Open Jump or die

[Akamine Sota]

Embedded into the mountain, just a little below the observation deck, were large boulders that served as heads of the many Hokage that had gone down in history. They were chiseled and sculpted to appear as close to the real legends as possible. But, no matter how skilled the sculptor, they weren't perfect. Not smooth nor slippery and so, to a group of kids, the heads provided a perfectl hideout that they could tread on. Safe from the public eye.

Up on one of the heads stood a small one such group. A group of five, one of which included Sota had gathered on the makeshift cliff. Four of them surrounded one, his body trembling on the ground in contrast to the rest who stood with their chins held high.

"I-I-I'm just not..... very good..... with, with.....heights," the shaky boy croaked, eyes overblown with fear.

"Who the fuck cares? Jump!" barked Sota, and the rest of his clique joined in with their own chants, egging the boy on. "You don't want that rumor spread around, do you?"

That seemed to tug on a string within the other. "But... from this height.... won't I d-die?"

"Nah. Worst case you'll break a few legs, but that's not worse than Kiki finding out about your little secret. Is it?"

"Fine!!" cried the boy, rocking into his knees. Then, he slowly stood up and shakily made his way over to the edge of the cliff. His hands fisted into his shirt, and his eyes grew larger at the sight of the city below. For a moment, nothing but silence fed into the air. Even the snickering of the boys behind Sota had died down, as if they suddenly were reluctant to find out if this would really turn out as entertaining as they'd thought. The redhead, however, grew impatient.

"JUMP!"

-

Over at the top; those passing by or having a picnic would hear the loud cry from below. If someone glanced down, they would see the boy hanging off of a cliff, surrounded by another group of kids that stood watching.

"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP." His fingers seemed to be slipping, one by one. If he wasn't saved soon...



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[Yume Izanami]

Mitsuha would be walking around until she came up to hokage rock. That was when she heard screaming. And heard the jist of what was happening. She can never have a quiet day now can she? Shaking her head she knew the right thing to do and has to intervene.

Looking down she would see a red haired boy bullying another kid, blackmail. And the other kid was about to fall. Mitsuha would casually jump off the edge, grow dragon wings and fly down and grab the boy as he was about to fall. Flying back up to safety, above the red haired boy, she would look down at all the other students that were down below.

"You know. You all can be expelled from the academy for this little stunt." She would say plainly. Then looking over at the red haired boy. "As for you. Blackmail. Rumor spreading. Hazing. I could cart you off to the anbu and then you would truly understand what torture is since you love torturing the other students. Either way this will have to be brought up to the Sennin for your punishment."

 

[Akamine Sota]

Panic had spread across the group with half of the boys exchanging worried glances. Regret was written across their faces, like they hadn't meant for the the situation to escalate. What had started as a twisted prank should've stayed as just that. None dared to step up, however, and when they all thought it was too late — when the last of his digits gave in — they all darted forward, racing to see the results of their actions.

Results being: boy rescued. All of them exhaled breaths they didn't know they'd been holding. All except for Sota.

His smile fell and his expression curled with confusion. When he turned to face the intruder, he was met with a painfully familiar lecture. While the other boys stiffened at the idea of facing expulsion, Sota stood with a huff, his hands lazily stuffed inside his pockets, and his shoulders slumped as if she'd just ruined his birthday party.

"Haa?" he drawled, head falling to one side. "Torture? Way to be dramatic. We're just messing around. We're all friends, y'know. Ain't that right?" Here, his focus shifted, furrowing his brows at the boy who'd been rescued. The boy flinched and quickly averted his gaze, content to hide behind the girl.

"GAH! Does nobody know how to mind their business these days?!" Sota suddenly exploded, eyes rolling over in annoyance. "Who the fuck are you, anyway? Why the hell would the council believe you?"

(There was easily a history of evidence that could back her claims. Good thing she didn't personally know the redhead.)



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[Yume Izanami]

Mitsuha would listen to the red haired boy explode on about how he did nothing wrong, how she should mind her business, that sort of thing. Though, she wouldn't even stare at him, but moreso looking at the horizon. She would sit down all casually as if there wasn't someone trying to say that they were right about the whole thing.

