When Masshiro stepped back to the group, he overheard Himawari’s comment to Akira. He knew it was a jest, even a bit of a prod at the light user’s known attituding, causing him to bite his lip in silence. His eyes studying Akira and slight anxiety building over his wait for the expected reaction. Hands in his waistband and ears tuned in for the fight that would likely start, Masshiro braced himself confrontation. It would either stick to a verbal exchange or escalating into an all out brawl, the two clashing in the middle of the classroom. The perfect show of teamwork, Masshiro thought which he would soon become embrassed over. Though he doubted he would be able to do much and personally, he didn’t want to try to exercise the Joppojutsu on one of his teammates. It was a shitty way to start thing when they were suppose to be working together on a mission.

Honestly, Masshiro felt Akira was too high on his pedestal. This created tension in the classroom that wasn’t needed and most the other kids disliked him because of his arrogance, making him the least popular among all the students. Through that didn’t seem to bother Akira in the least since he seemed strictly there just to be the best.

It seemed the teacher sensed the tension because he peered up from his ordering his desk, his hand passing out papers, then eyed the trio’s direction. To Masshiro, it appeared as if the man recalled the first fight Akira had gotten into. A repeat would not be a good thing he realized. It was likely why Himawari and him had been assigned to Akira, the boy unable to be tolerated by anyone else and likely would’ve chased his team away. Believing the sensei could handle any fight that broke out, Masshiro walked back to his desk and retrieved his stuff so he would be ready to go. Hanawa-chan was next on his list and then getting additional supplies before they officially headed off. Just because the mission was within Kumogakure, he knew that didn’t mean injuries couldn’t happen. Thinking about wounds, his eyes brushed over his wrapped hand and the pain seemed to flare at his notice. He knew he had forgotten to take some painkiller, more eager to get out the house and to class. so he would have to boil a dose later.

However, he knew bloody bandage couldn’t wait very long.

Hunching down, Masshiro tugged out his bag and then started to shuffle through it. His good hand seeking out the kit he kept with himself at all times . In his searching, he barely heard Natsuko creep up on him until she spoke. “I saw who you got, Masshiro-chan. I don’t know what I would’ve done if it was me that got Hiraku.”

Masshiro’s head shifted to spy her as she pushed her round glasses higher up on her nose, her blue eyes studying him until it made him uncomfortable. Her lips turned up in a smile while she hovered. Another that paid little mind to his reaction because she had forgotten how much he hated that and despite the times he had mentioned it, she still did it. Biting back his words, Masshiro shrugged then answered. ”It’s nothing. It’s likely for the best, I guess?”

He tried to ignore her studying gaze best he could and his hand plunged in, hastening his search while he ruined his organization within his bag.

“It still has to suck. The guy needs to be taken down a peg or peg because he’s nothing more than a creep.” Relieved it wasn’t her, Natsuko’s tone was cheerful and pleasant even when she finished. “Well, good luck Masshiro-chan!”

He heard her walk away, eager to get back to her group, and mumbled under his breath. ”Thanks…”

Pulling out the bandage, he stuck it in his mouth while he flipped the bag over his shoulder with one arm. Her adjusted it as he walked back to his group and tried to remove his earlier bandage to reply a new one. He really hoped he would not be required to use the ninjutsu his sister taught him any time soon or his hand might never heal properly causing Hanawa-chan to become rather pissed at him. That would make asking to crash at her place a bad idea and he couldn’t stand having his parents watch over him like hawks for the next few days.



Akane had just made it to the gallery when the ship began its whirlpool. The ship immediately jerked causing her feet to shuffle from underneath her as her hand jerked out and caught the door frame to balance her. It didn’t stop her feet from sliding out from under her and her fingers whitening, gripping the wood tightly to try to stay upright. Unlike her, the rest of the crew hadn’t been so lucky. Their figures immediately crumbled and slid across the slightly wet flooring, their bodies bruised by the impact against the hard sea worn surface. Many were entangled into a pile of legs and arms, trying to untangle themselves and shake away the daze.

Cursing under her breath, Akane let go of the frame to let herself glide over the wet surface. Hands reached for a kunai and wire, wrapping the later through the hole before she thunk it into the wood deeply. She had been about to pass the stairwell and slam into the far when her body came to a halt, the wire sparing her the pain. She held tightly and felt the thin thread threaten to break her skin, refusing to let go. It was a small price to pay just to get to the stairs. A foot stepped up as her tied hand gave a mighty jerk, one that splintered the wood into freeing the tip and returned the knife to her possession. Catching in a hand, she rushed up the steps quickly. The whole time thinking the captain was going to get them killed one day. When the ship broke away from the whirlpool, her foot skidded and jerked from under her. Again she nearly stumbled back down making her curse under her breath some more. Using her anger, she shoved herself upward and just a few steps shy of entering the deck.

