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Fandom Song of Rage

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A Chilling Conclusion​
*Plot post, aftermath of the Chilling Hunt post, in Arashigakure

Pressure began to drop as Arashigakure’s perpetual thunderstorm grew worse. Lightning skipped across the sky with flashes that seemed more like a rave than actual nature, and up the office, Aito Ukita walked, one arm in cast, and a crutch in the other. She still wore a hood and green cloak, though her stomach was exposed. A jonin of Arashigakure, and a ‘ranger’, one never supposed to be in the village, who instead wandered the borders of the country and reported anomalies.

A voice could be heard. “You’re a ranger! You’re not allowed in the village!”

A heavy thud as a sword levitated and ‘slapped’ the man, sending him through a wall. Aito heaved, a bruised rib not appreciating her movement, and her broken one’s down right hating it!

She opened the door despite the hole in the wall.

“Lord Arashikage!” She bowed respectful infront of two figures. Standing by the desk, a bald man drew a kunai, tensing up immediately. Older as a ninja, but with lean muscles he was imposing, but the clipboard in his hand gave him away as an advisor. To his right, though, sat a child, in a large dragon hat, which covered most of his head, and extended another two feet above his body, wriggling back and forth. Ontop of his hat stood another, one with white borders, and the symbol for lightning on the cap. The robes of a kage, the Arashikage.

He held up a sign to stop his advisor. “But Lord Jin! They are by law banned from the village. Wanders have no place inside the village! I handled Aito’s last request anyways, the one we asked-”

The helmet turned around, the goofy dragon now facing the advisor, and in fear he gulped, and put away the kunai. He then motioned to Aito, who breathed a sigh of relief. The advisor cleared his throat.

“Very well. Aito, why are you here?”

Aito gave out a sigh of relief. “So glad Jin the Raiju’s the Arasikage… Anyways… what brings me here is that last Akuma request. It’s… urgent. Those three genin we hired did manage to beat it, but I don’t think it was a minor Akuma.”

“I swear Aito, if this is just to explain why you’re injured and get some time off.”

“Oh, take the stick out your ass, Rokuro.” A glance from the child made Aito gulp, before she just shook her head. “Easier just to show, Lord Jin, if I may.” A sword levitated out from behind her, before falling on the desk with a thud. Paper’s scattered, causing a vein in Rokuro’s forehead to twitch, but Jin sat silent, with his hands folded together, his fingers pressed at their tips. All across the sword were runes, glowing blue, and full of chakra, and a chill filled the office

“Had to trade a cute boy for this, hehehe.” Aito said with a chuckle, before undoing a seal. In a poof, an unconscious woman appeared on the desk, and the temperature in the room plummeted, ice crackling up the walls.

Rokuro spoke up. “What is this!? That’s no akuma!?”

“It is. Just not a minor one. That’s why I’m here… the chakra is just as corrosive, and… she regenerates like one.”

“And it did that to you?” Rokuro said, pointing at her broken arm.

“No. The genin took care of this one. If barely. You heard the reports about Bishamonten… One of them attacked me. I’d like to make a comment about him being hunky, but he was annoying as hell, kept cracking jokes, and I couldn’t hit him at all. He let loose his name was Inaba though. But the thing that worries me about this Akum-”

“Rangiko Shimuzu.” A new voice said.

“Huh.”Both heads snapped towards the Arashikage, who’d spoken for the first time. His voice was quiet, and timid, but both Aito and Rokuro shut up for him.

“Rangiko Shimizu. The flooded Jinch. The corpse.” He pulled out a bingo book from a drawer, and opened to a section titled ‘Tsumi’, before pointing at a woman who matched the one of the table… but with black hair instead of white, peachy skin instead of pale frost covered, and her eyes were brown, not frozen over with white.

“Oh my goodness, is that Rangiko!? I didn’t recognize her…” Aito pulled her eyes closed with a pass of her hand, frostbite instantly turning it red.

Rokuro began rummaging through a file. “Tsumi reported her missing a month ago… from her home someone abducted her. There were signs of a fight. They jailed her husband over the event.”

“But Rangiko was a water release user. A pretty… well renowned one at that. This… monster used nothing but ice.”

“Fujin.” The quiet voice said again, the conversation stopping as both looked confused, but then Rokuro’s eyes widened in understanding. He pulled up a map from a file, pictures of a major akuma plastered upon it. A ‘sighted’ chart was listed. Lord Jin pointed on it to a sighting nearby the cave where Aito had led Waka, Kurio, and Okimi. “Ice is… unnatural. Water and Wind make the kekkei genkai…” he continued.

“But Lord Jin… there’s no way that would happen naturally.” Rokuro.

“No.” Jin responded, going silent once again.

Aito started to tremble. “Someone kidnapped her for an experiment… They planned this.”

Rokuro raised an eyebrow. “So… Inoichigakure kidnaps people all the time.”

“They kidnapped her from TSUMI, Rokuro!”

The advisor shut up. Everyone in the room knew that Tsumi was a small village, but perhaps the only one no one could enter without permission and preparation. Rokuro spoke up.

“So they have a traitor then. We should inform Lord Ema, the Tsumikage immediately.”

Jin took a long breath, then held up a hand. “Don’t.”

“But Lord, they’re our closest allies. They keep Inoichigakure in check. I’m sure my lord is wise, but I cannot follow your reasoning.”

“If they have a traitor… we should hold information close. We’ll keep a close eye on them during the Chunin exams. If they know we’re suspicious, the traitor will know...” He went quiet again, and the conversation seemed to die down.

Aito then cleared her throat. Jin looked up, and she spoke. “And there’s… one more thing. Inaba at the end… I saw him disappear in an explosion.”

“Aaaaand?” Rokuro said, making a ‘go on with it’ sign with his hand.

“He didn’t have a ninja pouch. Or tags.”
 
Kurio Shimizu

Kurio sat staring intently at the glass in front of him. A blend of milk and tea swirled in response to his chakra as he attempted to separate the two liquids. The exercise simulated isolating and drawing out poisons from the blood. Chakra control was one of the most invaluable skills for a medic to have. A medic with poor control would end up doing more harm than good for their patient, after all. Unfortunately, such fine-tuned control had never easily come to Kurio. His chakra always pushing against him, like water trying to break through a dam.

The genin found his mind drifting to the battle with the Akuma, his inability to be of any use to his teammates. His chakra surged as his focus waned, splattering milk and tea across the table and genin alike. An annoyed huff left his lips as Kurio grabbed a towel to sop up the mess.

“You could try to not get it all over the living room. Your mom’ll throw a fit.”

Behind him, a rather large man stood with his arms folded. Easily twice the size of Kurio, he had rather large biceps… and a decent belly as well, and a gentle smile on his face. The man Kurio knew as ‘Dad’. His smile grew, and he looked sympathetically down.

“Hard to focus on chakra control when you're a Shimuzu, isn’t it? Would you believe me that I spent 2 years as a genin, because I couldn’t control it at all?”

A needle appeared in his fingers, his agility not belying his frame. A caustic chakra seeped from it, before the needle disappeared back into the sleeve.

“I didn’t get any on the floor, so she won’t know.” Kurio knew that was a lie, his mom always seemed to have some kind of sixth sense for that sort of thing. Turning, he smiled up at the man. A genuine smile as opposed to the usual placid expression he wore.

“But I have a hard time believing you were stuck as a genin for that long.”

His father’s eyes narrowed. “Do you?” He said straightforwardly, before grabbing a rag, and helping clean up the spill.

“I work in ANBU, stealing your last mission report wasn’t that difficult, even if you didn’t want to talk about it. I can deeefinitely say I’ve had worse, but not by much…”

A long sigh came out.

“You can’t fight two people at once and not expect to be at a disadvantage. That is the Shimuzu’s greatest strength… and their greatest weakness. As soon as that switch flips, it’s a strength. But before then… well, you’ve felt the results.”

Kurio shifted, wiping up the rest of the mess in silence. “That was just supposed to be another minor akuma, I’m not sure what that was they ended up fighting.” He glanced down at the cast around his arm, still hearing the Yukionna’s shrieks.

“And it was supposed to be just another squad of Inochi scouts, not the Inochikage…” His father said, followed by another silence. Kurio might see a bit of a tear in his eyes, but he didn’t say anything.

“Welcome to the ninja world.” He finally said. “It’s never what the reports say, the mission office is always wrong… and your life’s a coin flip. Chunnin exams are supposed to be your first introduction to that. I’m sorry it wasn’t. Also sorry about what I’m having to do here, son, but… you can hate me later.”

Kurio would find himself feeling a little bit weird, and if he looked over, he’d see a needle in his side… bristling with chakra, a weird flow visibly coming off of it, like waves of smoke, and he’d start to lose consciousness.

“We’ve got to learn to work with monsters… That, is the Shimuzu curse.”

Welcome to your inner hollow.


Kurio let out a sharp gasp, bolting upright. Cold sweat soaked his clothes and matted his hair, tears burning the corners of the genin’s eyes. He clutched desperately at his chest, struggling to take in his surroundings.

He was in his bed, and next to it, with a chair pulled up, his father was watching him.

“I take it he still isn’t wanting to cooperate?”

Kurio swallowed, shaking his head as he worked to get his breathing back under control. “I think I’d have a better chance with the yukionna…”

“No, no, son. She’s way out of your leag- Oooh! As an Akuma partner. “ He let out a fake laugh. “Well, It’s not easy. And right now, it’s not as much convincing him to help. It’s convincing them it's not worth their time to interfere. There is… one way, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Loosening the seal will give you more control, but… also loosens the seal. I’m against this, but as a clan member, I have to tell you the option exists, even if I don’t like it.”

He sighed and leaned back. “There is no easy way forward. I was a genin for 2 years. But I get the feeling you’re a little bit more ambitious, aren’t you? You react differently when your aunt comes to dinner than the rest of your cousins. Hmm…”

While he normally would’ve rolled his eyes at the poor attempt at a joke, Kurio instead just shrugged. He’d be lying if he said loosening the seal wasn’t a tempting option. The chance to get a better reign on his unstable chakra and start moving forward again on his training, inching closer to his goals.

Kurio shifted under his father’s gaze. While he’d never voiced his true goal to anyone, perhaps it wasn’t as well kept a secret as he thought. “That obvious, then?”

His father raised an eyebrow. “ANBU, remember? What’s a secret? Definitely not the manga hid between the bedsheets, that action figure you tried burning the receipt of 10000 Ryo on, or, a-anyways. 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. And you’re going to have to meet with ‘him’ more often. At least once a week.”

Again his father let out a long sigh, spinning the chair, and leaning forward on it. A crack could be heard from it. His father produced more senbon. “I hate this part… but if I warn you of when it’s coming… it’ll be worse. Trust me, know that anxiety. It’s not all bad. Tenguu’s almost bearable these days on my end.”

Kurio shifted, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. He should’ve known better, both of his parents were ninja after all. But since no one had ever really brought it up, the genin hoped he was in the clear. “Ah, right…”

He blinked, turning towards his father in disbelief at the mention of Ema. His aunt had always seemed like an example of flawless control. Over her emotions, her chakra, even the akuma sealed inside her. “I thought she and Kiyohime had always worked well together.”

Kurio looked from the senbon back down to his hands. Part of him didn’t want to ever see it again. It wanted to run away just at the thought. He closed his eyes and took a shuddering breath at the memory of the akuma he’d just been face to face with moments ago.

He’d never come close to the Tsumikage’s level if he ran away though. “Alright,” Kurio met his father’s gaze, “if that’s what it takes.”

At the ‘flawless control’, his father’s face cracked, and despite Kurio moving on to accepting it, the man started laughing, holding back tears, and failing.

“Fucking flawless control!” He said, before curling over more. “Oh, wait, shoot. If your mom asks, I didn’t curse… And if Aunt Ema asks, deeefinitely didn’t see her slap a mochi stand into the lake because they were out of ice cream, and it wasn’t after a hard mission, specifically 12 years ago, in the Spring, on Y street, and don’t have the newspaper clippings in my room because it was hilarious to watch. Think it was the first time I talked to Kiyohime...

Also think old man Kei has it recorded somewhere. ”

He wiped a tear away, before the Senbon seemed to just disappear.

“Glad we could talk son, love our little chats. I’m sure you’ll do great in the chunnin exams.”

He ruffled Kurio’s hair.

“And just remember, even if you’re ambitious, it doesn’t matter if you get there first time. I took the exam four times before passing, and I think I’m doing alright for myself. Good luck, champ.”
 
The Cards Dealt
Hanarei Hanarei S n o w S n o w

"I must say, Arashigakure's moisture would be terrible for my hair, but would you believe me if I were to tell you they have the best shampoo I've ever used. Even with your weird color, blueberry, or whatever it was, I'm sure you'd loooove to pick some up. Oh, and of course I've heard about the Mochizuki, I am well versed in my travels! Why, there was one time I was given a guest crystal and allowed in to Tsumi. I was to buy a pet from a Dr. Ryu. I was so violently ill though that-"

The rants were going on. Saemonsaburou either hadn't noticed, or was pretending very hard. The flickering shadows though, seemed just as off guard, they continued their pattern closer and closer. Suddenly a rain of seeds like bullets shot at them from the side as one of the ninja revealed himself, wearing long flowing robes, and a headband reading 'Inoichi'.

From behind him, a more muscular ninja leapt, covered in tattoos and with a sleeveless shirt, he roared. "SURPRISE!" As he came crashing down with a punch at Tsubame, expecting her to be off guard, though the volume of his shout seemed defeaning if nothing else..

Both of them were young, obviously genin, but were bold in their attacking of other ninjas.

The one with robes let out a dramatic motion of his hands. "Hand us over the Card Maker, and we'll let you live... if you're not already dead."​
 
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Shioreta Koino​

Shioreta fell quickly as the seeds began to fire positioning her fall on the ground to grip onto the smoke bomb still not quite throwing it yet as to act as if she was shot and fell down her inhaler rolling on the ground away from her. The other jumped out not at all knowing the nature of being subtle yelling surprise as he charge in to attack Tsubame. It seemed her ruse of using the inhaler to help her look that much weaker helped a lot to make sure the extra fire power wasn't used on her instead focused on her partner. She had to admit though she hadn't expected them to be so... unprofessional. They actedq uite recklessly not even seeming to know any sort of subtlety.

Hand him over? They really don't know at all how to be subtle. One announcing to the world the attack and the other being quite open who their target was, not to mention asking him to be handed over points to them likely leaning on taking him alive. It was such a blatant attack, she hardly could believe they even managed to do any sort of stealth to try to sneak up on them. It was so flashy, in your face, loud and obnoxious and...

Saemonsaburou is responsible for them being here too... isn't he?

A soft annoyed sigh escaped Shioreta's lips as she suddenly dropped the smoke bomb letting it set off as soon as she knew Tsubame was sorted to give them both cover from the ranged attacker. Shioreta quickly opened the scroll causing Hageshi to spring forth the mechanisms clicking as the puppet spread to life its 'teeth popping open from a completely shut position as Shioreta took control her threads connecting to it as she rolled over slipping under the cart using it as a place for cover over to the other side. Her free hand slipped into her pocket sliding out another scroll placing it down a puff of smoke being created as three Aphid puppets sprang to life the bug like puppets crawling up into place attaching themselves to the cart as they moved into position to sit two with kunai launchers as the other had a smoke bomb attached to it.

"Keep them away Tsu, I'll follow our orders and prepare to execute our VIP to prevent capture from enemy shinobi." She spoke out making sure her voice was adequately loud enough for the enemy to hear it while making it clear to Tsubame it was a ploy. If they were dumb enough to be so vocal chances are they would probably be stupid enough to either speak up if not act and expose if it was a capture mission or 'dead or alive'. Either way she expected it would cause them to react leaving an opening for a sudden counter attack.

Hageshi sprang out from the smoke as it began to dissipate charging forward towards the robed man. Its tail clicked into place behind it leveraging a good amount of speed taking advantage of being low on the ground. The puppets mechanical jaw clinked open more snapping into a locked position wide enough to bite as it darted to the side before curving around to strike at him more from the side. Her fingers pulling at the string aiming to get a good bite at his arm if possible to try and stop him from firing off more of those seed like bullets.

Mentioned: Ganryu Ganryu S n o w S n o w
 
Tsubame Mochizuki
Blueberry?

Her eyes flicking toward the carriage was the only show of emotion Tsubame gave for the comment. She quietly folded her hands in her sleeves, resisting the sudden urge to take part of her hair and look at it. weird hair color. Tsubame never thought of her clan's hair color as unusual outside of Tsumigakure, at least, not until now. Before she could decide whether to interrupt the client with a response or wait for him to finish, she was rolling, having noticed the projectiles, and they landed where she'd been standing. She pushed off the ground, airborne for a second (though not very high) as she twisted her body around the rest of the seed bullets with Crane Dance, and landed on her feet.

Of course, she was left with no time to dodge the muscular shinobi. But if she could hurt Ichiro-sensei, she could block someone inexperienced enough to announce their attack. Tsubame threw up her bone-shielded arm and took the hit. She wasn't going to think about running. Not like last time.

"Make it quick," Tsubame said, understanding the 'underneath the underneath' of what Shioreta said. Using the smoke to her advantage she aimed a bone enhanced kick at the muscled shinobi's knee, hoping to do enough damage that he'd stay down. It wouldn't break the bone. Probably. She tried to hold back.
 
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The Cards Dealt


"Are we under attack?" A voice said, feigning worry fairly badly. He did, however, seem a little surprised, looking out the carriage... and drawing two cards. As the two attackers revealed themselves, Saemonsaburou smiled, and drew two more cards, making four. They seemed angled at each of the genin.

As Shioreta said her plan, Saemonsaburou frowned. "I'm not sure I like this one." He said simply. Tenzo the stage coach grew angry though. "You blasted brats, how dare you PRESUME to harm the master noble Saemonsaburou!"

The seeds burst around Tsubame as she deflected them, hardly even making a dent against her bone armor, and bursting apart almost like they were designed to do so. For a minute the air shimmered yellow, but then a smokescreen from Shio obscured any effects.

The more muscular kid attacking Tsubame was surprised as his blow was blocked, a fair bit of force imparted behind it, causing Tsubame's foot to sink into the ground, but it was the enemy's arm that came up bloody from the exchange. AS Tsubame kneed him in response, she'd find a bit of a surprise as not only did his knee give way, it seemed to bed backwards.... and then further back, like it was made of rubber. (Gomu Gomu pistol?)

The ninja smiled, before reaching forward, trying to chokeslam the kunoichi instead. If he couldn't hurt her, he'd rend her breath! His arm shot forward like a snake, ignoring any joints or bones whatsoever.

=======================

The robed one gave a tut. "You barbaric Tsumi nin. Of course you'd execute him as a fun option, wouldn't you?"

He began a series of handsigns, a pulse of chakra imparted in the area.

However, he was surprised by the dog leaping at him, and from his delayed reaction, it could be assumed he was not in fact a taijutsu specialist. "What!?"

The dog latched on true, the nin flailing to get it off his arm as sharp teeth dug into the robes, and pulledh im down, stopping him from aiming, or doing much other than screaming bloody murder.

However... around Shio, the smoke screen didn't disappate. A new smell of rotting meat began to fill both her and Tsubame's noses, coming from the seeds.

A second later, a large flower seemed to bloom around them, before folding it's flower petals over their bodies. It tore easily, but kept weaving back together when torn, the smell of rot becoming stronger, around them.

