Seijun remained seated, hands loosely resting on his knees as he listened to both of them. His golden eyes flicked between Kihone and Izanagi, carefully measuring their words, their reactions. He watched Kihone succeed, watched the resolve in his stance as he embraced his shadow clone. A slow, approving nod came from Seijun, barely noticeable, but it was there. Then Izanagi spoke. Seijun’s gaze landed on him, impassive at first. The frustration was expected—what he hadn’t expected was just how deep the resentment had settled in. He let Izanagi finish, let his words hang in the air before he finally exhaled a slow breath and stood up, stretching his arms as if shaking off the weight of the conversation. “You think I don’t take this seriously?” His voice carried the same ease it always did, but there was something different now—something more precise, more cutting. “You think I made you do this for no reason? That I stopped Reika for no reason?”
His smirk faded, and for the first time since they met, his amusement wasn’t there to soften his words. “You really don’t get it, do you?” He took a few steps closer, his gaze locked onto Izanagi’s. “What do you think a shinobi does? We take orders. We follow commands. But we also have to think. If you can’t think for yourself, you’re nothing but a disposable weapon for someone else to use and throw away.” He shifted his weight, eyes narrowing. “I needed you both to think—not just throw yourselves into a fight and hope your emotions carry you through. A shinobi who only acts and never thinks is a dead shinobi. You want to run in? You want to fight? Then tell me, how do you plan to win? What’s your strategy?” His voice didn’t rise, but his presence grew heavier, pressing down on the moment. “If you just run in and die, what’s left of you? What’s left of your dreams? You say you’d rather die trying? That’s what weak people say when they don’t know how to win. Real shinobi don’t talk about dying—they find a way to survive and succeed. Otherwise, you’re just another corpse on the battlefield.”
He let the weight of those words settle before shifting slightly, glancing toward Reika. “And as for me stopping Reika?” He let out a short, humorless chuckle. “Oh, I didn’t stop her. I just wanted to talk to her first before she went and led the both of you into a suicidal fight. Did you even think about that?” He crossed his arms, his expression unreadable now. “You saw what she did earlier. You saw how she wasn’t in full control. Tell me, did that look like someone who could properly lead a rescue mission? Someone you’d trust with your life in a moment where precision mattered? If I had let her go back then, you’d both be dead along with those bandits.” His gaze flicked toward Reika before back to Izanagi. “But now? Now she’s as ready as she can be to help.”
Then, his patience finally wore thin. With an audible tsk, Seijun ran a hand through his white hair, exhaling sharply. “And I’d love to run off and help you, Izanagi. Really, I would.” His golden eyes narrowed, and now, his irritation bled through. “But here’s the problem—I have orders to stay here and protect this village. I follow orders, just like any shinobi does. You think your brother’s life matters more than the lives of the people here? More than the old woman struggling to feed herself? The children who can’t fight for themselves?” He shook his head. “The people without ninjutsu—the civilians—they are the ones who keep this world moving. The farmers. The merchants. The families. The ones who can’t use chakra but wake up every day and try to survive anyway. Shinobi? We’re tools.” His voice was quieter now, but no less firm. “We’re the weapons the world’s leaders use to protect those people. And sometimes, that means making hard choices. Sometimes, that means sacrificing what we want for what’s necessary.”
A beat of silence passed. Then, Seijun exhaled, shaking off the moment as if it hadn’t happened at all. His usual smirk returned—smaller, but still there. “You think I don’t want to go and save your Koroto?” He tilted his head. “You think I wouldn’t rather be fighting than standing around in this damn desert heat? But guess what? That’s not my mission. And if I abandon these people, I fail as a shinobi. So, you have a choice. You can either let your anger eat you alive, or you can think. Think about how to win. Think about how to survive. Think about how to get all of what you want instead of throwing away everything for a reckless fight.”
He turned slightly, his arms now resting in the folds of his sleeves. “So, tell me, Izanagi. Are you done whining? Ready to act like a shinobi, or do you want to throw your life away? Learn the damn technique and expand your knowledge of this world. It isn't supposed to be easy.”
