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RoranHawkins
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[fieldbox="Team 7?, green"]
A collab between Nim, Glitchybugger, Inzane, Oetje and Roran Hawkins
Konohagakure Training Facility
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A collab between Nim, Glitchybugger, Inzane, Oetje and Roran Hawkins
Konohagakure Training Facility
Team 7 meets again since the fiasco of last mission. Tensions are high amongst the members although in the end everyone, including the two new members, does show up on the training. The training does not go swimmingly as the members of the team all have their own idea of what the problem is, which may spell doom for the stricken team in the future.
Kensuke looked at the watch he was carrying. One to eight in the morning. The sun had had just risen above the horizon in the East and began shedding its rays over the world, and the Konohagakure Training Facility. It was a watery december sun that did its best to thaw the frozen earth. This early, it had little effect. Kensuke could see his breath form in the air as he breathed, happy he'd decided to wear his full uniform. The flak jacket and the combat fatigues, especially the thick woolen winter version of them, were excellent ways to keep warm. His eyes wandered to the replacement sword leaning against the tree. An old and weathered blue ribbon that was tied aroud the base of the handle occasionally budged under the minescule breeze. He'd never thought of himself as a person for much emotional attachment to material objects, but he had to admit that breaking his clans last remaining heritage blade had put a jar in his confidence. Not a permanent one or a particularly terrible one, it was only a sword after all, but it made him stop and think about things he rather didn't. He dismissed his train of thoughts when he heard footsteps approaching.
Kyoi arrived on the scene more or less on time, in casual uniform over her normal shirt and trousers yet looking somewhat peculiar with her hair fanning up above her like an umbrella of sorts to protect her from the elements, the method of how she was doing it would be notable upon seeing a handseal being maintained as she arrived. "Good morning, Kensuke. Are we expecting the other two today?" The question was fairly open as if there wasn't any actual expectation of an answer, once she saw the tree Kensuke was stood beneath she dropped her jutsu, allowing her hair to fall back down to it's normal state and she placed herself beneath the cover of the tree as well.
This wasn't the best day or time. Rubbing her eyes, Meilin almost had to drag herself to the meeting place. It was both dreadful and annoying that she had to come to a training with the team. Her motivation was below sea-level pretty much due to various factors. More because she also had more training scheduled, with Jin. And the old man didn't joke that much around either. Meaning that today she wouldn't have any time to investigate and study the content of the old book further. She had even undergone the trouble to hide it in the small room to prevent anybody from getting to it. If that was a bit paranoid hadn't come up to Meilin's mind. Right now, she wasn't still certain if anybody was interested or curious about it. Then again, why would she share anything? It wasn't like they would be interested in her culture or the Sarutobi clan in all of a sudden, anyways. Their interaction and mannerism had made that abundantly clear to her.
Making it just harder to move herself to the field where the team would gather.
For a moment Meilin did ponder if she could just not go. Kensuke wasn't her sensei. She didn't consider him to be a real mentor-figure anyways. But as a chuunin, she could be punished as a chuunin. Which was more severe than as a genin. Not really encouraging her to lay off and do her own thing until the evening.
Eventually, arriving on the field Meilin frowned. It was that woman from Oakrath, that Hyuuga nin. Placing her hands behind the back of her hooded head, Meilin would approach the pair.
"Morning," she said in a calm and casual tone. Her gaze briefly lingered on Kensuke but with her facial expression being blank and perhaps prohibiting Kensuke's view, there wasn't much visible of her thoughts and current mood.
"Please, let this be done and over soon..."
Carrying a back pack with a small lunch and a few books, and a book open in her hands, Karma kept most of her attention on the paragraph she was reading, as she already knew the way to the training fields by heart. She was reading a book about the public history of the Nara and Yamanaka clans, which according to the book had some sort of connection throughout history. She found it interesting, but she decided it would probably be for the best if she didn't start throwing facts from the book at people until she had some sort of way of verifying it.
Once she arrived at the path that led to the training facilities, she lowered the book and started to look for the area the team was supposed to meet at. After a few minutes she found it and made her way there, and soon enough she saw Kensuke, Meilin and the Hyuuga standing near each other. Upon approaching them, she closed the book and placed it inside her backpack. She gave a brief nod to Meilin before looking at Kensuke, and appearing to completely ignore Kyoi "Morning Kensuke, Meilin." She said in a neutral voice before moving slightly away from them to put her bag next to a nearby tree.
He couldn't truly say he wasn't curious about this new team he was assigned too. He heard rumors and sometimes while rumors were wrong, sometimes they were right. He knew the rumor that his new sensei was pretty much part of a dead clan after the Hons went to town on them. Yet he also heard of some less than favorable teamwork among this team. Well it wouldn't kill him to go meet his new team, but if the rumors were true. he suspected he would be on a new team soon enough.
Having arrived at the field taking his time, he saw one man and three females gathered around so he would proceed to walk up to them with his arms folded as he would study them as he approached. One seemed formal which was usually easy pickings with his past, the black haired woman seemed different from the rest. He couldn't truly read her and for some reason that bothered him. Then their was one with a backpack which piqued his interest... the backpack that was, then he focused his gaze on the man. Was he... taking it easy right now? Well that was fine he supposed, he could understand that a bit anyway. "This is Team seven right? I was assigned to this team, not sure if you got the message on that or not. Should be expecting a Madoc Yamanaka right?"
The team was well on time, and he nodded a greeting to each of them as they arrived in turn. Naturally things were a bit awkward given the last mission's outcome, but there were worse things than working in an awkward situation. Dying for example. Something training was meant to prevent. Even the new guy made it there. Kensuke nodded when the new guy spoke. "Yes, this is Team seven. I read the note just yesterday evening. Welcome." Kensuke said. "I'm Nimatsu Kensuke, sensei of this team. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. The rest of the team may introduce themselves." He added, glancing over towards the three girls.
Regardless of the reception Karma and Meilin gave her, Kyoi greeted them upon their arrival without hesitation and returned to patiently waiting for the meeting to start. The new member of the team, Madoc Yamanaka, was interesting to meet and Kyoi dipped her head towards him with a smile. "Hyuuga Kyoi, I'm a new addition to the team also so it's wonderful to meet you."
Standing there, Meilin remained silent. Karma was the next one to arrive the meeting. Still with her hands at the back of her hooded head, Meilin just threw a glance towards Karma. Nodding as the only manner of greeting back. Mentally preparing herself for what was to happen, Meilin frowned.
Another person joined the fray? Her hands lowered as she eyed the newcomer. He didn't seem that much special but that didn't mean anything. As the blonde introduced himself as a Yamanaka, asking if this was team 7, Meilin blinked rapidly.
Her eyes shot her gaze towards Kensuke, wondering if this was a new member. But what about Sen? Hadn't she made it out alive on the trip back from Oakrath? Finding herself confused and becoming wary, Meilin would take a subtle step back to observe the situation better.
"My name is Meilin Cho." It was phrased in Yakimara but in such a broken fashion that it almost seemed a blend of a Chonobi accent and poorly fashioned Yakimara. If anything, Meilin was proud that she knew a bit of the language, always having found it a dull thing at the theory training of the Guard.
As she turned back towards the rest of them, Karma noticed that another person arrived. She heard him introduce himself as Madoc Yamanaka, which she thought was an unusual name. After standing once more next to the rest, she heard them each introduce themselve, except for Meilin who said something in a different language, but considering how it was accompanied with her name she assumed it was also an introduction "I'm Karma Minami." She said in a brief manner, briefly thinking about the fact that the team was consistently getting people from known clans in the empire.
As the man answered his questions he went righ to the introductions, which was when with his eyes he began making movements to each of the three girls to look as least suspicious as possible. What he was doing was using the Mind's eye technique to pick up on any information the three girls would leave out of their first impressions. The Hyuuga still came off as a noble of sorts. Wasn't hiding anything that deemed reaction. He was about to read Meilin's mind when she started speaking in Yakimara? Or well a broken form of it, yet he got the gist of what she was saying. Reading her mind as well made him smirk though. Enough so he sent her a message straight to her mind. "That right? Well then this can be our little secret." his voice would ring in her head as he was now smiling as he looked at karma which was when his smile faded. His name.... was weird? How... How rude. This prompted another message to be sent to Meilin. "Why did it insult my name?" He would then roll his eyes before giving a smile again.
"My name is as I said before Madoc Yamanaka. I look forward to working with you all. I'm a chuunin so I do have some knowledge, so I shouldn't be a burden." Madoc replied with folding his arms again as he looked at Kensuke wondering what he had planned next that Introductions were done with.
"Alright. Let's move on to the training. I'm sure you're all acquainted to the necessities of a warming-up?" He said, completely unecessarily. "Generally, a shinobi who loses his breath is a dead one. Let's begin with half a dozen laps around the field and some basic excercises." Kensuke explained, loosening his ankles as he did. "After that we can move to the interesting bits." He said an waited for them to start before joining them.
For Kyoi the exercises were more rigorous and taxing than she was used to, it was evident that she was putting in maximum effort to keep up with Kensuke's pace, even if she began to falter and slow down somewhere during the middle point of the routine. Despite that she'd keep trying to carry on, feeling that if she couldn't at least try to keep up she wouldn't be as useful as she could be to the rest of the team, besides the more she pushed herself the better her performance would be in the long run.
