Ninpocho Chronicles is a fantasy-ish setting storyline, set in an alternate universe World of Ninjas, where the Naruto and Boruto series take place. This means that none of the canon characters exists, or existed here.
Each ninja starts from the bottom and start their training as an Academy Student. From there they develop abilities akin to that of demigods as they grow in age and experience.
Along the way they gain new friends (or enemies), take on jobs and complete contracts and missions for their respective villages where their training and skill will be tested to their limits.
The sky is the limit as the blank page you see before you can be filled with countless of adventures with your character in the game.
The walk had been a short one and she was already on her sixth cigarette, it was her intent to get through the pack before setting up in the forests, she had been serious when she stated her rules on carrying gear of any kind, smokes included. It seemed she had succeeded in her mission as the one-eyed woman stopped suddenly beside a small creek before turning back to her academy students, three had arrived so far, one she had met before and two she had not. Yumira Ritsuko, the girl with the cat ear headband clearly an eccentric type, but what good Shinobi wasn't? At the very least she seemed nice, which admittedly did not bode well for her in this line of work. Akamatsu Daisuke, the boy seemed energetic and healthy and in that regard reminded the girl of herself years prior, as with Ritsuko she couldn't help but think he still displayed the childish naivete of youth, it would no doubt soon be beaten out of him. Finally there was Leaky McLeakerton, otherwise known as Mochizuki Komora. A girl she had the pleasure of meeting with once before as she stood bleeding all over the floors from stabbing herself, Chiyoko didn't really know what to make of her other than that she was quite...Different?...Yes, different.
"Alright ladies and gentleman, I suppose it's time I explain what it is we're doing out here," Her fingers unclasped the handcuffs from her belt, twirling them with her fingers as she continued "Seeing as there are only four of us, barring any late comers, we will be splitting into groups of two. Now you may be wondering what these are for," once again she paused holding them up, one set a vibrant neon pink the other zebra patterned "Well, they're for making sure you each are well acquainted with each other by the end of this class, you will be attached to each other throughout all points of your 48 hour stay here. you are going to hunt, scavenge, and survive with the help of your partner, you will do everything with your partner, and you will be graded upon how well the two of you fared upon returning to the village. These handcuffs require a key to unlock which I'll be carrying, you will receive an immediate failure if you attempt to remove these handcuffs unless in case of mortal danger." the girl stopped briefly to check for any questions, everything so far had been fairly self explanatory.
"The teams will consist of Ritsuko and Daisuke, leaving Komora and myself as a team. If you have complaints about your grouping feel free to air them out now, no doubt I will feel free to ignore them. Go ahead and attach your handcuffs, I will check to make sure they're tight enough.." nimbly she tossed the pink pair toward Daisuke before diverting her gaze toward Komora, wondering how she would feel about being handcuffed. The girl was only half sure she had fully disarmed the little demon and didn't quite feel like getting stabbed by an academy student, but that was one of the dangers of the job. Of course she decided to sweeten the pot before going in for the kill, having realized Leaky's penchant for sharp slashy-stabby items by now, "Hey, c'mere, let's do this easy and I'll buy you the biggest goddamn sword you've ever seen when we're back in the village. Like one so big you could cut an ox in half if you wanted to, sounds cool right?" hopefully her attempt at barter would succeed, if not she would simply have to attach herself to the girl by force, and no one really wanted to see that, now did they?
((OOC: Short post is short, class continued from here. After we've gotten the handcuff situation settled rounds will begin, each round will be considered 12 hours leading to four total rounds of posts. Now I don't require a word count outside of what's stated by the site, but remember you will be shoving a fairly long period of time into a single post so I would prefer that everyone at least hover around the 500 wc mark. My posts from here on out will likely be much longer than before, likely in the 1,000 to 1,500 count range, I apologize if they seem to run long. Post order from here on out will be dictated by who shows up first in this thread and so forth. Teams will be split up, though I will be fairly close in case something goes down, also for Daisuke and Ritsuko I'll be adding some sort of challenge at the end of each post for you to deal with on top of what I'll be doing with Komora. Anyway, let's have some fun guys.))
At the walk the teacher smoked a lot, but she did say that no equipment was allowed, as well as snacks, so maybe her cigarettes counted as well. It seemed like the teacher knew the student which had pointed out for them all that Ritsuko looked like a cat. Well it was obvious since she had an headband with cat ears. She seemed a little different, kinda weird. Ritsuko didn't think that much about it, right know her thoughts was on what they were going to do when they arrived, specially without any equipment, well she didn't have any equipment herself so it didn't affect her, but there had to be a reason that they couldn't bring anything. They arrived, and the teacher started to explain what they were going to do the following 2 days.
Ritsuko had never bin good at doing things with others, and it wasn't going to be easy to do things handcuffed to another student. But well she had to get through it if she wanted to pass this class, and she had to do that to become a great shinobi. The best right know would be to get handcuffed with the teacher, and if not her then Daisuke. She had met Daisuke once before, and he didn't seem so bad, but to be handcuffed with him still didn't please her. She was best at working alone. The other girl, well she hoped not to get with her, mostly because she had an idea about that she wasn't going to here nothing other than about her cat ears, and that she can not handle.
Daisuke it was, well it wasn't that bad. It wasn't because she didn't like him, really he was a nice guy, and the first person close to be a friend. It was just the handcuff thing, and that she had to stick with another human being for 48 hours, without getting any time alone. Well it was how it was gonna be for the next two days, and if Ritsuko was going to be a great shinobi some day, she had to go with the fact that having comrades was a part of it. The teacher threw the handcuffs to Daisuke, and Ritsuko followed by walking over to him, and stretching her arms, so Daisuke could attach theme.
As the others walked towards the forest, Daisuke was, of course, running around like a madman, poking at everything he laid eyes on. He'd never been in the Outer Village Zones: children and Academy Students weren't allowed out of the Inner Village Zone. This was a chance to explore the unknown, and Daisuke took full advantage of that chance. He stayed relatively close to the others; if he could see them, he figured he was fine. There were quite a few houses for retired Shinobi around, he saw. He figured these were the guys who learned all sorts of Jutsu, kept enemies from the Village, and won wars and then came out here to live out the rest of their life in peace.
As he ran, he yelled out all sorts of question-like statements; he already knew quite a lot about the Attonbitus from study, and while it was almost second-nature to ask questions to superiors, his mind was quickly averted to some other object and he hastily changed a question mid-sentence into a fact, which might have become quite confusing at times. But, Daisuke's mind was usually all over the place, so it made perfect sense to him as he continuously poked at plants, picked up logs to look at the bugs living underneath, and did all sorts of things that active boys his age and younger did in a new place.
As he saw his sensei and the two other students stop, he ran over quickly, panting slightly and his hands and forearms dirty. While it was a bummer he didn't have his weapons nor snacks (which he'd finished back at the Academy and on the beginning of the walk) he seemed to have forgotten it for not, bouncing on the tip of his toes in excitement and curiosity as to what they were going to do next. So, handcuffed to someone for 48 whole hours... What if I have to go to the bathroom?!? I'm the only guy here! He was about to raise his hand and point that out but waited, wondering if she'd even care. Most likely not, he sighed internally, listening to the rest of what she had to say. So, he was paired with Ritsuko? Well, that wasn't so bad. Probably a better coupling than him and the thieving girl, who'd taken all his kunai at the Academy. Plus, he knew RItsuko pretty well, they were friends, and she seemed smart. This'll be a piece of cake, he thought as he deftly snatched the pair of handcuffs from the air, snapping one around his wrist and the other around Ritsuko's as she walked closer.
We got this, he stated enthusiastically and matter-of-factly to the girl, a smile on his face. He took a moment pulling his hood up, though had already partially forgotten that he was attached to someone as the movement made Ritsuko's hand smack him in the face. Oops, sorry, sorry, he said to her, before finishing and pulling the drawstrings so the hood clung to his head, tying a quick and easy knot before waiting for further instructions.
Komora followed the class, she was mostly disarmed of Kunai, and decided she didn’t want anymore taken away from her so she was trying to be on what was, in her own opinion, was her best behavior. Daisuke was running around like an idiot, and to be honest, Komora wanted to run around also. He looked like a lot of fun to her, but it felt like a heavy eye was floating over Komora, and she thought that it belonged to their teacher, whom she had met before when she kicked blood at him. Of course, Komora was still intrigued by the cigarettes of the teacher. The Cat girl seemed interested in them too. As the teacher chain smoked her cigarettes to nothing, Komora would pick up the butt end of the cigarettes after they had been tossed away. She had five in her hands now and she looked at them curiously. She put them all in her mouth and chewed them up and then she tried to blow out smoke. However, her plan did not go as she hoped it would.
She tried a second and a third time to produce smoke from her mouth like her teacher had, but it just wasn’t working, and the butts of cigarettes did not taste good. As they arrived at their destination, Komora made a face as she stuck out her tongue and let the chewed up cigarette butt ball roll off of her tongue. The ball splattered onto the ground with a quiet “plop” as the teacher began to give an explanation of the exercise. Komora looked around with an uninterested expression until Ritsuko and Daisuke came together and were tied at the wrists. Komora’s eyes grew wide, and she excitedly squealed. She pointed and giggled at the pair as they were bound together with string. She thought it was funny that finally someone else had to be tugged around by someone else. Of course, there was a string for her as well. She was slightly disappointed as the teacher took her hand and began to try and barter with Komora about a big giant sword or something. ”Komora isn’t strong enough to lift full sized swords. Certainly they are a feat of metalwork, but they are not practical for everyone’s use.” she explained in a bored tone to the teacher.
