Learning Proper Control [Open]

[Saotome Asami]

Nothing came of her jutsu – at least, nothing that the average shinobi could see. Asami could barely explain it herself. Reaching out to the fates, or gods, or some sort of higher power gave her some vague insight to what was to come. ‘Nothing good’, she surmised, but her frown was all that gave it away.

Asami thought that she might have gone a touch too far with her assessment, but the boy-pup beside her made her seem tame by comparison. That would have been a good thing, if it didn’t involve further antagonizing annoyed older, stronger men than themselves. Concern seeped into the girl’s eyes, but only for a moment. The boy clearly had good intentions at heart, but he had a child’s abrasive tongue. Nothing unusual, or even unmanageable, but tensions were already running too high for his words to slip by. “How about we don’t threaten the older stronger strangers?” She spoke in a hushed but stern voice to Akira, though she returned to a normal volume soon after.

“That’s not how we’re nice to each other. Be more like…” She slowly eyed the group. Kyo? No. Maru? She chuckled mentally. There weren’t any shining beacons of diplomacy in their party, besides the Supreme Goatee and… “This little guy.” She gently tapped a finger atop the squirrel’s head, having decided that as long as it wasn’t removing some of her hair, all would be well. The critter has avoided offending anybody and being offended – thus far.

Fortunately, every Kumo-nin that didn’t associate with canines seemed set on easing the situation. Saki was seemingly sensible enough to stay diplomatic. Perhaps that was why she had been so quiet – it would make sense, if she had been the first to realise how badly the encounter could end. It was that same cautiousness that made her a target of a man-child, however – Asami only hoped that Yukio would eventually do as he claimed, and stop the doll before it got out of control. The group had hinted and outright stated that he was souring the scene, and while poor Saki hadn’t said it, she clearly didn’t want the thing anywhere near her. Asami couldn’t blame her.

Once again, it fell to Kyo to act as a physical barrier. She would have preferred to keep her mouth shut for a few moments. It opened for a moment as Yukio began speaking again. Perhaps he wasn’t aware of how condescending he sounded to at least two of them, she thought. Hoped, mostly. In the same breath, he spoke down on them, then took on the guise of peacekeeper, kindly suggesting that they let him have the last word, else they continue to aggravate matters. Then they would be the rude ones, and he was clearly just trying to help! It was haughty, patronizing, quite rude, if she was being honest, and…
Exactly what she had been doing moments before.

She closed her mouth, a furrowed brow marking her little breakthrough. While it soothed her ego to know that the man used the tactics of a teenage girl (or she used the tactics of a grown diplomat!), calling them out as such wasn’t what they needed at that moment. Maybe later. In the meantime, she made a note to stop doing that, now that she had realised how counter-productive it was.

“…Without trying to command you into doing something…” She paused, trying to choose her words carefully. “I think it’s pretty clear that hinting or telling this, er… Maru to do something isn’t working.” Surely, a man that acted as a makeshift babysitter for the dummy already knew that from past experience, which meant a show of force wasn’t going to be pleasant for anybody. Or just him. Considering her lack of training, she wouldn’t fare too well either. She didn’t really have any good suggestions for dealing with him, but… “That’s why Kyo-san is standing in the way. Can you blame him for trying to protect somebody?” She might have moved to do the same, but she lacked Akira’s casual bravery. She knew her body wasn’t very durable, and wouldn’t be up for a beating even if it was. Kyo, for his brutish attitude, at least tried to keep the girl safe. He almost seemed like he was being a good person.

…The memory of clinging to a cliffside for dear life came to mind, and she remembered that he was still an ass.

[MFT]​

 

[Hak]

The wolf puppy Kuro had succeeded in his mission of being cuddled as he was picked up by the garbed young female, Saki. He panted slightly with his tongue loose, his tail loosely wagging as he was enjoying the attention being given to him as she petted him. He looked over at all the Humans speaking back and forth with one another with a bored expression as if he was confused how petty and childish the adults were seemingly acting. It was a back and forth finger pointing game at this point, even the wolf pup could tell it was becoming more of a measuring contest between the villages rather than anything else. The kids were roaming rampant with the insults and words, however they were merely children who did not understand the complexities of international village interactions.

The most confusing part was the lack of responsibility the adults seemingly were missing in controlling their village kids and the threats being uttered among them. Being one of three actual animals in the group, the wolf pup looked over towards Dakota and Aoi as if disappointed that Humans were so petty and childish, incapable of taking responsibility for their actions and instead of being apologetic and understanding they continued uttering threats and showing annoyance. Kuro as an animal began growing confused on who were the children, the Human kids who were young and inexperienced or the adults who kept going back and forth instead of taking responsibility for the action of their youngsters. If this escalated into combat, it couldn’t possibly be the fault of young rascals doing what kids do, cause turmoil. No most definitely, it was the childish reactions of the adults not taking responsibility for the actions of kids, albeit it all began with a walking puppet lacking mannerisms and respect. At least that was how it all looked to the young wolf pup.

As the puppet approached Saki, Kuro tensed slightly in her arms, showing a fiercely protective demeanor towards the puppet if he decided to make any improper or threatening gesture towards the child who was currently holding him. Kyo seemed to have stood in front of them suddenly and that slightly relaxed Kuro but he was still vigilant and watchful towards the two Leaf shinobi.

Akira on the hand seemed to be staring at the clouds, lost deep in thought. For a moment he stood silent as if trying to figure out some deep complex problem that confused his young immature mind. He looked back over at Yukio as they delivered their speeches and tilted his head in confusion.

”Hip…hippo…hippo critter?” he muttered. A Hippo? Those big fat things? Did this man just call him fat?! Or did he mean slob? Or was he calling him the insect of fat people? The boy was completely confused at this point.

