A toughtfull moment

Ryusame ached all over. The last of his training at the Academy had been brutal, pushing him far beyond what he had thought his limits were. That's a good thing, I guess, he thought to himself. At least it means that I'm a little better than I thought I was. He pulled his hood up a little further to ward off the rain and let out a breath. Even if the road had been difficult at least he was progressing. Now that he had the Academy's approval he could apply to take the Genin exam, and move on towards becoming a true ninja.

The trip from the Academy to his family's home was long and boring. When the Namito had naturalized they had been placed near the outskirts, not close enough to the edge of the village that they would be required to hold its defenses but far enough removed from the center that they wouldn't be in the way. Ryusame understood the logic behind it, even admitted to himself that he would have done the same in their shoes, but he hated having to travel so far after a grueling day of training and study. Since learning the Body Flicker he had been using it to move between home and school fairly regularly but at the moment he didn't think he had it in him to spend that much chakra.

He had just made it to the bridge when he heard a strange, rhythmic pinging. The noise was faint beneath the rainfall, but unmistakably not natural. Looking around he saw a young woman flicking a needle across the water. Each time it struck the far side it rebounded in a perfect, graceful arc directly back to her. Ryusame was transfixed, unable to process the level of skill with a weapon that she possessed. He stood there memorized and for a moment forgot about the dull ache in his limbs and the obnoxious, burning pain of the bite mark on his hand. He had seen flashy jutsu at the Academy and heard about incredible powers from his elders, but that casual display of talent caught his attention like nothing else had.

"How are you doing that?" he asked, forgetting all manners in his fascination. "Is that a jutsu, or are you just that good?"

Ryusame's approach had not been subtle. Even when he was making an effort he was too big to be truly stealthy, and he certainly wasn't making the effort. That being the case she had almost certainly realized that he was there long before he said anything. His robe would hide most of his appearance from a casual observer, but even just looking at his face it was clear that he had seen better days. It had been too long since he last slept or had a real meal, his glasses were sitting slightly askew, and his face was a few shades paler than usual. Despite all of that his eyes were bright and focused, watching the needle bouncing back and forth across the canal.

As Izu wa flicking her senbon toughtlessly, bored and just letting time go by to reflect on her life, a young man arrived, and the blonde hyuuga could detect his presence and sound way before she could see him. He wasnt stealthy at all contrary to her, but in this instance she didnt care. As he approached, he asked her immediately how she was doing that move with her senbon needle, making it bounce on the ground and back into her hands. Izu smiled a bit, doing it one more time before gripping hard the needle mid-air, catching it with a claping sound, a testimony to her strength, precision and incredible speed.

As she turned toward the shinobi about the same age as her, Izu looked half bored, and half depressed, but still forced a small smile to show appreciation at such a question. With her piercing pale gaze and serious face, she looked at the man before answering. 

''Its a special technique with weapons, so i'd say im good ahah. No jutsu or chakra involved, just perfected muscle memory and control.'' said Izu, before pocketing the senbon in question, and getting up to look at the young ninja better. 

''Whats your name?'' Asked Izu, curious of who he was a she never met him before, before pulling out of her pocket dimension her umbrella to protect herself from the rain. Right after doing so, she would put down her hood, revealing her long and blonde unkempt hair, flowing in a bun and side of her head.

Rudra almost didn't want to wake up, it was raining and the weather seemed right to just sleep his way through. But the sound of his father calling him woke him up, "Rudraaa! Why are you still sleeping ? Go out and do some missions!" he would shout laughing. His father wasn't the serious type, but he was serious only when it mattered, such as forcing the young Uchiha to be the clan head of Kirigakure which Rudra had absolutely no interest or whatsoever. He had his own goals that he wanted to pursue. "Ya ya, I'll get ready and leave old man" he replied with a laugh.

He wore his usual black long sleeved tshirt, black pants and a belt to hold them in place. As he walked out of his door, he could see that it wasn't raining heavily, it was just drizzling and didn't have the patience of getting an umbrella. He just started walking around, knowing that he won't be doing any missions today, he really had no mood. He just wanted to spend time thinking about the organization that he would create and the ways to reach his goals. After completing a series of missions, he finally awakened his One Tomoe Sharingan, which he was proud for. He wanted to see the range on it and activated his visual prowess. He was able to detect two signatures on bridge and was curious on who they were as the young Uchiha has never seen them before. He deactivated his ocular power and walked towards them.


As he reached them at 15 meters, he could see a girl with blonde hair doing some moves with her senbon and a boy wearing glasses, both of them looked slightly older than him, having a conversation which he overheard at 10 meters away. "I agree, it's a cool move!" he would say while walking towards her and stopping 3 meters from them, looking at her curiously with a gentle smile. Rudra could feel the intensity of the girl's vibe, thanks to his great instinct, he knew she was extremely strong. As the boy with glasses introduced himself, he would wait his turn to speak. "I'm Rudra Uchiha, recently graduated from the academy. What about yourself?" he would ask.

