First Meeting (Ayama and Navi) [Private, No Kill]

"Look my upbringing was... unconventional to say the least. The village doesn't know a thing about my bloodline in fact you are currently the only person alive who knows. " she took a breath, she was about to take an extreme leap of faith, "I have to ask you, have to trust you, not to tell anyone. I'm not a threat, i didn't even know the extent of it before today. I'm sure its not even that powerful so I be a danger to your village! I just, i just can't tell them. Not yet.."

Normally, Navi might have reacted violently when she said "a danger to your village", but the truth was that she didn't know the potential, and Navi didn't either. Similar to Ayama, Navi also hated to trust others, which was part of the reason he joined the ANBU. He enjoyed operating in the shadows, and not being required to trust anyone, save the Hokage himself.

She had asked him not to tell anyone, and normally such a thing wouldn't be an option. Usually he would either need to report anyone he met, or dispose of them immediately. This secret was special though, even her own village wasn't privy to it. Navi felt that if at all possible, the entire situation should be kept under wraps. What if they are still lying? If she was in fact powerful, and Hisoka was still lying with her, then Navi would be responsible for the destruction they would cause to his village. He needed to confirm their power himself, only then would he feel even the slightest motivation to keep their secret.

Navi sighed and took a deep breath before he opened his mouth to speak. "I will do you the favor of telling noone about this secret if you do one favor for me in return." He would pause for a moment to allow her to respond. Navi held all the cards here, both Ayama and Hisoka would most likely do anything necessary to keep Navi quiet.

"I want you to attack me with the intent to kill." Navi's eyes glowed slightly again as if he was activating a more advanced jutsu inside of them. His eyes rested on Ayama as he stared straight through her: the entire muscle structure, chakra points and vital areas of her body becoming clear to him. "Don't hold back, I'll be able to tell."

If Ayama and Hisoka really weren't a danger to the leaf village, then Navi would be able to gauge their strength accurately through this spar.

"I will do you the favor of telling noone about this secret if you do one favor for me in return."

"What is it?" she asked slightly suspicious, she felt Hisoka tense beside her.

"I want you to attack me with the intent to kill." Navi's eyes glowed slightly again as if he was activating a more advanced jutsu inside of them. His eyes rested on Ayama as he stared straight through her: the entire muscle structure, chakra points and vital areas of her body becoming clear to him. "Don't hold back, I'll be able to tell."

She was shocked to say the least, he was asking her to attack him, would she even be able to land a hit? He had demonstrated his superior skill multiple times during this encounter and she had little doubt in her mind of his powerful abilities.

“He’s testing us,” Hisoka growled mentally to her, “trying to determine our threat”

“No shit,” she snapped back mentally.

“Fine,” she growled at Navi stepping away from him and drawing her ninjato, “I‘ll play your games“

She quickly cataloged her pathetically short list of jutsu and skills. Newly graduated genin didn’t really have the skill set to take on a leaf ninja of at least very high jounin status.

“I have some lightning based abilities,” Hisoka thought to her reaching out with his mind to show her them. She automatically pushed the tendril of thought out, her mind reacting defensively.

“Sorry, I-I’m still not used to this” she thought back nervously, fighting back the urge to shove his mind away. Hisoka didn’t answer, she knew that to an extent he understood. Taking a deep breath she focused on Navi, narrowing her eyes and moving into a classic kenjutsu stance, feet apart, body low and balanced on the balls of her feet.

“Let’s try a pincer movement,” she thought, flicking an academy memory of the strategy towards her partner who nodded briefly, settling into a crouch his, long smoky tail waving slowly. It took a brief flicker of thought to send Hisoka into action, he lunged forward, covering ground with long bounding strides. He was to attempt to attack Navi’s left, to maul the ninja’s legs and dismantle his swift movement. Ayama on the other hand came in more the right, pushing her body to the limits of its speed as she kept her ninjato level aiming for his upper torso and hoping to distract him from her partner’s move.

“Disable your prey, make it so it can’t run, then go for the jugular” Hisoka snarled in the back of his mind, and though she agreed with the tactic she still shivered at the delight in his voice.

Navi leisurely picked up a stick with his left hand as they charged, and then watched each of their movements closely. A pincer flank attack, a basic academy tactic like that would definitely be fresh in the mind of a newly graduate Genin. Still, this didn't entirely convince Navi.

The power of the two of them would be equal because of the bond of chakra they shared. Navi only really cared about Ayama, she was the one with control over the bloodline and the gauge of her strength was the most interesting to him.

