Team Maaya: The Hawk and the Ox

[ZeroNumerous]

Skypoint

The infinite expanse of the sky spills forth beneath the pillars that compose Skypoint. It would have been serene and peaceful, if not for the fact that three young boys had hurled themselves over the edge. Those same boys make their way back to where their new teacher waits, but find her to be missing. In her place, they discover a kid--a messenger ninja--who produces a note for each of them.

Rendezvous at the Main Rail. We're going to ground. First mission is easy, so count yourselves lucky. Good luck.

-Maaya

If questioned about the note, the young boy just repeats what happened: Maaya received your mission scroll, gave him the note, then left. He stayed to deliver it. The boy brushes off his pants, then starts heading back down into Soragakure without looking back to see if the team is obeying their orders. His part was done, and he needed to get back to work regardless of their choices.

Takuya, Iyasumaru, and Hideki

The three of you arrive in Soragakure proper; Specifically you're in the bustling Commercial sector that grew up around Skypoint. A mess of merchants hawking overpriced goods, overworked parents, irritating children, and off-duty ninja mill about the congested walkways. The three of you are headed through the area, when you run head long into another trio of ninjas your age. The first is a girl with short cropped black hair adorned by two hair buns on opposing sides of her head. Red and white cloth covers both buns, but none of her other clothes differentiate her from other Sora-genin. Her face is unfamiliar, and none of you recognize her from the academy. The second ninja is a young boy you do recognize from the academy--Sano Atsuhi, one of Takuya's old friends, wearing the traditional Sora-genin uniform. The final member of that team is another girl, one of the girls from class whose name escapes you. Her appearance is fairly unremarkable as well, and picking her out from a crowd would be like finding a needle in a haystack.

The bunheaded girl is the first to notice your group, and she points you out to Atsuhi. The idiotic boy waves toward Takuya, and without a second thought starts dashing toward him. Shoppers, merchants, and ninjas alike leap back to make room as he barrels through the street. "Takuya! Hey! Stop!" It's almost like Atsuhi will always act like a child. Did he forget you were adults now? You're supposed to put away childish things, but this idiot drags it up all the time. Atsuhi's group follows him slowly, gradually apologizing to everyone he interrupts or almost runs over in his charge toward your group.

Maaya and Manabu

You arrived at the village's entrance shortly after receiving the mission scroll. The Main Rail of Soragakure stood in all its imposing majesty at the central gate of Soragakure. Merchants, civilians, and all other kinds of outsiders used the massive elevator to move from the ground floor to Soragakure's commercial district. Truly the massive Rail was an engineering work of art, and many of the village's engineers worked hard on maintaining the vital link to the village's trading partners--and, more importantly, her clients.

On top of its status as a work of art, the Rail doubled as a primary defensive line for Soragakure. Any attempt to attack the village would have to go through the Rail, and that meant it had to be the most heavily guarded position in the entire village. Theoretically, the village was unassailable without direct and overwhelming brute force coming from the Rail. But recent whispers spoke of dangers that couldn't be fought off so easily.

A lot of the mercenary ninja, particularly those who are employed by on a long term basis by the country, were naturally quite upset about the possibility of their cushy and well paid jobs ending. They saw Soragakure as a threat, and the presence of outside ninja within Soragakure always put the guards on edge.

One of those outsiders approached Maaya right now.

He was somewhere in his mid-twenties, and bore the physique of a ninja. His spike-y and unruly black hair looked more at home on a much younger man than he. He wore a Konohagakure headband with a long scratch through it, but his uniform was that of a Soragakure special jounin. Upon sighting Maaya a silly but friendly grin sneaks across his face like a burglar in the night. His dark eyes flicker between Maaya and the very young boy at his side, but his grin never changes. The boy in question wears long, dark grey shorts, a black hooded t-shirt, and black sandals. He wears his Soragakure forehead protector as a necklace. His hair is startlingly, naturally, bright white and needs a bit of a trim. He has yellow eyes too, which make him quite the oddity.

"Maaya? You just got control of Team 3 today, right?" He flashed a deeper smile, then stuck out his right hand for a handshake. "Uchiha. Uchiha Kaede. How're ya doin'?"

