A Routine Escort

[Drak]

Several weeks prior to the Crescent invasion of Konoha...

Akito sped through the forests of the Hi no Kuni. He was heading West, towards the border with Aroma Country. His mission was a relatively simple one on paper. He was to move with haste to one of the border crossings. There, he was to wait for the arrival of a Suna shinobi who was escorting a young woman from the Heart Empire through the Land of Wind and through Aroma Country. Upon their arrival, he was to take over the mission and escort the girl back to Konoha. Usually, this would not be a task for a jounin, but with the political situation between Iwa and Suna the way it was, Konoha had decided to err on the side of caution and send one. Because of his experience with long-range scouting, Akito was chosen, as he would be able to travel the distance quickly and efficiently, and possibly pick up some intelligence from the border post along the way.

He thought back to the dossier on the girl, going over the details in his mind. Suzuko Fukazawa. Age eleven. Member of House Mizutane. Currently a student at Doushikai Academy, shinobi academy of the Heart Empire. She was recently selected for an exchange program which saw her traveling from land to land and hidden village to hidden village. As such, she has just finished her time in Suna, and the next leg of her program is in Konoha. That is, I suppose where I come in. I need to wait for her Suna escort, then bring her back to Konoha unharmed. The dossier was light on details about her combat readiness, but given her age and academy status, it is doubtful that it is going to be high.

After a while of traveling, Akito could tell he was getting close to the border. He ran up a tall tree and looked out over the forest canopy, using his Byakugan to extend the range of his vision. He could just barely see the border crossing – a small wooden fort with a few outbuildings clustered on the Konoha side, a banner bearing the kanji for fire flying proudly from the highest point of the fort. Akito scanned the intervening forest: no obvious threats. He would continue to be cautious, obviously, but would be able to move relatively quickly towards his goal.

Akito jumped down from the tree, and continued running through the forest, jumping over roots and brambles, and ducking down under low branches and fallen logs. When he approached the clearing cut around the border post, he slowed to a walk. Upon exiting the cover of the forest, he heard a voice call down to him from a nearby watchtower.

“Who goes there?” called the man. With his short-cropped hair, brown tunic with small plates of metal sewn in, and the quiver of arrows on his back, he was clearly one of the soldiers manning the post. He had a bow in his left hand, and his right was reaching toward his quiver.

“Hail fellow, and well met,” Akito shouted up, walking slowly towards the tower. “My name is Hyuuga Akito. I am a shinobi of Konoha, here on a mission. I am supposed to present myself to your commanding officer, and then await a young woman who will be arriving soon.”

His story was clearly a believable one. The man had likely been told to expect someone, and between his flak jacket, forehead protector, and white eyes, it would be apparent that Akito was, indeed, who he said he was.

The guard took his hand from his quiver. “Very well, the commander’s in the fort. Right up at the top. Go on in, just stay out of trouble.”

Akito smiled up. “I would never dream of starting trouble here. Thank you!” He continued walking through the outpost, attracting a few curious glances from the soldiers stationed there. When Akito got to the entrance of the fort, he was stopped and questioned again. He gave these guards the same answer and was led into the fort and up to the commander’s office.

“Good afternoon,” the commander said gruffly as Akito entered. “You’re here for the girl?”

“Yes sir,” Akito responded plainly. “When her escort through Wind and Aroma countries arrives, I will be taking over and bringing her to Konoha. Until then, I will wait here.”

The commander sighed. “Very well, you may wait on the observation platform if you wish. Otherwise, you can wait near the crossing itself.”

Akito told the commander he would wait on the platform, before bowing and taking his leave. He got there, and activated his Byakugan to better watch for their arrival.

When I can see them coming, I’ll come down and greet them.

798/750 -> +1 Speed EDIT: Registered this training as of 2/8. Subsequent word counts start over after this post.

[Nick]

What a scary time to be alive! The pilot program had gone pretty well thus far, with Kumo having been such a great success of cultural meet and greet that all but the stodgiest and ninja-hating of the Heart Empire had agreed to continue the program. Of course, some of that had to do with Goro's swaying, the right message in the right ear, and some of them that might have otherwise been staunchly opposed to mixing young samurai with young ninja seemed to have a change of heart about the situation. When Suzuko's class had landed in Wind Country to be escorted to Suna, only to be turned away due to an apparent official invasion, things weren't looking quite so keen.

She'd been to Konoha before, and had met Fanho shortly after he'd been officially crowned with the title of Hokage, and so it seemed like a natural direction to move the students in to keep the program going more or less uninterrupted. She was on her own this time, though, most of the others in the exchange group seemed to be heading back to Gold Country, and Goro with them for some other purpose she hadn't been let in on, for some reason. That ticked her off a bit. It didn't help that the suna nin who'd been escorting her overland had been pretty unwilling to talk to her in general, wearing a weird veil that hid most of his features, and refusing to even give her his name.

"Suna-san, have you ever been to Fire Country before?" She asked as they moved down the road at a reasonably fast pace. The Suna nin grunted in response, and she pouted, he seemed quite rude. "If we're lost, you can tell me." The girl prompted and didn't even receive a grunt in reply this time. He really wasn't good company, but if he was actually lost, he certainly showed no sign in slowing down their journey. It wouldn't take long before the border crossing became apparent in the distance, though, and the temperature rather rapidly shifted as they moved from the uncovered rocky plains of outer Wind Country to the canopy covered forests of Fire Country.

She was dressed as she usually was, as much as she'd liked to have been wearing less in the heat, keeping herself covered from the harsh sun was just as important as not overheating, and as the ninja from suna slowed down at an obvious gatehouse, she did as well, nudging her backpack awake and saying "Water please." To which Fukuro-kun grumbled in his usual fashion, before spitting up a canteen of water, allowing her to take a sip, before she offered it to the sandman. "Need extra to take with you?" She asked, trying to be kind to the man still, who stared at her for a few moments, then back to the gatehouse, still unspeaking.

She rolled her eyes when he looked away. She understood he was likely under a lot of pressure and stress right now, moreso after travelling all this way with him where his emotions leeched off into her empathetic chakra, but he could at least say something like "No thank you" every now and again to her talking to him. Another sip, before holding the bottle up to her shoulder, where Fukuro-kun's tongue would lash out, grabbing it, and swallowing it into his toothy maw for later retrieval. At least they were out of the heat, now!

[Drak]

Akito spent about thirty minutes waiting on the observation platform. The soldier on duty there seemed like he was trying his best to ignore the visitor. The view from the deck was mostly just the tops of trees and travelers winding their way along the road linking the two countries.

As Akito watched from his perch atop the border post, he saw a pair of people moving through the forest towards the border post. Akito activated his Byakugan and zoomed in on them.

One adult, one child. That cloth face mask clearly marks the adult as a Suna nin, so the girl is probably the one I need to escort.

Akito jumped down from the platform and walked over to the gatehouse. Soon after, it swung open to reveal the pair he had been observing earlier. Behind the several Fire Country guards at the gate, Suzuko and her escort saw a tall, muscular shinobi with white eyes and long, black hair tied into a topknot. Akito was wearing his standard mission attire: tactical shinobi sandals; long, dark, jogger-style pants; a dark turtleneck under a green flak jacket; and a Konoha forehead protector proudly displayed across his brow.

“Good day,” Akito said, taking a few steps towards them. “Welcome to the Hi no Kuni. I am -”

The Suna nin walked up to Akito and shoved a mission scroll in his face. Akito narrowed his eyes at the man, then sighed and produced a small seal from his pack.

“Very well, straight to business,” Akito said, clearly annoyed at the man's conduct. He opened the scroll he was handed and stamped it. When he handed the scroll back, Akito took a scroll from his flak jacket and handed it to the other man, who stamped it in a similar fashion before sprinting off, back towards Wind Country.

That was… odd. No greeting, no briefing, not even so much as a grunt! Just stamp the paper and go. Very well then, I suppose this is the girl.

Akito started again: “Good day young lady. You must be Suzuko. Welcome to the Hi no Kuni. My name is Akito Hyuuga, and I will be escorting you from here to Konoha.”

For a moment, Akito looked over at where the Suna nin had been standing only moments before quickly facing back to Suzuko.

“Tell me, was he like that the entire way here?”

“Hurry up and get in so I can close this gate!” a frustrated voice called out from the guardhouse.

Akito waved the girl towards him. “He’s right, come in. We can talk once you’re in. Do you need to rest a moment, or are you ready to go?”

WC: 447

[Nick]

Suzuko took a half step back as the man fell from up above like that, these ninja sure were extra! Of course, samurai often were too, but she didn't have as much experience with samurai acting like this as ninja did, for some reason. Must've been a cultural shift. She wasn't too taken aback by the man before her besides that though, and a quick glance told her enough to act somewhat respectfully, bringing her feet together and bowing. He had the same eyes that Takeshi had, and she knew enough that the Hyuuga were a well known clan throughout the land, even if she didn't know enough about their inner clan workings to know if he was an important member or not.

"Nice to meet you, Hyuuga-san." She said, maintaining as much respect for the man as she could muster in her tired body. As she stood back upright, the Suna nin was gone, and she put a hand over her brow like she was blocking out the sun, before shouting after him. "May the sun shine on your back, Suna-san!" She called after him, repeating a somewhat common phrase amongst denizens of Suna that worshipped Yuumagure. She didn't herself, but she'd learned a bit about it in a book on the ride over to Suna, and figured it might be appreciated regardless of her own beliefs.

She hurried inside at the behest of the other Konoha nin from on high, and took a moment to take a breath before answering Akito's questions. She looked thoughtful for a moment. "He's... Scared." She said finally, processing her own thoughts, and sounding confident enough in her own statement. "Based on my previous conversations with a couple of Suna nin at the last Iron Banner festival, I don't think the people of Sunagakure were totally aware how serious Iwa was when they took over part of Wind Country..." She folded her arms over her chest and tilted her head to the side. "I'd be scared too, if someone said they were coming to invade Tea Country... I don't think I'd handle it as well as him." Internally, she thought that this is somewhat similar to what her mother must have been going to when she'd sent Suzuko to Tea as a baby. She wondered further how her mom must have felt when word came out that Tea ended up the way that it did during the war.

She shook her head a bit, before turning back to Akito and giving a smile, the level of emotional weariness in her young body probably far too high for her age. The strings that connected her to the people around her started to entwine with Akito, and had since separated from the Suna nin, refreshing to have someone considerably more neutral-keeled than the one who'd escorted her here. "He was kind of rude, though." She said in a more whispered, conspiratorial tone. She probably wouldn't have been near so kind in her assessment of him if she knew Akito better, she wasn't that nice. "I think I'm okay though, how far is the village from here?" She asked, putting on a brave face, though if Akito had any sense of body reading, he'd likely see that she was both physically and emotionally quite tired.

