Private/Closed Naruto AU: Roleplay

[sSoul]

Taiyo
Without hesitation, Taiyo turned up the heat of his aura to go from red to a firey orange and decided that if this was was to end, it would do so on his terms.

Wow, she's so cute when she pouts.

Dude, we can't go around saying that kind of stuff.

Well YOU can't, since if you said that out loud, she'd murder you and wear your skin as a coat. I can because I'm a voice in your head, no one is going to see this.

True, now if you'll excuse me, I have a battle to conclude, and probably an angry Hyūga to try and calm down.

Good luck with that.

"Fire Release: Explosive Flame Shot!" Having a flashback to his fight against Jirobo, Taiyo unleashed the jutsu that took away all of his chakra last time he used it, however this time was different. There was substantially less chakra being used due to the fact that A; this was essentially a point-blank range shot at this point, B; against Jirobo, he had killing intent and this time keeping Furījia alive was within his best interest and C; his chakra reserves have been increased to handle this shot, so as such, his aura only disappeared, but he still had around a 75% of his chakra left at his disposal. Once again, Taiyo planned to trade blows.
Seiun
Being introduced to the Hōzuki maiden, the rouge shinobi began to study Hyōryūgetsu, akin to the way Taiyo studied Furījia. However his intentions were different, as he was judging based on physical appearance alone to see if she would have the capabilities to fight against such a powerhouse as a Jinchūriki.

Well this will be an experience for sure, might as well talk to Mistress, what else do I have to do.

"So...ready to fight some super powerful kunoichi with a sadist, a ice emperor and as of now, an enigma?"
Tsuki
The Yuki-nin kindly bowed to the new arrival, hoping to indicate friendly intentions early on. Ignoring Seiun, who seemed to be doing his own thing, Tsuki opened her notebook and flipped to an empty page, titling it "Hyōryūgetsu Hōzuki".

"So...ready to fight some super powerful kunoichi with a sadist, a ice emperor and as of now, an enigma?"

Well isn't that a stellar conversation starter if I've ever seen one.

"For the most part, yes. I've gotten used to Hama-sensei's...mannerisms and and behind Kai's shouts for Xeno Blood, he's a respectable and admirable individual. As for Mrs. Hōzuki, I don't know much about her, so I cannot say for sure. I have confidence that all five of us will be more than capable of defeating this Jinchūriki!" Tsuki was beaming with optimism from her response, which caused her servant to smile in tandem.

 

[kyuukestu]

Sagisō

Her heading nodding in agreement, but her eyes radiating concern and confusion, Sagisō slowly picked herself up and dusted off her clothes. "We'll get back to this, but it seems like we have more pressing matters at hand...I'll see you in an hour." Taking off in a panicked sprint, Sagisō dashed away from the training grounds, quickly disappearing within the maze of buildings that composed the residential area of the Hyūga clan.

Furījia

"Uwawawa!?"

While Taiyo's aura might've subdued itself in a feat of impressive chakra control, Furījia could still clearly see the surges and swells of his chakra as it accumulated beneath his skin. Making an abrupt decision, the girl switched tactics, her chakra points opening as she emitted chakra in spades from her entire body. It wasn't much of a Rotation, but the sudden influx of chakra between the two did create a buffer similar to Taiyo's earlier chakra shield. Needless to say, the Fire nature was by far one of the more 'explosive' nature transformations, and upon contact with her chakra, Taiyo's explosive flame shot did exactly that -explode.

With a muffled boom, a short and petite figure was sent flying, cutting a short arc through the air before landing unceremoniously on her tooshie. Wisps of sooty smoke drifted from the girl's hair and clothes, but she didn't seem to have sustained any serious burns. However, having not been garbed in her battle gear, Furījia's clothes were less sturdy than they had any right to be, and as such the explosion had done quite a number on them.

In tatters and with singed holes splotched all over it, Furījia's clothes had most certainly seen better days and in their current state even calling them clothes was a stretch of the term. Needless to say, her current state did not escape the girl's notice, and the first thing she did was to cross her legs and arms in front of her, preserving as much of her modesty as she could. Glaring bitterly at her opponent, more embarrassed tears glittering within her eyes, she scolded, "Y-you...you... brutish, lecherous, delinquent, skeeve, knavish, barbarian, debauched, miscreant, roguish, deviant, savage, rascal, scoundrel, fiend, scamp, degenerate, libertine, salacious, licentious...PERVERT!!"

Having emptied her lungs completely with her tirade of curses, the girl took a deep breath, and at the top of her lungs she screamed; "GUAAAARDS!!!"

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

“Don’t get your fishnets in a twist Mei.” Hama winked. “We will take care of the target without much a problem, if we get to it that is.”

Kai abstained from splitting the mizukage, given how she respected a Xeno that tried to bomb her and her aides and ridiculed him for trying to bring this to attention. He simpler grunted and looked the other way. If it wouldn’t sow further discord between the Yuki and the Kage, he would have spat at her feet.

Upon tsuki’s declaration about beating the jinchurki, hama simply shook her head with her signature smirk, before eyeing the new member to the party.

“Oh? What’s this? I take it this little one is to report to you. Why, if I didn’t know any better I’d think you didn’t trust me.”

 

[kyuukestu]

Yasu

On the edge of an oasis, a single youthful figure stood, his pitch black armor glistering in the overbearing sunlight. His brow was knitted into an expression of utmost concentration on solemnity, and on his shoulder was a large desert gliding bird, an empty message canister strapped to its leg. Within the youth’s hands was a small square of parchment, dense with letters that detailed his orders and the situation.

“All this fanfare over a single jinchuriki..? Talk about extravagant.”

Having spent the past 2 months at the border of the Iwa-Suna frontier, the youth, Yasu, had just about settled into the military lifestyle that came with being his station. It was nothing fanciful, he didn’t even have any other soldiers under his command, but he had managed to make a name for himself in battle -Yatagarasu!

Ever since his defeat at Zaku’s hands, and his promise to Tomiko, Yasu had been pouring himself into training. Retraining himself from the ground up, the boy had advanced to a new level in his feather-based ninjutsu, and said new level was exactly where his moniker -Yatagarasu, the 8-span crow- stemmed from.

Appearance wise, the youth had gone through drastic changes, his ‘hair’ now fell down to his waist, in what appeared to be thick curtains of down or soft feathers. Mixed within these smaller soft feathers were many of Yasu’s standard sized crow feathers, but they hardly stood out. Apart from his hair, his armor had also changed, having been retrofitted to cover less of his body, essentially having been reduced to wrist and shin guards, and a breastplate, all dyed crow-feather black. Looking quite different than he did 3 months ago, Yasu set out, a steady stride across the desert dunes.

Based on the report he’d just been sent, he was to meet up with and fall under Pakura’s command, where he along with a handful of other shinobi would join the skirmishes over the 8-tails jinchuriki. “I wonder...if Tomiko will be there..? She...wouldn’t...right..?” A grimace came over his face as he realized that the single most dangerous place in the ninja world would be precisely that battlefield between the 5 great nations, and knowing Tomiko, she’d wouldn’t be caught dead actually trying to ‘avoid a dangerous situation’.

“...I’d better hurry.”

Redoubling his efforts, Yasu broke out into a light jog. As he strode across the sand, his feathery mane bristled, several feather quills falling from their position and settling down on his feet in the shape of sleek, inky wings. His speed rose at a steady rate until his feet were barely touching the ground, merely gliding over the endless seas of sand with avian grace. “Yatagarasu’s 1st Span: Flight of the Roc.”

Mei

Merely smiling, the Mizukage remained silent and noncommital. If this was about trust, she would've opted to send Chino, or even Ao, but instead, she'd chosen to send someone from the Hōzuki clan. From what she observed, that action of hers seemed to be drawing in even more benefits than she'd expected. There had indeed been a certain reason that she'd assigned a Hōzuki to the Yuki-dominated team, but Hama's shot was way off-target. Nevertheless, if they believed that the Hōzuki worked for her and then fought among themselves because of it, then that wasn't of any real harm.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

*****
10 years ago
*****

Jin made his way through the gory compound, a place that had previously been off limits to him...know he knew why. Being careful how he navigated, he managed to avoid any Hü patrols. He shifted to the right, finding himself In a secluded corridor with a single door in the end. He made a single handsign, morphing into a puddle of water. Now a puddle, he slithered under the door before rematerializing as himself on the other side.

He was met with the sight of several dozens of Yuki Clan members all chained up, each finger separated from the other fingers by restraints made of muscle. His eyes met with Hama, who’s jet black hair had become white, very similar to that of the Hü’s metamorphosis. He eyed it suspiciously before ripping the bindings off of her.

“...Jin?” Hama said blinking back to consciousness. “It was awful. They were doing tests on us, I guess they took a liking to me-“

“That’s enough. How do I know your still the Hama I know?”

Hama, using her bloodline froze a long strand of sweat on her head, and throwing it like a shuriken. It hit right beyond Jin’s shoulder, making a squishing sound on something. He cautiously took a few steps forward before flipping around. He was met with a floating bundle of bodily fluids surrounding a brain, the nerves and veins outstretched like branches, attempting to grip his arms where they used to be. Hama’s shuriken had implanted itself right in the exposed brain of the target, sending the floating pile of organic material onto the ground, spilling it’s contents.

“...ok...that was pretty convincing.” Jin said, blinking at the hü that Hama had just killed. “Let’s drew the other prisoners before we leave.”

Hama nodded as the two went to work. Breaking each prisoner out from their organic prisons of muscle bindings and skin blindfolds. One by one they were set free until no one was left to save. After the last one had been freed, an alarm sounded throughout the compound.

“They must have suspected the hü guarding this room hasn’t checked in. We’ve been found out.” Jin cursed. “Everyone! We must flee this place now!”

Jin burst down the door, not worrying about a stealth approach. They sprinted down the halls, the hü of the facility oddly not being found. Their shoes and feet resonated off the floor as they finally made it out into the streets of the Hü compound, only to be greeted by an all too familiar voice.

“Hello darling~”


There haiahu stood, an army of white haired ninja with her. Many of them seemed to be from the Yuki Clan, Terumi clan, Kaguya clan and other clans from the mist. Was she secretly kidnapping people for these experiments for a long time? The very thought sickened him even further.

“So then. Even before this incident you’ve had this darkness inside you.” Jin said to her. “I recognize these faces. You...you’ve been doing this behind our backs this whole time.”

“Oh don’t be so naive darling, we’ve been doing this for centuries. You think we’d give up our traditions and way of life all because by daughter married a man who wouldn’t even avenge her? Save me that, your outnumbered Jin. Give it up.”

Jin shook his head. “I wished it didn’t come to this...it’s war.”

All of a sudden, Jin’s army came from all sides, storming the facility. When the alarm sounded, it seems as though the army had begun to make their move, right in the nick of time as well. The fighting had begun.

The forces of the mist were powerful, as they had brought some of their best warriors, even momochi zabuza. The fight was bitter and coarse, the Hü’s diverse attacks being difficult to counter. Bones were flung, lava was spewed, and water was poured. It was a fiasco of ninjutsu. Haiahu seemed to revel in it, not even caring when her own forces had begun to take casualties.

“It seems we have to bring in the big guns~”

She snapped her finger, a large door opening. What emerged from it were to horrid to imagine. They were hunks of flesh and muscle, all seamlessly tied up in mounds of chakra soaked organs. It was like they had killed dozens of ninja and took their bodies with chakra and poured them into these husks! Jin was utterly taken aback by this.

