Fandom Naruto: Seiryūden

[DreamBeat]

Suzume Muranami


@The Architect @SwiftThunder

​

As Hayato-sensei threw the bell up into the air, Suzume's eyes followed it up, only noticing that Hayato-sensei disappeared for a second when he reappeared with a scroll in his hand. That was not body flicker, she knew. He was just really, really fast. Or faster than her. This just reminded her how hard she needed to work in order to become strong. What Hayato-sensei did next surprised her almost as much as it surprised Juro. The puppet that appeared in a cloud of smoke from the scroll was being controlled by Hayato-sensei by one hand. Yes, he wasn't exactly doing it correctly, but it was hard for her to just hold up something as heavy as a puppet, no less move it, when she tried chakra strings.


She nervously smiled as her went from Hayato-sensei to Juro, who she thought would be irritated at the fact that their sensei just basically stole his puppet to use it. She tensed when his mouth opened and she could see glints of silver from his mouth. That was not good... Though she couldn't say that Hayato-sensei couldn't have seen it coming. To her relief, Juro closed his mouth for a reason unknown to her and introduced his puppet.


“That one is Haya.” Juro began as he shut the mouth and released his chakra strings, “I crafted him to be light, even with his metal swords and the senbon cartridges in his stomach he is still agile,” Juro paused and removed his grin while maintaining a purposefully dull tone. “As long as you know how to use him,” He quipped while unintentionally allowing, though slight, irritation to seep into his words.


Ah... Yes, there was the irritation she was looking for. Juro was kind of hard to read sometimes because he was often quiet and rarely smiled. So when he smiled when he talked about his puppet, that was the first time she had ever seen him smile. Suzume thought that a smile looked nice on his face. Maybe if she offered him a tangerine, he would show his smiling face again. It was also the first time she had seen him irritated. She could kind of understand why. Both Juro and Suzume knew that Hayato-sensei obviously didn't know how to use the puppet from the way the puppet was moving, though she thought that the jonin could figure it out with enough practice.


"Ano..." she started, "Is there a reason you're showing us that you can.. control Juro-san's puppet?"

 

[Hellkite]

Kokuro set her jaw and raised a low growl in the back of her throat. Her fists were clenched, and her eye shifted between each Gennin in turn, fixing them with a fierce glare.


"Enough." She hissed. "All of you."


She glanced at the Jounin standing nearby and made a shooing motion.


"We'll be using this platform for training. I suggest you leave."


The shinobi looked hesitant then dispersed in a blur of movement, leaving only Team 4 behind. Kokuro stalked to the centre of the space, then turned to face her pupils.


"You three are supposed to be a team. Stop squabbling, and act like it." She glowered at them, her gaze shifting to Ichiro. "You have a grudge against me, fine. But by storming and whining and throwing a tantrum you only give credence to the Village's belief that Cursed Children are worthless, unwanted brats."


Kokuro scowled.


"Nothing will change until you get strong, Ichiro, and right now you can only bark, not bite." She jabbed a finger at Kyouka and Hikaru in turn. "That's why you have a team. To watch your back and help you get stronger. That is the way of the Leaf Village, something that an Akimichi like yourself really should understand by now. Until you comprehend that, nothing will change."


Kokuro paused for a moment, taking a steadying breath to collect her thoughts and settle her seething temper.


"So we're going to start training right now, so that you all can become stronger. Ichiro, if you can land a hit on me, just one hit, then you can leave. I'll arrange to have you transfered to another team and you won't have to see me ever again. If you're not good enough, then I will remain your sensei. Kyouka, Hikaru, I want you to help him. Come at me with all you've got; if Ichiro can't hit me, then I'll send the pair of you back to the academy until you learn to work with your teammates."


Kokuro adjusted her stance, standing with her feet shoulder-width apart and folding her arms across her chest. Then, as an afterthought, she adjusted her headband until it covered her eye.


"I'll make it easier for you; I'll fight blind. The exercise starts now."


I wonder what they'll do, Kuruko thought. When they spot the flaw in my terms...


@The Architect


@KaiaWolf


@Edward Valentine

 

[SeaTea]

@The Architect @DreamBeat @Sha


Kyoden's eyes were still slightly widened as he regarded his sensei. In part due to the fact that he had disappeared and reappeared in what had to be the span of a few seconds, and was no almost leisurely wielding a fairly terrifying construct. He was honestly surprised that Juro wielded such a weapon at his command, and it left his mind to wander about all of the other possibly dangerous weapons he, and even their teammate Suzume to wield. The clans looked after their own indeed.


He could almost hear the grating in Juro's voice; it was his property after all, and something so meticulously well-kept must have had some value, much like Kyoden's own tonfa. He could only imagine as to how much had gone into the creation of such a tool like this 'Haya' and wondered if their sensei intended to perform this strange trick for all of his new charges.


It was then that he heard Suzume speak

"Ano..." she started, "Is there a reason you're showing us that you can.. control Juro-san's puppet?"

Kyoden watched his sensei handle the puppet with a bit of strain with one hand. The simple fact that he could move it at all without triggering some without a doubt vicious trap on the puppet was quite the call of skill. Kyoden adapted a pondering pose as they continued to walk, trying to go through every possible reason for this display of skill. some things became slightly more obvious, like their teacher just going to show that he was in fact strong, and perhaps even stronger than some of the other Jounin of the village. It could be to try gauge their reactions to such a simple theft of one of their belongings. There were more half-brained theories that ran through his head, but he figured he might as well begin addressing them.
He addressed his musings out loud. "It was certainly a great display of skill, no doubt. Maybe that was why; or, maybe it's to prove to some kind of other point to us, or discover more about us? These are just theories of course, not the truth. Ne sensei, will you inform us as to hope, or maybe even why?"


