Running through the motions [Open]

[Shinobu]

Wind whipping through his hair Shinobu made his way to the top of the southern statue in the valley of the end as a flock of birds soared in the air above him. It had not been long since he returned to Konoha, his childhood home, and Shinobu was spending some of his time reacquainting himself with the land and people. He had spent part of the morning helping a farmer till some of his field, then enjoyed a fresh homemade breakfast from his wife. "ahhh, so amazing, these statues are a feat to admire. I can't believe I almost never came up here before the war. Of course I didn't do much of anything here before that."

Shinobu reached the top of the statues head and raised his arms up above his head as if accepting applause from an invisible and silent audience. "Whewweyyy, that was a nice warm up run, but it's time to get some training in." reaching into the sheathes on his back Shinobu pulled out a stack of sawblade shirukens and began juggling them while doing footwork on the precipice of the statues forehead, leaping forward he landed on the raised hands tip of the index finder. Keeping the sawblade shirukens moving at a fast pace he began to hurl them higher and higher into the air. "stay focused and let the chakra flow like the river below you. Be its master and slave at the same time." as the blades began to absorb his chakra energy they started to take on a life of their own, some swirling and some hovering around him.

"Yes, Yes, keep it up Shinobu." after seemingly dozens of the projectiles hovered and floated in the air around him on chakra currents the man formed handseals and summoned the power of the river. Woosh! A torrent of water rose up from the river to form an Impaling Hydro Jet. Making a slight motion with his hands Shinobu guided the stream of water toward one of the hovering projectiles as he watched it get knocked out of the sky. Motioning again he summoned more and more Impaling Hydro Jet's aiming each one at the center of his floating projectiles as target practice. "I seem to remember back when I was younger how many of the Leaf shinobi used to train together, I guess with the new rebuilding efforts now it would unlikely to find someone else with the time to train beside me... oh well, I can still hope."

[MFT]

 

[Kishiko Nagisa]

He had to be lost.

Kenshin looked around the land and the torn map in his hand. He had been to Leaf a couple of times but that was in the heat of battle being lead by natives. Now that he was on his own, he was sure that this was still outside of the village. How to get to the entrance was going to be trouble.

Kenshin rotated his right arm, the gauntlet made of from a dark steel clattered in the silence. He heard a waterfall churning in the distance and deciding he was too hot for comfort, Kenshin took his direction that way. He ended up kneeling at the river where he was on top of the waterfall. As he approached the giant states, legendary to most of hte village, he noticed he was not alone.

Taking a wet hand from where he had been drinking from the river, he brushed his hand through his hair causing the short silver hairs to stick up a little. He watched as the obviously ninja person use water ninjutsu and shuriken. His grey eyes watched carefully as he finished.

"Hey you! Nice work with that jutsu. You a Leaf shinobi? Recent transfer here and I am lost! Kenshin shouted not wanting to get too close to spook the ninja. Some ninjas are kunai happy and it would be a shame if his first introduction to Leaf was a brawl. Not that Kenshin didn't mind one now and again.

 

[Yaku]

The small girl jumped from the tree and soared through the sky before hitting the branches of the next tree. Several canaries flew out and continued down the river. The young girl jumped out of the tree with a loud thump onto the ground next to the river and followed along with it. She had been chasing after these birds for the last 45 minuets or so, having been on an adventure to see the area. Their was no rhyme or reason for it, it was just a fanciful mission on her part to try and catch one of the birds. Well, maybe not catch, but just follow along. Sara was quite adept at movement, and fast, but long distance strides were another thing entirely for her. The birds were much faster, but weren't able to escape her. The bright birds would get a decent distance away and think it safe, and take shelter until she would pounce onto them from the shadows of a nearby object and have them strike out yet again towards...well it looked like a mountain of some type, but as she got closer, the appearance was different.