“Oh ho ho~ I see you like them~” haiahu laughed. “These are the new additions to my family!”

“What in the hell is that?!” A ninja yelled.

“Organic justu.” Jin said, closing his eye with a cringe. “Hü can transfer bodies with their very bodily tissues. It seems they’ve woven bodies to inhabit. These...abominations must be destroyed at once.”

“RoOoOoAaR!!!!!!”

The hulking mounds of flesh ran into the battlefield, mowing down many helpless ninja in the process. Shuriken and swords hacked away at the hide of the beasts, but they seemed to heal the wounds faster than they could received them. They were turning the tide in combat. Even the standard warrior of the Hü, reviving any wounds that weren’t fatal seemed like a matter they shrugged off, healing the wounds with relative ease. They were tanks. Plain and simple.

Jin has just finished off a particularly stubborn Hü, one with Kaguya DNA that kept surviving each hit, the kekkei genkai proving troublesome to finish off until he landed an ice spear to the heart. He looked at one of the behemoths that haiahu had manifested, taking it upon himself to take it down.

The monster looked at him, roaring in a distorted fashion. It flapped open eight mandibles from it’s face, each mandible charging up a different elemental justu to bombard him with. Before it could fire, he made a handsign. The attacks fired at him, booming across the battlefield, destroying buildings that got close to the attack, not even in direct fire. Jin had become a puddle once more, slithering into a drainage pipe and into the sea below. The attacks obliterated where he had previously stood, leaving nothing but ash and concrete.

The creature assumed he killed jin off, moving into the next target in the battlefield...until...*SHANK!!!* our of the ground a gigantic mound of ice swept up, using the ocean as a power source. If had ripped into the creature, thousands of deathspikes ripping him to shreds. Even still, the creature clung onto life. It’s sound detached from the lower body, leaving it in the several ice death spikes. It’s upper body remained, showing no signs of pain. It reeled up on it’s spine, using it as a snake’s tail of sorts.

“RoOoOoAaR!!!!!!”

“To survive a direct hit like that...what kind of power do these things possess?!”

He was hoping to avoid the mizukage’s option, but it seemed as if there was no other choice. They were to dangerous to be left alive. He backed off from the engagement, finding a Yuki Clan warrior in the battlefield.

“Gather the Troops, we are activating the scorched earth protocol.”

“Y-Yes Sir!”

The hü was winning the overall engagement against the full brunt of the mist’s finest warriors. The forces had begun to retreat out of the city, Haiahu making her way outside of it, putting a hand on her hip as she watched them run.

“What? Given up already?” She teased. “So then we DO have the power to smite a village after all~”

“I’m sorry Haiahu.”

She seems surprised by this comment, coming from jin, who was twenty feet away from her. The Yuki Clan has encircled the palace city, the other clans nearby every Yuki Clan member, ready for an attack. Every ninja from the mist began to make a plethora of handsigns, and before haiahu could piece together what they were doing, they had finished.

“Hidden Justu: Oceanic Extermination!!”

The other clans that weren’t Yuki used their water ninjutsu to bend a huge sum of water from the ocean into the air around the palace grounds. All the clans in the area pushed the oceans water over the city, swamping it in water that covered even the tall palace itself. After this, the water began to freeze, until the entire city itself had been frozen like a snow globe.

Haiahu was taken aback, watching as her entire people as she knew them had been frozen alive. She could do nothing but watch as the entire icy dome caved in with a massive force of hundreds of ninja, crushing everything inside. Even the building and the infamous palace itself had crumbled into nothing more than shards that now scattered across the ocean. The hü were all but exterminated. Haiahu held her head kneeling down on the water, unable to take her eyes off the sight of her fallen people.

Jin shook his head. “It didn’t need to be like his haiahu. Come quietly, we don’t need to kill all of your people here today.”

Haiahu’s form didn’t move, except for the slight quiver or twitch. Jin found this odd. He moved in closer to her kneeling frame, cautiously approaching. He grabbed her shoulders and flipped her around, finding only a pile of skin and bone left in the empty husk of her body.

“Damnit! She could be anywhere!” Jin yelled. “Scower the compound! Now!!”


No one quite knew what happened to haiahu. Some say she returns every night to mourn her fallen breatheren. Some say she roams the oceans of the cloud, looking to cause terror on every shipments that comes. Or other say she’s simply dead, and she couldn’t take the pressure. Who’s to say for sure? What is true however is...some things...never change

 

[Godjacob]

Azumi's shadow tendrils soon reached the cracked crystal, and while they could not reach inside for Baiyan's broken body it was a curious shape as Azumi had an eyebrow raised. She soon hopped off her dragon as the tendrils of the beasts drool returned to it.

Azumi would have the dragon guard Reaver's body, while she ventured into the torn battlefield. Her skin noticeably pale, a vain visible on the side of her head as she walked on with focus all the same. Eventually, her eyes gazed into the cracked crystal before her as she scanned it curiously. It was hard to make out, even with the cracks, but Azumi saw some figure that appeared to be deep within it. And it had not taken the Ame-nin long to make an educated guess.

Baiyan...
​

Azumi pulled her umbrella from her back, as she folded up and aimed to deliver stone crushing and bone cracking swings to the weakened crystal that surrounded as she would work to chip away at it and free whatever was trapped inside the presumably protective barrier.

-------------
Tomiko listened as Onoki began to explain the reason he had knowledge of who Katsuo is on top of the purpose behind Katsuo's multiple headbands. Something she had been all too curious about, as she had to admit his story seemed to shock the Iwa-Genin.

While dismissed as "preposterous" by Onoki, she had to admire Katsuo's goal. To see a unified world, one where people could get along in spite of national differences was a true dream scenario. And given Tomiko had dreams that had been dismissed by others to her as "too big" or "impossible" she felt a kinship with Katsuo as she flashed a friendly smile to him.

"Well, I think that's a wonderful goal. And I say shoot for the stars! As a future Tsuchikage myself, I'll be sure to do my part to make your job at least one step easier." Tomiko said as she gave Katsuo an encouraging thumbs up in support of his goal.

-------------
It was here that Aisha had a pause. In truth, her original goal had been to be one with her own Inuzuka clan. Though she had to admit that goal seemed ever more secondary as the months passed here in Kumogakure. Aisha had grown to like the people, and while the environment had been a stark contrast to the forest she grew up in there was a charm to the mountains here. But in truth...she was unsure if she'd ever be accepted here, even if she did decide to stay.

"That's....generous to offer. But honestly I feel no matter what happens I'll be an outsider to you people. A new land, it all seems...a long shot to call home." Aisha admitted with a lower tone to her voice.

"I'd say yes. Sounds believable enough. And honestly from me, you probably made the right call. Not just cause of that invasion, but this crop of Genin might be one of the best ever, so some extra time for training and missions to get stronger will do you better." Kenji admitted to Taji while Darui led the group while Aisha prepared for her role of tracker whenever it seemed appropriate.

Which, as Darui pulled up to a certain fork in the road. Seemed to be drawing near, as he motioned for the group to stop before he turned back to Aisha.

"Alright, now come. This is where we last had track of the Jinchuriki before the host left to the edge of the border and beyond. If your tracking is as good as your clan is famed for, you should help point us in the right direction from here." Darui said as he revealed the concealed bag with the torn clothing inside. Aisha gave a nod as she moved close, before Darui opened the bag as Aisha along with Luna & Sky took big whiffs of the sent.

The trail was faintest here, given the distance, but it was there. As Aisha and her wolves moved in the direction ahead to the left and motioned for them to follow.

"Got a sent, this way!"​

------------
Madoka followed Pakura as they traveled along the edge of the desert, to where Pakura had been informed Yasu would meet them per Rasa's instructions. As they traveled, something in the vast desert had caught Madoka's eye which caused her to stop.

The object had been a ways away, so it appeared to be just a black dot in the distance. As Madoka's eyes focused, and the object sped closer their direction, she took note that the object appeared to be a person of some kind. Someone who had been gliding above the desert sand.

Could, could that be Yasu?
​

Pakura had said nothing, as she simply watched with her arms folded over her chest but a curious stare at the object. Madoka herself decided to take initiative, as she grabbed a white cloth in her bag as she waved it overheard to try and get whoever that was to spot them.

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

"GUAAAARDS!!!"
​

Kakashi was drawn from his book, and Sakura her internal thoughts as they heard this ear splitting scream that seemed to be further within the compound. Naturally, both responded to their curiosity and instincts as they ventured to the source and found a....curious site.

One that made Kakashi raise but a simple eyebrow, while Sakura's eyes widened as her jaw shot open in almost cartoonish fashion as she looked on with that dumbstruck expression; complete with a blush.

W-what is Taiyo doing!?

What do you think, he's a big ole pervert who is unable to resist his urges! That Jiraiya already corrupted him!"

N-now hold on, let's not...jump to conclusions. M-maybe there is a perfectly logical explanation to this. He deserves to have his side to this heard.

Smh, more like perfectly fine excuse.

"Um, we can take it from here." Kakashi said, as he decided that this situation needed to be controlled before the Hyuga Gards came. Taiyo, curious actions aside, was important for this mission and Kakashi had no desire to waste time arguing his case with the Hyuga about this matter. Besides, Taiyo may have had his...quirks, based on what he had seen of him but he figured this had to be a misunderstanding. Sakura went over to Taiyo and Furijia as she aimed to pull him off the Hyuga girl.

"All right romeo, get off." Sakura urged, as she tried to contain her emotion and subconscious desire to smack Taiyo upside the head.

 

[DarkHydraT]

Mori was...surprised to say the least. He expected anything but this, but he'd have to trust Onoki on this and hope that Katsuo was indeed as good as Onoki said. Besides, if he has a goal as difficult as that, Onoki's trust in him made some sense.

"Lord Tsuchikage, who will be our group leader? Surely you won't put just us in charge, I don't think that anyone of us made it to Chunin. And if I may make another suggestion, why don't you call the forces fighting with Suna near the border back? The manpower there can keep the village safe from the jinchuriki and Orochimaru if he decides to attack us."

Was he convinced that Katsuo was trustworthy? No. Would he have to trust him for the sake of the mission? Yes. "Okay Katsuo. I am a man of my word and I apologize for my behaviour when we met, although I am sure that you can figure out why I did not trust you by yourself."

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

"I see, give it some thought okay? If you want to return to the Land of Fire instead of staying in Kumo, I understand." Taji said to Aisha, when her stoic face changed ever so slightly, the corner of her mouth inched upwards. The change in expression soon faded as she turned to Kenji.

"Strong genin you say? Tell me, which genin stood out from the crowd yet failed? I could very well end up against them in the next exams and I can always use intel, losing is not an option." She said to Kenji with an expression that made it clear that she meant it from the bottom of her heart.

When they arrived at a fork in the road and Darui ordered Aisha to find the right path, she looked around as if she expected the jinchuriki to jump out at any moment. Taji felt relieved when Aisha pointed left although her stoic face didn't change an inch. "Left it is, stick together people. It is going to turn real from this point onwards."

 

[sSoul]

Taiyo
The Leaf-nin honestly felt slightly offended that Sakura was labelling him as the villain here, although in his eyes, he was more of the victim.

