Fandom Song of Rage

[Orikanyo]

Wakanaka

"..yes you do seem dressed as a Miko..." Now as much as he did scorn the martial artists of this dojo.. their efforts did confirm at least something was up, there was a hidden trick, a assumption they were making... To them she was a girl... something dealing with femininity? her dance was an elaborate tool for her techniques. a flourish before the repost to dazzle the eyes...

Though she didn't need to move spectacularly for that, she was beautiful regardless.

...

Back to earth Wakanaka.

Strutting towards the knotted rope he examined it before pulling it taut. "Alright... My turn." he began his approach, the twin heads of coiled rope dragging behind like obedient dogs. he pulled the rope taut with both hands then began twisting the right head, the left dangling and swaying with each movement. He would begin his own dance now... [Three God's dance] Within the upward swing on the right pendulum he rose the coil high and gave it extra slack, the spinning coil overhead and angled towards the woman like a blade, drawing the line of his territory, the left knot brought up to his fist. He began to walk in a circle around this woman, waiting for her move.

Maximum range.. Watch and learn.

{I play Wakanaka in defense position}

Ganryu AtlannianSpy

 

[IG42]

Shibata Yamamoto
Leaving his team behind Shibata made his way home, being among the three most notable clans in the village the Yamamoto head family's residence was one of the more elaborate homes with carefully shaped crystals adorning the grounds.

Letting himself in he slipped off his shoes and left them in the entryway giving them a final check for any remaining spider innards before announcing himself. "I'm home." In response a man in medical scrubs appeared. "Welcome back." He said with a professional smile, nodding in return Shibata looked down a corridor. "How is she?" Smile fading slightly the doctor replied. "Being out earlier left her exhausted so she's been resting since we returned but she is awake at the moment if you want to see her."

Thanking the doctor Shibata made his way in picking up the familiar antiseptic smell and let himself into the room. "Nee-san? I'm back." Labouring to push herself into a sitting position Fubuki Yamamoto smiled wearily at him. "Hey there Shi-chan, how was the mission? Tell me everything." Pulling up a chair Shibata obediently took it from the top leaving nothing out, not even how he had jumped when the bats appeared.

When the spider's reveal came up she laughed until she was forced to stop and wheeze loudly until she got her breath back. "That's hilarious, I bet that's where you got that." She said punching lightly at where the bruise on his shoulder was under his clothing. "How big were you expecting it to be?" Rubbing halfheartedly at the bruise Shibata forced a smile. "I was thinking like cat size or small dog at the biggest, just a lost pet mission that I heard genin get stuck with a lot." Fubuki's smile turned wistful. "Yeah I remember chasing all those runaway cats around and that time with the snake that escaped into the sewer system." She paused her smile falling away for a moment before returning. "Anyway Shi-chan come on tell me the rest."

Finishing his story Fubuki turned her gaze away to stare out the window. "Sounds like it was fun." Her hands gripped the bed sheet for a moment then relaxed and she turned back to Shibata with a coy smile. "Anyway how about those two girls on your team? You like either of them Shi-chan?" Her laughter at how his face instantly went red almost drowned out his protest. "A-absolutely not I just met them and-and they're weird and.....girls!" Still laughing until she had to stop to breathe again Fubuki lay back in the bed. "Nee-san?" Closing her eyes she responded quietly. "Sorry, I think I need to sleep for a while. I'm proud of you Shi-chan." As she spoke her voice trailed off to a whisper and fell silent. Watching her chest rise and fall for another minute Shibata got up to leave. "Thanks nee-san."

 

[AtlannianSpy]

Ryuuka Tagamatsu

Dancing Mad​

Ryuuka landed easily at first but her injured leg buckled under her, forcing her to duck into a somersault and spring up into an awkward hopping motion until the pain in her leg subsided. Ryuuka span around quickly, adopting a fighting stance but when she saw their opponent was more interested in Wakanaka Ryuuka took a moment to tend to her leg.

"Jeez lady do you put this stuff on with a trowel?" muttered Ryuuka, running her finger through the white cosmetic powder on the bottom of her shoe. Ryuuka inspected the makeup carefully, rubbing it between her fingers and studying it for any unusual properties in case it was some kind of shinobi tool or something, then she turned her attention to her leg.

"Ouch," Ryuuka winced, rubbing the large welt left behind. "The heck is up with her sleeve?" Ryuuka frowned. The impact hadn't felt like a normal punch, let alone the kind of impact one would expect from ordinary cloth so there was definitely some kind of trick going on here. Gramps had told Ryuuka about taijutsu that attacked the target internally by forcefully injecting chakra into their pathways, maybe this was something similar? But if that was the case how to respond?

Well one way would be to just not get hit by those sleeves Ryuuka mused, as she assembled something like a plan. First Ryuuka wove some handseals and then inhaled deeply, filling her lungs with more air than should be possible.

Wind Dragon's gift: Heavenly Provisions

Then Ryuuka bodyflickered forwards again, closing in on the miko, instead of trying for another flying kick Ryuuka planted herself firmly in melee range and went for a more conventional attack.

Wyvern Straight

Ryuuka launched a conventional, but high power punch, it was an easy attack to see coming but that was part of Ryuuka's plan: she was keeping a sharpe eye out for the miko's floaating sleeves and if she tried to slap with them again Ryuuka planned to unleash all the air stored up in her lungs at once to blow them away, or at least slow them enough for her punch to land.

Ganryu Orikanyo

 

[Ganryu]

Orikanyo AtlannianSpy

The Miko hummed as she approached Waka, watching his dance with the meteor hammer. "Hmmm... mmmmmm hmmmmm...." She continued her pace, seeming to stop as she watched him. Her rhythm and song began to change, matching him, her style becoming more spread out, more circular, with more twists and turns. Before hand, she had focused on little movements building up to a single spin, but now round and round she went, matching the rope of Waka's. She seemed confident, and began to twirl forward with a slap aimed at it, before another small problem approached... namely Ryuuka body flickering at the miko.

Her whole momentum was busy dealing with the meteor hammer, a 'gong' sounding as two hard objects collided with each other with high impact, a small indent outshaped to a ring left in the rope as it flew backwards, bouncing on the ground towards Waka. The ring had piercing between the lines of rope, letting it pierce deep inside.

Skipping forward on the left foot, she tried turning to Ryuuka, her rhythm stopping for the first time.

"Huh...?" Her first word.

She moved to slap the hand, only for a gust of air to send her arm back where it came from, and the punch landed true.

A sprawling Miko flying back into a pane and through it back outside, and white makeup left on Ryuuka's hand.

Thick and pasty, it seemed purely (gaudy) cosmetic as she could feel nothing from it. She didn't get back up.

 

[Orikanyo]

Wakanaka

"...uhh...." he could only raise and eyebrow and stare at the scene that just happened... The woman.. parried... the ball of rope with something. But it seems he was a fitting distraction as Ryuuka all up cold clocked her straight out. A man could appreciate such straightforwardness to fighting, but in truth, he was more or less amazed she managed to punch the make up straight off her.

"...Well done Ryuuka, You took great advantage of her lapse in concentration." Wakanaka at leats congratulated his partner in crime... Even if he wasn't FULLY certain what just transpired...

"...But is that truly all..? the famed dojo busting Miko gets took down by straight forward tactics...?" his eyes went to the men of the dojo, clearly their position in his eyes were sinking by the sheer second.

"And to think I wasted my afternoon on this..." he sigh rang like an imperious guffah, one that would make a watching audience snicker.

 

[KageYuuki]

The office of the Tsumikage was a sparsely decorated space. Function over form had been the motto of their kage since the village’s founding. And it showed in the office’s lack of luxuries. A simple stone floor made from leftovers in the quarry, plain plaster walls adorned with maps in lieu of artwork. The only thing that stood out was the desk. Made from fine ebony, it clashed with the simple chairs set around it. A gift from the Arashikage to the Second Tsumikage in celebration of the alliance between their villages.

Beyond the handful of reports scattered about her desk at any given moment, Ema was keen to keep her office spotless. Unlike her predecessor. She could remember stepping into this office as a jounin and finding the Third Tsumikage all but consumed in a mountain of papers. She set a file aside with a content hum, “The genin are all improving quickly this year.” At this rate, they might be able to send all three teams to the Chuunin Exams.

She reached for a cup of tea that sat on her desk, spiced chai thick with milk. It was a guilty pleasure of hers. Taking a slow sip, Ema cast a quick glance towards a darkened corner of her office, “Rin, welcome back, what do you have to report?”

A lithe man emerged from the shadows, his dark clothes and porcelain mask designating him a member of ANBU. Rin gave a slight bow, “Bishamonten’s members have not been seen interfering with any of the Five Great Villages in the last few weeks. However, a duo was sighted two nights ago fleeing Inochigakure. The same two responsible for the incident during the graduation ceremony.”

“Is that so?” A faint frown crossed Ema’s features. “Were you able to learn what their goal was?”

Rin nodded, though hesitated slightly. “They were able to steal Juuchi Fuyu.”

The Tsumikage straightened, “Nobuyuki Hanamoto’s sword?” The weapon was as infamous as the man that wielded it.

“Yes, my lady.”

Silence crept into the office like an oppressive weight. It was several, long moments before Ema spoke again. “What… direction were they headed?”

“Towards the southeast, according to our sources.”

