I bought a little bunny/The Seven Substitute Shinobi
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I bought a little bunny/The Seven Substitute Shinobi
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It's a good follow up to the earlier scene and it shifts the focus from the challenge of the exam (which wouldn't be much of a challenge for Team7) to the real challenge of getting the other rookie teams through the Exams and dealing with all the trouble that comes with the Exams.
D for Drakensis You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.
This takes place sometime between the end of 'operation TP the Hyuga compound' and the Third Exam, because I thought to myself 'we need a Deus Ex Machina, one that will handle some exposition and know why the three have replaced Team Seven. If at all possible, it should be an interesting one'. Here's what I scribbled up in an hour or so.
----- Kirigishi Yuki, nee Mizuno, mist-nin expatriate and one of the most talented medics currently residing in Konohagakure, had slowly been getting used to her son's odd behavior. Ever since he'd made genin, Katsu had been acting oddly, but it was something she could have blamed on the fact that he was feeling an 'official' Konoha shinobi. In a way, he'd become even more quiet than he'd been before - and he'd never been a loud child by any means - and she'd often caught him at letting his mind wander. Compared to his previous quiet determination, it was a bit of an unsettling change. As was the fact that he'd apparently learned to cook somewhere, and she'd often wake up to find a plain but by no means unenjoyable breakfast waiting for her. After a while, things seemed to be getting back to what they'd been previously, though never in their entirety. Part of her worried. Part of her had always worried. Being a shinobi was dangerous business, after all. She had first-hand experience where that was concerned. That his team had apparently been relegated to accomplish fewer, but higher ranked assignments, had made her both proud and even more concerned. When he'd come back from one of those C-rank missions, a field-modified Mist-made chain gauntlet riding on one hip ... What was even more unsettling were the little things she'd noticed here and there. She could have written it off as training from the Academy, but mannerisms that would have looked mildly out of place before now looked to be like second nature to him. Her son had always made it a point to be alert after he'd been accepted into the Academy, and she'd tried to encourage it in subtle ways, but now that she thought back, she could see that whenever she'd spoken with him or seen him lately, he'd never had his back to a window when he could help it, his eyes seemed to naturally take in everything that happened around him without their motion seeming one bit suspect to someone not knowing what was going on ... Still, as uneasy as this made her, there were other things that let her know that this _was_ still her son ... And then there was the now. She'd only just come back home from her shift in the hospital, found him reading some sort of musty looking scroll the outside of which stated it was a gathering of mythological tales and references, and mentioned offhand that she'd heard of a troupe of performers having arrived in town. When she said how one of the apprentice medic nins had been going off about an attractive puppeteer that seemed to be wondrously talented - she had a feeling the young man had meant more than just the way she made her puppets move - he'd paused in his reading. He'd then asked what other acts she'd heard there were, and when she'd recalled and recited a few he rolled the scroll together, rose, and gave her a quick apology that he'd likely miss dinner. Then he vaulted through the open window, and out onto the rooftops, as if all the Bijuu were suddenly lighting fires under his heels. Kirigishi Yuki worried. *** He was being clumsy, obvious, and entirely not his usual self. Not ever his usual self from before 'graduation'. The amount of chakra he flared out through the soles of his feet with each jump left craters where he pushed off from the roofs and walls ... ... luckily, he'd managed to get that under control by the time he was coming up on one of the Village's many market squares. When he alighted atop an inn's roof, one which overlooked that particular market, he was back in control of himself. Or as close as he could get. His heartbeat was still loud enough that it would have given him headaches in other circumstances. Chasing that away for the moment, he focused on the events below. The square was teeming, which was not really unusual for whenever a new act arrived in town. Entertainment was worth a lot in a shinobi village, no matter the size. It was a way of getting their minds off things, of briefly forgetting the unpleasant aspects of their work ... and the civilian townsfolk didn't want to miss any new acts either, if only out of sheer curiosity. Live acts were better than transmissions, anyway. Those were still often grainy, despite the seal experts' and technicians' best efforts. Besides, there was a difference in merely watching and in experiencing an event. Still, there was a fair number of forehead protectors among the crowd. He snickered, momentarily letting his thoughts get sidetracked. It was amusing how many of the shinobi still couldn't apply what they were to everyday life. After all, the high perches afforded by the rooftops and passageways often offered a premium view of the goings on, acts included ... For a few minutes, he let his mind wander and his eyes work, and watched the dolls and puppets perform on stage, moving to the motions of invisible strings held by the head to toe black-clad puppeteers. He didn't know the scent of what he was looking for, be it physical of chakra, so he had to rely on the old fashioned way. A flutter sounded from beside him, and he studiously avoided leaping to one side and drawing a kunai. He minutely turned his head. Atop the inn roof's spine, looking directly at him, sat a brown and grey hawk. The bird, appearing aware of the scrutiny, took off, making a lazy circle of the market before it dove, between a clothing store and a teahouse. He didn't hesitate, leaping from rooftop to the top of a wooden power mast, then continuing on to land atop the aforementioned inn, before letting himself drop down into the alley. "Kirigishi-dono," a figure, tall and long limbed - taller than he'd been back when he'd still been tall - its built an odd compromise between powerful and lanky, separated from the shadows that lingered there even in the day. "It looks like your wits remained intact, even with this change. It is good to see." He even smelled like shadows, or at least like something hidden. More of a feeling than a smell. With a scent of various people and animals about him, mixing to form something that was both unique and oddly indistinct. "I'll take that as a compliment," Katsu replied, trying to not show surprise. Not that he hadn't expected ... it was just that, expecting and actually seeing were two different things. "You still travel with your companions?" "Hai, hai," the figure responded, scratching