Open Song among the trees [Open]

[Ayeka]

Within the outer reaches of the forest of death was a large and lonely oak tree situated within a glade. Large and imposing this tree had stood sentinel for many hundreds of years experiencing both the good times within the village and the bad but always enduring a solitary experience with its massive branches outstretched but that was until a new creature decided to make this tree it's home. A young girl with pure white hair, that flowed down her back in long waves which despite it's clean and crisp colour was full of twigs and leaves down its length but despite that the plant life hadn't seemed to have died was living in symbiosis within the girls hair. Sitting beneath the tree surrounded by large knotted roots that seemed to actively moving as if protecting the girl. The young Senju herself was the picture of serene silence while she mediated in a cross legged position with her hands currently folded into a focusing sign in front of her that was held at chest height. Despite this position her body was absolutely still with not even so much a twitch giving off the sensation that she was fully immersed and apart of the nature currently surrounding her and such otherworldly stillness made it seem like the girl had died in this position except for the fact that every so often the pigmentation underneath her closed eyes would change to a deep red colour before flickering as if the girl was trying to summon something but she wasn't able to grasp the goal she was trying to reach.

Meanwhile her surroundings were being affected by whatever training she was doing as the roots around her writhed as if they were searching for threats to their source of nourishment meanwhile the glades grassy floor was experience an explosive growth of flowers of all types before the flowers would then petrify and crumble to dust in a matter of seconds before the process would then repeat without ever disturbing the child's meditation.

[MFT]
WC: 385

 

[Toshi]

”Very interesting.” The boy piped under his breath. First there was the girl that had time to find a nap in the forest. He remembered doing the same in his younger days, despite the instruction that younger kids were restricted from the area. Of course his bold nature caused him to enter, and he knew it were at his own risk. But what really had him intrigued was the vegetation in the area. This time it wasn’t because of him, but rather, it seemed natural.

He sat atop a tall branch of the forest’s lonely Oak Tree, enjoying the view. Of course the second reason he stayed so high in the trees was because he wanted to make sure that he wouldn’t be called out by a superior for his mistake of entering the forest. He didn’t know this younger girl, but he knew that she’d probably be in some deep trouble if a higher up had caught her first. Toshi, on the other hand, admired her courage.

She seemed to be sleeping, so he didn’t want to bother her peace, but he did want to get her attention. Instead, he went through a few hand seals and summoned a gentle breeze to sweep through the area. He would attempt to remove the plant life from her hair with the wind, and if she awoke, she’d see the leafs and twigs that were within her hair trail up to Toshi’s position. It was a gentle way to say hello, and let her know that another’s presence was within the area.

Of course there was the chance that she’d stay in her slumber, but he’d cross that bridge when and if he got there.

 

[Inuzuka Keiyaku]

Sniff sniff.

Keiyaku knew that scent. How could he forget it after spending an entire night-time gate duty shift marching up and down alongside it. The young Shiba puppy and unformed ANBU recruit were on official business on the border of the Forest of Death, perched in a tree and maintaining a watch over the general vicinity. The outbreak of vicious monsters being chased out of the woods by some mysterious force had, for the time being, been curtailed, but there was still a general anxiety among many of the villagers; Keiyaku had been dispatched to help keep watch over this portion of the area, his and Morutobu's keen noses adept at penetrating the dank, abyssal darkness beyond.

His eyes scanned the area carefully, predatory instinct kicking in, perusing for any trace of colour that perhaps should not be present. Both boy and dog hopped silently from tree to tree, a layer of Chakra concentrated into both foot and paw, making their steps soft and silent like a sand cat in the dunes, the boy with his Wolf Mask hiding his face. The scent was growing closer as the duo skirted the edge of the border in an arch-like route until finally.

'Dove...?'