Meilin remained silent. The hint of a small smile dawned on her lips as Madoc didn't correct or state anything bad about her Yakimara. It hadn't perhaps sound that sweet or fluent but she was glad that it had been accepted. Then her eyes widen slightly when Madoc's voice moved through her mind, after pondering for a moment. The Yamanaka were renowned for this ability but it was a completely different story to experience it instead of just hearing it. Blinking twice in a rapid succession Meilin frowned slightly. How was it possible to reply back? Speaking out loud was so not an option. She doubted already if anybody thought well about her in this team so doing something to make her look like a lunatic wasn't on her to-do list.
When she tried to push the thoughts away and focus on what was going on, Madoc's voice went for a second time through her mind. Causing her to grow somewhat amazed and frustrated. She had enough in her mind that kept her fretting and pondering. Somebody to mess with it, stalk around or talk through her mind wasn't really what she considered great. Who was or what was it? What was even going on?!
Kensuke talking prevented Meilin from breaking her mask and frowning at Madoc as she turned her attention back to the Nimatsu. There was the temptation to note that if somebody didn't breathe anymore that it was quite common to consider them to be dead, after a minute or two of not breathing. Deciding to keep that for herself Meilin would start to pick up the pace. Jogging with the group she pushed herself forward with the idea that time would go faster once they were busy. Even though Meilin didn't trust Kensuke affirming with interesting. She doubted it would be the same what she considered interesting.
The exercises weren't easy but she was used to similar exercises. Though not enjoying them, Meilin didn't lag behind. She wasn't certain if it was because she remembered the punishments all too well or because of of her pride but the idea of lagging behind was anything but comforting. Trying to manage to not appear that she was used to this kind of harsh drills Meilin would lean forward at the end, placing hands on her knees and feign that she was out of breath. She considered it better to not have anybody wonder or question why she wouldn't be completely winded out by the few exercises yet. Rolling with her shoulders as straightening her back Meilin wondered what would follow.
Upon hearing the repeated introduction of Madoc, which included the part about how him being a chuunin should mean he won't be a burden on the team, Karma couldn't help but close her eyes briefly. After letting a thought about her own mistakes pass, she opened her eyes as Kensuke begun speaking, explaining how they are going to be doing warm up now and afterwards they can get to something more interesting. She felt like she wasn't exactly interested in finding out what the interesting bits were, so instead she decided to focus her mind on Madoc. Perhaps she should try and get to know him better, she thought to herself as she begun to follow Kensuke, Kyoi and Meilin.
The excercises and running took a bit of a toll on Karma. While she didn't feel like she was out of shape, she had slowed down twice during the run to let herself maintain a proper breathing pattern. She ended up lagging slightly behind the rest, but that didn't bother her much. She knew that if she really wanted to, she could push her body further, Karma just didn't see the need to do that currently as this was a mere training session. When she reached the end, she did stop and begun walking around slowly, breathing deeply to let her heart rate calm down. The excercises weren't easy, but she felt like she managed to do them in a decent pace.
He was a bit surprised that Meilin didn't respond back, yet he chalked it up to the fact that she wasn't quite sure how to talk back just yet. Something he could teach her later. Yet for now he had to do a shit ton of laps which didn't cause a smile to appear on his face at all. So the team has one member that accuses one other member of being a missin nin.... and does laps out the ass. Great start already.
He took an average pace to this having been use to running away from all the past criminal acts hes done. Having to run away from guards or run away from the area he used his abilities in so no sensors picked him up. Yet it was still quite a bit of laps, enough so that even he was winded ever so slightly when it came to the end. Making him wonder just what grand team training he had planned next. Maybe it would be sit ups. Oh god it was more exercise.
Kensuke got up from the floor and loosened his shoulders after the excercises. "Alright. First things first. Yes, it's confirmed that Kyoi will be a permanent member of Team seven, as will Madoc. Sen has retired from active shinobi service for now, if you want to know why, I think it's best you ask her yourself." He began. "Since there's as many new members in this team as there's old ones we'll do a simple excercise in teamwork." Kensuke said. He then turned towards the forested arena next to their current field, where a single caretaker leaned lazily on a broom, watching them, waiting until he was told to open the arena. "In that forest I have hidden a small silver case. It will be your task to retrieve it before..." He said, and checked his watch. "... 10AM, meaning you have an hour and then some to find it." He then turned towards the team again.
"For the purpose of this you will be split in two groups of two, and you will compete to retrieve and escort the package to me, waiting at this gate." He added, carefully observing their behaviour after the announcement, trying to figure out who'd like to team up with who despite that he'd already made his decision. He allowed a moment of pause before he spoke again.
"Kyoi and Karma will form Team A, Meilin and Madoc will be Team B. Time's running."
Kyoi patiently waited after the announcement of a teamwork building exercise that required teams of two. She had figured that he already decided what the teams were to prevent anyone picking their favoured team member due to the fact that it was a 50/50 split of new and old members. With the teams set a moment later, Kyoi looked to Karma and gave her a smile. "We'd best get started then." Was all she said as she began by walking between the trees, she'd activate her byakugan once she was in the forest for a general layout of the immediate 30 metres surrounding her, she also used this to watch and see if Karma actually decided to go along with her or go at the task on her own. The cold shoulder she'd received after greeting her was evidence enough to her that Karma wasn't quite willing to play along nicely.
A scavenger hunt. That was the interesting bit that Kensuke spoke of earlier. She felt like rolling her eyes but decided to not do so, instead listening to the further instructions. small silver case, hidden somewhere in the woods That sounded simple, though she kept thinking about she could've used the time to instead trying to find someone who could start teaching her about any clan, or get to know Madoc better.
When Kensuke announced how the teams will be divided, she couldn't help but feel like she got the shortest straw of them all. Glancing briefly at Kyoi, she did not return a smile or acknowledged what her teammate said. After the way she acted in Oakrath, willing to backstab another person without fully knowing their intentions, she didn't feel like cooperating with her at all. While Kyoi activated her Byakugan, Karma begun to focus on surpressing her chakra. She did not know any of the capabilites that the newest member had, so she wanted to ensure that he won't be able to track her down in case it was possible for him. She also didn't want to be tracked down by her own team member as she begun to walk into the forest, not saying a word to Kyoi. As soon as she passed the first set of trees, she would begin to do a light jog in order to create some distance between Kyoi and herself.
Meilin listened to what Kensuke said. She didn't care much that Kyoi or Madoc was assigned as permanent members of the team. Wouldn't exactly make much sense if they were just here for one training, she thought to herself. But once more Meilin kept her thoughts to herself. Nobody would really find them amusing, anyways. The comment on Sen would be ignored. It made Meilin wonder briefly why Sen had resigned but it was the girl's own decision.
The mentioning of teamwork made Meilin, however, wary. The task of finding a small silver case while competing against one another? Meilin already slipped her gloved hands into the pockets of her pants. By hearing who was paired with who, Meilin kept up a blank expression. The only shift was a frown appearing on her brow but yet her lips didn't part from each other.
"Madoc, how about we go for walk?" Meilin asked in Yakimara, trying her best to formulate and pronnounce the words in Yakimara as best as she could. Gesturing with her left hand, before slipping it back into the pocket of her pants, Meilin would already 'take of' in a casual walking pace.
A competition and this was suppose to be a teamwork exercise? Seemed more like you wanted to continue to split your team apart than put it back together but not like he cared. This team died he wasn't getting caught in the crossfire, his teammate would be Meilin the one showing him respect by trying to speak Yakimara. which still caused him to think about what she was saying before having to make a response. Yet a walk? Well not like he actually cared about this exercise so why not.
Yet she was pretty quick to take off so he chuckled and would follow behind her in the best casual walking pace he could do to match hers. So far he didn't see much hope for this team. Got one labeling others as missing nin, another that should be more respectful of others cultures, then the sensei who didn't seem to want to fix any broken relationships among the team.
"I thank you for your attempt at using Yakimara, but if it would be easier for you. We can speak in this common language. Also." Madoc started before his voice would ring in her head again. "To respond back, all you really have to do is think it. I'm reading your mind after all."
Group A
That cold shoulder of Karma's got even colder it seemed as they found themselves amongst trees just past the gate, the girl refusing to respond and already taking off in a jog without so much as a hint of what she thought to do. But that wasn't what irked Kyoi at all, she was relatively fine with an uncooperative ally, she was more irked by the fact she couldn't see the girl's chakra at all with her Byakugan. She wouldn't let it show though, the girl had more than enough reason after Oakrath, but reluctance to follow her team leader's instruction was kind of annoying. "I hope you realise it's a team activity, Karma." She spoke flatly before she'd scale one of the trees and begin venturing around the confines of the enclosure to get a general idea of the perimeter before heading further into it and taking a look here and there as she moved in case she spotted any telltale glints of their target.
As she kept jogging ahead, Karma quickly lost track of Kyoi. It seemed the Hyuuga had chosen to go in a different direction, which was something she prefered. After a couple more minutes of jogging, she stopped and moved to rest between a bush and a tree, still keeping her chakra surpression active. They needed to find a silver case in a forest filled with shades, which effectively meant trying to spot a reflection of light from the case was very unlikely. Kensuke had also not given them any kind of clue regarding if it is on the ground or someone on a tree. It could also potentially be inside a tree, as some had hollow parts in them. As she tried to think about the potential locations, Karma closed her eyes and listened closely to the surrounding silence.