[Drak]

"He's... Scared .Based on my previous conversations with a couple of Suna nin at the last Iron Banner festival, I don't think the people of Sunagakure were totally aware how serious Iwa was when they took over part of Wind Country… I'd be scared too, if someone said they were coming to invade Tea Country... I don't think I'd handle it as well as him."

Akito wasn’t exactly well-practiced when talking to children. Despite his skill warranting it, the Hyuuga elders didn’t consider him enough of a Jyuuken master to teach the clan’s youth, and he did not have a squad of genin either.

Now that I think about it, I was about her age when the Great War started. I remember how scared I was just to be in Konoha. This poor girl must be terrified traveling all over like this.

Suddenly, his annoyance with how the Suna nin had acted disappeared. The girl was right, he just wanted to get back home as quickly as he could.

Akito crouched down to the girl’s level. He didn’t want to tower over her right now.

“You are right, he must be scared,” Akito said, a sympathetic look on his face. “It helps to know you can do something to protect yourself and the ones you love. He is probably on his way back to do just that.”

Akito sighed. “I was about your age when the Great War broke out and I remember how scared I was. It only makes sense to be worried about your home, especially when you are as far away as you are.”

Hopefully that doesn’t alarm her further.

“You will be safe with me though,” he smiled.

"I think I'm okay though, how far is the village from here?"

Akito took a good look at the girl. She had clearly been traveling all day, and probably for at least another day before that. Akito looked up at the sky: it was late afternoon and the declining sun was starting to cast longer shadows.They would have a few hours of bright light left, and maybe an hour of dim light after that.

If it were just me, I could make it back to Konoha in one go. It would be a long, tiring route that would get us there in the middle of the night – maybe closer to sunrise even. With the girl in tow, it will take longer. I can take it, but I’m not sure about her. Even if she can, it will be a hard time, and she is clearly worn down.

Akito stood up.

“It is a straight shot, but it is still a long way away. I think we should split the trip into two legs. I know of a village where we can stay the night, and then continue the journey in the morning. How does that sound?”

WC: 447 + 402 = 849

[Nick]

Suzuko looked at the man and made kind of an awkward face, she'd accidentally opened up about the man's emotions and her own rather carelessly, and she could feel from the emotional thread latching onto Akito that while he wasn't exactly looking down on her because of it, his reaction was in some ways foreign and unwelcome. His words were strange to her largely because if she'd said something similar to someone from House Mizutane, they likely would have mentioned how it was none of their business to get involved in the emotions of others. If she'd said it to Goro, he probably would have said something unkind about her putting her emotions before her training, and that they would make her weaker. Even Shiun, whom she could trust as her best friend, probably would have awkwardly not had the level of empathy that it seemed like Akito was displaying.

And he crouched down to speak to her, and that felt a little belittling somehow in contrast to his words. She huffed a bit and puffed her chest out, trying to make herself look bigger and sound more mature than she was. "If Hyuuga-san needs a break from protecting little girls." She said, the air of being a haughty noble filling her lungs and breathing out acridly as she started to walk down the road in the rough direction she assumed they needed to be going in. "A two part journey it shall be." She almost wanted to say something condescending like 'try to keep up' as well, but managed to hold onto her manners a little better despite her embarrassment at the situation showing itself in her attitude shift.

How dare he try to treat a child like a child! She wasn't a child, she was a mighty and strong samurai!

[Drak]

Akito was somewhat taken aback at the girl’s sudden shift in attitude.

How strange. One second she was talking about how scared she would be, now she’s trying her best to look and act like a grown-up.

If Hyuuga-san needs a break from protecting little girls a two part journey it shall be."

Then again… I probably did the same thing when I was her age. It’s a weird time to be: not quite a child, not quite an adult. Maybe it was rude of me to notice. Also, if she were from Konoha, she would either already be, or be right on the cusp of being a full-fledged kunoichi. Maybe I don’t need to treat her like a total child.

Akito grinned, “Yes, yes, these old bones will need a break after today's journey. Come then, young lady, let us get going.”

Akito began to walk. At first, they walked in silence, but after a short time, Akito decided to change that.

Better after all for us to get along on this journey.

“Suzuko-san, is this your first time in the Hi no Kuni?”

WC: 849 + 169 = 1018

[Nick]

Young Suzuko turned her head to stare at Akito for a moment, for a second she had an incredulous look on her face, before the thoughts processed fully through her mind and she realized that it wasn't like every ninja in the world knew each other. That would be silly. She shook her head a bit more respectfully, and smiled, realizing that this was, in fact, what she'd hoped for out of the Suna-nin, a little bit of small talk to help pass the time as the sun started to go down over the horizon. "Kind of..." She started, realizing that she'd not yet spent any time in the forests of Fire Country proper. "The last time I was here, we were given permission to set down directly in Konoha proper with The Laurel."

The airships weren't exactly a common sight, but Konoha, and at broad, Fire Country, was a very big place, and Akito may well have been away on a mission or just on the other end of town when the ship had touched down in a training field. "We mostly did training exercises with some of the ninja, and showed them some of ours as well... Uhh, how big is the Hyuuga clan...?" She realized she hadn't asked Takeshi much about his family, and she briefly wondered if it was foolhardy to ask if he knew the man. "I met one other Hyuuga named Takeshi, and an Awai named Fanho... Oh! He's Hokage-san now, isn't he?" She asked, as when she'd visited first, he was merely Hokage-to-be, and while he'd promised her an invite to the coronation ceremony, she hadn't been able to be there due to her academy responsibilities taking her to Kumogakure instead.

"We don't have as many clans in Heart as you do in Konoha, the biggest one is the Kisama, but they don't really act like any of them know one another half the time..."

[Drak]

Akito’s eyebrows raised at the mention of the airship.

“Yes, I vaguely remember hearing about that. If I recall correctly I was away on a mission at the time.”

His face lit up with recognition when Takeshi’s name was mentioned.

“The Hyuuga clan is quite large,” Akito said. “It contains some thirty families, many of which are very large. I do know Takeshi though, at least a little bit. I always knew of him. As the Hokage’s son he was a little bit of a celebrity, but we only met once or twice as children.”

He paused.

“Or at least that was the case until recently when-” Akito stopped himself from saying more. I probably shouldn’t tell this girl exactly how we reconnected. As funny as the evening was, that’s not exactly the kind of story a grown man should be telling a young girl he has only just met.

“Um, when we met again for the first time as adults. I still do not know him well, but he and I have been getting along. And yes, Fahno-sama is the Hokage now.”

He fell silent again for a little while, not quite sure how to continue the conversation.

“Did you learn anything useful during your training there?”

WC: 1018 + 208 = 1226

[Nick]

Suzuko heard that Takeshi was the Hokage's son, and instead of the natural assumption that he meant a previous hokage, her mind quickly went to the idea that Fanho had a child. He was much older than her, and she didn't quite have a concept of age, anyone over the age of 20 was just 'old' and probably had a partner, kids, and some kind of career of their own. Looking at Akito, she probably guessed he was really old, like thirty or something. "Way to go Fanho-san, recovering from your breakup with Goro..." She muttered under her breath, still lost in the fantasy that her mentor Goro and the Hokage were scorned lovers from her adventures going off to meet the Kyoho clan.

Of course, her mind was also going to Takeshi, and he was something of a first crush for her as well. Love was in the air. She almost wasn't paying attention to what he was saying as she seemed to be a little giddy at the idea that Goro and Fanho had a baby together and that baby was somehow Takeshi. She did snap out of it long enough to answer his questions though, thinking broadly for a few moments. "Oh! I learned a lot, actually. Takeshi taught me how to use some of his wind techniques..." She said, casually holding a palm outwards into the forest, and channeling chakra to fire a low-powered wind bullet jutsu into the trees. "But I think I got more of what the teachers were hoping. Before I'd gone off to meet ninja from Konoha and Kumo, a lot of the older adults in Tea especially made ninja out to be some kind of... demons!" She made a face and raised her hands up like claws, as if she was trying to scare a child by a campfire. "But you're not all that scary, I've seen samurai do wayyyyy scarier stuff."

Her boast wasn't innacurate, though she mostly hadn't seen ninja take things as seriously as samurai sometimes did during honor duels, and more than likely the ninja she'd seen 'fight' were holding back so as to not seriously injure or maim eachother while showing off or just training.

"I bet you're more like... a kitten than a demon!"

JutsuShow

Fuuton • Wind Bullet
D-Ranked Ninjutsu
After performing the required hand seals or channeling chakra, the user expels a sphere of wind ranging in size from 10cm to 1 meter from their mouth. This ball of wind travels up to 15m at [Control] speed and explodes with [Control] Strength on contact with solid matter or at the end of its range expanding into a 5-meter diameter impact of cutting winds. This technique was developed by Takeshi.

[Drak]

The girl seems distracted by something. Well, I suppose it only makes sense. She’s had a long day and a longer week. It is getting dark now, but the village is nearby. We should hit it before too long. I just hope they have two rooms available. That should not be hard a sell for reimbursement.

When she showed off the jutsu that Takeshi had taught her, Akito nodded approvingly.

“Fuuton, very impressive. It is not my affinity, but I have seen it used to great effect.”

Akito chuckled at her comparison of samurai and ninja, and at Suzuko’s provocation.

On one hand: I am a grown man. I have no need to prove myself to this girl. On the other hand: if I play into this, it will be a good way of building rapport between the two of us. That will make the rest of the journey, and furthermore our stay at the inn more enjoyable.

“Oh, then it is doing its job,” Akito replied. “The transformation jutsu that turns demons into kittens. Samurai do not have access to that one.”

WC: 1226 + 183 = 1409

[Nick]

"Pff, yeah right!" She replied almost immediately, as if she was some sort of expert on all things ninja. "As if such a thing even exists! Shiun would have told me about it, if it did." Suzuko was certainly confident. Shiun had been something of a self-proclaimed knower and lover of all things ninja since they'd first met, and surely her knowledge and expertise on them had only expanded as they'd now visited two whole villages together! She had a faint impression he was making fun of her and not taking her seriously, but not enough to fight him about it. Yet.

"What do you do, anyway?" She squinted at him as the village they were approaching started to become obvious in the distance, they'd be there soon, which was good because it was approaching near total darkness with the moon mostly blocked out by the canopy. "I bet you're some kind of... Boring fire guy. You probably use boring fire." She nodded to herself, making up this version of Akito in her head who was some bespoke edgelord, coated in flames from head to toe in combat and probably had a beard made out of fire while he did it. She didn't have the frame of reference, as Takeshi hadn't spoken much of what the Hyuuga clan did, beyond that everyone knew publicly that it made them see exceptionally well. "Goro says most ninja throw fire at things to solve their problems."

