The Land of Lightning was filled with all sorts of shitstains. There were those who liked to rape little children. It didn’t matter which gender they were, s’long as they fit the needs of whomever the sick fuck it was that ordered them. There were also some pieces of shits that dealt in arms dealing - well, not necessarily arms literally, but it was more like the dealings of rare weapons that not even the Five Kage and all of their reach and influence could get their grubby, little hands on. The underground world has a lot of connections, yo.

“Listen here you mother fucker, you have two options--” A loud, vulgar-sounding male said.

Somewhere, deep in the underground where the most shittiest of the shitstains reside, there was one blonde jounin of the Cloud Village. His name known throughout but none dare speak it in fear of pissing him off even more. They could spot him a mile away due to his trademark red jacket and black pants. He was in a rather run-down tavern called The Whore’s Tit. Very charming name, isn’t it? It’s so charming that a bunch of equally-as-charming fellows inhabit it. Yeah, so fucking charming that guys who would sell their grandma’s pussy for a small score. Some of these guys are the aforementioned sick fucks who fuck little boys and girls like a certain dead King of Pop. These sick fucks make the Blonde jounin who was currently beating the shit out of one of them, look like a fucking squeaky-clean, boy scout.

“--You can tell me right now and keep your limbs intact or you keep your mouth shut and I play keep away with your body, starting with your toes.” The voice said once more, keeping whomever he was yelling at on the ground by applying force from his big foot onto the poor sap’s head, “so you gonna sing or shall I play the melody of pain for you?”

Beneath his foot — beneath that large boot, was a man who probably wasn’t any older than forty. From what one could see from the distance, the man was probably from the Land of Snow, his white hair represented as such. His clothing was ragged. It had several tears and rips along the arms and legs. Several cuts matched that on his clothing, hinting that the man had gone through a hell of a lot in his time. There was no indication that he was with any village,b ut those in The Whore’s Tit knew of him. His name was Yuki Kazeko, one of the Lieutenants of the biggest Information Brokers of the Land of Lightning known simply as The Knowledge Sage.

Word around the Land of Lightning was that anything that had anything of value, knowledge-wise, The Knowledge Sage was the first to know. For a certain unstable blonde Jounin, that was just the person that he wanted to see and the man under his boot was bringing him a step closer.

“Do you know what he’ll do to me if I squeal?” Yuki’s rough voice cracked through the pain of his head being squished into the wooden floor.
“Do I look like I give a fuck what happens to your pretty, white head?” The blonde rhetorically asked.
“No, yo--”
“That was rhetorical, you fucktard.” The blonde jounin said.

It was obvious that the blonde was running pretty damn low on patience. If it wasn’t obvious in the tone of his voice each time he had to repeat himself, then it was painfully obvious in the increase of pressure onto Yuki’s head. If there was one thing that anyone could learn from watching the blonde work his magic on Yuki, it was that one should never try the patience of an unstable man - especially one whom in which was nuttier than a squirrel’s mouth when it’s finishing gathering nuts.

“One last chance,” the blonde said,” do you know where The Knowledge Sage is or not?”
“I’m going to die, you know that right?”
“Okay, say goodbye to your he--”
Just as the blonde had raised his right leg up, he intended to bring it down hard for one last stomp. However, Yuki spoke just as it was mere inches away from his foot.
“Yes?”
“You want to go to The Rolling Thunder Village.”
“That pile of trash? Why there?” The blonde curiously asked.
“He’s the leader.” Yuki said.
The blonde smiled, “well, you actually came through for me.” He said, almost sounding happy as he cracked a half-smile.
“So, I can live?”

Suddenly, the blonde laughed. At first, Yuki joined him, thinking there was some joke in-between the lines that he wasn’t getting, but in fear of his own life, he thought laughing was the only way to secure it. However, as he would soon find out, laughing was the last thing he should’ve done.

“Hahaha--why are you laughing?” The blonde asked, taking a handful of Yuki’s snow-white hair, raising him to his feet. The screams of the latter heard throughout The Whore’s Tit tavern.
“I-I-I”
“You-you-you what? Thought I was a joke? You thought something was funny?” The blonde asked, twisting his grip on Yuki’s hair, causing even more pain than before.
“I THOUGHT IT WOULD SAVE MY LIFE!” Yuki shouted, finally getting his words out.

The blonde laughed like before. No, not like before. This time was different. It had a psychotic feeling to it, as if the laugh itself was twisting the air just as the blonde jounin had done so with Yuki’s hair. It was as if the laughter from the blonde had created such a bad atmosphere in the tavern that everyone soon got an uneasy feeling of what was about to happen next.

Before anyone knew it, Lighting Chakra sparked along Yuki’s body as it flowed through his hair. Each individual spark lit the poor bastard up like a Christmas Tree. Each strand of hair stood up due to the electrical charge and screams of absolute agony. The blonde wouldn’t let up. Even after the poor sap was dead, the blonde kept the charge going, laughing as he did so. It got to the point where the electricity inside the man’s body was so great that the body exploded into several parts, splattering the tavern in blood and guts.

As he looked around, everyone avoided eye contact. They were right in doing so. No one - especially after witnessing the destruction of the strongest ninja of the Land of Snow's Absolute Zero Wasteland Duo - would dare approach the Cloud’s Sadistic Psycho, Jaakuna Abiraishi.

“I’m coming for you, Knowledge Sage..”

As it was with Jaakuna on every mission he went on, he left a trail of blood and guts in his wake. The Raikage might not be so happy when word gets around, but Jaakuna couldn’t give two shits about what he thought. He was solely focused on his personal mission of finding Him and he’d kill anyone who got in his way to do it. And so, Jaakuna was gone to the Rolling Thunder Village to find the Knowledge Sage. Perhaps, when he does find this person, he will get a step closer to finding the one he seeks out.

Outskirts of Village Hidden in the Mist - Shouta’s house - Early evening

It was peaceful, for the time being. Something that was to be cherished in times like these, in a place like this. Deceit, treachery, crimes were being committed all the Hidden Mist. With the Mizukage dead, no real government had stepped forward in their time of strife. And with battling factions it had only gotten worse. Shouta overheard of the Land of Fire coming to their aid, but it seemed more like a grab for power. Even if it was charitable, the people here needed to fix the issues, and a new Mizukage needed to be brought to power. But everybody was too power hungry or delusional to care anyhow. And Shouta was just trying to make a living.

Odd jobs, small missions, it was enough to get by. Shouta was one of the more powerful shinobi still left in the village, although he chose to stay out of the warring factions. Since the Anbu had disbanded, he had gone his own way and tried to avoid more conflict than he had already needed to deal with. The Shinobi War, now this? It seemed like fighting got them nowhere. But the fight needed to be one and something needed to get done to stop all this chaos. Maybe it was time for Shouta to get off his ass and help a new Mizukage rise to power. Or he could continue to sit on his ass…

The sun was beginning to set as Shouta had just arrived home, sitting atop the grass rooftop of his stone home and watching the sunset through the gentle mist. He donned his Anbu mask on his face, blood red with black markings similar to his Sharingan. The normal Anbu attire was what Shouta dawned, continuing to match the red and black color scheme, even his hair fit in. As he looked at the sky, he realized that even if destruction, there was beauty to be had. No matter how small.

Behind a Shouta a figure landed on the roof, gliding from rooftop to rooftop. Arriving on the rooftop he had no doubt Shouta had detected him, but he simply folded his arms, and stood, taking in the scenery of the peaceful evening, and of the man in front of him. He continued to take in the scenery with a deep breathe, before finally addressing Shouta.

“Hmm, and I thought the Red Lightning was just a moniker. You certainly live up to it, even the sun compliments it, I wish I lived up to my moniker half as well. Beautiful scene, serene and peaceful. Deceitful, isn’t it?”

“The outfit isn’t the only reason I have my moniker.”

Shouta, in a blur, went from his seated position to standing up with his arms crossed, facing the gentleman that had proceeded to land upon his roof. He had sensed him come upon his roof, but the shinobi had gotten closer than expected to Shouta before he could actually sense him. Which was unusual, as nothing usually got by him. Although he hadn’t been paying much attention as is, he knew that whoever had decided to join him was somebody of some importance. And Shouta glanced at the man, he got the answer he was looking for.

“Deceitful, maybe. But one could argue “Strategist of Heaven” might be a little deceitful of a name for yourself. But I could be wrong. Although I’m usually not. I am wondering, however, as to why you have graced me with your presence?”

The man, Shingen, laughed.

“Perhaps, perhaps. I am a man after all, but I can hardly work wonders if no one believes in me. I suppose though if I’m not that to you, I’m hardly gracing you with my presence. I suppose if I’m taking up your time, you’d prefer me to skip the usual spiel about ideology I have about making the Mist a better place, and to get straight to the point?”

Shingen’s gaze lingered on the sunset for a moment.

“I hear of a certain ex-ANBU of wonderful report, who picks up odd jobs. While I hear he dislikes the civil war, I would like to hire him. I’m rather sick of it myself, and I hope he can relate.”

Shingen turned to face Shouta directly once again.

“Well, can you?”

Shouta nodded, mulling over the idea for the moment. It was true, the chaos and war was no more good for him than it was for the whole village. It was a mess. Shouta used to be an elite soldier, but now his nation was falling apart within itself. The enemy was themselves.

“I can, that is true. But I know of your ideals, your control over Kiri, your fight against the peace keepers. There’s a reason I have been out of this war for quite some time, and it’ll take more than coin to persuade me. I don’t like being on losing teams, and my first priority is the village and then myself. How do I know that your ideals are any better than those peacekeepers?”

“That’s good. I would be worried if you were so easy as to persuade with just coin. I prefer to hire with ideals in any case, it's a much better currency in my humble opinion. I think I can answer your two questions.

The village is first, I agree. Can you image this scene not being deceitful, with the Hidden Mist being its own stable proud village?

While I don’t like to trash talk, my spies inform me Kyoko met with Kyokujitsugakure earlier today. That empires swallows lands whole, even the Konahogakure no longer resembles itself. What would we be other than another vassal to such an empire? Our men enlisted in their fights, and our nation pride would be gone.I think we both agree that the Kirigakure deserves to be it’s own nation, to choose it’s own fights, and government. Failing that, I don’t think the people would take kindly to being told they are now part of a different country. I don’t think we’ve seen a real civil war yet. My father was a proud member of this village. I have faith that this people can solve it’s own fights, it just takes a bit of time. Kyoko apparently disagrees

As far as winnings, well, I prefer not to brag, but…I think I might be earning a little bit of my moniker soon enough. I’m confident enough to chat here in the open, aren’t I?”

Shouta bit his lip. What the leader of the People’s Brotherhood said was appealing to the Jounin, no doubt. The Kiri needed to be it’s own nation, needed to be strong again. How, was the problem. But it certainly wouldn’t be by the empire that was trying to take control of the Kiri now. But still, they could just be offering help… Whatever kind of help that would amount to, Shouta was unsure.

“You are, I see that. Although this isn’t quite the heart of the village.” He gestured around, showing that he did indeed live on the outskirts.

“Your cause seems worthy enough, nothing you have said so far displeases me. But what I need to know before I offer up my services is what I will be doing. You can have great goals in mind, but without a plan to accomplish these goals, they could all be in vain. There will be bloodshed, I know that, but the as little as possible part would be key. If I consider you my ally, and I offer my services to your cause, how are we going to win this war?”

Shingen looked thoughtfully way, though he had a smile as turned away. That was the question he was waiting for. Shouta was smart, what he needed, and wasn’t opposed to anything he had said.

“Well, you see, I have a bit of a problem. It’s no small thing being the leader of a group in war of ideals in your own village. I hate bloodshed, and an open fight would give no victor, no matter who survived. She has many capable officers, and a large amount of troops, and the backing of Kyokujitsugakure. I can’t simply have her killed, the people will be will be in an uproar, and she’ll be stronger dead than alive. How would you defeat an army you can’t possibly fight, assassin?”

“You don’t fight the army. You fight the people who lead the army, the foundation. Maybe you can’t have her killed. But who’s to say you killed her, if it’s not your army?”

Shingen’s smile grew, and he turned back to Shouta, walking towards him.

“Well, it looks like we have our answer.”

Shingen as said that, he picked his sheathed sword up from it’s place on his his sash to point to it. It was chained to it’s sheathe so firmly it would never leave it. It was Shingen’s answer in and of itself.

“Would you like me to explain how to stave off Kyokujitsugakure, how to safely gain the support of the rest of Kirigakure, what the other nations will do, or what to make of the pirate problem? The sunset’s about over, and I would hate for both of us to miss it listening to my boring talking.”

Laughing was heard from the streets below as Mitsunari made his way through them, on his way to the Mizukage’s office. The Legendary Narcissist had his own little world, he thought it a pity no one else could ever see it.

“Hehehe. I’ll get a chance to show what the Takeda Clan is made of soon enough. War’s about wrapped up, it looks like, and we’ll have a genjutsu user as the Mizukage soon enough. That’ll show those idiots who laughed at me and my clan. Oh, you’re useless, you can only do illusions., Heh, I-”

His monologue continued as he made his way through the kage’s office, until he approached the door. He quieted himself as he knocked.

“Lady Kyoko, it is I, Takeda.”

The state of the city of Kirigakure was not one fit for laughing within, despite the lack of physical damage, but Mitsunari had never really been one to obey anyone’s conventions except his own. Kyoko had kept an eye on the Takeda clan’s singular member for her duration in Kirigakure, primarily because he was a technically able shinobi, but also out of a deeper curiosity to study another who specialised in genjutsu. Users of the art of genjutsu were not particularly common in the first place, but any who could walk around as he did in a war-torn village and openly display his allegiance as he no-doubt would was someone to study at the very least.

Kyoko had heard the man’s little monologue from down the hall, and though she had raised an eyebrow listening to the chatter it was set in its usual position as he opened the doors and walked through. His introduction was brief but narcissistic - something she had expected already if what she had picked up was to be believed - and it served its purpose well enough.

“Welcome to my office, Mitsunari. What is it that I can do for you, today?”

Mitsunari smirked as he entered the office, looking at Kyoko. She didn’t seem scratched at all, and he hadn’t heard any bad news, good enough proof for him how the meeting had gone. His eyes were tired, but he was as full of energy as he had ever been. As he talked, his hands seemed to move as much as his lips, it was a peculiar habit of his. He was full of oddities.

“Well, I heard the good news that you had met with a foreign power. You aren’t dead, so I am guessing it went well. I have to admit, I’m rather curious about the details, this is a big moment for the Hidden Mist afterall. I like to keep myself informed, and useful for the Hidden Mist.

Beyond that, well, I’m not one to sit still too well, especially when others are making a big name for themselves. Though I suppose a genjutsu master like yourself is as good as any other to do so. What’s the next stage, and where do I fit in?”

“Unlike many of the members of Kirigakure, I grew up in the Land of Fire. Admittedly, the Hyakune are not known for their adherence to external politics, but I was always fascinated by the Kyokujitsu no Tochi. I had met with several members of the village in my time growing up within the Land of Fire, and I had always wondered how they were so happy. Happiness was not common among the Hyakune, and even less common among those whose only talent is genjutsu - that you can relate to, I am sure.” Kyoko began, pulling out a file from the drawers in the desk. It contained a brief summary of the results of the meeting with Kyokujitsu no Tochi’s ambassadors, and contained a seal that would burn it to ashes as soon as it left Kyoko’s aura of chakra. With a simple gesture she invited Mitsunari to come take the paper and read it.

“They are good people. I do not say that because I require their aid, or because it is a politically prudent thing to do - I say that because they are legitimately good people. I am sure that Ayameko has her own motives, past struggles, perhaps, but they want to help rebuild this nation because the Land of Water requires this stability. People are starving, people are dying, and this “People’s Brotherhood” are opportunists that individually seek dominion over the various areas in Kirigakure and the Land of Water as a whole. They may claim to stop skirmishes, but I have not seen any of the results that those legitimately trying to help would provide. I have no doubt that they believe their ideology, but you and I both intimately know the consequences of belief.”

Kyoko stood up and moved from the desk, placing the chair neatly back into its position, and walked to the front of the desk to get a better look at the map of the Land of Water pinned on the wall. She pointed at several problem areas before continuing to speak.

“I know for a fact that in the past hour at least seventy people have died in each of those areas, be it from banditry or from sickness. Be it from starvation or circumstance. That is why I requested the aid of Kyokujitsu no Tochi - because the assistance that they offer will prevent these needless deaths. We can hold polls later, we can decide on who exactly is worthy to sit in this office and decide how this country is run… But one thing is very, very clear: If Kirigakure does not get a leader who cares for its people, devastation will ensue. If this means handing the territory over to Sankage Ayameko, I will happily do so to ensure that people do not die because this so-called “People’s Brotherhood” do not understand the issues that really plague this land.”

Perhaps the legendary narcissist did not listen to Kyoko’s speech, perhaps he did and didn’t care. It needed to be said, and following the necessary actions was simply a part of assuming leadership - it simply happened that talking was something Kyoko was extremely proficient at.

Mitsunari happily picked up the file, being in the know was something he did enjoy. He read as he listened to Kyoko talk, somewhat emotional about the topic. That was an interesting note.

“Ah, the consequence of belief. Heh, I believe that that is our trade, if it wasn’t a strong thing, I don’t think we would’ve made it. Not sure what’s so depressing having it, we live and fight our dreams. To make dreams become reality, the art of a genjutsu master.”

His hand at one point ended up on his sealed sword, reassuredly during his talk. He then uncharacteristically let out a tired sigh. Normally he put the energizer bunny to shame.

“I’d rather the war was over soon though, I'd rather my mother lived somewhere safer, wouldn’t do for a Takeda to live like that. For me, the city’s the same one way or the other. I’m good at making ‘friends’ out of people who’d be uncouth enough to attack a Takeda. I don’t see this war lasting too much longer though. Everyone’s growing tired of it. The most bloodthirsty have already killed each other off, leaves people like me. Wonder what that’ll make the Mist look like after this?” Closest Mitsunari would come to admitting he was a yellow-bellied coward as a ninja. Glory seeker? Yes. Best thing to happen to Earth ever? Also yes. Liked danger and fighting? Not so much. “ I think somebody besides another country could run it though, maybe a genjutsu master of unparalleled power.”

“Nobody should want this war to continue. I’m sure you’ve heard the sayings, heard the stories: War is hell.” Kyoko replied, sighing as she continued to stare at the map. She was not a native of the Land of Water, and nor did she have interest in assuming power. She sought only to do what duty demanded of her, and what she thought was right. Perhaps the Takeda was correct in thinking that Kyoko was the best person to govern the village hidden in the Mist - or perhaps he was completely and utterly wrong. She could decide her position on the matter in the future.

“Your mother is in the slums? If you wish, I will have her moved into a more secure residence - be it here or in another land. You have only but to ask for succour and I will deliver it to the best of my ability. That is precisely what I am here to do - to provide succour to those who require it the most.”

Satisfied that Mitsunari had read enough of the paper, Kyoko walked over to the other side of the room. The paper would crumble to ashes in his hands as soon as she stepped past her desk, and she collected another stack of papers that Akaritori had managed to sort out for her. Despite the fact she was possibly the most competent swordswoman she had ever seen, Kyoko was most awed by the fact that her talent and drive for completing paperwork outshone even her skill with a blade - she had done the equivalent of six months’ paperwork in just under two days, and had even constructed a makeshift filing system for Kyoko to access it. Taking a sheet of paper from a tray labelled “War Efforts”, Kyoko moved to hand the paper over to Mitsunari.

“Give this to the guards in the city when you have collected your mother, and I will contact Sankage Ayameko asking her to harbour your mother and any other family members you might have for the duration of the hostilities within Kirigakure’s conflicts. I do not trust the People’s Brotherhood to not attack the capital if their ideals do not gain political traction, and if an evacuation order must be issued it is the least I can do to support those who would support peace.”

Mitsunari’s eyebrow raised as the paper crumbled.

“Doesn’t that defeat the-?”

He shook his head, he could pull his own memories if needed. He liked to be in the know. He couldn’t figure out what was the point of handing him the paper though. He took the other paper as well, eyeing it suspiciously, as if it was going to crumble as well.

“Alright, in any case, I think I have an idea of what’s going on. I think I know the best place to make new friends from. Just being in the know I suppose is good enough. There is a war, there’s tons of things to do. Anything in particular I can be of help with before I grace the rest of the Mist with my presence.”

“Do not mistake my desire for peace for a reluctance of war. Intrigue is the greatest asset we have, and I would have you collect what you can from those affiliated with the People’s Brotherhood. Their anonymity is a tool, something to be used to their advantage, and we are going to turn it against them. Find the names of this ‘Strategist of Heaven’s’ subordinates - but do not so much as shed a single drop of blood, be it yours or the enemy’s. I will also require a vial of your blood. Immediately.”

Mitsunari turned, lifting up his sealed sword as she spoke about not spilling a drop of blood. It was his way of life, then he looked nervously as she asked for a drop of his blood. He cringed at it, the thought of his blood making him uneasy. He leaned against the bookcase, oddly still. Narcissist or not, he fit the role of pansy pretty well. He took a moment thinking of something witty.

