Naruto Fantasy (AU) : The Rise of the New Generation

[Oblivion666]

[fieldbox="Sanosuke's Live!, plum, solid"]

A collab made by Alice and Zane
Summary: We insult each other.... a lot.​

Another day, another boring time spent in this stupid tent. The least that stupid slut of a nurse could do was allow her some time to walk around outside, yet nooooo she might push herself and open up her leg again. If it opened up it just meant the nurse did a shitty job. Being stuck in the tent almost made her want to be kidnapped forcefully, it at least let her do something besides lay down and hear the pained sounds from all her comrades. The nurse also kept her under tight supervision as every time she tried to get out by herself, they would just bring her back every time. Lucky medics should be thankful she doesn't pound their heads in, yet she needs them to do their job. So she would stare at the top of the tent, hoping that if she stared long enough it would bore her into sleep.

It was faint, but would grow in volume. The marching of boots, the sound of metal equipment and the instructions of a harsh voice didn't really make it through the canvas, but it was enough to cause the nurse inside of the tent to look at the entrance. The flap went open to reveal that a small group of elite troops were standing outside. One of them would head inside, look around for a moment and let his gaze rest on Miu. Nodding towards the genin, the man spoke that she was to come with them. The nurse shot up and started to bring up her arguments on that it wouldn't be wise. The man, however, ignored her ranting and pointed at Miu, ordering her on a strict tone to come with them if she was able to walk herself. Already two more elite troopers came in, likely ready to carry Miu if she wasn't able to walk herself.

The usual sound of the anvil sounded a bit different, also more in order as well. In fact listening more closely it sounded like multiple people were right outside the tent. Which proved correct when the flap opened up with some elite troops outside. One who would enter and would look around before stopping on her and ordering her to follow. She didn't even wait for the nurse to finish arguing, Miu was already getting up on her feet. Putting some pressure on her one leg too see if it would be fine. The man would order her again to follow them to which she frowned. "No need to tell me twice, I'm already up." She grumbled as she judged herself to be able to walk fine enough, and would follow her "escort".

The nurse tried to continue arguing, but the soldier who had first appeared in the tent sneered that he was serving under command of commander Jun. The nurse glared at the troopers as they would walk with Miu outside the medical tent. Once outside she would be in the company of a dozen troopers. Armed to the teeth and looking both grim as ready for anything. The man who had spoken first instructed Miu to remain in their formation as they started to head off. Instead of going towards the tent where Satoshi was located they headed slightly different. To another tent that was guarded by half a dozen of elite troopers. Given the instruction to head in, they would take up a position around the tent to bar anybody access into the same tent. Inside the tent, it was quite dark, in stark contrast to outside. There wasn't any candle lit or another measure to bring in some light from the outside. A figure was present, but due to the lack of the light, it was probably hard for Miu to recognize the person. Until the person spoke up.

"Weird, you're still as ugly as before. Heard of that a group got ambushed. Two people got the nick of Slayer. Yet when I heard that such a pipsqueak as you were in all of that," for a moment Asami became silent as she scoffed lightly, "What will your father say when he hears that his little runt managed to fight on the first rows?"

Under the command of sensei? He needed her for something, couldn't he just visit her like he did last time? Well she was getting out of the tent that's all she cared about. She was told to remain within their formation which caused her to grumble under her breath before being led in a different direction than Satoshi's tent. Which she would know if she wasn't stuck in that tent all the time, so she felt they were still on their way. Yet such an escort felt out of place even for the commander and when they arrived at the tent, they encircled it like they were hiding a secret. This totally wasn't suspicious at all. So once inside it was pitch black which she started to assume was a practical joke on her. Those troops were so going to get their ass kicked when she marched back outside.

Yet something made her stop, a figure and one that didn't belong to a man of Satoshi's posture. Then the voice spoke up causing Miu to frown. Asami began to belittle her right away which caused her to scoff even when she mentioned father she shook her had at Asami. "Most likely anger followed by pride. What say you? Hiding in the dark like that, must be more hideous than me if you have to hide yourself."

It remained silent for a moment. Asami took a step forward. Even with the faint light in the tent, it would reveal that she was leaning on her right leg and her right arm being covered in bandage. "I would love some light. Think that you would be amazed," taking another step forward Asami would be now be out of the dark of the tent. Revealing that her left leg was being dragged over the ground as some contraption would hold it firm in place, probably to speed up the healing process. There were various stitches present at the right side of her neck. Scoffing she raised her chin slightly up. "Seems you finally found your tongue. Was worried you would lose it in the company of weaklings. So," Slowly taking a seat in one of the two chairs in the tent Asami continued, "Is it true then? You fought, bled and endured on the front rows of a battle? How many lives did you take before you got disabled?"

She would be amazed? What was Asami going on about now? As her cousin came further into her view, she saw her leg stuck in a contraption as it was dragged behind her, she also had some wound on her neck. Miu smiled slightly but it turned into a smirk as she folded her arms, listening to her cousin's words as she would sit down wondering if it was true that she fought, bled and endured at the front. Then wondered how many lives she took before being disabled. Miu would remain silent before taking a seat as well, looking at Asami a hallucination of those ambush men appeared before her but just a few this time. They just stood right behind Asami, to which Miu shook her head a bit. "My legs less fucked up than yours, but yes. I fought on the front lines, I watched them die. I watched comrades die. As for how many...." Miu would trail off as she would look at the fake illusions behind Asami counting them out in her mind. "About ten I believe."

Miu would then raise her pant leg a bit showing the scar where her leg was almost lopped off, and moving her hair out of the way to show another scar on the side of her face. "So you heard about my fight, what about yours?"

Asami frowned upon hearing the story. She had always imagined Miu to be less fierce. More comfortable and capable at home. Though not having been able to teach her niece much, due to various factors when she had been under her command, Asami couldn't help but snicker. "Ten? I am both surprised that you held it out for so long and are able to count. Less fortunate of your legs, that is for sure. Probably should be lucky you still have them, you idiot" she paused before she continued, "Suppose I should be glad that you made it out. Probably some beginner's luck. As for my fight," the grin vanished from Asami's face, "That one is classified. Did much better than ten, that is something I can share. Apparently I am too tough to drown either. That or the sharks don't like to eat some real tough meat," a chuckle escaped Asami as she leaned back on her seat.

For a moment she just locked her gaze on Miu. "I am and never was the best teacher. Suppose that I should have invested more in teaching you instead of focusing on my own objectives," she said on a slightly softer tone, "Wish I could do something now, but as you can see," gesturing to her injured leg and arm Asami shook her head, "Not to mention I don't intend to stick around here. Already heard that there is a platoon of Kusanagi present. If those mounts of their didn't stink enough, their food certainly will deter me from staying too long in this camp."

Well she wasn't wrong, she was pretty lucky that she could still walk. Yet she couldn't tell if she was happy or not, was hard to tell over the insults flung her way every now and then. Although she didn't mind them, she could dish them back just as hard. It would just be too easy though. Yet she frowned slightly that she couldn't explain how her fight went trying to cover it up with tough talk. "Could be you smelled." Miu stated back not buying into that bravado.

Then she started getting more emotional on her which caused Miu to remain silent as she spoke. Asami would then say she didn't plan on staying long trying to add humor to the situation by belittling the Kusangi a bit. This caused Miu to sigh a bit. "Don't go worrying about the past, makes you look weak. Something you don't want associated with your title and all. Besides I survived and I will always keep surviving, have faith in your cousin. Were Sanosuke we make any of our foes look like bitches right?"

"Probably. Greatness is a strong scent, I fear," Asami replied back with a small smile, She would shift her weight before continuing. "It isn't much worrying as it happened before. I trained somebody else. A nephew. Not a Sanosuke, but he died in a rather pitiful manner. Wouldn't be much fun if I would lose a bitchy niece that just has earned her battle scars." Becoming silent for a moment Asami would take a deep breath in and sigh. "Anyways, that was more or less all. Was wondering how you were holding up. Unless you have anything interesting to share. I might be going soon back home to see what kind of ruckus is happening there."

She trained a nephew who died? How come she never knew about this, she would have thought her parents told her about all her cousins. Maybe he wasn't truly related then to her family. "Then it's a good thing you can keep having your fun then. I don't plan on dying in my first ever fight, nah i'll croak in bed at a good age of seventy or so." When Asami stated that was all as she was just wondering how she was. She mentioned heading home to see the kind of ruckus going on. "Nothing really that interesting. The commander is my new sensei, one of my superiors is an albino Hojo, and the other teammate has so far kidnapped me several times from the medical tent. Other than that, not much of interest has happened. That tends to happen when you get stuck in a tent." She paused for a bit before speaking again. "If you do head home, can you tell mom and dad that I'm fine? Those worry wort don't need to go having a heart attack thinking I'm on death rows constantly."

Scoffing in an amused way as she heard what Miu's planned death was, Asami did frown on hearing that Miu was serving underneath a Hojo. It was probably because she felt more aligned with the Sanosuke, for good reasons, that she was wary of the Hojo. "Satoshi is a good man. Do watch his back when I am gone. Good men often die fast in battle," Asami replied, while not reacting on the fact that Miu had a team member who 'kidnapped' her. It seemed that was perhaps an affair that wasn't any of her business. The request of Miu made Asami think for a second. "I will see what I can do, okay?"

"Haha I'll do my best there, might be hard if he positions me away from him during combat. That just means I'll have to kill them so they don't get near him I suppose." Miu said laughing a bit yet hearing that Asami would see what she could do was enough for her. She gave a smile and a nod, before frowning a bit. "I'm.... going to have to go back to the medical tent after this. Aren't I?"

"I suppose you will have to. Just watch your left and strike hard with your right. That usually tends to work for me," Asami half-joked back. The question this time made Asami grin as she nodded slowly. "There has to be a difference. If you were as important and great as me then you would have your own elite troops to command around and an own tent. But seeing you're not that means you're going back. Unless you have anything interesting to say, I would recommend to do it now if you don't yet want to go back."

"Oh throwing your position around, oh how the mighty have fallen to rank. Sadly I have nothing interesting to say, unless you want to spend a large portion of our time slinging insult back each other. Then trust me I have a lot to say." Miu would then stand up and stretch her arms a bit and smile at her cousin. "Try not to drown going home."

"I wager you would. Perhaps once you get back home we will continue. It has been some time since some little pipsqueak could amuse me doing so," Asami replied back as she clicked with her tongue. On the sound the flap of the tent's entrance was pushed away by one of the elite troopers. The man glanced inside as he would take a step back while holding the flap away for Miu. "I will do my best. Just see to it that you won't be burried underneath too many corpses, pipsqueak."

"Guess I have another reason to head home then." She said as she began walking to the exit where the elite troops were waiting for her. Hearing Asami's comment made her wave. "And not kill them all? No deal. Our comrades will just have to unbury me from all my defeated enemies." With that said she would leave the tent and frown all the way back to the medical tent.[/fieldbox]

 

[Jessie Targaryen]

[fieldbox="Stealth Training, magenta, solid, 10, Tahoma"]
A collab between Lesli and Jason

Summary: Following the events of the street fight, Aiko and Tomiko head off to do some training and it all ends with some tears.

---

Making students cry is usually a good ending

As she was heading away from the site where Hiraku and Neji were getting arrested, Aiko detected somebody once more approaching her. Hearing Tomiko's question Aiko thought about it for a second. There was a chance that Neji and Hiraku would have to spend a night or longer in jail. Something that didn't longer concern Aiko. Seeing how the mission was going and that there were still members on the operation who considered that they could just do matters or forget what happened or what their tasks were she was no longer going to care about their health. Throwing a look sideways at the genin, she couldn't state that she had expected the genin to follow her. Probably because Hiraku was her clan leader and brother, making Aiko expect Tomiko to dive into the problematic situation that had rose up. Shifting her gaze back in front she would wait at the edge of the rooftop they were on.

"With everything considered, suppose that I need to wait for some information. So probably should see if I can't teach you something," Aiko replied, knowing that it was probably phrased as if she was bored or annoyed. Well, the second was quite true, but she would focus on the fact that she could perhaps see if she couldn't shape the genin back into line. "Just follow me," she instructed Tomiko, descending from the rooftop.

---

The training facility. It was a good concept that Aiko was thankful for. Only ironic that it had originated in Amegakure, seeing all the recent events, but as she would arrange a field for her and Tomiko to train she noticed that it wasn't as occupied or busy as it was in Konohagakure. Probably due to the last event with the riots that made most shinobi being more careful to train or head somewhere that people expected them to go to. Managing to get a field Aiko would lead Tomiko into the facility until they arrived at the site. A simple field of dry dirt. "Alright, so what did Hayate teach you so far?" Aiko decided to ask as she would roll with her shoulders.

Hearing the way Aiko seemed to be annoyed, Tomiko felt it better just to keep quiet and follow after her for the rest of the way to the training facility. Sure, she had questions; such as what would happen to Hiraku. Frankly she couldn't make herself care too much about the Uchiha. Not after he screwed up, and certainly not since Sayuri was missing. Tomiko had, in the brief time they had been on the same time, found herself actually becoming decent friends with the Uchiha. So to have her suddenly missing... that hurt.

She was still slightly lost in her thoughts when they arrived at the training field and Aiko asked a question. Looking up, she remained silent for a few seconds as she thought about the question. "Hayate-sensei tried to teach us a little bit about teamwork, and he was working with me on how to handle myself at close quarters. He didn't really get to work with me that much, being so busy with everything going on. Miss Saki was also working on taijutsu with me, and briefly taught me about tactics in the field." She said quickly, thinking back to what she had learned from those two.

Saki? Aiko wondered if it was the same Saki that had been best friends with Kaname and was an old student of Zakito. But that wasn't the point of her question, so she wouldn't bring up her curiousity. It was slightly disappointing that Hayate hadn't been able to train Tomiko as Aiko had a high opinion of the Hyuzu teen. Then again, there were logical factors that played into the part that he probably hadn't been able to train or mentor Tomiko as much as Aiko wished he had. "Very well," Aiko said as she would think about something, "It is a start, so that isn't something to complain about. If I remember it correctly, you specialise on archery, no?"

Giving a slight nod, Tomiko replied to the question. "Yes Ma'am. Though I doubt I am as good as others who focus on archery, I can still shoot pretty well. She said, wondering what it was that they would be going over today. As she was silent, the girl absentmindedly began twirling one of the metal bolts for her wristbow in her fingers. A nervous habit she had picked up recently, and wasn't quite sure from where she had picked it up.

"Okay. Problem is that I am not an expert on archery. So I can't really be much of aid to be a benefit for you in that field. What I will try to teach you today is a bit of tactics and stealth play, so to say," Aiko replied as she would pause for a second, "Considering the last few events, I think that a cautious and more stealthy approach is needed to bring this operation to a decent success. So far we can consider it a success with the loss that we already suffered." The last sentence came a bit bitter out as Aiko would raise her left hand to brush briefly through her hair. "Anyways, can you perhaps think of something how to be decent at stealth?" The jounin asked, shoving her left hand into the pocket of her pants.

"My first thoughts would be not doing anything particularly noticable or out of place. Such as using ninjutsu or being obvious in your attempts to hide. Just.... not things that catch the eye." Tomiko said, thinking about it for a moment. She remembered doing the mission with Koike, and the few things he had taught her as well. Though that was mostly to just stay out of sight and not be partiularly recgonizable.

"That is correct," Aiko answered back to Tomiko, "So that means I won't need to explain that to you. Good," she let out a soft sight as she considered what next step would now be taken. Considering what she could remember from reading the profile of Tomiko before that they had departed on this mission Aiko decided that it was perhaps a good time to test out something. "Suppose that I will try out what kind of tactics you deploy as I will take away some senses over time," the jounin explained as she would create a good distance between them both, "The goal is quite simple. I want you to land a hit on me, with your fists or legs. Not ninjutsu, though you're free to use that. You have around five minutes to be successful. Any questions before we start?"

Hearing what the challenge was, Tomiko frowned and looked down at the ground. Seems like we may be acquainted again soon, ground. She thought as she recalled her track record on these types of training; hitting the ground pretty hard. "No ma'am. Ready when you are." She said quietly, wondering to herself how this might help with learning about how to be stealthy.

"I am ready," Aiko said, but she didn't seem to be doing anything. Just focusing her attention on Tomiko, the jounin would wait patiently for the genin to try a first move. It was already considered futile to use some of her genjutsu or water techniques to hide right away from the genin. Not to mention that it wouldn't really bring out a desired result if she would just attempt to overwhelm Tomiko. There was little doubt that she could take the genin on, but hopefully that wouldn't dissuade Tomiko to try out a tactic.

Tomiko was now even more confused about the excercise than she had been before. Was she supposed to try to hide from Aiko in a literal open field, especially when they were currently looking at each other. Fists or legs only as well. So no relying on the wristbow to help out. She thought for a few moments. Free to use Ninjutsu. Perhaps something flashy might just be the answer here. She thought to herself, hoping she wasn't about to make a total fool of herself. As such, the girl stepped forward slightly while beginning to mould her chakra, a hand dipping into her pouch to close around some smoke bombs.

Aiko would just wait. Spotting that the genin moved a hand to the smoke bombs, the right eyebrow of the woman perked slightly up. Starting to suppress her chakra Aiko would roll with her shoulders for a moment as she would start to walk slowly towards Tomiko. Her right hand went down, towards her kunai pouch, as she seemed rather relaxed about the current objective.

Tomiko knew she didn't have long, not once Aiko had started moving towards her. As she grabbed the smoke bombs, the genin also quickly felt and snatched one of the few flash tags she kept in her pouch. However, she rolled that in her palm in the hopes Aiko wouldn't notice. Taking a deep breath, the genin tried to look as if she were calm. Throwing the two smokebombs down, Tomiko would use the temporary cover to pull out a Kunai and begin tying the flash tag to the end, while moving slightly to side while still remaining in the cover. Ready? She thought silently to herself, preparing to dash back into the open.

Moving into the open, Aiko had a kunai at the ready too. Coughing once she had a slight annoyed expresison on her face for a second. With both now out of the smoke Aiko would flip the kunai into a reversed hold, once more waiting to see what Tomiko would do now. She was wondering what the genin was trying. Perhaps to win some time or see if she could create an opening to exploit from?

The genin, upon seeing Aiko, threw the Kunai in a quick movement. Aiming the weapon so it would miss, but hopefully pass close to Aiko's face. As she watched, the girl continued to move and prepared to activate the flash tag at the moment it was close enough.

Noticing the kunai, Aiko would step forwards while leaning away so that the kunai would pass her. Readying her own kunai, the jounin was preparing to kick up the the pace to make a dash towards the genin once she would avoid the kunai.

Making a quick handsign, Tomiko activated the Flash tag in hopes to temporarily blind Aiko. The genin averted her gaze at the moment she detonated to hopefully avoid blinding herself. But, she would begin to move, as silent as she could while still hoping to close distance. Moving towards Aiko's right side to try to take advantage of the flash.

Her eyes widened slightly as the genin was about to activate something. Her eyes narrowed and shot towards the kunai, just spotting the tags. Clearly from the brief moment that it was visible the surprised expression would shift into an annoyed one before the light would blind her. As the flash died out the woman was holding her right hand at her face, rubbing her eyes. "Heh, darn it," holding the kunai in her other hand Aiko shook lightly with her head. It certainly didn't help, but she realised that she had to take quick action or else...

Hoping to keep Aiko off guard, Tomiko threw two Kunai, in a lazy motion, towards the ground on Aiko's left. Hopefully making noise to draw Aiko's attention that way as the genin moved in and lashed out with a punch towards Aiko's side the moment she grew close enough. It seemed that her attack had worked, and Aiko was blinded. Maybe she wouldn't be acquainted face first into the ground this time around...

The fist of Tomiko neared Aiko, but as it seemed it would connect the fist would travel through the woman. Proving to be intangible the image of Aiko would turn around, however, the kunai at the ready to strike at Tomiko. The problematic situation would only grow worse as a hand out of the shadow of the jounin sprang forth and attempted to grab the genin by the ankle.

Not expecting Aiko to have been, well, intangible; the girl stumbled forward as her attack passed right through the woman. Activating her Byakugan, the girl was confused for the second time in the past few seconds. Seeing as it seemed she had stumbled into Aiko, who even to her Byakugan looked completely real. Byakugan can fail you. Remember what happened with Saki? The girl asked as she noticed the hand clamped around her ankle. A yelp of surprise left her lips as she extended an arm upwards, soon followed by a small jolt of electrcity running through her body into the hand grabbing her ankle.

"Not very stealthy," Aiko would speak up. Sitting up ahead, out of the radius of the girl's dojutsu, the jounin seemed anything but disturbed. Tilting her head to the left she observed the situation as the genin had a brief exchange with the genjutsu clone, who would vanish as Aiko spoke. Waiting for a moment to let the genin recover and realise that she never been in any trouble, but simple said tricked and lured away Aiko would get up. "So instead of going over again, what did you do wrong?"

The moment Aiko spoke up, Tomiko froze as the ones she was dealing with disappeared. It took exactly one second before it dawned on Miko that she had failed. Probably miserably. Her whole face going red, she let her Byakugan deactivate as she looked towards Aiko. "Probably the usage of ninjutsu at the end, or giving an opening for something to happen when I used the smoke bombs. At the beginning, I was trying for something to draw your attention away or get an opening. Seeing as its an open field, standard blending in and staying out of view wouldn't have worked well. At the end, I panicked when I suddenly found myself grabbed, and moving through an intangible opponent." She said, quite embarrassed from screwing up. It was something so small, yet it would've probably cost her much more in a real situation.

The answer seemed to make the jounin somewhat content. "Not entirely correct," she replied back, "It was the purpose that you would try to make it harder for me to catch a read on you. Either on what you were planning or where abouts. That is the whole point of stealth. The harder the situation, the more you need to adapt and make use of certain situations. The only thing you did wrong was that you made a classic mistake. Why would I try to get in close when you just have to land a hit on me? Something that can happen easier when you're at close. Reading your opponents in the heat of battle is a tricky skill, but once you get that done then being stealthy even in a field like this? Well, let's say that it can become quite easy to then make the situation to your liking." Pausing as she thought about something, she couldn't help but remember the chuunin match of Koike. Perhaps the Hyuuga didn't prepare properly for being tricked in a manner against people who didn't have a similar or the same dojutsu? Unlikely, but she couldn't come up with any other conclussion at the moment. "Now that you know this, what would you have done different, Tomiko?"

Nodding as listened to Aiko's explanation, the genin still wore a slight frown in frustration. "For one, I probably would've paid closer attention to your actions. Because it does make no sense that you would try to get closer when I only needed to hit you. Not to mention, I shouldn't have taken a risk such as the smoke bomb where I lost sight of you. Regardless of my Dojutsu, both you and miss Saki have proved that it can be tricked. Furthermore, when the flash tag went off. That should've been a sign, right? I'm not too confident anybody would react that calmly to a flash tag detonating that close to their face." She began, remaining quiet as she thought more. "Basically I would've paid more attention to what was going on. To start off with. Whenever I used the smokebomb, that was likely when I lost track of which the real you. That was whenever I lost track of you." She explained, thinking back to the exercise.

"When I grabbed the smoke bombs, you started coming closer. That's out of character for what was supposed to happen. Instead of using the smoke bombs there, I should've done something to keep hide what I was trying to do, instead of hiding where I was." She said, falling silent at the end and knowing she hadn't quite throughly answered the question. "Sorry. I'm not very experienced." She mumbled quietly, feeling embarrassed again.

