The First Meeting [Team Kazekage]

[King]

Kouketsu stood in the heart of the Pit's posterior arena, arms crossed as he awaited the arrival of his selected genin. Since his return from the Land of Rice, the Kazekage had combed through a mountain's worth of shinobi files; hunting, searching. Somewhere, amongst the lowest ranks of aspiring ninja, his successor stood obscured. The genin he had chosen showed the most promise out of the lot.

Lying flat on his back with his hands cupped at the back of his head, the Kazekage stared up into the emptiness of the blue sky. The grass beneath him still felt new, a gift from the "modernization" of their beloved village. They'll be here any minute, he thought to himself as he daydreamed. I'll enjoy the silence while I still have it.


Enter: Matsumoto, Alexis, Daichi, and Naga (at a later time).

[デーモン]

entrance

An order to meet with the Kazekage? This was unusual for several reasons. The most baffling being that Daichi was a mere genin. He hadn't done anything of merit or overly destructive -at least he didn't think so- to receive such an invitation. This caused Daichi to be a little on edge.

He didn't know what to expect. All he knew was to show up and give the best impression that he could to the strongest ninja in his village. A small sigh escaped his lips. This would be a lot of hard work in his mind. His hand would ruffle his ebony locks. His dreaded hair was fuzzy and soft to the touch and when the light hit it hints of red would seemingly come to life.

As Daichi arrived to the designated meeting area his eyes were met with green. Not really a huge surprise what with the seeds which were planted earlier by himself and another genin called Matsumoto. It was just that they grew sooner than he had expected.

[Itō Ittōsai]

Alexis sauntered through the labyrinth of streets, it was a popular residential area for the lower-middle class, so there's a large amount of houses compacted together, obscuring the path of those who wish to trek to one of the more popular places within Sunagakure, the arena. His long, dark, thick hair waved and spun in the wind that pushed against Alexis so often. He grew tired of having to push and shove his way through the gale, so naturally after years of training in these winds and having to live with them, his movements naturally adapted to the wind. His body moved with the wind, Alexis' bodily movements had become natural. The tanto and katana that where sheathed at opposite sides of his waist remained quiet, not clanging and bashing as they used to back when Alexis was a novice in the art of the sword. 


Alexis wasn't the one to be nerved, he was often relaxed and quite sensible but today was a contrast, he was nerved. It was foreign to Alexis, he was used to the calmness that had consumed him at a young age, being at peace with himself eliminated fear, eliminated doubt. But now he was put in a position to meet arguably the strongest shinobi in the village, the Kage. He knew he had been chosen because he was seen as a high achiever, but Alexis had been used to a life of mediocrity, excelling at a fast pace, being gifted or talented, these were things Alexis hadn't experienced. He sighed as his hands went to readjust his visor, sliding a finger underneath to itch his brow. He really didn't like the spot he'd been put in. 


Regardless of what he felt he knew this was an opportunity he had to seize, after all his mother threatened to 'beat you silly if you dont go out there and make the Ambrosious lineage look good, there will be hell to pay'. An earful is nothing Alexis can't handle but this one was different. He found himself thinking a lot of things were different on his way to the arena. He arrived at the arena. His breating that was once irregular had calmed down to his normal pattern, he was in a sublime state, numbness ran through his body. He arrived to see the kage and another Genin. Alexis approached, halted 5 feet away from the lazing Kage. He had never met someone so high up before, how was he meant to greet him? He did what felt right. He drew his sword and planted it into the ground and knelt with both hands grasping the handle. "Hello Kazekage-sama, I am Alexis Ambrosious, thank you for inviting me here today."

[Yazuro]

Yazuro went outside to find a message from the Kazekage himself, it was a message to meet him and a group of other Genin at the Pit's posterior arena. One he had read this message Yazuro would happily dash inside and quickly get dressed in his black robes that protected him from sand hitting his body if it did get windy. He'd then rush out his door and weave his way through  the town to the meeting spot. Once he had finally reached it he saw two others with him, probably two other Genin who were chosen. He'd then approach them all and would say, "Greetings everyone, my name is Yazuro Kobayashi. It is a pleasure to meet you all." Once he finished with his greeting he would then fall silent and wait for whoever else was coming or for the Kazekage to speak.

[matsumoto-kun]

It was a bit disturbing to see these warriors respond to their leader in such an honorific manner. He was their leader, their commander, not their master. While Ushinawa wouldn't be the one to say it, denoting themselves in such a way lowered them to nothing more than weaponized slaves. Perhaps that was the method that Sunagakure raised its offspring. Complete loyalty seemed to be written walls of this village, but it seemed as though these children had taken the sentiment a bit more seriously.