the back of its head and giving a smile that ... well, it was just plain unsettling, but at the same time didn't appear as threatening as he thought it would have. "As do you, now. Though last time you were alone." "These days, I'm not even alone when I'm by myself," the Mist-jounin-turned-Leaf-genin said. "Ah, yes. But, at least you still _are_," the man replied with a shrug. *** "Ah, good! You've found him, Nagamimi," the small, raggedly clad man said, not looking up from the food on the table before him. "Kirigishi-san, I see our advice was sound, yes?" In a teahouse that Katsu was suddenly aware he had no recollection of. And while he hardly knew all of the Leaf, he did know that the last time he'd passed this place, it had been little more than a ruin. Deja vu. Especially since the interior was almost a mirror image of that one time, years ago. Only last time, he hadn't been a Leaf-nin. And this time, he wasn't quite as willing to accept a wild answer without question. "I'd ask what you were doing here, but getting a straight answer out of a conman ..." Katsu said. "Mmmm, is that any way to react to old traveling companions, Katsu-kun? Even if you are right about Mataichi." The arm smelled of shadows, wood, bone and blood, with a touch of jasmine to wind around all that. Smooth, as it came from behind, fingers trailing along the side of his face as silky strands of dark green touched the other. The voice had been its usual sultry self. He gulped, cursed his current body's hormones, and tried his hardest to ignore it. Something not being made any easier by the eminently amused presence in the back of his mind, which had apparently chosen that moment to wake up. Or at least make itself more noticeable. "Now, now, Ogin, don't make the poor boy's mind wander, or are you considering robbing the cradle?" Mataichi smirked. "Funny," Katsu ground out. "I thought so, at least," Ogin chuckled as she untangled her arms from around him, moving past. "I wasn't bothering you, was I b-o-y-o?" Long legs, long dark green hair, slender and moving with the grace of a dancer, and the faint sound of silk on skin. 'Oh, great. Just as visually distracting as last time, too,' the man stuck in a boy's body thought, not noticing the faint growl that he'd released at the same time. Katsu shook his head, slowly. Mataichi motioned towards the bench, opposite to where he himself sat. The nin moved, more uncomfortable with the indefinite surroundings than he was with the trio, and sat. The self-styled monk slid a mug of steaming green tea towards Katsu, who accepted. He sipped it in silence, mulling over the questions in his mind, deciding to stick to simple ... "Why?" Mataichi chuckled. "There is always a price, yes, shinobi-dono? Every action has consequence, every decision creates possibilities for other decisions. Every movement sets the stage for another. Last time we met, we gave you something. Words are fleeting, but can affect a great deal of things." "Oh, this isn't our work, Katsu-kun," Ogin was behind him again, speaking into his ear. "But everything is connected. You'd admitted you would owe us, if the information we provided proved correct. You _are_ still among the living, and still a shinobi, which means there is a matter of debts owed to consider ..." "Why am I not liking where this is going?" Katsu muttered. "Because you have a brain?" the woman chuckled in reply. "But, shinobi-dono, if you blame us for your current predicament, you would also have to blame the one you have since become so deeply connected to," the monk was still grinning that darkly amused grin of his. "Despite everything, he did agree. In fact, he thought it would be greatly amusing." "Somehow, this doesn't come as a very big surprise," Katsu sighed. Kami save him from the whims of bored Demons ... well, he supposed it was a bit late for him to be asking for that now. "Still, you are here for a reason," Mataichi went on. "Though it's one that's a bit complicated to go into. It is a matter of balance. You see, as much as everything is connected, there are places that are more ... vital ... to those connections. Places where some of those connections could be frayed, if not outright torn." "Like this place," Katsu stated, looking at the smaller figure of Mataichi inquisitively. "This 'stage', if you will?" "Ah, you understand!" Mataichi clapped his hands together, grinning an unholy grin. "Not really." "I'd be worried if you did, since, to be honest, neither do we, fully," Nagamimi's formerly still form said. "Mataichi just likes to talk like he does." "Mmm, we are all puppets in one play or another," Ogin added, hand running through Katsu's hair. "To understand who is pulling the strings is to understand the play." He ignored her, or pretended to. Mataichi was ugly as sin, and quite frankly, safer to look at at the moment. "So, whoever put me here did so to do what? Protect those connections you speak of?" "Oh, not just you, Katsu-kun," Ogin kept being distracting. "You know as much, don't you? Yes, you do." "And you aren't going to need to really try at protecting those connections, anyway," Nagamimi piped in. "Yes," Mataichi again chuckled. "You see, you three _are_, at the moment, the very representations of those connections. So you must merely ... survive." Katsu's forehead met the table, staying there for a moment. He lifted it a moment later, glaring at Mataichi. "And I suppose I'm going to have to explain this to Neshan and Shikanenai without the least bit of proof?" "Oh, no, that would be silly," Ogin's tone became amused. "Bring them over for the evening's performance, and we'll take care of that for you afterwards, Katsu-kun. After all, we're not heartless." Silently, the nin wondered if he wouldn't have been better off trying to explain the encounter and relay the information on his own. *** ----- Because there's far too few Hundred Stories references in fanfic out there. And besides, Nagamimi could be a distant Nara relation, Mataichi a genjutsu expert, and Ogin ... well, that's obvious, I'd say. Though Kankuro would drool with envy if he ever saw her work her puppets. They're not neccessarily shinobi, and not neccessarily alive (kinda like in the anime ^^) in the usual sense. Katsu ran across them when he was a chunin on his 'extended leave' back in the TXY-line and they pointed him towards a possible solution to his problem at the time, which he found and used (Fenrir). Nate? Drake? -Griever When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force. When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm
I have absolutely no idea where these people are from, but I'm all for it. It fills the plot hole, it satisfies the audience, and most of all, the characters just seem to fit, somehow. Certainly they do so better than having TGNH!Neshan's 'patron' show up and drop the news, which was the only other option I'd been able to think of.
You've also done a better job explaining exactly what our three're doing in a couple of lines than I have in every post I've made in this thread, which just tickles me to death. ^_^ Ja, -n =========== =============================================== "V, did you do something foolish?" "Yes, and it was glorious." 
