Koike who landed on the water, turned around to face who ever came now out of hiding. Only to be greatly confused. The person that was dressed like a Konoha nin was somebody he knew all too well. It just made little sense. ''Katsu, can you use sharingan?'' Koike asked, still not sure if he could drop his stance or not. The person who had spoken was Hiron Hon, a jounin of their village. Waiting to hear what Katsu would say, Koike would stay alert of any surprises.
Yukara noticed that the sharks seemed to stop being so active, swinging herself down a few branches to get a better look at this guy. "We passed, this was a test?" Yukara asked, a bit confused. Glancing at Koike, she narrowed her eyes at him and then shrugged. "For once, Koike actually has a good idea," she told Katsu.
"Haha..." Katsu laughed nervously. "I can. Well... I still can't activate it at will." He had an apologetic look on his face. He looked over to Koike. He then turned back to the shinobi from Konoha. Katsu still had the sabre in his hand, unsure of whether or not he should sheath it. It seemed to him like Koike didn't trust that the man was who he appeared to be, but would they actually stand a chance against someone who can use techniques that could flood forests? No. Of course not. He looked over to Koike again. "Sorry," he repeated himself. "I can't read his chakra. Who is he?"
Koike still kept his attention at Hiron or at least the person that looked like Hiron. It became clear that Hiron had heard something from their talk as he had stopped and kept glancing at them. ''He is a jounin from our village. A member from the same clan I am from.'' Koike answered. He decided against telling more as he didn't want to demotivate his team members if it would come to blows. ''Don't be sorry, Katsu.'' Koike then later said as he cleared his throat. ''Hiron? May I ask something?''
Hiron who had his hands stuffed into the pockets of his pants, looked with a more calm look in Koike's direction. ''Sure thing Koike.'' That was it. Koike narrowed his eyes. Hiron called most genins, kids. It was out of place as he called somebody that was both younger and still of genin rank by their first name. ''Listen up. Katsu, you go to the right. Yukara, move to the left. I will try to make an opening.'' Koike whispered as he briefly had lowered his head.
Nodding, Yukara moved in the direction that she was ordered, although, she had a plan of her own that she was eager to use. One that involved genjutsu and impressing her newest team mate, with grin, she started to hum again. Looking for an opening of her own to use, she waited for whoever to move first before she would start on her own plan.
Katsu pocketed his transmitter. "He might have one too. If he does, he would be able to hear everything we say," he warned Koike. "I do have a plan to create an opening..." He held his hand out. "Do you have explosive tags?"
''I have.'' Koike mumbled. Much like Katsu had predicted, Hiron had also a communicator. He just found it a bit amusing that the genins were trying to form a formation to attack him. His eyes went briefly to the girl that had been humming. Then he glanced back in the direction of Katsu. The question of Koike had betrayed that the boy was most likely an Uchiha. But one that hadn't been able to master his sharingan. Lifting only his right hand out of the pocket of his pants, Hiron turned his attention back to Koike. ''I was only told to test you three. But if you want to go at it, be my guest.'' Hiron said, flexing his fingers of his right hand.
Koike was silent for a few moments. If it was really Hiron, the chance that they had an actual victory chance was very slim. Slightly lowering his stance, Koike decided to ask his team members one question. ''I am all in for going at it. What do you guys think?'' Koike asked softly. He eyed the right hand of Hiron before keeping watch of any potential movements.
Frowning, so this was a test, or was the test believing what he was saying? "If you really are from the Leaf Village, then tell us something that only someone from the leaf would know," Yukara said, crossing her arms. Although, she really wanted to go ahead cast a genjutstu. "I have no idea of what to think about this situation," she replied to Koike.
Katsu nodded at Koike's words. "Right... Put a couple on this tree bark," he said, performing three hand seals almost every shinobi in the world knew (Substitution Jutsu). He recklessly ran towards Hiron, fear evident in his eyes, but he didn't hesitate while moving. He had his sabre in his hand. He leapt up to Hiron's shoulder level and raised his weapon, leaving an enormous opening, something that would be expected from a new genin.
Seemed that Yukara was wavering about challenging Hiron, but Katsu moved in. Knowing that they couldn't leave Katsu just to attack and try to fight Hiron on his own, Koike would quickly fall back to the tree that Katsu had pointed at. With a quick movement, he grabbed several exploding tags and slammed them against the bark of the tree. After that, he would quickly weave some set of handsignals while keeping an eye on the situation.
Hiron who had been slight surprised by the charge of the genin, opened his right hand. Lightning crackled through the air, eventually moving over the water surface. The lightning then seemed to increase in range and strength as it would likely reach Katsu and shock him. Hiron looked with a more serious look in the direction of Katsu. ''Feeling lucky, eh?'' Hiron mumbled.
A bit irritated that her demand went unanswered, she stuck her ,hands behind her back, performing the handsignals for the Demonic Illusion: False Surroundings, Genjutsu. Hoping that it would give her team mates the edge they needed against Hiron and joined the supposed attack with her kunai ready in her hand.
The lightning attack had apparently struck Katsu and smoke rose from where he was. A piece of wood fell forward, it's centre pierced, covered in the explosive tags placed by Koike. They were already lit up by the lightning and immediately exploded after coming out of the smoke. Katsu was trying to regulate his breathing back at the tree where Koike had placed the tags, hanging onto the tree. He hoped that this would at least give the others an opening to land one or two attacks.
Rushing forward when he had noticed that Katsu was being attacked, Koike noticed the smart move of his team member. He slowed a bit down, pulling out a kunai as he would move in close. He was unsure what this move would do against somebody of Hiron's calibre, but he was sure that they would need to put the pressure on him. And like expected, Hiron moved out of the smoke. He had a rather irritated look on his face as lightning crackled through the air. ''Pesky kid.'' Hiron mumbled as he had some dust on his clothes. Skidding to a halt, he had noticed Koike in front of him, but instead focused on something else. Forming the Kai handsignal, he seemed to do something else first. ''Nice move, but you need to plan genjutsu better.'' Coming to a halt, Koike would take up a defensive stance. Genjutsu? Wait, that meant Yukara likely had tried one. Thinking of something that would work against Hiron, Koike felt that they didn't had many options.
With a frown, she bounced back to where she was at previously and rethought what her plan could be. Maybe not a direct genjutsu but something that would come more as a surprise and allow her to get close enough to try something new as well.