“Send warning to Kabegakure at once!” It was rare for the Tsumikage to raise her voice, eliciting a flinch from Rin. He opted not to say anything, merely giving a short nod before vanishing in a cloud of smoke. Ema leaned back and took a slow breath, focusing on the calming scent of smoldering incense. Kabegakure was considered impenetrable, but so was Tsumigakure.

“The man who would cut the world… what use do you have for the likes of him?”

 

[Ganryu]

Team Ichiro
KageYuuki InsaneAsylum ​

Snarling infront of them, the feral man known as their sensei continued to prowl. Hunched over almost to the point of hunchback, he still towered over the genin. They'd been told pretty harshly 'Mountains, tomorrow, we leave at crack of dawn, south gate.' Since then he'd been too... snarly to talk to properly. Rumors had persisted that Tsubaki had been 'requested' to be transferred out of his squad, and ever since then Ichiro's mood had turned fouler than normal. Training, surprisingly had become easier since then, but Ichiro had been more distracted as well and snapped over the smallest thing.

As they travelled, Kurio would occasionally see a black cat following them in the distance, but between Ichiro and Feurey's snarls, it stayed its distance.

"Off the road. Now." He waved them off, up a steep hill, where the stones around began to grow black. The pressure in the area began to drop as storm clouds gathered, and everyone's hair was standing on edge... literally. A couple cracks of electricity radiated from the ground. Ichiro almost looked comical, if his face wasn't constantly reading 'murder', but maybe that made him MORE comical as his hair jutted out near horizontal. He finally motioned to stop, and tossed a scroll to Okimi. A thinking look came over his face, and he walked over, snatching it from her before she could read it.

"A'ight, we're hunting an Akuma. It's a bear turned wild. Like, more wild. Arashigakure asked us to take care of it. It's part of our alliance, the Shimizu's proficient with Jinjuriki, so we're often left to hunt their problems. In return, they keep Jingakure off our backs.... Sometimes. Tch."

He cracked his neck unsettling, near straining it to 90 degrees.

"The person who sent this request is an old friend of mine from Arashigakure. I want to ditch you and talk to them. We're down a member. Least for a bit. It ain't happening, I can't. I'm joining in. It's useless for me to do the damn mission though, this is 'bout you guys getting stronger. So how's this. Okimi, you're in charge of the squad. You can order me 'bout, but I ain't fighting more than high genin level. You also get to order 'bout Kurio too. You owe him a drink-...candyyy? after this? Whatever you kids do. I was going to have you read the damn scroll, I don't like givin' details ,but the @#$@'ing thing reads less like a mission description and more like a - you know what, nevermind. Ukita blood and a lonely ranger lifestyle a thirsty thot does make...

Apparently this bears messed with a big daddy Akuma. Territorial or something. Dumb move. Akuma ate it whole, then spat it back out. Akuma Chakra corrodes wildlife, and kills them, but if they get too much in them, they rise back up. That's a minor Akuma. They are a pain in the ass. They're stronger than they were beforehand. It's still C-ranked, but barely. Tsumikage gave me an inch. I took a mile."

In the distance, a roar shook the mountainside. "Ah, smokey. Best think quick lil' pyro."

 

[KageYuuki]

Hayate Yamamoto
Hayate stretched, feeling his back pop as he waited for his trio of genin to arrive. It was early, just a little past sunrise, but the amount of ground they needed to cover made the early start necessary. Hayate had told the three to pack for a few days on the road. Leaning against the cliff at the Southern Gate, he chuckled to himself. Wonder who's gonna forget what? It would be their first time so far away from the village after all.

Catching sight of Ichiro and his team, Hayate moved to wave. The near murderous aura radiating off the other jounin made him think twice about the motion. Cringing slightly, he rubbed the back of his neck instead. Poor kids...

As soon as the last genin arrived, he nodded and motioned for them to follow. "We've got a long road ahead of us, so let's talk while we walk." The miasma slowly thinned as they ascended the stone steps up out of the crater and into the Vermillion Market. Hayate gave a low hum as he looked over the empty stalls. "Aya, Shibata, either of you ever get roped into working at the market?" He chuckled, "Grandma used to drag me up here to help when I was little. Sure, I learned how many different ways you could tell someone that no, pyrite really isn't worth much, and no, you should not make jewelry out of it. But it was so boring."

Catching himself, the jounin cleared his throat and folded his hands behind his head. "Anyway, our mission's a bit of a special one. The Chuunin Exams are coming up in a few months and there are all sorts of traditions that go along with it. One of them's running the gauntlet." Hayate produced a scroll from his pouch and held it up for the three genin to see. It was a simple scroll, bearing only the village's emblem on the outside. "Every participating village sends a team with a scroll like this one to the hosting village. The hosting village, meanwhile, sets all sorts of traps to try and catch these teams so they can't reach the village. Originally, if you were caught, your village lost the right to participate that year. If all the teams got through, then the host clearly isn't up to the task. An exam before the real ones even started."

Hayate tossed the scroll a few times, "Consequences aren't as dire anymore, just lost face if you get caught or all teams slip through. I mean what the village does to a team that failed is their business," he shrugged. "Said team might not be allowed to compete but their village is still in. The main thing is, once we start I can't help you. Barring imminent death, jounin aren't allowed to intervene. So I'll try to get you as ready as I can. We'll start with some knowledge. Arashigakure's our destination, what can you guys tell me about them?"


Ace Cream IG42 AtlannianSpy

 

[AtlannianSpy]

Team Miho

Sachizuki Town​

"NO! NO! NO! Your motions need more feeling! More zest! How else will you convey the majesty that is the Kumoto family upholstery emporium!" Yelled the rotund, pony tailed man, his face reddening with exertion and emotion.

Miho stood behind the man with her arms folded in front of her chest, watching her three genin students awkwardly move and twirl the oversized signs they had been equipped with. It was almost enough to arouse a twinge of pity in Miho's cold, dead heart. Almost. Being a living advertisement for a local business was not exactly fitting shinobi work, even for genin, but Miho hadn't had much choice, she needed a pretext to meet up with her contact and this was the only job available close enough for her to slip away in time.

"You're uhh doing great," Miho said halfheartedly, as the owner continued to expound upon the rich history and lineage of Kumoto upholstery, "Try to... I dunno work in some jutsu? It'll be good for your control or something. Anyway I gotta go do a thing, be right back" and then with a flicker Miho was gone, leaving the genin alone with the store owner to continue their mission of attracting customers.

At the very least it was a nice day. Sachizuki town was not too far from Tsumigakure so it was still fairly early in the morning and the air was crisp and fresh. The town was of medium size, bit quite a city but bustling and industrious in its own way with nice wide streets and tidy storefronts. Even at this early hour the main street was already displaying healthy foot traffic, so it would likely not prove too difficult for the genin to attract some attention while their sensei disappeared to who knew where.

(you're basically doing this for a little while:)

Hanarei
Ganryu
Orikanyo


Miho wrinkled her nose as she stepped into the bar. It was the same, familiar smell she knew from hundreds of bars, inns and taverns all over the place: stale, spilled sake and decades of tobacco stains mixed with the sweat and grime of hardened patrons. Despite the early morning there were a few patrons, likely overnight workers stopping by to unwind before sleeping through the day, a few shot Miho a glance as she came in the door but none of them seemed to have the energy to spare her more attention than that. Least aware of all seemed to be a heavy set man with a wild beard sitting slumped in his seat. The man overweight, with a rounded belly barely covered by his dirty robe but his arms were thick as tree trunks with the same hard, weathered texture as old wood.

"Gancho the mountain man?" Miho asked as she sat down at the man's table across from him. The man's eyes, shot open, they were blood shot and bleary but there was still a trace of sharpness in them.

"Who's asking," Rasped Gancho, stirring in his seat and flexing his massive shoulders.

"Not important," Miho said curtly. "And put that knife away before you get hurt," she added, briefly radiating killing intent.

To his credit Gancho didn't flinch, but he did bring his enormous, hand sized fists up from under the table and put them down in front of him on the table. "What'chu want?" Gancho growled.

You got the name Mountain man for your climbing abilities," Miho said, seemingly ignoring the question. "You picked up the shinobi tree climbing technique somewhere and became famous for using it in your crimes, at first burglaries, then later you got a crew together and taught them how to climb as well. Together you would scale city walls or target remote mountaini villages, you kept moving and never went after targets important enough to attract too much heat. You're caution has kept you alive and in the game longer than most bandits. So what I'd like to know is why you threw away all that caution to send people after a target under Tsumigakure protection right outside our walls. You would have to know that that would be suicide"

Gancho did seem to take the recounting of his deeds as a compliment. He tried to scowl but the expression mostly came out as tired and finally he chuckled bitterly. "You won't believe me but I had nothing to do with that job. Those were my boys alright but they don't work for me anymore,"

Miho's eyes narrowed. "Explain," she said coldly.