"Okay, everyone just stop. Before you convict me, I want to be heard out, then you can kick me out and never let me back in," Taiyo inhaled deeply, trying to quell his rage so he could speak clearly, "First thing's first; Furījia, I'm sorry for destroying your clothes, I swear I have no perverted intentions, despite what you believe. Second thing's second, you try training with Jiraiya and not let your eyes betray you, without gouging them out of course. Finally, I was trying to size up Furījia so I could see if she was phyiscally capable of the task at hand, which fortunately, she is, but one thing lead to another and now my mission is basically pointless, plus she tried multiple times to murder me over something out of my control. Alright I'm done now, feel free to evict me,"

...

Got nothing to say?

A little upset that we can't see the fruits of our labor but whatever.

I'm a little concerned that Sagiso will kill me on sigt once she finds out.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Reaver’s body lay there, mostly covered by the melted husk that used to be the Reaver MK VI armor. His body steaming, his gas mask still firmly attached to his face. It had seemed to battle had been over as soon as he fired the Spear of Lugh X4, much to azumi’s dismay.

He was unconscious, utterly. Unknowing the outcome of the battle, nor what even happened to his surroundings, the cold metal killer seemed like a frail form, laying in the breeze of a foreign land. His fate would be up to those that remained alive and active from his actions.


............


Hama, getting no response from Mei, simply smirked and shrugged. She knew why was running through mei’s Mind anyway, even though they didn’t talk audibly. She chuckled lightly to herself.

“Now now darling, you have trust issues. It’s no wonder you don’t have a husband~”

Pulling that particular thread, Kai saw himself out, not wanting to be present for Hama’s precise plucking of said chord. This is beside the point. We need to go and claim the weapon before hostile Xeno forces do!

...........


Kou patted his belly, content with the meal he was given. Zaku seemed equally satisfied, finishing off his ramen with a final slurp. Kou seemed to have lost his frail and skinny form, appearing more like a normal kid. He had been eating well when he got into the sound, that’s for sure. Better than eating scraps off the streets.

“Times like these I’m glad we didn’t bring kin.” Kidomaru offered.

“Damn right.” Ukon replied. “She would have just wrecked the joint or try to attack us. And we are getting another jinchurki...tch.”

“I have a feeling I could be a pretty good jinchurki.” Zaku mused, folding his arms behind his head.

Ukon growled. “Idiot! Curse mark bearers cannot wield the power of a tailed beast as well.”

“Wha- they can’t?”

“Why of course not.” The calmer Sakon said. “Where would all that power go? Overload a battery and it goes pop. Same goes with a human body.”

Zaku crosses his arms and made a sigh. He tried to not look dissspointed, but failing. He imagined what it would be like wielding both powers, but suppose that was just fantasy now. Kidomaru pondered, tilting his head.

“I wonder. Will this Brats we ran into make a return? I would ever so like to get rid of that pesky hyuga for good...!”

“Pesky hyuga?” Zaku blinked. “Did you catch their name?”

“I always memorize the names of my prey. Sagiso.”

“Sagiso? Heh, ain’t surprised she lived past you.”

“Wait, you know this brat?” Kido questioned.

“Long story. We insulted each other, she flirted. We fought each other for marriage. Coulda got two wives.”

This made kidomaru wince a little bit. “...you have serious issues...”

 

[kyuukestu]

Hyōryūgetsu

'Idealist...'

Either this team had no idea what they were going up against, or they were just stupid, possibly both, but that remained to be seen. No, not the entire team, rather, it was just the female Yuki and her 3rd tier cast servant, they seemed to have naivety written across their face in bolded, brick-red words. A smidgeon of displeasure appeared on Ryūgetsu's face and hesitantly, she moved to correct the overly optimistic views of her would-be teammates. However, as fate would have it, the Yuki had no inhibition at all and would spout the greatest Taboo in the Mist from their mouths with utter impunity. Even if they were on the same team, Ryūgetsu had no intentions of dying for 'camaraderie' or anything else equally retarded, without hesitation -an expression fraught with panic- she decisively charged towards the nearest window and dived through.

Mei

Truly deserving of the reputation of the Yuki clan, Hama's words had flash-frozen the expression on Mei's face, leaving a stiff icy smile now devoid of warmth and even composure. Raising from her desk slowly, Mei spoke with a frigid countenance which was very opposed to the furnace of heat that now surrounded her. Heat waves distorted the air and distorting the image of the Mizukage's office. The wavering air currents twisted and turned, causing the walls appearing to melt.

It created a hyper-realistic illusion in which drops of liquefied stone seemed to drip from the walls, though to be truthful it was no illusion. The walls and even the floor were slowly liquifying beneath the blistering heat of Mei's Lava-style. With Mei as the center, the heat in the room skyrocketed to levels that did not permit the existence of even the slightest amounts of water vapor.

"Watch your tongue, girl, or I'll see to it that it's watched for you."

Yasu

Endless dunes of the same monotonous sand were...not the most pleasant scene as Yasu traversed the desert of Suna. The almost perfect conformity with which everything appeared meant that the figures, and more importantly the white flag one of them had taken onto itself to wave, were almost immediately visible. From the moment of spotting to the moment of his arrival, it only took several seconds for Yasu to close in on the small convoy. Alighting a few meters away from them, the boy immediately scanned the group quickly. Upon recognizing Madoka he gave her a sly smirk, and then saluted in greeting to the unit's leader as was military protocol, "Lady Pakura."

Furījia

Suspicious of what appeared to be a bold-faced lie after greeting her by skirt-peeking, but having regained a bit of her composure, the Hyūga Heiress waived off the approaching guards en route. She kept the tears in her clothes covered as best she could as she rose to her feet and awkwardly shuffled over to where her weapon lay pierced into the ground. Keeping her back toward Taiyo's group, she questioned softly, "I'll give you the benefit of the doubt...but, in that case, why are you here?"

 

[SageNeb]

Raiku gave a slight nod to Kiro as he realized he was right and subsequently proceeded to begin exiting the Hyuga manor. Along the way he saw someone that was familiar, Taiyo, fighting a girl he remembered doing CPR from.

And then I heard someone saying that they'll kill me... not a good memory...

Nonetheless he decided to stay as he realized they didn't notice him and spectated the battle in front of him. He wondered if he should step in when he saw Furijia attempting to do the Gentle Fist on Taiyo, which was now using a move he saw him use when they fought Jirobo. He was surprised at Taiyo's power, and impressed.

Is this the same kid from the Academy that always got into fights...?

Then he saw the small Hyuga girl being thrown into the air, he clothes being nearly destroyed, and was surprised by all the names she called his friend, though not as much by the last one. Suddenly Kakashi and Sakura came in and he observed the interaction between them and Taiyo trying to defend himself. Raiku raised an eyebrow at his first point and was surprised by one of the details of his second point, he'd have to discuss that with Taiyo later. He was, however, confused by the last point. Then he heard Furijia and decided it was time to stop being a spectator.

"Well, what is it? What's your mission that you had to make such a ruckus about," Raiku said with a smirk, fully knowing the fight wasn't, entirely, his fault.

 

[Godjacob]

Sakura and Kakashi listened as Taiyo began to explain himself as he tried to justify what appeared to be a sketchy situation. Sakura seemed skeptical, but all things considered perhaps she should give Taiyo a chance as said chance he had been telling the truth. Given what Sakura had known of Taiyo, while he had slight perverted tendencies, he never displayed anything like this so there may have been more truth to it than Sakura might have guessed.

Riiight...

"Look T-taiyo. I want to give you the benefit of the doubt here. B-but you must understand that walking in on this scene is a bit suspicious so you can't exactly blame my reaction here. It's not that were being unreasonable believe me." Sakura explained, as she at least hoped that Taiyo would understand that her reaction was simply not based on wanting to jump on Taiyo for no good reason.

Kakashi then overheard Furijia's question, and while he seemed to sense a pair of ears listening in on their conversation, Kakashi figured if Taiyo had considered her for this then she would need information about what she'd be needed for would entail.

"Well, Konoha teams are being sent out. Seems there is a runaway rogue of great interest, a Host of Kumo to be excat, one that Tsunade has placed a high priority in obtaining. So the best available hands on deck are being asked to retrieve the target, before more malicious forces have a chance to swipe it from under our collective noses." Kakashi explained, as he made an indirect reference to Orochimaru; if that Snake could get a third Jinchuriki then Konoha would be put at immediate risk once more.

That could not happen, it would not happen.
​

----------
Before long Yasu, who by Madoka's surprise seemed to sport a new look, arrived as he gave a formal greeting to Pakura. Who in turn simply gave a nod as she offered but a small smile Yasu's direction.

"Right on time. Good, that means we can get going quickly. Our foreign informants have tracked down where the Jinchuriki was last spotted. I presume that you have been briefed by Lord Kazekage. If you have any questions, ask them as we move. Have a long trip and we need to make haste. If you both are ready, let's move out!" Pakura said as she moved ahead, while Madoka gave a nod and jumped after her. Though she glanced back at Yasu and offered a small, friendly smile.

"Hey, so....nice look. I presume you've gained some new skills to compliment it?" Madoka asked, as she figured some small talk about Yasu's developments was good enough for small talk. Though the back of her mind wondered how Tomiko would react to the new look he had.

Tomiko....would she take part in this on Iwa's behalf? The idea of fighting one of the few people she had called a true friend had been a disconcerting thought. But one she'd have to bury for now. The mission came first, all else was secondary. Especially one in a million meetings such as that hypothetical scenario.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

As expected Kai could just feel the heat on the other side of the room. He began to sweat, not even wanting to peek around the corner of the Kage office he had just left to see what was going on, he couldn’t practically imagine it right to detail. Hama did like to tread on the edge of danger nowadays.

Hama saw Mei get worked up, the humidity in the room getting increasingly hotter, several of the aides in the room began to back off, feeling uncomfortable about this entire scenario, and rightfully so. But did Hama do the same? No. In fact,

“Oh ho ho no need to get all burned up about it~” Hama teased. “Don’t worry, I’m sure your watching most things in the mist village anyway, I’m sure you can manage a tounge Miss mizukage~”

Hama shush. Kai thought to himself, not wanting to instigate this situation further and waste even more time. He was anxious to hear the Xenos to the jinchurki. This entire endeavor seemed unnecessary

 

[sSoul]

Taiyo
"Basically that; in addition to the information that Mr. Kakashi provided, I was sent as a representative from Mrs. Tsunade herself to gather what I believed to be suitable candidates for the job. And you Ms. Furījia happened to be one of the best and most powerful opponents I've fought in a while, I look forward to subsequent matches. And good thing you came here Raiku, I also wish to select you as one of the candidates, I've seen you're abilities against Jirobo, and your swordsmanship seems to be a valuable asset to our cause," The Leaf-nin assessed the group in an uncharacteristic matter-of-fact tone. He then remembered that he had still left one concern of the masses left unanswered, promptly turning to Sakura to do such.

"I understand Ms. Sakura, and I would be making similar assumptions if I was in your position," Taiyo calmly smiled at his fried before turning back to the Hyūga Heiress to hear her response to his and Kakashi's combined explanations.

Wow, I'm impressed, when did we get all professional and business-like?

I guess it would have to do with training under Mr. Jiraiya. Maybe learning under him wasn't the worst thing to happen.

Maybe, maybe not. We definitely got stronger, heck we even won our first fight in a long time.

Yeah, ever since we lost to Azumi in the exams, it seemed to be a long downward spiral, but hey, maybe things are finally looking up for once.

