Guest speaker

The mission:

Rizuke didn’t know what it took to be enrolled at Thunderpeak campus, he would wonder sometimes, but it would often get pushed to the back of his mind as he ended up having other responsibilities that would take over the forefront of his mind. Rizuke had been to the campus a few times to look around and read a few books from the library. He found the campus appealing, but being a shinobi came first and he felt he was always being pulled away from his academics. In a perfect world, Rizuke would believe he would have attended Thunderpeak and would graduate, but there really wasn’t much time to idolize a world that would never come to pass. He thought for a minute about it though and decided that maybe he would register to take a class there.
 
Rizuke was thinking about the Thunderpeak campus because he had been assigned to be on a mission to the campus as a security guard. Something he felt like he’s done a lot of in his few weeks in tenure as a genin. It was labeled as an A-rank mission and he would be joining a temporary squad to watch over these guest speakers. Rizuke was excited because he was a ninjutsu specialist, and he could probably learn a lot from them. He would be taking a class for free, no, he would be getting paid to listen to lecturers talk about ninjutsu, and he would get to learn something new. He would read over the paper over and would recognize the names on the page, they were the two kunoichi he had met at Mikadzuki Beach Baruga-san, and Meika-san, both as attractive as they were dangerous. He knew he would need to be professional because he wasn’t at the beach, this was the real deal. If he acted out of line on this mission or in the village, he knew his ass was grass.
 
  Rizuke would gulp at the thought of committing a faux pas and getting his ass beat by the two kunoichi, and the shame it would bring on his name. He shuddered at the thought, he would make sure he was the most professional shinobi on the Thunderpeak campus, on this mission, and whenever he was around these two. He knew he could be professional it would just take a little extra focus to not succumb to his teenage desires. It was weird he never really experienced that until Mikadzuki Beach, and now he’s gone girl crazy. His dad told him it would pass, and he had nothing to worry about, but he should mind his manners because that’s how he was raised.
 
Rizuke would get ready to leave to meet up with the kunoichi and prepare for the mission. He would get his Uchiha branded blue shirt and his black shorts and combat boots on he would try to think of things to talk about that wouldn’t offend the kunoichi. Rizuke was fascinated with the whale summons that Baruga could summon on a whim, he would ask her how she came across such a powerful summon contract. As for Meika, he would inquire about sensory justu, she used it in front of him and he wondered what the benefits of sensory justu would be.
 
Instructions read that they were to meet outside the library, Rizuke knew the spot. While he wandered around the campus, he had shown up a couple of hours early out of excitement. He went into a class about genjutsu theory. He had always wondered how much they really knew about the interworking of jutsu, this was truly wonderful, if the keynote speakers were this knowledgeable about ninjutsu Rizuke would learn a lot. After a few lessons, Rizuke would head toward the meet-up spot for him and the two kunoichi that was due to meet up.
 
Rizuke would post himself against a tree that stood about ten meters from the entrance to the library and would wait there for the ladies. He was excited as well as nervous the last time he saw these two he didn’t feel like he left the best impression, well, there’s always time to make up for it. He would think to himself looking out at the passerby’s as they walked to classes or the library. Rizuke didn’t mind people watching.


WC: 721

The Thunderpeak Campus apparently offered much for the eager to learn. A library held within a massive building, one that had almost too much open space. Ceilings that arched high above the people within, with wicked chandlers that could easily squash someone if they fell.

Meika had almost lost track of how long she had been within the mountains of Kumogakure, of how long it had been since she abandoned her life within the desert lands. And despite the time she has been here, this must have been the first time that the Kamigawa woman has taken the pleasure to check out this famous Thunderpeak Campus.

Now, she didn't exactly come here on a whim of her own interest. The decision was made when she took up yet another assignment. And that assignment so happened to allow her to check the Thunderpeak Campus off her bucket list.

So now here she was, laid laxed and lazily against the Campus's main stairway. The majority of her body was being supported by the stairs as she draped herself there, enjoying the lazy, quite atmosphere. With a book open within her left hand.

For how massive the place was, sound traveled and echoed harshly off the walls. Making it cringey for anyone to make much noise within the place. Meika was certain that a simple drop of a pen would be heard from the other side of the building. Or maybe she was exaggerating.