"A few weeks back me and the boys were breaking camp," said Gancho, shifting in his seat to get more comfortable as he lapsed into storytelling mode. "We'd just taken a good score so it was time to move on but we got stopped on the road by this scrawny fella with a sword and an eyepatch. Eyepatch guy says we all work for him now or we're dead, which we all though was hilarious, so naturally I send two of my guys to rough him up and see if he has anything on him and... I didn't even blink but I still missed him swing that sword, one moment they were walking towards him the next they were just...cut in half. By that point we the rest of the boys were gearing up to charge him at once so I told em to cut it out and challenged him to a one on one fight, winner takes the crew,"

Miho was silent for a moment then scoffed. "You didn't think you could win you just didn't want them throwing their lives away attacking this mysterious swordsman,"

Gancho made a shrugging motion with a roll of his massive shoulders. "Didn't last long, one swing and I was done with this for my troubles," Gancho pulled open his robe to reveal a gruesome scar like a wavy line across his chest. "I shoulda bled out on the sands but a merchant caravan found me and brought me back to town, same one we'd just robbed actually. I think my bandit days are done so if you're here to kill me you might as well get it over with,"

"I'll pass," said Miho dryly, standing up. "I don't kill for free and since you had nothing to d o with the attack I don't have a reason to go after you. Besides I have bigger fish to fry, I recognise that cut and it means a real headache for me. Stay out of trouble old timer," she said, turning around to leave.

"Wait," said Gancho "About the men who pulled that job,"

"I made it quick," Miho said quietly, without turning around.

Gancho sighed. "That's about all we can hope for in this game,"

 

[Ganryu]

Team Miho
-Totally Innocent-
AtlannianSpy ​

"Kick his butt, Waka! WHOO!"

Sachiko laughed wildly as the crunch of wood on bone echoed in the small street, the owner of Kumoto Family’s Upholdstery Emporium looking horrified and sick behind her.

A handful of bodies litered the street, moaning in pain, with a broken Ryu’s Trusted Furnature Outlet sign bashed over one of their heads.

Sachiko for her part was technically spinning the sign in the chaos, holding it perfectly balanced on one finger, spinning it round and round. A second ago, she’d been tripping and barely holding it up, but once the action had started, suddenly Sachiko seemed like a pro at it.

“RRASAAAAH” Wakanaka smashed the sign down upon the opponent’s head, breaking the man through and catching him within the wooden frame of the competitor’s sign. He grasped the broken inner edge and pulled the man forward into a clothesline punch to the face with a roar.

Panting, the young man wiped blood from his mouth. His hair was undone and disheveled, he was down to his under shirt and looked positively rabid.

“HOW MANY GODS DAMN RIVAL STORES ARE THERE!?” he yelled as a trio came forward, the one in the front holding a “Uncle tetsu’s Cheese cake house” sign.

“You kids, your the ones causin’ trouble in tetsu’s block?” the man up front said with a stern tone, sign propped up on his shoulder. His sneer was palpable.

“C...careful Waka, you are hitting random pedestrians too!” Shioreta shouted out a bit concerned though unable to hide the smile on her lips as her sign laid on the ground. At first she had been trying to stop things from getting worse but as it escalated she couldn’t help but get absorbed into the brawl over… what was it about now? She had honestly forgotten by this point as a little ‘situation’ with a rival store sign spinners had somehow turned into West Side Story.

Sachiko whistled at the man approaching with the sign on his shoulders. “Wow. I wanna know what his momma’s been feeding him.” She cleared her throat. “Yup, we’re definitely the trouble makers? What’cha gunna do ‘bout it? I bet our priest could lay you out!” She then loudly whispered, “You got this, Waka!”, before quietly whispering to Shio “500 Ryo says Waka unconscious face is cute. Not, like, good looking, but like a baby panda’s. You up for the bet?”

Shioreta nodded in response to the bet “You’re on!” She spoke excitedly caught up in the moment.

The man tsked, before looking to one of his guys, a fellah looking like he belonged in a cafe… if it weren’t for the large scar across his eye, and motioned his head forwards. The man clasped his fists together and charged. “YOUR DEAD MEAT KID!” he yelled as he went for a haymaker. Being the good classically trained ninja he was, Waka ducked the blow like a boxer with his arms coiled tight. Punching once with his left into the man’s side, a strong right into the man’s stomache, caving in the man’s stance and delivering a big skyward uppercut to the guy’s jaw.

The guy fell to the ground, atop of another man in a cartoonishly large chicken costume…

“Haaaaaaa….” Waka let out a long breath. “We are gonna be in so much shit…”

“Way to go Waka!” Shioreta spoke a bit out of character her hands held to each side as if to amplify her voice to be louder. Only after did it sink in just what kind of damage really went on turning that smirk into a much more uneasy smile. Last she checked spinning a sign didn’t typically involving getting into a brawl… and she was pretty sure they were already in quite a bit of murky water with Miho already.

Sachiko sauntered by Shio, slipping 500 Ryo into the pocket of her jacket from behind, though it was hardly discrete. Sachiko bend forward with one hand on her hips, and the other with a finger raised at Waka as if to say ‘hush’, the sign still spinning ontop of it. She had a mischevious grin on her face.

“We’re not in trouble. Me and Shio are just innocent bystanders. Infact, if any one asked, I totally tried to stop you, but fell into a blood rage. Two fair maidens, begging you to stop, but in your righteous fury you beat all these guys to a pulp. Tragic. I mean, you called me a demon, but I’m suuuuure sensei’ll believe me! Oooh, ooh, we should put it to song! That’s the best way to break news and throw your teammate under the wagon! Yup, yup. Totes innocent bystanders, not cheering you on at all, or inciting a riot, or disturbing public peace, or alot of other weird words that get thrown around.”

Shioreta felt Sachiko slip the Ryo into her pocket. Listening to Sachiko speak up about dumping the blame solely on Waka, the young genin suddenly turned around whistling nonchalantly as if to not even acknowledge Waka at all. She wasn’t about leaving a teammate behind… but I mean it was his fault… mostly… right? Made sense to her.

 

[S n o w]

Tsubame Mochizuki

InsaneAsylum KageYuuki Ganryu ​

"Have you met Ichiro-sensei?"

Tsubame walked beside her brother, Taro, headed for the south gate. They both had a mission, though the circumstances around hers were more unusual. Pulled from team selections right after graduation, her clan wanted her sensei to be a Mochizuki, someone with Shikotsumyaku. Her parents disagreed, thought a private tutor should be made available for Tomoko, not her. It left her in limbo, still an active genin technically, but also one without a sensei. It must've been her parents who won in the end, because she was abruptly slotted to fill the hole in Ichiro-sensei's team the day before and told she had a mission.

Taro shook his head. "Not directly, but I've seen him around. He's... eccentric. He's blond, never wears a shirt, and improper. You should recognize him easily." He was only walking her there because it was polite to do so and they happened to be going in the same direction. "Be careful around him."

Tsubame inclined her head. "I will."

"The clan will be watching." If you do badly, it'll reflect badly on me.

"I know."

They parted ways just outside the gate. Taro, giving her a little wave, disappeared. Tsubame spotted another team first, not hers judging by their sensei's dark hair and proper attire, and then a second team, stopped a partly up a steep hill. Two genin and a sensei. Blond, distinctly shirtless. She approached them quietly. but didn't get too close. If Tsubame remembered right, her teammates were... Okimi Bajirisuku and Kurio Shimizu?

She bowed deeply. "I'm Tsubame Mochizuki. I apologize for being late. I hope we all can get along."

 

[KageYuuki]

Kurio Shimizu
Kurio bit back a yawn as he shuffled down the hall towards the front door. It was early, even more so than the morning he tracked Ichiro down for some extra training. The sky only had the faintest twinges of purple creeping into it, a crisp chill still cutting through the air. He rubbed his eyes, checking his bag one last time. Everything was still in place like he'd left it the night before, his stock of burn ointment replenished from his training with Okimi. I should head out, being late with the mood sensei's been in lately would be... bad.

Leaving the compound, Kurio paused. There was a cat's paw print left in the mud beside the road. It had been cropping up a lot lately, more so following Tsubaki's departure from the team. Ichiro's foul mood had led to lighter training sessions, normal training sessions. Without the risk of serious injury. Kurio would never admit it, but it was almost... boring, in a way. Lacking that weird trill of excitement that usually followed what Ichiro considered training. But that little black cat was there when sensei wasn't paying attention, giving advice on how to best complete the task. Sometimes it would encourage him to push himself harder that day. Once even to the point of collapse.

Being carried home by Ichiro wasn't really something Kurio wished to repeat.

Trying to rub the last of the sleep from his eyes, Kurio gave a quiet nod at the gate. Ichiro seemed to be radiating 'kill' more than he had been the last few days, staying quiet was likely the best course of action for the time being. He gave a slight nod to the jounin that was leaning against the wall as they left, he was likely waiting for his own team to arrive. Kurio couldn't really blame him for cringing slightly at the sight of them. It seemed to be one of the effects Ichiro had on people. That or outright fear.

Tension hung in the air from the moment the team left the village. Leading to a heavy, awkward silence lingering overhead the entire walk. Kurio could've sworn he caught a few glimpses of a familiar dark shape as they continued. Not wanting to draw attention to it, he forced his gaze back on the road ahead. Was it the drop in air pressure making him feel so much more on edge? Or the near killing intent radiating off of sensei? The occasional crackle of sparks running across blackened stone made him jump the first few times. I knew it was called the Land of Lightning, Kurio tried in vain to flatten his hair back out. But I didn't think the name or stories were so... literal.

Looking back at Ichiro in front of them, Kurio's lip twitched ever so slightly. His mind warred between the sight being hilarious or horrifying. It was really a bit of both, if he was being honest.

"A'ight, we're hunting an Akuma. It's a bear turned wild. Like, more wild."