[Jacior]

Manabu looked up at the woman who was to be his new Jounin with a grin much similar to the one his counterpart was wearing. It was the kind of smile that would be heartwarming if it didn't also look like he was getting away with something. He stood fairly relaxed, though not without the impatient energy of youth. He shifted from foot to foot and made little hopsteps when he was walking. It was obvious he'd rather be doing more entertaining things, but was tolerating this because he had to.

Manabu wondered idly if Maaya knew why he and Kaede were here. It wouldn't surprise him, but then, many adults didn't fully comprehend his being a full genin at his age. Nah, Maaya-sensei would realise that something was up when she saw his forehead protector, she was a Jounin after all, she wouldn't be foolish enough to make assumptions based on age. Especially with all the rumors abounding about herself. He wondered which was true: That she was trying to force a new chakra type without a kekkei genkai, or that she just suffered from some genetic disease. Maybe it was both. Or neither. It was just rumor after all.

As he stood waiting for Maaya to either accept or reject the greetings of Kaede, he thought about what was about to happen in his life. He was joining a squad. He was going to have teammates. He wondered if they were special like he was. Young, and skilled beyond their ages. He wondered if he was going to have male or female teamates, maybe a mixture of both. He was curious as to their specialties, assuming they had decided to specialize or not. Though, most did end up discovering a gift for a certain skillset and ran with it.

Mostly, he stood and fidgetted and wondered if Maaya-sensei was going to accept Kaede's handshake or not.

[Overlord Rion]

Rendezvous at the Main Rail. We're going to ground. First mission is easy, so count yourselves lucky. Good luck.

-Maaya

Wait, seriously? She had the gall to make them jump off a building to catch a scroll, and then not be here!? The least she could have done was berate them for taking so long. Something, anything, was better than, than...THIS.

*****

Could that be? Oh yeah, that was Atsuhi. It was both comforting and terrifying to know he hadn't decided to adopt airs of importance yet. So what would happen once he saw all the death and pain being a ninja wrought? Would he still be as happy minded in a we-

Unfortunately, as is often the case when dealing with Atsuhi, Takuya wasn't able to finish that thought before he had to react to Atsuhi's charge. He would stop, right?

Right?

Oh god, no. Not again.

[ZeroNumerous]

Takuya

Atsuhi doesn't stop. Instead, he throws himself at Takuya in a headlong flying charge.

...But he misses. Atsuhi slams headfirst into the ground and skids a bit. The whole thing has to be embarrassing, but Atsuhi hops up as if nothing had happened.

"Ahaha. I can't believe I missed. So! How's your team? Are these guys it?"

Atsuhi points toward Ieyasumaru and Hideki, but both of them seem to have went into their stand-offish modes.

Spoiler

Show

Charging hug-grapple! Touch attack: (1d20+5)[14]; Grapple check: (1d20+3)[11].

[ZeroNumerous]

Manabu

Kaede and Maaya chat about things, but eventually the conversation turns to the young boy at Kaede's side. The Uchiha jounin claims the boy is Maaya's third team member, but Maaya claims to already have three members in her team. She produces a scroll to prove it, and Kaede agrees after a thorough reading. Maaya just shrugs, and remarks that the boy will probably do best in a sheltered one-on-one setting anyway. But before Kaede has a chance to say anything else a wild-haired messenger-nin appears. The unkempt young man provides Maaya with a scroll, then disappears in a poof of smoke.

The female jounin becomes visibly agitated with the contents of the scroll, and eventually burns it. Manabu overhears her tell Kaede that she'll have to go, and that he can handle her team in the meantime. The Uchiha tries to object, but she's gone before he can even say no. The dark haired jounin just looks down at Manabu, shrugs, motions for Manabu to follow, and starts walking toward the commercial district.

Takuya and Manabu

Kaede and Manabu materialize from the crowd shortly after Atsuhi's flying failure. The two girls with Atsuhi greet them both, and Manabu recognizes the bun-headed girl as Kaede's younger sister.

"Momo, shouldn't you be off with your team?" The bun-headed girl responds quickly. "We're done already. My teacher was so lazy all he had us do was tell him our likes, dislikes, and dreams then sent us home."