The waters she was following started to get turbulent around the time she finally figured out they were human in appearance. Two figures, standing face to face, poised at one another, a great fall distancing them. The area before her a giant bowl like shape, containing the water that fell from them. It didn't seem natural, the bowl. Something was off about it most certainly. She looked up to the statues and saw some a dot and some water spouts ejecting upwards near a hand of one of the statues. The birds she was following swooped at her and she ran away from them, and towards the target. They gave up chase after a few and flew away.

Even as odd as it seemed, someone put a lot of effort into the statues. She wanted to get a closer look at them, and see what was happening over there as well. She wasn't quite sure where she was, but apparently it was popular.

 

[Shinobu]

Focusing on his target practice Shinobu didn't notice the man drinking from the river untill he spoke up. "WHOA!" In a sudden jerk he twisted around and the shiruken floating in the air dropped all at once. Smiling down at the man he listened to the words over the sound of the churning waterfall. Reaching up with his right hand he began scratching his scraggly beard before cupping his hands together and yelling down at the stranger, "Hello there! Aye I am from Leaf." Shinobu gestured to the Leaf forehead protector holding back his tangle of midnight blue hair, the one that was quite obviously too far away for the stranger to see. " Hold on I will meet you down there."

With a sudden leap Shinobu hurled himself off of the statues large finger and down into the river below, almost like a projectile hurtled toward a targer. SPLASH. with a minimal wave and gregarious sound he pierced the waters surface and disappeared. Long moments later he surfaced with a strong breast stroke pulling him against the rivers current and toward the shore of the stranger. Kicking up from the water he chakra walked across the surface of the river and onto the shore next to the white hard shinobi, "Hmmm looks like a shinobi, and has the chakra signature of one. I wonder if hes here to return Home or to answer the call for transfers? Heh I guess either way he'd be a Leaf shinobi just like me."

Reaching out with his right hand he extended it in greeting to the older looking man, "Hello I am Shinobu, if your looking for the way to Konoha I was about to head back, I was going to cool down by swimming against the current with some rocks tied to my belt, the river goes right by the gates in several miles." smiling at the man he turned suddenly as they were interupted by the sound of a flock of birds scattering. Turning toward the noise he whispered to the stranger and said, " Hey, did you hear that? Is someone trying to sneak up on us?" all of a sudden Shinobu's eyes popped open with anxiousness, "Oh no did this guy lure me into a trap?"

 

[Kishiko Nagisa]

Kenshin shook the hand of the man before him.

"The name is Kenshin, Yuu Kenshin. I am a transfer from Stone. Not used to being around here and stumbled upon this place. And I respect a man who trains! I sometimes did somethings similar with my students! Builds muscles. I..." he stopped at feeling what Shinobu was talking about. Someone was definitely sneaking.

Kenshin smiled

"Please act natural. I am not sure who that is. Better not give away that we know. " Kenshin said, his voice low and then he laughed loudly "Yes I am lost. You say this river this way."

In a moment a kunai would be thrown in the direction of the sneak while his other arm was pointing down the river. Regardless if the kunai hit, which he doubted, Kenshin would pivot while putting his hands up in a boxer defense.

"Show yourself! If you want to fight, that can be arranged but I would rather my introduction to this village be bloodless.

 

[Yaku]

She saw the person dive, free falling from the finger of the statue and splash into the water. She changed her direction to see if the guy was okay. From that height, he could have seriously hurt himself. She hoped he was okay. Sara had watched people do that in the stone village, diving from the divide into the turbulent waters, but she never ventured to follow. She had heard stories at the hospitals of those actors ending up with missing limbs, shark bites and collapsed lungs. 'Well, at least he wasn't going to be eaten by a shark. Most likely? Are sharks located in lakes?' The young girl wasn't to sure, though maybe lakes had something similar inside them?

