Kagegakure; Team 5 [IC Thread]

[Paragon Badger]

Scratching his head at the rather dramatic signal, Ichimaru walked up to the building, as blunt as he had been before, and knocked.

Shrugging, he waited patiently for someone to awnser.. 'I hope this doesn't end in disaster...' He thought uneasily.

[ZeroNumerous]

Ichi and Ryuu

The door opens easily. It isn't even locked. The inside is dark and shadowed.

Everyone

A small explosion seems to go off upstairs. The house shakes slightly, and then a heavy thud disrupts the tentative silence that settled after the explosion. A scream tears through the night..!

Toshio

Both you and Tora-sensei disappear in a puff of smoke. The trip isn't anything like your own shunshin. In a brief instant, it feels as if every nerve in your body is made of fire and your body is tearing itself in half. It's over before it even begins, and a bright light illuminates the world.

You're standing in a small room. A naked man scrambles across a bed with green sheets. He appears to be dashing for a daisho that rests against a wall behind you. He's skinny with a thin nose that ends in a sharp point. The man is already balding, probably from a hard life. He's young, but the man seems to ooze slime. He was probably a thief or something.

Before you can ask a question, however, your sensei seems to stop time with a smile. Her grin is wide, wild, and nothing like her usual smile. She looks you in the eye, her eyes have changed from their normal, happy-go-lucky blue. Both blue orbs have become living ice, as if frozen over by malice and hate. Her look is razor-sharp, like standing at the edge of a chasm. Her voice is almost worse than her eyes. She speaks in a cold tone devoid of emotion. No joy, no hate, just the facts.

"Miira. This man is Onaki Miro. Say good evening to Onaki."

The rat-like man crawls forward alittle further, but a kunai seems to grow from his left side. The obsidian blade is already lodged deep in his ribs, and he chokes out a scream, but his shout is quickly drowned out by the scream of a woman. A dark-haired vixen trying to cover her body with the waylaid sheets. You didn't even see Tora-sensei throw the kunai. She's still standing in the same stance as before, her hands hanging down and her eyes shadowed by her blond-hair.

"Onaki isn't a bad man. He drinks too much. He looks like a rat. His eyes are beady.. But that doesn't make him evil. But we have to kill him tonight, Miira."

She doesn't speak politely. She doesn't even use your name. This wasn't the woman you found sleeping in the forest. This wasn't your Tora-sensei. She was just Lani now. A jounin who was all business. Your sensei finally breaks eye-contact and turns toward the door. The wood buckles and bursts as three kids break into the room.

Ryuu, Sanma, and Ichimaru

"Onaki isn't a bad man. He drinks too much. He looks like a rat. His eyes are beady.. But that doesn't make him evil. But we have to kill him tonight, Miira."

You hear the voice come from upstairs. Ichimaru and Sanma recognize it as Tora-sensei and immediately head toward the area. The door breaks easily enough, but the room holds a surprise for everyone.

You all see Toshio standing on top of a messy bed with a mild look of confusion on his face. A woman is screaming and covering herself with immaculate sheets. A man who looks just like Onaki Miro is on the ground nursing a kunai wound to his left side.

A blond woman stands in the middle of the room with a look of barely restrained violence.

Ichimaru can feel the presence of a shinobi. The cold presence of death stands in the room. Even Sanma can feel restrained killing intent radiating from the blond-haired, blue-eyed, strange-talking shinobi he knew as Tora-sensei.

"Congratulations. You have thirty-six minutes left on the clock, boys." She spoke of killing a man as if she spoke of the weather or the temperature. "Do you have the knife, Sanma?" It's strange how she doesn't use honorifics or call you "Tora-oshiego". It's as if she's all business at this point..

[El_Frenchie]

Sanma

He couldn't believe it. An explosion? Running inside the house and catching Tora-sensei's words, he can feel tension running through his body. She's here?

Running upstairs and crashing through the door, he watches the scene with confusion, his eyes wide, his mouth slightly opening in disbelief. Lani... tora-sensei, standing in the middle of the room. The air reeked with her bloodlust and Sanma did his best to stand fast.

Looking towards all the people present one by one, he can only whisper the names:

"To..ra-sen..sei? To..shio?"

"Wh.. were you the one that.. assigned us this mission? Sensei?"

"Congratulations. You have thirty-six minutes left on the clock, boys."