“Uh…. I’ll follow the first order, not a drop of blood, as per the orders of my superior.”

He took off, adding to the end of it.

“Not because of a fear of getting poked or anything like that. I’ll go deliver this.”

His cape rustled as he took off.

“This is for your own benefit, and is mandatory if you wish to leave these walls with your head.” Kyoko offered, stepping forward with the intention of using Genjutsu to secure the world’s most afraid narcissist while she performed the tasks she needed to to ensure the protection of those working under her cause. It would only take a couple of steps before Mitsunari was within her aura once more, and the process would be both quick and painless if he either willingly consented or succumbed to genjutsu.

Mitsunari fell over in the hallway, seemingly too easy.

Demonic Illusion: False Hit

Another chakra would pop up on Kyoko’s field however, where the bookcase was, another Mitsunari appeared in it’s stead. He crept quickly out the door, hoping to get out the office without notice, not knowing about her chakra field.

In the hallway, he saw another shinobi, Akaritori stood with sword drawn, and about froze like a deer in the headlights. He stood up straight as if nothing was the problem, though he knew his little attempt was over. He was willing to bet that wouldn’t work twice, and there wasn’t the space or range to do it anyways. On top of it, Akaritori wasn’t exactly a genin.

Akaritori’s intense gaze could not be seen from beneath her goggles, but as she started to pace towards him she expected him to stop and retreat - she had been told to not allow anyone out of the building until she was specifically told to by the stand-in Mizukage, and Mitsunari was in violation of those rules. Akaritori did not have time for those who violated the rules.

“_{Why can’t anything ever be easy…. I mean, …}, uh, I was just drawn the beauty of these flowers outside the office? I was just, haha, talking to Lady Kyoko about them. I’ll be back.”

He awkwardly picked one up for emphasis infront of Akaritori, stuffing it in his cape then turned back, his cape rustling as he went, his hand moving in them, and he walked back into the office, eyeing Kyoko.

“On second thought, I’ll follow your second order instead, and I’ll opt to give a vial of blood as you requested.”

He then swiftly pulled out a kunai, and slashed across his cape, where his arm was, red coming out of it, chakra with it.

Watching Mitsunari cut himself, Kyoko visibly facepalmed as best as she could while wearing a veil before walking towards the terrified shinobi with a glass vial in hand.

“I was going to give you a seal that allows you to draw blood for summoning techniques without pain or breaking your skin, but the cut will suffice for my purposes. I suggest mastering your fear if you wish to become truly adept in the arts of genjutsu.” Kyoko pointed out, her voice dry, and collected the blood she required. She would inform him that it was for a technique allowing her to summon him should she require him, or if he was in danger, if he asked what the blood was for, but she did not expect him to be asking any more questions in this visit other than “can I leave now?”.

Mitsunari’s let out an exasperated sigh.

“That’s all you have to do!? Oh. Okay. I wouldn’t say I’m as skilled in genjutsu as much as I am in illusions. I’ll take that seal then.That might not be good blood. Maybe it’s contaminated, from the kunai or something, I’m sure the seal is much safer.Take my other arm.” and less troublesome? I wish I knew that in the first place.

He extended his other arm for it, and asked the inevitable question of “what’s it for?” Followed by “anything else?”, “Can you tell Akaritori to sheathe her sword by the way?”

Mitsunari had probably made himself look like an idiot, but oh well. Wasn’t like it was a public display, just Lady Kyoko and scary woman. It was the masses he needed to look good for.

“If you are in danger, I will be able to summon you to ensure that you are safe. It is quite simple. Akaritori, my guest is free to leave.” Kyoko called out, waving a hand to dismiss Mitsunari. She would have need of his services again soon, she was sure, but at the last moment she stopped and turned to face him once more while he was still within range of her aura.

“Shosai no Kogeru.” Kyoko spoke, and there would be very little the other genjutsu user could do to resist her overwhelming influence within her aura. Her work was simple - he would forget the contents of the report (or that he had even read the report) and that she had cast the genjutsu on him until she removed the mental blocks.

“I hope you have a good day, Mitsunari, and that you keep your mother safe. Please, take her to Kyokujitsu no Tochi until this war is over.”

It wasn't very fun having to do community service, but Haruhi found herself doing so after getting into some trouble, which was entirely explanable. Her behavior had been justified! Or at least that's what she thought. After having seen a group of genin picking on an academy student, she had to do something.

To Haru, violence was always a good deterrant for bad behavior.

But of course the little shits had to go behind her back and report her, as if they weren't in the wrong too! It was all just a messed up situation. And now, she was stuck cleaning the unused classrooms of the academy. She was surprised how much mud and unknown substances could be found on the floors, and whatever kind of sticky stuff she had to scrape out from under the desks had fallen into her dirty blonde hair more than once.

So it was fair to say her day wasn't starting off on a positive note.

Despite not wanting to do the cleaning, Haruhi complied with the wishes of the Jonin Commander and did her service without complaining about it. At least, not where anyone could hear her. She thought it was totally unfair how such an act of brave justice was punishable by manual labor.

She hefted a bag of garbage onto her shoulder, the thing full of trash that she had picked up from around the entire academy. It would have been amusing to see her carrying it around, a pout on her young looking face. She was heading out the front entrance since the back was closed off due to some students doing an exercise back there. As she used her foot to kick the entrance open, she wouldn't be able to see the silver haired boy who was bound to cross her path any moment.

Masshiro had made his way up the stairs quickly, a habit since his academy days and simple enough with the practice over time. He easily recalled how the first time had made him a bit breathless when he was much younger, his body not quite use to the physical stress of being a ninja in training. Now he was slightly depressed to know they were over. Past these doors and into the school, he knew his life would alter when he would be finally assigned to a team or in rare cases, a mentor. This would begin edging him into the world he had been dreaming about since he was a child and a part of him was frightened by it. Some much he couldn't account for in the world outside Kumogakure that his nerves twitched at the thought of his reaction and how dangerous it might be if he lose control of his emotions.

The youth took a deep breathe as his hand reached out, the palm touched the door at the same moment it leapt open.

It was something he wasn't expecting and the speed caught him, for a moment, off guard. His hand jerked backwards while he flinched, feeling the finger tips stinging when the door edge nicked him. The boy bit his tongue which stopped a yelp in mid-action, and prevented the sound from erupting into the air. Worse part it was his already injuried hand that suffered the brush making the pain twice as bad. His other hand cletched his fingers on impluse and inhaled slowly, his head lowered to keep from looking the girl in the eyes.

The individual that had nearly ran into him abruptedly stopped causing him to rise his eyes up a bit higher and briefly look at her.

When a boy entered her line of sight, she blinked and stared at him for a second, wondering if he was going to go around. Then she thought perhaps the door had hit him when she kicked it open. She gave an apoligetic smile.

"Oh sorry! I didn't hit you with the door did I? I wasn't paying attention." she said to him, adjusting her grip on the bag and stepping aside. After a longer moment of looking, she tilted her head. "Ah, I like the color of your hair. It looks so cool. I wish mine was that color." she told him, cracking a goofy grin. "Though I dunno, it probably doesn't look good on most people, but it suits you well."

Pausing she scratched the back of her head with her free hand. She was probably rambling or keeping the guy from something important. "Sorry, I'm rambling arent I? See ya!" she said, giving a small wave and started to slowly decend the stairs. She had to go slowly, considering she was known for her clumsiness. One small slip and she'd be--

"Waah!" was the sudden startled noise that came out of Haru's mouth as she extended her foot too far and missed a step.

"It's alright, no harm done. And you're not rambling at all." Masshiro quietly started, his tone timid and unsure how to react. Not many people had paid attention to his features or stated they liked them, his head tilted in confusion for a moment. She seemed just as awkward in the conversation as he was, which made him smirk lightly. He continued to rub his fingers until the pain faded a bit and started to move when his eyes caught the girl's foot extend too far. "Hey, watch it!"

Without thinking, his right foot turned about and he twisted on his left heel while his left hand reached for the trash bag. He was hoping to use it to jerk her backward and stop her movement, but he was going to regret his heroic actions shortly. Instead of jerking her back, she managed to pull him forward! His footing tangled and twisted up, causing his body to crash forward and push the girl off the stairs. They both tumbled down a short way. Trash and them were sprawled across the stone steps, him naturally laying on top with Haru underneath him leaving them both to ache from their landing. Haru let out a groan as she landed on her back, a bit of the wind having been knocked out of her while she fell.

Quickly realizing his position, Masshiro's already white face was drained of any possible color. His legs shifting and scrambled over the smooth stone, trying to get himself back upright. Managing, after slipping a few times, to pull himself off Haru at least, he fell upon his ass next to her with a sheepish smile. He struggled not to stammer over his next words in his attempt to save the situation, as hopeless as it was. " I'm... I'm sorry, really. I didn't, honestly. I really didn't mean to make things worse."

Sitting up, Haru rubbed the back of her head, wincing. "Ow..." She opened one of her eyes and looked at the guy, also feeling the need to apoligize. "No worries, you were only trying to help. Sorry you got hurt cause of me." she said, opening the other eye and looking around them.

He paused enough to look about, his eyes panned around and absorbed the mess created. Masshiro bit his lip in realization over his blunder while he returned to check on the older girl's condition."Are you alright?"

After taking a look around and seeing the trash spilled everywhere, the grin returned to Haruhi's face, followed by an eruption of laughter. She hugged herself, clutching her sides as she laughed, trying to speak through it. "That was a total wipeout! I cant believe I dragged you down with me! I really need to lose some weight or something!" she said between laughs.

After a few moments she calmed down to giggling and stood, extending her hand out towards the boy. "I don't know if you believe in it, but I think this had to be fate, us running into eachother. I'm Haruhi. Haruhi Suzumori. Let's be friends!"

Masshiro's color altered from white to slight reddish tone when she started to ramble. He didn't mind it since he rarely talked much himself around strangers and slowly, in his own way, relaxed. His tension flowed from his body and seemed to melt into the ground itself, no longer present in his figure. The boy sighed a bit at the mess but there was nothing left but to clean it up now as he hunched off, his feet positioning themselves underneath him to help push up into a standing position. His other hand reached out to aid Haruhi-san up. "I'm Masshiro Negishi-Kemono. Nice to meet you. We made a huge mess and probably get it cleaned up before the teachers realize it happened."

"Wow, your name is a mouthful, huh?" she told him, walking over to pick up the now empty garbage bag. "I think I'll call you something like Mashy-kun. Or... Shiroro. I dunno. I'll think of something." she said absently as she knelt and started to pick up the trash. Thankfully it was mostly things like papers, so she didn't have to worry about getting her hands too dirty. Pausing after a moment, she looked at him. "Oh uh... weren't you trying to get somewhere? I don't want you to be late because of me." she said to him.

At spotting her looking up, Masshiro's head jerked upward as he was careful to avoid her eyes. It wasn't hard since he had had years to practice. His mouth frowned at her calling him Shiroro, believing that would've been a bigger mouthful than the name he already had. "I think Masshiro would be best, if you want to call me by name. Shiroro seems a bit too long and Mashy-kun seems too familiar on first meeting." Haru made a face like she was thinking it over, and then nodded after a moment, grinning. "Fine by me."

Casually, he hunched over to assist with the clean up, snagging another crumbled paper. It seemed it came from a classroom with rambunctious students. His eyes caught scribbles and a few kanji best never seen on lower classmate's papers. Masshiro shuddered and quickly stuffed it into the bag held by Haruhi-san. "As for where I was heading, don't worry about it. I'm only being assigned as a Genin. Nothing too big really, though to be honest, I'm nervous."

Haruhi whirled on him, her eyes widening in excitement. "What!? Nothing too big!?" she repeated incredulously. "Why being assigned to a team is the biggest, most exciting, most life changing, most important, most cooest thing ever!" she said quickly and taking a deep breath afterwards. She looked around them again.

Masshiro raised an eyebrow then let his lips pulled into a light hearted smirk though it seemed half-assed. He had no troubling down toning his emotions on the outside, but inside he was practically bubbling in excitement as he considered his words. It didn't help he was nervous about it. Would he get along with his team, would they fight more than work together, or would their abilities to cooperate be impossible? So many questions passed through his head that it was only making the thought of meeting them worse and for a brief moment, he considered avoiding the meeting at all.

Sadly, he knew Hanawa-chan wouldn't accept that. His head naturally mimic Haruhi-san's when it panned around the scene, his own eyes looking for what she sought only to find nothing. Her next words caused him to whip his head back to her. His body was still bent down, his hand filled with several papers, before shuffling over to put them in the bag.

"We need to hurry."

It was then that it would seem like something came over her, and she hardly moved so fast ever in her life. She dropped the bag to the ground and started running around, gathering bits of paper and other garbage, carrying them in her arms and dumping large amounts of it in the bag at a time. While she was doing it, she was thinking about how exciting it had been when she had finally joined a squad for the first time. Granted, her sensei and teammates all hated her, for reasons still unknown to her today, but eventually they had gotten along and it ended up great.

Masshiro's eyes widened in amazement to see the abrupt change in Haruhi-san. Her body moved about him as though he wasn't bothering to help and easily made his efforts a tad bit useless. His hands reached to snag any bits that tumbled out as he shoved them back in, her arms going for more still left.

Haruhi wished she could give Masshiro some advice, but she probably wasn't the best person to do such, considering she was usually deemed 'unfit to work in groups', which was totally preposterous! Haruhi liked people, and her personalty was one that showed it.

She never thought that maybe it was the reason why people didn't like her.

But of course that meant know she was bored, doing nothing but small things in the village here and there to make some money. It was a waste of her talents completely! She wished she could join a squad again.

"Ahh, Shiroro, I'm so jealous of you." she mumbled, using the nickname she'd given him accidentally.

The boy considered correcting her again, but merely zipped his lip against it. He had a feeling his words would've went in one ear and out the other, an odd trait for a nin indeed. He was shifting the bag up, pushing the papers to fit and settle, before answering. "To be honest, I'm nervous. What if we aren't able to work well together? It would mean any mission might result in a failure, as well as other issues I'm worried about."

Inwardly he recalled his mother mentioning she was worried about him 'passing' out. In the past she explained when he asked, he would become so emotionally stressed that he would often pass out and crumble. The story sounded odd to him but he trusted it was the truth. After all, his mother wouldn't have flat out lie to him and if it was something serious, she would've talked to the Raikage about it. So it would've been unlikely he would be sent out to join a team if he was a danger to them... right?

His head tilted back in a bit of doubt lingering in his mind, his free hand scratching his neck. "All these what ifs isn't helping me feel excited to be honest."

Haruhi listened to his worries, remembering that they were also ones she had when she'd first started out. She wondered what kind of words she could give him.

Pausing in her cleaning, she said "Well, it's only natural to be nervous I suppose, but I think you're worrying about the wrong things. What I mean is..." she paused again, thinking more about her words. "First off, all of you were made genin because you've got something special, you know? Naturally I think you'd worry about getting along, but really that's not what matters. What matters is that you learn to work around others differences, and once that happens, it will be easy to get along with each other."

Reaching up, she scratched the back of her head. "I'm not making very much sense am I?" she asked, laughing a bit at herself. She probably wasn't putting him at ease with what she was saying.

"Most important thing is to be yourself! Those who have a problem with that don't matter." she said, giving him a thumbs up.

" If you mean over emotional and a teenage boy? I'm afraid I outgrew that stage prematurely, though the drama seems to come in all flavors" Masshiro said as he bit his lip, a habit he did when he was being humorous and wasn't completely seriously trying to be sarcastic. " As for making sense, to be honest over half what adults say aren't suppose to make sense so I think you're on the right track at least. Though seriously, being myself is likely the worst thing. I don't think my sister would enjoy seeing me making an ass out of myself along side the other boys..." He shivered at seeing Hanawa-chan's frown pull into his mind, her eyes darkened enough to toss him for a loop when he had actually gotten on her bad side. She reminded him a lot of the wind. Playful and gentle one moment, then a storm that could simply blow you away if she wanted when you crossed a line. Then again, weren't all big sisters like that?

Dumping what garbage she had collected into the bag, Haruhi looked around them again, seeing only a few bits and pieces of trash left on the stairs. Dusting off her arms, she'd say "I dunno, you don't seem like a terrible person to be. I'd kill to have that hair. All joking aside though, I think you'll be surprised how people who seem different can make the most awesome shinobi. I mean come on, I'm a walking example." she added the last part, flipping a bit of her hair dramatically. "The first few missions your squad will go on will be ones that seem strange, but are a test as to how well the three of you will work together. If your sensei think's it won't work, they'll make the change quick. So you don't have to worry too much."

Masshiro nodded, still appearing uncertain. His hand moved from the bag and watched her finish up, his ears absorbing her words. He chuckled a bit at her statement about his hair. "Honestly, not sure where the genetics from. I've had white hair and red eyes since I was born, without any evidence of where it comes from on my side of the family. According to Negishi-chan," His words paused a bit at stating his mother's full, last name as if she was a stranger. He quickly added a clarifying statement, and continued. "my mother, my parents died during the shinobi wars before I turned 4."

Haru reached down to grab the newly refilled bag, hefting it up over one shoulder and waited until he finished speaking. "I think all you need to do is be a little more positive, Shiroro. You'd be surprised how much that will help." she added, grinning at him. "Oh, but if you ever need anything, you can always come find me. I'll probably be here, helping out until the higher ups find something better for me to do. It's a drag, but that's the life I chose I suppose."

Turning from him, she went to grab the last few scraps of trash from the stairs. "As much as I'd hate to cut this wonderful talk short, I think we both have places to be, yeah?"

"Yeah, we do. Though I don't feel as jittery as before. Still concerned how this will turn out." He replied, his mind considering if he was going to fuck up or something worse, as he watched her toss the bag over her shoulder. His head raised to look her in the eyes when he thought he spotted the earlier passed game come to an end and the other students hustle away. When Haruhi's eyes locked with his, it would be undeniable what he was actually feeling inside. Confusion, worry, fear were the dominate emotions, on a level that his body clearly wasn't showing on the surface. For a deep, dark moment Masshiro froze. His body tensed and muscles locked in position while he waited out her reaction. Most times, they never reacted well to meeting his eyes so it wasn't going to surprise him that even this pleasant girl might actually lash out.

Haruhi's own bright green eyes held Masshiro's gaze for a long moment. Her first thought was that they were pretty, but then some odd feeling came over her, and it was as if she could read his thoughts with just this little glance. Blinking, Haruhi's lips turned down into a frown, but she didn't say anything, just turned away from him and quickly jogged around to the other side of the building.

For a moment, Masshiro just stood there. His fingers his hair a bit in anxiety and kneaded the fistful in his grasp pulled a bit from the scalp, the pain a slight punishment over his carelessness. He tugged a bit, close to ripping it out but careful to stop short. He already hurt himself enough today and he didn't look forward to seeing Hanawa-chan's reaction to his hand. Feeling that it was pointless to merely stand there alone, his body turned back to the school, his nerves more jarred at chasing away a possible new friend and ally, that he almost couldn't bring himself to step though those doors. Knowing he couldn't just tail back to his home like a whimpering puppy, Masshiro causally edged his way into the building feeling the depression closing in on him while being sure to keep his eyes down.

Just as Masshiro would enter the building, he'd feel a small hand land on his shoulder. Haruhi was back and right beside him, giving him a grin. "You can do this. I've got your back." she told him, gently pushing him so he could continue walking. "I figured you wouldn't mind if I tag along, right?" she asked, though she planned to stick around regardless of his answer. After she had seen the emotion in his eyes, she'd felt worried that this was perhaps a bit more than a little shy nervousness. When she had thrown the trash away, she decided there would be no harm in waiting outside whatever classroom he'd be meeting his teammates in. She didn't know what else she could do for him, but she wanted to do something. Hopefully him just knowing she'd be there would be enough.

The genin immediately stopped pushing opening the door when something touched his shoulder. His head careful not to turn back and look at who was there. He curled his lips into a thankful smile, careful not to say anything that might chase her away for the second time. He appreciated the help, even if she was a stranger he only met this morning. "I would be grateful for the company, Haruhi-san. It would make this easier a bit."

Her hand fell from his shoulder and she linked her arm with his. "Come on then, don't want to be late. I'll drag you if I have to." she told him playfully.

Masshiro nodded as he let her arm wrap around his, some of her playfulness made him think about Hanawa-chan. They were a bit alike and yet distinctively different that made his heart warm inside to be accepted. At first he was considering she would never want anything to do with him as many had decidedly told him, their actions more aggressive, but instead she seemed to have came back. Something he found a bit odd and surprising. He pushed opened the door like a gentleman then lead her in while they headed to the classroom.

The Tsuchikage was lounging in his office ignoring a large stack of paperwork that rested on his desk when an shinobi opened the bow and reported that the Sankage had arrived at the village gate. Ren thanked the jonin before dismissing him and grabbing his hat from the desk and opening up the window to the office. He had a few quick hand seals and floated out the window toward the direction of the gate.

