Fire and Ice

Wed Feb 02, 2022 4:11 am

You could discover a lot about a city by just wandering around the streets and meeting people, watching how they interacted with one another and with you. In her young life, Airi had been all over, had seen cities that were open and welcoming and cities that were much cooler. Places where the people acted suspiciously and would rarely smile or open up to one another, she’d just never been to a place like this, somewhere so welcoming. She might be a new face but as she wandered through the streets she was greeted with waves and greetings, it seemed that everyone she met recognized her at least, if not knowing her entire life story. The girl felt her eyes rolling back in her head as she shook her head, thanks for that mum.

She had wandered into a few shops, especially the bakeries but…well there was only so much you could find by yourself. At least if you didn’t want to spend years exploring, trying to learn all the shortcuts and hole in the wall cafes. How else would you know where to find the best food, how to get to the main offices quickly if you overslept in the morning. That totally wasn’t something that had happened to the girl before…no never…not at all. The look of derision in the instructor’s eyes and the laughter of her classmates sent a shiver down the petite girl’s back. Never again.

For a moment she paused, balanced on the edge of a wall, arms spread out at her sides as she took a deep breath. She wasn’t late today…she’d made sure of that. Just breathe, don’t worry, don’t panic. The girl could feel the touch of the sun on the exposed skin of her shoulder and thighs, that warmth almost like a warm blanket wrapped around her, head tilting back as a small smile slowly spread across her lips. Today was going to be a good day.

Breathe in and out, let the stress just flow away before she pushed off the wall, letting her feet find a nearby wall, pushing herself up into a flip, fingers just brushing against the wall as she cartwheeled onto the next wall, settling down to rest on top of it, watching the gates of the advanced training centre. She could see the solid form of Okada Castle rising up into the distance, a useful waypoint to find your way around the multi-tiered city. This helped because this place could be a maze if you weren’t careful, it was lucky the people were so willing to help out when you got lost, otherwise, you could around those streets for hours constantly being distracted by something new if you weren’t careful…which might have been the reason they designed that way.

As fun as an afternoon peeking her head into the various colourful shops that were scattered through the residential district sounded she was on a very important mission today…to meet a guide who would show her around the town. Ok, so maybe not such an important mission if you took the survival of the town into account but, it was super important if she wanted to take a lie-in and how really? Which was more important when you came down to it?

Wed Feb 02, 2022 10:43 pm

Things had changed quite a bit since his first coming to Tanbo what seemed like forever ago. A fresh Genin who knew no one, had hardly any skills, and no missions under his belt. Yet, today, he was one of the more experienced Genin in the village at least when it came to missions. He was steadily improving himself every day with the help of everyone in Tanbo. Komoi, Yamato, Hanzo, Hayato, and various others had all been instrumental in his development as a Ninja. Where he was once a timid boy who was afraid to reveal that he was a member of the Uchiha clan to now one of the most trusted members of the village. Well, at least that was what he hoped others saw him as. He had been given the go ahead to be somewhat of a tutor to another Genin who had just graduated from the Ninja Academy. Airi Yuki was her name and if she was anything like her fellow Yuki, Hayato, then Kato was very much looking forward to getting to mentor her. He guessed that was what he was doing? Mentoring? He had just been told to make sure she was comfortable with her new title of Genin.

Of course he knew what that felt like. Being a brand new Genin. For him it had seemed nearly impossible to get comfortable within that role and yet now it seemed so easy. If anything he was creeping ever closer to being given the title of Chuunin. It would of course come with more responsibility but he was looking forward to it. The village did not have a whole lot of higher ranking ninja. From what Kato knew, they only had two or three Chuunin, no Jounin, and a couple of wanderers who did not really called Tanbo their home but they stayed around. There was that one alleged Vampire lady walking around that used to be a Kage in Suna. He had not yet met her but the rumors of her prowess, as well as the omen of what she would bring, had spread quickly through the village.

