Side Story: A Bitter Brew

[AtlannianSpy]

Nagisa Kanazawa
​

Mr and Mrs Muroka, a renowned husband and wife team of sake brewers, have passed on, leaving behind a considerable fortune and their successful company. Their material wealth has been left to Shiboritate, the younger of their two sons who has been heavily involved in the company his whole life,. However the secret recipe, the crown jewel of the Muroka company, has been given to the older brother, who has been estranged from the family for nearly two decades. The will has made provisions for a team of shinobi to deliver the recipe safely to the older brother.

Nagisa Kanazawa
Naoki Senju
Moku Ozakai
Aiko Uchiha

Travel to Shinpaku City, collect the recipe from the Muroka's executor and deliver it to Moromi Village where Tarusake resides. Take care as rival brewing companies will doubtless have their eyes set on the legendary recipe and won't be above hiring shinobi of their own to intercept you.

Nagisa folded the mission orders back up and sealed them away, sighing. Aiko was alright to work with but the other two names didn't ring a bell. Working a B rank mission with a high likelihood of enemy shinobi wasn't Nagisa's preferred method of meeting new people. On the other hand it wouldn't be the first time she'd done such a thing and truthfully she couldn't say she had a preferred method of meeting new people either. Hopefully Naoki Senju and Moku Ozakai were competent and professional, she wouldn't get her hopes up for more than that.

Nagisa was sitting on a hand rail near the entry gate, finishing off a takeaway coffee. It had become customary to meet at the gate before heading out on a mission. Nagisa didn't really mind, it gave her a chance to review and decide how she was going to handle her teammates and in some cases it was necessary to discover whether or not some team members had even bothered to read the briefing. That probably wouldn't be an issue this time, then again one could never be sure and it was best to be prepared for anything on a mission.

InsaneAsylum
AllHailDago
Arne

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Aiko Uchiha​

“Finally, a real mission,” Aiko said with relief as she read over the mission details. Every other mission she’d been assigned lately had been pretty easy, or just some simple delivery missions. Aiko suspected the village was trying to make sure she could still be a ninja in her state. She’d be damned if she couldn’t. Whatever the case, this mission was sure to prove she was still one of the best damn chuunin in the village. Aiko made sure to bring along one of the swords she hadn’t brought on any missions at all yet. The whip sword, from the toymaker’s village. She had oractixed with it a bit, but was still fsr from mastering the tool.

——————————

Aiko approached the village gate, surrounded by her usual cold air. Two blades were slung across her back, along with a small sack of snacks. She noticed the familiar face, Nagisa, and approached her cooly.

“Hey. Good to see you again.”

Aiko liked Nagisa. She wasn’t an idiot, and could get the job done without destroying everything and/or herself in the process. A certain individual came to mind...

 

[Arne]

Naoki Senju​

Naoki couldn't resist frowning for a while as soon as he finished reading the mission orders, his mind involuntarily wandering into a dangerous direction as he read the orders. Delivery mission again... Why do I feel that this is going to be yet another troublesome one..? The shinobi couldn't help but sigh as he dressed up for the mission, not only styling his hair into a much easier to manage ponytail but actually opting to wear the traditional chunin outfit of Konoha complete with flack jacket and a headband wrapped around his right arm this time - a clear sign of how he was taking this B ranked mission quite seriously.

He immediately headed to the village gate as soon as he was done storing the most basic gear - after all, he wasn't exactly keen on using tools and most of the ones he actually needed were fairly easy to make while taking his wood release in account - taking a couple minutes to reach the meeting area. Luckily for him, this time he actually recognized one of his teammates this time, quickly managing to find the two already present shinobi and thus avoiding delaying the mission for fear of approaching the wrong group.

Naturally, he immediately proceeded to greet his teammates as soon as he could, giving a slight bow to Aiko before turning to introduce himself to the still unknown Nagisa - only stopping for a second to try to determine her gender before finally addressing the team leader. "I suppose you're our team leader for this mission, miss Nagisa?" He asked, barely waiting for an answer before proceeding with his introduction. "I'm Naoki Senju, your teammate for this mission. It's a pleasure to meet you."

