---

Setsuko continued to chat with the two people in front of her about various things, but their chat would be cut short by the alert they'd get on their cheap phones. The phone was decent, but if it was up to Setsuko she'd rather have something with more of a special touch to her own wardrobe. Carrying around a phone like this was a hassle due to the fact that there was no upgrade to it. If they lost it they'd have to pay the fee to replace the phone which wasn't bad (to her it is), but their replacement would be the exact same thing. You'd think with all the support the Confederation is getting that they'd spend some funding on updating the devices needed for communicating. Whatever the case was Setsuko would click any button on the phone to shut it up, and then would click a few more buttons to get to the alert as clicking it the first time to stop the ringing would also exit out of the alert. Making it into the messages she'd see the that they were to finally have a place to call base camp. It was almost exciting to her that a battle was going to take place that she could actually participate in, but at the same time as she pressed the "End Call" button to get out of the message, and put it in her pocket Setsuko felt the plastic badge randomly given to her earlier. With that her heart was to practically skip a beat at the fact that she was one of the people to be calling the shots if something was to happen. As she looked back up to the two Setsuko asked for their numbers. Of course they didn't have to give it to her, but she wanted them for various reasons. No, one of them did not consist of flirting. There's no way she'd make that damn joke again.

With that, she had waved to the other two good bye. "See ya!" Hopefully, and then made her way to travel to the base.

---

It took about a day and a half to make it there because she honestly sucked at reading a map, but as she got there Setsuko would be disappointed at how the base looked from the outside. It was less than what she had though it to be, but maybe there was a reason as to why it was that...disappointing. As she made her way down the staircase that led under the building the sad "base" above was nothing compared to below.

Now I know why there aren't any phone upgrades, she though as she looked around at all the tech gear. One can only dream of having this much gear in one spot though leave it up to the Confederation to actually do it, and underground at that.

Making her way to her assigned room Setsuko would try to take everything in, but because events had come one after another it was time to just settle into the room for some needed relaxation. Of course, she'd spend less than half of her time taking a break since the room she had was interesting in it's own way. The bathroom alone was neat as she spent no time in helping herself to a nice shower. Looking at the shower one would think that pressing a button here, and then there would make the water warm but of course it wasn't that easy. She had tried multiple times to get the water to her liking, but instead kept pressing the wrong buttons that would change the position of where the shower head sprayed from. At one point it was on ice cold with all of them spraying on her. Setsuko had yelled, and ran out of the shower to get out of the ridiculous tech-shit. It took a few more minutes before she was to hack how to work the thing. All in all it took but a few minutes to actually shower minus the fiasco that she had with finding a way to make it spray like a normal shower should.

After that whole ordeal Setsuko had finally made it to the closet to see what she could wear while her own clothes were being washed. The clothes was not that impressive when it came to looking decent, but she did appreciate the fact that they tried. With that, she settled for a sleeveless turtleneck top with some tan shorts along with the usual shinobi slip-ons. This time she'd leave her hair down to dry, and would let herself fall onto the bed to finally take the time to rest.

"This day was pretty hectic." Setsuko put her arm over her face as she attempted to take a nap.

That nap however was to be short-lived by the knocking of someone who opened the door seconds later. Setsuko didn't sit up at first she she hoped to know who it was by the sound of their voice, and lo and behold it was. As Higoho talked, or more along the lines of mocked having to practice together Setsuko slowly sat up. She listened to what he said, but was 2 seconds away from shutting the door on him before he was to lead the way to the practice fields. Has it been that long since I've used the Byakugan? Setsuko put her hand on top of her eyes while trying to remember the last time she had used it. It could not have been that long, but whatever the case was she wasn't going to pass up the opportunity. Why did he have to pick a time when I just got out of the shower? Rude. Nonetheless Setsuko put her hair in a bun, and did what she could to follow the fellow Hyuga.

Higoho walked at a strangely fast pace compared to her, so she had arrived at the location after he had already picked a box to practice in. The place they'd practice at looked as if there would be people watching, and after walking into the glass box Higoho was in she could tell that they'd be able to mess with the settings to make the place into different kinds of landscapes. It didn't take a genius to find that out.

"Hey," she waved to get Higoho's attention. "You didn't say anything about having a specific setting. Is this even a practice, or are you trying to set me up?"

---

Higoho undid his Konohagakure headband as he stood at the center of the box, looking slightly down as he put it back on. He placed the headband in such a way that his hair wouldn't come into his eyes, or his face in general. As he finished that he looked up at Setsuko, face serious as ever. “No. I just want to train. Those settings would be too complicated for a simple training.” As Setsuko entered a loud pshhhh.. sound could be heard behind her. The glass door slid to the side, closing the box off.

“So get ready.” Higoho said to her as he slid his back foot backwards, landing in a perfect gentle fist stance. There wasn't much space between Higoho and Setsuko, though there was plenty of space in the box to maneuver around a little bit. That said, gentle fist was an extremely close combat style, so it'd be strange if Setsuko started running. “Byakugan!” Higoho shouted suddenly, the veins near and in his eyes tensing up. He was expecting Setsuko to get ready at the same time, and stepped to the left slowly, like a vulture circling it's prey. It was common for gentle fist practitioners to start a fight like this, since the gentle fist style was not as explosive as other styles. Never the less it was a sight to behold when things did get interesting, as in most cases raw chakra could be seen erupting from strikes as they went back and forth with attacks and blocks.

By now a small amount of shinobi had stopped working to take a look, after all, two Hyuga fighting it out in public was a rare sight for many of them given that most of the time they fought inside the clan compound. Higoho paid no mind however, as he was a little used to it by now. He stepped slowly and surely until the time to strike had arrived. He stepped forwards rapidly, sprinting towards Setsuko and closing the very little distance that was between them.

His right palm was sent forwards, in an opening blow on the right side of Setsuko's body. It was clear the attack would never hit but there had to be someone that opened the fight and god forbid that Setsuko strike the first blow. That'd be laughable at best. Even someone who had little practice in the Byakugan and the Gentle Fist style would be able to block the strike, that much was sure. While he sent his right palm forwards, his left hand remained near his body to defend against the inevitable strike Setsuko would send out. That was the style of the gentle fist - a ping-pong of attacks and blocks until someone landed a hit. Once a hit was landed, usually the two shinobi would back off to assess the damages - as most Hyuga knew, the gentle fist style was contact as well as non-contact. Even the person that landed the hit could be dangerously hurt by narrow misses by the other. However, for now, Higoho just had to see if Setsuko had it in her to block the strike and retaliate.

@l0ck0n@Lost in my Mind@Partisan

After the greeting of his new two friends, especially from the one called Setsuko, who he seemed to squeak his name out to her in response. Pretty lame greeting one would say. A simple hello to the young woman turned into a high pitched hi, followed by a cough and then an attempt to greet her properly. Cho rubbed the back of his head and smiled. "Food doesn't sound like a bad Idea to be honest. Afterwards we could train if your up to it. Whadda say, hm?" Unknown to Cho someone else had approached the group who currently resided near the conference room entrance. A figure that Chokashi knew well enough. Yamato Minamoru. Hi cousin told him a little about Yamato. How he was quite the fighter when Chokashi was growing up however, he did not deny that Yamato only got stronger with age. "Oh. Minamoru-sama. It's good to see-" e was interrupted by Yamato addressing his new found friend with rather, hateful eyes. It was almost as if he thought of Setsuko as nothing but dog shit and with that he raised an eyebrow but the confused look disappeared as quickly as it came. Then came his speech as well. Chokurou started to slump over until he caught himself and quickly stood fully erect. After the speech, Yamato seemed to walk off, most likely going to another group of shinobi to check their uniforms as well. Chokurou sighed as he turned to the group he was in.

"Maybe some other time then." He gave the two of them a wave goodbye before heading down to what could pass as a mess hall and got into line with everyone awaiting some form of food. Cho, being the Akimichi he was, loaded his tray with food causing him to get looks from many people but those who knew the clan knew why they ate so much. Speaking of clans, Chokurou decided to give his cousin a buzz to check in on him. After a few rings:

"This is Akimchi Choka-"
"Hey bro!" A sigh came from the other side.
"W-what are you doing calling me right now? Is it important?"
"N-no. I-I was just calling to see how yo-"
"Sorry, had a rough day yesterday and it's dragged into today. I heard there was a big fiasco at the festival."
"Eh? Yeah. Those damn Red Sages came through and caused a mess." A chuckle followed.
"Did you take any out?" Chokurou smiled slightly.
"Not exactly, I came into the fray late so I didn't see too much action. I did knock one or two out though."
"Well good job! Did you use the Palm?" Even if Chokashi couldn't see it, Chokurou shook his head.
"No but I'll make sure to next time."
"I hope so. I didn't teach you that for fun. Well I got to go. I'm meeting with the Nara and Yamanaka clan in about an hour so I'll talk to you later. Oh wait-" Chokurou was about to hang up until he heard Chokashi call for him again.
"Yeah?"
"Chotsu Akimcihi was at the festival. Did he make it out?"
"No... He was killed in the blast." Another sigh.
"Alright...Thanks." Chokurou heard his cousin immediately hanging up the phone. He shook his head before diving into the meal, which others would call a buffet with much vigor.

---

"Goddamn I'm starving." He laid in his bed with his left side hanging off the edge. After the trip to the outpost shortly followed by a tour he was done for the day. But, as his cousin was, he would most likely eat, work out, eat some more and then sleep. So with that thought in mind he rolled himself out of bed, showered and made his way to the mess hall...again. The mess hall was fairly packed with shinobi who had finished missions, starting missions, finished training or just woke up. Either way, It was like any other mess hall he had been in and as usual, he grabbed a tray and began to fill it with what he could, grossing out a new group of shinobi who weren't aware of the Akimichi habits. At least Chokashi wasn't here. He'd make Chokurou's meal look like an appetizer. Two bowls of ramen; one tofu and one pork and veggies, three bowls of rice and rack of barbeque pork with grilled squash was Chokurou's first meal before heading out to the training grounds. With tray in hand his next goal was to find an empty seat. He did a quick scan over the place before finding a seat in the far corner of the room and needless to say he swiftly made his way over before it could be taken.

