Old and New

Patrol Training

The sun rose as it always did, a bright ball of fire that dried out his mouth. His eyes were practically stuck together, he was connected to his pillow by a dried patch of dribble and at his bed side table was the left overs of a night of fun, he grumbled - it was patrol day.

Like a zombie he rose, his body vertical and his legs still numb, laying in his bed. ”I should know better than to go out before a mission” Jiraijin rolled out of bed with a thud, hitting the floor and adding a groan to his list of concerns for the morning.

An hour later he was out of his shared accommodation and out into the streets, in his hands was the scroll that he picked up the night before, signing himself up for a mission whilst he was supposed to be out enjoying himself was very much him. There was no judgemental eyes on him, but he rolled his own eyes anyway and started to read the assignment.

”Patrol - Monument.” was all that it said. A very clear instruction, though pretty vague in comparasion to the normal mission descriptions, something was different today - it would concern him if this wasn’t just an E-Rank Mission. Not long after he arrived at the monument, some other Academy students were cleaning it up but other than that nothing spectacular seemed to be happening, so he looked for a high rooftop and made his way there, hopefully the height would give him an advantage.

WC: 259

Heifu was thrilled with her assignment today, even if those who assigned it weren't entirely aware of what they'd put into motion. She could tell they knew nothing about her, they saw an elderly ninja with experience to give to the next generation. How could such a person not be a great candidate for teaching an academy student how to patrol properly? She frowned angrily at the thought. She wasn't some sage old teacher ready to pass on her pearls of wisdom to the next generation. She was Zankokuna Kemuri, the Cruel Smoke! Anyone who left the academy not ready to take their life in their own hands and fight tooth and nail for the village wasn't ready. A B-rank mission a few weeks ago had almost killed four genin! She wouldn't let any aspiring shinobi enter that fray unprepared, even if her methods may be considered harsh.

The air whipped past her face particularly harshly, reminding her not to get too deep in thought as she continued to leap between rooftops, on her way to test her prospective student. His name was Jiraijin Hōzuki, which meant he was a member of the Hōzuki clan. A clan typical of the village and capable of great uses of water techniques. But a clan had no real bearing on the potential of a person themself. She would see if he had any real chance at success in becoming a shinobi. Beyond his name, she had a decent description of the boy, and she was slightly surprised at his age. Most academy students were typically younger. It could go either way as to whether or not being older was an asset. She hoped his years had taught him some wisdom and sense enough to keep him alive as a shinobi.

As she neared the monument she slowed her pace, favoring stealth over speed. She began to look for the boy in earnest and formed her hands into the Tiger seal. Her eyes sharpened further she searched avidly, not even a dense shadow being a place he might hide. It took her slightly longer to find him as she was surprised he had the forethought to utilize a high vantage point to monitor the area. While it was an obvious consideration for even a ninja of middling talent, it meant the boy was more talented than half the 'ninja' they had graduating from the academy these days. With this information in mind, she quickly came up with a plan of attack.

Her hands flashed between the seal for Ram and then Dog. Four copies of herself sprang into existence and then transformed into four tough looking men with the distinct markings of being missing ninja. Once created she left them behind and advanced to the statue on her own. It didn't take much pretending to seem like a doddering old woman come to admire the visage of the first Mizukage. She waited a suitable amount of time to keep appearances up before the four clones advanced and arrived at the scene. Displaying their weapons and shouting angrily they advanced, scaring off the few academy students who were there to clean. One clone had a hand filled with paper bombs and bragged loudly of his wish to destroy the monument. Heifu pretended to be confused and terrified and before long they surrounded her and began to threaten and badger her. Doing her best to play the part, she waited to see what the academy student's first move would be.

WC: 584
TWC: 584
MTWC: Exceeded/500

The advantage of height was clear and could not be understated, from each building he could see further into the city, his eyes met with the tallest of the buildings, he wondered how much Chakra it would take to run up the side of it straight to the top. ”I’l climb that building one day.” he promised himself, once he had enough Chakra to sustain both the journey up and the journey down.

The momentary lapse in his concentration was fleeting as he instead moved back to his patrolling position. Staying in one place had no benefit, it made several blind spots that he identified with a mental note. There was also no strengths in taking a circulated or regular route, these were far to predictable and made room for any decent espionage officer to break through and take advantage off, instead he kept an irregular search, checking for blind spot angles, changing rooftops and floors, never focusing to long on one thing or another, it was physically impossible to be completely random, but this was as best as he could give.

