Fandom Naruto: Seiryūden

[Ilstead]

Hikaru looked over to Kokuro-senpai and the other two team mates. He wanted to join them for BBQ, especially after the shit show that enter on earlier. He decided that instead of draining the hot springs that maybe some time to get to know his teammates wouldn't be so bad. Hikaru would look up at the old hag and shake his head.


"What are you talking about? I'm joining you for BBQ."


Hikaru said to his sensei. Even though his voice seemed so pure at such a young age, his pranks were notorious and to not do a prank would be just a good as doing one. He smirked up at his senpai cause he knew he was getting the deluxe!!

 

[Sha]

@The Architect


Juro watched his new sensei practice with Haya, nimbly moving it from bell to bell in the taijutsu style of this particular puppet. Unlike most puppeteering clans which hail from the sand, the Ningya requires their aspiring shinobi to create and craft their own puppets. It is a rare case, though not unheard of, to allow a member of the clan to use preexisting puppets created by another shinobi. The reason given is that a true master puppeteer must know everything about his devices in order to truly become strong, and although this was true to an extent, another large determining factor was due to the fact that when the clan was in its infancy the members did not have feasible access to the sand and their vast array of pre conceived puppets. Now, despite the peace which was allowed to thrive in this post-Daimyo age, the sand would likely be unwilling to share with the Ningya secrets of puppeteering, though out of pride the clan never bothered to ask and the practice of creating one’s own devices has become tradition.


Haya was Juro’s first. The swords were once normal, jointed forearms. Recently, however, his father had allowed him to replace them with the swords as he was to be a full-fledged shinobi. Even still, this taijutsu style of puppet was fairly weak and simplistic compared to those usually employed by the Ningya – so much so that it didn’t even have a finishing move, but he was Juro’s favorite nonetheless; the one which had first taught him to properly control a puppet. Shiro was by far Juro’s greatest creation to date and for his age it was rather impressive, though compared to the Jonin of his clan it would have likely been handled with relative ease and a few days practice. Even Hayato, a shinobi not of the Ningya clan could probably use it well; likely control the construct better than its creator if given enough practice. Juro knew this. As soon as he saw how quickly his new sensei had learned to not only move the puppet but also to strike swiftly with Haya, he understood why he was assigned to this squad.


Juro grew fonder of Hayato-sensei as he answered the question with surprisingly specific examples of why it would be unfeasible to lay traps attuned to his chakra. Juro took control of Haya once more as Hayato-sensei moved the puppet to the Genin. This Jonin, a sensei that had come off as childish at first, began to appear more like a Jonin as he spoke. Then, Juro’s eyes grew wide with the mention of Sasori. “The best puppeteer in history,” Hayato said, Juro agreed in silence as he peered at his sensei who spoke of the boy’s greatest inspiration with such respect. One of the legends which Juro had heard was that Sasori could create puppets from dead shinobi and in turn control their jutsu. Although his father, and even Daisuke, the clan’s head, had told him this was impossible. Even if it were possible, the practice of such an art would be considered forbidden and taint the Ningya’s name. Knowing this, Juro had tried to put the thought out of his mind as he had done before, but with the talk of Sasori the thoughts of the possibility resurged within him, though he said nothing to the effect.


Juro’s eyes dampened once more as Hayato moved beyond the subject of Sasori and puppeteering. He then explained the nature of their first training exercise. The web of chakra expanded with the golden bell floating amidst the threads. “You won’t interfere?” Juro asked rhetorically before attaching his second hand to Haya. Juro had grown rather adept at this puppet’s taijutsu style but doubted it could cut through Hayat-sensei’s chakra threads. He was unsure of exactly what this webbed jutsu could do, as he had never seen someone use anything like it, and although he believed his sensei when he said he would not directly interfere, Juro had a suspicion that the jutsu already had some sort of interference in place. “Well,” He said to his teammates while still looking at the web of chakra holding the golden bell, “We can’t prepare unless we know what it does.” He opened Haya’s mouth and moved four senbon to fire from its mouth towards the bell and surrounding chakra strings in order to test what defense the net may have held and if it held none, the bell would simply be struck down from the web. If the web caught the attack and somehow used it against the Genin, it would only have access to the four senbon which Juro fired; this being the reason for using so few.

 

[SeaTea]

@The Architect


Their sensei was truly something else, to so easily explain the nature of being puppeteer to someone who more than likely had trained his whole life to wield. On top of that, his knowledge of the subject was great as well; he had never heard of this Sasori before, but he certainly sounded like one of the greater ninja practitioners from all of those years ago. He could barely fathom how powerful the ninja of that time were, but that was in the past, and he had to focus on the now.


Kyoden didn't exactly know what to make of this exercise, it seemed to be straightforward enough and the limitations laid out bare, besides their sensei mentioning the fact that he would 'shoot' his jutsu at them, and Kyoden did not want to become too familiar with his sensei's arsenal just yet. It was hard to resist just moving to take the prize as quickly as possible, but as Juro spoke out, he realized that it would be best to try and take stock, because nothing was ever that easy. He tried to ignore the line about his sensei's last time doing this in under in a minute; it made him grind his teeth, but he had been on the opposing end of riling up enough to know to not rise up, at least not for now. He only hoped that they could find out more about this 'white noise zone' and any harmful effects; however, something quickly flashed into his mind as he tried to process everything.


