Welcome to Gaia! ::

Asuka stared in awe as the results of his Rasengan attack unfolded. The tree in front of him was all but obliterated. Chips of wood and leaves fell all around him, leaving only the very base of the trunk standing. After some time of standing in the same place in amazement at himself, the young shinobi of the Hidden Cloud realized he had forgotten to breathe for a while. Asuka took a deep breath and backed away from the remains of the tree he had just demolished. He knew he should turn around and go back to where his backpack was sitting to rest, but the cloud ninja was having a hard time looking away. He honestly did not want to avert his gaze from the destruction he had caused. Asuka could only imagine what would happen to an enemy ninja if he hit them with the Rasengan he had just learned. The mere thought of it put a smile on his face. It finally occurred to Asuka just how big of a step he had just taken in becoming more powerful by learning this jutsu today. As that thought passed, the young cloud shinobi could not think of a better way to follow up his great success in training except with even more training. So Asuka finally tore his gaze away from his rampant destruction and returned to where his backpack was. Next to his bag, the scroll that the young ninja had stolen from the Hidden Leaf lay open, revealing the instructions to the Rasengan which Asuka had learned the technique from. Asuka sat down next to the tree and began looking at the scroll again. He realized that he had not even read skimmed through the whole document yet. He was immediately distracted when he found the Rasengan earlier. So the cloud shinobi began to continue rolling through the scroll.

Asuka’s journey of reading the Hidden Leaf’s techniques was halted almost immediately after he started it up again. The very next entry in his stolen scroll after the Rasengan was called the Wind Release: Spiraling Shuriken. As Asuka read on through the jutsu description, he discovered that the purpose of this technique was to build off of the Rasengan and add the user’s wind elemental chakra to the mix. Considering that he had just learned several wind style techniques in the Hidden Craftsmen village only the day before, Asuka was not incredibly tempted to learn another, but something told him to keep reading through the specifics of the jutsu anyway. By the time the young ninja was done reading it all, he found himself with his mouth hanging open and was almost drooling. After all the wind techniques Asuka had learned, the Spiraling Shuriken trumped them all with ease. In his reading, the young could ninja learned that this technique is so powerful, that when a person is hit with it the jutsu traps them in a vortex of wind and cuts every line of their chakra network down to the very cells. The fact that such incredible accuracy and power was even possible sent Asuka’s head spinning. He knew that if he could master such an amazing technique, he would be unstoppable if he could be fast enough to hit an enemy with it. Asuka suddenly wanted to learn this jutsu right now. He became almost intoxicated with the power that this technique promised. The young shinobi realized that he was once again postponing his reading of the rest of the stolen scroll. There was even the possibility of even greater techniques in it and Asuka knew that. Yet he still wanted to learn the Spiraling Shuriken first. The idea of it just called to Asuka and he did not know why. So he finished reading the instructions on how to perform the improved Rasengan and stood up from his spot by the tree. Asuka walked a fair distance away from his belongings because he knew that if he pulled this jutsu off, there would be even more destruction than when he mastered the Rasengan only a few minutes ago. When he had found a suitable clearing, the young shinobi from the Hidden Cloud village calmed himself and began to focus on the task at hand. Looking back on the instructions from his stolen scroll of leaf village techniques, Asuka realized that creating the Wind Spiraling Shuriken jutsu really was not very complicated. All he had to do was form the Rasengan and then channel his wind elemental chakra into it. Apparently the shuriken shape of the attack is the natural result. Asuka did not quite understand how that would work, but he also knew there were many intricacies about the nature of chakra that he would probably never understand.

Asuka realized his thoughts were off track and shook it off before refocusing himself. He held his hand out and began focusing his chakra into his palm. The young ninja took his time going through the separate steps of forming the Rasengan technique, making sure to execute each stage as perfectly as possible. If he was going to attempt such a powerful jutsu based off of the Rasengan, Asuka wanted to make sure that his basic Rasengan was perfect. Otherwise he was afraid the entire technique could become faulty and not work as it’s supposed to. After spending a good amount of time forming the Rasengan, Asuka felt he had created the technique very close to perfectly. Now came the point where the hidden cloud ninja needed to create his wind elemental chakra and interject into his Rasengan. Just as Asuka was about to attempt this step, he began hearing voices approaching from nearby. He could not tell what they were saying, but they did not sound threatening so Asuka was planning on just ignoring them and letting them pass. It was then that the young could ninja remembered something very important. He remembered that he was standing here with a top secret stolen scroll of Hidden Leaf jutsus. Whether the people approaching were associated with the law or not, they were almost definitely citizens or shinobi of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. So Asuka let his Rasengan fade and returned to his belongings. He quickly gathered everything up and concealed the stolen scroll in his backpack. As soon as he was packed up, Asuka dashed off in the opposite direction that the unknown people were approaching from. He continued running through the trees for another twenty minutes. Asuka did not consider himself a bad person and has yet to get in any kind of official trouble. He did not want to start now, so he was quite paranoid that he would be caught for stealing the scroll. So after running a most likely unnecessary distance away from his original location, Asuka stopped and dropped his back against a new tree. He was about to pull the scroll out of his backpack again, but then realized that he had yet to master the last technique that he was attempting before he was disrupted.

After remembering that he was in the middle of training to learn the Spiraling Shuriken technique, Asuka found an acceptable clearing to continue his practice. Once again the young cloud ninja took his time and made sure each individual step of the Rasengan was as perfect as possible. After forming the complete Rasengan, Asuka began to try and focus his wind elemental chakra and channeled it into the spiraling orb of chakra in his palm. The orb of chakra began to glow a bright white and Asuka smiled as he thought that the shuriken shape was starting to form. To his dismay though, there was a sudden explosion in his hand that sent him flying back until he collided with tree and slid down to the ground. Asuka could feel what went wrong with that attempt. He tried to simply put his wind type chakra into the already existing Rasengan. It suddenly made sense that he needed to use his wind chakra from the start in order to form the swirling orb. Asuka stood up and brushed off the dirt from his clothes. After returning to his previous location, the ninja of the village hidden in the clouds began to focus his chakra again. Asuka began creating his wind type chakra and channeling it to the palm of his hand. Hopefully for the last time, he began going through the steps to create the Rasengan using his wind chakra. Asuka braced himself as he prepared to add in the final stage. When the Rasengan was completed, Asuka watched in fascination as the spiraling orb of chakra in his hand began to glow brightly and take the shape of a giant spinning fuma shuriken. The cloud shinobi felt the power emanating from his hand and felt the air all around him spinning about with the fluctuations of his chakra. Asuka knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he had successfully created the Wind Style: Spiraling Shuriken, and that the next person that he hit with this was going to regret ever crossing Asuka Sinobi of the Hidden Cloud.

training complete for Wind Style: Spiraling Shuriken.

