A walk through the City of Tea (open)

[Chigokai Yuna]

Ninura had found her way in Kurosawa. The City of Tea, as she would put it. The place was bustling with life, and people came and went on their own kinds of business. And, it seemed a bit more warm here. Not like in Kumogakure, where it is surely cold during the winters.

Some trees had their leaves as orange, red, or yellow, making the already beautiful and mesmerizing scene even more beautiful. The young Sunaku picked up an orange leaf, looking at it curiously. The girl, herself, wore her usual sleeveless white shirt, with the red tie, along with black jeans and a polished, but unadorned canteen attached to her left side through the belt loop. Her red eyes fixated on the leaf.

She hasn't really seen nature this beautiful, other than the mountains in Lightning Country. That's when she had an idea. Ninura went to the nearest general store and bought a some small ziplock bags. Returning to the pile of leaves, she picked one of each different color that she liked, putting them in the bags and sealing up the bag so nothing can get in.

Now, bags of different leaves in hand, Ninura looked around Tea. What was she looking for? Tea, yup, that's it. All that hard work of carefully placing each leaf in the bags made her a bit thirsty and a bit hungry.

There was a lot of Cafe's nearby, but she doesn't know which to choose from. She ended up going to a smaller, more quiet cafe, where there were only a couple of people, which was fine by her, since she wasn't really into big crowds of people and whatnot.

"Can I get some tea, and a sandwich please?" Ninura brought out some yen, that her mother had given to her, as an allowance when she was allowed to go to Tea.

(Mft)
(311)

 

[Nanjirou Soku]

Soku was doing her rounds around the city, the excited buzz of the crowd filling her ears. Activity here had certainly increased as the final rounds of the tournament approached. She walked past looking up at the signs in search of some cafe. Her stomach was grumbling and she was getting of tired of doing all this walking, she felt like one of those foot grunts who roamed the streets patroling for seemingly no purpose as far as she could tell. Her garb consisted of her standard ANBU uniform and mask and her hair usually in a bun when in uniform fell down to her shoulders today. She stopped outside a cafe looking up at the sign before nodding satsified with her choice. The door swung open and she stepped inside glancing around, her Sharingan taking in all who were present. A few patrons, the employess and a young girl who seemed to be rather interested in her sandwich and tea at the moment, it seemed.Odd place for one to go unsupervised.The Captain thought to herself.

She walked up next to the kid nodding a greeting as she slid a few coins across to the chef."A water and a ramen stew, freshly cooked."She said in almost a bored tone. She was tired and bored, all this walking around had drained her of her energy. She just wanted this tournament to be over already so she could go home and just sleep away her worries. For now though, such thoughts were dreams. She turned a curious eye to the girl besides her. Might as well make converstation, the Santaru thought to herself. It would help alleivate the boredom."Greetings. Hope you dont mind me taking this spot."She said politely to the girl. She was an interesting one, her eyes were red too. For a moment, she reminded her of her brother, Ziren and at that, her eyes began to well up. He had left not too long ago on some sort of personal misson unsure if he was to return. She pushed the thought to the side and focused on the person at hand.

 

[Chigokai Yuna]

The girl was a bit surprised that an older woman came and sat down next to her, and ordered some food. Admittedly, her canteen started to shake only a little bit, due to her surprise the sand shifting around, reacting to her emotions. Ninura took a deep breath to calm down. And thankfully, the sand in her canteen did too.

The woman, in question, wore clothing similar to an ANBU. In fact... Maybe she is? Ninura wouldn't be able to know the exact truth. All that was running through her mind now is what her mother had told her. Be on her best behavior, because she is representing Cloud.

The woman, she knows from the voice, then asked, or said, hoping she won't mind if the woman sat by her. "H-hi. Go right ahead Miss." She took a small bite out of her sandwich, straighting her back up, almost acting like a stiff board, trying her best not to act like a fool in front of all of the other people representing their own lands.

"Are you ANBU? I've thought about joining the ANBU of my own country." Ninura just said suddenly out of nowhere. Her cheeks turned red, as she realized what she just said, she looked at her bags of leaves, full of different colors, which h sat on the table.

"I'm sorry. I-I'm Ninura. Sunaku Ninura. Of Cloud." In her head she is screaming at herself. And the sand in the canteen is reacting to her little inside conflict, the canteen slightly shaking, only a small bit. The young Sunaku took another deep breath to calm herself down, the sand slowing down to a stop inside of her canteen.

