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

**Lord Raziere** · 2022-06-05, 11:44 PM (ISO 8601)

Yuyuyu:
She says
"Y-yeah, she is. Never expected my love for the classics to be useful for anything. Thanks for providing this opportunity Menko. Who knows if I'd ever get something like this otherwise?"
Yuyuyu will go over and hug the little snake.
"Though really once you get past the disaster some of this was, this entire mission was kind of lucky given what we're coming away with. And a little luck may go a long way."
Mentors for both her and Senko, children that Senko could probably persuade into donating some of their material as long as they didn't have to fight...her only concern was Kimiko. Who knows what kind of teacher would be to handle her?
"Anyways, I'm tired and we have a bit of a trek back home. I best get some rest."
She will go to sleep, and eventually Kimiko will trudge back and go to sleep as well.

Hizuka:
She follows inside, simmering a bit at her question not being answered. Hashiba might be able to slip inside the S-class space fuinjutsu, but its probably not a good idea to do so- who knows if you could get out? She will sit down and say
"Its the needless sacrificing of our village lives that is the main problem. We can come up with better tactics and ways to destroy those imperialist Konoha bastards other than just blindly trusting in some suicidal resolve! Resolve is good, but there is no need to be extreme with it, if we back it up with better planning and resources!"
Especially if she has S-class fuinjutsu here. Where had she been hiding power like this? How did she get power like this?? WHY had she been hiding power like this!? If she could create a pocket dimension to show to a genin....just to hide intel? Creating a pocket dimension at all was something that she knew that the Ishikawas and the Uzumakis in Sound Village would with no exaggeration, kill to have. It was something beyond any fuinjutsu user in Otogakure could produce. Imagine storing an entire army somewhere so they can be deployed at any point by someone on the outside! Or smuggling out important political figures or other VIPs in your pocket! And she was just....showing it to a mere genin! In order to hide whatever secrets she was keeping, she revealed something like THIS! That was like hiding the 6 and 7's in your hand by playing a queen- at least to an engineer like Hizuka. Did she even realize the value of what she was using right now!? The very thought angered her, fueling both her passion.
"You just showed a prime example of something that could innovate warfare in our favor just to talk with me over tea! We fighter smarter, not harder and we can do better than Odokuro! Why go back when we can go forward?"

**Rater202** · 2022-06-13, 10:47 AM (ISO 8601)

The next morning, with nothing else to do, you begin the trek back to the village.

Daichi and the children traveling with him agree to come to the village... None of them are particularly interested in being ninja, but the kids do reluctantly agree to part with blood samples for research purposes if that's what it takes.

During breaks in the travels, Daichi takes out books and scrolls. Mostly bits of myth and legend but also several family registries and sets of genealogical records.

They're rather conclusive: Senko's family is a branch of the Senju.

Of particular note, according to Daichi's records, Senko is the third most direct descendant of Daisuke Senju currently alive.

"Unless Tetsuo or Chie have passed, and to be fair they are both quite up there in age. I think Tetsuo was going senile the last time I made contact."

Other than that the return is mostly uneventful.

**Lord Raziere** · 2022-06-14, 02:50 AM (ISO 8601)

Hizuka:
The Status of her and Team 4 will be revealed later. For now.....

Team 3: Report In
Jirou assesses the report you give him, thinking calmly, all of standing at attention.
"So.....that is the situation then. First things first: we must figure out living arrangements for your uncle and the children. They will probably have to get one of the cheap apartments, and do you have any idea of what job you'll be able to do, Daichi? Since they do not wish to become ninja they will have to be enrolled into the civilian academy instead. Thankfully due to Nozojo's policies
on raising children, both academies are equally funded, the education will still be the best we can give them."
Which y'know still not as good civilian academies in more powerful nations or even Port Sake which is the capital of Land of Rice and thus has to have the best it can fund in the nation, but they'll be fine.
"Next is the Kumogakure situation. Since this was an illegal border crossing, I doubt that Kumogakure will even be mentioning it or acting as if it happened. Currently we're technically allied to Konoha and this could've been construed as an attack on one of the nations under their protection. So I think it wise that we don't mention it either. Now that is not to say that we will forget this. Its just not currently in our favor to bring it up, just as its not in Kumo's favor to bring it up. So just keep this little incident in mind, don't talk about it until we can make it work for us. Any complaining will only draw us into a conflict between two big bears we don't want to get involved in. Clear?"
"Yup."
"As crystal, anniki."
"Now as for the Code Oni incident in the forest, let me review: Senko in a place full of natural energy built up more than expected, went berserk, but only half the team managed to find and respond to her in time to do anything, but Kimiko decided to experiment with a theory to set Senko on fire to to burn up her natural energy by guzzling it up through regeneration but failed, then Daichi solved it for you. During this fight, Senko unleashed capabilities she didn't have before, that made it harder to properly restrain her, which is why Kimiko began resorting to more extreme measures in the first place. The whole thing could've been a disaster without Daichi's intervention."
He sighs.
"This is concerning. I know Daichi is now here to teach Senko how to properly use senjutsu now....but this current team performance is worrying, especially in the light of this last mission. I pushed for you, Senko to be put on a team in the first place because I was sure that Team 3 could handle it if things went wrong. Two genjutsu users, a seal user, a chuunin with an animal form to hold you back, seemed logical things to use restrain you at the time. But this performance shows some faults with how this team operates not just in responding to a Code Oni, but how this team operates in general."
Yuyuyu tilts her head to the side, confused.
"Operates in general?"
"Indeed." he states matter of factly. "The first and most obvious problem is Kimiko."
"What!?"
"You consistently overperform compared to your teammates, taking actions without working in sync with them, being the first to act and making everyone follow your lead to make your strategies work without actually working WITH them. Indeed you have a tendency to act on your own believing you have the best solution to whatever problem is available without going over it with anyone. This is not unexpected, due to your known narcissistic tendencies arising from your belief about the superiority of your intelligence. There are a couple situations that from the reports, would indicate that the only reason some your plans kept working was because Yuyuyu knew you well enough to back you up without needing to speak to you, which isn't good if you ever need to work in another team- communication so that you can work with any anyone is a vital skill for a shinobi.

Speaking of Yuyuyu, she is a team player sure and the actions she takes are reasonable, but I'm not sure if your fit for a team that is shaping up to be more of an assault team due Usagi's, Senkos and Kimiko's focus on combat. Your specialization is infiltration and genjutsu and if you wish to properly learn in that direction, while combat experience is not bad its not really the experience you need if that is your goal.

Meanwhile Usagi despite her equal skill to Kimiko in combat seems to be underperforming, despite her competitiveness with Kimiko. You seem more concerned with keeping up with and focusing Kimiko than doing your actual missions. Its possible that your competition is hindering your effectiveness rather than enhancing it by being a distraction from the job you need to do.

Senko of the three notable missions you've been on with Team 3, two of them ended in Code Oni's, your investigative and fighting skills in the Touzaki town mission were good, however I'm not counting the snake cave mission as you were technically the client for that mission. Overall despite the great power your gaining, you don't seem to actually contribute much to the team's effectiveness, and in two cases were an active detriment.

Then there is Odayama, you seem lazy and slow to act, consistently letting the Genin act on their own initiative without any input from you despite being their commanding officer and their senior in experience and ability. Furthermore half your genin don't even seem to respect you as a captain, yet you do little to nothing to reprimand them or earn their respect.

Its been a month and due to all these factors I've listed, I'm having doubts about this team's functionality, as your successes might've just been a streak of good luck given the extreme situations you keep running into. This exacerbated by the fact the Pre-Chuunin Exams and thus the Chuunin Exams themselves are coming up soon. No matter what you think of my assessment, if you want to participate in those we'll have to cut out a member as the rules of three genin to a team are an international one for the sake of fairness. So, I want to hear your responses: do you think you can make this team work? What are you willing to do, to make that happen? Do you think I am right- or do you disagree? Senko in particular, do you believe with Daichi here you can make sure a Code Oni doesn't happen again? And even if you think this team is functional and that you work well together despite these flaws....who is willing to volunteer to be taken off so that Team 3 can participate in the exams? Are you even ready for the Exams in the first place?"
He knows he is applying pressure on them with these questions....but they needed to be asked. So far the track record of Team has been full of extreme situations and drama that most teams didn't deal with. Depending on their answers, he will have to change up the teams, arrange some transfers to hopefully get something more workable than a team that seemed more like a ragtag group of misfits than a proper shinobi squad.

**Rater202** · 2022-06-15, 07:18 AM (ISO 8601)

"In terms of a job... I have made something of a career in historical research and investigation, so if there is anything along those lines someone needs to be done... I also may have information that might be of value to the village—for example, Senko-chan has a legitimate claim to being the head of our branch of the Senju Clan and I have the records to prove it. She'd need a regent, obviously, but if the appropriate forms and records were filled out you may be able to leverage having an Established branch family as part of your village with the Leaf Village for some political gain... The main branch of the Senju clan did try to exterminate us, after all. I think we are owed reparation."

"Less tangibly, I've been in every major nation and most minor nations on the continent, I may have picked up something of value in my travels. What kind of battle puppets Sand was working on a few years ago or the Sage Philosophies of the Animals I've interviewed when investigating the grain of truth behind the legends of the Otsusukis..."

"If historical research isn't of value to the Sound Village... I like to think I am good with children, and I have had great success in both getting across borders without drawing attention to myself and in developing the more spiritual side of chakra control. I have no interest in mercenary work, but I may have something to teach the young ones who are looking into such a career."

"Worst case scenario, if I'm to be settling down I won't quite need some of my emergency supplies. If I sell off some things I don't need anymore and dip into the funds I've saved up for a rainy day I may be able to cover first and last month's rent on a small shop. Part of me has always wanted to run a tea house and I did have an idea involving tapioca..."

"I can make things... Knives mostly." DG generates a ruby Kunai. "This one'll crumble and dissolve back into chakra after a while but if I start with some real matter... Anything, pig iron, slag, mud, water, paper, anything cheap I can turn into crystal. I'm pretty good with ruby and sapphire, that stuff's almost as hard as diamond. They'll eventually break and can't be sharpened or honed like a steal, but they should tear through clothes and flesh and there's gotta be a market for that, right? I can also make armor and... Do any sound ninja use clubs or hammers? A Nice HArd Gemstone is good for smashing."

"I have a Land of Sea Ninja education. I could tell you what I remember and you might be able to work anything useful into what you teach your kids."

"As for me... I feel I should clarify that my transformation this time was partially the result of a compromise in my composure. I have been kind of a mess since we found out the truth about Ottomaru and a few other things have been compounding that and it all came to a head when..."