His eyes wide, he could barely believe she could act in such a cool and collected way in a situation like this. The air was thick with killing intent, he could barely breathe, Onaki's blood dripping slowly to the tatami.

"Do you have the knife, Sanma?"

"H..Hai."

His eyes still in shock, his hand simply moves to his belt pouch, pulling out the mission's knife. Showing its hilt towards Lani. Then, looking at Onaki, he feels his guts tighten in a knot. Killing... this man?

"Wh...what's going on, sensei?"

[The Unborne]

Toshio

The shock that came from his master’s jutsu created within Toshio a typhoon of feelings. Where as his own shunshin was similar to a gentle breeze, Lani’s had been a whirlwind of feelings. Toshio had to rest his arms on his knees to stop an almost inevitable collapse. Never a break there is with this one… As the bandage-bound genin looks up to his sensei a different type of energy fell upon him.

Unlike the sensations created by his sensei’s technique, this new feeling caused and overwhelming dread to fill the room. Toshio had no need of his Katsugan to see the killer intent in his master’s eyes. He had to look away from her when she exchanged her own glance towards him. More sweat found its way out of Toshio’s pours as he listens to the words from Lani’s mouth.

This is an assassination mission? The screams from the woman beneath the sheets was drowned out in the background as Toshio fell deeper into his own mind. She said it herself, this man is not evil…Why must we kill him this way? Who could pay such a price for this man’s dirty, little head? Toshio was almost as drenched in sweat as the target in front of him. She doesn’t expect me to do it, does she?

His left eye caught movement across the room and locked itself on the new intruders. He recognized Sanma in an instant, but gave no reply to his comrade. Lucky that I left this eye covering on, I don’t think I could manage watching this all play out.

[ChronicLunacy]

Matsumoto Ryuu

At the sound of the explosion, Ryuu had bounded inside with Ichi, meeting Sanma on the way up. He didn't know what the hell Onaki was trying to pull, but he was sure everything was coming to a head and he didn't want to miss it. He'd deftly removed one of the daikunai from where they were crossed over his back and had joined the others in smashing the door to the bedroom open. He immediately took a defensive stance when he noticed that Onaki and his woman weren't the only two in the room. He recognized the mummified genin looking confused on the bed immediately as the one he'd been following, but the woman he had never seen before. From Sanma's exclamations and the woman's words, however, he quickly surmised that this was the much talked about Tora-sensei.

Still, he didn't let up his guard. Ryuu leapt behind Onaki and situated the blade of his daikunai underneath the man's throat. Using his other hand, he locked Onaki's arm behind him painfully. He looked up at the jounin with the scary eyes and almost tangible aura of violence around her and waited for further instruction. Sure, he was just sort of tagging along, but being included in this mission meant that he answered to this team's jounin commander as well. "Well? What happens now? I'll take care of it if you want." Ryuu shrugged almost imperceptibly. If the killing bothered him, he didn't show it.

[Paragon Badger]

"Stay away from him!" Ichi said, his mouth agape, as his body began to move of its own acord. His muscles pumping, his adrenaline high, the shinobi decided that his life was worth preserving.

Spoiler

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Initiative: (1d20+1)[21]+(1d6)[4] (Action Points: 5/6... My character sheet said I have 23. But I realized they don't stack as you gain levels. )

Listen: (1d20+14)[34]

Swift Action: Shodan Kousoku (Take 10+9) DC: 15
Speed Rank 1: +2 bonus to Jump checks, +1 dodge bonus to Defense and Reflex saves, +1 bonus to attack rolls. The character's base land speed increases by 10 feet.

Move Action: Run towards....the voice of Ryuu.

Attack Action: Disarm Ryuu.
Concealment Miss Chance: (1d100)[24](1d100)[44]
Unarmed Attack: (1d20+4)[22] (Pending Attack of Opportunity... Unless Ryuu is already grappling Onaki, not quite sure, but that might technically be a 'hold'... )

HP: 20/20
Chakra: 11/20

That's alot of important rolls...at least one is guaranteed to be bad.

Regardless of the success of his actions, the boy looked to his Sensei, "You said yourself; what he did doesn't make him evil! Is this what a Shinobi is supposed to be- a mercenary? A hired thug!?"

(Welcome back, Unborne. )

[El_Frenchie]

Utanaru Sanma

Bewildered, Sanma simply doesn't know what to do. His brain speeding through the information.