Placing his tray down he pulled out his seat and sat down, scooting himself forward so that he could better "situate" himself before chowing down. He picked up his first bowl of ramen, broke apart his pair of chopsticks and begun to eat, or what could pass for eating. It was similar to what a starving man would do when given a feast. Unfortunately, those at the table didn't agree with the manners he displayed. Looks of disapproval were among many but at the current moment Chokurou could not see them. Soon enough he took a pause to take a drink. "God that is some good ramen. Haven't had noodles like that for awhi- What?" Cho then took notice to those looking at him. "You're disgusting you know that right? How can you even eat all that?" Cho took a swig of his drink and then placed it on the table before leaning back in his chair. "What you call disgusting I call normal. I'm an Akimichi, we eat, train, eat and fight. It's what we do. Besides-" He leaned forward to his second bowl and started to pack that away. "Dish ish nodding. Mah coushin eatsh moar den me." A few raised their eyebrows while others just paled at the statement and few actually threw up in their mouths at his lack of tact and decency.

---

The three Red Sages hadn't spoken for long, but Yudai had given him a little something extra to worry about; Seijo had brought him along because he had apparently thrashed the shinobi on the stairwell. By the time Nori had a chance to comment on it though, he had taken his leave. He didn't try to stop him. Coming out in the open like that must have been difficult enough, and he didn't need him any more stressed by tomorrow. He decided to just do the same, take Seijo's example and get some rest. Nori had already cleaned himself up and had his equipment prepared for tomorrow, so he didn't really have any reason to stay awake. As he laid down though, he found himself staring at the space above him, his thoughts wandering, as is often the case after a soldier's mission. Seijo had only given the briefest of explanations as to why she wanted him on the mission, because he had decided to hang back and protect the rear rather than charge in for glory. But he also didn't do anything exemplary. He just took up the position he thought was best, and returned to his commanding officer with rather average information. He also didn't have any specific techniques that had stood out to her; she stated outright that she didn't know his capabilities. So... why him, on what she had said was the most important mission?

Stealing Madara Uchiha's gunbai, and Sasuke Uchiha's sword. I don't know what you plan on doing with these, Seijo Tametomo, but I hope your decision is the right one.

---

It was possible that Nori was the first one out of his room when Seijo had come knocking. He had gone ahead and geared up early, warmed himself up with some light exercise, and by that afternoon, was mentally going over the pictures of the warehouse district she had displayed last night. He could have left at any moment's notice. "Already am, Lady Commander." He stood up, checked his scarf, strapped on his naginata, and went out to meet her in the hallway. She hadn't waited a moment after they had all gathered, and within minutes they were making their way to Amegakure. His doubts from last night were quelled, and replaced with him considering the capabilities of his allies. Which he knew very little about, considering last night's brief conversation.

Anzai he knew little about, since he hadn't even seen him on the mission. However, you don't get to be a capable jounin while blind without some intriguing capabilities. He would be safe to use the Hiding in Mist Technique around, since he didn't need his eyesight. It'd have to be us separated from Seijo and Yudai by a decent distance, however. Yudai, well, he couldn't be certain. Whatever Seijo thought he was capable of was a degree above his actual abilities, and now the Lady Commander had an overestimated shinobi on their side. Regarding Seijo, he just knew to stay out of her way. Her skills were the ones people paid the most attention to; she was the commander, after all. The idea would just be to stay the hell away from her Fungal Release if she needed to go all-out. Thoughts like these would plague his mind on their trip.

---

So far, everything was going as planned, optimal and efficient. Perhaps Lady Tametomo brought a satchel of good luck charms, he thought with mild amusement as they stationed themselves atop one of the warehouses. He took a comfortable breath of the air. Perhaps the endless rain from ages past had ceased, but the climate here left plenty of room for showers, and there was a comfortable humidity in the air. It vaguely reminded him of home. Not that he had any intention of going on a nostalgia trip. They were at work, after all, and Seijo had just tossed Nori her little pouch of luck.

Until she explained what it was.

"A Senju-chakra enhanced bomb? And here I had thought you just had some extra supplies. Well, I'll do my best. I do hope this thing works properly though. I'd rather not have that "Contained explosion" blow up the whole lot of us. Is there any backup plan in case this explosive happens to fail though, Lady Commander?" Even as he asked, he walked up just behind her, tucking the pouch at his side and drawing his naginata. He was ready to commence the mission. He wasn't questioning her authority, that much was clear in his voice. It just wasn't every day that you dealt with an explosive of this caliber. What he did do though, was give Yudai a sidelong glance and a nod. They would be working together, and Seijo wasn't aware of the capabilities of either of them. Now or never was the time to prove that she was right in picking them. Maybe I should have let the Lady Commander know the truth about him. I'm not sure if I'm being generous to him, or have just thrown him into a fire.

One last thought entered his head though, a little thread of amusement as he stepped forward. It's the First Hokage versus Madara Uchiha all over again it seems.

---

“As I was saying, I've seen Yudai in action myself. Capable, killed an entire staircase of shinobi and then was humble enough to say it was Katsuko. That's what I like about him.” she said, looking at Yudai, staring into his eyes. Yudai simply stared back, but his gaze was way past her - distracted. “Now him, I've not seen him in action. That's good, because that meant he was out keeping the confederates off my back while I killed that commander.” Even though was still talking, Yudai was now thinking about how he'd explain one day that it wasn't his doing. Perhaps this very fact was what put him in this team - which was way more important than any other and if this was true, he was getting far more value than he actually had, in the commander's eyes. This automatically filled Yudai with an immense fear of screwing up during this mission, he was slightly tense - one could tell from looking at him. His distant gaze was more focused, sweat formed onto his forehead, his movements were stiff and slow. He chewed on the food while staring at the plate, eyes slightly widen.

And then Seijo left the table, telling them to have a blast, whatever that meant. She seemed truly confident and even loosely aloof - making a comment that all of their names had an i - Yudai almost commented that three of them ended with an i, but didn't. Instead, he took another... chopsticksful of rice and shoved it into his mouth, chewing slowly, with his mouth closed and all.

Nori spoke all along. "Well, her presence was short-lived, although I'm guessing that have a blast means more along the lines of, get to know each other while you have the chance. Not necessarily an order, but I agree with Yudai; I wouldn't mind knowing who I'm fighting alongside." Nori then proceeded to question the blind man. Yudai stared at him blankly; he raised an eyebrow and it was funny, because Anzai couldn't see it. Imagine talking seriously with him and sticking your tongue out, eheheh."You're blind, then?" Uh, nope. His eyes are just allergic to air I suppose. Despite the thoughts, Yudai was still quiet. Anzai and Nori, however, weren't.

"Then again, being humble can prove as disastrous as being arrogant, Yudai-sama." Anzai directed his gaze to Yudai. "Underestimating one's own skills is never wise, neither is it holding them in high regard. I hope you will at least remember these words."

After Anzai's words, Nori's eyes settled on Yudai, briefly. He proceeded to speak; "I recognize you better, Yudai. You went right in with the Lady Commander on the earlier mission, and were one of the first to catch up with her during the retreat after Mikoto and I. Seems as though she's rather impressed with your performance, and humility. Ah, but forgive me."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to rant like this. Just trailed off while stating my mind. Feel free to speak now."

With that, Yudai raised a hand and offered a gentle smile, making a dismissing gesture. "Chill, everything is alright. Although..." His expression shifted, the smile faltered and he took a deep breath. Both chopsticks were placed next to his plate as he raised his arms, supporting his elbows at the table as his hands clasped together in front of his face, covering his eyes - partly. "See... Lady-commander there thinks I'm humble - she's wrong, however. That red-haired, buff of a man known as Katsuko, he was the one responsible about those shinobi in the stairs. He wrecked everyone there with his bare hands and pretty quick, too. I was a few steps ahead of the Lady-Commander and she was distracted, so when she looked at the scenery again, it seemed as it was all my doing." A pause. Yudai took a deep, frustrated breath. "Now she sees me as much better than I am, in reality. However, you both are my teammates, so I can't leave this lie hanging in the air - if any of you were to count that I was that powerful in a crucial moment, it could be our ruin." There. He was satisfied. And exhausted.

His tray wasn't empty; half of the glass of water he had was still there, he chugged it down quickly, however, the leftovers of his food remained there. Yudai stood up, picking the tray as he began moving off.

"And my apologies, but I'll take a rest. I smell ya'll later."

Upon arriving on his room, he brushed his teeth - naturally. Then, sat at his bed. He remained there, sitting, staring at an empty wall much like a system of a down fan. He scratched his cheek, pinched his nose, brushed his hair with his hand; truth be spoken, Yudai was nervous, in a manner that he wasn't ever before. Partly, he wondered how his teammates reacted to what he said earlier, heck, they could even see him as a fraud from now on. The boy didn't sleep.

---

Yudai was all hot and ready. His attire had changed; it followed the same layout as his usual combat outfit, but he was wearing an alternative version; he recently got it, but it wasn't put to use until now. It was entirely black with red kanji for 'Red Sages' on the bottom. He wore black gloves, that covered his whole arm basically and light armored shoulderpads. His hair was swept back, for the first time ever seen a comb. Why? Because he wanted to impress today. The big day, ahoy.