"Dachi-san... Uncle... Says that our transformations aren't just a matter of biology and base psychology but a more complex view of physical, mental, and spiritual health. I need to do the work to manage my well-being on that level. But, I have a general idea of what I need to do to work on that and people who are willing to help me... I can't guarantee that I won't transform again, but if I get started on what I need to do right away I can make it far less likely."

"...Also, grafting myself with the cells of the Psuedo-Jinchuriki and, with their permission, my Uncle's wards—they have already agreed to donate blood for general research—should completly cure what remains of my chakra instability and drastically improve the rate at which I build control. One way or another, progress can be made."

And if she can figure out how Cloud integrated Tailed Beast chakra into the man's own, she could make tremendous gains with her cell grafting technique and maybe even provide insight useful for Jirou's own research.

"But... Before I can do any of that... There's someone I need to make amends to and... I should, if only for my own wellbeing, come clean about what I've done to the other Clans. The Kaguya, the Fukaimi, the Kokoro... If only the heads. I... I haven't technically broken the law but I've wronged them and they have the right to know."

"I didn't steal from the clans, I stole from a missing ninja. So, legally the worst they can do is hate me or try to pressure me into marriage contracts. I can put up with being hated."

**Lord Raziere** · 2022-06-16, 09:02 PM (ISO 8601)

Jirou:
He will nod at Daichi's response.
"All of that sounds good and we can get to all that in good time. Whats important right now is making sure you and the children that are now your responsibility are taken care of."
He will then turn to Senko
"Good. Do so as soon as possible, for your own safety and the village as well. The less incidents the better for everyone. As for the clans...."
He sighs
"It is.....admirable you want to do this, Senko. I'm sure the Komoro clan will be understanding, and the Kaguyas....well I'm pretty sure I can help smooth things over with them. Its the Fukaimi I'm concerned about. Their values look down on you just for being female, and they are incredibly traditional yet different from the rest of the village's values. I do not know how they will react to your apology. I have their support but not for reasons I'm proud of. but I fear if we keep this secret from them longer while apologizing to the other two they'll see it as a slight, so they are going to be ones we have to be the most careful of."
There were more enemies in this village than just Ameoku after all. He then turns to the rest. Kimiko speaks first.
"...I may have made mistakes. But I will not apologize for doing the best of my abilities to solve the situation. I, Kimiko Ishikawa have always focused on both keeping my comrades alive and finishing the mission successfully! None of the missions we have done are failures, the results speak for themselves."
Clearly it must be someone else's fault that things go wrong, and she wasn't about to give up her shot at going to the Chuunin Exams. Jirou gives a noncommittal grunt. It was true that she did act as a shinobi was expected of her to act.
"....I will say that I'm the weakest link." Yuyuyu says, stepping forward. "I am clearly not cut out for an assault team, I'm specialized for infiltration, subterfuge and other such activities and thus should taken off so that may pursue my abilities better in other positions suited for them, while the others could coordinate with each other better for better cohesion. I volunteer to be taken off Team 3."
Jirou nods
"Spoken like a true shinobi."
He then turns to Usagi and Odayama
"As for you two, from my analysis of your reports, Usagi you seem to be under the mistaken assumption that being a shinobi is all about fighting, while you, Odayama are too lax a captain and focused on thinking them to be family to be entrusted with genin like these. I have something to for you to consider: Another genin team that has just come back from a mission, their mission to stop some smuggling of Tsuku turned south as a rogue shinobi appeared and ended up killing one of their genin team mates and their chuunin leader before they escaped. The two remaining genin of course can't be blamed for such an improbable encounter- I wouldn't expect genin to be able to fight such a dangerous foe. This leaves their squad shorthanded to the point where its not really one at all and needs replacements if it is to continue functioning. I am considering taking Usagi and Odayama off Team 3 to fill these roles in this other team and assign Yumi Kaguya- also known as the hunter-nin "Thunderbird" assigned to cut Senko open in the case of a Code Oni- to be the new leader of Team 3, with Kimiko, Senko and Yuyuyu as Genin under her. This will provide the opportunity for Usagi to learn how to be a ninja properly without distraction and Odayama to rethink his leadership strategy. While also providing additional security in case a Code Oni DOES happen. This arrangement would not have to be permanent- perhaps more experience under everyone's belt will someday allow you to work together once again.

But before I actually do this, in the interest of fairness, I give you a chance to plead your case: If any of you believe so, why should Team 3 remain together? If I'm wrong in my assessment, explain why. Explain the upsides of this current team, what I am missing, or at least explain what your willing to do to fix it so that the team is functional. I am welcome to being open-minded."
"But wait, why Odayama and Usagi? I'm the one that volunteered to be taken off."
"My analysis has concluded that Usagi and Odayama are ones to most benefit from being reassigned to a different squad so their mindsets are more on task, rather than being distracted by the urge to fight or the mistaken assumption that he is a father figure to any of you. You three on the other hand take being a ninja seriously in your own ways and I consider more reliable. But again, I'm open to being convinced otherwise."
He sits back and waits. You get the strong feeling, that silence will be taken as acknowledgment that he is correct. If you want to speak in your current team's defense, now is your time to do it.

Spoiler: OOC:

Show

This is basically an IC way to get Igor's characters shuffled off without doing anything permanent to them so that if igor responds they can still come back, so keep that in mind as well.

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**igordragonian** · 2022-06-19, 05:28 AM (ISO 8601)

I have Ameoku IC ready....

I dont know how to reply with Usagi and Odayama.

**Lord Raziere** · 2022-06-19, 07:25 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by igordragonian

I have Ameoku IC ready....

I dont know how to reply with Usagi and Odayama.

OOC: well you can go ahead and post both, I mostly did that because both you and somerando hadn't responded in a while. as things stand, if you want Usagi and Odayama to stay together with Team 3 I will go with that and switch to Yuyuyu being taken off for the Pre-Chuunin exams because the mission is over so...the Pre-Chuunin Exams is whats next. if your still here, the plan becomes "Hizuka and Tatebaru get assigned to the other team instead and Yuyuyu gets taken off" since it the devastated team fills the same slots for a similar absence.

**Lord Raziere** · 2022-06-20, 10:35 PM (ISO 8601)

Yuyuyu, Speak in their defense:
She steps forward and say
"Jirou, I insist that you take me off the team. Usagi and Odayama are just doing their best and like the rest of us can't be expected to deal with the Senko situation perfectly. We've only had this team for a short time, don't give up on it yet. With Daichi teaching Senko, the incidents should be much rarer. Furthermore genin teams like ours are temporary anyways. when we become Chuunin, the expectation will be to work with anyone and Senko will thus have to control herself in any team she is assigned. Thus problems like this in a realistic shinobi scenario are bound to happen in any team. Thus the assignments don't matter for ensuring anyone's safety as Senko must learn to do it herself sooner or later. Furthermore sometimes incidents happen too fast for anyone to respond to and its unreasonable to hold them to perfection. Furthermore reassigning them to the same team will only make them repeat their behaviors with each other, fixing nothing, and they will most likely be angry at you for breaking them up from this team, negatively impacting their performance further, especially Usagi.

This is hopefully the last time such an incident will happen in a long time. Let them prove that Team 3 can get to the Chuunin Exams- or even win them. No team performs perfectly every mission, and they are operating under unusual circumstances that make it harder. We're lucky that we are all still alive, considering the foes we have faced- Futility-san, two crazy immortal priests, a terrorist genin, two Kumo Jounin, things like that. I would not expect any genin team to handle those, would you?? But we have, and they handle some exams without me. I am infiltrator, I do not belong on a combat-oriented team. Take me off of it so I may be trained to go operate solo, they will do fine. I believe they can do well without me."
Jirou looks at her.
"Ah but your second in command, who shall be second-in-command instead when your gone?"
"...I recommend Kimiko."
"......Are you sure about that?" Jirou looks dubious at this.
"Yes. If Senko goes berserk again she will be the only one with any idea of how to seal her. Senko in contrast doesn't like being a ninja and wouldn't be able to give orders when she is berserk. If Odayama isn't around and Senko is berserk, Usagi would need to listen to her plans to resolve the situation. In that situation we can't tolerate conflicting views on the chain of command. Odayama-taichou can decide otherwise but that is my recommendation."
"But her last plan didn't work and only made things worse, your still confident that she can do this?"
"She made a single mistake. A dangerous one that hurt people, but one that she can learn from and if she works closer with senko, perhaps work out plans to make sure this doesn't happen again with more precision and certainty. They just need to be diligent about doing so. Senko and Kimiko are not stupid, they can figure out better plans for this, now that they know that they need to. I am confident they can do this if they just put their minds to it. While any stricter captain than Odayama would probably have MORE problems not LESS with people like Kimiko, Senko and Usagi. Senko has anti-authoritarian views which would make any other leader suspicious of her having rogue shinobi leanings. Usagi is would probably just stubbornly stand her ground against anyone trying to reign in her attitude towards battle, and Kimiko's ego is larger than the moon. I think that if Odayama puts his mind to it, he can guide them better softly than the usual harsher methods employed. and Usagi enjoyment of battle isn't the problem she just needs to learn how to apply herself outside of it.

This team can work even without me, you just have to give it a chance. Please give it a chance, Jirou-taichou."
She bows as she finishes. Jirou considers this a bit then sighs.
"Fine. If you believe in them that strongly, my decision is thus: Yuuki Yuuna Yukimura will be taken off of Team 3 for at least the duration of the Pre-Chuunin and Chuunin Exams to be trained under Kikenna Masuku. When the Chuunin Exams are concluded or whenever Team 3 is eliminated from either we can reconvene to discuss her placement from there. That is all."
You are then dismissed from the mission assignment office. Yuyuyu will look at you guys and say
"Don't worry, I'm sure you guys can do fine without my help. Don't fret about me, I want this kind of opportunity anyways."
"Hyuhyu....very well I look forward to how strong you get, Yuyuyu. Its always a pleasure to work with you."
"and its always a.....exciting time when working with you Kimiko, Usagi, Senko. Whatever else one can say, you girls sure aren't boring!"
She says, chuckling.

Moving On:
The next few days Kimiko spends practicing the Rasengan with balloons, trying to keep them from popping as she constantly trains in honing its consistency and how long she can hold it without breaking them, but they keep breaking over and over again, testing her focus and her determination as she does so.

**Rater202** · 2022-06-25, 12:34 PM (ISO 8601)

Later that afternoon, in the Market place, Senko approaches Fuyuki-san as he's closing up his shop for the night.