Upon Asami not trying to escalate things further, Akira only became more defiant at her calling these old man stronger than him who was apparently an insect of the fat creatures. Albeit true, the child lack any sort of maturity to accept anyone was stronger than him and lacked any form of awareness that this could become quite bad if it ended in a fight, but he was a child and such thoughts seemed trivial and too bothersome to think about. Asami unintentionally seemed to call Akira weak in comparison to these older men, though true, perhaps she failed to understand Akira was a young boy and such things only hurt his pride and would cause further issues. In his mind, he imagined an insect with his face being stomped by Hippo’s who apparently in his vivid wild imagination had the face of Yukio and Maru with Asami pointing at Akira calling him a weakling. His blood was beginning to boil.

He pointed at Hideyoshi as he seemed to be defiant at the older man’s suggestion of being nice.

”They started it! See！They just keep calling us names and won’t say sorry like you are supposed to when you start up problems and keep blaming it on us! He even said he would tell his dad the Hokage like a tattletale.”

Of course this was completely inaccurate as it wasn’t exactly what was said but Akira was a young child who was incapable of understanding the complexities of the situation. In his mind it was simple, Maru was a weird creepy walking tree who acted out and Yukio should control said tree and say sorry for disrespecting the pack. A true reaction from what can only be attributed to a young canine boy who acts on instinct rather than complex logic.

Akira would continue to become tense at this stuck up Leaf guy. He had yet to apologize, yet to take responsibility for what his village walking lumber started, and continued to treat Cloud with indignity in his young immature eyes. He seemed to want to control the situation and be the main man rather than be a diplomatic adult. No one would stand out in Akira’s eyes, he could take them all he thought. Poor young lad refused to see the helpless situation for what it was.

Though instinctively, he seemed to stand protectively in front of Asami if things did escalate. Even in his child like actions and reactions, he did show deep genuine concern for his fellow Cloudies, even if she thought he was a weak pathetic ant. Apparently he couldn’t stop thinking of himself as a bug now.

Kuro seemed to sigh at his Human partner making a bigger mess of things as he pleadingly looked at the Cloud Jounin’s, seemingly begging someone to stop Akira before he escalated as he knew he eventually would.

Aoi on the other hand seemed to start trembling on Asami, beginning to hide herself in her hair and by her neck as if asking the young kunoichi to protect her from the escalating situation.

 

[Uchiha Takeshi]

Takeshi allowed himself to whistle as he walked down the streets of this fine city, he was enjoying himself and he could not argue with that. He had heard about the recent actions of some people here but that didn’t bother him, he had a lot more on his mind than just what people where doing, though it seemed that leaf was representing the village to its full potential. He could not say anything bad about that, though his attention was soon brought to a crowd of people, it seemed an interesting conversation to say the least. Something that even he himself would want to know a little bit more about.

Takeshi headed over in those few seconds to join the group, though gone was the Hokage robes he was just in the usual body gear of a Leaf Shinobi. He walked up to the group and inspected them for a few seconds he pondered on how the conversation was going but joined on to the end. He allowed himself to sigh out aloud as he listened to the conversation he knew full well that with Maru here it was going to be interesting no matter which way it went.

“Well hello all of you, this looks like an interesting bunch of people and a dog.”

Takeshi honestly had only noticed the dog when he nearly walked into it, he would have to be more careful. It was easy to step on a tail and probably would be an unpleasant experience for the dog, but it seemed that he needed to get used to being around all different creatures. As he glanced at all the new faces he stood in this little circle that seemed to be happening around the Leaf Shinobi as he looked at each of the other Shinobi.

“So, what do we have here then, anyone want to explain what I managed to walk myself into? Just a nice little chit chat I hope to get to take this time to get to know other people. Nothing worse than wasting precious times to meet other Shinobi from other villages in my eyes.”

Takeshi left it like that, he would see how they reacted and try and gauge on what would be happening. He waited and let his words linger in the air for now seeing who would be the first person to reply, he would have to note the names just to see how they represented the village and he would be doing same for the two members of leaf that were in front of him.

[Topic Entered]

 

[Sato Yuji]

Saki was sighed to herself and contemplated walking away from the disaster in the making. that Yukio, someone who she thought was reasonable at first, seemed to be adding more fuel to the fire. She didn't think he was doing it on purpose but the results were there none the less. She had to agree with his statement about not drawing anyone else to the situation. The whole thing was quickly getting out of hand and international incidents were to be avoided. As he continued to speak she realized that he was not as rational as she first thought he was. Saki didn't know if he was purposely trying to start a fight with weaker people then him, an action she found deplorable, or honestly didn't know how he came off. It didn't help that he seemed to be purposefully challenging Kyo. Things only got worse when the puppet spoke up in his teacher's defense. It seemed that the more immature people in the group had turned the conversation into a "my sensei is better than your sensei" contest. At least the Asami had come to her senses and was trying to be more polite. The only two sensible people seemed to be her and, maybe, Hideyoshi. She hadn't seen enough of the older man to know if he was going to help or hinder the situation. Even if the man was an ally the younger boy was offsetting whatever help he could provide with his rash words. She honestly considered hitting him in order to shut him up. She despised people who couldn't read the atmosphere and realize that what they were doing had potential dangers. Yes, she realized that he was young and yes that gave him some excuse, but she would feel bad about it later. In a situation where her possibility of dying or being injured was much lower.