Matsumoto's cape would ruffle under the speed of his gait. Despite being the shortest of the lot by far (what were they feeding Genin these days?), he would enter the arena with an understated presence. An embodiment of black, his hair, clothing, and posture would ooze through the air as though a sliver of smoke passing under their noses. The sound of his steps were minimal, and being as small as he was, it should have been of no surprise that he would slip under their radar within the instant. With his arms, neck, and torso hidden beneath the silhouette of his clothing, he would appear as the specter he was. No words would move his lips to announce his presence, only the clear and steady focus on the man who so leisurely awaited their arrival. 

Having arrived late, he would remain from a position within the stands. Hopefully capable of being able to make out the words which would be exchanged between the men who had entered the arena, he would prepare himself for whatever orders this Kouketsu person would issue. After all, as one of the most recent members of the village, he still had a lot to prove to his fellow ninja-- but mostly to his Kage.

[King]

Kouketsu counted the presences he felt join him, one after the other, though he made no effort to respond to their individualized greetings. It was so strange -- all the he could see when he not looking. Each of the genin that stood before him emitted their own pressure, their own unique presence; each a piece of the puzzle. While there was no doubt his successor was hidden amongst them, he couldn't help but ponder who, out of the four, it would be.

Or would it be someone else entirely different?

Opening his eyes, the Kazekage set up from his bed of grass, leisurely surveying the genin. "Good afternoon, Sunagakure genin. I am Mu-n, Aka. Shodaime Kazekage of the Hidden Sand."

Slowly getting to his feet, the Kazekage brushed the thin sheet of dust from his armor.

"I've assembled you here because, though you may not agree or even see it, each of you possess a unique quality that I've taken interest in. I personally feel that among your peers, the four of you possess the potential to become the Hidden Sand's next elite shinobi unit." Kouketsu's tone was, as always, dull and deflated. "Therefore, I shall train you myself, to help you reach your true potential. As of this moment, you are officially founding members of the first Team Kazekage."

Ring, ring.

Two bells appeared in the Kazekage's gloved hands, and then, were fastened to his sash. "Your first task is, as a unit, procure these bells from me."

[デーモン]

daichi's eyebrow raised. this puzzled him. the kazekage saw them all as elite shinobi? something felt off to him about all of this. still the strongest ninja in their village wanted to train them. his blood and bones began to make white noise within his ears. almost like an explosion daichi would jump from his position.

he didn't care about working as a team when the thought landed in his brain. the strongest just said come test me. his kaguya blood-lust took over from there. the jump was a short one to speed a meter before everyone else moved. daichi wanted to close the distance as fast as possible for a hand to hand confrontation.

[rib]

Alexis arose from his kneel. That was sooooo gay. He thought to himself, he wanted to maintain an apathetic demeanor but instead he seemed like some sort of chivalrous knight or something. All the nerves had dissipated and he was back to his normal self as the others began to arrive. But Alexis chose to stand about one meter to the right of the Kaguya as the Kazekage introduced himself as Mu-n Aka. The following speech made Alexis feel a bit pampered, Me? This guy seriously thought I was an elite ninja or had the potential or have it or whatever.... A wave of confusion swabbed over Alexis, he knew that's why he had been sent but hearing out of the Kazekage's mouth felt a bit... strange. 

But nevertheless Alexis listened to the task that was being provided to him and the rest of the genin. Bells?. It seemed like a teamwork task, seeing how they could all meld together as a team. He turned to the Kaguya (note: Alexis doesn't know this guy's a kaguya). "So uh...we kind of need to know what everyone can do in order to know what strategy we should ta--" The Kaguya all of a sudden began to bolt, Alexis' eyes opened wide at this bold and rash action. Daichi had launched forward and Alexis followed suit, but halted about half a meter behind Daichi and then Alexis swung his hand forward, latching onto Daichi's shoulder and pulling him back. "WAIT!" He bellowed. A sigh then proceeded to exit Alexis' mouth. 


"This is a Kage we're dealing with, even a tenth of his power is probably equal to all of us, so we're going to need to work as a unit to achieve this, I know it's a drag but everyone huddle in on me, that includes you too guy in the stands." Alexis motioned for everyone to come in and gather. Assuming everyone had gathered, Alexis would say in a hushed tone, trying so that the Kazekage standing 15m away wouldn't hear, "Alright, so everyone, quietly say what your fighting abilities are so we can devise a strategy, I am a Hyuuga and a Kenjutsu specialist." Time to lead the assault. 