I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you. This Kumo Jinchūriki seems to be rather powerful, I don't think we'd be able to lead our ragtag group of genin into battle against such a monster.

Well good thing we aren't, Mr. Kakashi is.

Even so, we still have a lot of responsibility to accept provided that this mission goes south, are you sure we can handle it?

Well we have to, in this world doubt has to get left behind at the door, cause doubt can be the difference between living another day, and taking your place in the graveyard, lost and forgotten to time.

You're so positive sometimes it's sickening.

Well you're so busy being a Negative Nancy that I'm the only positive reinforcement I got.

Fair enough.
Tsuki
The Yuki-nin winced at her Mizukage beginning to use her lava style as a scare tactic against Hama-sensei, which did seem to work effectively for the naive kunoichi. Despite being a genin for a good 3 months, Tsuki has yet to see any notable trauma that scarred so many before her, and it seemed that Hyōryūgetsu seemed to know that, or at least that was evident from her cold demeanor. But she was too busy being afraid from Mei's violent tone.

I do wish Hama-sensei wasn't this leinient with her Kage, such carelessness could get her killed, and I don't want to see that, I'd rather not witness any of my teammates die, but if she kicked the bucket, I don't know what I'd do...

She turned to Seiun, who seemed to be ignoring the situation that was on hand, likely in his own little world, which didn't matter to Tsuki as she was slowly backing out to avoid death by lava. Then she heard Hama-sensei's next remark which only furthered the concern she had.
Seiun
In truth, Seiun was terrified, but he was choosing a rather poor time to become petrified. To ease his mind, Seiun decided to think about the new teammate that they just recieved.

She's gonna need a nickname cause there is no way I'm saying Hyoryu-whatever, I'll just shorten it to Hyo since "Ryu" sounds less feminine and more masculine.

Since he was currently frozen-in-fear, he wasn't going anywhere any time soon, although he wanted to join Tsuki in running away ASAP. Hama pushing it wasn't helping her case, in fact she was only deepening the grave she dug.

Again, really starting to doubt the choice in who learn how to ninja from.

 

[Retro Master]

Kiro arrived only a little after Raiku, choosing to put out the dwindling flames of their skirmish just in case. It was better to be safe than sorry. Afterwards, he had began to walk in a similar direction Raiku had gone off in. The shout was what drew his attention towards the situation. From what he could tell, a fight had gone down between Taiyo and Furījia. Kiro just did his best to stay out of the picture as he watched Taiyo be accused and restrained.

If Kiro remembered correctly, it was Raiku and Taiyo who had performed mouth-to-mouth to save the girl’s life. Sure Kiro had missed most of the battle but he couldn’t understand what would cause Furījia to become so enraged by the guy who saved her life. Even Raiku wouldn’t assist or defend his friend. Maybe he should’ve done the right thing and speak up in Taiyo’s defense.

However, Kiro’s attention was quickly taken by Kakashi. The last time the two spoke was all the way back after he was the first to get through the forest of death, which seemed like an eternity ago. Just like back then, Kiro greatly respected Kakashi’s skills as a ninja.

‘Why is he here though?’

That question was quickly answered by the Copycat ninja. Kiro listened closely to the mission details even though they probably weren’t meant for him. What he heard from Kakashi and Taiyo was interesting to say the least.

‘A host of Kumo... what does he mean by that? Could he be talking about- no, there’s no way. It makes sense why those two were fighting now. Though it must be some lame rogue if they’re bringing these genin.’

Kiro found it funny that they were seriously testing each other out. They were genin who could be replaced with the snap of a finger. Nothing special about that. Kiro did know better than too underestimate his opponents and stopped with the negativity there. Even though the mission wasn’t his business, Kiro still continued to listen.

 

[Godjacob]

As Darui and company followed closely behind Aisha as well as Luna & Sky, Kenji had thought over the question that Taji asked him moments ago as he took a moment to think.

"Well, among the candidates, there is a Hyuga girl. Sagiso. Who seems to be on the prodigal side of things, and well....kinda handed me my rear end during the exams." Kenji admitted, which had still been a blow to his pride. Left a broken man, with Sakura having to go into overdrive just to get him to the next exam. Only for nagging injuries from that fight, even with Sakura's best efforts, to partially contribute to his fall.

"Others to watch out for is this Ame girl named Azumi. Who ended up winning the thing, though by a technicality given that two other monsters in an Oto-nin named Zaku and this...multi-headband ninja named Katsuo took each other out. There was also an Uchiha named Kiro of note. I also had a little ally back there named Sakura. Who isn't the strongest girl around but she is smart, has plenty of Genjutsu tricks and is a good medic. All around the kind of person you want on a team." Kenji said, as he had gained respect for the pink haired kunoichi given their experience in the Forest as he outlined other candidates of interest for Taji.

 

[kyuukestu]

Mei

The smile on Mei's face grew frigid, the shining crescents formed from her narrowed eyes were glacial. Lowering herself back to her seat, she voiced, "You're right, that being said, I have many more things to watch over Lady Hama, so I must insist you take your leave. In fact, I believe I meant to pay a visit to the Yuki Clan today... It's best we not delay matters too much."

The room slowly cooled, Mei's acidic chakra suppressed. Bringing her hands together in two crisp claps, so order; "Chino, see Lady Hama and her team to the door."

Furijia

At the mention of the word 'Kumo', Furijia's expression flickered with shock, fear, and even a hint of resentment. The girl whipped her head around, channeling her Byakugan and increasing it's range of vision, sweeping over the clan compounds. While other's might not have noticed, ever since Hinagiku's return the atmosphere in the Clan grew grim, and even agitated. The resident Hyuga's seemed to trembling with greivance, a barely suppressed fury and blood lust.

Returning her attention to the small group of Leaf shinobi, she nodded, "I'll come with you." It was a curt response, one quite unlike the girl's usual demeanor, but the expression of concern and worry etched into her brows broadcasted a clear message: 'don't ask'.

Baiyan

Had the girl been conscious, she would've protested to her Obsidan crystal being broken in such a brutal fashion, but at some point in time her consciousness had slipped through her finger tips. The girl lay prone, protected by what remained of the crystal as Azumi violently chipped away at it's exterior.

Had she been conscious she might've also moved to attack, as the destructive manner in which Azumi made her approach was certainly not the most conductive way to send her good-will.

Yasu

A smirk grew on the boy's face, "Hey, and...did you even need to ask?" The smirk on his face grew, almost becoming smug with self-satisfaction. He send a hand streaming through his 'hair' pulling out several feathers between his fingers. "I'll show you what I can do on the battlefield, but I take it you haven't been idling these past three months?"

 

[Mystic Zander]

"Ill be leading the charge on this assignment. And stop asking so many questions, your gonna give me a headache." Spoke a unknown figure from the doorway of the Tsuchikage's office in a tone cynical yet stern.
"We have groups stationed out as widespread as possible. The more diversion we have in packs, the faster information can get back to us. Its not the most offensive plan, but its one with heavy precautions, and thats what we need right now." The figure stepped further into the room, revealing itself to be a woman with pale blue hair and piercing dark eyes.
"My names Guren, but you all can call me Guren." The newly introduced......Guren joked, approaching the Tsuchikage before taking a small bow.
"Lord Third, this is the team? They all seem kinda runty dont they?" She added with a looked of disdain, examining the very young shinobi in front of her.

"As you said, we need groups as widespread as possible, and youll be manning this group on there unconditional mission. Now, out of my office. Itss getting to crowded in here, I need my space and you need to get going." The elder shinobi retorted, ushering all four ninja out the door as he sat back in his chair, pretending the look through the various files scattered about on his desk.

"Yes....Lord Third." Guren replied a bit begrudgingly, taking her leave without uttering another word to her new team.
"Tsk, all these brats going on a mission like this.....Iwa will lose this so called race for sure." The sour Jonin internally predicted the fate of these youth. If not by the Jinchuriki itself....then the monsters giving chase.

Katsuo eyed the older female shinobi, getting a familiar vibe from her that posed many questions.
"Theres something vaguely there...but what?"

 

[sSoul]

Taiyo
Despite the Hyūga heiress sporadically changing demeanor, Taiyo was overjoyed to hear that Fūrijia would be coming along with his group, along with some possible extras.

YES! I did it! Suck it doubt!

Okay we get it, you're proud of yourself. Big fucking whoop, where you going to take our ragtag group of genin next.

Well...since Furījia and likely Raiku will be coming, we already have Sakura and Mr. Kakashi. We should report to Mrs. Tsunade to show us our or my success in gathering a team of capable genin. And then once Mrs. Tsunade briefs us on details concerning this mission, we follow her directions, our job is easier than you think.

As much as I'd like to think that, there's always the possibility of something going wrong.

...shut up.

"Good, but before we go anywhere, may I suggest you get some new clothes, again, my bad," Taiyo tried his best to look away from the tattered and revealing state of the kunoichi's attire, being acused of perversion once was one time too many.
Tsuki
Being shown the door seemed rather unnessesary considering that the Yuki-nin was already out of the doorstep. Breathing a sigh of relief, Tsuki was praising the Sage of Six Paths that she was still alive somehow. Seeing her servant following Chino's gesture towards the door, she began to look for her other teammate that wasn't Kai.

Now where did she go? What was her name again...Hyoryugetsu or something? Wish someone'd abbreviate that because that is a long name...
Seiun
Showing no hesitation in leaving, the rouge shinobi found movement in his limbs once again and as such, walked out the door with the tallest demeanor possible.

Why can't I meet a single normal girl here, I mean Hyo seems pretty normal, which is good. Tsuki enslaved me, the Mizukage tried to kill me, and don't even get me started with Hama-sensei, she just has her own list of problems.

When Seiun was well out of the Mizukage's office, he turned his attention to his mistress. To him, Tsuki seemed to be leaving to look for someone or something near the entrance of the office he just left. As tempting as it was to help her, the psuedo-Yuki remained put, got out his kunai and sang a familiar tune.

"There is an old tradition, a game we all can play.

You start by getting liquored up and sharpening your blade.

You take a shot of whiskey, you grab your knife and pray, and spread apart your fingers, and this is what you say:

Oh, I have all my fingers, the knife goes chop chop chop. If I miss the spaces in between, my fingers will come off.

And If I hit my fingers, the blood will soon come out.

But all the same I play this game cause thats what its all about.

Oh you can't use a pencil, you can not use a pen

the only way is with a knife when danger is your friend

And some may call it stupid, some may call it dumb

but all the same we play this game because it's so damn fun

Oh, I have all my fingers, the knife goes chop chop chop

if I miss the spaces in between, my fingers will come off

and if I hit my fingers, the blood will soon come out

but all the same I play this game cause that's what its all about

Oh, chop chop chop chop chop chop chop

I'm picking up the speed

and if I hit my fingers then my hand will start to bleed!" He said the last part forcefully, almost stabbing his pinkie finger but missing it by a centimeter due to him stabbing the dirt spaces in tune with the song and picking up the speed when the song lead him to that part. He then stared at the sky wistfully, the song bringing back good memories.

I remember the good old days. My friends and I would gather round the table, get some whiskey, sing that dumb little song, and see who won. I rarely hit my fingers, how I miss those days. When I earn my freedom, I'm going back to reflect on my past life, maybe find a nice woman, settle down, live out the rest of my days with peace of mind. Or maybe I'll stay here, maybe I'll try my hand at revenge, although I don't really feel such hatred anymore, ever since I started obeying Tsuki, life's been good, but where am I going to take that life?