He left his words hang there; he didn't know if what he said had toed a line he had no idea had even been there, but his curiosity was getting the best of him. He simply regarded the back of Hayato-sensei as they walked, wondering if he would actually answer anything to the point.

 

[Pariah Stark]

@Hellkite @KaiaWolf @Edward Valentine
​

"No," Ichirō replied. His reply was calm and nearly a murmur. If anything, it was the calmest he had been since he was assigned to Kokuro.


"I will not play your stupid games," he told the other three on the platform. Ichirō sat down, crossing his legs and closing his eyes. He placed one hand as a fist into his other other palm, and simply began to meditate. It was a simple technique, getting in touch with his chakra. Kokoru could easily see it; it was how Genin were first taught to even sample their chakra. Ichirō was literally defying her by training himself in his own active way.


Ichirō smirked.


"Besides, if you aren't bluffing, my teammates now have to listen to me. If they don't, I won't help them, and you send them back to academy," Ichirō said aloud. Ichirō rolled his neck as he sat still, letting it pop loudly. He then added, "I might not mind seeing Kyouka back at the academy; and that pampered Uzumaki kid could use some seasoning." From that point on, however, Ichirō was silent. Besides, he knew that if his sensei was fighting 'blind', then she had some trick up her sleeve. Chakra sensor, maybe. Didn't matter, it wasn't a fair fight to begin with.

@Sha @DreamBeat @SwiftThunder
​

"Nope," Hayato replied to them as he continued to toy with the puppet. Although now that Juro had attached a thread to it to use its mouth, Hayato stumbled onto its triggering mechanisms. "I've never got to play with a real puppet before, but I've always wanted one. The Ningya were so stingy with them," he added. At this point, the group was in the thick forest boundary near the training grounds. They had already past the dirt roads to training grounds one and two, so the fourth from here would lead them to their new one.


"Oh, by the way," Hayato tossed the hand holding the gold ball over his shoulder and pointed at Juro. In just a moment, Juro felt his hand being tugged roughly, enough to easily make him stumble. "Playing with it while I am is rude," Hayato said him with a sly smirk. Juro already had his chakra threads out, normally intangible. But, Hayato connected his own chakra threads to Juro's and it made for a fantastic, unseen prank. Or, at least it was in his mind.


"Your assignment will have nothing to do with puppets," he told them. At this point, he was actually picking up the use of the puppet. It was moving in more streamline movements, but it was still choppy. Not only that, he was avoiding using its extremities and weapons. It would appear that Hayato was a natural with the puppet, but the real explanation was in his chakra threads. "You see, my jutsu require hundreds of chakra threads all under my control. Pretty sure I could use even more, but I have no need to," he explained. His White Noise Zone was literally nothing but chakra threads and bells. "What I'm figuring out now is that each of these threads do dozens of things while my normal threads normally only do two or three. This would take a few days practice before I'd get better than Juro... at least with one hand," Hayato explained. It was one of the few times he had been serious since they met. He explained the difficulties of puppeteering in comparison to even his own jutsu.

 

[SeaTea]

@The Architect @Sha @DreamBeat


Kyoden was honestly astonished as he listened to his sensei speak on the fundamentals of manipulating the puppet. It would definitly not be the last time he felt a bit gob-smacked at how experienced this man was. He had never even seen Hayato-sensei's chakra strings attached to Juro, and he would be lying if he had spotted Juro's straight off either; it was quite the feat of talent for both involved, and fairly humbling to his own talents with jutsu. He was seriously lucky, at least from an experience perspective, to be able to train while under his tutelage. That was of course, if he managed to actually wean any training out at all with such a potentially powerful group around him. Kyoden tried to shake those thoughts, but simply regarding their team sensei's abilities firsthand, the nature of the puppet that was Juro's, and he did not even know what exactly Suzume could do, but the Muranami clan was known for a reason in the village.


He would have to step into his new training without a second thought; otherwise he might not even make it out of a genin before he was sent home packing, and that was not acceptable. "Wow Sensei, to pick up on a whole technique in a few days time? I've only heard stories about that kind of ability." He allowed a smile to slip onto his face, hoping to forget any darker thoughts from before. "Although Sensei, if Juro-san's puppets have nothing to do with our assignment, then maybe we hear about this assignment you have for us. You know, jump right in." He turned his gaze to his teammates while maintaining his smile, "I figure we're all ready to get started by now, after making it this far; what do you say Juro-san, Suzume-san?." He was starting to get anxious, and there could literally be an unknowable amount of assignments that three freshly assigned genin could become a part of.


Kyoden tried to calm himself by recounting all of his equipment off in his head and trying to remember where he had placed everything, or if he had forgotten something important; that always was the way it seemed to go in the scenarios that had played out in his head while still in the academy. 'Okay belt - Sound bombs in back, smoke bombs, shuriken back right-' This list was repeated silently within Kyoden's mind as he regarded his comrades, all the while trying to ignore the noticeable bead of sweat that began to slide down his neck and back.

 

[Sha]

@The Architect


Juro felt his arm tug forward. His body was unprepared and as a result lurched forward as Hayato made his remark. The boy would have faceplanted into the ground had they not been surrounded by trees to which Juro connected chakra strings extending from his left hand. With a bend of his elbow he pulled his half-fallen body back onto his feet with a gracefulness which surprised even himself, though his face made no indication of his own surprise. Growing up a Ningya one becomes familiar with chakra threads and their use from a very young age which allowed Juro to notice Hayato-sensei had not attached his threads to Juro’s body, but rather, to Juro’s retracting chakra threads themselves. His eyes remained dull but his eyebrows now curved into a soft frown; the odd combination made it seem as though he were trying to figure something out which he did not care enough to understand. Before he could speak Hayato continued on, describing his own jutsu, as well as its relation to puppeteering.


