A Reward for Tenacity [Open]

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

"I don't know yet. I haven't received a debriefing, just orders. It seems we will receive our briefing from the client, themselves. But if it's a mission that allows Genin on it, it probably isn't going to be anything difficult," she said before sneaking in, speaking to herself. </GLOW>As long as it doesn't involve stealth<i></i>
She snapped out of her little talk before she started to dig in to her food. She started to eat her food, almost with noble elegant's class, using every table-manner one could imagine. Normally, out on the field she wouldn't use a single bit of manner, but she was taught (at the orphanage she grew up in) to use the utmost manners when eating in public. She turned to look at how the children ate to sense their mannerisms. She put her utensil's down and wiped her lips. "<GLOW glow="cyan">It's either I collect people to join the team or people are assigned. I'd rather collect people that would listen to instructions and not do things on their own," she said, turning her head and sipping her drink. Maru wasn't the best partner to have on a delicate job like assassination; he just didn't listen. He would rather go and act as a fool rather than perform the job; even going so far as to nearly getting her killed in the process.

"If you join, I expect you to follow my orders to a T," she stated before continuing to eat her food. She didn't like teammates that didn't listen to their leader; especially when it came to something life-threatening like an assassination. She wouldn't lose sleep by cutting out people like that from her life. "Support is fine. Everyone has their roles to play, but I don't think this one will be too dangerous. It's not an A Rank or S Rank mission," she said with a small shrug before she continued to eat her food. She turned her eyes to Momo for a moment. "You should join too."

 

[Azai Momotaro]

Momo rubbed his chin as Airi mentioned how maybe he needs to change the focus of his goal, arguing that the quest for supreme strength will never end. She was probably right, but still Momo cant help but desire strength and fame beyond imagination. “you are probably right, once I become Raikage I will work on making sure life stays good for Kumo-“ he hesitated to say that knowing what happened to Airi, he would not be surprised if the girl harbored some resentment towards the village. “and also make way for the newer generation, making sure our shinobi never stop being top class. But first what I would like to know is how far I can get, maybe I can become a famous hero, that would be cool.” He said laughing, he slowly turned more cheerful as they slowly drifted away from Airi’s story.

It was then that the food had arrived and the boy began to dig into his food, he was about to eat like a starved dog, but luckily he stopped himself and saw Kanagawa eat elegantly, so he followed suit. “ I see yeah that makes sense. Oh Airi chan why do you think you are a shield ? what kind of abilities do you have?” Momo asked as he ate his food, turning his attention immediately to his teacher. She explained the situation to them, and things began to get clear that this mission is not something above the two kids pay grade. The boy was happy to see that Airi was enthusiastic about joining, she wont be a good rival if the girl stayed complacent and passive.

He then ate his food, as he looked at Airi he then noticed her blushing and a thought crossed his head……(Airi is very cute). The boy then immediately turned red from blushing himself, he then shook his head and began to eat his food, avoiding eye contact with Airi as much as possible. It was then that Kanagawa asked him to join that mission as well, it caught him off guard and made him choke on his food. Hitting his chest and coughing a little bit, the boy cleared his throat. He then looked at his sword and then back to Kanagawa, he decided it was time to talk.

“sorry about that, I was kinda caught off guard there. Usually I would have loved to join sensei, I need all the experience I can get if I want to strive for greatness.” He stopped for a second. “but to be honest with you, there is a reason why I should not. You see this sword is not normal at all, I thought it was. But there is something very weird about it. Airi-chan, Kanagawa sensei, if you two don’t mind can we go to a place a little more private, I am not sure if I should show you this in public. But it will explain why I should not join just yet.” The boy said, before hitting his head with his hand lightly. “wait I almost forgot, we should finish our food first.” He said as he began to eat his food once again.

 

[Yamamoto Airi]

Momotaro seemed to be deep in thought. He wanted to make sure that Kumo was a safe and happy place for everyone. Airi had a very similar goal, while it might not be exactly the same, common ground was a good basis for her to trust Momo. He did not seem to care for the way the village treated her and those in her position. She actually felt like…while it was strong handed of them, she did not harbor any resentment. She just wanted to do her best. He then went on to mention that he wanted to become a famous hero. She smiled at that…Momo was full of desire for recognition, she needed to make sure to remember that.

