Missions Aplenty - Ninja or Servant? (Mission)

Missions:

Yūjo had had a long day already. Assigned a variety of missions she had already accomplished two of them. Her first was at the aviary where she was asked to scrub the cages and aid the keepers. She had to admit, scrubbing bird feces was not the first thing she had in mind when she had signed up to become a ninja. Nor the second, third, fourth, or fifth even. However, she did know the value of hard labour and diligently worked away, wanting to prove she deserved her place in Kumogakure.

She looked a mess, her hair splayed wildly about, and her attire marked with who knows what from the filthy work. But it was honest work and when she had finished she moved on to her next task of working at a pet adoption clinic. This was much more suitable to her skills. Using her remarkable strength she made a bunch of DIY fixes to the building. She hammered boards in place, fixed faulty light bulbs, and did a variety of other errands before moving on to catch and return as many animals as she could. It was while here that she realized she wasn't alone. Two other faces looked familiar as they had also been working away at the aviary as well as here. She approached them with a smile on her face despite their vast age difference, as she realized they'd likely been assigned to the same set of missions. It was about time she started making friends in the village, even if she was disappointed neither was an attractive male prospect. In fact, she hadn't spotted any men today that made her want to whistle or compliment them on their... various features. Perhaps it was for the best, she hardly looked her best today and she didn't want to scare them off like she had so many times before.

WC: 314
TWC: 314
MTWC: 314/2,500

Hibiki regretted offering to help out with some regular and cyclical jobs around the village that always provided steady work for genins and students alike. He had been working in the aviary and dog centre together but apart from the other two. Hibiki had been surprised to see Hikari cleaning out the falcons, sleeves rolled up but wasn't quite certain why it seemed to strange to. He had supposed she would prefer the uncountable jobs assisting in the library or helping someone study books and things like that. He realised he had failed in his ninja training and made assumptions based on appearance. He made a mental note to apologise later and wondered the best way how, and pondered on this as he worked. By the time they had completed their clean-up up of the aviary and had begun work on the dog centre he had decided to purchase a bookmark, preferably one with lots of big words on it. It seemed like the perfect gift, useful, simple and cheap. Hibiki also considered getting a gift for the older lady with them as well, he couldn't get a gift for just one person in the team after all, he had always been taught to share in success and in good fortune and it had served him well so far.

He studied the tall blonde lady more carefully, trying to think of an equally suitable gift that was practical and useful. Something she might need and be able to use. Hibiki was struck by a eureka moment and knew what the perfect gift would be, in fact it was so obvious to him now. Hibiki silently congratulated himself and determined to purchase a bookmark for Hikari and a hair comb for this Yujo lady. He considered that he might also need to buy a dagger for Minami for the next time they worked together.

The young genin dusted himself off and joined the others with a spring in his stride. "Well we are getting these jobs done quickly, didn't expect to see you out here though Hikari." He turned to address the taller woman whom he understood to be named Yujo. "Names Sato Hibiki but you can call me Hibiki or Sempai if you prefer. It's never too late to become a great ninja and under our guidance I am sure you will pass the genin exam in no time at all! I believe our next mission involves investigating a massage parlour. My mum said the only men that go there are degenerates and I shouldn't go near there, but if It's for a mission, it can't be helped. Don't see what's so bad about getting a massage though if they worked hard all day." Hibiki scratched his head as he clearly puzzled over his last point and pulled a grass stalk from his ponytail, smiling with delight before popping it in his mouth. "Ah! I wondered where I left that. So do we want to investigate the next mission with stealth or with deception?"

He turned to Yujo again and cocked his head a little. "Have you got any special tricks or skills that might be of use?" He smiled a toothy grin as a perfect replication of Hikari's voice appeared over Yujo's left shoulder by using his Puppet Art: Ventriloquism. "Because I do!" the voice switched to Yujo's own and seemed to be coming from her other shoulder without missing a beat. "It is pretty handy you know." Hibiki stopped throwing his voice and spoke normally again. "So what are your strengths? Always good to know what teammates can do"

WC: 600  TWC:600  MTWC: 914/2500

Human Form/Present Appearance:

The young Kitsune of Kumogakure no Sato had signed up for some extra work more recently. She could tell that the more she did, the better her capacity to interact with others and sort through some of the riff-raff that was the denizens of the village. Hikari was coming to her sort of beat now that the recent affairs settled down. She could not quite remember the dreams that occurred but everything else leading up to it was still semi-fresh in her mind. A light sigh escaped her lips as she took on her human appearance that day. The thing she noticed was that she was not the first to begin the proceedings of the day as she worked her way through some of the motions to aid with including that of the falconry. She was not exactly one for the grime of the day but she kept up with it as best as she could. It definitely was odd to see the bookworm of the village doing labor such as it but outwardly she looked more traditionally feminine and the task still looked out of place.

