Naruto SoundITP IC 1: A Melancholy Song of Hope To Come

[Lord Raziere]

Tatebaru:
Now she was fighting like a ninja. He doesn't know where the real one is, but he knows that this Itsusuji in front of him is a clone due to the lack of cuts and thus probably a distraction. The hidden one may or may not be the real one to his knowledge. He does know that the Uzumaki have great chakra reserves and even a genin one could produce multiple though. Reacting quickly he catches the charging clone by the wrist with his superior strength, size and taijutsu and throws the Itsutsuji clone in front of the shuriken and kunai volley to try and solve two problems with one stone, then dashes at the hidden Itsusuji to try and close distance to attack her up close. Best to deal with it as fast as possible, no matter whether she's a clone or not or she's just going to keep throwing shuriken like that.

[somerando]

Itsutsuji:

Itsutsuji's water clone draws a kunai and waits patiently for Tatebaru-3's attack. When he appears she'll try to grab him or otherwise try to keep him in one place long enough for the real Itsutsuji to launch her attack.

The aforementioned real Itsutsuji is hiding further within the trees, concealed but with a line of sight on her clone. She's keeping track of Tatebaru-3's position with her sensory jutsu. When she notices an opportunity, she will hurl the oversized shuriken she's unsealed at him, propelling it faster with a follow-up blast of wind.

[Lord Raziere]

Tatebaru:
He will see the stance of trying to grab him and evade then us his superior height to try to knock her out, thinking she is the real one....and his blow falls, the clone disperses
"Wait that was a clo-"
The giant shuriken slices through the earth clone in half and he crumbles to into rock and soil.

The real Tatebaru sees this and says
"Alright, I think I'll count that as a win for you Itsusuji. You great back there with the tactics you showed. You recognized your own weaknesses, compensated for them and fought smart. Thats good in a ninja. In real fight I'd have probably tried a bit harder but you got the tactics down."
When you all regather he says
"Alright now thats done, I think I got a good assessment of you. I'm putting Itsusuji as second in command. Her mind is cool-headed and displayed a good grasp of the situation. Now thats done, we are to meet up with Team 2 to paint a fence as a D-rank mission. Its boring but its a big fence, public and we'll be safe with two Chuunin and six Genin around."
As you begin walking Hizuka will say
"Team 2? I heard the Chuunin leader of that one is quite.....passionate."
"Yeah, Mubona's kind of a big Samayo fan. I think they developed their guitar based jutsus together."
"also something about this Genin "Hero of Otogakure" or something?"
He shrugs
"Don't know anything about that, just some genin named Kazuo Tanaka has developed this reputation of stopping muggers and, saving cats and trees and having stuff happen to him on missions."
"Oh. him. Weird, I thought he look scared every time I saw him in the academy. Guess he might gotten braver or something?"
Anything you'd like talk about while you walk there before you meet Team 2?

[somerando]

Although initially lit up with the thrill of victory, Itsutsuji's face falls when Tatebaru mentions her promotion. All that work, all those new responsibilities. Why couldn't she have just let the clone win? Her mood worsens further as Tatebaru mentions the fence-painting. All that hard work, especially after she spent all that chakra? Utter pain.

Hashiba's pride is still wounded after his quick loss, so he seizes the chance to puff himself up when the Hero of Otogakure is brought up. "Hah, that guy? No way he's hero material. I bet it's half luck and half lies. I bet I could save cats from trees way better than him, all you have to do is climb up there. And surely the cat's no issue for a trained ninja like myself."
Although she remains silent, Itsutsuji's brain is overclocking itself trying to find ways out of her predicament. Maybe these two problems could be played off against each other?

[Lord Raziere]

Hizuka:
She crosses her arms she walks
"Hmph, you really want to prove your better than him, get these D-rank missions job quickly and well, then we get more C-rank missions to do real shinobi work. Who cares whether ninjas rescue cats in trees? Think long term. Your stupid genkiness won't get us anywhere if its wasted on little things like that, Hashiba."
There is always one in every team. A jerk, a know-it-all. The one focused on their success Hizuka seems to be the one here.
"Me, once I figure out how to store chakra in a form that won't instantly explode when released like the tags, I'll be making weapons for this village to improve our chances. We'll have an advantage over everyone else! And every advantage against those rich imperialistic Konoha bastards counts! Why just think: if we had chakra batteries during the Third Shinobi war, we could've made weapons to fire beams of chakra as artillery at the enemy, as powerful as any ninjutsu!"
A fire lights in her eyes, her passion stirs in response to Hashibas. Someday she will get the recognition she deserves. Someday they will see her not as a fire release user, a but a loyal shinobi of Otogakure!
"There would be no need for the Last Shout with such weaponry, and that would only be the beginning! With chakra batteries we could store all the chakra we don't use on slow days like these with no important missions to preserve for later when we do! It would revolutionize our ability to fight! If only I could figure it out."
Someday no one will look down her. Not those bullies. Not Kimiko. Not even Senko.
"Why when I figure chakra batteries out, I might be able to even enhance and help with your weapons, Hashiba!"
Tatebaru sighs and just says
"Yeah I'm sure Team 2 will be real happy to hear about that from both of you."
"It'll be an invention that might even surpass those....uh works of those Konoha Uzumaki! Right Itsusuji?"
Hizuka after all knows what its like to have a genetic similarity to an enemy and thus makes sure to always make that distinction, seeing a kindred spirit in Itsusuji.