Navi maintained a stoic expression as they drew closer, a stick held loosely in his left hand as he watched them charge. When the cat snarled loudly and drew close to him Navi reached. Navi drew a strange kunai with his right hand and spun it around his finger. The kunai's blade extended immediately with fire chakra which would most likely cause the cat to come screeching to a halt. Navi had no intention to use the chakra knife, but instead drew it as a warning. "Back of Hisoka, you don't interest me at the moment."

Turning his attention to Ayama, who was already upon him, Navi reacted in a split second. In a tiny puff of smoke the stick he wielded turned into a large dagger, which he used to block the incoming attack to his upper torso the moment before it made contact with him. The clash of steel rang through the field and the two blades rattled against eachother for a few moments before Navi jumped nimbly backwards, landing 5 meters away from his original position.

Navi stayed in a relaxed position, loosely gripping the dagger in his left hand. She was definitely coming at him with the intent to kill, which was exactly what Navi wanted. The power Ayama wielded was puny, but had an incredibly potential that would only increase exponentially with her bond to Hisoka. Navi was curious to see more, and could even be convinced to train her, but he wondered if the relationship between them would allow such a thing.

Ayama had expected him to react swiftly but the speed with which he changed the stick into a blade and then brought it up to block her own sword was astounding. He leapt away from her landing about five meters off. She tensed, readying her sword for another attack.

“He has a chakra blade” she growled at Hisoka’s interruption.

“Why do I care?” she snarled mentally circling Navi, trying to see an in. She was focused now, he wanted an all out battle she would give him one.

“He doesn’t want me to fight him, he could use that blade to sever our bond, killing me!”

“Tch, fine then, just stay away,” she hissed mentally shoving away his thoughts. She needed to focus now. She brought her hands up and swiftly went through the series of hand signs.

“Bunshin no Jutsu!” she yelled creating six clones of herself. It wasn’t the greatest technique, he should be able to see it, but she needed the distraction. Dashing into the midst of the six clones she ordered them to repeatedly mix up, taking the time to switch places even as they charged Navi. She and clones zig-zagged randomly then as they all lunged at one she leapt into the air sword raised high, attempting to chop open Navi’s head.

Navi watched for a few moments as Ayama seemed to get deeply involved in the fight. She didn't have enough tricks up her sleeve though, and her movements and jutsu use was predictable.

“Bunshin no Jutsu!” she yelled creating six clones of herself. Dashing into the midst of the six clones she ordered them to repeatedly mix up, taking the time to switch places even as they charged Navi. She and clones zig-zagged randomly then as they all lunged at one she leapt into the air sword raised high, attempting to chop open Navi’s head.

While she was in middair Navi lazily lifted his head and made eye contact with her. Barely registering the threat of the sword slicing downwards towards him. Ayama's world would completely change now, inducing a horrific shock from her past. Her clones would immediately dissipate and her connection with Hisoka would be numbed to a point where they couldn't communicate. As Ayama would be above him and no longer really in control of her body Navi would catch her as she fell, and easily dodge the sword that had been in her grasp. Laying her down smoothly on the grass, Navi focused his Navagan hard in an attempt to see the illusion she was experiencing. One way or another the mysteries of Ayama's past would be revealed to him, and he would learn more about this strange girl.

Spoiler:

As her ninjato feel her eyes connected with his. For a moment time seemed to halt and then the world melted away. Her eyes rolled into her head and her body went limp.

Suddenly she was standing on a pale silver dune. The moon hung full above her head, surrounded by the glitter of stars. The Suna territory sky that was now so familiar to her spanned across her vision.

“Is this correct daddy?” She spun around, sand spinning in a glittering arch and saw two people standing a couple of feet away. A tall figure, wrapped in a black cloak, a leaf village forehead protector stitched into the shoulder was bent low over a large array of seals spread across the flat sand. He looked up, shifting so that the slash through the leaf symbol flashed in the moonlight.

“That’s perfect dear,” his voice is low and rough, and he sweeps up the smaller cloaked figure into his arms. The little figure’s hood falls back to reveal a wavy mass of silver hair that shines in the moonlight. The little girl reached up to hug the shadowy man around his neck laughing happily. Ayama stepped forward, reaching for the pair, for the happy scene.

Suddenly the seals on the ground began to glow a dark sickly purple. A piercing scream filled the air and the night sky cracked and shattered. Shards of midnight velvet rained down and smashed to bits on a now black ground. Ayama spun wildly searching the pitch black for a light any light.

“Ayama!” she whirled towards to voice in time to see her father reaching for her.

“Dad!” she cried extending her arms towards him. But shadows like smoke, tinted purple reared up and plunged into the cloaked man. His scream of agony mixed with her horrified cry. His blood sprayed across the blackness, dark droplets falling on her face, still warm.

