---

---

"Five million ryo…. I guess it serves me right, but that doesn't really make it hurt any less."

After four years he was finally back in Konohagakure, though perhaps not exactly in the fashion he would've liked. Having been stopped by Konoha shinobi while mulling over the merits of returning of his own free will, Hotsuma had surrendered willfully, unwilling to harm his fellow countrymen after so long spent away. While he should've expected it due to his rather abrupt appearance all those years back, being court martialed wasn't exactly a pleasant experience. And five million ryo? Perhaps it was better than incarceration or execution, but it certainly seemed like he'd be slaving away for quite a while to properly pay the hefty fine off. There was some small comfort in the fact that he was allowed the position of jounin in order to earn money, but it all seemed rather abrupt. He hadn't even been back for a whole day yet when they shoved a uniform at him and had him meet with a squad. It was an awkward start, as Hotsuma had never been terribly good with introductions, but at the very least he'd gotten to know all of their names. It was a lot at once, frankly. Hell, Mawari was Hokage. With that in mind, he hadn't neglected to see how the Second, his former master, was doing after the war. And while it pained him somewhat to see what the war had done to the man, it was good to catch up.

It certainly did him good after he'd received news about the death of his older brother. Taken by sickness. While on the one hand it may have been better than a violent death at the hands of enemy shinobi, Hotsuma couldn't help but feel ashamed. He and Madarame had promised to see each other after war's end, yet neither of them were able to hold to their word. But the blame lay purely on Hotsuma. If he hadn't decided to desert, he could've at least been there at Madarame's side when he passed. He could've kept his word. While Hidorama and Kureha were glad to have their youngest son back, Hotsuma decided that he'd rather not live within the walls of the Senju compound. That being said, Hotsuma had managed to acquire a home shortly after his arrival, and while it wasn't the most comfortable, it was something he could live with.

Hotsuma didn't have anything of note lined up today due to a lack of a mission assignment, but that didn't mean he still didn't want to break in the new uniform a little bit more. It felt a bit odd being back in a flak jacket, or even wearing a forehead protector, after all the time that had passed. But soon enough he'd get over it. He'd certainly have to if he was ever going to pay off that five million ryo, that much was for sure. He had been considering calling the squad together to run some drills when he heard a figure dropped down into his line of sight, immediately putting him on the defensive. "What the he-..." Mawari? No. Despite initially being startled by the sudden appearance of the woman in his home, it quickly became apparent that this figure wasn't the Hokage herself, but a mere clone. What in the world was she doing all the way out in Kumogakure? With a pair of chunin and a genin no less? "Well, I can't exactly ignore that now, can I?" Hotsuma muttered, sighing as he exited his house. Mawari always knew how to lay it on thick, but putting responsibility for three kids' death on his shoulders? That was pretty heavy. Well, no helping it. Breaking into a quick sprint, he raced off to find the members of his squad and gather them for the impromptu mission that had been thrust upon them….

---

"Alright, well…. I already gave you guys the rundown on why I snatched you up, but I figure I should make some things clear. You are not to speak of this mission to anyone. If anyone knows the Hokage was out screwing around in Kumo territory, it'd cause one hell of a mess. Second off, keep sharp. I just met you guys, so I'd rather not have to tell your parents I let you get yourself killed on my first day as your squad leader, alright? Reisei. Tsubaki. Hopefully our comrades won't have gotten themselves terribly injured by the time we arrive, but if they do… You know the drill. Kiyoshi, you do what you do best. Best case scenario is that they have the Kumo-nin mopped up by the time we get there. But if not, I wanna see your A-game from all of you. Lady Hokage may only have one eye, but it'll be plenty to watch the four of us with." Hotsuma explained, flashing the team an "OK" sign before turning on his heel.

"Try to keep up. We're gonna need to fire on all cylinders for this one."
And with that, the Tiger of Konoha and Team Wanderer were off to assist the Hokage and company, and hopefully avoid a full-on international incident while they were at it….

Uchiha Ria
Training Field 6
Battle Theme

@RyoRyoRyoKen- Senhime-sama
@BladeSS4 - Uchiha Tenshi
@Thecrash20 - Nagasaki Hitori

---

It's fast! Thanks to the sharingan, Ria is able to see what Senhime fired, at least she's able to anticipate the moves she's performing. That's a Kekkei Genkai, I can't copy that. Ria takes out her dual swords; Amatasuki and Karaware and infuses fire chakra in each of her sword, her sword are now covered in flames and followed it up with multiple swings of slashes before the silks connect as she wing it would look like she's fanning the flames. She uses her blazing dual swords to slice the projectiles that came. Any concern for her teammates feels like a liability at this point, Tenshi is still weak while Hitori is still not moving. At this point, Ria felt like she's the only one matched perfectly against their master; given the fact her abilities counter hers but the question is, can she even utilize her abilities properly. Ria gets her head in the game.

A spider huh? So that's her fighting style. To catch a spider, you need to be faster than the spider, damn I have underestimated her earlier.. The Chidori is an assassination technique invented by that certain clan head many years ago, it's said that the user itself is a speed demon or a lightning bullet striking down his enemies with a simple jab as a result, his dominant arm is considered indestructible. When she was training on her own, she remembered her mom telling her that her limit was two blasts and anymore of it would kill her.

"You're correct. Why not let's end this." She glares at her with a menacing look yet shivers with fear but tries as much to ignore it. Am I Just All talk.. Tch, who am I kidding, I still have enough chakra left at least but another Chidori would put me down. She's too strong and I'm not stronger. She may have the perfect counter but the execution itself is the problem. The thing is Senhime is on a whole different league, she can't compare to her rivals which are Muu and Dio, Sensei is leagues above her and her team. The way Senhime has demonstrated her abilities, it hurts Ria's pride badly. Typical for an Uchiha to feel such things. To be honest, her fighting style is the hardest to get around with, even with the sharingan.

While trying to formulating a plan with his teammates, but before they could forrm a plan Senhime attacked. Tenshi paid the price for having his back to Senhime. He wanted to keep the plan making a secret, so he had turned away to hide his mouth movements, but he paid for it not seeing the silk bullets.

The young male Uchiha gets hit and captured by the hardened silk. Almost with instinct he begins thrashing about trying to escape. "Somebody get me out of here!" Tenshi growled thrashing about his hands trying to reach for the lighter in his pocket. He was hoping he could burn himself free but yet he could reach it. He thrashed more trying to get his arms free, but all hope seemed gone for him. Noticing Ria was more inclined

'Is this all I can do? I am a liability to my teammates if I get captured this easily. I am a disgrace to my clan, to my family....' Tenshi's thoughts started to build a fire up in him. They weren't going to beat Senhime alone and Tenshi knew this "Ria! Hitori! We need to work together! Only together can we even hope to get to that armband! I might not be very big, and I am still a genin. I don't have a large variety of jutsu, and I cannot use the sharingan. I am not going to give up without even trying first. Work with me, we are a team. There is no I in team. If we don't work as a team then we will never win!" Focusing building up chakra Tenshi was preparing for when or if his teammates would free him. He had one trump card left, and it would use up most of his remaining chakra but it should make a big enough distraction for the other two take advantage Tenshi hoped as he prepares for the Shadow clone shuriken Jutsu.