[somerando]

Hashiba backpedals a bit, trying to save face and undercut Hizuka's words.
"Yeah of course cat saving and the like isn't all that important! I was just trying to say it isn't a big deal, this Tanaka guy doesn't deserve the hype and stuff."

Itsutsuji's caught off guard by Hizuka's mention of the Konoha Uzumaki.
"These chakra battery things sound like potent weapons, but I'm not sure they, or any regular ninja weapon, could measure up to the things my erstwhile clanmates have made."
Her expression grows dark and brooding. This is clearly a subject she takes very seriously.
"Back when the Uzumaki were one clan, back in the days of the Land of Whirlpools, we created seals of incredible strength, capable of trapping a tailed beast within the body of a human. These tailed beasts are monsters of chakra and rage, with the power to level villages and terrorize whole nations if left unchecked. Putting this power in the hands of a competent shinobi creates a weapon unlike any other, a freakish and inhumane capacity for precisely controlled absolute destruction."

Itsutsuji's silent for a few seconds, mulling things over.
"Y'know tho, I don't know if the concept of a tailed beast seal and a chakra battery are necessarily entirely different. I don't know exactly how it all works but I think I heard my dad talking about how tailed beasts are basically made of chakra? So if a tailed beast can be stored I suppose a jutsu could be too."

[Lord Raziere]

Hizuka
She will backpedal a bit as well. Seems like trying to make that distinction may have stepped on her clan pride.
"Oh. Well. Sorry. Your right. I guess that is a level of destruction not achieved by anyone else.

As for storing jutsu...that is not what I meant by a chakra battery. Sure you can store a jutsu in a scroll, but you'll only ever be able to use it for that jutsu- the chakra is already shaped, its use is fixed. Imagine instead if we could store raw chakra into a container to be used for anything like electricity. Imagine if we could separate the chakra from the molding process, so that when we tap into the chakra, its not set to one jutsu or another. It would provide us great flexibility. That and the sealing of the tailed beasts was like what, three generations ago? Technology is ever marching forward. We need to innovate! Rely on the same old things, be tied to only the achievements of the past and we won't get anywhere. We need something that won't blow up the world, but will get rid of our enemies. Finesse is an improvement as well."
and she pumps her fist
"and you'll see, when my inventions change this village for the better and some hard work, I'll become a ninja as strong and great as Ameoku one day!"
And then everyone will respect her, everyone.
"....Well....she is a Thunder for a reason..."
Tatebaru says cautiously. Probably not for the reason he would've liked, but she is a Thunder.

Soon you get to the fence where Team 2 is situated, already painting some of it. Mubona springs forward and greets them, a chuunin with a rock'n'roll long dreadlocks hair style and sunglasses on, and a red guitar his back
"HELLO! Tatebaru good to see you again, back from your mission with Samayo Majutsu of the Three Thunders!? How did it go, my passionless comrade!?"
He didn't seem to be trying to insult him by the way, he just seems to state it as a matter of fact.
"Hrmph. It went good. some administrator got corrupt, was using missing-nin and ronin to do his dirty work. took care of him."
It was people like him that shinobi villages were considered an a vital thing, as a community of ninja could review any requests to make sure whether a mission is actually good for a nation or simply for one's own benefit.
"Glad to hear it! Anyways, greetings Team 4! I am Mubona Inazuma, Otogakure's Rockin' Guitarist!! These are the genin under my command!"
They three genin in question sigh a little. He always does this.
"Behold! Miho Kaguya of the Kaguya clan!"
"Pleased to meet you." she says simply
"Naneko Masuku of the Masuku Clan!"
"Hi! I'm so glad to meet you!" she says, trying a little too hard to put on a mask. Her inner thoughts go
Is that really me? Am I really this cheerful?
"And lastly but definitely not leastly, KAZUO TANAKAAAAAA! HERO OF OTOGAKURE!"
Kazuo shakes like a leaf and go
"Hiiiii..." in a high-pitched nervous voice.
He is thinking: Oh no its Hashiba again, why does the one person who doesn't believe my reputation have to be so enthusiastic and competitive, oh no its Hizuka she's a scary girl like Kimiko. Why me, why now, why this? uuuuaaaah....
"and we.....are TEAM 2 OF OTGAKURE! THE TEAM OF ROCK AND ROLL PASSION!!!"
He slings his guitar to play a little riff on it while doing a pose.

...

No one else joins in. A tumbleweed rolls by.

[somerando]

Hashiba and Itsutsuji stare at Mubona, jaws agape in shock. Used as they are to the grim and quiet Tatebaru, a team captain as in-your-face and seemingly unserious as Mubona was not something they were prepared for. Did this guy really train with one of the Three Thunders?

Itsutsuji recovers first and addresses Team 2. "Good to meet all of you. I'm Itsutsuji Uzumaki of the Uzumaki clan."

Hashiba's able to collect himself shortly after. "And I'm Hashiba Fuma of the Fuma clan. Let's get this fence painted!"

[igordragonian]

Duriaba laugh.
"Nyo nyo! O! At least it wont be too easy!" the cat driver seemed very excited.
Odayama moved to stand between the rikshaw and the Cloud Nin.
"For children to stay alive isn't a privlige!" Odayama say sternly, and pull long scroll.
"You won't silence their sound." and if he move toward the children, he will open the scroll, that is filled with another scrolls- some of them are shadow scrolls, and some would rain kunais and weaponry.

Usagi would ride Yojimbo between the trees to be at 3 aclock of the Cloud Nin and shoot thunder arrows- even if he deflect or dodge, they will create a booming nice, that without protection should numb him for a moment.

