Upon the Edge of Haven

It was a misty morning in Hoshigakure. The sun had not yet crested over the horizon. Early birds were chirping in the trees, lanterns still illuminated the streets. In the lower chambers of a moss covered castle, at least one ninja stirred. Kuniko lied awake in his bed in the early hours of the morning. The old castle which served as the Hyuuga compound had every accommodation, except electrical heating. The cold, stone floor was uninviting, so the young shinobi decided to rest a while longer than usual. All of his medical training was very taxing; rest seemed like a natural escape. 

Before sleep could take him again, a knock came at the door. Without waiting for a reply, the messenger entered. After all, Kuniko was only a lesser branch member of the Hyuuga Clan. If he was called upon to assist anyone, the call would not wait on his leisure. The messenger walked to the foot of the ninja's bed, gave a curt bow, handed over a tiny scroll, and then left. Kuniko looked at the small message that was addressed to him and unraveled it. The scroll, likely sent by bird, required Kuniko's presence at the Village Gates in an hour for a mission. 

This was unexpected, but provided the energy necessary for the young Hyuuga to begin his morning rituals. Kuniko leaped out of bed and ran off to the bathhouse. After cleaning himself up, he put on his freshly pressed field hakama while straightening out his long hair with a comb. The muted purple and black cloth had begun to dominate Kuniko's image. He thought that it would soon be time for a change. But for now he made sure there were no wrinkles in his clothes and head out for breakfast. 

After eating, Kuniko took up his usual place atop the castle battlements, sitting cross-legged and meditating over the view of the village. Though he normally did this for 30 minutes, he would have to cut that time in half if he were to make it to the meeting place on time. While meditating in the cool morning air, he saw the horizon beginning to glow a warm pinkish color. Soon a dash of orange began to crest on the low hanging clouds. The mist hanging over the village began to thin just slightly. 

There was a more than a few things the ninja had his mind on that morning. His comrades, Takeshi and Sakuragi, and his place among them; Tsubaki Senju, his medical instructor; Master Ayato, the prince who he was sworn to protect with his own life; the shinobi he had known and lost along his journey to Hoshigakure. Too much to think about in such short a time. Kuniko shook his head and sighed, then stood up and walked down along the walls of the castle before heading off to the village gates. The road was still misty even as the sky began to lighten. 

Before Kuniko reached his destination he looked at his reflection in a store window to make some last minute adjustments to his hair. He had quite the awkward encounter with Tsubaki when she had noticed the Hyuuga Curse Mark upon his forehead. He could have easily hidden it with his Hoshi headband, but it wasn't his style to wear it anywhere but around his arm, as he did today, or from his hip. The young man quickly adjusted his long bangs to cover the mark, and then proceeded to the village gates. 

Kuniko could spot others waiting at the gate as he approached. He silently cursed himself for arriving late once again and approached them with calm, measured steps. 

WC: 615

Takeshi woke up at 4 am, his usual time, far before the sun was close to the horizon. Takeshi rolled out of bed and he began to stretch out his body. He cracked the joints in his back and his neck before slipping off into the bathroom to carry out his usual routines. Once Takeshi had felt comfortable with his routine being thoroughly finished, he grabbed his combat clothes and threw them on. Prior to leaving his bedroom, he pulled out every single blade that he had tucked away in his weapon's pouch. After inspecting the sharpness and health of each of his blades, he set them back into the pouch and he checked himself in the mirror for any last minute adjustments. Once done with adjusting, he was ready to head out into the kitchen to carry out his favorite aspect of getting ready, eating breakfast.

