[IC] Naruto : The Rise of The New Generations

[AlterNathan]

Hyuuga Ezuri

Once his water clones were destroyed Ezuri came out of hiding, slowly and silent. From behind Nimatsu doing his best not to get noticed. With few quick hand signs he conjured up another water clone. He himself went around the right side of the tree, examining it from top till bottom while his water clones went around the left side. "sensei," his water clone started talking "how did you think that went?" The clone was supposed to buy him time. "actually is the real task to cut this tree?" Don't blow it clone "I mean, its far too big too cut down with just taijutsu" the byakugan did not help Ezuri by uncovering what was up with the tree, it seemed like just a normal big oak. He dispersed his clone and showed himself "Kensuke Nimatsu-sensei, I take you on!" and with that he took on the traditional Gentle Fist fighting stance.

[Shadowcatcher]

Haruhi Suzumori
Kirigakure Genin, Team 14: Mission 1

Haruhi had to pull herself together if she wanted to get out of this with everyone alive an intact. She was surprised when her teammate Rai dashed off and captured the attention of the bandits by running in a zig zag pattern. "Rai-kun...wait-" she started but realized that this was a part of the plan. He was going to put his life at risk in the hopes that her and Minori-san would catch on and take out the bandits before they got to him. Once she understood that she looked at Chou. Haru knew now that she was a long range fighter and could use her wepons effectively take out the bandits. So, without another moments hesitation Haruhi summoned three clones which was the most she could do sucessfully. Two clones who immediately weaved the handseals for the Lightning Cable Jutsu and clasped hands stayed behind and one followed her lead.

Haruhi and her clone ran out towards the bandits then, going on the opposite side that Rai had gone. If she could help Rai distract them for around twenty seconds so her clones could get around them, they could trap them in the bind and Chou could get the bandits all with one strike. The perfect plan if executed well. As she approached them she counted down in her head, going for one that looked smaller than the others, and she engaged in a quick handfight with him. As he dodged her attacks, he was slowly moving back towards the center. But quicker than Haruhi could dodge it, His fist launched out and connected with her face. She stumbled back a few steps and her clone ran up and lashed his face with her whip. "Dont you know its rude and wrong to hit a girl." she yelled angrily at him. Shaking her head and ignoring the pain on her cheek, Haru moved on to a different one. This guy was much larger and more intimidating. He looked as if he could snap her in two without breaking a sweat, but that was good. She figured could use her small frame and superior agility to keep him occupied.

Ten more seconds...

[Red Fox]

Hiroshi Hon
Konohagakure Jounin, Team 6

Hiroshi observed his students with great interest. They started the practice without any complaints, and so far Suzume showed great promise. The other two, Shizumi and Shinko were struggling a bit. To make his point even more visible, Hiroshi started speaking." A good friend of mine taught me one thing. The most important battle each one of us must fight is the battle to overcome our inner darkness. You may defeat any number of S-Ranked shinobi you want, but if you will not defeat your inner darkness, you still lost. The man who conquers himself has already won. However, do not think about conquering as destroying." To make a demonstration, Hiroshi straightened his back as he sat on his plank. Stretching out both of his hands, he made a circulating motion with them and touched the surface of it, creating ripples. Then, using only his legs, he stood up, raising his left leg to the height of a knee and extended both of his hands away from himself, palms opened.

" Conquering yourself is not about destroying your fear. It is about overcoming it, learning to control it. Take a look at me standing up. If I would be afraid to stand up because I might fall into the water or drag you down, I would doubt my ability to make that move. By finding myself, I got my fear under control - my fear of falling, my fear of drawing you down with me. Since I acted without fear, I was able to draw on the entirety of my skills. I stood up without stumbling, trembling. Training a lot has helped me to get my fears from my abilities failing me under control to the point where I know they will not fail me, as long as I believe in myself and hone my skills."

[j8cob]

Nori Osamu

So now they're going to work together, Nori thought to himself as the genin before him regrouped. He already predicted they would try to do a three-pronged attack. That's what genin always did first. Usually from the right, left, and middle. With this in mind, Nori formed a series of handseals and smirked. Let us see their teamwork. As the separate attacks all came in, from different but predictable directions as Nori had thought before, he thrust his hand to the ground. As Raion was right next to him, he would feel a slight pulse in the ground. But before his kick could reach the sensei, Nori was shot into the air. Not in a tumbling fashion, but elegantly. Like he planned it. As he soared into the air, he called down to his students. "Your methods so far aren't that bad, but you'll have to get a bit more creative with it. And a bit safer. I wouldn't go around throwing explosive kunai where your fellow genin are going to be near..." While still in the air, now reaching his apex, Nori formed another set of handseals, and an orange chakra began to glow from him. "I would start planning your attack before I reach the ground."