“Hundreds?” Juro reflected, “He can control hundreds of threads at a time? I wonder if the legendary puppeteer of the Red Sand could even use that many.” A sense of respect rose within the young Genin as the thought passed through his mind; he had never related any shinobi to the long-dead puppeteer whom Juro idolized; a shinobi more legend than history.


Kyoden was quick to respond: He turned his gaze to his teammates while maintaining his smile, "I figure we're all ready to get started by now, after making it this far; what do you say Juro-san, Suzume-san?"


“Not yet,” Juro began bluntly; returning Kyodens glance while ignoring his new sensei’s remark regarding the stinginess of his clan as he now assumed that Hayato was fishing for a reaction. One of Juro’s talents lay in his ability to keep composed in most all situations and brush off offensive words, though so far, today was an exception. By now his nervousness and excitement had completely dissipated allowing for his voice to return to its usual dull, matter-of-fact tone, “I didn’t realize others outside the clan could use chakra threads like that, which means there could be enemies who can, too.” Juro paused briefly; the furrow of his brow deepened as his eyes returned to the road ahead, “I should add traps. Traps which will injure the thief should he try and steal them from me in battle,” Juro released the tension upon his brow and moved his eyes to Hayato who walked just ahead and to the left of him, “But most people who could take control of a puppet would be a puppeteer themselves and know where to attach the strings. Hayato-sensei, can a shinobi’s individual chakra be identified by their threads to prevent me from triggering them?”

 

[Hellkite]

Kokuro opened her eye and rolled it.


As expected, he's too obstinate. I'm not surprised; now its time to turn this around on him...


"You're a real of piece of work, y'know that? I'd hoped that your being an Akimichi would make you care more about your comrades. Clearly I was mistaken; you really do have no place in that family, just like people say. You wonder why the village seems to despise you?"


Kokuro closed her eye again, returning Ichiro's smirk. Inside, her stomach was churning with dislike for this kid.


"It's not entirely because you're a cursed child; its because you're an arrogant, self-centred brat convinced that the world is conspiring against you. Fine, lets turn this little challenge on its head. Ichiro, if they don't hit me, you'll be send back to the academy."


Kokuro shrugged, a thin-lipped smile curling her mouth.


"Not pleasant having your fate held by your teammates, is it? Especially now they've seen what you'd have done to them. They could just leave, I'd go file the paperwork, and tomorrow Team 4 would be a two-man team."


Kokuro shrugged.


"Doesn't bother me, really. And you'd must be setting a record for the shortest career as a Gennin in the Leaf. Thirty minutes before you were sent back to the academy... Impressive."


@The Architect


@KaiaWolf


@Edward Valentine

 

[Pariah Stark]

@Hellkite @KaiaWolf @Edward Valentine
​

"Go ahead," Ichirō replied. "I graduated fourth in this class; send me back a year, I'll graduate first. Maybe I'll get a decent sensei next year," he added.


He remained still. Silent. Calm. This Ichirō was entirely different than the one from a moment ago. His concentrate and focus on his chakra never faltered as he spoke, and he spoke with absolution. Forcing Ichirō to do anything was proving more and more difficult by the minute.


"But you?" he said. "You would go back on your word - a lair then, a liar now," he continued, "you thought they could convince me and they can't, so you try to force me. You would change the deal in your favor... that's the exact thing I'm going to change. So, no, the rules will stay the exact same as they were when you first said them. I will sit here, you won't touch me, you can't force me to chase you and you will send them back to the academy." Ichirō continued in his calm demeanor. As a matter of fact, calming him down was likely just as bad of an idea as enraging him. When he thought clearly, it was hard to bluff him. He spent his whole life being abused by others and lied to; he had no trust.


"You should wonder what I will tell Chōzen when he asks me about today. I will tell him you are a liar and a terrible sensei. I will tell him you have no honor - that you changed your deals and abused your power over and over. I bet he'll tell all that to the elders and Hokage, too," Ichirō said, still calm and still focused.


"I'm not moving from this spot... and you can't make me."

 

[Hellkite]

Kokuro took a deep steadying breath. When she next spoke, it was with a voice laced with malice. Gone was Kokuro the teacher. Here was Kokuro the ANBU, Bloody Harpy of the Leaf.


"You overstep yourself, Gennin." She hissed. "I am trying to teach a class. This is your first lesson; a lesson you have just failed. You are a child, a naive, arrogant, whining child. Be stubborn if you want. Go squealing to Chozen if you want. You presume to be able to dictate what I can and cannot do. You presume wrong."


Kokuro opened her eye. It glinted with a suppressed fury.


I don't care what this boy labels me. He has tampled on the actions of those who died in the Fifth Shinobi War, and insists on wearing their sacrifices as a shield he hasn't earned. I have been patient with him; more patient than I would have ever thought I could be. But patience has its limits. If nothing else, I have the other two Gennin to consider. They don't deserve to be denied their chance to train by one petulant child.





"Lightning Release Chakra Mode"





For a moment Kokuro stood still, surrounded by a blue haze of lightning chakra, her hair floating upwards from static electricity. Then with a flash she was gone, moving at speeds almost too fast to track with the naked eye. She reappeared behind Ichiro, giving him a rough shove to the shoulder to spill his sitting position, then taking him by the scruff of the neck and propelling him towards Hikaru and Kyouka.


"I said the exercise had started, did I not?" Kokuro growled. "The three of you, defend yourselves. Ichiro, we play by my rules. If your comrades -who might I add are already ten-times the Shinobi you are- don't hit me, you go back to the academy. Today. Your choice, make it quickly."