Duraiaba would use the distraction, and would start to run on trees, and jump from tree to tree.

---

Odayama2 is ready to cover for Yuyuyu.

Duraiba would

[Rater202]

In the forest

"Everyone's miserable. That's what being a ninja is. That's what life is. Giving everything of yourself to something that doesn't give back because in the long run everyone else will be better off. Anyone who can work must work and if DG thinks she deserves special treatment then she's just being selfish."

Senko takes the time that the assailant is talking to try and sneak attack her with her sag art water style heavenly mist.

In response, the spray of water Senko fires from the chakra canon turns into a blooming array of pink crystal shards which encase her arm up to the elbow.

The crystals then shatter, leaving Senko with a stump.

Senko's loud expletive can be heard throughout the forest

"...Gonna vivisect you when my arm grows back" she says after catching her breath.

In the clearing

The man sort of hugs himself and the solid dark red of his arms expands to encase him in a sort of eggshell-like pattern, protecting him from the barrage of swords, arrows, and shuriken.

...Was it was, of Usagi to use loud, debilitating sound weapons in the presence of her allies, however?

Assuming that none of you have tinnitus after that, you can hear Senko loudly swearing in the distance.

The egg peals back afterward and the ninja looks in the direction where Usagi's arrows have been coming from.

"Hey, no-legs? Thunder's just noise. It's lightning that does the work!"

He sends a vastly more powerful version of the lightning whip he'd used earlier in Usagi's direction.

[Lord Raziere]

Otogakure:
As you paint, the actual chore of kind of....fades into the background of your conversation. Its getting done, but as you converse with the others. Hizuka is growling a little as the Chunnin talk about Ameoku's situation while she paints with a burning intensity. She was a hero! Maybe she wasn't perfect but who was? Those people gave their lives for this village, she is just doing what honors them! She will just have to speed up her research so that its not necessary. So that there is a weapon that will make sure Konoha nin die rather than Oto nin. Surely Ameoku would agree with that. Maybe she could get Ameoku to sponsor and fund her project? That was an idea.

Kazuo is painting nervously
"So guys uuuuuuuuh...hows the weather today? My its uh.....a bit sunny isn't it, pleasant weather we're having, hehehehehehehahaha....."
Hopefully no one will focus on him and will instead focus on the safe topics he brings up. Oh Kami he is so awkward, they're all probably super-ninja badasses compared to him. Just keep smiling and keep the fraudulent reputation for heroism up and they won't eat him alive for not wanting to die by sonically blowing himself up.
Miho says in response as she paints in an orderly and thorough manner.
"It is a pleasant day. I heard the Chuunin Exams will be coming soon in the coming weeks, and that our village will be holding some Pre-Chuunin Exams to determine who gets to go. I hope I do well in them. Becoming Chuunin would be a good step towards becoming a Jounin."
Kazuo nervously thinks: I don't want to go! Chuunin Exams is probably full of dangerous super-genin that villages intentionally pick to try and stack things in their favor.
But he says out loud: "Heheheh, I'm the Hero of Otogakure, I could probably get in, but I think I'll...get more experience, give others a chance to become Chuunin before me, yeah."
"Oh come now Kazuo, you don't need to sacrifice your own advancement for others! It'll all be in good sport." Miho says encouragingly "Do your best regardless! Who knows what could happen if you got into the Chuunin Exams!"
Thats exactly what I'm afraid of! he thinks while nodding with a fake smile.
Naneko keeps up the mask of a friendly normal genin while listening on the Chuunin political discussion, practicing to be an Anbu spy even now while saying
"Yeah Kazuo your good ninja, you have a chance so don't pass it up! I'm sure you'd do great!" she says a little cheerily.
Kazuo nervously smiles while thinking, his eyes wide
Thanks a lot guys! No pressure or anything!

Meanwhile Mubona and Tatebaru have their own conversation within your earshot:
"So I'm not entirely up to date with how things are, Mubona can you give the exact news and situation of whats been going on?"
"Well my paranoid and grim friend it is simple! The Kaguya, Masuku, Komoro and Fukaimi clans all currently support Jirou Ishikawa, and of course his own clan is behind him as well. Ameoku had a dinner meeting with the Ishikawas recently but I've heard it didn't go well- got interrupted by some of Futility-san's vile accomplices! Those fiends tried to poison Ameoku's children! Thankfully, through quick action they both saved and the assailants fought off!"
"...And the Big Kitty? how'd she react to that?"
"News is sparse on that, but she has noticeably gotten more hardline and insistent upon her Odokuro-based views, my friend. On top of her already pushing for war against Konoha. I think the attack might've rattled her."
"Hrmph, if it was calculated then this Futility-San is trying to push this village into foolish actions. will destroy us. The suicide bomb tactics were desperation. losing troops fast, so higher ups figured they might as well take out as many konoha assets along with them. Sigh. Does sound like Jirou is the favored candidate however."
"He has yet to meet the Fuma and Uzumaki clans....and Samayo has arrived with you. Depending on how those go, it might swing things a different way. But worry not my friend! Jirou has been chosen by Nozojo himself! I doubt that Ameoku's chances of getting the hat as likely at this point, considering the amount of support he has!"
"Agreed. Shark boy best not screw this up. This Futility-San: Whats his deal?"
"He targets children, genin mostly. A most lowly demon indeed!"
"whats his goal?"
"To bring despair to our great village! A Most Villainous Goal indeed!"
"Hmph. Stupid."
"Stupid how?"
"Despair is temporary. Life moves on. Depression heals. Emotion is wind, duty is stone. When your done feeling sad, there is still work to do. The more you work, the more time passes and you move on. Futility is a good name for him. His goal is futile. Even if he succeeded, it wouldn't last."
"My friend that is a beautiful sentiment! Well for you at least! Your right, despair is temporary!"
Mubona says with a smile
"Shut up."
Tatebaru says keeping a hawk eye out for any attackers.