[Nicias Askani]

Natsumi Yuki

Kiri team 2

Natusme remained as silent as she always was. Even when her sensei slowed to a walk she remained at a distance behind him. sureveying the farm as they arrived she was slighting confused as to why the sturdy looking fence was erected around the property but inside there were signs of damage. The animals themselves didnt seem particularly spooked but several pieces of the property showed signs of damage. most notably the animal pens. what ever was 'bothering' the animals was capable of scaling the fence but not opening the cages. The fences themselves weren't that high but tall enough to keep most animals out. a person could get over them easily enough but a person would also be able to open the cages most likely. Natsume wasnt entirely sure what kind of 'animal' they would be dealing with but noise makers would probably still work.

She ignored the owners existence, not even so much as looking at him as he spoke. she kept her distance from her sensei even when he stopped to speak. and when he turned to speak to her she glanced at him for nearly a second, not all that concerned with his tone than back to the field. instead of following the man inside she walked toward the animals.

[Gerontis]

???

Approaching danger!

''So everything is set?''

''Not everything. Preparations at the subject 5 and 6 are ready for the signal. Subject 3 and 9 are however not yet prepared nor in position.''

It stayed quiet in the dark hall. The masked and hooded people around the table said nothing as each seemed to wait for a response. It was one person that rose up and cleared his throat, that disrupted the silence in the dark hall. His voice revealed he was a male, and not that old either by the not so deep sound of it.

''Make sure that the subjects 3 and 9 are going to be prepared and ready to launch when the signal is given. Do remember to not make them perform their goal at the same time. We need to make sure that the operation will have little to no flaw. No matter how difficult that may be with our enemy watching some of us.''

All the others nodded as the man sat down, only for another to rise up from his seat. He was a head shorter, but his voice was deeper.

''I assume that you we have some capable people at the ready?''

''Oh we have.... We'll have to wait.

Just a little bit.''

[Mr Nim]

Chou Minori

Hearing her sensei's orders, Chou got ready to strike and grabbed her medium scroll, only to notice Rai had already begun taking action and provided distraction while Haruhi took the distraction and managed to completely distract the bandits together using her lightning cable jutsu and hitting them from up close. Seeing this as her chance to strike, Chou quickly ran up a tree next to her and jumped, doing a few seals which made the scroll open in a circle above the bandits "Haruhi, Rai, get out of the way." Chou suddenly said, and a moment later the bandits and the small area around them were hit with plenty of kunai, shurikens and senbons.

Suddenly Chou came down, between the last of the tools that came down at the bandits, and wielded her Kusarigama, striking a bandit from above. Looking around, she managed to see that most of them were taken out from her jutsu, with a couple bleeding but still trying to move. She approached one and sliced his neck with the blade of the Kusarigama and then procceeded to throw the blade and hit the last bandit in the chest, watching him fall down to the ground lifeless. She proceeded to go and take her blade out, when she felt her leg being grabbed by a bandit who was apparently still alive. She kicked his hand and pointed to Rai at the spot, motioning to him to finish him off. She spotted some more movement among the bodies, and noticed that a bandit was trying to crawl away, so she looked at Haruhi and then pointed at the second bandit. She needed to try and find a proper way to be able and finish more shinobi with her jutsu, and as she thought that she went and took out her Kusarigama from the dead bandit.

---

Yoshikuni Sadako

Hearing Shiro's own plan, Kuni shrugged her shoulders. It sounded like a good idea, if they weren't in such a place. She had a strange feeling that if they take even one misstep, they could easily not find each other later, but she also understood his point. She really wanted to find Eiji, but she didn't want to lose another teammember, not so soon after she got one.

Watching him run off, She kneeled down and did the seals for a Rock Clone before pressing her hand against the ground, making it appear below ground and head in Shiro's direction, intending to ensure his safety. Standing back up, Kuni begun heading in the opposite direction from Shiro, looking around and trying to see anything unusual. She tried and think what kind of test would Eiji be giving them, and how would it be related to controlling chakra better.

[Aeris]

Today was an exceptional day. No, really. Tora was feeling it: Everyday had been the same, as if his life reseted the moment he sleep and started again when he woke up, only to repeat the same process. But today, the boy was feeling amazingly different. In fact, he woke up three hours earlier than usual and had already bathed, ate, made and drank his coffee, brushed hsis teeth and after this all, dressed. Yes, he did everything else... undressed. Why? Because he lived in his own house... or well, not his own ,as he had to pay monthly to remain in it. But no one gives a damn about that, not even Tora himself: Today was special... Because the day earlier, he had received an invitation.