He had never met the Sankage before and wondered what kind of person that she was in person. Ren had heard the legends that were told about her and how she united several different nations under her own flag while she was younger but now she was older and probably even wiser. She would be a good ally for Iwagakure if he could come to terms with her. Just who was this Diplomat that he had heard so much about.

As the gate came into view over the tops of the building, it was a surprise to see that the gate was already open which was odd. That was when Ren saw a group of outsider shinobi at the gate surrounded by another group of Iwa shinobi and then there was Tensai that also seemed to have joined the party. He couldn’t have his guests having a rude welcome as he had hopes of building relations with their village. The Tsuchikage touched down just outside the group and pulled his hat over his head as he walked toward the group.

“Scatter.”

The Iwa shinobi disappeared back to their original positions up at the top of the gate to monitor the events from a distance. “Sorry for the rude welcome, Lady Sankage. I welcome you and your party to Iwagakure.” He told the Sankage with a bow before turning toward Tensai. “Good seeing you again Tensai. I see you still carry around that rather annoying staff with you.” Ren said with a smile as he felt the effects of the old ambassador’s staff though only slightly as he was stronger than most in the village.

“Shall we return to my office? It would probably be a better place to talk than out here at the gate.” Ren said pleasantly as he gestured back toward the large stone dome building that could be seen just over the rest of the buildings.



Hiroshi watched as Shiso ran past him followed by one of Syu-lerne’s puppets and knew he would never hear the end of it if he was the last one to attack the ship. All he had to do was lay down support for Shiso and let her do the rest of the work. As he jumped up onto the rail of the back end of the ship there was a puff of smoke and then there was a two headed puppet floating behind the shinobi.


“Shiso, let us play it safe. We don’t know what we are dealing with here so take no prisoners and execute everyone.” Hiroshi told his fellow Suna shinobi with a twitch of his fingers sending signals into his puppet. The right mouth opened up and fired out several small black orbs that when hit the deck of the ship exploded into a large cloud of smoke that filled the entire deck.

After the smokescreen had covered the entire area he readied the puppet moved into position in front of the user to protect from any attack. Several of Acha’s arms were trained at the smoke ready to shoot down any opponent that came out of it at Hiroshi.

Below deck was a nightmare from her worst memory as Akane shut her mind off to the familiar sounds she knew all too well, the feminine cries for mercy and pity. It was all wasted on those men with only hollowed out holes in their chests. The men had been given their reward and were set to satisfy those common desires. It brought a deep disgust to Akane’s heart on being made to hear it happening again. Even worse to recall herself being in the same position as the captives brought onboard and inside, she knew those too weak to survive would soon meet Davy Jones at the bottom of the sea. She wasn’t honestly sure which fact bothered her most, having the knowledge only the strong would survive here or that she was unable to do anything. Instead of dwelling on it, her mind was set on the task set before her and her ears blocked out the horrid sounds rattling in the ship's bowls. Her heart was knotted tighter than a bundle of sea sprayed rope and now just a lump nestled in her core that seemed it would never come undone.

Meanwhile, her hands were locked into the duty she was assigned to: piling up the dead. The bodies were cold as ice and starting to stiffen as she hauled one corpse after corpse, then stacked them to one side. From the looks of the dead’s variety, it was all too clear that death wasn’t picky about who it stole from Captain Wind when it came to collect its debts. Seeing the evidence that made they were disposable to the captain had angered her as she shucked another dead stiff on his fellows. She buried that emotion in her core during her work. Akane sensed the ship move in her graceful way and swaying her board side to the shore quickly.

It seemed they were in a conflict. Moment later, Akane's suspicions were correct when the Quartermaster bellowed below deck, relaying the captain's demands and stirred her to action. A dead body of a young sailor was the last corpse she shoved onto the pile when she started her shouting. "Attention mates, t' six pounder Brigade t' yer stations at t' starboard. Get those six pounders ready else ye will be dealin' with me. Now stir those hides, lads!"

Several men and boys randomly dropped their current tasks then rushed to the guns. Their boots were not allow to idle else they risked earning Akane's wrath. Among those under her charge, her fury was something that had seared itself in their mind and they started to rise the covers for the six pounders. Four man teams rolled the cast iron cannons to the starboard, lashing them into place on the bitts. Meanwhile a few runners rushed to retrieve the balls and power, avoiding the single sailor working on the lighting torch. It was single duty as the man’s head bent down, focusing on not blowing them all up thanks to one careless spark. Meanwhile, he was sure to tightly hold the wooden shaft with the other end wrapped up in booze drenched rags, each time careful to aim the sparking flintstone and starter toward the end. The lower decks were filled by bustling bodies eager to obey their orders before the Cannon Brigade General’s watchful cinnamon irises. Her short boots sloshed the seawater washing through the open ports as she berated any lazy bilge rat for not moving his lazy bones. It was then she spotted three men struggling to load a cannon, their pace falling behind due to the missing aid of a fourth. The sight caused Akane to close her distance rapidly to them. Her arms reached out to help and quickly hoisting a cannon into place, making a hollow thunk into the floor slots, while the youngest jerked the ropes into place. They held, their twine creaking in protest against the strain and stopping the cannon from rolling backwards.

Her eyes turned upon them in a vicious glare then snapped at the men. Her voice rattled the very hull’s interior as she pronounced her rage in loud volumes causing several men to sneak glances in her direction. Secretly, each witness was counting their blessings and praying for the result to be mild. “Avast, whar be yer mate? Aarrr! All me men be knowin' thar needs t' four men per six pounder, no exceptions. Answer me now or so help Davy Jones, I’ll slit yer throat and pull yer tongue through it!”

The men merely looked at her with wide, frightened eyes. Akane’s expression darkened more. Like lightning, her hand jerked out to seize hold of the first unfortunate man nearest her. She tugged him roughly to her personal zone as her other hand reached behind her and to collect a kunai. She then shifted it under the man’s throat. It had already been set with a Hidden Mine, during their earlier relief between the successful raid and return to the ship. All the crew had seen her do this so the man knew exactly how dangerous the blade under his flesh was. One more hand sign then the thing would immediately blow. Taking the man’s head and turning it into sticky, red and white pieces. It was excessive and a waste of the six (two shuriken and three other kunai) trapped weapons she had in her possession. However, compared to Wind and the Quartermaster, she was much more merciful.

A fact all the crewmen learned quickly enough if they lived past the first week of her training.

Any color on the man’s face drained in an instant, his spine turned to jelly and figure quivering in her tight grip. The sight brought a hard frown to Akane’s lips. Her fingers tightening at the cowardliness and seemed to threaten more violence when she spoke. “Stop yer whimper like a yellow belly sea dog and answer me. Clearly before yer head be blown off yer shoulders!”

“W-w-w-went t' Davy Jones' locker! He’s been killed Sir! At t’raidin' party as he never reported for duty… ” The man stammered out to save his life.

Akane sighed in annoyance, her gaze heated by the fact she wasn’t informed until now. Likely it was a lazy and sloppy mistake by some stupid sailor in a drunken state. Her fingers clasped harder and pressed the weapon under his chin, drawing a small, red drop of blood from the broken skin. “Ye first 'n only warnin'. Next time, I'll keelhaul ye fer t' fishes t' devour.”

With those words lingering in the air, she released the man. On noticing the crew being distracted by their little scene, she whipped her head about then barked out another set of orders. “What ye dogs lookin' at? Get ye hide movin'. Load them six pounders, pour in t' powder, put in t' iron balls 'n light them up. cap'n's expectin' a massacre 'n ye all be knowin' what happens when ye deny t' cap'n his commands. Now back t' set the six pounders.”

Her words broke the spell and all men were returning to their stations, all knowing that her threats were mild for the time being. If it had been off duty, the man would’ve been lashed to the mast to die or starve for a few days instead of being let off so easily. Akane rarely gave a second warning and every single man under her command was fully aware of it. It was follow orders or die under her lash. She was the fairest high ranking officer they could expect on the Cruel Knave.

When the cannons were all primed and ready, Akane leaned through the threesome team’s porthole as she eyed the stairs leading to the deck. At the Qaurtermaster’s second shout she relayed the message in her own hollering way.

“Light them up, lads! Fire!”

The lower deck exploded with sound, deadening the ears of all those currently manning the cannons. Akane’s lips pulled into an excited smile and warped her pretty features into a wicked grin. Her excitement over distinct roaring of the cannon and their raw power rattling the frame of the ship filled her with a joy, the intensity that was hard to explain. When the flaming, iron balls crashed into the shore there would be a blaze and in hour, nothing would likely remind. For a brief moment a prick of pity stabbed into Akane’s heart causing her face’s slight madden to fade as she leaned back, her foot taken off the hatch’s frame and placed within the ship. Her face became blank and unreadable while she spotted the captain stomp his way down. Her skin shivering at the sight of Wind. To ignore him, Akane edge back to her work of piling up the dead. Once more she began to adjust them from toppling over until the time came where they would be shoved out to sea.

She couldn’t but overhear the conversation occurring in the background, the captain clearly out to interrogate the shinobi in ways that left a sour taste in her mouth. When the captain claimed one of the captive shinobi, Akane’s heart clutched itself tightly and her body stiffened in alarm. However she couldn’t bring herself to look and watch the scene continue. Her mind, despite her pity for the girl, aimed to distract herself while she prolonged her task. She turned Wind’s words over and over, unwillingly, inside her head. She recalled similar words being spoke to her nearly decade over and immediately she had a sour, burning taste settle in her throat back. Akane pushed aside her nightmares, refusing to let her mind returned to them. It belonged here, in the very real present and not treading into her past.

Some horrors were best left forgotten...especially on the Cruel Knave.



The sound of gunfire caused all the crew’s eyes to raise in alert, including Akane, as their tasks were interrupted by the sudden noise. The ninja’s screams followed telling them all what had happened when Wind creaked open the door then shoved the girl out. Her shin was stained red where the bullet had gone into her and from the looks of it, not came out the other side. Akane frowned instinctively at the display, noting the captain’s orders and tossed the woman to his crew’s feet. Her head watched him move away toward the upper deck and likely, in her best guess, toward the helm. Waiting until the man was out of sight, the woman hunched down on one knee then gently moved the wounded calf. The shinobi hissed in pain and recoiled, drawing a dark glare from the Cannon Brigade General at her resistance.

“Stay away…” she hissed, then forced the rest of the sentence out, “Away from me!”

”Bleed t' Davy Jones' treasure chest then, makes wee difference t' me. Akane spoke softly, through her tone was nowhere near kind in sound. She was merely stating facts as she saw them, likely if Wind or the Quartermaster had heard her then she would’ve received a punishment for it. “Despite t' cap'n's threats, if they were as harsh as he boasts then we all would've died a thousands times. So, 'tis ye choice if ye want t' make it out alive or be put in t' bottom o' t' sea... either way, it won't be me ye'll be disappointin' in t' end.”

Again, Akane started to move the leg but this time the shinobi didn’t pull away or make a remark. The blood pooled over the white skin making the darker woman bite her lip in worry and concern for less then a second. If the bleeding continued, the woman wouldn’t live to see another day. She gritted her teeth in irritation at Wind’s carelessness and high expectations to fix his damn blunders. The rotting, walking dead man was a fucking nuisance because of this. She pointed at one of the boys and called him over, the only lad to serve last years recruiting. Smartly marched over, bending at the waist to eye what she also saw.

“Bastion, be off get t' surgeon now! Be tellin' him t' meet me in t' kitchen. Also get cook t' stoke t' fires 'n boil some water, freshest he's got. Now!” Her arms lifting the girl into her own and moving toward her destination without wasting time.

Akane had left the girl in the old surgeon’s care and now it was up to one legged Tims to save her now. Systematically she was hastily cleaning the red off her hands when she marched quickly back to the room, the drop off taking less than a minute, and immediately was greeted by some men lurking outside the door. The irritation swelled in Akane. She nipped any unsavory thoughts in the ass as she snapped at the hovering men, giving each a hard glare that dared them to truffle with her.

“Get t' your stations, now! Thar’'s work t' be done and we're still in a battle, back t' six pounders. Now!”

Several backed off, their figures returned to their stations before she could utter more, while a few stalled long enough to give her a distasteful look at being denied their prey. Her hand reached for her stowed kunai, partly daring them to try to beat her into submission. At this point, only the Quartermaster, Wind and two others could easily take her on and win, reaping their rewards. Begrudgingly the remaining stragglers retreated back to their positions, her mind making a mental note to deal with the questionable behavior another time. Right now, they were in a battle. Her body returned to one of the cannon ports and edged out slightly, her torso visibly hanging into the sea air while she scanned for where the beast’s position had been. It was no longer on shore and according to one of the boys, it had slipped into the sea before they lose sight moments ago. That meant many things and none of them was something that Akane liked. Their first line of responsibility was to protect the ship. She patted the lad’s back, smirking, and retreated back into the ship.

“Good laddie. Now, let's see how well 'tis beast likes explosions should its intentions be rammin' a hole in t' Cruel Knave, shall we?” Akane said, her tone full of false hope and making assumptions about the beast’s tactics. It wasn’t a farfetched one as the best way to cripple a crew of raiding pirates was to attack their ship. In the end, she could only prepare for the worse and sometimes hope it wasn’t a waste. It was something she wasn’t fond of in the end.

However, there was more terrible things. Like the moment the men realized the ship was in danger of sinking, they all would’ve abandoned it. Their departure leaving its superiors to sink to Davy Jone’s Locker. This way she could keep them on board long enough to put up a decent fight then haul their sorry asses to the deck, giving them a chance to swim to shore or fight to survive. Through from how that beast tore up her earlier maties, either one would likely be a short lived one. At least the end might be quick and it wouldn’t be given without her killers earning it.

“Brin' me six balls, twelve empty barrels from t' grub stocks! smartly, not the time fer lollygaggin' around mates.” Akane bellowed, her hands already beginning to signing. They were simple and crude, but effective in their own fashion (taking about 2-3 seconds each) while the requested items were rolled next to her. She focused a few slivers of her chakra into the palm of her right then extended it to one of the barrels, mindful of her chakra usage, while she repeated this same to each barrel and cannon ball. They briefly glowed for a moment then faded back to normal. “Weigh t' barrels wit' t'dead stuffed inside, 'n a small iron cannon ball each. Make it able t' drop 'bout a meter below t' waterline 'n still float so we can toss it overboard. Then tie each together wit' a rope so it don't pull away from t' ship 'n stays in place tightly against t' hull.”

“Won’t that blow us up?’ Asked one man, his face filled with terror as she answered honestly.

“Aye, it could...but what do ye think that wee beast gunna do t' us? Either way, would ye rather sit n' wait to die or be off fightin' wit' a chance t' live? Now, move them six pounders out o' t' way so we can toss these pretties over t' side. ” With those last words lingering on the air, she signaled her sailors to untie the cannons then roll them out of the way. She and others, once the barrels were weighed down, tossed them through the cannon ports and into the sea. Their round shape sank quickly with the addition weight while the ropes trailed from their position, pulling them along side the hull. She did the same toward the other side hoping it was all most precaution than necessary.

To anyone who had no knowledge of Akane’s ability, it would seem like she was goofing off. However, if to her crew it was more of a sloppy and hasty created defense against attack. normally these barrels, if needed, were used against persuading ship as they could easily be cut and set afloat in their wake. However, it would remain to be seen if they would be effective against an underwater threat when the time came.

The worse part… all she could do was inform the Captain or the Quartermaster of her safety measures then wait. The barrels were both set to go off through touch or manually, through the latter used up additional chakra to activate. She hoped it wasn’t just a waste of chakra else someone was going to pay for it. Her mind considered checking on the girl again, pausing just at the stairway she had seen Wind go up earlier, wondering if the men would heed her orders while she was away.

“Refashion them six pounders 'n load them up lads.” She ordered one more time then let go of the railing, detouring back to the kitchen.

---

Kyoko's time in Kirigakure had, regrettably, mostly been spent affirming her temporary position as acting Mizukage and dealing with the various problems plaguing the Land of Water as best as she could - which had become increasingly difficult with the other factions seeming to not only oppose her claim but oppose her efforts to restore order. Initially she had considered the other factions to simply be floundering, glorified looters taking what resources and purpose they could from the ailing Mist, but the longer she looked at the various actions and consequences that each of the factions created the more she was convinced that such simple motivations were not sufficient to explain the various goings-on.

Staunch allies were a rarity in the Land of Water, especially for the leader of the faction with the least legitimate claim to power, but Kyoko had invited a promising lead (in the form of Shinmyōko) to her office in the hopes of gaining both legitimacy and an increased scope and breadth of influence. Kyoko was well aware of the games and the sub-games of politics that were happening beneath the tumultuous surface, and she owed it to the duty that she had undertaken to play along until such a point as the nation's troubles were fixed or that she found a worthy successor to the previous Mizukage.

Still, even amidst the political turmoil and the nationwide strife, Kyoko's mind could not help but ask questions - Who had killed the Mizukage, and for what purpose? Who was "Tenjin, Shingen" and was he even a real person - or was he a front, an elaborate amalgamation of individuals or guises to manipulate an entire faction? Rumours had also begun circulating of an upcoming claimant with the power of Boil release, one of the rare Kekkei Genkai in the Land of Water - and more rumours, barely legible, waiting for their surfaces to be scratched. In the current climate, Kyoko's network of spies was effective on the surface levels, but the information of the underworld was not something she could easily obtain while her duty bound her to the position of leader. Questions beget questions, and very soon Kyoko was so focused on what she could and could not see that she almost forgot that she had arranged for a visitor.

---

Her eyes roving over the village in its rather worrisome condition, Shinmyōko had a frown on her face, brows knitted together with worry in her eyes quite present. She couldn't help, but chew on the corner of her lip slightly looking at how the death of the Mizukage and the resulting civil unrest, if not outright war, was effecting the civilian population.

It disturbed her deeply yet still she could not look away. So much suffering all because no one agreed on who should be in power. Perhaps that was why she had sided with Kyoko, despite the woman having no real ties to her home. There was a certain air about the woman, despite the things she often overheard others say, she knew that Kyoko was compassionate in her own way.

She wished others could see it as clearly as she could.

The thoughts fleeing her as she arrived before the the former Mizukage's office, now made Kyoko's till another was chosen, she raised her hand. Taking a moment to compose herself, she then let her fist hit the door twice, eliciting a knocking sound from the wood. She hoped Kyoko remembered that she had called for her.

When Kyoko heard the knock resounding through the wood of the door she was brought back to this reality, her consciousness slipping back from the realm of thought that it had resided in. Daydreams were often not considered complex enough for them to be considered what Kyoko had when she was lost in thought.

"Enter."

She did not need to waste words on one who was already invited, and though she may have been more cordial to a visitor whose presence had not been planned, the bare bones were enough at this stage. She would have many words to speak very soon, and wasting precious time and precious breath on superfluous greetings for the sake of promoting ease and civility amongst an uncivilised crowd was something that she, in truth, would rather leave to those who would don the title of ambassador.

In response Shinmyō gently pushed the door open with the palm of her hand, turning so as to guide it closed quietly before she laid her gaze on the stand-in kage. She bowed her head respectfully, then let it rise once more, a small weak smile on her lips as she did. Kyoko would have learned by now that while the woman was certainly dependable, she had her own issues to work through, one of which was her shy, rather submissive nature. "Greetings Hyakune-sama," she stated respectfully, her voice level, if not a bit quiet. "What is it you require of me," she asked, a small smile lifting the edges of her lips further. The thought of being helpful to someone was one that brought her a sense of joy and fullfillment.

She awaited the woman's words, breath baited.

"I am sure I do not have to explain to you the myriad issues in which the Hidden Mist, and we as individuals, find ourselves in. We are beset from all sides, internally and externally, and should any of the other villages deem us weak enough to conquer I do not have faith that we will be able to repel them given the division of thought Kirigakure's would-be leaders seem to have. If you did not know, I have secured the aid of Kyokujitsu no Tochi for the time being, and they will help us keep the peace and feed the people until such a point as the Mist has a single leader and order can fully be restored." Kyoko started, bowing her head as a show of mutual respect as she began her speech. After she had finished, she stood and turned around in order to access the veritable mountain of neatly ordered and stacked paperwork behind her desk. It would be easy to assume that Kyoko had done it all, but it lacked a certain complexity that Kyoko seemed to emanate from every pore - it was the work of her temporary bodyguard, chief of police, and apparently desk monkey Akaritori.

Taking one of the sheets of paper from a tray labeled "War Efforts", Kyoko pulled a file identical to the one that she had shown Mitsunari and handed it to Shinmyōko. It would crumble to ash as soon as it left her chakra aura, but it would provide enough information for the purposes of the conversation, even if Kyoko had no intention of letting her invitee leave the room with any conscious knowledge of what she had read.

