Yamato Minamoru, “Young Master”
Yamato seemingly found new energy in his most recent charge - his fight had turned from dull fist-to-face with added burn marks to a spectacle to behold. If this weren't a life or death situation, it'd probably be very nice to look at. With every strike, he pushed his chakra to the maximum, causing his fire to lash out, causing slight trails of fire to shoot off from the fists every strike. His face had contorted itself into a stereotypical Yamato-look, frowning, burning up with anger. The two turned around eachother, and the medium sized red haired shinobi seemed to be too busy defending himself, dodging left and right, blocking punches and getting hit to actually do anything remotely resemblant of a counterattack.
When Yamato turned around his axis to follow the man with his fists, he noticed a time to strike.
“HHNRAAAAAAAAAAAA!” he yelled, his battlecry giving him extra strength as he hurled his right fist into the mans chest which sent the man tumbling back, seemingly knocked out. This gave Yamato some time to look around. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Paneru fleeing the building. He shook his head while he contemplated following the girl and kill her. Nobody would suspect a thing if he did it while there was a big fight going on, and even if they did suspect it.. she was a person that left his comrades alone as soon as she herself was in danger. She was expendable now.. and Yamato wouldn't forget that.
But there was little time to do any of that. Any good ideas Yamato got about Paneru during that very first time he saw the girl fighting thugs, it all went out the window. But if Paneru was fleeing, that meant.. his eyes flashed to Takeshi, almost making him look crazed due to the speed at which he switched his gaze to him. The boy was laying there.. with an arm ripped off?
Psh. For some reason Yamato felt indifferent about it. Takeshi was sorta annoying at times.. but for some reason Yamato felt like he'd have liked to ask the boy a question or two. Takeshi better stay alive.. or else Yamato would revive him, just to kill him again.
Daiki seemed to be doing okay,
sadly enough. Jaakuna, well, he was being Jaakuna. They were getting thrown around a bit. If this had been a chunin exam, it might've been funny to look at. Aoi and Yamato were the only ones that seemed to have made any progress in their fights. And Aoi was, well, fighting a clone. That wouldn't be too hard. Yamato turned around to face his opponent again and finish him off, thinking he had the time since he had knocked out his enemy. This turned out to be untrue as the man raised himself back onto his feet.
“Hnggg.. why do they always pick the strong ones for us to deal with.. Bro's! Let's meet up and get out of here! We're not paid enough to deal with this kind of shit.. HAHAHA! Jashin can suck a fat one! Ahoouieeee!” He howled randomly, before jumping back onto a crate and crossing his arms, no doubt to look
cool. His brothers answered his call and jumped back from their respective fights, landing on the same crate as they also crossed their arms. Yamato couldn't help but look at them in a bored manner. It seemed like these enemies jumped straight out of the kids tv-show Naruto-time, that's how stereotypically bad-guy they were.
With the same speed at which they had appeared into the warehouse, they dissapeared again. Yamato would've chased them down but currently he had more worries on his mind. Namely the laboratory beneath the warehouse. He approached the manhole and opened it up by grabbing the two rods on the side of it and lifting it, clunking it down right next to it. Slowly he inched himself over the hatch, looking down.
Seemed clear.. His face would turn to look at the group that had gathered, noticing that Sentou and Haruka had arrived.
“Great.. more dead weight.” he said about the two new arrivals as he looked down the manhole again. Without wasting more words he formed several handseals, inhaled deeply and then jumped down the manhole. It was a somewhat long fall, aproximately fifteen meters, but any decent shinobi should be able to handle that.
As he reached the bottom he exhaled, performing a great fireball jutsu just in case anyone was lurking down there. The fire filled the small laboratory entirely, and would likely incinerate anyone caught in it. As the fires died down Yamato looked at the end of the large hallway laboratory. She was standing there, grinning, holding out her left hand, with a water shield coming from it, guarding her from the fire.
“Ah, Yamato.. since you survived, I assume the Fiery Trio was unsuccesful in their attempts to capture you, like this girl..?” Her right hand was dipped into some.. kind of water ball. And inside of that ball was
Rei.. Yamato's sister.
Yamato clenched his teeth, as by now no doubt his comrades had dropped down the manhole as well. They'd be able to follow the entire conversation as Rumiko stood there, kimono worn as a sash. Her tanto was strapped into her kimono, and she had numerous other blades and weaponry attached to her back. To the sides of her there were lots of laboratory equipment sets, such as microscopes, samples of senju DNA, failed experiments conducted on eyes and all other kinds of crazy stuff. There were also marks on the walls of a White Lily, the insignia of the Minamoru yakuza group. Anyone familiar with underworld information would, no doubt, know that this yakuza group is led by Mr. White Lily, although not many would know this to be Yamato's dad. If anything, the sign outside and the white lily signs would link the family to the yakuza group. All that was required for anyone to know this link was for them to connect the dots.