It was awfully eerie in the area as Kyoi nimbly hopped from branch to branch and skulked through the trees, it wasn't hard to see in there but one would be hard pressed to find something as small as a silver case within the trees, grass and leaves scattered as far as the eye could see. Oftentimes Kyoi would activate her Byakugan for a decent 360 view of the surrounding area, trying to make sure she wasn't accidentally double backing upon herself anywhere and wasting time that could be used finding the case and returning to the gate. But she had ideas on how to handle that issue later on, besides if one wanted to get technical, splitting up and searching for the case separately worked in terms of teamwork.
After several minutes of sitting still and listening to the slight movements of the leaves, Karma slowly and silently stood up. She looked around briefly before beginning to head back in the direction she came from. With the need to find an obscurely described item in a place where it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack, Karma figured that finding that case wasn't the real goal. And if that was how Kensuke was trying to go at it, then she wasn't going to play ball. As she walked, she kept maintaining her chakra surpressed. The last thing she wanted was for the Hyuuga or the other team to find her, although she slightly doubted Meilin would bother saying anything on her walking on the opposite direction from the depths of the forest.
A dark figure would drop from the branches in front of Karma, revealing himself to be Kensuke instead of an unkown threat. His expression was blank and betrayed little more than that he was looking at her. "You failed this test Karma. You don't have to continue on your excercise. Come along, please." He said on a harsh tone, and half-turned, waiting for her to follow him.
Remaining silent and not giving up any expressions either, Karma stared at the clone briefly. So she somehow failed so quickly, which was apparently being determined by Kensuke who was watching them with multiple clones. She was tempted to spit at the clone's face for the way it talked to her, which was clearly displeased despite the blank expression it gave her. Not bothering to look in which direction the clone wanted her to go to, Karma continued to walk in the direction of the area from which she came from. She can fail the test a million times for all she cared, if it was performed by Kensuke, then she had no interest in hearing what she did wrong, as she could already figure what it would be. Not cooperating with the teammate, not working towards the goal, letting initial judgements get the best of her. Anything that came from him would only make him appear more of a hypocrite in her eyes.
Kensuke stopped in his tracks and watched Karma go. "Are you sure that this is what you want to do?" The clone asked. When Karma further ignored him Kensuke shrugged. "Well. Your mind seems made up." He said, and continued walking towards another exit.
After several more minutes of walking in the silence of the forest, Karma reached the edge of it. Looking around for a moment, she spotted Kensuke still standing near the exit that they initially came from. She avoided looking at him at length, going to grab her backpack and putting it properly on her back, before turning to look towards the Nimatsu again. She actually had no idea if this Kensuke was also a clone or not, but at the end of it, did it really matter? Sighing, she figured that it most likely didn't as she approached him "You told us to come here once the mission is finished, you didn't specify if it had to end in success or failure." She said to him.
"I didn't. Well. You're free to go if you think that that's a good decision." He said on a neutral tone with a whiff of the shoulder to acknowledge her point. "Remember that there won't be any more chances after this one though. This is the end of the line for you." He added on a casual tone that belied the message his words carried.
She couldn't help but slightly raise an eyebrow on his remark. No more chances? The end of the line? She didn't know that she was even on the edge of the line. As far as she knew, she had commited something wrong before, was punished severely, and then, if she recalled correctly what the Jounin Commander told her, she was told to get some free days off while Kensuke and Kyoi were told something else might happen, depending on Meilin's situation. No where did she hear anything about her having a last chance, not to mention this sounded like a threat when she approached him, which seemed odd to her.
"I'm still here. No need to threaten me when I approached you instead of just completely walking away from here. I followed the instructions, even if they weren't the clearest." Karma responded in a calm tone in return.
Kensuke raised an eyebrow in momentary confusion while a smile broke through on his face. "That is not a threat. It is just a warning, so you are aware of the consequences of your choices." He said. "If you plan on staying," Kensuke said, motioning towards a few benches nearby. "Then let us sit down and have a talk."
Similarly, a figure Kyoi would easily recognise as Kensuke jumped up to the branch Kyoi was standing on. "The excercise is over. Please follow me." The jounin said with a shrug.
Kyoi had been quietly looking over the area of the woods she was in at the moment, looking for possible locations of this illusive case. Before she could continue to search Kensuke, or at least a clone of him, hopped onto the branch with her and told her the exercise was over. "Aww, really?" She began, sounding quite disappointed. "But we had barely started.... That's a bit of a let down, but if you insist. I remember what you told me, but I hoped she would give co-operation a chance." Kyoi would hop down out of the tree and head towards the exit, as per Kensuke's orders.
Group B
Walking Meilin thought about how to go at it. The other pair had a Hyuuga. Meaning that they had an advantage. Unless Madoc had some kind of ability to spot or sense anything like a silver case? Thinking about it, she wondered why she should care? This was a team building training, right? So the desired result was to bond and understand your fellow team member much better. Unless it was needed to be done through fighting but Meilin didn't see any need for that. Even with being promoted to chuunin she knew her limits hadn't changed. That took more than just a promotion. That needed time and effort.
As Madoc spoke up, Meilin turned her head towards him. Realising something she would pull down her hoodie before speaking back to the Yamanaka. This time deciding to speak in the common tongue.
"Heh, sorry if I am not that great with it. It is part of... my education. Something, nothing really that interesting," she waved verbally off, "Hope you won't mind but I am not going to do much. This is a team building training and judging by the factors and variables," she shrugged, "I don't really find myself motivated to compete with another team when we can just talk, you know?"
Then he spoke through her mind and she frowned. It remained silent for a moment before Meilin would 'think': "And how about we don't read my mind? I don't even know how you pull it off but I am not growing comfortable with somebody that I don't know messing around in my head. Can I also mess around with your mind by any chance?"
Hearing what she said through her mind he laughed a bit before giving a shrug. "Sorry force of habit. I'll stop messing around in your mind though, the others however is another story." Madoc would state as he pondered on what to talk about with this woman, moving his pendant around in between his index and thumb he would speak once more. "Yeah kind of an odd teamwork building exercise if you ask me. Seems more like you would need to improve your relationship with the Hyuuga than myself, but hey I'm no jounin maybe he knows something I don't... So." he stopped for a second as he looked at her. "I could teach you how to mess around with others minds. Its not a Yamanaka technique so its possible for you to learn it. Yet want to explain what the whole situation is? Rather not risk my life for a team thats trying to sabotage each other."
Glad that he wouldn't continue to mess with her mind, Meilin wondered if this would really be the end. It seemed like a powerful ability to just enter somebody's mind and start to 'speak' there. When he stated that it was another story with the others, Meilin couldn't resist a soft snickering for a second. As they continued to walk at a casual pace into the woods, the Cho would just shove her hands back into her pockets.
"It is really odd. Nimatsu doesn't mean it in a bad way and probably tries to get a view of what we are capable. But I am not going to fight people who wanted me listed as a missing-nin. I don't think I will be able to best them but if I will see the chance, I might not hold back at breaking a few ribs or a spine..."
Her voice trailed off as if it was almost a promise.
"And I would like that. Seems really nifty. I won't ask, though, where you learn such an ability. Anyways, for the whole situation?"
Meilin would shrug before she continued.
"Nimatsu is... not somebody who I get along with. I respect him but during the last mission, some statements and behaviour didn't sit well with me. I expect from anybody to respect another clan and culture. To then wave a people off as... well, off, for not being able to understand their ways while they try to pay their respect to you? Yeah, not really making me excited. Then there is Karma," Meilin's nose wrinkled, "She tries to be my friend. But I am not sure if I am willing to trust her yet. I am not going to just trust any of them after learning that they were close to list me off as a missing-nin, cause they don't know the word 'wait for me'," Meilin explained as her voice betrayed that she was quite irritated by that fact.
"That Hyuuga? Don't know her but don't care or trust her. And that is it. They will tell you something else probably. That I ran off twice by now and did things my way. Which, surprisingly, proved much more effective than anything they tried. Both in Keishi and in the clan lands of the Sarutobi."
Listening to her he couldn't help but smile as he placed his hand behind his head. "Break all the ribs you want. perferably not mine. Besides if were being real with each other. I can just use my sensory and see where those two are at any point. Unless they both know how to camoflauge their chakra that is anyway. That and with what I can do. This doesn't really seem like something I want to invest any energy into if it won't be worth my time." Madoc would tell the Cho before going on to listen to the situation from her words. Not before adding his words in about the mind reading. "Ahh smart girl. Wouldn't have found out where either. Will say this though, its useful against fellow mind readers."
So from what she said, the sensei was rather ignorant of other cultures and clans? Well sounded like he would be fun to deal with in the future. Then the little brat that found his name odd, was trying to befriend Meilin which was admirable. Yet in the current situation wouldn't work out very well, with what she was accused of. She was even honest that their story would be different and how so. Yet apparently her running off got the desired results. "Well sounds like you have the right idea. In the end it isn't about bonds, nor about what you were told to do. The end result is whats most important. If you have to lie, cheat and steal to get that result. Then you screw over the world to get that result."