Wind’s song getting louder and louder the closer she got meaning he was confronting someone. Akane’s instincts screamed for her to turn back and leave him to his fate. She was also hoping whoever was battling him would finally kill the twisted soul, freeing them all from the madman’s command. Shoving down her fear, Akane started out onto the deck just when water waved over. It caught her off guard for a moment and knock her several steps at first. When she almost was at end, her arms shoved to her side to keep her from losing much more ground and precious time. However, she didn’t come off completely unscratched. Her thigh had smacked into the step causing her to bit down a pain induced yelp, her eyes glaring at the deck. She wanted to blame Wind for the pain though she knew it wasn’t his fault. Noting a cannon ball rolling near her feet, she bent down to mark it just in case.

Hoisting herself, she muttered,”If we survive 'tis, I be goin' t' clobber t' bastard,” then moved herself onto the deck.

Akira noted, rather dully, the approach of Himawari, the 3rd member of their team. The one he was least looking forward to seeing. Akira didn't pay attention to him, listening at least a little to Masshiro. His intention ignoring of Himawari was broken by a light punch landed on his shoulder. Akira slapped the hand away, tension filling the air from his side.

"Don't touch me, cur! If you don't care about your grades, why would you care about being a ninja?"

Akira snarled looking around at all the disgusted faces. He hated them all too.

"What are you all looking at!?"

Akira's patience was running thin, and he decided to go back to ignoring Himawari. Akira felt the only thing that mattered was being a good ninja. He was born a genius, who cared what the plebs thought? There was only one thing to do with the team he was assigned. Do their mission, go home, and train til they actually got a sensei. Akira opened up the mission details, mumbling to himself.

"At least I'm not assigned Tadaoki."

It ellicited a 'hey' from across the room from the said name.

Akira slowly read the mission, double checking it, before putting his copy of the mission away.

"Masshiro! Get back over here, we have a package to deliver!"

Mochizuki Tonbo- The Free Spirit of the Desert.

"These trees are so much fun! I wish could had more time to climb them without jutsu. It feels like cheating using chakra."

Mochizuki appeared dropping upside down infront of Momo. She looked at her bandages sadly as she mentioned tree climbing. She had bandages across her nose, ribs, and left hand. In addition, a couple of badly placed bandages laced her right wing. Mochizuki felt like she should wrap it up, but didn't have any idea how to wrap it up. Her companion didn't have wings either, so little help there. The end result was a sad looking entropy of bandages at odd angles that kept falling loose.

"Anyways, it's kind of hard to see through all these trees. We aren't in the desert that's for sure. For what it's worth, it didn't look like any ninjas are around. What are we going to do now? I don't think Sakuya was thinking she'd make it to the safehouse. Do we bring her there anyways? Or do we bring her back to the Hidden Sand? If we go back, we gotta fill up on supplies.

I don't want to fight those bandits again; I used too many darts last time. I only have 11 left. I also used my only antidote on Sakuya. Being a sniper sucks."

Mochizuki continued to hang like a monkey as an insect buzzed by. Mochizuki held her finger out to it, as a dragonfly landed on it.

"Hey! This is what a Dragonfly looks like! I've never seen one!"

Mochizuki's wings buzzed in sync with the dragonfly, before she flinched as more bandages came loose from her right wing.

"I hope it grows back soon."

---

His hand brushed aside, Himawari's grin didn't even begin to vanish, and it seemed that Akira's response didn't change it either. “You know,” he began, then realized he was being ignored, at which point he channeled the tiniest amount of static energy into his fingertips and poked Akira hard, sending a static discharge through his entire body. That wasn't the worst part either, every time they made contact it would shock Akira again. Exerting too much energy would cause it too due to stress. So the mere act of getting irritated at him would literally punish Akira.

It was too bad it would only last 2 minutes. “They don't grade for practical skills. They don't grade for kenjutsu or ingenuity either. It's all theory, so I did well enough to pass because my skills lie elsewhere.” His smirk would remain and he kept himself within arms reach of Akira, despite knowing that his teammate could do some horrible things given his abilities. He didn't seem worried for some reason. “By the way, I can code the shocks to happen at specific instances if I want to. Maybe I could set it up so every time you try to insult someone, you get shocked. Or maybe link the effect to my magnetic field so I can just do it manually so long as enough static energy remains.” His grin widened, showing off his teeth as his little prank became more elaborate.