Reika sat still, her gaze fixed on the sand beneath her hands. The wind stirred faintly, carrying the warmth of the desert with it, but she barely felt it. Her mind was elsewhere—trapped in the weight of realization pressing into her chest. She had spoken with such certainty before, had believed with everything in her that she was strong enough to lead, strong enough to carve a path forward without hesitation. But had she? Or had she been blind? Her fingers curled into the coarse grains beneath them, the sharp edges biting into her palms. I thought I was leading them. But the truth was far harsher than she had allowed herself to see. She hadn't been leading anyone. She had nearly dragged them into disaster.
If she had gone through with her reckless charge, would Kihone and Izanagi still be standing here? Would they still be alive? The thought made her stomach twist. Her rage had felt like strength. Her grief had felt like purpose. But now, sitting in the aftermath, watching the reality of what it actually meant to be strong—she understood. She had been fighting a battle against herself this entire time. The words left her lips before she could stop them, barely more than a breath. “Am I ready?” The question wasn't for anyone else. It wasn’t meant to be answered. But for the first time, she was asking. And she wasn’t sure she liked the answer.
His words of resolve seemed to disperse against a mere nod. Maybe he nodded to acknowledge him, or maybe he just no energy to waste on him while Izanagi was taking the situation on a bit of a backslide. Kihone definitely felt the need to rest and gather his strength before daring to figure out how to track and infiltrate a bandit stronghold that could have who knows how many other ninja of who knows how many tiers of experience and skill. Then there was him and Izanagi. It wasn't like Kihone didn't hear every word Seijun said, but he couldn't bring himself to look the man in the eye again. 'Strategy... hmm.' He started thinking back to what went well and what went wrong last night against Scar-cheek and his nefarious pals. 'Izanagi charged out and gave away our element of surprise. I managed to learn some decent distraction jutsu on the fly, but it was definitely Reika's jutsu that allowed us to escape alive. Fighting two-on-one with Scar-cheek was still really tough. He was just stronger and faster than us. If we didn't manage to work together so well... we both definitely would have died anyway.' His teal eyes watched the ruins of Sunagakure, now a dense sequoia forest, and panned out to the surrounding lands that remained a stark, barren and sandy contrast. 'I've learned a few more jutsu, even if they are basic, that could definitely help one way or another. With this Shadow Clone jutsu also in my bag... I feel like I can come up with some kind of plan.' In his ear, he heard Seijun finish mentioning being just another corpse on the battlefield.
Kiho glanced at him when Reika's name fell from his lips, and his gaze moved to her in hopes that she would speak up in her own defense. Nothing. She might have mumbled something under her breath, or maybe just mouthed a thought without voice, but he couldn't tell. Irately, Kiho looked back to Seijun and interjected for a moment, "AS A MATTER OF FACT, YES I DO! I think Reika could have led this rescue mission even if we didn't meet you. You could have just explained who you were from the start instead of being mean to someone you could obvious tell was hurting a lot, Seijun! Ama-neesama is strong and smart and has a wonderful dream of changing this whole land into something better than it ever had been." He pointed at the forest that consumed the old village. "That's how strong she is, RIGHT NOW. Imagine how strong she'll be next week? In a year she'll probably be so strong and in control of her power that she could defeat you too!" He huffed and puffed his chest a bit as he ranted on in Reika's defense, despite how unrealistic his faith in her was. "Whatever you said to her better not have ruined her dream. That's all I have to say about that. HMPH!!" He coldly folded his arms across his chest and pouted as he turned away completely toward the ruins.