Wood Release: Rafflesia

Tsubame would find the enemy ninja's arm passing through the flower as if it wasn't there.​
 
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Shioreta Koino​

The young genin kept in place using the wagon in part as cover. The response of Saemonsaburou was... about as she expected from his voice not seeming to show much worry about it though the coach driver was far less happy. Oh yeah... a bit of an oversight on her part neglecting the fact he was there as well. It mattered little really if anything it just added on to her bluff if anything. She really ought to of considered his safety as well even if it wasn't part of the mission even if it might be simply to get some 'brownie points' for doing so over caring about his safety. Not that she was all that concerned about it truth be told. The man's voice speaking up was what she was more concerned about listening in as she enacted her own plan which managed to go off without much trouble. It seemed her teammate was faring also quite well.

What she wasn't expecting was the smell that arose. Her nose twitched as suddenly the ninjutsu began to take shape watching as the flower rose up to surround them. Her eyes focusing in seeing it tear apart only to restore seeming to take hold. Her eyes focused on it her nose twitching at the horrible stench. She pulled at the strings, still feeling them attached the puppet clearly still latched on despite the fact it should of clearly been cut off. A genjutsu... one based on smell. It didn't seem overly complicated of one that she could still notice her surroundings with at least her sense of touch though it didn't change the fact it wasn't something she could easily shrug off. Unfortunately for her attacker, she had access to the one thing she needed to help her with it.

"Tsubame... Genjutsu... likely smell based." She spoke out trying not to be overly loud though she doubted she could really say it in a way that could slip by the enemy that Tsubame could figure it out if she hadn't already on her own. She didn't exactly have a vast array of Genjutsu knowledge to simply dispel it or counter it on herself and her teammate. Pain could possibly disrupt such a simple Genjutsu though she wasn't quite certain if it would just temporarily stop the effect or just completely cancel it. Given it was smell based it made her suspect the effect might be a bit more persistent. If she was a bit more studied in Genjutsu it would make it much easier to figure out something she could be more certain about. She would just have to go with her current plan.

Shioreta pulled at the strings as her puppet suddenly cracked. Still gripping onto the enemy shinobi's arm it clearly had them its grasp but there was more she could do. The puppet cracked as its body suddenly twisted and tilted pivoting on the neck. The legs extended out cracking into place as they opened wide. The legs swung around suddenly to grapple onto the body as the teeth gripped onto the arm. The claws extended out the sharp grappling like hooks attempting to latch on tighter as it wrapped around restraining and stabbing into them in order to restrict their movement. The body shifted slightly as suddenly the latch for the puppet's chest storage compartment swung open smacking in what was aiming to be their upper chest and hopefully face just to add furher insult to injury.

Feeling the effects of the actions purely going by touch Shioreta grasped a kunai from her side with her other hand, the Aphids she had in control shifting a bit though being careful as to not set them off pointlessly though the little puppets clearly moving a bit from her own motions out of place. She guided the kunai to her clothed leg suddenly stabbing at it attempting to cause enough pain to herself even at the threat of cutting her frail skin a bit at the point to try and break the Genjutsu if it wasn't broken already.

Mentioned: Ganryu Ganryu S n o w S n o w
 
The Gawblin Hunt​


"Sensei really hasn't trained us recently all that hard. You guys want some training in? Want to see what Miho looks like when she goes all out? Meet me at X and Y streets at 7:00 am. Don't be late! :) ~Sachiko

As much as he hates the idea of going along with ANYTHING that Sachiko says or wants or sullys with her interest… She is right that their sensei has been...Lax…

Almost nonexistant.

The difference between her and other senseis were even more prevalent after meeting Ichirou… Its kinda like giving a smidge of a damn actually matters.

The young was going to appear between X and Y street, two streets shocking named as such, for reasons that Waka could only guess was either up to an IN joke or just somebody too lazy to bother. He would arrive on time, if ready to leave at a moments notice.

Shioreta ventured out from her little apartment perhaps a little bit later then she might have intended. A longer night of tinkering made it much easier for her to give in to sleeping a bit longer then she should have, hitting the snooze button a few times. If anything being late would've likely made things better off for her anyways. She was a bit doubtful Sachiko would show up on time anyways, likely by design. She grabbed her pack, much more lightly packed then for a mission and headed out.

Venturing down the street she arrived in time glancing over to see Waka, a bit surprised to see him there. She wandered up glancing about briefly for Sachiko though not putting all that much effort in trying to find her. She put on a light smile that at this point should be trademarked.

“Good morning Waka. You are looking great today!” She spoke brightly with a light wave, not really paying all that much heed to his appearance granted as much as trying to throw a random compliment his way as to be nice. He could have looked as if he had come from a car crash barely alive and would have recited the same line. It was all for the sake of being nice and cordial.

And to the two, a miracle would happen. For the first time in months since they had been teammates, from mission, to practice, to hanging out, Sachiko was on time. It was a bad omen if there ever was. And she had a slight smile on her face, though her hair wasn’t died… nor was there her normal blush, showing raccoon eyes. So… she just hadn’t gone to sleep.

She hummed happily as she drew on a cardboard sign, her tongue out in concentration, until Shio and Waka were nearly on her, suddenly throwing the sign to the side, and glomping Shio nearly causing the frail girl to fall over.

“Bestie!”

She then looked at Waka. “Wow. You look like a turd. You a’ight?”

She was not the cordial one.

“So, I had an idea for some extreme training. Recently realized the chunnin exams are going to be tough, and we gotta be ready for them. But, well, uh… I kinda suck at speeches. Waka, can you give us a rousing speech about how we have to try our best, and I’ll unveil the agenda?”

She pulled out a kunai from her pack, and began to tie a string around it.

“And I feel like a turd, but at least I have been doing something worth my time.” he flashes his purple crystal. “Hmmph, not that you’d care in the slightest. It’s even a wonder you remember the Chuunin exams exist at all. I’ll have you know I was very busy with my own training, whatever stupidity you have planned will be nothing compared to my new training plan.

...And what in hell are you doing now? Don’t tell me it’s another stupid plan to get ME in trouble, both of you are apparently to good at that its a wonder you even need a plan.

But you want a rousing speech? Fine, you are by far the worst group I have had the pleasure to work with and would rather wash out dragon spittle from my coat again than be around you.

Now hurry up and explain what foolish plan you have here.”

His speech complete to a rousing round of applause.

Shio tilted her head to the side, blinking as she looked towards Waka as if taking in his speech, gently grasping her one hand behind her back. She leaned back standing still glancing up in the air as if in thought. It was much more of an act granted since she already had what she had in mind though it felt best to put a little effort in to pretend there was more to it.She lifted her hand up scratching her chin.

“It’s important when delivering a speech to come off strong. Starting off with a good hook to get everyone invested in what is going to be said is a great way of doing it. Don’t just tell us we are the worst, really invest us into it with more vague platitudes to draw us in. From there you can start to break things down, delivering your critiques, ideally doing so on a point by point basis to put further emphasis. Then you can finish with that strong statement of discontent to really push home on the speech. I would probably use something more relatable than dragon spittle though and embellish it more to really hammer it home.”

Shioreta nodded smiling warmly, putting her hands behind her back again not at all phased by the content of his speech.

“Just being able to speak longwindly as you do does not make you more intelligent or hide the fact you are a thorn in my side.” Waka retorts with a huff.

“No, but the fact Shio’s more intelligent, does make her more intelligent. It’s kinda scary sometimes…” Sachiko pulled the knot on her kunai taut.

“Whatever, I feel my head hurting more and more just being around you two, get a move on!”

“Well, before we start, you two should brace yourselves. This is the deadliest training I could imagine. I don’t want the chunnin exams to take either of you. You’re my best friends!”

Sachiko’s hands found themselves over Waka and Shio’s shoulder’s in a goofy hug. She pulled them tight as she pulled her hands together… and then formed a handsign. She then tossed the kunai gently through a window on the street, a tag trailing from it.

And then a large flash of light lit up the entire street through the window, and a bang shook the house. Sachiko whispered in their ears.

“Run.”

Before disappearing in a puff of smoke. Left in her place was the sign from earlier. It read ‘Waka did it!’... in Shio’s handwriting.

Substitution Jutsu

In the distance, Sachiko could be seen booking it.

Wakanaka’s eyes grew wide as plates as he realized what just happened… No… No… She couldn’t… truly, the gods were not kind.

Planting a hand on the sign he uprooted it as he booked it. “Sachiko I will kill you for this!!!”

It didn’t even take Sachiko saying to run to cause Shio to get ready to move, the hand sign in itself was enough to know it wasn’t good. Shio scurried quickly off, not quite able to make the distance Sachiko did, though she seemed far better off then Waka. Shio quickly fumbling back grabbing hold of a scroll holding it in her hands ducking to the side keeping low to the streets making her way through glancing for places best both to hide herself and as well as to act as decoys in hope they might distract her enough she might not be found… as fruitless as it seemed already.


Miho was sprawled out on her couch, sleeping peacefully despite the morning sunlight flickering over her eyelids. The coffee table next to the coach was covered in half written reports and wholly emptied cans of beer and a scruffy looking ginger tabby with a chunk missing from one ear was curled up on top of her stomach.
And then the whole scene was obliterated by blinding white light. Miho’s eyes snapped open, here ears ringing and her vision obscured by colorful spots. In an instant the jonin had rolled off the couch, grabbed a kunai from underneath it and placed a palm to the floorboards to feel for vibrations from footsteps, waiting grimly for her other senses to return as her cat yowled and propelled itself underneath the cabinet at something like the speed of light.

Most anbu operated with the knowledge that someone might eventually track them down in search of vengeance. The masks they wore were partially to prevent that kind of retaliation, but you can’t wear a mask all the time and if you cross the wrong people nowhere, not even your own home in the middle of a fortified hidden village is truly secure. Some shinobi chose to accept the risk of retaliation as something like a natural disaster: if someone was good enough to track you down and infiltrate your village they were probably good enough to kill you without you really being able to do much about it. It was a bit like being hit by a hurricane or a tsunami, not really something to worry about because you ultimately can’t do much about it.

Miho felt that was fucking bullshit. If someone was going to come into her house and try and kill her she was gonna make damn sure the process was as painful, drawn out and inconvenient for the motherfucker who tried it as possible. Miho’s rather modest apartment was secretly fully kitted out with weapon caches, traps and escape roots. Most importantly of all was the drills Miho had run from herself: mapping out likely angles of attack; choke points and dead zones all over the apartment all preparing her for this exact moment.

Or...maybe not By the time the flashbang had worn off and no attacker had appeared to exploit the vulnerability Miho was beginning to suspect something else was at play. Carefully Miho wove some handseals, summoning a water clone of herself and commanding it to check out the window while Miho herself stayed by the couch, watching the doorway to her living room.

The clone peaked carefully out the window, at peace with the notion that it might be reduced to unthinking water by some waiting marksman. But all that happened was the clone saw a telltale head of long, white hair and let out a short, barking laugh.

“Oh those little shits,” said the clone.

“Don’t tell me,” Miho croaked, her throat dry from the hangover her adrenaline had been suppressing until just now. The hangover probably had something to do with the throbbing headache

“Yeah it’s those three,” said the clone “What do you wanna do, chase em down?”

Those three… Miho thought venomously as a cold rage began to settle over her. Her first instinct was something along the lines of what the suggested, catch up with her three beloved students and neatly separate their annoying heads from their equally annoying bodies but no…

“That would be too good for them,” Miho said slowly, standing up and walking over to join her clone at the window as she plotted. “No I want them to sweat a little first,”

Miho’s three fugitive students would find no immediate pursuit, nor would they even notice any retribution over the course of the rest of the day, although each might have felt at various points like they were being watched. But when all three students eventually returned to their homes they would each find a scroll on their beds, which could be unfurled to reveal an untidy, angry scrawl reading:

YOU ARE BEING HUNTED

Waka Hunted

This is the end, he is going to die due to Sachiko being stupid enough to prod the fucking ANBU… No matter how long he had hid inside that barrel it was clear, he was going to die. In truth what in hell would he had expected really? He knew that bad teammates can lead to your demise as easily as your own mistakes. He wondered briefly, was he going to see his death? Would it happen in an instant? He knew in his heart it didn't matter.

Standing up from his kneeling position in front of the message filled with hate, hatred he had not deserved, he opened up his closet, withholding any fear that he was to be ambushed from within and grasped his kit. He took up an old staff he had tried to use a long time ago and wrapped a cloth around it, filling it with small things and what food he had for long missions. It was late, but it didn't matter when one was so close to his death.

He had spent hours dwelling on it before that message, he had only just hit the path of acceptance…

Acceptance that his death was nigh.

Acceptance that Sachiko had ruined his future.

Gods why, why was he put with two people so intent or ruining all he had worked for?! He sniffled, heavily, he had been crying for a couple hours now, certain of his death. But… Well… There is nothing really left to do… Ever since he started being a genin his whole squad was effectively trashing his career. A lackadaisical sensei who only ever goes out of her way through spite, two team members who do anything in their power to paint him negatively and ruin whatever he holds dear.

The gods aren't real.

He knows this now.

The mound of missfortune that he is plagued with each and every word that comes from their horrid mouths. Gathering his things, he hefts the sword upon his back and ties the bag with his chain. With a final act he begins writing upon a piece of paper from an old notebook.

"Know this is likely my final words, at the behest of my team I went to see what training Sachiko, forever shall she be cursed, she mentioned in the attached note. I followed the directions foolishly, and she betrayed what little trust I had left to give her.

She prompted me to voice my griviances, which there were many, as she made two things, a flash bomb and a sign. First she tossed the bomb into a nearby window and then laid down the sign. A sign that said I had done the deed, not her, but me…

It was at the point I realized only too late her intention. It was not training but suicide.

Know that I leave any belongings to my mother and father, and hope the gods be yet merciful to them.

To Miho who is no doubt watching right now, I offer only my sincere appologies, perhaps without the others we would have made a better student and sensei group. But alas I cannot deny this is a death that is coming nonetheless.

I only ask, not for a swift death, but to exact vengence thrice fold against Sachiko and Shiho.

And if we all three survive this by some miracle.

I will slay them.

Gods willing."

And with that he took up his bag and stick, opening his room door, creening around the corners with his eyes, and hurried to leave his home.

Waka made it out of the village, into the harsh wastes around Tsumi before the phenomena began to occur. At first it was mild, the vague sense of being watched perhaps, then a very slight sense of lightheadedness.

How strange, there was nobody else visible in the vicinity and little in the way of vegetation or obstruction save the occasional hardy shrub or rock rock that would not serve to hide a person very well. It might be an animal of some kind, a rabbit or bird, but then again such harmless creatures knew enough to give the area around Tsumigakure a wide berth. Perhaps it was nothing at all, a trick of the low light or an incidental sound.

But the feelings would continue and intensify until Wakanaka was left feeling dizzy and nauseous and certain that something was not just following him but stalking him with malicious intent.

“F-fuck…” the young man held his stomache, Miho was out there… he needed to hurry, quickly.

He began running down the trail, eyes glancing at every shrub or bush between him and his target, he tripped once, catching himself with his hands against the rough ground and scampered up once more. “God god oh god…”

Killing intent continued to radiate towards Waka, from behind him, from his sides, but no directly in front of him along the trail, almost as though he was being corralled in a certain direction…

Before that pattern became too obvious however the ground underneath Waka’s feet suddenly opened up revealing a yawning pit of inky blackness below him!

“FUUUUUUUUU-” Waka yelled, more like screamed, his hands went to his sword as he planted the sword deep into the wall, hanging off it as his heart was beating out of his chest. “Oh god oh god oh god.” he pulled himself up with some struggle, putting his feet atop of the handle of the imbedded blade.

“Sensei!!! Please stop! I… I swear… I swear it wasn’t me!”

At the top of the pit a figure obscured by a dark, leather cloak and a sinister looking gas mask appeared suddenly, staring down at Waka inscrutably. For a few seconds the figure was silent, as if passing judgement on his pleas for mercy and then, finally, the figure knelt down and extended a hand towards Waka, not to lift him out it seemed, but to offer him a slip of paper that was difficult to make out in the evening light.

“Wha…?” Waka was panting heavily, fear and adrenaline culminating in confusion… His hand stretched out, and took the paper.

As Waka took the paper, it exploded, blinding him with a flash of brilliant light and sound made all the more overwhelming by the previous darkness. The force and disorientation of the flash tag would likely dislodge Waka from his perch atop his sword, sending him falling once more into the pit below where he would eventually meet, not solid, bone breaking earth or wicked spikes but an old mattress that would take his weight more or less safely.

“I’d give you about a C+” Said Miho, after waiting a few seconds for the ringing in Waka’s ears to subside, her voice recognisable behind the mask. “Putting distance between yourself and a hunter is a surprisingly reliable strategy and you moved quickly, but I’m subtracting some points for the bindle, those things are like a magnet for robbers, which’ll attract unwanted attention”

Waka was…. OKAY!?!?

HE WAS ALIVE!!!

His eyes brimmed with tears from deep in that pit, he was alive and not going to die!! Miho sensei wasn't going to kill him!!!

Hopefully not anyways…

Struggling to his feet he started climbing up the wall, wiggling and sword free and all but flopped into the road, laughing meekly as his body drained all his fear out.

"Y-you… Are terrifying sensei…" is all he could really say. "The… bindle was…" he unwrapped then bag, and caught a trigger wire before it snapped in. "...Just in case… Really…" he showed the several explosive tags chained together, covering a glued together mass of nails and glass. Obviously, it seems he was thinking the same thing about the bindle, likely was to be thrown at a obvious enemy to buy time or kill.

"I am sorry sensei… For not realizing what Sachiko was doing…" he prostrated before the woman, trying his best to appear cowed and beaten… Which he thoroughly was, but best look more so.

"Huh.” said Miho non commitedly, B- then, "now get your ass home before you freak your parents out and I have to deal with it,”

Waka did only nod, tossing the explosive off the road, causing a smattering erupting of glass and nail to descend on the barren lands safely away from the two. He then quickly ran home, tail firmly between his legs...

----------------------------------
Shioreta had returned home not long after finding herself not being actively hunted as far as she could see only to find the note. Even though it was written down the very way it was written seemed infused with anger told by the text in the style it was written… or perhaps just due to it being bold and emphasized that it did. Either way it was clear what she must do. There was a good chance this could be her very last day alive. When she would be struck down would be near impossible to tell.

The frail genin ventured back out from her home a rather plain look on her face showing not an ounce of worry or fear. There was no looking behind her shoulder. No preparations in terms of the paths she would walk to best prepare for an ambush. She didn’t even bother to bring any of her shinobi tools with her outside a few scrolls. Why bother? She was use to expecting to die at some point soon, it was inevitable. Getting that note just made it that much easier for Shio to spend a bit of her coin and have a nice relaxing day before her death.

Shio casually strolled out of the store not long chewing on a piece of mochi holding a bag with some more. A bit of a splurge for her but it seemed fitting to enjoy herself a bit. It had been a while since she really bothered to take some of the money she made to treat herself with… particularly in terms of having something unhealthy. Unless you wanted to include using the money on her experiments. Not exactly something she would consider a waste, she always enjoyed tinkering around with stuff like that.

She wandered through the town, her hand digging into the bag to fish out more of the Mochi she bought, not in any rush to get to her destination. It was always nice to get to check out the village and peek around a bit. Why not take her time a little today in getting back to working on her puppets a bit. It was quite a nice day to enjoy a nice walk while enjoying some sweets!