This morning Takeshi had all the ingredients to make his Tamago Kake Gohan, which was an absolute favorite. Once he prepared his breakfast, he read a couple of books he had checked out of the library in town. Takeshi had taken a huge liking into the art of the Sage and had been reading about it religiously for weeks. He had been reading about all kinds of different sages that had been known from recent and ancient history. The thought of having such a bond with wondrous creatures that they would be willing to come into battle to protect you and fight alongside you was astounding to Takeshi and he couldn't wait until he could learn even more about the art form. The other book he was reading was about all kinds of different animals that lived in the world, he continued imagining how amazing it'd be to be able to call upon an animal, and they would come through a scroll to take up arms in battle. After Takeshi was finished day dreaming about the Sage art form, he realized that he had finished his breakfast and was drooling over the idea with an empty spoon in his mouth. Takeshi pulled the spoon out of his mouth and set all of the dishes in the kitchen sink, then washed them. Once everything was put away, Takeshi headed over to the front door, grabbed his backpack, glanced at the sign next to his door. "Prove her wrong." Takeshi looked at the still blood stained rug in the middle of the living room floor, gripped onto his backpack straps tighter, and headed out the front door.

By this time, the sun had still not come up to greet the village with it's awesome light. Because of this, Takeshi used the convenience of the street lights to guide his way over to the training grounds. It was when he was on the way to the training grounds that he was intercepted by a young man, looked to be of a higher rank than Takeshi, flagging him down. Takeshi stopped walking and looked at the man who was stopping Takeshi from getting to the training grounds, as he was given a scroll. Takeshi thanked the man and opened up the scroll. As he read through the scroll, his excitement grew. "This is a mission given directly to me!" He could hardly believe that he was someone that was thought of to actually go on a mission specifically. Takeshi rolled the scroll back up and immediately headed over to the village gates, which is where the scroll had notified Takeshi to meet the rest of the team at. The meeting time was still not for a little while, but there was no way he was going to be able to get any training in while he was far too excited to be going on another mission. Especially one that was directly given to him.

As Takeshi arrived at the Village gates, he saw that no one had arrived just yet, at least none that he saw. So Takeshi took this as an opportunity to continue to stretch his body and mentally prepare himself for what was to come, if there was any way that he could do that completely, and wait for the rest of the team to arrive.

WC: 702

The birds in the trees chirped to the darkened village as the sun hadn't awakened yet from its daily slumber. The hustle and bustle of the city hadn't started yet. The breeze slipped through the village, undisturbed. The village hadn't awakened yet but still, Tsubaki was. She was creating a tea for herself in the centre of her living space. She had some herbs in the mix to add to some healing, she swirled the bits of leaves and roots into her darkened tea. She was only lit by candlelight. 

The Senju was enjoying her time with the tranquillity of her surroundings until a small letter slipped from underneath her door frame. Tsubaki knew that inside the contents was a mission for her to do. With a groan, Tsubaki got up from sitting, leaving her tea behind. Bending down, the chunin picked it up and opened to seal that made it stay shut. Unfolding the letter, she found that her knowledge served her right and it was a mission. It was to be done at the borders. Apparently, the Jaw of Grim, a popular bandit group on the border of Hosh that was notorious for trouble, had taken a small outpost. Normally, this would be a simple issue, however, it seemed that a Queensmen, 2 chunin and a jonin have been missing after trying to take out the small group. Tsubaki was impressed by the feat but it also made her worry that this mission would end with her demise. The Senju took a deep breath, and let the letter fall to the floor. She had an hour to get ready and then meet at the gates. 

Tsubaki would change into a black crop top with a forest green leather jacket. She would wear it with some black combat pants and boots to match. The mission was going to be stealth so Tsubaki would need to wear something more hidden. 

On the way over to the gates about a half an hour later, Tsubaki would look over the list of people that were joining her on the mission. Three of them were a genin, two of which she recognized. Kuniko and Sakuragi Hyuuga. She seemed a bit puzzled on why they were both going on this mission if what clearly able to be a challenge for higher up shinobi. And if it was for their dojutsu, it was still a mystery on why the mission needed three. The others were names she didn't recognize either but both of them were higher ranking than Tsu. So at least there was a positive.

