[fieldbox=Another Uchiha?, red]
[ Riojin Main Hall ]
{ A collab between Tim and Jason. }
Summary:
At the Feast being held in the Riojin compound, Neji Uchiha seeks out the Uchiha living in Amegakure, Ryu. The two talk for a bit and Ryu learns something more about a legend among the Uchiha, while Neji develops a suspicion about Ryu.
[spoili]
Neji after finishing his conversation with Kiyomi walked around the large banquet hall taking in all the people. Neji didn't know most of them as they were mostly higher ups and elites from the hidden rain village. There was one person Neji was looking for though, Ryu Uchiha. She shared the same last name as him, yet he had never met her before. He didn't even know she existed until the ceremony today. He spotted her on the other side of the room and Neji made his way over to her.
Not exactly sure what he was going to say, he just figured he would walk up to her and say hello. Neji was interested in the Uchiha who lived in Amegakure, and since she was about his age he figured he would give it a shot. Neji walked up to her and smiled
"Hello you're Ryu Uchiha right?"
The girl spun quickly at the sound of somebody calling her name. Somebody she didn't recognize. Staring at the boy for a few moments, it slowly dawned on her he had been one of them up on stage.
"Uh… yeah! You're…" She said, trailing off as she slowly realized she had no idea what this boy's name was. Other than one key fact, his surname. Uchiha.
"Oh, uhm. Uchiha-san. Sorry it's been an… interesting night so far." She said with a nervous laugh. Looking down at the shorter boy she wondered why he had decided to approach her.
Neji smirked as he could tell right away that she didn't know his name, which was fine. They had never met before no reason for her to have remembered his name. She did though remember that his last name was the same as hers Uchiha.
" Neji, my name is Neji Uchiha." The young Uchiha smiled and bowed to her as a sign of respect. Neji was fascinated with the Uchiha living in Amekagure. Most of the Uchiha all lived in Konohagakure, so it was interesting for him to see an Uchiha who was not living there.
" Also there is no need to apologize, I agree tonight has been an interesting night for sure. Congratulations on being promoted to Chunin." Neji would form a smile as the two talked.
Ryu giggled slightly as Neji introduced himself.
"I knew you are an Uchiha, dummy." She said playfully, then smiled and nodded at his second statement.
"Thank you. Though I have to say I could've done without all the… extra going on here. Congratulations to you as well." She said before falling silent for a few moments.
"So, Neji, would you mind telling me what they're like? The uh… Uchiha that is. Kind of never got to meet them and my upbringing was a bit… different." She said quickly, curious what her clan was really like.
Neji chuckled as Ryu made her playful comment. Neji nodded and smiled a little bit.
" Not used to a fancy gathering hmm?" Neji at this point in his life was kinf of used to them. Being apart of the nobility of the Uchiha clan, Neji was used to going to ceremonies like this one.
" Thank you, I had no idea that I would be getting promoted and I didn't need it to be done in a ceremony like this, but regardless I am very excited." Neji would then hear Ryu's question and think for a moment. What were the Uchiha like? She stated that since she lived in Amekagure she never got to meet anyone from the clan, which Neji found odd.
" Well the Uchiha clan are a great and prosperous clan. We are one of the strongest and most influential clan in the entire empire. I am actually apart of the nobility of the clan and as far as I can say, most of the members of the clan are very compassionate people. Our clan is very proud of our heritage and of the heritage of the hidden leaf village and the empire that we have had so much influence in building. Though get on the bad side of the Uchiha and we will not back down to anyone. Our clan is a strong one for sure." Neji chuckled as he found it a little funny to be explaining the Uchiha to another Uchiha, but he understood why Ryu was a little unaware of the Uchiha.
" So have you always lived in Amekagure? Did your parents use to live in Konohagkaure? If you don't mind me asking of course." Neji would smiled at her as he was genuinely interested.
Ryu shook her head in response to him mentioning her not being used to formal events like this. Then Neji explained about their clan, a bit interesting but not what she was wanting to hear. Just as she was about to ask for clarification he asked his own questions, and a frown crossed her features.
"We moved when I was too young to remember." Was all she said on the subject, immediately switching topics to stray from the uncomfortable.
"Well. About our clan. What are the people like? What do we do everyday? That sort of thing." Ryu asked quickly.