The students were busy bees, clearing up mess  disproportionate to the size of the statue. No legitimate member of the Kirigakure would dare drop litter at the monument to the Mizukage, one eye raised as he eyed the other students who seemed clueless to him, ”Likely a lesson in patience and humbleness. but then again - Many of the missions felt just the same, exercises in restraint and a reminder that all legends start off small. He moved on, investigating alleyways from the rooftops that led to this central location, and in this city there were numerous.

Many paid their respects to the statue, old and young, rich and poor. None caught his eye as suspicious or anything to be concerned about, they all kept an acceptable distance from the statue. It would have been helpful to have a second patrolman down by the statue itself, to catch any last minute decision vandalism that he would not be able to react, but that wasn’t the case - which was fine.

Enough into the mission to not be suspicious or giveaway an intended test things started to get interesting. The appearance of 4 men, all brandishing weapons and seemingly with a chip on there shoulder about something. ”Disarm… descalate.” he took a deep breath in defiance of his shaking nerves, though careful not to reveal his position to them through sound. When he took a second glance, using his training from the days before about stealth to minimise his physical presence, he noted all the other students had ran off. ”Chicken shots…” he whispered to himself, he would deal with them later. Embarrassments to be in the same league as them.

Still - he was outnumbered, and he did not have the offensive skills needed to deal with 4 enemies in such close quarters, especially as his so called class mates had unceremoniously left the scene. Stakes were also getting higher, there was an innocent involved as well as the statue. Shit. His best bet was misdirection, so he formulated a plan. When outnumbered, it was best to divide and conquer, he closed his eyes to focus his chakra and swiftly performed the ram hand seal, a clone of him appeared besides him. He signalled for the clone to drop down right in front of the bandits to distract them, he waited before heading out the back of the roof he was on, out of sight, and darted towards another roof, from there he grasped the side of the wall and dropped down, he was hidden by a small wall, but now he was in a closer range than before.

Whilst the real Jiraijin was making his stealthy move through the buildings, the clone smirked - walking arrogantly towards the 4 enemies without a care in mind. Timing was key here, if Jiraijin took to long - it would have been suspicious, but he timed it correctly that the clone only had to walk for a few seconds as he essentially parkoured down the building. The real Jiraijin performed the Boar and Rat hand signs, for the Mist Servant Technique targetting all four of the bandits.

They would see, coming from multiple different directions. Seemingly walking out from the streets 10 copies of Jiraijin, aswell as the clone that stood before them. Each of them took turns speaking the words. ”You would disgrace the memory of the Mizukage here - in our heart.”. One by one they advanced, slowly and with conviction. Like zombies after its prey. ”Drop your weapons - or forfeit your life’s” He purposefully left an obvious gap in his circle of clones, when you surround an enemy - always leave an escape route, or you risk fighting to the death.

They had an out for now- but Jiraijin would never let them leave without recompenses. He just needed to signal for the old lady to get away.

WC: 832
TWC: 1091

One clone would stay near Heifu, wielding a kunai menacingly in her direction. Meanwhile, the other three would fan out around Jiraijin, smirking cockily. Unaware of the genjutsu that had attempted to be cast upon them, they would ignore the mist servant technique and not see any of the jutsu's effects. One of the men, the clone's defacto leader, would say, "I don't think you want to mess with us kid. I'd think about this long and hard before deciding to do something aside from running home with your tail between your legs."

The other two clones would nod at his words approvingly and begin circling him. The one to Jiraijin's right added, "We're rebels and we know more than enough to put an academy student like you in his place."

The one circling to the left would add, "I wonder how much ryo you've got on you? I'm sure I'll find out when I'm done with you."

In the mean time, Heifu would continue to look terrified, keeping the act up. She was slightly impressed by the boy's bravery so far, but courage alone did not a ninja make. At least not one that will last long in the real world. She hoped he had a bigger plan than this, otherwise, she may have to ramp it up and really scare him off from the shinobi path for good.

WC: 230
TWC: 814
MTWC: Exceeded/500

Jiraijin’s mist servants would start to surround the three, the streets they came off serving as boundaries for his ability. Each one would individually start to rotate rudimentary weapons in an attempt to atleast threaten the bandits. Oddly however, they didn’t pay them any mind, simply staring at the clone that he created at the start of the fight. He on the other hand was still hidden, but his mind turned on its head - confused as to why the Genjutsu didn’t even seem to bother them. ”Did they all instantly break the Genjutsu… I’m in range, I can see them… perhaps one could break it without a sweat but the chances of all of them. That’s gotta be close to nothing.”