Kokuro lowed the energy of her chakra mode slightly, and with some reluctance. This was only training. There was no need to go all out against Gennin. Her words to Ichiro had been harsh, she knew that. But equally she loathed almost everything she had seen about the boy. He had guts, true, but his attitude, the way he treated his comrades, and how he villified those who had died for him during the Fifth War were too much for her to express.


Kokuro nodded to the Gennin, offering a reassuring smile to Hokaru and Kyouka, favouring Ichiro with nothing more than a glare.


@The Architect @KaiaWolf @Edward Valentine

 

[Pariah Stark]

@Hellkite @KaiaWolf @Edward Valentine
​

"Lightning Release Chakra Mode"

. . .
​

'The Akimichi Clan are front line fighters, Ichirō. Most shinobi aren't. They hide in the shadows and rarely come into the light. They use techniques that let them fight without coming into contact with you. If any shinobi tries to come at you, always assume it is for the kill. But, what better way to kill a man than to stab him in the back? That is the way of assassins. If you can see them, chances are, you're looking in the wrong direction.' Ichirō remembered the words of the Clan Head, Chōzen. He was taught by him and the other few elite of the clan. The Akimichi, like the Inuzuka, were a rare type of front line shinobi. They fought out in the daylight with raw power, and because of that, they were often left open to all sorts of attacks. The multi-size technique normally helped deal with that, but Ichirō couldn't use it as actively as his peers. Instead, he focused on his taijutsu and his technique. He trusted nothing. And, when he was trained to question everything, he took to it naturally.


The moment Ichirō felt her chakra spike, he prepared. The moment she vanished, he acted. She was fast, but he was acting blindly. He made a simple guess: she would either attack direct from the front or behind him; that was the way of an assassin. He knew he couldn't match her speed, but he could act preemptively. The second her electric chakra, a buzzing sensation felt by all the genin, vanished, he jolted straight up into a horse stance. Ichirō then threw out both of his fists, one in front of him and one behind him - directly where Kokoru intended on appearing. As his fists shot out, they grew to ten times their size and were enhanced with ten times his natural strength - this was the Partial Multi-Size Technique. She may have been faster, but Ichirō was taunting her from the beginning. He wanted her to attack him because the moment she did, he was going to use the element of surprise. If she thought he was refusing to cooperate, then the alternative that he was creating an opening would never occur to her - so was his belief.

 

[Hoax]

Oh how ready Kyouka was for this.


Hearing the terms switch was the most relieving thing in the world, an audible sigh escaping her throat. Hikaru she could work with, he just seemed mildly lazy. The angry Akimichi had his own plans of course, jumping into the fray before Kyouka could even ask a question.


But as soon as Lightning Release came into play, she went serious shinobi nerd. That was almost exactly the kind of thing she wanted to do with herself in the future, so while still on guard, the blonde watched Kuroko carefully. No hand symbols, no obvious pause to channel the chakra, nothing. Just electric energy all around, nothing to explain how she did it so effortlessly.


Damn. Now she wanted to impress her so much more, if only in order to learn that.


"Hey Uzumaki... We working together like she said, or are you gonna flake?" Kyouka asked, glancing over at the other boy. If he wouldn't work with her, any chance of hitting Kuroko was greatly slimmed. Still possible if she was anywhere near as strong as she'd like to think, but it would take everything in her and more. Keeping an eye on the other two for safety reasons, she waited for a response from Hikaru and cracked her knuckles.


@The Architect

 

[Hellkite]

Koruko saw the punch coming, her reflexes enhanced far beyond human capability by the Lightning release. She twisted to the side, moving past Ichiro and skidding to a stop. Turning to face the Gennin, she gave him a begrudging nod.


"You're annoying, but not completely witless it seems. Nice move."


Kokuro glanced around. She was stood near the railing of the circular platform, Ichiro standing slightly to her left, Hikaru and Kyouka slightly to her right. She smiled.


"Kokuro's 3rd rule for shinobi," she said, "always maintain situational awareness; especially when outnumbered."


She made a sequence of handsigns, closing her left eye as she did so.


"Lightning Release: Electrolocation."





Kokuro felt a tingling behind her both eyes as the jutsu took hold. Where before with her eye closed there had been darkness, now there was light. To her the situation appeared as though it was an artist's sketch; the platform, the railing and the Gennin silhoutted by the white lines of electrical fields, their outlines superimposed onto a grey background. If it carried an electrical charge, Kokuro could see and sense it; offering her 360 degrees of awareness over the practice area. She gave a wry smile.


"Now, even if I only have one, I can always keep an eye on you. And as for Kokuro's 4th rule: where possible, always try to remove the enemies advantage before they can make use of it."


"Wind Release, Flying Technique."





Kokuro weaved handsigns with the ease that only comes from practice. With a final flourish, she took off into the air, coming to hover a little way above the Gennin, just out of their reach.


"I have a load of rules, but those two are important. Remember them." Kokuro looked down at Kyouka. "Come on, kid, don't hold back. Show me what you've got."


@The Architect @KaiaWolf @Edward Valentine

 

[Pariah Stark]

@KaiaWolf @Hellkite @Edward Valentine
​

Ichirō opened his eyes, followed Kokuro as she darted around. She was fast. Too fast. She could start and stop her motions when his were predetermined. He had the advantage; he commit to the act... and her speed alone was enough to overcome him. Ichirō outwit her; he was sure of it. Her skill was just too far beyond his for it to matter. Ichirō looked over to Kyouka and grinned, "If you're as smart as you are pretty, you figured out what I was doing the whole time. Make a plan to lay a hand on this bitch; I'm going to be the only distraction you'll need."


