The Village Hidden in the Marsh, Episode 1: Fresh Blood

[Princess Tracy]

It seemed only yesterday that the height of summer was upon you all, the sweeter scents of the marshland bubbling up and wafting through the air as aromatic backing to the festivals and fireworks of the local new year. There were fewer teachers around than there were a few months ago and you've often been tossed around from overcrowded classroom to overcrowded classroom. An odd frost upon the pane of the classroom windows marks the first signs of a rather bitter autumn, and the streets have turned to much from the last few days of driving rain, leaving a light mist that a heatless sun cuts through but leaves in peace to hover around town. The wood panelling of the classroom is marked only by a blackboard and the Nartional Flag. And of course the empty podium and overstuffed peanut gallery. If not for the chakra signatures of the room and teh occassional tight-gripped weapon (despite the village's best efforts to make students leave their blades at the door) one could almost mistake the room for a regular lecture theatre of some ordinary, if young and fashion dyslexic, students.

A door slides open, and a woman perhaps familiar to some but not associated with education enters the room, to be greeted by quite a few confused murmurs, the rumour mill already churning away before she even takes her seat at the podium. She wears a black kimono with tied back hair, and some trendy glasses frame her face; she couldn't be out of her twenties, whoever she was. She wears a headband on her bicep, so she's clearly on your side, provided you're actuall with the marsh and not some spy or a random kid who came in teh wrong door and was too afraid to move. Apart from the headband, her most notable item is some sort of clipboard that she carries. She looks over the brim of her glasses at the class, observing each student in turn as she wordlessly takes attendance. At first she commands silence, but after a minute or two and it becomes clear she isn't here to teach, conversation slowly returns, until at last the room seems to be utterly ignoring her presence, talking around her, just as she ignores everyone else, save for teh steely soul-piercing gaze she fixes on each of you in turn. And she just notes and scribbles, occassionally mouthing as she writes, but never uttering a sound, in a rather eery fashion... Certainly not unless spoken to

There's quite a few faces in here that not everyone's familiar with, from nearly all the home rooms. All crammed in here - nearly eighty kids in a 35 man theatre, with students even sitting in the aisle between desks in a way that fire safety regilators, if ninja cared for such mundane threats, would find less than sound. Now might be a good time to get to know your fellow ninja, or perhaps get acquinted with old friends.

---

After perhaps 10 minutes, she sighs, standing, then speaks for the first time, speaking in a vaguely bored attempt at pep. "Okay, brats. You're graduating today." The room goes silent once more. "Well, not all of you. Get your behinds to the B-rank Training Grounds. Chop chop. We can only graduate so many of you, and if the deciding factor has to be first come first serve, then so be it." With that, she leaves the room, unless stopped or questioned. And currently most of the class seems too dumbfounded to even ask who she is, never mind make for the door

[Togath]

near the back of the classroom a somewhat short--for his age anyway-- boy is leaning against the back wall reading a book entitled History of Arts III: Calligraphy.
When the woman enters, he closes his book, sitting down with his legs folded under seiza style, this must be the shinobi sent to assign teams... he thinks to himself, calmly glancing around the room looking for anyone particularly interesting while waiting for the shinobi to take action.

-------------

If no interactions occur after ten minutes, he stands up and stretches for a moment before heading to the training grounds, attempting to keep up with the kunoichi(unless she doesn't head to the training grounds)

[Nyan]

Standing some where in the middle of the classroom by the wall there is a boy looking out the window with his back turned towards the crowd and at first glance he seems to be quite young, probably the youngest among the rest of the kids. He wears the standard ninja outfit in forest colours but it is currently coverd by his coat, covering his entire body with the collar folded up, pitch black in colour. His hair is blonde reaching down to his shoulders whaving back slightly and he is not the tallest person but for his age you could say he is quite tall.

As the door slides open he snaps out from his own throughs and glances over at the woman coming in giving her an observing gaze as the classroom got silent. As then the classroom starts to get back to how it was he simply turned back and stared out the window not caring much to join any of the converstations going on, more concerned about why the woman was here. He then felt her gaze on to him as he turned his head and glared back with an euqally sharp stare. "She has good eyes...." He thought to himself as her gaze moved away from him and on to another person.

The rest of the minutes passing by he says and does nothing only staring out the window thinking to himself unless he is aproached or talked to.
As the ten minutes passed he moved his gaze on to the woman again as she stood up hearing her anounce they are graduating. "I see....that is what this is....I should have assumed as much..." He thought to himself with a sigh closing his eyes for a moment. As the woman then started to move towards the door he opend his eyes and walked through the crowd seemingly being the first to follow her out the door. Tho not feeling it was even nessesary to ask who she was he simply stayed silent as he moved out from the room.

[garhunter3]

At the sound of the door opening Gen woke up and rubbed his eyes he had decided to take a nap until someone showed up. However after seeing that the woman wasn't going to teach he grumbled a bit.
"Whats she doing here?"
Deciding that she wasn't worth noticing he started think about the weather and how much of a slog it was going to be going home. At least he had brought his Jacket.
The black and gray hoodie was his favorite and he usually brought it along even when it was hot.He was going to need it in this cold though he hated the cold. There was always a draft in the shop after the roof developed that split and he was even wearing his grey winter pants inside his house. And after walking home in his sandals he had taken to wearing his shoes when going out.
After being woken up Gen looked around the class room and checked If any of his class mates where around. He saw Tozawa in the back but didn't call out he had meet and talked to him before but they never said much.
At the commanding order from the Kunoichie he looked up and saw her leave the room after she left he started heading to the door and grumbled a bit
" I (yawn) wanted a few more minutes"

[Jacior]

Tsume is entertaining himself by being as obnoxious as possible in a somber-ish moment, by shadow-boxing with himself and saying encouraging things to no one in particular. "Yeah! Graduation day. Gonna show off in front of everyone and become a genin!" He does a backflip kick and aims an open handed strike near the head of his shadow. He doesn't even stop when the strange person comes in and glares at everyone. He gives her an excited smile when she takes the time to glare at him.

He was wearing his orange jacket over a dark shirt with a lighter green stripe up the middle. Long pants and a pair of black sandals capped off his normal attire. With a large pouch on the small of his back and a holster on his right thigh, he barely passed for the appearance of a ninja. He continues to fight with himself unless interacted with.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

If he's not interacted with, after the ten minutes pass, he jumps into the air and yells. "Wahoo! To the training grounds!" He dashes for the door and runs out towards the training grounds.

[Karrth]

It looked like it'd be a good day so far for Kamatari, he had managed to buy a few lesser exploding tags from Tozawa yesterday and as per the deal he got the items yesterday with one day to pay up.

So now he only had to pay up for the items and everything would be in order. So when he spotted Tozawa in the back of the crowded class room Kamatari pushed his way to him and took out his money.

"There ya go Kokezaru-san, the agreed price."

--------
After the woman gives her instructions Kamatari taps Tozawa on the shoulder as he's about leave. "The doorway will be crowded before we get there... Lets take the window and use Kinobori* to get to the trainning grounds..." The last bit is said in a low voice as not to let others hear about the plan.

--------
*Tree-walking technique

[Nousos]

Tojo sat at the front of the classroom, as he usually did. He had very short hair, almost shaved, and was wearing typical garments save for a holy rosary wrapped around his right hand and wrist. Excitement built up in him when who he guessed was a sensei he hadn't met entered. He was more ready than ever to graduate and become a real ninja. When he realized she had nothing to say at the time, he glanced around the room, seeing many students chatting away, and yet a few were keeping to themselves. "Odd" Tojo thought to himself, but then again he was doing the same. He went back to reading his ninja training manual on ninjutsu. Even though he was quite skilled at the art he hadn't yet learned anything more than one basic technique.

Upon seeing the woman leave the room, Tojo tucks his book away and heads out the door.

[Togath]

Ah, him again, thinks Tozawa as Kamatari walks up to him.
"Thank you for the payment, if you end up needing more, I've gotten skilled at making them the last few months"

-----

"The doorway will be crowded before we get there... Lets take the window and use kinobori to get to the training grounds..."

feeling somewhat embarrassed by his subpar knowledge of beginner techniques Tozawa answers the boy's question in his usual, and somewhat cold, tone "I'm afraid I've yet to learn kinobori...I'm fairly good at tadayou though, so we could try taking a shortcut along the waterways"

[Karrth]

"Still doesn't get us through the door any faster. I'll take the window and you see if you can get through the door fast then we can meet up at the training grounds."

With that said Kamatari walked to the window, opened it and concentrated for a few seconds then walked out on the wall and made his way to the training grounds. Using both Kinobori and Tadayou where he needed it.

[Princess Tracy]

As soon as our heroes make for the door, the rest of teh classroom start to follow like herded sheep. When the window's opened for a quick exit, a few break off from the crowd huddled at the door to also break out of the alternate exit. In the oddest formation, the crowd largely seems to follow the little trendsetters. The reason is obvious as soon as everyone's clear of the school building; most of the students aren't quite aware of where the specific area of the training grounds is.

It's an average if sluggish day in the Marsh, with the marsh being, as always, a marsh with all the marsh-like furnishings one would expect, such as occassionally stepping into a puddle and losing a leg to the great muddy chasm of suction within. The mist isn't quite letting up s our heroes, whether they lead or fall back into the crowds, finally arrive at the rather forested area of the B-rank training grounds

The mist gives an eerie effect as it sits and simmers down to fog, creaking through the arching roots of the great trees, and a few walkways of half-solid earth and grassy borders mark a safer path through what might otherwise be a lake, with all this thick water. A large tent and several strings are set up around the central area, a great clearing with quite teh strait of dry land, but there are only two people outside it. One, a girl of perhaps 10 years of age wearing clothes 4 times too big and a village headband, the other towering above her - a more mature specimen of femininity, perhaps in her thirties, with a great sea of white, silky hair that reaches almost to her knees. Both wear travel cloaks appropriate to the misty swamp, hiding much of their clothes, though a sword handle clearly sticks out of the hem for the older woman. The two of them seem to be arguing over something, the girl far more intensely - while the woman seems calm, if a bit dismissive, the girl tends to shout her half of the argument as she gestures wildly. "What do you mean unqualified!? ... I beat up, like, 10 of those guys, I think
I can handle a team of snot nosed brats! ... You're not seriously going to shut me down, are you? i swear, I - Oh!" The girl is the first to notice or at least acknowledge the presence of the little pre-genin crowd gathering.

"The crowd was supposed to be lower. Where are the genin we assigned to this, did they leave before the preliminary test or did al 67 pass... unlikely." The white haired woman seems to talk more to herself than anything, but she's polite all the same. "Well, I suppose I'll need to weed them out..."

She eyes the students all he same, seeming to relish time away from whatever argument she was in the middle of and the girl obligingly held her tongue in front of the students. Both she and the crowd seems to be waiting for an explanation, but neither seems willing to provide it. "Very well, I'll test you all 3 at a time. It will take longer, but give the best results. Would 3 of you care to walk forward now?" The woman was clearly offering to be the group's jounin, though from the girl's frustrated reaction, one could be forgiven for accusing her of simple baiting

"Hey, we weren't done talking about my promotion. Come on, lady, let me through, I'll team organise CIRCLES around you."
Ninja Lore to identify these two - permitted but not compulsory.

[Jacior]

Tsume arrives at the front of the pack, using up his energy moving as fast as he could through the swamp. He punches the air a couple times as the woman speaks to the group. "There was no preliminary test! A woman came into the classroom, waited a bit, then told us to come here." He nearly shouts with enthusiasm, barely managing to keep his voice reasonable. Then she asks for volunteers and he nearly bursts as he jumps forward. "I volunteer! I'll be part of the first group of genin to pass!" He actually calms down a little, stopping the random punching and settling merely for bouncing side to side... apparently in a warm up.

[Togath]

Tozawa is standing near the front of the crowd when the taller kunoichi announces the challenge.
ah, so this is the true examination... I wonder who the short girl is.. an Akamichi perhaps?

"I, Kokezaru, volunteer as well" he says as me moves forwards a few feet and kneels in an honorable bow before the...older?, kunoichi.

[Karrth]

Stepping out of the crowd Kamatari speaks up. "I'm Kamatari and I'll take this challenge."

It was simple words but he wondered if the task would be equally simple?

[Nyan]

He calmly walked through the halls of the school notecing one person dashing past him like a speeding bullet making him sigh slightly. "Tsk....I see no need to be in such a hurry...." He thought before glancing back seeing one person who seemed rather calm following him a few feet behind, and in turn closley followed by the rest of the crowd. Not paying it any more attention he continued out the school building and was Walking at a kind of a slow pase when he realised not to many of the students were going on ahead of him. "They dont even know the way....Perhaps I should create a clone to misslead them so the number of people would decrease...Then again I should probably reserve my chakra for whatever task lies ahead..." Then suddenly it hit him. "Where is the woman from before? Should not she be guiding the students to the area?" He calmly looked around to see if he would perhaps spot her through the mist.

Rolling a spot check
[roll0]
Unless he spots anything specific or strange he casualy continues on.

Eventually he reaches the rather large clearing and as he was one of the first to arrive he stands upfront with most of the group behind him. He observed the two who stood Before them closley trying to perhaps recall who they are when he heard the woman speaking of the genin kunouichi from before. "Hmm...that is strange.....wonder if something is going on...." He continued thinking about possible outcomes of this untill the taller female asked Three to step forward. Tho he stood still and waited looking at the Three who stepped up to the task. He was not the person to jump in head first in to a situation without knowing what could lie ahead so he hoped this would perhaps reveal some of it so he could think of a plan of some sort.

[Princess Tracy]

Some of the more knowledgeable ninja recognise the taller woman as the 'Shirotaicho' (White Captain) even before her name is given. How could they not, after all? One would need to be politically illiterate to not know of one of the village's 3 precious Jounin - and chief matron of the hospital. While she waits for volunteers, she goes about tying her hair back, tucking the knotted locks into her cloak, pushing her glasses in place, and nature itself accomodates her reveal as the mist and fog seem to part just enough to better show her face. She's the look of a young woman, or perhaps an older woman doing a rather passable impression of a young woman. Her hair is short in the front and catches the noon light well to emphasise its more golden tint. She does look a little weary, perhaps from having to deal with her apparent subordinate or perhaps because she now realises she has a long day ahead of her yet, but is experienced enough to know how to press on.

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb94/Angel-Kimmi/RP/cyrinsmall.png

The short girl seems to be a complete unknown.

The woman raises an eyebrow at the first volunteer's physical display of enthusiasm, and the little girl seems ready to drop her grievances as she gets an odd twinkle in her eye watching the boy, but neither gets a breath to comment with. As soon as Tsume steps forward, 4 more speak up, all talking over each other, in addition to the more stately volunteers among our protagonists, and the entire crowd shortly bursts into chatter.

"If you want a real ninja, look no further than me!"

"I'll do it!"

"Omigod, it's really the White Captain! It's a Jounin - the Matron, Yamanaka Cy-!" "SH! They say they she can kill you before you say her name, don't give her a challenge!"

"A-ha! A real jounin as my instructor right out the gate - with that under my belt, I'll be well on my way to restoring my clan's honour! By my swordsman's pride, I accept!"

Yamanaka presses a finger to her eyes in frustration. "This is why we were supposed to get the A-rank grounds and a few misleading Genin together for the preliminary test. Today's one administrative botch after another - I wouldn't allow this incompetency at my hospital, surely, why do I allow it of my ninja."

The girl by her side perks up. "So, so! You can't handle them all on your own, right? Come on, let me take a swing!" She points right at Tsume. "I like this one, let me have him!"

Yamanaka looks to the girl in distaste. "I'd say such a hot head is the one ninja you must NOT be allowed to teach. You could only worsen his delusions of strength. No, an important lesson for Academy Students to learn out the gate is humility."

"Come on, you can't handle all of these kids yourself! How about if when you're trialing your three I take on..." The girl turns to the crowd, pointing at people in turn, apparently counting them - even mouthing and perhaps whispering the numbers. "Everyone else." The argument seems to bring all the other Students into a state of quiet confusion once more.

"Excuse me, who are you?" one of the more forward students asks.

The girl nods, seeming like she'd been waiting all day for someone to ask her that. "Why, little old me? I'm Rikku Li, of course! Jounin of the Marsh, I'm surprised you haven't heard of -!"

"You aren't a Jounin, Li-san. I think you've gravely misunderstood how your promotion works."

Rikku seems to ignore Yamanaka, instead gesturing to Tsume. "Hey, kid, I'll teach you how to break stone with your fingers if you come with me instead."

"Enough of this. You can feel free to pick through the scraps when i'm done - don't pull anything funny while I do my work, I'll be out in ten minutes tops. I have all these students to go through, so I'll have to go real challenging real fast to start with if I want to find the best of the best. Where IS that ditzy secretary of a ninja with the note of her recommendations, it would make my like a lot easier." All the same, Yamanaka just shakes her head and regains her control as she points a finger towards the crowd, singling out her targets. "You, you, and you, get over here." Seemingly at random, Tsume, Kamatari and Tozawa are picked out.

Rikku's face is still partially hidden by a particularly dense-at-that-moment mist, but it's not hard to guess her expression is one of frustration as Yamanaka leads the chosen three into the tent (if they follow, of course). Before Rikku can speak up, Yamanaka adds "And if any of you feel you would be better suited to the 'Dragon Fist' there, go ahead and take whatever test she's fashioned at the last minute, to your heart's content. I'll just cross you off my list of potential candidates."

"Come on, kid," Rikku pleads with Tsume, clearly liking his spunk. "Don't let yourself be her leftovers. Yamanaka, how come you're so mean?"

Yamanaka stops in her tracks. "Because, after all this time, after all teh training and fighting and death, you defy what it is to be a ninja and all the lessons that come with it. You're arrogant enough to try and overpower reality itself." Her tone's oddly flat until she looks back at the girl with a bit more of a human annoyance in her tone. "Oh, and there was that one time where you, you know... SET FIRE to my office during a war meeting."

"It was by accident," Rikku pleads, suddenly on the defensive, but before she can take a more honest tone, Yamanaka's already well within the tent with whoever came, leaving the pouting girl to stand with arms folded in teh middle of the marsh. She seemed to be under specific orders not to do anything fun, and was trying to find a loophole.

Tsume can stay with the hyper girl and be replaced by the next in line, if he wishes

--

The Tent

The chosen find themselves in an unlit tent, with the only visibility coming from the outside light. Such things as sunlight dry up when the tent suddenly zips closed behind them, leaving them in darkness. After a few seconds, a lantern flicks on, illuminating maybe 8 feet out at the centre of the room. Yamanaka sits in a kneel, still in her travel cloak, seeming to invite the ninja to sit across from her. "Tell me something about yourselves. One at a time, please."

[Togath]

Following Shirotaicho into the tent, Tozawa is first to speak up; "I am Tozawa, of the Kokezaru, I have honed my skills at suiton as well as studying medical ninjutsu..I've recently taken interest in sealing jutsu as well. As a shinobi I aim someday to become a hunter-nin or join the ANBU, and someday cleanse the dishonour Aohni stained us with with her experiments" he decides not to mention his interest in taijutsu, or the bloodline he possesses, it's always useful to have extra tricks up your sleeve...and it's probably best not to mention that I possess my grandmother's bloodline, to strangers at least he thinks to himself.

[Nyan]

He stands not moving so much as a muscle but he observes the events going on as the other more entusiastic ninja step forward and everyone seems to burst out in a whave of chattering and shouting. "Kh!....Why wont just everyone calm down...and they are supposed to call themselves shinobi..."He sighed heavily as then the small girl pointed out Tsume, and Yamanaka spoke about humility. "Atleast there seems to be one person here who seems to have some sense here....I allmost feel sorry for her for having to put up with this...." He then looked towards the small girl pointing out everyone but did not seem to be botherd much or even worried the slightest. "I think I should avoid her....She does not seem like the person to follow straight protocol....and apparently she is not even a jonin..." He thought as he then watched the two argued between eachother trying his best to be patient.

-------------If tsume decides to go with the hyper girl I will take his Place-----

Seeing that the one stayed with the small girl he started following the others that Went with Yamanaka. "I'd go in that case....I want to get this over with...." He said in a flat tone but glad that he could leave the large crowd behind him. As he walked to the tent he looked closly at the small girl again thinking on who she could be. "The Dragon fist huh?.....I wonder what she can do...."

Following the others in to the tent he steps in last only to have the tent shut behind him. Then after a while he sees the lantern light up the tent and notices the kunoichi sitting infront of them. He then goes to sit down infront of her with the rest and hears Tozawa speak. When Tozawa is finnished he sighs lightly and decides to take his turn. "My name is Hisashi, fifthteen years of age and have been growing up in the orphanage without any parents. I started studying at the Academy at a Young age and have studied to become a ninja. Tho it was forced uppon me after a visit by the village elders at the orphanage I did not see a reason to complain....I am quite skilled in ninjutsu and in perticular the art of genjutsu. I do not have a specific goal as a shinobi but there is one thing I do want to know. I was never told as to where I came from or who my parents were so I do not have a surname...So right now I seek to know the truth of who I am." He said as he gave Yamanaka a sharp cold stare.

[Jacior]

Tsume watches the argument between the two women... Well, woman and girl with no less enthusiasm than he had put forth all that morning. "I apologize sincerely, Yamanaka-sensei, but the offer of learning to break stone with my mere fingers is too tempting an offer to resist!" He moves quickly over the younger girl with hoppy jump-steps. "WAHOO!"

[Karrth]

Looking at the retreating back of Tsume Kamatari mumbled something about tempering egerness with caution under his breath and then followed the older woman into the tent.

"I am Kamatari as I said earlier... I was found in the swamp a few years ago by elder Hakumei. She took me in and have cared for me since then but sent me to the academy when she learned that I could control the Elements of ice wind, and water."

"I am skilled in ninjutsu and taijustu plus some chakra control."

He saw no need to say anything about his mark, after all she did say "something" not everything.

[Nousos]

Tojo just stands at the front of the crowd, as he wasn't called to the tent. If the small child of unknown rank offers a test to anyone and shows any actual authority, Tojo will volunteer. But since the Jounin in command didn't seem to approve of any such "test" the kid would give, Tojo doubted it likely to be a smart thing to do.

[Princess Tracy]

Yamanaka shakes her head at Tsume. "I would have taught you the way of the world a little smoother than you will when you learn under her - or rather, be forced to face, but I suppose there's no helping it. Li-san, you got a student just like you wanted, now can you leave me to my business?" She points to Hisashi when he volunteers, calling him into the tent.

---

Rikku hops in place excitedly at her new student's decision. "Yay! What's yer name, kid!" Yamanaka's negativity takes a second to reach her, but before Rikku can respond she's disappeared into the tent. "Huh. She sure is silly, isn't she? Everyone knows we gotta get at least, like, THREE of you kids to be a TEAM! Hey everyone, try outs, right now! Woot!"

Most of the crowd seems a little iffy about this girl. After all, the White Captain seemed to be focussed on just getting her to leave and seemed to threaten anyone that tried Rikku as a student as being invalid for her consideration. Few seem willing to step forward, leaving it as just Tojo for the moment. Nonetheless, the girl claps her hands at his apparent bravery. "Hm, it seems if I want to round out this team I'll need to draw 'em in..." She looks to Tsume, not quite sure what to do. "Hm. Maybe if I go all out I'll impress enough to draw 'em in, and I should take leaf out of Yamanaka's book and 'interview' my candidates. How about it, kiddo, think you can handle a bit of a challenge!?"

She gives a triumphant pose, never one for letting the reality of the situation crush her spirits. The mist itself seems to part to show her better, and indeed in the noonday sun the miserable weather seems to finally be clearing up. Her hair is short, black and spiked, yet still soft and bouncy as she hops in amusement, her eyes are endlessly determined even when she's playing at being light-hearted. Her eyebrows are thin, long and seem to have an untapped cunning to them that only gives her an edge, and a few clumsily covered bruises on her person show her as nothing short of a bruiser. She wears some sort of lace and hide ensemble under her cloak, but it's hard to make it as only a determined finger (and the arm it's attached to) is constantly visible: there's an odd bulk at her forearms and her fists are covered in bandages. She stands maybe slightly taller than Tsume. She's rather wide-eyed, really, explorative and sincere, as befitting her childlike stature, and she seems the type to be terrible at poker. Her figure's oddly thick, not exactly muscular nor chubby, but not quite as sleak as your typical kunoichi.

She quickly adopts a fighting stance, seeming to invite the first blow.

http://avvesione.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/medaka_box-04-yatsushiro-tomboy-spiky_hair-cute-angry-embarrassed-bandage.jpg

---

Yamanaka (or, meanwhile, in the tent)

"Yes, Tozawa, I know you well enough," Yamanaka greets flatly, seeming to reach for tea and be annoyed when she finds none. "You should come by my hospital at some point. Even if you don't graduate today, I think you'd make a fine nurse." It was hard to tell if she was joking or not. In fact it was hard to tell if this was small talk or indeed some sort of test. "Tell me, if your grandfather still a weirdo?" she asks him nonchalantly.

At Hisashi's and Kamatari's introduction, she raises an eyebrow, once again seeming like she was supposed to be sipping something as she contemplates. "That's quite a lot to tell a stranger, young man," she advises Hisashi. "Perhaps we can get you some confidantes so you needn't worry about leaking to strangers, yes?" It might be an observers delusion, but she seemed to assign him a point in this contest at that point when she gives an odd, approving smile, perhaps thinking of him as a project to work on.

"Hakumei, you say... and three whole elemental transformations and you haven't even left the Academy yet..." She doesn't seem to have any commentary beyond that for Kamatari, instead sitting in silent contemplation, drawing some conclusion about the boy.

"Okay, children, here's an easy one. Why should I choose any of you over the potential genin out there?" she asks of the group. She finally stands. "Sh, no words. Just think about it in your hearts." She cranks her neck, reaching around teh tent and almost instantlky retrieving some large katana-like blade. "Tell me, do you know what the mortality rate of genin in their first month is? In the first two? Three?"

[Jacior]

Tsume nearly salutes, but restrains himself from what he'd consider a strange gesture. "My name is Enkouchi Tsume!" He does actually shout his name. "And I will be the greatest taijutsu master ever!" Considering he wasn't invited to share that, it might just come off as more of his atypical enthusiam.

"A combat test? I accept! One moment please!" He takes off the wristbands on his arms and drops them on the ground, where they drop heavily into the earth. He also unstraps the weight-bands from around his legs and they thud heavily ontop of the wrist weights. "Shall we begin?" With a lightly clenched fist, the young shinobi-wannabe charges the girl.


Status
Hit Points: 30/30
Chakra Pool: 12/14
Chakra Reserve: 6/6
Armour Class: 19
Movement Speed: 40
Ongoing Effects: Spd Rank 1 (1/5), Str Rank 1 (1/5)

Actions
Swift Action:
None

Attack Action:
Yama-Uchi: [roll0], Damage: [roll1], Fort DC 16

Move Action:
Move to Rikku

[Nyan]

Hisashi sat down calmly not so much as making face as Yamanaka "advised" him. Thinking it was probably just a simple taunt to see his reaction he stayed silent, not allowing himself to be affected by it and even responding to her smile with a small smirk of his own.

When she asked the question about why she would choose them over anyone of the others Hisashi did not say anything and slowly stood up after Yamanaka did. Taking a quick glance at her as she grabed her katana he stayed focused seince the task put as a test could like as well be a sparring fight, tho that was probably the last thing they had in mind he still kept it in to account as he thought of what could happen next. Not awnsering her final question seince he knew she was going to give them the correct anwser even if they did not guess.

[Nousos]

So this ten year old girl is going to be my team leader? I hate my life.

Tojo figured that if they proved themselves, they would be done with the academy, so he took a few steps forward and looked at Tsume. "Well, I guess its just us." He then assumed serpent stance. Tojo had none of his gear or armor, as there would be no logical reason to bring any of it to class, so he would just have to fight up close.

----------------

1 Chakra spent for serpent stance.

Initiative
[roll0]

AC: 18

[garhunter3]

Gen walked up to the pair in front of the tent. He had hoped that the wait would be quite but the pair of loudmouths were grating and he had enough. He stood a lit off to the side behind Tsume as he took of his weights.
"Hey loud mouth you always this obnoxious or you just on a sugar high."
He looks at Rikku with annoyance
"So you think this guy can ace your test well I accept as well."
Gen draws his sword and stands ready to fight.

HP 21
move action draw weapon: Ninja-to

standard action Total Defense

new AC:19

[Togath]

Once again sitting seiza style, Tozawa listens intently as the other students introduce themselves,
---
"I am Kamatari as I said earlier... I was found in the swamp a few years ago by elder Hakumei. She took me in and have cared for me since then but sent me to the academy when she learned that I could control the Elements of ice wind, and water."

fascinating...does this mean he's one of those swampfolk...he could be interesting to keep an eye on..
---
"Tell me, if your grandfather still a weirdo?"
"He is a rather odd one still.. Though he's developed some..Interesting jutsu" Tozawa responds, smiling slightly at Yamanaka's comment.
---
"Okay, children, here's an easy one. Why should I choose any of you over the potential genin out there?" she asks of the group. She finally stands. "Sh, no words. Just think about it in your hearts." She cranks her neck, reaching around the tent and almost instantly retrieving some large katana-like blade. "Tell me, do you know what the mortality rate of genin in their first month is? In the first two? Three?"
At Yamanaka's final comment Tozawa braces himself slightly; A combat test?, It would be interesting to see these two in combat, let alone a jounin..
Tozawa readies an action to make an unarmed attack against her, if Yamanaka attacks

[Karrth]

"I don't know what the morality rate of genin in their first months are, but isn't is disrespectful to the dead to use their deaths to scare off others from same path...?"

Kamatari was old fashioned like that.

Seeing the blade being drawn he realized that he was at a clear disadvantage, being a medium range fighter, so he stepped back and drew a kunai.

[Princess Tracy]

Rikku

The girl's eyes light up as Tsuma takes his weights off. "Oooh, training weights, a man after my own heart." Her clothing's just a litle too bulky yet baggy to tell if she's wearing any herself.

Rikku Li seems ready to take Tsume's hit, smirking eagerly and slipping into a stance as he charges her. At the last second though, a comment from the crowd draws her attention. "Hey loud mouth you always this obnoxious or you just on a sugar high." Rikku stops in her tracks, looking at the boy, at Gen, wondering what on earth what his deal was. "Are you talking to me or Tsu-" There's a rather sickening crack at the young girl's face as Tsume's hit lands due to just her moment of contorted distraction. The crowd gasps, some chortling knowingly 'Ha, what kind of jounin does she expect us to believe she is'. She just stands there a moment, her face a little bloodied by the surprising hint, her face a rather neutral daze for a moment before she simply smiles despite a clear nosebleed. "There ya go," she congratulates him. "Now I have a sense of scale. Children, I'm going to come at you with the power that's expected of a genin, nothing less and probably nothing more if I can help it. She me your guts! Tsume, get SERIOUS!" With that, she uppercuts Tsume, intending to send him flying. "Shoryu-punch!"

Rikku uses Shadow Dance

Attack roll [roll0]
Damage [roll1]
Fortitude Save DC 17 to avoid being sent flying. On a failure, Tsume will be sent a number of feet into the air equal to damage times three

Spinning back to her regular stance, Rikku looks over at Gen and Tojo, then to the rest of teh crowd before extending a taunting hand to the two most prominent warriors. "Hm, if you want to make it interesting you could cut in here..." She smiles at the possibly airborne Tsume. "But I think our lad isn't ready to give up yet, are you?"

===

Yamanaka

Yamanaka's eyes narrow at Kamatari, and the light of the lantern catches her glasses to give her eyes a momentary hellish glow that seems almost deliberate. She continues all the same, quoting rather dryly. "On a good year, new graduates have a survival rate of the first month of 92%. For the first two months combines, 86%. For the third month..." She trails off, looking to the lantern. Shuffling towards it, she picks up the little bulb, stoking the flame. there's an odd glimmer as the light bounces around the tent while she shifts its position a little. "The mortality rate for the first three months total is never below 50%, to this day," she says grimly, adding "And last year, of the 21 graduated students, 5 still live."

She looks to her potential students, and Kamatari in particular. "You think I speak in a flippant manner, but this is not so. The genin suddenly spike in mortality in their third month because at that point the kid gloves are off and they'd gotten entirely too comfortable with mediocrity. With safety. I'm the best doctor for a hundred miles, and I can't cure death - and for genin, death is the symptom, not the disease I must treat. So, I shall only graduate those who truly understand their own mortality." She looks too the large sword in her hands, with its thin, long curved blade, in a rather odd way as if she'd forgotten she was holding it. "Don't be foolish by trying to fight a battle you can't win," she sneers at the battle poses of those who would stand against her. "I am an assassin. This foolhardiness is exactly the sort of thing that gets you killed." Sure enough, her grip on the sword is off, but somehow she seems certain enough to hold it.

"So i shall ask..." She arches the sword downwards, letting it sink into the ground as she releases it to the ineffable machinations of gravity, it being driven into the dirt... and more importantly into the imposed shadows of all three boys. A supernatural chill overcomes them and it seems in her off-hand Yamanaka has performed a half-seal for some unknown technique. Nothing seems to have happened yet though. "What are you willing to die for?"

Everyone make a will save. Don't worry, it's nothing worth blowing an action point on and it won't change any actions you want to take, I'm just trying to gauge something.

And a genjutsu check to identify technique I suppose would be permissable if not required.

[Togath]

While his will power falters, Tozawa still has a enough courage to answer "Nothing I suppose...though I'm the sort to fight death itself to finish a task..", well, that's partially true, he thinks, but I'd never sacrifice my own life for someone elses'..
--

I realize that we had talked about leaving his scrolls empty, but it seems like an appropriate time to fill out a page, even if he doesn't end up using it.
the creature is meant to be the sample ogre skeleton from the core rulebook, with it's claws replaced by a bite attack, and possessing human proportions.
calligraphy check to draw it(if it gets through):[roll0](with an extra +2 from his bloodline, which I forgot to add in the base roll)

[Jacior]

Tsume is a little surprised when the attack connects but powers through his surprise by rotating on his heel as the the girl comes back with her own strike. He doesn't stop and comes back around with his own move, trying to throw the girl into the air. "Not a chance! Feel the strength of Enkouchi Tsume!" He blatantly ignores the other two intruders.


Status
Hit Points: 30/30
Chakra Pool: 9/14
Chakra Reserve: 6/6
Armour Class: 19
Movement Speed: 40
Ongoing Effects: Spd Rank 1 (1/5), Str Rank 1 (1/5)

Actions
Swift Action:
None

Attack Action:
Kage Buyou: [roll0], Damage: [roll1], DC 16

Move Action:
None

[Nyan]

Hisashi stands still and has yet to move after she had pulled her sword glancing over at the other two as they seemed to go in to a fighting ready position. "Are they mad?....If we were to fight right now we would be dead in an instant." He thinks keeping an eye on Yamanaka despite her threatening demanor in the low light from the latern, as he tried his best to keep his calm and not do any movments. He then watched closley as the blade she was holding was dropped to the ground and tho he did not admit it, he felt a feeling of slight relife. "Don't be foolish by trying to fight a battle you can't win," He looked straight in to her eyes as Yamanaka watched them after this comment and responded. "I am aware that if we would fight right now, we would not even stand a chance....Tho it seems the other two here beside me has yet to realise it...." He said glancing over at the other two.

He then felt the chill going through his body and clutched his fist to not shake and to keep his cool spotting the potential halfseal Yamanaka did with her off-hand. Then suddenly turning towards Tozawa as he spotted him take out a scroll and starting to drawing on it. Grabing his wrist to stop him ge gave him a Cold stare. "You said you are the type to fight Death itself to finnish a task....well now is not the time to do that....cause if you have noticed we do not have a task Before us just yet......The best course of action is to keep our cool....I know what you feel, I feel it as well. But she just said that foolhardiness gets you killed....I do not wish to die becasue someone ignores that warning..." He then looked back towards Yamanaka "I could awnser like most people would: My village, duty, honour, pride, family, friends, but to be honest, as of right now I have nothing to die for....and I do not intend to die just yet...."

[Togath]

He then felt the chill going through his body and clutched his fist to not shake and to keep his cool spotting the potential halfseal Yamanaka did with her off-hand. Then suddenly turning towards Tozawa as he spotted him take out a scroll and starting to drawing on it. Grabing his wrist to stop him ge gave him a Cold stare. "You said you are the type to fight Death itself to finnish a task....well now is not the time to do that....cause if you have noticed we do not have a task Before us just yet......The best course of action is to keep our cool....I know what you feel, I feel it as well. But she just said that foolhardiness gets you killed....I do not wish to die becasue someone ignores that warning..."

Tozawa remains calm.. "I merely was inspired..but I suppose you have a point...What I had been doing could be misinterpreted", he goes back to sitting calmly, waiting to see what the jounin has to say.

[Karrth]

Kamatari looked at Hisashi with distain in his eyes. "Unlike you I don't have blind faith in every human being around me. Twice the people in this village has tried to have me killed so I'm not one to question the intention of a drawn blade."

"And yes we wouldn't stand a chance, but I didn't come here to be told that I'm supposed to stretch my neck so it's easier to get a clean cut when I meet someone above my level. If that is your intended actions when a situation goes sour I'll leave this tent right now, I won't be in a team with a coward that thinks an easy death is the best way to serve this village. Retreat yes. Lie down and die, no."

[Togath]

With a slight grin at kamatari's speach, Tozawa says "You've taken the words right out of my mouth, it's nice to see someone with your attitude.."

[Nyan]

"Unlike you I don't have blind faith in every human being around me. Twice the people in this village has tried to have me killed so I'm not one to question the intention of a drawn blade."

Hisashi glared back at him with a slighty annoyed expression "Did I say I have faith in anyone in this village? No I did not, im just suggesting that drawing a weapon is not the best option seince you saw she dropped hers, and we should not provoke her any further by keeping ours..."

"And yes we wouldn't stand a chance, but I didn't come here to be told that I'm supposed to stretch my neck so it's easier to get a clean cut when I meet someone above my level. If that is your intended actions when a situation goes sour I'll leave this tent right now, I won't be in a team with a coward that thinks an easy death is the best way to serve this village. Retreat yes. Lie down and die, no."

"You've taken the words right out of my mouth, it's nice to see someone with your attitude.."

Hisashi seemed a bit supprised by their comments and sighed heavily. "It seems you have missinterpeted what I said.....To make things simple for you so you understand, what I want to say is, that it is obvious she is not going to attack us so we dont need our weapons...And even if she planned to we should not provoke her in to doing it right here and now." With that he stayed silent turning back his gaze towards Yamanaka.

[garhunter3]

"Man she having to much fun with this" Gen thought.
He moves to attack.

HP 21
Move action: Move to Rikku Li
Standard action:Attack with sword:Attack [roll0]: damage[roll1]

[Nousos]

Tojo moves ahead and tries to tumble around Rikku to flank, and punches at her. If she is airborne, he readies an action to hit as soon as she returns to the ground.

Tumble (Acrobatics) DC 15 [roll0]

Attack roll [roll1]

(attack instead readied if Rikku in air)

AC:18
HP:23


Edit-Wouldn't let me edit in forgotten damage roll but I didn't hit anyway.

[Princess Tracy]

Hisashi

Yamanaka's technique is unknown to Hisashi despite his advanced knowledge - likely some sort of hidden technique. However, he can tell it is some sort of concentration-dependant phantasm genjutsu that's affecting each of the boys through the yin chakra of their shadows.

Yamanaka

"The greatest defence of a ninja is to be beyond notice or, in your case, below notice. That is knowing your limits, and working them to your advantage of assumption, that is what it is to be ninja. And to be ninja is to die for a cause not your own, defending people you don't know, in a land unfamiliar to you, to an end you don't understand. Death can come at any time. If you don't understand that, if you can't dedicate yourself enough to an ideal to be ready to die for it, you will never be content as ninja."

Each of the boys blink for what feels like entirely too long - and Hisashi concludes that the technique caused them to black out, but when next they open their eyes, Yamanaka sighs and like that her intensity is gone. She abandons her hand seal. and cleans teh blade before sheathing it again. Only Hisashi even remembers to note that anything changed.

"But these things must be learned rather than taught," she remarks, nodding to herself in that 'everything's going according to plan' sort of way only she had. "Very well. Consider it provisional. For the next three days, you will be my genin." She smiles as softly as any of the boys had seen, yet it didn't seem disengenuous. "To be honest, I'd had my eye on only 8 genin form the start and you three seem like you'll do. But i'll push you to your limits in that time, because it's hardly too late for me to change my mind and deem you too weak, okay?" She thinks for a moment, looking to each of the boys in turn as she unties her hair, letting her golden locks cascade down her pear-like figure. "Before I dismiss you to go disappoint all the children outside who weren't really supposed to be here, I want you to answer honestly. Who would shed the most tears for you?"

---

Rikku

The girl's odd smile widens at Tsume's second hit, receiving the strike to the gut and being sent back a foot or two but carving into the earth with her heel to keep herself grounded. In a single bizarre instance, when Gen brings his blade to bare, she actually seems less than amused by the presence of the blade hurtling towards her flesh. Her cloak is cleaved open as blood splatters upon the mud at her feet, and she squints one eye from pain but keeps on trucking. Tojo's punch is handily deflected by one firm thrust of her forearm as she relocates - in a grand flash of movement, she's suddenly in a nearby tree. Finding her balance again in the tree trunks some ten feet up and away from the students below, she grabs her tattered cloak, throwing it open to expose her now cleaved and reddened civilian-wear underneath. She didn't wear any sort of armour - just a chinese dress with baggy trousers, and sleeves seperated and tied around her arms. All of her clothing was very baggy, looking like it was 3 sizes too big, even by the furthest stretches of obscure fashion. "My my, such sharp weapons kids are carrying these days, I might really be in trouble if I don't start taking you seriously..."

A few of the genin step forward. "HA! This twerp thinks she can flahs the title of jounin and make false promises!? If she wishes to make a fool of herself so be it!" an ambitious white-haired swordsman remarks, waving his sword to signal some sort of charge. As the academy students rally, Rikku just lookspleased to have attracted such attention

"Well well, that's the 'this will be easy' crowd in, now to wrangle in this 'this will be a challenge' crowd," she comments in an odd awareness of challenge-genres. She smiles, reaching for her opposing forearms. "I'm going to go all out and the last three left standing of all the academy will be my students! Tsume! The man after my own heart in the art of training weights!" She shoots him an odd smile from above the crowd. "Which weights would you rather I remove first? Legs or arms? Can you handle my legendary fist?"

[Jacior]

Tsume looks on with some annoyance as the rest of the crowd starts to encroach on his fight. The first two were bad enough, but now the rest of these jokesters thought they could join in. "Hey! This is my fight!" He looks up at his soon to be teacher. "I'll take on your legendary fist! And when I beat it, my fist is the one that will be legendary! WAHOO!"

[Togath]

"I want you to answer honestly. Who would shed the most tears for you?"
--
For once Tozawa was at a pause... who would shed tears for him?..
"My grandfather perhaps... Or my grandmother if she is still out there.. I doubt even she would want me to die, at least with the..studies.. I've done on her research"
changign the subject, Tozawa says; "You're fairly skilled at medical ninjutsu, correct?, Mind me coming over to the hospital to take notes sometime? Aohni's research archives have proved somewhat useful, but I'd imagine I could learn more from observing a medic in action"

[Princess Tracy]

Yamanaka

"Your grandmother..." She seems a little perplexed by Tozawa's answer but smiles good-naturedly. "Ha. Tell you what, if you pass muster to show me you can make it as my genin, I'll teach you to be a medic-nin for free. Of course, if you fail to become a ninja you could always slink back to the hospital and become a regular old nurse. As it stands, keep focussed on the task at hand - proving your worth."

"As it stands, I want you three to meet me outside the hospital tomorrow at dawn. I'll have some sort of mission on your level lined up by then. In the meantime, feel free to look for the Chuunin I sent to fetch you - it'll earn you some points. Glasses, brisk ponytail, usually uptight - seen her?"

Rikku

"Okay then, you're gonna get the fist, kiddo, I-!" Rikku's cut off as some cheeky youth throws a kunai into her shoulder, she squints in discomfort - but after a moment lodged in her fabric, it falls into the muck below. However, no blood is drawn: Untying her sleeves, she lets a sudden gust of wind flow by and abduct the fabric, showing her payload: training weights, just as she promised - with multiple plates on each arm covered in various runes: one of the weights looked dented from where the kunai had bashed it. Gripping the binding of each weight by her teeth, she gives them a sudden tug and lets the forearm-load fall onto the branch, splitting it where it lands in what seems a bold defiance of physics. "It's troublesome to perform Shunpo with these weights on, so I'll use my'regular' speed for now!"

Rikku smiles knowingly at Tsume's predicament. "Okay, I'll cut you a deal, Tsume-kun. I'll pick your team mates when I'm done with you. But I suppose I gotta be fair, so here's the deal everyone: The more power you make me draw out, the longer you survive, the more likely i'll take you one - got it!?" Explaining her over-simple rules again to the students like they were 2 years old just seemed to be her way. before anyone can make a quip about her intellectual level though, she performs a hand seal in a rare sample of her ninjutsu, and suddenly the swamp below her congeals into a great muddy wave that sweeps most of the crowd away, giving those not engaged in battle pause for thought as the reverse landslide leaves the bolder students buried and our heroes the only ones still standing. "A little technique I made. Earthbending Swamp Method: Battalion Raincheck Technique!" she boasts.