Neji listened to Ryu's short answer about her living in Amekagure. Neji could sense she seemed uncomfortable with the question so he decided to move on from it and not pry anymore. She then reasked her question but clarified a little more. Neji thought for a moment
" Hmm well we do what most clans do. We have members who are shinobi and in the millitary and they do their jobs, we have members who are not shinobi or in the millitary and they run their own businesses or work for someone else's business or whatever else they do maybe working for the empire in some way not related to being a shinobi or being in the millitary. Um we have clan festivals and meetings about the clan. The nobles of the clan have parties and such, and well our people our prideful. Prideful of our clan and of our village. We very much believe in our great ancestors and believe that they watch over our clan and the village at all times. We have festivals celebrating them. We are like a lot of other people in that we go about out daily lives as citizens of the empire, but we always watch out for our clan and the village." It was strange, Neji had never been asked that question before, he hoped that he answered it to her liking.
" I hope that was a better answer, sorry I have never been asked such a question before." Neji slightly chuckled as he looked back upon her.
Still not quite the answer she wanted, but Ryu figured that was the best she was going to get from the boy. Putting on a smile, she nodded.
"Yeah, thanks. So… why are you here anyways? I only knew of Mrs. Cho-Hon from Konoha being here. Wait, there was a mission right? You trained under her?" The Uchiha girl asked suddenly, trying to deduce why another Uchiha was here. Alongside a Hyuuga and Sarutobi. It was strange to her to see these other clans represented in her home, where she usually never saw them.
Neji rubbed the back of his head as he wasn't sure exactly how much he was allowed to say.
" Well yes I am apart of Aiko sensei's squad and yeah we were sent here on some missions, but I believe we are heading out soon, probably back to konohagkaure if I had to guess but i'm not exactly sure." Neji turned his head slightly as he could see a window looking outside in the distance he could see that ever present rain still coming down onto the city.
" This was actually my first time in Amekagure, it is a very interesting place that's for sure. I guess you're used to the rain huh?" Neji smiled putting on a friendly demeanor.
Ryu nodded, not sure how to respond to the first part despite having started the topic herself.
"I think the rain is kinda charming. Dunno, guess I just grew used to it after so long. Still, its part of my home and I wouldn't trade it for the world." She said, a smile gracing her lips as she thought about what she loved about this place.
"Unlike what I've heard about Konohagakure, we've got the rain to claim as a charm. Though I doubt that many of you seem to think that its particularly charming." Ryu said in a joking manner, before a different thought occurred in her mind.
"Hey. Back home among the Uchiha, have you guys ever heard of a Sharingan… I dunno, changing? Like from our normal three tomoe and such?" The chuunin suddenly asked, remembering what Eiji had previously mentioned to her.
Neji smirked as the girl went on about how charming the rain was, though she doubted that the people from Konohagkaure saw it in that light.
" Well you would be right about that, I can't imagine living in a place where it rained all the time." Neji playfully chuckled as he then heard her question. Neji stopped chuckling as he stared at the girl. He was surprised that she had heard of the legend being out in Amekagure and not living with other Uchiha.
" Hmm well yes I have heard of that. Its called the Mangekyou sharingan, it is supposed to grant the person who has it incredible power. It is a dojutsu that is pretty much unrivaled by any other. Though it is just a legend as far as we know. No one in our clan has possessed that sort of power in a long time, if ever. I'm surprised you have heard of the legend living out here."
Ryu watched the boy silently for a few moments, before softly repeating a single word.
"Mangekyo." As if it were completely foreign to her.
"I'm sorry, but I don't think I've ever heard of that before. How does it grant incredible power? Like… unlimited jutsu, or like being able to fight tailed beasts?" She asked suddenly, wondering if it were possible somebody as unimportant as her possessed something so incredible. Then wondering if she was now able to go fight off the monsters that they forced into poor people like Kuni…
Neji continued to look at the girl as she said the word mangekyo, for what reason was she so interested in the mangekyo sharingan. As far as anyone knew it was just a legend in the Uchiha clan, handed down from generation to generation. A story parents told thier chlldren about how powerful an Uchiha could be. Neji heard the legend from his own parents when he was younger. He honestly wanted the mangekyo for himself, but he wasn't even sure if it was possible or not.
" I've heard that it grants the user incredible genjutsu and that no one can escape the view of the mangekyo, I'm not exactly sure what all these powers are, No Uchiha has the mangekyo so no one in our clan really knows too much about it. We just know that it grants the user incredible power, power that only few can match." Neji stopped talking as he continued to wonder why this girl, who was an Uchiha, but wasn't really apart of the clan, why she was so interetsed in the Uchiha legend.
" So Ryu why are you so interested in the mangekyo?'
Somehow, Neji's question seemed to catch the girl off guard as she thought about what he told her it could do.