She held out her hand so that she could be tied up as well. ”There is a beauty in the boring yet practical nature of Kunai. Sure, most of them don’t whistle, but Komora likes them anyway. They are honestly a wonderful survival tool. They have so much versatility. It’s almost a waste that they aren’t allowed to be used in this survival training. Afterall, what is a tiger that tries to hunt without its claws? What would a shinobi be without his swor-” She stopped midsentence as she watched Daisuke slap himself in the face with Ritsuko’s hand. Komora began to gigle hysterically as the flustered boy tried to hide his shame by tightening up his hood.
It had been but seconds and already her students were proving the difficulties of being attached to each other as she watched Daisuke manage to smack himself in the face with his partner's hand, hysterical laughter could be heard from the girl she had been chosen to partner with after a short but oddly acute synopsis of the use of the Kunai in the field, she certainly hadn't expected such a verbose expounding on the subject from the girl who she had assumed could only speak in such a spastic manner as she had seen before. Tightening the clasp of her cuff Chiyoko continued instructions as to what the students would be doing over the next two days, "This is likely the first time any of you have ventured so far outside of the village itself, and if not it's probably your first extended stay. Generally for this exercise we have an even number of students for the teams, but as you all might have noted we do not. So instead of the typical exercise, your sensei watching you from afar as you all 'do your thing', we will be doing things slightly differently." scratching the back of her neck with her free hand Chiyoko looked toward each of them to ensure they were still paying attention, "The exercise will consist of us creating two separate camps, scavenging for food, and if need be fending off any wild animals that come through. All while being attached to your partner, of course. Now, any Shinobi worth their weight in salt can survive out here alone, but tensions can run high when faced with the added challenge of being with your cohorts." it had always been in her experience that the wilderness was never the worst part of surviving a mission it was whoever you were stuck with, they always seemed to be dying of dysentery, getting attacked by bears, or just being a general nuisance that was the difficult part.
"Now you may be wondering why we're going out into the wilderness with no equipment, no food, nothing, well that is because despite what you've been told in the academy field operations turn sideways at a staggering rate, post mission reports and debriefs have shown that the rate a mission can and will turn bad is upwards of 66% percent of the time. Of the missions I have been on, one S-Rank, two A-Rank, and so forth, nearly all of them have failed to go according to the original plan. I have personally seen multiple times where in the field we have been without proper weaponry, sustainable food, bedding, and a lack of place for proper washing. On top of being a team-building exercise this class will also help to simulate what such a situation is like and how to survive it." Brushing a hand through her hair the young woman knelt, the size difference between herself and her partner allowing her to do so without dragging the girl to the ground with her.
Her fingers dug through the soft ground collecting a lump of dirt and allowing it to trickle down throughout her fingers as she continued, "Now, a few basic rules of survival out here regarding food, simply because I'd rather not have any of my students poisoned for the next few days. Without proper knowledge all mushrooms are considered inedible, yellow berries are inedible, and make sure you boil any drinking water. If you catch any game make sure it's properly skinned, you'll have to fashion your own tools, and cooked. Use your common sense, don't eat anything that looks like it's been sick. That's about it regarding food. You should know the rest, don't wipe with poison ivy, make sure your fire isn't going to burn your shelter up, and so forth. We'll be in earshot if anything goes down. Get to it, supposed to rain tonight." and that was about the gist of it.
1700 HOURS
The light pattering of rain beat down upon the top of her head as she looked to the little girl next to her wondering how to begin a coherent conversation about anything other than swords, and of course failing miserably to do so, instead it seemed ideal to simply focus on the task at hand scavenging for a decent amount of firewood and material to build a makeshift shelter for the night. Finally the silence beginning to get to her the girl decided to break down and engage on the subject of slashy-stabby weaponry, among other things "Ever see a Kirkhammer up close?" unsure that the girl even knew of the favored weapon of the Tenouzan clergy she decided it best to describe the weaponry while still idly assisting in the finding of wood, "Well, they're these longswords smithied from silver, dressed with all these fancy runes to fight off demons, and on the end there's this sort of rock, not unlike what you see on a warhammer. Weighs about 80 lbs, but the head comes off leaving just the sword, the Tenouzans use 'em for fighting heretics, demons, and such. Killed a monster with one once. Shame they wouldn't let me keep it." her attempts at talking to the girl were less than spectacular, it didn't seem to her they had a whole lot in common.
1900 HOURS
The rain had turned from a light sprinkle to a downpour as the young girl looked to her little friend, they had managed to set up a spot for the fire by now and their shelter was along well enough to take heed for the night, it was nothing more than a canopy of leaved and twigs beneath an overhanging tree, but it would do well enough for the time being, they could work more on it later when the rain let up, giving time to gather food as well. "Can you start a fire? Y'know, like this?" The girl questioned, as a slight spark of flame exerted from the tip of her index finger as she rubbed it against her thumb, a basic jutsu but one that was always useful in the field, unlike the use of a lighter or flint the flame did not die when introduced to the rain outside of the shelter, though the girl didn't seem capable of such feats yet. Without a trace the flame vanished as Chiyoko thought about whether or not to light the fire, it certainly wouldn't be fair to the other team who likely didn't know either, but nothing was ever fair in the field. "Probably shouldn't be doing this, but I suppose you are my partner here." The flame exited her palm striking the kindling and eliciting the small fire to life, gazing into it she thought it best to check on the others soon. "Try not to fall asleep, we have to check on them in a couple hours." she remarked looking back toward her Kouhai for the moment.
2100 HOURS
"C'mon then." She gave a light tug to her handcuffed arm making sure her partner was awake, she still had to make sure the others were alive and well. Staring toward the pouring rain outside she decided once again to use something that the others did not, it had been years now since she had discovered her affinity for the manipulation of gravity and the perks that came with it. The rain directly in front of them ceased falling in favor of floating, a trick she knew she was unable to teach, "Stay close if you want to avoid getting utterly drenched." she commented pressing out into the dark world in order to see the progress of the others and if they needed any intervention. The trip seemed to be a short one as they approached the others to see if they had managed a fire and shelter.
((OOC: Alright guys, feel free to write whatever issues you've encountered thus far, after a brief conversation we'll return back to our camp and likely sleep for the remainder of the round.))
Ritsuko listened as the teacher told theme further about their survival task. How was she supposed to catch an eat animals from the forest, her only friends through her life was animals, for god sake she were cat ears, and another problem how were they gonna skin anything without any tool's. One thing for sure was that the only thing Ritsuko were going to eat while being out here was fish, or other things from the nature, like plants, berries, or mushrooms. She knew a lot about the nature, after all her mother used to walk with her in the forest almost every day, for 3 years of her life. She had taught her everything she knew about the nature, also about what was eatable, and what was not. Though they had never bin in this forest before, hopefully Daisuke knew a little something too. First they had to find a good place to set a camp, and then they had to found out how to set a camp. The food had to wait for after the camp was set, in Ritsuko's opinion. She had to think about that maybe Daisuke also had something to say,
1700 hours
Finally they found a good place to set a camp, and the first thing Ritsuko wanted to get arranged was a fire. It had started to rain, so they had to make a shelter over it. First they were going to found some dry wood they could use for the fire, it hadn't bin raining for that long, so maybe it would be easy. But this camp thing was sure going to take a long time, since they couldn't split up the task's. While picking wood, Ritsuko spotted two very high trees. They could make a great fire their. Convenient enough since Ritsuko's and Daisuke's last encounter Ritsuko had learned to control fire with her finger tips, so starting the fire couldn't be that hard. Easier than finding the wood for it, it wasn't finding the wood they had a hard time with, more the idea about they had to cooperate with getting the wood transported to the spot, but they managed, in some kind of way. They had wood and a perfect spot to make a fire. She had Daisuke put the wood as it should, and then she fired it up by firing a little fireball from her fingertip.
1900 hours
Then now, how the hell were they going to going to make shelter for theme self. Ritsuko couldn't come up with any idea at all. They rain was no longer just drizzling, it was pouring down, luckily enough the fire was still burning, and they had found more than enough wood to keep it burning through the night. But if they didn't come up with an idea to make shelter, this weather would make theme sick. Well instead of just standing hear doing nothing, at least they could do them self a little useful, while coming up with an idea. "come on, while thinking about how to make shelter for the night, lets go catch our self some food"
On the way they had passed by an little river, maybe they could catch some fish, hopefully the fire would still be burning when they come back. Ritsuko already had an idea about how to catch some fish. "Do you now anything about what we can eat from the nature? Maybe you can pick some on the way" They arrived at the river. Yes, there was fish here. She waited for the right moment, a fish jumped up a little over the water surface. She had a stone in her hand which she threw with the jutsu stone bullet. It hit the fish, and flew right throw it, and at the same time she caught it with her loose hand. She tried again, but the luck wasn't with her another time. Then one fish for them to share, and whatever Daisuke may had collected.