"I am... Concerned that many will see this as a conscription of Kyokujitsu no Tochi's forces and a play for power. For this reason, I have dispatched the agents to the most troublesome areas of the Land of Water in order to provide as much direct aid as humanly possible. As a native, I am able to ask you to perform duties that do not fall into their purview and that may be more... Delicate. You are aware of the nature and hierarchy of the faction calling themselves the "People's Brotherhood", yes?" Kyoko asked, not directly looking at Shinmyōko as her eyes were clearly fixed upon a stack of papers on her desk. She did have information to be absorbing from Akaritori's reports, and the lack of direct eye contact was something that she was conscious would aid in her diminutive assistant's apparent lack of self-confidence.

Simply nodding in response to Kyoko's words, Shinmyōko glanced at the papers and then delicately took them from the woman, glancing down at them, her brow furrowing slightly despite her smile not disappearing. She was not so sure she needed to look them over, but nonetheless she opened them and skimmed a little before turning her attention back to Kyoko as was required. "Yes, I've...seen some of theirs here and there. I wasn't seeking them though, it's just hard to avoid on patrols is all," there was a nervous tone in her voice and body language, so much so that she had decided to take a step or two towards Kyoko and set the papers back on her desk, smiling demurely as she did so.

"I think whatever you tell me will be plenty for whatever is required of me lady Hyakune. That is...if I may be frank. I probably should have asked first," a nervous, quiet laugh followed her last statement.

"They are my, and I suppose by extension your, highest priority at the moment. As the most developed of the opposing factions, I would have them see sense and stand down or be forcefully cowed into submission... Unfortunately, that is a nigh impossible task given that none of their leadership seem to act openly. They are a glorified secret society, and secrets are weapons on the battlefield. They may never fight with blades or chakra, but they will claim many lives with their willful ignorance or their incessant need for power that they fail to realise we do not currently possess. My task to you is simple - discover the names of the lieutenants of the Hidden Brotherhood and deliver them to me. While I ask that you do not directly harm the leaders themselves, I do not expect you to show restraint against those who would harm you, or to keep mooks alive for the sake of a mercy they do not possess. War is hell, and while our efforts are for peace, we must undermine our principles to fight on identical levels. It is a sad truth, but such is the nature of war, and that is why we must end it as swiftly and decisively as possible." Kyoko replied, softening her own voice in order to meet Shinmyōko's ambient level of noise.

After finishing, Kyoko took a glass vial from a drawer in her desk, as well as a kunai, and placed them on the table. She would not illuminate their purpose immediately, but would wait for Shinmyōko to reply - after which she would likely question their purpose regardless.

Nodding in what would be seen as an enthusiastic fashion to anyone who knew Shinmyōko, the woman responded only once Kyoko had finished speaking, her eyes being drawn to the items on the desk as before they locked onto Kyoko again. "Very well, I will do my utmost to obtain their names Hyakune-sama," her tone was more cheery now, but was also mixed with a certain determination, one begotten from intense loyalty and a will to do her utmost.

Glancing back to the kunai and vial, Shinmyōko tilted her head to the side slightly, "What are those for, Hyakune-sama?" Her tone was inquisitive and not the least bit worried.

"I have in my possession a powerful technique that will allow me to summon you to my side if you are in danger or if I urgently require you. This technique requires a small offering of blood, akin to a summoning technique, and I would have you donate your blood for this cause. If you have no skill in Fuuinjutsu you will be required to cut yourself, but if you are skilled in the sealing arts I can give you a seal that will allow for the blood to be extracted painlessly and without breaking the skin." Kyoko replied, still soft but as matter-of-fact as was necessary when asking someone to offer their blood.

Listening intently, her curiousity quickly being sated, Shinmyōko gave Kyoko a bit of an exasperated smile, "Infortunately I'll have to use the kunai ma'am, but I'd be glad to do so. It seems like a helpful tool for both of us," as she said it she relaxed somewhat, smiling brightly before she reached for the kunai and vial.

"This'll take just a sec," she said, looking Kyoko in the eye. She then turned her attention to the back of her hand and pricked herself twice in the same spot before turning her hand and letting the small amount of blood to tricke down and into the vial. After several drops had entered the vial she preformed several handseals and channeled chakra to the tiny wound to help direct heat to it as well as amplify her healing factor enough to close the wounds, though it worked only for a moment.

With the scab formed she handed the vial to Kyoko, giving her a close eyed smile as she did so. When she took it, she'd happily chime, "There you go ma'am, anything else?"

"Ah, I will require the vial be filled, I am afraid - preparation is key, and it would not do to lose both a valuable ally and an individual with a heart like yours. I assure you that I am doing this for your protection and to preserve my efforts, not for malignant purposes that do lend themselves to the idea of giving blood to another." Came the reply, her voice slightly harsher but still soft enough to give the impression of genuine warmth. It was a slightly macabre fashion of protecting those under her employ, but it was the most effective way she could think of.

"One more thing - With your permission, I would perform a genjutsu on you that will make you forget the contents of the report you read until you are next in my presence. It contains valuable information that I do not wish to leave this office, and it may well be the thing that saves your life should someone attempt to interrogate you before I am able to call you to my side."

Rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly, Shinmyōko nodded and drew the kunai and vial back to herself. She opened the small wound again, this time slightly larger, wincing a bit as she did so. She began filling the vial while Kyoko spoke. By the time the woman had finished, the vial was full and Shinmyōko produced some bandages to wrap her hand in after giving Kyoko the vial. "If it suits you, of course," she said, a slightly distracted tone in her voice as she wrapped her hand in the bandage. Nonetheless, she had fully understood Kyoko's words. "Better safe than sorry, after all," she finished, her bandage secured around her hand. She smiled at Kyoko and waited.

Kyoko nodded, and performed her Shosai no Kogeru technique as directed. Of course, she would also have to suppress the memory of Shinmyōko agreeing to the technique, but it would not be particularly effective to leave that memory unsupressed.

"One last thing - Mitsunari is also on the same mission that you are. That said, I do not want you to interact with him at all. Be diligent, and avoid contact if possible. You are free to make any excuses you like and as long as I am informed I will verify them. If he does not know you are on the mission, it will help him not reveal any more information than is necessary should he slip up - and being the legendary narcissist that he is, I expect a certain degree of failure."

As the genjutsu occurred she felt a wave of confusion hit her and suddenly she wondered what they had been talking about, and if they had been talking. Some of it she could remember, but everything else was a haze. Then the haze was gone and she wasn't even sure what she'd thinking about. As Kyoko began to talk, Shinmyōko used her voice to anchor herself, while simultaneously wondering why she felt so disoriented.

In response she nodded and responded with a swift and dutiful, "Very well!"

"Not all people react well to giving blood - are you quite alright?" Kyoko asked, though immediately afterwards she stood and walked over to her guest.

"Perhaps a spell in the infirmary would do you some good? You can rest briefly and then embark on your mission."

Feeling a bit dizzy she noticed the bandages on her hand and the faint throbbing sensation of having a wound. It was a small one though, she knew...despite not remembering how she'd gotten it. "I...yes, thank you Hyakune-sama, I'll go get looked at before I head out for my mission. Thank you," she smiled a bit uncertainly before turning and exiting the room, heading for the infirmary.

Why couldn't she remember where she'd gotten the wound?

---

Shadan embraced Tensai strongly.

"Ah, my friend, too long," Shadan replied. For most, his tone would almost be shouting, but for those that had experience with the boisterous shinobi would know that was actually his reserved 'inside' voice. "We will have to drink tonight to your new role as Ambassador." He patted Tensai's back with enough force that it would have knocked a small tree over. Shadan's wife, Suishō bowed to both the Tsuchikage and Tensai in respect.

Shadan, of course, was not done, "Lord Tsuchikage! What a pleasure to meet you." The large man moved into hug the Tsuchikage, having since released Tensai. This earned a sharp look from Suishō into the back of his skull.

Ayameko said nothing but smiled at the antics of her friend. It was one of the reasons she had brought Shadan and his family along on the trip. It was very difficult not to smile around him. He would have made a good ambassador himself, but, unlike Tensai, he did not have the reserve in the situations that called for such skills.

"Lord Tsuchikage," Ayameko replied, "There is no need to be concerned. Your men were only doing what they thought was best for the village. They should not, and you should not, feel at all ashamed." She waved her hand, a gesture that the situation was something to brush aside, "And yes, please lead the way to your office. We should discuss a few items in advance of the festival tomorrow. But first, please let me introduce you to my travelling companions for this trip."

"You already know Shadan," Ayameko smiled, knowing at this point Shadan needed no introduction, "But this would be part of his family. His wife Suishō, who is assisting as my guard for this trip." Ayameko gestured to the dark haired, slender woman with the bow. "Her children, Tokumei, Kisaki, and Kei. Kei also serves as my assistant and I have just appointed Kisaki to ambassador to Kumogakure."

Kisaki and Kei bowed to the Tsuchikage when Ayameko gestured to the respective individual. Kei smiled, while Kisaki maintained her stern expression, which made her look even more like her mother. In fact, the only truly obvious difference between the two was the slight age visible on Suishō's face and Kisaki's golden hair.

She did not say much about Tokumei as his position in the village was hard to explain. While invaluable, he had no real formal title. She had thought about giving him one, but after discussing it with the youth, they had both felt there was no need. She appreciated his ability to provide his skills to the village with little recognition, which is why she respected the youth so highly. This trip was part of a way to show this appreciation, knowing he should be relatively safe within the Land of Earth with the rest of his family, as well as Tensai.

"Tensai," Ayameko added, turning to her old friend and Ambassador, "Shiori and Yui are packing their things and should be moving within the week. I believe they are still packing books for the move." Ayameko smiled at the thought of that, knowing the move of the Yuki's would probably give the Land of Earth a significant increase in reading material between the two young women alone.

---

It was at that moment another group landed, having been riding upon a flying sheep.

"We are here for the festival as well," Chiyoko stated, swinging her leg over the sheep to put both feet on the ground. A small child, no more than four, remained on the sheep. "My sheep refused to go anywhere else, I think, for the sake of this child who he believes is interested in attending this event," she continued to explain, wanting to clarify that she was not there to cause issues. Chiyoko was visibly a bit different than most, so she often found that it was necessary to explain to others what precisely she was doing - and it wasn't just because of the sheep. Even when she spoke, in front of two Kage's, she had this far off look in her face.

Ayameko was a bit familiar with the strange woman who had visited her own village awhile back and was now in charge of her protege's child. It was a strange arrangement, but it wasn't her place to question 'Kyokujitsugakure's Best Parents' for the last three years in a row.

Shadan waved at Tokiko, the child that was seated on Hitsujiki.

Chiyoko realized that the situation may be confusing, "I am Chiyoko. I am from the Land of the Moon. I am a wandering spiritualist. These are my companions, Hitsujiki," she gestured to the sheep, and then gestured to the child, "And Tokiko, who Hitsujiki looks after." She followed this up with an awkward bow in the direction of Shadan who she assumed was leading the group based on his size.

Hitsujiki bleated a response to Chiyoko's introduction, assumably an honor to the presence of the two Kage. Tokiko merely made a giggling noise before almost falling off of Hitsujiki's back.

Sleep was difficult for the paranoid, Locke drifted in and out unwillingly. He'd miss the sound of it the first couple times during his quaint snooze. There's a reason why drinking and driving is bad. Locke dozed off for a moment, whilst leaning on the right end of his wheel. The ship turned swiftly, and not many of the men were as phased by the sudden change as you'd expect them to be. One mate would ask "Sir, what's the route?" Only to be responded to by angry whiskey induced yelling.

"Heavy tha' sails! Mermph! Me Roger be... jolly! And tell tha' wench... she can... she can... all over the tickle trunk!" Locke was infamous for sleep talking, or so the crew suspected. Regardless of if it were such, nor if it were coherent glossolalia, some things were indistinguishable between the pirate and a sinful demon. His crew obeyed as it would, and for a moment, the entire ship would circle laps. At a steady pace, the broadside of the Cruel Knave turned to face the ninjas for a moment, before a head to head feint ensued. Before long, the pursuers might notice changes to the atmosphere around them, and not only by the toxic fog, nor the smell of gunpowder, but the waters tread seemed lead astray in to chaos. After speeding the sails with wind techniques, and leading the boat to chase its tail enough times, the pirate crew would've created a whirlpool within the circumference of the traveled circle.

Only after Locke stumbled sideways did he wake up for sure, and his eyes would briskly open to the sight of an individual approaching the flank of his ship. The water beckoned his death and mocked a clock as it spun out of control. After climbing diagonally back up the ship and pushing the wheel in the opposite direction, the Cruel Knave would quickly detach from the growing whirlpool before it too was sucked in. Raging currents dared to consume the ninjas and beasts beneath the water's surface, and that wasn't even intentional on Locke's behalf! Not to mention his ignorance towards the sinker bombs that Akane was tossing overboard, the pursuer's would be lucky if they weren't whipped by the flailing six-pounder bombs. Upon coming to, the voices of the quartermaster and crow became much more clear. "Water skitters at six o'clock!" Was lingo for anyone capable of treading the water without a ship, just like the bug.

The battle was not yet over, and to that, Locke would take a swig, maybe two... five good chugs, polishing off the canteen right then and there. The captain knew they were being attacked, and yet he wasn't as quick to confront his pursuer's as one might expect. Of course, the quarter master and many of the ship's pirates would've already taken up their arms, to begin firing round-shots down the side of the hull, aiming at any one ninja who dared come too close. Several smoke bombs struck the hull, which was a funny tactic, had the many ninjas not realized that the entire Cruel Knave was already veiled in a thick mist? As they boarded the ship, they would require some sort of filtering rag or something to handle the mixture of fumes. Each human entering the vicinity would already begin feeling the moisture on their skin, and a bitter taste in their mouths. Various shouts and shots could be heard, as the crew prepared for combat. Locke's last act at the ship's wheel was to process a tried and true tactic, the direction their ship now head in, would lead it crashing ashore within half an hour.

"Stormie's gone, that good ol' man, t' my way hay, storm along, John!" And so captain Locke began to sing in merriment, embracing the chaos. "Stormie's gone, that good ol' man, t' my aye, aye, aye, Mista' Storm-along!" Not a note was cracked, no stress to bend the break. It was if he was giving away his position, however the song held a purpose. It would seem at first like the pirate's weren't even aware of the situation at hand, a couple gun shots could mean anything! The ninja's unable to see through the mist wouldn't quickly spot the captain digging through his old chest, pulling out as many firearms as humanly possible. One for each sleeve, each belt strap, and anywhere else not pointing anywhere vital. "They dug 'is grave, with a silva' spade! T' my way hay, storm along, John! His shroud o' finest silk was made. To my aye, aye, aye, Mista' Storm Along!" Half way through the shanty, and Locke was already geared from head to toe, with an extra dozen flasks of his famous brew to top the cake. Breathing the smokescreen in without coughing a lung, Locke grinned vilely as the real fight began.

"Oi, quit yer' skulking, ye bloody piss-head pansies! Have at me, like aarrrrrreeaaal man! YAAAHAHAHAHAHARRRR!" Locke's maniacal laughter, and loud booming voice not only served to instigate more out of his enemies, but with it came the storm that served his beckon call. A strange glow pierced the veil, as the cruel captain turned to stare off the back of his ship. He could sense the malice in a man, good or bad, small or great, and anyone who has ever shed blood is susceptible to this sight. The smokescreen parted, and a powerful gust would barrage the first ninja to step foot on the Cruel Knave, Hiroshi Wakahishi, whose name wasn't yet known or cared for by the pirate captain. The ninja would be shot straight back in to the ocean, unless his strength was great, and his balance was true. It was here that Locke would get a good look at his first appointed bounty hunter, and it excited him greatly to be given the privilege of facing such a quick reacting squadron. They were probably worth something alive, if they were lucky, otherwise their thumbs would do. Time was of the essence, and not worth wasting, so Locke took this opportunity to rush in and pick off the first wave. Hiroshi would find himself being focused down the minute he showed face, for the storm wasn't the only thing threatening his footing; Locke would appear before him in an instant, as sparks of electricity shot from the pirate's body, he spun around once, and used the momentum to swing his treasure chest with such a force, Hiroshi's puppet would likely be sent flying off the ship if it didn't weigh upright a half ton. In the fluid motion, gunfire would ring from many angles, one of them coming from Locke's right hand, as he pointed a barrel at the ninja's abdomen, it would shoot directly after the first strike.

@Keyblade87

---

Uchiha Touzoku, the only daughter to Sankage Ayameko, had finally been able to retire from leading ANBU and pursue her life's ambition of teaching the next generation. While still young, only in her late 30s, Touzoku's skills had made it hard for her to stay on her job any longer. The unique effects of her Sharingan had made her one of the best to ever lead ANBU, but it also was what made it so she was unable to continue. As such, she asked to retire early and take on a different role in the village. Ayameko granted the request, not solely because Touzoku was her daughter, but because she knew precisely how much the war had taken out of her.

Kyokujitsu no Tochi's Academy was very thorough. They tended to have higher ages for graduates from the academy and it was even strongly encouraged by the village leadership to have continue to train until the age of eighteen. However, there was apparently a few unique prospects that would benefit from early graduation and study under the former ANBU leader. An Uchiha by the name of Akira, and Touzoku's own son Kiken. She was familiar with her son's unique skills by virtue of being his mother, but she had not heard much about Akira's abilities. That meant it was necessary for her to meet with Akira prior to formally beginning their little squad for the village.

She had sent one of the academy students to deliver a message to the young genin asking for him to meet with her in a training ground next to the academy within the village. There should could begin to learn about her new student.

Akira grinned from ear to ear as he awoke to find his favorite breakfast out and his parents both smiling. Whilehe had graduated early from the academy and had already been on a few minor missions, (Some that became big fiascos resulting in him gaining a name and some recognition around the village) his parents were still overjoyed and would suprise him with his favorite foods and activities when he wasn't trying to train with his father. After wolfing down his food he got dressed throwing on his usual white t-shirt and black pants with the black fur lined jacket, Tieing his headband around his head and securing that the metal forehead protector was snug on his forehead he brushe dback his black hair and ran out the door.

If there was anything Akira loved it was walking through the village in the morning, especially on a full stomach. While he ran around playing half-heartedly with the children as he mad his way out of the Uchiha compound he kept replaying his thoughts about becoming a Jounin Instructor one day. Smiling as he began walking into the village nearly getting run over by one of the Academy Students in the process.
"Hey man watch where you're going next time alright?" he said hauling himself up and brushing the dust off himself.
"Ah, I'm sorry didn't expect anyone to be coming through." the young student said bowing after standing himself up. "You wouldn't happen to know where I can find Uchiha, Akira would you?" he asked looking up at Akira and the look of disbeleif displayed across his face.
"Uuh You're lookin' at him," Akira said a bit stunned that the guy hadn't recognized him. "What can I do for you?" Akira added for good measure.
"Oh well I have this here for you, Miss Uchiha Touzoku requests you to meet with her." the kid explained handing Akira a small slip of paper with the location.
"Oh well alright then thank you." Akira said bowing slightly to the young boy as he turned to leave. So the training grounds huh? I wonder why I'm going there to meet with someone from the same clan as me. Akira thought as he bagan running toward the training ground next to the Academy eager to see what this was all about. As he approached the feild he saw the woman and walked over cautiously the recognition of the name dawning on him now that he could see the womans face. Why in the world would the Lady Sankage's daughter want to see me? he thought to himself as he reached the woman and smiled as kindly as he could manage as nervous as he was.
"Hello, You requested to see me?" He said with a nervous bow noting how his actions and voice were betraying him revealing the nervous young man beneath kind mask he wore.

@Keyblade87

---

Touzoku nodded in response to his question, moving away from the tree she was leaning against to walk around Akira.

"I've been given leadership of this genin squad," Touzoku responded to the clearly nervous genin, "Since I'm not necessarily familiar with your abilities, I figured it'd be good for us to meet and learn about each other. It will be important when we are tackling harder missions that I know precisely what you are capable of in terms of weaknesses and strengths so we can work together better as a squad. We will all have talents to bring to the table and things we can learn from each other."

"As for me, I was formerly the head of ANBU and what you probably know me for mostly is being daughter of Sankage Ayameko,"Touzoku responded, not really as a way to act superior, but more of a matter of fact. Despite her tenure with ANBU, she had intentionally kept as low of a profile as she could. It was the best way for her to conduct business, despite the fact she'd likely go down as one of the most effective leaders of the group in the history of the village by virtue of her unique derivative of the Sharingan.

"Since you are an Uchiha, I suppose you have already manifested your Sharingan at this stage," Touzoku added, now in front of Akira, "How far have you progressed with it? One, two, or three tomoe?" It wasn't necessarily something that really mattered to her, the Sharingan was only an aid, but should the situation require it, it was good information to know, "Also, what you would you describe as your strengths and weaknesses?"

She put her hands on her hips as she awaited the genins answer. Despite the posture being something seemingly that could come across as aggressive, Touzoku made it feel more motherly than anything, as if she was genuinely interesting in learning about him but giving him that look that it was important that he be honest with her. It was, in fact, true, as Touzoku did care - as she cared about all members of her village. And, on top of that, Akira was sort of family. While she was only the daughter of an Uchiha, her mother's first husband who was long deceased, she did not interact much with the clan. She had married outside of the clan, which wasn't an issue, but meant that she spent more time with her husband's family up until she had divorced. She had opted to stay in her own home after separating, rather than returning to the clan compound despite being more than welcome. She hadn't grown up with them, as her mother's status as Sankage had allowed her to spend her youth outside of that group.