His ears twitched and head lowered slightly as he regained perspective about whose life is worth more than whose. Seijun had really said much more in the last few minutes than since they met a while ago. He didn't seem the type. If Kihone was older, he'd probably appreciate how broad and grounded his perspective was. How dutifully he was acting to be like the ninja heroes that Izanagi and Kihone had always dreamed of meeting. Kihone figured out how to channel his frustration to overcome this last obstacle, and now he could rest while he thought of a plan. Izanagi... was postponing something that he might never try again just because of how this was playing out. Kiho knew that to be a possibility and a grave loss of opportunity, even with an unknown countdown to tragedy ticking away. There was something about the turn of tone in Seijun's words addressing the powerless being different because shinobi are weapons used to protect them. 'Shinobi are weapons? There has gotta be a better way to say that, right? If he said it like that on purpose, though... I don't know if I want to be a ninja anymore.' The thought floated in his head as he told himself that he just wanted to be himself, in whatever form he could make of that with this life that he still had. The pain of powerlessness is what fueled his young mind and what drove much of his simple but sincere desires.
As sharp as every syllable of his excuses and reasoning was, Seijun wasn't wrong. Kiho knew that they lacked the experience and skills to go against unapologetic thieves and seasoned murderers. He grumbled an annoyed reality loudly enough for Nagi to hear while he was deciding on his own reply to Seijun's this-or-that ultimatum, "Even with everything we've learned in the past day, I don't know if we could beat Scar-cheek if he wasn't just treating us as annoying brats. His other friends are probably mad about last night and it'll probably be harder to escape their bandit stronghold than it was to run from the ruins last night." The odds were stacked up against them, and even more so against Koroto. Even this eight year old could understand that much. Kiho kept cycling through options that kept getting crossed off or thrown in a bin of wild contingencies.
That was just it, though, maybe they didn't have to hard-headedly try to trade blows with these giants to pull this off. "Darn it... I really need my notes. There could be something..." He chewed on his thumb nail as he stared down at the sand before his feet. He still need to check his self-made ninja study guide for other jutsu that he was interested in learning to emulate. "Wait... if the Shadow Clone gives back memories it makes too, does that mean it can do stuff, like... training, while I'm busy and then I learn everything it did when it goes poof?" His question was actually rather rhetorical since he was starting to understand better why Seijun wanted them to learn such a powerful clone technique. It obviously had its merits for scouting and in the likely event that they became outnumbered by enemies. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Kiho announced while emulating that same divisive feeling he'd internalized from his earlier success. A smaller cloud of smoke appears next to him and, with his duplicate's creation, dispersed just as quickly. "I'll take care of it." The clone said to Kihone with a nod then ran off at full speed into Sorai, taking the quickest route back to the orphanage. Kihone sighed then looked back to see what his brother chose to do next. Either way, he knew they were both going to rescue Koroto, regardless of what the others thought might happen. 'If Koroto's life is so insignificant in comparison to everyone else then so is mine.' He wouldn't abandon his most treasured friend, and if that meant he couldn't be a shinobi then so be it. If he survived, there would be other dreams to pursue with the people he loved still around to see him do whatever it was. As the clone left view, Kihone plopped down to sit cross-legged in the sand so he could think and rest for a moment.
As Izanagi attempted to move on to his rock which was his intended waiting post for the bandit incursion, Seijun's voice cut through the air. Nagi was beyond frustrated with the entire situation, and his limited range of capabilities both as a fledgling shinobi and as a child were ever present in his actions. He growled with his emotional burst as Seijun continued. " You think I don't know I'm weak?"He retorted, tears welling up in his eyes as he vented. " You're yelling at me like I should already know all this crap you're spouting! I never even saw real ninjutsu until yesterday!" his fists balled up as he turned on his heel and started stomping back toward Seijun. " I'm no better than the people you're saying can't use chakra! But those people rejected me and my brothers! Who gives a damn about being tools for some world leader if I can't protect my family?! If I just did nothing I'm scum!" his tears had continued, rolling down his face as he looked up angrily toward Seijun, but the anger was clearly not directed at Seijun, although the man's sharp words did make him like the albino less. His fist finally took action after squaring up against Seijun as he planted it into his abdomen. Any intent for serious harm was absent. The fist would collide with a soft tap, then slowly the weight of Nagi's entire body would follow as he slumped forward, remaining in the position and lamenting his powerlessness.
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▰ Technique Name | Rank Description goes here. ▰ Technique Name | Rank Description goes here. ▰ Technique Name | Rank Description goes here.