As she got close, she heard the voices of two people ahead and slowed down. They didn't sound distressed. She softly pushed through the brush and could still see them talking to one another. She heard one of them speak oddly and stopped for a moment, having been caught by a twig around her socks and thought about what he said as she looked down. "I am lost..This river this way? What does that mea." A kunai slammed into the tree behind her with a thud. She was still moving away from where it had sliced through the collar on her dress. She hadn't expected to be attacked. The young girl barely dodged, if it could even be called a dodge. The knife was just slightly off from her neck, tearing the cloth around it with ease. If she had been expecting such, she might have even been able to catch the kunai, but a sneak attack. An uncalled for sneak attack, she only could see the weapon after it left his hands. She focused on the two ahead of her, now in more of a fight or flight sense of thought. She was about to pull away when she hesitated. 'No, the village could be in danger.' She turned around and pulled the white mask out of her bag and put it on.

The man spoke telling her to show herself. 'The village was being invaded already! Spies most certainly. Or perhaps.' She saw the forehead protector on one of them and thought for a sec. 'Are they...allies? Or ..it could be.. a fake?!?!' She was hesitant to show herself, but she needed to move from this spot. The whole landscape was within her sight. She didn't even need to move her head and knew the path that would allow sight of them. She jumped back onto a limb of a tree, towards the trunk to lessen the shock. She wasn't well trained in the ANBU arts of stealth maneuvering in the forest, only in the city. She would have to try to do what she could here for now.

There was an open spot to her left with opening all around for a quick silent escape. She jumped to the spot, pulling out her ring as she did so. 'Extra protection..' She needed to sus out their intentions first. She would listen to their words from a distance then decide if they were friends or foe.

 

[Shinobu]

The kunai flew by with a whoosh of air. "Whoa! watch it with that thing!" Just barely back in Konoha and Shinobu was off to a kind of rocky start trying to make new friends. "This could be karma." Not believing his bad luck, Shinobu leered both respectfully and nervously at the skillfully thrown kunai and professional fighting stance his new acquaintance showed off with. Noticing the sneaking stranger with her white mask made him instantly more wary "Why is she wearing a mask? Is it part of their trap?" His muscles tensed instinctively at the idea of a trap.

Stepping back from Kenshin with a slide Shinobu looked back and forth between the two possible enemies. Keeping the river to his back he tried to think fast. "Alright two potential threats in a nearly perfect flanking position, what have you gotten yourself into Shinobu?" peering slyly at Kenshin while still trying to keep his eye on the girl was difficult. A nervous glint in his eyes he called out loud enough for both to hear. "Alright everyone just stay calm and keep your weapons down." keeping his empty hands up he looked back and forth between the two of them slowly. "Having both of them unarmed will make this much easier." A small smirk twitched on his lips.

"Grandpa trained you well for this type of situation." His arm jerked toward his waist with the natural grace of a shinobi's Quickdraw ability, with amazing speed Shinobu reached toward his weapon lined belt and began to draw forth three metallic cylinders.

[MFT]

 

[Kishiko Nagisa]

Well this sucked.

All he wanted to do was to find the village and now he was standing in the middle of a standoff. He had hoped that his would be peaceful even as his "ally" quickly drew a weapon and told everyone to keep weapons down.

Kenshin sighed.

"I am Yuu Kenshin, originally from the Hidden Stone, a Jounin and instructor. I am a recent transfer and have joined the Hidden Leaf village. I was lost and asked Shinobu here for directions when you, one hiding in the mask, were spotted spying on us. I wish no one any harm but will defend myself if need be. Everyone take a deep breath and fully state who you are. That should ease some tension. Here."

Kenshin put his fists down, but his gauntlets were still in place encase he needed to act. He hoped it would not happen since he was trying to integrate into Leaf. Starting a fight at one of their most memorable locations with 2 of the (possible) locals was not a great idea.

Sometimes being a ninja was a pain.

 

[Yaku]

The area grew with a slight intensity, the very air becoming electric. 'Drop my weapon, pshh. Screw that...' Small flickers of lightning fazed around the woman in the mask, putting small insignificant burn marks on the tree behind her. The noisy girl spoke with a pipsqueak ferociousness with a hint of fear, "You say put down your weapons and you pick three up yourself?" She knew all, and saw all, nothing could escape her eyes. The annoyance and fear begotten of the situation sparked a sudden growth in power from her, a small bolt scraping across the tree behind her. "You attack a hapless passerby's and tell them to be calm...then draw a weapon of your own!" She hollers to them with tension in her voice. She mutters to herself, "He must be crazed."