 

[Midori Futotta]

The rogue skipped happily through tea country with his cape flowing behind him, he's been pretty busy with the critter hunting back in Kumo and teaching Maikeru some techniques of his. Tea country was great, not only was the place was where he won and took a lot of money from but the girls here were just… wow. Plus this was the place where he met his lovely Kaori and his favorite student Maikeru which was a bonus. Since he got kicked out of one place for making a dynamic entry through a window and another place for pulling a prank by pretending to rob the place he found a café where he would normally pick up girls. Strolling inside to see about getting him something to eat before heading off to stadium to see the big fight.

Maru was dressed in his usual classy attire which almost look to be English. He could be mostly seen in his white long sleeve shirt which was covered by a black vest and he also wore a navy blue cape for dramatic entries. He also wears stretchable white slacks for easy movement if he ever had to run along with black boots that had hidden storage chamber inside of the heel so he could store small items in. Like always, Maru has on a black masquerade mask that is trimmed in gold on almost all the times. He was about to head to flirt with a cute waitress when someone else caught his eye, it wasn't the little girl but the cute brown haired ANBU woman who was sitting with the girl. His cheeks turned pink, it was almost as if he knew the girl for a long time. Like meeting a past life lover if that made sense…

Slicking his long hair back, then pulling out spray mint from underneath his mask to spray mint in his mouth. He strutted his way over to non other than Soku Santaru! Doing a dramatic slide with his back turned from the Anbu captain, the rogue looked over his shoulder to lay some good ol’ Maru charm on the Santaru. “Hey babe, you know I've been in a lotta Genjustu before…” he spun around with a dramatic twirl of his cape, getting on one knee to make a red rose appear in his hand. Holding the rose out to Soku with one hand while clutching his chest with the other. “But you just maybe the girl of my dreams! Yamamoto Yamaru. But I go by my awesome title of</B></COLOR><COLOR color="#BF00FF"><B> Maru, Princess of Heart, Protector of Light!<i></i>Can I get your name beautiful?”</SIZE><SIZE size="85">he winked at the Anbu Captain, clearly having no clue who she was. It was almost like he met the girl for the first time.

 

[Nanjirou Soku]

She looked down at the girl next to her as her order came and simply laughed at her inquiry. She fell silent for a moment stirring the contents of her ramen before answering."Now, surely you don't think an ANBU will willingly reveal themselves out in the open like this, do you?"She said gesturing around the open area."My uniform should be hint enough to you what branch I serve in."She said her eyes twinkling before dropping her voice to a low whisper so only the two could here. After all, in this country famous for its tourists, there were always unwanted ears snooping around."Santaru Soku."She simply said giving no indication to her rank or unit. Upon receiving the other's name, she tilted her head in curosity."Sunaku, huh."She mused thoughtfully and she was from Cloud. Now, that was an interesting turn of events."How is it in Cloud?"She asked curiously. She recalled a trip on Nibachi had traveled to Cloud but had been rejected fairly quickly due to lack of documentation. The fool, she thought shaking her head to and fro. He really was a handful at times. Suddenly, a voice interuppted their converstation and she tilted her head to look at the newcomer and almost she wished she had not when he announced his name.

She glanced down at the red rose and back at the joker with all his getup. She looked back at the chef and smiled sweetly."Here's 5 coins for all the damage that is about to occur within your buisness."She said sliding across some coins before shooting a glance to the Sunaku."If you wish to be unharmed, I would suggest standing behind me."As the newcomers name reached her ears, Soku blinked a few times before her expression turned from one of shock to a dead,cold, look brushing the hair out of her eyes to reveal her Sharingan. He was very different if this was indeed Maru, THE Maru she remembered from so long ago."Correct me if I am mistaken but you are the very same rascal who who were exiled from Konoha for very justifed reasons and I find you here? Secondly, last time I checked, your surname was not Yamamato, it was Dokuso Maru."She said her hands twitching towards her blade. She glared at the red rose flicking her free hand at sending a lightning bolt at it."Right, first things first. Give me one reason not to beat your sorry butt and drag you back to whatever poor village has presumably took you in judging from your surname so I can tell them to punish you for disturbing the peace."She said smiling coldly. Soku had barely remembered the guy. It had been that long but here was the devil before them. Some demons just stay with you. She thought unable to comprehend this dude was still living.

 

[Chigokai Yuna]

Their conversation was going swimmingly. The girl was a little bit surprised when the older woman confirmed what she thought. Even moreso, introducing herself, giving her name to her, in an almost inaudible whisper.