Technique Active: ▰ Technique Name | Rank Description goes here. ▰ Technique Name | Rank Description goes here. ▰ Technique Name | Rank Description goes here.
Combat Modifiers & PA's ▰ Singularity | Jūryokuton users have an inherent gravitational pull towards themselves. Because of this, they are able to utilize close range Taijutsu and Bukijutsu with greater effects, reducing the opponents Agility by half once every [3] posts when using an appropriate Taijutsu or Bukijutsu. Additionally, Jūryokuton are able to cast their Gravity techniques with somatic gestures. Once per [5] posts, gravity chakra can be applied to a complex Taijutsu and Bukijutsu technique which causes the technique to count as spiritual in collisions but loses the stat buff. Using this PA itself never consumes a combat action. ▰ Piercing Accuracy | The clansman is more proficient than his fellow clan members at striking tenketsu. One's gentle fist application allows them to reduce 1.5 times the amount of chakra spent in a juken strike instead of 1.25. For example, if one spends 80 chakra on a gentle fist technique, the attack robs the target of 120 instead of the 100 normal clansmen would reduce. ▰ Purest Lineage | The clansman's thoroughbred lineage allows them access to the Byakugan without the use of a hand seal, chakra cost, or activation. In addition, should they unlock the Tenseigan, they may have 50% less reserves to maintain it than other clan members and may also activate the Tenseigan without the use of a hand seal, chakra cost, or activation. ▰ Signature Style: Infinite One Sword Style
Discipline & Cross Class Abilities ▰ Bukijutsu: Expert [ Katana ] | The user has achieved a sense of mastery and focus unlike others and are known as an Expert, a dedicated focus over a weapon they use to near perfection. The shinobi can pick a single weapon, or two if dual wielding, to apply this focus toward with examples such as Katana, Spear, Bows or even Dual Daggers. They acquire a Keystone technique that is unique to them with an additional 2 Custom Techniques derived of this special ability. Refer to the Keystone Guideline for more information. They gain a [+1] boost to both speed and agility & techniques cost [5] less Chakra and/or Stamina per rank of the technique when wielding attacks with their specialized weapon in attack or defense. With a minimum of 5 chakra or stamina paid.
▰ Bloodline: Dual Ancestry | Dual Ancestry allows you to have full access to two bloodlines upon creation including all techniques, abilities, and personal attributes associated with them. For biographical purposes, your secondary bloodline may be genetic or implanted at your discretion. This discipline gives you [4] bloodline PAs to be used only for the bloodline attributes of your dual bloodlines on top of the [2] personal attributes you receive at base for a total of [6]. If two elemental bloodlines are chosen then the primary bloodline's elemental affinities become your base elements and you gain full access to those elements while your secondary bloodline gives you locked elemental affinities that you cannot learn ninjutsu techniques from but you gain full access to the secondary bloodline. Locked elemental affinities can be unlocked through methods such as ninjutsu class or personal attributes. Elemental affinity personal attributes are automatically allotted to locked affinities. Jiongu users do not have access to Dual Ancestry nor can they be chosen as a secondary bloodline. Dual Ancestry users do not have access to the implant system including the Genetic Palette personal attribute. If you use multiple techniques from both of your bloodlines in the same post without Korabo then those techniques are increased in effectiveness by one rank. This discipline cannot be taken with the Elemental Mastery discipline from Ninjutsu Class. ▰ Bloodline - Bukijutsu Cross Class | Bloodline abilities that effect stats are increased by [1] per rank of the technique. In addition, the user is able to combine a bloodline technique and a bukijutsu technique together for a single action, paying the resource cost of both every three posts.
Title: Group Training! Paragraphs Counted: 2 Rank: E Reputation: Neutral Impact: Global Information: Train and hone your skills with other Academy Student Level characters! **Name of Mission - [ Rank | 1/1 Posts ]
Reika didn’t move. She didn’t speak. Kihone, ever the one to defend, stepped forward in her place, his voice firm, unwavering. He believed in his words. He believed in her. Seijun sighed. They're nice thoughts, kid, but you don't understand what I mean. His golden eyes flickered, scanning the moment like a predator analyzing its prey—not in hunger, but in sheer, detached calculation. He weighed each response, each possibility, filing away every potential outcome before making his move. And then, before he could speak, Izanagi broke. There was no fight in him, even if he mouthed some of those type words. No defense of anything just said. Just the slow, suffocating realization of helplessness. He was giving up. Seijun didn’t even look at him. Not at first.