Unfortunately for the wallets of the prncipled, Hundred Stories has been licensed and released as Requiem: From the Darkness. That's not to say it's not WORTH the money, nor that downloads can't be found by the less principled, of course, and Jigoku Shojo, currently being subbed, seems to be based on the same mythology, if rather less interestingly so In My Holy Opinion. Anyway, to describe the characters form hundred Stories:
Mataichi is a little short guy swatched in bandages, who carries a wooden box with ... I think it was an eye design? on the front, which is some kind of mystycal artifact that the group uses in their job of punishing the wicked. He has a rather wide, toothy, and disturbing smile. Ogin is a very beautiful woman who goes about in kimono generally and has one side of her face covered by a boomerang bang, when she drops the illusion that side of her body is a withered corpse. She does the puppet thing with a style even Sasori might envy. Nagamimi is a big, bald, barrelchested guy with huge ears, and monstrously strong. I don't remember his outfit too well.... an open vest and pants, maybe? These three are joined by a young guy who writes books of word games, but who really wants to collect a book of 100 ghost stories, hence the title, and as the episodes proceed, with the punished sinner of the week, an arc plot creeps up on you from the side the way each episode does in the details. It's probably the only straight-up example of the horror genre I have EVER liked - well, unless you count Narutaru/Shadow Star, though it's mixed with monster training so I don't - and so has the #1 most reccomended spot there - the art is fantastically ugly, but the way military hardware is ugly - "I don't give a damn what you think, this is what I am" ugly. The storylines do a good job of varying the formula so even though you know what's generally going to happen, how is usually a suprise. Thinking about it, it really does fit in with the Naruto setting overall - even though many of the darker aspects are glossed over in Kishimoto's work, they are surely there. - CD - CDSERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see? CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others. Dr. Akagi will recover. Observe, Rei smiled. Shinji-kun, are these your clothes? Ritsuko shot up like a spring loaded meerkat. What? Shinji-kun is naked? See, Anata? Dr. Hentai is alive and well. - Innortal's _I Do_ -- "Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
I've never seen Hundred Stories, but I vaguely recall seeing a 2-page spread in Newtype once. I'd have to agree that this is a marvelously indirect way of explaining their presence without actually explaining it, as it were. And as usual, you've done more with a pair of scenes than I could in half a mile of exposition. Nice one.
D for Drakensis You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.
Thanks. I was looking for something longer than the two episodes of Karas to occupy a bit of my time with way back when, and picked Hundred Stories off Anime Kraze. Didn't actually find out about it being licensed until after I watched it.
Here's the DBnet review and image of the three, including the book-writing guy anidb.info/perl-bin/anime...e&aid=1001 sidenote 1: As far as I remember, we don't actually _know_ whether Ogin's half-corpse look is the real one or the illusion. She only used it once, and even then it was only because of a set-up, from what I recall. She's also likely the most recent 'inductee' of the trio, since in the Willow Woman episode one of the characters seemed to know her personally. Although that could have been part of the set-up for that particular job as well. sidenote 2: Nagamimi is most commonly referred to as a 'bird-caller', though he uses that ability relatively rarely in the show (and in the last episode we see that his abilities when it comes to animals extend beyond the avian species'). Most commonly, he disguises himself as other people. Or should that be, shapeshifts? When he does this, there's only the shadowy outline of the shift shown. This likely means the animators didn't want to bother with doing it in a flashy and unneccessary manner, but I'd say we should take it literally and have him be able to do all sorts of funky things with shadows. And since there's a time when 'book-guy' finds a reference to Nagamimi the bird-caller in a history text, which claims he lived some two hundred years or so ago (and says nothing about when he was actually, y'know, _born_), hell, why not make him one of the progenitors of the Nara from a long, long time in the past. Another sidenote: Mataichi not only uses the eye-box-talisman thingy around his neck to make his illusions, he also involves a small bell. At least, from what we see. The possible history of this and how it could intertwine with Otogakure ... If we ever need these guys as something other than deus ex machina and for something other than handy exposition tools, we've got enough hooks to work them into the setting comfortably enough. -Griever When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force. When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm
"Don't you know when to quit?" Neji asked, standing over the fallen Hinata. "From the start, your attacks have been completely ineffective." He didn't even look down at her, deeming his cousin unworthy fo his attention.
"That was Neji's master-stroke," Gai murmured from the balcony. "It targets the heart. It's a pity, but the girl can no longer even stand." Shikanenai glanced back from watching Neshan's hands, that were pale where they gripped the metal railing, and scowled at the jounin. "Don't you believe in the power of youth any more?" he asked. "She will stand, even if it kills her - because not to stand would kill her as a ninja." "Seeing as the match cannot go on, I -" The judge's voice cut off as there was a scraping from Hinata's position. The scraping of her sandals against the stone floor as she pushed her knees slowly underneath her. She was shaking, panting, bleeding from her mouth to betray the injuries that were tearing her apart from the inside. But she was on her feet. Neji looked at her grimly. "Why are you getting up?" he asked. "If you push too far you really will die..." "Why do you push at the main family?" Neshan muttered. "That's no less fatal..." Though he addressed Neji his eyes were on Hinata, watching the curse seal markings that were barely visible under the collar of her jacket. "This isn't over yet!" Hinata gasped. "You're not fooling anyone," Neji snorted. "I can see with these eyes... it's taking all... ush!" He cut off, jumping back as Hinata took a wavering step forwards. Neji's byakugan eyes went wide, fixed not on Hinata's face but on the keirakukei that were inexplicably unsealing and sending chakra pouring through her body. The mind of the Hyuuga 'genius' whirled. Even with her chakra restored Hinata was no threat.... but if she could do this then what other secrets might the main branch heir have? Better to finish this now. She was still too weak to survive a second strike to her heart. He lunged forwards. Hinata's byakugan vision faded, beyond her capability to maintain as the sweet chakra rushed through her. She didn't know where it was coming from. She didn't care. All that mattered was taking another step and another and destroying the enemy. She couldn't have remembered the name of Neji for the life of her as she lunged forwards. In the split second before the two genin met, before four jounin moved, three words were whispered by three voices. "Team Seven, sanjo." A second later, the fight was over and Kakashi, Gai, Hayate and Kurenai were looking nonplused at where their targets, Hinata and Neji, had been. Three yards away from the point where the two Hyuuga would have intersected, Neji was pinned face down to the floor by Kirigishi Katsu. Two yards away in the other direction, Hinata stood frozen, eyes closed, in the grip of Nara Shikanenai's shadow copy jutsu while Bakusuta Neshan had opened her jacket to examine the seals surrounding her neck and left shoulder. He totally ignored the shouts of "Pervert" and the shower of shuriken from where Tenten, Temari and Ino were standing. D for Drakensis You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.
I redid the Hinata w/ curse seal picture to have something like Nathan suggested - the result looks rather like the way pheonix tails are often drawn, at least to me. I imagine it would bracnh at the little triangles that connect to chevron sections, like the ones at her chin and under the loose lock of hair, the triangle spreading into a new chevron. It think the eye shapes go well with a doujutsu-user, now that I see it on her.
Clicky! - CDSERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see? CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others. Dr. Akagi will recover. Observe, Rei smiled. Shinji-kun, are these your clothes? Ritsuko shot up like a spring loaded meerkat. What? Shinji-kun is naked? See, Anata? Dr. Hentai is alive and well. - Innortal's _I Do_ -- "Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
Hinata wailed, thin and high as the Grass-nin's incisors bit into the side of her neck. Kiba and Shino froze at the sight, both aware that something unnatural was being done to their teammate, neither sure of what it was.