And like that, she hops from her perch and charges straight for Tsume, seeming to go for an old classic. As she charges with her sweeping sprint, one can see her leg weights underneath her costume. Her exposed, surprisingly buff arm lashes out, hitting Tsume hard in the gut. Her strength suddenly seems far more hustled, and one can only hope his armour can take the blow

ATTACK [roll0]
Damage [roll1]
Kage Buyou: make a Fort DC 17 save, blah blah you know the deal

And now to break Tsume's neck! (nah, just kidding, din't fear the reaper)

[Princess Tracy]

Rikku

Her strength is great, but her leading hit, her punch, seems nothing but a distraction as she brings her other arm to bear with an amazing feat of adrenaline and momentum. Her arm aims to lock Tsume's head under its grip in preparation for her 'legendary' grappling style/

Rikku uses Heroic Surge to attack. She uses iron grasp (save DC 20)

[roll0] +[roll1] (only add best, action point)
Damage [roll2]

Roll a DC 20 fort save. On a success, take +1 Damage. On a failure, take double damage and make an opposed grapple check to avoid bein, ya know, grappled.

grapple Check [roll3] (why yes, she is good at grabbin' folks - she sunk about 3 feats into it after all)

[Togath]

"As it stands, I want you three to meet me outside the hospital tomorrow at dawn. I'll have some sort of mission on your level lined up by then. In the meantime, feel free to look for the Chuunin I sent to fetch you - it'll earn you some points. Glasses, brisk ponytail, usually uptight - seen her?"

"Sounds fine.
I believe we also saw the chuunin back at the academy, wearing a black kimono today correct?, I'll keep an eye out for her, she can't be too far.." says Tozawa as he gets up and begins to move towards the tent's door, opening it if no-one else has anything else to say to him.

*if the battle is still going on outside when he exits*
upon exiting the tent, the sounds of battle finally reach him, things have escalated quickly it seems, he thinks to himself, letting out a short sigh before opening the tent's door enough to say to Yamanaka; "it appears your assistant, that short girl, has caused a bit of a ruckus among the students outside.."

[Jacior]

Fort Save: [roll0]
Grapple: [roll1] + Whatever.

I take it that I can't Kawarimi out of this?

[Nousos]

Tojo focuses himself for a moment, then rushes forward and attacks with Rikku with Seishou Bakuha.

Activates strength and speed rank 1

Seishou Bakuha-1 chakra cost
Attack roll[roll0] +[roll1] action point
Damage roll[roll2]

AC-19
Current Chakra-14

[Nyan]

Hisashi notices that everything gets dark realizing he blacked out from the genjutsu that Yamanaka was apparently using watching her closely as she stops with the hand seal and sheathes her blade "I blacked out....what was that jutsu just now....im sure it was a genjutsu....but what was her purpose for using it on us?...." He thought as he listened to Yamanaka staring back at her as she untied here hair.

"Before I dismiss you to go disappoint all the children outside who weren't really supposed to be here, I want you to answer honestly. Who would shed the most tears for you?"

Hisashi thought for a second closing his Eyes and looking down, and for some reason the first person that came in to his mind was the blacksmith girl he usually makes deliveries for. But she shook his head allitle and thought again. "No....I don't think she would cry for me....but I am not shure..." He sighed opening his Eyes and looked at Yamanaka. "Perhaps the people who took care of me in the orphanage, or my parents....but then again I dont even know who they are...." Hisashi was a bit shocked by his own awnser seince he usually never talked or even thought about his parents.

"As it stands, I want you three to meet me outside the hospital tomorrow at dawn. I'll have some sort of mission on your level lined up by then. In the meantime, feel free to look for the Chuunin I sent to fetch you - it'll earn you some points. Glasses, brisk ponytail, usually uptight - seen her?"

Hisashi nodded slightly. "Indeed we have.....I thought it was strange the way she just dissapeared like that after she left....I looked around as I went outside the Academy but i saw nothing...."

"Now if there is nothing else...I shall take my leave.." Hisashi said as he turned around and moved towards the exit a bit hasty. Only to stop when he realized he still had some questions for her. "Oh...and there one question I have for you....Yamanaka Sensei..." He said slowly turning around and fixing his gaze on Yamanaka again. "What was that jutsu you used on us just now?....Of what I could tell it seemed to be a concentration-dependant Phantasm genjutsu.....Probably using the Yin chakra of our shadows as the medium to affect us three....Seince I saw the way you stabbed your sword in to our shadows and at that moment I felt something was wrong, that is how I made that conclusion....But even more important....Why use it I wonder?" He said giving her a slight look implying that she could not fool him so easily.

[Jacior]

Tsume spins on his heel to avoid the first blow, but it's the spin itself that subjects him to the second blow. He twists bizarre to avoid the head-lock, but manages to get hit by her fist. He grins at her. Then swings out with a kick.


Status
Hit Points: 20/30
Chakra Pool: 10/14
Chakra Reserve: 6/6
Armour Class: 19
Movement Speed: 40
Ongoing Effects: Spd Rank 1 (4/5), Str Rank 1 (4/5)

Actions
Swift Action:
None

Attack Action:
Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

Move Action:
None

[Princess Tracy]

Yamanaka

Yamanaka observes the new teammates with some amusement, but with none greater than Hisashi. At his accusation of genjutsu, she gives a rather playfully cruel smile. "I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about," she says flatly. Whatever her regular skills at deception, she could hardly be said to be doing a good job of hiding her fascination - perhaps pride - in the young genjutsu user. "Whatever it is, it sounds unfalsifiable."

At news of the goings on outside, she sighs, standing as she turns off the lantern with a quick flourish of her fingers, and goes to the door. "My only assistant is the aforementioned chuunin - Himeko. That 'girl' out there..." she grumbles as she approaches the tent door. "Why did I even bother leaving her alone. If I had my way, she'd still be a genin, instead because she can eviscerate opponents with her bare hands the other jounin just keep moving her up in the world. Tch. Do you know what a Special Jounin is?"

All

As Yamanaka and co. walk out of the tent, the battle wages on. Rikku deflects Tojo's attack with a back-hand, but drops her guard as the headlock-bound Tsume cracks her in the shin. "Damn, Tsume, you got some hustle to ya," she declares, her earlier sword wound giving a spurt of blood. She glares at Gen as she wrestles Tsume. "Oh damn, the sword dude..." Pointy things held some degree of sway with her, it seemed.

"Okay, Tsume, I hope you're prepared for the Rikku Style: Ultimate Bodyslam technique!" she howls, amused as she makes to pick up the lad, before stumbling, her grip weakening. A smoke rises from her skin for a few moments and she breathes heavily, before backing off; releasing Tsume, she takes several leaps back, complete with a backflip to try and avoid further conflict for a moment

Tumble (acrobatics) check [roll0]
She moves 30 feet from Tsume

She seems to stabilise when she's cleared some distance, trying to regain her breath. "Damn, I used up too much chakra. Hmph. That's the thing with applying more Training Restraints - it takes a few days of fighting to really get a grip on your new limits."

"Destabilising your transformation already, you foolish 'girl'?" Yamanaka heckles (in a normal face-to-face spekaing volume, of course) from the sidelines, and RIkku can hardly ignore her.

"Ha, you know..."

"Of course I do, you had me apply half those seals. I thought it would keep you out of trouble if I limited your capacity for WILLFUL collateral damage, but you of course only ever take it as a challenge."

"Well of course, there's no rush in combat if there's no chance of losing. If I don't fight with strength proprotional to my opponent, it'll just be dull - and hardly educational."

"And that right there is why you're a terrible ninja."

"Tsume, sorry for breaking the distance, it's your turn to initiate." Rikku's stance seems a little more relaxed and she's more subdued.

"Enough fighting or I swear I'll have you demoted. These students willl have plenty of time to die in the field without you destroying them in a meaningless test."

"Fine. How about if I pick my team now and we can fight all we want later."

"You're not getting a team."

"Hey, I got's the rank for it - I totally looked this up. As long as I have enough volunteers, I can make a team."

"..."

"Tsume, how about it?" Rikku of course beams at her rather daring student. She nods to Gen Tojo. "You two - you got spunk. I like that, how about it? Let me hear you say woo!" She's clearly waiting for consent.

Yamanaka turns to her new students, shaking her head. "I detest that abuse of power. You three are dismissed, keep an eye out for Himeko and I'll see you in the morning. Or at the hospital or HQ if something comes up." Tpo the crowd, she says "With a chuunin like this woman who doesn't even use her full power, and with no wisdom in her head, you will meet a meaningless death soon enough. I advise you all to wait a few months for the next graduation slot. Dismissed." A lot fo teh student sstart filing out, and thos eburied in the mud also seem too embarrassed to keep fighting by the time they pluck themselves out. Yamanaka herself takes her leave, though walks exceedingly slow, both to give anyone press her presence, and to survey Rikku. "The next person to throw a punch will be getting carved by me." She's actually ignoring Tsume as she looks over her shoulder to say thta, focusing solely on Rikku

[Togath]

Seeing the hot-blooded girl's injuries, Tozawa tries to follow once the battle is over and ask; "do you need healing? Those wounds look deep.."

[Princess Tracy]

Rikku shakes her head, not missing a beat, all the while Yamanaka scoffs. "Ha! As if the boy could harm that beast. Even her sword wound is just part of the big 'game' to her."

"You got loaded with a mean sensei, girlie." Rikku shrugs before turning to her own students. "Eh, she gets the job done though, even if you're on her bad side."

Hisashi's shift as delivery boy doesn't start for another hour - the young blacksmith should be at lunch right about now, in one of a few possible hang outs, just as he's expected to be in class.

[Nousos]

Tojo agrees to join the team, as he feels strangely that if he were to wait for another team not led by a ten year old girl, the lord of the cosmos would not like it. Unless anything else happens, he goes about his business for the rest of the day and waits for orders.

[Togath]

"I bid you farewell for now then.." says Tozawa, heading back to his home to work on his medical and art studies((unless someone still had anything to say to him)).

While at home he takes time to fill out two pages worth of his scrolls with images of a giant skeletal monster and a swarm of vicious rats.
skeletal monster has the stats of the generic ogre skeleton presented in the core d20 rulebook, and the swarm has the stats of a rat swarm(three HD, correct?).
He takes ten on both checks, easily beating the base DC

[Jacior]

As Rikku backs off, Tsume assume a rather atypical stance. He places his left foot far in front of him and stretches his arms out with open palms. And then Yamanaka stops the fight and he relaxes. "Well then. That was anticlimactic." He sighs. "And it was just getting good, too." He walks back over to where his weights were laying on the ground and puts them back on, double-checking the straps to make sure they wouldn't fall off.

When it's finally decided that Rikku was going to be his teacher, he couldn't help but be excited. "WAHOO! That means we're genin now!" He runs over to his two new team-mates and throws his arms around them. "I guess that makes us a team! I'm Enkouchi Tsume. What are your names?"

[Nousos]

"Tojo," He answers. "and I guess I'll see you guys later." He says and he turns and walks off. After failing to stand out in that fight, he wanted to go train as soon as possible.


Chakra control learn check is 21 (taking 10) DC:14 (1 success required)
To learn Skin Armor (Kawa no Yoroi)

Edit-Training completed in 4 hours
Source of technique to learn from: Shown by monks at the monastery many times.

[Princess Tracy]

Tozawa

As he draws up his home, he sees a little smoke rising from the chimney, even though it's mid-day. Inside, his grandfather and his grandfather alone sits in a recliner facing the fireplace. His eyes are pursed so much in contemplation and his frame is so still, one could believe he was asleep if not for his speaking up as the young boy enters the house. "Hey, kiddo," he exclaims rather low-keyly - eithe rhaving just woken up or deep in thought. "Anything exciting happen today?" His calligraphy set is on the central table and his inks are at the ready, along with a brown, bouind package.

All y'all

Rikku smiles to Tsume as he celebrates, quickly scampering to retrieve the weights she discarded. It seems they had sunk a few inches into teh marsh, and she struggles to tuig them loose of the mud. When Tojo moves to leave, he finds Rikku's hand on his shoulder. "Hold on, kid," she says. She hands her arm-weights to Tsume to hold, and if he takes them, he almost buckles form the weight - in fact, he suspects they may weigh more than HE does!

"You're used to fighting saner opponents, right? I piss people like you and Yamanaka off - seeming strong without a care, all brawl and no brain, but give me a chance. I'm pretty handy with ninjutsu as you saw." She smiles widely. "If you want the truth of the matter, I'm not some snot nosed genius here to show you up, despite my appearance. I'm MUCH older than you." It occurs to thosse present that there is such a thing as ninja transformation - that nearly all ninja possess. She could be a hundred years old and built like a tank for all they knew, and this appearance was a long form tauint to her opponents

"Now listen, Tojo, if you wanna be on this team, I need to see how tough you are, m'kay?" She opens her stance wide, leaving herself totally open. "Come on, hit me as hard as you can, however you want."

[Nousos]

"I'm not really built for strength," Tojo says as he looks down at his flexing hand, thinking of the tree trunks he would punch for hours trying to gain tougher fists, and almost wincing at the painful memories "I'm more of a swift fighter, but what I lack in muscle I make up for with a few tricks." He draws back in his serpent stance, crouching slightly lower than most would think wise for a fighting style, gathers chakra into his right hand and lashes forward with a clenched fist.

Tojo activates strength rank 1 and Seishou Bakuha (spending 3 chakra on it)
Unarmed attack
[roll0]
Damage
[roll1]

Current Chakra: 11

[Nyan]

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about,"

"Whatever it is, it sounds unfalsifiable."


Hisashi noticed the look she gave him as he spoke giving her a slight grin of his own. "Your expression proves my theory...Tho I did not have any doubt that I was wrong in the first place. But do as you wish, keep your little secrets. I guess its not to important why you used it in the first place so I'll just lay it to rest." He then gave her a look like he was telling her "Well played" like they have just played a game. "But don't think for once second that you can take me as a fool...Yamanaka sensei.." He said with a serious tone to his voice.

As he then Heard about the fighting going on outside from Tozawa he watched Yamanaka turn of the lantern and letting her pass as she went to the exit.

"Why did I even bother leaving her alone. If I had my way, she'd still be a genin, instead because she can eviscerate opponents with her bare hands the other jounin just keep moving her up in the world. Tch. Do you know what a Special Jounin is?"

Hisashi sighed and closed his eyes for a moment thinking before opening them again and responding "If I recall correctly that would be a shinobi who has gained Jounin ranked skill in a specific area of expertice...I would guess in your assistants case that would be Taijutsu combat....So 'she' is a special Jounin then....that would perhaps explain her presence here.."

He then finally went outside the tent following Yamanaka and watched the ruckus going on as he stayed out of it, mostly ignoring the two arguing as he kept a good eye on the fighting genin.

"I detest that abuse of power. You three are dismissed, keep an eye out for Himeko and I'll see you in the morning. Or at the hospital or HQ if something comes up."

Hisashi nods slightly and starts to walk away from the site, sighing as he look at the other students picking themselves up from the mud and leave in shame. Walking past Yamanaka he looks at her for a bit. "I'll take a look around the village to see if I can find this kunoichi you were talking about. I would like to have her name and ill see what I can find."

After he has been told her name he leaves the site spending atleast the hour he has left Before his shift to search around Town, talking to people and so forth to see what he can find. And then as that is done he goes on to meet the blacksmith girl for the delivery.

[Togath]

"it would seem I've managed to become a genin, under a team lead by a kunoichi named Yamanaka" responds Tozawa to his grandfather's question, "we're suppose to meet up near the hospital in the morning, so I was planning to do some training.. and see if I can master a new technique".

*if his grandfather doesn't have much more to say*
Tozawa heads off after filling in a bit of his scrolls and begins trying to learn henge


*rolls for training(since I might as well get them out of the way)*
Henge no Jutsu(DC 12, 1 success):[roll0]+1-5 depending on how high of a level his grandfather is.
Notes: tutored by his grandfather in this technique.

[Princess Tracy]

Team Rikku

"It ain't about the strength, it's about how you use it - about your GUTS. You can always get stronger - I'll show ya how, but you either have guts now or you never will. COME ON!"

Tojo's fist lands hard in her gut, the chakra thrusting her back as she's left to stagger back. She actually coughs up a little blood, and seems like she'll fall to her knee, but catches herself well enough. Her eyes are hidden by her fringe as she looks to the boy. "There ya go... Who's your regular sensei, kid? I KNOW they don't teach that kinda thing at your academy."

Hisashi

Yamanaka still seems bitter as she's walking away - hardly at her most approachable mood as she lets her now unbound hair fall over her shoulders and cloak. "Those boys will all be dead by the end of the month unless that girl starts taking her position more seriously immediately, I swear..." To hisashi, she remarks "And I told you she isn't my assistant, that would be Himeko. Li-san over ther ejust followed me o the training grounds today to do... well, exactly what she's done."

At Hisashi's offer, she seems to lighten up, chuckling a little. "Oh, don't worry about Himeko, really. if she turns up, she turns up - if she doesn't want to be found, a baby genin won't find her. Besides, isn't there a girl or something you can grab lunch with?" She pauses a moment to make sure she's got Hisashi's attention, smiling evilly with what she says next, "Say high to that cute blonde form your new sensei, okay?" Before Hisashi can question her knowledge, she forms a hand seal for a spacetime techniqe and, with one final wave goodbye, teleports out and away

if Hisashi still presses on to find Himeko...

A few people 'round town know her as the 'Secretary-Nin' that Yamanaka favours, but haven't seen her outside all day and just assume she's with Yamanaka. Such basic knowledge takes him only a good 10-15 minutes to find out, though he could press on if he wanted to folow his most recent lead, that being that her full name is Shion Himeko.

Edit:

Tozawa

ozawa's grandpa is suddenly fairly active, chuckling softly to himself as he shakes his fingers, wiggling in invitation to his grandson to come further into the room. "I know you graduated, sonny. You do me proud, you do, my own flesh and blood, a genin at your age. And under that appealingly, ahem, 'fine' Jounin lady too. What more could you want?" He looks back at Tozawa over his shoulder, inviting him to sit opposite him as he smiles warmly. "Well, kiddo, as promsed for when you become a genin I'll let you draw up your first combat-ready Artform. Oh, your grandma would be so proud... Any girls on your team?"

[garhunter3]

The mud bomb had affected a Gen a little more than the others with his feet stuck he really had no ability to move but decided to act by pulling out some shuriken. But with RIkku and the kid in a scuffle he couldn’t get a good shot at her.


Suddenly "Destabilising your transformation already, you foolish 'girl'?" Yamanaka heckles (in a normal face-to-face speaking volume, of course) from the sidelines, and RIkku can hardly ignore her.

Seeing Yamanaka emerge from the tent Gen sheathes his weapons. Looks like the fight was over.
The ensuing conversation Gen seems to pay little attention to. He is more interested in getting unstuck and finally unsticking his sneakers from the cold mud.
“Bluh, going take a whole night of washing make ’em wearable again.”


She nods to Gen Tojo. "You two - you got spunk. I like that, how about it? Let me hear you say woo!" She's clearly waiting for consent.

"Huh be your students um yeah sure he says. Woo.. "
Well it not much but at least I’m a gennin now he thinks
"While you’re teaching us you will be using full strength right?"

As the students start filing out he walks over to Yamanaka and asks
"Wait isn’t there more teams to build, more trials to go through?"


"I guess that makes us a team! I'm Enkouchi Tsume. What are your names?"

Gen eye twitches a bit this kid got on his nerves and now he was stuck with him what a fate. Better just suck it up.
"Names Gen sorry about butting in like that but god the racket you guys were making. I just need to let out some frustration. Just keep your voice down and I might start tolerating those dumb battle cries."


Now listen, Tojo, if you wanna be on this team, I need to see how tough you are, m'kay?" She opens her stance wide, leaving herself totally open. "Come on, hit me as hard as you can, however you want."
Gen looks on hoping that she would get another face full of face but was disappointed at his refusal.
"So wait are you trying to get to know us or something?"

[Nousos]

"I was a monk in a temple a ways from the village." Tojo replied. "Chakra control is a specialty among the ninja-monks there, so the older monks always have a few techniques they like to teach to the younger monks. I lived that lifestyle until a few years ago. I was lucky enough that a ninja happened to be visiting and saw us training."

[Togath]

"Well, kiddo, as promsed for when you become a genin I'll let you draw up your first combat-ready Artform. Oh, your grandma would be so proud... Any girls on your team?"

---

Tozawa chuckles slightly at his grandfather's question, "unless you count Yamanaka, all of my team-mates are male, as was the other team, aside from their leader, a special jounin called Rikku, ever heard of her?, I hadn't seen her around before, she seemed rather hot-blooded for a shinobi".

"I'd been thinking a Gashadokuro (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gashadokuro) for my artform, for both it's intimidating presence, and great strength"

[Nyan]

"Oh, don't worry about Himeko, really. if she turns up, she turns up - if she doesn't want to be found, a baby genin won't find her. Besides, isn't there a girl or something you can grab lunch with?"

Hisashi stopped hearing her say this and seemed to be quite surprised despite the fact he had kept his face the entire time "What?..Who are you talking about?" Seemed the only thing he could respond with glaring back at her grin with an annoyed expression.

"Say high to that cute blonde form your new sensei, okay?"

"Wait, how do you-.." Was the only thing he managed to say before Yamanaka suddenly vanished before him leaving him there stunned as he just stands still for a while. "Kh! How in the world does she know?...Well never mind..I should not fall for her taunts that easily...next time will be different..." He then quickly turns around and leaves to start searching for this 'Himeko' person. He searches around the village and speaks to some people to see if he could find something only to learn some simple knowledge about her. As fifteen minutes pass he thinks he is not going to come any further with this for now so he decides to grab something to eat and hoping, in the back of his head at least, to perhaps meet the girl which Yamanaka was referring to.

[Jacior]

Tsume looks at Gen. "What do you mean keep my voice down? The only thing to do when you're excited is to SHOUT! WAHOO!" The proximity of Tsume to Gen's and Tojo's heads makes this shout particularly louder than it really should need to be. He looks to their new teacher. "So, now we train, right?"

[Princess Tracy]

Tozawa

"Rikku? You don't mean... that Rikku?" His grandfather seems a bit put out in the oddest fashion possible. "She's leading a team now, huh? ...Huh. It feels only yesterday that she came to the village and had to take on the rank of genin. Hard to believe that it was just six years ago that she stumbled in here as a chuunin from the Village Hidden in the Ridge. Did you at least ask her out or did you figure she was too old for you?" the senile coot asks playfully. Though credit to him, there wa sno sarcastic emphasis on 'too old'. Perhaps shereally wasn't 10 years old after all.

"Skull ogres, huh? What's gotten into you kids these days, is that goth style coming back?" he chuckles. "Ah well, sure why not. Pull up an inkwell." He rouses from his chair and sits at the table by his granson's side, ready to insrtuct where needed as he pulls up his sleeve and grabs his own brush.

Team Rikku

Gen's chase fails to catch Yamanaka before she disappears and his questions go unanswered, sadly. Though she seems to hav ewritten him off as doomed under Rikku's tutelage anyway.

"So you're the most badass monk there, I take it?" RIkku asks Tojo curiously. "Or maybe the only one in the mood to be aninja. EIther way, welcome aboard - let's see if we can't teach you to hone your strengths. Not physical strengh, but personal strength - there can't be a reasonable objection to that, I don't think."

At Gen's question, Rikku nods, "Yup, getting to know your comrades is good. Youre the first person in a long time to make me bleed. So what do you do."


She shout sat the same time as Tsume "WOOT! I'l train ya if you want! Let's see, what would be useful to teahc you... hm... the way of Gouken...?" She seems lost in thought, and ready to take suggestions

Hisashi

Taking the path through the village to the marketplace, he finds the blacksmith's soon enough; the chimney wasn't producing any smoke, so the forge was obviously off. Sure enough, there's a 'closed' sign hanging on the door, with an additional note underneath proclaiming 'gone to lunch at Smokey's - commisions open'. Hisashi knows the restraunt well enough to find his way there. As he makes his way there though, a kunai flies past his head an embeds itself in the wall behind him. A note's attached loosely, but it appears to be blank, and try as he might, his eyes don't detect the source, and by the time he'd conduct a mor ethorough search of the rooftops nd streets and swamp water, whoever it was that tossed it seems to have moved on

If he still goes to the young blacksmith girl's hangout, he finds the fabled Smokey Marsh Barbeque 'restraunt' fairly packed - with more than a few failed academy students looking rather deected as they wilt away their day. At the back however, sipping what looked like sake (but obviously wasn't) in the classiest manner possble, readin a book and occassionally taking a mouth ful of steak is his mark, completely unaware of him and with an empty seat both beside and across from her at each side of the table

---

I'll go see what Karrth's up to before we progress

[Nyan]

He walked calmly through the marketplace of the village having his black cloak cover his entire body to protect him from any mud or dirt that would perhaps splash up from villagers walking past him. His long blonde hair flowed slightly in the breeze as he approached the forge to then spot the sign and the small note. "Barbeque hmm...Might as well..." He thought as he then made his way towards Smokeys place.

Walking down the streets he closed his eyes for a moment only to have a kunai fly past his head. His eyes flashed open as he quickly looked back seeing the kunai get stuck in the wall, quickly turning back to see who threw it. But despite his best efforts he could not spot anything that would give itself out as the source of the attack. "Who in the world would attack someone in the middle of the day!?...." He thought to himself looking back at the kunai to see the note attached to it. He walked up to it and pulled the kunai out from the wall and grabbed the note to take a closer look at it.

(I will update this if there is something on the note but ill move on for now.)

Sighing slightly and looking back to where he assumed the kunai came from he thought it would be useless to chase after him now. "Who ever it was I am shure this is not the last time I hear from him..." He took the note and the kunai and put them in his pockets before he then continued towards the restaurant, deep in thought from all the things that has been happening this almost crazy day.

Finally arriving he sighed with relief as he walked in looking around to eventually see the Blacksmith girl in the far back. He walked up to her table still having his cloak around him. "Hello there, mind if I take a seat?" He said looking at her with a faint smile on his face.

[Princess Tracy]

Hisashi

No matter what way he looks at it, the tag seems blank of any writing. The kunai and tag seem perfectly normal when he takes them.

Hisashi gained ONE (1) Kunai
Kunai sent to Inventory
:smalltongue:

At Hisashi's presence, the girl gives a start, dropping her book and loosing a few chunks of chicken from her sandwich before looking up at him form her seat. She was about his age, strawberry blonde hair, modest figure, and at present wore a cap that half-hid her baby-faced features. She had a thick leather apron still on from earlier currently swung around her back like a cape of some odd sort, a toolbelt overflowing with knicknacks at her side as she relaxed, heavy boots, and fairly airy clothing - a long tied skirt, from which much of one long leg was quite visible, and a largely unbuttoned shirt. Form her state of dress, you'd think it was still high summer, or that she was from teh land of snow.

Torasi (Tracy) gives a yelp as she realises her sandwich has been compromised. "Dammit, Hisashi, what is it with you ninja and sneaking up on good hardworking folks like me, huh?" Her anger was seriously overplayed - with her very girly voice, it was downright comical when she tried to make it sound angry. She blinks, reasjusting her sight like something wasn't right with this picture. "Did you skip school or somthing just to surprise little old me? I ain't payin' ya overtime!" Hiashi was technically hired by commision anyway, so overtime wasn't exactly something he would be due anyway

[Jacior]

Tsume shakes his head. "Teach us something that no one else would know!" He thrusts his fists into the air. "That is the best thing to do!"

[Nyan]

Hisashi could not help chuckeling slightly at Torasi's reaction when she noticed him. "I'm sorry, I will try and be a bit louder next time." To most people it would seem like he was utterly serious with what he said, but in her case it would sound as some bad attempt for a joke. Seince she was used to his serious attitude. Hisashi then after a few moments sat down on the other side of the table facing her, sighing with slight relief. "No. I don't have any more classes today, actually. As of right now I am a genin." He said flatly, not making any attempts to make it sound better or unusuall almost like it was not even something to talk about. "Well anyways I decided to go for some lunch so I came here."

[Togath]

Tozawa

"Rikku? You don't mean... that Rikku?" His grandfather seems a bit put out in the oddest fashion possible. "She's leading a team now, huh? ...Huh. It feels only yesterday that she came to the village and had to take on the rank of genin. Hard to believe that it was just six years ago that she stumbled in here as a chuunin from the Village Hidden in the Ridge. Did you at least ask her out or did you figure she was too old for you?" the senile coot asks playfully. Though credit to him, there wa sno sarcastic emphasis on 'too old'. Perhaps shereally wasn't 10 years old after all.

"Skull ogres, huh? What's gotten into you kids these days, is that goth style coming back?" he chuckles. "Ah well, sure why not. Pull up an inkwell." He rouses from his chair and sits at the table by his granson's side, ready to insrtuct where needed as he pulls up his sleeve and grabs his own brush.


To... wait... old? Tozawa thought to himself, Henge?, But to keep one up while attacked....
When his grandfather brought up the ogre he chuckled softly at his jest, before setting to work on the combative artwork, heading out to train for a few hours after, and then heading to bed.

When he wakes up he heads to the arranged meeting spot that Yamanaka mentioned the day prior.
About a minute before reaching the hospital he uses henge to transform into his grandfather's appearance, as he wanted to find out a bit more about her, and she seemed to know his grandfather.
figured I might as well get it out the the way, since I had time to post, and he didn't have much to do at his house.

[Karrth]

Kamatari spends the day wandering the village, he goes no where in particular and just wanders, while thinking on his teachers words. Who would cry for him? What would he die for? What had he been training to become?

The answers didn't come to him and in the end he wandered back home and went to his room. Where he went to bed after grabbing a bite to eat.

In the morning he packed a small bag with some left overs from the day before and then armed himself with the kunai and explosive tags he had, but he decided to leave his armor at home.

Then he headed off to the meeting point.

[Princess Tracy]

Team Rikku

"Something... no one else knows? Hm..." Rikku hops from foot to foot like she's about to fall into a stance as she thinks. "Eh, there's lots of stuff I can do that no one else can, but I'm not sure you'd be able to learn them..." She finally stops and points to the sky. "Okay then, how about this..."

Clearing her throat, she paces a bit, casually stretching before turning to her students. "Okay then, who here knows about the Gates of the chakra system?" Finally, she falls into a stance, spreading herself wide and clenching her fists, her eyes closed. The swamp water begins to ripple around her ever so slightly.

Gates - anyone with a rank in chakra control and ninja lore knows the regulate the flow of chakra in the body. (and anyone who watched the show knows that Rock Lee busts them open for his super mode)

"I know the Hachimon Tonkou. It's said the master of this art can become as powerful as the Captains for an instant," she casually reveals. "Now, who'd like to learn it? It'll probably take a few weeks before any of you open the first gate, but I can certainly train all of you well until then. Everyone drop and give me a hundred. Press ups." She opens her eyes and smiles. "Unless one of you wants to volunteer to know what a Gate-powered punch feels like?" She looks at Gen in particular. "Not sure how much use it'll be to you weapon-using types. Ya might break your sword."

Team Rikku gains one day of training

Hisashi

She seems like she's going to have a snide someback until it all sets in. "Genin?" Torasi blinks at the news. "So, you'll... you'll be going on missions? When did that happen, so soon..." She stares into the table, drifting off in her thoughts. "Hisashi-kun... Does that mean you won't be working for me anymore?"

She shivers, hugging herself, her food forgotten, and nobody could mistake her for anything other than upset. "Why would you want to? I mean, it'll be dangerous, being a real ninja and all...? A-aren't you afraid...?" Torasi wasn't a ninja in any capacity - she was clumsy and oblivious for a normal person, even, hardly kunoichi material. Even though she lived in this village, she didn't really understand the ninja mindset or why Hisashi would want it. "I... I kind of thought you'd spend at least the rest of the latest war in school, but I guess you're too good for that, huh?"

Kamatari

As he makes his way home, the fog seems to get a bit thicker in his part of town, and he almost doesn't see his home until it's right on top of him. A flickering light cuts through the fog, in the second storey window, and catches his eye - no doubt the old lady warming herself up. Or perhaps wishing him luck, there are a lot of odd customs among these old folks - so who knows.

The streets seem empty for the most part, and just when he's a short dash from his front door, something sharp presses against his back; a kunai is held beside his precious vertebrae. "Don't move," comes a familiar voice. "Why would Yamanaka take on a creep like you?"

No doubt about it - it was her, the girl form the academy who so despised him, Hejiko. "Did you trick her or something?"

Perception check DC 12
The kunai's too blunt to cause real damage from this angle.

Tozawa

It's a few hours into training for the day when old man Bakanamane calls for a break. "Phew, boy, you're getting good. Come on, your sister will be home soon. Think we can afford to stop for lunch?"

Tozawa earns 1 training session (half a day/four hours) and time to scribe [roll0] ogre skeletons

The gruff old chap takes his seat and seems to reminisce about old times, waiting for Tozawa to join him. He'd worked up a bit of a sweat even with this basic bit of training - he was getting on in years, after all. "Ah, Tozawa... I tell you, you have your grandmother's determination. And now you're working under her student. Great things, sonny, great things will come of you..."

Just as he opens his mouth to say something, there's a knock at the door. He seems disappointed to be interrupted, but just shrugs it off. "Would you get that, Tozawa? It's probably your big sister... As funy as it is to leave her out there without her keys as punishment for forgetfulness, let's not be too cruel on the ditz, eh?"

Perception check DC 15
Tozawa's grandpa was in the process of taking out some sort of envelope from his pocket before he was interrupted

If Tozawa answers the door, he finds a rather serious looking woman from earlier standing before him. Himeko, the 'secretary'-nin. "Tozawa," she remarks briefly, adjusting her glasses. "Who is present in this household at present?" she asks liek a robot.

[Nyan]

Hisashi noticed the sudden change in her expression as she heard the news. "No. I will still work for you, in between missions ofcourse. I may be gone for a few days tho depending on the assignment but I will make as many deliveries as I can during the time I'm still in the village." He said calmly, giving her a reassuring look.

As he then saw Torasi wrap her arms around herself, clearly more than just a bit upset he was not quite sure what to do. He listned to her but went quiet for a bit not really knowing how he was going to answer. "I am not sure why....I just feel like this is something I need to do. I do not really know much about myself but I feel there is something in the back of my head, telling me that I will discover things about myself if I do this......I do not fear what lies ahead, and neither should you...." He said in an attempt to perhaps lighten her worry, looking at her with his usual expression, but his eyes clearly showing concern. He then hesitantly stood up, before walking around the table and sitting down next to her. "Yes, some might call me a genius, but I don't care to much about it." He looked around the room slightly before fixing his eyes on Torasi. "Trace.....I will be fine." He said confidently.

[Togath]

Just as he opens his mouth to say something, there's a knock at the door. He seems disappointed to be interrupted, but just shrugs it off. "Would you get that, Tozawa? It's probably your big sister... As funy as it is to leave her out there without her keys as punishment for forgetfulness, let's not be too cruel on the ditz, eh?"

"No problem, Grandfather" says Tozawa politly, as he heads to the door and opens it, "How'd things go today, Sis?".
Upon finding Himeko at the door he is somewhat confused and stutters, "Just me an Grandfather Bakanamane".. "Did something happen?" he continues, somewhat worried about his sisters now.

-Perception Check:[roll0]

[garhunter3]

Gen looked at rikku after hearing about the gates. Rolling his eyes at her comment.
"Yeah I usually use weapons that are too large for normal people to use. So I'm not sure I could use that Art to its fullest extent. Of course you must be pretty confident in your strength and speed. So maybe you can teach me a bit of that or do know any techniques that could enhance my sword? If you don't Ive got a bit of special training I need to do."
He smiled at her this may not so bad. Then again it just might be he thought. As she started ordering them to do a hundred push ups.

[Jacior]

Tsume gets excited all over again. The Chakra Gates were certainly powerful, but also difficult to master. It would be perfect to dedicate his engergies too. "After we learn how to use the Gates, we'll be the strongest team!" He drops to the ground and starts the pushups when told to.

Gonna take the training time to get the first mastery of Kawarimi. Taking 10 for 15, takes all day.

[Karrth]

Kamatari didn't sense her until the kunai was at his throat and his heartbeat quickened, a lot, when he felt the blade.

It was a wierd feeling, standing there knowing your life could end at a moments notice. Sure there was fear but he also found himself angry. That little snot nosed brat was trying to either kill him or scare him. Both options pissed him off.

"Someone of your caliber might have to trick people into accepting them but I merely tell them the truth. And in this case the truth is simple... I'm better than you. That was why I was picked and not you."

[Princess Tracy]

Tozawa

"I see. The candidate and the student, alone," she notes aloud. She raises an eyebrow at Tozawa's concern. "Everything is fine as far as you need concern yourself. Congratulations on making the cut, it's good to know Yamanaka valued my assessment so." She adjusts her glasses as she peers over Tozawa's shoulder into the house. "I trust your grandfather and eldest sister are doing well? Bakamane should know he's not too old to serve his country if the time comes..." That casual reference to conscription dropped, she turns from the household and makes to leave. Seeming to remember something, she reaches inside her dark kimono and retrieves a folded piece of parchment, handing it to Tozawa. It's sealed using the royal wax mark, a sign of private orders. "Something your grandfather may appreciate. Tell Mayumi I have need of her." Unless stopped, she heads down the street, into the mist.

[Togath]

Tozawa stops Himeko, and asks "so just what is this need you're talking about?, A coming war of some sort?", once more composed, and with a grip on her shoulder in case she tries to leave without answering.

[Princess Tracy]

"'Coming' war?" Himeko sneers incredulously. "You don't have your ear to teh ground, do you? But no, I suppose a genin fresh out of the academy would be witless. Your grandfather's skills are quite reputable. It's what makes him a Special Jounin. Do you know of the wartime priveleges of a Special Jounin? In an emergency situation, they can inherit the ruling class if teh Jounin are incapable of defending the village. And no matter how retired one thinks they are, while they draw breath, one can always be called to action in an emergency."

[Togath]

"You have a point about the last part, though I'd imagine loyal special jounin would be willing to take the risk anyway, as the reward outweighs it, at least if the special jounin's worth his or her title" says Tozawa' chuckling slightly at the last bit, "So who are we up against?, at the moment I've got to rest up for my team's first mission in the morning, orders and all, but a sparring between two villages sounds like a rather interesting event"

In the very least, it might be interesting if I can gain us some political power... either through becoming a jounin.. or removing those in my or my grandfather's way... he thinks to himself

[Princess Tracy]

Hisashi

Torasi shivers less as Hisashi speaks in an attempt at comfort, looking over at him as he concludes on his call to duty. When he calls her by her nickname and assures her he'll be fine, she blushes, looking dreamily. "Hisashi...-kun... Do you really promise that?"

She catches herself being entirely too girly and promptly shakes her head so hard, her hair flies out of her hat, reaching down much longer than it otherwise looks, and socks Hisashi in the side in embarrassment. "What ya doing getting all mushy on me, stupid Hisashi!" She was always such a tomboy when it came down to it. And man did that smart - for a civilian who'd never seen combat, it felt like she could floor a ninja when she was properly good and flustered - though perhaps it was the days at a time spent on metallurgy that brought built in muscle training.

Hisashi takes 4 nonlethal damage. It'll heal up when he takes a nap
Make a DC 10 Fort save or you'll fall out your chair :smalltongue:

Clearing her throat, she savagely takes a bite out of her sandwich, and lacks the grace to avoid the inevitable leak of ketchup at the other end. "So how's things at the orphanage lately? The old lady still getting along well enough?" Torasi had moved out the orphanage before Hiashi even remembers her being there, and gets by well enough as a blacksmith

Tozawa

"The village expects, nay, demands great things out of you child. Precisely becaus eyour grandfather is content to live out the rest of his life a as civilian, in spite of his hard earned status - pouring most of his scant services into training you. In that regard, you're what one of the greatest assets of this town has devoted itself to, and have a debt i don't think you fully understand." She eyes the hand holding her with some contempt, but doesn't struggle. "Be sure to deliver that to him. Now is there anything else? Do you need your sisters' place explained to you or is your genin mind already overburdened?" Himeko was a decidedly mean and officious person.

"And no, we do not do war with other villages where it can be avoided; we are ninja, our way is avoidance. These swamps protect us, the bogs and pits and traps and mist and creatures only we swamp-nin can navigate safely. Direct conflict is not our way, we are not the miltary, special forces though we may be. And only a fool like Rikku regards large conflicts as amusing. As Yamanaka's student, you must be a swift and unseen blade, not some bludgeon."

Kamatari

"You bastard..." the girl murmurs, pressing the blade closer. "Better than me, as if..."

"Father said one of any decency should slit your throat now rather than allowing a beast like you to slip into our ranks." Despite her words, she seems to lack a certain killing intent, and her hand actually holds the blade a fair distance away, shaking unconsciously more and more as time passes. She is a fair bit shorter than Kamatari and has stretched herself uncomfortably, and while her face is unseen, her long deep silence and wavering posture clearly marks that she's turning it over in her head. "...What was it like, in the Deep Swamp...?"

Before Kamatari can answer, the door of his house cracks open and the familiar face of that kindly old woman who took him in appears. Stepping out with her cane, it takes her a second of looking around the mist to see Kamatari and by that time, Kamatari notices the kunai at his throat is gone. "Kama-kun?" she asks, nodding to him with dedicated attention. "What are you doing home so early?"

Behind him, if he looks around, Kamatari can see that damnable Hejiko is making good her escape as she sprints deeper into the mist. If he's going to give chase, now's the time to do it, but it may be a bit rude to his elder to go without explanation. "You look pale. Did you feel sick? I can make some nice chicken soup, if you want."

[Nyan]

Hisashi looked at her dreamy expression not really used to her being like this, more used to her 'tomboyish' attitude and simply gave her a almost unnoticeable smile. Just as he was about to open his mouth to say something he felt how he got struck in the chest as Torasi shook her head, he did tho not so much as flinch or even make a single noise from the hit and shrugged it off like it was nothing.

He turned his head and looked forward, gazing over at the other guests in the restaurant as he rested his arms on the table while listening to Torasi. "Hmm?....Oh, yeah its alright, nothing new going on there really. And I assume the old lady is okay as well." He said calmly before he then ordered something to eat, being quite hungry from the days latest events. "So, after we are done eating do you have any work for me?"

[Togath]

"No problem" says Tozawa, "I'll get the letter to him in a moment", "as for my sister, just don't send her on a foolish suicide mission and we'll have no quarrel" he says the last part in a calm but stern voice as he heads back inside to deliver the letter to his grandfather, saying "Himeko seems like a rather rough person.. are most jounin like her?" as he sits down.

[Jacior]

After Training

Tsume leaves the team with a smile on his face and pleasantly sore muscles from training the day away. "See you guys tomorrow! I'm sure we'll master the Gates before the month is out, WAHOO!" He crouches down and leaps into the air with the sentiment and starts into the darkening misty afternoon.

He looks at the fading daylight as he walks slowly from the training grounds into the village. "What a great day. Became a genin under an awesome... sensei, had fun training with my new team and had a great sparring match too." He stretched his arms above his head and relaxed. "Now for a little personal training and then to bed for bread making in the morning." He makes for one of the paths leading out into the swamp, a little slowler than normal, marking out the soreness and bruises on his frame.

[Princess Tracy]

Tozawa

At Tozawa's order to not give bad orders to his sister, Himeko raises her eyebrow. "You'll have to take that up with your sensei." She struts off when left alone.

Tozawa finds his grandfather sitting, looking parts pensive and perplexed at his grandson's absence as he reenters the living room. At mention of Himeko, he nods with some recognition. "Ah, her. Well, there's only three jounin in this village, they'd best be judged individually. But yes, that chuunin lass, Himeko, is rather grim - on the level of her master, Yamanaka." He indicates to some tea he'd had time to brew, inviting Tozawa to have some as he sips the fresh cup he assigned himself, and watching the note in Tozawa's hands with some interest.

If Tozawa delivers the letter, grandpa opens it slowly, taking a second to analyse its bindings for some trap, before looking it over. His face is as unreadable as stone yet quite stoic as he reads, and when he concludes he sets it face down on the counter out of Tozawa's reach. "Tozawa, help this old man remember, what do you know, what have I told you, what do you remember of your grandmother?"

Hisashi

As Torasi retracts her fist the rest of the restraunt goers watch with some horror at her casual beating - the waitress Hisashi hails over in particular seems perplexed, her breathing frozen in teh middle of blowing a bubble in her gum, leaving and odd rubbery pink pass floating at her lips as she cauctiousl approaches the table from Hisashi's side, finally popping the bubble as she speaks. "Um... what would you like, sir?" she asks.

Torasi savagely mauls her sandwich as she eats. "Can i get a refill!?" she demands of the waitress, who only nods. "Huh, haven't been around the oprphanage in a while, huh? You might as well go back every now and then, who knows - your parents might have come to pick you up!" Orphans always had the worst humour. "Anyone I know on your team? Any girls?"

As he asks about work, she scratches her head in thought, humming in temptation. "Nah, I'll take care of it myself today, give you a break to prepare for tomorrow. Unless you really want to run across town with a giant sword, pack some muscle on you."

Team Rikku

It's been a long, grueling day of training. Rikku doesn't let up in physical training, not until she's satisfied as much has been done as coudl be done,a dn in that regard, if her students can stand their full height she considers the day a failure. Even by the standards they'd subjected themselves to so far, she only takes it further, forces them to work at the strongest's pace, then pushing them further than that. The new genin barely remember her orders by the time they crawl into bed, their arms creaking oddly since her attempt to make them walk on their hands.

When they drag themselves out of bed in the morning, if they follow instructions, they are to meet Rikku at 8 o'clock in the town square. If they show up within an hour or two of that time, they find her sitting on the ledge of a building looking pensive, lost in her own little world, occassionally looking to the now clearer sky. her wounds have healed up somehow despite the working she kept giving her muscles, and her cloak has been VERY clumsily patched up, presumably by her personally.

She doesn't notice the genin at first, but when one of them announces their presence to teh girl atop her wall, or when they all show up, she happens to look down and see them, waving and smiling as she snaps bakc to reality, then hops down to ground level. Reaching around to her back, she seems to tinker with something. "Hey, everyone, ready to be ninja? I got your uniforms right here and your first orders, in that order." she declares, smiling toothily. "Do you want me to hand 'em over, or should you close your eyes while I tag them on ya?" She gladly does the latter if asked.

