Welcome to Gaia! ::

Naomi watched as Yuan walked, examining the manner in which he carried himself. She didn’t know the guy like Reina and her group did. All she knew was he was initially Crius’ partner in the Akatsuki organization. Now he was the leader of the Akatsuki; a band of ninja banished from their homes for various reasons. Naomi was one of those ninjas and now she was even lower than them. She wasn’t even allowed in the Akatsuki, an organization that permitted Missing-Nin like herself in less often before but more often now. Maybe Yuan was a better leader than she gave him credit for. Or maybe people were just more interested after the whole Hidden Snow fiasco. Reina and her team looked like bad guys compared to the Akatsuki; mistake after stupid mistake. Reina didn’t think about the villagers like she should have and focused mainly on ‘the bad guys’. Her team followed her orders and did not attempt to even stray from what their task was. Then there was Ella who took care of business at the cost of the landscape when she fought Yuan. There were many parts Naomi didn’t see, including the death of Adonis, but she saw most of the embarrassing parts. At any rate, publicity came to the Akatsuki somehow because there were more people around than there use to be. Yuan wasn’t dressed like your typical leader which would lead some to not acknowledge him as the leader of an entire band of Missing-Nin. It seemed like a good to Naomi. No one would suspect him unless they actually knew him. Naomi had been watching the Akatsuki for some time. Where they went she lurked and what they did she tried to observe. She had to keep Akou from running off all the time so what they did she never got the whole story of. As a matter of fact, the only thing she could say she’s witnessed was a group of Akatsuki cloaks flapping and then they were gone. But she read up as much as she could on them with help from her apprentice. Speaking of apprentice she had muttered his name which caught Yuan’s attention. Naomi watched as he stops and she mimics his movement. She shifts the door around before setting it down beside her. Why was she still carrying that thing? “I really should get this door put back. I’m sure those homunculi’ll be ‘home’ soon,” she mutters. She seemed to wander around the room with her eyes; hesitant to answer Yuan’s question. She actually wished he’d reacted differently.

She could imagine Yuan turning around, his blindfold flailing and wrapping around the air as he turned, a huge smile planted on his face. “What name was that,” he would ask out of breath. Surprised would be the main emotion hinted in his voice and dabbled across his face. He would ramble through his pockets before finding the ring Naomi had wanted. He would extend it to Naomi while bent on one knee. “I had no clue… please, accept this ring and join me. If you can steal away the infant Akou from Reina and survive for four years then you are more than worthy of this ring.” Naomi would raise a hand to her mouth and laugh half heartedly.

“Oh Yuan-bozu! You want me to be in the Akatsuki? Well, I don’t believe I can.”

“You must,” he would cry.

“I mustn’t.”

“Yes.”

“No. I shant.”

But Naomi wouldn’t react like that. She didn’t even talk like that. And Yuan would NEVER do something like that from what she could tell from him after meeting him like this. He wasn’t one to gravel by the way he walked and talked. He wouldn’t simply give her the thing she wanted unless he actually received something in return. The information that she held Akou captive, of his own free will, wouldn’t be enough to get in. She would need to show Akou to him eventually anyway. That would be a major problem. Akou was her trump card, her ace in the hole, she wasn’t about to give it to Yuan no matter how much she wanted to be in the organization or however much he commanded her to. She figured if she lied her way into The Cool then it would prove to be a good enough cover. A group to watch over her and an ultimatum to Reina not to out her. She could think of numerous ways to make it so she could be a part of The Cool and not have someone mess up the whole thing. But Naomi didn’t want that. It was far easier and wouldn’t do much for her. Not only that, but The Cool was one of those good guy groups. They wouldn’t be doing much of anything. With Naomi in the Akatsuki things would be more fun. From what Akou told Naomi: When he was an infant Reina went against her instincts to allow Akou to take part in a clan examination alone. She didn’t want to upset Akou. She wanted to be his best friend instead of his mother. Lucky —or actually unlucky— for Naomi, she was there. She had previously been in a heated battle with her arch rival Tes. Tes was one of Ella’s homunculi and one of the best. Naomi was nearly killed but the interference of Angelle Herculaise saved Naomi from inevitable death. Naomi didn’t mind. She would merely return in a new form at a different point in time. Her reign would continue to threaten the shinobi world. Naomi later found Akou crawling around in the Hidden Federation’s Hidden Mythology forest alone. He healed Naomi and grew tired and fell asleep. As an infant Akou often slept with Gift of the Blind and Deaf God active which made it easy for Naomi. Naomi scooped up Akou and fled to Hidden Fantasy where the evil act was committed by Reina.