He noticed the jounin teacher in the room turn an eye to them briefly, then shift their stance so they couldn't see any of it. Himawari's smile would have grown if it hadn't already been so large. Then he noticed Masshiro's expressions, which didn't make him feel too great about what he was doing. Still, if he could be instrumental in tempering back his teammate's arrogance, it would serve for the betterment of the team. Perhaps he could talk to Masshiro later when Akira wasn't around. Perhaps they could make it part of their mission as a team to help Akira get rid of some of his bad habits.

It helped that the process would be amusing as all hell. Well...at least Himawari thought it would be.

Masshiro, as well as the rest of the class, heard Akira immediately insult Himawari and slapped the hand away. It was too obvious the class's top student didn’t find the causal nin’s comment amusing or thought much of him in general. Something that Masshiro wasn’t surprised about as he slowed his pace and taking longer in approaching them, hoping to delay the inevitable. It seemed his earlier suspicions were all too correct, his role being the arbitrator between the two and a role he wasn't looking forward to. However, there was little he could do currently about the matter. His hand tried to adjust his strap again as it slipped down. Naturally due to his hasty shuffling, most the weight had shifted to the back end and threatened bring the bag crashing down from his shoulder. Masshiro gritted his teeth and again, tilted his shoulder and jerked his strap back up before it slipped away.

The whole time, the bandage in his mouth was getting dampened by his saliva. If he got it too wet then it would’ve been a breeding ground for germs and infection was the last thing he needed for his wound. He was getting irritated at his lacking progress with multitasking as he paused in his extraction of his bandage to retrieve the roll wadded up in his mouth. The boy removed it easily only to feel a fresh, painful flare race up from his knuckles. It was bad enough he couldn’t change the wrap, but now he had to deal with the ache too.

Masshiro fought back a jump when Akira shouted at the others in the classroom, his red eyes noted the the baneful and disgusted glares. His tongue nestled in his teeth and bit down, gently, to draw his attention from the sour expressions baring down on Akira. And to an indirect degree, himself. A comment about Tadoki drew a direct protest in the form of “Hey!” which only helped Masshiro’s desire to ask Akira to keep his trap shut grow. Thankfully the snob pulled his nose down and glanced over the mission statement another time before putting it away then shouting for him, ignoring Himawari.

”Coming.” Masshiro stated in a whisper, leaving his redden wrap alone for now. He would have to flip out the bandages later when he had more time.

His feet sped up a bit when he noted Himawari grin his widest grin yet. He reminding Masshiro of a cat with a mouse, Akira being the latter and with an ego complex. That grin made the genin nervous as he tried to reach them. His steps were longer to cover more distance and try to interrupt whatever Himawari had in store. Unfortunately he got the gut feeling he was going to be too late mainly since Himawari was closer and his bag was slowing him down a bit. When the kid shocked Akira, Masshiro’s face flickered with worry at what had happened. His mind shifted to the worst case and was preparing to stop the other kid from picking a fight with the other, ready to shove his bag to the floor in the event he needed more speed. It might break a few important things but having his teammates black and blue before a job was something much worse than a few ruined supplies.

He didn’t assume Akira would win but the notion of seeing two ninja with abilities of power clashing, Himawari coming from a well known Clan, when they were suppose to be his team didn’t sit well with him. He spoke loudly for his causal volume to gain both boys’ attention and blurted out the only thing he could think of that might distract Akira from crossing a line. “Hey, I’m coming! But before we leave, I need to get some last minute supplies and talk to my sister, Hanawa-chan.”

Akira cursed as the shock went through him. He didn't know Himawari beforehand, but he sure did now. The shocks became stronger as a sudden desire to kill his teammate rose.

Akira gritted his teeth, looking as he could see the sparks, growing stronger.

Akira reached for his bag, and jumped in the air where the electricity wouldn't spark anymore. Throwing a shuriken at the air, Akira started handsigns, and threw a wired shuriken at the ceiling. Space warped around it, not giving a straight line for the elecrity.

Akira still buzzed in the air occasionally however.

Akira snarled, looking down at Himawari, swinging embarrassingly infront of the whole clasroom.

"Tch, if you want to play so badly, we'll do it AFTER the mission. It's on. Meanwhile, I'm a ninja, and people actually expect things of me, and you probably forgot we have a mission to do, pleeb."

Akira still wanted to strangle the life out of Himawari, especially for making him play the fool infront of the class.