Though, she, just about everyone else that Ninura has met, has about the same reaction when she talked about her bloodline and where she hails from. Surprise. And then she asked how was it in Cloud. "It's nice there. A bit cold for me, even though I was born and raised there. But it hasn't been the same since I lost my father." Her voice trailed off, on coming to talk about her father. Thoughts ran through her head about him all the time. He had died in an accident, or so she was told. The real reason as why she was here in Tea, was to get away from some people who have been following her around, saying they are protecting her. That they knew her father. But then again, they never really introduced who they ever were.

Her thoughts were interrupted when a man, donning a theatre mask slid by in front of Soku, trying to do some kind of corny joke. He introduced himself as Yamamoto Maru, Princess of Heart Protector of Light? The little girl scratched her head at this, mainly confused with the title, but the woman seemed more shocked with some type of anger in her voice.

Instinctively, sand popped out of her canteen. But it seemed to mirror her expression. Part of the sand formed a small kind of barrier in front of the Sunaku, while the rest kind of floated around her. "Shouldn't it be Prince of Heart? You are a boy. Or are you one of those people who think they feel different? Like a girl? Because if you're a girl, then you should be Mara princess of Heart." The girl was trying to get her head wrapped around this, as she knows some people don't like it if you call them one thing, or whatnot.

The girl was more curious than nervous about this new person.

Spoiler

This is just an ic reaction to what was previously said. If anyone has any problems with it, oocly, you can pm me about it and I'll remove it. My name on discord is Sunaku Ninura (aka Ziren) or actual username "the Author" if you want to pm me about this. I certainly don't mean to offend anyone (and certainly not Maru, bud), as it is not my cause, just want this to be fun and unique.

 

[Midori Futotta]

‘Hm?’ At first the rogue was confused with the surname, then he came to the realization that the woman knew his other name which made him chuckle. “Surname not Yamamoto? Dokuso Maru? You know I remember having a name like that but my clan head told me that my name is Yamamoto Yamaru. But I was given my freedom from leaf if that's what ya mean.” After that, the woman started to go for her blade then he slightly frowned. He already been shot at by a pretty woman who he tired flirting with back in cloud, what was with women and trying to hurt him. “Okay, good reasons to why you shouldn't beat me up. First: Why do you have to do all that when you're way stronger than I am? That is bullying and no one likes a bully. Two: All I was trying to do was show my unyielding love to you so how would I get into trouble. And Three: because I'm a good looking princess.” He finished before her small friend correct him on the princess part.

He thought about what the girl said for a moment, he didn't exactly know where she was going with that but if it was because he was a boy the reason that he couldn't be a princess then the little girl was in for a shocker. “Well… technically I would consider myself as being both boy and girl. This new special justu allows me to take the form of a cute blonde with awesome powers. It isn't a transformation justu.. Well it is but it's more like a fusion or something that let's me turn into real girl without it proofing. So I can be a princess if I want.” it was hard explaining that one of his special abilities was to allow himself to bend his gender to get some of the powers and abilities that his signature weapon has. Besides he's been calling himself a princess because of some bet he had with someone in leaf. The bet was that he would call himself Maru Princess of heart protector of light if… he quirked his eyebrows in confusion. He couldn't for the life of him know what was the bet about, all he knew was that he lost so he was paying for it.

He held his hands up, waving them around so the woman wouldn't be so uptight. “Common I'm unarmed. How about I pay for your food sweetie. Pretty please? With lots of sugar on top.” He gave her a pouty face, usually that works for kids when their mother's are made at them so why wouldn't it work for him. He was cute and Young enough.

 

[Nanjirou Soku]

She stared at him, her hand clenching and unclenching. The fact that he had the nerve to stand in front of her and act all causal and stuff after the history she had with him was aggravating enough in it's own sense. She explained the situation to the young Sunaku whom she assumed would be confused at the entire situation."This is Maru, Dokuso Maru or Yamamato Maru, whichever you prefer, the dude's changed names so many times as well as his..features."She said eyeing the joker. If he had not identified himself, she probably would not have even known who he was, why every time she came into Tea, trouble was brewing?"Anyways, he is a former Leaf shinobi and ANBU disgraced thrice over for his dangerous and reckless actions and from what I hear it, our Hokage Uchiha Takeshi exiled him from the village after it became too much ordering him never to return on pain of death so I must admit, I am a bit surprsied he is still walking and talking on this earth."Her eyebrow shot up at his offer to pay, the nerve of the man and his advances."Ok, first of all, your flirting and pick-up lines are terrible so stop trying and for the record, I am currently associated with a very charming young man known as Uchiha Hoheto, I trust you remember him, yes?"