She was second to last to arrive at the gates, not seeing Kuniko yet. "Good morning, everyone." She would say with an almost sarcastic tone as it wasn't going to be a good morning. Kuniko would finally arrive at the gate with everyone else after her entrance.

WC: 480

Another all nighter with no rest.
It hadn’t been long since the Jinchūriki of the Gobi had returned home from her trip from the sandy lands of Sunagakure. After helping the Ragdoll defend the former village hidden in the sand from the joint forces of Kirigakure and Konhagakure, Hikari had been going non-stop on mission after mission trying to clear out the mission board that had been completely filled up during the blonde’s departure. Seriously, what had Hanji been doing during her absence? She knew that the village had to have been in a state of panic since Valen’s betrayal. But still, keeping a steady income to fund the village should have been the number one job of the Hogokage at the time. However, Hoshigakure was still in a bad place financially. The government was pretty much completely being ran on the funds that had been confiscated from the Lady of Light during her imprisonment. It needed its shinobi to be out on missions, it needed to be working, and that was exactly what the blonde was doing. This would have been Hikari’s 6th assignment she would have completed in a row, something that the average human would not have the reserves to accomplish. It was only thanks to the insane chakra pool of the Gobi that Hikari was able to keep going.


It was early in the morning as the Alpha would make teleport from the far north of Haven to the gates of Hoshigakure. She wasn’t wearing her normal undercover alpha Uniform. On the contrary, the woman was sporting her manipulated fabric, fashioned in the manner that it would wrap around her body to appear like they were in the shape of black combat fatigues bottoms and a backless sleeveless top. Her Hoshigakure headband would be tied around her forehead. Her long blond hair would be tied in up in a high-rise ponytail. Hikiari’s HUD system would hide her golden eye and byakugan, instead giving the presences of two normal blue eyes. Her face was still had some grime on it from the hast mission she was on, but for the most part it was clean and upkept. Her body would come to form in a safe empty space 5 meters away from either of the two others that were assigned to be under her care. The speed of her reformation was 270, probably faster than anything that anyone could see without artificially increasing their reaction time. With a smile, the young blonde would clear her voice and speak up. ”Ummmm..... Excuse me. I assume the two of you are the support I requested?” The Akari would ask. She would cast her gaze around to her nearby surroundings. Since it appeared like no one else was around, Hikari could only assume that these were the backup that she requested.   “My name is Hikari Namikaze. I am the deputy Hogokage. I was….”

The woman would get cut off by the approach of a third person, another man who possessed the byakugan. Hikari knew she had wanted someone from the Hyuuga clan on this mission, but the Hogokage didn’t think that they would send two. Either way, it doesn’t matter to much. “Why, hello there. Its great for you to join us. Don’t worry, you aren’t too late, I only just arrived myself. Anyways, I apologize but I don’t think I am familiar with any of you. I used to know everyone in the village by name, but I have been preoccupied over the last year or so and you must have slipped under my Radar. Would you mind introducing yourselves? Your name and lets say one interesting fact about yourselves.”

With that, the Akari would cross her arms and wait for the three to speak up.

WC: 627

As Kuniko arrived he took notice of the other three ninjas that were waiting at the gate. He recognized two of them. As soon as he calmly walked up beside Takeshi, he nodded and waved at his teammate with a smile. To the group before him he gave a quick bow while saying hurriedly, "Greetings everyone, I apologize for my tardiness." He then looked over to his instructor. With a bow to Tsubaki, Kuniko gently said "Good Morning, Miss Tsubaki. It is an honor to be going on a mission with you today." Kuniko silently hoped that his medical instructor wouldn't try to tease him here in front of the village gates. The very thought caused the genin to nervously fix his long dark hair. 

Only after she began speaking did Kuniko look at the third ninja waiting at the gate. She introduced herself as the deputy Hogokage, which seemed important. But Kuniko was not quick to judge the quality of other people's character until he knew them well. Kuniko gave a deep bow to Hikari and said in a polite tone which was indicative of his character, "Good Morning, Deputy Hogokage. My name is Kuniko Hyuuga. I am a medical specialist under the wing of Lady Tsubaki here. I may not be as useful as my comrade next to me, but I will try not to get in your way during this mission." With that, he looked side long to gauge Takeshi's response. He had already been through the thick of it with Takeshi, so he valued his opinion very much. 