Akira stood in shock from the news of being thrown into a permanent genin squad. Listening to the woman speak he began to feel awed at all she had accomplished the woman to him couldn't look a day over 25 and yet her eyes seemed much older. Listening to her questions he began to grin. This was a chance for him to show his skills and reveal quite a bit about himself to a new teacher and his new team leader. Still grinning he looked up and met Touzoku's eyes.

"I have all three tomoe in my sharingan," He said proudly not knowing many before him to have done this. "As for strengths and weaknesses, Strengths would be a kenjustu and ninjutsu aptitude as well as a specialty with fire and lightning release techniques. My sharingan grants me extra perception as you know being an Uchiha yourself. Also I find I excell in chakra control though my pool seems to be average when compared to others in the village. In the term of weaknesses I would say while I am adequate in Taijutsu because of my use of a sword I still feel like I lack in that category as well as the categories of Genjutsu and Fuujinjutsu. While I try to be as rounded as possible as of late I have been focusing on the development of a Kenjutsu technique, I have it down now I just need to master it and see if its possible to adapt it to the Lightning and Wind releases I carry" Akira rambled both trying to make himself look good and at the same time being honest with the tthings he needs to work on and build toward. When he finished he smiled again realizing that Touzoku was the kind of instructor and leader he admired to become when he finally got to that point.

Taking in the idea of training genin much like himself he couldn't help but smile even wider as he knew that the instructors at the academy were right and that he could be a teacher and instructor later on. Deciding at that moment to do as much as he could for each student and genin that ever came under his care.

The moment the sun rose in the Hidden Sand, people began to stir. One such person was Momo Sakurai, who had woken up to prepare for her impending mission. She was feeling well rested and ready to go, but first, she had to make sure she had all the things she would need. Making a list, she would check off the things she had, and the things she needed to pick up from the store on the way out.

Quickly, Momo went through her scrolls and inspected the weapons she used most often, making sure they didn't need to be immediately replaced. Afterwards she dressed in her regular gear, attaching the large scroll to her waist with a belt and securing two hip pouches just under it. As she walked out of the room, she reached into a drawer and retrieved her two bracelets she used for quick seals and put them on, not having anything sealed to them yet.

As she bounded down the stairs from her room, Momo immediately went to the living area where she was the previous day and picked up her pink ribbon that was left lying on the floor. Frowning at the odd dampness of it, she decided to leave her hair down rather than put baby drool in her hair.

Her last few moments at home were spent with her eating a slightly burned fruit tart with her Father and sister, who both seemed to enjoy them despite the charred aftertaste. She bid the two farewell afterwards, stopping at the entryway and placing her shoes on before leaving.

So, Momo had to make a stop at the local weapons store first to replace her smoke bombs as well as some bandages, ointment and some other things. As she ran through the still clear streets of the village, she tightened the forehead protecter that was in her hair as it started to slip a bit. One would be able to tell she was excited to start the mission, despite the dangers of it. With a small smile, she rounded a corner and made her way into the local weapons shop, looking around for what she needed and quickly grabbing them. Lady Yuzuki had said to meet at the village entrance at dawn, and it was already around that time. Momo. would have just a few minutes to make it there.

Contrastly loud snoring began the morning for Mochizuki. Laid out in a mess in her room, it looked more like a nest than a bedroom. The only thing remotely organized was a pile of book and sheets of paper, with various equations on them. And half of those had fallen on her, her face now a trigometric approach to projectiles, vibrating at each snore. One such snore was so loud, Mochizuki nearly choked on it, causing her to wake up. The paper was still on her face.

“What time is it….?”

The paper fell, Mochizuki having a clear view of the horizon. The sun was just starting to rise.

"A good morning it's almost dawn…aw…”

In a flurry of moment she started getting dressed, putting on clothes at a rapid speed, and complaining each time one of her two wings got in the way.

“Why do we ever have these things?”

Her gathering of supplies was about as rapid.

“Where's my blowgun?”

A ruffling several paper later, she found it under a pile of math books, next to a ruler.

“I can figure out how to rifle it naturally later. Let's see…. This should be good for darts. A few of these.”

Standing in the hall, her father stood against a wall drinking his morning coffee. A blur of green streaked past him, papers flying out the room behind her.

“And that is the proud princess of the Tonbo clan. Do I even want to look in that room?”

Mochizuki ran full speed towards the village entrance. Zooming in on it, she barely saw the person she was going with showing up. She breathed a sigh of relief, she wasn't too late. It took her a few minutes to catch up to the place.

“Good morning, Momo.”

At the sound of her voice, Momo turned to look behind her. She was just finishing putting her things away into a small scroll. Reaching behind her and placing it in one of her hip pouches, she looked at the girl who was coming towards her at full speed. Taking a step back just in case the girl wouldn't slow down, she returned the greeting to her fellow chunin.

"Good morning Mochizuki-san." she said, looking a bit confused. She wondered what she was doing there so early and if she was also on a mission. From the looks of it, she seemed she was wearing some gear. "What brings you here so early?" she asked out of curiosity.

Mochizuki came to an abrubt stop, sand flying behind her.

"Escorting some girl called Sakuya Nyoto. Kazekage said I was going with you. Stop any nasty bandits from getting in the way.. We get to see a forest! Trees, life, no sand. This is going to be great!"

Her wings buzzed excitedly behind her.

"Anyways, guess she didn't tell you. She told me 'Originally I told Momo this was to be just a one man mission, due to moving a large group of people wouldn't be the best.' So glad I didn't miss you. Are you as excited about this as I am?"

Her imitation of the Kazekage was surprisingly spot on when she quoted her..

Momo couldn't help it, the energy of the girl was infectious and so she smiled and clapped her hands together. "I am really excited about this. Also kind of nervous. I'm actually happy someone else will be coming along with me." she said. "Though I don't think I'll appreciate a forest or trees as much as you seem to. Regardless, I wonder where this Sakuya person is."

"I've been here the whole time." a young woman's voice would be heard to the left of the two. Momo would look over and noticed a woman slowly appear from being completely invisible. Blinking, Momo said with a small bow "Oh. Nice to meet you Miss Sakuya." Standing up straight, she watched as the pink haired woman slowly walked over to them, wearing only a simple kimono. "My name is Momo and this is Mochizuki. We'll be escorting you back home." she introduced.

Mochizuki's wings hummed as she was introduced.

"Aren't you two a pair of cuties?" she said with a smile. "Nice to meet you two. I've been waiting for Yuzuki. She has something she needs to give me." the woman said, her face flashing to one of anger for a moment.

"Want me to get it? I know a quick route to the Kazekage's office. I can be back here lickity split."

Mochizuki's shortcut only involved 3 trespassings, and several roofjumps through the window. It was her favorite route. Mochizuki noticed the flash of anger, she wondered if something had gone wrong.

Sakuya crossed her arms and closed her eyes. "If you wouldn't mind, I would appreciate if you did. I'm not the patient sort and I've been stuck here in this damned place long enough." she said. Momo's eyebrow raised at the woman's irritation. It was her understanding that she had been kept here for her own safety, not against her will. Momo kept quiet then, glancing at Mochizuki and nodding to her.

"If you think you can be quick, then sure." she said.

Mochizuki nodded, and turned to the village. Then, as any normal person would do, she started scaling the side of a building looking a bit like a bug as she did. She hummed as she did.

As soon as she got to the top, heading towards the Kazekage's office, she activated her dojutsu, zooming in on it. The Kazekage seemed to be getting ready to leave. Mochizuki quickly brought out a piece of paper, and scribbled on it.

Sakuya wants something.

She wrapped it around a dart, and loaded her blowgun.

The dart would land about a foot infront of the Kazekage. Mochizuki continue onwards, she'd be a minute or two behind the note.

As Yuzuki was preparing to leave her office, a sudden sound of slicing wind was heard coming closer. A moment later, something tapped the ground right in front of her. A jerking of her shoulders and a light gasp was a clear giveaway that she had been startled by it. She took a step back, looking at it for a moment and then sighing in relif. She knelt as she wiped some sweat from her brow. As she read the note, she was slowly walking towards the window, knowing the chunin girl would be coming soon.

She put on a calm face, not wanting her unease to be easily shown. The fact Yuzuki was this frazzled this morning was slightly shameful, but she would put on a smile and a good face for the rest of the day. Leaning against the window sill, she waited for the girl to come.

A loud crash was heard outside her office, followed by footsteps up the stairs.

Mochizuki opened the door from the inside, brushing sand off of herself.

"Morning, Kazekage. Sorry, was in a rush. Sakuya was wanting something from you. She looked angry about something. "

Yuzuki tore her gaze from outside the window, giving the chunin an incredulous look. She looked between the window and the door, clearly confused for a moment. "You used the..."

For a long moment, she just stared at the girl.

Snapping out of it, Yuzuki walked over and handed Mochizuki a small scroll. "Anyway, this is what Sakuya needs. My side of the agreement we had." she paused. "Oh and one more thing." she said reaching into her pocket. She pulled out a small piece of paper with a seal on it. "Give this to Momo for me."

She gave a smile and placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Good luck."

Mochizuki buzzed as the Kazekage's hand was placed on her shoulder. It was good will, she wanted to make Yuzuki proud.

"Thanks! I'll make sure to do well on the mission. Well, don't want to be late."

She picked up her dart, then took a step towards the door, but just to give her more running space, turning, and rushing out the window, making extra sure to grab the next roof ledge harder.

"I wonder what....agreement they had?"

It sounded more like argument. But it wasn't her place.

She found her way back to Momo and Sakuya, sounding from above them. Her wings spread out as she jumped down. She wished they would catch her weight. How she'd love to fly, she'd be even more free than she was.

"Hey, I'm back! The Kazekage had something for both of you."

She touched down, and reached to her pouch, pulling out their respective seal and scroll.

Momo looked up and stepped to the side just in case Mochizuki would mess up in her landing, but no such thing happened. no such thing happened. She wondered for a moment what the Kazekage would need to give her and waited until she was handed the small seal. She looked confused for a moment, the word written under the pattern was 'Jar". Shrugging, she started to transfer the item to one of her bracelet seals.

Sakuya meanwhile half snatched the scroll out of the girl's hand and slipped it into her kimono. "Very good. Well, if there's nothing us to keep us from leaving, shall we?" she said, turning and starting to walk towards the main village entrance. Momo glanced at Mochizuki and gave her look that read 'what's this chick's problem?' before she started to follow the woman. They took their time, though knowing they would have to move quickly one outside the village.

Mochizuki gave a 'I dunno' shrug with her arms and wings.

Reaching into a pouch, she brought out a folded piece of paper that held a map of the route they were meant to take, handing it to Mochizuki after she was done looking at it. "Shouldn't be more than a day's journey there and back, though if we need to stop and rest at any point, we'll need to be careful." she told her.

"Well, let's go!"

Mochizuki's wings hummed, and she picked up her speed.

--------------Some time later---------------------------



The three girls traveled for some hours, moving quickly with little to no stops in their journey. Normally it would take a half days journey to get to the border between the Lands of Wind and Fire, but due to the fact they had to often change positions according to the map, the time seemed to take a bit longer than usual. They spoke only little to avoid giving away their position, as it was hard to find cover in the sandy expanse of the desert. Save for the occasional large stone structure to crouch and rest in, the three traveled out in the open. Momo couldn't help but feel like she was slowing the team down, as she typically ran behind the other two, but she kept pushing as fast as she could.

Sakuya meanwhile was lost in her own thoughts, only casually watching her surroundings. If the need would arise, she would simply camouflage to the area and avoid detection, but being attacked wasn't something she was concerned with. The woman craacked a devilish smirk as she studied the wings of the young girl running in front of her. A thought passed her mind about what one would pay to get a set of wings such as those.

However... she thought, looking over her shoulder at the other one. She could pose a problem. she thought, turning back before Momo could catch her looking.

Though it seemed a shame that there was suddenly another person, Sakuya was sure the unwelcome addition wouldn't set back her plans too much.

Afterall...

It's not like either one of them will make it back anyway.

Mochizuki was completely unaware of the continual glancing at her wings as she zoomed in on the border.

"♫Trees, trees!♫"

It wasn't that she was inattentive, it was that she was focused on scanning the border. She watched the trade route a bit to the south, a bit off course, but she wanted to make sure there wasn't any surprises.

The problem with Mochizuki's dojutsu though was the zooming took her focus away from the current situation.

After a second, she zoomed out again. She could speak now that she was fairly sure no one was infront of them.

"Don't see anything too strange. Those trees are huge! One has to be 113 meter's high! It's only 1.54 km from here, you guys have to be able to see it! Are you from here by the way Sakuya?"

Mochizuki was a bit scared though, remembering Sakuya's earlier glimpses of anger, she wanted to know her a bit better.

While Momo had fairly good eyesight, she couldn't see more than what appeared to be a ocean of green ahead of them. She cracked a grin at Mochizuki's excitement. "I can't see individual trees. I have normal person eyes." she said with a bit of a sarcastic tone. She was teasing the girl, but still was admittedly excited about entering a new land for the first time.

When a question was directed to Sakuya, Momo listened to what the woman would say, pretty interested herself. It was always nice to get to know the person you excorted. "I think Lady Yuzuki said she was from the Land of Fire, right?" she said, asking for confirmation.

Sakuya figured she could play along with the pointless small talk. Besides, she didn't mind if the topic was her.

"I was born in the Land of Fire, in a small province just outside the Hidden Village. I don't feel inclined to tell you too much about it, but I will say that we've not always had a peaceful history. There are some people there who allegedly run an underground mercenary training system. I left that place a long time ago." she finished, leaving out the part that she was one of those people who were raised in that system.

Momo seemed rather unfazed by her response, not fininding it that interesting in any case. "Well, hopefully you've made a better life for yourself. I'm no expert, but I hear those who live in Kyokujitsugakure are typically content with how they live. I've met a few clients to the Sand who were from there, or even people who moved from there to live here." she said, glancing around them. Faintly she felt something beneath her feet, but just as quickly as the sensation came, it faded.

Sakuya also felt the slight tremor and glanced down at the loose sand beneath her feet. Hmm...? she thought to herself, though not particularly worried.

Mochizuki's wings spread in surprise, and she reached for her blowgun. She didn't get the chance to react to Sakuya's comment, though her feeling was probably a bit more sympathetic than Momo.

Glancing around, she found a rock nearby, and scaled it. It gave a better vantage point, and was sturdier. Seeing this, Momo went to catch up to Sakyua and stop her as she slowed down too.

She turned around to Sakuya, and offered a hand, not saying a word. she glanced around for Momo, and seeing her, offered her other hand as well. The sand wasn't supposed to shake like that. Mochizuki waited a second for any aftershocks.

Sakuya resisted the urge to yank her arm away when Momo touched it to slow her arm, though the disgust on her face was clear and even Momo noticed it. "Please Miss Sakuya, stay close to us." she said, leading her to where Mochizuki was perched on a large boulder. She went over and waited for Sakuya to first be helped up.

Rolling her eyes, Sakuya took the hand of Mochizuki and allowed herself to be helped up. Momo did the same a moment after, going to stand at the back of her comrade. "You felt it then, Mochizuki?" she asked.

Mochizuki nodded at Momo, mumbling a 'mhmm'. She then moved to the otherside of Sakuya as Momo. Next, she activated her dojutsu to 4x zoom, and gave a quick glance around the area. Earthquakes weren't exactly completely new to her, but she figured it was better to be safe than sorry. She was worried by how short it was though. Earthquakes were quick, but they weren't that quick.

She waited for any aftershocks, even a faint one, to reassure herself whether or not it could have just been an earthquake.

Sakuya seemed to be unfazed by all of this, where as Momo was keeping a close eye and ear on her surroundings. To the left of them, not even a mile away, was the border between the two lands. That meant they were nearing the halfway point of the journey. A short travel into the forest to the location of the safe house would be the other half, and hopefully thing's weren't taking a turn for the worse just yet.

Sakuya started to inspect the beds of her nails just as another, but noticibly stronger tremor was heard. "Aren't these little quakes common in this area? Why are you two wound up?" she asked them, sounding pointedly irritated.

Momo frowned then ignoring the woman's question.

"Well, I guess the trees are new to us, and the sands to you. This one is wierd. It's too short, and the aftershock is stronger than the first quake." Mochizuki whispered.

"I noticed that too." Momo said, nodding as a hand instinctively reached back and rested on her scroll.

Scoffing, Sakuya gave a glare looking between the two girls. "Well, you two can sit here and contemplate the meaning of natural geological occurrences," she started, hopping off of the rock and stretching. "But I'm going to continue along."

And without another word, she started travelling in the way they were previously going.

Momo cursed and turned to follow her, hopping off the rock as well.

Mochizuki looked nervous for a minute as Sakuya jumped off, and Momo turned to follow her.

She swallowed hard, standing ontop of the rock still. She was supposed to do what was right as a ninja.... but what if she was wrong? She always had a sensei with her before. She always did what she wanted, but she never had to worry about it either.

She decided what she should do in the end. She continued on the rock, and motioned for Momo to keep going. Mochizuki's eyes couldn't keep up all day, but they could for a bit. She laid prone on the rock, and pulled out her blowgun. She'd observe til Sakuya was almost to the tree, then catch up if nothing would happen.

Momo followed Sakuya but looked behind her at Mochizuki, worried about the girl as she slowly started to get farther away. Every bad sense in her was tingling and she was on edge, but what she was focused on was completing the mission. She needed to get Sakuya to the safe house.

The pink haired woman in front of her started to chuckle softly and Momo's attention was diverted to her. "What is it?" she asked the woman.

Smirking, Sakuya would slowly come to a stop, a few dozen meters away from the edge of the forest serving as a natural border. "I was just thinking about that precious Kazekage of yours. I never really liked her, despite what she may have thought." she told Momo, who gave her a puzzled look.

"I can see why you people love her. She's beautiful and kind, like an angel. But... I see a flaw in her that no one else does."

The earth again started trembling and Momo looked around her, stumbling a bit as the sands began to shift. She jumped back a few feet, looking at Sakuya who had turned towards the chunin. The look on the woman's face was indescribable...

She wore a grin, her eyes were hooded by her pink bangs, and the laughter that erupted from her mouth caused Momo's eyes to widen.

"That woman is far too trusting!" she said before vanishing right before Momo's eyes.

Hesitating only a second, Momo turned and started running back towards where Mochizuki was, but the sands shifting below her caused her to stumble and fall to her knees. In one large eruption of sand around her, four large blocks of stone began to rise up from the ground and started to form a wall around her.

Mochizuki watched worried from her spot on the rock. She didn't like Sakuya's laugh, Momo was far to worried about it. And then she vanished.

Mochizuki found herself on her knees in sprinting position before she stopped, whispering to herself.

"What am I suppose to do?"

She was conflicted. She was trained as a sniper, but all her basic instincts always went against it. As a stone prison rose around Momo, it took everything she had not to sprint to help her. A tear came to her eye.

"Why, Mom, Dad?? Why this kind of combat...? I like adventure...."

She laid back down prone, and loaded a dart. A jutsu meant an enemy shinobi. And that meant she stay far away.... no matter how much she wanted to rush in. Mochizuki had an instant dislike to Sakuya. She didn't know what had happened, but she had smiled before this.

Before getting back on her feet, Momo took the time to mentally measure out the size of the prison that was forming around her, the walls of it seeming to go on higher and higher into the sky. It seemed there was more than twenty meters between each opposite wall to start, but they were slowly closing in on her.

Immediately she sent chakra to her feet and ran to the nearest one, jumping up and running as fast as she could to escape. She made a seal with her hands and tapped her left armband, releasing the sword that was sealed there. She held it out in front of her, and just as she made it halfway up the wall, she could see people coming over the top, jumping down to intercept her.

They wore the familiar garb of the Owari bandits.

Mochizuki saw the enemy ninja coming from the sides. She lifted up her blowgun reflexively, then put it down. She needed to calculate first. Calmly as she could, she slowly weaved the handsigns she needed. Her heart felt like it was going to beat out her chest as she watched the ninja climbing higher and higher.

"Feta of 30 degrees, Fx of 200m, Fy at 20m, need a power of.... 4.23. Good. 1.2 degree difference per shinobi.... you can do this. Momo needs help."

Her heart beat even faster as she took a deep breath, and loaded her fingers with darts.

Right as the bandits jumped, and a split second before they would disappear into the box, Mochizuki fired her darts.

1...2...3...4....

Momo glared at the two bandits that had slipped over the top of the earthen prison, nearing her with each step, though behind them, she saw a few more that seemed to be falling rather than running towards her. She quickly sidestepped as one bandit crashed into another, and as the two passed her, she kicked off from the wall and delivered two hard kicks, sending them falling to the ground and giving herself a boost. In roughtly four seconds one bandit would be upon her.