"Aaaalso, this is what I was talking about earlier; I control these threads, but none of them are actually connected to me."


Similar to the chakra puppetry, but that much harder to counteract because he wasn't directly connected. Yet, he still controlled the threads, or cloud, of bells and Kyoden figured that any conscious control could be interrupted, even if that control was in the hands of a most likely highly competent and skilled jounin. The question then remained that if the team could distract their sensei enough to actually be of benefit, what should be done and how long would it be effective. So many different tactics flashed through his mind, very few might actually work. He ruled out engaging Hayato with his tonfa unless it was a last resort, Kyoden was sure he could dodge anything that was thrown his way with ease, and he still had no idea of the scope of the powers his sensei could utilize. It came down to the fact that Kyoden might just have to pull attention away from the floating cloud of bells jsut long enough to get to the center.


As Juro launched his puppet's senbon, Kyoden quickly went to his belt pouches and withdrew a small smoke-bomb and two shuriken into his hands."We might have to disrupt the source of control." He spoke in a lowered tone of voice so only his teammates could hear him, and hoping their sensei didn't actually have a way to heighten his senses. He mentally tried to shake himself and clear his head; he was already overthinking things, and time would come he needed to react. He lowered his stance slightly so he would be ready to jump or dash any way he could and kept his eyes on their sensei after he jumped back.


"What's it going to be..." He spoke this more to himself than anything. This was his very first test as a fully realized shinobi, and he would not allow himself to screw this up.

 

[DreamBeat]

Suzume Muranami
@The Architect

Usually, Suzume was not one for slacking off, but she found herself zoning out during Hayato-sensei's long talk about puppets. Her smile faded until there was only blankness on her face, and her unfocused eyes were trained on Hayato-sensei. It was only when Hayato-sensei's eyes landed on her did she come back to earth. With a snap of his fingers, her sensei summoned over a hundred bells and then he connected chakra threads to the bells. They weren't directly connected to him like puppetry. His chakra thread technique, she realized, was something like hers... But like Hayato-sensei said, it was also significantly different. The way her clan using chakra threads resembled the Juro's clan's technique more than Hayato-sensei's. Her eyes narrowed when Hayato-sensei tossed in the golden bell with the other metal bells, telling them to catch the golden bell.


He told her to get the bell by whatever means... Even though it sounded so easy, he made sound so hard. What kind of test was this? There must be some kind of trick. After dwelling on it a moment longer, she decided that she would try her hardest and if she couldn't get the bell, then she would just have to get better for next time. After Juro fired four senbon from Haya's mouth, Kyoden made a good point. If what Juro just did didn't work, then they would need to distract the one controlling the web: Hayato-sensei. Her eyes went to Kyoden's smoke bomb...


Would a jonin be fooled by a simple smoke bomb? she wondered. She did have something in mind, but it was a very simple and possibly stupid plan. It wasn't like she was good at anything. She wasn't smart or talented. All she had was hard work and trying everything she had to work with. If this doesn't work, then... I guess I'll learn a lesson. When Kyoden lowered into a lower stance, she lightly tapped him on the arm before dashing straight for the golden bell.

 

[Pariah Stark]

@Sha @DreamBeat @SwiftThunder
​

Hayato could tell that the Genin were all considering different approaches. Not only that, it appeared that they were making different decisions based on the actions of their peers. This wasn't a bad sign, necessarily. While there did lack an immediate level of communication, there were observations and critical thinking skills being used. Then, of course, Kyoden actually presented an idea outwardly. From observing the group in their first few moments, Hayato was sure they had some potential. Kyoden had the outside-the-box idea of attacking Hayato himself, prompting Hayato to lift his hand, showing the round holes in his lower palm. While the idea was valid, it would have consequences.


The bells, on the other hand, reacted rather simply. The web they were connected to was invisible to the naked eye; none of the chakra strings that comprised it were visible. Juro and Suzume might be able to recognize the presence of them, but identifying them would be significantly harder. All of that was irrelevant in the sense that the bells merely evaded the attacks. Not just the golden one; all of them. In perfect unison and impressive synchronicity, the bells moved as a cohesive unit to immediately dodge the needles shot by Haya. When Suzume launched herself after the bell, it shot through the horde of bells like a speeding bullet and the rest of the bells followed suit. Now the cloud was thicker and denser, hiding the golden bell within it as well as proving the capability of the bells as a whole.


Meanwhile, Hayato blasted the smokebomb and shuriken out of the air with a simple, yet powerful Decapitating Airwave. The result were the projectiles being shot just a few feet from the genin faster than any of them could have dodged; faster than any of them could have thrown. Before, Kyoden thought he might have been able to dodge anything thrown at him; the gust of wind would put that into immediate question. The shuriken were launched far out of site, being embedded in trees across the training ground and the smokebomb blew up mid-air fifty meters from where Hayato stood - all in just a quick moment. This was a taste of what Jounin-level Decapitating Airwaves could do.


"Now, that was rude. What if those hit me?" Hayato asked in a condescending tone. He was mocking Kyoden at this point, a slick grin sitting on his face.

@Hellkite @KaiaWolf @Edward Valentine
​

"No," Ichirō said. "Unless it's around a campfire and on a mission, I will not dine with you," he told Kokoru.