[Drak]

Akito grinned.

“Looks like you cannot be fooled so easily. It seems that your time traveling has made you wise.” From his tone, it was clear that Akito was being playful, but there was a hint of sincerity in there.

"What do you do, anyway? I bet you're some kind of... Boring fire guy. You probably use boring fire."

That one got a laugh out of Akito.

“Good guess young lady. We are in Fire Country, so you will find many Katon users here, but that is not the element to which I have an affinity” Akito told her. “No, I am a Doton user.” Akito eyed the village which was getting closer with every step. We’re too close to show off anything really impressive, but I’m sure I can find a little something to show the girl.

Akito’s hands moved fluidly through a series of hand seals, and, before Suzuko’e eyes, eight shuriken assembled themselves into being between each of Akito’s fingers. He flung those in his right hand at a nearby tree, and they embedded themselves into the trunk with a satisfying sound. He held his left hand out to Suzuko.

“Shuriken?” he offered. “This is the most basic technique of Doton. When we are a little further from a village I can show you a more impressive technique if you are good.”

Akito smiled.

“Beyond that, my areas of expertise are close-quarters combat and long-range scouting. Both of which suit me well because of my clan’s kekkei genkai.”

At this point, they were entering the village. Akito gestured to a large, two-story building near the entrance to town. It was dotted with lit paper lanterns, and a curtain over the door advertised the name of the establishment.

"This is the inn. We should go in and inquire about a pair of rooms. Then, we can find something to eat."

WC: 1409 + 292 = 1701

[Nick]

His playful tone was not welcome! "Of course I am! I am Wise, and strong, and mighty! I bet I could beat even you in a fight!" She said with a little 'hmph' at the end, feeling personally attacked. She knew the Hyuuga were of noble blood, but this boy sure acted like nobody she'd met in the Mizutane! Maybe, she thought, he was just one of their servants, born of low blood, or worse, was somehow related to Akihito in Kumo. The thought made her shudder that the boy had an entire family behind him somewhere.

She was almost upset again at his 'good guess young lady', feeling that it was condescending, but then again, she might have just been being a little too hard on him, after all, he seemed to be just a peasant. This was reaffirmed when he said that, of all things, his primary element was... dirt. There wasn't anything wrong with being a field-born peasant, but it did put him in a lower list of tiers. Her attitude would shift a bit once again, and she would clap her hands together from only a few inches apart several times in quick succession. "Ohoh, impressive!" She said, now the condescending one, believing that it was in fact impressive that someone who was so low born could apply himself to reach even low levels like this.

"And you use... rocks... to help you out with both of those?" She asked, the first sign of genuine, childlike curiosity entering her voice as her mind envisioned how that all worked. Ultimately it ended in a thought bubble that showed Akito rubbing dirt into his eyes and going 'hmm, this dirt is dirt'. Suzuko nodded sagely. It sure was dirt.

She looked at the sign, then to Akito, and made another face. She supposed since he'd solidified himself as peasantry, she'd have to take care of him, this time. "Fine, I'll help you out just this once." She said with the confidence of someone whose mom let them order their own food at dinner sometimes. Stepping into the curtain and peeling it aside, she entered the rather drab looking establishment, a man with a very obviously fake mustache stood behind a counter with a rack of keys behind him to give access to rooms. "Two rooms." She demanded, unpleasantly, slowly unslinging her backpack from around her shoulders to dig around inside, pulling out a frog wallet that Fanho himself had gifted to her, and opening it up to reveal... Probably far too much money for someone to just be carrying around.

If Akito was paying enough attention, he'd likely notice, too, that her backpack must have been a plush toy of some sort, as it had... fake? teeth that grazed her arm without cutting it as she reached inside. The man on the other side was unlikely to be paying attention to this, his eyes glued to the wallet, as he asked for a mostly reasonable fee, that Suzuko counted out for him, before accepting the keys. She'd stayed in enough roadside inns to know that the rooms weren't going to be of any spectacular affair, and unlike some of the bigger, nicer hotels in major cities, they certainly wouldn't have impressive suites for sale. She metered her expectections, and turned around to hand Akito one of the keys.

[Drak]

Akito smiled again when Suzuko boasted she could beat him in a fight.

“If there is time tomorrow before we leave, or when we get to Konoha, you are welcome to try. I would welcome a spar between us. You might even see how useful my rocks can be.”

Akito followed Suzuko into the inn. He made to get in front of the girl and stop her from paying for the rooms, but he was struck by the man behind the desk.

That is not the usual innkeeper, nor is it his son. The fake mustache is an odd touch, but one which makes this situation all the more suspicious. It’s too quiet in here for an evening like this. A local inn that serves food should be bustling, but it is dead in here.

He looked around the inn’s lobby and the handful of visitors.

I count four, no, five. They are far too gruff looking to be traveling merchants or tradespeople, and far too quiet to be locals. Something is clearly off here. I need to get the girl out of here and figure out what is going on. Most likely, they are common thugs who got a crap of intelligence about the girl from someone at the border post, and are looking to make a quick few ryo.

Akito walked up to the girl as the innkeeper (or so he claimed) handed her the keys. He took the key when it was handed to him.

“Sir, excuse me,” Akito said. “I will be needing a receipt for the rooms. The young lady will need to be reimbursed for that, after all.”
The innkeeper made an annoyed face, turned to grab a small booklet of receipts, and started filling one out. When his eyes were off them, Akito put his hand on Suzuko’s shoulder with just enough force to stop her from walking off and leaned down to her.

“Suzuko,” he whispered. “Something is not right here. We need to leave. Now.”

He brought himself back up to his full height and took the receipt from the innkeeper.

“Young lady, I suggest we go in search of some more elevated cuisine which will better suit your refined palate,” Akito announced, slightly louder than was necessary. He was clearly putting on a show, and ensuring that the assembled characters in the lobby would hear as he began to gently steer the two of them out of the inn.

WC: 1701 + 409 = 2110

[Nick]

Suzuko may have been trained in Heart's tenants of bushido techniques, but she wasn't exactly worldly despite being somewhat well-travelled for her age. Sure, she'd been stopped by bandits trying to steal Fukuro-kun before, and there'd been enough adults who had disrespected and underestimated her, but she didn't quite have the prescience that Akito had likely earned by being in this kind of situation more than once himself.

Suzuko had just taken her first step off towards the rooms, her nose held high and looking plenty smug at having handled that situation pretty well if she did say so herself when Akito's hand touched her shoulder. In her aura of smugness, his hand almost wouldn't be able to touch her, seeing as how beneath her he was, but without too much struggle his fingers would land. She almost slapped his hand away, but in her mighty graciousness decided to turn back around to face him when he started whispering to her instead. For the briefest moment, she thought he might be playing a trick on her, being playful once more, but the tone in his voice made the blood drain from her face, and she began to immediately start to sweat instead, anxiety replacing the blood.

In the fractured mirror of her consciousness, she glimpsed fleeting realizations of horror that the mind had long sought to bury since the dawn of man creating fire. The jagged edges of her reality threatened to unravel, revealing the disquieting mosaic of her true self. The whispers of her own mind taunted her, weaving a tapestry of uncertainty and despair that threatened to engulf her entirely... She gulped. She'd been working on this. One breath in, two out, take in information, exhale the anxiety, focus, concentrate. Her eyes scanned the room, and she took a moment to focus on the threads that connected her emotionally to those around her. She felt concern from Akito, clearly, but curiosity and something not quite clear from the others in the room.

When he made his announcement, her demeanor changed completely to play along with his declaration. "Right you are, Akito." Which was probably the first and last time he'd hear her say anything of the sort. "I'm sure there's better food to be had elsewhere before bed." She continued, allowing him to steer her, not that she could really stop him if he clamped down, only to be turned around to the front doorflaps where a rather humorously large man was blocking their path. "Out of the way, you oaf!" She said to the man, forgetting her anxiety and fear in the moment of feeling offended that someone so large and fat would stand in their way. Oops.

[Drak]

As the pair began to work their way out of the inn, Akito activated his Byakugan. Had Suzuko looked up at him, she would have seen the veins in his temples bulge, and his pupil and iris come into focus from the milky white of his eyes. In doing so, Akito was able to keep an eye on everyone in the room.

The five guests are continuing to eye us, but no weapons yet. I can still see all of their hands. The innkeeper’s face is just below my blind spot, but his hands are hidden behind the counter. Depending on how they took control of this establishment – or worse this town – they might be unwilling to fight here and now. Furthermore, if they are especially unobservant or gullible they might let us go and try to set up an ambush for later. As we walk out, priority number one is ensuring that neither of us catch a kunai in the back. After that, it is making sure that no one can lay a hand on the girl.

As they moved, Akito began to channel chakra into his palms, preparing for a fight. When Suzuko threw open the curtains at the front, revealing a huge man, Akito started reformulating his strategy. When she told their antagonist off, he started working faster.

Kami, that man is half again as wide as I am. Okay, priority number one is to protect our rear, which we can use Barrier for. That should keep them inside and protect us from any projectiles. Second priority is the man in front. On the off chance that he isn’t a hostile, the girl’s proding should be enough to get him out of the way. If not, I may have no choice other than to use force.

Akito’s hands formed a sequence of seals, and he pushed his hands back behind him. A shimmering blue dome appeared behind them, positioned to block the entrance off from the men behind them.

“Sir, you are in our way,” Akito said, keeping up a cheerful façade. “I am afraid this inn is closed right now.” The threat in his voice became clear in the latter part of his sentence.

If he moves, everything is fine. If he goes for the girl or for a weapon then he gets it.

Jutsu UsedShow

Byakugan Doujutsu
One of the most famed doujutsu in the world, Byakugan is the bloodline limit of the Hyuuga Clan. When active, the clan member gains 360 degree vision and Penetrative vision, allowing the Hyuuga clan to see the Tenketsu of their enemies. Their telescopic vision can be activated via jutsu. As such, the Byakugan is capable of ability channeling, allowing the Hyuuga to activate their Doujutsu techniques without hand seals. It should be noted that while using their telescopic vision the Hyuuga experiences tunnel vision, making it difficult to see their surroundings. Prolonged usage of the Byakugan is strenuous and requires a high level of endurance. The maximum operating time a user can utilize their Byakugan at a time is equal to their Chakra Pool stat divided by 4 rounded down, to a minimum of one post. Upon reaching the max duration, the stress of using their Byakugan to it’s limit causes a cooldown period of 1/2 of the duration time, to a minimum of one post. During this cooldown period, the Byakugan cannot be activated and attempting to do so will cause physical pain. Duration is based off total posts where the Byakugan is activated, meaning users can turn it on and off to have a shorter cooldown.