Katsu put on his headpiece and ran across the water. Once he got closer to Koike and Hiron, he touched the headpiece and spoke into it. "Koike, I'm behind him," he lied, hoping that Hiron was listening as well. He threw two shuriken at Hiron, whether or not he'd fell for it. Katsu was rather desparate at the moment, seeing how Koike was in the open and Yukara had been noticed.
''That is enough.'' Aiko's voice sounded through the communicators. She had watched from the shadows on how her students had been acting during her absence. Aiko threw two shuriken to deflect those of Katsu, only to reveal herself. Dropping on the water surface, she placed her hands on her hips as she had a soft smile on her lips. It had went like she had predicted, but that didn't mean she was actually pleased about how it had went. Only the last part had went better than expected, though she hadn't see it coming that they would actually try to face Hiron. ''I will take it over from here, thank you Hiron-kun.'' Aiko said, turning to her students. ''Everybody, come gather here please.''
With Aiko's appereance, Hiron seemed to lower his slight stance. Shoving his right hand back into the pocket of his pants, he scoffed. But without any word, he would suddenly poof away. Likely a mere shadow clone or else the body flicker technique. Koike sighed, as he was glad they wouldn't really have to face Hiron. It wouldn't be something he would have liked that much. With Aiko asking them to gather at her, Koike would do so by walking in her direction. He could already feel a lecture coming.
"Aiko-Sensei! You are back!" Yukara said, happily racing right over to her and waiting. Completely forgetting that they were just about to attack Hiron full on, with a smile. She bounced on the balls of her feet, as she glanced over at Katsu who was still prepared to attack a seemingly vanished Hiron.
Katsu stared blankly as his shiruken fell. He turned to his sensei who had appeared out of nowhere. As the other two walked over, he stood still, trying to comprehend the situation. After a couple of moments, he heaved a sigh of relief and walked over to her and the rest of the team.
Once the genins were gathered in front of her, Aiko let out a sigh. Brushing some strands of red hair behind her left ear, she had a rather serious expression on her face. ''I think that it is clear that this was a test. One that you all failed. In almost every aspect.'' Aiko began, not really sparing them. Her tone was harsh and cold as she continued. ''Teamwork, I would give you that barely a D due the last part. You all are one team and for that reason I will count you together. Even while the one started about this or that, I don't care.'' Aiko continued. She had now her arms crossed out front of her chest as she would continue her lecture. ''I had that talk about the Great War not just for some idle chit chat. It was to let you three think about that grim time. Know what happened to squad who weren't able to co-operate?'' Aiko asked, raising her left eyebrow.
Briefly Koike flinched. He knew how strong Aiko was, but for some reason he would rather fight her than to have to endure a lecture from her. ''We would have been killed.'' He mumbled. Lowering his head a bit, he first wanted to give Yukara the blame for their failure. If she hadn't start to bicker or try to insult him, it would have went smoother. It would mean so much difference, but he decided that would be childish. Deciding to not start on who was to blame, he would just raise his head and look with a rather apologizing expression. ''I am sorry that it went like that, sensei.''
She blinked, a test that they failed? Team work? She thought that they managed pretty well once Koike stopped being a jerk accepted everything. Although, she did not really feel like spouting off every thought in her head that things would have gone better if Koike was not appointed the leader of the three of them. Also remembering the other day, where Aiko-Sensei had quite physically taken her anger out on her, cringing at the thought, she said nothing.
Katsu looked up at Aiko-Sensei, truly believing that he wasn't to blame for any problems with the teamwork. Of course, he wouldn't say something like that and shift the blame to his teammates. He stayed silent and nodded at what Koike said about "being killed".
''I am greatly disappointed in each of you. This means that I will have to think about my future decisions of allowing you more freedom during missions. If I can't turn my back for ten seconds before one starts to insult another, the other still shows them no camaraderie and the other being too easily stressed then that means I need to even consider to sent one or you all back to the Academy.'' Aiko said. Letting her arms fall to her side, she sighed. ''I am not saying that I am expecting the perfect results, but today I hope that it was the worst you could perform as team. We are going to the ruins and then heading home.'' Aiko turned around to start slowly walking away. She disliked to act like this to her students, but she wanted to make sure that they would get the message. It was their luck that this was a real test. If they would have been against a missing nin above their own level and their team work would not be excellent, than they wouldn't survive that long.
Koike would only look at Aiko. He understood that it was he that showed little camaraderi. But he still felt little ''camaraderie'' to his team members. Certainly to Yukara, who had insulted him. And not even lightly. Deciding to follow Aiko, Koike would say nothing as he didn't want to provoke Aiko's anger more. He was considering to ask her something, but realized something. Forming the Rat handsignal, he would end a technique as he had almost forgot he had activated one. Miso would also appear, heading to walk at Koike's side.
Not wanting to show that anything bothered her, she shrugged and walked with Aiko-Sensei towards the ruins of which they were going. Even though, what was said bothered her, a lot. This could all be different if Koike had been polite and even a bit more friendlier than he was the other day, she would not feel the need to insult him or be rude to him, but she would not say that. If he was not smart enough to correct the problem or change his attitude then, she was not going to put the effort in to help.
Katsu sighed, believing that nothing would change for quite some time. Both Koike and Yukara were probably just staying silent because the three of them had gotten scolded. At least that was the only reason he could think of. He followed Aiko-Sensei from behind, still shivering slightly from the close call earlier.
This time it seemed that Aiko wasn't also eager to talk. Staying silent while leading the squad, it seemed to be around afternoon already. ''Just a few more miles. It is a different ruin, but will give the same look I think.'' Aiko whispered to herself as she would pick up the pace. It was like before, a pace that each of the team could keep up with, but wouldn't be too slow.
Several hours later.
The sun was settling down. Aiko was leading the team over a hill as they seemed to be close to something. Aiko became more quiet than before, not even mumbling or whispering anything. Once they were up the hill, Aiko came to a halt. If they would look, they would see what seemed to be ruined buildings. Not too many, but due the formation and size, one could easily assume that this was once a village or small hamlet. ''This is one of the villages that got caught in a skirmish between Konoha and Sunagakure forces. Almost everybody that lived inside the village was the next day dead.'' Aiko informed them. She stared at the ruined place, making no movement towards it. Just staring at the place that was visible from the hill they stood on.
