Fandom Song of Rage

[Spiderverse]

Squad Ichiro​

Meet me in shaft #5. I'm in the deepest part. Don't get lost. Okimi, don't start blowing shit up when you DO get lost, I've not gotten permission to let you guys train here before, so this is a first. There's a new member. New Kid, don't die on the trip down. Kurio, bring Nimloth Root, and Aglokis.

Aragi OnigakeSquad Ichiro​

It was to be his first day as a Chuunin, put into a squad he didn't know much about aside from the name of his leader, Ichiro. It might have been a dumb idea to not try and pry into all the information that could about his teammates, but his mother figured that it would be much easier and a bit more polite to just... leave that as a surprise? After all, if there was to be some sort of test of his skill, it wouldn't be fair if he had the advantage of foreknowledge in his back pocket, a sort of deus ex machina in any encounter really. Knowing is half the battle, as they say. First things first though, he had to get down the mineshafts and into the deepest part of shaft #5 before he could even consider that, and even before then was the discovery of one of the entrances. He had stumbled across some other entrances in his survey of the mines, but he couldn't waste his time and end up at the bottom of one of the other mines that were in the area.

It wouldn't be long though before he had one, one that seemed old and a bit untouched, the entranceway barely scribbled with the iconography of shaft #5, but it was good enough for the young shinobi. Quickly he patted himself down, checking his equipment to make sure he had everything prepared: Tools? Check. Tags? Check. Cloth? Check. Headband? The ninja placed a hand on the headband that had been wrapped lovingly, smiling a bit as he knew it was still there. Quickly cracking his knuckles, Aragi began to make his way down. There were so many crystals, gleaming with a beautiful and somewhat distracting shimmer. Those crystal release users must love this place... The young one thought to himself as he continued to walk through, noting the slight tingle that the air had given him, and barely noting the loss in color that some crystals had. The only thing that passed his mind was the sharper air in some areas, curious as to what caused it but not enough to investigate further, but he knew the team leader wasn't going to wait forever; especially not for someone he didn't meet yet. So downward he went, determined to meet his new teammates.

The next floor was odd, a large boulder seemed to stick out of the ground, but something had felt... off about it. Aragi wasn't sure if it was because this rock didn't seem to share any characteristics with the rest of the things in the mine, or any of the crystals he had seen before. Either way, the shinobi was wary, his hand tightly gripping a kunai in case of ambush. But as he stepped closer, he noticed the coloration: bone. What the hell was large bone doing in a mine like this? He wasn't too sure, but it only made him more wary of what could lie beyond. After some careful pathing, the young ninja was able to go further down, and noted the same large bone stuck in the ceiling. That thing must be huge...

Continuing down, the mine seemed to get more and more tricky, larger pathways and winding turns, each floor being relatively empty until the eight one, which seemed to feature bone on the walls that were curving down toward the ground. Their shape had made the ninja curious, and as he got closer he was able to recognize the air getting warmer. Odd... Taking a kunai, Aragi jumped back before quickly weaving handseals: Tiger, Hare, Bird, before five slips of paper seemed to form on one of his arms as they shot off towards the bone, seeming to burn up immediately upon impact. Taking a deep breathe, the shinobi sighed, making sure to carefully avoid touching any more of the bone as he made his way further down. For the most part it was uninteresting, just some columns and other stuff that was to be expected of a mine, but the kicker was the final floor, from which he was able to see who seemed to be the squad leader, waiting on a stalactite. Something must be wrong with the ground then. Aragi swiftly weaved handseals once again: Hare, Bird, Monkey, as he leaped into the air and used his Air Step jutsu to make his way to a higher stalactite that he could grip onto. "Nice to meet you! Aragi Onigake!"

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Okimi Bajirisuku

“I’ll blow shit up if I want to blow shit up!”​

Okimi grumbled this to herself as she entered the mine. As pretty as it was, enclosed spaces made her nervous. Feurey hated them even more so, refusing to be summoned in spaces like these. The odd tingling on her skin didn’t help her nerves in the slightest. It worried her more as the tingling became stinging. “Why the hell do we have to come down here of all places!” Okimi yelled, kicking one of the crystals off the wall. She gazed at the fallen crystal for a moment, noticing it lacked color like those prior. “Weird...” she grumbled to herself, continuing on.

“Wow are these bones?” Okimi asked aloud as she gazed up. She had lit a small flame in her right hand to help her see as she ventured. The only reason Okimi recognized the solid as bone was because the dragon graveyard she occasionally ventured to had been the resting place for some large dragons, and their bones looked relatively similar. There were more and more of these gigantic bones exposed by the rock, all in a line. Odd how nature formed, wasn’t it?

After wandering around a large portion of the cave with a bone looking roof for almost an entire hour, Okimi managed to get to what she though was the 4th or 5th level. She had forgotten to actually count, was getting increasingly frustrated. She had kicked the walls several times, and her toes hurt because of it. Now she could see bone on the walls, but she hardly cared because of the stinging getting more and more painful. “If this is some dumb test to see if we can endure pain, then I’m gonna punch sensei in the jaw...” As Okimi said this, she tripped over a random rock and face planted, her fire going out. For a couple minutes, Okimi just laid face down in the darkness, screaming internally.

The rest of the journey was uneventful. It was filled with Okimi fuming hotter than the bone ground she stepped on. When she finally came upon the lowest level, and spotted her sensei sitting calmly on a stalactite. Her eyes narrowed as she formed a handsign. In a puff of smoke she body flickered next to him, throwing a punch at his jaw as planned. Whatever else was going on came second.

 

[KageYuuki]

Lost Legacy
The chuunin behind the desk looked over the trio standing in the mission office with an unamused expression. "The mission calls for stealth and a delicate touch and I somehow end up with an oni, a walking nuke, and a medic . . ." He sighed, rubbing his eyes before shaking his head. A scroll was tossed to the trio, "Tamenobu Kanou's a noble that's picked up the habit of collecting and displaying rare weapons. His most recent acquisition seems to be the katana Hoshikiri--"

"I thought that sword was lost." Kurio interjected, a shimmer in his dark eyes.

"We thought so too, but the physical description matches and it's full of akuma chakra. Tamenobu's only going to get himself killed if he ever decided to unsheathe that sword. It belongs back in the village, so you three are going to go get it." He gestured to a box on the desk, "Lady Tsumikage commissioned a replica of the sword from Amakuni, swap the two out and he'll be none the wiser. We'd prefer if you did it without wrecking the place, nobles can be a nightmare to deal with. But his collection's bound to be guarded. Just . . . don't level the place." He gave Okimi and Wakanaka a hard look. "We've heard rumors of Bishamonten in the area, their samurai no doubt looking to get their hands on that sword. Be ready for an ambush."

Kurio was beaming. "Can you believe it? Hoshikiri! The Second Tsumikage's sword. It's how he held off Jingakure's army long enough Lord First could use the song of rage."

"Least someone knows their history," The chuunin muttered.

The door swung open suddenly, a shinobi hurrying inside. He had a band on his arm marking him a member of the medical corps. His gaze fell on Kurio, "Good you haven't left yet. Shimizu, you've got a different mission."

"Wait, what?"

"Akuma attack in Tomari, lots of civilian casualties. We're dispatching a squad to treat the injured. You're on it." The medic was already starting to leave. "West gate, 10 minutes."

Kurio hesitated, looking between the door and mission desk. He sighed, turning to Okimi. "You've gotta show me that sword before you turn it in." Not wanting to keep the other medics waiting, he hurried out of the office.

The chuunin at the desk muttered something under his breath, rifling through the papers on his desk. "With Bishamonten out and about, you're going to need a third person on your squad . . . Bah, go get your gear. I'll have someone meet you at the North Gate."



Shortly after, near the entrance to one of Tsumi's numerous mineshafts, a quiet pop could be heard. A messenger crow had plucked Sachiko's hat from atop her head, depositing a scroll in its place before flying off. It didn't get far before a wave of killing intent caused the corvid to drop its ill-gotten prize and flee. Sachiko would find the scroll had the same information the chuunin had been given at the mission office as well as where to meet her teammates.




InsaneAsylum Orikanyo Ganryu

 

[Ganryu]

"I want you to love the village as much as I do!"

"What do you mean?"

"There are a lot of people who want to help us out Sachiko. This place looks like a barren wasteland at first glance... but it's got a lot of good people in it. Help them out."

"Sachiko. Sachiko. SACHIKO!" A voice roared, causing the pink haired chunnin to jump and flail her arms. She was actually wearing her chunning vest today. Infront of her, a lean bald man with a headband snapped his fingers infront of her. Sachiko stood from the stool, and bowed.

"Time already, huh?"

"Yes! Geez, if you can't pay attention, how are any of the kids. Take them out back, and work on shurikenjutsu."

"To be fair, only been a year since I fell asleep in the back of the class instead of the front. That's when I wasn't stuffing fireworks in your 'to grade' bin."

The instructor facepalmed, before walking away to the teacher's lounge. Not worth the memories it brought up. A grumbling "Can't believe SHE of all people's back."



Sachiko motioned for all the class to follow. She stopped for a moment, then yelled to the back.

"Come on, Shinichi, I know you didn't get up! Don't make me throw an otter at you!"

"How can you even see me with those bandages on your eyes on?"

"I can't!♪" Sachiko said happily, before throwing a shuriken that grazed his head. The academy student jumped, before running past her out the door. Sachiko laughed, before gently elbowing another student by her.

"I missed. Right?"

"You're kidding me? Y-you are kidding me, correct?"

Sachiko shrugged. The second kid also ran off. An instant later, they were all lined up, and began to pelt various boards with sharp pointy projectiles. Sachiko stopped behind one student, and cocked her head.

"What's wrong?"

"Huh?"

"You keep missing."

"Tch, doesn't matter. I'm from a famous clan! I don't need no shurikens!"

"Uh-huh. And what clan is that?"

"Oda."

"Uh-huh." Sachiko leaned in, and poked him in the forehead. "My clan's bigger than yours. Sadly. Hehehe, so if clan name's important, you gotta listen to this airhead!"

"W-what?! What clan! I demand you tell me!"

"Kounna."

The kid grumbled, then threw again. And missed again. Sachiko thought for a moment, then reached down into his pack, pulling out one of his kunai. She turned it over and over in her hand. "It's weighted badly."

"What!?"

"I bet I'd have a hard time throwing it. Try this one."

Sachiko handed him one from her pouch. The kid grumbled, but threw it. A 'thunk' and she could hear the cheer from the kid. Probably wasn't near the center, but it was a start.

"Oda clan isn't that big, is it?"

"W-what? Of course it is!"

"It sucks, but if you can't often afford good equipment, keeping it it good shape is more important than anything else. Anyone can be a good ninja, but you have to cover what you're having a hard time with. Here, take my bag."

The kid grumbled, but stopped for a minute. Sachiko assumed he'd bowed. She gave a head nod, before going to pick up a few shuriken from the board. One of the students was still throwing, and his projectile flew off course. Sachiko plucked it out the air, and sighed. Everyone gave a wowed gasp.

"Guys, that shouldn't have happened."

"I-I'm sorry, didn't see where I was throwing."

"No, not that. This shuriken's dull. I shouldn't have caught it. You should have cut my hand. I mean, don't get me wrong, already got one set of bandages, don't need another, but kinda a sad thing for a shuriken to be dull. Alright, alright, got it. Everyone stop what your doing. Gather round, gather round!"

General confused grumbling came, but the group began to form a warped circle. Sachiko sat kneeling, and motioned for everyone to the the same, before pulling out a whet stone, and a shuriken.

"Who here knows how to sharpen a blade?"

Silence. Sachiko sighed. "You know I can't see your hands, right?"

"Oh. Uh, me." "Me." "Me." "Doesn't everyone."