Waiting, Aiko heared out what Tomiko gave an answer. It was good that the genin recognised her mistakes, but she hoped that Tomiko wasn't taking it too hard on herself. What was up with genin feeling and thinking that they should be on the same level as the higher ranked shinobi? A second passed after Tomiko concluded her answer before Aiko spoke again. "Would be quite surprised if you were suddenly experienced without many missions under the belt. So, don't take it too hard on yourself. Even if you were experienced, remember that you're taking it up against a jounin. If I wasn't able to make it difficult for you then I wonder why I would even have this rank to begin with." Another pause followed as Aiko considered the next step. It was clear that the current genin on this operation weren't yet up for the grueling task of facing insurgents and zealots. Too bad, however, that she couldn't send them back and get more experienced lot. Though, was it really going to help? A chuunin already had died and so far Hiraku wasn't really contributing more than the present genin. "Just remember. In order to acomplish something, such as stealth or anything, a tactic can be pretty useful. Just consider what you can use, what area you're in and such. Keep thinking and alert."

Giving a nod, Tomiko listened to what she said, though she definitely took it a little hard on herself. Either way, it meant she could improve, something she very much intended to do. "Yes Ma'am. I shall keep that in mind." The girl said, wondering what they would be doing next, and hoping she'd be able to learn as quickly as she needed to. Miko wasn't terribly fond of the feeling that she was holding the others back. She remained quiet for a few moments, watching Aiko as she awaited whatever was next.

"Good. Remember to keep your head at the fight. It is easier said than done, but if you manage then you will notice that it will be easier to face other people in combat," Aiko replied. She paused for a moment. The woman considered that they were done for now. It was better to keep the training short so that the genin wouldn't be too overwhelmed with anything new. "This will be all for today. Unless you have any questions remaining?"

"Just one question, Ma'am. What do I do if the opponent I am up against, or trying to hide from, can sense chakra to some level?" She said, nervously reaching up to scratch the back of her neck. The reasoning behind that question being that Tomiko figured their current enemy had some means of sensing chakra or other methods. The one who had almost attacked her while she was scouting with Koike, for example, had to of sensed her. She hoped Aiko wouldn't be annoyed by the question.

"Then you have to be smarter than the sensor. There isn't always a counter against a counter. If you happen to be tracked down by a sensor then you have to try to set them off. If that doesn't work, then improvise," Aiko replied. She wasn't fond of facing a sensor herself, knowing all too well that experienced sensors could be one of the most annoying foes - even while the majority just disregarded them to be more of supports during fights which involved chakra usage.

"But how can you outsmart them if every move you make can be easily tracked? The guys we are against now..." She began, then trailed off as she started to think she was sounding rather stupid. Frowning slightly, she tried to think of how you would keep an enemy sensor off your trail. "Can't you... hide your chakra somehow? Ms. Saki could, she hid from my Byakugan." Tomiko then added, as the idea popped into her head suddenly.

Hearing the next question and what had caused Tomiko to bring it up made Aiko ponder for a second. "Sometimes you just have to try. Now and then you will be driven into a pinch and then it is just that you have to try it or fight. Even though I am not fond of it, sometimes you have to fight. If a sensor is chasing you and won't get of your track then you have to try something else or face the person. Giving up isn't often an option, so far I know. Hmmm" for a moment Aiko looked away, "It is like what you do when facing a Hyuuga. Your clan has the dojutsu that makes it quite hard to use most genjutsu and cunning tactics. Yet as you noticed a moment ago, it doesn't mean that it is useless to still try it. One of my students was in the Chuunin exams and he pretty much defeated a Hyuuga with one poison bomb and keeping distance. No matter how skilled an opponent is, they are still likely to make rash decisions or mistakes if provoked good enough."

The following question made her waver almost about answering it. "I can suppress my chakra, yes. But it isn't an easy technique. You will need good chakra control and it can feel quite weird. It is the total opposite from what you will be used to when using a technique. I can try to teach you some of the basics later."

Before she could stop herself, the genin spoke up quickly. "Was it Ezuri?" She asked, in a mostly flat tone. She'd hear about his... exploits, from listening in on other conversations when she had lived with the Hyuuga. "Sorry, not my place. But, about what you said earlier. Would it be something like luring them into a sense of security to get them to make a rash decision? As for the technique, I would like to learn the basics, but only if you think it'd be a good idea to teach me." She said, figuring that Aiko had better judgement, given the more experience of the Jounin.

She wouldn't indulge further into the example. For various reasons, such as not being too sure if Ezuri was the boy's name. That and it was a student of Kensuke, so there was probably a big difference from then and now. With Tomiko continue further, Aiko nodded. "That is something yes and not just with any sensory technique or dojutsu," she said, "And okay. I will try to set up a time and way on to try to teach you the basics. Won't be easy and there is always the chance you won't be able to use it. But we can still give it a go, later on." Aiko added as she would wait to see if Tomiko had more questions.

"Thank you ma'am. I hope I won't be too much of a bother, but I would like to ask what is going to happen to Hiraku, if you know." The girl said, changing over to a different subject that been on her mind since the recent events of the streetfight. "Also, if the enemy has a way to listen to our communications, and now knows we are apparently dumb enough to use them, could we use that to our advantage? I know it isn't my place, but I want to try to get Sayuri and Tatsuya back." She said, wondering if she was out of line to suggest something like that.

"Hm? Oh Hiraku," the jounin shrugged, "Probably gaining a fine. He will need to pay it off as the fine will be send towards Konohagakure. We are in a different province, but that won't stop the local police to be able to fine us. Won't be anything small, that is for certain seeing that the riots were just over. Other than that, I suppose that if he gets stuck in jail with Neji then it is their own fault. I am not going to save them from it. Costs too much and honestly," her right eyebrow perked slightly up, "I expected much better from Hiraku. He is the only present chuunin but he is making mistakes that makes me wonder if he will be able to keep his rank at this rate." letting that sink the woman would wait a moment before continuing to answer the second question.

"To be fair, think we already are too late. If the two are still alive, then the Zealots would have tried to set up a trade. From what we have experienced as a whole from them made it clear that they aren't stupid. With so much time passed we can assume safely that Tatsuya and Sayuri are dead. Or worse," she knew that this wasn't fun for Tomiko to hear. Or anybody in particular, but it was the most reasonable outcome. She had some doubt that Tatsuya would be dead as he had something that could serve as a bargain chip. Sayuri on the other hand? Aiko couldn't really conjure any reason on why the Zealots would spare her life.

The response to her first question, made Tomiko frown a little bit. She understood where Aiko was coming from, but still felt an urge to defend her older brother. Though before she could work up anything to say back, Aiko answered the second question. As she spoke, Tomiko's face drained of color rather quickly. The worst aspect of it all being that it made sense when Aiko explained it. "R-right." Was all the girl managed to say, before turning to leave. She muttered something like a thank you to Aiko as she left, but was a bit lost in her own thoughts to really think of much else. Their first mission, and Tomiko was already the only survivor of Team 2. Heading out to return to the barracks, Tomiko hoped she would make it back before anybody noticed her tears.

[/hr][/fieldbox]

 

[Lesli]

[fieldbox=More training, violet]
Tactics actually help?!

A collab between Tim and Les.

Summary :
After the training with Tomiko Hyuuga, Aiko decides to conduct some business. Once done she decides that it might be both useful to kill the time as well for future operations to train the other genin in the group. First, comes Neji, who is being taught the importance of tactics in battle.

[spoili]
The training facility. It wasn't that occupied or hard to manage to get a field. Not many were heading towards the complex and Aiko wasn't too surprised by it as she walked together with Neji. The last riot had likely made many who served in the Imperial shinobi corps less eager to train and test out their abilities together in the facility. Only the confident or stubborn would go without being really wary. That and Godai teams, which made Aiko wonder about the potential plot of making her own team act as a Godai team. The 'freedom' from the growing dislike for shinobi in the city would be quite beneficial but she wasn't so certain if it would be a plan that they could execute. First, they had to wait for the ANBU assigned under her care to be done with doing a sensory and investegation sweep across the city. Which would take some time, which was okay. She could use that time to try to prepare her students better.

Leading Neji into the facility and after some time, dealing with the regulations and showing papers and what not, they arrived in a field that one could perhaps encounter more in the Earth country. A field that had dark brown ground, with large boulders spread over the place. Placing her hands on her hips Aiko inspected the requested field for a moment. "Good. I will not spill any words or thoughts about your performance of the last few days. We both already know it was quite disappointing. But that is why we are here now. Training, but first a warming up," Aiko pointed at various boulders, "Do a few laps around them and then one lap of sprinting. Time to get some blood running."

Neji followed Aiko sensei towards the training ground. It was pretty quiet, most if the shinobi did not seem in the mood to train after the events that have been going on here for the last few days. Neji himself contiuned to think on the mess ups he had recentely. He was thankful though that Aiko sensei was still willing to train him. He really needed this after the events of the last few days.

Neji nodded his head as he heard Aiko sensei talk about his performance the last few days. Neji agreed with what she had to say which is why he asked her for training. " Yes Aiko sensei." Neji stretched out a bit and then started running around the training field. Whenhe got to the last lap he sprinted the entire thing. He got back to Aiko sensei " Okay I am ready Aiko sensei."

Waiting for Neji to be done Aiko would speak up once he came back. "Good. Today we will be working on various aspects of your skill. I would have requested a meeting with Hiron to ask what he had managed to pass on or what he considered you lacking. Can't judge enough from just how you performed on this mission alone. Mostly because it would lead to conclussions that might not be entirely accurate," she explained, "So instead we will just work on some of the basics and see how far we will get. First is quite simple. You need to know what is important and when. So it might seem a bit dull, but I am going to question and talk about various topics. You have to give me an answer and now then have to make a choice. Do realise, however, that you're still a genin. Mistakes will be made and that is okay. You learn more from mistakes than success. Really," pausing to let the briefing sink in, Aiko would start with the first question.

"You have to choose between a member of your clan or a civilian. If you choose one, the other will die. No more details or facts will alter the outcome, you have to make such a decision and, of course, elaborate on why you picked the option."

Neji listened to what Aiko sensei had to say. Yes it did sound rather boring but it made sense as she didn't really know too much about him yet. Neji thought on the question "should I save my clan member or a civilian." Neji thought on that for a moment before he gave his answer. " Well I would have to say that I should save the civilian. I love my clan but we are soldiers of the akino empire and our first priorty should be to make sure the civilians are safe from harm. Neji looking back to Aiko sensei to see if that was correct or not.

"You're soldiers of the Akinian empire," Aiko repeated slowly. She took a second to let that sink in as she did want to make Neji think about his own words. "From what I know so far is that no clan is entirely made up or focused on having their members being part of the military or trained in martial arts or combat. It is rather simple, cause there isn't a need for a farmer to know how to wield a sword, bow or spear. A person who works or has a store or restaurant doesn't need to know what double envelopments means or needs to know how to face against an opponent unarmed. The Uchiha clan is one of the promiment and powerful clans of the Empire to date, that is also a fact, but you need to remember Neji that not every Uchiha, Sarutobi, Hon, Cho or any member of a clan is capable of providing themselves. I am glad that you realise that our priority is to safeguard the health and security of the civilians of the empire, but remember that a member of a clan in Akino, is still a civilian of the empire." Speaking slow and calm she hoped that he would realise that the question was slightly rigged and would learn from it. Hopefully, he would also remember that he was still a genin and that making a mistake like he just had was fine. That was what training was for, after all.

"Okay, next one. You have to choose between supporting Konohagakure or Amegakure. For some reason your help will make a decisive turn and saves one city and dooms the other," Aiko asked, knowing that this wasn't any easier than the previous question.

Neji listening to Aiko thought about what she said. Everyone is a civilian in the empire, and some members of the prominent clans are not trained so,divers and can't protect themselves. Neji realized that the question was rigged a little bit but now understood what Aiko sensei was trying to say. He nodded at her after she was done explaining letting her know that he understood what she was saying.

The next question she asked was Neji had to pick to either support and save Konohagkaure or support and save Amegakure. Neji looked down to the ground and thought for a moment, "well it seemed obvious that you would have to save Konohagakure. It was the capital after all and that is where the empress and the majority of the government was. Also a majority of the population was there, but if what Aiko sensei said earlier held true then this question was a little bit rigged as well" After thinking to himself for a moment he looked back up at Aiko sensei. " well this question is a bit rigged as well but if I had to chose once city then it would be Konohagakure. From a strategic standpoint the city is more important than Amegakure. The empress and most of the empire's government are in Konohgakure. Also a majority of the population is there as well, and from a personal standpoint that is where my clan is."

"Hmm," she took a second before she would reply. "There is obviously a wrong and a right with both answer's. It is true that Konohagakure is the centrum of the empire. Where the higher ups of the realm are located at and from where major decisions and decrees are made for the provinces, such as the Rain and thus Amegakure. Also can understand the personal standpoint. While my clan isn't just in Konohagakure, my family resides in the imperial capital. The problem, however," she said, "Is that Konohagakure's population isn't the majority of the empire. It is one of the largest cities but I doubt it will be even close to one fifth of the realm. The point of the question was to make you think about your duty. I know, of course, that you value and love your clan. Your family is an Uchiha and it is thus easy to understand and guess that you would pick Konohagakure. On the other hand, Amegakure is as important as Konohagakure is in terms of strategic value. It is here, in Amegakure, where the Fourth Division central command is located. The western shield and line of defense so that the people of the River and Rain province get protection from any invasion force from the Wind or Fang country. Not to mention that your duty is to protect the civilians of the Akinian Empire. Amegakure is part of that."

Once more Aiko would wait a second to let the words sink in. Knowing very well that this wasn't the most fun way to train and develop oneself, she found it necessary for various reasons. One of them was that Neji would, hopefully, understand in future scenarios and situations that ignoring a command and doing what he considered right wasn't always right or the best thing to do. "I suppose that should do for now. Don't want to torment you all day with these questions and wasting all the time to just make you ponder on questions and answers. What I had planned next is how to fight more tactical. Can you perhaps sum up what you consider yourself good at and what you might have as advantage in general over others?"

Neji stood there listening to Aiko. Everything she was saying made sense. There are rights and wrongs to both answers, and both citites are vitally important to the success of the empire. Neji understood what she was trying to instill in him. There were people on command who gave orders for a reason. Those orders are meant to be followed for a reason. Sometimes you may not agree with them but for the most part they need to be followed so that you can hopefully save more lives and take more lives of your enemies. This was not exactly the kind of training that Neji wanted to do, but he did understand why she was aksing him these things.

Finally Aiko sensei said it was time to move on from the questions and start to do some combat training. " Hmm I would say that becuase I have the Sharingan I am best at dodging and defending in battle. Even though my Sharingan is still not that advanced I can still use it in battle to predict and read my eneimes movements. Personally What I think I need the most is turning my defensive style of fighting into an offenisive style of fighting. As in like I need to get better at taking down my enemy not just simply defending my self."

The answer of Neji didn't really make Aiko content, but she was aware that she should drop her expectations a bit. Neji was a genin and didn't have that much combat experience. Not much positive, that was. Thinking on how to formulate her opinion without making the genin get what they would be doing without making him seeing it as a punishment, the jounin would attempt to phrase her next reply in a calm manner. "So offense? You state that your sharingan is your best asset, which is nothing wrong with. The sharingan dojutsu is certainly dangerous when used in the right manner. Problem is," she said, "You're being blinded by it."

Letting the statement sink in Aiko would make a vague gesture to the rocks to their side. "Everyone with enough practice and experience learns and masters how to predict movements of the enemy. The sharingan allows somebody with less experience to do it too, but don't reckon that anybody else can't predict or see what kind of movement you will be doing. Reading movements in battle is hectic, but not impossible. There are various manners on how to make somebody trained to react to how their opponents attack or react, making it as if it is a reflex." She thought about if she should explain that there were also people who exploited this. Thinking back on how for example Kiyomi fought, Aiko doubted that Neji was as cunning as the Hon. "That having said, we will be working on what you already can. I will sketch the situation and I want you to think and then tell me how you would approach the situation," waiting for a moment Aiko would point at a large boulder, "Behind that boulder there is an enemy in wait. You already know he is there. What would be your first move and thoughts?"

Neji heard the question and then looked over at the large boulder. It was a rather large boulder so how would Neji like to go about this. Well ultimately he would like to draw the enemy out and still have the advatage but how would he go about that. " Well Sensei I would like to draw the enemy out and still keep an advatage. It depends on a few things, like I'm assuming that the enemy knows im out there. So then they know that I will be coming after them. another thing to think about is what my mission is. Am I trying to capture this enemy or take them out. I'm going to assume that my task is to take them out. So I need to draw him out from behind the boulder. The way I would like to go about it would since I'm assuming the enemy knows im here I would like to confront them directly, well kind of confront them directly. I would probably throw a paper bomb towards the boulder and wait for it explode which would force him to move and then that way I could engage the enemy. That is only if it is a one on one situation. If i have comrades with me or if the enemy has comrades with them then that would change my approach."

Turning half around to face the boulder and listen to what Neji said Aiko kept looking at the direction with a neutral expression. She would let the genin just talk instead of answering every question. "A paper bomb, huh?" She repeated, slightly frowning. She doubted that a small explosion from a paper tag would blow up the large boulder. Probably would rock it a bit, but doing probably little real damage to it. "Okay, so let's test this out." Without any further explanation the woman would head towards the boulder as she shove her right hand into the pocket of her pants. "Think you're familiar with the bell training? You need to catch it and I need to ensure you won't." Attaching the bell to her belt Aiko would continue, "You have three attempts," walking around the boulder she kept talking while thus vanishing from Neji's point of view. "And go ahead."

Neji watched as Aiko headed for the boulder and started to talk about the bell test. A rest that he was familar with. He saw the bell tied to her belt and now Neji had to get it. Aiko sensei went behind the boulder and Neji had three attempts to take it from her. Neji stood there watching the boulder as he thought about what he should do. He wasn't going to use the paper bomb idea as he had just told her about it. Neji decided to look around as he looked at the trees. He decided to jump up onto the branches as he jumped from branch to branch to try and get a better view. He finally stopped on a branch where he could get a good view, he saw Aiko sensei standing there behind the boulder bell still danglinlg for her belt. Neji grabbed a couple of shuriken from his pouch and threw them down at where Aiko sensei was standing aiming to his the string where the bell was. Neji then quickly threw down a smoke bomb to gain some cover as he himsef then jumped down from the branch a kunai blade in hand as he would go straight for Aiko sensei.

Waiting behind the boulder Aiko would cross her arms out front of her chest. It wasn't completely fair, perhaps. A jounin pitting herself against a genin. Then again, it made her think of various genin and chuunin who had shown the capability to surprise a higher ranked foe. As she was considering something the jounin managed to pick up something. Slightly turning her head she noticed in the corner of her eyes a few projectiles heading towards her. Simply stepping a few steps away, the woman would avoid the shuriken by, taking a position at the other side of the boulder and thus once more out view of Neji. As soon as the smoke bomb was thrown the jounin wondered if he had planned his strategy well enough. It didn't seem she would stick inside the smoke for long, a moment later jumping backwards quickly out of it.

Neji jumped through the smoke and landed on the ground. That did not work which he figured it wouldn't. Aiko sensei had moved to the other side of the boulder. Neji made hand signs and created a shawdow clone. Neji had his clone jump back up into the trees. Neji followed his clone up into the trees and then he himself trandformed into a shuriken that his clone would throw. His clone jumped around from branch to branch until he got into a good postion. His clone jumed down from the branches and threw 4 shuriken at Aiko sensei including the shuriken which was actually Neji.

Skidding to a halt Aiko glanced, at first, around. Lowering her arms to hang at her side she adjusted to a calm stance. With the smoke settling down the jounin would just stand still. The shuriken that were approaching her would close in the distance at a rapid pace and even while Aiko turned her head to look at them approaching her, she didn't make any move to avoid or do something about them. The projectiles would just fly through her. "First attempt, no success," the woman calmly stated before vanishing into thin air.

"Second attempt, go ahead." Aiko said as she had appeared back on the large boulder of before, sitting on top of it. During the smoke she had used her shadow technique to hide in it while using her genjutsu close to distract and lure Neji away from the boulder's position. Now she was certain that the genin hadn't considered that the smokebomb had been more of use for her than it had been for him. Was he perhaps not aware of her abilities and skills? It was a possibility.

As the shuriken came flying through the air, the one shuriken which was was actually Neji, came right at Aiko sensei as the shuriken was about to hit Neji transformed back inti himself with a kunai blade in hand. He was ready to strike her now, and as he was going to strike her he found that he just passed right through her. "Dammit, a shawdow." Neji landed on the ground and looked up at Aiko sitting on the large boulder. He heard her say that it was now his second attempt. Neji looked down to the ground and then looked back up at Aiko sensei. This time his eyes the distinct red of the sharingan. He deicded that he should use his dojutsu now.

Neji thought on his first attempt and it seemed as if the smokebomb came out more in her favor then his. She had used genjutsu on him. If he had his sharingan activated from the begining he may have been able to detect it, but now it didn't matter she dismissed it. How should he go about this he thought. She was obivously a lot more skilled then he was and she has a lot more exeperience. Any tactic he would come up she would probably have an answer for as she had probably seen it before. Neji sighed as he thought and thought but he couldn't figure out what he should do. If he had time ti prepare he would have set traps and had a plan of action, but right now his best plan of action would be to attack her head on which he knew wouldn't work. Neji sighed and looked down deactivating his sharingan. He then looked back up at Aiko sensei " So how would you go about this sensei. How should I try and accomplsh this when I have had no time to prepare anything and my enemy is more powerful and has a lot more experince then I do." Neji hated that he was kind of giving up but he wanted to know what he should do.

She had more or less expected him to try it again, certainly after his eyes flared red up. There was always something to most genin about trying another shot in a desperate attempt to land more success, even when it had been made clear that they were just making mistakes. "Well, for one, what do you know about my skills and abilities?" Aiko replied back in a calm tone, "Knowledge is a dangerous tool for us shinobi. Knowing what your target, foe or ally is capable off is a great asset to determine your approach on how to evade or fight with or against them. Then from that knowledge I would formulate a tactic that I would deploy. While I don't have your dojutsu, I am certain that the use of fire jutsu could be a potential distraction to push or force me to another spot. Much more effective than a smoke bomb against somebody who is known for subterfuge and other operations that... require some subtle approach."

"I know that you have a wide range of skills, including genjutsu which you used on me during this drill. I know that you are a jounin with a lot of experience, but I do not know too much on what you do while you fight I just know that you are more skilled and more seasoned then I am'

Dropping from the boulder Aiko stuffed her hands into the pockets of her pants. She thought about Neji's reply for a moment. "Well, usually a jounin is a person with quite some experience in dealing with all kind of situations or opponents. Doubt that I can say anything that will convince you that I am not as skilled or seasoned as you consider me to be," the woman said, "But this is why knowledge and information is crucial. Learning about potential foes and targets will allow you to deduce on how to combat them while they are in a pinch to figure you out. It is the second rule of the 'assassin's rules' that I and some of my older students follow," raising her right hand Aiko would raise her index and middle finger up to indicate the number two, "Be in sync with your target. Anticipate its thoughts and actions. But don't let them anticipate yours.'" Letting the words sink in Aiko lowered her right hand once more, "There are obviously some people who have the right experience or learned how to read and learn from fighting other people, but that is quite hard to make it worth the risks as... well, you could state that it is then more of a guessing game than really knowing for certain facts that could make it easier for you to formulate tactics. And tactics is what we will soon work on, seeing that you will need to learn what you should and shouldn't do. We can take the previous attempt of taking the bells as an example."