He looked at the ruins of the village. Hearing that it got caught in a skirmish and that nobody survived, Koike briefly wondered why Aiko had taken them here. He knew that being a shinobi meant they had to deal with dead. But the talk about the Great War first and now this meant that Aiko wanted to teach them something. Instead of asking it, he just took the moment in. Not only that, but he was also party conflicted. One side of him wanted to inspect the ruind place, but another part of him wanted to leave it alone.
Looking down at the ruins, she thought that it was sad that the people were not able to get out fast enough. So many lives were lost, just because they could not get along well. Wondering why Aiko-Sensei was having them view this place, she looked to her sensei and waited.
Katsu looked at the ruins, his expression unchanged. He looked over at the ruined hamlet, a look of pity in his eyes, almost as if he could relate. He looked up at Aiko-Sensei, waiting for more of an explanation, unfazed by the information about the dead.
After some moments, Aiko spoke again. ''Lets take a look.'' Walking in a slow pace down the hill, she would keep her eyes open. The village was similiar to one she had grew up in. Only what reminded her of her birth place was that it was destroyed in the same kind of way. ''I took you three here to teach you a bit of history. That and I wanted to make sure you all understand what we have to do as shinobi.'' Aiko started to tell them as they would reach the outskirts of the ruined hamlet. Stopping, Aiko bit her lower lip. Running a hand through her hair, she let out a loud sigh. ''Sorry, this isn't really easy for me, but come. Keep your eyes open and take in every detail. I want to make sure you three know what it means to see something like this every day.''
Following Aiko, Koike did as she told them. He hadn't seen much of the destruction that had happened during the event with Shoji and his goons. But the scene in front of him kind of impressed him. To see this every day was kind of depressing. No, it was more than that. It wasn't something that could be described with words. Even Miso was silent before Koike would dismiss his sumoning. Still silent, Koike had a different expression on his face than the usual neutral and calm look. It was one of sorrow.
She knew of what they would have to face and see as a shinobi, her parents had told her many times of what she would have to deal with. The loss of lives, the destruction of villages, this village was only one example of what she was sure to face. But even she was affected by it, not as cheerful as she was before, she seemed to shrink into herself while they walked around what used to be a village.
Katsu looked around, observing his surroundings with a dullened look on his face. He followed the others, looking everywhere except ahead. He simply followed the sounds of the footsteps. As he observed his surroundings, he thought of why Aiko-Sensei had brought them there and why had she given them the backpacks? He figured it might be some sort of training but that felt less and less likely with each passing second.
WIthout uttering a word, Aiko kept on walking. She didn't look at her students. She barely looked around. Like she knew where she was going. Heading to the center of the village there was a big black mark in the middle. ''During war, innocent bystanders are often caught up in it. People who lose loved ones, that head into battle. People who happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. People.... that have nothing to do with it, but are still caught up in it.'' With her back to her students, they wouldn't be able to see her face. But her voice and shoulders. They were slightly shaking and trembling. ''Each of you has one backpack. Tonight, you will learn about this place. I want each of you to learn about this lesson. Tomorrow morning, at first dawn, I will pick you all up. Until the time.''
Turning around slowly, Aiko seemed to slowly vanish away. ''Think.'' With that word, she wasn't there anymore. Like she had just became one with the dark of the night.
The eyes of Koike widened for a moment. He took a step forward, wanting to stop Aiko. Leaving them together in such a place? While they clearly couldn't stick together without Aiko, the one that binded them? But he didn't ask Aiko to stay. Neither did he tried to shout. All he did was taking that step. Gaining back the usual neutral and somewhat cool look on his face, Koike crounched. Without saying something, he would search through his backpack. The mission or training was clear. They had to survive until the morning. None of them had eaten. They didn't had a place to sleep and be safe from their surroundings. Koike started to think. Taking care of themselves was the highest priority. ''I have some food supplies. What do you guys have?'' Koike asked with a serious voice.
Katsu stared at where Aiko was for a couple of moments, surprised to see that she had left yet again. He sighed and sat down on the rubble. He looked over to Koike after hearing his question. Katsu had been wondering what was inside the bag deformed by its contents. He slid it off his shoulders and opened it up. "Uh... I have some nails and a... no, two hammers. There's also..." He paused and rummaged through the bag. "There's also an axe. Why would we need any of these just to survive for one night?" He thought about Aiko's words. What kind of a lesson was there to learn? And she'd said 'think'.
Yukara simply stared blankly in the place where Aiko-Sensei had been standing, not sure of what to do at the moment. "We will be fine, come on Katsu, lets look for a place to sleep for the night" Yukara said as she rumaged through her pack. Finding sheets, Katsu and her would be fine tonight. Koike would survive on his own without them. "With the bedding material i have, we should stay warm through the night. Oh, are you alright? You fought as best you could against that other Hon, did you get hurt? I can fix you up" Yukara said, looking Katsu over.
Looking up, he noticed both as heard that Yukara was talking to Katsu. Being silent, he had perfectly catch on that she had said that Katsu should go with her. He had the food, Katsu had tools and from the earphone communicator he had heard she had bedding material. The three could help each other out. But it turned out that Yukara had other plans. Closing the backpack, Koike felt distrust now for both. If they wished to be together, he wouldn't but heads or boss them around. Silently, saying no word, he rose up and would head the other way. There were some ruins. He could try to use them to create a place for his own. With food, he wouldn't have to be hungry. Koike kept on walking towards one of the ruins. But he was cautious.
Katsu shook his head. "No, I'm okay," he said and he noticed Koike moving. "Hey, Koike! We're supposed to stick together. Don't wander off!" He dragged his bag over to Koike and reached for his shoulder. "We all have different stuff for a reason. I've come to understand you two don't get along but this is such an obvious test. We need to work together or we're going to disappoint Aiko-sensei again. Just... Just tonight, please, let's all stick together."
Still not paying Koike any attention, she watched as Katsu went over to Koike and tried to reason with him. They did not need each other, she simply shrugged and turned to talk in the other direction, although she did feel bad for Katsu for being caught in the middle, she refused to stick around Koike. Scanning the ruins for a high place to get onto so she could work on setting up the supplies that she had.
