The Chicken Frontega Accord [Tutor]

[Okada Kaji]

It was practically a miracle in progress as the Hidden Cloud’s construction shinobi went to work, making repairs to the structures damaged by the Lion Volt attack. Only a few weeks had passed since the attack took place, and the Dawnbringer Plaza was practically good as new already. It was just after noon that day, but a gray haze of overcast gave the village a muted tone which lasted all day.

The setting was a rooftop adjacent to the square where Kaji Okada battled alongside his youngling allies, Hirateuchi and Sayomi. While looking after Sayomi was a different matter altogether, it was also due-time that Kaji met with Hirateuchi to see how he was doing in the aftermath of it all. And so, Kaji sat on an angular roof which bisected into the level section of the rooftop, overlooking the city view. He had half of a pressed sandwich in hand from his favorite shop in the square, which narrowly avoided destruction in the attack. Stream rolled out of its cheesy goodness— not metaphorically, in fact, it was just a good sandwich. The chicken frontega panini was one of his favorites and was wrapped in paper for easy handling. The second half of it was stashed in a to-go box and bag, tucked away safely on the floor.

Kaji himself was dressed in the typical Hidden Cloud uniform; a red bandana was on his forehead with a flat black plate and the cloud symbol painted on. He wore a steel gray wool coat which rejected the cold and a white flak jacket on top. Eelspine peeked over his shoulder, just a pristine and legendary as ever. His lower half was a mixture of loose-fitting grey slacks, and leather riding boots in black and white.

With a frown, Kaji seemed disgruntled as he heard the flapping of Caerroth coming close. “Where’s the small one?” The deep tone of the Leatherwing drew near as the large beast landed just behind Kaji on the angled slope; his long near stretched to reveal his face and eyes staring. “And where’s my sandwich?”
On command, Kaji jumped down from the raised porch and fished out the other half of the panini, which he knew would go to waste as a gift to Caerroth. Nonetheless, he unwrapped it and tossed it up, only for the draconic dinosaur to snap it out of the air.

While the day’s meeting was mostly in order to discuss what happened with Hirateuchi, it appeared that Caerroth had come for a bit of closure as well.

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- Kaji has entered the thread
- Requesting Hirateuchi

 

[Hirateuchi]

Hira walked aimlessly through the construction, worried more about how the progress was going then where he was supposed to be headed. While he was able to stop some of the destruction he still felt guilty for not having been able to do more. There were so many events lately that had made him question his ability to be shinobi, and this was just another tally on that list. Stuck in thought, Hira suddenly realized the beat of large wings, and looked over to where Kaji's companion had landed.

'Well, I suppose that answers that question.'

It was still too early and Hira too sore for HIra to show up on some fancy wave of water, so instead he just found a wall to climb up slowly, a show of how much he was still recovering from the event. Climbing with his weapon hoisted across his back was a chore in his state, as it was still quite heavy for a child. Reaching the top of the rooftop, Hira looked over to the large creature and his mentor sitting not too far away.

"Hey, Kaji-sensei! Last time I saw you, you were having trouble dealing with a cat! And ummm... how's it hanging... lizard-dude?"

Hira remembered back to the last time he had met one of Kaji's lizard companions and how awkward it had become with how he acted. He still wasn't entirely sure how to address these beasts if he did not know them, but perhaps this was a better attempt. At any rate, he wanted to change the subject quickly.

"Anyways, how are you guys holding up? I didn't see too much of you that whole night. I was too busy saving... well, trying to save people I suppose..."

[WC 291; Total WC 291]

 

[Okada Kaji]

Caerroth was first to notice Hirateuchi arriving on the rooftop. He made an incorrigible hiss and portrayed a frown which was easily confused for a resting angered visage. “Ah, there’s the runt now,” he said before flexing his wings and leaping over Kaji into a diving take off. As a cold-blooded creature still adapting to the climate of The Hidden Cloud, Caerroth tended to keep busy to regulate his temperature. He began flying in wide circles high overhead as Hirateuchi stepped onto Kaji’s location.