Ninja uniforms as genin could mean only one thing: headbands

[Nyan]

Hisashi turns his head and looks up at the waitress as she asks him what he would like and responds after some thought. "I'll have some meat and rice on the side. Not to much to, I'm not too hungry." He said as he glanced back at Torasi's oversized sandwich.

As the waitress leaves he turns and looks in front of himself again seemingly in deep thought, not even answering Torasi's remark about his parents or the question about his team. But instead thinking about what happened earlier with the kunai. Having his usuall expression when he was thinking, that only Trace would actually recognize. When he then gets his food he starts eating slowly sighing with a bit of relief, hearing then that he did not need to deliver anything today he seemed to leave his own thoughts as he turned his head towards her. "I see. Thank you Trace."

He spend the rest of the time eating in silence until he finished his meal. After he was done he put down the bowl he was eating from closing his eyes for a moment before he stood up. Closing his black cloak around himself he looked down at Torasi. "I'm going to prepare for tomorrow, it was nice speaking with you trace. I'll come and see you again once I get back from my mission." He said turning away as and walked out the restaurant, unless stopped or hindered by something. He thought he would spent the rest of the day training to see if he could perhaps improve himself a bit, but keeping a good eye on his surroundings on his way to the training field incase the attacker from before decides to return.

(Once I find out how to make a learn check for Kinobori im going to edit that in here but for now ill leave it.)

[Jacior]

Tsume endures all of Rikku's training with a smile and the sweaty exertion of pushing himself farther than he had thought to train himself before. Even through the rediculous and sometimes painful training, he maintains the sheerly astounding amount of enthusiasm he has, encouraging his teammates to push themselves as hard as he was.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tsume wakes up before dawn for a walk in the darkness to his family's bakery. It was his job to start the batches of dough rising early in the morning before the rest of his family came in to bake the day's breads and pastries. Being the most popular bakery in the village had its upsides and its downside, but it was good pay and people always appreciated fresh bread. It was Tsume's favorite food anyway.

Tsume grabs seven of the small leftover loaves from yesterday, a surprising number considering the popularity of the business. Packing them away, he grabs another loaf and smears it thickly with butter. Bouble checking that the loaves were set and rising, he heads out to where Rikku had told them to meet, munching on the richly buttered bread. It's about an hour after dawn when he arrives.

"Rikku-sensei! You want some bread for breakfast?" He yells up to the... girl on the building. When she offers the "uniform" He eagerly closes his eyes. "You can do it, Rikku-sensei."

[Togath]

Tozawa hands the note over to his grandfather after Himeko leaves
-----
"Tozawa, help this old man remember, what do you know, what have I told you, what do you remember of your grandmother?"

"I know that she was exiled from the village due to inhumane experiments involving eye-based bloodlines, and you've taught me about the ability to impart life into drawings, that I've inherited from her family line, and I remember the things I've learned from reading her notes on biology, as they are informative, if a bit grisly" he says, "why do you ask, Grandfather?"

[Princess Tracy]

Tozawa

"Hmph-hm. So mechanical a response, Tozawa," grandpa remarks, patting his grandson's head affectionately. He tucks away the message in his coat. "She was also the love of my life, most importantly. Ah, this can wait for another time... I'll tell you once you've gotten used to be being a Genin, I suppose, you have a mission tomorrow after all. Let's finish up this tea and get back into training, eh?"

I'll have a Team Yamanaka post up REALLY late tonight or tomorrow where they start their first mission, promise

[Togath]

"Alright" says Tozawa.
After he finishes his tea he heads back to do some more training, before heading to bed.
((leaving his mini plot finished so the main one can begin, once you're ready:smallsmile:))

[Nousos]

Tojo Meets with the others and takes his headband.

[Karrth]

Kamatari couldn't break the sense of dread, being that close to the knifes edge had more of an impact than he had thought it would but he decided not to give chase against the girl. She would try again, and next time things would be different...

Looking at his elder he replied, with a slight shake in his voice. "it is noting, I am just thinking a lot to day. I became a genin... At least until the good doctor decides otherwise."

[Princess Tracy]

Team Rikku

Rikku strikes a victory pose before fastening the fabric around Tsume's head, standing on the tip of her toes to do so, leaving him to open his eyes on his own pace to find a shiny new beadband firmly wrapped around his head, bearing the logo of the village. "Yay, instant genin!" she shrieks. She repeats the process for any who wish her to, or just hands it over.

"You have no idea what I had to do to get those headbands, seriously. Luckily, I've got one of the jounin in my corner and a couple of the other special jounin, so I was able to get team authorisation. So we're official now. Sadly, there's not much in the way of graduate-friendly missions right now, so I had to settle for something a little more challenging. Don't worry though, I'll be here to help you all the way!" she offers, seeming oddly proud of herself. She hands each of the genin a scroll containing their mission upon it.

Operation Beecrush
C-rank Mission
The Wisp-Ninja of the Village of Ash has gone rogue and fled their territory; reports have it she has surfaced in the outskirts of our own territory, in the Bayou Village, a civilian population with minimal police force. The Village of Ash is threatening to circumvent out authority to apprehend this ninja, one Sana Suri, if our action is not immediate. To maintain relations and further our own prestige, aim to assassinate her with evidence of her demise as proof to the Ash.

"Shadowy deals that," she comments, a little solemnly, clearly not one for such subtle things as assassination. "But... still. Duty calls. And don't worry, I've got your back."

Team Yamanaka

Each of the new genin having completed their tasks for the day turn up at the hospital at the appointed time of dawn. Things are clearer today, though there are clouds on the horizon; one's sympathies go out to whoever must ride southwards and ruin an otherwise splendid day, but of course blood is heavier on the mind than some flooding of the banks. A steady stream of people pour into and out of the hospital. When all the genin are present, they feel a tap at their shoulder. None of the bystanders seem to take notice, but sure enough the youthful, inquisitive and subtly cruel Yamanaka is by your side, scrolls and headbands in hand. She gives a brief but pleasant smile as she hands over your orders and headbands, leaving you to tie the latter and read the former at your own pace.

Operation Beecrush
C-rank Mission
The Wisp-Ninja of the Village of Ash has gone rogue and fled their territory; reports have it she has surfaced in the outskirts of our own territory, in the Bayou Village, a civilian population with minimal police force. The Village of Ash is threatening to circumvent out authority to apprehend this ninja, one Sana Suri, if our action is not immediate. To maintain relations and further our own prestige, aim to assassinate her with evidence of her demise as proof to the Ash.

"Big day for you, let's see if we can't get you broken in. Like I said, i won't be going easy on you - if you're weak now, you always will be. I chose you three because I think you can handle it better than the others, that you could last to learn, don't prove me wrong. Your duties today are to this village, to your country; certainly i will see to it they are accomplished, but will leave you at your own discretion with minimal assistance." That done, she fixes her glasses and looks to the south. "And now we must ride. I trust you all know how to land hop?" She reaches into her jacket, tossing each of you a pill that you identify as a Soldier Pill. "On the house. We may have a long day ahead of us yet, I'd suggest taking it now rather than later, but if you wish to horde then that's on your own head.."

If you take your soldier pill now, roll 2d4+1 temporary chakra

All

Your Sensei leads you out of town and to the southeast road, through the bog, towards your target. You move swiftly and quietly as you descend deeper into the swamp, to the border of reason - that fabled ridge where the bog is thickest. Of course, any ninja worth their salt from this village, your sensei in particular, knows how to navigate with minimal risk. For many of you, after the first couple of hours of travel, through flatlands and plateaus and forests and bogs and marsh and hills and fields - this is the furthest you may have come from home in your entire life.

Eventually you arrive at the outskirts of a town miles from your own village, feeling a little bit tired if you didn't take a soldier pill. The town is composed of elevated log cabins, stilts set up in preperation for bog flooding. However things are much nicer hear than in the village you come from - why, you even see some dry earth! Although the overcast clouds look ready to change that, they haven't broken yet.

You all landhopped for [roll0] hours, pay that much chakra

Team Rikku

Rikku breathes deeply to relax, finally halting her students in their death march. "Good, we're here... now what?" She chuckles nervously, unsure of where to go from here. "Um, maybe we should ask around town. Um, I mean, as new genin it's your responsibility to find our target and prove yourself, YUP!"

Team Yamanaka

Yamanaka seems distracted as you go, looking to the earth and at a few odd pots in the swamp that you occasionally recognise as tracks of a group of people. WHen you arrive at the town, you find an odd matches group of taijutsu users - the attending members of Team Rikku, and Yamanaka lets loose, swearing under her breath, kicking the earth in spite of her usually calm demeanor. "I'm a Jounin, how did she assign herself without my knowing, this is a task for actual genin with an actual instructor, now she'll get in the way..." She sighs. "Very well, we'll work around them. Genin, if you please." She indicates to the currently light populated town, requesting you proceed.

All

Rikku notices Yamanaka eventually, waving to her. "HI YAMANAKA-SAN!"

"Yes, hello..." returns Yamanaka far more quietly as she walks past RIkku. "Could you be louder? There might be people on the other side of town that don't know a jounin is here yet"

[Nyan]

Hisashi would be early and perhaps even the first person of the three to arrive at the decided meeting place outside the hospital, sitting by a nearby tree in its shadows as he gazes over at the people leaving and entering the hospital. He closes his eyes for a moment only to notice the others arrive as well, he would stand up and walk up to them closing his black cloak around himself, but not saying or doing anything besides giving them both a quick look unless spoken to.

As he would feel the tap on his shoulder and sure enough he would spot Yamanaka holding three pairs of scrolls and headbands. As she then would give Hisashi his headband and scroll he would look at it for a few moments before he ties it around his forehead. Opening the scroll he would read it carefully being sure to not miss any information "Wasp ninja of the Ash gone rouge hmm...I wonder who this Sana Suri is.." He thinks to himself reading it as he tries to recall any information he might perhaps know of the Ash and his target. "Any specific information about this Sana Suri person or the Ash we should perhaps know? Unless you want us to find it out ourselves some more information could be usefull. I do know tho that the Sana clan carries a bloodline but I do not know anything about the bloodline itself. Do you have any more information about that as well, Yamanaka Sensei?" He said not looking up from the scroll.

Listening to his sensei speak taking a final look at the mission before giving Yamanaka a small nod. "As you wish." as a quick response gazing towards the dark clouds in the south. As he is given the soldier pill he thinks for a moment before eating it feeling the surge of chakra flow through his body.

Hisashi would follow Yamanaka's lead, looking around slightly as they start to reach unknown territory atleast in his case but confident that nothing is going to happen on their way to their destination. Reaching the town he looks around his surroundings a bit only to spot the other group arriving as well. Looking at Yamanaka for a bit as she asks them to head onwards which he responds to with a nod and going on ahead even if the others in his team decides not to follow him, and completely ignoring the other group as he walks past the not as much as giving them a look unless he is stopped or spoken to.

[Togath]

Upon being offered the soldier pill, Tozawa eats eat without much of a thought, since he has learned about the beneficial effects of such things from his medical training.

Throughout the journey, despite being eager to rush ahead at first, he begins to trail to the back of the group as they pass beyond the village's territory, wearing an unusual(for him) expression of excitement and wonder at seeing new lands.

Upon arriving at the new village, he slows his pace as he catches up with the rest of the group. Upon seeing Rikku's team to wanders over and asks "so you have a mission here?" doing his best not to let on what his own team's mission is

[Jacior]

Tsume throws his arms into the air, shouting his enthusiastic excitement to the world. "We'll be the best team in the whole village! The only missions worth taking are the challenging ones anyway! How else are we supposed to learn?" He says and starts reading the mission scroll. "I'm not really much one for stealth. I guess I'll have to learn on the fly!" There truly didn't seem anything that could put a damper on his mood. Irritating as it might be.

When they arrive at the village Tsume looks around. "This place is pretty small, I wonder if they have a decent bakery!" He wasn't even breathing heavily, much like their sensei. "Not much of a place without good bread." He says this pulling out another small loaf of bread. He'd been eating them all morning and he kept pulling them out. As he's looking around, he saw the other team of genin arriving. He sticks his arms into the air and waves at them, holding the bread in his teeth.

He walks over to the other tem grinning. "We beat you here! You should try harder next time and make it a better race!" He's not conceited at all. He actually seems to seriously want the other team to do better. "Yeah. We have a mission to find the Wisp Ninja and assassinate her. Not really something I'm good at, but who knows?" He keeps his voice mostly quiet when mentioning the mission, but it picks back up again. "What are you guys here for?"

[Princess Tracy]

Yamanaka sighs, pressing her forefinger and thumb against her lens in a way that would be quite painful if her glasses weren't in the way of such self-infliction. "The other two put you up to this, didn't they?" she observes, in reference to the other jounin. "Fine. Tell you what, if I can't be rid of you I can at least teach you some responsibility. Take your weights off and I'll let you continue."

Rikku raises an eyebrow. "Aw, why? I do things my way and -"

"Shut up, you're not training you're trying to fight an enemy ninja while protecting some baby genin. Weights off. Now."

"Everything is training if you do it right."

"Then consider this your training to be a better teacher. It's an assumption as part of a Special Jounin that you are capable of assuming the mantle of Jounin if the demand arises - you should aspire to be worthy of that."

"You... think I could be a Jounin one day?"

"Of course not. Now drop the weights and keep your tap shut - who knows, perhaps these genin will accomplish something today."

Rikku looks about ready to deck Yamanaka but stops herself from jumping up and pummeling her. Yamanaka points to each of the genin. "Alright... you - the hyperactive one, Tozawa-kun and Hisashi-kun, make a group. You're going to go exploring the lower quarters. Hint: it may be an idea to hide your headbands. You're with Rikku, don't let her drag you into trouble." She looks back to the other three genin. "You three are with me. We'll meet at the town square in three hour's time." She leads the remaining three genin off as she circles around the the highstreet. "I leave you to your own device. Introduce yourselves and get moving - I'd try the bars."

The little girl Rikku is left rather flabbergasted by the whole thing as she looks to he rtwo new temporary students. Yamanaka had been the one to totally stampede HER for once, there was no coming back from that. "Um, hi! So what's your names...?" Still, her energy quickly returned. "Don't worry about catching this rogue ninja. I'm sure it isn't hard." There was a sinister undertone to her use of tense, but she was too upbeat to let on.

[Nyan]

Hisashi was already on his way towards the main square as he had been told to do before when he then stopped as Yamanaka called out his name. Giving of a low sigh he turned around and walked back to the group, ignoring the two seniors arguing and simply listned to Yamanaka in silence. Giving Tsume a brief look when she said that they were going to be a team. "Very well....As you wish Yamanaka sensei." He said in a bland tone, not sounding to exited about this change as he removed his headband and put it somewhere under his cloak.

Then as he saw Yamanaka begin to walk away he looked towards her calling out to her. "Wait sensei. I did ask about this Ash ninja Sana Suri before, about what kind of bloodline she might be possessing and some general information not stated in the mission scroll that could be usefull. But you did not answer me. Care to share any information you might posses now before you head out?"

Then as Yamanaka left with the others leaving him with the rest he gave each member of his new group a quick look Before focusing his gaze on Riku. "The name is Hisashi." He said briefly hoping to perhaps shorten the time a bit so they could get going and search for their targer.

[Princess Tracy]

Yamanaka halts, spinning to Hisashi, still annoyed, but calms with a sigh and give s a short curtsy, smiling warmly. "Apologies, young one. Yes, Sana Suri the Wisp Ninja possesses a bloodline unique to the Ash; while the Ash is quite confidential about the abilites of even their famous Uchiha clan, the Sana are theatrical enough to be less so; they think of themselves as artisans and can generate a material they use to construct useful tools and obstacles - and are known to usually be katon users. If you must engage her, do so on your terms, or she might devise a cunning trap. Sana herself is young, I saw her at the chuunin exams not long ago. While talented, she shouldn't be much of a threat if your temporary sensei remembers her duties, but don't drop your guard." Emphasising that Hisashi wouldn't need to put up with Rikku for long, Yamanaka makes to walk off again, leaving the four of them.

Rikku lightly punches Hisashi's shoulder. "Come on, more energy than that, you're a spritely young genin. I'm Rikku Li, Jounin! Well, Special Jounin, of Taijutsu." She looks at Tozawa, smiling in recognition. "Ha ha, you look just like your sister. Are you as good at taijutsu as her?" she wonders aloud.

[Nyan]

Hisashi would listen to Yamanaka carefully giving her a nod as she finished, before closing his Eyes as he started thinking about possible outcomes of this mission. "Katon users huh...I guess this will be interesting enough..."
He watched Yamanaka leave as he continued thinking only to be interupted as he got struck in the shoulder by Rikku, turning his head and giving her a slight glare. "Yes...I know who you are...And im sorry if im not jumping around like a fool like the person over there." He said refeering to Tsume with a clearly annoyed tone to his voice.

[Togath]

"My sister.. I have been training.. but I don't think I'm as good a her yet" says Tozawa in response, his voice carrying a small tone of embarrassment.

[Jacior]

Tsume scowls at Hisashi and reluctantly pulls off his headband, sticking it in his belt pouch. "Have you got an issue with me Hisashi?" The young taijutsuist didn't have issues refering to the other genin by their first names. "Just because you're older than me, doesn't mean you can just look down on me." He bounces on his toes a little. "If you have a problem, then say it to my face. And we'll settle it like ninja." He stops bouncing on his toes and seems to wait for a response.

[Nyan]

Hisashi would turn his gaze from Rikku to Tsume as the boy approached him having probably taken offence from his last comment. "Hmpf...I never stated that I did...I just hope you can keep a low profile during our mission that is all." He said unbothered turning away again as he started moving towards town.

[Jacior]

Tsume grins. "You shouldn't worry about me keeping a low profile. You should worry about being able to keep up." He folds his arms behind his head. "I didn't see much of you when there was taijutsu training, so I just want to make sure that aren't going to be a hinderance." He stuck his tongue out. They all knew that Tsume was gifted in taijutsu. They each were genius' in their own field.

[Princess Tracy]

"Ah, you'll get there," Rikku reassures Tozawa. "Well, you probably won't be as good as your sister for a long time unless you get passionate and dedicated. She's one of the few people in town that can throw down with me in a fist fight. Hey, after this mission why don't you come around to me and Tsume's training - can't promise you'll be as good as my star pupil, but even a ninjutsu specialist should know how to defend themselves at close range, you know?" That thought in mind, she chuckles as Tsume and Hisashi argue it out. "Ah, youth. Anyway, let's get going, shall we? Um... I'm not very good at this sort of thing, would anyone else care to lead the way? Remember, no surnames when we get into town - your clan is more recognisable than you. If anyone asks, just call me Liri," she advises in a rare moment of insight

There is a fair farmer's market in town that's bustling with people, and a disproportionate number of bars for such a small settlement (of perhaps 500 people) of varying degrees of sleaze, if they start poking around town. The 'town square' that Yamanaka agreed to meet everyone at later is really just a dozen square yards of concrete partially submerged in an ever encroaching swamp, and behind it a mayoral estate. Beyond that, there's a few warehouses, residential buildings and what looks like a bowling alley. Rikku lets the boys lead the way if they would care to attempt at gathering information.

[Nyan]

Hisashi had already started walking towards town and completely ignored Tsume thinking he was not worth the effort of arguing on such an useless matter. As he moved in he immediately started poking around for any information that could be useful not really caring if the others followed him or not as he just wanted to get this over with as fast as possible. Asking people around shops and other places, searching around town for if he would see anything that could come of use. Doing a full scan of the entire town but ofcourse he would be very careful about drawing any attention to himself what so ever.

He began his search by going in to the local tavern where he would walk in gazing around the room to observe the people around Before Walking over to the counter. Asking the barkeep about any rumors and things that has been going on around Town latley.

[Princess Tracy]

Hisashi

The barman raises an eyebrow as Hisashi enters his tavern, speaking in a thick regional accent. "How old are you, kid? I don't need the authorities breathing down my neck for servin' ya anything sturdier than yer maw's milk!" he smiles through his bushy moustache at that, and the folks at the bar sheer their glaasses and get a good laugh in at Hisashi's expense. "Rumours? Hah. Well, Penny Wipengale just got bailed out on charges of 'illicit services', someone stole the mayor's toupee and there's been an upsale in candles in the lower quarters. But hey, you ain't from here are you? Lookin' for your travelling friends?" The barman doesn't like Hisashi very much.

[Princess Tracy]

Tsume

Rikku wanders off on her own accord to commune with nature, an Tsume can only nod and think of it as a marvelous idea. Deciding that, being a ninja, she just as to THINK like a ninja to catch this person, and follows her gut instinct. A rumbling of her stomach hints what really drives her though as she winds up at the farmers market, occassionally humming as if maintaining the mantra of some divinely inspired meditation... as she goes about buying some raw beef, milk and a basket of apples. She gives no justification for this whatsoever, and her eyes dart around near constantly as she 'keeps her eyes on the street'. That and buys random knick-knacks. By the end of it, she obtains a dozen ornately decorated candles, 1 small snowglobe depicting the village of ash (with black flakes instead of white, naturally), a Treatise of the King (holy documented account of the previous fire king's account in ambiguous diplomatic waters with the village in the ridge, you suspect Rikku is unable to read), the deed to a bridge, a novelty plastic 'kunoichi replica' headband (complete with pink-dyed tie-fabric), and what the retailer assured her was a 'bottomless' bag that, despite its adjective, is oddly struggling to contain her various purchases. Some of it she states is for Tsume to share with her, but she ends up buying it all on her own with out loud justification, spoken with stunning ninja-levels of caution, "In my last mission I beat up a jounin, so now I'm getting paid the big bucks!" She timed it just at the moment when the entire street oddly went quite, and so they remain after she says it, a few shutters closing and scared whispers shared - some chuckling, some hiding, some running, many ignoring altogether.

Make a perception check and/or an intelligence check.

[Nyan]

"Tsk...My age does not concern you...I'm not here to drink.." He said unbotherd at the barkeeps first comment giving a Cold stare towards the men laughing around him. Leaning in closer he stares in to the mans Eyes with a slight smirk, a fake one, but a smirk none the less. "Perhaps you can tell me something more usefull......Perhaps something about a person named Sana Suri.....and if this information proves helpfull to me...I'll might make it Worth your time.." He whisperd, being carefull so no one else would hear as he tapped the counter with his finger.

[Princess Tracy]

Hisashi

Despite his sly smirk, the barkeeps face falls a little as the 'kid' starts asking questions. "Yeah, worth my time..." He leans in, the other customers distracted with their own drunken jeers as the barkeep lowers his voice, his accent giving way to a rather clear and sobre tone to make himself understood . "If I was you, I'd wheel around and go back where you came from. You won't find anything like that in this town, and if you did, you'd regret it."

Barkeep's Wits Check [roll0]

[Nyan]

Hisashi stared back at him with a slight glare and spoke in a very serious tone. "I apreciate your concern....But sadly I cant do that....so tell me what you know...I can handle myself perfectly fine." He stared in to his eyes calmly showing no emotion what so ever still tapping his finger on the counter awating the barkeeps responce.

[Jacior]

Tsume follows his sensei around as she buys various things. He stops and grabs some things for himself as well, including a large sack of the local-made flour, some sugar and a substantial amount of extra salty dried meat, which he starts chewing on almost immediately. He keeps up with her as she carries her knick-knacks and carries something only if asked, figuring she'd be too proud to ask anyway.

When they finally come to a stop he looks at the candles again. "Come on, I have an IDEA!" He leads them back to the merchant they had boughten the candles from. Bowing slightly, he begins to speak. "Can I ask you where you got these candles from? I think I might be looking for the person who made them."

[Togath]

Tozawa heads to the bowling alley,since the others seemed toe checking the other areas, it seemed to cover it, even if it was less likely to have information.

[Princess Tracy]

Hisashi

The barman pauses, stroking his moustache in thought, looking around to make sure no on hears. "Okay... listen, you didn't hear it from me, ninja, but she's left town already - said she'd head out at dawn and she didn't tell anyone where she was going. My bet is further into the swamp. Now, scoot, go, a few unmentionables are trying to read my lips through my mustache." Standing his full height, he points to the door, his voice returning to normal conversation volume and then some. "Scoot! You ain't getting anything from me 'cause I got nothing, go!" he plays at innocence

Tozawa

After rolling a few gutters at the bowling alley, a dark-haired looker of a young girl, a little older than him, sits tittering at Tozawa's technique. "Ha ha, oh dear, you don't bowl often do you?" she asks, whether or not it was rhetorical being up in the air. Before she can say more though, a girl that looks like her sister calls her away and they leave shortly, their pins still in place, and the first girl seeming rather annoyed at not getting to tease Tozawa further for his lack of skill.

Tozawa and Tsume

Eventually, when he emerges, he sees Rikku and Tsume running past him excitedly, back into the market, their arms burdened with the most remrkably useless looking things. "Yo, Tozawa-kun, c'mon, Tsume's got an idea," Rikku orders, smiling as she sees him. "I think."

Tsume (and Tozawa if he follows)

"Huh? You got an idea? Awesome!" Rikku just nods as she follows the other young ninja back to the stall, where they are greeted by the Theatrical Yet Nondescript Exotic Wares Salesman.

"Ah yes, kiddo, I buy my wares from all over the land, and beyond - often from my fellow travellers that pass through here. Those candles I got from a young girl just this morning actually - didn't seem the professional merchant, but she did have some nice make there."

The beads that compose the 'door' to the place are pushed aside in quite the racket as one girl, with bushy strawberry blonde hair and a travelling cloak hiding much of her figure, enters the establishment and quickly approaches the salesman in a rather busy attitude. "Candles. All that you have," she whispers quickly. The salesman nods as he reaches into his stocks. "I see, milady, and what would you require of so much -" "I'm on my way out of town, I don't have time for the small talk." "O-of course, miss..." He busies himself reaching for all the candles he can find, including more marked the ways that Rikku's are, stuffing them into a Complimentary Bag. The girl looks around at the door, but her eyes stop as she sees Rikku staring at her. They make eye contact for a good few moments, as both of them seem to be concentrating on something then, without warning, the blonde girl swivels around, leaving the store, leaving the shopkeep rather confused as she marshes out. Suddenly serious, Rikku passes her knick-knacks off to Tsume. "Hold these for a sec, okay? Rikku-sensei's got a lock on her now." Like that, she gives chase out the store, charging out faster than even her usual charge.

[Princess Tracy]

Hisashi (and any that follow Rikku)

Rikku runs headlong into the door of the bar, bumping into Hisashi on his way out if he was leaving. "Hey, hey, did you see her? I saw her. She knew I was me though, oh dear, Yamanaka won't let me live it down if I let another on escape my sight..."

[Jacior]

Tsume sets the trinkets on the counter. "Watch these! We'll be back!" He pulls off his ankle weights and slides them into his waist pouch before bolting out of the store, chasing Rikku and the girl.

Run action, 40 move speed due to speed rank one. So, move 160 feet to chase.

Chakra: 10/14
Speed Rank 1: 1/5 rounds

[Nyan]

Hisashi would not show much of a reaction to the barmans words, not even when he refered to him as a ninja. Moving away from the counter as the barman would poit to the door and ask him to leave, turning around as he had his cloak cover his body he walked out the door only to have Rikku run straight in to him.

He stumbled back slightly from the impact but quickly caught himself as Rikku was asking if he had seen anyone. "Seen who? What are you going on about?" He said a bit annoyed giving her a glare before looking around slightly but was unable to spot anything or anyone that could have been what she was refering to. He then made shure that no one around was hearing having the collar of his cloak cover his mouth as he whisperd slightly "I found some information that sana is leaving town at dawn, tho perhaps that is not entierly correct it seems..."

"Well in any case that this person you just seem to have lost is sana we should head back to yamanaka quickly and report what we know.....After that I suggest we should lay low untill dawn and keep watch over any possible paths she might leave town through, and if we see her we can follow her and take her off guard. Then again i have not had much time to think of a good plan but we shall see how yamanaka responds to our
intel and see if she might give som insight on what to do." He said with a hint of annoyment towards Rikkus preformance so far as a team leader.

After that he quickly moved towards the town square hoping to find yamanaka and the others quickly to pass on the info he had gatherd and tell her about his plan. If he would see her he would move up to Yamanaka and give her a quick reveiw about what he knew and how rikku seemed to have chased her only to lose sight of her shortly after. Telling her then about the plan he had come up with to catch her leater.

((cant use any of the funktions like cillour and stuff seince im going to have to post on my phone for a while sorry :/))

[Princess Tracy]

All

"Huh.. dawn tomorrow... I'm surprised she didn't run for dawn today," Rikku contemplates as Hisashi fills her in. "Maybe she did what I sometimes do and forgot something she had to come back for...?" the young dimwit offers helpfully. "Well, it's sometime yet until we're 'sposed to meet Yamanaka-san - she might skip town by then. I guess we'll have to go looking. C'mon, you three are with me." Gathering all three genin in her charge to her with an actual bit of insight for once, she makes a mad scramble to the rooftops, looking around for any sign of the White Captain or the other three genin. "Damn, where'd she go... My, ah, my perceptive abilities aren't too good. I've trained to sense chakra, but Yamanaka always has her chakra hidden. Hm, maybe if I - there!"

She lucks out with spotting Yamanaka, but the genin are nowhere to be seen as Rikku cuts her off halfway through apparently scouting the city. "Hm....? What now, Li-san, did something come up or did you just get lonely."

"Yamanaka, I totally found her, but she slipped away!" yamanaka actually stops her pace at that as the genin approach. "Slipped away? Where to?" "I... I don't know, I was looking right at her! ...I think." "Your perceptive abilities are awful, i told you to try sensing chakra." "I did! She was suppressing it, that's how I knew it was her!" "...hmph. Fine then, where to? I am not an expert tracker, but if she's in a fast enough sprint out of town through our glorious Swamp's waters I should manage her easily enough."

Yamanaka starts to circle around to the north of town, and Rikku follows. Sudenly though, she stops, putting out her hand to signal a halt. "Wait. There's explosive tags here." Her eyes scan over the area. "They don't seem too strategically placed in terms of constraint, only..." Before she can contemplate further, a white sheen overtakes her as something hurtles towards them from an overhanging branch. It cakes Yamanaka's outstretched hands and pools at the ground, ensnaring everyone's feet if they aren't fast enough.

"It distracted you well enough, I'd say!" comes a victorious voice from a branch a few trees back at the strawberry blonde in the travelling cloak makes herself known

Everyone needs to make a Reflex save to avoid being stuck to the floor, as well as an initiative check, and a perception check (DC21) to avoid being surprised

Bonus: Perception DC 16. If you succeed you know where all the explosive traps are set

[Jacior]

Tsume doesn't even take the time to realise what's going on. He backflips away from the goo that suddenly appeared to coat Yamanaka sensei. He looks around and sees the ninja in the trees. He puts a quick hand sign together and dashes towards the ninja.


Status
Hit Points: 30/30
Chakra Pool: 10/14
Chakra Reserve: 6/6
Armour Class: 18
Movement Speed: 30
Ongoing Effects: Kinobori: 1 round/3 minutes

Actions
Swift Action:
None

Attack Action:


Move Action:
Activate Kinobori, Move 30 towards the Tree Ninja

[Nyan]

Hisashi would follow Rikku as they went to search for Yamanaka spotting her with the others and quickly followed Rikku to her. Listening to the two talking he moved quickly to follow Yamanaka in tracking the girl down when he suddenly stopped with Yamanaka calling out the presence of explosive tags. "Yes sensei...I can see them too.." He said as his eyes quickly located every single on of the explosive tags when suddenly the clay came towards them and ensnared Yamanaka. "What the?!" He shouted supprised as his feet got glued to the ground by the stuff as he was caught of guard.

Suddenly gazing upwards when he heard someone calling out to them he spotted the girl in the traveling cloak. "Tsk!..This material...This girl must be Sana Suri..." He said but not really talking to anyone as he glared up towards her with a cold stare. Then he quickly saw the hand signs she made and quickly realized what she was planning. "Kh!..I have got to disrupt her technique before its to late..." He thought to himself as he started forming hand seals to tap on his chakra reserves before forming other hand signs for a technique of his own. "Shinheki no Jutsu!" Giving her a deathly stare he would execute his genjutsu in the attempt to stun her and disrupt her jutsu.


Status
Hp: 22
Chakra: 14/14
Chakra reserves: 7/10
AC: 14
Movement speed: 30

Swift action: Tap on chakra reserves (3 Points)

DC: 15 - 5 +3= 13
Check:

Attack action: Genjutsu:Shinheki no Jutsu (Mind rend technique)

DC: 15
Check: [roll1]
Damage: [roll]2d6 (non-leathal)
Move action: None

[Princess Tracy]

As Hisashi unleashes his technique, he notices the girl seems a little surprised. Suddenly her hand seals lose rhythm and her eyes unfocus as she meets his gaze, his technique seeming to take hold. Suddenly a dark shadow flies from the trees, over Tsume's head as he approaches, tackling Suna to the ground - a girl's voice cries out, that of the figure, "Kai..." The two of them tumble as they hit the deck, quickly regaining their footing a short ways in front of Tsume. The newcomer looks to be a tall but young girl with long, dark coarse hair, with some body armour worn over her clothes, and the stance of a rival taijutsu specialist.

Suna looks around at the approaching Tsume and generally gets her new, earthly bearings, stopping at the girl at her side. "What the hell, Kaza? I HAD them!"

"Forgive me, my lady," the girl, 'Kaza' responds. "But you were ensnared by the dark one's genjutsu."

"...Someone caught ME in a genjutsu? How tacky, lucky shot, I'll make quite the ornament out of him!" She seems rather flustered as she glares at Hisashi, deducing him out of the group, but talks about him like he isn't there.

"...Damn genin, so impulsive." Yamanaka's had the worst of it - her entire front was covered in wax and it seems to have hardened already despite being rather thick - enclosing her arms. Rikku grunts, and with some effort breaks the wax apart at her her feet, having failed to dodge it before. She moves to the struggling Yamanaka. "Rikku, don't waste time - I'd advise you to hit me here, but the seconds' presence complicates matters. Go all out and exterminate them, now - I don't care about your training, their lives are at stake here and I won't let my foolishness claim them." Rikku hesitates a bit before nodding silently and turning her attention forward, not quite sure how much danger the genin were in. Tozawa and Yamanaka's struggles seem useless for the moment.

"Heh, Yamanaka-san, I'm a chuunin now - well, was. Missing-nin do need to go through trials all over again, even when their reputation DOES proceed them. Sana Suri at your service," the strawberry blonde declares, bowing slightly, yet theatrically. Even as she does that, she forms a hand seal.

Kaza stares down Tsume. "Back off from my lady. I don't want to have to kill you if it can be avoided - you're too young to die." She has a rather stern, lanky look to her, a weary and unsure gait. As Suri goes on to performing her next technique, she positions herself between Tsume and her. Rikku runs forward to back up Tsume, but actually pushes him away as she approaches.

"Help them out, Tsume, I'll handle this one." Turning her attention to Kaza, she reaches up her sleeves and unties her training weights, letting them slam into the ground, kicking up quite the splash in the only mildly moist dirt. "I'm older than I look, so whether you get in MY way or let me pound lumps out of your lady is up to you."

There's a shearing noise and a slamming as suddenly what looks like blades of chakra form around Yamanaka's forwarms and she begins sawing chunks out of her own bindings. "Hisashi, Tozawa, break the wax and run - your orders were only for one chuunin, with assistance. Her entourage is too much for you."

"HOW SELFLESS!" Finishing her technique, waves of wax pour from out of Sana's baggy sleeves, hurtling towards Yamanaka, who only groans in bracing before being smothered, head to toe. "My lady, you should pay more heed to your defence - " ""Silence, girl - keeping Yamanaka out of this fight until I've eliminated the others IS defending myself. Plus I have my meatshield." "Of course, my lady."

Kaza meets Rikku's challenging stare, and nods slowly. "I'll break your bones until you cannot fight then." She shuts her eyes for a moment and when next they open them, they seem... different. She takes a threatening stance, as if daring Rikku or Tsume to move forward, but doesn't attack just yet as Sana attempts to gain some distance, hopping back as her bodyguard keeps her distraction

Hisashi
Perception DC 10
You see her eyes are now red and match the general description of the sharingan. From this and her being aligned with a former Ash-nin, it's simple to deduce teh girl is an Uchiha

Initiative
It is now Tsume and Hisashi's (and if he ever posted, Tozawa's) turn. Hisashi's feet are still caught - he could escape with a strength check or escape artist to break the wax's hold. Or indeed, try damaging the wax. Tsume is in a line with Rikku, Kaza and Suna - at distances of 5, 10 and 55 feet (with cover from trees) respectively.

Suna used her turn to perform some sort of binding wax technique on Yamanaka, shrouding her with what looks to be hot yet cooling wax.

Kaza used a swift action to do her eye-thing, and readied an action to do something - likely punch you if you try anything, as she threatened

Rikku used her entire last turn getting free, releasing her weights and getting into position. Her actions this turn depend on what the others do - it's not her initiative yet.

[Nyan]

Hisashi would spot the figure dash over their heads and tackle down Sana from the branch and breaking his genjutsu over her. "Kh! Reinforcements.... This can get ugly...Must think of something quickly.." He thought as he would meet Sanas gaze with a his cold sharp eyes.

Seeing the new enemy eyes change to red he quickly recognised is as the Uchiha clans sharingan he had studied about some time ago. "I'll do best to stay away from her...I will see if I can perhaps get out of this wax." He thought as he looked at her eyes with bouth curiosity and slight worry. He would open his travel coat and take out a smoke bomb from one of his pockets as he would throw it down on the ground to create a white cloud around the area where the wax is. Quickly after he pulled his feet away from the wax. "This should buy us some time atleast while I think of a plan..."

[Jacior]

Tsume grins at the sudden appearance of the girl that Sana Suri called Kaza. She was obviously a taijutsu specialist herself, and much more Tsume's speed than someone who specialized in ninjutsu. But then, Rikku pushed him out of the way and told him to run. That didn't seem like Rikku's style, to run away from a fight. And it definitely not part of Tsume's style.

Tsume hadn't gone back to get his training weights from the store he'd left them in, instead just suppressing his strength and speed with sheer will. As such, when he let himself go, it was much less impressive than Rikku's weight dropping. "And let you have all the fun, Rikku-sensei?" The young shinobi was as enthusiastic as ever as he comes around and strike at the girl with the strange eyes.


Status
Hit Points: 30/30
Chakra Pool: 10/14
Chakra Reserve: 6/6
Armour Class: 19
Movement Speed: 40
Ongoing Effects: Spd Rank 1 (1/5), Str Rank 1 (1/5)

Actions
Swift Action:
None

Attack Action:
Yama-Uchi: [roll0], Damage: [roll1], DC 15 or knocked prone

Move Action:
5 foot step

[Princess Tracy]

Kaza sidesteps the blow easily, her eyes scanning over the young Tsume in an oddly exact fashion. Her eyes is freakish, red with three dots, 'tomoe' surrounding the pupil, and she looks bored even as she sizes him up. She rears her leg back to crack at him, but Rikku breaks form, instead moving to attack and sweep past and Kaza changes her mind, choosing Rikku as her target. She cracks the girl in the jaw, forcing half of Rikku's body arborne a minute as she tumbles forward with the hit, before following it up with another attack, kneeing the jounin in the chin
AoO on Rikku with Opportunistic Strike [roll0], Damage [roll1]
Yamanaka remains motionless to all perception in her wax cacoon. Hisashi's smoke bomb covers the genin well, but obscures Togath and Hisashi's vision to the fight too.

Rikku reels, grunting in pain. "Get going, Tsume, I can handle these two, but not if I have to defend you..." she order him as she tosses aside the last of her training weights. To Kaza, she musters her viciousness in her smirk. "You'll need to hit me harder than that, girly. I'm a Jounin, after all, despite appearances." "I don't have time for your games." Trust me, if anyone's going to accidentally break you're friend it will be me." At those words the two girls exchange blows rapidly as Kaza's unmovable musk turns to a scowl of disgust.

All the while, the trunk Sune ducked behind is maybe 50 feet of movement from Tsume

Rikku's unleashes all speed and strength she feels she can afford to!
Rikku Attack - Renzuki! [roll]1d20+9[roll] for [roll2], [roll3] for [roll4], and [roll5] for [roll6]

Kaza [roll7] for [roll8]
[roll9] for [roll10]
[roll11] for [roll12]
She then uses Heroic Surge to perform fist rocket [roll13] for [roll14] damage and forces a fort save from Rikku ([roll15]) to avoid being flung back 10 feet

[Nyan]

Hisashi remained hidden in the smoke cloud with Yamanaka as he heard noice of fighting a few feet away but was more focused on what to do next. "Yamanaka, about how much time do you think it will take for you to get free?...Is there even any point to help you get out of that material?..." He asked Yamanaka as he gazed forward through the smoke where he last saw Sana, thinking of a plan for his next move.

As Hisashi would not get a responce he did now realise that Yamanaka was completley incased in the wax. And with that he glanced to the side and quickly dashed out from the smoke cloud and went in to hiding in the nearby forest. As he then started heading towards Sana's location he started scanning the area if he could perhaps see where she was. He was not focusing all to much on being stealthy tho as he wanted to get this done as soon as possible. Thinking Sana would be to occupied with keeping Yamanaka trapped for her to notice him.

[Jacior]

Tsume frowns. "You don't have to protect me. I'm not just some child." This wasn't just some game or training. This was a serious mission and he wasn't going to just run away, not when he could prove himself. He circles around the two intense fighters to stand Kaza between him and Rikku. He then strikes at Kaza, hoping to help in some way.


Status
Hit Points: 30/30
Chakra Pool: 8/14
Chakra Reserve: 6/6
Armour Class: 19
Movement Speed: 40
Ongoing Effects: Spd Rank 1 (2/5), Str Rank 1 (2/5)

Actions
Swift Action:
None

Attack Action:
Yama-Uchi: [roll0], Damage: [roll1], DC 16 or knocked prone and stunned

Move Action:
Step around Kaza to flank, taking the long way to avoid AoO's. Though unless she has combat reflexes it's not a problem anyway.

[Princess Tracy]

Kaza and Rikku's fast exchange of blow leaves the Uchiha girl with a bust lip and crumples Rikku's stance, but the special jounin is quite resolute. In their brutal battle ballet, Tsume finds purchase - Kaza's attention switches to Hisashi for just a moment, and she's too slow to stop his earth shattering hit to the gut, and crumples to her knees, coughing and spluttering. "D-dammit...! S-Sana-san , loo- *cough cough*!" She stares up at the new genin with a hatred, her red and patterned eyes swirling oddly as she struggles back to her feet, her legs trembling from the marsh-ninjas' assault.

Hisashi is able to quickly sweep around the battlefield without interruption, honing in on where he last saw Sana. Suddenly the tree trunk she'd dodged behind erupts with activity - as three of the elegant artist ninja emerge, all duplicates of the strawberry blonde. The suddenly triplicated and indistinguishable Sana bolts forward towards the fighting ninja, seeming to either ignore or not notice Hisashi. "I can't trust you for 10 seconds, can I, Kaza?"

"I-I'm sorry, Sana..." the Uchiha murmurs. "I saw how empty your purse was and thought... thought I could at least get us enough money to get by if I sold your candles... Now because of me..."

Sana('s clones?) ignore her as they work around the battlefield, each drawing a rapier before charging straight at Rikku and Tsume. Kaza does her best to lash out despite what sounded like a broken rib. Summoning up all her strength, she slams her fist into the ground, shattering the earth at the feet of her opponents, sending them flying, attempting to leave them open to her partner's attacks

As Tsume had attempted to flank Kaza, two of the clones aim for him, one going into something of a bloody conga line with Kaza's assistance. The two taunt Rikku as their blades stab at the boy. "Come on, you can defend your charge better than that."
Rikku and Tsume must make a DC 16 reflex save or fall prone and take [roll0] nonlethal damage from the Rock Shattering Fist technique.
Rikku's reflex save [roll1] (+2 from speed ranks, +4 from empowered resilience). if knocked prone, they can stand up as a move action that provokes an attack of opportunity on their turn after the attack, and they take a -4 to defence against Sana's attacks

The clones charge, giving them a -2 to defence

Attack against Rikku
[roll2] for [roll3] piercing from the swordcane.

Attacks against Tsume
[roll4] for [roll5] and [roll6] for [roll7]

Meanwhile Hisashi reaches the far end of the clearing just next to where Sana and her clones emerged, leaving him at his own initiative to engage.

Perception check DC 15 (Tsume and Rikku take -7 from cover and distance)
Just a little further behind the trees, one can see another Sana Suri molding what looks like a mass of wax for some reason. She's about 20 feet past Hisashi and seems to be relying on going unnoticed

[Nyan]

As Hisashi would reach the far end of the clearing he quickly scanned the area, paying little to no attention to the other Sana's that revealed themselves. Thinking they were probably clones. His suspicions were then confirmed as he would se another Sana hiding by the tree only a short distance from where he was. "Found you!!!" He shouted, to get her attention and as soon as she would turn his way to look at him he would once again use a genjutsu as he gave her a frightful stare. Even if she was affected or not Hisashi would then immediately run towards her and try to strike her with his sword as soon as he got within range.

Actions
Taibakudou no Jutsu (Body Binding Stare Technique)
Will save vs. DC: 17. Fail and she will be cowering for one round losing her dex bonus to ac and takes a -2 penalty to ac as well.

Attack with Ninja-to
Attack roll: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

Move action: move up to sana, 20ft

[Jacior]

Tsume grins as his blow connects, feeling the sensation of his training finally being put to proper use. He matches her gaze when she glares at him finding her eyes strange and rather interesting. And despite her attempts to knock him off his feet, with a surge of energy, Tsume remains standing. Then the clones come in behind him, taunting Rikku! They couldn't even be bothered to taunt him!

He rotates on his left foot, taking only a small cut from the first blade and using his elbow to deflect the other. "I DON'T NEED TO BE DEFENDED!" Shouting as he comes around. "My name is Enkouchi Tsume! It means One Thousand Flaming Claws!" He glares at the two who stabbed at him. "I am a shinobi of the Village Hidden in the Marsh! That means you can't just disregard me!" He lashes out at one of the clones. "And I will be the greatest Taijutsu Master that will ever live!"