 

[AllHailDago]

Moku Ozaki​

Moku stood in front of his bedroom mirror, one hand scratching fervently at his chin. He was considering whether or not wearing his flak jacket was worth it. Well, his chin also just itched incessantly too, but mostly the indecision thing. He shrugged and put the flak jacket back in his closet. A simple short sleeve black tee with the usual protection underneath, and his lucky mission pants with the extra pockets. He strapped on his weapon pouches, as little as he used them for that, and put on his headband. He smiled at himself in the mirror for a moment, thinking back to when he first got his headband and how excited he was.

Before things could turn melancholic though, he turned away from the mirror and grabbed the mission briefing paper. He glanced over it once more, frowning as he passed over Aiko's name. He wasn't too fond, but that wouldn't stop him from taking the mission seriously, or protecting her if need be. He didn't recognize the other two by name, except that Naoki was a Senju. Moku was honestly a little excited by that, as he hadn't gotten to see Wood Style jutsu in person yet.

He folded the paper up send stuffed it in one of his pants many pockets. Then he went through the handsigns to make a clone of himself, watching as a perfect replica appeared before him. "You know the drill," Moku said simply. The clone gave him thumbs up and headed downstairs to say goodbye to his family for him. Moku himself grabbed a book off his desk, and a small bag from near the window. He pushed the window open and was greeted with the sounds of squawking birds.

Looking out the window was surrounded by numerous tiny birds of varying colors. Moku pursed his lips as he opened the bag from beside the window. As he upturned it, spilling out birdseed that the birds happily hopped to, he spoke to them. "Y'know, I can't feed you guys all the time like this. You should learn to get food on your own." He said this in a terse tone, but had no real heat behind it. He had after all nursed most of these birds to health himself, and arranged for someone else to feed him in case of prolonged absence. Not that he'd ever admit to those things.

He hopped out the window, landing with a comfortable thud. As he headed towards the gate he flipped open his book. The book was an autobiography written by the first Hokage, Yazuro Senju. "My Growth Through War" made Moku feel.... oddly connected to the first Hokage. Much of his talk of war and strife was relatable to Moku. Especially his talk of wrestling with unsurety involving killing those who had admitted defeat. Yazuro seemed to share Moku's ideal of not acting based on the worst case possibility, but instead on what was happening now. Moku pondered how the current Hokage thought on the subject.

However, he stopped after little pondering as he arrived the gate. Noting his page number, he promptly flicked the book closed and looked around for his group. He spotted Aiko and two others quickly and headed over towards them, his stance less casual than usual. The long haired guy in the flak jacket must be Naoki, and the stern looking girl Nagisa. He gave a curt nod to Aiko, a more deep nod to Naoki, and faced Nagisa. "Moku Ozaki. Nice to be workin with ya."

 

[AtlannianSpy]

Nagisa Kanazawa
​

"Alright, looks like we're all here," Nagisa said, nodding casually at Aiko and sizing up the other two. They seemed reasonably alert and serious at least. "Let's quickly go over introductions so we know what we're dealing with. I'm Nagisa Kanazawa, I'm proficient with tools and traps and my stealth and taijutsu are decent. On the other hand I don't really do ninjutsu or genjutsu. I like to run a pretty tight ship compared to most people when I lead a mission, I want people to stay alert and efficient. I don't mind you asking questions or giving input but once I make a call I expect you all to go along with it.

Nagisa paused to finish her coffee and shoot the cup into a nearby garbage can, watching it spin aorund the rim once and then slide into the can. This has started to becoem a bit of a ritual for Nagisa, maybe if the cup went in it was good luck for the mission? Probably not but why take the risk right?"