Naomi looks at Yuan as he awaits her response. Finally she replies after a few minutes of surveying the cave. “I said the name Akou. Is that so strange?” She wondered if he would ask why she said the name and if he was curious if her Akou was Reina’s Akou. She would merely answer his questions bluntly. She didn’t mind answering the right questions. As time passed Naomi began to feel a power welling inside her. Her new form was beginning to reveal its power to her. She wasn’t a Yamanaka anymore but something else. She didn’t know exactly what though she figured she would realize it soon. She stares at Yuan a moment before turning to the door and opening it. She shuts it and looks it over before sighing. Not a magician she guessed. She could feel a demonic aura surging around her. Was it hers?

“You sure do jump to a lot of conclusions,” she mutters. “I know of the entire Reina team. So of course I’d know of Reina. I use to travel around with them until that damned Angelle showed up and screwed everything up. No matter. I’ll kill her one of these days. I speak of Akou fondly because he is a very special child.” Naomi twists her body around in different directions as she thinks over what she’d say. How badly did she want to be a part of the Akatsuki? “Reina could have found Akou if Akou and his captor weren’t so smart and knowledgeable of her. They knew she could instantly summon him to her side if she got into the same village as them so constantly moving around and leaving huge clues was a wise thing to do. She would arrive, find clues, and be sent elsewhere. No one place for long. The clues were so obvious it seemed like it was an accidental trail though it was a setup. Reina is smart but not when she goes for a long time without resting. Hiding became more and more easy. In time Reina became dead to Akou ,” Naomi states. “I know exactly where Akou is at any point in time. He is, after all, my apprentice. He told me of his long story.” She didn’t simply reveal she was his captor. She wanted to save that for later. Hopefully, with that knowledge, he would be lenient with her and have her as a freelance member of the Akatsuki. Not bound by restrictions. She had learned of an Uchiha who had done the same thing and did wondrous things for the organization. Besides, she wanted to ensure they didn’t try and take out Ella or try and force her into giving up Akouto them. Those were her puppets to control. Ella was very important to Naomi’s dream and Akou was quite helpful. She often thought of him as a substitute Sai though Akou wasn’t as good at following her instructions. “What do you think of a freelance Akatsuki member? I’d be more or less an ally of the organization if you thought deeply on it. I have connections that I know you’d like. I have knowledge that I know you’d want. I also have information that you might want me to keep to myself.” Naomi stares at him and waits for his response. She paid little attention to the newcomers.

Naomi watches Yuan with a hint of a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. His words made her glad though her smile faded slightly when he mentioned he’d be watching her. She didn’t like being monitored, her reason for changing her form to that of the one she took now. But it mattered little. That was the price for being a near freelance member of the Akatsuki. She looked over the ring and soon found herself laughing. She removes a strand of hair from her head and twirls it in her fingers. The strand wasn’t plucked but taken from her hair as if it wasn’t attached. The strand would twist and turn until it wrapped around her fingertips. Suddenly the strand seems to spread out and extend from Naomi’s hand. She would extend the free flowing, whip-like tendrils towards Yuan and stop. “Thank you for putting your trust in me, Yuan-bozu.” In time she would learn to refer to him properly as –sama but for now she would keep her name for him the same. The tendrils would slip down into his hand and retrieve the ring without Naomi needing to draw near him. She didn’t want to move from her comfortable position leaned against the door. She would smile and think on keeping Akou from Reina. There was no way Reina could get Akou back at this point. Naomi could have Akou stand right beside her and she not try and stop him at all and he wouldn’t go to Reina. Reina wouldn’t force Akou to do something he didn’t want to and that included joining back up with her. Akou hated Reina thanks to Naomi’s ‘coaching’. No matter what happened, Reina would never get Akou. All the memories he had with Team Cero he believed to be a lie fabricated by the homunculi Sai. If he had good memories of Reina he would believe them to be a lie. Keeping Reina and Akou apart was nothing close to difficult. Though, Naomi wanted to seal the deal sooner or later. She would show how Akou was hers and no longer Reina’s. But she would not be the one telling her that. The traps were being set. Naomi would leave a bell of hers for Reina to retrieve and attached would be a note saying, “Talk to me.” Reina would try and find some psychic homunculi or ninja to read the bell and would see the bond Naomi and Akou shared. Reina would never take a shot at Naomi’s life so long as Akou didn’t wish it. Akou would be kept from Reina. “I’ll see if Akou will come to stay here but he’s a stubborn child. I will keep him hidden though. I am not sure if I can manipulate Drago the way I can manipulate Reina.” Speaking of Drago and Akou, she was glad they hadn’t been set up to fight one another. Akou would be found and Naomi’s entire plan would have been altered. Naomi recoils the tendrils and places the strand back in her hair before putting on the ring. She examines her left thumb as the ring on it shines. The Tama, or better referred to as the Spirit, ring was now hers. She could feel her power surge again and supposed it was time to return to training. “I’m leaving,” she states standing upright and adjusting the door onto her shoulder. She would slowly make her way out of the door only glancing at the shinobi present. “Interesting…” She then disappeared out of the mouth of the cave to return in a matter of minutes. If she did something Yuan disapproved of then he would simply need to mention it to her as she traveled.