Tea Party in Hell [Solo]

Life as a genin was a lot more hectic than Satomi expected it to be along with a lot more responsibility suddenly stacked on his youthful shoulders—even if it was just completing mundane tasks about the village. He had thought a lot about what happened the day he accompanied a queensman on his patrol around Hoshigakure. What he witnessed and learned from that day had filled the young shinobi with an increased sense of pride in his village and in his service to it. Even the mundane, having learned the smallest act could make all the difference in a person's life.

Today would test resolve as he sprinted full bore, vaulting from one rooftop to the next. He barely had time to gather up his scrolls and practice material as, his studies at the archives interrupted by the sudden appearance from one of the village chuunin requesting that Satomi head to the city center for an urgent mission. A fire had broken out in one of the local currio shops and he was to meet with another village nin to contain the blaze and any assist villages that may still be trapped inside. His nerves were working over time as he attempted to cram in some last minute studying, peering up periodically to make sure his way was clear. Oh man, what am I going to do!? Satomi's anxiety began to evolve into panic. It's  not like I know any water jutsu. How am I suppose to help out out a fire? The scroll in his hands unraveled as fast as he ran, his eyes scanning the words that appeared as fast as his brain could absorb the knowledge they were trying to purvey.

His nose alerted him to the impending danger first as he lifted his gaze to look upon the fire flickering just above the building tops. He stopped dead as he reached the scene, nearly choking as he swallowed a hard gulp. Satomi's hands trembled as he rewound the scroll he'd been studying, having been exploring his affinity for the Earth element. “Maybe I could bore the fire out with jutsu knowledge.” He murmured to himself, his voice oozing with sarcasm as he approached the scene. At least his visits to The National Archives had been an immense source of information for him, the material on various jutsu and history was practically endless. Unfortunately Satomi hadn't yet put aside the time to practice the fruit of what he'd been studying.

To risk lives on an unproven jutsu was risky to say the least, but the fresh genin didn't have too many options. Satomi's hands came together in front of him, miming through the motions of a serious of hand seals. “Ram, Ox, Boar. Ram, Ox, Boar, Ram--” He repeated over and over to himself as he leapt from the roof tops to the street below, looking out for the other shinobi he was suppose to assist as he marched into the lair of the roaring beast blazing through the village market. “My first real foray into danger.”

The weakened structure of the building rumbled as a section of the roof collapsed into the blazing building, it was enough to send a shiver through Satomi as he approached the scene. He could imagine the fire a growling beast ready to do what was needed to survive and continue embolden itself through its consumption of the village market, the howl of failing iron and metal under the extreme heat only gave the flame a cry straight out of a horror film. His clothing had already began to grow damp from sweat, the heat reminded him of a certain jutsu he had been subjected to during a training session with Miyamoto—only this time the threat wasn't just in his head.

Time was of the essence as Satomi waded through the frantic stampede of terrified villages scrambling to escape the peril of the blaze. There was no sign of the other shinobi he was suppose to assist, then again it didn't help that he could see above the shoulder of most of the villagers. He had to do something though, it was dangerous enough without a mob of scared villagers running frantically through the village streets.

“Shadow Clone!” Suddenly Satomi was his own squad, three small shinobi huddling together one one another, arms over each other's shoulders as they whispered out the details of a plan to assure the safety of the villagers.

“Can we have code names?” One of the two clones chimed in, the smile on his face told the story of a boy who was totally pleased his own suggestion.

“What? Why!?”

“Code names... are cool?”

“There's a fire and you want to pick code names?”

“I agree!” The second clone piped up to settle the debate before things got any hotter than they already were.

“Thank y--”

“We should have code names, even if it's just to help us keep track of one another.” The real Satomi palmed his face, his fingers sliding down as he peered through them at his two doppelgangers. The second clone casting the deciding vote in favor of the first's call for code names.

“Fiiine~ You're Chicken!” Satomi nosed towards the clone to his left, the first. “And you'll be Beef.”

“What does that make you?”