WC: 377

Battle Info:

Kai had spent the morning training then wandering the village in the rain, enjoying the sounds of the raindrops on each surface and the rising smell of petrichor in the air which he found to be a pleasant and refreshing aroma. He had spent the morning trying to tap into the mysterious inner energy and had spent a long while simply sensing it and trying to will it forth. Kai was pretty sure he managed to make contact with it but had been unsuccess in drawing any of the energy out let alone testing it. He did know that it did not seem to be a kind of chakra and did not behave in the same way, almost resisting or evading his pull and attempts to draw it out. When he realised he was unlikely to make much more progress he began practising the few weaponry techniques he had learned and tried to get to grips with a particularly impressive breathing technical that was supposed to lead into several unique styles of sword play. The only technique he had gotten the grips of so far was an interesting ranged technique he had been taught by an instructor whereby you could change the direction of projectiles by ricocheting them of surfaces or other weapons to redirect the attack around impossible angles to strike the target.

Kai had picked up the technique rather well and had a grasp on the basic fundamentals so far. It seemed to be suitable for him whose senses allowed him to locate enemies or targets outside of line of sight and had multiple applications for distraction and confusion as well as pure offensive capability. He knew he had a long way to go but it felt good to have the freedom to train and practice actual techniques after being stuck in the academy for so long. Kai headed in the general direction of his home, taking his time as he shielded himself from the worst of the rain with a wagasa umbrella that was dark blue in colour. Kai had been lost in his thoughts and potential training methods when he heard the odd clinking from a distance and voices below the bridge he was approaching. The sound was slightly muffled by the rain but he continued walking unhurriedly, focusing in on what was being said. None of the voices were recognisable to him but as he drew closer it was apparent that each of the three had chakra signatures so must have been ninja of the hidden mist like him.

One of the signatures that seemed to have been seated moved and Kai was impressed by how smooth and quiet the motion was, indicating that they were incredibly well trained in stealth and Kai was uncertain if he would have been able to detect them had he not been using chakra sensory or if they had not spoken. He changed direction to head to the unlikely group and stood a little distance back under his umbrella, making no attempt at stealth with his pink embroidered haori and bright pink hair. Kai did not speak, awaiting the others to finish introducing themselves and perhaps some acknowledgement he was free to join the conversation or perhaps be asked to leave. From his inner world he ‘watched the others around him and began committing the vocal differences and accents to memory for each chakra signature whilst also memorizing the signatures themselves, the seal of confrontation hidden from direct view as he tucked his left hand beneath the left breast covering of his haori as the left sleeve hung limp and empty to keep his arm dry.

Kai would remain standing here patiently unless giving some sign to leave or join, his scarred eyeless face sampling looking blankly at the three of them without looking at any of them directly. The wide ever present smile unmoving on his face.

WC: 650  TWC: 650

Despite his intense focus he could barely follow her movements as the woman snatched the senbon out of the air. The display sent a flash of primal fear through him, the same fear that he had felt when he had stumbled upon a coastal shark as a boy. Something deep inside him recognized the deadly potential hidden in that motion. He quickly shoved the feeling aside, knowing that as a fellow ninja of the Mist he had very little reason to believe that she would every select him as a target, and found that the void it left was quickly filled by a kind of envious yearning. Will I ever be that skilled? he thought to himself.

Her question startled him out of his trance. In his fascination he had completely forgotten himself and for a beat he fumbled for a response. "Oh, uh, I'm Ryusame. Ryusame Namito." He watched as she procured an umbrella seemingly from nowhere and pulled down her hood. That was when he noticed her pale eyes, unmistakably the mark of the Byakugan. I wonder how many of the stories about those eyes are true? They made it a little difficult for him to read her mood, but he thought he saw some kind of melancholy there. He wanted to ask her if she was alright but they had just met and he couldn't think of any way to ask that wouldn't be seen as incredibly rude.

Fortunately he was given some time to work on his dilemma as the young man who had walked up introduced himself. Uchiha... The name was full of its own kind of danger. There wasn't a ninja alive who hadn't heard of that clan or its incredible power, and meeting even a young member of that line in person sent a familiar pang of worry through Ryusame. Compared to lineages like that, would he ever be able to be an asset to the village?

For his part Rudra seemed like a good natured sort, so Ryusame returned the smile. "I actually just graduated too," he said, thumping a finger against his own chest. Unconsciously he struck the silver honor pin that he wore hidden under his robes. The Academy had awarded him with the pin along with his headband upon graduation, apparently for 'exceptional performance' while he was a student there. He has been surprised to receive it since so much of his schooling had been a struggle for him, and although he was too proud of it to just stuff it in a drawer somewhere he was too embarrassed to wear it openly.