The silence stretched. The weight of it settled like lead in the air. Then, barely above a whisper, Seijun exhaled a single word, one that carried no sound—but its presence burned like venom. "Pathetic." There was no malice in it, no anger—just an observation. Cold. Unforgiving. His left hand moved without thinking, reaching out, pressing against Izanagi’s head. And for the longest minute of Seijun's life, time didn’t move. He didn’t speak, didn’t breathe. His fingers rested against the boy’s hair, unmoving, but behind his golden eyes, a thousand possibilities played out in an instant. He saw the boy training under him. He saw him struggling, failing, and standing back up, determined to keep going. He saw him growing—not just as a shinobi, but as a man. A protector. A survivor. He saw him succeed. He saw him live a life worth living. Not just as a fighter, but as someone who built something real beyond war. A home. A future. A family. He saw the end of it, too. A lifetime later, Izanagi standing in front of a gravestone, weathered and cracked with time, but cared for—cleaned. Seijun's name carved into it. The one who taught him how to stand.
A lump formed in Seijun’s throat, heavy and sudden, before he forced himself back to reality. His fingers slipped away from Izanagi’s head. "That’s that, then." He took a slow breath in, trying to remove the lump. “Good luck in your decision, Izanagi.” No venom. No judgment. Just a farewell, as if dismissing a soldier before battle. Then, without hesitation, Seijun turned and walked away. He didn’t glance back. Didn’t give the boy another moment of his time. If that's his answer, I can't convince him. His voice remained light, almost casual as he spoke, but the weight of his words didn’t match the tone. "Then I'll complete my mission, and the rest of you can do whatever you want."
His golden gaze swept toward Kihone for the briefest moment—just a flicker of something restrained, something like regret, though he buried it before it could fully take shape. Then his attention snapped to Reika, still trapped in her own mind. The easy nature of his words vanished. His tone sharpened. "It's time to wake up, Reika. No more dreams." He watched her carefully, his voice like steel wrapped in silk—cutting, but not cruel. "Make them a reality. Start with making sure everyone that follows you lives." He let it hang there, just long enough for the weight of it to land. "Nothing else I say will go anywhere now. My final act of your lives is an ongoing mission: live."
And that was the hardest part of all.Seijun felt the words sting as they left his lips, like needles driving into his flesh. His nails dug into his palms, just enough to ground himself in the moment, but not enough to break skin. I am a shinobi. It’s my duty to be cold for the sake of the mission. People’s lives aren’t something to be thrown away. The logic was sound. His heart agreed. So why did it feel like his chest was tightening? His throat felt dry. The desert heat had never bothered him before, not actually, though he played with the notion that it did, but now it pressed into his skin, suffocating, unbearable. Real. Every life is sacred. Let them succeed. Please god let them succeed.
His fingers twitched, fists clenching, then releasing as he exhaled softly into the wind. "Please," he whispered aloud hoping that someone would do what he couldn't. And then, just like that, Seijun moved forward, leaving the weight of them behind him. Or at least, trying to. He'd return to the construction of the village's defenses alone.
Reika slowly stood to her feet, her arms loosely at her sides, as Seijun’s footsteps faded into the distance. She watched him go—watched as he moved without hesitation, without looking back, his presence shifting from commanding to distant in the span of a few breaths. He was already working, already focused on the next step, already moving forward. That’s what a real shinobi does, isn’t it? She swallowed, shifting her weight slightly. Her hands curled and uncurled at her sides. She wanted to ask him to wait. She wanted to demand to know how he could just walk away so easily after shaking the ground beneath them with his words. She wanted to know what he saw in her, how he could be so certain about things that still felt so uncertain to her. But she couldn’t. Instead, she glanced back at Kihone and Izanagi, realizing suddenly how small they looked in comparison to the weight of everything surrounding them. They weren’t warriors yet. They weren’t shinobi yet. They were kids. But they were kids who were trying. They were kids who had been told they could be strong, that they could become something. And they had believed it. And now, here they were, standing in the aftermath of a conversation they probably only half understood. And they were looking at her. Reika exhaled sharply through her nose. Right.