Spoiler

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Initiative roll (1d20+2=21)

((Just a small excuse for my initiative roll. I'll wait till everyone's finished rolling before I post ^^))

[The Unborne]

Toshio
His eyes are in bewilderment as one of the new genins places himself in between a predator and its prey, a ninja and her target. Get out of the way fool. Don’t you sense what is about to take place? Pain starts to rise from Toshio’s right arm, causing him to hold back all the words he was to speak. Kuso, why does it have to come at a time like this? The mummy-like genin bites hard on his tongue to revert the pain away from his arm, and by doing so he looks to his sensei.

“Forgive me Sensei, but it has been a very tiresome day for me and it seems I didn’t quite catch why we are murdering this lecher. I find that there is no real need for such rash actions, even if the town was paid a lot, a mission like this shouldn’t have been given to a group of newly made genins.” The words came out on their own accord and it took Toshio some conscious effort to prevent his self from quickly covering his mouth. What had been said was said.

The bandaged ninja draws his arms together and a faint light erupts from between his palms. A short blast of radiant light emerges out from his hands and solidifies into a shape resembling a sword. The light itself changes colours from blinding whites to the deepest blues. If Tora-Sensei is really in a bloodlust, I can’t allow the blind one to fight her. I at least have the chance to shunshin out and lead her away. Toshio makes one small gulp with his throat, that’s only if she really is going to confront us.

His eyes spin rapidly behind the cloth begging to be released.

Spoiler

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Initiative: (1d20+2)[3]
Perform Check: Auto
Convert 2 Chakra to 2 HP (DC:18): (1d20+14)[30]
Fight Defensively

HP: 16/18
AC: 19
Chakra: 11/16

[ChronicLunacy]

Matsumoto Ryuu

Spoiler

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Initiative: 1d20+3=17 + 1d6=1 = 18
Resist Disarm: 1d20+4=17

Rather than do something stupid and attack a teammate, Ryuu simply jumped backwards and let Onaki go, not really caring when Ichi took his weapon from him. He didn't need it to stop Ichi if he had really wanted to harm the blind genin anyway. "Ichi, you're an idiot. If our mission says we have to kill this guy, it's what we do, damn it! You're too softhearted! You're going to get yourself and probably all of us killed one day!" Ryuu yelled at him. "You're supposed to be on our side here! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

[El_Frenchie]

((Let's just say I delayed my action till last as a result of Sanma's confusion))

Sanma

Looking at the situation, at Ryuu, Ichi and Toshio, and then at his sensei, the genin sighs slightly. He closes his eyes for an instant, and bits of his life flashes through his eyes as he makes a decision himself.

It's no use... I can't use Kage Mane now. Kuso. I need to do something though... there's no more time. I have no choice.

"Gomen, Ichi-kun. If anything, I don't want -you- to suffer in the stead of this man. I can't allow it."

Spoiler

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Full-round action:
Spending 1 action point: 5/6 left.
Charging Bull Rush (Strength check): (1d20)[12]+2(charge bonus)+1(Str mod)+(1d6)[1]

"You can't do this! You haven't seen her -eyes- ! Back down Ichi!"

[Paragon Badger]

"Sanma.." The blind shinobi said with a frown, "What about his so- Eh!?"

His train of thought was cut short by the sound of footsteps, There wasn't much he could do to prepare for the white-haired shinobi's charge, being caught completely off-guard.

Spoiler

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Not making an Attack of Opportunity.
(1d20+1)[4]

[ZeroNumerous]

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The Room.

Purple - Ryuu
Green - Toshio
Gray - Ichimaru
Peach - Sanma
Pink - Onaki
Blue - Lani

Initiative:
25: Ichimaru
19: Lani
18: Ryuu
16: Toshio
5: Sanma *Delayed
-1: Onaki

The man scrambles back toward his bed when both genin come crashing into him.

Ichimaru knocks away Ryuu's daikunai. The large black blade thuds as it sinks into the floor point-down. Sanma leaps and knocks Ichimaru aside, sending the young genin into the wall and destroying the daisho behind him. Ichimaru takes 2 points of damage from the jolt into the wall.