Gesturing to the boulder with pointing her right thumb over her shoulder Aiko would continue, "Your first step or action, however, you want to call it, wouldn't be perhaps bad if the combat had already started. The problem was that I had no idea at first where you were or would strike from. Without any vision, it is much harder to anticipate or react to an attack. It should also be something you need to cautious about, cause who knows? Perhaps I know my way around stealth and deception pretty well and want you to invest time and energy to launch an attack on what could be a decoy. What I am thus trying to say is that you need to consider in what kind of situation you are instead of just relying on your combat prowess. The next problem was that you decided to throw a smoke bomb in order to cover your advance but as you might have learned it also gave me a chance to confuse and lure you away. Though if it had been a real fight it would've given me a big window of time and opportunity to turn the roles around. So, if you don't know much or anything about your opponent try to be careful. I am pretty sure that you as a genin are much more competent than I was," the woman flashed an amused smile as her words were genuine, "I pretty much failed hard as a genin, but as you can see it just takes patience and being cautious to make it out better."

Neji listened intentely to what Aiko sensei had to say. He got a little confused when she started to talk about the assassin's rules but after she explained he got it. Neji had never heard about these rules before but he did understand them. And for assaisins the rules seemed to make sense for what their job entailed. " So a lot of it has to do with scouting and just trying to gain any advantage over your enemy that you can. That makes a lot of sense"

Aiko then started talking about tactics which Neji knew he needed to work on more. He could not just rely on his fighting prowess all the time, he needed to be smart about how he fought someone. So he was excited to work on tactics when they would get to that point. Neji smirked a little bit as she started to talk about how he was probably more competent then she was when she was a genin. Neji then stopped smirking and put his head down as he thought about all the mistakes he had made so far and he really doubted that what she said was true.

"Yeah, you could see it like that. Everybody likes to gather or learn information on their own way. While I prefer to do it out of combat to get an edge over my enemies, you might need to learn how to do that in combat. We will work more on that in the future, no worries," she told him. Noticing that the comment, or more so comparison, had the desired effect Aiko didn't fail to notice that the cheerful mood was smashed in by something else. Probably thinking about his failures, she wagered. It wasn't probably quite easy to graduate as first of your class and then not living up to the expectation of yourself or that of others. She wondered if she shouldn't let him be assigned back to Hiron. He had a way to make genin quite determinent to tackle their problems and shine brighter because of that. "You know, I say for a reason that genin are somewhat allowed to make mistakes. When I was still a genin," she began on a casual tone, "I had the bad habit of avoiding combat. At all cost. So much that I was of no use in missions that required me to fight or defend. Was more focused on staying out of sight or else genjutsu to only defend myself. Have the idea, so far, that you seem to be better in combat than out of it. Seeing that I made it out to become a jounin, think that there is still plenty of time and hope for you to learn from your mistakes. Anyways," Aiko briefly paused as her tone became more stricter, "Tactics. You know fire techniques, correct? Can you think of a tactic yourself that might work out? Don't overthink on what kind of enemy or in what kind of field. Just what kind of techniques, tools or weapons can you use together in a tactical laid out plan?"

Neji listened to the words of Aiko sensei, Neji was very surprised to say the least about her as a genin. The fact that she avoided combat but now was a very revered Jonin did prove that anyone can do anything, and what she said about genin being able to make mistakes now made sense. Genin were still very young most start out as genin at the age of 13 or 14 so there is plenty of time for genin to learn from their mistakes and move forward. Aiko then asked him to come up with a tactical plan. " Yes I do know fire techniques. Well I could use the shawdow clone technique along with one of my first jutsu's to drive my enemy into a corner that I want them in. That is if I do not hit them with one of my jutsu's first. If they should dodge my attacks, with my clones and my self fireing off mutiple attacks, I would like to drive them into a corner or into an area where I hold the adavatage."

Hearing what kind of tactic he could bring up, Aiko looked away for a moment as she considered his tactic. It wasn't how she would go about it. Then again, that wasn't a really valid argument as she didn't even know how to use Fire release techniques. "Sounds like a fast paced and aggressive tactic.There are only a few problems that you didn't likely consider," the jounin said, "You will use a shadow clone, which is at various times and situations a great asset in combat. But that does cut your chakra reserve in half. With then using more ninjutsu, you're rapidly depleting your chakra reserves. If the enemy manages to either endure or avoid your tactic, you'll be at the disadvantage of being drained of a large portion of chakra. It is smart to keep an eye on how much chakra you will be investing and if it wil have a large chance of succeeding in general or not."

" Yeah I know that could be a problem for me. Though I figured since I was not worrying about my opponent and their skill in this sitaution that having a numbers advatage could be benefical even if it ran the possibility of using too much chakra. But you're point does make a lot of sense." Neji looked back onto the field and then back to Aiko sensei. " What would you do in that sitaution sensei?'

"It can be effective in some situations, but not worrying about your opponent or their skill is often a death sentence," the jounin replied at first, "What I would do is to try to make use of your fire techniques to limit the movement. Fire can be a great and annoying obstacle, unless they have methods to combat it. But even if they do, it still forces them to pour effort into it to try to either get through, underneath or whatever you can think of it. A moment that you could ready to throw a few shuriken or pair of kunai. Haven't seen many people able to avoid a simple projectile when focusing on passing or jumping over an obstacle."

Neji played the scenario out in his head. Fighting an enemy as he used some of his fire techinques to limit theri movement, once they were worrying about the fire jutsu coming their way he could grab some shuriken or kunai and toss it at them. Most likely as they are worrying about the fire coming at them they wouldn't even know that the projectiles were flyng towards them." Yes playing that out in my head, it does seem like a better approach then mine was. I really need to work on my tactics more." Neji smirked, at this moment he was actually happy. It had seemed like it has been forever since somone did some one on one training with him. Especially training that was beneficial and taught him something. He looked up at Aiko sensei. " Thank you Aiko sensei this training has really taught me a few things. I really appreciate you taking the time and training me. I feel like I have grown as a shinobi today and I love that feeling." He contiuned to smile as he looked back out onto the battlefield.

"That's what I am around for," was what the jounin replied back, "Just try to think rational and don't go straight into danger. It all might sound simple and more dull than learning a new technique, once you know how to apply tactics to combat opponents and then you can expand your tactics with new techniques. It is a better way to grow," she added. Considering that they had done quite enough for today, as she didn't want to overload the genin, Aiko decided to round up the training. It was, after all, almost time for Kazumo to show up for his training.
[/spoili]

[/fieldbox]

 

[Fieryfly]

[fieldbox="Midori Sato, yellowgreen"]

Team 13 Sp. Jounin | Sky Country​

Kaya didn't seem to want to talk much. Nor did she seem comfortable around Midori, keeping her eyes averted like she couldn't bear to look at Midori either because she was scared or because of disguist. At least those were Midori's guesses. She didn't understand Kaya. At all. And this frustrated her. She was a team leader, she was supposed to take care of all of her teammembers. That didn't just mean training and missions and stuff like that, being a leader. It meant making sure her team was functioning well, that they were helping each other. But how could she help them if she had no idea who they were? She didn't know anything about Kaya and she whereas she could understand a dislike towards Jinchuuriki, she felt like there was something else with Kaya.

Midori opened her mouth to speak, but another voice beat her to it. A piercing scream coming from Reyna's tent followed by a wave of all too familiar lightning. Midori made an attempt to push Kaya back, away from the lightning, but was way too late as both Kaya and her got caught in the blast. Her muscles twitched violently as she tried to stay upright. What was happening? Was there an attack? Her eyes shot around almost afraid that somehow those who had kidnapped her before were back and were now after Reyna. But that didn't seem to be the case as the latter came rushing out of her tent in a state of utter despair and fear. The lightning died down and Midori extended a hand towards Kaya, only half expecting the girl to take it.

"And Yumeji," Midori added to Reyna's hastened apology. "You have to say sorry to her too. Our new teammate. What happened? I'm going to assume it was your lightning aura, but that only kicks in when you are in danger which you are not, I'm assuming. So what?"

Before Reyna would have time to answer there was a light cough behind the team. Immediately Midori spun around and faced the messenger. The man, only slightly taller than Midori herself, gave her a slightly credious look. Something between awe and general confusion at the situation before him. After a somewhat awkward pause he snapped out of it and offered Midori a scroll. "From Commander Jun," came the message. "You are supposed to pack light and travel now, ma'am."

Midori took the scroll and for a moment stared at the piece of paper. Half a second turned to hand the scroll to her sensei before realizing 'oh right' she was that sensei. Nobushige nor Natsuki had ever opened mission scrolls before her in the past and she wasn't sure if it was proper, but this situation was different right? It was. Convincing herself thusly she opened the scroll and read the content. She nodded as she read it and turned back to the messenger. "Understood. Tell Commander Jun we will move out right away."

The man nodded, bowed, and disappeared in the hustle and bustle of the camp.

Midori turned back to her team. "Okay, well never mind all of that. We need to go. We are going to the beach, it's not that far. They found a body over there and we need to inspect it, see if anyone is around, and, if it is safe, we are to take the thing back with us. Pack light, we leave in like 10 minutes or something." She turned to Reyna. "Are you okay?"

[/fieldbox]

 

[Gerontis]

[fieldbox=Getting out, maroon]

Ryo Katsu,
Shockwave.

Ghost ANBU operative | Wolf Country, near the coast | Time? Uncertain, but in the afternoon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Previous post.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

Sitting on his rear Ryo kept staring at the Kaizoku sea. The dark grey, gloomy clouds covered the sky and refused to let a ray of sunlight pierce through. It made everything looks so grim and sad. For a moment Ryo couldn't help but wonder if it was just a reflection of his life. The decisions he had made. Glancing down to his right hand, he hadn't yet cleaned the kunai that he had used. Both to end the life of 'Yoma'. Something that did Ryo regret. Not because he hadn't grown accustomed to taking a life. No, he was very well known and able to take a life. What bothered him was something he had never been able to face.

Being alone.

Staring down to the bloodied weapon Ryo wondered how his life would be if he had taken another route. What if he hadn't decided to become a shinobi? Would he have been able to leave that orphanage? What if he had decided to stay with Midori, Kensuke and letting things course from there? More questions would slowly come up in his mind, creating a whirlpool of regret and confusion. Looking up back at the sea from his position, Ryo felt like screaming and yet just to do nothing. At least, he thought bitterly, he knew now who would hear the shouting of a dead person. Nobody. Perhaps he should've become a poet?
Getting up Ryo sighed out loud. Spinning the kunai for a moment he wondered what he should do now. The message he had left with 'Yoma's body' wouldn't be picked up quickly by Imperial forces. Which wasn't his intention. On his way back to the western side of the Wolf country, towards the coast, he had learned that a force of the Lightning country and Republic had grouped together. For what? Didn't some certain enmity exist between the two? Why were forces of the two different nations working together? It seemed so out of place for him. So, hopefully, the 'sacrifice' of Yoma would bait not only some of his pursuers into action but also alert some of the nearby forces of the Lightning and Republic. If he could catch somebody off guard then he would be able to learn what was their goal. Their intention. Another sigh escaped Ryo as he would turn around, starting to walk.

Trying to arrange matters in a logical order in his mind, Ryo knew that he should try to communicate with imperial forces first. The Empire should be aware what kind of forces were at work in the region. What it could mean for his homeland. It was his duty, his obligation. Even if he didn't like it, that meant that he had to be careful on how he would carry the message. Perhaps, he suddenly thought to himself, he could try to win information by capturing somebody of the Lightning or Republican force. Just to question them, he told himself. No need to shed blood or take any lives. Realising that he had to convince himself that it wasn't needed cause the Ghost ANBU to snicker. He was on the path to insanity. To become 'batshit crazy' as Kensuke would have nicked it.
Resting his left hand for a moment on the hilt of his sword Ryo wondered what should come next. Win information and then? The problem was still that there was an entire sea splitting him and the Akinian Empire. It had crossed his mind several times to try to sneak into the Sky country and go from there into the Lightning. The cross over the Kasumi Straight would be more plausible than trying to through the Republic or the Kaizoku sea. Only he was certain that he would be needed to go up against the Black Guard and ANBU guarding the border between the Wolf and Sky. While confident in his own abilities, he was just a single person. Not to forget that he was certain he wouldn't be able to combat both the Black Guard and Lightning ANBU corps. It was bound that he would be 'facing' more experienced and capable operatives. Operatives who would have less trouble to find and take down a person like him.
Running a hand through his hair, Ryo grunted. But he couldn't just stay in the Wolf country forever! He had to go back!

Kicking a pebble away, the teen froze instantly. His right hand shot to the handle of his sword as his eyes narrowed. It remained quiet for some time. Turning around, a flash of steel emit from the scabbard as he spun around. In a moment he was ready to face what he had heard from him, grim and determined to sell his hide for an expensive price. Only to see a squirrel shooting up a tree. Lowering his sword Ryo grumbled a curse softly. He was really getting paranoid.

"Perhaps I should---"

Before he could finish his sentence, something wrapped tight around his neck and pulled him backwards. Causing Ryo to fall on his back as he gasped for air. His hands shot towards the material that had wrapped around his throat and neck, making breathing quite the challenge. Out of the shadow, a woman garbed in a red cloak and straw hat appeared. Muttering something in a foreign language, Ryo didn't need anybody to explain to him who she was. She was one of them.

Trying to loosen the tight wrap around his neck his face would start to pale. The world even started to become blurry for Ryo as a light feeling would start to dawn in his head.

"I-I," he tried to mutter as he rolled over on his stomach, trying to get up. Only for a foot to be planted on his back. A masculine voice spoke up. Before Ryo could react, his eyes would widen as a blade would plunge into his neck. The man, dressed in a similar fashion, would grumble something. Pulling his sword out of Ryo's neck he said something to his accomplice, kicking Ryo's body. Which poofed into a small smoke cloud and revealed a log.

"Oi!"

The short word caused the man to look to his right as a bloodied kunai would soar through the air. Leaning away the unknown man managed to avoid the kunai from plunging into his chest. But as the woman spotted the real danger, it was already too late. In a quick dash, Ryo covered the distance between the man and the bush he had been in, kunai in his right hand and his left formed into a fist. Slamming the man hard in the back to cause him to slightly arch with the impact, the Ghost ANBU operative wouldn't cease with his attack. The kunai followed quickly to stab the man in the neck, this all made easier by the fact the man had leant away for the kunai thrown by a shadow clone. The stab wouldn't end the man right away as he gurgled and attempted to push the teen away. Instead of allowing that to happen, Ryo wrapped an arm around the unknown man and used him as a shield against the woman.

"Oi! Better think twice---" Ryo sneered but was cut off as the whip of the woman lashed out, forcing Ryo to duck behind the man. Without any mercy, the end of the whip slammed against the head of the dying man. "Talking about cruel," Ryo grumbled underneath his breath as he held the man as a shield. Clearly, these two were out to just achieve their goal. Even if it meant the death of another. The woman was about to do something, but would be cut off as a sword would plunge through her back. Ryo's shadow clone wrapped his free arm around the woman's throat, pushing the blade deeper into the back of the woman. As abrupt the fight had happened, so too did it end.

Letting the woman fall of his blade, Ryo's shadow clone would stab her in the back. Just for good measure or so that was he told himself. Twisting the kunai in the back of the man he didn't hear the other gurgle or felt any resistance. Pushing the man forward Ryo remained silent. No other sound betrayed that there were more of them laying in wait. There was always the chance that they were but perhaps he had earned himself another moment to catch his breath? Dismissing his shadow clone, the teen would search the bodies. Knowing that he had been lucky to have rolled on his stomach to use the Body Replacement Technique to work from there, he hoped that these men and women were giving the hunt on him. Or perhaps it was just an accidental meeting? Continue his search, Ryo couldn't hope but wonder if this wasn't just some twisted nightmare he had found himself in.
[/fieldbox]

 

[Gerontis]

[fieldbox=One last day in the Empire, wheat]
At the Sea Keep,
No talking about the weather!

A collab made by Chromehound and Gerontis.

Summary :
Arriving at the Sea Keep, Koike and Hayate have another talk together about writing letters and other matters.

[spoili]
The march towards the Sea Keep had gone without any problem. The sight of the fortress had something strange to it, in Koike's opinion. There were patrols and watch posts set up from any direction that one could approach the location, safeguarding the assembled military might. With the detachment from Konohagakure joining up with the others to form the complete force that would head east to participate in the joint campaign, it was now just getting the troops onboard of the ships that had assembled in the port of the fortress. It wasn't the most complex of actions that the force needed to take, but it was a slow progress. Supplies and other material were already onboard, it was just now the troops that needed to get on the ships. With the detachments joining up, it did call for a meeting with the commanding colonels and captains of specialised forces that would accompany them on the campaign. A meeting that went without much problems. Once the meeting was over Koike was on top of one of the towers of the Sea Keep. It provided a nice view over the sea and the assembled fleet in the port. Watching how troops embarked on the ships, the young man wondered briefly if they would have any good weather. His eyes briefly scanned the sky, but he couldn't notice any predator bird. Causing a small smile to slide on his lips before he looked down once more. This was the last day that they would be on the soil of Akino. The last moment to write a letter back home. The next time that they would touch ground would be a continent that he hadn't ever considered to visit. Something just over the sea, out of reach and not of interest. And yet now, it all seemed coming so close. Making Koike wonder how much they really know of the world's size. What more was out there.

The meeting had gone off without a hitch, something that had relieved Hayate immensely. This whole thing was still quite new to him, but the rest of the commanding officers had seemed to listen to him without treating him like the boy he still felt he was. After the meeting, he decided to go for some fresh air. Heading through the stone corridors, Hayate admired the handiwork. The Keep was truly impressive and he wished he had more time to simply explore. Climbing a stone staircase, Hayate found himself atop one of the towers. It seemed he was not alone either.

Smiling, Hayate walked over to the edge, looking out at the view. "So, got any more forecasts for us, mister oracle?"

Throwing a look over his shoulder, Koike noticed Hayate. Turning his head back to gaze at the port, he chuckled briefly on hearing Hayate's question. "Well, so far I haven't been able to spot any ducks, predator birds or anything else that can signal an omen. Was a bit worried that I would need to gut a fish open to see its internals to get one, but suppose that we have enough on our mind with me gutting fish for an omen," was his answer. He glanced at Hayate for a moment. "Kind of strange, ain't it? We will soon cross over the sea and then we will be on a different continent. Have you considered to write any letters home yet?"

Chuckling as well, Hayate leaned on the battlement and surveyed the troops below. Turning to face Koike, he shrugged, a sheepish smile on his face. "It is an odd feeling for sure. I don't really know if it's hit me yet or if I'm going to feel it as soon as we step on one of the boats. Being separated by a continent, I've never really been that far away from... You're right though. It will be strange." Looking back over at the ships, Hayate shrugged again. "I've thought about it and I do want to... I just don't know what to write, you know? How about you?"

"Ships," Koike said, grinning a bit, "They are ships. Boats are smaller. You can have a boat on a ship, but not a ship on a boat. Used to make that mistake before," he continued on. When Hayate returned the question Koike shook his head. "Have nobody to write. Unless I want to write myself and read everything once I come back home with Akumu," Koike replied, though he thought of something. Or somebody, to be more precise. "Have been considering to write a few people, but I am not certain if I should. Have little to write down and doubt that anybody is interested in my 'special gift' of being an 'oracle'," the Hon would say, various parts of the last sentence with a certain emphasis.

As Koike corrected him, Hayate nodded and made a mental note. Ships, not boats. Listening as Koike continued, the young Hyuzu frowned slightly as he heard the Hon speak about having nobody to write to. Turning back to face his friend, he grinned at the comment of his gift. "I'm sure there are plenty of people who would love to hear from the great 'Koike Hon.' Especially when they learn he has found a new gift outside of being dark and gloomy." Chuckling, Hayate shook his head and looked away. "You ever been on a ship before?"

The comment caused Koike to turn half around, throwing another look at Hayate. "Perhaps I should invent a new signal for a bad omen, my good friend. Cause you're close of facing one," Koike 'threatened' Hayate, though a smile grew on his lips. "I suppose that it is just more the problem of what I want to write then. Think that I will just have to think a bit longer about it or just try to write something. Shouldn't be that hard," the last sentence was a grumble, though audible for Hayate. The question of Hayate created a brief silence as Koike turned once more to the view that they had in front of them. Pointing to the north he would give the answer. "Some time ago I visited an island, north from here. It isn't either claimed by the Lightning country nor by the Empire. It is barren and not many are eager to visit. Some fishermen and such can be bribed to visit it, but those who know what is on the Isle of Barren try to stay away from it. Visited it... because I was curious. Can't recommend it," Koike concluded as he turned his gaze back on the port.

Letting out a laugh as Koike 'threatened' him, Hayate smiled. He could sympathize with Koike's unsureness in what to write. It was not something he'd ever really had to do before, talking always felt much easier. He wanted to write back to Kiyomi though, to keep touch somehow... And, well, he supposed he'd have to write to Mimi as well, otherwise the girl would find a way to hunt him down and murder him herself... Aside from that, Hayate wondered who else he would want to write to, who else that would care. Jora and Elena perhaps, but would they want to keep receiving letters? Pushing the thought from his mind, Hayate listened with growing curiosity as Koike described the place he had traveled to by ship. Turning so that he was looking at his friend, Hayate tilted his head to the side. "The Isle of Barren...?" he said quietly, pondering. The name sounded mysterious. "What is out there? Or... I suppose more accurately, what made you want to go and visit?"

"Not a lot, I am afraid," Koike said. He would become silent for another moment, considering if he should just say what one could find on the island or why he had decided go there. The reason why was one he had tried to forget, on what he had hoped to achieve there. And what he had encountered. "While the isle is barren from any sign of life, there is this... hall. It bears a grim name, the hall of Nightmares. Not very inviting as you can imagine. It is said that you will face a representation of your true fear there. I," he briefly paused as well raising his chin slightly, "I went there some time after Shoji's oppression. Wanting to test something. Got surprised and never went back. Guess that some fears are there not to be conquered, but to be accepted. Or something like that," he told Hayate as he would end his answer with a vague handsignal, that made it slightly clear that there was still some frustration lingering around the experience.

The mood had changed quite suddenly and Hayate felt guilty for a moment. He had not wanted to bring up bad memories for Koike, but he still found himself to be quite curious. Nodding his head as the Hon spoke, Hayate wondered for a moment what he would see at such a place. Finding the thought to be unpleasant, he pushed it out of his mind and looked to Koike. "I am sorry, I did not mean to pry." Thinking about it, Hayate was curious how such a place could even exist. He had seen some strange things in his time so he believed it to be possible, he just wanted to know how... and why?

Wanting to lighten the mood, he raised an eyebrow as he looked at Koike. "Truth be told, I thought your biggest fear would be rainbows or sunshine or something. So gloomy all the time after all..." Grinning to let his friend know he was teasing, Hayate hoped it didn't rub the Hon the wrong way.