After knocking out a hidden leaf genin, Asuka felt rather proud of himself for defeating him so easily. His pride was short lived however as he realized that he had just dug himself a deeper hole. As soon as this kid woke up he was going to report this whole scenario and the incident of Asuka stealing a scroll from a leaf village secure library. But the young cloud ninja realized that this other genin did just come after him just by himself. Perhaps he could hope for that to happen again and then Asuka could just beat him again. Asuka really just hoped that the leaf village ninja simply did not remember any of this from being hit in the head so hard. So Asuka picked up the unconscious leaf village genin and began carrying him off. He wanted to put the boy somewhere safe but he knew he could not be seen by anyone else like this or he would have to make up some ridiculous story, and lying was not Asuka’s strong suit. So he traveled with the leaf ninja slung over his shoulder until he was in view of the Hidden Leaf outer wall. Once there, Asuka placed the boy against a nearby tree and returned back into the forest. He picked up his backpack and dashed off again. Asuka was sick of changing locations. It made him feel like he was not getting any training done. But he would rather have slowed training progress than be caught with a stolen item from the Hidden Leaf. So Asuka traveled on deeper into the forest. He figured he might as well go far enough away from the main village that nobody would bother chasing after him. After another several minutes of jumping through trees, he decided to stop and resume his training. He was still itching to really tap into the secrets of the Hidden Leaf. When he placed himself on solid ground again, Asuka put down his bag and sat down against a tree. He noticed that the trees out here were much larger and would hopefully be harder to break down. That would mean he could train harder and leave less damage behind him to show for it. So once again Asuka took his hidden leaf village scroll that he had stolen out of his backpack and opened it up. He had decided before he was rudely interrupted that he needed to work on his taijutsu. So the young cloud ninja began skimming the scroll for taijutsu techniques for him to learn. It did not take long for him to find some promising jutsus. Apparently the hidden leaf had a good collection of talented and powerful taijutsu users. Asuka only hoped he did not have to fight one of them head on.

Once that frightening thought had finished passing through his head, Asuka refocused himself on the paper in front of him. After a few minutes searching and taking note of interesting techniques, Asuka was eventually able to create a list of the moves he wanted to learn. He decided to start off with one titled the Konoha Super Strength Whirlwind. He found the description of the technique and began reading the specifics. The idea was to couch in front of an enemy and kick them from below. The tricky part is hitting them hard enough that they fly into the air. Asuka knew that although this particular strike would not do much to hurt the opponent, the idea of lifting them airborne would leave them open to a myriad of other attacks. So Asuka put the scroll down on top of his backpack and lifted himself up from his spot by the tree. Asuka looked around and realized that to practice this move he would need something relatively human shaped that he could lift into the air. After a quick scan of the area he realized that there was no such object in sight. So Asuka picked up his katana and drew it out from its sheath. He then charged up to the nearest tree and began cutting at it repeatedly until a chunk of wood that was about the size and general shape of an average man fell to the ground. Asuka sheathed his katana and picked up his make shift training dummy. He then found a fairly open area to set it up and stood the dummy in its proper position. The ninja of the clouds backed up and looked at the dummy, imagining the situation in his head over and over before finally deciding to execute it. Finally when he felt he was ready, Asuka charged the dummy, ducking at the last second. When the timing was just right, he kicked the dummy square in its chest. Asuka could feel that the placement was just right and then watched as the dummy was launched straight up into the air.

training complete for Konoha Super Strength Whirlwind.

Asuka lay against a tree nearby the small crater he had left in the ground and the tiny shattered splinters of his make shift training dummy that he had just destroyed during his taijutsu training. As he lay in the shade of the leaves above him, he considered trying to move, but he found himself incredibly relaxed and joyful. Asuka had been working so hard in the last few weeks. It seemed like a blur of endless training where time meant nothing. So the young shinobi from the hidden cloud just lay against the cool bark and enjoyed the beautiful blue skies and bright sunshine that could only be found in the Land of Fire. For quite some time Asuka forgot that he may very well be in danger for stealing information from the Village Hidden in the Leaves, but at the moment he was in a state of mind where he did not care in the slightest. After having spent several hours today running about the village and working tirelessly to master new taijutsu techniques, the cloud shinobi could feel himself dozing off as he lay listening to the branches and leaves shuffling about in the wind. Asuka only smiled as he let his weariness take him into sleep and dreams. As he slept, he dreamt only of combat. He saw himself on a battlefield. Asuka felt that he had a target though he did not have sight of them. The field of war seemed to be covered in a thick mist, but he could hear the sounds of fighting and smell the stench of death all around him. He felt a wound on his arm stinging him. Although in his dream he did not know the face of his enemy, Asuka knew it was his target’s blade that had cut him and that his own blood still rests on that blade. Although in the awakened rule this would mean nothing to Asuka, in this dream it suddenly meant everything. He bit his thumb so that it bled lightly and began forming a series of hand signs that for some reason he knew was the summoning jutsu. ‘How could that be?’ Asuka thought to himself. ‘I don’t even know how to perform the summoning jutsu.’ But Asuka watched as his dream self proficiently performed the hand signs and put his palm on the ground. He watched as the blood turned into symbols and circles on the ground. As he waited in the thick fog, the cloud shinobi stayed crouched and wondered what would happen next. Within a few seconds he heard barking from several dogs that must have been enormous. Then a cry of pain that he recognized as the voice of his target sounded off through the mist. Asuka ran to the source of the sudden ruckus to find his target lying heavily wounded and immobilized by several large dogs, all wearing shinobi headbands. They all had their teeth sunken deep into his enemy’s flesh and were holding fast to him. The enemy ninja could only look up at Asuka in defiance as he slit the man’s throat without mercy.