Three more bodies fell as she rose her sword, it connecting with a larger one belonging to the bandit. They pushed against eachother, testing the other's strength for a moment before Momo spun to the side abruptly, using the momentum to aim a kick at the bandit's knee and a clean slice to his neck. As she did, the removing of both feet from the side of the wall made her falter a bit, but she quickly regained her footing.

The bandit fell in two pieces rather than one as she continued her ascent.

She was worried about Mochizuki, unsure of the status of her comerade. Narrowly dodging a flurry of shuriken that came at her from the left, Momo turned and looked around her, seeing at least a dozen or so bandits on each of the walls around her. In one coheizive unit, they all started to rush towards her at once.

She cursed and continued her climb, hoping that whatever had caused the bandits from above to fall down dead, was going to come to her rescue again.

Mochizuki redid the handsigns to allow more shots as Momo handled herself well, lowering her goggles as she did as part of her being more serious. If she was going to be helping Momo, the last thing she needed was dust in her eye. She felt guilty as she watched the shurikens fly at Momo, though she she handled it. Momo was handling herself very well, but with so many bandits....

"How did they know we were here?"

She decided on a full volley of 7. It might hurt her lungs, but it beat Momo getting hurt. She was a sniper. Protect and strike from afar.

1...2..3...4...5...6... THUD!!

The girl would suddenly feel a weight hit her hard right between her shoulder blades as Sakuya appeared behind her and came down on her with a heavy foot.

"I don't think I told you before how much I admire those wings of yours. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to take them for myself." she said, raising a hand and slowly creating a spear made of stone from her open palm.

Mochizuki cried in pain as the zoom of her eyes faded, and she saw a shadow right over her. Her arms flailed uselessly for a minute,one sprawled in a weird position by her hip, and one, holding her blowdart infront of her face. The voice above her was familiar. Sakuya? The woman grinned down at the girl who looked helpless and frail beneath her.

She felt out of breath from the impact, but as Mochizuki saw something sharp in the palm of her attacker's hand, she put her hand by her hip in her pouch, and clenched hard around 4 objects.

3 gas grenades would burst from it, releasing a burning gas to the eye. The last object was a dart held firmly in her hand, which she plunged backwards, trying to get her attacker's other heel from an odd angle. It was hard with her attacker literally on her back.

The smug look on Sakyua's face faded as a sudden movement of the girl caused something to burst right below her. She immediately vanished, re appearing in front of the girl and bringing her leg back a split second before aiming a kick to the girl's face.

Meanwhile, Momo was getting tired of running for her life, and decided it was time to go on the offensive. In one quick motion, she made a few handseals and the sword was absorbed into her armband sealed away once again. After that, she reached into her hip pouch and grabbed a scroll, holding it between her teeth as she prepared the handseals for her jutsu.

Looking up, she would see more bandits coming from the opening in the top of the prison. She was surrounded on all sides now, having to carefully dodge the projectiles coming towards her by occasionally stopping and hopping around.

While she held the last seal and gathered the required chakra, she would be without use of her hands in total of about twenty seconds. This left her quite vulnerable as many of the Owari bandits were only mere feet from her position. Seeing no other choice but one that could potentially kill her, she had to make a decision and fast.

"Shit!" Momo cursed as she was unable to dodge some shuriken that were thrown at her. She cried out as they sliced at her and dug into her flesh, but nonetheless, kept her hands firmly sealed as she gathered chakra. She only needed ten more seconds.

The gas grenades filled the area around Mochizuki with a very light yellow gas, almost invisible. The gas was designed to target and burn the eyes especially.

As Mochizuki felt the weight released from her, she scrambled to get up, only for Sakuya to reappear infront of her.

"You!"

Mochizuki was forced to act as Sakuya went to kick her. She stabbed forward with the dart in her left hand, her hand wet, at the calf of Sakuya rather than try to block the kick. The dart wasn't going to cut very well, but Mochizuki wasn't apt at at CQC. Mochizuki felt the full force of the kick, hitting her right in the goggles, and pressing them deep into the bridge of her nose, and sending Mochizuki sprawling on her back. Her vision flashed red from the blood rush.

A small grunt would be heard from Sakuya as she felt something hit the skin of her calf. It wasn't bery sharp, but the sudden pain of it made her take some steps back after she kicked the little winged girl. When she was at a distance, Sakuya looked down at her calf and saw a bruise forming around a small cut on her pale skin. She frowned at this and glared at the girl in front of her.

"And to think for a second there I wasn't going to kill you. But I've made up my mind! You're dead!"

The woman seemed to have vanished again, but she had just moved faster than an eye could catch. She extended her leg back and kicked out, hitting Mochizuki on the side while the girl was still recovering from the blow to her head. The force of it would have been enough to kick her away some few feet, but Sakuya moved again and reached out to grab the girl by one of her wings. "But I'll be needing these." she said menacingly, only moments later did she start to get an odd sensation in her eyes, like a stinging. It caused her to pause in her movements, though she wasn't entirely concerned about the girl before her.

Back where Momo was, she was contemplating out the next twenty moves in her head, assuming this next one didn't kill her. She was taking a bold risk with the sheer number of bandits converging on her, but she needed to change the playing field to one that would better suit the circumstances. That, and perhaps she could take some of them out in the process.

Ten seconds were up. She was ready.

With a light grunt, Momo sent a surge of chakra to her feet and kicked off from the side of the wall, and then she was falling. Once the Owari noticed her change in position, they all seemed to do the same, which was what she suspected. The fools. What they made up for with sheer numbers was the fact that the Owari were stupid. They'd fallen right into her trap now that they all were moving towards her.

In a matter of merely three seconds, Momo released her jaw's grip on the scroll and let it fall into her hands. She opened it and placed her hand on the seal there, the familiar feeling of her weapon was an instantaneous feedback she needed. She gripped the thing tightly and unleashed her next jutsu as the ground rushed up towards her.

"Bashosen," she raised the small fan above her head with both arms, aiming for the large wall directly in front of her.

"Coil of Earth!"

When she waved the fan downwards and towards the wall, her chakra that surged out of it started to rise up from the ground in the form of pillars of rock, moving in a line at incredible speed towards one of the walls. In a loud crash of earth hitting earth, Momo would land on one of the rock pillars and look up, the cracking of the wall she'd hit was not satisfying enough.

"Coil of Earth!" she yelled, waving her fan again and watching as more stones rose up from the ground and crashed into one of the large walls. The entire structure wobbled before one wall started to crumble right before her. Not soon after, the others would follow.

Momo had to move quickly unless she wanted to be buried underneath the collapsing stone prison along with the Owari bandits. She quickly ran out through an opening her Bashosen had created in the wall, slipping through only a split second before the falling rocks has closed up the exit.

Finally she would be back outside the prison, and she moved away some distance from it as she heard the cries of the bandits that were trapped inside the crumbling stone structure. She couldn't be bothered with them now though, she had to find Mochizuki.

She looked around her, pulling out some shuriken that were embedded into her flesh with a light grunt of pain. She spotted Mochizuki some meters away and called out to her, seeing the familiar figure of Sakuya standing far too close.

Sakuya had paused in her attack of the girl to look up as the bandit's massive stone tower began crumbling from the bottom up. She rolled her eyes then, looking a bit annoyed, she clicked her teeth. "Ugh, you would think a bit of idiocic bandits could even handle one little girl." she said, momentarily distracted at the scene ahead of her, as well as the sudden burning in her eyes she wouldn't notice the girl at her feet if she did anything.

Mochizuki was disorientated from all the kicks, her vision was faded as Sakuya held her by the wing. She didn't like it, she liked her keen sight. She wasn't good at close range, she felt completely broken. Blurrily looking down at her hand, at the dart in it, she noted the blood on it. It reminded her that it wasn't over yet.

Mochizuki inhaled a deep breath, her lungs straining, and turned her head to face Sakuya, then exhaled the last 'shot' she had.

Wind Style: Breathe of God.

The jutsu was normally the power behind her darts, how she could shoot so far, but in this case, she was using it as just a blast of wind from her lungs straight at Sakuya, to send her back with a blast of wind. The force of the breath ripped her wing in Sakuya's hand, and sent her flying backwards, yelping in pain. Sakuya was completely taken by surprise, her prior failure to pay attention to the girl had left her open for an easy attack.

That hurts...But I can't lose, I can't die yet. I haven't even climbed those trees!
The gas in the air, and the poison in the dart should be effecting her, her eyes and nerves, those won't last long. I just have to hold off. I can't take too long though, Momo needs me!

Momo would start to run towards her comrade, but before she could make it too far, the final wave of bandits would slowly start to emerge from the sands around her. She halted in her steps, and looked around her, reaching back for her giant scroll.

These bandits were all a pain. Or so she thought as she prepared her next jutsu. With her chakra reserves running low, she know she would need to pick a jutsu that would wipe them all out in one go.

"Twenty-three..." she had counted as they each emerged from the sand to surround her. They readied their weapons, but didn't move towards her, and she thought for a moment that these couldn't be the same bandits that the Sand had been dealing with for nearly a hundred years. These ones were idiots. She almost wanted to order them to attack.

[color=hotpink]"In any case, you all are keeping me from my friend."[color] she said, opening the large scroll and placing it upright on the ground in front of her. She made some handseals and the scroll moved on its own, opening and extending the paper around Momo upwards. If one would look closely, they would see the word 'Jidanda' scattered around the scroll's thin paper.

"Deadly Spheres Strike!"

In one quick movement, Momo activated her jutsu, reaching out to touch a part of the paper that was surrounding her and simultaneously spinning on her feet. She would pick up speed at a rapid rate until her form appeared to be something of a small twister. Seconds later, in quick puffs of smoke, small and giant Jidanda would be flung out around her at all sides, moving at incredible speeds and crushing whatever bandit was unfortunate enough to be in its path.

When all of the Jidanda were used up, Momo halted the flow of chakra into the scroll and slowly started to stop her rotation. Without looking too much around her, she would pick up her giant scroll and start to run towards her comrade a few meters away.

It took a few moments for Sakuya to right herself, and as she tried to stand, she cursed as the burning in her eyes became too much. She rubbed her eyes and a shrill cry tore from her throat as she couldn't figure out why her eyes felt like they were melting in their sockets. Her face contorting in anger, she tried to stand, but one of her legs seemed to not be working as well.

"You stupid girl!! What did you do to me!?" she screamed, aiming them at Mochizuki.

Mochizuki herself still lay on the ground, trying to recover from the sheer blunt trauma she'd taken. Her eyes hurt from the kick to the googles, but she knew it was better to take that pain rather than the gas. Sakuya seemed to be under heavy influence from her poisons, the only thing that had gone right, though she probably had enough chakra to do that weird movement thing. Mochizuki almost whimpered at the thought of getting kicked again.

She held her blowgun up again from where she laid, no chakra involved, and fired 3 more shots at Sakuya's other limbs. Her ribs hurt after each shot, she wondered if she'd broken any. If she'd used Wind Style: Breath of God, she'd probably not be able to fire more than one.

"I only clipped your wings."

As Momo approached Mochizuki, she returned her scroll to its latch on her belt, crouching and quickly aiding her friend. She sat the girl up and swung one of her arms over her shoulder and helped her get to her feet. She looked pretty hurt.

"You're alright." Momo told her, reassuringly. "Hardly a scratch on you."

"Do we still get to climb trees?"

Looking around, she spotted Sakuya who seemed to be writing in pain on the ground as well as a few bandits who were moaning in pain. Internally, Momo sighed. This whole situation had been unexpected. They needed to figure out what to do next in regards to the mission, but they couldn't do it here. They needed to retreat into the forest where there was at least some cover.

"Yes we do, come on. Momo said, a hint of amusement in her tone at the girl's question. Keeping a firm grip on Mochizuki's waist and the arm over her shoulders, Momo started to make quick work of heading across the border. It would likely be dangerous if they were spotted by other ninja who meant them harm, but at this point, it was the only option.

Mochizuki was glad for the support, dazed still from the kicks, but as they moved, she jerked a little.

"Wait. Kazekage would be mad if we leave our client for dead. We should prooobably bring her with us. I can give an antidote for her limbs, but her eyes will probably be hurting for a while.... Was that a bad thing?"

Mochizuki's normal flightiness wasn't completely without thought. Sakuya probably wouldn't be a problem blind, and if she ambushed them herself at the border, she probably didn't have any further reinforcements further in.

Akira sat coldly in the back corner as the graduates gathered. A lot of the graduates were talking to each other jovially, and talking about they hoped they were on the same team. Akira decided to at least talk to his equal, himself

"Idiots. Being a team of friends, and you'll all die. It's a pain, but I guess as long as my teammates aren't the bottom of the barrel, I'll be alright. Afterall, a heavenly light release user is an asset to the Hidden Cloud, and that's what it's all about. Who's an asset, and who isn't."

The Sensei walked to front of the classroom, the list of teams in his hands. Akira was glad for the quiet that came from everyone shutting up and taking a seat. The sensei started off with a 'rousing speech' to which Akira could only groan and plant his face on his desk. A lot of other people seemed nervous, or jittery about the prospect, but not Akira. He just wanted it over with. He hoped he got other teammates who were higher up in the class, but other than that, he didn't care.

Finally, the list of teams came.

Team 4, his name didn't come out, he didn't care. Same story for Team 5.

"Team 6, Akira Hikaru."

Akira's head perked up finally, listening intently.

"Himawari Kanagata."

A name he didn't know that well, in otherwise an average or failure.... great.

"Masshiro Negishi-Kemono."

Akira smirked, someone with higher grades, he wasn't alone.

"You three will serve together under Ranmaru-sensei."

As the sensei finished, another teacher came up to the front, and whispered in Sensei's ear. He turned pale, then shuffled his papers.

"*cough*. Well, it looks like Ranmaru had a bit of an....accident. You three are assigned without a sensei for the time being. Your first mission is up here, collect it afterwards.. To continue, Team 7 is..."

Akira slammed his head against the table. No sensei? What was that about? He WAS a light release user, but he was at least expecting a jonin to teach them.

After a bit, the dull droning of Sensei finished as everyone was assigned. Akira picked up a copy of the mission, then approached Masshiro and Himawari.

"Looks like I'm stuck with you two, without a sensei. Great."

---

The mansion that belonged to the Kazekage was one that was built upon the ideas of many people. The shape of the house on the outside was simply a massive dome coming from the ground, surrounded by large stone pillars; but inside, the layout makes one think that perhaps those involved in the building of it had some conflicting ideas.

Right away when one steps into the house, the first thing their eyes fall on is a large stone, the faces of Daisuke and Yuzuki carved onto it. Surrounding that is a small trench with clear water inside, revealing small fish swimming around inside. The bedroom of Yuzuki was on the ground floor, at the far end of the mansion. Walking towards it, one would see various closed doors that led to a multitude of rooms, big and small, of all functions.

The house was well kept, despite Yuzuki refusing to have maids come to tidy up the place. As a fairly independant woman, she detests having others need to clean up or look after her. It was in her nature to do that for others instead. Faintly, the smell of roses could be caught in the air, with a few pots of them and other flowers dotted here and there to give the home a certain feminine charm. Other than those minor changes, the mansion was in the same state it was when the First Kazekage lived there.

Though there was perhaps one addition, not that the mansion's visitors would ever notice it when it was present. It was located outside and to the side of the door into Yuzuki's room, and it was entirely invisible. In fact, such were the capabilities of its stealth that very few sensors would be even vaguely capable of detecting it.

Nonetheless, the Chiten was there, ever watchful of Syu-lerne's friend, and as a rise in the woman's stress hormones occurred and her chakra spiked followed by a prompt thump against the ground, the puppet rose from its collapsed position, to its feet.

Then, swiftly moving to the kitchen the puppet withdrew a fork from the drawer, closing it behind itself before it marked it with chakra and then threw it forwards.

The fork vanished and in its place Syu-lerne appeared, rolling back to his feet. Glancing through the Chiten's eyes, it noted that Yuzuki had covered herself with something. It did not seem like she was well.

He didn't like that.

Striding through the house, footsteps nonetheless silent, he called out, "Yuzuki?" His tone was questioning and, for once, held a hint of worry. If they had been in the Kage's office or in public...that emotion would not have shown.

Reaching the door he moved his hand to knock, but stopped before he did. Swiftly he pushed his hood back and released the various clasps and mechanisms, which held his mask in place. With his face revealed, he stored his mask in a small compartment at the back of his neck and then took in a deep breath.

Letting it out slowly, Syu-lerne opened the door slowly, closing his eyes as he did so, the puppet following him invisibly as he entered. It gave him awareness of his surroundings, but also allowed him to ignore her near nakedness.

It was more for his own peace of mind than for hers.

Additionally, while he waited for her response, his Chiten located Yuuhi's butterfly. Knowing that Yuzuki would not appreciate the man watching her, for a variety of reasons, he had his puppet sneak up on it, presence and appearance non-existent till the last moment when the puppet snatched the paper butterfly from the air and stared it down. A low monotonous drone, that despite its lack of intonation, came off as threatening, exited its mouth as it spoke, "Your presence is not required, Jikangai." The puppet then interrupted the chakra inside the butterfly with its own and tore the paper insect into tiny pieces.

In that moment, the last thing Yuzuki was going to be thinking about was wether she was properly covered or not.

Faintly, under the sound of her ragged breaths and pounding heartbeat, she heard the sound of her name being called. The voice was unmistakeable, and she suddenly felt embarassed and exposed. It sounded like Syu-lerne. He was coming and he was going to see her like this? The leader of the village, a figure that the people looked to for strength and stability was trembling like a scared child after having what seemed to be simply a nightmare. The cheerful and happy facade she always put on had crumbled away. What was left of her in this moment was shamefully weak. It was sad to think that it only took this to break her, though perhaps she had known it was going to happen sooner than later.

Yuzuki didn't want him there, despite the fact it had been what she had wished for only minutes ago. She didn't want anyone to see her like this.

She reached out and grabbed part of the bed, trying to use it as leverage to get herself up onto her feet, but the trembling and overall lack of strength in her arms wouldn't allow it. She let out a frustrated growl and lowered her head, but when the door opened, her eyes flew towards it.

When he came in, she curled up even more and looked away from the figure of her friend. The room was partially lit up from the light of the moon that shown through the open window, and she wished it was darker so he couldn't see her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him, her voice sounding raspy from her previous moments of sobbing and gasping for air.

His brow screwing up slightly as he noted her trying to hide away, he decided not to mention it and instead reassure her. "I felt panic from the mark.... I thought you might be in danger, or distress at least. It seems I was right on at least one account," he swallowed hard, though it wasn't audible it felt like it was.

Nonetheless, his features did not betray him. Not yet. He had practiced at hiding his emotions behind a more...metaphorical mask than the one he usually wore. "I, can't see details you know. I...wouldn't want to violate your privacy, Yuzuki. I respect you too much," too much to do so without your express permission, he thought, before he stifled the idea altogether. He didn't know why this always happened.

He didn't even know, despite his research, what was wrong with his mind that his mind turned to such places when around her. Granted, he was far more worried than anything else. He had noticed her try to stand. He could tell she was shaking, but he wasn't sure what was wrong.

Walking to the side of the bed, eyes still closed, he moved the back of his hand towards her head, before stopping short, frowning. "I-..." he swallowed again, "Can I check your temperature?" There was the slightest of nervousness in his voice, but it was subtle. He hoped Yuzuki was too preoccupied to notice.

Yuzuki watched him silently from her place beside the bed across the room. It was clear after he spoke that she wasn't seeing things, which made her feel more relaxed about the situation. So he'd been able to tell she was in distress? That idea was new to her since something like this had never happened before.

As he spoke, she hardly was paying attention to anything he said, his words going in one ear and out the other. It was when he moved to take some steps towards her that she involunatrily cringed, his sudden movement startling her. She lifted her hand and pointed to a wooden wardrobe a few feet away. "I need my... robe or a gown... from in there." she said, pausing to steady her voice after she started speaking. She suddenly became conscious of her nakedness and didn't want him to feel uncomfortable in her presence. The situation was odd enough already with him getting closer to her. Yuzuki didn't want to even be seen up close like this, let alone touched, so she avoided his question.

"I'm sorry you had to come here." she said suddenly afterwards. "I know you're busy with more important things."

Not moving away from her at all, she might note his hand gesturing towards the wardrobe. A slight glow appeared, but it was faint, and its doors opened. Quickly, with the Chiten's perception, he found her robe, though he briefly considered handing her the gown before swearing at himself mentally to stop it.

With only several moments having passed, Syu-lerne's chakra threads drew the robe to his hand, which stretched out to catch it from the air before reaching out to her.

He then promptly stepped away from the bed and turned around, despite his eyes being closed already. He cleared his throat as she likely slipped out of the blankets and into the robe behind him, speaking more to drown out the sound of it, than anything else. "It's perfectly fine, really. I'd...rather be pulled from my work for your benefit, than stuck in my workshop unawares when you truly needed me." His voice almost cut off at the end of the last word, but he managed to get it out.