"Oh," That tidbit alone brought to mind a Minor Akuma. An animal twisted into a mockery of its former self by Akuma's chakra. I didn't think we'd be sent to deal with one so soon. Wasn't that something meant for more experienced teams? Brushing the thought aside for now, he focused back on what Ichiro was saying. He was placing Okimi in charge of the three of them? Watching her try to order the jounin around should be interesting.

"You also get to order 'bout Kurio too. You owe him a drink-...candyyy? after this?"

"Tea will do for now," Kurio kept his hands folded neatly in front of himself. "Though please remember my healing can only go so far if you were to blow us all up." The soft smile made it near impossible to tell if he was being serious or merely poking fun at his teammate. He glanced in the direction of the roar as it shook the forest, "Though hopefully, the main Akuma isn't still anywhere nearby..."

His fingers twitched as the brush rustled, ready to move into handsigns depending on what emerged. Kurio's head tipped to the side as a kunoichi around their age stepped into view, her headband marking her a member of Tsumigakure. "A Mochizuki?" They were one of the clans that lived in the village. A questioning look was shot towards Ichiro, did he know anything about them getting a new teammate? What is it with us getting new team members mid-mission?

S n o w InsaneAsylum Ganryu

 

[IG42]

Shibata Yamamoto
Approaching the gate Shibata glanced up from his checklist just in time to weave around a cluster of people who'd decided the middle of the street was a nice place to stop and chat, this was the fifth time he had gone over the list since leaving his home. It was his first mission in the field and nothing was going to go wrong, at least not because of him. "Morning uncle." He greeted Hayate casually around a dorayaki and dropped his pack on the ground to wait for the other two.

Following Hayate's lead through the market he grunted at the question. "Of course. I have to learn about all aspects of the clan which includes the business side, apparently on the frontline at the market stalls is a good place to start. Dull but necessary work I suppose." His slightly bored mood evaporated when the gauntlet was mentioned and stood even straighter than normal with a self-satisfied smirk. "We get to run the gauntlet? Seems we've caught the attention of the right people."

As Hayate casually tossed the scroll Shibata's eyes followed it's motion. "Since you're not meant to be helping that would mean one of us would be carrying it." He was naturally about to volunteer but stopped and cast a sidelong glance at Aya. "You know if you were to carry it Aya you'd be able to make a hidden pocket in that kimono of yours and make it harder to snatch right?" At the question he obediently reeled off the basics. "Arashikagure is the main ally to our own village, frequent thunder storms as the name implies along with a strong magnetic field."

KageYuuki Ace Cream AtlannianSpy

 

[AtlannianSpy]

Ryuuka Tagamatsu​

"I didn't know you worked at the market Shibata," Ryuuka said teasingly. "You'd think all that sales work would make you a little more personable, wouldn't you scare away customers being all grumpy?" Ryuuka covered her mouth as she yawned suddenly. "As for Arashigakure I've heard the food is pretty good? Something to with the pure mountain air. Anyway this gauntlet dealie sounds pretty fun! Kind of like an obstacle course right? Hey if we finish up early you think we can do some sightseeing? I've never really been out of the village before,"

Despite her early morning grogginess Ryuuka seemed prepared for the mission in her own way, wearing a light vest to ward off the early morning chill and a pack containing bottled water, snacks and a packed lunch: evidently wheedling a meal out of Hayate was not the plan today.

"Oh hey, also we should have like a decoy scroll right? Maybe one filled with explosive tags or something! Uhh someone else will have to set that up though, I'm still not allowed to mess with tags,"

IG42
KageYuuki
Ace Cream

 

[Ace Cream]

Aya

Aya arrived at the gate on time. Unlike their first mission where she couldn't sleep due to her mind overthinking things, this time she was able to handle her emotion better and successfully got enough rest. She greeted her sensei and teammates with a bright but silent smile. Hiking out of the crater, they passed the vermillion market and Aya listened to their sensei's question about working at the market.

"Ichigo-neesan, my eldest sister, owns a clothing store. Sometimes she be- I mean asks me for help..." Aya left the part about her sister oftenly left Aya in the shop alone so she can get drunk at the nearby tavern.

"Sakurako-neesan, my other older sister, sometimes come home and sells items from Chowaku. I like helping her." Unlike with the eldest, Sakurako always pays Aya with some candies from the city so the young weaver would gladly offers her assistance.

"But, I like making things more than selling them." She concluded.

Their sensei then proceed by explaining the details of their mission and asked about their knowledge of Arashigakure. Aya listened carefully while imagining the process in her head. It sounds easy enough, more like a game with real reward. Sadly she didn't know much about Arashigakure so she just shook her head weakly at the question.

Still, despite her lacks of knowledge about the place, she's excited for this mission! Shibata and Ryuuka also seems to be as excited as her. Aya answered Shibata's inquiry about hiding the scroll in her kimono by pulling an explosive tag out of her sleeve, right between the fabric, so yes. She imagined the scroll would be even harder to snatch if she put it inside the torso.

KageYuuki
IG42
AtlannianSpy

 

[Ganryu]

Ichiro, the Feral​

Ichiro looked just as confused at the new comer, and began to shuffle through a folder.

"Damnit. Foot note. Why a FOOTNOTE!? I can hardly read at the best of times... Tch.... Welcome to the team, uh, Tsu... yeah, whatever. Welcome aboard."

He turned to Okimi. "Yo, Okimi, I'm no longer part of the operation. You three look like you can handle it. I'll keep watch cause I still don't want to fill out paperwork. You ever get pulled out of bed at 2 am because they're missing a signature. Poor bastard."

Ichiro tried to crack his neck to the other side, but found it was already popped, and just sighed, squatting til his hands touched the ground, looking very much like a dog, and coming down to the genin's height, though that was probably unintentional.

"A'ight, rundown of the mission. Again. We're fighting an Akuma. Basically a zombie chakra beast that used to be an animal. This one used to be a bear. Now? It's an ugly motherfu- anyways. It's still C-ranked, because this thing's just acting on instincts and is pretty dumb. Bum rush it," he glared at Okimi "and I'll be attending your funeral. Otherwise, you should be able to handle.

Mochi, Mo.... New girl. Introduce yourself to the team. And by that," he began to stand at his full impressive height again, his regular slouch disappearing, "I mean, hit me with something and explain whatever it is you can do so the temporary mission leader can figure out what to do with you. Also, you two say your specialties after. "

Ichiro tightened his muscles, becoming like Iron as he let Tsubame hit him. He had a slight smirk as he sized up the new addition to his squad.

"Course if you're a pipsqueak and its something like gen or poison, I understand. But figure might as well see."

It seems Ichiro did NOT know about the Mochizuki's famed Kekkei Genkai...

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Okimi Bajirisuku​

Finally, it was time for a real mission. She'd be able to put her abilities to the test against a real opponent, one where it'd feel like a real fight. Being down one member didn't bother Okimi much. She was confident she'd able to handle anything as long is could be lit on fire. If things got rough though, Kurio could fix her up no problem. Whatever Kurio had said about his healing being limited had never really embedded itself in her mind. In the fiery girl's mind, Kurio was a walking medical kit that just happened to be able to talk. Well, he was a friendly kit at least.

Okimi couldn't say the same about sensei. He had been acting a little funny ever since they started the mission. Okimi originally thought he was upset because he lost another squad member, but she figured a beast like him couldn't care too much about that. Hell, once they got off the mountain path, he sounded like he would much rather to go talk to his little friend than go beat the shit out of an evil bear. Who knew Ichiro-sensei even had friends? Okimi didn't. I had to be some crazy fool. The friend couldn't be a lady. Ichiro wasn't very cute, at least not by Okimi's standards.

"Come on sensei, we won't need you help. Kurio and I can kick an evil bear's ass no problem. Even if you did come along, I'd just use you as a meat shield anyway. I don't see a problem with bum-rushing it!"

Suddenly a new face appeared. A girl. Okimi glared at her, a bit perplexed about why she was just now showing up. Looking at the headband, Okimi knew it was a friendly ninja.

Ichiro looked confused too, rereading his little paper. Apparently it was written there that they would get a new member. Of course he missed that part. At least he didn't have to worry about going along with them now. Ichiro being Ichiro, decided to give the new girl a chance to demonstrate her abilites by letting her hit him. As the leader of this mission, Okimi was very interested in what she'd do. In the back of her mind, Okimi was hoping for the girl to be resilient. That way she could replace Ichiro as the meat-shield for today's mission. If she didn't prove sturdy enough, Kurio would have to do.

"Make sure you kill him while you're at it," Okimi said to Tsubame with a smile.

 

[IG42]

A spider, a kung fu film in slow motion, and a megalomaniac completely normal and rational guy walk into a lab.
On the path to the north of the village, a large dome laboratory could be seen, the large metal structure impressive against the dead trees in the area. It was a place few villagers visited, the large mountains beyond not making it a popular place for travel, and things… things got weird here. The village hardly dealt with the area other than its successes do to the weird things wandering around. A dear with snakes for antlers looked at the group, before bounding off.

On the slip of paper the three had, it read “Ryu Hashaba, lead biologist, room 22B”

There were few security measures around, other than an iron door port that could be opened with a press of a button.