"As for the mission, if you read your mission orders you more or less know what the deal is. Our first stop is Shinpaku city to pick up this recipe. It's unlikely that we'll run into trouble before we get there, the recipe itself is what people are after. However it's also not impossible that someone makes a move before we even get there so I want us to make good time. We'll be traveling single file and aiming to reach the city by nightfall,"

Nagisa cleared her throat. "Alright, introductions then questions, comments or concerns if you have any. After that let's get moving,"

Arne
InsaneAsylum
AllHailDago

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Aiko Uchiha​

Nagisa was good at everything Aiko was bad at. It was an odd feeling, one that Aiko quickly brushed off.

“I’m Aiko Uchiha. I use Ice Release Ninjutsu. I can make small ice traps and the like, but I prefer quick kills with my jutsu. I can also use genjutsu if need be, so if you see any ebemy ninja acting oddly then it might be me,” Aiko said, trying to describe herself. Nagisa had said something about how she works with others, so maybe she should too.

“Also, I’ve been told I’m pretty mean. All I can say to that is to suck it up because it ain’t personal.”

Satisifed with her introduction, she looked to Naoki and Moku.

 

[Arne]

Naoki Senju​

Naoki couldn't help but feel a bit awkward as the others started introducing themselves, the simple fact that he seemingly was to hasty and lost the opportunity to do the same only after everyone arrived - even though the last member of the team still managed to arrive before he was done announcing his name - managing to mess with his insecurities to a considerable extent. Even so, he managed to steel himself relatively quickly, using the sheer unwillingness to lose the information provided by his teammates as leverage to suppress his anxiety.

When his own turn to introduce his abilities finally came, he already more than recovered from the previous burst of anxiety, thus managing to nonchalantly voice his own introduction, only wavering for a moment as he didn't exactly know what to say in place of his name. "I-... I'm a user of Wood Release Ninjutsu and also pretty good at Taijutsu. Also pretty good at healing techniques." He stopped to think for a second before continuing to talk, this time explaining his general approach at fights. "I normally like to take a supportive approach, immobilizing targets and things of the like. I'm also pretty good at being in the offense though, so you can use me as you see fit." He finished, clearly looking towards Nagisa when he proffered the last phrase. Unsurprisingly, his earnest look made it more than clear that in spite of the weird wording his sentence had absolutely no malicious intent.

 

[AllHailDago]

Moku Ozaki​

Moku kept his eyes cast downwards as he listened to everyone describe themselves. He wasn't very good at knowing where to look when a lot of people talked at once. He preferred one on one conversations where he could make eye contact the whole time. He didn't know two of the three current teammates for the mission, and felt a bit awkward honestly.

When the kinda quiet guy mentioned wood release though Moku perked up. He looked at the fellow boy and then down at the book in his own hand. A Senju eh? He wondered if he was a direct descendant from the first hokage. What kind of person was he comparatively? Moku got a bit excited to find out.

When the boy went silent Moku realized it was his turn to introduce himself ability-wise. "So, uhm. I'm Moku Ozaki. I have no ability in stealth, weapons, or genjutsu. I have ok sensory abilities. My specialties are taijutsu and ninjutsu. In Taijutsu I don't have a ton of technique, and I'm not the fastest you'll find. However, I'm very strong and have massive stamina. Toss me through a building and I'll still come after you. Ninjutsu is my favorite though. I can use Fire, Earth, and my clans Glass release for widespread offense over a long period of time thanks to my chakra pool."

He fell silent and after a few quick glances around his gaze slid to the ground. He thought stating weaknesses first and strengths second would be best, but maybe it came off like he was bragging towards the end? He blinked in realization before looking up to add one last thing. "Oh. Also, I don't and won't kill unresisting enemies and unarmed civilians." His jaw set firmly and his eyes became hard as he said this. Clearly this was a point he would not be swayed on.