A subtle trace of white and black gave away his colleague's position. Moru looked up at the same time, head stilted in curiosity. Then, the dog's head dropped, looking down to whatever the other boy had been focusing on. He nudged Keiyaku's leg, who did likewise. There she was. Just beneath a large oak, a silvery haired girl sat in silent contemplation, perhaps meditating, the various flora and grass coming alive around her. Not wanting to make too much noise and risk scaring her away, Keiyaku tapped Moru on the head and pointed up at Dove, communicating with his eyes alone. With the bird-like grace, the Shiba puppy glided up to the higher branches until he was faced with the boy. He tapped him on the leg, pointing down to Aria with his paw, giving him a look which clearly said:

'What are you doing here? Did they send you out too?'

 

[Ayeka]

Aria was still deep in her meditations as two figures entered into the glade not that she would have noticed even if she wasn't meditating as the future Anbu moved with unnatural grace in order to conceal themselves among the trees. However the trees themselves had taken notice of the two boys and had become wary of the ninja, They were dangerous o the forest as their kind was known to burn many of their kin or fracture them with strength not to mention the many other ways ninja have harmed or killed them over the years in their fights, especially within this forest. However the girl was different not because she was kind or took special care of the forest but because what ever she was doing was nurturing the nature around her and the forest was loathe to give up any form of nutrition when it was offered.

So when one ninja released a gentle blast of wind to awaken the girl, The great oak was quick to react. A pulse of something that was chakra but not chakra passed over the clearing and the roots of the oak tree shot up encasing the white haired girl in a gentle embrace causing her to disappear from view as the tree formed a barrier of wood around her letting the wind roll off the wood. For a moment silence descended over the clearing as the air seemed to darken and the shadows among the trees lengthened as a low groan of wood sounded among the forests eves as if the forest around them was taking notice of them and shifting to press down on the two ninja. Another moment of silence passed as the branches below them seemed to bud for a moment before the blossoms exploded into branches of wood sharpened to points and aimed to skewer both ninja and the dog that was with them.

 

[Yume Izanami]

"C'mon! it'd be fun! I mean, why would they call it Forest of Death?" Crush, Mitsuha's turtle contract pulled her along, despite being less than half of her height. "My home, the Coffee Republic, is actually a forest, but you don't see pots of coffee lying randomly about the forest, now did you?'

The turtle did have a point, but Mitsuha had been warned once already that such a place was off limits to people of lower ranks, despite being told so by another academy student. "I still can't just waltz right in! Not until I'm a higher rank."

"Ah! Rank, shmank! You humans are weird to have such rules so similar to the ones we turtles have in Coffee Republic." The turtle kept talking, but Mitsuha's eyes were focused on something else. She's been in this part of the Forest once before and.... There seemed to be a weird stillness. It seemed that Crush also had felt as if something was off. "Toss me, use that chakra thing you got to toss me in that direction." He pointed where, unbeknownst to Mitsuha, was Toshi.

She did however, notice a masked boy and a familiar puppy. Seeing something move out of the corner of her eyes, her body flexed, her training that she had undergone with her butler coming into fruition. Grabbing Crush, her retreated into his shell as she quickly amplified her strength with chakra to send him flying, before jumping up to the masked boy and puppy, forming bones all over her body and a small wall in front of her to absorb the brunt of the attack.

Branches would break through her bone wall and hit her as she stifled out a scream but knew she would be fine since her bone armor took most of the attack. Bits and pieces of bone would fall off, showing her skin and clothes, along with her signature green hair. Her body moved on it's own, she was very well aware of the position that she was put in, but she didn't dare speak, again, people aren't really her forte.

Meanwhile Crush had intercepted the attack aimed at Toshi. He got out of his shell, walking weirdly obviously dizzy. "WHOOOO! Did you see that?!" He would exclaim to Toshi. "That was EPIC!!! Hey, if the forest decides to attack you again, throw me! It's so much FUN!"