"He sure did tease you a little. A test, if you will. I expect to see you both of you at the Hero Monument in ten minutes. You have a mission waiting for you."

Ever one to remain alert in such a situation, Shirayuri was keen on spotting Kaido as he approached amidst the tension caused by the sudden attack. Onyx eyed, much like her would be opponent, she was quick to realize this Jonin was the one who had baited her. Having him assail them was a very irksome affair. Especially when he merely wished to do so for a 'test' so brief it may well have not happened at all. Brows furrowed and thin lips curled into a frown, she shrugged off Sakana's foul mouthed retort and hasty retreat with all the commitment one would use in swatting a fly. If she was being called away from her post by a high ranking shinobi, she could only assume this mission was of importance. Doing up her shirt once more and sliding her bone sword into the silken sash which secured her tunic, Shirayuri made to collect her lunch before strolling away from the booth to find out what was going on.

_________________

Arrival at the monument didn't take long for the pale girl and her bag of cleaned fish bones. Had she known this 'important' meeting included a long winded speech full of presumptions and false premonitions, that factoid would have certainly changed. This Jonin, this Uchiha already rubbed her wrong. He seemed the haughty, authoritative type that was so common among his clansmen, from what she had seen of them. Not that it particularly mattered. Most higher ups annoyed her. It was simply a matter of containing her belligerence enough to avoid being reprimanded, as she had in the past. A dossier was tossed towards the now sitting Kaguya, caught easily between boney fingers and parted open so she could read along.

Immediately she sneered. A mission that would place her along Kirigakure's borders. As if she hadn't gone through enough to cross that border during the war. Hopefully, this time, the air wouldn't be so cold that her homeland's namesake wouldn't freeze upon her lashes. If nothing else, the mission's promise of combat was welcome to her. She was a coiled spring; one who had been denied the rush of steel on bone and blood on blood for far too long. The lust for this adrenaline fix was enough to push past the growing apathy she felt about the assignment. In a quick lurch, she was up from her seat among the grass. In her internal dialogue, her squad mates had already begun their exit. Not one too stick around among company whom she found grating (unless forced during guard duty), Shirayuri too spun upon her heel and made for her humble abode for supplies.

_________________

A backpack was all she required. Simple, rugged and utilitarian, this bag full of basic medical supplies, rations to last for as long as it would reasonably take to march across the nation and back, and spare clothing was all she needed. In a flicker of motion afforded by a simplistic technique of the same name, Shirayuri appeared at the main gate to await Sakana and Kaido. It seemed the female who would be accompanying them had arrived prior to her. In truth, Shirayuri didn't care for nor know the girl. If anything, her minor wounds at the hands of a mere water clone had soured the neutrality afforded by such unfamiliarity. Rather than make small talk, Shirayuri crossed her arms and waited in a silence only broached by an occasion spring breeze.

Once his team had listened to his speech and his orders, they had all disappeared to prepare, as did he. He would be standing outside the city gates some 20 minutes later with supplies. His folded fuma shuriken hung from his hip neatly, he had exchanged his normal black cloth gloves for metal plated onces, as well as now wearing his reinforced ninja vest, the hardened leather at his shoulders protecting him from weaponry. He arrived on top of the gate, in time to see two of his three students already present. He grabbed his mission backpack, which included first aid equipment, spare weapons, rations and the like, before he set off to meet his team at the gate. To his surprise, all three students were already there, as he arrived two minutes before the assigned time.

"I see you all managed the time poorly. Being too early's not much better than being late." He criticized the three of them, walking past them, his hands resting on the straps of his backpack. "We will move in single line convoy to the outskirts of the land of Waves, to a little place called Wild Pond Village, a fishing town outside of borders of the Hidden village. We will make contact with a spy from the Leaf, an old friend of mine, who should know about any deals regarding the scrolls. Remember to stay sharp, especially once we get into enemy territory, it will get serious very quickly, and I will not babysit you."

"Move out." He signaled, body flickering onto the treeline they would use to travel covertly, making sure to move at a speed his underlings would be able to follow, they would arrive at the Wild Pond in an hour if they all kept up with Kaido's pace, giving them all enough time to converse and stop for a quick refresher before they passed the borders.



Kishimoto smiled softly as they all finished their brief presentations, he dug into his rucksack and got out his wooden pipe he lit up as the students talked, igniting the tobacco inside, using his teeth to old the pipe in place while he used his hand to maneuver the lighter. "You're quite a bunch of characters. Full of talent and life. It will be very interesting to see you grow, and I look forward to going on many missions with you three. Speaking of missions, ours today is about to begin." He said, with a smile. "We are performing a A-rank mission, a little unusual for a team of our caliber. But it's actually really a duty specified for me, due to my previous position as Hokage, we are to depart to the Land of Storm, and meet up with the highly covert and newly former ninja village there - the Village hidden in rain - Amegakure. You will be my envoy, bodyguards, really." He began explaining. "We'll mostly face bandits, and we'll have backup from a chunnin-squad from Amegakure, so we should be fine without facing any real danger." He explained.

"However, a new ninja village comes with a conflict for all ninja villages, as it can mess with the rather delicate balance we have cultivated since the Winter, which is why it's so important that we go there first, to make new allies and to inform them we will lend them our aid with anything they need, in a hope to scare off Kumogakure and Sunagakure from pursuing military action against the small village. Do you understand?" He asked.

"In other words, we are a diplomatic envoy, except we're not escorting a nobleman, only an old man." Kishimoto joked, with a scoff, trying to take the rather serious situation lightly, to instill some kind of confidence in the genin. "The Rain shinobi are expecting us to arrive at their borders by nightfall, so we had best get a move on, I'm not quite as fast as I once was. You should go home and gather supplies worthy of a couple of days of travel, we have no intel about the exact location of the Hidden Village." He said, sitting down calmly, puffing his pipe.

---

Location:

---

With each passing moment, the very presence of the legendary Tailed-Beast began weigh on Dio's psyche, a testament to its power. All the more, it offset that of the Hokage's, making her seem tiny in comparison, its very presence seemingly overlapping hers. The whole scene was reminiscent of a young daughter gazing up at her rather hulking father. A nostalgic and untimely analogy as his own life was certainly in the hands of that very same Hokage.