Seijo's appearance was short and sudden. She entered the room, said something and left. Yudai followed after - they moved quietly through the base, soon seeing the exit. Immediately, they set off towards Amegakure - Seijo advised them to keep a steady pace, as to not tire themselves before reaching their destination. She seemed different already, back with the leaderly posture that made Yudai swoon over the woman.

In a few minutes, they arrived their destination.

---

Yudai was glad they had made it easily there. So far, so good. The mission had just begun - not officially, but he could already feel anxiety growing within his mind. Seijo began to speak, her words were gave Yudai a slight relief - for he could understand that a big responsibility was put in Nori's shoulder and off his. Still, he'd do everything to aid his teammate, given it meant their success as a whole. She proceeded to give a long explanation about what was in the satchel she threw his way and Yudai felt like everyone was counting on Nori, from now on... How he'd react to that, though? Yudai shrugged the doubt off as his name was mentioned.

With that, he waited a few moments, nodding at them as if to ask if they were ready. Feeling that they were, the shinobi slowly began sinking onto the ground, eventually disappearing entirely from sight. Now, it was time to rock 'n' roll.

Yudai moved quickly from where he originally stood, to a few centimeters behind the shinobi he needed to take down. If the man was actually skilled, he could probably notice Yudai the time he emerged, but Yudai was counting that his reaction time wasn't particularly high. Moving slightly closer, Yudai threw himself out of the ground all of sudden, with a kunai in his left hand, while the right rapidly reached out to grip the man's mouth and muffle any sound he tried to make. In an agile movement, the left kunai met the man's temple, digging deep into his skull and brain. The lifeless corpse felt down with a thud on the ground, Yudai sank into the ground again, right after.

---

Sunagakure, Confederate Archive, Hamajo Confederate

---

Fuckin' hell. . . Akio groaned mentally from her seat near the back of the building, massaging her temples in an effort to make the pain in her head go away. After the festival and the added kick to the gut that was seeing Aoi, Akio had hit the liquor especially hard last night. Every thing after the 4th bottle was fuzzy, but she was certain she spent the first half of her night on the phone with someone, she had no clue who, speaking in between sobs and drunken nonsense about everything that was wrong with her life, before taking out her frustration on one of he house plants in her room, only to finally fall asleep in a drunken stupor. She'd woken up this morning feeling worse than shit, and after popping two pills and drinking some water, she could safely say that she still felt like shit, but at least she could operate somewhat effectively now.

Her current assignment was an easy one, defend the archive building in case the Red Sages attack. While she currently wasn't in the mood to deal with that shit, she had a some people around to help her watch the perimeter and shit. She'd been here for a few hours now, and her headache had gone from 'I can barely think' to 'Everything hurts, but I can suck it up'. A cough from nearby brought her out of hr thoughts with an irritated grumble as she lifted her head to look at the person who'd interrupted her hangover. He was a young man, probably a brand new chunnin, who had a very disapproving look on his face as he looked at his current superior.

"Tendou-san, I understand that you're not feeling well, but don't you think you should assist in guarding the perimeter, or at the very le-"

"Kid, shut the hell up. Your voice is just worsening my headache." Akio swiftly interrupted, not in the mood for some self-righteous, wet behind the ears green horn get on her about duties. "I'll take fucking patrol when I feel like I'm ready for it, cause as it is right now, I'd probably get killed right off the bat. You wouldn't want that to happen, would you?" Akio looked at him coldly with her golden eyes, and while the chunnin conceded and said no. she could see it in his eyes that he wanted to say yes. Once he left, Akio simply reclined in her chair, once again going about the ritual of rubbing her temple in order to make the pain go away. "Fucking brat, it's not like I've been sitting here doing nothing."

Akio grumbled a bit as she checked her static strings, which she had all over the building and over the ventalation grates, so that she could get an advance notice in case anything crossed the perimeter. It wasn't a perfect system, by any means, as anything could set it off, but it at least made it so that she wouldn't get completely blindsided incase anything came her way. With a sigh, she began to lean back in the chair, giving a silent prayer to whatever god there was that she'd gotten and easy mission today. Just guarded a glorified library for a day or two, than go to the outpost and wait for the shit to hit the fan. For the first day of a declared war, it wasn't so bad. Yet still, something in the back of her pained mind was telling her that this was too easy, and that things were going to go south and soon. Call it women's intuition, experience, or just the knowledge that she had shit luck, but it stuck in Akio's gut and she wasn't about to deny this feeling completely. But she really, really hoped that it was wrong.

---

@j8cob

@GrafRoy Zeppeli

Whose ready to ruin Akio's day?

The last minute change to Katsuko's missions was a bit annoying, but Seijo was the boss and he couldn't complain too much. An Uchiha boy was added to the squad, which honestly was more of a blessing than anything else. They'd need firepower more than anything else, though Katsuko wasn't worried about the conditions in the slightest. He looked up at the sky for a moment before returning his gaze to Sunagakure below. He stood atop one of the rooftops of the northern section of the city, with Mikoto and Saketsui behind him. His quick scan over the city showed no obvious signs of abnormal Confederate activity. Katsuko then stepped back from the edge and sat down casually while facing his two comrades.

"So nothing seems out of place so far," he informed the two, rubbing the back of his head as he spoke. "So we'll do this fairly simply. We'll be heavily outnumbered by chuunin and jonin rank Confederate supporters. Normally that would require some stealth to compensate, but what we can do is compensate by speed. They aren't in a condensed area. If we strike hard and fast we can leave without having to fight every one of them." Katsuko paused a moment to stretch his back and pop his neck a few times. "Our objective is to break into the archive a few blocks away and steal the sewer plans for Old Amegakure. The city is crawling with enemies, but the archive will only have a handful of opponents. The faster we go, the easier it will be."

Katsuko then looked up to the two younger men before him. "Our second mission is a bit more difficult but it will go hand-in-hand with our first objective. There is a particular jonin in this city that we have been tasked to kill. Saketsui over here might already know of her. Akio Tendou, from Konohagakure. She's a few years older than me and was known to be pretty strong before she became an alcoholic. If she is by herself it will be trivial to defeat her between the three of us, but don't expect luck to be in our favor. It is likely that she will simply be among a dozen or so shinobi that will try to kill us. That will make things more difficult, naturally."

The jonin looked over his shoulder over Suna again. He could still see the archive building, where the plans were and likely where Akio was. "If she is not by herself then leave her to me and handle any other enemies. Not to be rude but she is an opponent that certainly outclasses the two of you. But to that same respect: I outclass her. A one-versus-one situation would be the best if we can get that." Now he returned his gaze to Mikoto and Saketsui. "Fairly straightforward, yeah? Any last questions or concerns before we go in? Once we start we won't have any time to take a breather until we're out of the city."

---

Today she would have to go without Aneko's assistance. They had been assigned to different jobs after all, and if Mirai was going to be in charge of something then she would look bad if she was constantly being tailed and assisted by her servant. Sunagakure was a nice city, much fancier than Amegakure or Konohagakure. But at the same time it felt strange compared to Ame. Suna had large, lavish buildings but it felt less productive. There was a lot of money but Mirai couldn't see where all the labor was at. It didn't matter to her either way. Her father was filthy rich, after all, and was one of the men who helped bring Suna to its current state by investing in businesses here. The Yumiya family always had money and her father made a lot more than he inherited. That was how he was able to support the Hamajo Confederation so strongly in terms of financing. His donations secured the Yumiya family in the inner workings of the Confederation, providing safety and exclusive benefits. Mirai had to be thankful that her surname wasn't a famous one, as it wasn't attached to any business names. If people knew who she was on sight then she would have a lot harder of a time than she already has, socially speaking.

Speaking of being social and dealing with people, Mirai had to spend time with Yakoul again. The cat man was creepy and vulgar, it was only made worse that he was in a position of power within the Confederation. Speaking out against him would be like speaking out against a brick wall. Everyone else could understand that he isn't a great person to spend time with, but nobody would care enough to try to do anything about it. Oddly enough, however, Mirai was to be joining him by limousine. It was a mode of transportation that Mirai was familiar with, as the few times she went anywhere with her parents was in a limo, but it was strange to consider Yakoul inside one. Once the blue-haired teenager stepped inside the limo and sat down, she could confirm that actually seeing Yakoul in the vehicle was just as strange as the thought.

"Umm..." She didn't really know how she should greet him. Should she address him as her superior? But then again he always seemed so informal that maybe he wouldn't like that. Whether the situation was inherently awkward or not, Mirai sure made it awkward with her entrance. She averted her eyes from Yakoul now, brushing her hair a bit to help ease herself out of the awkwardness. In that brief moment her blind eye that was normally covered by her bangs was visible, but only for that moment as her hair fell back into place. "So... What are we supposed to be doing today?" It was a simple icebreaker, and she really didn't have much of an idea as to what Yakoul would want with her. It had to be something to do with the badge he gave her before, that much Mirai knew. But she couldn't tell what the general was thinking at all so her guess may as well be a shot in the dark.

---

So... there was another Uchiha, and he was in the Red Sages. Mikoto really needed to get acquainted with him, and get him to tell him the name of the other Uchiha he encountered before.

He was sure that her name would be as beautiful as her face.

Now, though, it was the time to think about how to kill other people in a beautiful way, not the Uchiha he encountered before.

"Understood, Kat. Your back is in the right hands with me, and I know for a fact that an Uchiha is nothing to play with." He turned to Saketsui. "I am ready whenver you are. Nothing will be able to stand in our way as long as we keep together."

Mikoto reached for the staff still strapped to his back and started spinning it in his hand.

"But an alcoholic? I heard once that there was something similar to a 'Drunken Fist' in some kind of martial art, but to see it with my own eyes. I am sure that it is far from beautiful, but it should still be a sight to see."

The sarcasm in Mikoto's voice was obvious, and the stale laugh that came afterwards made it obvious that the chuunin was actually understimating Akio.