Not that Yamato thought anyone in this group was smart enough for that.“I am not sure how my team managed to.. slip up.. the first time we went after you and your sister. We accidentally killed some other fat idiot and a couple. None of them matched your description, Yamato.. I can ensure the rest of you, we didn't mean to kill those guys, and we dealt with the shinobi that messed up adequately. My sincere apologies for your losses.” She lowered her left hand, which had been used to shield her from Yamato's fiery breath, and in tandem she also lowered her head slightly, as if to pay respect to Shogo and the dead couple. She seemed strangely sincere about all of this, as if she actually mourned them. She raised her her head again and continued what she was saying.
“But their blood wasn't good enough for lord Jashin. We need the best blood to complete our ritual, and our targets just so happened to be Yamato and his dad. When we learned that Yamato's father went out of town to Sunagakure to discuss a.. secretive deal about stolen shinobi puppets.. we decided to settle for Rei instead. She might not be that powerful, but she has potential. Her blood would be.. enough.” Rei, who was stuck inside the water prison, looked at Yamato with wide eyes. It was obvious she was scared, and you couldn't exactly blame her. Her eyes shot from Yamato to everyone in the group, looking at them with scared eyes, but masterfully containing her tears. She was a shinobi, and Yamato had told her many times that situations like these could, no,
would happen. Violence was their profession, after all.
“Hit me. HARDER!” Yamato's voice echoed through the forest, followed by a loud
TMPH! Yamato was barely nine, and he already had a voice that accounted for more authority and strength than he truthfully had. The girl across from him, who was punching him, resembled a younger version of Rei. She pulled her fist back and slung it forwards at Yamato's chest again.
Fsshh.. TMPH! Rei was trying her best, but wasn't doing an exceptionally good job. Yamato looked unimpressed.
“Again, Rei!” he yelled at her, right in her face. She swung her fist back and forth towards his chest again.
Fshhh.. but there was no sound that proved she had hit him. Instead, he had gripped her fist and twisted her wrist upwards, forcing her to the ground. She let out a small yelp and quickly admitted defeat.
“Alright, let's take a break.” he said as the two of them sat down on a rock in an open grassfield. The wind was heavy today, causing ripples in the tall grass as they looked over it. Yamato pulled out a small wrapped lunchpack, which had riceballs and other goods in them. It was simple food, meant to keep you going during a session of practice. He looked at Rei, who seemed to be eyeing his food.
“I told you to bring a lunchpack. It's your own fault, idiot.” he said with a stern voice as he stuck a riceball in his mouth and continued looking at the ripples in the tall grass. Rei looked somewhat dissapointed but kept her mouth shut and followed the trail of Yamato's eyes.
But Yamato wasn't able to deal with it. He sighed and handed over his lunchpack to her, before placing his hand on her head and giving it a small push as a means of pestering her.
“I'm not hungry.” he said, but he knew that he truthfully was rather hungry. Rei didn't even thank him and happily ate the entire lunchbox empty in mere minutes.
“Idiot..”
Yamato eyed Rumiko as she spoke about him, still thinking about the memory he just seemed to..
relive, more or less. When he was still a more happy and somewhat more friendly boy. If any of the group with him knew about these moments he shared with Rei, they'd definetely have a different view of him. He couldn't help but feel angry, but not at her, not this lady in front of him. More so at himself for allowing Rei to be captured.. and angry at Daiki for suspecting him, when really he had been the target all along. The Naito would pay for that, some day. Always complaining about the Minamoru.. but always being wrong.
“But it cannot be helped. They must've been burdens anyway, one was drunk, and the others were almost undressing themselves in the bushes. I think the fat, drunk guy was even spying on the couple. I'm not sure, it wasn't me that killed them.” Rumiko continued, still maintaining the prison of water. She seemed.. relaxed, somewhat. And awfully casual about the entire situation.
“Either way, if the Fiery Trio had been successful in capturing you, you'd be becoming a Jashin ritual sacrifice soon, Yamato. I suppose you did a good job at securing yourself, and not letting that happen.. as for your father, I have no doubts he knew what was going to happen. Maybe it's time to rethink your allegiance to your family, since he never warned you. Oh, and Rei.. well, she never even mentioned you, she just kept talking about her hero and best friend coming to save her. I don't even know who that is, but he's not here and you are. Maybe your family isn't as close as you want them to be? Doesn't matter, really.. I mean, we're taking Rei after this.”Yamato couldn't respond, even if he wanted to yell at her that
he was Rei's hero,
he was her best friend, but instead he clenched his teeth harder and harder, revealing them to anyone that saw this, showing his boiling anger and rising killing intent that slowly filled the room. Slowly he would inch backwards, and it would seem almost like he was going to run away from the situation. And to his group of classmates, some of which whom barely knew him, they would indeed believe that he was going to run away. But Aoi would probably realize..
Yamato never runs away, he always runs to the front. By now
all the shinobi that were capable of doing so, would've found their way into the laboratory. Yamato found his position next to Daiki, who was on his right, and Sentou, who would be to his left, with finally Jaakuna right behind him. In a split second moment, Yamato did something
very unexpected. He moved his left hand to Daiki's right hand, which would've been holding Anemone in normal circumstances. He would grab a hold of the hilt, quickly taking it from Daiki who likely wouldn't have the time to react.