Kaede frowns at that. It was customary for a jounin to have some kind of initiation, but it seems that his little sister got lucky--or unlucky as the case may be. "Well, you can hang out around here."

The jounin turns toward Maaya's group, claps his hands together, and starts explaining himself. "Maaya was called away on a personal mission. I don't know what exactly, but she won't be back for awhile. So I'll be taking over as your teacher for a little bit. My name is Kaede, and this is my team." He motions to Atsuhi, the bland girl, and the little boy at his side.

"And one freeloader." He then points at Momo. "Hey!" The jounin carries on without a hitch. "So, since there's so many of you guys, we'll be doing a joint training session. If you would all follow me please."

DM

Kaede leads your group through Soragakure. Your group goes through many twists and turns, but finally stop when you've arrived at one of the many structures reserved for ninja training. The short squat building sits on a corner facing two other taller structures. It looks quite angry with its bright red paint, peeling siding, and almost eye-like windows that glare across the street. Kaede leads you inside, where you discover a series of makeshift walls built like a maze. Six entrances stand ready to receive challengers, and you can probably guess what's going on before Kaede explains. Nonetheless, he feels the need to point out the obvious.

"Today, we'll be doing trap evasion, information gathering, and team building training." Kaede reaches into his belt pouch, produces a pair of scrolls, then hands one to Takuya and the other to Atsuhi.

"In the ninja world, you won't always have teammates you know closely. So with that in mind... Team A will be Takuya, Manabu, and Momo. Team B will be Hanako, Atsuhi, and Hideki." Kaede turns to the tall sword-armed genin. "You'll be sitting this one out, Iyasumaru."

He waits for you to assemble into your teams before explaining the training. "You'll both start at opposite ends of the maze. Takuya, your team will start on the far left over there. Atsuhi, your team will start on the far right. Your goal is to reach the center, then come back out again, without anyone on your team getting hurt or lost. If you exit out of the entrance you didn't enter through, then you'll have to try again. If you lose your scroll, then you must find it before leaving the maze or your team is disqualified."

He looks toward both groups with one eyebrow raised. "Any questions?"

[Jacior]

Manabu just quietly watches all as he is not spoken to by Maaya, who surprisingly is not his Team-Leader as was previously thought and then brought this joint training exercise ground with similarly little conversation. He keeps an ear out for any real conversation among the groups, but otherwise keeps to himself. Barely. He did have the urge to introduce himself and rattle off averything he could think of, but he was supposed to be a shinobi of a high caliber. Even though he was merely a genin.

He raises his hand before asking several questions. "Are we allowed to interfere with the other team? Can we attack them or attempt to remove their scroll from the exercise? Is there a limit on what can be done inside the maze? Ninjutsu, genjustu, taijutsu?"

[Overlord Rion]

Prior to the announcement, Takuya had just been relieved that Atsuhi had missed. Takuya didn't have the physical strength to stay standing after one of those. He would stand, and listen to the explanation. Once questions were asked, the plans were already forming in his head. There were gaps though, like in most plans. The biggest gaps were his current teammates abilities. That would need to be fixed, and quickly.


"Well, this is most certainly going to be interesting. Names are...Momo and Manabu, right? Wonderful. To make this work I'm going to need a quick rundown of both your abilities before we start. You can detail me along the way."

[ZeroNumerous]

DM

Kaede nods. "Within the maze you may use any of your abilities to the best of your abilities, but you may not harm the other team."

Momo looks toward Takuya, then shrugs. "I'm probably about as well trained as you are, but my talents focus on genjutsu."

[Jacior]

Manabu looked up at the boy who had been picked as the leader of the team. "My specialty lies in Ninjutsu. I am trained beyond my years, if I look too young to you." He grins a little, it's both childish and a little something else. "I can demonstrate if you like?" He says before turning to face Kaede again. "Are we allow to use non-lethal force? I would like all to be clear of the rules of this exercise before we begin." Inside his head, Manabu was already forming a potential strategy.

[ZeroNumerous]

DM

Kaede raises an eyebrow. "Is "you may not harm the other team" at all unclear? Because it seems pretty clear to me. Absolutely no harm, what so ever, period, no not even then. Is that clearer?"