He noticed his fingers twitching, and clasped them into fists, his cloak/robe's sleeves hiding them from Yuzuki's view.

Yuzuki was unsure of what to say to that. Caught between being grateful and feeling embarassed, she chose not to respond to his words, simply focusing on getting some proper clothing on herself.

She kept her head down as she removed the sheet from her shoulders and covered herself with her robe. The shaking of her hands had subsided enough for her to easily slip her arms through the sleeves, close it tight around her, and tie the front securely closed. The soft fabric was comforting to her. It was warm against her otherwise cool skin.

When she was finished, she shifted and pulled the ends of it down to properly cover her legs before attempting to stand again, to no avail. She reached out towards Syu-lerne and noticed he was turned around, so she cleared her throat to get his attention.

Taking in a deep breath, he turned around and opened his eyes, simultaneously dimming his perception through Chiten. Having noted her reaching for him, he reached out his hand for her, and crouched slightly so it'd be easier for her to reach his shoulder for more support once she was up. Yuzuki reached out and took the offered hand, using the support to help as she extended her legs and stood slowly. She wobbled a little, but took his shoulder with her other hand, like he'd suspected, and righted herself, standing still for a moment.

With his eyes now open, she'd see the worry knitting his brow, but he didn't say anything and there was no judgement in his eyes. Only care. Yuzuki's eyes met his for only a moment, but she could read them well. It was clear he was worried, but she was unsure of where to start with explaining to him what had happened. Even she didn't know entirely what was wrong with her, but there was one thing that had been clear.

"I thought I was dying," she told him. Taking a moment to think about how to continue, she turned slowly and took a few steps until she was able to sit down on the bed. Her hand on his shoulder slipped down, but the one that held his stayed firm in its grip. "I was... I mean, I couldn't breathe. I was asleep and suffocating, but it felt real. And for some time when I woke up, I still couldn't breathe." she explained. It was vague to say the least, but it was all she had to tell. "I've never felt like that in my life. I've never..."

Her voice cracked and she brought a hand up to furiously wipe at the tears that had started to fall. She cleared her throat and finished. "I've never been so afraid of dying before." she told him.

Syu-lerne tried to swallow, but the motion caught in his throat, making him do so again. He sent his puppet to fetch two glasses of water, he didn't want to leave her side.

He, after a moment of consideration, sat down next to her. He took another quiet breath, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, causing her to lean into him. The worry lines on his face deepened with each word from her mouth. He knew that fear...he knew it intimately.

It was something with which he wrestled daily, a struggle that he didn't tell anyone about. Not even Yuzuki...or at least he hadn't yet. Her body was hotter than it ought to have been, he noticed with her proximity.

He sifted through the Chiten's visual and audio logs, noting that she had mentioned she was hot when the room hadn't been steamy earlier.

Not a good sign. Still, he wasn't a medical shinobi, this wasn't his area of expertise. "I, I've had dreams like that before," he said. "Not...not quite the same, but just as bad," as he said it he couldn't meet her eyes, and the look in his own was slightly lost.

He tried not to remember the war.

It never worked. "I can't promise that they'll go away, but I can promise that...they don't tend to get worse." He pointedly didn't say they'd get better either. He wouldn't know.

It didn't come too much a surprise to Yuzuki that Syu-lerne had experinced things like this before. While she never claimed to know everything about him, she knew he had his own struggles. In a way, she felt relieved about that. The fact that he likely knew what she was feeling without her having to try and explain it was comforting in its own way.

The true question on her mind was a troubling one though. She wondered why something like this would suddenly happen. Unlike Syu-lerne, she hadn't any expirences in war. She'd never been in a situation where she was unsure if she was going to live another hour or not. This fear was sudden and new to her, and there was no way it was just a random incident. The thought was worrisome to her. Perhaps there was something else going on here that she didn't understand.

"If it only takes a dream to do this to me, I can't imagine what it would be like if I had experienced what you had all those years ago." she mumbled quietly.In response to her words, he merely shook his head, the action serving as reaction and as a method to shake him from the stupor he might have otherwise fell into.

In that moment, Yuzuki was thinking that perhaps her real fear was of death itself. It could explain why she was so devoted to building the Village's defenses and putting into practice the most efficent ways she could protect the people...

So she could protect herself.

This thought made her loath herself for being so selfish and weak. "Lord First would be ashamed of me." she said, finally releasing his hand from her grip.

He looked at her and, his nervousness vanishing as his need to help her rose, he drew her closer and gave her a hug before releasing her, though he left his hand between them on the bed. There was a steely look in his eyes as he gazed at her, "I don't think he would be. You've done well for this village and you'd defend it with all you had. You might fear death, but most do in some capacity. The difference is shinobi like ourselves have to face that fear and overcome it." He raised a hand, resting it on her shoulder, unable to help noticing how slender it was in comparison to his own. He squeezed gently, reassuringly as he continued, "There's nothing wrong with feeling afraid. It's how you decide to deal with it after you know what scares you that matters." He looked away, hand falling away from her shoulder, "Besides, if fear makes you weak, then I must be weak as well and if people like us are the definition of weak, than I don't know what strong is."

He glanced at her, but this time he couldn't meet her eyes. It wasn't that he didn't believe it was true for her, it was that his own...insecurities prevented him from believing it, despite the apparent conviction in his words. As he finished, his puppet returned, no longer invisible, and handed him the two glasses of water. He took them both, and offered her one with the slightest of insistence to his gesture.

She couldn't help the blush that rose on her cheeks at his words. It was refreshing hearing him so passionate about something, and it made her smile. When he offered her a glass of water, she took it after mumbling a thanks. Reaching up, she pushed her bangs back away from her head, extending her hand back and pulling out the ribbon that held up her hair in the same motion. She took a sip of the water afterwards, and once the cool liquid hit her tongue, she gulped the rest down quickly, sighing afterwards. Watching the movement slightly he couldn't help admire her, but he still managed to distract himself, taking a sip from the glass while she thought. He was glad to see her smile, in more ways than one, but best of all was the relief he felt and the release of tension it allowed. He didn't like worrying....

While the thoughts stirred and passed through his mind, Yuzuki repeated his words in her head, smiling again. She knew despite the current situation, that he had meant what he said and had not just been trying to comfort her with those words.

"I'm sure I've said this to you before Syu, but... I still wonder how I was chosen to be leader this village. I compare myself to Lord First far too often, and I see many differences. Some I think aren't the qualities one should have as a leader." She paused and ran a hand through her hair. "I think you would have made a better Kage than me." she added afterwards, looking at him with a bit of amusement in her eyes.

He couldn't help crack a grin as she used the nickname, it weaved an air of familiarity between them that he had with very few people. Well...very few living people.

He swiftly dashed the thought from his mind, shifting his focus to Chiten while she spoke. Then she, almost playfully, mentioned his being a better candidate and his eyebrows rose. The small quirk at the corner of his lips turned into something akin to a grin. He appeared more than a little amused by her words, "Surely you jest," he said with a tone that was part amusement and part dismissal. Odd that he could fit the two things into the statement. "Though...I will admit that he may have brought it up once. I turned him down. I don't think the man really...knew me. I was in a darker place then." His eyes flitted away and his grin faded slightly before he looked to her again, the smile returning a bit. "I think you've done better than I would've. The people like you, no...they love you, really. You care for them in a way that I...well, no nevermind. You know what I mean," his smile faded slightly and he cast his eyes downwards.

He wasn't trying to make this about him, but she kept poking him, so to speak. He was sure that it wasn't on purpose, but it was happening nonetheless. It didn't really bother him though. He was easy to poke if you knew where the buttons were.

"I think you're too hard on yourself." she said to him, though her words were rather ironic considering she was the same way. "How long have we been friends now, would you say? Ten years or so? Maybe less considering we didn't start out friends." she leaned back a bit, using her arms to keep her torso upright as he nodded in response. "I would say during that time, we've both changed. I dont think if this had happened even... five years ago, that you would have been here for me like you are now."

Yuzuki looked over at him and studied his face for a moment, for it was something she didn't see too often. "Hm... I would say you're less intimidating without the mask," she teased. "But even so, I think people would be able to see that you're someone who cares about people just as much as I do. Perhaps just in a different way. Where I might care in a way a mother would, you care in the way of... a cool uncle or something. You know what I mean?"

She tried to hide her amusement at what she was saying, but despite herself, a light laugh escaped. "My point is, all it takes is a little time for even the scariest people to grow on you."

He listened intently all throughout, smiling a bit as her body language shifted and a smile became the dominant expression on her face. It was infectious, he couldn't help but smile too, even if less enthusiastically. "Perhaps," he responded as he gazed out the window of Yuzuki's room, the moonlight casting everything in a beautiful, though ghostly, light. He felt like that sometimes...like a ghost.

He glanced at her, but not with his own eyes. His once more invisible puppet, outside the room, could see her very clearly. It felt weird looking at her himself, it made him...uncomfortable, though not in a bad way...maybe? He didn't really understand it. "You offer me such kind words, but...I'm not so sure that the people would find it so easy to...come to know me. Perhaps I'd be as good as you say though, you are a rather good judge of character after all," he glanced at her a moment and smiled, his expression and body language a bit more relaxed.

Noting her positive shift in demeanor during their conversation he asked, "Are you feeling better now?" His eyes were appraising, with the smallest dash of worry mixed in. There was a small smile on his face as it seemed that she did. Still, he never knew with people, so he preferred to ask...at least when he cared enough to do so that was.

She glanced at him from the corner of her eyes when he asked how she was feeling. The truth was, she wasn't entirely sure. With Syu-lerne being there, she felt less anxious, but the fear was still there, twisting knots in her belly. Her trembling had reduced to a light shiver and her heart wasn't pounding in her chest, rather slightly racing. Just the presence of her friend was enough to calm her down to a level where she felt sane.

"I'm feeling a bit better than I was before, yes." she said, trying to sound convincing. She only succeeded in part, as he raised an eyebrow, though he said nothing. "I don't know if I'll be getting back to sleep any time soon though. I may..." she trailed off and sighed, rubbing her palm across her forehead. "Do you need to go? I don't want to keep you if you've things to do." she told him, looking over and raising her brow with a questioning look.

"However, should you choose to stay, I could make us some tea." she continued shortly after, looking away and shrugging. "I'm in no way implying I need you to stay or anything, but if you want to that's fine too." A slightly amused expression formed on his face as he listened to her.

For a moment she was silent, going over what she had just said in her head. A light blush rose on her cheeks as she grew embarrassed. Why in the hell did I just say that? Why am I embarrassed... and blushing? This is odd. she thought in her head. Suddenly she wasn't sure if she should just admit she wanted to keep his company, or leave him free to make his own choice. Reaching up, she touched her forehead again.

"Sorry, I'm not sure what I'm saying."

"Not at all, I think your meaning was quite clear. Tea?" He smiled, Chiten having already went to the kitchen to begin boiling the water. It was odd, he found himself wanting to pull her back to his shoulder. Wanting to decrease the distance between them, but despite all his genius, he didn't recognize why, which was really a terrible irony. "Regardless, I think you should eat. Some food in you is likely to help ground you. I know it helped me, though...that's a different matter I suppose." He felt a bead of sweat slip down his face, caused not at all by any heat, after all it was night time and so it was rather chill. Had the houses in the village not been augmented they would've been quite cold.

He was glad they weren't, though a small unconscious part of him was not.

Yuzuki had to look away in order to hide her smile, using that time to try and stand from the bed. As she did, she could feel the blood rushing to her head, but was able to steady herself after a few moments and shake the feeling off. For a moment she was surprised at the feeling of her soft robe flowing down to her feet, and she wondered when she had purchased something that was so long on her.

She quite liked it though, the deep red of it was her favorite color after all.

Turning to look at Syu-lerne, it was obvious, even in the dark, that by her expression she seemed immensely pleased with the idea of having someone to dinner. As Kazekage, she didn't often have time to have a meal with anyone if it wasn't to meet for business. For her to be able to unwind with a friend over a relaxing meal was something Yuzuki had added to her bucket list some years ago. Now she could happily cross it off.

"Come then Syu, I'll be a good host and fix you whatever you like." she told him. Turning, she started to walk but then paused and instead sent a bit of wind chakra to her feet. It was enough to raise her an inch off the ground, though unnoticeable due to the long robe. Easily controlling the winds, she was able to glide out of the room without having to worry about stumbling over the long fabric.

Absently she wondered if he'd ever told her what he liked to eat. This seemed a good opportunity to figure such a thing out and perhaps use that knowledge to bribe him out of that lab more often. The thought made Yuzuki feel mischievous.

Glad that she was happy with his staying, Syu-lerne rose to his feet after her and followed. As they entered the kitchen she would notice that water for tea was almost finished already. Still, he wasn't sure what to eat as usually he settled for whatever he found about or could buy at one of the local shops, rather than cook it himself. This was something a treat, he figured, to have someone cook especially for you. "Well, I do prefer sweet to sour," he said, feeling like it really wasn't that helpful of a response. He sat down to wait for dinner to be prepared. He'd have helped, but he was no good with this sort of thing.

Yuzuki wandered over to the pot of water that had already been placed on the stove, carefully removing it from the fire and setting it aside. When Syu had mentioned he preferred sweet over sour foods, she felt more confident she could prepare something he'd like. She grabbed a cup from the cabinet and poured a bit of tea into it for Syu-lerne, placing it on a small saucer with three cubes of sugar and a spoon with it.

Gesturing for him to take a seat in one of the stools at her counter, she would push the cup of tea towards him and start to rummage through the cabinets again, gathering bowls, spoons and several ingredients to make them both something pleasant to eat. As her arms started to fill with more than she could comfortable carry, she directed her wind chakra at some things, moving them carefully to the counter as she went to place it all down.

"Right, well I have just the thing for you." she said, rolling up the sleeves of her robe and looking at her materials. Her teeth captured her lower lip in a gentle grip as she thought for a moment, wondering if she perhaps had forgotten something. After a moment she snapped her fingers, moving to the fridge and grabbing a small basket of fresh strawberries as well as a small sealed bag of prawns and some vegetables. Placing them on the counter as well, she would get to work.

She reached up to push her bangs back from her forehead, using the back of her hand to do so before gathering some flour, egg, and seasonings into a bowl. Though the room was quiet, the silence was welcome as she felt a sense of pride being able to cook for her friend like this. She wanted it to be perfect. She didn't speak much as she was focusing on what she was doing, starting off with making a simple sauce that would be a bit salty and a little sweet. When she was done with that, she started to prepare the prawns and veggies, making a tempura mixture to coat them in.

It didn't take too long, but she halfway through she started to make a rather large mess. Absently, she wished that one thing she'd learned from her mother before she died was how to properly cook. A bit of sadness could be seen in her eyes as she thought about this.

Despite it, she continued to cook, placing the battered seafood and veggies in a pan with some oil, leaving them to cook while she would start on making the dessert. With the thought of her mother on her mind, she mumbled something softly.

"I wish you would have never gone to war."

Though the comment had been intended to stay in her thoughts, she didn't realize she'd asked it aloud until a few moments later. Glancing at her friend, she quickly followed by apologizing. "Sorry. That was meant to stay in my head." she told him, keeping her eyes down on what she was doing. She was nearly finished making the desert. One more and she would set them aside and clean up.

Training his eyes elsewhere at first while she cooked, Syu-lerne gradually found he couldn't resist her energy, thus his gaze continued to gravitate back to her no matter what he did. Eventually he relented to his inner urge to watch her. There was something enjoyable about it really, but surely if she noticed she'd scold him for staring...it was rude right? He reached up with a hand, running his fingers back through his hair nervously before setting it back down on the table quietly.

After a moment or two his hands grew restless and he noticed, as he watched her posture shift while she focused on making whatever amazing dish she'd taken into mind, that he was fidgeting. Gritting his teeth slightly he tried to stop the habit by clenching his hands into fists. It didn't work for long and so he preformed several handseals and summoned some paper and parts. He knew it was rude, but he couldn't stand it when he fidgeted...it made him feel more nervous and restless, rather than less.

He began shifting the pieces together and, every moment or so, channeling chakra into them, or the paper, before he suddenly heard her say something rather out of sync with the comfortable silence they'd been in.

He looked up from his busywork, head tilting slightly. It had sounded like something said as a result of a thought process unrelated to their current situation. Still, it stung a little as his mind registered what she had said fully. Her small statement afterwards didn't help much either as it put none of his building worries to rest. He frowned slightly, a worried expression on his face as he watched her body language tell him that she was...not entirely in the moment.

Almost unconsciously Syu-lerne caused the Chiten puppet to shift from side to side, making no noise due to its augmented stealth capabilities. The puppeteer himself swallowed hard and took in a few deep breaths. There was no way she'd aimed that at him, perhaps something had reminded her of someone else who'd participated in the war?

Then the clues clicked into place. Cooking. The war. A wish that someone hadn't participated in it. Someone important to her.

Her mother. Syu-lerne's expression shifted in the space of a moment from a confused frown to a worried one and he rose from his seat. Yuzuki glanced at him as he did, the look in her eyes would be unreadable to most, but she was sure he'd already figured out what she was thinking. She silently cursed in her head as she looked away.

Syu-lerne noted that the food wasn't quite done, but had been almost entirely finished and so he approached her and, awkwardly placed his hand on her shoulder. His movements, while not silent, were fairly quiet, but Yuzuki watched him from the corner of her eyes as he approached. He hoped he wouldn't startle her. If she looked back at him there'd be an understanding in his eyes, and when she finally tore her eyes from the food before her and met his own, that was exactly what she saw.

His ability to read her was a mixture of their many years of friendship and his clan's Kekkei genkai which afforded him a level of analytic ability and memory beyond the average individual. For one of the first times he found himself appreciating the ability not for it allowing him to easily understand and retain knowledge, but to assist him in helping those he cared about.

It was a nice feeling...understanding someone and being understood by them.

Yuzuki held Syu-lerne's gaze for a while, and absently she wondered if he could read her thoughts. He knew her so well, perhaps due in part to her being an open book when it came to her emotions, but she knew it was also so much more than that. She could tell by the way he looked at her, that he cared for her in a way others did not. When he was worried, she could look at him and see the tightness in his lips and the need to help in his eyes. When he could tell she was hiding something, the sides of his mouth would angle down in the slightest of frowns. When he smiled, the way his eyes crinkled just a bit at the sides, she loved that. She wanted to make him smile more.

Yuzuki wondered if he knew he was just as much an open book as she was.

There was something else there in his eyes this time, now that she could look closely. It was faint... or perhaps she was imaging things. The subtle dilation of his eyes despite the abundance of light in the room meant that he... no. She was over thinking it this time.

Her eyes darted away from his and she lifted a hand to place on top of his. "Don't give me that look. I was only thinking aloud for a moment." she said, giving the hand on her shoulder a squeeze. "If you're not careful, your hair will turn grey, the way you worry." she said, laughing lightly. He smiled, glad to see her having perked up.

After another glance at him, she stepped away, going to retrieve the food that was now finished cooking.

His hand slipping from her shoulder as she moved, his eyes following her, he sighed. He almost spoke up, but decided against it. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable, she'd already had a rough night. "I'm not terribly useful with this sort of thing, but would you like any help," he asked instead, his tone inquisitive. Perhaps if he could help it would put her more at ease.

"Well it's about time you offered some assistance." she said to him, getting the small serving platter and playfully shoving it into his hands. He recoiled a bit, but couldn't help smiling at her intensity, it was much better than how she'd been before. As he looked about to figure out what to do with the platter,Yuzuki pointed to the food in the pan, sizzling away. "You can put those on that tray while I set the table." she told him, stepping around him to get what she needed. He nodded once, allowing her to go about her business as he began putting the food on the tray. He stole a glance as she made her way out of the room.

Though it would have been perfectly fine for the two to eat in the kitchen, Yuzuki decided she may as well make use of her large mansion and use the rooms provided, given the fact many of them were ones she'd not even entered yet. She actually couldn't think of any time she'd used the dining room in that house. It was far too big and lonely for her to eat in there.

As she glided into the room, carrying the plates and eating utensils along with the desert, she stared at the giant table, wondering where best to have them seated. On impulse, she drifted over to the table, setting the plates down side by side, but then she paused. She thought perhaps sitting next to each other would be odd and so she picked them up, quickly moving to place them on either end of the table.

"Now it's too far apart..." she mumbled, cursing the table for being so absurdly long.

She did this a few more times, quickly floating about the room, trying to decide where to set the plates. Eventually, she returned them to the first location, deciding that side by side would be best. Exhausted, she sighed and sat down on one of the small cushions that acted as the seats and crossed her legs, resting an elbow on the table. She couldn't help the slight pout on her face since she was upset about her indecisiveness regarding such a little thing.

While she figured out their places in another room, Syu-lerne puzzled over her behavior, though he came up with nothing by the time he finished he still found it worth thinking about.

Walking into the room he noticed her pout and raised an eyebrow before setting the tray down deftly on the table in front of where she had placed their dishes. "Is something the matter? Oh and is this all we needed to bring in?" He had to make sure lest they forget something and it burn.