“Satomi.”

“Waah? You can't be Satomi, that's not how code names work!”

“Fine...” Satomi growled. “I'll be--”

“Pork!”

“Huh!? Pork!?”

“Well you did do a lot of taste testing today, little porker~” The pair of clones teased their originator, both tugging their lower eyelid down while poking their tongues out in unison. Admitting defeat in an effort to speed things up as the the fire raged, the triplets hammered out the details of strategy before the broke for the huddle to tackle the burning task at hand. Satomi's clones pairing up to the frightened masses in the street as the real Satomi set off to see what he could do to stop the roaring inferno as it threatened the neighboring shops.

Hopping up onto over turned cabbage cart in the middle of the street, 'Beef' Satomi could be held bellowing out commands to the fleeing public with quite an impressive amount of authority in his voice as the clone known as 'Chicken' ran around like a cattle dog to direct the flow of panicky traffic from the ground. If it turned out that the shinobi life doesn't work out for the genin, then perhaps he'd have a nice career as a Queensman. Pork Satomi, the original and obviously the best of the three of them, meanwhile searched for a sufficient source of water he could use to combat the fire. However the only thing the boy had found was a hand operated ground pump and the old rusted watering can next to it.

Soon enough Satomi was in his own panic was on the rise and it was about to get a hole lot worse as a shrill cry for help emanated from the direction of the burning building, his eyes widened and pupils shrunk as he cast his alarmed gaze upon the blaze. His toes and fingers clenched as he swallowed hard. The owner of the voice couldn't have been much if not at all older than Satomi himself, the shinobi's knees knocking as he chewed on his inner cheek.

“Come on, Satomi, these people need you! You have to do something!” Satomi trembling subsided some, at least for the moment, after he delivered a much needed pep talk to himself. His quivering fingers met each other again as he brought his hands up in front of his again, unlike earlier his chakra was surging throughout his body as he tired to concentrate a large amount of it towards the ground. He may not have had water, but he had the next best thing: mud and dirt. The genin funneled his chakra down to the earth under his feet as he stared into the fire. Manipulating his the earth with his chakra had become almost second nature since Miyamoto had began training him and it began to show as small bubbles began to well up from the loose dirt of the village street, a viscous mixture of the natural moisture of the ground and the soil itself spreading around his feet.

“PLEASE HELP ME!” The bubbling suddenly stopped as the pleas tore Satomi out of his concentration. It was no good, the fire wasn't going to wait for him to work out the kinks of an untested jutsu. Taking another hard swallow, choking down his nerves, Satomi closed his eyes and made a bee line right for the the building. The two Satomi clones looking on nervously as they continued their own efforts, only the the rubbernecking gawkers left to contend with as they tried to shoo them out of the area.

“Do you want to be yakitori? Get a move on!” Chicken Satomi barked out, nudging a rather portly gentleman on his way.

“This isn't a show! Move it! Mooooove it!” Beef Satomi blared on high. Despite their rabid adherence to their assigned task and the commanding tone to their voice, the naturally melodic speaking pattern they inherited from the original Satomi certainly proved to be a challenge to get the stragglers to take them seriously.

Pork Satomi, the OG of the Satomi triplets, was burning up. Almost literally as the flames lapped at his skin. Rushing headlong into a burning building was as stupid as it could get, but what choice did he have? “Hello!? I'm here to help!” He shouted aimlessly before succumbing to a fit of coughing as the smoke filling the building began to fill his lungs. The smoke was thick and black, building a layer of soot on his sweat-dampened skin while. Besides being naturally obstructing his view of the area, he was forced to squint as the smoke stung his eyes. The young shinobi was nearly forced to crawl across the floor to try and save himself from greater exposure, his lungs clearing enough to allow for another call out to the survivor. “Hey! Are you there!?”