Headband tied to his left arm, his right arm and left leg bandaged, and wearing his Ronin Robes, he strolled through the city to the designated meeting spot with Airi. Over his back his Ninjato was snuggled tightly in its sheath. It was his newest toy after his most recent set of missions. Formally he had always carried a Katana, but the Ninjato was more durable than his Katana and he had enjoyed using it in practice. It was lighter which was good for him. His weapons were a last resort and he preferred to have something he could use quickly and use with ease. His father had commented on how they could sow the Uchiha sigil into the back of his robes but he had refused. He was not trying to announce to the world who he was.

As he approached the designated meeting spot; he saw who he thought was Airi. A rather short girl with what seemed to be exceedingly long black hair. It was noteworthy to him because usually female ninja kept their hair short but not her. Eh, oh well, who was he to tell someone how to wear their hair? She had been competent enough to graduate the academy so who was to say it would hold her back. "Airi?" Kato asked inquisitively as he approached her. While he was not one of the taller members of Tanbo he felt like a giant next to her with how much shorter she was. "I am Kato Uchiha, your uhhhh....." He was not sure exactly what he was so he did not know what to say. "Tour guide to Tanbo I suppose." He laughed at how ridiculous it sounded and he also realized he was openly telling people his clan without even thinking. Baby steps.

"Congratulations on becoming a full fledged Shinobi! I am sure you are excited, and you should be, it is quite the accomplishment. I am sure you have a lot of questions about what comes next so I will try and answer them to the best of my abilities, but I am a Genin just like you, so some of it may be above my paygrade." He smiled, tried to appear friendly, and extended his hand out to greet her. His eyes were their normal bright blue and not dark red as he did not have a need to have his Sharingan active so he looked markedly less intimidating than when it was active.

WC: 767

Sat Feb 05, 2022 8:36 pm

Eyes closed, head tilted back towards the sky Airi had been enjoying the touch of the sun on her face, the warm caress of the sun touching her skin and warming her flesh. There was something relaxing, calming about this, a stolen moment of the warmth of stillness during the day, stolen away from the hustle and bustle that was a ninja’s life. Even the newest ninja, the weakest ninja, still had a day that wouldn’t end, hour after hour, minute after minute filled with work, with ninja business of some kind or the other. A chance to relax like this was rare, was something to be savoured while she could steal the opportunity.

Alas, every opportunity only lasted so long, it wasn’t like she could take a full day to just relax and unwind in the sun like a kitten. She could sense a presence moving up behind her, sensing the warmth of his body moving into the space behind her. It was a unique ability of the Yuki, something that had come in useful more than once in the past, even if she hadn’t been able to tell anyone why she was able to react so quickly to others sneaking up on her.

Large dark eyes snapped open as she heard the boy speak, her head tilting back as her hair brushed against the wall behind her as her gaze caught his, a smile curling up the corners of her mouth.

“Hi there Kato!”

The girl leaned forward for a moment before throwing herself backwards, back arching as her hands reached for the ground as she let herself fall off the wall/ Palms pressed into the ground as she twisted her body through a backflip, pushing up off the ground as she pushed herself into the air, landing lighting on one foot the ground in front of Kato, spinning herself through a spin to come to a stop facing him as she held out a hand.

“Yup, I’m Airi.”

Ok, so yes, she was showing off a little but…best foot forward right. It didn’t hurt to keep limber and she was starting to feel a little stiff from sitting still for so long. She knew that a ninja needed to be able to stay still for a long time, watching and waiting to observe an enemy or prevent them from finding you. It was just soo boring. Something she should probably work on but, not today, today was about finding herself in a new village and getting to learn all the little routes and tricks that were involved. A mischievous grin turned up the corners of her lips as she tilted her head to the side.

“I promise not to ask too many difficult questions, I’m just you know, really happy that I actually got accepted as a genin here.”

Given her less than conventional training she’d been worried she’d be regulated to the academy for some makeup classes, to catch up and patch up any holes in her education but, apparently her father had done a better job than she’d thought he did…not that she’d really had many opportunities to see how regular ninja’s trained, the family had mostly avoided the larger towns and cities, it would have been too easy to get caught by their pursuers.