Nozomi went on to say that she thought the mission itself would not be anything too difficult. It was a relief to her because if the mission was easier itself maybe she could demonstrate her abilities better to Nozomi. The last thing she could do on this mission was fail. She felt her hands getting a little tense but made sure to slowly and carefully eat her food. It was saltier than she expected but the food itself was nice. Certainly not the best she had eaten but it was of excellent quality…certainly worth the wait she had sat here prior. Airi made sure to take on bite and chew before speaking.

Airi wiped her mouth and took a sip of her drink. “I will follow your instructions to the best of my ability.” She nodded confidently before eating so more. She mentioned supporting is fine provided it fit into what they needed. She also asked Momo to join them which made Airi get a little excited. It was one thing to see Nozomi be amazing but seeing someone closer to her age being amazing was something you just did not see every day. She was about to agree and ask him to join them but then he asked Airi about her abilities specifically.

“Oh umm…my abilities…” She almost had to pause and think about it for a moment. “I am…more of a durable healer. I have a more defensive style, I usually will only strike out if absolutely safe…so I like to think of myself as a shield. Though I am still not very practiced using an actual shield.” She tried to give a more confident smile but she looked away and ate some more. Nervous…"And since we've established that you're clearly not fit to be a Genin” those words echoed into her mind but she wiped her mouth of another bite. “I uhh…use mostly Taijutsu with supporting Ninjutsu…I am really quite terrible at Genjutsu.”

As Momo started to cough a bit Airi quickly grabbed his glass of water to hand to him. He seemed to be handling it but her concern for a moment was written on her face. Nothing was scarier than losing your ability to breath…as he seemed fine she set his glass back down.

He then went on to mention a problem with his blade. He mentioned that it was not something he wanted to discuss in private. While he did ask her to join them she would need to decline. She just met him and secrets between a student and master should be kept as such. When they were closer…maybe. It just seemed dangerous to let anyone who was just meeting him to know. As such she decided to continue eating. As a break for her came up she said, “I think I will part after the meal…I think Nozomi should see you problem first. Maybe when we get closer…we can talk about Momotaru-kun. I just…do not want to impose more than I have.” Hopefully he did not see this as her putting up a wall she did want to help him but things were moving a little quickly. Not just between him and her but with them and her. She…needed to earn her spot to, just like Momo himself did and this mission would be it.

 

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

Nozomi dropped her utensils and reached over to land a small karate chop to the top of Momo's head. "Let's concentrate on getting Chuunin first before thinking of Raikage, alright?" she said, eyeballing the boy before picking up her utensils and began eating. He mentioned something about as far as he can get. Well, promotions aren't really much of something for Nozomi to talk about as she has grown stagnant in her position within Merces Letifer. She hadn't met any of her leadership. The only contact she receives from them is in the form of orders handed down to her about the next target. Orders in the form of written briefings, a picture of the target, and printed instructions on how the assassination is to be carried out and whatever information she needed for the target was the only bit of information she received from her superiors. She would, most likely, remain stagnant in her job until the day she died.

She snapped out of her thoughts to hear Airi mention her willingness to obey orders. She swallowed the food she had in her mouth and smiled to Airi. "Good. Then there will be no problems," she said. Her eyes darted to the side to see the other patrons in the restaurant all covered in blood with each of them turning to look at her. Their hands were held outward, as if begging for something from her. The floor started to pulsate before geysers of blood started to shoot upwards, dousing everything in blood. There was a distant look in her eyes for a moment before a bloodied up face, closer than the rest, poked out and shouted, "Remember Hida!!" This caused Nozomi to jump backwards for a bit, blink, and everything returned to normal. It was the waitress that popped out in front of her asking for refills on the drink. The Jashinists were toying with her now and it was starting to blur reality from the horrendous nightmare that she was being plagued with. The memories of the village of Hida still plaguing her mind.

She snapped out of her trance once more and smiled to the waitress. "Yes, I'd like a refill," she responded. The waitress looked to the other two to ask them if they needed a refill. If they needed more drinks, she'd go fetch it for them. Thankfully, her eyes weren't on the children sitting at the table before her. She might have lost her nerve if she saw them covered in blood, or worse, in the depths of that powerful illusion. "Genjutsu is a powerful weapon, Airi. You should consider using it. It's enough to ruin people's minds if used properly," she said as she was looking around, trying to find the person who kept using the genjutsu on her. They had to be nearby if she was constantly being bombarded with these illusions and nightmarish scenes.