You've been selected to partake in the new training-facility program.

There was something else to the little message, but that part was the only thing which caught his interest and made him feel so good about today. Perhaps, with the help of an experienced shinobi, his abilities wouldn't develop. He walked past his punching-sack which was battered and pretty old, giving it a tap with the palm of his hands. He practiced using that for a long time, trying to make his physical combat a bit better, but for some unknown reason, the progress was close to 0. The boy started to clean his house, as he deeply believed that a shinobi's house is his temple and that if a shinobi can't even keep his temple clean, then he probably... Tora sighed, smashing a palm against his own forehead. "Damn, I really need to work on those made-up philosophies."

When Tora finally finished cleaning up his little home, the boy dressed himself in his usual... unnusual attire. He had been mocked because of it, called out because of it, made fun because of it and even complimented because of it, but the only reason he still wore those clothes were because, well, they felt like a perfect replica of his father's clothes (which he kept to this day stored in his wardrobe, claiming that one day, when he grows up, he will wear them) and because buying new ones would be expensive and new clothes meant no food for at least a week. But anyway.

He left through the door, stretching his arms up as a yawn escaped him. His eyes got a bit teary; something that always happened whenever he yawned, but he quickly raised his hand to rub them. Regaining his sight's focus, the boy took a few steps forward before leaping from his apartment into the street. He began to walk; and today, he had a destination. It wasn't like every other day, where he just walked around aimlessly because there was nothing to do. His destination was... The Training Field E. A hearted chuckle escaped the boy when he thought about it. Personal training with an experienced jounin, damn! You got kind of lucky, Tora. Before he could get lost in his own thoughts, Tora was already standing inside the training field in question, his arms crossed in front of his chest as he glanced around with a curious expression on his face. He was feeling his heart beat a little bit faster inside his chest, likely had to do with the nervousness he was feeling right now.

[Mr Nim]

Hoshi Miwa

Hoshi was standing on a tree's branch, waiting. She felt that because they were so close to opening her first idea to improve the village, the Advanced Training Grounds, or Training Facilities, that it should be tested out at least once more, but with someone who did not know what to expect. Most of the jounin's were informed but were also told to keep the information to themselves, so when the opening time came, it would allow the opening contest to truly test the shinobi's skills. She also wondered how long would Eiji need to finish his little test, and knew Ryoku wouldn't take long either.

Hearing someone arrive at the training field, she looked down and saw Tora, with his somewhat unusual attiture, arrive and begin to wait. Deciding to let a moment pass, Hoshi examined him and went over his file in her head. He came from a clan which wasn't that known, but she managed to dig a bit of information on it, but there wasn't anything too special, so she figured she would need to test him out, and Eiji would also get a proper chance to learn about him.

Jumping down from the tree, she landed next to Tora and gave him a smile "Hello Tora. I'm Hoshi Miwa, and I asked for you to come here to help me test out something which is about to open soon, but I wished to do one last test prior to opening." She said and motioned to Tora to follow her as she took a couple of steps towards the exit of the training field "Where we will train is what is unique about this, and after we are done, I will send you off to meet your team. I also must insist that you will not tell about what you will see to anyone until we open this for everyone." She added and after giving him a nod she begun walking outside of the training field and in the direction of a large building, which held no details of what it contained within.

[Fieryfly]

Sho Deshuga

Where the fuck was Ryoku?

Irritated Sho shot another glance at the girl that at least was talking to him, unlike that.... other one. What that was going to be, he didn't know and he didn't care. "I don't see the need for a different attitute considering the job we are training for." He snapped back before turning his attention back to more pressing matter. Figuring the fuck out where Ryoku was. If he wasn't going to show up soon Sho was gong to leave. He had no time for this, he had work to do. He folded his arms over each other, shot an annoyed look at the other girl and then decided to wait five more minutes. If the Amekage hadn't shown up by then, then screw him. Sho would be out of here.

But indeed five minutes or so later Ryoku - finally! - showed up. And he asked stupid questions. "We know who you are." He mumbled annoyed when the man introduced himself. There wasn't probably a single person who wouldn't know the man. He was the Amekage for fucks sake. "The rain is fine. Are we going to start now? I've better things to do." He said to Ryoku, looking up to look the man in the eyes. Sometimes being small did give you an inferior feeling...

[Aeris]

Tora's eyes quickly followed after the sound which he heard when the woman landed on the ground... Wait. Once they met the purple haired shinobi, Tora's expression went from that somewhat vivid and curious look to an intrigued and somewhat surprised one. She seemed... quite young, not Tora-young, but certainly young. It's not like he was expecting some elder with a scar crossing his or her eye as well as other battle scars, with this large and beautiful weapon as well as other equipment, but... Actually, he was expecting just exactly that. But he wasn't disappointed at all.