Stretching her body and putting her hands behind her neck as she stared up at the sky the kid finally stopped talking and asked her who she was in a rather rude way. Sitting back up she would lazily look over at Sota before talking. "I could have been reading my manga now if it wasn't for your little stunt." She would pause before sighing, "Your actions could have easily gotten that kid killed or at the very least severely injured. Now as such, since it did involve the safety of someone I can't just 'mind my business' otherwise I would be the same as you. Finally. I'm Mitsuha." She would introduce herself but not even ask for his own name. Looking back over at the horizon she would wait and listen to what the kid had to say.

 

[Akamine Sota]

As Kaguya Mitsuha settled comfortably upon the cliff, the boy behind her took his chance and slowly backed away into an escape.

Sota, on the other hand, felt his brows ebb further together; a locked jaw and snarling pearls produce the following quip "he would've gotten over it. 'Sides, if he wants to become a shinobi he shouldn't be so scared of heights." Hell, Sota was practically doing him a favor. A friendly one, he'd add, if his claim hadn't been so rudely rebuked earlier.

"And Mitsuha doesn't ring any bells. So, I'll ask again — " he stepped forward, words dripping with acid — "who are you for the council to give a single shit about what you have to say?"

By this point, his friends had begun to step away, searching for a way down so they could leave their overconfident friend to deal with the result of his own misdoing.



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[Yume Izanami]

She would sigh, hearing the weak venom coming from the boy as he spoke, sticking to his guns about what he had done. He would continue to talk all high and mighty of the whole situation. It would be almost white noise for the girl as she stared out at the horizon not really being affected by his rudeness. Though, she might as well let him know what's up. She might not be all buddy buddy with him, but now he is her superior. And it seems like this will be his first step as a Sennin to deal with hazing.

A hand would reach up to her headset as she would tap it, going to a specific channel that she knows that he is on. "Main branch Sennin. Kyoujouran Keniwa. Your presence is needed at Hokage Rock. A case of hazing to the extreme." Once she was done talking, she would lean back once more and say, "If any of you make a break for it, I will stop you." She would say as she would bring out a manga and start reading.

(Calling in Keniwa)

 

[Kimari Bōmu]

How… disappointing. Keniwa was at the academy watching over how students were in the training grounds. One particular fight caught his eye the student seemed to be using a simple genjutsu to get the upper hand against another. Despite their opponent’s more powerful ninjutsu they managed to create a large enough opening for them to take the win, interesting for sure. Size wasn’t everything when it came to power, this was prominent for taijutsu, ninjutsu and genjutsu. Sometimes a precise concentrated jutsu would be the key to winning. Despite being a Sennin there was several Keniwa still had to learn. “Great match both of you! You each have your own talents that make you strong and unique, but work together, learn from each other. And you’ll be ten times stronger than you are!”

It was only when class had begun to wrap up Keniwa would receive a sudden call from his subordinate Mitsuha. “Uh huh… got it. Alright everyone fantastic effort today, I have something to attend to. So I will see you all on Monday, have a good weekend.” With a running start Keniwa would launch himself in to the air, hopping on to and over several buildings and trees alike wasting no time to arrive at Hokage rock. It was there whilst he leaped mid air that he would notice a large amount of students all on the peak of the leaf monument. Mitsuha casually sitting down with her hands behind her head , only one of them seemingly mildly distressed. Finally reaching he would gracefully land upon the ground in front of the large group of students, “Wait here.” Is all he’d utter with a clear annoyed tone, swiftly making his way towards Sota who was picking a fight with Mitsuha. “Mitsuha, thank you for alerting me of this. Correct me if I am wrong but…” Glaring at Sota a burning rage of fire in his eyes as he does. “Sota wouldn’t happen to be tied in with all of this would he? What exactly happened today.”

 

[Akamine Sota]

Sennin echoed in one ear, the name Kyoujouran Keniwa in the other. Slowly, Sota's expression unwinded, and for a second he decided that she was simply stupid. Had called onto the wrong guy because Keniwa was a chuunin, not a fucking sennin. Here's how it turns out: Keniwa does appear, and Sota's first mistake is turning to face the man. Sees anger written across his face, and — mistake number two: — grits his own teeth, and prepares to tell the biggest lie of his life yet. His lips part, the first lie begins to roll out, but: "she — "

"Sir, he was bullying a kid from our class." Sota's interrupted. By his first friend.