Seijun had given her a mission. It wasn’t to fight. It wasn’t to be strong. It wasn’t even to win. It was to live. So, she had to say something. She cleared her throat, rubbing the back of her neck, trying to piece together what that something was. “…I don’t know what the right thing to say is,” she admitted, her voice quieter than she meant it to be. That wasn’t a great start. She frowned, exhaling again, shifting her stance. “I just… I don’t know. I thought I understood what it meant to be strong. I thought it meant always moving forward, never hesitating. Never stopping. Never…” She trailed off, shaking her head. That wasn’t what they needed to hear, was it? She tried again, forcing herself to straighten her shoulders. “I guess what I do know is… you don’t just wake up as a shinobi. You don’t just decide one day that you can handle everything and suddenly be ready for it.” She paused, struggling to piece her thoughts together. “Seijun told me to make sure everyone that follows me lives. And I—I want that. I want to make sure you both live. But I don’t think just wanting that is enough.” She glanced toward Kihone first, the boy who had defended her without hesitation, who had believed in her without a second thought. “Kihone… I don’t think I’m the person you think I am.” The words stung more than she expected, but she pushed through them. “But I want to be. I want to be someone who deserves to lead people. I want to be someone who doesn’t let the people who trust me die.” Her throat felt tight, but she forced herself to look at him, to hold his gaze. “So, if you trust me… then I’ll do everything I can to be someone worth trusting.”
Then, slowly, she turned to Izanagi. He looked different now—small, quiet. Like something had been pulled out of him and hadn’t returned yet. She hesitated. She didn’t know how to talk to someone like this. She didn’t know how to fix what had just happened to him. So, she wouldn’t try to fix it. Instead, she took a slow breath, choosing her words carefully. “…Nothing is ever gained by admitting defeat,” she said, and even to herself, it felt like she was saying it as much for her own sake as for his. “But nothing is gained by throwing yourself into a fight just because you feel like you should.” She shifted her stance, crossing her arms loosely. “You don’t look like someone who’s ready to fight. You don’t sound like someone who’s ready.” Another pause. Her voice softened—just slightly. “That’s not me saying you can’t be ready. But if you want to save your brother, if you want to fight, then you have to stand up first. And right now…” She hesitated, but forced herself to finish. “Right now, it doesn’t look like you can.”
The desert wind picked up, kicking up dust around them. Reika let her arms drop back to her sides. “…I don’t have all the answers,” she admitted, her voice quiet again. “But I know that if we want to live—if we want to win—we have to be ready. Not just with weapons. Not just with strength.” She turned her gaze toward where Seijun had gone, watching the distant figure already working on the defenses of the village, already preparing for what was to come. Her voice steadied. “We have to be ready here and here.” She tapped her temple once with her finger and then once on her heart, then lowered her hand. Another silence stretched. Then, without another word, she started moving. Not toward Seijun. Not toward the bandits. But toward them—toward Kihone and Izanagi. Because if she was going to lead, if she was going to earn their trust, she wasn’t going to do it by standing still. She was going to do it by showing them.
Kihone remained sitting in the sand where he'd plopped down after his shadow clone's departure to the orphanage. He watched and listened after saying his peace, and was more fazed than others at Izanagi's tantrum. His brother put their shared frustrations into his own words and, for that, Kihone could not fault him. There was a small fear in the back of his head that Izanagi might not be cut out to be a ninja either, and that meant both of them were failures out the gate. In a lot of ways, that was nothing new, but it still rubbed his morale raw. Seijun only had disappointment to respond with before muttering something to Reika and taking his leave to watch over Sorai. Kihone just sighed and looked back to the Land of Wind stretching out to the horizon, hiding his precious older brother somewhere in its treacherous expanse.
