Mission Forget Me Not

[Sato Daigo]

Koichi offered to escort young Izanami to the station to disembark on her mission to the outer villages. She traveled across the country for about an hour before stopping at the first connecting station. The police station could be seen immediately after the train stopped. It was a rather mundane station dressed in conventional beige concrete with tab of bit of blue from the windows and sign. The front entrance was covered in green shrubbery and weeds followed by small trees.

Once she entered the building she would see an array of desks filled with men and women in traditional blue and white police garb. Some could be seen taking phone calls and others shuffle papers for missing documents. None of them seemed to pay any attention to the woman with multiple appendages walk into the building, except for the receptionist behind the front desk. The reception was a young woman dressed in a red polka dot dress with red banana that wrapped her bright brown hair. She wore a comforting smile as she welcomed Izanami.

"Good afternoon, do you have an appointment?" She inquired as she shifted to the side to reach for a notebook. Her voice had a strong country vibe like one of those country bumpkins you would hear in the paper.

"Oh wait I think I know." As she quickly observed the striking school uniform that she is wearing. "I think you are one of those fancy pants ninjas that Kenzo was talking about. Who else would wear a bright school uniform like that in this part of time."

"Hey Kenzo!" She hollered behind the desk. "I think your ninja is here to see you"

A young man dressed in a navy blue trench coat emerged from one of the many desks. "Yes..." He said as he trailed off. He looked like he was just got out of bed. It took him a minute before he realized what was going on.

"Oh are you the one from Kumogakure?" He asked.

 

[Yume Izanami]

Izanami thanked Koichi for escorting her to the station. Though, it was more out of courtesy than anything, really. She didn't really know what was going through his mind. Did he think of her as a weak school girl? Did the way she dress actually give that type of appearance? She shook the thought out of her head as she boarded the train. The train ride itself was boring. About an hour long ride, so she decided to take a quick nap to pass the time.

Aaaannnndddd she had a dream. Or more like a nightmare. She saw the abandoned mansion where she fought a lycan and lost almost all of her limbs. But this time, the monster immediately lunged for her throat. Waking up, startled as the train came to a stop, Izanami rubbed her eyes and looked out the window. Seems like she was already here. Walking into the police statoin, it seemed like everyone was too busy to notice her with the exception of the receptionist.

She asked Izanami if she had an appointment, and before the girl could respond, she answered her own question, calling Izanami a ninja. The girl instinctively gritted her teeth, not really wanting to be called a ninja, but she swallowed down her pride and waited for the scene to play out. Eventually, a man came over and asked if she was from Kumogakure.

"Yes I am. Yume Izanami. I guess you can say I'm part cyborg" She said to brush off the fact that she was called a ninja, hoping that she would either be reffered to by her real name or cyborg girl.

 

[Sato Daigo]

"It is a pleasure to meet you Izanami-san" Kenzo said with a terse bow. He wanted to show a level of respect with the mysterious shinobi of the Lightning country. He had heard rumors of their astounding abilities. From their abnormal capabilities of retaining their youth to their destructive powers of calming nature itself. It all felt....magical. Well, perhaps not as much now given the recent turn of events. Kenzo had many sleep less night as could been seen by his heavy brown eyes.

He covered his mouth as he attempted to hide a loud yawn. "Sorry it has been a long week. Please come to my office." He said with a terse grin as he pointed a finger toward of the many empty desks behind the receptionist. There was not enough space to really have private offices. Everyone was basically squished into one building like a pack of sardines. Kenzo was rather young probably around his mid-20s so he did not mind the lack of real estate.

"You said you're a cyborg. I am sure those mechanical arms come in handy. I would like an additional pair of hands right now." He said jokingly as he tried to ease her. He point toward a seat in front him as he as he sat down in front of his desk. The iridescent glow of his chunky computer monitor shined on his face. Izanami would clearly see the fatigue in his eyes. It was as if the man hadn't sleep in days.

My partner has seemingly disappeared ever since we retrieved an book we found after investigating a report about a missing child. It is hard to explain but we spoke with a family who initially gave out the report about their daughter disappearing. Evidently they did not inform us that the daughter was actually a boy.

Kenzo paused as he shifted his hands towards a sealed manila envelope on his desk. He broke the seal and pull out a few documents and some photographs. The photos were pictures of an middle-age man, middle-age woman and a dark skinned boy, probably in his early teens. There was hardly any resemblance to the boy and the adults. The boy held a cheshmire smile on his countenance paired with bright yellow-orange eyes like the summer moon.