"Yeah, and he made us watch the whole thing!" And the second.

"Then she came," the third points to Mitsuha, "and rescued him. I swear we had nothing to do with any of this."

Sota falls into silence. (Hadn't thought that his influence on his own friends would come to bite him in the ass like this. He'd taught them well. Guess that was his first mistake.)



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[Yume Izanami]

"Sitting by and not doing anything about it makes you an advocate in the situation." Mitsuha would say as she closed her manga and looked over at Keniwa who was glaring down at Sota. She had only seen the guy mad once and that in of itself had lead to a fight. But now as he is a Sennin, he can't just go around beating up academy students no matter how stupid they may be.

So... Sota was the red heads name. Letting out a sigh, Mitsuha would speak once more, "From what I heard before rescuing the kid was that there was some talk of blackmail and rumor spreading as well." She would then go silent but rather just watch as the whole thing starts to unwind since Keniwa was now here, someone who has more authority than her, to figure out the situation at hand. She was not petty enough to bring up the fact that Sota himself was being rude to her, but she will no doubt remember this in case the kid tries something against her in the later future.

 

[Kimari Bōmu]

It appeared that what the academy students had said was mostly true, aside from the fact they had tried to get themselves out of the situation. Either way for all these academy students involved, other than the victim, a punishment was in order. "Mitsuha, if you would not mind could you take care of this group of academy students, make sure to get all their names and such several detentions and duties will be handed out. Sota is a special case so I will handle him." Walking over to Mitsuha whispering in to her ear away from the children. "You will be compensated accordingly again thank you, I also have something to discuss with you about the academy. I'd like you to help working there, but I will discuss more soon Feel free to meet me back here after you take those kids safely back down."

Now turning back to the large group he would shake his head towards the floor, "I am gravely disappointed to see such a large number of you taking part in bullying, Ms. Kaguya is correct, by not doing anything in the situation you can be easily held accountable. Had things taken a turn for the worst you would all have been locked away or worse. You should all be deeply ashamed, I hope that sometime soon you will stop acting so foolishly, all of your parents will be contacted and you will be punished. In future similar idiocy will have far greater consequences."

Turning his attention to Sota he would simply walk past him in silence and sit down calmly on the cliff's edge, his legs dangling off the side. "Come Sota. Sit down next to me. I want you to explain everything. Why it happened. What you did. Everything." He wasn't asking, and his tone definitely said as such.

 

[Akamine Sota]

A series of groans sounded across the group but nobody gave an outright protest. Much like Sota, these kids had zero trust that they would be heard. After all, they hadn't intended for the victim to nearly plummet to his death — that was the doing of Sota and Sota only. But authority had proven time and time to never listen to these delinquents, so they simply accepted their fate.

The redhead in question stood aside, watching, mind drifting elsewhere. At the request of his presence, his thoughts were deafened and he blinked back to reality. For half a moment, he considered making a run for it. An escape that would cut down any chance of leniency. No escapes are attempted. Instead, he pushed himself forward, until he stood to the sennin's side. Waited out another wave of internal struggle before he plopped down beside the liar.

Eyes flit toward Keniwa, trying to carve out the thoughts behind the other. If Keniwa were to meet his gaze, he'd look away. "You heard the gist of it."

"We were playing." Which, in Sota's world wasn't far from the truth. Him and his friends were playing. It was simply the reoccurring combination of poor impulse control + boredom. Like an animal that doesn't know any better, he's driven by a severe case of Monkey see Monkey do.

"Listen, I already told that comics' nerd back there why we did it. Kid's gotta learn to face his fears if he ever hopes to graduate. And, yeah, it got out of hand 'cause I was bored. What does it matter why I did what I did? Just give me the same punishment you're giving the others. Sennin."



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[Yume Izanami]

A sigh of reluctance would escape her lips as she was asked to escort the kids down the monument and to issue them all detention slips. There was, however, something else that Keniwa had wanted to talk to her about. Something of importance about working in the academy. She would raise her eyebrows when she looked over at him, but would leave it at that for until she makes her way back to Keniwa and Sota.