Withdrawing would be a hard option to come by, given it being two vs one. She should call for help on her radio, it was her only decent option in this scenario. She tapped on her earbud and flicked her radio on but then heard the other man speak. 'Hidden Stone? He is an ally? Or was it a trap? He could be trying to lure me in. No, bull shit, won't fall for that...' "So...um... you attack a random stranger, and...and...oh AND!! a Stone ANBU recon operative at that??" The bluff of her own was set. Recon and ANBU should place the idea that she wasn't alone. At least if they were really up to no good it should buy her a chance to escape.

The young girl stood up, The flickering streams of lightning settled around her.

 

[Shinobu]

The nervous glint still in his eye Shiinobu watched as Kenshin lowered his defensive stance and smiled at him as he did. " Good this Kenshin guy knows how to keep a level head." nodding a little he then heard the masked stranger speak and call out on her headset. "You attack a hapless passerby's and tell them to be calm...then draw a weapon of your own" getting a confused furrow on his brow Shinobu turned to the masked woman and called out. "Whao there, neither of us is drawing any kind of weapons?" with a flourish Shinobu finished drawing out the three metallic cylinders.

In a flash three cans of energy drink were in his hand. scratching his beard with his empty hand he held the cans up for both of the people to see. "Heh, no need to worry. My grandfather was a butler, he always taught me the best way to introduce yourself to new friends was to offer a refreshing beverage and to be kind and listen because every person has a story to tell. Sorry though I don't have another for your Stone ANBU recon operative friend, I usually only carry three with me." Looking around the landscape Shinobu tried to peer through the foliage looking "Where is your Stone friend anyways? They should come out and join our impromptu gathering." Pulling his hand down from the scraggly beard Shinobu motioned for everyone to come sit down at the natural rock formations that made a neat little set of seats.

Still smiling broadly Shinobu sat down on of of the rocks with a carefree attitude and gently and easily lobbed each of the two people he could see a can of energy drink. He cracked his own can open and sipped from the fizzy top before speaking up trying to coax the other two into a more comfortable attitude. "Come sit down and tell me about yourselves like Kenshin-san suggested. Here I will start, I am Shinobu of Konoha. I was born and raised in the Village Hidden in Leaves where I trained as a Shinobi. After the civil war I transferred to Stone like so many of my brothers and sisters but I would be surprised if anyone from there even remembered me. I did a good job of keeping my head down and shirking every responsibility I could." the statement seemed to weigh on Shinobu, you could tell there was regret in his voice. "But that kind of behavior was the old Shinobu, now that I have had a chance to return home to Konoha the Will of Fire has been reignited in me. I seek to be a proud and useful member of the village now, no more shirking responsibility or being lazy with my training." with a solid nod of the head the regret in his voice turned to determination.

[MFT]

 

[Kishiko Nagisa]

Now there was lightning. Why couldn't shinobi keep things simple? And now people think he was an ANBU from stone? This is why people don't trust shinobi. One seemingly innocent mistake and BAM there are craters everywhere.

Kenshin would easily catch the drink one handed while still watching both of them. Slowly, he would walk to the circle of stones and pop the top of the drink.

"I don't know about all this ANBU nonsense. Never was an ANBU and never will be if I can help it. I prefer to teach and punch things until they break." Kenshin would say, standing by the circle his arms lax. "As for myself, I have lived in Stone my entire life. My family has strong roots in Stone. I am the first to actually leave. I am taking a risk coming to Leaf but I am determined to show you that I am good at what I do. Turn your recruits into actual fighters worth fighting. If another civil war breaks out, maybe the shinobi of Leaf will respond in kind. Meaning no disrespect of course. If you want to build a strong nation you have to make sure the youth are ready to give it their all. They are the future after all. So please, I would not like to start this day with violence. I do not want to spill any blood on this day. If we have a problem, I am sure Leaf has a place where we can spar and I would be happy to show you a thing or two."