Sachiko shook her head. "Then you're all bad ninja. It's okay not to know how to do something. I still can't use any elemental ninjutsu, and I'm a chunnin!" Someone giggled in the back. Sachiko threw a rock at them, a 'guh' heard as they fell backwards. "You have to take care of your equipment."

"Can't we just buy more."

Sachiko sighed, and began to wet the whet, sliding it across the shuriken again, and again in a repeated motion.

"Yes."

"So. What's the problem?"

Sachiko kept sharpening, turning it over, and continuing. She stopped, and began to hold her hands together.

Genjutsu: Death Bunny's Scythe

Suddenly all the kids screamed, and jump back as an intense killing intent filled the room. Sachiko waited wordlessly, picking up a kunai, and began to sharpen it. Slowly she began to hear others following suit. One scraped dryly, and Sachiko flinched. She pointed to the fountain with a bucket, and thankfully, it began to return to the normal rhythm. A few times she stood up, and moved to take a students hand, guiding it over the blade across the stone, correcting them by how loud the motion was.

One of the students spoke up. "Aren't we supposed to be practicing?"

Sachiko sighed."Have you ever heard that Shinobi are tools...?"

No one spoke up. One gulped, which Sachiko took to mean 'no, but I don't want to interupt you. She shrugged. "You know I'm more or less the same age as you guys, right? I'm just better. But Shinobi are tools is something I've heard a few times. Which makes me really upset when people just throw their tools away, treat them badly, or ask 'can't you just buy more.'"

She sighed. "Sometimes you get a really good knife. You really like it. Then it gets dull, and you get a new one, but its just not as good. You start to really miss the old knife. Maybe if you just fixed what was wrong it could have lasted a bit longer..."

She shook her head.

And sometimes, no one talks about just how someone threw away a perfectly good knife..

"So, taking care of your stuff's just as throwing it. We'll keep sharpening til the blades are in good condition. THEN we can throw them."

Confused grumblings occurred, but the class continued until a bell rang, and they scattered running in different directions to home. Sachiko giggled. "Hehehe. Wish I was that good at body flicker in the academny!"

A voice sounded from them. "Makes you love the village though, doesn't it? Working with the upcoming generation. Noticed you gave Oda your bag. Taken a liken to him?"

"Not really... And not really."

"What...? I see. This is just filler for you til they send you back out to the field."

Sachiko laughed, holding up a scroll. "They already did. I think. Probably. Wish they hadn't sent a scroll to the temporarily blinded chunin. But hey, how important could it be?"

"Y-you're kidding, right?"

Sachiko laughed. "Maaaaybe! But, well. I want to love the village. So, wanted to see if I liked helping at the academy. I'll help out when I'm back, but,..." Sachiko shrugged. "I'm just not cut out for teaching! You saw my grades!"

Jikan facepalmed. "You are the only student I have ever had who cheated..."

"That can't be true."

"-To get a LOWER score! Your full of shit Sachiko, but, well, not worst student I've ever had. I wouldn't say you're the worst teacher either. Most people agreeing to be an assistant would have let them keep throwing."

It was Sachiko's turn to go "What?"

"You try to hard to be terrible. It doesn't come natural. Now, for heaven's, get someone to read that scroll for you!"

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



"Inaba. Inaba! INABA!"

The hooded criminal jumped off of the storage box he was in, flailing his arms. A woman with blue hair face palmed. Both wore cloaks bearing the words Bishamonten on them. An organization that had picked up notoriety since the destruction of Arashigakure. They had been quite for some time, as their leader licked his wounds, but, some people just were not good at sitting still...

"Time already, huh?"

"Yes! Geez, if you can't pay attention, how are you going to know the signal to retreat. We have to be in and out of here real quick. Unless of course you WANT to fight the Sangokage with a full ANBU guard?"

The hooded man gave a cheeky smirk to his partner, causing her to face palm.

"No. You CANNOT fight the Sangokage."

"Pretty sure I can, Mizuki."

"Ugh... Why are you like this?" Mizuki rubbed her nose. "What were you day dreaming about? Its obvious your not paying attention."

"Just a memory. Ever been to the Memorial of Tears?"

Mizuki just blinked in response. She slowly began to form a bubble infront of them, to their next mission.

"Ha. Of course not. Then again, suppose you're not exactly sentimental about your village, are you?"

"Inaba, we're TERRORISTS. We kill people. No, I'm not sentimental. Unlike you, I also don't have any family. Not since I murdered them."

"Revolutionaries. We're revolutionaries. You know Katsuhito has a good point. Really good statesman. Sold me pretty quick..."

"You're not having second thoughts, are you?"

"Nope. Never, Mizuki. I'm a terrorist. I kill people. That, and I'm pretty sure the Tsumikage prooobably isn't the biggest fan of my work. I'm just doing what's best."

"Your 'work'? What are you, an artist?"

"What can I say, art is a bang." With that, Inaba leapt through bubble before screaming "I'M HERE FOR THE SANGOKAGE!"

Mizuki facepalmed, before pulling pills out of her pocket marked 'anxiety'. "You're kidding me? You're actually kidding me, right? Damn him..."

 

[KageYuuki]

Kurio Shimizu
When You Stare into the Well...
It was still quiet in Tsumigakure, most of the village still asleep outside of a handful of shinobi. The early morning sun had yet to crest into the crater the village was nestled in, keeping a sharp chill in the air. Kurio took his time walking down the road, already he could see the gates to the training grounds.

The Well of Absolutes. Genin were forbidden from entering, and many chuunin tended to shy away from it. But it was an area important to the Shimizu clan, training here was the first step to gaining control of the Akuma sealed inside of them.

Kurio paused at the gate, feeling unseen eyes on him. He hadn’t told anyone where he was headed that morning outside of ‘to train.’

“ANBU, remember? What’s a secret?”

He shook his head. With an ANBU and jounin for parents, there really wasn’t any chance for keeping secrets.

”But I figure you’re holding the one about being powerful a little more closely, so I’ll just pretend all I know is you’re ambitious. Kurio, you’re going to do great things, but our clan’s more like a curse than a blessing. If you want to go forward, you’re going to have to deal with it.

Problem with being ambitious is it makes you more dangerous, you don’t have time to be cautious. Ema once nearly unleashed her full akuma by accident in a training incident. We had to do an ANBU sweep of it and ‘erase’ the event, it was so bad. If you’re going down the same route, you’re going to have the same pain.”

Kurio snorted at the memory, pushing the gate open and heading inside. He still had yet to ever admit to anyone his actual goal. Who’d believe the little medic wanted to become Tsumikage?

Descending the stone steps, Kurio found himself in a large open cavern. A thin layer of water covered the floor and mist filled the room. He stepped off the entrance platform, the cold water seeping into his sandals. A faint glow across the room, Kurio had to cross halfway before being able to clearly see the barrier barring his path. “Is this it?”

“Why don't you try and break it, and find out? Wait, no, you're the good boy. The one no one ever notices. The most noticeable thing about you is your name."

A voice echoed in the room, but it sounded oddly like Kurio’s own, as if someone were merely mimicking him. It echoed all around. Slowly, the entrance to the room began to seal off as the waterfall began to drape over it like a veil, the mist becoming thicker inside.

“Who’s there?” Kurio spun around at the voice, trying to find the source of the sound as the entrance closed off. No one ever really talked about how you were supposed to train in the Well of Absolutes.

“Why’d you even bother coming? Okimi isn’t even here to blow up your problems. Or Sensei to look cool for you.”

His lip twitched as the voice continued, “I don’t need them for this.”

Slowly, a hand reached out the waterfall, parting it. Inch by inch, a model copy of Kurio began to emerge, except with dark sclera and red eyes.

Kurio froze as the clone emerged, “What?”

The doppleganger merely smiled. “Of course you don’t. So strong and tough. Remind me the last enemy you successfully defeated? Was it… Okimi? No. The YukiOnna? No. Was it your stellar performance against the Lightning Bear? Wait, Tsubame took the spotlight on that one. Hmmmm. Oh, I’m sure you’ll do juuust fine on your own. You’ll be the future Tsumikage.”

The doppleganger made a ‘bring it’ motion with his hands, before slapping his shoulders with the tips of his hands, two visible needles of visible chakra forming and piercing into its own flesh.

Chakra Dilutent Blast

Kurio’s eyes narrowed at it. “I’ve beaten Okimi plenty of times.” He gritted his teeth, so what if he’d been in the background for other battles? “A medic . . . can’t be on the frontlines.” A short series of handsigns at the challenge. Lightning crackled in his palm before emitting a blinding flash. He reappeared behind the double, kunai aiming for its throat.

Lightning Release: Reap

The double shook its head, letting the kunai move forward, and phase into its neck.

“I know everything about you. Because I AM you! And I know… those are all excuses. Pfft. Why'd you become a medic in the first place? Of course, I know the answer, but I want to hear you say it.”

“The clan needed it.” Kurio slashed forward, sending sharpened arcs of chakra ahead of him. “Someone needed to tend to the wounds from failing to control their Akuma.” The answer was partially true, the clan and village both were in need of more medical nin.

“Don’t lie to yourself, it’s pathetic.”

The dopple walked forward, pausing temporarily as the arcs of chakra hit, then continued, two chakra needles still stuck in him.

“You can’t meet Raiko, til you can at least face yourself. And all your hilarious fears about not being ‘awesome’. Everyone in the clan loves Auntie Ema. Everyone’s looking at her. And never at you. They’re looking at everyone else in the clan, the brilliant, the strong. But the little medic nin in the background? Ha! But it’s alright, a medic nin can’t be on the front lines… even of his own life.

Can’t be a walking nuke like Okimi.

Can’t bullrush through problems like Sensei.

Not respected like Auntie.

Not skillful like Dad.

Not strong like Mom.

What are ‘we’, Kurio?”

“Do you ever shut up!?” The chuunin growled in response, eyes flashing scarlet as anger boiled in his veins. Had he been thinking, he could have argued being the first Shimizu to near a jounin’s skill in medical ninjutsu.

But he wasn’t thinking. Every word this thing said cut deep and burned. It was all things he’d thought before. Things that were all true. He threw a punch at the copy’s jaw. “Just . . . shut up!”

The copy smirked, holding his hands together in a Ram Seal. Suddenly the chakra needles in his shoulders burst, a concentrated blast of dark akuma chakra blasting forward against the punching Kurio, threatening to burn him on contact.

“Come on, you should be smarter than that. You should be ‘cool’. You can heal yourself up, but just try to think rationally. It’s alright to be the star once in a while.”

The dopple tried grabbing Kurio’s wrists to prevent him from falling, before headbutting forward, trying to pull on Kurio’s wrists forwards to pull him into it.

“Gah!” Kurio staggered back as the dark chakra washed over him in an infernal tide. His body felt like acid had been poured over it, worse than what the akuma chakra had done to him during the chunnin exams. At the sudden pull on his wrists, he pulled back, looking to retaliate with a knee strike. Locked bent, Kurio’s leg had become hard like iron.

Wolf’s Armor

The dopple took the knee with a wince, though continued with the headbutt, forehead to nose. It staggered back from the knee, dropping Kurio’s wrist, but looked more pleased than ever.

“See, you’re being passive even now! You WANT to be flashy! You WANT to be the star! So what are you afraid of! What, scared?”

The dopple took on a weird stance, of holding one hand back like a knife, and the other clawing up to its elbow. A shimmer of chakra began to show from both hands.

“What’s a little pain? Scared?”

Both hands unwound at once, the motion sending the left hand like a knife at Kurio, while the right cut down parallel his arm, sprawling blood straight at Kurio’s face to try and blind him, while hiding where the chakra blade was going the entire time.

It was going for his jugular.