As she was thinking of ways to try to control the situation the Maru approached her. This was not something she appreciated, but he seemed fixated on her. The puppy in her arms seemed to feel the same way, the second the stranger approached he began to growl. The sentiment was nice, but Saki highly doubted the animal could actually do in the event of an attack. Petting the dog she listened to what Maru had to say. Sadly, she actually considered accepting the game of tag, In a normal situation she would have turned the offer down the second it was made, but with the circumstances, she was in now a game of tag might actually be a good distraction. Saki wasn't naive enough to believe the game would be fun she simply hoped that it would focus the attention away from the escalating hostility. Weighing the pros and cons she decided to accept the offer. She highly doubted any of the people in the vicinity would allow any serious damage to her person. Before she could declare her acceptance a body appeared between her and the doll. It seemed that Kyo did care about the students and was willing to protect them. Saki might have felt more appreciative if his words weren't a possible ticking time bomb.

Thankfully before that bomb went off she noticed someone else approach the group. Turning to look she immediately wished that Kyo's words were the thing she had to deal with. You see, her family strongly believed that there were some people who the second you saw them you should try to get far, far away from them. This involved being given pictures of them to study as well as any information that could be scrounged up. The leaders and ex-leaders of the hidden villages were some of the people on that list. That meant she recognized the person who had entered the group and was reacting accordingly. She quickly moved over to the boy who was causing the most trouble and, after transferring the pup into a one-handed hold, slung her arm over his shoulders so that her hand covered his mouth. Then she clamped down.

"Hokage-sama." She said bowing politely, dragging the boy with her as she refused to take her hand off his mouth, her voice remarkably calm given her internal situation, "We were simply introducing ourselves before we parted ways."

That would hopefully give everyone the idea that leaving should happen soon. The situation had escalated to the point of no control and she hoped to escape it quickly.

 

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

The Chronicles of Kyo-Moon

Related Information

"Shut up!" Kyo demanded as he turned his attention towards the Cloud shinobi. While it was a kind gesture for them to stand up for what they believed in, there was a time and place for everything. He didn't have an issue disciplining the children of Kumogakure. While he felt they lacked discipline, his eyes were instantly opened at the fact that foreign shinobi were snotty goons who didn't understand the concept of respect; this coming from someone who had very limited human interaction until a few years ago, still taking classes on how to interact with people. Soon after Kyo shouted the 2-word command, someone wearing a Hokage-hat appeared on the scene. So daddy finally came to baby-boy's rescue thought the primitive. It was at that time that Saki said the smartest thing yet.[lb2][/lb2] Turning his eyes towards the Hokage for a moment, he got a good look of him, silently activating a jutsu in order to record the man's face and the man's voice. Kyo raised 2 fingers to the Hokage. Seems the large hat got in the way of his ability to count. There was the massive direwolf named Dakota and the small black wolf-dog named Kuro. "Two dogs," he said before clearing his throat and took a step away. Turning his back on the Hokage would seem exceptionally disrespectful. Even if the man wouldn't be offended or his affluent brat would. "We were having a pleasant conversation with your son just now and we are actually about to be leaving, Lord Hokage. Pardon our intrusion," he said as he bowed deeply to the man. He stood up after a brief moment. "Bow to the important man, children and step backwards a few steps before turning your backs. We will find you another place to play, alright?"[lb2][/lb2] "That means you, too, Akira and Asami. I'll buy you all a bowl or two of ramen, my treat" he said before taking a few steps back. Hopefully the children took the hint. He didn't have to address Saki as it was initially her idea in the first place. He didn't care much about the lumberjack; he could stay and make friends with Daddy, Affluenza-Kid, and Pinocchio if he wanted. His objective was to get the kids out of here and return to Cloud to file a report. "If you'll excuse us, Lord Hokage," he said before turning his back to him after enough distance had passed and snapped his fingers, having the massive Direwolf follow with. ​ WC this post: 415[lb][/lb] WC Total: [lb][/lb] [MFT][lb2][/lb2] OOC Notes: [Topic Left]​

Name: Ryong Kyo-Moon[lb][/lb] Age: 18[lb][/lb] Hair Color: Red[lb][/lb] Eye Color: Yellow[lb][/lb] Height: 5'7"/67cm[lb][/lb] Weight: 147 lbs/66.67kg[lb][/lb] Special Characteristics: Scar over left eye Cloud Headband upon forehead Canine-like fangs [lb][/lb] Usual Gear Gourd of Soju Pouch on side Bow and Arrow strapped to back Spoiler: Demon Form Spoiler: Dakota Name: Dakota[lb][/lb] Age: 12[lb][/lb] Breed: Dire Wolf[lb][/lb] Hair Color: White[lb][/lb] Eyes Color: Left yellow, Right blue[lb][/lb] Height: (Paw to Head) 6'2"[lb][/lb] Length: (Nose to Rear) 10'3"[lb][/lb] Special Characteristics: Red lines going over the body Burning disk magically floating on top of torso Human-like intelligence (infantile) Spoiler: NPC Information Nothing Here

[thead] [/thead][tbody] [/tbody]

 

[Shirai Sadao]

It seemed things would not change a fact that gave way to yet another sigh from the Hyuuga, though they each had good intentions it was simply creating more problems than were being solved his own personality clashing with the mans simply remaining silent before speaking again. "Seems we're making no progress here no matter what is being said, something that i would say is making everything extended and pointless until we make headway." As for the younger ones it seemed they didn't completely understand where he was coming from either though the same could be said of him. "True though there are better ways to go around protecting someone, would you simply attack what is basically the class clown because he said mean things? Which is basically what this whole situation can be summed up in."

With that came the arrival of Takeshi a pleasent sight that much could be said being met with a bow from the Hyuuga in respect and greeting. "A pleasure to see you, your timing couldn't have been better. Safe to say we've had something of a situation going on here for some time a disagreement you might say as much as i wish diplomacy would fix it we don't seem to be finding common ground." Hearing Kyo take his leave Yukio raised an eyebrow it was taking effort not to completely call the man out on the matter something he couldn't help but let slip in the passing moments. "All that bravado then tucks tail and leaves when it comes to putting money where the mouth is, Don't give a damn my ass."