Arne InsaneAsylum AtlannianSpy

 

[AtlannianSpy]

Nagisa Kanszawa
​

True to her word, Nagisa kept the group moving at a brisk pace. The road to Shinpaku city was well traveled and well maintained, it was the only major land route that ran through the lands of Hot water and Frost to reach Lightning, so it was an important trade network. As the shinobi traveled they passed a number of caravans and lone travelers, most of whom gave them friendly waves and greetings.

It was probably reassuring to the travelers to know that there were shinobi using the same the road, their presence would likely discourage bandits and other threats. Not that many bandits would try their luck on such a well traveled road, it would attract more attention than most petty criminals were comfortable with. Nagisa didn't mind the merchants thinking that, but she didn't want them thinking they were getting free security guards either so she kept the group moving too quickly to spend too much time near any of the civilian parties.

As a result, the young shinobi spent most of the morning traveling in a silence that started to border on awkward as it wore on.

"We're making good time," Nagisa said suddenly, around lunch time. It was not so much an invitation to chat as it was a tacit admission that total silence probably wasn't necessary. Nagisa didn't really want to make small talk but things had gone smoothly so far so she wouldn't object to it either.

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Aiko Uchiha​

“If we get there early, then we should take the extra time to get a grip on the village. I’ve never been a fan of getting lost away from home,” Aiko stated, feeling her stomach grumble quietly.

Luckily she had brought a few snacks, but pulling them out now while they hurried along wasn’t convenient. A quick break would be wonderful right now, but Aiko sure as hell wasn’t going to admit it first. She could always sneak a few bites in once they reached village, better yet a full meal if they were early enough.

“You guys aren’t too cold or anything, right?” Aiko asked suddenly.

 

[Arne]

Naoki Senju​

Naoki couldn't help but feel a bit awkward as the conversation quickly died after their introductions as the result of both Nagisa's haste and the group members being not very familiar with each other, ultimately causing a lack of even chit chat as they quickly travelled towards their destination.

It was only around lunch time that someone finally broke the weird silence maintained by the group - something that wouldn't really warrant any extra attention should it have been anyone but the ever stern Nagisa to do so. Naturally, Naoki was even more surprised when Aiko - someone that naturally had the kind of attitude that screams coldness - was the first one to answer, overshadowing himself - a self declared sociable person - and Moku, the other seemingly more sociable person in the group.

Naturally, it didn't take long for this situation to change as Naoki immediately started talking half a second later, once his surprise died. "
While I'd normally agree with that, I don't really see the need to familiarize ourselves when we are just fetching the recipe in the city and leaving..." Naoki immediately interjected once Aiko gave her opinion, failing to see how knowing the city would give them any worthy advantage on the mission.

Naturally, though, doing so ultimately halted the conversation for a small while, with Aiko only talking again a while later, this time asking about something completely unrelated. "Uh... Not really. If I had to complain about something it would be hunger, but I'm kind of expecting to get to the city earlier so I can have a snack instead of having to rely on those detestable food pills." He openly said, making a mental note to add at least a few snacks to his equipment list for the next mission.

 

[AllHailDago]

Moku Ozaki​

Moku was elated to be smiling and waving at the caravans and travelers they passed along the road. They seemed delighted to see their group. Which made sense, as it probably made those traveling on the roads feel safer. Moku smirked as he imagined the look on some stupid bandit's face when they tried to rob a traveler and a shinobi dropped out of the trees. Priceless!

His thoughts turned to his most recent training efforts as they moved in uncomfortable silence. Lava Release was not over hard to start practicing, seeing as he was already proficient at both the base natures AND Glass was an offshoot apparently. It turned out his grandfather didn't know either when he'd asked him. The issue was developing techniques. It had vast, vaaaaast destructive potential, but unlike glass it had far less constructive uses as far as he could find. At current he was keeping his development and the fact he could use lava at all under a need to know basis. His family, Umichi-sensei, and the Hokage were the only ones to know.

On the other hand his chakra sharing technique he was working on was no secret. He had asked the help of several people as he practiced it, seeing as it requires another person to see if it's even working. It was getting there, but wasn't ready for field use either. He scratched at his chin thoughtfully, pondering jutsu options as he ran.