Despite the weight of the whole situation, Dio's anxiety had seemingly disappeared, now replaced with a deathly calm. A likely side effect of his relinquishing fear of death at the hands of a tentacled bull-octopus, but he took what little relief he could derive from the situation. Ironically, the relinquishing lie in his confidence in the Hokage's abilities, which surely wasn't misplaced. Even as a massive tentacle swung his way, his calm solidarity stood firm, fueling his mind and pushing him to remain still, a testament to his trust in the Hokage's power. Much to Dio's relief and expectation, the Hokage dealt the blow that more or less saved all their lives. Complete with handseals and all, sharp gusts of wind ripped up and halted the tentacle attack in its tracks.

Blowing a sigh of relief, Dio found himself clenching and unclenching his fists; thankful for the Hokage's quick thinking but somewhat jaded by his own lack of power in the same regard, the power of the two beings before him once again personified in thier techniques and attacks. The sudden retreat of the Beast though confused Dio, something was off. Mimicking the Hokage, Dio himself turned to look behind him, surprised to find three shinobi armed and waiting. Gritting his teeth, he found the same line in front of him; completely surrounded.

Through simple observation, Dio easily deduced that the fight was no easy win being that many of the Kumoagakure Ninja ranked higher than he did, their aged faces an open book. Dio peered past the wall of shinobi to gaze upon the Hokage who to was confronted by three ninja; whatever decision she made she made, he would support no less, but had to be made pragmatically: with carful reasoning and logic.

Unfortunately, after a plethora of hand seals, Dio assumed that the pragmatic route had been thrown out the window. In conjunction with a clone messenger, the Hokage set of the spark that ignited the battle with a sweeping wind scythe that ripped across the battlefield. Cursing under his breath, Dio brought his body low to the ground, dodging the attack. While the outrage of friendly fire may have consumed Ira and Mu, Dio saw it as an opportunity to escape. From his squatting position, Dio quickly rose and took five giant leaps back, clearing the former Kumoagakure formation.

In no time what so ever Dio was charged by a rather skinny Kumo shinobi wielding a katana with other-worldly ease. Activating his Byakugan Dio took to the defensive, dodging swing after swing, surprised to find that despite his lacking knowledge of Kenjutsu, the ninja's attempts were mediocre at best. It was at this moment when Dio's gaze fell upon the Hokage. Within the lapse of time in which he was able to witness her prowess on the battlefield, he noticed a seeming weightlessness in her attacks, as if she was holding back. Soon, it came together; striking down a Kumoagakure Ninja in thier own territory was a means to war, a potential disaster if they weren't careful. This same doctrine was what held the Kumoagakure back themselves, although that seemed to wane as Dio narrowly dodge a wicked swing at his abdomen.

Despite the situation, Dio found himself grinning madly at the Hokage's brand of seeming genius. Although genius wasn't the word for her hindsight, Dio still found himself adding another notch of respect to the Hokage's already growing reputar in his eyes.

Spurring himself into action with the doctrine of non-lethality and self-preservation in mind, Dio renewed his defensive posture, ducking under a lazy swipe at his forehead. Attempting to throw his opponent off balance, Dio swept is leg across the undergrowth towards the ninja's feet, but this was no clone, and he effectively jumped away from its range. This opened way for another Kumo Ninja to renew the offensive, sprinting at Dio and launching a knee attack at his head without let up. Gritting his teeth, Dio leaned away from the oncoming attack only to be greeted by the skinny shinobi's downward kick from above.

Cursing under his breath, Dio leapt away, rolling in grass a few feet away as dirt was kicked up into the air by the shinobi's missed attack. Without missing a beat, Dio stood on the balls of his feet, ready to take advantage of the chance given to him.

"Wind Style: Gale Palm!"

Clapping his hands together, Dio summoned gale force winds, assaulting the shinobi the the sheer force of it power; dirt and dust kicked up into the air, adding to the effect as the shinobi attempt to cover their eyes from the derbies. Taking this as his chance, Dio charged the shinobi. Before they could regain thier sight, Dio thrust his palm into the gut of the swordsman.

"Palm Bottom!"

He echoed as a palpable amount of chakra was thrust into the shinobi's stomach, causing him to belch as he was thrown back a few feet.

Regaining his sight, the remaining shinobi was taken back by the scene. Taking advantages of the of his weakness, Dio launched a two finger strike towards his shoulder. Snapping back into reality, the shinobi blocked with his left forearm, sending Dio's well placed fingers into the shinobi arm and effectively sealing a chakra point. Before the shinobi could react to that pain launching his arm, Dio twisted his body to send a another strike towards his pectoral. Gritting his teeth, the shinobi backed away, wary of the young leaf ninja's unusual technique.

This gave Dio time to survey the battle field with the full ocular power of the Byakugan without losing sight of his opponent. The whole field of battle fell under his overwatch, although his main focus fell upon Ira, who was much to inexperienced for this level of combat, although he wasn't much farther. Ira held his own against his opponent, but his lack of experience shown bright as a second shinobi readied a strike from behind.

Letting out a string of curses Dio tore across the battlefield, ignoring his opponent who fell in pursuit. Grabbing a shrunken from his pouch, he launched the projectile, succeeding in having it whiz past the front of the shinobi's face and effectively halting his attack. Startled, the shinobi was surprised to find a young leaf ninja sprinting towards him. Without let up Dio engaged the shinobi behind Ira.

"Learn to watch your back!" he breathed harshly between blows at Ira. Dio never imagined his first true mission with the Hokage would be so action packed.

. . . You've got to be fucking kidding me? The look Kiyoshi was giving his uncle was something between angry glare and stunned disbelief, and probably made him look pretty stupid, but he couldn't careless right now. Not only had his Uncle Hatsumo come back home after 4 years of fuckin' around doing who knows what, then coming back like nothing had happened, but he was also taking Kiyoshi on a super classified mission that was way above his fuckin' pay-grade and likely to get him fucking killed. He was a genin. A fuckin' Genin! What in the fuck is he doing anywhere near a mission involving a Biju?!?!?! What was his position on the team supposed to be; body-bag filler?!?! This was insane! He was going to die! Everything that could go wrong was going to go wrong in the worst possible way because who ever thought that putting him in this kind of team must've suffered from a temporary attack of completely inane stupidity.

". . .Which god did I piss off to get involved in this mess?" Kiyoshi bowed his head with a sigh, already running several different scenarios in his head about his chances of surviving this mission. They were looking increasingly slim. "I wonder if this is how Ida-nii feels when ever he's put on missions like this?

Shaking off his melancholy for a moment, he picked up the pace after the rest of his group, bringing up the rear and somewhat struggling to keep up with the rest of them. His eyes shifted between the other two in the group. Chunin. Barely older than he was, but likely ten times more prepared and capable. Okay, enough moping about. If the Shinigami's coming for my head, I've got to do my best to make him work for it. Okay, rundown on supplies: Got full set of Suppression, Full Set of Explosion, Full set of Smoke, A bunch of regular arrows, bunch of kunai, a bunch of shuriken, my back-up bow, and my back-up, back-up bow, and a whole bunch of explosive tags. Not sure how useful this'll be, though if I remember correctly, Uncle Hotsuma uses fire style jutsus, so that'll be good with my Smoke Arrows. As for the others . . .