Coming to a halt, Koike slowly looked at Katsu. If there was one thing he didn't like, it was others getting too close. Turning around, he looked with a calm look at Katsu. With seeing that Yukara was walking already away, Koike turned his gaze back on Katsu. ''Oh? I hate to break it, Katsu, but those weren't the orders. Aiko-sama meant that we would learn about this place. We have the materials to get it more comfortable tonight together. I don't like this either, but it seems Yukara doesn't want to co-operate. I am fine with that. You should be going back. I will be fine.'' Koike told him. He understood what Katsu would want to achieve, but Koike couldn't trust Yukara. It became clear that she would even abandon him in a situation like this. He couldn't trust that girl.
When he heard that Yukara had turned away as well, he shifted his gaze on his other teammate. "Yukara! He took a step towards her. "Don't go! We all need to work together! It's so simple!" He turned back to Koike. "Have some common sense, you two! It's just for one night. Just get along for one night. You don't even have to talk to each other! Just don't get separated!" He pleaded. It felt like it was pointless but he did it anyway, trying to cling onto that small hope that they would listen to him.
"My offer still stands Katsu, if you want company, come find me," Yukara said with a sigh. She really did not want to be on her own either but she did not want to be around Koike as well, nor was she ok with putting this Katsu in this position. It really bothered her that it was going this way, taking a deep breath, she straigthened her posture and looked away from Katsu.
Waiting until Yukara was done, Koike decided on something. ''You're one to talk, Uchiha.'' Koike mumbled as he then grabbed his backpack. Kneeling down, he opened the backpack. Though having a neutral stance against Katsu, he wouldn't just let his teammembers be like this. Taking some food out of it, Koike sighed. It wasn't that much he had, but he would offer more than half of it to Katsu. ''Listen. Sometimes things just go like this. Just take this and try to stay safe together. I will manage. Promised.'' Koike said. Though it looked like a good deed he was trying to do, Koike felt bad. Not because it meant Yukara would have some food. But that he was now risking food, meaning he would have it harder to get through the night without any hunger.
Katsu stared at Koike after his first remark, a look of surprise in his eyes. He continued staring even after he'd offered him the food. "I'm one to talk? What the hell did I do?" he said, sounding shocked. "All I'm trying to do is to keep my teammates from splitting up every chance they get! This could get us all killed one day, and you're here picking fights!" He anticipated a retort about how Yukara does to but didn't allow it to be worded. "And so does she! I know! You both have something that you need to resolve! This is the best chance you'll both ever get and you two are just doing what you did earlier today, which ended up getting us into trouble! You don't have to be friends, but what you do have to do is to work together. You're both purposefully trying to avoid any form of action that would help us, and you have the guts to say I'm one to talk!?" His voice grew angrier and angrier as he spoke. His chest rose and fell repeatedly and the rage in his eyes were evident.
She listened as Katsu ranted about how it was their fault, it sort of was though. But she would not be the one surrender first, she was not going to let it go. Instead, she started walking again, wanting to drag Katsu with her but choosing to leave them both together. In her mind it was a good choice, they could surrive together and she would be fine on her own.
Slowly, Koike would place the food down. ''I mean that you blame me for fighting. I have no quarrel with either of you. If you say I don't use common reason, I think you are mistaken.'' Placing the food down, Koike would close his bag and shoulder it. Rising up, he looked with a calm look in Katsu's direction. ''Just stick together. Take the food and don't worry.'' Normally, people would smile, but Koike just nodded as a goodbye like this. Turning around, he would head to a ruined house. His first priority was to look for a place where he could be more comfortable. The problem was that he knew little about this village. Not to mention, he had now little food left. Best plan would be to find a place he could both defend and stay at, as thinking on how to keep himself alive.
Katsu kicked the remains of the ruined house in frustration. He looked over to where Yukara had gone and then back to the food. He didn't want to leave the spot where they all were and could all meet up again at but he couldn't leave Yukara without anything to eat. With a heavy sigh, he stuffed the food into the bag, making sure to put the nails far from their dinner. "Yukara," he yelled out, running after her. "Wait for me!"
She was not sure if she was surprised or rather glad that Katsu was joining her, if anything, it was evident in her posture that she was relieved to not be alone. "Thank you.." Yukara whispered to herself, feeling much more comfortable while feeling a bit guilty about leaving Koike when he was giving them food that he could have kept to himself. She would have to fix that later in the night but not now.
Koike entered the ruined house. It was still standing. That was something good. Walking to one of the walls, he slowly placed his right hand against it. The gloved hand touched the stone. It had some burnt marks on it. Pushing a bit, Koike was careful. No sounds. That meant the walls were still in some good condition to stand like this. Looking around, he thought of his next step. Slowly, he crounched. Pulling out a kunai, he flipped the weapon as he would it in a reversed grip. Carving a mark in the wooden floor, he thought about his last action. He had given away something important. Trying to think why, he could only come up with one reason. One he wanted to refuse to believe. After making the mark, Koike used the kunai to prick his thumb. Storing the kunai away, he sighed. Weaving handsignals, he would finally place his hand against the ground. Two small smoke clouds poofed. ''On me. Warn me if -'' Koike stopped. The earphone communicator. He thought for one second and then turned it off. ''On me. We are moving.'' Two dogs would follow Koike as he would head to another house. A ruin that look a bit more sturdy.
"Don't..." He hesitated before talking again after hearing her thank him. "Just listen, please. Koike gave me some food so we could stay here and eat but that wouldn't help us with anything. Aiko-sensei told us we should learn something here. I'm guessing it's how to work together, seeing how we all have supplies that the others would need. So my suggestion is this; let's go and find Koike. When we do, you don't have to talk to him, you can even ignore him, but we need to stick together. Please."
"I know that, but it won't happen without him actually willing to do anything. It doesn't matter if I co-operate or not, if he won't consider being anything but cold and hostile then it's just pointless to bother with him at all," Yukara said. She really did want to be friends with Koike, to be able to ask for advice if she needed to but he seemed to be less inclined to try. Yukara did not want to be like this towards him, but she did not want to beg for something that was not going to happen. Looking at Katsu, she silently begged him to understand where she was coming from.
This house looked a bit better. There was a second floor. With both Miso as Chica scouting a bit around, Koike thought about some things. He had a bit of food. Not enough to last long. He would still need a way to keep himself warm and water. Scratching his neck, he looked around again. But much like he had expected, these ruins wouldn't hold anything of value to him. An idea started to hit him. Heading to the second floor, he would inspect the few rooms there. There was some old wooden furniture. He could use that later. First he would need to secure the place. Pulling out a kunai and some wire, he would waste no time as he would set up some traps.
