Partisan

Marches of Man: the Black Shields. [ALWAYS OPEN]

If you're struggling with the codes, you're missing a [/i] on family and you miss a [ on birthplace.

NARUTO: Road to Ninja [ARC 3] Buy it now and get a second punt free!

Dotorame Osumari, “Doto-doto”

Early Summers Rain.

---

Dotorame looked at Haruka and simply sighed before looking down again. A few moments more passed before he got up and walked back inside, waiting downstairs. It was apparent that he had decided to not interfere anymore, but he'd probably still not enjoy it very much. “Just do it then.” he'd say to Haruka in case he'd follow him back inside.

“You guys are taking too long..” the old man said slowly rising to his feet. He'd take a kunai that was laying on the table and hold it in his hand, throwing it up and down. “Just say it was self defense. It was self defense.. yeah?” he'd say before suddenly throwing the kunai at Aoi. He was sure this'd get them to attack back.

NARUTO: Road to Ninja [ARC 3] Buy it now and get a second punt free!

Yamato Minamoru, “Young Master”

Senpai gone love it

---

As his fist connected with the man again he noticed from the corner of his eyes that there were some new arrivals messing around with the trucks. A quick glance uncovered their identities. Shin.. Sentou.. Paneru.. No doubt here to run from battle again, that one. He gritted his teeth as he focussed on the fight again. He threw another fire punch at the man's gut, who hauled over as he got hit. But Yamato could feel that he was exhausted without any more room for playing around. Yaoku's revenge was.. too much at his current level. He shouldn't have used it.. “Ksu..” he muttered as he deactivated his Fists of the Tiger, which wasn't an exhausting jutsu on his own at all, but it would slowly drain the chakra he had left after Yaoku's Revenge.

But just because he didn't have fire on his fists anymore didn't mean that Yamato was useless - he wouldn't be “Young Master” or the prodigy of his class otherwise. He pulled his fist back and sent it flying from above, to below, smashing the man on the back of the head with his fist. A crunch was heard as Yamato slightly cracked the skull, but it was obviously not fatal. Without missing a beat, Yamato raised his left knee into the air and delivered a devastating kick into the side of the man's body, which sent him flying. He crashed and ended up against a tree, bleeding from the top of his head now, visible as his rice hat had fallen off.

Yamato wouldn't give up the assault however as he jumped after the man and, while mid-air, raised his fist back in preparation to attack. He'd attempt to land with his feet on both sides of the fallen man and punch him again, but as he landed he noticed the man was sinking into the ground again. Coward.

Rei was busy fighting the other man, the one that neither Yamato or Giichi had had the chance to engage. Her fists of the tiger were less powerful than Yamato's, and hadn't taken the shape of a tiger due to a lack of control over the exact chakra. They manifested in simple fire around her fists. What was apparent however was that her fighting style was more elegant and less reckless, sliding her feet across the ground without any resistance.

As her opponent threw a punch she ducked right underneath, sliding her feet to the right to accomodate and essentially dive right under the attack. It seemed like these opponents were severely incapacitated when they couldn't use ninjutsu. This was a blessing for Giichi and Rei, as their training probably accomodated for this type of fighting more than for the ninjutsu duels that others were accomodated for. Shit.. another punch was flung her way from the left this time, and she slid her left foot back, leaning back with her body to dodge the attack. As she pushed her body back up straight, she prepared a strike. Her fist pushed forwards, rustling in the wind from the flames, gentle but powerful. “Hyaaa!” she yelped as her fist crashed into the mans face, obviously not as powerfal as Yamato could punch, but with remarkably more grace. She couldn't help but notice other chunin that were standing partly around the fight, and one at the trucks that were overturned. If she recalled correctly that was Paneru, a medical nin. She hadn't ever heard Yamato talk of that girl Paneru, but as far as she know she was a somewhat gifted medical nin. Shin and Sentou were the ones that Rei knew a bit better, as they were somewhat known in the academy. “Rei! Focus, no distractions!” she said to herself under her breath as she slid back again dodging a punch.

