The Hostess with the Mostess

[Taiga]

A top the peak of a mountain, the legendary Jinchuuriki of the Earth Genma paused to take a swig of his liquor. In the high-mountain suns he squinted as his hand dug around his pocket procuring a piece of parchment. Scribbled, and quite messily in his opinion, was the following note:

Taiga- we request your presence in Kumogakure in order to oversee some training for our young Aki, who I believe you met. His predicament is quite similar to yours.
- Hayate

With great disdain for the Raikage who seemed all too chummy with Fanho and all to comfortable summoning Konohagakure shinobi as if he had any power of them, the seething man crumpled up the note into a fine ball then chucked it over his shoulder as it fell down the mountain. He didn't give a damn what the Raikage and emperor wanted- he did however have a sense of care for Aki, who had had briefly met at their secret jinchuuriki meeting back in Pebble.

For a brief moment, and audible wheee of a whistle escaped his lips as he pretended nothing happened. With one more swig of his liquor he turned about and began to phase through the mountain, moving at a rapid pace until he found himself at the footholds of two grand peaks. Between the twin peaks was Kumogakure, the grand jewel of the Lightning Empire.

He's around here somewhere... Sukairaa seethed.

Amidst the summer sun he began to ascend through the stone until he found himself in the heart of the city, just his head poking out of the ground. A woman yelled in panic and pulled her skirt tight around herself, revolted by the would-be-pervert. Pulling the rest of his body out of the ground and phasing to normal, he waved his hands.

"Trust me- you're not my type." he said with a wink as he turned around and walked the other direction.

That pink haired brat has to be around here somewhere.

[Texas]

Starving and a little poor due to not doing any notorious or well paying missions... it also doesn't help that Aki had spent every cent he saved up for fake armor to prep a prank for when he visited the heart empire. Since he had started working as a ninja, his parents made it very clear he would need to pay for anything he wanted to get. They called it something stupid like independence or something like that, honestly Aki's mind was too fixated on what Shiun, Suzuko, and Rio's face would be when he arrived in what would appear as full samurai armor.

With that being said the child was absolutely starving, so within the limbo realm he would sneak up to a fruit stand and take two apples. However, his hungry ridden brain did not account for the apples not joining him in the limbo realm, so to the public the apples floated in the air. Being fully aware of what was going on, one of the stall salesmen yelled at Aki, calling him by his name and cursing him out. The child took the yelling as motivation and sprinted out of the area and towards the mountainous range where he often secluded himself.

As the boy ran to the open field, the apples would appear to just be floating in the air before he channeled his chakra. In an instant, Aki appeared! The pink haired floated in the sky and bobbed. His face was filled with excitement as two apples were in his hands!! Would he enjoy them like always?!

[Taiga]

Taiga persisted in his quest to locate Aki, employing the shadows of the earth to effortlessly traverse the terrain undetected. His mastery and now partnership with the Earth Genma Sukairaa afforded him this advantage, enabling him to circumvent the bustling urban streets of the Lightning Empire's capital.

The similarities between the two individuals were striking—both possessed Genma, Taiga in his youth had been a loud-mouthed prankster, and both their genmas were tremendously powerful in the intelligence operations categories, making them almost analogous to each other. Their Genma granted them immense potential to do things no other shinobi could, even the other hosts. Taiga contemplated it as he continued his search for Aki.

While Taiga's Genma bestowed upon him the remarkable ability to merge with nearly any solid object, offering unparalleled utility, Aki's power to enter the enigmatic Limbo realm undoubtedly matched Taiga's own reconnaissance skills. However, it was patently clear that Aki required guidance and control over this newfound ability.

The unfolding scene before him affirmed this observation.

Having barely perused the city for more than five minutes, he heard the persistent cry of "Aki" echoing through a bustling market street.

Male- middle aged. Lower class given the heavy accent, likely from the north.

His mind analyzed the scene as he felt the world above him come nearer both symbolically and literally as he emerged out of the ground. Much to his chagrin he had arrived too late to witness the boy's feat firsthand, but he had made it in time witness two apples suspended in mid-air on the distant horizon. It was evident that Hayate needed to establish firmer control over his Genma hosts.

With remarkable finesse, Taiga gracefully emerged from the ground, tossing more than ample Ryo to the shopkeeper to cover the cost of the food before uttering, "It's on me," and disappearing into the surroundings like a fleeting shadow.

Aki's enthusiasm was palpable as he navigated the vibrant market streets of Kumogakure. While levitating apples showcased an impressive display of his abilities, Taiga understood that this was merely the tip of the iceberg concerning the potential applications of Aki's Limbo power. It was his duty as a Bannin and mentor to unlock the full extent of Aki's capabilities, which transcended mere invisibility. Aki would need to learn to think more strategically so he was not only unseen, but unheard, unfelt, and completely un-sensed.

Kneeling down and placing his hand on the ground it seamlessly melded with the earth's surface. He could feel the mountain, the very essence of the Earth itself, resonating with him. Even in Limbo, the boy's feet maintained a connection with the earth. The apples, hovering weightlessly, caused minute disruptions in the air, their presence apparent. So long as Aki kept his feet on this worlds realm or interacted with anything in this world, he would give himself away.