From there the group helped fix up one of the adoption centers within the village of Kumogakure No Sato to be more up to code. Hikari took this time to inspect and make sure they were as much up to code as they could be with their help. Her traditional trait of simply blocking things out was apparent as she had been just as quiet as the others up to the point that Hibiki spoke up after they finished beginning to introduce themselves properly to Yūjo. Hikari blinked a few moments before shaking her head lightly refocusing on the group. Waiting for Hibiki to finish with his introduction and commentary, the kitsune could not help but stifle a light chuckle at the young genin's remarks. She wiped a small tear that had been forming before addressing Hibiki, "As much as I would prefer not to be doing half of these things Sato-san. These types of missions are still objectives set out by the village to better improve the quality of life and ensure that the people of the village are taken care of and assisted. They are... not as important as other tasks but the well-being of the whole is important to take into consideration concerning the operation of the village on a larger scale for general commerce and flow of growth for denizen populations."

Rattling off for a moment, Hikari turned to Yūjo before offering a hand to the older woman, "Hikari Kobayashi. Resident Kumogakuran Scholar of Thunderpeak Campus, avid reader and enjoyer of literature, and purveyor of long-term academia. My main focus is on Space-Time understanding and execution and my Clan's heritage is in Genjutsu allowing us some degree of anonymity if we should choose to go that route. Beyond that, though Sato-san is accurate in his assessment to better understand the capacities we should have at our disposal as our day does not end with just the Massage Parlor. There are two other missions on the docket today that will require disposal of a strange cube substance and recovery of a purse in a vulture's nest." She elaborated before allowing the older academy student to address the concerns and ideas presented by Hibiki and subsequently explained them to the older teenager. Her appearance invoked a level of youth though it was clear that her degree of understanding and explanation was that of someone older than her. Though not visible or present, her general reflexes seemed almost vulpine-like from their interactions.

WC: 600, TWC: 600 | TMWC: 1,514 / 2,500

Yūjo watched the exchange between the two younger ninja with interest. It seemed they were likely genin and not academy students at all. As she looked closer at the two she found their headbands had made that clear. She certainly felt late to the game, but was grateful to be allowed to try and was sure she had a lot to learn from these two, young as they are. It was Sato's next words that made her laugh out loud, a large guffaw that seemed unsuited to even a woman of her size. Once the belly shaking action had ended she smiled at the young shinobi and replied warmly, "Pleased to meet you, Sempai. I promise to be an avid student. I'm sure under your tutelage I will have much to learn. Though my first bit of advice, if you'll take some from your new student, is to trust your mother. We may need to go there today, but I'm sure no visitor of such an establishment will be husband material."

With that, she gave Hikari a knowing look and bowed her head, "Yūjo Kohana at your service. I'm sure you have plenty of experience weeding out the bastards vying for your hand, eh? With smarts like yours, any sane man would know to lock you down as soon as possible! I only wish I had the same problem." She gave the girl a wink, "Don't worry though, I've got a plan to not end up an old maid so you don't have to worry about me."

It was then her Sempai asked about her talents, startling her with a skilled throwing of his voice. "I'm pretty new to this Sempai, but I've always been strong. So any heavy lifting or heads that need to get clunked together you can leave to me. I'm also something an expert with men, so any diplomacy in that regard you can leave to me!" She then added to herself softly, "You learn a thing or two, growing up with geisha."

But then she remembered she was in the presence of a twelve year old and tried to choke herself off and turn to a whistle. When she thought she may have fooled the young boy she began to answer his next question. Though she knew if she looked at Hikari it would just confirm there was no fooling her. "I'm sure we can bluff our way in. Though I'm a straightforward kinda gal, maybe Hikari would be best suited for the task?"