Yuyuyu:
She will attack DG-Mom from behind while invisible with her umbrella, trying to whack her with it upside the head, trying to use Senko as a distraction.

Kimiko:
While he is distracted blocking the stuff aimed at his arms and attacking Usagi, the paper whip will wrap around his legs, pulling them together, then Kimiko will pull with chakra flow to enhance her strength, trying to sweep him off his feet to try and make him fall on the ground to make him more vulnerable. Kimiko of course has ringing in her ears now, feeling pain from it, but she doesn't need good hearing to do this. She was the genius of otogakure, Kimiko Ishikawa! She wasn't going to let a little thing like this get in the way of defeating this weird fake jinchuuriki!

[igordragonian]

Odayama2 open scroll after scroll raining weapons.

---


Usagi. "Pff. Baka! As if a princess of thr Sound village wouldn't have a way to deal with it! When I'll defiently defeat her, I'll have to use something much stronger!"

Yojimbo, cut a heavy branch to to soke the lightning, and then jump higher into the tops of the trees.
Usagi try to use the noise and lighting of the lightning, to shoot bell needles around the cloud Shinobi without him noticing.


Odayama dissapear into the ground, using earth technique to dig and grab the cloud Shinobi from beneath.





Duraiba cackle with excitment as he jump from tree to tree.
"So. Kids, what have you done wrong? Just having the wrong bloodline?"

[Rater202]

"Ran away from an emotionally abusive home."
"Killed everyone in the lab that created me because they saw me as more of a thing than a person and then fled the country"
"kidnapped by bandits. Made me kill people. A lot."

...It seems the kids took that question a little too literally.

---

In the forest

DG's mother seems to shrug off the attacks as they hit her, but as she moves trick of the light causes a pink reflection on seaming thin air.

Meanwhile, Ichika is checking on Senko's arm.

"...It's like severe frostbite, but without the frost... Senko, we need to get you out of here. You're in no condition to be here."

"I'm fine. It'll grow back. Besides, Usagi-san is missing two limbs and she's cleared for duty."

"Look, that's different."

Meanwhile, Tomoe slashes at the Cloud Ninja, sending a crescent of raw chakra at her which impacts and.

The Cloud ninja is now surrounded by light pink cracks.

"The child said that your bloodline could negate elemental techniques that took on a physical medium... But you can't do that with energy attacks, can you? Everyone, fall back. I wil handle the Crystal user."

"No!"

"Senko-sama, it is the duty of a samurai, even an exiled one, to risk their lives on behalf of her Lord. You're injured, Yuyuyu-san is a stealth expert, Ichika-chan is a medic, and I honestly don't know what Odayama-san is capable of. This only makes sense."

"Damn it, I said no!" Senko concentrates and a shard of bone erupts out of her stump. With effort, it breaks apart into a crude approximation of human arm bones. The flesh at the edges of the stomp tunr to paper, with strips spreading out and weaving around each other and the bones until Senko has a rough facsimile of a working arm again. "I can still fight. I'm not leaving anyone behind."

Ichika, on the other hand, looks shocked. "Senko, have you been stealing bloodlines from the Sound Clans?"

"No, I stole bloodlines from a rouge shinobi. Which is perfectly legal."

"Don't play that game, Senko. The clans won't see things that way. And, honestly... We're friends, right? If I had a bloodline, something from my family that I held as important and I found out you'd copied it without telling me... I'd don't think I'd be able to forgive you. So think of how the clans who... Senko?"

Senko... Ever since Senko got that bit of talk from Menko about taking her familiar for granted, Senko's been thinking and... She's not happy with herself. She stole a sample of Fuyuki-sans DNA despite his being a friend... And she can't come up with a way to approach him to apologize for it. And then the other day, at the dinner meeting, she grafted those cells herself thinking it was necessary only for it to turn out to have been... Not.

And Ichika just stomped on the button to set off that guilt bomb by essentially confirming Senko's worst-case scenario.

And not only that... Despite what she said at the beginning of this mission, Senko is yearning to meet a living member of her family. Even if Daichi hadn't mastered Sage Transformation, even if he doesn't have the information she needs, just seeing a flesh and blood relative face to face for the first time since she killed her parents would...

And her affectations slipping. Dipping back into her natural accent, her composure has been slipping since they go to the border.

In a forest with an unusually high density of natural energy.

Then she found out that Daichi had mastered the transformations and probably did have the information she needed.

...And then she lost a ****ing arm.

And now this.

First, Senko bursts into messy tears.

But, after a second, her sobs of remorse turn into feral growls of rage.

Ichika has just a second to jump away before Senko practically explodes in a dark purple chakra.

A shard of bone erupts from the dense aura, striking the tree that the Cloud ninja is on. The tree very quickly becomes encased in ice.

The Aura clears and Senko stands there in her giant monstrous form. Arm regenerated, serpent-like scales augmenting the form, and spikes of bone jutting from her shoulders.