“I mean, I guess what I’m most interested in are missions, like how do we handle them assign them? I know that a lot of places assign teams but from what I’d heard Tanbo doesn’t really have enough Ninjas for that?”

WC: 591
TWC: 1137

Mon Feb 07, 2022 12:25 am

Kato was, at first, taken aback by the little front flip she did but was immediately a bit charmed by it. She seemed an excited type which was, admittedly, nice considering he was usually the excited type in the village. It would be nice to have someone else who seemed to enjoy the small things in life. He could tell she was excited about the missions but he did not have the heart to tell her that most of them were extremely boring. The only real excitement one got from missions was when they were assigned to do them with other people and the excitement did not come from the missions themselves but from meeting other people and getting to know them. His first few missions had been extremely dull affairs and were only made more exciting with a cat that alluded him on a roof top. That was the most action he had seen so far.

"Well we are happy to have you and don't worry about the questions. You can't possibly ask any more than I did at first." He smiled and then began to walk around the village and try and chew over how to answer about the missions. "To be quite honest with you, Airi, it isn't all that exciting being a ninja around here. Which, to be fair, means we are safe. It means that we are doing our jobs." Which, was true, but he wondered how long that would last. "When I first moved here there were threats of bandits but we have mostly pushed them out of the village. Considering they have not attacked us in months."

"However, with Konoha being as.... well.... difficult as they are being right now I wonder how long before another village comes looking for trouble." He trailed off a bit, letting his mind wander, hoping and praying that was not the case. He loved the people and ninja of Tanbo but he knew that they did not have the firepower of a full fledged village. Not yet. "But don't let that get you down. Most of the fun comes from meeting other ninja anyway. You'll get to meet them all. There is Hayato, who by the way, is also a Yuki. Then there is my best bud Hanzo, you can't miss him, he is the guy who looks like he was built in a lab to be a body builder. Then Yamato, he is one of our Chuunin, he is super cool. He taught me how to use the Water Element!" Kato felt like maybe he was doing more rambling and less tour guide stuff.

He stopped in front of a very large gated building. In front of it stood two ninja on guard and behind the gates was a large building used for training. "This is our Military Training Ground. Anytime you need to train I recommend you come here. Lots of cool stuff. Walls that will fizzle out jutsu so you can just go crazy in there. Different chambers for different elements. For example, there is a giant pool with water so you can practice your water techniques." It was a pretty sweet area to train in.

"Anyways, if you want to go on some more advanced missions and need a partner, you can come to me any time. Or if you want to learn any new techniques you let me know!" Kato smiled again hoping it was going well enough.

WC: 576

TWC: 1343

Sat Feb 12, 2022 2:11 am

If Kato was trying to dampen her high spirits he wasn’t doing a good job of it, Airi had been floating on cloud nine ever since the Rice village had accepted her as a ninja. While it was true she might only be a genin right now, she was a genin. For a while there the girl had actually despaired of actually being able to actually become a ninja. The broken training she’d managed to piece together wouldn’t hold up to any kind of true qualification, but the village had been so kind to her when she’d arrived. When that instructor had come out with the official certificate certifying her as a genin of the Rice Village the girl hadn’t been able to process it, she’d just stood there for a tome, mouth opening and closing like a goldfish, unable to make a sound. Well ok, so that wasn’t strictly true. She had been unable to make a sound…until it had all bubbled up in a gigantic shriek that she was sure had taken the roof off the building.

Now, if someone asked her to go fight the Hokage she was sure she would only stop for long enough to ask if they wanted her to use weapons or not.

She was a ninja.

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing that no one around here is really looking for us to get killed or run into any difficult missions. I mean, there go my dreams of a desperate fight against an evil ninja planning on taking over the world who I defeat in a spectacular combo of moves drawing on my secret powers before being lauded with all the glory.”