Status
Hit Points: 28/30
Chakra Pool: 8(+6)/14
Chakra Reserve: 6/6
Armour Class: 19
Movement Speed: 40
Ongoing Effects: Kinobori 4 rounds/3 minutes, Spd Rank 1 (3/5), Str Rank 1 (3/5)

Actions
Swift Action:
None

Attack Action:
Attack one of the Clones: [roll0], Damage: [roll1]

Move Action:
None

[Princess Tracy]

Tsume and Hisashi

Sana looks around at Hisashi, too caught up in her work to see him coming, whatever work that mass of wax was to be put to. Her eyes dilate as she meets his gaze, an involuntary scream escaping her lips as his jutsu strikes her hard; she buckles, falling to her knees, and balks, about ready to throw up as she shakes uncontrollably. The mass of wax behind her quickly falls apart as Hisashi stabs into her, a ragged scream escaping her lips as she fails to keep her focus and the blade scatters her blood across the forest floor.

In the brawl, Tsume's fist sinks into the clone, blowing the fake Sana apart at the abdomen, into a mass of wax that wetly grips around his hand as he withdraws. Rikku doesn't waste any time following up his assault as she shifts, cartwheeling and lashes out in all directions.

Rikku's full-attack last turn (renzuki) since I skipped it
[roll0] for [roll1] vs clone 2
[roll2] for [roll3] vs Kaza
[roll4] for [roll5] vs clone 3

[Princess Tracy]

Tsume and Hisashi

Rikku's attack just whiffs the stumbling Kaza, leaving the Uchiha quite shaken as even her eyes barely allow her to keep up with her sorely underestimated opponents. Rikku smiles at Tsume as she moves, barely letting him see that cheesy grin as she uppercuts one of the clone's heads off. "Okay then, Tsume. I'll leave at your own initiative," she instructs as her blow glances off the final clone, her arm coated in the quickly-melted one before. She's clearly bleeding from where the clone ran her through, but as always she seems to have boundless ability to take a hit and only cringes for a moment before bounding across the clearing. Kaza flails at her as she goes then pursues. Behind Tsume, the remaining clone takes a hop back and circles around into the remaining smoke from Hisashi's bomb, just thick enough to still obscure her.

As Hisashi watches, Rikku and Kaza tumble over the giant tree root and strike poses, about to return to taking blows as they position themselves. They both scan the still crumpled and blathering body of Sana as she cringes in pain and confusion, Kaza doing her best to save face as she flushes white, and Rikku nodding to Hisashi. "Good job, kid. I'll clean up here."

Tsume's arm is now coated in semi-solid wax; until he uses an action to clear it off, he'll take a -1 to perform requirements with half-seal based techniques. Same goes for Rikku

Rikku spends her turn taking a run action towards Hisashi, jumps over the root and ends her turn adjacent to Hiashi and Sana. Kaza makes an attack of opportunity as she moves: [roll0] for [roll1]

The remaining clone moves into the smoke from Hisashi's bomb. The smoke will clear in 1 round. Kaza spends her own turn chasing after Rikku. Tsume can make an attack of opportunity against one of them. He can spend this on a special maneuvre like tripping if it suits him.

Kaza is now adjacent to Sana, but Rikku stands between her and Hisashi

Sana spends her turn cowering.

It is now our heroes' turn

[Princess Tracy]

Kamitari (earlier...)

Yamanaka spends the morning scanning around town with the kids she'd been assigned, looking around for some leads but to a casual observer letting the new genin do all the work. She catches sight Rikku's team running around at one point and seems about ready to abandon you all to go check on them, but Kamitari's presence reminds her to keep to her duty. She adjusts her glasses after giving Rikku's genin pointers on how to shake down a merchant, having disappeared for just a moment to perform some sort of technique out of civilian eyes. "The last thing I need is word getting around that a high-ranked ninja is in town. There's no better way to spoil that disguise than by using techniques anyone can understand," she explains with a whisper. "It's why i would recommend investing in genjutsu." With what passes as her idea for small talk

Perception check DC15
You see that she apparenly performed the clone technique, as whatever's she's up to involves sending a nearby duplicate through the town.

Eventually she resorts to taking up the investigation herself for Sana outright, growing tired of Rikku's genin (only because she had a lesser patience for them). As the genin wait outside the inn, Kamatari sees Rikku running around in plain sight, her team in tow. If he pursues, he arrives on the battefield presently. Theres a huge cloud of smoke on one end of the clearing, and on the other he sees Rikku and some unknown girl bolt over to Hisashi as she stands over the bleeding Sana. They're clearly in the middle of or wrapping up a fight

Make a perception check for traps :smalltongue:

You're now within 60 foot of Sana and the smoke cloud. Complex description is hard. You're at a slight elevation in the trees, giving you a vision of the fight.

[Nyan]

Hisashi could not help but smirk when his opponent would scream, fall to her knees and shake with fear but he was slightly put off when he would cut in to his foe with the sword. He had reacted almost as if on instinct, having been training for these kind of situations for so long. But no matter how much he thought he was prepared for this he could not help but feel a slight sense of pity looking down on the bleeding girl in front of him, with her blood dripping down from his blade. This would be his first kill after all if he chose to finish her off.

But all of this thinking happened in only a brief moment as he would then gaze to the side when suddenly Rikku and Kaza leaped over the large tree trunk. Looking at Rikku for a short moment as she would nod at him he would grit his teeth slightly and glare at her. "Why did you her here?! Now they are not split up anymore fool! I can handle Sana perfectly fine on my own so you can focus on taking down the uchiha." He would respond as he attempted to once again cut Sana with his blade before she would have to recover from his genjutsu and the quickly sheathing it in order to preform hand seals.

Actions.
Attack with ninja-to on Sana. Sana has still no dex bonus to her AC and -2 to her AC score I belive.
Attack: [roll0]
Damage:[roll1]

Move: Sheathing Ninja-to

[Jacior]

Tsume grins as Kaza falls on her face. "No, you've been ignoring me this whole fight. You underestimated me because I'm a genin! That was the only mistake you needed to make to lose." He doesn't pay any attention to the clone running off, or seems not to. "You're just lucky we're not fighting a week from now. Or you'd really be in trouble." He waits till she gets up.

Tsume spins in a circle, moving from standing on his feet to walking on his hands. Something that Rikku had been trying to get them to do during training. It almost looks like he is going to fall over, but he recovers and throws feet together in a kick.


Status
Hit Points: 28/30
Chakra Pool: 8(+3)/14
Chakra Reserve: 6/6
Armour Class: 19
Movement Speed: 40
Ongoing Effects: Kinobori 5 rounds/3 minutes, Spd Rank 1 (4/5), Str Rank 1 (4/5)

Actions
Swift Action:
None

Attack Action:
Kage Buyou: [roll0], Damage: [roll1], DC 16 Fort Save or thrown 3 x damage feet into the air

Move Action:
None

[Princess Tracy]

Minami

The sun is up, but the fog is thick in the village hidden in the marsh. It seems like a typical enough day for Minami. Grandpa offered to meet her later to discuss her own promotion to Genin - Yamanaka-sensei's done her best to drill the fear of the field into her, but sooner or later she'll have to admit she's responsible enough to be a real ninja after all. The White Captain was always so strict on making sure the girl learned of the horrors of war, aiming to make her able not freeze in fear, and able to run away when victory was impossible.

It was quite the show Yamanaka put on yesterday; she had a bit more of a trial planned, she would disclose to her young apprentice, but changed plans when Rikku decided to interfere. She plucked just 3 genin out of the entire class and is out of town on their first mission, leaving the young Aburame to her own devices around the hospital. During her routine rounds with the other interns, as she passes by a window, she sees through the mist a figure just outside the hospital grounds collapse. As her eyes adapt to the mist, she sees they seem to be wearing a bulky marsh-nin uniform and are crawling, still trying to press on, crawling through the early-morning muck as they leave a trail of blood. No one else seems to have noticed the injured person.

If approached, you find a young woman only a few feet closer to the hospital than when she was first spotted, breathing erratically and hugging at a wound that remains hidden as she lays on her belly, save for the blood. She barely seems conscious, taking a good few seconds to recognise you as someone who can help, panic in her eyes. "Please... the... White... Captain..." The White Captain was Yamanaka's common title

Feel free to describe a day in the life

[Regalus]

The absence of the White Captain was palpable within the hallowed walls of the building; an unspoken sense of ease pervading many of her fellow students as they went about their rounds with the remaining hospital staff. One would never be able to say that her teacher was ever unwanted or unappreciated, yet the absence of Yamanaka sensei's more...abrasive teaching methods was pleasing to many of the would-be medics. Manami herself didn't quite belong to that camp; for while even she would admit that her teacher's methods could be harsher than needed at times, it at least ensured that the monotony of their tasks would never grow in strength. The fact some of the local residents believed they would do well if a more laxed practice in the wake of her teacher's temporary departure only served to aggravate her situation.

It had been quite some time since she had managed to settle into her routine like clockwork, and even with the other interns to commune with; such moments were fleeting as each one was forced to go about their duties. Between delivering samples and paperwork, shadowing the other medics and observing bacterial cultures one found themselves with far more time to themselves than they might think. Sadly, Aburame Minami was never one to idle well.

So it was that upon spotting the injured kunoichi on her way back from delivering several samples young Minami felt a twinge of relief mixed with the shock and panic of witnessing her fellow dragging herself through the muck, at the possibility of some excitement entering her otherwise monotonous day.

The young maiden swiftly turned to the nearest nurse calling for her to get a hold of the nearest medic and a stretcher for the wounded nin before rushing outside herself; Minami's mind fearing for the kunoichi's life, if only due to the horrendous infection she would surely contract from her journey there. "It's okay miss your safe now. Just stay calm, the medics are on their way," she calls out before kneeling besides the wounded nin without a second thought, doing her best to sound comforting as she studies the kunoichi's prone form, "I'm sorry, but sensei's not here at the moment can you tell me what happened?" she inquires trying not to grimace as she flashes a single handsign and places a hand on the kunoichi's shoulder to get a better idea of her injuries; she was half tempted to flip over her wounded sempai, but knew she couldn't take the risk of aggravating any unseen injuries.

Spending a point of chakra for Iryou Ninjutsu: Iji - Shinryou Jutsu (Medical Ninjutsu: Practice - Diagnosis Technique).

[Princess Tracy]

Minami

The kunoichi hyperventilates, her damaged lungs flailing to draw breath. It can't be assessed clearly when she's on her front and wearing such bulky clothes, but judging by the blood pooling about her, she might well have ruptured her entire upper body. She coughs up blood when she tries to speak, she grips Minami's sleeve desperately, fixing her watering, blurry eyes on her as best she can. "S-seno... tell Seno... the blade... it's here... the m-masked... demon... ronin.... black iron..." She keeps mouthing, struggling to find the breath to speak aloud - that she wasn't in shock was astounding. She grimaces, gritting her teeth. Minami can't hear the hospital doors open yet - where the hell were the medics! She might die if someone doesn't try tending to her, before she even reaches the doctors.

Her eyes swim, lidding now that she's delivered her message. "I-I'm going to die. My husband... don't wanna... Don't wanna die... Love..."

You can make a treat injury check to stabilise her, if you want to try...
(Ninja Lore DC15 to identify that...)
The headband she wears bears the distinctive side-markings of the Relic Squad, a team of the village's chuunin dedicated to investigating the history of the land and studying old ninja techniques. They're an important branch in Grandpa's eyes, retaking the heritage of the marsh-ni.

[Regalus]

"Y-you can tell her yourself, o-once you get better!" she states defiantly, the situation testing her Aburame bred focus. Minami knew all too well she couldn't panic, doing so would ensure her sempei's demise, and Yamanaka-sensei had trained her for exactly this scenario; so long as she could keep her calm, things would work out somehow...or so she hoped. The young kunoichi knew far to well her medicinal kit was woefully under equipped to properly handle her injuries; but she was confident that she might at least be able to stabilize her enough to initiate a healing jutsu, if only because she was unwilling to accept her alternative.

"E-Easy, just take slow and shallow breaths, and keep still; d-don't strain yourself," she said as she readied her plan of action. It was far to risky to remove her vestment for the time being, by now the blood on them had likely clotted and in fact was the most likely reason why the kunoichi was still alive; though her struggles likely broke apart what few bonds may have formed, it was her best bet for the time being.

"Tell me about your husband; how did you two meet? What's he like?" she inquired, desperate to keep the kunoichi from losing focus; before calling forth her kikkaichu even as she prepped the kunoichi for injection, applying a controlled dosage of adrenaline to help the kunoichi stay aware and praying the the following chemical cocktail would help promote her bloods oxygenation. Meanwhile the young mednin directed her kikkaichu to apply pressure at several key location on the kunoichi's wounded form in hopes of slowing down her blood loss with their steady and even pressure in concert with whatever blood clots had formed with her clothing. She regretted not being able to give her medication for the pain, but at that moment it too would hopefully help keep the kunoichi with them.

As it was Minami could do little else but pray to whatever god would listen, that her gambit work well enough to buy them the precious time they needed.

Treat Injury Check
[roll0]
Action Point Bonus: [roll1]
Total Result: 36

[Princess Tracy]

Tsume, Kamitari, Hisashi

Kaza wobbles from Rikku's hit, flailing wildly at the special jounin, doing her best to match her speed... and finding herself totally off balance from the pain as Tsume sweeps her laps, causing her to fall forward and flatly faceplant. Covered in mud and blood, she rolls away, quickly getting to her feet, glaring at the young genin with inhuman eyes. "I have to save the woman I cherish... don't get in my way, you foolish child!" Despite her words, she does clearly shift her stance, dedicating him more attention as a threat, if only to disengage him faster. She keeps focussed on him now, knowing better than to let him out of sight, but even then his attack makes her stumble back as his foot grazes her, barely blocking it, grunting as she adapts to his speed even with her sharingan active. "Someone your age... taijutsu master, no..."

She breathes heavily before shoving him back and stepping into his reach, flailing at him as she gathers her strength. "GO AWAY!" She aims to smash her fist into his face and send him flying back. If he doesn't resist her force, he tumbles head over heels until he bashes into the cocoon of wax that encased Yamanaka, and Kaza will start heading toward her friend

Tsume barely misses, oh dear.

Kaza performs fist rocket: Attack [roll0] for [roll1] plus [roll2] damage. DC 16 fort save of be shoved back 10 feet if attack connects

If he is knocked back, she will move at her full speed towards Sana, otherwise only taking a 5-foot step. She also makes a chakra control check as a swift acion with hand seals to draw out 6 chakra [roll3] vs DC15

On the other side of the tree trunk, Sana screams as she's stabbed again, regaining her wits just in tome to have Rikku plant her foot warningly on her head. "Stay down and call off your friend," the little ninja orders, suddenly gruffer. She shakes her head at Hisashi. "Tsume's got this one," she tells him. "For now."

Sana glares up at the little taijutsu master, and looks over her shoulder at the mas of now melted wax behind her, the sign of her disrupted technique. "What's your name, kid?" she asks of Hisashi, wondering who's name she should curse. "Damn, here I thought Yamanaka was the biggest deal here..." She sighs as she looks over to Tsume and Kaza fighting. "You know, my clan's bloodline produces wax, it is the trademark of my style. It's quite pliable for my county's elementalists... because you can shape it and melt it and oh-dear is it flammable." She suddenly gathers her hands and quickly forms hand seals, spitting flame over the surprised Rikku, catching Hisashi in the blast as she ignites the wax left coating the Jounin's arm. The heated air that explodes from her lungs tears straight through the tree trunk separating Kaza from her as the flames wash over the Marsh-nin.

She performs elemental beatdown: rank 1. She makes her concentration check to avoid atacks of opportunity. Hisashi and Rikku must make reflex saves vs. DC 15 for half damage. [roll4] fire damage. Rikku catches fire, taking damage for [roll5] rounds, with [roll6] on the first round.
Rikku's reflex save [roll7] (with empowered resilience)

Sana does her best to stand up and tumble away, Rikku stomping and flailing at her even as she actually cries out from the unexpected pain. When the flame clears, Sana, still bleeding and cringing, points over Rikku's shoulder. As she looks, the last of the smoke around Yamanaka's coccoon dissipates, and her remaining clone stands cockily beside it, rapier held against the shell. She presses into the hard surface, her blade glowing hot as the wax drips down around the its point. The original gives a flourish and a bow. "Sana-style: Pop-up Victim. YOU surrender, or I'll skewer the helpless Yamanaka right now!" she threatens.

[Princess Tracy]

Reina

It was a dark day back in the Village of the Ash, hidden in the walls of the capital. They always spoke of their superiority to ninjas that dwelled in the light, but one young ninja had had enough. Aiko had told her the way out - an old entrance past the dilapidated Uchiha grounds; little underground pillar-huts, their structures scorches, and the shadows of people still etched into the walls by the ashes. God knew what the place was, in this deepest, lowest part of the city, but it was too forbidden and guarded for Reina to worry about much. For whatever reason, the Uchiha had left this entrance of all entrances vulnerable to escape - if Kaza had escaped this way, it wouldn't remain hidden for long. She presses on into the temple at the centre, full of ancient writing beyond her understanding, lifts the mats and sneaks under the floorboards to the 'kagemusha's den'. A small tunnel leads to a backwall that seems made of stone, but it response to the movement of an odd trinket Aiko left her - an amulet of 'good luck', seemingly an innocuous little gem pendant. The wall shifts when next she touches it, allowing her to fall through, a small, subterranian river Aiko hadn't mentioned almost sweeping her away before she once again gets room enough to stand. She was soaked and covered with mud, but it wasn't like it mattered. The first time she knows the sky is above her, she finds the moon floating above her, waxing and almost full. At that moment, no one in the world knew where she was. And she was outside, free to go where she willed. It would be a few hours at least before the village realised she wasn't in it anymore, surely. She would have to make those hours count.

'The moon... what an odd thing it is... so scary, yet pretty...'

-Preparation-
It had been weeks since she'd spoken to Kaza. After Aiko had vanished to god knows where, Kaza apparently slipped away, or was simply forced to keep distant, by her elders in charge of Reina's tuition. Maybe that distance was what prompted her to leave... but who knows for now.

Okay, here's what to do, Hana: describe any investigation you make into Kaza's whereabouts or her motivations of late (what she's been up to, why she hasn't been able to see you), and what preparations you make for the journey (getting a map and some food, maybe stealing some emergency cash from your mentors, for example). Feel free to roll Wits to gather information, and whatever other skills seem like a good idea.

From there, describe where you first go and what you do on that first night on the run.

[Princess Tracy]

Minami

Yamanaka once gave the advice, "It's possible to do everything right, and still fail." The woman remains largely prone, gripping the Aburame harder as she tries her makeshift operation. For a moment, she thinks she's hallucinating as she sees bugs crawl over her, taking a moment to recognise her for her clan. "Ahh..." A tinge of fear was in her eyes with all the creepy crawlies, but it was the least of her concern as they do their best to press down and eat at any infected part of her wound on the instinct of their leader.

She does her best to obey the doctor's orders, ignoring the mud in her wounds and her panic - she was a ninja after all, even if she wasn't as prepared to die as her duty called for her to be, she could at least... pretend. "Okay... my hus- aaah!" she cries weakly when too much pressure is put against the wound. "H-he's... wonderful... We were... going to... adopt... I met him in..." Her eyes sink to the ground, slowly closing her eyes. Using the medical kit, Minami's able to apply some basic sutures to her wound as her bugs keep down the bleeding. Her eyes closed, she gasps, trying to gather her breath to speak. "We shared... a team. I was always so dumb around him... I'm glad... I could... know him. I wish he'd hold me... one... last time..." She leans against the Aburame, softly sobbing as she grips against her with her tiny remaining strength.

The doors of the hospital swing open, a panic about the medics as they dash forward, stretcher in hand. "Move, move!" a midwife tells Minami, about ready to bat her hand away until she sees the wound itself. The Aburame has successfully stopped the bleeding for now. The ninja gasps, seeming to pass out when moved. The old midwife nods, having her assistants take her on the stretcher. "Keep your bugs suppressing her wound until we get her to the ER," she instructs as they quickly dash inside, heading to the closest empty theatre on the first floor. They quickly lower her on the bed, moving in concert to apply some sort of fuinjutsu tag before making hand seals and reaching for their potions. The midwife turns to her, "You're Yamanaka's student. Did she give you instructions to oversee operation?" she asks. If Minami chooses to stay, she'll see the full process of treating the wounds of such a ruptured, ruined body on the brink of death, or will otherwise be left in the hall as the midwife draws the blinds to face the alarmed and questioning gazes in the lobby.

[Regalus]

Minami refuses to cringe upon hearing the pained groan of the elder shinobi. She refuses to focus on just how much blood was on both her, her patient and now her kikkaichu. She refuses to think about how far out of her depths she was, or how close to the death her patient is. She couldn't help but acknowledge that her kit was not prepared to handle an emergency of this magnitude; but though her Sensei's words echoed in her mind with each suture she made, and each command uttered to her swarm, she refused to meditate on it.

To do so would be to seal her patients fate, to give herself the time needed to realize just how far beyond her experience the magnitude of the kunoichi's wounds were, it would be to give voice to fear clawing back at her mind that she was barely keeping at bay as it was; had it not been for all of Yamanka's stress tests she doubted she'd be faring half as well as she was. Minami had no delusions of her strength; if she stopped now, she was unsure if she'd be able to finish the job. Regardless of whether or not her treatments ended in success or failure she had to see it through to the end.

Time seem to lose meaning to the girl was she labored to keep her sempai alive; the world around them fading away until all she could her were her sempai's struggling words, the hum of her kikkaichu and the beating of her own heart. "C-Come on, d-don't talk like that," she reprimanded, feeling some part of her painfully twist at the sound of the kunoichi's words, "H-He'll be able to hold you plenty more t-times once we get you through this," she added as she grip on her implements tightened, "D-Don't lose hope yet, you can still pull through!" she demanded as she went back to work with renewed vigor.

So deep was so focus that she failed to notice the hospital doors as they opened, her cavalry pouring forth in answer to her whispered prayers; it's not until the midwife tries to get her to move that she realizes they are not alone, the young girl taking a moment to register what was happening as if dazed by the sudden rush of activity around her. It is only then that she could truly look upon her work, allowing herself a shaky smile which is just barely hidden behind her coat; as a strange feeling of elation begins to bubble up inside her, only to be crushed as the kunoichi before her goes still. For the briefest moments she fears for the worst before she notices the tell-tale signs of life still beating within the women and breathing out a sigh of relief before following the medics inside; keeping her kikkaichu's calm and at work, while the medics rushed around them.

"I, y-yes. I'm, I'm allowed to witness," she replied formally to the nurse, her tone attempting to slip back into Aburame formality in hopes of steadying her voice; the girl keenly aware of just how fiercely her heart had been beating just moments ago. Part of her wished for little more than to sitdown for a long awhile and rest, yet she knew all too well that she would not always have that luxury. Yamanaka-sensei had been preparing them for all facets of their duty; to Minami standing down now would be spitting in the face of that.

So it was that upon washing herself, she finishes her preparations for her coming role; grimacing momentarily at the mess her clothing had become, before switching into more appropriate attire and taking her place in the theater. All the while silently praying that all would be well.

[Princess Tracy]

Minami

This hospital is all the production of Yamanaka's family, and their techniques all revolutionized by sensei's research. It's quite possible that this was the greatest hospital in the country, but even then miracles weren't possible despite the rumours among non-ninjas of divinity. As she waits around in whatever scrubs she can conjure, the operators largely ignore her unless she asks questions or gets close enough to get in the way. Whatever damaged the woman barely seems human - with her vest off, it's clear she was nearly cut in half, and her iron mesh only prods further into her cuts until surgically removed. It seemed unreal, seeing the state of her ribs, bone cut clean in two, one attendant always needed to stop her lungs from collapsing. The midwife thoroughs her brow in concern, muttering to herself, "With a cut this deep... of all the days for Yamanaka to be out of town - we'll just have to make do to keep her stable until she's back..." Despite the air of dread, they progress skillfully and efficiently as they work towards using their ninjutsu to repair her damaged organs, aiming to close her up in an at least survivable state

About an hour into the operation, in which Minami has full authority to investigate and ask questions as long as she doesn't obstruct, there's a knock at the door, one of the other nurses regretting having to answer. An ANBU stands in the door and beckons Minami out. "Oh, it's this one. Your grandfather wishes to speak to you," the ANBU officer says, his face and figure hidden by mask and cloak, the rest of the room ignoring the personal agent of the Aburame Jounin. "Follow," he orders, waiting for her come. He leads her out into the grounds before the hospital, where the familiar robed figure of grandfather and two of his bodyguards, other ANBU wearing bug-like masks. "Juukuzu-sama, it was Sohaki," the ANBU explains

"Is she alive?" grandpa asks gruffly, always straight to business in public.

"The attendant said so. Operation's ongoing."

"Right." Grandpa lifts his hood a little, setting his hand suddenly to Minami's shoulder. "How did you find her?" he asks coldly. "Did you see who attacked her?"

Having made the previous ninja lore roll, you know that old man Juukuzu has a great interest in the Relic Team's doings.

[HanaRei]

It had been only a week since Kaza had been missing without a word that had lead the relatively impatient girl to wonder about her. Reina had gone off asking around about it, everyone seeming to give their normal silence towards her. It was something that only annoyed her greatly. She went about investigating on her own and attempting to even read at one point, all with no luck. Her own impatience building as her worry for her friend took hold. It was enough that a week later she made up her own mind, she would go looking for Kaza herself.

Tonight would be the night she escaped. The girl grabbed her things preparing herself for the journey ahead... well as much as she expected. While most would give up having found no leads, Reina was... very stubborn on that end. She had no desire in dropping it. If Kaza had in fact left as she suspected, she would find her out there... somewhere. Either way, she was going to find her and why she left... she hoped. Hopefully...

Present Time:

The chaotic escape route she took had all but left her in shambles, caught off guard as she is wept away by the river. The girl having finally escaped gasps out for breath as her heart raced. Maybe that was a terrible idea... I really should of thought it through more... She thought to herself. Her head turned up as the mud covered girl glanced up, a bit taken back by the sight of the moon. Her eyes were in a daze looking at the strange object before her... something she only heard stories of. Any sense of doubt about her actions had all but faded away as the mud covered teen looked at it in awe.

Reality set in as she shook her head a bit, realizing she couldn't stay there for long. She moved forward trying to find a better place. She moved down further attempting to find a place to wash up, cleaning off the mud as best she could from her body and from her hair. It was far from easy considering the mud was all over, but she tried to at least look a bit presentable. Shaking her head out, her hair flowing behind her in a pony tail.

Good enough... She thought to herself. The young ninja glanced around briefly, not quite sure where to go. I suppose following the water might help. I need to get away before 'they' come searching for me. The girl set off, moving at a quick pace attempting to at the very least create distance, hoping to find a village or something along the way. She had no clue where to even begin on her search for Kaza though now that she finally had her own freedom, she had every attention to try and find her friend no matter how difficult it might be.

[Nyan]

Hisashi would look down on her for a bit as she asked him for his name, glaring down at her with his bright blue eyes. "Hisashi..." He said in a cold tone before continuing to listen to her only to quickly glance to the side and his eyes would widen when she mentioned the wax being flammable, seeing that Rikkus arm was basicly covered in it. "What the-!!?" He does not have time to say anything more as then the wax explodes but Hisashi just barely manages to shield himself so he was only burned on some parts of his body and his traveling cloak was more or less burned up on the side that he was facing Rikku on. Trying to hit Sana in the same moment but to no avail as he only seems to grace her shoulder with his foot.

But as the smoke and fire cleared up he was still standing. His torn up cloak blowing to the side as he would pull back his shoulder-long, blonde hair with one of his hands as it had been untied from the tail and was now flowing freely in the breeze. "You are right...You should have been afraid of me instead of Yamanaka..." He would say with a grin as he would give Sana an intimidating and cold expression.

Then he would look back over his shoulder to see one of her clones holding the cocoon yamanaka is in at sword point before then looking back at the original with an unbothered expression. "I see...Well what will you do then if we surrender? You and your accomplice wont get to far in the state you are in if you choose to run away, and it would be just as pointless to try and take us all down...Face it...There is no way out of this Sana so you can just as well surrender now while you still can..." He would then get a rather wicked grin on his face as he would pause for a moment. "Unless you want to be down on you knees and trembling in fear before me like you were before."

Intimidate check.
[roll0]

[Regalus]

Minami shakes her head slightly, "I found Sohaki-san during my rounds at the hospital; she'd somehow managed to drag herself just beyond the hospital grounds, though I imagine her encounter couldn't have occurred too far from the village given the state of her injuries," she adds calmly, having had enough time to regain some of her composure amid the length operation. Though her eyes widen invisibly behind her glasses as her mind recalls Sohaki's words, their true weight revealed to her now that her mind was no longer addled from panic or worry."T-That's exactly right...she was attacked in the village grandfather! She mentioned a masked demon ronin, and a blade along with something about black iron. Given the unnatural nature of her wounds, I'd wager that her assailant's blade is most likely potent relic. It cut through her bones as if they weren't even their..." she admits, trying not to dwell on the memory for too long.

[Karrth]

Kamatari spent the day doing the work that his mentor had for him. It wasn't what he'd expect, going around looking for missing nin as his first mission but he didn't complain at all. It beat cleaning the river or some such thing.

When he sees Rikku running he could guess that trouble was close and he followed her some distance behind, but when he saw the battle, and the situation, he knew that action was required.

He quickly made a battle plan. He would need to get into position where he could make a devastating attack on the enemy and hope it would create an opening for the others to deal with the enemy.

He moved in the shadows of the trees, looking to get close enough to use his only attack technique.

Looking to get into a position where he can get close enough to use the Gufuuran no Jutsu (15ft cone)

so it might be something with getting close enough and then move out of the forest and blast the close.

[Princess Tracy]

Reina

The young girl hadn't been outside that much in her life, only when Aiko had brought her outside for special training, and perhaps a bit more. There's a familiarity to the fresh air and electricity of the night's youth, but still it might baffle the girl on her own. She finds where the stream exits, running downhill; it seems the capital is atop a small mountain where she exited. A few hundred yards behind her, the high walls of the Smokey City bar her sight from what she was leaving behind, and indeed everyone else form her. The grass beneath her feet gives way to a bank eventually when she nears the river, the reflected moonlight her only guide - the smoke and light from the city keeping many of the stars at bay. There's a nearby road with a bridge that intersects the river as she walks down the bank. At a crossroads, she can follow either the stream

Survival DC 5 (untrained take -4 to check)/Perception DC 10
You notice that you're leaving some rather obvious tracks in the moist bank by following the river too closely.
Perception DC 15: roll 3 times to see what settlements or other fixtures you can find
OOC
I'll add to this with an additional post after your rolls

[Jacior]

Tsume crosses his arms to absorb the force of the punch, still reeling from it, but digging his heels in to stay grounded. "That was a good hit! Maybe if you weren't on the wrong side, you could teach it to me!" He shakes his arms. "If I were Hisashi, my arms might have been broken by that! But I'm not. Unfortunately for you, I'm not." He grins and launches himself at her, trying to restrain her.


Status
Hit Points: 14/30
Chakra Pool: 8(+3)/14
Chakra Reserve: 6/6
Armour Class: 19
Movement Speed: 40
Ongoing Effects: Kinobori 6 rounds/3 minutes, Spd Rank 1 (5/5), Str Rank 1 (5/5)

Actions
Swift Action:
None

Attack Action:
Grappling

Move Action:
5 foot step

[Princess Tracy]

Minami

Grandpa looks sternly at her from under his veil, his own kikkaichu crawling over to her meet her own. He had a habit for this sort of technique, making the other Aburame's kikkaichu communicate with his own for quick information exchange. "Ronin?" He mouths each word, silently repeating her own words, mulling them over with his visible mouth. Releasing the girl's shoulder, he looks to his attending ANBU. "You, find the other members of her task force. See to it that they weren't attacked, take no risks, and find what this 'black iron' is," he instructs, his order met immediately with a nod and obedience as they dash off. Looking back to Minami, he shakes his head. "Did you see them? Did you see the mask?" he couldn't avoid asking, really. He stutters a moment, gripping his disabled arm as he paces away a moment, thinking you hadn't noticed his pain.

"Sir, we should go now..." points out the female ANBU with him whose voice Minami recognises as a cousin of hers. "Before..."

"Yamanaka isn't here anyway," Juukuzu remarks, shooting her down. "Though she knew our appointment, I suppose she may have made arrangements for treatment while away." He sighs as he recalls the bugs he left among his grandaughter's horde. "Are you alright, Minami-chan?"

Tsume, Hisashi, Kamatari

Sana stumbles back, her attention becoming solely concentrated on Hisashi. Just moving a foot makes her scramble back, and she desperately avoids his eyes. Her shaking knees and cringing reach their peak as he threatens his genjutsu again, to rob her of the control of her own mind. "No, I... I'm a chuunin... stop it, stop looking at meeee!" she screams, falling and slipping into her discarded wax. She fumbles to form a hand seal. Suddenly, her wax flows around her, enveloping her in something like an egg before rapidly hardening, similar to the coccoon around Yamanaka, leaving her to shiver in her own self-made prison.

Rikku watches the display of the incredibly terrifying genin as she plants her feet and smashes her forearm into the tree, hard shaking off the wax before it can ignite her clothes. She takes a breath, observing the damage and sees her entire arm is scorched red. "Ow, this'll nip for a while," she remarks, knocking the wax prison before her with her foot to make sure Sana had sealed herself in there good. Sighing, she turns her attention to the real battle.

The clone remains in position, slowly stabbing into the shell, going faster and faster - one can't see Yamanaka's figure, but one can imagine she intends the strike to be lethal. The clone acts independently of the currently panic-attacking Sana, and keeps up her threat as Rikku stares her down. Kaza spins around, intending to run and save Sana as soon as she hears her crying out, but is grabbed from behind by the resilient Tsume, once again dropping her guard to try and help her friend. She struggles as she's grabbed, the boy seeming to have about equal strength and technique but greater leverage as he holds her in place. A pleading enters her voice. "Okay, you win... you're my better," she says, flailing, trying to escape as her arm is almost twisted. "Just please, we can't go back there, they'll kill us, torture us... She'll really kill your teacher if you don't let us go. You're just out the academy, right? I can tell... you're happy and green. Can you really deal with that responsibility on your record?"

The clone suddenly pipes up, looking into the trees above her with surprising perception as Kamatari prepares his technique. "My blade is at her throat right now, I can feel its squishy resistance. If you make even one hand seal..." She makes a gesture with her off-hand of cut-throat motion 'sllrrrk'. Rikku seems confused for a moment, eyeing the trees, but figures that he's up there somewhere - one of Yamanaka's kids. She wondered where they were. "Tsume, be careful," Rikku advises, trying to be the leader from her rank, but honestly having no insight what to do, squirming through the issue. She steps forward and closes her eyes, focussing as she heads towards the clone. "That's close enough," says the clone, sticking out her free hand. "Tell your boyfriend to unhand my assistant. Now, here's the way i see it, we're going to run away and you're going to wait here until my clone runs out. Got it?"

Rikku grimaces, cradling her temples, looking quite lost, before closing her eyes, trying to focus. She suddenly looks puzzled, her eyes flickering at the cocoon. Despite teh clone's warnings, the original doesn't seem keen on coming out of her shell, even to run, while Hisashi stands above her

Sorry, Karrth, she spotted you fair and square...

Ninja Lore DC 15 check to read below
You recognise that Rikku is Sensing Chakra.

Reina

You find two slashed sets of Ash Village headbands (with the distinctive cross-through village symbol that marks a missing-nin) under the bridge as you approach it, and the beginning of a set of tracks. As you travel, you see three settlements in various directions, at least two of which these roads lead fairly directly to. From the looks of the lights and smoke, it seems the settlement to the western road (having followed the river north) is the most active, some sort of town.

You can try to follow the tracks of the missing ash-nin, or pick a path to take to any of the settlements and hope for the best. You're able to use some materials around the bank to partly erase your tracks, but doing so entirely would require you to backtrack up to your entire journey, for proportionally for the entire [roll0] minutes it would take to do the whole trail and return to this point. However, if they don't discover this area until the late morning, it could well add hours.

[HanaRei]

Reina grasped onto the headbands, observing them closely. There was no doubt they were from her village. Still, it wouldn't be enough to really tell if one might of been her friends. She let out a sigh, placing down the headbands. Her eyes traced back noticing the footprints. "Reina you idiot!" She called out softly to herself realizing her stupid mistake. She just felt like she was a bumbling idiot as of late, making so many mistakes at once. Nothing that new though for the rather brash girl.

She stood still briefly, thinking for a moment. While there was a possibility her escape might be tracked, it was likely she did have time to get away. As close watch she did seem to have, she expected her little escape would of been foiled way before if someone had kept tabs on it. She worked her way back, doing the best she could to disguise her tracks. Given any luck, it might cause them to not notice them at all, possibly giving her a free break for it, though perhaps that was far too hopeful. She knew there were plenty of skilled trackers in the village, something her efforts wouldn't likely be able to completely hide away the evidence.

She worked to finish off covering the tracks all the way down from where she started before heading up. It was a bit risky going to the nearest place though it seemed her best option for trying to find clues about Kaza. She had already lost one person she felt close to, she didn't want to so easily give up on another if there was a chance to find them.

Action:

Covering tracks all the way up and heading to Western Village to ask around about anyone seeing Kaza, try for a meal and head out quickly.

[Nyan]

Hisashi would stare Sana down until she would encase herself in her wax cocoon, sighing slightly as he closed his eyes. "Heh...Fear is a useful tool indeed." He said to himself with a smirk, glancing over to Rikku as she smashed her arm on a tree to get the wax away. He would then look over his own wounds to see that part of his arms had also been badly burned as he tried to shield his face from the blast and he could not help but crinch slightly from the pain as it was clear he was not all to used with all of this. With a light groan he tried to move his arms around a bit and it would hurt quite a bit tho the rest of his body seemed quite alright considering what had just happened. Glaring at the cocoon coldly he would walk up to it to inspect it closer before giving a quick glance at Rikku again.

As then Rikku would turn to leave Hisashi would take the opportunity to place an explosive tag on the cocoon but making sure that he would not be spotted doing so. Having a hostage of his own would be good thing in this situation after all.

Chakra control check for charging explosive tag with 2 charges (DC 12)
Automatic success with an +11 mod
Spends 2 chakra in the proses.
Does now deal 4d6 damage when detonated

Stealth check
[roll0]

After he would be done he would stand by the cocoon and look towards the clone and yamanaka's prison and would simply wait silently, looking over to Rikku as she walks closer and starts to what he would judge as trying to sense chakra.

[Regalus]

Minami simply shakes her head slowly when inquired if she saw the assailant; part of her quite certain that if she had they wouldn't be having this conversation right now. The young girl shuffles in place for a moment, kneading one palm with the other while her grandfather addressed the ANBU; doing her best not to dwell too long on the crack in her grandfather's mask, or on the fresh memories of the injuries inflicted upon her sempai.

"I, I am," she begins, forcing down a stutter by stomping down of the thread of anxiety that had begun to grow within her once more, "Still a bit jittery, but I think I'm okay. I-I can't say that I was...was expecting run into something that, bad this soo; but I think I'm okay," she elaborates, slowing her kneading slightly as a sigh escapes from her lips, "Yamanaka-sensei helped. I was afraid, I'd lock up; but I managed to pull through, and it seems like Sohaki-san might too," offers Minami with a nervous smile, doing her best to keep her gaze steady throughout the discourse, mentally reprimanding herself slightly; it had already been over an hour, and she believed that should have been more than enough time for her to settle down. The fact she hadn't yet bothered her slightly.

[Jacior]

Tsume grins. "And my first step to being the greatest taijutsu master is completed!" He looks over his shoulder at the clone. And then smirks. "You've forgotten who I am already!" He grabs on harder to Kaza. "Tsume Style: Meteor Drop!" He grunts and hurls Kaza up into the air. "And down crashes the meteor!" He jumps into the air and grabs the falling Uchiha. He swings her around and the pair start spinning before he launches Kaza at the clone.

[Princess Tracy]

Reina

The girl isn't able to get much of a useful lock on the tracks, except that she can find a couple of vague prints on the west bank. Going with her initial plan, she approaches the western settlement on foot, landhopping and arriving fairly quickly - taking just about a half hour to reach the town limits. There are chimneys a hundred feet tall and lights of windows gathered all around the rocks. This is some sort of steampunk mining town built into the rockface, iron struts, gouts of steam, walkways and huts with gas lanterns. On the ground level, there's a visitor's inn that's easily accessible. There's not that many other businesses still open, though she could seek them out.

Heading in there, she finds a bit of a party underway - apparently one of the miner's birthday, with the still grimy labourers hanging about the inn's bar area and being generally rowdy and rather drunk already. There's a pretty but unassuming girl behind the front desk that people keep buying drinks for. She eyes Reina as she approaches. "Anything I can help you with?" she asks, unsure. "We... offer a bath with every room," she remarks, unable to ignore the mud that coated the girl. On the wall behind her is a large food and bedding menu.

[Princess Tracy]

Minami

Grandpa nods, wrapping his robes around his unused arm. "I see... Yamanaka would be proud. You'll make a great medic, I'm sure." He stares out over the grounds, his eyes resting on the puddle of blood where Minami found her patient. He nods towards it and one of his ANBU quickly takes the hint, analysing the blood and quickly following the trail back to where Minami first saw her. "There it is then..." A second nod is all the approval they need, the ANBU performing a few hand seals, spawning a clone in a puff of smoke, and sending the clone on the path to track her back to the time of the attack, before the original returns to grandpa's side.

"Don't worry, you did more than was expected of you, and grandpa's handling this now," he reassures Minami, giving one of the rare smiles with his sour-wrinkled face. "I hear you showed the insight of a genius, and its out of your hands. I would tell you to retire for the day to recoup, but you are not my student. I leave you with your judgement. Try not to wander alone though..." He cringes again as his ANBU move to lead him into the hospital, but he suffers in silence. Yamanaka may be the only one that knows the nature of his injury and its treatment, and she hasn't said a word even when asked directly. He mutters something to his ANBU...

Perception check DC 15 to overhear
The pain he feels keeps him from being nearly as quiet as a ninja should be when whispering, as he intones "I feel it in these old wounds... something has come to the village. Watch over Minami..."

The Aburame ANBU pauses at the hospital doors, turning back to the medic-in-training. "Minami-chan, do you have a key, even an emergency key, to Yamanaka's medicine stock? The policy among Jounin is to respect privacy of the other Jounin operations, but Yamanaka would understand, knowing her philosophy." It was a philosophy she would say often - 'to heal without prejudice, and above all do no harm among countrymen'. Despite her outward strictness, Minami had seen her occassional act of kindness, helping sick civilians lost in the swamp. However, she often seemed fairly need to know when it came to ninja operations. Interpreting Yamanaka was left in Minami's hands.

Whether she has access to share and whether she does or not, the ANBU and grandfather soon disappear into the hospital proper, leaving Minami to her own devices. She is free to shop, go home, train, study, or even return to the surgical theatre if she so chooses.

If Minami leaves the hospital
Perception DC 25
You're being tailed by one of grandfather's ANBU

[Princess Tracy]

Tsume, Hisashi, Kamatari

Tsume creates an immense distraction with his antics as he tosses Kaza, catching the considerably taller girl off guard with a surge of strength that breaks Rikku's focus on whatever she was doing. "WHAT ARE YOU-" Kaza cries out, demanding explanation until the air whipping her face cuts her off. Tsume's plan seems immediately foolish, as the technique clearly requires some training to perfect, only by the purest fluke is it remotely battle ready as he tosses the poor girl, all the while giving Hisashi the distraction he needs to quietly place the tag without any obvious attention. The clone's eyes widen as she quickly spins, thrusting forward, desperate to make good on her threat as the foolishness of her opponent thoroughly catches her off-guard. "Tsume!" Rikku calls, entirely too late as Kaza hurtles through the air.

Kaza crashed headfirst into the clone, instantly reducing her to wax that oozes to the ground and coats the airborne Uchiha's head, with plenty of momentum to go as she, still spinning in midair, crashes back-first into the cocoon. It cracks, splintering down to the little rapier as it dissolves into wax with the clone, Kaza leaving an imprint on the now fragmented cocoon, a look of utter shock on her face, wax in her hairr, as she gasps for air, hair eyes' colour fading back to black, and passes out from the pounding Tsume just gave her. She flops lifelessly to the floor, crashing facefirst into the wax, leaving a silhouette where she crashed. Rikku stands staring in shock. The inactive Tozawa peers out from behind his terrified cover at the group, then retreats a gain.

The silence holds for a good few seconds before Rikku bounds forward, flexing her strength as she drives her fingers into the gap - the crack that Tsume made, quickly and carefully pulling it apart. She tosses several parts of the construct to the side, until she gets halfway down its height, but still there's to Yamanaka present. "If that's the case, then..." she nods to herself. "Alright... Yamanaka-san's fine. And this Uchiha's still breathing. Hisashi, keep an eye on that Sana while I figure out a way to arrest her without giving her any opportunities." She seems to be contemplating her options as she quickly approaches the big ball of wax that Sana sealed herself in... "Good job, Tsume. But you already knew that." She smiles brightly as she passes him by. "I would tell you to know your limits, but I've plenty of time to beat that knowledge into you when we get back," she remarks, winking at him.

((Everyone roll me 2 perception checks and... just for fun, 1 reflex and one 1 will save))

[HanaRei]

Reina arrived some time later after her initial delay. It had bothered her a bit how long it took, but she hoped that it would help give her more time. At the very least she hoped it might create enough time to find Kaza... given her friend had even escaped in the first place as she suspected. It didn't help at all she couldn't even follow the tracks for a sign that it was her friend to begin with.

