With Great Power... (P)

Haru sat at the desk in the still partially destroyed Mizukage office, his head in his hands, sighing deeply. Bureaucracy was slowly killing him. While he knew his job was important, a big part of him longed for the days when he was in the field, seeing action almost daily. It felt like it was only yesterday... Of course, it WAS only yesterday... 

He was waiting for what he considered a temporary relief from his paperwork. That came in the form of the boy he had sent for, a rather interesting prospect for him, one he had even considered training while he was still an ANBU, had he the time. Unfortunately, The First had busied him with other affairs. 

Still, Haru wanted to address boy directly about his particular... Condition. He didn't inherently distrust the boy, but he needed to make sure that his power was under control. It was a powerful thing, what Mitako had, and he didn't know all that much of the boy at all.

Twas another misty day that Kirigakure’s singular single tailed jinchuriki was strolling leisurely down the streets towards “Haru’s” office, dressed in nothing but a black pair of pants that were a bit tattered around the feet. Of course, I would tell you he’s wearing his shoulder length black hair and golden eyes, but those are o’ natural. Either way, his shirtless body would stride through the mists, showing off every bit of the major gains that weren’t so major. He wasn’t awfully scrawny, but. Whatever, it was misty out.

Oh and what was Kirigakure if it wasn’t so misty? It’d be a fucking island. With sun and all that. Maybe a few Hawaiians Hula Dancing on the beach, and some tourists. But nah, the powers that be said to hell with all that, casting an everlasting thick fog over the little mass of land and its inhabitants. None had really tried to escape as far as he could tell due to that storm barrier, but on the winds he had heard whispers of the wish.

Speaking of whispers, from what the winds told him, and the sands said to him, hell even the lamp on the table told him that Xyxer had stepped down from the Mizukage seat. It wasn’t something he had to confirm, and for all he knew, this “Haru” could be a sick joke, He’d find out soon enough, as the sky had told him to go to the office of said person… He put his finger to his chin as he stood just outside of the building for a moment. There were more inanimate objects in that list than usual, and it may just be time to get his head examined.

Placing his hands at his side, he walked through the doors and into the building. Seeing as the doors were no match for his strength, his arms would be unnecessary in opening them. This behavior stems from an overused joke from his days in Tengakure.

From there, he would make his way to the office where he would then walk through another do-

No. The door was already gone. “Curious.”, he’d think out loud. Taking a step in, he merely made awkwardly uncomfortable eye to eye contact with Haru. No words, as for a few seconds, he would judge and confirm that this new Mizukage was no illusion or hallucination. Come to think of it, how did he know that Xyxer wasn’t a figment of his imagination, and that he wasn’t the Mizukage himself? Either way, he’d rather not test that, as the last time he took any test handed to him by Xyxer he wound up getting his arms lopped off by a fellow genin, and he’d rather not go through the recovery process again.

“Hmmm. Lemme do the talking, repeat after me,” he heard from within his head after a few seconds.

He knew the voice, it was the beast within. Finally coming around to ol’ Sandy Man ey? ‘Bout time.

“Hello,”

“Hello.” He would wait for Haru’s reply.

The sound of the boy speaking caused the Mizukage to stir, glancing up at Mitako.
"It's a long story." He said, waving his hand. "Come in." He said. Haru studied the boy's expression and mannerisms, noting the awkward eye contact he made with Haru. Discomfort? Or distrust? He'd had worse reactions from his ninja, to say the least. The boy greeted Haru simply, and Haru responded in kind.

"Hello, Mitako. I assume you know why I've summoned you." Haru told him. "...Or at least, you think you do." He thought to himself. He'd let the boy begin to speak before he continued. Really, he was trying to learn more about his subordinate, to see just what kind of person Mitako was.

"Hmmmmmm"

"Hmmmmmm," Mitako parroted. It was at this point, that his attention was drawn away from the bijuu however. Haru was not speaking to the bijuu, but to the boy instead. In a flat tone, he'd blurt out, "I can't say that I know why you've called me in here." It wasn't instant, but he could almost feel foreign chakra waning within his body once again, giving him a bit more of a cleared mind. "Or I can't think of anything I've done in the past couple of months that would warrant a visit to the Mizukage's office."