 

[Yaku]

The hairy man offered energy drinks. She had read up on those, some powerful enough to cause heart conditions. Though the people tended to enjoy them to easily. She wasn't sure if they were commercial or privately made, he could have been trying to poison her. She was in thought when he asked about her companion. "My compan.." She said questioningly but then remembered. "Oh, oh him. He is checking out another section. Though he knows where I am.." The young girl said quickly. He motioned for the two of them to join but she was hesitant. He tossed the drink and she almost missed catching it, fumbled it, and fell to her knews just passed the tree line, again lost in thought.

She listened to the first mans story, and examined the drink closely, still unsure of it's safety. She popped the top while he spoke and watched the fizzle and the liquid collect on the rim before it shrunk back inside. She looked up as he spoke about being in stone village, and the shirking of duties but she was more interested in the fact he too was from stone.

Then the other guy spoke. His response was odd. He made it sound like he might have been an ANBU at one point with all his denial, but then stuck to teaching and ....breaking things. She wasn't sure what to make of him. He too was from stone, he liked to teach, and fight, a lot of fighting apparently. Though it didn't seem like he wanted to cause problems outside of passable means.

Maybe they weren't bad guys after all. A moment of silence passed as she sniffed the drink then lifted up her mask a little to take a sip and put it back down. She looked at them as they looked to her and she was confused for a moment. 'Oh, oh',"My turn then?" She pushed off the ground and took a few steps towards them, her shortness being plainly seen now at almost half their size, and weight well below. The tiny thing thought for a moment then said in a seemingly joyful tone, "I too am from Stone. Raised as a doctor of medicine. Joined the academy, went through an attack from some beast on my first week from the Academy. Shortly after that... I went to Mist Country where....apparently I was lost for a long long time. Very long time, don't remember a thing really. Then ended up being apart of the invasion force for the Leaf village after I found my way back to Stone." She snapped back to reality, having taken another sip of the drink after the mist part. "I..."She put her drink down still unsure of the situation. She had to remind herself, 'They attacked me, one of them did. Probably the one that likes to fight! Be wary, remember that. Be wary.'

"What brings you to this side of the pond?" Some force behind her words could be sensed.

Spoiler

Mask

 

[Shinobu]

Slowly sipping on his energy drink Shinobu paid close attention to the two as they spoke. "uh hu, yes, Hmm, Kenshin-san seems to be confused about the ANBU recon ops guy. Ehh it seemed a little odd that the medical girl would mention someone actively in ANBU, that is probably why." taking a larger swig out of the energy drink can he belched slightly as he continued to evaluate his new comrades. "hmm I am starting to like this Kenshin dude, as much as I don't like his comment on Leaf not having 'actual' fighters during the civil war he is correct in saying that we could have used more training, I know it was true for me at least." reaching up to scratch his scraggly beard he waited as the girl in the medical mask finally stepped forward and began to speak. "Interesting, both of them are from Stone. I guess we should be appreciative of the extra help, that and it just offers a chance to ignite the Will of Fire in more shinobi." smiling as she spoke Shinobu gently started to bend the tab on his energy drink.

Shinobu stayed sitting down as he folded his legs up underneath himself and got more comfortable on the rock. " Wow, it is so nice to have Stone allied with Leaf, I feel like I would have never gotten to return home if it weren't for that help. If no one has said it yet then let me be this first. Thank you! both of you and every other Stone shinobi that helped make Leaf a home again. I just wish the Daimyo would have been caught, once that happens we can begin to put all of this behind us." still gently bending the tab on his energy drink back and forth Shinobu hummed a little and then turned to Kenshin. " I must say Kenshin-san I like the way you talk about training. Now that I have dedicated myself to being a productive shinobi I have found my training to be a bit lacking. I just recently learned what summoning's were and even then I am still confused on several details there. I want to change that though, I want to train like I mean it now. Any tips pointers or advise you could offer would be much appreciated." getting a mischievous grin on him face Shinobu finished bending back the tab on the energy drink enough that it snapped off in his hand. He picked the tab up with just his pinky finger and gracefully spun it around like a toy. Turning to the girl in the medical mask he nonchalantly made a motion like he was tossing the tab in her direction using only his pinky while he spoke, with a zip the tab ignored his obvious motion toward the girl and it arced toward Kenshin. "And you silly-chan, I will answer your question of what brought me here to the 'pond' once I get a name from you."