She motioned him to follow her after telling her name and explaining to him what he might've already known from the message, or would've known if he had read it entirely and had not skipped to what he found interesting. The boy quietly followed her, his hands moving inside of the coat he was using, his eyes staring at the back of the jounin's head. "Seems great, and I assure you I will tell no one, Hoshi Miwa." He wasn't sure if it'd be more respectful to call her by name or by 'sensei', but that didn't matter much. Smiling timidly, the boy raised a hand up to rub the back of his head in an embarassed act. "Ah.. About my team... Would you please inform me who's my teammates? I've been a little... unorganized lately."

The genin followed her outside of the training field, not saying a word until they were in front of the building which he honestly had no idea of what it was. His eyes looked it over, expeculations were starting to form inside of his head. He glanced at the jounin commander, tilting his head a bit, as if waiting for an order or for her to enter the building.

[Mr Nim]

Hoshi Miwa

"Call me Hoshi, and I am not your sensei. Your sensei is currently away with the rest of your team, and once he returns he will ensure you have proper introductions. His name is Eiji, and you should approach him only as Eiji-sensei. As for your teammates, I will the introductions to them, so you may get to know each other better and understand how each one interacts." She said as they approached and then stood in front of the large building. She approached a jounin who stood outside of what appeared to be the main entrance to the building and whispered something to him. The jounin nodded and opened the door, only revealing darkness inside. Motioning to Tora to follow her once more, she went inside, and would disappear from sight at first.

When Tora would walk inside, he would feel something odd, as if he is not standing on solid ground anymore. Hoshi would wait until Tora entered and the doors closed behind before speaking once more "This is the Advanced Training Ground, or Training Facilities. Its an adjustable field which allows the shinobi of our village to train in any kind of condition." She said and whistled, letting a jounin inside know it was time to turn on the lights. Hoshi would appear to be standing on water, and the ground below it was not visible. Tora would be standing on the edge of a very small ground surface, and the rest of the field had only one visible, small island "By adjustable, I mean we can create any kind of scenario."

"In this case, you have been sent on a mission to retrieve intel from a spy in an enemy land, and the intel was stolen by another shinobi. You chased him into sea, and pulled him out of his boat. You only have minutes to get the intel out of his hands, and you have the option of killing him or not." Hoshi said, revealing a scroll and then placing it in her sleeve "You are allowed to come with everything you know and any kind of tool you possess. I will give you a moment to prepare, but once you see me drop the piece of paper-" She now took out a small paper and held it in her hand above the water "Thats when we start, and you will have three minutes to try and get the scroll out of my hands."

Hoshi looked at Tora, hoping he understood everything.

[Aeris]

"Very well, Hoshi." Tora nodded his head towards her, perking an eyebrow when the name of his sensei was mentioned. Eiji... Eiji. Yep, Tora had never heard that name before. He was hoping that he'd know at least his teammates names, since there was this small chance of knowing one or two, at least from name, but he didn't get that. Instead, he was just told that proper introductions would happen when it was time which meant that for now, he had to focus on what he was about to do. Training. The boy simply stood there, watching as the woman whispered the other jounin and then the door opening, revealing... nothing. Wow. At first, the genin felt slightly uneasy about entering there, since there was no sight of the jounin as soon as she walked inside, but he did it anyway.

The boy slowly walked inside, his arms moving inside of that coat of his, finding the sleeves soon (yes, he had been keeping his arms inside the coat while the sleeves were just hanging about for all this time) and proceeding to move out of them, he adjusted the fingerless gloves on each of his hands while walking forward, casting a glance at the ground since it felt... awkward under his feet, but unfortunately Tora wasn't able to see a thing. The woman spoke again, announcing that this was the advanced training grounds... The word advanced gave this whole training a different sense to the genin, a smile even surging on his lips. He nodded; then realized that she couldn't see the act. "Understood." He spoke out, and when the lights were turned on, his eyes instantly analyzing the place... There wasn't much to see. He could understand the odd sensation when he glanced down, seeing that the ground below him was apparently the only one. There was some water in front of him, and the woman stood above it. The whole place felt strange, the only thing in sight was what seemed to be a small island.

She gave him a brief about their training; and honestly, Tora started to feel nervous again. He wasn't exactly prepared for something like this. Ignoring the nervousness, he listened to everything she had to say, eyeing the paper which she got in her hand, but his attention had focused in her sleeve, where the scroll was. Three minutes... What happens if... Yeah, he thought about asking, but instead the boy just gave her a nod, moving his shoulders in a circular motion, closing and opening his hands before he closed them into fists and moved his body in a somewhat prepared position.