“Oh nevermind him,” Kaji said to the lad after Caerroth gave Hirateuchi the cold shoulder. “That’s Caerroth; he’s never that nice to humans, not even me.” Kaji then patted a tall block of concrete beside him, bidding Hira to join him from the most comfortable seat on the house. “Thanks for coming all the way up here, kid. ‘I know it's not the most practical spot with all those eateries down there— I was just hoping for a bit of privacy while we talk about what happened. Yeah that Lion Volt, that’s what its called, sure was a tough nut to crack.” Kaji then rubbed a hand on waist, which was still sore from the bite he took from the creature as well. It was certainly a rough night for everyone involved. “You did a good job that night, both you and Sayomi Santaru. Nice, team effort. It’s because of our combined efforts that the casualties were kept to a minimum— believe me, it could have gone a lot worse. ‘I’ve been to see Sayomi at the Aesculapium, and she was looking a lot better as well.” And then Kaji turned quiet for a moment, brooding. “And that’s a lot of why I needed to make this private.”

“The Lion Volt ain’t no joke” Caerroth put in as he swooped low again in a glide. “What Kaji is slowly getting at, is that the Lion Volt wasn’t the kind of prey we could have ever taken down. It ain’t a creature at all, really— it’s a force of nature.” The axe-beaked Leatherwing was more talkative than usual as he recounted their experience from last night.

“Eh, right,” Kaji said, trying to get back into the conversation. “I’ll admit that things went rather poorly Hira… Both Caerroth and I were taken down for a bit, and neither of us are really sure what happened to the Lion Volt. I have my speculations but I’m hoping I’m wrong, so I figured I’d ask what you remember from that night.”
Then Caerroth asked, rather gruffly, “Whadd’ya see, runt?”

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[Hirateuchi]

Hira wanted nothing more than to snap back at the large airborne reptile at that moment, but in light of the reason for their conversation, he decided it was best to stay the insults for the time being. Hira was just as curious as to what happened that night as the pair next to him seemed to be.

"Well... to be honest the whole thing happened so fast that I wasn't entirely sure what happened myself. All I know is one second I'm running around frantically trying to get people out of collapsing buildings and nearly getting crushed and electrocuted, and the next second all the chaos came to a complete stop."

Hira started hesitantly as her thought about how to explain the strange events that occurred that night. If he were being completely honest with himself, he still wasn't even sure that what he saw was real. The whole series of events seemed slightly more anticlimactic than they could potentially have been, not that he was upset. It was nice to finally be done with that night and all the problems that came with it.

"After I finished getting a child to safety, I turned around just in time to see a bright burst of light in the area near um, Sayomi, was it? Anyways, I rushed over to see if she was alright, but when I got there, I didn't see anything. I might have... no, nothing. All of a sudden the creature had just disappeared almost like it was bored with us, and the other arriving ninja and I were able to get that girl out of the rubble. I'm not really... Kaji, what happened to it? I feel like there's a lot you aren't telling me. I may not be a jounin or a more experienced shinobi, but it doesn't take a genius to realize that Sayomi was there for a reason. There was no way someone that unsure and green would have jumped head first into that situation without some ulterior motive. Or did you really just not care if she got hurt?"

[WC 348; Total WC 639]

 

[Okada Kaji]

The line of questioning that came with Hirateuchi’s reply almost put Kaji on his heels, stumbling, trying to find an explanation that wouldn’t sound cruel to the boy. Did Kaji bring the mere genin Santaru girl along without a care for her wellbeing? Was she just bait? Kaji answered, “You must understand that a swift response to such a high-level threat meant resorting to an unconventional plan. ‘Sayomi had a particular set of skills valuable to the hunt. ‘Her bloodline abilities made her an ideal energy source for drawing in the Lion Volt, I just had no idea how well that would work. Calling on a voltaic shinobi with too much power would have only put them at a greater risk from the start. So, my goal was to use Sayomi to attract the beast, and then shift its focus to me… For the most part, my plan worked.”
Caerroth then let out a rather sinister kind of laugh. “So you did use her as bait,” Caerroth insisted.
“No, not bait!” Kaji became defensive towards the lizard’s chiding remark. “Calling down the Lion Volt was unheard of before I tried it, and the thing was sighted hitting the village with nightly appearances— I had to try something.” He at least attempted to sound regretful towards what happened, though the feeling was genuine within. His exterior remained stoic, and his voice was unperturbed. “The Lion Volt was much stronger than I anticipated, and while it did focus on me during the bulk of our battle, something went wrong in the end… I thought my plan worked. Using Eelspine’s force mirror, I absorbed some of the Lion Volt’s power, managed to reverse the charge, and when we clashed the result was like a huge Electromagnetic Pulse. Long story short, it was supposed to drive the lion away, but somehow… Sayomi happened.”