(Entered topic along with my turtle contract, Crush)
(Edit: just want everyone to know Crush sounds like Will Ferrell)

 

[Toshi]

Noticing Moru, the boy began to look for Kei, but before spotting him, Moru pointed to something across the way. The boy tilted his head as he looked, he noticed the girl as well. However at this point, he noticed something… strange. ”Wai- Huh?” Twas the boy’s initial reaction as he saw the wild life swallow the girl up. He thought of what he was supposed to tell the others. ’Yeah man, I was in the forest taking a chill pill when this girl got ate by a whole tree.’’ He began to rub the back of his head, messing up the already messy hair of his. ”Uhh, you saw that too right?” He asked Moru, still unable to believe what he saw.

Sounds of the forest began to rattle the boy. He bent down to scoop up Moru, if he was willing, and put the pup on his shoulders. ”Hang on boy.” He’d jump down from the branch that he was perched on. As he descended he went through a few hand seals, upon completion, ice crystals began to materialize, forming an ice slide that would smoothen the two’s ride down to the forest floor. Landing on his behind, the two would slide down, the boy doing a mid air back flip and landing gracefully on the forest floor, catching the landing and bending to his knees. Now kneeling, Moru jumped off the boy’s shoulders and ran off to Kei. He’d easily find him knowing his master’s scent. The boy smiled at him, but it wasn’t over.

He looked back up to see wood shrapnel headed his way. ’Oh no, I’ve upset the forest.’ Chakra began to surround the boy, but hearing a scream took his attention. His eyes widened as he saw something that resembled a shell from one of those Mario brothers games headed his way. He braces for impact, but the shell’s true motives were to take the attack of the wood shredders.

The boy blinked a few times, making sure he was still living reality. A turtle popped out of the shell, in a daze, from what the emerald eyed boy thought to be the rapid spinning maneuver that saved him from such an attack. He would move over to the turtle and pick out any wood that was stuck in it’s shell. From the way he spoke, he sounded like a fun one to be around. The boy chuckled upon hearing the turtle’s view.

”The forest has probably calmed down now. I really appreciate the help little dude.” He couldn’t help but think ’Cool a flying ninja turtle!’ But his emotion quickly shifted as he remembered he heard a scream earlier. He turned to the source of where he heard the sound, but there was no one there. ’Hmm, they must have run away.’

The boy then looked over to where the tree swallowed up the girl. He figured he’d investigate and move over to her. With the turtle in hand he proceeded with caution. ”Hey are you alive in there?” The boy would ask, wondering if she was ok.

[ MFT | WC: +500 ]

 

[Kiriyomi]

Kiriyomi was extremely uneasy, knowing that he wasn't supposed to be out in the Forest of Death. It was forbidden for students to enter, and he would get in trouble were anyone to find him here. But push had come to shove, he had to prove to Shusuke that he could materialize his Cursed Seal before the exam so that he could be worthy of protecting the village. So he had entered the forest, seeking out danger in any form. Unfortunately, so far, he and Kohara had yet to encounter anything of the sort. Instead, he found various species of bugs that he hadn't found outside this area. Intrigued, he wandered around aimlessly, admiring every little beetle and worm.

As he was walking over to observe a particularly interesting stick bug, he heard a scream pierce through the air. Finally! Someone needs to be saved! Hopefully they're okay, but this could be just the push that I need. I had better hurry over there! Kiri would jump up into the branches of the forest around him, careful not to break any stray branches along the way. He knew that his friend Akio loved this forest as much as any other, and would be upset if he were to harm any of its inhabitants. Darting off in the direction he had heard the scream come from, Kiri would pull up short as he stumbled across an odd scene before him. There was an odd looking turtle, walking alongside a boy that was talking to a tree. I mean, I suppose it's not too weird, is it? I talk to insects all the time, especially Kohara. But what is that boy doing talking to that giant ball of roots? Maybe I should hang back, he definitely wasn't the one that screamed.