WC: 262
TWC: 877

As Hikari introduced herself, Takeshi was star struck. This was the protagonist in all the stories he had heard. This is the person that Takeshi had been pushing himself so hard to even be able to dream of being on the same league as. Takeshi took a moment to speak his part of the greeting after Hikari had made herself known by introducing herself as the Deputy Hogokage. Not wanting anyone to realize that he was already being weird, he quickly gained his composure and acted as regularly as he usually did, which was still weird, but not as much.

"Hello Deputy Hogokage Hikari. My name is Takeshi Hyuuga and I have heard a lot about you. It is a great honor to be called into service alongside you and the rest of you." Takeshi was sure that didn't sound too weird, he hoped. "Was that too much?" Takeshi thought to himself. He also realized that he hadn't done the second part of Hikari's request. "One interesting fact? I am obsessed with birds of prey and am going to be the Eagle Sage one day. Oh and I want to be a Jinchuriki of the Four Tails." He realized that that was three things. "Damn." He thought to himself.

Kuniko began speaking to Hikari also after rushing in, being late, but only slightly. He greeted his teacher Tsubaki, which is someone that Takeshi had never had the pleasure of speaking with. Then he spoke again, this time directing it toward Hikari.

"Good Morning, Deputy Hogokage. My name is Kuniko Hyuuga. I am a medical specialist under the wing of Lady Tsubaki here. I may not be as useful as my comrade next to me, but I will try not to get in your way during this mission." Takeshi looked at his friend and pondered why he felt it necessary to put himself down like that. Takeshi laughed out loud and put his hand on Kuniko's shoulder. "He's just being modest, he is one of the best guys you'll meet and an awesome leader of our team, Team Summer." Takeshi then looked toward Miss Tsubaki.

"If you are the one training him, then I am sure you are one great teacher also." Takeshi smiled at Miss Tsubaki, then waited for her response to Hikari's request.

WC: 392

Takeshi was the first to arrive at the gates, showing that he was more prepared than the rest of them or that he lived closer to the mission headquarters. After Tsubaki, Hikari Namikaze, the deputy Hogokage, arrived. She asked if Tsubaki and Takeshi were the two that were sent for the mission with her. The Senju nodded and was about to explain that there was going to be one more. However, Tsu's student, Kuniko Hyuuga, arrived. At last the full team had been assembled. 

The first order of business was introductions. "Would you mind introducing yourselves? Your name and let's say one interesting fact about yourselves," Hikari asked. Takeshi excitedly went first as if he was just waiting for the chance since she joined. He explained that he was obsessed with birds of prey and that he wanted to be an Eagle Sage. Added to that, he wanted to be the jinchuriki for the Four tails. Tsubaki was stunned for a moment on the sheer magnitude of his dreams. The kid had high ambitions. People say shoot for the stars but this kid shot for the next galaxy. 

Kuniko went next. He explained that he was medical specialist training under none other than Tsu. She felt some pride in that for a few moments until he went on to say that he wouldn't be useful. Immediately, the Senju swatted his arm with the back of her hand. Kuniko knew how much his sensei didn't like it when he underestimated himself. Takeshi would also chime in and say that he was a great leader of team Summer.

Takeshi then turned to face Tsubaki, complimenting her training. It was now her turn. "Hi, my name is Tsubaki Senju. I'm a chunin of Hoshikagure and I also run a tea stand in the market." She only explained some general information about herself that anyone could associate with her. She couldn't get too deep with people she didn't know. She then turned her attention to the Deputy Hogokage. "I don't mean to bring down the mood but perhaps we need to rethink. This is an S rank mission where we will be against the Jaw of Grim, a formidable gang. 4 ninja have already gone missing on the same mission. 1 jonin, 2 chunin and 1 high ranking black ops member. We have two genins, a chunin and a high ranking ninja. Sounds like we are working with less." The Senju was not for dying on her first S rank mission just because they were ill-equipped. 