Atleast he was in hiding, but if the bandits weren’t real then he go was the puppeteer. His eyes scanned the battlefield, to the statue and then back to his clone. ”The old lady…” Jiraijin whispered to himself again, he couldn’t be sure, putting her at risk was a bad idea. But it was increasingly unlikely that he was caught in a Genjutsu, the old lady too. Why would they threaten her either. Wrong place wrong time, or perhaps something more sinister.

It could cost him his life, but either he was right to challenge this head on or he could buy time for someone of real skill to come as reinforcements. From his cover, Jiraijin would come out with his hands raised, ”Alright alright - you got me.” he took several steps forwards, looking to the clone and nodding. The clone began to run off to get help.

”These guys are clones or not real. Whoever you are, step out. Let’s deal with this honor.” He was nervous, but did a good job to hide that. The Mist Servants blew away with a breeze, he hoped to whatever gods existed that he hadn't just signed his death warrant,  but right now he trusted his instincts. Perhaps this was a game of chicken now, his eyes went to lock with the old lady, she was suspicious and his most likely target.

WC: 353
TWC: 1444

Well, the boy at least recognized that the clones weren't real, but how had he come to that conclusion? Heifu was going to test him and find out. She released the three initial bandits that had been menacing his own clone. As they faded to nothingness the bandit menacing her turned from her and walked closer to Jiraijin.

"You caught me. but if you want no trouble you will lie on the ground with your hands away from each other. You do not want to mess with me kid."

Meanwhile, Heifu tried to make eye contact with the boy. She picked up a rock from the ground and began to creep up slowly on her last clone from behind. She raised the rock up and made herself tremble for effect as she made her way closer. She'll see how trusting the boy would be with her trying to help him in this 'fight.' She was also curious as to what help his other clone might bring. She may have some explaining to do when they arrived...

WC: 176
TWC: 990
MTWC: Exceeded/500

Three of the clones disappeared before his eyes, leaving one left, the old lady didn’t seem to be involved after all. Jiraijin took a deep breath, he couldn’t confirm if he saw the last remaining one react to his Genjutsu attempt, Jiraijin also couldn’t shake the feeling that something was up still, why didn’t this guy mention the Genjutsu. Jiraijin expected some cocky comment about how that sort of ability wouldn’t work against him - but there was nothing to that sort at all. Instead the bandit goaded him on further.

With the weapon now pointed at him it would have been a perfect opportunity for the old lady to make her escape, instead she went to attack him. Jiraijin had to force his facial expressions. It to change, he couldn’t imagine the lady getting hurt because he wasn’t forward enough. His hands swept up, he had only one offensive Jutsu and it would have to be enough, though if the guy dodged then it would hit the lady. ”Fuck.” he swore under his breath, his only choice was to get the guy to charge and attack him, to get the bandit away from her.

”Come here you ugly fuck, I’l make you regret the day you met - Jiraijin Hozuki!” he beckoned the man forward with a mocking hand.

WC: 220
TWC:1664

Heifu had her clone move towards the academy student irritably as she swung the rock, missing on purpose to avoid spoiling her last illusion. As the clone closed the little distance between the two Heifu continued to creep up behind him again raising the rock as if hoping to strike the clone. She continued to wait on the boy to see his reaction. These minute moments made all the difference as she continued to assess the boy. So far she wouldn't say she was exactly impressed, impressing her was an incredibly high bar to attain, but she wasn't displeased either. it wouldn't be long before she did away with this charade and let him know how he had done. She was sure he had done better than most of the others who 'studied' with him at the academy would have. Her disdain for the entire learning system in the village was palpable and almost threatened to ruin the defenseless old woman persona she had created. She carefully pulled her emotions back into check and focused on the situation at hand.

WC: 180
TWC: 1,170
MTWC: Exceeded/500

Exit:

329 WC Spark Smoke Smite (the rest learned here)
841/2500 WC Spiraling Kemuri Dragon

Stats:
+11 vigor

Mission Completion:
+1,000 Ryo
+5 AP  (New total bonus AP: 715

Heifu Jōnetsu wrote:Exit:

329 WC Spark Smoke Smite (the rest learned here)
841/2500 WC Spiraling Kemuri Dragon

Stats:
+11 vigor

Mission Completion:
+1,000 Ryo
+5 AP  (New total bonus AP: 715

Approved