"Fuyuki-san... I have something I think I need to talk to you about and... It may be something you want to do in private."

The next day, Fuyuki-san's shop isn't open. He's back the day after like nothing happened, but if someone asks he simply says that he wasn't feeling well.

Senko's Research Report.

Dissection of the captured cadaver revealed what could be groundbreaking information. Readily apparent on the shinobi's arms were a network of surgical scars. Examination of the limbs in question revealed the implication of organic nodules and, upon further examination, these nodules contain samples of preserved flesh and bone. Genetic analysis of these samples of bone and flesh show signs of degradation, suggesting they came from an organism that was dead for a long time... But clear signs that 1: They were human, 2: they came from two distinct individuals who were male and highly genetically similar, most likely blood siblings. 3: They possessed genetic markers and cellular anatomy that, to my knowledge are not found in the majority of humans but are found in both myself and the sample Futility-san's blood that I acquired... I'd need to compare samples of others that are known to be descended from the Otsusuki Clan(or people grafted with bio-matter from those who are) to know for sure, but I have my theories. 4: The Genetic and cellular makeup of the samples also has abnormalities that are like nothing I have ever seen before, something I do not believe exists in nature: Structures made up of solidified, stable, self-sustaining chakra, perfectly mimicking the genes and organelles of natural cells mixed in in small amounts to each.

I am forced to draw the conclusion that the Cloud village surgically implanted this man with fragments of the bodies of the Gold and Silver Brothers... And study of this cadaver.

Among the Shinobi's effects were... Several distinct pills and serums and a coded note. Code breaking isn't my forte, but there were enough repeating motifs for a rough cipher: I've sent the note to one of our code breakers for confirmation, but they seemed to be dosage and administration instructions. I've seen samples of each drug along with blood and tissue samples from the cadaver to the relevant laboratories for analysis in order to confirm my own tests and suspicions but I believe the drugs may have been something related to tissue rejection or facilitating the integration of foreign chakra. If so, then recreating them would be a massive boon not only to my own research but to Ishikawa-sensei's and even just basic medicine.

Even if it is not, and is just a collection of ninja drugs and poisons... Well, we would have access to drugs and poisons made by the most technologically advanced of the Great Villages to experiment with.

The organic tissue of the nodules containing the flesh samples, on the other hand, seems to be some kind of chemical compound derived from some form of exotic plant matter. Again, samples have been sent for secondary analysis but from my own experimenting, it seems to be highly receptive to differant forms of chakra... It has a rudimentary cellular structure, we may be able to clone it in house.

The cell structure of the ninja himself also contains the chakra-based mutations of the cells of the Gold and Silver brothers, but to a lesser degree and lcks the traits that I believe are tied to Otsusuki ancestry. Comparing samples from different sections of his body, the closer his tissues resemble those of the Gold and Silver Brothers.

Once my cellular grafting technique is perfected, I my be able to manufacture pseudo-jinchuriki myself

**Lord Raziere** · 2022-06-25, 11:01 PM (ISO 8601)

Yuyuyu: Training
She stands solo, in a training field with Kikenna
"Alright, Yuyuyu, I've heard some things about this years infiltrator/spy hopeful."
"People have been talking about me?"
"The right people yeah, not the usual circles hyping up genin on their combat ability. We're talking people who want...cooler heads, better information, that sort of thing. Wars are won- and prevented- by knowing whats going on. That is where we, infiltration specialists come in. Our specialization is the original heart and soul of what a ninja is, before our role got expanded to general asymmetrical warfare. And I'm going to be showing you the ropes."
"Right, thank you Kikenna-sensei."
"First of all, lets do this."
She hands Yuyuyu some chakra paper.
"Channel it."
Yuyuyu runs some chakra through- and it slices in half.
"Wow!"
"Wind nature affinity. not surprising. Most of Otogakure is that. It'll make you easy to train for that at least."
"Why do I need training in wind ninjutsu though? I'm a combat specialist."
"You'll still need to defend yourself if things go south. All the information we acquire won't be useful unless you return home alive. You'll never be a combat monster, but we have to make sure you get out of a scrape with people your likely to encounter, and there can be utility in some ninjutsu. Whats your taijutsu situation?"
"I know some chakra flow on top of my basic academy taijutsu and I've been summoning a snake to learn a dancing style thanks to Menko."
"A style not commonly taught. Hm. Very well, unexpected taijutsu is harder to counter after all. I'm fire affinity myself so I can't teach you that, so lets get on to the most important part: genjutsu. How willing are you to seduce and sleep with people you don't know?"
"Wha-at your asking that question that early!?" Yuyuyu says a bit nervously and blushing at the blunt question.
"Well yeah, got to get how deep your willing to go out of the way early. An infiltrators mission can be incredibly variable in length. You might be in enemy territory for months, or even years. To blend in you have to be willing to play the part- or get people to lower their guard so you can get information from them. To us, peoples base desires are just another tool for us."
"Your not specifying gender in that."
"Your right I'm not, everyone feels lust kid, not just men. And you might have to fool people who aren't attracted to your true guise. So how willing to are you to sleep with people you don't know? Specifically for deceiving them into giving info for a mission"
"w-w-w-well.....I don't think right now but I could-"
Kikenna holds up a hand
"Relax. You don't have to sleep with anyone. The power of genjutsu takes of that, you just have to do different things to make sure it works out. The right genjutsu can manipulate someone into thinking they slept with you. Only the shinobi willing to do it physically do so. But your a bit young for that. The reason I bring it up because its a classic example of using peoples desires and emotions against them to get what you want. A distraction people WANT to go after is more effective than a thrown rock. I'm going to teach you how to use genjutsu, as its my specialization as well. Not only to fool the senses, but to manipulate emotions. Emotions make people act foolishly. Flared anger, surprise and fear can make them do impulsive things a clear head will not. A state of peace or tranquility or happiness in a dangerous situation can provide you a moment to to take them down- or to persuade them to help you. For genjutsu is not just merely manipulating what you see or perceive, but how people feel about it. To begin with, you'll start with making me feel a clumsy sense of happiness, or state of drunkenness and we'll begin with these hand signs...."
She begins showing Yuyuyu hand signs to teach her genjutsu.

Kimiko: Research
Taking a break from the rasengan she writes down in her notes:
Working on the seals from the Jashin cultists some more, I have figured out how a sympathetic seal combined with a storage seal to transfer a stored object from one seal to another as a form of reverse summoning. The limitations currently are that its only two way, I have yet to figure out how this could be transferrable between more than two seals, it can only do so with small inanimate objects, and it requires someone to sign a blood pact with as if forming any summoning contract- just instead of me, it summons something I've stored in my seal and vice versa. The nature of this means it needs two people to work as intended, right now I could only store an object in a seal then have to go to the other seal myself to pull it back out, as without signing the contract no one else can even use the seals. I have also made a version that sympathetically transfers sounds but I do not see the usefulness compared to the radio technology we currently have aside from its potential unlimited range.

Another potential improvement though less elaborate, is modifying the jashin self-harm jutsu to instead use a doll instead my own body: I still have to draw a circle with the triangle in and put the doll in, then put the targets blood on the doll but at least it won't cause harm to me. Only good for transferring harm though. If I could figure out a way to instead bind targets or keep them from moving, then this could be a method of binding Senko, but I'd need an example of a sympathetic connection paralyzing somebody, and the only one that comes to mind are the Nara's Shadow Paralyzation jutsu, and they would never share their iconic hiden jutsu with me. I'm trying to work on a sympathetic seal to place on two enemies so I can harm one to harm both but I'd rather figure out how to connect multiple ones before trying that for real, two simply isn't enough to be worth it.

Other possible uses for sympathetic seals I can only speculate on: transfer genjutsu through seals? healing? light? images? Chakra? will have to figure out more, but there is potential here. Those Jashin cultists were idiots. They were developing the potential for so much yet could only think of using this for destruction.

**Rater202** · 2022-06-28, 12:35 AM (ISO 8601)

"So, assuming that the wheels are real and that I'm not just seeing what I want to see when I examine your chakra network, your root wheel is wide open but your sacral and solar plexus wheels aren't just blocked off, they're clogged. That means that not only are gonna have problems with what they represent, but you won't be able to bring anything into balance until it's fixed. There are meditations and exercises that can help, but you're going to have to make some lifestyle changes before anything. When was the last time you did something fun? The last time you did something just because you wanted to? The last time you did something... Creative?"

"I... Used to play the drums to vent emotions but my neighbors complained about the noise. I still have the kit, but.."
.
"Okay, that's a start, maybe... Maybe take your kit out to the park and just drum freestyle or whatever. See how that makes you feel, or... Or anything else you just want to do for the sake of it. Be creative, have fun. That'll cover the sacral wheel... Now... This is a hard question to ask... You seem pretty self-confident, but... Do you love yourself?"

"..."

"Okay... That's gonna be the hard part then. That's where you're gonna have to do the work. We can't work on the other four wheels until those clogs are fixed so... Okay, let's get started with some basic exercises. Start by taking deep, even breathes."

Senko's Research Log.

So, to dispense with usual formalities, I have good news, and I have bad news.

The good news is many-fold: My theories about the drugs on the person of the cloud ninja were correct: According to the laboratory analysis, each drug plays some role in either facilitating the integration or cultivation of foreign chakra or else minimizing the risk of rejecting foreign tissues without compromising the immune system. Additionally, the organic material used in the nodes containing the implanted tissues seems to serve a similar purpose.

By experimenting with both I was able to make significant improvements to both my grafting technique and the serum I use to stabilize the process: the procedure now has an 80% success rate in rats with previous side effects minimized or non-existent and I believe that further refinement can bring the rate up to 100%.

The bad news, however, is that while I was able to successfully graft myself with all captured and donated cellular samples, the results were... Mixed. The donated crystal release samples responded as expected, but the sample donated by Subject 9, rather than bestowing onto me a form like his own merely augmented the amphibious form I already possessed, and have not gained access to the Reizagan despite being grafted with the cells of a user suggesting that there is some specific trigger for the activation of the ability.

And as for the cells of the pseudo-Jinchuriki... Grafting myself with the cells of both the captured body and the Gold and Silver brothers drastically improved my chakra control and affinity to shape manipulation, and even gave me enough tailed beast chakra for very rudimentary applications... But also lead to a rather frightful discovery.

The chakra of the tailed beasts is highly compatible with, and receptive too, natural energy... To the point that using just a small amount drastically accelerated the rate at which my body passively manufactures senjutsu chakra. Even without actively using the tailed-beast's chakra the rate has increased by a thankfully negligible amount.

