The Name of the Wind

Heifu was embarrassed. She had finally mustered up the courage to ask for help, to learn the wind element. The mission desk had done her well, quickly finding her a teacher and sending her off to the training field. But her embarrassment was from the fact that she already knew the element of wind. At least in theory. Back in her prime, she had been a force to be reckoned with, Zankokuna Kemuri, the Cruel Smoke. She had struck terror in the hearts of her enemies and had made it to the rank of Jounin. Her abilities as a silent assassin were legendary. Most of her opponents died before they detected her. And now she was... Genin.

Her years of not using her talents had made her forget the basics, not even forgetting her signature element of smoke release, but even forgetting one of the elements that had made it up, wind. It was beyond embarrassing. She felt like she was nothing, a terrible reflection of the legacy she had tried to build before she retired. But she was willing to do it. If her journey back to Jounin could save the lives of young ninja, if it could make Kirigakure great again, she would do anything. Even bear this humiliation. She would do anything for her village.

It was thinking of this, still deep in thought that Heifu arrived at the training field. She noted her teacher wasn't there yet, but not much else. She was too caught inside her inner monologue to notice much else.

WC: 257
TWC: 257

Izu decided in this day to go train, and maybe learn a technique or two with her fellow shinobi of the hidden mist, maybe even train the new students that were at school! As she walked toward the Training Facility, Izu was walking slowly, her outfit a bit different than usually. She had her blonde hair tied in a messy bun on top of her head, with two long strands of hair on the side of her temples falling to her shoulders. Of course holding all of it was her kunoichi black headband of Kirigakure! Her outfit was the part that was the most different tho. She wore her classic long sleeved fishnet shirt, covering her athletic and lean body all the way from out of her low rise black baggy training pants, showing the V line of her muscular hips and six pack transition, and showing her skin and tattoos trough it. Over it, she wore a all pale grey sleeveless hoodie, with the hood pulled down. The young hyuuga was dressed like a young rebel, the sleeves torn out of her outfit, and she wore ninja sandals too, the classic of ani Kiri shinobi. She was also carrying in her hand her large and long needle sword, 5 feet long in her hand, but held in a way to more carry it around rather than fighting.

As she entered the Training grounds with her slow walk and her hands tucked into the front pouch of her hoodie, she saw that the place was almost deserted. Perfect! She would be able to let loose more than when its crowded. Tho there was one person, Izu looked and was shocked. It was a lady, but an old lady, very old, like a grandma. With much confusion, Izu approached the elderly woman, and tapped her shoulder, her walking and presence being totally silent, preventing the elder lady to hear her comming.

''hummm... S'cuze me ma'am? Sorry to have startled you... Are you lost? Are you looking for someone to pick'em up or? Its the training grounds here! Its quite dangerous for someone your age you know.'' Said calmly Izu, a bit confused and in a low voice, not sure what was about this old lady that seemed quite different than others of her age.

''hummm... S'cuze me ma'am? Sorry to have startled you... Are you lost? Are you looking for someone to pick'em up or? Its the training grounds here! Its quite dangerous for someone your age you know.''

Heifu jumped, not as pronounced as others who may startle, but she jumped nonetheless. More embarrassment. What kind of a kunoichi was she to let this little girl of a ninja sneak up on her!? She quickly put her hands down, realizing she had already formed the handseal for Rat, the beginning of the Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique. She glared at the girl, trying to regain some sense of composure.

"That's quite an assumption now, isn't it? Just because I'm old doesn't mean I'm not supposed to be here. I'm a ninja, just like you! You arrogant, prim-looking, spoiled brat of a..." She finished in a quiet mutter, only the odd word being loud enough to hear, but would make the average youngster blush at its profanity. She continued on like this for a couple of minutes and then shook herself. She swiftly flicked her hands into the seal for Dog and transformed.

"There! Do I look appropriate now? Back in my day, even Academy Students wouldn't be fooled by appearances. Anyone can be a threat in the ninja world. Anyone!" Frustrated she turned away from the other girl and pulled out her tanto. She swung at a nearby training dummy with furiosity, her anger fueling each swing. She realized she was more angry at herself than anyone else. Being this set back compared to who she used to be was infuriating. It was far harder than she had imagined. But she didn't need to let the other girl know that. Apologies were hard for her, and sorry was rarely a part of her vocabulary. She quickly tuned out the world, focusing on each swing of her tanto, and hoping her teacher would arrive soon and end this humiliation.