"This is the boy that we interviewed." He said pointing to the boy. "...and his parents" Then to the man and woman. It was clear that they from anyone that they were not related. He continued.

"There was some rather off about him. As if he was not actually a real boy but a manufactured product. I don't know if there are door-to-door salesman where you are from but that is the vibe I was getting from him: a smile with no substance."

"The boy calls himself Lee. They all do." Kenzo said as he began to rub his temples. He felt strange identifying the boy in third person but after what had happened with Aoi. "My partner, Aoi was the person in possession of the journal. I am sure you were brief about the journal. This journal....I don't even know if I can call it that."

Izanami could tell that each word that left his mouth continue to drain him. "He felt like he needed to read the book more and more. As if the book itself was alive beckoning to read it. It felt alive. He behavior change day by day. More akin to a child that he had to take some time off to get himself. I was worried for him so one day I went to his place and he was gone. No letter or anything. I spoke to relatives and co-workers around the station. No one knows where he went."

Kenzo paused for a brief moment again. "One day I took the train to the south side of town and I saw a young dark skin boy with a familar tattoo on his left arm. It was the same tattoo that Aio had: a small black shenlong dragon. It had to be him. What kid at that age would have a tattoo like that. I tried to reach out to him but the crowd was so thick he easily evaded me. I don't think he noticed. It has been driving me crazy."

Kenzo exhaled then cleared his throat. "Sorry I got carried away back there. I haven't really slept so I maybe a little irritable. The journal is the key to all of this. Unfortunately, the book was not in Aoi apartment. It might still be in Aoi's possession. If anything you will need to check out the school in the south side of town. It is the only school there. Find the book and destroy it if you can. At this point we are at our wits. I would like my partner is crime back too. I am sure that was alot. Do you have any questions for me?"


[OOC: Sorry for the late post. Life got in a the way lol]

 

[Yume Izanami]

Izanami followed the older gentleman into his cubical as he gave her the information surrounding the case. He had gone straight into the case, regarding the book and its connection to the family and the cop's partner. His claims further strengthen what Koichi had told her about the book and its victims. As for the partner, Aoi, seemed rather obsessive of the journal. She might not be the smartest person for something like this, but she is starting to piece together the puzzle, she hopes.

But at least the objective of her mission is clear. Find the journal and destroy it. Though... It might be nothing, but she has a feeling it will be harder than it sounds. Then she was posed with a question on if she had any questions. Thinking it through, she spoke up, "Have any of the other victims shown signs of aggression or possessiveness over this journal? Along with that, would you happen to have an idea of how this book came to be or place of origin?" The first question would be important to know. Naturally, she'll have to pull her punches to not accidentally kill these people if they want to protect the book. And even more so harder to do if the turned are under the books influence to make them want to kill. As for the second question... Now that she's heard a little about one of the victims, Aoi, about how the book seemed to call to him. What if there really is something connected to the book? Knowing about its origins might be helpful to know.

Overall, she feels like that she can destroy the book, but it now only matters the difficulty in getting to the book that she will have to plan around.

 

[Sato Daigo]

The ramblings of a tired man was halted for a brief moment as Izamami asked a question.

"Have any of the other victims shown signs of aggression or possessiveness over this journal? Along with that, would you happen to have an idea of how this book came to be or place of origin?"

"Right. It is the exact opposite. The children are very eager to have you read the journal but I wouldn't strongly advice against reading. What ever in that book transformed them into what ever they are now." Kenzo said as he sardonically mulled over his words when he mentioned children. They were not children...more like the annoying blank duplicate copies one gets when trying to print one document and end of hundreds of blank white pages.

"Do I have an idea on the origin? The only thing I know is that these incidents started popping around town about two week ago, specifically near the school district area. There is a festival that is going on right now near the school district. There are not that many festival in that area so kids would generally take the time to go and spend money, usually useless junk. Travel merchants would come by during these time to sell their items so it is possible for the book to originate from one of them..."

Kenzo paused as he shook his head. "The thing is the police district is pretty through with screening merchants, especially when there will be children around. Maybe you will have better luck investigating the area then I did."

Kenzo squinted his eyes as he checked the clock at the back. "It is midday and the festival will close soon for the day so I would suggest you catch the train to the school district. I would go with you but I have to deal with the paperwork."