Could he use sensory ninjutsu? Meilin instantly thought of the risks and problems that could come when there would be another mission or time she wanted to bring success instead of just following team 7 around. She had found it easy to escape from the likes of Kensuke and Kyoi's dojutsu. But a sensor was the next step, she figured.
"I guess I should invest time and effort to learn how to repel mind readers. Never crossed me before how dreadful it could be to have somebody just snoop around in my mind. No offence, even though it sounds and seems great and nifty, it isn't when you're on the other side. So, if you wish to teach me, then I am willing to spend some time. Not sure what I could teach you back in return. My skills are..."
Meilin paused for a moment as she cupped her chin with her left hand.
"Unorthodox, I guess? Something like that."
His last comment did cause her to frown slightly.
"Don't say that too loud in this team. Before you know it then we will have a missing-nin and witchhunt going. And I am sure being hunted down as missing-nin sucks, but doubt that a witch will more pleasant."
"Well thats the time with the technique, its meant to invade your privacy without you knowing about it. As such not a lot of ways to counter it. So far I can already tell trying to take your mind from you will prove difficult. So you can rejoice in that much." Madoc stated hinting that her will could prove in making any of his Yamanaka techniques more difficult to pull off for an extended period of time. Yet when she said she wasn't sure what to teach him in return, as she stated her skills were unorthodox, he didn't really seem curious or put off by the thought. although her comment about a hunt for a missing-nin and witchhunt did cause a smirk.
"I doubt we will want that going on. As for your unorthodox methods well..... I got them as well. Yet I must say since you mentioned witch hunt. Do you believe in those rumors to be true? The rumors of Mind Seekers? I'll trust your word without snooping."
Listening to Madoc, Meilin wondered if that was all to blockade and prevent people from reading her mind. There had to be more, right? She decided that it would be perhaps interesting indulge into that once Madoc would teach her the basics. The idea to be able to invade and learn what the other person's mind was occupied with, was quite fascinating. And probably made things much easier.
When Madoc mentioned that he had some unorthodox methods, Meilin just tilted her head slightly. She couldn't help but wonder what kind of methods he had that seem to differ from the usual. Then again, he was able to infiltrate minds, which was far from usual. The question on if she believed the rumours about Mind-seekers made Meilin briefly look up as she thought about how to phrase her answer.
"I am not certain. I suppose they could have some truth but I don't that awful lot about your clan and culture. I know some bit of Yakimara to save myself in a not too complicated talk. But about the rumours, I have heard?"
Shrugging lightly, Meilin would remain silent for a second.
"I suppose that I am a bit wary from what I have heard about Mind-seekers. Though leaving a part of your soul in that of somebody else doesn't really align what I was raised up with. In my culture," she frowned slightly, "It would be a bit hard to leave your soul behind in that of another. I doubt that the gods and ancestors can welcome half a soul or something like that."
Well her being honest was a refreshing change of pace, here Madoc was ready to snoop her mind if she said she didn't believe any of them. That was the typical line most said when the one they were cautious about, would then ask them about. The words say one thing but your mind speak the truth. Yet she was upfront which was rather nice to him. Maybe he could teach her the basics of Mind reading afterall, possibly also help that broken Yakimara of hers. It was nice but also a bit hard to fix.
"Yeah speaking of Yakimara real fast, I can also help you there. No offense as its a nice gesture from you and all, yet you could do with some.... improvement."
Her comment on leaving part of his soul in others was the go to fear from most people. "Hahaha that ones a classic. Helps get you out of conversations you don't want to be part of. I can say that from what I know, that it is just a rumor. Who knows for sure though? Maybe I already implanted part of my soul in somebody. Maybe a Hon. Maybe a Tokugawa? Maybe Im working my way into planting my soul into someone on this team.... Okay I'm not that desperate."
When he brought up first about Yakimara, Meilin could already guess that it was about that she could use some more help. Which she didn't really like. The idea was nice and helpful but it also made it clear that she wasn't great in speaking and phrasing sentences in the other language. Deciding that the gesture was nicer and more plausible than her wary thoughts Meilin would just flash a smile and nod.
"I wouldn't say no to some more help. I have to say that Yakimara sounds so... cheerful. Friendly. I have to ask, do you prefer to talk in Yakimara or in another language?"
Just a rumour? An awful lot of rumours tend to have the nasty trait that they held some truth to them. But it was a bit of a relieve to hear that it was a rumour from Madoc.
"Guess that it must be one lucky girl or boy, huh?" Meilin said, with a growing smirk on her lips, "I suppose that you have to insert your 'soul' into a victim one way or another. Though I rather keep my body and soul for myself. I have no clue in what you believe but it would be quite confusing for you to be like," she thought about a fitting term, "Having your soul melted to mine when I would travel to the afterlife. Then again," the eyes of Meilin half closed as she nudged Madoc.
"Perhaps Kyoi or Karma wouldn't mind having some 'soul wrestling' going on, eh? Hehehe," nudging him again Meilin would snort back a laughter about her own 'joke'.
Thinking upon her question he had to amdit even he wasn't so sure. His parents taught him the basics of Yakimara but in the end it was down to him and his own studies to further it. In fact Cai taught him the language he was speaking with Meilin right now. Must have been difficult as hell getting past the unknown language for her. Thinking about her caused him to frown slightly before shaking his head.
" Yakimara was my first language but in a way this one has a special meaning to me as well. So I honestly have no favorites, yet if we go off how they sound then Yakimara by a landslide."
She was making jokes now so that was a plus. "Hey now souls dont judge. I think I would make a pretty girl if I say so myself." yet as she continued speaking it began to sound more... risque. Although she said she rather keep her body and soul as it would be confusing to go to the afterlife. She was probably hiting at this Akumu's Hall. "It would also most likely be frowned upon. Im sure they have ways of kicking out unwanted guests."
Then she said something that caused him to frown at her. "Didn't I just say I wasn't that desperate? Besides one looks like they are eleven, and your favorite seems like the stick up their ass type."
"Interesting," Meilin mumbled as she thought about it. She preferred speaking and hearing Chonobi above everything else. But that was more because it reminded her of another time in her life. Who didn't say that it was somewhat similar to Madoc and others?
"I do have to agree. Though I have a way to go to make myself sound better in Yakimara, I wager."
Then she couldn't hold back any laughter when he mentioned himself being able to be a pretty girl. Her outburst could potentially alert the others where they were but who cared? She wasn't planning to involve herself in any form of combat, over what again? A small silver case.
"You mean my favourite? I do suppose that the reference of the stick can be applied to both. Then again I rather not indulge myself in how Hyuuga's," Meilin's nose wrinkled, "Chose their partners. And about the other? No clue either. She stated to me she wants to learn and understand other cultures. Perhaps you could do some good for the Yakimara, hehe?"
Well he found her go to humor, if it was insulting her allies then she seemed way more energetic about speaking. Although he could do without wondering how the Hyuugas found their incest partner. Wait the little one wanted to learn and understand other cultures better? Well then she better keep learning. "Are you sure? Maybe you should take one for the team and have some girl talk with the Hyuuga. Figure it out. As for the other one. Lesson one would be not finding others names unusual. My name is rather common in Yamanaka lands. In fact I've known four Madoc's"
Continue walking Meilin thought of something. She could start a fire. Make it expand and basically start to smoke and cough out anybody foolish enough to keep standing in there. Unless somebody was capable of water release. Then again, against a big forest fire, there would be a big need of water. And moulding lot of chakra into 'water' had to be exhausting. Where just starting to lighten some fires was quite easy. It would take some patience to see the fire grow and then some more to wait for others to flock out of the area.
Yet, she wouldn't do such a thing. Not today.
"I doubt that I will be able to have a talk with somebody willing to plunge a dagger in my back without feeling the need to stab them in the face. I doubt that the Hyuuga dojutsu can catch a drawn knife when it is skull deep and tickle the brain," Meilin said in a rather calm tone, "As for Karma? Don't mind it too much. I seriously doubt any of them will respect or invest time and effort to learn much about another clan or culture. Perhaps the smell of ass keeps their heads there."
Warned by the sound of something landing behind them Meilin and Madoc would find Kensuke standing behind them with an expression that betrayed nothing. "You failed this test." Kensuke said and then turned to Madoc directly. "Please follow me, Madoc. Meilin, please wait here until I am back." He said and waited for them to react.
Turning half around, Meilin was already half expecting Kensuke. She would have a calm expression present on her face but had expected him to scold her for her language and what she had told Madoc the newling her thoughts of the team. The mere words of failing the test caused Meilin to place her hands on her hips and awaiting what would happen. Probably she should feel guilt or bad in some manner but she wouldn't. If anything she had managed to create a start of a bond with Madoc, so she considered that it was just the fact that they hadn't been looking for the silver case.
"Okay," Meilin said slowly as a frown formed on her brow. Throwing a sideways glance, Meilin nodded towards the Yamanaka and would utter just one word.
"Communicate."