*[Ninjutsu • Barrier]
C-Ranked Ninjutsu
After performing the correct hand seals the user forms a 5x5x5m barrier around a target up to 25m away from their position. The barrier forms at [Control] Speed, has [Control] Strength, and lasts 4 posts before fading away.

If the big guy tries anything, Akito will use:
~Jyuuken :: White Haze Dance
D-rank Nintaijutsu Maneuver
After channelling chakra into their palm, the user will strike harder than usually performed in Jyuuken. While normally the softest touch is enough to inject the chakra to damage the internal structures of the body, this technique is designed to accompany the user's attack with a blast of chakra, throwing those with a [Strength] less than the user's [Control] back 10 meters through the air.

WC: 2110 + 390 = 2500

[Nick]

Suzuko realized what an awful mistake it would have been to antagonize this man had he been anything other than a civilian right after she called him an oaf. She also momentarily realized that he had done nothing wrong, and that her anger and anxiety was misdirected at him when it could have been anyone causing it, mostly Akito. She was no pushover herself, despite her young age she had been selected for this exchange program and to be a test pilot for the brass puppet she carried in her pack for a reason. But she was still a little girl at the end of the day, and as the man towered over her, an intimidating windmill, and Akito prepared for a fight, he... Apologized.

"Oh, haha, sorry, let me just..." He said, stepping back and out of the way for them to be able to pass without harassment. It was unclear if he was just a normal man, an idiot, or if Akito's ploy to get them to back off had worked. The men behind him, however, saw the barrier he put up and tensed. Of course, it was entirely possible that a ninja using ninjutsu was just odd enough of a sight, even this close to the village, or maybe it had spooked them just enough to get them to want to regroup. Suzuko turned her nose up, even with her realized mistake, she had somewhat of an appearance to keep up, stepping past the peeled curtain door and past the large man, only to turn to him and give him a slight bow, hands on her thighs, before speeding off and away from the situation.

After the two had made it out from the inn and several spaces away on the gameboard so that it would be hard to hear anything happening inside the inn, the following situation would occur:

Fake Mustache: "Did you guys see that shit?"
Totally Normal Bystander: "He had them freaky eyes! And he used some of that ninja stuff!"
Large man: "Hello, could I get a room for the night?"
Fake Mustache: "What? Oh, yeah, get out of here, just take a key and go. Anyway, we should probably tell the boss, she'll wanna know."
Different, Less Normal Bystander: "Aw c'mon guys, I don't wanna fight a ninja again!"
Much More Normal Bystander: "Yeah, the last one got me right in the kidney, he was kind of a jerk!"
Fake Mustache: "Shut up and go to the bar to let her know! We're gonna get a fat reward for this one I bet!"

Suzuko, meanwhile, would make sure to not get lost or too separated from her would-be protector, stopping to catch her breath for a moment and turning around to face him once more. "What the heck was that all about? Did you know those guys or something?"

[Drak]

“That is precisely the issue. I knew none of those men,” Akito said, any hint of playfulness or affability gone from his voice. “Because of this village’s proximity to the border, Konoha nin frequently use it as a stopover on missions. I have stayed here many times, and know the old man who runs it. The man behind the counter was not him, and not his son.”

If the inn isn’t safe, there is no guarantee that the village is safe. We could leave, but at this point that would be a hard journey to make, and we could be followed. The girl might not be able to evade them should they give chase. We should secure ourselves a safe spot and plan our next move from there. This street is too exposed.

“We need to find a secure place for ourselves to plan out our next move,” Akito said, clearly thinking out the best way to do that. “Come with me. There is a back door to the inn. We are going to clear it out. Try to stay out of the fighting, but if it comes to you, show those men what you learned last time you were in Konoha.”

I'd prefer the girl was farther from the fighting. However, if I leave her outside I won’t be able to protect her, and I want this to remain an escort mission and not a rescue.

“Stay right by me,” Akito told Suzuko, making a few hand seals as he began to carefully sneak around the building. If she looked closely, Suzuko would see dark, stoney scales of [Strength 41] sprouting along the few areas of skin that Akito's uniform left exposed.

Akito peered around the corner of the inn, into the alley that the back door opened into. Clear. Akito stalked his way in and carefully approached the back door.

This should lead into the kitchen in the back. There are two exits to the kitchen: one to right near the front desk, the other to the small dining area. If we go towards the desk, we can surprise and outflank everyone we saw in the lobby.

“We are going in through the back door,” Akito whispered to Suzuko. “It leads into the kitchen. There will be three doors, one on each wall. The right door leads to a small dining area. The center to the lobby where we were, and the left to a pantry. Keep to the left, away from the back door, and have a weapon ready.”

Akito quietly opened the back door and snuck in. The kitchen was quiet and empty. The center door to the lobby was open, and through it, Akito could see the five men conferring amongst themselves. As he snuck closer to the door, Akito made a series of hand seals, then would his hand back and threw what appeared to be a clod of dirt. When it landed, it burst into a thick cloud of dust, obscuring the vision of the group of men. Akito with his Byakugan could see through it with ease.

He dropped into a fighting stance, channeling chakra into his palms, then launched himself forward like a spring releasing. He made contact with the fake proprietor first, striking him twice. Akito’s first blow landed on a tekenstu on the man’s upper back. As he let out a combination of a cough and a scream, Akito's second blow hit his temple, and the man crumpled. Taking full advantage of his enemies’ blindness and his surprise attack, Akito wheeled around to face the foe to his right. Akito dropped slightly and struck the man’s midsection four times. With a groan, the man collapsed to his knees.

Neither of those should be fatal, but they will be incapacitating.

Jutsu UsedShow

Byakugan Doujutsu[/i]
One of the most famed doujutsu in the world, Byakugan is the bloodline limit of the Hyuuga Clan. When active, the clan member gains 360 degree vision and Penetrative vision, allowing the Hyuuga clan to see the Tenketsu of their enemies. Their telescopic vision can be activated via jutsu. As such, the Byakugan is capable of ability channeling, allowing the Hyuuga to activate their Doujutsu techniques without hand seals. It should be noted that while using their telescopic vision the Hyuuga experiences tunnel vision, making it difficult to see their surroundings.

Prolonged usage of the Byakugan is strenuous and requires a high level of endurance. The maximum operating time a user can utilize their Byakugan at a time is equal to their Chakra Pool stat divided by 4 rounded down, to a minimum of one post. Upon reaching the max duration, the stress of using their Byakugan to it’s limit causes a cooldown period of 1/2 of the duration time, to a minimum of one post. During this cooldown period, the Byakugan cannot be activated and attempting to do so will cause physical pain. Duration is based off total posts where the Byakugan is activated, meaning users can turn it on and off to have a shorter cooldown.

*Doton • Dirt Cloud
D-Rank Ninjutsu
After performing the correct hand seals the user will form a 1 meter diameter ball of loose dirt in front of them, launching it off up to 10 meters away at [Control] strength and speed. Upon impact the ball of loose dirt breaks apart forming a vision-impairing cloud of dirt with a 5 meter radius.

~Jyuuken :: Palm Dance of Divination
D-rank Nintaijutsu Maneuver
The fundamental basis of Jyuuken, the user will focus chakra into their hands. For three posts the user is able to inject the chakra within the opponent’s body upon successful contact, dealing damage to the internal structures of the body rather than the external. This has a painful effect on the muscles and blood vessels within the body, causing bruising at the touch.

WC: 2500 + 630 = 3130

[Nick]

Suzuko nodded, and internally noted that being so close to Konoha somehow didn't imply a level of implicit protection to this smaller village. She tried to think for a moment about how a similar situation would have played out in Heart, but with Heart's military and school system intrinsically linked and all citizens made to go through at least the basics, there was ALWAYS a samurai present, even if it wasn't their fulltime career. Those trained in the basics may not be able to stave off these kinds of attacks on their own, but it made it seem much more likely that someone would have noticed and reported it, and it also meant that there were a lot more full time samurai just by nature of the recruitment process to act as guards and informants. Oftentimes there was such a natural abundance of samurai that they were tasked with things that people might hire private companies for in other parts of the world, such as escorting deliveries of goods, or acting as a police force.

She wondered if there just weren't enough ninja, or maybe they just didn't really care enough as a society to deal with these sorts of problems even if they were so close to home. Regardless, any of her snark from before was gone and replaced with a dead serious expression. Gone was the princess taking every opportunity to find offense at his words, and in her place was a soldier who knew when to take orders. "Copy." She finally replied as Akito made plans to assault the inn from the rear, using her radio shorthand that, thinking on it, she wasn't sure if was universal or something that the Empire had just started using. Regardless, she followed behind him. She was light on her feet, but that didn't mean she was especially stealthy, and did her best to follow in the Hyuuga's footsteps. She reached into one of the bottom pockets of Fukuro-kun, pulled out a fistful of senbon needles, and turned ninety degrees to keep an eye on their back, acting more like a member of a team now than a girl to be escorted.

Her posture was low and spread out, not that Akito would recognize it, but this is how she was taught to stand by Rio who was probably the most combat capable person she knew on a first name basis besides Goro. Her center of gravity was low and her body acted as feelers to keep her present and aware to her surroundings.

When combat began, Suzuko didn't have the same benefits of the byakugan to see through the smoke screen that Akito had created, but she at least had the ability to catch a glimpse of the people's positions before they were enveloped in the dirt cloud, mentally marking each of them. The confusion caused by the sudden attack would likely mean that they wouldn't have time to change their positioning much, giving Suzuko the perfect angles to chuck fistfuls of her senbon out at the men. Senbon in smaller quantities like this weren't all that dangerous, but she was playing support, and also didn't want to kill these strangers. That would be on Akito if he wanted to land finishing blows, she was just trying to make it easier on him by giving them pain to distract themselves.

Regardless, as Akito finished off his two, and she suspected the other two present in the room as well, it would become quite obvious that they were missing something... The last man that had been present must have left out the front door while they were moving themselves around the back! Oh no! Still, with no other hostiles present, as the dirt cleared from the air, Suzuko would relax just slightly. "What are we supposed to do with them?" She asked, indicating the unconscious bodies. "We can't just leave 'em here, they'll probably wake up in a few minutes! Ugh, and what about the last one..." She stared out the front door flaps. Unbeknownst to her, he had left to go to the bar the men had been talking about previously, and would likely return with reinforcements!

[Strength +1]

JutsuShow

Sharp Mind
D-Ranked Taijutsu Discipline
After many intensive hours of focus training, the user has learned how to memorize a large amount of sensory information after being first exposed to it. Though the main application of this technique is to allow for the user to memorize both the initial positioning of their weapons around the battlefield and any changes in those locations, this technique also has more uses outside of combat, such as remembering certain people, characteristics, locations, etc.