Koike shrugged. "It is fine. Else I wouldn't have said anything," he replied, trying to shift to use a more joyful tone. Hearing, however, what Hayate imagined his biggest fear to be, Koike sighed. "I really start to imagine that I should be more strict to make you and the others wish that I was more gloomy. Gloomy, the mere thought," Koike grumbled on an amused tone. "And when I am happy, people wonder why. It is never going to be good without people questioning it," he further added, looking down from the battlements on the port. There was no telling how far the progress was. A chance was that they would be sailing at the late evening if the pace was good enough. "So, have you ever been outside of the borders of the Empire?"

Hayate laughed as Koike grumbled about the others calling him gloomy. It seemed his comment had succeeded in cheering the Hon up a bit. Koike's question caught Hayate off guard and he wasn't at first sure how to answer it. The mission he took to the Sea Country with Kiyomi... that was something he was not allowed to talk about. He did not wish to lie to his friend, however, so instead he decided to tell a half truth. "I have, yes. Sometimes when I want to get away from things, I visit Kuromu. He can reverse summon me to the mountain in which many of the dragons live. It is not within the borders of the Empire, though... I do not believe I am really allowed to say where exactly it is."

"A mountain where many dragons live," Koike mumbled as he thought about how that would be. He had only seen very few dragons. And if anything, they weren't a fun species to mess around with. An entire mountain filled with those creatures was anything but pleasant to visit, at least for him. "I always figured that you were more comfortable with planting flowers than spending time with those reptiles, when in need to clear your mind." Chuckling Koike thought once more about the writting letters. This was also the last point of return. Not that it would be taken well, but it made him think about various people. "I guess that we will have to make ready. Will be a sad joke if we will be late to the boarding party," Koike said after a sigh. Straightening his back he looked at Hayate. "Seeing that we will be on different ships, I assume you will use Saki to set up a telepathic bond? Or perhaps your dragon, though I assume that many will be a bit... shocked when Kuromu will be flying back and forth."

Realizing how it might sound to someone unfamiliar with the creatures, Hayate was about to correct himself when Koike continued. Waiting for the Hon to finish, he shrugged, a slight smile on his face. "Well, I do typically find gardening to be a little more relaxing, but Azumi is not always a place one can hide in easily. There are quite often a lot of visitors to the gardens so when I need to get away from it all, I prefer the mountain." Pausing, he glanced away. "And it isn't really as crazy as it might sound. The dragons typically stay in their own caves within the mountain. It's not like there's a bunch of them running around everywhere. Kuromu's cave is actually tucked away quite nicely. A little more peaceful there."

As Koike mentioned them setting up a telepathic bond, Hayate nodded. "I would prefer not to bring Kuromu out just yet. While he can be quite useful as a scout, the sight of him, as you've mentioned, might be a little much for some of the people. It would also likely give away our position." Thinking about something, he added, "And besides, Kuromu cannot communicate telepathically with others, only myself. Unless of course someone opens up a bond with me, then they can hear him through it as well, so it would probably just be more trouble than it's worth. If Saki is able, and it will not take too much effort from her, I think a link between us would be quite useful. Should anything happen out on the water... it would be nice knowing I can at least talk with you both."

As Hayate explained how the dragons lived, Koike couldn't really imagine it. Living inside of a cave? It didn't sound that comfortable, but he took it for the fact that he wasn't that familiar with the dragons. Perhaps they were in a similiar way how his own clan and people regarded the dire wolves? Letting it sink in Koike would nod on hearing Hayate's choice on the communication when they would be on the water. "Aye, though I doubt anybody in their right mind would target this fleet and certainly once it knows that it transports troops. Can only think of the Republic if I had to be wary of somebody or group. Yet, doubt that those water rats would risk their hides by targetting us now," Koike said as he decided to not give it too much thought. For now they weren't yet on the water, heading out to the east. "Suppose I will be needing to head back soon. Making sure that Katsu will be doing fine and that nobody in the 13th brigade will try something. Unless you have any requests or orders?"

"Let us hope. I have never really had to fight a battle at sea. Not entirely keen to start one now either." Looking out as the last of the troops began entering the ships, he nodded slowly. "No, you are right. We should probably get back. Say hi to Katsu for me. At the moment the only orders I have are to stay safe." Remembering something, Hayate raised an eyebrow, "Oh, and don't talk about the weather while we are sailing. If we run into a storm I am coming after you first..."

"Aye. Makes two of us," Koike said as he wasn't sure how a fight at sea would transpire. Seemed just awfully complicated with troops on ships and trying to coordinate that all together. "Will do. Just stay out of trouble as well," the young man replied back as a grin would move on Koike's lips afterwards. "I will try not to begin on the weather. Though you have to admit that it is a nice topic, to start with."

Shaking his head, trying to hide his smile, Hayate could not contain the chuckle. "I suppose you'll just have to find something else to talk about for once." he said, before turning from the wall. "Well, let's get this over with, hmm."
[/spoili][/fieldbox]

 

[Aliceee]

Team 14,
In the valley of Kirigakure - small hamlet

Previous post.

Summary :
Mika and Taishiro arrive back in the hamlet where Aya and Shin had the goal to gather information. This didn't go as anybody had hope for. With the caused commotion the team only suffered that their mission became more difficult. Eventually, they returned emtpy handed back. The culprit(s) were likely alarmed or warned by the commotion that had followed after Aya and Shin's error.​

[spoili]
Shin frowned as the man seemed to doubt what he was saying, only to start running and calling for the watch. "Wait-" He reached out like he was going to catch the man, even though they were already a little distance away. "Damn it... Shouldn't have asked outright... Whatever, Aya maybe you should-" He looked behind him at where Aya had been, only to see she had abandoned his attempts. "Yeah... I probably would have too. Lot of help I did for the village." He sighed, knowing and expecting he'd get punished for what was most certainly a less than thought-out plan, he decided to, first and foremost move away from where the watch were going to search for him, and second, actually plan out what he was going to ask about. He felt stupid for having tried to just ask if anything weird was going on. "Maybe I'll say I'm a traveller looking for small jobs... Then I'll be able to ask about things that people want done or checked out..."

"Ah thank you very much miss! Sorry for disturbing you." Aya said giving her a polite bow before heading off in the direction the woman pointed at, by now Shin would most likely notice she ditched him in his attempt at gaining information. She knew sensei would figure this out, she just hoped she wouldn't get dragged in the punishment with Shin. She probably would though as it might be a joint punishment to fully drill into them, not to mess up in the future. She wined a bit wondering if being hung from a tree would be a instant pain or a delayed one. God dmanit Shin. She would continue her way towards the destination and would arrive outside its doors, where she would open them and look around at the place. It was filled with conversation that was for sure, yet for now she should start off slow and ease her way towards getting information. Hopefully the watch that was called, wouldn't find her and yank he rout of this place, because if that happened then she would most certainly be hung with Shin from a tree.

Just as Aya was done with her conversation Mika and Taishiro would arrive at the perimeter of the small settlement. Gesturing to the genin to follow her, Mika would lead them into the place. She was certain that the locals wouldn't really be supportive of unknown people being armed, but hopefully they wouldn't cause too much uprising. Walking in a quick pace Mika tried to catch sight of Shin or Aya. Spotting some watchmen also being on the search made Mika frown. Had something happened while she and Taishiro had been trying to do their objective? Already she was planning on how she would string up the two genin if it had been their fault, but for that she would need to find them. "Okay, seems we need to split up. Try to find either Shin or Aya and regroup at the center over thirty minutes. Don't try to use anything flashy or something that might upset the locals. From the looks of it," Mika threw another sideways glance at the small group of watchmen and a civilian man searching for something or somebody, "There is already something going on. Don't want all attention focused on us. Go."

Taishiro was a little confused for a brief moment when they first arrived in the settlement, why were people in the watch out and about? It didn't particularly look like anything happened. "Yes Ma'am." Taishiro said quietly as he began moving away from Mika. First things first, the boy immediately stopped to look around the area, and didn't see either of his teammates. He would've looked a bit silly if he walked right past them. With a small shrug, he debated briefly asking anybody if they had seen somebody similar to his teammates, immediately deciding against that. If there is even the slightest chance they're why the guard is out... that wouldn't be a smart choice. With this in mind, Taishiro calmly began making his way through the small settlement. Keeping an eye out for either his teammates or something out of the ordinary. If there is some Inn or something of the sorts, maybe one of them went in there? He thought to himself as he decided to first check a place like that, if he could even find one.

Shin, having moved away from the place he had talked to the first man, decided to find a hidden spot. He carefully looked around, trying to keep better track of whether he was being suspicious now, but also trying to ensure he wasn't just doing things blindly. He'd be punished, sure, but he had already learned at least part of his lesson. He eventually found a quiet alley to quickly disguise himself in. He thought about it for a second, knowing that if there was anything going on in this town, there might be some type of enemy here, and they could very well have sensory jutsu, which would make a transformation too suspicious, and not even give them any information. So instead, he simply opted for something less noticeable than a full transformation. He transformed, but only his hair-color and eye-color, hoping that would be enough, as well as hoping it would be nearly unnoticeable to sensory jutsu, though he couldn't be sure.

Inside the tavern Aya would find herself a seat at the counter more of the chatty travellers seemed to be talking away, drinking and eating. She herself would go ahead and order some food herself while listening in on some of the chats they were having. It was for the most part not very important, simple discussions like their goods and some hassles along the way like, a tree that fell and blocked their path. Nothing that might circulate with her goal in mind, and certainly no talks of the walking dead.

---

A few hours later.

The group would come together at the tavern where Aya had gone to. Mika had rented a room where they could stay in for two nights. Once in the room Mika would request a report from what Aya and Shin had discovered. Though it wasn't hard to consider that they had managed to fail her instruction about upsetting the locals. Letting them end their report Mika scoffed as she would cross her arms out front of her chest. "After this mission, you both," she told Aya and Shin, "Will loss a quarter of your wages for two months. Be glad that I won't also decide to string you up or make you suffer more. If it wasn't for the fact that I have zero information on what is going on other than what we know from the briefing means that I need each of you to be capable. That is," she shot both Aya and Shin a stern look, "If you idiots know what I mean with not stirring up any trouble among the locals. For whatever reason that was, anyways," a sigh escaped Mika as she paused for a moment. Considering that they hadn't managed to acquire any kind of information from either the locals or from scouting around the perimeter of the settlement didn't sit well with Mika.

"Seeing that the dark of the night will soon arrive, rest out for a moment. we will be heading out and perhaps can manage to learn something of the odd things that are going on around this place. Check your gear, weapons and tools. Not sure what we can expect, but it might be something unpleasant. So better be prepared than not," Mika instructed them. She would now let them be as she would head to her own bed, starting to check her gear and weaponry. Meanwhile, she wouldn't stop pondering on what they would have to do acquire some information from which they could work further on to either solve or learn on what was going on.

After finding the other two on the team, and watching as she gave them their punishment, Taishiro wasn't very eager to talk much to the others. When Mika gave the order to start checking their gear, the boy gave a small nod as he made his way over to a quieter part of the room and sat down. He went through checking his gear to ensure everything was in order, meanwhile wondering exactly what it was they might run into that could be unpleasant. Hopefully not some sort of walking corpse, it'd be more than a little creepy...
[/spoili]

They eventually went back to Kirigakure. For three full days, they had been searching for tracks, clues or any sort of information that would allow them to know what or who was behind the events that kept increasing the tension and panic. The fact that people had learned that shinobi from the Republic had tried to do something about just made it worse. The fact that they hadn't been able to do anything was something that fueled distrust and disdain for the shinobi. While it was just a small hamlet news would spread fast. There weren't any signs of people ready to protest and making demands, but it certainly wasn't being a helpful factor.

Mika would head to report personally at Takeshi, explaining what had happened. She took the blame, knowing very well that she should know better. Genin handling delicate tasks such as gathering information wasn't a wise decision. Once she had the debriefing behind her, the jounin dismissed the team. Heading back home she decided to push her thoughts about the failed mission away. This wasn't the time to remain irritated and disappointed. With the mission having failed it meant that the insurgents that claimed to be working for the resurrection of the Suzu clan had an easier time. And they weren't allowed to win any new ground than they already had.

 

[Sketching101]

[fieldbox=Teeny Tiny Spar, lightblue]
At the Sea Keep,

A collab made by Sketching101 and Gerontis.


[spoili]
It was almost there. They had reached the Sea Keep, the meeting with the colonels and other important ranking officers was done. The talk with Hayate had made Koike consider to use this time to write some letters. Yet, he wasn't sure to whom or what. There were several people on his mind, but they were likely busy with their own affairs and lives. Walking towards the port he had little trouble finding the 13th Brigade amongst the buzzling activity. They were loading in more supplies and wares that were needed. Trying to spot one of the captains or Katsu, Koike would halt near one of the ships, looking around. Akumu followed him as a shadow, as always. Even with the activity and the noise, the dire wolf seemed to be anything but interested in the ongoings around them. Clicking his tongue, Koike turned around and looked at the large black canine, "Can you find Katsu for me?" Asking it in Chonobi, Koike waited for a moment. Akumu's nose wrinkled as he would looked around for a moment, starting to walk in a calm pace. Following the wolf this time, Koike hoped that his aide and friend wasn't in any trouble.

Katsu leaned on the side of the ship, looking out to the distance. The sea stretched on forever as the sun was setting behind him. The view was beautiful, but beyond that, it was novel. As the young boy looked on in amazement, his attention turned to the deck as a second sound of pitter patter appeared. Tanpo stopped running around in circles pointlessly and started running circles around Akumu, barking with glee. "Hm?" Katsu looked at the direwolf inquisitively. "Something wrong?"

The larger wolf briefly showed his fangs, but didn't do anything to correct Tanpo. Walking towards the three, Koike shook his head as he noticed the interaction. "Well then, most of the preparations are done. We will be soon gone," he told Katsu as he would lean next to his friend on the railing. "Should be a quick trip. At least, less exhausting than the march. From here, we will sail to the eastern continent. And once we arrive, we will try to lay contact with the present force of the Lightning country and Republican forces," Koike summed up. He was sure that this wasn't news for Katsu, but he felt like sharing it. Eased his mind as well. "So, been in trouble?" He asked, glancing over his shoulder briefly as he noticed that various members of the 13th Brigade were relaxing and waiting as well.

"Not at all," Katsu said, putting his fists on his hips. "It's a bit difficult though. They're difficult. But I'm doing my best. Being the spitefully mentioned Uchiha mutt isn't all that fun." He paused for a moment before looking over at Tanpo and Akumu apologetically. "No offense." He turned back to Koike with a nervous smile. "I don't want to drag your name down further with them after seeing their reaction to having me around by causing a ruckus."

He had expected it. The first meeting had already made it clear that the 13th weren't that content with having an Uchiha in their midst. Or more correctly, one that hadn't proven his worth to them. Which was different than what most thought, a certain way of thinking that Koike was used to and could understand. "That is fine. They won't really compare us or make my name go through the mud. You just need to---"

"Colonel, sir," the grumbling voice of captain Skuli would resonate as he approached the two. His thumbs hooked behind his belt, a grin on his lips and tone made it clear that the man was in a good mood. "Most of the matters are done. Just some lads who are bored. One of them was wondering if pipsqueak over here," the man nodded towards Katsu, "Is really material for the 13th. Just a harmless little session, aye?"

The young nin shot a glare at the captain. He stared for a few seconds before sighing and crossing his arms. He looked at Koike to wait for his response, finding himself in an awkward situation. If he jumped in and said yes, he would just start the ruckus he claimed he wouldn't make two seconds ago, and if he said no, respect for Katsu would go even lower. His look showed that he was looking for approval from Koike rather than just waiting for him to answer.

Turning around Koike eyed Skuli for a moment. "Will you join the session, Skuli?" Koike asked on a calm tone. The captain scoffed lightly as he shook his head. "I won't. Don't think it is anything else than a simple session of innocent swordplay, colonel. You may join. Am certain that it would bolster the morale a bit if they see what the White Blade is capable of. Unless," the man wanted to continue but Koike would nod towards Skuli. "Lead the way."

---

On one of the other ships, there was less activity. The supplies were already loaded and both troops from the 13th brigade as the present sailors were just waiting. Skuli led both Koike and Katsu on the ship as he would bring his right hand to his mouth. Letting out a hard whistle, the captain caught the attention without much off an effort. The grumbling voice raised in volume as he spoke in Chonobi. A few men chuckled as a rather young man would approach the middle of the deck. He seemed around the average age of the brigade, with various scars down on his exposed arms and a stubble beard. Resting a sword on his shoulder the man waited as Skuli gestured to Katsu to go to the middle. "Go ahead. Just some small thing, no---"

"Yes, small session, I heard the first time," Katsu muttered, walking to the location he was shown. One of the soldiers approached him with a blunt, metal sword. The man offered it, grasping it by the blade. Katsu grabbed the hilt and as the man let go, he felt the weight of the blade, seeming as if he had trouble lifting it for a moment, which roused a wave of laughter. He swung it around twice to get a grasp of the balance before placing the edge on the ground to take off his overshirt. As it hit the ground, the knives holstered inside clinged.

Waiting at the 'perimeter' of the imminent spar, Koike crossed his arms while he would watch with the dire wolves. Various troops said something in Chonobi, which caused some laughter to emit from the surrounding group. The man who was facing Katsu eyed the latter, but didn't join the laughing. He nodded slowly towards the teen while taking a stance, holding his sword in a high guard. "Go ahead lads. Remember, keep it harmless."

Katsu gave a curt bow to his opponent before taking his stance, resting the blade on his front elbow. As Skuli gave the go ahead, he took a step forward, watching his opponent vigilantly.
The other just spread his footwork by a bit and would stand still. His darkbrown eyes were locked on Katsu, while the sword was held above his own head in a straight manner. As Katsu readjusted his grasp, he moved a few steps closer, coming in just outside of range to stop.
His opponent would narrow his eyes, his arms suddenly coming into motion as the sword was brought down towards Katsu's direction, though he performed a quick step to the right. Causing the attack to shift from straight down to an angled attack. Katsu sidestepped to the left to avoid the attack, bringing his own sword higher to slide across his opponent's as he moved to push it further away. A soft grunt would emit from Katsu's opponent, who felt the push. Instead of letting it be pushed away, the muscles in the man's arms bulged a bit as he would have none of that. Stepping forward to bring even more weight, he would attempt to force Katsu to stay in the defense as well limiting the space for the other to move in. The young nin took the brunt of the push but quickly regained his balance a small distance away, looking at the man to watch for any follow ups. The man simply took once more the high guard stance as he grumbled something in Chonobi, nicking Katsu as 'Akame'.

Katsu grumbled as he took a step before dashing forward. His foot tapped on the ground as he came close to move sideways as he swung the sword sideways. The rapid attack would come to a halt as Katsu's opponent seemed to be aware what he should do against a fighter that used an agile fighting style. Blocking the attack, the man simply pushed the sword of Katsu backwards and resumed back to a high guard. Once more he grumbled, about 'Akame'. The younger stumbled one step back before regaining his footing. He muttered something under his breath as he glanced down at the sword. He took a step back and let out a deep breath as he focused on the man more intently.
The man spun the blade one turn before taking back the high guard. Taking two steps forward in a calm pace, he would follow it up with a swift attack, this time by bringing the sword down once more from above. As the sword came down, Katsu made a swift step to the side as he swung his own blade with his upper body at the man's stomach. Not stopping his own blade, the man would move with Katsu's attack. Stepping aside the man would halt the movement of his own blade to attempt to slam the guard at Katsu's arm. Katsu made a hasty move to parry, pushing himself back from the guard of the man's sword with his own blade. As he took a step back, his guard came to the center and his eyes closed. When they opened again, the green hue had turned into a crimson red. He started moving left, taking his opponent as the center of the circle he was drawing with his path.

As people noticed that Katsu's eyes had shifted, some started to speak up. Various men started to speak up in Chonobi, clearly discontent with the action as they shook their head or else it was evident by their facial expression or tone. The man who was facing Katsu lowered the blunt sword for a moment, frowning but remaining silent. The discontent group was about to gain more in volume until captain Skuli spoke up in a loud, grumbling tone. Calling for silence, it didn't take long before the troops would stop. "This was enough for now," he grumbled, pointing at the man who had faced Katsu. The man nodded slowly. Turning to Katsu, the man would raise his own blade by gripping it by the blade with his right hand. Slamming the guard of the sword flat against his chest, the man would turn and walk away. "Well then," Skuli mumbled as he eyed Katsu, "Little bugger, aren't ya? Didn't expect you were pushed to use the Sharingan. But you're not without skill. Could use some more strength in your arms, but that can come later. Aye, colonel?"

Koike had remained silent. He had his reasons to not interrupt or say anything during the spar, just following how it had went. While the other man had more experience, he was more than content to have witnessed that Katsu hadn't been taken down or hit once. As Skuli restored order and continued, Koike remained silent until the captain asked him a question. Slight surprised he would throw a look in Katsu's direction. "I suppose some training would do good for everybody. But it is his decision, not mine to take."

Katsu lowered his sword and his eyes reverted to normal as the man turned around. He looked over at Skuli as he leaned on the sword. "I'm not really at the peak of my physical strength, or at least I hope not. It'd be sad if I couldn't move this sword around with more ease in a few years," he said with a resigning tone. "I just thought he meant it as a challenge," he continued, huffing. "He kept saying Akame, Akame."

Skuli chuckled as he shook his head. Koike raised his right hand and rubbed his chin for a moment. "Well, yeah that would be slightly problematic. But we never really aimed to work on your strength, so it might be a good offer," Koike replied back, hoping that his small hinting to accept it was taken. The mentioning of what the man called Katsu was something Koike would reply on next. "That is because you're an Uchiha. 'Red Eyes' or 'Akame' is a popular term for them. At least, regarding it from a Hon viewpoint. There are a few other names, but it is meant as a certain... respectful way to address one of them," Koike tried to explain. He was aware that some used it in a less respectful way, but the origin of how the nicknames were used came from the Tokugawa conquest. "Anyways, it is your decision Katsu."

Katsu gave Koike a skeptical look as he explained the meaning behind the use of the word "Akame". "It wouldn't hurt. We'll have lots of time aboard the ship, might as well get ready to reach the unknown lands." He bent over and picked up his overshirt, patting it a few times before putting it back on.

"Good. Can't guarantee that we will be able to ready you for anything big, but we will be working on it soon enough. Now if you and the colonel won't mind me," Skuli replied on an amused tone, "I am going to make sure that none of my boys cause trouble." Nodding to the captain, Koike waited for a moment. He threw a look at Katsu and frowned slightly. "You decided to use the sharingan in a 'friendly' spar?" There was a sliver of amusement present in Koike's tone as he would turn around and gesture Katsu to join him.

The boy crossed his arms and pouted childishly after the man left. "I told you why," he grumbled. He took a step to close the distance between him and Koike. "I feel like I might've made things worse for me," he said, sighing.

"Perhaps," Koike answered as he shrugged, "You won't get it any easier. But it could have been worse. There is some sign of respect, so don't fret too much over it," Koike further added as he thought about it. He wondered how he would be if it was him being stuck in a brigade filled with Hanta and Uchiha. Probably would've been slightly different or would it? It was an interesting thought, but he dismissed it for now. "It is growing late," Koike stated as they would arrive on the ship that they would stay on during the voyage eastwards. "Think I am going to write some letters. Think it is still an option to let them to be delivered once the fleet and crew will go back. What will you do?"

Katsu thought for a moment, cupping his chin. "We have some time ahead of us. I suppose I'll write something at some point, but I don't really know what to say at this point," he said nervously. "To think we're actually leaving. I felt like this day would never come no matter how quickly it approached."