Having said the word Meilin wondered if it would be possible to keep that thought communication with Madoc ongoing. Walking to a nearby tree Meilin would just cross her arms and lean against the vegetation. She was slightly curious and wondering for a moment what she would get to hear. Probably nothing all too good but she would mentally shrug it off and consider what she would do after this 'team training'.
Just as he was about to respond back to Meilin, Kensuke would appear behind them and instantly tell both of them that they had failed the test. Well no shit, were they even trying to pass it? Yet what now put a frown on his face was him singaling him out and telling Meilin to stay. Was there something he did differently than Meilin? With what he knew so far, they both were just chatting away not bothering with the test. As Meilin accepted he raised an eyebrow at her as he heard the next word she said. Making sure to look confused a message would enter her head. "Your words not mine." He then looked at Kensuke and pointed forth with his hand, as if to tell him to go ahead and lead the way.
Kyoi arrived on the scene more or less on time, in casual uniform over her normal shirt and trousers yet looking somewhat peculiar with her hair fanning up above her like an umbrella of sorts to protect her from the elements, the method of how she was doing it would be notable upon seeing a handseal being maintained as she arrived. "Good morning, Kensuke. Are we expecting the other two today?" The question was fairly open as if there wasn't any actual expectation of an answer, once she saw the tree Kensuke was stood beneath she dropped her jutsu, allowing her hair to fall back down to it's normal state and she placed herself beneath the cover of the tree as well.
This wasn't the best day or time. Rubbing her eyes, Meilin almost had to drag herself to the meeting place. It was both dreadful and annoying that she had to come to a training with the team. Her motivation was below sea-level pretty much due to various factors. More because she also had more training scheduled, with Jin. And the old man didn't joke that much around either. Meaning that today she wouldn't have any time to investigate and study the content of the old book further. She had even undergone the trouble to hide it in the small room to prevent anybody from getting to it. If that was a bit paranoid hadn't come up to Meilin's mind. Right now, she wasn't still certain if anybody was interested or curious about it. Then again, why would she share anything? It wasn't like they would be interested in her culture or the Sarutobi clan in all of a sudden, anyways. Their interaction and mannerism had made that abundantly clear to her.
Making it just harder to move herself to the field where the team would gather.
For a moment Meilin did ponder if she could just not go. Kensuke wasn't her sensei. She didn't consider him to be a real mentor-figure anyways. But as a chuunin, she could be punished as a chuunin. Which was more severe than as a genin. Not really encouraging her to lay off and do her own thing until the evening.
Eventually, arriving on the field Meilin frowned. It was that woman from Oakrath, that Hyuuga nin. Placing her hands behind the back of her hooded head, Meilin would approach the pair.
"Morning," she said in a calm and casual tone. Her gaze briefly lingered on Kensuke but with her facial expression being blank and perhaps prohibiting Kensuke's view, there wasn't much visible of her thoughts and current mood.
"Please, let this be done and over soon..."
Carrying a back pack with a small lunch and a few books, and a book open in her hands, Karma kept most of her attention on the paragraph she was reading, as she already knew the way to the training fields by heart. She was reading a book about the public history of the Nara and Yamanaka clans, which according to the book had some sort of connection throughout history. She found it interesting, but she decided it would probably be for the best if she didn't start throwing facts from the book at people until she had some sort of way of verifying it.
Once she arrived at the path that led to the training facilities, she lowered the book and started to look for the area the team was supposed to meet at. After a few minutes she found it and made her way there, and soon enough she saw Kensuke, Meilin and the Hyuuga standing near each other. Upon approaching them, she closed the book and placed it inside her backpack. She gave a brief nod to Meilin before looking at Kensuke, and appearing to completely ignore Kyoi "Morning Kensuke, Meilin." She said in a neutral voice before moving slightly away from them to put her bag next to a nearby tree.
He couldn't truly say he wasn't curious about this new team he was assigned too. He heard rumors and sometimes while rumors were wrong, sometimes they were right. He knew the rumor that his new sensei was pretty much part of a dead clan after the Hons went to town on them. Yet he also heard of some less than favorable teamwork among this team. Well it wouldn't kill him to go meet his new team, but if the rumors were true. he suspected he would be on a new team soon enough.
Having arrived at the field taking his time, he saw one man and three females gathered around so he would proceed to walk up to them with his arms folded as he would study them as he approached. One seemed formal which was usually easy pickings with his past, the black haired woman seemed different from the rest. He couldn't truly read her and for some reason that bothered him. Then their was one with a backpack which piqued his interest... the backpack that was, then he focused his gaze on the man. Was he... taking it easy right now? Well that was fine he supposed, he could understand that a bit anyway. "This is Team seven right? I was assigned to this team, not sure if you got the message on that or not. Should be expecting a Madoc Yamanaka right?"
The team was well on time, and he nodded a greeting to each of them as they arrived in turn. Naturally things were a bit awkward given the last mission's outcome, but there were worse things than working in an awkward situation. Dying for example. Something training was meant to prevent. Even the new guy made it there. Kensuke nodded when the new guy spoke. "Yes, this is Team seven. I read the note just yesterday evening. Welcome." Kensuke said. "I'm Nimatsu Kensuke, sensei of this team. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. The rest of the team may introduce themselves." He added, glancing over towards the three girls.
Regardless of the reception Karma and Meilin gave her, Kyoi greeted them upon their arrival without hesitation and returned to patiently waiting for the meeting to start. The new member of the team, Madoc Yamanaka, was interesting to meet and Kyoi dipped her head towards him with a smile. "Hyuuga Kyoi, I'm a new addition to the team also so it's wonderful to meet you."
Standing there, Meilin remained silent. Karma was the next one to arrive the meeting. Still with her hands at the back of her hooded head, Meilin just threw a glance towards Karma. Nodding as the only manner of greeting back. Mentally preparing herself for what was to happen, Meilin frowned.
Another person joined the fray? Her hands lowered as she eyed the newcomer. He didn't seem that much special but that didn't mean anything. As the blonde introduced himself as a Yamanaka, asking if this was team 7, Meilin blinked rapidly.
Her eyes shot her gaze towards Kensuke, wondering if this was a new member. But what about Sen? Hadn't she made it out alive on the trip back from Oakrath? Finding herself confused and becoming wary, Meilin would take a subtle step back to observe the situation better.
"My name is Meilin Cho." It was phrased in Yakimara but in such a broken fashion that it almost seemed a blend of a Chonobi accent and poorly fashioned Yakimara. If anything, Meilin was proud that she knew a bit of the language, always having found it a dull thing at the theory training of the Guard.
As she turned back towards the rest of them, Karma noticed that another person arrived. She heard him introduce himself as Madoc Yamanaka, which she thought was an unusual name. After standing once more next to the rest, she heard them each introduce themselve, except for Meilin who said something in a different language, but considering how it was accompanied with her name she assumed it was also an introduction "I'm Karma Minami." She said in a brief manner, briefly thinking about the fact that the team was consistently getting people from known clans in the empire.
As the man answered his questions he went righ to the introductions, which was when with his eyes he began making movements to each of the three girls to look as least suspicious as possible. What he was doing was using the Mind's eye technique to pick up on any information the three girls would leave out of their first impressions. The Hyuuga still came off as a noble of sorts. Wasn't hiding anything that deemed reaction. He was about to read Meilin's mind when she started speaking in Yakimara? Or well a broken form of it, yet he got the gist of what she was saying. Reading her mind as well made him smirk though. Enough so he sent her a message straight to her mind. "That right? Well then this can be our little secret." his voice would ring in her head as he was now smiling as he looked at karma which was when his smile faded. His name.... was weird? How... How rude. This prompted another message to be sent to Meilin. "Why did it insult my name?" He would then roll his eyes before giving a smile again.
"My name is as I said before Madoc Yamanaka. I look forward to working with you all. I'm a chuunin so I do have some knowledge, so I shouldn't be a burden." Madoc replied with folding his arms again as he looked at Kensuke wondering what he had planned next that Introductions were done with.
"Alright. Let's move on to the training. I'm sure you're all acquainted to the necessities of a warming-up?" He said, completely unecessarily. "Generally, a shinobi who loses his breath is a dead one. Let's begin with half a dozen laps around the field and some basic excercises." Kensuke explained, loosening his ankles as he did. "After that we can move to the interesting bits." He said an waited for them to start before joining them.
For Kyoi the exercises were more rigorous and taxing than she was used to, it was evident that she was putting in maximum effort to keep up with Kensuke's pace, even if she began to falter and slow down somewhere during the middle point of the routine. Despite that she'd keep trying to carry on, feeling that if she couldn't at least try to keep up she wouldn't be as useful as she could be to the rest of the team, besides the more she pushed herself the better her performance would be in the long run.
Meilin remained silent. The hint of a small smile dawned on her lips as Madoc didn't correct or state anything bad about her Yakimara. It hadn't perhaps sound that sweet or fluent but she was glad that it had been accepted. Then her eyes widen slightly when Madoc's voice moved through her mind, after pondering for a moment. The Yamanaka were renowned for this ability but it was a completely different story to experience it instead of just hearing it. Blinking twice in a rapid succession Meilin frowned slightly. How was it possible to reply back? Speaking out loud was so not an option. She doubted already if anybody thought well about her in this team so doing something to make her look like a lunatic wasn't on her to-do list.