Her left foot moved back and then to the right, causing Rei to spin around. Doing that she ducked under a kick that had come towards her, before she had to raise her hands in a crossguard to catch the foot that was stopped in mid air and then raised and dropped towards her head. She could feel the pressure of the kick on her hands.. when did the grass shinobi get so fast? “Chaaa!” she yelped again as she pushed the foot upwards and then turned on her feet while still crouched, extending a foot towards the man and kicking his legs away from under him. The man fell easily but didn't seem to be hurt, rather, he immediately sunk into the ground. It.. looked like the fight was over? “Nanda?” Rei panted as she looked at Yamato, whose opponent had also vanished. Looking at Giichi she noticed that, likewise, his opponent took a rasengan, slid back on his feet several meters and then stopped, falling backwards on his place. As soon as his back connected with the grass, he vanished.

Taking the moment of peace Yamato would ready a set of four shuriken, one between each set of fingers, and jumped back towards Giichi, readying himself for whatever was coming. Rei would take the hint and follow suit, jumping so she'd stand next to Giichi and behind Yamato. “.. where are they.. Yamato?” Yamato wouldn't answer her specifically, but peered at the area ahead of him. Their hiding in the grass jutsu was.. annoying. “I can't tell. But they should fight us like men, after they initiated the attack.” On queue the tree shinobi rose from the grass approximately fifty meters ahead of the group. Yamato gave a short glance at Shin, Paneru and Sentou. “Don't interfere.” he said to them, as it was obvious that they could handle the remaining group. It seemed like evening the odds by killing one grass shinobi was a good idea. It made the fight considerably easier, as they didn't have to attempt to defend eachother.

But before Yamato could even begin an attack the three shinobi started forming seals rapidly. The speed was not overly fast, but the grass style was unknown to anyone that was here at the moment, so discerning the jutsu would be hard. As they were done all three of them slapped their hands into the ground before them. As soon as they had done that, one of them stood up again and formed the tiger seal. “Grass Style: No Escape... Grass Style: Ceremonial Tomb...” they said in the same monotonous boring voice they'd been using all along. Without warning the dead body of the shinobi started shaking before whipvines shot up from besides him, and covered him in it. As soon as that was done the man would be pulled into the ground. It seemed like they didn't want to leave any traces of them being here.

Yamato's eyes shot side to side. That jutsu had to have been the Ceremonial Tomb, judging from the cheesy name, so what was 'No Escape?' His answer came swiftly as the ground trembled underneath them. Yamato clenched his teeth and readied himself. Suddenly the ground was penetrated by thousands of giant grass needles, that were varying in height from 10 meters high to 25 meters high. The group would be dead if it weren't for the fact that Yamato had acted swiftly and turned around, dropped his shuriken and dashed towards Rei and Giichi, tossing his shoulder's into both of their stomaches and then grabbed them. It'd likely hurt a bit as he basically tackled them, but it was required to take them. Swiftly he would jump into a tree, and upon realizing that he wasn't safe there either due to the length and size of the needles, he jumped away again pushing himself off on one of the needles, and landed near Shin and Sentou. He would drop the two genin there and turn around, flicking his wrists immediatly to start his Fists of the Tiger jutsu using the last of his chakra.

But it was proven to be unnessecary as the three shinobi dissapeared, delivering a Parthian shot as they vanished into the ground. “Hahahaha... 'Bravery' sends her regards...”. It seemed like they didn't care about their dead comrade that much. After about five seconds the needles slowly started sliding back into the grounds, leaving small craters where they had started from, after which Yamato deactivated his Fists of the Tiger. Yamato would turn back and face Giichi and Rei, not even taking the time to acknowledge Shin or Sentou, nor Paneru, who was looking at a truck apparently. “Giichi..” he said, calmly, but his eyes were fiery and aggressive as always. Giichi was now likely panting heavily and would probably enjoy the calmth of a post-battle rest. “I forbid you to use the Rasengan in my presence again unless I tell you to. It's lethal for a boy like you. You're not Naruto, so don't act like it. Being brave is one thing, being dumb is another. It's too exhausting for you to use currently, without risking your death.”