As Shio rounded a corner a ginger colored blur flashed across her vision, snatching the bag of mochi from her hands and disappearing into a nearby alleyway with a vindictive “Mrow!” sound

Shioreta blinked as she caught the red blur before suddenly feeling the weight in her hands lighten. She glanced down and noticed her bag of mochi was gone. The girl let out a soft sigh not bothering to glance around. She knew there was no way Miho was going to let herself be found. She put on a light smile.

“Make sure not to waste it at least! They were really good...” She spoke out as she continued walking along with the fake smile on her lips despite being a little upset to lose her sweets. It looked like she would have to tinker with her puppets without some sweet mochi goodness to fill her stomach while waiting for her pending death.

Alas things were not so simple for Shioreta, she would return to find her workshop in disarray, with several key tools completely missing. This time the culprit waited around to confront the young genin and a scruffy looking ginger tabby sat atop Shioreta’s workbench with her favorite screwdriver clutched in it’s mouth and yellow-green eyes watching her coldly.

“Mrow!” said the cat flatly, before leaping out an open window nearby, taking the screwdriver with it.

Shioreta watched as the cat jumped from the table leaping out her window. The girl looked on more in disbelief. She had noticed some other things missing with her things tossed around here and there but the fact the cat had waited for her to return holding her favorite screwdriver before heading out. It was beyond cruel… it was evil. Sheer evil that she hadn’t ever hoped to witness in her life.

“...why couldn’t I just have sensei come in and beat me within an inch of my life and wish for death like all the normal kids? Why do I get treated so much worse?” She spoke out to herself with a long drawn out sigh. She supposed tracking the cat might work for her to help get her things back though she suspected it wasn’t going to be anywhere near as easy as following a regular cat. It never was. Perhaps going up to Miho and confronting her directly? It seemed more like it was being done in a sadistic manner. She was trying to get at them beyond simply delivering a beating.

“Well I got a little money left… it won’t be Mochi… but I can get a little something to eat... “ She muttered walking over, glancing at the wooden sack of wood chips from carving her puppets only about half full. She struck her small coin purse inside it, sealing the bag gripping tightly around the lip careful to take hold of the ripped upper lip as to make sure none of the wood chips fell out. A makeshift ‘disguise’ as could be.

She wandered out from her apartment a bit rejected, carrying the bag carefully. Time for her to find something to eat… that a cat can’t just quickly nab on her hopefully. At least she might be able to eat a little bit more of something before going on a wild cat chase.

The evening air was cool and quiet, but laced with an air of menace, as if something out there was watching Shioreta, waiting for an opportune moment to strike. Occasionally the young genin might spot, or perhaps only imagine a tuft of ginger fur, or the flashing of golden, predatory eyes, but nothing lashed out at Shioreta immediately.

Shioreta could feel the eyes upon her as she walked. Deep… sinister eyes filled with malicious intent. The pinnacle of pure evil stalking her down. She clutched onto her bag tight venturing forward looking for the right place to grab a bite to eat..She figured it was just lurking waiting for the right moment. She had to be ready for it whenever it might come.

The genin finally noticed a kushiage stand, the aroma quickly picking up in her nose. The perfect bite to eat and one with a higher likelihood of her being able to hold onto. She stepped up holding the bag containing her coin purse tucked away in holding her hand up gesturing with 1 finger.

“One please!” She requested glancing about briefly as she opened the sack reaching in as she fished out some coin for it. She took the coin in her one hand lowering the back in the other clutching onto it. She exchanged her coins quickly as she was offered the stick gripping tight onto it glancing about as if expecting the cat to jump out to grab the food on her.

No cat lunged out of the shadows at Shioreta , but as she brought her deep fried bounty up to her mouth she might notice something odd about the skewer itself. Just before Shioreta took a bite she might notice a layer of fine, orange cat hairs dusting the top of the skewer…

Shioreta blinked, glancing down noticing the hairs on the skewer. She glanced about briefly before looking down at it blowing at the skewer trying to get rid of the cat hairs looking over at the vendor. The girl pondered a bit about it. Glancing around again blowing at the hairs again trying to get rid of them before opting to lean in to bite at the lower portion of the skewer where the hairs weren’t at, looking about as she did so.

The stallkeeper, looking mortified, handed Shioreta a fresh skewer, but when she reached out to take it she would find not a human hand but a round, fluffy paw.

“Mrow!” said the storekeeper, as his face disappeared in a puff of smoke to reveal a trio of cats poking out from the collar of his coat.

Shioreta looked down, staring at the three cats blinking more so just being… sheerly confused. There was… one cat wasn’t there? Now there were three.. But they were posing as the vendor? Wait… how did they even make the food? Np/// clearly they had to be swapped out before right? There were so many questions and so little Shioreta could even stumble to find an answer. She pulled back a bit looking at them.

“Um…. hello!” She spoke with an awkward smile. I mean… what else was she supposed to respond with. She had thought there was only a single cat and here now there was a trio that posed as a stallkeeper. She looked at the three cats before sighing a bit.

“Care to take me to where all my things are? I can stop to get you all some fish along the way?” She spoke more so questioningly in tone as to not know how to even react to it, and the hand dangling the sack she had feeling already a bit too light and only going to get lighter much to her dismay.

“I’m not sure you could afford to,” said one of the cats

“There’s rather a lot of us you see,” said another voice from behind Shioreta, when she turned to face it one of the pedestrians on street poofed into a dozen or so more cats.

“We’re all cats down here Shio,” said a voice from below the genin’s feet. Where once there had been solid stone and pavement there was now a hissing, meowing mass of ginger fur and soft paws clutching at her legs and pulling her down.

“Join us Shio,” purred the voices of thousands of cats all at once

Shioreta looked on with a look of befuddlement on her face as she witnessed what was going on. Her head hurt just trying to process it. As the ground all but vanished she stumbled a bit somehow maintaining her balance. It couldn’t be real then? A genjutsu? She couldn’t recall a single moment where it might have happened. A dream? Had she fallen asleep?

“No… no… I don’t think it could be a dream… I didn’t lay down… unless I had been caught in a jutsu by Miho that put me to sleep? Still wouldn’t I remember that? If it was a genjutsu though I’d remember something that might be a sign of being affected. My senses…” She spoke recalling back her sight clearly being used and the sense of smell and it seemed to work. Sound and taste both seemed to function. Touch as well. Though could she be sure it didn’t happen later on?

She bit at her bottom lip trying to inflict pain on herself, maybe that could stir her to reality whichever it might be. That might work, right?

“Jooiiiiiiin Uuuuuuus!” Howled the cats, their meows reaching a fever pitch as Shioreta’s vision swam and blurred, the scene devolving before her eyes.

Then suddenly it was all gone. Shioreta was on the floor of her workshop and Miho was sitting in a chair nearby, checking her watch and looking faintly amused.

“Took you long enough, that normally wouldn’t have been enough pain to broke out of a genjutsu of that level either, but I figured I’d give you points for trying. I haven’t used that one in a whole and its a pain to maintain anywhy.” Miho stood up. “Still I hope you’ve learned something about going along with Sachiko’s ideas too easily? Get some rest, we’ll be busy tomorrow,” WIth that Miho waved a farewell and headed out the door, leaving Shioreat to collect her thoughts.

At some point though, the genin might wonder if Miho had always had golden, yellow eyes with slitted pupils?..
Sachiko Hunted

Sachiko sighed as she returned to her room, clutching a piece of paper. “Tch, no fun… she’ll just punish us in training. Come on.. I’m trying to prep us for the exam. Bah. Huh, not even bothering to hunt us… down?”

She saw the note. She held the note up. She jumped up and down like a school girl. “Mom! Mom! I need you to get me a picture frame next time you’re out!”

Sachiko’s eyes then took on a sinister smile.

“Huh… Being hunted, huh? Not she’s going to? Interesting! Hey, Miho sensei, ever tell you I made a dojutsu? Makes me reeeally hard to flinch in light.”

A loud flashbang shot through the room… and Sachiko body flickered away in a smoke bomb, with the largest smile on her face.

The flashbang subsided and, more gradually so did the thick, black smoke from Sachiko’s bomb, leaving her room silent and empty once again. Then, after a few minutes, a nearby window slid open silently and a masked figure slipped inside to begin patiently, methodically searching the room.

The little brat always has some kind of scheme or something going on MIho mused as she looked, careful to keep an ear open for any approaching witnesses. There’s gotta be something in here she wouldn’t like being revealed

Miho could hear some giggling in the background of the house, and a mother weeping as Sachiko asked for a makeover, but the genin was failing to ‘see underneath the underneath’.

Her room itself was full of interesting contrasts. Enough makeup to paint a barn, sleeping pills, a list of joke books, and yet not a single one intact when opened. A few of them had weapon designs inside, a few books on meditation, a few hidden weapons, including some of uranium. Two complete profiles of Waka and Shio. A list of tortures and plans for Waka specifically found. One involved 30 alpaca’s, and 150 gallons of margarita mix.

And in her drawers, one of them seemed to be a little shorter than it should have been. A false bottom in it… and another joke book.

A Pun Rising in the East

Naturally there were no jokes inside. Instead, with a small lock, a diary could be found.

Hohhh, there’s some interesting stuff in here, MIho mused, after having opened the book (from a safe distance to avoid any traps) and flicking through the pages. So that’s where all those ferrets came from

Having found what she was looking for Miho stood up, replaced everything except the diary where it had been and left to circle around to the front door of the clan compound, pausing to smooth up her appearance a little. It was time to schedule a quick parent teacher interview.

As Miho walked to the front, a small girl would leave, wearing a noble’s dress, and a fan infront of her face. Her hair was black, and tied in a bun with ornaments in it, and she walked with a very forceful strut.

A clan member, however, noticed the jonin, and motioned inside. A bit of movement could be heard, and the gates to the compound began to open up, with retainers bowing to Miho, and a couple walking out to meet her.

“Ah, Ms. Shimamura it is an honor to have you pass by our abode. If you are looking for Sachiko, she just left. May we offer you some tea?”

“That sounds wonderful,” Miho, who hadn’t drunk tea without adding whiskey to it for years, lied smoothly. “Actually I was hoping to talk to all three of you at once, to discuss Sachiko’s progress and, we can schedule something for another time if she has something pressing to deal with,” Miho smiled thinly. “I’m happy to sit on this for a while if need be,”

“Why, of course.” Both took a seat as a ceremonial tea was poured… but a small vein of anger could be seen raising form both parents foreheads.

The mother. Oko, spoke. “I-If I may, Ms. Shimamura… our daughter isn’t… involved in anything recently, is she?”

The father, Hojo cleared his throat. “Major.” He clarified.

They motioned to a boy younger than Koki, who began to pour Miho’s bowl first.

“We do have, uh, ways of expediting the endeavour if need be.”

“Are reparations in order?”

Miho took a small sip of tea to buy time while she figured out how to play this. It was good stuff, Miho wondered how much it cost. “Well Sachiko is certainly a...spirited student, with a lot of energy that sometimes goes astray. But I think rather than worry about reparations exactly, what would be most constructive would be to turn some of these incidents into hmm, ‘learning opportunities’

“O-of course.” Oko said with a nod. She tugged on the sleeve of one of the attendants, whispering at him. “Order 13, outfit 4, check by Yasutsuna.”

“She’s never put on 4.”

“Which is why I though it was odd she asked to dress up, hurry it up!”

Hojo nodded to Miho. “She might be a bit… spirited. But she does good in the end. I agree, and whatever you suggest, I believe we’ll be fine with. I’ve kept her a heir despite her… insistence otherwise. I think a firm hand is the right one personally. What support do you need when she… returns?”

“I happen to have recently come into possession of a list of incidents Sachiko had some involvement in that I’d be happy to forward on to you,” Miho said. “What I think would really mean a lot to some of these people who have been affected would be an honest apology, you know one with the full dignity and ceremony of the Kounna clan. You know the right clothes, the right sort of affectations. You two would probably know a lot more about how to execute something like that I’m sure,”

For the first time, in what seemed to be a century, unused muscles on Oko’s face began to turn. With all the sounds of a rusted battle ship, her lips began to curl upwards, and a smile began to appear from her expression. “Why yes… yes we would… Would you happen to have a list of said incidents….?”

Hojo simply sighed. “It’s that ferret incident all over again...”

“I’ll send over a copy sometime today,” said Miho as she stood up. “I think I’d like to keep the original for...posterity. I think that concludes our business though, give my regards to Sachiko, oh and ask how her how she enjoyed our latest training exercise,”
 
It Takes Two
Don’t Stop Believin it was Tsumigakure’s only karaoke bar and something of a local institution. The bar’s gaudy paintjob and flashy neon sign showed a bit of wear and the interior had last been updated when heavy, wood panelling and kidney shaped tables with vinyl seats were still in fashion. Still by virtue of its lack of competition nobody seemed to mind the bar’s dated aesthetic and it generally cultivated a steady flow of traffic. Technically during the day Don’t Stop Believin It was not a bar at all but more a sort of cafe. The place didn’t serve alcohol and allowed minors in until 10pm to nab the all important after school set then it stayed open through the night to catch jonin and other adults looking to purge the working day’s stress with a few classics. This early in the day however both adults and students were occupied with their drudgery and the bar was mostly deserted, it’s cozy booths lying fallow. Then the door creaked open.

A round, healthily tanned face poked in through the open door, looked around and then split open into a grin. The face disappeared and then a second later re-emerged with a body attached, that of Ryuuka Tagamatsu, who practically skipped up to the nearly comatose clerk manning the desk.

“Heya Sojirio,” Ryuuka said cheerfully, startling the man from his stupor. “I’m gonna need the sugariest, most caffeinated beverage on your entire menu, then I’m going to need you to roughly quadruple both substances. Oh and can I get a room for three hours?”

“Oh it's you again,” said the clerk, covering a yawn with his hand. “You know we don’t actually get undiluted caffeine and sugar in right? We- Oh I’ll see what I can do, pick whichever room you want, they’re all empty,”

Ryuuka grinned again. “I know,”

In, Ryuuka’s humble opinion the middle of the day was, without a doubt the best time to perform karaoke. Without any other patrons to bother, you could crank up the sound on your songs LOUD, much louder than the booths feeble sound proofing could contain. Within a few seconds Ryuuka had picked out an empty booth right in the middle of the corridor and had nestled herself inside to leaf through the song booklet, sipping an absolutely toxic mixture of energy drink, ice cream and milkshake syrup Ryuuka was thinking of naming “The Moo Hoo” Soon Ryuuka found her song and keyed the corresponding machine into the machine, picking up a microphone as a caustic, punk guitar opening began to take over the space as Ryuuka jammed the volume all the way up.


Ryuuka wasn’t the only one here today, or rather now she was, as a certain young man wearing a baseball cap to cover his newfound short hair entered the business. Wakanaka knew of this place, held it in high regard, it was a great palace to let out that stress headache with some good music and generally bad singing… Well, not that he was That bad… Well, it doesn’t matter here, it was time to head in. To fit his cap, he was dressed in a grey hoodie, sweatpants and a pair of black shades. “Hey, got a room?” he asked the attendant, who nodded and motioned their head to one of the rooms in the back.

He scurried inside, form hunched over until he got inside, the sounds of another regular around this time was in the air, but he didn’t care, it was time to let it all out.

Standing up straight when the door closed, he took the cans of energy drink and instant coffee, with a quickly stifled sounds of cracked cans and the sounds of horrific alchemy being conducted the young man downed back what looked to be a horrid combination…

He grimaced and fought it down, them gasped for air.

Alright.

Let’s do this.

He tapped a few things on the machine, practiced fingers showing a familiarity with this place’s equipments as he plucked up the mic in the other hand.

It’s time…


Ryuuka was halfway through belting out the third chorus when something threw her off. Under the thudding beat of her own song Ryuuka could hear something that didn’t quite belong, something foreign and intrusive.

SOME OTHER JERK IS BLOWING UP MY SPOT! Ryuuka realised with indignation, beginning to pick out the course tones of a heavy guitar riff more clearly now as her own music petered out. How dare they? This was Ryuuka’s thing! The whole point of coming here was that no one else was here.

“You of course realise this means war,” Ryuuka muttered under her breath as she sunk to her knees by the karaoke machine and, with a surge of chakra punched her way into a panel that had been screwed in. Ryuuka busied herself fiddling with the internal wiring of the device, connecting a few wires that had not been connected and removing something labelled “Audio output limiter” and tossing it away contemptuously.

Satisfied with her work Ryuuka sat back and began to leaf through the song booklet again. With the volume cranked up even more the only thing left to do was pick a song vile enough to drive off the intruder.

“Let’s seeeee,” Ryuuka murmured to herself. “If he’s kind of a metalhead then...something like this oughta rub em the wrong way!” Ryuuka keyed in her selection and snatched up her microphone. “Let’s see how you like this Interloper!” Ryuuka crowed, as something up beat kicked in, much louder than it should have been.


...What in the actual fuck!?

Who did this person think they were!?

First of all, way to loud, but holy sweet shit that was horrendous!

Ugh… Almost makes him wana leave…

...But he isn’t about to be blustered away like this.. If they were gonna play dirty so did he. Lets see… If he hit the machine here… it should…. *bonk* yess! There we go!

Lets see how YOU like some bullshit heading your way!


Ryuuka staggered under the weight of her opponent’s counter attack, the discordant wailing shaking the walls of her booth. “Not bad whoever you are!” Ryuuka spat as she recovered her footing. “But I’m not done just yet!” Taking a few steps back for a run up, Ryuuka suddenly hurled herself at the wall of her booth, smashing through it to find herself in the next booth over, where she ran over to switch on the machine there as well. With two systems under her control Ryuuka’s aural firepower was doubled, not only that, she could combine two different songs to make something truly chaotic…


OH

OH SO WE’RE PLAYING THE MASH UP GAME HUH!?

Bah!

Where was that plastic guitar in here? It’s the booth with it, god knows you’re not gonna be beat by this nobody!

There it is, you’ll beat this chaos with a masterful show of skill then!

Wakanaka began tapping the machine to activate the mode for playing the kinda knock off guitar hero program, but hey, the knock off hits more songs that the commercial release, gotta love fan stuff.

Alright…

“Glorious aggressor…”


Ryuuka had to finally cover her ears under the latest sonic volley her opponent unleashed, although the high pitched guitar wailing still managed to pierce through her hands, it honestly sounded more like a roomful of cats being murdered in rapid succession, but it did kind of rock. Every so often the abrasive guitar was punctuated by a voice over announcing combo milestones and Ryuuka realised with a twinge of grudging respect that they must actually be playing their way through this blistering hailstorm of notes that masqueraded as a song.

Still just because they’re a worthy opponent doesn’t mean I can back down! Ryuuka thought, rifling through the song catalogue for her next move when another voice began to punctuate the music

“-ey-”

“HEY!”

“HEY TURN THAT SHIT DOWN!” Suddenly the music cut off as the front desk employee hit some kind of manual over ride and then stormed over to the booths, dragging Ryuuka and Waka out into the corridor by their ears.

“You two idiots are gonna bring the damn building down on top of us!” Yelled the exasperated employee.

“I uh- guess we got a little carried away,” Ryuuka said sheepishly, then “owowowowow-” as her weak excuse earned her another twist to the ear.

Waka grit his teeth and tore away from the employee. “Fine… Touch my ear again and i’ll take your han- ...Hmm?” Waka finally noticed his opponent.
“Ryuuka, its been abit. Didn’t know you were the one I was combatting. I applaude your grit for lasting this far.

Haven’t seen you since the Yuukionna.” he chuckled abit, taking off the ballcap that hid his sprouting back hair.