Regardless of the decision she would move with the team towards their next destination. As they walked she warmed to both of them quickly. The young boy's charming innocence was immediately likable, and she knew he would grow into a fine young man one day. That is, if he lived until then. The life of a shinobi was a dangerous one after all. It's why she hoped to make a name for herself and then dip out once she found a suitable husband. Hikari on the other hand was old enough to understand her, and even seemed wise beyond her years. The girl's mind was fascinating, she couldn't imagine studying something as obscure as space-time. But then again, she was never born to be a scholar, not with this clumsy strength and build. She envied that the girl had so clearly found her place here in Kumogakure, as she knew she herself wouldn't feel that until she started her own family.

As they arrived at the parlor she gave a man exiting it an appreciative look. He had beautiful blond hair like hers, piercing blue eyes, and a good height to him. As he walked she could tell he had a nice packa- She interrupted herself, realizing where he had exited from. Not husband material. She thought to herself before firmly throwing the man from her mind. She pulled her hands back down to her face. As they were half-formed for her to give the degenerate a wolf whistle before she caught on to what he was about. It was here that she shifted her focus, "Well, time's up. What's our plan of attack?"

WC: 693
TWC: 1,007
MTWC: 2,297/2,500

Hibiki smiled as Hikari spoke whilst using a particular technique he had been practising at the tavern for situations like this. Through larger amounts of practice Hibiki was able to simulate a form of white noise inside of his head that allowed him to filter out parts of the conversation whilst still being able to understand the correct moments to reply with a nod or a simple noise of agreement or disagreement. So far he had been very successful with his practice and utilised this method now, nodding along as Hikari spoke about the village, operations and commerce. He phased back into the conversation once she began talking to their new kohai, Hibiki had been unaware of Hikari’s particular talents and so the information was certainly useful. He chimed in at the mention of the rot blocks. “Yeah I cleaned up one of the rot cube things recently, they are pretty disgusting really though I would love to find out what actually leaves them around the village. And what is it with thieving birds recently, dad says its an avian epidermis, no that’s skin.. well epi something anyway.”

Hibiki waved his hand around Hikari’s back when she wasn’t looking, checking to see if there were any invisible tails like the ones he saw briefly during the dream inclusion mission. Perhaps they had been a product of sleep deprivation after all. Hibiki listened to Yujo set out her strengths and scratched his head in confusion, wondering how you became an expert in men. As  a medical nin he was aware of the differences anatomically but did not understand why anyone would choose to study only. Hibiki made a note to research the differences further in case his education had been lacking in that area, he never had been all to great with book reading and research. He cocked his head at the word geisha as he had definitely heard of that word and his eye lit up as he looked up at his kohai with new found respect.

“I know all about Geisha! My grandad talked about visiting them when he was young and said they were all very beautiful and trained to perfect their skills nightly, even going without sleep sometimes. Mum said they are like the anbu and work in secret. Apparently you need the kage’s permission to speak to them and only after you are an adult. Seems like a weird rule but who am I to question the village rules. You must be pretty skilled if you were trained by them as well? As expected of my kohai-san!”

Hibiki patted Yujo’s back as she choked and wheezed, trying to help clear her throat. “Careful Kohai, can’t have you choking to death in the middle of the mission. I am mainly a puppet user but I also have a little training in medical jutsu as well but its pretty limited and I’m not too great at healing yet so try not to get hurt. I agree that perhaps stealth would be the better approach but I don’t think they will let me if they think I’m just some kid hmmm. Ah how about this.”

Hibiki Transformation:

Hibiki used the transformation technique to turn into an older looking version of himself gaining a foot in height and standing at 6’3 and deepening his voice to match his fathers tone whilst mixing it with his own voice. He had tested the transformation several times and recently used it during his performance as a tengu under the name Hanzo. If anyone from the parlour had seen it then it might even enable him to infiltrate the place with less difficulty.
“How do I look?” Hibiki gave a little spin and was quite pleased with how it had turned out. “So I guess we should all head over and pretend to be customers right? Then once inside we can have a look around and find out what’s going on then report back.” Hibiki now stood taller than Yujo and so patted her shoulder reassuringly. “Don’t worry Yujo, if anything happens me and Hikari can protect you, just uh, try not to get to jumpy is you see a large puppet suddenly appear. People tend to get jumpy around Jorogumo though I don’t see why, I think she turned out pretty well.”