Rei was also panting slightly, deactivating her fists of the Tiger version as she slowly stood up again. “Nii-san.. arigato.” she said, bowing her head to Yamato. Yamato didn't answer and turned around to face the field they'd been fighting on. He'd take a moment before speaking up, staring into the sunset. “Giichi.. Rei.. Good job.” Hopefully the two would appreciate that Yamato would atleast acknowledge them, other than the others that were currently standing around. Sentou was pretty much the only one that Yamato hadn't had any bad situations with, but she was an Uchiha. She was cursed, more so than other clans with kekkei genkai. Because the Uchiha were a clan filled with hatred and revenge. They weren't worthy of living in Konoha, but Yamato couldn't really do anything about it. And Sentou didn't seem like she was vengeful, yet.. with the Uchiha, that was only a matter of time.

Surveying the field, Yamato was attempting to find any clues as to who these people, or this Bravery was, or even why these men were here. But it seemed like they were here only to look at the trucks.. maybe to defend it against the Yakuza that were no doubt attacking it? Yamato would then turn around to face Shin, Sentou and Paneru. He'd stick one hand into his flak vest, and slightly lean back puffing out his chest and raising his chin. “Nanda..? What are you looking at.. just get your report, heal those people and go home.. there's shinobi out there doing real work, you know, so you can't afford standing around gawking at people.. idiots.” He'd throw Paneru a dirty look, his eyes contorted with hatred and anger, his brows furrowed and his lips saying 'I'll kill you'. But none of that was spoken. It would have to be simply understood by Paneru, Yamato and anyone willing to look.

Soon after Yamato would depart to Konoha with his team. They'd need to do some paperwork and this seemed like a good chance to introduce Rei and Giichi to that side of shinobi work too. As they were walking, Rei would be very quiet, until she'd suddenly open her mouth. “Yamato, when is Katsui visiting us again?” There was a slight annoyance in her voice, a grumble as if it were. “Nanda.. that's not your concern. She'll visit this year, when she's 16. I'll marry her to forge an alliance between her clan and the Minamoru. She's quite powerful.” That was all he'd say - this wasn't a question of love or feelings, it was a formal contract that was meant to bind the two clans together. Like the days of old - the days Yamato and his clan longed for.

---

Dotorame Osumari, “Doto-doto”

Early Summers Rain.

---

Dotorame was sitting in the rain, a glazed over look in his eyes. He noticed Haruka-sama was sitting outside, besides him too, at this point. They sat there for about five minutes, in the cold rain. But Dotorame didn't mind.. he loved the rain, after all. “Why..” he'd slowly say before he continued, repeating himself but adding something. “Why do you agree, Haruka-sama..” His voice appeared deeper, saddened in the least and visibly shook. “By agreeing to killing an old defenseless man, you're scum.. you're lower than scum. You're trash..” Dotorame looked down onto the mud that was beneath him. There wasn't much to say that he hadn't already said. “All of you are trash. You have no shinobi-way. We need to help this man.”

Plague of the North

Sounds like a car hit you! Take care please. :p

Marches of Man: the Black Shields. [ALWAYS OPEN]

Very nice character! My compliments.

@AtomicNut@OneEyedChurro@Eschatologist You guys are free to drop the CS's in the character bin, by the way.

NARUTO: Road to Ninja [ARC 3] Buy it now and get a second punt free!

Dotorame Osumari, “Doto-doto”

Old Friend

---

Nanda.. how can they be saying this.. even Haruka-sama.. he wants to kill the man too? The old man simply laughed at Rin. “Hohohohoho! You think there is a reward? I told you I lied.. if you want to kill me for that, it's all the same.” It was clear the man didn't care what he died for as long as he did. He looked at Dotorame and Rin each, hopeful but sad. Tired. “Nanda..?” His voice suddenly sounded deep and saddened, like a boy that had just heard his father had died. “Haruka-sama.. you too?” he asked. One of the people he had least expected to agree to this.

“Doushita.. how can you do this? Aoi-sama.. do you truly believe this?” He'd wait a moment before her answer, gripping his chokuto tightly in upcoming anger as he looked her in the eyes. “Why would you allow such a thing..” he said, the anger showing in his voice clearly now but not yet at a yelling degree of anger. He was gripping his chokuto so hard now that his arm began visibly shaking while his other hand contorted into a fist. “And Rin-chan, you agree so easily.. like a pushover..”