"Hopefully, the day that we will be back won't take its time either then," Koike said on a cheerful tone, "Anyways, I will talk to you in a bit. Will be in my cabin with Akumu," he told Katsu as he already turned half around, only to turn back to Katsu with a frown present on his brow, "Just make sure to not get into any trouble, okay?" A subtle smile would spread on his lips, however.

"Got it," the boy said back with a faint smile. With his friend out of sight, as the members of the 13th brigade swarmed the ship, Katsu felt the weight of his loneliness on that deck. He snapped out of his trans as Tanpo barked, running on board and around in circles, bringing a smile to his face. "Come on boy, let's go get some rest."

[/spoili][/fieldbox]

 

[Oetje]

Yumeji Hojo,
Chuunin and Vanguard member,
At the - new - camp.​

For a moment Yumeji wasn't sure what to say. Midori was her team leader now, the one who gave the orders. But addressing her by her personal name already? Yumeji felt that was too soon. Deciding to remain silent as she didn't want to go over it, Besides, she had the company of another person. Kaya. Trying to remember who was who wasn't that hard, seeing that it wasn't a large group after all.
Continuing to set up her tent Yumeji wondered what the team would be like. What kind of missions they would embark on. How long they would be together as a team. Questions that made her both wary and eager for what was to come. Only they didn't prepare or brace her for the shock.

Yumeji's head twisted to the direction of Reyna, who woke up screaming. Before the chuunin could attempt to even ask or talk to the just awoken team member, a painful experience would follow. Yumeji's eyes widen, her lips parting as she would collapse on the ground. The lightning zapping her was anything but a joyful experience and even as it ended Yumeji had trouble moving. Her fingers twitched as she had trouble to move her legs. Laying still for a moment, wanting to be certain that she would be able to get up without falling on her face the next second the chuunin threw a frowned look at Reyna.
A bit of chaos followed, causing Yumeji to wonder once more how long this team would remain together.
"It is fine," Yumeji stated as she shook her head after Midori told Reyna that she was forgot her new team member, "Miss Azumi was asleep when I introduced myself and... accidents, tend to happen."
The tone on which Yumeji spoke was formal and polite. She did take a step back from Reyna as well noticing that it had acquired some attention. Not something Yumeji was entirely fond off. The interesting part was that Midori did reveal that Reyna had a lightning aura. That was most interesting, but not something Yumeji would question. About to return to the task she had been busy with, a messenger came for Midori. Continuing to set up her tent, Yumeji did pay attention if the message would be anything meaningful for her as well.

"Understood," Yumeji replied as Midori briefed them about what they were going to do. The chuunin wondered how much she should take with her. Her shield was a requirment, without a doubt. It was perhaps also an idea to just wear her chainmail hauberk instead of the extra protection of her gear. Then just her seax and she was certain that she would have enough, other than two pouches with basic tools. It just took Yumeji a few minutes to ready up, hanging her shield over her back, waiting for the rest of the team. There was a moment that she wondered if she should offer her help to the others, but opted for now to remain silent. Waiting for the rest to be ready to head out.

 

[ChromeHound]

[fieldbox='Reyna Azuma | Kumo Genin | Team 13, Aqua']

This might come as a shock...​

Seeing her teammates, her friends, recovering from the surge of lightning she had unwittingly unleashed upon them, Reyna cringed. Approaching Midori, she bit her lip, reaching out and then withdrawing suddenly. "I am... I am so sorry. I don- We have a new teammate??" Her eyes narrowing, Reyna looked around, panicked once more. Had she hurt this new person as well? Stupid Turtle!

Clenching her fists, Reyna, almost missed Midori's question. "I... Nothing, I just... I don't want to talk about it." She whispered, chewing her lip and looking away. Hearing a voice she did not recognize, Reyna turned to see a girl she could only assume was the new teammate. Seeing how the girl took a step away from her, Reyna felt a stab of guilt and shame. Looking down, she couldn't bring herself to say anything to the new girl. She had done enough as it was.

Her rescue came in the form of a messenger, delivering a mission. Looking up as she heard the man speaking with Midori, Reyna listened closely, hoping to pick up details of what was going on. As Midori explained the mission, Reyna found herself growing nervous, unsure why. The mission would allow her to get away from camp for awhile. Away from the soldiers and their dislike for her. She was worried though, worried about having to interact with the new girl. The girl she had just electrocuted and who probably hated her as well...

As Midori asked if she was okay, Reyna looked at her friend with a pained expression. "I don't know... Can, can we talk after the mission?" Scratching the back of her neck, Reyna did not wait for a response. Instead, she headed towards her tent, trying to shake the horrifying images from her mind. Trying to get rid of the sense of foreboding she felt looming over her.

[/fieldbox]

 

[Gerontis]

[fieldbox=Thanks, lightsalmon]

Satoshi Jun,

Jounin | Kumogakure Team 3 |Wolf country, near the coast | Commander of the host, at the camp.

Ah, so his order had arrived? Satoshi would take a quick look in the bag and smile. The content were small pieces of caltrops. Perhaps not that effective on a field of battle, but he valued these small tools quite a lot. They could prove quite well in various situations where he wouldn't be able to count on his own guards or troops. And the quality was also something that could make the difference between success or failure. Weighing the bag for a moment as he considered something, the commander nodded.

"My thanks to you then. Will have to make sure that the smith is aware that I appreciate this effort of his. Will most certainly try to personally thank the smith later on," the last sentence being mumbled. Turning his attention back to the genin, Satoshi flashed a smile. "Well then, may I know your name?" It was clear to Satoshi that this was a genin. The lack of the gear and weaponry that the soldiers had with them was enough, but then there was also the evident fact that the boy would still be in training if he had been a soldier. The only problem now was that he wasn't sure how long he could spend chattering with this genin. He was expecting reports incoming from various units. Both being brought verbally as by paper.
[/fieldbox]

 

[GlitchyBugger]

Combat Drills
Collab between
Glitchybugger
Melancholyboi
Collab Description: Niji Yakei meets Kenshin Hishima, showing him why they call it a combat drill.

collab

At the training grounds on the edge of the camp, Niji stood around in the Kumo uniform and armour like the other soldiers around her. She'd spoken briefly with one of the drill instructors about joining the training session, explained the circumstances of her desire to train with them and been given the go ahead, but warned to not expect any special treatment just because she was a shinobi. Niji expected no less, really, training like a soldier meant she'd be using the same movements as them which would help her blend into the crowd of other soldiers if she was put on the front line... Assuming she would be at the front line at all.

Once the instructor arrived all the soldiers moved to take their places in a rank and file-type formation in front of him. "Alright, time to put you all through your paces, before we drill I'll be having you tire yourselves out a bit by doing... 20 laps around the field, in armour, and then you can collect your training weapons and start one to one combat. Get going and stop wasting time here!" The soldiers quickly started running their laps around the field, most of them knew to moderate their pace yet some would break out into near-sprints to try and get to the combat of the session sooner like eager children or overachievers.
After 20 laps many of them were pumped up and ready to go and a few of them were out of breath, brandishing their training equipment regardless of it and looking as if they were about to drop.

Niji grabbed one of the practice swords off of the rack and a shield to go with it, a spear would've been better but it was fine, she could get accustomed to using these as well.
"The first person you look at will be your fighting partner, it'll be until you or your partner submits or until I say so. Begin when you're ready." The instructor ordered, simply stood watching over them as they sorted themselves out.

Niji found her partner to be fairly young compared to herself, but she readied herself anyway.

The man's voice reminded Baako of the dogs back in Kumogakure. The person his ink coloured pupils stared at was a woman. He unsheathed his bokkun, paired with the shield in his left hand it would do the boy some good. Right now he felt inspired, after meeting his hero Satoshi Jun some sort of fire ignited in the boy, however it felt feint, as he looked at his opponent more, she was taller than him, meaning she had better reach, and she looked like a seasoned warrior compared to him. Already suited up in the Kumo armour, which weighed him down, he voice out feintly. "Ready when you are."

Niji felt confident due to her training partner being both shorter and younger than herself, were it an actual fight she would have the upper hand in almost every way. But she knew not to underestimate others, it could have nasty repurcussions if this were a serious fight. On the dark-skinned boy's comment she simply nodded in response and lunged forwards as if to swing for his left-hand side with the intent to open his guard so she could ram her shield into his chest. Not too hard, but enough to stagger him.

It heart dropped, but his eyes didn't, he took her bait, following his natural instinct he would bring his shield to defend his left side. He felt uncomfortable, in the armor but he dealt with it. His guard opened and the boy would feel impact on his chest, it pushed him back and also staggered him, he was vulnrable. He tried to think of what to do next, but the more he thought the feint the fire in him became.This was just the beginning

Following up from the youth's stumble, Niji stepped up and ducked down to swing once more with her bokken to try and sweep his legs out from beneath him. She made sure to give him a second to react and possibly counter her, which would be ridiculous to do in an actual battle, but it already felt unfair for her to be against this young man. She had to give him a chance to retaliate.

He lowered himself and blocked the woman's sweep with his shield. He felt hesitant, his sword skills were poor, he only carried the bokkun to be like Satoshi Jun. he lunged forward with stab aimed at the seasoned woman's left leg. He felt he was slowly getting it, this gave him a slight confident boost, instead of striking again he waited for her like a dog after a game of fetch.

The sweep was blocked and he attempted a counter attack by stabbing for her leg whilst she recovered, all she did in response was to shift to her right and evade. "You don't have to just stand there and block, you've got all the space around you to move and avoid my attacks too. So don't try and root yourself to one spot. Like so." Niji gave a quick critique before she side-stepped to start circling around to his right merely as a display. Once he seemed comfortable she'd jab for his gut with the tip of the bokken and follow up with a downward swipe for his head.

Using his agility he leaped back a short length of three meters back, following the woman's advice. He felt bad, the fact she had to tell him how to fight made him feel a little ashamed. He'd eventually shrug it off though. The chainmail jangling annoyed him, and it hindered his agility, but it was good practice and discipline for him. The boy began to beat his shield with his bokkun, baiting the woman out.

It was an impressive backwards jump to see for someone loaded down in chainmail armour, covering three meters without even much momentum to carry him. Niji closed the distance to re-engage in combat, watching his movements as she approached and then moving in with her shield high, intending to bring it down as if it were a sword to clash with his shield and throw him off balance so she could follow up with a strike to his left shoulder.

Time was scarse, as soon as the woman's raised her shield, he didn't think, the dropped pushing all his weight to his left, the chainmail helped make his drop quicker, he rolled to his left. He took a quick breath, movement in the armour, was still tough for him. He would quickly bring his right hand up, and with all his strength attempt a horizontal strike to the woman's right shoulder.

Niji hadn't expected him to be able to evade her after his prior performance, it could've been him getting used to his armour or her unintentionally making her actions more obvious, but it was good to see him learning. Although when he opened himself up with his attack she parried it with her own bokken and all but instinctively brought her foot up to kick him in the side of the head. He had armour so it probably wouldn't hurt, but there was no doubt he would be dazed if it made contact.

It felt like the earth of shaking, as her foot smacked him in the head. He shook his head trying to get rid of the feeling, while also trying to keep his guard. But he coudln't hold his shield up his bokkun was down, his eyes dazed.

With him dazed from the kick she lunged in again to jab him in the stomach and follow up with sweeping his legs out again. When an opponent is dazed or weakened it was easier to bypass their defenses and get the killing blow, so to speak. Once he was on the ground she'd stand there and wait for him to recover, then offering a hand up. "You picked up on that fairly quickly, well done. I'd hazard a guess that you're new to the military, right?"

"Thank you. Yes, yes I am."He liked the soft touch of her hands, the woman seemed kind enough, he didn't expect this sort of talk in the military. He began dusting himself "You fight like a seasoned soldier, are you experienced?" He was glad the drill was over, for now.

Niji helped the youth onto his feet and gave a slight nod to his question. "I am a chuunin-ranked kunoichi of the cloud, so I guess I'm fairly experienced. Yes. Admittedly I probably shouldn't have kicked you during a weapons drill, but it's not as if whomever our enemy is will be playing by any rules."

He nodded in agreement. "Life, isn't a bed of roses, right?". The boy wondered if he'd ever make it to Chunnin rank."I'm no good with weapons." He admitted ,prepared for a negative comment. "What is it like? What is like being a Chunnin?"

"Precisely, try to keep it in mind whilst you're out there." Niji replied, listening to the boy and his questions for now. She actually wasn't used to dealing with people of a lower rank to her, especially when they were asking such questions.
"Well... I wouldn't say there's really much different about it compared to a genin, let alone a soldier. It's mostly just a title to say that you've passed the Chuunin exam and are officially recognised as one. I guess it grants you a bit of merit if you want to learn some advanced techniques too." She wore a thoughtful expression after trying to explain the difference, instead changing the topic. "For someone who's no good with weapons, you seem to pick up how to use them pretty decently. What are you more used to using?"

"I need to be quicker." He sighed. "My hands, feet, shurikens and kunais are my first choices." He tapped the center of his chest lightly. "Before I graduated, my teacher said I lacked endurance and strength." He flexed, slightly tensing his bicep. "But, I made up for in agility and speed." The Genin was taking in all that the young lady said, his mind like a dry sponge being soaking up the information.

"So it seems, you're fairly quick already, despite the added weight of the chainmail you still managed to evade and move around quite well." Niji started, moving to stow away the training weapons and at least taking off the coif of her chainmail, she could worry about the rest of it later. "Taijutsu then, speed is important for that so you're doing well enough so far. What about ninjutsu, how are you with that?"

The boy followed what the woman did, "I think average, but I can't control my chakra. Took me months to get one jutsu down to a half decent standard, even then, it isn't even decent. She sounded very experience for a Chunnin, it made him wonder if she was close to becoming Jounnin, however the thought would soon be put aside. "What about you? what are your skills?"

"Chakra control comes with training, if you've recently graduated then it's expected that you'd have trouble with it for now. But give it time and keep working on it. As for my skills... Well my focus is mostly around kenjutsu and taijutsu, but I would say I'm fairly good with seals as well. Not great, but good enough to be able to learn complex seals." Niji said before looking down at herself. "I'm going to change out of this armour, but I'll be around the camp for a while if you want to train at all. I may not be anyone's teacher but I don't mind helping a fellow shinobi."

So many things the woman could do already.On the inside the Genin was amazed."Thank you, I will be around tonight, I'll try and find you." He took off his armour, the woman's voice echoing in his head. "Kenjutsu, Taijutsu, and Sealing." It made his brain leak, the the thought of her doing compelx seals, the boy could barely tie his shoelace. "Oh, What do I call you?, My name is Kenshin, Kenshin Hishima."

"Niji Yakei. I'll see you later on then if you do want to train, Kenshin Hishima, it was fun teaching someone." Niji followed up with a smile and a small nod of her head before heading off to dispose of her armour with the rest of the soldier's gear.
[/center]

 

[Lesli]

[fieldbox=Getting ready, lightsalmon]Kaya Irozaki

| Genin | Kumogakure Team 13 | War camp, at the tents of team 13.|

Nodding back to Reyna as she apologised, Kaya tried to flash a smile. She wanted to just get working on her tent for now. She wasn't the best in setting it up, but last time it had worked. Somewhat. Silently continuing Kaya just overheard was being said. Deciding that she hadn't anything to aid or felt comfortable with just moving into the topic she was almost done with her tent.

Then a messenger came and arrived with the news of a mission. This piqued Kaya's interest and at the same time made her feel even more demotivated. She tried to hide it, but it wasn't that easy for her. The briefing of Midori made it clear that they were set on a rather simple assignment. Then again, hadn't the last one also been simple? Just scouting an area as a shinobi team? Hadn't looked simple when they had to engage a group of hostiles that were riding on some grotesque wolf-like creatures. The idea to face such an opposition again was anything but fun. If it was their job.
Nodding at the end of the briefing, Kaya tried to steel herself. A more determined expression flowed over the girl's face. This would perhaps give her the chance she wanted.

Not needing much time Kaya would soon be ready. Rolling with her shoulders she was hoping that they wouldn't encounter another group of hostiles. But, as bad as she felt about it, it would be good. Good for her, to let out some pent up frustration.
[/fieldbox]

 

[timv999]

Neji Uchiha
Konohagakure Genin

Leaving the Big House?
​

Neji sighed as he walked out of the police station in Amegakure. He turned around and looked at it one last time before he put his hood up and started to walk back towards the barracks. His day just kept getting better and better. From totally messing up with the riots, to actually accidentally helping the enemy and helping them capture one of his squadmates. Too getting yelled at and hit by his sensei and squadmate to then get into a fight with a loser who hates his clan and then getting arrested and having to pay a hefty fine even after he explained that the fight was not his fault. They did take a little pity on him and lower the fine a little bit, but still it was a hefty fine. He couldn't wait to hear what Aiko sensei or better yet his parents would have to say about this mess. His stomach growled, thinking about it he literally hadn't eaten all day.

He continued to head back towards the barracks until he walked right in front of a ramen shop. The smell of fresh cooked ramen with meat and all the other toppings were whopping out into the street. This made his stomach growl again and his mouth watered a little bit. He took out his wallet and looked at it. He had paid the whole fine there at the police station. He still had some money left and decided that he needed this and walked into the shop. An older gentleman and a boy were back there cooking. The man smiled and in a loud boisterous voice said "Welcome to my shop young man! In some mood for some ramen?"

Neji smiled back at the older gentleman "Yes please that sounds great right now." Neji took a seat, he was the only person sitting in the restaurant which was basically outside, just a tarp that people walked through. The tarp separated the row of seats and the cold and wet outside world. Neji sat down and thought about everything that had happened and about how he could fix any of it, if he could fix any of it. The man turned around and put a bowl of ramen down in front of Neji. It had all the toppings on it and a whole bunch of meat. Neji looked up at the man. "Sir thank you but I just asked for a simple ramen bowl." The man laughed "I know you did but you looked like you could use this son, and its on the house." Neji's eyes lit up and smiled. "Thank you so much sir! I really appreciate it!"

The man laughed some more as Neji scarfed down the bowl. He really needed this, his problems weren't gone but this did take his mind off of them for a little bit. "Thank you so much sir!" Neji finished his bowl and left the restaurant. Before he walked out the man spoke up. "Anytime kid, come back anytime. Maybe next time I can actually try and help you with what seems to be bothering you." The man laughed at the confused look Neji gave him. "Kid I've been around a long time and I know when people are in distress. Why do you think I gave you a free bowl? I know something was wrong but didn't want to push you to talk. Next time maybe we can talk about whats up. Before you go though I have some advice. Two things I have learned in life kid. one is an apology goes a long way, and two is never give up. Go after what you want and just never give up."

Neji smiled and walked out of the restaurant back into the rainy and cold world. He put his hood back up and headed towards the barracks. He wasn't going to fix his problems doing nothing. He had to do something about them.​

 

[Gerontis]

[fieldbox=Training, #ff4d4d]

An unusual weapon,
A collab made between Frost and Gero.

Summary :
Toshi is receiving training, after some talk, from Satoshi. The two engage in a spar in which Satoshi gains more insight in how Toshi handles himself in a fight, wielding a weapon that isn't often seen.

[spoili]
The activity seemed to never cease. Same could be said for the orders and requests from various units. Then there were always the reports that came in. The rare moments that Satoshi found a moment of a reprieve were appreciated, but they were for a reason rare. Sitting in the commander's tent, the man was reading a report from the medical staff present in the army camp. There weren't many that would need to take a long time to recover from the first hostile contact. There was a small notion of a repeated action that caused Satoshi to frown. A certain genin that kept being kidnapped by another. The details on the kidnapper were a bit rough and it wasn't anything serious. Yet, it kept haunting Satoshi as he continued further on his work. Managing to win some time free the commander decided to head out to the position of the medical unit. The brisk walk was quite welcome and so were the medical staff as Satoshi inquired about the kidnappings.

Getting a verbal story and description proved to be much better. While he already had a good idea on who the culprit was, Satoshi wouldn't do anything more than just nod and listen to a particular upset nurse, who's patient kept being stolen from her. Promising her that he would see what he could do for her, Satoshi would turn around and start walking. Knowing that it was the genin that went by the name Toshi was one step. The other was trying to find him in an army camp that had the population of a small city. Something that was anything but easy. Unless you could order others to find the person for you.

Heading back to his tent after ordering various people to find and instruct the genin to come to the commander's tent, Satoshi wondered how things would go when the forces of Akino would arrive. And what the Republic would do. The three thousand troops were more than welcome. In fact, it was their problem in the first place so they better would take an active role else Satoshi wouldn't think twice to move his forces back to the Sky country. Arriving at his tent Satoshi made the decision to stand outside. Just an excuse to enjoy some fresh air and talking with a few of his personal guard.

Moving at a brisk pace, Toshi had to continue to push away the thought of replacing himself with a water clone everytime he passed a standing puddle of water 'Not that it would work anyway...' he thought as he folowed the gruff looking soldier to the Commanders tent. The soldier had pulled him from a supply tent as he rummaged through boxes of weapons looking for just that right something that would really flesh out one of his scrolls, as much as Toshi had insisted he had almost found it the soldier wasn't having any of it and had almost taken the genins arm off dragging him away from the supplies.

But now there was a bigger problem. He was heading to the Commander, and there wasn't a doubt in his mind as to why he had been summoned. He steeled himself, going over just how he would resist the Commander when it came to his very obvious wrong doings, he began to think up excuses as he neared the tent. It wasn't me. It was someone that looked like me. It was my twin brother. It was a ghost. It was a wild animal. It was an enemy shinobi disguised as him. It was someones clone. They had the wrong guy. The wrong 180cm, 74kg, hazel haired, brown eyed, scroll toting shinobi named Toshi, there are infact two of them.

His thoughts were cut short as he and the soldier rounded the corner, and in front of the two was the Commander, simply enjoying the fresh air by the looks of it. Althought if you could call the camp air fresh you likely couldn't smell, but it was the idea that mattered not the fragrance.

"Jun-sensei. You requested me?" Toshi said as he attempted to keep his guilt off his face as best he could.

Passing the time with talking about various fighting styles with two of his guard, Satoshi would turn as one of the guards nod towards the direction of an approaching soldier and Toshi. Thanking the soldier, Satoshi eyed Toshi for a moment. "Yes, I had, would you mind to walk with me?" Satoshi friendly requested as the man would already start to walk at a slow pace, "So, I have heard about various... crimes, that occured in the camp. Not exactly my words, but there is a person who have had some trouble with a certain genin kidnapping another." The tone of Satoshi was stern, but he just looked in front of himself as he continued to walk on a slow pace. "Don't assume you have any clue on who this culprit could be, Toshi?"

Toshi nodded as the commander asked him to walk with him and listened as he talked as he tried to formulate his best excuse possible. After racking his brain for as short a pause as possible without giving away too much evidence that he was guilty Toshi finally had his defense. "It was me." he said flatly, forgoing every excuse or less than average option he had come up with and just completely admitting to his "crime". "I took miu from the tent, once without permission because the Nurse wouldn't let her leave and leters from home had just arrived. They don't just give those out to anyone, they have to make sure it's actually you yah know?" he said matter-of-factly, "And the second time I did get permission from the Nurse, so I'm not too sure if that counts as one of my crimes..." he scratched the back of his head as they walked, a shit-eating grin plastered on his face.

'Now I'm definitely in for it.' he thought.