Was this punishment? Could this be an offer? As usual, he was totally clueless. With this beast clouding his thoughts, he would probably remain that way. To himself, he thought "I've been warned before that people would kill me over this power. If this happens to be one of those cases..." Without actually thinking it out, he was aware that his equipment was at home, and that he would fully be relying on the cloak to defend himself. That probably wouldn't be necessary though. His body language would remain the same as it was however, despite the coming fight or flight thoughts.

Who knows? The Mizukage might not want him for anything bad at all.

He wondered if Mitako truly had no idea, or was merely playing dumb. The boy continued to speak, insisting he hadn't done anything to warrant a visit to the Mizukage's office. It appeared that the boy though he was in trouble. However, spoke just a little too fast, as if he he was prepared with the response. Haru looked down to his paper and wrote for a moment, still speaking to Mitako.
"No, no, no, you're not here because you're in trouble. You can relax." Haru would say, looking up from the paper. "Rather... I have a task for you." Haru informed the boy, sitting back in his chair. "Something someone like you will probably be able to do fairly easily."

He would turn in his seat, towards the window, pointing out to where the monument to the mizukage had once stood. "When I look out my window at what's left of that statue, all I see is a blot, an annoying reminder of a man who betrayed Kirigakure" He explained. "I'd like you to remove it. Completely."

Mitako's gaze would drift to the view just outside of the glass. This seemed a fairly simple task, so why him? "Let it be done." If nothing else was said, the chuunin would take his leave and set about completing his menial task by leaving the office and making his way to the statue. For a moment, he would stand and take in the final sights of a monument erected to a man who struck fear into the hearts of those below him. With his mind clearing itself of any real thoughts, he set about placing explosive tags on and around the statue on the ground, before returning to his original position. 

Clenching his fists, he closed his eyes to focus on gathering chakra. Once he had gathered a significant amount, he would bring his hands together, relaxing the fingers so that he could form the boar and tiger hand seals. Below the center of the base of the statue, in the soft earth, a swamp would begin to form that would suck everything above down into its depths. This would be followed by the loud, but dull thump of an explosion from within the muddy earth. Once complete, the earth would re-solidify into a mostly flat chunk of land. 

Man this post sucks. The boy would then return to the office to see if the Mizukage needed anything else.

Haru watched the boy attentively as he left to go to work. From his office, Haru watched the boy preparing explosive tags on what was left of Xyxer. A little disappointing, Haru had expected something flashier, but he didn't blame the boy. What he expected would have taken a lot of chakra, and frankly, it was a bit too much. 

As the boy prepared the explosion, Haru would sit up from his desk, pushing up the window and hopping out, likely unnoticed by Mitako. He'd approach the boy as the statue exploded inside the swamp he created. He'd wait there for a moment in silence, shrugging before clapping slowly.
"Not quite what I had in mind, but it'll do." Haru told the boy. "Now, I have one last request. After this, you're free to go." He continued, stepping forward more. There was now 10 meters between them. "I'd like to see just how powerful you are, Mitako. I want you to attack me with everything you have. Don't worry about hurting me."

With everything he had? An order to attack the person giving the order with no restraint? Twas a shame then, that most of his weaponry and armor was at home. With only one piece of his arsenal readily available to employ at any given moment, he would have to make due with that alongside what little knowledge he had in ninjutsu and genjutsu. Gripping his fists, he narrowed his eyes as he scanned the Mizukage’s form. 

With the title, Mitako assumed his target was powerful but he knew not to what extent. His own fighting experience was very little, limited to spars with peers of his own and lower rank, and the beasts that he had fought during his time spent on missions. In his eyes, all of those opponents combined couldn’t hope to add up to the one before him know, and thus, he was somewhat stumped as to how he should go about starting this.

Before he would do anything else, he first focused his chakra while bringing his hands together to form the clone handseal. At the same time this clone poofed into existence.