Asuka awoke with a jolt as he returned to reality. He quickly retrieved his stolen scroll from his backpack and opened it to a section he had seen earlier. The technique he found was called the Tracking Fang Skill. Under the description of the technique was a list of names written in blood. Asuka knew what this was for and knew what he needed to do. So he retrieved his kunai knife from his hip and cut the tip of his index finger. When the blood was flowing Asuka signed his name on the scroll in blood. He then left it sitting open to dry, stood up and faced away. He formed the hand signs that he saw in his dream and placed his palm on the ground. Just as he had seen, his blood formed circles and symbols on the ground, and in a large cloud of smoke appeared a group of large dogs all bearing shinobi headbands. He met their gaze as they faithfully awaited his order. He had no orders for them so he simply waved his hand and dismissed them. Asuka could not believe what had just happened. He realized that he had basically just learned a jutsu from a dream, let alone a summoning jutsu which he had never even seen before. Asuka had no idea how it happened, but he was glad it did. He knew that skill would come in handy in the future, particularly in the scenario he dreamed about. Asuka sat down again and made sure his blood signature was dry. He would hate to lose the summoning jutsu he had just learned because of something as silly as a smeared name.

Training complete for Tracking Fang Skill

As Asuka left the ramen stand, he began walking down the street to go back into the woods so he could continue his training. As he walked, Asuka noticed the sun was just past its noon position. He was grateful to still have plenty of time left in the day to learn more techniques from the Hidden Leaf village. The young cloud shinobi looked up and closed his eyes as he enjoyed the warm rays of the sun on his face. He held his arms out as the gentle breeze blew past him. A sigh of relaxation escaped him as he basked in the amazing weather. He was quite jealous that a land could have such incredible weather. It was very rare to see such sunlight in the Land of Lightning. It was almost always cloudy and probably raining. Asuka did not mind though. The land had its own unique kind of beauty that just was not as obvious as the sun lit Land of Fire. Asuka eventually brought his mind back down to earth and began to pay attention to where he was going. As he strolled down the street, a sound caught Asuka’s ear. He could hear a blacksmith hard at work on something. The ring of a hammer against steel reminded him of when he forged his own sword in the Hidden Katana village. Asuka’s sudden moment of nostalgia inspired him to stop in at the blacksmith’s forge to see if anything caught his eye. As he entered the covered open area where the blacksmith worked, the burly leaf village smith glanced up and Asuka gave him a wave as he began looking at the various weapons hanging on the wall. As Asuka browsed through the selection, he considered his own weapon set and wondered if there was anything he needed. He was already well equipped with kunai and shuriken. When it came to melee Asuka had his twin short swords from Hidden Craftsmen and his katana that he forged himself in Hidden Katana. He did not have any special techniques that required anything else so he decided he did not need any new weaponry. So Asuka gave the blacksmith another wave as he left the forge and continued on his path to the front gate of the village. As he approached the gate the guards saw the ninja of the Hidden Cloud and went back to their work, paying him no mind or attention. Asuka let out a sigh of relief as he knew this meant that the boy that kept tailing him had yet to report him to the Hidden Leaf authorities. Keeping that leaf village genin in mind, Asuka stepped outside the gigantic gate at the front of the leaf village and turned the opposite direction from where he had left the boy tied up and unconscious. He knew the genin would probably escape his bonds as long as he was not a failure of a shinobi and come after Asuka. So the young ninja of the clouds dashed off into the trees west of the village and continued moving out for several minutes. After he felt a suitably safe distance away from the village’s walls, Asuka descended from the trees into a small clearing. As was his typical training procedure, he placed his backpack against a tree and sat down. Asuka reached into his bag and pulled out his scroll that he had stolen from the Hidden Leaf. He opened it once again and began looking for his next technique to learn. Asuka still wanted to know more taijutsu so he kept a particularly sharp eye out for those. Within a few minutes his wish was granted as a particular technique caught his eye. Not only was it taijutsu, but it was a jutsu that he could use to follow up his technique that threw opponents into the air. Asuka knew that to practice this, he would need a training dummy. So he got up and put the scroll down. Just as he had done earlier that morning, Asuka summoned his Sword of Wind technique and cut out the general shape of a man out of the trunk of the tree. He pulled it out and placed it at the center of the clearing. The cloud shinobi backed away from the wooden dummy and went to an edge of the clearing. He remembered his training from earlier on how to lift the opponent airborn and readied himself to do that. As Asuka mentally prepared for his attack, something occurred to him. Since his intent was to grapple with the opponent in mid air, he realized that he would need to meet the enemy in the air much faster than he had before. If the opponent saw him coming, they could easily resist his hold and struggle against him. That would end this technique before it even started if he could not get a solid hold on the enemy. So Asuka also thought ahead to when he would have to leap into the air and mentally prepared himself to go all out on his speed so that the opponent would have difficulty reacting.

Now that he believed he had thought his technique out thoroughly, Asuka prepared to implement his plans. He dashed at the wooden training dummy as fast as he could, putting everything his legs had into it. As he arrived at the training dummy, he felt like he had almost teleported. As he approached his make shift enemy, Asuka crouched to the ground and thrust his foot up into the dummy’s chest. When his kick connected, the training dummy was quickly launched straight up into the air. This was the crucial moment Asuka had planned for. He tensed every muscle in his legs and jumped as hard as he could. In what felt like a millisecond, Asuka was at the same height as the wooden dummy and they were both still ascending. As he had hoped, the dummy had turned upside down while flying upwards. So Asuka grabbed the would-be ankles of his opponent and wrapped his legs firmly around the enemy’s waist. As he fell back down to the ground, Asuka held on as tight as he could and at the last second before collision, he tensed his body and shoved the wooden body into the ground even harder. The head of his hand made enemy was almost shattered when it connected with the ground.

Training complete for Perigrine Falcon Drop AND Body Flicker Skill.