Upon arrival Hibiki watched Yujo scan the man that exited shortly before with a trained eye and wondered if there had been something he missed? To Hibiki’s eyes he looked thoroughly relaxed and in good spirits with nothing particularly suspicious. The again Hibiki hadn’t been trained by geisha so perhaps there was something important he had missed. He made a mental note to ask hi new Kohai about it later but pressed on with the mission at hand. In his new more adult form he strode forward confidently to the entrance pulling out a small pouch of ryo. "How much for a room for three? Me and my er…companions here have been working hard all morning  and would like to put up our feet and relax a little.” He turned back to the other tow briefly with a wink and thumbs up to show how well he was doing and smiled cheerfully as the man requested what Hibiki considered to be an exuberant amount of ryo for a simple massage, clearly they were very good at their job.  Hibiki waved to his team to join him and was secretly very proud of himself, stroking the stubble on the his chin that was created as part of the transformation. He had removed the grass stalk before entering so as not to attract to much attention.

Once inside they were led to a room and told to wait as apparently the workers needed to wash up but would be along shortly. Hibiki was amazed, he wished he could take a shower whenever he wanted at work but the opportunity only came if it was raining and it was less fun when your clothes also got soaking wet and cold. He threw his voice into his team mates ears to avoid seeming to suspicious and flexed his fingers making shapes in the air dextrously as though weaving a complicated and invisible cats cradle. “Keep an eye out for anything suspicious, huh, didn’t expect this much grunting and groaning from a massage, is that normal? Guess that doesn’t matter right now, that was easier than I thought but was very expensive so they must be good. So what should we do next?”

WC: 1085 TWC:1685 TMWC: 3382/2500

Hearing the initial words alongside the remarks from Yūjo, Hikari was taken aback by the forwardness of the older woman. Her face flushed quickly at the remarks before waving her hand dismissing the notion alongside the conversation, "I've found different problems in life." She said a bit cryptically to the student. After hearing and seeing Hibiki's comments and actions, Hikari shifted subconsciously before the redness returned in a lighter shade at his motions. She let out a pent-up breath before following and listening intently to the others as they made their way towards the massage parlor, significantly quieter than before. Thankfully the insinuation from the two was not something they were investigating but rather to see if they were collecting bodies to sell. The sooner this task was investigated and completed the better in Hikari's eyes as she gave a light sigh tailing behind the two on the journey there.

Upon arrival, it appeared that Yūjo had some other notions of intent and it was Hibiki who took the first step forward to get them more properly inside. "Perhaps it might be a good time to work on people skills. The workers would likely be able to give more insight and information on the operations of the business. We're here to investigate not act as a reminder. Should trouble find us, our primary directive is likely to just regroup outside and away from the business." Hikari chimed before moving to a corner of the room and doing a few handseals before turning invisible. "I'll sneak around and meet y'all outside." She declared as the door opened and two women walked into the room in apparent bathrobes of a variety of colors. Although the two could not see Hikari, and similarly her companions could not, her face flushed before she darted out behind them before the door closed, escaping what was likely to be a significantly more awkward conversation with Hibiki, one that Hikari felt that Yūjo would have a better or easier time expanding on seeing her previous attempted actions.

Now in the main hallway, Hikari went towards the back of the establishment as the sounds shifted from various guttural noises and vocal degradation of others to low hums and a locked door that was unmarked. As much as Hikari had ways to try to get through part of the mission was to avoid rousing suspicion too. Thankfully it looked like the backdoor was near the locked door. As she walked away from the locked door, her sense of smell picked up more cleaning products, and it smelt sterile, unlike the rest of the establishment. Gave a good sense of something happening behind that locked door and for a preliminary investigation for an E-Rank mission she felt it was more than enough on her side to look into odd things. Walking out the back door, Hikari was surprised to see that it was unlocked actually, something else of note. From there she made her way towards the front to regroup.

WC: 500, TWC: 1,100 | TMWC: Enough > 2,500

Yūjo was surprised to see Hibiki take charge of their entrance into the parlour. She blushed a deep red at his clumsy attempt to rent them a room for a 'massage.' It was clear he was nothing but a child and she began to question the life choices she had made that led to her bringing a boy of his age on a mission like this. In fact, she began to question the village a little bit for assigning him on a mission like this. She'd grown up knowing about the birds and the bees as it was an important aspect for any aspiring geisha, but she knew full well that wasn't the case for most children. But regretful or not, the boy's deception did get them admitted to the parlour.