Eventually the silence was broken, and to his surprise it was by Nagisa. He smiled lightly as she commented on them making good time. Aiko mentioned checking the city out to familiarize herself. Moku would love to explore a new town, but mostly he thought they should do the mission and come back to that later. Naoki basically voiced this thought, which saved Moku the trouble of figuring out how to phrase it.

Lastly she asked if anyone was cold, which Naoki wasn't, though he was hungry. Moku didn't feel all that cold at the moment, though colder than he should've for all the running they were doing. He figured that was the ice thing he'd seen Aiko doing to her environment when they had played their...."game". He decided to just not mention that he was experiencing unusual chill.

"I'm all good. Not all that cold. Not hungry either, but I have snacks to share if you like." He matched Naoki in pace for a moment, offering a granola bar pulled from one of his pouches. He did the same with both Aiko and Nagisa. Whether they took or not wouldn't bother him. He was just glad he'd brought extra food in case today.

AtlannianSpy Arne InsaneAsylum

 

[AtlannianSpy]

Nagisa Kanazawa
​

"This is a pretty well traveled road," Nagisa said as the others chatted behind her. "If we keep going we're bound to run into an inn or a stall or something where we can get something warm to eat. We'll stop there," Nagisa had some basic rations sealed away, the advantage of fuuinjutsu was that you never really ran out of space for stuff like that.

On the other hand all this talk of food and cold was getting to Nagisa and the plain, convenience store onigiri she'd picked up was starting to seem pretty unappealing compared to something fresh and hot.

Sure enough within about ten minutes the road curved around a corner then straightened out to reveal a small inn with several outdoor tables. Asimple, wooden sign advertised dumplings, tea and other amenities.

"Go get a table, I'll handle the food," Nagisa said, heading towards the counter of the inn and selecting several items off the menu. The prices were surprisingly decent for roadside place that could rely somewhat on its convenience. Nagisa supposed that if most of this place's customers were merchants then steep prices would only invite haggling.

"Alright, eat up then we'll keep moving," Nagisa said, sitting down with the rest of the party. Soon a girl with a pleasant smile brought some trays of food out and four, steaming mugs of tea. "Hey Naoki, Moku, you guys were tramsferred pretty recently right? How're the new squads?" Nabisa asked to keep the conversation going as she snagged a pork dumpling with her chopsticks.

InsaneAsylum
Arne
AllHailDago

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Aiko didn’t complain as Nagisa had them stop for dumplings. She chose a table close to the road, letting out a relieved sigh as she sat down. It was nice to be off her feet finally. Aiko was never great at the whole long distance travel part of being a ninja.

When the dumplings arrived, she let everyone else nab one before she chose one. The warmth felt nice in her mouth, but it didn’t last long. Alparently even the inside of her mouth was icy. Was that healthy? Probably not, but Aiko didn’t dwell on stuff like that.

After Nagisa sparked the conversation, giving Moku and Naoki a chance to speak, she looked at them expectantly, awaiting their response.

AtlannianSpy Arne AllHailDago

 

[Arne]

Naoki Senju​

Naoki gladly accepted the snack offered by Moku, voicing a quick "Thank you" in the process of receiving it before directly opening the package and starting to slowly eat the granola bar, deliberately reducing his chewing speed to enjoy the taste of the fairly small snack for a little longer - seemingly trying to stall its digestion until the moment where they could actually have a proper meal.

Luckily for him, it didn't take long until Nagisa ordered their stop, deciding to take the group to eat in a roadside inn that happened to be in the way. Once there, she quickly instructed them to go reserve a table while she ordered the food, creating a small moment of silence - most certainly resulting from both the lack of familiarity between the group and the fact that some members weren't especially talkative.