As he looked over Rudra's shoulder he saw another young man standing nearby. "In fact that guy over there took the exam with me," he said, pointing Kai out to the others. Although he recognized the clothing Ryusame couldn't remember his name, so instead he just waved at Kai in greeting. Although he didn't actually know him at all having passed the exam together did give him a feeling of comradery with the man.

Ryusame would turn his attention back to Izu and waited for her to introduce herself as well before continuing. "Sorry if I interrupted your...." He looked around the bridge, searching for clues as to what she might have been doing before he arrived but found nothing. "Uh, well sorry if I interrupted you. What's a ninja of your caliber doing out this way?"

As the boy with the glasses presented himself as Ryusame Namito, Izu's face was unphased, seemingly too deep into her mood and toughts to change facial expression, but still nodding nonetheless in sign of politeness as the man introduced him. His gaze was fixated on her senbons bouncing, seemingly both terrified of such powers but also fascinated as he could too maybe learn those, one day. With her Byakugan active, the blonde hyuuga noticed 2 more persons approaching: one was closer and almost here, soon to talk and present himself too, and the other was yet to arrive, but seemed to walk toward them too.

The first one struck Izu immediately. His chakra was quite unique, and from her 360 degree vision perfectly peering into the very own bodies of the people, mixed with her medical expertise, Izu was already able to tell that he was, in fact, from the Uchiha clan. Furthermore, his dojutsu were curently activated, as he tried and look at the chakra presence ahead, namely herself and Ryusame. Izu keen eyesight noticed too that he was barely awakened, with one tomoe only. As she studied extensively bloodlines and other types of dojutsu as well as kekkei gankai, the blonde chuunin was well versed in the art of the medical and biological knowledge, as well as genetics.

As he presented himself too, complimenting the move that Izu kept on doing, the Uchiha appeared to be too, a young one out of the academy recently. His name was Rudra Uchiha. Hmmm. This intrigued the young girl, as not many uchihas were present in Kirigakure, one of the only place in the world where their prolific clan didnt spread... for now. After his presentation, Izu nodded toward him, answering both the kids.

''Well... *cling*... Nice to meet ya both. *cling* What about this one here? *cling*'' said the blonde girl still throwing her senbon, her face still cold as ice, with her unkempt long hair flowing into the wind under her umbrella shielding her from the rain. As nothing escaped her gaze, Izu turned toward the young not so discreet one with the pink outfit, scared across the face with both his eyes closes or unnable to open from the wound.  Right after noticing him first, the glass kid pointed toward him, signaling the group that he had graduated from the academy together with this one.

But the strange part was that he wasnt speaking at all nor interacting with the group. Her byakugan being able to see all and trough things and people, Izu quickly realized that under his large pink blossom kimono, the blind young genin was holding the sign of confrontation, hidden from view from the others. Taking it as a potential sign of offense, Izu got up from her spot in a lightning fast motion, looking dead serious toward the boy, her face frowning lightly as she locked with the face of the hand sealer, her senbon in hand should anything prove dangerous.


''Doin' seals out of view, in my back? Why so sneaky uh?'' Said Izu, her tone serious but still calm and appearing almost lazy, her demeanor not coroborating her speech, as she was serious, but appeared to not care at all.

Waiting for the response of the pink dressed individual as well as the others, Ryusame would appologize for interupting whatever she was doing. With a soft smile, she turned a bit toward him, raising her shoulder in a small and lazy move again, swift but without care, seemingly too in her bubble or in a mood that she couldnt be bothered.

''Nah don't worry. I was just day dreaming... thinking and in my mind. No practice there.'' Answered the Momochi girl, before going again to answer the second part of the question. ''Im just chillin'. How about you all? Why outside in a day of rain? What y'all have planned?'' said again the girl, twirling the senbon in hand between her fingers, keeping her armed hand forever moving and active, albeit small fidgetting movements.

Kai smiled remained unchanging as Izu spoke though his head tilted slightly towards her. He withdrew the hand from his haori and threaded it through the wet sleeve before releasing the seal of confrontation on that hand and remaking it on the hand holding the umbrella, in clear view of the group. “My apologies. From the sounds of the item you were throwing and the conversation, I assumed you were either facing my direction or at best side on. Unfortunately, I have no way of telling precisely which way you are facing so i did not know it was behind your back. Using chakra sensory allows me to… sense individuals around me. Many people in the village use chakra suppression and so this allows me to sense them in case they approach or to prevent me stumbling into them. My name is Kaikoss Blossom by the way. But you are free to call me Kai. Most do if they choose to learn my name.”