“Oh hey Waka, I think that Yukionna thing was somebody else,” said Ryuuka, cheerfully wriggling out of the employee’s grasp. “”But we did beat up that shrine maiden together, that was fun,”

The clerk sighed. “Or for the love of, if you two are friends to begin with why don’t you just play something together instead of demolishing my bar?”

Ryuuka shrugged, looking at Waka. “You do the guitar, I'll do the vocals?” she asked.

“Well, he does have a point. Lets do it... Really if I knew you had the same hobby as me I would have mentioned me coming here.” he admitted, nodding towards one of the rooms. “Go ahead, choose what you want.”

“Oh no,” said the clerk interjecting suddenly as he began fiddling with the closest machine. “After all the trouble you two caused the least you can do is play something decent,” the clerk continued to mess with the machine and when it didn’t cooperate he smacked the machine hard with a fist, prompting it to stutter then launch into a classic rock tune

“You’re the boss,” Ryuuka said cheerily, giving a mock salute and grabbing her mic as the guitar picked up.

“Fair enough, I can play this in my sleep.” Waka cracks his shoulder, already at it.

"1! 2! 3! 4!"

Orikanyo Orikanyo
 
Tsubame MochizukiTsubame didn't respond to either the stage coach or Master Saemonsaburou, deciding to leave the mind games to Shioreta. Master Saemonsaburou had either set them up to be attacked, or his lukewarm answer was calling their bluff. She didn't know which her teammate would go with, her plan, or if she really would harm Master Saemonsaburou to prove a point.

The screams of the other shinobi sent Tsubame's opinion firmly into the she would. category. Shioreta, as frail as she seemed, appeared to be completely ruthless. How far would Master Saemonsaburou go with this fake battle? It frustrated her that instead of a real fight, her life was being threatened by a mockery of one. It was an insult to her clan, who took every mission seriously.

It wasn't like she could've said something back anyway, taken by surprise when the knee she kicked suddenly inverted, bending inward like a sweet bun. She didn't feel the resistance of bones, or any sign that the enemy was hurt. A bloodline trait. Tsubame caught herself and rolled, coming up in the middle of a flower. Downright annoyed, Tsubame wondered if Master Saemonsaburou had to spend money for this façade, or had he just tipped the Inochi shinobi that they were here? The latter would only frustrate her more.

Tsubame had never killed a person before, but she was done holding back. She knew she couldn't break the genjutsu, so she didn't try. She pulled off petals and didn't dodge the grab. Amateur. He should've learned from her first attack that he shouldn't get close to her. The genjutsu would eventually stop her from moving, but it wouldn't be before she took her annoyance out on him. Dance of the Chameleon. Sharp, curved bones grew from her knuckles and she stabbed at the snake arm. Tsubame would yank his him towards her, aiming a sharp knee bone at his thigh.
 
The Cards Dealt

A tearing sound, along with a sickening squelch of blood resounded in the area, and then Shioreta would feel her puppet go lax, now grabbing nothing.

The more buff one sounded off. "Heavens, Kiiro, are you alright? Your arm's covered in -YEOWCH!"

The sound of another arm being pierced sounded, though his skin seemed rubbery and moved with the knives, making the impact of Tsubame's bladed punch lessened, but still drawing blood, and forcing him to let go. Tugging at the skin gave slack, not pulling him forward, but another knee against the arm itself made significant impact, and blood. Pulling against it, and using the blood as lubrication, the nin drew his arm back.

"Heavens, Yoshiro, are you alright, your arm's covered in blood." The robed one said mockingly. "Knew we shouldn't have tried this without Kohaku. Just HAD to try that sushi from the gas station, didn't she... Tch. I'm done. We're withdrawing. Would have been an easy mission with her... tch."

As Shio cut herself, she would be released from the flower, and be able to see two fleeing Inoichi nin, both holding a bleeding arm. The thinner one had bite marks all the way down to his chest, having literally pulled himself out of the teeth, the wounds were jagged. The other looked like he'd just been impaled in the arm, multiple times, it flopping around behind his body as he ran.

Behind them the air shimmered, before fading back to normal... almost as if a barrier had been put up. Saemonsaburou fanned himself with a hand full of cards.

"My, my. What a show. You two were joking about harming me, right? Because I might just have to lodge a complaint if you were. Well, seeing as those Inoichi nin were cheating a bit... how would you like to see, a little... project I'm working on?"

Suddenly the cards from his hand flew out, threatening to actually hurt Tsubame if she didn't catch them, fast, sharp, and expertly thrown.


TaiTlsStlthGenNin
Shioreta Koino0.52.54.536.512.5
Tsubame Mochizuki62.52.5458
Kiiro Takeda244648
Yoshiro Uesagi624448

The last star point on Kiiro read 'Wood Release', the last point on Yoshiro read 'Senjutsu', while Shio's read Puppetry, and Tsubame "Bone Release"

Saemonsaburou's eyes were glowing a strange purple, with a complicated circle pattern in the middle, though it quickly faded.

"I'm Gunshugakure's card maker. You can tell alot about a ninja by looking at them... well then! This has been a fun little trip! If you want to know more, I'll be in the luxurious Thunder Wolf Hotel. Room 225A I believe... Naturally I have a safe where such valuables are stored. But a good ninja breaking in would be problematic. I maaaay also be checking in on participants of the chunnin exams."

The coach looked back. "Kojiro, what are you doing?"

"Shut it Tenzo, I'm the nobleman here, it's only fair I get to have a little bit fun. Of course, if you reported I said anything, it'd be problematic. Especially seeing as Inoichi would be out of our good graces if this little incident were to get out." He gave a smile, and let off a small amount of killing intent. "And that goes for you two as well. This was a nice peaceful mission, right? I had fun. You had fun, right? Let's keep going."​
 
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The Kage Summit

Chowaku central district, the tower of Harmony


The Tower of Harmony was the Village Hidden in Crowds' pride and joy. A towering obelisk of glittering glass and steel, constructed with the most modern construction methods available, the tower was a grand testament to the city’s prosperity and peace.

It also had a restaurant. Right at the center of the tower’s 24th floor was an opulent dining room decked out in silk and luxurious mahogany furniture. The restaurant had no official name as it had no need to advertise; its reservation list was said to be booked out for the next twelve years and it was only through the personal intercession of the Chowakage that the entire room had been cleared out for some very important guests.

Ryohei Sakurai, the 38-year-old leader of Gunshugakure sat at the head of a large, round table with his fingers steepled as he waited for the other kage to arrive. A kage summit was one of Ryohei’s very favorite events. Despite being the leader of a shinobi village Ryohei was more notorious for his abilities as a diplomat and this kind of event was by far his more preferred arena. Although Ryohei had relegated himself to the more passive role of arbitrator and host for tonight it was always entertaining getting to see his counterparts from the other villages in person. They were all such...colorful characters after all.

The Tsumikage was the first to arrive, dismissing the pair of jounin shadowing her with the faintest movement of her hand. “It’s good to see you again, Ryohei,” she said with a polite dip of her head. Despite her soft tone, her voice still easily carried through the room. Taking the spot marked for Tsumigakure, she folded her hands in her lap. “I trust you’re doing well?”

The next knock did not come from the stairwell that was the proper entrance to the restaurant. Instead, the window came with a ‘tock tock tock’ of someone’s hand wrapping against it.

Levitating on the outside of the building, a ninja stood on thin air, with his arms folded after knocking, with a rather serious posture… which was ruined slightly by the giant helmet modeled after a dragon that was currently flopping back and forth, several feet in the air, with the greater kage’s trusty hat flowing magnificently in the breeze above it. The word ‘lightning’ was inscribed on the white hat.

The dragon helmet continued to wiggle back and forth as the Arashikage, Jin, the Raiju, waited.

“Ahhh Lady Ema,” Ryohei said with a serene smile. “Always a pleasure, can I get you something to drink? Tea? Or something stronger per-” Ryohei’s hospitality was derailed by an insistent tapping on the window, which the Chowakage turned towards, raising his eyebrows and nodding towards Jin with a welcoming smile. “Would somebody...Yes thank you,” Ryohei said, as a resplendently uniformed waitress scurried towards the window to slide it open. “Jin! Welco--” Ryohei frowned and cut off his spiel as the waitress rattled the window frame but failed to get it open. “I think you have to sort of push it inwards at the same time,” Ryohei called to the now rather flustered waitress. “Yes that’s it,” he said encouragingly as the window slid up a few inches then got stuck again. “Yes now jiggle it a bit? Yes there we-” The window squeaked in protest as it suddenly shot all the way up, leaving the waitress to stumble backwards as she was suddenly off-balance.

“Jin,” said Ryohei warmly. “Sorry about all that we don’t… We don’t actually open those that often. Something to drink?”

The dragon helm nodded… but that might just because it was bouncing around back and forth. He hovered onto the ground, landing and uncrossing his arms as he offered a handshake. Various points in his clothing which had been pulling upwards settled downwards back into his clothing, no longer literally pulling him up. By the contours of his hand, Jin was youthful, the leader no more than a boy.

He continued his silence as he sat next to the Tsumikage, and handed a requested report to her. As he sat, his head continued to bob rhythmically along as he placed his fingers together in a triangle.

“Well I’ll take that drink if no one else is going to have it,” said a croaky, aged voice from the direction of the elevator, whose doors had parted again to reveal a squat, rotund man in his late fifties. The hanekage cut an unprepossessing figure even in his formal kage’s attire and if he had arrived with guards they had already departed. Nevertheless, the old man strode easily up to his counterparts, stroking his sharply pointed, neat little beard as he hauled himself into his designated seat.

“Ochada, good to see you,” Ryohei said with the same smile he had given the other kage as he gestured with a hand for one of the waitresses to bring something. “If I recall though you weren’t really one for tea, the dining room does have a very fine cask-aged whiskey though if I could tempt you with that?”

The Arashikage’s hand tepidly went up… then silently fell down at the offer of whisky, the head drooping.

“You could certainly tempt me,” called the catty voice of the Inochikage as she strode into the room. The lantern hanging from her staff flickered pitifully as if the flame was being smothered. Yukari glanced at the Tsumikage and gave a distasteful cluck of her tongue, “I thought this building oozed corruption.”

Ema frowned, though didn’t reply.

The Arashikage’s hand also went up, as if to interject… then drooped again as he had nothing. Instead, he just motioned to the folder he’d given the Tsumikage about the issue at hand. The folder marked ‘Chunnin exams’.

“Now, now,” said Ryohei soothingly, as he gestured for a waitress to serve the gathered kage their preferred refreshments. “Why don’t we turn our attention to business and leave our disagreements for later hmm? We have several pressing matters to attend to after all. Item one, I suppose, would be the unfortunate incident at Kabegakure. Our sedentary friends have made an admirable effort at rounding up would be escapists but there have already been reports of dozens of former prisoners outside Kabe territory, including one Nobuyuki Hanamoto,”

Ema had scarcely gotten to open the gifted folder when Ryohei spoke up. She frowned slightly, “that strikes me as a matter that would best be discussed with the Kabekage present.” She closed the folder, “Tsumigakure did not have any prisoners housed within their walls. Nevertheless, ANBU were dispatched the moment we learned the blade Juuchi Fuyu had been… liberated from its resting place.”

Jin simply raised fingers for 154 in binary on his fingers, instantly calculating it without counting. Arashigakure had been rather dependant on the Kabegakure for prisoners. And it’s strict policies had made many of them. The only country with the rank ‘rangers’, ninjas who were never allowed back home and genjutsu memory modified to prevent them from leaking information. Those same rangers had been busy hunting down prisoners since then.

The dragon head bobbled back and forth, and the eye slit looked up to Ema, trying to read her silently.

“Regardless of how many prisoners have escaped from any particular village, the matter is still quite complicated from a uhhh, jurisdictional perspective,” said Ochada the Hanekage, watching Ema and Jin with sleepy eyes as he took a sip of whiskey. “None of us want prisoners with sensitive information falling into each other’s hands I’m sure, but equally none of us are likely to be too enthused at the prospect of foreign hunter nin traipsing through our territory to recover those prisoners,” Ochada sighed. “Half the appeal of having a neutral prison village was to avoid these kinds of delicate situations, but I’m told between the manpower losses and substantial damage to the prison itself Kabegakure is in no position to oversee the recapture efforts themselves. I’m also concerned that leaving this matter unresolved in the leadup to the exams will present additional risks...It’s always a drain on security and so on at the best of times,”

“The exams proceed…” Jin said, speaking for the first time. The Raiju’s voice was quiet, almost timid, but at the same time, his serious expression and general demeanor generally had people let him finish his thoughts. “Arashigakure guarantees their safety… Our Rangers will find missing-nin...”

Yukari’s eyes were instantly on Jin the moment he spoke up. Piercing blue with silvery lines tracing a lotus pattern across them. “I’m actually inclined to agree with Lord Jin.” She leaned forward, steepling her fingers in front of her. “Even if they’re also dealing with prisoners on the run, Jingakure will no doubt take postponing or canceling the exams as a show of weakness.” The Inochikage looked out across the table. “And we all know how quick they can be to exploit a weakness, actual or not.”

Ema simply nodded.

Ochada scratched his chin and held up his hands. “Seems I’m outvoted.”

“If I may,” interjected the Chowakage delicately. “Perhaps a compromise? Rather than trying to round up all our wayward miscreants before the exams, we could simply subdue a few of the more prominent ones and sort of parade them around a bit? That might encourage the rest of their peers to lay low a bit and assuage the concerns of the daimyos and their ilk,”

Jin raised his hand, and nodded at the same time, signifying he was in agreement. He snapped his fingers, then tapped on the table 3 times. From the window he had flown in from, a kunoichi could be seen flying away, wearing a set of broadswords like wings. It seemed he had brought guards whether or not he was supposed to have, and there were at least 3 around the building from the taps.

“The exams coupled with a display like that should keep Jingakure from getting any bright ideas,” Yukari hummed, reclining in her seat. “Very well.”

“Assuming that settles the matter,” Ema lightly tapped the folder in front of her. “Shall we move on to why the summit was originally called?”

The dragon head bobbed up and down in agreement.

“Yes, yes the exam itself,” said Ochada with a weary expression. “Let’s do something short this time yes? None of us want a repeat of that blasted scavenger hunt from a few years back.”

The Arashikage seemed confused. He snapped his finger, and tapped twice. A bald lean man appeared next to him, whispering in his ear, the other kages might overhear it a brief summary of the event. The young kage hadn’t been around during that particular incident, it, ironically, was the year before he had taken his own. Nodding with the dragon cap bobbing up and down, he held up a hand in agreement. He then looked around, and realized as host, he was probably required to speak.

“Three days… we cut the information section… Aito is… confident she can cull the herd. Teams Arakaki, Etsuko, and Ban participating. Haru is combat proctor.”

The Arashikage then kept up the one hand as if to signify he wasn’t done as he mulled over words.

“There is a slight...village concern. We have unconfirmed reports the Original Lightning Akuma’s 1st barrier is down… We will still host confidently, but be aware.”

He dropped his hand and motioned for a glass of water.

Ema studied Jin out of the corner of her eye as he revealed the rumors of the broken barrier. As though she could discern his reason for revealing something like that right then. “Tsumigakure will be sending in three teams: Hayate, Ichiro, and Miho.” It was the most genin the village had sent in a few years now.

“Someone broke through the barrier?” Yukari frowned, “Shouldn’t that have been mentioned earlier? To hell with the escaped criminals!” She clicked her tongue, leaning back in the chair. The Inochikage seemed to mull something over for a moment, her eyes drifting to places where there wasn’t anyone or anything. “Tch, teams Takeru, Hikari, Daisuke, and Michi are participating.”

Ochada pinched his brow and was silent for a moment. “Ryohei, indulge me with some more of that whiskey would you?”

Ever the gracious host, the Chowakage had a server refill Ochada’s glass and the man drained it one gulp and then grabbed the arm of the server as she made to leave and gestured for her to refill his glass again, which he emptied a second time.

“Teams Fukuroko, Bakewashi, Hatohara and Suzumeko from us. Now then, what was that about the Lightning Akuma's barrier?” the Hanekage asked with a deceptively calm voice.

Jin looked uncomfortable with so many eyes on him, but sighed. “1st barrier. Broken. We’re handling it. Will not reveal where. Secret. Think we all have the same suspect.”

He shuffled through the papers of the escaped criminals and jailbreak, and pointed to one word. ‘Bishamonten’.

“Beware.” He said simply. He then switched the subject. “We begin chunnin exams in one month. Have your genin meet here. 10 am.”

He snapped his finger, and tapped the desk once. A lithe man with blond hair came forward, and presented a map on the table. Jin pointed to a mountainous pass.

“Jonin and spectators allowed in village. Combat is public. Three days later.”
 
Now You’re Thinking with Crystals
Picking his way over the loose stones littering training ground 13 Shibata could see more and more crystals scattered about, hesitating slightly wondering if this was pointless or a prank before calling out to the man training there. “Hey uncle! You got a minute to do sensei stuff?”

Holding a sword of dark blue crystal, Hayate battled an invisible opponent. He unleashed a flurry of powerful slashes and deftly evaded and parried imagined strikes. His blade glowed with chakra before Hayate threw it high in the air and warped after it in a burst of crystalline shards. Now airborne, the jounin formed a new weapon out of dense crystal, a heavy battleaxe.

Hayate plummeted with a roar, bringing his weapon down on a boulder in a thunderous crash. The impact kicked up a large cloud of dust, raining debris around the training field. Small stones and dirt fell on Shibata.

“Sure,” He called at Shibata’s question as the dust settled, revealing a large crater where the boulder had been. Hayate walked closer, smearing dirt across his forehead as he wiped sweat away. “What’s up?”

Brushing some stone off his shoulder while being otherwise unperturbed by Hayate’s display Shibata began doubtfully. “Well I recently...became aware of a certain crystal jutsu my sister used and asked if she could give me some idea of where to start on learning it, apparently you’re the best person to ask.”

“Oh?” Hayate tilted his head to the side in curiosity. “And what kind of jutsu did Fubuki use? She has one hell of a repertoire under her belt.”

“It was called Crystal Terrain, a jutsu that could cover an entire arena in crystal.” He looked a little misty eyed just at the memory of seeing it in action second-hand though it was.

The jounin gave a low whistle. “Definitely a tall order right there…” Hayate tapped his chin in thought. “I remember hearing about her breaking that one out in her chunnin exams though. Wish I could’ve seen it.”

“It certainly was a sight to see.” Shibata murmured quietly before seizing on Hayate’s words. “Does that mean you haven’t seen it or used it for yourself?” He asked curious why he’d been directed here if that were true.

“I just wish I could’ve seen her use it in the exams.” Hayate shrugged, “I might not be a fan of the clan’s more traditional techniques, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t learned it.” The jounin’s hands became a blur of handsigns, faster than Shibata could track. Though he may have been able to pick out a hand seal or two. Finishing, Hayate pressed his hand against the ground.

Lines of crystal shot out from beneath his palm, sweeping over the training area like a rapidly freezing pond. It wasn’t long before the entire ground was coated in a layer of shimmering crystal. Standing, Hayate held out his arms as if to say “tada” before tipping back and falling into the crystal as if it was a pool of water.

Hayate reemerged off to Shibata’s side. Then another in front of him. And another. Numerous clones emerging from the crystalline surface. If the real one was among them, the genin wouldn’t be able to tell.