[MFT]

 

[Kishiko Nagisa]

'Still a stand off. What a bother. If we could all relax that would be...'

Kenshin saw the tab and easily caught the tab. He smirked.

"Not the first time I have caught someone throwing something at me. Normally, it is a student throwing something at me to see if I really am the ninja I say I am. Normally, I would give you 100 laps around the school for that. As warm up of course. Pity you aren't a student of mine or at least not yet. As for your question about summoning, it is something I have only read about. I do not have a summoning contract. The most summoning I do is items and such. Still, it never hurts to know more. And as for "silly-chan" here, I do apologies for throwing that kunai at you. If you are going to sneak around, you should be prepared to be caught and react. If I had been serious, I would not have missed. Now, I think we can all agree we are friendly here."

He put his fits on his hips and sat down finally. He placed the drink on a nearby stump.

 

[Yaku]

It was an odd action. The man thanking them for attacking his home. She didn't know all the details behind the why of their attack, or whom they were after originally. It seemed the Daimyo of this country was to be their target, and they failed. That was good to know, but it didn't bother her much. She did what was required of her. The reasons behind what she was doing weren't of importance, but that she was doing her job, saving her allies, and helping the enemy if it was deemed allowed was enough for her. She wasn't wise enough to think fully into her actions that day, or of her country.

Shinobu started to hum, playing with the can in his hands. Something seemed off about this man, most of the people that she met, especially those that were fanatics about training, tended to...not be so upbeat all the time. 'Maybe that was just the way Leaf people were? All smiles and sunshine?' He started to talk about summoning. His questioning aimed at Yuu Kenshin. With the sound of a clink, he pulled the tab off his drink and started to spin it on his finger. It was impressive. She looked at her drink wondering if she could pull such off. He flung the cap, she watched as the other guy caught it and didn't react. Shinobu spoke again, and she looked back up after he said answer your question.

She thought for a second, what did he say before? 'an...an...chan?' Yuu spoke next and said what she had misheard. "Silly-chan? Wha?" It didn't make sense to why she was being referred to as such. Though she didn't have a problem with what he was saying. Sara pulled her mask off and stowed it away. While doing so she spoke with some anger. "First, I wasn't sneaking, I was walking through the woods dude. This isn't some flat ground. These plants are huge. Not everyone uses their chakra to get around or is a power lifter like yous two. Next..If IIII had been serious...the small girl smiles. I guess you're one of those ninjas that are just kunai happy. Could never get into the art myself." A moment passed then she remembered. "Oh, friendly ya. Name. Um.. Yaku Sara. And um...sorry about that ANBU thing. A small girl can never be to careful alone in the forest obviously..." She shook her head with disappointment in her eyes. "I will have to remember that."

His question on summoning was the next thing on her mind. Along with why they were both here. He had asked the guy, was that meant to be an open statement? Should she respond. Sara had never taught anyone, teaching had never crossed her mind. She reluctantly started to answer, "I...I know some..something about sum..umining. Is that why you are here? To find a friend?"


OOC: Will try to respond faster.

 

[Shinobu]

Shinobu listened to the two talk while finishing off his energy drink with a large series of gulps that left a bit of a dripping mess down his beard, he looked over and noticed both of them were just sipping theirs. He shrugged and wiped his mouth and beard with his sleeve, the energy drink drippings and bit of dirt in his beard just left an additional stain on his uniform. "Hmm, I bet they think the drinks could be poisoned, that is probably why they are not drinking much. Ehhh I can't blame them, this whole situation started off pretty rocky. I guess it is kinda everyone's job to foster the bonds of our alliance, it will take time to be solid but in the end will be worth the effort." With a smile he looked from Sara to Kenshin and nodded along with their words.