When she tried to push the thoughts away and focus on what was going on, Madoc's voice went for a second time through her mind. Causing her to grow somewhat amazed and frustrated. She had enough in her mind that kept her fretting and pondering. Somebody to mess with it, stalk around or talk through her mind wasn't really what she considered great. Who was or what was it? What was even going on?!
Kensuke talking prevented Meilin from breaking her mask and frowning at Madoc as she turned her attention back to the Nimatsu. There was the temptation to note that if somebody didn't breathe anymore that it was quite common to consider them to be dead, after a minute or two of not breathing. Deciding to keep that for herself Meilin would start to pick up the pace. Jogging with the group she pushed herself forward with the idea that time would go faster once they were busy. Even though Meilin didn't trust Kensuke affirming with interesting. She doubted it would be the same what she considered interesting.
The exercises weren't easy but she was used to similar exercises. Though not enjoying them, Meilin didn't lag behind. She wasn't certain if it was because she remembered the punishments all too well or because of of her pride but the idea of lagging behind was anything but comforting. Trying to manage to not appear that she was used to this kind of harsh drills Meilin would lean forward at the end, placing hands on her knees and feign that she was out of breath. She considered it better to not have anybody wonder or question why she wouldn't be completely winded out by the few exercises yet. Rolling with her shoulders as straightening her back Meilin wondered what would follow.
Upon hearing the repeated introduction of Madoc, which included the part about how him being a chuunin should mean he won't be a burden on the team, Karma couldn't help but close her eyes briefly. After letting a thought about her own mistakes pass, she opened her eyes as Kensuke begun speaking, explaining how they are going to be doing warm up now and afterwards they can get to something more interesting. She felt like she wasn't exactly interested in finding out what the interesting bits were, so instead she decided to focus her mind on Madoc. Perhaps she should try and get to know him better, she thought to herself as she begun to follow Kensuke, Kyoi and Meilin.
The excercises and running took a bit of a toll on Karma. While she didn't feel like she was out of shape, she had slowed down twice during the run to let herself maintain a proper breathing pattern. She ended up lagging slightly behind the rest, but that didn't bother her much. She knew that if she really wanted to, she could push her body further, Karma just didn't see the need to do that currently as this was a mere training session. When she reached the end, she did stop and begun walking around slowly, breathing deeply to let her heart rate calm down. The excercises weren't easy, but she felt like she managed to do them in a decent pace.
He was a bit surprised that Meilin didn't respond back, yet he chalked it up to the fact that she wasn't quite sure how to talk back just yet. Something he could teach her later. Yet for now he had to do a shit ton of laps which didn't cause a smile to appear on his face at all. So the team has one member that accuses one other member of being a missin nin.... and does laps out the ass. Great start already.
He took an average pace to this having been use to running away from all the past criminal acts hes done. Having to run away from guards or run away from the area he used his abilities in so no sensors picked him up. Yet it was still quite a bit of laps, enough so that even he was winded ever so slightly when it came to the end. Making him wonder just what grand team training he had planned next. Maybe it would be sit ups. Oh god it was more exercise.
Kensuke got up from the floor and loosened his shoulders after the excercises. "Alright. First things first. Yes, it's confirmed that Kyoi will be a permanent member of Team seven, as will Madoc. Sen has retired from active shinobi service for now, if you want to know why, I think it's best you ask her yourself." He began. "Since there's as many new members in this team as there's old ones we'll do a simple excercise in teamwork." Kensuke said. He then turned towards the forested arena next to their current field, where a single caretaker leaned lazily on a broom, watching them, waiting until he was told to open the arena. "In that forest I have hidden a small silver case. It will be your task to retrieve it before..." He said, and checked his watch. "... 10AM, meaning you have an hour and then some to find it." He then turned towards the team again.
"For the purpose of this you will be split in two groups of two, and you will compete to retrieve and escort the package to me, waiting at this gate." He added, carefully observing their behaviour after the announcement, trying to figure out who'd like to team up with who despite that he'd already made his decision. He allowed a moment of pause before he spoke again.
"Kyoi and Karma will form Team A, Meilin and Madoc will be Team B. Time's running."
Kyoi patiently waited after the announcement of a teamwork building exercise that required teams of two. She had figured that he already decided what the teams were to prevent anyone picking their favoured team member due to the fact that it was a 50/50 split of new and old members. With the teams set a moment later, Kyoi looked to Karma and gave her a smile. "We'd best get started then." Was all she said as she began by walking between the trees, she'd activate her byakugan once she was in the forest for a general layout of the immediate 30 metres surrounding her, she also used this to watch and see if Karma actually decided to go along with her or go at the task on her own. The cold shoulder she'd received after greeting her was evidence enough to her that Karma wasn't quite willing to play along nicely.
A scavenger hunt. That was the interesting bit that Kensuke spoke of earlier. She felt like rolling her eyes but decided to not do so, instead listening to the further instructions. small silver case, hidden somewhere in the woods That sounded simple, though she kept thinking about she could've used the time to instead trying to find someone who could start teaching her about any clan, or get to know Madoc better.
When Kensuke announced how the teams will be divided, she couldn't help but feel like she got the shortest straw of them all. Glancing briefly at Kyoi, she did not return a smile or acknowledged what her teammate said. After the way she acted in Oakrath, willing to backstab another person without fully knowing their intentions, she didn't feel like cooperating with her at all. While Kyoi activated her Byakugan, Karma begun to focus on surpressing her chakra. She did not know any of the capabilites that the newest member had, so she wanted to ensure that he won't be able to track her down in case it was possible for him. She also didn't want to be tracked down by her own team member as she begun to walk into the forest, not saying a word to Kyoi. As soon as she passed the first set of trees, she would begin to do a light jog in order to create some distance between Kyoi and herself.
Meilin listened to what Kensuke said. She didn't care much that Kyoi or Madoc was assigned as permanent members of the team. Wouldn't exactly make much sense if they were just here for one training, she thought to herself. But once more Meilin kept her thoughts to herself. Nobody would really find them amusing, anyways. The comment on Sen would be ignored. It made Meilin wonder briefly why Sen had resigned but it was the girl's own decision.
The mentioning of teamwork made Meilin, however, wary. The task of finding a small silver case while competing against one another? Meilin already slipped her gloved hands into the pockets of her pants. By hearing who was paired with who, Meilin kept up a blank expression. The only shift was a frown appearing on her brow but yet her lips didn't part from each other.
"Madoc, how about we go for walk?" Meilin asked in Yakimara, trying her best to formulate and pronnounce the words in Yakimara as best as she could. Gesturing with her left hand, before slipping it back into the pocket of her pants, Meilin would already 'take of' in a casual walking pace.
A competition and this was suppose to be a teamwork exercise? Seemed more like you wanted to continue to split your team apart than put it back together but not like he cared. This team died he wasn't getting caught in the crossfire, his teammate would be Meilin the one showing him respect by trying to speak Yakimara. which still caused him to think about what she was saying before having to make a response. Yet a walk? Well not like he actually cared about this exercise so why not.
Yet she was pretty quick to take off so he chuckled and would follow behind her in the best casual walking pace he could do to match hers. So far he didn't see much hope for this team. Got one labeling others as missing nin, another that should be more respectful of others cultures, then the sensei who didn't seem to want to fix any broken relationships among the team.
"I thank you for your attempt at using Yakimara, but if it would be easier for you. We can speak in this common language. Also." Madoc started before his voice would ring in her head again. "To respond back, all you really have to do is think it. I'm reading your mind after all."
Group A
That cold shoulder of Karma's got even colder it seemed as they found themselves amongst trees just past the gate, the girl refusing to respond and already taking off in a jog without so much as a hint of what she thought to do. But that wasn't what irked Kyoi at all, she was relatively fine with an uncooperative ally, she was more irked by the fact she couldn't see the girl's chakra at all with her Byakugan. She wouldn't let it show though, the girl had more than enough reason after Oakrath, but reluctance to follow her team leader's instruction was kind of annoying. "I hope you realise it's a team activity, Karma." She spoke flatly before she'd scale one of the trees and begin venturing around the confines of the enclosure to get a general idea of the perimeter before heading further into it and taking a look here and there as she moved in case she spotted any telltale glints of their target.
As she kept jogging ahead, Karma quickly lost track of Kyoi. It seemed the Hyuuga had chosen to go in a different direction, which was something she prefered. After a couple more minutes of jogging, she stopped and moved to rest between a bush and a tree, still keeping her chakra surpression active. They needed to find a silver case in a forest filled with shades, which effectively meant trying to spot a reflection of light from the case was very unlikely. Kensuke had also not given them any kind of clue regarding if it is on the ground or someone on a tree. It could also potentially be inside a tree, as some had hollow parts in them. As she tried to think about the potential locations, Karma closed her eyes and listened closely to the surrounding silence.
It was awfully eerie in the area as Kyoi nimbly hopped from branch to branch and skulked through the trees, it wasn't hard to see in there but one would be hard pressed to find something as small as a silver case within the trees, grass and leaves scattered as far as the eye could see. Oftentimes Kyoi would activate her Byakugan for a decent 360 view of the surrounding area, trying to make sure she wasn't accidentally double backing upon herself anywhere and wasting time that could be used finding the case and returning to the gate. But she had ideas on how to handle that issue later on, besides if one wanted to get technical, splitting up and searching for the case separately worked in terms of teamwork.