"I'm ready."

[Mr Nim]

Hoshi Miwa

Making no reaction to Tora speaking to her, Hoshi closed her eyes and chose a jutsu to begin with. She opened them again and let go of the piece of paper. She then quickly proceeded to do a single seal. After doing it, Tora would find himself unable to see anything except for himself "You cannot find what you are looking for if you cannot see your goal. Let us see how well you do while being blind folded without an eye cover." he would hear Hoshi's voice speaking to him from all around him.

Hoshi, in the meanwhile, proceeded to move and stand across the room from Tora, remaining on water but also being ready. She had no idea how well did the kid knew how to break out of a genjutsu, and if he even knew how to do so. She figured this would be her own, personal chance to give a bit more knowledge on the skills of his newest member, as well as give him a bit of training if Eiji would take longer than expected. Looking at a jounin who stood on a small platform above her, she gave him a nod and he begin doing several seals, indicating he was preparing to chance the scene in the room.

[Aeris]

Tora felt his heart race inside of his body; the sensation he got was that the paper was falling on slowmotion, his eyes intently watching as it felt down; and once it was about to touch the water, his eyes redirected to her hands, which were now forming a handseal. Damn the boy thought, moving forward and dragging a kunai from under his coat, however, he stopped as soon as everything became dark. He groaned, wincing slightly, as if the genjutsu had caused a physical reaction within the boy.

That wasn't the case, though. He simply could feel his chakra; specifically on his head acting... strange, there was something strange and he knew it, but he had no idea of how to deal with it. The word genjutsu did come across his mind, as he learned in the academy theoric lessons that a genjutsu basically creates the illusions by controlling the chakra's flow on one's brain and causing disruptions in their senses, however he had no way of how to break out of it. Simply because he didn't knew how to.

With a grunt, the boy threw the kunai he held in a straight line, hoping that it'd hit a wall; just so he could listen to the noise it'd make and get a basic idea of how far he was from the wall.

[Shadowcatcher]

Haruhi Suzumori
Kirigakure Genin, Team 14: Mission 1

Just as Chou launched her jutsu, the clone that was with Haruhi pushed her away just in time to get out of harms way. Haruhi watched with awe and a bit of disgust as Chou finished off nearly all of the bandits with her technique. She looked at her clone who looked just as grossed out as she was. As Chou went to observe and scrutinize her work, the other two Haru clones walked over. "Ew..that one's squirming..." one said with a squeal. She saw that Chou had motioned for Haruhi to finish him off and she shook her head. "No way. I...i can't. You guys take care of it. she said to her clones while taking a few steps back. Her three clones looked at the guy and took some steps back as well. "No way. Minori-san said you had to do it. So ha." one of them said while sticking their tongue out. With a frown she crossed her arms saying, "I hate all of you," and made them go away.

She watched as the bandit started to crawl away, likely looking for help he would never find. Haruhi looked down at her hands. The blood from the previous bandit she took out was cristed to her hands. Under her nails, and in the creases of her hands...dried up and staining her skin. She didnt want to kill anyone who didnt do anything wrong to her. ...This whole "following orders" thing was going to get old really fast. But this time....maybe she could do what she was told. With a sigh she raged with herself in her mind.

C'mon Haruhi you can do this, cant you...?
Well...i dunno if i can.
He's a bad guy!
Say's who though....other than try to attack me he didnt do anything wrong to me. And, he only did because we messed with him first.
He is an enemy of the Hidden Mist. That is reason enough.
But...
No buts.
But...
Grr. Okay lets do this. No more being pansy!

Walking over to him she watched as he struggled to hold on....close to the brink of death. She could almost feel his suffering. She told herself in her head that in a way...if she killed him now it would only end his suffering that much sooner. Haruhi slowly took out a kunai as she thought this over and the whole telling-herself-she-was-being-a-good-samaritian thing was actually working. In one movement she grabbed the mans hair and pulled his head back before bringing the blade of her kunai across his neck. It was harder to do than she had expected because the kunai she had pulled was dull, and she cursed herself for not properly checking. It was her intention to do it fast but she got stuck on something and panicked. "Oh no...oh no oh no. She tried to pull it across but it wasent working and she started to freak out when his blood started to pour out of him. Haruhi tried to move back before any blood got on her but it was too late. "Ahh!" she screamed as she saw it got on her. She had moved away, simply leaving the kunai lodged in the bandits neck and frantically wiped the blood off on her clothes. As it smeared out over her clothes she stopped and freezed for a moment, completely mortified.