Anyways, she was letting her time pass freely, fully aware that soon enough she'd have to find the other mates that were taking on this assignment. So with a sigh, she closed the book within her left hand and tucked it beneath her arm. It shouldn't take her long to replace the book in its correct location.

But just as the woman pushed herself off of the staircase, a man approached her from what almost seemed to be out of nowhere. The man looked to be a few years older than herself, and carried an armful of books and journals. A feathered pen was tucked behind his ear. "Excuse me, miss." The man spoke at a rapid pace, almost stumbling over his words in a clumsy, anxious way. "Why is it that the tower above this staircase is off limits?" His eyes seemed to jump back and forth, from the stairs and to the raven haired kunoichi. She could see that his curiosity and excitement for the details was overwhelming.

"Sorry, it's not in my job description to tell." Meika responded. And even if it was, this man had no place to know. She was fully aware that the tower was restricted to the jounin and higher. Not to some tourist. "I would recommend that you go back to your teachings." Meika added on nicely before she went back to returning the book. Watching from the corner of her eye as the man gave the stairs one last glance, before he turned his back to it and left.

"Looks like we'll need to keep closer tabs on these guest speakers." She muttered to herself as the book slid back onto the shelf of many other books. It was about time for her to meet with the others outside. Making her way there in little time at all and exiting the building to where the young Rizuke stood. Above the tree that he stood at came a sudden squawk as Nanaki announced his presence within the trees.

---

{WC: 577}

The Thunderpeak Campus was not an alien place to Baruga.

Oh, she'd been here plenty of times, actually. Mostly for E-Ranks, as a budding genin whose father took to breathing down her neck like a fish took to water. Sending your pre-adolescent daughter to killer school where she learned to be a killer with all the other killer children tended to make a father worry, after all. So when he pulled strings to have her taken away from any three-man team and instead doing her own independent work on the genin corps, it was here that she made herself acquainted with the lowest end of Kumogakure's shinobi work.

As such, she maneuvered through the halls like a visiting alumni, and she snuck past ongoing lectures like a tired student. On her way, though, an older man hurriedly bumped into her shoulder, seemingly in a rush to get somewhere, arms stacked with books and journals, a pen on his ear —

And she grabbed him by his fucking collar and held him against a wall with one hand, his feet dangling in the air. Her eyes pierced into his soul, and she growled fiercely under her breath, raspy, vicious, guttural.

"Watch where you're going, twat."

With that, she let him go, hearing him scurry off behind her. Snorting derisively, Baruga flicked her hair and made her way to the rendezvous point, heels clicking all the way.

...Hm. Funny. She didn't hear his footsteps as he left.

She'll make a note of that, for later.

---

Her tone was decidedly, undeniably neutral as she spoke.

"You chose a pretty visible area, Uchiha-san."

Baruga's eyes wandered, following all the other students in the university. Same age, different faces — no different than when she was filing things in the libraries however long ago. Luckily, the folks at the Thunderpeak Campus have always been the attractive sort, around her age, smart-looking, and usually quite cleanly.

Speaking of attractive...

"Meika-san. I assume you were able to get a bead on our VIP? The dossier I received gave me an objectively physical description, but 'white male in his twenties-to-thirties with messy black hair' describes about half the population within these walls. If not, that's fine, we can just ask around."

Baruga's addition to the team structure had been last minute, hence her lack of details. Had she known, she'd have found advertisements for the man's guest lectures, or at least made a personal dossier on the man they're trying to protect-slash-investigate.

Oh well, you do what you can with limited information.

---

WC: 423

"Why do I keep ending up having to do that guy's work for him?" For the second time in a week, Majima found himself having to take on missions that had originally been assigned to someone else. "Drunk bastard is probably passed out in a ditch somewhere." Apparently the fourth person had been added to the mission after the fact once reports came in that the guest speaker had brought an entourage of some sort with them to the campus. The final change in personnel had been done after the last minute once it became clear that the original fourth member was unavailable to fill in for the role. It was just as well for Majima though, this mission promised to pay more than any of the piss ant ones he had been given up till this point. The Kumon shinobi just hoped that the group hadn't left him behind yet and was still at the meeting point for the mission because he didn't actually know anyone else on the mission and if they had already left trying to track them down would be like looking for 3 needles in a haystack without even knowing what a needle looked like.