"Uh… well you just told me it existed so of course I'm curious!" She said quickly, laughing as if to play off her wonders if her eye had really become something like that. Though the Chuunin quickly dismissed any thoughts of that, it had all probably been a confusion in the heat of battle. She wasn't special enough for some legend, she was just Ryu.
"Why do you know so much about it?" She shot back, hoping to catch the boy off guard.
The question Neji asked seemed to catch Ryu off guard.
" Hmm I see." There was something off here, Neji carefully watched her as Ryu seemed to be getting a little nervous and excited? Neji thought about it for a moment before something came to his mind. No way, he thought to himself, there was no way this girl had what he was thinking she possibly had. Neji snapped back into focus as Ryu asked another question.
" It's a legend passed down from Uchiha to Uchiha my parents told me the story when I was young, a lot of Uchiha know about the legend, but it's most likly just that a legend. The strongest sharingan I have ever seen is a three tomoe sharingan."
"The story must be really important our clan if they keep passing it down like that. I wonder if…" She said, trailing off before finishing the thought that maybe her father had been after that myth. But he'd never mentioned it.
"Ah well! Doesn't matter right? Just silly stories and all that." She said with a slight smile before looking around with a sigh. She truly hoped that she hadn't seemed weird to this boy, suddenly so interested in something. Ryu was sure it was nothing, but the story and topic had certainly stolen her interest. She'd research it later.
"So, Neji, tell me a little bit about yourself?" She asked with a light smile and a friendly nod towards the boy. Hoping to steer the conversation away from the previous topic.
" Yeah I suppose you could say that, I think that the clan is hoping one day for someone to obtain those eyes." Neji was suspicous at this point. He didn't exactly have any proof, but there was something strange about this girl and the fact that she was interested in these "stories" Neji decided to move the conversation on, but would definitely keep this suspicion handy.
" Hmm well what to say about me, I come from one of the noble families in the Uchiha clan, I have two sibilings, my older sister who is also a chunin and then my older brother." Neji would pause for a second as some emotions would try to come to the surface, Neji at this point had gotten good at surpressing them and that is what he did.
" My brother Nadaki was apart of the Anbu special forces, where he died in battle." Neji shifted his mind off his brother and back onto the question.
" I do have the sharingan, I like to train, but at other times I like to relax and joke around with friends back home. I strive to be the best shinobi I can be, and wish to be someone the clan and empire relies on." Neji slightly blushed as he was telling this random girl he had just met about his goals and ambitions.
Ryu looked at the boy in silence for a few moments before she spoke once more.
"I'm sorry about your brother. I know how much it can hurt. I lost my twin sister not terribly long ago." She said in a soft tone, wondering if perhaps she had asked a bit much out of the boy. She certainly would've usually avoided telling most strangers about Suguha's death.
Neji put on a soft smile.
" Thank you, I miss him everyday, but I plan on making him porud and surpassing him one day." Neji then bowed his head as a sign of respect. [colro=red]" I am sorry to hear about your sister."[/color] Neji raised his head as he looked upon the girl
" So since I told you about myself, what about you?"
Ryu simply nodded with what Neji said.
"I'm nothing special. Just an Uchiha girl who's learning medical ninjutsu and all that. No siblings, no family really. Though I live with my sensei, and I think he's more like a father-figure to me than anything else." Ryu said, keeping it simple. After a few more moments she sighed, not wanting to open herself to any more personal questions. Fearing her past might get dragged to light in all of this.
"Well, Neji. I think my friend might be a bit worried if I don't go check on her. So I think this is where we part ways." She lied, thinking it nothing too major.
"It was really nice to meet you, Uchiha-san." Ryu said softly to the boy before her, giving him a quick hug whether he was willing or not.
Neji nodded his head as the girl spoke about herself saying that she was just an ordinary girl, nothing special. Neji wasn't exactly sure why, but he didn't buy that. He believed there was more to her than she was letting on. He decided to not to push it though. Next thing Neji knew he was being hugged by Ryu as she was saying her goodbye. Neji not exaclty ready for the hug, but hugged back
" It was nice to meet you as well Ryu, I'm sure we will see each other again." Neji smiled at her as he turned and headed off in the opposite direction. She was a nice girl, but Neji couldn't shake his suspicion that she was hiding something, something that the higher ups of the Uchiha clan would want to know.[/spoili][/fieldbox]
[fieldbox=A Quest for Snacks!, skyblue]
[ Riojin Main Hall ]
{ A collab between Nim and Jason. }
Summary:
At the Feast being held in the Riojin compound, Kuni goes in search of Ryu fearing that her friend might start rather noisely searching for her. The two talk then search for various servants carrying platters of food in a quest for snacks.