"I don't care who pays," he added.


Ichirō looked to both Kyouka and Hikaru, then grinned. "I will work on my Hiden with my Clan. When I train with you, I will train just like them. If they learn a technique, I'll learn it, too. If they learn different techniques, I'll work twice as hard to learn them both," Ichirō told them all. "If you want to see how well I control my chakra tomorrow, I won't hold back and nothing will distract me. But, I don't want to spend a moment with you that I don't have to," he explained, this time more directed at Kokoru.


Ichirō scoffed before he turned around to walk off. He didn't care if she wanted to teach them her own jutsu, test their elemental releases, push them to use collaboration jutsu or put their noses in books. Whatever she intended on teaching, he would work twice as hard as those two and go ten times farther. Ichirō would do anything but disappoint. What he wouldn't do, however, is treat Kokoru like she was anything but a tool. If anything, she was his tool; he would use her to make himself stronger. She was nothing else to the Genin, and he intended on it remaining that way.

 

[Sha]

@The Architect


Juro watched as Suzume lept straight for the bell, “We haven’t even seen how it reacts to the Senbon yet.” He reflected with a sigh, “Well, at least now we have another vantage point.” Just as the thought finished passing through his mind he felt a gust of wind blow past him, causing his robe to wave wildly as Kyoden’s weapons flew past and imbedded themselves into the trees on the opposing side of where Hayato sat mockingly.


“Figures,” Juro whispered in reference to Hayato-sensei’s deflection of Kyoden’s attack. The young puppeteer returned his attention to the cloud of bells while pulling Haya back - the puppets mouth clattering before coming to a stop and floating beside its master. The two swords which replaced the puppets forearms stuck themselves into the ground just beneath where the puppet floated as its quarter-legs dropped and rested on the earth; its chest was propped up thanks to the swords embedded in the ground. The head lurched back and the mouth opened once again, facing upwards and in the direction of the bells. “The two of you are much faster than I am,” Juro began, speaking in a raised voice so that both Kyoden and Suzume could hear his words clearly, “And Haya has no hands to grasp the bell, which means I’m going to have to be the distraction while the two of you go for the target.” Juro didn’t remove his eyes from the cloud of bells as he spoke.


“Hayato-sensei said he wasn’t going to interfere,” Juro continued. He shot a glance to his sensei out of the corner of his eye, as if confirming something, before quickly returning their gaze to the cloud of bells. “The bells reacted to my senbon even though they had no way of actually capturing the bell itself; they posed no real threat but the bells still moved. I’ll use them as a distraction to get the bells to separate and move around while you and Suzume look for an opportunity to strike. I have more than enough senbon within Haya to match that many bells, so if you see a chance to get the golden bell, take it, and I’ll make sure the senbon don’t hit you, but when I do that, I won’t be able to fire more senbon until I’m done controlling the ones in the air - so make it count.


“I have hundreds of senbon within Haya’s stomach, but if I keep firing them at a near-constant rate, that’ll still only give us, at most, about 20 seconds before I run out, so don’t take too long. Trust yourselves when you think you see an opening and try to strike together, we only have one, maybe two shots at this. From our time at academy I know that you’re one of our classes best at evading attacks, Suzume, so I’ll be paying more attention to Kyoden if you strike at the same time.” Juro’s voice suddenly lowered as he spoke to Kyoden without wavering his focus on the bells ahead of them, “When you see an opening, don’t hesitate, and I’ll make sure the senbon don’t hit you.”


Juro took a small leap backwards so that he was positioned directly behind his puppet and had a full field of view of the cloud of bells. “Suzume,” He yelled to the Genin who was on the other side of the bells. Juro paused and flexed his fingers, readying himself to switch the threads over to the soon-to-be airborne senbon if need be, “Try not to get hit!”


With that he took a breath, “Ready?” He whispered rhetorically, half to himself and half to Kyoden, before the first waves of senbon began to fly from Haya’s mouth towards the bells.

 

[SeaTea]

@The Architect


Kyoden was not surprised to see his shuriken split and fly in different directions from his sensei, he was more so surprised by how his smoke bomb had detonated seemingly prematurely. He couldn't understand it until the smoke began to clear and he saw his sensei poised as if he had simply reached out and stopped the bomb long before it reached him.


"Now, that was rude. What if those hit me?"


Kyoden growled under his breath as he heard the tone of voice. He didn't realistically think that such a simple and thoroughly telegraphed strike to hit home effectively, but the ease that his efforts were dispatched on top of the mocking? That still hit Kyoden a bit closer to his ego than he liked to admit, but he had to have a short memory regarding his losses. he was contemplating actually closing with his sensei, which would be a certainty of failure in the long run, but perhaps set off another smoke and perhaps even a sound bomb to disorientate when Juro began speaking. He didn't know how he would be faster than Juro, but he wasn't about to argue the one solid plan that had been established between all three of them. His mind was starting to fall behind with trying to process everything about their situation, but his muscle memory responded well as he drew two kunai separately into his hands. Kyoden spoke to Juro a final time, "Try and minimize his hand movement," before dashing in a sprint to set himself up opposite of Suzume.