“Haruka-sama.. you know the shinobi code better than anyone!” he said, yelling at Haruka-sama with eyes that spelled visible anger in them too, now. “HOW CAN YOU WILLINGLY AGREE TO SUCH A THING, NANDAYO?” His teeth were clenched and showing, as he pointed at Haruka with his chokuto. At this point he had gotten up, and was shaking on his feet. “WE DO NOT KILL INNOCENTS! IF WE DO WE ARE WORSE THAN SCUM! SO WHEN I ASK YOU TO KILL ME, DO YOU SAY YES LIKE SOME LOWLIFE?”

“WHY DO YOU PLAY FOR GOD WHEN YOU ARE JUST SOME SHINOBI, WITH NO CLUE ABOUT LIFE? HEH? ANSWER ME, BAKA!”
He moved his fist up and down again, and stomped on the ground at the same time as if trying to make a point. His words weren't particularily directed at anyone in particular, more as a general question for the entire room, but he was looking at Aoi all the same as she was the one that fashioned herself leader of this team. “We never! kill comrades, no matter the situation! And we never abandon those who need help, that is my shinobi way! And it should be yours too!” he yelled before he had enough of the situation and stormed down the stairs, and headed outside, walking to the center of the road and sitting down there by himself, in the rain.

NARUTO: Road to Ninja [ARC 3] Buy it now and get a second punt free!

Zeno Hakarasu and his council

14:06, Hokage's office, August 24, meeting called for by the Hokage

---

With all the Hokage's council members gathered in one place, Zeno clenched his fists and breathes heavily, sitting down on his chair. "First of all, I am relieved that the village is safe from the Jashin but don't worry, we will get to that topic later. Right now what's more important is to thwart this man." Zeno pressed his remote control and flashed the picture of the man in the projector. The projector was shining on the wall. "This man is a masterless samurai, a ronin. He attacked me few hours ago after I finally noticed him, after being negligent of him tailing me for the past two months." He paused and drank from his glass of wine.

"This man infiltrated a samurai castle, feigning to be a student and stole four scrolls. He sold the first three scrolls to three Yakuza families. Currently, he's headed to Kirigakure to settle a deal for the last scroll." Zeno knew this all due to the ANBU specialists informing him of the incident during the shinobi alliance meeting and his shadow clone intercepted the ronin's movements that's headed to Kirigakure. "That is all, Commander Fujitora, I need you to make four teams for each designated location and scroll. Ayame, a mother must stay close to her daughter, Sentou is to be in your team. That is all." Afterwards he walk towards to Fujitora and whispered, "This book, whatever you do don't open it. Guard it with your life, I'll see you later in the outskirts of the village with Ayame and Tsukiko."

Taking the time to process everything, Fujitora surely regretted not taking a puff from his favorite formula before arriving. After all his break wasn't entirely finished. They had the creepy cultists running about and now affairs with a hermit kingdom of technologically archaic Samurai on their tail as well. Sighing as he looked at the presentation, his exasperation reaching the peak of its potential when he realized he'd have to make teams and maybe even guide one. As if the pain in the ass paperwork wasn't enough. He took Zeno's book of course, minding very little of it in the heat of the moment considering what extra workload he'd get.

"Yeah, thanks. I'll get right on it."

Passing by the Hokage, Fujitora approached his sister, appearing as solemn as ever, the book still on his hand. She could feel the grudge he was holding against her for the stunt she pulled at the restaurant. He stealthly formed a grin in an angle that only she could see and the rest of the council would have to do with his cheek.

"So... Guess you're keeping that weird Uchiha kid. You sure you want to go out in this expedition?"

He asked her, curious as to what would be running in her mind after all these cryptic sayings and her lack of reaction toward Zeno's desire for her to actually go out on this more than likely dangerous mission. Ayame could only look at Fujitora with an annoyed expression, his smug and annoying sucking the lifeblood out of her yet again.

“It's part of a contract I made long ago with her father. She's my ward, I can't help it, even if she's an Uchiha. And no, I don't want to go out. But I have to, orders are orders. And if the ronin are involved, I want to know more. Besides.. I need to prepare for him. Surely you understand.”

Fujitora nodded slowly, slightly giggling as if Ayame had made a bad, naughty joke. He ended up shaking his head slightly at her choice of wording. But she had little enthousiasm for leading a team, let alone a team with Sentou in it. There'd be too much to pay attention to, especially with kids running around. Chunin were capable shinobi, but not every chunin was as capable as the next. And while Sentou was a sweet kid, she wasn't serious. And it seemed like in this case the matter wasn't only a mission, it was also political.