She was grateful at first for Hikari's volunteering to sneak around and investigate while they maintained their cover. However, her gratitude quickly evaporated when she noticed the girl disappeared as soon as they got into the room. As Hibiki began his remarks on their situation she could only think of how sly Hikari was.

“Keep an eye out for anything suspicious, huh, didn’t expect this much grunting and groaning from a massage, is that normal? Guess that doesn’t matter right now, that was easier than I thought but was very expensive so they must be good. So what should we do next?”

Coward! She silently cursed at Hikari. She would make the girl pay for this, except if she had been smart enough to escape as well she would have. She couldn't blame her for using her smarts against her.

"I um... think we should get out of here and investigate the complex as well. Just... let me lead the way. My geisha training puts me at an... advantage in a place like this."

She turned away and exited the room, hoping to hide her tomato red face from the boy. She didn't know if she could handle any more questions from him and she thought the boy's mother would never forgive her for answering them either. She made a sign for the cross on her chest as she left, may she be forgiven for this!

As they made their way throughout the establishment she would take charge and put her ear up against doors to investigate. Many were clearly... occupied, and she moved on quickly in hopes of dissuading Hibiki from asking too many questions. While they didn't find the room Hikari had discovered on her own they did find plenty of supplies that seemed at odds for an establishment like this. They passed a few gurneys and found a supply closet filled with a variety of medical supplies and scalpels. She noted each of these and was grateful their search went largely unnoticed. Before long they had exited the building without incident. She searched for Hikari and on finding her quickly relayed what she had found.  Once they compared notes she looked a the parlour with a new light. Something strange was going on here and she hoped their information was enough to warrant an investigation by more experienced shinobi.

When they had finished talking Yūjo did have one crafty thought, "Hey Sempai! Hikari just told me she'd be thrilled to answer any questions you might have about that place now that the investigation is over. So make sure to go to her if you want to learn anything more about it."

There! That should suitably pay her back for leaving her with the boy while in there. She hoped the girl would forgive her, she already quite liked Hikari, but it was tit for tat in situations like these. Once the two's exchange had passed Yūjo would lead the way to their next destination.

She smelled it before she saw it and wrinkled her nose in distaste. In the middle of the street was a cube of dead organic matter, exuding a disgusting smell ripe enough to singe nose hairs. It was out of place in its surroundings of middle to upper class businesses and had no hint of its origins. It was as if the cube had just sprung from existence, gross and born from nothing. She wasn't sure what it was or if it was even safe to touch the thing, all she knew was that they should deal with the thing quickly before she gave up her sense of smell for good.

WC: 739
TWC: 1,746
MTWC: Exceeded/2,500

Hibiki’s eyes widened when Hikari simply vanished in front of them and he was taken aback. He knew of course there were a plethora of sensory or genjutsu’s techniques that could achieve the affect, but he had not been aware that Hikari used them. He decided he would have to be much more careful with his words and comments when out and about and made a note never to talk his thoughts out loud, at least not as much. Hibiki was only human after all. Hibiki nodded in agreement and followed Yujo out of the room, apologising to the ladies who had entered and promising to come back shortly. If they were lucky, they might even get to have that massage after all. Things took a stranger turn when they found the gurneys and medical supplies stored in the cupboards and Hibiki quickly began taking stock of the various instruments and supplies.

He processed the information quickly and felt his stomach drop as he recognised almost all of the materials and chemicals from his work in the medical centre and especially now that he was allowed to carry out autopsies. Everything here pointed towards the fact they were embalming or operating on corpses. Hibiki was shocked by the revelation, why would people carry out surgeries in a massage parlour? Hibiki leaned over to whisper in Yujo’s ear, his transformed form easily reaching the height required. “This is all equipment I use during autopsies, they have everything you would need for dissect or preserve a body, although I think it must be done quite crudely. No other reason they would need this equipment and this much formaldehyde. With this much stock they would need to be working on at least a few bodies a week and I am pretty certain this place isn’t a funeral home. I think this might be why we were sent here to investigate but we should probably get going. I don’t want my kohai to get injured fighting some thugs or have you get your organs stolen.”