WC: 326
TWC: 583

As the old lady jumpscared from the silent Izu arriving in her back, she looked at the blonde hyuuga with a face of discontent, of anger and grumpiness. Izu immediately saw her start to weave by reflex the handsigns for phoenix sage fire technique, a jutsu she knew from her extensive study of techniques and jutsu existing. As a reflex too, she brought her hand to her back ninja pouch, holding onto 4 senbons ready in a minute notice to throw them at the old lady.

Suprisingly, the old lady started to tell off Izu, saying that because she was an old lady, she could be a ninja too. While it was obvious to Izu that indeed anyone could change their appearance and it wasnt a critera to judge a caracter, and the old lady made sure to remind her this very obvious fact of course in her scolding, Izu knew this wasnt the case and was a useless lecture, as she could see every part of her old tenketsu system with her byakugan, as well as the multiples body signs trough her system that she was, indeed who she appeared to be. With Izu's face already looking weirdly at the old grumpy lady telling her off, a raised eyebrow signaling all of her feelings toward the situation, the grandma began to not only scold, but insult Izu, calling her an arrogant, prim-looking, spoiled brat of a..., etc. 

''Listen i'm not...'' said Izu, not able to place even a sentence before the old lady went again, making her boil with each words.

At first shocked by that behavior and only blushing out of awkwardness, this feeling rapidly turned to anger toward the old crazy lady who was insulting her. Izu took everything inside of her, mainly the voices of Kaimera and Shiro saying to her repeatedly: ''Nooooo Izu, dont kick the old lady, dont slap her in the face, dont do it Izu! Dont do it!'' if it wasnt for her entourage having a good influence on her, the old lady would surely already be tasting the underneath of her boots.

As she remained silent for now, the old lady transformed into a young woman, continuing her rant about if she looked more like a ninja now, and how back in her days students knew appearance could be deceiving, etc etc, blah blah blah. All the rant began to feel like noise only to Izu, seeing too red to even continue to listen. All that she heard was the last words of the old lady: 'Everyone can be a threat in the ninja world, anyone !' as if she advocated for her own case of 'I too can me a menace even if im an old lady' without a shred of grace or subtelty.

As she turned away to practice on the dummy doing angry unstrategic and uncalculated strikes on a dummy with her tanto, the old lady kept her angry face, and most of all, didnt appologized to Izu. 

This wasnt going to fly. 

ambiance for Izu loosing it:

Quickly, Izu weaved handsigns, making her large needle sword in her hand disapear in thin air, leaving her hand free. At an incredible speed surpassing by far what was normal for a ninja of her age, Izu dashed and jumped really high, aiming to land onto the practice dummy the old transformed lady was practicing on. In the air, she weaved the handsigns of Boar -> Ram -> Horse -> Ox As she landed with all of her might, Izu slammed down her right leg making contact with her heel onto the dummy, flatenning it on the floor with a the force of a truck falling on it. The shockwave was incredible, breaking the floor of the training grounds in shatters, dust and dirt flying everywhere as the ground splited, making a large shockwave of 15m radius centered on the dummy, wich the old lady must be pretty close to practice her tanto on, sending her flying 10m backwards, but without taking any damage. As the heel strike cause a litteral crater to be formed into the destroyed floor, Izu emerged from the debris, appearing out of the dust cloud created by the explosion of the ceramic tiles of the floor. 

Izu was mad, looking at the old lady right in the eyes with her active byakugan, radiating violent intent, as she approached the knocked back lady, her footing fast either way if she was still transformed or not after that shock. Without much warning, Izu took the old lady by the collar of her robes, and lifted her face close to hers. Izu's eyes were wide opened, almost too wide in an uncanny way. Her smile was the one of a psychopath ready to kill anyone who was in her way, radiating malice and rage.

''Listen here you weak old fleshbag! You don't know who you are messing with... My name is Izu Momochi, you better remember it, because if you EVER talk to me like that again, it will be the last fucking thing you remember, understood?'' Said the mad hyuuga girl, throwing back the head of the old lady before dusting off the ceramic flakes off of her clothes. 

''Appologize. Now.'' Added Izu with frowned eyebrows still, as she stood over the old lady waiting for her to get back up. She better have understood the message and change her way of talking to her. If she wanted to treat others like shit, that was the problem of others. Izu wouldnt let it fly. Ever. She waited what was the reaction of the old lady before going to train, wanting to resolve this conundrum before turning her attention to the training at hand.