"Mayhap if I am quick enough, I can be the one to kill the jounin. Then, I am sure that Seijo-sama would see that I am qualified to be a jounin too. I can have an even more crucial role in this war that way." The man smiled as he thought so to himself.

"I've no questions, so I'm ready when you are." Mikoto nodded.

---

@j8cob@Akai No Senshi

---

---

Kanata spent most of her morning trying to enjoy herself as much as she could.

She knew that once she was with the fucking cat, all the fun would go out a window.

She also wanted to get off her mind what happened yesterday. She did sleep though. To this day, there hasn't been a single thing that keeps Kanata the blockhead awake, though she did have some... not quite unpleasant dreams regarding Aoi. The fact that they weren't unpleasant really has her confused, though.

She went for some ice cream but it reminded her of Aoi. She spent so much time looking at it that, in the end, it was covered in sand. She just threw it to the ground out of frustration.

Afterwards, she went to the library for the first time in years and picked up a book. She rampaged after encountering an scene with an interview and now she is banned from going to that library.

With a resigned sigh, she decided to head to where Yakoul was waiting for them. She seemed to be in low spirits.

When she arrived to where the others were, she sighed again after seeing only Yakoul and Tanji. Tanji wasn't exactly a bad guy but he was like... meh, for Kanata.

She stepped into the limo and was about to let out another tired sigh before greeting her superior and teammate, but then she saw Mirai and all the frustration from before suddenly left her whole body.

"Mirai!" she shouted.

She took both of Mirai's hands into her own and looked at her with stars in her eyes.

"What are you doing here? Are you coming with? Please tell me you are! I won't stand being alone with these two guys for the rest of the mission! And there's something I just need to tell y-!"

When she was about to go there, she realized she was holding Mirai by her hands. It wouldn't have been a problem before, but now that she had done what she did to Aoi... it really wasn't anything calming to be holding the hands of another girl who, by the way, wasn't actually ugly herself.

"L-Let's just get going already. And turn on that air conditioner. It's fucking hot here." Kanata laughed nervously and fanned herself with her hand. "And wassup, Yakoul-sama. Tanji-kun." she finally acknowledged the other two

---

@j8cob@Savato@KenyeIsMyLife

---

---

When Seijo came to his room to wake him up, Anzai swiftly answered that he was already up, merely meditating.

He did not know whether she had not heard him or if she had and knocked anyway, but it heavily disrupted Anzai's meditation.

Well, he needed to get to work anyway, so Anzai stood up. He was sitting on the floor with both legs crossed and arms to his sides, so he impulsed himself up with his right arm and walked towards the make-up shelf he had procured for himself.

He took his hairband and put it around his forehead to keep his hair from scraping against his face. After that, he took his cane and put it on the floor. He was getting accustomed to do that as a routinge, in one way or other. Perhaps an habit he should get rid of, if he wanted people to stop looking down on him.

"Perhaps. For now, I should go to where Tametomo-sama is awaiting." He turned on his heel and left for the meeting point.

---

Later, and on top of some warehouse of other in Amegakure, the four shinobi were just about to enter.

Then, Seijo tossed something at Nori. It was definitely wild, that much Anzai could pick up from where he was sitting.

Like this morning, the blind jonin was sitting in meditation with his legs crossed, his arms to the sides and his cane against his chest between both of his legs.

"Senju chakra, eh? No wonder it seems so wild. I often wonder from where you procure such things, Tametomo-sama." He complimented their leader.

Afterwards, his name came up and he stood back up, before moving his head around some and making his neck crack.

His orders were clear. To take out any shinobi standing at the right of the warehouse. It was simple enough and it would also be quick enough.

He didn't take his sword out yet. No... he liked to lure his enemies into his trap, like a spider lures flies into its net.

"At once, Tametomo-sama." He simply said as Yudai disappeared.

He followed after Seijo and also dropped from the rooftop.

The muffled sounds of the shinobi struggling for dear life made it clear that the Yudai was already at work. The moment the kunai went into his temple, Anzai knew it was his time to act.

He dashed past Yudai and encountered the other shinobi inside the warehouse. In his side, there were at least 3 of them in his range all ready. They were all in high alert after Anzai's dash and infiltration of the warehouse, but the fact that he started touching the ground with his cane as if to verify where he was made more than one of them drop their guards.

Big mistake.

Anzai dashed forward again, unsheathing his blade and piercing the heart of the first enemy standing in front of him.

The second one started making seals for a jutsu.

Anzai was quick to take his sword out of the chest of the first shinobi and dash towards the other one. Of course, it wasn't about to go his way, using two times the same attack. Even a novice wouldn't fall for that.

He started making seals for his next attack, "Electromagnetic Murder!" Electricity started forming by his hands, but instead of using it to rip through the man's chest or similar, he put both hands around his head and increased the current of electricity.

The man started convulsing. His death wouldn't be as quick as the first, but it would be quick nonetheless.

That's when the other shinobi approached him from behind, thinking he could surprise him by attacking him with his back turned.

Anzai simply turned around, directed two fingers at the man and fired the lightning remaining in his finger.

It was not enough to kill the man, but it did stop him from stabbing Anzai's back with a kunai.

The other man was done for, so Anzai slowly took his sword out with an slight frown in his face.

"Your suffering's been needlessly long." In one swift motion, Anzai took his blade out and pierced the man's skull and brain in a single lunge. "Allow me to put you out of your misery."

With that, he took his sword back out and swung it to the get the blood out of the blade.

"Tametomo-sama, I've cleaned up here. Should I move on to the ones guarding the vault?" He was unsure of where Seijo was, her being out of his range and whatnot, but he could her the fighting, or lack thereof.

---

@Partisan@Hatman1801@Nero

---

Before the fight began Setsuko had activated her own Byakugan as well as get into the gentle fist stance. however, because Higoho was eager to go first in attacking, or so it looked that way from her point of view Setsuko mistakenly took a step back in shock. As he aimed for her right side she would slightly lean her body back as well as twist the left side of her body forward to be able to repel it with the bit of chakra she focused to her left hand. Setsuko then slid her left foot to get back into a position that wouldn't knock her off balance, and would move the right side of her body forward to be able to extend her right arm towards Higoho's left shoulder. Careful not to simply go for the shoulder Setsuko would take her left hand from where it had blocked the first attack to have it ready for the next. It was dangerous enough that she was off of the stance that would assure her balance, but now she was vulnerable as she was beginning to lean forward with the attempt to strike his shoulder. Tch, not even 5 minutes in, and I already have the sharp end of the sword pointed at me. Just by the looks if it her attack was weak, and was bound to be blocked. If it wasn't then she'd never be able to walk out of this without at least being able to celebrate it.

On top of all of that though Setsuko wasn't used to seeing the chakra pathways with the byakugan as it was confusing in it's own way to her, but figured if this was practice then it'd be a good idea to learn a thing or two. Of course, she wouldn't tell Higoho that she would be looking for tips since his head was already big enough, and telling him would only increase the size which was not what her nor anyone else needed. It wasn't an actual fight because if it was then she'd be screwed ten times over, so keeping an open mind as well as "work with what you got" was to come into play right about now.

---

As the squad readied up, Seijo put her left arm on her right shoulder, swinging it around a bit to loosen up. Yudai slowly descended into the ground and not too soon after the sounds of a body hitting the floor could be heard. The kill had been silent - evident from the lack of screams or even muffled sounds. A good kill on Yudai's part. “Go.” she said, to Nori and Anzai. Anzai dashed through the door, swinging it open wildly and surely alerting them to their positions now. It wasn't a mistake, as detection was evident at this point. Not even that, it was.. required. Seijo wanted to fight these bastards, and kill them.

As Anzai rushed in Seijo grabbed Nori's collar tightly and swung him forwards, sending him into the warehouse. “GO!” she'd yell as she stepped past Nori again and started running into the middle of the warehouse. Unlike Anzai, who fought the opponents one by one, she was going to take down all her targets at once. A remarkable feat for any shinobi at any rate, but extremely possible for Seijo, who used area of attack jutsu. As she ran towards the center, she formed some rapid seals before moving her hand to her mouth, touching it with the back of her hand. She inhaled..

and exhaled. Spores and fungi started to come from her mouth, seemingly coming from her body it seemed like, and spread like a blanket in the air towards the shinobi. While she did so, she used her momentum to stand on one leg and pivot around towards the left, passing all the shinobi who were rushing to attack her. The spores and fungi reached towards the shinobi, grasping at them almost as if they had claws.

Before they knew what was going on, three of them were coughing wildly and the fourth was on the flour, holding his throat and being unable to breathe or even make any sound at all as the spores entered his throat and nose and all easily accessible holes in the body, causing a strong burning sensation and the attachment of spores. Slowly but surely the spores would grow, and cover the entire nasal and oral cavities, leaving the victims without breath. Especially in these quantities, it was merely a question of time.

Seijo thought nothing more of it and stood up straight again, straightening her clothes a bit as the three other shinobi that weren't on the ground thrashing like fish on land fell down. She looked over towards the vault door where Yudai was supposed to be with Nori, taking care of the three shinobi and planting the Senju charge. “Hey, hurry up, we don't have all day.” she said to seemingly nobody, causing the three shinobi to panic and look around for whoever she was speaking to, readying their kunai for anyone to appear suddenly. Up, right, left, they were looking everywhere but one place. “Sh-she's just trying to scare us!” one of them said, while the others walked back and collided with the vault door, having their backs pressing against it. “B-baka! She's already scary enough just to be here, she doesn't have to scare us!”