"To me, it looks like he's merely reacting," Katsu said, frowning. "If you just wait for him to be nice to you while you're still angry at him for some reason, it's not going to work. Let's just try it." He looked at her, pleading. "We have nothing to lose. If you are a bit patient with him, I know he won't be hostile towards you."
"Not tonight, another time, ok? He did not really seem to be interested in sharing our company anyways," Yukara said, walking again. Searching for a place to sleep and stay in for the night. Yukara stopped about five steps from where she stood and opened her pack up, pulling out a pillow and a blanket. "He was nice to share the food with us, it is only fair if we do the same," Yukara said, handing him the blanket and pillow. "You said that you had two hammers? You should give one to him and a nail or two," she added, she thought this was a start in the right direction.
It was all set. Miso and Chica had managed to bring up some more wood. All he had to do now was to think of a manner how to make a fire without setting the building on fire. The traps were set around the staircase and at some other spots, like the broken windows. Though he had enough wire, Koike had used some broken glass with some traps instead of shuriken or kunai. Not his best work as he found it rather sloppy, Koike was content with it. Walking into the room where his two dogs were, Koike thought of a plausible manner how he could make fire. Knocking on a wall, he heard it wasn't hollow. Then he took a gamble. He suddenly kicked it with quite some force. No cracks or any discomforting sounds. Good. Pulling out his blade, Koike would focus on the next step.
"Right... So you're not coming along," he said, sounding disappointed. He stuffed what she gave him into the bag and turned around. He hesitated and turned back. He pulled out some nails and a hammer, along with all of the food Koike had given him except for a loaf of bread. "Eat while I'm gone." He turned around again and started walking towards where Koike had gone.
Once Katsu had walked past the point he'd last seen Koike, he started yelling. "Koike!" He repeated a couple of times and turned to his communicator. "Koike, you there?" No answer. That was odd. This time he started rushing. "Koike!? Where are you?!" His voice sounded quite concerned.
She looked at the food that was handed to her, deciding to only eat a little bit so that Katsu could eat some more. Eating only a small bit, she shifted a bit uneasily on her feet as she waited for Katsu to return, feeling uncomfortable as it grew a bit darker she started to walk again. Picking up the pace this time.
It wasn't really that great. But it seemed it would work. Having used his blade and the chakra flow technique he had mastered, the basics that is, to cut out a piece of the wall, Koike had placed it on the wooden floor. Placing wood on the piece of stone, he heard in the distance Katsu's shouting for him. For a moment he stopped and wondered what the Uchiha wanted. Placing more wood on the stone, Koike thought about his options. They had their own materials and now even enough food. Why would they need him? This made Koike choose to turn on his communicator. ''I thought shouting was bad? Stay calm. What is going on?'' Koike said with a calm tone. He placed another piece of wood on the little pile. Now he would need to ignite it.
Katsu was both annoyed and relieved upon hearing the voice. "Well, when I didn't hear you respond, I thought something happened," he snarled, his annoyance evident in his voice. "Anyway... I came to bring you some provisions. Something to sleep in and half of the stuff in my bag. Where are you?" He looked around, hoping to see a signal from the shinobi.
Picking up the pace again, she did not look back as she wanted to be away from the middle of the ruins and not so out in the open. Katsu could easily see her with bright red hair anyways, the communicator would also help him locate her again as she kept walking.
It stayed quiet on Koike's side. ''You thought something happened and now sneer at me? Makes sense. I told you to not worry about me.'' Koike calmly replied back. He looked at the little pile of wood. Making sure that the piece of stone was much larger than the wood pile, Koike thought of how he could ignite it. He had no technique or ability to create a spark. Getting an idea, Koike pulled out two kunai. ''I am doing fine.'' Koike said once more. Scratching the kunai's against each other, in order to hope for a spark that would ignite the dry wood, Koike focused on his task.
"Fine. I'm leaving the bag next to the house with the one wall standing," he said, walking over to said wall. He pulled out his kunai and carved a large X on its wood to show which house he was talking about in case Koike had trouble finding it if he searched for it. He pulled out the loaf of bread in the bag and broke it in half. He put the other half back in and walked away, marching into one of the houses that looked quite sturdy at first sight. Even if it wasn't, he knew that if he treaded lightly, he wouldn't make it collapse or damage it. He looked around the first room, which was apparently the only room. He found a warm spot in the corner and curled up into a ball, munching on his half of the loaf of bread.
Coming across a small home or what was left of it, she walked in and looked around. It had two rooms that seemed to be somewhat sturdy at the moment, she put her pack down in the middle and began setting up a make shift bed for her. Once done with hers, she started on a second for Katsu, when he returned, if he did that is.
I wonder how they are doing. Aiko thought to herself. She was near a village. Thinking about how the team had been, she knew the risk and chances of what all could go wrong. With the distance between them, there was no chance Aiko could watch over them or come to their aid if something would go wrong. With the night falling, it would be probably be a bad idea if they would try to leave the ruins and head into the forests. Heading into the small village she was heading to, she would spend the night with renting a nice room. With a warm bed and dinner, from a plate.
Koike. Katsu and Yukara. Rephrasing the names in her mind, Aiko could picture what each of them was doing already. Then a disappointed look went over her face. Their teamwork was terrible. ''Oh well, next morning. I will see how they will be. Hopefully they listened well enough.'' She whispered to herself. For a moment Aiko was considering to summon her own dog. Pipi could maybe watch over them? It was an interesting thought.
Trying to get a spark, Koike muttered a curse. This wasn't really working. He laid the kunai's down for a moment. Seemed he would need some tools. Trying to not sigh out loud, he was a bit sour about his decision. But it seemed that Katsu would else just do the same as what he had done before. Complain, nag and say that he wasn't using any common sense. How troublesome. ''Katsu. Listen up. Bring you and Yukara to the home were we last time. Somebody will pick you up there and guide to where I am now. I need tools so I can get a fire starting.'' Koike said. He kept talking with a calm voice, not wanting to sound bossy or like he was ordering Katsu around. That said Koike turned to Miso. The dog didn't raise his head, but his tail was starting to wiggle. ''Fetch them, please.'' Getting up, the dog started to walk down the stairs, avoiding the wired traps to head find Katsu and Yukara.