As the crystal spread Shibata watched with a look of wonder shifting his feet as it advanced underneath him, turning on the spot he stared at the rising clones feeling his mind whirling with the possibilities of this technique. “Awesome….” He couldn’t help the quiet exclamation then turned back to Hayate. “Teach me sensei!”

Smiling, the clones nodded as all the crystal turned to dust, leaving only the real Hayate behind. “What makes this jutsu so powerful is it’s essentially several jutsu combined into one.” Brushing some of the shimmering powder off his shirt, he studied his nephew in thought. “I believe you already know a couple of the building blocks. What do you think?”

Nodding Shibata folded his arms thoughtfully. “I can already create a few clones from a mirror but they’re a bit fragile and I can’t move through a crystal or cover ground like that yet.”

“Good, good. Then today we’ll be working on stepping through your own crystal. But first,” Hayate moved through a short series of handsigns. “Let me see your clones, don’t worry about hurting me.” As he moved, his skin shimmered slightly.

Still brimming with enthusiasm Shibata nodded again. “Alright!” Creating a mirror he spawned three clones but also added three phantoms into the mix, forming a loose circle around Hayate they took their stance simultaneously. “Ready for this uncle?” Without waiting for an answer all six charged aiming blows at different parts of Hayate’s body.

Hayate smiled, shifting his stance in answer to the question as the clones rushed him. He didn’t bother defending or countering their strikes, instead studying how the clones reacted to striking the layer of crystal that covered him. The jounin paused, casting a glance towards one of the illusionary clones as its attack passed through him. “Clever, not a bad way of conserving your chakra in a fight.” He formed a handsign and his chakra surged, breaking the illusion’s hold on him. “Fubuki teach you that trick?”

Finally, the jounin turned on the offensive. He intently watched the way the crystal shattered, scattering shimmering dust in the air. “Your clones are getting better. Gods know it took me ages to get mine to the point they wouldn’t turn to dust at just a stiff breeze.” Hayate smiled, turning back to his nephew. “You’ve got a few options on where you could take them from here.” He held up a finger, “the first is focus on making the crystal denser. Your clones will be able to take a harder hit before breaking. Most go this route, myself included.” He held up a second finger, “the next is taking advantage of their brittleness. Modify the crystal so it always breaks into sharp shards. Sure they’re fragile, but punishing for any taijutsu specialist that took you on.”

Shibata wasn’t surprised at how easily Hayate dispensed with his clones but still slightly disappointed. “Mixing the illusions in with the clones is nothing new but I worked on making it look like they’re coming out of the mirror like them myself, nee-san’s a little more direct about things.”

Presented with the options for his clone technique he folded his arms introspectively, he had been working towards strengthening not just his clones but his crystals in general but punishing an opponent for striking them would make it easier to conceal his phantoms. “Hmm that other idea is interesting but I still need to be able to make more solid crystal for other techniques.”

Hayate nodded, “well then, one of the two techniques we’re gonna be working on will help with that.” He started another series of handsigns, this time moving at a pace his nephew could follow and memorize. A large crystal pillar rose to the jounin’s height between them.

“Crystal Release: Oubliette,” Hayate explained as he rounded the pale blue crystal to be back in Shibata’s line of sight. “Never understood the name, myself. Your grandfather’s the one that dubbed it that. But it’s great for an emergency shield. It’s also good practice for strengthening your crystals and it was made to practice this next jutsu.” Pressing his hand on the crystal, it rippled slightly, before allowing Hayate to walk through it. “Clan elders call it Crystal Release: Crystalline Voyage. I think Crystal Phasing sounds better if you ask me.”

He looked back at the pillar, “father was… rather infamous for dragging opponents into these crystals and leaving them to suffocate.”

Watching the handsigns closely Shibata imitated the motions so they stuck in his mind but didn’t mould any chakra yet. At the mention of his grandfather he winced slightly, while the man was civil enough with Shibata he did have a reputation as having one of the clan’s larger body counts. “That does sound like one of his anecdotes.”

Moving through the handsigns again this time putting his chakra into it Shibata sprouted a green tinged crystal from ground one that was similar in shape but not scale as Hayate’s, the technique was simple enough to the genin since it wasn’t too dissimilar in structure to his mirrors and simpler than clones. “One oubliette, what comes next?” He asked with a touch of impatience while rapping his fist experimentally against the crystal.

“Now for the hard part,” Hayate placed his hand back on his own crystal. “The moment you come in contact with a crystal, send a pulse of crystal chakra through it. You need to manipulate the crystal around you so you can move through it.” He rubbed the back of his neck, “It kinda feels like . . . swimming through mud. Really thick mud.”

Hayate turned back towards Shibata, his expression unusually serious. “You’re not going to be able to bring much air with you, so until you have this technique down, you need to have another crystal release user nearby.”

Running a hand over the surface of his crystal Shibata felt a touch of uncertainty at forcing himself into a solid object not helped by the story of people getting stuck inside, pushing his worries aside he reasoned that plenty of people were able to move through rock or earth and surely it would be simpler to do with a more uniform crystal he had created.

Taking a series of deep breaths to get as much oxygen in his blood as possible he held onto a lungful of air and pushed his chakra into the crystal along with his hand. Feeling the solid structure shift around where he pressed down his hand sank in a short way then stopped before reaching his wrist. “Urgh.” He gave a grunt of irritation that turned to a longer growl of frustration as he struggled to retrieve his hand for another attempt, after several tugs he pulled himself free taking part of the crystal with him leaving a messy handprint behind. “Was that too much or too little?”

“Too little. If it had been too much, the crystal would have shattered.” Hayate rapped on the jade colored crystal with his knuckles, “that’s a weakness to our crystals. A large surge of chakra from within can break them.”

Nodding Shibata psyched himself up for another attempt and pulsed his chakra through the crystal again with a bit more force feeling it give and flow around his hand as he pushed inward, once he was in up to his shoulder he hesitated and felt the crystal pinch around his arm as it stabilised. “Here we go.” He murmured mostly to himself and pressed forward closing his eyes when his head ‘submerged’ putting all of his focus into keeping his chakra flow consistent while putting one foot in front of another.

Once he was fully enveloped Shibata struggled to readjust to try and keep his footing solid beneath him while simultaneously making the same material permeable in front of him, half walking and half swimming he pressed on with growing unease as he took longer than he expected to make his way through. Daring to open his eyes he found he couldn’t work out how far it was to the other side through the facets of the emerald crystal, thrusting forward with one arm he felt clear air around his fingers and began to flail about trying to use his free hand to grab the surface of the crystal and pull himself out.

After a wasted minute he felt his lungs beginning to burn and lifted his feet up so he was horizontal inside the crystal, pushing off the inside surface with a mighty thrust of all four limbs he burst out into the open falling flat on his face with one of his ankles still caught up in the crystal and lay there panting before finally freeing himself completely.

Hayate watched his nephew’s second attempt, arms crossed in front of his chest. His eyes narrowed as Shibata began to struggle. He wanted to immediately rush in and rescue the genin, muscles tensing and chakra flaring. Hayate shook his head, forcing himself to relax. Shibata needed to figure it out on his own if he was going to learn anything. Letting him struggle a bit during training wasn’t going to hurt. Not that he wouldn’t pull Shibata free if things grew dire.

Sure enough, the genin was able to free himself. Albeit a little dramatically. Hayate gave him a moment to recompose himself before walking over and kneeling beside him. “Good job, getting through the first time’s usually the hardest.” He stood, offering Shibata a hand if he wanted. “Try shifting the crystal so you can walk across the ground, at least until you get a better feel for the jutsu.”

Rolling over onto his back Shibata sat up still panting. “How many tries did it take you the first time?” He asked once he had his breath back and got to his feet spurning the offered hand. Laying a hand on the crystal again he shifted it’s position until there was solid earth underneath, forcing himself to keep his eyes open this time as he slid inside finding it easier going proper ground to stand on and managed to push through to the other side without getting caught up. Smiling triumphantly and nodding to himself he turned around and went again.

Shibata continued going back and forth for over an hour with growing speed and confidence until his stamina and chakra began to fail him, pushing through the exhaustion he kept going despite his increasingly obvious struggling. Eventually he staggered out of the crystal dropping onto his hands and knees with his chest heaving, still undeterred he got up after a few minutes but when he turned to face the crystal again he toppled over and slid down it’s face to the ground.

Hayate stepped forward, carefully scooping up the exhausted genin. “Good job.” He started walking back towards the clan’s compound. “We’ll keep working on it tomorrow.” The jounin chuckled, “maybe add some stamina training in.”
 
Besties
A knock could be heard from Shio’s door, along with a peppy ‘Yoo-hoo? Anyone there?”

Sachiko.

She had a bag of dango in one hand, and a few tool parts in the other. “I’m here to bribe and otherwise annoy you Shio!” It hadn’t been long since the ‘Miho disaster’.

There was complete silence at first from the door as if no one was home. It took a few seconds before a strange clicking sound could be heard much like that of one of her puppets before it was about to launch an attack. The snapping suddenly came to a stop as silence one again filled the air. The door began to slowly swing open, creaking on the hinges slowly revealing the room filled with all her various puppet parts and tools though Shio no where to be seen.

“Come in.” The voice spoke up though the genin wasn’t anywhere in sight her voice seeming quite hushed.

“Yuup…” Sachiko swayed back and forth for a moment. “You too? I added a few precautions to my room after... that. And you’re smarter than me, so deeeefinitely figured better to knock.” She waited a second more before walking in, and leaving the offerings on Shio’s work bench.

“Floozy stole my diary! All my inner thoughts! I’m a very sensative girl, ya’know.” Sachiko made a handsign, and her eyes flashed red. -Spectrum shift: subred- (Can see infrared)

With the goods placed down by the door and Sachiko wandering into the room a sudden click could be heard as the hand of what seemed to be an incomplete humanoid puppet swung down. Where the hand was supposed to be a small hand poked out grabbing hold of one of the dangos suddenly pulling it inside. The bottom half of Shio is visible without the infrared below the table with the rest of the body in the upper torso of the puppet. She sank down from the torso holding the dango looking up at Sachiko from under the table.

“I suppose I can understand. I would be upset if any of my blueprints were stolen after I put so much work creating them for my puppets. Though I’m worried about cats. Sinister, evil, cats. Sneaking in… terrorizing everything without touching a single thing.” She spoke, taking a bite of the dango, a bright smile on her lips nodding her head looking up from under the table.

“These are pretty good!” She spoke happily, glancing up at her. Shioreta pulled her knees up as if tucking herself into a ball taking another bite staring up at Sachiko with her unflinching smile.

“WAH!” Sachiko jumped at the human puppet swinging down, her arms flailing infront of her as she tripped backwards screaming.

Falling onto the bed with a soft thump.

“Huh… soft sheets.”

She shook her head, looking as if she hadn’t just spazzed out. A spool of wire helped her catch a dango off the table, and pull it back.

“Cats…? What did she do to you? Geez. Well, striking training sessions with Miho off the list, planned or unplanned. I don’t think I learned anything! Certainly not my lesson!”

Sachiko nommed it, before a deep sigh.

“Hey, Shio. Why’d ya wanna be a ninja anyways? Cause, these exams things are suuuper depressing. I’d ask Waka, but his last words were death threats.” She dabbed her eyes as if wiping away a tear. “I’ll remember him fondly!”

“He… died already? I thought he would of at least lasted until our next mission together... a bit disappointing.” She spoke lowering her legs resting them out straight in front of her. She thought to slip out from under the table though she was still quite comfortable. The puppetmaster genin suddenly creating chakra threads, attaching them to the door suddenly yanking to pull her door shut without having to get up.

“Why I wanted to become a ninja? Hmm… I figured it would be interesting to see how long I can make it before I would inevitably die I guess. If I had to figure out another reason… getting to tinker and create new puppets to try myself. Oh… and for fun.” She spoke rather matter of fact. She looked at her friend putting back on a smile.

“I mean, are you having fun?” Sachiko said, intently leaning over to under the table. She handed Shio a screwdriver from above. Sachiko noted cat hair on the desk, and almost asked. She then shook her head.

“Huh, expected some long winded backstory, or honor, or sacrifice. Gotta respect that frankness at least.”

She blinked as she watched Sachiko lean over offering her screwdriver. She took hold of it as she slowly scooted out from under the table before propping herself up. The young genin brushing herself off any dust she might have. She did work with a lot of wood with her puppets leaving a lot of sawdust and woodchips about.

“I find it fun! I suppose I am a bit more disappointed in myself. I expected.I wasn’t expecting to live so long and eventually fail, though actually overlooking something completely under my own facilities was a bit more frustrating than I thought it would be.” She spoke shrugging a bit looking over at Sachiko curiously.

“What about you? You know… really?” She asked, tapping her index finger against her chin, staring at Sachiko inquisitively.

“You’re my bestie, riiiiight?”

-answer-

“Hate it. Hate being a ninja. Hate my clan. Hate this village. Buuut, I got obligations, so gotta be one. And don’t wanna actually let you two down, can at least count on me when chips are down. Course, easier just pretending it’s sunshine and rainbows, less trouble that way.”

She collapsed on the bed.

“I dunno. You wanna be chunnin coming up? You can count on me, but… I really am not looking forward to the chunnin exams either. Don’t feel ready, ya’know? And everyone else wants to shine. I don’t wanna. Seems stupid to me. Aren’t ninja’s supposed to covert? That, and worse I look, better rest of my family does. But don’t wanna let you guys down either. I dunno. Just over thinking it I guess… So I guess I’m bribing you to be my therapist Shio! And totes not just apologizing for that last scheme going bad, because what kind of devil apologizes!?”

“Don’t worry so much about it. I knew you weren’t planning anything good the moment you told us about meeting up where we did and what it was for. I’m pretty sure Miho knew that I probably figured that out as well.” She spoke with a soft little sigh before putting a smile on her lips again.

“If you really don’t want to be a ninja then you can quit right now. I won’t think badly of you… Miho will probably not care too much but won’t be offended… and Waka… well no one cares what Waka thinks I guess.” She spoke glancing up as she cringed a bit realizing perhaps she was approaching it a bit the wrong way.

“I don’t think anyone can ever really say they are ready for anything. Only a fool would ever claim such a thing. There are far too many variables that it makes it impossible. It's really just about… hmmm… a metaphor... “ She spoke looking up in thought.

“Just going for a punn even if you aren’t sure its the best one. You might say it… and you might feel like you could do better… but making a pun is better then not fitting one in at all.” Not quite the best metaphor but… it's good enough right?

“Besides, I think deep down you do want to be a ninja… or at least like what kind of pranks it lets you do. I mean… you sure you don’t have the right motivation for it? Well… dunno maybe motivation doesn’t make sense why you might not want to be a ninja...” She spoke laughing lightly in response with an awkward smile on her lips.

“I can quit right now? Sign me up!” Sachiko gave a fake laugh. “And I’m offended that you don’t think I always have the best puns! Why else would I have so many books on them? You could say I have the pun department covered! Don’t judge me.”

She pointed a finger at the wall, and began to trace it with it.

“And, sides, don’t be so cruel ‘bout Waka! He’s our teammate too. We should fight for him too! If we totally turn him off, then it’s just not as fun to mess with him. It’s called a ‘Hope Spot’. I’m mean, sure he’s angry as a soaked cat, a total perv, doesn’t get our jokes, and totes deserves our torture.” but hung in the air, Sachiko letting it dangle there, as it should complete the sentence… and then it ticked away and die.

“Wonder what’s he’s doing today anyways…? Eh, probably something boyish and stupid. Anyways. Think he wants to be a chunnin? So far hearing, I don’t wanna, you don’t care, and I honest to goodness don’t know about him…?”

Sachiko ruffled through her bag of snacks, and tossed a soda to Shio.

“Why not, Shio! Let’s do it for Waka! Ain’t got not better reason! To Waka!” She cackled madly, and ‘toasted’ the soda cans together.

Shioreta listened to Sachiko a bit curious what she had to say. She tapped her chin a bit as she went on about Waka though nodding lightly as if in some sort of agreement though truth be told she more so did it out of acknowledgement that she was listening. Before she could answer about Waka she watched Sachiko fish from her bag quickly catching the can as it was tossed to her. She nodded in agreement, tapping her can against Sachiko.

“To Waka.” She spoke lifting the can up before she opened it giving the top a light few taps with her finger before opening her soda. She expected it might be a bit shaken given she knew Sachiko the idea of such a mild prank wasn’t impossible. She took a sip of her drink looking at her friend giving a light smile.

“I mean… we could go and visit him I suppose at some time. I don’t think he would be all that happy about it though. I think he would be quite quick to jump to conclusions we are up to something or are there to just torment him. Chances are we'll make things worse before we make it better for him. I’m up for that whenever you like.” She spoke in regards to Waka clearly trying to act as if she was being reasonable before quickly shifting in tone.

Sachiko blinked coldly for a minute. “... why?” She asked, before pressing on the tab of the soda can. A bit fizzled out from both cans, but nothing too much. With a swig she sighed. “Fiiiine. However, I’m transferring all my torment to Miho Sensei until I get my diary back. Floozy forgot the first rule of black mail! Never use all your ammo in one shot!”

You ever been to his house…? I never have. Granted, any of you try going to my house, ya’ll are going to be booooored out of your mind. Let’s go bring him a cake!

He’ll just toss it won’t he… cupcakes? No one can refuse those. Specially when two cute classmates make’em!” Sachiko shuddered in revulsion. “Yeah, I got nothing. Up to you.”

“His house? I’m a bit surprised if he had one really. Oh, not that he is living in a box somewhere in town, just that he seemed um… minimalist?” She spoke rhetorically about him as if trying to find the right word to use that didn’t come off belittling Waka.

“Perhaps… something simple like cookies? He would be suspicious of anything we brought him, though cookies if they are thin enough have the minimal chance he might suspect we filled them with some sort of questionable filling. Then again I don’t think it matters too much he would be suspicious of it either way. As long as we have enough and we can eat some of his choosing to prove it’s not poison I suppose it will all work out.” She spoke nodding a bit perhaps overthinking it a little bit.

“Oh… and make sure we emphasize that we didn’t make them.” She added lifting her index finger up as to make a point of it before she lifted the soda can back up to take another sip.

“We can’t just fill one with nothing but cinnamon to make it fair?” Sachiko half whined from the bed. “Alright, done. Probs need to do this to prepare for the chunnin exams… though wonder if we can make him squirm with kindness beforehand? I got it! I’ll be nothing but sugar to him for the next month! Now…. do either of us know how to bake?”
 
Flame and Steel​

“What is it that makes you a Bajirisuku, Okimi?”

“Feurey. My bond with him is what makes me one.”

“Wrong. Does my lack of a dragon make my blood any weaker?”

“I... I suppose not. What is it then. What makes us Bajirisuku.”

“Our lust for power, and our loyalty to our people. Some might say the first of these traits is not a desirable one, but our blood cannot be satisfied unless we pursue it.”

“That’s cool and all, but I’m already on the path to being the strongest ninja in like... the history of the world so why are you telling me this?”

“Because you’re weak. You rely on Feurey and your flames. Take away those two things and you’re nothing.”

“Screw you!”

“Shut up. You’re going to fix this issue. Now look, we’ve reached our destination.”

Okimi snarled, turning her head to look at the building her mother had led her to. It was a weapon shop. Her uncle’s. Okimi rarely spoke to the man. He wasn’t commited to restoring the clan, so he naturally distanced himself from his sister. He preferred to start a new life and stay safe, even if it meant leaving what remained of his clan behind.

Okimi’s mother opened the door and stepped inside. The chime of a bell signaled their entrance.