Lani mostly ignores what goes on. "Yes, I gave you this mission. But it appears that three of you don't want this man to die, despite never having known him. Well, I have my mission. And this man has to die for me to complete it. You have thirty-five minutes before I kill him myself, so make your decision quickly." Lani draws another kunai, which is rather strange given that she's wearing a pair of knuckle-dusters that would be more suited to beating things with her fists.

Spoiler

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Lani does nothing and will continue to do nothing unless someone attempts to attack her.

[Paragon Badger]

Sighing, the boy frowned as he slumped back into a seat on the floor, as he rubbed the newly-formed bruise.

"I... can't fight you all off." He admitted, "Especcially not a Jounin."

With his mouth widening, the blind shinobi wrapped his arms around his legs. "How can it possibly be worth it? What if his son grows up a shinobi and wants revenge? I was just asking him where..."

"-you were." He concluded, turning towards Onaki.

"If this is what it means to be a ninja..." He said, tilting his chin up, "I'm not sure I want to be one."

Abruptly standing, he grimaced. "But I have no choice..." He sighed, "I'll be outside."

Provided that no one stopped him or had anything to say, Ichimaru left the room.

[ZeroNumerous]

Lani

"What it means to be a ninja? Ninja are assassins and murderers who have nothing but their mission and the drive to complete it at all costs." She says it in a matter-of-fact tone, then turns toward Onaki and puts her back toward the genin. "But none of you are ninja. You are shinobi. Shinobi fight for their village, for their honor, and above all else.. Shinobi fight to protect things that are precious to them. This man, Onaki Miro, is a citizen of Kagegakure. He is not a shinobi, a noble, or a wealthy man. He is a merchant and a crook. Onaki cheated my client out of a thousand ryo on a twenty-thousand ryo purchase. Chump change. Is Onaki's life worth a thousand ryo?"

Lani looks Onaki in the eye. The small man squirms in a vain attempt to crawl away. "No, but unlike you four.. I am not shinobi. I am a ninja, which means Onaki Miro dies at my hands. If you learn nothing from this, then you must ask yourself just one question.."

Lani looks over her shoulder. She crosses her arms over her chest while drawing another kunai. She levels eyes cold as steel right at Toshio, then begins to move her eyes across each of the genin present.

"Are you shinobi, or are you ninja?"

[The Unborne]

Toshio

Shinobis protect…Ninjas kill… Toshio’s mind wonders back to a time that he barely remembers. A time that was before the experiments and before the lashings; back to a time where he was neither ninja nor shinobi. There was no pain back then, there were no hard choices such as this, and most important there was nothing that made him feel alone. He had a family, but now all of it was gone.

I was weak then, I was weak afterwards, but no longer am I a child. I have been given a gift and I will use it so no one will ever experience what I had to go through. His unoccupied hand slowly rises to his forehead and the genin violently rips off the eye covering. The bandage glows with a blue tint as it glides past Toshio's Soul-Edge. “Tora-sensei, I don’t care what you are. Assassin or not, I have lived with too much pain to allow others in front of me experience it also. If this man cheats, he will be punished in some other time, but not in front of me. For I am a shinobi, those who are weak and cannot fight for themselves are of my own responsibility.”

Crystal blue eyes, almost liquid in texture, revolve throughout Toshio’s sockets. They spin rapidly and then lock onto the jounin in front of him. They are the exact opposite of Lani’s. They expressed his emotions and behind them was a hurricane of determination. The presence that his sensei was giving off was slowly diminishing as Toshio gained his own confidence with this new resolution. He takes a step forward and meets the stare of his master’s. “I won’t allow Miro to be killed here, not while I am still around.”

Spoiler

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Fight Defensively
HP: 16/18
AC: 19
Chakra: 11/16
Position: R16

[ChronicLunacy]

Ryuu

The dreadlocked genin looked to two out of the four of his fellows standing up to protect the worthless piece of excrement that was Onaki, wondering for his life why they would protect such a person. He contributed nothing to the village, and by cheating a client he was even a drain on its resources. They didn't know him, but they were willing to give their lives in a suicidal battle against their own jounin to protect him. He wondered if their respective handicaps somehow affected their brains as well.

"To tell you the truth, I'm not even officially part of this team. What I do here today may not matter at all in the long run. Now that Toshio's suddenly back I'm just a fifth wheel. However, if so ordered by my superior, I will kill this man or any other and complete my mission at any cost." Ryuu grinned, an expression that was completely uncalled for, making it a rather creepy thing to do. "I guess that makes me a ninja, huh?" he said, suddenly forming the seal of the tiger in front of his face in preparation for a jutsu. "So, Tora-sensei? What are your orders?"