Asuka could not help but smile at his success at his previous attack. He managed to successfully obliterate what was left of his damaged training dummy. He was just glad to have put his hand made dummy to its full amount of use before it became useless. As the splinters of his now decimated wooden opponent finished falling to the ground, Asuka brushed off his hands and returned to where his gear was. He reached into his backpack for the scroll he had stolen from the Hidden Leaf village to look up what technique he would learn next. As his hand scraped the bottom of his bag, the cloud shinobi’s fingers brushed rather firmly against a kunai knife and a shuriken. He immediately retracted his hand, assuming that he would soon be bleeding from such strong contact with the bladed objects. To his surprise there was not the slightest sign of a cut or even a scratch anywhere on his hand. Out of curiosity, Asuka opened his bag up more so that light poured into it and he could see. He carefully picked up his extra shuriken and kunai that were floating around his backpack and pulled them out. As he inspected them, Asuka realized that they were incredibly dull. He then checked the kunai and shuriken that he kept in pouches on his legs to be readily used in combat. When the young cloud ninja inspected these weapons, he was dismayed to see that they were also dull. Asuka became incredibly grateful all of the sudden that he had not had a serious combat encounter recently. If he had needed his kunai or shuriken to win a fight or even to injure somebody in the recent past, he would have been severely let down, and possibly killed if the fight was serious enough. Asuka could not believe he had been walking around with dull weaponry for this long. So the young shinobi pulled a sharpening block out from a side pouch in his backpack. He figured a small break from the rigors of taijutsu training would be acceptable. Especially in the case of fixing the weapons that his life could easily rely on at any moment. So Asuka unloaded all ten of his kunai and all twenty of his shuriken. He knew this would take a fair amount of time, so there was really no point in rushing it. He knew that he would rather take longer and have well sharpened weapons than to hastily prepare chipped and half sharpened tools. The ninja of the clouds began sharpening his blades, first the kunai and then his shuriken. He took his time with each one, making sure that each stroke of the blade against the stone sharpening block was at the perfect angle to maximize the sharpness of his blades without damaging the edges of his weapons. It took Asuka a couple of hours to finish all of his weapons. Thankfully his sword that he made in Hidden Katana was forged while being imbued with chakra so it never dulled and was very difficult to break. He assumed that his twin short swords from Hidden Craftsmen were created in a similar way so Asuka did not worry about those weapons either. Having to sharpen all of his swords would easily add another hour to this troublesome work of his. So once all of his weaponry was in its finest shape, the young cloud ninja packed up all the kunai and shuriken and put them in their proper places on his hip or in the pouch on his belt. It was at this point that Asuka realized that he did not have any explosive tags, nor had he ever even considered using them. He could not think of a suitable reason for this at this point, knowing that such items are extremely useful for a variety of situations and that most shinobi use them these days. The young ninja decided that he would purchase some in the village next time he went into the main village. Almost as if on cue, Asuka’s stomach began to growl ferociously. He looked up at the beautiful blue sky and realized that the sun was well on its way towards setting and that it was definitely time for dinner. So Asuka finished packing his bag and began heading back towards town. He had decided that he would eat dinner quickly, then go to the market before all the stores closed and purchase some paper bombs due to his realization only moments ago. Then he would return to the forest to continue his training for a few more hours until sunset. Luckily enough for him, the sun set relatively late in the Land of Fire.

Asuka returned to the front gate of the Village Hidden in then Leaves once again and entered the main village. He immediately began looking for somewhere to find dinner. The young ninja was not being particularly picky this time around. He still had a busy schedule to fulfill today and did not have time to go wandering about the village looking for the finest food around. The first restaurant to catch Asuka’s eye was a barbecue place. The young ninja was thankful that the first thing he saw actually sounded appealing. He entered the restaurant and was quickly seated at a table. He ordered a small severing of pork and a small serving of beef, and decided to include an order of vegetables to his order as well. Asuka made it a point to make this a high protein meal to back up his heavy amount of taijutsu training that day. He decided to cook one dish at a time so that he could eat while he waited for the next one to cook on the barbecue rack at the center of his table. So Asuka started by laying the vegetables out on the grill since they had the least enticing smell to look forward to. They were done rather quickly so he removed them from the rack and transferred them to his plate. Asuka then placed the beef cuts on the grill and then began eating his vegetable as they cooked and filled his nose with an enticing aroma. The young shinobi took his time with the vegetables he was eating so that the beef would be done cooking just as he was ready for it. Sure enough, Asuka finished the vegetable just as the beef was ready. He repeated the same timing with the pork, which he had intentionally saved for last.

After finishing his dinner and paying his check, Asuka went back out onto the road and made his way to the market. The market street was filled with vendors selling ninja equipment. What better place to make such a living than the hidden ninja village of one of the five great nations? It was a simple matter for Asuka to locate someone selling paper bombs. He purchased a stack of them and put them in his bag. It was at this point that he realized that he had spent most of his money. He was dismayed to realize that he only had enough in his wallet to stay here until tomorrow and then he would need to go home to resupply. Asuka wanted to make the most of his time left here in the Hidden Leaf so he ran back out to the front gate and outwards into the forest to finish up his training. The cloud shinobi did not spend nearly as much time or effort as he usually did find a secluded area where he was sure of not being bothered. He was just excited to continue training after a delicious and revitalizing meal. After a few minutes of running through the woods, Asuka found a suitable spot to train. However, as soon as his backpack touched the ground, so did the footsteps of an all too familiar Hidden Leaf genin. Asuka saw heard him coming and began thinking of what to do. He really did not want to spend a lot of time playing with the boy this time and decided he would end the fight quickly this time. So Asuka pulled out a kunai and charged it with his wind chakra to sharpen it further. He then threw it at the leaf village genin just as he emerged from the bushes to attack. As soon as the young leaf ninja saw the kunai, he attempted to jump to the side and dodge. For a split second, it appeared that he had, but the wind chakra in the kunai extended far out enough to cut the boy’s leg as it passed. Once his opponent was distracted by his fresh injury, Asuka charged for his attack. As he approached the cloud shinobi planned his strike. He wanted to incapacitate the boy but killing him would just be completely out of line. He did not need to be in a leaf village bingo book for killing one of their genin during peace. The leaf genin saw Asuka make his rapid approach, but it was too late since Asuka was simply much stronger and faster than him. The cloud shinobi made a full spin as he approached and swung his leg out in a low kicking motion. It made contact with the leaf village genin’s legs and sent him flying into the air. Asuka leaped up and decided this would be the final strike. Once level with his opponent in the air, the cloud shinobi made another full rotation and used the momentum to deliver an incredibly powerful punch straight to the leaf genin’s gut. The boy was unconscious before he hit the ground and Asuka landed gracefully next to him. He made the decision that his training was complete for now and that he would have to return on another day to master more. But he could not do it at present with this genin constantly disturbing him. So Asuka made his way to the docks so he could head home to the Hidden Cloud.

Words = 1679
Training complete for Flying Swallow technique, Leaf Gale, and Leaf Thunder Fist

Shiori set down her book, and took a look at her surroundings. Some things were familiar, others not so much. There were trees, and grass, and all that sort of thing. And buildings too, though the architecture was just different enough to be remarked upon, compared to either Hidden Rain or the Academy. So this was Hidden Leaf. She had come here on more or less a whim, she had heard a rumor that she wanted to find out the truth about. If it turned out that there was truth to it, then she would have a valuable new weapon in her arsenal. And if not? Well, in that case she would have at least managed to explore another village. That information could prove valuable in the future in it's own right. But the rumor seemed pretty reliable, so she was expecting success.