---

---

Higoho wasn't impressed with the fact that she blocked the strike at all, that was standard Gentle Fist stuff, but the way she did it was.. amateurish at best. She put herself completely out of position and now had to lean in to strike at him, leading to her head being exposed as the left hand she had pulled back would be nowhere near it. Not close enough to ward off an attack with the Gentle Fist in any case. Higoho decided not to step back to defend against her strike against his shoulder, but instead stepped forwards, into her strike. His right hand shot forwards and collided with her arm, blocking the strike and sending her hand far away enough to not cause any serious harm to his shoulder. As his hand touched her arm, a small bit of chakra surged out from both his and her hand, a sight common when two gentle fist users collided. It wasn't massive, nor was it harmful, and it was definitely not quite visible to the naked eye of those spectating the fight outside the cage, but to the two of the Hyuga it was definitely visible. He did feel a small sting of small amounts of chakra entering his shoulder, but it wasn't anything serious, and it was a risk he took knowing he'd get hit.

But now he was even closer to Setsuko, forcing her to fight at a very close range or taking a step back - both of which would ultimately be against her favor. His right hand got pulled back quickly and was ready to attack or defend at a moments notice. Meanwhile he sent his left palm forwards, striking towards her right shoulder as that was the one closest to his left side. Unknown to Setsuko was that this was a strike meant to distract her. His right hand now also came forwards, heading towards her chest, dead center, which would've been exposed due to leaning into her strike. If his plan worked, she wouldn't be close enough with her hand that attacked yet to ward it off, and the other hand was occupied with his other strike.

In the case that she'd be hit on her chest, he would not use any chakra. It would definetely seem like it to Setsuko, given her lack of experience with the Byakugan meaning she wouldn't be able to see that he didn't use chakra. That way, she would surely be under the impression she was struck with a Juken strike until she inspected the damage. At the last moment he'd stopped molding chakra in that area, and simply struck her with a bare palm. The strike was painful, sure, and it would be enough to send her back a few steps, but it wasn't going to be a gentle fist strike, and definitely not cause severe internal damage. Then, Higoho would step back as well and take a gentle fist stance, looking at Setsuko with daring eyes. “Baaaka..” The word came out mockingly, mocking her for her lack of aptitude with the gentle fist, and was a testament that he'd purposefully not harmed her with the gentle fist attack, knowing that she would never be able to take it. “I won't be so kind next time.” he'd say to her, stepping slightly to the side, again circling her. He waited for her to take position again and would let her make the first move.

---

The first to arrive was to be expected, the ever so loyal Tanji would discover firsthand the luxuries of working beside the maddened general. His reaction to the well built interior of the fancy vehicle pleased Yakoul more than anything. It not only had a zealot, but it could also quench any thirst for comfort it could demand. Hopefully most of its men could be, more or less, bought from the potential of having them indoctrinated in the Red Sage agenda. It didn't take long for the 11th Corp agent to notice the refined drinks available within the customized bar for the most exclusive of the Armed Forces.

"Huh, this? I dunno. I think Ryuu has a few of those shits in the Ame cellar. I just know that they taste fan-fucking-tastic."

Evidently the general has absolutely no care for the value of said bottles nor what they represented. It just liked the taste, and the fact that it bathed in endless riches because of its position made it lose touch with the various values of goods in the current Hamajo. It didn't help that such concepts were somewhat irrelevant to it in its past life. It would simply toss the bottle as if it were some cheap toy right at Tanji, expecting him to catch it as he was indeed getting one of the most valuable waters of life in the continent.

"Merry fucking Sage day."

Yakoul felt like it did its good deed for the day, giving a probably dangerous killer some free rich people wine was definitely the best thing it could have done for society. Then the question of where it came from and what it was appeared. It was to be expected but its animal ears twitched at the questions. It didn't seem bothered, but give a somewhat confused look at Tanji, even if it fully understood why such things were asked. It simply wanted to stress te guy out a bit, because why not?

"Funny you ask that, because I come from the same shithole of a country as you, Tonjo. I think. That piss poor grassy place with that famous, stupid bridge. As for what the fuck I am, heh, I'll let you make a up a theory. Guess correctly, and I won't smack you to the concrete at the fucking spa. Deal? Deal."

Tanji surely got himself in a corner there, no he had no choice but to answer his own question. Luckily he'd have the whole trop to figure that out, though the upcoming distractions could very well make the task hard. Speaking of which.

"Hey, don't worry, everyone will get the tai- What the fuck?"

Cut off by the unexpected surprise, Yakoul was completely caught off guard with Mirai of all people stepping in the limousine without even being solicited in any way, shape or form. Surprised, it didn't really have anything to say to her when she'd set herself in, all she'd notice was the general staring awkwardly at her before pulling out its phone. It dialed a specific number as it zoned everyone in the vehicle out. Taking in a deep breath as the phone rang, once answered, it exploded.

"Fucking dog weed shit fuck ass splooging cum guzzling dick fuck anal grinding buttplug fanatic donkey dicking fucktard. The fuck did you do order some other kid, like holy fuck, I have you a list with motherfucking two names ... No screw you Mado, I don't give a single fuck about your goddamn stress about some retarded divorce ... No shut the fuck up I'm the boss. You've done it now dick head I ... Oh."

For some reason it cooled down in the middle of its fury and listened closely with flabbergasted expression before giggling. Lowering its phone to block off the mic, it'd whisper to the group which had Kanata enter by then while snickering.

"Pfff haha, he's crying."

Taking the phone back against its ear, the general sighed and replied with an amused smile.

"Yeah yeah, okay, it's okay Mado. Just go get fucking drunk or whatever. Hugs 'n' fuckin' kisses. *click* Oh God, okay. That sucked ass. Guess we're dropping you off. At least you'll keep Tsundere-princess here occupied."

With one click ending the call, Yakoul lowered the tension by being somewhat normal this time around. It made a quick text message to the driver, indicating a new route to take which would make them enter the capital in order to drop off Mirai.

"Alright lil' sluts, we're dropping robocop here to Ame in a few hours and then we're going to enjoy a nice spa. Sounds good, right?"

With that, the limousine departed and immediately took the highway system established since the boom of technology about a century ago, many years after the Orange Hokage brought 'peace' to the land. They were off for at least six hours of road.

---

About mid way, they'd arrive at Ame, a pretty quick trip considering the distance, but traffic was often dodged when official governmental forces were engaging the roads. It was obviously pouring in the village, but there were a lot of protected streets and roads that made it viable for anyone to go out without being properly dressed. Especially near the center. The futuristic town would be quite mesmerizing, especially when the old aesthetics of Amegakure were integrated in the neon colors of the various shops. During the whole trip, Yakoul would continuously tell various anecdotal and crude stories about things it lived in Kusagakure while making a bunch of jokes about Tanji's mother. Notably one where there was a possibly that Yakoul could be his father.

"Welp, here we are dipshits, and about time. End of the road for you, buddy. Everyone say bye!"

All of a sudden, Yakoul was grasping on a lever no one had seen until now right next to its seat. The window on the limo's hood would open, exposing the girl to the rain before the feline pulled the switch. In an almost cartoonish way, the seat Mirai would be sitting on ejected with a rocket propeller right under it. She was sent flying and would land a couple of blocks away, closer to the outpost.

"Later Nerd!"

Yakoul saluted the girl before the limousine would continue its way toward Iwagakure so they could reach the Gozoboro Spa on time, maybe with even some time to spare for the sauna.

---

At the time they arrived, it was evening, already quite dark in this part of the world, by they were indeed parked right before the spa on top of a small mountain surrounded by many others. The trip was quite bumpy, but the view was magnificent. The spa itself looked like a typical Japanese resort with many little suits and the hot springs at the back quite visible. Too bad they had to go full on bad cop on this whole place soon, and the feline felt especially bad for this. After all, it was its favorite resort.

Stepping out of the vehicle, the general stretched itself with a bottle of champagne in its hand. They were standing on the concrete pavement styled with all twelve Chinese animal symbols. Right now they stood on the Dragon and as they would advance they'd discover the beauty of such fine details. But, if Tanji were to recall its previous words, this pavement was going to be his best friend if he were to guess wrong.

"Welcome to paradise. Ain't this just the type of place you'd see in a wet dream? I mean, I'm already horny as shit by looking at this place. Speaking of cocks and pussies, now is about time you have me an answer, Tinji."

Grinning at the loyal soldier, Yakoul slowly marched forward while gesturing the two to follow it. Hand now behind its back, it patiently awaited the opportunity to smack Tanji to the flawless floor. In the meantime, two women dressed in Kimono emerged from the entrance and bowed to the group as they approached, maintaining the position until they'd arrive.

---

Nursing a glass of the brandy on ice Tanji and having returned the expression of holiday greetings. Half-way into his glass, he summoned enough courage to ask the commander his question, and now waited anxiously for a reply. When it replied in kind rather than admonishment he listned intently as if any lapse of concentration can have him missing fatally vital information. What he got was to his surprise and confusion. The commander hailed from his own home village. His quiet, easily forgotten village spawned one of the great commanders of the Confederacy. What confused him was that Tanji hadn't heard of this fact before, you'd think a village would claim a great shinobi as their own pride and local legend. Likes of which told around fires, bars and maybe hearing the name in passing as you walked to market. But Tanji, try as he might, couldn't really recall such. He remained quiet still expecting the 2nd part of his question to be answered, but the commander turned that around on him, to create his own theory on what the Commander was. It wasn't what he wanted, but not entirely unexpected from the whimsical commander. He at least had something to mull over on their ride to the operation point.

Slowly finishing his drink, the door to the luxurious transport opened, and revealed someone Tanji hadn't expected. He didn't know her personally, but due to his work, he knew those features from a mile away. A daughter to an influential clan, of all the people Tanji would think to share a passenger cab with in his short life, this wasn't one. Still she was a shinobi and was subject to serving the Confederacy, and as such Tanji resigned to just observe her. She entered rather nervously, but it was with purpose.