2100 hours
The fire hadn't worn out yet, and Ritsuko had picked up a stick they could use to cook the fish. They threw a little more wood at the fire, and then sat down to cook "Well lets eat, shelter comes afterwards" They sat around the fire together or next to each other since they were attached, and talked a little while cooking the fish. "Do you think were going to manage this" She asked Daisuke.
Depending on the light, Komora’s hair could seem like a variety of colors, but here underneath a gloomy sky and dollops of rain plopping down on her head made it seem more like a blue shade of gray. Komora mostly let herself be dragged along with her companion. It seemed like the girl wasn’t interested in her own survival, that is, they started to gather up firewood. She became immediately more helpful and began to pick up all manner of twigs and offer them to her teacher for inspection. Slowly she started learning the point of gathering firewood. IT seemed that there were certain types of sticks that were more important than the others. They seemed to be more important if they had less leaves. These were things that Komora understood. Komora could barely contain her excitement. This whole lesson… It was speaking her language! Komora had opted to not use human speech at all up until this point, but it seemed that her teacher couldn’t withstand the empty times. Ever see a Kirkhammer up close? She asked. Komora shook her head. Komora doesn’t want hammers. She answered. Although she was soon corrected by the words of her teacher. She described how they were actually longswords smithed of silver, to which Komora added, Komora thinks that Silver is a poor choice for a sword. It is weaker than steel, and more expensive. A sword of silver is probably a decoration She nodded sagely as the teacher described how the blade was etched with runes, it was definitely a decoration. She couldn’t help but feel that the whole concept of the weapon was absolutely ridiculous as descriptions of the blade’s detachable warhammer were given to Komora. 80lbs? That weapon would be terribly unbalanced, as the counter weight was greater than the weight of the blade. When it was made mention that the blade was no longer in her partner’s possession, Komora thought it fitting to add a comment of her own; The owner was probably concerned that you were going to tarnish his sword if you kept killing things with a decoration. Did he put it on a wall?
1900 Hours
The downpour began. Komora looked at the shelter of leaves and twigs, and her mind was busy whirling about how to improve them. Especially when she thought about how sticky mud was. She imagine that she could probably make some kind of brick using the mud and using it to bind the leaves and sticks together. Her ponderings were interrupted by Chiyoko. Can you start a fire? Y’know, like this? Chiyoko demonstrated by turning her finger into a lighter. Komora followed suit, although no fire erupted from her fingers. Her mimicking only rewarded her with a noise as she snapped her fingers. Komora looked down at the firewood pile. It had been raining all day at this point. The firewood was damp from the water. It really would be a losing fight to try and light a fire now. Komora really wanted to show off the versatility of the kunai. She had a few ideas for how the Kunai could be used in this situation. She knew her teacher was opposed to it though and she didn’t want to give up her precious weapon. In this instance she just remained quiet and tried not to let the boredom consume her.
2100 Hours
She was suddenly yanked as the teacher decided to check on the other team, also yanking Komora out of her doze which she had fallen into. She was tired and bored and therefore Komora began to cry. Nooo. Leave Komora alone. It was interesting at first, but now it was annoying her. Tears dripped down her face, as she made tired and subdued whining noises in protest to their midnight forced march. There probably wouldn’t be any sneaking around with Komora in tow as she wasn’t behaving how she was expected to for the moment.
So, the first they had to do was make a shelter, or at least get a fire going. Survival 101, of course, and Daisuke was smart enough to know how to survive in the wilderness. By himself, anyway, which was the entire point of this class. They were supposed to show they could survive with someone else, which was admittedly harder than it should've been. But, they were cuffed at the hands, so what could one expect? It took a bit, but they finally were able to start transporting larger amount of wood to the spot they'd chosen for camp, a small clearing surrounded by trees. Easily hidden and easily defended - that is, if they had supplies. The boy was sure he'd be able to make a trap or two, but that would be hard not setting it off with Ritsuko's hand dangling right next to his. He figured they should try it anyway, after they finished gathering the wood. He set a small pile off to the side, along with some strong wheat he'd luckily found. That'd be very useful. And some rocks, could never go wrong with rocks.
As Ritsuko set the fire, Daisuke was carefully braiding the wheat, pieces of long grass, and strips of back together for make-shift rope, then the makeshift rope into a sort of net. He was better at this than he thought, but the net looked super shoddy. It would work, but Daisuke was doubtful it'd be effective at all, to catch either man or animal. Even with doubts, he dragged the girl along with him as he set up the trap around the trees, a separate between every two. It was a thin tripline concealed in the grass, and when tripped, the net would fall (hopefully) from higher up, and was weight down with big rocks. Wasn't much, but something.
1900
As they were thinking of how to make a shelter, they went fishing. Daisuke didn't trust any of the berries, after having been in a plants class, so he didn't pick any of them, opting to leave them all alone. Ritsuko guided him to a river, where she killed a fish with a rock. Some throw Daisuke chuckled to himself, before waiting for her to catch another. When she missed and they'd been waiting awhile, they turned back around with their one fish. As they went, Daisuke spotted a rabbit or hare or something in the distance. He slowed Ritsuko, putting a finger in front of his lips as he crept a little bit closer. He got down on one knee, before rapidly doing Handseals, then pointing two fingers. He took a bit of time to aim, and that allowed him to charge more Chakra than needed. When he was getting tired of holding, he released the lightning, sending a straight line of lightning at the rabbit.
He missed.
And felled a big tree. Stupid rabbit.
2100 hours
He nodded to her, answering her question as the fished cooked. They'd have to split it, but that was alright. Daisuke would try shooting a rabbit again later. Or setting it on fire, but that might not be such a good idea. Yea, we got this. He leaned back onto his hands, watching the fire as it rained. He looked at a rather thick tree that was close by, before getting up, pulling Ritsuko with him. He crouched down, prompting her to do the same. He unzipped his sweater, before getting stuck as to how to pull off the sleeve that was on the arm that had a cuffed wrist. He thought for a moment, before finally just ripping part of the sleeve so it slid off, then hung the sweater up over the branches. There. A.... Decent shelter. He chuckled softly, before dragging Ritsu back to the fire and sitting down.
It was difficult to realize some days that the children she taught were but that, children. A reminder of this was her partner's quiet sobbing after being awoken for a trek through the woods, one day these would be the men and women to lead their village and to protect their people, a sombering thought. "Hush." She reprimanded jerking the girl, though it seemed to be of no avail, it seemed there would be no sneaking tonight. For a brief moment she thought of allowing the rain to pour down upon them as punishment for her wailing, though she couldn't find it in herself simply because the thought of pneumonia outweighed listening to a girl's cries.
The carcass of a fish laid at her feet, scales and brittle bones sunken into the mush that was once earth marked that the two had successfully managed to find food, their fire seemed low but it burned nonetheless and they had managed makeshift shelter from the boy's coat. While it wouldn't serve as the most water resistant home it would at least save them from the night. Thunder boomed in the distance as a stray bolt of lightning crashed down to the ground two klicks away striking down a tree with a violent boom, a reminder that they were no longer in the safe haven of the village, the deep pouring of the rain served as an ample distraction from the sound of her partner's crying as she approached the other two to ensure at least one of them was still awake guarding the fire, and to her surprise neither had yet to get any shut-eye. Her feet sloshed in the wet ground beneath her, sucking her ever so slightly into the mud that had used to be terra firma, crouching and beckoning her half-sobbing partner to do the same she stared at the two in momentary silence eyeing their progress for the night, they had done well for the time being. For a brief moment the rain around the group did not quite subside but did seem to once again defy the laws of physics as it had before floating ever so gently in the air instead of crashing down upon them as she began to speak, "Sleep in shifts and make sure your fire stays alive, it keeps the animals at bay. If you have to go to the bathroom I would recommend you do it now, there's no reason for you to wake your partner up in the middle of your shift because you didn't piss now. I will be sending one of my contracts out to check on the two of you at around 5AM, she will be assisting you tomorrow, and I certainly hope I hear good things back from her. Now get some sleep, kids." pressing her hand against her knee the girl stood looking back down toward her partner with a slight sigh readying to return to their own camp. The rain ceased it's unnatural manners returning to pouring down as she and her little friend exited from their group.
2400 HOURS
Chiyoko had opted for first shift, well not so much opted for it rather she endured it, as her partner had already fallen asleep nearly immediately after they had returned to camp. Her eye rested upon the fire as the warmth of a small body rested against her, one of those rare moments she was reminded of a fleeting sense of humanity that still rested in the depths of her being somewhere. She had already come to the conclusion that the girl resting against her was likely unfit for duty in the field, she was one of the lucky ones, still it was beyond her to come to such a conclusion before the end of their class, if the little brat could live through it maybe she was fit. "Hope not, for your sake." She commented to herself looking back toward Komora before her gaze was caught by the never ending rain once again.