[Paragon Badger]

Nearly starting towards the exit, Ichimaru paused as Lani made her speech, then Toshio.

As Toshio had finished, Ichimaru was facing the room again, this time- his headband on over his eyes. Ryuu had made his decision, too."So that's how it is, Ryuu? I...don't want to hurt anyone, not even you or our Sensei. It may mean failing the mission... and as genin who go against their teacher, we'd be outlaws...But..."

"...Toshio, right?" He said, tilting his head towards the other genin, "...Thank you. You're braver than I, but ...I won't let you do this alone."

The boy uneasily asked, "And you, Sanma?" as he readied a smoke bomb in his hand.

HP: 18/20
Chakra: 11/20
(Speed Rank 1: 1 turn remaining. )

[El_Frenchie]

Sanma

Looking towards Toshio, Ryuu and Ichi, his lips seem to want to say something, but his words were lost.

He had been ever so confident. Ever so willing to follow orders without fail. He never considered the life of his enemies. Their children, their family. Their friends. He looks towards Ichimaru and Toshio. Even though he barely knew them, he instinctively turned towards them, bowing rather low in an exaggerated fashion, as if to excuse himself.

His parents. They were gone. He aspired to become alike to them. Die his father's death, live his mother's way. Everything he had done till now, he had done it towards this purpose.

What exactly were my parents?

Were they shinobi, or were they ninjas? And he knew the answer. But the atmosphere, the tension made it all too easy for him to doubt himself. Where had his resolve gone?

Closing his eyes, he pauses.

And smiling slightly, opening two sparkling amber eyes, looking at both Toshio and Ichi, he takes out his dai-kunai, entering a defensive position.

"Gomenasai, Ichi-kun. Toshio-kun. I don't think we've got the same motives, but anyway, it looks like we're in this together in the end."

Looking at both his sensei and Ryuu, his eyes narrow slightly. He pivots towards them.

"There's no sense doing this without a team of three, right? Then I'll be the third wheel."

Spoiler

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Fight Defensively.
Not moving.

[ZeroNumerous]

Lani

Your jounin turns around fully but keeps her arms at her side. If not for the twin dagger-points poking out between her clenched fists, you'd think she was just waiting patiently for a bus. "So you've made your decision. But you've chosen poorly." It's over in seconds. She crouches down and flings both kunai toward Sanma and Toshio. Both blades miss by mere millimeters and end up burying themselves in the wall with a resounding thud. She spins about and flings a single shuriken toward Ichimaru. The four-pointed star thuds into the floor between his legs. "If I had intended to kill you, I'd have done so already."

Lani non-chalantly motions toward the woman, who had until this point been hiding under the blankets. Onaki suddenly jolts and leaps to his feet. The bleeding from his kunai wound has stopped, but the blade still just out from his body. Soon, Onaki crumples to the ground. The sound of wood clattering against wood echoes through the room as his body hits the floor. "Thank you, Suni-chan. I owe you one, alright?" Onaki's body bursts into smoke. The obscuring smoke soon clears to reveal a wooden battle-puppet underneath. The blood he had spilled quickly disappeared in small poofs of smoke.

The woman crawls out from under the covers. Strangely enough, she's dressed in an unrecognizable shinobi uniform. "Don't worry about it, Tora-sensei! I've gotta run. They took longer getting here than I expected." "I know, you have exams to worry about." The woman smiles and waves at the four of you before forming the sign of the Tiger and disappearing in the smoke of a shunshin.

"Well, genin. You've answered one question. Whether you are a ninja or a shinobi is meaningless, however, unless you answer the second question.. Why did you choose this path?" Her voice is much less sharp, and her killing intent has completely vanished at this point.

[El_Frenchie]

Sanma

"Well, genin. You've answered one question. Whether you are a ninja or a shinobi is meaningless, however, unless you answer the second question.. Why did you choose this path?"

Sanma pauses in silence. He looks up to her, a slight hint of shame in his eyes. Taking a deep breath, the shame seems to vanish as it is replaced by determination:

"Tora-sensei. Gomenasai."

Looking towards Lani, seemingly immobile, the kunai stuck inside the daisho behind him, Sanma considers what he is going to say for a few seconds.