The climb up to the Thunderpeak Campus was one that Majima had taken many times in the past and had created residual negative feelings for him. It was a moot point now but a few years ago when he had pushed hard for his parent to enroll him in the ninja academy they opposed the idea of him joining directly with the military force and instead had him attend Thunderpeak Campus in a failed attempt of getting him to take a more academic route with his studies. It feels better to be here on my own terms. Tch, or mostly my own terms. Thankfully he did not need to ask around for directions to the library and made his way there without much delay, he was already running somewhat late after all.

Rizuke, Meika, and Baruga. I guess I'll just look for the group of three people that seem pissed about waiting for someone. The halls were essentially empty as most rooms appeared to have classes in session. There were what appeared to be a small number of faculty or hurriedly disheveled students that he passed by but nothing really of note. As for the rendezvous, he didn't have to look around much to find the group, they were under a tree a short distance away from the library. Majima walked up just as the woman with blue and black hair finished going over the description of a man the group was looking for.

"Yo, sorry I'm late but the other guy flaked out so I just got assigned as the replacement. Also, I'm actually 19 and my hair isn't that messy...- wait, how did you even get a description of me in the first place? I only got your names when I received the assignment." Majima noodled on that for a second before moving on. "Anyway, now that we are all here I guess we can get started. Does anyone even know what this guy looks like?"

---

WC: 528

With the arrival of his friends, Rizuke felt like the hurdle of navigating the campus wouldn’t be too difficult now. “Good morning, Baruga-san and Meika-san.” Rizuke would welcome the two he had been on a mission with before. “I wasn’t aware we’d have a fourth person on this mission, it’s pretty straightforward, whatever.” Rizuke would feel a little dejected, this was his first time doing an a-ranked mission for Kumogakure and he was hoping to have his feats be noticed. “I’m Rizuke, the kunoichi with blue hair is Baruga, and the demonic-looking one, that’s Meika. I would suggest not pissing off either one of them.” Rizuke would say checking over his shoulder to make sure he wasn’t in harm’s way. He would flash a smile at the ladies trying to dissuade the notion that he was even a little frightened. “As for your question about how we’ll know what he looks like, I guess we could just go to his lecture it’s about to start in the ninjutsu classroom.” He would say with a soft chuckle. “I did choose a highly visible area Baruga-san, I feel like we all fit in here so we’re hiding in plain sight.” Rizuke would acknowledge his friend’s statement. “Now, who knows where the ninjutsu classroom is?” He would ask the other three kumon shinobi.
  
The four of them would make their way to the ninjutsu classroom as three of the four knew exactly where it was. Rizuke would pull up a seat towards the front of the class so he could hear the best. There was only one problem, the speaker was late, Rizuke sat there for ten extra minutes waiting for the lecture to start, but when the person giving it hadn’t shown up, he was starting to get suspicious. He would walk over to Baruga and ask, “Is it normal for lecturers to be this late?” He would look to Meika and Majima for verification. “I guess we should go look for him?”


WC: 331
TWC: 1052

Meika didn't mind it when the royal princess came to her for information. "Ah the ViP man that's supposed to be rattling on about ninjutsu? I can't say that the description gives me much confidence, but I do recall a clumsy man that just so happens to fit that sort of appearance." She paused to tilt her head in over exaggerated wonder. "But I can't be too certain that it was him."

At their discussion about the ninjutsu teacher, a fourth member joined in with the group, a new lad that Meika had no recognition of. Rizuke went ahead and introduced the newcomer to the two kunoichi. Causing her dark eyebrow to arch as he described her as the 'demonic looking one'.  Well at least the lad wasn't stumbling over his words anymore. Perhaps she should give him a reason to?

"Well by the sounds of it, the man we are looking for may resemble a little like yourself, since you mistaken that our discussion was about you." Meika smirked casually as a playful tint danced within her eyes. She was responding to the newcomer's question about who they was looking for and what they looked like. "Perhaps we should continue inside and see how this teacher does with his privilege to be here." Her words coordinates with Rixuke's question about the classroom. It definitely was about time for the ViP's lecture to take place.