"Umm..." Umm indeed, the situation between her and the commander seemed awkward, very awkward, you could cut diamond with how hard and thick the air inside the interior was. Tanji wasn't a stranger to surprises and just took this new comrade as such and nodded a hello as she sat. Tanji noted her prosthetic, it was as the reports said of The One-Armed Girl. An impressive tool and weapon, a sentiment to the medical advancements of the Confederacy as well as the affluence of the family that can afford it.

"So... What are we supposed to be doing today?" At that Tanji raised an eyebrow, he didn't really know what was going on, but the least command could do was brief the woman on the matters of the mission. He sighed, he couldn't really voice his complaints, the higher ups probably knew better, and he wasn't one to disobey orders. Soon enough the forth and final member of the group had shown up.

"What are you doing here? Are you coming with? Please tell me you are! I won't stand being alone with these two guys for the rest of the mission! And there's something I just need to tell y-!" Comrade Kanata seemed to be in a chipper mood. Ecstatically greeting Miss Mirai. Oh boy! She must be just as excited for the mission an Tanji. Good for her. However, she seemed flustered and hot though. AH! Pre-mission jitters, clearly. Tanji thought nothing else of her flushed face, prolonged physical contact with Mirai (chalked it up to them being old friends), or the minuscule and rather rude acknowledgement to him and the Boss. Actual;y, the situation was beyond him but at least the Commander would know whats up, Boss seemed calm enough, slowly drawing out a phone, probably to give a situation repor-

"Fucking dog weed shit fuck ass splooging cum guzzling dick fuck anal grinding buttplug fanatic donkey dicking fucktard. The fuck did you do order some other kid, like holy fuck, I have you a list with motherfucking two names ... No screw you Mado, I don't give a single fuck about your goddamn stress about some retarded divorce ... No shut the fuck up I'm the boss. You've done it now dick head I ... Oh..."

Turns out this came as much as a surprise to the commander as it was to Tanji. The poor man on the other end had gotten the full extent of the Boss' frustration, and it didn't take the Boss telling them he made his conversation partner cry if the soft sob-like pips through the small speakers had anything to do about it. In the end, the limousine would offer a small lift to the newcomer before she herself would be dropped off to her own mission, an odd request given the nature of Tanji's squad, but a request nonetheless. Before long, the vehicle was on the move and the mood returned to normal.

The ride was calm enough, Katana still rather nervous about what Tanji asssumed was the mission. He can tell well enough that the young woman didn't really see the Boss and him as comrades. He'd like that to stop if they are to be a cohesive squad, and noted that issue must be addressed. For now at least, she can find solace and respite in the noblewoman she seemed keen in talking to. Tanji nodded to the flow of idle conversation, he made some token effort in remaining friendly and responding as needed, as well as following the Boss' wild and crude stories from its home town. Tanji mayhaps choked at the jokes made the expense of his departed mother, but he didn't have many memories of her, and wouldn't think the Boss' jokes had any truth to them. What came to a greater surprise was that the noblewoman was unceremoniously ejected from the moving vehicle as they passed her drop off point. Tanji stood wide-eyed at the commander's nonchalant attitude in subjecting an influential nobleman's daughter to an unorthodox method of exit. Still he didn't question it, again chalking it up to some obscure Confederate tactic he hadn't known of.

---

Finally, after the ride and the odd circumstances that went with it, the trio arrived at their destination. An opulent display of luxury and relaxation that was the spa. Again, Tanji was awestruck at the sight.

"Welcome to paradise. Ain't this just the type of place you'd see in a wet dream? I mean, I'm already horny as shit by looking at this place. Speaking of cocks and pussies, now is about time you have me an answer, Tinji."

Tinji Tanji was broken from his daze and turned to face the commander. He had mulled over the answer during the trip, tossing around possible answers. Tanji hadn't known the boss was from Kusagakure, so perhaps some bad sentiments existed between the Boss and the village. However, the Boss was clearly well known in the Confederacy, and even the senior members chief administration held some sort of fear or begrudged respect for the commander. Plus the Boss held an air of experience, its cockiness wasn't unsupported, from the reports of the 11th the Boss was something to be feared, and even veteran agents spoke of its antics from the perspective of bewildered newbies. The Boss clearly had many years of service. However its attitude and personality disputed that, it didn't speak as a wizened and grizzled vet awaiting retirement, but as a hot-shot up and comer. It still had many years left in its presumably long life. Its physical appearance was also odd, the few tales of cat folk he knew were just folk lore meant to scare kids in his home town, so maybe it was created in a lab... But it didn't seem to

Sighing, he came to a conclusion, "Alright, boss bear with me. You were not too found of our home village or perhaps vice versa and sought to make your name else where. Also, I presume you to have been a skilled and talented soldier that quickly rose in rank rather than a nobleman given offices. Because, in all honesty and with no offence, a personality like yours wouldn't win too many political seats or allies. For your duty and valor in field you were given a high command and your form is merely a result of your skill. I presume you to be a sage of some sort of a Cat-related summon, likely a contract with the Ninneko and purely going with conjecture of the mythical belief of cats' 'nine lives,' you have psuedo-longevity while taking upon the characteristics of cats."

A long answer, one Tanji put a lot of thought into. Sure the files back in the Intelligence Corps. had the true info, but Chunin of his caliber were not permitted to view into it and use its information. So he found he had to rely on inductive reasoning. He looked the commander unflinchingly, albeit a bit nervous of the wallop he may receive, but this was the truest answer he could think of.

---

"What the..." she whispered to herself, though figured Higoho could hear now that he was way to close. Having to fight with the minimal amount of space there was Setsuko would think to step back, but knew that the move would only make an opening for him. Instead, she had prepared to use her left hand to be able to attack Higoho's lower stomach as it was an area that would take an extended hand to defend. If he was to attempt to block against it then she'd pull back her right hand that had just been blocked, and would aim straight for the lower end of his neck. If she was to do this then the chakra being sent to the byakugan would come to a stop as her chakra would disrupt Higoho's own chakra flow in that area. That was what the gentle fist style consisted of; A few jabs here, and a few nabs there with ones own chakra and the opponent would be rendered completely useless. Easy right? Some of the members of her clan including her opponent would say it is, but to her it was slightly more difficult as she wasn't a big fan of using it as often. One would assume she'd spend her life attempting to master the style, but the only way she'd ever consider mastering it would be the day that the cursed seal was to be taken off of her.

Sadly though, she couldn't be able to use this idea because Setsuko would use her left hand to repel Higoho's attack to her right shoulder. It was strange as to why he was attacking her right shoulder, but would come to understand why only after the actual attack had hit her. Because Setsuko was focused on the decoy she didn't notice that Higoho's other hand would slam straight onto the middle of her chest.

The Hyuga kunoichi stumbled back a few steps while coughing as the impact had forced some of the air out of her lungs. As she coughed Setsuko braced herself for the excruciating pain that came with being hit with pure chakra, but as the seconds passed nothing more had happened other than the usual throbbing from the attack. By now there would have been a hundred times more pain than this, and she'd practically be on the floor wishing it would end. Because she had looked down to see if anything else had been struck Setsuko looked back up at Higoho as he had once again called her an idiot. I may be mistaken, but I could swear that one book stated some random fact about nicknames, and Higoho has called me baka more then twice...So does that mean that's my nickname according to the book? Whatever it was she'd get annoyed, and would reach up to tighten a headband that she didn't have on. "Er," Setsuko glanced up at the fact that she wasn't wearing the Konoha headband, and touched her forehead to see what took it's place. "Oh, the wrap." It as almost a habit to wrap her forehead right after a shower so as not to accidentally put the cursed seal on display if the headband was to fall off.

Setsuko sighed as she looked back to Higoho. That dunce. He simply hit me with his bare hand. Back in the compound that was how they'd practice with each other when they were younger. It was to keep from causing serious damage to the other since kids were also barely learning to control, and concentrate on their chakra. Once they grew old enough however it became mandatory to strike with chakra. When someone didn't use chakra they would be punished, which was why Setsuko was wondering why Higoho had let her off easy, but would settle that thought with the fact being that if he didn't then training would have ended shortly after it had begun.

The few seconds he'd spend circling her she'd once again form the tiger seal to activate the byakugan, and would then stand as the gentle fist style demanded. Unlike Higoho who had run to break the distance they had in the beginning Setsuko lifted her hands to create a set of hand seals. "Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!" she'd say as she stretched her hand outward in front of her to aim the technique not directly at Higoho, but to his right side. Setsuko would then follow that up with running to where Higoho would end up after dodging it, if he did which would be recommended as the pure chakra burst would ruin his day, and with her left hand would aim for the chest area as he did with her. Her left hand was expected to be dodged as it was no more than a distraction like he had done to her. She would then slid her left foot outwards to turn, and end up using her right hand to attempt an attack at his left side. In case he was to attack her left hand would go inwards in case she had to repel anything. A trick within a trick was what she was aiming for, and at that this was to be a bit more difficult to dodge. Of course, this was Higoho, so he was bound to find a way to dodge it. If he didn't block it then she was set for life.

If it hit she'd be merciful in a way that would create little to almost no pain, but wouldn't be too kind to not still strike him with chakra. He needs some pain here, and there once in a while.

---

Setsuko had opened with a vacuum palm. It was.. an interesting opening? To be expected from her that she'd go for ninjutsu rather than the gentle fist - but they hadn't made rules about it so.. all was fair in this fight. He twisted his body, turning his right shoulder back as he stepped away to the left, keeping his eyes on Setsuko at all times. She'd gone for a distraction maneuver as well - a smart move but it was pretty obvious given her immediate sprint towards him. If she expected him to be caught by surprise by a simply trick like this, she was underestimating him. It wasn't without reason that the Bastard was one of the better gentle fist users of the clan. “Tsk. I was calling you a baka only for fun, but now you're really becoming a baka..” he said mockingly as she approached. With his byakugan he caught the forming of chakra in her left hand and quickly devised a plan.