Now would be a good time to panic

In the Clearing

The Cloud Ninja spins, like a red dervish, to escape Kimiko's grab and avoid Odayama's grab. He lands on a tree.

"Okay. My real target is gon and you kids are pissing me off. I'm just gonna end this."

IX holds out his hands suddenly globs and red and blue chakra begin pooling together and spinning around each other in a manner not unlike the technique that Kimiko has been working on.

...Anyone with any familiarity with what the tailed beasts do should be panicking right now. He's about to nuke this whole section of forest...

...And then a shape emerges from the forest and kicks him in the neck. Body surfing the cloud ninja down to the ground appears a middle-aged man with a wild mane of red hair. He is enshrouded in an aura of purple chakra and while he wears no sandles he is otherwise dressed in the armor of a yamabushi, an ascetic warrior monk who lives as a hermit.

Surrounding his eyes are two dark purple shapes resembling claw makes. His eyes themselves have amber irises against black sclera and from the center of his brow grows a horn that curls upward.

"Where are my children," he says calmly and you can see that his teeth are sharp.

The cloud ninja is dead. Broken neck.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Originally the plan was a mass battle against IX and DS but then with the party splitting... In hindsight, this works better.

[Lord Raziere]

Yuyuyu:
Is seized by a sudden fear and worry in her heart as she sees Senko transform again, but while she isn't the strongest, or the smartest, or the most powerful shinobi in the world she is a good shinobi, and a good shinobi knows when to change plans to keep calm in the face of danger, and a good person knows what to do when her friend is in danger. She does not panic.
"....Tomoe. Hold off Senko off as long as you can. If DG's Mother dies, thats fine. but I need to get to Kimiko as fast as possible."
She then uses her invisibility genjutsu then begins sprinting off in the direction they came, hoping that Kimiko wasn't dead.

Kimiko:
Kimiko is not dead, fortunately. She is a bit annoyed. Kimiko was going to reveal that she slipped in a sealing tag with her leg wrap attack stuck his heel and activate it to shut his ability to use chakra, but now she won't know if that plan would've worked. But she recognizes this man is probably just as dangerous if she doesn't say where.
"Odayama-taichou used a rabbit summons to try and escort them to safety in that direction. Senko's uncle I presume? She has been wanting to meet you."
She points where she remembers Duraiba going.
"I hope you don't mind, but this corpse you've made is quite an interesting specimen, and should be stored in a scroll for further study, before some Cloud Hunter-Nin tries to dispose of it."
After that rare and creepy sentence coming from a child, Kimiko will go over to try and store the corpse of the fake-jinchuuriki in a large storage scroll.

[somerando]

Hashiba grins at the discussion of the Chuunin exams. "I don't expect to have too much trouble with the exams personally. Konoha has the home field advantage but me and my team will do fine at least. Some people might have more problems, I don't know."
This last comment isn't directly aimed at anyone, but Kazuo might interpret it as aimed at him.

Itsutsuji's barely working at this point, too tired and bored of the manual work to do anything more than keep up appearances. "Seeing Konoha at least could be interesting. I've heard some things about it from my clanmates, sounds like a huge place."

After a while more painting Hashiba nudges Itsutsuji. "Hey, seems like that Jirou Ishikawa guy's the favourite to be the next Otokage. Only our clans haven't supported him yet. I heard the Uzumakis and Ishikawas get along like cats and dogs, how do you think things are gonna go down?"

Itsutsuji sighs. "Cats and dogs is a bit too kind a comparison I think. Perhaps the sea and the earth is a more apt touchpoint, an eternal and implacable conflict with no side ever gaining an advantage. My dad's clan head, but I can't really say which way he'll go on the Otokage issue. Of course he wouldn't want an Ishikawa in charge of our village, and he practically worships Odokuro. On the other hand, I can't imagine him ever wanting a resumption of war with Konoha. We're stuck between a rock and a hard place. How do you think the Fuma will align?"

"I dunno. Our clan head hates Konoha. Like a lot. But he isn't all there y'know? The rest of the clan has a lot of influence and I imagine they'll wanna support Jirou to fit in with the rest."

[Lord Raziere]

Naneko and Miho:
"fine? You might be satisfied with that, but I'm sure our team would do great in them!" Miho said "After all, got to show up Konoha in their own territory, show them we aren't be underestimated, that we're not playing around."
"Yeah!" Naneko says "Fine isn't good enough. Fine doesn't get you the win. They're expecting a minor village like us to be average at best, but when we get there? We'll show them we're the best. Nothing less is acceptable. got to have have pride in the village we represent, isn't that right Kazuo?"
He honestly doesn't care, but no one needed to know that. So he scratches the back of his while smiling nervously while saying a sentiment common to all people of Otogakure:
"Yeah sure uh, go Otogakure we're the best, screw those Konoha guys. I'm just going to....paint more of the fence over there, cover it from the other end if you will."
He then extricates himself from the conversation, not wanting to be in this because he knows it would eventually start talking about him and his reputation and trying to get him to go to Konoha and and what he'd do to them and he didn't want that. So He walks quickly to get some distance and....runs into a tree. Then he hears a "mrrroow...."
He sighs in annoyance
"A cat? again? Why do I keep running into cats stuck in trees?"
Stupid luck. He wall-walks up the tree, picks up the even though it struggles and claws him a bit as a cat would on the way down then sets it down and it goes running off.
"There ya dumb cat. Don't know why they climb trees when they can't get down."
He then starts painting while grumbling to himself. You see this all happen by the way, its only a short distance away and yes that did just happen by sheer coincidence.