[Jacior]

"Ok, Kaede. I was just making sure! You don't have to be angry." Manabu gave Kaede little innocent eyes. "I'm ready to start. No more silly questions." He stretched from side to side and flexed his spine backwards to warm up.

[Valgunn]

Maaya

"Not good." Maaya said in a matter-of-fact way as she folded her arms. "I had a great idea for the whole 'trial' thing, but it didn't turn out as well as I hoped." Head craned back she let out a sigh. "Jumping off Skypoint was supposed to be..." Another sigh. "I don't know. I just expected a little bit more. How much thought do I really need to put into 'get my team to jump to their death'?! It was supposed to be simple. They leap, they fall, they fail and then I get to see their character in the face of defeat." Maaya looked ready to punch somebody as she spoke. "Stupid kids. Should've just beaten them up and then thrown them off Skypoint. That would've worked."

[ZeroNumerous]

Maaya

The mission turned out to be a bust, and ranting and rambling didn't serve much purpose. Maaya knew that Kaede always used the same training building for all his tests. She could head there easily and reclaim her genin in time for their first mission. Getting there from the main gate didn't take long, and since Kaede had only just left to pick up her team she'd likely arrive before he started some kind of annoying training session. On the way there she's stopped by a messenger ninja giving her yet another rearranging of her group. Whomever did team assignments in Soragakure was probably on some powerful opiates, and certainly didn't stop using them while working. Her new team would be Kuroda Takuya, Hara Manabu, and Uchiha Momo.

DM

Before Kaede can say "go" the door busts open. Maaya storms into the building looking quite irate at the world. The Uchiha turns around, sighs, and turns to both teams. "Looks like Mommy is here to pick you kids up. Iyasumaru, Takuya, and Hideki; Get your stuff." He says while jabbing a thumb toward Maaya.

[Jacior]

Manabu sighed. It looked like training wouldn't be happening. Or if it did, it would likely be a different exercise. "Awww, ok. Have fun with whatever you guys are doing." He had that slight whine in his voice that little kids get when they're told they aren't going to the park after all. Manabu frowned slightly. The day was going about as badly as possible. First, issues with his team assignment and now a potentially fun training exercise cut short by the rather angry Maaya.

[Overlord Rion]

And there went all of Takuya's plans. This was beginning to get frustrating. Every time he got a chance to do something, somebody had to stop him. How was he supposed to get any better when he couldn't train? "Well, I suppose that's a bust. So do we actually have a mission, sensei, or are we going to jump off more buildings?"

[Cespenar]

The bun-haired girl leans on the wall and makes a derisive snort.

"This is not the right way to promote group synergy, you know, this back and forth," she mumbles, partly to her brother and partly to the direction (not the person itself) of Maaya. She eyes the angry jounin with reservation.

[ZeroNumerous]

Kaede

The elder Uchiha just scratches his head. "I agree, but what can I do? I've just gotta do what I can and hope for the best."

With that said he turns to Maaya and asks. "Are you gonna take these kids off my hands?"

[Overlord Rion]

"I resent being called a kid. I'd prefer teenager, thank you very much." Being snippy wasn't usually in him, but he was tired of his plans for the day being constantly changed and altered with no warning. If it was for a mission, sure, but this was starting to get ridiculous.

[ZeroNumerous]

DM

Maaya frowns. "You're a kid until I say otherwise, age be damned."

She thrusts a scroll at Kaede, then motions for the genin. "There's been a screw up at Central. Things are supposed to be fixed now. Shorty, bunhead, Takuya. You three are on my team now."

Kaede reads the scroll he'd been given, sighs, then nods to confirm what she's just said. "Yup. Everything's in order. Go on you three."

---

Maaya leads the three of you toward the Main Gate. The Main Gate of Soragakure isn't like that of most other villages. Most hidden villages had an ostentatious and grand gateway clearly intended to strike awe and terror in equal parts. But Soragakure had a simple steel reinforced gate, with extremely spartan defensive barricades, and a secondary steel gate behind it. The Main Gate of Soragakure didn't intend to awe others, but it did intend to protect the village to the best of its ability. The gate's spartan nature combined with Soragakure's floating nature to make the Main Gate an impregnable stronghold. As the only possible way to attack from the ground it needed to be practical, and extremely well defended. Several ninja, mostly mercenaries without the Soragakure headband, stood at attention around the gate at all hours. Today wasn't any different, and the defenders of the gate stood in preparation for any attempt to break through.