Typically it was Kiba who reacted first. "Get away from her you freak!" he shouted and leapt forwards, Akamaru at his heels. The effeminate Grass-nin opened his jaws almost casually, releasing the small kunoichi in order to deal with the new threat - which he achieved decisively, disabling Akamaru with a shrewdly placed kick that sent the small dog tumbling to the forest floor, scarely able to breathe. Seconds later, Kiba fell after his partner, barely catching hold of a bough with one bloody arm to avoid a collision with the ground that would probably have killed him. Behind his dark classes, Shino's eyes narrowed and insects poured from his sleeves and pants to move along the branches of the forest. The enemy was clearly not a genin and the Aburame ninja quickly switched his focus from defeating the Grass-nin to escaping him, taking Hinata with him if he could. Even that prospect was looking rather dubious as the two faced each other, until a succession of kunai hammered into the wood beneath the Grass-nin's feet and the explosive seals hanging from them detonated, shattering the thick branch as if it were a twig. Out of the darkness, a bespectacled leaf-nin swung out, supported only by a long ribbon of paper, catching Hinata as she fell away from her attacker, who had leapt for the next branch when the his foothold was lost. Shino reflexively drew back, relying on the commotion to disguise his departure and was halfway down the tree towards Kiba when he saw the Inuzuka boy accepting Akameru from another classmate, who also held one of those paper strips. "Head for the tower," ordered Kirigishi Katsu, apparently oblivious to his lack of rank to give such an order. "Notify anyone you encounter and whoever's in charge there that Orochimaru has inflitrated the Exam in the guise of a Grass-nin. His teammates may be assumed to be interlopers and hostile in the extreme. The apparent target is Hyuuga Hinata but it's possible he'll try to grab Hyuuga Neji as well." The paper strip retracted as he finished speaking and dragged Katsu up into the dense foliage above them. A neat trick, Shino noted, wondering where Team Seven had learnt the trick. "What about Hinata!?" called Kiba. Shino looked at him. "In all the years we were at the academy," he said, "Did you ever beat Neshan at taijutsu?" "...no," Kiba admitted grudgingly. "Katsu at ninjutsu?" "...no." "Shikanenai at..." Shino trailed off, unsure how to express his meaning. "...sneaky, devious and nastiness?" Kiba asked. He turned and started to head in the direction they;d been sent in. "No. And I'm beginning to feel sorry for Orochi- Orochimaru!" They boy spoun on his heel as he finally realised who they'd been trying to fight. "HINAAAATAAAA!" Shino groaned and restrained his teammate, physically dragging him away from the irregular showers of leaves and debris that marked where battle was being fought above them. D for Drakensis You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.
Okay, so I'm not going to be totally cut off. Good ^^. Lets me post these. Just prior to the teams entering the Forest, and just after.
--- *** "You'll soon find out why it's called the Forest of Death," Mitarashi Anko said, grinning. The Special Jounin's eyes wandered over the gathered genin, noting which were slowly getting increasingly nervous and ... "Because it's supposed to be intimidating." she heard an unexpected reply. "Predators. Parasites. Poison. A number of people who've left their scruples behind. That's only marginal peril. If the name were actually justified, then there'd be far less jounin and chunin around, ne?" Whose ... oh, Kakashi's. Supposedly, even for all the aggrevation they gave the masked jounin, his Team was supposed to be all that and a bag of chips. Anko's grin widened, and her eyes narrowed. "Yeah, you're spirited." Her hand came up, the kunai leaving it even as she blurred across the relatively small distance to end up behind the Leaf genin. The thrown weapon had, by then sliced through the air, the skin of the kid's cheek, and struck the ground behind him. "Kids like you are quickly killed ..." she began, leaning in close. She was more than aware that the sort of ... fondness ... she had for blood wasn't exactly natural or healthy, mentally or otherwise, but it was as deeply rooted a part of her that she might as well try and stop breathing as get rid of it. "Spraying that red blood I love ..." Motion in the corner of her eye drew a reaction that was nearly all autonomous muscle memory, another kunai flashing into her hand as she brought it up to block ... a tongue. Specifically, a freakishly long one that belonged to one of the straw-hat wearing Grass nin, and was wrapped around the kunai she'd thrown to freak the Kirigishi kid out a bit. "Here's your kunai," the Grass nin said, remarkably clearly for someone who had his tongue hanging out of his mouth. "Why thank you," Anko replied, eyes crinkling into a smile that fooled absolutely nobody. It was only later that she remembered Kirigishi hadn't as much as flinched throught the whole thing. *** The gate was closed and locked behind them, and Team Seven took to the trees almost immediately, halting after fifteen minutes worth of hopping from one to another, gaining altitude and getting away from the entry point. "I thought we were going to be low key," Shikanenai commented as they found a spot with relatively good cover. "How is drawing so much attention, and _that_ kind of attention, supposed to be low key?" "It isn't," Katsu replied. "Then I'm failing to see the logic here." "Which gate did the Grass come in through?" "Fifteen," Neshan replied. "I stuck the tags at the entry points last night." "That only gives us a rough direction to head in, though," the ex-Mist nin said. "They're likely already moving away and towards ... well, whatever your Sannin is after. A search pattern is likely going to be too slow. Going by scent would be faster, but only just." Katsu reached up to his cheek, peeling off the band-aid he'd stuck onto the slice Anko's kunai had made. A slice that, by all right, should have been healed already, give both his knowledge of some basic medical ninjutsu he'd picked up from his, err, eh, Kirigishi Yuki, and his own normally boosted healing. Meaning he'd been purposefully keeping it open. Neshan blinked, and grinned, then pulled out some of his 'art supplies'. 'Nenai chuckled in realization. "Since he picked that kunai up with his tongue, there's now a body in the forest other than Katsu's which has some of his blood on it ... or running through it, if we're fortunate. Sort of like the time Neshan tracked the cat demon." A few minutes later they were moving again, the Seal Neshan had scribbled onto Katsu's cheek giving him a very much more definite idea as to where the 'Grass nin' were. *** --- -Griever When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force. When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm
Orochimaru laughed softly. "Oh, well done, children! Truly, you have made yourselves worthy prey! But it's too late to fly now, little birds, so whatever shall you do?"