After several minutes of sitting still and listening to the slight movements of the leaves, Karma slowly and silently stood up. She looked around briefly before beginning to head back in the direction she came from. With the need to find an obscurely described item in a place where it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack, Karma figured that finding that case wasn't the real goal. And if that was how Kensuke was trying to go at it, then she wasn't going to play ball. As she walked, she kept maintaining her chakra surpressed. The last thing she wanted was for the Hyuuga or the other team to find her, although she slightly doubted Meilin would bother saying anything on her walking on the opposite direction from the depths of the forest.
A dark figure would drop from the branches in front of Karma, revealing himself to be Kensuke instead of an unkown threat. His expression was blank and betrayed little more than that he was looking at her. "You failed this test Karma. You don't have to continue on your excercise. Come along, please." He said on a harsh tone, and half-turned, waiting for her to follow him.
Remaining silent and not giving up any expressions either, Karma stared at the clone briefly. So she somehow failed so quickly, which was apparently being determined by Kensuke who was watching them with multiple clones. She was tempted to spit at the clone's face for the way it talked to her, which was clearly displeased despite the blank expression it gave her. Not bothering to look in which direction the clone wanted her to go to, Karma continued to walk in the direction of the area from which she came from. She can fail the test a million times for all she cared, if it was performed by Kensuke, then she had no interest in hearing what she did wrong, as she could already figure what it would be. Not cooperating with the teammate, not working towards the goal, letting initial judgements get the best of her. Anything that came from him would only make him appear more of a hypocrite in her eyes.
Kensuke stopped in his tracks and watched Karma go. "Are you sure that this is what you want to do?" The clone asked. When Karma further ignored him Kensuke shrugged. "Well. Your mind seems made up." He said, and continued walking towards another exit.
After several more minutes of walking in the silence of the forest, Karma reached the edge of it. Looking around for a moment, she spotted Kensuke still standing near the exit that they initially came from. She avoided looking at him at length, going to grab her backpack and putting it properly on her back, before turning to look towards the Nimatsu again. She actually had no idea if this Kensuke was also a clone or not, but at the end of it, did it really matter? Sighing, she figured that it most likely didn't as she approached him "You told us to come here once the mission is finished, you didn't specify if it had to end in success or failure." She said to him.
"I didn't. Well. You're free to go if you think that that's a good decision." He said on a neutral tone with a whiff of the shoulder to acknowledge her point. "Remember that there won't be any more chances after this one though. This is the end of the line for you." He added on a casual tone that belied the message his words carried.
She couldn't help but slightly raise an eyebrow on his remark. No more chances? The end of the line? She didn't know that she was even on the edge of the line. As far as she knew, she had commited something wrong before, was punished severely, and then, if she recalled correctly what the Jounin Commander told her, she was told to get some free days off while Kensuke and Kyoi were told something else might happen, depending on Meilin's situation. No where did she hear anything about her having a last chance, not to mention this sounded like a threat when she approached him, which seemed odd to her.
"I'm still here. No need to threaten me when I approached you instead of just completely walking away from here. I followed the instructions, even if they weren't the clearest." Karma responded in a calm tone in return.
Kensuke raised an eyebrow in momentary confusion while a smile broke through on his face. "That is not a threat. It is just a warning, so you are aware of the consequences of your choices." He said. "If you plan on staying," Kensuke said, motioning towards a few benches nearby. "Then let us sit down and have a talk."
Similarly, a figure Kyoi would easily recognise as Kensuke jumped up to the branch Kyoi was standing on. "The excercise is over. Please follow me." The jounin said with a shrug.
Kyoi had been quietly looking over the area of the woods she was in at the moment, looking for possible locations of this illusive case. Before she could continue to search Kensuke, or at least a clone of him, hopped onto the branch with her and told her the exercise was over. "Aww, really?" She began, sounding quite disappointed. "But we had barely started.... That's a bit of a let down, but if you insist. I remember what you told me, but I hoped she would give co-operation a chance." Kyoi would hop down out of the tree and head towards the exit, as per Kensuke's orders.
Group B
Walking Meilin thought about how to go at it. The other pair had a Hyuuga. Meaning that they had an advantage. Unless Madoc had some kind of ability to spot or sense anything like a silver case? Thinking about it, she wondered why she should care? This was a team building training, right? So the desired result was to bond and understand your fellow team member much better. Unless it was needed to be done through fighting but Meilin didn't see any need for that. Even with being promoted to chuunin she knew her limits hadn't changed. That took more than just a promotion. That needed time and effort.
As Madoc spoke up, Meilin turned her head towards him. Realising something she would pull down her hoodie before speaking back to the Yamanaka. This time deciding to speak in the common tongue.
"Heh, sorry if I am not that great with it. It is part of... my education. Something, nothing really that interesting," she waved verbally off, "Hope you won't mind but I am not going to do much. This is a team building training and judging by the factors and variables," she shrugged, "I don't really find myself motivated to compete with another team when we can just talk, you know?"
Then he spoke through her mind and she frowned. It remained silent for a moment before Meilin would 'think': "And how about we don't read my mind? I don't even know how you pull it off but I am not growing comfortable with somebody that I don't know messing around in my head. Can I also mess around with your mind by any chance?"
Hearing what she said through her mind he laughed a bit before giving a shrug. "Sorry force of habit. I'll stop messing around in your mind though, the others however is another story." Madoc would state as he pondered on what to talk about with this woman, moving his pendant around in between his index and thumb he would speak once more. "Yeah kind of an odd teamwork building exercise if you ask me. Seems more like you would need to improve your relationship with the Hyuuga than myself, but hey I'm no jounin maybe he knows something I don't... So." he stopped for a second as he looked at her. "I could teach you how to mess around with others minds. Its not a Yamanaka technique so its possible for you to learn it. Yet want to explain what the whole situation is? Rather not risk my life for a team thats trying to sabotage each other."
Glad that he wouldn't continue to mess with her mind, Meilin wondered if this would really be the end. It seemed like a powerful ability to just enter somebody's mind and start to 'speak' there. When he stated that it was another story with the others, Meilin couldn't resist a soft snickering for a second. As they continued to walk at a casual pace into the woods, the Cho would just shove her hands back into her pockets.
"It is really odd. Nimatsu doesn't mean it in a bad way and probably tries to get a view of what we are capable. But I am not going to fight people who wanted me listed as a missing-nin. I don't think I will be able to best them but if I will see the chance, I might not hold back at breaking a few ribs or a spine..."
Her voice trailed off as if it was almost a promise.
"And I would like that. Seems really nifty. I won't ask, though, where you learn such an ability. Anyways, for the whole situation?"
Meilin would shrug before she continued.
"Nimatsu is... not somebody who I get along with. I respect him but during the last mission, some statements and behaviour didn't sit well with me. I expect from anybody to respect another clan and culture. To then wave a people off as... well, off, for not being able to understand their ways while they try to pay their respect to you? Yeah, not really making me excited. Then there is Karma," Meilin's nose wrinkled, "She tries to be my friend. But I am not sure if I am willing to trust her yet. I am not going to just trust any of them after learning that they were close to list me off as a missing-nin, cause they don't know the word 'wait for me'," Meilin explained as her voice betrayed that she was quite irritated by that fact.
"That Hyuuga? Don't know her but don't care or trust her. And that is it. They will tell you something else probably. That I ran off twice by now and did things my way. Which, surprisingly, proved much more effective than anything they tried. Both in Keishi and in the clan lands of the Sarutobi."
Listening to her he couldn't help but smile as he placed his hand behind his head. "Break all the ribs you want. perferably not mine. Besides if were being real with each other. I can just use my sensory and see where those two are at any point. Unless they both know how to camoflauge their chakra that is anyway. That and with what I can do. This doesn't really seem like something I want to invest any energy into if it won't be worth my time." Madoc would tell the Cho before going on to listen to the situation from her words. Not before adding his words in about the mind reading. "Ahh smart girl. Wouldn't have found out where either. Will say this though, its useful against fellow mind readers."
So from what she said, the sensei was rather ignorant of other cultures and clans? Well sounded like he would be fun to deal with in the future. Then the little brat that found his name odd, was trying to befriend Meilin which was admirable. Yet in the current situation wouldn't work out very well, with what she was accused of. She was even honest that their story would be different and how so. Yet apparently her running off got the desired results. "Well sounds like you have the right idea. In the end it isn't about bonds, nor about what you were told to do. The end result is whats most important. If you have to lie, cheat and steal to get that result. Then you screw over the world to get that result."
Could he use sensory ninjutsu? Meilin instantly thought of the risks and problems that could come when there would be another mission or time she wanted to bring success instead of just following team 7 around. She had found it easy to escape from the likes of Kensuke and Kyoi's dojutsu. But a sensor was the next step, she figured.
"I guess I should invest time and effort to learn how to repel mind readers. Never crossed me before how dreadful it could be to have somebody just snoop around in my mind. No offence, even though it sounds and seems great and nifty, it isn't when you're on the other side. So, if you wish to teach me, then I am willing to spend some time. Not sure what I could teach you back in return. My skills are..."