She got up and dusted herself off, scattering the few leaves that had gathered during the hours spent reading. It was a nice, refreshing change, getting to read outside without having to worry about the ever-present rain of her home village. Here in Hidden Leaf, the sun was shining, and it was actually warm out! Such a pleasant change, she could get used to this! For now, though, she had to remain focused on the task at hand. She had to enter the village, and find the person she had heard about. The hunt would likely prove rather difficult, she had only a vague description and a single name. If there was more than one person in the village with that same given name... Well, that could make things much more difficult. She'd have to be thorough.

Tucking her book away, she set off, approaching the village. It was large, noticeably bigger than Hidden Rain was. That was only fitting, Hidden Leaf boasted some of the strongest ninja, and gained the highest-paying contracts as a result. Perhaps that was why it seemed to be under attack so often? Fortunate for her that now was not one of those times. She could already see the gates, mammoth slabs of wood much, much taller than she was. Just how big did gates need to be, anyways? Something that size was just ridiculous! Well, no matter. as long as they worked, she wouldn't raise issue with them. and work they did. Due to recent alliances, many of the ninja villages had adopted an open-door policy with one another. As such, she was able to simply walk inside like any other visitor. Curious, but it suited her purposes, so that was fine.

Once inside, she needed a moment to let her mind adjust to the paradigm shift. The inside of this village was nothing like her own home. Back at Hidden Rain, people had kept to themselves, and there was only scattered pedestrians. But here? Here people were chatting amiably in the streets, there were so many people! And her goal was to find one specific person in all of this? Was she crazy?! Well, too late for second thoughts, she had to at least go through with it, try her best to find this person. A little work wouldn't kill her. Hopefully. So she steeled herself for the task ahead, and began the search. It started simply enough, talking to a few people who seemed knowledgeable. She followed the tried and true method of talking to the bartenders and newspaper vendors. People like that were almost invisible, even in their chosen roles, and others generally talked in front of them as if they weren't there. This made them a chosen few who possessed far more than their fair share of secrets. As such, they were also the perfect people to go to when you had a difficult question. Especially when it pertained to finding someone.

Even so, she had to stop at at least seven bars before finally finding one where there was a clue. It seemed her target wasn't a drinker. No matter, she had still managed to find a clue. She was told that they held a fairly high-ranking position within Hidden Leaf's infrastructure. They had formerly been a member of the ninja special ops, the Anbu. Now, they had retired, and moved on with their life. With any luck, they would still be willing to help in her own mission. Since they had only retired from active duty, but still lent a hand in other fields, perhaps she could appeal to their sense of duty? It would be worth a shot. Assuming she could ever find them, that is. At the moment, that task seemed just as insurmountable as it had from the moment she had first passed through those damnably large gates. What she needed was someone who really knew this village, someone who knew it's peoples, but would still be willing to help an obvious outsider like her. Not a spy or a turncoat, but merely someone who was a little naive, was willing to extend the hand of trust to one who had not yet earned it. Of course, if she was nefarious enough, she could likely engineer a scene to create that level of trust. But that wasn't her style. No, she would settle for simply trying to find someone, someone who could make her task easier. Whether that meant gaining a 'friend' or simply an acquaintance, it did not particularly matter. The end result was what was important. That being said, she would not be so callous as to make a friend, only to abandon them once she had what she wanted. That was just unforgivable.

So for now, she would alter the scope of the current phase of her plan. She would continue with her prime objective, but she would also keep an eye out for one who might suit her purposes. If she could find a person of such quality, then her task would be easier. And who knew, maybe having a friend wouldn't be so bad? An ally, if things went south, or simply someone she could turn to when she needed a bit of advice. Of course, she could hardly visualize anything of the sort happening. But that was kind of the point, was it not? You never knew how much you needed a friend until it was too late. So she would attempt to gain one, and hope that the act would pay off at some point down the road.

For now, she had a clue to follow up on, so she'd pursue it first. The bartender had told her that her target still liked solitude, and more often than not could be found in one of the quieter parts of town. Though it seemed odd, if they wanted peace and quiet, why not actually leave the village itself? No matter, that made her task at least a little bit easier. With a village of this size, there couldn't be too many places where peace and solitude were in supply. So she simply wandered, keeping an eye, and an ear, out for any signs of a suitable location. Someplace where people wouldn't have reason to go to very often, and where they would be quiet if they did. What would fit that criteria? Wait, that was it! How about a library? The village had to have one, right? Even Hidden Rain did, even with the fact that all the rain made it so humid that any books or scrolls within had to be continually monitored for sign of mold or mildew! So there had to be one here, too! Now, to find it. The first few people she asked knew there was one, but they hadn't ever had cause to visit it. Finally, she found someone who knew where it was, and was able to give her directions. Not too far from where she was, actually. Thanking them, she set out to find it and enter the second stage of her plan.

The library wasn't as large as she might have guessed, but it was pretty obvious just what sort of building it was. And sure enough, it didn't look very busy. So she simply let herself in, and stood within the entry. The place wasn't too well-lit, a bit gloomy. Odd, if people wanted to come to a library, chances were that they would want to read. Yet, low lighting like this would make such a task more difficult than it needed to be. So why? Curious. No matter, though, she needed to stay focused. She started wandering the shelves, keeping on the lookout for anyone who might fit the vague description she had been given. She remained quiet as she did, knowing very well the required level of courtesy for time spent at a library. She'd spent hours, days even, holed up in the library in Hidden Rain, reading books, finding out new ideas and facts. So visiting another village's library was an unexpected treat. Too bad she couldn't afford to spend time catching up on her reading just yet. She had a task to take care of first. If she found her target and things went well, maybe she'd have the time after the fact to do a little reading? She hoped so.

She continued searching, but ultimately nobody in the library matched the description she had been given. Chalking it up as another failure, she was beginning to get discouraged. Just then, she felt a light tug at her sleeve, and turned to see what had happened. A young girl was standing there, tugging at her sleeve with a nervous expression on her face. She looked a few years younger than Shiori, and her features were rather plain, even extending to her outfit.