All three of the Genin grinned, and Neshan produced a pair of small scrolls. "Invite you into our parlor," he said, and flipped them high into the air, letting them unroll as they rose. Shikanenai took his cue and lunged into motion, fanning several dozen small squares of paper between his fingers like a gambler inspecting his hand then spinning away from his target to trail them out hanging in midair. "Kage Shuriken no Jutsu," he said, and began snatching entire handfuls of squares - which stiffened to iron hardness as soon as he touched them - and launching them at the Sannin. It didn't work, of course. The elder ninja danced around the barrage almost contemptuously, then reached one arm around behind his back to catch the wrist that had been about to slip a kunai into his heart and fling its owner into the most convenient tree-trunk. He laughed again. "Is this all you can do? You don't make as cute a prey as I thought." "Wait for it," Katsu said, prying himself out of his crater. Orochimaru raised an eyebrow, then spun as he caught a flicker of motion in his peripheral vision. Neshan had leapt up to match his scrolls' peak height and was falling back to earth - or, in this case, tree brance - considerably quicker than they could, dragging a bleeding fingertip along the surface of each as he fell. By the time his opponent finished taking in the knowledge that both of the preceding attacks had been mere distractions the younger ninja had landed with a flourish and the long strips of paper were falling in a perfect double helix around him. "What did you do?" the Sannin demanded, and there was no play whatsoever in his voice. Neshan grinned as the scrolls finished settling into a ring around his crouching form, then burst into more than a thousand flying fragments that scattered out from his position like the sparks of a professional firework. There was a sharp popping sound, slightly blurred because it was actually so many mingled simultaneous noises taking place across a wide area, and when he raised his head slightly the light catching his spectacles was duplicated by the many forms that had abruptly attached themselves to any convenient solid surface. "Gotcha," he said, and then the clones threw themselves at their target. Orochimaru's eyes widened as his first spread of shuriken didn't stop even one of them - the physical damage should have disrupted the stable chakra pattern that held them together! For them to hold through the pain like that, they'd have to be self stabalizing, and the written seals for that characteristic were too complex and delicate to work from a simple scroll! After a moment, he recovered from the shock and snarled and attacked, offended that they hadn't responded the way he knew they were supposed to. By the time he remembered the Genin team that had introduced the obnoxious things, they were already long gone. * * * * * Neshan cocked his head. "Is everyone else clear?" Katsu sniffed experimentally. "Yep." He flipped his braid back over his shoulder, and ripped the slip of paper in his fingers in half. "Bang bang." "Wow," 'Nenai said, looking back the way they had come. "That's pretty impressive." And, indeed, the rising dome of yellow light visible even from more than a kilometer away was quite stunning. Not as stunning as the arrival of the shockwave a few moments later, though. Each of those clones had a high-power explosion seal written on the side opposite their own pattern. ^_^ Ja, -n =========== =============================================== "V, did you do something foolish?" "Yes, and it was glorious."
Shikanenai was breathing heavily by the time that he spotted his objective. Hinata wasn't particularly large, but he'd never been the most muscular of ninja, depending more upon speed, precision and sheer nastiness to carry him through. At times like this, carrying in injured comrade through a forest at high speed, he had to admit that a little more brawn would be pleasent.
"We've still got the Heaven Scroll, yeah?" he asked, coming to rest on a convenient branch. Katsu nodded. "Yes. Why?" "Cause I was the one who handed out the scrolls 'back then'," the boy replied and lifted Hinata off his back. "And I distinctly recall the team of Sound-nin got an Earth Scroll. Which we need, no?" Neshan nodded slowly. "Yeah. But taking out the Sound-nin now would keep them out of the preliminay round. Mess up a lot of what we can guess about the match-ups." "And save the lives of at least six Leaf-nin," Shikanenai replied shortly. "When we did the clean up after the exam, we found they'd lost their own scroll to one of our teams and wiped out at least two teams to get replacements. Six of _our_ genin." He passed Hinata to Neshan and produced several sheets of paper from his pocket. "I buried those kids," he told the rest of his team. "I'll be back in a couple of minutes." As he leapt in the direction that the Sound-nin team was moving, the papers folded themselves into a wicked looking ninjato. D for Drakensis You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.
Katsu frowned at Nenai's back, then slipped his right hand into the armored gauntlet hanging strapped to his hip. He was still mostly fresh, as far as chakra level was concerned, and it would be faster with two against three than with just one ...
He heard Neshan sigh, and turned his head to look. "Yeah, what I was thinking," the braid wearing Leaf nin said, nodding towards the gauntlet while adjusting his grip on the still unconscious Hyuga. "Just have my hands full at the moment. I'll pace you two and play lookout." Katsu nodded, and both nins changed direction on the next bound, with Neshan falling slightly behind and to the side while the gauntlet wearer paced their teammate. The members of Team Seven closed on the Sound genin. *** *later* They'd found what could pass for a makeshift shelter between the roots of a great tree that had been washed clear of dirt the last time the water level of the river had risen. After clearing out the giant leeches with a quick Katon, it was servicable, and Neshan had laid out Hinata on top of one of their bedrolls, on her stomach, and was working at nullifying or at least containing the Curse Seal with a fevor neither of the other two were daring enough to disrupt. Nenai, who was in the process of unpacking his fishing rod, glanced up. Katsu had said something about getting them some sentries, and wandered out into, or rather onto, the shallows. Then he started a familiar series of handseals, and kept going ... "Daikirigakure no jutsu." ... the mist swirled up both from the water and the wet soil of the shore, thicker than that which any previous Kirigakure had managed to conjure up, as Katsu continued with another series of handseals ... "Kiri no Okami." ... and another, the mist swirling into patterns and forming shapes around the still sealing nin's legs. Four legged shapes, and patterns that seemed like what a distilled snarl looked like. Then, Katsu's hands stopped their motion, curling into fists ... and Nenai could see why his teammate had taken off his usual reinforced fingerless gloves. Fingernails bit into palms, drawing blood, and hands were thrust into the forming shapes which rapidly snapped from hazy into perfectly detailed and clear ... Six grey furred wolves that stood as tall as a grown man's waist blinked faintly shimmering eyes, yiffed, turned, then sauntered off into the forest ... and, in one case, over the surface of the water. Katsu took a deep breath, and fell back to sit in the shallow water, shaking for a moment. "What the ...?" "Our sentries. They should last just under a day," the waterlogged nin said. "Less, if