[Topic entered | MFT: 298]

 

[Inuzuka Keiyaku]

Moru nodded as the boy explained what was going on, eyes moving periodically to the girl below. He was just about to turn his head away when Dove's reaction startled him. All the same, he nodded his head to confirm he had indeed just seen the forest swallow the girl. Of course, he had no idea why this might be when-

'Shit.'

Tearing his eyes away from Moru and Dove talking above him to look back down at the girl, Keiyaku saw something rather surprising. Some sort of self-preservation reflex had kicked in and the forest hade seemingly begun to protect her, forming a tight shield around her which would surely prove nigh-impossible to penetrate. As he looked back up at Moru one more time, and then back down, he barely had a second to react. He leapt.

'Motherf-'

Keiyaku growled as he felt a piece of wooden shrapnel rip into his shoulder; it wasn't exactly big but it still hurt something nasty. His immediate concern was for his little brother. Opening his mouth, he let out a strange noise as he began to descend from the treetops. It was halfway between a growl and a howl, which carried quite far through the trees. Moru let out a similar noise in response, at which point the Inuzuka boy caught sight of him, feeling an immense sigh of relief that Dove had pulled him to safety. Upon his return to big brother's side, the pup certainly looked grateful, but Keiyaku there were very few he'd let hold him like that. There wasn't enough time to think though; so many things were happening at once; Dove seemed distracted by the sudden appearance of a small turtle, a semi-familiar girl has leapt into the trees, and... he could smell someone else too. Just when he was about to investigate, however, he caught sight of his colleague.

"DOVE!"

His voice carried easily through the clearing, but nonetheless, Keiyaku had dropped to all fours and was running, Morutobu sprinting alongside him. One great jump and...

Crash!

He'd pounced on Dove and yanked him to the ground as a tendril-like branch, sharp as a spear, suddenly ejected itself from the protective barrier, protecting its occupant, narrowly missing skewering Dove. He was face-to-face with Toshi now as he tried to get his bearings. With no thought about what he'd done, he leapt off him and resumed his all-fours position, facing the barrier. This all made sense now - he knew what Aria could do with plant-life and he could smell that unique Senju chakra on her as easily as he could a fresh hog-roast in the middle of a wheatfield. Maybe she wasn't doing this on purpose... maybe she'd simply fallen asleep and was doing this unconsciously.

He looked over at Dove.

"Dove. We gotta wake her up. We'll work on breaking through the wood," he began, gesturing to himself and Moru, "see if you can make a dent, or make a loud enough ruckus to wake her up... I don't know how tough this stuff is. You got any Genjutsu maybe? We could scare her awake!"

With a single handsign, both Keiyaku and Moru began to change.

"Tanuki, let's hit it! Inuzuka-style: Human-Animal Synchronisation!"

Keiyaku's claws were lengthening now, as were the fangs hidden behind his mask. His slit-pupilled eyes seemed to narrow still further. At the same time, Moru, or rather, 'Tanuki', had been enshrouded in a puff of smoke which, when cleared, showed that he had transformed into an identical version of his big brother. Communicating through a series of grunts and growls, they jumped seamlessly through the air, doing a strange kind of high-five, mid-jump. Using the momentum from bounding off one another, the pair began to spin rapidly until they were nothing more than two greyish, drill-like whirlwinds, ravaging the wooden barrier.

"Tunnelling Fang!!"

 

[Ayeka]

The Oak tree's invisible eyes gazed over the assembled humans as they evaded the warning strike, it had sent at them and even dared to approach to free the young girl that was empowering the tree to such an extent. Not liking the audacity of the humans it decided to finally get rid of them as one human and his ninken companion transformed themselves, and readied a massive attack that made the tree nervous about losing it's charge currently held among it roots. A pulse of natural chakra once again invisible to the human eye emanated from the tree as it commanded the forest itself to defend it with the authority of the girls own chakra being called forward.