Before Heifu knew it she was blown backwards. As she flew through the air her transformation released. She managed to regain her footing about ten meters out. She lost hold of her tanto in the blast, it landed blade down into the ground a few feet from her. She looked at her aggressor and raised an eye brow at the devastation she caused. The dummy was gone and the ground had ruptured from beneath her strike. Was she supposed to be impressed by this? This was completely unwarranted! She took back her earlier mental apology. This girl was a complete loose canon, clearly another shinobi released from the academy too early. If she couldn't control herself in this type of setting Heifu couldn't imagine what she would be like on a mission. It was time to teach this girl a lesson, and remind the village that the Cruel Smoke had returned!

But before she knew it the girl had run up to her and grabbed her by the collar. ''Listen here you weak old fleshbag! You don't know who you are messing with... My name is Izu Momochi, you better remember it, because if you EVER talk to me like that again, it will be the last fucking thing you remember, understood?''

Izu threw her back again, and Heifu used the opportunity to grab her tanto, lying nearby. She stood up and sheathed it, readying herself for combat.

"Apologize. Now."

That did it, this brat was going to get taught a lesson she would never forget!

Theme Music

Heifu quickly formed the ram handseal, creating four replicas of herself and then launched herself at Izu with the rest of them. "I'm going to spank your bottom so red, you'll wish you had never met me! Apologize to this you arrogant brat!"

As she finished she launched her fist at the girl from the right side, her other clones surrounding Izu and attempting their own version of a maneuver. The plan wasn't to have them pretend to be shadow clones, but to allow their image to hopefully confuse the girl. If her fist connected she would attempt to flip the girl over and give her the spanking of a lifetime! If not she would assess the situation and attempt to dodge around Izu's response and look for another opening.

It was during this time she wished she remembered her smoke release techniques. Smoke body gave her a definite advantage in close-quarters encounters, but only if she actually remembered how to use the fricking element! Oddly though, Heifu realized she wasn't entirely angry, oh the girl deserved whatever was coming to her, but her anger was more of a front. In actuality, a part of her realized she was having... fun? She had forgotten how good it felt to do this, to have her body moving and fighting as only a ninja could. Of course then she remembered what this little trollop had tried to do. Maybe her anger was pretty real after all.

WC: 505
TWC: 1,088

Originally he was there to oversee a redesign of some of the facility and point out areas which needed reinforced. He was being guided about by the facilities manager, until a loud crash echoed through the building. Nothing unusual in such a place, except the following yelling. It was mere moments after the kage and manager arrived, the guy seemingly was about to tell them to knock it off, but Akabayashi wanted to see where this would go as the elderly woman pulled out a weapon. It was no surprise it was Izu caught up in such a scene. So, he merely stuck his arm out and put a finger to his lips for silence.

He would simply stand there and wait it would not be long until, the girl noticed with her byakugan unless she was so involved with what was happening before her she failed to keep up what was going on around her. A mistake ninja make far too often before an attack from a different angle takes their life. What would happen would this old woman take down the young girl or would Izu show this grandmother the power of youth? Why were they even fighting? All he assumed was Izu probably started it, she had quite the way with words that usually inspired anger.

As the old lady created 4 replica of herself, Izu smiled, seeing right trough them as illusion with her byakugan, happy to see the old lady go at it and fight her, and to see her wasting chakra on a technique that wouldnt work on her. As she was focused on the old lady talking smack, her 360 angle gaze noticed 2 other person entering the training facility gym. It was the facility manager and none other than the Mizukage Akabayashi himself. As she noticed him gesture for silence, she knew he wanted to observe, and kept an eye on him on the side, but her main focus onto her opponent.

As the old lady lunged toward her right side at a speed of 65, and her four fake clones lunged at the same speed toward her in a frontal assault, Izu dashed at 100 speed toward the clones, passing right trough them and bumping them, traversing them like they werent here, and getting Izu easily out of the reach of the old twat. In the same dodge, and as the old lady lunged, Izu readied in both of her hands 4 senbons each, in between each of her 10 fingers, and threw them all toward the lady at 100 speed, too fast for her to dodge. Each of the 8 needles were perfectly aimed with the Byakugan of Izu, and aimed toward specific tenketsu points to disrupt the old lady body and disable parts of it. The first two needles aimed toward both of her arms joint in the shoulder, disabling both of her arms, rendering them limp and unusable. The second two aimed toward her legs, in the hip joints, making them disabled too and unable to move, and since she was dashing, would make her faceplant. The two after that were aimed at the two side of her lower jaw, right into the joints of the mandible, disabling her speech and her talking shit toward Izu, a personnal choice to aim there. The last two needles would lodge into her wrist joints, wich would normaly disable her hands, but those were already out of the game by the needles in the arms. No these last two one were placed right into the major nerve of the wrist, designed only to cause the elderly woman incomensurable pain as a punishment, unable to scream or voice her suffering too. All of the needles were placed in a way to not injure or damage really the old lady more than to disable her with surgical accuracy and weaponized acupuncture, as Izu still didnt want to hurt a fellow Kiri ninja.