Chakra Scalpel: Bone Cutter

The strike to his nose landed with a crunch, blood running freely as Kurio reeled back. He blinked past tears and glared at the clone. “If I was afraid of pain, I wouldn’t dive through Okimi’s fire to get a hit in.” His bouts with his teammate had left him with more scars than either akuma he’d battled.

At the familiar shimmer of chakra, his muscles tensed, ready to body flicker out of range. He blood stung his eyes even as he jumped back. A splash as a kunai landed in the water between them, a tag smoldering and detonating.

The dopple laughed manically, while running TO the tag.

“Then what are you afraid of? Don’t mind a little pain?”

It jumped straight past the tag just as it detonated, using the explosion to propel itself to a second headbutt to the nose of Kurio, trying to grab his shoulders to hug onto him… chakra scalpel still active.

“Oooh! Oooh! I know! It’s when they finally do recognize you, they don’t LIKE you! Too nerdy! Too boring. Too vanilla. Shimizu #348.”

Kurio met its headbutt with one of his own, their headbands slamming together. Chakra shimmered in his fingertips like needles. One aimed for the dopple’s stomach to try and disrupt the scalpels, the other aimed for his own before he flared his chakra. Returning the clone’s trick from earlier. “Flashy enough for you!?”

“Stealing tricks from yourself?! Not quite!”

The Dopple just continued with a hug, turning it to a body slam, and connecting both their stomachs together where the needles threatened to burst and potentially catching Kurio’s hand between both sets with a crunch and a stab. The dopple also flared its stomach chakra’s around the needles, a burst of chakra from both blasting them apart.

The clone flew back, laughing as he hit a waterfall, bouncing off it like it was a steel wall.

It just smirked as it stood up, battered and bruised. “You aren’t going to really learn anything fighting me. Everything here’s the back of your mind. And this little nugget. If you want to be the best, you have to, heh, be the best. Everyone who comes in here fights the darkness in them. You, the darkness is what you could be. It really steams us up. And I don’t have any solution for you vanilla white ninja! Hahahaha… We suck and you know it. All that flash, sure it makes you happy, but, does it really do anything? Are you ever going to BE Tsumikage? Are we even the best in our class?
Okimi’s forever better at ninjutsu…
Shibata’s genjutsu is stronger…
Waka’s taijutsu is untouchable…
Heh, we’re not even starting to be special in medical knowledge, maybe our little pupil who didn’t know anything a few months ago is going to catch up. Didn’t she create that doujutsu too?
Do I ever shut up? Well, do your voices ever quiet down? Can’t beat us, can you…?”

Kurio groaned, struggling to push himself up. He gave up after a moment, settling for kneeling as he panted and flowed healing chakra into his hand. It didn’t need to be perfect, just functioning. He was quiet as the dopple went on. What chance did he even have at a title like Tsumikage? The little Shimizu that had yet to win a real battle on his own?

He pushed himself to his feet, shaking from the effort. The chakra burns were taking their toll. “I’ll . . .” The words died. He’d told himself time and again he’d do whatever it took to become the strongest in the village. But here he was, unable to beat a shadow of himself.

Kurio’s chakra flared again, wisps of dark akuma chakra surrounding him. “I’ll show you.” He lunged with a body flicker, chakra enveloping his hands.

The dopple shrugged, completely unguarded. “Don’t think you will…”

As Kurio dove at his dopple, he seemed to slide completely through it, watching it turn ethereal before his eyes.

He was left in the waterfall, which became loud once again, the exit opening up as his wounds and exhaustion slowly fading away, as if they’d never been there in the first place.

And slumped against the entrance like a small leviathan stuck in a rabbit hole, his father peered over, his arms crossed. He simply nodded and didn’t say anything.

No one talked about the Well of Absolutes not because it was a secret… but because nobody wanted to talk about the Well of Absolutes. Today would likely be no different...

 

[KageYuuki]

Kurio Shimizu
Squad Ichiro
Nimloth Root and Aglokis... Kurio was very familiar with those two plants. Learning how to prepare them to treat chakra poisoning had been one of his first lessons as a medic nin. Whatever Ichiro had in mind, it was more than likely dangerous. So about up sensei's alley, if he were being honest.

Stepping into the mineshaft, Kurio took in the brilliant array of crystals shimmering in the walls. Weird, wouldn't all of these have been mined out by now? Not that Kurio was overly familiar with how the Kounna went about mining the crystal that was so valuable and crucial to the village's existence. Perhaps it wasn't even the right kind of crystal/ Though he was fairly certain it was.

The faint sting in the air brought a frown to the chuunin's face. This many crystals and the air stung? The stirring of his chakra in the back of his mind told him the pain was from Akuma chakra. It couldn't have been from the miasma in the village. The crystal around Kurio's neck prevented that. Shaking his head, he pressed onwards. Chances were good that the answer was going to be found further inside.

Kurio's frown deepened as the crystals lining the walls began to darken. The Stinging in the air grew more intense. It wasn't long before he was forced to light the small lantern he's brought with him. The crystals had turned black, some even cracked and venting miasma. The deeper he went, the greater his confusion and pain. Kurio's chakra sang the further down he went, resonating louder the closer he drew to the white stones.

Is this . . . some kind of Akuma? Slain Akuma usually dissipated into chakra, reforming later on. Could it be something like Kaminari? Or the Akuma at the heart of the Well? Suppressing a shiver, he hurried onwards. He could treat the burns from missteps once he found wherever Ichiro was lurking.

Finally reaching the 12th level, Kurio stopped to take in the distortions of chakra at the chamber's heart. And Ichiro perched above it.

"Sup? I hear you all made chunnin. And one of you is someone I've never met."

"By some twist of fate, it would seem so--" Kurio was cut off by Okimi flickering past him, aiming a punch at Ichiro. The medic sighed, "Aragi, was it? It would be wise to move." He jumped away from the entrance to the chamber. With any luck, he'd be out of the line of fire when Okimi's attack inevitably backfired on her.

Ganryu Spiderverse InsaneAsylum

 

[Ganryu]

Ichiro, The Feral​

A resounding thud echoed in the mine, Ichiro nearly falling off the claw. However, Okimi would feel like she was punching a rock, the muscles and bones in her hands twisting from the recoil.

Ichiro smiled, then slapped at her wrist.

"Nice punch. I see someone's been working on their taijutsu. Buuuuut... where are you going to land without that dumb lizard of yours?"

Ichiro looked down at the fall, and the distorting air. If Okimi fell into that section, the burning air would turn from passive to leaving actual burns on her skin. Staying in that section of the mind directly under Ichiro would be... ill advised.

If one were to look at the distorting air and take a minute to follow it's shape, they would see it was a sphere, digging into the ground.

"There's actually a 13th level. Only one @#$!'ing monster has ever made it down there. Two guesses who."

Taking a sigh, he then suddenly whistled, the sound echoing through the caverns even more than normal, genjutsu amplifying the noise.

"Hey, mind doing me a favor? Mind telling Yua to whoop Okimi's ass for me? Tell her to use the sandals. Both of them. Why? Okimi was being a rude little shit."

In the distance, a flap of air could be heard exiting the mines. Ichiro cocked a grin, and looked down.

"Stupid lil shit. I could hit you, but difference is I'm obligated by the village to stop. Yo momma ain't."

Ichiro grabbed his neck, and roughly cracked it to both sides, before leaping down into the distorted aura, only a mind flinch from him as he walked to the group. He was extremely tall and lanky, lean muscles and scars covering his body, and no shirt to cover them. His hair was wild, with a general crazed stare in his eyes. He looked up to the one person higher up in the cave.

"Smart one, ain't'chu? Welcome to the happy little squad. Don't ask who your replacing. I'm your sensei. Because the Tsumikage somehow thinks I should be in charge of children. Tch. Idiot woman. Anyways, if you're smart, your work is cut out for you. You have to watch out for these two hooligans. And I ain't much better. But difference is, *I*, ain't gunna die.

That said, you guys better be thinking of your next step. Well, other than Okimi, she's probably a dead woman. But you two might wanna.

Now, question for you two. What rank sees the most causualties? New kid. Guess."

Ichiro barked, pointing to Aragi.

"Now, if we're going to do something about it, you three, or two, need to be able to visit the Tsumikage's office. In this village, that is the ONLY requirement to be jonin. Problem? Place is worse than here. If you can't figure out how to get past the miasma, that shit WILL kill you. This is a good training ground. This place, this is the graveyard. Mine Shaft #5 has another name: The Rhythm of Rage. Wait. That's classified."

Ichiro shrugged, not really caring.

"The other REALLY classified information is that the well of Corruption is called the Song of Rage. Hehehe. Villages biggest secret is why on both. You figure that out, you're well on your way to getting Jonin. Now, I want to hear. What's next for all of you? What's your plans? I'm going to be helping you train."

 

[Ace Cream]

Aya

"Y-yOur pArenTs want to Meet me??!!" Aya was so shocked that her voice was breaking and she didn't even notice it. Ever since that little incident during the chuunin exam she felts a bit awkward around Shibata and her sister Sakurako teasing her about it definitely didn't help! Shibata's invit to his house and introducing her to his parents sounds like something that would happen in a shoujo manga and she was getting all giddy and blushing for it. She covered her face with her sleeves, just so Shibata didn't see it.

"Ah, you mean with the team. I see, I see." Of course when he corrected his phrasing Aya felts stupid for getting worked up for no reason. He just misphrased it! Stop daydreaming! Aya mentally scolded herself and tried to gather her composure back. She did notice about another hint of information though. He said the 'whole team', even though Ryuuka had bow out from their team to pursue her own journey. Did he knew who would be assigned to their team? It's a very likely occurence since Shibata was from the same clan as their sensei, and Aya didn't want to be left out. She reached out to Shibata and tugged at his clothes.

"Tell me about the team. You seem to know something about it? Please??"

IG42

 

[AtlannianSpy]

Akane Kabenari
She raised her hand, just in time and the kunai impaled her palm instead of her throat. She screamed and only vaguely recognized the sound as a cry of anger, not fear. Instead of running she was charging forwards, leaping at the last moment to jump on the man like a wild animal, her nails growing into claws to tear at his soft stomach and throat. The man's boot collided squarely with her midsection, sending her flying backwards but she tumbled in midair and landed on her hands and feet to leap back into melee range, swiping with her claws and avoiding the slashes and stabs of her opponent. At one point Akane ducked under a hissing kunai so narrowly that she felt it shave some of her lavender coloured hair but that presented her opening. Akane lunged upwards underneath the man's guards and opened her mouth to bite into the fleshy meat of his shoulder. The man screamed and this time the recognition was sharp and piquant in Akane's mind. This was a cry of fear, not of anger. Warm liquid flowed across Akane's face and into her mouth and she tasted salt and metal and-

Akane blinked, staring up at her own ceiling, dazed for a moment. Then another drop of water wriggled free and collided with Akane's already wet nose with a tiny splash, causing the girl to blink again.

Not blood then Akane thought, forciing herself to sit up in bed and stretch out all four of her arms. Another drop of water fell while Akane was doing this, hitting the top of her head this time and she sighed as she realized she was going to have to climb up onto the roof and patch it up again, for the third time this month.

No wonder we got those tiles so cheaply, none of them have lasted more than a year. Akane thought bitterly as she washed, brushed and dressed herself. Maybe the next time I deal with that merchant I should let my fangs slip out a little, make him think twice about selling us inferior goods.




"Big Sis! Big Sis is up!" came the chorus of cries as Akane walked into the kitchen. Despite being late in the morning the kitchen was still a bustling hive of breakfast related activity. The kitchen was small relative to the needs of the entire Kabenari clan so it tended to operate in an unceasing train of overlapping shifts as people came in and out. The current clientele was a collection of younger clan children probably here for a morning snack, none of whom were actually Akane's siblings, but distinctions like that were given little regard in the clan.