With that his attention returned to his Kage gesturing to the puppet at his side then to the cloud Shinobi in one swift motion of his hand. "To explain I found myself time to take a rather pleasant walk, safe to say when i happened across the young Maru here speaking to the cloud students my concerns were already raising. Safe to say suspicions were correct which is when the man you see leaving there simply known as Kyo decided to show up and from what i can see rather than ask questions and communicate like a normal individual showed distrust towards myself and Maru here to show a more aggressive nature which lead to where we are now. Safe to say in concern to the interests of our villages you were going to find out about this sooner rather than later i suspect luckily things didn't go past word shivs."

Taking a moment to pause and catch his breath the Hyuuga pondered if there were any details to go over before gesturing to Maru. "Though i think we should keep the walking trouble magnet from walking around for a while, some peace and quiet while we are abroad would be nice wouldn't you agree as for you other side of the story i'm sure the others from cloud wouldn't mind discussing it with you while they are here." There was no malice or ill will in his words as far as he was concerned the Captain was simply reporting the truth of the matter to his kage.

 

[Akechi]

Three words seem to come to mind when thinking about this situation. “What…The…Fuck.” Between the insolent and expressive children, the psychotic puppeteer with multiple personalities, Yukio’s passive aggressiveness and Kyo’s sparkling personality, one could wonder if this merry band of miscreants could do anything but squabble amongst one other. Honestly, it was quite tiring and playing peacemaker seemed to do nothing but cause the issue to intensify as level heads were compromised by unyielding hubris. Well… then again, Hideyoshi didn’t truly know these people so “level heads” may have been mere wishing or a “projection” of his own character onto these strangers.

“Well, technically it isn’t just smoke. Not necess—” Hideyoshi wanted to go into his unusually verbose spiel about the special blend of tobacco and “Dreamweaver—” an adult, mildly illegal hallucinogen that features some of the same characteristics as “Make Believe” in a far lesser dosage. After all, it was necessary for kids – especially, shinobi— to learn about this stuff because it was necessary for survival. Not necessarily survival in a battle, but “survival” in “other” capacities… like this one for instance. A little bit of this special blend and maybe everyone wouldn’t be so “tense.” But that wondrous teaching moment was interrupted by the latest persona of Maru, the puppeteer— the hype man. Instead of the group receiving an impromptu lesson about the blends of tobacco and how they affect the human mind, Maru treated everyone to a rough sketch of Yukio’s biography. Something about a zombie Uchiha’s wife and some Haku guy, and how Yukio took them on all by their lonesome. “Epic… I guess,” Hideyoshi said to himself, visually shrugging as took another drag of his mild tobacco blend and continued to listen to the conversations that surrounded him.

It only got worse once everyone learned that Maru was actually Yukio’s student. That bit of information, while surprising and equally perplexing, seemed to cause the alright heightened tension to intensify. The children wondered why they had to “play nice,” if another student could act like he was… unhinged. “Because we aren’t them. What exactly do they teach you guys in the Academy?” Hideyoshi thought, slightly smirking as youthfulness in such a question forced a sense of nostalgia on him. He used to be that way once upon a time.

That feeling didn’t last long as another entered the fray… the Hokage himself, almost right on queue. “Is there a Bat signal? Some type of signal flare that I missed?” The man giggled with a quick glance in the air before recomposing himself. Taking the Hokage’s timely interruption as an excuse to move around, Hideyoshi casually moved toward his wall of lumber, placing a hand on it as he took one last drag of his cigarette. “Damn, I guess I have to stop smoking this stuff.” Not out of respect or anything, but because this situation may have escalated passed the point of no return. There was only so many insults that one could take.

“What indeed…” Hideyoshi mocked in a low tone, dropping his cigarette to the ground as his eyes settled upon the Hokage with the impeccable timing. He listened as Kyo disengaged, Saki wisely stepped away and Yukio gave his version of events. Tension seemed to dissipate into thin air as this man, the Hokage, arrived on the scene wielding a robe and his title as testosterone’s mighty kryptonite. Now this was interesting!

“An unhinged student that threatens strangers with his puppets, and a mentor that can barely control him… or his own hubris,” Hideyoshi commented, stepping on the cigarette and burying what was left of his blend into dust. Kind of like his attempts at diplomacy. “And then to have the nerve to lie about it when his father arrives. It’s embarrassing.” All 5’7 of the dark skinned man’s frame, slowly inched toward the Hokage with a curious look on his face. “Disgusting, even.” He wasn’t upset. Instead, he looked almost… amused? “I’m not sure if his puppet messes with his head too but I have to ask…” Stopping as he reached the Hokage with one hand behind his back while the other stroked his chin, in thought.

“Is this type of behavior commonplace in Konoha? The false bravado. The cowardice. The complete lack of integrity or honor. Is this acceptable?”

[WC: 719 / MFT]

 

[Midori Futotta]

The boy stepping in front of the girl he was offering to play with, his sparkling purple eyes looked up at the dog whisperer. He tilted his head to one side, with a sly grin stretching along his wooden lips. “Well kiddie, you are insulting the man after he is trying to help you. I mean, if I was him I'd be a little pissed off too.” Maru chuckled to himself before winking at the boy, of course all the fun ended when he heard a familiar voice. He looked over, then saw Takeshi and nearly jumped out of his wooden body at the sight of the man! 'When the hell did he get here?!’ Maru asked himself, but then calmed himself. He played it cool,putting the puppet ball in the pocket of his shirt he smirked raising his hand then waved at Takeshi even though he was about 3 feet tall, Maru could already guess that he knows who he was. "Howdy there Reaper! If I knew you would've been around, I would've brought fruit cakes.“ Maru exclaimed, letting Yukio explain what happened with Takeshi. He explained about how he acted towards the cloudies, then how the cloudies acted towards them, pretty much what happened.