"Hey, you two, uh . . . Shimodaruma and Tsubaki, right? What do you guys do?" He had to raise his voice a little to be heard, internally cursing his lack of physical ability in his head. While he had the stamina of an Uzumaki to see him to the border, he was afraid that he might get left behind if he didn't keep his focus. That would be a humiliating way to start of this team, and he was certain he'd never live it down if he did, not to mention that the Hokage would probably kick him out of the shinobi force. As one part of his mind started going through the various ways he could possibly get kicked out of the shinobi force by their, frankly speaking, right-bitch of a Hokage, he continued talking to the others in his group, trying to come up with some sort of plan that would help keep them all alive. "I'm an archer, use a bow to shoot arrows enhanced by fuinjutsu at people, and for the ones I have now, Fire and Lightning jutus would be good to have, the latter especially, so the two of you wouldn't happen to have an affinity for them, would you?"

Interactions:@LokiLeo789@Hillan@Buddha

The sheer mass and power of the beast was upon the group of leaf shinobi, Mū observed the beast not making a sound standing cool and calm under pressure. The bull octopus was quite a sight to be hold, an even greater one is watching the hokage actually conversation with it. The beasts voice could be felt in their bones as he spoke.

Soon the beast wanted to see if we were worthy and to test our strengths, eight tails lifted its tentacles and swung them at the group, Mū was ground to reach for his chakra blades until he saw the hokage began performing hand seals. Mū took his blades out and prepared for the attack but soon saw Mawari's jutsu connect with the tentacles making the octopus pull back. Mū lowered his stance but picked it back up when he heard the beast say that we will show him our power in a different way and that there are enemies approaching.

Soon kumokagure shinobi surrounded Dio, Ira, and Mū. Mū picked his blades up and flowed wind nature chakra through it as he backed up closer to Ira and Dio. He saw the hokage jutsu coming at him and copied Dio, getting low the ground. He got back up and listen to the hokages pep talk, "Yes my lady"

Mū took the opportunity to escape as he gained distance from the opening he hokage created but was soon closed out by a shinobi, the opponent attached Mū with a kunai. They both collided and were blade lock for a brief moment before he pushed Mū back. Mū jumped back and was met with another shinobi who wielded a Tantõ. Mū seemed to have been overwhelmed but regain his composure, he jabbed with his left hand scratching the shinobi with his wind nature chakra. His opponent didn't see it at first until he saw blood trickle down his face, realizing Mū had a range advantage in close quarters he was wary close combat. Mū took the advantage and played it defensively, looking the kumokagure shinobi directly.

Mū glanced over at Dio briefly watching at as he connected hits against his opponent but not killing them. It seems killing the kumokagure shinobi would be against the mission. Mū turned back facing his opponent as the shinobi came back for more, Mū swung with his right fist at the man , but the shinobi ducked , dodging his attack and attempted to impale Mū through his stomach. The young Sarutobi parried with his left blade and pushed off to create some distance. Giving no chance the first shinobi who attack Mū came back with a downward kick. Mū side stepped but was kicked in the stomach sending him sliding back on the grass, these guys were experienced. Mū grunted, he then flowed more chakra into his blade increasing his close range power, the range on his blades grew and could be seen by a coat of bright blue chakra.

It was time for Mū to stop tearing the waters, now was the moment was to create an opening to escape. Mū went on the offensive and closed in on the cloud shinobi and locked and blade locked with the tantõ user, he pushed off letting out of shout and round house kicked with the man in the ribs sending him sliding to the side. He then turned around and deflected Kunai that had been thrown at him. Though the 3 leaf shinobi were doing alright for now they wouldn't last too long, Mū was determined. He wasn't going to die here, no one was going to die on this mission.

-

He woke up in the morning to the chippering of the birds, he got out of bed and headed towards his window. He opened his window up, letting the cooling breeze come in through his window as the sun was high in the sky already. He took a couple of deep breaths, stretching while leaning out of the window, arching his back forward as it let out cracking sounds and he let out a pleased sigh, he opened his eyes again, to find the birds sitting next to him on the window. They were cooing next to him - they wanted food. He let out a soft smile, and turned around, digging his hand into a bag on the bookshelf next to him. He got out a handful of sunflower seeds - the sunflower they came from next to the bookshelf, and held out his hand to the birds, the five birds all began picking at the seeds, the smaller birds finished up and flew away, as a bigger bird, with some red feathers on the head walked up to him, turning it's face to the side, and cooing.

"You can eat, too. It's fine." Shisai told him, as the bird quickly walked up to his hand and began eating seeds, while Shisai softly stroked the feathers on the bird - a little bigger than his hand's head.
"This is like, the fourth time you're here this week, I think you like me." Reisai said, as the bird chippered cheerfully. "It'd be nice to have a friend in the sky, don't you think?" He said to the bird, whom responded with cooing at him. "I like you, I think I'm gonna call you Masashi!" Shisai told the bird, continuing to pet the animal with his index finger, till all the seeds were gone.

He held out his finger, and Masashi jumped on it, he continued to pet the bird for a moment more, as he caught the glimpse of another bird - the same kind as Masashi, but with different patterns on it's chest, a female. He noticed that the bird in his hand did the same. "Got a crush, do we?" He giggled. "Go get her, you can take her out to dinner. My treat." The chunnin joked, handing the bird another seed that the animal put in it's beak and flew away towards the bird the two of them had seen.

Once he was done chatting with the birds outside his window, he went to his small kitchen, getting into his primitive cooling unit - cooled by ice he had made himself, and got out a bottle of yoghurt, he fetched a bowl and some cereal and had himself some breakfast. Once he had done the dishes and put everything back neatly where he took it, he undresses and showered for a good half an hour. The warm water always felt good on his skin. Once he was done relaxing, he dried himself off, got dressed and brushed his teeth. Before he left the bathroom, he died his forehead protector - the symbol of the leaf on the metal plate, around his forehead. Like all the days before, doing so filled him with an overwhelming sensation of pride. He was proud to be a leaf ninja - more so than many others, he found, and today was one of those days where that would become rather evident.

He had been reassigned to a new team, as a result of the splitting up of his previous team, his sensei retiring and his other teammates were still genin, so they got assigned to another team, as did he. His new team was lead by the recently reinstated Hotsuma Senju, a man who, despite being powerful, a former apprentice of the second hokage, a war-veteran and the younger brother of another well esteemed jonin, still ran away from his duties, abandoning the Hidden Leaf in her most dire moment. His new sensei was a coward, yet, he had to trust in the judgment of the Third, that she had reinstated him out of desire, not desperation.

He was soon off to meet them, and before any introductions could be made, they were already off, leaping from branch to branch. They were off to aid Team Konoha, lead by the Third, leading a team of two chunnin like him, and a seasoned genin, all from the noble clans of the village. His teammates consisted of the rather interesting kunochi Oichi Tsubaki, a medical ninja, like him. And the younger and lower ranked Kiyoshi Uzumaki, a survivor of a extinct clan, like him. They were certainly a team would could all relate to one another in one way or the other.