Hibiki led the way out of a quiet back entrance, remaining watchful of potential attackers and determined to make sure they got out okay, he considered returning to look for Hikari but knew she would be smart enough not to get caught and the priority for the genin was to make sure Yujo got out okay. Hibiki released a silent sigh of relief when he spotted Hikari waiting for them out the from and he relaxed a little but maintained his transformation.

"Hey Sempai! Hikari just told me she'd be thrilled to answer any questions you might have about that place now that the investigation is over. So make sure to go to her if you want to learn anything more about it."

Hibiki smiled. “ Thanks Hikari! I will be sure to make a list of questions for next time we meet up, for now I think we should focus on the missions remaining. That place sure gave me the creeps too after finding all those chemicals and medical equipment. I think it confirms they are handling dead bodies, maybe even organ extraction as well but they ….uh….. would need to be alive for that for the best results and…. Oh..” The potential reality set in as Hibiki said the words out loud not fully considering the full implications before he said them. He shook his head and was almost grateful to see and smell the rot cube as they were not so affectionately known to the villagers.

“Well lets get this diced up I guess! If find burning them works quite well and at least gets rid of the worst of the stink.” Hibiki made the hand signs of rat -> dog and his puppet Kodama shimmered from the purple outline as it was brought out of his storage displacement technique. Hibiki attached his chakra strings deftly, not bothering to try and hide them though they would still be difficult to spot clearly in the light of day. Hibiki kept back a bit as he sent Kodama forwards, making it slash and cut the cube into more manageable pieces withy its bladed arms as they whirled furiously, reacting to the myriad of deft movements of Hibiki’s right hand. Once the cube was diced up sufficiently Hibiki turned to the others and also addressed any nearby passerby’s. “ If everyone could just stand back about 10 meters away from the rot cube remains please, I am about to burn it!” Hibiki waited until the area was sufficiently clear before he made the further signs of snake -> ram -> monkey before inhaling a huge breath in, moulding the fire nature into his chakra and igniting it as he breathed out a great ball of flame that struck the cube remains and expanded briefly, though small than usual as Hibiki did not want to burn more than he had to. Once the flame subsided some of the stench had lessened somewhat and the cube appeared to be much easier to carry and would be less gooey to the touch.

Once the remaining clean-up was complete He gave a thumbs up sign to his team mates. “Just the thieving bird right? I had a similar mission right before I graduated too, I bet it’s the same damn bird that stole the valuables too! It lives up in the cliffs so you will need to use surface walking. He looked to Yujo. “Have you had a chance to learn surface walking yet? Because if not I can always carry you up with Jorogumo if you would like? Once the arms lock around you should be pretty safe and can just relax and enjoy the view as we climb!” Hibiki awaited his team mates response as he led them towards the bottom of the cliff where he had first retrieved the snatched purse from a particularly pesky hawk.

WC: 986  TWC: 2,671  TMWC: exceeding req / 2,500

Once the group joined back up and shared their findings, it was clear that their mission was quite successful though the certainty of how soon action would be taken was the question that resided in Hikari's head. The oddness of the establishment also likely meant the weirdness they were was something that might be dismissible, however the commentary that was not was from Yūjo. The theoretical Q and A that was on its way to her doorstep with the young Hibiki was not one she was thrilled to have been pigeonholed into. A mixture of disdain and exasperation could be detailed from Hikari before Hibiki's thanks were received as she adjusted herself and smiled back. "Definitely will be an informative time that I'm sure Kohana-san would happily accompany with during that time." She said, her eyes closing with a big smile towards Hibiki before opening and shooting daggers at the older student.

Once that mission was settled there were two more to handle and remedy through the rot cube and the purse snatcher. With Hibiki being quick and swift to remedy the situation with his use of puppetry and techniques, Hikari took mental note of the capacity of her fellow genin as she appeared to be cataloging capacity and information of the substance and its interactions to heat. A studious shinobi indeed was presented by Hikari while she helped clean up. With the assortment of missions coming to and end soon, Hikari looked between Yūjo and Hibiki as the prompt of surface walking came into question as Hibiki led the two towards his last encounter with the hawk who had a penchant for purse relocation. Hikari had pulled out a handkerchief and rubbed at her nose as the fumes of the cube were a bit more actively sensitive towards her sense of smell. Mixing chemical smells with now likely gastric was not a great mix for the young kitsune as they approached the next challenge.