The situation changed as soon as the food arrived though, as Nagisa quickly took the mission of making small talk to herself. "Well..." Naoki started while picking a dumpling to himself, stopping for a couple seconds to think about how he should answer it. "Being honest, I'm not very familiar with my new team either. My new sensei seems to be a very elusive person and I barely ever meet my new teammate since I've been doing a lot of missions recently." He voiced in a somehow awkward way, his right hand unconsciously moving to scratch his neck as a demonstration of how the topic didn't exactly please him - after all, even if a while had gone by since he lost his previous companions it was still fairly hard for him to consider this ragtag group of strangers as his team. "To be honest, my only impression of her is that she's very... Outspoken."

 

[AllHailDago]

Moku Ozaki​

Moku was glad to stop when prompted by Nagisa. Not so much because he was tired, because he wasn't. Nor because he was particularly hungry, only so much as he always was. But just because dumplings were his FAVORITE food. His mouth watered at the thought of the delights he would soon taste. Even were he not hungry (which is rare) he always had room for dumplings!

When they took their seats and Nagisa ordered, Moku looked at his two other teammates awkwardly. Aiko and he hasn't exactly started on the right foot as it was, and he was honestly unsure if he wanted to try fixing that or not. Naoki was a Senju, and seemed a bit... quiet in nature. Moku had a thousand questions for him about both his family and Wood Release, but wasn't sure if it'd be rude to ask. Why did social stuff have to be hard?

Thankfully Nagisa arrived and, contrary to his initial impression of her, sparked a conversation herself. Food arrived as and Aiko and Naoki spoke. Moku heard little of it though as the food drew his attention. Mouth nearly cascading with saliva, he put a pork dumpling in his mouth. Bliss. A word he didn't use often, but was all that he felt as that savory, sweet flavor hit his tongue and warmth spread through his chest as he swallowed.

He blinked away the blissful expression as he realized he hadn't yet answered Nagisa. "O-oh. Well, yes. I've been recovering from serious injuries, training, and helping fix the village since the Mist attack. So it's been a while. My new team is... interesting. Sei is really quiet, but seems reliable and nice. Ashi is...." He paused to think on that for a second. "Uh, she's definitely something. I haven't really gotten a feel for her yet."

He glanced back and forth at the others before swiftly popping another dumpling in his mouth. He delighted in his food like before, but tried being more attentive this time. After all, he was already socially clueless as it was. He didn't need to LOOK anymore like he was by being absentminded.

 

[AtlannianSpy]

Nagisa Kanazawa
​

"The word you're looking for is 'total dumbass'" Nagisa said to Moku bluntly, reaching for another dumping herself. "But she's kind of... reliable I guess, in her own way. Sei and Yuakri can handle themselves pretty well too. Everyone who's made it this far can say that much I guess,"

Nagisa fell silent for a few moments to chew her dumpling and then swallowed. "Anyway, it'd be for the best if there's no more squad transfers so... watch each other's backs and all that," Nagisa paused and looked annoyed with herself. "The hell am I saying, that much is common sense. Finish eating and then let's get back on the road, we still have while left to go,"

The rest of the journey was fairly uneventful although over the hours the sky turned gradually redder as the sun set on them. It was early evening by the time the team arrived in Shinpaku city, right on schedule, so the city was a slightly confusing maze of shadows and hazy street lamps. It was possible to note a subtle Land of Lightning influence on the local architecture, with many of the circular, suspended buildings native to that region.

Fortunately the team's destination wasn't too difficult to locate, an office building centrally located in the business district, which made it almost a straight line from the city gates.

"The Muroka's lawyer, a guy named Shimogana, works here," Nagisa explained, as the party made their way towards the modern looking building, with its floor to ceiling glass windows. "He would ordinarily be at home I think but wanted us to meet him in his office," she said, nodding at a security guard who stopped them at the entrance. Once the guard saw their mission orders and headbands he waved them up, apparently they had been expected.