Shiori asked her if something was wrong, and the nameless girl managed a shaky nod. Very shy, this one. She asked if she could help, and again, just a shaky nod. Shiori wondered if she would have to proceed question by question to get any real answers, or if the girl would eventually deign to speak, enough to tell her what the problem was. Ultimately, it was proven to be the latter. The girl managed to look back over her shoulder, and just then a trio of ruffians came stomping around the corner. They looked one way, then the other, then spotted the girl and gave a shout. With that, the chase was on!

Not bothering to think why she was getting involved, Shiori grabbed the girl's hand and gave a tug as she ran away from the thugs. She had some slight fighting skill, but against three at once, that was just bad odds. Plus, she had another idea. She sped up, keeping a firm grip on the girl's hand as she rounded a corner. There, just what she needed! The way she had turned broke off in several direction, including a dingy alley. Normally that would be a bad idea, but if she could just get enough time to make it work...

She ducked into the alley, pulling the girl in behind her. With only seconds to act, she concentrated, chakra welling up within her as she used a skill she had only read about, never actually used, up until now. Paper spilled out from her bag and plastered itself to the path they had just stepped through, boarding it up completely in an instant. A bit further concentration, and the paper gained the appearance of the wood around it, making it seem like there had never even been a path there in the first place. Even so, when she heard the thugs get close, she pulled the girl closer, a hand going over her mouth to make sure she didn't cry out. If either of them were noisy, her bit of subterfuge would all be for naught. They had to remain quiet, until all three of the thugs left and had given up. Whatever their reason for chasing the girl, they seemed pretty determined. This could take a while.

Minutes passed slowly, interminably, and still she wasn't willing to break cover to see if the coast was clear. She hadn't heard any sign of the thugs still being there for a while, but that could just be a trick. She was cautious, and that kept her where she was. Even then, she eventually lost patience and decided to risk checking. Only when she stepped back from the girl did she realize the rather inappropriate positions they had been in, and an uncharacteristic blush came to her face. She mouthed and apology and stepped back further, to give the girl space to adjust her clothing back to a semblance of modesty. The girl shook her head and turned away, obviously embarrassed. Still a bit distracted, Shiori crept up the the false wall she had formed, and carefully pried a few pieces of paper loose from the rest, just enough to give her an avenue to peek from. When she did, she was able to see that the coast seemed clear, that none of the thugs were in sight anywhere beyond the pathway they had taken. She sighed with relief, and released her technique, glad that it had actually worked. The papers silently returned themselves to her bag, their purpose accomplished.

Shiori sighed, and turned back to see the girl watching her with a worried expression on her face. She told her that she was safe now, but that the thugs could return at some other point. Whatever she had done, she should really find a way to get some protection, even self-defense. The girl still seemed a bit distracted, leaving the Gami to sigh once more before turning to take her leave. She had done her duty, protected the girl from the bad guys, That was all that was expected of her, right? Yet, even as she began to walk away, she felt another tug at her sleeve and stopped. Turning back, she saw the girl was now blushing furiously but seemed to be trying to work up the nerve to say something. She knew better than to try to hurry her along, so she just stood there and waited. And sure enough, finally, the girl managed to say what she had been working up to, though it came out a bit louder than she had likely intended, if her sudden gasp was any indication.

"P-please! Come to my house!" The girl requested, blushing furiously but apparently quite serious. Shiori, taken aback, couldn't answer for a long moment. What in the world was this all about? But the longer she went without answering, the more nervous the girl looked, so finally she acquiesced and nodded, saying she would. The girl almost sagged with relief, and stammered out a request to follow her, her home wasn't far. Shiori just nodded and followed along as the girl led the way.

It was the truth, her home hadn't been very far away at all. Just a few minutes later, and the two of them were standing in front of a somewhat small but cozy looking cottage. From the size of it, Shiori could hardly imagine more than one person staying there, didn't the girl have any relatives or anything? She felt a question like that would be too awkward to ask, so she remained silent. The girl gestured her to follow her inside, so she did, looking around in curiosity.

For it's size, the inside seemed rather spacious. From what she could see, it was appointed to accommodate several people, but only the girl likely lived there. As well, even though it looked fit for having friends over, she saw no signs of such. Instead, she saw the remnants from a few meals still left on the table. When the girl noticed where her attention was, she tried to stammer out an excuse, rushing to get rid of the leftovers. It seemed she certainly hadn't been expecting company, and being caught unaware had made her even more nervous. Shiori wondered if the girl was ever calm, or if nervous was her default state.

Even so, the still unnamed girl managed to ask her to have a seat and left for a few moments, coming back with a pair of cups of tea. Shiori was a bit unsure, with as clumsy and nervous as the girl seemed, how would the tea end up? But she couldn't decline the offer, the girl was practically looking at her like a puppy dog, she couldn't do that to her. So she thanked her and accepted the cup, taking a sip. To her surprise, it was actually very well made. She said as much, and predictably, the girl blushed furiously and looked away, embarrassed. It seemed she must not get very much praise if that was enough to set her off.

The two drank in silence for a long moment, almost to the point of it growing awkward. Shiori considered asking the girl what her name was, or why those thugs had been after her, but she didn't. She didn't plan to stay long, so small talk seemed unnecessary. At about the same moment that she had been thinking that, the girl seemed to work up the courage to speak directly to her. "Th-thank you for rescuing me earlier, I was so... so scared!"

Shiori shook her head, she hadn't done much, just helped her hide until the coast was clear. But the girl seemed to think that that was more than enough, that she had been saved completely. The girl jumped to her feet a moment later and scurried off, returning a few moments later. While she was gone, Shiori looked around idly, wondering how this quiet little girl could have gotten into trouble with thugs. A protection racket, perhaps? She wouldn't pry, though, everyone had secrets and something like this seemed like it was rather personal.

The girl returned a moment later, and told her that the bath was ready, if she wanted to wash up after having had to run around earlier. Shiori blinked, an offer like that seemed a good deal beyond just simple hospitality or thanking for assistance. She was from Hidden Rain, too, she'd had enough of water for a good long time. She tried to refuse, but only made it halfway, the girl seemed to grow horribly depressed at being refused. So Shiori sighed and gave in. A bath wouldn't be too bad, and at least it was hot water, rather than the chill, cold water of the perpetual rain from her home. So she finished her tea and got up, letting the girl show her into the washroom.

Once inside, she closed the door behind her, and acknowledged the girl's offer to call if she needed help, before sighing and going about the business of undressing and rinsing off. Before she had a chance to slip into the water, though, she heard the door open again behind her. Turning her head, she saw the girl come in once more, though now only clad in a towel. What the?! She couldn't even speak, only stare in undisguised shock as the girl approached, blushing heavily, offering to scrub her back.