0200 HOURS
"Get up." Her demand was simple, though it did take jostling the little girl once again to rend her from her sleep, it was time for shift change, and it seemed as good a time as any to ready her contract for the next day. If anything her Kami could at least watch over them for a couple hours in case her partner failed to stay awake, which seemed fairly likely to Chiyoko who held and aggravated expression at the little girl, she had no intentions of coddling her. Summoning techniques proved difficult considering their situation of being bound together, though she did manage it after a few minutes of throwing her little partner around, all in all it was far less than spectacular than what one thinks of a summoning, just as most jutsu are far less flashy than in the minds of children. There was no cloud of smoke, no boom of thunder, no whisper of wind, simply that with a blink of an eye a creature was there that had not been previously.
Summoning:
B-Rank said:
Okami
Okami is a large wolf spirit of pure white with fine strokes of red paint around her eyes. Her body illuminates a soothing white, which depicts her purity and benevolence. She is a very benign and honest creature and believes in protecting those in need. This spirit is rarely seen, and normally dwells deep within the mountains. Okami excels in illusionary and fire Ninjutsu through the use of Doujutsu.
By using her unique illusionist type techniques, she is able to create an array of lights surrounding the entire field, seen only in the eyes of the opponent. These lights flash brilliant colors, distracting the affected for a short period.
Effect: In the beginning of each round, up to two targets make a Genjutsu Check against Okami. If the check is successful, the target suffers -2 Dodge for the remainder of the round due to being distracted by the Northern Lights. Cost: None, Constant.
Note:
- When Okami is summoned into battle this passive activates immediately and a check is made upon summon. The summoner must specify which two targets will make a check against Okami.
By looking at an opponent, she is able to ignite them in mystical violet fire. This technique is considered a fire-based Doujutsu. Though this can cause damage to an opponent, she has the ability to heal the summoner with this instead, by turning the flames into a Cyan color.
Effect: Okami may make a Ninjutsu Check against a single target at Normal Accuracy. Upon a successful check the target is immediately ignited in flames, burning the target for 1690 Damage.
Special Action: At the cost of an additional +20% Cp, Okami may use the flames to heal herself or the summoner for 845 HP instead.
By locking eyes with the opponent, they are blinded by the brightness and gain the sensation of their eyes painfully burning. Though their eyes will not actually be burning, the pain is quite real.
Effect: Okami makes a Genjutsu Check against a single target at -1 Genjutsu DC. Upon a successful check the target suffers a -2 Accuracy Debuff and has a 8% chance per action to attack a random target due to being blinded. This may only affect one action a round. Cost: 2 AP and 570 Cp to initiate, 285 Cp/Rnd
Notes:
- Each round a Genjutsu Check is made between Okami and the target.
A more advanced fire Doujutsu, this technique will send the enemy into a nightmare of flames, giving the sensation of their body being engulfed by fire.
Effect: Okami releases a wave of flames automatically targeting up to two opponents dealing 1,250 at +2 Accuracy. Cost: 2 AP and 415 CP to initiate.
"Mistress?" The wolf beckoned to her, sitting in a calm repose as the rain began to beat down onto her soft alabaster fur, it had been a good while since she had been able to speak with Okami last, and it was a rarity for her to call the wolf from her home, "I could use some help, nothing too major, need you to watch over a couple students later. Make sure they don't get eaten by a bear, or something like that." Chiyoko remarked as the Wolf cocked her head to the side unsure as to why she had been called for something so trivial, though her voice carried a tone of subservient helpfulness, "Of course mistress, I would be happy to help shape the lives of the youth." such a good little pooch.
0500 HOURS
((OOC: From here on out Okami's text will be colored as this, I will be dividing sections up for Ritsuko & Daisuke with Okami so they have more 'hands on' learning, Komora will of course be monitored by Chiyoko.))
As quiet as the night Okami set on her way toward the other group, her fur damp and matted under the rain giving off a bit more of a mangy look than the wolf was used to, in fact it was a true rarity to see her as anything other than exuberant. Her mistress had intentionally left out the fact that she would be sending a godly dire wolf to teach her students, feeling that if anything giving them a fright would be good for a laugh later on; besides, it wasn't as if they had enough fire power to potentially harm the celestial beast if they tried. The beast heeled at the foot of their fire, cocking her head to the side once more to catch a glimpse of the two students she would be taking care of for the day, quaintly she licked her front paw awaiting the reaction of shock that any boy or girl would possibly have as a giant wolf wandered into their camp. It seemed clear that she wasn't hostile as most of the beasts of the forests, and the aura that all Kami produced radiated through her being like the sun on a bright summer's day, if anything she seemed more human than most people in the village. "Children." She remarked kindly with a certain maternal warmth, she had at least hoped they had heard of her as most had in folktales of years passed, though it had been quite some time since she had been seen as the Goddess of the Heavens. "Mistress has consulted with me and has beckoned that I teach the two of you the ways of nature, and in her words 'make sure you aren't eaten by a bear.' I suspect you may not know who I am, and as I'm not much for bragging or repeating folklore I will simply say that I am Okami. A Kami as any other." always humble.
"So, any questions? I would prefer we keep the petting to a minimum." While she was humble to a fault the Kami was also a terrible liar and did love a good belly rub, that would have to be saved for later of course.
0700 HOURS
The rain had stopped, though Okami's legs had already been caked with the mud beneath her paws as she trotted down to the creek the two had fished from the day previous, surveying it's bountiful splendor. One maverick duck floated down the creek, uncaring of the two Shinobi and one Goddess staring back toward it, "The world provides." the wolf quipped pointing her paw toward the animal in an oddly human like fashion, "Now, normally I would tell you to surround it on either side, but seeing as Mistress has bound you together that seems unlikely. Instead I will assist you, the two of you go a bit further down and I will come up behind him." the wolf nodded dipping her paws into the water as the brown that had caked her fur slowly dissipated down stream.
Quickly she trotted behind the unsuspecting animal as it began to squawk back at her unknowingly running into the other two further down the creek, she debated whether or not to let the two humans deal with the beast or if she should, ultimately it seemed in her best interest to do it herself simply to avoid any unnecessary suffering of the animal. It was a swift death as she drove her fangs into the duck's neck severing it's spinal chord with a single turn. Gripping the pheasant between her teeth the wolf trotted back to the dry bank, dropping it to the ground and awaiting her companions to explain what she had done, as if it wasn't apparent already. "The world provides." She commented once again, "You must always be careful with the creatures of this plane, children. We all require sustenance, but there is no need to cause any undue harm to any animal, we have the ability to cast flame, lightning, and earth, but you must remember that these animals still feel just as you do. They do not deserve a death by fire just as neither of you do." her gaze and tone as tender as ever, though a noticeable rumble could be heard from her stomach.
1100 HOURS
The pheasant had been cooked on the fire, it took her a good while to describe how to remove the feathers and butcher the bird, but they seemed to have done alright. She was of the opinion all that was completely unneeded extra work, but humans did seem to have much weaker stomachs than she. Lazing in the sun she looked toward their little settlement, noting that it consisted of nothing more than a ripped jacket and a set of twigs it seemed that it should be the next item on the to-do list. "If it rains again you both may end up sick, it's time for the both of you to improve your camp. Unfortunately I'm no expert at building, though I can accompany the two of you while you look for materials...After this nap." She stated closing her eyes and rolling onto her side, there was nothing quite like a good mid-day nap.
1700 HOURS
She sat reposed watching the children as it came time to eat once again another rumble settling in her stomach, "You've both done well today, but it is not over just yet, time for more food before we run out of day light. I was thinking wild hare, though I am open to suggestions." pepping up a bit the wolf stood stretching out as if she had feline blood instead of canine.
A few minutes of trotting later the wolf spied her prize, a rabbit hole sniffing down toward it and surmising the animals were still out and about, her nose spotted their trail but she was aware the two Shinobi around her did not have as keen a nose as she did, instead she faced the small tracks in the ground looking back toward the two, "Follow the tracks, catch the rabbits." her demand was simple enough as she took a seat blocking the rabbit hole in case they scampered back, it was time for another nap.
Meanwhile elsewhere!
0700 HOURS
Overslept, goddammit the dog couldn't even bother to stay around to make sure they got up at 5? Yawning and wiping the sleep from her eyes she looked toward her partner, still pressed against her shoulder, she couldn't really fault the girl for being unable to stay awake for her shift, once again having to remind herself that she likely wasn't a day past eight or nine. Still that didn't mean she couldn't feign a sense of aggravation toward her as she once again jostled her awake doing her best to sound aggravated, "Wake up you little blood kicking shit." honestly she wasn't sure if that had come out of her mouth instead of some sleep inhibited jumble of garbage, hopefully she would get the message. Peering out into the world it seemed the rain had stopped and their fire had died, seemed that no animals came and ate them in the night so that was a plus, it took several minutes for her to mentally gear herself for the day as it usually did. Chiyoko's stomach rumbled back at her violently as she remembered the two hadn't gone hunting the night before, the first order of the day would be gathering food of some sort, "Hungry?" she asked her Kouhai in rhetorical fashion standing on weakened legs and brushing the dried mud from her back.
Their trip was far less violent than the others, it had always been her experience that foraging was far easier than hunting, wild asparagus was easily found, as were huckleberries, blueberries, and so forth. While not as filling as a whole duck they would do to stave off their hunger until they could catch game of some sort, of course having the worst luck of any human being she had ever meet would later prove useful...
