Sitting on the Rock

It was after a long day that she found herself sitting atop the Hokage monument looking for some form of internal peace. Her steely grey eyes scanned the horizon of the village from atop this perch, focusing in on the odd detail here and there. Her raven hair was once again cut to its former shoulder length glory and she was adorned in a simple get up similar to that of the village Jounin. Her armor layed over the black pants and shirt, her sleeves remained rolled up, but no mask adorned her neck or head. In fact she hadn't received one quite yet. In place of a headband she had a smaller wrap around her bicep, and the emblem of the leaf printed onto the back of her armor in ornate details. It was in this manner, after a day of training, that she decided to meditate.

In her line of work, operating in terms of black and white often meant that choices made could be justified in a clear, concise, and simple manner. It helped to remove some sense of morality from her actions, such as having to make a split second decision to kill. Lately, since the woman had come back to the world of the living, she found herself questioning her history more and more. Some obscure noise in the night could send her through a fit of panic. It seemed as if her edge had been lost to the months that passed.

Further, these thoughts oft came with the nagging sensation that, mayhaps returning to her line of work wasn't worth pursuing. At the ripe age of 23, retirement was an option maybe worth taking. Even if some new threat came knocking down the forest would she be able to stop it? She peaked as a jounin in her career, at least in her mind. First hand she had experienced the power of those deemed worthy to lead a village at least three times throughout her life. Jason, Kurisu, and Xyxer were three individuals whose strengths she recognized in some way to be far greater than her own. However at no point did she ever believe herself worthy of being Hokage, and it made her more confused as to why the conquering Mizukage handed her the title.

The only logical reason that came to mind was that she had a great deal of her peer's respect prior to the take over. Another that became prevalent after some thought was that Xyxer saw courage in pretending to be the leader to protect the leader. Even still what happened to Ayumi was a mystery, and her stint as Hokage was brief but respected.

Now she really had no one to turn to for guidance except Xyxer, but Risako was unsure he would be positive of her plea. The thought of confiding in Kinzoku appeared promising, but in some ways she still viewed the cowboy as an underling. It was weird to call him leader and in some way she may have been clinging to her frantic xenophobia from the past.

It felt wrong thinking of the Hokage as an underling, nor was it something she meant as disrespect. It would be similar to working a job, only for a new guy to arrive and within a week become your manager.

She thought of the events leading her to this point and none of them played out in a satisfactory manner of one who was once called the Hokage. Her early career had certainly seen more success than anything she had done of late. A portion of people closer to her had passed or disappeared, at this point she was unsure of which.

Mako came to mind in this time. His sword rested upon its mantle within her home, and she longed for its company as it was his legacy, so in some capacity allowed him to live on through its edge. She thought to retrieve it, but deemed it an unnecessary trip. Instead she remained seated upon the top of the Hokage rock, wondering how far up she was.

[627 WC
Open topic]

Yoi had been working hard over the past few days. It was less of actual physical work, and more mentally draining. He had been configuring a system where he could set up multiple pillars, forming a barrier of cold to protect Konoha. He had another plan in mind. It was a set of bracers that would let him bring his Ice Release skill to a whole other level.

The white haired Yuki pushed back his chair from his desk. He had various sketches and prototypes scattered across his desk. None of them were good at channeling his Ice Release chakra. He had tried things ranging from plastic, to metal, to wood. He had tried volcanic rock, coral, granite, and various other materials. Even chakra sensitive steel. None of it had the results he wanted.

Well, he could save it for another day. He needed to do something physical. Yoi jumped out his window, onto the rooftop across the street. He was wearing a light blue shirt, white pants, dark blue sandals, and a navy blue scarf with the Yuki symbol stitched onto it. The Yuki headed to the training grounds.

As he arrived, he saw someone sitting atop the Hokage faces. It was rare to see someone up there. He didn't know why, but not many people seemed to go up there, but maybe it was out of respect. Yoi never had a thing for formalities. The Hokage was just a person like everyone else. Yoi quickly scaled the cliff face, standing a meter to the right of this person. The Yuki said, "Hello. How are you doing?"


WC: 268

Her eyes had been scanning the village for a while now. Whatever proof she needed to gather was decaying with every hour she waited. Some part of her feared it might be too late, even. Risako brushed these notions aside, there could be no room for doubt if she was to carry out her goal. For the first time in her career, even if this was a "fresh" start, something was different. It felt as if every breath taken had some purpose to it. Being alone when not in public made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end, as if some spectre was hunting her down.