"Fine, pay for the damn food but at the first hint of trouble, I am going to send you back to your village in fifteen seperate pieces, what village has took you in by the way?"She asked sharply ignoring the annoyed looks from the patrons. She could not believe it, she was sitting down and having a decent civilized converstation with Dokuso Maru, what was the world coming to? She shook her head, wait until the others learnt about this, they would probably laugh at her dismissing the thought, no way Maru could be still living, they would say."Who was your father?"She asked the girl kindly noting her hesitation. A thought came to her head but she shook her head, that was impossible."I see you have the ability to manipulate sand, that is a rare trait for a shinobi of the Lightning Country. Usually, this is a trait found among Sunan shinobi. It is useful however as our villages hold a very close treaty with each other."She said.

 

[Chigokai Yuna]

Hm... Dokuso Maru, Yamamoto Maru. Sounds pretty funny. But maybe funny in a bad way? From what she is hearing, the Leaf's Hokage kicked him out of Leaf.

The man, offered to pay for Soku's meal, in which, she kind of reluctantly let him. Maybe this Maru guy might be different than who he used to be? Her stomach grumbled, she reached out to her sandwich, to realize that she already ate it.

"Um... Princess Maru... Can you pay for another sandwich for me please?" Ninura asked hesitantly. Him talking about considering himself both a boy and a girl somehow made sense in a way. In a way of be who you want to be as long as it doesn't hurt anyone type of way.

Sand swirled and formed a little tiara which then floated and set itself in top of the little Sunaku's head. "I'm just Princess Ninura. I only think of myself as a girl, since I already have two brothers."

Then the ANBU woman asked her who her father was. "Kogano Brodu was his name. He was a businessman. He... Died in an accident. But..." She hesitated a small bit. "After his death, strange men have followed me around Cloud, saying they knew him. They also say they are with me to protect me, but I don't want them around to constantly remind me that my father is dead."

Then Soku noted her having the ability to manipulate sand. "Only me and my mother are Sunaku in Cloud. I was born here, but Mom never talks about if she came from Cloud or Sand. I never asked her." Ninura started to play with her sand tiara.

 

[Midori Futotta]

Although the Anbu seemed mean, she seemed to calm herself. First she scolded him for flirting with her because they were terrible and she was involved with a guy named Uchiha Hoheto then acted as if he actually met the person. Maru quirked his eyebrows trying to remember if he actually been with the woman before he flirted with a lot of women on his adventure around the world but he doesn't remember this woman at all. “Uhhh sorry, I don't know who that even is. I mean I know two Uchiha's but one is dead and the other is a rather great student of mine. Uchiha Maikeru to be exact.” He said, seriously having no clue of what or who she was talking about. But she DID say that he could pay for her food and he kicked one leg up then celebrated before she gave him that if he caused any trouble she would drag him back into the village in pieces and Maru broke in a cold sweat at the thought of being sent back in fifteen pieces. “Uhh… sure… no trouble from me.” He said meekly then looked at the girl who wanted him to pay for her food too then he shrugged. “Sure why not.” he said. He was amazed to see that the little girl too was a magical princess too, who else could manipulate sand to turn into a beautiful tiara other than a magical princess. He was half tempted to show his awesome transformation but he didn't want to out stage the girl with his beautiful girl form.

Maru kindly went into his mask to pull out a small bag of Yen that he didn't even count to give to tell chief figuring that would cover the cost. He was pretty bad at math and threw money away easy, he just shrugged then told the chief to keep the change which they were more than happy to do. He was slightly sad to hear that her father who he assumed was the king died in a accident with some men following her around but then he was relieved when what he heard sounded like bodyguards just doing their job. It was her and her Queen mother in cloud, the rogue wondered if her mother was single but then his hair shot up when realizing that he didn't tell his beautiful lady friend where he was staying at. “Well I been around a lot, mostly been hanging in lighting country to handle this monster problem that they have. Thought about if I get bored with that I'd head off to a new country or just become a Shinobi there.” His cheeks turned pink, then he tapped both of his fingers together from the other reason as to why he was staying in lighting country then chuckled before shaking his head of the thought.

He sat next to Soku, getting as close to her as could to practically lean on, still not getting the message that she was happily taken. “Soooooooo…. What's your story beautiful? Got anything you do for fun or are you one of those people who busy most of the time. I gotta say, it's something about your cold stare that hypnotizes me.” He said batting his eyes from underneath his mask. “Oh, you still hadn't told me your name sugar. Or am I gonna have to work for your name?”