1100 HOURS
Ever seen a pissed off mountain lion up close? Well you have now. Now the normal person would cower away in fear of such a beast, but our little friend wasn't being guided around by a normal person, she was being guided around by a moron, and just like any good moron her mind was directed by her stomach. "We're gonna eat that fuckin' thing." Licking her lips Chiyoko looked toward her little Kouhai, contemplating using her as a makeshift battle-ax to bludgeon the cougar to death, maybe that wasn't their best course of action. Nah, probably not. Unlike her Kami friend she didn't particularly care about hurting the thing that was only a few meters away from her and trying to murder her face for food, as they say 'don't start no stuff, won't be no stuff.' cougar should have known that to begin with.
It would have probably been in their best interest to simply dispatch the thing from long range with some good 'ole gravity jutsu, but then her little Kouhai learned jack diddly. They would simply have to take on the thing the old fashioned way, the manliest of manly ways! Fisticuffs! Well, fisticuffs until one of them ended up getting mauled, then it would probably be a good idea to start up with the jutsu. "Okay, so here's the plan --" Seemed the cougar didn't particularly care about her plan as it got tired of waiting for it's prey to run as it began to charge toward them, "Uh! Beat the shit out of it!" a solid plan. Plan actually worked better than she expected to begin with as she caught the animal with the heel of her boot as it hopped toward them, it didn't quite send him back as much as it sent him skittering off toward her side and behind them crashing into their shelter. Whipping around, and accidentally flinging her little partner with her, she faced the animal, handsigns were unsurprisingly difficult being attached to another person, though she did manage to get them off. A singular bolt of electricity shot toward the beast enveloping it with a bright light and a thunderous boom, as if it had been struck by a bolt of lightning, a little overkill but it got the job done and the thing would require considerably less cooking now. Fist pumping she looked down toward her little partner, checking to make sure she hadn't just died, seemed to be alright. Raising her hand a bit with a slight smile upon her face she couldn't help but ask for a, "High Five!" well she didn't so much ask for one than she yelled it out and was insistent on having one regardless of Komora's wishes.
1700 HOURS
It took far longer than expected to put the cat on the spit, though it proved to be a worthy endeavor in the end as it provided them with enough meat for the next week if they should need it, of course they didn't have time to work on their shelter what with all the cougar murder, but it seemed like it had been a good day in the long run. Besides they still had a few hours to figure out how to improve their little camp, some extra twigs here and there and they were set. Poking at the meat with a stick her mind wondered, looking toward the little girl it still seemed obvious that she likely wasn't cut out for this field of work. "So. Why do you want to do this? This career I mean, aside from all the cool swords and such. Or do you even know why you're doing this to begin with?" Hell, Chiyoko didn't even know why she held the job she did most days, nor did she know why she wanted to do it. If anything it was an anomaly why anyone would want their job, and she could completely understand if her little friend was unable to figure out why she was there.
The rain didn't seem to stop anytime soon. It was still pouring down as Ritsuko and Daisuke talked at the fire. The fire was burning low now, and they would need to put some more wood on before they would go to sleep. A sound was approaching them it sounded like a crying girl, and a little after noticing her teacher and the weird girl showed up. The rain started to float in the air, its surely her teacher who have that ability. The teacher Recommended them to take a piss, and then sleep on shifts, and with that said, they left.
They put some more wood on the fire, and went out to piss.
2400
Ritsuko yawned as they returned to the camp. "do you mind if i sleep first" She asked Daisuke. She was really tired and wanted to get some rest. Daisuke agreed and then he would wake her up at around two, to shift. They managed to make it possible that Daisuke was near the fire, but Ritsuko was under the jacket. Her chained arm just had to be stretched again Daisuke, and then it was her only body part to get wet while sleeping. She fell asleep quickly.
0200
Daisuke woke her up. It was time for her shift, she rubbed her eyes automatically with her free hand, she was getting used to only have one hand to move freely. They switched places, Daisuke under the jacket, and Ritsuko in front of the fire. Her eyes was still not use to the glow from the fire, and rested inside the dark forest behind it. Everything around them was quiet and dark. The only light were their fire, and the only noises was their breathing and the fire's crackling.
0500
Ritsuko had managed to keep awake for her shift, she was starting to get hungry, and was still a little tired. Daisuke woke up as they were approached by a wolf. It was big, and was painted around it's eyes. At first as Ritsuko caught a glimpse of something behind the fire she got a shock, and was about to wake Daisuke up. But as it got closer it was clear that it didn't attend to hurt them, and that it wasn't a normal wolf living in the forest. The wolf explained why it had joined them, after Daisuke sat up, and both were ready to listen. It was a summoning of their teacher. Ritsuko had always wanted to get a contract with a summoning animal, and it had always bin clear to her that it should be a animal from the forest, like a bird, bear, wolf or maybe even a giant squirrel, if that was possible. The wolf here was beautiful, maybe that was what she wanted to have a contract with, kami's as she called herself.
0700
Finally the rain stopped. It had rained almost none stop for 10 hours, and Ritsuko was wet and cold. The wolf pointed at a duck, which she assumed meant that they were going to hunt it. They walked a further down, behind the duck. The duck started to run towards them. Her first self rule before entering this forest was that she wouldn't eat anything but fish and plants, but her stomach started to turn against her, as it growled. Ritsuko hated the thought about eating wild animals, she was friends with at least one animal from almost every species, even bears, not grown up bears though but cups. Before Ritsuko even perceived it, the wolf had already brought it down. As the wolf explained that animals didn't have to feel the pain, and that we all need food to live, Ritsuko started to feel a little better about that she in a moment were going to eat the duck.
1100
The wolf had told them how to prepare the duck, plucking the feathers and so. It actually tasted quite good, though Ritsuko still felt guilt while eating it. It pointed out that the camp wasn't very good. Of course they already knew that. It would be hell if it started raining again, with only a jacket as shelter. She proposed to accompany them while they looked after materials, after a nap first though. A nap did seem quite pleasant right now. "I'm gonna take an hour too. If it's okay with you" She yawned. She laid down at the fire, and fell asleep.
1300
Daisuke woke up Ritsuko. "Come, we can go look for material now" She nodded still half asleep. The wolf accompanied them as promised, while looking for materials for a shelter. Ritsuko only took what Daisuke or the wolf told her to. It wasn't her strong side to build things, so she intended to let Daisuke deal with it. They returned to the camp with the materials, and started to build the shelter right away, Daisuke told her what to do, and she just followed his orders.
1700
It was once again time to eat. Ritsuko had eased a little up by the thought of eating the animals, and this time it was hare they were going to hunt. It was convenient to have a wolf, it sniffed out a rabbit hole, so the rabbits couldn't be long from there. This time it seemed like the wolf wanted them to do the job, it blocked the hole and then it was up to them to do the rest. She had an idea about how she was going to bring down one of the hares, as the wolf told them earlier they didn't need to suffer from getting burned, she intended to use stone bullet as when she killed the fish, through the neck or head so it would die in an instant. She told Daisuke her plan, so they didn't try to do hand seals at the same time, and fail. They tracked the hare. There was two, one for Ritsuko and one for Daisuke. They walked a little closer to the pair, but then a stick broke and they started to run. "C'mon" She started to follow the rabbits, and pulled Daisuke after her. As the hares reached an earth area, Ritsuko stamped the ground and turned her feet. "Gravel shrift" The ground under the hares turned in to pebbles, and caused the hares to stumble. She used the confusion to throw the hand seals and hurl a stone towards the hares with chakra, it flew right through one of the hares neck. "Now, get the other" She loosened her hand, allowing Daisuketo do his handseals.
Komora had somehow slept walked and slept in general through everything. Up until this point. Get up. Her companion demanded. Komora stirred. She tried to rub her eyes, but the string was still attached to her hand binding her to Chiyoko. She immediately gave up trying to use that hand and rubbed her eyes with her other hand. As she was still coming to her senses she thought a talking dog had appeared out of the thin air. The dog quickly departed and Chiyoko. Soon Komora found herself alone in a state of wakefulness as Chiyoko took her turn sleeping.
Komora spent an hour in silence sitting, in a mind numbingly bored way. She decided to untie herself from her companion so that she could move around without disturbing her. A leak had sprung in their shelter and was threatening to splash Chiyoko. Komora use her hand to make the water drip down her arm instead while she adjusted the thatching to prevent the leak. She sighed in complete boredom when something interesting happened. A little animal poked its head into the shelter where Komora and Chiyoko were resting.
Cool. Its Komora! The little rat said. Komora shushed the rat and pointed at her sleeping companion. The Rat nodded. What are you doing out here? You’re just an academy student, you guys should really go back to the Village. The rat adjusted his ninja headband. Komora examined the scar that run down the rats’ nose. Komora is in class. She huffed at the rat. Oh… The rat nodded in understanding. Survival training huh? Komora nodded in agreement. Well, listen, I’m on a mission right now, otherwise I’d play with you. Komora leaned in curiously. Some bandits killed some travelers that got lost in these woods, and me and Kouji were trying to find it before their trail got too messed up by the rain. The rat began to scurry away. Just be careful okay? See you back at the Mochizuki camp.