“Yes I am here. Please help!” The trapped child's voice penetrated the smoke and flames, Satomi doing his best to follow the sound to the source as he felt his skin being slowly roasted. Not even his his Genjutsu Release training could have prepared him for real, actual fire. The palm of his hands burned and blistered as he was forced to use them to crawl over smoldering debris his exchange with the fire's captive repeated until he finally reached the end of his search in the stock room of the market shop. Only when he arrived there was child, there wasn't anyone.

“What? Where are you!?” Satomi wheezed as scrambled to survey the room, his coughing growing thick with phlegm.

“I am here, help me.” The childishness to the voice began to fade, giving way to the more mature sounds of an adult woman as Satomi followed it to a stack of boxes on which sat the figure of a small child. Wiping his eyes with the heels of his hands, he managed to clear up his vision just enough to get a look at the individual.

“A doll!?” The fire had replaced Satomi's song-like voice with a hoarse, gravely one as he knelt in disbelief. He couldn't believe his eyes; certainly the fire was playing tricks on him. There was no way he just risked his life to save a doll. And an ugly doll at that as he examined the tattered clothing and disfigured face, the creepiest of big grins on what he could only assume might have been figure of an average little girl at one point. Even if it had been sitting in the fire, Satomi couldn't imagine the lack of eyes and, for lack of a better work, scaring covering the doll had been done by the flames.

“Oh no, sweetie. I'm not just a doll, but a demon.” The doll shifted its head to pierce Satomi's eyes with its own eyeless gaze, the change in perspective revealing a pair what appeared to be boar tusks crudely fixated to the doll's head to fabricate a pair of rather disturbing horns. The devilishly sweet and feminine voice echoed around him as if speaking from everywhere at once, the boy forgetting all about the fire for a moment as a chill ran up his spine.

Did th-that doll m-move? And is it talking to me!? Satomi was frozen as he locked eyes with the demonic doll as the two foot tall figure stood atop the crate on which it was perched, each movement looked like a struggle as the doll's limbs shuddered and body wobbled. What the heck is this things?

“It's a shame that they sent a child, I was hoping to have a more esteemed guest to my tea party.” Though the doll's face couldn't express it, there was definitely a pout in its voice as it admitted to its disappointment in the turn of events hurling an indistinguishable object through the air towards Satomi. The glint caught the boy's eye just in time for him to move his head to avoid it just whatever it was whizzed by and crashed on the wall behind him, the sound of shattering porcelain was a very familiar sound to a boy who grew up in a family owned restaurant. It was most certainly the sound of a a teacup. Just as he thought he was in the clear however he was suddenly struck in the back of the head, the thud accompanied by the same sound of shattering ceramic.

“Wahh! I was staring at you the whole time, you didn't even move!” Satomi reached back to rub the small lump on his head, feeling around for any open wounds. Fortunately there wasn't any noticeable bleeding, though such things may be subject to change as he caught another glint of light at of the corner of his eye. Forced to take his eyes off the doll to avoid yet another piece of the doll's tea set, he folded his head under his arms to shield himself as the cup thumped against his back and rolled off to the floor.

“I told you, child. I. Am. A. Demon.” When Satomi lifted his head the doll was gone, only its voice the only indication that it hadn't left. “I suppose you will have to do.” The voice sighed as the boy's demonic host resigned form its once seemingly perfect plan to have its fun with the child. “Welcome to my tea party in Hell!”

A witch's cackle rang through the stock room, almost masking the sound of cracking wood as a support beam overhead gave way to the fire to plummet towards the floor and an unaware Satomi. The falling piece of burning lumber parted the billowing cloud of smoke as it cut its way through, but it was too late by the time Satomi noticed the falling fragment of ceiling. There was enough time for him to clench his eyes shut and raise his arms to shield himself, surrendering himself to his fate. As a moment passed and then another, Satomi began to grow suspicious. Did he die? Did the beam miss him? He didn't hear it fall to the floor, but things sure were a lot hotter suddenly. Slowly opening his eyes, he fell back on his rear started by the large piece of kindling hovering inches from his face.

“Hey idiot! Move it, will you!?” Satomi's quipped at himself with an irritated huffiness as he stood beside himself, the fallen cross support braced by his arms above his head.