Her eyes wandered to Zeno and she couldn't help but wonder what the man had been doing all this time. She knew of the fact that the man was at a meeting, but it seemed farfetched that he would be capable of doing both the meeting, managing the village with a shadow clone, and go after a ronin.

Her eyes had grown more weary and cold, something she couldn't quite explain herself, feeling tired of this all, the entire situation. Nothing ever seemed to change. Never the less she'd comply with the man's orders. Leading a team.. how troublesome. She hoped she could atleast get some normal chunin in her team. Ones that can follow orders and not act brazenly like others. “Hokage-sama, do we have a name for this ronin?” she asked, directing the attention back to the Hokage. Sure, the hokage could send her out into the field, which wasn't exactly her job to begin with. But he wouldn't get away with this so easily. “Do we have a kill or capture order? Are the scrolls expendable or should we safeguard them? What are the known characteristics of the Yakuza families? Are we acting under jurisdiction of Konoha, or is this a secret op? Why are we sending chunin, and not trained jonin? Why not the ANBU? Why is Konoha dealing with this and not Kirigakure, or the samurai themselves? This isn't our task.”

Zeno replied, "I don't know his name but more importantly, we need him alive and the Yakuza families well, let's just say they aren't friendly. This is a secret operative mission given by the Chancellor of Shinobi Alliance herself. The rest of the villages are doing their part too but for Konoha, it is the crucial situation." He answered her questions.

While Ayame was having her little chat with the Hokage, which Fujitora would shamlessly eavesdrop, he'd be writing various names on a notepad. There was quite the wide selection of people to choose from to form these teams, but he'd stick to three chuunin with one Jonin. Rearraging the order of certain names, he'd turn to Ayame who had received her answer.

"Aya, any preferences? I've marked the Uchiha girl under you." He'd ask, getting one team out of the way would ease the creation of the remaining brackets and allow for a faster process. “Doushita, Fujitora? Don't bother me with your job. Just make sure I can do my mission..” she said with a smile at the man, waiting for him to finish the bracketing so she could go home and plan the operation.

---

• Team Ronin Takedown, Ayame Choko
  
  Sentou Uchiha
  Daiki Naito
  Haruka Ueno
• Team Scroll Recovery #1, Tsukiko Umene
  
  Aoi Don Maquia
  Nobunaga Inuzuka
  Yamato Minamoru
• Team Scroll Recovery #2, Hideyoshi Sawada
  
  Takeshi Hanami
  Fubuki Hotsuin
  Naomi Hyuuga
• Team Scroll Recovery #3, Fujitora Choko
  
  Paneru Yagyu
  Shin Maru
  Jaakuna Sawada
• Team Samurai Investigation, Megumi Tanpopo
  
  Rin Reikan
  Dotomare Osumari
  Giichi Uzumaki

---

As soon as Fujitora was done, and handed over Ayame's bracket, she would take it with both hands and make a little bow. “Arigato, nii-san.” Ayame would then turn around, bow slightly for the hokage before she'd leave the building. There was no time to be wasted and they'd be leaving soon, as soon as all the other teams were ready. As head of the ronin interception squad, she'd likely be in command of the entire operation, although obviously the other jonin had as much invoice as she did. Never the less, she'd need to plan a strategy.

As she got home she would sit at her desk, where she usually made poison, and grabbed a pencil and paper. With rapid pencil brushes she started writing down possible strategies to use versus a ronin which would be in accordance with her teams strengths and weaknesses. Always think 200 steps ahead, Ayame-chan. “Hai, sensei...” she uttered to herself as she wrote furiously.

NARUTO: Road to Ninja [ARC 3] Buy it now and get a second punt free!

My entire RP crumbles because I called everyone bad names!? All according to my MASTER PLAN! HAHAAAAAAAAAAAA

Marches of Man: the Black Shields. [ALWAYS OPEN]

I can understand, no hard feelings.

NARUTO: Road to Ninja [ARC 3] Buy it now and get a second punt free!

@Angel Eyes

@Altered Tundra

You two always sound particularily passive aggressive. Not even joking.