"What are you little monsters up to?" Akane asked, playfully tousling small heads of hair with two arms while a third reached for a glass to pour herself some water. "Also Tonsuke those canines are getting long, have you been filing them properly?"

"Yeeeeeeesss," said a young boy, looking away guiltily.

"No he hasn't! I saw him skip it this morning!" butted in a small girl with sadistic glee.

"You tattle tail!" Tonsuke protested lunging at the girl and provoking a high pitched squeal as the two devolved into brawling with each other.

"Hey! Not at the breakfast table!" Akane said sternly, picking up the two children with two arms each and separating them in the air. "And Tonsuke I've told you a thousand times your teeth won't stop growing, just like Uncle Hachi's so unless you wanna end up with them poking through the bottom of your jaw like Uncle Hachi's you have to file them down every day, okay?"

"Okayyy," said Tonsuke reluctantly and Akane sighed gently.

"I'll help you file them down this afternoon but after that you'll have to do them yourself okay?"

Tonsuke brightened but his sister looked upset. "No fair! I want big sis to do my teeth too!"

"Me too!"

"Me too!"

"Alrighty everyone hush now!" called a rickety, dry voice from the back of the kitchen, this was Grandma Michiko, a crooked old woman in a wheelchair who had been manning the bruners despite her advanced age, four long, spindly arms spread out across a collection of pots and pans like a spider hoarding its prey. "Akane won't have time to do anyone's teeth today! She has to meet her new sensei and team today!"

"Eh?"Akane said without much grace, this being the first she had heard of the matter.

"Yes a letter came for you this morning deary, but we decided to let you lie in a bit. Your new sensei will be around to pick you up for some kind of lunch date I think? It sounds like fun!"

"Right," Akane said uneasily, her mind creeping back to the dream she had had this morning. Grandma Michiko saw Akane's expression and her own softened into one of sympathy.

"Don't worry dearie I'm sure it'll go well, he won't be like the last one, this team will recognize your worth,"

Akane forced herself to smile reassuringly. "I'm sure you're right, I'll go get ready,"

"And don't forget to bring him back here to introduce him if he's handsome," Michiko called after Akane with a wicked cackle. Ï could use a new boy toy!"

KageYuuki IG42 Ace Cream

 

[Orikanyo]

Wakanaka Tsube
Sachiko Recovery and collection Squad
Mission: Looking for a sword.

​

As it turns out, being an Oni suited him, sure, he got wierd looks now and again but... Screw the people who talk shit, hes a god damn Oni and do Oni care what people think?


Turns out they did because so did he.

Well, at least folks didn't throw rocks at him or nothin...

But nonetheless, as a chuunin of this village, he was given a job and he had to do it. Thus, it was up to him to collect the materials.

One such material, is nearby, unsuspecting and generally without defence.

The bird had been a perfect distraction, that shiney coin he gave it paid off. But now, it was his turn.

"YEEEEEEET!!!" he yelled from across the way, twirling the big net once before tossing it over Sachiko and ripping back the pull cord drawing it tight over her. With a whip of the cord once again, he drew her in, tossed the qriggling mass over his should and ran off toqards the meeting point.

Equipment procurment was such a chore...

Not to mention he had to find a big gourd for his new... equipment he got from his earlier mission, and the contents? Stolen, since he was underage he couldn't just buy the stuff.... But... Miho owed him... And he left a sign that said "Waka did it" to throw off her trail. Plus the excuse of "i'ma an oni" wouldn't pass if he got stopped by authorities...

By the doctor's accounts in the village, he had gone through less of a comeplete transformation, but a bloodline awakening. His mother's side had long since had such a thing in their line, red eyes, white hair, these were most the outlieing effects. Apparrently due to a long running curse in the family, so says his mother, who learned from hers, and so on, so forth.

Needless to say, the doctors wanted to poke and prod him for awhile, and they did, with many, many needles... Given it was an awakened old bloodline, it needed to be "catalogued" apparrently... All Waka was certain of they got a laugh off him turning pale as his hair at the sight of needles...

...Not to mention the fact they had a hard time actually having a needle not be ruined by his new found body....

Turns out his body is producing a minute amount of Akuma rads now.

Yay...

His thoughts were intrupted by more wriggling from the potato sack of his shoulder, he shifted it back on his should and kept walking.

None to say it wasn't a eventful week, dealing with an angered father who probably should have known more about the whole why of his wife having odd eyes and hair, now Waka felt liek a barer of bad news for his family. Thankfully, at least hes reaping some benefits, even if he cannot officially stay in the temple housing anymore.

He has his own home!

Heavily watched.

But its his own place nonetheless!

And its utterly barren of plant life and general anything since he has the decorating skills of a young man.

....

Maybe he could ask somebody else who has good eye for nice stuff... Theres that... Aya girl... She always wears nice clothes... But... Theres the problem of her....

.... Oh hes here.

Now at the meeting point, Waka tossed the wriggling bag of what is, he imagines, a possible human being onto the ground. "Welcome to the job Sachiko, your welcome for bringing you here."

Ganryu @ Whoever else is on the job

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Okimi Bajirisuku
Sword Snatching

“I didn’t thinkyou wereliterally going to go grab her.”

Rounding the gate’s corner was Okimi, with a satisfied look on her face as she watched Sachiko untangle herself from Waka’s net. It had been a long time since Okimi had worked with either of these two, but they both looked pretty different. Waka looked... stronger to say the least. Sachiko was blind or something. Was she going to be useful like that?

“So... shall we get going? We can plan on the way,” Okimi began. “but do you need me to hold your hand or something Sachiko? Or is that one of those see through blind folds that those cosplayers use?”

——————————

Squad Ichiro

Okimi was relatively satisfied with the strike she landed, despite the pain racked her right arm. Hopefully that got her point across.

Now Okimi had put herself into a different dilemma though. She was falling into a mass of chaotic looking energy. As interesting as it was to look at, she didn’t intend to die just yet. She didn’t have a ton if options for surviving, but she did have one.

Flying through her handsigns, Okimi transformed.

Human Dragon Clone Technique

In a burst if smoke, Okimi transformed into her green dragon conpanion. She soread he wing wide, slowing her down until she could beat her wings with all her strength. This allowed to start flying back upwards towards where the rest of her squad was. She crashed down next to them, transforming back into herself as she did so, rolling to her feet. Okimi’s arms had minor burns on them, but she was fine otherwise.

Plopping herself down on the ground with her arms crossed nearby, Okimi remained silent.

 

[IG42]

Shibata Yamamoto
Wincing slightly at Aya's voice crack Shibata felt a touch of guilt at causing it with his flub. "H-hey just calm down a little." He said and reached a hand toward her before stopping realising it would probably make it worse, he'd taken Aya's silence as willingness to follow his lead for quite some time but he'd come to realise she would be willing to go along with just about anything to avoid conflict.

"Anyway we should be on our way." Turning to leave he felt the tug on his robe and turned back to Aya feeling that it was unusually bold by her standards he sighed and seeming almost reluctant he gave her head a short pat, clearly she had been caught just as off guard by Ryuuka's departure as he had. Continuing on as if he hadn't done anything out of the ordinary he shrugged slightly. "I know Ryuuka took off on some extended training sabbatical and we're getting a replacement from another team, apparently her name is Akane Kabenari but that's about all I know." His inattentiveness to most of his fellow students while training meant he hadn't been aware of her before and from what he had learned about village politics the family didn't tend to produce much in the way of ninja. "I believe my uncle should be collecting her so we can head straight to my home. Shall we go?"

Ace Cream AtlannianSpy KageYuuki

 

[Ganryu]

Mission: Looking for a Sword​

Sachiko stared off at sky, lost in thought as she heard something barrelling towards her. She sniffed twice.

"Is that... alcohol? Miho? No. No smoke. And I don't hear at the best of times. Then again, haven't seen her around.

Dad's a social drinker, so who woul---- WAH!"

Clicky Clack, Sachiko was in a sack.

For a moment the sack squirmed and writhed as Sachiko tried to punch and kick. Then she cocked her head.

"Wait, a moment. We're smarter than this."

A ssssssshink sound as metal on metal could be heard. The sack glowed a bit as a shower of sparks nearly threatened to engulf it in flames.

Shhhhhhhhhink.

Shhhhhhhhhink.

Something was getting VERY sharp inside the sack. But Sachiko didn't stab through it. Yet. Mind games were half the fun of getting kidnapped! Being kidnapped meant they wanted you alive. And having something sharp and able to move generally freaked the hell of anyone trying!

Then she was dumbed unnessarily hard on the ground as Waka deposited a devil on the ground. Sachiko went to throw a kunai sharpened down to nearly a stilletto at her abductor the moment she landed. Hearing his voice she hesitated... then still threw it.

Steady Hand

Immediately she blanched. "DODGE!" She yelled.

Standing back up, she rubbed the back of her head.

"Sorry, recent training I kinda can't stop my hands once I start moving them. Literally. I'd have to deal with very sharp objects recently, and, uh, wait, why am I apologizing! Impaling Waka's hilarious! Wonder if I gave him another horn? Tehehehe.♪"

Sachiko did a 'cute girl' pose by shuffling one foot behind the other, while bowing forward, one finger to her lips, and the other in the curve of her back.

Then she stopped and sniffed twice again. Charred, burnt, smok- "Hey Okimi. Long time no see. And nah, I'm fine. As far as if this is a cosplay or not, it's a secret, tehehe.♪"

Sachiko cocked her head with a pleasant smile.

Crapbaskets. I'm on a squad with Waka and Okimi! That means there are two brain cells between the three of us, and I got both of them!!!

Despite internally screaming, Sachiko held a poker face with a mischevious grin. She waited for either one to walk, and then, with exaggerated movement and prancing, followed in the exact footsteps, listening for where they walked. It was tiring to do, but Sachiko refused to just sit around. Especially with WHY she had bandages on!

Looking down at her hand, or rather moving her head as if she was looking, she remembered the blood on the rock. Sachiko was done holding back. Goofing off though? Not so much.

 

[Orikanyo]

Wakanaka

Being stabbed.
​

Should he have expected the counter attack?

Yea, did he?

Also yea.

Did he also kinda not hear the sharpening noises cause he was thinking?

Also, also yea.

So did he just try and grab the really sharp kunai with his already injured hand on panicing reflex?

Also, also, also yea.

And did said hand just get pierced through?

"Fffuck! Damn it Sachiko come on!"

Sounds like it.

He seethed, gritting his teeth before taking out the kunai now stelleto. "Thanks for that it just damn healed!" His hand now bleeding once more, he had to break out the bandaids early... He tsked, wrapping up the bleedig hand and eyeing the pink one... How dare she act cute after hurting him!

And how dare she succeed at being so! Hes thankful he knows the little shit is as she is, he'd pty the fool who falls for this idiot!

Actually most women hes met his age are bloody insane! Only one generally okay is Aito, but shes roughly... Actually how old is she? He called her auntie but he doesn't ACTUALY know her age... Wierd...

"...Still unable to see huh? How are you getting along? Needa hand or somethin...?

....Not that i'm asking to hold your hand, seriously, knowing you you'd dig your claws into my open wound..."

Ganryu InsaneAsylum

 

[KageYuuki]

Hayate Yamamoto
Reclined in the Jounin lounge, Hayate thumbed through the pages of a file. Akane Kabenari's dossier wasn't a particularly large one. Cohesion problems had forced her team into far fewer missions than most squads it seemed. Her encounter with the squad from Inochigakure and the resulting fallout were the reports he found himself lingering on the longest. A tragedy all too common in their small village. One Hayate himself had been forced to live through shortly after becoming chuunin.

He'd happened to overhear Takeru's declaration that he no longer wanted anything to do with Akane despite her having saved his life. Hayate wasn't able to hear the Tsumikage's reaction, but the jounin looked pale as a ghost when he stumbled from her office.