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Hama smirked to herself, looking to mei’s Quelling temper. After Mei had ordered someone to escort her out, hama held a finger to them.

“Ah ah ah~ not so fast little one. Unless you want the feeling of a frozen hand~”

Still in her sing song voice, she saw herself out. Once out of the room, hama cracked her neck, looking to her recruits. Hama shrugged to them, seemingly lax about the entire scenario.

“I say we’ve done what was needed. Shall we go then?”

“FINALLY.” Kai said getting up, irritated with the waiting. “We shall bring the Xeno’s plans to a screeching halt.”

 

[Godjacob]

Unaware to what objections Baiyan would have had about the crystal destruction had she been conscious, Azumi continued to chip away with her powerful umbrella on the weakened crystal.

Eventually, she managed to produce a large enough crack that she could get a full view of Baiyan's damaged frame. With her teeth grit, she folded her umbrella back up and carefully worked as she aimed to try and move Baiyan's body from the crystal shell and drag it outside. If she proved successful with this, she'd aim to try and flop her body over her shoulder. Her intent was to move Baiyan, and have her dragon aim to drag Reaver's body as she would look to find some shelter for the time being.

Azumi had...a lot to dwell over, her first outing as the "leader" had been a complete failure. Her inability to instill any control with Reaver had been a gross oversight, and one in bad need of correction. If she was to not only salvage any attempt to sway Baiyan to their cause, but to preserve the idea of the cause and this team in general.

------------
Tomiko excited Lord Tsuchikage's office with Mori and Katsuo along with the woman who'd be in charge of their little team for this Jinchuriki mission. Being a slum kid, Tomiko had lacked the first hand knowledge of high profile ninja within the heart of Iwagakure but the name Guren had been heard by her before. A skilled kunoichi, with an apparent unique battle style of the word of mouth among her academy days had been believed.

Given Guren's expressions, and general reaction, she also seemed to consider the three of them to be "surprising" selections for the mission. Tomiko naturally used a more generous word in place of what she guessed the older kunoichi thought of them.

Still, if they wanted any chance of success, they needed cooperation.
​

"Lady Guren, I understand this seems a bit much. We may not have aparent experience, but we've all dealt with insane things and are more than capable of answering this challenge. I assure you of that." Tomiko said, before she looked Guren in the eye and greeted the older woman with a determined expression.

"My name is Tomiko Usagi, and I swear we will not let you down." Tomiko said, with fire in her gut as she felt she had a lot to prove. This was the biggest mission she had been sent on, but given the experience in the exams and the invasion and the chase fd the Sound one Tomiko had been more than prepared to deal with.

-----------
Kakashi had an eyebrow raised, the blood-lust might have been subtle for the others to pick up but he could sense it clear as day. That desire...it reeked of revenge, and given Kakashi had knowledge of the ill history between Kumo and the Hyuga one had not needed much aid to make an educated guess.

"Fair enough. Seems we have a nice little group here. Though it is fair to remind you all that this is a mission not a vendetta." Kakashi said to the group even if Furijia would be aware of who that comment had been intended for. Sakura was a bit more confused by Furijia's changed expression, but decided to not dwell on it as she turned to Taiyo.

"Alright, is there any other candidate you had in mind?" Sakura asked as she had been naturally curious.

"Let's not take too long now, we need to set out soon." Kakashi said as he flipped the pages of his Icha Icha Paradise while he reminded the group of their need to get moving.

----------
Madoka had a small smile on her face as she positioned her body while she moved forward so that Yasu could take a good look at the second wrapped item she had behind her back.

"Of course, couldn't simple dwindle around at the level I had been. Though naturally I've done more than simply stock up on my craft, and you will see first hand what I've learned these months in battle." Madoka replied back as Pakura continued to lead the pair forward. Though inwardly she had a smirk at the friendly banter between the pair.

Seems they are close, and both seemed to have a natural desire to grow. That should serve Suna well going forward, not just on this mission. Though I do hope the result proves worth this anticipation...

 

[DarkHydraT]

Mori froze as he heard a voice come from..somewhere who told him to shut up. He turned around on the spot and saw a person that was not exactly thrilled to see them. As she introduced herself, he began to think where he heard that name before. His father once told him about a well-known jonin with an unique kekkei genkai called Guren, but he had no idea what she looked like. He finally had an image for that name, but that was not important at the moment. He had to listen to her and obey her every command, she had more experience and was his surperior from now on.

"I will keep that in mind, Lady Guren. I am Mori Utamara, and ready to do whatever is needed for this mission to succeed." Mori said as he bowed and straightened his back, rock hard determination in his eyes. Even though he appeared confident on the outside, anxiety began to grow in his gut. He did not want to mess this mission up, especially since Guren didn't seem to be too happy to have genin under her control. But if he could prove her wrong and show that they were capable enough for this mission, it would be a big reputation increase and Guren's expression when they would prove her wrong would be worth it. As he thought about it, a smirk nearly crept onto his face and the anxiety began to dwindle away. This was it, and the mission couldn't start soon enough for him.

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

Taji listened carefully to Kenji listing the genin of interest, making mental notes on every last one of them. "I see, this Sakura sounds like an ally worth the effort. Azumi won right? So they probably won't participate in the next exams. An Hyuuga would be quite the challenge, so would the Uchiha. What jutsu and nature transformation did they use?" Taji asked Kenji, trying her best to be prepared to fight the opponents that Kenji listed.

 

[Godjacob]

Azumi figured she needed to find a cave or something to take refuge in, as she figured it would be far too suspicious and have been far too much of a hassle to try and find an apartment in the foreign Takigakure. Besides, the one voice that might have been able to vouch for them Baiyan had not only not been swayed to their side yet but also had been rendered unconscious and naturally if she had brought her limp body with her it had been bound to arise unneeded suspicion.

However, it appeared luck had been on Azumi's side. For once on this trip anyhow.​

Azumi took note of what appeared to be a lone log cabin that had been right beside a lake within the woods just outside of Takigakure. A serene location, especially when compared to the hell and war-torn battlefield that Baiyan & Reaver had transformed it into. The place seemed abandoned, as there was no signs of activity inside or really any signs that anyone had been here. Even if there had been presence of a previous owner, Azumi lacked a better alternative and decided the risk was worth it. So Azumi's aim would be to try and carry Baiyan's limp frame inside, while her liquid shadow dragon would aim to try and drag Reaver's hauled husk.

Azumi herself seemed increasingly paled, vain visible, as she shook her head. She could worry about that concern later, for now, she needed to get these two settled. Azumi's goal was to find some beds or futons or something to lay the pair on. Naturally, if she could, she'd remove Reaver from her armor and then work to do what she could to provide first aid.

All this reminded Azumi was that they needed a medical ninja in some...any capacity. But for now she'd have to work with her first aid materials and hope for the best.​

-----------
"Well, the Hyuga Sagiso seems to favor the Byakugan and Hyuga arts. Naturally, though she also developed this devastating wind-style technique which includes this taijutsu augmentation that packs quite the wallop. Speaking from unfortunate experience. The Oto-nin Zaku seems to favor this...odd technique, which is a variant of wind style that produces powerful airwaves from palms in his wrists. I have no knowledge of the mechanics behind that. He also had this weird....markings? Tattoos or something that gave a boost to his power. Katsuo seems to favor water style, though he has a few unique tricks that make him quite dangerous." Kenji said, as for his money next to that mechanical monster Katsuo likely had been the strongest of the ninja to compete in the exams. Well, he did tie with that Zaku but Kenji had not been prepared to give an ass like that the satisfaction of that label.

'The Uchiha, Kiro, favors Lightning style based on what I seen. As a matter of fact...." Kenji said, as he made a pause and would raise his tone so that Darui could listen in while the group continued to follow Aisha and her wolves as they tracked the sent and moved along the path.

"....he seems to have developed this...cloak. Similar, but an inferior variant of Lord Raikage's famed Lightning Chakra Mode." Kenji explained, as he himself had a number of questions about that. How did Kiro develop such a technique? Where did a Mist ninja of all things learn it?

Darui had these questions as well, an Uchiha in the Mist? And one who seemed to have made a mock variant of the boss' signature technique? It was not something that just anybody could read on basic scrolls to learn, it had been a family specialty. Darui had quite frankly tuned out the conversation, but if what he had said was true then a Kiri Genin might have been of actual interest to them. And possible concern.

An Uchiha with that kind of technique....the potential is a nightmare combination, what a drag. This new generation is producing monsters and they seem to come from foreign soil. Could turn to an arms race, and if that is true we need to get the 8 Tails back.

 

[Mystic Zander]

Katsuo stood there, silently examining Lady Guren as his new comrades began trying to chip away at this Shinobi's rough exterior, his mind still dealing with a conflicting feeling he'd been having since there introduction.

Guren shook off her agitation as two of the young Shinobi's among the group took it upon themselves to start introductions, causing her to crack a small grin.
"Well, Tomiko, Mori, welcome to the squad. Its good to hear youve had interaction with the Sound Village, because itll likely happen again, so dont die!" She added warmly, almost as if she hadnt just warned them of a potentially lethal threat, before turning her attention to Katsuo, "Excuse me, its rude not to introduce yourself to a superior" she added, her tone unwavering.

".....uh, i'm Katsuo Ikeda, how do you do." The water-nin replied after a brief moment of silence, giving his squad leader a small nod of acknowledgment.

"Well Katsuo, ill be fine as long as you keep your head out of the clouds on this mission, understood?" She replied, her voice a bit firmer than before as she turned on her heel upon finishing the notion, "Now everyone come along. I hope you planned for a trip, because the Land of Water is quite a distance from here." She finished, now slowly on route for the entrance to Iwa.

"Yes Lady Guren, understood." Katsuo replied, quickly shuffling into pace behind her.
"Something seriously has to be up with this woman....."

 

[SageNeb]

He was a bit surprised when Taiyo explained his purpose and thought back to something he heard prior.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Raiku left his house after saying goodbye to his mother and started along his way to his weekly checkup on Kiro.

Man, I'm glad Lord Fugaku assigned me this stuff since it sort of proves I'm responsible but I sort of dislike doing this. It's so boring, and it's not like he's gonna escape or something. He can't even train that much except Taijutsu, and given he already has that move he stole from the Raikage does he even need to train that? I can be using my time training myself instead... well whatever.

While he was thinking Raiku realized that he was getting near his aunt and uncle's shop and unsurprisingly the former greeted him as he walked by.

"Are you off to visit that Kiro boy again, Raiku?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Hehe, well you don't usually walk through these streets everyday. You mostly spend your time training or doing who-knows-what."

Is that really true? I guess I should go around the village more.

"Oh did you hear the news?"

"What news?"

"Apparently there's a jinchuriki on the loose according to some rumors. Maybe you'll catch it and get a tailed beast yourself, hohoho!"

Me? A jinchuriki? Wow, wouldn't that be powerful... maybe I will! No.. I should use it to become a Chunin! Yea that's smart... wait what am I thinking! Obviously I should get it for the clan. Yep!

"Hehe, yea maybe! Well I'll see you around, Auntie!"

"See you later!"