WC: 422
TWC: 902

As the group started speaking Hikari would take note of who said what while paying very close attention. These were soldiers under her care after all, need to learn as much as they were willing to share. The first person to speak up was Takeshi.... wait, had the blonde heard him right? As the boy spoke about becoming the Jinchūriki of the four tails, Hikari would take a quick peek to her left. The section of the wall that had been destroyed when Son Goku had made his escape from Hoshigakure was having the finishing touches put on it, but the damage was still very visible. He wanted the thing that did that... shoved inside him? Hikari would never understand why anyone would want a giant evil demonic monster shoved in them, let alone one that had already caused so much destruction and death to the village one had sworn to protect.


Kuniko seemed to be the greenest of all three shinobi here. He seemed to not. However, he was a medical specialist Hyuuga, and that was what was most important to know. In his own way, he was probably the most important part of the mission.

Finally came Tsubaki Senju, the only chuunin among the group and as such the most experienced. She didn't say much about her abilities, but from what was told to the group before, Hikari knew that the woman was a medical kunochi.

“Well met." Hikari would respond. “As I said, I'm Hikari Namikaze, Deputy Hogokage.... and fun fact about me? Well, for about a year I was in charge of the ninja academy. So I guess I was a pretty good teacher!"

After a second, Tsubaki would turn to Hikari who would bring up how grim the mission was looking. Something she said caught Hikari's attention though, A black op got taken down in the mission? Had Hikari read wrong? Reaching into her back weapons pouch, the girl would pull out an older, faded pink notebook and open the faded pages to her notes on today's mission. She would read it over and not see any mention of a Nova member being taken down. “I'm sorry, mind repeating that Mrs. Tsubaki? I knew that a few shinobi were taken down... but..." The blonde's eyes would narrow as she reread another section of her notes. “Oh, I think you might have misunderstood the causality report. A few Queensmen were taken out, not a few Queensguards. Um.... how to explain the difference. Queensmen are like.... the guards you see posted on the outside of the village. They are kind of like a police force. Queenguards are what I think you are thinking of when you saying black ops."

The woman would look around to the three, the Blonde wasn't oblivious to the elephant in the room. “Ok, so I know most of you are scared about taking part of an S-ranked mission. It is a scary thought for sure, I have had many friends that have died on missions like this.  Don't worry though, your saftey is my highest priority." as she spoke ,the Kunochi would reach back into her pouch and swap out her notebook with an old folded up map. Unfolding the fadded paper, Namikze would turn it toward the three, revealing it was the layout of the building and the surronding area. "Ok, so as many of you are awear, our mission right now is to reclaim an outpost that had been takenover by some local bandits. What you might not know is that a medium sized army of shinobi are making their way to the location as we speak. It will mostlikely arrive by sundown today, if not earlier. Our mission, is to take back the hideout and set an ambush for the reinforcments."

The woman would point at a spot  on the map on a hill about 300 meters away from the base. "This is the point where I am going to telleport us to. When done," the Akari would nod to the long haired Hyuuga,  "Kuniko will look into the base and locate where any hostages/survivors are, while confirming there are no hostiles in the immediate area. Once that is done, we will telleport into the base at that location. We will then split up into three teams." Hikari would point at Kuniko and Tsubaki, "The two of you are to guard survivors and provide medical support as needed."  Namikaze would then look over at Takeshi, he had a fairly high chakra, so Hikari hoped the boy would be able to handle himself in a fight. "You are going to step outside and use your byakugan to watch the surrounding area. If anyone looks like they are going to come check on the hostages, I want you do whatever it takes to prevent them from doing that, or letting the soldiers know we are here."  