“Otomo. Get your ass out here.” Okimi’s mother commanded.

A chuckle was heard from the back of the store as a burly man emerged from a back room. He had a lot of facial hair, all of it being black. His skin was caramel colored, and his eyes were a dark brown.

Otomo stroked his beard as he walked behind the front counter. He leaned on it as he gazed happily at the two.

“Yua! Good to see you! You even brought Okimi along? What a pleasant surprise!”

“Save it. We’re here to get Okimi a real weapon to use. She’s ready to leave her wooden blade behind.” Yua explained with her arms crossed.

Okimi watched silently, looking over her uncle. He looked like he was plently strong. She wonder what jutsu he knew. He obviously didn’t have a dragon seal

“Oh I can tell exactly what you want by the constipated look on your face! My little sister never fails to be mean to me. As it should be!”

Otomo pointed over at a far wall. Hung up on that wall were several types of weapons. Ones Okimi had never seen before.

“On that wall there are the weapons I’ve bought off of traveling merchants who’ve come to the village. They have all sorts of cool stuff. On the opposite wall are your bread and butter ninja weapons. Nothing Okimi there would bother with though. Go take a-“

“Shut up already!” Yua interrupted. She shoved Okimi towards the foreign weapons. “Pick something. Then find one of your teammates and kick their ass with it.”

Okimi nodded, fuming that she got shoved.

However, she was quick to forget about it with so many weapons in front of her. Her eyes glossed over the fancy swords. Some had curved blades. Others were straight and shiny. Someone had expensive looking gems in them. Others were long spears of all different sorts. There were even some club looking things with spikes on them.

Okimi turned her head to look over at Otomo. He had really gathered quite an assortment of weapons. It was impressive.

Turning back to the wall, Okimi decided to make a decision. She grabbed a spear, and held it out towards Otomo.

“You want that one? Good choice! That’s a yari... I think! This one is three pronged, so it’s good weapons for all your needs. You have a good eye for a kid! Oh hey! Since your family, I’ll give you a two for one deal. You buy that, and I’ll give you an identical one for free! Awesome deal right!”

Yua spoke up. “Why can’t you give it to us for free?”

“I’m running a business here, that’s why! You think I want to be broke like you two? Nope! Pay up sis! Or we can wrestle for it!” Otomo shot back with a sly grin.

Yua’s muscled flexed for a moment, her eyes narrowing. Then, she let out a sigh, and fished out a pouch. “Fine. Two spears for Okimi...”

Okimi smiled a devious smile. She didn’t know how to use her new weapons. But she was sure Ichiro sensei could teach her something. If not, she’d figure it out herself.

She couldn't help but imagine how fearsome she’d be cutting down her enemies in between blasts of flames. It was gonna be great.
 
Hotspring episode

Ichirou, Kurio, Okimi and Wakanaka​


“Follow me, brats.” The gruff man barked. Ichiro, the Feral. He had an odd mischievous smile on his face. “Man, I like teaching sometimes.” He said ominously as the group headed towards a mountainside to the north. A real drawback of living in a valley, if you wanted to go anywhere, you went through a mountain. However, the path he was taking was a bit wild, even for the mountains. Bamboo stood in the way, and foliage was tough.

“On one hand, Tsubame had some clan business to attend to, so she’s missing this fun. On the other hand, Miho told me to take care of you, brat, so it’s like a full squad!” Ichiro slashed at a few bamboo branches, clearing them as if he’d had a machete. “Granted, I think me and her have very different definitions of take care of. Meh.”

It had been 6 am when each of them had been abducted by Ichiro, appearing on their windowsill, telling them each ‘we’re doing some training today! Bring swimsuits.’

Stifling a yawn, Kurio trudged behind Ichiro. Of all the days for a surprise early morning training, it figured it’d be after he stayed up late reading Tales of the Crystal Braves. Between working on jutsu to prevent the last mission’s mishap from repeating itself and his father’s surprise trainings, the genin figured a night to relax wasn’t going to hurt anything.

Ichiro must have known.

“Senseiiiiiiii,” Okimi began as she dragged her feet along. “you know I don’t like swimming. It’s unnatural.”

Wakanaka was ecstatic to be working under sensei Ichirou again. Hell, he seemed to be the only one, besides Ichirou himself, who was QUITE happy to be here. He had practiced day and night to start seeing his efforts pay off, Ichirou having shown him the light as a sensei should!

He couldn't help but truly idolize the man in his way of doing things. He was unstoppable! Thus when he was called out to train, he was all but beaming since the moment.

"Come now Okimi it'll be fine! I've heard many stories of dragons that deal with water." Wakanaka tried to spread a bit of his enthusiasm, his face looking positively….Positive… for once.

“Kid, you’re creeping me out.” Ichiro said, directed at Waka, before motioning down a small path between the bamboo. Steam began to rise up, fogging the area in warm humidity.

“Now, far as this training goes, Imma say this first. This world has a lot of weird, wonderful spots in it that frankly don’t make a bit of damn sense. If you don’t die, they can make a great training spot. You won’t get stronger doing the same thing every day. Even your muscles hate repetitive stress, gotta spread out your workouts. That said… Welcome to my favorite hotspring, brats.”

The man smirked, before simply walking into a pool of water, and relaxing out as he did so. The water went from a still pool to a boiling bath in a minute, bubbling all around. A hissing sound could be heard all around his body, and the three genin would see scars around his body start to heal up in the water. With the comment of how this was his favorite hot spring, it also gave some unpleasant insinuations about how recent they were… and how regular.

“How’s this. Anyone who can relax for 15 minutes in here gets 5,000 Ryo. Offer’s void after first one does it. Don’t worry, little heat never bothered you, right Okimi?”

Ichiro was flagrantly goading her in particular.

“Don’t say another word! This training will be a breeze!”

Okimi threw off her outer layer of clothes, revealing the bathing suit beneath. She then took a brief running start, and leapt into the spring. A loud sizzle emanated from her spring as she slipped beneath the water. She was below the water for about five seconds before she emerged screaming at the top of her lungs.

“Why the hell is it so hot?!” Okimi screamed. She raised as much of her body as she could, but what was still submerged felt like hell. Literal hell.

Kurio sighed, “between the boiling water and sensei’s bet, I’m not sure what you expected…” He crouched near the edge of the pool, watching the roiling water. The way it mended the injuries on Ichiro, it would likely do his own injuries some good.

The water hadn’t been boiling until Ichiro climbed in. “I’m going to assume you aren’t using fire release, sensei.”

“Nope. I’m a water release ninja. The water’s not that hot. 50C.” He smirked. Something was definitely burning more than the temperature.

Kurio shot him a look, “right…”

Noticing the medical ninja deep in thought, Okimi had an idea between the pain. She sneakily waded over to him, biting her lip to hold back winces.

“Expect this!” She exclaimed painfully before grabbing his arm and pulling him in.

“Okimi, don’t you—“ Kurio flowed chakra into his feet, clinging to the ground. For a brief moment, the two were in a stalemate. Though Okimi’s strength eventually won out.

Tipping forward, the genin retaliated by wrapping his arms around her throat in an effort to yank Okimi under with him.

“Not agai-” Okimi was cut off by blazing hot water flowing into her mouth. While it did shock her at first, and she felt like she wanted to die, she decided to do one last thing before that happened.

Seeing Kurio’s arm flesh near her mouth, Okimi sunk her teeth into his arm. No doubt puncturing the skin.

Within a minute the other two were already in a struggle to kill one another with the boiling hot spring. But at the very least Waka has been listening and learning… Amidst a bout of wheezing laughter at the two.

As the two died like two lobsters dunked into a pot of boiling water Wakanaka removed his clothes to reveal his boyish trunks underneath.

However, in his heaving laughter that.. Somewhat sounded like he was trying his best to actually breathe… he slipped on the edge, smacked his head on the side and went under.

He was under for a moment, but resurfaced soon after, nasty welt forming but not forming atop of his head. “Gods damn that’s hot!” he huffed, but… well… actually it's like a really hot bath… REALLY hot bath… like reddening the skin hot.

Was Okimi just a wuss?

Waka would find his scars starting to disappear.

Ichiro sighed, relaxing back in the bath. “Yup, but not burning for you. You just gotta figure out why it hurts some of you more than others. It should hurt me the most, but I have the secret. I’d ask which one of the two it hurts more… but…” The man stood up… and his hands instantly shot into the water below, picking up the two like weeds from the ground by the back of their heads with their hair.

“WILL YOU TWO KNOCK IT OFF!”

He bashed their heads together, and let them fall back into the pool. They’d heal. Probably.

Wakanaka jerked backwards “A secret? I thought you were just that strong enough to deal with the heat.” Waka admitted, eyeing the other two… “...Well.. what do they have that I don’t..?” he asked himself as he tried to forget the fact his legs were currently smoldering.

“...An open head wound?” he guessed, being wrong.

The water was hot. Far hotter than Kurio had expected even with Okimi’s reaction. Though his attempt to surface had been cut off by his teammate’s teeth sinking into his arm. The heat and pain made it hard to try and direct his chakra, otherwise, he likely would’ve retaliated for the bite.

A rough hand grabbed a fistful of his and Okimi’s hair, yanking them both to the surface. “Ho---t!” Was all Kurio could get out of his mouth before he and his teammate were smacked together and unceremoniously dumped back into the water. He was left seeing stars, sinking to the bottom of the pool.

Water flowed out of Okimi’s mouth after her head was slammed into Kurio’s. Luckily she headbutted Feurey enough to be used to this type of trauma. Unfortunately, the spring was still burning, and she wasn’t getting used to it.

“I’ll be damned if I get my ass kicked by some hot water!”

Okimi slammed her fist into her open palm and closed her eyes. Despite the pain, she focused on flaring her chakra as much as possible in hopes that she could overpower the spring. Hell, she’d be satisfied with just making it hurt less.

As Okimi gathered chakra, the burning started to lessen. Another uncomfortable feeling of being full came as the chakra was replenished as she used it, backlogging it more.

Ichiro laid back relaxing.

“Try stepping on the gas there. Also, Kurio, shouldn’t you know about chakra burns?”

Wakanaka took his time to watch the others, especially Okimi who seemed to be onto something and MOST DEFINITELY not because she was a girl in a swimsuit. This was PURELY for learning purposes only and in NO way was he experiencing embarrassment of a young man in a hotspring with a young lady.

“Stepping on the gas… Focusing your chakra…? Chakra burns…?” Wakanaka began to think on things that were on the task at hand. His attention was purely on solving the riddle of this hotspring and the rising redness on the bridge of his nose was from the heat.

As Waka was thinking, his body would burn with the might of a 1,000 suns. The oddity was the heat wasn’t from the water. It felt like fire was exploding from within him… and burning across every point of contact in his skin. It was like he’d chugged an entire propane tank, and then swallowed a match. A hissing and actual steam from his skin. Ichiro’s bet for 15 minutes was serious. Okimi would be having a merely hot spring, while Kurio would be in much the same boat.

Yelping like a dog the boy clambered out of the water like a mad man possessed, desperately trying to cool this GOD DAMN HEAT that was inside him. Rolling around on the ground trying to put out the immense pain in his body his brain could only truly panic, before finally giving in and falling flat upon the punishment from god that pumped through his veins.

It was like his very being was set on fire, his damn soul! “One second it was fine and then it wasn’t! What the hell…” he whimpered in pain, pride abandoned by the wayside he could only really note that… Wait a second where did the burn marks go…? He had some nasty scars on his arm from the Yukionna fight and… Now they were…

“..Just like Sensei’s scars, they’re gone…?!”

Meanwhile, Okimi was still focusing as hard as she could to let her chakra flow out of her. Somehow… it was working! Keeping her concentration, Okimi smiled. She had found out the secret first surely! The hotspring was only warm now!

Okimi turned to face sensei, pointing one of her fingers at him. “Hey! I figured it out first gimme my money you crusty fool!” Okimi smiled, but she suddenly realized what she wasn’t doing anymore. The burning waters had returned, causing the young kunoichi to let out a squeal.

Ichiro opened one eye. “It’s been 5.” He closed it with a chuckle. The first part of the puzzle alone wasn’t good enough. “And Miho’s brat, there’s a reason I don’t recommend this place for… outpatients. But it does make one look fresh and nice… I come about three times a year, it’s a real bitch though.”

He chuckled to himself. “Hehehe… did throw that damn cat in here once for fun… That was the best day of my life.” He then looked to see how Kurio was handling it.

The purple-haired genin had managed to climb out of the spring, and was flopped on the edge. Though Kurio currently looked more like a boiled crab than genin. Whether it was from the natural heat or the strange effect of the spring, he wasn’t sure. “Chakra burns…?” He mused, having recovered enough to push himself to his knees. “Well, yes, they’re fairly common injuries in the clan . . .”

He frowned, looking into the simmering water. Chakra burns were caused by ruptures to the chakra network and points. Coupled with the damage caused by an Akuma’s corrosive chakra, it was part of the reason he’d taken to studying medical ninjutsu. “If the water’s causing chakra burns though . . .” He hesitated, reaching forward to dip his hand back in the spring. Kurio tried to suppress the flow of his chakra as much as he could. Though it felt like he was trying to hold back a rushing river.

Kurio had chosen… poorly. As he tried to suppress his chakra, deep violet burst out of his hands, leaving intense burns enough that even Ichiro flinched with an ‘ooof’. They lined up with the chakra points on his hand. The burns might heal soon, but the more he suppressed it, the worse they’d get.

He ripped his hand out from the water with a pained cry, curling around the burned hand for a few moments. A sharp breath hissed through clenched teeth. The burning from before felt more like a mild sunburn compared to this.

Around Ichiro, the water still bubbled and frothed. “Okay, next tip. This water ain’t boiling. It wasn’t moving before I got in. It is now. Next hint… Don’t do that again. Miho’s brat, what’s your guess?”

“Uhh…” Wakanaka eyed all the evidence currently at play here. Doing nothing hurt, a lot. Stemming the flow hurt, A LOT A LOT. But Okimi was… kinda fine? “Alright, I’ll take a guess…. Water is…. Using chakra to… heal the body? With the way Okimi is doing it its forcibly taking it from Chakra points, holding it back made it bubble up, like condensed steam? Why it hurt Kurio, i guess.

So…” he paused and looked at the water, deciding to try and test out his thoughts. He slipped into the water and started to try and let his chakra flow… As if he were letting it simply seep out into the water… Kinda like he was forming a jutsu. If this didn’t work… he… worried he was gonna boil from the inside out.

Waka would feel the water lessening as he did so, still hot, but not scaringly so.

Ichiro chuckled. “Right answer, wrong reasoning. It over heals the body by itself. Including chakra usage. I’m displacing mine constantly so it doesn’t bug me. If you don’t use chakra, it heals you, restoring it, but without getting rid of the excess. IT builds up in the body, and burns from being too thick at your points. Why suppressing it’s a terrible idea. In other words… if you ever wanted to play with large chakra, or had an idea for a jutsu…. Here is your chance.”

"I…." Wakanaka paused, looking down at himself, then up at Ichirou sensei. "That's amazing sensei! I never would have imagined a place like this would exist… I do have an idea of one to help with getting more strength into my strikes, so…" he thought on it… But figured he should ask.

"Sensei! Is it possible to get more strength with chakra--- oww oww lost focus." He forced himself to focus on his control… Keeping it moving was… harder than he thought, he's used to limiting how much he uses… Not so much just letting it flow out… And definitely not used to having it recover so quickly.

A loud voice interrupted Waka’s successful moment.

“WHAT?!?! That’s stupid as hell! My way is way better!”

“To be fair, he’s still flinching. Maybe yours is. Go on and prove it. This exercise is about chakra control. Okimi, you get to practice finely using a massive amount, so control. Kurio, this is going to force you to quit being a baby about the amount you use. You’ve got control, now USE IT. Miho’s brat, I don’t actually know why I’m babysitting you, but guessing one of Miho’s bad days. But yes, chakra can be used to enhance muscle control. Some taijutsu specialists use it to enhance their muscles at the moment of impact. Takes a helluva lot of control…. Soo good start I guess. Also, the spring’s a good indicator of what your nature is. You’ll be using enough chakra in this exercise it should be visible. What color is it?”

Ichiro rolled his neck, a series of pops sounding really good popping out.

“And for me, the healing from being disemboweled last week is really nice.”

"Right sensei, I think my- Dis….Disemboweled!?!?!?!?" Wakanaka spat, the light green swirls of wind natured chakra started to flow out of his points, even amidst his shock. "You really are invincible…" he commented, slowly chewing through the humble pie he had to swallow for his idea…

A lot of control… Guess there's no better time than now to focus on that… letting it flow… stopping on point to redirect to another, focus it into the muscle… No… no that hurts too much right now, keep toying with where it goes.

He held up his palm, focusing the larger portion there and…. his hand became a somewhat pleasant fan…? Having constantly replenished chakra was weird… At least it was cool…

Kurio snorted, “Invincible? You should hear Dr Ryuji complain about him back at the hospital,” he slinked back into the water, hissing in pain from his injured hand. The pain lessened as he focused on forcing his chakra to pour out instead of restraining its flow like usual.

“Invincible? You’re a looney. I want a good fight. If I was invincible, it’d make a damn poor fight. Hehehe. Hoping you brats end up being a good fight one day. Also… if I know Okimi, I’d dive UNDER the water if I were you two...”

Kurio shrugged, his chakra had taken on a yellowish tinge compared to the purple from before. “Maybe. Or it’ll be like trying to fight Aunt—“ he glanced at Okimi before taking Ichiro’s advice and disappearing under the water. He flinched in pain, his face felt like it was on fire.

All this talk of being invincible had given Okimi an idea. Plus, she really didn’t understand what everyone was figuring out about the water. All she understood was that the more chakra she burned the less it hurt. How would going under water help? That just meant she couldn’t breathe. Okimi had a more fun idea.

“So since this water makes my chakra not run out, that means I can use as many jutsu as I want right?” Okimi asked.

“If that’s the case… Sensei! This is the perfect spot for me to kick your ass! All I gotta do is drag your burnt up corpse in here after I’m done with you!” Okimi explained all this with immense excitement, having forgotten about the goal of their trip here.

Ichiro blinked. “Alright… guess you two can come up. She DIDN’T go where I thought she was going with that.” STanding up with a sigh, as if he was about to do some tedious chore, Ichiro cracked his neck. The water around him exploded before he bodyflickered behind Okimi. He grabbed her by the back of the neck, and slowly picked her up, before yeeting her out the spring… as far as he could into the distance and over the bamboo trees. It turned out to be quite far.

“Next training… landing strategy.”

He sunk back into the springs.

“This is a chance to try and keep up a steady high level of chakra up at once. And Kurio… if you’re going to sneak attack me, don’t announce it like Okimi… I’m still stronger than you all, it’s not a fight. More of a… What do you call it when you watch a baby bounce? Cause it’s that. Pass that onto Tsubame.”

"...Uhh…. Is… Is she gonna be…" Wakanaka watched as Okimi soared into the distance. "She… Gonna live?"

Seeing there wasn’t about to be a massive storm of fire, Kurio surfaced. He watched Okimi disappear before shrugging. “She can fly, she’ll be fine.”

“You’re right…” Ichiro stood up again, and went to a corner of the spring where rock was flowing water. With a great deal of effort, he dislodged, picking it up with one hand, and preparing it like a baseball… and then he sighed, and placed it down in the water, a splash washing over the area.

“Tch. While it is how I met Aito, I was specifically told not to kill them… tch. Water’s getting hot anyways."