Before he could however, Kyoden heard the sound of metal on metal and immediately turned to correct his course toward the cloud of bells, seeign the senbon already in flight. "Suzume, go high!" Kydoen shouted as he kept his pace toward the clustered cloud of bells and hoping Suzume was on pace to hit the cluster at the same time. Kyoden was hoping he would be able to catch sight of the golden one, and might be able to spear the bell itself or catch the ribbon attachment. He crossed his hands and prepared to lash out with his kunai; he also prepared to keep as close to the ground as possible to avoid both the senbon and what would most likely be Suzume running straight at him.

 

[Hoax]

(Sorry for the late and kinda short response! I got weirdly caught up in stuff the last few days ^^; )


"I'll come." Kyouka answered, though glanced skeptically at her teammates. She was glad Ichiro would not be coming, as he'd already spewed some dramatic nonsense at everyone again and she wasn't sure she could handle the evening continuing like that. Blah blah I'm gonna work harder than you blah blah. Or at least, that's what had gotten through Kyouka's audio filters. Overconfident brat...


Switching her subtle attention to Hikaru, she felt he was workable. While she didn't understand why he was so... Lazy? Bored? Whatever impression she got from him, the blonde figured he had to have at least some skill in order to graduate.


Turning back to Kokuro, Kyouka put her hands in her pockets and waited for them to leave.


@The Architect @Edward Valentine

 

[Hellkite]

Kokuro simply shrugged when Ichiro declined the invitation. She had expected as much, and was sufficiently satisfied with the teamwork he had displayed while sparring not to try and force him.


He'll take some work. The jounin thought, but we'll reach an understanding eventually, even its only an exchange of good behaviour for training opportunities.





She watched the boy turn away.


I doubt that we'll ever reach any serious rapport, though.





"We'll be meeting in Training Area 1 tomorrow." She called after him. "At 8 o'clock. We'll be working on skills and jutsu for most the day, and then at the end I want to go over the briefing for Team 4's first mission."


Kokuro turned back to Hikaru and Kyouka.


"Right, we'd better be going." She said, grinning slightly. "Before all the tables fill up at my favourite haunt."


She set off towards the steps leading down from the platform, one hand in her pocket and the other hanging loosely at her side. She led the Gennin through several winding streets before they emerged out onto Konoha's main street. It was bustling with life; adults returning home after a day's work, kids scampering from place to place. As she walked down the centre of the street, Kokuro spotted several other teams with their jounin, sat in cafe's and restaurants. They all had their entire team with them. Kokuro smiled ruefully.


I suppose I was assigned Ichiro for a reason, even though he is a nuisance. She thought. Either because the Hokage want's the cursed kid monitored, or because he feels the boy needs a firm grip on the back of his collar. Knowing him, its probably both...





Finally, Kokuro stopped. She was stood outside Shushuya, Konoha's bar and sometimes restaurant. She turned and beckoned to the Gennin following.


"This is it; the best place to eat in the Leaf." Kokuro tried to surpress a chuckle, and wasn't sure whether she's wholly managed it. "Lets go in. You're with me, so the barman won't throw you out."


Kokuro led the way inside. Shushuya was composed of a long, narrow room; with a bar on the left and a number of boothes with tables down the right. The bar was bustling, but none of the other Gennin teams were in sight. Kokuro unbuckled her equipment bags, dropping them an empty table to reserve it, before approaching the bar. She nodded to the balding, bearded man who stood behind it.


"Evening, Goro." She said, leaning on the bar-surface. "How's business?"


Goro shrugged, wiping a sake glass with a towel.


"S'fine."


"Good." Kokuro gestured at the Gennin. "This is my new team. We were wanting to get some food, if there's any going?"


The barman grunted.


"Don't like you bringing kids into my bar, Kokuro. Ain't right."


The jounin sighed.


"They're not going to be drinking, Goro, and I'll mind their business for them with the other customers."


Goro paused for a moment, clearly weighing up Kokuro's response. Then he set the sake glass that he had been wiping down on the bar.


"You always do this to me. Every bloody time." He scowled, throughing the Gennin a glance. "So. What'll you be ordering?" Goro looked back at Kokuro. "The usual I suppose?"


Kokuro nodded. "Thanks".


Goro reached under the bar and started to pour a clear liquid from a bottle into the sake glass.


"S'nothing." He grunted. "I still owe you, and I can't afford to turn away one of my best patrons."


Kokuro's lip curled, then she turned to the Gennin.


"Order what you like and put it on my tab. Shushuya serves most things, I recommend the Yakitori. Once you're done come and sit down. They'll call us back when the food's ready."


With a nod to Goro, she took the sake glass and had a swig, before taking both glass and bottle back to the reserved table. She sat down, and indicated for her new pupils to sit on the bench opposite.


@The Architect


@KaiaWolf


@Edward Valentine

 

[Ilstead]

Hikaru looked over to the woman who told him to order what ever he wanted and devious grin stretched across his lips from ear to ear. He followed his sensei over to the bench and sat opposite to her. He would look over the menu and the devious grin turned pure evil. He looked up to his sensei as he hoped to break the bank in this one sitting.


"Ill take the deluxe Yakitori and a plate of yakiniku....Actually can I have two servings of the deluxe Yakitori. I'll also have some cola and some after dinner tea waiting for when everything is said and done."


He looked over to his sensei who had been enjoying her saki cup a little to much for his taste but then again it wasn't his place to talk. It was however his place to empty her out her wallet.