"Oh...my..." she felt herself getting dizzy and her eyes rolled back in her head.

Then she fainted, falling on her back with her hair covering her face. She didnt move and if one wasent looking when all this happened, they would think she was dead.

[Mr Nim]

Hoshi Miwa

Watching with a small smile, Hoshi moved out of the kunai's way and allowed it to hit the wall behind her, just so she could see what he was planning. Deciding not to make it too easy for him, she moved closed to a different wall with quiet, slow movements, ensuring he would not hear the water surface being touched. She then looked at him and took a small note of teaching him how to disspell a genjutsu.

"If you stay still too long you are much like a sitting duck. Very easy to kill, and also very easy to capture. Even if one of your senses if disabled, try and use your other senses more. This may appear a bit odd, but you will likely find something to aid you, like a wall or a-" She watched as the jounin above her did a few seals which made a few small trees come up around the field, including one next to Tora "Tree. Never stay still." Hoshi finished speaking to him, her voice echoing throughout the building and she then threw a kunai directly behind Tora, aiming to make him stand his guard and not truly harm him. She felt that if he did not know how to disspell a genjutsu then their training session was already done.

[j8cob]

Kira Sami

This boy clearly had problems. After his last remark, Kira opted to not continue what would become a pointless argument with someone clearly not intent on shedding his arrogance. With a sigh, Kira looked over at the other girl. She would be a problem in the future, as well. Not only for socializing and whatnot, but in combat. Her disposition and apparent clumsiness would backfire. Unless it was all a ruse. While Kira was contemplating the possibility that the girl was merely pretending to be a shy klutz, Ryoku appeared before the team.

It would appear that the Third Amekage was their sensei. Though Kira knew who he was, she had never met with him personally. This was precisely for lack of trying, as she kept to herself for the most part. But it would seem that she would finally get to learn who her village's leader really is. His question about the rain seemed interesting. Kira interpreted the question as a symbolic question, unlike how Sho seemed to take it literally. "The rain..." Kira thought out loud for a moment, bringing a hand up and adjusting her hat before bringing the hand under her chin to rest her head on. "It reminds me of the past. The rain is always there, in my memories and in the present. It's impossible to forget."

[ChromeHound]

Hayate Hyūzu and Kiyomi Sato-Hon
Konohagakure: Team 2 - Completing the Mission!

An hour had passed and Kiyomi wasn't sure if they had received her message. Putting her left hand on her earphone communicator, she tried it again. ''Team? Reply if possible.'' Kiyomi asked, becoming silent again. She wasn't worried that something really bad would have happened. If that would be the case, both Leo and Hayate knew better than not to warn her. Deciding to wait for a minute before moving to another position, Kiyomi hoped they were or would soon come in range that they could communicate with each other.

"This is Hayate, I read you loud and clear Kiyomi-sama. Sorry, I think we may have dropped out of range there for a bit. Leo and I have been separated for a little while now. Have you heard from him yet?" Hayate paused and scanned his surroundings once again. Where could the other boy have gotten to where the communicator wasn't working. For a moment Hayate was worried that perhaps Leo had gotten himself into some trouble, but if that were the case he would have radioed for help right away. Not seeing Leo, Hayate continued on his path, waiting for Kiomi's response. Maybe she had heard from the other boy.

An answer, finally! ''I haven't received any word from him. But with you in range, we need to gather up. Of course without giving too much attention away. The locals reported in that the nearby lake held a big monster. I am unsure what it is as the reports are vague. Hhmm..'' Kiyomi thought about it. Firing a fireball, to act as a flare into the air was in her opinion a bit too dangerous. Not that she was too afraid for hostile contact, but seeing the overal experience and training, she oughted her team to be too well drilled to slack on missions. Even those who were C ranked.

''Listen up. I got an idea. Keep me updated of where you are and go. Lets for now head both south, towards the lake. Lets see if we can get any landmark in sight and regroup there.'' Kiyomi suggested, making two shadow clones who went the other way. Though she would focus to end the mission with Hayate, she wouldn't let Leo wander around.

"Copy that. If you get close before I do and it is necessary to remain hidden I can travel beneath the earth, though that may cause us to lose radio contact. If the path is clear then I shall meet you there Kiyomi-sama." Turning south Hayate did another quick scan for his teammate before heading towards the lake. Traveling with speed, Hayate still remained as hidden as possible. He had no intention of alerting anything to his presence before he and Kiymoi had had a chance to see what they were up against.