But when the man decided to run his mouth, Maru decided to disobey Yukio again to come to his defense. "FIRSTLY!” Maru began.“I don't see how was I threatening anyone with my puppets. All I did was said a couple rude comments, took my head off, and asked the nice gurl if she wanted to play. I'll have to say if Yukio wasn't around, I would've done a lot more than just act really annoying to you skin puppets.” Maru gestured his hand to the cloudies as if they were the skin puppets he was talking about. "So if anyone who was showing cowardice it'll be you guys! The girl avoided me simply because I'm strange, the boy stood in front of her to protect her against a 3 feet tall doll, the mutt man ran away, and you calling a small boy doll threatening is proof enough of lack of bravery! Honestly, this body is more of a storage unit to house my main body rather than a weapon!” He shouted, throwing his head back and giggles his ugly giggle.

When the puppet stopped his maniacal laughter, he looked at the man so he could continue where he left off. “You see the problem here was that my Pal Yukio was helping you low lives by keeping my so called, bad behavior at a minimum. Needless to say when he was being grilled and treated as he was a threat, you can say that it frustrated poor teacher Hyuuga. Honestly he wasn't excusing my behavior, nor does he turn a blind eye to it but you know it's hard to deal with a problem student if he is being insulted and clearly being threaten for wanting to keep this peaceful. “ he looked up at Yukio then winked, giving him a thumbs up.

 

[Saotome Asami]

The conversation was quickly snowballing out of hers – or anybody’s – control. Her efforts to tame the group meant nothing with an immature small boy fanning the flames (and Akira wasn’t helping much either). She didn’t want to be around when the niceties fell apart again, especially when the babysitter seemed unlikely to actually stop his baby if the situation called for it. ‘Sucks’, she thought. ‘It would’ve been nice to hear about life in Konoha.’ She patiently awaited a break in the conversation for her to excuse herself; just as she opened her mouth, another arrived.

The stranger had a very… eccentric hairstyle, she thought. It probably shouldn’t have been the first thing that came to mind, but it was his most distinguishing feature, and too bright for her to ignore. At some point, the man made the conscious decision to straighten some of his bangs, and let the rest of his head spike out of control. It wasn’t her place to tell a stranger how to style their hair, especially now what appeared to be yet another veteran shinobi… but it displeased her nonetheless. She put enough effort into her appearance to earn her right to silent judgement.

Perhaps it was for the best that she kept her mouth shut. As it happened, the man did have something more notable than a golden afro to his name, like being one of the most influential men in the known world. Her mouth was already open, and hearing Saki’s greeting kept it that way. Her eyes widened very slowly, as she realised what kind of situation they were in:

‘Sweet Shinbatsu. He didn’t run to Daddy, Daddy ran to him.’

She had no idea how the Adopted Son Of The Fourth Hokage had summoned backup without them noticing (though considering the blatant skill gap, he probably had several methods), but at that point she didn’t care. Saki had the right idea. Hell, even Kyo knew what was up, and she hated agreeing with him. Somehow, he had become the reasonable authority figure, while Hideyoshi sounded half-ready to fight the Leaf-nin himself. She took on a look of dismay, but only for a moment. She remembered the need to keep herself composed, and stuck to that. Yukio was practically lying by omission, in her eyes, and she couldn’t count on either of the Cloud seniors to talk without offending somebody, from the looks of it.

Did somebody need to explain Kumo’s side of the story, so they weren’t painted as the villain? Yes.
Did she feel that her word held any weight to them, as a fresh shinobi against a mentally deficient puppet, an upstart Leaf-nin and the very powerful man with obvious ties to him? Of course not.
Was she going to risk her neck speaking out for them with that in mind? Absolutely not.
The man wouldn’t even do more than verbally wag his finger at the wood doll menacing students – why would she believe they had any chance of neutrality? At that point, she wouldn’t have been surprised if the puppet outright stating he would have done worse to a group of defenceless students if not for the Hyuuga’s presence went without comment from his superiors. To her, it was representative of his behaviour throughout the entire scene, but she couldn’t help but feel he was rarely punished for being a general nuisance, if that was how he felt comfortable acting in front of authority.

It didn’t matter, she told herself. She’d never have to see any of them again if things went to plan, and so she would suck up her pride. Besides, the Hokage hadn’t done anything to them yet; as far as she knew, he’d earned the respect. Asami offered it with a small bow, but it lacked the smile every other stranger had received. “Good afternoon, Hokage-sama. I was… just trying to find a good place to train myself.” A brief frown appeared. “I didn’t find it here, so I’ll be on my way.” A slow hand moved to the critter on her shoulder. The squirrel hadn’t needed to be dragged into their mess, and she wasn’t going to remove it from it apparent home either. If allowed to, the girl gently placed her new friend back onto the grass. For Aoi, she managed to smile – a weak, cautious smile, but a smile nonetheless. Just as the wolf-man commanded, she backed away from the group, leaving poor Hideyoshi to fend for himself. Perhaps one day she could apologise to him, but she liked living more than she liked trying to back up a stranger’s insults.

She kept an eye on the group long enough for her to hear their responses before leaving with her fellow villagers. Perhaps next time, fate with gift her with a friendlier gathering – or at least one that could show her where her jutsu was going wrong.