Kiyoshi asked them what their deal was, Oichi demonstrated - using jutsu Reisai had never seen before. He was a little surprised, and even got an urge to show off his own abilities, but he decided against it, they had an important mission ahead of them, this was no time to waste his energy.

"That sure is really cool, Oichi. Kyoshi, you shoot arrows armed with sealing techs? That's awesome. I've got a more chilly approach to things." He said, letting out a chuckle at his own joke, that the others probably would not understand. "I'm a medic and a ninjutsu specialist. You can count on me to always have your back." He assured, as the four continued on their long journey to Kumogakure.

"Captain Hotsuma's a taijutsu specialist, he studied under the Second Hokage, or so they say." He added, in a way to, despite his own doubts about the traitorous Senju, increase the morale of his teammates, and hopefully make them trust their leader the same way the Third Hokage must have, in order to send for him in this time of crisis.

He looked to the side, seeing a crow fly past him, peacefully, while he and his teammates were marching towards a battleground, his thoughts went back to the bird outside his window. I wonder what Masashi's doing right now?

Haitani's eyes narrowed upon Izo, a grimace forming over his mouth. Izo was always the one barking orders as if he was the semi-head using the same excuse of trying to keep everyone together and on track. Haitani could only feel his blunt, harshness was a negative in this aspect. The new leader of the team took a few steps forward to stand between the space of Kohaku and the others. There was a simple solution to this whole issue and Haitani was going to give that solution.

"Izo, calm down. You both are jumping at the mission without a thought of preparation. Kohaku is allowed to prepare herself shortly. Rush into this mission and die because we are unprepared is an outcome I would like to avoid." The Sarutobi gave a sigh and turned to Kohaku, his eyes meeting with hers, "You have 20 minutes. Meet me at the front of the village. Now go."

20 Minutes later at the Front of the Village

Haitani stood at the front gates as poised as ever as even the mighty Sarutobi needed to look the part at times. The mission would be underway soon once everyone arrived and Haitani was definitely in the right spirits. Today would be the day that changes everything.

---

---

Hotsuma kept mostly silent as the three behind him shared information on their individual abilities. Though, he couldn't help but wince a bit at Reisai's tone when it came to the young man's assessment of his own abilities. "Tough crowd, huh?" Hotsuma thought, noting that a whopping two out of three in the squad didn't exactly seem to take kindly to him. Though, he could hardly blame Kiyoshi at least. And while he would have liked to believe that his little years-long globetrotting "vacation" was done with the greatest of intentions, he knew saying as much would fall on deaf ears. After all, he'd come back empty-handed after four years of being gone. Showing up in Konoha after all of that time with nothing to show for it but a five million ryo fine definitely wasn't a good look. And, to top it all off, Hotsuma hadn't even been there for his own brother's rites.

It certainly didn't help that he was now taking them on an obviously dangerous mission. And certainly one that was more than a little beyond Kiyoshi's paygrade at the moment. Grabbing a branch and vaulting, Hotsuma landed and seamlessly kicked off of another branch in quick succession. He was trying as hard as he could to pace himself at the moment, still getting used to the idea of having a team at his back again. "Uh… Alright. I know that I might not seem too trustworthy at the moment, but bear with me. It's gonna take a little bit of time for me to get used to shinobi life again, but I'm gonna try my damnedest to make sure you get outta this mess in one piece." he remarked, peeking back over his shoulder. The dossier Mawari had slapped together for him to read yesterday had informed him of their abilities beforehand, but the catch-up earlier was a nice little refresher. With two shinobi practicing medical ninjutsu on the team, they'd make an effective rescue crew. And should Kiyoshi manage to improve on his archery and sealing abilities, he'd soon prove to be an effective source of cover fire while they accomplished the task. The boy may have been down on himself, but he was far from useless even now. Perhaps one of the other two would be able to show him that, however, as Kiyoshi almost certainly didn't want to hear it from him.

"We might encounter some heavy resistance if the Kumo guys managed to get word back to any potential reinforcements, so be on the lookout. If you guys can help it, I'd prefer if you didn't need to engage the enemy right now, but if it comes down to it, know that I'll have your back. I'll remind you, though, that our primary focus is getting Mawa- …. Lady Hokage and her squad out of there." he added, grey eyes watching the three of them before he once again turned ahead, picking up the pace just slightly.

The gale from the Hokage's jutsu came towards Ira and the two chunnin, after knocking the Eight-Tails one tentacle off it's course, saving their life, yet instantly putting it in danger again. While the Hyuuga and the heir to the Sarutobi clan ducked and hit the ground, Ira stood steadfast, putting crossing his arms over his face as they were covered in metal, the natural resistant to wind his Steel had allowed him to without any injury parry the technique, only sliding backwards a little from the impact as it dispersed around him.

Ira watched the Kumo ninja arrive and surround them, out numbering them four to one, he let out a loud gulp. "Well.. Shit." He exclaimed, as the Hokage started combat with the cloud forces, engaging them with her techniques, taking four of them on at once, truly a remarkable show of skill. Ira got engaged on by a Shinobi donning knuckle dusters, the man was bigger than him, wearing a flack jacket - a chunnin, for sure. He leapt from his place in the trees to a tree above the three Konoha ninja, Ira quickly coated his arms once more, with thicker steel, increasing the strength of his hit, as he full force let out a punch at the rather thick tree behind him, cutting it down with but the force of his fist. The ninja was surprised, as the tree he was standing on fell to the ground, so much so that he fell towards the ground, recovering in the air, regaining his composure.

"Tch. Konoha nin? You seem pretty strong for a kid." The Cloud shinobi said, and Ira blew his hair out of his face. "You'd think I was in charge of these two losers." Pointing back at Mu and Dio, who were now knee-deep in enemy combatants. The cloud ninja smirked. "Sure. You do realize your trespassing could lead to a war, right?" The ninja said, as Ira nodded. "It could. But you're a scout patrol, and we're a diplomatic envoy lead by the Hokage, assaulted by a tailed beast, that you according to official records should not have on your territory." Ira explained, remembering reading the informational papers his father got sent to his house, he always had been interested in the global politics and the interactions between the hidden villages.

"That's the Hokage? You're joking!" The chunnin - probably only a few years older than Ira shouted, as Ira smirked. "Hardly. You think we're some schmucks? Some low-level soldiers of no renown who are sent out on their first mission, behind enemy lines with the Hokage? What a joke!" He exclaimed, the Chunnin lowered his stance a little, clearly showing signs of getting unnerved - upon seeing how the oldest of the group - the one eyed lady - fighting even with the strongest fighters in his unit.