This is manageable, but further experimentation with this new chakra can not commence unless and until I have full control of my transformed state.

Sill, I have submitted the results of my recent research to Ishikawa-sensei as I believe it will be useful to his own project.

**Lord Raziere** · 2022-06-28, 02:54 AM (ISO 8601)

Senko: Start Hearing Things
Yeah over the next days you just start hearing....these strange whispers as if from far off in the distance. They don't really make any sense in the contexts of which you find yourself in. They are just short comments that seem.....jeering or psychotic, like the first one was just out nowhere one day:
Kill your family. You know they deserve it.
But it would be hours before you would hear any such commentary again. Another such whisper occurred during your conversation with Ichika and it said
Your alone with him, kill him now.
Which makes no sense, because Ichika is a she? Other comments follow patterns like "They will hate you when they find out anyways. Why wait?" or "It will all end in blood, tears and death, don't bother." or greet you in the morning with "Another morning, another day of lies" or wish you goodnight with "You'll return to the pain of awareness soon". Other comments include "Trust is just another cage", "You deserve to hear their screams of pain-and smile", "They're just manipulating you", "Your nothing but a pawn to them. Kill them.". Things like that. Though the comments don't exactly match up to your schedule, or what your doing at the time. The timing is always just a bit off, but there is always hours between each comment. Its real strange. But you feel no compulsion from these whispers- you just hear them.

One notable event was when Kimiko came by to plan contingencies with you in case you go out of control:
"Okay, I've come up with a few plans to try and bind you better, I think I train to expand my chakra pool and chakra control, start training in stronger paper release techniques to bind-"
Kill her, kill her, kill her, she has the accursed eyes, kill her now, kill her- the whispers are oddly insistent this time
"-though I'm thinking about focusing on Earth release for stronger and more solid containment, with additional defensive jutsu like making walls to try and isolate you or at least slow you down-"
I don't care if she is your friend kill her, kill her, kill her, those eyes lead to nothing good, kill her-
"-Though considering your physical prowess it might be good for me to go into genjutsu so as to bypass them with a sleeping jutsu directly, maybe an improvement or empowered version of Usagi's? Maybe help train her to make it more powerful-"
They're all the same, those eyes are all the same, they're cursed, they enslave, kill them, kill them all! Let me do it! unleash me! Let me rid the world of them! I'll be doing everyone a service! Yeah the whispers are faster, ranting almost during this.
"You have any ideas I could do to contain you? This is the brainstorming phase so any possibility is a good one, though a better idea of your biology and capabilities would help."
They don't deserve to live, no ninja does.
Then the voice goes quiet for longer than normal while Kimiko continues talking to you. You actually heard the stuff between the whispers, they are just exactly what you'd expect Kimiko to be talking about in this situation, though these whispers might be a little distracting even though they're just as quiet and far-off like the rest.

Jirou:
He reads over the results. Fascinating. The Tailed Beasts chakra has some strange receptiveness to natural energy? What does that even mean? And how could he possibly use this? He a fuinjutsu user, not a medic nin with a degree in cellular biology. He guessed he could figure out a way to seal tailed beast chakra and natural energy into a seal but the amount of tailed beast energy they had from the corpse was limited wasn't it? how could they get more? Find it? produce it? Hm. Perhaps he needed to start pulling strings to get funding for Kimiko's chakra goggle project...

Hizuka: Moving On
Whatever the outcome of her conversation with Ameoku, her resolve is thus: She will surpass Ameoku no matter what. If she was apart of the Hope Generation, then she should be better than those who came before her, make sure her village lives. Senko was back, but she couldn't let her get in the way. Hizuka gets to her usual engineering lab. How to make a chakra battery today? Chakra was extremely small particles, comparable to electrons. She needed a material to conduct it, but also material so solid that chakra can't leak out. Contain the first in the second, and that'll be a battery. She just needed the right materials for it. But how to get those materials? Or engineer them? Or perhaps maybe...she can make a seal that turns raw chakra into lightning nature chakra then back to raw chakra again, make a normal battery then just make it so that when you store chakra into it, it becomes lightning chakra while stored but goes back to raw chakra when taken out? There would be some inefficiency due to some chakra being used to change natures but it could work....

**Rater202** · 2022-06-28, 11:17 AM (ISO 8601)

Jirou

Senko didn't just write down the bits about the Tailed-Beast Chakra, she also included the results of her experiments with the organic tisues and the drugs, which reduce rejection issues from foreign chakra and tissues.

As Jirou is himself experimenting with seals to grant access to senjutsu, one or both might help him deal with issues of incompatibility—especially if he's using anything derived from Senko's own research into how her bloodline works to facilitate the process. She's seen rats go berserk in his laboratory, after all.

Whether he finds a use for it or not is a different question, but...

With Kimiko

"The truth is, even I have only scratched the surface of the mysteries of my clan's anatomy. It is not like I can vivisect myself, after all... Though that would be such a fascinating experience... I can provide you with my notes on where my various glands and organs are, I have verified that they have not changed, though... Anything that requires going through bone probably won't work."

Beyond that... If you could sink me into the Earth or trap me in rock... I do not believe that I am physically strong enough to break through too much of that.

"You could also try a more extreme seal. The "trap someone in an object kind." My preference would be a drinking gourd but anything would work except for a teapot, do not put me in a teapot... Just, make sure you can get me out."

Senko... Is not sure what to think of with the voices she's been hearing. She'll bring it up with Jirou or Daichi... When she manages to figure out how to word it properly.

It... Started after grafting herself with the tailed beast chakra, but... No, it can't be. Even those with the most reason to hate Hashirama Senju spoke highly of his character. If the tailed beasts were sapient he wouldn't have enslaved them for use as weapons, he'd have just imprisoned them somewhere.

**Lord Raziere** · 2022-06-28, 04:59 PM (ISO 8601)

Jirou:
He asks the chemical engineers he knows to to go for synthesizing the drugs they found and will begin testing the effects of the drug on mice and the seal. After some tests there is some definite improvements, more than the usual slight improvements in percentage, the survival rate getting very near Jirou's preferred percentage to start human testing- its about in its high 70's now and he wants something in the 80-90% survival rate kind of range. This drug has indeed accelerated the development of the Sage Seal and it might only take a relatively few amount of tests to get into the preferred range with this drug, like before it was months, now it might be done in a few weeks.

One day Kimiko goes to Jirou at his normal training grounds and finds....more destruction in it then usual. the training dummies, normally taking down with finesse by precise attacks, look like they've been torn apart and drenched with water as if a flood had came through here, and the rocks have broken up as if a large amount of water has been pounded upon them. Jirou himself seems to be muttering
"Hm....yes definitely an improvement.....the old one is probably not needed now. It would need replacing anyways."
"Hey anniki! I want to ask you something."
He turns around
"Yes, what is it?"
"You know that Chuunin captain you once worked under right? You think you can either get him to teach me some Earth release? Or at least, you teach me jutsu for sealing people into an object? Its for containing Senko."
"Hm, the Earth jutsu sounds possible, but I'm not sure about the sealing Senko inside an object- I have no doubt it could work. But I'm not sure if we have the sealing knowledge to know how to do that anymore. Such a jutsu would manipulate space and physicality in strange ways and I'm not sure if....."
But then again they still had the iron armor seal, their tailed beast sealing jutsu. They just....can't use it right now. But it would technically be more advanced than the jutsu that Kimiko is talking about right now. What if it was possible to study it to reverse-engineer from it a lesser version of that jutsu? But his thoughts were suspicious of letting Kimiko know of the scrolls existence. He did not believe that Kimiko was responsible enough to know they had the sealing jutsu of the masters hidden in their very manor. Give her too much too quickly and she might see no value in the village around her and leave to take jutsu from other ones. He can't let that happen-she was his sister, and Kimiko's brilliance was potentially a very great asset to this village if properly cultivated. If he figures out a good theoretical framework derived from the iron armor seal and just...give it to her without letting her know where it came from? That should be fine, and her own smarts could probably figure out something from there.
"...On second thought, give me a couple days, I think there is something I can scrounge up that could work."
And it would be a good intermediate step between where she is now and her role of sealing the Three-Tails when they honor the agreement with the Kiri Rebels to help with Yagura, so why not?

Hizuka:
However she needed someone that could lightning release to help her design her seal, so she asks Yumi, the who asks why she doesn't just try to modify explosive tags since they store chakra. Hizuka begins experimenting with modifying explosive tags to try and make to release their chakra in steady streams rather than explosive bursts. Senko will probably see her experimenting with them: The first few tests don't work out well, either acting like some leak of blue chakra or smaller explosions happening one after another like firecrackers. So she looks into storage scrolls and how they store matter, could the same be done for energy? Observing them...storage scrolls and explosive tags aren't that different. It seems as if the explosive tags store energy by turning into a yin form accessible through the symbolism of the seal on the tag, just as they do with storage scrolls storing things by essentially storing them as yin forms- things that aren't really substantial in physical reality but still exist in an abstract sense.
"But wait" she wonders "Why is this so easy to do? Why can we flip something from a physical yang-based existence to an abstract symbolic yin existence and back again like this? Why is it something even genin can accomplish? Is there some.....yin layer of reality we interact with that we aren't aware of? Hm. Questions for later."
Sooner or later, she works out what she calls a Chakra Storage Tag- a tag that stores that chakra you put into it and when you touch it, you can regain the chakra put in to use. Useful for replenishing chakra when needed. the tag however when destroyed explodes like an ordinary explosive tag, as the design is still based on that. She wondered why no one thought of doing this before. But that is not her concern. Her concern was now her real goal: making weaponry for Otogakure.

**igordragonian** · 2022-07-05, 05:44 PM (ISO 8601)

Ameoku reharssed for such interviews witb Shushuryu and Odayama. Also during her campgian meetings circle she has learned of people concerns, and so far there were no surprises.
She sipped her tea.
"You are making quite the wild assumptions. And that fair, you are young and the youth have more assumptions than exprience." She start and answering point by point.
"Needless sacrficing? Define needless, Hizuka-chan. I never said about *just* having sucidial resolve. I am a kunoicihi. I am warrior. I am a scientist. I am working on techniques, technology, diplomacy, strategy and so much more. BUT. Those are just tools. A ninja isnt a kunai, nor sealing signs. It's about what stand behind the tools- and the willingness to use them. Many villages care about what jutsus are "forbidden", here forbidden jutsus are our rice bowls more or less. We compete with powerful enemies, their fear of touching certain elements is our main power.'