 

[Nanjirou Soku]

She poked the seemingly now dubbed Yamamato Maru lightly with the hilt of her sword shooting a glare at him. The shopowner clearly nowhere too keen to be close to this fiasco gathered up the coins and scurried away before he too became a victim."Too..close...you..joker."She said through gritted teeth her eyebrow raising up at his mention of the Lightning Country. A monster? What was he ranting on about. Since when did Maru ever find it in his heart to aid shinobi villages? Last time she was aware, he had been shunned from his own village for doing the exact opposite. What exactly had happened to him? Instead of growing more angry, she found herself curious but at the same time, a part of her wanted to send him packing back to Kumo from where he had come, she assumed. It was the only major village in the Lightning Country as far as she knew so he must be from there."Santaru Soku, of the Hidden Leaf Village as you should know."She said slowly eyeing the man. Surely, he remembered her? He had to be joking. She took another swig of her ramen feeling the taste in her mouth as the Sunaku began to speak about her father. Soku nodded trying to pay attention while wondering what the hell was wrong with this joker. Her head suddenly snapped to the both of them."Strange men,,you say? You know, my story is not too different from yours. My parents were taken from me at a young age and well, when I found the person responsible, that is how I got this. It is a long story."She added gesturing to her Sharingan.

The Captain went on to point a finger at Maru."You helped, I remember. My house was burnt down by men seeking to kidnap me for some horrid purpose and you and my bro-.."She stopped not wanting to finish the word as Ziren popped into her mind. Ziren...that smiling Chigokai...off to Water Country he had gone with a slim chance of returning. She missed him...missed him so damn bad but this was not the time to break down...though it was hard. She rephrased her sentence."You and someone else found me after this incident..Lord Uchiha Takeshi arrived as well and he ordered you to serve as my protector for some time though I guess you don't remember that."She murmured. She finished her ramen bowl and stared at the empty contents before shaking her head."I've never really been to Cloud or to the Sand though one of my close relatives has,Santaru Nibachi, I hear the village is quite prosperous in a sense."She said smiling."Though this is the first time I have heard of a rampant monster in those lands, do tell me more."She added looking at the two.

 

[Chigokai Yuna]

Ninura was kind of glad the princess guy had agreed to buy her another sandwich. The chef brought out her sandwich, in which she happily started to eat. The Sunaku wasn't really paying much attention to the conversation until Soku talked about how her own story is close to the Sunaku's. From what she understands, the woman lost both of her parents at a young age, and pointed to her eyes, which turned red, they were pretty eyes, but something about them were off. And that's when the girl realized, those are the Sharingan eyes, from the Uchiha. Didn't the woman say she was a Santaru? Strange men took her and gave her Uchiha eyes?

She cocked her head when the woman talking about Maru and some Bro person, in which she changed to say another person. Ninura scooted closer to Soku and gave her a hug. It was quick and surprising, even to her, as she didn't expect herself to do that.the little girl rested her head on the woman's shoulder. It was weird. This woman, isn't her mother, and yet, here she is, bundled up next to her like she is. Maybe... She remembered her mother talking about her aunt's in Sand. Ninura didn't really understand how a family works, as she thinks distant relatives just live in different countries.

Can I call you Aunt Soku?" Ninura asked. And then she pointed at Maru. "And you can be Funny Princess Brother."

And then Princess Maru started to talk about a monster in Lightning Country. "A monster in Lightning Country? Cloud is Lightning Country. Is it big, bad, and ugly? Did you smack it and tell it to be nice?"

And then the woman said it was the first time she heard if a monster there. Ninura responded with a shrug of the shoulders and looked up at Soku.

 

[Midori Futotta]

“Whoops!” He said sitting straight up so he wasn't leaned on the woman too much before she got violent. But she was at least nice enough to at least give him her name, Santaru Soku. “Ooooo A Santaru. You know I met a dude around here who is a Santaru, a nice charming fellow with a huge spear. Any relation?” He asked. Truth be told it was kinda weird that the girl expected him to know her, maybe she was some big shot at the village or some teacher he disrespected but at least she wasn't beating him up. He would probably know who she was when if he got to know her a bit better because apparently back in leaf he was her protector. About…. a long time ago, poor Soku's home burnt down where the handsome rogue occupied by someone else found her and the Hokage arrived e ordered Maru to protect the girl because men were after her. He held his head, kinda remembering something like that and also remembered that when he came in he wasn't that knight in shining armor like he thought. When he found the girl sleeping out in the forest he kicked her to wake her up then yelled at her to leave.