[With Mitsuha]

The forest seemed to sense that the girl was off centre as the Kaguya's bones broke beneath the trees initial attack, leaving her standing partially covered in armour while she recovered from what had most likely been a very taxing ability to use in such a short time frame. Capitalizing on that the ground rumbled beneath Mitsuha's feet as the grass around her seemed to borrow down disappearing from the surface and causing the ground to lurch. Suddenly the ground beneath Mitsuha fell away into a large sinkhole. The hole was filled with a mass of rapidly undulating roots covered in large and sharp blades that promised to tear any flesh that they could get their coils on.

[With Toshi and Crush]
The tree felt the vague notions of anger as it's sneak attack failed on the green eyed child due to the timely intervention of the bestial child, who was now attempting to mount an attack on the cage that was keeping it's new power tied to it. Deciding to divide and conquer, Toshi would unexpectedly find the very blades of grass beneath his feet turn into very real blades as the grass suddenly grew to gargantuan size and attempted to impale the boy from underneath, with the fibres of the plant now being compressed into a razor sharp blade. The onslaught would continue until the boy got away from the grass or until he would destroy the surrounding plant life. Crush would find himself under attack by a tree nearby that had turned into a gaping maw and attempted to bite down on the turtle. If successful the tree would not be able to break the turtles hard shell but would find himself being shook around by the tree like a dog that had found a new toy.

[With Kiriyomi]
The oak tree had not failed to sense this boys presence but didn't view him as a threat as he had yet to do anything. So instead the boy would find the branch that he was perched on, decide to do an impression of a snake as it came alive, twisting and turning around the boy as it tried to coil around him. If successful the boy would be slammed into the trunk of the tree and held there until the oak was ready to deal with him.

[With Keiyaku]

"Tanuki, let's hit it! Inuzuka-style: Human-Animal Synchronisation!"

"Tunnelling Fang!!"

This boy had been deemed as the largest threat to the oak tree as he transformed alongside his companion into a massive grey spinning drill. Unfortunately the tree couldn't move the shell surrounding the girl again so quickly, nor could it shore up it defences enough to outright whether the attack. Luckily for the tree a one dimensional attack from one side could be countered easier than if it was ganged up on, which it was desperately trying to avoid by keeping the others busy. As the twin drills neared the shell the Oak tree released a massive amount of vines from his branches and created a thick curtain of plant life that planted itself into the ground like cable. The cables would slow and absorb the impact from the Inuzuka duo until they found themselves either getting tangled in the thick curtain or bounced back. If they got tangled the vines would quickly attempt to suffocate it's victims by cinching around their necks.

 

[Yume Izanami]

The young Kaguya had barely any time to really react. Grabbing her spine, she threw it out of her body to latch it onto a high branch nearby, swinging and landing on a high ledge. She would form hand seals and breathe in. Once she exhaled, she would shoot out a fireball aiming at the ground that threatened to swallow her up, specifically the mouth of the very earth. The girl would deactivate her bone armor, the exterior bones turning into fine dust as it fell down the gaping maw of the ground.

The girl would look around as more things kept happening around her. Other people here, one actively attacking a large tree. She bit her lip. Why now, of all times that people have to be here! Now she has to work on her social skills all the while figuring out what in the actual Genjutsu was happening right now.

"G-Guys!" She managed to blurt out. "I-I don't know any of you... But it might help if we work as a team for whatever is going on!"

Over at Crush, he exclaimed once the forest quite literally became alive all around them. "Wow Prince charming to the rescue for the damsel in distress, can he and his new turtle friend, Gamera, fight off the cursed forest that wants turtle soup?! THROW ME PRINCE CHARMING!!!" Crush would yell out excitedly.