Hayate sighed, I still think Ichiro might have more to offer her. But who knows, maybe this new addition would breathe some life into the squad. Glancing at the clock, he stood with a stretch. Reiji and Shintaro had been insistent that Shibata bring his teammates over for dinner, and he'd been told that offer included Akane.

Or was it blackmail? Bribery? Meh.

He returned the personnel file and started towards the Kabenari clan's compound. The dark purple glow of his pendant returned to its normal, softer color as he emerged from the heavy cloud of miasma. It wouldn't be long before his three were going to have to begin thinking about how they were going to traverse the Well of Corruption. But first thing's first, he had a chuunin to collect and introductions to go through. Stopping at a weathered looking gate that read Kabenari, he gave a sturdy knock. And waited.


IG42 AtlannianSpy Ace Cream

 

[KageYuuki]

Lost Legacy
Once the three had finished with kidnapping nobility and attempted murder, they finally set off for their mission. To try and steal from nobility.

The journey to Tamenobu's estate took the trio far to the Southwest. Well beyond the forests of the Land of Life and into the plains between Chowaku and the Land of Earth. A multiday trek that would deliver them near their target well after sundown. The faint purples of twilight still stretched across the sky, the sun's last futile attempts before being swallowed by the blanket of night. Crickets chirped from the tall grass, enjoying the warm evening.

Tamenobu's estate looked more like a small castle, complete with a great wall and heavy wooden gate. Despite not being a Daimyo he seemed intent on rivaling their grand palaces. Guards with lanterns patrolled the walls. The katana hanging from their belts and lack of headbands marked them as samurai.

While the Tsumi trio took in their surroundings, another duo strode towards the castle gates. A slender redhead that lazily rested his arm on his katana and a mountain of a man with dirt covered clothes and a scroll on his back. Both of them had the emblem of Bishamonten somewhere on their clothing.

The guards spotted the brazen intruders. Bows and swords drawn as one barked at them to halt and state their business.

"We're here for Hoshikiri," the redhead called back, cracking his neck. "Really oughta just save yourselves the trouble and hand it--"

Arrows flew at them in response.

The smaller man snorted and drew his blade in an iai slash, an explosion ringing out from the bronze colored blade. Even if Okimi couldn't get a good look at the wielder, chances were good she'd recall the sword Nagareboshi. Marking the redhead as the samurai Akane Uematsu from the Dragon Graveyard.

His companion unfurled the scroll on his back, unsealing a greatsword that easily dwarfed the already massive man.

"What the hell kind of sword is that!?" Akane could be heard shouting.

With a roar, his companion swung down at the gate. The thunderous impact kicked up a massive cloud of dust and shook the earth enough that the Tsumi nin could feel it from where they stood. The strike had obliterated the gate and a large chunk of the thick stone wall with it.

A new figure lept from the dust cloud at the Bishamonten attackers. The blade of her dao was blue like the ocean, a streamer of emerald silk fluttered from the hilt. She wore a headband with the emblem for Nendogakure etched upon it.

It would seem samurai weren't the only guards hired by Tamenobu. But the guards seemed distracted, swarming the current intruders like angry hornets. The way inside the walls was open.



Ganryu Orikanyo InsaneAsylum

 

[Ace Cream]

Aya

Akane! Sounds like a girl! Aya let out a relieved sigh at the information. It's not like she hates boy or anything, but she would be super nervous if she ended up as the only girl in the squad. Her sister told her she shouldn't be picky though... she would work on that later. Promise! Knowing that they would meet with their sensei and new teammates got Aya even more excited at it. She nodded and followed Shibata silently to his house.

IG42 AtlannianSpy KageYuuki

 

[Ganryu]

The Lost Legacy​

"I have never hated crickets as much as I do right now..."

Sachiko whined as they approached. She sniffed the air. A lingering scent, not much she'd normally have picked up on, but, grass had been cut here. They were near an estate. The noise of crickets from the area was quieter too. A jiggling sound could be heard along with the burning of a torch. Guards were patrolling with weapons in toe.

For being just a 'quiet' evening, it sure was loud for Sachiko. She was tempted to unwrap her bandages, but torch lights would be way too harsh on her right now. So she shrugged instead. She'd promised she wouldn't hold anyone back, but, well, not much she could do here.

A sudden flurry of activity and new sounds rained on Sachiko's ears. Arrows notching and releasing, the puff of a summoning, clicking of steel on steel, and-

Sachiko grabbed her ears as the shockwave near sent her away.

"What a fopdoodle. Ugh. Don't suppose its ninja's attacking here, ninja's are supposed to be stealthy, cove-..."

Sachiko let the words die in her mouth, turning her head back at Waka and Okimi. She cleared her throat, and hummed. "♪Right, we have a sword to get!♪"

With that, she headed towards the mansion itself, following along an abandoned trail a guard had been beforehand, running her hands along the wall. Finding it to just be a wall, Sachiko started to wall climb upwards, before jumping off, and throwing a kunai with wire attached to it at the side of the mansion, and swinging towards it like a theif in the night.

I really hope they don't have a tiered building, or else I'm going to look really stupid hitting the side of this thing...

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Okimi Bajirisuku
Sword Snatching​

“Oh! Looks like we might be bringing back more than one sword tonight!” Okimi said this was wide smile, summoning Feurey without hesitation. Feurey emerged with a smokey yawn, letting out a startled grunt when Okimi hopped on his back. “No time to waste! They’re distracted!” Okimi took off into the sky, just as Sachiko started towards the castle.

Despite seemingly leaving her squad, Okimi quickly looped back around by Waka. “I’ll be above! If you need help just yell!” She said, before soaring off again, this time into the air. Okimi quickly zoomed up as high as she could, taking cover above a cloud. As much as she wanted to just dive in a fight that samurai again, Okimi knew that she had to make sure someone secured that sword first.

Feurey hovered above the cloud, slowly bouncing up and down as he beat his wings to keep him and Okimi in the air. She was considering her options, whether or not to simply barrage the castle from above, or to swoop in and try to break in from above. Considering Sachiko was already on her way inside, it may be a better decision to wait and see how the battle turns out. Regardless, Okimi preferred to stay out in the open, not stuck in some stone walls.

Okimi let out a deep breath, and waited. Listening from above the clouds at all the chaos below.

 

[Orikanyo]

Wakanaka Tsube
Sword snatching
​

"Alright, it seems we've once again come late to the party... But at least their distracted. Lets stick together and get in and out as soon as-"

Sachiko was gone, leaping right to the building.

Okimi started flying off with Fuerey.

And here he was.

Left alone.

Immedately after the whole thing began...Where was the sword even being kept again? Maybe in a vault? Basement? Somewhere easy to protect and hard to get too... Ugh...

His head hurt from thinking so much, he had been worying about it suddenly on the way in so much it began to effect him... Bah... Whatever... if any of the guards look up they'd see the two, best he just go and worry about it later.

He squat down and stretched his legs for a second, getting nice and limber, before he ran straight at the wall, leapt at it and... Crashed through it straight into the building... Much to his suprise as it was to the guard who was on the toilet facing the wall he jist broke through.

A quick punch and smack with a uprooted toilet later, he managed to secure... Wait... This guy was too big for him to steal his outfit, damn it, oh well... At least he got his wallet, really Sachiko was becoming a bad influence on him, seriously... Or was it the oni blood? Either way, he figured he should continue inside, he was going to climb up the building to sray somewhat near the two but apparrently the noble skipped out on costs of the damn wall there....

"...Tsk... hope they don't screw this up...."

Ganryu KageYuuki InsaneAsylum

 

[AtlannianSpy]

Akane Kabenari

The Kabenari clan compound was a sprawling building that loomed over Hayate like a crooked, wooden spider. It had been clearly relatively modest in size when it was first constructed and had since been added onto haphazardly and add hoc, with various annexes, extensions and huts crowding the original structure. Signs of life like washing hanging on lines and chimneys puffing smoke were everywhere but for the moment nobody came to answer Hayate's knock, although he might notice a few pairs of bright, youthful eyes peering down at him from behind a curtain in one of the windows.

"Don't mind them, we don't get a lot of visitors is all," said an aging voice as the door creaked open, revealing Grandma Michiko in her wheelchair. "So you're Akane's new sensei eh?" Michiko gave Hayate an appraising look, squinting and casting her eyes up and down. She suddenly cackled. "Not bad! Maybe an 8.5?"

"Alright I think that's quite enough of that," said a softer, younger voice as Akane stepped out from behind Michiko's chair. "Also I think whatever you left on the stove is burning,"

"Rats!" Michiko said, deftly spinning her wheelchair in place and retreating down the hallway with surprising speed. "Come back again Sensei! maybe we can bump you up to a 9 hmm?"

Akane sighed softly as Michiko retreated with another cackle and then looked up at Hayate with a placid expression. "Well then, I am Akane Kabenari. it's a pleasure to meet you. Shall we go?"

KageYuuki IG42 Ace Cream

 

[Spiderverse]

Aragi OnigakeSquad Ichiro​

Well this was certainly an impression. Not only did some random ninja who was probably one of his new squadmates just immediately punch their jonin-level leader, he had struck her back with a force that seemed completely absurd, with an aura and demeanor to match. Before he could even recognize it there was a voice telling him to be careful, as he looked below and saw another chuunin, perhaps his other teammate, warn him about the incoming blow before jumping back to avoid the impact of their falling squad mate. It seemed like their leader had quite the foul mouth on him, something that Aragi figured could only mean that the one who was in charge of them was Ichiro, the Feral. An extremely strong ninja who made his made his way through the ranks with a power and ferocity that was fabled.

Before he could express his surprise though, the man addressed him with an annoyed tone, which made him seem like he hated the job, and immediately tasked him with watching out for the rest of his squad, really putting into perspective how much trouble he had already gotten himself in. When Aragi was asked to identify the rank that had the most casualties, he had to think for a minute, scratching his cheek before answering with confidence: "Chuunin, probably. Since they are just skilled enough to be placed on the more dangerous missions but maybe aren't strong enough to deal with all of the possible surprises that are thrown at them." Though he had looked for some kind of affirmation to his response, it seemed like Ichiro would simply continue, throwing out classified information like it was no big deal at all, and then telling them that they'd have to get past this scalding miasma.

Jumping down to the rest of his squad, carefully avoiding the miasma at the ground below, the ninja immediately began spouting his plan: "Well now that I'm Chuunin I plan on further developing my Fuuinjutsu and Paper Ninjutsu, to the point where I seamlessly combine the two. I want to get to Jonin so I can find some clues, there's some stuff that I need to look into and only with those kinds of resources will I be able to see the truth for myself. Its kind of selfish but... I need to."

 

[Ganryu]

Blossoming Border Problems
(Sachiko & Akane Mission)​

Spoiler: Description

Mission: Blooming Border Problems
Rank: A
The problem with border disputes with Inochigakure, is their tendency to spontaneously pop up forests, and then claim that they've controlled the woods all along. It becomes somewhat worse when a squad carrying important supplies is an area that Inochigakure has deigned to suddenly claim. We lost an important item hidden in cloth with the Tsumikage's seal on it.
A scout came back blubbering about how flowers were everywhere, he walked into a tree, and when he woke up, everyone was gone. But he couldn't find any sign of a fight. What's worse, another squad from Jingakure sent a complaint letter about one of their squads disappearing on our turf. We believe this is the same turf. This is going to cause an international issue if it's not resolved. Someone blood thirsty is inside. And evidence suggest some sort of trickery, possibly poisons or genjutsu inside. Your mission:
* Retrieve the package. Destroy it if you must.
* Burn down the forest.
* Eliminate the enemy

Spoiler: Mission

A low buzz radiated as a jonin stood atop a stone stand, facing several chunnin. Tsumigakure had a natural hum to it due to the well, but most of the time the small village was too lively to hear it. The jonin looked over the group again and again.