Okay, this was WAY more than what was proper! Shiori shook her head, saying that she didn't have to do that, but the girl seemed to be trying to work herself up to doing it, whether Shiori wanted to or not. She just kept coming closer, even when Shiori got to her feet and backed away nervously. A moment later, Shiori ran out of the house, still wet and still finishing dressing herself, a furious blush of her own on her face. As she ran off, the girl, still unnamed, leaned out the door. "Oneesama!"

Shiori finally stopped running several blocks away and leaned against a wall, panting heavily. She managed to finish doing up her outfit, and muttered to herself. Just what in the hell was that?! She had no idea that girl was... that way! For someone so nervous, that had been such a brash way of revealing that fact too! Honestly, was everyone in this village crazy? She shook her head, and was just about to continue her search when her ears just barely picked up a cry. "Oneesama!"

Her eyes widened in shock, she was following her?! Crap! She looked around, wondering which way she would come from, but couldn't tell. So she simply ran. Unfortunately, it seemed the mousy girl was an excellent tracker, each time Shiori stopped running, a moment later she'd hear her getting closer again. This continued for what felt like at least an hour, until Shiori was a panting wreck, almost totally exhausted. She slumped into a chair, not even noticing where she was, just that she couldn't hear the girl.

Only after she had caught her breath did she realize she had sat at a cafe's outdoor table, at a table someone else had already been seated at. Something about them looked familiar, but how? She'd never been here before! Unless... "Sorry for intruding like this. Your name wouldn't happen to be... Sai, would it?" The now named stranger showed no reaction, though they had to have felt some surprise at having been recognized. That worked in Shiori's favor, as their cool reaction kept them from chasing her off immediately. Instead they gave her a chance to explain herself.

Shiori didn't go into too much detail about what had come just before her arrival, instead focusing on why she had been looking for Sai in the first place. As a Gami, she was a manipulator of paper. And Sai was a master of Ink Style. The two worked together so well that she was almost obligated to try to learn what she could from him. That being said, he had no obligation to teach her. It all came down to if he was willing to or not. As it stood, he was stronger than her, his exploits were known, at least insomuch as the knowledge that he was strong. She certainly couldn't force him to teach her anything.

Sai considered her request for a moment. She couldn't read his expression to make an estimate of which way he might lean, because he simply didn't have an expression. She had heard of playing it cool, but he was absolutely frigid. That was what made it all the more surprising when he suddenly announced his decision, that he would teach her what he knew. She thanked him, nodding her head in a light bow.

All the while, she felt she had someone watching her. She was pretty sure she knew just who it was, the same girl who had taken to calling her 'Oneesama'. But she couldn't see her, and she hadn't approached yet. So she was willing to simply ignore her presence. At the same time, the still unnamed girl was watching her spend time talking to someone else, biting her handkerchief and shedding tears of jealousy.

Sai was an able teacher, if not an expressive one. Shiori learned the techniques he was willing to share easily enough, it took next to no time at all. Finally, it seemed she'd reached the end of his lesson, he seemed to have nothing left to teach her. Or at the least, there was nothing else he was willing to teach her. She still seemed to think there were other aspects to what she had learned, other aspects that could open up entire new pathways in her own progression. But that wasn't important, not just yet. She thanked Sai for teaching her as much as she did, and got up. She'd have to try the techniques sooner or later, to make sure she had understood them, but for now, she was getting too nervous to concentrate. Those eyes were still on her.

She got up and left the open-air cafe, pacing down the street, hoping to put some distance between her and her pursuer. For a time, it seemed to work, enough that she finally managed to relax and slow down to a more leisurely stroll. There wasn't anything else she had to do in this village, she should probably get going. She was near the gates already, it would only be a short walk and then she'd be free, free to continue her journey. No matter where she might go, she was a bit eager to get there. Not only to get away from that girl, though that was a rather large portion of her reason.

Speak of the devil. She had just begun to approach the gates when she had a split-second's warning, not nearly enough time to react, even if she would have been ready for it. She felt a body collide with hers, and almost lost her balance, arms windmilling rather theatrically. She did manage to remain upright, and looked down to see what, or rather who, had hit her. Of course... It was that girl, even now clinging to her, rubbing her head against her chest. She blushed and tried to gingerly push her away, but the girl just refused to let go.

She waited as long as she could, but people were beginning to stare. She sighed, and quietly asked her if she could let go. At the sound of her voice, the girl jumped a little, but nonetheless did release her and step back, blushing even deeper than Shiori was. Shiori shook her head, and asked if the girl was this friendly with all strangers. The girl almost reacted to the rebuke like a physical blow, turning her head and appearing to be on the verge of tears. Voice thick with held back emotion, the girl shook her head and managed to say 'no... only you..."

Shiori sighed once more, she had been afraid of it. She couldn't really regret rescuing the girl, but now, now she was seriously considering it. She tried talking the girl out of it, pointing out that they didn't even know each other, that neither of them even knew the other's name. Unfortunately courtesy and obligation required her to actually give her own name after pointing out such a lapse. So she did, a brief and very late introduction. "Jiten Shiori, of Amegakure."

The girl blinked, had she not even noticed that she didn't know the object of her affection's name? "I... I'm Yuriko... Kagirinai Yuriko... Very pleased to meet you, Shiori-oneesama..." The Gami sighed yet again, had that actually made things worse. She looked toward the gates, wondering how she could politely make her escape. Yuriko seemed to catch on very quickly, and couldn't decide between simply grabbing her again, or just begging her not to leave. "Don't go, Oneesama..."

Shiori had a flash of inspiration, maybe she could use what she had gathered of Yuriko's personality, to make her escape. She steeled herself for what would likely be an uncomfortable role. She shook her head before turning slightly to the side. "I have to, I have my duty. Try not to cry when I leave." She brought a hand up to cup Yuriko's cheek, before turning on her heel and marching away, doing her best to make her actions seem like something out of a romance novel or other such source. She could hear Yuriko murmur 'Oneesama...' once more before she finally got out of earshot. With any luck, that would be it. It had taken some doing, and perhaps a little cruelty, but she had managed to make her escape.