“Soooo what’s everybody thinking?” Ryuuka asked breezily, glancing at her teammates. “I’ve got 200 ryo that says shark pits, any takers?” Ryuuka waited a beat and then explained; gesturing at the heavy iron door. “I mean...we’ve got a crazy scientist, this is clearly an evil lair so the only real question left is what kind of maniacal, over-engineered traps he has waiting for us. I. Am. Hoping. For. Shark Pits,”

Examining the door suspiciously Shibata wondered if it was really worth sticking around to satisfy his curiosity. “My more immediate concern is this door, surely it’s booby trapped and the real entrance is hidden elsewhere. I bet that button actually opens up a pit trap, maybe the sharks are down there.”

"Inefficient." Aya chimed in at the mention of shark pit. "Shark needs salt water. Piranha is better." She then proceed to press the button on the entrance.

As Aya pressed the button, indeed the floor beneath them gave way, a pool of water below splashing water upwards as a multitude of fish started jumping at the three genin. It seemed like Ryuuka was out 200 Ryo. The moment before Shibata would fall with the group, a single notice at the door would reveal a small label that said ‘push’.

The piranha below were irradiated and each bite they made left a trail of miasma behind. One probably didn’t want to get bit.

Aya was startled at the hidden pit appearing and fell into it. Fortunately she was able to think fast and in a mere second she transformed her kimono into a giant silk ball that enveloped her and her two teammates. The ball was soft enough to cushion their fall and durable enough to protect them from the piranha's assault, at least for now. Aya was wearing a plain tank top and shorts underneath her regular garment but without her bulky kimono she looks much smaller.

"I thought we were joking… about the pit." Aya commented on their current situation. The ball was now floating on the water but the more time they spent here the more the piranha would bite into the silk and the more water would seep in, and thus they would slowly drown. Aya tried to push the ball towards a random direction, maybe there's dry land somewhere down here.

“Hey wait!” Shibata called out to Aya as she pushed the button. Dropping into the pit he reached out towards the wall to stick to it with his chakra but came up short against Aya’s protective shield, with a huff he crossed his arms and looked at Aya disapprovingly. “I never joke about pit traps.” He said in a deadpan tone. “Could’ve just grabbed the wall and walked out, or you haven’t learned that yet?”

"Not fast enough." Aya shook her head. The white silk spiders she currently have was the smallest of its kind and while it's capable to produce sticky web, it would need several seconds to be prepared. Speaking of the spiders, dozens of white spiders as small as tick started scuttering out of the silk ball and gathered on top of Aya's head, hiding between the strands of her hair from the threat of water.

"There, there squady. You safe with me." Aya reassured her scared spiders. She picked one spider and connected the tip of her index finger to it with a single string. "Be my eye." She said to the spider as she used one of her jutsu to connect her sight with the spider. She then sent the spider outside so she would be able to determine the direction they should go.

With a sigh Shibata went to help Aya push. “Let’s get moving if we hit a wall Ryuuka and I can pull you out.” As the water began trickling in his calm voice turned more urgent.

“Whelp looks like I’m out 200 ryo,” said Ryuuka mildly, standing up experimentally inside the ball to test her footing, arms outstretched. “Color me disappointed though, I mean piranha's are okay and all but a shark tank is way classier!” after this comment Ryuuka turned her attention to moving their shelter, but rather than pushing she instead experimented with running in place, turning the ball like a hamster in a wheel. “This is kinda fun actually,” Ryuuka commented as she picked up the pace to a light jog. “Oh also, rather than just the walls look for like a hatch or something. There’s no way this many piranhas are surviving just off unfortunate door to door salesmen so they’ve gotta have a way to feed them from the inside,”

As Ryuuka commented, a floating vaccuum cleaner with a pink mascot floated by. The egg coccoon held remarkably well, the Pirahna’s didn’t even seem to notice it, until one carefully nibbled against it. Purple toxic color spread through the small patchwork of a float. The pirahna made a ‘blurb’ kind of sound, and suddenly the water sloshed around them as a feeding frenzy began, the piranha not aiming at the ninja, but the silk itself, finding the protein within to be delicious.

"W-wait! Wait! WAIT!" Aya was panicking when she noticed that the piranha was enjoying her silk, her kimono! She didn't even notice that she was raising her volume and broke her voice, she now sounds like a grandma with her loud hoarse voice. "STOP EATING MY KIMONO!!!"

Aya was enraged. Safety be damned, she opens the upper part of her silk ball and activate her dojutsu. The smaller eyes inside her pupils turned on all direction as she scanned her vicinity and marked all visible piranhas. The first victim was a random piranha that tried to eat the silk, but a senbon suddenly emerged from the silk ball and thrusted right into its mouth. Then another one fell as a kunai lobbed itself into a piranha's maw. The soft thick silk ball was Aya's kimono, which was also where she stores all her weapons, by concentrating on moving the silk around the weapons Aya was able to turn the ball into a deadly weapon that can propels projectiles or simply thrusts them out. Now that the piranhas were threatening her clothes Aya seems intent on killing all the fishes.

Across from them a small hatch could be seen, and a ladder up the side of the pit trap. At the bottom of pit, a skeleton of a cow could be seen… mostly, except it seemed to have a weird skeletal structure. Another experiment.

Pausing to admire Aya’s work Shibata realised that rolling the now inappropriately named ball along the surface wouldn’t work anymore. Spotting the ladder he grabbed a length of wire from his pouch and tied it around the ring on a kunai, spinning the improvised grappling hook on the wire he threw it so that it wrapped around one of the rungs of the ladder and began hauling them in.
--------------------

The inside of the laboratory smelled rank. A medley of formaldehyde, cleaning agent, catnip, and burning lasers could be seen.

On the bright side it looked amazing multicolored lasers fired off in every direction in the darkened lab, and in the middle a single scientist stood, working over a microscope, not noticing anything going on. Next to him was a cold plate of breakfast from hours earlier in the day, and a half eaten sponge on the other table.

Joining him on the right was a whining horse, and on the left a tank with a narwal.

“Man what is it with us and creatures trying to destroy our clothes huh?” Ryuuka asked Aya sympathetically as she delicately tugged a piranha from the bill of her hat and tossed it back into the tank behind them. Aya nodded in agreement as she plucked a dead piranha that was still biting into her sleeve, the kimono looks shorter now and only covered down to Aya's knees after the piranhas took several bites into it.

“And how come it never happens to the only guy? Kinda suspicious Shiba- holy shit did this guy transplant the horn from a unicorn onto that dolphin!”

“Perhaps I’m merely more careful or that my fighting style lends itself to staying clear of messes rather than the kind where losing one’s shirt and yelling is mandatory.” Shibata replied mildly but shifted one of his feet to conceal where he had accidentally hacked a chunk of the sole of his shoe off freeing it from the spider web earlier. “Also that’s a narwhal and it’s technically a tusk not a horn.”

Ryuuka scoffed. “C’mon Shibata narwhals aren’t real grow up,”

"Pretty colors." Meanwhile aya was focusing on the colorful laser while her other two teammates were bickering. She learned not to touch things here though so she moved carefully towards the scientist while avoiding the laser.

As the pair argued, the scientist infront of them took another bite out of the sponge, before his eyebrows raised and he looked down at it. “That’s not a cooked sausage…” He threw it over his shoulder, and spat out the small piece.

Continuing at his strange pace, he nodded at Aya’s comment on the colors.

“Yes they are, each is set at intervals to set parts and tubes across the lab. I was getting tired of manually controlling them, so I set them up in timed intervals to mutate the genomes, and splice the RNA of various life forms within this lab. I find nature both beautiful and limiting… But that is why we were made gods, able to mess with it as we pleased. What is nature if not a template for us to experiment?”

“Something to be observed and analysed.” Shibata commented. “If you did more of the former you might’ve noticed us in your little pitfall or at least noticed that you were eating a sponge on the first bite rather than the second.”

Aya just stared with deadpan face at the scientist as he explained what he was explaining, which she didn't understand mostly. He somewhat reminds Aya of her father. Passionate about what they like, but rather detached from the rest of the world.

He finally finished… whatever he was working on and turned to them. Small and dimunitive, he had deep set eyes and a rather sharp look to him. His were serious and twitched from one of them to another. He had long greasy hair tied into a ponytail. (Hojo. He looks like hojo)

“Now… it escapes me what I called you for. Was it a new mission or something? My assistant’s out sending some sort of apology letter or something to an association. Were you here to pick up samples…? Oh! Headbands? I know what you’re here for!”

The man scurried down the hall in a surprisingly quickly, before throwing some containers at the three.

“The scientific weapons’ department wanted some new itching powder. As you might know, Tarantula’s hair is normally used in such an endeavor, but then I thought, why not have a payload deliverable? So, I crossed their DNA with a crickets and other jumping spiders, and promptly forgot about our fence around their perimeter only being 15 feet tall. So if you wouldn’t mind catching them. They’ve mostly escaped to the greenhouse to the west. Those containers have a space time jutsu infused in them. I’m told they’re used by the very best.

I have the few I needed for the powder anyways, what they wanted, so do with the beasts what you will. I suppose you could smash them, but that seems a pity.. Uh… rewards in the cabinet in the.. I have no clue what you guys charge, I’m a busy man, my assistant will take care of that of the details.”

With that, he pressed a button, and a laser seemed to aim at the professor, his entire body disintegrating, only for the next room over it to start to reassemble with the same beam.

Aya blinked in confusion. Did the man just gave them a job?? Though it was rather easy for Aya to decide. She looked at Ryuuka and Shibata with wide gleaming eyes. "He said we can do whatever we want with the spiders!!!"