"I'm thinking we do like a beef plate and then after that if we are still hungry we go for a pork plate? What do you think Kyouka?"

 

[Hoax]

Kyouka followed her new sensei dutifully, though rather quietly. She was too busy looking at things to talk anyway, taking in the inside of Shushuya, a bar she'd only so much as glanced at in passing. Being far to young to drink, it had never exactly been a notable place besides the occasional lingering drunks that staggered out at ungodly hours of the morning. Not really her type of place, to say the least.


"I can pitch in, money wise." She finally piped up, sliding onto the bench next to Hikaru. "I don't want you to have to pay for everything yourself. "


Turning to the other blonde, Kyouka shrugged slightly at his question. In the back of her mind she wanted to say 'If you eat that much you'll probably make yourself sick', but pushed the thoughts away so as not to offend her teammate so soon.


"I'm not really picky about food, so do what you want. Yakitori sounds good though."


@Edward Valentine @Hellkite

 

[Pariah Stark]

@Sha @DreamBeat @SwiftThunder
​

The cluster of bells continued to be just that; a cluster. As the senbon began to pierce the cloud, a very specific reaction took place. A bell intercepted each needle by allowing it to pass through it, then rotating quickly, tossing the needles straight into the ground. Not only was this method highly effective at stopping the brunt of the attack, it only took a few bells to accomplish and allowed the golden bell to remain hidden the cloud outside of reach. The golden sheen that would have made it identifiable was nowhere to be seen. At least, not now.


Hayato sighed as he listened to his Genin. He watched them. It was interesting, somewhat. But, they weren't really being creative. Teamwork? Sure. Creativity? Lacking. "Guys, let me give you a tiny piece of advice," he told them. However, his tone for his advice become excessively condescending, talking to them as if they were stupid, "if the shinobi controlling the thing you're trying to reach is in earshot, announcing your plan out loud might be a bad idea."


Hayato, now seemingly to just plain be a jerk, embraced the attitude for a moment, "and, while we're on that note, I'm going to tell you guys right now; as long as I'm standing still, the three of you will never get your hands on that bell. My chakra control is at its peak when I'm stationary." They had no way of knowing that, but it was true. In fact, his most powerful technique utilized his stationary chakra control: the Harp of Discord required him to stand perfectly still to play, but its effects were devastating. The technique was utterly impossible if he was moving, such was the gap in his control when moving and not.

 

[Hellkite]

Kokuro laughed when Kyouka offered to pay, waving her hand dismissively.


"Don't worry about it; you two are hardly going to clear me out over dinner. Besides, my tab needs filling up."


The Jounin glanced across the room to Goro.


"We'll take three deluxe yakitori to start, with drinks." she called. "Then we'll probably put in another order later, depending on how much this one eats." She pointed at Hikaru.


Goro nodded, and disappeared into the backroom. Kokuro sighed, slumping forwards to rest her head on the table. She was smiling.


"It's been too long since I've been in here..." After a moment she looked up at the Gennin, then straightened to face them properly.


"So," she began, "You two didn't really get a chance to introduce yourselves earlier." She started to pour another glass of sake for herself, swilling the clear liquid in the glass but not drinking.


"Tell me about yourselves. Any ambitions? Things you want to learn how to do?" She shrugged. "I want to teach you things that you'd actually be interested in learning; so here's your chance."


She took a sip of sake, waiting for their response.

 

[Ilstead]

Hikaru looked over the person disappear into the back to make the food. The thoughts of the meat sizzling against the grill sent his mouth into a frenzy of drool and lust. He wanted to tear into the flesh of meat and not the same ole miso soup his mom made him consume like it was water.


He wouldnt hear what Kokuro said till after he came out of his trance.


Hikaru would wipe the drool that had rolled down his chin and looked over to the teacher.


"Ummmm...."


He spoke as he tried and recall what she said.


"Im Hikaru Uzumaki. I am decent at Taijutsu. Ambitions....."


A smirk appeared on his lips.


"I want to one day eat so much that you empty out your wallet."


His smirk transformed into a wide, toothed grin.

 

[Hoax]

Kyouka had been silently wondering what sake tasted like, half listening to Hikaru speak his short piece before realizing it was her turn. Her mind caught on something Kokuro had said, about what they wanted to learn, eyes flashing.


"I want to learn how to mix Taijutsu with Chakra Flow." She said quickly, leaning forwards in her seat slightly. "You were using Lightning Release during the test, right? To make it harder to touch you and enhance your speed and such?"


Noticing she'd gotten a bit ahead of herself, the blonde trailed off and flushed a light pink in embarrassment, sitting back and scratching the back of her neck.


"Oh, uh… I'm Kyouka Aruhane, Taijutsu user as well." She added, before falling silent again. Her fingers played idly with each other under the table, mentally berating herself for the sudden lack of tact. Stupid excitement, getting in the way of staying chill.


@Hellkite @Edward Valentine

 

[Hellkite]

"Hikaru and Kyouka." Kokuro said, committing those names to memory. "Two Taijutsu users..."


She nodded.


"Okay, I can work with that. So Kyouka, you wanted to learn Chakra Flow jutsu? That's actually my specialty. When we fought earlier the Lightning Release and flight techniques both relied on Chakra Flow. My eye too," She tapped her eyepatch, "I make up for with an electrolocation technique; again, using Chakra flow."