Tatebaru and Mubona meanwhile, see Jirou walk up to Tatebaru
"well if it isn't Shark Boy himself. How ya doin?"
"I'm doing well taichou. I'm doing my best to live up to what an Otokage should be." he says quietly. To describe him for those who may have not seen him, Jirou is a quiet young man of slender build, blue hair, amber eyes and shark teeth like Kimiko but having Itachi-like hair, wearing Otogakure's chuunin uniform of black vest, grey pants with clouds, dark blue shirt reminiscent of his Kiri heritage and a katana on his belt.
"Ugh, you don't have to call me that anymore you know. Your gonna be Otokage. You'll outrank me."
"This is true taichou. What honorific shall I refer to you instead? Sensei?"
Tatebaru stares at Jirou a little annoyed for a few seconds then sighs.
"fine. whatever. Why are you here?"
"I was wonder if you knew where Samayo Majutsu was. I need to speak to him, try and secure his support you see."
"He's down at that popular club, whats it name....the one every ninja goes to..."
"I think know what your talking about, Broken Record Club. I have to go back there again I see. Whats he doing there?"
"Singing."
Jirou's eyes widen in surprise.
"What!? But I thought his voice was too powerful for that."
"Broken Record Club is built special. Its pretty much the only place he can let loose within the village safely."
"Indeed!" Mubona chips in "I made sure of it myself for my greatest comrade in arms! He too deserves to express his passion, and it is such a shame that he must go silent most of the time."

[somerando]

"Yeah by doing fine I just mean getting through it, standing on the pedestal at the end, becoming a chuunin. I heard the chuunin exams are crazy tough, most of the genin who attempt it fail several times. If we just manage to get there, past the final test, a bunch of us, about as many as Konoha does? Despite being a smaller village? Despite this all being our first time there? Imagine the humiliation for them! Imagine the glory for us!"
Hashiba's wearing a broadening grin as he says this, and one can imagine he's tacking "...and me" onto the end of his last sentence in his head.

Itsutsuji claps her hands. "Alright team, that's a good start! But if we want to paint this more efficiently and all get home sooner we've gotta divvy up tasks. Hashiba, you should start painting in this area. Hizuka, over there."

With the team leaders distracted by Jirou, she hopes to be able to use her position of second-in-command to spend most of her time ordering people around, avoiding most of the hard physical labour of painting.

[Lord Raziere]

The Fence:
You see there is a reason why this task was given to ninja: its a very long fence. Ninja are generally stronger, faster and have more stamina than the average person due to their training. Even with you spreading all eight of you out, there is still a little section that Itsusuji has to do, but its right next to like, Miho Kaguya whose stamina seems limitless, like she just seems trained to do anything for incredibly long periods of time with her taijutsu and covers like twice or even three times the area you do. And all the other ninja don't really seem all that bothered by this either, normal training is more exhausting than this.

While this happens, Jirou will go to the Broken Record club to talk to Samayo about something and Mubona and Tatebaru are talking about something else distracted, Hizuka will whisper to Hashiba going
"Hey, it seems the fence job will be done soon and then we'll be done for the day. Maybe we can sneak off to hear what Jirou and Samayo will talk about when we're done here. I know Itsusuji with her lack of stamina will probably just decline but are you in?"
Hizuka knows that Jirou is Ameoku's political opponent and thus wants to know what he is doing, you probably know this about her. You have a limited window of time to accept this offer given the impromptu nature of this, and you'll be able to catch a glimpse of one of the Legendary Three Thunders. If you do not say yes now, things will move onto other events.

[Rater202]

Yuyuyu:
Is seized by a sudden fear and worry in her heart as she sees Senko transform again, but while she isn't the strongest, or the smartest, or the most powerful shinobi in the world she is a good shinobi, and a good shinobi knows when to change plans to keep calm in the face of danger, and a good person knows what to do when her friend is in danger. She does not panic.
"....Tomoe. Hold off Senko off as long as you can. If DG's Mother dies, thats fine. but I need to get to Kimiko as fast as possible."
She then uses her invisibility genjutsu then begins sprinting off in the direction they came, hoping that Kimiko wasn't dead.

A shard of bone fles in Yuyuyu's general direction.

"I can't see you, but I can still hear you!"

Senko is then immobilized by Ichika, using the string light formation technique to hold her in place.

And then a series of crystals start forming around her feet, Ichika turns to see the Cloud Ninja trying to incapacitate Senko with a mad grin on her face.

"A shapeshifting mutant with multiple bloodlines? She's not my daughter but she's—" she's cut off by a chakra enhanced punch from Tomoe, this breaks her concentration and allows Senko to break from the crystals, which unfortunately interfered with Ichika's fuinjutsu. Senko bitch slaps Ichika away and begins chasing in the direction she heard Yuyuyu fleeing in, a predatory roar leaving her through as she does.

Kimiko:
Kimiko is not dead, fortunately. She is a bit annoyed. Kimiko was going to reveal that she slipped in a sealing tag with her leg wrap attack stuck his heel and activate it to shut his ability to use chakra, but now she won't know if that plan would've worked. But she recognizes this man is probably just as dangerous if she doesn't say where.
"Odayama-taichou used a rabbit summons to try and escort them to safety in that direction. Senko's uncle I presume? She has been wanting to meet you."
She points where she remembers Duraiba going.
"I hope you don't mind, but this corpse you've made is quite an interesting specimen, and should be stored in a scroll for further study, before some Cloud Hunter-Nin tries to dispose of it."
After that rare and creepy sentence coming from a child, Kimiko will go over to try and store the corpse of the fake-jinchuuriki in a large storage scroll.