His gaze turned back to the scene again only when Reika spoke up to address them now. Something made him worry that she too would want to listen to reason and sense and just try to shepherd them back into the village to do anything else. Kihone couldn't blame her if she did. They only actually met a short while ago and it was a miracle that she hadn't given up on everything too. Kiho could only be thankful that she was a good person as she spoke with an earnest modesty that was very very very foreign to these children. She spoke of what she thought being a shinobi entailed and admitted her present uncertainty on the matter. Kiho's gaze shifted to Nagi when she mentioned that one doesn't just wake up a shinobi and make it all work out fine. The trial that Seijun gave them was by no means a simple one, and even harder for one that had just started to understand their chakra. Even Kihone only had his magnetism for the past year and some change, and it was his only trick until yesterday. The boy leaned out of sitting and heaved himself up to his feet again as Reika's solemn expression matched her determined tone to live up to the vision he had of her. Her address to Izanagi only affirmed his appreciation of her, and sparked a melancholy memory of Yuna cheering him up after a scolding from their parents.
He walked over to meet her stride and took her lowered hand into both of his smaller ones gently wrapping his fingers around it, "Reika Ama-nee, thank you. Thank you for everything since we met, and even more for everything you're still willing to do for a couple brats like us. You're more like the person I think you are than you think... I think?" He paused a breath or two two contemplate his choice of words then shrugged, "I don't know a lot of anything either, but I do know that you're the person I'd follow if you want to lead." He wouldn't speak on Izanagi's behalf with how volatile he was a bit ago, but he was pretty sure that his brother concurred with the sentiment. Unhanding her, Kihone stepped aside for her to continue to lead them as she seemed to be bracing herself to do. "We still don't know where Koro-nii actually his, though. He could be anywhere out there..." He just panned his field of view from one side of the distant forest to the next, worriedly looking for a miracle that could point him in the right way, but none were available to witness as of yet. "I just want to come up with a plan already and get going." Kiho ruffled his hair with both hands in frustration and grumbled, "It feels like my heart is out there with Koro-nii, just waiting for my body to catch up." He dropped his hands to his sides and bowed his head to the desert, staring off into the grains of sand in front of his toes.
Meanwhile, on the way to the orphanage...
Kihone's shadow clone slipped into a familiar alleyway. 'The orphanage should be just up ahead. Around this corner and-' The inner dialogue was cut off as his direction was suddenly changed from forward to up and back.
WIP shadow clone training montage in effect... ninja
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**LEARNED - Body Flicker Technique [ D-Rank | Spiritual (Maruton) ] **LEARNED - Act of Water Walking [ X-Rank | Spiritual (Maruton) ] **LEARNED - Substitution [ D-Rank | Spiritual (Maruton) ] **LEARNED - Chameleon Skin Technique [ E-Rank | Spiritual (Illusion Genjutsu) ] ▰Description: Forming chakra in the area around them, the user creates a basic Genjutsu with the purpose of helping blend their body in with whatever surroundings are available. The illusion is not perfect however and higher ranked Shinobi are far more adept in seeing through the genjutsu. The illusionist will be invisible to shinobi of C-Rank body and below but will be easily found by shinobi of B-Rank body and above. This genjutsu is a favorite among academy pranksters. **LEARNED - Static [ E-Rank | Spiritual (Enchantment Genjutsu) ] ▰Description: The user activates the genjutsu's effect by using a specific sound's acknowledgement to trigger the victim into hearing a static type interference that prevents the target from hearing those outside a five foot radius from communicating clearly with them. **LEARNED - Trickster’s Sand Storm [ E-Rank | Spiritual (Instance Genjutsu) ] ▰Description: This Jutsu causes the opponent to believe that a sandstorm is kicking up, blinding his vision, irritating his eyes, getting into his nose and mouth. Simply rubbing their eyes will usually end the Genjutsu, though it is still quite useful if one can take use of the temporary blindness the target may suffer. **LEARNED - Release [ X-Rank | Spiritual (Maruton) ]