Ichirō then released his chakra again, allowing his own chakra to mix with the cursed chakra from before. It wasn't nearly as potent as it was when he was enraged, but it was there. "If you wanna see it so bad," Ichirō told her, "let me show you what I can do. You only got a taste." He was aware she was talking to Kyouka, but Ichirō was hellbent on making sure Kyouka maintained the element of surprise alongside Hikaru. He had no idea what either of them could do, and neither did Kokuro. That was their last advantage and their only hope of landing a finger on her. The reality was that she outclassed them in every conceivable way; even outwit, she could make up for it. Ichirō let this fact be the motivation for his rage, and he began using that to fuel himself. By this time, his arms had returned to normal size; the first jutsu didn't last long - it was meant to be a quick impact and a sly technique.


"Besides, I already went back on my word - might as well make the best of it," Ichirō said before he launched himself at her. Ichirō used his sheer strength to project himself into the air like a missile; most shinobi could jump high, leap through trees and run faster than any civilian, but Ichirō could do so in such short bursts that it was impressive. Completely linear, of course, but that was beside the point. As Ichirō flew through the air, he lifted up his arms and locked his hands, then expanded them again. By the time he tried to slam his fists down onto Kokoru, they were the size of a small caravan and were coming at her at an alarming speed. At least, to any onlooker. Kokoru was, after all, a veteran Jounin, but it was a fact the three of them were outclassed anyway.

 

[Ilstead]

Hikaru looked at the woman who he could barely follow with his eyes now flying in the air. How is this even possible. How could he compete with that. She wants us to hit her but Hikaru was terrified that if he got anywhere close to here his hand might de-attach from his body.


Hikaru glanced over to the raging self-absorbed genin who only cares about the past that it blinds him from changing the present.


Hikaru looks over to the blonde girl as she speaks to him. It sounds fuzzy under the tension of the fight at first, but soon he comes to hear what she has to say.


"Kyouka, how are we suppose to work together when this isn't our fight? We're suppose to be a team but this fatty took it upon himself to fight Jonin that is faster than I can see and can fly. Im sure if she wanted to she could kill us in an instant. She wants us to hit her our of this kids stupidity....."


Hikaru starts to rub his temples. He didnt prepare for a fight. He doesnt have any of his ninja tools. He only has his taijutsu. This wasn't end well even if he did try to fight her.

 

[Hoax]

(Just noticed I've been spelling Kokuro's name wrong this entire time... Sorry about that! ^^


"Isn't our fight? Are you joking?" Kyouka muttered, rolling her shoulders a few times. This damn kid seemed to have already given up, without trying anything.


"Look, do what you want. But I would rather stab myself with 73 kunai than go back an entire year just because someone has a grudge."


Taking Kokuro's comment into account, the blonde took a deep breath and calmed herself down a bit. She couldn't do much other than physical fighting yet, and she'd left most of her throwable objects at home. Their teacher could currently fly, and from what Kyouka understood see in every singe direction. Oof, this was gonna be tough.


Letting the Jounin's front be occupied by the Akimichi boy, Kyouka launched herself into the air behind her. Spinning around, she executed a strong kick towards Kokuro's midsection and hoped to not get electrocuted via proximity. She didn't dream the attack would ever connect, simply prepared for retaliation and the possibilities that came with it.


@The Architect @Edward Valentine

 

[Hellkite]

From her vantage point, Kokuro watched the Gennin. She smiled as Ichiro conferred with Kyouka, withholding any comment in case she shattered the fragile alliance that had been formed.


"Come on then, lets see what you've got," she called as Ichiro leapt into the air, maintaining her current altitude and tracking the boy's trajectory with her Electrolocation. The attack didn't seem too threatening; a diversionary ploy at best.


He's an Akimichi though. Kokuro thought. So he'll be using his expansion jutsu. I can't let him surprise me with the same jutsu twice...


When Ichiro's fists expanded, Kokuro gave a satisfied grunt.


Perfect. Now I just have to-


Her electrolocation reported a sudden flair of energy, a large, person-like electrical field suddenly rushing towards her back. Kokuro wasn't yet familiar enough to be able to discern her pupil's chakra from one another, but she could only assume that either Hikaru or Kyouka was taking advantage of Ichiro's distraction.


Excellent. Kokuro thought, cutting the chakra flow to her flying technique so that she suddenly plummeted towards the ground, away from Ichiro's and Kyouka's attacks.They're working as a team. Now if only Hikaru got involved, they might be able to start pushing me.


Her landing was catlike in its agility, dropping into a crouch to cushion her fall as the Gennin flew over her head. Wasting no time, she made a sequence of signs before pressing her hands to the ground.


"Telegram Flash!"


Electricity arced out in every direction From the point of contact, writhing across the platform floor. Kokuro took great care with its power; stripping away chakra until the jutsu could do little more than give a light shock. Maintaining her crouched position, Kokuro waited for the Gennin to land in her trap and mentally checked her chakra levels. She grimaced slightly.


I've never been that good at long fights. She thought. And my stamina only gets worse with age. It's just as well I stopped the Flying Technique; I should take it easier from now on if I want to keep the match going.





@The Architect @KaiaWolf @Edward Valentine


(Writing from mobile, so apologies if it reads funny in places!)

 

[Ilstead]

The shock that rippled against the ground and through Hikaru sent a jolt that rippled through him. It sent a shock to his core and thats when he came back to reality he was pissed. He was pissed that this Akimichi was being self-centered. He was pissed that the emo orphan had said he was flaking. He was pissed at himself because he knew it was true.


He took off towards the old had without a moments notice. He reached down to draw a kunai but he didnt have his gear. Instead he had pen in his pocket. He took on the pen and clicked its ballpoint end into view. He was charging his sensei with a pen.


As he was running towards the sensei, he glanced over to the two waiting to see what would happen. He had a plan in his head that would charge up to her and do a jump flip over her as a distraction as the two on the ground would swipe for her and maybe go for a kidney shot. He would maybe bring the old hag down a peg by stabbing her jugular with a ball point pen.