"I am not against following orders. I am not against following rules. I will follow. I will obey."

He pauses.

"I am not from Kagegakure. My family, inexistent. My parents... were shinobi."

His eyes brighten.

"I may be in another land, and I may be following and obeying an entity that I know not. But I follow a purpose. I wish to live life as my mother, and die the same way as my father."

"I may not know them as well as I would like to. But at this point, my parents... are my purpose. And until I know. Until I find their true nature, their true identity, their personality, then my purpose is too shallow. And I wouldn't lay hands on a father."

Bowing his head low, apologetically, he repeats:

"Gomen, Tora-sensei."

[The Unborne]

Toshio

Toshio nods at everything the other genin mentions. Family was indeed an important fact in everyone’s life, they decide your beliefs and mold you in ways others could not. Poor Samna-san, at least he knew you parents. Toshio gives a small sigh and then recounts all of his painful experiences. “Alright Tora-sensei, if you must know then allow me to tell you that my story is a sad one. I never quite knew my family, my mother told me my father went to fight in the Great Shinobi Wars and so too did my brother. I was abducted from my mother’s arms and never saw her again. Nin from a the Land of Lightning took me and gave me these damned eyes.” As if on que, the eyes do a full 360 degree turn around his sockets.

“They were also the ones that gave me these wounds all over my body, and with that, these daily pains. I was rescued of course by the shinobi of this village, and now I am in their debt and have aspired to be one of their own. As for my goals, I have three: to find my mother or at least what happened to her, to figure out what the cloud-nin planned to do with me, and finally to repay my debts to Ihesamo Kinzen and the rest of Kagegakure.”

Toshio rips off a piece of his dampened linen bandages and covers his katsugan with them. A mess of scars shows through the new opening. “I also want to say that the tricks you pulled tonight, Tora-sensei, were truly tortureous. Maybe next time I leave the village, I’ll wait to the next morning to return.” The linen coverings on his face extend outwards from his mouth signaling a wide smile beneath.

[Paragon Badger]

Ichimaru looked...less than pleased.

"EAGH! Sensei... You're...crazy!" He said, with his clenched jaws grinding his teeth into dust.

His lips contorting into a dissatisfied frown, the boy crossed his arms and tapped his foot, thinking about his reply.

"Killing has never solved anything. It only leads to more and more killing. The last war ended only because the villages decided to put their grudges behind them, and now they share the Chūnin exams."

After brooding for awhile, everyone else's replies finally registered in his mind.

"Sanma..." He mumbled empathetically, but the thought was quickly swept away, "Toshio- Your eyes? You have special eyes?" He asked, his lips pursed in curiosity. "Wh- What color are they!?"

[The Unborne]

Toshio

The young genin looked a little worried when asked about the color of his eyes. What difference does that make? Does he know something else about these katsugan? Wait…he’s blind, how do I describe it to him? Toshio nibbles at the inside of his mouth and then begins explaining, “Well do you know your colors…Ichimaru-kun is it?” If Ichi nods his head in agreement, then Toshio continues on.

“Ah that’s good I’m afraid I don’t know how to describe colors to the visually impaired. Well, my eyes are a bright blue, almost the color of the sky when the clouds are absent. Nothing really special about its color, may I ask why you want to know?” Toshio holds his breath for a second hoping his new friend could tell him more about his given powers. If he doesn’t know about the katsugan, then there must be something else he knows about eyes from the color of them…

[Paragon Badger]

The boy frowned, genuinely dissapointed.

"Uh! ...Err...No reason, I'm..just curious!" He replied, his mouth quivering in uncertainty, "You know how my kind are, we like to imagine! Hahaha..ha...ha."

'Sky blue, huh...' He thought, 'Completely different...Ah well'

Scratching his head, the shinobi uneasily smiled.

[ZeroNumerous]

Lani

"Well thats three of you.. What about you, Ryuu? Why would a mail-nin choose the path of the ninja?"

[ChronicLunacy]

Matsumoto Ryuu

Ryuu had retrieved his daikunai and taken a spot on the dresser when the tension had released, sitting with one leg hanging off the side. He ran a thumb along the length of the blade and looked up at Lani when she posed her question. He seemed a little surprised that she was talking to him, seeing how he wasn't one of her genins, but he answered the question anyway. With a shrug, he looked over at the others. "I see no reason to limit myself, Tora-sensei. I am going to be the best. If that requires assassination missions, then so be it. It's really that simple."