“Yeah! There's no roasted Pork on the menu today!” Another Satomi let out a raspy chuckle, but from the opposite side this time as he supported the charred beam with his own arms. If there was one thing Satomi appreciated it was a sense of drama, perhaps a result from one too many issues of his favorite comics. It seemed his shadow clones were didn't fall far from the tree as they stood triumphantly grinning over him, their body's trembling as they struggled with the weight of the former piece of building support as Satomi scurried back across the floor. Not a moment later the pair were forced to let the beam go and crash through the weakened floorboards below them.

“Oh-ho-ho! Wonderful! More guests!” The doll howled out as it revealed itself to the Satomi squad, its eyes now burned bright with a fire of their own as it stared down the genin and his copies. The group of shinobi coming under fire once more with a barrage of teacups! Much to his horror; one of the clones struck in the head by a hefty cast-iron teapot, the blow fatal to the doppelganger as he was promptly dismissed from existence in a puff of smoke. “Just a clone? Oh poo.” The doll's seemed less than impressed as Satomi and the remaining clone did their best to avoid the shower of various teaware, the doll again disappearing into the smoke.

Satomi used his feet to shove the fallen beam away enough for him to get a hold on the edge of a broken floorboard, giving it a hefty tug to rip it right up before repeating the process several times to reveal the earth under the building. “Keep a look out for that doll! It's the key to what happened here!” Even in context those words felt seriously silly for Satomi to have to say. “I'm going to do something about this fire.”

“Right, boss!” The shadow clone saluted as his eyes narrowed and grew vigilant. Meanwhile Satomi fought his churning stomach and fits of coughing to summon his chakra again. If there was any time for a jutsu miracle, now was certainly it as he pooled his natural energy into the freshly exposed ground under the shop floor just like he had done outside earlier. Again like before the ground began to bubble like a small spring rising from the earth, mud trickling slowly to the surface. Satomi stood up as he applied more chakra to his technique, the mud having risen enough to hide his soles.

“What's this? What are you doing?” The doll reappeared behind the pair, Satomi's shadow clone spinning around just in time to intercept yet another tea cup.

“Come on! Is that all you've got!” The shadow clone growled, squaring off with the doll. The demonic doll of course more than happy to oblige, hurling another teapot barreling for the clone. This time however it wouldn't have a chance to hit its mark as the duplicate Satomi clapped his hands and placed them to the floor to produce a short pillar of dirt and stone before himself, the cast-iron pot clashing with a dulled thud against the earthen wall. Using the distraction to outflank the demon troublemaker, the shadow clone pounced at the doll in an attempt to subdue the entity and prevent it from continuing the poor excuse for a tea party only for his effort to be in vain as the doll once again vanished into the smoke with a patronizing cackle.

“Oh no, no, no! It's not that easy, little girl!” Satomi gritted his teeth, even this creepy dolly couldn't get it right as it appeared right in front of Satomi this time in a bold statement as to its growing confidence. Its static grin would be burned into his brain for some time if turned out he survived this, a big if as yet another twinkle of light caught his gaze. This time it was different as the doll raised an arm to reveal that the entire length of its right forearm was just one long six-inch blade!

The genin yelped as the steel nicked his upper arm, hissing through his teeth as the laceration immediately began to sting. His pained cries alerting his shadow clone to his plight, the clone rushing to his aid only once again to arrive to the doll fading away to a unhallowed cackle. “Dammit!” The clone grumbled, seething as he turned to tend to Satomi's fresh wound as the genin doubled down on his concentration. The hiss and pop of fires being extinguished along the floor grew as the pair stood ankle-deep in mud. Satomi hadn't just been playing in the mud however, no, with the help of his shadow clone he had been studying the doll and its movements. Ever since he was struck in the back of the head did he have his suspicions as to just what the doll truly was. Satomi had heard that there were shinobi who were quite skilled in puppetry and were quite adept at using them for combat and he didn't know why, but for whatever reason, it appeared as if he was dealing with someone with a very similar set of skills.