She forced herself to not look back, not to see if Yuriko was still standing there, not to see if anyone was still watching. She had to go now, while the dramatic moment was still in effect. She felt curiously empty at what she had had to do, and resolutely ignored the tiny voice in the back of her head, and the whispered truths that it spoke, that she didn't dare believe.
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Shiori and Yuriko traveled in silence, the weather nice enough that they just enjoyed the peaceful trip. So far, much of the time they had spent in transit had been less than pleasant, either from inclement weather, or from people attacking them out of nowhere. It was a nice change of pace to simply be able to enjoy themselves, have some peace and quiet on their journey. It wasn't all that far to Hidden Leaf, likely just a day's journey. Maybe two if they didn't hurry. And they didn't need to hurry, there was nothing they had to arrive in time for, no pressing need to get to their destination before such and such a date.

At the moment, they were not too far from the cottage they had stayed at, and were currently traversing a field filed with thick grass. The grass was almost as high as they were, it made traveling in a straight line a difficult challenge. This necessitated stopping every so often to take a look around. No obvious solution had presented itself for such a simple feat, until Yuriko suggested she sit on Shiori's shoulders, that way she'd have enough height to see in all directions. Shiori couldn't think of a reason not to, it made sense enough even if any actions taken by Yuriko were automatically questionable. So she crouched down and let Yuriko clamber on top of her, before straightening up.

She waited a moment before beginning to turn in a slow circle, so that Yuriko could look in all directions to check their progress. As she did, she tried to ignore the fidgeting of the girl on her shoulders, hoping ir was simply Yuriko trying to maintain her balance. Finally the circuit was complete and she lowered to let Yuriko dismount. They had gone a little off their 'path', so they shifted a little to the right before continuing on.

A moment later, Shiori felt Yuriko grab her hand, and almost pulled away, until Yuriko said that she didn't want to risk getting separated and then lost. So Shiori grudgingly let her hang on to her hand, leading the way through the forest of grass. This repeated itself several times, with Yuriko getting on her shoulders to check their progress before they would adjust their route accordingly. Technically, they could have tried hacking their way through the grass, but that was too much work for too little gain. The amount of exertion such an act would require would slow them down even more than the rate they were traveling at now. And while they weren't in any sort of a hurry, taking too long was just being lazy. Being that they had already had plenty of excitement during their last journey, taking it easy now seemed justified.

Even with their progress being rather slow, they still eventually reached the end of the field of tall grass. Now that they had, it was much easier to see their surroundings. Admittedly, Shiori wasn't all that surprised to hear Yuriko get depressed at that. There was another large forest ahead of them, though if they sidetracked they could reach an easier path to Hidden Leaf. The forest wasn't that infamous Forest of Death, but just the immense forest that surrounded much of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Walking through it would be easy enough, as long as they didn't encounter any opposition. The only problem was, it was already getting late, and they hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast, quite a few hours ago. The woman they had stayed with had packed them a lunch, so they might as well stop for the night, and resume the last stretch of their journey in the morning. The forest saw enough foot traffic that the odds of any unsavory elements being inside of it were approaching nil, they were as safe as they could reasonably expect to be.

It didn't take long to find a clearing, with several medium sized trees along one side to provide at least a partial barrier from the rest of the world. It was no cave, but it was relatively secluded. It was only a matter of moments before they had a small fire going, to give them enough light to see by until it came time to turn in. The meal was good, even just as leftovers, they enjoyed it as they took the opportunity to rest from a day's marching. Small talk provided a complement to the meal, idle conversation as they unwound.

They would definitely reach Hidden Leaf the next morning, it would take at the most just a few hours to get through the forest. Yuriko hadn't yet heard that they were going to Hidden Leaf, Shiori had taken pains to avoid mentioning it just yet. As to why, she wasn't even sure herself. She just felt that it wasn't the right time to mention their actual destination. Even so, Yuriko should have been able to guess, with a forest this size, where else could they be heading?

Once they were finished with their meal, Shiori put the dishes away, to be cleaned when they had the chance. Now that it was time to go to sleep, she extinguished the fire, though several embers were still softly glowing orange, to give a bare modicum of light. She withdrew the bear fur from the scroll in case it grew cold during the night, and without further ado, found a stretch of dirt free of noticeable stones or sticks, and lay down, using her arm for a pillow.

It should have been no surprise when she felt Yuriko cling to her back after only a few moments, whispering urgently in her ear that she was scared. Of course. She didn't bother replying, letting Yuriko do as she pleased if it meant getting to sleep so they could set out at a decent hour the next morning. She tried to ignore the warm body next to her, and eventually her mind began to drift off into the black expanse of dreams.

There were no further problems during the night, and morning eventually made it's presence known, the sun just barely visible through the towering expanse of branches and leaves above them. Even so, the area was well-lit, they had no trouble seeing that morning had rolled around, coating much of their surroundings in a thin sheen of dew. Including the fur. It would definitely need a thorough cleaning once they reached Hidden Leaf. For now, there was nothing left to do but store it away until they got there.

When Shiori pulled the fur away, Yuriko grumbled but didn't wake up, just like the day before. This time, though, Shiori didn't want to wait for her to wake up, so she forced the issue by the simple expedient of using several sheets of paper to actually lift Yuriko up and into a sitting position. As the girl woke up, she grumbled a little at Shiori not wanting to sleep in, but nonetheless finished waking up with a large yawn.

Breakfast consisted of the little that they hadn't eaten the night before, just enough to take the edge off their appetites. They could have a normal meal once they reached Hidden Leaf. This took only a moment, and then they were off once more, everything packed away, the place where the fire had been thoroughly broken down. And then they were off, walking through the forest. The trees here were huge, the trunks were wide enough that they could practically be hollowed out into a perfectly functional home.

It took just over an hour before they were able to see the first sign of the tell-tale enormous gates ahead of them. When Yuriko saw them, she stopped in mid-step, almost stumbling, before she turned to face Shiori. "Why are we going back there, Onee-sama?" Yuriko's expression was a mixture of confusion and a hint of betrayal. Did she think Shiori was here to unload her? The girl really was hopeless.

"We're here because I didn't get a chance to really look around before rescuing you, and I figured you might have forgotten something in your rush after me..." She looked away, feeling a bit on the spot at having to admit her reasons out loud. She felt even more on the spot when she felt Yuriko practically tackle her, arms wrapped tightly around her middle as Yuriko thanked her, taking the reason at far more than face value. When Shiori finally managed to get Yuriko to let go of her, she didn't say a word, and instead just marched toward Hidden Leaf. Yuriko was quick to chase after, calling for her to wait up.
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