When he got up to the part where he had to enact his plan, he did just that. He pushed off on the ground and launched himself through the air, propelling himself higher by flipping and using the moment of legs to torque his hips over his teacher as he came to launch his ball point pen at her.


@The Architect @KaiaWolf @Hellkite

 

[Hellkite]

Kokuro's electrolocation sensed Hikaru coming, and the Jounin made full use of her Lightning Chakra mode to dart out of the way. Her eyes widened in surprise as she saw the pen, then narrowed again in concentration. The moment Hikaru had attacked, Kokuro had been forced to abandon her Telegram Flash jutsu; Ichiro and Kyouka could now land free of injury. Now she faced three united opponents who, while only Gennin, could still land a hit on her through sheer weight of numbers if they attacked in unison.


Kokuro nodded her approval at the trio.


"Now you're acting like a team, you might just stand a chance at winning." She said. "You three work together better than I expected you to."


Kokuro felt a low, wrenching feeling in the pit of her stomach. Her chakra was starting to dwindle; even for the best, maintaining a chakra cloak while performing other jutsu simultaneously was exhausting, especially when Kokuro had to take such pains to avoid hurting her pupils. She allowed her Lightning Chakra to recede slightly, but visibly. Where there was once a pulsating blue aura, now there was only a pale haze.


Now's their time to press the attack. She thought. They can have me on the defensive; I won't fight back too hard. After all, this is only a training exercise, not real combat.





@The Architect


@KaiaWolf


@Edward Valentine

 

[Hoax]

Inhaling sharply as her target dropped out of reach, Kyouka's mind went into overdrive. Things happened very fast in the next few moments, between Hikaru finally getting into the fray and forcing Kokuro to break her Jutsu.


The ground no longer electrical, Kyouka hit the platform and fell naturally into a crouch. Not letting her momentum stop, she leaned forwards onto the toes of her feet and shot towards the Jonin again. This time there was three of them, even Kokuro couldn't defend against all of them at once without at least someone landing a hit.


As she got close, the blonde aimed for the older woman's spine with another kick. Hikaru was doing a fantastic job of keeping Kokuro distracted, and while she was aware that their target could see in every direction constantly, Kyouka saw that she was still surprised earlier. Perhaps despite the electrolocation, one still had to focus on one or two things at once? Going off the assumption that this would at least distract the Jonin more, maybe for Hikaru to attack again, she stayed cautious and kept her hands close to her face in case of retaliation.


@The Architect

 

[DreamBeat]

Suzume Muranami
@The Architect @SwiftThunder

Suzume let out a soft, sheepish laugh that gave away that she was not that impressed by his seemingly childish antics. Despite that, she knew that what he was doing was no small feat. It was actually pretty hard. Next to her, Juro suddenly jerked forward, startling her and making her jump slightly. She looked over to Juro to see that his hand was slightly held out with chakra threads Suzume surmised was not Juro's from what she could gather from the slight quirk of Hayato-sensei's lips. It wasn't exactly funny to her, though.


"Your assignment will have nothing to do with puppets," Hayato-sensei said. His control of the puppet seemed more controlled, but still a jerky. He then explained in a manner that made her think that he actually cared about their team's education for once. Although they've only met for a couple of minutes, her first impression of him wasn't one of amazement. It was... normal. However, when he explained why he was able to control the puppet, she found her respect for the man flicker on. She smiled. It was amazing that he was confident that he would be better than Juro at controlling puppets, regardless of whether it was with one hand or not. In fact, it was amazing how he could control hundreds of chakra threads. I mean, yes, her clan made use of chakra threads, but she didn't think even most of her clan could use hundreds of chakra threads. Back when they first met, she remembered that Hayato-sensei said that he wasn't well as well known as the other jonin. She wondered why that was... Juro's clan was a clan specializing in using puppets, so she thought that Juro would've known how to control a puppet by now. But then again... she didn't know any advanced jutsu from her clan either.


Kyoden turned to the team and spoke before either she or Juro could comment on anything. "I figure we're all ready to get started by now, after making it this far; what do you say Juro-san, Suzume-san?"


“Not yet,” Juro deadpanned. Her smile grew bigger at that, finding it a bit funny. Admittedly, she kind of wanted to get started as well, but Juro simply continued. He mentioned his use of chakra threads and that enemies could probably use them too, that he should add traps. She was about to interject to say that she could use chakra threads too, but Juro asked a question that caught her attention. Instead of commenting, she shifted her gaze from Juro to her sensei in front of her, curious about his answer.


"I'm a chakra thread user too, so I guess I'm curious about that too."

 

[Pariah Stark]

The Architect & KaiaWolf @Hellkite @Edward Valentine
​

Ichirō noticed Hikaru finally taking initiative, and in doing so, seemingly freeing the field for their use. As he fell from the air, he tossed down three smokebombs at Kyouka and behind her. After landing, he rushed at Kyouka and screamed, "Hikaru! Keep her busy!" Meanwhile, he darted into the smoke cloud he created and pulled Kyouka with him. As he ran by her, he lowly added, "you need to come with me."


Within the smoke, it was impossible to see what the Genin were doing. Electrolocation might have given outlines, but when the shinobi made clones of themselves, it was impossible to tell which was which without locking onto their chakra signatures. Just after their creation, the genin ran out after Kokuro and Hikaru. Two Kyouka copies circled her while a single Ichirō tried to back up behind them. Meanwhile, another Ichirō launched himself into the air with another massive jump, then enlarged his arms to bring them down like a sledge hammer onto Kokuro and Hikaru. As it appeared, Kyouka and Ichirō had no intention of letting either Kokuro or Hikaru escape the brute force of the Partial Expansion Jutsu.