Situational Awareness
C-Ranked Discipline Taijutsu
The practitioner has keen senses and perception and has trained to use them to have advanced spatial sense. This allows them to envision complex happenings around them with ease: this means it is hard to surprise attack the practitioner as they are always aware of their position and their surroundings. Likewise, they have a greatly sharpened ability to judge the speed of things, and the spatial aspect of them.

Trajectory Predicition
D-Ranked Discipline Taijutsu
After much practice, the practitioner has learned how to read an opponent's movements to gauge where they will be at any given moment without penalty. Effectively, the practitioner can "lead" their shots to account for movement by targets.

Multi-Draw
C-Ranked Discipline Taijutsu
The practitioner has trained such a deftness to their draws that they are now capable of drawing multiple projectiles and more impressively, launching them in a tight spread, capable of putting multiple projectiles into a small bullseye at the same instance.

Bouncing Projectile
D-Ranked Maneuver Taijutsu
The practitioner aims a projectile at a shallow angle, targeting the ground or a hard surface. The shallow angle of the shot causes the projectile to bounce off of the surface, moving at -1 Speed and striking with -1 Strength after the bounce. This technique can be used to launch an attack from an unexpected angle or to shoot around, over, or under obstacles.

[Drak]

As Akito dealt with the first two men, he could see one of them sprint out of the dust and towards the door. In another corner of his vision, he saw Suzuko peppering the remaining two with a small cloud of senbon. Taking advantage of the distraction, Akito positioned himself between the remaining two enemies and the door. When Suzuko was done, he lept at them. Two more strikes to the temples later, and both men were laying on the ground, unconscious.

As the dust began to clear from the room, Akito deactivated his Byakugan. Suzuko asked what they should do with the bodies.

“The three I struck on the head will be unconscious for some time. The last one might awake sooner,” Akito said, grabbing one of the unconscious men by the ankles and dragging him away from the center of the room. “I will deal with them.”

Akito proceeded to drag the men to a corner of the room and position them in a rough circle with their legs in the center. With a few quick seals, Akito created a large, wet orb of clay over their legs. As he released the final seal, the sphere fell with a loud splat, entrapping their legs with [Strength 41].

Okay, the fifth man, the one who ran off. If the takeover of this village was limited to just this establishment, then he is likely to have simply fled. However, if more of the village was captured, then he probably went to fetch reinforcements. We can determine which by waiting here. If thirty minutes pass and no one comes to attack, then it is most likely that those five were the only enemies. If we are attacked in that time period, then there are clearly more foes. To maximize the chances of surviving an attack, we should do our best to fortify this establishment. Additionally, we should check upstairs.

Akito began to make another set of hand seals, and created ten caltrops which he spread out in the entryway.

“We are going to wait here and see if anyone comes back for us. In the meantime, we should do our best to fortify this inn and give ourselves the maximal advantage if anyone should come knocking,” Akito announced as he repeated the process of laying caltrops two more times.

When he was done, Akito walked into the kitchen and created an earthen wall outside the back door.

“That should cut off one route of attack,” Akito said more to himself than anything. “We should check the pantry here and the upstairs area to make sure no one is hiding in here. Or to see if we can find the actual owners.”

Jutsu UsedShow

*Doton • Earthen Ninja Tools
D-Rank Ninjutsu
After performing the correct hand seals the user will form a set of up to 10 basic projectiles, such as kunai, shuriken, or senbon, in their hand. These tools have [Control] strength.

*Doton • Wall
D-Rank Ninjutsu
After performing the correct hand seals the user will form a solid stone wall up to 5 meters away from them at [Control] speed. The wall has [Control] strength and is 3x3x1 meters large.

Doton • Clay Sphere
C-Rank Ninjutsu
After performing the appropriate hand seals, the user will form a ball of sticky clay 1 meter in diameter in front of them and shoot it up to 30 meters at [Control] Speed. The clay ball will envelop any body parts struck by it and sticking to the ground when it lands. It requires [Control] strength to escape. If exposed to a jutsu with a burning or hardening effect, the clay will harden and require [1.5x Control to a max of 50] Strength to break free from.

WC: 3130 + 450 = 3580

[Nick]

Suzuko was none-too-pleased about the situation. She'd expected to get involved in missions with Konoha and Kumo ninja in the first leg of her journey as part of the pilot program, but this was unplanned in every possible way. No mission scroll to fall back on for orders, no peer to boss around so she'd feel better, just her and this middle aged man who was getting them into trouble! He was almost as bad as Akihiko. At least he seemed somewhat reliable, and maybe a little cute for a gross old man, not that she'd ever admit that.

"Shouldn't we... leave?" She asked half-heartedly, thinking about the question herself even as she asked it. She didn't exactly have any investment here as a member of a foreign nation, but her head tilted to the side as she questioned whether she'd feel the same way if she was home. "I guess we... don't know what happened to the innkeeper." She started to reason aloud, tilting her head to the other side and making a face. "And others are probably still in danger..." She said, straightening her head finally and nodding, agreeing. She wasn't exactly required to take orders from Akito, and that was probably part of why she was so willing to question it until she'd found her own motive to begin with.

She unslung Fukuro-kun from her back, giving him a little pat on the 'cheek' to wake him up, his spindly arms and legs unfolding, and tongue lolling out as he made several strange grunty noises that one could probably mistake for words if they were listening closely enough. "Yes, that's right." Responded the girl to her backpack, where it made several more of the same sorts of noises. "You shouldn't eat the people, but if they have anything on them..." The backpack made more noises that sounded more pleased, and somewhat like an affirmative. "Watch the front door for us, please. I'll check upstairs, Hyuuga-san." She said, sounding much more professional herself now.

She opened up Fukuro-kun's top flap, reached in, and pulled out the massive metal body of RESOLVE as if it were as light as a pillow, and set it down relatively gently though the floorboards creaked a bit under its weight. She didn't explain any of this to the jounin in front of her as she hopped in, and slowly began to lumber up the stairs inside of the massive steam puppet, slowly leaking out a cloud of steam as she went.

[Drak]

“It would be righteous and even beneficial to find out what happened to the innkeeper, but that is not my primary concern. Right now, we do not know how many enemies we have in the vicinity, nor where exactly they are. What I can tell you is that these are not trained combatants. Now that they have lost the element of surprise I am counting on them trying one more time to subdue us with what they consider overwhelming force. By fleeing, we hand them back the element of surprise, potentially on their home turf. Furthermore…”

Akito trailed off as he saw Suzuko remove her backpack, which promptly began to unfurl its limbs with a horrifying yabbering.

“What is that?” Akito asked as she instructed her… creature not to eat people.

He then watched in puzzlement as the girl pulled some sort of suit of armor from the living bag-creature and climbed inside.

“What is that?” Akito demanded, his puzzlement clearly getting the best of him, as he watched the girl ascend the stairs.

And why, in the name of all under heaven did they need to send me on this escort mission if she has… whatever that is up her sleeve?

When she was totally up the stairs, Akito began to hear some commotion in the street. He snuck over to one of the building's windows and peered out. There was a group walking towards the inn -- maybe a dozen in all armed with a variety of weapons: Akito could see katana, naginata, and kanabo. There were two people at the head of the group: the man who had escaped Akito's onslaught earlier, and a woman wearing a fine purple kimono with a katana at her side. He could see the woman growing more and more irate as the man spoke. Presumably he was telling her what had happened earlier.

Akito ducked away from the window, and took cover behind the reception desk, listening for the enemies as they approached and grabbing a shuriken from his pouch.

WC: 3580 + 339 = 3919

[Nick]

She chewed on Akito's response as she ascended the stairs, distracted in the thoughts enough to not really answer the questions beyond: "That's Fukuro-Kun. Don't feed him, please." To which the backpack made a raspberry sound. She would be happy to explain the existence of her yokai to him later if he remembered to ask, but her mind was caught up. It seemed cold to her for the innkeeper to not be among the primary concerns, nor others in the village that these bandits may have silenced, or worse. It rattled around in her head as the gigantic footsteps of the puppet made it up the rest of the flight of stairs, and she wondered if that level of coldness was standard amongst higher level warriors. Goro was certainly that way, and while she didn't know Roku well enough to fully comment on him, he didn't seem like the most heart-forward person she'd ever met either. Ginjiro had been a pretty kind-hearted person from what she remembered, but in the same breath she'd met him next to Ken whose icy nature was only matched by the cold-blooded creatures he was a sage for.

She wondered if she, too, would eventually become like that. Mission first. Innocents second. Would Goro approve? Would he even care? What about her hosts at the Mizutane clan? She shook her head, if there was one aspect of it she could agree with, she needed to focus on the mission rather than waxing poetic about the horrors of a war-based society and child soldiers losing what makes them human.

She raised her left arm as she used her right to slide open the paper door, keeping her projectile launcher at the ready. She turned her senses up to their max, and managed to just barely make out something of a groan from upstairs. Her footsteps quieted significantly even as the floor creaked under the weight of the suit, and another door was slid open. Tied up in the corner of the room was a man by himself, gagged, bruised and bloodied, she didn't even take the time to look around the room, and jetted across the floor at the man, leaping out of the suit to provide more gentle care, pulling a knife from her suit to break the man's bonds, and pull his gag down.

"Hold still, let me work on your wounds." She said, tending to the man immediately with a bit of iijutsu, as he weakly nodded. "Are you here from Konoha?" The man asked.
"Sort of, one of their jounin is downstairs, I'm with him." She responded simply, ripping bandages to sterilize with chakra.
"My family, did you find my family?"
"Just you so far, we only just arrived. Do you know where they are?"

---

The woman in purple, in all her agitation, was taking action. "Well get in there! There's only two of them, don't let them get away, they'll ruin this sweet gig!" She shouted, rather loudly, slapping the one reporting to her on the back of the head, before turning to two others behind her. "Rally the others, and get the innkeepers family out here! Don't need them playing hero when we could hold them off with hostages."

[Drak]

"Rally the others, and get the innkeepers family out here! Don't need them playing hero when we could hold them off with hostages."

“Out of here?” Out of the inn, or out of the village? If they’re all in the inn then Suzuko must be with them now. If they mean in the village that could make things harder. I would rather this not turn into an urban slog, insofar as one could call this a city. I’ll have to grind this lot down to tilt things in our favor.

Akito could hear the first wave of enemies coming in the door. He focused his vision and saw an especially large man with a huge club lead the way. Behind him were two normal-sized men, one with a sword, the other with a naginata.

“Come out come out wherever-” the giant bellowed before howling in pain. Akito had seen what had happened: he had stepped on one of the caltrops strewn around and it had pierced through both his thin straw sandal and the flesh of his foot. One of his companions rushed by to see what had happened and met the same fate. The man with the naginata saw all that transpire, and looked down.