Nodding slowly the man remained silent as he kept on walking. Listening to Toshi, Satoshi still wouldn't give a reply. A certain silence, as much as one could call it silence in the bustling camp, followed the answer from the genin. Satoshi once more frowned as he lowered his head a bit, visibly pondering on something. "Do you like Miu Sanosuke?" Satoshi asked on a polite tone, his facial expression showing nothing of that this was asked from his own amusement. "I mean, I am not certain if you are familiar, but you could show your affection in other ways, you know?"

Nearly tripping in the mud as the Commander asked him if he liked Miu, Toshi could feel his face growing red. His hand instinctively reaching to pull up his scarf, Toshi stopped short as he realized it would be all the more incriminating to what Jun-sensei had just asked. Rubbing the bottom of his chin he put his hand back in his pocket and looked off to the side at the camp as they walked.

"Not romantically no." he said softly, "She's just the only friend I have got out here... Rei is... missing as far as I can tell, and the Hojo I fought with, the Chuunin, the other Slayer; as warm and attractive as she may be isn't in our team so I don't know where she is either." he paused and took a breath as he felt his heart beating in his chest, "Miu is the only one I've got out here even if we only met recently, and the only one that I know where she'll be until she gets discharged from the medical tent. So it's not hard to find her... It's nice to have something to ground myself to in this--" he waved at the war camp "--- I'm a kid, or a young adult depending how you look at it, in a war.. Inexperienced and still with a lot to learn... It's nice to have an anchor to reality even if their existance in a war is just as fragile as mine." he said as he felt his pulse rise a bit more, "She isn't a bad person either." he said before turning to Jun.

"And it doesn't help that she's a beauty." he said with a smile on his face.

Not romantically. Satoshi couldn't help but snicker for a second as he heard Toshi's answer. He had expected, to be honest, that the boy would flat out deny having any feelings for Miu. Instead he even brought up the other 'Slayer', Yumeji Hojo, being warm and attractive. For a moment Satoshi wanted to advise Toshi to be careful with that as there could spawn a lot of trouble for him if he wouldn't be careful with his words. But Satoshi decided that Toshi had to experience that for himself. The latter part of Toshi's answer made Satoshi's smile grow faint as he could understand that this wasn't a situation any kid or young adult felt comfortable in. Even he, a person who had 'enjoyed' strife and conflict before, couldn't say he felt at home in an army camp. "I see," Satoshi threw a sideways look at Toshi, "I suppose then that answers the question. But now it is just the question of what I should do with you. I appreciate and prefer order above chaos, that is no secret. Thus I can't condone that you are 'kidnapping' miss Sanosuke. That is," he quickly added as he didn't want to give Toshi any chance to interrupt or say something, "If I go by the words of the nurse who seems to not like you. However," a grin appeared on the man's lips as he would come to a halt, his hands at his back, "I think I know just the right 'punishment'. It has been some time since I have been able to hone my skills. And what better than being able to have a capable genin as partner, right?"

Nodding as Jun-sensei spoke, Toshi could feel as his heart began to slow in his chest. The constant beating becoming more regular and relaxed as Toshi realized they were already off the topic of Miu. As quickly as it had calmed, his pulse rose again as the Commander prescribed trianing with him as a form of punishment for "kidnapping" Miu from her tent.
He jokingly raised a hand up as they walked, imitating a school kid by doing so, "Sensei what kind of training will we be doing?" he asked, curious as to why this could be considered a form of punishment for an inexperienced nin such as himself "This is less of a punishment and more of an opportunity than anything." he said as he waited for his sensei to answer.

"We will be training some taijutsu and kendo. Not certain how you feel about swinging a blade, but I fear that I might become rusty if I won't practice from time to time," Satoshi answered at first. Already he beckoned Toshi to follow him as he would head towards the grounds where they would be able to train. While on their way, Satoshi would reply to the latter comment of Toshi. "Can't really think of it as a punishment, but the nurse requested that I made it clear with a certain punishment. Don't really agree to it, but can't also state that I don't understand her frustration. So let's just label this as some sort of punishment shall we? Makes it easier for everybody, I figure." Thinking of something he threw a look at Toshi, "Thinking of it, is there any weapon that you have a particular interest for?"

"I agree." Toshi said as the Commander stated that he needed to please the Nurse somehow. Following the Commander to the training fields, Toshi mentally sorted through his different scrolls and began picking out his weapons that he didn't feel quite as comfortable with. Once that was done he narrowed the options down to a list that fit on one hand and choose the one that he felt would be the most useful in the future. "I do have a kusarigama that I would like to practice with on something other than an unmoving dummy." he said as they walked, "It's an interesting thing, but I need an opponent that can strike back to really begin to learn how to use it to fight."

"A kusarigama?" Satoshi repeated, a bit surprised. "Am not entirely able to call myself an expert, but I can try to do my best to provide a better practice target than a dummy," the man added. Entering the area it didn't take Satoshi long to arrange a pen where he and Toshi could train together. Drawing his own blade, a soft blue hue would cover the blade. "I don't expect you to be familiar with chakra flow, but I like to train my chakra control as well. The blade should be blunted now, which requires a bit of focus on my part," the commander explained as he would give the sword a few spins before firmly grabbing the hilt with his right hand, "So shall we just start in a slow pace or what would you prefer?"

Entering the pen, Toshi had a flash back to his last experience going up against an opponent with a blunted weapon, 'Doesn't mean they don't hurt...' he thought as he watched the Commander effortlessly whirl the sword about before bringing it to a stop. "Although I'm not very good with the kusarigama, it isn't my first time using it in the slightest." he said a hint of excitement evident in his voice, 'Even if I get my ass whooped it will be a nice experience.' he thought as he settled on jumping right into the spar with his sensei.

Reaching into his jacket, Toshi grabbed a light red scroll unfurling it in front of himself and unsealing the kusarigama in one swift motion. The smoke from the unsealing yet to even dissipate Toshi had his hands on the weapon and was already moving toward his sensei, "I've practiced that a lot." he said, proud of how effortlessly he was able to grab the weapon from within the smoke without injuring himself. "I'm all for jumping right into this." he said waiting for a confirmation from the Commander as he spun the weight lazily at the end of the chain on a length shorter than his forearm.

"I think I can state the same with using a katana, but I will try to hold myself back. For now," Satoshi said, hoping to comfort the genin a bit. Wouldn't do much good if he was more worried about getting hurt or bruised than eager to gain more experience. "Good. Then let's go," Bringing the blunt back side of the katana to his chest, Satoshi would drop the sword in a fluid movement as a form of salute before bringing it back in a standard guard. Though he had little experiencing in wielding the kusarigama himself, he was known with how annoying experienced opponents could be with that weapon. Deciding to remain on the defense, Satoshi would click with his tongue as he would take a few steps to the right. Just to gauge what Toshi would do.

Returning his sensei's show of respect by slightly bowing his head, Toshi ran through the prior practice he had put into using the unlikely weapon. Sorting out things he figured wouldn't work too well on a moving person and instead choosing out a few things he figured he should give a try on someone who can react. Watching intently as the Commander took a few steps to the right, Toshi copied him taking a few steps to his right and simply making the two only move orientation within the pit while maintaining the same distance.

Giving the chain a whole arms length of chain, Toshi let it hang limp at his right side, only a small amount of the chain running through his hand to keep it in check. 'He won't move against this...' he thought for a moment before deciding to disregard reason and just try to learn some lessons with the kusarigama, no matter how bruised he may end up the next morning. Taking a step forward to bring the Commander into the range of the weighted chain, Toshi twisted his body to the left sending the chain aiming for the Commanders left leg as fast as he could, 'If I can just throw him off balance for a moment.' he thought as the chain shot forward.

Noticing that Toshi moved along earned the genin some silent praise from Satoshi, who nodded and gained a faint smile. Watching the movements of his student, Satoshi wondered what the opening move would be from the genin. The first attack caused the jounin to take a step back with his leg while raising his own blade for a moment. Instead of going into the offensive the jounin would take a step back altogether while lowering his blade. A nod was given, as if Satoshi gave Toshi permission to try again.

Not surprised as the attack was easily dodged, Toshi noticed the slight nod and couldn't hepl but let out a small laugh, "How sincere." he said before pulling the chain back to himself. Grabbing the weight at the end of the chaintoshi let it out about half an arms lenght and began to spin it while circling his sensei to the right. Lamenting internally how he couldn't use any other weapons, Toshi pushed the ideas that would have made the spar much easier to the back of his mind while focusing on getting the kusarigama under control as best he could. Still circling to the commanders right, he released the chain from his hand allowing it to slilde forward with all the momentum of what was once a quickly spinning weight carrying it out. 'There!' he thought as the weight was only the length of the Commanders katana away from his left shoulder Toshi clamped his hand down on the chain, stopping it's horizontal progress while simultanesouly pulling his arm down towards the earth changing the direction of the weights attack to be aimed more for the left side of the lower torso.

His focus didn't waver. It was one of the first things he had learned when being taught how to fight. As Toshi kept circling to his right, Satoshi would follow the boy's movement, turning around to keep the point of the blade aimed at Toshi's chest. Spotting sudden change of movement caused Satoshi's reflex to kick in. With the chain being released forward the man would shot in a quick step away as he had anticipated the weighted end to be flung in another straight line towards him. This not being the case, Satoshi would just be in the nick of time able to use his blade to stand in the path of the chain, avoiding the attack.

Not surprised by the fact a Jounin was able to dodge what was likely one of the trickier attacks Toshi had figured out with the weighted end of the kusarigama, Toshi pulled the chain back past himself. The weight flew past his right side before he brought it up over his head and back down on his Sensei from above, at the same time he quickly moved in raising the sickle up in an attempt to block an sort of counter from his sensei.

This was just in time, Satoshi thought to himself as he would take a quick step backwards once more after the attack had been fended off. Getting more into the spar, Satoshi decided that he should now try to test out how Toshi would react to a target that would aim to try to attack back. But first he had to deal with the genin attacking again. This time it came from above, which made Satoshi lift his blade with just right hand up wards to block the attack by the chain. His left hand at the ready to grapple the chain, while twisting his blade already to be brought down once Toshi would come in range.

Moving in close, Toshi was surprised to see that the commander wasn't just stepping out of the way of the chain. Pushing the thought to the side as he was already too close to worry about it, Toshi placed the sickle on its side and swept it up in a simple motion aiming for the neck of his commander completely confident that it wouldn't connect.

Lowering the blade in a rapid movement, Satoshi would manage to hold it in the path of the sickle. Narrowing his eyes as they were now close, the man would use his weight and strength to attempt to knee Toshi in the stomach while locking their weapons.

Caught off guard by his sensei's sudden switch for using the sword and now locked in a grapple, Toshi felt the man place his weight into him noticing the the shift in his leg as he brough the leg up to knee him in his stomach. As the knee came up Toshi dropped the sickle from his left hand as stepped around his commander to his right as quickly as he could, taking half a knee to his flank in the process. The Commander's weapon now free and his sickle effectively out of range thanks to their close proximity and it now being on the floor Toshi reigned the weight back in with his right hand in an attempt to bring it around his sensei's neck from behind his right shoulder.

Once more Satoshi found himself surprised as Toshi managed to do something he hadn't expected. With the genin managing to reduce the impact to just half a knee, Satoshi notice what was going on and instead of defending himself against the incoming blow, he would attempt to use his sword to deliver a blow with the guard - as a full slash wouldn't be feasible in the closer quarter.

As the weight swung around Toshi saw the movement of his sensei, and focused in on it, "Oh shi---" he said as the guard connected with his chest knocking all the air from his lungs. As Toshi collapsed to the ground he pulled the chain in his right hand completing its long circle around the back of his sensei and pulling on the final short moment it would need to wrap itself around his neck.

As Toshi would collapse on the ground, the katana of Satoshi followed. This time not to bring the genin further down, but to point the tip towards the genin and make it clear that the first round was done. Instead Satoshi would feel the chain moving around his neck. Grunting his left hand shot as a reflex up to his throat while he attempted to step back, while holding his katana in a defensive position between himself and Toshi.

Still gripping the chain, Toshi collapsed onto his elbows as he gasped for air not noticing that his chain had in fact met its target as intended. Letting the chain slip from his hands as he struggled to fill his lungs Toshi spoke inbetween his agonizing breaths, "I----" he breathed in in, "--lose." he said lifting a hand up toward where he thought his sensei was.

The chain didn't tighten as Satoshi had expected. With his left hand it wasn't too hard to pull it looser. The words of Toshi caused Satoshi to lower his katana and relax his stance. Waiting a second before releasing himself from the chain the man would sheath his own weapon. A faint smile crossed the jounin's lips as he would grab the stretched out hand of Toshi, pulling the boy up. Patting his shoulder with his other hand Satoshi replied back, with a tone that made it clear that the man was quite happy with the short round. "You lost? I don't really agree with that. Try to breath calm and slowly. Straighten your back, it helps." He advised the genin before he would comment further, "As for losing, think that it would have played out in your favour. I shouldn't have backed away. You did quite well, Toshi. Think this round was a lose for me."

Gladly accepting the help to get to his feet, Toshi righted himself and focused on his breathing before noticing the chain hanging limply aorund the Commanders neck, 'So it did connect.' he thought before tuning back in to what he was saying. Shaking his head at the Commanders insistence that he had won Toshi spoke up, confident that he had his breath back, "If anything you won Sensei. I was already incapacitated, although I had a delivered a blow that could have ended the round... In my condition after you hit me with your guard I couldn't offer up any resistance." he said, "There was no way for me to capitalize even though I somehow pulled it off." he waved a hand in front of him as if waving away the win. "You won, even with a chain around your neck, as close as we were and even with your surprise you weren't the one immobilized on the ground, could have cut me open from head to toe before I even had my breath back." he said as he rubbed his chest where he had been hit.

The jounin once more shook his head. "I must disagree. If we would take into factor our ranks and experience, the fact that you had pulled it off is something I must state as a victory for you. You could perhaps not make use of the moment, but if we would see it as a real fight when you have a bit more experience? Then I fear that I wouldn't be able to pull off the same move," the commander replied back. He was somewhat amused that the genin didn't acknowledge it and while he understood what Toshi meant, Satoshi didn't just want to agree on it. "But that went quite well. How many times have you fought with the kusarigama, against a person?"

Sighing as his sensei insisted on the round being his he shook his head, "I insist you won the round. In future with more experience and more skill I may very well win, but right now it's surely a loss no matter how impressive it may have been as a genin. Through and through--" he waved again, "--it's definitely your win.". He paused as his sensei asked him of his practice with the kusarigama, "Well to be honest, I've only practiced against dummys and trained in the open thus far, you were the first human opponent I've faced... Kind of why I decided to go at it with my all, to see how much I really had retained from fighting---" he said while making air quotes "---inanimate objects and the air. To see how much I could capitalize on something as odd as a kusarigama against someone that; and no offense here sensei; didn't seem to know how to fight them." he paused before letting out a short burst of laughter, "Hell I don't think I would even know how to combat someone witha kusarigama, and I can kind of use one."

Also releasing a sigh Satoshi decided that he wasn't going to win and able to praise the crafty genin. "Very well." Hearing the answer on his question, Satoshi thought of something. He knew that this was all good and nice, but he wouldn't be able to train Toshi all the time. And the boy had certainly proven that he had some talent with the weapon. "I doubt I will be able to train you often as one would expect from a sensei. I have other obligations. Doesn't mean that I won't still try to make time to train and spar with you from time to time, but I will see if I can't arrange somebody to train with you. Would be a shame," Satoshi nodded towards the genin's weapon, "If you wouldn't be able to continue practicing on something more fun than a dummy." Realising how that was phrased, the commander chuckled.

"Of course, not stating that you're going to be allowed to hurt anybody, just to make that clear. Don't think that there are many experts with the kusarigama in the camp, but there are bound to be people who have fought against wielders of that weapon." Leaning his left hand on the handle of his katana, Satoshi rubbed his chin with his right hand, further pondering about it. "And no offense taken. I have faced people with swords, spears, bows, ninjutsu, genjutsu and most usual kinds. Was kind of interesting to spar against somebody wielding the kusarigama."

Nodding as the Commander spoke, Toshi couldn't help but give a little laugh as he noted that he wouldn't be able to hurt anyone while training with the kusarigama, "I would hope I don't hurt anyone if possible... But no guarantees that we won't get a bit beat up sparring each other, whoever they end up being." he said as the commander spoke.

"It was interesting for me as while---" he started after the Commander seemed done talking, "---being able to face soemone capable of moving with it, definitely have some ideas as to how I may be able to improve my efficiency with it... Although it likely take a good lot of trial and error mixed with more than a few cuts and bruises. But I can't get to Chuunin without at least a little effort right?" he joked, feigning ambition in a weird form of humor.

Thinking of some people or how he could make it happen that Toshi would be able to continue on training, Satoshi had a few ideas. Even if he would be quite occupied, it wouldn't hurt to try to arrange some free time. Would even do him some good to get some training going on, after all. "My old sensei use to tell me that a training without any bruises, is no real training at all," the commander said, shaking his head lightly, "Can't really agree with that, but glad you found the spar fun. Think with some more practice and training you'll be progressing pretty well with handling that weapon." Pausing for a moment, Satoshi threw a direction from where they had come from before. "I do have to get back," the man grumbled, clearly not too content with the fact. Turning back to Toshi, the eyebrows of Satoshi briefly perked up. "I will try to make some time soon again, but try to not get into too much trouble, okay? If you are going to 'kidnap' Miu, just mention that I condone that Miu is allowed to have some time out of the tent."

Giving the Commander a smile, Toshi nodded in understanding, "I'll be sure to let them know next time I visit Miu, Sensei." he said with a hint of a smile on his face. "As far as practicing goes,if you can find anyone I'd be more than grateful. I'm grateful for this 'punishment' as well." he said as he bowed slightly. "I'm sure you're quite busy, do you need to be getting back to commanding now?" he asked, wondering if the training was over and already excpecting it to be.

"Good. Then we will try to pick it up or I will make you learn of who will pick it further up from here," Satoshi replied as he couldn't hide a small smile. He could anticipate that the nurse who had complained about Toshi wouldn't like his decision. Then again, Satoshi couldn't really see much harm in letting his students be students. Nodding, Satoshi released a soft sigh, "Yes, sorry. Got a few more meetings with officers and captains. Nothing truly exciting, really. Will be seeing you later then," nodding once more Satoshi would turn around and start heading back. While he had to think of what plans and reports would be discussed, he had some trouble. Already he was considering how to train and help Toshi advance further.

"Of course, your work is far more important than training a Genin." Toshi affirmed as he gave another bow. As the Commander took his leave, Toshi turned to the training fields. Ahead of him there were small groups and large masses of soldiers training. With swords, with bows, with spears and other assorted weapons. "A lot of soldiers..." he said as he let out a low whistle, "May as well watch."
[/spoili][/fieldbox]

 

[FrostedCaramel]

[fieldbox="Report of Discrepancy, Orange"]Yamada Suzu "Rabbit" | Sworn Sword | Akinian Empire, Road to the Akinian Capital

---

Suzu and the recruits are a few days into the march back to the Capital. Everything goes fine, for a while.

---

[spoili]
It was two hours past midnight and the group was still on the march, there hadn't been any where to settle down for the night that had a roof over it so Suzu had decided that they would continue moving. 'No way are we sleeping on the side of this road.' she thought, hand rested on the hilt of Kaze as she rode along. The group was twenty one strong not counting Taya; the horse. Suzu was the only one that was heavily armed, Ame and Kaze serving as her main weapons with a host of other tools at her disposal strapped to the side of Taya. The rest of the recruits had a standard Shinobi kit from what she had gathered, but most of them were weighed down by the what they had been allowed to bring for their transition to life in the Capital and as a Sworn Sword.

She lamented in the fact that many of them were likely eager to prove themselves, and if the wolves reappeared it would likely end up badly for the recruits that decided now was their chance to show what they were made of. 'None of these kids have any valuable combat experience.' she thought as they moved a long at a medium pace. Ahead of her a few of the recruits were chatting, although their words were taking longer to form and their movements were becoming less pronounced as time went on, the effects of marching all day and all night were beginning to show themselves in how they recruits acted.

To her rear was the bulk of the recruits. Most of them were in a tight group but there was a group of three that was a few meters behind the main group, talking like the rest, about what she couldn't tell. 'They're still kids...' she thought as she looked over them all. Knowing full and well what sort of training they had been through before this point, Suzu found it hard to believe just how lighthearted many of the recruits appeared about their situation from above. 'I'd be surprised if any of them know the dangers we face right now.' she thought as she realized they likely had no idea of what was going on in the Empire and across the sea in the lands to the East.

Tayas' ears perked up to her right, listening to something off in the woods at their side. Leaning forward, Suzu placed a hand on the horses side as she stared off into the forest in the direction of Taya's listening, "Shhhh, I need you calm this time around." she whispered as she sat up again. The recruits were still going about their business, oblivious to the dangers that could be lurking just meters of them on either side, 'They're going to be dead very quickly if they are always this care free.' she thought, but it did make some sense to her, after all this was one of the main roads in the Akinian Empire. It lead from one of the most heavily guarded areas to another center of wealth and military power within its own borders. For the recruits to not be expecting anything within their own borders, was justified, but misplaced security was deadly.

Taya's ears moved back to her front, whatever noise she had been following was gone and the horse seemed to believe it as such as it went back to its constant pace and seemed to relax. Suzu sat back a bit, allowing herself to get comfortable in the saddle as they moved, but her hand remained atop Kaze's hilt no matter how comfortable she allowed herself to become.

Another hour of her riding like this passed before Taya once again seemed to be listening to something, this time off to their left. The same direction she had first listened to on their initial trip out to the River Province. Suzu perked up in her saddle and looked off to her right, watching as they approached a large patch of bushes she wrapped her hand around Kaze's hilt and unsheathed it, the sight of it being removed drawing a few of the closer recruits to loom around in confusion. Kaze, an Uchigatana almost a meter in length, was now be held ready at Taya's side as the bush fast approached.

Suzu breathed a sigh of relief as they passed the bush, allowing herself to lower Kaze slightly as Taya slowly left it in their wake. 'Only hundreds more bushes like that one left to go.' she thought as she placed Kaze back in its sheath.

"Ma'am, is something wrong?" came the voice of one of the recruits to her left. Suzu looked down on him, the same boy from the bookstore, a concerned look plastered about his face as he peered back at his fellow recruits nervously. "Doesn't seem so, just be aler---"

"Ma'am! Eiko is gone!" Came a call from behind her.

In an instant Kaze was drawn from it's sheath and hanging at the ready, Suzu pulled the reins back hard turning Taya back toward the call. It came from one of the three that were lagging slightly behind the main group, except now there were only two of them. "What do you mean Eiko is gone, where has she gone?!" Suzu yelled back as the groups attention was now firmly planted on the group in the rear.

"She was just here talking to us, just off my right... She went silent for just a moment and I noticed she wasn't at my side anymore I don't know what happened!" the recruit yelled, the fear in his voice becoming more evident with every word. Suzu stopped and looked around, all of the recruits were now watching the rear. Clenching her fist at their inexperience Suzu addressed the group, "Get in pairs, arms yourselves! Stay close to the middle of the road, and for the sake of all that is holy stop all looking in the same fucking direction!" she yelled. Just a moment later the recruits seemed to be broken out of their trance, quickly pulling out kunai and pairing up.

Dismounting from Taya, Suzu left her reins in one of the recruits hands and moved for the rear group. "When did you notice her missing?" she asked, her voice stern and serious her eyes making it obvious this was no longer training. "Just as we passed that bush... Ma'am what's going on?".