~-~-~-~-~-~-~

"Yea, sure I'll accept your offer. A little mission doesn't hurt anyone... wait. If there are squads going to get the host, shouldn't we bring the prisoner here? There will be less people on watch in the clan and if he's with us and we have a Hyuga on our team then wouldn't it be best to bring him?"

~-~-~-~-~-~-~

A girl in a beautiful blue kimono was humming along a path as she held two buckets of water in her hands with fish inside. However, her humming soon stopped as she heard a loud explosion coming from a part of her village. Immediately her eyes widened and she picked up the pace as she was worried of invaders attacking her home. She was met with a destroyed battlefield and was hard for her to figure out what happened. She saw one of the ninjas of her village collapsed on the ground and was now fully convinced the village had been invaded.

She hurried to her house which was near another part of the lake she fished in and opened the door... to which she found someone carrying two bodies.

The girl shrieked and put the two bottles of water on the ground before using the earth to form a long spear which she threw without aiming at the person.

 

[kyuukestu]

Furījia

Although her assailant seemed to have been trying his best to avoid looking at her, she still caught every glimpsing peek, and fleet glance directed her way. She gave a scornful harrumph, but took Taiyo's advice, making herself scarce. Taking her spear along with her, she retreated into the deeper confines of the Hyūga compounds.

A full half an hour later, Furījia emerged from the Hyūga manor, darting through the Clan gates and taking to the rooftops, bounding over the various buildings as she made her way towards the village entrance.

Her hair was styled, two large, looping twin-tails hung on her shoulders, and down her back the remaining strands of hair were gathered into a single braid that hung low. Through the focal points of her twin tails, a duo of large hair needles was pierced, their tips sparkling with a sharp, cold, light. She wore a deep blue dress, which ended in a flared skirt the edges fringed with all the frills and flair of a mini-skirt. Intertwining blue and white threads created a ring of thunderbolts woven along the outskirts of the dress's skirt. Wrapped around her waist, was a large ribbon, tied into a bow whose ends flourished luxuriously -the threads of it's making were a deep, stormy grey. To top it all off, the finishing touch to her ensemble, a mini-vest hung over her shoulders, its threads strewed from the inky depths of the abyss.

She arrived at the village's gates within moments, her hands clenched tensely around the length of her weapon. An expression of concern and distress hung between her eyes, -and she waited.

Hyōryūgetsu

Not inclined to get caught up in the antics of her newly assigned teammates, Hyōryūgetsu had immediately departed the scene and made her way to the village gates. An aggrieved expression was plastered onto her face, she'd met her team for all of 10 seconds and she could already feel a headache knawing at her. She sighed, a casual motion casting her gaze into the skies, allowing her eyes to observe the clouds overhead. The sky seemed laden with water, filling to the brim, ready to burst...

'Perhaps...it'll rain soon.' , She mused.

The shadow of a smile ran across the Hōzuki's face and her expression brightened, "The weather's good..."

Baiyan

Unaware of how much time had passed by, Lianhua awakened, and her senses sparking to life as she tried to assess her surroundings -with slight difficulty. Without Iris to relay information to her in a more direct manner, she was forced to infer from the hints and clues scattered around her -a task she was quite familiar with.

From the sensation on her skin and the soft comfort under her body, she could tell she lay prone, perhaps on a bed -one without a mattress as there was an underlying hardness hiding behind the initial soft- or a bundle of cloths. The hollow thud of footfalls told her that way lay beneath her feet was not stone, but rather wood or something of similar consistency. She felt 3 other chakra signatures in the room, and by their levels and signs of vitality she could vaguely assess the conditions of their owners, and from there she could infer their identities.

The weakest chakra signature, no doubt, belonged to the one called Reaver, it held an unnatural stillness, and its pulse was faint -the person was unconscious, and thus Reaver was the most likely owner of this chakra. The remaining two chakra signatures were lively, however, one was rather dimmed, as if a large lump of their chakra had recently been expended -perhaps this one was Azumi. The last chakra signature...well, it didn't really matter what it felt like, there weren't any other options available to guess from. Perhaps the party of two was instead a party of three?

Regardless of what the situation may be, Lianhua chose to remain silent, feigning unconsciousness.

Sagisō

Emerging from her room, Sagisō held a small Anbu mask in her hand. While she'd been changing, a maid had delivered it to her, supposedly on the orders of her mother -she presumed that Shura had also gotten one. The mask was sleek white, and it was shaped like a cat's face, complete with slitted eyes and piercing red whiskers which grew thicker towards their ends. The whiskers finished off in round droplet-shapes and their distinct coloration gave the impression that blood dripped from their ends.

Sagisō observed the mask thoughtfully, noticing that rather than the standard Anbu mask, whose foreheads were imprinted with the symbol of the village -the swirling leaf of Konohagakure- this mask had engraved in the position an inverted triangle which was missing its base -or rather- it's crown. Within the triangle was an arc, and between the 2 sides of the triangle, and the arc was a wispy symbol looking like a will-o-wisp.

"It seems...we'll be operating under the emblem of the Hyūga rather than the Leaf..."

The implications behind this small act were numerous, and Sagisō's eyes swam around solemnly as she considered them. She stood in place, seemingly entranced by the pattern on the mask, but eventually, an ember of decisiveness ignited her hesitation, torching it to ashes and scattering them in the wind.

......

A feminine figure stood alone in the Hyūga courtyard, awaiting the arrival of the remaining members of her team, her disposition solemn. Upon meeting her gaze one might fall under the illusion that her face dripped with the scarlet blood of her victims, but a second glance would rectify that.

It was, however, without question, that the Magenta pupils and bloody whiskers gracing the mask were a startling sight.

Hinagiku

Silently waiting at her desk, Hinagiku counted off the minutes in her head. They would set out soon... She awaited the arrival of her two prisoners and, more importantly, their decision. The maids which summoned them should've informed them this was a 'chance to stretch their legs', and even the details of the mission should've been relayed to them. All that really remained was their choice.

While she was giving them a chance to let loose, there were more to her actions than just that...

Regardless, they would need to hurry, otherwise she'd leave with, or without their presence.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

“Eh....”

Reaver emerged, in a fluffy white bed. His mask was still firmly attached to himself. He found his body covered in bandages, and his form ached of Burns. It seemed the spear of Lugh X4 didn’t claim his life. Heh. At least he had killed that disrespectful bitch-

Interrupting his own thoughts, he noticed baiyan sitting very much alive in the bed next to him. His breath got more and more sparse and the time between them shortened further and further.

“Errrgh...you have got to be kidding me...”

His deep voice spoke, sitting up and glaring over to baiyan. Not like she could see his expression, but it made him feel better. He would ask where Azumi went, except baiyan was blind, it’s jot like she could tell

 

[Retro Master]

About a half hour had gone by since Raiku suggested to have Kiro join them on their mission. It seemed Raiku was still concerned that he had the capability to escape the Hyūga while their security was weakened. That was the reason, right? It wasn’t as if Raiku actually cared when Kiro mentioned he wanted to escape the confines of the Hyūga for a bit.

Either way, Kiro considered how unlikely the Leaf would let him, a prisoner, join them on the mission to hunt a tailed beast. He had the sharingan as well. A thought that immediately came to Kiro’s mind was what if an Uchiha took control of a tailed beast and attacked the village. That’d be something...

And of course, like always, the unexpected happened to him. Now Kiro found himself right outside the office of the clan head, prepared for a mission. He still couldn’t believe the leniency the Leaf had shown. Did they doubt his abilities to escape or were they just planning to feed him to the beast? However, if what the attendant said was true and this was a chance for him to ‘stretch his legs’, then Kiro couldn’t deny the already tempting offer.

‘Looks like this might be my chance...’

Kiro took a light breath, hesitating for a moment before gently knocking on the door.

 

[Godjacob]

Azumi had just managed to settle the pair before she heard of someone who arrived at the door. As she went to investigate, she noticed a girl who formed a spear from the ground and tossed it at her direction.

Well, her direction had been a generous term, as the spear had not been directly aimed for her. Still, Azumi could not afford the spear to possible hit Baiyan & Reaver however unlikely that had been. So in a swift motion Azumi flipped her umbrella from her back as she moved to the side and struck the body of the spear as it just passed her direction to knock it down which it should have bounced harmlessly on the ground.

With the immediate threat dealt with, Azumi turned to the girl with a focused glare. While Azumi doubted she could avoid a fight altogether, she understood possible motive for this attack and knew she had to try and say something to avoid having this fight spill here and risk Baiyan & Reaver in their wounded condition. So rather than strike back, she assumed a relaxed stance and held her hand out as if to motion for the girl to not attack her. Least for the moment.

"I understand how this looks from your view, but believe me if this is your home my aim is not to steal it from under your nose. I sincerely believed it to be abandoned, believe me I know what it feels like to have your home stolen from you and I have no such intention. But my comrades here are in need of rest and medical aid and this was the only immediate place I could take them. All I ask of you is to allow them to be guests here till they recover, any issues with me or this arrangement you can settle with me alone. But they need the help, and I am out of alternative options. Grant me that much if nothing else." Azumi said, as she outlined her defense as on a level she could relate to what the girl likely presumed of her. During those troubled days of recovery in Amegakure, theft of ones home and belongings had been a tragically common occurrence in a war-torn nation left to rot. One she had experienced herself, so she tried to ease the girl and assure her that such an act was not the reason she had come here.

Though if the girl refused and insisted on a fight, even with her own condition she was determined to do what she had to do. She had already failed on the first outing as the "leader" of this team, she was prepared to avoid a follow up with another at their expense.

----------
"Right L-lady Guren!" Tomiko called out, as she quickly followed both Katsuo and Guren. Like Katsuo, Tomiko had been slightly taken aback by Guren's attitude as she had not given the group the...warmest reception to say the least.

Still, maybe this was just part of being a ninja? Guren had not been her sensei, and for her or any of them to gain Guren's respect they'd have to show their mantle on the battlefield. After all isn't that what she had made a point to prove? To prove everyone wrong about her, to prove her newfound strength?

To quell that voice of doubt in her head. Those piercing red eyes that mocked her weakness, that stressed she wasn't good enough.

Worthless.

Weak.
​

All of which she used as motivating. Taking something that nearly broke her into a benchmark to overcome. And now, she had been presented with an opportunity to prove the mantle of her resolve. To serve her nation well, and to prove those with doubt such as Guren or that internal reflection of that Uchiha wrong all at once.

And as she balled her hands into fists, a fire lit within. She would not waste such an opportunity, that much she vowed to herself.​

----------

"Well, gotta say the Hyuga are an...inventive bunch."
​

Takato had walked towards the Hyuga Manor, once more, after he had been allotted time to head back to his room within the Nara Compound to gather up any and all supplies on hand for the mission to come. Though before he left his room, an attendant from the Hyuga Clan had been sent his way as a custom made ANBU Mask had been made for him.

That alone had been enough to raise suspicion from the Nara. As to his knowledge not just anybody could get these masks. But that proved to be the least of his concerns, as it appeared this mask had been custom made. For it lacked the symbol on the Leaf but rather used its own custom made design that Takato had to guess was a Hyuga customary symbol; though that had been but a guess on the young Nara's part.

Which was curious, as this had not been some special mission the Hyuga Clan alone was sent on. Him being part of one of the teams had been proof enough of that; not to mention he overheard his father give the Hyuga Head the mission specification and this had been clearly stated to be a mission for all available nin of Konoha. So why the custom symbols?