Yuzuki was about to shake her head and say no to both his inquiries, when she gave another look at what was in front of them. She'd brought the sweet treat, the strawberry daifuku, as well as the plates, and he'd brought the tempura of prawns and veggies, but they were missing the tea and sauce for the main dish.

"One moment," she said, rising to her feet, the prior shakiness in her movements was no longer present. As she left the room, she lifted the ends of her robe a bit and walked out, her bare feet making light taps on the cold floor. Syu-lerne smiled slightly, it was a knowing look. Almost a smug one actually. When she re-entered the kitchen, she grabbed the few things she needed and turned off the light before returning to the dining room.

"Now we've got everything," she said upon entering. He nodded in reply as she went to his side, sitting down and placing what she had on the table. "Hopefully everything is to your liking. I wish I could cook for you more often like this, but I'm afraid my skills are limited." she told him, trying to make light conversation. He smiled and closed his eyes, whispering something under his breath before he tried the tempura. Letting the tastes suffuse his mouth he smiled, glancing at her to confirm his enjoyment of the dish.

Yuzuki relaxed into her seat, extending one leg under the table and stretching it out and bringing the other up to rest her arm upon. It was the usual way she ate instead of hunching over the table and messing up her posture. For a moment, she was grateful her robe was long and covered up areas that would otherwise be exposed in this position.

"You know what we should do," she started again, "We should start going out to eat more often. I need to make sure you're eating properly. It's for your own good really, with all that time you spend in your lab, I can't help but wonder if you even remember to eat." she said, the tone in her voice made her words sound genuine, and they were to an extent. Though she didn't mention how taking him out to eat more often meant less work she'd have to do. The less time she had to spend in her office, the better.

As he finished chewing he chuckled lightly, a smile on his lips and in his eyes for once as he glanced at her. "You could just say 'We should spend more time together,' you know," he said, an odd amusement in his voice. His enjoyment of the food and the comfortable atmosphere had allowed some of his...usually dormant confidence to bare in a situation where it normally wouldn't be present. After all, he wasn't exactly a social butterfly.

"It's too easy for you to decline if I put it that way," she said to him, reaching to pour herself some tea, pointedly trying to avoid eating too much of the food she'd prepared for him. "But I suppose that's what I'm trying to get at." she added, raising her glass and taking a sip of the hot liquid. Afterwards, she drew her hair to one side and ran a hand through the strands, noting that it felt a bit more oily than usual. She made a mental note to wash it before going to work the next morning.

"There's something I've wanted to ask you for a while now."

He chuckled a bit, taking a sip from his tea before he ate some more tempura. As she implied a forthcoming question he raised an eyebrow. Finishing his bite of tempura, he made a small interested sound in response, "Mmm?" He took another sip from his drink, washing the food down. It was all very good and it made him feel at ease. More himself than he often did when he was in his lab, which was saying something....

Reaching over, Yuzuki would steal a piece of his food and take a bite as she thought how to properly word her question. "Other than a shinobi, is there anything else you would rather be?" she asked him, taking another bite of her food afterwards. "I guess what I'm asking is... despite the downsides of it, do you love what you do?"

She wondered if it was perhaps out of character for him to think about such things, but she often thought about that herself, usually drawing up a blank for anything else she'd even be remotely talented at.

He frowned slightly, partially in thought, and partially because of what he was thinking about. "I think, had I been given the chance, I'd have lived a simpler life, but I say that knowing what I've been through...so perhaps I am wrong." He shook his head, "It's hard to say," he didn't seem to mind that she'd taken some of his food. He took a sip of tea, then ate another tempura, more so he didn't have to talk than anything else.

Yuzuki nodded, expecting a response like that from him. Her thoughts about it had been similar, as she had mixed feelings about it. She'd wanted, and in a way received, comfort in knowing that she wasn't the only one who thought that a shinobi's life was probably not for them.

But what could she have done after being born into a family of exceptional ninja? It would have been far worse having to be the odd one out, the one who was too afraid to take risks for the sake of others. She saw what happened to others who tried that, to make an honest living by doing manual labor instead of risking their lives. It was seen in her family as a great disrespect to the village after it had helped raise you comfortably.

Yuzuki's gaze fell from Syu-lerne's face and she preoccupied herself with separating the tail of a prawn from the meaty flesh. "I can't help but think that perhaps there's still a chance for me to do some good in the world. What else am I good for if I cannot at least change someone's life for the better," she paused and brought the food to her lips. "Even if it is just one man's life? It would make all this worth it." she said, taking a bite of the tempura. She chewed it slowly, her jaw working on auto pilot as her brows furrowed in response to her thinking hard on something.

Syu-lerne contemplated the question further in the silence, wondering what he might have done had he been allowed other circumstances. For once, he met a dead end as his mind couldn't predict such vast quantities when it came to variables. There were just too many things that could've been drastically different that he couldn't figure it out.

He shook his head a bit and ate another tempura, after which he tried one of the sweet things that Yuzuki had made. It was at this point that his friend spoke again, thus drawing his attention to her.

As she spoke he began to notice her proximity...and the faint smell of chamomile about her person. He'd noticed it a few times before, but it had never been this strong.

Then, as she moved the food to her lips and took a bite, a small smile reached across his lips and touched his eyes. He swallowed the treat, having enjoyed it greatly. "But Yuzuki, you have changed one man's life," he said gently as he looked at her next to him, wondering if he'd have to clarify.

Yuzuki's hand paused in the air, the food held by her chopsticks only a few centimeters from her mouth. Blinking, she pressed her lips closed and lowered her hand as she glanced at her friend. Looking at him for a moment, she studied his face, knowing what he'd meant by that. A moment later she cracked a smile and laughed.

"I imagine your life would be a lot less exciting without me around. Though whether that is a positive or negative change is up to you." she told him, using humor to lighten the mood a bit. In a way, she was happy for his words, but it was hard to agree with him. Anything she'd ever done to help him or otherwise was what any good friend would do. She never thought of it as anything life changing. Oddly, despite her attempts to lighten the mood, his smile faded, the expression on the puppeteer's face becoming far more serious.

"If that is the case, however, what makes you say that? What have I done that anyone else in my position wouldn't do?" she asked him, raising her brow. "Certainly this meal is good, but I wouldn't take it as far as life changing." she said laughing a bit afterwards.

He sighed lightly and took a drink from his cup before twitching his fingers, strings of chakra touching the kettle and moving it to pour himself some more. In the process he also filled Yuzuki's cup. When he'd finished, the strings of chakra set the kettle back onto its hotpad and he locked eyes with her, his gaze steady, expression still serious "You say that, yet you were the only person to keep coming back when I dismissed you, insulted you, or put you off in my attempts to isolate myself. You were the only one who saw my pain and did something about it, and few even saw it to begin with. I don't know where I would be, or...if I would be at all, were it not for you." The words were earnest and it seemed that there was something in him that simply would now allow her to dismiss him. While he was often focused, this was...something different. The look in his eyes was unique. A mixture of care, worry, and seriousness all rolled into one.

Perhaps there was something else there, but it was hard to say...especially when he wasn't sure himself. Only time would tell. Regardless, the look in his eye was one that made Yuzuki's heart race in her chest.

She was quiet for a long moment, studying his expression, and though she wanted to look away from his eyes, it was as if something in them kept drawing her back to look again. After a few moments of her eyes cautiously flicking to his, she shook her head as if to clear it. "That look you're giving me is confusing," she told him, reaching out with one hand to grab her refilled cup of tea. She looked at the brown liquid inside for a moment, seeing bits of her reflection in it, and it made her wonder something. He gave her a confused look as she uttered the words, equally befuddled by her statement as she apparently was by his expression.

"If you thought you were in debt to me because of my kindness, consider it already paid. You've been such a good advisor and friend to me, in the end I received something in return." she said to him. As she said it, she thought also of her motives back then, and why she'd ever stuck around with him in a time he wanted nothing to do with anyone. Perhaps it could have simply been her stubborness and refusal to be ignored that kept her coming back. She couldn't have known the outcome, or if there would ever be reward for her efforts, so why? "Some debts cannot be repaid," he replied simply, managing to regain his composure.

As she thought more on it, staying with him was probably the only thing she'd ever done without expecting something in return. The why of it all continued to evade her. It was only in recent years that she'd even had a deeper interest in him other than their current friendship.

The last thought made her choke a bit on her tea as a sharp breath caused her to inhale some of it. She coughed a few times and placed down the cup, clearing her throat when the moment was over. She sighed and looked at Syu-lerne, her face showing a bit of her confusing emotions towards him. "You don't count Syu." she told him, starting to continue and explain why, but somehow the words got stuck in her throat and she looked away.

As she initially choked his hands instinctively reached out before he realized that she was fine and withdrew a bit, a worried expression still on his face for a few moments. Then, as she turned to him he saw an expression that confused him like her words had a moment before. He frowned, the look portraying a sort of begrudging acceptance mixed with a pout.

Her looking away didn't help either. In fact, he pushed his chair back and rose to his feet, sighing. "I see..." he said, a small grain of hurt in his voice as he walked behind her, not turning back to face her even as he passed her by.

Yuzuki closed her eyes when she saw he stood up from his seat, but didn't so much as move an inch to stop him. She cursed at herself inwardly, and wanted to pull him back and attempt to explain what was going on in her head... but it wouldn't be fair to him, to dump some things on him that she didn't even fully understand. Letting out a nearly silent sigh, she also stood, collecting the remainder of the food and dishes from the table and stacking them in her arms.

It was not until Syu-lerne reached the door frame that he turned his head slightly, not quite glancing back at Yuzuki as he spoke, "I suppose I have bothered you then. You seem...much better, so I think I should bid you goodnight..." before I upset you further, he thought, but did not say.

She stood unmoving at the table, staring down at the dishes in her hand as she gripped them tightly. Something in her wanted to still reach out and grab her friend by the neck and shake him, as if that would help anything at all. As he spoke, she turned her head and glanced at his retreating back, wondering how he could ever think his presence was a bother to her.

"Right, goodnight then Syu-lerne," she said, her tone sounding more distant than she intended. Despite this, she said nothing else.

"Yes...good night," he replied as his head turned away once more and he walked from the room. She might just barely catch a deep forlorn sigh as the door swung shut behind him. The puppeteer, unknown to her, had a confused and frustrated expression written across his features.

He would not be sleeping well that night.

Masshiro's eyes glanced down at his desk and on the crafted paper he was writing on. He stared at his list of needed things, from herbs he was low on then to the need for clean wraps to bandage his hand, not wanting to dip into the emergency supplies. Most of all he wasn't thrilled about running out of supplies in a mission because he sloppily used it for his own personal care. Masshiro glared at his injured hand with a calm, bland expression but he was hot under the collar over his idiocy. If he had just been more careful then it wouldn't have happened.

Inside, his common sense knew that wasn't true. He couldn't control his nightmares anymore than he could pull or push the wind itself without chakra. The writing utensil tapped the paper's edge and made a dull sound with each hit, Masshiro's mind using it to keep count of the list running in his head. Each new item made him pause then write out a quick scribbled name before starting again.

Around him, his mind barely noted his closer friends chattering and buzzing with the excitement over their academy days coming to an end. They didn't feel the choking anxiety wrapping its cold fingers on his throat or the fear coiling in his chest, knowing his comfort zone was coming to a dreadful end. Of course if they were as closed as they appeared, one friend would've sensed his tension since he had walked into the classroom or he could've said something.

Masshiro made a brief bitter smile. School didn't work that way and they preferred his silent presence over his chatter any day, something he went through painstaking efforts to maintain just to belong.

His mind flipped back to the classroom door, recalling the the older ninja waiting outside for him. She was among the first person he met today to actually try to ease his thoughts and show concern. He stopped tapping his hand and set his quill aside, slouching a bit and pushing his seat away from his desk.

He had been just about to get up when the door moved, and he watched the sensei approach the front desk. The paper in his hand forgotten when man then called for attention.

Immediately everyone hushed and took their seats, Masshiro falling back into his own without a word. As the teams listing started, he listened in silence for his name. On the group mentioned for team six, his body propped upright and then he pressed his lips in thought at the other two names before him. He had heard of them but wasn't exclusively familiar with individuals behind them.

Masshiro got up then walked casually from his front seat on the row end when the rest of the assignments were finished up. His hand skimmed around the desk edge and reached to retrieve his copy of the mission statement. He was careful to get his rather than another teams as he glance at the information carefully, his figure moved to the side and out of the way to allow others to get theirs:



It didn’t seem like much, his eyebrow raised in question. It was a mission best suited for their situation though. It might’ve been why the Sensei wasn’t worried about giving it to them without a fully grown ninja to accompany them. Rolling up the scroll, Masshiro casually stuffed it into his pants pocket and paused at hearing Hikaru’s voice. Ranked above most the class, it was little surprised his fellow student was disappointed at being assigned to him and Kanagata. Masshiro took his time in answering Hikaru and turned his body to face him and made sure to look a little over the shorter boy's head, easy since he appeared not to have reached his growth spurt. Likely to Akira it seemed Masshiro was looking down on him by avoiding eye contact- through many students knew this wasn’t an unusual thing for him-and spoke.

“I think teams are assigned based on how they would benefit each other in the long run and how well they will function.” His eyes shifted to recall his guest at the door and decided to excuse himself.”Excuse me, I need to tell someone it’s alright to come in.”

He bowed then skirted around Akira, leaning out of the open door just when several of the students had departed. His eyes carefully panned the hallway until they rested on Haruhi-san. She had been waiting outside like she promised causing him to smile with a slight warmth. “You can come in, now.”

Masshiro’s eyes averted from meeting hers as he retreated back toward his team.

@Keyblade87

---

Touzoku nodded in response to his answers, absorbing what he was saying.

"It is good you were able to give me an honest answer in regards to weaknesses. You'd be surprised how hard that is for people to admit," Touzoku responded, truly pleased that he hadn't pretended to be some prodigy in every area. "Knowing both your strengths and weaknesses is the most important part of being not only a shinobi, but an individual. Even I am not skilled in certain areas." She hoped that realization would set in. He should realize that he could spend the rest of his life expanding his skill set and still not be considered a master.

"My skills would be primarily in a specialized style of kenjutsu, medical arts, and genjutsu. Primarily, my skills lean toward assassination," she noted to him, "My weakest point is my ninjutsu. I have a limited repertoire of techniques in that area."

"Our other genin that will join our team will be my son, Kiken," she continued, "He graduated a bit before you. We will arrange a time for us to meet as a group soon. I'll be talking to the Sankage about getting a few missions for you two as well."

"But, I should explain why knowing your strengths and weaknesses are important," Touzoku added, back to her original lesson, "There will be times in your life that you will not have the skills to conquer the challenges ahead of you. There will then be times that the skills of your team are not adequate. It is when you realize and are able to recognize these situations you can avoid a loss of life, not only your own, but people around you."

Touzoku had learned early on in her career that this was one of the most important things people could learn. She had seen many missions fail solely because of a person unwilling to admit they did not have the required skills. Often times, that failure was deadly, resulting in lives being lost. Touzoku had stressed this to those within ANBU during her tenure as leader. It had drastically improved the survival rate of those under her charge and many of the other divisions had started to stress it as well.

"So Akira, what your aspirations as a shinobi?"

Detours

Kumogakure, Outside Genmyou's office - Morning

---

Hanawa studied the two women as a mixture of expressions fluttered across her face. A little bit of surprise, irritation at the interruption, then more irritation as her would-be partner was being stolen. And then of course, the realization that she'd be left to this mission, dangerous as it could be, by herself. Hanawa was a capable shinobi in every respect, but still. Safety in numbers. Two is one, one is none. Still, she'd have to work differently now, tread more carefully.

Before she could respond, Minami was pulled away. The extra scrolls were left in her care, of course. "Fine," she said with a sigh, she shook her head and slipped them away, where they would be safe and quick access. At least most of her gear was summonable. Turning back she headed outside into the bright morning sunlight, breathing in the crisp mountain air.

Masshiro would need to be notified. He'd probably freak out looking for her, and then worry himself into an ulcer if she didn't tell him at least a little, and say goodbye.

---

Hanawa trudged through the village again, barely making a sound with her tabi. Idly she stopped to ask a couple of the villagers if they had seen Masshiro this morning...

Hugging his wife tightly for a long minute or so, Zume enjoyed the feeling before he gently pulled away, his eyes locking with hers. There was a silent exchange of information before he smiled gently and pecked her on the lips, after which he turned and strode down the stairs and out the house. He had business to attend and part of that business involved travel--as it so often did with him.

The shade wished he could have stayed with his wife and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon, but unfortunately that was not the case--as it frequently was not when cycles shifted.

So it was that The Vacant Shade departed Onteimura and headed out into the world, on a search for the meaning behind the cycle's shift. Perhaps he would find it in Kyokujitsu no Tochi...or perhaps it would be in the least expected place of all. It was impossible to tell with these things. At least, it was for most that is.

He would find out in time. He always did.

---

---

Having long since arrived in the village, the puppeteer watched as the ship unloaded several volleys of cannonballs onto the village. Luckily everyone was more or less evacuated by then. His eyes shifted to Kawari riron and he gestured. Immediately the puppet took off, running across the water with ease. While he watched the puppet that was effectively his body double head in the ship's direction he noted that Dune Hunter's approach had been somewhat halted by a whirlpool. It made a small, cruel smile form behind his mask. If he had known the maneuver was unintentional he wouldn't have been smiling.

"Let the hunt commence," he said quietly, before he leapt forwards, following the ship, but staying hidden along the shoreline. He'd keep pace for as long as was required. This pirate wasn't getting away.

---

---

Its master taking note, Dune Hunter's disintegration field activated in sequences, altering the flow of water around its form as it swam, regaining its ability to move through the water, rather than be taken into the sway of the whirlpool. The puppet easily tore away and zero'd in on the ship, jumping out of the water and over the entire mine field of explosive barrels before diving back into the water on the other side and pursuing the ship, its form swiftly becoming nigh undetectable beneath the waves.

The puppet resumed its approach of the ship.

---

---

Allowing Hiroshi to board the ship, Shiso instead willed the water beneath her to encircle her legs and lift her into the air. In the same moment she channeled more water into the stream that held her aloft and struck forwards within the water, as if undeterred by its resistance to her movements. In response water struck out from the stream below her, driving in horizontal cylinders of highly pressurized water towards the ship. Additional water had formed around each of her arms, stored there in case someone tried to cut the stream that connected her main source.

She had every intention of the streams cutting into the top of the ship as well as throwing many a sailor overboard.

---

---

Remaining largely silent as he caught up to the trio he was traveling with. They often took him to interesting places, not to mention that Chiyoko was a font of wisdom in her own right.

Approaching, the swordsman bowed his head respectfully to the guards before he spoke, his tone level and calm as the wind through the trees or the creaking of a forest. “I wish to participate as well. Perhaps I can offer a show of skill. Ah, where are my manners,” he smiled, “I am Mayonaka, Seisui of the Land of Iron.” He bowed his head once more, before raising it. He had a presence about him, one borne of the highly trained...one borne of a focused mindset, created by a form of inner peace.

It lent many things to the man, but one was a measure of intimidation, whereas the other was a strange calm. Two opposing things from the same aura.

He was hard to read in some ways.

---

---

Departing the Kanagata compound, the young genin had a smile on his face as he headed to the Academy where he'd be meeting his new team today. It was truly an achievement to have graduated, not that the elders thought much of it. To them it had apparently been an expected result of his enrollment. He wished they'd calm their expectations a bit, but he didn't let any of it bother him much. The rest of the way to the Academy he thought on who his teammates might be.

Perhaps Eijuro, Kai or Nazomeku, Teren? Unlikely, not a good match, plus he wasn't terribly buddy buddy with anyone really so it wouldn't bother him as to who he got picked to be with. Then it hit him, there was that pompous light user, he might be fun to hang out with, if only so he could make snide remarks about his alleged superiority. Plus he might make an amusing rival. With this in mind he reached the Academy grounds and ran the rest of the way to his class.

Nonetheless he arrived a bit late though he managed to just barely catch his team being announced, thus illiciting a grin. Glancing at the sensei and bowing respectfully, an apologetic look on his features as he did so, the Kanagata made a point to wordlessly apologize for being late. The elders had kept him, he'd explain later if necessary.

However, now was not the time for that, as he turned away, upon rising from his bow, and headed to the board where Akira his two teammates had migrated to. Apparently checking their mission. As he approached he noted Masshiro rush past him and lean out the door. Raising an eyebrow he walked over to Akira and punched the boy in the arm in a friendly manner. He figured it might annoy him, “So, let me guess, you wrote me off as average because of my grades?” There was a small smirk on his face as he stated the rhetorical question. Himawari was pretty good at learning people and it also helped that Akira was full of himself, judging people very easily. It was a simple set of points to connect to come to his conclusion.

Hopefully he was right. If he wasn't, it would only lower the imaginary status that Akira had almost certainly assigned him. Either way it'd end up fun. One way Akira might get annoyed and the other way he could prove him terribly wrong the first time they sparred or fought together.

He couldn't wait to find out which it was.