Reaching the village, the girl couldn't help but gawk and awe at the place. It seemed so... strange... so new. It really did bring her a sense of excitement. The girl shook her head a bit, attempting to quell her emotions. Focusing on the task at hand was the most important. She didn't want to be taken back without knowing about Kaza first if it wasn't avoidable. At the very least she would accomplish that!

Going into the Inn, she was a bit taken back by the rather rowdy crowd. It was something she didn't see all that much in the village at all. She shook her head a little as she walked up a bit closer hearing what she assumed to be the inn keeper's remarks. "I'm fine, I was just hoping to see if perhaps you seen or heard word of a Uchiha passing through by the name of Kaza?" She questioned, mentally facepalming herself at her approach. It would be quite suspicious given people might know more about her. At the very least it wasn't too likely that anyone even knew she was missing, and her identity as far as she knew wasn't very well known outside of it.

Her head turned up to linger briefly at the food and bed being offered. As nice as it sounded she had to try and focus on the task on hand. Sleeping in the woods wouldn't be that bad of a thing. In a way, it was perhaps just as good as taking a room. She kept her eyes fixated on the woman though not at all sparing listening into the room if she might hear any lingering rumors from the loud drunks around.

Action:

Perception: [roll0]
Persuasion: [roll1] (In Case to get details!)

[Jacior]

Tsume lands dramatically, on one knee punching his fist into the ground, before straightening up and watching Rikku pry the wax apart. He grins wildly, as he suppresses his strength and speed to normal levels. He throws his hands up in the air and then falls backwards onto the ground. "I'm tired." He announces looking up at the clouds.

He grins up at Rikku when she passes him by. "Not bad for my first mission huh? Found the targets, saved Yamanaka-sensei, beat a weird-eyed girl at taijutsu, and I stopped Sana and Kaza from getting away!" He gives her a look when she tells him to know his limits. "I have no limits Rikku-sensei. I will be the best. Even better than you." He's very intense about this, if the look in his eyes are anything to go by.

[Princess Tracy]

Reina

The girl's lips purse as she eyes up the obvious-looking professional soldier, trying to figure her out, all kinds of hearsay-based mental calculations in her head as her eyes drift to your swords, and search fruitlessly for your headband. "Uchiha? Like, from that hidden village?" she repeats, shaking her head slowly, obviously wanting bailed out. A gruffer man from yonder bar approaches in an apron, possibly the owner, taking the girl's place. "This town's loyal to the King, you won't find anyone who'd spill the beans if there was someone like that... I'm not gonna ask any questions, stranger, but please, we don't want no trouble," he suggests, his voice gruff but shaking with understanding, all sane citizens rightfully afraid of shinobi. "Please, we offer our services, but we don't know anything..." he says, shaking his head. If anyone knew, they weren't saying. Certainly not to such a direct question from such a suspicious individual. Listening in on the party, Reina isn't able to glean that much more useful info, just random gossip about loose ladies of the night and the difficulty of mining while drunk, the loudest voices in the room are the least useful. On the off-chance there were whispers of missing-nin, she can't hear them. Though more than a few people do seem to be confering among themselves and staring in Reina's direction, the more sobre seeming ones anyway. Though not the lipreader, she can only guess their tone is apprehensive

Reina knows the general location of the ninja villages; the closest from here, discounting the ash, is a toss-up of the Ridge to the West and the Marsh to the North. There's a number of civilian settlements between here and either of those places they could be, including a city that Aiko often talked about to the North. The conventional wisdom is that a ninja often stays a ninja with their focussed training, so missing-nin will often sign up with other villages to avoid going into business for themselves. Whatever the case, it's clear this town would take more than her less than silver tongue to work. She can either keep working the people around town with some other tactic, or return to putting some distance between herself and the village of ash, in which case she's free to decide what supplies to gleam from the inn and when to set up camp

I feel so bad for giving you nothing to work with

Tsume

Rikku shakes her head. "Don't get so excited. It isn't over yet." She paces over to Hisashi's side, noticing the tag he left. "Huh." She strikes a stance. "Right, how's about we crack this open and I finish her off?" she proposes, setting herself into a stance, ready to lash out when Hisashi was, aiming to to coordinate well enough that Sana wouldn't get a chance to fight back.

She pauses a moment, breaking her focus at Tsume's last taunt, and looks over her shoulder at him. For just a moment, just the blink of an eye, he feels an incredibly heavy, hard presence against him, like a tonne of bricks being dropped to rest on his ribs, and a fighting intent so strong it bleeds into murderous - for just a moment, Rikku doesn't seem a little girl, but seems like a beast of strength and dignity, a dragon. The energy that licks at his very being is overwhelming, and for just a flash seems to remind him of his much he has left to grow. And then, like that, it's gone, and Rikku's standing there smirking innocently at him, no one else noticing the apparent hallucination for even a second. "Oh? Don't get ahead of yourself, Tsume. But we'll see, my dear student, we'll see..." she says with a giggle as she turns back to the cocoon, all innocent.

[HanaRei]

Reina watched her expression changing to a rather uneasy look. Hearing her voice she looked a bit surprised. She bit her bottom lip looking a bit frustrated as the man stepped up. She could tell they weren't at all anxious to answer in regards to her question. Perhaps changing her clothing would of been a better option given they assume she was some other ninja.

She let out a soft sigh, fighting back her frustration. Her eyes lingered briefly back at the crowd. She could hear a little of the background talk though not much of it being very useful. She sighed a bit fumbling through her wallet looking for what she might be able to use. It was a bit surprising when she was offered something to go, looking a bit puzzled by it. "Ah.. .th... thanks?" She spoke a bit taken back.

Heading out, Reina let out a soft sigh. It wasn't very likely she would be able to get much from the village. Considering the reaction they gave it was apparent she ended up leaving them feeling uneasy. She closed her eyes remember about a village to the north Aiko use to tell her about. Making up her mind, she headed forward, planning to travel for some time to create distance before resting for the night.

[Nyan]

Hisashi watches the display Tsume preforms with an unimpressed expression, paying more close attention to the clone and her actions, as well as keeping and eye on the cocoon that is placed beside him. He then saw to his supprise that Yamanaka was not inside the cocoon she had been incased in. "Wait...if she is not there then..." He thought before it suddenly hit him.

"Rikku...Yamanaka sensei used her space-time teleportation technique correct? I saw her use it once she had chosen us to graduate." He said with a collected tone when Rikku came back to him and stood by the cocoon. When she later asked if he would help her crack the cocoon open he looked at it and thought for a moment, pointing at the tag he had placed upon it. "That depends. If we are going to capture her then alright. Tho of what I can remember this is an assassination mission after all correct?...I could just detonate the tag, and since as we saw before the clay is flammable, she will probably not get out of it alive." He said being extra clear when making his point about the mission being an assassination.

[Jacior]

The blood drains out of Tsume's face at Rikku's demonstration. She really was strong. Stronger than even his imagination had led him to believe was possible. And she wasn't even a jounin. If a special jounin was that strong, how powerful was Yamanaka-san? Could Rikku-sensei beat Yamanaka? Was she that strong?

Looking down at the ground, Tsume clambers back to his feet. His arms and shoulders visibly shaking as his head hangs down. "There's that much of a difference between us?" He grips his hands into fists and looks up at Rikku. "That's the kind of strength I'm going to surpass one day?" He's not shaking out of fear, rather, he seems... eager. "I'm going to need to do a lot more training!" He walks over to where Kaza was passed out on the wax. "Where did Yamanaka-sensei go?" He pulls a band of wire from his pack and starts tying Kaza up.

[Karrth]

Kamatari froze when he realized he was spotted. He didn't want his new teacher to die on his first day on the job. For a moment he was paralyzed with indecision and in that time Tsume manages to react fast and destroy the clone and thus save the day.

And thats when he realized that this was what it all was about. That it was the ability to make this kind of hard decisions and follow up with swift action. He would need to be better at both if he wanted to be of use to the village.
Perception
[roll0]
Perception
[roll1]
Reflex save
[roll2]
Will save
[roll3]

[Princess Tracy]

Reina

The innkeepers are quick to give her whatever she wants to get her out of town quickly. Some bread and butter and local fruits, wrapped up in whatever paper is on hand. The road is calm for the most part, and she can comfortably get in about 4 hours of land hopping before needing to rest. She finds plains and forest on the way, the mountainous terrain gradually getting more flat and damp as she theoretically approaches the village in the marsh. As she makes herself comfortable for the night, making some bedding among the trees, she finds her eyes drawn to the moon. Aiko never liked her looking at the moon so much, but it was so pretty. It was scary, like looking over the ledge at a great sight, this landscape most fantastic, yet with no railing - she might fall off, plunge in, her feet at the ledge. She feels like she could just step forward, lose herself a little close to that wonder... it is a terrifying thing. Her dreams are filled with shadow and flame, Aiko and Kaza...

In the morning, she discovers writing on the paper that her meal to go was wrapped in, that she couldn't read in the night, whether because she tries to junk it or finds herself rationing the food. It's some sort of wanted list - according to a note at the top, it says the inn and 'all places of business' are to distrubute them, the latest rogue soldiers list. A bounty list more than anything, and dated 2 days ago. She finds another one from five days ago - the latter much thicker. According to the notice, there was a mass prison breakout and judging from the list they cleaned up well, the most recent list only contains two remaining names uncaught out of the initial two dozen. Uchiha Kaza (genin) and Sana Suri (chuunin). Citizens are said not to approach them, but to inform their local Shinobi Official, and descriptions are given of each of them. With her information gathering, Reina wasn't even aware Kaza had been jailed, much less that she had escaped. In that case, it seems all the more likely she'd seek out amnesty... it's been two days. She may have been caught already.

In total, Kaza's put nearly 40 miles between herself and her ninja village, heaving almost dead north. The surroundings of mud and vines as she heads further into what she passively knows was once the 'land of shadows' from Aiko's old stories seem all the more unfamiliar - 30 more miles was where Ash Village ninja were told teh Village in the Marsh was to be found, though she lacked an exact map. She's running low on food, and there are several villages around. With how quickly the prison breakers were found, it seems she'll have to tread carefully...

All ninja know of the treaty between villages. No ninja are to interfere with business in the other village's territory. If Kaza's outside the Ash's effective borders, basically a country in its own right with its size, then she would be their problem.

Tsume, Hisashi, Kamatari

Rikku shrugs her shoulders. "Yamanaka always keeps her chakra invisible, but I could sense it inside her prison, faintly. I figured it was some sort of substitute technique. She'll probably be nearby." She ponders Hisashi's explanation a moment. "Possibly... I don't know, she keeps her abilities well hidden. But I know she's a master of avoiding combat. 'A medic's place is not on the front line', after all." She shoots Tsume one last smile as a reward for his determination before rounding towards the issue at hand.

"Hmm... are we supposed to kill her?" she asks, actually wondering. For the monster that Tsume just glimpsed her as, she seemed either too kind or too dim to recall that their goal was assassination. "Hmm... well, maybe she'll live through the explosion? The wax is all hard. Does hard wax burn? I don't know... Alright, get back, kiddo, I'll take care of this," she orders Hisashi, deciding she might as well take the burden off of the genin. "Guess I might as well cut loose. Sorry to snatch your mission from under you, but I think you lot have earned your stripes anyway."

Tsume
Tsume only
Tsume spots a shifting of the wax as Hisashi and Rikku talk; Sana performs some sort of technique to let herself out of her own prison, and sneaks around with it as cover, aiming to quickly find some cover and distance from her little wax bubble. She seems to be plotting something, and already forming hand seals as she moves

(roll an opposed initiative check to see if you can warn everyone before her attack lands.)

Kamatari
Kamatari only
As the others speak, and you ponder cautiously, you see a familiar form approach from the trees, pacing around the clearing and folding her arms as she observes everyone else intently. No one else seems to notice the unscathed Yamanaka, oddly, implying there's some sort of genjutsu at work. She looks over her shoulder at Kamatari as she feels herself being watched, and waves at him, before pressing a finger to her lips to signal for him to be quiet. She slowly heads over to the cocoon...

[Jacior]

Tsume nods as he finishes knotting Kaza into a hogtie. "Our mission was assassination Rikku-sensei." His eyes widen as he suddenly sees something behind the others. "HEY! YOU'RE NOT PAYING ATTENTION! WATCH OUT!"

[Princess Tracy]

Tsume, Hisashi, Kamatari

Tsume shouting a warning alerts Rikku, and the Jounin spins around to see Sana - outside the cocoon trying to get in position. "DAMNIT, DIE!" Fearing Hisashi looking at her again, even though she's not clear of the battle site, she freaks out and goes for it, forming only a single hand sign. Suddenly the wax cocoon, large and empty, fractures and explodes out in a molten blaze of wax, aiming to cake everyone nearby. Tsume and Kamatari being near Kaza puts them entirely too far to get caught in the splash, but Hisashi isn't. His reflexes betray him, he's about to be blown away... Until a rather serious Rikku steps forth and pushes him to the side, taking almost the entire attack, wax overcoming her so all he receives is the superheated air of the explosion. As the genin watch, after that flash of activity, a large radius of the forest has quickly caught fire and Rikku's figure has crumpled into a pile of flaming wax.

Sana looks absolutely scorched and tumbles, struggling to stand from her own attack as she looks over her shoulder, grunting as she finds the genin still alive. "No... this pathetic piece can' be how my work ends. Art is not an explosion!" She gathers her strength, ready to run shortly

Damage
Hisashi takes [roll0] fire and force damage and must make a DC 10 Fort save or be knocked back 5 feet and prone.

Sana left a hole in the cocoon that means no wax heads her way. However, she makes a [roll1] DC 15 Reflex save to half [roll2] force and fire damage from the explosion

Rikku automatically fails her reflex save to give Hisashi his cover. She takes [roll3] fire and force damage and is ignited violently and knocked to the ground

Positioning
Kamatari and Tsume are 40 foot from the centre of the explosion, Hisashi is 15 feet before knocking. Within 10 feet of the explosion, everything is in flames, including Sana; she's 10 foot north of the explosion, putting Hisashi 25 foot away from her, and Kamatari and Tsume 50 feet. Rikku is adjacent and in front of Hisashi. The flames are spreading quickly.

The 'shadow' Kamatari sees is on the other side of the fire, having posotioned there quickly when Sana exited

Kamatari
Kamatari only
Yamanaka looks actually surprised when she sees Sana exit the cocoon, but keeps her wits, maneuvering around and avoiding the attack to move in for the kill, forming hand seals. Her plan seems to be to eliminate Sana before tending to RIkku, eyeing the downed and unseen Jounin for only a moment before coming to that decision

[Nyan]

Hearing Tsume shout he would quickly turn around to see Sana outside of the cocoon and being far to surprised to react at all he fails to dodge himself when the cocoon explodes in a fiery explosion. Not even having time to brace himself he gasps slightly when he is pushed away and by Rikku and tumbles to the ground still badly burned from the intense heat.

The pain makes him scream at first as he squirms on the ground for a few moments, cold sweat running down his face and his eyes dazed and confused. "I was...To careless...NGH!" He mumbles to himself as he tries his best to get up making a hand sign to bring forth some chakra despite his quite severe burns on his hands.

Looking up from the ground as he snapped out of his daze seeing Sana standing on the other side of the flames. He crinches a bit more from the pain and glares at her with murder in eyes. "YOU WILL NOT! GET! AWAY!" He screams at her as he pulls his burnt arm back, the wind starting to spin around his forearm before he screams and punches towards Sana, firing a sphere of wind through the fire and straight in to her, knocking her 5 feet back with the force of his jutsu.

Breathing heavily with sweat pouring down from his face, his clothes burnt badly even more so than his body he crinches and shouts from the pain as he falls to his knees. Closing his eyes and gritting his teeth he tries to do his best to suppress the pain from his badly schorched body, being far to weak to help Rikku even tho she is lying almost infront of him.

Actions.
Swift: Tap from chakra reserves, 3 points, using hand seals. (DC: 15 + 3 - 5= 13)
[roll0] ((Remove 2 if the thorium effect does not apply to this))

Move: Stand up

Standard: Gale crusher.
Ranged touch attack. Knocked back 5ft and prone if hit.
[roll1] + [roll2]

Damage.
[roll3]

[HanaRei]

Having made her way out and safe, it felt so surreal. The very night just strange. Her eyes lingering upon the moon, gazing at its wonder as if in some strange daze she couldn't explain. So odd... so entrancing. It almost felt as if her mind was drifting from her body as she finally closed her eyes under the moonlight. Aiko... Kaza... Her voice softly called out. Watching as blue flames seemed to engulf her dream... and then the two being slowly swallowed...

She gasped out shaking her head a bit taken back by her odd dream... almost nightmare. A cold sweat on her frame. She shook her head a bit as if to straighten herself up. "Such weird dreams... why the hell do I dream such stuff." She spoke under her breath in distaste for her own mind.

It didn't take her long waking up that she did notice the paper, much to her surprise. Her eyes glanced over it as if to double check it twice. So those headbands... it could of been them. She thought to herself, looking over the second individual, not quite as familiar with them. Her head turned up, recalling the village said to be up north. I have to try going there. If there was some place Kaza likely went, it has to be there. Fixing herself up only briefly, the girl began to move north, heaving quickly out to avoid both her own capture as well as to find her friend.

[Karrth]

In a mere few seconds the mission went to hell, The god damn Jounin from the other team got blasted to hell. Kamatari knew that the enemy would be dealt with by Yamanaka if not already dead by the jutsu that just hit her.

No, seeing to the safety of the wounded was more important, So he left his place in the tree and ran into the clearing, trying to avoid the flames, and then tried to pick up the badly wounded Rikku.

[Princess Tracy]

Tsume, Hisashi, Kamatari

Sana barely turns, terrified as she finds Hisashi still standing. "No... die! Die! Die!" She forms hand seals, trying to finish him off, wax arcing up from her finger tips, but she's far too slow to the draw, and Hisashi's attackrips through the air towards her. Her eyes widen, her body freezing as she looks down, seeing the hole Hisashi just punched in her ribs, time standing still for a moment before she launches head over heels, falling bloodily among the flames.

Rikku's body is aflame and caked in wax, the very wax that would be burning into Hisashi's body right now if she didn't take the fall for him. She wriggles, struggling through her semi-solid constraints, obviously in pain and barely able to move. That she hadn't passed out was amazing. Smoke rises from the inferno Hisashi finds himself in, obscuring sight as delivering his attack causes him to stagger forward. The explosion racked the nearby trees, damaging them even more until the one behind Hisashi gives way. As Kamatari dashes forward, the tree splinters into two, the wax burning its branch till it gives way - a branch as big as the genin drops down, flaming and battering them.

The branch falls in Kamatari's path. He must make a DC 15 Reflex save or be crushed underneath, taking [roll0] fire and [roll1] bludgeoning damage. He can free himself with a strength check vs. DC 10 on his turn as an attack action, and can perform as if prone and entangled. He gains a +2 to the reflex save if he stops running before the branch falls instead of gunning it. Even pinned, he'll still be able to perform techniques normally

Make a DC 15 Control Cursed Seal check to avoid activating the cursed seal from the extreme emotion of such conflict.

Just then, Hisashi finds his reflexes kicking in oddly, his hand drawing his sword behind his back, the blade shining white as it Torasi's weapon deflects some of the blow, enough for him to tumble forward in relative safety, though it flies from his hand, cracked and tumbling into the flames before him. he falls between the branch and Rikku, both quickly spreading flames all around - the fire having 'inhaled' his fuuton attack to be fanned horribly. Battered and choking through the heavy smoke and distorted air, Hisashi would be lonely in his death... In the flames, he swears he sees the flames burning the ninja-to that protected him up not into ash, but into beautiful, white feathers. Everything seems to slow as he feels himself ignite, too weakened to get away. He feels a tingling in his chakra pathways - everything seems to... slow down... He can see every frame of the flames, and there's a colour to Rikku.. straining, he can see i, a flame in its own right, dying to burst out but knowing it would hurt Hisashi to do it. In the end he lives only by the efforts of his allies.

Kamatari hears an order piercing through the inferno's ruckus deafens Hisashi inside. "KAMATARI. Perform a fuuton technique at the ground, hard as you can. Don't hit Hisashi!" Yamanaka orders him to help her with the flames, unseen through the flames now, but making herself known to everyone except Hisashi. There's a spray of water from the banks of the nearby river signalling a fuuton technique, and some other foam entirely is added to the cauldron of destruction. If Kamatari aids in time with them, then the flames are utterly extinguished to the last drop as his fuuton is just what Yamanaka's plan needed to distribute fluid. Otherwise, only some flame remains on the wax around Rikku

As the shroud of flame lifts, all eyes can now see Yamanaka clearly, standing beside what looks like a 20-foot long, white and blue slug. The wax is now covered in water and something stringy spewed from the slug's mouth. "I told you learning to expel fire extinguishing fluid wasn't a waste of my training," the voice apparently coming from the slug declares. "Not now, Princess," Yamanaka replies as she looks down at her students, successfully commanding silence from her summon. If Rikku's still flaming, Yamanaka thinks a moment before telling the slug to extinguish it, spraying whatever it was over the wax, leaving the special jounin in a wax coffin around her figure. "We'll pry her out in a moment."

She turns her attention back to Hisashi, her eyebrow raising at the state of him an Kamatari, but she remains silent a moment as she bends down to Hisashi, performing a technique to quickly start healing him. "Hold still..." She works impossibly fast, despite all his knowledge of how laborious and slow medical techniques were, she's able to quickly discharge a clearly high level technique to heal him for [roll2] damage on the spot. "You should have ran."

Everyone has a chance to take stock, and Kamatari standing beside Hisashi might just get a look at his now red and odd, tomoe-patterned eyes like that Kaza girl. One tomoe in each eye. Across from them, Sana lies, her chest rising and falling, her wounds still bleeding and clothes scorched, forgotten till last. The slug starts to split, becoming four slugs about the size of each of the genin, and heads around like a set of crawling ambulance stretchers as they go and pick up Kaza and Sana.

As Yamanaka speaks Hisashi finds even healed he seems to be seeing everything with that same, odd dilation, his eyes cataloging everything. He can remember everything in the last few seconds like they were still happening, an odd feeling that's making him lose his sense of place. When he next blinks, he finds himself sitting on a slug as Yamanaka lays him on it like a hospital bed. "Try not to move much." She leans forward, patting his head. "Control the chakra, close your eyes. Concentrate on my voice. I'll explain when we return to the village." With that advice, she hopes to deactivate whatever effect has overcome the lad. If he follows it and focusses on what is her, his chakra will realign and his dojutsu end. With that, she turns her attentiob to Kamatari, patting his back. "You did a good job, now... relax... Wouldn't want that 'birthmark' out of control. You did well..." With her off-hand, she casually applies some sort of medicine to Sana to stop her bleeding her last.

With that done, the slugs get Kaza, Sana and Hisashi to ride on them, their bodies having enough stick to care for their passengers as they take them away from where Rikku is still stuck. Yamanaka tuts as she paces away. "Get up, 'Ryuuken Rikku'. We both know that's not enough to keep you down."

She turns to Tsume in particular as she paces away. "Status report," Yamanaka demands as she waits on Rikku. "What happened after 'I' got trapped?"

[Regalus]

Minami can't help but smile abashedly in response to her grandfather's comforting praise, "I just did what I should've done," she replies visibly calmer, her kneading coming to a halt, the implied 'thank you' showing in her reserved smile, "I'm going to stay a while longer grandfather, atleast until I've completed my shift," she replies politely as she joins the pair in their trek back to the hospital proper.

Upon receiving the ANBU's inquiery the young Aburame grimaces slightly, "I do..." she begins with slight trepidation, "But I'm not allowed to let it leave my person except in emergencies, if you find someone willing and capable of giving grandfather his treatment and require part of Yamanaka's share I'll retrieve it for you,", she adds in compromise; for while she did not wish for her grandfather to suffer more than necessary, neither could she betray Yamanaka's trust or place potent drugs in the hands of those who might not be able to properly administer them. Doing so would be a level of negligence neither she nor Yamanaka would likely abide by outside of the most dire of circumstances.

Upon entering the hospital once more, Minami gives her short farewells before going back to work; returning to her duties and keeping an eye on Sohaki's operation, rather than reentering the theater as a distraction. She could do more helping around the hospital then standing in the Theater twiddling her thumbs, and reminiscing on recent events.

[Jacior]

Tsume is completed overwhelmed by the sudden burst of activity. Sana blowing up the wax cocoon followed by the sudden fire and then Hisashi straight up brutalized that girl. And then the fire got worse and Hisashi collapsed alongside Rikku. Even Tsume wasn't fast enough to beat out Yamanaka's sudden appearance and expert fire extinguishing. At least they were safe.

Yamanaka was certainly more... efficient than Rikku was. She took over and did everything. And then she wanted him to report. This wasn't his thing. "After 'you' got captured, Rikku and I engaged Kaza and Hisashi engaged Sana. I have no idea where Tozawa went. From I can tell, Hisashi effectively took Sana down by himself, other than here blowing herself up I mean. 'You' nearly died in that cocoon, but I improvised a little and threw Kaza at the wax clone that nearly did 'you' in." Tsume, surprisingly, didn't talk himself up like one might expect.

[Karrth]

Kamatari sees the falling branch too late and even as he jumps forward he understands he made a mistake, he wasn't fast enough and in an instant his shoulder and back is burnt and he can't hold back a cry of pain.

Knowing time is of great importance to complete his technique he wastes no time getting free but he while he gets out he gets burns on both his hands as he removed the branch barehanded.

Just as he got out he felt it, the icy presence in his mark on his neck. He'd only once managed to unlock it but the after effects had taught him that the seal, or what ever it was, had a will of it's own. He fought the presence for only a moment and then it went back to it's usual dormant state. But then it returned in an until now unknown amount of strength.

Kamatari felt the ice in his veins, the feeling of the rush of power that was so great he felt like there was a thunderstorm inside him, power filling him up. But the pain was there was well, along with the feeling of the icy presence that took a hold in his body.

To the outside world the signs of his inner struggle took the shape if his "birth mark" expanding all over his body like a spiderweb. It was made up of small drop shaped dots connected by a small spiderweb like thread.

Gathering his chakra in the practiced fashion, and even while lying down he forms the seals and forms the techniques chakra pattern in his body and then adds more chakra to the mix, making the technique stronger and then lets out the attack against the flames, aiming at the area where he remembered Hisashi wasn't in.

The added power from his mark made it seem like child's play to perform the technique but as soon as the flames died out he concentrated and forced the mark back into it's dormant state.

[Nyan]

While Hisashi fell to his knees after his attack he was gasping for air as he felt the smoke made it harder for him to breathe. Just then he heard a loud sound of the branch giving way above him before starting to fall down towards him. But he then suddenly felt as if his body reacted on its own, his eyes glancing up towards the branch it looked as if it was falling is slow-motion.

As if he reacted on instinct he drew forth his sword and shielded himself giving him just enough time to tumble away even tho his body was wrecked with pain as he was still severely burnt all over. Now lying down on the ground inside the burning inferno he would look around to see everything moving slower than usual, every detail of the flames he could make out clearly as they came closer and closer, seeing his precious blade disappear in white feathers he would try reach out for it but he could not move another muscle. Would this be the end? Is this what you see before you die? These thoughts crossed his mind when he felt the flames starting to burn his body tho he would not even be able to utter a single scream as almost all the air in his lungs were gone.

Looking over to the side where Rikku was he could make out the strange color emitting from her and he wondered what it was "Why is she... Not saving herself?... What is she...Waiting for?..." He thought before looking up towards the sky, the pain of the fire burning his body almost forgotten as he was in some kind of trance. He felt as if he was going fade away at any moment and it terrified him, but he felt some sort of inner calm despite all of this. Perhaps he was just delusional, being so near death he that could feel it creeping closer and closer."...I'm sorry... Trace... I guess I will not be able to keep my promise... Please... Forgive me..."

With that last thought he would close his eyes and prepare to succumb to the darkness only to feel the fires around him and on his body extinguish with water. Opening his eyes when he saw Yamanaka come to his aid, telling him to hold still. He did not have much choice in that matter tho since he was in far to much pain to even move a muscle and his throat too dried up to even scream. Only breathing in ragged gasps every now and then as he tried to breathe in some fresh air. He felt how his pain started to disappear and his wounds would start to heal but even so he still had this strange delusions or whatever it was. Was he still in shock from the experience? Why did everything look so different from before? He thought while the horrible experience was so fresh in his mind it was terrifying him.

Before he knew it he was lying down on one of the slugs and he would look up at Yamanaka as she spoke, he could not really hear what she was saying as so much was going on in his head but he could somehow still understand her as if he was reading her lips. Closing his eyes and trying to focus his breathing would get slightly better. "...My... sword..." He said with a ragged and almost incoherent voice, pleading even, to get to know what happened with it as he wanted to have it back.

[Princess Tracy]

Tsume, Hisashi, Kamatari

"You seem rather stuck on that point," Yamanaka remarks around the third time he emphasizes 'you'. "Recall how you met me on the road - what would I be doing here alone when I have students to tend to? When you can answer that and learn more of ninjutsu, perhaps you can answer that by yourself. If you had all ran and left Rikku to fight at her fullest, the situation would have been handled without almost killing Hisashi." She pats the blonde genjutsu prodigy's head. I can't believe that woman let him fight the primary target alone - a fresh new chuunin no less. What does it take to demote someone these days," she bitterly remarks as she paces about. "No slitting their throats, by the way. As a marsh-nin I wouldn't normally have access to such a specimen for the Sana clan's bloodline." Her eyes scan over to Kaza, an odd flickering of sympathy about her, odd as it was. "Hmm... I wonder."

She pauses as she hears Hisashi asking for his sword. She looks around briefly, finding a cracked ninja-to. "What on earth did you block with this?" she comments as it nearly falls in to when she goes to pick it up. Finding the sheath on his person, she does him a favour and stores it away. "Whatever it was, I'm sure it would have finished you. Let your blacksmith worry about that, and just try and get some sleep. Your eyes will be fine."

Yamanaka winks at Kamatari. "And I hired you because of that birthmark. So don't worry, 'kay?" she reassures him, having glimpsed his transformation. "You'd only be 'undesirable' if you continued to go untrained. Breathe deep and calm down."

Once everyone's good and clear of the site, suddenly the wax explodes outwards - in a way that would have hurt Hisashi if he'd still been sitting next to the flaming Rikku. No wonder she'd been holding back doing that. As the dust clears, a girl stands there, but... she's not like Rikku. She looks about double her age, and far more toned in muscle, but she's wearing the same clothes as ever, the purpose of her ever-baggy clothing becoming apparent as she fills it out a lot better. Her chest rises and falls as she stumbles dizzily, staring our from behind her scorched fringe, her body covered in deep burn marks. Steam rises from her wounds, her flesh knitting itself back together rather miraculously. Yamanaka shrugs as she observes - "Hachimon Tonkou: Second Gate, I see. I suppose you had to earn your rank somehow."

Rikku keeps pumping chakra into healing herself, and as the group watch she rather elegantly recovers, her stance becoming normal as she walks over casually. "A second or two earlier might have helped," she remarks, her voice much more refined as she addresses Yamanaka. "How long were you there?" Her skin is far more tanned now than it was a little while ago, and she has trouble controlling her strength from the sudden change, her feet kicking hard against the ground to signal the difference in effort to move between this form and her usual one. Her apparent de-aging ends when she limbers up her stiffened muscles beside the group, leaving her in her late teens or older - though her foreign features make her hard to place in terms of age. She looks a little taller than Yamanaka, and still slim despite her muscles, though her figure does show her as a woman.

Yamanaka tuts as she starts performing medical techniques on Kamatari and Tsume. "If you'd fought in that form, you wouldn't have got hurt in the first place. If you need a handicap to train, I'd say safeguarding fresh new genin is more than enough. If you're not willing to fight or act like a jounin, why should you be any more than the genin you're content to fight on the level of?" She's actually furious with the grown up Rikku, who squirms uncomfortably, not too fond of such verbal conflict. In such an argument, the angriest party wins and Rikku simply isn't angry with Yamanaka. She hands her head a bit until Yamanaka loses interest.

"Come, children. We're done here." Yamanaka leads everyone north without so much as checking back in at town - the other genin somehow knowing to come there on Yamanaka's terms. Her slugs escort Kaza, Sana and Hisashi, them passively resting on 'Princess' as the splintered slug drifts across the marshland. Yamanaka is rather cautious in making sure they're well hidden, not wanting to be ambushed by swampfolk on the way back to the hidden village.

Tozawa's still shell shocked and not speaking much beyond when Yamanaka checked him for wounds. The same goes for the other genin of RIkku's team.

In the back row, Rikku hangs around with Tsume, casually in her new form. "Phew... I'd go back to my training form, but I'm pretty low on chakra," she explains with a smile. "It was good training though," she tries to make conversation far back enough Yamanaka won't deride her for it. She smiles, patting Tsume's head. "Take the rest of the day off, Tsume. We'll train more tomorrow. Probably the best first mission I've ever seen."

Yamanaka keeps Kamatari to herself up front, and is largely silent, in thought unless spoken to.

Once they're back in town, everyone can do as they wish to rest up for the day. Except Hisashi...

Quest Loot!
Everyone gets fully healed.

Everyone gains 1025XP from the fight. And 500XP for the successful completion of a C-rank mission. And Tsume gains 200 XP for his improvised attack, Hisashi gains 200 XP for dominating someone about twice his level, and Kamatari earns 200 XP for being such a good sport. And you all gain 25 XP for boundless patience with this 6-month first mission -_-
TOTAL: You all gain 1750 XP. That's just 1250 from level up!

Everyone can make a profession check with a +2 bonus as if they leveled up to see how much wealth they earn from this mission. Even untrained, make check.

Everyone regains 1 extra action point for being rad

Hisashi gains access to his Sharingan. He may indulge in personal training to get used to the feeling, but mechanically can activate and use it as he pleases. It has a few interesting features I've added to that found in the book, to be discussed later

Everyone has the rest of the day to themselves, except Hisashi...

I'll decide on how to dish out training time in a bit

A headshot of the apparently normal aged Rikku
http://cdn.myanimelist.net/images/characters/13/70977.jpg

Hisashi

Yamanaka escorts Hisashi to the hospital when he wakes up. "How do you feel?" she asks. It's as good a time as any to ask any lingering questions he can think of. The fog's thicker this afternoon than it was in the morning, a dangerous air of mystery to the village as they head towards the hospital doors.

Kamatari (assuming Kamatari heads home)

Kamatari returns to the orphanage to find his caretaker sleeping. Such a nice old lady... he could wake her to tell her the story of his first mission. She did insist he'd tell her and let her know it was alright. There's no one breaking in to hold him at knife point at least. Before he split off from Yamanaka though, she told him to return that evening to the hospital, so she could make sure he was alright after his mild transformation

Tsume

Rikku walks Tsume all the way back to his house, though waivers on her feet. "Just low on chakra. It's fine, I'll be all better tomorrow." Yamanaka had kept offering her a trip on her last slug, but Rikku refused the charity. "Endurance is my forte in training."

Tsume finds the bakery's oven just shutting down for the day, and his parents inside, their last few customers getting their 'best in the village' specials before they officially closed shop. Rikku heads off to her own home unless he feels like introducing her to the family. He's free to ask her about her appearance at any point in the journey, or anything else for that matter

Minami

The ANBU nods uncertainly. As a clan ANBU, her loyalty was ultimately to grandpa, but she knew better really. "Very well... I wouldn't want to breech the confidence between teacher and student, and you are a clan heir. I'll trust you to it. I'll take care of Jounin-sama as best I can." True enough, Minami was of Juukuzu's direct line, he wouldn't spend time on arranging her training so much otherwise. The ANBU waves goodbye as she escorts her ward to someone capable of treatment.

When she gets off of her shift, she finds the operation for Sohaki has wound down a lit, peering into the room's showing she's looking stable, for now, and is just on life support until Yamanaka-sensei shows up. As she leaves the hospital to conclude her shift, however, as she's walking down the paved path out of the grounds, quickly she's rushed past, as three whole bodies in stretchers are rushed in, the medics bumping past her rudely though not without good cause, glimpsing at them. Their blood looked a rusted black now, as they barely gripped to life, their bodies destroyed by powerful slashes. It's incredibly familiar, and out of her hands. Among the three wounded, one wears a Relic Team headband, and another an ANBU mask, while the last is just a little girl...

There's 4 slugs in the distance bigger than Minami, so there's no mistaking it as Yamanaka-sensei's coming up the slight hill to the hospital, several patients in tow. She doesn't seem in much of a rush at present - she may be just getting back from her mission with her new team now. She has three people on those slugs that she can make out, and she had 3 genin. Oh dear...

Reina

Aiko told her all kinds of stories from her missions in the Marsh. Beware the Deepmarsh, and its natives. They are madmen all - cannibals and bloodlines are common among them, and you'll hit them before the village without a guide...

Reina's able to quickly cut into the swamplands, ignoring the borders of the territory and 'no man's land'. There's some villages on the way for her to explore for supplies, though past the borders she can't find any more wanted posters. She runs into difficulty as she heads into the swamp though, as the extremely unfamiliar terrain makes picking landmarks to navigate almost impossible. Trusting her natural sense of direction and remembering some of the depressions on the map, Reina's able to take a rough stab at it all the same, figuring she's within at most, like, 5 miles of her target village when she gets there. She starts searching around, possibly in a grid pattern as she sticks mostly to the drier land, lacking a marsh ninja's ability to traverse the swamp easily. She doesn't find any sign of civilizatiion though, just tree after tree and pool after pool, al the way unsteady earth that her feet sink deeply into as bugs fly about her, swarming and nipping and going for her food. It's possible she won't be able to find it just by scanning areas of dry land though - no doubt marsh-nin can at least navigate the murky swamp water more safely than she

It's pretty late in the afternoon when she stumbles upon something... disheartening...

As the sun looks close to setting off in the distance, things getting ever more foggy, she looks around and could swear she's seen this clearing before. Looking down, she finds a set of tracks - two actually. A set of footprints matching her own footwear... and two more tracks, one human, one something else entirely. She's getting nowhere with this case from the angle of brute forcing her way to the village instead of contacting them somehow - she's come around in circles, and now... she's being hunted.

The further she progresses into the swamp, the clearer it is she's not alone, or at least it feels that way - the darker it gets, the more she feels like she's being watched. The moon will be full tonight. The moons light might keep back those shadows... the swamp isn't safe. Not at night. She can run and leave, or hide somewhere, or even wait and face them. All her choice. But who knew when she might be found now. And the moon rising over the mountains, the mountains of the village of ash that she hails from, it makes her blood boil....

"Let... me... out..." comes an order from her imagination. Surely her imagination...

Survival check to gleam information from the tracks, including a guess of what the creature is. The human set of tracks is wearing even-heeled slippers, giving no useful info except for their evasion of information and their minimum shoe size

Whatever plans you set up for, roll me an initiative and a perception check. It's on now.

[Nyan]

Hisashi slowly opened his eyes to find with great relief that everything seemed to be back to normal. But despite this he was still feeling light-headed and a bit disoriented from the experience. He saw how Yamanaka came back with his half-broken sword and as she put it back in its sheath he would reach out and take it even tho he could barely move his arm. Looking at it for quite a while as if he was thinking about something he would then try to take a deep breath and close his eyes, trying to get some sleep as instructed. Not having the energy to even ask what had happened.

He would eventually fall asleep as they started moving but he was not sleeping peacefully. In his dreams he saw the horrible and terrifying scene with the flames surrounding him, slowly creeping closer to burn him and snuff out the last of the life he had in him. Igniting his body the pain would be almost frighteningly real as if he was experiencing it for a second time, remembering every detail of the event unnaturally clear and it was terrifying him. Outside of his nightmares he would be squirming a bit in his sleep, groaning every now and then while cold sweat would start to pour down from his forehead.

Seeing the flames engulf him one last time... Being left there to die over and over again... All alone within that burning inferno his eyes would snap open as he woke up. Barely keeping himself from screaming he would return to reality and would look around franticly. His breathing irregular and ragged as he would realize he was somehow back at the village. He would then notice Yamanaka watching him and he tried to hide his terrified expression from her by looking away as he closed his eyes tightly. Hearing her then ask how he was feeling he would remain quiet for some time before eventually responding. "I'm... Fine..." Seemed to be the only thing he could respond, even tho he was visibly trembling while his hand would clutch around his sword noisily.

"Kh!... D-Dammit! Stop shaking you coward!" He cringed when he would realize the sorry state he was in, drenched in cold-sweat and shaking uncontrollably and in front of the white captain none the less. "...I... Failed... Didn't I?..." He would suddenly ask Yamanaka with a low and disheartened tone, still turned away from her as he did not want to look in to her eyes. Gritting his teeth and grasping his sword tighter as they would walk through the hospital doors.

[Princess Tracy]

Hisashi

The slug feels like a beanbag chair as it moves along. Yamanaka eyes him occasionally, adjusting her glasses. When he tells her he's fine, she immediately shoots back with "Liar. A doctor doesn't need to hear their patient lie about their condition." She's a bit spiteful, but at least honest with the lad. "No one's 'fine' after unlocking a bloodline like that."

She adjusts her jacket for the breeze as they head along, looking down at him confused, ever so slightly. "Failed? No. You performed beautifully and defeated another genius years more experienced than you. When the second enemy showed up, I wasn't expecting you to even fight. The mission was a success, I don't know how you can think otherwise" She pats his shoulder as they draw up to the hospital. "Remember, Hisashi. You weren't going to burn. Because your allies didn't let you." Torasi was more than an ally, and her sword had pulled its weird, somehow. Perhaps his thoughts should rest more with the feathers than the fires. "Remember. It's possible to do everything right and still fail. You succeeded but almost died. As your protector, only I would be a failure in that case," she says slowly, feeling foolish herself.

"I'll explain everything to you when we have the privacy of my office."

Minami & Hisashi

As Yamanaka approaches the front gates of the hospital, Minami gets a look at her patients. A strawberry blonde in horribly burnt clothes, her side ruptured by a fuuton technique, a dark haired girl with the build of an Uchiha, and sure enough, that genjutsu prodigy from the Academy, Hisashi - now awake with a shaking grip on what sounds like a broken sword. Yamanaka herself is tall for a marsh-nin, even for a man, and has platinum blonde hair and thin-rimmed glasses. The White Captain as always bears her white jacket that drags to her knees, a rather baggy thing that hides her entire figure, and her equipment. There's that sharp look to her eyes as she's spotted her student from far off. She pats Hisashi's head, as she nods as her slugs draw up to Minami. "You seem shaken, dear. Could you get some nurses and stretchers and tell me all about it? These two are for the secure wing, and this one's for my private wing," she explains where to take them, indicating to Hisashi in the case of the latter. Hisashi looks badly scorched and fearful, though Yamanaka's already seen to his wounds for the most part. "Hisashi, this is Aburame Minami. Don't mind her - she's my assistant and pupil. There's nothing you can say around me that you can't say around her," she remarks, showing her trust in her fledgling medic

[Nyan]

Hisashis would quickly get quiet as he was scolded by Yamanaka, opening his mouth to respond but ending up not saying anything. But he would then finaly turn to look at her once she mentioned him unlocking a bloodline. "Bloodline?...What are you talking about?" He asked and it was clear he was not even aware of what had happend but with further pondering he cocluded it would have something to do with his eyes but no matter how much he thought about it he could not figure out what it was.

When she then told him that he had actually succeeded he would once again give yamanaka a suprised expression. After all he did not even see that he hit his last jutsu because of all the chaos, so he assumed that it had failed. Then as she patted his shoulder he would still stare at her an listen to her words as he would slowly move his eyes down at his sword. Holding it infront of him he would close his eyes and once again think back to what had happend, the event almost seemed recorded in to his brain as he recalled every detail. But this time focusing on what he saw the sword do inside the inferno, scattering in beautiful white feathers as if it was a guardian angel watching over him.

He was actually put at ease by this and he gradually stopped shaking, whiping of the sweat from his face with his arm he would nod slightly at yamanaka once she told him she would explain everything. Not minding the pat on the head as if it did not even happen.

Being then transported further and having Yamanaka's assistant Minami introduce to him he would look her over slightly with his clear blue eyes before nodding at her. Now sitting up on the slug rather than lying down, grasping his blade in his lap and looking down on it. His clothes schorched almost beyond recognition with his rather semi-long blond hair flowing behind him with a bit blowing in his face every now and then only to be readjusted behind his ear. "The name's Hisashi." He said breifly to introduce himself before then resuming to look at the blade grasped in his hands and waiting to be transported in to the hospital. "Wonder if Torasi will know I'm back..." He thought as he was thinking back on what he had said about visiting her as soon as he got back to the village.

[Karrth]

Even as he struggled to gain control of the seal Kamatari looked at the battlefield and for a moment wondered if he could have done anything to change the outcome if he had been there from the start but in the end he decided that it was a waste of his energy to think like that.

As they traveled back to the village he was silent most of the trip but he had one question that wouldn't stay quiet. "Sensei, how many know about my seal?" It mattered quit a lot to him, it could answer why there was people that wanted him dead.

When he got home, he saw his caretaker sleeping in her favored chair. He gently awoke her "I'm home, our mission was a success but I'll tell you more later. For now lets get you to bed so your back doesn't begin hurting again, you know it will if you sleep too long in the chair."

After he made sure she was okay and well asleep he went to his room and quietly got out of his armor. Then he takes his equipment and heads to the hospital, he wanted that medical check over with so he could go to the library and study up on what techniques to learn.

[Regalus]

Minami's fingers twitch slightly at the ANBU's words, wishing the pair luck before going back to her duties; grimacing slightly as she walked away. The older woman's words stung her, not due to the words themselves but how they were spoken. As Minami picked up her duties once more she would muse that the ANBU had not meant the words to come out as they had; yet the wounded just the same. It felt as if her loyalties had been questioned, as if she'd wronged them somehow and chosen her sensei over them.