The Lady of Light would start to fold up the map and place it in her pouch, "My job will be to take out the main forces. I'll go sneak around the facility and eliminate the forces one by one. Once that is finished, we can regroup and plan how to ambush the reinforcements. Any questions?"

Once waiting for a second and answering any questions anyone had, the Deputy Hogokage would activate Sigila Fortituddinem, but would disguise her chakra to make it feel like it hadn't changed. No reason to make her allies sense her chakra nearly reaching Bijuu levels.

"I'll be placing some seals on you, if no one has any issues with that." The Akari would explain, allowing three invisible Chains of Divine Invigoration to escape out of her bare back and move toward towards her allies. One of each would get to work, placing her seals and forming the handsigns needed to place them. Each of the three would have two A rank Fuinjutsu Elemental blast seals placed on them. (Takeshi would get a Hikariton Seal and a Wind Seal Seal, Kuniko getting a Wind and Steam seal, where as Tsubaki Will get a Lightning and Fire seal.) (Power of 209, Speed of 134), A Fuinjutsu Barrier seal (Power of 175,) A telpathy seal (Power of 175,) a Hikariton Alis Ad Angelum Seal ( Power of 175, speed of 125, Health of 125.) and one Flying Thunder God seal (Power of 210.) before letting the chains fade away and deactivating her booster.

Hikari would give a quick summary of what each of the seals. "The marks will stay there until used up, I can remove them after the mission is over, or if you would like to keep them, you may. Your choice."

With that the young Kunochi would hold out her hand facedown. "If you have any last minute preperations, I would recomend you doing them now. From this point on you should consider yourself on an active battlefield. Stay quiet, move quick and remain vigilant. Once you are ready, take my hand and I'll telleport us to our first location."

Once the entire squad had taken her hand , the Akari would telleport the group to the first point on their mission.


WC: 1,200
Will update my AP if needed, but I have the AP to do all this and to spare. Links to techs can be found on my stat page. Will Link those as well if needed.

Kuniko could only blush in embarrassment as his instructor and teammate admonished and praised him at the same time. He was indeed modest. He thought that perhaps he should work on that in future if Tsubaki thought so lowly of it. 

After the Deputy Hogokage had explained the mission in detail to the three other members of the team, she performed various rights of ninja magic that was far beyond Kuniko's understanding. He knew Taijutsu; as a Hyuuga that was his life. He was learning Medical Ninjutsu, which he still only had a faint grasp on. But whatever Hikari was doing must have been neither of those because the young genin could only stare at her work in awe. 

After some time, it seemed as though her work was done. She said she had placed seals on all three of them, to which Kuniko could not object. As she was the Deputy Hogokage, the genin was not in any position to argue. Kuniko believed that his life was a tool for her to use as she saw fit on this mission. When Hikari had asked if they had any last minute preparations, Kuniko paused for a moment before saying calmly as though he had almost forgotten, "Oh! Yes, just one moment. I must give a quick prayer for our safety" The young Hyuuga then turned away from the group and quickly made a prayer with his hands clasped that this mission would go well and without casualties. He spoke quietly so that the others would not easily over hear, and then he turned around and placed his hand on Hikari's as she instructed. 

WC: 264
TWC: 1141

As the seals were placed onto Takeshi's body, he felt honored that such a gift would be bestowed upon him just before a mission that, could very well carry deadly outcomes. He nodded to Hikari, as to thank her for the gift she had given him. 

As she explained the mission details, he felt honored once more when she gave the different jobs in the battle to come. She gave Takeshi the job of going into the battlefield side by side with herself. As she finished explaining, Takeshi grinned and agreed with her. His mind filled with excitement at the thought of going into battle. While at the same time anxiousness, he wasn't sure about his meddle, but he knew that he would give it his all and die on that field if necessary. 

Hikari put her hand out and asked the team to place their hand onto hers when they were ready. Takeshi eagerly placed his hand onto hers, ready for a fight. 

Wc: 164