Finally, he spoke.

“I’m not going to lie. This is not a mission most chunnin should be sent on. Border disputes with Inochigakure tend to be a question of who can throw the most bodies at eachother.

This point, it’d almost be worth it just to give them the land, but then they started causing international disputes in our name, and we can’t have that.

The problem with this dispute is the forest they have conjured has made finding the source the woods near impossible. So we need as many of you to scan it as possible. You’ll be working in small units to cover as much ground as possible. When you find the cause, shoot up a flare. {Which will inevitably get destroyed first chance Insane gets}.

Don’t die. Be careful. Don’t.Fuck.Around. Now for assignments.

Mori, Tori. Together.

Sachiko, Akane. Together.

Hebi, Ryu. Together.”

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

Sachiko was left rubbing the back of her head. Who the heck was Akane. Shrugging, she struck a pose on one leg and waving with her hand with a giggle. “♪Akaaaane! Over here! Yoohoo”

Sachiko stood with her regular tiny hat stuck impossibly to her head, and her pink gloves and frilly skirt. The belt around the skirt held one brown ninja tool pouch, one black one, and one book titled “Divine Punishment”. She did wear a chunnin vest over it, but most strikingly, were the bandages over her eyes.

Internally she cursed putting ‘fully available for the field’ on her record…

Akane scanned the assembled crowd of chunin for a moment. Sachiko was a name she had heard, usually spoken in hushed whispers and alluded to as some kind of troublemaker, but it wasn’t one Akane could put to a face per se. Fortunately she didn’t have to as the person herself immediately made herself known.

“I am Akane,” Akane said, approaching Sachiko with her head tilted in a quizzical expression. “Should I pose also?” Akane asked, experimentally lifting one leg and an arm to match her partner. Akane didn’t really get this but she wasn’t up on most of the latest trends with people her age and getting along with teammates had been a sore point for her in the past. Maybe the posing would help?

"Hmmm….?" Sachiko put her finger on her chin in thought, a devious smile on her face. Then she switched poses to a cute girl leaning over.
Then to victory sign.
Then sticking her tongue out.

A voice boomed behind them.

"What did I JUST say about fucking around!?"

Sachiko just rubbed her head. "Fine, fine."

She offered a handshake to Akane.
"Sachiko Kounna at your service. I'm a sensor nin. You?"

“I um, don’t really have very many techniques so I’m not quite sure what kind of nin I am,” Akane said with a slight hint of embarrassment as she shook Sachiko’s hand quickly and then hastened towards the gate before she was yelled at again. “I was just promoted to chunin recently you see and um-- well, I suppose I am quite sturdy, so I can take the frontlines if needed,”

Inwardly Akane cringed at how unreliable she sounded and wondered if it was really a good idea for her to have volunteered for this mission, maybe she would have been better off finding her feet with something less dangerous? But something about the notice had tugged at her and Akane realized that it was the prospect of fighting Inochi nin again. The prospect of recreating the circumstances of that day was intoxicating. If Akane could stay clear headed through it she might begin to understand what had transpired during that fight and what it meant for her.

“Oh also my blood is acidic so please maintain a safe distance if I am injured,” Akane added quickly, realizing her new partner would not already know to do this like her previous team had eventually learned.

======

It wasn’t a long trip to the disputed portion of the border, and it was obvious which area held all the trouble. As the group ventured closer and closer to the border, a light fog fell upon them. Vision was limited to about 50 meters.

The chuunin would suddenly come across the brand new forest. It solely consisted of weeping willow trees that stretched high up into the fog, their tips invisible. Their hanging branches hung low, and would likely brush against the heads of anyone walking beneath them. On the grassy ground beneath them, small white flowers peered upwards. Farther in the forest, bigger flowers with dark red petals would surround certain trees.

A sweet smell would begin to infiltrate the chuunins’ senses the closer they got to the forest. The farther into the forest they went, the sweeter this scent would become. The only sound audible would be the flowing of branches in the wind.

The various smells made Sachiko dizzy, her head swooning a bit. “I miss NOT noticing some thing sometimes. Like, it’s not like anything smells that bad, but so many smells I can almost put my finger on, but not quite. Like, is that Hyacinth, or Jasmine? And then like, do that 100 times. It’s really annoying! Also, probably some of it faux, which makes it harder! Like, why do genjutsu users have to be such jerks.” She whined, being a proficient genjutsu user.

“Oh, I’d get ready if you have anything special. I’m sure glad you can take a hit, I can’t. I’m a delicate flower. I’m one of the wors-” Sachiko bit her tongue, letting that lie die. Man, she wanted to be the worst… No responsibilities, no one depending on you… But she had made a promise to not hold her teammates down.

“Anyways, I’ll be counting on you, Akane! Let me see if anything’s nearby.”

Sighing, Sachiko stood perfectly still, and held her hands in the Rat handsign. She slowed her breathing as she listened intently.

Sensory Jutsu: Rhythm of the Heart

Peacefully, the dull ‘thud’ of her own heartbeat began to beat in her own ear. Then dully, she began to match it’s rhythm to Akane’s beside her. Then slowly she began to spread out looking for other heartbeats within a 500 meter radius.

Akane couldn’t help but admire the beauty of the forest they were walking through, even as she kept a watchful eye for any hidden dangers. It must be nice, Akane thought, with a touch of envy, to have abilities that were both deadly and beautiful at the same time, if Akane ever met the people responsible for her own techniques she resolved to have a firm word with them about their aesthetic sensibilities.

Akane wasn’t entirely sure what it was Sachiko was doing once she stopped but from the context it was obviously some sort of sensory...something, so that was probably fine, it did remind Akane that she had something of her own she could use. While they were halted AKane concentrated for a moment and two slits near her temples became visible and then opened up, revealing a second pair of eyes and instantly widening Akane’s cone of vision.

As always there was a brief rush of something like dizziness as Akane tried to process the extra visual information. Akane knew from experience that she still wasn’t especially sharp eyed for a ninja even with all four eyes open, if someone was trying to properly conceal themselves they would be relying on whatever Sachiko was doing. However if they were attacked openly Akane knew she had a reasonable chance of spotting it and reacting in time.

There were nine heartbeats. All but one of them were slow and weak. The strongest one was farther in the forest still. It remained in one spot, unmoving. One of the weaker heartbeats however, was incredibly close by. Dangerously close.

With her expanded field of view, Akane would likely notice something odd about one of the nearby trees. Not only was it the only tree with red flowers below it in the immediate area, a red liquid dripped onto one of the flowers at a steady rate. Sachiko would no doubt hear the drops as well.

Sachiko nodded her head, he hand brushing to her book, and slowly opening it despite the blindfold. She chuckled as she pointed at one page, and made a ‘come on’ motion.

“Seems to be all clear. ♪We’re goooolden♪. Man, hope we get lucky and don’t actually run into Inochigakure. That’d be great.”

Suddenly Sachiko pulled out a single bo-shuriken, a rail the size of her hand, and crossed her arms. She threw the heavy missile like a cannonball through the trees straight at the strongest heartbeat.

The silver rod disappeared like a blur from her hand as it pierced through flora easily on it’s way to the target.

Lucky: 777 Jackpot

“Nine enemy combatants. Their heartbeats are weak though, almost trancelike. That, or I just attempted to murder another nin from our village, but, seeing as we’re in pairs, don’t think so. Except for the one I targetted, that has a strong heartbeat. Go bullrush my shuriken, I’ll fend off the rest.”

Sachiko’s voice was much huskier and serious than her normal sing song notes. One thing of note would be the book being completely hollowed out to make space for the 3, now 2, bo shurikens inside.

“Well alright then, be careful and mind the trees, there’s one nearby that looks odd, I think it might be bleeding?” Akane said calmly, crouching and tensing her legs then body flickering forwards after Sachiko’s projectile, colliding with trees and pushing off them again to maintain speed and give her movement a less predictable, pinballing quality. As she rushed forwards Akane flexed her hands and her nails extended into sharp, dangerous claws ready to rend the flesh of any enemy she encountered at the end of the bo shuriken’s trail of destruction. Akane felt the cold sting of wind on her teeth and realized she was smiling widely.

Eventually, Akane would come upon a tall blonde woman with long hair and a blueish purple dress. She lies on the ground, gasping for air with one hand stretched out towards the sky. The projectile had lodged itself in her abdomen and sent her to the ground. Blood seeped from the wound. Akane would find that the sweet smell was stronger than it had ever been before.

Meanwhile, near Sachiko, nothing changed. However, if she could still hear heartbeats, she would notice Akane never reached the strong heartbeat in question.


--------------
Sachiko
--------------

Sachiko sighed as things did not go to plan. No enemies were rushing her, and she couldn’t tell where Akane had gone. Had someone gotten to her…? Had something else happened…? Was it just Sachiko…?

No mission was worth dying on. Yet something in Sachiko made her smile. Not her normal, trollish, cutesy smile, but a wide one with her front canine showing.

“Never wanted to be strong, but, well, guess when it’s just me, I’m the only person I can rely on and that’s alright.. I hate the village… I hate the ninja world. Sometimes I hate my team. But me… I like me.”

She began to hold her hands into a Ram handsign.

Alot of chakra for a guess…

Chakra visibly flowed off of Sachiko in deep purple tendrils, flowing upwards like some sort of toxic sludge in reverse. The vein in her forehead creased as she concentrated hard, singling her mind to a single thought, over and over again.

“Kill…”

Suddenly her hands tightened in the seal, and the chakra around her exploded outward in a sudden pulse, the yin chakra noticeably wafting past the leaves around the area like a light breeze.

Death Bunny’s Scythe

A sharp, intense wave of killing intent stabbed past the area, passing like a fierce wind. The wave was intense, seemingly life ending to anyone caught by it’s blast. The dark aura would cut through them and amplify killing intents normal horrors of feeling you were already dead. And then just as quickly as it came, it was gone, whoever had been caught free just as fast as it had come, though an echoing word could be heard in their heads, resounding ‘kill’ repeatedly in their minds, slowly fading away.

Sachiko dropped to one knee, grabbing her head. Either someone was near her, or they weren’t. And she had heard 8 people. THAT technique was definitely hard to use, but at the very least useful for disrupting techniques and momentarily stunning foes… and Sachiko. And if it disrupted no one else’s chakra, at least teh sheer amount shed by Sachiko might disrupt her own, or maybe overwhelm whatever Yin chakra may have been set in the area.

Problem was the concentration it took… and that Sachiko didn’t have a ton of chakra in the first place.

As soon as the wave went out, the patches of red flowers below three of the willow trees shivered, before each flowers’ petals closed up. Not long after four distinct thuds were heard as four bodies fell from four different trees. Thorny vines were wrapped around their limbs and throats, stabbing into them. They were unconscious. It didn’t take long for the flowers to recover. The petals opened up once again, and the vines began dragging the victims back towards the tree.

Sachiko winced. That blood didn’t smell so sweet anymore, for a moment, it smelled like, well, blood. Iron filled and nausiating. It started to lull back into the sweetly sick embrace as the petals opened back up.

Sachiko groaned, grabbing a kunai, and running her whetstone over it to sharpen it. It felt like she was going to need it.

“The trees here harvest ninja, and I believe they use their chakra supply to fuel a genjutsu to lull them into a passive state… to harvest more ninja… Suddenly, not sure I want to stay too long in the forest… I’m already under the effects of the genjutsu, and I can’t disperse it due to the smell. It can outchakra me any day of the week. How many ninja have fallen here. Tch. Might be able to outchakra every single person sent in here. Can’t disrupt it unless I find the source. Something has to mold this chakra to set it off in the first place.