[matsumoto-kun]

'Elite.'

It was a funny phrase, looking at the group of rag tag children which seemed to accumulate in the presence of the dusty man to their vanguard. He was of an average height, with abnormally long hair, and a plate of armor covering the parts which would keep him alive if under the assault of a deadly weapon. Nothing out of the ordinary. Within his possession he didn't appear to have anything particular around him aside from the aforementioned bells. The ring in which they produced was a bit obnoxious, and yet somehow enticing. The next thing would have likely been the most obvious. As Matsumoto remained stationary within the stands, he would be standing likely twenty meters from the Kazekage, and five from the three young men who had begun to huddle around each other to begin their planning. That was the issue- there were three of them together, one of them in the stands, and two bells. Two out of these four genin would be unable to acquire a bell if they all worked together.

Glancing up at the Kazekage, Ushinawa's eyes would narrow into a glare as he would begin to understand the task at hand. This wasn't a question of how the group could outwit the Kage, but themselves as well. It might have been safe to assume that the lot of them had figured it out on their own and would wait to betray each other, or neither of them had figured it out, leaving Ushinawa with a severe advantage, or perhaps some had and some hadn't, which would leave the competition less daunting, but still significant.

Among them was Daichi, who he could assume was too lazy to even notice the number of bells, let alone the implied trickery. He was unsure of the other two, however, but was almost positive he could count on Daichi to distract them at some point.

With a casual stride down the stairs of the stands, and into the arena, Matsumoto's eyes would scan the area casually before strafing the arena to move towards the back of the man who had announced himself as Mu-n. Covering the edge of the arena, he would keep his distance from both the group of boys and the man, ensuring a now ten meter distance from the Kage, while having moved an equal distance from the group of genin. During his trek, his hands had remained hidden- beneath his cape beginning to devise a plan of action for himself with the use of the varying contents of his satchels.

-- ____ (item(s) prepped)

[Yazuro]

"I've assembled you here because, though you may not agree or even see it, each of you possess a unique quality that I've taken interest in. I personally feel that among your peers, the four of you possess the potential to become the Hidden Sand's next elite shinobi unit."

Potential? Yazuro hardly thought that he had any potential. Although, he was glad that the Kage probably recognized his knowledge in Medical Techniques and had probably wished to further Yazuro's knowledge so that he would be the support of this team that was being formed. Did the others all possess unique abilities too? He'd have to wait and see if he wanted to find out. Maybe, the Kazekage would test them all by putting them up against him or possibly even by putting them up against each other.

Suddenly he would clear his head of these thoughts as he looked at the Kazekage after hearing the ringing of bells. It seemed that they'd be working alone to get one of the bells. Then suddenly the Kazekage would then say something that made no sense to him,

"Your first task is, as a unit, procure these bells from me."

Take the bells as a team? What the hell was he thinking? If there was only two how would they pull it off? Suddenly Yazuro realized, it wasn't about the bells but about seeing how they work together initially. He'd then see one of the boys run off in the direction of the Kazekage while the other grouped up with Yazuro and attempted to call the other one back. He'd then listen to him speak and would silently and swiftly reply to the boy, "I'm a medical user and know a couple water style jutsu, I can attack with you if required and I'm always ready to heal as well so just jump back and those other two who ignored you should take the opportunity to attack and distract him, which should be an up for this." Once he had finished speaking he waited for the boy to reply with some sort of plan, if he had one.

[King]

It seemed that one, or two, of the shinobi he'd gathered here had completely misunderstood the purpose of the exercise. The number of bells was irrelevant -- not once did he say one per bell, or that in acquiring one would yield individual rewards. He could have had a thousand bells and it wouldn't have mattered. Their task was to procure them as a unit, together; the lone wolf would be the first to pay the penalty for his hubris.

Gloved hands came together in a series of five quick seals, so fast the movement was a blur; barely visible to the three genin' untrained eyes (and completely unseen by Matsumoto as he was pacing around/behind the Kage). With a deep breath and pivot on the heel of his sandals, the Kazekage turned and exhaled a quick volley of three wind bullets that ripped across scant lot separating the two. One aimed ahead of him, where his next step would lead him; the other careened toward his chest; and the third haphazardly spiraled toward his left leg.

Ring, ring.