With a snarl, Ichiro just stood up, and left.

"Oh.. Aito… How did you meet Ms.Aito- Oh." Waka paused, watching the man leave. Figuring he best just focus, he kept kneading his chakra, he became trying to get the chakra to work with the muscle… Slowly… knead them as they flow through. Oww… okay…

"Hey Kurio… So we can keep our minds working. You… you are doing work to be a med ninja yea? How's that going?" Yea know, casual conversation as the body burns slowly.

“Slow, but well enough I suppose.” It felt weird to let his chakra pour freely instead of restraining it to a small, precise flow. The water around him frothed and boiled around him, Kurio’s chakra growing visible for Waka. Golden with faint swirls of deep violet. He and Okimi both had massive reserves of chakra. His, the result of having an akuma sealed within. Okimi was just naturally a monster. “It’ll still be some time before I’m capable of using the techniques that would make me a full fledged member of the medical corps.”

"Right." Waka nods, his own bubbles forming from the chakra point he had under the water, trying to see if the chakra's wind can cause something. Not quite, given it was mostly unmolded and trying to haphazardly enhance the muscle.

"Right… so… you both have some heavy chakra, no idea where you two get that much stamina from. Wish I had half that energy."

“Mmm but you’re stronger than me physically speaking,” Kurio had closed his eyes, focusing on keeping his chakra flow steady. “I couldn’t lift that sword Aito gave you.” The veil of chakra around him wavered as he struggled against the instinct to reign it in.

"Taijutsu is what I do best. Sensei Ichiro helped me really make a choice on what I really wanna do. So, kinda owe him, especially for the access to the mine." Waka started to eye the spoken of sword next to his stuff. He waddled through the water and reached for the sword, hoisting it up again.

"I learned how to use the shooting star technique. The flying sparrow technique however… I learned that by hard work.

I figured the most terrifying thing, is a sword with considerable reach, that has more that can't be easily seen." He swings the sword, starting to feel the effects of the chakra in his system.

"But my problem is speed. I need more… But I think I have hit my limit, as I am… Maybe I just need to grow up hahaha!"

He paused for a moment, thinking. "Ummm… Have yea noticed we're kinda outnumbered by the girls? It's kinda weird…" really he was grasping for straws on what to talk about really… He… didn't know too much about Kurio.

Kurio’s eyes remained closed as Waka talked. Ichiro had brought them there to train, and Kurio intended to do as much. But perhaps that was just his ambitions goading the genin onward. He gave a low hum, “I can’t say I’ve given it much attention. Just an odd cast of the dice for our class I suppose.”

“...Right…” ...Yea… guess he wasn’t going to get much out of him… The young man turned away, somewhat disheartened from the… Dissmissatory nature the conversation took. Least he could’ve done is actually talk rather than give a verbal equivalent of a shoulder shrug. Guess he's not one for chatter...

Bugger it… Best try out the muscle thing.

He located the boulder Ichirou had picked up and eyed it, grasping both hands upon it after some grappling around the stone and tried without any chakra. He struggled a bit, but got it off the ground for a moment. He panted, his body in the strange state of being replenished but also fatigued.

Putting his hands under the water he started to take his chances with the chakra, no way it was going to give that big of a boost, he had to channel it into his back, spine, stomach and arms. And then force his muscles into a greater output. Simple in theory Kinda. Hard to get focused? Certainly. But that's why the pool is here.

He started grappling with the stone again, finding a better area to grasp his hands he started by planting his feet, slowly focusing his chakra where he wanted it. From how his body was forced to replenish it so quickly, he could almost.. Feel the flow of it really. Somewhat like a heartbeat, actually… Was it…?

He paused to tap his finger to his neck… Ah yea that was his heart beat. Weird feeling having it in your ears. Sometimes he got that before bed… or… he pauses to tap his hand with his palm, a bit of water came out of his ears. Problem solved.

Now… Following the idea of the heartbeat pulsing chakra, he started to collect what his body was producing, it grew hot.. But he used that also to know where it was. His body was reddening as he gripped the stone, eyed locking as he pressed his face against it. And when he was ready, he urged his body to lift!!!

And with ample shock from his center of gravity, he did in fact make the stone rise much easier than before. He was about to shout his victory, stone rose up with relative ease!!! He hoisted the stone up and up until he rested it upon his shoulder. He beamed a smile, he had done it!! Surely he was some kind of genius!

Nothing could stop him now!

His body at this point seemed to lose steam, quite literally, as he the tension became too much, causing the young man to quickly lose grip of the boulder, causing it to smash on the ground next to him. This, also, caused him to lose his footing, and sent him into the drink.

There he screamed under water as the springsent yet another round of healing punishment through his form. And now quite a bit in his mouth.

Genuinely not a very good time for Wakanaka.
 
xwVPfG9.png
Shioreta Koino​

Shioreta could feel the grip of her puppet weaken as the pain filled her from stabbing herself from the kunai. The girl teared up a bit focusing on the pain knowing at least the bare basics of genjutsu it was the main way in which a genjutsu could be broken at least without using a release technique for it. Her eyes caught sight as the Genin ran off as the effects of the genjutsu wore off pulling the kunai away shaking her head wiping away the bit of tears in her eyes allowing her mind to drift away from the pain. She let out a sigh about to speak up though hearing the voice of their client speak up as if on cue.

"Ah, it was only a jest to test their intentions. I'd of only drawn a healthy sum of blood if it was required for proof." She spoke with a bright smile on her lips. She wasn't really telling the truth just playing up the act. Perhaps taking a bit of inspiration from their client and his own games of pretend he was playing with them. She finished taking out a piece of cloth tying it around her leg where she had cut herself in order to stop any bleeding before she headed around the cart to the other side. It did seem his little charade was put to an end though of his own intentions as she wandered over watching him toss the cards towards her partner Tsubame.

She looked to the driver hearing him speak rather worried as he seemed to continue blurting out more information that might be meant to be 'confidential' or at the very least not spoken out to the whole world. It made her wonder if her effort before was really that needed with how loose his lips were. It felt as if everyone probably already knew who he was. Perhaps there was a chance he didn't send those poor Genin here in the first place. They did have a reason why finding him would be very valuable. Then again how the man seemed to be it couldn't help but make her just so slightly think he set it up anyways.

"Thunder Wolf Hotel... Room 225A.... though that room might vary... got it! I suppose I should expect there would be other Genin around to guard it though too?" She spoke as if she was taking the details down as if she was seriously contemplating breaking in to peek in on the cards despite not even going so far as to look upon the cards that Tsubame was holding in her hands. Sure, such information was valuable, but it was also not as if they were taking part in the test already. There might be some scouting going on but not likely to the extent where such valuable information could be gained for a Genin to use to their advantage. As he released a bit of killing intent Shio froze looking on though still smiling a bit despite the threat.

"Understood. My lips are sealed. Scouts honor! It was great fun! Though my stomach is going to be a little empty by the time we make it there. I can keep my lips sealed, though it does have a bad habit of talking a bit things that shouldn't be said before your parting." She spoke clearly giving a playful little threat tapping her stomach. Clearly a little play at blackmail though giving a very trivial condition on purpose as to not come off malicious. Naturally she wasn't going to allow a bit of killing intent on her stop her for risking asking such a thing even if there was a small chance he might mistake it for a much more serious threat. At the very least she didn't pull Tsubame into it.

"Ah! Almost forgot!" She suddenly snapped to glancing about on the ground looking for her inhaler. She spotted it nearby roughly about where it had been dropped. Luckily seeming to be in one piece. She wandered over to it picking it up brushing it off as she slipped it away in her pouch where it would be safe.

Mentioned: Ganryu Ganryu S n o w S n o w
 
Spears and Fears
Okimi and Kurio​

In the skies above the Shimizu complex, a green dragon was circling overhead. From atop the dragon, a feminine voice could be heard yelling as loud as it possibly could.

“Kurio Shimizu!” Okimi yelled, standing atop Feurey as she looked down at the buildings below. “Come out and face me! Your clan’s honor depends on it!” Okimi would continue repeating these same lines until she found her squadmate. She was a little concerned about being shot out of the sky by one of the more respected members of his clan, but she took the risk nonetheless.

In a massive gust of wind, a blur appeared in the corner of Okimi’s eye. A woman with pale red hair and a snarl landed on Feurey’s back. She swung a shakujo at the genin’s ribs.

Upon feeling the weight of a full-grown adult on his back, Feurey curved straight upwards, trying to shake the intruder off of his back. Unfortunately, he didn’t move quite fast enough to save Okimi from getting railed in the ribcage, sending her tumbling out of the sky and down to the ground where she landed with a massive crash, and a pained groan. She hadn’t even seen the hit coming.

Her attacker fell after her, landing over Okimi with her staff raised. The shakujo had turned dark, flecks of dust falling from it. Before she brought it down on Okimi’s head, the woman blinked. “You’re . . . the Bajiriusku girl, aren’t you? Kurio’s teammate?”

For several moments, Okimi didn’t respond. She just looked up at the woman who had kicked her ass in an instant in shock. After several more moments, Okimi responded. “I am… who’re you?” Okimi sputtered out, her eyes locked onto the staff hanging menacingly above her forehead.

The woman lowered her shakujo, sheepishly rubbing the back of her neck. “I’m Hitomi Shimizu . . . Kurio’s mom.” A blush crept into her dark tan face as Hitomi offered Okimi her hand. “I’m sorry, when I heard someone shouting a challenge like that . . . “

Okimi took Hitomi’s hand, accepting the help to her feet. She gingerly rubbed her ribs, knowing that there was probably a massive welt there waiting to cause her immense pain. “It’s no problem. Kurio seems the type to have an overprotective mother. Now, where is he? I’m not gonna leave until I kick his ass!”

Hitomi laughed, giving the girl a hearty pat on the back. “Ah, ask nicely and he might patch up those ribs beforehand.” Her staff returned to normal as she spun it, starting for the house. “I’ll go get him.” She’d barely disappeared around the corner when a sharp bark could be heard, “Oi! Kurio! Get outside!”

While Kurio’s mom was fetching her son, Okimi took the moment to let out a long breath. Feurey landed beside her, looking at her with as smug of a look as a dragon could have. “Yea yea, bad plan. I know. You make the plan next time you turd.”

Feurey released a snort of smoke.

“Save it for Kurio. We came to beat him up, not each other! Now come on, get ready.”

“I’d say you already got yourself beat up,” Kurio called as he made his way towards the pair, his eyebrow raised in amusement. “So, you uh . . . met mom, huh?”

“Yea your mom beat my ass! So now I’m gonna beat yours with something new I just got!”

Okimi reached behind her back and grabbed a straight wooden stick. It was about four feet long. She pointed it at Kurio and in a flash, it transformed into the three-pronged spear her mother had bought her. “You ready to die… I mean get beat up?!”

He tilted his head at the weapon, “I always pictured you as more of a kanabo user.” Kurio sighed at the challenge, “you . . . you do realize I’m about the worst person to ask for a taijutsu spar, right?” Knowing there wasn’t much point in arguing, he quickly worked through two sets of handsigns. What was likely a familiar blue glow enveloped his hands, “But I guess I do need to test out this new technique I’ve been working on.”

“Perfect! Hyaaa!” Okimi let out a war cry as she pulled her yari back, towards her. Then, Okimi took several quick steps forwards towards Kurio, closing the distance before thrusting it at his center. It was part of the simple strategy her mother had taught her after she got the weapons. Seeing as Okimi knew nothing about fighting with a spear, the brief instruction was all she had.

Meanwhile, Feurey laid down, resting his head on his forelegs to watch.

Kurio watched the incoming thrust, remaining motionless even as she went to stab at his chest. The spear hit home, striking Kurio’s shoulder. Though it’d feel like Okimi had struck at a stone wall, or perhaps a very large tree seeing as blade managed to bite into its target. A small trickle of blood oozed down her weapon.

“Oh? I see. I wouldn’t recommend just standing there though!” Okimi said as she yanked the yari out of Kurio’s shoulder. As soon as it was out of him, Okimi swiped it at his torso. It was a softer target, surely.

Kurio winced, sparing his shoulder a quick glance. While he felt like he’d come a long way in mimicking their sensei’s armor technique, he still had some issues to work out. Instead of backing down, he lunged forward, aiming a strike at her shoulder. He’d likely still get hit by the spear, but at least it wasn’t the blade!

Okimi really didn’t expect Kurio to take her advice to heart so fast. He lunged at her, but Okimi retreated at the same time, attempting to keep her distance from him. As she did so, she swung her spear at his feet. Unfortunately, she swung it a little harder than she should’ve. Whether Kurio evaded the swiped or tanked it with his jutsu, the yari would find itself sticking into the ground rather than flowing into the next position.

Having already committed to his attack, Kurio couldn’t withdraw and focus instead on defense. “Geh!” With his legs swept out from under him, the Shimizu hit the ground with a dull thud. Seeing the weapon was stuck, he lunged for it. With all of his training centered on chakra control, it could easily slice through wood now.

Okimi watched in anguish as Kurio cut the handle of her spear in two with one effortless slice. An audible gasp left her mouth as she watched it happen. “You broke my spear! I just got it, you idiot!” With the broken handle still in her grasp, she tried to slam the wood down on Kurio’s head out of anger.

While successfully breaking the spear came as a surprise to Kurio, Okimi’s reaction was less so. He started to jump out of the way, but she struck his shoulder with a sharp smack. Kurio’s breath hissed over clenched teeth. He snatched and threw a senbon at her shoulder.

Okimi didn’t notice the senbon until it sunk into her shoulder. “Throwing those needles again?” Okimi tossed the stick to the side before grabbing the senbon with her free hand and pulling it out. She then proceeded to back away a couple more steps, grabbing another stick from behind her back. “Come on now get up! I’m not done with you yet!”

Kurio pushed himself back to his feet, flowing numbing chakra from his hand into the shoulder she’d just struck. Shoulder numbed, he shifted back into a fighting stance and eyed the second stick. “Another spear?”

“That’s right! If you break this one I’ll have Feurey eat you for dinner tonight!”

In her anger, Okimi charged forward, the yari outstretched before her. Once Kurio was within range, she thrusted it at him once more. This time a tad more accurately aimed at his chest.

“Then you’d better keep it out of my reach.” Kurio jumped aside from her strike, though one of the prongs sliced his arm as it went by. Wincing, he went through a short series of handsigns and lunged at her.

Okimi did the same as she did before. Seeing Kurio come at her, she backed away and swung at his feet again, this time being careful not to get stuck in the ground again.

The spear struck his ankle with a sickening crack, sending him tumbling to the ground. Kurio vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving the broken spearhead in his wake.

“Huh?” Okimi was confused for a moment. Only for a moment. But that’s all it took for Okimi to lose track of Kurio, as she’d only have seconds before he made his next move. Unfortunately, Okimi did nothing beyond turning around to see if he was behind her.

Okimi would find herself face to face with her teammate, a senbon clutched between his fingers that dripped with a dark amber liquid. It had originally been aimed for her lower back, though now that she’d turned, it would likely hit her side or abdomen.

Whatever the liquid had been, Okimi only got a glance of it before the senbon was sunk into her gut. Okimi was quick to swipe her spear at Kurio, in an attempt to get him away from her.

“What the hell was on that senbon?”

Okimi lunged and swung again, this time with a wide horizontal slash.

“A poison I borrowed from Dr. Ryuji,” Kurio ducked away from the first swipe, leaving the senbon in place. “It’s designed to cripple ninja. Rather nasty from the sound of it.” As he spoke, the same passive smile he always wore never faltered. The wound from the senbon would burn and sting.

Kurio braced for the second swing, a sharp smack resounding as her spear made contact with his ribs. It’d feel like she’d smacked a tree. The blow still sent him sprawling, tumbling away with a pained cough. “Still don’t have ribs figured out I guess…”

A painful rattle shot through Okimi’s arms when she hit Kurio. Whatever that jutsu was that he used, it made using a spear a pain in the ass.

Clenching her teeth, Okimi kept up the offensive regardless. If she was poisoned she probably didn’t have much time left. Shuffling towards the recovering boy, Okimi brought her yari into the air, before swinging down towards him.

The spear bounced off Kurio’s back, slamming him into the ground with a groan. “You know you’ll just make the poison spread faster that way, right? You’ll start going numb and won’t be able to mold chakra.” He rolled away and got back to his feet. Rustling through a pouch, he threw another amber senbon at her.

“Shut up and die!” Okimi huffed back. The senbon sunk into her chest, and Okimi prepped to swing her spear again. For some reason, however, the swing had far less power behind it.

“Die?” Kurio caught her spear, grimacing at the bolt of pain the impact sent through his arm. “You know, the chunin exams are next month.” His voice lowered as he spoke, the smile falling from his face. “We’ll have to fight against other teams, other ninja. Think they’d just roll over and die because you demanded it? After you likely charged in blindly without thinking or looking? Again?” He wasn’t sure where the sudden anger bubbled up from, but it was too late to stop it now.

Okimi didn’t really know how to respond to Kurio’s sudden change in demeanor. It was shocking, coming from him. It kinda hurt a little bit, and Okimi knew it was true. “Screw you…” was all she could think to say.

His eyes narrowed. “I have goals I want to reach, goals that require me passing this exam.” Venom laced Kurio’s tone as he leaned closer. It was the closest he’d come to admitting his ambition to anyone. “I am not about to fail because you bumrushed another team and got your ass kicked.”

He shoved her away, taking a slow breath as he combed his fingers through his hair. “I’m a medic, Okimi. My job is to survive and keep you and Tsubame alive. I can’t do that if you rush ahead.” Kurio sighed, “Look, just . . . promise me you’re not gonna run in without thinking during the exams.”

Despite the crippling poison, Okimi chucked her spear over towards Feurey, who was still calmly watching the ordeal, no doubt entertained.

“F-fine. I’ll do lots of thinkin’ and use lots of teamwork during the exams.” Okimi grumbled. “Next time we fight though… nevermind. Just fix my spear for me. And tell your mom her hair is nice…”

Okimi started shuffling towards Feurey, before falling face down. The poison finished the job.

Kurio sighed in relief and nodded, watching his teammate collapse before he could say anything else. The genin walked over to her and pulled Okimi up across his shoulders. “Feurey, carry her spears.” He wobbled slightly under the weight, thankful it was a short walk. “She can rest here until she feels better.” Kurio started back towards the house, “but if placebo’s that effective on her, I’d hate to see what genjutsu would do.”
 
Exams Start
  • Index
    • THE CHUNNIN EXAMS! PT 1!​

    The Land of Lightning, Arashigakure, was aptly named. In the distance, flashes of light danced in the sky, and constant booms of thunder shook the earth. As the group would enter the valley the exams were to take place in, the pressure continued to drop, on the verge of rain, but never a drop fell. Hair stood on end, and goosebumps were a plenty.

    The road lead down a chasm, with a large opening in the center. In the middle, what seemed to be a monk sat, waiting, motioning a hand to 'shut up' for everyone, his eyes constantly scanning. He wore the headband for Arashigakure, and a staff was held in one hand, and a clipboard in the other.

    "Is this all for the chunnin exams? I am Rokuro Orochi, and I am not your proctor. But I will be taking you to her shortly. Gather round, gather round. This is the part I tell you to steel yourself. The exams are tough. You will face failures. You will face obstacles. You are probably not ready... but what we do when we are unprepared is what makes us ninja. And a good ninja will persevere. A bad one will die. Those of you who do not feel adequately steeled may leave. Those that are, step around. Now, if you are leaving back to your own lands, remember, lightning is concentrated closest to our village. Wander away from it to see the sun to get your bearings."