“Caltrops! Be careful!” he called out as he started to pick his way through the field. “Lobby looks empty though.”

Several other men came through behind him, picking their way through the field of spikes. Akito waited a moment, watching as the two injured men limped their way out of the room and five men crept in. When all seven were in sight, Akito began to channel his chakra into the shuriken he was holding, then poked his arm over top of the counter and threw it.

“He’s behind the counter!” one of the goons shouted. Then with a poof of smoke, one shuriken turned into hundreds. They peppered the men, slashing them to ribbons and causing them to fall onto the field of caltrops below. When the remaining enemies outside saw their giant comrade fall to the ground outside the door, dozens of puncture wounds covering the back of his body with no clear projectile, their cheers turned to stunned silence.

Akito jumped up on the counter and surveyed the damage. All of the men who had charged the door lay on the ground in rapidly expanding pools of blood. Akito made a series of hand seals and lobbed a cloud of dirt through the front door, which exploded into a cloud of blinding dust ten meters in diameter. Then, Akito jumped towards the door, clear over the bodies and the caltrops, and exploded out of the inn.

The first enemy he encountered had knelt down next to the giant to examine him. He had been caught off guard by the dust cloud and was getting to his feet when Akito was on him.

No need to waste chakra on him. He’s low enough that I can easily…

Akito’s foot connected with the man’s temple, sending him sprawling to the ground. Another man with a naginata looked around in confusion. Akito charged him, grabbing the haft of his weapon with his right hand and striking him twice with his left: once on the liver and once on his solar plexus.

Akito saw the remaining three soldiers gather around the purple-clad woman.

Hmm. They’re too spread out to hit with a clay sphere.Two katanas and a club. Plus her katana. If I can approach from the left, the arc of the club will be blocked by the woman. He’ll have to come out of formation to attack me. I’ll take out the swordsman on the left, incapacitate the woman, fall back out of range of the remaining two, and take them on one by one.

Akito charged out of the dust cloud, taking an arc around to the left of the party.

“He’s over there!” the purple-clad woman shouted.

The man with the club stepped away from the formation and turned to face Akito, or rather where Akito had been. He was faster than any of these men. The swordsman on the left raised his sword to slash downwards at Akito, but before he could bring it down, Akito brought both of his hands together around the man’s head, clapping his ears and closing two tenketsu at the same time. The man’s eyes rolled back and he slumped to the side.

The woman turned to face Akito, her hand going to her sword.

Iaido? Akito thought as he watched her push her sheath backwards and bring the blade to bear on him in the blink of an eye.

Good thing I was fast enough to dodge that. I clearly underestimated her. The others are untrained rogues, but it seems like she might be a samurai.

The woman re-sheathed her sword as the remaining swordsman took his place at her side. In another corner of his vision, Akito could see the man with the club preparing to charge him. Akito took a few steps away from the woman, and let the club man charge. As he swung, Akito spun out of the way and got behind the man. He honed in on the man’s chakra network and landed five blows on the man’s back, hitting the tenketsu right along the spine. The man stood there for a moment, stunned. Then, the weight of his club pulled him over and he crumpled to the ground.

Akito turned to face the pair of remaining enemies, raising his arms and settling into a proper Jyuuken stance. Watching for the samurai woman’s next move.

WC: 3919 + 935 = 4,854

[Nick]

The girl propped the innkeeper up to be a little more comfortable after getting what little information could be provided in such a rush, given the circumstances, before hopping expertly back into her puppet. The brass body filled her with warmth as she stepped over to the far side of the room, where second floor windows would look down to the darkened streets below she took a knee for stability, and raised her left arm to level her projectile launcher onto the scene before her. The visor inside of her helmet flicked through a few scenes before landing on the likely 'boss' of the group, the only person who was A: a woman, and B: dressed in anything besides drab grays and light blues that made them look like any other NPC.

She was about to release a barrage onto her, when her samurai manners kicked in. "Akito! Is this a duel?" She asked loudly, her voice tinny but relatively clear through the calm night. Duels didn't need to be verbally stated, and if Suzuko's samurai spirit was honed a little more, she likely could have told if it was or not based on the change in music and whether or not a tumbleweed rolled past.

After receiving the affirmative from Akito, she would shout back down. "'Kay. Good luck." Before a swapping her sights in an instant to the man who stood closer to Akito, and without any real warning a gout of flame would rain down on him, chasing him as he tried to move out of the way until it caught his clothing on fire. The gout of flame would stop just as soon as it started, but now with his clothing on fire he'd be forced to discard his sword, running in a straight line awkwardly for a moment, before the smarter part of his brain told him to stop, drop, and roll.

[Drak]

The woman’s eyes went wide as she saw a gout of flame. It was enough of a spectacle that she looked away from Akito for a moment as the man ran off. Akito, too, focused his vision on the flames, but had no need to take his eyes off of the woman.

“So this is a duel is it?” the woman asked with a mocking sweetness. “I didn’t know shinobi did that.”

“This way I can set a condition,” Akito replied, his expression unchanging. “If I can defeat you, you will tell me why you want the girl, how you took over this village, and what you did with the people who live here.”

“I’ll give you the first one for free,” the woman said, settling into an Iaido stance. “That girl is a payday for me. But what if I win?”


“If you kill me, I will not be able to stop you from taking the girl,” Akito said.

The woman nodded, then sprung forward, unsheathing her sword as she moved through the air. Akito reached into his pack and drew a kunai to parry the attack. As the kunai slid down the sword’s shaft, redirecting its path to Akito’s left, Akito raised his foot and stomped down. Seeing this, the woman pulled her sword back and jumped, narrowly dodging the stony restraints which rose up from the ground.

“I thought this was a duel!” the woman shouted.

Akito brushed off the woman’s complaint. “As if no samurai has used an elemental technique before. Not to mention you are fighting with a sword when all I have is a dagger.”

Instead of responding, the woman quickly sheathed her sword, and charged again, unsheathing her sword straight into a slash at Akito’s face.

She’s going for the eyes.

Akito leaned back, out of the arc of the sword, and swung himself back around, bending his knees into a high crouch. His left arm shot out, lightly tapping the woman’s thigh just above the knee. With his right arm, Akito feinted a stab with his kunai. The woman swiveled to block the feint, but stumbled when she found that her leg muscles were not as responsive as they should be.

Akito used her stumble as an opening. He grabbed the woman’s left wrist and pulled it off the handle of her katana, guiding it into a hammer lock. Taking two fingers off the hilt of his kunai, Akito jabbed them into the woman’s shoulder. When Akito’s fingers made contact with her shoulder, the woman cried out in pain as she felt all of the muscles in her arm contract at once. With her good arm, the woman tried to stab behind her, but all it did was pierce Akito’s shirt: it was unable to penetrate the stony scales covering the rest of his body. From afar though, it must have looked like Akito had been stabbed in the side.

Unphased, Akito drove his kunai into the tricep of the woman’s right arm. He left the knife there as he settled back into an orthodox Jyuuken stance. Akito took a quick, deep breath as he visualized the diagram of the trigrams around them.

More than a few strikes will likely kill her.

Akito unleashed the first eight of the Trigram Palms on the woman, doing his best to avoid her vital organs.

Two to the shoulder blades. Two to the lower back. Four up the spine.

It was over in just about a second. The woman dropped her sword and would have collapsed had Akito not grabbed her and hoisted her onto his shoulder. Akito rushed back into the inn, and up the stairs to where Suzuko was tending to the innkeeper.

“It's over. We should be safe for now,” Akito said as he deposited the wounded, unconscious woman on the inn’s floor. "Suzuko, do you recognize this woman?"

WC: 4854 + 647 = 5501

[Nick]

Suzuko watched the duel from the window for a moment, and with how quickly it was over she didn't need to give up tending to the innkeeper. Likewise, the man on fire managed to put himself out, and as he was standing back up from rolling on the ground, Suzuko lit him on fire again. Intelligently, he ran off much further this time before trying to put out the fire. The duel was pretty storybook, and while she didn't have the same propensity for grand tales of samurai duels and theatre, but duels were often public displays at designated times for a reason: People loved a good fight, and the young girl was no exception.

She watched with bated breath as the two had their quick exchange, and she got to have great birds eye view of Akito's gentle fist in action, her first time seeing a 'soft style' in action like that. Very cool. She clapped her giant metal hands together, making an awful ruckus as he took down the woman in front of him, pumping her fist in victory. She'd helped! She wondered if she'd receive a jonin's wages for this mission, too. Money wasn't exactly a worry, but it was never a bad idea to have more. She hopped back out of her suit once more, leaving the hatch on the back open as she continued to tend to the man using some of her iijutsu. She was by no means a master of the healing arts, but she had enough to mend some of his basic wounds and make sure he could recover slowly on his own.

When Akito dragged his opponent up the stairs and laid her on the floor, she gave her a cursory glance, before shrugging. "She doesn't look familiar, I have a pretty good memory for faces..." She said absentmindedly, scanning through the mental archives for a moment again to make sure. "No, I'm pretty confident. They might not be after me anyway, right? Could just be... Wrong place wrong time? Wouldn't be the first time..." She grumbled that last part, thinking of all the times that happenstance had dictated her life.

"She's... Still alive, right?" The girl asked, moving over to put her fingers on the woman's neck to feel for a pulse. "How do your techniques work...? Is she going to wake up soon?"

Suzuko is so SMRTShow

Sharp Mind
D-Ranked Taijutsu Discipline
After many intensive hours of focus training, the user has learned how to memorize a large amount of sensory information after being first exposed to it. Though the main application of this technique is to allow for the user to memorize both the initial positioning of their weapons around the battlefield and any changes in those locations, this technique also has more uses outside of combat, such as remembering certain people, characteristics, locations, etc.

[Drak]

“She is alive,” Akito said. “I made sure to avoid her vital organs. There may be some nerv-” Akito stopped, deciding to spare the girl all the details. “She is hurt, yes, but not fatally. The Jyuuken works by injecting my chakra into my opponent’s body: targeting the tenkestsu and chakra vessels. Because of the interplay between the chakra system and the body’s biological systems, it can also do physical damage.”

To illustrate his point, Akito turned the woman’s head and gestured to the base of her neck, where a large, dark-red bruise was spreading from around the first thoracic vertebra. Laying her head back down, Akito charged chakra into his palms and lightly tapped right above the knee. He then rolled her over and tapped her four times along the spine, twice on the lower back, and twice more on the shoulder blades, before rolling her back onto her back.

“I just reopened her tenketsu. She should come to shortly,” Akito said as the veins around his eyes began to subside. He blinked hard a few times, then produced some rope from his pack and began to restrain the unconscious woman.