Strafing to the right, he maintained his distance from Haru, while keeping his body focused towards the man. His clone mirrored his actions and went to the left, moving out of the original’s path so they could pass each other. For most people, they would be forced to keep their eyes on only one of these beings as they began to circle around. They would do so until they were on either side of Haru, or until he had reacted.

The shadow clone would clap his hands together before thrusting both palms to the ground. The earth below Haru, in a five meter by five meter square centered directly under him, would then begin to sink lower into the ground until it hit a depth of ten meters.

As the clone clapped, Mitako himself would summon his blade to his hand, before attempting to continue strafing while closing the distance. He held his blade horizontally in front of his chest, with the handle in his right hand, and the the flat of the blade resting in the open palm of his left.

[368 WC
Mitako's AP: 211 - 50 = 161
- 20 Summoning (Third weapon ability)
- 30 Shadow Clone
Clone's AP: 211 - 10 = 201
- 10 Moving Earth Core (20 Speed/Power)

Haru watched the boy mentally prepare, gripping his fists and looking around them. He wondered if the boy had ever been in a serious combat situation before. If not, this would be interesting. As far as he knew, the greatest test Mitako had received was his chunin exams, during which, exhaustion was ultimately what defeated him. Perhaps the boy had learned his lesson.

As Mitako formed the clone, Haru instinctively activated his byakugan eyes, a sense of satisfaction filling him as he finally had both eyes up and active once more. It felt empowering. It felt right. Just as things were once, long ago. Haru's range of vision would increase, allowing him to track both of the clones before him, still not moving from where he stood as he watched them intently. 

Nintaijutsu appeared to be Mitako's preferred fighting style, as the sword was conjured into his hand, Haru sighed. He hated fighting swordsmen. The reach was annoying, but nothing he hadn't dealt with before. The clone smacked its hands into the ground, causing Haru's form to sink downwards into the earth. A platform of sorts, it seemed. Whatever Mitako was setting up, Haru decided it was time to take action. His body would sink quickly into the ground, the earth around him loosening to permit his entry. Haru would sink below the platform Mitako created, his byakugan allowing him perfect vision as he sunk deeper and deeper into the earth. From there, he made a tiger seal, followed by the seal of the snake, holding the seal as his technique began to take effect. 

Trees would sprout from the ground, forming around the clone, reaching up and engulfing it. If the clone was successfully surrounded by the trees, they would move in quickly, crushing the clone and dissipating it. At the same time, trees would form around Mitako, who was still moving, to form a wall, roughly 5 meters high, on any side. If trapped, roots would begin to grab at Mitako's legs, attempting to pull him to the ground.

-1 AP Byakugan
-20 AP Hiding like a Mole
-50 Nativity of a World of Trees

As Haru had sunk into the earth, Mitako continued along his path with a slight change in his course. Picking up his pace so that he could move at full speed, he began to sense the area for the Mizukage’s chakra, so as to not be caught unaware should he come back above ground any time soon. Suddenly, and to his surprise, he could feel a source of chakra coming from the ground below in an area that extended roughly three meters out from him on any side. About the time he reached the “wall”, the trees were roughly waist high (and growing about as fast as he was running)  with a meter and a half gap between them. Seeing as he was facing the the platform his clone had created, his body would already be oriented  in a way that he wouldn’t have to turn to squeeze through the gap created by the trees. 

After making his way out of the trees, (since the roots only started to act once fully formed and if he had been trapped,) he would continue running at full speed, however he changed his course so that he’d be running at the Mizukage’s location. If he could even get close enough, he’d take care to avoid getting within three meters however to prevent the man from popping up behind or too close to him. 

As the platform began to descend into the ground, the shadow clone kept his hands pressed down until he sensed chakra forming below him. As he was already crouched down, he attempted to make use of his position by leaping thirty meters into the air, and just as the tips of the trees had broke the surface of the ground. The clone knew that jumping would most likely lead to his death, however finding out the reach these trees had could prove useful to the original. As he trailed off into the sky, some of the sand on the ground would accompany him, forming a small platform which he could catch his footing on just as he reached the apex of his leap.

[1679 total WC
Jump speed is 70, sand speed is 60.]