Katsu grinned at the words. "Right," he answered simply and scurried to his feet. He ran to where he had left the bag and spoke into the transmitter. "Yukara, you heard that, right? Meet me there quickly, please!" He sounded quite excited and happy. He grabbed the bag and stuffed what was left of his half of the bread into the bag and rushed over to where they'd first separated.
She did not know if she was feeling a bit surprised by Katsu turning towards Koike or if he was so eager to not be alone, with a sigh. She began to undo what she had made of their make shift beds, packing it back up before walking out of the small home. But she did not hurry, they could wait a bit longer for her to get there and still be fine. "Sure" Yukara muttered.
Koike sighed. He wasn't really looking forward. He had little faith in what he would propose. But he was the one with the most experience. Still he wasn't very excited about the turn of the team. With the wood ready, he would need to wait for both Katsu and Yukara to arrive before he could continue that. Without the tools, the chance would be slim that he would be able to create fire. Now the next priority would be water. Drinking water. But it was too dark to head out. Or it soon would be. Meanwhile, Miso was nearing on the meeting point. The dog was walking in a calm pace, trying to locate already one of the two by scent. He could already pick up one of the scents, but decided to just take it easy before rushing into somebody he wasn't supposed to.
Katsu was at the meeting point already, keeping an eye out for Yukara and... Koike mentioned someone picking them up. What could he have possibly meant? He shook the thought away, believing that Koike knew what he was doing. He sat down in the middle of the rubble, his legs crossed. He closed his eyes and listened to his surroundings, waiting to hear Yukara's footsteps.
Yukara kept at her slow pace, coming into view of Katsu and decided to slightly quicken her pace to him. "Hi," Yukara said, looking down at him as he was sitting down. "I dont think it is wise to be sitting down in the open like that," Yukara added after a moment.
Around the corner, Miso appeared. The dog waited as he examined the two people he saw. They were the ones he had seen before. Probably Koike meant them. Barking, he wiggled his tail, while waiting for them to follow him. Koike took a bite of an apple. He had three apples and a half loaf of bread. Not the ideal kings meal, but he had to make due with it. He wondered about some things. There was something he found fishy.
Katsu grinned and got up. "Oh come on. Who's going to come and attack some random kid in some ruins?" he asked. He looked over at the dog and followed it with a grin. "See? We're taking our first steps to working as a team! Isn't this exciting?" He forgot all about his fatigue as he kept walking.
"Yes, working with a cold Hon is exciting ," Yukara muttered. Following Katsu and the dog that was suppose to lead them to Koike, with a frown, she continued to follow at a slow pace.
Koike gained an annoyed look on his face. He could hear them talking. He wasn't looking forward to this. But he couldn't go back now. With Miso leading them towards the house, Koike checked his gear. Inspecting the kunai, shuriken and basically everything, he wanted to be ready in case he would need to use them. ''Guys, keep it down. Remember where we are.'' Koike calmly told them. He was still not over the fact he found fishy. Even more when he recalled something. Something that had been said earlier.
Katsu turned to Yukara and quietly spoke into the transmitter as he kept walking. "Try not to be hostile," he said. "If you do that, everything'll work out." He turned to the animal again and traced its footsteps, skipping several at once. He looked ahead and scanned the houses in view to see which one Koike could be waiting in.
She said nothing, just followed along silently as the dog continued to lead them towards Koike, something was bothering her. Why would he want them around now when he could just survive on his own? Did he know something or was he just pretending to be nice? It was probably the latter considering everything that had gone with the team.
Entering the home, the dog would lead them pass the wire. Koike could already hear them walking up the stairs. His other dog, Chica laid next to Koike, but didn't lift her head up. ''Good, both of you are here.'' Koike began. He hadn't reacted earlier to Katsu, cause he saw no reason to. He wasn't even sure if it was meant for him or Yukara. ''Right now, we need a fire. I need the tools to start one. After that, we will need to plan how to survive the next coming days.'' Koike began.
"Next coming days?" Katsu was rather surprised at that comment. "Aiko-sensei said she'd come first thing in the morning, didn't she?" He thought on the first part of what he said for a moment. "All we have are nails, hammers and an axe. But if you can create a small spark, I could probably use wind to make it big enough to light something of fire."
" Ignore Koike, he is just trying to mess with your head," Yukara muttered, finding an area where there were no traps. She started again, on making make shift beds for her and Katsu, the blanket and pillow for Koike was in the pack that Katsu was meant to give to Koike. It was not her responsiblity to take care of him, just to take care of Katsu and her.
He sighed. ''Let me say this. Yukara, I have nothing against you. However, your last comments are getting on my nerves. Do you know where we are?'' Koike slowly looked in her direction. There was no other look than the usual neutral one. But there was something in his tone that made something clear. ''If you were here to be found dead, know what that would mean? It is easy enough to mess with a corpse to the point that they can't figure out what has happened to you. If they found, that is.'' Koike paused as he would wait before he would answer Katsu.
''Yes, the coming days. It is not unusual for Aiko-sama to test her students. I remember a similiar kind of training between me, my twin brother and an Uchiha. It kind of spooked us, to make it a short story. Though she said that she will be back the next morning, think about what she had said. We need to explore the place and think. How can we do that in the middle of the night, while having the stuff to last a bit?'' Koike told them. He wasn't completely sure about it, but his guts were telling him that he was very close to it. Placing his right hand at his kunai holster, he decided to say one more thing. ''From now on, I am going to order you two around. I don't want to hear any complaints or what so ever. Don't like it? Scram and fend for yourself. I had given you both a chance to do it alone and then the next thing, Katsu is shouting around. So that is my reason for this.''
Katsu looked at Koike in shock. After Koike had finished talking, he turned around and made his way down the stairs. He took his transmitter off and pocketed it. Degrading piece of... He tried to calm his rage and stood outside, waiting for Yukara to come out as well. Why does he have to be so difficult?!
She was surprised to see Katsu leaving, but did not stick around for much longer and she packed up her progress, for the second time and followed Katsu out. Seeing him there outside of the house, she went over to him and gave him a sympathetic look. "Well.. That was fun," Yukara said, in a attempt to lighten the mood. "We should look for a place to stay in, I did not eat all the food so we have some left for later," Yukara added.