 

[Hellkite]

Ducking under Kyouka's kick, Kokuro darted backwards, putting space between herself and the Gennin even as Ichiro dropped his smoke-bombs. Looking through the smoke with her electrolocation, Kokuro saw the pair divide into several clones, splitting up to attack her from several angles. She smiled even as the gennin bore down on her.


Clever. She thought. They don't know the secret behind my eyes, but by splitting up with clones they've foiled that advantage quite nicely, even if by accident. She let her lightning-chakra cloak fade away, her perception of the world speeding up as her reflexes slowed back down to normal. They're sharp gennin, they probably expect me to try and fly out of this little trap.





Kokuro turned on her heel, and started to charge towards the two Kyoukas, weaving handsigns as she did so and taking a deep breath.


I suppose I'll just have to be unexpected, then.





"Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere!"





Just before she reached taijutsu distance with the Kyoukas, Kokuro released several blasts of wind chakra, the attack expanding dramatically to catch the girl in its arc and throw her backwards.


I'll give them one more challenge before I call it quits. She thought. They've done well so far, maybe they'll even land that hit before the end?





"Wind Release: Flying Technique!"





Kokuro launched herself into the air, rising to no small height above the platform, looking down at the Gennin below. Without her lightning-release she moved far more slowly, but equally conserved more chakra. She reached into her equipment bag before tossing a fistful of smoke bombs, scattering them across the platform and engulfing it and the gennin in a thick grey cloud. She could see their outlines with her electolocation, but she didnt expect them to see her. Preparing herself to make her last move, Kokuro called to the Gennin below.


"You've done well, but we're coming to the end of the exercise. Give it everything you've got left, don't hold back for this last minute."


With that, she threw herself into a dive, straight towards the smoke. She formed a 'horse' handsign as she swooped closer.


"WInd Release: Air Bullets!"


Kokuro dive-bombed the static outlines that she could sense, launching two air bullets at each before soaring away, spinning around, and plunging back into the smoke. She landed softly, with only the rattle of her still-open equipment bag to indicate she was there. Then she started to stalk the Gennin through the smoke, picking a silhouette and starting to advance on it.





@The Architect @KaiaWolf @Edward Valentine

 

[Pariah Stark]

@Hellkite @KaiaWolf @Edward Valentine
​

'So it's option two, then...' Ichirō thought to himself.

'She's not as sly as she thought.'

​

As Kokoru turned to run towards the Kyouka clones, one ran right back while the other circled around. As she weaved handsigns, the Kyouka threw out a single punch before she burst into a puff of smoke. This wasn't a clone, however, this was the Transformation jutsu. Before Kokoru could even finish her handsigns, Ichirō burst through the puff of smoke with a fist the size of a house - the Partial Expansion Jutsu again. This time, Kokoru was already heading his direction, attempting to use a jutsu and even without her lightning jutsu. By disguising himself as Kyouka, the game changed entirely. Not to mention, his jutsu required no handsigns and his expansion was almost immediate; he was using the traits of his jutsu to his advantage.


Every moment since the smokebombs was built up for this. The situation wasn't too different from when Ichirō tempted Kokoru to attack him while he was refusing to move, however, this one had an extra layer as Kyouka was assisting him. Within the smoke, both created a clone. Kyouka created one of Ichirō and Ichirō transformed himself into Kyouka all while having his clone appear to use the partial expansion jutsu. His logic was that she would either try to defend Hikaru, whom was a sitting duck to the giant fists that were coming down or that she would identify the Ichirō circling as a clone, thus attack the Kyouka copies. Either way, Ichirō had set her up for a surprise attack and Kyouka followed along. If Kokoru wanted teamwork, she was going to get a fist to the face - one way or another.

 

[Hellkite]

The partial-expansion jutsu hit Kokuro head on, and with a flash of smoke a log of wood was sent flying across the platform to clatter against the opposite railing. Kokuro sat above, on the edge of the balcony where the Hokage had stood, swung her legs and watched her pupils below. She gave a satisfied grunt before standing up, deactivating her electrolocation and opening her good eye.


I've seen what they're capable of. She thought, standing and stretching. There's no need to continue the exercise. They've done well.





As the stretch she felt a dull ache in her left arm. She gave it a gentle prod, then grinned.


Clearly my body-replacement wasn't quite fast enough. Well done.





She stepped off the balcony, dropping down to the same level as the trio.


"We'll call that the end of the exercise." She said. "I've seen what you're all capable of, and have a few ideas about what I want you to work on."


She leaned against the rail.


"That was surprisingly impressive." Kokuro nodded, glancing between each Gennin. "We saw some signs of teamwork, at least, and you guys can think quickly under pressure."


She gave Ichiro and Kyouka a look.


"That was a nice maneuver at the end; you even landed that hit you wanted." She indicated her arm, rolling her shoulder to try and loosen it up again. "But I wouldn't rely on it too heavily. A younger shinobi wouldn't have been so slow with their replacement."


Kokuro was quiet for a moment, collecting her thoughts.


The next few days are crucial for getting an advantage over the other teams. She thought. We need to cover chakra control, teamwork, and learn some new jutsu in a relatively small space of time. I reckon these guys can do it.





"I want to up the pace in comparison to the other teams." Kokuro began. "First we need to learn the basics; chakra control. Ichiro, I know you can do this already, but I need to assess how good you are at it as well as the extent of your chakra reserves."


The jounin looked at Kyouka and Hikaru.


"You two have good instincts, all you need now are more tools. After we cover chakra-control, I want you to learn new jutsu. I can help to a degree, but the practice has to come from you. Ichiro," Kokuro looked back at him. "I expect you'll be wanting to work on your clan's jutsu. That's fine, but I want you to practice with these two. Its important that you all see how each other works."