0330
Another hour passed. Komora was still awake. But her instincts flared. She had been told not to use a kunai, but she didn’t care. A kunai slipped from her secret place and into her hand. The rain was still going. Komora stepped out into the water dripping from the sky and gazed around. There was a sound… rustling. Komora looked back at her sleeping teacher and thought to wake her, but ultimately decided not to. She snuck through the brush, in a way that would allow her to circle around whatever was making the noise… except the sound began to approach her. She bolted, and the sound grew louder as it approached her. The sound of leaves stirring as someone passed through them. Finally Komora skidded to a halt and hid behind a tree.
Damn… just my imagination. a man said. I told you that no one was out here. The other voice announced. Lets go back to the camp. Another man answered. I swear I could have heard someone talking. The sounds in the bushes began to grow quiet. Komora considered what her best choice of action was. Her heart raced in a panic until she looked down at the kunai in her hand. She knew what she was going to do.
It turned out that there camp wasn’t that far. A dead animal that was no longer recognizable as its carcass had been butchered for food laid next to what could have been a camp fire. Lets get going. A voice said. We need to get moving as early as possible it in case that fat merchant went to the ninjas for help. a voice announced. Komora examined the group. All of them were men with scars and signs of battle etched into their bodies. Yet, none were ninjas. They cleared their camp in a few minutes and began to hide the evidence that they were ever there.
I gotta take a leak. a man told the others. He walked away from the camp into the woods were Komora was carefully hiding. He didn’t see her as he began to fumble at his belt. He was much taller than her. Komora kicked the back of his knee and forced him to kneel. He had only half a moment to yelp in surprise as Komora slit his throat. His blood, oozing out of his useless neck onto her hands like a broken bottle of milk. Komora tried to soften the fall of his body as much as she could with her weak frame. She gazed up back at the camp. There were four more men left, but it seemed the half yelp did not go unnoticed.
She pulled out one of the whistling kunais she had stolen and threw it across the camp. The men all stopped what they were doing. The whistling sound had caught their attention. Komora moved around the camp while they were distracted and trying to figure out the source of the sound. In this time, she had climbed a tree. I think it came from over here… The man said as he approached Komoar’s tree. The three other men followed shortly behind him. Komora pulled out the rest of the kunais she had carefully hidden and tossed a volley at the three men furthest from her. Then she leapt down ontop of the man below the tree, using her weight to dig her kunai as deep into his back as she could. She yanked on the blade. It was stuck good, it had pierced his spine.
Komora looked up at the victims of her volley, half expecting to have killed all three of the bandits. Except she had not. One of the bandits had his sword drawn, and Komora looked left and right at the kunais that had been deflected away from him. She tugged with a new sense of urgency at the kunai in the dead man’s back. It didn’t come loose. She rolled out of the way of a quick swipe with the blade. She was unarmed now, but she did have a few things going for her. She was a kunoichi. The man turned around and held his blade to his side. You ninjas are pretty deceiving. It’s a damn sick system where you train children to be murderers I’ll give you that… He stepped forward and slashed again at Komora. She twisted out of the way and then hopped backwards as another attack followed up. Komora dove to the ground and rolled.
When she rose she had in her hand one of the kunais that had been deflected by the man’s parry. Her height in comparison to the grizzled bandint probably gave her an advantage, in that most of his techniques were designed for people of roughly the similar height. Komora parried his attack, but the strength of his attack knocked her onto her back.
The man kicked her in the ribs and thrust his blade down at her. Everything would have been over were it not for a little rat that was now on Komora’s chest. He held the blade in his claws, but it was clear he was struggling against the man’s strength. Komora, get up! he shouted to her.
She rolled out of the way of the attack, and as she had, the sword impaled her little rodent friend. She felt her heart stop and her eyes water. Then… nothing. The man flicked the rat from his sword like a limp doll. He slashed at Komora, She stopped the attack with her kunai, both of her hands on her weapon against the strength of his one hand. She slid the kunai down the katana until she met its guard with her kunai. The man grunted, but seemed curious as to what she was planning.
She big his fingers. Hard. In fact. It wasn’t unlike biting through a carrot. Crunch. With that three bloody fingers oozed as she spit them from her mouth. The man’s sword dropped to the ground. He grasped his wrist in shock as he gaped at his suddenly lack of fingers. When he turned back to Komora, she was already covered in blood around her mouth and hands. She was not smiling as she leapt into his chest with her kunai. She spun the blade in her palm until she was holding it like a serial killer. Then she proceeded stab him in the chest repeatedly. She was painted with the man’s blood. Even as it pooled around her legs as she straddled him, she did not stop stabbing.
She took a deep breath one she was done. There was no way his body would be recognizable now. She began to spit out the taste of his blood that had gotten into her mouth when a low growl could be heard. She looked up as a bear emerged from the woods. It must have been attracted to be the scent of murder. Komora looked at the bear and growled back. The bear took a step and then stopped. Did it dare take a step forward? It did. The bear charged Komora. Its long claws dug into the flash on her back as it swatted her to the ground. It pinned her there with its paws and lowered its snout of full teeth towards her. Only the bear gurgled. Komora’s kunai found its way into its neck. After a brief moment the mighty creature’s strength gave out and it collapsed onto the little girl. She struggled to breath beneath its massive weight. Its blood began to soak her from head to toe. Luckily the ground was muddy and moist. Komora was able to slip out from underneath the beast with the help of the slippery mud.
Blood and mud caked her body and clothes now as she rose from the corpse. Yet it was not over yet. Monstrous dogs that easily were as tall as Komora encircled her. She was unarmed. Alone. No wait. She bared her teeth. The wolves continued to circle her. One nipped at her leg as she stood at the middle of them. She quickly hopped onto its snout and pressed finger’s into its eyes turning it into mush. Another wolf lunged at her from behind… she thought she could smell him coming so she twisted to avoid the snapping fangs.
Her teeth caught the creature’s throat like a vice grip, and she tore its throat out with a quick jerking motion. The massive dog added its corpse to the quickly growing pile of dead bodies. The rag of flesh in her mouth flopped about her face as she showed her dominance. Then… she chewed and swallowed. The blind wolf whimpered and limped away like an invalid. The rest of the pack began to retreat as well with their tails between their legs. She huffed. and looked down at the wolf she had killed. Oh. It had definitely been the biggest one of the pack. Komora let the dying rain wash the blood off of her body. She tended the claw swipe injury that she had received from the bear. She put pressure on it for the time being and used a strip of cloth she tore off she found in the camp to cover the bleeding gash.
It looked like the new day would start soon. She needed to get back to Chiyoko. Komora began to sprint through the forest. She was actually quite surprised at how far she had gotten away from Chiyoko. As the girl arrived back at Chiyoko, she looked back at the incredible distance she had to run to get here… She just ran a mile in 8 minutes. She slowed her breath down before she returned to the shelter and tied herself back to Chiyoko and laid down to rest in the mud by Chiyoko. Five minutes later… Wake up you little blood kicking shit.
0700 hours
Hungry? Komora gave Chiyoko a look that said all but said, are you serious? She was not hungry. She was tired. She had just bit out and chewed up a wolf’s throat less than an hour ago. They spent their time looking for wild vegetables. Komora spent this time practically sleep walking.
1100
"We're gonna eat that fuckin' thing." Chiyoko’s words broke her out of her daze. Somehow Komora had managed to stay awake and not cry about it despite the fact that her entire body was screaming at her to fall down on her face and sleep off the soreness. Okay here’s the plan-- The big cat charged, and then it was mostly a fight between Chiyoko and the cat as Komora was tugged along. Too sleepy to actually do anything useful for this fight. Komora winced. She had been tossed a little and her injury from her fight with the bear began to sting at Chiyoko’s rough movements during the fight. A single bolt of electricity killed the monster, to which Chiyoko fist pumped and demanded a high five. Komora looked at her hand as Chiyoko forced her hand up so she could high five it.
1700 Hours
She was starting to feel better, at least in regards to being tired. Her injury was not though. Perhaps that was one of the reasons of her alertness. "So. Why do you want to do this? This career I mean, aside from all the cool swords and such. Or do you even know why you're doing this to begin with?" Komora looked at Chiyoko as she began to ask the question. Komora was about to open her mouth when suddenly she moved in a bad way and her injury opened up fully. She hissed through her teeth as she tried to administer first aid to her own back. ”Ouchie…Ouchie…Ouchie…” Her soft whining slowly turned into wailing as she cried at the injury on her back. This may not have been the first time she was injured, but she was battered, bruised, and bleeding. She was hurting all over, and the adrenaline that had made her oblivious to her own pain was long gone.
This rain needs to go back where it came from, Daisuke grumbled to himself, glaring up at the sky. Sometimes he wished he was born where there was more normal weather, like Hidden Stone, if what he’d been told about it was true. Hidden Sand was in the desert. Which was the exact opposite of Hidden Cloud, so that was out. He figured someday, he’d have to travel to Hidden Stone by himself. Maybe, anyway.