Ameoku sigh. "This house? Isnt my doing. At least not alone. We have a team of shinobis who have worked over this for *years*. It isnt practical at the front, how ever, we are working on such houses at the village as doomsday defence tool'

at the last point Ameoku laugh.
"Go back? go forward? Forward to where? To sloth, degenracy, weakness and doom? And then the survivers will rise up with resolve and rebuild, just to grow lazy, degenrate and weak until doom come?
There is no back nor forward. It's a cycle. I want to save the village, to keep it at a stage where we survive. the second Ottokage dream of peace, hope and prosperity. It cute. But, peace is just a break between wars, hope is just prepartion to face desprate situations, prosperity is a break between famines, it's not an endgoal- it's just a break.
Too many people refuse to truly embrace the hardships of reality, and stick their heads in sugary dreams, that might come true, but naturally those dreams will end- and then people get crushed. I have seen it so many times. Why do you think shinobis are mentally collapsing so often? Because life isn't as convient as they wish. It doesnt answer their sugary expectations. I also have such weakness, but I recongnize it as weakness, and turn my weakness into an idealogy. The world is an endless conflict and strife with few breaks here and there. I am not closing my eyes to this reality. So? Am I going forward or back?"

****

By the way, Nozojo would personaly meet and take care of the children. (we can RP it or not... but he just the kind who would take this under his personal responsbility)

* * *
Odayama frowned.
A shadow has covered his eyes.
He had his own piece of mind to say to Jirou.
He didnt agreed with almost anything this boy said.
All he has heard were corruption and petty election politics. As he was considering his words carefully, Usagi hissed with rage and drawn her harp bow, but Odayama has shot at her such a dark glare that she stopped, but she shook with clear rage.

All Odayama said. "I has my own means of dealing with the Oni situation. But you have the power over me. And I am not going to beg. I doubt anything I'll say would change your decision." he say coldly. He has lost the respect he had for Jirou.

Yuyuyu step forward and take over the situation.
Odayama soften when Yuyuyu speak.
"If this is your decision... I am sad to see you go. But I know where ever you go would do great.

Usagi would argue with Yuyuyu a bit.

Odayama would probably invite the team for a farewell party for Yuyuyu.

*****

Odayama after Jirou's scold, he is determined not to give his enemies- especialy Jirou, excuses to screw him over.

He become much more stern. He isnt late, sometimes even bring his daughters along, and then make them race to the academy and THEN start the training.
He give the kibidangos and usual tea after the training.
Odayama barely sleep,taking bunch of anti sleep pills. He is polite, and kind but some of his "chill charm" is lost, deep dark sacks are gathered under his eyes as he push himself beyond he is ever did.

He train alongside Kimiko with rasengan, bringing the aproriate balloons.

With Usagi, he convince her of trying Earth release instead, after learning how to check element affinity.

With Senko he try to help to the best of his ability from his relativly recent exprience with controling his pseudu jinchuriki form.

And Ameoku? She admire him for his new desprate determination to stay relevant.

Usagi would ask of Yuyuyu with help with "no fighting stuff' she would shower more, and use her earnings to fix around her and Tsuru's apartment.

* * *

After hard day of training, while Odayama serve kibidangos and tea the radio activate itself over all the village.
"Hello!" The voice of Nozojo is heard from the radio.
"This message is for the Hope Generation! Congrats! You have faced many challenges! I am proud at each and one of you! So it's time to party! Tommorow at the morning you are all invited to the Gohantawa, for the birthday of the Heir Of Hope- Raizu Tanaka! Please be prepared to join at the gates the caravan!"

Usagi. "What? I dont have time for a silly birthdays!"

Odayama:"I think this is an important event- you barely meet your collegues, and if ever a war or a big operation come up, it can be helpful to catch up with them. And more importantly- you will meet your actual boss. Yes. The Ottokage tell us what to do, but, remember, the Damiyo is the leader of our nation. He want to know who serve him, he is about your age"

**Rater202** · 2022-07-05, 07:13 PM (ISO 8601)

Apparently taking the time to stop and have fun is important to ones mental and spiritual health. And that feeds back into your mental energy, and thus your chakra, so... This might make you stronger, in the long run, Usagi-san.

Senko's training has mostly consisted of chakra control exercises and nature transformation training. She's mastered leaf sticking meditation and is coming along very well with tree climbing... Though she still has to run and still sometimes slips or pushes off too hard.

Of particular note, however, is a technique that she claims to have learned from Subject 9. Sort of an opposite technique from mist generation, it involves drawing on ambient moisture in the air and then condensing first into mist and then liquid water in her cupped palm. This is, supposedly, a more involved practice than just generating moisture from chakra and should theoretically let her build up her water affinity more swiftly. It is also a foundational technique for several water style techniques from the land of Sea, where there is plenty of ambient moisture to draw on.

Once Senko has a palm-full of water, she sort of... Shapes into a ball and moves it around through the air. This is another aspect of manipulating the elements she's practicing, she tells you.

"Besides, socializing with people close to my own age was supposed to be the whole point of assigning me to this team, so..."

Daichi had been trying to get their family established as an acknowledged clan inbetween selling his accumulated knowledge, getting his wards settled, and establishing his tea house. Maybe something will have come of that by the time they return.

**Lord Raziere** · 2022-07-06, 11:43 PM (ISO 8601)

Hizuka, Past:
She glares at Ameoku with all the force of shonen hero determination in her eyes. This was not some know it all telling her whats factually wrong or whatever. This was an underdog whose resolve was like a mountain-just not your version of resolve.
"If your view of prosperity like this is just a break between disasters, then you have already lost. If you view not minimizing sacrifices as much as you can, you are inefficient! Famines with proper planning and logistics, can be avoided! Floods can be prevented with damns. The five great shinobi nations didn't become superpowers dominating the world because they followed a philosophy as weak as staying still! Your resolve is weak if that is all you aspire to, the tallest trees start from the smallest seeds because they grow, not because they stay the same! They didn't stay in one place, they grew larger, bigger, devoured more and more all that corruption and weakness you talk about? is just the waste these big imperialist bears leave behind as they charge forward into the future as engines of destruction- our destruction. The idea that these imperial superpowers militaries become weak just because their nobility now have the resources to have more decadent parties while the people work and starve is dumb. The only way we can survive or be victorious against that is we move ever upwards, improve ever greater than what we are now. We can be more than this. Your thinking this is it forever, but I can see how this can be just the beginning. Just the seed to something better. You want people to be like you- thats loser talk, thats stasis. True resolve is inspiring people to be BETTER than you, to want the next generation to build higher than you built. The castle you have built is not a target, but a challenge to go higher!

I came in here thinking you were someone to look up to- I was wrong. But now I know: I was wrong, now I'm motivated to surpass you, be better and stronger than you, simply knowing that I'm working for a tomorrow that is better than yesterday rather staying the course, even if its only step up at a time. You'll see Ameoku- the river of progress is always flowing, and if you don't flow with it, you'll get swept away. I WILL surpass you one day and building a better Otogakure than with technology here than anyone else ever dreamed- and I'll destroy Konoha better than you could myself to do it."
She will then turn and leave.

Hizuka, Present:
She works angrier and angrier, fast and faster to make her newest invention- a chakra battery pack on her back to tap into to either boost herself to refill her chakra when its getting low. She will put on the back of her yoroi armor- three charges, best she can manage. She will go out to train with her team when she notices two different people are with Tatebaru now
"Wheres Itsusuji and Hashiba"
"Bad news: their clan heads heard about you roping them in to sneak into the Broken Record club, as well as the stuff you've been about Ameoku. So they decided to pull strings to pull them off the team. They said you were a "bad influence" on them. as replacement, we've been assigned Ryone and Tetsumi, formerly of Team 5, which had two of their team killed recently."
He sighs
"Clan politics. gotta love 'em."
"Yeah not fond of them either. Sigh. Well, best we make do. Hi I'm Hizuka Okukaga, whats yours?"
Ryone writes on her little chalkboard in a blur and holds it up: "I'm Ryone Aihoshi and I'm mute. Nice to meet you!"
"Oh, nice to meet you too, Ryone."
Another underdog, like her. A mute in a village of sound probably didn't face struggles much different from her own she turns to Tetsumi, who is quietly brooding.
"and you?"
Tetsumi glares back and says
"I.....am Tetsumi Shiraki. I am putting up with this so I can avenge my comrades deaths at the hand of the one who took them from me. So don't mistake my cooperation for friendship, for you are no replacement for them."
"Hey, I never claimed to be, nor would I want to."
"Good."
Hizuka looks at Ryone
"Is she always like this?"
Ryone writes "After the attack? Yes" while looking sad.
"anyways the Pre-Chuunin exams is coming soon, we're newly formed but still invited so lets do some drills and training to coordinate. This might be a little rushed but it'll have to do."
They begin training.

Yuyuyu's Farewell Party:
They will have the farewell party sure, though Yuyuyu will insist that Odayama is being overdramatic, its not like this a permanent arrangement. They'd have to separate anyways for the Chuunin Exams and Konoha would probably accuse them of cheating if they got to that point, and they'd probably be right, as well express concern about Odayama overworking himself and that he should learn a good work/relaxation balance. Kimiko didn't see anything abnormal about Jirou's actions since in her family people mostly just did their own most of the day then came home and argued and criticized each other like a normal family, but Yuyuyu commented back that the Ishikawa clan was far from normal or healthy.

Jirou:
"So yeah, I've been seeing Odayama here and there when training with Yuyuyu, he looks overworked and bitter after what you said to him. You gonna do something about that?" Kikenna says to him.
"Well if I could I would, but I'm kind in the middle of important things right now. Besides I'll have to get used to people being angry at me for making decisions they don't agree with and me being able to do basically nothing about it. When I'm Otokage, everything will be my fault whether I like it or not. So...I'm doing nothing about this and letting him calm down. He can't overwork himself forever and he will either return to the normal Odayama everyone knows and loves or arrive at a balance on his own after realizing that doing like this he will work himself to death. He's a big shinobi he knows about land of lightning salaryman death marches and how those don't end well."
"Does he? Land of Lightning just does it the hardest y'know, according to my intel, almost every nation has some tendency towards it. Culture like this? He might not even realize what he is doing is unhealthy, just as you didn't realize his comment would send him into doing one."
"Well I'm not sure what to do about it and if he can't balance his workload with relaxation or reacted to something I'm no longer even considering anymore and was never meant personally- because y'know I never mean anything personally- thats his problem. I'm not his mother. Did make a mistake in not putting that in more positive terms though."