Completely submerging himself within the ground, his body concealed from view, Taiga moved through the mountainous terrain like a silent predator tailing Aki from a discreet distance. With the Hokage's demise and the looming specter of war, Aki needed to evolve into a formidable force, pushing the limits of his Genma. The departures of Masami and Fusions, coupled with Kumogakure's lack of matured hosts, left the villages in a precarious position, heightening the urgency of Aki's training and development.

They didn't have a lot of time but they had a lot of work to do.

[Texas]

A child, well, a child. Yes, a child that was both genius in his capabilities, but unable to defeat his largest hurdle.. his personality. The boy at an extremely young age mastered his genma and even had a wide variety of capabilities utilizing his genma's powers. Whether it was disappearing, making others disappear, and all of this within a combined effort of ninjutsu and taijutsu varieties. Yet here we are. A boy giggling feverishly he almost forgot to breath as he ran through to the mountain ranges. He himself was invisible, yet the apples weren't. It was almost as if, the child wanted to get caught. It couldn't be seen, but Aki was running toward a small cliff side with a large smile and his hair bobbing back and forth. Once the boy had felt like he was safe, he popped out of the Limbo Realm and appeared as if he was never there (well the apples borderline gave it away...).

When the child submerged from the Limbo Realm, he was ravenous. The child reversed utilized the Limbo Realm, channeling his chakra in front of him. He had created an invisible bedside table. This is where he placed the apples. The apples themselves would seem like they were floating in midair. The child would then take on of the apples and start eating. The boy felt safe in Kumo, perhaps too safe. He laid down on his side while eating an apple without a care in the world or fear in his heart. Maybe it was him being stuck on minor missions or within the walls of Kumo as a Genin. Or maybe it was just his immature and painful personality. Maybe, it was a combination of both. Regardless, the result was what Taiga was witnessing... the Genma Host that was named Ishiguro, Akihiko.

[Taiga]

Taiga had felt the vibrations above him and on the ground- though Aki was all but invisible to the world around them, his body still displaced things. There was still at some level interaction between his existence and the energies that kept him bound together and the environment around him- to which Taiga was one with. Eventually, the boy would stop moving and take his place- and so Taiga too would end his movement but still be very much so locked in pursuit. He pondered for a moment the antics of the boy who was clearly a child, but also reminded himself to be more forgiving.

Taiga had been exactly the same as a boy. Before the war. A child with no care in the world and arguably all the power in the world one ever needed. In fact, he'd done plenty a prank or peep or mischief utilizing his genmas ability. Ironically, it was those games he played as a boy with his godly power that wound up making him perhaps the most slippery ninja in the world and the perfect intelligence agent.

Perhaps, these antics from Aki, were actually constructive after all and the boy was a bit more like Taiga than he ever wanted to acknowledge.

Just below the limbo table, which wasn't visible to Taiga, he would submerge just his face out of the ground peer up at Aki, without saying anything.

Mean time to notice an impending threat.

Taiga began to make a note of this lads performance.

[Texas]

Akihiko wasn't proficient in sensory. However, he was training in the way of the ninja.. seemed to be an important skill for a Ninja. The boy was slightly distracted with the thought of eating an apple. With haste, the boy reached out and grabbed one of the apples. The child would use his right hand to bring the apple directly to his mouth. With his pearly white teeth, Aki would break into it and bite a large chunk out of the apple. The crisp noise of ripping out of the apple was just as joyous as the taste itself. The pink haired devil was completely in bliss as he chewed away. During his chewing he could hear Ryeunso laughing in the back of his mind. "What's so damn funny!" He would shout accidentally. The child with a mouth full of food was barely able to get something tangible out. It was weird though, he forgot to speak to Ryeunso in his mind... What was he laughing at?!?!

The child finished chewing and slowly went into another bite. The boy would turn his head as he bit into the apple only to see a face in the ground. What he saw was something that was slightly familiar to the boy. A face in the ground?!! It was that guy from the Jinch meetup! How did he get there. The boy quickly jumped up leaving the apple in his mouth. The pink hair would bob up in the air as he focused chakra throughout his body. He would release the table holding up the apple and break it into invisible Limo shards. Due to the shards being created, the apple would fall down to the ground. Aki instinctually would send these shards to the ground where the face was. That was very scary! "WHAT IS GOING ON!"

[Taiga]

Taiga didn't even blink as his gaze turned onto the boy who was spooked, his shards falling and bouncing off Taiga's face with a loud crack, as if they had hit solid stone rather than a fleshy face- for to be in the Earth Taiga was indeed earth itself. Clearing his throat, his face would come out of the ground to reveal a head, and then a neck, and then shoulders until the bannin was fully emerged up to about his shins, putting him in eye line with the pink hair boy. Cracking a sick smile, a puff of smoke escaped Taiga's lips as he looked at Aki's eyes.

"I've come to eliminate you, Akihiko." he said as he crossed his arms before letting out a loud and obnoxious laugh. Taiga's skin, upon closer inspection, almost had a "stone" like effect to it.

"Well, actually the Raikage...? The Emperor? Whatever the proper formal title is for that guy, asked the human flashlight quipper to send me to whip you into shape- had I been an actual assassin well you'd definitely be dead." he said as he popped out of the ground fully, collapsing into a cross-legged siting state. His skin no longer seemed any different from Aki's own- a visual indicator that something had changed.

"It's a dangerous time to be a host Aki. Someones hunting us. There's a war on the horizon with Rock... it's time we make you worth the god they put inside of you."