The springs of Uzushiogakure are a popular tourist destination due their natural occurrence but also the secluded forested area within which this offshoot of the village resides. Tightly packed into a singular district and surrounded by trees, the hot springs are characterized by dozens of different hotels and inns of varying sizes. None is more prominent than Heavenβs Waters which is identifiable by the large kanji for heaven displayed on an orange banner.
An explosion recently rocked the building after it was evacuated just in the nick of time.
Posted: Sat Jun 09, 2018 1:23 pm
Emiko walked along the streets of Uzu while looking for good deeds to be done and more credits to earn. Her first stop was the hot springs which were always in need of cleaning. The usual crowd was busy doing what normal guests of the springs did while she stepped inside. "Hi! I'm here to help clean the hot springs!" Her comments got her a few looks and after a length conversation of assuring them she was a genin she was allowed entry into the springs.
(1/4)
Her work began in the female side first for obvious reasons. It was always pretty clean compared to the male and unisex sides. She walked inside with her equipment behind her and got to work by sweeping some displaced trash away to the side. She then deposited it into a nearby trash can and did a second sweep just to make sure that everything was taken care of. A few woman waved at her while she returned the sign of decency.
(2/4)
After the sweeping was done there were a few bits and things floating in the water of some of them. Emiko took her trusty net and fished each one out as the steam and vapors made her feel a tad overheated. Some springs had things as leaves from the trees outside making their way inside or the occasional bug that had picked a very unfortunate landing spot. Others had bits of pieces of food or things that she probably didn't want to know about. It was tedious going around to collect things and then hurrying back over to the trash and dumping them inside and going to move to the next pool of water but sooner or later she had finished.
(3/4)
With the female side done Emiko sneaked towards the unisex area and was surprised to see very few people were here, mostly families of some kind. She did her best not to look at them for too long while focusing entirely on her work. Her hands moved the broom along the sides of the springs and left the people to chat among themselves. A few stones needed adjusting and the usual cleaning the pools. One child her age waved at her to come play as she nearly agreed but then remembered her duties. The two of them seemed disappointed but he returned to play as she got back to work. This room took twice as long but she had finished her cleaning in here and thanks the employees for their duties, or lack thereof, and went to turn in her mission.
αThe squad was out and in full effect. Kya was perched at the edge of a building, hair tied down and wrapped in a black cloth down her back, a mask up over her lower face, and an otherwise featureless outfit on her torso. She would have blended perfectly if not for the red eyes radiating faintly. The same could be said for each of her siblings, all of them watching carefully, observing the flow of traffic in the night. Not a beat went unobserved by her own eyes, able to read all of the movement below her with her specialized vision. She'd been given a lead by the Vortex leadership, ninja who knew full well it was only a matter of time before she herself wrested control of the entire faction herself. She was content for now to handle business as it were and start out as an initiate. Infiltration. That was the word she had latched onto. Somehow, somewhere enemies of the state had made their way in. Enemies posing as citizens, probably starting a network of enemy combatants. Many of these people were likely within, and some names had already been pointed out.
Who better to interrogate them than a master of illusion and annihilation both. She closed her eyes for just a second, taking a deep breath and speaking a solemn prayer to Amonkira. Amonkira. Lord of Hunters. Grant that my hands be steady, my aim be true, and my feet swift. And should the worst come to pass, grant me forgiveness. One side god who, unlike the vast majority, lamented the loss of life would guide her hand and surely grant her wish for forgiveness. It was sure to come to that. Kya went from a perch to a stand, still too high and too well hidden for it to matter. She motioned for her siblings in their positions to move out as well.
Nava the Prodigy took her target with a single handseal, beckoning him after a very basic genjutsu. Stupid soldiers. He wandered into that allyway completely unaware he was wandering into a venus flytrap.
Na'chal the Brave was much more direct. For the briefest of moments everyone would think the lights had flickered in the area. In truth, Kya had provided him a moment of cover, shrouding the minds with a genjutsu that cast darkness over them for mere seconds. In that time Nachal had swiftly popped out from behind a dumpster and snatched his target after knocking him completely unconscious with a single strike with his fist.