The gate stood open even though it was so well defended, because just as it was the only way to attack it was also the only way to get trade through to the village itself. Several merchants and civilians looking to hire ninja traversed the gate quickly and efficiently. Each one went under the careful scrutiny of the village's defenders, and some were taken aside to be questioned. Almost all of them were still allowed entry, but a few had a ninja dispatched from the gate to go with them. Maaya stops in front of the Rail leading to the ground in order to explain what's going on.

"You've been given a pretty simple mission. A merchant--Muro Matsuta--hired us to protect his daughter--Muro Remi--from a potential stalker. He says the two were dating, but the boy wanted to get physical. The two of them fought, broke up, and then Remi started to receive threatening letters. Lately, a group of thugs have been hanging around their home. You're being called in to protect her for one week. Questions?"

[Jacior]

Manabu just blinked at the revelation. He was supposed to be on her team from the beginning anyway, so it really wasn't that much of an issue to him. He did have an issue with her calling him short however. "I'll have you know I am of above average height for an 8 year old, Maaya-sensei!" That sounded much better to Manabu than Kaede-sensei. Maybe it was the rhyming. He grinned all the same and followed Maaya to the front gate where they received their mission-briefing.

Manabu listened to Maaya describe the mission, rolling his eyes slightly about the task in a general sense. Teenagers and their hormones. He severly wished he could skip that step in growing up. it would be a nightmare if his tempermant suddenly reflected that of a thunderstorm. "I have a question: Is it true that you were, or are, trying to create and advanced chakra type through sheer for of will and training?" To Manabu, it seemed innocent enough a question and he was utterly fascinated by the potential results. If one person could do it, then there was hope for any ninja of significant skill to create their own.

[ZeroNumerous]

DM

"Yes, I am trying to create an advanced chakra type without the use of bloodlines. Work is still ongoing." Which was just code for "things aren't going well", but that didn't need to be said.

[Cespenar]

Momo took it skeptically as they were told the final version of their team. The boys seemed nice enough - at first glance anyway, but the madwoman of a jounin worried her a bit. If she didn't mishear, she supposedly threw some of these kids off of a building for "training". Or something like that. Regardless, she knew showing her feelings were the best way to draw the "sensei"'s ire, so she put on a mask of subordination.

But she did start to like this Manabu kid for rattling Maaya's cage like that, even if only a little. Heh.

"The boy himself weren't seen among those thugs, did he?" she asks to check, wondering if the question was a bit too detailed for her to know.

[ZeroNumerous]

DM

"There wasn't a mention in the mission profile, but it's possible that he hired them. It's also possible that the thugs were hired by a third party to get the girl, her father, or for someone else entirely."

[Cespenar]

Momo nods, unsatisfied with the vague answer but unwilling to push. She glances at Takuya and Manabu to see if they have smarter questions.

[Jacior]

Manabu nods. He was rather hoping to hear more about it, but accepted that with progress, she wouldn't be wanting to talk about it that much. Momo asked an interesting question that actually had any relation to the mission at hand. "Is the group acting in any pattern? Specific times of day, particular locations, peculiar behaviors? Any identifying marks? What's the situation of the place where the mission is taking place? Quiet? Seedy? Humble? Energetic?" He rattled off a list of questions fairly rapidly, stopping only once to find the right word, the word being seedy. "What are the odds of encountering enemy shinobi?"

[ZeroNumerous]

DM

"Do you really expect scared civilians to keep patterns or the time of day they show up at? And would you expect genin to be sent on this mission if there was a high chance of encountering enemy ninja? I know I'm your teacher, but I expect you to know the basics already."

[Jacior]

"And I expect that the man who is worried for his daughter would pay attention. I also expect to be as prepared as possible for any eventuality." Manabu said with no hesitating. "I mean, our client hired ninja to protect his daughter. There is nothing to say another party wouldn't do something similar. What I don't expect is that you berate me in the first ten minutes of knowing me. It's just plain rude. And a terrible way to garner respect."