On the way to the party:
Soon enough while the four teams are on their way to the Daimyo's mansion in Port Sake, the capital of the Land of Rice with any other important ninja going to attend including Jirou but not Kikenna as she has to stay behind to train Yuyuyu. Some of the genin will talk amongst themselves along the way
"Well well well, if it isn't Kimiko Ishikawa. Still playing with origami?"
"Oh hello Hizuka-san, still playing with your toys?"
"I've invented more than you, Kimiko, don't look so smug."
"but I've had more combat and practical experience. Guess what they generally test us on, hyuhyu."
"I can match you in anything, shark girl."
"Ha! You'll have to beat Usagi first, fire girl. You want a chance against me, prove that you can keep up better than her, and she can keep up well."
"Yeah doesn't that scare you? We fellow underdogs rising up against people like you for the progress of everyone."
"really? I see only competitors trying to reach my position at the top."
"Tch. Of course you would. Wheres Yuyuyu? she usually reigns you in."
"Thats not important. Senko here is taking her place, we're friends."
"Oh of course you two would be friends, your both intransigent know-it-alls who think they're right about everything."
"Well what about you? I don't see Itsusuji or Hashiba around."
"Thats not important. I can beat you with any team Kimiko, even if you have Senko and Usagi on your side."
"Hyuhyu, we'll see about that, won't we, Hizuka-san...."

Port Sake, an Introduction:
On the way to the party, you will pass through Port Sake. The capital of the Land of Rice, it is the nations big city where goods going between Land of Earth and Land of Lightning pass through, where traders traveling from Land of Fire from the inland go to sell at the intersection of the northern markets in the shinobi nations. Larger than any other settlement in Rice it has all the modern amenities and services being a thriving port town and economic center as well as a political one. This also makes it the center of the land of Rice's local yakuza operations in its poorer districts where the police cannot reach, usually the farthest districts from the rich areas and the daimyo's mansion. The fire department is a permanently stationed Sound ninja outpost consisting of water release users who dwell here for years at a time, the hospital while full of normal doctors has medic-nin also assigned her for long periods of time for special cases. Numerous ships are docked along the pier or going in and out, a lighthouse guides them when it gets foggy as it sometimes does in these northern climes. There are more sake bars and places that sell sake than you can shake a kunai at, a nation producing a lot of rice also producing a lot of alcohol fermented from rice, and the Ricelanders have had a lot of time to perfect the way they make sake-some people joke that people want to conquer this nation just to get it for themselves.

It is larger than Otogakure in size, and now that your here it is the biggest city you have ever seen so far- though you've only seen the two. It doesn't have walls on its outer edges and instead has suburban areas full of small houses on the outskirts making the transition from wilderness to city gradual, this city designed more for growth than defense making it not very practical to put walls around the whole thing because no one knows where exactly the city ends. There is however a major Rice army garrison of ashigaru here, ready in case of a battle nonetheless. It is when you get to the inner more wealthy districts that you pass through defensive walls and watchtowers around where the daimyo and samurai clans live- probably because the rest of the city was built around this area after the wall was made. Ashigaru are everywhere on these walls, each and every one of them carrying a horn to blow in case they spot a ninja and patrolling in twos with crossbows at the ready.

This isn't an indication you have arrived, simply a description of what you will see in Sake Port. Feel free to discuss with the other genn or move on as you please.

**Rater202** · 2022-07-07, 06:22 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Lord Raziere

On the way to the party:
Soon enough while the four teams are on their way to the Daimyo's mansion in Port Sake, the capital of the Land of Rice with any other important ninja going to attend including Jirou but not Kikenna as she has to stay behind to train Yuyuyu. Some of the genin will talk amongst themselves along the way
"Well well well, if it isn't Kimiko Ishikawa. Still playing with origami?"
"Oh hello Hizuka-san, still playing with your toys?"
"I've invented more than you, Kimiko, don't look so smug."
"but I've had more combat and practical experience. Guess what they generally test us on, hyuhyu."
"I can match you in anything, shark girl."
"Ha! You'll have to beat Usagi first, fire girl. You want a chance against me, prove that you can keep up better than her, and she can keep up well."
"Yeah doesn't that scare you? We fellow underdogs rising up against people like you for the progress of everyone."
"really? I see only competitors trying to reach my position at the top."
"Tch. Of course you would. Wheres Yuyuyu? she usually reigns you in."
"Thats not important. Senko here is taking her place, we're friends."
"Oh of course you two would be friends, your both intransigent know-it-alls who think they're right about everything."
"Well what about you? I don't see Itsusuji or Hashiba around."
"Thats not important. I can beat you with any team Kimiko, even if you have Senko and Usagi on your side."
"Hyuhyu, we'll see about that, won't we, Hizuka-san...."

"Girls, girls, you're both very pretty, you don't need to fight... Unless this is just foreplay and you're about to make out. Then do whatever but do keep in mind that Bunny-chan will probably get jealous."

Menko has gotten really good at using her mind-trick genjutsu to cover up her sliding out of Senko's robes and assuming human form. It's like she just wasn't there a second ago to anyone who doesn't have some form of passive genjutsu awareness.

Senko had her eyes closed but cracks an eye open. "Kimiko-san? Was "Fire girl" really the best you could come up with? How is that even an insult?"

**Lord Raziere** · 2022-07-07, 11:12 AM (ISO 8601)

Kimiko:
Hizuka scoffs, while a little pulsing vein appears on her forehead.
"Oh, like you don't know, Senko."
"Your right Senko, I can do better against Ameoku's little sparkler-fan."
"Grrrrr.....I'm not a fan of Ameoku anymore. I will one day surpass her, mark my words."
"Surpass her in what, simmers-san? Accidentally setting things on fire? Everyone knows you've already surpassed her in that."
"That was training to control my fire release in the academy! I've gotten better now."
"Oh have you now? thank you for revealing information to your competitor, I'll be more wary of you now, loose lips-san"
"Oh yeah great intel there little miss genius. your competitor can use some fire jutsu, I'm sure your victory is certain."
"I'm sure it is. Especially against a walking fire hazard like you, a literal hot mess if you will. Guess you were too hot for even Ameoku or your other teammates to handle."
Hizuka's eyes narrow.
"Y'know, cause you burn everyone that touches you?"
"SHUT UP! I'm a loyal Otogakure kunoichi! I'll be greater than the Three Thunders someday, you'll see!"
Senko, everyone just....kinda assumes you know what is being talked about with Hizuka, and none of the genin really know you since they didn't see you in the academy. So the responses are like this:
"Of course a friend of the top student would make a comment like that...." says Miho with a sigh.
Kazuo and Naneko stay out of this and keep silent for differing reasons.
Ryone writes on her chalkboard and shows it to Senko: "Why did you egg on Kimiko like that? :("- the frowney face is vertical, the internet doesn't exist yet in this universe.

Meanwhile Tetsumi glares at Kimiko and says
"You. Why are wasting your time?"
"Wasting my time with what?"
"With petty concerns like this. Most of your clan was killed during the Third Shinobi War. By Kirigakure, by Konoha. Do you not desire vengeance for that?"
"Well they all died before I was born, so I never really knew them? Why would I care?"
"Why shouldn't you? After all, it was because of them that you live the life you have now. If not for Kirigakure, you'd have a better life in a bigger more powerful village and if not for Konoha, you'd have a father. Don't they deserve to pay for that?"
"I don't know what life would be like with them around or some other Kiri, so their absence doesn't affect me."
and if her mother and brother were right, then him being back wouldn't be very beneficial at all.
"But the villages will fight again someday. Will you say the same thing if someone kills your loved ones?"
Tetsumi asks. Kimiko says back with narrowed eyes.
"I won't let that happen. I'll protect them."
Tetsumi nods, this makes sense to her.
"I truly hope that you succeed in that."
No one should be like herself Tetsumi thinks. No one should feel the pain she feels. But she will get her recompense nonetheless.

**Rater202** · 2022-07-07, 12:48 PM (ISO 8601)

"No... I do not know... I am far too busy with my research, training, and more recently missions to pay attention to the details of your personal life, Hizuka-san..."

"...Wait, Kimiko-san? Are you picking on her for having a control issue? I am surprised at you, given what you know about my own issues on that front...And you are not doing better, you are just... continuing with the same line of..."

"Okay, why is Hizuka-san's loyalty in question? This is what I get for not going to the Academy."

**Lord Raziere** · 2022-07-07, 02:13 PM (ISO 8601)

Kimiko:
She stops. Hm. The situations were similar? Huh.
"Her and your situations are similar? Hm. I never thought about it like that. I was just trash-talking her because her having fire release seems to be a thing with her."
"You don't know? Very well, then I shall inform you. In the academy I was bullied for having fire release affinity I think it was some adults reacted to having memories of the Third Shinobi War, with other students saying that I must be related to Konoha in some manner or be some created experiment to spy on people when I'm just born that way okay? All the while people like you Kimiko and Mayuwo over there-"
She points at Kimiko then at the long-eared kid from the fukaimi clan
"-got aaaaall the spotlight for your better grades and talent, despite this being a village where people dislike bloodlines! When I am a loyal Otogakure shinobi- and someday I'll prove that I can be the greatest of Oto shinobi! Greater than even the Three Thunders themselves, I'll be a song to drown them out! and now, you know."
"Hm. Very well. It is illogical for people to make those assumptions just because its fire release, its a perfectly naturally occurring phenomena in all the elemental nations, just rarer in some and more common in others. However that doesn't mean you'll be greater than me, Hizuka. You still have me to compete with."
"What, but you just....why don't you care now?"
"Your my rival Hizuka, I have to meet blade with blade. But I am also a scientist and assumptions like that are simply illogical because physically speaking its most likely your an ordinary shinobi and has no significance or relation to anything involving cultures or politics aside from wide historical forces that I don't care about. You are a scientist to, so I'm pretty sure you understand this logic as well."
"I....understand but thats not really how normal people....apologize??"
"Oh. Okay. I apologize for not clearly stating that I am a scientist and that my rivalry has nothing to do with illogical assumptions about fire release."
"No.....you hurt my feelings, Kimiko. I'm angry that you reminded me of that pain of being hated and not controlling what I had and being hated for it more because of it, not that you didn't state that." at this point even Hizuka is a bit confused.
"Oh. So thats how your like Senko."
She grins at the realization. Then her smile falters.
"I feel a sudden pain. Why am I imaging saying all those things to Senko and not feeling good about it? ugh, trash-talking you has been ruined now."
Kimiko says crossing her arms in thought.
Miho from the side just says
"....This is a weird conversation."
Naneko replies
"I know right?"