As they finished he looked over to Kenshin first, "Ha, only one hundred laps? I go on a four hour run every morning, even on days when I do not train, endurance training is kinda my specialty. When I was a young student here in Leaf they used to call me Shinobu the Runner, it started out as a mockery but I embraced the verbal attacks and made the title my own. Now I don't run away from challenges anymore, I run towards them!" Turning back to Sara he was surprised as she took off her mask and revealed her darker purplish blue eyes that appeared iridescent. "Huh? She's just a kid? But her chakra signature... its, its, stronger than mine. Uhhgh, I gotta train more." with a disappointing furrow of his brow he looked at her "You are right Sara-chan, you should not be wandering around the forest alone, but kids like you make stupid mistakes all the time. Don't be too hard on yourself though, trust me when I say I have made much stupider mistakes and I turned out pretty great!"

Shinobu reached up and pushed back a clump of greasy hair as he spoke, the motion revealed an old tear in the underarm of his uniform and a bit of dried mud in his hair that he let fall near his feet. "As to the question of what I am doing here, well I was not planning on trying to find friends out here today, but the surprise of meeting you two has changed that. I hope we continue to work together here in Leaf and can become true friends. I originally came out here just to train though, a little target practice with my water jutsu atop the statues. I haven't been here since returning to Leaf and have really enjoyed getting to know my home again." Smiling he showed off his surprisingly pearly white teeth that seemed to gleam with a clean shine missing from the rest of his appearance. "So Kenshin-senpai, if you are half the teacher you claim to be I would be really interested in doing some training under your guidance. My old sensei died during the civil war and I have been on my own now for years. My time in Iwa was squandered on sake and women so I have a lot of catching up to do."

 

[Kishiko Nagisa]

A misunderstanding at least somewhat cleared. Kenshin sighed again and fully dropped his guard, or as much as he ever did. Hopefully the rest of the introductions in Leaf were not as tumultuous.

"It is nice to see your face Yaku Sara." Kenshin said with a slight nod. So young to be fighting. At least she seemed capable. Well, I hope she knows when to fall back. It could have turned very deadly here.

"For you, Sara, I would teach you one little thing from our encounter. You should study your opponent before committing such a strong stance against them. Sometimes, a foe is simply too strong and you have to fall back. I have lost students and friends this way. This has stayed peaceful becuase I wanted to diffuse the situation. If I had been pushed... Kenshin flexed what seemed to to be his entire body and at the same time, released a massive amount of chakra (PL is capped. Over 9000!?!) As quickly as it flared up, it backed down to normal levels of chakra. "I assure you I would have given you a little more trouble than you thought. However that is water under the bridge and I hope we can work together some time."

Kenshin shifted his attention to Shinobu

"As for you, Laziness is not tolerated from this point onward. You are to follow my training schedule and orders. Know that discipline form me is more rigorous training. I will not harm your body, at least not permanently, and will make sure you grow to be a fine shinobi. We all have some new responsibilities and duties and I think it would do us well to sharpen what skills we have. A future awaits us and it will come to us regardless if we are ready or not."

 

[Yaku]

The two men started to size each other up, one would say I do this, then the other would retort with a more impressive response. Anything you could do, I could do better mentality was quite typical of Stone Shinobi. Were leafies the same? She couldn't understand such competition. She held less of a mentality of doing better then those around her, and more of a doing better then she had done prior type of response. Probably something that will get her killed one day, traveling through the woods, alone..

The part she said about knowing how to summon was missed, but she wouldn't bring it back up. Shinobu responded to her risk taking, and called her stupid. She didn't appreciate the outright slap in the face. An apparent lack of appreciative scowl on her face was plain as day but she breathed in deeply and then out, trying to remove the ill feelings. He spoke again, this time explaining the situation that lead him to here. He spoke of his heritage again, and the longing to finally be back and visit the sights. Sara looked up at the waterfall and could understand the appreciation of such, calming even further as she listened to the sound of the water drop in the background. As he spoke again, she muddled the sound of water to hear his words. His...very disturbingly valgur words. A drunk and lecher...yep she was in the wrong crowd. More so since he didn't seem to mind what he said in the presence of a child. Perhaps it was his looks that swayed her thoughts further into darkness. She felt fortune smiled that he didn't delve into details of such.