"Senko? Senna and Akira's daughter, from the village of Debuita? Yes... Technically we would be second cousins once removed, but Uncle works."

His eyes narrow.

"But, if you know her then... Is she here? Part of your party? And... By any chance has she achieved a mastery of the seven wheels? Because, if not... This is a very bad place for her to be."

You can all hear Senko roaring in the distance.

"I assume that is a no."

[Lord Raziere]

Kimiko:
She pockets the scroll containing the corpse then when she hears the roar she automatically takes out a pre-pared seal from of her belt pouches, completely prepared for this.
"You assume correct. Looks like I have to do this again. Come, if you restrain her, this will make it easier."
She then takes running towards the roar with a look of determination on her face.

Yuyuyu:
She is running for her life. The bone shard misses her- turns out when your invisible and running away from something, it can be pretty hard to hit you with a single missile like that. Sound isn't as precise as sight for locating something and even being off by a few degrees trajectory of a projectile can determine whether it hits or misses. She will continue her run, having little hope other than Tomoe catching up or Kimiko arriving in time. She has a couple tricks to extend her time but she knows she isn't capable of beating Senko.

[somerando]

Hashiba grins at Hizuka's suggestion. "Sounds great! I wonder what could be going on."

As they prepare to leave for the Broken Record Club, Itsutsuji wanders over. "Where are you two headed?"
"Oh we were just thinking about heading over to the Broken Record Club, seeing what Jirou and Samayo are up to. Figured you probably wouldn't wanna come, take a break from all that work instead."
"Normally yes, but our earlier conversation's got me curious. I wanna see what this Ishikawa would-be Otokage's doing. Can I tag along?"
"Yeah feel free."

[Lord Raziere]

Broken Record Club
Very well, you soon complete the fence painting and sneak off to see what Jirou is doing rather than heading home, following him to the bad part town in the Broken Record club. You know it as a Dance Club owned and ran by one DJ Scratchman, who is friends with the village higher ups. The club is popular, but isn't high class: its a place for the clanless ninja to hang out in their off hours, and ninja academy dropouts to earn their place and keep where no one else will take them in, and may perhaps be the closest thing to a yakuza outfit this village has-which is fortunate because its probably much kinder than the yakuza. This club is basically the center of the clanless political bloc of the village and thus this village's notable care for merit over clan status: many in Otogakure do not put much stock in clans and their bloodlines and prefer training and determination. It is also a big supporter of Ameoku. Uniquely given these circumstances, the bouncer unlike any other bouncer in the world is probably shinobi-trained. Not a shinobi themselves, they're probably a dropout working with what they have even at their adult age. Jirou goes inside just fine, the bouncer recognizing him and letting him through no trouble.

And thus, you see the first obstacle:
"How are we getting in? 12 year old genin aren't exactly allowed in there. Disguise jutsu or....something else? There may be an entrance on the roof and we could use the wall-walking technique to crawl along the ceiling when inside. Its a well-known fact by shinobi that most people don't look up."
Hizuka says looking at her two teammates as look at the club from a short distance away.

[igordragonian]

Dubaira was silent for a moment as he listened to the children. He chuckled.
"Well, then you feel at home here- half of the people here probably have such backstories. The village doesnt look as pretty as others- but those are my favorite humans. Nyhoho! I have carried many children like you. Most of them grow just fine!" he say with optimism


-----

Odayama2 was prepared for this occasion
Odayama gave him the pills Ameoku has created just for this scenario.
.A product of a very complex and expansive process of herbalism, chemistry and ninjutsu.
It was basicly a smart super sleep pill.
It's not a great feat just to dunk a powerful sleeping drug. It could be dangerouse to health or the chakra balance.
No.
The pill had a vague sense of sentience. Enough to analys it's target and to fit it's effect to perfectly fit- enough to stop the berserk mode, and not too far to hurt Senko.
Odayama2 commanded the others. "Get away!"

He jump and throw a scroll that summon a random wood plank Odayama jump to it, use it as platform,and does so again, jumping around Senko coming closer and closer. Odayama2 looking for an opening to feed Senko the pill, self security isnt a concern for the clone.



-----

Odayama ask a simple question.
"Will you hurt them?'
He isnt phased by the violence.


Usagi look hyped. "Wow! I need to learn to do this!"

[Rater202]

The children in the cart say nothing.

---

"Why would I hurt them?"

Daichi looks to Usagi. "It isn't something that can be learned."

He then heads off after Kimiko. Considering that Senko is rampaging and Daichi is a member of her clan, it's probably for the best that he helps.

---

In the forest proper, Senko's getting closer to Yuyuyu.

And periodically making very colorful threats involving such lovely things as dismemberment, vivisection, cannibalism, and the wearing of certain organs as hats.

It's just as she's going into detail about how she's going to turn Yuyuyu's intestines into a turban that she stops and sniffs the air.

This is the scene that Kimiko finds.