As Daisuke and Ritsuko sat around the fire, talking about everything under the rain (because there wasn’t a sun to talk under), they soon heard the sound of a crying girl, and Komora, by the sounds of it. Chiyoko-sensei had come to check up on them, it seemed. He didn’t notice the jutsu that was being cast on the rain, instead focusing solely on what the teacher was saying, before she left. They put more wood on the fire, which was soon blazing once more, before they went to take a pee - as separately as possible, of course.
2400 hours
Daisuke shook his head at Ritsuko, as she seemed a lot more tired than he, already yawning and all. As she fell asleep, Daisuke needed something to do to amuse himself, since he was going to be stuck for awhile. He grabbed a stick, drawing on the floor as he waited near the fire, everything quiet and peaceful.
0200 hours
He gently shook the girl he was cuffed to awake, the floor littered with random drawings and his form slumped from exhaustion. They easily switched places, Daisuke moving under the jacket and Ritsuko near the fire. The boy thought he wouldn’t be able to sleep as he sat, his back and legs already sore from the ground. Of course, their situation was irrelevant: the Academy Student fell asleep as soon as he laid out. </B>
0500 hours
<i></i>
Daisuke woke a bit later, well rested despite not getting a long time to sleep. He looked around, wondering why he’d been awoken (he still wanted sleep, of course), before he caught sight of the wolf. His first thought was KILL IT!! and he attempted to get up, though since his partner was still sitting and he didn’t have much balance, he was yanked back down. He opted to kneel, about to cast a jutsu - probably Storm Bolt, for the speed - before he noticed it not acting like a regular wolf, snarling and looking hostile and all. Then the wolf spoke, which surprised Daisuke, but then didn’t surprise him, either.
Daisuke watched and listened as it - she, it sounded like - talked to them, his rather hostile attitude towards it diminishing quickly as he listened. The help would be very appreciated, he thought to himself, before repeating it aloud. He glanced at their shoddy camp, before nodding to Kami: very appreciated, yep.
0700 hours
<i></i>
As the rain stopped, Daisuke silently thanked whatever had stopped them. He was soaked to the bone, and wouldn’t be back home for a little bit, he was guessing. But, he had to train himself for many missions, and a lot of them might put him in these weathers, so he didn’t complain whatsoever. Daisuke watched in slight fascination as the wolf easily took down the duck. It made sense, if you were killing animals to eat them, at least be kind enough to not put them in pain.
1100 hours
<i></i>
After skinning the animal and cooking it - which took more time than Daisuke would've thought - they ate it, of course. After having only some fish the previous night, it seemed to almost be a feast as the boy dug into his share of the meat, now quite happier with a full stomach. As the wolf started speaking again, this time about their makeshift "shelter" (which, it barely was) he had to agree, and he did so wholeheartedly. I think we'll be okay after gathering some stuff, though what are we supposed to get? I'm not sure if bamboo grows around here, which I have heard is a good thing to use for survival. He nodded, thinking back to Saki-sensei's lesson for a second. He nodded to Ritsuko as she said she was going to take an hour to sleep, and once more he found himself drawing a multitude of things in the dirt.
1300 hours
<i></i>
Daisuke allowed the pair two hours to sleep instead of only one, as they seemed to need it. He had intended on letting them sleep more, but it was coming past noon and he wanted to have a good shelter up before night and have already gotten dinner, which would take some time. Come, we can go look for materials now, he said to the half-sleep girl, before pulling her along to gather stuff.
He found a good lot of bamboo in one place, which slightly surprised him: he wasn't sure where they grew, but he wasn't one to complain. He walked away from the bamboo, though, until he found two good rocks that looked pretty sharp. He handed one to Ritsuko and proceeded to sit, before instructing her to hack away the lowest point with him until it fell.
-----
As the walked back to camp, their arms full of bamboo sticks, Daisuke thought about how they'd make shelter with it. He'd luckily still kept the rocks, because he thought it would come in handy. Since he had a bit of time to think about it on the way home, he had a few ideas and chose to go with the best first. Okay, so.... He and Ritsuko dropped the bamboo, brushing his hands off then allowing the girl to do the same. Bamboo is very strong, and useful. I think we'll be able to make a good shelter using only bamboo.[/color] He nodded, before sitting down and handing Ritsuko hers. Just cut the bamboo in half. We don't have that many, so we'll need to use them wisely.
-----
After the bamboo was cut in half (which took a lot less time than Dai thought: bamboo was tough, but they didn't have much), he started cutting one half into strips, handing the strips to Ritsuko. Use those and make four squares out of them. Like this, he took a few strips and took four halves of bamboo, crossing two first and wrapping them around the sticks in a way that stayed together. He did this three more times, until he had a hardy square of bamboo. Actually, I'll do it. I need to measure some, and we need all the time we can get. He handed her his half skinned bamboo stick, then took the strips and made three more squares, making sure all the squares were the same size. He beckoned to Ritsuko and moved under the tree, taking his squares and the rest of the bamboo. He stabbed two of the four into the ground, opposite of each other and about the length away from each other as the length of the squares, the the other behind it, taking a strip and tying them together in the middle. The then put the last bamboo square above the three, typing it at the middle as well, so it was a makeshift box, big enough to hold all the kids and Kami.
Okay, so... We'll just have to finish stripping that one, and we can tie the others together to make kinda like walls, then tie them to the squares, and we can put my sweater over it to help against the rain, if it does again! Yep, his first idea was already going well, that was refreshing. He was getting hungry.
<B>1700 hours
After the shelter had been made (finally), they were now hunting. Kami and Ritsuko did some fancy maneuvers which he didn't pay much attention to, which ended in a chase for rabbits. Ritsuko killed one with a rock, while Daisuke did the Handseals for Storm Bolt and loosed a bolt of lightning at the rabbit, sending it through the poor beast's head. When could he rest, he needed his nap?
((OOC: I apologize for my crap post in advance, I'm like 45 hours into my work week already, like 90 if we're counting from last Thursday to today and I still have three more doubles this week...Anyway, I'm leaving it to you guys to piece some stuff together here for the 12 hr round, for Daisuke & Ritsuko feel free to write Okami as you see fit, within reason of course. Same goes for you Komora, write whatever you feel within reason and I'll run with it next round.)
The children had done well in catching the rabbits, and their feast for the night had been a good one. The two had certainly shown signs of the bonds of teamwork, the pivotal point of their field exercise and Okami couldn't help but feel a bit proud for the future Shinobi of the Cloud village. "You've done well, children. Mistress Chiyoko will no doubt be proud even if she refuses to show it, I am not one to speak ill of my mistress but she can be a difficult woman some times." The wolf commented resting next to the fire, it's warmth was pleasant against her fur. Eyeing the two she couldn't help but wonder what made them come into this line of work, unlike her mistress she could understand the draw to protect the village and those around the children, and that always seemed to be a prominent reason for the work of a Shinobi. "You both show promise, I have no doubt you will both be of great service to your village. Just try to remember why you're doing this now, when you forget...You end up like mistress." Okami sat upward licking at her coat as if a reminder that no matter how godly she was in this plane she was but a wolf. For a moment she thought in worry about her mistress, though her thoughts soon subsided as she remembered that her sole reason here was for these two children, "No matter your trials just remember those who you've committed your life to, and remember those who have passed protecting them. We have all been chosen for our stations for a reason, I for assisting the mortals of this world, and yours for the people of Kumogakure." Okami solemnly nodded at her thought staring at the bright young faces of the future of the land of Cloud.
Chiyoko sat in silence as she watched her Kouhai sob, it was immediately apparent these were not the tears of earlier of a tired child. What had happened, her one eye gazed as she watched the girl try to get her band around to her back, an injury seemed obvious, though she knew in almost perfect certainty that it hadn't been on her watch. If it hadn't been on her watch, and in conjunction with the fact that her Kouhai had seemed to be damn near sleep walking all day it seemed fairly obvious that she had gotten loose from her cuffs the night previous and gotten herself into trouble. Part of her wanted to scold the girl with all of her might, the very reason she paired with the girl was to ensure she didn't end up injuring herself or someone else, yet it happened nonetheless. Sighing heavily she motioned for the girl to turn as she could inspect whatever wound she had encumbered, "Let met see." she demanded, Chiyoko was no medical ninja and couldn't heal with the palm of her hands, but she did know a little about dressing wounds in the field having patched herself on various occasions. Resting her right arm against the shoulder of the girl she awkwardly managed to lift the back of her blouse to inspect the wound, "Goddammit, how'd you manage this? You know what, never mind we can talk about that once we get it cleaned up." sighing heavily she contemplated failing the girl and returning her to the village for an immediate hospital visit, the wound looked bad but she had gone through worse and had lived through it with no medic, no she would simply have to bear field dressing, partly as a punishment, partly because during high ranking missions you aren't able to mosey over to the local hospital and medics are a rarity. "We'll get it cleaned up, still going to hurt though." what they needed now was some sap, clean water, and dressings. Seemed Chiyoko-Senpai would simply have to go without a shirt for the remainder of her class, one of the joys of being a Sensei. "You better hope to Jesus Saito we can get some clean water, if I have to use urine I swear I'll make sure you're an academy student for the next 50 years. Now let's see if we can get it fixed up until we go back." standing she insisted the girl follow her, she refused to carry her for her own damnable mistake.