Not revealing any emotion on his face, he watched how both of them moved away. Rubbing his chin, he had a feeling that it would go like that. Now the regret came. He had given them food. Sighing out loud, he felt stupid. Now the risk was that he would need to find food the next day. Not that he deemed his situation completely lost. Pulling out two kunai, Koike would head back on trying to make a fire. If he would do that, he could eat and then decide to call it a day. Or night. He really was stopping to care about some things with the recent developments.
Just as Katsu was about to leave the area, he stopped. He pulled out his mostly eaten half of the loaf of bread and threw the rest of the supplies he'd brought for Koike in front of the stairs, making a loud *thud* noise. Even if he was angry, it wouldn't be fair for them to eat his food when he couldn't get anything from them. "If we can find a sturdy house, I'll set some traps."
Her face brightened a bit, before going back to its tired look and with a small smile, she nodded. " Once we do, I will make us something to sleep on and with, again," Yukara said, watching Katsu closely. Looking around, she turned back to Katsu and patted his shoulder encouragingly. "Where shall we start our search?"
Finally! A spark. It landed between the dry wood and now Koike just had to make sure it wouldn't die. Carefully, he kept blowing softly on it. A little bit of smoke was starting to rise from the little pile of wood. Sighing, Koike felt a bit relieved. He had heard a loud thud noise, coming from the stairs. But it wasn't important now. Actually, it made him think. Turning his attention back to the starting fire, Koike had an idea how he would make sure he wouldn't get in trouble the next day.
A house caught Katsu's eye across the one Koike was sleeping in. He figured that it would still make sense for them to stick together, or at least remain close. He walked into the three storey house with its third floor almost completely blown away. He felt the walls, which were quite strong. It had been out of the way of most of the battle, probably. Although it did have some burned parts... Katsu decided it would make sense to set some discrete traps around the first floor, in case someone got curious.
Following Katsu into the house he chose, she looked around and nodded in agreement. Looking for a place to start making their make shift beds that was in place that was out of sight of the door way or near any opennings from the outside. Finding an area that would work, she started to put it beds together, for the third time. Hoping that this time she would not have to pack them up again.
It was starting to get warmer. Luckily. Now he hadn't need to worry about that. But there was something else he would need to do. Glancing at Chihca, Koike thought about it. ''I want you to do something for me. Wait outside.'' He told the dog. The animal at first didn't seem to be eager to do that. It would mean that it had to leave the slowly comfortable warm room. But getting up, the canine started to walk down the stairs. Now Koike had to focus on another priority. Walking to the stairs, he was careful to not activate any of his traps. The thud sound at the stairs would be something he would investigate now. Heading down the stairs, Koike found, much to his surprise, some supplies. That was nice. Without any further word, Koike decided to first lift the supplies upstairs. Then he would turn off his earphone communicator.
Katsu started working with his wires and explosives. He placed some extras under some of the furniture, in case they would need to fight something or someone. He walked over to the beds Yukara had set up and crawled under it. "Let's sleep," he said, already half asleep. "We're supposed to wake up early in the morning tomorrow. If we make a fire, that'll just show that there are people in this house."
She had an idea, getting up, she carefully stepped around the trap. Getting to the door frame, she performed the hand seals for the Demonic Ilusions: False Surroundings Genjutsu, this way if anyone came around they would not know where they were at and added some extra defense to their shelter now. Turning back around, she went back to her make shift bed and crawled in, giving a warm sleepy smile to Katsu. "Right.. We will need to find more food in the morning.. Night Katsu," Yukara said, starting to drift off.
It was quite silent. Just how how he liked it. Staring at the building, he didn't need to ask it to his dog. Chica's tail stopped to wiggle as the two stood in front of the house. Thinking about how he would do this, he knew he had to get some of the tools. If not, all of them. Thinking about his training with Aiko, he knew that if there would be a slight odd against him, it would turn bad. For a moment, he was wondering when it would come. The regret or guilt. But what was there to regret or feel sorry for? Pointing to the right, he would go left. It was highly unlikely that they were asleep yet. Using his limited skill in Silent Killing and staying cautious, Koike would first check the surrounding around the house. Knowing was half the work.
Katsu kept rolling where he laid, unrest clear in his wide open eyes. He muttered something and sat up. The boy walked around the house, sighing. He remembered that he'd only eaten one half of a loaf of bread the entire evening so he decided to find something else to eat. He opened up the bag and pulled out an apple, inspecting it. He took a large bite and relaxed his head on the bag. After a moment of thinking, he emptied the bag, making searching for the food a lot easier.
Not able to sleep, she got up and went over to where the supplies were at, thinking that they were out in the open. If someone were to try to steal them for some reason, they would be able to take them if they got past all the traps and other genjutsu. She moved some of the tools about restlessly, scattering small pebbles in certain positions before performing the Cat Genjutsu on the pebbles so that if they were moved, it would cast the genjutsu thus increasing the protection of what they had to survive with.
Koike placed his back against a wall. Slowly, he would sit down. Formulating a plan, he had noticed how the terrain was. There was not that much cover, but with the night, it would be hard to see him. And while he had walked around, Koike hadn't caught sight of any light source. He wouldn't exclude the fact that they maybe had chosen a room that had no window, but without any light source, it would be easy to sneak in. But there was something else. He knew now something about the terrain. Now those who could become a problem. Actually, he had sparred before against Yukara. She was mostly specialized in genjutsu. Genjutsu that wasn't hard for him to dispell. Katsu on the other hand. It was known to Koike that Katsu couldn't use his sharingan. And he had the affinity for wind chakra. That meant that they had only the advantage of numbers and maybe knowing how the building looked on the inside. Hearing something, Koike noticed Chica approaching him. The dog laid next down to Koike, making now sound as she simply waited. Thinking about it, Koike decided to wait for a bit, while he would turn on the earphone communicator.
Katsu noticed that the nails had scattered quite a bit along the floorboard. This gave him a small idea. After a few minutes passed, everything on the floor was gone and the bag was full once again. It was placed in plain sight, just like before. He stayed in one corner, far from any windows and the door.