“I don't know-- where you're hiding, but-- but you won't be for long!” Satomi managed to snarl between nausea-inducing bouts of coughing. Almost as if on cue the little doll, or puppet rather, appeared once again.

“Oh, but I am right here!” The snide tone was almost as irritating to Satomi as the entire situation as he worked to bide his time, trying to work his chakra into the mud surrounding him while his clone seemed to act on his whim to attempt and attack the puppet again. This time however it wasn't the one to disappear, instead Satomi watched as his last clone was unceremoniously dismissed in his carelessness with a violent thrust of a blade through the heart. The look of confusion and dismay on the clone's face could have had just as easily been Satomi's own as he watched on helplessly as the clone too erupted in a puff of smoke.

“Oh, but I'm talking about the real you!” Satomi produced a cackle of his own, albeit one that sounded more like a croaking toad with a thirty year addiction to smoking. “I'm onto you and your puppet.” He just needed to keep the puppeteer talking little longer to give him the time he needed to summon all the chakra he could as the mud began to swirl around his ankles, the genin could feel himself gaining control over the muck.

“Shame on you, you're taking all the fun out of it.” The previous theatrics and hammy tone of the puppeteer's voice was ditched for a more serious tone as a second doll appeared next to the first, completely identical to the first. “No matter, my dollies will finish you before you can find me.”

Satomi might as well had been standing in hot water as he stared death in the face, the fact that it was a pair of ugly dolls was slightly disappointing however. His determination was something to be admired however as he matched the dolls' grin with a gap-toothed grin of his own. “I... don't... need to see you-- to hit you.” Satomi's voice shined a little of  its songbird timbre, though at the cost of sounding quite disgusting at first as he cleared his throat. “I bet you were so busy throwing your little party you didn't even notice the mud that had been rising around your feet.” Satomi promptly lifted his arms and hands and with it the pool of mud from the floor, fully in control of their motion he worked the murky river of mud into a frenzy whipping it around around the room like a violent earthen sea. The genin indiscriminately slinging mud to coat every inch of the stock room in thick later of the dredged soil while trapping both puppets and their master in the turbulence. The rushing mud would eventually spill out into the rest of the store in an effort to contain the fire further before spilling out the front of the building and into the street much to the gawking public's shock, leaving the the curio shop to simply simmer as Satomi finished business.

“Ugh! Disgusting!” A less than dignified voice alerted Satomi to a moving lump drenched in mud. His steps were as heavy as his breathing as he approached the lump as it sat up to reveal a young woman. The mud made it hard to decipher her full appearance, but she couldn't have been much older than her mid twenties, and from what Satomi could tell, she was wearing a quite elegant kimono. “Y-You brat! Tea is through, I-I'm just going to KILL you! You hear me, I'm going to kill y--”

The tea maiden's rant was cut short with a swift kick across the face from Satomi before he flopped onto his rear exhausted. “I'll make sure you get the help you need.” The boy let out a sympathetic sigh as the smoke began to clear, faint voices calling out into the building. Typical; now help arrives. Satomi groaned as he fell back, staring at the ceiling as a team of senior Hoshi shinobi stormed in to secure the building. A large sheepish grin crossed the genin's face just before he'd succumb to his afflictions, another mission completed.

It wouldn't be until hours later that Satomi would wake up in the starchy white linen of a hospital bed with a familiar voice to greet him. “A'yo Soto, sweetheart. Glad ta see ya awake.” Satomi's father sat at his bed side, looking quite disheveled, it was obvious that the gentleman had come straight from the restaurant and had been there at bedside the whole time. “Ya gave us all a bit of a worry for a moment, some of the villagers said you were in there for quite a while.”

“Uh, yeah--” Satomi gave a nervous chuckle. “What about the woman? I should give my report, she needs help.”

“The proper authorities have been notified of what ya've done, but for now the doctah says it's bed rest for you for the time being.”

“Fiiiine~”

Approved.