"We're the Hokage's elite guard. The two behind me are as strong as ten Jonin. I'm more like a hundred. Our mission is to protect Lady Mawari-Sama. You are outmatched here. Return home. Or face My wrath." Ira warned him, the only emotion one could see on his face was a sadistic smirk. The Chunnin had a few drops of sweat rolling down his face ."Grrr.... I-I wouldn't be much of a ninja if I didn't protect my borders. Even if what you're saying is true.. HERE I GO!" He shouted, charging Ira, who's face changed expresions. "Hey! Wait a minute! Didn't you hear me! Hokage elite guard, I'll kill you!" Ira shouted, as the chunnin charged at him, moving faster than Ira could counter, as his knuckle-dusted hand was about to clash with Ira's face, the Cloud ninja vanished in a flash - swept away by the Hokage.

"I- Wha - Oh." Ira exclaimed, surprised, catching his breath, as he heard something above him, a ninja armed with a tanto came leaping at him, spinning from the air. He stepped back, avoiding the cut narrowly as the ninja landed - dealing a kick to his chest, he could barely make a metal plate in the spot in time to protect himself, still being thrown back from the attack, sliding on his boots. "You wanna start a war?! THEN LET'S GO!" Ira shouted, charging at the shinobi, whom did the same, charging at him, the Cloud ninja hit Ira with the hilt of his sword as Ira threw his fist at the ninja, the tanto collided with his face before his fist hit the enenmy, he felt the lack of power behind the hit - the enemy was pulling his punches, he was wearing a gray face mask, only his eyes could be seen through the mask - they were young.

The enemy was another young soldier, just like him. doing his best to stave off a war. As his full-force black fist was about to collide with the enemy genin's face, Ira pulled his punch, simply nudging the enemy in the face. Naturally, they could never admit they were doing this - they had to give off the imporession they were powerful, strong enough to not be messed with.

"I told your friend. We're a diplomatic envoy - the guards of the Third hokage. You have no chance, stand down!" He continued to lie, the genin shook his head. "Yeah? And? I'm the Second Raikage!" The ninja shouted, as he weaved a handseal, a gust of wind was produced from his palm that he used to send Ira flying backwards - the Sarutobi quickly regained his balance.

Shit, this Kid saw through me. As he did, another cloud ninja attack Ira, Dio stepping in to save him, leaving with a snide remark. "Yeah, well? Screw you!" Ira shouted, the genin with the sword attacking him again, Ira sidestepped the sweeping blade, delivering a soft knee to the boy's stomach.

"Miracle destruction punch!" Ira shouted, as he unleashed a uppercut, hitting the boy's chin, not hard enough to actually hurt him. Yet, the boy leapt into the air, mimicing actually getting injured. "Man, you're really looking for a war, Leaf-scum!"

Shit, he's smart. Ira suddenly held his arm, wincing in pain. "Grr, you sneaky Cloud ninja! Using a unseeable wind technique to cut my arm!" He pretended, the enemy ninja taken a back. In the corner of his eye, however, Ira saw a Clou ninja raise his sword over his head, about to strike down on the Hyuuga. Without hinking, Ira moved.

The clashing of metal rang out behind Dio, as Ira appeared, the blade of a katana caught with his hands. "Can't. Cut. Me.." Ira said, gritting his teeth, the strength of the cloud ninja was impressive, he had to hold back the katana with such force that several veins in his face were showing. Ira grabbed onto the blade and leapt into the air, using it as leverage to kick the ninja with both his feet, as he let go of the sword, sending the man flying.

"For someone who can see everything, you're not paying a whole lot of attention, peasant." Ira remarked at the Hyuuga, s the genin he fought earlier came back, swinging his sword.

Hmm, so nothing I have will work with her, unfortunate but maybe we cou- What the fuck is she doing? Kiyoshi's eyes narrowed slightly as Tsubaki got a little too close for comfort, whispering into his ear in a way he wasn't really comfortable with. Hadn't this person ever heard of the concept of personal space? Before he could ask her to back away a bit or clarify what she meant by having secret techniques, she demonstrated her abilities, causing Kiyoshi's eyes to widen slightly as he felt a sudden rush of energy flow throughout his body, urging him faster and allowing him to easily keep up with the girl. Holy shit, this feels amazing! How does this work exactly, though? Is she just supply a steady stream of chakra, no, that'd be extremely draining on her own reserves and the fact that she does this casually for a demonstration means that she likely doesn't have to exert much. Maybe it works more like an activation of one's latent potential, enriching their own inner reserves in order to . . . Kiyoshi was so lost in his own head, analyzing the technique that he almost didn't hear Tsubaki's explanation, which he found a bit base and lacking the depth he required, but then that's how these things usually worked with Jutsu. People didn't really need to understand the absolute minutia like he did if he hoped to incorporate stuff like this into his seals. However, as the 1 out of his 5 streams of conscious thought continued to listen to the girl and keep them from smacking into a tree, she said something that nearly brought all of them to a halt.

"Also . . . I can feel your emotions. So you don't have to be nervous. We are here with you. No matter how difficult the mission may get."

For Shimodaruma and Hotsuma, the only sign of anything being off was the slightest of twitches from his left eye. For Tsubaki, the strain of nervousness that had been present seemed to swell into a huge cloud of paranoia, violation, and just plain unease. It took everything Kiyoshi had not to try and pull the damn thing out of him right then and there, knowing it was futile but not wanting to be hooked up one second longer than he had to. Why in the fucking hell didn't she fucking lead with that little tid-bit of information?!?! Better yet, why didn't she fucking ask me if I wanted her to know my personal fucking emotional business or not!?!?!? Now she's in my head, feeling everything. that I'm feeling, and I'm not oaky with that!! How far does that even go, what does she even mean by 'feeling'?!?!? Can she read my emotions? My thoughts?!?. God-fucking-damn, I want it off, I want it off, I want this fucking jutsu off of me right-the-fuck now!! Kiyoshi didn't even look in Tsubaki's direction as he responded to her, his voice seeming surprisingly calm and collected. "Thanks Tsubaki-san, I'll do my best not to hold you guys up. Anyway, you should probably end the jutsu now. given that we don't know what the situation is, we should probably conserve our reserves as best as possible. Also a few quick questions, how long can the link go out to, how close does one have to be for you to establish a connection, and do the effects lessen the farther away a target is?"

Despite his absolute distaste for the added side-effect the jutsu had, he still needed to know more about it as it could very well help save his life in the coming fight and so he needed to know everything he could about it. After Tsubaki responded, Kiyoshi turned his attention to Shimodaruma, his attempt at humor garnering no response from the still perturbed genin. However, he still listen to what his elder teammate had to say about his skills and those of his Uncle, though the mention of Hotsuma did return a slight scowl to his features. "I'm aware of what Hotsuma's capable of, Shimodaruma. It's difficult to tell from looks alone, but he's actually my Uncle from my mother's side. Despite his . . . absence for the past four years, I'm sure he's still retained his skills as Jonin _{*if nothing else.*} With him and the Hokage around, who knows, I may get out of this in one piece."