In her heart she knew this was not so, her choice had been simple; medicine could easily be a poison when misused, especially when dealing with medicines as rare or potent as those within her teachers stores. If Yamanaka-sensei was truly the only one capable of performing the treatment properly, she would not risk her beloved grandfather's condition worsening because of it. Moreover, one of the basic rules taught to her was to never allow non-medics access to their drugs directly; the chances of them taking the wrong drug, or mishandling potent chemicals was far too dangerous to risk such a thing. Yet all this ruminating did little to settle her heart, and in the end she simply did her best to push it out of her mind for now.

Upon spotting Yamanaka Minami brightens up, the solution to her quandary manifesting before her; the young long-haired brunette wastes no time approaching her teacher. For a brief moment she fears for the worst upon spotting the wounded being carried by her teacher's slugs, yet quickly deduces by Yamanaka's gait that all is well for now.

"Yamanaka-sensei!" she greets with a relieved smile which manages to just barely peak over her baggy azure jacket's neck, "Alot has happened while you were away, and a few matters require your attention.," she understated, her tinted shades conceiling eyes as she studies the wounded behind Yamanaka; taking note of their apparent injuries before her eyes settle upon the boy grasping his broken blade, the youth's current appearance in stark contrast to Minami's immaculate visage. Of course given from whence each had come from the contrast was more than expected.

The young girl gives the wounded boy a court nod in greeting, before turning back to Yamanaka, "My grandfather arrived earlier, and have not heard from him since; though I believe he is most likely waiting for you inside. In addition several members of the Relic division were assaulted by an oni-masked ronin who is most likely somewhere in the villages vicinity; among the wounded are a young girl, though I can't confirm whether or not she was a genin. I found the first of their number, a kunoichi by the name of Sohaki-san, whom I managed to stabilize; she's currently in the middle of an operation, though it's my understanding she's no longer in immediate danger.

The others were brought just before you arrived and are likely in critical condition as well. Based on what one of the wounded told me, I've concluded that they were likely wounded by a relic blade that they were searching for, and that said blade is most likely in the hands of the aforementioned ronin," she expounded swiftly as she could given the urgency of the matters at hand; doing her best to conceal her anxiety through formality while summarizing the situation for her mentor. By the end of her exposition the young lass seemed to have eased away some of her anxieties, though now watched she the White Captain carefully to ensure that her words had been received and understood despite how rushed it they may have seen.

[Jacior]

"If I seem stuck on that point Yamanaka-san, it's because you didn't tell anyone about your clone. That you were 'captured' could have put our whole mission in jeopardy. I'm not half as smart as some people, but I'm not an idiot. I know ninjutsu, even if I can't do clones yet." Tsume was scowling at the way Yamanaka talked down to him. He scowled double at the mention of running away. "Running away is for the weak, the cowardly and the outnumbered. We were not and are not any of those things." Something about Yamanaka rubbed Tsume the wrong way. Maybe it was a good thing that he hadn't ended up on her team. "I'm the one who figured out how to find Sana you know." He grumps at her, before falling mostly silent.

An unusual phenomenon for Tsume, he stays quiet until Rikku starts talking to him at the back of the group. "Rikku-sensei, why do you stay transformed as a kid all the time? How does training as a kid help you when you aren't transformed?" He doesn't look at Rikku when he's talking, instead kind of staring off into the distance. "And of course I'm going to train as much as I can. Even if you give me the day off." He gives her a sideways look and grins. "I've got a lot of work ahead of me to keep my word."

Later

"You didn't have to walk me back to my house Rikku-sensei. It looks like I'm in better shape than just about everybody after the mission today." Tsume was more back to normal after everyone had split up. He looks at his parents closing up earlier than normal. "I must not have made enough dough for today." He hesitates a second. "Um, Rikku-sensei, my parents kind of want to meet you. I told them about getting on the team and they decided that meeting my squad-leader would be a good idea." He's looking at the ground. "I have to warn you though, my parents are kind of weird. And I'm hoping my brothers aren't around."

Tsume passes the last of the people leaving the bakery, waving at them. "Thank you for visiting Enkouchi Breads! Please come again tomorrow!" It was only then that he thought about his beaten and bloodied appearance as the people looked at him strangely. "Sorry, I just got back from a mission. I haven't had time to clean up yet." He smiles as politely as possible and holds the door open for Rikku to come in before closing it behind him. "Dad, mom. I'm back from my mission." He calls into the store, his parents not standing behind the counter. "Oh Tsume! You're home already! We're in the back tidying up, come help your father move the flour to the back room!" A very feminine voice calls out from an open doorway leading further into the building. "Come on Rikku-sensei, they won't mind." He motions to follow and heads towards the back.

In the back they see what could only be Tsume's parents cleaning up the store, his father carrying a sack of flour over his shoulder and what could only be the form of his mother bent over picking up a pan off the floor. "There you are boy! ... You look a ragged mess! Picked a fight did you? I trust you trounced the scoundrel!" Tsume's father almost looks nothing like Tsume. His face is pointier, his hair is almost stone grey and though of average height, his arms and legs seem a little too short for his body. It's obvious though, that Tsume get's his eyes from his father, so similar that they could switch eyes and no one would notice the difference. "Shouldn't go letting people poke at you with rapiers son. You could get hurt!" He chuckles and shifts the bag around on his shoulder. "Akimitsu, don't pick on him. It was his first mission and we should be happy he could even walk home picking a fight with ninja that strong."

His mother straightens up as she speaks and it becomes quickly apparent that she is very, very tall. She looks down over everyone in the room and smiles warmly. Tsume looked very much more like his mother, except that while her husband had shorter limbs, hers seemed longer and more graceful than most and her eyes were very vibrantly blue. It was also clear that Tsume got his unusual hair color from her as well, if the tight braids that fell around her shoulders were anything to go by. "Now move that flour to the back while I greet our guest." Tsume's father nodded briskly. "Yes Emika dear!" She sighs as he scrambles to another room with the sack of flour. "It never ceases to amaze me how tactless your father can be Tsume-chan. But where are my manners. You must be Tsume's squad leader, Rikku Li." She offers her hand to shake if Rikku wishes to take it.


If Rikku takes Emika's hand and can sense chakra.

It's apparent even from a touch that Tsume's mother has a not inconsequential amount of chakra. More than one would expect from a civilian to be sure. More than some chuunin have to be realistic.

[HanaRei]

The marsh... how much more horrible it was then her dreams. It seemed so unpleasant as she traversed the rather 'icky' terrain. As unpleasant as it was being covered in mud before, trudging through the marsh seemed far worst. The stories she heard of in her past all but sent shivers through her spine. Still, she shook it out as the stubborn girl wasn't about to give into such things.

Coming to the clearing once again, her eyes snapped down to the tracks. It seemed... almost odd. Her eyes glanced up to the fading light as the fog that had once lingered seemed to thicken. Her heart beat a bit faster though she steadied it, gripping upon the handle of her blade. Her eyes fixated back down attempting to make out the odd set of tracks that seemed to accompany what looked to be her own.

The voice rang into her head making her glanced around uncertain. It seemed to strange. Was what she was in even real? It seemed to be so. She shook her head trying to focus herself forward, being on the ready for whatever it might be that could be following her.


Action:

Survival: [roll0]
Perception: [roll1]
Initiative: [roll2]

Genjutsu roll incase it does work that way and since its possible it might be. probably would of asked for a will check if it was but meh incase! I won't do good anyways with it ^^;;
Genjutsu: [roll3]

[Princess Tracy]

Kamatari

On the way home, Yamanaka answers him openly enough. "I've seen it before, that mark. Don't let others see it, not until they know your strength, and your loyalties." She nods to herself at that. "I keep tabs on unusual things in the village. Your cursed seal could be an incredible asset if you learn how to control it. In my time spent studying swampfolk with similar abilities, I've seen them perform amazing - and terrifying - feats drawing on its power. The damage you could do to your body however will only make it a risk unless you learn greater discipline. For now, I would recommend you learn how to better suppress your seal in high stress situations - I can help with that."

She's silent for a bit, pondering things for a while. "So, what does it feel like when it's active? I've never gotten an account before. Perhaps take that up during your next 'check up'."

Coming down from her tangent, she sighs, resigning to finally answering his question. "Probably very few of the people that want you dead know for sure you bear that curse mark. They know you are of orphan origins and find you suspicious for your caretaker, who is suspected of sympathies with dangerous individuals. The possibility of your power is what makes them fearful though. However, keep by me; I am a jounin, leader of this village. And as long as you establish that an attack against you is an attack against me as your teacher, anyone that could harm you will know better."

---

Back at his home, he finds old lady Matriyoka to be quite determined to hear of his exploits. "Aww, Kama-chan, don't you want to tell granny all about it? Your clothes are all messed up..." Regardless of her protests, she lets him help her into bed. "Here I am supposed to be caring for you, Kama-chan... Did Yamanaka-san keep you out of trouble?"

If Kamatari heads over immediately to the hospital, Matriyoka will simply do her best to fall asleep, and he'll find Hisashi out front with Minami and the two ninja they'd captured. Yamanaka's inside, participating in a surgery already - and one of the attendants stops him at the door to tell him she is not to be disturbed.

Tsume

Yamanaka glares at the young genin for him chastising her. They're clearly not going to get along. "You don't seem like you can be trusted to act on that information better than your opponent," she remarks with a sneer before turning her attention to the road. She doesn't acknowledge his deduction of how to find Sana in the slightest.

"It's best not to argue with her. It's not like you can win that fight." On the way home, Rikku speaks calmly enough when asked about her aging techniques. "It's a type of training I'm inventing - it requires a young body like yours that has room to grow, and that wouldn't normally be able to keep up with the fighting a jounin does. I use a technique that old ninja often use to fight in their prime to cut my age in half, to see if I can develop my body that way. And if nothing else, I have to mature my technique more without just using my strength." She explains it simply enough, her mind seeming elsewhere. "It's... just the latest way I've thought of to train..." Her head in the clouds, she doesn't say her goal in her training unless Tsume prods her for it. She seems to be planning something, and occasionally glances down at Tsume as part of her thoughts...

---

Rikku walks home with Tsume all the same through his protests, getting him home after securing the rest of his team. "They don't quite seem up to it, do they... maybe Yamanaka's right about my picking genin. It was pretty impulsive..." she mutters to herself, sighing. "But, I think I found a good training partner all the same," she says, beaming down at Tsume. "Besides, the training I've got planned for tomorrow will require you to get a good night's sleep and be at full strength. I can't be having you sneaking off and training deep into the night." She ruffles his hair at the 'best shape' comment. She was pretty beat up from nearly burning to death, but her hachimon tonkou somehow made her look good as new save for an uneven tan and burnt clothes.

"Oh? I take it you've told them good things about me." She nods, not minding meeting his parents, remaining quiet as Tsume leads her in. It was fun to adventure so. The last of the customers eye Rikku oddly, her face obviously standing out as unusual in the swamps, but she wears her headband prominently enough that they forget her shortly. She eyes his parents curiously when she's let inside, letting Tsume explain the events of the day to them.

As his father lightly criticizes him, she gives a giggle. "It was nothing he couldn't handle, sir. You should see the state he left the Uchiha in, the wounds Yamanaka-sensei had to close up were nuthin'." She namedrops that most illustrious clan to big up Tsume's name. She seems to fit right in with his odd, high energy family. The mother's the only person that Tsume's seen her have to actively look up to talk to. She happily takes Emika's hand, giving as hard a shake as she would give acivilian, though she does raise her eyebrows a moment as she passively senses her chakra. She doesn't comment on it though - for all she knew, Tsume's was a ninja family - no point embarassing herself by admitting she didn't read around her little star pupil. "That would be me, Rikku Li at your service. I'm his teacher, it seems," she confirms, smiling.

If Emika possesses sense chakra and feels like telling Tsume
Rikku's aura feels like an endlessly deep bedrock, unshakable and unbending. She's too strong too suppress her chakra at all, and it seems ready to tear the earth from under one foolish enough to cross her; yet it is bound to a specific form, calmed by that greater nature in all but the most dramatic of moments, the plates of the earth itself being its only catalyst, unseen and inarguable

Her stomach grumbles inconveniently. "Er, could I trouble you for a loaf before you close up shop?" She reaches into her scorched pockets to retrieve some money, but only finds cinders. She looks a little heart broken as she holds scorched bills and a couple of coins. "Oh... er, I'll have something in the pantry." She clears her throat, trying to move on. "Keep good care of Tsume, I have a training regime in mind that assumes a full stomach and a good night's sleep," she advises.

Minami & Hisashi

"White Captain Yamanaka Seno, reporting for duty," she coyly introduces herself, fixing her glasses as she hears her student out, pausing only briefly to gesture to some nurses inside to get ready as they speak. Yamanaka seems surprised by the itemized concerns Minami brings up, taken aback by how fact her work could pile up like that. She doesn't react too much to Sohaki's message, nodding simply. "I see... a relic sword? Hmmm..." She produces a scroll from her vest, handing it to Minami, nodding dutifully. "Your deductive ability truly marks you as that man's granddaughter. I trust your treatment of this Sohaki was masterful. Here, I'll trade patients with you - I'll go tend to her and you see to it that Hisashi gets a good nights sleep." She nods to the Aburame and heads inside, leaving her with her orders to get the two captured ninja to the security wing, the slugs, and the scroll that's marked as Hisashi's case file. Before she disappears from sight, she orders stretchers to be at Minami's disposal and gives one last bit of advice - "Remember, Minami, patient confidentiality." With that, she dives into the surgical theatre

If Minami looks inside the scroll, she finds Hisashi's various medical records including the routine checkups from his time in the academy. She had told Minami some of her plan, to bring some of the exceptional enigmas under her wing - she had a few of them under investigation and it seemed like Hisashi was just what she was looking for. The record is fairly standard for a ninja - a few training injuries, blood type, predicted date of birth, but there's a huge section on personal notes marked confidential involving various deductions and possible conclusions; one in particular stands out - circled clearly now, 'Sharingan - Uchiha'. Along with it a few notes taken that day about him suffering time dilation. With that, Minami is at least minimally equipped to deal with his treatment if he needs it. She passively knows that the Sharingan uses chakra to focus the power of the eye and perception of time, and is unlocked via trauma. From the state Hisashi's in and the freshness of Yamanaka's ink, it's clear what gave her that final conclusion. Yamanaka has medicine to suppress doujutsu if needed.

Minami recognises the 4 slugs as actually being 1 split into 4 - 'Princess Slug', one of Yamanaka's most commonly used summons. She pleasantly awaits your command, as her summoner's second in command.

[Jacior]

Tsume grins as she ruffles his hair. "Not all night Rikku-sensei, just a couple hours. I've still got a lot of chakra left." He flexes his muscles. "I'm no baby. I'm the toughest genin in the village! And I dare anyone who thinks different to give me a go." He takes her warning about rest as well as anyone with his mindset would. "I'll make sure to get enough sleep, I'll get one of my brothers to make the dough for tomorrow." He gives her a look. "What else would I tell my parents? I've got the best sensei in the village, and one not half as stuck up as Yamanaka-san."

Akimitsu comes back into the room with a grin on his face. "I'm sure he did! But there's nothing wrong with a little light-hearted ribbing is there? He's still my little boy no matter how big he gets. And as his father, there are certain perks to be had!" He's got a smile on his face to match Tsume's, it's easy to see why Tsume's so expressive." Emika however raises an eyebrow. "Tsume went toe to toe with an Uchiha and came out on top so easily? I'm glad to see we didn't pay that tutor for nothing, but even I didn't think you were that good sweetie." Tsume's face turns red. "MOOOOM, don't call me that in front of my sensei. It's embarrassing." His mother tuts down at him. "Much like your father said, being a mother comes with certain benefits. Embarrassing children is one of them." She gives Rikku a sly smile and a wink.

"I'm certain you can trouble us for more than that! You're going to be having dinner with us, a thank you for bringing Tsume back safe and sound. And you'll be able to meet his brothers! I'll be glad when Tsume can go back to making the deliveries, his brothers get so easily distracted." Tsume's face turns redder. "They wouldn't get distracted if you actually, you know, made them help out more." Emika quite deftly ignores her sons protests and continues. "Unfortunately, dinner will still be a few hours. Akimitsu has a roast on at home, but it needs more time to cook. We weren't expecting you home so soon."

"It's ok mom, I was going to go do some training anyway. I need all that I can get." He pulls out the bag of salty meat that they had acquired during the mission and grins at Rikku. "We can share this out at the training grounds if you want Rikku-sensei."

[Princess Tracy]

Reina

Reina stands alone defensively in the marsh, though doesn't hear the voice again. As she heads off to evade whoever the person and beast following her were, she suddenly hears the sound of rushing water. Looking around at the murky bog, the moonlight cascades around each droplet she sees silhouettes rise, surrounding her. Her eyesight adapts quickly to recognise them as people with mad eyes and straggly hair - the savage, crazed barbarians that stalk these swamps. There's half a dozen that Reina can see, one of whom seems the leader of the pelt and bark-wearing people, steps forward, the meanest, strongest and most malformed of the lot; dark,fish-like eyes, webbed hands and random scales decorate his flesh as he stands nearly 7 feet tall and rippling with muscle. Each of them looks twisted and scarred in some way, constantly jittering - it was a miracle they could coordinate such a potent ambush at all, even if their blood-freezing howl to the moon - in unison like a pack of wolves seems to ruin what chances at stealth they possessed. The leader pokes forward with an outstretched finger and uneven talons, the swamp water caking him as natural camouflage, as he barks an order to attack. They rattle their spears as they move forward, flint, bone and wood on their side, though their leader holds a precious looking axe made of pure fine-crafted iron. Among the weaker seeming barbarians, there are two woman and three men of varying age, but they all act like rabid wolves

The leader seems amphibous, and has the least trouble rising from the water - while the others are planting themselves on the bank, he strikes a terrifying posture to emphasise his height before tossing what looks like the better part of a tree at the runaway ash-nin. As Reina watches, the women barbarians seem to be preparing nets and ropes to capture her!

Reina gains low-light vision when under the full moonlight. Your emotions are more extreme and dominant, but not to the extent that it provides other mechanical effects just yet.

Reina barely scrapes the perception check to hear them coming out the water, so they don't get a surprise round. Each of them is 15 foot away and evenly spaced from each other (about 10 feet apart each) in a circle, meaning she'll provoke attacks of opportunity if she simply tries to run past them.

The leader makes an improvised weapon attack with a Large-sized log [roll0] for [roll1] damage, before drawing his axe

All the others spend their turn getting out the water and preparing their weapons (and howling)

[Regalus]

"Mmhm," she grunted in affirmation as her mentor pondered on her words, "She also mentioned something about black iron; but I can't be too sure of whether or not she was reffering to the blade given the state she was in," she adds helpfully, doing her best not to beam too much at Yamanaka's compliment. After all, the White Captain had yet to actually see her work.

When offered the scroll Minami accepts it with a nod, "Ofcourse. Cheers sensei," she chirps as the White Captain enters her domain once more; the young girl sighing momentarily once her mentor has left, before turning to her remaining companions.

"Greetings Hime, its a pleasure to see you again," she intones with a short half bow, motioning to the summon to join her on the walk back to the hospital proper,"I hope you'll pardon the tardy greeting given the circumstances; I do hope all is well with your clan," she adds with a polite smile.

Once inside the young girl swiftly warily leads the group to the security wing, eyeing Hisashi every so often until they finally deliver their guests; the would-be med all too pleased by removing that particular burden off her shoulders before any more complications could arise, releasing a content sigh once the pair had been carried off.

The deed done Minami calmly guides her patient to The White Captain's office to properly assist him. "I take it the mission was a success Hisashi-san?" she inquiered suddenly in an awkward attempt to spur on some form of discourse with her fellow pupil, and with any luck assess the young genin's current state.

[Nyan]

Hisashi was mostly quiet while his sensei was speaking with the young Aburame. Still holding his sword rather tightly as if he was afraid it would disappear, glancing over slightly towards the two when he notices Yamanaka hand Minami a scroll tho he did not give it much more attention than that. Being far too occupied with the thoughts still swirling around in that head of his, all the questions he wanted to have answers too, did Yamanaka know something about him that he had not even realized?

None the less he had no objections seeing Yamanaka leave, knowing he would have all his questions answered soon enough and so he leaned back slightly and closed his eyes while he was brought in to the hospital. Then as the other two slugs that were carrying Kaza and Sana, Hisashi would follow them with his eyes as they moved away as if to check on what their condition was, not knowing if he had finished Sana off or not.

Eventually as he was now the only patient left following Minami he would be resting, even if he was still trembling every now and then when the images of the flames flashed past him, only to clutch the sword which made him calm down somewhat. As he was brought to Yamanaka's office he would hear Minami ask him about the mission and Hisashi would open his eyes and look at her for a brief moment. "I..." He was about to say something but he would suddenly shake his head, closing his eyes and putting his hand over them as if he had gotten a sudden headache. "...Yeah... I assume it was..." He said after a short pause, but the way he said it made it sound like he was not entirely sure of it himself. And it would be logical to assume he was punishing himself for having to be rescued, rubbing his eyelids with his fingers as he struggled to not have the images of the event return in to his mind.

[HanaRei]

Reina stands a bit taken back as she suddenly hears the sound just as several bodies come up from the swamp. Her eyes shift back and forth, a bit taken back by the sight. She had never expected the stories Aiko to have told her to be true. It just seemed so crazy to her... as if something to scare her rather then being real. How she regretted thinking such things now.

She glared towards them, squeezing her hand into a fist looking at the strange individuals. A sense of anger filled her she couldn't explain. She wanted to find kaza, and these 'people' seemed quiet content on stopping her and pinning her down. Her head fixated at the leader as he suddenly threw a portion of what looked to be a tree at her. The girl swifted evaded it, her body shifted just so slightly to allow it to fly past her.

"I have no time to deal with you!" She called out, her voice quite a bit angry not at all hiding the fact. It was a bit odd... why did she feel so angry? None the less it wasn't something that could be quelled as the feeling seemed to build in her. She shook her head a bit. No... I can't fight this... I need to get away... She looked rather uncertain of herself as she fought back her.

Reina grabbed at one of her smoke bombs. The girl threw it towards one of the women, jumping off just after as the smoke began to billow in an attempt to slip past her easier. Fighting in such a position surrounded wouldn't work, she had to either attempt to run away or at the very least get a better position for herself.

Action:
Just tell me in OOC if I need to do anything or change anything up. Figure for now it was the best thing Reina could do. ^^

Reina threw a smoke bomb along the corner of the square the woman was on Attack (In case): [roll0]
After which, Reina moves towards the smoke attempting to move past the woman with the net. Not sure if it provokes attack but figure it might be a ranged weapon so could give her a chance to slip by easier, and if not she has a better chance of avoiding. ^^:;

[Princess Tracy]

Rikku

The special jounin sighs. "Well, alright.... just a couple of hours of strength training, I guess," she submits before heading in. "Just remember though; you don't need to be training on days that you do a mission. I don't want you holding back in the field just so you'll have enough steam left to train, 'kay?" she warns with a finger waggle. He actually makes her tanned cheeks blush a bit, calling her the best sensei - such an excitable older girl, "Oh, stop..."

Rikku giggles at their exchange, Tsume's reaction to being called 'sweetie' amusing her, though she jumps a bit at his mother's wink. "Hee hee, I wouldn't know..." When the young Genin complains about his brothers though, she gives him a quick slap to the back of the head, a little harder than she intended actually. "Shame on you, Tsume. I thought you wanted to train, and here you are, complaining about your lot in life with some light labour? All things are training if approached from the right mindset, not just when running laps or something!"

She smiles, a little embarassed, but wholly appreciative when offered dinner. She doesn't really carry herself like one of the fabled jounin. "I'll try and bring something to the table then," she says cheerfully, tugging Tsume's shoulder. "Well, okay Tsume, your offer of snacks has convinced me. To the training grounds!"

Sure enough, she leads him to a nice, dry area of the village Tsume hadn't seen before, though the quiet in the area and beat up training equipment suggests it's her own private training grounds. It's almost unsettling how firm the ground underfoot is, likely specially prepared in some way. There's a small hut nearby but for now RIkku amuses herself with moving aside a few splintered training dummies to it as simple storage space. That done, she approaches him again, munching on some salted meat as she talks. "Mmm, 'kay. First things first, I wanna see if that was a fluke earlier." She turns her back to the Genin and strikes a running position, ducking down to move her centre of gravity down. "Here, grab and throw me like you did that Uchiha girl - hard as you can. Don't worry about hurting me, I'm a big girl y'know."

Tsume receives 4 hours/half a day effective training, draining him to 2 chakra. As agreed, he's unable to replicate the hammer throw at this point without training no matter what he does. Feel free to ask RIkku for a specific technique - she may have something interesting to say or do with it.

Hisashi and Minami

The slug shrugs oddly, accidentally bucking Hisashi uncomfortably as she's addressed, the big-as-a-human blue and pink grub seeming laid back for its position. Between its antennae on each of its bodies, there's a mark in the colour of its underbelly - the headband sign of the village of the marsh. (Naturally, trying to fit an actual headband onto the Princess' body would be impractical)

"Hmph. Typical enough," Hime responds, slithering through the halls, all but the civilians ignoring her. She's te voice of a young gossip despite her monstrous appearance. "Seno goes and calls me out of nowhere and suddenly I'm in the middle of the swamp and everything's on fire! I'll have you know I was about to go to bed back home, it's quite the burden one has to bear as a summon; you go and learn a unique technique to help your summoner out and all of a sudden whenever that niche comes up, bam, you gotta drop everything. But hey, you're a doctor, you know what it's like to be on call at all hours, right? And that teacher of yours never talks to me much anymore, not unless I've got something she wants - you're the only one that ever asks a slug's honest opinion. Hurry up and ask her for my contract, won't you, I'm tired of just being summoned as a servant - the Last Sage would bring me over for tea every now and then at least! No respect these humans, no respect, I'm not called Princess for nothing." The cloned slug nods i agreement among her fractured self at that, barely paying attention to where Minami has her slither as she pays only the most distant of attention, all the way gossiping and gabbing.

The security wing has enough beds easily, the attendants taking possession of Sana and Kaza - making sure they were stable before they go about the techniques to secure them. Leaving them, Kaza finds Yamanaka's office and unlocks it to access her stores. Princess lingers outside with the patient, not wanting to violate Yamanaka's privacy by bringing in Hisashi. The office is fairly dark and lines with books and scrolls, a bit of a mess, really. Yamanaka's store is at the back, along with just about any medicine that has ever been invented - a great cupboard full of samples and prescriptions, and an entire seperate, hidden room lined with ingredients and tools to make more medicine.

There's a creaking of wood and a falling of glasses that might announce to Minami that she isn't alone. Himeko Shoin, Yamanaka's 'left hand' assassination specialist is in the rafters of the room, bracing herself up there. She has the look of a secretary and wears a dark, breezy kimono and glasses that Minami recognises as doujutsu inhibitors. She's clearly hid herself in quite a hurry and has no real cover; if Minami waits too long to get the medicine, her glasses fall off and bounce onto Yamanaka's desk, possibly being what alerts the Aburame. Upon being seen, she drops down lightly to retrieve her glasses, afraid they're cracked. And for just a second, Minami spots the terrifying, inhuman eyes that they keep at bay - grey iris and cross-like pupils. She bows briefly to the medic in training. "Sorry. It was just you, Minami. I thought there might be an intruder that killed you, disguised and stole your key to steal Yamanaka's drugs away and wreak horror on innocents." Her detail in her explanation is as unsettling as always. She fixes her glasses, having gotten a good look at you through them, and suddenly all is right again as her eyes become black and dull. She sits off to the side, continuing to be at attention while Yamanaka's out of her office, not even knowing she was back yet.
You may make a DC20 Perception check to see Himeko before she makes herself known (accidentally)
After prescribing some medicine and a bed and talking with Hisashi, Minami is of course free to go where she wants, even see Sohaki's state as she exits the hospital if she doesn't linger for long

Hisashi

Hisashi gets a nice room to himself in a more laid back ward, with four empty beds and four guards on duty; all the victims that Minami had seen were in surgery or intensive treatment, after all, and besides the civilian ward, there weren't many ninjas in need of healing today. It's just a comfortable enough bed to get some observed rest; a sealed item of Yamanaka's design sits on the side and observes and records Hisashi's condition - a little slick black-painted flower-bulb shaped vase of some sort with an 'observation' kanji scrawled on the side. The blinds are drawn, the sun's going down and the doors are closed. Just when Hisashi gets relaxed though he hears a commotion at the door, and a familiar voice trying to argue against the authority of a couple of guardsmen trying to do their jobs. "C'mon, dammit, I gotta see!" "Visiting hours are over miss." "But what if he's hurt? He's... he's my employee, you know." "Miss, do you need to be escorted out of the hospital?" "I'll... I'll be good. But this isn't the intensive treatment, right? So he'll be fine, right?" "Miss, Yamanaka-sama has ordered the patient receive a solid night's sleep. Be quiet and return to your home or room before civilian curfew." Torasi sighs as she starts to wander off, thinking better of sneaking in through the window to a ninja facility. Maybe Hisashi would be better off if he just slept it off, but she still worried...

Reina

Reina's smoke bomb finds a sturdy enough patch of land and detonates, shrouding the girl and her immediate opponent as she dashes up to one of the feral woman. The spark of gunpowder inside the bomb ignites the mixture inside, the billowing smoke proving oddly visible to the girl's heightened eyes. The woman squeals in surprise at your aggression, dropping her net and lashing out at the darkness, her foot swinging at Reina's midriff. The savages seem crazed and taken aback by the sudden activity of the smokescreen, taking a moment to respond. Two of the spearmen leap to action, running forth and charging with their rugged-edged weapons. From outside the smoke, their leader roars to the night sky, lungs so powerful the smoke actually sways from taht far away...

Spear #2 50% miss chance [roll0]; miss on a 1-50.
Charge Attack [roll1] for [roll2] damage
(due to charge, on a 1-25 may actually harm his buddies)

Spear #3 50% miss chance [roll3]; miss on a 1-50.
[roll4] for [roll5] damage

Woman #1 50% miss chance [roll6]; miss on a 1-50.
[roll7] for [roll8] damage

---

And now it's Reina's turn. She's unable to see anyone clearly beyond silhouettes and the smoke now extends to cover a 10-foot radius. Tread carefully, cause there's three people whose turn hasn't come up yet.

You can take a run action, but doing so requires a DC 10 Reflex save to avoid tripping on the net and falling prone

As I said, make a will save for each of these that hit... Also you don't lose your Dex bonus from the fog or take the miss chance against opponents 5 foot away

Sorry for the anemic post, but there's only so much one can do in 1-player combat rounds

[Nyan]

When Hisashi got in his bed he would sigh with slight relief, leaning back in the bed and closing his eyes for a moment. Quietly staring down on his sword that he held in his lap as he had not let it go for a single moment after he had got it in his hands. He would then look out towards the window for a moment noticing the sun going down through the blinds and after a while he decided it would be best to try and fall asleep.

But then his rest was interrupted hearing the commotion outside the door and he would immediately recognize the voice, apparently having an argument with the guards. "Trace? Is that you?... Let her inside, there is something important I have to tell her...Please." The last word almost sounded pleading as he would speak towards the door, hoping for them to hear him. And after that he would wait quietly as he would look down at his sword, now clutching it tightly as he had done before as he felt quite horrible over it breaking just after he had received it.

[Jacior]

Tsume follows Rikku to the training ground, though it wasn't one he had been to before. "The ground is so hard." He crouches down and pats on the dirt with a hand. "It's like there's no water in it at all!" Looking around the area he continues. "Is this where you train Rikku-sensei? It's so different from where I go to train by myself." He kind of rubs the back of his head at Rikku's request. "I kind of came up with that on the spot. I don't know exactly if I remember all the steps. But I'll certainly give it a go!" He kicks off his shoes and without preamble, rushes Rikku with a grapple in mind.

[HanaRei]

Reina shifted a bit, evading one of the attacks while the other two seemed to drastically miss her due to the smoke. It was strange how clearly she saw through the smoke though it was something she felt full well to take advantage of rather then question. She had no time to wonder about it and she had no desire to fall to these people. I won't fall, I will find her. She thought, even her thoughts fierce.

She shifted towards one of the spear guys before gripping her blade. She focused her energy before finally slicing her blade towards the man who had managed to strike closer to her, attempting to take him out quickly, remaining in the fog.

Actions:

5 Foot Step towards Spear 3
Used Kenjutsu Iaido (2 Chakra) aiming at the Spear #3
Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]
-2 AC till next turn.

[Princess Tracy]

Hisashi

There's a pause of silence outside, before a sigh and some cautious, whispered instructions. The door opens, the floor guards propping it open to keep their eyes on Hisashi and his guest. "Be quick," the guard advises loudly, just wanting the patient to relax.

Torasi quickly scrambles inside, gasping as she sees the burns Hisashi bears - largely superficial after Yamanaka saw to him, but all the same he's a damn sight worse than when she left him. Torasi herself looks the same as ever, if a little strung out - she did spend all night making him a sword, after all.

"Hisashi...? Are... are you okay?" she asks slowly, sneaking up to the foot of the bed, welling up as she looks over his tired, beaten form. She hesitates a moment before giving a yelp and diving forth to hug him tightly. She only backs off when the handle of teh sword jabs her unpleasantly in the ribs, knocking the wind out of her. "L-liar, Hisashi-kun, you said you'd be safe," she chastises, close to tears.

Perception check DC 10
Torasi's sleeve is hiding a bandage he doesn't recognise - a little too far up the arm to be her routine crafting difficulties. With the way her shirt's tucked over the professionally-tied knot, she seems to be trying to hide it

Reina

Reina's blade gracefully dances from its sheath, shining through the smoke, lashing wildly at the spearman, but the blind flailing as he sweeps past her delivers him safely from her sword. The swampfolk keep crowding her, piling into the smoke, even their leader piling in to attack, even their leader stomping and battering the ground as he jumps into the fray, swinging his axe wildly at her unseen neck. He's hideous this up close, snarling, his mouth split wide like a permanent smile revealing his great, crocodile-like teeth. They all gather around her, trying to flank and cut her off from escape even as they swipe fruitlessly at the air. From behind, the other woman tosses her net out wildly, trying to ensnare anyone she could.

Spear 1
Miss chance [roll0]
Attack [roll1] - charge attack (may hit allies)
Damage [roll2]

Leader (can't be avoided with substitution)
Miss chance [roll3]
Attack [roll4]
Damage [roll5]

Woman 2
Miss chance [roll6]
Attack [roll7] - touch attack with net. may hit allies
On a hit, you are entangled (and thus flat footed against the remaining attacks)

Spear 2
Miss chance [roll8]
Attack [roll9]
Damage [roll10]

Spear 3
Miss chance [roll11]
Attack [roll12]
Damage [roll13]

Woman 1
Miss chance [roll14]
Attack [roll15]
Damage [roll16]

(if you'd attacked the charging Spear 2, you'd have hit :smalltongue:)

[Princess Tracy]

Tsume

Rikku nods at his question. "Yup. Designed it mah-self. With a little help from the Terraforming Squad, 'course." The 'no water' comment makes her laugh uproariously. "Not a drop, just about. It's nice and hard ground, just like back home. Gotta keep myself able to fight outside the swamp. That and it's just nostalgic for a home." She puts her hands on her hips, quite chuffed with her rather lacking lawn.

Rikku doesn't go limp, though does hold back her hustling, trying to do at least some light resistance as Tsume manhandles her. As he kicks off from the ground though, her heavier, curvier body makes her a little harder to get a decent handle on; when she nudges against him with even the slightest resistance to correct herself, he finds the centre of mass shifting heavily to her. As he makes to spin her as he did Kaza, he ends up half wrapping himself around her hips, before being launched from her now quickly spinning body, and smacks his head off the hardened ground. It all happens so fast, he barely knows what the **** happened, but as Rikku grounds herself before the slight dizziness of the sudden spin can settle in, it seems like... Tsume just hammer threw himself. "Er... that was... unusual."

Tsume takes [roll0] nonlethal damage from technique malfunction, and head-smack

She walks over to him, patting his head and getting him on his feet. "There you go, don't worry about it. It was a spark of genius, that move. It was a solution - it was a strength you drew out when you needed it," she says, quite articulately. "For now.. how about I teach you something... awesome." She smiles widely at that, trying to excite his imagination

Rikku suggests the following techs off the top of her head in the way of 'awesome'. Some of them will have anecdotes attached, and all of them have an interesting way to be advanced x3 Feel free to choose any technique, of course.

Rock Shattering Fist
Heavenly Body
Instant Displacement

[Nyan]

He was looking down at the sword when he heard the door slide open and would slowly look up towards the foot of the bed to see Torasi approaching him, asking if he was okay. "I'm... Alive..." He said rather quietly, but he would actually smile lightly towards her as he was relived to finally see a friendly face after all that had happened, only to have her yelp and dive forward to hug him. Hisashi responding to the sudden approach by leaning away slightly and he would crinch a bit from her hugging his burnt body. But he would let her do it anyway but as she called him a liar and when he noticed she was close to tears even Hisashi would look back down at the sword he was grasping tightly in his hands, feeling slightly ashamed over having her worry like this.

"I'm...Sorry..." Seemed to be the only thing he could say, looking back up to her again. But then his eyes diverted from hers to look on her arm and he would notice the bandages that she seemed to be trying to hide. "What... Has happened?..." He said slowly lifting his hand to reach out towards her arm, seeming to have completely forgot his own state as he points out the bandages she was hiding. "That does not look like something you got from working..."

[Jacior]

Tsume whoofs audibly as the breath is knocked out of his lungs. "That... *cough* wasn't supposed to happen." He wheezes a little and coughs again. "It's so dusty. Is this what it's like beyond the swamp? It's so unforgiving and you can't even get dirty from it." He rolls over on his side. "I guess that was something I can't do twice! I should have saved it for someone more important. Live and learn I guess."

He grabs his teacher's hand and helps pull himself to his feet. "I'll learn how to do it again. It'll just take a lot of training. How could I not if I did it once? Time's on my side." His eyes lit up as she said something about teaching him something awesome. "I want to learn Shundou! I couldn't get my tutor to teach me, he said I was too young."

[HanaRei]

Reina watched many of the attacks miss, apparent the enemy weren't having much luck in terms of striking her through the fog. Dodging one of the blows that did manage to strike near her, the young teen knew she had to act now. With them all gathered as she hoped it would leave plenty of time to escape... at least given her anger towards them being a bit more fierce then usual.

She wanted to make sure to leave them charred... to teach them for attacking her. It wasn't very much like her to do such... yet she felt so compelled, her emotions far more peeked then usual. Glancing back, she focused herself. Using Body substitution, the girl quickly shot herself out leaving a decoy of herself in her place. She stopped herself back away from the cloud focusing on the group hoping the decoy worked as she prepared to strike them all together.

Action:

Used Body substitution (with log). Moved 30 feet away.

[Karrth]

Kamatari helped the old woman into the bed and then told what had happened on the mission, excluding the part where he released the seal. No need to worry her about that.

Taking his time to tell the story Kamatari spent well over half an hour talking to the old woman before she fell asleep and he started doing some work around the house.

As he fell into the old routines his mind drifted, thinking about the mission and his particular place in it. He knew he needed to become a lot better at what he was supposed to do before he could go out again, he currently had one technique to attack and none for defense.

As he finished up he packed his things and prepared to leave for the hospital he realized that a lot of time had passed and that he had to hurry if he didn't want to seem lax.

By the time he reached the hospital however he found that Yamanakawas still doing surgery and so he found a quiet place in the hospital and started to wait.

[Princess Tracy]

Reina

Reina's able to very proficiently perform her technique, keeping her cool as she flashes away, leaving a log-based substitute dummy in her wake. Outside and away from the fog, she's able to keep quiet and undetected as they hack at her dummy; as she sheathes her sword in preparation for her technique, the cool super-fast cut of her previous attack sets in and she sees the silhouette of the spearman practically fall in two as he hits the ground, extinguished. Not that his comrades seem to care, as they scramble about, even smacking each other as the Leader roars for order and blood. They're confounded, and more importantly lined up nicely for whatever Reina has planned next

(the mist will clear this round after your turn. and... it's your turn now)

Tsume

Rikku claps happily and quickly before clasping her hands together. "Alright~ Shundou it is! Watch carefully and I'll teach you everything I know about high speed movement..." She cracks her knuckles before snapping off her lower training weights, working a kink out of her neck as she limbers up. "Okay, Tsume, the hard ground here is the key to my method. Eyes on the legs and feet..." She 'takes it from the top' with her technique, going it as basic as possible, bending her back and everything in the standard form of the technique. She suddenly kicks off and vanishes, moving swiftly around until she comes to a halt a good 20 feet away, still within Tsume's sight.

With repeated showings, she keeps pushing Tsume further and further, demanding he try to match her pace, if not exceed it, working him to the bone even as he fumbles. Tsume's drive to be better makes it largely click with him, however, though she poorly conveys what he is to take away, and he'll have to put more into it to deduce the technique.

Rikku doesn't strain herself training much, tired out from her transformation and healing and general combat from earlier, instead giving the occassional pointer and pat on the back, or slap to the head, as they train into the evening. She shares dinner with Tsume's family, as promised. Despite being hesitant of exploiting courtesy at first, she eats like a pig, inhaling whatever she's offered

Receive a +2 to learn checks when taught by Rikku, and 4 hours of training. (Rikku will give a bigger learn check bonus when she's used to being a teacher)

Taijutsu check DC 15: You see her method works by kicking the ground repeatedly very quickly - several times in the blink of an eye, sending her flying. Gain an additional +2 to your learn check.

Hisashi

Torasi gasps, cupping her hand over her bandages as Hisashi notices them. She winces as she applies just a little too much pressure. "I-it's nothing. A sword fell off the rack and nicked me, that's all. I was just sleepy and being dumb..." She's not as witty as her counterpart. She's hiding something because she's scared for Hisashi. She won't tell him anything until she's more sure he'll be healthy and safe soon, and even then she might not be in the mood.

Torasi sniffs, wiping her tears away with the distraction of his attention. "Hisashi..." She presses against him lightly, not wanting to provoke his wounds. "Does it hurt to speak? What happened? I... I've never seen you so... so scared." She grimaces at that, trying not to well up again. He was her only friend in the whole wide world. She couldn't lose him, and there was no one she relied upon more. Just a couple of orphans in a hospital bed. And she doesn't know a thing of what's happened to the genin she treats like a brother, she doesn't even know her sword is broken. "Talk to me... please..." she pleads in a quiet voice, taking his hand in her own and pressing it to her cheek.

Kamatari and Minami

Minami bumps into Kamatari, recognising him as Yamanaka's other genin, outside of Sohaki's room. There's a conversation going on inside that they can hear some of. Hime's long since slithered into Yamanaka's den out back and possible un-summoned herself. Grandpa Juukuzu's raspy voice, Yamanaka's strict one and even Sohaki's weak one can be heard.

"Thank you for everything, Yamanaka-sama..."

"Think nothing of it. It is my duty, after all. Be thankful for my apprentice. Aburame Minami. Name a child after her."

"Ah, we would, miss... looks like we will be able to adopt."

"I have a couple of orphans in my team if you'd care to take them off of my hands."

There's a snort that sounds like Juukuzu - he never cared for the petty gossip and daily rituals of people outside the clan

"Ah, you think? A-anyway, I hope my message was useful. That ronin, I'm sure it was that sword.... But that's impossible, right?"

"Mortality is a fluid thing, Sohaki-chan. Now get some sleep." Yamanaka paces over inside as she room and does something to help Sohaki doze off.

"Th-thank you. I'll cherish the gift of life she gave me then, Minami-chan..."

Juukuzu waits until he hears some light snoring before speaking up a little louder than he intends. "Well, the Relic and ANBU teams have been informed. Shall you get stuck in it too?"

"With the wounds they're leaving, I think I'll be busy here, tidying up. I have 3 more in the ER that they're stabilising now."

"Hmph. So we'll wait then... Now. Since we're here, on the matter of the Third Jounin -"

"A-pa-pa. Aburame-san, please digest the medicine so your ears will better function, as you seem truthfully unaware that we have company." Yamanaka opens the door as grandpa throws his cloak about him, hiding his face and figure. Yamanaka nods as she sees her two different students. "I apologise, Kamatari, but I'll have to cancel out appointment," she remarks, downplaying his inquiry for those present to not inquire. "I have 3 full surgeries ahead of me. However, meet me back here in the morning and I shall see what I can do. By way of apology..." She pulls from her robe a training scroll of some sort - with insights into the Hyouton that Kamatari claimed he had an affinity for. "Try and learn the basics of this technique, keep your mind busy."

She's quite brief, knowing that every second she spends out here is a second that a patient could be dying. She pets Minami's hair fondly. Minami can see that inside the room, Sohaki is sleeping peacefully. Without her hood, she's a light-brunette with a slender figure marking an operations specialist. She's dressed in a patient's gown and dotted with bandages. Juukuzu's already let himself out along with his ANBU, though they wait at the entrance to escort Minami home. "Minami, don't worry about training anything advanced today. Just go home and meditate on what you have learned and felt," her sensei advises. Looking into the Aburame's eyes through her tinted glasses, she says those most potent of words - "You're ready." As in, she'd attained the mindset necessary for a field agent. Making sure she understands her meaning, Yamanaka quickly strides off to the other surgeries, leaving the two young ninja to their own devices.

Karrth, a character description if you please

Kamatari receives a theory scroll detailing the Frozen Ground technique - a nice, basic but effective Hyouton to get him started. This gives him a +4 bonus to develop the technique, meaning he could conceivably learn it today

Inside the scroll is hidden a vial: it's marked, "Kama-chan, take when you feel out of control."

REGALUS

Due to Minami's intense study and experience, and her recent adventure crystalising what she knows of medicine with Sohaki's case, and for just good darn roleplaying, receive 1750 XP

Just to catch you up to the guys, too x3 You're now 1250 off from a level up!