“It seems strange that you do not recognize her. She said she was after you. Likely some samurai-turned-bandit with some scrap of intelligence that you would be passing through this way.”

The fact that they knew we would pass through this town suggests that there is a leak somewhere in that border post. I should make a note of that and inform HQ when I return...

“Greetings Shou-san,” Akito said, turning his attention to the innkeeper. “I am glad to see you are okay, and sorry about the current state of your lobby. Can you tell me what happened here?”

“It was awful Hyuuga-sama!” the old man shouted. “These thugs came through this afternoon and took over the tavern and my inn! They took my family. I think some of them may be in the other rooms, or maybe in the pantry.”

Suddenly, there was a commotion outside. Akito went to the window and saw a group of townsfolk picking over the bodies of the bandits.

“Who are you?” one of them shouted up at Akito.

“Hyuuga Akito, Jounin of Konoha. Who are you?”

“I’m Taro. My brother’s the tavernkeeper. We’re gonna go kick the last of these bandits out.”

“Would you like help?”

The man looked around at the bodies, seeming to take count.

“No, I think we can manage. Can’t be more than three or four left, and you took care of the big guy and the scary lady.”

Akito nodded and walked away from the window. The woman was coming to. He squatted down right in front of her.

“Good evening,” Akito said to the woman. “You are defeated. Your henchmen are dead or incapacitated. So tell me, where are this man’s family, and what did you want with this young lady?”

WC: 5501 + 487 = 5988

[Nick]

Suzuko listened very closely to everything Akito was saying. She didn't really understand 'tenketsu', but she was able to piece together based on his actions and the words around it that they seemed to effectively be pressure points for your chakra network. The empire had classes available to learn about ninjutsu, but compared to a ninja villages the classes were likely very rudimentary -- Heart Empire's foundational knowledge of chakra was passed down from the last Grand Shogun to the entirety of the empire, and it was spread so quickly with the aid of several samurai who already were quite good at such things, as well as several missing ninja who had joined the cause over the years.

In her mind's eye she overlaid medical diagrams that had been shown to her when she'd been learning Iijutsu with the woman's body, and when Akito showed precisely where she was struck, and then made several chakra-laden taps along her spine, shoulder blades, and lower back, a new medical diagram was created, a largely incomplete one, but a diagram nonetheless. She compared and contrasted it to the ones she knew, and found some recognizable comparison points to one she'd seen when she'd visited Goro's family dojo at one point, hanging up showing some of the bodies pressure points. Her brain was suddenly working overtime, and her entire body began to turn more red, but she didn't seem to notice, too engrossed in this mystery.

She was concentrating so hard that the normally fairly perceptive and interactive girl didn't even look at the change in the innkeeper, or listen to his words, or the words of the men below as they gave their thanks to the Konoha ninja and announced themselves. She held up her right hand, still affected by the iijutsu chakra that she'd been using to mend a fractured bone and stared at it, too, gingerly reaching it over her shoulder to tap at one of the same spots on her shoulder blades that Akito had tapped on the unconscious woman...

And that was when the woman woke up, and Akito began speaking to her.

---

The woman spat onto the wooden floor of the second floor of the inn and looked around, taking stock of her surroundings and finding herself tied up. "Could have at least bought me dinner first." She snarked towards Akito, making a show of fighting against her bondage for a moment, before sighing. "Stupid fuckin' duel... Fine. We got tipped off that some noble princess was going to be being escorted this way with minimal supervision, and someone said they'd pay a lot of money for that backpack of hers... Plus we figured if she was some kinda princess she'd be loaded regardless of the backpack!"

The words "pay a lot of money for that backpack of hers" hit Suzuko and sunk in, but they weren't ready to be interpreted and heard just yet, suddenly the girl's hands shot out and gently poked at the same spots that Akito had only moments before to wake the woman up. As soon as it had all begun, Suzuko's strange zoning-out seemed to start to subside, her skin returning to its more normal pale peachy shade, and finally time seemed to catch back up with her, and she blinked.

"They were after Fukuro-kun...?" She asked, looking up at Akito with a raised brow. "What did you just do to me?" The samurai woman asked, but Suzuko didn't respond. Her mind's eye filled with who could possibly know much about her backpack, and just as well, who could want to do anything about it. She remembered the first day she ever met Misaki, and those thugs that she'd later called "Yakuza" had wanted it initially to rob her, but Fukuro-kun had fought back alongside her, and they'd been left alive to be turned into the local office. She wondered if that had anything to do with it.

"The man who tipped you off, did he work for a group of... Yakuza?" She asked, not entirely familiar with the term, letting it escape her mouth with force. The woman twisted her face a bit, she seemed to recognize the name more than Suzuko did. "I hope not, those monsters don't ever honor their deals, we'd be handing in your backpack just to get killed... Ourselves..." The woman started to drift away from consciousness at the end of the sentence, blinking with lids made of lead, before suddenly conking out hard and fast enough to slam her head against the floor with a thud. She'd be alright though.

Another data point made, another piece of the new medical diagram created. Oops. "Did I...?" She asked, unsure of her own actions, and leaning over once more to check her pulse again, still present but faint, as if she was in some kind of stasis. She only somewhat understood what she'd done, but the fact that she'd done it at all began to register in her brain more and more readily, which caused her to dig through the filing cabinets in her mind once more. She'd imitated some of the 'pressure points' that Akito had used, but was it really so easy to take advantage of the body like that, at least on a mostly unmoving target? Signs seemed to point to yes, and Suzuko shuddered a bit.

The heiress cleared her throat and narrowed her eyes, standing up as her aforementioned backpack waddled his way up the stairs, and with several gross eating noises devoured her mech suit once more. "You're a lot of trouble, you know?" She said, putting her hands on her hips like she was scolding a puppy. After giving him a good finger-wagging, she turned back to Akito. "I need to ask some questions around when I get back to the Empire, I had a run in with some Yakuza folks who also wanted Fukuro-kun awhile back, but I didn't think it would lead to... This." She gestured vaguely.

Jutsu TrainedShow

Don't Make Me Kill You
A-Ranked Ninjutsu
Using *[Iijutsu • False Death] as a basis, and having observed tenketsu manipulation firsthand and up close thanks to Hyuuga, Akito, Suzuko has developed this technique to render opponents unconscious for extended periods of time. By tapping several tenketsu points along the spine, back, and shoulder blades with iijutsu active, she forces the effects of False Death onto them, sending them into a coma for a theoretically indefinite amount of time. Due to the precision needed, this works best on restrained or already unconcious targets to achieve its full affect, but can be used on free moving targets to make them sluggish, only requiring them to be near the blows with bursts of chakra taking care of the rest, resulting in a speed debuff of -9. This can be broken by significant efforts of Iijutsu, or a secondary usage of this same technique on the same target.

[Drak]

The woman’s head injury was somewhat mitigated as Akito was able to get his hand partially under her head before it hit the ground.

What did she do? Without the Byakugan and the right training she couldn’t have hit her tenketsu as to disable them, could she?

Akito briefly reengaged his Byakugan and looked over the unconscious woman. No, her tenketsu weren’t closed, exactly, but they were disrupted. The flow of chakra had ripples in it, much like one would see from Jyuuken techniques that didn’t target specific points, but rather hit the chakra system as a whole.

Along with disrupting the flow of chakra, she likely hit some nerve clusters as well, but I don’t have the medical knowledge to say much more than that.

Akito made to grab the girl’s wrist when she moved her hand to the woman’s neck, but stopped when he saw that she was just checking her pulse.

“There are other techniques which operate along similar principals,” Akito explained. “In fact, ‘putting your chakra in someone else’ as a vague concept could be said to be the basis for most ninjutsu. From the looks of things you just discovered a technique to do so. Be cautious when you use it though.”

Akito stood up and watched in confusion as Suzuko’s backpack-gremlin devoured the armor she had been wearing.

“Suzuko, we should check the pantry and see if the rest of the innkeeper’s family are in there. If not, the group heading to the tavern will probably turn them up,” Akito said. “But while we do that, please tell me: what exactly is… uh… Fukuro-kun?”

Hopefully that was right. Calling that thing Fukuro-san would be too strange.

[Nick]

The girl picked up Fukuro-kun and held it cradled in both arms over her stomach, its tongue was lolled out and panting for a moment, before all of his limbs folded back into himself and he went back to looking like a fairly normal backpack. Then he burped, and a small gout of flame scorched the floor, thankfully without lighting it on fire. Suzuko didn't comment on that. "Fukuro-kun is... A Youkai." The heiress said, bobbing her head from left to right, thinking of how best to explain such things. "You ninja don't know a lot about the Warrior Spirit, right?" She asked, opening up the flap of the backpack and digging a hand around inside, pulling out a whiteboard that covered the camera just long enough for her to set up an entire lab classroom where she could draw as she spoke.

"Most people look at people as being comprised of three parts..." She said, drawing an eerily accurate portrait of Akito but with his hairline very clearly receding in the blink of an eye. "There's the mind, body, and soul..." She said, filling in thirds of the portrait with different colors. "And chakra is typically made up of a fifty fifty mix of mind and body, yin and yang energy..." She shook her head, getting distracted. "But each of these things has their own component parts, too! The soul, for example has... At least two? Maybe more..." She made a little slant with her mouth as she continued to write and illustrate a pie chart in the soul section. "And the part that matters here is the Warrior Spirit, or sometimes called... Free will!"

The whiteboard was getting very busy, very quickly. "When people die their souls usually pass on, but if they had an especially strong Warrior Spirit, that part of them sometimes stays behind." She drew a picture of a young boy this time, with a little spirit orb breaking in half, some of it floating to the sky, and the rest staying behind. "Sometimes these spirits are so powerful they take on a physical presence of their own, usually turning into a weapon so they can lend their strength to the new generation!" She drew the two that the Heart Empire were known for, Hideyoshi the axe, and Ayago the bow. "But if they're not powerful enough to make their own physical form, they often put their energy into an existing object... Like a backpack!" She drew another eerily accurate and yet far more cutesy version of Fukuro-kun right next to the broken half of the boy's soul, giving a big cheeky smile and thumbs up.

She nodded, as if all that had been perfectly normal, before grabbing the edge of the whiteboard, and wiping it in front of the camera once more, where everything would be put back to normal as fast as it had changed, and then swung Fukuro-kun back around her to wear him as a backpack was meant to be worn. "Anyway, finding the innkeeper's family seems more important than all that, I can teach you more later if you want." She said casually, before stepping down the first few stairs and catching her first glimpse of Akito's slaughter.

She stared blankly for a few moments, before her eyes widened, and she shut her eyes, running out the front of the inn to get away from the rather blood-soaked sight. She'd seen battlefields and serious injuries before, but an entire room full of dead people was a different story!