Kenzo moved his hand toward a drawer on his side as he began to fish through the contents. He pulled out a blue card with an insignia matching the one on his coat. He handed her the card. "There is a policy station when you exit the train into the school district. If you need to reach me, present this card to the receptionist there. You will get a free call to this station."

"Hopefully all this ends today. Good luck."


[OOC: Close to the end of the mission. Just RP traveling to the school district and I will take it from there in the next post]

 

[Yume Izanami]

She listened intently to his answers. Firstly, at least she won't need to fight anyone, much less worry about pulling any punches to get to the journal. It would seem that they may even try and force the book into her hands, which will make her job infinitely easier to destroy it. As for the second one, she definitely feels as if there would be someone pulling the strings of the book case, hehe, get it, a case about a book... Izanami focused back on the mission. So it would seem that her ultimate goal right now is to go to the school district. That's where the book will most likely be, along with the potential person that is behind it all. She smiled to herself, for once, her usual attire will help her blend in entirely for a mission. Going to school. She fit the usual highschooler look, which she is the age, and if anything, she'll say that she's a transfer student new to the area.

She took the blue card from him and thanked him before leaving the police station and getting back on the train to head towards her next destination, the school district. She put her headphones on, but didn't turn on any music. She merely listened to her surroundings around her in case if anyone had an eye on her. As the train started to move, the girl couldn't help but wonder what the end goal for this mystery person behind it would be. The more Izanami thought about it, the more she couldn't understand the motive. With a sigh, she'll just have to destroy the book along with capturing the culprit behind it. And then, after that, she'll have answers. Hopefully.

The train finally pulled into the school district as Izanami got off and looked around, her first train of thought would be go to the festival and talk with the merchants, along with keep an eye out for Aoi's tattoo, as he was the last one with the book.

 

[Sato Daigo]

As the train came to a screeching halt, the doors slowly begin to open revealing children crying to their parents while other kids were eating their candy apples obviously coming from the festival. Walking out of the train station and turning to the right, an array of colors and bright lights fill the air. The fair is near and the excitement is settling in as Izanami's face would brighten. A quick 5 minute walk down the street and the smell of cotton candy, pumpkin and crisp cookies slowly saturate Izanami's nose: the smell of childhood memories. As the smells get stronger, and the crowd around her increases with children eagerly pulling their parents to the grand oversized entrance of the festival, Izanami finally arrives.


The view was lathered with colors of fall: a mixture of bright orange, browns and deep red. As she walked down the dirt path she would see the stalls of various merchant on her left and right like walking down a road in a forest.

​

"Fresh baked pies!!! Pecans, apples, creme pies. Try them all. Only 1 yen per slice". A man voice cried out among the crowd merchants. Izanami would smell the allure of bakes goods filling the area as she would pass by various table with pies of various sizes lined up in row filled to the brim. A young woman could be seen behind one of the table exchanging pies for coin. She held a terse smile as she gave one of the pies to a dark skinned boy. The boy smiled showing bright white teeth. He turned his head as he smiled at another boy sharing the same complexion. If Izanami walked a bit further, she would see the second boy caring what appeared to be a black notebook clutched to his chest.

 

[Yume Izanami]

Izanami would try her best to look like just a normal teenager just perusing what each vendor might have, all the while, scoping out the area to see where this fabled book might be. To her luck, she didn't have to look far. Two boys that looked similar to each other with one holding a book. As she neared them, she realized that she'll eventually have to touch the book. And to her knowledge, she doesn't know whether or not just touching the book will cause a change or if it requires reading.

However, it just so happens that she has an ace up her sleeve that she just remembered. Izanami figured that given in some combat situations, she might be caught in dire situations. She may have tinkered with her artificial left arm and legs, something that the Raikage might sucker punch her for modifying, but such is the life of a prodigy blacksmith. She put on her best act and approached the two boys. "Oh my gosh! Hi! I've never seen you two around here before." She looked at the book that one of them was carrying. "Is that a book? What's it about? Can I see?" Izanami acted like the typical extrovert talkative girl, giving the two boys little time to really comprehend what is happening. She brought up her left hand waiting to see if they give the book to her. If they do, she'll have to act fast to not be one of them, and to keep her pride safe from turning into one of them.