'Yeesh, no wonder why she didn't like me.’ he thought to himself. He also heard from a kitsune that he was some kind of demon puppet that bit her to give her a curse mark and Umashi had scolded him about that on more than one occasion but honestly he didn't remember half the stuff he did while back in leaf. “Ehhhhh… I kinda recall something like that. Sorry if I'm slow at remembering stuff. You see with all the mental damage, brain trauma, learnings about genjustu, and sacrificing some intelligence to a spirit that lives inside my weapon I guess you can say I got some mean memory loss among other things.” He admitted. Honestly since his he got his signature weapon the rogue has been getting more and more forgetful of things regarding leaf. Like, he could remember all the things he's done when after he left the village, like he remembers a mean sennin telling him if he had any last words before he left the village and never returned but that's was the only thing he could recall about leaf other than the event that Soku explained. Not to mention how she spoke of Takeshi because he seemed a hundred times different, she was telling him that he helped her while another woman was claiming that he stabbed her and made her husband cut off his arm for some sick loyalty test. Surely this wasn't the same Takeshi that they were talking about back in the Raikage's office.

He shook his head at the thought. “Wait y'all don't know about the weird critters in cloud?” he said, seemingly shocked that they didn't know and then chuckled at the little girl's statement. “Yup, a lot of em I seen are either in the forest inside of the village or hanging around the outer village. And yus the recent one I beat was big, bad, and U-G-L-Y! Apparently there are some medical nins creating monsters that end up escaping, I'm guessing they are some kind of stitchers because the things I saw looked like something out of a horror movie.” He said beginning to pay himself to find the drawing that he did of the critter that he recently fought with another Kumo shinobi. When he found it he showed it to the two ladies before him. “Behold the critter!”

The Critter​

 

[Nanjirou Soku]

She smiled down at the girl as she thought for a bit. She sort of got the vibe this girl sort of looked up to her, something the Santaru was not really used to. Sure, she had her own role models that she took after and but she never really had the pleasure of taking someone under her tutelage, though the aunt portion made her feel old. She shrugged, what harm was there. From what she could tell, the Sunaku would need a lot of guidance throughout her life and if the Captain could fill that role, she would be more than happy to. Despite serving in such a unit made up of such dark and dreary duties, it seemed the female had a kind heart after all. She raised a hand placing it on the young girl's shoulder smiling at her."You may if that is what you desire.I do not know what power is within me to guide you but I ensure you I will help you overcome your demons as I did, our tales are not that different."She said her eyes glinting. Her eyebrow shot up as Maru began to ramble about her surname speaking about a man with a spear and she spoke over knowing full well who he was talking about. There was only one man he could be talking about."You are referring to none other than Santaru Nibachi, my elder cousin and also my personal guard, he helps me lead the Santaru clan chapter in the Hidden Leaf. He is also dangerously good with that spear of his though his temper can be a bit jumpy at times. "She said as a afterstatement.

The Captain glanced down at the parchment that was thrust at them. This was the critter? She nearly recoiled in horror. She had seen many things in her life but this..this thing...was it even human?"What on earth is that abonomation? It looks like a mix between man and some....creature. How did that even come into existence?"She asked shaking her head. It was amazing what things roamed this earth yet they knew so little. It looked terrifying in a sense and she could imagine the faces of the Kumo-shinobi as it beared down on them."Is that the only one...or is there like...a bunch?"She asked not really wanting to know the answer.I thought the Hidden Frost was enough but this..now this is new.She strongly considered the prospect of rendering aid but dismissed the thought as swiftly as it had come. The village had enough to deal with and that was where she was needed unless of course, this mosnter somehow came knocking which seemed highly unlikely, the Hidden Cloud had a superior military force and strong defenses from what she heard."More important question, who's winning?"She asked ignoring another patron who appeared to be peering curiously at the document as well.

 

[Chigokai Yuna]

Ninura smiled back at Soku and gave her another quick hug. "Yay! Aunt Soku!" The Sunaku grew silent as Soku and Princess Maru were talking. About a relative he had met that Soku knows about. A Nibachi. Who had a spear. That was kind of cool. Though Ninura doesn't like the up close and personal fights, more like keep space while she fights.

As the princess guy brought out the picture of the so-called critter, Ninura focused on it for a bit. While they were talking, she picked the piece of paper up. She didn't exactly know if this was "horror movie" material, as princess Maru would put it. She's seen some of these so called horror movies with her dad, on a specific day he called, "Fright Night", where they would watch as much scary movies as possible.