As the old lady would faceplant and slide on the ground unable to move except twitch her torso and move around her head, Izu would slowly walk up to her, kneel down toward her face, and gently place her hand on top of her head, grabing her by the hair and pulling to lift her head.

''Didn't I told you to not talk to me like that again you old bitch?'' Said Izu calmly but with a low angry voice into the ear of the old woman. 

As Izu spoke, her hand started to glow with chakra, and Heifu would find her head suffering a terrible headache, feeling her energy and chakra drained from herself, litteraly sapping her strength while she was disabled and couldnt move. (draining 30 AP per post)

''Goodnight now, old hag.'' whispered Izu toward the old lady as she would sap her chakra reserve until the old lady fell unconscious, depleted of her energy fully.

Heifu knew her gambit had failed as soon as she moved. The trollop immediately dashed through her clones and got out of her reach. The girl had what she assumed was the Byakugan, and had seen through her maneuver. As Heifu pivoted to face her and change tactics the fight was already over. 8 senbon slammed into her, perfectly placed and instantly disabled her.  Without even being able to cry out Heifu tumbled to the ground face first, an enormous amount of paint running through her, the majority of which seemed to emanate from her wrists.

The girl then walked over, reached down, and lifted her face. ''Didn't I told you to not talk to me like that again you old bitch?''

As she spoke Heifu felt a headache come upon her and her chakra started to slowly drain away. ''Goodnight now, old hag.'' the girl whispered to her infuriatingly.

This girl was a menace, it was clear to see, but over Heifu's anger, she actually felt respect. It seemed the academy had actually turned out a decent one this time. This was one kunoichi she did not have to worry about, thank goodness. It was all the rest of them she still had to fight for though. As she lay there she maneuvered her clones to come and stand beside them.

"If you want me to ask for mercy, you can forget it." She said through them, stubbornly. "Just because I lost doesn't mean I was wrong. I'm not just some old woman, I'm a ninja too! And you better damn treat me like one. Even if I keep ending up like this, facedown on the floor, I'll never stop asking for the simple respect any damn ninja deserves. You stupid ingrate!"

As they finished speaking she let the clones dissipate and wondered if she was simply going to pass out like this. A complete embarrassment to her old name, and not even given the chance to relearn how to use the element of wind.

WC: 336
TWC: 1424

"If you want me to ask for mercy, you can forget it." 

 "Just because I lost doesn't mean I was wrong. I'm not just some old woman, I'm a ninja too! And you better damn treat me like one. Even if I keep ending up like this, facedown on the floor, I'll never stop asking for the simple respect any damn ninja deserves. You stupid ingrate!"


The words resonnated in Izu's mind. Treat her like a ninja huh? She still didnt appologize to Izu, and this was totally unnaceptable. She wanted respect? Who was she to try and command respect instead of earn it? Since she was paralyzed and on the floor, Izu tought this would be a good moment to make her listen. As she approached the old lady, Izu raised her right foot and pressed it on the head of the grandma, pressing the sole of her hard ninja sandals boot on the side of her face against the floor, squishing it to hurt her.

''Respect is earned, not commanded. You being a ninja doesnt mean I respect you, especially not if you keep on insulting me. I've warned you to stop, to appologize, and you didn't listen. A real ninja would have a better survival instinct, instead of just arrogance and bravado.'' Said Izu, as she summoned from thin air her 5 feet long needle sword right into her hand, holding it over Heifu limp body, specifically over her back.

As she made it believe she would drop the needle and finish her opponnent, Izu simply twirled around in her hand, before pulling it back into thin air, disapearing in an instant as fast as it appeared, as if it was a magic trick done by a magician.

''If you werent a ninja of the hidden mist, I would've killed you. Now, if you want the respect of a ninja, start by acting like one. I didnt know at first you were a ninja, because of your....age. If you didnt insulted me for it, I would've appologized.'' added Izu, as she removed her foot from the face of the still paralyzed and disabled old lady.

''Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Simple as that. You want respect, you respect first. You disrespect me, im going to disrespect you, and mop the floor with your limp body. Got it?'' Added again Izu, slowly calming down. Normally, this type of behavior didnt get to her, but this old lady questionned everything she suffered for, everything she did huge sacrifices to be able to get there in her life, so she couldnt stand it. Maybe she was also more vulnerable these days because she was having a hard time since the disapearance of Jay, her team mate, and that moving in with Shiro cause more emotionnal disturbance too, even if it was mostly positive. This wasnt like her. Sure she wouldve defend herself normally too, but insulting her too and dropping to that level? that wasnt her. Making her shut up and prove the point she was stronger? sure, but talking shit back wasnt her usual self. She felt embarassed by her words, even if it was the truth. 

Taking a few seconds, or almost minutes to calm down, Izu got down toward the old lady and took out the needles out of her legs, and arms and finnally, with a bit of hesitation, out of her jaw so she could speak. Since it was a lot of needles and it must have hurt quite badly, she also applied her hand on the old lady, and with a green glow, healed her minor stab wounds. As the old lady got back her sense, Izu offered a hand to help her get up, a sign of truce and of, even if minimal, respect for her. If she took it, Izu would simply nod and get a faint smile.

Without more words toward her, she turned toward Akabayashi who was still watching, and bowed down toward him.

''Greetings Lord Mizukage. Sorry for this inconveniance. Were you here to train too?'' Said Izu in a more calm maner, back to her neutral and cold self, returned to a state of in-control of her emotions.

Heifu felt weak and foolish, lying paralyzed on the floor. She could do nothing but listen to the girl ramble on. Before she started though, the trollop put her foot against her face, squishing it while still holding her head upright so she could speak to her. The humiliation Heifu felt was more immense than the magnitude of pain her body was in.

''Respect is earned, not commanded. You being a ninja doesn't mean I respect you, especially not if you keep on insulting me. I've warned you to stop, to apologize, and you didn't listen. A real ninja would have a better survival instinct, instead of just arrogance and bravado.'' As the girl said this a unique-looking sword appeared in her hand. She moved it towards  her back and as a clear threat pretended to drop it before she sent it back to whence it came. Heifu didn't flinch. She stared at the girl defiantly. If this was to be her end, so be it. Though the girl would regret the decision to turn on her fellow Kirigakure shinobi.

''If you werent a ninja of the hidden mist, I would've killed you. Now, if you want the respect of a ninja, start by acting like one. I didnt know at first you were a ninja, because of your....age. If you didnt insulted me for it, I would've appologized.' The girl said as she lifted her foot back off of Heifu's face. ''Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Simple as that. You want respect, you respect first. You disrespect me, im going to disrespect you, and mop the floor with your limp body. Got it?'

Empty threats, she thought. If turning on her fellow ninja over a verbal spat wasn't a crime, killing her over it certainly was. Heifu was sure the girl had to be aware of it, even if all she seemed to be was a violent hoodlum. The assumption that she wasn't a ninja based on her appearance was also insulting. Especially when she had been here, in the middle of the training grounds. Though being lectured on respect by a punk kid was certainly a new low for her. Especially when the girl clearly had no idea what the word even meant. However even as the thought went through her mind the girl began to take her senbon out of Heifu and even took the time to heal her injuries. The relief from the pain was immense enough to even crack Heifu's stoic facade. As she began to get up off the ground, her old bones trembling from the strain, she saw the girl offer her hand to help her get to her feet. Heifu's eyes narrowed for a moment as she looked at the gesture. But she recognized it for the peace offering it was, however small and tenuous that peace may be, and she took it.

"There are basic respects that should be paid to any shinobi and especially to your fellow sisters in arms. Or at least there was back in my day..." She trailed off but quickly shook herself, not wanting to lose her point.  "Respect your opponent and assume a threat regardless of appearance is just one of those. Your words betrayed your disrespect, especially when it should be obvious here of all places that I'm not just a simple, weak old... what did you call me? Fleshbag? But you did treat me like a fellow shinobi when you took your hand to me and for that, you have my thanks. Perhaps not all is lost in your generation. Even if you're certainly more violent than I would expect..."

She trailed off again, searching for her next words carefully. "You won't get an apology from me, but nor will I ask one of you. Perhaps we can simply let things be? Bygones and all that?"

As she finished speaking she realized the girl's eyes weren't even on her. Before she knew it the girl had bowed and said, ''Greetings Lord Mizukage. Sorry for this inconveniance. Were you here to train too?''

Heifu froze to the spot. Shame soaked her to her very core. Of anyone in the village to see her disgrace it was, of course, the Mizukage. A few long moments went by before she could paste a semblance of a smile on her face and turn, bowing to the leader of their village. What was the Mizukage doing here?!?

WC: 740
TWC: 2,164