A bright grin and wink took and sting out of her words, turning them into a joke as the girl inclined her head at the large building they had met in front of. She was sure that there were some mechanical and chakra based feats of engineering that made it all possible, but it sounded like magic to her. Cool magic that she wanted to test out as soon as possible, to see what new techniques were available and what she could learn...and what she could do to try to destroy those walls. It took everything she had not to stroll nonchalantly in the direction of the training centre, a visible effort as she tried to restrain herself before looking over at Kato, affecting her best-unconcerned expression and failing horribly.

“That’s so cool...I mean...yeah whatever, sounds...oh I give up. That sounds so awesome! Do we get to go in! Is it part of the tour?! Can I blow something away?”

To say the girl was bouncing would be an understatement, Airi felt like if she wasn’t careful each step would launch her into the upper atmosphere. It might not be the glamorous life that her father’s stories had painted, but it was a step down the path she’d always dreamed about and for a girl who had grown up on myth and legend, finally settling in and being accepted was a first step she’d thought she’d never have.

“So, if I need anything, come see you got it, boss! Do I call you boss, senpai...Kato?”

WC: 540
TWC: 1677

Sat Feb 19, 2022 11:53 am

Kato smirked at her feigning excitement and also trying to play it cool bit. He felt it on a spiritual level as he was often the one trying to play it cool and not overreact. He was excited to finally meet someone who was as excitable as he was which made him more willing to try and assist her in any capacity that he could. "I think we all have that dream," he commented in response to her hero fantasy. "The reality of it is probably not so great." He unintentionally lowered the mood as his thoughts drifted to the realities of being a ninja and how easily life was snuffed from the world. There was nothing romantic or cool about it. One moment one was alive and the next they were but a fleeting memory.

His dark thoughts were quickly countered by her excitement on going inside the training facility and he quickly put a smile on his face. "Yeah, of course, and if you want I can even show you a few things!" How weird that he was now being looked to for any sort of training. It seemed not too long ago that he had been the lost and confused little kid who was begging others to train him. He was going to continue living in their footsteps as no one in the village had ever turned him down and so he would not turn anyone down either.

"Uh just call me Kato." He did not really like the idea of being a Senpai. It made him feel like he was pretending to be something he was not. Kato was slowly becoming an experienced shinobi, sure, but he was far from someone who could be relied on. "Come on, lets go check it out!"

TWC: 1640

EXIT CLAIMS

Training Jutsu at 25% discount due to max stats

1500/1500 words towards Clan Pureblood

140/6000 towards Mangekyo Sharingan

Sat Feb 19, 2022 1:17 pm

Kato's exit is approved and claims are approved as well

Thu Mar 03, 2022 11:39 am

He didn’t need to tell her twice, the words had no sooner left the boy's mouth that Airi had disappeared from her position. It was almost as if she’d managed to teleport towards the entrance to the training centre, jogging on the spot as she twisted to glance back at her new friend, a bright smile lighting up her face. The idea of more training, well any training was one that the girl wouldn’t run away from, her father had done his best by her but his teaching was limited to his combat style. While a powerful combatant in his own right, his close-range specialization differed considerably from the girl’s natural style. He had given her a strong foundation but the chance to learn something different, experience a different use of Chakra was a gift she wasn’t going to turn down.

“So…what are we waiting for?!”

Ok, so…one that she’d embrace in her own bratty way. Her dark eyes twinkled as she gestured to the boy before spinning on a heel and sprinting towards the entrance. Friends were never really a luxury she’d been able to have growing up, it was dangerous to get too close to people, It was the motto she’d grown up with, had lived her entire life by. Tanbo seemed different, but it was honestly too soon to tell, but maybe for a little while, she could pretend, to see what it would be like.

“Last one there’s a rotten tomato…Kato.”

WC: 245
TWC: 1922

Exit Claims

Stats

Chakra: +7
Vigor:+7
Spee+ +5

Jutsu

109 words towards completing Genjutsu release
1868 words towards Wind Release: Wind Rejuvenation

Thu Mar 03, 2022 1:42 pm

Approved

Fire and Ice

Fire and Ice

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