**Rater202** · 2022-07-07, 02:58 PM (ISO 8601)

"And that would be why I egged her on," Senko says to Ryone. "In one short conversation I have gained insight into the mind of a rival and corrected a friend from a bad habit that could cause her, and thus the village, to underperform in the long run."

Actually, Senko just wanted to know what the fire thing was about but if she can convince the rest of the genin that she was playing three-dimensional Shogi then that would only be to her advantage.

"That said... Hating fire users for their association with the Leaf is stupid. Power is power, what matters is what does it cost and how do you use it? If anything, we should want more fire users. The most common elemental nature in the land of rice is Wind, and fire beats wind... But is also empowered by it. By basic tactics alone encouraging any fire users we have should be vital as it provides partial protection from the Leaf's fire users while also allowing for potential synergistic combinations with our own forces. Instead of putting Hizuka-san down, she should have been fast-tracked to be trained as an assault squad leader. A fire user supported by three wind users could easily incinerate most enemy fortifications."

"This whole system is stupid and wasteful."

**Lord Raziere** · 2022-07-07, 10:09 PM (ISO 8601)

The Genin:
"I mean your right about the fire being hated thing" Miho says "but your talking about optimizing for one tactic when shinobi are supposed to be flexible. We're not regular troops, we're irregulars. That idea has merit but only when doing that specific assault. You have to come up with what that squad is doing when they're not being an assault squad burning down a fortification or a bunch of troops, especially in a time of peace when there is no call for that tactic. All your tactic requires is four shinobi learning basic elemental breath attacks and letting the fireball blossom, which any three wind users can do. Such attacks don't actually require that much chakra control since they're just releasing the raw element at people in a cone, and there is other stuff that a shinobi can be doing. Its just that adults don't really trust us genin with such destructive jutsu....which is weird since they do entrust explosives to us, but I guess there is a difference between throwing an explosive tag and firing a raw element at people, technically the tag is more directed in a way and can be more safely detonated far from you? Point is, the tactic you talk about is easily assembled as long as there is one fire release user present. I don't see how people having emotions about things are apart of the system though. It jerkish for them to do so sure but its not like fire release has any rules against it."
"I guess that makes sense, and I could pitch the idea to the superiors. Though honestly I don't think people test for elements that young, my parents did it really early for some reason and I don't know why. they're not bad....they're just absent minded and constantly focused on their science work."
Kimiko meanwhile is pouting at Senko
"Senkoooo......why did you do that? How am I supposed to trash talk people outside of my friend group and feel like a badass while doing so? I'm Kimiko Ishikawa, I'm not supposed to feel the pain of my rivals. I'm supposed to compete with them!"

**Rater202** · 2022-07-08, 06:44 AM (ISO 8601)

"Empathy is the first step towards humility, Kimiko-san. Humility is the first step toward not being killed because you underestimated your opponent and thus were not prepared for them to pull some trick or power up out of their ass."

"Besides, there is a difference between trash talk and bullying, Kimiko. One is mocking an opponent to try and set them on edge. The other is pointless cruelty to someone who can't fight back done out of either sadism or compensation for one's own insecurities."

**Lord Raziere** · 2022-07-08, 03:31 PM (ISO 8601)

Kimiko: Attempt humility
She is silent as she processes this. Inside her head she is thinking:
What she is saying makes sense but I want to be awesome! How do I reconcile these things!? I am Kimiko Ishikawa, Genius of Otogakure! My entire identity hinges on this! Wait wait, remember the true goal: learn all jutsu, become immortal. Right now, Senko is a snake summoner and thus could be a pathway to the latter with the power of the White snake. And I'd need to acquire such techniques as apart of the first goal anyways. Right now that is potentially in jeopardy if she breaks it off with me, thus I need show some change, meet with her on some level to keep in her good graces, even if its just faking it. The persona of Kimiko, Genius of Otogakure was never going to last anyways as you plan on leaving someday for your goal yes? Thus it is only exchanging one mask for another. Yes but I LIKE being praised! And its fun to act all show-offy and awesome like this. Like if I don't have some level of style to this, what is even the point? Okay those are all good points, but you need to be alive enough to pull them off. And come now do you really need others praise? You know your awesome on the inside, you know your the awesomest thing in existence, me. Even if you act humble, the truth will come out and everyone will realize it on their own, because how great you are is self evident without needing to point it out. Your right me, even if I need to lie and hide my awesomeness, people will see through it and figure out my true awesome glory anyways, because it cannot truly be contained, and anyone who can't see it and is truly fooled, doesn't deserve to see it, thats thinking like a shinobi!
Kimiko says
"Very well."
Her body language....shifts. It becomes something similar to Yuyuyu when she is acting more formal and refined, as if Kimiko is imitating a refined lady or ideal wife. When she speaks its much softer.
"Allow me to reintroduce myself. Greetings everyone, I am Ishikawa Kimiko, a humble shinobi of Otogakure. I am pleased to meet you all. Do not mind the fact I that I have done so many outrageous deeds beyond your abilities, I am but a genin like all of you who works hard to serve the village she lives in. I do apologize for my behavior Hizuka-san, that was quite unladylike of me."
She then pulls out a scroll and unseals....a tea set? in the carriage of the caravan (you were always sitting in it, just not mentioned yet)
"Would you like to enjoy some tea with me while on this journey, Senko-chan, Usagi-chan, Hizuka-san? It will be a nice taste and practice for what is to come at the Daimyo's party. It would not do for us to be impolite and cause offense to him after all."
Hizuka's eyes are wide with shock, not sure what to think of this sudden radical shift in demeanor. The other genin in the caravan are in similar levels of disturbed.
"Kimiko, where did this come from?"
She does a refined little unKimiko-like giggle, covering her mouth as she does so.
"hehehe. Hizuka-san, I am a nobleborn shinobi of my clan. Such manners and etiquette are drilled into me for social situations when needed to infiltrate other societies, especially high class society. I simply have realized the need for them now."
"....Okay..."
She settles down to have a normal tea party with Kimiko, a bit nervous about this. Kimiko gives her a gentle yet radiant smile that shows no teeth at all. If not for the fact that she is still wearing dark blue shirt with fishnet under it, dark pants, sandals and a black shinobi belt, all practical shinobi gear, she would be the perfect ideal of a gentle lady in the shinobi nations. Kazuo is screaming internally at this. Naneko also unnerved turns to Senko and whispers to her.
".....Please tell me you brought along Yuyuyu in disguise and this was all just a big prank, the alternative that Kimiko is capable of this is far scarier. Before we could just dismiss her as an egotistical blowhard and get on with our day but now...now we can't read her at all. Don't get me wrong it is technically nicer its just....coming from her specifically, its weird. Though I do see that even with this shift she can't help but mentioning her deeds even as a humble brag, so I guess there is the familiar Kimiko still underneath...."
You get the sense that you just disrupted some long standing social dynamic within the clique known as the "Hope Generation". Like Kimiko was this jerk that everyone just learned to tune out whenever she was just bragging about herself or going off on science tangents but paid attention to whenever the situation was serious, and everyone just settled into thinking Yuyuyu as the social one that could handle her the best while Kimiko was the smart but not all that social one, and now they are scared because they realized that Kimiko may be capable of far more than they realized- or at least learned to imitate Yuyuyu well enough to become capable.

**Rater202** · 2022-07-08, 04:04 PM (ISO 8601)

Senko has the sinking suspicion that she just made a terrible mistake.

"Oh... Crap. If Uncle succeeds in having us established as a formal clan then I will have to learn how to do all of that."

**Lord Raziere** · 2022-07-10, 12:11 AM (ISO 8601)

The Genin:
"Ah yeah" Naneko says "Nadeshiko training can be like that. But if the trainers good, they'll make sure you can be an actual one and not just a doormat- there is supposed to be a core of iron to that old ideal, a subtle strength underneath all the politeness and humility that doesn't let anyone hurt those she care about or let anyone distract them their goals. If they're real good they might even teach you how to wield a naginata. female samurai were once called onna-bugeisha before everyone just simplified the title, and this nadeshiko idea is largely a high society thing. you probably won't have to do it most of the time."
She looks at Kimiko having tea with Hizuka
"I'd wager Kimiko is only doing this because thats the only way she was taught to be polite: as a form of infiltration, and you somehow convinced her that she needs to be polite. While Yuyuyu just seems to do it or something very similar to the ideal because she likes to. Besides this can't last forever. just wait a few hours."

Few hours later:
Kimiko is lying down, exhausted.
"....Hyuuuuuu....why is acting like that so exhausting? Senko this is like.....being polite like this is hardcore infiltration training or something.....hyu...I felt my act threatening to break at the end there....."
Naneko has -_- kind of expression on her face as she looks at Kimiko.
"No, those are trained to keep up masks for much longer. I guess we know your weakness now: your energy for social activities is low, especially when faking a persona. Not that it matters much, considering what you usually do, fuinjutsu experts don't typically get assigned to be infiltrators. too busy writing in their scrolls. Yuyuyu could probably keep it up forever, I don't know how she does it."
She turns back to Senko
"If your anything like Kimiko here- and it seems like you are, I can tell your both very scholarly- you'll have a similar problems keeping up acts/masks like that, so you'd probably never get assigned to an infiltration job and I think actual official clan things would probably be shorter than this?"

**Rater202** · 2022-07-21, 09:39 AM (ISO 8601)

I would not know why it is so exhausting Kimiko-san. Keeping up affectations like that are almost effortless for me. I rarely slip... I mean, I am from a rural border village. Do you really think is this my real accent?

**Lord Raziere** · 2022-07-21, 09:31 PM (ISO 8601)

Kimiko:
She glares at you.
"Is that a challenge? You'll see, I'll maintain it longer!"
She sits back up and begins acting like a nadeshiko more. Over the course of the journey, her acting like this is becomes a form of training for her. Kimiko acting like this becomes less weird for everyone over time, but many of them privately doubt it will last. You catch whispers of them comparing it to their earlier experiences with Kimiko in the academy, where because she effortlessly succeeded at all the actual school subjects she tended to flit from one shinobi-related interest to another in her boredom, and you Senko recall that her own training in Team 3 has been a little eclectic bouncing from one subject to another as she feels she gets something down enough to get how its done and consistently pull it off but rarely ever going past something to truly master something beyond the basics, for example you've seen her swordplay, its not bad its just doesn't reach the expertise or intricacy of say, Tomoe. It as if once she grasps the fundamental basics of something she loses interest because she can figure out-or at least assumes she can figure out- how to extrapolate how to other stuff with the thing from those basics, figuring what she has learned is good enough. The only exception you've seen so far is this Rasengan jutsu she keeps working on.