[Drak]

Akito wasn’t quite sure what was happening to him. As soon as Suzuko pulled out her whiteboard, he had an odd vision of himself sitting in one of those scholastic desk-chair combinations, dressed in a charcoal gray gakuran while Suzuko lectured to him about Youkai. As soon as she wiped the board clean, the mental image dissipated. Akito shook his head and blinked a few times.

What on earth was that?

When he had recovered, he nodded to acknowledge the girl’s explanation as they turned the corner of the stairs.

“Suzuko!” Akito shouted after the girl as she ran out of the inn. He made a hand seal to dissipate the Doton caltrops he had scattered in what was now Suzuko’s path out of the inn, then sprinted after her. He caught up to her in the street outside and grabbed her wrist with a grip that was extremely firm but not painfully so.

“Please, do not run off like that! ” Akito barked.

Even young ninja would have some trouble with a sight like that, and I keep forgetting she is not even that. I would think that maybe a young samurai girl would have seen battle before, but perhaps not.

He shut his eyes and sighed, and his next words came out much more gently.

“Apologies. I should have warned you about what was down there. Here, let us go around the back and remove the wall I placed at the inn’s back door. We can access the pantry without needing to pass through the lobby again.”

We will need to clean up the lobby eventually, but that can wait. Earlier, she ordered Fukuro-kun not to eat the people – maybe he could be of help cleaning up the bodies. I should not mention that to her right now though. She seems distressed enough.

[Nick]

She had stopped just outside, catching air for a moment when Akito caught up to her. The grip on her arm was unwelcome, but she didn't feel well enough to even try to rip herself free, not that she was likely to succeed even if she'd tried. "Hyuuga-san, I'm..." She tried to warn him, but whether he understood enough to move away in time was another question entirely, as she suddenly leaned over forwards and vomited powerfully onto the ground. She'd mostly had dried trail rations and an excess of water all day, but the author refuses to actually describe the vomit, and so it's best represented as a rainbow flowing onto the ground. Beautiful.

"Did you really... Have to kill all of them?" She complained, wiping her mouth with a piece of cloth she pulled free from her backpack, and spitting out some of the bile. "They weren't good people obviously, but... Gods, that's a lot of blood..." Her face turned green, and she looked like she was about to vomit again, but swallowed it back down. She had seen battle before, but she wasn't exactly prone to killing. She'd taken on bandits and knocked them out before, but that had been her only 'real' combat experience. The Heart Empire didn't send its lowest rank, Akibushi, into combat, and she'd been too young to participate in the Empire's only war against Water Country as well.

The girl didn't hold on to much hope that she'd be able to avoid killing forever. She'd accepted her promotion to Fuyubushi with the intellectual knowledge that being a contracted samurai of the empire meant more than the community service she had participated in thus far... But intellectual knowledge and practical experience were two different things entirely. "Whatever, you're right, lets go around back." She said, not seeming directly upset at Akito for the situation, but clearly not alright with it either.

As the pair approached the back door, she would wait for Akito to drop his wall, before stepping inside. "Hellooooo? Innkeeper's family-san?" She shouted into the relative darkness, listening for any kind of reply, or even the creak of a floorboard that might have indicated one last bandit hiding around a corner. She heard a similar muffled cry to when she'd found the innkeeper, but reached up into her backpack to withdraw one of her knives, holding it steady in preparation that anything could happen. Her hand crept to the sliding door of the pantry slowly, before opening it in one fast motion, checking both sides where an intruder might hide with a blunt instrument to knock her unconcious... But nobody was there.

Instead, similar to the innkeeper up on the second floor, the innkeeper's wife and offspring were tied, bound and gagged together, back to back, gently struggling against their bonds and looking terrified, but thankfully less injured than the innkeeper was. She'd let Akito take the lead on these, before offering medical assistance once more.

[Drak]

Akito released Suzuko’s wrist and turned his head away as she vomited. When he heard she was finished, he turned back to the girl, who was now standing next to a puddle which had been conveniently covered with a large rainbow emoji.

He said nothing in response to the girl’s question. What was he supposed to say? “No, but it sure was easier this way”? One did not reach the rank of Jounin without leaving a river of blood behind them, and truth be told this was not the most people Akito had killed during the course of a single mission. This was not even in the top twenty. Akito decided to keep that information to himself as they went through the alley and back into the kitchen.

“I am Hyuuga Akito, Konoha Jounin,” Akito said to the bound family in the pantry. “You are all safe now. Give me one moment to free you.”

Akito produced a kunai from his thigh pack and began to tie the ropes holding the hostages.

“We managed to push back the bandits. Shou is upstairs and safe,” Akito announced to them as he freed them one by one, carefully slicing through their bonds. “But you may want to stay out of the lobby for now.”

Akito turned to Suzuko.

“Can you provide medical assistance to them? I will deal with the lobby and double check that we are safe here. At that point, I think we should, finally, get some rest.”

Akito left through the door to the lobby and walked back out onto the street, where a small crowd was gathered. It was the group who had gone to the tavern to kick the last of the bandits out. With their help, Akito was able to remove the bodies from the inn and place them outside. Some of the villagers found some old cloths to drape over them.

When all that was done, Akito returned to the kitchen to check back in on Suzuko and the innkeeper’s family.

[Nick]

Suzuko nodded, appreciating that Akito at least seemed somewhat gentle with the civilians. She didn't understand him, and wasn't sure she wanted to. Were all humans meant to be the same? Did those he met as enemies cease being human in his eyes to so callously be able to take their lives as if it was nothing? She bit the inside of her cheek gently as she chewed on the implications, and wondered if it was something she should even ask. It would have to wait for now either way. "I'm starting to run low, but I should be able to handle this." She said, stepping into the pantry and starting to channel the anesthetic technique through her hands, running it over any obvious wounds, before performing the diagnostic technique to look a little deeper. Battered and bruised, maybe a few cuts here and there, but nothing that the bandage technique wouldn't handle.

"Small head injury..." She muttered out loud while working on one of the kids, holding her finger out and instructing him to follow it with his eyes. "Seems fine... But be sure to prop your head up higher than normal tonight while sleeping, just in case." She made a face, she didn't have the kind of advanced medical techniques that would take care of such things to turn a 'seems fine' into a 'will be fine', and unfortunately if he was going to die from a head injury like that, it would be tonight. That didn't seem likely, though. "Still, stay out of the lobby till Hyuuga-san says otherwise, it's... Well, not pretty." She said, helping the family stand, before herding them out the back door, trying not to think of the horror show that had been presented to her when she'd made it down the stairs earlier.

She went back in to the kitchen area after making sure they were with other townsfolk who could look after them, and took a deep breath to rake in the quiet of the night, finally. So quiet. Some murmuring from outside as the townsfolk gathered together to work on the problems before them, but wildlife had been scared off by the commotion, not so much as a cicada chirping. Another deep inhale and her breath hitched in her throat, a gentle shudder. She wanted to cry, in fact, but she turned the inhale into a swallow, churning it down inside of her. As much as she wanted to let go, she was still here representing her people, and she couldn't be weak, or a disappointment.

The girl closed her eyes as she heard Akito approach. "Are ninja always like this?" She asked, her tone much less judgemental than it had been the entire short time the pair had known each other. "Is this why it took so long for a proper samurai nation to rise in the world of ninja?"

[Drak]

It did not take a trained shinobi to tell that Suzuko was not doing well. Akito put out a tentative hand towards the girl’s shoulder; slow and gentle enough that she could move away or shrug him off easily, if she wanted.

“I-” Akito started to say something, then paused for a long moment. He gently cleared his throat, waited a moment, then started again.

“I am sorry you had to see that, Suzuko,” Akito paused for a while again. “It is not exactly so that the five Great Countries became great because of ninja. In the ancient past, chakra was discovered in the strongest regions, and they dubbed its users ninja, or shinobi. Had they named them differently, or had chakra been successfully kept to only the nobility, then we might be speaking of sorcerous samurai and stealthy shinobi. But knowledge like that wants to be free, to spread across every nook and cranny of the world, and now that spread has allowed the rise of samurai nations, such that they have.”

Akito knew he missed the mark when he drifted into talking about the history of chakra. That was not what Suzuko wanted to hear about, even if it was easier to speak.

“What I want to say is this: the story of any shinobi is writ with scenes like that. For all their pretense to the contrary, samurai are much the same. Ninja, we do away with the veneer of civility and honor that samurai esteem so highly. Still, the results of an arranged duel or a shadowy assassination are much the same.”

The murmuring of the townsfolk grew fainter, and the hooting of a solitary owl could be heard through the night air.

“If this is the path you want to walk, you will find yourself in much the same situation again and again. Sometimes, the violence will be indeed senseless. More often though, it will be in service of protecting something. Sometimes, that will be a stranger: some noble or wealthy merchant. But sometimes that something will be precious indeed: Family, clan, village, nation. Or a girl and an innkeeper’s family who would otherwise be at the mercy of those willing to visit violence on others for pure monetary gain.”

Akito’s face, somber throughout all he had said, lightened slightly.

“Now, the people here have prepared rooms and baths for us, and I suggest we take them up on the offer,” Akito turned and began to walk towards the now cleaner lobby. “Oh, before I forget, while I was out there, the innkeeper told me to give this to you.”

Akito produced a small pouch from his pocket and tossed it to Suzuko.

“He said he would not take money from us after we put ourselves on the line for him and his family like that. And if I recall, that was your money," Akito flashed Suzuko a weary smile. "Good night, Suzuko.”

[Nick]

The answers mattered, the words mattered, the way in which they were delivered mattered, and yet there was no easy way to deliver that kind of message to a child, especially one that had grown up as Suzuko had. She kept her eyes closed throughout most of his monologue, the night catching up to her as the adrenaline left her body, and she swayed gently his words ringing around hollowly in her skull, an echo of an echo that wouldn't go away...

But there was kindness in those words too. An understanding that bad actions can be done for good reasons, that light can come from dark... Or perhaps it was that the existence of light created a shadow in the first place. She opened her eyes when he mentioned baths, wondering briefly if resting in warm water would be too dangerous at her current level of exhaustion, and barely managing to catch the tossed bag of money. She stared at it blankly for a few moments, money in the moment felt dirty, and made her briefly wonder if the money those bandits had been so willing to cause injury for might have been going to a good cause, their own families, perhaps? Not that it would excuse their actions, of course.

She held up the bag and Fukuro snatched it from her grasp, gobbling it up, blissfully unaware of the emotional dilemma presented. She adjusted the straps and took another deep breath, before getting ready for the long hike to her room, and the warm bath that awaited. "Goodnight, Akito."