then, Akari was given her hardest mission yet. Think of a question about bridges. She quickly panicked. What did she even know about bridges?! Her double jump let her bypass any of the one's around the area! She didn't even USE bridges!

Akari shook back and forth, biting her thumb, before thinking...

"Why do we have bridgebuilders if someone can just ninjutsu a stone platform across a valley in like, 5 minutes tops?" She mumbled.

Wait, crap! That's not a friendly question!? Why am I bad at this...? Is seppeku an overreaction in this situation?

Akari blushed red, and jumped off, using tree climbing to scale a nearby tree, pretending to be 'scouting' ahead. Not that Akari was particularly good at it...