[Cespenar]

Momo lays a calming, supporting hand on the 8-year-old's shoulder without trying to come off as patronizing. She didn't like the jounin's attitude herself, but talk like this would only provoke her further.

"We can leave as soon as you can give us the destination, sensei," she cuts in tactfully, hoping to defuse the situation before it grows.

Spoiler

Show

If needed, taking 10 in Diplomacy for a 22.

[ZeroNumerous]

DM

Maaya just shrugs. "Kids will be kids."

[ZeroNumerous]

DM

Team 3 travels out through the Main Gate and down to the world below. From there, they travel northwest for a day before arriving in the small city of Sunomou shortly after sunset. Great gates of wood and stone greet the group as they gather before the city's main entrance. Two guards are posted outside, but they seem to be little more than civilians with spears and battered metal armor. Both guards give the sky-ninja a wary look, but don't challenge their right to approach or enter the city. A network of very tight alleyways, strong smelling markets, and short stocky homes make up the inside of Sunomou City. Sunomou's massive size is never truly appreciable due to the tight confines of its streets, but the small fraction of the city visible to Team 3 tells a sordid tale. Ladies of the evening stand at every street corner like cuts of meat at market. Many drunks and unsavory looking characters wander through the claustrophobic streets with all the grace of a cow. Restaurants, pubs, and other establishments remain open, but all of them seem to be catering toward more adult tastes based on the scantily clad young women advertising their "services" inside.

The four of you meander through the streets shortly before you arrive at the client's home--well, place of business really, but he happens to live there too. The squat three story inn, dressed in gaudy silver-colored walls and wearing a gaudy golden roof, advertises itself as the "best place to become a man"--whatever that meant. Two burly men are there to greet you at the front door. Each of them has arms thicker than tree trunks, and legs even thicker than that. They lead you inside after confirming that you're the group their boss hired. Regardless of the quality of its customers, or staff if that's what they were, the inn's insides are clean and comfortable. Several round tables lay scattered about the inn's main floor. Some are occupied by lonely men, others by lonely women, still others by businessmen and their "escorts", still others by businesswomen and their "entertainers", and one table even has a man who looks less like a human and more like a wall of beef. The beef wall sits with two well-painted courtesans at his side, and four rough looking gangsters at his back. A scrawny young boy sits opposite from the beef wall, and beside the boy sits a fat and very worried older man. The pair of minotaurs-in-human-shape guide your group to the table, and the worried man furiously rubs the sweat away from his forehead.

The burly man nods toward Maaya and the kids. "So this is what my money buys?"

A flurry of movement has the sweating man get up, bow, sit back down, get back up, move to shake Maaya's hand, then sit back down just to get back up and bow again. He's obviously quite shaken up, and the beef wall explains why soon enough.

"Whatever", he says in a flippant tone, "you don't seem like cattle to me. Get out of here Muro. My benevolence is at an end, and your debt will only grow the longer you stay here."

The thugs behind the speaker move to unseat the worried man--Muro Matsuta--but the merchant gets up before they get to him. He bows deeply to the beef wall of a gangster, then turns toward Team 3.

---

Muro leads your group outside, and explains his predicament on the way. "I-I had to borrow quite a lot from Gonzou in order to pay your village. Please, you have to protect my daughter. She's learning how to dance with Gonzou's blessing, and her skill will save her from..." The older man looks around, then off-handedly motions toward the disturbing, disgusting, and depressing nature of the city around him. "This."

"She should be at home right now. In the mornings she goes to dance class, in the evening she picks up fresh ingredients for our dinner, and at night she usually dances in... In a... Well, a place not unlike the rest of the city." The man wipes his head once more, clearly upset with himself or his predicament.

"She's been taking off work with the threats, but she can't do that forever." He wrings his towel between his hands, and the copious amounts of grime it's collected ooze out between his fingers. He doesn't seem to care though, and just anxiously fiddles with the rag. "Do you have any questions?"

Maaya shrugs, then looks toward the three of you. "Well, it's your mission."