There seemed to be a problem with Momo's blade, which caused her to tilt her head inquisitively. It was then that Airi had to turn down the invitation. Nozomi turned to her and smiled. "Well, make sure you're well rested for the mission. I expect good things out of you, Airi. And don't worry about imposing on Momo-kun," she said putting the spoon down and waved it off. "He's not going to have too much privacy in the near future. Not when I start training him. Again, you're welcome to join in the training sessions," she said before picking up her spoon and pointed it at Momo for a brief moment, waving it around with subtle wrist movements. "We're gonna have to talk about it after we eat, alright?" she said, taking a moment to notice how awful Momo's invitation sounded. This caused her face to go beet red. "It better actually be your sword too," she said before shoving more food in her mouth.

 

[Azai Momotaro]

Momo was caught off guard by the karate chop on the head, he dropped his food utensils and rubbed the top of his head in pain. “ow! That hurt- I mean yes sensei, chunnin first Raikage later. Haha” the boy chuckled to himself slightly, hopefully he did not embarrass himself too much. The boy then turned to face Airi, the girl seemed determined to join a mission and do a good job by following orders. She seemed like a hard worker, but that means Momo needs to work even harder and surpass her.

“I see, so you know healing Ninjustsu, you are just like my mother. While my father is a master of both genjutsu and Ninjutsu. Sadly I did not inherent any of that skill, so I just trained myself in Taijutsu, I think I am able to wield any weapon and get a moderate level of success. Swords are my specialty, don’t get me wrong I know how to do a basic ninjutsu its not that good but I do know how to use it.” He said as he mused over combat, the boy was not that experienced, and lacked traditional skill and talent but he substituted that with simple pure physical training, what he did not know was that could have only taken him so far.

“Genjutsu is strong ? I have never thought about using it myself, my dad is great at it but he did not have time to show me how it works. Do you know Genjutsu, Kanagawa-sensei ?” the boy asked as he chowed down on his food, it was not a slob fest, but it was fast, Momo was rushing his food.

“oh ok that’s fine, if we ever go on a mission together I will let you know, cause that might be a necessity for later. Also if that means I will get stronger then fine, its not like I have anything to hide hahaha, I will make sure to make it so you do not regret this Sensei” he said with a very bright smile, his eyes met his teacher it was very vibrant as if it was on literal fire. The boy stopped to eat then he looked up to Nozomi, very confused by her reactions. “right, it will be brief the Hachiman is very strange, and I require some advice.” He said as he continued to eat, and quickly he managed to finish his food. “Maaan that was delicious, I should do this more often. With Sensei to pay for the food of course.” The boy said as he chuckled and leaned back on his seat, with a big satisfied smile on his face.

 

[Yamamoto Airi]

Nozomi reached over a gave another tap to Momo telling him that he needed to focus on his front feet and not the steps down the road. It made Airi smile a little thinking about how nice their relationship seemed to be. Airi had to eat carefully to make sure that she did not spit up any food. Nozomi was eating so nicely that Airi was really thankful her mom pushed proper manners and even etiquette during tea ceremonies. Nozomi was glad to hear that Airi would follow orders. Airi needed to make sure that she followed her words and did what was right. Nozomi was very experienced and she should not only complete the mission but really learn from her.

As Airi watched Nozomi she noticed that she seemed tired. Airi sort of worried but decided to ignore it. Once again she just met them so this sort of thing was really not her business. Nozomi went on to speak about how she should learn to use genjutsu since it can ruin people’s minds. Airi flinched a little and set down her utensil and wiped her mouth. She felt a bit of a sickness creep into her stomach. Taro-kun mentioned that he did not inherit his dad’s abilities but has strived really hard to learn Taijutsu. That was something that they both followed. She wondered what she could learn from him that might make up for her own shortcomings.