Meilin paused for a moment as she cupped her chin with her left hand.
"Unorthodox, I guess? Something like that."
His last comment did cause her to frown slightly.
"Don't say that too loud in this team. Before you know it then we will have a missing-nin and witchhunt going. And I am sure being hunted down as missing-nin sucks, but doubt that a witch will more pleasant."
"Well thats the time with the technique, its meant to invade your privacy without you knowing about it. As such not a lot of ways to counter it. So far I can already tell trying to take your mind from you will prove difficult. So you can rejoice in that much." Madoc stated hinting that her will could prove in making any of his Yamanaka techniques more difficult to pull off for an extended period of time. Yet when she said she wasn't sure what to teach him in return, as she stated her skills were unorthodox, he didn't really seem curious or put off by the thought. although her comment about a hunt for a missing-nin and witchhunt did cause a smirk.
"I doubt we will want that going on. As for your unorthodox methods well..... I got them as well. Yet I must say since you mentioned witch hunt. Do you believe in those rumors to be true? The rumors of Mind Seekers? I'll trust your word without snooping."
Listening to Madoc, Meilin wondered if that was all to blockade and prevent people from reading her mind. There had to be more, right? She decided that it would be perhaps interesting indulge into that once Madoc would teach her the basics. The idea to be able to invade and learn what the other person's mind was occupied with, was quite fascinating. And probably made things much easier.
When Madoc mentioned that he had some unorthodox methods, Meilin just tilted her head slightly. She couldn't help but wonder what kind of methods he had that seem to differ from the usual. Then again, he was able to infiltrate minds, which was far from usual. The question on if she believed the rumours about Mind-seekers made Meilin briefly look up as she thought about how to phrase her answer.
"I am not certain. I suppose they could have some truth but I don't that awful lot about your clan and culture. I know some bit of Yakimara to save myself in a not too complicated talk. But about the rumours, I have heard?"
Shrugging lightly, Meilin would remain silent for a second.
"I suppose that I am a bit wary from what I have heard about Mind-seekers. Though leaving a part of your soul in that of somebody else doesn't really align what I was raised up with. In my culture," she frowned slightly, "It would be a bit hard to leave your soul behind in that of another. I doubt that the gods and ancestors can welcome half a soul or something like that."
Well her being honest was a refreshing change of pace, here Madoc was ready to snoop her mind if she said she didn't believe any of them. That was the typical line most said when the one they were cautious about, would then ask them about. The words say one thing but your mind speak the truth. Yet she was upfront which was rather nice to him. Maybe he could teach her the basics of Mind reading afterall, possibly also help that broken Yakimara of hers. It was nice but also a bit hard to fix.
"Yeah speaking of Yakimara real fast, I can also help you there. No offense as its a nice gesture from you and all, yet you could do with some.... improvement."
Her comment on leaving part of his soul in others was the go to fear from most people. "Hahaha that ones a classic. Helps get you out of conversations you don't want to be part of. I can say that from what I know, that it is just a rumor. Who knows for sure though? Maybe I already implanted part of my soul in somebody. Maybe a Hon. Maybe a Tokugawa? Maybe Im working my way into planting my soul into someone on this team.... Okay I'm not that desperate."
When he brought up first about Yakimara, Meilin could already guess that it was about that she could use some more help. Which she didn't really like. The idea was nice and helpful but it also made it clear that she wasn't great in speaking and phrasing sentences in the other language. Deciding that the gesture was nicer and more plausible than her wary thoughts Meilin would just flash a smile and nod.
"I wouldn't say no to some more help. I have to say that Yakimara sounds so... cheerful. Friendly. I have to ask, do you prefer to talk in Yakimara or in another language?"
Just a rumour? An awful lot of rumours tend to have the nasty trait that they held some truth to them. But it was a bit of a relieve to hear that it was a rumour from Madoc.
"Guess that it must be one lucky girl or boy, huh?" Meilin said, with a growing smirk on her lips, "I suppose that you have to insert your 'soul' into a victim one way or another. Though I rather keep my body and soul for myself. I have no clue in what you believe but it would be quite confusing for you to be like," she thought about a fitting term, "Having your soul melted to mine when I would travel to the afterlife. Then again," the eyes of Meilin half closed as she nudged Madoc.
"Perhaps Kyoi or Karma wouldn't mind having some 'soul wrestling' going on, eh? Hehehe," nudging him again Meilin would snort back a laughter about her own 'joke'.
Thinking upon her question he had to amdit even he wasn't so sure. His parents taught him the basics of Yakimara but in the end it was down to him and his own studies to further it. In fact Cai taught him the language he was speaking with Meilin right now. Must have been difficult as hell getting past the unknown language for her. Thinking about her caused him to frown slightly before shaking his head.
" Yakimara was my first language but in a way this one has a special meaning to me as well. So I honestly have no favorites, yet if we go off how they sound then Yakimara by a landslide."
She was making jokes now so that was a plus. "Hey now souls dont judge. I think I would make a pretty girl if I say so myself." yet as she continued speaking it began to sound more... risque. Although she said she rather keep her body and soul as it would be confusing to go to the afterlife. She was probably hiting at this Akumu's Hall. "It would also most likely be frowned upon. Im sure they have ways of kicking out unwanted guests."
Then she said something that caused him to frown at her. "Didn't I just say I wasn't that desperate? Besides one looks like they are eleven, and your favorite seems like the stick up their ass type."
"Interesting," Meilin mumbled as she thought about it. She preferred speaking and hearing Chonobi above everything else. But that was more because it reminded her of another time in her life. Who didn't say that it was somewhat similar to Madoc and others?
"I do have to agree. Though I have a way to go to make myself sound better in Yakimara, I wager."
Then she couldn't hold back any laughter when he mentioned himself being able to be a pretty girl. Her outburst could potentially alert the others where they were but who cared? She wasn't planning to involve herself in any form of combat, over what again? A small silver case.
"You mean my favourite? I do suppose that the reference of the stick can be applied to both. Then again I rather not indulge myself in how Hyuuga's," Meilin's nose wrinkled, "Chose their partners. And about the other? No clue either. She stated to me she wants to learn and understand other cultures. Perhaps you could do some good for the Yakimara, hehe?"
Well he found her go to humor, if it was insulting her allies then she seemed way more energetic about speaking. Although he could do without wondering how the Hyuugas found their incest partner. Wait the little one wanted to learn and understand other cultures better? Well then she better keep learning. "Are you sure? Maybe you should take one for the team and have some girl talk with the Hyuuga. Figure it out. As for the other one. Lesson one would be not finding others names unusual. My name is rather common in Yamanaka lands. In fact I've known four Madoc's"
Continue walking Meilin thought of something. She could start a fire. Make it expand and basically start to smoke and cough out anybody foolish enough to keep standing in there. Unless somebody was capable of water release. Then again, against a big forest fire, there would be a big need of water. And moulding lot of chakra into 'water' had to be exhausting. Where just starting to lighten some fires was quite easy. It would take some patience to see the fire grow and then some more to wait for others to flock out of the area.
Yet, she wouldn't do such a thing. Not today.
"I doubt that I will be able to have a talk with somebody willing to plunge a dagger in my back without feeling the need to stab them in the face. I doubt that the Hyuuga dojutsu can catch a drawn knife when it is skull deep and tickle the brain," Meilin said in a rather calm tone, "As for Karma? Don't mind it too much. I seriously doubt any of them will respect or invest time and effort to learn much about another clan or culture. Perhaps the smell of ass keeps their heads there."
Warned by the sound of something landing behind them Meilin and Madoc would find Kensuke standing behind them with an expression that betrayed nothing. "You failed this test." Kensuke said and then turned to Madoc directly. "Please follow me, Madoc. Meilin, please wait here until I am back." He said and waited for them to react.
Turning half around, Meilin was already half expecting Kensuke. She would have a calm expression present on her face but had expected him to scold her for her language and what she had told Madoc the newling her thoughts of the team. The mere words of failing the test caused Meilin to place her hands on her hips and awaiting what would happen. Probably she should feel guilt or bad in some manner but she wouldn't. If anything she had managed to create a start of a bond with Madoc, so she considered that it was just the fact that they hadn't been looking for the silver case.
"Okay," Meilin said slowly as a frown formed on her brow. Throwing a sideways glance, Meilin nodded towards the Yamanaka and would utter just one word.
"Communicate."
Having said the word Meilin wondered if it would be possible to keep that thought communication with Madoc ongoing. Walking to a nearby tree Meilin would just cross her arms and lean against the vegetation. She was slightly curious and wondering for a moment what she would get to hear. Probably nothing all too good but she would mentally shrug it off and consider what she would do after this 'team training'.
Just as he was about to respond back to Meilin, Kensuke would appear behind them and instantly tell both of them that they had failed the test. Well no shit, were they even trying to pass it? Yet what now put a frown on his face was him singaling him out and telling Meilin to stay. Was there something he did differently than Meilin? With what he knew so far, they both were just chatting away not bothering with the test. As Meilin accepted he raised an eyebrow at her as he heard the next word she said. Making sure to look confused a message would enter her head. "Your words not mine." He then looked at Kensuke and pointed forth with his hand, as if to tell him to go ahead and lead the way.