Kokuro settled back in her chair, glad that at least Kyouka shared the same interests as her.


"Chakra Flow is tough, though." Kokuro broke off for a moment as Goro placed the food on the table between them. She nodded to the barman, then continued. "It requires high chakra reserves and pinpoint chakra control. Above all, you'd need to practice. I can teach you the theory and give you training exercises, but the time and effort has to come from you."


Kokuro took another sip of sake and shrugged.


"How many chakra control drills have you done before? None at the Academy, I'd expect?"


She glanced at Hikaru.


"And you just want to clear my wallet, huh?"


She grinned, shaking her head.


"Good luck with that." She took a Yakitori and started to pick at it. "So; anything you wanted to learn, Hikaru?"

 

[Ilstead]

Hikaru thought about what his sensei asked for was maybe a few seconds. He then turned towards the door to the back of the restaurant. He wanted to see the person with their food walk back over any moment but even so a drink would be nice.


“This is taking way to long.”


Hikaru spoke.


His legs restless under the table before his stomach growling heavily. His cheeks painting a light pink color before looking back to his sensei. Truth of the matter was he didn’t eat or sleep since yesterday. He couldn’t. His stomach was so nervous about today that anything he tried to eat would just come back up. So he hadn’t eaten lunch since yesterday and hadn’t slept since the night before.


He once again took his time to remember as to what his teacher said. Once he remembered, he would just shrug.


“I don’t know. I think that flying thing is kinda cool. So are clones, but their just to tangible. I want to make a clone that has substance. Also maybe figuring out my chakra nature.”

 

[SeaTea]

Kyoden felt his teeth begin to grind even harder as he contemplated his sensei's words. He should know that in terms of their skill level, this is probably exactly how this conflict between a full fledged jounin and three hours-old genin would be going by this point. That still wasn't his ego at all, and now Kyoden and his team still had nothing to show for their efforts. "As long as your standing still..."


He let out a low growl and stowed away his kunai he then unhooked his tonfa and gripped the metal handles in a tight grip. A slight twitch of a switch, and 5 inch blades extended from the long end of the tonfa. He also pulled another small object from one his pouches and gripped a small smoke bomb in his right palm. Without another word, Kyoden began to sprint towards Hayato with his tonfa in a position ready to strike and not looking back to his teammates.


"Let's test out that theory!"


It was not ideal, it was most likely not even a good idea, figuring into how quickly his sensei would be able to stomp him. However, even if their sensei was likely lying about being able to stand still, being distracted would definitely up the team's chances of getting close to that stupid golden bell. 'diversion, misdirection, and obfuscation.' The art of illusions to be able to defeat an enemy without touching him; his current situation was an inversion for sure, but he was almost sure he wouldn't actually be able to touch his sensei, but a distraction might prove just as well to his, and his team's, success. Kyoden had a few things up his sleeve to accomplish that; he could only hope that he and his team could exploit any mistakes on their sensei's part.


As Kyoden approached closer and closer to Hayato, he tossed the smoke bomb in his palm toward his sensei's face and raised his tonfa to begin what would be the most difficult fight of his life to date.


@The Architect @DreamBeat @Sha

 

[Hellkite]

As Kokuro listened, Goro set a tray of drinks and food down in front of Kyouka and Hikaru.


"Anything else?" He asked.


"We're fine for now." Kokuro answered.


The barman grunted, turning back towards the bar where a pair of young jounin stood waiting. Kokuro turned to Hikaru.


"So you want to learn how to do shadow clones, then?" She asked. "They're not particularly my thing, but I could give you a few pointers. Flight is harder; it will have to depend on your chakra nature, and how good you are at chakra control. Both things we're likely to cover when we train tomorrow."


Kokuro took a bite of Yakitori.


"By the way," she asked, "How's your brother, Masuyo? It's been a while since I last saw him around the village."

 

[Ilstead]

Hikaru's attention would soon be consumed with thoughts of food and drink. Before he even got to take a nibble or sip, his stomach would erupt into a roar of anticipation and desire. Hikaru would smack it and come flustered. A pink rose up his neck towards his ears.


Hikaru would reach over to handle the Yakitori care and respect he should be showing the old hag of a sensei. Instead its the food he devours in mixes of foul swoops and carnivorous bliss.


Hikaru would continue to eat and let it become plainly obvious that he was ignoring you when you brought up his brother.


Hikaru would go through three Yakitori after a few minutes and guzzle some drink.

 

[DreamBeat]

Suzume Muranami
@The Architect

Suzume reached out her hand as she blurred towards the golden bell, only to have it speed away through the overwhelming shroud of bells; all the bells were following suit like a swarm of bees, perfectly concealing the golden bell from her vision. The sound of a smokebomb going off and Kyoden's shuriken thunking as they embedded themselves in the trees. She slowed her sprint down into a jog and then stopped, standing and turning her head to try to look for the bell.


Nothing.


She jogged back to where Juro and Kyoden were standing and listened as Juro spoke. Suzume had never been the best at making strategies, but he was right: She was awesome at dodging. Though she wasn't jonin level or anything, she was the best at dodging back in the academy, and she would use that here. Her face lit up into a happy expression as she smiled happily. She pushed off her feet and dashed towards the cloud of bells with Kyoden by her side.