Nataya was done with no need for tricks or aid. Four corpses, all of them already being removed from play. They had taken a room in a hotel, left the window open, and decided to conduct their business over a game of poker. Four gangsters, representatives of four groups of criminals that were known quantities. They existed only because they were helpful in the early days in moving people safely. They had put a halt on crime to put their muscle towards protecting the people on the journey and for that Kya allowed them to exist. Barely. As did the rest of Vortex and the police force. NaTaya however was not inclined. She locked the door, barricaded it with a chair after she removed their heads from the rest of themselves. Kya could see her from her position, shaking her head as the girl wrapped the corpses and used some basic water ninjutsu to clean the blood from the floor and direct it to the sink in the kitchen. As for the shuriken that had rounded them, well she had just barely caught it on her way in before it hit a wall in a amsterful use of shunshin. She cleaned it as well, and turned her attention to the walls and carpet. Erasing the scene quickly had been key, as she collected the heads in a pile on top of the bodies. Then her target had came out of the bathroom, and she was rewarded with an almost-scream that was muffled by a pillow and punch that knocked him out.
Over the receiver Kya spoke to everyone. "Well done." she offered leaping forward, clearing the space to the building just across the street, entering a window below and rolling into the room. She had a precious second to asses. One man, already reaching for a weapon. Her own target. He was surprised, looking into the masked woman's eyes: mistake made. He was paralyzed by the sharingan's genjutsu, and helpless as she put him in a headlock that robbed him of his consciousness.
Four men awoke, then, to themselves bound to each other. Upon acknowledging each other, a grim realization came over them. The four man squad looked down on their prey from their perches on tables, counters, a chair for Kya, and a dresser. Wherever they were, they were comfortable. "Morning," Kya spoke to each of them with a smirk.
ββ CHAKRAx 1,115 / 1,265xββ STAMINAx 1,000 / 1,000xββ ACx A lot. xββ RYOx Also a lot. ββ Konohaxββ Kunin xββ X-B xββ Oracle/Blood Bender xxxxxx
β Text Here β Text Here β Text Here β Text Here
ββ Jutsu Learned
β Text Here β Text Here β Text Here β Text Here
ββ OOC
Notes:
Azeiel The Risen
Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2018 11:54 am
αKya circled the four of them for what felt like decades. She flared her nostrils here and there as she sized them each up, giving them the feeling of false security, like that she was simply holding them for someone else. Her siblings didn't make anything better: all of them with sharingan active following her movements with the cursed eyes. It was highly unnerving no matter what they told themselves. Kya spoke finally, offering a mantra the siblings would be aware of. "The second lesson is focus. Without focus, we never find our way to shore no matter how hard we fight against the current." Her voice boomed in the small space. Even among her own siblings Kya was a small girl, and never the less she stood on a pillar higher than most. She reached down and lifted the chin of one of her charges after an unsettlingly fast and sharp stop. She bade him to look up at her as she spoke. He'd been the one snatched by Nava. "So. Little man. I will ask you maintain your focus. Do not break, allow me to see your worth." She affixed him with her glare, peering into his eyes suddenly and for him, everything suddenly changed.
He found himself stuck to a chair. He wasn't restrained, he simply couldn't move and across from him amid the sea of darkness Kya sat with one leg crossed over the other, palms pressed together with fingers interlaced. "Focus." she spoke, and the scene melted into a constant flurry of explosions and color assaulting him, a cacophony of disjointed noise buffeting his ears. His panic was clear, discomfort in his eyes as they strained, dialating so fast in and out. He was powerless to even express it. He simply stared into his captors eyes as she blinked it all away and he found himself once more sitting in darkness with her. "Maintain that focus. We have quite a long way to go. Three more days of that should loosen your lips. 71 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds to go. Now. Focus."