Shimogana was a small man in a large office. He sat behind a massive desk of luxurious mahogany, to his left a bookshelf was filled with rows of expensively bound, gold lettered books that looked like they'd never been opened. The other two walls of the office were glass, as this was a corner office, affording an impressive view of the winking city lights below.

Shimogana himself was a short man, probably never that tall to begin with and now reduced and bent by age, with a pair of enormous glasses that gave him an owlish appearance.


"Ah you must be the leaf shinobi wonderful, wonderful!" he said, smiling warmly and coming out from behind his desk to greet them. "Right on time, I appreciate that, now let's get down to business, we-"

InsaneAsylum
Arne
AllHailDago

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Aiko found she didn’t end up participating in the conversation. She didn’t mind. She had been with her squad since they were assigned together. There wouldn’t have been anything for her to add anyway. Nagisa wrapped things up well.

After the second half of the trip, they reached the city with little time to spare. Sightseeing wouldn’t be an option, unfortunately. Even so, Aiko took in as much of her surroundings as she could, taking note of the odd style of architecture these buildings were made of. Maybe lots of Land of Lightning buildings looked like that.

It wasn’t long before the maze-like village brought them to their destination. The trio was able to enter without any issue, so they must have been expected at about this time.

Once inside, they finally met Shimogana. An old man, older than Aiko had expected, but rather cheerful nonetheless. She was about to return the greeting, when something caught her attention.

“The window!” She warned suddenly. She didn’t have a jutsu for protecting another person in the situation that would work fast enough, so Aiko settled for trying to shield the man from the window by dashing between them.

 

[Arne]

Naoki Senju
​

Naoki couldn't help but show a small smile as Nagisa directly cut Moku to talk about one of his teammates, this time legitmatelly amused by both the girl's blunt ways and how conscious she was of it, instantly correcting herself and cutting her own phrases to prevent herself from saying something she didn't quite like - something that showed a remarkably more youthful side of her than what he had seem up till now, as she had been remarkably serious during the trip.

Unfortunately, he didn't quite have the opportunity to see other sides of his missionmates for the rest of the travel, as they were - as expected from shinobi of their calibre - remarkably serious for the rest of the trip and even when they finally reached their destination - though he did see some curiosity in the eyes of a few of his teammates when they faced the remarkably modern appearance of the village - quite obviously starting to put more attention on the mission now that they were closer to actually starting it.

A few minutes after entering the village the group sucesfully made their way to the office of the lawyer, easily going through the security team of the building as the man already expected their arrival. Naoki naturally didn't think much about that, just following the group to meeting the remarkably short man that immediately started to exchange pleasantries with them.

Unfortunately for them, though, the mission naturally couldn't be that simple, as Aiko's voice immediately cut the man's as she threw herself in front of him while screaming something about windows, directly triggering Naoki into slamming his hands to the ground to execute a technique as soon as he could - though still away too late to actually prevent the initial attacks- triggering quite a few wooden pillars to quickly come out of the floor - quite obviously destroying a fairly large segment of the lawyer's flooring in the process - to form a dome shapped shield in front of the windows, clearly trying to prevent any further attacks from targeting his client and group members.

Wood Release: Wooden Locking Wall

Naturally, he didn't stop after that either, directly rushing towards Aiko and the client right after. "Are you ok? Do you need immediate healing? Where did they hit you?" He immediately started asking as soon as he reached Aiko, his hands reaching her as he attempted to identify the results of the attack. The deep distress he felt - remarkably clear due to both the worry showing in his face and the sheer audacity he had of directly trying to touch Aiko, someone that he barely knew - when watching a teammate being hurt in front of him once more manifesting as he didn't even try to check the client's condition first like a proper shinobi would.

 

[AtlannianSpy]

Moku Ozaki​

As the chunin dove for cover, or created it, the sound of activity on the floor below echoed up to them. Hushed, urgent voices and at least several sets of heavy footsteps were clearly making their way through the floor below, though it was unclear exactly how many there were.