Ugh… almost want to call it quits and go home. Wait… If I’m having trouble with it….”

Sachiko groaned, then began to run after Akane, listening carefully for any vines trying to sneak up on her with her sharpened kunai drawn.

“Okay, think I’ve figured it out, but Death Bunny's Scythe took a lot out of me. If we’re going to do anything, it’s probably going to have to be Akane that does it. If I’m near out of chakra, it means my time limit is less than hers here...”

--------------
Akane-
--------------


Akane halted, narrowing her eyes as she studied the injured woman before her.

Something’s not right Akane thought, realizing now that the burning sensation at the back of her neck had been her gland of reproachement activating, meaning her chakra pathways were being disrupted, likely by a genjutsu, Akane had only ever experience the sensation in training with her clan, so it had taken a while to recognize the sensation.

it’s probably coming from whatever that smell is, which means if I release it it will probably just re affect me, if I can even manage to break it in the first place. For now I’ll see if can gather information while leaving it in place

“Who are you?” Akane demanded of the injured woman, cautiously approaching until she was only several paces away. As she spoke Akane shifted her arm so that the wide sleeve was near her pouch and used one of her secondary arms to withdraw a kunai, holding it ready to throw concealed within her garment. “What are you doing here?”

The woman shakily rose her head to look at Akane, a look of pain and agony in her face. “He… help…” she muttered between ragged breaths. He hand shook in the air as she held it up, but suddenly, it formed a handsign.

From the trees near Akane, thorny vines shot out at her with the intent of restraining her.

Alright I’m officially in over my head Akane thought, catching the movement of the vines out of the corner of her eyes and dashing to the side to avoid them. Is she being controlled herself while at the same time controlling the vines? Or could this be a ruse? It smells like the genjutsu is originating from her so is it possible she’s entirely illusory? I was really hoping I could just hit someone, this is too complicated!

“I can try to help you, but I don’t have any medical ninjutsu or anything like that,” Akane called to the women, staying on the move to keep away from any more of the vines. “So bear with me for a while, this is going to hurt,” With that Akane threw her hidden kunai at the woman’s hand, aiming to pin down her hand and prevent it from forming more hand seals. At the same time Akane body flickered upwards, launching herself above the treeline to fire off the flare she had been given at the start of the mission.

“You Tsumi-nin were always a little dumb…” the woman grumbled as the kunai stabbed into her palm. There was no reaction to the pain, but blood seeped from the wound regardless. She rose to her feet. As she did so, thorny vines wrapped around her legs were visible for a moment. They seemed to burrow into the ground beneath her.

“Hurry up and die,” the woman said, pointing her index finger with her good hand at Akane.

Wood Release: Bullet Seed

A rapid barrage of seeds began firing at Akane, aimed mostly for her upper torso. A look of annoyance had started to overtake the woman, yet it didn’t seem to be due to her wounds. The injuries didn’t even seem to bother her as she tried to hit Akane. What was even more odd was how the woman remained planted to the one spot.

“I apologize but I’m rather inept at dying,” Akane said, her lips curling into an unconscious smile. Akane landed on a nearby tree branch after launching her flare and gathered her chakra for another body flicker, but instead of attempting to avoid the hail of organic bullets Akane launched herself straight at the woman, only crossing her arms in front of her face and stomach to shield herself. Relying instead on her natural armor and regeneration to simply shrug off the damage for the time being.

Wherever the bullet seeds struck true they’d leave wounds on Akane that steamed and emitted a caustic, chemical smell. By the time Akane closed in on the woman she’d likely be covered in such wounds and dripping with blood, which she allowed to fall off of her and onto the roots at the woman’s feet, where the blood would sizzle and hiss as it began eating into the plant roots.

“I’ve heard blood is supposedly a good fertilizer for plants,” Akane said, grappling the woman and attempting to shove her free of the hopefully weakened roots around her feet. “Mine’s a bit different though,”

The woman’s legs ripped from the weakened roots, which themselves tore far more easily due to acid burning through them. The woman screeched as they were torn from her, more sweet smelling blood bursting from where they were torn. The forest around them seemed to shimmer more and more with every scream. It wasn’t much longer before the woman was fully freed of the vines, and her screams ceased. She fell to the ground limp and unmoving, a blank expression of her face.

Moments after that, the fog in the forest faded away, and standing before the two nin in the clearing was the same blonde woman. She looked furious.

“Do you know how long it took to set all this up so perfectly? A self powered genjutsu forest and murders everyone that enters? But somehow you two sorry excuses for ninja manages to cut it right at the source… ugh. It doesn’t matter now. I already have what I need. I’ll kill you both and head back home a hero.”

With that said, she began to form a handsign.

“That’s more like it,” Akane said, fishing out a handful of shuriken and throwing them at the women as she charged forwards, it was not a particularly powerful or accurate throw, it was more intended to distract her while Akane closed in again. “To be honest I was getting tired of the mind games, not really my thing,” As she ran Akane fully revealed her secondary arms and her fingernails on all four hands extended into sharpened claws. The forest around Akane began to blur, even as her opponent came into hypersharp focus and the pain from her wounds softened and dulled, as though it was happening to someone else. This was it, this was the sensation she had been looking for, the same as from last time.

As she closed in Akane launched a flurry of clawing blows with all four arms, relying on the quantity of strikes to overwhelm her opponent’s defences.

Gouging Flurry

Woven into the handful of shuriken, a single kunai with a red handle manifest, thrown at the exact same speed as the incoming shuriken to blend in.

Fragmentation kunai

Sachiko smirked from a nearby tree, holding onto a branch as she squatted, not announcing her joining in of the fight.

Oddly, Sachiko would observe that Akane was far closer to the explosion than expected, and was obliterated by it, chunks of her flying off and tumbling to the ground as Akane fell back dead.

Meanwhile, Akane released her flurry of blows, however, she suddenly realized that her strikes were clawing into not the woman… but Sachiko!

Moments after, Akane would find another thorny vine attempting to wrap around her neck. If not stopped it would proceed to pull her into the air and choke her.

On a branch not too far from Sachiko, the blonde woman had appeared, holding a small white flower in her hand up by her mouth.

Akane let out a feral sounding hiss of frustration and tore impatiently at the vines around her neck with a combination of her claws and sharpened teeth, slicing through and casting away the scraps of plant matter. With that done Akane glanced down at the tattered corpse of her teammate.
That’s...not right Akane thought, as reason pushed its way up to the fore of her mind, through the haze of adrenaline. Did I do that? Or- no, some kind of genjutsu most likely. But-

Akane forced herself to calm down and look around, using all four eyes to scan her surroundings and quickly locating the woman, and another Sachiko. So definitely a genjutsu of some sort Akane thought, taking a deep breath and performing a genjutsu release on herself to be sure, although her knowledge of such things was only workmanlike at best.

“I’m down here Sachiko!” Akane called, in case her ally was also afflicted by a genjutsu. “Proceed carefully, I was able to fire off my flare earlier so if she intends to kill us she will need to rely on our mistakes instead of her own strength,” This was probably true, but it was also a taunt calculated to rile up the woman if she could be manipulated into a more open fight their numbers and raw power would give them an edge. This was a frustrating tactic however, Akane longed to chase after the woman once more and sink her claws into flesh, the genjutsu had not been satisfying in that respect, the subtle sinking sensation had been absent.

====

“Hmm…” Sachiko tapped her chin, before pulling out a compact from her black bag. She pulled out a brush, and began applying foundation to her cheeks, though the mirror was useless. The implications that the genjutsu had just killed her teammate hung in the air.

“Hey, Inochi nin. What’s the weather like? Is today sunny or overcast? Or is it already night…? Also, any name on your end for the bingo book? I’m Sachiko.”

Sachiko closed the compact with a thud, before scratching at her bandages.

Hearing Akane’s voice, she gave a slight chuckle. “I was so close to her. Sometimes I can still hear her voice.”

The woman dropped the flower, letting it begin floating towards the ground before speaking. “Hina Yasukama,” the woman stated, as the flower fell. It began to glow as it approached the ground, and just before it did, Hina flew through several handsigns. “I’ll show you the power of my own strength!”

As soon as the flower hit the ground, it exploded upwards in a pillar of white flower petals, filling the area with them. They circled for a moment, before concentrating around Hina and coiling around her. The mass of glowing white petals then split in two, half flying towards Akane and half flying towards Sachiko. They would cut into anyone caught in their flurry.

Akane tensed as the petals began swirling around Hina, gathering energy for a body flicker and launching herself away as the swarm of petals crashed into her previous position. Akane’s flicker took her to the side of a tree trunk, level with Sachiko and HIna. Her claws digging into the bark for leverage, Akane coiled herself like a spring and launched herself directly at Hina, abandoning any pretense at evading the petals except to cover her face with one pair of arms, reaching out with the other to lunge at her opponent. The petals would cut her skin to ribbons Akane knew, but she was going to gamble that she could survive them well enough to get a good hit in. The thought of it thrilled her.

Sachiko meanwhile groaned. “I just wanted to know the weather….”

Without hesitation, Sachiko reached into both black and brown bags with both hands, and pulled out a whet stone and a single kunai. With a scraping motion, an explosion of sparks rained down on the grass below, and the kunai lost half an inch of it’s width. Holding it reverse grip, Sachiko pulled on the branch she was on, slicing through it, and pulling back on it, holding up a wooden shield against the incoming storm of blades.

“Hmm… am I too young for life insurance…?”

Noticing Akane barreling through her barrage, Hina made an upwards motion with her fingers, and the stream of petals swiftly changed directions, slamming Akane up into the air. She had been mere feet from Hina when it occured. Too close for her comfort. The woman frowned, beads of sweat beginning to form on her hairline.

Meanwhile, Sachiko would find her wooden shield quickly deteriorating. However, what was worse was that the petals that crashed by her and were diverted began to curve back around towards Sachiko to destroy her from the back.

Akane gasped as the torrent of petals buffeted her upwards, off her course. She hadn’t expected the petals to have that much kinetic force to them, but she refused to be turned away with her prey so close! In desperation Akane sunk her razor sharp teeth into one of her own arms, withdrawing a mouthful of acidic blood and spitting a wide, crimson spray at her opponent that sizzled menacingly as Akane flew upwards.

Sachiko heard the spinning behind her as not a good sign. She wanted another quip, but didn’t have air for it. She grabbed the wooden shield, and charged forward, running under the branch for protection, letting the flowers shave at the other side of the branch instead.

Touching a nearby section, Sachiko put a bit of chakra in it, before jumping off, lunging at Hina while making several handsigns. She was far too slow to avoid all of the flowers, likely taking several hits along the way.

Akane’s blood splashed right in Hina’s face, eliciting a shriek of pain, as she quickly moved to wipe it from her eyes. As she did so, she made a fist with her hand, causing all the flower petal to rush back towards her, no doubt giving Sachiko plenty of cuts along the way. Hina opened one eye just in time to see Sachiko lunging at her, and she threw one hand out to send a blast of petals her way. “Why are you Tsumi creatures so damn disgusting!?” she yelled out in pain and annoyance.

“Then die pretty bitch!” Akane screamed, her three good hands diving into her tool pouch as her upwards momentum petred out, leaving her to hang in midair for a brief instant. Then as she fell back down towards the forest floor Akane unleashed every last throwing weapon she left, her wounds coating them in hissing blood as she grabbed them so that she unleashed a haphazard barrage of acidic kunai.

The petal storm sliced through Sachiko on the way to protect their master, and as the woman held her hand out to blast forward, Sachiko gave a horrified expression, holding her arms crossed infront of her as the blizzard ripped her apart.... only for a poof to reveal a shredded wooden log, looking like a cat had just had a field day with the scratches all across it. The log, however, still had a trajectory straight towards the Inochigakure nin.