By the time she was finished with him, in their world he'd gone to and from insanity enough to have broken and she hadn't even had to touch him. She let him go and he would have wailed if he weren't so mentally exhausted. She looked upon him with disgust, and moved on again, circling the entire group for another stretch of time that blurred together and overlapped by the time she chose her next target. She reached for his chin against his fighting and protesting. "Focus, now. Don't make my detective work harder than it has to be."
His scenario was one that would surely break him. He found himself standing on a raft in a sea with no land in sight and waters more azure than the naturally occurring seas rocked him to and fro. One, singular tentacle slinked up over the raft and snagged the man by this ankle, flinging him skyward, so high there was literally no feasible way he would survive the fall. Except... he did in fact survive and slammed into the surface of the water, falling so deep he could almost touch the bottom. Better he didn't, because immediately in his peripheral he would see a massive serpent's head, golden and green and immeasurable, opened it's maw to several thousand huge teeth threatening to consume him. Behind it, so... many... tentacles. He had no means of escape but he started to swim towards the surface anyway. He moved for all he was worth, being slowly enshrouded by the tentacles until he was just an inch away from the raft. An inch away from oxygen, from breathing. It didn't matter. He was snagged, shunted down into the maw of the mother and consumed. He awoke to the ocean and raft once more. Kya's voice echoed. "Close. Let's begin again."
Torture always proved an effective method to get people to start singing like birds, and when she released him, she had to blink away a stinging sensation in her eyes. "Ok, now. I could go about mentally shattering another one of you to the point that you 100% won't be able to even THINK a sane thought for days with or without therapy, or we could start talking," she spoke to the remaining to, having a seat on a stool in the basement they had been sitting in. "What do you want!" she heard from one of them. The other kept shoving the man beside him who was missing his marbles now. "Names, locations, plans. Any. All."
"Listen! The Fire Daimyo is PISSED ok. He's behind the infiltration, we were just told to blend in and wait. How did you know to look for us? We haven't even operated in secret yet!" Nava, who had been taking notes, spoke to him. "Took a wild guess." she chided. Kya smirked and leaned in, fully expecting him to continue. "We are isolated in groups from each other. We don't know what the deal is until someone tells us what our job is from command. Deep cover... not deep enough," the other man lamented. They were middle fish, not quite small, not big enough. "And where did you come from? Who's your handler?" Kya unrolled a scroll as she listened to his response, aiming to learn a couple of ninjutsu that would serve her next purpose well. "His name is Charvata. We haven't seen or heard from him in months, almost since we got here. If you found us, it means he probably abandoned us as a lost cause already." After learning the technique she was going to use on each of them, she placed the scroll away in her shirt once more and reached out to touch his head. "Hmm. Thanks for that. You just advanced our investigation farther than it has in half a year. Now, do me a favor," she said as her squad each took one in her hands. "And forget." Once the false memories had been placed in their heads and they were knocked out, the last thing to do was use the twilight hours as cover to replace all but the one Nataya took to the Vortex Cleaning Site where he, just like his fallen comrades, would be entirely removed from existence with no trace.
As for herself, Kya returned to the Vortex HQ and gave her report. Her test was complete, and as was always destined she was given her recommendation for San's eyes.
[Ten Blindness acquired biggrin]
ββ CHAKRAx 1,115 / 1,265xββ STAMINAx 1,000 / 1,000xββ ACx A lot. xββ RYOx Also a lot. ββ Konohaxββ Kunin xββ X-B xββ Oracle/Blood Bender xxxxxx
Itsuki walked down the path towards the famous volcanic hot springs, the path lit by lamps as the sun had begun to set, lighting the sky in a very calming, soft pinkish-orange color. Being an offshoot of the main village, it presented a very peaceful atmosphere, which was exactly what Itsuki needed after the past couple of days. As he entered the actual district the mostly serene aura seemed to fade. However, even though the district was tightly packed it wasn't like the other districts of Whirlpool. It was very welcoming, little shops dotted along the street between the many hotels and spas. As Itsuki reached the main thoroughfare, he allowed himself a deep stretched that caused him to moan slightly, holding his arms up in the air.