Once down the monument, she did a head count and made a double check that everyone was accounted for. Happy with that, she went and took their names down and had sent out a clone to quickly grab some detention slips from the academy and then bring them back to where she was. Once that was done, she would fill out each of their names and hand them their detention slip along with some meager task that would need to be done by the end of the week or more punishments will come their way. It would mostly be something along the lines of cleaning up trash around the village, taking on e ranked missions with no payout to them, pet sitting, etc.

Once she made sure that all of them would find their way safely to their homes, she would look back up at the monument. She didn't really want to make the trek back up the mountain, so she would do a series of blinks or teleporting until she appeared about ten meters away from Keniwa and Sota.

She would have been gone for what has been discussed, but she is here now in case something else is to be discussed on the matter.

 

[Kimari Bōmu]

Looking down at the city above all of them Keniwa cracked a small smile it always made him happy to see the grand village of Konoha below, inside many people resided, plenty that he never had gotten the chance to meet or actually talk to. Hopefully one day he'd get a chance to speak to everyone one way or another, experience their lives and help in any way he could. He loved his village and never wanted to see it harmed, and the same was for all the citizens. However one thing he never tolerated was bullying especially excessive, remembering where he saw what bullies did to Nova... it filled him with a locked up rage. Keniwa calmly listened to what Sota said not really exchanging any eyesight with him, but moreover disappointed that one of his own students would turn to something like this.

"Playing." What Sota did not think about was how the other kid was going to have to relive this memory for however many years to come, it wasn't easy to shake something like this and it could have a long term experience on any individual. "Bored." What might they might have thought was a harmless joke could easily scar someone. "So.. you found out I am a Sennin, I suppose I was not really trying to keep it hidden. So it was only natural, I figured it might have hindered some of the confidence you had the other day. However here we are. I only really have one thing to ask you now Sota." Slowly standing up he would look one more time down below and then up at the sky above. "Are you afraid of heights?" Mitsuha would be able to see from ten meters away as Keniwa pushes sota off the side of the cliff, swiftly grabbing the red heads arm he'd hold him over the side. "Are you?"

 

[Akamine Sota]

Words are echoed right back to him. As if he's taking note. Which doesn't matter much to the kid, if only because he's so used to hearing the same disappointed mantra by the rest of his teachers. When Keniwa rises to his feet, Sota follows along. Looks to the other with a quirked brow, as if to ask that's it?

Apparently not.

The shove that comes next catches him so off guard that he forgets to react. Eyes blink, and lips part — he registers it all too late, only when Keniwa's grip returns back to hold him.

"What the fuck??" he forces out a laugh. "I'm not." And yet, dangling over the edge, a newborn chill brushes over every hairbreadth of his being. Without meaning to, his eyes lower. Slowly, his expression contorts. Adrenaline begins to pick up, but he bites down on anything that might give this off.

This was gutsy as is, Keniwa wouldn't go further. Would he?



—
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[Yume Izanami]

Her eyes widened, then focused in on Keniwa. She wasn't very much aware of all that has happened between Keniwa and Sota while she was gone, but she gritted her teeth as she is now face with a situation. This time, her original form wavered. Soon her features changed as if she were part dragon, what with the scales, wings, and tail of a black dragon as she summoned chakra to her arm to fly right up to Keniwa and clothesline him backwards, in hopes of pushing both Sennin and Academy student back from the ledge. If need to, she will just fly down and catch the red head.

Either way, once that was done, she would glare at both Keniwa and Sota. "Keniwa you FUCKING idiot!" She would start. "You can't do dumb shit like that!" She would let out a sigh, baring her dragon fangs. "So here's what's going to happen before either of you two do anymore dumb shit. We are all going to get away from this damn cliff for starters. And Keniwa. I told you I am going to be the person that keeps you in check, and I will." Looking back over at Sota. "And you. I was being nice letting Keniwa handle you, thinking that the Sennin was going to give you a punishment that didn't involve near deaths experiences, but I guess that I'll have to take this into my own hands. Sota. Me and you will have a training session. You will bleed. You will be hurting. But will you learn from it?" She shrugged, "That will depend entirely on you."

