[center][h2][color=crimson]Chikage[/color][/h2][/center]

Today was one of the "boring" days. The kind of day where Chikage had been asked kindly by her grandfather to clean his store. Of course she always had the option to turn him down, such as when she had more important things to do. But it was to her misfortune that there were no excuses today. She had just trained yesterday and she restocked her bombs the day before. She knew she was being assigned to a new team soon but couldn't bring herself to lie to her grandfather about that day being today. So instead the kunoichi found herself doing menial labor in maintaining an old toy shop. With a white rag in one hand and a bottle of liquid soap in the other, Chikage was presently washing the storefront windows and the glass entrance.

[color=crimson]"[i]The windows out front are dirty[/i] he says..."[/color] she grumbled to herself as she continued to scrub the glass storefront. [color=crimson]"There weren't any spots on them... but sure, they're dirty. So I clean them... to make them even more clean than they already were..."[/color] The young girl continued mumbling to herself as she continued, keeping her voice low enough to prevent any passerby from hearing her complaints and thinking less of her for being so weird. Not that her intention was to avoid looking weird, as she would just stop talking to herself if that was the case. She just mumbled quietly by nature. [color=crimson]"What if the village was suddenly under attack and I was sitting out here without my bombs? I bet Grandpa would wish he didn't have me cleaning the store..."[/color]

That was when Chikage heard the sound of somebody landing right behind her. Obviously a shinobi, as normal people don't fall out of the sky. In an excited reflex she spun around, throwing the wet rag towards the face of her assassin and moving her hand to her bomb pouch in the same motion. Only now that she was fully facing the intruder it was apparent that it was another Konoha shinobi, now mildly annoyed by her overreaction. The rag clearly hit him in the face but he didn't bother to catch it before it fell to the ground. [color=crimson]"Oh, my bad. I thought you were a foreigner attacking the village..."[/color] Chikage explained herself quickly, hoping that he wouldn't inquire why she would think that and really hoping she wouldn't be punished for it. [color=gray]"What? Never mind that. Lord Kishimoto wants you to meet him at the lake on Training Field 4."[/color]

Chikage removed her hand from her bomb pouch and brought it up to her chin. [color=crimson]"Kishimoto? What does the Second want with me?"[/color] Her immediate thought was that she was going to be in trouble but that made no sense. She hadn't [i]done[/i] anything. Yet. [color=gray]"It's a team meeting. You've been assigned to his squad."[/color] With that the chunin departed, jumping away as most ninja do and leaving Chikage to interpret the message as she would. [color=crimson]"Well, I guess I should go grab my bombs. Oh wait! Duh! Of course I already had them. Stupid Chikage."[/color] After smacking herself in the forehead she grabbed the dirty rag on the ground and ran back into the store. Her grandfather wasn't behind the counter like she expected, likely due to there being no customers, so the young girl just left the cleaning materials next to the register and then bolted back outside.

The trip across town to the proper training field was expedient for it lacked sufficient distractions. The prospect of being put on a team with the [i]goddamn[/i] Hokage seemed exciting in and of itself. Her previous sensei was far more boring and didn't seem to like Chikage's style. At least he always complained about the bombs. Having someone like Kishimoto as a teacher must be incredibly lucky. Surely he was still quite powerful and wise. Maybe he could even teach some forbidden techniques! The blue-haired kunoichi was the first to arrive at the lakeside, immediately disappointed that Kishimoto wasn't there before her. Now she had to sit by herself and wait. [color=crimson][i]Did that guy mention a specific time? I think he did...[/i][/color] she thought to herself as she sat on the ground with her back against a tree. She withdrew three bombs from her pouch and began juggling them, occupying herself in this manner until [i]somebody[/i] could arrive to free her from the new boredom.