 

[Toshi]

The boy’s emerald eyes met back up with Kei’s eyes as he noticed the attack that that missed him. He still held on to crush, letting the turtle out of his clutches. He regained his focus, watching as Kei seemingly chased after the attack. There was no time to waste, it seemed Jackal was already out solving the case of the events. He even rooted what was causing the ongoings in the area. The young sage stood up once more. ”I don’t believe that’s the best way.” He called out to Kei. He knew hurting it wouldn’t calm down the forest’s startled emotion. Genjutsu was out of the question because he didn’t mean to frighten the girl. ”Maybe if we stop attacking, it’ll stop attacking us.” The boy knew that if they continued fighting, the situation could get dangerous.

As he began to feel a stifle on his leg. He looked down to see the grass growing underneath his feet. He quickly leapt upwards, now looking around for Crush. To see him in the clutches of a tree. ”Hold on Crush! You are an incredible warrior, and I will not let you be taken under by the Earth.” A ripple began to form in the Earth. As the ripple grew and opened, small mounds of dirt and rock began to pile together. Earthly minerals began to splash about the immediate area. He looked over to Crush to see rocks begin to lift the tree from off of the ground. After letting go of Crush, the tree would be replanted where the ripple had closed itself.

The girl that wanted to endorse a sense of unity was correct. Working as a team had already proven beneficial to solving this problem. Something had to be said to this forest to keep everyone safe.

Crush was now standing next to Toshi on top of the debree. It looked as though they would be okay for a couple of moments. They needed something to get their point across. Something that said, ”Gentle creation, we are not here to harm you, but we are children of peace. We only wish you well!” The boy did a backflip after his statement, landing gracefully back upon the rock.

Water began to form from the vapors of mist that were in the air. A splash of it would heal the tree that Kei just attempted to attack, showing water’s grace. Hopefully the healing effect would display the true feelings, and nature of the two lads. Crush’s latest statement might have even stopped the trees from destroying everyone and create a new phase of peace.

 

[Kiriyomi]

Kiri watches in surprise as the forest comes alive and starts to attack the various others surrounding an odd ball of roots. He vaguely recognizes Mitsuha from the lunch at the Academy a while back, but the others are strangers to him. What strikes him as odd is that at least one of the others was wearing an odd mask, from what he could tell, and there was a... dog, maybe? He couldn't quite make out what it was before beast and human both began spinning and tried to drill through the roots at the base of a large tree. Assuming it was Mitsuha who screamed, Kiri readies himself to jump over to aid her, when suddenly the branch below him begins to writhe like a snake and snares him against the trunk of the tree.

Slipping a hand down towards his tool pouch, Kiri just barely manages to unzip it and allow the contents to fall out. Among them is a kawarimi target, which begins to fall towards the ground below. Kiri quickly performs the Body Switch Jutsu, planting his feet against the trunk of the tree and pushing off towards the one that Mitsuha is standing in before the snaking branch realizes that he got away. "You're name is Mitsuha, right? We go to the Academy together! What exactly is going on here? How can I help?" Kiri lands on a branch further down than the Kaguya girl; it wouldn't be very wise for the forest to capture them together. No, for now, it was better to remain spread out so that they could at least try to coordinate together and solve this problem. Whatever it may be.

 

[Inuzuka Keiyaku]

As the vines burst from the wood to attempt to mitigate the attack, both Moru and Keiyaku did their best to ramp up the pressure, slicing through the vines, but losing a lot of their momentum in the process. As the Inuzuka duo lost still more momentum, the sheer amount of vines would have an easier time ensnaring the two, trapping them both as they attempted to cut and slice their way to freedom with their claws. Morutobu, losing concetration, had turned back into a dog but was still fighting vigourously.

"The woods started attacking us first, Dove! We just happened to be here," Keiyaku called back to his fellow ANBU agent, watching the turtle free himself from nature's grasp at the same time. He couldn't believe, even at a time like this, Dove was trying to take the diplomatic route... had he even met Aria before; he couldn't help but think even if she'd been awake to hear it, this strategy wouldn't prove effective

"You don't understand, Dove! She's controlling it without realising; she's a Senju... if we wake her up in that shell, all this will stop! You gotta understand!"