"Suzume, go high!"


Without thinking, she obeyed his voice and jumped, throwing her kunai into the cluster of shining bells. To her disappointment, nothing got past the bells. All the bells were protecting the golden bell, and she still couldn't see it. The smile on her face stayed the same, not showing the inward disappointment she felt when nothing happened. As she landed back on the ground, Hayato-sensei began to speak in chastising - or was it condescending? - tone. At first, a flare of irritation lit up inside her, but that was quickly put out. What he said was true. Thinking about it, they didn't know how to function as a team, much less communicate without saying anything.


A breeze shifted her hair, and she closed her eyes with a slight curl of her lips and sighed, taking that moment to close her eyes, think, and calm herself down. As long as he's standing still, huh? Kyoden's growl was the only warning she was given before he rushed in to attack Hayato-sensei. Her eyes snapped open as her smile faded away for a second before it was back, full blast. Instead of going with Kyoden to attack Hayato-sensei, Suzume made her way to the cluster of bells hiding the golden bell. The girl stopped in front of the bells and turned around to face where Kyoden was. She may not be able to see the chakra strings, but she knew roughly where they were for reasons she did not know. Ever since she felt the wind wisp past her face, she felt a bit more... aware of something. She may not be able to sever the chakra strings, but... It might be stupid. She took one last look at the boys. Okay, let's go.

 

[Sha]

Edit: Forgot to tag


@The Architect


Juro grimaced as Hayato continued to condescend to his Genin.


“Figures that I get stuck with him as my sensei,” He thought to himself. With a twitch of his fingers Haya ceased firing as Juro’s grimace dissipated as quickly as it appeared. What his sensei had said was obvious and the patronizing tone with which his new sensei continued to speak began to bother him, though, apart from a brief grin, his face refused to betray his thoughts. “So he does control the web. Whatever, any competent shinobi would have seen through the ruse regardless of whether or not the plan was spoken aloud but still he mocks us. Not to mention the entire plan hinged on the idea that the bells were acting of their own accord,” Juro’s mind raced as he sought for another answer to the puzzle but could produce nothing save for thoughts of spite for his new sensei.


Juro’s brooding self-pity was brought to an abrupt end as Kyoden sought to challenge Hayato-sensei once more. The young puppeteer admired his new teammate’s attrition. Just as Kyoden began to move Suzume did the same, only she moved to strike the bells. He had a choice now - and only a moment to make it. Would he seek to assist Suzume in her attempt to grasp at the golden bell or would he assist Kyoden in his efforts to disrupt Hayato-sensei? If he pursued the former he would more than likely only get in her way; while if he pursued the latter he might strike Kyoden with a sleep-inducing senbon.


Juro was not one to be reckless. The young man preferred to take precautions and strike with care but he simply could not allow his teammates to do all the work. Just as well, they had no feasible way of communicating and the only thoughts which had passed through his mind were those of contempt for his ever-the-more condescending teacher. Then, through his distaste for the attitude of Hayato-sensei, Juro remembered when he had mock-threatened Hayato-sensei and was jolted forward; Hayato had attached his chakra threads to Juro's. If Kyoden could be successful in distracting Hayato-sensei then perhaps this trick could now work in Juro's favor.


As Kyoden drew closer to their new sensei Suzume glanced back with a look of determination. Juro then released his threads from Haya and would, when Kyoden’s attack was in full force, attach them to the invisible web of chakra threads which intertwined with and controlled the bells. Perhaps if he could prevent them from moving of their own accord, if only for a moment, while Kyoden prevented Hayato-sensei from controlling them of his, Suzume might be able to secure the bell.

 

[Pariah Stark]

@Sha @DreamBeat @SwiftThunder
​

Hayato watched as his Genin essentially all turned on him. Well, all of them except Juro. Juro, seemingly distraught, continued to remain stationary. Hayato summed this up as the puppeteer not only plotting, but their natural tendency not to move if not unnecessary. The actions of his Genin made sense; he essentially told them his control was lesser if he had to move. Which was true. Not that he couldn't control them, just that it would be more difficult. The difference wasn't obvious yet, but if they could manage to make him move, it would be. Hayato wasn't sure if they would make it to that point, however. Kyoden was trying the same trick twice with a smokebomb and this go around both he and Suzume were dashing at him. This proved a problem.


Hayato clapped his hands together, at first preparing to use Wind Release: Great Breakthrough. Considering he used a Decapitating Airwave before, it's not like he wasn't already using techniques. He said he wouldn't interfere with them attempting to capture the Golden Bell, not that he wouldn't defend himself. Technicalities, whatever. It didn't matter; this was his game and he made the rules. His plan completely changed, however, when he felt Juro use his chakra threads to tug on the bells. Sure, Juro could control ten of the hundred-forty-four, but it wouldn't be enough. Unless Juro could learn how to link multiple bells together, which involved splitting a single chakra thread, this wouldn't prove a problem. More interesting, however, is the fact that if Juro was playing with the bells, Haya was free.