Despite what is said, you can train if you want. I would recommend mastering the body substitute technique - you have it for free and by spending time training you can make it even more potent. We'll discuss that OOC, perhaps

For now, feel free to describe how you spend the rest of your day. After getting his medicine, Gramps is off being largely quiet and lost in his thoughts, occasionally scratching at his old wound

[Nyan]

Hisashi would look at her with a concerned expression as she winched and made her excuse and he was just about to press her about it, seeing she was obviously lying but he was interrupted when she then spoke his name and came closer. And at her saying that he looked scared Hisashi would notice that he was actually still trembling, looking down at his hand that was still clutching the sword tightly he would realize that he was still in quite a bad shape. "Dammit... I'm still shaking aren't I..." He said as he grabbed his trembling hand with the other to make it stop.

Then as Torasi would take his hand and put it on her cheek, pleading for him to tell her what happened he would look in to her eyes for a moment before slowly moving it away to take hold of the sword and looked away to stare down on it in his lap. Pausing for a short moment as if he was thinking about what to say while his quite messy blonde hair hung down to hide most of his face from her. "We... confronted a missing-nin... A girl... Named Sana Suri... But she had set a trap for us and we were ambushed by her and a ally of hers... While Sana pulled back during the fight I followed, the others being occupied with her partner and I fought her on my own."

He clutched the sword harder as he took a short pause trying to make his trembling stop before he took a deep breath and continued. "I managed to break her fighting-spirit and she incased herself in cocoon made of wax... And just about then the others had taken out her ally as well. I thought that it was over but I was wrong... Sana had escaped and detonated the cocoon, setting the surrounding forest on fire... I was hurt badly but it would have been worse if not one of our squad leaders stepped in to shield me... I did not even realize what had happened and as I stood up I was surrounding by the fire..." He once again would pause, his voice starting to waver slightly mentioning the fire as it was clearly not easy to talk about.

"With my last ounce of strength I managed to take her down... I think... But cause of that, I was to exhausted to escape the fires closing in on me... It was getting harder and harder to breathe and I could not move another muscle. A branch above me collapsed and was about to crush me... But then I... Somehow..." He stopped for a brief moment as if he was searching for the words to explain the feeling. "Everything... Slowed down... My body reacted as if on its own and I drew my sword and-..." He got quiet... His shaking hands taking hold of the hilt of the sword to slowly pull it out, showing its broken condition. "I blocked the branch and rolled away... The sword slipped out of my hands and in to the fire..."

He then suddenly put his hand over his eyes as he had started breathing faster as if he was panicking. Taking a few deep breaths to calm himself as best as he could. "I-I could see everything... I remember it so clearly as if its recorded in my head. I-I was lying there within the inferno, the fire slowly coming closer and closer to consume me... T-The mind-numbing pain surging through my body as I started burning...Dying... I could not even breathe anymore I-..." His voice was cracking up and he seemed to be even more terrified then ever now.

He had trouble telling his story any further and his trembling had reached its peak recalling the horrible event, putting both his hands on his head as he hunched over slightly and waited for a while. Doing some deep breaths trying to force himself to calm down and after a while he finally moved his hands away from his head, slowly gripping hold of the sword she had made for him again. "But... I saw...The sword was burning in the flames...But not to ashes...But white, beautiful feathers... I-I was maybe just hallucinating... But I felt... As if it was watching over me...Protecting me... And after that I... was saved by Yamanaka and the others."

He would then look up and meet Torasi's eyes looking in to them deeply as he paused for a moment. "Trace... If you had not made me this sword... I-I don't think I would be here now... I would have been crushed by that log and that would have been it... But... You saved me... I-I'm alive..."

[HanaRei]

Reina positioned herself back focusing her energy in. Hiakosho was a rather basic attack... but considering the fact they were distracted by the substitute, it gave her plenty of chance to strike them all in one go. Performing the symbols quickly, a sphere formed in front before firing out, aiming at the center of the circle where she had been standing moments ago in the fog. As perhaps 'twisted' as it was for her to think, she hoped it might give the odd 'people' a nice burn they won't soon forget.

Action:

Not 100% certain if I can empower it, I looked and it seemed different from the empowered technique. None the less I'll include both results, number after the + is the extra if that empowered works. Won't be as great if not but meh!

Chakra: 3 + 2 (Believe or just if it auto goes to 1)
Damage: [roll0]+[roll1] = 10

She moves back 30 feet after casting on them to create more distance.

[Princess Tracy]

Reina

There's screams and the crack of flames as her technique launches and detonates across the way, right in the centre of the smoke cloud - the technique's pressure pushing back and dissipating the smoke entirely as it engulfs her opponents in flame. The one cut up is still bleeding out, one is just outside her radius, while the remaining spearman, the two women and the leader burn. The remaining spearman jumps back, fearing the flames, babbling incoherently as he sees the fire consume his allies - the intense heat nearly instantly killing them as they writhe unconsciously. Reina's wish is granted, they are gone and dead, save for the last one. Their leader stands strong, leaping from the flames that now shroud him, diving against the ground as they extinguish. As Reina watches, from his back strange markings that look like living flames, or glowing blood snake across him, a pattern spreading up around him, ultimately fading to tattoo-like ink. A dark aura she can almost feel pushing against her circles him, as he only seems more bestial.

He roars, looking around wildly for her; seeing her move away after her attack, he leaps over what cover there is, aiming to slice her in two with his axe, his muscles bulging from his demonic mark

Due to the rush of bringing death in combat, make a will save DC 13 from the extreme emotions

Spearman 1 remains and spent his turn cowering. However, due to his leader standing strong, he may act normally next round

Due to the damage, Reina has triggered the leader's Cursed Seal. Have fun with that.

The leader charges Reina!
[roll0]
[roll1]

[Jacior]

Of course, as Tsume had guessed and Rikku could have assumed, Tsume started to pick up quickly on the technique, even with Rikku's poor teaching technique. By the end of their session, he's panting more than any of the others had during the fighting earlier that day. "4 days. I'll be able to do this technique like you in four days Rikku-sensei." He spoke with the confidence of youth and the stubbornness of genius.

When they get back home, Rikku has a chance to meet Tsume's older brothers. A pair of twins, they seem a little flighty and unfocused through most of the meal, their attentions paid more towards Rikku's appearance. "You'll have to forgive the boys Miss Li. They're so easily distracted lately. It's really just ruined their work." Emika gives Rikku a sly smile. "Maybe they should do a little training with you and Tsume. Give them some discipline." Tsume puts his head into his hands and groans at the thought. "MOOOOOOM, there's no way they'd be able to handle the training I put myself through! Let alone what Rikku-sensei has me do." She almost giggled at her youngest, suppressing it with a bit of a cough. "You're probably right sweetie," Another groan from the young ninja. "It was just a thought."

[Princess Tracy]

Hisashi

Torasi's eyes widen as he tells his story, being sucked into his horror of the day. "You... fought her alone?" her brow sharpens, trying to ignore their shared grief, wanting to chastise him for his rashness, but she knew him well enough. She knows there's nothing she could tell him that he wouldn't know by the time he laid eyes on her. Her hand grips his tighter as he builds up to the fire, as she sees the fear of death in him, but she only joins his trembling, turning pale as snow as he recites on how time slowed down. She didn't know anything about medicine, was that bad? There was so much that could happen to him and all she could do was scratch at the surface, how could she help... As he hunches over, all helpless, she's frozen for a moment, watching his panic over his perfect recollection, huddled over, before she can't stand the sight anymore, embracing him tight so her cheek rubs against his, a salty tear streaking down between their faces as she holds him silently. She only backs up at all as he flashes the sword; she can tell by instinct how broken it is the moment it is disturbed in its sheath, but she doesn't care for the blade, only its wielder. She's silent another moment as he explains the idea, that she saved him. "White, beautiful feathers... How could I save you when I wasn't there for you..." The thought that her sword had been what saved his life brought some comfort though, as determined as she was to feel guilt in his place.

She edges closer to him, glad to see him feeling some hope, wanting him to feel better, wanting to be there for him. There's a moment when she realises how close her lips are to his, then that she doesn't mind. She gives a gasp, wondering if Hisashi would... She leans in a bit. "Hisashi... I just want you to be safe... with me..." Just as she closes her eyes when leaning forward, there's a knock at the door and a clearing of the throat by Hisashi's bodyguard. Torasi backs off a bit, blushing down to her shoulders. "Sleep, Hisashi. Dream of anything instead of that... It's no good, the way those thoughts make you. I'll make you a stronger sword, next time..." She sits stroking his hand, trying to keep her gaze on her, his mind off of his trauma, until the guard enters the room and seems about ready to physically throw her out of the building. She doesn't need to be manhandled so stands to leave. "If you still feel you have to do this... I'll... I'll protect you more..." She looks over her shoulder as she's escorted peacefully out and the door locks behind her, leaving Hisashi to his thoughts.

[HanaRei]

Reina watched as her efforts had seemed to work far better then she had even expected. Her eyes fixated forward observing quietly. Her breath was heavy as she couldn't help but feel that lingering sensation of anger grip her. It was odd to her... why? Why did they bring her so much anger? She looked almost upset towards the flaming individuals as they fell to the heat of the flames. Had she really done something like that to the people? Savage or not was that right?

Her mind seemed to race a bit as her emotions seemed to shift rapidly. It was quickly put to a halt as her own mind worked to her disadvantage. Much to her surprise she watched the leader suddenly shift, watching the odd mark glow on his body before he jumped towards her. She let out a cry as the strike hit her striking through her armor as she shifted back from the blow, barely missing being cleaved.

Shifting, she sliced out quickly at the man attempting to strike back at him quickly in hopes of ridding him before he hurt her more, jumping back 5 feet after her blow.

Action:

Will: [roll0]
Will2: [roll1]
Attack: [roll2]
Damage: [roll3]

[Princess Tracy]

Reina

Reina feeks a desperate, intoxicating surge of power from within, and with it a greater frenzy, as pain racks her form and blood splatters across the swamp floor below. The leader growls, his sharp-tooth lined mouth spreading wide in a rippling, blood frenzied grin. Reina's blade rams forward, hitting him in the small of his scales, the blade's momentum seeming just halted; however, gathering her own, raging strength, she sets one foot forward and stabs out, gliding her blade with its remaining speed to nick then stab him hard between the ribs. He screams, twisting around as his own blood spurts out, his ally stopping halfway through his charge at Reina. There's a standstill for a moment as Reina steps back, the leader still looking at her with dark, crazed eyes as they feel each other out. He eyes her sword - it was what struck him. Its where his blood was. He steps forward, swinging his axe not at the girl but at the blade, attempting to crackingly disarm her!

Disarm attempt. Reina gains and attack of opportunity

Make an opposed attack roll. [roll0]

[Princess Tracy]

Tsume

Rikku looks at Tsume as he recites his prediction of 4 days. "Hmph. You won't disappoint, Tsume," she says, taking his determination as a sort of validation of her methods. She ruffles his hair on his way home. "I've wanted a training partner for so long, but there's not many people in this town that can keep up with me. Think you can provide me with a challenge, Tsume-kun?" The difference between RIkku and him was experience. It remained to be seen if he would out-pace her. With the way she trains, she doesn't act like many other special jounin; she doesn't act like she's reached her plateau.

Rikku takes a while to notice anything's up with the brothers, seeming largely oblivious as she just enjoys her meal after a hard day of work. When the mom apologises though, she glances around at the brothers, blinking curiously, currently trying to choke down a slab of ham. She actually gives an uncomfortable blush as she realises where they're looking. "Ah, i-it's okay..." she stutters. It had been a while since she had a figure to be ogled with. It's not something she was too used to in the first place. She huffs at mummy's teasing of her sons. "Well, I could whip them into shape if you want. Running a few laps can do wonders for concentration," she remarks, meeting the brother's gaze, smugly threatening them with hard work

She eats it all up quickly enough, though out of some sort of tradition consciously leaves a few rice grains in her bowl. "Phew.... thank you, Enkouichi-san. If I'm not too imposing, do you have any sake?" She was curious about Tsume's parents - pounding back a few with the kids off to bed might make her spill the beans on her chakra.

Rikku performs Sense Chakra on on the room as they eat x3

[HanaRei]

Reina watched as her attack managed to strike the man. Her eyes seemed to glow an pinkish shade, her pupils turning to be more like slits, glancing fiercely at the man. Her heavy breath escaped, a faint haze of what appeared to be blue flame flickered briefly into existence with each breath, fading away into smoke. Her nails began to extend as the girl was left so perplexed.

Her mind raced as she snarled a bit towards the man, her teeth having become a bit more sharp then usual, taking up a more jagged appearance though not quite sharp. Her mind raced as it became more about survival.. about taking out the threat or escaping it swiftly through any means necessary. I don't want to die here... I don't like being alone... I don't like this place... lost... lost.... lost... die... must not die... kill to live... smolder... burn... consume...

Her eyes fixated up noticing as the man seemed to lash out, not at herself but at her weapon. Quickly striking back with her blade in an attempt to lash at him before her weapon is disarmed. Now without a weapon in her hand, the girl quickly leaped back, rather then using her legs she found instinctively herself utilizing all four limbs to retreat back away from the man, a soft cat like growl partly audible from her lips.

Action:

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]
Withdrew away from the man after the attack getting upon all fours.

[Jacior]

"What kind of challenge could I provide you now, Rikku-sensei? You're so far above me, it's like I'm at the bottom of a very steep mountain." He gives her a look that's between jealousy and admiration. "I don't think it'll be any time soon I give you a challenge. You're like twice as old as I am." Tsume gives her a sly look that matches his mother's. "But you better watch out. I'll definitely put you to shame by the time I'm as old as you are Rikku-sensei."

"You're more than welcome to try Miss Li, but the twins have an amazing ability to not be found when you want them to do something. It's really quite something." Emika winks at Rikku, but she does give her sons a noticeable glance of irritation. Akimitsu had managed to keep quiet by assembling some sort of building out of the food he had gotten for himself, but he looked up at this. "She's right you know! Those boys can disappear as good as any ninja! Of course they always come out of hiding when I put dinner on the table. Men need good food you know, or else we're not much help around... well, much of anything really!" The twins however, don't react much more than to look at each other and pay slightly more attention to their food.

"Of course! I'd be more than happy to share a cup or two with you Miss Li." Emika says as dinner comes to its slow conclusion. "Akimitsu, have the boy's wash up and go to bed. It's late and they need their rest if Miss Li is to have her way with them tomorrow." Tsume grumbles and the twins just grin. "I guess this is goodnight Rikku-sensei. Try not to be hung-over when we train tomorrow." He sticks his tongue out at her before hesitating a second and throwing his arms around her. He whispers to her. "Thank you for bringing me home today. It's been fun. And don't try to match my mom in drinking, you'll be sorry." With that he and the twins grab the dishes off the table and are ushered out by their father.

Emika raises an eyebrow as she watches her son hug Rikku but doesn't say anything until the other's have left. "You've made quite an impression on him Miss Li, in such a short time as well. Please, come with me to the sitting room." She goes through the kitchen, where Tsume and his brothers are washing the dishes, playing around as brothers do and grabs a bottle, a very large bottle from a shelf high out reach of anyone but her. She leads Rikku up the stairs into a room that seemed very much above a normal sitting room. With a thick carpet, several long padded bunches and a ceiling made entirely of glass, it felt a little out of place here in the marsh.

I will work on descriptions later, but suffice for now to know the whole family has higher than average chakra, with Tsume and his parents being above the civilian line. The twins are actually above the line too, but it's obviously untrained.

How it's obvious, I'm not sure.

[Nyan]

As Torasi would move closer to him after having embraced him tightly while he had been shaking. Hisashi would avert his eyes for a moment to look away and clear his throat. "You were there... A-At least... That is what I felt... somehow..." As he then looked back he also realized how close they were to each other. He almost seemed a bit surprised and his heart started racing, but not out of fear like before... "T-Trace...I..." He said quietly as Torasi leaned in even closer and closed her eyes, their lips almost about to graze each other. Hisashi feelt her breath against his skin and did not even shrug away even tho she was so close. Then as there was a knock on the door and he heard someone clear his throat Hisashi glanced over towards the door for but a second before then looking back at Torasi as she moved away.

Hearing her advice for him to sleep Hisashi would gulp slightly before nodding as a response. Looking in to her eyes and feeling her hand stroking his Hisashi was actually blushing a bit before he cleared his throat again. He then watches her stand up to leave and walk away, staring at her with a sort of shocked expression when she looks over her shoulder. As the door then closes and locks behind her Hisashi just stares at the door for quite a while as if he is frozen, slowly putting his hand on his chest to feel his heart still pound quickly. But not out of fright, but something else. He shook his head and looked down at the sword again that was placed in his lap, slowly sheathing it and putting it beside him before rubbing his cheek with his fingers feeling it was still wet from Torasi's tear. Closing his eyes and leaning back in the bed he sighs heavily as he then tries to fall asleep, slowly drifting away in to his slumber with less trouble than he expected.

[Princess Tracy]

Reina

Reina's blade dances from her hand, following up her previous, disorientating cleave to the torso as she sets her sword to his jaw and says upwards from his flat lips, rending his face open. His axe comes down, tearing the sword from the young ninja's hands, an agonised roar filling the clearing as he falls forward on one knee, too Rikku's eyes from the blood splatter seeming to have lost an eye. Unarmed, her opponent distracted with pain, she gets the opportunity to slink away, running on all fours, sloshing through the swamp as she goes. The beast of a leader hesitates, Reina's own combat putting the fear in him, and in his wild frenzy he repeatedly whacks and shatters the sword at his feet. He throws his axe at Reina, but she's entirely too far away and he is loathe to approach. even as his axe sinks more than halfway through a tree.

She runs and runs and runs. They're behind her, the beasts are behind her, gathering in number as she goes. But they seem to fade away. They're not as fast. Their own insane flames consume them. Reina's eyes drift to the moon with every breath, exhaustion setting in, smoke pooling around the edges of her vision. As she stops, flopping to her back, she can feel her wound healing, the axe-cut closing up nicely, steam rising from her now scarres flesh as even blood falls away. To her though it was just survival. Shadows and smoke and smouldering bodies. The moon. Danger approaches, the creature inside, they're here, body so weak...

Reina's not alone here. Her consciousness leaks into another level, as she feels the eyes of another staring at her through the wasteland, drawing closer. They were familiar, but no ally for sure. It seems unreal, it has to be unreal, but that moon bound the souls together. Cupped limbs stalk closer, and her own heart lurches, her instinct for survival spiking in reaction. She closes her eyes and all is darkness and flame once more, promises of protection from a great wave as her mind smolders...

Earn 2100XP for showing them who's boss, surviving, and your escape.

You lose consciousness. I'll make another post shortly to say what happens when you level up. Make me a will save, would you?

Rikku

"Heh heh, just try and live to see my age, you little go-getter," she teases him. "I'll work you to the bone every day until you can surpass me. I don't need a student, I need a rival." She puts out her hand to shake his firmly on that understanding that respect, before they head in.

---

Rikku gets a bit of a laugh at the twins expense. "Not very talkative, are they? Don't worry, boys. I don't bite, unless given a reason." She takes her last tearing bite of her carefully preserved steak in playful demonstration. "I'll be sure to have something fresh prepared as bait to the training grounds then."

She's quiet as the boys are seen off to bed, grinning to Tsume for a moment - "Hey, if there's on thing I'm known for, it's my endurance." She gasps and jumps a bit in surprise as she's hugged, before calming and patting his head. For a moment, she indulges to put her arm around him before he pulls away, earning him a rare nurturing smile from his instructor. "Wow.... Ha, I had fun too, Tsume. Now get some rest already." She wasn't one much for the mushy stuff, but she was genuine and courteous.

Rikku follows Emika when offered, nodding to herself. "Yeah, I'm surprised myself. He's my first student, so I think he's pretty special." Never a master at quite explaining the feeling, she does do her best to mull over the feeling as she finds somewhere to sit. Rikku gazes up at the glass ceiling, wondering at the design of the room enough for it to disrupt her thoughts entirely - she peers to see if she can see what was now the night sky. "Do you travel much, Emika-chan? Your tastes seem as exotic as mine," she remarks with a grin. She was no master interrogator, just simply and innocently curious. It doesn't take much to guess Rikku's probably an immigrant ninja, not entirely uncommon in any ninja village.

[HanaRei]

Having struck harshly upon her opponent, Reina's own mind seemed to... distorted. It wasn't something she was use to at all, yet it didn't even strike a cord. The very small filling her nose. Her blade disarmed, her mind didn't even wander back to picking it up. She ran away quickly, being carried by her hands and feet running in a manner she had never done so before yet it felt so... natural. Her eyes fixated forward.

Making her escape, her mind felt as if it was ringing in her ear. The feeling of being watched lingering. It sounded almost as if someone was speaking to her... their voice distorted to a point it was inaudible. Her vision only continued to blur more and more with each leap forward. She felt herself stumble, tripping her own self up falling forward before rolling onto her back, skidding only a few inches forward.

Her heavy breath escaped her lips as her body felt... so strange... it felt like her body was being soothed while yet her mind lingered savagely. Her vision becoming even easier as the sensation of her being with someone grew. It was... evil... so dark.. yet... it didn't feel as if it was for harm. It was a mixture of emotions that filled her mind as she let out an audible gasp. Her vision faded further as her soft gasps escaped her lush lips. Her vision only faded as the girl let out one last raspy gasp before slipping into black.

[Jacior]

"I'm already your rival Rikku-sensei! I just need a lot of training to prove it." Tsume grips and squeezes it hard. "And I'd just like to see you try and run me into the ground. You're in for a big surprise if you think you can."

--------

"He is quite the exceptional young boy isn't he?" Emika says as she lounges on one of the benches. "Hard to imagine he's only ten, isn't it? I can't imagine the future he's going to have." She sets the large ceramic bottle on the table and pulls a pair of cups from who-knows-where and lays them too on the table. "Please, have as much as you like." She says as she pours herself a cup and brings it close to her mouth. "This is some of my better sake, not that I choose to drink anything of poor quality." She takes a small sip and then joins Rikku in looking at the ceiling.

"Do you like it? It took quite a lot of money to bring all this glass here. But I think that it was worth it." She takes another sip from her cup and refocuses her gaze on Rikku. "My husband and I used to travel a lot, before the twins were conceived. It's hard to travel with children, and I wanted to make sure that they would have a solid life. I think that people need a strong foundation in their life." She empties her cup and pours another. "A life on the road, while interesting, isn't really a good place to raise children."

[Regalus]

Minami smiled in quiet amusement at the slug princesses woes behind the safe cover of her jacket, "I'll be sure to broach the subject with sensei when the time come hime," she replies in kind before allowing the conversation to slip into more mundane affairs; the conversation being a welcomed reprieve, allowing the last of her stress to slip away for the time being.

Upon arriving at Seno's office, she goes to work quickly; looking over her temporary patient's medical chart as she made her way to the medical stores. To say the the young genin is surprised by its contents would be an understatement, if only due to the fact the boy she would treat seemed to lack most if not all of the usual Uchiha traits; making a bastard, distant descendant the most likely origins for the boys gifts. It is perhaps a small blessing the the young Aburame was so engrossed in her readings that she did not toss the nearest sharp implement in Himeko's direction; an act which would have most likely ended poorly for the genin.

It is to the startled genin's credit that she is able to regain her composure, despite her current companions grim explanations or the temprary slip of her doujutsu suppressor; or perhaps a sign that she should be spending much for more time with genin her age then her teacher's coworkers, "There was no harm done, so you have nothing to apologize for Himeko-san," she replies with a polite smile as she closes Hisashi's folder, "I was actually sent here by Yamanaka-sensei to assist with a patient. She recently returned from her trip, and I believe she's in one of the operating rooms as we speak," she adds helpfully, just in case the jounin was not yet aware of the White Captain's arrival, and after a brief exchange the young heir excused herself so as to attend to her patient.

If Hisashi comfortably tucked in, Minami parts way with Princess Slug before venturing forth towards Sohaki-sans room upon hearing her surgery had been a success. It is much to her unexpected surprise that she comes upon another of her teacher's newest pupils; formally greeting her fellow pupil, before the voices on beyond the door draw her attention. A slightly flustered smile forming on the Aburame heir's face at the degree of praise given to her; though thankfully she was not distracted enough for the White Captain's words going unnoticed, managing to recompose herself as the door opened before the genin pair.

When she finally hears Yamanaka's words a momentary flash of confusion flashes through her features, hidden behind her raiments, yet almost as quickly dawning comprehension rises forth from her frame as she smiles in earnest once more. The change in her is subtle, but to those her know her well it is a sign of giddiness or glee beyond words, "T-Thank you Sensei! I'll do my best," she beams, restraining herself so as to not disturb Sohaki-san's sleep; proper decor in presence of the others around them restraining her from trying to hug her mentor.

WIth her duties done for the day, a day which has ushered a great many changes in the young girls life; Minami departs home with her grandfather, spreading the good news to her family upon arrival. After the congratulations are complete, Minami heads over to the clan's training rounds to get a bit of kawarimi training in before spending the rest of her evening with her family.


Taking ten of the Learn check for first level Kawarimi no jutsu mastery. Base Learn bonus for ninjutsu 6, +1 due to this being the first level of mastery for Kawarimi. Given that the Learn DC is 13, Minami should gin first level mastery with no problems.

[Princess Tracy]

Minami

The day passes quietly, or what's left of it, and Minami trains peacefully to attain the next level of proficiency with her technique as grandpa quietly watches from the side. He seems a little sleepy, or at least pensive, only occasionally walking by to offer pointers, at one point tossing a shuriken at her substitute. The Aburame keep mostly to themselves, but news spreads quickly in their little hive and the young girl's greeted with a special dinner when at last she's home, her mother ruffling her hair in congratulations as soon as she clears the threshold and smells her favourite meal. Secretive and cunning though he was, it seems even grandpa hadn't been tight-lipped on her day. Perhaps tomorrow would be less dramatic...

After getting dressed and going to attend the hospital the next day, Minami feels an odd disturbance, something just out of place that has her bugs all spooked. Looking to the terraforming division, she sees the stream her clan filters seems to be flowing oddly. If she investigates, she finds a young girl about her age, with dark hair and torn clothes, a sword strapped to her back. She looked like a foreign ninja, and was covered in mud and blood, the stream carrying her undetected on the edge of the compound, though occasionally getting held up on the bank, especially now the heat was making the stream subside some. She looks to be in bad shape, but if Minami investigates she finds there's not a cut on her. Additionally, she seems to be an Ash-nin, going by her possessions... When disturbed, she growls awake, her eyes wild for a moment then sleepy as she regains her senses or what's left of them.

The girl appears to have suffered some serious bruising and scarring, but it looks like it will heal well. However, she may be running a fever, possibly from the swamp's contaminants

Kamatari

Kamatari is able to train for the remaining 8 hours of the day before heading home, where his caretaker is still slumbering, the poor old lady. He's able to collect his payment for the mission, so maybe he could help out more around the house with finally earning some dough - a ninja 'intern' though he was. When he wakes, he finds that his window has frosted up in the night, a thin layer of ice on the inside, but it felt room-temperature as he puts his hand to it and it and makes it break away from the pane, melting to a small puddle.

Yamanaka's emergency had delayed his meeting with her, but she promised an audience today. As he walks to the hospital however, he feels a presence, a dangerous warmth seeping into the air the closer he gets to the hospital. If he investigates, he finds Aburame Minami from yesterday huddled over an injured looking ninja.

If he ignores it, it soon passes and he's able to get all the way up to the hospital. If he takes Minami, he finds the feeling fades all the same after she investigates the girl.

At the hospital

Anyone going to see her gets all the way to Yamanaka's office before the bespectacled Himeko Shoin stops them, guarding the door - "She's napping like the dead." Yamanaka can be heard clearly from inside anyway if you knock. "Is that Kamatari-kun? You'd best take your top off and get in here, I've prepared a fuinjutsu." She's heard pacing to the door and answers in her scrubs, her hair out of place for once, as she can just fix her glasses. Oddly she doesn't seem too tired despite clearly pulling an all-nighter - perhaps indulging in her own medicines to keep awake.

Tsume

Rikku and his mother aren't seen for the rest of the night, drinking and chatting throughout until he crawls into bed. In the morning, he checks the lounge to find neither them nor the contents of several sake bottles to be present. Looking up, however, he finds the two of them sprawled on top of the skylight, snoring away drunkenly. Apparently she'd ignored his advice against drinking his mom under the table, but with the state they were in it might be called a draw, not that either might fully remember. Though he can make breakfast himself, one wonders what effect this could have on their training schedule! If nothing else, at least Rikku's unconscious face pressing against the glass is a hilarious enough sight.

There's a knock at the door, and if he answers it, Tsume finds an incredibly bored looking Himeko Shoin - the secretary-looking ninja from the other day - carrying a scroll. "Hey, kid, I know you're teacher's here, sleeping all public and vulnerable where anyone could stab her spine. Give this bad news to her, would you," she commands more than requests, fixing her glasses as she passes him the small scroll and turns to leave.

Reina

Reina's eyes flicker as she drifts off, her soul's internal struggle with the shadow cast over it making her gut feel knotted...

She drifts off, in her sleep feeling herself splash and drift about, helpless in some current as shadows plague her dreams. She's half-awake to see a girl looking over her, but her vision's blurry and her body seems oddly unresponsive. A remainder of her odd, animal fury from last night remains, as when she opens her eyes everything seems momentarily wreathed in dark flames and a growl escapes her lips before she calms.

Lose benefits of your frenzy, and lift will save penalty. Regain 1 point of charisma (will regain more with time) - meaning you still have a certain survival instinct and slurred speech to you. Suffer effects of exhaustion

Will Save DC15...

You remember an image, but not from where, and a warm embrace...
http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/223/1/c/mangekyou_sharingan_eye_v2_by_whozzy94-d468f2l.jpg

Rikku (last night...)

"Yeah, he's petty interesting - only been Genin for a day and already sure he'll surpass me. I wasn't nearly that ambitious at his age. Has he got something to live up to?" the Jounin pokes, honestly curious if this desire in her student to be the best - with a chakra like his mother's, it wasn't hard to imagine he had some shoes to fill.

She gulps down more of the sake like the container was a shot glass, "I'm honoured by the choice of drinks," she says graciously. "Got any stories from the road then?" She loosens up herself, finally untying her dress as she pours herself another shot.

Hisashi

Hisashi is able to sleep throughout the night, left to his dreams of flames and feathers, and Torasi hoped, nicer things yet. All the violence, then the calm... a great devil raises an axe of flames, only to be parried at the last moment by a blonde angel. His body at the sidelines, unable to move as her katana gives way, watching, time slowing down as the blade cracks, and the axe comes swinging down upon them...

If Hisashi emerges from his nighmare, he finds it is just after dawn and he remains alone in his hospital room, save for his new visitor. In the chair beside his bed is Yamanaka, her glasses on the dresser and her coat missing as she just wears regular scrubs, her surprisingly long hair let down. And she's snoring slightly, her eyes closed, rings around her eyes and specs of blood on her overalls as she sleeps away, sleepily watching over the young genin. if he doesn't disturb her, he's free to go back to sleeping, back to his dreams, if he dare brave them. She doesn't seem to stir much until visiting hours cause a racket big enough to wake the both of them, but even then the room was off-limits. It doesn't stop a chap at the hospital door, however, Yamanaka's just woken eyes glaring at it like she's trying to start a fire with pure hate. "That better be a medic," she mumbles, getting up, going about her duties as she drags her coat on and heads for the door. "Sleep well, Hisashi?" she asks, pausing as she crosses the room to look at her pupil.

Wits DC 25
Yamanaka's awake, but keeps pretending to sleep so Hisashi will go back to sleep to. if he 'disturbs' her instead, then she'll wake up and ask him how he's doing then instead.

[Jacior]

Tsume answers the door wearing only a pair of boxers. "Huh?" He says sleepily. "I guess I can." He squints at the girl. "You were only supposed to send a few of us the other day. Yamanaka-sensei was irritated." Taking the scroll he gives her another look. "She'll be fine, who'd attack her in the village anyway?" He closes the door and shakes his head. "I'll never understand people."

He climbs up the stairs leading to the roof. "Mom, Rikku. It's morning. Time to get up." He watches them sleeping on the skylight. "I'm not going to stop my training just because you decided to get drunk Rikku-sensei. Also, a message came for you. Himiko-san said it was bad news." He throws it at her sleeping form. "Wake up! I wanna go train! I already made the dough for today!"

Ranged Scroll Attack: [roll0]

Emika (last night...)


"Only the stories his father has told him. Quite an adept storyteller his father is. Always going on about ninjas. I think Tsume wants to embody the ones in the stories, to make his own even better." She smiles softly into her cup. "I told my husband it was foolish to hire a tutor for him once. But Tsume's proved me wrong every step of the way." She sighs. "But I find these days all my boys are proving me wrong. I just hope the twins don't decide to become ninja as well. I think I'd worry myself to death at that point."

"I have many stories I could tell. My husband and I have been all over the world. We've even been out to the Village Hidden in the Stars, if you can imagine that. A couple of bakers traveling the world!" Emika keeps her eyes on her cup as she speaks, obviously lost in memories. "But when you're young and in love, you think you're invincible. Traveling doesn't worry you, it's a new adventure every day." She drains her cup and pours herself another that she downs as well before pouring another cup.

[Nyan]

Hisashi would wake up from his nightmare with a gasp. Quickly sitting up as he looks around the room, his heart pounding in his chest and cold sweat had started to run down his face. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself as he wiped off the sweat from his face with his hands before noticing Yamanaka sitting beside his bed, presumably sleeping tho Hisashi was far to shaken to pay any closer attention to her. Slowly laying down on the bed again he looked up at the ceiling for a few moments before he closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep.

He spend the last few hours of the night drifting on and off between being asleep and awake, stirring around in his bed quite a bit as he had a bit of trouble getting a good nights rest. Only to be awoken yet again as he heard the ruckus going on outside the door but at this point he decided not to go back to sleep again. Seeing that Yamanaka was now awake he would simply watch her quietly as she stood up and put her coat back on. "I would be lying if I said I did..." He responded at her question before stopping her as she tried to leave. "Sensei... What... happened back there?... You said you would answer my questions. And I have quite a few..."

[HanaRei]

The dreams... the images... it seemed so surreal. Her awareness of her surroundings fading in and out. Her blurry vision seeing a girl standing above her. Her lips parted to speak though no words escaped. Was it just part of a dream? Her mind just felt so floaty... unable to fixate on itself. What was happening?

Her eyes cracked open partly once again... or so she assumed. Awake? Her vision fixating more clearly as the flames heated her delicate frame. A growl echoed out as her mind didn't even process it at first. The silence took part as she laid on the ground with half open eyes, her pupils dilated as they darted back and forth rapidly. A final blink returned her eyes back to normal as she glanced up weakly.

She slowly picks her arm up as to move, finding herself slipping over as she fell forward. "Damnnn eee..." She called out breathing heavily, blinking a bit puzzled as her voice didn't come out the way she wanted it to. She pushed up again only to slide forward more resting on her front. She breathed heavily in and out laying on the ground. She glanced up looking forward as she tried pulling her own frame slowly forward, attempting to find herself more cover using a tree or whatever she could before falling flat once again. Her eyes felt heavy as she closed them off, attempting to rest feeling weak.

It felt barely like she had slept at all. For now... she only felt the desire the rest her eyes... even if but for a little bit more... hopefully without those strange images she seen before.

[Regalus]

Minami goes eerily still, her blood running cold as she realizes what she's fond; quickly scanning the area for the shinobi's would be team before sensing a swarm back to bring someone to help her. As she goes to check her wounds, the young genin swiftly pulls her hand back and prepares to defend herself at the growl; though relaxes once the girls falls over once more. This was going to be hell on her nerves, she just new it.

"Uhm, miss; can you understand me?" she inquired as she warily leaned over the mysterious girl, keeping her eyes on her hands in case she tried anything. "You hurt, and you've be een exposed to the swamp and its making you sick. I'm going to try to help you before it can get worse, alright? Just nod if you understand," she elaborates, keeping her hands to herself to appear as non-threatening as possible; yet ready to bolt at a moment's notice.

[HanaRei]

The girl remained silent, hearing the words as they echoed in her mind. Her entire body felt as if it was stone, unable to move. Was it just a dream? Everything felt so hazy... so disorienting for her. Perhaps she was dead? Was it an angel that had swooped down to claim her soul... to carry her on?

It took a few moments as the faded voice started to make some sense. Nod her head? Her eyes seemed to struggle as if attempting to open, though sealed shut. They didn't seem to want to open at this point. She nodded weakly, not quite understanding just what the woman said. As far as she knew she might be asking if she wishes to be put down. Still, she felt she had to... to show she was alive.

Her lips parted weakly as her hot breath escaped her lips as she attempted to speak once again, her voice still not quite able to escape her lips. She kept quiet, closing her mouth a bit as her heavy breath continued to escape, her body still feeling to weak to attempt to move much herself.

[Princess Tracy]

Hisashi

Yamanaka stops as she's asked, nodding to herself. "Of course you would want to know." She stares at the door as if divining who is on the other side. She sighs a moment, reaching into her clothes for something to tie her hair back, buying a few moments to gather her thoughts. At the window, she nods to herself. "The other jounin don't think I should tell you your heritage yet, as they think it will compromise your loyalty at this stage in your training. However, I may be a healer before even that duty in some ways..." She fixes her hair and glasses in the slight reflection of the steamed up window, not being one much for the theatrics. In fact, she speaks rather mechanically for a moment, like reading from a script. "You possess a doujutsu, Hisashi. A powerful bloodline that the stress of yesterday forced you to unlock. Your possession of it, your mastery, will define your standing in the village, and what you can achieve personally. It will take time before you advance beyond the simple eidetic memory it grants, so for now it isn't much worth it to use it in the field."

She puts her back to the wall as she thinks. "My apprentice left some medicine on your bedside table there. Use that to suppress the eyes if it acts up on its own, until you stop being so damn scared of it." Her eyes look down over the hospital's lower levels through the window over her shoulder, her own little empire. "You see things in life, Hisashi. Terrible things. Things that... forgetting them is really all you can do. I know I try to. The worst of it comes when you're just a little older than you are now, at least when you're a shinobi. You'll lose so much and think it's because you failed. I'm sorry that for all your skin may harden, you might scar all the easier..." She sighs and from the look in her eyes, Hisashi can tell for a moment she seems genuinely sorry and weak. As she clears her throat, its gone however.

"Well.. how are you feeling? I don't have much documentation on how physically taxing that bloodline can be for the first time," she explains, producing her stethoscope to press it coldly against his bare chest, like a regular old checkup.

Right, one character at a time. I'll post this, do some homework, try to post for Tsume, then fit in some more homework, and see if I cna make an effort to bring everyone together. That or I'll study deep into the night and focus on it more on Sunday evening.

[Nyan]

Hisashi sat there quiet and looked at Yamanaka as she explained what it was and he felt how the pieces started falling in to their place about what had happened before. "A doujutsu?... I see... So that's what it was..." He said as he would look down on his hands for a bit as he was the thought sunk in to his mind. "So everything I see with my doujutsu I will remember?...But it was not only that... I felt my body responding much quicker to danger... I could see it much clearer and thus avoid it..."

Then as Yamanaka mentioned the medicine he would look to the table to look at it. "I'm not scared!... At least...Not anymore, I just... Did not know what it was, that's all... To remember everything so clearly...Overwhelmed me. I was not prepared for it." He said as he would clutch the bed sheets a bit. "I know you see things... Have preform acts which might not be pleasant. I realized this long ago... Even before all this... But now I know what is going on and I can prepare for it."

He stayed quiet and avoided to look at Yamanaka until she came up to him and put the stethoscope on his chest, moving back a bit from the cold as it had surprised him. "...I'm fine..." He answered quietly only to look at Yamanaka as he remembered what she said before. "...I have a slight headache, that's all... Other then that I have recovered." He would then stay quiet for quite a while, looking like he is trying to find the right words to say.

"What else do you know... How much has been hidden from me besides my bloodline?.... I don't want to be blind anymore.... My...Parents... Who are they?" He said as he would turn his head up to look at Yamanaka with intensive eyes. He knew it was wishful thinking that she would somehow know anything about his parents, but the feeling of the possibility was gnawing on him. And even if she did she would probably lie about it, just like he has been kept in the dark all this time about his heritage.

[Regalus]

Minami bit her inner lip as she saw just how weak the girl was, wondering just how long the poor girl had been lost in the swamp for. The girl seemed to be about her age, yet she lack a hitai-ate; had the girl been would-be graduate that had run off after failing to graduate, or perhaps had she been swept up in the rains and gotten trapped in the swamp? And why where her kikkaichu acting so strange around the girl?

So many questions did the young Aburame heir have for the stranger beside her, yet it was clear that the girl wouldn't be able to answer any of them in her current state; with little else she could do, Minami went straight to work. "Don't worry, your safe now; I'm going to take care of you alright? You're going to be fine; just relax and rest, your body needs it," she offered, up trying to comfort the wounded lass as she began tending to her her damaged form; bandaging, cleaning and disinfecting her wounds as carefully as she could. Going so far as administering general antitoxins and antivirals to ward off the worst of the contaminants effects for now, and nip the slowly developing infection the girl was suffering from in the bud.

By the time the young girl had finished her swarm had returned with aid, her fellow mednin no less surprised then she'd been to know whence the girl had drifted in from; never mind that she was fortunate enough to escape with so few wounds. Together they ferry the mystery girl to the hospital; Minami doing her best to reassure the girl that all would be well.

If possible Minami would do to her best to check in on the lass as often as possible during her stay in the countryman shinobi ward; giving the disoriented lass some company and comfort,while her co-workers did their part to search for the girl's guardians.

Took ten on a Treat Injury, Treat Poison and Treat Disease check. Each is DC15, and taking 10 Minami gets a 23 on each one. Meaning that Reina heals [roll0] hp from her treatment.

Reasoning: The way I see it they likely would take her to the countrymen ward. She's clearly a kunoichi, though far too young to be more than a graduate; which fits given that she doesn't even have a hitai-ate yet, but shows clear signs of extensive training shinobi training. This all means that the chances of her being an infiltrator from another village are...slim. Granted this is likely to change once they find out there's no record of her in the village and Ninja Police arrives to get her testimony on what happened to her...

[HanaRei]

Reina lingered in and out of consciousness. Even as she was carried she could hear the voice speak up as more seemed to approach her. Perhaps she knew she was safe with them? It wasn't something she could quiet explain. As far as she might know, they could be taking her in to torture and kill, yet her body just felt no resolve to move... even if it would likely of been to a lackluster extent. Her eyes all but attempted to open each step blurred without being able to make out much detail before closing tightly once again.

Her eyes cracked open, glancing up towards the ceiling. Her body felt... much better... yet she still felt still so tired. She wasn't sure what had happened to her that strange night... but it felt as if it had pulled her very soul from her body, her soul attempting to claw its way back into her body.

She glanced around weakly, attempting to briefly make out her surroundings as the room at the time. She closed her eyes, the girl attempting to rest further, feeling to much worn to move at this point.

[Princess Tracy]

Hisashi

Yamanaka sits unfazed by his evaluation of his abilities. "Perhaps in time it would improve your reflexes. For now, all it should be is sensory overload. It'll take some time before before you can expect your body to match your eyes reflexes in real world combat, don't rush towards that in the field unless you're keen on me overcharging your medical bills." Her dry, rather humourless wit likely does little in the way of comfort as she leans back in her perch. She nods as he goes on. "It's never to early to ready your heart. Especially when forgetting is not a luxury you can afford," she comments wistfully, falling silent for a time.

She purses her lips at his last question, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, Hisashi-kun. It's out of my hands..." She closes her eyes. "I don't entirely agree with the practice, but the village wants some assurance of your loyalty. With only one mission under your belt... well. The chuunin exams aren't far away now, a matter of weeks now." With that hint on how to prove his worth, she stands up and straightens herself as there's another knock at the door.

"Come, perhaps we can find some time at the training grounds when you can walk."

Minami

Minami is able to get help for the girl with some ease, and is thankfully informed at the front desk that the countryman ward has an entire room vacant today. Other interns come with her, asking the Aburame about the girl's state as they take notes on how to treat her, but let her lead the way to the surprisingly locked room. It clicks open as Minami approaches, almost like it knew she was coming.

Minami and Hisashi

Yamanaka opens the door, raising her eyebrow at Minami's appearance - "Another foggy morning, another stretcher full of incapacitated kunoichi. Aren't we lucky, Minami-chan?" she remarks sarcastically. Hisashi can see the medics come throw with the unidentified Reina in tow. A few of the interns sweep past, bowing briefly to Yamanaka as they prepare a bed. Yamanaka however raises an eyebrow as she looks the passing body over. "Hmm, filing seems off on this one, do look into that," she mutters to seemingly no one under her breath, but pays the girl not much more attention as she makes for the door.

That is, until Yamanaka stops dead in her tracks, eyes wide as saucers like she'd just seen a ghost's blood-caked maw. It was the rarest thing in the world for Minami to see her sensei showing actual concern, the many horrors she'd witnessed and related making most things seem trivial, but for that moment she could be mistaken for one of Minami's bugs. The genin can see that Reina's arms fell a little from its place and brushed against Yamanaka for an instant, apparently setting her off. She slowly turns her head to the girl as she is set down in her new bed, and opens her mouth to say something, but only a gasp escapes her lips until she gathers herself. She peers over the girl, removing her glasses for a moment as she feels at her neck.

She bows her head and clears her throat and it seems to be enough for her to return to her usual, un-excited disposition. She turns to the interns and points towards the door. "I'll take this one from here," she declares as they think better than to loiter, scampering off quickly to leave. She forms a quick hand seal and in a puff of smoke there's suddenly two Yamanakas. (DC 25 Ninjutsu check to identify the technique as a shadow clone derivative) One nods to Hisashi and Minami. "Well, children, how about we go training? I have a nice grounds set aside for the day, come come..." she beckons, leaving her other self with the patient as she hurries the two out quietly. When they leave the room there's a click at the door as its locked behind them, the clone quietly seeming to claim the whole ward for herself. Yamanaka tries not to look too deep in thought as she escorts the two out, and she happily gives Hisashi a light steroid to make sure he's walking again, barely giving him enough time to pull his shirt on as they head out. "Don't forget your medicine now..."