He turned his head towards Ryusame. “Apologies to you as well, I thought your voice was familiar however I am not very good with faces. Congratulations on the exam, I was a little preoccupied with trying to pass. It has taken many attempts to do so and I was a little overcome with relief and joy at passing.”
Kai turned his attention back to Izu and her question. “I like to walk in the rain, there tend to be less people and the sound is very pleasant to listen to. It also helps to train my sensory abilities to some degree. I happened to stumble on your group and became curious. Also your skill with the senbon was impressive and reminded me of a technique I had recently learned myself. May I ask your name? I try to make a habit of remembering voices and matching them to names when I can. I presume from their deference..” Kai gestured to the others nearby with a broad sweep of his left hand and arm. “… that you are someone of note within the village? Again I have trouble putting faces to names as you might imagine.” Kai remained relaxed and his smile still remained fixed, only moving enough to allow him to annunciate the words correctly.

WC: 352 TWC: 1002

Rudra noticed the honor pin on Ryusame, hinting that he was an exceptional shinobi during his time in the academy. "Nice pin!" the Uchiha spoke to Ryusame. That moment, he pointed to another shinobi who joined their conversation, a boy with a scarred face who apparently made a seal hidden within his clothes that was noticed by Izu who stood up addressing it.

Noticing the change of atmosphere, Kai instantly apologized and explained the rationale behind it, which made sense to Rudra. The Uchiha then proceeded to answer Izu's question, "I was just walking to the training facility to get some training done, but I saw you two whom I've never met before, so being naturally curious I came here instead" he said with a smile.

With Kai asking if she had any authority in the village, Rudra was curious to know her position, especially with his instinct, he knew that this person wasn't a Genin and must be someone higher and more powerful than them. The Uchiha had plans of his own to create an organization for world peace, which he would not expose as it may seem risky and recruiting or informing the wrong people about it means that he would face the demise of his dream.

"Since we are gathered here unexpectedly, what are everyone's goals or specialties ? Would be interesting to learn from each other" he said, facing the group with a polite smile. "I'll start first, I want to start a business that sells items and services in the future that would help our village, not only that, that business would also may help to strengthen ties among all village hopefully!" he laughed with his right hand scratching his back hair, imposing a friendly attitude. If any of their goals or aims come close to his, he may have a chance to recruit them. Rudra wasn't careless, he wants to know if they are potential candidates for his organization.

Ryusame grinned sheepishly at the woman's question. "I was just wandering home myself. To be honest I would usually use the Body Flicker to make the trip a little easier, but I still haven't fully recovered from the exam. I was worried that I might run out of chakra mid transit and wind up smashing into someone's house." Saying it out loud made him feel a little foolish and he chuckled a bit out of embarrassment.

As Kai responded he started to wave off the apology, but stopped halfway through as he realized the futility in making hand gestures to a blind ninja. "No worries at all, I'm really bad with names myself. And you could have fooled me, I thought you were one of the stronger kids in our class. Case in point, I didn't even know there were sensory techniques out there that could substitute for sight. That's pretty impressive!" He studied the scars on Kai's face, wondering where he might have gotten them from. He was sudden very grateful for his own vision, even if he needed glasses.

Rudra's comment took him a little off gaurd. "Oh, yeah, ah, thanks," he said, unconsciously shifting his robe to hide the pin a little better. "I'd be really interested in training together too though. Not every day that you get to test yourself against the Sharingan. Or the Byakugan," he added, looking back over at the woman. "Although based on how you handled that senbon I don't think I'm nearly strong enough to be a decent training partner to you. Maybe a student if you're ever bored sometime."

Rysuame refocused on the Uchiha. "As far as goals, I don't have anything too lofty. I just want to be a useful asset to Kirigakure. Someone that can be relied on, you know? That's why I took the time to learn this between classes at the Academy." Turning away from the group to make sure no one thought he was casting a jutsu at them he reached out with his left hand and spun five chakra threads across the bridge. They anchored to a tree branch on the far side, and with a gesture he pulled them a few inches closer before dissolving the threads. The branch snapped back as the tension was released and flung collected rainwater out away from the party and into the river. He grinned as he watched the silvery cascade. Even though he had only just started working with the threads Ryusame was very proud of his nascent puppetry skills.

"You know, I think that your business idea has a lot better chance of working then most." he said to Rudra. "I mean ninja have been trying to unify everyone under a single banner by force for centuries, and it never seems to work. But if someone started offering them items and services instead of more violence I bet the other villages would come around in no time." Ryusame looked up into the rain and thought about a world where the six Kage were united under a single banner.

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Skills Used:
Puppeteer: 5 AP

Remaining AP: 703/708