Taro-kun seemed interested in Genjutsu but all Airi could think about was ruining someone's mind. She really did not want to do that. She knew the problems with this profession and eventually she needed to get serious about the violence of it all...considering her path in Anbu is was going to be much quicker. As she glanced over at Taru-kun she wondered if he himself was already quite okay with the concept of ending a life. He seemed so nice and sweet...she wondered if real shinobi just put up a face or if they just bear it and smile anyway? It made her wondering what type of person she wanted to become and how this profession would really change her. “I’ll...work on it Kangawa-san.”

As taro wrapped up his meal Airi finished as well. Kanagawa offered her the ability to come to the lessons and to get plenty of rest so she can perform well. Airi nodded to her.”Yes Kanagawa-san.” As she stood up she figured that they would go deal with Momotaro’s blade and that made her que to head on out. As she turned to them she bowed deeply and said, “Thank you for the food. I look forward to joining training sessions soon. I will do my best in the mission.” Airi lifted up her head and smiled.

She reached into her purse and took out two pieces of paper and left them on the table. ”That is my home address and home phone number. If I do not answer it means I am off training or some such. I promise to return the call. I also have a little plaque on my door saying where I intended to go if you ever really need to find me.” With that she waved to them figuring she could get their stuff at a later date and moved to grab her shoes.

She felt nervous but excited. She had never been recruited to a mission before She really needed to do her best! With that she went home and tried to get rest but eventually started to re go through her Genjutsu books from the academy. She needed to at least be semi-aware of what she was lacking.

[Topic Left]

 

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

Nozomi finished up her food and turned to look towards Momotaro and eyeballed him as if he asked if the sky was blue. A question that everyone knew the answers to. But she didn't give him too much of an issue given his age an inexperience. "Yeah. Genjutsu is devastating. As Airi said, you're basically screwing up someone's mind," she said before she was handed a piece of paper with Airi's phone number and address, glancing at it for a moment before hiding it from Momo's view. He didn't need this right now. If he wanted it, he'll earn it the old-fashioned way. She pocketed the information and waved to Airi. "Take care of yourself!" she stated.

The waitress returned with the bill and Nozomi glanced at it. Her eyes opened wide for a moment and pulled out her wallet; not the typical wallet women normally carry. It wasn't practical to her to carry something bulky like that. She pulled out plenty of bills and placed it in the envelope and handed it to the waitress. "Keep the change" she stated before turning to Momotaro. "Yeah, Genjutsu can really screw up someone's head. I know all of the known genjutsu and I'm actually not too shabby with it either," she said as she patted her belly and stood up, putting her shoes back on. She reached her hand out as the glowing spear moved from it's stationary position towards her hand.

"Now, Peach-boy. About your weapon. Save it for another day. I have some business to tend to. I want you to run a lap around the village before you go to bed tonight, alright?" she stated before delivering a 2-finger salute and a wink to Momotaro. With that, she was off.

[Topic Left]
[Next time we RP, Momo -- you'll see post-patch nozomi]

 

[Azai Momotaro]

Waiting for the others to finish their food Momotaro just sat, tapping his finger on the table along a certain rhythm. Stuck playing a song in his head the boy waited for the two to finish, then when Airi was done the girl left some pieces of paper on the table and waved goodbye to everyone. Waving back at her with a smile Momo said “See ya Airi, take care tell we meet again.” He looked back down on the table and noticed that the papers were gone, funny both Airi and Nozomi made a crucial mistake, they both assumed Momo knows how to operate a phone. And since he does not this was a meaningless action to him, if he wants to find Airi he will do it the old fashioned way, run into her by accident or something, probably won’t meet her for a while now but hey what are you gonna do about it. The boy then turned to the older woman, and wanted to start talking but was interrupted.

“fine, ok we will discuss this later.” He said grumpily as he saw her leave, he looked back at his sword and held it. “maybe I should have started with, Hey guys guess what my weapon has a ghost inside of it. Maybe then they would have paid attention. Whatever I made my decision anyways, I will follow his words if it mean I will get more power, then I must try it out.” The boy then took his sword, stood up. Placed the katana on a scroll and hid the scroll inside his ropes. And began to walk out of the restaurant. “I wonder how can I find someone based on his last name and the name of his daughter alone, it won’t be simple but I will find a way, now to run 5 laps around the village.” The boy said as he got into position to run and took off as fast as he can, running not to lap the village but to reach some goal he has in his mind.

[Topic left]