Whatever the reason, Takato had a bad feeling over it.
​

Regardless, with his custom mask strapped rather lazily to his belt, Takato made his way to the compound. In truth, that had not been the only thing given to him....as evident by the necklace he held in hand that contained the same symbol.

Which had only raised further questions. Ones he hoped that Hinegaku would answer, though he kept his headband on person just on principle. Though something convinced the Nara the answer was bound to only make all of this more of a pain than it needed to be.

-----------
Sakura Haruno, having packed up the necessary supplies and tools needed for what was presumed to be a long-term and dangerous mission, quickly dashed for the main gates of the village.

Sakura had made a pit stop at the Yamanaka flower shop, as she informed Ino of the outline but not the details of what her mission consisted of. Ino, in spite of some competitive banter, had wished Sakura the best of luck and per Sakura's own request supplied her with fresh flower petals that Sakura packaged into freshly sealed sacks to place in her bag. As many as Ino could lend to her friend within the whole store.

Being able to use these rather than create petals from scratch for her new style would go great lengths to conserve her chakra usage. And as Sakura approached the main gates she had taken note of the young Hyuga Furijia who appeared to have shown up before anyone else and given the way she clenched that weapon around her hands and the expression on her face she seemed to have the mission on her mind as well.

"So, I take it you are all set?" Sakura asked as she approached Furijia. Given her anticipation of Kakashi being late, and Taiyo not having arrived yet she figured she had some time for some chatter. If the mission was going to succeed, it would be best to know all of her teammates and Furijia had been one she had but one discussion with. And that Furijia seemed like a completely different person than who she spoke to in the forest during the Oto chase. So she needed to have even a basic grasp of this added dimension of Furijia's personality for maximum compatibility potential.

----------
Idiots....complete idiots. They think I will just play ball with them by sending me on some mission? Do they not realize me or that Uchiha fuck can use this chance to escape? These Leaf ninja are even more arrogant and moronic than I could have expected.

Tayuya walked through the halls of the Hyuga Compound as she had been asked to meet the head in her office once she had had the time to gather her items. Given what the Leaf had confiscated, that more or less extended to the clothes on her back and her flute as the other ninja weapons had been taken from her person.

Given that, and the seal around her Curse Mark that Shura still controlled, it appeared that she was walking into a shootout without a loaded gun. Though the more the Oto-nin thought it over the more it sounded believable to her. What else could the intent for adding her and the Kiri Uchiha traitor have been?

Speaking of that low life....

"Ah, so you actually showed up. Amazing how one so naturally spineless managed to actually show up to this, given your natural impulse to bail on anything that remotely appears difficult. Guess you couldn't throw somebody else under the bus to get out of this." Tayuya replied with a smirk, as she moved next to Kiro by the door while she leaned against the wall with her arms folded over her chest as she had made her not so warm welcome. Which showed her bitter feelings to Kiro remained strong even after the time that had passed.

 

[Grand Master Koop]

Exiting the Hyuga Armory after stocking up on equipment, Shura was met by one of Hinagiku's maids who told him the mission details and handed him an ANBU mask. The mask was of a cat shape, he noticed the symbol that was on the mask's forehead was not of the Leaf but a different one, that of the Hyuga. "Guess Miss Hinagiku is making this to be more Hyuga business than Leaf." He thought as he strapped the mask on his face, over his other mask. Shura made his way out of the Hyuga manor towards the gate. Arriving at the courtyard, Shura noticed a female figure sanding there wearing a similar mask to his own, seemingly waiting for something. Upon further observation, Shura recognized the female's body shape. "Oh, Sagiso's already here." He thought.

 

[sSoul]

Taiyo
"And that, Ms. Sakura, is my second candidate," Taiyo replied to the aforementioned kunoichi, although she had already left when he got the answer out. He internally cursed before addressing all who were remaining, "We should get going, that Jinchūriki isn't going to handle herself, now is she?" With that, the Leaf-nin began to exit the Hyūga manor gates, hoping that the others who were left would follow him. Sure he wasn't the official leader, but since he was the one who basically brought the team together, he considered himself a de facto leader of the team.

Wow Furījia can get places quickly, I need her to teach me how to do that.

We can all learn something from everyone, friends, family, masters and foes alike.

Plus voices in your head when they decide to drop knowledge instead of sarcasm.

Consider it a gift from me to you. And also a repayment for letting me witness the fruits of our labor in some form.

I know what your talking about...but I wish I didn't.

"Well it seems like I'm a little late to the party," Taiyo called out to his two teammates as he ran to them. He had to make a quick pit stop to visit Susei and promise her that when he came back, they would bond as siblings and soothe his mother that he would not get injured.
Tsuki
After walking the path that Hyōryūgetsu had took, she had finally arrived at the Mist village gates, only to see that the person she was trying to look for was staring at the sky, almost as if she were waiting for something. The Yuki-nin nervously tapped the Hozuki's shoulder, unsure if she was going to get attacked by her own teammate for disturbing her.

"Hi...sorry if I disturbed you. I just wanted to introduce myself," Tsuki opened lightly, as if she was testing the verbal waters, "My name is Tsuki Yuki, it is a pleasure to work with you,"

Well she doesn't seem to want to hurt me...that's a good start...right?
Seiun
Jumping up from the ground, the rouge shinobi stretched his arms and legs before greeting his teammates.

"Well if it isn't the Ice Empress and the Ice King in the flesh? Glad to see you again," Seiun had come up with nicknamed for all of his teammates, all of them having the prefix of ice. Hama was an Empress, Kai was a King and Tsuki was a queen, and he said such nicknames in a way that it shouldn't come across as teasing, even though it could be used as such.

Wonder where Tsuki and Hyo went, probably waiting for us to get our lives together, speaking of which...

"We should probably get going, can't keep the Ice Queen and Hyo waiting," With that being said, Seiun began to travel the same path that Tsuki travelled.

 

[DarkHydraT]

Mori listened carefully to Guren explaining the plan of action, not really surprised by her attitude. After all, none of them really did anything to earn her respect. Tucking away that thought, he mulled over the plan of action."The Sound? Didn't that Uchiha try to join them? Great, if he is gonna participate in this mission I doubt that we'll have a civilized conversation. It'll probably end up in a fight, yay." Even when he was talking to himself, the sarcasm that the last word contained was evident. "I assume that the target was last seen near or in the Land of Water? If so, we are at serious risk of encountering other teams. Better be prepared for combat then. " He noted mostly for himself as he followed Guren out of the office.

"Hey Tomiko." Mori said as he turned to his fellow Iwa-nin and friend. "Don't get too fed up this early, you'll need your energy later on. If something is bothering you, don't be ashamed to tell me, okay?" He told her, glancing at her balled fists before attempting to lighten the mood. "When night falls, do you think that everyone can sleep in one Rock Dome or should I make spilt sleeping quarters? With the even split of genders and privacy and all."

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

Taji could not hide her reaction, an Uchiha with the signature jutsu of Lord Raikage? From Kiri nontheless? This had to be some kind of sick joke. "Are you serious? An Uchiha from Kiri with the signature justu of Lord Raikage?" She wanted to ask thousands of questions at the same time, but only managed to ask two. "How?! An Uchiha is bad enough as it is, one does not need that jutsu. Why that one out of all things?" Taji took a moment to calm down and keep the other contestants in mind, overlooking them would be dangerous. "An Hyuga with Wind Style? That can be annoying due to our nature releases. And an Oto-nin with power tattoos and Wind Style by using his palms? Apart from that being odd, that sounds like some nasty combinations. And finally a Water Style user, which is a nice change from the Wind users.
What are his unique tricks? And since you fought them or atleast saw them fight, how can I counter them? I can't allow that Kumo failed to get two genin to chunin twice in a row!" Taji said as she raised her voice on accident. "If that happens, other villages might see Kumo as a pushover and attack us. That can't happen!"

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Hama glanced over to Seiun, her lip curling before a laugh or two escaped her mouth. She took two fingers and patted the slave’s head, with an satisfied look on her face.

“Aha, empress? I’m liking you better each day~”

Kai couldn’t tell weather to be insulted or complimented by the Xeno, so he figured just to ignore the comment altogether. He arched an eyebrow at seiun. Come to think of it, he didn’t know much about the ex-convict Xeno. But if he was going to spend a venture on a dangerous mission with him, he better know his allies.

“Seiun, yes? What village did you herald from?” Kai asked rather directly

 

[kyuukestu]

Hinagiku

"Save your bickering for later, are you coming or not?"

Striding out of her office, Hinagiku held two of the metallic Hyūga tags in her hands. "If you're coming then you'll need a tag, if not then we've nothing to discuss, we'll have you transferred over to the care of the Inuzuka and be on our way."

Hyōryūgetsu

Distracted from her reverie by the appearance of one of the Yuki, Ryūgetsu sighed before speaking languidly, "Hyōryūgetsu Hōzuki...but you already know that, right? Also...Could you...not?"

When Tsuki had moved to tap the girl's shoulder, the Yuki's finger would've met little to no resistance from Ryūgetsu's body and instead, her finger caused rippled to spread across the girl's figure as Tsuki's finger slipped into Ryūgetsu's body which had adopted the consistency of water. Having her personal space violated in a way that intruded on her very being was...less than pleasant- or perhaps that would've been the case for the other Hōzuki, but not Ryūgetsu.

Hidden from Tsuki's view, a mischievous smirk crossed Ryūgetsu's face, and moving swiftly, she stepped backward, her body slamming into Tsuki's...or not? Acting like a liquid film, Tsuki passed harmlessly overlapped Ryūgetsu's body, where the water composing the Hōzuki's body would've soaked into Tsuki's clothes and trapped her almost like a water prison.

"It's not nice to sneak up on people you know~? I'll have to punish you~"

Liquid fingers moved to wriggle across Tsuki's body, tickling the girl from all directions at once.

Furījia

Nodding, the Hyūga moved to respond to Sakura's questioning, however, Furījia's words were preempted by Taiyo's arrival. Said arrival prompted the Hyūga girl to shut her mouth, cast a cursory glare towards the boy and shift to the side, placing Sakura between herself and Taiyo. She filled her lungs with air, puffed out her cheeks, stuck out her tongue, and brought a finger to her eye, pulling down her eyelid and showing the whites of her eye as she...pulled a funny face at Taiyo followed by a childish raspberry.

 

[Retro Master]

‘So the Leaf actually let her come too. They must be trying to get rid of us.’

That was the first conclusion Kiro came to when he heard Tayuya’s unpleasant voice. Fortunately for the ‘slave’, Kiro was robbed of a chance to respond with one of the wisecracks he had in mind. Kiro had been standing directly in front the door and was forced aside when the Hyūga head graced them with her superior presence.

Hinagiku quickly shut Tayuya up before jumping straight to the point. The urgency was nearly dripping from her tone. He didn’t even bother stating the obvious answer to Hinagiku’s question and simply snatched one of the tags out of her hands. Kiro looked at it for one second before realizing he actually had no idea what it’s use was.

‘Is this a tracking device? Perhaps a bomb? Did she bring us all the way to her office for this?’

Kiro was about too demand answers for these burning questions but quickly remembered who he was dealing with. He’d better watch his tone or else this chance, as well as his life, would be lost.

“So what is this supposed to be?” Kiro questioned carefully, his eyes locking with Hinagiku’s for a brief second before dropping back to the tag.