Then she was a child again, crouched in blood soaked sand, staring at the scorched and dark crater where her father had once stood. Blood dripped down her face, soaking her cloak and tainting her silver hair. She shivered violently, repeatedly whispering to the dark “daddy? Daddy come back. Daddy?”. Her father was gone. He was dead. Just like her mother he had died. She was alone. All alone.

------

Hisoka hissed in terror and fury and his connection with Ayama dulled. He couldn’t feel her mind.

“What did you do?!” he roared at Navi.

“What did you do?!” he roared at Navi.
"Be silent, pest." Navi spat back as he focused on the illusion Ayama was seeing.

Navi watched as the horrific scene unfolded in front of him. While watching the origin of Ayama's bloodline the two figures seemed so innocent in the setting. When her father exploded, the switch of tone was so jarring it caused Navi to cringe. All of the pieces came together now, he knew the origin of her bloodline, and why she didn't trust anyone. Without even her parents to guide her, she would undoubtedly not even trust the members of her village. The fact that Navi, some random leaf ninja she barely met, knew everything about her now most likely tore her up inside. Navi had come to understand her now, and respected who she was as a shinobi. If she came to respect him as well, he would agree to train her.

Navi lay two fingers on her neck and focused for a moment, before letting a small burst of chakra flow into Ayama. "Release," Navi murmured, breaking Ayama free of the genjutsu he had placed on her. Navi still crouched next to Ayama, but remained ready for her possibly violent reaction.

For a moment she lay still, waiting for the darkness to return waiting for the horrible memories to come back. But when she felt a small prod in her mind, a foreign emotion of worry she opened her eyes. For a moment she stared ahead blankly before reaching up to brush her face with her fingers. Drawing her hand away she stared at her clean hand, no blood marred her flesh. She stared at it for a long while, it was a genjutsu, it had just been a genjutsu. She repeated that over and over in her head trying to fight back her emotions, trying to repress her tears.

Taking a long shuddering breath she glared up at the ninja she now recognized as Navi. He had cast the genjutsu on her, and she would bet all her ryo that he had seen that memory.

“Are you satisfied?” Her hiss was angry, but not furious. She couldn’t be furious not when she was still numb from the experience.

Navi had a hard time not falling into a depression as Ayama woke up. The memory he had seen was indeed gruesome, and the motivation she had to always keeping herself a secret was clear. She had lived a cursed and depressed life from the start.

“Are you satisfied?” Her hiss was angry, but not furious. Her body was most likely numb from having to revisit the memory so clearly. Navi would take advantage of this moment to interact before she regained her senses and boiled over with hatred.

"Relax," Navi began, "There are other people like you in this world, and I am one of them." Navi sighed, he had never told anyone the story of his origin before, but he felt the only way to gain Ayama's trust was to tell her this secret. "One day, when I was seven years old, the Hyuga Clan attacked my clan, the Yamaki. The attack caught us by surprise, and they successfully exterminated nearly every member of the my clan. They slaughtered my entire family in front of my eyes and watched as I scurried away like a helpless rat."

Navi explained his story with sincerity and a gently narrative in his voice. "There were four survivors left after the incident, after the great war, what was left of our tiny group dwindled even further. Some went insane, and others were killed while out on missions. I am the only member that made it through the experience unscathed, and I bear the scars of what happened. I am the only jewel left of the Yamaki.

Navi finished his story with another deep breath, trying to remain calm as finished recalling the memory. It was a painful story to tell, and Navi wondered if it was even worth telling her.

"What I'm trying to say is," Navi bit his bottom lip for a moment and said each word slowly: "I know what it's like, to be the only one of your kind."

She listened in growing horror as he told the tale of his clan’s demise. He had watched the death of his entire family and he had only been seven years old himself. Then he had been there to see the decline of the survivors, to see them go insane and die off slowly. But underneath her horror was shock. His voice was sincere his expression honest. He was telling her the truth and she could feel the slight hesitation in his voice.

He was trusting her with his story. Her, a total stranger, a ninja from another village a possible threat or enemy. He didn’t need to tell her his story, he could have left while she was trapped in the genjutsu. But he had stayed and released her.

“He’s like you” Hisoka murmured in the back of her mind and she agreed. He was like her, surrounded by people and yet still so alone. He understood her paranoia, her lack of trust, her loneliness. He understood like no one else in the village had. She sat up slowly, turning slightly to face him.

“Thank you,” she murmured, her voice as sincere as his had been, “thank you for telling me.”

“Don’t tell me you trust him now?” Hisoka growled his anger flowing through their bond.

“Not entirely, that kind of trust must be built” she replied coolly to him, “but.. But I think he is trustworthy.”