they have to fight. That's as many as I can call up, the way I am now. At least, as many as I can call up if I want them for something that's longer term." "You know, Kage Bushin wouldn't have taken as much out of me as these things did out of you, even right now." "Yeah, but Orochimaru would likely be able to spot them easier than he does these," Katsu said. "You noticed how he reacted when I was trying to stab him in the back?" "I was kind of busy at the time, but yeah," Nenai nodded. "Seemed like he's just got good danger sense." "No. I mean, not just that. My emotions were totally blank, I'm sure of it, so that couldn't have been it," was the response. "He's already got a nearly boneless body when he wants to, and the eyes. He even smells more snake-like than human like. And snakes can detect vibration, so he could have felt me stepping behind him. Some can even see heat. The wolves are, for all their solid appearance, mainly made up of dense mist. As for the other thing ... well, if we fight him again, we might have to try and channel chakra through our feet, sort of like water walking." *** --- The Okami no Kiri is something he only came up with as a jounin. He's had a healthy respect for embodied spirits, dating back to the time his genin team's sensei and one of his teammates were killed on a mission on the East Continent and he and Meiou Michiru spent the better part of two weeks fighting and sneaking their way back out, saving one-another's lives often enough during that time that they'd lost count. During his two year 'recon mission' as chunin, he'd come across some scrolls dealing with summoning said spirits in a way similar to that the sorcerers of the Continent used, but he could only try and work at copying that after he'd had his chakra problems fixed. He's never quite managed the copy, but he _was_ able to work out a way to create what at first amounted to henge'd mizu bushins and tie not actual wolf spirits, but fragments of the wolf archetype into them. Then he'd refined it so that it only needed mist. As for why wolves? Anything else would have been too hard to actually call up, and he's only able to manage them because of his connection to Fenrir. -Griever When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force. When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm
The banner flashed, then came up:
ROCK LEE VS BAXTER NATHAN "Lee-kun, huh?" the latter breathed, while the weeping and shouting coming from the other end of the balcony revealed how thrilled his opponent was with the match. After a moment of thought, he shrugged his jacket off and laid it carefully on the ground. Most of those present were unsurprised by the unexceptional shirt and harness of kunai holsters and scroll pouches, but only those who knew him best were expecting the close-fitted steel armguards that had been hidden by the bulky garmet's sleeves. Then he put one hand on the railing and hopped over to land on the arena floor with a slam. Lee gave him an enthusiastic thumbs up as he walked over to their initial face-off, then blinked when he saw him slipping on the knuckle-dusters he'd pulled from a pair of slots along his lower back. "My foe, what are you doing? How can the spirit of your youth allow you to adopt so dishonorable a measure as... those." He waved a hand, indicating the linked metal rings. Hayate coughed discretely into the silence, then flipped a hand up between them, beginning the match. "Honor's for games, buddy, and that kind of youth's just another word for stupidity. Only a fool turns down an advantage," Neshan sniffed. The taller Genin's florid complexion and bulging eyes made his expressions a little hard to read, but he still seemed distinctly condescending as he explained, "Depriving yourself of the ability to form hand seals and ninjutsu can hardly be counted as an advantage - particularly against an opponent of my strength." Neshan laughed in his face. "That makes no more difference to me than it would to you." "Ah! You seek the glory of the challenge!" Lee grinned and threw out a single hand with its thumb held up. "I approve!" "Challenge, my ass. Glory's a delusion - and I haven't got the power for ninjutsu. You and I... we're practically the same, that way, though fortunately few others." That shocked him. He rocked back, then looked solemnly at the floor. "Then... why so hateful?" Neshan shrugged. "It's a mindjob to throw you off. I think you're annoying. I think you're too loud. Your outfit offends me. Pick whichever you like, any'd be enough. Mostly, though, because someone so thoughtless as you would never be any kind of shinobi, and needs to be kept away from authority over others at any cost." "Unforgivable!" Lee snapped, lunging into an attack. "To say such things about my dreams! I will show you the power of youth!" "Bring it!" his target roared, and threw a blow of his own - not at Lee's body, but at his incoming fist. Given that their similarities are nearly as numerous and striking as their differences, I have a hard time imagining an alternate match-up more appropriate. Ja, -n =========== =============================================== "V, did you do something foolish?" "Yes, and it was glorious."
Shikanenai didn't waste any time as he went to town on the Sound-nin. He simply sprang from a branch, ninjato reversed in his fist. A second later, while the Sound were still trying to place the killing intent, the Nara's little finger rested against the collarbone of Abumi Zaku, who barely had time to register the sudden pain before 'Nenai removed and discarded the paper sword that had skewered the Sound-nin through heart, stomach and intestines.
Behind the bandages that covered it, Dosu Kinuta's face contorted with shock and anger. "You little bastard!" he snarled. "You think you can take -" Without warning he sent a burst of sound at Shikanenai who sidestepped almost contemptuously out of the way. There was a sharp crack and Kin Tsuchi's body fell to the ground. Behind where she had been standing, Katsu lowered his fist and raised a handful of kunai wordlessly. "You were expecting an explosive carnival of chakra-driven carnage?" Shikanenai asked. A second pulse of sonic energy did nothing but shatter the log that replaced him as he employed Kawarimi. Hands seized Dosu's ankles and dragged him down into the soil of the forest. A sharp blade pressed into him and _uncoiled_ inside him, ripping through his lungs. The last sight that Dosu ever saw was the forest floor as his face was dragged beneath it. D for Drakensis You're only young once, but immaturity is forever. Quote:Hmm. Yes. Okay, so Neshan vs Lee, Shikanenai vs Temari, Hinata vs Neji. That leaves Kiba, Shino, Tenten, Katsu, Shikamaru, Chouji, Ino, Yoroi and Misumi, Gaara and Kankuro. Eleven, to be reduced to six for the same number of matches as in canon. Grant one bye and that's five more preliminary matches. The only original match that hasn't been mucked up at this point is Kankuro vs Misumi. Any thoughts on who should fight who? Or who gets the bye?D for Drakensis Contagious, rampant insanity isnt against the rules. D for Drakensis You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.
Gaara gets the 'bye', I think.
If we go with Katsu vs Yoroi ... err. Maybe. That'd be short, excessively violent, and very one sided. Kiba vs Ino? Shino vs Chouji? Tenten vs Shikamaru? -Griever When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force. When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm
Gaara getting the bye makes sense. I'd sort of pencilled Shikamru in as losing his preliminary match, but arguably he'd just surrender to Tenten, which would work.