"If you have not learned it, and are not wishing to be carried, this could be a good time to showcase and teach Kohana-san the technique. After all, it is a core capability of shinobi to be able to do it through fine chakra control." Hikari added in looking to Yūjo to see if that was a more preferable option. As much as it seemed they were in a competition to see who had to deal with the more awkward and painstaking conversation about birds with Hibiki, Hikari did not want to see the woman be degraded by being carried by a puppet from the young genin beside them. The likelihood that Yūjo could simply just climb was also a possibility but incorporating their shinobi capacity would make this mission easier. With that in mind as well, Hikari knew that once they spotted the hawk if they needed to make use of her own space-time capabilities it would be easy to use a technique to either bind the hawk in place or bring it down, hopefully without hurting it.

With the assessment of the group being made for what to do, Hikari did her best to make the most of the scenario that would end up occurring. As a kitsune herself, heights and the sort were not a huge issue for her though she did prefer to remain grounded. As such knowing to some extent her limitations, waited to see what the other two would do to begin the ascent up the cliffside. She wanted to observe the general dynamic forming of the group a bit more before seeing how it would impact the final mission on their to-do list of objectives. She already had a potential choice selection between a few options to hold the hawk down should the need arise but now it was time to see how the academy student would respond to the two genin's ideas and how they would proceed.

WC: 650, TWC: 1,750 | TMWC: Enough > 2,500

"Definitely will be an informative time that I'm sure Kohana-san would happily accompany with during that time."

Yūjo raised her eyebrow at Hikari in response. The girl was crafty that was for sure. But she wasn't going to win this one, not after abandoning her with the boy in the middle of a massage parlour. Without missing a beat she replied, "I wouldn't want to intrude on your kind offer Hikari. Plus I believe you'd agree these kinds of discussions are normally handled one on one. You've already said you're a scholar, so I know you're certainly smarter than me and the better choice when it comes to a teacher."

She smiled at the girl winningly but knew she would have to apologize later. She wasn't getting roped into this discussion and Hikari would have to find her own way out of it without roping her in. Yūjo just hoped she understood and didn't hate her too much for her own underhanded tactics, even if they were even in that regard. It had been a while since she'd had a proper friend. Her husband chasing ways tended to ostracize her from such things fairly quickly. But if she put in the effort Hikari might be a suitable friend, as long as she didn't try and snatch any of Yūjo's manly prey.

These thoughts deserted her as they came upon the rot cube. Its disgusting nature left little room to think about anything else. She was amazed by Hibiki's display of ability. His puppet whirred and sliced away at the cube to turn it into more manageable pieces and then Hibiki executed a masterful fire breathing jutsu technique to burn it away. She hoped to be skilled like that one day, though her only talent so far seemed to come from her ridiculous strength. She wondered if she would be able to use ninjutsu in that way. Once completed Hibiki said, “Just the thieving bird right? I had a similar mission right before I graduated too, I bet it’s the same damn bird that stole the valuables too! It lives up in the cliffs so you will need to use surface walking. He looked to Yujo. “Have you had a chance to learn surface walking yet? Because if not I can always carry you up with Jorogumo if you would like? Once the arms lock around you should be pretty safe and can just relax and enjoy the view as we climb!”

Yūjo tried to mask her reaction but she was somewhat horrified at the prospect. She wasn't sure what else could be more humiliating than that. But before she could respond Hikari interjected, "If you have not learned it, and are not wishing to be carried, this could be a good time to showcase and teach Kohana-san the technique. After all, it is a core capability of shinobi to be able to do it through fine chakra control."

Yūjo calmed a bit at her words, grateful the girl gave her an out even after she tried to pin her down with Hibiki's questions regarding the birds and the bees. She was worried at her ability to pick up the technique so easily though. They could spend days mastering it instead of completing the mission. No, she needed to learn at a different time. "Thank you both, but I think I'd rather climb. I'm strong and shouldn't slow you down too much. I'm worried a full lesson could delay our mission's success too significantly. But if you could give me a few pointers before ascending yourself I'm sure that would be helpful as I work to learn it myself."

She hoped her reasoning was sufficient for them. The last thing in the world she wanted was to be carried up by a twelve year olds puppet. If any potential husbands were watching she'd be doomed!

WC: 644
TWC: 2,390
MTWC: Exceeded/2,500