With that, the dark haired Kamigawa woman glances up at the large bird that perched within the tree above them. A moment passed by before the bird took flight and ascended high above them. Then she followed with the group back into the campus. Perhaps they looked like nothing more then a group of students who wasn't so eager to attend their scheduled lecture.

Rizuke found himself at a seat as Meika hung back at the entrance. Leaning her back against the doorframe with her eyes scanning the room. Realizing that they beat the teacher to his own lecture. A few moments ticked by and Rizuke's impatience became known as he voiced his concern about the man's lack of appearance. "Well well. .  perhaps I should go fetch him and drag him here for wasting our princess's time." It was starting to look like they was going to go on a man hunt and Meika already had a feeling where to look.

---

{WC: 395 | TWC: 973}

A smirk crossed Majima's face as Rizuke introduced Baruga and Meika. "Don't piss them off huh? Looks like we should all get along just fine in that case." The Daimyo's daughter and a demon... You certainly have interesting friends Rizuke. The responses that followed made Majima's late appearance all the more suspicious given how closely the vague description of their target fit him as well. The messy haired shinobi brushed it off as a strange coincidence and it seemed that his companions were doing the same as they then continued on into the crowded lecture hall that was meant to see their target giving a much anticipated lesson to the eager minds present.

Inside the hall it was only Rizuke, Baruga, and himself that grabbed seats with Meika opting to remain back at the entrance. It did not take long of nothing happening before Majima found himself drifting off to sleep. "I guess I'm just gonna nap until this bastard gets here. Wake me up if something happens." His teammates would probably not be happy with him but there was only so much boring shit he could handle before his brain would decide it was break time. Only a scant few minutes more passed before Majima was pulled out of his slumber by a loud authoritative voice.

Baruga had also gotten tired of waiting it seemed but decided to take a much more impactful course of action to address the situation. As she addressed the hall and strode down to speak with the faculty, waves of murmurs began traveling through the sea of attendees. Majima shook his drowsiness away and chose to observe the crowd for any strange reactions to Baruga's sudden interruption. Among the many faces and voice there was a blonde haired woman that stood out to him, instead of focusing intently on Baruga in the middle of the room or chatting with friends this woman was creeping up closer to the center as if to eavesdrop. Once the princess started heading back to relay her information the suspicious woman traced the path ahead and ended up locking eyes with Majima with a look of surprise. He maintained the eye contact as he stood up in his seat and the woman immediately made a break for it through a nearby side entrance.

"I think we were made by a lookout. You guys go find him and I'll go after her!" Majima shouted this to his nearby companions before hopping up onto and running along the table after the woman, crossing a number of tables and students before reaching the exit. The courtyard was open and Majima easily caught a glimpse of her rounding a corner at the end of a corridor to his left. She had tried to give him the slip by taking the quickest exit that would break line of sight, but the path she had chosen was a hallway with no branching exits. Being quite familiar with the place he took off across the small courtyard, knowing that if he cut through the two classrooms ahead he would come out on the other side of that very hallway and should be able to cut the woman off.

The first classroom was not currently in session but there was an audible sound of surprise from under a table in the corner that Majima could only assume to be a pair of students engaging in some extracurricular activities. The adjoining room to this seem to be truly empty and the crossing was quick as Majima pressed his ear to the door leading out to the hallway. The sounds of heavy footsteps was nearing closer and closer, surely belonging to the individual fleeing Majima's pursuit, and in a quick motion he charged through the door to the hall, surprising the woman as he did, while extending his arm in a clothesline to bring her to a violent stop. He put an extra bit of force into the maneuver to send across a message but found himself to be the one feeling surprise as his prey disappeared into a puff of smoke following the impact.

A shadow clone is it? Must have used some sort of transformation too, that or he has some plants working with him.

If the others had not been able to track down the target by this point it was likely that the man would be alerted to the fact that they were pursuing him now. He was confident in the abilities of his teammates though and was sure they would get the job done. So with no idea nor real desire to know where they had gone in pursuit of the shady man Majima decided it would be best for him to wait by the entrance of the campus as he would either intercept the fleeing spy or his fellow shinobi would be able to find him their upon their exit to inform him of the job well done.

{Exit}

---

WC: 825
TWC: 1353

Claims::