Having made multiple fruitless attempts to interject in the man’s wittering Shibata looked at Aya incredulously. “Firstly we came here to ask why he sent us after that spider without telling us it was bigger than the average shed not do him a favour for free and secondly he hasn’t told us how big these jumping ones are either, do you want to go out there and find there’s a few dozen and they’re all as big as horses?”

"Uh, oh. Y-yeah." Aya just realized this was the same scenario as before, the man ask for a favor which turned out to be much dangerous than expected because of his lacks of details. Though, the man didn't really ask them for free. Aya approached the cabinets and ruffled through them for the said rewards. She didn't really intent to steal it or anything… just curious!

“Well let’s at least see what he’s offering,” Ryuuka said to Shibata’s objection with a diplomatic tone as she moved to crane her neck over Aya’s shoulder. “If the loot’s good enough I wouldn’t mind pulling pest control duty again. Plus this guy has disintegration rays so I sorta want to stay on his good side. We need to factor in a clothing allowance though! If I lose another jacket I’m not replacing it out of pocket!”

Still unimpressed Shibata took another look around the lab as an idea came to him, if this scientist could change an animal so much and if they weren’t grown from scratch would he be able to do something help a human? “Alright fine but there’d better be something useful at the end of this. As for your jacket maybe he’s made sheep that grow cotton or polyester instead of wool that you can make one out of.”

As Aya opened the cabinet, loose bills fell out, along with instruments and a whole meddley of supplies. It was probably to the surprise of no one that it wasn’t organized, however, the sheer amount of money falling out would bury Aya.

Definitely enough for Aya’s robes. One of the odder things was the blueprints for a sheep that’s wool was piano wire… And a porcupine that exploded pins instead of defensively curling up.

"Ish thiissh ennough??" Aya let out a muffled question towards her teammate as she tried to dig her way out of the pile of money.


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

To the west, a strange biome could be seen, not yet out the crater of the village they called home, yet the landscape was vastly different. Hot and humid, palm trees grew in a thick foliage, with palm bushes around every corner. The oddest thing was… the whole biome hadn’t been there a week ago.

Three balls, three specimens. The hunt began…

[Half an hour later]

“Well that was thoroughly unpleasant.” Shibata remarked while examining the now ‘filled’ container he held curiously to distract from the burning itch in his free hand though he still frantically rubbed it against his side. “I never thought a cheese wire could be used like that.”

“Yeah I vote we never speak of this again,” Ryuuka said bitterly, with a distant stare. “Who would have though the little bastards could breed that quickly? Or strip the flesh from bones so quickly?” Ryuuka shuddered. “I think we got em all with that cheese wire trick though so as long as we squish these three after turning in the quest they'll never be a problem again… That uh, ish what we’re doing right? These things are clearly too dangerous to be left alive,”

Aya just nodded along while humming cheerfully. She didn't care about the spiders caught by her teammates, she already got two for herself. One male, one female, trapped inside a coccon and slipped between the fabric of her sleeves. These would be wonderful birthday gifts for Hotaru-neechan. The second daughter of the Ogumo clan really likes collecting spiders and Aya would be happy to lends a hand.

 

[S n o w]

Tsubame Mochizuki

InsaneAsylum KageYuuki Ganryu ​

Eccentric was one way to describe Ichiro-sensei.

Kurio knew who she was, or at least, her clan. Fair enough, with him being from the Shimizu clan and all. Okimi's glare told Tsubame the opposite story, which was just as fair, because she only had a base understanding of the Bajirisuku clan.

Ten seconds after Tsubame found her new team, the reins of the mission were handed off to Okimi. Surely, all that talk about bum rushing the beast and using them as meat shields were jokes and Okimi was more competent than she appeared. Right? In that same vein, Ichiro-sensei wouldn't ask her to hit him unless he had some idea of what she was capable of. What he said immediately after inspired less confidence in that idea.

Tsubame hesitated. Killing him was not an option. She doubted she could, anyway. Er, well, maybe, since he was leaving himself open. She might be able to scratch him if she took him by surprise--stabbing her sensei a minute after she met him was not an option either. But she couldn't outright refuse either. They were all looking at her. What kind of impression would she make then? They'd think she was scared, or weak or--stop thinking and do something!

Tsubame ran at Ichiro-sensei, ignoring the twinge of pain as she forced the bones in her elbow to harden and thicken. She leapt when she was close. Her arm was heavy and slow, but she already had momentum. She spun and drove her elbow into his gut.

"I'm a taijutsu specialist," she said as she landed. "I can manipulate my bones to harden my body or make them come out through my skin like small, sharp swords. I'll do my best to be useful to you."

 

[KageYuuki]

Hayate Yamamoto

Hayate chuckled as Shibata and Aya recounted their experience working in the markets. He wasn't too surprised that his nephew had been roped into it as part of his duties. "Suckered into helping your family out too, huh Aya?" He lightly messed with her hair as they walked. Candies from Chowaku, hm? He'd have to keep that in mind. He looked over at Shibata as the genin expressed excitement over them being selected. Caught the attention of someone important, have the other jounin bail on you... same thing, right? Eh, if she didn't think they were up to it, she would've forced it on someone else.

He nodded as two of the three rattled off what they knew of the other village. Though, true to form so far, Ryuuka only seemed to know more about the door there. "Arashigakure is really our only official ally. In exchange for us taking care of any Akuma that crop up, they," Hayate hesitated for an instant, They help keep Jingakure at bay. At least, that's part of our agreement." He turned and flashed Ryuuka a smile, "Pass or fail, we'll be permitted to stay in the village overnight. So why don't we put that rumor to the test, huh?"

Seeing as the trio decided who got to carry the scroll, Hayate passed it off to Aya for safekeeping. "If you want to make a decoy, that's up to you. There really isn't any way to know what kind of traps they'll have waiting for you." Free of the scroll, he folded his hands back behind his head once more. "The name Land of Lightning is pretty literal, a day without some kind of lightning storm is considered a bad omen there. Also means using metal weapons is asking to get yourself zapped. Like Shibata mentioned, the magnetic fields in the area are all kinds of messed up. Compasses don't work and weapons won't fly the way you expect them to. I can make you replacements for anything if you want, though it might not hurt to hold onto a couple of the real deal."

As they ascended the mountain path, the air pressure steadily dropped and storm clouds already began moving in. The stones around them turn black, a few sparks of electricity dancing across their surfaces occasionally. The static in the air made everyone's hair stand on end. Hayate pulled his own hair back in a tighter ponytail, making for an odd sight as it floated up. If one of the genin were to poke their teammate, both would find themselves getting a light shock before their hair settled for a moment.

"Like I said before, I really don't have any way of predicting what Arashigakure has prepared out there. Whatever it is, it will push you three. The answers aren't always going to be apparent." Hayate gave them a slight smile, "They won't be trying to kill you out there, though. But this is considered a C Rank mission and accidents can happen." He turned off the main road to a narrow dirt path, more of a game trail than a proper road. "Now, fighting between the teams is forbidden, you're supposed to save that for the exam itself. Each village has a different route to make sure of this." Thunder rumbled in the distance, almost as if on cue. "Still, be on your guard."

Hayate came to a stop between two pillars of black stone, electricity crackled up and down their surfaces. "Unless any of you have any last minute questions, this is where we part ways."

(Ask away if you have em)

"You'll have until dawn tomorrow to reach Arashigakure," Hayate pointed towards the mountain peak, lights could be seen coming from the village within. "Good luck." With that, the jounin vanished from sight, leaving the genin to their own devices.

The trial had begun.

Flashes of lightning raced across the sky above, leaving thunder to rumble in its wake. Ocassionally, a peel of thunder would be loud enough the genin could feel it. The path itself was peaceful so far. Numerous short trees dotted the stone path, anything that dared to grow taller was struck down by vengeful lightning, leaving charred husks in its wake.

Numerous stone obelisks was the first new sight to greet them, thick wires strung up between them in large gaps. Tripwires, the trio would likely deduce. If Aya were to look closely, small holes could be seen dotting the pillars, marking the trap. For a test meant for prospective chuunin, it seemed a fairly simple obstacle. A flash of lightning revealed numerous thin threads strung up through the gaps.

Perhaps weaving through wouldn't be so easy.

If one of the wires broke, a barrage of little wooden darts awaited the poor genin.


AtlannianSpy IG42 Ace Cream


Kurio Shimizu

Listening to Okimi's confidence, Kurio turned towards her. "Wounds inflicted by an Akuma are rather notorious in their difficulty to heal, Okimi." Despite his usual smile, there was the faintest twinge of exasperation lacing his tone. "Let's not blindly charge in." Besides, she had a ranged fire Jutsu at her disposal, he'd seen as much during their practice together. Plus whatever she had used to detonate the shed back during their last mission.

Kurio turned towards Ichiro as the jounin frantically flipped through his notes on the mission. Did you miss it? Or did you not bother to read it? Neither would surprise me. His expression never faltered despite the frustration that bubbled in the back of his mind. But at least the notes did say something about Tsubame's arrival, so nothing was weird there. From the stories he'd heard, Inochigakure wasn't beyond employing such tricks in the past.

Introduce yourself to the team. And by that, I mean, hit me with something and explain whatever it is you can do so the temporary mission leader can figure out what to do with you. Also, you two say your specialties after. "

" Make sure you kill him while you're at it,"

Kurio glanced between the three of them, Kill him? Oh, you weren't there for the explanation of his Jutsu, were you...? Ichiro had mentioned it when the team first met. Undying, if Kurio remembered right? It didn't matter, for now Kurio just waited for his new teammate to act. For a moment, he thought he saw her elbow shift before the strike landed. So that's the Mochizuki clan's kekkei genaki?