    All around the group, they would see ninja from Hanegakure, Inoichigakure, and a few from Arashigakure itself. The Inoichi nin looked smugly at the Tsumi nin, flashing threats every so often.

    As a circle gathered around Rokuro, he toughed his staff to the ground, a scroll began to spiral out of the center, wrapping around each and every one of them as ink began to glow from it... and a moment later, they would feel like they were in an elevator moving quickly. The scenery around them blurred, before the elevator stopped suddenly, the ground around them different. Rokuro was no longer in their midst.

    Now, now they were atop a large mountain, mist hovering around the area, and only allowing the tips of other mountains in view.

    "There are our future chunnin! Sweet, looks like we got lots of fresh meat! I'm you're proctor! Aito Ukita. Hope ya'll are ready!"

    Walking up from a long winding road, which extended to the base of the mountain, a kunoichi could be seen, almost hovering with each step, 5 blades floating behind her like a set of wings. Behind her, Arashigakure's lightning blitzed heavily.

    "The exams is simple. First 32 ninja to make it back to Arashigakure with the scroll's we're about to pass out, are able to participate in the fighting section. The rest... lose. Now, I don't expect 32 to make it in the time limit. Oh, yeah, there's a time limit. We're starting the next section in 3 days. You must arrive there as a team. Now, before people start accusing us of being unfair, this right here is the ANBU training grounds, none of our genin are ever out here, or know where 'here' is. Now, as for why this the ANBU training grounds..."

    Aito kept walking forward, motioning to a very sudden chasm, a sheer drop off. However, large rock outcroppings could be seen within distance of the cliff, spirals of stone that were level with the side of the mountain that continued on into the distance. A pathway of stone.

    "Those rock pillars are famed for repelling chakra... Chiyome, a demonstration if you wouldn't mind."

    An Arashigakure genin pointed to herself as if to say 'who me?', while looking confused.

    "Yup, let her rip, hit that stone column with anything!"

    She shrugged, before pulling out a shakujō. Aiming at the pillar, she shot a beast of lightning at it... only for the lightning to be dispelled.

    "This includes tree climbing jutsu, so you can see why ANBU use it to train. Though, Hane nin, don't think you have it easy, this iiiis a lightning area. I wouldn't climb any higher than these rock pillars to be safe. Course, you think you're tougher than mother nature, feel free to test it out. "

    Scrolls started to float out the air, landing next to each of the teams.

    "Now, these scrolls are what you can use to get into the next part of the exam. You cannot proceed without them. So, one way to ensure other teams don't take your spot is..." She smiled mischievously. "Also, each additional scroll you get, you can use as a bye in the upcoming tournament. You guys got any questions, go ahead an ask, but, well, first 32, and... time's ticking."

    A few teams instantly took off across the rocky pillars.
     
    Last edited:
  • Index
    • Wakanaka

    His head was pounding, his heart was beating so hard it could god damn bruise his chest. He was, to say the very least, intensely worried about the whole exam.

    Just in general.

    Every part of it.

    Espeacially the fact that no matter what he did he was still being judged on how he worked in his team. A team he was convinced was out to kill him somehow. But this was also his gateway! Because chuunin can go solo on missions! So he'd never have to deal with those two again if he could help it!!

    But, however, it meant passing a test in this land of perpetual lightning storms! With a big slab of metal on his back! That he couldn't quite get rid of because It was a main part of his kit.

    With each bolt of lightning rumbling he flinched, just waiting for him to meet the third elemental scarring of his life. He met fire and ice together, lightning was probably going to come solo.

    And this time he had little to no protection from an opposite element(temperature wise at least).

    Aside from a pair of hastily bought insulated gloves he bought when he heard where they were god damn going for these exams. Putting two and two together wasn't hard, just sorta hit him like a truck two days before the day they were leaving. He admitably paniced, desperate to find a mundane answer to his issue of "big metal conductive slab of iron in a fucking lightning field" which came as a sudden thought as he watched a man working with power lines...

    He had to use tools to fix the stuff up there!

    So he had to have an answer!

    Thus he now had kinda clunky gloves, warm, but at least they gave him some sorta protection. He promised (himself) he would return the gloves after the exam of course. He was no theif, just a kid in need! It gave him abit of solace... But...

    Now he was fucking here.

    And seeing the other village ninjas made him feel.... Actually not to bad in truth, he wasn't no master at reading the room, but... The nervousness was palpable. Perhaps that was just him, perhaps he was wrong, but really he was more or less certain he wasn't alone in this struggle. He felt a odd sense commraderie in their desperate attempts to gain greater prestiege... It made him feel abit less like he was going to die and more like before one of those academy tests. He wouldn't be sent in with no answers, he just had to find them, inside or without, and apply it.

    Nice, lovely, though the chance given by the fellow to leave was still tempting.

    "Came this far, can't leave now..."

    "Awww little baby gonna go running home?" A blustering nin, noted being from Inoichi, laughed.

    "Oh? I'm sorry did anybody hear a pig squealing? Never thought one could be this high up." Waka countered, not bothering to turn to the nin. "They better run back down the mountain, lest they find themselves good eatting for true ninja."

    Okay, maybe not comraderie. Though his mind remembering the old joke of calling Inoichi nin inoshishi(boar) was suprisingly well brought up.

    Though in his bickering, they were all transported up the mountain...

    And there... Waka's breath was taken away... So... primal... So expansive... So filled to the brim with danger! This place was amazing to behold. His fear was replaced with wonder, the arcs of lightning in the sky, the pulsating power of nature herself runs rampant here! As if Raijin blessed this land with his own form of bounty!

    The explanation did get into his head as he stared out into the fulgerous abyss of sky... What did that man say down below? Lightning was concentrated closest to the village? Oh, but another suprise came as he finally put his memory of that voice paired with who was talking.

    "Auntie Aito you're the proctor?" He couldn't help but blurt that out, he did get his favorite tool from her after all. In truth, the magesty of this place really did take his mind of the peril it held.
     
    Okimi hated feeling powerless. When the old transported her and the rest of the genin to the top of that mountain, Okimi felt powerless. She had to be in control. The only positive was how amazing everything looked from the mountain top. It like a scene out of one of Kurio's silly picture book things, but it also brought Okimi a sense of dread. The lightning wouldn't be good for Feurey. One strike could send him and whoever rode him down into the depths. Plus, one fact stuck in Okimi's mind was that the closer they got to the village, the more lightning there would be. She'd have to keep an eye on the sky to make sure they were making good progress. Okimi's gaze gradually turned to the Hane genin. She could feel her blood boiling knowing that she'd have an opportunity make a bloody statement soon. She almost hoped one of their squads would try to take their scrolls, just so she'd have an excuse to... Okimi shook her head. She had to focus on the task ahead. They had three days, and a mountain to traverse. She promised Kurio not to do anything stupid, so she had to think as much as she possibly could.

    Okimi looked to Tsubame and Kurio. "So we can use Feurey to fly a good distance. We just have to stay low so we don't get struck by lightning. Hell, from what I can see we could fly lower than the pillars if we really wanted to."

    Okimi paused for a moment, out towards the path the genin who already left took. "I never thought the chuunin exams would be like this though. This is gonna be harder than I expected. Not like I can't handle it or anything though!"

    Her mother hadn't told her the exams would be like this. All she had said was that she'd probably have to beat up a lot of other genin, and solve some puzzles. She figured Kurio and Tsubame were good at puzzles. No one ever mentioned that actually making it to the village would be the hardest part.

    KageYuuki KageYuuki S n o w S n o w
     
    Shibata Yamamoto
    Placing himself at the head of his team calmly facing the man with the staff and watching the spiralling scroll with interest, Shibata imperiously ignored the Inochi contingent entirely except for one cocky wave he gave to the trio he had already faced during the gauntlet and a wide smirk when Wakanaka sniped back at them. Feeling his stomach drop slightly at the feeling of motion he glanced around wondering if the scroll had merely been cover for some manner of physical transportation through the earth rather than the modified summoning he initially expected.

    Patiently absorbing the proctor's briefing Shibata looked out at the pillars with a sense of trepidation, not being able to grip the rocks with his chakra would be a pain and they likely couldn't be crystallised either. "Hmm.." He kept staring feeling something nagging at the back of his mind, a sense that something didn't quite fit like when he'd been under a genjutsu, letting the first few teams that failed to understand the difference between a sprint and a marathon dash ahead he watched them racing for the horizon. "Hmmmm....oh." Fighting to keep an especially smug look off his face he grabbed hold of the scroll before either of his more hasty teammates, Ryuuka in particular, could get it and the precious cargo promptly vanished into his wide sleeves.

    Turning to his team he clapped his hands and addressed them with unusual cheer. "Alright you two this is the endurance round so let's not be hasty! I think we should make sure we've had a good and thorough warm-up before we set off." Beaming inwardly with self-satisfaction he started going through stretches, when Wakanaka addressed the proctor as "aunt" he watched them curiously wondering if it was merely an affectionate term and why someone the other genin was close to would be proctoring for Arashi either way.

    Ace Cream Ace Cream AtlannianSpy AtlannianSpy Orikanyo Orikanyo
     

    1604634144603.png
    ​


    Sachiko followed mostly quietly behind Waka and Shio. She'd had... an interesting morning so far. Her ninja tools were in order around her waist, and a new belt was tied around them, keeping the pouches in order, the black and regular one, a large book tied around her back. Her hat seemed the same as always, though, it'd long since been a replacement since that prison incident. Her hair was also undyed.

    The morning light really made Sachiko grunt, wondering for a moment if she could just skip the whole stupid exam. The light managed to shine just in her eye though.

    She turned over.

    "I swear, Dad specifically made my room so that would happen every morning..."

    The sad thing was... it wasn't outside the realms of possibility. Sachiko's large bed made it hard to move, and everything in the room seemed to line up perfect for everything else.

    Sitting up, she groggily reached over to her ninja pouch. Her hand grasped just a plain desk.

    "Huh...?"

    Sachiko bolted up.

    "Where is it!?"

    Seconds later, chaos rained supreme as clothes draped across the bed, over the drawer, against a still rotating fan.

    "Shoot, shoot, shoot! Not today! Not today!" She glanced at the clock. She had to leave in 15 to meet up with Shio and Waka.

    A knock came from her door.

    "I know! I know!"

    The door opened, with her father blinking at the chaos of the room. "Your mother just had you clean this yesterday...."

    A top fell from the fan, smacking the serious noble in the face. He sighed, before removing it, and tossing a ninja pouch to Sachiko.

    "My pouch!" She leapt off the bed to catch it mid air.

    He then tossed a black one at her, Sachiko barely catching this one with just a finger tip and a bit of chakra.

    "I took the liberty of polishing your kunai. They'd lost their edge."

    "W-why didn't you knock to get me up?"

    "I did. Three times."

    Sachiko blinked nervously, counting everything in it. Everything was in prestine condition... better in fact than normal. As she sorted through her black bag, she saw something new, a whet stone?

    "I also, may have been thinking the last few months how to help you out for the chunnin exam. I took a bit of time to create that. It has my chakra in it, and if you strike a blade with it, it should instantly sharpen up with a bit of a boom."

    "Huh... I thought you were just going to drill the 'Kounna basics' into me 50,000 more times. I thought you were just busy lately. Uh... how much of my stuff did you go through?"

    He tossed her a heavy book that sent her sprawling back into her bed, the crushing weight keeping her under it for a moment til she could dig herself out.

    The Manual Manual to Manual Mocking.

    Opening it... it was hollowed out like her other books. Sachiko didn't recall buying this one. And what's more, three shining bo shurikens were in the middle.

    "Uranium is heavy, so a great projectile, but it is soft. I had them plated in titanium to make it a bit more durable. And sharpened personally."

    "How did you know about these?!"

    "You disappear until 2 am most nights, didn't you think I'd be a little bit curious. I am a ninja. Head of one of the greatest clans in the village. I think I can sneak when wanted. And as I noticed you were mostly training, I didn't see the need to interfer."

    "..." Sachiko blinked dumbly. "You are literally a walking explosion. How do you sneak anywhere, dad?"

    "Hurry up. Your teammates will be most upset if you're late. Again."

    "No rousing speech about how I'd better do the clan proud, or else? How customary it is for an heir to act."

    Hojo Kounna folded his arms. "At the end of the day. You ARE the heir. How you reflect the clan is up to you."

    "Just make Koki the heir, he's got explosion release, and I don't. Sides, you know my track record"

    Hojo sighed, "That's not your fau... Your track record would be better if you applie... Look, Sachiko...I believe at the end of the day, you understand what it means to be a ninja."

    "Can I remind you of... the incident?" She pointed to a mountain of apology letters with a smile. "I hate being a ninja, and honestly wish the village would burn to the ground."

    "And yet you don't because HE'S not here. You pretend to hate it, but you don't let your teammates, or the village get hurt. I think Koshirou would be proud of you. Just keep on doing well."

    Sachiko snarled, but the moment crawled by awkwardly. "You never talk about Koshirou. Its like he never existed half the time. Don't tell me he'd be proud of me!"

    "Can you throw your tantrum later? You want to know a secret. The clan head may not present him or herself unreasonably while it would reflect badly when there are those to witness it, but in private, act as one may. Meet me outside in 20."

    "I'll be later then...?"

    "No you won't. Well, not unless you doddle with an old man. Get ready."

    He closed the door, and Sachiko got dressed.

    As she watched out the front to meet her dad, she noticed a parachute in his hands...?

    "What are you...?" He strapped it to her back, and then smiled.

    "So, mighty heir. Do you see any witnesses for foolishness?"

    "No...?"

    "Good. Me neither. EXPLOSION RELEASE: BUDDHA'S APPLAUSE!"

    He clapped his hands together, and a massive shockwave blasted Sachiko into the air like a cannon ball from hell. The nobleman looked pleased as he folded his arms with a distinct scream into the distance.



    "And she thinks I can't have fun." The parachute deployed.


    Sachiko shook her head. It had been... an interesting morning. Huh, who was the old bald guy? Sachiko just looked up, missing most of what he had said as she watched the clouds.

    And then was teleported away to the exam.

    Waka started to pick a fight, and Sachiko instantly smiled, a devious look in her eyes. This was like the sign incident all over again! Her smile turned demonic, as she approached the Inoichi nin. "Aw... are you tired of pig jokes? Could say my teammates roasting you all!" She walked past the first ninja, approaching his teammates. A more observant ninja would notice her hand passing past the thigh of the mocked ninja.

    "Sorry about that, just all pre exam jest. I'm Sachiko, nice to meet you!" She offered hand to shake, looking at a dumb founded ninja.

    "Are you trying to make friends...? You realize we hate you and your whole polluted village right? Take a bath, you smell of miasma."

    Sachiko's eyes switched, but she gave a fake laugh as she returned to Waka's side, and discretely passed him a wallet into his hands. The exam was explained, and she nodded, trying to think of the best way through. A bye was great... but deceptive. It mean you had to already fight people, and if you got injured, 3 days wasn't enough time to recover. Best to avoid that. She heard the Inoichi nin suddenly pique up about his lack of wallet.

    "Dangit, if I'd waited, could have just stolen the scroll... oh well."

    And then Waka called the proctor 'Auntie Aito.' Sachiko facepalmed.
     
    Aya

    Ahh, the land of lightning. After the last time she came to Arashigakure, Aya tried to weave some insulator material into her clothes to combat the ticklish sensation she was feeling. She was technically a walking bundle of clothes so those electric charges coursing through the air would make her rather uncomfortable. Still, even though her modified clothes didn't attract that much electricity anymore it still didn't stop her hair from standing up like a wild bush so she put up her hood to hide it.

    She listened to the briefing silently while observing the other genins around her. There's Ryuka and Shibata, several other genins from Tsumigakure and she even spotted the trio who they fought before. Aya basically slammed Kohaku with a giant sticky silk ball and made the Arashi genin stuck on her back for quite some time the last time they met but she hoped Kohaku wasn't angry about that.

    Aya's attention toward the proctor immediately doubled when she demonstrated the unique property of the rock pillars, she never seen something that could repel chakra like that. Her eyes gleamed as ideas for ing ibside her mind.

    "Let's be ahead and set traps!" Aya suggested to her teammates with visible enthusiasm, making her voice a bit less whisper-y than her usual one. "Scrolls. Take, win."

    IG42 IG42 AtlannianSpy AtlannianSpy
     
    xwVPfG9.png
    Shioreta Koino​

    Shioreta glanced around observing her surroundings as they arrived to where the Chunnin exams were taking place. It was... about as expected. Quite a dreary place overall to see. The electricity charged in the air probably made tinkering with things a bit more tricky. At the very least anything involving more complicated components likely had to consider it when calibrating. Fortunately her puppets weren't quite as likely to have that sort of issue. Still it was good to take in consideration in the off chance it did end up having a negative effect even if incredibly minor. A small miscalculation could mean the difference between victory and defeat.

    She spotted two of the Shinobi she had seen in her mission before. The girl tilting her head to the side eyeing them up curiously as they seemed to be jeering in their direction, not seemingly just towards her and Tsubame but others as well. Was this what it was like to have 'fans'? Well... if ones that likely wanted your head could be considered 'friends'. Her eyes shifted to Kiiro and Yoshiro in particular inspecting them a bit more closely from a distance.

    Huh... I guess they managed to stay alive and with all limbs seemingly intact?

    She looked to Waka as he spoke up being... lively as ever. Even managed to come off tough for a moment tossing out insults again and being tough, as Sachiko was quick to latch right on with a remarkable pun. She watched her friend approach looking a bit uncertain at it though keeping as she was not at all going in to support her or comment. She didn't want to create any more ire for herself. The less she put a target on her back the more effective she could be with her puppets. She didn't exactly have high expectations of the opposing genin seeming to be quite easy to be provoked emotionally if her previous encounter with two of them only helped to highlight.

    Shio glanced at Waka as she commented about Aito. She didn't show an expression like Sachiko, though she did mentally facepalm. Why did he always have to show promise and then go about a minute later and make himself look stupid? Sometimes she wondered if she was a bit too nice to Waka, giving him far too much credit then he deserved. Seriously, they needed to be a team, why must he always be the problem child.

    She shook her head glancing at her two teammates as she wandered up towards them. It felt a bit... strange to be trying to take a little charge though she figured it was best if she did at least try and get them going with the test.

    "Waka... could you hold on the scroll, I think its a safe bet till we have a dog in the game." She spoke with a light smile on her lips purposely letting slip the pun in what she said. Having it appear as if Waka or Sachiko had the scroll would make it more likely they would be targeted, though she could keep the scroll instead hidden away inside of her puppet Hageshi. If they got attacked it would make Waka more of a target which benefited them given he was more of a 'bruiser' of sorts and even less suspecting a tool such as a puppet sent directly into battle would have it hidden away in its little compartment.

    "Just keeping a nice steady pace will suit us fine and we can enjoy the nice sights for a bit!" She spoke with her usual warm smile on her lips. As long as they didn't get distracted too much and just kept a steady pace they could likely conserve their stamina and make it on time. She suspected many more impatient Genin would likely try and make a mad dash or even attempt to attack other teams making them that much more likely to wear themselves out along the way. Granted it made them a bit easier to be attacked... though she suspected unless Waka managed to poke the hornet's nest a bit too much they would likely be more worried about the teams rushing up ahead.

    Mentioned: Ganryu Ganryu Orikanyo Orikanyo
     
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