Kokuro glanced up at the sun. She reckoned they only had a couple more hours of daylight left.


"I think we'll start training properly tomorrow." She mused. "It's getting late, and you guys won't be on top form after sparring."


Kokuro reached into her pocket, producing a small leather wallet. Opening it, she checked how many notes she had.


"I'm going to head off and get something to eat. I suggest you tag along so that we can all chat and get to know each other, but if you're that desperate to get to your barbecue..." She gave Hikaru a wry glance. "You can go."


She then added as an afterthought.


"And don't worry. I'll pay for you guys..."


@The Architect


@KaiaWolf


@Edward Valentine

 

[Pariah Stark]

@Sha @DreamBeat @SwiftThunder
​

'can a shinobi’s individual chakra be identified by their threads to prevent me from triggering them?'


"Eh, probably," Hayato replied, still toying with the puppet. Hayato slid the gold bell in his hand into his palm so that he could snap his fingers. With the simple snap puffed a dozen metal bells that seemed to float in the air. Hayato controlled the bells with just three fingers while he made the puppet dash straight down the walkway, which at this point had the training field visible past a clearing, to slash at the bells. The blades in the puppet continuously slashed at the bells, only for them to move last second. This likely was something only Juro would understand; Hayato was practicing slashing with the blade over and over, and noticeable getting better, by aiming at small, moving targets. Whereas just a moment ago his movements were clumsy, now he had the puppet dancing around these little balls far more fluidly and cutting at them well over ten feet in front of him - all a huge jump ahead of the meager ability he had just a few minutes prior.


"See, you're really overthinking it. Chakra threads are just concentrated chakra, and all chakra is unique. But, before I go gettin' all complex on ya, let me give you a history lesson. This ain't anythin' you learn in the academy, either. The last Great Shinobi War was the Fifth one. We have records from the Second one, and in it, the Uzumaki created seals on paper that when applied to a puppet would disrupt the chakra flow of a puppeteer. They'd lose control over their puppet, plain and simple - and you'd have to remove the note to disable its effects," Hayato told Juro as they grouped reached the training grounds. He stopped, then let the puppet wander back to Juro. He waited for the Genin to take control over it instead of just letting it drop to the ground - he felt that rude.


"I use Chakra Threads, obviously, so I've done my research. When you become a Jounin or maybe even a Chuunin with the right supervision, you will be allowed into the Archive Library to read up on all sort's of things you can't now. Anyway, Puppeteers are one of the many shinobi I researched; and that led me to a man named Sasori of the Red Sand. I'm sure you've heard of him. He was not just the best puppeteer in history, he was also a great strategist and he was very knowledgeable on various shinobi and their styles. Half of his power came from how far forward he thought ahead in his designs, not just his sheer skill. His puppets were designed to resist fuinjutsu, like the seal mentioned earlier. He also hid a single piece of metal in all of his puppets to act as his anchor; the metal used was a very strong conductor of chakra. By doing this, his control would be greater than anyone else if they tried to control his puppet when he did. He designed his poisons with no antidotes, installed both serrated and sharpened blades for whatever reason. His poisons could be airborne, but have no smell or appearance; or, they could be as thick as a cloud. In his salvaged puppets that he could summon at any time, there were thousands of different possibilities. That is the true power of a puppeteer: preparation. But, anyway, enough on the history lesson," Hayato noted. He was sure Juro was interested, but not the others. At least, not as much. Moreover, Sasori was someone that Hayato had learned from, too. There was very little about his history or his true abilities, but some of his puppets and notes were found. As a member of the Akatsuki, more formal information was hard to come by since the Daimyo went to such great lengths to destroy a majority of it.


"While you could probably ask Uzumaki fuinjutsu users to make you seals that would trigger if someone other than you tried to use your puppet, they would be one-time uses. And, you wouldn't be self-reliant. As a shinobi, teamwork is important; as a puppeteer, preparation is key. But, if something you rely on is a skill you don't always have access to, then you need to find another solution or make a plan just in case," Hayato explained. He danced around a lot, but he did in fact answer Juro's question while also giving everyone else a lesson. He then looked to Suzume and said, "I know about your clan, too; but, your justu wouldn't really help me. Watch." Hayato snapped his fingers again, summoning a metal bells until he had a total of one-hundred forty-four. Not only was this a display of his mastery over the Unsealing Technique, it debuted his control over the balls and the fact each of his scrolls contained far more than one.


"Each bell has twelve holes and a single ball in its center; I connect them all with chakra threads. There are one-hundred and forty-four bells, most connected at least twelve times. You can't see it, but they make a constantly-shifting net between them that I have full control over. Normally, this jutsu is called White Noise Zone, but presently, it's toned down for this training exercise. Aaaalso, this is what I was talking about earlier; I control these threads, but none of them are actually connected to me. Significantly different and significantly less complex technique than Puppetry," Hayato continued explaining, this time his own jutsu. Finally, he tossed the golden bell into the mix and let it mingle into them. He then leaped backwards and let the cloud of bells expand roughly fifteen meters wide. This cloud was significantly less dense than his normal ones, but for the purposes of the training exercise, there was no reason to have more than one-hundred forty-five bells.


"The exercise is simple," he told them, "using whatever means necessary, catch the golden bell. I won't interfere or use other jutsu. Get the bell, I'll take you out to eat I'll pay. Fail to get the bell, and I'll still take you out, but I'm not paying. Oh, and if you can't get the bell, you will have to live with the fact that my last team got it in under a minute." Hayato rolled his neck before leaning onto a nearby tree. "Oh, just one more thing... if you bore me, I'll show you my other jutsu... by shooting them at you," he said with a sly grin.

"Time starts now."

​