As Keiyaku fought for his freedom, he barely had time to absorb the fact that Mitsuha and Kiriyomi were now present... however the sudden appearance of a fireball did give him an idea. Finally, with a lot more slashing and scraping, both boy and dog managed to wriggle free from the stranging vines just long enough for the former to cycle through a rapid set of handsigns and inhale deeply. When he let out his breath, he spewed a great torrential inferno which enveloped the wooden shell, hopefully burning away the vines and damaging the barrier.... Maybe if he could heat her up enough inside there, she'd suddenly wake up.

"Kiri, Mitsu! Where'd you guys come from?! It's dangerous here!"

[Using a Master Rank Dragon Fire jutsu]

 

[Ayeka]

The tree seemed to calm at Toshi's words while it took note of Mitsuha using fire to thwart it's attacks on her while the other ninja evaded or escaped it's binds with their own unique skills and very quickly the ancient oak realised it was completely outmatched and that it would have to give up the source of chakra it had been protecting if it did not want to be burned down by the humans that wanted to free one of their kind. Taking careful consideration the tree began to move it roots in order to free the young Senju when one of the other humans began shouting words that the tree did not catch. It was however distracted enough by the sudden splash of healing water that it never saw the massive pillar of flame that impacted straight into the tree trunk breaking it into pieces and sending wood careening in all directions as the oak wordlessly screamed it death throes. After a moment silence descended on the clearing leaving only the sounds of fire burning merrily before a pulse of chakra surged from the wreckage followed by a blade of wind chakra that sliced the left over clumps of burning timber to pieces as a very sooty and slightly charred white haired girl emerged from the wreckage. For a moment she glared at the ninja surrounding her with burning orange eyes encased with red pigments around the edges before the pigmentation faded away and the girl screamed one thing at the clearing. "WHO THE HECK TRIES TO BURN A LITTLE GIRL TO DEATH WHILE SHE IS NAPPING IN THE WOODS!"

 

[Yume Izanami]

Mitsuha landed down as the big tree fell down. There was silence. She was panting as she realized there was a girl coming from the fires. And... Mitsuha winced as the girl started to scream at everyone. Wait. Was she in the tree?

The young Kaguya would bow and say, "M-My apologies Miss! I was merely defending myself since the forest tried to attack me! If I had known you were here, I would have tried to find a way to mitigate the battle and kept it from you! Um..." She would look over at Crush. "Crush. Can you heal um... Her?" She said pointing over at Aria. She was too shy to really ask for a name, but she did feel bad for what had happened.

"Sweet! I never healed a burn victim before!" Crush said enthusiastically. His hands? No, claws, would glow a nice warmth and walk casually over to Aria. "You shoulda seen me kid. I was like waaaaaa." He spun his hand around in aspinning motion. "Then I intercepted these thorns that would have made prince charming over there turn into a porcupine. Wait. Does that make me Prince Charming's prince charming for rescuing him?" He would ask himself, but the shrug off the thought. "Anyways this tree got a hold of me and went OM NOM NOM NOM! It was crazy girl! You shoulda been there!"

Mitsuha shifted her feet nervously. Now that the action was done and over, her mind went back to the fact that she is surrounded by people. She is hoping that Crush would talk less and heal more to the mysterious sooty girl.

(mft)

 

[Toshi]

It seemed the forest was back to a natural state. The boy let the wave of Earth float to the ground. His attention was taken by the sudden burst of wind chakra that exploded through the tree. The white haired girl who was napping at first, now looked towards the others in the clearing. She summed up a rational idea from what she felt and seen. The boy looked to the others. He would take full blame of the situation. She confronted the group about the happenings.