And it is a mess. Wonderful. Aiko thought. With her skill she had knocked out Koike without hurting him or making him aware of what happened. Without making a sound and moving against the wind, to prevent the dog from smelling her, Aiko had used the wall walking technique to climb the side of the house. From there, she had dropped on the two and took them out as gently as possible. Now the other two. Aiko looked up above. Both Katsu and Yukara were likely together, something that was just too clearly. She had first inspected the house where Koike had made a fire and harbored apparently most of the rescources. With him being here, waiting for something, she had a few ideas what almost happened. If she hadn't decide to check on them, Aiko would have to clean up an even bigger mess than now. ''Katsu, Yukara. Come out. Now.'' Aiko shouted, clearly angry as she would wait near Koike's unconscious body.
"Aiko-Sensei!" Yukara said, after hearing her call them out, she rushed out of the house they were in and went in the general direction of where she heard Aiko, seeing her next to Koike. Koike was unconscious? Why? "Does he need to be healed?" she asked, glancing at his motionless body. With a frown, she looked back to Aiko-Sensei and waited for her to reply.
Katsu was starting drift into sweet unconsciousness when he heard their sensei's voice. For some reason, it made him feel a bit cold inside. He quickly obeyed, making sure not to set off any of the traps he'd laid down. He jumped out of the window and saw Koike unconscious. What's he doing here? He looked over at Aiko. "Sensei...?"
''I don't want to hear a word. I thought I could let you all do this and what do I see?'' Aiko pointed to the motionless Koike as she spoke with an angry voice to the two genins. ''This was a test to see how long you would survive without me around. As a team. Yet, I come back and see two kind of camps. And worst of it, what seems to be a conflict. What do you guys think? That I will be around everytime to lead you? That every mission I will be there to hold your hands?'' Aiko paused, but she was still clearly angry. Moving her left hand to her head, she sighed. ''To think I almost would let you guys alone here for three days. If I wasn't planning on checking up, imagine the mess you all would have made here.'' Muttering the words, she looked back in the direction of Yukara and Katsu. ''Seems that you all are not ready for this test and means I can't pass some knowledge on to you. As punishment, you two are forced to carry Koike back. We're going home.'' Turning around already, Aiko told them one more thing. ''And if I hear one person complaining, I won't stand for my actions. Don't even try to mutter something.'' Though she acted as if she was angry, Aiko was disappointed. Not in her students, but in the whole situation. And if there was one to blame for it, it was only one. Not that it would likely be something they would understand now.
Yukara was shocked at how angry her Sensei was towards her and Katsu, if Koike had been nicer and less mean than they could have avoided the whole situation. Sighing she looked down at Koike, frowning she nudged him, not exactly softly. "Ok," Yukara said, bending down to see him better and trying to decide how she wanted to carry him. Maybe Katsu can carry him... she thought to herself.
Katsu looked down, not wanting to respond when she was this angry. He nodded simply and grabbed Koike's unconscious body, throwing him around his neck and pulling down on his arms and legs. He continued looking down, not making eye contact with Aiko since the moment he sensed the disappointment and anger in her voice.
Picking up a pace, Aiko wouldn't go too fast. They had to keep up in their state and carry Koike as well. Though the thought came up to do something about the small fire Koike had made, Aiko decided to not bother. It would soon burn down the small pile of wood and then would die out. And there was nobody nearby that would likely have to fear that the fire would devour them. Rubbing her forehead, Aiko tried to remain focused. She was still having mixed feelings about how the training had went. Several moments she wanted to ask what had happened, but that shouldn't matter. The end result was the only thing that mattered with this training. It brought back memories of the previous formation of Team 8 had done this mission. Thinking on how they had been led, Aiko decided to not consider it. It wouldn't lead to any results anybody would like.
Yukara watched as Katsu picked up Koike and began carrying him, as they began heading back towards the village. So, they had angered the Great Aiko Cho, it would pass over, she hoped. This couldn't be allowed to hinder her goal, nope she would have to try harder to ignore Koike and work even better with Katsu.
Katsu followed the two, shifting Koike's weight from side to side now and then. He wanted to ask why Koike was unconscious but figured that Aiko would probably get angry after having said "Not another word". He turned his gaze back down to the ground as he moved with rapid steps behind Yukara and Aiko. Though three days? She'd told them she would pick them up at sunrise.
It was still some way back to Konohagakure and it was becoming late. For a moment Aiko considered to use one of her summoning techniques, but the situation wasn't right to use it. And she wasn't allowed to use it just for her own use. Maybe a break? Not that her students had deserved one. But going on would likely exhaust them to a point that she would then have to carry them, cause at this rate they wouldn't reach even the perimeter of Konohagakure. Like it wasn't already disappointing that the training had been a failure. This again provoked that Aiko rubbed her eyes with her left eyes. ''We will pause here. For five minutes.'' It sounded like a true order with the stern voice of Aiko as she slowed down. Looking around, she was wondering if she had to be on guard. Looking at her students, she decided to say one thing. ''We will later have a talk.'' Aiko said, looking around again to be sure that there wasn't anybody else. If more things would happen and ruin her plans, she would be beyond being angry.
A thought popped into her sometimes clueless red head of hers, well two actually. "Aiko-Sensei, when is the next training?" Yukara asked, hoping to make her look like she was unphased by the mission. Partly because she was tired of dealing with the anger all the time. did anything make her sensei happy? "Do you have a happy place, Aiko-Sensei? she asked, after a minute.
Katsu sat down, huffing and setting Koike beside him. When he heard the two bold questions posed by Yukara, his eyes opened wide. The first one was normal but the second question was rather vague. He sighed and leaned back where he sat, not laying down. He glanced at Koike, pondering more about the reason he'd been knocked out. He was tempted to ask Aiko but debated against it.
The questions of Yukara really made Aiko look up in surprise. Normally she was able to keep her emotions and thoughts under control, even in a pitched situation. But the two questions were just ones she didn't expect and wasn't sure if Yukara meant those. The first one was one she could answer with ease. ''For now I will not train you as a team together. This mission proved that you fail to see how a team operates. I have my reasons to scold each single one of you until the next day, but I will do that later.'' Aiko told them with a rather serious tone, wanting to make it clear she meant her words. Not that she was however angry that Yukara decided to ask her something. ''And I do.'' Not further explaining her second answer, Aiko wondered what made Yukara ask those questions. Deciding to not think further about it, she made the signal that they would start moving again. ''That was the break. We're going again.'' Turning around, Aiko would pick a slower pace than before after she was sure that her students were up and able to go again. Once back in Konohagakure, she would take care of Koike and ordering her team to take two days off.