He stepped forwards swiftly, meeting Setsuko in the middle. He moved his left arm against her left, smashing it aside. Now, for the spectators, the raw chakra was definetely visible as two gentle fist users clashed. Higoho then noticed her right arm, and thinking quickly, tensed up his body preparing for the impact. It was a viable choice for him, he was used to sparring and taking a hit like this would be 'easy'. That didn't mean it wouldn't hurt but he'd definitely not be incapacitated. He leaned into the strike as it was about to land to give some counter pressure, and as soon as her hit landed, he would move his left hand to grab onto her right hand, holding it in place on his chest.

His face tensed up from the pain, but a shit-eating grin managed to shine through the tensing up of his face. “Now..” he'd say as he swiftly pulled back his free right hand and sent it forwards towards her chest. This time he made sure to use chakra, after all, she'd decided she wanted to test him. The time she had to react with her own free hand was small, but it was a possibility. To counter that, if she had managed to block it, he would simply release her hand that he was holding and use it to deliver the same chakra strike to her chest. Except, where she had been 'merciful' in her attack, he would be less so, molding enough chakra to possibly disable her gentle fist right away. And then, he'd swiftly strike with his other hand again, aiming at her shoulder. The strike would be just as hard as the other strike, not strong enough to dislocate her shoulder obviously, but putting the real power in the chakra. “That's why you don't stand around after you attack someone.”

---

Done. The first shinobi felt down and Yudai was already 'retreating' into the ground, even if temporarily. Under the ground, he'd move in direction of the three other shinobi he'd aid Nori with, and now he felt much more confidence after that succesful first kill. The boy did some handseals while still under the ground and when he erupted, his signature jutsu had already been applied to his arms, both arms coated in Doton chakra that he could use either offensively or defensively.

Just as he erupted, he was already within range to attack one of the three shinobi with a thrown kunai, but it was easily deflected. He wasn't certain if Nori was already rushing together with him, but he certainly wasn't going to stop and wait. Yudai broke onto a sprint towards the enemy shinobi, moving as if he was going to punch - and he did, though there wasn't reach for his hand to reach the shinobi in front of him.. except, a thin spike formed directly in front of his knuckles, travelling at a fast speed towards one of the shinobi. It hit his shoulder, puncturing it, but the man was still up.

---

Arima explained roughly what they were to do; their plan, itself. They would be dressed typically as a rich couple - which was why he'd ask her if she still had the dress. They'd even get to wear fancy masks, which Naomi was thankful for given she didn't quite want her identity outside of the Red Sages to be known broadly about. The Janitor was with them, which was a good thing. The plan was to be ran simply; she'd have to sneak through the women's bathroom's vents and she had exactly five minutes to reach the sealed room, without being noticed. There, she was to take the Bashõsen, which she indeed recognized as the name of one of the Sage of the Six Path's tools. If she couldn't break in herself, the Janitor previously mentioned had something for her. Good.

With the plan on her mind, Naomi left to eat and well, take care of herself before the mission.

---

Naomi had managed to get some rest. She also prepared herself quite nicely; the handbag she carried had three small sealed scrolls and she was wearing some fancy bracelets that had her Reiko Kenka seals in them, in case she needed. She'd almost certainly need. Still, she certainly wasn't feeling comfortable dressed like this. The dress was nice, but it was somewhat short. Not revealing, though.

Eventually, Arima presented his arm to Naomi, whom took it without much of a reluctance.

"Splendid, my dear." The reply came together with a fake smile, when he asked how she was feeling. This whole acting thing made Naomi nervous and anxious, she wasn't going to hold the facade much longer in all honesty. Finally, the pair reached the bouncer, who'd validate their IDs. Taking her mask off made her feel even more worried that someone could potentially recognize her, since this town wasn't all that far from her village. Still, she did it; only for a few moments, before returning it to her face.

Once inside, the pair wandered about briefly, until Naomi felt sufficiently comfortable to begin their mission. She paused, glancing around herself, then she'd whisper to Arima.

"I'll begin."

That was everything she said before releasing his arm and making her way to the women's bathroom. There were a few ladies there, talking random things about their men that Naomi certainly wasn't pleased hearing. Either way, she just faked looking herself in the mirror and fixing her hair in place until the two left and only then, she began looking for a way to get into the vents.



Once Naomi got there, she began crawling her way through the vents. It was a bit hard pinpointing her location, but it took only a few minutes for her to reach her destination. The vent was closed though and opening it would call the attention of the two shinobi who stood guard. No matter, she had to do it. Naomi moved herself within the vent, she'd need to break outside of it and assassinate the two of them within a single frame, otherwise, she'd risk everything until now. One... two... thr-- The weak metallic door of the vent broke as the redclad woman lept off it, two shuriken appearing seemingly from nowhere into her hands, she threw each towards each of the shinobi and rapidly did a sequence of handseals. The shurikens multiplied into many more, all finding their mark in many parts of the shinobi's bodies.

The red sage stepped over to their body, trying to find any card-key or something of the sort, that could open the metal door between Naomi and the Bashõsen, none of the had anything. She looked around to locate herself, there were some signs in the walls that aided with it. Following them, she could reach the janitor's closed and find the package left by the contact. She proceeded to make her way to the metal door once again, she raised her left hand and clicked the earphone. "Get ready, bomb's armed and ready to blast."

---

Seijo watched as Yudai erupted suddenly and rushed towards one of the men, but she didn't feel a need to go help him to be precise. She simply looked around at the guys that were laying around trying their best to breathe. One of them was crawling away, holding onto his shoulder. Strange.. Seijo walked closer and could actually hear the man talking to his shoulder. What the fu- HEY! “HEY! Fool.. I was gonna let you live but now..” her voice bouldered as she approached quickly, and the man started speaking louder and quicker. “Th-they're here! Seijo Tametomo and her crew, they're trying to enter the vault! Send help! Send he- UAGHGHHH!” Seijo had stabbed him in the neck with a kunai, and look at the guys' neck. There was a walkie talkie there.. probably that meant this guy was the appointed squad leader then. Grinning to herself, clueless to the violence erupting behind her at this point, she would simply bend over and grab the walkie talkie.

“Cancel that order. Seijo Tametomo has the situation under control.” she would say, answering the static. As soon as she finished her sentence the line went dead, indicating that the radio frequence was now cut off from the Amegakure airwaves. The team now faced a problem however. Reinforcements would soon arrive, and contrary to the previous day, they did not have an army to back them up this time. “Anzai! Go hold the door, use it like a chokepoint. Nori, Yudai, hurry the fuck up. Once that door is open grab the gunbai and the sword, and anything else that looks important and then get the fuck out.”

---

“WHOOOOOOP! WHOOOOOOOOP!” The slow whoop alarm of the base was going off, flashing red lights in almost every room and hallway. It was a clear indicator that something was going on and that there'd be a callout soon. Everyone stopped what they were doing and got to their room to gear up, just in the case they were expected to go out. “Calling out Setsuko Hyuga, calling out Setsuko Hyuga. Organise a team and get ready at Hangar 01.” The message repeated a few times, giving Setsuko the chance to get out of the glass aquarium, and gather her own squad. The choice on who to bring was hers, and the large number of shinobi present allowed her to pick pretty much any size she wanted. Within reason, ofcourse. The VTOL couldn't be loaded too heavy or else it'd be problematic to take off.

Once Setsuko was at the hangar with her squad, she'd be escorted to the readied VTOL and given a small briefing by a secretary, who walked them to the VTOL, and then left the area again. It was up to Setsuko to brief her team herself, but that provided easy enough. Once everyone was loaded, the green light inside the transport area went off and the doors closed, before the pilot lifted off. Over the microphone he spoke to Setsuko and her team. “ETA is 10 minutes. Hang back and relax, we'll come in hot so use the time you have now to gather your senses. Osaji out.”

The VTOL traveled rapidly, and while these small distances did not really require a VTOL, it was still more easy for the shinobi in these cases. As the VTOL appeared over Amegakure, there were even a few people on the ground looking in confusion - VTOL's like these were almost never seen due to their specialist nature. They were reserved for the special forces of the Confederation, so.. what was it doing here? Once they arrived at the Kohonjenpou warehouses the VTOL would hover overhead, allowing Setsuko and her team to drop in on top of the warehouse to figure out their approach. The drop wasn't that large, five meters at least, and as soon as everyone had dropped off the pilot turned the VTOL and headed off again. While the VTOL's were armored they would never stand up to chakra based attacks or even simple ninjutsu.

---

Once the vault door would have been blown up by Nori, another problem showed it's ugly face. Behind the vault door had been another set of doors. Not quite as thick or strong, but taking them down manually would take some time. Seijo had come over to Nori and Yudai, looking at the door. As soon as she noticed that this would take longer than a few seconds she looked over to Anzai. “Hey, Anzai, come over here. I just heard the VTOL arriving. We'll hold off in this area, so we don't get caught out in the open with nowhere to maneuver. Nori, Yudai, you two get behind me and Anzai. You support us where ever you can. We kill them, I'll blast open that lock, and then we get out. This is taking longer than it should already.”

---

Nori rushed past Yudai as he dealt with the first guard in front of them. He hadn't gone for an immediate killing blow, but being pinned on a spike was plenty enough for him to get by. It was rather fortunate that the other two guards seemed scared straight to hell by Seijo's spores, and he guessed that the one who actually stood up to Yudai was the only one who really gave a damn about it. Which made dealing with the other two that much easier. They had decided to huddle themselves up at the vault door as their last stand, as far away from the scary people as possible.