Crush, the turtle he’d spent a few moments with, moved at his friend’s command. He assessed the girl, noting that she was the one that suggested to work together. He now moved forward, kneeling before the crowd while facing the white haired girl that emerged from the tree. ”I’m sorry mam, don’t blame any of them. It was my fault. I didn’t intend to hurt you, but I noticed you while here in the forest. I know this place is off limits to the young, but I also know that I frequented this place when I was younger.” The boy thought of his youth, not understanding that he was still quite young. Listening to the stories of the more experienced shinobi made him feel more mature, but in those moments he understood that he was still green. He felt that he could have handled the situation better, but these were the moments that created great shinobi.

He stood up, ”So I wouldn’t detain you, and I would encourage you to be yourself. I have no idea what you would stumble upon out here.” The boy nodded, he liked those that had their own free will. It showed the village hadn’t turned everyone cold. ”Oh yeah, and you should tell a friend before you come out here. If you do get caught by one of the senior shinobi, they’ll at least be able to bail you out.” Thinking of the safety of the Kunoichi was first. ”You seem to have plenty around here.” The boy gestured to the group that had gathered.

[ WC: +300 | MFT ]

 

[Inuzuka Keiyaku]

He knew it. The moment the barrier disgorged Aria and showed her to be awake, the forest became come once but, however the Senju girl was not. She was already yelling at them at the top of her lungs, apparently oblivious to the carnage she'd just caused. He looked, slightly disbelievingly around at his fellow shinobi; Mitsuha seemed to be taking the kind route, shifting the blame off her, while Dove seemed to be doing the diplomatic thing and trying to mediate a solution. Moru was looking up at Keiyaku, something akin to a frown on his face. The Inuzuka had to agree with his little brother here.

"Loony sage! Are you kidding me with this?"

It was most unlike Keiyaku to be so stern this way, but after having watched her go on a big thievery spree of the shop windows signs in the Maple District, and her consumption of a sacred Senju plant, he was beginning to lose patience with her.

"First of all, you just straight up can't be out here! Forest of Death's coooompleeeetely off limits to students, second of all, you could have killed any of us with all this nature crap you're pulling!"

The ANBU initiate wasn't exactly angry, but he made clear in no uncertain terms that he disagreed with Dove's approach.

"Everyone, back to the village, please," he announced, briefly looking at Dove, giving him a look as if to say 'except you, you can go wherever'.

"Loony sage," growled the Inuzuka, advancing on her and scruffing her by the neck like a momma wolf, about to haul her off back to the village, "I think you and I need to have a little chat..."

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[Ayeka]

Aria blinked as the most chill turtle she had ever met just walked over to her only to place a claw on her that released healing waves of chakra on he girl healing any lingering burns and making the girl smile in relief as the turtle babbled a lot of information to her. "Wait the tree did what? Princess? Er dude slow down." Aria tried to keep up with the rapid conversation but failed as another person called her attention to give advice by that was blown out of the water as her unofficial keeper came storming up to her with what looked like the riot act all prepared. "Wait, what but I was just train......" Any further conversation was halted as Aria suddenly found herself scuffed like an angry kitten causing the small girl to begin swinging her fist ineffectually in the air. "Hey no fair!! At least let me say bye to the girl and her nice turtle. Let go!" Any further conversation faded into the distance as Keiyaku dragged Aria off for what most likely would be another long lecture.

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[Yume Izanami]

Mitsuha let out a sigh of relief. Everything was quiet as one of the others dragged the girl known as Looney Sage off back into town. But then she remembered of the other two people. Prince Charming, as Crush had called him, and another that is nearby. "Come on Crush." She would say, having to drag the turtle because he still just wants to talk.

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[Kiriyomi]

Kiriyomi looks around at the clearing, confusion clear on his face. Who was this masked person calling out his name? Clearly they were a part of the Inuzuka clan, but before he could ask any questions, they grabbed the girl from inside the tree and hauled her away, telling everyone else to leave the forest. Shrugging, Kiri picks up his kawarimi target and follows the pair out of the Forest of Death. The cloaked figures remained on his mind for quite some time after that, as he had never heard of or seen them before.

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