I also could end up getting eaten by the eight tails, squashed by the eight tails, blown-away by the eight-tails, stabbed in the back by a Kumo-nin, Electrocuted by a Kumo-nin, Stabbed and electrocuted by a kumo-nin. . . That train of thought continued on in the back of Kiyoshi's head as he turned his attention to Uncle Hotsuma, listening to what he had to say with a blank stare, his mix-matched red and gold eyes meeting the man's gray ones without giving in an inch.

"Understood, Hotsuma-san."

---

---

“You have twenty minutes. Meet me at the front of the village. Now go.”

Inori had returned to the Yamanaka Clan’s compound following Haitani’s suggestion to gather and assess what supplies she would need in her inventory for the mission that she and her group had been assigned. When the blonde-haired girl spoke outwardly that she only needed fifteen minutes she was not boasting— the Yamanaka compound not only wasn’t that relatively far in distance, but Inori was rigidly organized when it came to her shinobi tools and prepared inventory. It was something that was expected of her from her father since she was much younger; she knew that a unprepared shinobi was a dead shinobi.

A sentiment she wished Kohaku took to heart herself.

However, despite said level of preparation Inori would’ve been lying if she didn’t appreciate a few minutes to meditate and half-refresh from the forced training session that Haitani insisted on— an insistence that had led to her being thrown her into a shallow pond.

Following her brief time of recovery, the blonde-haired shinobi found herself as ready as she needed to be; more ready than her friend and comrade was probably going to be. As Inori moved from her compound toward the destination Haitani told them to convene at she couldn’t help but imagine a flustered Kohaku digging through countless scattered tools and items to prepare her shinobi kit as she panicked about the impending time limit knowing full well if she was late again she was getting more disparaging comments and glares— Inori nearly giggled at the thought of it. Then again, perhaps her words to Kohaku had actually resonated and she would beat her to the destination by being ready even earlier than her?


The doubtful thought seemed to ring relatively true when she arrived on the scene to notice Haitani standing point, with neither of the other two genin to be found. Inori pursed a confident smirk as she put her hands on her hips as she took a look to her left and right.

“What a surprise. I’m here first, again, of course I am.”

@Kal-El@Jay Kalton@Weird Tales

---

Izo was annoyed, very annoyed. He couldn't believe that they were going to wait twenty whole minutes to prepare. They should have been ready now and be heading out on their mission. But no instead they were going wait before starting their mission and Izo hated it. This was not how shinobi should act in his opinion and it frustrated him having to deal with this team's antics. He grit his teeth and stormed off in an angry mood, kicking up dirt out of frustration.

These Konoha ninja are maddening! The mission shouldn't have to wait fifteen minutes so underachieving shinobi can get rest! If my sensei back in Kirigakure were here then he would not allow us to rest and order us to move out immediately! God do I hate it here sometimes, he thought to himself as he walked away from the training field with his Bo staff gripped tightly in his hands. Izo really wanted to whack someone with it, but he refrained from doing such a thing since it would get him into trouble with the village.

He instead chose to spend a several minutes smashing the branches off of trees and smack around rocks. He needed to do something to calm his anger and this seemed to do the trick for the most part.

"Damn the Leaf and their ridiculous sentiments for laziness!" he growled to himself. He wished that he was back in Kirigakure where he really belonged and wasn't here where he had to deal with Konoha shinobi as comrades. But he had to follow the orders of his superiors and stay in Konoha for now. This so far was his hardest test and he still wasn't sure how he would beat it.

Izo had been so deep in though and caught up in relieving his frustration that he hadn't noticed how much time had passed and realized that he needed to get to the front gates of the village where they were suppose to meet. He quickly hurried in that direction and hoped that he wouldn't be the last one there. When he finally got there Izo saw that the two chuunin were already there.

"I guess we are once again stuck waiting for Kohaku to arrive" he said as he leaned against his Bo staff.

@Kal-El @Gowi @Jay Kalton

It seemed that the other genin didn't mind Chikage's awkward rambling when she introduced herself. Either they were generally tolerant people or perhaps it wasn't so uncommon for people to be as scatterbrained as Chikage. Whichever it was served her benefit. The boy with white hair was the next to introduce himself, as Tonbo Kei. He seemed to specialize in shurikenjutsu but he had a super cool umbrella weapon. I wonder how he uses an umbrella in combat... She imagined Kei using the umbrella in similar styles to the weapons he said it was armed with, and it was an amusing picture in her mind. But she was distracted from her imagination when Kei asked if she would be willing to spare any explosive tags if he were to run out in combat. "Well, I guess so. But don't be wasting bombs." An ironic caveat.

The other boy introduced himself as Dewa Shimura. He said he was the son of some guy named Lava Mouth, which just seemed like a weird name to Chikage. But he went on to explain that he has a Kekkei Genkai, one that specifically uses lava. And rubber. "How do you make rubber with lava?" she mumbled to herself, bringing a hand up to her chin as she thought about the science behind it. Or at least tried to understand the science of it. She brought the cup of tea up to her mouth again with her other hand, considering to give it another try and hopefully not burn herself this time. She couldn't make up her mind and ultimately decided to continue holding the cup, just in case she did feel like drinking the tea.

The Second began to explain their mission once the introductions were done. Chikage had already forgotten that he had mentioned they had a mission to do. It was to be an important diplomatic mission to a new village, where their goal was to be the bodyguards of Lord Second. Despite the A-rank of the mission it didn't seem so bad to Chikage but perhaps it was just ranked highly due to importance rather than difficulty. She had no idea about the politics of the Hidden Villages but if there was a new one it was probably something big and important to deal with. If we go to this place, won't there be others from the other villages going there as well? Chikage thought to herself, though she kept it only to herself. Kishimoto gave the three genin the order to grab enough supplies for several days of traveling.

"Huh, it's been a long time since I've gone on a mission that would take longer than a day," the blue-haired girl mused aloud. "I might need to bring more..." With a shrug the girl got to her feet, still holding the cup of tea. "Well I'll go get my bag and some food. Probably gonna tell my grandpa that I'll be gone a few days. Do you think I should find myself an umbrella of my own or something? It's probably gonna rain at some point if we're going to a place named after rain. And I need to keep my bombs dry. Actually..." Chikage finally brought the cup to her lips, quickly downing the rest of the warm tea and then simply dropping the empty cup. It landed on the cloth near the tea kettle but didn't break. "I'm going to need a coat and a parka anyways. Well, I'll catch you guys in a few minutes." The girl started to walk away, turning around to give her squad a "peace" sign with her fingers as she went. "See you at the gate!"

"Izo, calm down. You both are jumping at the mission without a thought of preparation. Kohaku is allowed to prepare herself shortly. Rush into this mission and die because we are unprepared is an outcome I would like to avoid."