Well, Nori didn't feel like being a damn pushover this time. He ran up to the two of them, making quick handsigns. Water Release: Water Bowl! briefly went through his mind as he blasted the two of them with a quick burst of water. It seemed harmless enough, and the shinobi probably weren't planning on dodging a light spray, until they both stumbled, caught off-guard by the immediate follow-up of the Aquatic Bone Suffering genjutsu. It was all of the opening he needed, as he kicked one away from him and grabbed the other one by the throat, perhaps for a second, maybe two. Kingdom of the Eastern Seas. The shinobi coughed once before collapsing, twitching and unconscious on the ground as he let go of him. The one he had kicked aside was staggering up to his feet, eyes widening at the unusual sight, distracted as Nori rushed over and stabbed him through the gut with a quickly-drawn naginata. He flung the body off of the weapon towards Seijo's side of the room. Maybe he'd even get to suffer in her spores, not that he'd be surviving a blade through the gut with numbed up muscles.

"I'm setting up the bomb, everyone!" Nori shouted, placing the bomb on the vault door and taking the steps necessary to activate it. He decided to just leave the shinobi he had knocked out with Kingdom of the Eastern Seas next to it; he'd get to have a slightly flashier death than his comrades. With the bomb up, he turned and bolted back towards Yudai; if he was still having trouble with the last shinobi, he could cut him down from behind. Not that the remaining fodder was what he was concerned about. He was far more concerned of what Seijo's definition of "contained explosion" was, and just wanted to have distance between himself and the oncoming blast.

---

Nori almost audibly groaned. A backup door. Of course, why wouldn't there be one? It was two nearly legendary weapons of the past, one of which apparently had some latent power within it. At least it didn't seem as though this one would be taking a Senju Chakra Nuke to blow through, so it was more a matter of just how much longer it would take instead of if they could or couldn't. Seijo answered his mental question though with her plan, and gave him the new orders. Kill the backup coming in from the VTOL, grab the stuff once the second vault door was down, and get out. Basically what the mission plan was already, with a few extra bodies on top.

As he stepped up behind the two jounin, he was already thinking about the possible upcoming fight, and the possibilities that could arise. "Anzai, if I have to set up some mist to even the odds against these reinforcements, would that hinder you at all? I'll try to contain it to one section of the warehouse to avoid hindering Yudai and Lady Tametomo, but it would make me feel better to know that I'm providing an advantage to at least someone besides myself."

The food came, Aro sat down and ate roughly half of the noodles in the bowl, he wasn't very hungry, after all. He drank two cups of water, before looking around, finding a cute girl on the other end of the room. He listened in on the plan with one ear, they were to steal the artifact of the Sage of the six paths - and a old Uchiha weapon that was only notable because it was worn by Sasuke Uchiha himself. From what was known about him in history The Uchiha Avenger was kind of a dickhead.

Then again, maybe that was his Uzumaki blood talking. After they had been informed regarding the plan, Aro patted Naomi on the shoulder, motioning that he was going for a smoke, when he headed towards the cute girl he had spotted earlier, seeing she too carried a pack of cigarettes. Introducing himself and bumming one from her, they struck up conversation while heading outside, Aro producing his zippo lighter.



A couple of hours before the mission would start, Aro left the apartment of the girl he had met the day before, fixing his tie around his neck, the scarlet piece of cloth meticulously tightened enough to look like he didn't care how it looked - of course this wasn't true. He headed towards the academy grounds, he was going to see his dad, he hadn't talked to him in a couple of days, he wanted to know how his mother was doing. But before he could get to the classrooms, he was stopped by three kids - Kai, Tako and Namasaru, the first two were twins from the Inuzuka clan, the last one from a civilian family. They were all three genin, whom had been lead by Aro on a couple of D and C rank missions, but were scoring extra points from assisting teachers in the academy.

Kai spoke up "Aro-sama!" He shouted, Aro looked over and smirked "Yo." a newly lit cigarette in his lip, Tako walked over to him and looked him up and down "Mind if I bum one from you?" Aro looked at him up and down and shook his head "Fuck off, Tako, in five years, maybe." Namasaru was busy training, he was teaching the academy students how to throw shuriken. Tako was used to being rejected whenever he asked for a light from Aro, so he just shrugged, Kai spoke up again. "So, you here to bring us for new mission? Tako's been chewing my ear off for another mission." Shaking his head, Aro sighed. "Nope, just here to see my dad, I'll talk to you guys later." walking past the three, whom returned to their business.

Heading towards the classrooms, he saw his dad was still in the middle of teaching the children about the concept of chakra, how it functioned and what it was used for, in theory, his father was a great shinobi, he knew everything there was to know about the arts, Aro always admired that. He stood in the doorway, leaning against it, and when his dad looked over at him he nodded his head. His father finished his segment and then said they would take a five minute recess.

"Hi, son." Sahashi spoke, leaning on his oak-wooden cane. Aro smiled "Hi dad." He could see that his father's look was bittersweet, he was troubled - then again, Sahashi was always troubled. "How's mom?" Aro asked, and his father nodded his head "She's mostly laying in bed, resting. Her status is unchanged." Aro nodded. "So the treatment's still not working?" his dad sighed with sorrow.

"No, it is not." Aro nodded, looking at the ground for a moment. "Since you're here, the clan head gave me an invite to the auction later today - to represent our clan, but I can't go, so you should go in my stead, Aroshima." Aro's eyes opened wide and he grinned. "You saying I get to buy cool stuff with clan funds?" He joked, his father stared him down, showing him that he did not appreciate his son's attempt at humor. Aro shrugged. "All right, so, my cleanest suit then, anything else?" His father nodded "Yeah, I was given a mask, I left it at home." Aro nodded. "Okay, thanks, dad." Sahashi nodded. "Now, get going, you need a shower, and I have to resume my class." With a grin, Aro was heading out.

He came onto the grounds again, running into the trio, whom gathered around him Namasaru spoke up, he was always a thoughtful one "Aroshima-sama, how is your mother?" He lacked social skills, but his heart was in the right place. Aro gave a brief smile "Her condition is about the same. Anyway, guys. I have a Mission for you."



Aro walked towards the entrance of the auction, wearing his best suit, going as far as to wear a proper waistband and his fine shirt. The purple mask with gold trim covering his face. He wasn't going to miss this party, that's for sure. He walked into the auction, the guard stopping him asking for identification - he flashed his Sarutobi invite and revealed his face for but a moment, as he was patted down, they found nothing on him. He headed inside the ballroom, where all of the socialites were, all of them were rich, most of them civilians, he recognized a few faces.

Tapping his mask, a centimeter-big object dropped down into his hand as he put it into his ear, masking it as him readjusting the mask. He tapped it and soon could hear the voice of Tako. "All right boss, we're guarding the perimeter." Aro smirked, grabbing a glass of champagne and walking around the room, picking up on conversations. Sure, the kids were genin, but they were good at doing what they were told - and they understood when they shouldn't ask questions.

---

Amegakure Outpost, Confederate Outpost

---

In hindsight, that chick really was a bitch Tatsuya grumbled to himself as he lifted up his emaciated wallet. That woman had taken him for everything he had, and if wasn't for the fact that he was in the military equivalent of a five star resort, he'd be pissed the hell off. As it was, he was content by the luxuries presented by this outpost, which was so ridiculously awesome that it made him wonder whether the Confederate spent money on anything besides their military. Seriously, how could afford this?

With a soft sigh, Tatsuya returned to the present, looking down at the floor of his room, which was covered in mounds of papers that held numerous seals on them, both complete and incomplete. After waking up and going through his daily routine, he'd decided to spend the day trying to wrk out some of the more advance seals he could use in his forging techniques, as well as trying to come up with a few of his own. However, this had all culminated in hitting brick wall as he found himself swamped by all of the formulas, equations, and overall information overload that came with this kind of stuff. Not to mention that he felt no inspiration to make anything, a condition he suffered from since creating Ketsui. He could still forge things, sure, but nothing truly exceptional had been formed by his hands for years now. It was almost like he used it all up in the process of making Ketsui, and while it was a fine blade, he needed to make more like it or better if he ever wanted to accomplish his dream.

After a few more minutes of studying and muttered whispered, a slow twitch began to play at his right brow, before he let out a shout and tossed a bunch of the papers into the air. Getting up from his seated position, he decided to work off some steam in one of those glass cages they had, maybe even fight someone while he did so. If no one was available, than he could always spar with Bishamon, who he had a great need to kill over and over again for the trouble he caused yesterday and his contribution in to Tatsuya's recent loss of wealth. Namely, he was going to shove Ketsui up the fucker's asshole repeatedly. While this may not accomplish anything, it was somewhat therapeutic for Tatsuya to kill his annoying clone, helping him to calm down a bit. That probably meant that there was something wrong with his head, of course, but he really couldn't care less at this moment.

Leaving his room in a huff with Ketsui strapped to his side, along with all of his other battle gear, he made his way to the training area, only to notice that a bit of a spectacle was going on. On closer inspection, he saw that the two Hyuuga who he'd unintentionally insulted were duking it out, with the girl being at a clear disadvantage. While he was as curious as the rest to see the battle, he was more focused on getting his own sparring time in. However, just as he turned away, an alarm suddenly started blaring, with a message calling out for the female Hyuuga to pick a squad and head out somewhere. This caused Tatsuya to freeze a little, before trying to subtly blend in with the crowd, something that didn't work very well when you're over 6ft tall with very noticeable red hair. While Tatsuya wasn't afraid of combat or anything, he didn't want to go on a mission with two people he just got into an altercation with the previous day, especially when one of them was Higoho. That just wasn't a very favorable situation for him.

If someone's up there, please give me a break at least this one time. Please. Tatsuya asked to whatever higher power their maybe, though he knew that it was in vain. His luck was, and always would be, absolutely terrible, almost as if the universe was conspiring against him.

@Partisan

@l0ck0n