Since they had separated, Hayate had lost track of Kiyomi, though if she had continued in the same direction he had a rough estimate of where she should be. If his estimate was correct then that meant that he was a little closer to the lake then she was and would probably arrive first. As he drew closer to his destination, Hayate kept watch for any landmarks that they could meet up at. Noticing a small thicket of bushes and trees he spotted an old wooden boat that had been left there. Age had evidently worn down the wood to the point where it was rotted and filled with holes. It was still clearly visible against the bushes and Hayate thought it as good a place as any to meet up with his sensei. "I have found a spot where we could meet Kiyomi-sama. There is an old wooden boat next to a group of bushes, I will be waiting here." When he had finished broadcasting that to her, Hayate decided to give the boat a closer inspection.

Heading southwards, towards the lake, she heard the words of her student. ''Good, I will be there soon. Don't interact with any possible hostiles in the area.'' Kiyomi ordered as she picked up her pace. It didn't take that long before she noticed the lake. That was at least positive. But the not so positive side was that she noticed she wasn't even near Hayate's position. A bit annoyed, Kiyomi looked around before speaking up. ''Seems that we're not that close yet. Lets see.'' She walked to the edge of the water, trying to get a better view. The bandaged sword shivered for a brief moment as Kiyomi glanced at the water. ''Fancy a swim?'' Kiyomi asked Hayate as she took a few steps back from the water, her hand slowly moving towards the hilt of the bandaged greatsword.

Upon hearing Kiyomi's question Hayate smiled. "If you need me to come closer to the water I cetainly can." Hayate's search of the boat hadn't uncovered anything incredibly interesting, just a lot of mold and some hungry insects. Had it been a metal boat well... Hayate smiled once again. "Any idea how deep this lake is Kiymoi-sama?"

''I think deep enough..'' He would hear a low growling sound. Kiyomi saw slowly a big head coming out of the water. Frowning, she noticed it was a crocodile. Quite a large one. Twice as large of the size Ger was. Readying Samehada, she noticed that the giant creature tried to smash her with one of his front limbs. With a quick jump to the side, she managed to avoid getting smashed under the weight and strength of the hostile creature. ''Think I also found a landmark. Can you spot it?''[/font] Kiyomi asked, skidding over the water to a halt.

Hayate approached the water's edge and noticed a large commotion a ways down. [b]"I take it that's you then? Getting yourself in trouble again Kiyomi-sama?" Hayate set off sprinting towards the scene of the fight, already preparing several kunai. As he drew nearer to Kiyomi, Hayate could finally see what she was fighting. "Is that... what I think it is?" Without pausing he raced forwards, throwing several overcharged kunai towards the massive beast, hoping to draw its attention away from Kiyomi.

The giant creature turned around as he kept growling. Hearing Hayate's voice over the communicator, Kiyomi wanted to make an annoyed reaction back at him, but the tail of the giant creature was sweeping around. Trying to stay on the water, as the tail created some big waves, Kiyomi managed to reply back. ''Again? Don't start now!'' She replied, managing to stay on the surface and avoiding most of the waves with short jumps. The kunai of Hayate did attracted the beast as he turned his head towards Hayate's direction. It made Kiyomi aware of something.

''Seems external damage won't really do it. Bet that those scales are too hard. Meaning we have to slice or immobilize him.'' She said, trying to back away, to get both out of range of the beast as well getting closer to Hayate's side.

The scales of the crocodile did indeed seem to be near-impenetrable. It reminded Hayate of Kuromu's scales. Seeing that he had attracted the attention of the beast long enough for Kiyomi to get out of its immediate range. "What about underneath of it? Perhaps its scales are weaker there?" Hayate had to leap to avoid the large waves that the creature was creating. He threw two more overcharged kunai towards the beast, aming for its eye this time. At the very least it might temporarily blind the crocodile and allow Hayate to meet back up with Kiyomi.

''Sounds good, but are you're going to swim underneath a predator like that? Have fun!'' Kiyomi reacted as she thought about it. Hayate would likely pick up she wasn't in the best of mood. But focusing on the task ahead, she noticed Hayate managed to blind the crocodile. The massive beast started to trash around, angry and blind. But left them with a breathing pause. ''Okay, let's do it like this. I will try to paralyze him. Try to blow up some kunai or something at his right. We might be able to force him to be pushed over. Then we wouldn't need to swim underwater or such.'' Kiyomi proposed as she kept watch of their foe. It seemed he was slowly getting his vision bac as he stared with a lethal glare to the two Leaf shinobi, before charging at them.

Hayate nodded in response. Prepping a few more of his throwing weapons he split from Kiyomi and ran to the right. Leaping, Hayate threw several shuriken towards the beast's right side. Before he landed, he threw two charged kunai into the water at the crocodile's side, hoping that he would be able to create a wave from the blast. Perhaps one large enough to push the beast over. Hayate continued his push to the right, waiting for Kiyomi to make the next move.