Arrival:
However sooner or later, you arrive at the Rice Daimyo's mansion. A samurai retainer is out there to greet you.
"Greetings, young genin. Knowing that your journey has taken quite a few days, the Daimyo is allowing you stay in the guest rooms while you are here in Port Sake. Rest assured the Head of the Daimyo Guard and the Samurai General are well aware of this "Futility-san" and his allies that have been reported from Otogakure, and heightened security measures have been put in place as reinforcements the general can spare standing guard. The party will not start immediately and you will have time to rest or enjoy the sights and pleasures of the capital in the meantime. Please mind your manners to the other guests, as many heads of state other than the daimyo are also in attendance, such as the the samurai general, the head treasurer, the minister of taxation, minister of justice and Mayor of Port Sake to name a few."
"Makes sense" Naneko mutters to herself "They want to keep an eye on the development of the young lord, see how their future ruler is coming along, make friends with them early. Some of them might've brought their own intended successors along to teach them maintaining relationships like this. This could be a good opportunity to meet the people who rule us."
"Or see the sights" Miho Kaguya says "its not everyday you get to see the capital, and Port Sake is the urban hub of Rice Country. No town in our nation compares to it. Why miss out on that to talk to a bunch of old men about bureaucratic matters?"
"Miho, it is important to understand the nation we are defending and how it works, the value and intricacy of what we're sworn to protect."
"Come on, do we really? Just protect the people blathering on about boring stuff in fancy garments along with everyone else and it'll work itself out."
Naneko turns to Kazuo
"Come on, back me up here Kazuo"
"Yeah sure, uh whatever Naneko, whatever you just said is uh, sure important."
he says while nervously wondering how bad the situation is if they putting up so much defenses to repel the expected attack. He was hoping it was all a false alarm and that no attack will happen. Just a normal if fancy party between major political figures where nothing bad happens, is that too much to ask?
"Sigh. your both hopeless."

**igordragonian** · 2022-07-29, 06:50 AM (ISO 8601)

Ameoku sigh, tired with Hizuka's declare.
"And people said what you said, when the rocks and the riverw were still young. You are another slavw of the chain- but fine- surpass me- I dont really carw what your motivation is, as long as you are strong and serve the village! Good luck!"
Ameoku say with a smile.

Well. Hope is b#^#.

----------

Usagi just pouted at the reasonable explanations she was given.
Truth to be told, she was anxiouse.
The idea of socializing with more daunting then staying up all night digging tunnels just to prove a point to a certain princess.

She based all her identity around overcoming her liabilty, and proving herself just as good and to never be helpless-
Usagi didnt actually had hobbies. What was she supposed to talk with other kids about?
"Hey? How was your work?"
Her IQ wasnt something to write home about-
the deep chakra discussions of Kimiko and Senko left her dizzy, she mostly nodded in those discussions, and if she dared to look less smart, she presented a question to clarify.

Usagi went to Yuyuyu, asking for advice and also help her to learn to tie kimonos herself and make her stupid hair look ok.

She even shared this with Tsuru.
Their home life actually became much better, after Usagi gotten the pay for her missions.
Maybe if she save wisely in few month they could move in better appartment.
the eldery one handed woman chuckled.
"The second Ottokage's wisdom know no bounds. I am happy that is concern you.'
Usagi;"You are happy that I am going to look like a complete baka infront of the princess, Damiyo and everyone?!" she barked

Tsuru shook her head.
'No no dear. Acting your age. It's healthy. *normal*, for you to be concerned about such things. And the thing is- you dont have to be great at it. You dont have to be great at everything. You said, you only nod and ask questions when your friends discuss things that you dont fully grasp- listening is a GREAT social skill.'
Tsuru say a bit excited
"Do you know what it means for me, when you find the time to listen to my ramblings?"
Usagi shook her head. "how?'
Tsuru:"Like.. I exist. My existence is acknowledged.... and that something all people of all social classes desire. Especialy in your age. You dont have to force yourself to have hobbies you dont care about- just be willing to listen and care about what others have to say."
Usagi nodded seriously.
"And...."
Tsuru smiled like an old tortoise and pulled a small gift- A One Piece manga volume.*
"WHAT?!" Usagi is shocked.

Tsuru:"I know you were intrested in it, but why dont you start to read it? Many kids and many adults seems to be very passionate about those pirate adventures. It can be a something to talk about."
Usagi overwhelmed with emotions has hugged her eldery roomie/parental figure.

*We talked about it OOC- I think One Piece exist in Narutoverse as a manga.
Based on reffrences, and discussing their meanings in universe.

-------
"bunny girl" was indeed jealuse.
"Hey! Hey!" she waddled on her crotches forward.
"Hey! Toy-geek! I can outrun you without legs! My arrows are better then anything you can come up with! And I work hundred times harder then you! Toy-geek!"

Usagi blushed. "Hey! Snake-" she couldnt come up with a retort.
"shut up!"*
*(energy like.. this- https://youtu.be/gYb4RuckGAY)

Odayama allowed himself to smile a bit.

Ameoku was kind, and his daughters wrote protective talismans for him- not that they had any jutsu with them, just normal wish well talismans.
)or were they?)
They also given such talismans to the group, including Yuyuyu, which Miko and Kimiko viewed as sort of a sister.

Usagi roll her eyes at Tetsumi. "So edgy! OoOo. Can you back up your grimm demeanor with actions, or are you a cry baby? huh?' she say agressivly.
Tsuru has adviced her to be listening but this comeptative energy took her over.

Usagi follow the other part of Uizuka talking about herself.
She felt... sympathy.
But she expressed it in.. her way.
"Pff. Baka. I'll bully you, just as I bully any other sound nin! And...'
more akwardly.
"And Kimiko is a bratty princess! This is the best apology she can offer, baka!'

Odayama join in gently.
"It is... irrational. But understandable." he say softly.
He kneel down look at Hizuka.
"Some people have scars deep in their souls. And then they hurt others.... it very difficult to stop this terrible chain.'

Odayama smile at Kimiko's humility. "I'll get the tea dangos for you."

Usagi look away. "Not that bad,princess."
Ugh. Another geniouse to distract Kimiko from her.
Not that she cared! Baka!

-----

When escorted by then samurais, the ninjas get a very warm (and unoffical) welcome: hundreds of citizens celebrating their arrival throwing rice and ribbons.
Bunch of people play the "Sound Of Liberation" symphony" Odayama explain.

https://youtu.be/S3d6qvF8VO8
"the most iconic symphony of the first Ottokage"

"Hope! Hope! Hope!" people chant at the Genins, treating them as the chosen ones.
"Yes! This is indeed the Hope Generation for you!" Nozojo arrive out of nowhere with recording devices and huge headphones under his Kage strawhat.
"And here a live show from the Rice Capitol! And here we meet the Hope Generation! Wohoooo!"
the crowd echo him.
Bunch of teen girls scream "kyyyaaa!" with deep enthusiasm.
"What are you doing here?!" Odayama asked shocked alongside other captain
Nozojo laugh. He actually.. look healthy?
"I have taught more or less everything I know to Jirou-kun, he is a smart kid, and if he has isssues he can call me. The Hope Generation are my pride and joy, I wouldnt miss this for anything in the world! The people here have waited for this moment for years!"

an unoffical parade escort the young ninjas and their teachers.
People with gifts, prayers and wishes trying to aporach them, but the samurais and teachers have to push them back gently.
"We love you!"
This was Nozojo's biggest project probably-
to give the Rice Nation hope. Morale. Pride.
Heroes.

Nozojo also on the way, asked every Hope Generation member to "say something cool!"
and those who were too shy or "cool" to cooperate, he became their hype person and moved on.
For example, Yoroi didnt replied, so Nozojo said:"Yoroi is a honorable Ronin and he preffer action to protect us rather then words!"
Usagi actually went along with the mood, and yelled at the microphone.
"I a Usagi! And when I am around, no ally will feel helpless!"
Upgrade of her intial dream.

Eventually they reach the castle, and the crowd is left behind cheering on.
Gohantawa- The mansion/castle of the Damiyo.
This place had double statues infront of it's gates-
Odokuro, the first Ottokage, alongside Damiyo Tadano Tanaka.

Tadano were sat in a wheelchair, Odukoro were sculptered, kneeling alongside Tadano, with a supporting hand over his shoulder.
Here Odukoro were sculptured with expression of rightness.
Tadano, who look relativly young in this statue with a small poiny goatee and stern fatherly expression.
The bronze plate said:
"Born first in fire
fell into betrayal and silence
Tadano has learned to admire
those who were silenced with malice.

With drums of liberation
Odokuru has came. Tall, hungry shadow.
herded the mute to revulation
To those two we are happy to bow"

There is also unoffical worship*- people leave offerings, each with what viewed good offeringa- candies from children, ciggaretes from jaded adults.
Praying papers and even money.
)the money is collected for charity, and the papers are read in secret by the Damiyo who... try to improve himself based on them)

Nozojo, Odayama and the other captains bow.
No one commad the Genins to bow, but there is a silent expecation from the crowd.
No one would judge. But...

And afterward the crowd is calmed down enough to disperse. For now.

And finally they are free to crush at their rooms or whatever.

*inspired by https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Muerte

https://youtu.be/UOq8tX4gnEw

folk saint of people who feel jaded by thr big system. I figured it make sense.

---------

https://youtu.be/aq8RLlwlP90

The Heir Of Hope.

https://www.1999.co.jp/itbig76/10762735.jpg

Raizo Tanaka was in middle of law studies, as he noticed the commotion.
He was up as usual from 4:50 to a very strict sceduale.
"Are you distracted, young lord?"
The teacher ask the twelve years boy, politly but strictly.

"A bit. I must admit. Forgive me." he say dryly.
The teacher pondered. "Well. Just finish this quiz, and you have the rest of the lesson to satiate your curiosity.'

Raizo shook his head. "Dont go easy on me, Sensei. I will meet the Hope Generation at the party.'
The teacher sighed. "But you are bound to be excited and curiouse. And wouldnt it be a teaching exprience to see them, and potentialy meet them outside an offical event?"

Raizo has closed his eyes, concerating.
Was it an excuse to treat him like a kid? Or was it a true rational?
What was the right thing to do?
Well. People connect to each other, if they feel it is beyond obligation.
So... he is obliged to not obliged communication with his loyal ninjas.
Yes. It was the right decision.

After a long minute. "There is wisdom in that. Very well. I shall finish your queez perfectly and then, personaly make sure our guests are treated well

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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