Two hours passed as they searched for adequate materials, and it seemed luck had been on their side, cleaning her shirt with water boiled from a creek, she probed the wound rather roughly administering the sap antiseptic after washing it out she managed to wrap her own shirt around the wound, making sure to keep it as tight as she could. Komora wouldn't be dying on her watch, maybe be in a lot of pain, but she wouldn't be dying. "Should probably fail you, but I did a lot of stupid shit when I was a student. So I'll make you a deal, tell me what happened and we can forget that you managed to get out from these handcuffs, and you let me take you to the hospital when we get back. Pretty good deal in my opinion, I'll tell them we got attacked by some bandits or something, that's not what happened is it?" Bingo, well sort of, she wasn't aware of that whole bear/wolf situation.
After catching the rabbits they returned to their camp, and though she couldn't help feeling a little proud catching a rabbit on her own, it still didn't feel alright. She couldn't handle carrying the dead rabbit on the way back, so she asked Daisuke to hold them. Looking at the two lifeless creatures in Daisuke's hands almost made her sick, that's how the world functioned, the weak prey on the weaker. They Returned to camp and it was time to skin the rabbits, Daisuke placed one of the dead rabbits in front of her, was she supposed to just peal of its skin, though it was dead she couldn't help but think about how it once lived, and she was the one to take life from it. Her hands was shaking as she reached out for the rabbit, she didn't look while lifting up the rabbit, blood was still dripping from the fur at the neck, falling on her hands. She had plucked a duck, but somehow it wasn't the same, just as she had eaten meat at home. The reason why this was different was the fact the she was the one who had killed it. She slowly turned her head and looked at the rabbit, a fear she hadn't felt before ran through her body, and she lost grip of the rabbit and let it fell to ground. She was at the edge to cry and begged that Daisuke would skin both, but the wolf refused to let him do it. The purpose of this training was learning to survive, and she explained that even though they were two now, maybe someday she would have to survive on her own, and that now would be the best time for Ritsuko to get over with it.
After some time Ritsuko was done skinning the rabbit, it had taken quite some strength, and had cost a small amount of sweat and tears. But now it was over and the 3 of them had a feast. After the meal the wolf talked about that they both were promising shinobi, but they had to hold on to their purpose. That reminded Ritsuko of why she wanted to join this kind of work. The weak preys on the weaker, that had bin her view of the world since her parents got killed. That was why she decided to join the academy, she wanted to protect those who were weaker. She glared almost paralyzed into the fire as the scene from a couple years ago played inside it, and without really noticing her free hand touched her eye-patch, she shook her head before the others would notice. "Well I'm tired, is it okay if you take the first watch again Daisuke? I'll only need 2 hours" She yawned, and without waiting for answer she laid down next to the fire.
0400
Daisuke woke her up for her shift. They switched places and Daisuke was now the one to sleep. While Daisuke was sleeping Ritsuko did nothing but stare into the fire, she was exhausted, and hungry once again. Tomorrow she would have to hunt for food again, unfortunately. Though it seemed strange somehow having the company of another animal relived her a little, normally wolf preyed on animals but it still helped having another animal justifying it.
0700
Both Ritsuko and Okami was awake now, and woke Daisuke up. "Morning" They started the day out planning what they were going to spend the day on, their camp was fully set, and the fire was still burning, so the only necessary task was to catch some food, find some drinking water, and maybe gather some more firewood. They walked to the river where they had caught fish the first day, the water had seemed pretty clean there, but they would still have to follow the orders and boil it. Ritsuko made two bowls out of leaves like her mom had taught her, and filled them with water, and while being there she also caught two fish for breakfast. Daisuke managed to prepare so they could boil the water. After boiling it they let it cool down while cooking the fish, one was given to Okami, and Ritsuko and Daisuke split the other. The water was refreshing, and gave a little more energy, it was the first time they had gotten something to drink since coming to the forest.
1000
Ritsuko had asked to go to the river again so she could wash herself a little, it was nice with some water in the face, and washing hands, and on their way back to the camp again they gathered some firewood so they could keep the fire burning. But they didn't return to the camp they had leaved. A wild boar had infiltrated their camp, and wrecked the shelter, and was now staring at them. They threw the firewood at their feet, this wild boar was extremely huge. Ritsuko readied herself to take it down, but half way through the hand seals, she was interrupted by Okami as she ran towards the wild boar and took it down in a sweep. Well at least now they had food for quite awhile. The rest of the day was used on rebuilding the shelter, and preparing for a luxurious meal of wild boar.
1500
To their luck it still hadn't started raining. They had finished rebuilding the shelter, and was in the process of cooking some of the wild boar. Okami had helped them a little, since they didn't have knifes to cut meat from the wild boar. She had used her teeths to take lumps of meat from the wild boar. They started eating, this was real meat, and they had lots of it, it tasted heavenly compared to the other animals, which didn't taste bad either. They still had a little water which they split between Ritsuko and Daisuke. After the meal Omaki took a nap, and Ritsuko and Daisuke sat around the fire, and talked.
"Let met see." Chiyoko demanded. Komora obliged and twisted a little bit so Chiyoko could get a better view of the injury. Fresh blood oozed from the wounds as the wounds had reopened. "Goddammit, how'd you manage this? You know what, never mind we can talk about that once we get it cleaned up. Chiyoko let out her sigh of frustration. Komora wasn’t sure what the older kunoichi was expected. Komora was Komora after all. Komora wasn’t really interested in what Chiyoko had to say though. To Komora actions always meant more than words. "We'll get it cleaned up, still going to hurt though. Komora poked at her injury. Perhaps out of morbid curiosity, but it did seem to hurt still. She confirmed it anew each time she lightly drew her fingers over the injury. The pair spent some time gathering some actual materials. When her teacher took off her shirt, Komora decided that she should follow her teacher’s example and take her shirt off as well. There they were. Both shirtless. Both girls, although Komora wasn’t developed like her teacher. She was still a child it seemed. As Chiyoko treated Komora’s wounds, Komora mostly ignored the random things that her teacher was telling her about failing. Komora didn’t care about passing or failing. She didn’t even realize that the academy was a place that she was supposed to be learning from. Somehow she was learning bits and pieces here and there.
Chiyoko directed a question at Komora. Komora’s attention came away from a bug she was watching crawling around a stick. It was something that was in the bushes behind Chiyoko. Just then, as Komora looked past her, she also caught the look Chiyoko was giving her out of her peripheral vision. Chiyoko was looking at her like she was expecting an answer. ”Look.” She whispered to Chiyoko. She grabbed Chiyoko’s chin and turned it so that Chiyoko could see the bush Komora had spotted the thing in. She then pointed at the creature she saw. It had stopped. It was as still as a statue, as was Komora. Komora wants to pet it. She whispered to Chiyoko. Komora began to move with her singular purpose, towards the strange creature, but the hand cuff on her hand grew taught and Komora’s hand no longer let her move forward. She watched in disappointment as the creature snapped out of its statue mode and scurried off into the bushes. It probably was a rabbit, seeing as how there was rabbit elsewhere. Yet, Komora hadn’t really been able to get a good look at it.
Sometime Later.
Komora stared absolutely bored into the nothingness that was in front of her. How was it possible that there could be nothing interesting to look at in this entire wooded area. She looked over her shoulder at Chiyoko who must have decided to put a little more effort in their own shelter. She sighed in an extremely bored, anxious, and frustrated way. ”Ninjas shouldn’t even be building shelters.” She decided to comment. ”It leaves too much evidence. It would be better to take soldier pills and rely on jutsu to protect you from the dangers of the elements.” Unless they were living here now? Komora doesn’t want to live here. Komora wants to go home. She explained. Despite her sudden talkative nature, Chiyoko didn’t really seem to care for Komora’s answers. In the end Komora just fell quiet again and satisfied herself with staring at nothing.
Even Later Still.
Komora sighed. She was doing watch first tonight it seemed, and Chiyoko had decided to sleep while holding Komora’s hand this time. Komora wasn’t feeling tired so she didn’t fall asleep. She was bored out of her mind in the pitch darkness of the night. That is, until her ear’s picked up a curious sound. It was dark, and difficult for Komora’s eyes to pierce the shadows, but she knew something was there. It was coming. Somewhere… Where was it? She dug her hands into her pants pulled out a kunai. The girl closed her eyes for a moment as she concentrated on the sound. A quick flick of the wrist was all it took to send the kunai somewhere into the darkness. She could hear something briefly struggle for its life… and then… nothing. It had given up. Komora briefly thought about sleeping as well. She leaned back in the shelter, but the motion really stung her back. The throbbing was preventing her from sleeping. Thus she sat quietly the whole night, without waking Chiyoko. As the sun began to rise Komora had been reduced to a zombie like status. She just stared blankly out in front of her. If one were to follow her eyes, however, they would find something interesting. Revealed by the rays of light cutting through the leaves, was a kunai embedded into the trunk of the tree. Dried blood still caked a trail down the bark of the tree. Pinned by the blade was a large snake’s head. Its body hung slack slithering parallel to the blood trail to the ground. There was no sign of life.
Komora closed her eyes. She had fallen asleep sitting up. She was just too tired. She wouldn’t be able to stay awake at all today.
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