 

[Godjacob]

Tomiko glanced back to Mori, who seemed to have noticed her hands as she herself realized she had unconsciously balled them up as it drew concern from him. Tomiko quickly released her tight grip as she knew she had to assure her comrade and friend that everything had been alright. The last thing she needed was for him to worry over her, as he needed to be focused on not dwelling on her needlessly.

"I'm fine, just...just a bit fired up for the mission really." Tomiko admitted, which had not been a lie itself as she hoped this half-truth would be enough to convince Mori everything had been alright. Then she decided to address his second question which caused her to develop a big grin.

"I can make a dome that can fit the four of us easy. If you want, we can put up divider walls. After all I doubt any of us want to risk bumping into anyone in a compromising position; Lady Guren especially. I'd rather keep my head on my shoulders." Tomiko said, as she had whispered the last couple parts to her comment while she had a light chuckle about it.

-----------
Kenji had to blink, as he had not expected such a passionate reaction from Taji given the brief descriptions of the Genin he had encountered in Konoha during the Chunin Exams.

Then again, he could not disagree with her point. They needed a way to deal with their foreign peers as they had the pride of Kumo's new generation on their shoulders.

"Well, that's quite a few questions. Let's see where to begin. Well, I do not know how or where or why Kiro developed this mock variant of the Raikage's signature technique. If I had to guess, some sort of special Mist training or something. Something tied to his backstory, not that he has shared much of that. Beyond his complaint about how much the ninja system sucks I heard on passing before the finals." Kenji explained as he outlined the basic view he had and guesses on where Kiro picked up the technique.

"As far as Katsuo goes. He seems to favor this...augmented Taijutsu which mixes his nature release and also seems to be a Bukijutsu when he wants to mix things up for some long range maneuvers. If I..."

"Um, guys We've got a minor issue."​

Kenji's description of Katsuo's style had been cut off by Aisha's comment. As they appeared by the cost of a harbor town on the edge of the forest they traveled through. Aisha and her wolf companions found it harder to follow the sent, as it seemed to travel over the sea ahead and the task of water walking an entire ocean had been an absurd one. Would appear they would need to find some method to take to the sea, as the target had managed to leave the shores of Kumo likely looking for refuge elsewhere.

Darui anticipated this, and glanced back to the trio.​

"Alright, we'll be taking a boat. Aisha will continue to guide us in the right direction, though it is presumed that the target is looking to escape to the nearby Land of Water. Whether she goes there, or tries to hide out in the Land of Fire is uncertain. Either way, we have little time to waste." Darui explained, as he worked to get a boat for the group while he advised the trio to stay put.

Aisha had been more focused on following the sent that she had missed most of the conversation between Kenji and Taji. Though it was mention of the exams, which made Aisha wonder which nation she'd fight for when her time for the exams came. And that offer Taji made to make Kumo her home, and ever more tempting offer.

----------
"Oh, hey Taiyo." Sakura said as she had noted Taiyo's late but not soo late arrival, but that proved to be the least of her worries as Furijia immediatly halted whatever she was gonna say to her as she seemed to give Taiyo the preverbal stink eye. Which caused Sakura to both externally and internally sigh.

Oh great. Seems the bad blood hasn't spilled over.

Can't really blame her. Taiyo did force her in a rather uncomfortable and perverted situation.

Okay, once more, Taiyo said it was an accident. We have to consider the possibility that, you know, he might be telling the truth and that Furijia could be overeating and holding a false perception against him still.

Or Taiyo is lying to cover up a cheap attempt for his self-created fan-service. You can't just take one's word over the other when you don't know the full facts.

Let's let his attitude and how he acts going forward decide that. It's only fair to give him a fair chance, besides we have more important things to focus on and worry about. These two need to get over it, plain and simple least till this mission is finished.

"Well, seems the gang's all here."​

Sakura glanced over, as Kakashi approached lazily to the trio. Naturally, he had his copy of Icha Icha Paradise in hand which had been enough for Sakura to roll her eyes.

"You're late." Sakura said, as she offered her standard critique of her sensei's tardiness with her arms folded over chest. Kakashi offered a light shrug as he began one of his textbook excuses.

"Yeah, sorry. The road I was traveling was being paved over. So I had to take a detour and..."

"LIAR!"
LIAR!

"...In any event if we are past the morning chatter are you all ready to go?" Kakashi asked the trio, as Sakura shifted gears and simply gave a nod. Kakashi eyed Taiyo and Furijia to see if they had been prepared. Though even with his late arrival he could sense these two and their spat could be a bit problematic. Hopefully it'd meld over when they were on the mission, but somehow he doubted it.

----------
Tayuya glanced down at the Hyuga tag, and while she had a number of remarks she could have made about it or her offer she decided to just accept. If they were gonna be reckless enough to throw her out into the open, she had not been foolish enough to pass a chance. Especially when the alternative had been to be left with that dog clan who likely had mutts lying around and what she presumed the sent of dog piss everywhere.

"Alright, whatever. Gives me an excuse to let out some steam." Tayuya replied as she took the tag given to her, before she decided to press on with a question of her own as she subtly showed Hinagiku her seal around her Curse Mark.

"You know, I have been stripped down of all my weapons minus the flute. And this little cage here limits my chakra making me less effective. If you can stock me up and convince that Shura guy to....turn it off when we get going. To maximize my capabilities and our chances at success." Tayuya said, as she outlined her proposition to the Hyuga Head. Naturally she had her own self interest here, but she outlined logical reasons for what she asked for and waited to see how Hinagiku would react.

Unknowingly at the same moment Kiro considered it, Tayuya half considered herself the idea the tags had bombs within them which was why she remained hesitant to put it on. Still though, if the aim of this was to try and kill them off this method gave her more of a chance to scrape by and even in the worst case it had been preferable to an execution within the village if that had been the intent. Still, she'd wait for Hinagiku to answer her question as she eyed the Hyuga Head curiously.

----------

Knock. Knock. Knock.

"Come in."
​

Tsunade, who had been in the middle of a rather extensive pile of paperwork much to her annoyance, heard a knock on the door to her office. As she had any impulse to take a break from this, she invited whoever it was inside as she shifted her stack of papers aside where she came face to face with Daichi Nara; head of the Nara Clan which alone had been enough for Tsunade to raise an eyebrow.

"Is there something a matter, Lord Nara?" Tsunade asked as Daichi took but a moment to light a cigarette as he blew out a puff of smoke out of a window before he faced the Hokage with his usual lax expression.

"Well, the teams of Konoha are preparing to set out. Though it appears that Lady Hinegaku has a rather....unique gimmick she is slapping on her squad." Daichi explained, as Tsunade seemed curious over this detail and non-verbally motioned for Daichi to add on.

"My son was given some....accessories. A mask in the same vein as the ANBU that had a unique symbol, one custom made by the Hyuga as opposed to the standard Konohgakure symbol." Daichi explained, which caused Shizune's eyes to slightly widen at this while Tsunade only seemed to focus in on this.

"Is that right? Tell me more."​

 

[DarkHydraT]

Mori listened to Tomiko explain herself and smiled a bit. "Glad to see your enthousiasm is still the same, and that divider wall idea doesn't sound too bad. I am not looking forward to adding Lady Guren on the 'People that want my head' list, Reaver and that Uchiha are enough as of yet and I don't intend to honor their demand any time soon." He said with a glimmer of defiance in his eyes, similar to the ones he had in his academy days but not as mischievous.

As he made his way towards the exit, he became a bit more silent and less confident than usual. "I sure hope that the jinchuriki is on the main land, my chakra nature is not exactly the best on an island." Mori muttered, appearing a bit paler than normal. He slowed down a bit and looked around before tapping Tomiko on her shoulder. "Tomiko, I know that I come off as Mr Tough Guy and all that, but can I confess something to you?" He whispered, clearly worried about something.

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

Taji became quiet again and took great care in taking mental notes of Kenji's explanation, although she had to correct herself multiple times for dozing off and thinking about Kiro and his mock Lightning Armor. Before she could make a comment though, Aisha's voice cut her off and her mention of a minor issue was a bit concerning.

Scratch that, this was a huge issue.
​

They arrived at the ocean, and by the looks of it the jinchuriki crossed it. "This is a big issue, will you still be able to smell the track Aisha? If not, we should ask around for anyone who has seen the target. Going on a wild goose chase, although undoubtebly fun for your wolves, is something we should avoid." She noted as she proceeded to kick herself internally for forgetting to take the ocean in account. Taji's stoic mask crumbled again as a slight bit of worry appeared on her face,

 

[kyuukestu]

Hinagiku

"It's a tracking device, of course." The Hyūga head rolled her eyes, an expression of amusement set on her face as if the duo had just questioned the obvious in the most asinine way possible. "You didn't think you'd actually be given free rein, did you? I'll answer the rest of your questions on the way, we depart immediately."

Striding out the door, Hinagiku paced towards the Hyūga courtyard.

 

[sSoul]

Taiyo
Ignoring Furījia's little show of immaturity, he flashed a warm smile at Sakura to acknowledge her greeting. He nodded to Kakashi before tapping Furījia's shoulder to get her attention.

"Look, I am sorry for destroying your clothes and looking under your skirt, even if it was by accident. I'm willing to make it up to you if you want, just tell me how," His expression still was warm although now it was panged with guilt.

While I'm pleased with the result, I don't really like the idea that I upset Furījia, especially since that was never my intention.

I concur, doesn't really help that Sakura doesn't trust us as much as she used to.

Yeah, kinda prefer all of my friends to trust me as a friend, she was kinda growing in me too. I guess fighting to the near death and going on an important mission does that to people huh?

Yeah...anyways, where's Raiku? He just need to come here and we can leave.

Probably on his own pit stop, he has a family too.

True, just wish he'd hurry up with it.
Tsuki
Hmm, thats...not normal...

This is what Tsuki had thought as she removed her finger from Hyoryugetsu's shoulder, causing the latter to ripple as if she were a body of water. However that paled in comparison as the Hozuki seemingly phased though Tsuki while creating a sort of skin-tight prison of water around her body.

"It's not nice to sneak up on people you know~? I'll have to punish you~"

Punish me?! What does that mean?

At that moment, Tsuki was assaulted by water hands to be ticked; a rather cruel "punishment" indeed. She immediately broke out in wild laughter, being ticklish almost everywhere, she wanted to beg to stop, but she simply couldn't due to her now producing tears of laughter.
Seiun
"Oh...where I came from? I'll tell you when I-" Seiun's reply was cut off from wild laughter that seemed to be coming from Tsuki.

Weird...let me go check it out.

And at that moment, he saw his mistress getting tickle attacked by Hyo.

And nevermind, all the girls I've met are weird, time to go reply to Kai.

"As I was saying Kai, I came from Amegakure, also known as the hidden rain village. I could tell you more, but you didn't ask for my life story, so I won't bother,"

 

[Retro Master]

According to Hinagiku’s response, his first guess was correct. The little tag was some sort of tracking device. It also confirmed they weren’t that stupid as to let their prisoners run wild. Unfortunate, but Kiro would have to work with it.

Watching Hinagiku as she spoke, Kiro also took notice of the amused expression and the roll of her eyes. Was there something he was missing? Did she expect them to know the little tag was a tracking device? It could’ve been a basic tag for all they knew. Perhaps something meant to throw them off the real threat. Deception at its finest.

Once Hinagiku started to walk away, Kiro sighed and lightly shook his head. He decided to save his contemplating for later before following her to the courtyard.