"I'm Kurio Shimizu," he said, waiting to see how Ichiro reacted to the strike. "I'm the team's medic."

Ganryu S n o w InsaneAsylum

 

[Ganryu]

Ichiro, The Feral​

Ichiro gave an odd glance at Okimi. He was insane, but definitely not the same vein as the dragon girl. For Ichiro, it was all about living for the moment of a fight, he had no freakin' clue what made her messed up.

Then approached Tsubame. Ichiro smiled as she rushed him. Spinning to land a bladed strike straight to his gut.

"Gah!" She actually made him bowl over, and let out a cough. Yup.... that was the solar plexus. Instinctively his hand reached out like a claw, a wild look in Ichiro's eyes... before he patted her head.

"Good job. Helluva blow, didn't think you had it in you. Gah hahaha..." Coughing for a minute, he removed her elbow, a few flakes of what looked like dried blood came off. Her elbow had gone half an inch in against his strengthened muscles. He immediately kneeled on the ground, and tapped her knee.

"Bit of a problem though. You jumped at me. That looses your connection with the ground. As a taijutsu user, especially one with some weight to you, the ground is your best friend. You can be acrobatic all you want, but when you land a blow, make sure your feet are firmly planted. A jump might increase your speed, but when you hit resistance, you'll break your momentum and deal far less damage. If you ground yourself, you can push on through and break through defenses you couldn't before.

I'm Ichiro, the Feral, but another one of my nicknames is the 'undying'. I'm a taijutsu user who mostly spec'd into defensive measures. Makes fight last longer. Its mostly blood jutsu that lets me take more damage, and strengthened muscle that makes me hard as a rock, so I'm definitely that defense you gotta break through. Your teammates are Okimi, the lil pyro, and Kurio, the walking med kit. I'll let you guess what they do."

Ichiro stood, rubbing his stomach where a bruise was forming and gave a thumbs up. "Definitely passes though... vicious blow, I need to go pick fights with your clan more...."

Over the hills, a roar could be heard again, and a bear began to climb the hill, standing up at nearly 12 feet tall. Its fur was purple, and crackling with electricity. Out of its back, several black pillar like gems could be seen. It stood on all fours and roared again, shaking the ground, and lighting burst from the sky, striking it, and making its gems sparkle with electricity, arc's shooting out of its back.

It began to lumber towards them on all four, snarling as it went.

Ichiro smiled. "Have fun! 6...7...8..."

He began to count under his breath.

 

[Ace Cream]

Aya

After making sure that the scroll was safely tucked inside her kimono, Aya listened carefully to their sensei explanation and true to the words, they're welcomed by storm clouds that radiates enough magnetic energy to make their hair stand. It's especially affected the weaver since now she felts like her clothes was dancing and made her ticklish. She didn't have any question so she stayed silent before their sensei vanished from their sight.

During their brief stroll through the terrain, countless lightnings strikes through the sky above them. Constantly reminding her about the place they're in. Aya pulled up her hood to helps dampen the noise even if just a little. Soon they found several stone pillars standing in front of them. Aya noticed some wires between them so she used her dojutsu to get a better look.

"The stone pillars, between them, there's numerous threads. Some thick ones, with many thin ones between them. It's like a net." One of Aya's small eye glanced at her teammates while the other kept scanning the surrounding in case she noticed something else. "What should we do?"

KageYuuki IG42 AtlannianSpy

 

[IG42]

Shibata Yamamoto
Following quietly behind Hayate Shibata glanced around searching for anyone that could be observing their progress, as they climbed his nostrils flared at the scent of ozone and when he went to brush a fallen leaf off his sleeve a static charge stuck it to his hand. "Earplugs must be quite popular around here." He said in between angry rumbles from the sky.

Not having any questions in mind he allowed Hayate to leave and continued onward still on the lookout for tails though the stormy conditions seemed to have wiped out most heavy foliage that could provide cover.

Approaching the tripwire trap Shibata picked out the obvious wires and was struggling to see the thinner ones when Aya confirmed their presence and asked for direction. "This is just the first barrier and we're on a time limit, trying to squeeze our way through would be either too slow or risky. Stand back." Following his own instruction he moved away from stones and created a particularly oversized crystal shuriken. "A rather ham-fisted solution but it's not like they don't know we're here already." Creating an invisible tether to the projectile with his chakra he threw it into the thickest cluster of wires and steered it through carving a clear path triggering a hail of darts as it went. "There we go. Do watch your step though, I'd rather not end up in another pitfall trap."

KageYuuki Ace Cream AtlannianSpy

 

[Ganryu]

Miho has an Aneurysm from Sheer Stupidity
-Team Miho-​

Spoiler

Miho left the tavern behind, dwelling unwillingly on the fragility and brutality of life. All the thoughts and dreams a person held could be cut short in an instant and that instant could come at any time. You might delay the time of reckoning for a while by being careful, but that was all you could ever do: delay and play for time until you finally slipped up. Miho wondered if when her time finally came she’d die with regrets? Maybe she should write to her family? Or hell, ease up on the brats a little. Sure they could be annoying but for the most part they were good kids who-

Suddenly Miho stopped in her tracks, her eyes widening to take in the carnage unfolding before her. Broken signs littered the ground and heaped in corners were injured sign bearers nursing their injuries; someone in a chicken costume was wondering the street unsteadily, bending down to retrieve the torn off arm of their suit before wandering away. Somewhere close by a baby cried mournfully and in the centre of it all was~

“YOU THREE!” Snarled Miho, advancing on her students with murderous intent

“You, sensei! Soooooo, we tried incorporating some jutsu into our performance like you suggested. How’d you think it went?” Sachiko waved. So this is how she died. Funny, Sachiko always imagined it would involve a pun causing an enemy ninja to pull out a vest.

The sign continued to twirl on a finger, and Sachiko circled a little bit away from Shioreta and Wakanaka. Distance was proooobably key. After all, if Miho couldn’t hit them all with one slap she probably wouldn’t.

Shioreta sidesteps a bit away though otherwise stood her ground. She could try to run or try some shinobi trickery, but she wasn’t the fastest out there and there was absolutely no way she could escape Miho. She managed to survive a few missions, that was a big plus for her considering the low bar she set for herself she thought she might of died on day one. Hopefully it would be a quick death. Then again…

“I’m… sorry Sensei. I take full responsibility for this all…” She spoke bowing her head as if in defeat.

“I just simply tried to encourage our team to do our best to outdo the rival store with their sign spinning. They attempted to instigate us and I… I failed at convincing Waka to settle down and stop him from attacking them. I had tried to argue against it but I failed to make a convincing argument against it… again I’m sorry. Please don’t punish Waka even if this is mostly all his fault, it’s my responsibility for not convincing him to stop his assault on those poor helpless people.”

So maybe Shioreta’s idea of accepting defeat involved feigning taking responsibility then throwing one of her teammates under the bus. He did sort of cause most of the damage after all.

“...Fuck you both, some teammates you may be, not only did you all leave me to fight alone you decline to tell the truth…” The young man paused to clean himself of the debris… Cleared his throat.

“The real reason is...HOLY SHIT HE’S BACK!” he pointed past Miho….

Before running for his life towards the alleys of the city.

In the midst of all the commotion, a large crow settled on a sign. It’s wicked talons and a reddened beak indicated it had been warped by living too close to Tsumigakure. There was a black metal band around one of its legs inlaid with a sliver of crystal. It cawed loudly at the trio, a hollow, rasping sound that mimicked laughter. As if it knew how much trouble they were in. With a beat of its wings, the crow took off.

And made a dive at Sachiko’s hat.

Sachiko facepalmed at both of her teammates. You two are almost enough to make me believe in karma... She heard a pop, and looked up to see a crow with her hat… flying off.

“GET BACK HERE YOU CORVID FOPDOODLE!"

Sachiko reached for her pouch, before realizing her entire team was around… She steamed, but took a second. Angrily she just tossed the sign, which turned out to be… not aerodynamic.

“Sensei, would it be alright for you to kick our rear ends, reprimand us, and otherwise punish us… AFTER I KILL THIS CROW!?”

She began to run after it, stumbling on the way, yet it… looked less convincing, Sachiko coming off as more angry than clumsy

“Yeah I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Miho said tiredly, pinching the bridge of her nose. “That crow is above your pay grade. And as for you-” Miho turned her attention to the bird itself which seemed to respond to her focus “Stop messing with my idiot students and do your job, you have a message right?”

The bird locked eyes with Miho and after a short pause, she cursed and rubbed her temple. “Always gives me a damn migraine. Anyway, you two go find Wakanaka and meet me on top of that building,” Miho pointed out a nondescript, grey, three story building across the street that might have been offices.

“We suddenly have something more important to do than me kicking your collective asses into the next century.” Miho said grimly.

A lone figure sat on top of the building, slumped against the door for roof access as he waited for Miho to appear. The upper left quarter of his porcelain mask was missing, the rest cracked. Though the sheer amount of bloodied bandages around his head and left arm alike kept any features from view.

“San,” he raised his head slightly as Miho appeared. “Hope I wasn’t interrupting your fun.”



Sachiko snarled, but changed directions.