"It is ugly." Ninura confirming what Maru had said. "With a big U-G-L-Y. Let me have a round at it! It won't make it ten seconds against me!" Ninura said, punching nothing but air, her sand reacting and coming out of the canteen, forming around her fist.

Luckily, she realized what happened, before she could accidentally spray sand everywhere. Willing the sand back into the canteen, she looked back at her sandwich, inspecting it. "No sand in the sandwich. All good!" She happily reported to both Soku and Maru

 

[Midori Futotta]

He smirked, that is usually the first reaction when people see this critter but the picture was nothing compared to seeing the thing in person. Although the woman was curious of how such a critter existed so the rouge answered with the information he got from the locals. “Well, apparently there is some kind of stitcher who is experimenting with the dead shinobi so I'm guessing this guy pulled a Dr Frankenstein and gathered as many dead shinobi as possible so he could make these critters. So I guess you can blame the medics for allowing the thing to escape.” He explained, Soku being curious as she was brought more questions to him in which he was happy to answer. “Well of course there are more than one, they aren't exactly like this critter we have here but there are other critters like the ones who show up at the winter and if you look at them…. Bam! You're ice! Not to mention all kinds of weird low level creatures like a giant flights of stairs that would chase you out of the forest.” There were a bunch strange thing that the rouge had seen, he told about the tentacle haired girl who he believed to be an alien but was a actual shinobi of cloud. The woman who seemingly was the queen of the monsters that tried to enter the gates. The tree monsters that were slain in the heartlands, if it was supernatural he seen it. Honestly he thought about making a critter encyclopedia so people who visit would know of the crazy things that are lurking within lighting country whenever he had the time.

“As for now it looks like we are winning, we are doing pretty good at keeping critter existence a secret but when they end up coming up to the gates people start getting… curious.” He said then the little girl seemingly was interested in hunting down the critters and he chuckled a bit. There low level monsters out there so perhaps they can go on a critter hunting adventure since he knew the hotspots for critter activity. “Well, I guess there are monsters weak enough to let you come along. There's these things that live on the mountains that have a strong bite but are scared of nets so if you can shaped sand into a net I guess you'll be safe.” The rogue chuckled. He wished all the monsters he fought were that easy to deal with, he flaps a next at these pale mountain creatures and they are literally flopping around on their backs screaming like a lunatic. It might be just because he was mean but he usually dies laughing when he meets one of these things and makes a point to mess with them whenever he could.

But besides the monsters and mysteries he's been chasing was nothing compared to what was going on in Konoha. He heard from one of the refugees that Leaf was going through some kind of war, about how the hokage was treating children and whatnot but of course now was the time to figure out if the stuff that the woman was saying was true. After all she was a high rank. “Speaking in which I heard Konoha was going through some kind of war. Namely this whole freeze-frost or whatever village who is picking on Konoha attacking the village.” He paused, although Frost was a interesting topic the real interesting part was about the Hokage himself who was being accused by Umashi of crimes against humanity. “And also someone is telling that the Hokage had this guy named Ziren cut off his own arm to prove his loyalty, and this was before he stabbed his wife then threaten to take her eyes if he didn't follow through with cutting his own arm off and these are just one of the things that the Hokage is being accused of doing. Have you ever been wronged by leaf council or can confirm this story?” He asked, leaning in putting his arm around Soku's shoulder. “I mean we had people lie about Konoha in the past, so if you could tell me anything that would be great sugar….. We wouldn't like prosecuting a innocent guy much less the leader of the the man who leading a country with some good looking women."

 

[Nanjirou Soku]

She smiled at the girl ruffling her hair in a sort of affectionate manner."You remind me a lot of my sister, Uchiha Asuka...but unlike you, she has a tendency to pull certain...antics."Soku said meaningfully recalling the last time Asuka had glitter-bombed her clan compound. That had been quite an spectactle but the outcame was a pleasing one to her. She raised an eyebrow as Maru went on describing the horrid monster herd and the abilites it had."It can turn people to ice...like literal ice? You sure it;'s not some sort of mutated yeti monster or something?"She said jokingly. She was beginning to actually have a civil converstation with the former puppet master, something she would not have thought possible 5 or so years ago, perhaps he had indeed changed but of course, she could also be wrong. Her mood instantly changed as the man draped an arm around her shoulder. She smiled pleasantly at him as there was a swish of steel on leather and gripping her Storm Blade with a free hand, she directed the moment so the blade rested on top of Maru's fingers ready to cut at a moment's notice."I don't think you got the message last time so let me break it down to you dummy style. Do..not...touch...me in any form or fashion if you value your limbs and life...I mean what I say."She said, the blade sparking dangerously as it sent out small volts of electricity. In truth, she did not want to start a conflict in such a public place and in front of a child who probably had never been in combat in her life but Maru was starting to get a bit pesky, she wasn't sure if he was doing this on purpose or was just simply unaware, either way, she was giving him one last chance before he became a handless shinobi.