Suzu's eyes widened as she focused on the bush less than ten meters behind them. She took a moment to apologize to Eiko, assuming she was still alive and formed a single chakra thread which quickly made it's way back to the horse and removed Ame from its sheath bringing it flying back to her. Both weapons now in hand, Suzu plunged them into the ground. Next to her the recruit from earlier seemed to be confused reaching out to get Suzu's attention he spoke "Are we going to get he--" he was cut short as he was treated with a healthy shock from trying to touch Suzu, in front of him lightning jumped from the swords in the ground before surging forth at the bush and the area beyond, the recruits eyes widening as it did.

Suzu kept up her use of the banquet of lighting technique for close to thirty seconds, sending it rampaging through the bush and the area beyond blindly attempting to kill whatever had Eiko, or at least, Eiko herself. Finished with her sloppy try at tying up a loose end she pulled her swords from the dirt and turned to the group. "We start moving, and fast. There will be no search party, you all knew what you signed up for when you decided to become Shinobi, and Sworn Swords no less. If any one else goes missing, I won't even attempt to end you as I did Eiko." she paused.

"I will leave you to the wolves."


[/spoili][/fieldbox]

 

[Melancholy Boi]

Early Evening training

Glitchybugger
Melancholy Boi

Description

Niji is trying to help Kenshin improve his chakra control with a few of the simple methods of practicing.

It was a few hours after the combat drill by now and Niji was back at the training fields, waiting near some large poles that had been driven into the ground, some had protrusions whilst others were completely smooth.
These were typically used to help train a shinobi in controlling their chakra when there were no trees readily available, as it was a rather similar surface what with being wood and all. Niji had found Kenshin earlier after the drills and told him to meet her at the training fields in an hour and so here she was. With luck he'd show up, she was actually eager to see her performance when it came to teaching others.

He had finally made it, after taking so many detours he had managed to find the spot. The boy wasn't all there with directions.
He made his way to the Kunoichi with a head full of excuses. "Sorry I'm late."He took in his surroundings. "How do we begin?"

"That's not a problem, it's not official training so I can't punish you for anything, this is just me lending you a hand." Niji explained simply before gesturing to the poles next to her. "Are you familiar with the tree climbing and leaf concentration exercises for honing your chakra control? Seeing as it's one of your self-claimed weaker points that you seemed more critical of, it feels best to get you started on this first. Greater control of your chakra allows you to learn how to mold it in different ways easily so you can learn and develop new ninjutsu techniques." With a pause, she looked back to Kenshin to await an answer.

He was relieved. "I'm know about the leaf..." He clicked his fingers to remind himself. "Leaf concentration, I've climbed trees, but this one has no branches" He looked at the tree confused, wondering what he was suppose to do with it, and how it would help his chakra control."How do I climb it?" He said, looking at her with a confused face.

Giving a small nod of understanding, Niji looked to the poles and then to Kenshin. "Whilst it sounds simple, it's a difficult technique to get right at first, but you use your chakra to essentially stick your feet to the tree." She began to demonstrate, placing one foot on the pole and then the other, where she proceeded to walk up the tree a short distance.
"If you don't put enough chakra into it, you'll fall off, but if you put too much chakra into it, you'll break the surface you're stood upon and then fall off. But it takes practice to get this sort of thing right, so don't beat yourself up over it too much if you screw up. Just place your foot on the side of this pole and concentrate your chakra into that foot until you feel your foot clinging to the surface of the pole." From there Niji walked back down the pole, one foot touching the ground before the other. "And then try to bring your other foot up onto the pole as well without losing grip on it with your first foot. Give it a try."

He nodded, taking a deep breath he put one foot on the pole. Baako would close his eyes, before planting the other foot. He took another step and would begin walking up the tree, every two steps he'd pick up speed. Reaching only the short distance, he drop, landing on his back. "Could you describe to me the sort of feeling i'm meant to feel Niji?"He said, rubbing his back.

He seemed to be doing fairly well for his first few steps, but as would be expected of someone just starting this sort of training in chakra control, he soon fell from the side of the pole. "The feeling? Think of it like having some very strong glue stuck to your feet, so that when you press your foot to the surface, it sticks. That might help with it to a degree, but I reckon when you come up with your own understanding of how it works, it'll come to you a lot easier. Just concentrate on making yourself stick for a while and make sure you're confident enough to start walking up the pole. I'll be here the whole time to keep an eye on you."

He nodded his head, trying to understand. "Right." He took stood two meters away from the pole. He starred it down, and then began run towards it, jumping and successfully getting his feet to stick, he continued trying to pace himself, it wouldn't take him long to fail though. His foot broke through the surface of the pole. "Dam it". He hissed, yanking his foot out of the hole his foot made. Sliding back down the pole. He shook his head, and kicked the pole, rolling his eyes in irritation.

Niji watched quietly as Kenshin made another attempt at climbing the pole with a bit more force than before and whilst it wasn't unexpected, she had a feeling it would happen when he broke the surface of the pole and came sliding back down. "So. Now you know how it feels to put too much and not enough chakra into your feet from those two failures, right?" She began, looking at the damage to the pole, if he'd done much more to it the pole would likely have to be replaced... Too bad it wasn't just a tree, then only the bark would've come off.
"With that knowledge in mind, do you think you would be able to find the middle ground where it's just right, almost as if the side of the pole is actually the ground you're walking on at this very moment?"

" Yeah, I feel I can get it now." He slowly walked up the same pole he damaged, cautiously, he was slowly getting better. He turned facing Niji, stood on the side of the pole. "It's feels weird, but i'm sure i will get use to it, I just to need to try running up it." He started jogging up the pole, pacing his breathing, his steps were in a rhythmic pattern, when he reached his satisfactory point, he'd jog down, and await for a response from Niji.

Niji wore a pensive expression as she watched Kenshin start to get more confidence in moving up and down the pole with some ease. "You've caught on fairly well, but." She idly tapped the underside of one of her sleeves and suddenly produced a sheathed katana from it, presumably a seal, and whilst holding the handle, began to poke and prod at Kenshin in various spots. "Bare in mind that you wont just be allowed to do this without disruption whilst you're on a mission if you encounter enemies from another country. So you would have to maintain your focus whilst either taking hits or avoiding being hit. I'm only poking lightly, but an opponent wouldn't give you that kind of freedom."
She mostly wanted to see if he would fall from the unexpected disruption, but part of it was for her own amusement too.

The third strike got him, he landed face flat on the ground, milking a bit of time away. "You're right." He said, his voice, muffled. He picked himself up and dusted himself off."It would be lights out, I guess chakra control is really important.

"Chakra control is very important for shinobi, it gives us more freedom for what we do with our techniques, and if you're practiced enough, you can even walk on water." Niji began, looking Kenshin up and down. "So how long do you want to keep practicing this for? There's still time before it gets dark so you can still see what you're doing and if you want to then you can keep trying the tree climbing exercise until sun down. But I would suggest for future practice that, for now, you find a leaf and practice the leaf concentration exercise in any free time you have. It's useful for improving your concentration and avoiding any mental distractions." For the time being she stood there watching him for his answer, the tip of the sheathed katana resting on the floor with her hand on the pommel.

Baako looked up at the sky and then at the pole. "Walk on water?" He turned to face Niji "I wouldn't mind a rematch" He pointed to her sword, and mimicked an overhead swing. "Maybe we could, fight on the poles?" He thought about it carefully, though it would exhaust him, it would push him, and train, both his control and his kenjutsu.

Kenshin's suggestion for a practice fight on the poles was quite interesting based on the fact he was only just improving with the sword and his chakra control. "Well that's certainly an adventurous idea, if you think you're up to it then by all means, we can give it a try." Looking at her katana for a moment, Niji simply re-applied the seal on her sleeve and stowed it away. "Unlike some, I've not mastered chakra flow yet, so I'll use a bokken instead of risking any serious injury with a katana that might not be properly blunted." She explained, moving to the weapon racks nearby and picking one up. "Do you have one?"

Baako, nodded. "Yes" He would, move over to the bushes and put his whole hand in, patting the ground beneath it for his bokken, managing to pull it out along with all the dead leaves. "It's hard to believe you haven't mastered it, like sealing looks really advance." He unsheathed it and placed it on the ground with care and respect. He would then face his Niji with a cornered smile. "How do we do this".

For a moment Niji seemed surprised when Kenshin produced a bokken from within a nearby bush, why he'd stored it there was beyond her comprehension, but it wasn't an issue really. "There's a fair bit that I'm not capable of, but I make sure to keep myself practiced in what I do know. Seals aren't too difficult, the main thing is getting all the writing and symbols correct." She approached the pole and jumped just high enough to land both feet against it and began walking up, pointing her bokken at him with one hand. "Well we can get right to fighting on the pole and try to improve your kenjutsu as well as your chakra control, or fight and then progress onto the pole. You seem like you want to challenge yourself, so the former of the two options would do best." From there she quietly stood, awaiting his actions or answer.

"Option one, seems right, I know it's going to be a lot of hard work conquering the pole, but I will do it." He mimicked the Chunnin's taunt, jumping on to pole, the sticky feeling on his feet returning. He advanced up the pole towards the Kunoichi, attempting a vertical strike, with both hands.

She waited fairly patiently for Kenshin to approach, now in a proper stance in favor of the taunting point as he moved in for an attack. An overhead swing was easy to read due to how telegraphed it was, Niji didn't back away nor try and move to the sides, instead she brought her bokken up at the last moment to parry it and attempt a jab in the gut.

He staggered back when Niji parried, he managed to avoid her jab, by clumsy stepping to the other side of the pole. Surprised that he hadn't touched the ground yet in a humiliating fashion, he would grin. He would strike low, a horizontal cut aimed at the back of her ankle.

It seemed accidental, but even so Kenshin's dodge was a sign that he was starting to improve. Seeing as he had to concentrate more on his chakra control by moving around and hadn't fully dropped his guard he was on the right track at the very least. Niji on the other hand saw what he was up to after moving and simply removed her foot from the pole long enough to avoid his attack at her ankle, in response she turned and brought her bokken down at him in a vertical strike like the one he started with, both feet planted firmly on the pole again.

He felt a strong smack on his shoulder and back. Quick expression crawled on his face as he hit the ground. Wasting no time he would quickly get back up to his feet. He quickly planted his one foot on the pole, however hesitated to bring his other foot up. He weighed the ideas in his head on a mental scale. "Bet this would be a easier, if I had her talents...Wait, that's it, we switch."[/color] He placed his both feet on the pole, advancing towards, then he would leap, over her, leaving a nice distance between them. Baako was now looking down at her, however the feeling of running down the pole felt different, he felt more pulled towards the ground.
He ran down to and attempted a feint jab to bait her out, something that came to him naturally, due to his hesitant nature

It was admirable that Kenshin was quick to get back into the fight after being knocked down, he was committed to achieving something and improving himself. So she allowed him to leap over her to have the higher ground, so to speak, and she watched his movements. For now she would play defensively and simply backed up as he made the jabbing motion, she wanted to see what he would come up with to try and get a hit on her.

"Good," he thought, witnessing Niji back down a few. He slightly closed the distance between them, dragging his bokken up, he delivered vertical upstroke, both hands clenching the handle with strength.

Maintaining her defense, Niji brought her bokken against Kenshin's and pushed it to the side to simply get it out of her way, it did catch her shoulder slightly but to seemingly little effect. She then stepped in much closer, striking with a sword at this range would be difficult due to the small gap between them, so instead of using the blade Niji struck with the pommel of the bokken with the stomach as a target.

Trying to be firm and steady like the pole he stood on, Kenshin would be frozen. His space was invaded with the other end of the bokken. He flinched slightly, as pommel made direct contact with his stomach, he let out a breath, which would turn to aggressive coughing. He made a mental note in his head. "I'm ok." He quickly said, trying to gather his breath. He would eventually get back into his stance and be ready.

"Even after taking that hit you're still connected to the pole, that's really good actually, I had thought it would have made you fall off." For the time being she waited for him to catch his breath, quite patient about it too. "So how accustomed do you feel to controlling your chakra now? Seems like you're starting to do it subconsciously." Whilst he was recovering it wouldn't hurt to review his performance so far.

" I felt like I was about to. He said catching breath."But we paused, if it wasn't for that then I would of fell." He shook his head to the next question. "My body it is starting to get the rhythm of it, kind of like dancing you know, once you break it down.... Swear to storm, I'm gonna be the only one on this pole." He had to motivate himself to do it, to finish what he started.

An idle hum of thought left Niji after Kenshin responded. "With that kind of attitude it wont take you long at all to get to such a level. But I think that will do for today, you've gained some confidence in your abilities already and you've improved your control over your chakra enough that you're mostly using it to traverse tree-like surfaces without much thought." She smiled at that, releasing herself from the pole and landing with practiced ease.
"A lot of the things you're worried about and want to work on are all products of practice. So when you find the time join in with more of the combat drills and practice the leaf concentration exercise to work on improving your focus, you can even just come over to these poles when you feel like it and practice more here if you feel up to it on your own." As she spoke she proceeded to put her bokken away.
"Besides, there's other shinobi in the camp who might be able to help you out with training, they'll know more than I do."

The Kunoichi's words left an impact on him, as he disappointingly slid down the pole. The road to being a Shinobi was longer than it ever was to him now. "Thank you Niji Yakei, hopefully I'' see you again? We can finish up." He had already put his bokken in its sheath, fully strapped." I will definitely come back here. Before going their separate ways, the boy asked the the blue eyed, lady a question. "What Shinobi do you recommend?"

"Not a problem, Kenshin. We've got to make sure everyone's prepared for whatever may come up next and this is one way to do it. You can just call me Niji as well, I don't really worry about the whole full name thing. We'll see each other around, we're in the same camp and once this is over we're back in the same village." Niji gave him a pat on the shoulder to try and reassure him.
"It may seem like it's not easy to get ahead as a shinobi, but you'll get there in due time, you just need to be patient. As for specific shinobi to talk to about training... I don't actually know many by name, I've been a bit of a recluse before getting called to help here. Midori Sato is nice though, I couldn't say what she'd teach you if she were to teach you anything, but she's a really friendly person and making friends is as important as training." She seemed slightly embarrassed about not knowing how to answer Kenshin's question about other shinobi who could train him, but any answer was better than no answer.
At that Niji gave a small bow of her head. "See you another time and look after yourself, Kenshin."

And like that the two Shinobi would vanish into the darkness, seeking their slumber.
​

 

[Oetje]

[fieldbox=Something is smelly~, lightgreen]

Time to make a move!
Part 1.

A collab between Zane, Alice and Oetje!

Summary :
Etsu gathers her team together in a place that many wouldn't go, not without any good reason. She explains that they are going to 'question' some people about the police corps. But will it go as planned?

[spoili]
It wasn't the best of places to meet. It reeked and it was anything but spacious. Yet the alley just behind the notorious Yota restaurant, for its cheap but bad tasting food, along with the rumours that they served stray cats and dogs, would be a meeting place that one wouldn't expect from an Ame team. Which was the purpose. The insurgents and Zealots were working together and so far they had the edge of being able to launch surprise attacks. Something that Etsu wanted to counter. But in order to that, they had to be made blind or panic. Waiting for her two students to arrive, Etsu had her arms crossed out front of her chest and tapped with her right foot on the ground.

Having to meet her new sensei again sent a bit of a chill down her spine, the woman proved willing to enter anyone's mind to get information. Even if they were her own ally, she also proved to be dangerous with words alone. So having to meet her again and at such a odd location made her a bit nervous to say the least. She would arrive at the entrance to the Yota resturant, a place her brother vowed never to go back to. Yet she wouldn't go inside, she would walk around to the back of the area covering her nose at the horrid stench and would spot her sensei. The instinct within her made her instantly bow before the woman, even though the stench made her want to vomit. She also almost bashed her head off the wall doing the bow as well. "H-hello sensei. Kitana reporting for duty."

Why was it there? Rini wasn't a stranger to these parts. Everybody knew where Yota restaurant was. Even if you never wanted to go there. It was bound to come across once in a conversation. How it was still an establishment that hadn't been taken down was beyond Rini's understanding. Nearing the place she went luckily not inside it. She already dreaded to be near it. Didn't even want to imagine what it was like inside. A cold shiver ran down her spine as she would head towards the meeting place. Before she would arrive the genin did deploy her sensory technique. Just to be on guard and certain. Two things that were needed in these times. Arriving, Rini would also deliver a bow toward's Etsu's direction. "R-Rini Yoto, r-reporting for duty, sensei!"

"Ah, glad to see you both managed to arrive and on time!" Etsu said as a smile would start to dawn on her lips, "I assume you two have some questions on how and where. But," raising her right hand and index finger up, Etsu paused for a second.

"I am not going to tell you two a lot."

The words would likely lead to some confusion. Lowering her right hand Etsu would continue. "See this is as some training. Not every time you will be able to rely on the information that you get during a briefing or report. Situations change all the time and at times you will realise that you need to adapt. Not to forget," she continued, "Sometimes you're not given too much information cause it is too risky. Either for you or for the person who hands out the assignment. Or in some situations, for both." Taking a pause to let it all sink in Etsu would raise her right hand and point with her thumb into the direction of the Yota restaurant.
"Got an informative and old pal of mine inside. He has reported that he has noticed some officers from the police corps meeting up there. It seems all fun and calm, but he has overheard some nasty topics. What we are going to do is going to set-up an ambush. For that to happen, drop anything that can confirm you're a shinobi. I already have some knives that aren't standard equipment for you to use. If it comes to worse, we will have to kill somebody. If not, we will just make it look like they got mugged. In a most aggressive way, perhaps. Any questions?"

Raising her posture slightly she had noticed Rini's arrival, who also seemed a bit nervous in the presence of their sensei. Etsu would then begin speaking to them, who said they probably had some questions which was true but none she was going to ask for she feared punishment. She started out saying this could be considered training which piqued her interest a bit as it sounded like a simple information gathering training. That was until she continued speaking, she wanted to ambush the police? She told them to drop anything that might cause them to be labeled as shinobi and that if worse came to worse they would kill. Oh what was their sensei getting them involved in? Yet she would listen to her sensei and would begin putting down all her gear that was involved in her shinobi duties. Kunai, paper bombs, her own paper, her tanto. All the gear would be placed upon the ground in a pile.

For a moment all that Rini could do was staring at the woman. She wasn't certain how to take this. Ambushing police officers? Not being allowed to be recognised as a member of the shinobi corps? The face of Rini would start to pale as she would, however, do as ordered. Like Kitana, Rini would start to drop her pouches, headband and other gear on the pile. It certainly didn't feel right, but it was making some sense. She didn't want to bring more trouble to the shinobi corps if this would fail. Licking her lips Rini just shook her heads. She had questions, but she didn't want to ask anything that would make the situation only seem worse.

Pleased that the genin did as they were told Etsu was slightly surprised that they held no questions. But she wouldn't question anything as long as the team did as they were ordered. Things would, hopefully, go as desired if they remained obedient. Creating a shadow clone, who would watch and take the gear of her students, Etsu would pull out two knives. The weapons were drawn in a quick fashion from the cover of her sleeves.
"One for each of you. They don't have a long reach as you can notice. If all goes well then that won't provide a problem. Now," she flashed a warm smile towards the two, "Let's go then."
Without even waiting if they had anything to say Etsu would turn around and start to walk. Heading towards the dreaded nearby establishment, a certain odour would reach their nose the moment that Etsu opened the door. It wasn't a particularly nasty smell but it wasn't a pleasant one either. A mixed odour of sweat, food and other factors were up in the air as laughing, cursing and talking resonated through the establishment. Approaching the counter, Etsu briefly spoke with a waiter, who would look down. Probably checking something. He looked up and spoke to Etsu, who turned half around and beckoned Rini and Kitana to follow.

Being guided towards a table, they would have to traverse a bit through the crowdy and noisy interior of the restaurant. While there were enough people who enjoyed a meal, some seemed to be playing some gamble or card games. The waiter would lead them to a table in one of the corners of the interior where there was a man enjoying a glass of sake.
"You brought company," the man stated in a tone that made it clear he already didn't approve of Kitana and Rini.
Etsu's response was rather cheerful as she gestured to her students to sit down at the roundtable.
"Of course. These are my accomplices. Don't suppose you're interested in learning their names, so, come on," she gestured to the man as a smile crept on her lips, "You had information?~"

The man eyed both girls before returning his attention at Etsu. He seemed to ponder on something, but wouldn't wait long to answer the question of Etsu.
"Four tables at our right. Four men. Three of them are officers, who currently have two days off. The fourth guy?" The man shrugged lightly, "No idea yet. Considered that I don't know, I will try to see what information I can dig up about him. They have been drinking, so I imagine that they won't be a trouble... for you," the man scoffed lightly as the emphasis on the last two words were clear what he meant with that.

Crossing her arms out front of her chest Etsu seemed quite unbothered with the fact that there was a fourth unknown man.
"Good. That means it is soon showtime. Well, thanks. I and the girls will sit outside then. Give the warning when they are heading out. Come, girls," Etsu said in a cheerful tone as she got back up, "We have work to do!"
Beckoning them to follow her, Etsu would lead them out of the restaurant. Not that the air outside was much better. Once outside Etsu kept walking as she spoke in a soft tone, though audible if the two kept up with her.
"The plan is simple. Rini, take the first left alley. Kitana, you will take the alley, the first to the right. I will take the rooftops. This way I can direct you both. When I whistle, try to watch what I signal." Performing a gesture with her right hand, she would go through the basic command signals with a sharp whistle. With nobody around Etsu was confident that she could quickly invest explaining this to the girls.

"Now, get going. If anything goes wrong, just yell 'peanuts," really loud. I will try to be around and prevent anything wrong from happening. Got it? Okay, shoo, come on little rats.~

She remained silent the entire time, just hiding the knife that Etsu gave them. Just watching and following Etsu, Rini wasn't sure what to think of the start of this mission. Was it even a mission that was approved by the jounin commander? She wasn't certain and that made her feel only more anxious by following the jounin. Yet Kitana seemed to do the same thing and she was a chuunin. Realising that she was just trying to find an excuse, Rini tried to bolster her courage. Which didn't seem to work. Not very surprising as she felt quite uncomfortable in the current setting. The noise and appearance of their surrounding was anything but relaxing. Not quite something she imagined a restaurant to be. Glad that they were going, Rini turned even paler by hearing what Etsu instructed them. Right at the end of the instructions, Rini felt the need to winch and call out the codeword for when things would go wrong. Instead she did as she was told, heading into the alley to the left. It would provide some view on the alley where Kitana had to take position. As she became silent Rini felt her heart skipping beats. "Please, don't let them know that we are here. Please, don't let them know that we are here. Please, don't let them know that we are here."

Being handed the knife, Kitana would conceal the weapon as she would follow behind Etsu in silence. The horrid smell increased sligcreased slightly once inside the resturant, but she managed to keep the urge to vomit down. The atmosphere of the place certainly wouldn't calm any nerves if you had a secret reason to come inside, mostly when your targets were also inside the place. She would have to ask her brother later if this was approved or not. Yet as soon as they were in, they would soon be out with a tone of voice that many would believe from their sensei. To them however it probably unnerved them even more, it made her wonder how little Rini was holding up. Outside they would be given instruction and a codeword to shout if things went south. Once instructions were over she would pat Rini on the shoulder, to give her a little encouragement, causing the other girl to flash a nervous smile back,, as she went to the alley on the right. Now alone in the alley caused her heart to race a bit. She would take a deep breath in and outand out, hoping their sensei wouldn't lead them to death.