Moku reacted to the whole situation by hitting the ground immediately, reflexively using the hand signs for Earth Spear as he went. It was basically one of his signature techniques at this point, and he honestly felt a little naked without it during danger. His skin darkened substantially as it hardened to a metallic durability. It seemed in the commotion Aiko had been struck and Naoki moved to shield and aid her. Moku glanced at the wooden shield blocking the window view, and suppressed a small bit of jealousy at Naoki’s Wood Release. He reminded himself of his own multi layered Kekkei Genkai and felt better.

Noting that between Naoki and Nagisa things were pretty locked down, Moku decided to address the noises from downstairs. He set one hand on the floor and used Subterranean Voyage. He had very, very rarely gotten the chance to use it inside rather than out. He found himself sinking swiftly and dropped completely from view of the office, and instead found himself falling through the floor to the one below. He blinked in surprise as liquid floor dripped over his blackened skin.

Moku was… surrounded. A ring of stern looking men in dark clothing, tinted visors that hid their eyes and balaclavas were pointing strange, rectangular devices at him with an air that seemed to suggest they were weapons. Directly in front of Moku was a towering hulk of a man, with a round midsection but rock solid arms and legs clad in shining metal gauntlets and boots, strange looking vents ornamenting them. Despite the fact that it was night, the man seemed to be wearing a pair of darkly tinted goggles but strangest of all his skin, even his bald scalp, was strangely pink, hairless and shiny.

“WHY LEFTWING THOUGH?” The man said, in a raised, not quite shouting tone of someone who didn’t know how loudly they were speaking. “I MEAN… I’M YOUR PARTNER SHOKI, I’LL CALL YOU WHATEVER YOU WANT BUT I DON’T REALLY GET IT. IS IT LIKE A POLITICAL THING?” In response the man’s loud chatter an earpiece he was wearing crackled angrily.

“OHHH, WELL WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE… WAIT WASN’T THAT THE NICKNAME OF THE- AHH WE’LL TALK ABOUT IT LATER. I GOTTA KILL THIS KID”

The man looked around bemusedly at the men around him. “WELL? FIRE YOU MORONS!” He bellowed and as one the ring of men activated their devices, launching volleys of rapid fire kunais at Moku from multiple angles. A few of the men also pulled small canisters from their belt that they threw at Moku, which exploded in a flash of blinding light and deafening bang.

Not wanting to use any of his offensive jutsu at risk of killing the whole lot of them, Moku had a flash of thought. Weirdly the thought wasn't punch everyone in sight, despite the weapons they had posing him no risk with Earth Spear. Instead it was a page he'd been trying to learn and take from Sei’s book lately. Confuse people.

Between the man's comment on killing him, and his order to fire, Moku’s hands flashed through a series of handsigns with a quickness sure to have made his many sensei’s proud. He reached out and put one hand to the wall and the other to the ground as he did.

“Glass Style: Mirror Earth!” In only a short moment the ground and wall began to turn reflective and shine as if it were made of mirrored glass. Moku moved to stand after this, but failed to do so before the kunai were fired and grenades deployed.

He covered his face with both arms instinctively, which prevented any wayward kunai from hitting his eyes or mouth. He felt the impacts, but only as a present pressure, not as a threatening pain. It did not however keep the flash from blinding him both through his arms and closed eyelids. He swore he saw his own bones for a moment there. Well, before it all settled in white and red. He let loose a short scream he couldn't even hear himself, deafened as he was, and flicked through another pair of hand signs. This take using two simple justu in quick succession.

First stone gathered and formed around his legs. Second fire wreathed his lower arms and hands. He took a firm stance despite his lack of sight. One hand out and open with a thumb folded in, the other held close and clenched I'm a fist. His stance was wide and firm. He simply waited, trying to sense for chakra use. He hadn't developed it much lately like he wanted, but at this range he should be fine. A tiny voice in the back of his mind reminded him to be thankful Earth Spear kept him from being turned into a porcupine. Stupid voice.

AllHailDago