I don't know who'd win out of the other match-ups, except for Katsu of course. If Gaara gets the bye then either we have a preliminary draw or Gaara gets a first fight at the Finals (to reduce the numbers to ![[Image: glasses.gif]](http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/glasses.gif) before the actual quarter-finals begin. Would that be his match against Katsu or would he be up against someone else first?D for DrakensisContagious, rampant insanity isnt against the rules. D for Drakensis You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.
Kirigishi Katsu vs. Akado Yoroi, read the banner. The first fight. The other genin and the various jounin sensei ascended onto the walkways from where they'd await their turns and watch the bouts, respectively.
The two genin left in the arena sized one-another up for a moment, before Hayate asked whether they were both ready. Yoroi nodded. Katsu did likewise a moment after he'd tightened the straps of the armored gauntlet on his right forearm. Shuriken flashed, even as the younger genin leapt back ... only for the projectiles to skitter harmlessly away when Katsu swatted them out of the air with the gauntlet. Then Yoroi was on him, dull glow outlining his right hand in a faint light even as he thrust it forward, using the fact that his opponent's main weapon was seemingly out of alignment and his left hand was empty. In the audience, Kakashi's one eye went wide as he saw Katsu's unarmored hand contort into a short and unfamiliar series of what looked like bastardized seals before he mirrored Yoroi's action, meeting the older genin's right hand with his left, locking their fingers together as gloved palms smacked into one-another ... Yoroi's mask prevented any expression from showing, but the sense of smugness that could first be perceived as the palms of their hands met was momentarily replaced by a frown, to be changed into a grimace a split-second after ... before the older nin physically recoiled, left hand grasping desperately at the spasming right, and head going back ... "AUGHHHHHHH, IT BURNS!!!!" Katsu's gauntleted hand closed, making a fist, and armored knuckles smashed into the older nin's still screaming opponent's face with a resounding *crack* of breaking bone. A moment later, Yoroi was a still slightly twitching heap on the ground, the skin of his right arm faintly ... steaming? Katsu shook off faint wisps that rose from his left hand with a faint wince, and looked to Hayate. Yoroi kept whimpering in pain, but didn't get up. A chakra absorbtion technique getting directly intercepted by a technique that relies on flashing a heavy load of hot chakra into the target? The results speak for themselves. I'd written that Gaara vs Katsu bout scene with the intention of having it happen after the others - since Gaara basically goes apeshit at the dismissal, because he'd been denied a fight in the prelims, and was now being brushed off like that. -Griever When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force. When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm
Neshan vs Lee, Shikanenai vs Temari, Hinata vs Neji, Katsu vs Yoroi, Kankuro vs. Misumi, Kiba vs Ino, Shino vs Chouji, Tenten vs Shikamaru. Gaara gets a bye.
To avoid Gaara having an earlier fight, have one of the matchs end in a draw. Kiba vs Ino? Shino would beat Chouji and Tenten would beat Shikamaru I think. That would leave the match ups for the finals as: Neshan vs Neji, Shikanenai vs Kankuro, TenTen vs Shino and Katsu vs Gaara. Looks good. D for Drakensis You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.
Nara Yoshino was, as her husband would put it, in a mood. There were quite a number of causes for this, not least the fact that said husband was absent for a few days on a mission, leaving her to deal with her sons - whose Chuunin Exam had resulted in their being away from home on an unsheduled camping trip in the Forest of Death.
Those were merely the underlying causes however. As anyone familiar with Yoshino's moods could have reported, once she was in a mood she required a trigger. Fate, had kindly provided this. As a digression, the layout of the Nara home was such that the master bedroom was on the other side of a interior wall from the bedroom of the Nara twins. The head of the master double-bed was against this wall, and so was the side of the bunkbeds that the twins slept in. As a result Yoshino could hear, from where she lay, pretty much everything happening in the other bedroom. She could, for example, hear the bed creaking - suggesting that someone was moving around rather than lying asleep. She could hear sleepy complaints about this from Shikamaru in the lower bunk. She could hear heavy breathing from the upper bunk, where Shikanenai was supposed to be asleep. She could DEFINITELY hear the bedframe thumping against the wall with increasing force, suggesting that the bed was shaking back and forth violently. Wrapping a robe around herself, the Nara matriarch stormed out of her room and around to the door of her sons' bedroom. Before she could grip the doorknob however, there was a shout of alarm from within and a tremendous crash. Throwing the door open, Yoshino assessed the room with the practised eye of the veteran shinobi that she was. The bunkbed lay on its side, filling most of the room. Muffled grumbing from where the mattress and bedframe had pinned the elder twin suggested that Shikamaru was alright. Looking for her younger son, Yoshino saw a shock of black hair in the tangle of blankets on top of his mattress, which unlike his brothers had landed right way up. She also saw a head of blonde hair, mostly tied back in three bushy ponytails (a fourth had come undone at some point). The blonde hair was attached to a blonde girl who was currently lying into top of Shikanenai, pinning him to the mattress. Both looked a little dazed. "NARA SHI-KA-NE-NAI!" Yoshino exclaimed at the top of her lungs. Temari of the Desert winced as she saw the woman was dividing her furious glare between 'Nenai and herself. All she'd wanted to do was beat some information out of the boy. Like where he'd learnt a variant of Sunagakure's Kamaitachi jutsu. Could nothing go right in this stupid Hidden Village? D for Drakensis You're only young once, but immaturity is forever. 
Oh, man! Classic moment, there! *snrk*
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.'' -- James Nicoll
"Devil!" came a call from the end of the bridge.