Hayato changed his plan entirely. Dashing through the smoke to avoid both of his Genin, who didn't realize that they couldn't see just was much as he couldn't, Hayato moved around the two entirely unnoticed and near Juro. Hayato extended his hand and attached his chakra threads to Haya, taking control of the puppet again. With a smirk, he looked at Juro and said, "if you wanted to trade, all you had to do was ask. Here, take them all." With that, Hayato connected every single one of his bells together, then forced that connection onto the ten bells that Juro had control over - all save the single golden bell, of course. In this feat, Hayato gave Juro an entire body of bells linked together with a network of chakra threads he didn't have near the skill to fully control, and Hayato at this point completely withdrew his chakra from them.


In this moment, Juro gained one thing: insight to the technique. When the chakra threads were forced unto him, it became obvious how they functioned. A single thread split twelve times, then was fed even more chakra to thicken it. It connected to the next bell, which did the same thing, then was reinforced again. The process went that a single connection had to be split then reinforced to make them equally strong. This was entirely different from Puppeteering. While he might have gained insight, controlling and even maintaining these threads was far beyond his ability. They began to drain his chakra quickly and moving a single one resulted in a movement from all of them. They were all connected, so they all moved together. Moving a single bell in a single direction would mean counteracting the force given to the other bells so that only a single bell moved. The technique itself was incredibly complex, and a lot for a Genin to take in. Possibly even too much.


Hayato was sure that Juro would be overwhelmed by the bells, so he turned to Kyoden and Suzume who were in the smoke that was clearing. Juro would have to drop the bells to even react, so Hayato would easily know when he needed to worry. Hayato looked at his other two Genin that finally looked back to him and Juro having heard his voice, then smirked. "Let's see how you guys do against Juro's toy," he announced before launching the puppet at Kyoden and Suzume. This time, he used both hands to control it and this time his control over it rivaled Juro's. The puppet made a dash that would impress even Juro in terms of speed, then slashed its bladed arms down at Kyoden. Meanwhile, its head twisted in an unnatural angle, making the cracking noises puppets were known for, then launched a flurry of senbon at the girl.


"I never said aaaaaanything about not using your techniques against you," Hayato said with a cackling laugh. Losing all focus on Juro and the bells he was forced to hold, a burden comparable to Atlas, he started to toy with the Genin in front of him.

 

[Hoax]

Listening intently, Kyouka simply nodded in response to Kokuro's explanation and shook her head at the question of chakra drills. They hadn't done much of anything related to chakra in the academy, minus explain it in very boring lecture-y ways. Lecture's she'd slept through most of.


Of course it was going to be hard, everything was going to be hard from here. But knowing that Chakra Flow was the Jounin's specialty was very uplifting, and if anything more motivating to do better.


But the Genin was soon interrupted from her thoughts, suddenly made aware of how hungry she'd gotten. Quickly picking up one of the Yakitori and biting down, she ate steadily and happily as the food lessened the growling of her stomach.


"Thank you for the suggestion, this is delicious." She said to Kokuro after a moment, unintentionally helping Hikaru not answer the Jounin's question further.


@Hellkite @Edward Valentine

 

[Sha]

@The Architect


Not a moment after Juro had attached his threads to the web did he hear Hayato-sensei speaking from only a few feet away. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the smoke which had separated from the main cloud through which Hayato must have come. It was then, as his sensei removed Haya from the ground, that Juro could feel his chakra being ripped from his body through the threads which extended from his fingertips. He could feel how the web worked, how the chakra threads split and intertwined – all splitting off and stemming from the single threads which he controlled. Immediately, Juro recognized the futility of trying to control such a vast web of chakra. The young puppeteer was practiced in the ways of chakra control and chakra threads and was even considered adept within his clan but he was a Genin, a novice, nonetheless.


In that single moment it became painfully clear.


It wasn’t until now that he truly grasped the deficit of his power. He had held within him a sort of arrogance and self-imposed worth which Hayato-sensei stripped away in an instant by showing to him what a Jonin could do. Though the realization of his lacking-power relative to a Jonin pained him, still he managed to retain his usual calm composure. He doubted he would ever accept Hayato’s attitude but he could not deny the vast gap in skill between them.


“If I can’t control them with intricacy, I’ll control them with force,” He thought to himself in defiance. Regardless of whether or not it would work Juro had no time to contemplate as his chakra began to drain just from being connected to the web. He could not hesitate. Juro's body grew hot as he extended both hands in front of him. He yelled out of instinct and strain - as though trying to move something heavier than he should while ripping his hands downward towards his sides. He had surmised that if his threads split and controlled the entire web he could simply rip it down with enough force. As his hands tore through the air towards his sides he could feel the snapping of a few of the chakra threads which extended from his fingertips – the chakra output necessary was simply too great for him to maintain despite the brevity of his attachment to the bells; with the bells beginning to twitch and shift downwards Juro pressed forward.


Panting and with sweat trickling down his cheeks he dropped to his knees as his arms completed their course by placing his hands stiffly behind his body before releasing the last few chakra threads which managed to remain intact. Juro now sat upon his knees with sweat dripping onto his robe from his downturned head. He could feel the web continue to twitch move towards the earth as his motion completed but the Genin did not look up due to the sheer and sudden exhaustion. He would hear the result of his actions – a loud battering of bells falling to the ground or simply silence should he have failed. Regardless of the outcome Juro was all but useless at this point as his chakra was drained and his body grew hot and damp; it was as though he had just finished an entire day’s worth of training in an instant.