"Alright, what is there to do around here before I hit the hot springs?" Itsuki asked himself aloud as he scanned the tightly packed buildings. His eyes fell upon a large hotel with the 'Heaven' kanji plastered on an orange banner, and a little ramen shop next to it. "I think that'll do. I could use a meal before I book a room for the night."
Itsuki put both of his hands behind his head, his elbows cocked out to either side as he strolled towards the ramen shop. While he walked, he could hear young children's excited cries to their mothers as they saw him, utterly giddy that they got to see a real life ninja. This made Itsuki smile to himself. Even though he hadn't actually done anything, he was glad he could make the children happy. As he got closer to the ramen shop, he noticed a sign out in the front. Itsuki scanned it as he got closer, and found it read, "Now serving Dango with Green tea!" A smile crept across his face. Dango was by far Itsuki's favorite treat, and he never passed up a chance to indulge himself whenever he could. "Dango! Yes! Forget the ramen, I'm gonna chow down!" Itsuki lowered his arms as he entered the open faced shop, and took a seat. The middle-aged chef behind the counter gave him a large grin and waved as Itsuki sat down.
"Welcome, welcome! What can I get for you young man? Some of our brand new dango perhaps? They're going fast!" The cook asked as Itsuki sat down.
"Yes actually!" Itsuki stated as he smiled back at the cook with a nod. "I'll take the largest order of dango you have, with some green tea, please!"
"Very good! I'll have that for you faster than you can say Uzukage!" The cook replied with a chuckle, turning back to his grill.
Itsuki offered the man a polite bow, and spun around on his stool, propping his elbows up on the counter as he faced the street to pass the time until his food was ready. The district was more beautiful than one would assume at first glance. The people bustling about, the lamps softly lighting the street that they lined leading towards the actual hot springs. Itsuki took a deep breath, then exhaled contently. He felt at peace. "This is nice... I wonder what Niko and Hisashi are up to? Hopefully they're having as relaxing of an evening as I am." Itsuki continued to watch the people as they passed on the street, letting his mind wander off.
RobinBankz
β | CHAKRA 385 / 385-β | STAMINA 235 / 235-β | RYO δΈ‘400-β | AC 5,800- β | NIN / BLOOD-β | D - GENIN-β | UZUSHIOGAKURE-β | KATON-β | FUUTON-β | DOTON
Niko and Hisashi decided they would relax after a long days work. They would do this at the hot springs. "Man! I never get to go in the baths! But now..." Hisashi grinned. "They have to let me in!" Niko laughed as she tried not to think about the sharingan. Truth was, it was the only thing on her mind. Why did she have it? Where did it come from? Who gave it to her? These questions were all running through her mind rapidly and she just wanted them to stop.
As they were coming up on the hot springs, Niko noticed Itsuki. He was sitting at the counter of the Heaven Hotel. Just the mere sight of him pissed her off. "How could I be the same as him?" She looked him over for a moment, thinking about him and his ideals. βFool...β Then he looked up. She quickly acted as if she didn't see him. Luckily, he didn't see her. That is until...
"Hey Niko look! It's Itsuki! Hi Itsuki!" Hisashi waved at him. Niko was dumbfounded as Hisashi approached Itsuki in his transformed state. "Hisashi wait! He's never seen you like this before!" But it was too late. Hisashi walked up to the counter from the street to greet Itsuki. "Yo useless! What's up? Come here to relax too? You wanna buy me some steak?" His mouth drooled as he spoke. To Hisashi, he believed he was speaking to a friend and had no reason to introduce himself. To Itsuki however, he was a complete stranger.
Itsuki was almost stunned to see Niko approaching him with somebody new. He had assumed she didn't care for people much. However, what did shock him was that this mystery man knew his name, and apparently Niko had told him he was useless. Regardless of the company, he found himself glad that Niko had at least shown up.
"Hoi, Niko. Who is this?" Itsuki asked as he lazily waved to Niko as she got closer.