Someone was approaching by scaling the cliffside. Perhaps they were wanting to find a place to relax as she did. Before they could arrive she brushed away some of the dust from her clothes, which she finished just as a young man with white hair rounded the edge of the cliff. Her hand moved to brush raven locks of hair from her face as the stranger asked how she was. For now her intuition said to assume he was a genin from the leaf, but his attire had no indication of such. Not many civilians would be able to scale the cliff so quickly.

Her expression was rather blank, with a feigned smile. "I could be doing much worse." If the lad wouldn't continue the conversation further, Risako would take it upon herself to do so. "I don't believe we've met," she said, "I'm Risako."

[884 TWC]

"Couldn't we all."


"It's nice to meet you Risako, I'm Yoi (ooc note: pronounced "yo-e", not "yoy"). What are you doing up here on such a nice day?"


Yoi definetly didn't recall meeting a person by the name of "Risako" in the past. Well, it was good to see a new face around here. The person he was conversing with seemed to be in her early 20's. As he dug a little deeper into his memory, he recalled something about the name. It was a nagging suspicion. She seemed to be wearing armor, but no headband. 

WC: 96
TWC: 364

The boy carried the conversation forward one leg at a time. "I'm waiting on more orders I suppose," she said in reply to his question. Her business was of a nature that couldn't be confided in him quite yet. Yoi was a name unfamiliar to her, so she assumed he was one of the new genin of the village. "Honestly, if I have to wait much longer I'm going to quit wasting time and start issuing orders." She continued sitting cross legged, with one hand resting in her lap, while the other supported her weight behind her.

That said, she wondered what he was doing here. Obviously he was checking who was on top of the rock, but she would ask anyway. "What brings you up here?"

[1,012 TWC]

"Issuing orders? Dang, you must be high up then. I'm still trying to work my way up the system. As of now though, I'm a Genin trying to pick up a few techniques so I can be ready for the Chunnin Exams."


Yoi had a few in mind. Specifically Body Flicker, Genjutsu Release, and maybe even how to sense people's chakra.

[claiming teaching of Genjutsu Release, Body Flicker, and Chakra Sensory]

WC: 61
TWC: 325

His initial comment was met with a momentary blank stare. So used to being recognized on sight due to her previous position, the statement left her with momentary surprise. "I never got to participate in the Chuunin exams." She said to continue the conversation. Surely she hadn't been completely forgotten by those around her, or had her appearance changed so much in the past year? Risako wasn't sure.

"I did participate in the Jounin exams. Real risky business, I got placed against some kid named Samuru." Little was known about Samuru, save that he was of Viper's lineage. Looking back on the event now made things a lot more clear for her, as he was using Flying Thunder God or some variant of the technique. It was no wonder that she found herself at his mercy relatively quickly, since the best she could muster was a fireball. "He was one of the previous Hokage's children, and he seemed powerful. It made sense that he was promoted." She stood up and stretched, "If the exams are a battle like they usually are, be ready to do something underhanded to secure victory."

For some reason she was already rooting for this boy, and so she'd help him if at all possible. From the inside of her jacket she retrieved a small, spiral bound notebook with no discernible title. Quickly, she thumbed through its contents just in case anything needed to be redacted, and upon deciding that the contents contained no traces of sensitive info, she prepared her parting words to the boy. "Take this, it's a notebook I kept until I hit Chuunin." Her hand reached the book out to him, "It has notes on how to perform certain techniques that you might find useful. Just return it to the address listed on the front page once you're done studying it. I'll be heading off to issue those orders I was talking about."

After that was all said and done, as long as he had no other major points of conversation, she'd part ways and head on down to find Ita, or Jason somewhere in the village.

[1,367 TWC
Giving Yoi possession over information regarding Risako's time spent as a genin, and the techs he's listed as learning, the info for which will be covered in the book.
Claiming 6 stats
Claiming 1,367 WC towards this once it is approved.
Potential exit]

"Well, I have to thank you for this. I really appreciate this, and I'll make sure to return this. It was nice seeing you."

It was only later in the day, that Yoi realized that Risako had been the Hokage. Why had he not realized this. After reading over the book and gaining the information he needed from it, he brought it back to the address. It was quite an interesting story. Of course, it was true. If only more people could know of this.

WC: 85
TWC: 410

Claiming:
2 stats (2 stamina, bringing me to 21 stamina)
250 wc to Genjutsu Release w/ mastery for no handseals/less AP
160 wc to Body Flicker (160/250)

Both approved