[spoili]
"It was really nice to meet you, Uchiha-san." Ryu said softly to the boy before her, giving him a quick hug whether he was willing or not. Moments after he had left, Ryu looked around the hall in hopes of finding her next victim for conversation. She was still looking a bit stunned from what she had heard from the Uchiha, but there wasn't much she could do at the moment to fix that. She could, however, see about getting something to fix her growling stomach. Thus, her goal switched from a victim for conversation to finding something to snack on.
Moving with quick movements between the different people walking, Kuni kept trying to spot Ryu among the crowd, which was not an easy task for someone of her height. After a minute of so of looking around, she finally managed to spot her former teammate, and quickly approached her
"Hey Ryu! I'm happy I managed to find you. I thought for a bit you might try to start shouting my name if I didn't get to you." She said with a smile
"Congratulations on the promotion, Chuunin Ryu Uchiha."
Whirling quickly around to face Kuni, Ryu immediately hugged her friend.
"Kuni!" She said happily before releasing the hug and taking a step back.
"I wouldn't have shouted your name, just asked people where the shortest person in the room is!" She teased before Kuni said the second part.
"Thank you. I don't feel like I did anything special. I just was helping those who were hurt, like anybody should." Ryu said with a small shrug before her stomach growled lightly. Her face immediately turned a bright red in response.
"Do you know if they've got any snacks around here?" Ryu said quietly, ever on the hunt for more food.
Accepting the hug happily, Kuni listened and ignored the tease at her height
"Well, you still earned your rank more than I did." She said before hearing the growling stomach of Ryu
"I saw some servants walking around with food prior to the beginning of the ceremony, so I imagine there would be some wandering around now. Just need to find one and ask probably." She said and begun looking around a bit, trying to find one of the penguins that held some kind of plate or a platter.
The girl joined Kuni in searching around for a servant. Almost immediately Ryu found one such servant carrying a platter and grabbed Kuni's wrist to pull her along as she made her way through the crowd. Moments later Ryu has happily snacking away.
"I remember you became a Chuunin back when I first joined the team! When I was still pretending to be a boy and all that." Ryu said with a light smile.
"I don't know the details of your match but I'm sure you were pretty awesome and earned it if you're a Chuunin now!" The girl added, raising an eyebrow towards Kuni.
After being dragged over by Ryu and laughing lightly as how awkward the servant looked while staring at Ryu who took such much off his platter, the Uchiha turned the topic to Kuni's exam, but the way she described it seemed anything but fitting from what she knew happened
"I wouldn't call it awesome or well earned." She whispered under her breath with the smile slowly going away. Quickly enough, however, she showed her smile once more
"Well, helping people in their time of need is a much better way of earning any rank. Just shows how devoted you really are to the people than through some silly exam, and how far you are willing to go." She said.
Ryu shook her head in response to Kuni.
"I think it should just be expected of people to help out. No needs for rewards like this." The Uchiha said softly, shrugging.
"Hey. Kuni. Can I tell you something?" She said abruptly, wanting to get the crazy theory off her chest after having just formulating it.
"Sure, you can tell me anything. No need to ever ask again" The response came with a smile. She was curious about what her former teammate wanted to tell her that required asking permission first.
Once again, she grabbed Kuni and dragged her away. This time out of the crowds. Keeping her voice low she spoke to Kuni.
"I think… well I talked to an Uchiha boy earlier from Konoha. I asked him if he'd ever heard of our Sharingan changing before. Like, it's appearance. He said that the Uchiha have a story… er, legend about the Sharingan doing this and becoming really powerful. I think… it's silly but I think I might have that. Eiji-sensei said my Sharingan had changed while we were in the hospital. Well he told me in the hospital, but said it had looked different during the battle when he saw it. I don't know, it's weird but… what do you think I should do about it?" She asked after having given a long winded explanation about it.
"I trust you. So I wanted to ask your opinion."
Listening to the story, Kuni became a bit confused. She knew Ryu had her Sharingan and that it could change, but she didn't fully understand what Ryu meant by changing its appearance. A further change? She wasn't sure
"Well, while I appreciate the show of trust by telling me this" She begun whispering to Ryu
"I have no idea what to advice you. Some stories and legends are actually just tales that just grew out of proportions as time passed and it kept going between people. I can understand how there would be legends about the sharingan, but considering how you already know of it and use it, I'm not certain what kind of opinion you are asking for me here." Came the response.
"As far as I know, it only evolves to three tomoe. What I already have. But apparently, it can evolve further into something called Mangekyo. With powerful abilities and such. I don't know, it's weird. I'm asking if you think I should look into it more, in case it's real or just forget about it as some story." She said, hoping that Kuni would be willing to give her opinion on the subject.