Suddenly, Itsuki found himself confused. Painting a mental picture in his head, there was a certain wily wolf missing from the equation. Itsuki junped out of his seat, and began looking around, trying to spot Hisashi. Itsuki pushed the white haired man out of the way rather abruptly, though he didn't mean to be rude. Hisashi wasn't behind him. Itsuki walked up to Niko, crouched down, and lifted her skirt to see if she was somehow oncealing her pet wolf in her undercarriage. To his dismay, still no Hisashi. Itsuki stood up, and gave Niko a cold stare.
"Niko... Where is Hisashi?" Itsuki asked slowly. "And who is this guy? Some family member?"
Itsuki had so many questions. Where was his fuzzy friend? Who was the new guy? Why didn't she seemed concerned about her wolf? Itsuki hoped nothing has happened to, and he waited anxiously for an explanation.
RobinBankz
β | CHAKRA 385 / 385-β | STAMINA 235 / 235-β | RYO δΈ‘400-β | AC 5,800- β | NIN / BLOOD-β | D - GENIN-β | UZUSHIOGAKURE-β | KATON-β | FUUTON-β | DOTON
Niko walked up and immediately yanked Hisashi by the ear. "Ow ow ow! Hey!" Niko bowed to Itsuki pulling Hisashi down as well. "I apologize if he bothered you. This is Hisashi. We'll be on our way now." Niko, still holding Hisashi by the ear, turned to walk away. As she did, she noticed two familiar faces.
"Hey Niko! What's up?" Yui and Aoi were coming from the hot springs. "We just had a free bath! The hot springs are like great don't you think?" They looked around for a moment. "Where's Hisashi?" Hisashi slowly raised his hand with a goofy smile. Yui and Aoi went instantly nuts. "Oh my god! You are sooooooo cute!" Niko shook her head. Between, Itsuki, Hisashi, Yui and Aoi, she was surrounded by idiots. Then Yui noticed Itsuki.
"Oh! Hey you're the guy from the dojo!""Are you two like dating?" Niko's face turned red. Yui elbows her while whispering in her ear. "You did pretty good Niko! This guy's cute!" Hisashi and Aoi started to laugh. To silence all of this, Niko loudly clears her throat. "Mhmm! Yui, Aoi, this is Itsuki. He is a fool. Now if you will excuse us, we have some things to discuss."
Yui smiled as she signaled to Aoi. Aoi started to giggle as they walked off. "Okay we get it! You two want to share a fun night together at the Heaven Hotel! We'll leave you to it! By the way! You guys did really good against that dojo loser the other day!""Yeah, you two should be like a team or something!"Then, Yui and Aoi were off leaving Niko, Hisashi, and Itsuki in an awkward mess.
"Always interesting with those two around..." Niko yanked on Hisashi's ear. "Ow ow ow!" Niko sighs. "Itsukiβ¦"
Itsuki's jaw dropped as Niko told him that the guy she was with was actually Hisashi. It must have been some kind of technique, but he had no idea what it could be. He was speechless, that is until Yui and Aoi showed up. Itsuki was still dumbfounded, and the girls left before he had even gained his sense back. They had mentioned that they thought he and Niko were a couple, but he didn't mind their childish assumptions. It was only when they complimented them on their fight with the jughead in the dojo did he get slightly embarrassed. He didn't know they even knew about it. Composing himself, he turned his attention towards the human Hisashi.
"So that's really you, huh Hisashi? I gotta say, you don't look half bad as a human." Itsuki said, playfully tugging on Hisashi's shirt. "So, what did you want to talk about? The fight the other day? Or maybe what the girls had just mentioned? You seemed to be in a hurry to leave, though. Is everything okay?"
Itsuki put a hand on his hip and let his opposite arms hang by his side, awaiting Niko's answer. He glanced over at Hisashi, he still had a hard time understanding how Hisashi was in a human form, let alone actually speak.
RobinBankz
β | CHAKRA 385 / 385-β | STAMINA 235 / 235-β | RYO δΈ‘400-β | AC 5,800- β | NIN / BLOOD-β | D - GENIN-β | UZUSHIOGAKURE-β | KATON-β | FUUTON-β | DOTON
Lost for words, Niko struggled. This wasnβt easy for her. She needed to swallow her pride, which is asking for the impossible. Still, she needed to know. Her curiosity was burning brightly and she hated it. Then, Niko did it. For the first time ever, Niko gave in and swallowed her pride all the way.