After Izo's quick telling off, Kohaku could feel a strange sense of triumph. Sure, she didn't want to have too much of a bitter relationship with anyone on her team nor antagonize them, but out of Inori and Izo it was the Kirigakure boy Kohaku found herself to have a slightly stronger distaste for. She always constantly reminded herself to keep an open mind about things, people especially, but sometimes she wished that someone would just smack the sour arrogance right out of him. If Kohaku could recall, it was Haitani who was to be their temporary squad leader.

"You have 20 minutes. Meet me at the front of the village. Now go," was Haitani's final instructions to Kohaku.

"Yeah. Cool. I can do twenty minutes no problem! I'll see you guys soon, yeah? Promise I'll be there on time!"



"Grandpa!" Kohaku shouted, bursting through her apartment door. As she scrambled towards her bedroom she slammed her foot into a box of books in the narrow hallway, though her pumping adrenaline after sprinting for five minutes straight kept her focused. Kohaku knew where she kept her stash of ninja tools, and thank goodness she was orderly enough to organize her things beforehand for future use; when you lived in such a small home, it was either you let things pile up and risk smashing into things or actually sweep stuff to the side and get organizing. Kohaku preferred the latter.

"Jeez, you all right Kohaku? What's with the rush?" her granddad asked, peeping his head out from the kitchen door.

"Well in short, if I'm late for this new mission your granddaughter is gonna have both feet in the grave and it's not gonna be because she bravely fought on the front lines for the sake of her village! And didn't you say you weren't gonna store our stock in the hallway anymore?"

"Well since no one's buying 'em, gotta put 'em somewhere, right? I don't want customers trippin' over boxes of books like I heard ya just did back there, Kohaku," the elderly man chuckled, sipping on his tea. "Also, got anything to tell me about this new mission o' yours?"

After attatching her kunai holster and pulling on a new shirt, Kohaku ran into the kitchen. "So we're basically escorting the Fire Daimyou's daughter to some place down south and if our team screws up I think her father is gonna have our heads. And if I'm late to the rendezvous point then my team will have my head. They weren't lookin' so bright today so I don't wanna make any trouble for 'em by being even a second late."

"Well, that sure sounds like busy day," Noboru replied in a wheezy laugh. "D'ya know when you'll be back?"

"No clue but I'm guessing a couple of hours," Kohaku said, sinking her teeth into her nutritious lunch for the day — an apple.

"Well I better run off now 'cause I do not wanna be late!" she shouted as she ran for the door.

"You got everything?"

"Yeah!"

"Listen to your sensei, yeah?"

"Got'cha!"

"And take care of yourself, Kohaku."

"You too Grandpa!"



Jogging managed to get Kohaku to her destination quick enough; she didn't want to start this mission all sweaty and exhausted before anything had even started. Plus, she didn't want to look any more flustered than she did twenty minutes ago in front of her team again. Unsurprisingly, her two other teammates were at the gate, Izo having just arrived from a different route.

"I guess we are once again stuck waiting for Kohaku to arrive," she heard Izo say. Letting out a small sigh before stepping out of the shadows, Kohaku jogged towards her squad.

"Not quite!" she interrupted, her flashing a bright smile. "I'm all packed and ready to go. And uh, Izo? Is that a twig in your hair? D'ya run into a bush on your way here or somethin'?"

@Gowi @Kal-El @Weird Tales

---

---

The horned kunoichi was almost beginning to feel bad for the trio. With Tenshi squirming in the dirt and covered in silk, Ria having wasted chakra on a big technique at the start of the exercise, and Hitori still caught up in whatever machinations he was dreaming up, it was clear that the three were still somewhat disorganized despite having gathered to plan earlier. With a sigh, Senhime leapt down from her perch, landing gracefully with wooden sword in hand. "Ara ara~. Perhaps my excitement over having a new team led me to get a little overzealous, no? I'll make this a little easier. Even if for no other reason than to end this quickly. You're all going to need some rest after all." she chimed, holding her wooden blade out in front of her. As Ria was wielding a pair of proper swords, particularly those which she could flow fire nature chakra through, Senhime figured it wouldn't hurt to add a little oomph to her own weapon. As chakra flowed along the surface of her bokuto, Senhime beckoned to Ria as a sign of challenge, swordswoman to swordswoman.

"Come on, then~. Let's see if you kids' final moves will impress me." she chimed, winking at the three. Perhaps at least one of them could find it in their heart to free Tenshi for the generous opportunity she'd provided them, but it was abundantly clear that Ria at least preferred using her individual skills to teamwork. Considering the fact that Hitori was the one to initially call them together to make a plan, and even now appeared to be carefully weighing his options, it was clear that the young man would be who they'd have to lean on in terms of tactics when she wasn't around. Still as green as any genin, what Tenshi lacked in skill and experience could be made up for with his determination. Even bound by silk, the young Uchiha was still trying to wrestle out of his bindings and boost team morale. While it was clear that today's first mission was probably going to go a bit rough, surely she'd be able to iron some of the kinks out when they had proper time to train.

Widening her stance, Senhime used her off-hand to grasp the bokuto's surface, taking a position that appeared as if she was using the closed ring of her hand to act as the opening of a scabbard. With a serene smile, Senhime stared the three down, prepared to counter all strikes to the best of her ability.

@RyoRyoRyoKen- Lady Senhime
@BladeSS4 - Uchiha Tenshi
@Thecrash20 - Nagasaki Hitori
Training Field 6

---

That gesture just tells Ria to challenge her to a sword fight which is at this point outright pointless and one sided even though she is given the perfect counter against Senhime's abilities, the execution is what she fears. "Tch..." Quickly with her flaming swords she frees Tenshi from the bind and lectures him about using his a technique that drains a lot although she sounds a bit of a hypocrite considering she also used a very taxing technique. At the same time, she gazes at Hitori who seem to be just chilling in her own perspective and not doing anything. "So yeah. Time your clones and use them creatively to the point their appearances can be deceiving. Your chakra is something remarkable at your age, more so than mine. I'll teach you that technique some time." Dismissing her talk with Tenshi, Ria proceeds to use Karaware and Amatsuki differently.

Karaware infused with lightning hence its symbolic meaning as a cracked sky, this sword is built to pierce therefore adding lightning nature in it is befitting and the sword is in her dominant hand which is right. Amatsuki is a sword that is on her left hand, it means red moon, not much of a symbolic meaning but all in all Ria have two elements, lightning being an affinity and first as she's born with it while fire is something that she learnt due to clan standards, one sword is clad with lightning and the other with fire.

"I'll be the decoy. Hitori, let's see what can you cook up."

Attacking Senhime would be a deathwish and would result to a defeat even though the obvious result is clear. The only difference will be how is it executed. One can have the perfect counter but if the one behind it does not know how to use it is bound to fail, it's the same as having a pocketful of jutsus against a skilled ninja with just one jutsu, if the one behind it does not know how to use it is bound to fail. Same scenario for this as well.