Once more no questions or protest came from the genin. This was going quite well Etsu mused to herself as she would go her own way. Finding her way to the rooftops didn't prove to be a challenge. Hurrying to move into a position so that she was visible for both Rini and Kitana, behind a chimney, Etsu also had a good view on Yota's restaurant. It would remain peaceful and quiet for some time. There were people leaving, but none of her targets or informant. Which was slightly frustrating but wouldn't deter Etsu from continuing her plan. Several times she threw a look at how her students were doing. This wasn't a place for them to be comfortable in for a long time, but she was glad that they didn't flee or do anything to move out of position. Leaning against her cover, the chimney, Etsu focused her attention on the entrance of the restaurant. Just as a few minutes passed and Etsu wanted to kneel down, the door went open. The informant came out, who threw a look at his left and then at his right before walking away. He brought a hand up to cough to then roll with his right shoulder. Causing Etsu to narrow her eyes.

The targets were heading out.

A sharp whistle would move through the air as Etsu raised her right hand. Forming a signal that the two girls should ready, Etsu saw how the group of four came out of the establishment. The unknown member parted from them as the three laughed for a moment before heading another direction. As anticipated by Etsu they were heading their direction, the shortest direction to leave the district towards one where it probably smelled better. Another whistle would resonate through the air, repeating the command of before.

The men were laughing and one of them decided to point at the alley where Kitana was holding her position, claiming something that it was shorter and he could relieve himself there. This caused Etsu to throw a look into Kitana's direction. Whistling quickly Etsu signaled that the chuunin should move back and find cover.

Waiting patiently or as patiently as she could be in this situation, she would glance around every now and then. Not quite sure how to handle a situation such as this where she had to rely a good bit on her sensei to not lead them into a trap. She didn't hear any sounds of a codeword so nothing wrong transpired yet. Which was when she heard the whistle, causing her attention to shift towards her sensei on the roof, along with her posture which now shot into the ready. Then her sensei shot her a signal which meant they chose her alley. "Shit! she thought to herself as she spun around and took off running, darting into a new route on the right. She would get several garbage bags and would proceed to lay down and pull them on top of her, gagging slightly at the stench literally in her face. The most anyone would see if they looked hard enough would be some small traces of her black shirt clothing. Other than that it looked like a normal pile of garbage.

The men would continue on, likely not paying much attention to anything of their surroundings in their intoxicated state. On the suggestion on one of them, the men would head into the alley in which Kitana had managed to find cover. Etsu would quickly whistle and signal to Rini to take a position at the edge of the alley as the men headed in. They would almost be in the position to launch their ambush.

Rini paid good attention, or so good as she could, to Etsu's signals. They were meant first for Kitana. Briefly throwing a glance in the direction of the other, Rini reminded herself that Kitana was a chuunin. She was much more experienced and capable without a doubt than her. Worrying about her wasn't something she should do right now. Knowing she was becoming more nervous with each passing second, Rini tried to divide her attention on her surroundings and the jounin. Then a command was given for her to move into position. It lasted for a split second but Rini wondered what would follow. If she should go. But it was as if her muscles moved without needing her consent. While the three men moved into the alley, the small girl shot out of her own cover as silent as she could to her new position. Pressing her shoulder against the wall, she could hear them clearly. Trying to maintain her breath better, Rini closed her eyes for one second, whispering something to herself.

The men continued into the alley, one of them mumbling something about relieving himself. They were nearing the cover of Kitana but thanks to the one man that wanted to answer 'nature's call' their progress was halted. The other two talked in a loud and obnoxious manner, making it evident for anybody that they were really oblivious to most of their surrounding. Moving to a new position Etsu was rather content that the two members of her team were following her orders. Once more she threw a look at the soon to be victims. They were just the way how Etsu liked them.

Oblivious.

A sharp whistle would resonate through the alley, heralding the start of the ambush. Dropping rapidly from her position downwards, the jounin would drop on one of the men. With a kick to the back of the man's head, she would continue to lower herself and force the man against the ground. In her right hand there was the flickering of steel in the faint light that made it into the alley, the knife held at the ready to either silent her own victim or defend herself if her team wasn't on par with the pace of the situation's change.
[/spoili]
[/fieldbox]

 

[Gerontis]

[fieldbox=A last conversation, chocolate]

Embarking,
Preparing,
Leaving!

A collab between Lesli and Gerontis.

Summary :
Saki and Koike have a small conversation, considering a holiday once they get back after the campaign in the east.​

[spoili]
They were almost at the ready. The last preparations. Last supplies and troops embarking. On the last ships. Their last evening in the Akinian Empire before they would sail to the east. It daunted more than ever on Saki that this was going to be something else. Leaning against a two stapled crates the Yamanaka wondered about it all as she kept gazing at the east. She had seen the Earth country. Went to the Water country. Perhaps not as herself, but under the guise of somebody else. As a member of the Zero Teams. The memories seemed to be that of another life, but before those memories were the adventures she had with Kaname. With Kiyomi. A sigh escaped Saki as she lowered her head. This wasn't going to be one of those adventures. It didn't feel as those times. What felt wrong, she couldn't explain it.

"Ah, there you are," Koike's voice resonated as he approached Saki. There was a faint smile present on his lips as he nodded towards her. "Seems we will be going in less than two hours from now on," he informed her, turning to the direction she stare off before. To the east.

"Hm?" Turning her head to spot Koike, Saki would flash a smile back. Hearing that they were going in less than two hours didn't make her feel more confident. "So," she began, "What do you think of this all?" Saki asked as she straightened her back and would once more stare into the eastern direction.

"Don't know for certain. Try to read and learn about the eastern continent. Can't really say that I have learned a lot," Koike started, "I know basically nothing else than what our purpose will be there. Just hope," he threw a sideways look at her, "We won't be staying too long. The idea of an entire sea splitting us from home. Not really comforting, if you ask me."

Saki couldn't help but chuckle briefly. "Suppose it isn't really comforting to swim all the way back, so I have to agree. But hope we won't be staying for too long. I still had a lot to do back at home," remembering what she had all planned before being informed that she would be deployed another sigh escaped Saki's lips, as her eyes half closed, "Suppose we can't request a holiday after this campaign?"

"A holiday?" Koike repeated, amused, "We can always try, I guess. Perhaps for a week or two?" He thought about it briefly. There were various places and matters he would love to attend to during a 'holiday'. "What would you do? If we would get a holiday once we get back?"

"I don't know for certain. A lot of things to see, visit and to do. Perhaps," she pondered briefly, "Go west. To the land of my clan. Visit the city of Tatekumo. Haven't ever considered it, but also never visited the land of my clan." It was an idea that Saki found interesting. Not that she would gain anything with it, but that wasn't the purpose of a holiday. Just getting away and seeing a new place. Meeting perhaps new people and being somewhere without being recognised. Without being needed. "What about you?"

"Tatekumo," Koike repeated, letting the name roll slowly off his tongue. The question caused him to think. "Head west as well, if I have, to be honest. I have been to the capital of the River province. It... is a place I want to get to know better." A brief silence followed his answer. Knowing why he wanted to go there Koike hoped that his letter would arrive later on. It was just a mere guessing, but he would see if a letter would be sent back. If that would be possible.

"For who?" Saki suddenly asked, her eyebrows raised slightly. "Cause now we have to go together. By the law of friendship," she half joked as a smile would make that evident with the tone. "We can easily go from the Tatekumo to the River province. Just a slight detour, I imagine."

"Somebody special," Koike said. He was certain that it would be futile to keep things from Saki. If she wanted she would be able to pull it from his mind without really trying. Hearing what she further said caused Koike to snicker briefly. "I would like that. Never have been to the clan land of the Yamanaka. Barely ever have heard Yakimara, but it does sound pleasant."

"Aha," Saki just said. Figuring that he would reveal it, later on, Saki crossed her arms out front of her chest. "Then I have to teach you later. We can't go to Tatekumo without you being able to know what beautiful songs are being sung along with great music. And not," she threw Koike an amused glance, "Talking about songs about glorious fallen heroes or war. About the finer things in life," she told him, winking.

"Guess it is a deal," Koike answered, nodding with a grin present on his lips. Instructions were shouted, being called out by various captains and people. "Guess I have to get back. Talk to you later Saki," Koike told her, turning around. He would come to a halt after a few steps, turning half around.

"Haruka Tamiyo," he said before walking away.

"Good. Would else have dragged you along anyways," Saki said before she grew silent. Hearing the commands, her heart skipped a beat. This was it then? As Koike walked Saki briefly threw a look at his direction before gazing back at the east. Hearing the name that Koike said, a smile grew back on her lips. A whisper would leave her lips as she closed her eyes.

"That is going to be one fun holiday."​

[/spoili][/fieldbox]

 

[Lesli]

[fieldbox=Fake self?, purple]

A collab between Zane and Les.

Summary :
After the training with Neji, Kazumo Sarutobi is up. In this training the genin is being taught by Aiko a genjutsu that have proven its worth in past conflicts and skirmishes for the jounin. Knowing that the Sarutobi is quite eager to learn about genjutsu, she decides to use this time to teach Kazumo the basics of the Advanced Genjutsu Clone technique.

[spoili]
Done with training Neji, Aiko would wait at the training facility for the next session with Kazumo. She had already figured out what she could work on with the genin. Out of everybody of the team he had shown to be quite quick with thinking on how to approach situations. Certainly if she was able to compare his tactics and manner of approach to various situations. It was rarely close to the usual genin attitude of trying to tackle a problem head-on or trying to do so. While she wasn't a member of the Guardians, she had been able to read about how he had managed to succeed before they had gone on this mission. Instead of facing Koike in the test, he had used his wit and thought out how the situation could play out if he would indeed try to face a foe of a higher calibre. Not that Aiko considered that trying it out was a bad thing, but Kazumo certainly was working on a level she considered to be more fitting to experienced genin. Today's training wouldn't be really a challenging one, but hopefully he would enjoy the technique she would teach him never the less.

Having recieved word from sensei to head to this training facility put him a bit on guard at first. After all not even that long ago did Hiraku disregard orders and used the communicators, did they not know how dangerous their sensei could be when she wanted to? So knowing she bailed Hiraku and Neji out of jail, and then wanting to teach himself. He was a tad wary that he might end up feeling some passive anger. He still couldn't believe Hiraku went and did such a thing though, even he stated that their communicators were breached. Sighing to himself he just continued making his way to the facility, wondering what sort of hell might await him.
Upon arrival the area seemed normal enough, some boulders, trees. Nothing too out of the ordinary, his sensei would also be present which he would greet the woman with a smile and bow. "Hello sensei..... are you feeling alright?" He asked, mostly for his own safety.

As Kazumo arrived, Aiko found herself surprised by his question. Blinking rapidly a few times she casted a small smile. "I am somewhat alright. Hope you are the same. Was hoping that I could spend this bit of time to pass something down on to you. Unless," she eyed him, wondering if he wasn't feeling alright, "You don't feel well. I suppose this training can wait then for another time, but figure that you would want to learn this particular genjutsu."

Hearing she was alright made him mentally sigh in relief as he shook his head. She then proceeded to ask him the same question ending it with words she knew he was weak too. His eyes lit up a bit as he shook his head, "I'm alright I swear. What genjutsu are you teaching me today? Is it another form of surronding illusion?" He would ask her, gazing around at the boulders and trees. He already had one that worked well for trees, would this be a more plain sight one?

Seeing his eyes lit up, Aiko couldn't help but feel a bit more eager to get to work as well. "No, this one isn't really that much difficult for you, I imagine. To create it, at least. Remember what I told you about the Ying and Yang in genjutsu?" she asked him, though she would continue. "This genjutsu is basically easy in concept and manner of creating. Its use, however," Aiko would slowly become transparant and vanish from sight.

"Is quite something else once you know how to use it," Aiko's voice came from Kazumo's right as the woman had appeared once more. Pointing to the place where 'she' had been standing before Aiko would explain further. "The Advanced Genjutsu Clone technique. It is a more advanced form from the genjutsu clone that you were taught at the Academy. By manipulating the Ying and Yang chakra together with focusing on the clone you can make a foe or even an entire group of hostiles believe that they are chasing or driving you into a pinch. While you could for example, prepare to start to shoot them off one by one or make way to get to safety. It can be a trap or whatever use you can design it for. All that you need to do is to make the enemy believe that it is you and more than half of the work is already done."

Hearing it wouldn't be that much difficult for him caused him to be a bit confused, whens he also mentioned to create it that is. She proceeded to ask him if he remembered the Yin and Yang in genjutsu, to which he nodded. The genjutsu would be easy to create it was the use that would be different. Which is when she would vanish on him, causing his nerves to tense up. Yet before he began looking around her voice would sound off on his right, causing a slight scare. His gaze moved too meet her then to where she was once standing, noting that she moved locations pretty damn fast.

Then she spoke what she would be teaching him, Advanced Genjutsu Clone, she explained that by manipulating the Ying and Yang together, the clone could make multiple hostiles believe it is really you, while you are actually picking them off or running away. All he needed to do was make them believe it was you and sure enough that would eat it up. "That so far seems like a Genjustu Clone, can it fool others? Like ones that could normally tell the difference between a Clone and the real deal?"

"Yes, it can. It can distract as you can basically create it even from a distance. The only problem is," she gestured once more to the spot where it had vanished, "It is intangible. Unlike most clone techniques, it is nothing more than an illussion pretty much," she replied, "But one that you can keep manipulating. As in," taking a second to think of an example Aiko snapped her fingers, "A fight where you manage to create some distance and an opening to use this genjutsu. The enemy tries to land an attack. You could very well manipulate the genjutsu clone to look wounded, sound hurt and all that. It keeps the enemy's attention at your genjutsu clone while you then make your next move."

"So its basically like a perfect me, as long as I can get my timing right. That sounds really useful to have in an arsenal. Yet if its intangible, it means I have to play my cards right as well... Sounds perfect for a worry wort like me when it comes to confrontations haha." Kazumo said laughing a bit as he rubbed the back of his head, knowing his fighting capabilities were lacking. Surviving purely on the fact he had others helping him every single time a fight broke out. The tournament he had his team, the bird bomber he had his team, that weird chakra absorber he had his sensei. Not once did he ever go into a fight by himself. This could be a good start for him to slowly making his way to being able to handle such situations by himself. "Ready when you are sensei." he would state with a more determined look in his eyes.

Watching and listening as Kazumo thought loud about the technique. A smile adored the woman's lips as she remained silent. As he made it clear that he was ready, Aiko would nod. "First, we have to work from the Academy clone technique. Not going to be anything you will break a sweat from, I imagine," she said as she would conjure a Academy clone. The image of herself standing next to her, without any shadow or sound audible from the clone. Aiko would point at the simple clone while she would explain the first step. "It is quite simple. First, start with making a Academy clone. Then you have to try to focus on dividing the Yin and Yang chakra in the clone. The Yin serves as the image while the Yang is the sound and the layer to fool people. Try to make a Academy clone with a shadow first. The key is in focusing and dividing the Yin and Yang chakra."

She told him what step one would be, which was first making the basic clone which was easy enough to do. As she even demonstrated how simple it was to pull off. Yet she wnated him to make the clone then add the shadow in, which might be the hard part. He would nod to her to signal he understood and would conjure the clone with enough ease, with it standing beside him. Then he would turn his attention to it and would start to focus on it. He attempted his best at making a shadow appear and would focus for a few seconds when a black shadow started to form under neath it, although it didn't match up to the clones height at all.

Clicking her tongue as he was making a start. It was tempting to try to give him some hints and tips to direct him, but he was getting there on his own accord. Which was for the better as she was growing curious on how much he could do on his own. At least, when it would come down to learning new techniques. Noticing that the shadow didn't have the correct height compared to the clone Aiko slightly tilted her head to the right. "Try again, start all over again," she said with a polite tone, hiding her smile.

He'd frown at the incorrect shadow wondering which part he might have messed up on, expecting to hear a form of advice from his sensei he would be slightly surprised when she told him to try again from the start. He would look at her and give a nod with the clone vanishing and one appearing right after it. He had the right idea, so now he just just had to go with what he tried before, but add more to it. Focusing again as this time the shadow formed a bit more quickly than his last attempt. He would focus on keeping the shadow going until it was a damn near close match to the clone.

"Bit better," Aiko mumbled, clearly content with the fast adjustment of Kazumo. She would slightly tilt her head to the right as she remained silent. It was clear that he was focusing on making the technique work in a basic term. It drifted her doubts on if she wanted to remain to be a sensei when she saw Kazumo doing his best to control and master the technique. Perhaps she shouldn't resign just yet as a mentor? Peerhaps.

Hearing what she said he would dispel the clone again and make one more to hopefully get the shadow perfect this time. It did become easier to form the shadow once you knew how, it was just matching it up that required the effort. So with the clone formed the shadow would already be present this time as it grew just a tad more than last time. The result would cause Kazumo to look at it a bit more in depth and would smile, the shadow was finally a perfect match up for the clone.

"Starting to get the hang of it," Aiko spoke up as she nodded subtly, "Knew this wouldn't be much of a challenge. That comes now," she pointed at the genjutsu clone while continuing, "Making the image is the first part. The next is to make sure that it can move in a way that won't confuse the victim and even produce sound. What you need to do is to keep focus and try to use your mind. Only," raising her right hand to rub her neck, a soft smile moved on her lips, "Can't have it too easy, can we? While you try that, I want you to move with the clone. Make it do the exact same movements as you. Go ahead, just remember to keep up your focus."

Getting some praise caused him to smile a bit before she spoke about the real challenge starting now. Which was to make the clone produce sound, move, while he himself moved as well. Only the clone had to do everything he had to do, which would put his focus into overdrive. He would rub the back of his head and would look at his clone. He would stay silent as the clone's arm would shakingly move up and rub the back of it's own head. "Oh boy." He mumbled to himself, he would then take a step himself which the clone would do as well but a bit delayed as it would open its mouth but only odd sounds would come out. Kazumo would frown a bit as he kept focusing while trying to move himself and the clone at the same time.

Still watching the progress it was clear that the clone's movements weren't matching to a fluid manner that one would expect from a normal person. "You're doing fine. Don't fret too much," she said, more as a warning than a tip. Already by seeing the frown Aiko was slightly worried that the boy would try to pressure himself to make more progress. It was already a good sign that he was capable of learning how to conjure the clone. It was now just getting the tricky part under control. And practice. A lot of practice.

Hearing her he would nod and would take a moment to stop and think. She said he needed to get it moving perfectly with his movements along with speaking. She never did state he had to do all at the same time. So for now he would focus simply on making it move with him. Focusing again this time only on moving, he would first focus on getting it to move without stuttering in the process. He would start with the arms making them bend and move to a acceptable standard. Then his hands and fingers, this was actually a bit annoying as he had to focus on each single finger. The next part would be moving his head, moving it to the left and then the right, backwards and then forwards. He would also have the clone bend forwards and backwards. Then he would have it move it's legs having it lift one up at a time, bending them, squatting, moving the feet around.

Once he felt a bit more in tune with how to move the body parts around by focusing, he would try walking with it next. Which proved more successful than his last attempt, with this time the clone being more in sync just a moment or two behind him. Yet there was no stutter this time, just a slight delay. He would focus again and this time waited a moment and then began walking, which was when the clone started walking as well. This caused Kazumo to keep up this thought process, thinking what he wanted the clone to do first and then doing it, so his and the clone's movement were in sync. He jumped the clone jumped, he bent down so did the clone, he would perform various different movements before feeling he had the basis of what to do.

It was fun to see how Kazumo tackled the difficulties of the technique. Taking a step back, it wasn't hard to notice that the genin was focusing his entire being on trying to grasp the basics. Putting her hands on her hips, Aiko wondered if he would even notice her walking away and giving him the entire day to work on the genjutsu. It was during moments like these that she realised that she enjoyed giving challenges and teaching as guiding genin. Some weren't perhaps ideal or compatible, but that shouldn't hinder her to continue her work. She remembered the time that she had been stubborn and not a joy to work with. Perhaps some past students or people even considered her to be a pain to work with. Pushing the thoughts to the back of her mind, Aiko would focus once more on watching Kazumo working on the technique.

He continued to focus on its movement, trying to make it more complicated for himself, doing gestures. More complex movements that required more focus, yet when he felt he had basic movement down, it was then time for sound. He took a moment to think about this, sound was a tricky subject. Everyone interperted sound differently, for example your own voice could be one. You might think you sound deep, while really you sound like a high pitched five year old. Then you could think you sound normal, and someone thinks you sound cute. It was a hit or miss in some cases. Then their is the sounds you yourself produce like walking, clapping, your own bodily sounds. This really was a complex thing to think about, and really only experts or intelligent people would focus on if the sound matches up.

Well he decided to focus on simple sounds he can hear clearly. He clapped his hands and would listen to the sound it made, and would repeat this process a few times before he had the clone perform it. The clone would clap it's hands together and a high pitch sound would be created. Kazumo shook his head and clapped his own once again. "Less high pitch more.... solid?" He would mumble to himself wondering how you could describe the various sounds clapping could create. He would repeat this step a few times before he heard a near perfect one, in fact it might have been that. He had the clone clap again and the same sound would be produced. "Yes!" Kazumo spoke cheering a bit to which he would have the clone clap causing Kazumo to smile. "This is narcissistic of me but I'm okay with that."

Doing the clapping more so for fun, he would focus on speaking now, the major one. When he thought about it, it kind of felt like he had to teach himself to speak his own language. He would say a few words just to try and feel what his voice sounded like. Not high but not too deep either. It honestly just sounded normal to him, another thing that was hard to describe. So he would try to form words with the clone which was rather difficult, as he had to do the sounds the letter made and combine it into the word itself. Hopefully his sensei didn't mind him taking his time on this.

Unknown to himself on how long he took, he managed to finally get the clone to speak a sentence properly. He had the clone say that it was Kazumo Sarutobi Sigeberth, and holy hell did it make him confuse if that was really what he sounded like.

It was most certainly a joy for Aiko to just watch and notice how the genin was making progress. The joy of Kazumo on his progress and success was shared as Aiko couldn't help but softly chuckle back a laughter when he managed to let the genjutsu clone produce a better replica of clapping. When Kazumo managed to make the clone produce a sentence that was flawless, Aiko decided to speak up. "Very good. It is something you'll need to practice on. Don't think we have more time today. At least, I don't have much more. Keep this work up and you'll have mastered the technique without any doubt, Kazumo."

As soon as the clone spoke up, so did his sensei which caused him to flich. Having forgotten that she had invited him here to teach him the technique in the first place. She must have really kept quiet while he was doing these steps. She stated they would have to practice this another day as they, well more so her, didn't have much more time left. Being told to keep this up and he will master it made him smile and nod his head. "Thank you sensei! Sorry for taking up all your time today. Remind me before we leave Amegakure to treat you to some of their ice cream." Kazumo said giving his sensei a bow before making his exit, intending to practice more back at the barracks.

The enthusiasm being displayed by Kazumo was infectious , so it seemed. Smiling on hearing how he sounded, Aiko would just nod back as she saw him leave. There was no need to guess that he would most certainly keep on with practicing the technique today. The idea that he would treat her on some ice cream made the jounin shake her head briefly as a whisper left her lips.

"Going to remember that, Kazumo."​

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