[Topic left, unless interrupted.]​

 

[Hak]

Everyone was leaving.
The Hokage was here. He should leave too.
Common sense was to stop.
Akira’s little mind buried common sense under a big pile of NOPE! NOT DON’T YET!.

Apparently Saki [Now Kei] was trying to stop the young boy by covering his mouth. He whined but hardly struggled and threw more of a temper tantrum than anything else, shortly stopping after Kyo lost his cool as he blinked confusingly at the group. The Hokage was here, the Hokage’s son was here, and an unhinged puppet was here. He would have let it go, he would have dropped it, but Yukio as stuck up as he continued to be basically threw them all under the bus again while also making his sensei look bad. Maru’s words were more of an annoyance than any threatening.

After listening to Yukio’s one sided and extremely biased point of view as well as Maru, Akira struggled against his restrainer as he slipped from her grasps and stood in front of the three Leaf-nin. The boy hardly understood his place as he seemed disgusted with Yukio and Maru’s clearly unprofessional and highly skewed point of view. He will tell the truth!

”Listen. Listen Hokage-sama…listen. I got this. Let me tell you exactly what happened. Let me clear my throat.”. With that, the young boy stood up right, cleared his throat with a loud sound and began speaking.

”Now this is a story all about how
My life got flip-turned upside-down
And I’d like to take a minute
Just sit right there
I’ll tell you how I got into this mess in nowhere.
In the west of Kumogakure born and raised
In the Academy was where I spent most of my days
Chillin’out maxin’ relaxin’ all cool
And all sent to Tea outside of the school
When a puppet from Leaf, he was up to no good
Started making trouble for Asami and group
I got in one little argument, and Yukio got scared
He said I’m the son of Hokage, and I’ll call my daddy here.

I begged and pleaded with him to stop his ways
But he brushed me off and sent Kyo on his way
He gave me some lip and then gave me a threat
I put my fist up and said I might as well fight then

Kumo class said : yo this is bad
Could be drinking orange juice out of a champagne glass.
Is this what the people of Konoha living like?
Hmm, this might not be alright.

But wait I hear they’re prissy, bourgeois, all that
Is this the type of place they just send this bad puppet?
I don’t think so
I’ll see when I get there
I hope they’re prepared for the my classmates of Cloud

Well, the Hokage just entered and when you came out
There was Yukio who decided to call my man Kyo out
He ain’t trying to get jumped yet
He just got here
He sprang with quickness like lightning, disappeared

Kyo called for the cubs and when Hokage came near
The man said Ramen and left us all in the rear
If anything I could say this man was rare.
But I thought “Nah, forget it.” “Yo homes to get food”

I got pulled out since I am only eight
So now I say, “Yo Hokage, see ya later”
I look to my sensei
I’m on my way there
To sit with my teacher, as the boy with free meals.”

As the boy finished his speech…or rap? He bowed as Kuro squirmed out of Saki’s arms, Aoi making her way up the boys back and firmly on his head as they began to march after Kyo, he was intent on spending the man’s life savings on feeding the trio. As he called out for Saki "COME ON!!!


[Topic Left Unless Stopped]

Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Theme Song Credit

 

[Uchiha Takeshi]

Takeshi allowed himself to study the situation for those few seconds it seemed that this situation was not the best one but of course that was something that he was sure could change over time. He sighed slightly as he listened to everyone speak though he had to pause for a few seconds as he allowed the anger to simmer inside of him. He glanced to Yukio and back to Maru, it seemed that the man from cloud spoke first though he allowed himself to sigh slightly, he knew full well that his own village was not completely innocent in this situation and was going to have to deal with that later.

“I do apologize if either of these two have misbehaved themselves. Trust me though I will see that they are reprimanded accordingly for there actions. Though the same must be said for the group here, both sides. First time I meet with you and you want to call people from my village cowards. Probably not a great move, from what I can see I from this situation I expected more from everyone here.”

Takeshi allowed himself a few seconds, he didn’t want to overkill his anger at both sides, it seemed that his casual stroke had turned to something slightly darker. Even he knew that much but he didn’t want to react in a way that would worsen the situation, it seemed that people needed to understand that the situation was unacceptable and maybe Cloud would see there mistakes as well. Takeshi turned around as the back of his hand slammed into the puppets face in those few seconds, he had enough of this.

“Maru, you are hear by ordered to return to Leaf. You have now had your travel privileges revoked and will not be allowed outside of the gates. Clearly you cannot respect others or represent Konaha in a light that makes us seem worthy with our fellow Shinobi here. Report to Tamashii for your discipline action, I will strongly recommend a few days behind bars to sort that attitude out of yours. I have offered you a lot, taught you a lot and this is how you repay that kindness, consider my limits pushed and this is my reaction.”

Takeshi turned back to face the other Shinobi a frown clearly on his face as he considered each of them before turning it back into a smile from the small incident that took place.

“Though at the same time, I would expect cloud shinobi not to judge so quick, was it not one of yours that caused his actions to put your village in a bad light? After all I consider killing another village shinobi and fleeing to go missing almost an act of treason onto itself. But as always, the slate is always clear, and I have no ill will towards the fine Shinobi of your village. So how about myself and Yukio start a fresh slate, we get some food and we actually try to exchange some culture instead of fists?”

Takeshi let the offer go out there, he was willing to pay for the food and make sure that they enjoyed the time together, there was no point wasting an opportunity to learn about others so quickly. Those that wanted to stay would be given the option to eat, that would be removed of Maru for now, as he had a lot to answer for back home. The decision would be the shinobi of cloud’s, but he was here to exchange culture and meet new people not start a fight due to actions taken by heated words.