With a swift move, Zabuza bludgeoned Kakashi away from him with the flat of his heavy sword. It wasn't enough however and Kakashi's kunai bit into the missing-nin, disabling his other arm. "Now both arms are useless," Kakashi declared. "You can't even perform a seal." "Ooh," said the same voice that had spoken before. "You're getting your ass kicked. How disappointing." Warily, the two jounin turned to look at the speaker and spotted a short middle-aged man in a business suit standing in front of a motley band of heavily armed thugs that filled the bridge from one side to the other. "Gatou," Zabuza spat. "What are you doing here...? And what's with all these men?" The man smirked. "You've been a missing-nin ever since you ran out of Kirigakure and you don't recognise this old chestnut?" he asked. "You don't have a village to back you up, remember. So why not hire a missing-nin on empty promises and let him wear down the opposition. Then kill whatever's left with sheer numbers. There was never any intention to pay you." "Scumbag," Neshan growled from where he was standing. The businessman locked his eyes on the boy. "Of course, the tactic can't be used if there are any witnesses," he concluded. "Kill them all." The thugs burst forwards, closng in on the little cluster of ninja. "Kakashi, I'm sorry," Zabuza told the other jounin. "This fight is over. Now that I have no reason to go after Tazuna, I have no reason to fight you." "Ah," Kakashi observed, looking at the approaching thugs. "You're right." Neshan glanced over at Katsu. "It's time," he called out. "Agreed!" replied the other genin. Then Kakashi's head snapped up and he focused his Sharingan eye upon the source of the next speaker. "Understood," said Gatoh as the kage bushin of Shikanenai dissipated in a cloud of smoke, explaining completely how useless he'd been during the fight so far. The thugs' charge halted completely - not due to any sudden looking beneath the underneath on their part, but due to the lines of shadow that were linking then into a single, immobile mass. Shikanenai was sweating as the henge of Gatoh dissipated - even by using the hundreds of seals that Neshan had drawn on the surface of the bridge when they planned this, using Shadow Binding on this many people at once was tiring him rapidly. Without the seals he couldn't have managed more than a dozen or so and even with them, fifty-three thugs was a strain. Shikanenai passed a scroll across to Tazuna. "Before I forget," he said. "Our bill." Tazuna looked at him suspiciously, and then cracked the wax seal and scanned it. "Escort from Konohagakure to Wave Country against Jounin level Opposition," he read. "A-class Mission. Securing home and workplace from Jounin-leve opposition for a month. A-class Mission. Assassination of a merchant target with Jounin level protection. A-class Mission. Neutralisation of a Corporate Entity with Jounin level protection. A-class Mission. Neutralisation of Fifty-Three Non-Ninja Opponents. B-class Mission." The old man stared at the totals being charged in utter shock. "You what!?!" he screamed. "I can't pay for four A-class Missions and a B-class Mission! I'll be in hock for the rest of Inari's life!" The Nara member of Team Seven shook his head. "Read the rest of the scroll," he said patiently. Tazuna glared and scrolled down through the miscellaneous expenses and the legal small print to the bottom of the scroll. "Paid in Full," he read out slowly. "Confirmation that Konohagakure has Payment, signed by... Nara Shikanenai (Genin), Bakusta Nehsan (Genin), Kirigishi Katsu (Genin)." He stared down at Shikanenai. "Aren't you gonna get into trouble for this? I haven't paid a bent penny yet, but you've put in writing that I've paid you more ryou than I've seen in the last six years. Won't your Hokage want the money?" "Oh, he'll have it," the ninja said breezily. "Trust me... I know what I'm doing..." Kakashi glared at the three genin. "What?" Shikanenai said. "Are you mad that we undermined you as team leader by settling accounts with Tazuna rather than leave it to you?" "No." "Mad we nicked Gatoh's slush fund and used it to pay for the mission on Tazuna's behalf?" Neshan speculated. "No." "Mad that we didn't tell you we'd assassinated Gatoh and that Shikanenai was impersonating him?" Katsu suggested. "Proud of that actually." "Then what's got you pissed off?" Katsu asked bluntly. "I spent six hours drawing up the bill for Tazuna," Kakashi whined. "And I could have left it to you and been reading Icha Icha Paradise all that time!" D for Drakensis You're only young once, but immaturity is forever. Quote:(nods) So ka, so ka. Communication is very important for teamwork, you should let your sensei know about these sorts of plans so he doesn't waste valuable time on redundant effort. - CDSERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see? CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others. Dr. Akagi will recover. Observe, Rei smiled. Shinji-kun, are these your clothes? Ritsuko shot up like a spring loaded meerkat. What? Shinji-kun is naked? See, Anata? Dr. Hentai is alive and well. - Innortal's _I Do_ -- "Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
just a little non-action byte for the Forest of Death.
If Kirigishi Katsu ever decided to give up the shinobi thing, Neshan thought as he considered the impromptu skewer of fish cubes he'd picked up, he could likely earn his keep as a short order cook without much trouble. Though using senbon and a toned down version of that hot chakra assassination technique of his to cook the meat was a way of meal preparation the Leaf nin hadn't seen before. No smoke from a fire was a definite plus, though, and for some reason something about the meal seemed slightly off. He bit off a chunk of fish ... and realized there was next no smell to it, and what was there of it was ... odd. 'Nenai sniffed the meat. Frowned. "I was going to ask why you were lugging a damn spice rack around, but I guess that explains it," said the Nara after taking a bite. "Continent again?" "Un. Took a bit of finding, and a night-time visit to the poisons and hazardous materials locker in the Hokage Tower," Katsu said calmly, filleting and cutting up another of the fish they'd caught while Neshan was busy with Sealing up Orochimaru's present for the Hyuga heir. Said Fuuin-jutsu expert stopped chewing, his eyes bugging out slightly at the onetime Mist-nin's admission. "I know the salty bit, that's from one of their creepers, but it's hardly a poison," 'Nenai commented after taking a small bite of his fish. "No, that one I picked up at the market. Good price too, since it ruins the smell of just about any meal. Useless for anyone who runs an eatery, but it's why we're using it," Katsu shrugged. "The spicy pepper-like taste, though ..." "Wait, wait, don't tell me, I've almost got it," 'Nenai took another bite. Nodded to himself. "Diluted powdered fire orchid?" "Heavily," Katsu nodded. It was actually the plant's juices that were dangerous, mildly acidic and working like an extremely efficient coagulant - nothing to be used in straight out medicine, though, since it ate through nerve tissue like nobody's business. The powdered form, on the other hand, had found some medical application in that direction ... and if you diluted it enough, nothing gave quite as much zing to a meal, or so he'd found. "You said you raided the poisons locker. Dried and powdered it yourself?" "I was bored. And the concentrated stuff is worth it," he patted his pack. And it was. It was also damn dangerous. Just throwing it in somebody's face would make them feel like they'd stuck their head into a colony of fire ants. If they actually tried to rub it out of their eyes, it was bye-bye sense of sight. And if they inhaled any of it ... "... you're nowhere near insane enough to ... oh, kami, you are ... tell me you didn't put it in a smoke-bomb ..." "... no. Laced a few senbon with it," Katsu replied. 'Nenai and Neshan looked at their skewers - senbon needles - in horror. "No, not those. I've got the coated parts of the ones I used covered in wax and bandaged up. Interesting idea, though." He seasoned the fish on his own skewer and started feeding minute amounts of hot chakra through it. Then bit in without hesitation. Neshan swallowed. May the Sosuke Sagara school of battlefield cooking live long and prosper. -Griever When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force. When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm |
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