Kenshin decided to mention something Sara was in great need of, and went onto prattle about how she needs to learn to not be so, threatening? Or rather, to observe her circumstances more so. She was being massively misunderstood. Adults and their disqualification of children through intelligence...It was bothersome to say the least. Underbreath she spoke, "I wasn't trying to sneak up on you guys...jeez." Though she understood why he challenged her when he released a portion of his strength in show. His intent didn't feel threatening, but she could feel the force of what he could do as she watched him internally, the chakra flowing through him quickly and with little obstruction. He was obviously well trained. Though with his show, she wasn't rattled, she didn't even blink. He gave her assurance, as how she saw it, that he was truly powerful, perhaps because of her lack of change in demeanor. He went onto describe his plans for Shinobu. A plan of action and training. It seems he wished to take the roughed up wildernessy looking man under his wing. She wasn't sure though what he meant by 'A future awaits us and it will come to us regardless if we are ready or not? What was he hinting at?' "What does that mean? Regardless if we are ready or not?" She looked over him again, remembering now that he was of a higher rank then her, plenty so. Perhaps he had knowledge of something that wasn't prevue to those as low as she. "Do you know why we are truly here in this village and whats to come?"

 

[Shinobu]

Shinobu looked over at Sara after his comments and saw the lack of appreciative scowl on her face, plain as day, concerning his critique of her choices. "ehhh hope she didn't take offense, I think everyone is stupid equally." He started to think about apologizing how he did not mean to offend when Kenshin spoke up and agreed to train him. "Oh wow, hes agreeing. What? orders and schedules, hmm what did I get myself into?" Still sitting cross legged on the rock Shinobu watched Kenshin flare up with chakra energy and dropped his jaw in surprise. "He has definitely got some things to teach me, and I definitely need to train more!" Looking over to Sara he saw her stoic response to Kenshin's flare of power. "Those piercing eyes and solid demeanor, yeah this is one kid that I don't want to piss off." He listened to her question about Kenshins comments and looked over to the Jounin as well.

"Huh, yeah Kenshin uhhh... Sensei, what does that mean? All I know is the evil Daimyo escaped, I would love nothing less than to be involved in taking him down if he's found!" Shinobu's words went from surprised and unsure to determined as he began to speak of the Daimyo, then a realization came across his face and he said "Oh right no more laziness! I'm on it Sensei." With a quick hop up Shinobu stood on the rock and then flipped into a handstand. Turning around slowly with his palms gripping the rock he faced the other two while upside down. His long still wet hair fell down like a shifting mop head against the rocks surface as he began to do vertical handstand push-ups while asking two more questions. "Oh and Sara-san, did I hear you mention something about summoning? Can you tell me more?"

 

[Kishiko Nagisa]

Kenshin shifted his stance again. So many questions. At least his newest pupil required no prompt to get started. Saved himself some extra laps... for now. Sara also asked about what was coming. He did outrank them but he only knew the basics.

"The meaning is clear, there is an evil daimyo out there and until he is put down there will be conflict in Leaf. Once we know where he is and formulate a plan, we will deal with this threat as shinobis do. Until then ,we nee to be ready. Once we know, we have to act before they know we know. As a Jounin, I know I wlll be part of the strike force. If you two are lucky enough, you will join in on the attack, one that is guaranteed to be dangerous and could very well cost you your life. Once the die has been cast, there is no undoing it. Train, be aware. Watch for anything weird and make sure to pay ATTENTION."

As Shinobu would be doing his handstands, an Air Bullet would fly out of his finger he suddenly pointed at Shinobu. Kenshin would see what would happen to the young shinobi.