Tsume

The secretary-looking ninja gives him a last glare before turning and leaving. "Was I now?" Tsume was at least skilled enough to recognise a certain intent to her stance; she carried herself like she's ready to strike at a moment's notice.

Rikku sleeps lazily, rolling over to give the brother's a generous view from below the skylight as Tsume approaches. "Two more minutes, mommy... I don't wanna headbutt the wall anymore," she groans, apparently needing to nurse her hangover. Jounin-level endurance or not, it seems drinking his mother under the table was a herculean feat, and its likely neither of them would remember who won. She just about remembers up to asking about the village of stars, but not the answer... "Whuh...?" She raises her head just in time to have the flung scroll bounce off it, flying gaily through the air, end over end, off the edge of the roof. By the time Rikku pries herself off the floor and focuses her eyes, it seems it's nowhere to be found and she isn't even aware what just happened! "Huh..? Training... okay. Okay, okay! Um... breakfast first.... no, after.. Gotta earn it... though I could go for some of Yamanaka's medicine, that's always useful for the morning after..."

Perception DC 10
The scroll just barely got caught in the drain lining, and may have gotten caught by the leaf guard

If Tsume manages to point it out, they seem unable to locate or retrieve it without taking some of the house's infrastructure apart and Rikku doesn't seem that quick to get down to 'proper ninja stuff' this early in the morning, and decides to let it wait until Emika can clear out the ducts of the oven after lunch and she can get a clearer shot

Rikku takes Tsume and any interested (or forced) family members with her to the training grounds, though does stop for food if offered. She smells of booze and sweat without a shower, but seems unaware of that. But this was a swamp, so how noticable could it be.

Hisashi, Minami, Tsume

The training ground in question seems to be some firmer, forested area of the village away from the civilian buildings, a meagre few signs announcing the sparring-scarred land as off limits.

"Right... Minami, Hisashi. I believe you two could do with a good spar with each other. In the meantime, Minami, I would like to give - oh, by the sage, WHY..."

Yamanaka's studious thoughts give way to an utter facepalm interruptioon as they arrive at the training ground to find Rikku and her entourage there, Minami, Tsume and Hisashi meeting up by what the good doctor would call a cruel coincidence. Rikku at least lacks a lot of her usual energy as she gives a tired wave and half smile. "Hey, Seno-chan..." "Never call me that." "Oh.... I was just wondering if you had the stuff, you know..." "No. What's Tsume doing here?" "Huh? Training, see." "I see..." Yamanaka rather conspicuously takes some sort of mental note as she sighs and turns to her students.

The two jounin kind of drift away for a bit, a good hundred yard clearing apart though each can still clearly see and hear the other as Yamanaka seems to make some note to expand the training grounds enough to not run into Rikku so often. Rikku stays closer to her personal training area, where the ground is sturdiest though not as hard as her own property's land.

Rikku shakes her head, wondering what that was all about. "Oh well... hey, Minami-chan, hey Hisashi-kun!" she greets loudly about a full minute after first seeing them before getting back to her entourage. "Right, start running laps of the clear, 'kay? Get those legs pumping. Tsume-kun's gotta learn Shundou soon~" Sadly her ill-defined lap seems to bring the running party up next to Yamanaka's group...

Yamanaka finds a particularly flat log and beckons Hisashi to sit on it. "I know you've got somewhere you want to be, Hisashi, but I think you would benefit from setting some of your fears to rest now. Now sit down and balance yourself, and try to channel chakra to your eyes. Don't worry if you manifest the bloodline again, you have medicine. It's just a basic chakra control pattern. Focus on that for a moment..."

Yamanaka shakes her head as she suddenly reaches over and pats Minami's hair. "I never did hear your story out like I normally do. I know it's hot to be a lot going on in your mind, Minami-chan..." she says, stroking her hair with a rarely-seen affection one never sees offered to a bug-carrying Aburame. She raises her hand a moment and slips something out of her sleeve. When Minami next blinks, she feels it wrapped around her head, her very own headband to mark her a full genin of the marsh, all polished up like new

"You can tell me all about it after training. First, why don't you two introduce yourselves a bit, starting today you are training partners."

Hisashi can make a DC15 Chakra Control check to open his Sharingan in time to record Minami's reaction to her headband. He'll need to take another dose of his medicine to close it however.

Everyone gets a day's worth of training while I work Reina in

Reina

Reina can feel herself being transported around and randomly checked and felt by her captors... or saviours depending on perspective, until a warm fluffy embrace of a bed seems to signal enough safety for her to give in to her exhaustion. That and maybe some sleeping pills, it was hard to say.

Reina awakens in a dark room to find herself feeling lighter and more clear-headed.. as she checks herself over she finds herself in a bed... a full, hospital bed with linen sheets, and her gear is gone, in its place a patient's gown. Her dreams seem to have left her, though beyond a cold tingle at the base of her spine as she tries to recall them she can scarcely tell what was going on before. She can speak normally... and her vision's clear enough for her to see she's not alone.

A platinum blonde young woman in medical scrubs is pacing the room. She wears some curved glasses and a nonplussed expression, and is decorated by a long, bulky coat bearing an emblem of the village of the marsh on her back. It doesn't take much to identify her as some head honcho around these parts. When she sees you're awake, the sea-green-eyed ninja nods and stops her pacing once she has your attention, turning to you. "Not sure why my student decided to leave you in the countrymen ward despite you obviously being an ash-nin. Would you care to identify yourself, little miss? I did heal your wounds after all, and we are technically countrymen. You're not on any of the wanted posters, so I wouldn't want to assume you're playing hooky." There's not a lot of warmth to her cynical voice, but she cuts straight to it. You'r enot feeling tired anymore, though she doesn't seem to be a direct threat unless you do something very stupid

DC 25 Ninja lore to identify her specifically as White Captain Yamanaka Seno

There's a window at your back with the blinds closed, it couldn't be much later than noon judging by the light coming in. The door appears to be locked, and judging by the empty beds you are alone in the hospital with this woman. "Your parents must be worried sick. Although..."

Wits DC 5
She seems to know more than she lets on.
Wits DC another 5
Though that could just be a bluff
Wits DC 25[
SPOILER]You can't succeed at this... right?[/SPOILER]

[HanaRei]

Reina felt very 'strange' waking up. The memories of her dreams all but escaping her. It felt so... strange. Her mind wandered back, thinking vaguely of her own actions having been carried and even resting in the bed. It felt almost as if she wasn't herself. Had it all been due to that night she could hardly call when she was jumped by those marsh people? Either way, she shook her head feeling as if fully renewed. It didn't take her long however to turn her head and see the eyes of the one she felt upon her since she awoke.

Hearing her ask of her , the teen looked a little bit uneasy. She seemed to be suspicious of her... or more to the point it felt as if her questions were more for 'formalities' then anything else. As direct as the girl could be, she seemed a bit uneasy around her. She looked away not wanting to expose herself, simply shrugging off the comment about her being 'ash' as if not responding would maybe make her drop the notion naively. She could be bluffing, though she couldn't be fully sure.

"Reina, and my mother is dead so I don't have anyone to worry about me." She spoke out with a bit of a snappy tone, not at all desiring to bring out anything about her father she had not the slightest clue about. She showed a little defiance, as if reluctant to speak out towards the woman at first. She turned her head back seeming to rethink her attitude a bit after a few moments. "Th... thanks I mean... f... for taking care of me but I don't need someone worrying about me. " She blushed lightly keeping a stern look, feeling a bit embarrassed to be thanking her particularly after being a bit defiant in her initial response.

Action:

Bluff check, just incase you want me to make it. Figure not since she isn't actually lieing, just avoiding the question but in case. ^^
[roll0]

[Nyan]

Hisashi had not expected to get an answer from her but it still made him feel quite angry. "Kh!...Typical..." He said with clear disdain to his voice as he gripped on the sheets, turned away and gritted his teeth a bit. As much as he wanted to shout and argue he realized he would only be wasting his breath and so he remained silent until there was a knock on the door.

As Yamanaka goes for the door and tells him they might be able to do some training this morning Hisashi would slowly sit up and put his shirt on. Tho as the clothes he had before had been burned he simply put on a white shirt and a white pair of pants that he could borrow from the hospital. Tho luckily his battle vest was still in fairly good shape so he would strap that on under his shirt.

Gently sliding off the bed he places his feet on the ground to check how it was to stand and even tho it felt a bit unsteady at first he quickly found his balance. Stopping for a moment to look at the medicine that was placed beside him he hesitated to take it but eventually did so before he headed towards Yamanaka and Minami. Just in time to notice Yamanaka's unusual reaction as the new patient was rushed past them, not being able to identify her himself. "Sensei?... What just happened?" He asked her a bit curiously.

Seeing then how she made a hand seal and a puff of smoke made a second Yamanaka Hisashi would simply nod and follow Yamanaka as he was guided out from the hospital. The steroid Yamanaka gave him helping quite a bit to get him up and running again.

Well at the training ground Hisashi would look around a bit, listening to Yamanaka starting to speak until she is suddenly interrupted by Rikku and Tsume appearing as well. Looking a bit towards Yamanaka as she facepalms and looks back and forth between the two Jounin while they talk.

Following Yamanaka to her side of the training ground Hisashi would nod slightly towards Rikku as she calls out to him before then seating himself on the log as Yamanaka instructed him to. Simply staying quiet and looking at his sensei as she spoke without responding. Tho he did as he was told and closed his eyes and tried to focus chakra to his eyes, crossing his legs and placing his hands together in his lap. And even tho he had was no novice in gathering chakra to that place in particular the sudden images of fire flashing before his eyes disturbed him greatly and he ended up placing his hand over his eyes to rub them a bit. "Gh!...Dammit..." He muttered until he was told to introduce himself.

Slowly looking up and opening his eyes to look at Minami he watched her for a moment until he finally spoke. "The name's Hisashi. I believe Yamanaka-Sensei introduced you as Minami correct?"

[Jacior]

"Yes you were, Yamanaka-sensei said so." Tsume says, yawning again. He didn't really take note of her stance, though his own spoke of being ready to fight, even half asleep. He closes the door and walks up to his mother and teacher on the roof.

Tsume grumbles loudly at Rikku. "No, not two more minutes Rikku-sensei! I've already been up for an hour!" He says as he watches the scroll sail off Rikku's forehead and over the edge of the roof. "I really hope that wasn't important. I think it fell in the leaf trap." He shrugs. "When you can walk come down for breakfast Rikku-sensei." He walks back downstairs to get dressed and eat, himself. It's a simple breakfast, though they seemed to eat strangely here. Oatmeal was not a common thing to eat. Must have been something from his parent's travels.

Tsume decides it's best not to mention to Rikku that she stinks. She was hung over already and who knows what might cause her to snap.

"Good morning Yamanaka-sensei! It looks like everyone thought training would be a good idea today!" Tsume calls out cheerily in the cool morning air. "Rikku-sensei is helping me learn shundou, I should have it down the day after tomorrow!" He grins for a moment then his face wrinkles slightly. "Wait... The morning after that I should have it. Unless I try harder." He shrugs with a grin on his face. "Who knows!"

Tsume doesn't say anything to Minami or Hisashi, though he does stare long and hard at Hisashi, almost glaring at him. Despite Tsume's work on taking out an Uchiha and saving clone Yamanaka, it felt like all the attention was on Hisashi. Hisashi passed out! Tsume was clearly the stronger of the two genin.

When Tsume's lap takes him close to Yamanaka and her team, he looks over at Hisashi and grins at him. "Still not feeling good? You should go home before you pass out again Hisashi."

[Nyan]

Hisashi had simply ignored Tsume's glare earlier, being to occupied with his own attempts to focus with his eyes. But as Tsume came closer while running and smirked at him with his taunt something boiled up from Hisashi. He had already been in the worst mood he could be without showing much, first having had the worst night of his life filled with nightmares and barely being able to sleep at all, parts of his body permanently scared with burns, his belongings destroyed in the fire and when asking about his parents and who he was he was simply shot down without getting answers. And now as he is just about to snap from all that is boiling up inside of him this kid comes along and nudges him over the edge.

His anger got the best of him as he would turn to look back at Tsume with murder in his eyes. standing up as he then made a hand seal.

Hisashi uses Taibakudou no Jutsu (Body Binding Stare Technique) On tsume, avoiding to hit anyone else with the technique.

Tsume roll a will save with a DC of 17 or you will be cowering in fear not able to take any actions. (You also lose your dexterity bonus to AC and a -2 penalty to AC as well tho that's not all to relevant)

What Tsume sees if he fails.
Tsume notices how everything gets slightly darker as if the sun is blocked by thick black clouds. The ground gets covered in thin white mist and Hisashi stands there with a spectral being made from the mist raising up behind him. Its form is not really clear but a pair of red eyes gleam as they stare at him. He is unable to move as if the same being is holding him stuck and he can feel as if some cold clawed hands are placed on his shoulders.

Hisashi grits his teeth and closes his hands in to fists as he glares at him as if he wants to set him on fire with his gaze. "You better be careful kid... Or you will be the one passing out..." Hisashi warns him with an cold angry tone to his voice. Barely holding himself back to shout.

[Jacior]

Tsume hadn't expected Hisashi to respond to his taunting. The older boy had always just ignored him before. So when Hisashi stood up off the log, Tsume came to a sudden stop in his running. Then he saw Hisashi forming hand seals and alarms went up in his head. Tsume had always been weak to genjutsu, and Hisashi excelled in it. He felt the wave of fear brush across his mind and... then nothing. Tsume hesitates a second and looked around. Then he refocused his gaze on Hisashi and grinned. "Looks like your genjutsu didn't work on me!" Tsume shifted a foot before dashing at Hisashi. "You'll find taijutsu doesn't run quite that risk!"

Tsume suddenly stops, rotating on a single foot swinging his arm around, aiming for a head blow.


Using Yama-Uchi

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1] Non-Lethal
DC 16 Fort save or be stunned and knocked prone

[Princess Tracy]

Hisashi, Tsume, Minami

Yamanaka sighs as Tsume passes buy. "Bug off, kid," she starts to say before Hisashi takes matters into his own hands. Her eyes widen at his sudden genjutsu use. "Hisashi-!" she snaps at him before Tsume seems to quickly recover. She nods over to Rikku across the way, who breaks from her alchoholic standing coma for a second to leap to a sort of action. Tsume's hit whacks Hisashi clean in the jaw, dropping him to the ground with surprising force that catches even Yamanaka off guard as she disregards Minami to go break up the fray. "STOP," the ninja matron commands simply.

Tsume feels powerful arms, like entire tree barks, wrapping around him as Rikku puts him instantly in a lock. "Bad Tsume, what the hell!" she demands, only seeing the part where Tsume ran up and decked the blonde kid, as oblivious as she was.

Fearing his retaliation, Yamanaka quickly forms hand seals. As Hisashi's head is still spinning from the attack, he sees petals fall and swirl all around him... it's rather soothing, actually. His worries slip away, along with his need to fight back. After all, Tsume wasn't going to attack again, he should just relax and let Yamanaka heal him...

Sure enough, Tsume can see after pacifying him, Yamanaka quickly sets some chakra to fix the boy's jaw. Inspecting her handiwork, she nods to herself before snapping her fingers and dispelling her illusion, 'waking' Hisashi up. She levels the first glare she'd ever given the boyat Hisash. "Disgraceful, the pair of you. That is not proper conduct for sparring. Not that I need your students interacting with mine."

"Oh come on, Se- I mean, Yamanaka-sensei, it's just boys being boys..." Rikku argues. "Shush, 'wyrmling'." Rikku shuts up at that, looking like she'd just been slapped in the face. There's an awkward silence between the two for a long moment before Yamanaka sighs. "Hisashi, it was a mistake to force you to train so early. Go relax for the day if you feel you must." She shakes her head and takes up her own perch next to Minami.

"You know... they could have it out properly... in Shinobi Etiquette...." Rikku mutters,a bit intimidated by Yamanaka's verbal viciousness to really voice her idea.

Hisashi failed his save so I don't know if he's able to identify the technique. Eh, roll it anyway if you want. Anyway, he remains 'calmed' for the few rounds it takes for Yamanaka to get him to max HP with a healing technique before she dismissed the spell

Also, never said your possessions were destroyed by fire. Other than the sword, obviously ^_^

[Princess Tracy]

Reina

Reina can remember much of the night, but not the specific feeling of that evil force filling her body. Almost like the very ability to sense that change never existed in the first place....

---

"Poor dear. Well, death happens in this profession," she remarks, just as detatched as Reina said her news. "Most ninja my age are orphans," she needlessly adds, perhaps some emotion showing through her hard shell. She fixes her platinum bangs and gives another lap of the room.

She shakes her head at the thanks. "Any of my underlings would have done the same. There wasn't much to heal. You were quite lucky out there, from what I saw of you, to make it out with only some internal lacerations. Did you encounter the swamp dwellers?" She reaches for what looks like a map on the wall, but before you can study it, she takes it down and starts to look it over. She eventually shrugs and discards it, pinning it loosely back on the wall. "Luckiest of all is that you found the one and only current that could have taken you into the village in your sleep. With pitfalls and savages and misdirection, the swamp is impossible to navigate at night. Or should be. I don't think you would even be able to find your way back out."

"But now I'm just babbling to myself, I digress," she shakes her head. "It's obvious you're not from here anyway. I have records of each villagers medical history, and you are simply alien. But i took care of you anyway because that is my ninja way." She nods to herself, fixing her glasses. "Tell me, what do you intend to do here? I assume you're here for work. Sana Suri's rebellion can't have drawn in another unaccounted for youth, could it?" The name is very familiar

Hint coin
Check previous Reina posts

[Nyan]

Hisashi fell to the ground with a thud and slid a few inches on the ground holding one hand over his face where he had got hit. Disoriented and dizzy Hisashi is not able to get himself back up and retaliate before he starts to see petals flowing down from the sky. "...Genjutsu?..." He asks himself while he feels his anger disappear for a moment and Yamanaka comes to his aid.

Laying there still on the ground he lets Yamanaka heal the damage while he watches the petals flow around him he knew that it was not real but he could not set his mind to resist it and break free, not seeing any real reason to do so. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath through his nose.

Then as the genjutsu is dispelled his eyes snap open and he sits up quickly. Placing his hand on his jaw and feeling it a bit slowly raising his eyes up at Tsume and glaring at him with a deadly stare. Completely ignoring Yamanaka as he sits there and simply glares at Tsume.

Slowly standing up he brushes of some dirt from his clothes before looking at Yamanaka as she advices him to rest for the day. "...No..." He says after quite a long time of silence. "...The fact that I got hit by that god dam brat over there shows I need more training than ever...I was too soft...But that wont happen again." He says while he looks over his shoulder back at Tsume again with the same hateful eyes.

[HanaRei]

Reina looked at her hearing her mentioning of death. Her head turned as if giving a cold glare to the wall rather then to the woman, more so in thought to herself. I wish she might of perished in such a way... She thought to herself looking almost angry. It wasn't that the woman she was directing her anger at either. She always felt it had been her own fault for her mothers death. If she hadn't been born...

Shifting back her attention to Yamanaka, she heard about her own condition. "I... I was?" She spoke softly. She looked up a bit in thought. It seemed so clear what happened. Did she really fight that well off? She could of swore things were far from as smooth. Recalling it, it made her feel a little uneasy at herself just how fierce she was. Its said though that combat can change someone... revealing their true selves. She couldn't make out if the change she had was to be admired or feared. Either way, it was likely what had saved her life and gotten her out unharmed. See... I don't need to be watched over like a lost pup helpless in being able to protect myself. I'm not some weakling that has to be kept away from others! She thought to herself.

Reina turned her head up realizing she had drifted off in her own thought just as Yamanaka finished off her own mumbling. She blushed a bit in embarrassment feeling quite rude. Hoping to not have it noticed, she was quick to respond. "Ah.... well I'm not really from... a village." She spoke, perhaps not picking exactly the best thing to say in an attempt to hide the fact she had drifted off in mid conversation. She looked down thinking a bit realizing what she said.

Telling what village she was from would only lead to more trouble, she was sure of it. She could be kept prisoner or sent back home. She had to find her friend Kaza. "I... I'm trying to find someone... a friend. I'm really not sure just where they can be. I'm wandering around just hoping to eventually find them." She looked up, some doubt in her mind her words might really work to deter suspicion from herself. Still, she felt she needed to tell her own intentions and be truthful with it. Her eyes fixated on the young nameless woman with a strong sense of dedication.

[Jacior]

Tsume smirks at Hisashi as his hand connects and knocks the smug genin to the ground. He wasn't surprised that their sensei's had broken up their little scuffle so quickly, what was surprising was how Yamanaka was so hostile to Rikku. "Yamanaka-sensei, that was just pointlessly mean! Don't take it out on Rikku because your student got clobbered." Something apparently was grating at Tsume, vicious as he was being. He pulls on Rikku as she's holding him, seemingly eager to get at Hisashi again.

He meets Hisashi's glaring eyes. He grins maniacally as he does so, then opens his mouth to speak. "Are you finally angry? Are you furious with me? Ready to do whatever it takes to get back at me?" He pulls hard against Rikku just to get even a little closer. "Good." He says with no small amount of bizarre glee. "I've done my job then." He sighs a bit and laughs. "And when this happens next time, maybe it will be more even a fight!" Tsume looks over his shoulder at Rikku. "Come on Rikku-sensei. I told you I'd learn Shundou in 4 days. Can't do it if I'm not practicing!"

[Regalus]

Minami simply smiles at Yamanaka's comment, "I believe they're the lucky one's sensei; I'm just the medium for it," she replies as she gives the other medical practitioner room to do their jobs, noting Yamanaka's reaction for future reference before allowing herself to be moved out of the room with her fellow pupil.

During the walk to the training grounds the young Aburame remains silent; stifling so even by her clans standards as she ruminates on the mornings events trying to unlock the secret behind her teachers uncharacteristic reaction, for while training was appreciated her Yamanaka's rush lit quite a few alarms in the would-be genin's mind. At first she had thought her swarms initial hesitance to approach the girl may have been due to the contaminants on her body, or some abnormal pheromone or substance which her kikkai had found most unpleasant; yet given her teachers reaction, it clearly was more than that.

Her diagnosis had not located anything alarming in the girl, and the fact that neither of them were heading towards isolation removed the possibility of her teacher having found a contagious contaminant she herself had missed. Compounding this to the fact that the reaction had been elicited through what she assumed to have been accidental contact ruled out the possibility of her teacher discovering something via ninjutsu as well. As such whatever had elicited that reaction must have surely been through a method that could be undertaken instinctively by both her kikaichu and Yamanaka; comparing what she knew of the two's sensory abilities it left one thing at the likely cause, the girl's chakra.

Alas the conclusion only brought with it even greater questions, and before she could even attempt to delve deeper in her spiraling musings they had arrived at the training grounds and her attention was demanded by the world once more; though allows the light verbal sparring between the two jounin to go largely uninterrupted, giving Rikku a court nod in greeting before noting the apparent hostility between Hisashi and Tsume. For a moment she fears an altercation would arise, but the air is quickly cleared by the two jounin and the groups happily move on to there own activities.

At the sudden unexpected touch of her hair Minami tenses slightly for a moment before relaxing, allowing the surprising display of affection to run its course. At the apology Minami prepares to assure her teacher that she need not worry about it, but her words soon die in her throat as an unexpected wight settles on her head. It takes a moment for the Aburame heir to realize what it is, her face carefully stilled as a hand reaches up to confirm her suspicions; the smile she gave when flesh brushed cloth and metal could have blinded the sun itself even with her glasses and coat obscuring most of it.

Minami glee with barely repressed glee, her hand twitching slightly; unsure of what would be the proper response for the gift given that they were in public. "Y-Yes! Of course Sensei!" she beamed happily to herself, though subduing her reaction a bit more once Hisashi's greeting reminded her that he was next to them.

"Yes, we met yesterday as a matter of fact; though given your condition I don't fault you for not remembering me," she said with a demure smile that said not to worry about it. The boy seemed well enough given that he was likely recovering from a light case of PTSD; though in truth when Tsume arrived to taunt him she was not at all surprised by the boy's reaction.

Wisely the lass decided to step back from the growing scuffle, allowing the two jounin to separate the two lads from one another before either could be seriously injured; though she can't help but sigh at the sight of Tsume further goading Hisashi further.

Ignoring the hot air spewing forth freely from the intemperate lad, Minami walks over to Hisashi and place a hand by the corner of his shoulder. "Hisashi-san. It is not my place to tell you to let it go, but please don't let it bother you too much," she began centering her gaze of the young cypher.

"He is a brat seeking your attention, and your anger only feeds his ego. Glaring at him and plotting your revenge against his type will only encourage him to be a larger nuisance to you in the future. If you truly wish to repay his slight in kind then the best thing you can do is ignore him, and rob him of the satisfaction of seeing you obsess, simmer or seethe over him," she explained clinically hoping to clear some of the red haze lingering in her fellow pupils mind; pointedly ignoring the fact that said brat was likely still within listening distance.

"Though you are right. We really should start our training soon; just don't try to push yourself too hard because him," she added in a more amiable tone.

[Nyan]

"Kh!...Air headed fool..." He scoffed back at Tsume's words as he would move his eyes away from him and close them for a bit. Rubbing his fingers over his eyelids he then felt Minami's hand on his shoulder. Looking towards her and listening to what she had to say he watched her with a cold emotionless expression. "No... It's not your place... But you are right." He said with a flat tone as he would slowly move her hand away from his shoulder, not meaning anything rude by it but simply not wanting her hand there.

"Yeah. I know ignoring him would be the best course of action. But I simply lost my cool for a brief moment there and I paid the price for it. He's out of my concern already so don't worry. He's not worth to delve upon" He responded as he would take out the medicine and rub some of it over his eyes just incase his anger would somehow trigger his doujutsu without him being in control of it.

Not paying Tsume anymore attention he would go with Minami and proceed with his training for the day.

[Princess Tracy]

Events of the week, and Reina's induction

A cold spell is in the air, most felt by Reina now that she's away from her precious village, and the warmth of its underground halls. Yamanaka kept her in her hospital room the whole of the first day, insisting she recover, though she felt fine enough. Eventually, the matron returned with some news; that Reina was allowed probationary citizenship in the village as a mercenary ninja. She offers her the deal that if she is willing, she could become a true ninja of the marsh, though senses it is not Reina's intent when she hesitates. However, when leaving the hospital, happy coincidence brings Yamanaka the bargaining leverage she so desired. She escorts Reina out, and they happen upon the foreign ninja beds as Yamanaka's muttering somethin about this being the alternative if her student had filed Reina's bed properly, when Reina sees for herself a familiar face

The Uchiha girl she had sought was just lying there, beat up and unconscious, but alive and well. No matter how hard Reina masks her reaction, Yamanaka spots it well enough. "We were supposed to kill her and her partner," Yamanaka explains, "As per the terms of our mission. She can't work off her own bounty since her living could be easily found out in the field and we would lose good standing with the Ash. You on the other hand..." She fixes her glasses. "I'm very interested in you, Reina. There's not many young ninja that could safely navigate to our village without a map. I have a place open in my genin team. If you join it, I will ensure the safety of all three of you within our village, granted your shared good behaviour." By all three of them, she indicates to Kaza, Reina herself, and a badly burnt strawberry blonde girl who Reina doesn't recognise. Yamanaka assumes Reina cares for the girl unless corrected; if Reina says she doesn't care what happens to the girl then she is gone the next time that Reina visits Kaza in the hospital.

The Uchiha girl remains unconscious for a time, though the more agreeable she is to Yamanaka's proposition, the more Reina notices that Kaza seems well taken care of. She seems to be under a genjutsu while Yamanaka 'takes care of formalities', as are all the other rival ninja cooped up in that ward as essential prisoners.

Reina is free to train and wander the village if she wants, though even she can tell that ANBU are following her and keeping her out of trouble. If she agrees to Yamanaka's terms, she can spend her time trianing under her watchful eye

Hisashi finds Torasi later that day, for her to worry over him some more. She holds him tight in the middle of the street outside her shop and makes him promise he would be more careful. She hasn't any explanation for the state of his sword, but promises to have something ready for his next mission, whenever that is. She forgets her own strength with the constant hugging and agitates his wounds, though whether he speaks up on it remains a mystery. Hisashi is kept in relative peace as he trains, and Yamanaka seems to see to it that there's no more training with Rikku or her foolish young genin. By the end of the week, he's able to activate the eyes without losing his footing with the sense of unbalance, but Yamanaka still assures him it is far from battle ready. If he presses her for further explanation, she simply tells him "Your eyes are special, Hisashi. There is a risk you could be killed for them. That risk is weighted into your odds of victory from using it, and I hardly find their use compelling where flashing it to a stray survivor could mean your head being hunted, or worse."

Tsume notices that Rikku's face falls when at last they get back from their training day and retrieve her scroll from behind the oven. She puts on a tough front and doesn't let him read it, but is obviously disturbed by whatever news was on it and goes home by herself. She seems in a downer mood for the next few days and kind of distant, though gives an occasional smile when Tsume trains his hardness. Perhaps seeing her smile pushes him to train that bit harder. Either way, she doesn't share her problems with her mere pupil.

Tsume's father has to comment at some point just how much Tsume's eating now. His mother assures him that the 8 bowls of ham and rice he didn't remember eating are perfectly normal for a growing boy of her blood.

Minami Minami gets a chance to be well acquinted with Hiashi. Well, as well as she can anyway. Yamanaka tells the two of them she's looking into a third member after some concerns from Hiashi's team mates concerning their safety. Tozawa, it seems, had some sort of panic attack and was deemed unready for battle. EIther way, Minami gets to spend more time with Yamanaka than she had in a while, and with the Marsh's secret weapon in the Sharingan,

Grandpa is quick to teach her now, even after her classes with Yamanaka. While Yamanaka teaches her basic sparring, and more medical techniques than she rightly knows what to do with, grandpa chases her up to teach her creative uses of strategies and her bugs. It seems they want to drill the little Aburame hard in preperation for her first field mission.

ALL

After a week, each ninja receives a notification calling them to an assembly point. Oddly enough, it's the gate outside of the Aburame compound, not far from Torasi's shop. Each of the genin gather there on their own time to find Rikku waiting with a mission scroll, looking excited, if obviously nervous, for the first time in weeks. Curiously, her adult body and full muscle mass is clearly visible for once. "Hello kids! We've got a lot of business to take care of today, as soon as our first client gets here..." She seems rather distracted in waiting for that person whoever they are, though gets distracted when Reina shows up.

Rikku Li is obviously not from around here, and Reina recalls hearing Yamanaka loudly discussing her as the worst ninja to ever receive the rank of special jounin. She's tall, toned, tanned, and surprisingly good natured. She wore a taijutsu expert's battle regalia, with no visible headband at the moment. She seems pleasant and honest, if a bit blunt in her speaking. "Hello there, missy. Are you the special one that Yamanaka-sensei was talking about? What's your name then? She didn't forbid you from introducing yourself, did she?" It seems Rikku would not explain why she was leading this mission wihout being confronted on it by someone

[HanaRei]

Had it really come to all this? It seemed all but strange to her walking up towards Rikku and what seemed to be some Genin. It had been a weak of training, improving upon her strength and agility... not in her home village but that of this new 'marsh' place. It all seemed so strange. She just wanted to run... to get away, however Kaza was there. While she didn't feel any loyalty to her home village, she definitely felt a desire for her friends safety and especially having herself 'blackmailed' to stay there didn't really give her much choice on the matter.

Still, despite such harsh terms... it wasn't anywhere near as bad as she expected. In a way she was far more free here then she was in her own home village... granted watchful eyes were something even her normally distracted self could catch onto watching her. What exactly was it that made that woman so interested in her? Was what she did that amazing? Truthfully even Reina felt it was pure luck she managed to find her way where she did. It didn't seem like she did anything as far as she could recall.

Fixating her eyes up towards Rikku, hearing her voice speak up directed towards her. She gave a bit of a stern glare at the woman not quite certain what to make of her questioning. She let out a light sigh seeming to shift a little bit being more at ease. "Reina... so... what is this all about anyways?" She spoke, her eyes fixating at the woman, questing just what it might be that they had been gathered for... particularly herself.

[Jacior]

Tsume spends the day and the following week training almost religiously. Every day he works himself into the ground, until he can barely walk home, sometimes having to lay in the training grounds for hours until he has the energy to get back home. But he refuses to let anyone help him get home, he's determined to do it himself. His training would even make Yamanaka-sensei stand up and take notice, that was one of the thoughts that helped propel him through the training. He had to get better than Rikku-sensei to feel accomplished, but he'd have to do more than that to impress Yamanaki-sensei.

Tsume didn't really pay attention to how much he was eating. He'd always had a big appetite and he just figured that his bigger hunger was from training so hard. It didn't really matter, they always let him eat until he was satisfied.



When the teams gather for the mission after a week of grueling training Tsume was eager to prove himself again. "What's our mission, Rikku-sensei?" He didn't even consider why Rikku was leading the mission, a jounin leading was the standard and Rikku was just another jounin to him. When Reina shows up, he decides to introduce himself properly. He walks up to her and nods slightly.

"My name is Enkouchi Tsume. I'm the strongest genin here!" Tsume grins that obnoxiously cheerful enthusiasm. "If you need proof, last week on our mission I beat up an uchiha! One who specialized in taijutsu like I do." His grin widens slightly at the memory. "If you want, we can train together after the mission?" Tsume says, trying to be friendly in his weird way.

[Princess Tracy]

Rikku nods proudly towards Tsume, letting him hash it out with Reina if she dare engage his hype. "Now now, Tsume, be a little humble. I loosened her up for you," RIkku teases, sticking out her tongue and everything. "It's good you've been training so hard though, get some hair on your chest."

Rikku smiles at Reina. "Reina-chan then. Um... I'm not sure myself why you're here. I'm Rikku Li, Special Jounin of Taijutsu here in the Marsh, I hope we will get along. The other genin here have a mission and I was just told to expect you to come along. And that I was to beat the crap out of anyone that would try and seperate you from us, so... I guess I'm your bodyguard too?" She scratched her head - she seemed good natured, and rather oblivious to the possibility that by that mandate she would be expected to capture Reina if she ran away. If there was a threat in there, it was remarkably veiled. "Do you, like, know our client or something?" She eyes Reina up, her dark green eyes sizing up her stature. The tall, dark-skinned woman herself was toned to see the least, and looked like she hardly belonged here in this fog-filled marsh. "Hmm... you're definitely some kind of ninja. From the looks of it, I'd say you're almost as strong as Tsume-kun. I'm surprised you've only got a little sidearm there," she says, indicating to the memento from Aiko, "You look like a swordsman. I could lend you something if you ask nicely."

"Or, if you're Hisashi-kun's friend, I'll give you a free sample," comes a voice Hisashi knows all too well. A blonde girl heaving a decent sized rucksack of tools about comes up the road, waving to those present on the otherwise quiet corner of the village streets. Torasi wears a bandana, overalls, suspenders and gloves and looks like quite the hard little worker in her tomboy fashion, even if her cute blue eyes make her look like a doll from the angle that Hisashi had the privelege of often seeing her. Among her burden was what looked like two well-wrapped swords hidden among the clutter strapped to her. It doesn't take a genius to work out that she's some sort of blacksmith.

Rikku waves at the girl awkwardly. "Er, this is the civilian we'll be escorting. She's got some handiwork stuff to do for our clients. I'll tell ya more on the way, I guess, I've got the mission scroll on me somewhere," she remarks, patting herself down to no immediate avail. Torasi snorts in laughter at the quirky Jounin, making Rikku blush deeply. "Er, if we're all here, shall we set off? We'll have to move slow enough for Torasi-chan to keep up, so no land hopping and I guess we'll need to take the safe path... overall it's about the better part of a day's trip away, so do what you gotta do before we leave town!"

"And I guess I'd just get horribly lost if I stray from the group?" Torasi adds sarcastically.

"Um... yeah. So, don't do that."

"Gotcha, Li-san." Rikku blushes again.

Perception DC15 (Hisashi only)
Torasi's bandages are fresh, clean and properly bound on her arm wound, like an actual professional has replaced them.

Perception DC 20
Her bag doesn't actually look that heavy if you look closely, almost like it's padded to make the carrier look stronger

[Nyan]

Finding Torasi later that day Hisashi was quite out of it. Not speaking much at all as he was still pondering on all that had happened lately. But he felt increasingly more relieved as he spent the rest of the day with her. Her constant hugging not bothering him all to much until he would have to force her to stop when it started to hurt his injuries. But he promised he would be more careful and did not bring up the sword as she never mentioned it, thanking her that she promised to make him something new before his next mission. Tho he would tell her not to stay up all night like he assumed that she did when she was making the sword.

As the week would progress Hisashi would continue his daily routine, everything neat and scheduled to a specific time. Breakfast, training most of the day and then finally if he had the time perhaps see Torasi ever so often. Even going to buy new gear and equipment with her if she wanted to follow him.

During the training with Yamanaka he would do the best to his ability but was sure to not work harder than needed as Yamanaka would probably advice him to do. He did also ask to know more about his eyes and he understood her reasoning to saying that he would not show his doujutsu at all if he could. He did ask about what his doujutsu actually was called in order to perhaps research on the subject but if he was shot down he would not waste more time giving Yamanaka the third degree.

During the night however his nightmares continued. Mostly the same every time but they were getting less frequent as time went by and being aware that it was cause mainly due to the recorded memories from his eyes Hisashi
was able to cope with it a lot better. Even tho it sometimes made him feel like he was about to go insane due to waking up more than a few times during the night he did manage to eventually catch up on his sleeping by the end of the week.

Receiving the notification for the new mission Hisashi would arrive as early as he could. Not saying much except giving a light nod towards Rikku as he then waits for the others to show up.

Hisashi would not say or do much until he saw the new girl as he would observe her carefully. She did not wear a headband and she looked like she was from another village so he was a bit curious as to what she was doing here. "The name is Hisashi." He said after Tsume introduced himself, giving the girl a look.

Then another thought crossed his mind as he would turn towards Rikku. "Where is Yamanaka-Sensei? Is it only you who will lead this mission? And if that's the case why is that?" Hisashi would ask.

After his question was answered he would freeze up for a moment as he heard the voice coming from the road. Turning around to see Torasi walking closer all packed up and ready to leave. "...Torasi?" He said as if he did not realize what she was doing here. But her remained silent as Rikku explained the nature of their mission. Noticing that her arm was now bandaged up properly he would look at it for a moment but decided not to ask about it right now.

"Trace? What are you going to do outside of the village?" He asked her with a hint of worry in his voice that only she would be able to distinguish. He knew how dangerous it could be on the road and he had mixed feelings about going on this mission. He was mostly worried in the case that something would happen but he could not help but feel glad that he would be able to spend an extended amount of time with her. But either way he felt confident that whatever could happen he would be able to protect her as he wanted to return the favor for her indirectly saving his life back then by giving him that sword.

[Princess Tracy]

Rikku scratches the back of her head awkwardly and actually looks at Torasi for some support, perhaps needing some impartial guide but no such help comes at Hisashi's question. "Um... well, this is just a simple enough mission. I can handle watching a couple of genin by myself, you know! I'm the strongest hand-to-hand combatant in the village, I'll have you know!" Defending herself with pure pride, she strikes a cocky pose, chest puffed out, hand on her hip, other hand wiping dirt from her nose. "Got a problem with that, Hisashi-kun, or do you think you can handle this mission without Yamanaka-sensei to hold your hand?" she teases, trying a similar tactic to Tsume's training to make him rise to the challenge. "She's a busy woman, you know," she says, entirely too late to include some actual reason, "That fight last week was, like, her first away mission in months. She's got patients and paperwork, you know."

Torasi ignores the Jounin's antics, lying against the wall with her back to it as she smirks at Hisashi. "Eh, don't worry, Hisashi-kun. I got a commision outside the village is all. I gotta fix some equipment at the circus, isn't that exciting?" she remarks, her grin ever-so toothy.

Rikku smiles weakly at that. "Yeah, the circus... geez, ruining the surprise already... Do you like the circus, Tsume?"

[HanaRei]

Reina glanced over at Tsuma, hearing his rather cocky words with just mild distaste. It wasn't something she never heard before, most idiots tended to say stuff like that shortly before being trounced upon. It was simply a mind annoyance at best. However, his last comment really struck a cord. Her relatively calm expression turned turned into a noticeable glare directed towards the young genin. Her hand clutched lightly into a fist though Rikku's presence helped to keep her from lashing out... at least for now.

Her head turned to Rikku, nodding a little bit as her hand remained clenched to her side. Perhaps in part of her own anger towards Tsuma, her voice responded to Rikku a bit more harshly then intended. "I'm fine... thanks though." She spoke, her manors perhaps seeming a bit passa and tacked on, though not out of disrespect for the woman in charge at least.

"Nice to meet you." She spoke, glancing over at Hisashi, her greeting likely more in act to show her dismissal over Tsume more then anything. Her eyes darted back over towards the blonde, looking curiously over at Torasi, observing quietly wondering just what reason she might of been brought onto such a mission for.


Perception: [roll0]

[Jacior]

Tsume looks at Reina with some interest. "You're almost as strong as I am? We should fight then! If I'm going to be the greatest taijutsu master ever, then I need all the practice I can get!" He does kind of smirk at her sword though. "I don't need weapons though. They get in the way of real taijutsu."

"So our mission is to take a blacksmith somewhere? Not a terribly exciting mission. But this one should leave plenty of time for training on the road!" He continues on, only half waiting for a response. "Training in different environments is the best way to prepare for missions outside your homeland." Tsume said chipperly, quoting one of the textbooks that they'd only so recently stopped using.

"Hisashi's just worried he's gonna pass out again and not have Yamanaka-sensei to baby him again." Whenever he'd seen Hisashi that week, he'd tried to push him harder. If it made Hisashi angry, that was ok, as long as he stopped being a mopey brat. "It'll be ok Hisashi, I'll make sure you don't get hurt while we watch Torasi fix... whatever she's got to fix." Tsume grinned at him, teasing as he did.

He gets a little bouncy at the mention of the circus. "I've never been to a circus before! This is going to be the best mission ever! Plenty of time for training and maybe we can stay and watch the circus after we're done?" He was still a 12 year old kid, circus' were still cool to him. "Do you think they'll have cotton candy? My mom told me about when she went to the circus once and she said it was eating sweet clouds."

When after this time Reina had still ignored him, Tsume looked over to give her a look, only to see her first glare at him and then ignore him! He made a noise between a sigh and a grumble. "What, you're going to treat me like a kid too? Going to ignore me because I'm young and I've only been on one mission?" He crossed his arms. "You're just like Hisashi and that uchiha girl. I couldn't get her to even acknowledge she was fighting me until I started beating her. When Rikku-sensei left her to me, she tried to run off after her!" He gaze hardens as he looks kind of into the distance. "I might not be as good as Rikku-sensei, but I was more than enough to beat her."

"You'll never get very far if you underestimate people. She learned that the hard way." Tsume finishes, pulling a loaf of bread from his pack and biting into it angrily.

[Nyan]

Hisashi would not even look towards Tsume as he simply waved his hand in his direction dismissively while he walked over to Torasi by the wall. "The Circus? What exactly would they require from a blacksmith? Well in any case stay close to me and we should arrive there safely without much trouble." He said as he came up to her. As he was finished however he would look over to her bandaged arm, obviously concerned about her injury.

[HanaRei]

Reina kept her head turned not at all enjoying as Tsume ran off his mouth. Her ability to keep her cool only running thinner as he brought up yet again about the Uchiha... her friend Kaza she was more then certain. It boiled her to the point that even her attempts at holding back couldn't be maintained.

"I don't care if your just a little kid or whatever, don't you dare talk bad about Kaza you idiot!" She called out, pointing at him as it was quite apparent of her anger towards his words. It was far from the type of thing she wanted to say, both due to where she was as well as the fact she wanted to not cause trouble for Kaza in particular, but it was far to much for the girl to take.

"No one gives a damn how strong you think you are, or how little you or, or any of that crap! Whether you are actually strong or not, it is people like you that make things so bad, thinking just of yourself and not caring for anyone else! That is the very attitude that gets good people hurt and forced into doing desperate things!" She spoke, her words perhaps venting beyond the scope of Tsume, anger dwelled by her own home village, by her father.

As if realizing her outbreak, she grinding her teeth a bit turning her head away with her arms crossed as she stepped forward. "If I'm really going to come on such a mission then lets get this started. I don't want to waste time on stupid stuff like this." She spoke, her head turned away perhaps in a bit of embarrassment at her own outburst with the others around, though her anger lingering over Tsume.

[Princess Tracy]

Torasi shrugs off Hisashi's inquiries. "Village experts get commisioned sometimes, ya know. First time I've left for something like this, personally. I gotta go fix a net or something, then I get free tickets to the show and a handsome little bit of payment." She was quite nonchalant over this ninja thing considering her previous nervousness over Hisashi's graduation.

At Reina's outburst, Rikku takes a step forward, placing herself between the two, placing a very firm grip on Tsume's shoulders and squeezing down if he seems like he'll say something regretable. "Uchiha Kaza was a masterful fighter and a credit to her clan. She fought for something she cared deeply about, to protect her comrade, and I'm glad we could take her alive. The blood of such a passionate girl on my hands would dampen what honour I hold to as a ninja," she says, displaying a rare moment of tact. She turns to Tsume, releasing his shoulder as she nods to him. "You will learn respect for your opponents and duties with time. For now, apologise to Reina-san so we can continue our mission like adults." She looks over her shoulder to Reina sternly, expecting her to also accept at least some sort of truce before they set off.

"I'll stay close to you..." Torasi comments cautously to Hisashi, "You do seem the more on-point one here. Er, no offence," she adds, seeing Minami