[OOC: Maru is to go to Tamashii for punishment]
[OOC: Free food offered to all in good will]
[OOC: Akira is stopped within 1 hour time limit]

 

[Sato Yuji]

Saki sighed as thing slowly got worse. She mentally marked down Yukio as the worst of the lot. Even worse than Maru, at least Maru had been upfront about his pettiness, Yukio hid it behind cold distance. It was not hard to pick up on the aura surrounding the group. Once the Hokage showed up the situation changed. When before it had been an immature measuring contest between immature people now it could be classified as an international incident. She did not blame Kyo and Asami for getting out of their as quickly as possible. She also approved of the fact that Kyo was giving them a line out. A way to leave the conversation without giving their village a bad name. What she didn’t approve of was the fact that Kyo did not bodily take Akira with him. She could feel him struggling in her arms, trying to say something. From what she had seen Akira saying something equaled a rising tension. Something that was now to be avoided at all cost. With two of their allies gone, not that she blamed Asami for bowing out, but it put those from Kumo at a clear disadvantage. At least Hideyoshi seemed reasonable, he had stood up for them to the Hokage, something no one else had done.

She nearly cursed out loud when she felt on Akira slip. It turned out not to be as bad she thought. Saki was, dare she say it, impressed. What Akira did requires at least some skills. She was prepared to follow him, well more like prepared to be dragged by him, when they both were stopped. The Hokage was mostly reasonable as well. Yes, both sides were wrong, Saki stared hard at Akira, Kyo, and Asami when she thought that, but the other shinobi were equally at fault. The oldest appearing of them had done nothing to control his student and had done nothing to calm the situation. Saki had expected Maru to make the situation worse, it said something about the state of the village when one of their high ranking members picked fights with academy students, even if the academy students in question were asking for it. At least Maru, the person who had started the whole thing, was getting punished. She stared dully at the Hokage, did he really think anyone in their group could kill one of his. That was a gross overestimation of their abilities. The one who was being the most threatening was an eight-year-old with a puppy and a squirrel.

She really didn’t want to have food with the Hokage but she also didn't feel like she could abandon ship like the other had done. It would come off as incredibly rude if no one stayed around and being rude to a foreign ruler was not something anybody should do. Instead of speaking up she decided to wait it out. If Akira or Hideyoshi, mostly Akira, stayed she would stay as well. If they left she would also leave.
--------
[WC: 508 MFT]

 

[Akechi]

Interesting. Was that the correct word for this series of unfortunate banter? Honestly, Hideyoshi loved meeting new people. Not because he was glutton for geniality but out of necessity. Every time someone opened their mouth, even if they spout nothing but empty platitudes or generalized ignorance, they are provided a bit of information that could be used later. Whether it was a deranged puppet rambling on about nonsense or a Kage’s tone of diplomacy, the opportunity to learn something about them, their nation or something subtler was always present. It was just a laborious matter of sifting through these long soliloquies in search of anything viable…

And sometimes you come away with nothing.

“Hey… the adults are talking,” Hideyoshi replied sharply, glancing over toward the blabbering puppeteer before shifting his focus back toward the Hokage. It wasn’t like he could completely ignore him because he was still very much a threat to the students, but there was no value in what he said. The only thing unique about him was that he was crazy and prone to outbursts that tended to cause problems wherever he went. At least that was what Hideyoshi had gathered by listening to his peers. Instability seemed to be an understatement, and even though they sought to “defend him” in some jaded sense of loyalty to their village, their displeasure of his actions was evident in their admonishment of him. Now he was sent packing… Well, him and whatever he called his talking puppet. Good riddance…

Speaking of departures, the Cloud-nin had all but departed. Though they missed the highroad before, they sure found the exit as soon as the Hokage arrived. The girl that “set the world on fire” saw her light fade into an obscurity, the young pup closed his act in this story with a rhyme, and Kyo had already disappeared into the wind. The only person that was left was Saki, the calmest of the young shinobi with more a bit more courage than Hideyoshi had given her credit for. Then again, it was always the soft-spoken ones that you had to watch out for. Perhaps, Saki was intent on making that parable a reality. Honestly, the man who had mastered the art of the goatee was craving another cigarette blend, but he figured he’d keep it in his pocket… just this once, out of respect for the courage that the girl had shown. “Well, I’m not there student or their father so I’m not sure how much reprimanding I can do. Kids will be kids after all. They spoke out of turn but I’m not sure I blame them… not after being taunted by student and teacher alike,” Hideyoshi commented, his eyes narrowing on their target as his lips stretched into a sly grin. Honestly, this wasn’t a “both sides” type of a situation. A bunch of kids were chillin’ by a tree before being harassed by a crazed puppet and the boy controlling it… or it controlling him. The situation did nothing spiral out of control from there. Then again, perhaps diplomacy was at stake so maybe a more mature approach had to be taken in order to crawl their way into a resolution between foreign nations.

Ultimately, cooler heads needed to prevail because a diplomatic incident started over a territorial pissing contest over a tree wasn’t the best look for anyone. Sure, that may not have been the story at all, but rumors get started and that’s how it would look. ”A King’s duty is to his people. I get it,” Yoshi mused, his voice low but still audible as if he were rationalizing the Kage’s decision to disperse blame amongst both parties as if there some sort of balance wrongdoing. Building a deep sigh, he prepared himself for the act of diplomacy that he was about to commit to. “If anything, I take full responsibility for their actions. It’s my fault for not de-escalating the situation earlier.” Isn’t that what the adults were supposed to do? Take responsibility for the actions of your youth— unconditionally, without excuse, and deal with consequences. That was what Hideyoshi thought anyways. Some puppeteers from Konoha did not feel the same… clearly.