The Kazekage was moving immediately after the third shot, pushing himself back (to the group and Matsumoto's left), keeping both in view -- with the group on his left and Matsumoto on his right --as he moved in a leisure pace. "Your objective won't necessarily wait for you to collect yourselves," he explained. "Likewise, it may not wait for you to attack it and may, instead, take the initiative."

SPOILER: Click to show

{Techniques, Items and Information}Technique(s)

Item(s)

Information

[デーモン]

daichi would be pulled back. after hearing the other genin out he would say his peace. " taijutsu dude, got bones that move, i'll distract him, you guys come up with a plan, blah blah break. " daichi would once again resume his assault but this time from afar. the bones in his fingers would crunch before being exposed. a simple point in the kazekage's expected direction as he would be moving at the moment.

the finger bullets exploded from daichi's right hand at the kazekage. he believed if the man was so strong that he'd survive it. as daichi himself began to run in alignment with the kazekage's movement so forward and to the left(?).

SPOILER: Click to show

{stuff}
Teshi Sendan (Ten Finger Drilling Bullets) - 10 points.

190 points remaining.

[matsumoto-kun]

It came without warning, really. The amount of speed that the man had was something that was clearly undeniable, and while it was evident that he was clearly going on the offensive, the thought of whether or not the Kage was holding back was something that forced its way into the genin's frontal lobe. However, the thought would pass almost as soon as it had planted itself. The only thought worth keeping being which movement he would be making next. While Mu-n's hands might have been faster than Ushinawa's ability to process them (granted he hadn't witnessed them at all), the quick turn of his body would be slightly more readable. The bullets were small, but with more than thirty feet separating the two of them, they would not be impossible to outmaneuver. Having been in a casual walk, his maneuver would be simple. The quick burst of speed exhibited by the boy would thrust his miniature body backward- the three bullets whizzing in front of him with an impeccable amount of speed.

However, the jerk maneuver would no doubt cause him to lose his balance. Tripping over his heel Ushinawa would soon find himself stumbling backwards, a series of stutter steps, and an instinctual spreading of his hands to catch his balance, would release the items that he had intended to use to trap his opponents, scattering them in multiple places surrounding his position. Losing sight of the group for a second, the time to catch himself would be short- his attention instantly snapping back as his hands would move to his front in an attempt to formulate seals in time for a possible counter-attack. 

'Shit!'

Looking back at where Mu-n was would not help him. However, having lost sight of him, his next targets would no doubt be there group of boys that had begun to formulate their own plan. Spotting all four in the same position, his next move would have to encompass them all.

-- ____ item used
-- ____ jutsu prepped

[Itō Ittōsai]

Ugh, what a drag, a lone wolf? Alexis scoffed in his mind. But at least he had something to work with. Before Daichi dashed away Alexis whispered in a hushed tone "Alright, Kaguya you're Spectre 1, I'm Spectre 2, Medic, you're Spectre 3" Then once Daichi begin to pace towards the Kazekage, Alexis approached diagonally from the left towards the Kazekage. "Spectre 3, get in the middle of me and Kaguya, but stay about 5 meters back, that way we can form a triangle. From there you use your elemental jutsu and use your jutsu on us if the time calls for it. Got it? Now Kaguya our job is to save Pale skin!" Alexis was trying to be vague with his wording, making sure the Kazekage would have a harder time deciphering their skillsets.

[Yazuro]

Yazuro would say, "Roger, save pale skin." and then move quickly away from the group towards the Kazekage keeping a distance of 5 meters and would perform 6 handseals at the highest speed he could and would begin to spray bubbles out of his mouth that would slowly rush towards the Kazekage. Once he had finished spraying the bubbles at the Kazekage he would then yell, "Save pale skin!" Then wait to see if the bubbles reached the Kazekage and if they were to, he'd snap his fingers causing them to explode releasing slime onto the Kazekage preventing him from making any quick movements until he found a way to get the slime off of himself and if the bubbles weren't to reach the Kazekage he wouldn't care, he'd just wait for a counter-attack from the Kazekage and then wait for the other two to distract him.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Jutsu Used}Soap Bubble Slime
Rank: D
Range: Close (0m ~ 5m), Mid (5m ~ 10m)
Type: Supplementary
Handseals: 6
Chakra Consumption: Mid
Utilizing the Water Element, the user will blow half a dozen bubbles after performing the necessary handseals. These bubbles will rush toward an opponent, and when popped, release a sticky slime, delaying and or trapping an opponent.
Note: Water is not necessary beforehand to perform this technique.