"Ah. Well, one thing I know for sure is that you should always make sure you understand as much as you can behind any sort of technique or such. I think you should take a similar approach with this. Learn as much as you can before choosing yourself if you believe in it or if you think it is a waste of time, because I'm not gonna be the one telling you to not look at something." Kuni said, now understanding more what Ryu had meant.
"I can't really offer much more advice past that." She finished with a more apologetic smile now.
Ryu smiled towards towards Kuni then hugged her tightly again.
"Thanks girl, you're the best. Though I wonder if I'll be able to find much, or need to find some way to contact my clan to learn more. You should've kidnapped an Uchiha for me!" Ryu said, planting her hands on her hips before giggling.
"But that's for later. For now I'll have to help out with the hospital and rebuilding the Housha compound… and ignoring John." Ryu said, then shrugged as she awaited Kuni's response.
Hugging Ryu back, She nodded briefly before shrugging
"No way I could've done it." She remarked briefly before smiling at being told what her next plans were
"Keep at it. I should try and see if I could potentially help out with the rebuilding too." Kuni said, although she knew she would probably be told to stay within the village premises.
Ryu nodded after Kuni's second statement.
"You totally should! I know they would love you forever if you did. Also you can help me ward off John if he tries to talk to me!" She joked, content with the way things were at the moment.
"Either way, you get to stay with us now, right? You don't have to go back? I missed my bestie…" Ryu said quietly, giving a sort of sad smile.
Seeing Ryu's sad smile, Kuni gave her a wink
"I can't make any promises, but I'll do my best to stay around as much as possible. Although it is possible I'd be asked to go away again or go to a mission. Jinchuuriki and shinobi life." She said
"But you can count that whenever I am around, I will be here for you." She finished speaking in a more confident tone than before.
"I don't like you being a Jinchuriki. People treat you different and you have to get dragged away. Then I worry some asshole is going to hurt you for something that's not your fault and it's stupid." Ryu said, looking a bit hurt over that.
"You better keep coming back! Or I'll drag you back myself!" Ryu declared immediately, then after a moments let out a sigh.
"Either way, more pleasant topics! I'm happy to see that everything has seemed to calm down around here!"
Kuni just shrugged at what Ryu said first. While people did treat her differently, she had grown a bit more accustomed to it by now. Upon hearing the switch in topic, she nodded with a smile
"It is always nice when a storm passes and a there is only a soft dripping, if not see some rays of sun sneak between the clouds." She said with a gentle smile.
"I like the rainbows. They're really pretty." Ryu said contently, happy to be just talking with Kuni.
"So…. I'm kinda hungry again… wanna raid more snacks?" Ryu said quickly, sticking her tongue out playfully before turning to find more prey. Er… servers. Same thing.
Hearing the question, Kuni couldn't help but laugh as she grabbed a hold of Ryu's hand
"Come on, Void for a stomach, lets go find you some more food." She said before beginning to drag Ryu around in search for another servant.
"Hey! I do not have a void for a stomach! Sometimes!" Ryu complained as she laughed and followed along with wherever Kuni was going.
"Over there!" Ryu said as she pointed towards a servant with a rather full looking platter.
Turning to where Ryu pointed, Kuni would politely push through a few people, making sure to keep her grasp on the Uchiha's hand until they made it to the servant. She would let go of Ryu once they were next to him, with Kuni doing a hand gesture to Ryu that basically meant 'Enjoy yourself'.
Ryu went ahead and snagged a few of the snacks off the man's platter. Thanking him, then turning back towards Kuni. She offered the girl one of the snacks she had snagged.
"They're really good!" She said happily.
"I'm pretty sure those are sweet. You can go ahead and just have em, I'll be fine. Thanks though." Kuni responded with a polite smile. Her dislike to sweet things didn't grow, but that did not mean she was willing to just jump at them.
Ryu pouted for only a moment before finishing off her snacks.
"Ya know, Kuni. I usually don't share food! Take advantage while you can!" Ryu replied quickly while happily munching on the sweet treat. Unlike Kuni, Ryu had quite the sweet tooth.
Shrugging as a response, Kuni would just keep her friend company as she finished her snacks. She didn't feel the need to take from Ryu's snacks even if they were something she'd eat because of how many meals they already shared back at Eiji's place.
Once Ryu was done, the two would go seeking yet another platter holding servant. Even if she couldn't be sure of where she would be within a day or two, Kuni was glad to know she has a good friend like Ryu who will have her back.
[/spoili][/fieldbox]