“I must admit. I was curious as to what their reaction to him would be and that curiosity got the better of me. For that, you have my apologies.” Not an admission of guilt on behalf of his fellow Kumo-nin but an apology all the same. Hopefully, that would be enough to close the door on this fiasco. After all, he did want to visit Konoha someday. He heard the Uchihan women get pretty wild there. Perhaps, he’d ask about that later.

“You’re buying?” He giggled, perking up a bit as he brushed his hair back behind his ear and gestured toward Saki. “Well, you’d have to clear it with my boss.”

Taking a moment to let her think, he’d turn to her with a wide grin plastered on across his face. “The kind Hokage wants to treat us to a decent meal. Whaddya say, Saki-chan?” It had to be a clear yes at this point, right? Saki had stuck around when no one else did and all of that squawking amongst her peers must’ve been exhausting.

[WC: 876 / MFT]

 

[Shirai Sadao]

The words Takeshi spoke rang true for all it seemed word shivs were not ready to be put away yet by both parties the Hyuuga simply sighed not wishing to continue the ever growing measuring contest between cloud and leaf one in hindsight he had not helped in preventing it seemed though in his own eyes he was simply stating facts. "Well seems we all have different views of what occurred here, diplomacy not any of our strong suits in these circumstances. So if we're all willing to put down the word shivs myself included perhaps we could move on and start again." Turning on his heels to face the group of cloud Ninja Yukio politely nodded his head slightly.

"Though it is somewhat late at this point I do apologize if Maru here or myself caused any offense. On my part it was not intent I simply stated facts as I saw them blunt by nature you might say though I think we can agree it was all in the interest of making sure our younger generation didn't find themselves in more trouble than they needed to be in thanks to the young Maru here." A swift glare towards the small puppet would follow as much as Yukio would like to give some level of praise for defending him the whole situation may have gone a lot smoother had he simply spoken to them like a normal person rather than spouting his normal arrogant tone like normal.

Taking a deep breath of the fresh air to relax after the whole ordeal it seemed all here would be reprimanded for the actions taken that day however the offer of a clean slate was more than welcome and taking the load off and getting some decent food was a wonderful concept. "I think I would appreciate that, allow us all to simply sit and speak in a more relaxing environment in a similar manner to how i met Kiri upon arriving in tea. I would like to meet and get to know more of those who reside in the same village as that man in a cultural exchange of words and laughter."

There was hope they would take Takeshi's offer the opportunity to sit and speak to them was one Yukio was more than willing to take on without hesitation and with Mature company at that something that was scarce when around Maru as of late his antiques getting somewhat extreme since arriving in tea country.

 

[Midori Futotta]

“And another thing—” Maru would've gone on insulting the cloudies is Takeshi hadn't back handed his little wooden face. Holding his face, he gave a glance up to Takeshi because he didn't really do anything wrong. Along with his little demotion, he was basically being sent back to konoha for a few insults and because some people looked at him as threatening. “But these people AREN'T important though! Plus they were disrespecting Yukio so it seemed fair to show that much respect towards them!” Of course trying to justify his actions wasn't doing much good, so he might as well take his leave. Besides things aren't as interesting now that the cute one had left, too bad.

"Fine I'm outta here.” With that the small doll turned, walking off to another place because he wasn't going to go straight back to konoha. “I'll catch you losers later! Tootles!” He shouted as he walked off, waving bye to the group before diapering into the forest.

….

Walking within the forest, Maru paused for a moment. Creating a snake hand seal, he released his puppet symbiosis to shed the wooden body of the small doll. Dusting off his shoulders, he stretched from being cramped in a small puppet body then rubbed his hands together. “Perhaps head over to the city before I make my exit, wonder who would I meet there.” Maru chuckled, heading off to the City Of Kurosawa to see what kind of fun activities could he get into there. Hopefully there would be some fresh faces there.

[Left topic]
[Taking time getting back to Konoha ]

 

[Sato Yuji]

Saki had to arch an eyebrow at Hideyoshi as he stepped up to take the fall for the lot of them, not that it was much of a fall considering the situation. It seemed the older man also realized the need for diplomacy in this situation. What almost made her laugh was the Hyuuga's deceleration that none of them had been good at diplomacy. Saki would like to think that she had tried, but the other members of the conversation had instead egged the argument on. Sometimes, Kei disliked her age, it made getting people to listen to her very hard. As he continued to talk she had to withhold shaking her head in disbelief. It wasn't the just the "younger generation" who had been increasing the problems.

Saki sighed in relief as the puppeteer took his leave. His parting shots were quite childish, which from was she had seen, was normal for his character. She had to agree that the more immature people in the group shouldn't have abused Yukio as much as much as they did, but it wasn't like the strange doll had been any better. Purposefully acting threating her had also escalated the situation. Watching one of the main instigators leave she turned to look at how the other was handling the situation. This time she had to let out an audible sigh, it seemed the other had fallen asleep against the tree. That actually worked in her, diplomacies, favor. She was about to haul Akira off somewhere as a way to justify leaving when her stomach gave a distinct grumble, it seemed that she couldn't escape. All the stress had made it easy to push down how hungry she had been when she first got out here, but that stress was wearing off causing her hunger to resurface. Deciding she had to take one for the team she pulled out the big guns. Looking at Hideyoshi she answered his question, "It seems my stomach has made the decision for me and who am I to say you can't have food while I eat." Turing to the Hokage and Yukio she addressed Takeshi first, "Hokage-sama, myself and Hideyoshi-san would be honored to have a meal with you and Hyuuga-san." Next, she turned to address Yukio, "I have not had the chance to meet Kiri-san but would be honored to converse with you." This was all said in an exceedingly formal tone and accompanied with polite bows.