When he'd retrieve it, he'd begin his assault, running very quickly, as if struck by the act of suddenly realizing you have an errant you forgot, towards the lady. She only grinned and moved her left hand to her tanto, poised to strike. As Yamato closed in he released another battlecry,
“RRRAAAA!” His left hand drew back and then swung forwards, aimed at Rumiko's head. But it was futile, and Yamato knew it. With a swift draw of the blade Rumiko blocked his strike, while maintaining the water prison. It seemed that she was both fast and strong, as she held back Anemone without any serious trouble. Stuck in this clash of blades, all she could do was grin, while Yamato stared at the ground. But her grin slowly dissapeared when Yamato looked up at her, teeth showing as he clenched them as if there was an enemy limb stuck between them. Rumiko's eyes filled with fear as she noticed his right fist, which was now on fire, closing in on her stomach.
It was clever if you thought about it, Yamato might not be the smartest, and he was certainly hot headed and stubborn, but the boy had a sense of fighting-smarts that outmatched many that were ranked above him. She was now forced to choose between being hit or releasing Rei from the prison. And not wanting to sacrifice herself, unlike Yamato would've done, she pulled her hand back from the water ball, causing it to dissipate and splash on the ground, with Rei falling amidst the puddle. Her hand was swift in the attempt to block Yamato's fist, just as swift as her right hand had been when blocking the strike Yamato had made with Anemone, the weapon he stole from Daiki just seconds ago.
But her hand never met Yamato's fist, as he stopped the Fists of the Tiger technique right when she pulled her hand back from the water ball. Instead, it reached for Rei, grabbing a hold of her arm as she sat on the floor, trying to recuperate from the sensation of being stuck in a water prison, with nowhere to go. He pulled her back and slung her towards Daiki, who she'd more or less fall into. After getting her out of the way, Yamato just had to deal with this lady herself. Yamato pivoted on his feet in a three hundred and sixty degree circle, swinging the sword at Rumiko from the other side than which she had just blocked. Realizing her error, Rumiko's eyes grew big and shook as they saw her impending doom. Without thinking, she dropped her tanto and rapidly formed seals, just in time. When the sword hit her, she poofed into a cloud of smoke.
After the smoke settled, all that remained was a block of wood left on the ground. Replacement technique.. how basic. Yamato couldn't help but feel agitated, since the woman escaped using such a cheap trick. She was nowhere to be found in the laboratory.. she'd die another day. He looked at the tanto on the floor and picked it up, sticking it into his waistband before turning around and slowly inching closer to the group. He looked.. awfully tired, his eyes were bloodshot and he was bleeding all over the place. He had atleast 3 stab wounds in his abdomen, three cuts on his right arm, four cuts on his left, and he had a large amount of bruisings all over his body. Besides that, his face was beat up and he had numerous cuts from kunai on his cheek that he was bleeding from. It was understandable that he looked tired, and it was also understandable that he couldn't walk to his sister at a normal pace, taking almost half a minute to even get close. Rei had sat down on her knees after being more or less thrown into Daiki and had started crying. Yamato was about to cave, and would fall on his knees like his sister, and throw Anemone in front of Daiki with a casual and uncaring mannerism.
Clunk.. He looked at Rei, trying to speak to her. The only words he managed to utter were
“I will kill them all.”
Two weeks would pass, and Yamato and the others were all individually 'questioned' by several jonin on what had happened. The one that got the most flak for rushing off and doing all this on his own was Yamato, since he'd more or less lied about what he knew of the location Fujitora mentioned and had somewhat led a team of chunin into a combat situation, without even notifying anyone. Regardless, he was let off the hook, since he
did ultimately save a shinobi from being captured, and took out atleast three dozen would-be thugs. Everyone else was simply questioned for information and then escorted home, after which they were free to do as they pleased again.
These two weeks were pretty simple, and the amount of jobs was surprisingly low. All that had happened was that a few chunin were selected to take genin on low ranked missions, to show them the ropes and help them where they could.
It seemed like the jonin were too lazy to do that now. Thankfully these weren't permanent leadership positions or they'd be stuck doing 'save the cat' type missions all their lifes.
But now there was talk of a larger stream of missions pouring in suddenly. It seemed like there were several appropiate missions for the chunin, and that meant one thing.
They got to try out the newly introduced decentralized team method. This method was meant to hand pick individual shinobi to cater to specific needs a mission might have, rather than sending a random team, or trying to match a team that might not be properly outfitted to deal with this mission. But there had been no tests as of yet that involved the chunin, so it'd be exciting to see what teams were made. A disadvantage was that most of the involved people would, likely, not be able to work together well with the people they hadn't been with in a team before. But that was a small side issue. The real issue was..
would you get matched with your high school crush? Or your worst enemy? And who would be the jonin accompanying you for your mission?For now, the chunin were left to do as they pleased, to visit restaurants together, to play a game together or to do something on your own. It seemed like the perfect time to talk to your crush, or spar with your rival, or even to simply train. Especially now that you'd have to get ready for any possible mission to be slung your way. And everyone knew the Hokage was ruthless with his working pace, especially since Ayame Choko was involved, and she made sure to speed up the process even more. Let alone Fujitora..