With Hayate moving in with his attack, Kiyomi ran towards the incoming threat. Preparing Samehada, she let lightning chakra gather at the sentient blade, that shivered in excitment. With having the attention of their giant foe, the crocodile failed to noticed the charged kunai of Hayate creating a big wave. Seeing the size, Kiyomi doubted it would be enough, but maybe in conjuction with her attack. As the distance was almost closed in and the beast opened his mouth to try to devour the young jounin, the latter slammed Samehada at the water surface. ''Keep up the push, Hayate!'' Kiyomi ordered as she channelled the lightning into the water.

The crocodile froze before it growled, clearly showing signs that Kiyomi's plan was having some effect. Even the wave managed to almost push the beast over. They would just some more before the crocodile would be laying on his back.

Their two pronged attack seemed to be working. Hayate ran towards the beast charging even more shuriken. He launched them all towards the water at the beasts side. It might be overkill this time but judging by the crocodile's size Hayate wasn't going to take any chances. As he ran closer, Hayate began covering himself in his metal armour. If their plan failed, Hayate had a backup, but it was gonna be messy.

Noticing he was sending more than that was needed, Kiyomi smirked as she let go of Samehad, placing both her hands against the surface of the water. ''Can't not goof aound, can I?''[b] She mumbled to herself before unleashing even a more fierce stream of lightning towards the crocodile, to give Hayate more chance to launch his attack. The shuriken caused a big enough wave to cause the crocodile to topple over on his back. With that done, Kiyomi nodded. Step one was done. Now they had to restrain the beast. [b]''Good, lets make sure we capture it. I don't see any reason to kill it. You?''

"Copy." Was all Hayate said as he landed on top of the beast's stomach. Now that it was flipped he began spreading metal across its body. If he could spread enough he could block the beast from moving its limbs, but it was going to take a large amount of concentration on Hayate's part. Kneeling, he placed his hands on the croc's scaly stomach. Metal shot out across it and began spreading towards its limbs. Not only would this lock it from moving, it would also make the creature more succeptible to Kiyomi's future attacks. Grunting from the effort of covering the massive crocodile in metal Hayate spoke through the communicator. "Got any plan as to how we're going to move this thing?"

With the crocodile immobilized, Kiyomi picked Samehada up and placed it back in the special sheath. Thinking about the question, Kiyomi shrugged. ''Not really. I am used to seal tools into scrolls. I thought a second team would take care of it. Best would be me leaving a shadow clone behind. Are you alright over there?'' Kiyomi asked on a relaxed manner. The mission was a success, but she hadn't expect any other result. It was a shame Leo couldn't be here. His Crystal Release would have made it easier for them, with such quanties of water nearby.

When the metal finished covering the crocodile, Hayate stood. He was surprised at the level of energy he still felt. It wasn't that long ago that the same effort would have drained him. Looked like the training was working. Looking towards Kyomi, Hayate allowed his metal armour to recede. "I am fine thanks. You?" He approached the edge of the massive beast and jumped. The fall was a surprisingly far one and Hayate prepped himseld, landing gracefully on the surface of the water; a feat he would not have been capable of not long ago. Walking towards Kiyomi he couldn't stop a small grin from growing on his face. It was fun to be back on a mission again. As he grinned Hayate thought back to Leo, and his face fell. "Now that we have finished here I suppose we should go and find Leo-san." Hayate wondered where the other boy had managed to run off to. He hoped that nothing bad had happened to him. Turning Hayate began to move. Hoping that Kiyomi would soon follow.

[Little Alice]

Mika Hayashi
Kirigakure Sensei, Team 14

Mika frowned. She had noticed how her team had operated. Like she had expected, they were doing what she had forseen. They were genins and so their approach to the situation had many flaws in them. If the bandits were more experienced on combating ninjutsu users or capable shinobi themselves, the genins of Team 14 would realize what a backfire would mean in reality. But the jounin didn't meddle in.

After all, they had managed to do what was told. Though even Haruhi annoyed Mika with fainting. But it would not go wasted as she would become a burden for the others. One they would need to carry or else face the punishment Mika would throw in their direction. Literally, throw at them. As she noticed that Rai and Chou were doing proper, Mika did notice she was a bit annoyed that Chou was ordering the two others. But again, Mika kept her lips sealed. The review of how they had done would come only once they were all done.

Crossing her arms, Mika waited. It would look like she was waiting till her students were done with finishing the bandits, impatiently. However, she was keeping watch over the situation as well. Though wounded and more than likely defeated, even a simple bandit could come up with a nasty surprise when placed in such a situation as narrow as they were placed in.