βItsuki... I want you to tell me about the sharingan.β
Itsuki was surprised at Niko, why did she want to know about the Sharingan? He had assumed she didn't care; she was a Hatake after all. Oh well. Itsuki was about to respond when he was interrupted by a voice coming from behind him at the ramen shop.
"Hey, Mister Genin! Your dango and green tea are ready for you!" The cook pronounced with a smile and a beckoning wave.
"I'll answer than in one second Niko, but first I need to grab my treat. Have you ever had dango before? It's my favorite treat!" Itsuki said with a grin.
He turned around and ushered Niko and Hisashi towards the shop. He graciously accepted his food and tea from the cook with a deep bow, and gave the cook his money. Itsuki turned around and held a stick of dango out in each hand, giving each to Niko and Hisashi. Itsuki smiled with his eyes closed, then picked up his own dango and bit an entire one off of the stick in a single bite. After he swallowed, he took a drink if his tea, and let out a content sigh.
"So, what exactly did you want to know-" Itsuki started, activating his Sharingan, turning his eyes blood red, spinning it's single tomoe to life. "- about the Sharingan specifically?"
RobinBankz
β | CHAKRA 385 / 385-β | STAMINA 235 / 235-β | RYO δΈ‘400-β | AC 5,800- β | NIN / BLOOD-β | D - GENIN-β | UZUSHIOGAKURE-β | KATON-β | FUUTON-β | DOTON
Dango. Hisashi's face was less than satisfied. "Dango? But I don't like dango! Hey, is there any way I could get some steak instead?" Hisashi perked up immediately but was bonked on the head by Niko. "Ow ow ow! Hey!" Niko looked at the dango she was holding. Such a sweet treat for such a bitter moment. As she gazed upon Itsuki's eyes, the same one in her left eye, she was filled with hate. This hate however, wasn't directed at Itsuki.
"I'd like to know..." She started, but it was clear that it was hard for her to speak on. "I'd like to know what it takes to master the sharingan. This may seem strange but..." Niko was debating this for a while, even before she found out about the sharingan. "I've been having this dream lately, and you just so happen to be a part of it. I want to know your strength..." If Niko was going to do anything about the sharingan, she needed to gather as much information as she possibly could, even if it meant opening up to a fool.
What it takes to master the Sharingan? Why would Niko ask that question? Was it because of their fight with the large childrens game character knock off that awakened his Sharingan? Did she hesitate because of her pride? Itsuki's head was swimming with thoughts like these, but he wouldn't wear his thoughts as a mask to be seen. Taking the hand from his hip and placing it behind his head, he looked up at the night sky, his eyes glowing ever presently in stark contrast.
"What it takes to master the Sharingan, huh?" Itsuki repeated the question to himself, still gazing up into the night sky. "Well, I've only just awakened mine. However, I do have some insight fron Ryota as to what it entails beyond my own experience. The Sharingan is an organ, just like any other in your body. It needs to be constantly trained and honed to understand it's power. Just like your sword, you didn't have the skill you posess now without training. In my short time of having my own Sharingan, I can attest to that. I'm nowhere close to mastering it yet, but the training alone has been taxing. I would try to go into further detail, but unless you posess these eyes... I don't think I could describe it any better."
Itsuki brought his gaze back down from the celestial heavens, and let his eyes return to their normal state. He hoped he had given Niko an answer that was acceptable, but he couldn't be sure. Itsuki gave Niko a warm smile eith his eyes closed, hoping that it had given her some sort of solace towards her curiosity.
RobinBankz
β | CHAKRA 385 / 385-β | STAMINA 235 / 235-β | RYO δΈ‘400-β | AC 5,800- β | NIN / BLOOD-β | D - GENIN-β | UZUSHIOGAKURE-β | KATON-β | FUUTON-β | DOTON