Substitution Jutsu

Squatted upside down on the same branch, Sachiko panted for breath, cuts covering her body. A few of them did look particularly deep, blood seeping from them like syrup from a tree. A large cut across her bandages started to slowly unravel, bit by bit. A glow of red started to show from the right eye beneath them. More continued to fall below. A glow of blue from the left eye. Both eyes seemed to shimmer, gemlike. A cut, spiral pattern could be seen across them, unnaturally dark, it looked like scarring more than natural eyes, but was so precise it wasn’t injury. It was surgery.

Both eyes, piercing in color locked in on Hina.

Sanryōkyōgan (Prism Eyes)

Two thin films overlapped Sachiko’s vision. A slight red blur, mostly transparent, and a slight blue blur, also transparent. Heat and chakra she could both see.

Sachiko didn’t have a normal quip. She simply observed the fluttering razorwind of death for a moment, before quietly drawing the last two rods from her book. She threw the first one to the far left of Hina. Unless Hina was nice enough to jump into it, there was no way it would ever land. Sachiko then threw the second, ricocheting off of it, and straight at the ninja from the off angle.

Sachiko’s hat fell off her head, fluttering to the bandages below. A second later, her shoes unpeeled from upside down on the tree, and Sachiko fell as well, in a crumpled mess on the ground. The fact she hadn’t quipping probably was a sign of her health more than anything…

One of Hina’s eyes had been rendered useless due to Akane’s blood. The pain was great enough that Hina clutched at it as she tried to block the barrage of acid covered tools. The petals were mostly successful, but Hina’s lack of vision let a few slip through. A kunai stabbed into her right arm, and a pair of shuriken into her left thigh and calf. She nearly stumbled from the tree branch, but she regained her balance just in time for a log to slam into the side of her head. Enraged, Hina fixed her one good eye onto Sachiko.

Looking into her newly revealed eyes, Hina snarled. “A new trick from the wasteland? Who did you steal those from?” Hina moved to send a wave of petals at Sachiko, but stopped when she saw her throw the rod away. “Where are you aim-” Hina heard the clang of the ricochet but it was too late. It lodged itself into her torso, eliciting a gasp from the blonde jonin. She swayed in place, before her feet slid from the branch. She tumbled to the ground, crashing down with a thud.

Akane hit the forest floor with a thud and a loud groan as the wind was knocked out of her. A few seconds later two more thuds resounded through the forest so Akane craned her neck up to look around without getting off her back, wincing at the pain. It looked like Sachiko and their opponent had hit the ground as well and although Sachiko looked pretty much wiped out she wasn’t currently impaled like the Inochi nin was so the whole thing could probably be chalked up as a win. Just.

A wave of exhaustion swept over Akane as her body drained her dwindling reserves of chakra to slowly knit her tattered flesh back together. Akane’s eyes fluttered and she fought to keep from passing out entirely. She should really check on Sachiko but on the other hand the forest floor was surprisingly soft and inviting now that she was down here.

Blood continued to pool under Sachiko. A razor wind of petals wasn’t something she was prepared against. Then again, a fight as a ninja meant one had failed. She’d already failed to do this right hte moment she had an attack aimed at her. Still… A faint smile could be seen.

Sachiko tried to stand, putting her hand on her knee, only to fall over again.

“I didn’t steal these from anyone… Eventually, someone has to make new tricks. I was just the one dumb enough to risk my own eyes. How else am I going to get feedback on if it works or not? This was the third attempt. It still doesn’t work. Hurts to look through, and really sensitive to light. Really glad the sun's not out. I can’t use them really yet.”

She tried to stand again, falling again. She giggled.

“You know… this exact same mission set up was Koshiro Kouna’s last mission too… Hehehe. Guess this is what it feels like to be a winner.”

Another stand and she collapsed inches infront of Akane. Shuffling through her bag, she pulled out a bright red pill, and offered it to Akane.

“Plasma pills. It’ll help your blood production…. Though… you’re reeeeally tough. You know that?”

Another attempt to stand, and another fall, Sachiko inches from Hina. Slowly she started to pull out the rod that was lodged in her chest, and held pressure over it with a hand. She began to pull out a few creams and bandages. And rope. She didn’t want this one escaping.

Things were really spinning. Halfway through wrapping the wound, she fell to the side. She fumbled for another red pill, dropping it on the ground instead.

“Far as she went… Think we did good Akane?”

Akane managed to get the pill she was given into her mouth and swallow, it was not a particularly pleasant taste but after a little while she felt a little stronger and was able to push herself up into a sitting position.

“Wow I need to get some of these,” Akane commented, stretching her arms out experimentally. “I tend to bleed a lot when I get into fights. Speaking of which, I am covered in my own acidic blood so if you need to rebandage those eyes or anything like that you will probably need to do so yourself, I’ll just make things worse for you,”

WIth a soft grunt Akane got up onto her feet and walked over to Sachiko, retrieving the fallen pill with the hand she judged had the least bloodstains and feeding it to her teammate. “I can handle our friend here though because I don’t particularly care if she suffers more. I might need some pointers though, my clan usually just sort of… things off so I don’t know much about first aid. As for the mission. Well let’s see, are you repulsed by me and planning to never have anything to do with me ever again? If yes then it’s about on par but if no then we’re on an upwards trajectory as far as I’m concerned,”

With a gulp, Sachiko took the pill as well, her eyes fluttering shut at least, though she responded. “Will get right on that... “ Least her eyelids were more comfortable. “And repulsed? Pffft. You should see my teammates. One’s got a horn, is a total freak, and a lecher who keeps talking about girls. I’m a misanthrope, I can’t join in those conversations of who I like! You’ve at least got a non repulsive personality, so you’re a winner in my books! Far as first aid… eh, did what I could. Maybe fire another flare, the fog may have stopped the rest of the platoon from showing up. Make it someone else’s problem.

Oh, and you totes solo’d that. Good job. Imma have to use you for more missions.”

Sachiko’s wounds began to close with the pill, though the pill did make it so there was a lot more blood. Few seconds later, and she was snoring comfortably on the battlefield.

“Well you can always call on me when you need a helping hand, I have four of them after all,” Akane said, her expression brightening. “Hey that was pretty good, you can put it in that book you have if you like...Oh you’re unconscious again. Rats.” Akane sighed and leaned over to rummage through Sachiko’s puch for her flare, having used her own already. The fog was beginning to clear now and sun was peeking through the treetops as Akane aimed the flare upwards and launched it into the now bright blue sky. “Well at least you didn’t leave, that was nice of you,”

While Sachiko and Akane were busy recovering, Hina was drawing short ragged breaths of her own. One of her hands gently fumbled against her dress for a moment as she lay in a pool of her own blood. She fished an oval shaped seed out of a small pocket and dropped it into the pooling blood beneath her. Roots spread from the seed throughout the pool, before suddenly, a huge flower burst to life before them. Vines emerged and dragged Hina inside the petals. Her voice rang out.

“Disgusting… absolutely disgusting…”

Once inside the petals, the flower sunk into the ground, leaving behind nothing but upturned soul and bloody grass.

 

[KageYuuki]

Lost Legacy
Unfortunately for Sachiko, it was a tiered building. Fortunately for Sachiko, she was lined up with a flat wall. Regardless of how graceful her landing, it wouldn’t take long to find a window and break in. Once she climbed inside, she’d find it was much quieter inside despite the battle raging out front. Heartbeats filled the building, many of them the rapid pounding of frightened servants. Three, however, were noticeably calmer. It wouldn’t take much wandering before she could hear voices drifting down the hall. “Relax, sensei’s taking care of it.” It was a girl’s voice, likely no older than Sachiko.

“She’d better!” A man’s voice answered, likely Tamenobu. “I paid good money for you lot to defend this collection.”

“No,” came another feminine voice, this one dripping with exasperation, “we’re here to protect you. Now let’s go.”

“I’m not leaving my collection unguarded!”

The first voice groaned, “for the love of— fine! I’ll stay and guard it, you go with Mei to the safe room already.”

Before he could argue, the was the poof of a seal activating.

“Why didn’t you do that earlier!?”

“Didn’t want to deal with him bitching when I let him out,” Mei could be heard starting for a different door in the room.

“Could just leave him in there.”

Mei’s footsteps stopped. “I don’t know if there’s enough air in there actually... huh.” The door clicked shut behind her.

“Where do you need me to go, Yumi?”

She sighed, “head outside and see how sensei’s doing I guess.” A window opened and shut. “Tenzo’s outside, Mei’s headed downstairs...” The sound of a Shamisen playing filled the space. The building groaned before the hallway Sachiko was in started to twist and corkscrew.


Tenzo clambered his way out the window, climbing a rope up to the tile roof. There he stood, looking down at the chaos below. Brilliant flashes from Akane's sword lit up the ground as samurai and shinobi duked it out. He sighed, holding a hand near his eye. The scope attached to his face let out quiet clicks as he adjusted the settings. "Hmmm, is it really only the two samurai?"

A crash drew his attention, Wakanaka charging through the wall and into the building. "Guess not." Tenzo tapped his radio, "Yumi, got one inside." He scanned his surroundings, eventually checking the sky. "Found you." He tapped his shoulder, smoke momentarily obscuring his arm. When it cleared, his arm had unfolded in a large bow. He nocked an arrow with a scroll wrapped around the shaft and drew back. With a quiet "thwip" the arrow shot up through the clouds past Okimi and above. The scroll unfurled, releasing a hail of arrows.

Tenzo, meanwhile, had hunkered down wrapped in a cloak. Arrows that struck the stiffened fabric sounded like they were pinging off metal.


Wakanaka would find the building was strangely empty barring the one guard he had surprised. For a samurai, his wallet was rather empty. It would seem Tamenobu didn't pay all that well. The building itself wasn't all that impressive. Perhaps he was in the servant's quarters? A thunderous crash didn't leave the chuunin with much time to ponder the matter.

Turning towards the sound, he'd see the massive sword one of the samurai had been wielding crashing through the wall towards him. The blade itself was shockingly dull, the impact more likely to send him crashing back through a wall and out into the grass. "Eh?" The large man rested his sword on his shoulder. He had a headband dangling from his belt, the emblem for Nendogakure scratched out.



Ganryu InsaneAsylum Orikanyo

 

[KageYuuki]

Hayate Yamamoto
Hayate gave a low hum as he waited. The jounin's dark eyes glancing up at the curious gazes watching him from above. He smiled, giving them a small wave. A faint shimmer of crystal following his hand. "Hm?" He turned back to the door as it finally opened, offering a smile to Michiko. "I am at that." His loose black and teal robes made it hard to discern his build. Hayate's black hair was pulled up in a high ponytail decorated with a crystal ornament. "Hayate Yamamoto. It's nice to--" He blinked, "I would've figured myself a 7 at best!" He laughed.

Akane finally emerged, chasing her grandmother away with a reminder of a pot left unattended. His expression softened somewhat as he studied the chuunin. "Hayate Yamamoto, I'm the jounin in charge of your new squad." Hayate motioned for her to follow, leading the way through the winding streets that made up their village. "Your teammates have been looking forward to meeting you. I haven't told them anything about you beyond your name, figured you'd rather share what you wish." He sighed, "In most villages, genin don't get their first taste of life or death situations until the chuunin exams. That never seems to be the case for our little village."

The Yamamoto compound was larger than the Kabenari's, a well-built collection of buildings befitting one of the three head clans in the village. It also likely felt much colder and more imposing than Akane's home. Inside wasn't much better, proper and formal. Hayate led the way to a sitting room with a small table, motioning for Akane to take one of the cushions. "Seems we're the first ones here." They'd barely sat down when tea was brought in and poured. "We can spend a little time in the training field once Aya and Shibata arrive. So relax a little, let the tension out. Anything you wanna know while we wait?"


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