 

[Sato Daigo]

The two boys turned toward her in unison sharing the same large grinning smile baring pearly white teeth. The boy holding the book as he gleefully handed the book to her. "I am so happy someone wants to read my journal."

The boy present the book to Izanami with his two small hands. The book would feel heavy despite how small the book looked. It was a simple black and white composition book with the words "Journal" plastered in dark black ink on the front.

A calm breeze blew through the crowd creating an eerie effect of the notebook breathing. Izanami would feel a strange presence emanating from the book like another person beckoning her to open the book. She could not helped but be compelled to open the notebook. In an instant, a white flash exploded in her face as it blinded her. Once her vision returned she would notice that the festival had disappeared. She was introduced to a large body of water that seemed to stretch more than she can view. On the horizon there was what appeared to be the sun as it nestled within the cool blue water. She could see that she was standing on white sand that covered her feet. At a far distant, she would barely make out a figure rushing towards here. It looked like it was waving at her?


"Hello...Hello". A man's voice could be heard getting louder after each moment. Eventually, Izanami could see her self facing a tall man with dark olive skin. He looked more like an other version of the young boys that she had just met. The same white hair and dark skin. The same smile...

[OOC: I think I did the rolls right but if not please let me know lol.]

Spoiler

**Journal (Genjutsu Difficulty Roll)**: d20 + 7 + 4 => 30 Success!
**Izanami (Genjutsu Save)**: d20 + 12 + 6 => 20 Failure!

---

Agility: 175/175
Stamina: 175/175
Ninjutsu: 175/175
Genjutsu: 175/175
Taijutsu: 175/175
Chakra Control: 175/175
Power level: 1050

Journal
HP: Unknown
CP: Unknown
Class Bonus: +2 Genjutsu DC
High: Genjutus DC
Average: Dodge, Genjutsu Save
Low: Ninjutsu Accuracy, Ranged Accuracy, Melee Accuracy

---

The blacksmith prodigy
HP: (40+lvl) x stamina
CP: (40+lvl) x chakra control
Class bonus: Kin option
High: Melee acc, ranged acc
Average: Evasion, Genjutsu save
Low: Ninjutsu acc, Genjutsu DC

Izanami
Agility: 525/525
Stamina: 525/525
Ninjutsu: 390/525
Genjutsu: 300/525
Taijutsu: 525/525
Chakra Control: 410/525
Power level: 2675

 

[Yume Izanami]

Izanami cursed to herself as her body seemed to act against her own will to open the book. However, as she now found herself standing on a beach, her mind raced thinking of an out. Her thoughts settled on what Kenzo had said about his partner... What was it again? Before she could think, a voice filled the area and a man appeared in front of her. He seemed to be a more adult version of the boys. Her eyes narrowed but she decided to not attack just yet. Even if she did, she feels like that wouldn't help her out in this case, since this place might be even a material world to begin with.

"Who are you exactly? And why are you turning people into mini- you's?" She feels like this guy is the one behind it all, at least, it makes sense. As she waited for an answer, she sifted through her own mind to find an answer to one of her questions that she has kept to herself. How to get out. Kenzo's partner... His name was... Aio... What was special about Aio... He had turned like the others... but...

She winced and grabbed her left arm, "What kind of sick person makes a book that transforms people?" That's right... Aio... He had a black dragon tattoo. Something as benign as a tattoo persisting on a transformed body. Her hand gripped her left arm harder, one of her fingers sliding to the back area of the arm. Izanami may have been duped into opening the book, but she still has the smarts. And if she remembers correctly, the book was in her left hand...

If all else fails, she has the thing that Koichi had given her at the start of this mission.

 

[Sato Daigo]

"Who am I...who am I" The man said as he rubbed his temple. His eyes shifted left to right as he tried to bring his memories back to surface. Izanami may not know but this man has been trapped in this notebook for many decades unbeknownst to him as to how it happened.

Many chakra users have been known to cast illusions powerful enough to fool even the most strong willed but this was a different pedigree. The technique did not require the originator to activate or sustain the illusion rather it just need an observe to read the contents of the journal. The man who Izanami was berating was just as much of victim as she was.

"I can't really remember. I think Kazki...Jo." The man said as he even pressed his fingers against his forehead. He was clearly distressed at he tried to remember how he got here. "The last thing I remember before getting here was finding a journal that I was given to me as a gift on my birthday."

"What year is it?" He asked. The man looked like a fish out of water. His attire and mannerism felt like he was not from this time period.