[The Unborne]

Toshio

The mummy-like genin takes note of Ichimaru's quivering laugh. I guess I gave the wrong answer? Oh well, I never truly felt I'd find clues within this village anyways. His head scans the surrounding room and is amazed that their sensei went as far as to use some stranger's room to test their resolve. His eyes then look down at the Soul Edge firmly locked in place within his grasp.

"I guess I have no more need for this thing then," Toshio jokes to himself as he dissipates the chakra blade with one single thought, the flame-like chakra simply fizzles out of existence. Soon after, Toshio listens to Ryuu's explanation. To be truthful, the bandage-bound genin wanted to know exactly why someone would take up the ninja's path. After all, it felt like his team was only shinobi for the most part.

Toshio gives a quick nod as he listens to the genin's claims. Meh, just to be the best he would kill...You would think the best wouldn't have the need to raise a finger. Toshio looks up towards his sensei and asks a few questions with his muffled voice. "So Tora-sensei, what's next on the to-do list? I presume you have no more tricks up your sleeves, or should I keep my eyes peeled?" The hour was late and Toshio could use a nice bath to wash away all the mud he accumulated over his strenuous ‘hike’ out of Kagegakure.

[ZeroNumerous]

Lani

"Whether you are shinobi or ninja, you must always remember one thing.. You will have to kill eventually. It's not something you can avoid when you have the lifestyle we do. Someday, somewhere, you're going to have to kill another human being. Remember that, and remember it well. You're dismissed for tonight. We'll be meeting at the East Wall tomorrow at eight. The four of you can do what you will tonight, but I expect to see each of you bright and early tomorrow morning."

Lani motions toward the door. Once you leave, she takes the time to clean up the room.

Spoiler

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I need two Listen checks as you leave.

[The Unborne]

Toshio

Though it wasn't the type of comment he would've wanted to hear after the whole fiasco, Toshio gave one last sigh of relief as the thought of him in a hot spring came to mind. After a quick dip I can practice focusing my chakra to my feet again to learn that Shodan Kuosuko, all of this morning was good practice, but I'm just going to give it a couple more tries. The mummy-like genin creates a fist and places it against his other hand's palm at chest level and bows, "Goodnight Tora-sensei, please don't stay up too long fixing the place up."

With that, the genin does a quick turn to the door and walks brusquely through the room, still with the hot springs in mind. Dirt, sweat, blood, dirt, I hate it all. Kuso, the bandages keep getting dirty, why should I wear them at all if it’s such a hassle? Toshio's eyes subside their movement behind the eye cloth and naturally scans the entire house. Nice wallpaper, I should myself some... Once the genin makes it down the steps he turns around and waits for his teammates. So I guess there's four tora-oshiegos now...and here I thought I was the only one. Toshio laughs a little in his head and continues his waiting. I would've picked a couple better teammates though, now we have one that hides underground when he's ordered to catch something and a blind shinobi...some good they can do. At least the...mail-nin looks efficient. Even though he just willingly admitted he'd assassinate anyone at this level. Hmm, now that I think about it all...I don't think I heard Tora-sensei Nyah~ at least once tonight, I must be thinking about it too hard.

The linen-covered genin leans against the adjacent wall and hums a quiet tune to fill what seemed like an empty silence...

Spoiler

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Listen (1d20+9=20, 1d20+9=24)

[El_Frenchie]

Sanma

Walking out of the room, Sanma simply sighs heavily. They had been coerced into this, and he felt like a fool. He thought he had a good reason, but all the others had decent enough arguments. He felt horrible.

His head bowed low, he passes in front of Toshio that had just stopped and looks back to get a glimpse of the bandaged genin. Toshio, eh.. you're just as I imagined you would be. Although... I'm pretty sure there's more to you than this.

He sighs rather loudly and yawns slightly.

"Mendo... I'm hungry."

He stops in the hallway similarly to Toshio, and looks back up in the stairs. Maybe I should ask them if they want to go eat something? He loses his trail of thought. Looking fairly tired and disappointed, he simply turns around again.

He needed to be stronger. And he needed to think about his purpose.

Spoiler

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Two listen checks (1d20=13, 1d20=12)

((Regardless of the results)) He just walks out, goes back 'home' at the shelter to get some sleep.