[Lord Raziere]

Kimiko:
Her mind is already whirring, calculating her first move as she proclaims
"Remember me? I'm Kimiko Ishikawa, Genius of Otogakure! and you will wear no one as hats! Paper Release: Paper Shuriken No Jutsu!"
Grinning her shark teeth she swings the Origami-no-Tsurugi, firing various paper shuriken at Senko. Most of them are folded storage seals with smoke bombs inside. It is notable that while she can create storage seals on the fly like she can explosive tags using her jutsu, the storage seals are still empty and needed to be filled ahead of time- thankfully blinding your opponent is almost always a good move and thus a good idea to prepare for anything. Most of the flurry of paper shuriken will go straight towards Senko to explode into smoke, while a couple shuriken on the side, precisely thrown at two trees on either side of the berserker, are instead folded explosive tags that detonate thus making the two trees fall on top of Senko, knowing that just blinding her might not work and Kimiko will probably need something more substantial than her paper bindings to keep Senko restrained in this form.

A part of her notes that the real Senko would probably be angry at her doing this to trees, but that part of her also cares more about Senko than trees, calculates that its better her alive, angry at her and saved by the seal than depressed that her friends died and probably ending her own life, and that she will cross that emotional bridge when she gets to it.

Yuyuyu, sees that Kimiko is now here and changes tactics becoming visible while turning into Kimiko with disguise jutsu to make it harder for Senko to take out the one that can actually solve this situation.

[Rater202]

The smoke bombs never go off.

The berserker exhales in an icy mist erupts from her mouth in a stream, freezing most of the paper shuriken solid and sending them off course.

The two meant to explode do, however, meet their marks. As the trees begin to fall, she throws out her arms and they erupt into strips of paper like the ones that Seno's body was temporarily made of not that long ago. They wrap around the trunks of the falling trees and she pulls, redirecting their landings so that they miss her.

"Of course I remember you Kimiko... You're one of my best friends. I bet your liver is delicious!"

[Lord Raziere]

Kimiko: Get experimental
Okay. That didn't work. Her powers are definitely stronger. A sharklike grin spreads across her face
"Well then....a challenge! Looks like I'll have to get.....experimental."
With that manic glint in Kimiko's eyes Yuyuyu isn't sure which of her friends here is crazier right now. Kimiko will flash through some hand signs and say
"Water Release: Kirigakure No Jutsu!"
A mist begins to cover the area from out of nowhere, obscuring the two Kimiko's from Senko's sight. Thus you can't see what they doing right now. You hear running in two different directions right and left of Senko but its not clear which one is going where. If you can't control the foe, control the environment.

[Rater202]

Senko...

Yeah, even in what is effectively Sage Mode, her sense abilities aren't good enough to figure out which Kimiko is which.

She transforms both of her arms into large town shields and uses Dead Bone Pulse to place spikes on them before turtling up but that's pretty much all she can do right now.

[Lord Raziere]

Kimiko:
Smart enough not fall into the trap of pursuing her in the mist. As expected of Senko. The defensive turtling is a problem. But this allows Kimiko an opportunity. There is a long moment where nothing seemingly happens....then a bunch of black viscous liquid is dumped on Senko from above, sticky dark and smelling foul. If she is experienced enough in chemistry, Senko might recognize this as as the smell of oil. Then a torch is dropped on Senko, trying to set her on fire.

Kimiko is not sure if this will kill Senko. Putting aside the obvious hazard of using fire in a forest which she has water release techniques to deal if it gets out of control, and knowing that Senko might be angry at her for using fire in a forest, her hypothesis is that due to absorbing paper and ice release, she might have a vulnerability to fire, but this vulnerability will be balanced out by her regenerative capabilities: namely that the regeneration will burn through a lot of Senko's excess chakra to repair herself from this and that hopefully it will result in spending all that energy making her go berserk all at once or at least in a very short amount of time, speeding up the natural process that eventually happens anyways. She can put out the fire when it looks like she is going back to normal. The problem is that it might be too effective and burn her to death. Its the universal problem of nonlethal weapons not being 100% nonlethal except with superhuman durability and regeneration the problem is magnified, making one unsure how much force you need to knock someone out....and how much you need to end their lives, which can be a hard target to hit when you don't know the upper limits of their durability. Most people after all, wouldn't say setting your friend on fire is a reasonable course of action to save them.

Its not as if she can just experiment on her friend various ways to knock her out for this kind of thing after all. There is only one Senko after all and she has feelings.

[Rater202]

FWOOSH!!

In the next few moments, a few things happen.

First, unless Kimiko is actively reinforcing the Hidden Mist Technique, the heat from the fire probably evaporates the mist.

Second, Senko is even more pissed off than she is by default in her transformed state.

third, her robes were completly destroyed. Scales and armored plates preserve her modesty but now you can tell that she's grotesqly muscular. She was badly burned but the burns are healing before your eyes.

At her feet are several scalpels and a collection of storage scrolls. One labeled "first aid it," one labeled "surgical tools," one labeled "sample collection," one labeled "emergency snacks," and one labeled "emergency treatment."

You know by now that "emergency snacks" refers to the used-up medical cadavers that she carries around in case she needs biomass... So what could emergency treatment be?

Fourth: "What the hell, I was in there!"

Menko apparently returned to Senko's robes after warming back up. And didn't leave them when Senko transformed.

She seems to have evacuated just before the fire went off, but she vanishes in a puff of smoke before you can get a better look at her.

Senko looks as if she's about to attack when suddenly Daichi jumps from the trees and grabs her by the throat.

A blue pattern similar to the firey orange diamond pattern that usually appears when Senko transforms runs up Daichi's arm in several and vanishes into his torso.

Senko, meanwhile, shrinks back down to her normal self.

As she shrinks Daichi catches her by her legs and gently lies her on the ground.

"She's going to be unconscious for a while. Almost all of her chakra was infused with natural energy. It would be a good idea to get her out of this forest."