Of course, than he had to go and ask that one question. It her like a brick wall. He knew about the Hidden Frost.? But how..news of the attack should not have traveled so far yet. He went on to speak of Takeshi and how he had apparently commited horrendous crimes and that is when he brought up the name..Ziren..the brother she had not seen for a long time. Her Sharingan flashed dangerously for a second glowing red for a brief moment as she turned away. She spoke but when she spoke this time, it was in a sharp,cold tone that dictacted no debate."The Hidden Frost is indeed active in the Fire Country and is commiting dangerous acts of war against the Hidden Leaf, as for your assumptions about the Yondaime Hokage Uchiha Takeshia-sama, I will neither confirm nor deny these facts."She said falling silent. It wasn't that she wasn't willing to talk about it, the fact that Ziren had been brought up just irked her and she had no wish to continue that path of discussion. She suddenly stood up knocking her chair over as she stood up."If you'll excuse me, I have other matters to attend do."She said glancing at the door and back at the duo her eyes falling on the girl."You may accompany me if you wish."She said to the Sunaku before striding towards the cafe exit leaving a couple of yen on the table for the shop-owner and a couple extra for Maru to spend on whatever he wanted.
[Topic left unless stopped]

 

[Midori Futotta]

He chuckled nervously, then he slowly slid his arm from round Soku who seemingly really hated to be touched. “Uhhhh my bad.” the rogue deciding not to test the girl any further, he decided to simply answer his question but for some reason she seemed a bit down when he mention the guy named Ziren. Yeesh why couldn't girls be attracted to him like this Ziren fellow, not only he had a nice red head in cloud but a cute Konoha girl too. He didn't even know the guy and already he's taking up all the beautiful women. Solution did confirm that there was a war between Frost and Fire Country but she didn't give him confirmation on this lady's story. Well she couldn't exactly deny it either so maybe she was dodging the question? He didn't want to ask anymore but it seemed the whole mentioning Ziren kinda rubbed her off the wrong way and she ended up shutting down making the rogue feel bad. “Sorry about that, it was stupid. I'm just trying to prove it your leader is innocent is all.” He waved his hands apologetically but it was no good she began to leave and he didn't even know what he did to upset her enough to leave.

“But hold on. I mean the finals are starting soon how about…..” and she left leaving some yen for the shop owner then a couple extra yen for him. Well it might not be exactly what he wanted but she did leave him some yen so she couldn't be that upset with him could she? He looked at the girl then pointed at the door as Soku left. “This is the second time some girl walked out on me upset for some reason I don't know.” He said scooping up the yen that Soku left behind for him. “But at least she didn't slap me and just left me yen though still feel bad.” He explained. The rogue was thinking of a way to make it up to her if he saw her again around here or somewhere else then he came up with the perfect idea. Get a boombox, play some sad music, cry, then apologize! It kinda worked on Kaori so it might would work in this situation, the rogue shot up then looked over at the small Kumo shinobi again. “Anyway I'm gonna try to catch up with her and beg for forgiveness. She couldn't have gotten that far so wish me luck.” Maru nodded, closing his eyes then cleared his throat, as soon as he opened his eyes his face scrunched up looking really sad, beginning to tear up.

He sniffled, then when he finally turned on the crocodile tears he made a dash for the door as he wept.“SOOOOOOKKKKUUUUUUUUUUUUUI-I-IM SOOOOOOORRY!”his voice could still be heard as he made his way outside, trying to catch up with the woman before she left for good.

[Left Topic]

 

[Chigokai Yuna]

Hearing what the latest Hokage made Ninura tense up. And hearing what happened to this Ziren person sounds kind of horrifying. But... Soku, it seemed, was affected mostly by what was said. She watched the Santaru storm off, wrods tried to come out of the little Sunaku, but nothing really came out.

The monster hunter princess known as Maru made it look like he was crying, and then chased down Soku to say that he is sorry. The little girl wanted to move, but hearing all that has happened kind of paralyzed her. It wasn't until a full minute has passed, that she finally got up and went on her way.

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