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[Hirateuchi]

Hira's bottom lip trembled as he tried to look his mentor in the face. He understood what it meant to be a shinobi... what it meant to risk your life for the sake of others. Nevertheless, he was having a tough time absorbing what Kaji had just said. He wasn't sure whether to be sad or angered by the fact that somebody he had an extreme respect for would stoop so low in order to stop a threat.

"What do you mean Sayomi happened? What happened when that light flashed? And why does it seem like you don't care how much danger you put her in? There had to be another way to go about luring that thing out, but it's just easier to go find some expendable genin to do the dirty work for you , isn't it?"

He wasn't sure why he was feeling so fired up, but the situation only made him think back to his battle with the fire devil...

You know, there was a fight I was in earlier that made me realize how much we have to treasure life. This guy he... I still don't know why he let us all live. We are so frail already, and on top of that you put her in more danger just to further your own schemes. It's not ok just to use somebody as bait like that. And YOU!"

Looking at Caerroth, Hira pointed his finger in an accusatory manner. He didn't want to start any fights but he had a lot on his mind that he needed to get out.

"If you're anything like the others I've seen, you should know better than most how hard-headed this guy can be. I'm surprised you were right there with him instead of telling him how stupid of an idea the whole thing was. Please tell me next time you'll tell him to fly his own dumb face around..."

[WC 320; Total WC 959]

 

[Okada Kaji]

While Kaji enough experience in dealing with the earnest emotions of his apprentices, they often presented moral quandaries difficult for Kaji’s pragmatic ways. “Leave it to the kid to observe his surroundings with such an idealistic sense of morality,” thought Kaji. As if explaining what happened was complex enough already, the topic was seeming like a steep hill to climb and only getting taller. “That electromagnetic pulse overcharged every electronic device and system in the village— it was the electricity which drew the Lion Volt to the Dawnbringer Plaza. Once the power went off, the Lion Volt was supposed to vanish— but I don’t think that’s what happened.” In fact, he was sure he understood what occurred, Kaji just wished he was wrong. How could explain such an anomaly in layman's terms? He’d choose to reveal that detail another time.

“When trouble comes, we can’t always find the most convenient option for dealing with it,” Kaji said with a cold tone. “Choosing to be a shinobi means that you accept the consequences that come with being brave. Once you bear the symbol of the hidden cloud: whether it’s on your head protector or over your heart, you have made a pact to do what it takes to protect your home. As your senior and leader, I will hold you to the same expectations that I hold myself: anything less would stifle your potential.”

And Caerroth waivered even less from the boy’s previous remarks. By all comparisons, Kaji’s Leatherwing companion as cold-blooded as they come, but he was also just as calculating beneath his crude exterior. “We both nearly bit the big one that night, and I could care less about most of your two-legged walker kin. But I know that if my own clan was in peril, I could count on Kaji Okada to risk his all for my people. This is our pact… So I offer my strength in turn— albeit, sometimes at my own peril.” The Leather Winged beast began to crawl around the roof’s edge and brought his face down to have a closer look at Hirateuchi, ever scrutinizing with his big red eye. “I’m hoping Kaji asks me to eat one of you big-mouthed grubs one day… I’d do it, no questions asked. 'Let me curse your bloodline for three generations.” Coming close, the sea of razor sharp teeth and the scent of blood came from Caerroth’s jagged maw. Staring into his eye was like looking face to face with an Uchiha edge lord, mid-killing spree.

“Caerroth please” Kaji huffed with his arms folding. “I needed you to back me up, not scare him.” The large lizard proceeded to back away just slightly before launching himself airborne again with a disgruntled huff.

“I honestly do regret how things transpired that night” Kaji admitted. “But honestly, I would it again if faced with the same ultimatum, only I would pray for more strength and wisdom next time around… You heard it here first kid, making the tough calls and fighting the good fight just doesn’t get easier with age.”

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[Hirateuchi]

Hira looked, nervously but bravely into the face of the creature. He had faced a monster just as terrifying before and it had changed him. Besides that, the bluff went over his head as he knew Kaji would never give such a command. Or is that just what he had to believe? He was learning more about his mentor by the day, some of it good, and some of it realistic. It was hard to fault him for his logic even at a young age. They all knew what they were getting into when they joined the ninja academy...

"Fine I get the point. But you still never explained what happened to Sayomi. Did the Lion Volt do something to her that you just don't want to talk about? If something happened... I could have done more to help her before I left with the other girl..."