”Yes sensei…”

She turned the corner to find where Waka was, only to find a raccoon ruffling through a trashcan. Wait a second… an evil smile lit up Sachiko’s face. She turned to whisper to her teammate.

“Hey, Shio, want to have fun? I had to play sensei last time. It's your turn. Turn into her. Try and get Waka’s attention. I have an idea in the meantime!”

Sachiko then proceeded to sit against the wall, and had her limbs loosely spread out, before making a handsign, and using transformation jutsu to change into… herself, but beat up. It looked like a perfect blow or twenty had sent Sachiko sprawling against the wall. Bruises and torn clothes. Sadly Sachiko wasn’t sure if transformation would let her bend a finger the wrong way, but it wasn't an illusion and she didn’t want to see what would happen if she tried.

She smirked and nodded towards Shio, and made another ‘pssst’ for the transformation sign, before slumping back and giving a fake groan of pain.

Shioreta looked towards Sachiko showing a bit of hesitance as it was. It seemed rather… ill-advised to go pretending to be Miho after all the trouble they were in. While Miho might not be there at the time she had the lingering fear she might be watching somehow. Nonetheless, Shio let out a simple sigh holding her fingers up as a puff of smoke erupted from her body changing her shape into Miho. That look of unease was replaced by a murderous gaze taking up the role of their sensei in what Shioreta imagined to be the pure incarnation of her rage.

“Where are you, you little shit? Don’t you dare think you can hide from me. I’ll give you to the count of three to show your trashy ass otherwise I’ll make sure to burn you out of your hiding and make the living hell you and your squadmates will suffer will be even more hellish than I already planned.” That sounded like what Miho might do as a threat right? At least in Shioreta’s mind it played off like she might say something like that though she couldn’t help but feel she might be overplaying it a bit much… or perhaps not even going far enough.

The words were met with a fearful doubletake… And suddenly a heavy trashbag being tossed at the Miho. “Fuck fuck fuck, I curse those two till my grave god damn it if they survive I’ll haunt their stupid deserting asses for eternity!” his yelling was accompanied by another trashbag, one that burst with… liquid… mid flight, he at least hoped it would give some space before he could scurry off again. He had to make it home, pack his bags, and flee the city.

Run.

Run far and away.

His future destroyed at the whim of two harlots.

He will have his revenge!

Shioreta disguised as Miho hadn’t quite expected Waka to go tossing a trashbag in her direction. She quickly sidestepped the trash bag narrowly, looking in his direction. Thank goodness for his sake she wasn’t the real Miho. She could just imagine the amount of pain that he would have inflicted upon him. She was sure the real Miho would have lit a fire under the garbage can and cook him alive in it. Perhaps toss him in a pit of garbage till he crushed alive in it. Perhaps worst even being turned into some sort of half-rate pirate in a goofy pirate adventure.

“I swear to your god, I’m about to shove my foot right up your a…” She spoke out as if to retaliate verbally as Miho as another garbage bag… a much more unpleasantly filled one came flying to her much too quick for her to evade.

Sachiko groaned again in pain, wiggling her leg to show Wakanaka she’d been taken out and he was next! A Ghost of Christmas Future! Then he threw the trashbags. Shio-Miho must have a plan… right? Right?

Sachiko’s face went neutral. Then Shio-Miho sidestepped it. Sachiko’s eyebrow twitched.

“Waka… what the h-”

A shattering crash could be heard as the bag smeared Sachiko across the alleyway, the bag bleeding strawberry jam in a… remarkable streak all across the alleyway, with all that was visible was Sachiko’s twitching limbs.

As if a final insult, a shard of glass broke the side, tearing the bag, and causing cans and jars to fall out scattering across the alleyway.

Wakanaka witnessed what he had just done with sudden horrifying fear…. “...I…” his eyes wide as he witnessed the sheer moment that the gods have completely abandoned him…

…

Actually fuck that.

Idiots deserved this.

Doesn't stop them being angry. But you know what, serves them right!!!!

...Best he get running again. The young man dismounted from the bin, if they had come to toy with him.. Means Miho had a job rather than trying to kill him. Best he head back. Without a care, he waltzed past the two and looked for Miho… Huh… Dark figure standing on the roof of a building… Sounds like a good enough place to check.

And off he went.

All the while, the crow’s cackling laughter reverberated through the alley. These three had ended up being far more entertaining than anyone else it had to deal with in ages! The cacophonous cawing had reached a crescendo when Sachiko was sent flying by her own teammate. It watched, waiting for her to recover and continue the chaos.

When she didn’t move right away, the large bird fluttered down and gently deposited the ill-gotten hat on top of the murder weapon. It even went so far as to give a respectful bow to the fallen before taking its leave for the rooftops.

Shioreta had fallen back from the bag while not hefty like the first she was far from the sturdy type to really take the blow. Thank goodness she didn’t get hit by the first one though it wasn’t exactly that much better beyond not having her bones broken. No longer in her disguise as Miho Shioreta was practically drenched in things she would rather not know what it was. Her usually bright teal clothing stained dark. The smell was a mixture of something sweet… and something far less pleasant. She shook out her arms trying to get rid of the rather nasty liquids and sludge.

“So… was that all part of your plan? I don’t like this plan very much.” She asked, looking not very amused as a banana peel sat on her head perfectly as if her own ‘hat’ to match Sachiko.

Sachiko’s fingers twitched in the negative as she made a gurgling sound. This was not part of her plan.


From the roof of the building, Miho had a reasonable view of her genin’s antics as they dissolved into flinging trash at each other.

“W-Why?” She asked no one in particular, with something like tired disbelief “I don’t even…” Miho turned back to Rin. “You know I would trade places with you right now injuries and all, at least you’re allowed to kill whoever fucked up your day. I hope if you look that bad you at least gave em something to remember you by. More importantly though I presume you want my help if you sent your little pet after me.”

Rin stood beside her, overlooking the chaos below. Though he swayed slightly, “I’m almost impressed. They at least lasted a little longer the first time around.” He gave a small shrug, “I at least drew blood, about as much as I can ask against someone that managed to survive against the Tsumikage.”

He turned back to face her, “Need to get a message delivered, a warning, was hoping you could finish the job. I know it’s against protocol, but the Tsumikage was adamant our friends in Kabegakure got the message. Even if they’re likely to just laugh it off. Was about halfway there when I was jumped.” Rin leaned against the wall and sighed, “You wouldn’t happen to still carry sunset breath would you?”

“Oh I never leave home without my kit,” Miho said, fishing out a small vial from one of her pockets and tossing it lightly to Rin. “That stuff’s expensive though so make sure you get back to the village so you can pay me back. The kids and I will take the message on, hell maybe a visit to the nastiest prison on earth will scare em straight,”

“Thank you,” Rin tucked the vial in a pouch for the time being. Applying the numbing mixture could wait another few minutes. “I can take the kids back to the village if you’d rather.” His voice lowered, “Juuchi Fuyu was stolen, sure you can realize why Kabegakure needs warned. Unless you’re planning on using them for cover?” He nodded towards the alley, “They definitely have a knack for distractions.”

Miho sighed. “As much as I’d like to make them someone else’s problem for a while I don’t think I can afford to. There might still be hostiles operating in the area and you’ll have your hands full avoiding trouble in that state even without three kids slowing you down,”

Miho walked to the edge of the building. “You three!” She barked down at the genin. “We’re on the move!”

More guggling came, along with a faint muffled ‘-elp…’.

A snap to could be heard from down below from the only standing member. “Yes sensei!”

Shioreta debated responding back but Waka’s response worked fine enough only nodding lightly in response from the ground. She was a bit busy spitting up god knows what that felt like it slipped into her mouth when she spoke a moment ago.

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Okimi Bajirisuku

When Okimi had read about Akuma, and pictured them in her mind, she didn't expect anything like what had come before them. She had thought the bear would show and just have some scary red eyes, and some longer dark fur. But this... this was something she could have never hoped to have predicted. A familiar rough hide pressed itself against her leg. She looked down to see Feurey coiling himself around her leg. She could tell he was just as nervous about all this as she was, but he didn't say anything to her.

Okimi looked to Kurio, then to the newcomer, and then finally to Ichiro. They each had different expressions on their face, but Ichiro-sensei didn't look bothered in the slightest. I guess it was obvious that someone like him would be used to something like this. A sharp breath shot between her teeth as she turned back to the approaching bear. She had to be a squad leader, and being frightened would help her do it. Okimi cursed her weakness as she turned to Kurio and her new teammate.

"Stick to ranged attacks until we can figure out a suitable way to defeat the beast. I cannot have one of you getting zapped to death while I'm the squad leader."

Okimi glanced back at the bear. Her eyes squinted. "Feurey and I will light it up for a bit, so hopefully that slows it down in time for a weakness to show up. Follow me and spread out once we get close."

With that said, Okimi turned and dashed in the direction of the bear with Feurey following close behind her. The closer she got to the bear, the more apparent its size became, and Okimi was able to see it's monstrous features better as well. She skidded to a halt by a tree and formed a quick series of handsigns while Feurey ran straight at the bear. He changed his course to run around it, just as he let out a brief torrent of flame at the bear. Feurey didn't stay long though, he quickly retreated after firing off the flames, not wanting to get turned into a dragon pancake. Meanwhile, Okimi had launched a small slow moving ball of flames towards the bear's center.

Ganryu S n o w KageYuuki