 

[Kimari Bōmu]

Keniwa held tightly on to the child’s arms as he heard what Sota said. Very slowly and slightly loosening his grip in an attempt to test Sota, if he could put someone else in such a futile position how would he feel in one so similar. However it appears his efforts to teach the kid a valuable life lesson were stopped dead in its tracks by a soaring, black scaled, all too familiar individual. Activating his tetsukawa on his free arm he would block the blow to sustain no damage moments before tossing Sota behind him on to the safe ground. “That was uncalled for, he was completely safe. I would hope that you had some more faith in me Mitsuha.”

Although upon seeing her fangs in all their aggravated glory he came to the conclusion it likely wasn’t worth to start an argument here. Despite each of their military rank positions Keniwa saw Mitsuha as an equal and the way he reacted would certainly reflect this. He would allow her to speak before he would take any further action but it seemed like she already knew exactly what she wanted to do. “You are free to train him Mitsuha that is certain, it will make good practice for you for when you take to much bigger classes. However like I am putting this trust in you, I hope that in the future you could put some more trust in me.” Turning his gaze back to the redhead delinquent he would give him a smile.

“Well Sota it looks like your punishment has been decided, you will be taught by Mitsuha. I know for sure you will… well hopefully come out of it stronger. Although with your grit I know things will turn out okay. The only thing I have to say is… do not ever do idiotic activities such as this. I cannot say I am not still disappointed. Although since you are in Mitsuha’s hands now it appears as if I can make my exit.” Planting his feet he would take a running start before leaping right over Mitsuha off the side of the cliff, making his way back to his office if completely uninterrupted.

[topic left]

 

[Akamine Sota]

There's an odd exchange between the two. On one hand, Mitsuha's outburst cuts the air in half, has Sota — (who'd begun to slip, who was in the middle of digging his nails into Keniwa's arm) — flinching. Mid-air. On the other hand, he's confused. Watches them with a cocked brow. Because, despite Keniwa's claims, the reaction from his colleague (?) has Sota wondering what it is that Mitsuha knows about Keniwa that he doesn't. Would he truly have dropped him to prove a point?

And yet, the thought that shoves its way to the front of his mind is this: "my punishment is....... training under you?" A finger rises, points in the direction of Mitsuha. Behind it is a grimacing Sota. Doesn't believe her for a second. Only, Keniwa decides to confirm this —

"haaaaaaaaaaaaaa???? But... WHY?" He'd had enough of these silly training sessions that did him more bad than good. Sota knew plenty of better ways to spend his time than to sit and listen to yet another authoritative figure bark at him instructions. Not to mention, threatening to make a student bleed? She was practically asking for a lawsuit. "Whatever," he spits.

Back on his feet, Sota pushes his hands inside his pockets, once more adopting a look of indifference. There's a hint of annoyance playing at his brows, a-something threatening to roll from his tongue. But now that Keniwa is gone, he decides he'd like to keep it that way. Doesn't say what's on his mind.



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[TOPIC LEFT] after Mitsuha's next post. (Assuming we're leaving the hokage rock per her request)

 

[Yume Izanami]

Her battle form wavered, and seamlessly and nearly instantly, she was back looking like her regular self. Listening to what Keniwa had to say, she would glare at him but kept her mouth shut on the matter. Keni should have known better than to try and slink down toward the redhead's level. He had given a little speech, how this will be good for her to start small before handling a class, but then reminded her to put more trust in him. He then spoke to Sota about he is now under Mitsuha's care.

Watching Keniwa launch himself into the air away from them and then looking over at the sunset, Mitsuha finally spoke, "I will meet you at Kitsune Park. I suspect if you hurry you will get there in about fifteen minutes, which is coincidentally the time I suspect that there will be no more sunlight." She will look over at Sota, "The faster you get there, the easier the lesson will be. However, the longer it takes for you to get there, the harder the lesson will be."

She would turn away, and as she did, the area around her would shatter, as if it was all a broken glass, and she would disappear right before Sota's eyes as the area mended itself back together.

(topic left)