Hira stood up and walked around for a while, coming to a rest and an adjacent end of the roof, peering out at the effort being made to recover from the rampart destruction of the other night. His eyes wandered from the house that he and Sayomi had been trapped over, then to where the old woman's destroyed cart once stood. It seemed like forever ago that all of it had been calm and undisturbed. The sight made him tremble more than the terrifying stare of Caerroth; the lives lost that he was powerless to prevent haunted him. He spoke without looking back at Kaji or his lizard companion.

"I think I get what you mean. Seeing all of this destruction, all the death; if I could give my life to stop it all I suppose I would. I just don't get how you deal with it all. The guilt, the fear. I can't tell any more if you guys are good at hiding the effects it has on you or if you're just that desensitized to it all. I'm not sure which one is worse to be honest. Just promise me that if I can help you'll let me know. I'll get stronger soon. I have to."

[WC 355; Total WC 1314]

 

[Okada Kaji]

Kaji was at a crossroads when it came to whether he should tell Hirateuchi the absolute truth about Sayomi or not. As a comrade in their effort that night, the boy was rightfully concerned, however, the matter of what had become of her was quickly deemed a tight-lipped secret. Perhaps being involved meant deserving a covenant of sorts. “Ok,” Kaji said, carefully starting his explanation. “So, a moment ago I said something about the Lion Volt’s usage of voltage from its surroundings; well, the creature certainly doesn’t draw in voltage, instead it’s like one massive emitter.” Kaji raised his hands and held them apart before molding chakra between them in an unstable sphere. “Think of it like when we went over your chakra training, but that’s all the Lion Volt is made of. It’s made of so much energy that it has a difficulty stabilizing itself. My theory is that it uses concentrated forms of energy like a focus to regulate itself, like if you introduce your chakra flow to help condense this ball of energy into a condensed sphere.” For good measure, Kaji proceeded to refine the sphere himself and continued until he managed to form the shape of the lion volt to near perfection in the palms of his hands.

“Somehow, I think Sayomi did something to gain the Lion Volt’s undivided attention after I blacked out the village.” As if for dramatic effect, Kaji dispersed the glow by letting the energy best pounce into his chest and vanish into a million tiny fragments of light. “She’s being kept at the Aesculapium for monitoring and research on her conditions— strangely, she seems just fine but her chakra emission has been unprecedented at times. So far only I, and now you, are aware that the Lion Volt has apparently merged itself with Sayomi Santaru. I have chosen to keep this from the medical branch until I have a chance to talk things over with her myself.”

It was reasonable for Hira to be confused or even bewildered. He took an effort to gain some space, moving around while Caerroth also circled them overhead. Kaji didn’t bother to follow, instead, he somehow knew a way to carry his low vocal tone across the wind. Full of wisdom, he said “I won’t lie, numbing yourself to the world is a tempting option far too many shinobi use to cope with the decisions they make and experience. But they are things you must use to grow wiser; learn from them— what you fight for and why. Sometimes terrible incidents will happen; things we cannot control but we have to do what we can to take them head-on. But, I know none of that really grants any closure, does it?”

Then Kaji arose again, this time grabbing the trash bag and twirling it up tightly. It was time to go. “But I tell you what— here’s how I cope. The darkness of nightfall is always sure to come, but as shinobi, we are the bearers of light. I cope by finding those enemies and pending disasters as often as I can, long before they have the chance to make their ways to the Hidden Cloud or her allies. How does monster hunting sound to you?”


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Tutor Complete

 

[Hirateuchi]

Hearing the truth was equally confusing and preposterous. A beast like that having its energy absorbed by a genin when Kaji couldn't beat it himself?

"Are you sure your head isn't broken from fighting that thing? You won't have to worry about me saying anything cause I don't want to end up looking like some kind of crazy person. As long as she's alright I suppose. Still, I wonder if that is true, how was she able to absorb that much power without exploding?"

He listened further as Kaji continued to explain himself under the bombard of Hira's other questions, simply nodding and allowing himself to try and see things from Kaji's point of view. He was glad, at least, that he didn't agree with numbing yourself to the pain. To Hira, that felt like the end of the ropes, one that might very well lead to a dark place... so dark that it could create a person like Kaen. In the end, that's really what the issue was in this shinobi world... those that saw the most pain were often the ones that began to cause it. The endless shinobi cycle of destruction. Then Kaji said something surprising...

Monster hunting...?

"Hey if it gets me out and doing something other than hating how weak I am, then monster hunting is my new favorite hobby!"

[WC 355; Total WC 1669]